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I used to wear this rank with pride. Now I see it for what it really is: a collar.
—Marrow Amin


Marrow Amin[3] is the former rookie member of the Ace Operatives Specialists. He first appeared in "The Greatest Kingdom" of Volume 7. His weapon of choice is Fetch.

Appearance

Marrow is a young male Faunus with long greenish-black hair tied in a bun and blue eyes. His trait is a dark gray canine tail.

Marrow wears an Atlesian Specialist uniform that consists of a white double-breasted coat with silver buttons, dark blue accents, collar, shoulder flaps with matching cuffs that have two silver buttons. The coat's tail splits, allowing Marrow's tail to move freely. He has a dark blue belt with a silver buckle around his waist with a dark blue pouch on the right side. He has a red ascot tied around his neck. Marrow wears a red shirt under his coat. He wears dark blue trousers tucked into his black knee-high boots.

Personality

Marrow is described as mischievous in personality, having been kicked out of an undisclosed place at least three times in the past. As the novice member of the Ace-Ops, he is also the most naive and childish of the group, having to be 'babysat' by Harriet Bree.

A large aspect of Marrow's motivation to have become a Huntsman in the past was that many said he couldn't.[4] However, beating those odds, Marrow was able to rise to the top of the ranks, becoming an Ace-Op. He was originally extremely appreciative and humbled by James Ironwood for being brought in as a part of the most elite group of Huntsmen in Atlas, being well aware of the social and racial tensions between Atlas and Faunus and how rare it is for his kind to be placed in such a role.[5]

Marrow is unable to hide his emotions, in part due to his tail which often gives his true feelings away, and as such tends to try and hide his emotions by putting up a tough act or by using humor to misdirect them. Marrow is well-versed in the issues with abuse of the Faunus in Atlas, but is not "looking to solve systemic societal issues." He is shown to have a snarky streak, especially when dealing with the Happy Huntresses or Ruby's Group, quickly becoming tired of their naive attitude. Additionally, Marrow is shown to be easily startled, nervously correcting himself after angering Yang Xiao Long, or recoiling and grabbing his tail protectively after Weiss Schnee accidentally startled him while fighting Grimm.

Marrow was originally extremely loyal to Ironwood, defending his actions from May Marigold. Despite having a negative outlook on the Happy Huntresses, Marrow is not heartless, showing horror and fear over Tyrian Callows' massacre at Robyn Hill's election party, later being regretful he couldn't stop it. He is shown to take his job seriously, quickly becoming annoyed at other's immaturity despite his own naivety.

Similar to Blake Belladonna, Marrow's Faunus trait gives him other aspects of a dog, such as wagging his tail. Another example of that side was shown in "Sparks" when he begged to Jaune Arc to give him his coffee by staring at him with a pleading expression, exactly like a dog does when begging for its owner to give it food and his tail reacting and giving away his emotions.

However, after Ironwood declared martial law, Marrow began showing discomfort with his position and the orders he was given. In "Gravity", Marrow had a look of sorrow after being ordered by Ironwood to arrest Team RWBY, in stark contrast to the rest of the Ace-Ops' look of determination. Marrow was noticeably shown to have the most hesitance to fight and hurt them, having attempted to stop his teammates and Team RWBY from fighting each other, and later attempted to talk down Weiss from fighting him and "let it go." Even after being berated by Harriet, Marrow still refused to use excessive force and stated he was trying to arrest them, not kill them. When Ironwood killed Sleet in "Divide", Marrow showed complete shock.

In "War", after Ren evolves his Semblance, he realizes that Marrow is the member of the Ace-Ops that was the most conflicted with the situation saying "In fact, you don't want to be a part of it at all anymore." However, he stated that he had a job to do, implying that he was only doing it as a member of the military by that point.

In "Witch", he is visibly upset at seeing Team FNKI on the front lines, stating that they were "just kids". He also confronts Winter Schnee about her plan to detonate a bomb inside Monstra before Yang's team returns, asking her if she would proceed if Weiss was inside Monstra, and if she's willing to inform Weiss that she caused her friends' deaths. While Winter seemingly responded to him similarly to Ironwood, she showed more warmth when addressing him to show she wasn't thinking like Ironwood was. Because of this, Marrow's change of mind was delayed for a little longer.[6]

By the time of "Risk", Marrow's discomfort reached its breaking point when he refused to keep going along with Ironwood's extreme plans, yelling that he believed in him but he had chosen to throw everything away while arguing with his teammates if they actually believe in anything themselves. He then stated that he used to wear his rank with pride but now he saw it as a collar. After he attempted to leave and Ironwood prepared to kill him, Winter saved him by pretending to arrest him and agreed that they had to stop Ironwood but Marrow was still mad at her for hitting him in the process.

Once Marrow helps Ruby's Group out, he was willing to use his Freeze Semblance on his former teammates to stop them from getting in the way of evacuating the Kingdom. Once Arthur Watts hacked an Atlesian Knight-200 and tried to detonate it close to Qrow Branwen and Robyn Hill, he took the blow from the explosion to save them. After Harriet tried to bomb Mantle herself Marrow helped Qrow, Robyn, Elm Ederne and Vine Zeki try to stop her and manage to get through to her.

Marrow also doesn't like to drink Grape Soda, instead preferring to drink Oolong Tea.[7]

Powers and Abilities

Marrow is a skilled fighter as he is in the Atlesian Special Operatives unit, the most elite group of Huntsmen and Huntresses in Atlas. However, he is the rookie of the team.

Weapon

Main article: Fetch

Marrow's weapon of choice is Fetch, an automatic rifle which doubles as a boomerang, which he uses as a ranged or melee weapon, as well as an improvised ski board when jumping off a Manta airship.

Semblance

Main article: Freeze

Marrow's Semblance, Freeze, allows him to stop an enemy's movements, as seen with how he froze two Centinels in place in "Ace Operatives", activating when he uses the command word "stay." This ability seems to have little to no limit in terms of numbers, as Marrow was able to freeze an entire crowd of people in the episode "A Night Off". However, he must remain pointing at the enemy to keep them in place, otherwise the command will wear off.

The major limitation of this Semblance is that it can only be used in a single direction: in other words, it cannot be used against two opponents coming from separate directions, as activating the Semblance will cancel any current usage. In a fight with multiple opponents in different directions, Marrow would need to constantly do and undo his "stay" commands, putting a severe strain on his stamina and Aura reserves.

Trivia

Allusion

  • Marrow alludes to the Aesop fable The Dog and Its Reflection.[8]
    • He is a dog Faunus.
    • He is named Marrow, after a substance found inside of bones, which are associated with dogs.
    • His surname, Amin, is an Arabic and Persian name that means "faithful, trustworthy". This further alludes to his inspiration as dogs are often seen as faithful animals.
    • He uses a boomerang weapon called Fetch, alluding to the game of fetch one plays with a dog.
    • His Semblance allows him to freeze enemies in place with a point or snap of his fingers. This seems to be inspired by dog commands, specifically stay.
    • During Volume 8, Marrow holds firm to Ironwood's orders until he sees his true intentions and breaks away from the Ace-Ops. This could refer to how in the original fable, the dog mistook its reflection for another dog with a better bone only to find out it was a fake and lose its bone.

Color Naming Rule

  • Marrow is a substance found inside of bones, which turns brown when cooked.
    • It is also a white-fleshed green-skinned gourd, which is eaten as a vegetable, bringing green to mind.

Character & Design

  • Marrow was designed by concept artist Larissa Angus, who worked on gen:LOCK.
  • Some concept art depicts Marrow with dog ears instead of a tail as his Faunus trait.[9][10]
  • According to Mick Lauer, Marrow's favorite foods are steak chili and animal crackers.[11]
  • During the Official r/RWBY Ace-Op AMA, Mick Lauer imagines Marrow unlocked his Semblance as a kid while being bullied for being a Faunus, "possibly discovering it or using it to hold back a bunch of bullies or something chasing him. Only to have one sneak up from behind him and womp him." However, this is clarified to be non-canon as Mick clarified by this point he had not known Marrow's backstory.[12]
  • Many Faunus have additional elements in their design that tie into their animal traits: both Marrow's weapon and Semblance reference him being a dog faunus:
    • His Semblance seems to be inspired by dog commands.
    • His weapon, Fetch, is a boomerang and comes back, which could be a reference to the game fetch as the game is typically played with dogs. This also lends to the name of his weapon.

References

Characters
BRIR
RWBY/Justice League
Super Heroes and Huntsmen
Other
Minor Characters
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