Lie Ren

Lie Ren, more commonly referred to as Ren, was a student at Beacon Academy and is a member of Team JNPR. His weapon of choice is a pair of green automatic pistols which have blades attached to them, named StormFlower.

Appearance
Lie Ren is a male teenager with long black hair tied into a ponytail that ends midway down his back. There is a magenta streak on the left side of his hair. His eyes match the streak in his hair, and his clothing appears to be influenced by Chinese culture.

He wears a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming goes down the right side of his torso and forms a black collar.

This color scheme seems to be influenced to some degree by the lotus flower. He wears a black, long-sleeved shirt beneath the suit, and light-tan pants with black shoes.

Personality
Although not much is known about Ren yet, it can be deduced that he is usually mellow and wishes for peace and quiet, much like Blake Belladonna. All in all, he seems very much in control of himself, as shown by his calm and deliberate response to the appearance of the black half of a King Taijitu. He also doesn't appear to be a morning person, as seen from his groan from having to get out of bed to get ready for the Beacon Academy Initiation.

He seems to be indifferent to Nora Valkyrie's bubbly and contrasting personality, showing a great deal of patience when dealing with his hyperactive, happy-go-lucky childhood friend. Nora has called him "the perfect student", implying that he may be something of an intellectual. However, this is not to say that he is completely humorless. He appears to be slightly playful after finding Nora in the Emerald Forest, during the events of "The Emerald Forest". Ren is also indicated to be a bit of a cook, as he makes pancakes for the team in "Forever Fall, Pt.2" and in "Search and Destroy" when Nora implied that it was his fault that she was hungry. However, not everything he cooks is well received, as the nutrition drink he prepared in "Destiny" made Nora ill.

Ren is also shown to be quite studious, as seen in "Welcome to Beacon", in which he openly agrees with Neptune Vasilias as to how libraries should be only for reading.

Abilities and Powers
Lie Ren is a very capable fighter and can hold his own against creatures of Grimm, such as a King Taijitu. He demonstrates peak physical ability, being able to do various acrobatics. He can move and react with impressive speed.

Ren appears to be proficient in martial arts, using palm thrusts and various combat stances when fighting the King Taijitu. His combat skills were also seen in "Best Day Ever" during a food fight with Team RWBY, where he briefly held his ground against Yang Xiao Long, although he was soon bested by her. Along with his physical abilities, Ren can also skillfully wield his weapons and effectively uses them for both ranged and melee combat.



Ren appears to have a high degree of control over his Aura. When fighting in the Emerald Forest, he first uses it defensively by forming a shield against the attack of a King Taijitu. After tearing its fangs off, Ren uses his Aura offensively by blasting the black King Taijitu's fang through its own eye, blowing its head to pieces.

Despite this, he still has a very limited amount of stamina. Ren is shown collapsing after he, and the rest of JNPR, defeated the Death Stalker during "Players and Pieces". His average endurance was also seen after he defeated the King Taijitu, when he was seen catching his breath. This could have been due to his heavy usage of Aura, which is needed to fight as shown in "Jaunedice". However, his lack of endurance is shown once again in "Best Day Ever", where he is defeated by Yang in very few blows.

Trivia

 * Ren alludes to Hua Mulan.
 * Monty Oum stated that each member of JNPR alludes to someone who crossdressed in their story. Mulan had to disguise herself as a man to sneak into the Chinese army.
 * Ren (蓮) is Japanese for "lotus", hence his emblem. The corresponding kanji is 蓮 (on'yomi: ren, kun'yomi: hasu), which, when used as a single character, is pronounced almost exclusively "hasu" (kun'yomi). When combined with other kanji, though, it is more often pronounced "ren" (on'yomi), such as guren (紅蓮), as in Guren Ragan (viz. Gurren Lagann).
 * It is understandable to think that his name is actually liè rén (猎人), since this is the Chinese equivalent of the given name "Hunter". However, a simple google search shows that images of Ren are heavily linked to "烈蓮". This is a bit strange, since "烈蓮" in Chinese is pronounced "Liè Lián", and the Japanese "烈蓮" is "Retsu Ren". This could be a multi-language play on words, in which "Liè" (烈) is taken from Chinese, and "Ren" (蓮) is taken from Japanese.
 * The Chinese "Liè" (烈) means "ardent". If the above is true, then Ren's name means "Ardent Lotus".
 * Despite Monty stating that real-world countries don't exist in RWBY, Ren is still based on Chinese culture as his full name is written Lie Ren, and his clothing is reminiscent of traditional Chinese clothing.
 * Another reference to Chinese culture is how Ren rests a coffee mug on his palm instead of holding it by its handle, a style seen more often in Eastern cultures, as Eastern-style mugs have no handles.
 * Ren's weapons are described as "dual SMGs with wind and fire blades" by Miles Luna, though Kerry Shawcross qualifies this as only "kind of". Kerry also hints that certain elements of StormFlower's original design were "saved for something else".
 * In the episode "Players and Pieces", Ren appeared exhausted twice. The first time was after he and Nora rode on an Ursa, and the second time was after Team JNPR killed the Death Stalker. Since Ren was voiced by the series' creator, Monty Oum, this could be a nod to Monty's tweets about his sleep deprivation, which he was well known for.
 * Monty Oum, Ren's original voice actor and director of the show, passed away on February 1st, 2015. In light of his passing, the RWBY team ultimately turned to Monty's brother, Neath Oum, to voice the character.