User blog comment:WeissSchnee/Character Blog: Ruby Edition/@comment-8207536-20130617045855

There was an idea floating around somewhere before or after Weiss' trailer was released that maybe the altar was more broad in scope; it might be more of a monument than a gravestone.

A theory that I like is that is wasn't her relative(s) that got slaughtered, it was her entire village with Ruby being the only known survivor. This happened when she was really young, like, five or six.

Ruby wandered around, barely surviving, for an indeterminate amount of time before she found, or was found by, Yang and her family, with whom she stayed from then on.

Traumatized by the tragedy that she had inadvertantly survived, Ruby arrived very introverted and skittish but through Yang's persistant 'sisterhood' she recovered and began training with Yang to protect her new 'family'.

Years pass and now Ruby is old enough and ready to attend the academy where her 'sister' is attending (Yang being a few years older than Ruby). She makes a stop at the site of her old home where a monument has been erected and puts her past behind her at last, culminating in her battle with the creatures that had taken her home from her and her subsequent victory over them.

Shortly afterward, on her way to the school, she runs into Yang, her beloved friend and 'sister' who seems to be on a mission of her own.

That's my idea, anyway. 8)