Weiss Schnee

Weiss Schnee (pronounced Why-ss Sh-nee) is a former student of Beacon Academy and one of the main protagonists of RWBY. Her weapon of choice is a Multi Action Dust Rapier (MADR) named Myrtenaster.

The former heiress of the vastly influential Schnee Dust Company, Weiss made her first appearance in the "White" Trailer. After enrolling in Beacon against the wishes of her father, she becomes a member of Team RWBY alongside Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long.

Original (Volumes 1-3)


Weiss is a pale skinned young girl with pale blue eyes and long white hair pulled back into an off-center bun tail on the right side and pinned with an icicle shaped tiara. A crooked scar runs vertically down her left eye.

She wears a thigh-length strapless dress with a faint color gradation from white to pale blue at the hem. A small piece of black lace sits in the front of her neckline and the hem of the dress is scalloped and stitched to resemble snowflakes, with layers of white tulle under the skirt. Over this she wears a bell sleeved bolero with the same color gradation as her dress from shoulder to wrist, lined in red and with a ruffled collar. On the back of the bolero is the Schnee Crest.

She also wears a small apple pendant on a silver chain and thin, rectangular silver earrings. Her boots are white, wedged heeled and higher at the back than the front. They have a small silver decoration across the top of the foot and are lined in red. A thin white sash is tied around her waist with a pouch attached to the back.

In her character short for Volume 5, she wears the same outfit except her ponytail is centered.

Pajamas
Weiss' pajamas consist of a faded blue nightgown with short sleeves and white trim and displays the Schnee Crest on the upper-right chest. She also wears her hair down.

Alternate Outfit (SnowPea)


During the events of "A Minor Hiccup" and "Painting the Town...", Weiss wears an alternate outfit codenamed "Snowpea".

This outfit consists of a white, double-breasted jacket with black piping, cuffs and buttons over a white, pleated full skirt with black lace trim. She also wears a pair of white, thigh high boots with black heels and lace-topped black stockings.

Dance
During the Beacon Dance, Weiss wears a short, white, sleeveless dress with cutouts on both sides of her waist. The yoke of the dress is translucent mesh, and she also wears white pumps.

Uniform
Weiss wears the same uniform as every other girl attending Beacon, consisting of brown shoes, red tartan skirt, white blouse with maroon trim and thin red bow, a brown vest with gold buttons, and maroon blazer with gold trim, alongside black socks reaching to mid-calf.

Post-Timeskip (Volume 4-Current)


After the timeskip following the Fall of Beacon, her new design includes a short, glittering dress with a color gradation of blue to pale blue at the hem, a sweetheart neckline, and a white, tulle petticoat.

A white ribbon is wrapped multiple times around her waist, and over the outfit is worn a slightly sheer long-sleeved blue shrug fastened at the collar with a large sapphire broach that has three pendants dangling from it. Printed on the back of the shrug is the Schnee Crest. Completing her attire are dark blue wedge heels and sapphire drop earrings.

She also has an alternate/occasional outfit, which follows the same design as her standard attire except for the skirt, which is floor length and split to her thigh on one side, and she wears chunky heels instead. The white ribbon has been removed from her waist, and she wears her hair and earrings in the same style, albeit her ponytail has grown out, now roughly reaching her knees.

Personality
Monty Oum had said that everything has been decided for Weiss in her life, and because of it, she is a bit of a rebel. This manifests itself in her physical appearance as she wears her ponytail to the side of her head, disrupting the symmetry of the rest of her outfit. When Professor Port states that Weiss has received everything she wanted in life, she responds that it is not entirely true, thinking of her father's attitude. She takes pride in her name and the company, though, as seen when she first meets Blake Belladonna, when she discusses it with her team in Mountain Glenn and when she confronts her father over it.

Considering the lyrics of her leitmotif "Mirror Mirror", it is very likely that Weiss felt lonely throughout her life, which translated into a cold nature. Constant attacks by the White Fang added heavy strain to her life, explaining her often difficult personality. After warming up to people, she places a great deal of trust in her friends and confides in them when she feels the need without abandoning her usual strict attitude.

According to her voice actress, Kara Eberle, Weiss is "nice but can also be a little bit bitchy." She is irritable and confident in her abilities, though also acknowledges her deficiencies and the need to hone her skills further. Her confidence in her skills and intellect often comes off as arrogance to others. This is also mentioned by Kara, who called her the "know-it-all" type of person who also can become best friends with her acquaintances.

Weiss takes her time at Beacon more seriously than her teammates, even taking notes when the topic is not related to the knowledge she seeks. She equates such dedication in the classroom with dedication in the field. Thus, she is annoyed at those who do not take things seriously, especially when it comes to becoming protectors against the Grimm. Weiss remains calm and tactical during encounters and mentally coaches herself. She is thoughtful and fights with precision and coordination.

After speaking with Professor Port, Weiss' attitude appears to change, as she takes his suggestion to "be the best person [she] can be" to heart. She opens up to Ruby, though she does not halt future criticisms. Weiss' development carries into her whimsical and humorous side as she joins her team in a food fight against Team JNPR and a board game. In "Painting the Town...", Weiss attempts to joke but is met with negative criticism from Yang and Blake. Weiss also enjoys planning and participating in certain events, such as the Beacon Dance.

Weiss vows that as a Huntress, she will elevate the Schnee name from her father's dishonor to it and put her desires behind others' necessities. This solidifies in "Lessons Learned" when Weiss heeds her sister's advice and removes her bindings from the SDC to discover more about herself.

After being retrieved from Beacon and flown home, Weiss is truly affected by the loss that happened during the Fall of Beacon. She becomes increasingly intolerant of the Atlesian lifestyle she grew up in, seeing it as superficial and ignorant. Her change of perspective is demonstrated by her hostility toward Henry Marigold's insensitive and ignorant attitude about the charity event and her public outburst when a couple talks condescendingly about the destruction of Vale.

Weiss also becomes intimidated when anyone raises their voice in anger. This trait was first shown in "Taking Control" when she overheard an argument between her father and General Ironwood. It's also shown in "Known by its Song" when Yang snaps at her mother, Raven Branwen, for mocking Qrow Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long, other members of her family. The latter incident shows Weiss remaining on edge around Yang even after her anger subsides.

Views on the White Fang and Faunus
Due to the ongoing violence between the SDC and the White Fang terrorist group, Weiss despises the White Fang and shows a noticeable distrust of the Faunus at first. The White Fang's activities seem to have contributed to a difficult childhood for Weiss, for she had close ties with numerous people who were either killed by or disappeared because of the White Fang. This led to her father frequently coming home angry, and this further colored Weiss' views on the White Fang and Faunus.

When Blake defends Sun Wukong's criminal acts, Weiss makes many derogatory comments about him and suggests he would likely join with the White Fang. However, shortly after the fight with Roman Torchwick, Weiss no longer cares about her argument with Blake, stating they are teammates and it changes nothing. Regardless, she says she remains unsure of how she feels about Sun, but they grow to be on friendlier terms. Weiss and the rest of her team keep Blake's status as a Faunus a secret.

Weiss' hostility toward the Faunus downgrades considerably through her time at Beacon, as seen when she shows concern for Velvet Scarlatina and the rest of Team CFVY. She is even friendlier and empathetic toward Blake, having placed trust in her as well after fighting alongside Blake against the White Fang several times.

Powers and Abilities
As the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss was raised from youth to strive to be the best in all she did, and combat was no exception. As a testament to her skills, Weiss was on the top ranking of the sparring class during the events of the Vytal Festival. Weiss can move quickly and is creative on the battlefield, particularly with Ice Dust.

Like many Huntsmen and Huntresses before her, Weiss has had her Aura unlocked, coating her body with a shield powered by her soul. As long as that shield remains, she cannot be wounded, although she can still feel pain when struck.

Weiss' combat style relies heavily on ricocheting off either surrounding surfaces or her glyphs, allowing her to take control of the fight by rapidly attacking from multiple angles to keep the enemy off balance. She has been seen utilizing this tactic with her Arma Gigas Summon, rapidly transporting it between glyphs to confuse and ambush the enemy in mid-strike.

Weapon


Weiss' weapon of choice is Myrtenaster, a Multi-Action Dust Rapier. The rapier has a revolving chamber inside the guard, which has six slots in total, each of which contains a vial of powdered Dust. The revolving chamber is constantly stocked with red, cyan, purple, white, yellow, and blue Dust.

Weiss utilizes the Dust in combat, either in raw form or in conjunction with her Semblance to create various effects that suit the situation. When not using Myrtenaster as a Dust supplier, Weiss utilizes her speed to dodge attacks and her sword to deliver damage through quick thrusts that leave little room for counters.

Semblance


One of Weiss' most notable abilities is her Semblance, which allows her to create glyphs that can be used in a variety of ways: create a slippery platform to skate on at high speed, generate midair platforms to manipulate her trajectory in the air and perform limited Time Dilation that can speed up actions, to name a few.

With mastery, a Schnee also has the ability to summon avatars of the foes that they have defeated. In "Lessons Learned", Winter Schnee specifies that the summoned foe had to have caused the Schnee to push past who they were and become who they are now. In the episode "Heroes and Monsters", Weiss exhibits this ability once, as she unintentionally summons the arm of the Arma Gigas she defeated in "White Trailer" to protect Velvet Scarlatina. Nevertheless, she struggles to demonstrate this ability for a while, and she says "it's the only thing she's been having trouble with" to her sister. She can also summon an avatar of the Boarbatusk that she defeated in Peter Port's classroom, as demonstrated when she involuntarily summons it to attack a party guest who offended her in "Tipping Point". After being grounded following the incident, Weiss devotes her time to mastering the ability, eventually learning to fully Summon the Arma Gigas in "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back". She can also cause her summons to teleport and use her glyphs as surfaces to jump off, as demonstrated in "Dread in the Air". She has also learned to fully summon a Queen Lancer she fought in "Dread in The Air".

In the series, Weiss' glyphs have appeared in a variety of colors for unknown reasons. Blue and white normal glyphs have been shown with the base ability to push whatever is within their influence. Black glyphs have the ability to pull whatever is within their influence, and they appear to involve the use of Gravity Dust, evidenced by Myrtenaster's Dust chamber revolving when Weiss makes the first black glyph in the "Volume 5 Weiss Character Short". The Time Dilation glyph has a gold-colored clock design and involves the use of Lightning Dust. Summon glyphs are white and have their own unique designs. In Volume 5, using fire Dust with her glyphs make them become a red-orange color.

Dust


Weiss frequently utilizes Dust and occasionally uses her Semblance to direct the movement and manifestation of it, such as in "Players and Pieces", where she does this to create a curved wall of ice between Ruby and the Death Stalker's stinger.

Weiss has shown a preference for Ice Dust, only switching types if it provides her with an advantage, such as using Wind Dust against sonic based attacks, or to create certain types of glyphs such as black or Time Dilation glyphs. She has used Ice Dust to trap enemies, create a trail to push enemies from a height, create a slippery sheet of ice and form pointed ice chunks to use as projectiles.

Weaknesses
Weiss seems to have limited endurance, as seen in "The Emerald Forest", after Ruby and Weiss are forced to retreat from a pack of Beowolves after a forest fire; Weiss is shown to be panting in exhaustion while Ruby is still fully energized.

The biggest sign of her lack of endurance, however, is her inability to take heavy hits. Out of everyone on her team, she has been knocked out the most, such as by Nora Valkyrie with her watermelon hammer during the food fight, and the White Fang Lieutenant smashing her head into the ground.

Despite her glyphs' durability, they have been demonstrated to be breakable, such as when she summons three black glyphs in an attempt to stop the cargo ship's crash. The ship falls far too fast or is too heavy for her, causing it to rip the glyphs apart as it falls through them.

While Weiss may be becoming more familiar with her Semblance's Summoning ability, larger summons like her Arma Gigas apparently take greater time and effort to manifest, as shown in her duel with Vernal, who kept interrupting Weiss' attempts to bring forth the sword-wielding warrior. This weakness was heavily exploited by Vernal.

Trivia

 * Weiss alludes to Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. For more information on this allusion, as well as other choices the creators made for this character, see Weiss Schnee/Behind the Scenes.
 * Weiss' voice actor, Kara Eberle, compares her to both Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series.
 * During an "Ask Me Anything" question and answer session on the Rooster Teeth website, Kara said that Weiss' favorite season is winter, her favorite color is baby blue, and her favorite ice cream flavor is blueberry frozen yogurt. Also, if given the choice between fighting 1 horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses, she would rather fight 1 horse-sized duck.
 * It was stated by Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross that Weiss prefers drinking coffee over tea. In "Destiny", Weiss suggests that she and Blake get coffee, but Blake opts for tea instead. It was also mentioned in the Fan Service Podcast.
 * Despite her name being German, the 'W' in her first name, as well as the 'nee' part of her last name are not pronounced as they would be in German. Monty stated that this is because real-world countries, such as Germany, do not exist in Remnant.
 * In the official artwork shown at the end of each trailer, she is holding Myrtenaster in her right hand, despite being left-handed. This is because the drawings in the Team RWBY composite are early concepts.
 * She has her own official Twitter account at RT_WeissSchnee, like Ruby and Yang, which are currently inactive.
 * Weiss is often addressed by nicknames, being called "Princess", "Snow Angel" or "Ice Queen" by Ruby, Jaune, Neptune Vasilias, Sun, Yang and even Roman Torchwick and the White Fang Lieutenant.
 * The "Ice Queen" nickname is also given by Qrow to Weiss' sister, Winter.
 * Weiss Schnee is a playable character in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle.