Weiss Schnee

Weiss Schnee (Why-ss Sh-nee)  is one of the main characters and the second character introduced in RWBY. Weiss's weapon of choice is a Multi Action Dust Rapier (MADR) named Myrtenaster. She made her first appearance on the 14th of February 2013 in the "White" Trailer, in which she was performing a song while having a flashback of a fight with the Giant Armor, both of which presumably took place at White Castle.

Appearance
Weiss appears as a young girl, dressed primarily in light blue, white, and some red. She wears a pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress. The inside of the bolero is red and the sleeves turn blue as they get closer to her wrists. The bolero has the Schnee crest on the back that bears a resemblance to a snowflake. The same design seems to appear when she uses her Semblance.

Weiss wears a necklace with a single jewel or bead, along with a pair of thin, rectangular earrings. She wears white wedge boots that go to mid-calf (also lined with red on the inside) and a small tiara that resembles icicles. Her long hair is white and pulled back in an off-center ponytail. She has a pale complexion and ice-blue eyes. She also bears a crooked scar down her left eye. In her segment of the logo, she appears to be as tall as, if not slightly taller, than Ruby. In the possible flashback sequence in her trailer, Weiss also wears a small bag on the back of her dress, wrapped around her waist with a ribbon, possibly containing Dust crystals or vials, respective to the colors on Myrtenaster.

She has a faded-bluish sleeping gown with short sleeves and white trimmings, and her logo on the right upper chest.

According to Weiss, her dress is a combat skirt, which Ruby also wears.

Personality
Monty Oum has said that everything has been decided for her, and because of this she is a bit of a rebel. Being the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, it is possible that Weiss is pursuing a career as a Huntress because of this rebellious attitude. It even manages to manifest 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.

According to her voice actor, Kara Eberle, Weiss is "nice but can also be a little bit bitchy." This is seen when Weiss scolded Ruby continuously for knocking over her luggage and continued to antagonize her even after she had apologized. Weiss is also quite proud of her status and certainly plays the part of the pampered princess without difficulty. Coming to Beacon Academy, she has a bellhop transport her luggage. She is also pleased when Blake names her as heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Of course, her reaction turns sour the moment Blake mentions the company's "controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." Weiss has a large ego and is not above manipulating people for her own gain. After determining that she is indeed the smartest girl in the class, Weiss proceeded to try and persuade Pyrrha with flattery to join her team. Her reasoning was that if she had the strongest girl in class on her side, she could be one of the stars of the school.

However, it is possible that this cold and harsh personality is just a front she puts up to hide how she really feels. In her trailer, Weiss is portrayed as quiet and possibly even lonely. In The First Step, Pt.2, after Weiss and Ruby are paired together in the Emerald Forest, Weiss quickly loses confidence and is visibly scared when Ruby vanishes, even exclaiming Ruby's name in fear when Beowolves begin to emerge from the bushes around her. She is also shown mentally coaching herself before attacking the Beowolves in the following episode, demonstrating how thoughtful she is during battle. Unlike Ruby and Yang, Weiss is analytical when in battle, waiting for the right moment to strike and retreating when circumstances are not favorable. This greatly contrasts with Ruby's style of fighting as she is impulsive and rushes in to attack. This, coupled with her condescending attitude is a source of conflict between the two.

In Episode 9, Weiss is shown to lack a humorous side, as she was annoyed by Ruby, Yang and Blake's humorous acts on saying "Banzai!" She also seems to get upset when things do not go her way, as she was outvoted by the three girls in making the beds bunk-beds, even when she said it was dangerous. It is also seen when Ruby makes a drawing of Professor Peter Port, where he is fatter, and seems to be annoyed by Ruby's childish antics.

In Episode 10, Professor Port suggests that Weiss has received everything she has ever wanted in her life. He mentions this after witnessing Weiss' hostile behavior towards Ruby's being chosen Team Leader instead of herself. Also, Port claims that Weiss was never grateful for anything since she was given anything she asked for, yet another implication as to why she has such a poor attitude, remarking that her vanity was equal to her skills on the battlefield. Weiss acknowledges his observations to an extent, but does not fully accept them. After speaking with the Professor, Weiss' attitude appears to change as she takes his suggestion to "be the best person [she] can be" to heart. As a result, she decides to become more friendly with Ruby and to open up to her more, going so far as to bring Ruby a cup of coffee in the middle of the night and even to mention to Ruby that she had always wanted bunk beds growing up, contrasting greatly with her original outward opinion of the beds.

Despite previously implicating a deep hatred for childish behavior, Weiss displays the very thing she despises. In Episode 10, she throws a temper tantrum in response to having her main flaw, her bad attitude, pointed out to her by Professor Port. Later Weiss says that she will try to be the best teammate she can, going so far as to compliment Ruby, saying she knows she can be a good leader. However, in Episode 14, she isn't above insulting Ruby when she makes a stupid response in her eyes.

Weiss also appears to be an avid student, taking interest in history, including the Battle of Fort Castle. This could be because of her vain nature and wanting to be the best.

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. The White Fang's activities seem to have contributed to a difficult childhood for Weiss, as she had close ties with numerous people who were either killed by or disappeared because of the White Fang. The fact that the White Fang have been consistently disrupting the SDC's activities has also caused Weiss' father to be frequently angry, further worsening her childhood. She cites these events as having colored her views on both the White Fang and Faunus.

This is first evidenced when she begins talking about the White Fang in The Stray and rants about them in occasionally hyperbolic terms to the consternation of her teammate Blake Belladonna, who she was then unaware is a former member of the group. It is seen to affect how she views Faunus in general when she makes many derogatory comments about Sun Wukong because of his minor criminal acts and, after Blake defends him, suggests he would likely just end up joining with the White Fang. However, shortly after the fight with Roman, Weiss seems to no longer care about her argument with Blake, stating they are teammates and it changes nothing.

Abilities & Powers
Weiss is proficient in handling her weapon, the Multi Action Dust Rapier: Myrtenaster, demonstrating a high degree of swordsmanship. It has a revolving chamber inside the guard which can channel Dust to produce various effects.

Note: The following is partial speculation as the exact powers of each mode are still unclear.

Red appears to enhance strength or create an enhanced shield, as shown when she was able to block the Giant Armor's slash with one hand. It also seems to create flames, as seen in her first fight with the Beowolves in the Emerald Forest. Light Blue conjures a wave of ice and Yellow seems to enhance her agility. Violet increases attack power for a split second dealing high damage with a slash attack while Blue appears to make a repulsion effect as well as the ability to bind the opponent. She dons white again just before she delivers a finisher attack (which makes the weapon glow with runes on the blade and possibly turns enemies into ice shards when defeated. This possibly references Red Like Roses' lyrics "White is cold...."

She is extraordinarily fast like Ruby and seems to almost teleport from place to place. She also appears to be quite durable, having taken a full-blown punch from said assailant. She fights gracefully, as if she were dancing on ice, and uses her powers to their full effect; however, Weiss appears to be less confident than Ruby while battling, briefly hesitating after being knocked aside by the Armor.

One of her earlier and more noticeable abilities is to cast a technique unofficially called "Air Step" in which she creates a tangible platform in midair, enabling her to engage in aerial combat with no need to return to ground level. If she uses the same spell while on the ground, it greatly enhances her speed for a short period of time; however, that may be another spell entirely and only visually similar. Both, seem to be triggered by a specific hand motion. One may notice throughout the battle that, at times, Weiss will faintly glow white. This seems to indicate that the power is due to Aura. In the trailer, the glyph used to create Air Step is white and has something similar to her emblem on it.

Since then, Weiss has demonstrated variations of her glyphs, each having a different color. So far, black, white, and blue have been shown. Black is used for propulsion, although at lift-off, the glyph's color may change, as it did in Episode 8 when used on Ruby. The reason for the change of color is unknown. Blue glyphs have been used for attraction (i.e. Ruby running up a cliff), and are also used for as a repulsive shield, shown in Weiss' battle against a Boarbatusk. According to Pyrrha, Weiss' semblance are her glyphs.

She also appears to be much weaker in physical strength compared to Ruby, since her legs buckle inwards as she slides whereas Ruby keeps them bent and strong. She gives the impression of being as weak as ice, though the impact she receives demonstrates otherwise. Even if it is true that physically she is weaker than Ruby, Weiss is noticeably faster. At the very beginning of her fight, even without using any particular Dust ability, Weiss can move at speeds rivaling Ruby's. Weiss' speed was first seen in the episode Players and Pieces when she dashed forward to save Ruby from the Death Stalker's tail with a ice attack. Weiss also seems to have the weakest endurance when in comparison to Ruby, Blake and Yang, whom after the fight with the Nevermore, the three girls showed no signs of fatigue, while Weiss herself was exhausted, but it was possibly contributed due to the amount of Dust used, if Dust does use or require any human energy to successfully use it. However, 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 still seems to be fully energized. However, despite her weak endurance, she seems capable of lasting long enough in a battle and when running at a high speeds, such as when she saved Ruby from the Death Stalker, where Weiss herself was at a long distance from Ruby, where both were half a field apart, and when running across the field when fleeing from the Death Stalker and Nevermore.

Trivia

 * Weiss is the second character of RWBY introduced, appearing in her trailer that was released on February 14th, 2013.
 * Being left handed, Weiss primarily fights with her left hand, usually only using her right hand in conjunction with Dust to activate the enhancements from her weapon.
 * According to Monty Oum, Weiss fights with fencing because he studied fencing.
 * She appears to be related to Snow White as her theme sings about a mirror, although Monty Oum said that his characters would not be based off of fairy tale characters, they do allude to them. This is supported by her name, when translated from German to English is 'White Snow,' which is 'Snow White' with the first and last names exchanged.
 * Additionally, her role as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company may allude to Snow White's affiliation with the seven dwarfs, who were jewel miners.
 * In episode 11 Weiss' food consists of only an apple, this is most likely a reference to Snow White and the poisoned apple.
 * Fitting her title, "White," white light is composed of all colors. Her usage of multiple colored spells and abilities may allude to that trait.
 * Her first name, Weiss, is German for white while her surname, Schnee, is German for snow, thus combining to 'White Snow.' Her last name is also a nickname for someone with white hair and/or a pale complexion.
 * It is currently unknown how Weiss gained the scar over her left eye. While some say that the scar came as a result of her fight in the trailer with the Giant Armor, the scar is actually present during the fight. This can be seen when her face has a streak of blood and the scar is clearly visible.
 * However, frame by frame comparisons give conflicting results, as many frames show that she both had and did not have her scar before the fight started. Before the battle begins, we see a brief glimpse of her eye, bearing the scar. This may be still a moment when she's on-stage, evidenced by the fact that her rapier does not appear at her side. Whether this is a rendering error where the wrong texture was used, where the lighting hides the scar or whether the blood is purposely off centered is unclear.
 * She is the first character introduced to have her surname revealed.
 * Weiss is the only member of Team RWBY who doesn't use conventional weapon ammunition in her fighting style. Instead she uses Dust, which she also uses to augment her swordplay.
 * Despite her name being German, the W in her first name is not pronounced as it would be in German. Monty has stated that this is because real-world countries such as Germany do not exist in the world of RWBY.
 * After lecturing Ruby about Dust in her series debut, she is dubbed 'princess' by her, possibly as a nod to the pre-series speculation that Weiss was royalty or an allusion to Snow White.
 * She is the only main character not to have spoken lines before appearing on the show.
 * Many consider Weiss a "Tsundere" because of her initial attitude towards Ruby during their meeting and other interactions. This is a form of Japanese character development in which the character is initially cold and even hostile, but gradually becomes warm and loving.
 * In episode 10, she states that she always wanted to have bunk beds as a child.
 * 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, Blake, and Yang.
 * Weiss has several similarities to Church from Red vs. Blue. Both are often annoyed by their team, both are logical and intelligent, both have relations to a major group (Schnee Dust Company for Weiss, Project Freelancer for Church), and both see highly of themselves. However, unlike Church, Weiss isn't the leader of her team.