Nora Valkyrie

Nora Valkyrie was a student at Beacon Academy and is a member of Team JNPR. Her weapon of choice is Magnhild, a hammer that can transform into a grenade launcher.

Original (Volumes 1-3)
Nora has short orange hair and turquoise eyes. Her clothing is a mix and match of some sort, with different colors and themes. She wears a collared black vest that ends at her waist. Her signature emblem, a hammer with a lightning bolt, can be found on the back. Under the vest are two layers of clothing, colored red and light-blue respectively. In Volume 1, Nora has a turquoise bow at the back of her skirt, but it was removed in Volume 2.

She also wears a white sleeveless top that forms a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm. She wears matching fingerless gloves on each hand. She sports a pink skirt that starts at the waist and ends mid-thigh. Her shoes are a mix of pink and white with pink laces, displaying her emblem on their soles.

She also wears armor that begins in the middle of the shoulder and neck and ends by the waist.

Beacon Uniform
For her school uniform, she wears the standard uniform with black crew socks instead of the usual tights.

Pajama
Her pajamas consist of a dark gray T-shirt with the word "Boop" written on it (which also includes her hammer emblem) and pink shorts patterned with white thunderbolts.

Dance Outfit
She wears a pink shoulderless dress with a white skirt to the Beacon Dance. Notably, the seam joining the two sections tapers to a point, which gives the top part of her dress a resemblance to a pink heart-shape.

Gym Outfit
She wears a white and pink V-neck T-shirt, which has a pink heart with a white thunderbolt on the chest, pink gym shorts with white stripes running down the sides, matching pink wristbands and sweatband, white knee high socks with pink stripes near the top, and a pair of pink converse-style shoes with white laces.

Post-Timeskip (Volume 4 - Current)
After the timeskip following the Fall of Beacon, her new design is updated. She retains her gloves and white top, though the heart cut-out on the top now has a diagonal cut through it. Over the shirt she wears a zippered blue-black bomber jacket with a damaged print of her emblem visible on the back and pink stripes along the sleeves. The pink bands of the jacket tighten on her upper arms. Her skirt is slightly longer with pleats that create some flair and two wide belt loops at the waist for her matching belt. She wears knee-high pink socks just visible above her calf-length boots, which are white with pink laces.

Personality
A happy-go-lucky, bubbly and playful young girl, Nora is mainly characterized by her boundless enthusiasm. When Nora talks, many of her words may sometimes come out randomly without her actually giving much thought to anything she comes up with. This is caused by her tendency to jump into a different topic most of the time and her rather peculiar imagination. Because of this and her free-spirited attitude, Nora's personality changes according to her mood and she is prone to becoming a nuisance to the people around her, losing the point of a conversation, or even experiencing anxiety attacks. However, Nora is more insightful than one would think and is capable of being serious when mostly necessary.

Nora is very open with her companions and quickly grows fond of them. Because of her motor mouth, she is very open to conversation and plays with her friends almost all the time she is interacting with them, making her a very social and likable person. She can also be protective and supportive when she sees teammates need it. She is also considerate of their personal space and respects their decisions even if she doesn't agree with them. Nora does not doubt the talents of her friends and places her entire faith in Pyrrha Nikos' and Ren's fighting skills, while following Jaune Arc's orders as her leader without question. She also appears to be good at reading people, as seen during interactions with Jaune and Pyrrha in "Burning the Candle" and "Destiny".

Although Nora retains her joyful personality even in combat, she is seen to be more focused and in control of herself during an encounter. She can be patient, obedient and smart. If she does not see the need of her assistance, she will stand back and choose to observe. Whenever she receives an order from one of her teammates, she always follows it with no doubts. And lastly, when she follows Jaune's plans and finds herself in a position that gives her the advantage, she's able to figure out a way to defeat her enemies on her own, indicating an ability to strategize quickly and efficiently.

It is suggested that Nora's happy-go-lucky nature in part disguises any pain and stress she may have retained from the Fall of Kuroyuri.

Weapon
Nora wields a dual-function weapon named Magnhild. Magnhild can transform into one of two weapons, a grenade launcher and a war hammer, which Nora uses proficiently in combat. She uses the grenade launcher form for ranged strikes on her opponent. In its ranged form, the face of the launcher can unhinge, revealing six grenades that can be fired at once for maximum damage.

While using the hammer form, she is a lot more versatile in close-range attacks and movement. Nora uses the recoil of the grenade explosions fired from the face of the hammer to propel her certain distances or to add force to her strikes. In "Players and Pieces", she uses the recoil of her hammer to launch herself from one end of a broken bridge to the other, and in "Breach", she is seen traveling a considerable distance through the air by the same method. Her attacks are powerful enough to finish off an injured Death Stalker and kill a large King Taijitu in one hit.

After the Fall of Beacon, Nora upgrades Magnhild to be able to build up electricity in the hammer's head, allowing her to power herself up. This upgrade is first put to use in the fight against the Geist in "The Next Step".

Strength
Her ability to easily carry and use Magnhild in its hammer form suggests that she possesses a high level of strength. This is further demonstrated when she sends Weiss flying across the canteen during their food fight despite not using Magnhild. She also showed her strength when she sent Yang Xiao Long flying away through the roof in one hit, and the latter lands back in the room nearly two minutes later. She later states she can benchpress five times her own weight and she has been seen jumping several feet without aura, high enough to jump the length of a small building. She may also possess some form of enhanced speed, as seen where she appeared from one place to another.

Semblance
Nora's Semblance is the ability to produce and channel electrical energy into her muscles, giving her enhanced strength. This ability was first showcased in "New Challengers...", where she caught Nolan Porfirio off-guard by channeling the electricity from his weapon and using the resulting strength to send him into a nearby boulder, destroying it. Although she can absorb electricity from a direct blow, she can also use Magnhild as a lightning rod.

Trivia

 * Nora alludes to Thor, of Norse mythology.
 * Her emblem, a hammer with a lightning bolt through it, is likely a depiction of Mjölnir, the legendary hammer of Thor. Furthermore, Nora's weapon, Magnhild, is a large hammer, whose name is also derived from Old Norse. Even Nora's semblance alludes to Thor as she can produce and channel electricity - the Norse God is often associated with lightning and thunder.
 * Monty stated that each member of JNPR alludes to someone who crossdressed in their story. Thor once disguised himself as the goddess Freyja in order to infiltrate the giant Þrymr's fortress.
 * "Nora" may be an abbreviation of the Greek Eleanor or Eleonora, meaning light, or the Latin Honora, meaning honor. Nora, alternatively spelled Nóra or Norah, is also a given name in several European languages. In Arabic, "Nora" is another form of Noor or Nur (نور), also literally meaning 'light'.
 * Nora's name may reference her color via the Nora Barlow Columbine, a pink flower named after the granddaughter of Charles Darwin. Given the abundance of pink in relation to her, especially in merchandise, this is most likely what her name is supposed to reference.
 * Her last name comes from the Valkyries of Norse mythology, female warrior servants of the gods in Valhalla. This could also indicate that her name is derived from the word "Norse".
 * The idea for Nora's weapon also stems from a video of a Mexican tradition where explosives are hit with sledgehammers.
 * The song "Boop" from the RWBY: Volume 2 Soundtrack is about Nora and her relationship with Ren. The song makes multiple references to her, including some of her lines from the series, like "Boop!" as well as the name of her weapon, Magnhild.
 * Nora seems to have a liking for sweet things, as she ate the red sap that Ren and Pyrrha had collected, as well as all of the syrup that Team JNPR was going to have on their pancakes.
 * It can be inferred that Nora is a big fan of pancakes. In "Welcome to Beacon", she is heard mumbling "pancakes" in her sleep and shouting it again when woken up.
 * Nora, alongside Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc, is one of the characters who owns an object sold in the Rooster Teeth store: her "boop" shirt.
 * At the RTX Australia 2016 RWBY: Grimm Eclipse Live Let's Play, Lindsay Jones, the voice of Ruby Rose, said she recorded some lines for Nora.
 * Nora's eyes are originally sky blue in Volume 1 and RWBY Chibi, but in Volume 2 and 3, her eyes are blue-green. However, in Volume 4, her eyes changed back to sky blue.
 * Nora still possesses her ribbon on her back in RWBY: Grimm Eclipse.