Aura

Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts.



Aura is the manifestation of one's soul in the RWBY universe, and can be used for a wide range of abilities. The specific ability and its strength differ from individual to individual and are dependent on a number of factors, such as experience, training, and innate skill.

Description


Aura is an ability that all those with a soul can use, at least with enough practice. A person with a strong Aura may radiate bright colors when using it. Because Aura is the manifestation of the soul, it can appear very differently depending on who is using it. For example, the color of Aura differs from person to person: Pyrrha's looks red, Jaune's looks white, and Ren's appears to be a shade of purple.

It is mentioned that anything with a soul has an Aura, but Humans and Faunus seem to be the only beings able to weaponize it for their own protection. This fact however has been recently subverted with the introduction of the first synthetic person able to generate an Aura in Penny. Skilled users of Aura can create their own barriers or even increase their own abilities in some way. Weapons and armor can also act as a conduit for Aura, allowing for an even wider range of offensive and defensive capabilities.

It has been shown that Aura strength degrades with continual use. This limits the applications of Aura in combat as, with time or heavy use, a person's Aura will decay to the point where they are left weakened or even incapacitated. This has been witnessed several times in the show:
 * When Pyrrha Nikos unlocked Jaune Arc's Aura in The Emerald Forest.
 * When Jaune lost a duel with Cardin Winchester in Jaunedice.

Abilities




Aura is a necessary energy source for all Hunters, being a powerful ally in battle. It is also required in order to trigger the use of Dust. Aura, as demonstrated by various characters, has the ability to do the following:
 * Defense: Demonstrated by Ren in the Emerald Forest, and explained by Pyrrha. Aura is mainly used for defensive purposes. Ren used his to block the fangs of a King Taijitu that was attacking him.
 * Offense: Demonstrated by Ren in the forest, as he sends a shock wave of force propelling a fang through the snake's head, causing it to explode. Additionally Pyrrha has stated that all tools and equipment are conduits for a person's Aura.
 * Unlock Aura: One's Aura can be used to 'unlock' the Aura of someone else; as shown by Pyrrha, who unlocks Jaune's Aura. Doing this appears to take a toll on the user however.
 * Healing: It also seems that those with a strong enough Aura can heal minor wounds. Jaune used this directly on a small cut after having his Aura unlocked. However it appears that the healing is automatic and not caused at will. It also seems to wear off after engaging in combat, as Jaune's injuries returned post-battle with an Ursa.

Other specific abilities, known as Semblances, appear to be unique to, or otherwise more pronounced, in certain individuals. Whether or not these abilities are classified as Aura applications is not known. However, in Extracurricular, it is learned that when a person uses their aura, they can discover their semblance. This is the only known tie between the two concepts.

Activation
It appears that Aura is able to manifest in different ways when in use and takes on the color of one's inner energy. It appears as a slight glow around the body.

It has been stated that the activation of an Aura requires training and willpower, though someone with considerable training can unlock the Aura of another person.

Tournaments


In the episode Jaunedice, it is revealed that Aura strength, as a proportion of maximum potential, can be electronically monitored and displayed on a scroll. This has enabled the development of a competitive sport amongst Hunters and others.

Because Aura can protect its user against some of the force of physical blows, it is possible to duel using fully combat-ready weapons without risking death or serious injury. Such tournaments are closely monitored by a referee and, should a combatant's Aura strength fall below a certain red-line where they may no longer be sufficient to protect their users, the match is automatically halted and the combatant with the highest Aura percentile remaining is declared the winner.

The duel between Jaune and Cardin proves that Aura does not provide 100% protection against concussive blows as Jaune is visibly hurt and left winded by a blow to the abdomen from his opponent's mace. However, Glynda Goodwitch halts the match before Cardin can strike again, indicating that Jaune's Aura at about 20% power would not stop another full-strength blow.

There is at least one known major international competitive tournament, the Vytal Festival, at which students at Beacon Academy are permitted to compete as representatives of the region of Vale. It is possible that the Mistral regional tournament, won by Pyrrha four years in a row, is another Tournament but this has not yet been explicitly confirmed on-screen.

Users
It is noted that everything with a soul possesses Aura; however only those that are skilled in combat seem able to use it. Even less people are able to use their Aura effectively in combat. Listed here are users who are explicitly shown utilizing Aura.
 * Lie Ren - Ren's Aura appears to be a shade of pink. His Aura allows him to make barriers and increase the force of his attacks.
 * Pyrrha Nikos - So far Pyrrha has used her Aura to unlock Jaune's. Her Aura is an intense red color. It may be associated with her Semblance that enables her to manipulate metal objects with magnetic fields.
 * Jaune Arc - After his Aura is unlocked, a cut on his cheek rapidly healed. It is unknown what else his Aura can do, but Pyrrha notices that he has a lot of it. His Aura's color is white.
 * Cardin Winchester - Cardin's Aura was shown being monitored during a duel between him and Jaune. During his match against Pyrrha Nikos, it's shown that Cardin has a lot of aura and knows how to control it as he was able to take a great amount of damage from Pyrrha before being knocked out.
 * Penny - Penny confirms that she is the first synthetic person to have an Aura.

Trivia

 * It is stated by Pyrrha that only those who have souls are able to use Aura, even animals, meaning that creatures of Grimm are unable to use this ability as they lack a soul, and thus, an Aura.
 * It can be compared to Ki/Chi or Chakra in other media.
 * Miles Luna stated that he got the Aura monitor from the shield system in the Halo Series. When one's Aura is low, the bar flashes red. The same goes for the shield used by the Spartans.