Ruby Rose


 * This page is about the character. For the episode by the same name, see Ruby Rose (episode).

Ruby Rose is the main protagonist, leader of Team RWBY, and the first character introduced in RWBY. Ruby's weapon of choice is a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe (HCSS) dubbed Crescent Rose.

She first appeared in the "Red" Trailer released on November 5th, 2012, in which she fought Beowolves. She then appears at the end of the "Yellow" Trailer greeting Yang Xiao Long and inquiring as to why her sister Yang was there.

Appearance
Ruby appears as a young, silver-eyed girl dressed in a black blouse and a skirt with red trimmings, complete with a red cloak. She is the shortest character in the series so far, and also the youngest. Her entire outfit is made up of various shades of red and black, with black as the primary color on the main suit and red on the cloak. Even her hair contains light-red streaks.

As of her second appearance, Ruby has cross-shaped pins holding her cloak to her shirt. Around her waist is a belt which holds large cartridges (possibly .50 caliber or comparable) in individual loops, as well as a magazine pouch. In the "Red" Trailer, as well as the promotional logo for RWBY, she had a silver cross on her belt, but it was eventually changed into a silver version of her rose symbol.



Ruby's physical appearance resembles the Little Red Riding Hood archetype, which is further reinforced by the appearance of the Beowolves in her trailer. Director Monty Oum has confirmed that she indeed alludes to, but is not based on, Red Riding Hood.

Ruby's pajamas consist of a black tank top with a heart-shaped Beowolf design on the chest and white long pants with pink rose decorations. She also wears a black sleeping mask with triangular red eyes reminiscent of the Beowolves in her trailer.

Unlike the other students of Beacon, Ruby wears part of her original outfit, her cloak, along with her school uniform.

Personality
Monty Oum has described Ruby as being “innocent” and still a “little sister.” Most of Ruby’s personality is shown through her childish nature as well as her fighting style. She is shown to be impulsive, naïve, and innocent; but when needed, she can be serious and dependable.

Ruby is a self-proclaimed dork when it comes to weapons; she is quite intelligent, having designed and built Crescent Rose during her time at Signal, although she admits to going "a little overboard" with its design. She feels that seeing new weapons "is like meeting new people, but better." Oum has said she relies on Crescent Rose quite often in battle, which implies that her weapon is the source of her confidence in battle.

Ruby has a strong sense of moral justice, a trait she obtained from stories about heroes and monsters that her sister used to read for her, as well as the way her parents raised her. These stories are what gave her the ideals that she wished to live by and uphold throughout her life, and are the reason for her love for books. Because she is shown to be childish even when in class, she tends to study by herself to cover the necessary knowledge.

Ruby is shown to be naïve, as although she doesn't like to be the center of attention, becoming a Huntress has effectively put her in the spotlight. In addition to her dislike of attention, Ruby prefers to either be alone or with Yang. However, she has become comfortable with Team RWBY and Team JNPR. She does not lack social skills, but has problems when meeting new people. This is mostly because of her childish nature and lack of social grace, as she can be bad-mannered (only out of ignorance) and sometimes speaks without thinking. However, because of her enthusiastic personality, she can become very good friends with people who share her enthusiasm.

Although she is highly skilled in battle, Ruby seems reckless and impulsive, attacking on sight instead of thinking the situation through beforehand, as seen during her first fight alongside Weiss Schnee. Also, Ruby at times doesn't seem to analyze the battlefield at all or take the time to study an opponent, such as when she attacks a Death Stalker on sight before learning of its high resistance to bullets and blades. She seems to lack experience when it comes to fighting as a team, as she is seen to have almost no coordination with Weiss during their fight with a pack of Beowolves in Episode 7.

Despite this, Ruby's leadership skills make her a worthy teammate. While she may occasionally act without thinking, sometimes she seems to understand the situation better than others. She can then use this ability to quickly formulate plans. This was seen during Team RWBY's battle with the Nevermore, in which her teammates' positions allowed her to come up with a successful plan. Ozpin most likely assigned Ruby as team leader to ensure that she grows as an individual. This proves to be the case as she becomes a resourceful and dependable leader who studies so hard and so late, she falls asleep in the middle of the task. This is all to impress her teammate Weiss, but also shows how determined she is to be a good leader. She was also able to pass her beliefs as leader to Jaune Arc, thus helping him find a new sense of responsibility for the safety and well-being of his own team.

Ruby is also shown to care for all her teammates equally, despite their race. This is seen in how she expresses sympathy for Weiss' bad childhood after she explains her family's history with the White Fang. She shows the same concern moments later for Blake Belladonna when she runs away, after revealing herself as a Faunus. Ruby's concern is further expressed in her desperate search for her teammate. This sense of care is later shown not to be limited to her teammates. She also shows some worry for Penny, telling the latter to stay out of the fight between Roman Torchwick, Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong.

Abilities & Powers
Ruby is very skilled in combat, despite her small stature and age when compared to those around her. This is a result of special training from her Uncle Qrow, who Ruby claims took her under his wing in order to improve her skills. As a result, Ruby is a master at using her scythe; even Ozpin admits that he hasn't seen someone of Ruby's skill since Qrow himself.

Ruby's first display of her skills was in the "Red" Trailer, where she single-handedly fends off a large pack of Beowolves without injury. Later, in Episode 1, she is able to defeat Roman Torchwick's group of henchmen after they tried to rob a Dust shop, forcing Roman to retreat.



Ruby's main weapon in combat is her scythe, Crescent Rose, which she designed herself, as all students at Signal do. Her weapon is a combination of a scythe and a high-powered rifle, which causes a large amount of recoil when fired. Ruby uses the recoil from Crescent Rose's shots to augment the speed and force of her strikes. However, she is also able to spin Crescent Rose with exemplary skill and power without the recoil, often executing chain attacks with this technique.

Even without the use of special abilities, Crescent Rose is incredibly sharp. In Episode 5, Ruby was able to cleanly slice through a large tree with a single, non-recoil-augmented blow, causing the tree to fall. She also uses the weapon itself as a platform from which to attack, shown when Ruby laid down completely on the handle of Crescent Rose while firing at opponents.

Ruby carries two kinds of ammunition with her: unmarked and Cross Clips. The unmarked magazines will fire off a high-caliber bullet with a white muzzle flash. Cross Clips (technically magazines), on the other hand, give off a black muzzle flash and are shown to have significantly greater power than the unmarked magazines. This lends her even more speed and power. With Cross Clips, Ruby is able to use Crescent Rose to propel herself with extraordinary speed before rotating herself axially in midair to execute a devastating spinning slash attack.

To add to her already impressive battle prowess, Ruby's Semblance is speed, as stated by Pyrrha Nikos. Because of her Semblance, she is able to move from place to place so quickly that that she appears to be teleporting, as she seems to materialize out of nowhere. She does so to avoid the first Beowolf's lunge in the "Red" Trailer, and later shows it to Weiss during a conversation in the Emerald Forest. In Best Day Ever, Ruby was shown using her speed to great effect, as creating a powerful whirlwind that blew away not only Team JNPR but also other objects, slamming them all against the wall of the school cafeteria.

However Ruby doesn't seem to have full control of this ability or is only able to use it when concentrating, as she didn't use it when being chased by the Death Stalker in Episode 8, leading to her being pinned by the Nevermore's feather. Whenever she uses her Semblance, she leaves a cloud of rose petals in her wake that quickly dissipates. It is unknown what causes this, but these rose petals are not merely symbolic and can be perceived by others, as shown by Weiss who once waved her hands trying to brush them away.

Ruby has enhanced endurance, showing no signs of fatigue in battle at all. In Episode 6, Weiss and Ruby are forced to retreat from a pack of Beowolves, and when battling the Nevermore, she showed no signs of fatigue. After running a certain distance to safety, Ruby shows no signs of weariness, while Weiss is seen trying to catch her breath. Her endurance is also seen after the battle with the Nevermore, where she is aided by Yang, Blake, and Weiss in defeating the large Grimm by dragging it up a cliff and beheading it; upon landing, she doesn't appear to be exhausted in the slightest.

Trivia

 * She bears a striking resemblance to the famous fairy tale character Little Red Riding Hood. However, when asked by fans, Monty Oum stated that Ruby and the other girls will have no ties to any fairy tale at all. Although in a recent interview he did say Ruby's design was influenced by Little Red Riding Hood and that all the other main characters' physical appearances will be majorly influenced by other fairy tales and mythological tales.
 * Monty has confirmed that Ruby is left handed. However, she is seen wielding with her right hand just as well. Monty has stated that it is "common to switch both hands while fighting, especially to make it interesting."
 * Despite sharing a similar red-and-black color scheme, Monty has confirmed that Ruby and Adam are not related to each other, and that their emblems differ from each other in terms of "scatter and wilt."
 * Although Ruby is often depicted to favor sweets like cookies, her favorite food is actually strawberries.
 * She has her own official Twitter account at RT_RubyRose, like Weiss and Yang.
 * Although Yang and Ruby do not have the same last name, Monty Oum has confirmed that neither of them are adopted, nor are they step sisters.
 * Monty later confirmed that Yang and Ruby are half sisters, with Summer Rose being Ruby's mother.
 * Early designs for Ruby were set aside and later used for Miltiades Malachite, one of Yang's foes in the "Yellow" Trailer.
 * Ruby is the first character to be playable in RWBY: Grim Eclipse.