Blake Belladonna

Blake Belladonna   is one of the main characters and the third character introduced in RWBY. Her weapon of choice is a Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe (VBCS) dubbed Gambol Shroud. She, along with Adam, first appeared in the "Black" Trailer on March 22, 2013 during the PAX East 2013 event, infiltrating a train and doing battle with high-tech robots.

Appearance
Blake is a young girl of pale complexion, similar to Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee. She has long, curly black hair, and her eyes are amber, complemented by a light purple eye shadow flaring backwards. Her eyes are slightly titled upwards at the ends, giving her a somewhat catlike appearance. Blake wears a bow resembling cat ears on top of her head, making her seem even more feline. She wears black low-heeled shoes and stockings that start off black at her hips, but gradually fade to purple as they near her shoes. There is a small, white, flame-like marking on the outside of her stockings.She wears black wristbands on both of her arms, with a black detached sleeve with a silver banding on her left arm. Blake wears a black buttoned vest with coattails, and a white, sleeveless undershirt that exposes part of her midriff with white shorts that may be connected to her shirt, although it is partly obscured by the vest. Blake also wears a detached scarf-like collar around her neck.

Blake wears what appears to be a black yukata as her sleeping garment.

Personality
As seen in the "Black" Trailer, she seems to have some righteous moral obligations in regards to human life, as she disagrees with Adam's plan to blow up the train with the crew still on board. Blake is described as being "mellow" by her voice actor, Arryn Zech. She also appears to be open, calm, and not afraid to speak her mind, as seen when she explains who Weiss is to Ruby, and then immediately points out the Schnee Dust Company's shady history, right in front of Weiss.

In both her appearances in "The Shining Beacon" and "The Shining Beacon, Pt 2" Blake is seen reading a book. During the night before the initiation, she lights some candles to read a book and secludes herself from the other students. When Yang and Ruby approach her, she tries her best to make them leave (until Ruby takes interest in her book). This suggests that she is quite fond of books and isn't very sociable, preferring to be alone. She was even a little bit annoyed when her reading was interrupted by Yang and Ruby, but she appeared to warm up to them once Ruby took interest in the book she was reading, even going so far as to start a real conversation with Ruby rather than give short, curt answers. From her response to Ruby concerning her fairy tale view of the world, Blake is shown to be a realist stating that "unfortunately the real world isn't like a fairy tale."

Abilities and Powers
Blake can move at impressive speeds, as seen when she slides down to the train, landing on it from the cliff. Rivaling Weiss in speed, Blake also shows above average agility and endurance. For example, when fighting multiple enemies she maintained constant motion and stayed energized. Because of her speed, Blake is able to utilize an "after image" technique in which she leaves a still image of herself behind, when she has actually already moved. It is useful for surprising or disorienting enemies.

Blake also exhibits a high level of skill when handling Gambol Shroud. She can slash away at opponents with startling speed and deflect projectiles off of her blade. Even when sheathed, Blake's weapon is deadly, as she is able to slice her opponents in two with just the cleaver-like cover. However, when she unsheathes her sword, she becomes even deadlier, using both the katana and sheath in tandem to demolish her opponents. She also appears to be able to freely and quickly change the way she grips them. Blake can change the form of the blade into a gun-blade which is attached to an extending ribbon which she uses with deadly accuracy (similar to the Japanese kusarigama, sickle-and-chain).

Blake can slice multiple enemies with Gambol Shroud from the ground or in the air through a whirling attack. She can grapple other opponents or objects from medium range, bringing them into melee distance. On top of that, Blake can fire the pistol while it swings on the ribbon. Similar to Ruby's technique with Crescent Rose, Blake uses the recoil from the pistol shots to further increase Gambol Shroud's velocity. She also uses the momentum of the weapon on the ribbon as an anchor to maneuver herself in midair.

Trivia

 * Blake is the first of the four girls to actually have speaking lines, compared to Ruby who was mute in her trailer, and Weiss who was singing (though provided by Casey Lee Williams and not her actual voice actor) and could only be heard grunting during the battle in the White trailer.
 * Blake means "black" in Old English. Belladonna means "fair lady" (Bella donna) in Italian, and it is also the name of a deadly nightshade.
 * Blake seems to follow the pattern set by Ruby and Weiss in that the characters are in large part inspired by fairy tale characters: Blake's last name, Belladonna, may have been based on Belle, the name of the Beauty in Beauty and the Beast.
 * Additionally her partner in the trailer, Adam, also shares his name with the Beast in Disney's adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.
 * When she is first introduced in the regular series she is seen reading a book, much like Belle.
 * However, it has also been speculated that the pair are alluding to the Grimms' tale The Thief And His Master.
 * Given her feline traits, some fans speculate that Blake is actually a Fauna or part Fauna. This could mean she is a composite of Beauty and the Beast.
 * The lyrics to Red Like Roses supports the connection to Beauty and the Beast by referencing Blake as "Black the beast."
 * Unlike her teammates at RT_RubyRose, RT_WeissSchnee, and RT_YangXiaoLong, she does not have an official Twitter account (yet).