Ruby Rose

For the episode of the same name, see Ruby Rose (episode).

Ruby Rose is a former student of Beacon Academy and the main protagonist of RWBY. Ruby's weapon of choice is her High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe known as Crescent Rose.

Ruby first appeared in the "Red" Trailer visiting the grave of her deceased mother, Summer Rose. After an invitation from Headmaster Ozpin following a short battle with Roman Torchwick, Ruby attends Beacon Academy in order to become a Huntress. During her time at Beacon, she becomes the leader of Team RWBY, consisting of Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and her older half-sister, Yang Xiao Long. However, following the Fall of Beacon, Ruby travels to Haven Academy as a member of Team RNJR with the remaining members of Team JNPR. After the Battle of Haven, Team RWBY is reunited.

Appearance
Ruby is a fair-skinned young girl with silver eyes and black, neck-length, choppy hair that gradates to dark red at the tips.

Original (Volumes 1–3)


She wears a black long sleeved dress with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and around her skirt has a red trim. She also wears a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and red soles.

Her outfit is topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross-shaped pins. Her emblem appears as a large silver brooch and is pinned to a wide black belt slung around her hips on an angle, which also carries bullets and a pouch.

In the "Red" Trailer, Ruby's cloak is fastened at her throat and a large silver cross is pinned to her belt in place of her emblem.

Pajamas
During her time at Beacon, Ruby's pajamas consist of a black tank top featuring a heart-shaped Beowolf design on the chest and long white pants decorated with pink roses. She also wears a black sleeping mask decorated with triangular red eyes reminiscent of the Beowolves in the "Red" Trailer.

At her home in Patch, Ruby's pajamas are a matching dark-gray long-sleeved shirt and pants with faded-red polka dots and a white lining at the front and the collar.

Alternate Outfit (Slayer)


During the events of "A Minor Hiccup" and "Painting the Town...", Ruby wears an alternate outfit codenamed "Slayer".

This outfit consists of a long-sleeve, light gray shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of the sleeves. Over top of the gray shirt is a black pinafore with two vertical lines of red stitching that resemble the lacing on a corset. She wears a red skirt with a large black print of her emblem on the side and matching black tulle underneath.

Her stockings and shoes remain the same as her Original outfit, though the boots lack the red trim that decorated the top. A few pieces of metal arranged in an abstract shape are attached to the shoulder of her left sleeve, and her cloak's hood has been wrapped around her neck in a scarf-like fashion, while the rest hangs down like normal.

Dance Outfit
During the Beacon Dance, Ruby wears a short, red, sleeveless dress with a thick black sash around the waist and black trim along the bottom. The bodice of the dress is split vertically to the sash and laced with black lacing. The yoke of the dress is translucent mesh with an opaque collar and hem, as well as opaque lines connecting the collar to her shoulders. She also wears black stockings and pumps.

Uniform
Ruby wears the same uniform as every other girl attending Beacon, consisting of brown shoes, red tartan skirt, white blouse with maroon trim and thin red bow, a brown vest with gold buttons, and maroon blazer with gold trim, alongside full-length black stockings. However, she also wears her red cloak pinned to her blazer.

Post-Timeskip (Volume 4–Current)


After the timeskip following the Fall of Beacon, her new design sports a white high-neck décolletage blouse with brown studded wristbands on the arms. Her outfit retains the use of a black skirt with red tulle underneath, somewhat similar to her Original outfit, but her waist cincher has been replaced with an overbust corset with red strip holding it in place. A black belt bordered in red holds the magnetic clip for Crescent Rose and its ammunition. She also has brown straps on her blouse that allow her to wear a small brown backpack.

In lieu of her usual full black stockings, Ruby wears thigh-high stockings reaching to a few inches below the hem of her skirt, decorated by an image of a long-stemmed rose. Her red-soled black boots contain four straps and buckles apiece.

Her cloak has a singular clip on the right shoulder in the shape of her emblem, replacing the cross-shaped clips from her original attire. Both the cloak and the stockings show tears from hard wear.

Her hair has also grown slightly longer, maintaining the color gradation from black at the roots to red at the tips.

Personality
Ever since she was little, Ruby has had a romanticized view of the Huntsman profession. She is quick to reveal she wanted to become a Huntress in order to be like the great heroes in fairy tales, and she has described being one as far more "romantic" than being a police officer. Her mentality is described as "I don't have time for my emotions. I've gotta make sure that everybody else is okay." She has also shown a distinct lack of ability picking up social cues due to being a very open and honest person. This results in her inability to pick up Weiss' sarcasm in the "The Shining Beacon" and her struggling to act formally in "It's Brawl in the Family".

Although Ruby has no trouble interacting with her friends, she does have trouble actually making them, and once admits that seeing new weapons "is like meeting new people, but better". This could have been a result of her having been accepted two years earlier to Beacon Academy, which forces her to leave her friends at Signal behind, as well as interact with people that are both older and more experienced than she is. Regardless, both she and Jaune Arc toast to being socially awkward during the Beacon Dance.

In the second chapter of the manga, it is revealed that Ruby has had a fear of large crowds, as shown when she freezes up during a sparring match against Cardin Winchester. However, she manages to work through that fear with some encouragement from her teammates long enough to win the spar, and by the Vytal Festival, she has overcome them entirely.

Ruby also has a sweet tooth, preferring five sugars in her coffee and scarfing down a large plate of cookies in "Ruby Rose". She is even seen with a plate of cookies in "Jaunedice", while her friends are eating more nutritious meals. This is shown again in "Alone Together", where Ruby rejoices and accepts coffee after learning Weiss put "blasphemous amounts of cream and sugar" in it.

In combat or dangerous situations, she is shown to be quite impulsive and battle eager, such as when she attacks a Death Stalker on sight before learning of its high resistance to bullets and blades. This trait contrasts with her adaptability, for she is quite capable of forming attack plans with others in order to take down stronger foes, such as the Nevermore in "Players and Pieces" and Roman in the Atlesian Paladin-290 in "Painting the Town...". After her discussion with Ozpin in "The Badge and The Burden, Pt.2", Ruby begins to take her role as leader of Team RWBY seriously. However, future instances of recklessness are when none of her teammates are near her, such as in the "Battle of Beacon" when she goes alone to engage Roman and Neopolitan, who both outnumbered and outmatched her.

Since Volume 4, Ruby has been shown to be ruthless at times when it comes to protecting her loved ones, such as when she nonchalantly cuts off Tyrian Callows' stinger after he manages to injure and poison her uncle, Qrow Branwen. This is most likely a side effect of the traumas she experienced during the Fall of Beacon.

In Volume 6, Ruby further develops as a leader whenever she and her friends find themselves in trouble. This is evident when she directs the group when they are attacked on the Argus Limited and when she stands up to Qrow after he turns down Jaune's proposed idea of stealing a military airship to get to Atlas. Ruby's leadership starts after Ozpin loses everyone's trust and her uncle falls into depression, leaving her to take charge of the group.

Powers and Abilities
In order to become a Huntress, Ruby trained at Signal Academy, where her skills and abilities far surpassed her peers. Wielding a dangerous weapon like Crescent Rose required strength, balance, and adaptability, all of which she demonstrated the night she stopped the robbery of a Dust shop in Vale. This led Ozpin to accept her into Beacon Academy two years before the usual age of admittance.

While at Beacon, Ruby developed skills as a decisive leader, being able to formulate and execute plans with others in order to take down tougher foes, such as the giant Nevermore the team encountered during initiation, and later in coordinated attacks against Roman in an Atlesian Paladin-290.

Ruby's sense of balance stands out, particularly in precarious situations like perching on a taut ribbon in "Players and Pieces" or running off an exploding airship in "Heroes and Monsters".

Ruby's fighting style relies heavily on her creative uses of and methods for achieving momentum, relying on a combination of her Semblance and Crescent Rose's recoil to allow her to achieve massive impact force, as well as creating slipstreams and even small whirlwinds using her Semblance.

Weapon


Ruby is self-admittedly obsessed when it comes to weapons, which shows in her complex design and craftsmanship of Crescent Rose, her High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe which she designed herself at Signal, as well as her eye for detail when observing other people's weapons and tools.

This weapon can transform between a scythe and a sniper rifle and can fire Dust rounds in either form with massive force, as demonstrated in the "Red" Trailer when she used a Gravity Dust magazine. Rather than compensate for it, Ruby harnesses the recoil to enhance her mobility in combat, firing shots to propel herself short distances, simultaneously attacking and evading an opponent.

It is also capable of using Fire and Lightning Dust.

Ozpin has noted upon meeting Ruby that he has only ever seen one other scythe wielder as skilled with such a dangerous weapon; that person is none other than Qrow, who turns out to be Ruby's teacher and uncle. According to Ruby, prior to learning under Qrow she was "completely garbage", although it is unclear if that only applies to her scythe skills.

Despite showing a preference for engaging enemies in close combat, Ruby does possess enough accuracy to land headshots against Grimm, but notably needs to stand still to do so consistently, usually by anchoring her scythe to the ground to act as a monopod. As of Volume 4, the scope on Crescent Rose has a small crack.

Crescent Rose's blade can also bend back slightly, though this is only shown when Ruby rushes forward, and the tip of the scythe hits something. Ruby takes advantage of this spear-like form to pin a Nuckelavee's arm to the ground.

Semblance


Ruby's Semblance allows her to dash with unnatural speed in whatever direction she chooses at the cost of Aura. This happens so fast she sometimes gives off the illusion of teleporting.

She has displayed the ability to use this Semblance midair, as well as to create powerful whirlwinds that can suck in and knock away objects and foes caught by it.

During the "Volume 4 Character Short", she displayed much greater control over her Semblance, using it to repeatedly change directions in mid-air and attack at high speed. She also exhibited the ability to seemingly dematerialize into three separate clusters of petals which then flowed around an opponent before reforming. The exact mechanics of this ability are not yet clear.

She also increases her ability to pick up and carry someone, as her joint attack with Nora Valkyrie on the Geist was a vast improvement over the time she carried Penny Polendina. Another amped ability is her encircling of air, which she previously used successfully against Team JNPR and unsuccessfully against Mercury Black. Previously it was smaller, but she is now capable of enveloping her enemy in a tornado-like rush of air.

Notably, whenever she uses this Semblance, she leaves a trail of rose petals in her wake that dissipate over time. It is unknown what causes this, but these rose petals are not merely symbolic and can be perceived by others. Weiss once waved her hands to brush them away, and Ozpin comments on witnesses who reported rose petals left behind in a dance club.

Silver Eyes
Through her mother, Summer, Ruby comes from a line of legendary warriors who possessed powerful abilities related to their Silver Eyes, said to be an extremely rare trait. Upon seeing Pyrrha Nikos die in "End of the Beginning", Ruby accidentally uses this power in her grief and petrifies the Wyvern. However, she has no memory of doing this other than her head hurting. Later in the episode, Qrow describes a fairy tale about warriors with Silver Eyes who are so powerful that even the Grimm fear them.

In "The Next Step", it is revealed that Ruby's powers injured Cinder Fall greatly, causing her to lose her left eye and arm, and making it difficult for her to speak for a period of time. Salem states that this is due to Cinder's possession of the Fall Maiden powers but does not explain why this is the case. However, when Ruby uses her powers once again in "The More the Merrier", Raven Branwen, who possesses the Spring Maiden powers, is not affected despite being in the vicinity, indicating that the Maiden powers themselves do not cause an individual to be affected by Silver Eye powers. This indicates that the reason Cinder was affected was because of her usage of the Grimm, through a Grimm beetle glove and a Grimm arm.

In "Alone in the Woods", Ruby has managed to activate her power intentionally after Maria Calavera tells her to concentrate on her loved ones, turning a group of Apathy to dust.

Weaknesses
Ruby is heavily reliant on Crescent Rose. In contrast to her sister, her hand-to-hand capabilities are rather poor, making her easy to be taken down by mere grunts. Without her weapon, there is not much she can do in a fight, and her best bet is to run away with her speed. Her cape, on occasion, has been exploited and used against her, notably during the Beacon initiation when a Nevermore pinned her cape to the ground with it's feather-spears. In "Lighting the Fire" Ruby is shown to be slightly improving in hand-to-hand combat under the tutelage of Professor Ozpin through Oscar Pine. Until she was guided by Maria, Ruby was using the power of her silver eyes in reaction to the death of a close friend or a loved one being in danger, without control on her part. Also, she is vulnerable to attack from behind, as shown when she is knocked out by Emerald Sustrai during the Battle of Haven.

Trivia

 * Ruby alludes to Little Red Riding Hood from the fairy tale of the same name. For more information on this allusion, as well as other choices the creators made for this character, see Ruby Rose/Behind the Scenes.
 * Her name alludes to a type of gemstone that is often found in red. Furthermore, "Ruby" is the name of an actual shade of red. Meanwhile, her surname, "Rose", alludes to another shade of red and a type of flower that is also found most often in red.
 * Ruby's alternate outfit, "Slayer", appears to be somewhat based on the early sketch shown in the second production diary.
 * Despite sharing similar Emblems and a red-and-black color scheme, Monty confirmed that Ruby and Adam Taurus are not related to each other and that their emblems differ from each other in terms of "scatter and wilt".
 * Ruby shares her Emblem design with her mother.
 * Though on the show both Emblems are shown as gray due to being carved in either metal or stone, Ruby's is seen to be red on other RWBY media.
 * Though the reason for this is unknown, Ruby was given her mother's surname rather than father's to pass on.
 * Monty has confirmed that Ruby is left-handed. However, she is seen wielding her weapon with her right hand just as easily, implying trained ambidexterity. Monty has stated that it is "common to switch both hands while fighting, especially to make it interesting." In "No Safe Haven", Ruby is seen writing a letter with her right hand.
 * Although Ruby is often depicted to favor sweets like cookies, her favorite food is actually strawberries.
 * Ruby Rose is a playable character in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. A demo of her in the game was tweeted by Gray G. Haddock on October 3rd, 2017.
 * Ruby, alongside Nora and Jaune, is one of the few characters who owns an object for sale at the Rooster Teeth store – which includes her Rose Pajama Pants, her headphones, and her Beacon Academy backpack.
 * At the RTX Australia 2016 RWBY Panel, Ruby's Skype username was RlyRlyKoolKid.
 * In the teaser trailer for Camp Camp, another animated series produced by Rooster Teeth, a figurine of Ruby was briefly seen in the cubicle belonging to "Maggie Tominey".
 * Ruby shares her color scheme with Raven Branwen.