Maria Calavera

Maria Calavera is a character in RWBY. She first appeared in "Argus Limited".

Appearance
Maria is an elderly woman with dark skin and long white hair worn in a single braid down her back. She is of small stature and appears to be hunched over, requiring use of a walking stick.

She wears a full-length dress in the traditional Tabasco style, consisting of a dark blue top with full sleeves and skirt comprised of alternating light and dark blue layers. In addition to her dress, she wears thick brown gloves and a heavy blue cloak trimmed at the edges with a pattern of white, hollow triangles on a light blue background. Around the neck of the cloak is a similar white and blue trim. The cloak is secured to her shoulders with ornate white pauldrons.

Maria is blind and requires goggle-like prosthetic eyes to see. The prosthesis is dark grey with cyan colored lenses, each of which is equipped with a set of adjustable shutters capable of mimicking natural expressions. Four rectangular cyan lights create a partial ring on the outer bottom edge of the eyes, while a single cyan nodule on the top outer edge overlaps slightly with each lens. Two small antennae protrude vertically from the left side of the prosthesis.

Additionally, Maria carries a walking stick comprised of a natural wooden shaft terminating in a smooth, narrow section and metal foot with a purple band around its middle. Her walking stick is topped by an ornate blue skull connected by means of a thick metal band with a purple ring at its center. On the front of the connecting band is a large, blunt protrusion located directly below the skull's mouth.

Personality
She is rather energetic and nonchalant in spite of her advanced age, allowing a train derailment to roll off her shoulders as if it were nothing. She greets the heroes with friendly banter, but easily takes offense to those who call her "defenseless" and "old". Maria is shown to be able to have a collected mind when tension rises, as shown when everyone becomes discouraged when they lose Ozpin as a leader.

History
Maria is seen aboard the train that the heroes take on their journey to Atlas. When they decide to keep passengers safe in the front cars and use the rear ones to fight Grimm, Maria stays on the rear cars unlike everyone else. As a result, she is present when the rear cars crash, and she greets everyone.

Yang Xiao Long, aggravated as she attempts to pull her bike from the snow, calls Maria "a defenseless old lady". Maria takes offense, but after saying she is hard of hearing and blind as her mechanical eyes fail her, she understands Yang's point. Maria is there as the heroes argue with Ozpin about his lies, and she bears witness to Jinn, the being of the Relic of Knowledge. She stares in disbelief as Ruby asks Jinn what Ozpin is hiding from the group.

After they learn of Salem and Ozma's past, and that Ozpin cannot defeat his former lover, the heroes are angered at their leader and are later discouraged when he seals himself in Oscar Pine's mind. As the tension in the group rises, Maria steps up to help the boy to his feet and tells that they are emanating negativity that can attract the Grimm. She then directs them to a nearby trail to find shelter and quickly stop Yang's angry shouting at Oscar. Later, Maria rides on Bumblebee while it is pushed by Yang as the heroes find Brunswick Farms and enter to take shelter from the snowstorm.

After Qrow breaks down the front door of the main house so they can get inside, Maria shouts at the group to close the door and everyone searches out the house to find ways to warm themselves. But the tension rises for the group when Weiss and Yang find a pair of decomposed corpses on the bed in the master bedroom. While Maria and the students gather around the fire in the living room, they learn from Qrow that there are more corpses in bed in the other houses, and they have no other choice but to spend the night at the manor until the snowstorm stops. As the others search for food and transport Maria takes a book off of the shelf, reasoning that she'll find a story for bedtime.


 * Episodes Covering These Events
 * "Argus Limited"
 * "Uncovered"
 * "The Lost Fable"
 * "So That's How It Is"
 * "The Coming Storm"

Trivia

 * Maria is a Latin name, the meaning of which is highly debated. Possible translations include "sea of bitterness" or "sea of sorrow." However, some sources cite the alternative definitions of "rebellion," "wished-for child" and "mistress or lady of the sea."
 * Calavera is the Spanish word for "skull" and is the name for the decorative skulls made of clay or sugar which are used as part of Día de los Muertos celebrations, which the skull on Maria's walking stick is modeled after.
 * In fellow Rooster Teeth show, Nomad of Nowhere, Melissa Sternenberg also voices the Y'dala Elder, another elderly dark-skinned woman.