Yang Xiao Long/Affiliation

Beacon Academy
Yang is a former first-year student at Beacon Academy.

Team RWBY
Yang is a member of Team RWBY.

Summer Rose
Summer was Yang's step-mother, and Yang looked up to her. She describes Summer as "Super-mom - baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters!" Yang was unaware that Summer was not her biological mother until after her death when her father told her the truth of her parentage. Despite that, Yang still fondly remembers Summer.

Taiyang Xiao Long
Yang has a close relationship with her father, but she admits that he was devastated following the death of Summer Rose, forcing Yang to raise Ruby and herself for some time. He also teaches at Signal Academy. According to Ruby, Yang learned to fight from Taiyang.

Yang shares many traits with her father, with slight similarities in clothing style, hair color, and a protective yet positive outlook. Like her father, Yang's joyful nature can be strained, as both became more somber after serious losses (Taiyang with Summer, Yang with her arm and the Fall of Beacon).

In "Of Runaways and Stowaways", Taiyang clearly shows that he's concerned for his daughter and trying to help her. Their interactions are not at all hostile, but Yang's emotional state doesn't allow for much laughter. Taiyang lets her set her own pace, not pressuring her to try out the new robotic arm, and not interfering when she struggles to regain control after a trauma flashback left her panting in fear.

In "Family", Yang clashes with Tai over her self-assessment as an adult and her reluctance to don her new arm. Tai encourages her to not let her handicap stop her. Yang was stunned when he made a seemingly hurtful remark, but she deflected the barb and laughed it off.



Later, when she overhears why Tai has not gone searching for Ruby, Yang feels dejected, ashamed at coming between him and Ruby. The next morning, when she emerges from the house with her new arm equipped, Tai stops his gardening and the pair finally resume their much-delayed training.

In "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back", Yang has regained some of her former confidence and is seen training under Taiyang. While he is blunt with his training, he accepts Yang as an adult and finally tells her about Raven Branwen and where they differ and resemble. Taiyang also gives Yang strong advice on using her Semblance and helping her grow and develop as a fighter.

In "Taking Control", Yang is confronted by Taiyang before she can leave. Her father asks where she is going, to find her sister or her mother. He also promises not to interfere with her search for Raven anymore.

In "Known by its Song" Yang reacts with anger after Raven called Taiyang a fool for trusting Ozpin.

Raven Branwen
Having been raised by Summer, Yang only found out about her biological mother after Summer's apparent death. Raven left shortly after Yang's birth, and after finding out about her, Yang began to search for her. At one point, her search nearly got herself and Ruby killed when she ran into a group of Grimm but were saved by their uncle, Qrow Branwen. This tempered her zeal, though she continues to search for her mother but not at the expense of anyone else.



In "Welcome to Haven", her conversation with the Just Rite Bartender shows she knows exactly who Raven is. Yang acknowledges his warning about the Branwen Tribe.

In "Lighting the Fire", Yang finally finds her mother, however after Raven makes a cavalier comment about Yang finally deciding to visit her, Yang shows anger and retorts that she spent years looking for her mother. She rejects Raven's hospitality, stating that she needs her Semblance to reach Qrow and, by extension, Ruby. When her mother refuses to help, Yang angrily demands her request once again, nearly inciting a brawl with Raven's whole tribe. She's even more infuriated when she discovers that her mother had kidnapped Weiss. When the fight is stopped before it truly begins, Raven finally relents to Yang's request.

In "Known by its Song", Yang is suspicious of her mother's story but clearly shocked by what she reveals. When Raven insults Qrow and Tai about trusting Ozpin, Yang becomes infuriated, snapping at her for abandoning her family and never being a part of her life. She is shocked again when she sees Raven transform from her namesake bird before her very eyes. When Raven creates a portal she asks Yang to choose between staying with her so they could have a proper mother-daughter relationship or joining Qrow and Ruby, Yang chooses the latter without hesitation. Raven then warns Yang that if she sides with Qrow, she may not be kind to her the next time they meet, to which Yang coldly replies that she was never kind during this meeting. Unbeknownst to Yang, her mother agrees following Yang's departure.

In "The More the Merrier", Yang spots Raven in her avian form and calls out to her, forcing to Raven to reveal herself to everyone. When Raven denotes how everyone has made a choice, she looks squarely at Yang, who glares at her in response. Later, she's shocked to see her mother has allied herself with Cinder's faction, and by extension, Salem.

In "Downfall", Yang confronts Raven when she is about to take the Relic of Knowledge.



During their confrontation in "Haven's Fate", Yang begins to question her mother about the former Spring Maiden and is shocked to realize that Raven killed her. She then proceeds to shoot down all of Raven's attempts to justify herself, asking her if she let Yang walk into the trap at Haven because she knew that Yang could handle it or if it was because it brought her a mean to get what she wanted. She also asks her mother if she killed the Raven that Taiyang told her about, citing her as only powerful, not strong. And despite her PTSD acting up, Yang refuses to back down, and vowed not to back down to Salem either, before demanding Raven hand over the Relic. Her mother makes one last attempt to stop her, but Yang roughly pushes past her, though getting a tearful apology before Raven departs. Once Yang acquires the Relic, she breaks down into tears over her emotional encounter with Raven.

Later, when she returns to the others, she does not tell Qrow about Raven being the Spring Maiden.

Qrow Branwen
Qrow is Yang's maternal uncle. While they are close, Yang doesn't seem to idolize him as Ruby does. Likewise, Qrow treats Yang as a mature adult and does not try to insulate her from reality. Qrow sometimes calls Yang by nicknames like "Firecracker".

In "Burning the Candle", Yang tells Blake Belladonna that she and Ruby were saved from the Grimm by their uncle, Qrow, when they set out to look for Yang's mother.



Qrow is supportive of Yang and gives her much-needed advice on occasion. In "Lessons Learned", he gives Ruby and Yang perspective on their achievements and warns them not to become overconfident in their abilities, though he also tells them that they both have the potential to "go far".

Later, in "Destiny", Qrow gives some reassurance to Yang after her "unwarranted assault" in the Vytal Festival, while also giving her some information on her mother, Raven. Although he knows that Raven is dangerous, he relays said information to Yang, along with hints about where to find her long-lost mother.

After the Battle of Beacon, Yang was promised by Qrow that he will look after Ruby.

In "Known by its Song", Yang defends Qrow, citing he's never given her a reason to doubt him. She later reaches him through Raven's Semblance. In "Rest and Resolutions", when Yang yells at Ozpin for what he did to the Branwen twins, she is surprised that her uncle wanted the ability to turn into birds.

Ruby Rose


Ruby is Yang's younger half-sister, schoolmate, teammate, and leader. Yang appears to show high levels of appreciation and affection for Ruby, as she is extremely excited about Ruby's invitation to join Beacon Academy and promotion to team leader. As Ruby moved up two years and stated she didn't want people to think of her as "special", Yang comforted her and told her that she was special, displaying a caring nature.

Yang clearly feels a considerable amount of responsibility for Ruby. After the death of Summer and their father's subsequent breakdown, Yang seems to have become a major care-giver for the young Ruby. This extended to her taking the girl with her on her ill-fated exploration of Patch to find a place associated with her missing biological mother.

Despite this, she still abandoned her when they arrived at Beacon to hang out with her friends. Right before this occurred, Yang encouraged her sister to make some friends on her own. Later she tried to resolve the enmity between Ruby and Weiss and even literally dragged Ruby into a conversation with Blake, in an attempt for her sister to make new friends of her own.

This concern for her sister's social side returned in "The First Step", when Yang brought up her hopes of Ruby coming out of her shell and pointing out that she needed to meet and work with new people to grow up. In spite of this, when she heard the Ursai in the bushes during "The Emerald Forest", she seemed hopeful that it was Ruby there to partner with her and, upon realizing it was not, jokingly asked the Ursai if they had seen her. In "Players and Pieces" Yang runs to get to Ruby when she's chased by a Deathstalker and a Nevermore and later smile with pride when Ruby leads the students to get to the cliff to escape the Grimm. She's later overjoyed when Ruby is made leader of Team RWBY, hugging her and expressing that she's very proud of her sister. Yang's concern for her sister is also seen during the episode "Mountain Glenn" where she worries for her sister, who went missing after the road beneath her collapsed, dropping her deep underground. After reuniting with her, she tightly hugged her sister, having saved her from near death at the hands of the White Fang.

Ruby has also shown some annoyance towards Yang's affection, once even causing a comedic fight between them. It has been revealed that Yang read to Ruby before bed when she was little, and the stories inspired Ruby to be a Huntress.



After the Battle of Beacon, Yang and Ruby's relationship becomes strained, due to the former's crushed emotional state. Nothing Ruby says can uplift the despondent girl, so she simply respects her wishes for solitude.

In the episode "Family" upon hearing that her father hasn't gone looking for Ruby because he has to "look after some things", Yang becomes dejected, knowing he had spoken about her. This becomes a motivating factor for her to move forward.

In "Taking Control", it is revealed that Yang knows Ruby is headed for Mistral. Come "No Safe Haven", Yang is finally on the move in search of Ruby, evidenced when she chose the path to Mistral over the route towards the bandits.

In the "Volume 5 Yang Character Short", Yang helps Ruby to train her in hand-to-hand combat. When their training session got interrupted by an Ursa and almost had Ruby killed without her weapon, she protected Ruby and killed it with the help of her Semblance.



In "Lighting the Fire", Yang expresses her desire to reach Ruby, knowing that her sister will need her help. In "Known by its Song" when Raven asks Yang to choose between staying with her so they can have proper mother-daughter relationship or to go after Qrow and Ruby, Yang chooses to go after Ruby without hesitation, saying that all she wants is to make sure Ruby is safe. When she is finally reunited with Ruby in Mistral, she gives her sister a warm embrace, crying as she says "I love you". Thus their relationship is repaired. In "Rest and Resolutions" Yang decides to stay and help Ozpin in the fight against Salem because of Ruby's influence, as she knows that her sister has an instinct for doing the right thing.

In "The More the Merrier" Yang immediately comes to help Ruby after she was hit by a fireball shot by Cinder Fall and help her getting up.

In "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Yang is saved by Ruby from Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. She then prepares to fight alongside her sister, asking her if she was okay.

In "Downfall" she and Ruby fight together against Emerald and Mercury, she later obeys Ruby's order to go to the vault without hesitation, despite her shock of seeing Blake.

In "Haven's Fate" she join Ruby after her sister fell on her knees from weariness and drops to her side.

Weiss Schnee


Weiss is Yang's schoolmate and teammate. After an incident with Ruby involving Dust, Weiss returned to her to read a Dust usage pamphlet. In an attempt to be friendly, Yang asked the two to try to make up, with less than stellar results. Later in the dorms, Weiss, complaining about the lack of sleep, came over to Ruby, Yang, and Blake.

The two were originally not on the best terms, Weiss complaining of their antics and Yang believing she had a problem with her sister. Although they have had their difficulties, she still cheers Weiss on in Peter Port's class as she fights a Boarbatusk.

Despite their hostility, the tension between the two seems to have ceased by the time of the festival. Regardless, Yang strongly opposes Weiss on her comments regarding the White Fang and Faunus.

The two seem to be on entirely friendly terms by "Welcome to Beacon", with Yang feeling comfortable enough to put her hand on Weiss' shoulder and Weiss not being outwardly annoyed by this; Yang also offers Weiss advice on how to correctly play Remnant: The Game, even leading her to the brink of victory; this, however, was a ruse so Yang could activate her trap card and destroy Weiss' armies herself. In "Painting the Town...", Yang bluntly shoots down Weiss' attempt at making a pun, critiquing it as not very good.

In "Extracurricular", it was revealed that Yang is working together with Weiss to organize the Beacon dance event. Both girls are enthusiastic and eager to do a good job, further showcasing the two's ability to coexist. Both also seem to share a love for formal events and attire.

During their battle against Team FNKI, Yang attempts to defend Weiss when Flynt Coal insults her, although she is interrupted by Neon Katt. Yang is also angered when Weiss is taken out of battle and quickly rushes to her side after defeating Flynt and Neon.

After the Battle of Beacon, Yang is saddened when she tells Ruby that Weiss was taken away by her father to Atlas.

In "Lighting the Fire", Yang finds Weiss locked in a cage. Surprised to see each other, Weiss is confused as to what is happening, even questioning Yang on why her mom would kidnap her, infuriating Yang. After the situation is resolved, Weiss jumps onto Yang hugging her, leaving her slightly surprised. Saying how much she missed her, with tears, Yang replies on how much she missed her, as the two friends and former teammates remain embraced.



In "Alone Together", after her outburst to Ruby and Weiss about Blake's absence, Yang is confronted by the latter alone and they share the loneliness they faced when they were younger. Every time Yang criticizes Blake for leaving, Weiss counters with solid reasons. In the end, it is Weiss who helps Yang to have faith in Blake's return and is surprised when her friend states that she is there for Yang.

In "The More the Merrier", Yang looks on in horror when she sees Weiss impaled by Cinder.

Blake Belladonna
Blake is Yang's teammate and academy partner. The night before the Beacon Academy Initiation, they met when Yang dragged Ruby over to her in order to help Ruby make some more friends (since Ruby and Blake were vaguely acquainted). The conversation became awkward and Yang thought they should leave, but Ruby managed to connect with Blake's interest in reading.

During the initiation, Blake appears to be following Yang through the forest. When Yang confronts a pair of Ursai and defeats one, Blake jumps in to kill the other. The two girls seem to get along well, although due to Blake's silent personality, they don't talk much. By the time of the festival, the two have a stronger bond. In "Welcome to Beacon", Yang is seemingly worried when Blake voices her concern regarding the White Fang and attempts to reassure her. When Blake proposes they take the fight to their enemies, Yang instantly agrees and playfully remarks "I love it when you're feisty", both sharing a smile afterward.

The two are skilled as a fighting duo, exemplified by Ruby's orders for a coordinated attack when Team RWBY fought Roman Torchwick. "Extracurricular" reveals that Yang, along with the rest of the team, is deeply concerned over Blake's recent lack of sleep and appetite, as well as her slipping grades. She calms Blake down when she becomes irritated and tries to convince her to attend the dance the following weekend, promising to ensure Blake has the perfect night. Blake, however, declines and leaves for the library.

Yang later on confronts Blake the day before the dance. She opens up to Blake about her childhood and how she continues searching for her mother. When Blake's stubbornness about making their investigation into Torchwick and the White Fang a priority over her health angers Yang, she pushes her onto the teacher's desk, demonstrating she would have no chance against Roman in her current state. Calming down, Yang hugs her partner and tells her to not stop, but to get rest, not only for herself, but for those she cares about as well. Yang encourages Blake to attend the dance again, promising her a dance. When Blake attended, both are seen dancing together, shortly before Yang allows Sun Wukong to cut in.

During the team's first away mission to Mountain Glenn, after they made camp for the night, Yang voices her admiration for Blake when the latter questions her own motives for being there, again attempting to cheer her up and reassure her. Yang assures Blake that she is not the type of girl to run away from a fight. Blake, however, disagrees, citing the instances of her running from the White Fang, her team, and even the nature of her Semblance as examples of her running away from a fight. Yang points out that Blake, along with Weiss, at least have purpose and direction in their lives, while Yang merely goes with the flow and takes what life throws at her, and Ruby thrives on her passion to become a Huntress. During "Destiny" Yang is visibly hurt by Blake's hesitation in believing her about why she attacked Mercury, even after Blake explains it's due to her history with Adam Taurus. She is, however, greatly relieved when Blake makes the choice to trust her, putting aside her misgivings and speaking well of Yang's character over the time she's known her.

In "Heroes and Monsters", Yang tries to find Blake somewhere in the ruins in Beacon. After seeing her getting stabbed in the abdomen by Adam, blinded by rage, she attempts to attack Adam for hurting Blake. Adam severs her arm, causing her to fall unconscious. Blake then uses her Semblance to distract Adam and carry Yang out of the building. After having retreated to safety and they are both on the ground recovering, Blake reaches out for Yang, apologizing and crying.

After the Battle of Beacon seen in "End of the Beginning", Blake runs away without a word, which wounds Yang even further. The usually upbeat and energetic girl becomes cold and cynical towards everything that has happened, including Blake's supposed betrayal, regardless of how much Ruby tries to defend her estranged partner.

In "Alone Together", Yang still hasn't gotten over Blake's running away and doubts she will see her again. However, deep down, she really misses her. After having a talk with Weiss, she began to believe that she will meet Blake again.

In "Downfall", Yang unexpectedly reunites with Blake and her eyes widen with shock. Their reunion is brief as Yang is directed by Ruby to head for the vault. Once Yang returns in "Haven's Fate" and the battle ends, she warily eyes Blake, but then immediately smiles and welcomes her into a group hug.

After the Battle of Haven, although Yang is glad to have Blake back in her life again, but she haven't forgive her for running away, but their process seems to be a good start.

In the full release of the RWBY manga, Yang affectionately complimented Blake's Faunus ears, calling them cute and cool in Chapter 6.

Jaune Arc
Yang notices that Ruby has formed a tentative bond with Jaune. Though she thinks less highly of him, she is seen encouraging Ruby to be friends with him. Yang has also been shown to playfully tease Jaune about his romantic misadventure with Weiss, calling him lady-killer after being rejected by Weiss the first time and the second time, tousling his hair, stating "one day" after Jaune's second failed attempt. This relationship does not change after they meet again in Haven, as she consistently teases him and calls him "vomit boy", referencing how they met.

Nora Valkyrie


As Nora relates a fantastical version of her recurring dream, Yang is shown to be completely enthralled by it. Before their second semester started, Nora was also seen playfully throwing food into Yang's mouth from her table, much to the latter's joy until Nora hit her in the face with an apple and the conflict escalated. Nora later struck Yang into the sky with a watermelon hammer, but the two laughed about it a few minutes later, showing they are still on good terms.



When they reunite in Mistral over half a year later, Yang shows off her new robotic arm, and Nora challenges her to an arm wrestling match, to which she accepts. Ultimately, Yang wins the battle when she fires her arm off and sends Nora flying back into a wall. The two appear to share a competitive and combative nature, as well as a similar go-with-the-flow attitude. Both are the physical powerhouses of their respective teams, often operating in a similarly less than subtle manner.

Pyrrha Nikos
Not much interaction has happened between Yang and Pyrrha, but they get along very well. In "End of the Beginning", she is devastated by Pyrrha's death.

Neptune Vasilias
Yang is initially annoyed by Neptune, who defeats her at Remnant: The Game. She was completely dismissive of him in Junior Xiong's club and exasperated by his naivete, but she nevertheless trusted him to slow down the Atlesian Paladin-290 while it was chasing Sun and Blake.

Neon Katt
During the doubles round of the Vytal Festival Tournament, Neon mercilessly taunts Yang during their match, making fun of her hair, large breasts, weight and eyes. This incites the fiery blonde's anger. However, after the match, Neon has a change of heart and calls her "super crazy awesome" and suggests that they should go "party some time".

Ozpin


In "Rest and Resolutions", Yang is angry with Ozpin for turning Raven and Qrow into birds, along with keeping many other secrets from her and the other students. After he gives his reasons and offers the students a chance to leave the battle against Salem, Yang decides to stay, but demands Ozpin to not keep any more secrets from them. After he agrees, he places a hand on Yang's shoulder and tells her and the students rest that night, and she smiles.

After the Battle of Haven, in "Argus Limited", Yang's trust in Ozpin is further strained when she learns that he neglected to tell her and the others sooner that the Relic can also attract Grimm.

Roman Torchwick
Though Yang has only interacted with Roman Torchwick once, she is strongly aware of his existence, primarily through her sister and Blake. She readily joins in with the rest of her team in deciding to track him down. Though it is not clear whether she recalls seeing him at Junior's club before Junior himself mentions that Torchwick was there the same night she was, Yang goes to Junior first for information about him.

In "Painting the Town...", she and Neptune chase Roman in his stolen Atlesian Paladin-290 on her motorcycle. She swerves to avoid the passenger vehicles he knocks back at her. Once it becomes an on-foot battle against Roman, Yang partners with both Blake and Weiss in coordinated attacks. She receives a hard hit from Torchwick that might have caused more damage if not for her Semblance. Ultimately, she destroys the Paladin, breaking it into pieces around Roman.

Emerald Sustrai
Yang seems to have a friendship with Emerald, even fondly calling her by the nickname "Em". However, despite outward appearances, Yang does give an odd backwards glance at Emerald in "Round One".

In "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Yang is forced to fight Emerald and Mercury, and once again suffers from Emerald's hallucinations, including one of her mother.

Mercury Black


Yang and Mercury do not often interact prior to their one-on-one fight in the Vytal Festival Tournament. At one point, Emerald suggests to her that Mercury has a socializing issue, and since at the moment Mercury is sniffing the inside of a boot, Yang agrees.

During the festival finals round in "Fall", the two exchange verbal banter before their fight begins. Their fight is wordless, but Yang becomes enraged when Mercury successfully knocks her down and hits her with several projectiles from his boots that had been circling. After Yang wins the round, she is deceived by a hallucination into believing that Mercury is launching an underhanded post-fight attack on her. She defends herself with a punch to his leg, giving the appearance to all those watching that she attacked and severely hurt him after his Aura was depleted.



The two face off again in "The More the Merrier", with Yang livid at seeing him again. Mercury intercepts her before she can run to Ruby, citing she must "apologize" for his leg. The two square off, but the fight is interrupted by Weiss falling in battle. In "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Yang is overpowered by Mercury, who is helped by Emerald's Semblance, before they are stopped by Ruby. In "Downfall", Yang is initially angry at Mercury when he grabs her prosthetic arm to stop her from reaching the vault. However, she immediately calms down and detaches her arm to escape his grasp.

Neopolitan


Yang dislikes the diminutive girl for rescuing Roman from certain defeat in "Painting the Town...", even more so when she tries to stop them in "No Brakes". Yang offers to fight the girl alone and suffers her first defeat in the whole series. Raven however, intervenes and rescues her from Neopolitan's killing blow.

Adam Taurus


Yang witnesses Adam hurting Blake in "Heroes and Monsters". Upon seeing this, she flies into a rage and attacks him. However, Adam thwarts her attack and severs her arm with a single slash of his sword. Both the thought of Adam and the loss of her arm continue to haunt her months after Beacon fell. In "Of Runaways and Stowaways", Yang experiences fear and sees a flash of his mask when a glass accidentally breaks. While in "Family", she has a nightmare about Adam based on the day she lost her arm. He has thus become one of the central triggers of Yang's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Junior Xiong
Junior is a member of a club which Yang attacked. Although having no real relationship, Yang is shown to know who he is before they first met, implying some form of research.

Before the club brawl, Yang tortures Junior to gain information, and when that method fails, she resorts to flirting with him to lower his guard and make the first attack, provoking him and his henchmen to attack her.



The two meet again in "Painting the Town...", Junior is seen to be somewhat intimidated by her. She tries to get information out of him about Roman but comes up empty-handed. She refers to him as her "friend" in "A Minor Hiccup".

In Chapter 9 of the manga, after her fight with Junior, they appear to be on friendly terms.

Miltia and Melanie Malachite
Miltia and Melanie are twin sisters who are members of a club which Yang attacked. She showed no malice or hate towards them, but she fought them and incapacitated them both after a short but intense and heated fight.

Penny Polendina
Yang was initially wary of Penny, due to her upbeat behavior after being knocked over in "The Stray". Although known interaction between the two is limited, Yang is clearly torn over Penny's death in "End of the Beginning", whether it is her own feelings or knowing how devastated Ruby was over the loss is unknown.

James Ironwood
Yang's first encounter with the Atlas general is quite unpleasant, for he confronted the young Huntress-in-training over her "misconduct" at the Vytal Festival. While he does not believe it was done out of malice, he states that the people had made their own conclusions, and thus tells her she is disqualified. After the Battle of Beacon, however, Ironwood admires her bravery in defending the school and commissions a state-of-the-art prosthetic arm for her as a reward.