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 Taurus, first appeared in the "Black" Trailer on March 22nd, 2013, during the PAX East 2013 event, infiltrating a train and battling futuristic robots.

Appearance
Blake is a young girl of pale complexion, similar to Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee. She has long, wavy black hair, and her eyes are amber, complemented by light-purple eye shadow flaring backwards. Her eyes are slightly tilted upwards at the ends, giving her a somewhat catlike appearance.



Blake wears a black ribbon tied in the form of a bow which she almost never takes off, even when she goes to sleep. The bow is a cover for her Faunus heritage, a pair of small violet cat ears.

She wears black low-heeled boots and stockings that start off black at her hips, but gradually fade to purple as they near her shoes. On the outside of her stockings, there are white symbols that are most likely belladonna flowers. She wears black ribbons on both of her arms, with a black detached sleeve and a silver band 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. Her shorts have a zipper on the front of each leg, but it is unknown if these zippers serve a purpose or are simply decorative. She also wears a detached scarf-like collar around her neck. It should be noted that, despite showing her midriff, there is no sign of a belly button. However, a belly button is visible in her concept art.

Her sleepware appears to be a black yukata, with gray and white as a secondary color setup.

Personality
Blake is described as being "mellow" by her voice actress, Arryn Zech. She displays a cool, reserved, and serious personality most of the time, but doesn't lack a humorous side. Blake is a righteous person who has respect for other people's lives. Regardless of whether they are Faunus or not, she treats everyone equally and strongly despises those who judge and discriminate based on racial prejudice. Blake is also an open person and is not afraid to speak her mind, going so far as to indirectly insult a well-known company in front of one of its members.

Blake is shown to be an introvert, as she prefers to be alone. Even in a group, Blake usually stays to the shadows, excluding herself from conversations. She tends to show no interest in the discussions at hand, especially when she is engrossed in her books. She is extremely fond of books, as she brings a large collection of books with her to Beacon and reads them frequently. However, as the series continues, she is shown to be more facetious and friendly. She displays a dry wit, stating the obvious or pointing out details in a sarcastic manner, at the expense of other people.

Due to her strongly held beliefs, she can also lose her temper if provoked, causing her to speak her mind in the heat of the moment. Blake may have also been mistreated when she was younger, due to her being a Faunus. This is suggested by her response to Weiss' comments on Faunus, accidentally letting slip "we were just tired of being pushed around." Her beliefs are also seen when she tells Ozpin that she doesn't want to be seen for what she is, but for who she is.

Blake seems concerned about people learning she is a Faunus, attempting to hide her Faunus traits and running away when she accidentally lets the truth slip out. However, she still insists on defending the Faunus whenever someone mistreats or speaks ill of them, regardless of them being a member of the White Fang or not. In terms of her Faunus heritage, it seems that it is kept secret amongst everyone else in Beacon, and such is not only her known by her team, but Team JNPR is also aware of this fact.

Despite her being a former White Fang member, Blake strongly disagrees with the level of violence and hatred they have exhibited towards Humans, seeing the group as heavily misguided. Due to her Faunus heritage, she is a realistic person who has seen how the real world works, which also contributes to her stance as a skeptic on the possibility of attaining a righteous world. As such, the White Fang has become one of her main concerns, knowing that they are planning something with their enemies, and even went as far to propose to her team that they do something to stop them, all of which agree to help her, leaving her relieved.

Abilities & Powers


Blake's most remarkable quality is her Semblance, which allows her to create Shadow-clones. These clones can be used by Blake to either distract, shield, or hide herself from the enemy for a brief amount of time, which is demonstrated during her fight with the AK-130 Androids and Roman Torchwick.

Her first true use of it occurred during the "Black" Trailer, where she utilized it against the Spider Droid. Blake's first recorded use of her "Shadow" ability in the actual series was first seen during Episode 8, while she was fighting the Nevermore. During the latter battle she was able to jump off one of her shadows to reach the Nevermore, confirming that there is some substance to her copies and they aren't just illusions.

Blake uses this skill again frequently in Episode 16, where she used it to her advantage in her fight with Roman, but he was able to easily deflect most of Blake's attacks regardless. It is unknown exactly how long a shadow copy can appear for or how far away from Blake they can exist. So far they have only appeared in Blake's immediate area, normally right next to her.

Blake also shows above-average agility, speed, and endurance, as shown when fighting multiple enemies, yet maintaining motion and energy without fatigue. She also exhibits a high level of skill when handling Gambol Shroud. She can slash away at opponents with startling speed and deflect incoming machine gun fire using just her blade. There are three forms to Gambol Shroud. When sheathed, her weapon is able to slice opponents in two with its cleaver-like cover. However, when unsheathed, it becomes even deadlier, and Blake is able to use both the blade and sheath in tandem against her opponents.

She also appears to be able to freely and quickly change the way she grips them. She can then fold the blade into a gun-blade which is attached to an extending ribbon, similar to the Japanese kusarigama or sickle-and-chain. Her technique with this form of Gambol Shroud is similar to Ruby's with Crescent Rose: she uses the recoil from the gun attached to her blade to increase the speed of her attacks, and can slice multiple enemies with Gambol Shroud from the ground or in the air through a whirling attack.

Additionally, she uses the momentum of the weapon on the ribbon as an anchor to maneuver herself in midair, and can grapple other opponents or objects from medium range to bring them into melee distance. She is quite accurate as well, as she was able to kill an Ursa with one strike during her meeting with Yang in the Emerald Forest. Though she is very talented at using Gambol Shroud offensively, it requires a lot of concentration, lowering her defensive capability and making her more susceptible to attacks overall.

Because the sword portion of Gambol Shroud folds into a sickle, the end of the blade is double-edged, and she can use this double edge when it is in its sword form. This is seen in Black and White when she attempts to interrogate Roman by placing the back of the blade to his throat while pointing her gun toward the White Fang members to keep them at bay.

Trivia

 * Blake means "black" in Old English. Belladonna means "fair lady" (bella donna) in Italian, and it is also the name of the toxic plant, commonly known as "deadly nightshade."
 * Like the other members of Team RWBY, Blake is in part inspired by a fairy tale character: Blake's last name, Belladonna, may be based on Belle; the name of the Beauty in the Walt Disney production of Beauty and the Beast.
 * When she is first introduced in the regular series, she is seen reading a book, much like Belle.
 * It is also shown that she has a candelabra in her possession, possibly referring to Lumière from the Disney adaptation.
 * The lyrics to Red Like Roses supports the connection to Beauty and the Beast by referencing Blake as "Black the beast."
 * Blake's symbol on her stocking seems to have a holographic sheen to it. This can be seen in Episode 8 when she throws Gambol Shroud to Yang, as well as the multiple times it turns red during the "Black" trailer.
 * Blake's book "Ninjas of Love" may be a reference to the fictional "Makeout Paradise" novels from the Naruto series.
 * The Rooster Teeth crew said Blake is one of the hardest characters to write for.
 * It was stated by Miles Luna that Blake prefers drinking tea over coffee.
 * According to Ruby, Blake is very fond of tuna, which contributes to her feline traits.
 * Blake's ability to make shadow clones of herself is fairly similar to C.T.'s (from Red vs. Blue) armor enhancement. However Blake's Semblance allows her to make solid clones, while C.T. can only make holograms.
 * Blake has never fought on her own, every battle in which she has partaken has been with an ally.
 * When asked about her bow by a fan in Blake Week AMA, Arryn answered that Blake has a closet full of bows all neatly aligned on the walls.
 * She tells Ozpin that she grew up outside of the kingdoms of Remnant and had to fight to survive.  Her fighting skills led her to be one of few people to be accepted into Beacon without going to a prior combat school. It is unclear if this is true or simply Blake's way of explaining her well-developed combat skills.