Hazel Rainart

Hazel Rainart is an antagonist in RWBY who was introduced in "The Next Step". He is an associate of Salem and part of her inner circle.

Appearance
Hazel is a tall and muscular middle-aged man, shown towering over Adam Taurus who stands 6'4". He has short brown hair, a beard and hazel eyes.

He wears a two-tone olive green coat over a black 3/4 sleeve shirt, and a large belt. His pants are black, with a pouch strapped to each pants leg, and his boots are brown with white fronts. His hairy arms appear to have some scars near the edges of his sleeves.

Personality
Hazel has a calm composure compared to the others of Salem's circle. He is reserved and rarely speaks. However, he still criticizes Cinder for her defeat. He has a low tolerance for acceptance of failure, and he does not let minor obstacles get in his way or stand by convention when there is a goal to be accomplished.

During the meeting with Sienna Khan, Hazel is courteous toward her, showing he has a respectful nature. However, he is not intimidated by Sienna's threats, showing a distinct level of self-confidence.

Despite his low tolerance for failure, Hazel is not cruel or unsympathetic. His reaction to Sienna's murder by Adam Taurus is a saddened look and verbal expression of both his frustration at Adam's lack of communication prior to the act and disappointment at how unnecessary the death was. This shows that, despite his allegiance to Salem, he has a certain degree of empathy and morality. Unlike his psychotic colleague, Tyrian Callows, Hazel takes no pleasure in casual slaughter, indicating there must be a higher purpose in violence for him to engage in it.

However, this changes when he encounters Ozpin. When he does, Hazel becomes filled with rage and killing intent. He holds Ozpin responsible for the death of his sister Gretchen Rainart and is determined to kill every reincarnation of him. This shows that despite his typical reluctance to fight, he is quite capable of vengeance and terrifying bouts of rage. His rage seems to be exclusively for Ozpin; he retains his calm demeanor when addressing Adam Taurus in the midst of fighting Ozpin and students in Haven Academy.

Powers and Abilities
Hazel is an incredibly strong unarmed fighter that is able to fight off multiple trained huntsman at once. When Hazel deems the situation appropriate, he is able to infuse himself with raw Dust crystals. After Hazel infuses himself, the veins in his arms glow, his muscles grow, his eyes shine, his voice becomes distorted and he is able to discharge Dust energy from his entire body to enhance his attacks.

He has been shown using two types of Dust - Lightning and Fire. He can even use more than one Dust type at a time to further increase his strength. Whenever he punches the ground or another person, there is a large amount of raw Dust energy surrounding the area he strikes, dealing extra damage. When he punched Qrow Branwen and held Nora Valkyrie, he discharged enough energy for their skeleton to be temporarily seen by the naked eye. Should he need to fight enemies at range, Hazel is also capable of using the infused dust to fire blasts of raw electrical energy or fire from his arms. He can also fire blasts of both energies combined, as he did to destroy Weiss Schnee's Queen Lancer.

Because of his use of dust, the limits to his strength are currently unknown, but without it he has shown to possess enough strength to casualy dent mechanical machines with an offhanded hammer fist. In addition, he can easily lift and throw multiple trained and armed huntsman, such as Nora and Leo, indicating that his use of dust is not a substitute to his strength, but a supliment.

His most notable attribute however, is his endurance. He was shown blocking strikes from Ren and Nora's weapons with his bare hands, the latter also commenting on the abnormally high rate that Hazel recharges his Aura. Qrow also took note of Hazel's incredible durability, referring to him as "sheer willpower". All these factors, when combined with his Semblance, allows Hazel to endure many direct hits without showing any signs of fatigue or Aura loss.

Semblance
Hazel's Semblance renders him insensitive to pain, allowing him to ignore injury and inject vast amounts of Dust into his body without any immediate consequence. However, while this ability is a great asset, it does rob Hazel of some of his awareness of peril and requires to activate it. He does not notice Nora's struggle against him as her Semblance allowed her to amplify her strength by absorbing Hazel's electrical energy, thus allowing her to take control of the battle and free herself from his grasp. This shows that without the context of pain, Hazel can be exploited in a fight.

Trivia

 * Hazel can refer to a color, usually in relation to eyes. Hazel eyes often appear to shift in color from a brown/gold to a green. Hazel is also genus of nut-bearing trees and shrubs.
 * Rainart is a name of Old German origin and can translate as either "Brave Counsel" or "Strong Judgement".
 * Hazel alludes to Hansel from Hansel & Gretel.