Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-10403005-20130604071723/@comment-3388066-20131020215809

67.193.182.59 wrote: I don't think that Ruby is a cold-hearted killer, but I don't think she's innocent, either. The fact that she looks very different from Yang, and that they have different last names seems to imply that they're not blood related. Red Like Roses II (which is probably about Ruby given that Red and Roses are very prominent themes for her) implies a pretty tragic past. Combining the two, Ruby is probably and orphan taken in by Yang's family.

My point being that Ruby probably isn't completely innocent. Her perpetually upbeat demeanour  is likely masking a deep sadness/anger; one that we haven't seen yet because right now she's adjusting to her new life as the leader of team RWBY, and has no time to dwell on the past.

I figure we'll learn more about Ruby in later seasons, when the world opens up a bit more and the focus shifts away from Beacon. I agree. She isn't necessarily a cold-blooded killer, but we should remember that she was quite happy to employ what looked like easily lethal force against the mooks in ep 1, even if she didn't use the blade, and she was smiling when slaughtering the beowolves in her trailer, and when she was with wiess in the emerald forest with that horde of beowolves, it took wiess's intervention to snap her out of her 'fight' mode and to make her realise that the forest burning down around her meant it was go time, not fight time. plus, when she was shooting at crimson, its clear that she was shooting to kill. we should also remember that while she does seem idealistic and innocent, wanting to help make the world a better place, her chosen path to do this is as a hunter, whose job description essentially boils down to super-powered killers. Between that and her grim reaper allusions, I feel even though she is innocent, she does have a ruthless side when she deems she has to. Given all this and her lack of fear of death, i sort of feel like she lacks not only the fear of death, but a lack of understanding of the value of life in general. don't get me wrong, im sure she would be completely destroyed if someone she cared for, like yang, died, but i feel like she doesn't really comprehend the value of life in battle, seeing her opponents, who or whatever they may be a just targets, instead of living things.