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, first appeared in the "Black" Trailer on March 22, 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 headband with an attached bow which she almost never takes off, even leaving it on when she goes to sleep. The bow is a cover for her Faunus heritage, a pair of small violet cat ears that twitch in certain moments.

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 with 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. Blake also wears a detached scarf-like collar around her neck. Blake wears what appears to be a black yukata as her sleeping garment. It should be noted that despite showing her midriff, there is no sign of a belly button.

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 assumptions. Blake is also an open person and is not afraid to speak her mind. She would go as far as indirectly insulting a well-known company in front of one of its members.

Blake is shown to be an introvert who prefers to be alone. When she is not, she sometimes may exclude herself from conversations and demonstrate no interest toward the discussion at hand, especially when she is reading. Blake is extremely fond of books, which is shown through her bringing a large quantity of books with her to Beacon and reading frequently. 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.

Despite her traits as an introvert, Blake does not lack social skills, as she is shown to be facetious and friendly. Due to her open way of treating others, she can be a mocker who tends to say the obvious and points out details in a sarcastic manner, generally making fun of other people. She can also lose her temper if provoked, causing her to speak what she thinks without any significant self-control. 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 saying "we were just tired of being pushed around".

Blake seems concerned about people learning she is a Faunus, attempting to hide her Faunus traits and running away when she accidentally let the truth slip out. However, she still insists on defending the Faunus whenever someone mistreats or speaks ill of them. Despite her being a former White Fang member, Blake disagrees with the level of violence and hatred they have exhibited towards humans, seeing the group as heavily misguided.

Abilities & Powers
Blake's most remarkable quality is her speed. Her speed is such that she is actually able to leave behind multiple clones, which is demonstrated during her fight with the AK-130 Androids and Roman Torchwick. This is revealed to be her semblance, which is useful for surprising or disorienting enemies, and also quickly covering short distances. Blake's first use of "after-image" in the series was in Players and Pieces, while fighting the Nevermore. Blake's frequent use of "after-image" was in Black and White where she used it to her advantage in her fight with Roman, much to which he was able to easily deflect.

Further examination of Blake's brief scuffle with the Nevermore reveals that her Semblance apparently creates a physical clone (assumeably for a short time) that has actual substance, before disappearing. This can be seen in Players and Pieces, when she creates a copy, then leaps off of it, at the Nevermore. It so far appears as if she can only create one copy at a time, though this ability is always only briefly seen, and may not have such a limitation.

Blake also shows above-average agility and endurance, as shown when fighting multiple enemies, yet maintaining motion and energy without fatigue. This may have something to do with her Faunus heritage.

Blake 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. Blake 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. She also 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.

As she is a Faunus, Blake may have good night vision and above-average hearing, especially since she has cat-like traits.

Trivia

 * Blake is the first of the four girls to actually have speaking lines, compared to Ruby who was mute in her trailer, and Weiss who was singing (though provided by Casey Lee Williams and not her actual voice actor) and could only be heard grunting during the battle in the White trailer.
 * She is the only Faunus in Team RWBY.
 * Before it was revealed that Blake is a Faunus, her bow was seen to twitch now and then, possibly hinting towards this.
 * Black Cats sometimes represent misfortune and bad luck and her being a black cat Faunus may represent her unfortunate past.
 * Blake means "black" in Old English. Belladonna means "fair lady" (Bella donna) in Italian, and it is also the name of a deadly nightshade plant
 * Blake seems to follow the pattern set by Ruby and Weiss in that the characters are in large part inspired by fairy tale characters: Blake's last name, Belladonna, may have been 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."
 * "Bellona" (a potential root word in Blake's last name, Belladonna) is the Roman goddess of war.
 * Blake's symbol on her stocking seems to have a purple holographic sheen to it. Seen in Players and Pieces when she throws Gambol Shroud to Yang.
 * Blake's book "Ninjas of Love" may be a reference to the fictional "Makeout Paradise" novels from the Naruto series.
 * The RoosterTeeth crew said Blake is one of the hardest characters to write for.
 * Blake is the second Faunus revealed to be attending Beacon Academy. However, it should be noted that she was the first Faunus to appear on the show even if it wasn't confirmed at the time.
 * It was stated by Miles that Blake prefers drinking tea over coffee.
 * According to Ruby, Blake is very fond of tuna, which contributes to her feline traits.
 * As of the end of Volume 1, Blake is the only member of Team RWBY who does not have any known family members.