James Ironwood/History

Background
Ironwood hails from the region of Atlas, where he is the headmaster of an academy, as well as an officer in the military, holding the rank of general. He appears to have had some previous background Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch, with whom he appears to be very familiar with and known for several years. He is cited by Penny as having assisted her father in her creation.

Second Semester
As the second semester begins, Ironwood visits Vale in order to attend the Vytal Festival with students of his academy. However he arrives not just with his students, but hundreds of soldiers carried by airships. He soon arrives in Ozpin's office and greets his old friend, as well as Glynda, but she quickly leaves the room after excusing herself.

When he comes to talk with Ozpin in his office, their meeting is initially jovial, but their differing outlooks quickly become apparent. Ozpin disagrees with Ironwood's "shows of power" and heightened levels of security, but Ironwood feels it is justified based on the information Qrow had passed to him.

Ozpin tries to reassure Ironwood that if what Qrow said is true, his Hunters will be ready. Ironwood retorts that he is just being careful, and in turn questions whether Ozpin's students are strong enough to fight a war before leaving.

Ironwood appears through a holographic projection during a public demonstration to introduce the new Atlesian Knight-200s and the Atlesian Paladin-290.

Ironwood is later seen attending the Beacon Dance, offering Glynda his hand to invite her to dance with him which she reluctantly accepts. He is spotted by Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai leaving the dance early heading towards the CCT and would interrupt Cinder Fall and Ruby Rose during their skirmish after appearing through the elevator, which the former would use as a distraction to make her escape.

The next morning Ironwood and Glynda were in Ozpin's office going over the events of the previous night, with Ironwood fumming that their enemies managed to walk right under their noses and demanding if they were going to do something to deal with the situation. When Ruby entered the room a short time later Ironwood complimented her for displaying the initiative and determination he believes are the mark of a Huntress. The group listen to Ruby's description of the woman she previously fought, with Glynda remarking that the theifs glowing clothes might mean she was the same person Glynda faced off against when she frist met Ruby, though Ironwood points out that embuing Dust into clothing is an age old technique, meaning their culprit could still be anyone. Understanding that the teachers were speculating a connection between the thief and Roman Torchwick Ruby drops some information regarding a possible hide-out in the south east. After Ruby departs Ironwood advocates sending as many of their troops as they can to the south east to discover what is going on and eradicate any potential threats they may encounter, which Glynda chastises him for trumpeting up another display of military bravado before Ozpin cuts her off, though agreeing with her assesment, urging caution when they know so little of their opponents' endgame and could potentially spread unnecessary panic if they are too rash. Ironwood frustratingly questions whether Ozpin is simply going to sit back and simply wait Ozpin vehemently objects, rhetorically questioning Ironwood on how as a general what his first step in preparing to go to war would be, to send in the flagbearers or the scouts?

Some time later Ironwood is seen looking out into the night sky towards the rest of Vale. Glynda comes up behind him asking him if he was having trouble sleeping which Ironwood brushes off as his left arm acting up again though Glynda makes a point that he wouldn't have gotten out of bed fully dressed to gaze at the city if he wasn't troubled. Ironwood worries that despite both his and Glynda's trust for Ozpin over the years he can't help but feel he was now keeping them in the dark. When Glynda assures Ironwood he's being ridiclous in his fears, and that they both know if that were the case it simply means Ozpin himself is the one in the dark. Ironwood states that only makes it worse, and that he can't believe someone he's trusted for so long could be so passive in light of the situation. Glynda gently tells James that he is a good person who has always done what he thought was best for the people even against strong protest, which she finds admirable. But she also points out that he needs to stop talking about trust and start showing it, and that he should remember Ozpin has experience that the rest of them lack.


 * Episodes Covering These Events
 * Welcome to Beacon
 * A Minor Hiccup
 * Dance Dance Infiltration
 * Field Trip
 * Mountain Glen