Adam Taurus

Adam Taurus is a leader of the White Fang and the first male character to be introduced. He wears a Grimm mask over his eyes and his weapons of choice are Wilt and Blush, a rifle and sword which can merge. He first appeared in the "Black" Trailer.

Adam worked together with Blake Belladonna to attack a train carrying a Dust shipment, but was abandoned by her at the end of the trailer. He later makes his first proper appearance in the show at the end of "Breach".

Appearance
Adam is a tall man with red hair that spikes backwards in a windswept way. While most of his hair is red, a portion of it in the back is brown. A noticeable trait of his appearance is the mask he wears, which obscures his eyes and upper face.

This mask is whitish-tan with red, Japanese style, flame-like symbols decorating the front, brown beast-like-ear pieces of cloth on the top of both sides, and two slits on each side, presumably to allow for vision. This may be a redesigned version of the Grimm masks typically worn by members of the White Fang.

Adam wears a long-sleeved black trench coat with slit sleeves and more red designs and a white symbol on the left side. His trench coat is red on the inside with red flame-like accents at the bottom and a large emblem on the back, with a white tulip design covered by a red rose design.

He wears long black pants and black shoes that are red on the bottom, and black gloves with more red emblems on their forehand, appearing to be a variant of the Greek letter Ω (Omega), the last letter in the Greek alphabet.

He wears a black belt with white domino marks on it. His appearance generally consists of black and red, similar to the color scheme used by Ruby Rose.

Personality
Although little is known about Adam's personality, he seems to be somewhat arrogant and confident in his abilities. Unlike Blake, he is shown to have little regard for the lives of innocent people, as he planned to blow up the train with everyone on board.

Blake describes him as feeling completely justified in how he went about making the world a better place. However, his vision for a perfect future did not include everyone, and Blake began to believe that Adam himself was becoming a monster in the process of trying to obtain it.

He also appears to enjoy moments when he's at his most powerful, as demonstrated before he destroyed the Spider Droid. At that time, he used the droid's energy to make himself stronger, laughing as he did so.

In "Beginning of the End", he takes his cause, and the lives of his underlings seriously, rejecting Cinder's initial offer of an alliance, citing the unnecessary risk of dying for a human cause. It is also hinted that he dislikes the Huntsmen, stating she could've gone to one who strayed from their 'righteous path' scathingly. After Blake's betrayal, he deems her pursuit to be useless, before Cinder returns with her henchmen, slaughtering his encampment, at which point he grudgingly accepts Cinder's proposal, coerced by death threats and propitiated by bribery with Dust and Lien and her assurance that her plan would be beneficial for both their respective parties.

Abilities and Powers
Adam's abilities and skills seem to be on par with that of Huntsmen. He is adept in swordsmanship, quickly cutting through Atlesian Knight-130s with ease. He has extreme speed and agility, almost creating a blur in combat, though not as prominent as the one that Blake demonstrates. He has a preference towards the usage of "Iaido", a method in Japanese sword fighting that involves quickly unsheathing for a rapid attack and then sheathing again.

He has been shown in the trailer to be able to slash at enemies that are seemingly out of his blade's range, implying that he either moved there and back quickly or somehow extended the range of his blade. When he used Wilt to open the train car roof hatch, he moved so quickly that his strike was almost invisible to the human eye.

He will also occasionally use Blush for ranged attacks in conjunction with Wilt. Furthermore, Adam's speed is shown to enable him to deflect numerous bullets in rapid succession with Wilt and Blush. Like Blake, Adam appears to have advanced endurance, showing no signs of fatigue during an extended battle.



At the end of the "Black" Trailer, Adam uses a technique which appears to allow him to absorb or block the energy from the Spider Droid's attack and quickly re-emit it again. When he uses this technique, the details on his body glow red. This apparently requires some preparation, as he tells Blake to buy him some time before he is able to perform it. Whether or not this his actual semblance has yet to be confirmed.

Interestingly, when he slashes outwards using this ability, red rose petals are shown floating in the air, symbolizing his theme of "wilt". Enemies hit with the attack also appear to completely disintegrate.

Trivia

 * In Hebrew, Adam (אדם) means "Man" and Adom (אדום) means "Red". It is likely that Adam's name is a play on these two words. Adam is also known in Abrahamic religions as the first man created, possibly referencing the fact that he is the first male character to appear.
 * Adam's last name Taurus, is a Latin word meaning bull. It is also one of the constellations of the Zodiac.
 * People born under the Taurus constellation are described as being reward oriented, enjoying earthly pleasures, and being bull-headedly stubborn.
 * The "horns" in Adam's hair could also have a connection to his last name, as bulls have horns.
 * In the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast/Prince's name is often thought by fans to be Adam (although he is not referred to as such officially). Further similarities between Adam and the Beast are their respective roses. The Beast was transformed by a cursed, wilting rose, wilting being the operating connection, since Adam's emblem slightly resembles the Beast's rose.
 * Adam underwent a character re-design sometime during the development of the "Black" Trailer. In behind-the-scenes footage released by RWBY animator Shane Newville on his Vine account, Adam's original model can be seen. Adam's original model lacks his signature longcoat, instead having a black short-sleeved top with combat vest, cargo pants and combat boots. His sword, Wilt, originally had a black blade that glowed orange when making strikes, and was carried diagonally across his back rather than at his side.
 * In a picture Monty Oum posted on Twitter, the term "Moonslice" can be seen on a notes sheet regarding the Black Trailer, coinciding with the appearance of Adam's finishing move.
 * Adam and Ruby have some traits in common, mostly their color scheme and the heavy use of red imagery in their debut trailers.
 * Despite this resemblance to Ruby, Monty stated that the two are not related, the difference between them being "scatter and wilt".
 * Adam's sword is based on Kagura from Ga-Rei: Zero.
 * Coincidentally, his sword also bares a striking resemblance to Murasama; a blade wielded by Raiden in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
 * His mask also appears for a short while during first Volume 1 Opening.
 * During the episode, "The Stray", Weiss Schnee mentions a train robbery, staged by the White Fang, which may be referring to the events of the "Black" Trailer. If what she said is true, the White Fang assaulted her family's company's cargo train. Since Blake reveals herself as a Faunus in the episode, Adam could be a fellow Faunus as well.
 * It would also explain why he does not care for the safety of the crew members, as they could be Humans and not Faunus.
 * Another possible piece of evidence for Adam being Faunus are the "horns" in his hair.
 * At the end of "Breach", he claims that the White Fang "will listen to him", all but confirming him as a Faunus. This could also show that he is a high ranking individual within the group.
 * Blake seems to have been sketching him in her journal in "Best Day Ever".
 * Adam appeared alongside Junior Xiong, Melanie Malachite, and Miltiades Malachite in a video Monty made as an alternate version of the JNPR dance scene in "Dance Dance Infiltration".
 * In "Mountain Glenn", Adam is mentioned by Blake during a conversation with her teammates Weiss and Yang, where she calls him a monster.