Pyrrha Nikos

Pyrrha Nikos is a student at Beacon Academy and a member of Team JNPR.

Her weapon of choice, called Miló, is a red-and-bronze spear-like weapon that can transform into a rifle or a short sword. She uses this alongside a shield called Akoúo̱, which resembles a classic hoplon.

Appearance
Pyrrha wears her red hair in a waist-length ponytail and has vivid green eyes. She also wears light-green eyeshadow around the far upper corners of her eyes. She is tall and quite muscular compared to most of the other girls at Beacon.

Her top consists of two layers. The top layer is a light-brown, strapless top split divided vertically with some bronze patterns. This may be a piece of leather or metal armor as it appears to be quite stiff, maintaining its shape without support; this layer also seems to have some kind of riveting or small, round embroidery on the sides, which may also be heavy stitching. The bottom layer is a low bronze V-neck. Pyrrha wears an elastic, red, A-line miniskirt that ends mid-thigh and brown cut-off sleeves on both arms. She wears a red ankle-length drapery that appears to be wrapped around her skirt.

There is a small circular bronze plate by her right hip opposite a pouch with both connected to a belt. The plate bears her "shield and spear" symbol. She wears a bronze circlet headpiece that can be seen above her ear and under her bangs. A pair of small, green, teardrop-shaped emeralds hang from her circlet on thin chains. She also sports a large bronze gorget around her neck, and a bronze bracelet on the upper half of her left arm. Even when dressed in her school uniform, Pyrrha continues to wear her headpiece.

Unlike the rest of the female cast, Pyrrha wears armor. She has elaborate bronze greaves that start below mid-thigh, continuing downwards into her boots and a pair of cuisses that begin mid-thigh and end slightly above her knees. She also dons a bronze bracer on top of the sleeve on her left arm, which appears to be able to connect and disconnect from her shield easily. Her boots are brown with bronze trim, matching her skirt and sleeves, and reach up to mid-calf.

Personality
Pyrrha appears to be a very professionally-capable, friendly, and relaxed person, possibly even insouciant (cheerfully nonchalant). She is a composed and collected individual who, despite being a celebrity, is modest and patient around people, making her very sociable. Additionally she can tend to be quite formal. As a righteous person who treats people equally, Pyrrha states that she cannot stand those who enjoy committing "atrocious" acts such as bullying. Pyrrha is also a very helpful person, such as giving Jaune Arc advice in confessing his feeling to Weiss Schnee, telling him to be honest, a trait she did not show when Nora Valkyrie told her to practice what she preaches.

Pyrrha also seems to be both a quick thinker and a helpful person. However, she still has a tendency to act before thinking, frequently following a friend's lead before fully thinking it through. Pyrrha is also a level-headed thinker in battle. Despite her impressive range of combat abilities, she also knows her own limits and can make accurate assessments when faced with a stronger, more powerful opponent.

An engaged person, Pyrrha takes her studies and relationships equally seriously, making her a bit stubborn and emotionally sensitive. However, this is due to her loyalty towards her friends as well as her good intent. She is shown to hold grudges against those who have severely hurt her feelings, though she can eventually forgive them with a simple apology from their part. She is willing to hold secrets and help friends in need, sometimes without considering the consequences, even if their actions can be "atrocious" to some degree.

At first, Pyrrha did not seem to have any particular attachment to anyone seen in RWBY except for Weiss, who acknowledged her achievements. As the series progresses, she quickly becomes good friends with her teammates, especially Jaune, and gets along with the rest of Team RWBY, often having conversations during lunches and sharing a similar schedule during classes.

Pyrrha herself confesses that she always felt lonely, as her celebrity status made many people view her as essentially unattainable, thus preventing her from forming any kind of meaningful, long-lasting relationships. Due to this, Pyrrha has little experience with people and it can be seen in her own optimistic attitude as she tends to apologize to everyone even when helping them. She views herself as incapable of bonding with people to the point of saying that Jaune is the reason for her new friendships.

Abilities & Powers


Pyrrha is able to throw the javelin form of Miló with extreme precision, being able to hit Jaune's hood over a long distance as he was falling. It was at this point when she first demonstrates proficiency in javelin usage, as she is shown to have perfect stance, with the javelin lining up exactly with her free hand and using her thumb as a reference point.

She is also extremely adept at using Akoúo̱ as an offensive weapon, a skill that was exemplified when she used her shield to sever the damaged joint of the Death Stalker's stinger, with the shield ricocheting off of a pillar behind it and returning to her. However, this feat was likely aided by her Semblance.

Pyrrha appears to be rather strong physically, as she is seen to punch through grown tree trunks with her shield without any change to her posture or stance. However in these sorts of instances she may be using her control over polarity to cause the shield to move with more force. Her strength was also displayed when she used her shield as a launch platform to help Nora launch higher into the air and jumping while doing so, an action that was also done without any visible alterations to her stance when Nora utilized a grenade as propellant off the shield.

Shown in The Emerald Forest, Pyrrha demonstrates the ability to unlock another person's Aura. She did this for Jaune, whose Aura had been unknown to him. She was visibly tired after unlocking it, possibly either due to the sheer amount of Aura that she commented Jaune had, or the nature of the ability itself.

Later in Forever Fall, Pt.2, Pyrrha demonstrates the ability to control magnetism through her Semblance and has knowledge of how each one differs. She first demonstrated this ability in The First Step to retrieve her spear after pinning Jaune to a locker. She later uses it in Players and Pieces to attract her shield to her bracer and then to pull her javelin from the Death Stalker's eye as she flew over it. She uses it again to move Jaune's shield as he fought an Ursa in Forever Fall, Pt.2.

As of Best Day Ever, Pyrrha's semblance of magnetism is shown to not be affected by the number of objects as she is shown being able to manipulate dozens of soda cans and uses them as projectiles after Blake disarmed her. In most combat situations though Pyrrha does not go out of her way to broadcast her semblance's abilities, using it only to make very subtle changes of movement for her own weapons and at times her opponents to affect the course of a battle, giving her a psychological edge of appearing to be invincible in the eyes of most.

Pyrrha also demonstrates incredible skill in switching her weapon back and forth, with quick succession, delivering rapid attacks, and being able to counter others at once, such as with Team CRDL, whom she all defeated alone, despite being outnumbered. Pyrrha is capable of using her weapon's bladed form to even deflect bullets, as done against Dove's sword. She showed to even have a high amount of skill in unarmed combat, using several kicks to knock Cardin and his team back several times, even using her hands at brief moments.

Trivia

 * "Pyrrha" is derived from the Greek adjective pyrrhos (πυρρός), which means "flame-colored". Nikos (Νίκος), meaning "victor of the people", is derived from Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory.
 * Her first and last name together could be seen as a reference to a Pyrrhic victory, a tactical victory that comes at such extreme cost it is often seen as a strategic defeat.
 * Monty said that Pyrrha is named after her hair.
 * Her name and overall theme also comes from Greek mythology.
 * It is also speculated that Pyrrha is based on the Greek warrior hero Achilles. Monty stated that "All of team JNPR disguised themself in the other gender in their inspired character." This aligns with the story of Achilles, who is said to have disguised himself as a red-haired girl named Pyrrha in order to avoid having to fight in the Trojan War.
 * The theory that she is based on Achilles is further supported by the fact that Cinder referred to her by her title "The Invincible Girl".
 * She has appeared on the front of the box for a cereal called "Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes." Although she tells Jaune and Weiss that it was "pretty cool," she laments that the cereal is unhealthy.
 * It is stated by Weiss that she graduated at the top of her class in Sanctum and has won a regional tournament a record number of times.
 * She is somewhat similar to Agent Carolina from Red vs. Blue, who is also voiced by Jen Brown. Both have red ponytail hairstyles and green eyes, and are the best at what they do. In Players and Pieces, Pyrrha lands in a stance very similar to one Agent Carolina landed in.
 * She also has a slight lisp, but only on S's, and soft C's.