Maria Calavera/History

During her younger years, Maria Calavera was a silver-eyed warrior, but somehow lost her eyes and they were replaced with prosthetic ones.

Heading for Argus
Maria is seen aboard the train that the heroes take on their journey to Atlas. When they decide to keep passengers safe in the front cars and use the rear ones to fight Grimm, Maria stays on the rear cars unlike everyone else. As a result, she is present when the rear cars crash, and she greets everyone.

Yang Xiao Long, aggravated as she attempts to pull her bike from the snow, calls Maria "a defenseless old lady". Maria takes offense, but after saying she is hard of hearing and blind as her mechanical eyes fail her, she understands Yang's point. Maria is there as the heroes argue with Ozpin about his lies, and she bears witness to Jinn, the being of the Relic of Knowledge. She stares in disbelief as Ruby asks Jinn what Ozpin is hiding from the group.

After they learn of Salem and Ozma's past, and that Ozpin cannot defeat his former lover, the heroes are angered at their leader and are later discouraged when he seals himself in Oscar Pine's mind. As the tension in the group rises, Maria steps up to help the boy to his feet and tells that they are emanating negativity that can attract the Grimm. She then directs them to a nearby trail to find shelter and quickly stop Yang's angry shouting at Oscar. Later, Maria rides on Bumblebee while it is pushed by Yang as the heroes find Brunswick Farms and enter to take shelter from the snowstorm.


 * Episodes Covering These Events
 * "Argus Limited"
 * "Uncovered"
 * "The Lost Fable"
 * "So That's How It Is"

Nightmare of Brunswick Farms
After Qrow breaks down the front door of the main house so they can get inside, Maria shouts at the group to close the door and everyone searches out the house to find ways to warm themselves. But the tension rises for the group when Weiss and Yang find a pair of decomposed corpses on the bed in the master bedroom. While Maria and the students gather around the fire in the living room, they learn from Qrow that there are more corpses in bed in the other houses, and they have no other choice but to spend the night at the manor until the snowstorm stops. As the others search for food and transport Maria takes a book off of the shelf, reasoning that she will find a story for bedtime.

Maria reads more of the books with numbers on them and discover that they are the diaries of Bartleby, the head of Brunswick Farms. She learns that he and other families founded the estate to try and live outside the kingdom, and it worked for a while until many hardships, which included the Grimm, slowed down crop production and made life harder. This makes Maria pity Bartleby as he seemed like an ingenious man. She continues to read the farmer’s diary until she falls asleep on the sofa.



The next morning, the group is about to leave when Qrow’s Semblance flattens one of the tires of the flatbed, causing Maria to comment that they are “beacons for back luck”. After Ruby accidentally drops the Relic into the well, Maria continues to read Bartleby’s diary as Team RWBY goes after the lamp. She is later horrified when she finds an entry detailing the Apathy. Maria jumps down the well as Team RWBY come across the Grimm. They find a cellar with an exit, but they are then attacked by the Apathy and collapse in exhaustion. Maria is then puzzled when Ruby somehow pushes back the Grimm long enough to save Blake. When the Apathy attack again, Maria crawls over to Ruby and learns that her eyes are silver. She then instructs Ruby to think about the people she cares for and tells the girl that life is beautiful and precious, and it must be protected. This prompts Ruby to unleash her powers once again with more control, and destroys all of the Apathy within the vicinity, leaving Maria in awe at the extent of Ruby's powers. They then escape from the cellar and find Qrow passed out from the bar. Maria shouts at him that they are leaving and they quickly escape from the farm estate.

On the road, Maria reveals what she learned from Bartleby’s diary: about the Apathy and the farmer’s attempt to cut costs on Huntsman by using this type of Grimm. She later laments not being able to see that the Grimm were responsible for the deaths of the farm estate residents. When being asked by Ruby about her knowledge of the Grimm and how she guided the girl in using her powers, Maria answers that she also had silver eyes.


 * Episodes Covering These Events
 * "The Coming Storm"
 * "Alone in the Woods"