Weiss Schnee

Weiss Schnee (Why-ss Sh-nee)  is one of the main characters and the second character introduced in RWBY. Weiss' weapon of choice is a Multi Action Dust Rapier (MADR) named Myrtenaster.

She made her first appearance on February 14th, 2013, in the "White" Trailer, in which she was performing a song while having a flashback of a fight with the Giant Armor, both of which presumably took place at White Castle.

Appearance
Weiss appears as a young girl, dressed primarily in light blue, white, and some red. She wears a pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress. The inside of the bolero is red and the sleeves turn blue as they get closer to her wrists. The bolero has the Schnee crest on the back that bears a resemblance to a snowflake. The same design seems to appear when she uses her Semblance. According to Weiss, her dress is a combat skirt, which Ruby also wears.



Weiss wears an apple-shaped necklace along with a pair of thin, rectangular earrings. She wears white, heeled wedge boots that go to mid-calf, also lined with red on the inside. Her long white hair is pulled back in an off-center ponytail, at the base of which is a small tiara that resembles icicles. She has a pale complexion and ice blue eyes. She also bears a crooked scar down her left eye.

In her segment of the logo, she appears to be as tall as, if not slightly taller than, Ruby. However this may just be Weiss' high-heeled boots, as she is actually the shorter of the two. Weiss also wears a small bag on the back of her dress, wrapped around her waist with a ribbon, possibly containing Dust crystals or vials, respective to the colors on Myrtenaster.

Her sleepware is a faded bluish sleeping gown with short sleeves and white trimmings, and her logo on the upper-right chest.

Personality
Monty Oum has said that everything has been decided for her, and because of it she is a bit of a rebel. It even manages to manifest itself in her physical appearance as she wears her ponytail to the side of her head, disrupting the symmetry of the rest of her outfit.

According to her voice actress, Kara Eberle, Weiss is "nice but can also be a little bit bitchy." She has little patience and a large ego, as she is not above manipulating people for her own gain. Weiss is also quite proud of her name and the status it brings; she certainly plays the part of the pampered princess without difficulty and antagonizes others who disrespect her family or even her belongings.

Weiss can be quite smug and thinks highly of herself. She often places herself above others and has no qualms about showing it off to the rest of her classmates. She also enjoys flattery and wanted to become a celebrity at Beacon, which is also the reason why she seeks friendship with Pyrrha Nikos before the initiation. However, because of her poor attitude, Weiss knows how to appreciate a good friendship and works hard on sustaining it. This is also mentioned by Kara, who called her the "know-it-all" type of person who also can become best friends with her acquaintances.

Weiss remains calm and collected during an encounter and mentally coaches herself. She is thoughtful and fights with precision and coordination. She is analytical and tactical when in battle, waiting for the right moment to strike and retreating when circumstances are not favorable.

Weiss seems to take her time at Beacon more seriously than her teammates. She is often taking notes even when the topic is not related too much to the knowledge searched and is annoyed by people who don't take it seriously. Her lecturing Ruby when they first met about her being too young and them being there to fight monsters also demonstrates her more serious attitude about becoming a huntress.

In Episode 10, Professor Port suggests that Weiss has received everything she has ever wanted in her life. He mentions this after witnessing Weiss' hostile behavior towards Ruby's being chosen Team Leader instead of herself. Port also claims that Weiss was never grateful for anything since she was given anything she asked for, yet another implication as to why he thinks she has such a poor attitude, remarking that her vanity was equal to her skills on the battlefield. Weiss acknowledges that she has usually gotten her way, but indicates that this is not always the case.

After speaking with the Professor, Weiss' attitude appears to change as she takes his suggestion to "be the best person [she] can be" to heart. As a result, she decides to become more friendly with Ruby and tells her she believes she can be a good leader. She even mentions to Ruby that she had always wanted bunk beds growing up, contrasting greatly with her original outward opinion of the beds. Despite warming up to Ruby, in Episode 14, Weiss still shows a tendency to insult Ruby when she makes mistakes.

Views on the White Fang and Faunus
Due to the ongoing violence between the SDC and the White Fang terrorist group, Weiss despises the White Fang and shows a noticeable distrust of the Faunus. The White Fang's activities seem to have contributed to a difficult childhood for Weiss, as she had close ties with numerous people who were either killed by or disappeared because of the White Fang.

The fact that the White Fang have been consistently disrupting the SDC's activities has also caused Weiss' father to be frequently angry, further worsening her childhood. She cites these events as having colored her views on both the White Fang and Faunus. This is first shown when she begins talking about the White Fang in The Stray, ranting about them in occasionally hyperbolic terms to the consternation of her teammate Blake, unaware that she was a former member of the group.

It is seen to affect how she views Faunus in general when she makes many derogatory comments about Sun Wukong because of his minor criminal acts and, after Blake defends him, suggests he would likely just end up joining with the White Fang. However, shortly after the fight with Roman, Weiss seems to no longer care about her argument with Blake, stating they are teammates and it changes nothing. However, she states that she's still not sure how she feels about Sun. Knowing that Blake is a Faunus, such fact is kept a secret by Weiss and her team, including Team JNPR.

Abilities & Powers
Weiss is proficient in handling her weapon: the Multi-Action Dust Rapier, Myrtenaster, demonstrating a high degree of swordsmanship when using it. It has a revolving chamber inside the guard to channel various types of Dust for different effects.

Note: The following is partial speculation, as the exact powers of each mode are still unclear.



In the "White" Trailer, Weiss is shown using various techniques based on the color of Dust her rapier is set to. When the guard is on the red setting, it appears to be able to either enhance strength or create a sort of barrier/shield, as shown when she was able to block the Giant Armor's slash with one hand. The light blue setting conjures a wave of ice in the direction Myrtenaster is pointing, and the yellow setting seems to enhance her agility.

The violet setting increases the damaging capability of the sword for a split second in a high-damage slash attack, while the blue setting appears to deflect force as well as the bind an opponent. She uses the white setting again just before she delivers a finisher attack (which makes the weapon glow with runes on the blade), possibly turning enemies into ice shards when defeated. This is a possible reference to the Red Like Roses' lyrics, which state, "White is cold...."

Another ability Weiss demonstrates in the trailer is her ability to seemingly teleport from place to place by moving extraordinarily fast. She also appears to be quite durable, having taken a full-blown punch from the Giant Armor. She fights gracefully, as if she were dancing on ice, and uses her powers to their full effect.

In the series, Myrtenaster seems to have a different set of abilities or its abilities are used differently. So far, Weiss has used Myrtenaster to conjure fire to fend off a pack of Beowolves. Also, unlike in the trailer where she seems to use her glyphs to teleport, in the series her glyphs act as a way to accelerate her in a given direction, but she is clearly visible while doing this. The only ability that seems consistent is her use of ice, mostly using it to trap opponents for a short while to either set up an attack or allow for a retreat.



One of Weiss' most notable abilities is her Semblance, which allows her to create glyphs that can be used in a variety of ways. With her glyphs she can create a platform in midair, enabling her to engage in aerial combat with no need to return to ground level or can be used to simply slow her decent. This technique is unofficially known as Air Step.

While on the ground, she can also create glyphs that she uses to greatly increase her speed by launching herself in a particular direction, seemingly gliding across air for a short time.

It is currently unknown if these are the same glyph, as this has not been confirmed as of yet and may just share the same visual appearance. Both seem to be triggered by a specific hand motion. In the trailer, the glyph used to create Air Step is white and has something similar to her emblem on it.

In the series, Weiss has demonstrated variations of her glyphs, each having a different color. So far, black, white, and blue and red have been shown. Black glyphs tend to hold a person or object in place, as if pulling things toward it. Her blue glyphs on the other hand seem to have the opposite effect, pushing things in one direction or repelling things away when hit head on; shown in Weiss' battle against a Boarbatusk. In Episode 8, Weiss' glyph turns red as she launches Ruby at a Nevermore, however the reason for this change is never explained.

Despite seeming physically weaker in comparison to some of her teammates, her versatility more than makes up for this. Weiss is able to use her glyphs to increase her speed in combat, thus also increasing the force behind her attacks. Weiss also seems very proficient in the use of her Semblance, able to use it almost reflexively.

Weiss' speed was first demonstrated in the episode Players and Pieces, when she dashed forward to save Ruby from the Death Stalker's stinger by encasing it in ice. She also used it again in The Badge and the Burden, Pt.2 to launch herself and land the killing blow against the Boarbatusk after knocking it on its back.

Weiss also seems to have low endurance, as seen after the fight with the Nevermore. When the other three girls showed no signs of fatigue, Weiss was exhausted. However, this may be attributed to the repeated use of her Semblance.

Another instance where this weakness in demonstrated is in The Emerald Forest, after Ruby and Weiss are forced to retreat from a pack of Beowolves after a forest fire; Weiss is shown to be panting in exhaustion while Ruby still seems to be fully energized. Despite this, she seems capable of lasting long enough in a battle even when running at high speeds or using her glyphs in rapid succession.

Trivia

 * Weiss alludes heavily to the tale of Snow White, with her song making reference to the mirror which plays a large part in the story. This allusion is also supported by her name, which is German for "White Snow."
 * Additionally, her role as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company may allude to Snow White's affiliation with the seven dwarfs, who were jewel miners.
 * The pendant on her necklace is shaped like an apple, and in Episode 11, Weiss' meal consists of only an apple. These are most likely references to Snow White and the poisoned apple.
 * Being left handed, Weiss primarily fights with her left hand, usually only using her right hand to activate her semblance or in conjunction with Dust to activate the enhancements from her weapon.
 * According to Monty Oum, Weiss fights with fencing because he studied fencing.
 * Weiss' voice actor, Kara Eberle, compares her to both Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series.
 * During an "Ask Me Anything" question and answer session on the Rooster Teeth website, Kara said that Weiss' favorite season is Winter, her favorite color is baby blue, and her favorite ice cream flavor is blueberry frozen yogurt. Also, if given the choice between fighting 1 horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses, she would rather fight 1 horse-sized duck.
 * When asked about how Weiss received her scar, Kara simply stated that viewers would "find out."


 * It is currently unknown how Weiss gained the scar over her left eye. While it initially appears that the scar came as a result of her fight in the trailer with the Giant Armor, the scar is actually present during the fight. This can be seen when her face has a streak of blood and the scar is clearly visible.
 * However, frame by frame comparisons give conflicting results, as many frames show that she both had and did not have her scar before the fight started. Before the battle begins, we see a brief glimpse of her eye, bearing the scar. This may be still a moment when she's on-stage, evidenced by the fact that her rapier does not appear at her side. Whether this is a rendering error where the wrong texture was used, where the lighting hides the scar or whether the blood is purposely off centered is unclear.
 * Despite her name being German, the 'W' in her first name is not pronounced as it would be in German. Monty has stated that this is because real-world countries such as Germany do not exist in the world of RWBY.
 * Tumblr mq554iJ8411rye1gyo3 1280.jpg the official artwork shown at the end of each trailer, she is holding Myrtenaster in her right hand despite being left handed. This is because the drawings in the Team RWBY composite are early concepts.
 * However, the artwork of Weiss in the composite seems to be an edited version of the original Weiss concept art. In the original concept art, she has a beauty mark instead of a scar and is holding a silhouette of Myrtenaster that seems to have a somewhat different shape than the final version.
 * She has her own official Twitter account at RT_WeissSchnee, like Ruby and Yang.
 * She has admitted to Ruby that she always wanted bunk beds as a child.
 * Weiss is often adressed by her nicknames, as seen in Welcome to Beacon, being called Snow Angel by Neptune and Ice Queen by Sun.
 * Weiss seems to know about Yang's fight against Hei Xiong, as in Welcome to Beacon she mentions blowing up night clubs.