User blog comment:Zathronas/Analysis by an Author: JNPR Pyrrha Nikos/@comment-98.109.162.219-20131210203608/@comment-3146930-20131210204621

I think you're talking about the Red-Shirt Army. While that is a cliche, it doesn't always relate to the red character. The reason it came about was that on Star Trek, you would have Kirk, Spock, and some random crew member in a red shirt. Now out of those three, one of them was going to die, but Kirk and Spock were main characters so they were out. However the cliche itself can extend to any minor character in a group of main characters that will most likely die if the event arises. So for example, if Team RWBY went on a mission with one of the random character models in the background; that random character would be considered a Red-Shirt, even if she isn't in a red shirt.