Ruby Rose


 *  You may be looking for the episode by the same name. If so, see Ruby Rose (episode).

Ruby Rose is the main protagonist, leader of Team RWBY, and the first character introduced in RWBY. Ruby's weapon of choice is a High Caliber Sniper Scythe (HCSS) called Crescent Rose.

She first appeared in the "Red" Trailer released on November 5th, 2012, in which she fought Beowolves. She then appears near the end of the "Yellow" Trailer greeting Yang Xiao Long and inquiring as to why her sister Yang was there.

Appearance


Ruby appears as a young, silver-eyed girl dressed in a black blouse, and a skirt with red trimmings, complete with a red cloak. Her entire apparel is made up of various shades of red and black, with black on the main suit and red on the cloak. Even her hair is lightly red-streaked.

As of her second appearance, Ruby has cross shaped pins holding her cloak to her shirt. Around her waist is a belt which holds large cartridges (possibly .50 caliber or comparable) in individual loops, and a magazine pouch. In the "Red" Trailer as well as the promotional logo for RWBY, she had a silver cross on her belt, but it was eventually changed into a silver version of her rose symbol.



Ruby's physical appearance resembles the Little Red Riding Hood archetype, which is further reinforced by the appearance of the wolves in her trailer, in this case, the Beowolves. Director Monty Oum has confirmed that she indeed alludes to, but is not based on, Red Riding Hood.

Ruby's pajamas consist of a black tank top with a heart-shaped Beowolf design on the chest and white long pants with pink rose decorations. She also wears a black sleeping mask with triangular red eyes reminiscent of the Beowolves in her trailer.

Unlike the other students of Beacon, Ruby wears part of her original outfit, her cloak, along with her school uniform.

Personality
Monty Oum has described Ruby as being “innocent” and still a “little sister”. Most of Ruby’s personality is described by her childish nature as well as her fighting style. Ruby is shown to be impulsive, naïve, and innocent; but when needed, she can be serious and dependable.

Ruby is a self-proclaimed dork when it comes to weapons she is quite intelligent, having designed and built Crescent Rose during her time at Signal, although she admits to going "a little overboard" with its design. She feels that seeing new weapons "is like meeting new people, but better." Oum has said she relies on Crescent Rose quite often in battle, which implies that her weapon is the source of her confidence in battle.

Ruby has a strong sense of moral justice, a trait she got from stories about heroes and monsters that her sister used to read for her as well as the way her parents raised her. These stories are what gave her the ideals that she wished to live by and uphold throughout her life, and are the reason for her love for books. Because she is shown to be childish even when in class, she tends to study by herself to cover the necessary knowledge.

Ruby is shown to be naïve, as although she doesn't like to be the center of attention, becoming a Huntress would effectively put her in the spotlight. In addition to her dislike of attention, Ruby prefers to either be alone or with Yang. However, she has become comfortable around Team RWBY and Team JNPR. She does not lack social skills, but has problems when meeting new people. This is mostly because of her childish nature and lack of social grace, as she can be bad mannered (only out of ignorance) and sometimes speaks without thinking. However, because of her enthusiastic personality, she can become very good friends with people who share her enthusiasm.

Although she is highly skilled in battle, Ruby seems reckless, attacking on sight instead of thinking the situation through beforehand, which was seen during her first fight alongside Weiss Schnee. She tends to be impulsive, rushing into battle. She is seen to have almost no coordination with Weiss during their fight with a pack of Beowolves in Episode 7. Also, Ruby at times doesn't seem to analyze the battlefield at all, or doesn't take the time to study an opponent, such as attacking the Death Stalker on sight without knowing it's strong resistance to bullets and blades.

Despite this, Ruby's leadership skills make her a worthy teammate. At moments she seems to understand the situation better than most, and shows the ability to quickly formulate plans. This was seen during Team RWBY's battle with the Nevermore, in which her teammates' positions allowed her to think up a successful plan.

It's most likely that Ozpin assigned Ruby as team leader to ensure that she grows as an individual. This proves to be the case as she becomes a resourceful and dependable leader who studies so hard and so late, she falls asleep in the middle of the task, all to impress her teammate Weiss. She was also able to pass her beliefs as leader to Jaune Arc, thus helping him find a new sense of responsibility for the safety and well-being of his own team.

Ruby is also shown to care for all her teammates equally, despite their race. This is seen in how she expresses sympathy for Weiss' bad childhood when she explains her family's history with the White Fang, and then shows the same concern moments later for Blake when she runs away, having let slip her prior involvement with the group, where she also indirectly revealed that she was a Faunus. Her concern continues on in having her search desperately for her teammate. She also shows some concern for Penny, telling the latter to stay back from the fight between Roman Torchwick, Blake Belladonna, and Sun Wukong; and trying to convince her not to enter the fray.

Abilities & Powers
Ruby is very skilled in combat, despite her small stature and age when compared to those around her. This is a result of special training by her Uncle Qrow, who Ruby claims took her under his wing to improve her skills. As a result, Ruby is a master at using her scythe and even Ozpin admitted that he hadn't seen someone of Ruby's skill since Qrow himself. Ruby's first display of her skills was in the "Red" Trailer, where she single-handedly fends off a large pack of Beowolves without injury. She later is able to defeat Roman Torchwick's group of henchman after they tried to rob a Dust shop and forced Roman to retreat.



Ruby's main weapon in combat is her scythe, Crescent Rose, which she designed herself, as all students at Signal do. Her weapon is a combination of a scythe and a high powered rifle, which causes a large amount of recoil when fired. Ruby uses the recoil from Crescent Rose's shots to augment the speed and force of her strikes. However, she is also able to spin Crescent Rose with exemplary skill and power without the recoil and often executes chain attacks with this technique. Even without using any kind of special abilities, Crescent Rose is incredibly sharp. In Episode 5, Ruby was able to cleanly slice through a large tree with a single, non-recoil-augmented blow, causing the tree to fall. She also uses the weapon itself as a platform from which to attack, shown when Ruby laid down completely on the handle of Crescent Rose while firing at opponents.

Ruby carries two kinds of ammunition with her: unmarked and Cross Clips. The unmarked magazines will fire off a high caliber bullet with a white muzzle flash. Cross Clips (technically magazines), on the other hand, give off a black muzzle flash and are observed to be far more powerful than the unmarked magazines. This lends her even more speed and power. With this, Ruby is able to use Crescent Rose to propel herself with extraordinary speed, and then rotate herself axially in midair to execute a devastating spinning slash attack.

To add to her already impressive battle prowess, Ruby's Semblance is speed, as stated by Pyrrha Nikos. Because of her Semblance, she is able to move from place to place so quickly that it is almost like teleporting, as she seems to materialize out of nowhere. She does so to avoid the first Beowolf's lunge in the "Red" Trailer, and later shows it to Weiss during a conversation in the Emerald Forest. However Ruby doesn't seem to have full control of this ability or is only able to use it when concentrating, as she didn't use it when being chased by the Death Stalker in Episode 8, leading to her being pinned by a Nevermore's feather. Whenever she uses her Semblance, she leaves a cloud of rose petals in her wake that quickly dissipates. It is unknown what causes this, but these rose petals are not merely symbolic and can be perceived by others, as shown by Weiss who once waved her hands trying to brush them away.

Ruby has enhanced endurance, showing no signs of fatigue in battle at all. In Episode 6, Weiss and Ruby are forced to retreat from a pack of Beowolves. After running a certain distance until they were safe, Ruby shows no sign of being tired, while Weiss is seen trying to catch her breath. Her endurance is also seen after the battle with the Nevermore, where she is aided by Yang, Blake, and Weiss into defeating the large Grimm by dragging it up a cliff and beheading it, but not appearing to be exhausted in the slightest.

Trivia

 * She was the first character introduced in the series, appearing in a trailer released on November 5th, 2012.
 * She bears a striking resemblance to the famous fairy tale character Little Red Riding Hood. However, when asked by fans, Monty Oum stated that Ruby and the other girls will have no ties to any fairy tale at all. Although in a recent interview he did say Ruby's design was influenced by Little Red Riding Hood and that all the other main characters' physical appearances will be majorly influenced by other fairy tales and mythological tales.
 * Ruby's cross pins for her hood are not present in her trailer. She also seems to be wearing a somewhat longer cloak, with a straight hem instead of the hemline curving upward in the middle.
 * Monty has confirmed that Ruby is left handed; however, she is seen wielding with her right hand just as well, which stated by Monty is "common to switch both hands while fighting, especially to make it interesting."
 * She also shares a resemblance to Adam, sporting a similar red and black motif.
 * Monty has confirmed that they are indeed not related to each other, and that their emblems differ from each other in terms of "scatter and wilt."
 * Ruby is the only character that appears in more than one trailer.
 * Although Ruby is often depicted to favor eating sweets like cookies, her favorite food is actually strawberries.
 * Ruby likes her coffee with cream and five sugars.
 * She has her own official Twitter account at RT_RubyRose, like Weiss and Yang.
 * Ruby is the only character to fight the Grimm in her trailer.
 * Ruby was the first character seen to use her Semblance, when she uses her speed to dodge the first Beowolf's attack in the "Red" Trailer.
 * Although Yang and Ruby do not have the same last name, Monty Oum has confirmed that neither of them are adopted.
 * Ruby is the shortest character in the series so far, and also the youngest.
 * Early designs for Ruby were set aside and later used for Miltiades Malachite, one of Yang's foes in the "Yellow" Trailer.