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For the song of the same name, see Nevermore (song).
The bird knows we can't do squat against it as long as it's airborne. It's totally laughing at us.

Overview Image Gallery



Nevermores[1] are large avian Creatures of Grimm first encountered during the Beacon Academy Initiation and featured in the episode "Players and Pieces" of RWBY Volume 1.

However, it appears that a smaller than average form is the "Birdie" in the episode "The Emerald Forest" that Ruby Rose strikes during her descent into the forest. Small Nevermore are also seen in "Search and Destroy" in Volume 2.

A Nevermore is also seen briefly in the Volume 1 Opening, swooping towards the viewer during the group shot of the Grimm.

Appearance[]

The Nevermore is an avian that has features resembling those of several other bird species. Two notable examples of this are its resemblances to condors and ravens. Like other Grimm, it has a mask-like, white bony structure overlaying the upper front of its head. It also has four glowing red eyes, two on each side of its head. The headpiece also includes a dorsal spine or fin, reminiscent of that on the heads of condors and some prehistoric pterosaurs.

Interestingly, the Nevermore is seen to have two clawed "fingers" extending forwards from the outermost wing joint. This is a feature present in only a handful of birds on Earth, of which none are corvids. It is most closely matched by pseudo-fingers seen on the outer wing joints of ancient proto-birds like Archaeopteryx. The Nevermore is generally reminiscent of the Archaeopteryx in many ways, although it is many times larger, even in its smallest seen form.

In the "Volume 4 Character Short", the Nevermore underwent a visual change, now with their red eyes changed into yellow, possess slightly longer wing claws, their beak is now pointed forward, their crest becomes shorter and pointed upward and their bone-like mask now has feathers sticking out. Like the designs of the Volume 4 Beowolf, black smoke also seems to emanate from their bodies.

Most likely due to the fact that they inhabit the cold tundras of Solitas, the black skin and feathers of the northern variant of the Nevermore appears to be somewhat frozen and has white patches. This variant is called the Ice Nevermore.

Whilst fully grown Nevermores are referred to as Giant Nevermores, their younger counterparts are called Nevermore Chicks

Nevermore appear to come in a large variety of sizes:

  • One variety close in size to small birds. Ruby crashes into one in "The First Step, Pt.2", and Blake Belladonna later kills a number of them in "Search and Destroy".
  • One slightly larger than an Ursa is shown in the Opening.
  • The "Giant Nevermore" which Team RWBY fights in "Players and Pieces".
  • Several Nevermore of an intermediate size appear in "Breach".

RWBY: The Official Manga[]

The Nevermore appears to similar from the show except it lacks bird arms, has a larger wings extension, its bone-like masks takes a different shape that extend from the head to neck and has small bones armor. They also has eight eyes instead of four.

History[]

1108 Players and Pieces 14351

Team RWBY fight a Giant Nevermore

In "Players and Pieces", as part of one of Ruby's ill-conceived plans, she and Weiss Schnee ride on a giant Nevermore, clinging to its talons, in the hopes of reaching the abandoned temple. When Weiss becomes angered at Ruby's idea, Ruby suggests that they jump off the large Grimm and then proceeds to do so, leaving the very hesitant Weiss behind.

The Nevermore begins to circle around and Weiss eventually loses her grip, sending her plummeting towards the ground before being "rescued" by Jaune Arc. The Nevermore continues to circle around the group of students before pinning Ruby to the ground, using its feathers as flying daggers. However, Ruby escapes with some help from Weiss. As the students each grab a relic, they run back to the cliffs with the Nevermore following closely behind.

While attacking the students, Blake Belladonna lands on its back and hits it with multiple strikes, all of which did minimal damage. After Blake returns to the group, Yang Xiao Long suggests hitting it with everything they have. Unfortunately, this fails as well, and Yang attacks it on her own. The Nevermore begins to focus on attacking Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang until Ruby comes up with a plan to defeat it. Yang forces it onto the ground via blasts from Ember Celica before Weiss freezes its tail feathers to the stone.

Blake then uses her Gambol Shroud's ribbon as a large slingshot and Weiss uses her Glyph capabilities to launch Ruby. Ruby uses the blade of Crescent Rose to hook the Nevermore's neck and then drag it up the cliff with the aid of Weiss, who uses her Glyph abilities to launch Ruby upward. Upon reaching the top of the cliff, Ruby manages to decapitate the bird, killing it.

GiantNevermore

The Giant Nevermore card from Remnant: The Game.

The Nevermore is mentioned briefly in the game of Remnant: The Game Team RWBY played in "Welcome to Beacon". However, its design seems to differ from the usual Nevermore, with a much more prominent feather frill and differing wing design.

A few miniature Nevermore are seen flying out of an abandoned building as Blake pries a building's door down, releasing them in "Search and Destroy". Blake proceeds to easily kill all of them.

In "No Brakes", some small Nevermore enter the tunnel through the hole that the explosive carriages caused, alongside several Beowolves and a King Taijitu. In "Breach", some small Nevermore are seen flying around Vale during the battle and briefly attack Yang. Later, another three bigger Nevermore are dispatched single-handedly by Coco Adel, whose weapon makes short work of all three of them.

When Winter Schnee visits Beacon Academy in "It's Brawl in the Family", she summoned miniature Nevermores during her fight against Qrow Branwen.

Nevermores are seen among the Grimm that are headed towards Vale in "Beginning of the End". In "PvP", a giant Nevermore lands atop Amity Colosseum, but a forcefield prevents it from entering or harming anyone. Some Nevermores are also seen attacking Atlesian Airships. In "Battle of Beacon" a Nevermore is seen carrying Roy Stallion in its talon. Nevermores are seen flying over Beacon Academy in "End of the Beginning".

A group of Nevermores are also seen in the "Volume 4 Character Short", attacking a village. Ruby uses her scythe to hook onto one, using it to fly her over the village before cutting off its wing.

In "Kuroyuri", Nevermores are also seen taking part in the attack on Kuroyuri. One lands on the building Nora Valkyrie is hiding under, but Lie Ren uses his Semblance to hide them both from it.

During "The Lost Fable, a Giant Nevermore was crushed into nothing by Salem using telekinesis, demonstrating her and Ozma's powers as gods.

In "Out in the Open", Ice Nevermores are seen among the Grimm attacking Mantle during the Battle of Mantle.

After Salem arrived in Atlas, Nevermores are among the Grimm shown flying in the skies of the Kingdom. They were also used during the Battle of Atlas. In "Dark", Weiss Schnee revealed that she had the ability to summon a Nevermore, but it was destroyed before it could fully form. Nevermores are later shown to still be flying in the skies above Atlas after Monstra is destroyed.

In "The Final Word", Winter Schnee summons a few Nevermores during her battle against Cinder Fall. These Nevermores were boosted by her Maiden powers, as they were augmented with ice-based attacks.[2]

Powers and Abilities[]

Nevermores seem to have the ability to easily swoop down for an attack, where they gain momentum in going straight back up. They are shown to have a tremendous amount of strength as seen when one was able to destroy a large stone structure with just one hit, as well as ramming itself into a stone bridge with little consequence. In "Battle of Beacon" they have shown to be strong enough to break through the forcefield that protected Amity Colosseum.

Additionally, they are shown to be highly durable as in the case when one was hit several times by Team RWBY's attacks, yet appeared to be unaffected and continued flying. Even when Yang shot five blasts directly into its mouth with Ember Celica, it was only disoriented for a few seconds. Blake also hit it several times when on its back with no visible damage being dealt to it. This incredibly large Nevermore was only defeated after Ruby cut through its neck with Crescent Rose whilst dragging it up a cliff-face with the help of her team.

Fighting Style[]

The Nevermore seems to primarily resort to swooping mid-flight towards its target and leading in with its beak, then returning to flight using the downward momentum it gained during the attack. Nevermore also bear talons which they tend not to resort to, most likely relying on their momentum to keep mobile during combat.

The Nevermore is the first creature of Grimm shown to have a ranged attack. During "Players and Pieces" it is shown throwing feathers from its wing, which act like a volley of arrows and possess a considerable effective range. The only other attack used is a battering ram-like attack, flying and shattering parts of monuments using its bony head-piece.

Trivia[]

  • The name "Nevermore" is a reference to Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven".
  • The Nevermore's abilities are similar to the Stymphalian Birds of Greek Mythology, which were also man-eating birds that could attack by launching their blade-like feathers at victims.

References[]

  1. Miles Luna's Twitter
  2. RWBY Volume 8 Directors' and Writers' Commentary Chapter 14
Minor Combatants
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