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For the original Summer Maiden, see Summer (maiden).
I love you… just the way you are.
—Summer Rose

Summer Rose was Ruby Rose's mother and was the leader of Team STRQ. Her gravestone is at a cliff in the Cliffside Forest. Her weapon was Sundered Rose, an axe that also functioned as a hunting rifle.

According to her stepdaughter Yang, Summer was a highly-skilled Huntress. She was a member of Team STRQ alongside Taiyang Xiao Long and the Branwen twins, Raven and Qrow Branwen, serving as the team's leader. Yang describes Summer as a "super mom" and still fondly remembers her cookies. The heroes in the fairy tales she read to her daughter Ruby inspired her to become a Huntress just like her.

It is revealed in "Burning the Candle" that Summer was the stepmother to Yang Xiao Long and went missing after a mission, later shown in "Of Solitude and Self" to have involved Raven Branwen. In "Gravity", it is implied that Summer faced Salem at some point before her disappearance.

Appearance[]

Ruby appeared to be almost the splitting image of Summer, having the same silver eyes, fair complexion, and gradient black-into-red hair. In Volume 3, Qrow reveals an old photograph of Team STRQ, which largely obscures her, but reveals a white cloak with a black skirt.

In "Our Way" as part of her daughter's flashback, she had shoulder-length hair tied back in a half-up/half-down style and wore a hooded cloak which is white outside and red underneath. Under that cloak is a similar outfit to her daughter's but mostly black: a high-neck décolletage blouse with studded wristbands on the arms, a black and white overbust corset, a skirt with white tulle underneath, gray leggings, and black knee-high boots with red soles.

In "Of Solitude and Self", she is seen in a flashback in a one-piece red dress with white frills under the skirt and exposed shoulders, separate black sleeves with red and black bracers and a separate black skirt that covers most of the red one underneath. She wears a less bulky version of her white cloak with a red inner liner, which is secured by a pair of black leather straps with leaf-shaped pins that attach to the cloak at the shoulders before crossing above her chest and eventually attaching to a set of thick black belts around her waist. Prior to leaving for her last mission she wore the same rose pendant that her daughter would later don where the two straps overlapped above her chest. Covering her legs is a pair of grey leggings and on her feet is a pair of black high-heeled boots with red highlights.

Personality[]

Yang described Summer at best as an attentive mother to both her and Ruby. Summer cared deeply for Ruby and Yang, regardless of the latter being her step-daughter. Stating that she loved both of them just the way they were, and left Ruby her emblem. In "The More the Merrier", Raven notes, in a mocking tone, that Ruby shares some ideals with Summer, believing in working together to beat Salem, stating that, "You sound just like your mother."

In "Pomp and Circumstance", when Ruby asks what her mother would've done had she learned the truth about Salem, Qrow tells her that he believes Summer would've pressed on, like her. He describes Summer as "always the best of us", but also claims that she could be a bit of a brat sometimes. The earlier notion was further proven by Salem who claimed Summer told her she would stop her despite her immortality, as Ruby spoke similar words to her image in Atlas.

In a flashback in "Of Solitude and Self", Summer reveals another side of her. Primarily, despite Ruby's thoughts of her, Summer was willing to lie to her husband Taiyang by claiming she was going on a mission for Ozpin, when in reality she was leaving with Raven for an unknown mission. This reveals Summer wasn't the perfect Huntress as Ruby assumes, as even Summer had moments of deceit. Though when Raven comments on this, Summer bitterly states the former had no moral high ground while also stating she had every intention of returning home.

Powers and Abilities[]

Summer was a skilled Huntress, graduating from Beacon Academy, and going on missions until her presumed death. In addition to being a "Super-Mom", Summer was described as a "slayer of giant monsters" by Yang. According to Qrow, she and her team were rather well-known during their time at Beacon, suggesting a similar reputation and record of accomplishments as Team RWBY. She was apparently skilled enough for Salem to have to deal with her herself, as Salem hinted that the two of them had fought sometime before her death.

Weapon[]

Summer's weapon of choice was revealed during the events of Volume 9. Sundered Rose was shown to be a hybrid between an axe and rifle, hinting that Summer was skilled in using both forms of the weapon.

Silver Eyes[]

Summer, and by extension her daughter Ruby, comes from a line of warriors who possess powerful abilities related to their Silver Eyes. The extent of their power is unknown, but according to an ancient legend, those with Silver Eyes were destined to be warriors, and the Grimm feared them. It is gathered that Silver Eyes are capable of blinding, petrifying and even disintegrating Grimm. As she has not been seen using them, it is unknown how skilled she was with them.

Trivia[]

Allusion[]

  • Since the reveal of her weapon in "The Parfait Predicament" (a hunting rifle that can shift into an axe), her allusion is most likely The Huntsman from Little Red Riding Hood, to match with Ruby being Little Red Riding Hood and The Hound possibly being The Big Bad Wolf. In addition, Ruby sees Summer as a powerful hero, similar to how the Woodsman saved Little Red Riding Hood.
  • Summer's name derives itself from the poem The Last Rose of Summer by Thomas Moore, as evidenced by the epitaph on her gravestone: "Summer Rose/Thus Kindly, I Scatter", a line from the poem. In the poem, all of the rose's companions are dead, and the writer promises to help the rose join them.

Color Naming Rule[]

  • Roses are a type of flower that are usually a red color, but also exist in white varieties.
  • Summer is one of the four calendar seasons, usually characterized by warm weather, which brings warm colors to mind.

Story[]

  • According to Jeff Williams, Summer's gravestone in the "Red" Trailer originally had no story significance, as when he questioned Monty Oum about who was in the grave, Monty replied, "I don't know. We just thought it would be cool if she visited a grave". Jeff went on to ask, "What if it's her mom?" to which Monty answered, "That's cool".[3]
  • Ruby's reaction to her death is told in the first set of lyrics in "Red Like Roses Part II".
    • Likewise, the second verse of the song is told from Summer's perspective, stating her regret for having left her daughter behind.
    • The vocalists in the song are mother and daughter, with the Ruby lyrics sung by Casey Lee Williams and the Summer lyrics sung by her mother, Sandy Lee Casey.

Character & Design[]

  • Summer and Ruby share the same Emblem design.
    • While the show implies that both emblems are the same gray emblem carved in either metal or stone[4], Ruby's is shown as red on other RWBY media.
    • Aside from her overall look and Emblem, Ruby also shares her mother's last name instead of her father's, the reason for this is unknown.
  • Her debut model's outfit in Volumes 6-7 is a simplified version of Ruby's Mistral attire.
  • In the Volume One Opening, Summer is shown emitting two-toned red and white rose petals, like her daughter. This may be her Semblance, or it may not be canon.

References[]

Characters
BRIR
RWBY/Justice League
Super Heroes and Huntsmen
Other
Minor Characters
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