Ruby Rose

"As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!"

- Ruby, on her motivations for becoming a Huntress

Ruby Rose is the main hero of RWBY and the first character introduced in the series. Her weapon of choice is the High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe (acronym: HCSS) called Crescent Rose. Her first appearance is in the "Red" Trailer visiting the grave of her dead mother named Summer Rose and fighting the dark Beowolves.

Receiving an invitation from Professor Ozpin following a skirmish with the notorious criminal Roman Torchwick, Ruby attends Beacon Academy to become a Huntress. She becomes the leader of Team RWBY and her notable members are Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and her half-sister, Yang Xiao Long.

Original Outfit (Volumes 1-3)
Ruby appears as a young, silver-eyed girl dressed in a black blouse, a black waist cincher with red lacing and a skirt with red trimmings, completed by a red, hooded cloak. She is currently the youngest character in the series. Her entire outfit is made up of various shades of red and black with black as the primary color on the main suit and red on the cloak. Even her shoulder-length hair is black with a red tint to it.

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 in individual loops, as well as a magazine pouch. In the "Red" Trailer, as well as the promotional logo for RWBY, she has a silver cross on her belt, but it was eventually changed into a silver version of her rose emblem.

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

Post-Timeskip
Following the Fall of Beacon, Ruby's new design is updated, sporting a white high-neck décolletage blouse. Her outfit retains the black and red skirt from her default clothing, but her waist cincher has been replaced with an overbust corset. A black belt bordered in red holds the magnetic clip for Crescent Rose and its ammunition. She also has brown straps on her blouse that allow her to wear a small brown backpack.

In lieu of her full black stockings, Ruby wears thigh-high stockings reaching to a few inches below the hem of her skirt, decorated by an image of a long-stemmed rose. Her red-soled black boots contain four straps and buckles apiece and may be slightly taller than her previous boots.

Her cloak has a singular clip on the right shoulder in the shape of her emblem, replacing the cross shaped clips from her default attire. Both the cloak and the stockings show tears from hard wear, somewhat similar to her uncle Qrow's cape.

Her hair has also grown slightly longer, maintaining the color gradation from black at the roots to red at the tips.

Personality
Ruby was described by Monty as being "innocent" and still a "little sister". She is quick to reveal she wanted to become a huntress in order to be like the great heroes in fairy tales, and has described being one as far more "romantic" than being a police officer. She has also shown a distinct lack of ability picking up social cues due to being a very open and honest person, which results in her being unable to pick up Weiss' sarcasm in the "The Shining Beacon", and struggling to act formal in "It's Brawl in the Family".

Although Ruby has no trouble interacting with friends, she does have trouble actually making them, and once admits that seeing new weapons "is like meeting new people, but better". This could have been a result of her having been accepted two years earlier to Beacon Academy, which forces her to leave her friends at Signal behind, as well as interact with people that were both older and more experienced than her. Regardless, both her and Jaune toast to being socially awkward during the Beacon Dance.

In the second chapter of the manga it is revealed that Ruby has had a fear of large crowds, as shown when she freezes up during a sparring match against Cardin Winchester. However, she manages to work through that fear with some encouragement from her teammates long enough to win the spar, and by the Vytal Festival has overcome them entirely.

In combat or dangerous situations she is shown to be quite impulsive and battle eager, such as when she attacks a Death Stalker on sight before learning of its high resistance to bullets and blades. This trait contrasts with her adaptability, for she is quite capable of forming attack plans with others in order to take down stronger foes, such as the Nevermore in "Players and Pieces," and Roman Torchwick in the Atlesian Paladin in "Painting the Town." After her discussion with Ozpin in "The Badge and The Burden", Ruby begins to take her role as leader of Team RWBY seriously. Notably, future instances of recklessness are when none of her teammates are near her, such as in the "Battle of Beacon" when she goes alone to engage Roman and Neopolitan.

Abilities & Powers
In order to become a Huntress, Ruby trained at Signal Academy, where her skills and abilities far surpassed her peers. Wielding a dangerous weapon like Crescent Rose required strength, balance, and adaptability, all of which she demonstrated the night she stopped the robbery of a Dust shop in Vale. This led Ozpin to accept her into Beacon Academy two years before the usual age of admittance.

While at Beacon, Ruby developed skills as a decisive leader, being able to formulate and execute plans with others in order to take down tougher foes, such as the giant Nevermore encountered during initiation, and later in coordinated attacks against Roman Torchwick in an Atlesian Paladin-290.

Ruby's sense of balance stands out, particularly in precarious situations like perching on a taut ribbon in "Players and Pieces" or running off an exploding airship in "Heroes and Monsters".

Weapon
Ruby is a self admitted dork when it comes to weapons, which shows in her complex design and craftsmanship of Crescent Rose, her High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe which she designed herself at Signal, as well as her eye for detail when observing other peoples weapons and tools.

This weapon can transform between a scythe and a sniper rifle, and can fire Dust rounds in either form with massive force, as demonstrated in the "Red" Trailer when she used a Gravity Dust magazine. Rather than compensate for it, Ruby harnesses the recoil to enhance her mobility in combat, firing shots to propel herself short distances, simultaneously attacking and evading opponent. It is also capable of using fire and lightning dust.

Ozpin has noted upon meeting Ruby that he has only ever seen one other scythe wielder as skilled with such a dangerous weapon; that person is none other than Qrow Branwen, Ruby’s teacher and uncle. According to Ruby, prior to learning under Qrow she was "completely garbage", although it’s unclear if that only applies to her scythe skills.

Despite showing a preference for engaging enemies in close combat, Ruby does possess enough accuracy to land headshots against Grimm, but notably needs to stand still to do so consistently, usually by anchoring her scythe to the ground to act as a monopod.

Semblance
Ruby’s Semblance allows her to dash with unnatural speed in whatever direction she chooses at the cost of aura. This happens so fast she sometimes gives off the illusion of teleporting.

She has displayed the ability to use this Semblance midair, as well as to create a powerful whirlwinds that can suck in and knock away objects and foes caught by it.

During the Volume 4 Character Short, she displayed much greater control over her Semblance, using it to repeatedly change directions in midair and attack at high speed. She also exhibited the ability to seemingly dematerialize into three separate clusters of petals which then flowed around an opponent before reforming. The exact mechanics of this ability are not yet clear.

She also increases her ability to pick up and carry someone, as her joint attack with Nora on the Geist was a vast improvement over the time she carried Penny Polendina. Another amped ability is her encircling of air, which she previously used successfully against Team JNPR and unsuccessfully against Mercury Black. Previously it was smaller, but she is now capable of enveloping her enemy in a tornado-like rush of air.

Notably, whenever she uses this Semblance, she leaves a trail of rose petals in her wake that dissipate over time. It is unknown what causes this, but these rose petals are not merely symbolic and can be perceived by others. Weiss once waved her hands to brush them away, and Ozpin comments on witnesses who reported rose petals left behind in a dance club.

Silver Eyes
Through her mother, Summer, Ruby comes from a line of legendary warriors who possessed powerful abilities related to their silver eyes, said to be an extremely rare trait. Upon seeing Pyrrha die in "End of the Beginning", Ruby accidentally uses this power in her grief and freezes the Dragon. However, she has no memory of doing this other than her head hurting. Later in the episode, Qrow describes a fairy tale about warriors with silver eyes who are so powerful that even the Grimm fear them.

In "The Next Step", it is revealed that Ruby's powers caused Cinder to lose her left eye, her voice, and the use of her left arm. Salem states that this is due to Cinder's attainment of the Fall Maiden powers, but does not explain why this is the case.

Weaknesses
Ruby is heavily reliant on Crescent Rose. In contrast to her sister, her hand-to-hand capabilities are rather poor, making her easy to be taken down by mere grunts. Without her weapon, there is not much she can do in a fight, and her best bet is to run away with her speed. Her cape, on occasion, has been exploited against her, notably in the Emerald Forest by a Nevermore.

Trivia

 * Ruby alludes to the fairy tale character Little Red Riding Hood, particularly on her minor associations with Beowolves.
 * This allusion has affected her appearance, causing her to almost constantly wear a red hooded cape.
 * In the "Red" Trailer, she fights a large pack of Beowolves, a reference to Little Red Riding Hood coming face to face with a wolf in the story.
 * In her Pajama outfit in "The Shining Beacon, Pt.2", her top features a cartoonish heart-shaped face of a Beowolf, and wears a sleep mask similar to the eyes of the black Beowolves in her trailer.
 * When Ruby hits her head on a tree in "Players and Pieces", the circling cartoonish images resemble black wolves with red eyes.
 * In RWBY Chibi, Episode 12 Team RWBY perform Little Red Riding Hood for Team JNPR, with Ruby obviously playing Little Red.
 * Beowolf figures are displayed in Ruby's bedroom shelves in Patch.
 * Her name alludes to a type of gemstone that is often found in red. Furthermore, "Ruby" is the name of an actual shade of red. Meanwhile, her surname, "Rose", alludes to another shade of red and a type of flower that is also found most often in red.
 * Ruby is the first character to be introduced in the series.
 * Ruby's alternate outfit, "Slayer", appears to be somewhat based on the early sketch shown in the second production diary.
 * Early designs for Ruby were set aside and later used for Miltia Malachite, one of Yang's foes in the "Yellow" Trailer.
 * Although Ruby is often depicted to favor sweets like cookies, her favorite food is actually strawberries.
 * Ruby is the only character to appear in more than one trailer, appearing in both red and yellow trailers.