Blake Belladonna

"From shadows We'll reclaim our destiny"

- From Shadows

Blake Belladonna is one of the main protagonist and the third character introduced in RWBY. Her weapon of choice is a Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe (VBCS) dubbed Gambol Shroud. She, along with Adam, first appeared in the "Black" Trailer on March 22, 2013 during the PAX East 2013 event, infiltrating a train and doing battle with high-tech robots.

Appearance
Blake appears to be a young girl of pale complexion, similar to Ruby and Weiss. She has long, curly black hair, and her eyes are amber, complimented by a light purple eye shadow flaring backwards. Her eyes are slightly titled upwards at the ends, giving her a somewhat catlike appearance. Blake wears a black bow in her hair, which resembles cat ears, making her seem even more feline. She wears black pointed heeled shoes and stockings that start off black at her hips, but gradually fade to purple as they near her shoes. There is a small, white, flame-like marking on the outside of both stockings, indicating affiliation with a group of some sort. There are black wristbands on both of her arms, but she also wears a black detached sleeve with a silver banding on her left arm. Blake wears a black buttoned vest with coattails that exposes part of her midriff, and a white, sleeveless undershirt and white shorts that may be connected to her shirt, although it is partly obscured by the vest. Blake also has a detached scarf-like collar around her neck.

Personality
Although little is known about Blake's personality, she does seem to have some righteous moral obligations in regards to human life, as she disagrees with Adam's plan to blow up the train with the crew still on board.

Abilities and Powers
Blake can move at an impressive speed, as seen when she slides down to the train, landing on it from the cliff. Rivaling Weiss in speed, Blake also shows agility and endurance by fighting multiple enemies while in constant motion and staying energized. Because of her speed, Blake is able to utilize an "after image" technique in which she leaves a still image of herself behind, when she has actually already moved. It is useful for surprising or disorienting enemies.

Blake also exhibits a high level of skill when handling Gambol Shroud. She can slash away at opponents with startling speed and deflect projectiles off of her blade. Even when sheathed, Blake's weapon is deadly, as she is able to slice her opponents in two with just the cleaver like cover. However, when she unsheathes her sword, she becomes even deadlier, using both the katana and sheath in tandem to demolish her opponents. Blake can change the form of the blade into a gun-blade which is attached to an extending ribbon which she uses with deadly accuracy (similar to the Japanese kusarigama, sickle-and-chain).

Blake can slice multiple enemies with Gambol Shroud from the ground or in the air through a whirling attack. She can grapple other opponents or objects from medium range, bringing them into melee distance. On top of that, Blake can fire the pistol while it swings on the ribbon. Similar to Ruby's technique with Crescent Rose, Blake uses the recoil from the pistol shots to further increase Gambol Shroud's velocity. She also uses the momentum of the weapon on the ribbon as an anchor to maneuver herself in midair.

Trivia

 * Blake is the first of the four girls to actually have speaking lines, compared to Ruby who was mute in her trailer, and Weiss who was singing (though not in her actual voice) and could only be heard grunting during the battle in the White trailer.
 * Blake means "black" in Old English. Belladonna means "fair lady" (Bella donna) in Italian, and it is also the name of a deadly nightshade.
 * Blake seems to follow the pattern set by Ruby and Weiss in that the characters are in large part inspired by fairy tale characters: Blake's last name, Belladonna, may have been based on Belle, the name of the Beauty in Beauty and the Beast.
 * Additionally her partner in the trailer, Adam, also shares his name with the Beast.
 * However, it has also been speculated that the pair are alluding to the Grimms' tale The Thief And His Master.