|
| “ | We can ask Weiss how she actually feels later. We're going in together, leader! | „ |
| ~ Yang convincing Ruby to let her help save Weiss. |
Yang Xiao Long is one of the main protagonists of the anime television series RWBY: Ice Queendom, an alternate timeline spinoff of the American animated webseries RWBY. She is a Huntress-in-training at Beacon Academy and a member of Team RWBY.
She is voiced by Ami Koshimizu, who also provided the Japanese dub voice for Yang in RWBY as well as voiced Kallen Kōzuki in Code Geass, Ryūko Matoi in Kill la Kill, and Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon Crystal. In the English dub, she is voiced by her original voice actress Barbara Dunkelman.
Biography[]
Yang Xiao Long was born on the island of Patch to Taiyang Xiao Long and Raven Branwen. While she was still young, Raven abandoned the family to return to her bandit tribe in Mistral. Taiyang ended up marrying Summer Rose, who became Yang's stepmother and gave her a younger half-sister, Ruby Rose. Yang and Summer got along extremely well until Summer, a Huntress, died while out on a mission. Yang grew up on Patch, reading stories to Ruby and helping her father. She later decided to become a Huntress like Summer, and trained at Signal Academy until graduating and preparing to go to Beacon Academy in Vale.
Shortly before going to Beacon, Ruby's skills are noticed by Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, who accepts her early to his academy. Yang is overjoyed that Ruby will be going to Beacon with her, hugging her and celebrating during the airship ride to Beacon. On the way, Yang and Ruby attempt to befriend fellow student Blake Belladonna. The conversation turns to a criticism of the Schnee Dust Company, catching the attention of the company's heiress, Weiss Schnee. She attempts to defend her company's honor, resulting in an argument that leaves Ruby upset.
The students are then informed that they will be dropped off at the Emerald Forest for initiation. The new students are sent into the Emerald Forest to retrieve artifacts at a hidden temple. They are also informed that the first individual they make eye contact with will become their teammate for the rest of their time at the Academy. After landing, Yang meets up with Blake, and the two travel to a temple and retrieve their relic. Ruby, Weiss, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren join them, and the students are forced to flee from a Nevermore and Death Stalker Grimm. Yang aids in taking down the Nevermore, allowing them to escape.
Following the initiation, Professor Ozpin sorts the students into teams based on the relic they chose. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang are formed into Team RWBY, with Ruby named the leader, much to Weiss' dismay. She pouts and initially rejects the decision, not knowing that her body has been infected by a possessive Nightmare Grimm.
Yang attends class, and witnesses Weiss' short temper towards Ruby. Both Ruby and Weiss seek advice from their professors, and Weiss tells Ruby that she will try to be better, which pleases Yang.
Soon after, Jaune is found possessed by a Nightmare Grimm. Teams RWBY and JNPR get help, and Shion Zaiden arrives to rid Jaune of the possession. They link Jaune's mind with Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren's, and they fight off the Grimm from within, causing it to flee and be captured. Shion believes that Jaune's currently weak Aura and lack of Semblance made it easier for the Grimm to be expelled, as it was unable to feed on the Aura, unaware that Weiss is also possessed.
On a day off, Team RWBY goes to the city's docks to survey the incoming students. There they meet a stowaway named Sun Wukong, who Weiss instantly takes a disliking to because of him being a Fuanus. As Ruby and her team go through Vale, Ruby meets Penny Polendina, who instantly befriends her. Later, it is revealed that Blake is a Faunus and former member of the White Fang. Blake flees from her team in embarrassment, and Yang and the others go looking for her.
As they search, Yang calls out Weiss, accusing her of bigotry and lying to Ruby about trying to be better to earn favor, though Weiss denies it. They hear a commotion at the docks and arrive in time to see the end of a fight between Blake, Sun, Penny, and the White Fang, where the criminals flee. Weiss confronts Blake, apologizing for her prejudice and offering to be her friend and ally.
However, the Nightmare Grimm attacks Weiss, trapping her in her own mind. Ruby is the the first to be sent in by Shion as Yang and Blake watch. Ruby manages to escape the dream, and reports that she found herself in a surreal dream world resembling a totalitarian Empire, and cannot get to the ceter where Weiss is due to the Grimm's interference. She tells that Weiss is notably more cold and hateful in her dream, which Shion tells her is the Nightmare influencing and manipulating her and not her true self, a version dubbed "Negative Weiss". Ruby volunteers to go back into the dream, and this time Yang and Blake volunteer to come along as well.
Yang finds herself in Weiss' dream, noting differences in her appearance based on how Weiss perceives her. She also notes that her weapons are more powerful. Ruby leads Yang and Blake through the city, dodging the Grimm and Weiss' security. Blake finds a way closer to the center, and then the three discover that Weiss' dream versions of Ruby and Yang were originally locked in the tower they are trying to get to. They play along, with Ruby and Yang surrendering to security and being escorted back to the tower and locked up. Yang and Ruby note that the room they are locked in is full of the most important things in Weiss' life. Ruby finds a red relic resembling the one they took during initiation, and Shion informs them it may be important to waking Weiss up.
Blake arrives and frees them, but they decide that one should stay behind to quell suspicions. After a game of rock-paper-scissors, Yang loses and stays behind as Ruby and Blake go to find a way to wake Weiss up. However, Nega-Weiss attacks, and Blake stays behind to distract her while Ruby retrieves Yang to search for the Grimm. After using the relic to clear a path and after fighting off Weiss' security, they find the Grimm and reunite with Blake. However, before they can destroy the Nightmare, Weiss attacks, protecting the Grimm and overwhelming the others. Ruby uses the last of Shion's Aura to pull herself, Blake, and Yang out of the dream, but not before the relic is destroyed.
As Yang tries to figure out what to do, she meets up with Penny. Penny compares dreams to computer maintenance, a way of confronting problems mentally, and stresses the importance of changing dreams to confront other problems. This gives Yang an idea. She meets back with Ruby and Blake, as well as Team JNPR, with a plan which will involve changing the dream so Weiss can confront the Grimm with what resistance she still retains. They get the aid of Jaune, who Shion reveals that, due to having been recently possessed, will still be seen that way by the Grimm, and thus ignored as long as he does not get too close. Despite approving of their idea, Shion warns them that it will be their last chance, and if they fail, Weiss will die.
Yang and her allies return to the dream, but this time they fight off the White Fang attacking the train and allow it to reach the city. This makes Weiss change the dream, opening the walls so that the train may enter the inner city and proving to Ruby and the others that they really can change the dream by intervening.
Jaune, still invisible to Weiss' security and the influence of the Grimm, finds his way to one of the prisons for "Sillies" and tricks the guard known as "Dopy Klien" to get in. There he finds the place warm and inviting, as well as finds a yellow relic inside. He frees the "Sillies", including the dream versions of his teammates. He also frees dozens of child versions of Weiss, which represent the childhood feelings she locked away for being too "silly". These child-like representations begin spreading to the security, making them all carefree and rebel against the other security forces. However, as the "Sillies" begin to grow out of control and the Grimm begins to take them under its control, Nega-Weiss herself arrives, using magic to transform the tower ito a giant fighting robot version of her grandfather, Big Nicholas, and attack the invading forces. As Yang and Blake distract the robot, Ruby sneaks in and uses a coin to get them all inside.
Using the relic given to them by Jaune, Yang and her teammates navigate back to the Grimm and attempt to kill it for good, but are once again halted by Nega-Weiss. Nega-Weiss uses a portal to banish Yang and Blake to the outskirts of the Empire, where they find a house that is intended to house all those not welcome in the Empire. As they explore, they find a purple relic and also find that Weiss' interpretations of the White Fang reside there. Blake realizes that Weiss still associates Faunus with extremism, a viewpoint she admits she once had towards humans, but Yang assures her that she's not that way anymore. This give Blake an idea: become voluntarily possessed, which will not only allow her to move freely in the dream, but allow her evil persona to battle Nega-Weiss as an equal and give Ruby and Yang the chance to free them both. After getting permission from Shion, Yang reluctantly agrees to the plan. She flees as Blake is possessed and her nightmare begins merging with Weiss'. Yang finds her motorcycle and rides it through a dream door back to the city.
Blake takes on the personality of "Negative Blake", a prejudiced, human-hating dark reflection of herself, who battles Nega-Weiss and leads the dream versions of the White Fang against Weiss' security. Yang aids Ruby, giving her the relic. As Yang distracts and evades the giant Big Nicholas statue, she gets Ruby inside to battle the Grimm once and for all.
Yang battles the statue, unsue of how to damage it. When it angers her, she retaliates with a powerful strike that destroys its hand. Riding her motorcycle up its arm, she breaks into the head, where she witnesses Weiss' memory of talking with the real, kindly Nicholas Schnee. As Yang escapes, the statue crumbles and is destroyed. Meanwhile, Ruby kills the Grimm and frees Weiss, waking her and returning her mind to her dream form.
However, Negative Blake is still on a rampage, and Yang teams up with Ruby and a newly freed Weiss to stop her. Yang manages to hit Negative Blake and knock Blake back into consciousness, allowing her to be separated from her Negative side. The Grimm takes full control of Negative Blake, allowing all of Team RWBY to team up and fight the Grimm, destroying it.
Ruby and her team inform Weiss what happened, much to her embarrassment. As the dream fades, they all wake up in the real world once more.
Yang and Blake relax by playing video games. She later goes to bid Shion farewell, and then meet at a café to bond as a team. Later on, Yang participates in a food fight against Team JNPR just before the start of a new semester at Beacon.
Appearance[]
Yang is a tall muscular girl with fair skin and lilac eyes. She has extremely long blonde hair, and stands slightly under six feet tall. When she is angry, her eyes change to a deep red, and her hair gains a fiery glow. Her outfits consist of yellows, browns, oranges, tans, blacks, and golds, and almost always include an orange scarf around her neck and purple fabric tied around her leg.
Powers and Abilities[]
Yang, having trained most of her life, is an expert combatant, primarily in hand-to-hand. She mainly attacks with acrobatics and punches, preferring a brute-like boxing style. Her weapon, Ember Celica, is a pair of golden bracelets that extend into shotgun-like ranged weapons, allowing Yang to fire blasts of Fire Dust ammunition with each punch. With this, she can create powerful short-range and melee attacks or fire at longer distances.
Yang possesses a Semblance, a power unique to her drawn from her soul. Her Semblance, called Burn, allows her to absorb energy from her opponents' attacks and add it to her own strength and striking power as long as her Aura remains intact and she remains conscious. When using her Semblance, her eyes turn red and her hair glows.
Like all creatures with a soul, Yang also possesses an Aura, a physical defense generated by her soul. This durable field is invisible except when it is overtaxed, where it flashes yellow. Her Aura defends her from attack and can even heal minor wounds, but if it takes too much damage it will become depleted and require time to return.
The version of Yang in Weiss' dream seems to possess all the same abilities as her real world counterpart, though she notes that her weapons are even more powerful, as Weiss perceives them that way.
