Ruby Rose

Ruby Rose is the main protagonist of RWBY. She is a Huntress, having been trained at the now-defunct Beacon Academy. Ruby's weapon of choice is her 
High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe known as Crescent Rose, which she designed herself.
== History ==
Ruby is the daughter of Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long, as well as the younger half-sister of Yang Xiao Long, with whom she was raised on the island of Patch.
When she was very young, Yang would read Ruby fairy tales every night before bed, filled with the deeds of great heroes; this would later inspire Ruby to become a Huntress.
One day, Summer went missing while on a mission. Yang said that, although Ruby was "really torn up" by the incident, she was too young to really understand what had happened.
Shortly after Summer's disappearance, Yang brought Ruby with her to an abandoned building in order to find clues about the whereabouts of Yang's mother, Raven Branwen. During the search, they were almost killed by Beowolves but were saved by their uncle, Qrow Branwen, which only fueled Ruby's desire to become a Huntress.
To achieve this, she studied at Signal Academy, where she built and learned to use her high-caliber sniper scythe, Crescent Rose, under the tutelage of her uncle Qrow.
Ruby trains with Yang to improve her hand-to-hand combat skills. Ruby complains about the training, but Yang insists. Ruby tries to fight Yang but is easily overpowered and is forced to escape into the bushes with her Semblance. As she wakes up, she spots an Ursa that fought her sister. It tries to attack her, but Yang manages to take the blow and finish off the Ursa, telling Ruby that she will always have her back.
Ruby Rose is seen visiting an altar by a cliffside in a snow-laden forest, whose inscription reads: "Summer Rose / Thus Kindly I Scatter", which is a reference to the poem The Last Rose of Summer by Thomas Moore.
On her way back, she is confronted by a pack of Beowolves, which she quickly kills before continuing on her way.
While in Vale, Ruby unexpectedly encounters her sister, Yang, outside of a club. Yang is somewhat reluctant to discuss what she is doing there, claiming that it is a "long story".
Ruby becomes inadvertently involved in the affairs of the criminal Roman Torchwick when she interferes with his attempted robbery of the Dust store From Dust Till Dawn.
After quickly defeating all of his armed henchmen, Ruby gives chase to Roman as he flees to a nearby rooftop. There, she finds herself out of her depth when Roman's Bullhead arrives to pick him up. It was only the intervention of Glynda that prevented Ruby from being harmed when Roman detonated a Dust crystal at her feet with a shot from Melodic Cudgel.
The pilot of the Bullhead, Cinder Fall, swaps places with Roman in order to cover their escape. After trading several blows, Cinder successfully distracts Glynda by forcing her to save Ruby from harm, giving Roman enough time to fly away.
Unhappy with that turn of events, Glynda briefly scolds Ruby in a remote location for her foolhardy risk-taking behavior, before admitting she was brought here for another reason. That reason was to meet Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy where Glynda taught, who has seen Ruby's actions on camera and has a couple of questions for her.
After being briefly distracted by Ruby's unusual eye color, Ozpin questions her skills with the scythe and quickly draws out her association with Qrow and Signal Academy, as well as her dream to join Beacon in order to become a huntress. Impressed by the girl's ambitions and values, he exercises his authority as the headmaster to accept her into the school two years early, much to the delight of Ruby's sister, Yang.
After arriving at Beacon, Yang separates from her sister after meeting some of her friends, leaving Ruby to her own devices. She immediately gets herself in trouble by falling onto a luggage trolley belonging to Weiss.
Dismayed at the possibility of damage to her supply of Dust, Weiss immediately begins to berate Ruby, but in the process shakes enough Dust into the air that it makes Ruby sneeze, detonating the drifting Dust in a flash of fire, electricity, and ice. Before their conversation escalates into a full-blown argument, they are interrupted by Blake Belladonna, who infuriates Weiss by mentioning the less-than-savory reputation of her family company, the Schnee Dust Company. Eventually, Blake and Weiss depart, leaving a depressed Ruby alone.
She is not alone for long though, as she is helped to her feet by Jaune, who she previously saw being sick on the airship carrying them to Beacon. Despite a few rocky moments, during which they exchange unflattering nicknames, the two strike up a friendship and part ways on amiable terms when they reach Beacon's Amphitheater.
There, Ruby attempts to explain her day's misadventures to a disbelieving Yang. However, Ruby is interrupted from her explanation by Weiss, who scares Ruby into Yang's arms and makes her realize Ruby's tale was completely true. Ruby tries to make peace with Weiss to no avail before they get distracted by a speech from the headmaster and subsequently go their separate ways.
That night in the Academy's ballroom, Ruby attempts to write a letter to her friends at Signal Academy about her day. However, Yang, eager to help her sister make friends, interrupts and drags her over to Blake to formally introduce herself.
The two strike up a conversation about books and Ruby's dreams for her future before Weiss arrives and starts berating everyone over the amount of noise they are causing. A dismayed Blake blows out her candles, leaving the quartet in the dark.
The morning of their second day at Beacon, Yang notes that Ruby was "awfully chipper" and Ruby explains that she was happy that she was no longer going to have to struggle socially but could let Crescent Rose speak for her. It is clear that Ruby does not like the thought of making friends and wants to stick with Yang, even joining her team if necessary. She becomes angry when Yang suggests that making friends would help her "break out of her shell" and grow up emotionally.
On the Beacon Cliff, Ruby reacts with dismay when the class is informed by Glynda that they would be sorted into teams by the Academy faculty and not by their own choice. Ozpin makes this worse by stating that their partner for the rest of their time at Beacon was down to a combination of chance and their judgment.
After being launched into the Emerald Forest, Ruby searches unsuccessfully for Yang before finally coming across Weiss, who promptly walks away and leaves Ruby behind. Although initially dismayed, Ruby is determined to make the team-up work and is overjoyed when Weiss returns to her after initially storming away.
Ruby starts attempting to impress Weiss, first with her speed and then with her ability as a fighter when they encounter a pack of Beowolves. However, Ruby jumps in front of Weiss to attack the lead Beowolf, causing Weiss to hastily redirect the fire-based attack she was about to use on the Grimm, starting a small forest fire. Ruby gets frustrated at their having to flee the resulting fire and Weiss accuses Ruby of being "the strongest child to sneak her way" into Beacon, an accusation that clearly infuriates Ruby.
During their journey through the forest, where they get hopelessly lost, the two argue repeatedly. Weiss accuses Ruby of being childish, irresponsible, and by far her inferior. Ruby counters that Weiss is bossy and clearly thinks that she is perfect, an accusation that clearly bites deeply.
Finally, Ruby somehow talks Weiss into a scheme that leads to the two dangling from a giant Nevermore high over the ruined temple at the north of the forest that was their objective. Ruby jumps off of the Grimm, leaving a furious Weiss still dangling from the creature.
Ruby is inadvertently saved from a painful landing in front of Yang and Blake when Jaune, who had been flung into the air by a Death Stalker, strikes her in mid-air knocking them both into the trees. After recovering, Ruby sees the Death Stalker attacking Pyrrha and Ruby runs to her aid.
However, the giant scorpion-like Grimm is able to resist both Crescent Rose's blade and its rifle fire with no apparent damage. Ruby flees but is trapped when the Nevermore pins her cape to the ground with a barrage of spear-like feathers. She is only saved from being killed by the Death Stalker's sting when Weiss traps the creature's tail in ice.
Weiss, now more upset than angry, repeats her charge that Ruby is immature and reckless but acknowledges that her own acerbic personality is not helping matters. She offers to act nicer if Ruby stops showing off. Ruby responds that she merely wanted to prove to Weiss that she can take care of herself.
Weiss' response, "You're fine", is an enormous relief to Ruby. She then has an emotional reunion with Yang before she collects the White Knight relic from the temple, completing the first part of the initiation test. She supports Weiss' declaration that they needed to make haste back to the cliffs to finish the test rather than "dilly-dally" around, fighting the Grimm.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren flee deeper into the abandoned temple buildings and are finally trapped between the Nevermore and the Death Stalker on a bridge across a seemingly bottomless abyss.
After she, Weiss, Blake and Yang make a few futile attempts to kill the Nevermore, Ruby comes up with a plan to combine the various skills and abilities of all four girls. Yang and Weiss cooperate to freeze the Nevermore's tail to the ground. Blake and Yang create an enormous slingshot from the ribbon of Gambol Shroud. Weiss uses a glyph to launch Ruby from it, pinning the Nevermore's neck to the cliff with Crescent Rose's blade and ascends the cliff, aided by her weapon's recoil and Weiss' powers. Finally, at the top of the cliff, a final shot from Crescent Rose beheads the Nevermore.
That evening, back in the amphitheater, Professor Ozpin announces that Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, having all selected a White Knight relic, would henceforth work together as Team RWBY. Much to Ruby's shock, Weiss' disbelief and Yang's joy, Ruby is named team leader.
The next morning, Ruby, taking her role as team leader most seriously, rallies her team with a whistle to the task of unpacking and decorating their dormitory room. After getting the room in order and creating bunk beds to save space, Weiss realizes their first class begins in five minutes, causing Team RWBY and Team JNPR to engage in a sprint across the courtyard to class, watched by a dismayed Glynda and an amused Ozpin.
Ruby pays little attention to the opening lecture of the Grimm Studies class, taught by Peter Port, after it becomes clear that the teacher just wishes to boast of his heroic past. Ruby's lackadaisical attitude enrages Weiss, who inadvertently volunteers to demonstrate the skills a Huntress needs by fighting a Boarbatusk Professor Port has brought along for the occasion.
Weiss struggles against the Grimm boar, primarily because she keeps pausing to berate Ruby for distracting her and telling her what to do, despite Ruby actively trying to give her advice and encouragement.
Ruby confronts her teammate after the fight, demanding an explanation. Weiss rages at Ruby and tells her she is unfit to be a leader in terms of her youth and lack of skill.
A dismayed Ruby crosses paths with Ozpin, who, after being asked by Ruby if he made a mistake, informs her he has made more mistakes than anyone else on Remnant but that he does not believe that making Ruby team leader is one of them. Ozpin counsels Ruby that being a leader is a badge and a burden she must bear always and that she needs to prove herself worthy of it. She cannot expect to lead if she does not show herself worthy of being followed.
That night, Ruby falls asleep while studying and, Weiss wakes her up, impressed by her work ethic. Weiss informs Ruby of her intent to be the best teammate she can be and gives Ruby a coffee and a tip on her studies as peace offerings. Before leaving, she confesses she always wanted a bunk bed.
As classes progress for a few weeks, Ruby watches a fight between Jaune and Cardin. After the match, Glynda announces the Vytal Festival, and Ruby is excited to fight teams from other schools. Ruby later joins Team JNPR for a meal and questions if Jaune is okay after his humiliating defeat at the hands of the bully, Cardin.
One night, Ruby runs into Jaune outside his room, thinking he locked himself from it. Jaune admits to Ruby his problems with Cardin and Pyrrha, but Ruby gives him some advice about being a leader and how as a leader, Jaune needs to put his team before himself and how he is not allowed to fail because of it. She believes that Jaune could be a great leader and leaves Jaune in the hall to think about it.
The next day, Ruby and her team go on a field trip to Forever Fall to collect red sap from the local trees. Everything goes well until an Ursa attacks Jaune and Cardin. Ruby orders Yang and Blake to get Glynda while Weiss, Pyrrha and herself go to save Jaune.
Pyrrha tells them to wait as Jaune fights the Ursa, helping him slightly with her Semblance. Ruby asks what Pyrrha did, and Pyrrha explains she has the power of polarity, which Ruby mistakes as the power to control poles. Weiss promptly corrects her that it means controlling magnetism. The three then leave Cardin and Jaune alone and walk back to rejoin the groups.
In order to prepare for the upcoming Vytal Festival, Weiss convinces the team to head to the docks to see the other teams. While there, the team investigates a robbery at a Dust shop.
Weiss and Blake begin to fight about the White Fang's possible involvement in the robbery, but Ruby sides with Blake that it probably was not them and wonders if it was Roman as the Vale Police Department never caught him from the robbery at From Dust Till Dawn. Just then, Sun Wukong runs off a nearby boat, and the group gives chase at Weiss' insistence. During the chase, Weiss knocks over a girl named Penny.
As they talk, Ruby calls her a friend before leaving around the corner. As Team RWBY talks about the strange girl, Penny appears in front of them and asks Ruby if she really meant they are friends. Despite everyone signaling to Ruby not to say yes, she does anyway, and Penny is overjoyed.
The meeting turns sour when Weiss and Blake begin fighting over the White Fang and Faunus in general, forcing Ruby and Yang to watch them fight well into the night. However, when Blake accidentally admits her previous affiliation with the White Fang and runs off, Ruby tries and fails to stop her.
The team searches for Blake later in the weekend. Ruby and Yang shout for Blake while Weiss walks and does nothing. Shortly after Penny appears, Yang and Weiss leave her alone with Ruby, much to Ruby's annoyance. Ruby and Penny spend the rest of the day talking, mostly on Blake and friendship. During the night, the two girls hear and follow an explosion.
After seeing Roman caused it, Ruby calls herself out to him from a rooftop, and he shoots Ruby while she is distracted. Despite Ruby's fear for Penny's well being, Penny goes on to fight. After Roman escapes, Team RWBY is reunited, and Ruby notices Penny's absence.
Before the second semester beings, Ruby compiles a large binder of ideas for how she and her team can have the best day ever. She then meets them in the dining hall and begins to explain to them her idea, despite Nora and Yang flinging food at each other. This eventually escalates into a full-scale food fight between Ruby's team and JNPR.
Ruby leads her team into the charge, but eventually, everyone on her team is incapacitated. As a final attack, Ruby uses her Semblance to create a wind vortex that sucks up all the loose food, plates, and soda in the dining hall and dashes past JNPR, forcing them against the back wall. She then jumps out of the way as they are hit with the airborne food and soda, covering them entirely. As Glynda barges into the room and sets everything right, Ruby is seen laughing with everyone else.
Ruby plays a board game with her teammates, but she and Weiss lose to her sister. After Sun arrives and introduces them to his friend, Neptune Vasilias, Blake leaves. Later that day, Ruby returns to her dorm with Yang and Weiss. After Weiss stops Blake from leaving, pointing out her recent behavior, Ruby asks Blake if she still is thinking about Roman. Blake answers affirmatively and states she has also thought of the White Fang, and the discussion continues on about how nobody knows what is going on.
After a lengthy conversation, Ruby formulates a plan for the four to take down the enemies that are conspiring against them, and all agree. As she begins to formulate a plan, Ruby suddenly remembers leaving her board game in the library and rushes out to get it, but she bumps into Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black.
She also meets Cinder again, although she is not aware she fought her during the From Dust Till Dawn robbery. Ruby then redirects them to where they are supposed to go. Cinder thanks her and says they will meet again. Ruby agrees and shouts, "Welcome to Beacon!"
Following Peter Port's class, Ruby is with her team in their dorm, changing their clothes into their alternate outfits. After going over their plans, the team leader is surprised by Sun, who agrees alone to join them, but Ruby tells him she does not want to get friends involved. He objects, having Neptune join him as well. After pairing Neptune with Yang and Sun with Blake, Ruby heads out with Weiss. She pulls away Weiss after rejecting her idea of working with Neptune.
The pair is then seen talking about the Cross Continental Transmit System center when they bump into Penny. When Ruby asks Penny where she's been, she runs away, and Ruby goes after her, leaving Weiss alone but not before telling her that they would meet up later.
After running around with Penny and asking her several questions, they are spotted by two Atlas Soldiers, prompting Penny to run away with Ruby running behind her. Ruby aids her by cutting off a scaffolding, causing boxes to fall, blocking the soldiers' passageway. Using her speed, Ruby grabs Penny in flight but soon loses control, crashing to the floor, dropping Penny, and causing Ruby herself to land on the street.
Before she is hit by an oncoming truck, Penny saves her in the nick of time and stops the truck with her bare hands, lifting it up, visibly shocking Ruby. Penny runs away again. After catching up to her once more, Ruby again asks Penny what is wrong. She tells Penny that she can trust her and assures her that they are friends. Penny then reveals to Ruby her metallic hands and that she is not a normal girl, leaving Ruby surprised once again.
After learning about Penny's true self, Ruby surprises her by saying that it matters not to her if she is a robot because all that matters is that she has a heart and soul, something she herself can feel. Penny hugs Ruby in joy and then hides her in a garbage dump after hearing the two Atlas soldiers.
Sometime later, Ruby responds to Blake's distress call, pointing out how she would not miss the fight with the Atlesian Paladin-290. She then joins her team in a fight against Roman, who was piloting the large robot. After a long fight, the robot is destroyed by Yang, resulting in the escape of their enemies. After Weiss makes a small joke, Ruby snickers, although Yang and Blake were not particularly pleased with the joke.
Ruby is seen with her team observing a fight between Pyrrha and Team CRDL, where Pyrrha emerges victorious. When Mercury decides to challenge Pyrrha immediately afterward, Ruby offers praise in regards to his skills to Emerald.
Later that day, Ruby and her team show concern for Blake, who has not slept in days, has barely eaten and has allowed her grades to drop significantly. When her team attempts to help her, Blake brushes them off and leaves, telling them that she will be in the library. Ruby, Yang, and Weiss then stare in shock as Jaune shows up at their dorm, attempting to invite Weiss to the dance, only to get shot down.
A depressed Ruby is seen sitting on a chair, whilst her teammates prepare for the dance. When Weiss asks Ruby which tablecloth they should use, the team leader asks if both are the same, with Weiss answering on why she even asked. When Yang asks Ruby what's wrong, Ruby says that she has no more ideas on how to get Blake to come to the dance, Yang reassures her and Weiss that Blake is going.
The next day, an embarrassed Ruby enters the ballroom, with Yang commenting on how beautiful she is. She complains about the shoes, and how it is possible for Weiss to fight in such footwear.
Following this, with Weiss and Yang heading their way to have fun, Ruby has a small conversation with Ozpin, who points out that one can never spend all their time on the battlefield, and that both dancing and fighting are exactly the same, and that she should take the time to have fun. He comments that as time goes on friendships can be tested, but it's opportunities at events like these which can strengthen those bonds, and why they are remembered.
Ruby is seen alone drinking from a cup and is later joined by Jaune, who adds on how both of them are alone. When Jaune asks about Weiss, she informs him that she came alone, which upsets him, knowing she had asked Neptune to the dance. She is then seen talking with her sister, who headlocks her, only to tell her to try and have fun.
Ruby later notices Cinder sneaking around and decides to follow her. After giving chase and seeing what she did to several guards, Ruby confronts her in a small fight, but Cinder escapes, leaving her alone in the Cross Continental Transmit System, as James Ironwood arrives.
Ruby arrives at Ozpin's office, where the headmaster, Ironwood and Glynda are waiting for her. They then begin to talk about the events of the previous night, in which Ruby recollects the events of Cinder, however, she points out that she does not recognize the assailant due to her mask, but brought up her abilities. Glynda notes the glass-based abilities described by Ruby were similar to the woman she fought when they first met Ruby.
After Ironwood praises Ruby for her actions, Ozpin asks Ruby to keep their conversation secret, which she agrees to. She is then confronted by her team upon her arrival to her dorm room, to which she eventually tells them of the events last night. While Weiss believed her actions to have been rather risky, Blake says that Ruby handled it right, as Yang tries to comfort her sister by telling her that everything would be alright. In an effort to cheer her up, Yang reveals to Ruby a package delivered to them from their father.
After opening up the package and revealing to be their dog Zwei, Ruby is overjoyed, along with Yang, and her partner Weiss, who was skeptical at first, while Blake hid up on top of Ruby's bed. After Glynda calls all first-year students to the assembly hall, Ruby heads over with her team, where Ozpin gives a speech on how eighty years to the day the biggest war ended.
Following the speech, Ruby and her team head to a selection of missions called Search & Destroy and all choose Quadrant 5, to clear out Grimm, but are unable to, due to it being unavailable for first-year students. However, Ozpin, after pointing out some of Ruby's past actions, along with her team, he bends the rules and enlists them in their selection.
Following a short conversation with Team CFVY'S Velvet Scarlatina, Ruby presses on how they never backed down from a challenge, and that they cannot do it now. Blake agrees, and Ruby brings up that it will not be just them, but also that they will fight alongside a genuine Huntsman. Unfortunately, Ruby and her team are left in utter shock upon seeing that Bartholomew Oobleck was the one joining them.
As the team still remains in shock upon Oobleck being their shadowing Huntsman, he informs them of their mission and then rushes off to the ship. At that moment, Team JNPR meets up with Team RWBY, who begins talking about their mission to Quadrant 5, just as Sun and Neptune arrive, in which also talk about their job. After Oobleck calls for the team, Sun, Neptune and Team JNPR give Yang and her team a sympathetic look and then part ways.
Once aboard the ship. Oobleck tells Weiss that despite being intellectual, he has had his share of "tussles" as a Huntsmen, which Ruby mistakes for truffles and brussels sprouts. Oobleck brings up on how the southeast quadrant of Vale is the site of the kingdom's greatest failure, where Ruby answers Mountain Glenn, as Yang adds on to it with it being an expansion having been overrun by the creatures of Grimm and was fenced off the rest of the city.
Once they arrive, after discovering that Ruby had brought the dog, something which Oobleck is grateful for, they are ordered to dispatch a group of Beowolves, which they do for the rest of the day.
Later, Ruby accompanies Oobleck to scout the perimeter as her team sets up camp. When they reach the edge of the destroyed city, she notices Grimm in the distance, which Oobleck tells her are Goliaths. When she wants to attack them, Oobleck says her sniper rifle would just agitate them.
The two then get into another discussion, where Ruby asks Oobleck why he became a Huntsmen. He tells her he chose his career to save people, and when he looks at the ruins of the city, he looks and wonders about the people that could have been saved.
Around nighttime, the two return to the campsite and Ruby volunteers to take night watch. When heading out, Yang asks Ruby if Oobleck asked for the reason Ruby became a Huntress, and Ruby says she was not asked and heads out. As her team lays in their beds behind her, Ruby keeps watch with Zwei as Beowolves are heard in the distance, and Ruby comforts her dog.
Ruby falls asleep as Yang takes watch and is awoken when Zwei runs out, prompting her to go after him without alerting her team. After catching up to her pet, she hears two White Fang members and follows them to their base. Ruby attempts to return to her team and alert them, but the street caves in, and she falls through. Zwei returns to the team and alerts them of Ruby's misfortune. Ruby lands in what appears to be an underground village, is confronted by the two same guards she saw earlier and fails to fight back before being knocked out. The guards bring her to Roman.
When asked how she found them, she uses her Semblance to attempt to escape but fails when Roman uses his weapon's hook to grapple her. Explosions occur in the distance, and it is revealed to be Oobleck and the rest of her team. Using an open opportunity, Ruby jumps on Roman, covers his eyes with his own hat and begins to run, managing to evade the shots being fired at her. She is cornered by four White Fang members, but Yang saves her. She jumps into Yang's arms and tells her team of the White Fang's actions. Roman and the White Fang flee on a train. Given no other choice, Ruby and the others board the train.
They discover several bombs on the train and that they are set so each car would detach from the train and explode to create holes in the ceiling of the tunnel for the Grimm to enter. After they take out several henchmen atop the train, Ruby and Oobleck work together to eliminate the Atlesian Paladin-290s and try to reach the front car.
However, as they reach the front car and rejoin with the rest of the team, they realize the train's about to reach the end of the tunnel, with no way to stop it. Weiss encompasses the group in a barrier of ice before the train collides and burst upward into the center of Vale. Recovering from the crash, Ruby hears the city's emergency sirens blare as a horde of Grimm emerges and terrorizes the city from within.
Team RWBY regroups at the center plaza as they are surrounded by Grimm from all sides. Each team member engages the Grimm, with Ruby, at one point, anchoring her Crescent Rose into the ground and spin-stomping attacking Grimm from around her. Eventually, Oobleck joins the fight, with Teams JNPR and CFVY, Sun, Neptune, Emerald, Mercury, the Atlesian Forces and other Beacon Professors arriving to contain the swarm of Grimm.
After securing the breach in the city and disposing of the invading Grimm, Team RWBY return to Beacon to assess the events of the past two days, though Ruby is still concerned about being unable to resolve all the lingering questions and mysteries surrounding their investigation thus far. With dawn rising, she suggests the team gets some sleep, and all agree.
Shortly before the Vytal Festival tournament begins, Ruby returns to the cliffside forest to visit Summer Rose's grave. She talks about her father, Taiyang Xiao Long, how he has started to go on missions again and that she thinks he misses adventuring with her. She also talks about how Yang is on her team at Beacon, and how she has become a great fighter.
She speaks about her new teammates, Weiss and Blake; how she has made many new friends and met some odd teachers; and how she had stopped some bad guys - pausing to remark on the similarity between mother and daughter. She also wonders momentarily why Ozpin let her into Beacon and how he reminds her of her uncle Qrow. She then gets called away by Taiyang, who is about to leave on another mission. She joins him and he drops her off at Vale, where the tournament is due to begin.
At the enormous floating stadium Amity Colosseum, Team RWBY's first match in the tournament is with Team ABRN of Haven Academy. After an action-packed match, Team RWBY emerges victorious, and the team heads to the Beacon fairgrounds to get a meal. There, they meet Emerald, who returns Ruby's wallet, claiming that she had dropped it. Emerald praises Team RWBY's performance, much to Ruby's delight.
RWBY ends up eating at a noodle store run by the Shopkeep, where Ruby orders a huge bowl. There they are joined by JNPR, before the latter head off to their next match in the tournament. Ruby and her team follow JNPR over to the stadium, taking their place in the spectator stands to cheer their friends on.
During the match between Team JNPR and Team BRNZ, she cheers Jaune on. After the match between Team SSSN and Team NDGO, she is relieved that SSSN won. As Team RWBY leaves the stadium, Ruby bumps into Weiss as the latter sees Winter Schnee's airship arriving at Beacon.
Weiss takes off after her sister's ship, and Ruby hurries after her. Ruby and Weiss meet Winter at Beacon's courtyard. After Winter declines to answer a couple of Weiss' questions yet asks of her sister's well-being, Winter thanks Ruby for taking an interest in a friendship with Weiss. Ruby notices the formalities in the sisters' speaking, and she stops herself from being too informal. This leads to pauses as she searches for words and a loss of balance as she tries to curtsy. She bids the sisters well and heads off just when Qrow arrives at Beacon.
As Qrow and Winter fight, Weiss tells Ruby that a crazy person is attacking her sister. When Ruby realizes he is her uncle, she disregards Weiss' claim and instantly cheers on her family member. Ruby leaps onto Qrow's arm after his fight and repeatedly asks if he missed her. He says "nope" before affectionately messing with her hair. Ozpin calls Qrow to his office, and Qrow wishes Ruby well with a wink and a fist bump. Weiss notes how similar Ruby is to her uncle. Ruby says Weiss is only mad because of how well Qrow did against her sister, and Weiss calls the match a draw at best.
Ruby, Yang and their uncle are later in Team RWBY's dorm taking turns playing a two-player fighting game. Ruby asks why Qrow is at Beacon when his mission was supposed to take longer. He tells Ruby and Yang of his most recent mission as well as Team STRQ, of which he used to belong. While he admires their actions as huntresses, he also reminds them that his nieces and their friends cannot stop all crime in Vale.
Ruby finds Penny after the latter's victory against Team CRDL's Russel Thrush and Sky Lark. She is introduced to Penny's acquaintance, Ciel Soleil, who already knows much about Ruby. Penny asks Ciel for a minute to talk with Ruby, and Ciel obliges. Ruby asks if Ciel knows Penny is a robot, and Penny denies the claim. She reasons that General Ironwood does not want anyone to find out. She recalls getting a magnet stuck to her head, but she was able to cover it. The two laugh over the situation.
Penny tells Ruby she has a plan to stay at Beacon, though Ironwood and her father are likely not to allow her. Ciel calls Penny to leave, and Ruby goes to the stands to watch Weiss and Yang fight Flynt Coal and Neon Katt of Team FNKI. After Weiss and Yang win and the former is charred, Ruby and Blake come to her side and congratulate them.
As Yang is chosen at random to fight Mercury in the singles round, Ruby, Weiss and Blake cheer her on from the stands. Ruby tells her sister to break a leg, wishing her well. Yang wins the fight. However, after the fight, Ruby and everyone watching see Yang break Mercury's leg, apparently without provocation. Ruby and her team are speechless, unaware that Yang actually saw Mercury attacking her first.
Ruby is later seen comforting Yang along with Weiss and Blake in their dorm. Ironwood is with them and states no matter what really happened previously, Yang was seen attacking an innocent student without provocation and is therefore disqualified. Despite the popular belief, Ruby is still quick to rally at her sister's side along with Weiss.
After leaving Yang alone in their dorm, the three meet JNPR outside their dorm. Ruby informs them that Mercury, along with his own team, rushed back to Mistral to meet up with family and will be therefore unreachable. Ruby supports Pyrrha and wishes her good luck in the singles rounds. Ruby later meets Velvet at the airship docks. Velvet states her concern for Yang as well and dislikes ill news towards her, which Ruby appreciates. She also tells Ruby that Coco experienced the same sort of hallucination in her match against Emerald and Mercury. Ruby was off-put by this information and begins to have suspicions.
Ruby then gets a seat in Amity Colosseum before the match starts, but then is agape when she spots Emerald seated across the arena. Which contradicts to the information she was given. Ruby then leaves the Colosseum grandstands. Mercury then emerges before her. Who, much to Ruby's surprise looks completely unscathed. She is later horrified when she hears Professor Port announce the next match, Pyrrha against Penny. Mercury reveals he knows Penny's secret and acknowledges the havoc that will be caused due to Pyrrha's semblance. Beginning to catch on to the ruse, Ruby reaches to draw her weapon, only to find she did not bring it. Mercury takes a fighting stance, leaving Ruby to face him alone.
While Pyrrha and Penny's match progresses, Ruby becomes ensnared in a losing conflict against Mercury and does her best to escape and warn her friends. Ruby is too late in getting back to the grandstands, falling to her knees and crying when seeing Penny torn apart before Pyrrha and an international audience. Ruby breaks down in tears when she sees Penny's dismembered remains in the arena.
Initially frozen with shock and horror, she later sees Pyrrha and Jaune in danger. In response, she grabs one of Floating Array's swords and stabs the Grimm in an effort to defend the two. When Pyrrha apologizes, Ruby comes to terms with the ordeal and states that it is not her fault, but that of the conspirators causing the chaos. After receiving help from the other students, she requests Sun's Scroll to retrieve her weapon.
When Port and Oobleck intervene, Ruby initially protests on them having to evacuate the stadium when the Griffons arrive, but she is swayed by their reasoning that they have to survive to tell history.
Once the group gathers, Ruby agrees with Jaune and Sun to defend Vale, heading to Beacon in an Air Bus. However, once she sees Ironwood's craft fall from the sky, she returns to Amity by herself, to propel herself on a locker, all the way to Roman's stolen airship.
Jumping onto the deck, Ruby watches as the Wyvern and several Griffon pass by her. One Griffon lands in front of her, and she defeats it, but it leaves her a little bit exhausted. Suddenly, Neopolitan appears behind Ruby and snaps a picture with her Scroll, sending it to Roman and prompting him to go and fight Ruby.
As she is being overpowered by the duo, Ruby asks why they are letting the Grimm destroy everything, becoming shocked when she learns that is their plan. Roman and Neo overpower Ruby again, and she ends up hanging onto Crescent Rose on the edge of the airship. As Neo points her blade at her, Ruby notices a button on the umbrella and quickly pushes it, sending her opponent flying into a horde of Griffon. Ruby angrily proclaims that she and her allies will stop their enemies and charges at Roman. However, he counters her attack and beats her with his cane, proclaiming that he will survive while heroes like her will die. He is suddenly eaten alive by a Griffon, much to Ruby's horror.
As the Grimm moves to attack her, she dodges and kicks it into the hull of the ship. As the aircraft begins to fall, Ruby dashes to Crescent Rose and jumps off the ship. Firing bullets to slow her descent, she lands safely onto Beacon's landing pad and watches as the airship crashes into Vale.
Ruby later regroups with Weiss, Sun, Blake, Yang, Nora and Ren, and is devastated to see that Yang's right arm has been cut off. After realizing Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing, she declares that she will bring them back, with Weiss accompanying her.
As they arrive at the tower, they receive a call from Jaune asking them to save Pyrrha. After defeating the surrounding Grimm, Weiss propels her onto the walls of the tower so that she can save Pyrrha. Unfortunately, Ruby arrives too late, watching in horror as Cinder kills Pyrrha. She breaks down in despair and unleashes a power that engulfs both the Wyvern and Cinder in a blinding light. Ruby falls unconscious moments later and was rescued by Qrow afterward.
She later wakes up in her home, under the care of her father, before Qrow steps in to explain what transpired. He tells her she froze the Wyvern to the tower using a power that is indicated by her Silver Eyes – a rare trait that she shared with her mother. Ruby learns that she comes from a line of legendary warriors that Grimm fear. When Ruby wants to help Qrow in completing Ozpin's work, he tells Ruby to recover first.
Later, she visits Yang's room, where she learns that her team has been divided, as Weiss has returned to Atlas with her father and Blake fled. She is shocked and saddened by the news, even more so at how dispirited her older sister has become. Before leaving her broken sibling, she sadly relayed that she still loved her, but receives no reply.
In the following winter, Ruby leaves her home without telling her father, having written a letter to him to explain her departure. Reuniting with Jaune, Nora and Ren, she journeys with them to Haven Academy in Mistral. Along the way, the four of them stop at Summer's Gravestone, where Ruby pays her respects to her mother once again, before departing on their great journey.
Several months after her departure, Ruby comes across a village under attack from hordes of Grimm. She quickly moves into the village and makes short work of the Grimm attackers, slaying a fearsome Grimm known as a Beringel. Nearby, Jaune, Ren and Nora see smoke and contact her by Scroll before rushing over to assist. Without waiting for them to arrive, Ruby eagerly continues her fight in the village alone.
Sometime after that, Ruby manages to find her way to Mistral with the others. They help a village by hunting down and killing a Geist that had been plaguing them for weeks, in exchange for new armor for Jaune and a modified Crocea Mors. Upon seeing the logo on Jaune's hood, Ruby bursts into laughter as she sees it's a "cute little bunny rabbit". As they head for the next village with high spirits, Ruby becomes somber at the mention of the Schnee Dust Company.
Sometime later, Ruby has a strange dream where she hears Pyrrha's voice and wakes up startled. When she and her team arrive at Shion, they are shocked to find the town destroyed and its villagers dead. They learn from a dying Huntsman that the village was attacked by bandits, and the panic attracted local Grimm. Ruby tries to comfort a distraught Jaune, but he is devastated at another loss of life. Later, Ruby has the same dream again and wakes up in the middle of the night hearing Pyrrha's voice. Upon seeing Jaune's sleeping bag empty, she discovers him training using a training video made by Pyrrha. After watching Jaune train once and listening to Pyrrha's message to him, Ruby quietly slips away back to camp.
Ruby and her friends then travel to Higanbana after she has trouble pronouncing its name. They continue in high spirits, unaware that her uncle Qrow has protected them from a Grimm attack. That night, Ruby and her team make it to town and rest at the inn, and Qrow watches them from a nearby tavern.
Team RNJR sets out again to continue its journey to Haven. The team comes across Oniyuri, an incomplete village that was a failed attempt by people in Mistral to break away from the Kingdom. Ruby and company continue on, but are ambushed by Tyrian Callows, who declares his intention to take Ruby and overwhelms Team RNJR. Ruby's Aura is depleted and she is incapacitated, but before Tyrian can land a critical strike on her, Qrow appears and blocks the attack.
Ruby learns from her uncle that Tyrian is working for Salem, and the two men begin to fight each other. Team RNJR tries to help, but Qrow orders them to stay back. Ruby gets atop a roof and unsuccessfully fires at Tyrian from a distance. She decides to join in once the two fall into a building. Qrow shouts at her to stay back, but she does not listen. Just as a wooden beam is about to fall on her, Qrow saves her but gets grazed by Tyrian's stinger. Ruby quickly retaliates by cutting off the Faunus' tail, crippling him. After Tyrian quickly retreats, Ruby tends to her uncle.
That night, Ruby and her friends learn from Qrow about the four Maidens, the deity brothers who created Remnant and the four relics that are hidden within the four academies. Afterward, Ruby asks her uncle as to why he was following her team discreetly and not joining them. He answers that he did not want his Semblance of misfortune to harm her.
The following morning, Ruby is horrified that Qrow had been poisoned by Tyrian. A makeshift stretcher is used to carry Qrow while they all continue on in the hopes of finding help for him. However, they are forced to make a difficult choice when encountering a fork in the road. Team RNJR splits. Ren and Nora take the mountainous path toward Mistral while Ruby and Jaune carry Qrow through onto a level path that leads to a destroyed city. They both walk over the same symbol that was seen on the ground at Shion.
Ruby and Jaune are unable to locate medical supplies in Kuroyuri, and Ruby apologizes to Jaune for getting him, Ren and Nora involved in the journey. When their companions rejoin them, they are confronted by the Nuckelavee. Ruby helps bring the fight to an end by pinning one of the Nuckelavee's arms with her scythe, and once Ren slays it, the smoke that results from its disintegration catches the attention of pilots from Mistral who were on patrol. The pilots transport them to the City of Mistral, where Qrow receives medical attention, the group finds a place to stay and Ruby writes a letter to Yang.
Ruby, along with Qrow and the rest of Team RNJR, meets Professor Leonardo Lionheart, headmaster of Haven Academy. She learns of the connection between the Maidens and the Relics through the conversation about the Spring Maiden likely being with Yang's mother, Raven. Unable to go after her due to Lionheart's resistance, the group is left with no other choice but to wait.
Later, she and the rest of her team meet Oscar Pine, who introduces himself as also being Professor Ozpin. Oscar gives Ozpin control of his body and the former headmaster reveals the true nature of his being as a soul and memories transferred into Oscar after a long line of succession. Ozpin plans to train Ruby and the rest of her team, citing Ruby's poor hand-to-hand combat skills, so they can best ensure the safety of the Relic of Knowledge.
Ruby, Oscar, and the rest of Team RNJR train outside. Ruby spars Oscar in hand-to-hand combat and wins because he never engaged his Aura. When Ozpin controls Oscar's body, however, he easily bests Ruby after she uses incorrect footing. After the spar, Team RNJR discusses with Oscar about Aura and Semblance. When Jaune laments that he has not discovered his powers yet, Ruby encourages him and Oscar, saying that they will find their Semblances in time.
One night, Ruby finds Oscar training by himself with The Long Memory in the training room. She compliments him on his improvement and believes that he will be ready for combat soon. However, Oscar states that he is scared of fighting, and even yells at Ruby for being calm with all of the chaos that is surrounding her. She is taken back by his burst of anger, but she calmly tells him how she came to lose Penny and Pyrrha and the circumstances of their deaths. Ruby admits she is scared, but her biggest fear is that Salem will kill not only her opponents but innocent bystanders as well. She states that she has to keep moving forward because she knows that Penny and Pyrrha would have done the same if she was the one to lose her life. Going back upstairs, Ruby acknowledges Oscar for his perseverance and bravery.
On a later day, Team RNJR prepare a dinner for the Huntsmen Qrow is searching for. When she heads for the house entrance upon her uncle's return, she is shocked to find Yang and Weiss with him. As her older sister approaches her, Ruby tries to apologize for leaving her back in Patch. However, Yang cuts her off with a hug and tearfully says "I love you", which Ruby responds back. The sisters then invite Weiss to join in, and the girls share a heartfelt reunion.
Ruby then has a ramen dinner with all of her friends and they go over past events. She compliments Ren for being "out of control" during the battle with the Nuckelavee and later is in awe of Yang's new robotic arm. Then they all have a talk with Ozpin, where it is revealed that he gave the Branwen twins the ability to turn into birds and he was the wizard who gave the first Maidens their magic. In the end, Ruby is worried that Yang is going to leave because Ozpin was keeping his secrets, but is later relieved when her sister decides to stay due to her own influence.
Waking up early the next morning, Ruby has coffee with Weiss and Yang and laments that Blake is not with them. She shows great concern for her sister when the latter states she does not care for their teammate anymore. Later, Ruby finds Yang consolidating with Weiss and is relieved to see her sister has calmed down.
Ruby later talks to Ozpin and Qrow alone about her worries for the Relic of Choice, as Cinder is the Fall Maiden who can access the Relic. She is assured by Ozpin that Salem does not have that Relic, as he has made it more difficult to find in Beacon. Ruby then asks about his cane, and she learns that although it is not a Relic, it is still special to him. After Qrow receives a call from Lionheart, Ruby is delighted to hear that there is a raiding party ready to find the Spring Maiden and rushes to fetch the others.
On the night of the full moon, Ruby and her allies travel to Haven to meet with Lionheart and unexpectedly encounter Raven. After hearing from her that no one can defeat Salem, Ruby argues with her, reasoning that they have achieved impossible feats because they worked together. She then extends her hand and asks Raven to join them, but the response she receives is a surprise attack from Cinder through the bandit's portal. Soon after, the heroes find themselves surrounded by Salem's followers and learn that both Lionheart and Raven have sided with them.
When Jaune moves in to fight Cinder, Ruby rushes to help him but is stopped by Emerald. As the two battle, Ruby asks Emerald why she is serving Salem, only to find that Emerald does not care about Salem but owes Cinder everything. Upon seeing Jaune and Cinder about to collide, Ruby remembers Pyrrha's death and cries out, unleashing her Silver-Eyed powers once more. However, Emerald knocks Ruby out and cuts her powers short.
When she regains consciousness, Ruby finds Weiss incapacitated and treated by Jaune. Upon seeing her other comrades in trouble, she directs Jaune to keep treating Weiss, Nora to cover for them, and Ren to help Oscar and Qrow against Lionheart and Hazel Rainart. Ruby then rushes to Yang's side and prepares to fight with her against Emerald and Mercury. Ruby fights Mercury and eventually headbutts him, telling him that she will do whatever it takes to shut him up. As the battle progresses, she finds that her allies are tired and worn out, but is later surprised when she hears the airships of the Mistral police outside. Suddenly, Ruby is shocked to find Blake outside. Remembering about the Relic, she orders Yang to head for the vault. Ruby then turns and gives Blake a nod before the latter runs back outside.
As the battle rages on, Ruby and Weiss are reunited with Blake once again after she stomps on Hazel. After stopping Lionheart from firing his Dust projectiles and causing him to flee, Ruby directs her teammates for their coordinated attacks. Eventually, she pleads for Emerald, Mercury and Hazel to stop fighting as they are all worn out from the battle. When Yang returns with the Relic, Ruby is relieved. But when Emerald breaks down at Cinder's apparent demise, the heroes are caught in an illusion confronting a giant Salem. This leaves Ruby utterly terrified, and Ozpin later confirms that it was an illusion of their true enemy.
After the battle, Ruby collapses from exhaustion and later asks Blake what she was doing in Haven. With all four of them all together once again, the girls share a hug of reunion as Team RWBY is reformed.
Recovering back at the manor, Ruby and her friends learn more about the Relic of Knowledge from Ozpin, discovering that it can answer three questions every one hundred years. As they now know what it does, Ruby assures Ozpin that they will keep the Relic safe.
Two weeks after the Battle of Haven, Ruby and the rest of her friends go to a train station to board the Argus Limited, which would take them to Argus, a city in Anima on the way to the Kingdom of Atlas. She buys Yang something from the gift shop, and when aboard the train, calls for an official team exercise - video games. Manticore and Sphinx Grimm disrupt it, however, and the heroes climb atop the train to fight them. A tunnel interrupts the battle, and after seeing the scared passengers, Ruby stops her uncle from attempting to force Dudley to deactivate the turrets on the train, and politely pleads with him to turn off the turrets.
When tension rises again as Ozpin reveals that the Grimm are attracted to the Relics, Ruby stops Yang from arguing with Ozpin and devises a plan to split the team up, and later promises Jaune that she and their allies will meet Team JNPR in Argus. Everyone agrees, and Jaune, Ren and Nora take the front cars and all the passengers safely to Argus. Team RWBY, Qrow and Oscar stay in the detached rear cars with the Relic of Knowledge to fight the Grimm. Though they defeat all of the Grimm, the Sphinx spits a fireball at the tracks, derailing the train and leaving Ruby's group in a snowy forest. Maria Calavera, an old woman who happened to stay in the rear cars, comes out and greets them.
Ruby finds the Relic in the snow and holds onto it, later showing to Ozpin that it is safe. When he orders her to give it to him, she asks if his faith in Humanity does not apply to her and her teammates. Oscar fights back for control and tells Ruby to summon the being within the Relic, whose name is "Jinn". After Ruby says the name, she is awestruck as time stops around her and the being emerges from the Relic. Jinn reveals that she can answer two questions, and Ruby goes against Ozpin's pleas, asking the being, "What is Ozpin hiding from us?" She is startled when Ozpin charges at her, but then finds herself alone on an alternate plane. As Jinn tells everyone the answer in a fairy tale form, they learn that Salem was once human.
After learning of Salem and Ozma's past and that Ozpin cannot kill his former lover, Ruby stares down angrily at him and asks if he has a plan to defeat Salem. After he admits that he has no plan, Ozpin loses everyone's faith and seals himself within Oscar's mind. The tension in the group rises until Maria steps in and tells everyone to calm down. As the heroes are directed to follow a nearby trail, Ruby gives The Long Memory to Oscar. She tries to assure him that he is his own person, but her efforts are thwarted by Qrow, who tells her not to lie to Oscar. Later on the trail, Ruby and her allies find a farm estate which looks abandoned. Despite its appearance, the heroes venture in for shelter from the snowstorm.
As they try to get inside the main house, Ruby states her confusion as the previous empty towns she passed through were either damaged or unfinished. After they break their way through, she looks at the family pictures and tells Blake that something does not feel right. When they hear Weiss' scream, they hurry to the master bedroom and find a pair of partially decomposed corpses on the bed. As they later gather around the fire, they learn from Qrow that everyone else on the estate suffered the same fate. Ruby deduces that there should be supplies for them to use. She later takes Weiss with her to find food for them to eat. The pair finds a wine cellar, and Ruby suggests that they close it away from Qrow, for she is worried about her uncle after Jinn's revelation of Ozpin's lies and secrets. She is further concerned for Weiss, who finds the goal of getting the Relic of Knowledge to Atlas pointless. They find and bring canned food back to the group. That night, Ruby is once again worried about her uncle as he drinks while taking watch, and the next day, Ruby discovers that Qrow drank himself to sleep. In her anger, she awakens him by throwing and smashing a bottle into a wall. She hugs her uncle and opens up for him, only for him to shrug her off.
Later, Ruby and Qrow are securing the flatbed to Bumblebee, when Qrow's Semblance flattens one of the tires. She argues against her teammates about the mission of getting the Relic of Knowledge to Atlas - all of them arguing that they are better off leaving the lamp at the bottom of the nearby well so that Salem might have a hard time finding it. With her teammates standing against her, Ruby slowly walks over to the well to drop the Relic, but she ultimately rejects the idea and is about to retreat her hand when a pair of eyes catch her off guard, causing her to drop the lamp down the well. As Ruby panics, her teammates' indifference arouses her anger, and she shouts at everyone that she is not leaving without the Relic.
After convincing her team, they go down the well together to search for the Relic. As she finds the lamp, Ruby finds a horde of Apathy and screams in terror. She then runs back to her team and fires at the Grimm, but the bullets do no apparent damage and the Grimms' shrieks make the team feel heavy and tired. Maria finds them, and they run through the tunnels, making their way to the wine cellar - the door of which is locked from the outside. They fall prey to the Apathy, cornered and further exhausted. Ruby, horrified to see Blake lying lifeless as an Apathy is about to kill her, screams for her friend and activates her Silver Eyes. This stuns the Grimm long enough for the group to momentarily stun the Grimm, giving her enough time to save her teammate. The Apathy screech again, and everyone collapses in exhaustion.
When Maria crawls over to her, Ruby answers her question that her eyes are silver. Maria instructs her to think not of the Grimm, but of her loved ones and how they make her feel. Ruby then sits up and unleashes her powers again with more control and destroys all of the Apathy within the vicinity, shocking herself and the others over the extent of her powers. They then escape from the cellar and find Qrow passed out from drinking the alcohol in the bar. Ruby urges her uncle to get up and pushes him out of the house with Weiss' help. They then quickly get on the flatbed and escape from the farm estate.
On the road, Maria tells the group that the Apathy was Bartleby's attempt to cut costs on Huntsman by using their ability to drain emotions, only for the plan to backfire and the Grimm to kill all of the farmers. They learn that the Apathy were affecting them as well, making them tired and apathetic during their entire stay until they escaped. After Maria laments not being able to see that the Grimm were responsible for the deaths of the farm estate residents, Ruby asks about her knowledge of the Grimm and the Silver Eyes. Maria answers that she once had Silver Eyes, just like Ruby.
Ruby and the others then learn about Maria's past as the Grimm Reaper and how she lost her eyes and went into hiding. As the elder laments about her past mistakes, Ruby suggests that Maria can teach her how to properly use her powers as a Silver-Eyed Warrior. Before Maria can reply, Ruby unexpectedly gets a call from Jaune and sees that her Scroll's signal is strong, realizing they have found their way to Argus.
Outside the city walls, the group reunites with Jaune, Ren and Nora with Ruby hugging Jaune and telling him that she kept her promise. While on the trolley, Team RWBY catches up on Argus' history. When they come across Saphron Cotta-Arc and her son Adrian Cotta-Arc, Ruby is overjoyed that she is meeting one of Jaune's sisters. At Saffron's house, the group meets her wife Terra Cotta-Arc and enjoy a dinner of sandwiches. Ruby then announces that they will ask the military base to take the group tomorrow morning, only to find themselves barred from entering the next day.
Ruby and her group then meet Caroline Cordovin, a special operative in charge of the military base. Despite their best efforts, they are unable to convince the Commander to let all of them passage to Atlas, with only Weiss allowed to return home. When the gates close on them again, Ruby assures Weiss that they will not leave her and that they will all get to Atlas somehow. But Qrow walks away to go drink, and Ruby is unable to convince him to stay and help them come up with a different plan. When Nora brings up the possibility of Ozpin offering a plan, Ruby realizes that they need to tell Team JNR the truth.
Back at the Cotta-Arc house, Ruby and her group reveal all about Ozpin and Salem, leaving Jaune and his teammates angered that all of their efforts have been for nothing. Ultimately, Jaune pins Oscar to the wall, forcing Ruby to yell at her friend to stop attacking the farm boy. Soon afterward, everyone leaves to have time alone, with Ruby trying to call Qrow but to no avail.
Ruby then finds Maria sitting in the backyard and shares her sadness on how she is letting everyone down by not having a plan of defeating Salem. Then at Maria's offer, Ruby learns of the elder's father and how he found little information about the Silver-Eyed warriors. When they discuss about the rarity of their bloodline, Ruby concludes that it was because Salem has hunted them down. Maria then goes on about how the power is the preservation of life, and has Ruby recall about the God of Light using his silver eyes to destroy the Grimm created by his brother. She is then told by Maria to create a state of mind that she can tap into to activate her Silver Eyes to preserve human life. The last bit of information leaves Ruby confused, as she recalls that her powers affected Cinder. Suddenly, Ruby is called by Yang and Blake informs the group that Oscar has gone missing.
Ruby and the others then go out to search for Oscar. When they are unable to find him, Team RWBY and Maria return to the house at night where they find Qrow completely drunk on the doorsteps. Infuriated with her uncle, she and Yang pull him up and angrily tells him that they have been searching for Oscar. When Jaune and his group return, Ruby is surprised to hear that Jaune and his teammates are going to Atlas after they find Oscar. But suddenly, the entire group is surprised to find the farm boy back with a new outfit. Afterward, Ruby stops Qrow from trying to get away from the group and listens to Jaune's idea to stealing an Atlas airship. When Qrow turns down the idea, Ruby sees that her friends are completely disheartened again. She decides to hear Jaune out about his plan and quickly counters Qrow's rebuttal, reasoning that just because he does not have a plan does not mean that they are out of options, and that they should do things their way.
Ruby and the group agree to Jaune's idea and formulate a plan. Weiss and Maria take over a ship after pretending Weiss would return to Atlas, but when they circle back to pick up Ruby and the rest of the heroes at a cliffside, with Blake and Yang disabling the radar tower. Ruby rebuts Qrow's second-guessing, saying they could still use his skills. However, Blake's part of the plan fails, as she is attacked by Adam. Cordovin personally pilots a Colossus to make an example of them, so Ruby tells Weiss to regroup with them on the ground.
Ruby enters the conflict Cordovin initiated against Weiss and Maria in their stolen airship when she destroys a missile Cordovin fires at the airship. After Cordovin retaliates with an ice Dust attack and Weiss protects the group, they formulate a plan to distract the operative with small targets while looking for a weakness. Ruby launches herself into the air, runs across some of Cordovin's missiles and falls to skate and run across ice Weiss cast for them. At one point, Ruby is on the Colossus and Cordovin throws her off, leading Weiss to save her with her Lancer summon. Soon after, Cordovin destroys the summon, and Ruby misses the landing, forcing her to embed Crescent Rose into the cliffside and cling for her life. As Cordovin targets Ruby, Maria intervenes to save her.
After she scales up the cliff with Crescent Rose, Ruby learns from Oscar that the Colossus' missiles pop out of the cannon, indicating that they can be detonated with an accurate shot. Ruby boards the airship to get close to the Colossus for a clear shot, but as she fires, the Cordovin counters by retracting the missiles and shooting a lightning Dust blast that causes the ship to crash. Recovering, Ruby heads for the incoming Colossus as Qrow stops her. Glaring at her uncle, she tells him to trust her and continues. Ruby then refuses to surrender to Cordovin and ridicules Cordovin for abusing her power just to look down on others. She offers Cordovin one last chance to stand down and hear the group out, only for the offer to be turned down and the cannon directed to her. To everyone's shock, Ruby jumps into the cannon and aims and shoots at the lightning Dust inside. She dashes out just before all of the Dust explodes and destroys the cannon. With Ruby's Aura broken, Weiss slows Ruby's fall, and the leader lands in Qrow's arms, weak. After watching Cordovin fail to move the Colossus again, the group is shocked to learn that a Leviathan is approaching Argus.
They then reunite with Blake and Yang and board the airship, with Ruby solemnly watching as Cordovin struggles to move the Colossus. Onboard, she assures Blake that her safety matters more than her mission, and comforts her with a hug while smiling at Yang. When Maria brings up their mission to get the Relic of Knowledge to Atlas, Ruby is surprised to hear her teammates refusing to leave Argus in danger. When they reach the battlefield, the Leviathan destroys the first shield and the Atlesian fighters are starting to withdraw. Ruby calls them and claims that she can weaken the Leviathan so they can finish the Grimm off. But to her dismay, she is denied help from the military because her group is considered hostile. Ruby presses on, directing Ren and Jaune to cloak all of their emotions to get them past the Manticores. But they arrive too late as the Leviathan destroys the second shield, prompring Ruby to think of another plan.
She then rides on Weiss' Lancer summon to get closer to the Grimm. As she stops, Ruby starts to concentrate her thoughts, even throwing out her earpiece when Yang urges her to hurry. She recalls the memories of her loved ones, but then remembers the deaths of Pyrrha and Penny and loses her focus. As she sees the Leviathan about to attack her, Ruby quickly calls Jinn to buy more time. She frowns as the being warns not to summon her without a question, but is happy when Jinn acknowledges her cleverness. As time begins to flow again, Ruby refocuses on the happy memories with her friends and family, ending on the image of her mother. She then unleashes her power and petrifies the Leviathan, but the Grimm breaks its head free afterward. But to everyone's surprise, Cordovin arrives and finishes the Leviathan with the Colossus. Afterward, Ruby thanks the special operative for her help, and apologizes for the trouble she has caused. She is later surprised when Cordovin allows her and the others to leave for Atlas while the military finish off the Manticores.
That night, Ruby thanks Maria for flying the airship, and happily hugs Qrow as she tells him that she loves him. She then gets embarrassed when everyone looks at her in awe for her feats in Argus. Ruby quickly shifts the focus to Oscar's feat of landing the airship back in Argus, only to find that he was guided by Ozpin for a brief moment. But then they are called by Qrow when they reach the outskirts of Atlas, and everyone is amazed at the structure of the floating city. Suddenly, the mood turns sour when they see the air fleet surrounding Atlas as if they are expecting an attack.
Cautiously, Ruby and the group decide to fly to Mantle instead of trying to meet Ironwood directly. Along the way they leave the Manta behind and Maria leads them through Mantle to what turns out to be Pietro Polendina's pharmacy. The heroes talk to him and try to ask him to meet Ironwood.
Suddenly, however, an alarm sounds, and Ruby and the group are forced to fight an onslaught of Sabyrs. Penny interrupts the fight and finishes off the last of the Grimm before sharing an oddly heartwarming reunion with the heroes. After Penny leaves to fight more Grimm, the Ace Operatives arrest the heroes for unauthorized weapon use, seizing their weapons and the Relic, and putting them in a transport bound for Atlas.
On the airship they meet Forrest, a supporter of Robyn Hill. They talk with him about Robyn for a short while before they are delivered to Ironwood and released from their restraints. Shortly after that, Ironwood reveals his plans to the group while Ruby decides to withhold information about what happened on their way to Atlas from Ironwood.
Later the group, minus Qrow, is lead to Atlas Academy where they can rest.
After completing a mission to secure the launch site for the Amity Communication Tower, Ironwood grants Ruby and her friends their Huntsmen licenses. As now official Huntsmen, Ruby and her friends go through several training exercises with the Ace Operatives to improve their skills. They also do Huntsmen missions to assist the construction of Amity Tower, defend Mantle from any Grimm attacks, and hunt any loose Grimm.
During one of these missions, they discover a strange orb that attracted the Grimm towards it. After finding this one and leaving it with Pietro Polendina, the team head to Essen and help the people when they attack a Megoliath harming the town and are saved by Team BRIR before they are chased out by Bram Thornmane. After learning from Poetry that the orb is from the abandoned military base Fort Arrowfell, the team leave the orb in Thornmane's possession who gives it to lieutenant colonel Olive Harper to investigate while Team RWBY help the Ace Operatives with their own missions. Once they are finished, they learn from Harper that the technology seems to have come from Amoncio Glass and the team confront him about the orb.
Once they learn that the orbs were designed to attract the Grimm, they learn from Harper that Glass got the technology from someone in the military and Ironwood reveals that the only person that could extract the emotions needed to power the orbs was Mantle's most well-respected Union leader Hanlon Fifestone due to his Semblance having that power and order that he be arrested. While trying to find his location, Qrow helps the team by using five security drones to help them and the team obtain all five by helping out the people in the surrounding areas, including Winter Schnee, and find out that Fifestone is at the Mantle industrial center. The team manage to arrive in time to see Fifestone extract the emotions from one of his fellow co-workers as Blake kicks him through a wall. After defeating him and Blake reprimanding Fifestone for harming the very people he was supposed to be protecting, Fifestone activated four hidden orbs throughout the Kingdom as Team RWBY had to search for all of them.
After locating all of the orbs, Team RWBY were to assist with helping a train holding an entire Atlas Military battalion reach the stronghold of the mastermind behind the conspiracy. When they entered the train however, the Atlesian forces onboard turned hostile as Ruby realized at Harper had set them up and was actually a part of the conspiracy before the train crashed into nearby ruins and the team was confronted by Team BRIR under the false impression that they were the ones responsible as Thornmane had hired them to stop them. Once they defeat Team BRIR and learn that Thornmane was the true mastermind and caused the attacks so Ironwood would be seen in a negative light by the people, they head to Fort Arrowfell to confront him and Harper while locating Team BRIR in the "Crystal Nexus" underneath Solitas due to them being the "Keepers of Arrowfell" and having access to the base while they apologize for attacking them and being tricked by Thornmane. After entering the base and finding a remorseful Harper planning to turn herself in, the team eventually confront Thornmane at the deepest part of Fort Arrowfell and defeat him. After he is taken away, Ironwood congratulated the team for completing their first big mission as Huntresses as the team celebrate.
During one of Ruby's missions to escort a supply run, the cargo truck is stopped by Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses. Robyn demands to know why the supplies are going to Amity instead of being used to fixed Mantle's damaged wall but Clover Ebi dodges all her questions. Frustrated, Robyn eventually lets them pass but decides to do whatever it takes to discover Amity's sudden importance.
After several weeks of rigorous training and missions, Ironwood grants Ruby and her friends a night off during election night. Ruby decides to spend her night with Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren at a pre-election party for Robyn to hang out with Penny, who is working security at the party. However while at the venue, Ruby notices a hooded Tyrian Callows at the party. She tries to warn everyone but before she can do so, the venue is hacked by an Outside party who disables the power to use the cover of darkness for Tyrian Callows to begin massacring the crowd. The chaos and stampeding crowd knock Ruby into the ground where she loses Tyrian in the dark. After killing numerous people, Tyrian slips away before the power comes back on, framing Penny for the attack. The negativity draws a Grimm attack to Mantle, while Jacques Schnee comes out as victor in the election. Ruby, Nora and Ren assist Atlas authorities in repelling the invasion while a traumatised Penny returns to Atlas.
The next day, Ruby tells Ironwood of Tyrian and his allegiance with Salem and Ironwood orders for Tyrian to be found and interrogated. Later that day, Ruby and Weiss talk with Maria and Pietro as he extracts the footage of the rally from Penny's data banks in the hopes to prove her innocence to the public. He tells them of how he created Penny using his own aura and how the altered footage of the attack originated from Penny's work throughout Mantle, suggesting a hacker is lose in the network.
Ironwood and his subordinates are invited by Jacques to a private dinner party at his mansion to defend his council position. Ruby and her friends are invited along too as a precaution in case the council needs more witnesses. Before leaving, Team RWBY and Oscar discuss their suspicions of Jacques and his suspicious election victory and possible ties to the hacker in the security network. They decide for Weiss to sneak off in the mansion and search his office for clues. Weiss successfully sneaks to his office during the party and, with some help from her mother, obtains a recording of her father and Arthur Watts striking a deal for Watts to rig the election in exchange for humiliating Ironwood. Weiss shows the footage to the council resulting in Jacques being stripped of his rank and arrested.
Meanwhile Watts, using Jacques' council credentials, hacks into the Mantle heating grid and deactivates the heat throughout the city, freezing the citizens. The public assume Atlas to be freezing them out and cause a huge riot and fire in the streets, attracting a massive Grimm invasion. With the panic Ironwood was afraid of already happening, Ruby and Oscar convince him to tell the council and Robyn of Salem, which he agrees and complies with. Before the Ace Operatives, Team RWBY and Team JNR deploy to Mantle to protect the citizens and repel the Grimm, Ruby and Oscar agree to reveal the truth of Ozpin's disappearance and Salem's immortality to Ironwood, which Oscar stays behind to do.
The Huntsmen fly into Mantle on an airship but are shot down by Teryx Grimm. They split up into teams of 3 to help as many civilians as possible, with Ruby being on a team with Harriet Bree and Penny Polendina. As they battle the Grimm, Ironwood releases a broadcast to Mantle and Atlas revealing the existence of Salem, her associates and their responsibility with their attacks on Beacon, Mistral and Mantle much to Ruby's joy.
As the night continues, Ruby's team escort their group of civilians to the nearest landing zone when they are attacked by a Megoliath Alpha. Ruby attempts to activate her Silver eyes but is unable to concentrate in all the chaos. Instead she comes up with a plan to have Penny burn off its tusk with her lasers, Ruby cuts it off with her Scythe and impales the Grimm with its own tusk. This plan works perfectly and the two succeed in evacuating their sectors civilians.
During the evacuations, Ruby and the other Huntsmen suddenly receive a message from Ironwood to be recalled with zero explanation. Confused, they return to Ironwood who reveals a Black Queen chess piece, the symbol Salem used before Beacon fell, was placed in his office. Ruby realises that Cinder Fall was responsible upon seeing it was made of black glass. Ironwood caves in to paranoia, suspects Salem was ahead of the whole time, and loses trust in Team RWBY for lying about Ozpin, Jinn and for Blake and Yang leaking the Amity plans to Robyn unbeknown to Ruby and Weiss. The meeting is suddenly interrupted by the emergence of a Seer Grimm, which was hiding in Watts bag, and conjures up a mirage of Salem. Salem reveals she is imminent to Atlas and thretens to destroy both cities if the group does not surrender both relics. Ruby defies Salem, stating they will stop her regardless if they can kill her or not. Salem retorts that her mother also said the same thing but was also proven wrong, causing Ruby to break down crying as the mirage fades.
The Salem apparition disappears, and the Ace-Ops begin to panic, especially upon realizing that the proximity alarms along the coast near Atlas are inactive. Blake asks about the readiness to launch the Amity Tower, but Yang realizes that Ironwood just said that to lure out Watts. Ironwood states that he has sent Winter to claim the Winter Maiden's powers and that he wants to seal the Relic of Knowledge in the vault with the Relic of Creation. He tells Ruby that he changed his mind about letting Team RWBY keep the Lamp because they lied to him and because Salem is on their doorstep while everyone is too exhausted for another battle.
Ironwood then explains that he intends to raise the City of Atlas into the atmosphere instead of Amity Tower. There, the city, the two Relics and the Winter Maiden will be safe from Salem. Team RWBY protests that this plan would mean leaving people in Mantle to die due to the evacuation not being complete, but Ironwood and the Ace-Ops refuse to reconsider. Suddenly, Jaune opens a group call with Ruby, Qrow and Winter. Taking the opportunity, Ruby uses her Semblance to get past Ironwood and warn the others about his plan. Ironwood locks communications, declares that Team RWBY are under arrest, and leaves while the Ace-Ops get ready to detain them.
Harriet locks down Ironwood's office, letting RWBY decide whether they'll be arrested peacefully or not, prompting Marrow to hesitantly ask if they're really going to fight. Ruby taunts Harriet by saying the Ace-Ops were the best Huntsmen in Atlas until they trained her team, prompting the fight to break. Ruby bursts out of the room, causing Harriet to chase her in anger. Outside the office, Ruby tries to talk Harriet into stopping their fight and working to stop Ironwood, but Harriet brushes her off and says she didn't trust RWBY from the start.
As their fight returns to the office, Harriet yells at Marrow, telling him to stop holding back against RWBY. Marrow insists that he's only trying to arrest them, and that she was taking things too far, seeming as though she wants to kill RWBY. Harriet does not deny this, and instead says it's necessary. Ruby leaves the room causing Harriet to chase her again, where she is eventually overpowered by Ruby and Weiss due to exhaustion. Team RWBY then ties Harriet and the Ace-Ops to their Gravity Bolas, and leave them in Ironwood's office. Pietro Polendina and Maria catch RWBY tying up the Specialists, deciding to help the Huntresses. The group makes a plan where Ruby and Weiss will catch up to Winter and the Maiden whilst Yang and Blake find their friends to escape Atlas.
Ruby and Weiss arrive at the Atlas Medical Facility after a battle between Winter, Penny, and Cinder had occurred over the powers of the Winter Maiden. Upon arrival, Ruby sees Cinder and instantly uses her Silver Eye powers, causing a frightened Cinder to flee by blasting her way through the roof. Ruby runs over to Penny, who is by the side of Fria's corpse, asking the new Maiden what happened. Maria and Yang arrive in a stolen Manta airship, and Penny decides to go with them.
On the airship, Ruby and Weiss comfort Penny, until they intercept a broadcast from the military; Salem has arrived.
Ruby, Weiss and Maria arrive at the slums beneath Atlas to take Oscar to their new base, which is a defunct restaurant taken by the Happy Huntresses. They discuss their next course of action in which Ruby and Yang have an argument about whether or not it is worth trying to worry about the Amity Communications Tower when people are dying in Mantle and General Ironwood will never cooperate with them. Jaune calms them down and suggests they go for both Amity and Mantle, and they split up. Ruby is concerned and wants them to stick together as splitting up is what Salem wants. However, Oscar reassures her that Salem wants them to turn against each other, so as long as they are united, they are together still. Ruby goes for Amity joined by Nora, Weiss, Blake and Penny, while Jaune, Oscar and Ren join Yang for Mantle. Pietro tells them that Amity can only be activated through a terminal from Ironwood's office or a terminal in a highly classified area of the Atlas Command Center.
Ruby's group arrive with May Marigold at the Snow Shoe Shipping Facility as it is the only way they can get up to the Atlas Command Center without being apprehended, as the drones there report to the Schnee Dust Company, not the Atlas Military. While there, Penny expresses her dislike that they are fighting and disagreeing with Ironwood as they are supposed to be allies, or "friends" as she puts it. She also wishes that she was simply the Protector of Mantle and nothing more. However, Ruby dismisses her concerns by saying that by becoming the Winter Maiden she did protect Mantle. Afterward, they ship their way up to the Atlas Command Center and, once there, Penny gives the directions to the terminal room. With May's help, they make it up the elevator and use Pietro's credentials to get access through a door. However, their mission is found hopeless once they are forced to go right through central command which is packed with people and therefore they can't go through without being spotted. May says that she can hijack a ship for them to leave; however, Penny has an idea, which is that Ruby use her Semblance on everyone to pass the central command room and gain access while May readies the ship to leave once they've gained access. It is here that Ruby's Semblance is explained: when Ruby uses her Semblance, she first thinks of a destination, then breaks herself down to her molecular components, negating her mass, and then, after speed-bursting there, reassembling them at said destination. Therefore, since mass no longer matters, her weapon and attire also breaks down, and therefore theoretically she can use her Semblance on a person or people near her if she so wishes.
May causes a distraction across everyone in the central command room by having a worker carrying a mug of coffee trip thereby causing the coffee to spill onto another worker's clothes throwing everyone into frustration that the coffee-holding worker decided to bring coffee into the room despite there being a sign prohibiting it. Ruby uses the distraction to transport herself, Weiss, Blake, Nora and Penny across the room and up the stairs right across the terminal room. Once in the room, the extremely thick electrified door of which was opened with Pietro's credentials, Pietro takes control over Penny's body and grants them access to Amity. However, he says that they will need Penny for the launch still, and therefore she cannot return to her friends to help Yang and her group evacuate Mantle to the crater. This saddens Penny, but Ruby reassures her that it may truly be for the best, and so Penny accepts it. As they leave the room, however, the Ace Operatives show up and tell Penny that she needs to come to Ironwood. She and Ruby argue with them for a while, until Harriet manages to separate them from Ruby's group and close the electrified door on them, trapping them in while Penny is alone against the Ace Operatives.
Penny begins to fight the Ace-Ops while Weiss tries to get them out of the room through her summon. This eventually fails, however, as it gets disintegrated due to the electricity. Weiss expresses concern for Penny, while Ruby hopes her Winter Maiden powers can help her last long enough against the Ace-Ops. Nora, out of options, puts her hammer against the electricity generator and supercharges herself and smashes the door open, though the process cripples her as the extreme amount of electricity broke her Aura and scarred her.
Ruby, Weiss and Blake face the Ace-Ops coming to Penny's aid, as the Ace-Ops get a new message on their comms. The team charge, however they get pushed off by Vine and Ruby is forced to use her Semblance to get Weiss, Blake and herself back onto the platform. Harriet rips a sword off of Penny and they retreat, while Ruby and her group tend to Nora and take her to the hangar where May is ready with a ship.
As they leave the command center, Ruby and Penny hug one last time as it is time for Penny to go. The rest make their way to the Schnee Manor, where they force Whitley Schnee to let them in. Whitley is not pleased, as the house staff have all left, Willow Schnee has locked herself in her room, and the Schnee family reputation is tarnished. Weiss does not take kindly to Whitley's actions whatsoever, however Ruby tries to be nice and tell him that they will leave once Nora feels better. Weiss order Whitley to his room. Blake and Ruby then try to call Yang, however, she does not pick up, as unbeknownst to them, she is stranded in the tundra with Jaune, Ren and a broken bike.
As Nora is placed to rest in Weiss' bedroom, Ruby sits with her teammates as they watch her message broadcast to the entire world. In her message, Ruby warns the people of Salem, reveals the existence of the Maidens and the Relics, and states that Ironwood cannot be trusted. She then pleads to the people to unite and fight Salem, and to not give up even if Atlas falls.
As Salem begins her invasion, Ruby watches in horror with her friends of the start of the battle through a broadcast. Later that night, she has hot drinks with her teammates as they ponder on what their next move should be. Suddenly, they are informed by May that Fiona Thyme has lost contact with Yang's group and wants to head back for Mantle. But with Weiss wanting to stay with her family in Atlas and the Happy Huntress arguing that they have to choose a side, Ruby intervenes, saying that there are no sides as Salem is the true enemy and that they need to stand united. Later, Ruby tries to stop May from leaving and suggests that they try to find Qrow and Robyn. But she is interrupted by the Happy Huntress stating that have to choose to help either Mantle or Atlas. They suddenly hear a knock on the front door and are surprised to find Klein Sieben outside, having been called by Whitley to treat Nora. As she watches Weiss make amends with her brother, Ruby is alarmed by a loud crash from outside. She and her teammates hurry to the crash site, where they find Penny severely damaged.
Ruby works with Weiss and Whitely to carry Penny and lay her next to Nora. As the manor's power goes out, she receives a call from May, who had just left moments ago for Mantle. Ruby apologizes to the Happy Huntress and promises that they will do something after fixing Penny, though the reply she gets from May is that they might not be able to help with the surrounding destruction. After the call ends, Ruby becomes distraught over all of the disasters that are in front of them. She is consulted by Klein to focus on one problem at a time and start by restoring power to the manor.
Ruby later goes out with Blake to the nearby generator to turn on the power. As they wait for full restoration, Ruby laments that nothing they have tried has worked in their favor. She is then surprised when Blake tells her that her optimism and drive to do something has inspired the Faunus, and is looked up to by her teammate as a result. Ruby thanks Blake and the power is restored, but then they are attacked by the Hound. She tries to concentrate using her eyes while her teammate covers her, but their efforts are thwarted and she is knocked out and carried away by the Grimm. While Blake tries to stop the Hound and Weiss joins them, Ruby wakes up and notices the Grimm's sight on Penny's Maiden power going haywire in the manor. Seeing that her clothes are covered in the robot's green blood, she realizes that the Hound is after Penny. Suddenly, the Grimm drops Ruby as it flies off and she is knocked out again with her Aura breaking. When Blake is about to be killed by the Cenitaur, Ruby wakes up and slays the Grimm to save her friend.
Suddenly, they hear Penny's scream from the manor and regroup with Weiss at the entrance. They find the Hound holding Penny unconscious and threatening her life. Having enough, Ruby blasts the Hound out the window with her silver eyes, causing the Grimm to drop Penny. As Ruby and her teammates tend to the robot, they are shocked when the Hound reappears and reveals a silver-eyed Faunus inside of it. The three of them carry Penny to the wall as they are backed into the corner by the Hound inching closer to them. As they are paralyzed with fear and unable to fight back, Ruby and her friends are saved by Willow and Whitley as they crush the Hound with an armored statue. She then drops to her knees as she realizes that the Grimm that they just killed was a person.
Later, after Monstra is unexpectedly destroyed, Ruby learns that Yang and her group are alright through Blake's scroll, and is clearly elated to see them again. Shortly afterwards, she opens the doors of Schnee Manor to see them at their doorstep. She immediately throws herself into Yang's arms, crying at finally being reunited with her older sister. She then greets Jaune and Ren, glad to see them alive as well. Though when she sees Emerald amongst them, her good mood vanishes and she instinctively reaches for Crescent Rose. But Oscar intervenes, saying Emerald is no longer on Salem's side. At that moment, Ruby gets contacted by May in Mantle, saying the ships arrived by they weren't alone, coupled with the sounds of explosions in the background. Contact is soon lost moments later.
Immediately after that, Ruby and the others receive an emergency CCT broadcast via their scrolls. She watches as the SDC cargo ships are shot down by Ironwood's forces, and the general himself appears, declaring his intent to protect Atlas at any cost. He then gives Penny and friends an ultimatum: come to the academy to help him protect Atlas, or watch as he destroys Mantle, and he has a bomb to do the job. He also warns if anyone tries deviating from his terms, then Mantle will be destroyed. He concludes by saying he expects an answer within the hour.
In the dining room, Ruby vents out her frustration that they have no way out of Ironwood's ultimatum and have made no progress since the previous day. She quickly runs out to the main hallway and slumps down on the staircase in despair. When Yang arrives to talk about the Hound, Ruby quickly reveals her conclusion that Summer was turned into a Grimm by Salem, causing her sister to drop in tears. She then laments her failures for Amity and that help did not come, but is told by Yang that they need hope and have to take risks. Ruby breaks out in tears as her sister hugs her and proclaims their mom as their hero.
Suddenly, they are alerted by Jaune that Penny has awakened and is trying to fly to Atlas. Ruby quickly grabs Penny by the waist as her friends pin the robot down with their weapons. Ruby then asks Penny what she can do, but is shocked when the robot asks her friend to kill her. The Huntress' eyes widen in shock when Penny reasons that she makes sure that she can pass the maiden powers to her. But after Nora points out that Penny is only partially a machine, Ruby thinks of the robot's human Aura and yells at Jaune to boost it. Ater everyone calms down, Ruby allows Oscar to summon Ozpin so that the headmaster can apologize to them. Seeing that the virus is still inside Penny and that she must go to the vault, Ruby realizes that the vault is something that they have not yet considered as they can use the staff to save Penny and evacuate both Atlas and Mantle.
In the dining room, Ruby listens as Weiss explains the risk of their plan. And when Oscar adds that Atlas will start to fall once the Relic of Creation is used, Ruby nervously taps her fingers. They all then learn of the spirit in the staff and how his powers work, and Weiss eventually comes up with a plan to deal with Ironwood. Ruby then calls Ironwood and coldly tells him that Penny will go to Atlas, and she receives orders from the general that the robot goes to the academy entrance alone.
With help from Klein and the Schnees, Team RWBY and Penny arrive at the hole created by Oscar when he fell out of Atlas. Ruby then uses her Semblance to carry her team and the robot to the entrance of the vault. As soon as Penny opens the door, Ruby uses her Semblance again to quickly get her teammates to the Relic. She then grabs the staff and summons Ambrosius, nervously tells him that Penny is dying. The spirit bluntly tells her that he cannot bring people back from the dead but Ruby denies that, saying that Penny is not their typical girl. After Ambrosius looks at Penny and explains that he will give them exactly what they want, Ruby lets Weiss show Penny's blueprints to the spirit and explains that they want him to create a new version of Penny using her exact same robot parts. As Ambrosius questions the wording of her request, Ruby elaborates that an exact copy will include the virus and an exact copy without the virus will cease to exist once Ambrosius creates something else. Thus, she wants the spirit to create a new body with the existing parts to take the virus and leaving Penny's soul. Ruby further explains that Ambrosius cannot destroy, but he will not be destroying Penny. But as the spirit tries to figure out what will be left, Ruby playfully replies that he just has to get creative. After Ambrosius explains that there will be risks, and Weiss replies that don't have any other options, the spirit then proceeds to separate Penny's soul as he creates a new robot body.
Team RWBY then approaches Penny, with Ruby calling out to her. After Penny wakes up and her old robot body is destroyed, Ruby asks her friend if she is okay. The now-human Penny hugs Ruby, learning how warm hugs are. The team then summon Ambrosius again, asking him to create passageways from Atlas and Mantle to Vacuo. Again, Weiss provides Ambrosius with blueprints from Whitely, and Yang suggests that they use a dimension similar to that of those inside the vaults for all of the passageways. Ambrosius complies with their request, but warns them not to fall off.
Shortly after, inside the Evacuation Central Location, Cinder unleashes an explosive blast, sending refugees flying off of a platform. This draws Team RWBY's attention, and they begin to fight Cinder.
While Team RWBY is distracted fighting Cinder, Neo sneaks up on them, using her Semblance to disguise herself. When Yang notices Neo moving in to attack Ruby, she activates her Semblance, launches herself forward and pushes Ruby out of the way, taking the hit. Yang loses consciousness, her Aura breaks and she is sent tumbling over the edge of the platform. Blake desperately tries and fails to catch her with Gambol Shroud, and Yang falls into the void below. Penny, alerted by Blake's emotional cry, flies over to the platform and engages Cinder in a fight, while Blake furiously teams up with Ruby against Neo. Weiss, who was already fighting Cinder, attempts to lend support to Penny but is soon exhausted.
The fighting in Ever After continues, and Jaune stresses to Nora that their top priority is finishing the evacuation. Weiss uses her Queen Lancer summon to narrowly rescue Penny from Cinder's Grimm hand. Penny tells Weiss to let her sacrifice herself, to protect everyone. Cinder destroys the summon while Weiss is distracted, dropping them onto the main platform and damaging their Auras. Penny offers herself as a target to Cinder, trying to distract her from Weiss and the Staff, but Cinder sneers, saying she wants it all. Blake jumps into the fight, and Weiss flees with the Staff while Blake and Penny face Cinder.
When Cinder attacks Ruby and Neo from behind, blasting the former over the edge, Blake tries to save and catches her and with Gambol Shroud to swing them to safety, but Cinder burns Gambol Shroud’s ribbon with a fire blast. Ruby, Blake and Neo plummet into the void.
As Ruby plummets into the abyss, she is attacked by Neo. Ruby holds her hands to stop Neo, but Neo decides to mess with her by changing into Oscar, Yang and Penny before getting Ruby in a headlock. Ruby knocks Neo away, leaving the mute to glare at her as they fall into the other world the abyss. Ruby eventually wakes up on a mysterious shore. After getting up and drying herself off she prepares to enter the island. As she walks in the forest she sees the tree and tries to go there, however Ruby becomes frustrated after repeatedly passing through the same location, eventually she settles down and begins to cry right as it starts to rain. Ruby then notices a mouse trying to pull out a cheese like vegetable, Ruby helps the mouse and gives it to the hungry animal, she became shocked after the mouse started to talk, offering to help her, she gives them the name “Little”. After Ruby explains that she is looking for her friends, Little suggests that they return to their village as they may have encountered them. Shortly after Ruby and Little arrive at the mouse village, she see’s Weiss and Blake caught in the Mouse’s trap, after explaining everything to the Mouse Leader and releasing the prisoners, Ruby suggests going to a higher ground to look for Yang, she asks Weiss what happened after they fell and if anyone else fell as well, Weiss replies she doesn’t know and suggests they need to find Yang. At the top of the cliff, they encounter a strange creature, and the group prepares to fight, but Ruby realizes she doesn’t have her weapon, they encounter Yang who is missing her arm, and they drive the creature away, Ruby tries to comfort Yang, and Weiss explains what happened before she fell and that Penny sacrificed herself which caused Ruby to faint. Ruby wakes up and they talk about what they’re going to do next, Blake realizes that they’re in a fairy tale.
Ruby questions Blake’s prior assertion, saying that it’s impossible that they’re in a fairy tale, but the group points out that a talking mouse is on her shoulder. Blake believes that they’re in the Ever After which Little confirms to Team RWBY that they are in it. Ruby and the other plan to search for Yang’s arm which was stolen by a Raccoon named the Jinxy Peddler and Crescent Rose, then travel to the Tree to hopefully return to Remnant. Ruby promises her team that she’ll get everyone home but Weiss points out that her home is gone, Ruby tries to reassure Weiss by telling her that they did everything they could, only for Weiss to rebuff her, saying they hatched a "crazy plan" and that they don't know if it was a success. After venting, Weiss tries to offer some support to Ruby over Penny, at which point Ruby doesn't respond as thunder is heard in the distance.
Team Ruby reaches a bridge leading to the next acre of the Ever After, but they found out that Little doesn’t know to get back to their village leaving Team RWBY to be dumbfounded by this, but they are convinced to come with them, upon arriving to the next Acre, Ruby and the others find out that that most of the Acre’s citizens are living toys they spot the auction where Jinxy is holding it, where they hope to find Crescent Rose and Yang’s arm, Blake explains that Jinxy use’s illusions to disguise their wares into valuable treasures and accepts emotions and memories as payment, Ruby is oddly invested on drawn to a jade marionette. When Jinxy calls on who will by the last item, Ruby attempts to buy it and Jinxy asks to fill up a jar full of hope, but was unable to. When Little tries to steal the jade marionette from Jinxy which inadvertently causes it to appear as it’s true form as Penny’s swords, Ruby was shocked and immediately grabs it during the chaos with the rest of her team running and Yang having retrieved her arm.
Taking refuge in a nearby forest, Yang attempts lighten the mood, but it starts raining again as Ruby contemplates Penny's sword, this catches the attention of the Toy Soldiers who claim that they demand to give them back their royal property, but Ruby offers them Penny’s sword instead as a better birthday present, and tells them Penny’s story, how she was touched by magic, and inspired hope to others. The Toy Soldiers tear up after hearing the story and gladly escort them to the party. Blake questions Ruby’s decision about this and Ruby replies that they should follow Alyx’s footsteps and stop pretending what they are doing, as they begin to follow the toy soldiers to birthday party.
Ruby and the others walk to the Crimson Castle where they discuss whether they should follow Alyx’s story or not. They arrive at the castle, and Toy Guards all line up side to side. They let the "Red King" walk through, and it is revealed that he isn't the "Red King". This is the Red Prince, and he gets upset at Ruby Rose for calling him the "Red King". Ruby wishes the Prince a 'happy birthday', and the prince is shocked. He asks how the group knows that it was his birthday, and the group explains that it has been announced throughout the whole town. When the guards present the birthday present that Ruby gave them. They explain the story that Ruby told them, and the Prince is excited, but when he sees that it’s green, the Prince gets it away, Ruby becomes sad and upset that he could do something like that, after Team RWBY witnessed a beheading, Ruby asks what they could do to make him feel better, but comes up with the idea that Ruby and the Prince can play a game. They make to a table, and the prince is curious what the group wants for playing this game.
Ruby compliments the prince by saying that he is 'as wise as he is small', and the prince takes this well. She explains that she wants to go the tree if she wins. She starts by asking what the rules are, and the Prince explains them to her. She says that she's missing a few Pawns, and the prince shrinks her friends down; making them be the missing pieces. The prince starts the game, and Ruby asks the pawn to move forward. The pawn advances forward, and purposefully gives up by the Prince's command. She asks three more pawns to move forward; they are also defeated. Realizing the game is rigged, Ruby asks her Weiss to move forward and and she defeats the red Pawns, the Prince asks why they want to go to the tree, Ruby answers that it may be able to take them home. Ruby explains that it may be able to take her back home (to Remnant). After she answers; she asks Yang Xiao Long to move forward, and Yang also defeats a red pawn. The prince asks about how they know the tree will take them home. She says 'it worked for someone we know'. She asks Blake Belladonna to move up a space, and she defeats the pawn. The prince questions who the person is that they 'know'.
The white pawns asks Ruby what to do and she tells them to attack, this angers the Prince and asks what species they are, Ruby answers that Blake is a Faunus, Little is a mouse, and the rest of Team RWBY are humans, this enraged the prince calling them cheaters and orders every pawn to attack them, they are overwhelmed but Ruby tells the Prince that they won’t give up, and tells Team RWBY to go all out, and they are all defeated. the Prince flips the board sending Ruby’s team flying, Ruby catches them and before they could be captured, the Curious Cat appears convincing the Prince to let them live, and Ruby follows the Cat and thanks them, the Cat teleports them to a field and asks Ruby so many questions, before getting distracted by some bugs, Ruby and the others find out that this is the Curious Cat, and Ruby decides to chase after it.
Eventually Ruby learns of the Cat's true intentions and her team along with Jaune defeat him, then they returned to Remnant, ready to bring the fight to Salem once and for all.
== Personality ==
Ever since she was little, Ruby has had a romanticized view of the Huntsman profession. She is quick to reveal she wanted to become a Huntress in order to be like the great heroes in fairy tales, and she has described being one as far more "romantic" than being a police officer. Her mentality is described as "I don't have time for my emotions. I've gotta make sure that everybody else is okay." Lindsay Jones claims Ruby's mentality is "selfless, but that means she's not dealing with her own issues. Compartmentalizing and internalizing her grief is what might eventually destroy her." She has also shown a distinct lack of ability to pick up social cues due to being a very open and honest person. This results in her inability to pick up Weiss' sarcasm in the "The Shining Beacon" and her struggling to act formally in "It's Brawl in the Family".
Ruby is a self-proclaimed dork when it comes to weapons; she is quite intelligent, having designed and built Crescent Rose during her time at Signal, although she admits to going "a little overboard" with its design. She feels that seeing new weapons "is like meeting new people, but better." Oum has said she relies on Crescent Rose quite often in battle, which implies that her weapon is the source of her confidence in battle.
Ruby has a strong sense of moral justice, a trait she obtained from stories about heroes and monsters that her sister used to read for her, as well as the way her parents raised her. These stories are what gave her the ideals that she wished to live by and uphold throughout her life, and are the reason for her love for books. Because she is shown to be childish even when in class, she tends to study by herself to cover the necessary knowledge.
Ruby is shown to be naïve, as although she doesn't like to be the center of attention, becoming a Huntress would effectively put her in the spotlight. In addition to her dislike of attention, Ruby prefers to either be alone or with Yang. However, she has become comfortable around Team RWBY and Team JNPR. She does not lack social skills but has problems when meeting new people. This is mostly because of her childish nature and lack of social grace, as she can be bad-mannered (only out of ignorance) and sometimes speaks without thinking. However, because of her enthusiastic personality, she can become very good friends with people who share her enthusiasm.
Despite this, Ruby's leadership skills make her a worthy teammate. While she may occasionally act without thinking, sometimes she seems to understand the situation better than most. She can then use this ability to quickly formulate plans. This was seen during Team RWBY's battle with the Nevermore, in which her teammates' positions allowed her to come up with a successful plan. Ozpin most likely assigned Ruby as team leader to ensure that she grows as an individual. This proves to be the case as she becomes a resourceful and dependable leader who studies so hard and so late, she falls asleep in the middle of the task, all to impress her teammate Weiss. She was also able to pass her beliefs as leader to Jaune Arc, thus helping him find a new sense of responsibility for the safety and well-being of his own team.
Ruby is also shown to care for all her teammates equally, despite their background. This is seen in how she expresses sympathy for Weiss' bad childhood after she explains her family's history with the White Fang, before showing the same concern moments later for Blake Belladonna when she runs away, having let slip her prior involvement with the group, and by extension indirectly revealing that she was a Faunus. Ruby's concern is further expressed in her desperate search for her teammate. This sense of care is later shown not to be limited to her teammates. She also shows some worry for Penny, telling the latter to stay out of the fight between Roman Torchwick, Blake Belladonna, and Sun Wukong.
Although Ruby has no trouble interacting with her 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 are both older and more experienced than she is. Regardless, both she and Jaune Arc toast to being socially awkward during the Beacon Dance.
In the second chapter of the manga, it is revealed that Ruby originally had enochlophobia, 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, she has overcome them entirely.
Despite her social awkwardness, Ruby is far from shy: she is enthusiastic and often eager to speak her mind. She is capable of being assertive, when necessary, as she has verbally stood her ground against many people who have tried to dissuade or humiliate her, including Weiss Schnee before they became friends, Roman Torchwick, Neopolitan, Caroline Cordovin and James Ironwood. Despite her usual kindness, Ruby can also be stern with her friends and close ones when she feels it necessary, such as arguing with Qrow in Argus or with Yang in Mantle.
Ruby also has a sweet tooth, preferring five sugars in her coffee and scarfing down a large plate of cookies in "Ruby Rose". She is even seen with a plate of cookies in "Jaunedice", while her friends are eating more nutritious meals. This is shown again in "Alone Together", where Ruby rejoices and accepts coffee after learning Weiss put "blasphemous amounts of cream and sugar" in it.
In combat or dangerous situations, she is shown to be quite impulsive and battle eager, such as when she attacks a Death Stalker upon seeing it 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 in the Atlesian Paladin-290 in "Painting the Town...". After her discussion with Ozpin in "The Badge and The Burden, Pt.2", Ruby begins to take her role as leader of Team RWBY seriously.
Ruby has been shown to be ruthless at times when it comes to protecting her loved ones, such as when she nonchalantly cuts off Tyrian Callows' stinger in "Punished" after he manages to injure and poison Qrow Branwen. When Neopolitan knocks Yang over the edge of the Central Location in "Worthy", Ruby attempts to cut Neo in half using the same motion she frequently employs on Grimm. This behavior is most likely a side effect of the trauma she experienced during the Fall of Beacon.
In "Lost", Ruby further develops as a leader whenever she and her friends find themselves in trouble. This is evident when she directs the group when they are attacked on the Argus Limited and when she stands up to Qrow after he turns down Jaune's proposed idea of stealing a military airship to get to Atlas. In this, Ruby is a great source of inspiration and admiration for her team. In "Dark", Blake recounts that Ruby's determination and optimism are something that has always inspired her, and she continues to look up to her despite being older. In "Risk", Yang points out that, while Ruby's optimism and determination had occasionally been blind, it was also necessary in many situations, to provide the team with hope when they took risks. In "Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble", Weiss mentions that Ruby has always been the one to get them through the hard times.
Ruby has a tendency on not backing down from a fight no matter the odds, which while admirable, can also be detrimental. In "Punished", she refuses to listen to Qrow to stay out of his fight with Tyrian as she would only get in the way, which leads to him having to protect her and leaving him open to be poisoned by Tyrian. This flaw is highlighted in her stance against Ironwood. In "Gravity", when Ironwood declares his intent to use the Relic of Creation to raise Atlas due to Salem personally coming, Ruby refuses the plan, as doing so would leave Mantle in danger. Although she and her group prevent Ironwood from carrying out the plan, this later caused both cities to be attacked when Salem landed Monstra on the island in "Midnight".
Ruby prefers to be open and not keep secrets from her teammates and friends. Despite this, she feels it to be necessary on some occasions. In "A New Approach", she lied to Ironwood and keeps Ozpin's disappearance, how many questions left in the Relic of Knowledge, and Salem's immortality a secret from him, though she obviously felt uncomfortable in doing so. She later expresses doubt about this decision, as she feels it makes her the same as Ozpin. Eventually, after Ironwood agrees to tell the populace about the Amity project, Ruby has Oscar reveal the truth to him in hopes they can finally trust one another. However, when Ironwood decides to abandon Mantle due to Salem's impending arrival, Ruby realizes he can't be trusted to make the right choices anymore and begins steeling herself to stand by her friends instead.
As team leader, Ruby constantly retains a brave, determined and positive outlook. However, when depressed or under intense pressure, she requires the same emotional support she often provides to her friends. In Atlas, having to make difficult choices gradually begins weighing more heavily on Ruby, especially when her plans fail, or her team becomes divided. Throughout Volume 8, as her plan to call for help with Amity doesn't bear fruit, Ruby starts to express uncertainty about their next course of action. She ends up breaking down due to the worsening situation, both her and Yang's plans not working, and realizing what Salem may have possibly done to her mother after seeing the core of The Hound. With Yang's reassurance, Ruby temporarily recovers and comes up with a new plan of action. However, her resolve wavers significantly after falling into the Ever After and learning about Penny’s death.
In the Ever After, Ruby temporarily became less cheerful and grew more depressed, blaming herself for everything that went wrong in Atlas. She wasn't able to call herself a Huntress and had a hard time even picking up Crescent Rose. While she still cared for her friends and tries to find a way out of the Ever After, every little event weighed on her much more heavily than normal. In this state, she feels especially burdened by her position as a leader, to the point where, despite normally being open, she doesn't feel like she can talk about her current feelings of depression.
In "The Perils of Paper Houses", when she is expected to lend support to her team and Jaune despite being visibly troubled during and after the fight with the Jabberwalkers, she snaps at her friends for seemingly only being concerned with their personal relationships and finding a way out, while taking her support for granted. When Blake and later Little tries to comfort her, Ruby aggressively shuts them both down and enters solitude, worsening her depression. In "Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble", Ruby's mental state worsens as she is tortured by Neo's clones of her deceased friends and former allies blaming her for her past failures. This, followed by Little’s death right in front of her, causes her to momentarily lose the will to live as herself and drank the tea tainted with the Great Tree's leaf to disappear out of existence.
As she arrives at the Blacksmith's dimension, Ruby is able to think more clearly: she wishes to return to Remnant and be a hero, but still blames herself heavily for her failures. She also feels her burdens are too heavy for her to bear anymore and briefly considers starting over with Ascension to become someone better. However, after finding out that her own mother, whom she greatly idolized, wasn't the perfect hero as she thought she was, and remembering her words that she loves her just the way she is from her childhood, Ruby finally obtains closure, realizing she doesn’t need to be perfect to be a Huntress, and just needed to be herself, making the decision to Ascend as herself. After emerging from her chrysalis, she regains her confidence and will to fight, as shown in her altercation with the Curious Cat afterwards. She also regains her cheerful demeanor upon seeing Little's ascended form named Somewhat, and happily sheds tears when they call her "Huntress".
== Powers and Abilities ==
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 From Dust Till Dawn, 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 tactical plans with others in order to take down tougher foes, such as the giant Nevermore the team encountered during initiation, and later in coordinated attacks against Roman in an Atlesian Paladin-290. However, perhaps Ruby's greatest strength is her ability to give hope when it is needed most- something Ozpin described as "Something unquantifiable... a spark." She always sees the best in people, and has a knack for finding the right words in the right situation, whether when rallying her teammates, comforting demoralized or suffering allies, or trying to sway enemies to her side. While Ruby's willingness to negotiate has occasionally backfired (such as with Raven in "The More the Merrier" and Ironwood in "Gravity") she has inspired many with her words, actions and perseverance as a leader and Huntress.
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". Despite her small size, Ruby's physical strength is considerable, given how skillfully she wields the large and bulky Crescent Rose. Perhaps one of the best demonstrations of her strength was during her initiation, when she used Crescent Rose to drag a Giant Nevermore vertically up a cliff, at high speed (although she was assisted by Weiss' glyphs and Crescent Rose's recoil).
Ruby's fighting style relies heavily on her creative uses of and methods for achieving momentum, relying on a combination of her Semblance and Crescent Rose's recoil to allow her to achieve massive impact force, then speeding away to avoid counterattacks and prepare her next strike. She can also throw her opponents off by creating slipstreams and even small whirlwinds using her Semblance. At closer quarters, she will attempt to overwhelm her opponent with a barrage of lightning-quick slashes, often not allowing them time to dodge or check her attack.
Ruby also has some skills as a seamstress. According to "After the Fall", she made her original outfit herself.
Ruby's weapon of choice is Crescent Rose. Ruby is self-admittedly obsessed when it comes to weapons, which shows in her complex design and craftsmanship of her weapon, a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe which she designed herself at Signal, as well as her eye for detail when observing other people's 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. Ruby has proven to have excellent marksmanship, making a perfect headshot on a fleeing Geist in "The Next Step" and shooting down a missile in "The Lady in the Shoe".
After arriving in Atlas, Crescent Rose was upgraded, with the blade now capable of rotation, allowing Ruby to swing her weapon more freely when in cramped spaces such as caves.
Ruby's Semblance, Petal Burst (also known as Speed), allows her to dash with an inhuman speed in whatever direction she chooses, often leaving trails of rose petals in her wake. In "Best Day Ever", Ruby is shown to be capable of creating powerful tailwinds with her Semblance; if she gathers enough momentum, the resulting turbulence is capable of lifting people off the ground.
Within the episode "Ace Operatives", it was stated by Harriet Bree that Ruby's Semblance is not like other speed-type Semblances, though she does not elaborate.
It is later revealed by Penny in "Strings" that Ruby's Semblance allows her to disassemble herself at a molecular level and reassemble at a chosen location, negating her mass. With practice, she has proven able to do the same with anyone she is in contact with, similar to Ren's Semblance; she can carry at least four people along with her. This allows her to go around obstacles or through paths that she would not otherwise fit. She has also proven able to negate gravity while using her Semblance; in "The Final Word", she uses her Semblance mid-fall to circle up and around Neopolitan, attacking her from behind. However, as shown by her battle with Mercury in "PvP", if her path is blocked by an unexpected obstacle mid-flight, her Semblance can be disrupted, forcing her to stop.
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 Nikos die in "End of the Beginning", Ruby accidentally uses this power in her grief and petrifies the Wyvern. 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 injured Cinder Fall greatly, causing her to lose her left eye and arm, and making it difficult for her to speak for a period of time. Salem states that this is due to Cinder's possession of the Fall Maiden powers but does not explain why this is the case. However, when Ruby uses her powers once again in "The More the Merrier", Raven Branwen, who possesses the Spring Maiden powers, is not affected despite being in the vicinity, indicating that the Maiden powers themselves do not cause an individual to be affected by the Silver Eye. This indicates that the reason Cinder was affected was due to her usage of the Grimm, through a Grimm beetle glove and later a Shadow Hand.
In "Alone in the Woods", Ruby has managed to activate her power intentionally after Maria Calavera tells her to concentrate on her loved ones, turning a group of Apathy to dust. Through Maria's guidance, Ruby was able to petrify the Leviathan in the episode "Our Way", but the massive Grimm was able to partially destroy the stone encasing its body before it was destroyed by Caroline Cordovin.
Despite Maria's guidance, Ruby still hasn't fully mastered the activation of her powers. In "Out in the Open", Ruby attempts to activate her eyes while fighting an Alpha Megoliath but is unable to concentrate with all the chaos. However, in "The Enemy of Trust", she quickly and easily activates her Silver Eyes upon seeing Cinder.
While Ruby is exceptionally skilled in Grimm-based combat, she does not fare as well against Human or Faunus opponents. In addition, 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 and used against her, notably during the Beacon initiation when a Nevermore pinned her cape to the ground with its feather-spears. In "Lighting the Fire" Ruby is shown to be slightly improving in hand-to-hand combat under the tutelage of Professor Ozpin through Oscar Pine. She shows this further while battling Mercury in "Downfall"; when disarmed by him, she dodges his next blow and knocks him back with a headbutt.
Although less skilled in unarmed combat, Ruby can often compensate by using her wits and her surroundings to turn the tables on her opponent, if she is unarmed. She has notably defeated Neopolitan, a much more skilled melee fighter, twice in this manner. The first was atop Ironwood's flagship during the Fall of Beacon, where Ruby managed to activate Hush's parasol and blow Neo off the ship. Later, when Ruby is disarmed in "The Final Word", she tricks Neo into lunging at her, then uses her Semblance to circle behind, disarming her and knocking her off the platform in a single attack. In "With Friends Like These", when Harriet lands multiple blows on her and is about to restrain her, Ruby uses her similar Semblance (which is slower but more maneuverable than Harriet's) to outmaneuver her opponent and turn the tables on her.
Until she was guided by Maria, Ruby was using the power of her Silver Eyes in reaction to the death of a close friend or a loved one being in danger, without control on her part. In "Gravity", when Ruby experienced negative emotions after she found out about her mother's fate, she briefly lost control the power of her Silver Eyes and her head begun to hurt.
== Appearances ==
* Deadpool: Remnant
Category:Characters