Qrow Branwen

### Likes

Alcohol, video games, spending time with his nieces, the color black, adventure, exploration, causing mischief, acceptance, his family and friends, swimming, dancing, ice cream

### Dislikes

Being alone, his bad luck, isolation, betrayals, losing his loved ones, lies, rejections, authority, rules

## Professional Status

### Team

**STRQ*** Summer Rose †
* Taiyang Xiao Long
* Raven Branwen

### Powers and abilities

Misfortune
Swordsmanship
Hand to Hand Combatant
Bird Transformation

## Relationships

### Other relatives

Yang Xiao Long (Biological Niece)
Ruby Rose (Honorary Niece)
Taiyang Xiao Long (Brother-in-Law)

### Partner(s)

Leon Wilson (Fiance)
Clover Ebi (Boyfriend)

## Voice Actors

### English

Jason Liebrecht

**Qrow Branwen** (クロウ・ブランウェン, *Kurō Buranwen*), pronounced "**Crow**", is one of the main characters of the series. He is the younger twin brother of Raven Branwen, biological uncle of Yang Xiao Long and honorary uncle of Ruby Rose. Qrow's weapon of choice is a scythe called Harbinger.

He is a former member of the Branwen Tribe as well as a former teacher at Signal Academy. In his youth, Qrow attended Beacon Academy with his sister, and together they were on a team with Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long, known as Team STRQ.

Qrow is also involved with a secret brotherhood led by Ozpin, whose purpose is to protect Remnant and is privy to knowledge kept secret from most of the world.

After Summer Rose's supposed death, he is the current leader of Team STRQ.

## Description

### Appearance

Qrow is a handsome man with graying black, spiky hair, faded red eyes, and slight stubble along his jawline. Along with a red, tattered cloak, he wears a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants and black dress shoes. In an old picture of him with his former team, Qrow looked exactly the same but lacked stubble.

He also wears a ring on his right index finger, two other rings on his right ring finger and a necklace with a crooked cross-shaped pendant.

Qrow's bangs are down most of the time, but he sometimes pushes his hair back when fighting. In addition, his hair is made to look like it is composed entirely of feathers.

He wears a dark gray collar shirt with a black vest that has cross-shaped buttons, and a white v-neck shirt underneath, dark gray dress pants and black dress shoes. His old rings are replaced with black ones worn in the same place as his previous rings were.

The floral pattern on his sleeves resemble his emblem.

#### Corvid Form

As a corvid, Qrow has black feathers, red eyes and a feathery crest on the top of his head. Unlike his sister, he transforms into a crow rather than a raven (befitting their names), as indicated by his call; whereas Raven's call is a deeper *croak*, Qrow's is a higher-pitched, harsh *caw*.

### Personality

Qrow is a seemingly rude, blunt, cynical, sometimes crass, yet cool-headed and nonchalant individual, who appears at first glance to be somewhat immature, insensitive and stand-offish, but actually has a heart of gold.

He is an alcoholic, as Glynda Goodwitch notes "he's always drunk!" and is usually seen taking swigs from his hip flask, often at inappropriate times such as in front of children or during important strategic meetings. It's also clear that he cannot handle leadership without relying on alcohol as seen during his travels with Team RNJR, following the Fall of Beacon. Qrow has a habit of giving people nicknames, as he refers to Ruby as "Pipsqueak", but his preferred nickname for her is "Kiddo". Other examples include "Firecracker" for Yang, "Oz" for Ozpin, "Jimmy" for Ironwood and "Ice Queen" for Winter Schnee.

He dislikes Atlas and openly criticized their military for occupying Vale and mistreating Ozpin during the Vytal Festival. Qrow's dislike of Atlas was brazen enough for him to immediately get into a brawl with Winter Schnee upon encountering her and personal enough for him to back down at the last second just for the chance to humiliate Winter in front of James Ironwood. He also shows a level of cockiness when he baits Winter into attacking him. He also has a mercurial attitude towards his age: disgusted at the notion of being called old by his nieces, but willing to use it as an excuse to leave uncomfortable conversations.

This childish and maverick facade, however, belies the demeanor of a veteran Huntsman. While watching Vytal Festival Tournament matches, he openly expresses displeasure and lack of approval, even as far as calling one a mess. He hinted to his nieces that his time out in the field had hardened him, which made them much safer displays of strength on the broadcast seem tame and benign in comparison. He is very cautious because of that, warning Ruby and Yang to not let their past near-victories against Roman Torchwick and the White Fang go to their heads. Regardless, he has faith in his nieces' potential as Huntresses, encouraging them to continue learning throughout their time at Beacon, saying they will go far after graduating. He also tries to help raise Yang's morale after her disqualification and proposes to help her find her mother though he warns her that Raven is not a kind person and is a dangerous woman with a worldview that he does not share.

Qrow is shown to be tender at heart despite his rough demeanor and cares for both of his nieces dearly. He saved Yang and Ruby from Grimm when they were very young and later took Ruby under his wing and trained her in scythe-wielding, allowing her to pursue her dreams as a Huntress. "It's Brawl in the Family" and "Lessons Learned" also show that he has remained very close to his nieces and plays the part of the childish uncle. In "Family", it is shown that unlike his sister, Qrow despises killing and is upset with Raven for not contacting Yang, especially after she learned her daughter had lost her arm. While both Qrow and Raven attended Beacon to learn how to kill Huntsmen, Qrow's disgust and anger toward Leonardo Lionheart shows how far he has come. His value for family is strong to the point he suggests that Raven return to help in the fight against Salem, implying he still cared for her despite everything she had done. However, this changes In "The More the Merrier", as after Qrow finds out Raven joined forces with Cinder Fall and set a trap for him, his nieces and their friends, he claims that he no longer sees her as family. However, he still asks for Raven's whereabouts after the battle showing that he may still care for her. Qrow also agrees to hide Lionheart's cowardice and betrayal from Ironwood for the time being, as well as agreeing to cover up Lionheart's death so that the people of Mistral believe he died a hero.

He is also very self-conscious about his Semblance to the point self-loathing, aware of its possible impact on the people around him, he makes a point to keep his distance from those he cares about. Qrow regards his life as being cursed due to his misfortune Semblance. Seeing himself as a burden to friends and family because of the bad luck he brings to everyone around him, he tries to spend most of his time living and working alone.

He does not hold back his opinions, he berates Ironwood for militarizing Vale, undermining Ozpin and inciting fear in the population, which empowers the Grimm. He admonishes his nieces for thinking they're capable of putting a stop to all crime in Vale and tells them they were not thinking like true Huntresses. When Ozpin tells Pyrrha Nikos why he needs her help and asks her to become a Maiden, Qrow is the only one who bluntly tells her just how bad the consequences could be for her should she agree. When Ruby tries to reassure Oscar Pine that he's his own person and not just another life to Ozpin, Qrow bitterly remarks "Don't lie to him, Ruby. We're better than that."

Despite Qrow's general dislike of authority and rules, he is extremely loyal to and trusting of Ozpin at first. He holds religion in doubt, but he takes Ozpin's word on the existence of the The Gods and their Relics. However, when Ozpin's past is revealed, Qrow feels betrayed and worthless. He turns his back on Ozpin, immediately having lost all faith in him, and lashes out both physically and verbally, deeming meeting him "the worst luck of his life".

By "Lost", Qrow falls into a depressive state, and his alcoholism worsens. He refuses to talk with anyone about his problems and resorts to drinking to numb his pain. It is not until Ruby stands up to him that Qrow starts to snap out of his depression, even making efforts to drink less. He also shows surprise and pride in Ruby's growing maturity and leadership skills. Qrow mentions to Clover Ebi in "Sparks" that he has given up alcohol and in "Cordially Invited" he turns down a drink when offered.

In "Known by its Song", Raven stated that she and Qrow attended Beacon to learn how to kill Huntsmen, implying that he once shared her brutal nature in the past. By comparison, when Qrow realized that Leonardo had the Mistral Huntsmen killed, he expressed pure disgust and anger towards his former ally, showing how far Qrow has come since his youth, fully embracing the responsibilities of a Huntsman and developing a strong sense of right and wrong.

Although he has made strides to better himself, Qrow nonetheless holds a double standard regarding secrets when it comes to his family. In "A New Approach", he goes along with Ruby's decision to lie to Ironwood and keep Ozpin's disappearance, how many questions left in the Relic of Knowledge, and Salem's immortality a secret from him, despite the fact that it was this decision that made Qrow turn on Ozpin in the first place. Later in "Pomp and Circumstance", when Ruby asks him if she is just like Ozpin, Qrow replies no and states that the difference between the two is that she is making sure they prove themselves first, which is the exact same thing that Ozpin did before revealing his secrets to others.

After Qrow was arrested following Clover's death by Tyrian Callows, he fell into depression once again and blamed himself, holding on to Clover's four-leaf pin to remember him by. While in prison, he bonded with Robyn Hill, as they were both shunned due to their Semblances.

Once Qrow and Robyn escaped from prison and realized that Ironwood was willing to destroy Mantle to get what he wanted, Qrow began thinking of killing Ironwood to stop him. Robyn however managed to talk him out of it, before they encountered Winter Schnee and Marrow Amin and came up with a plan to defeat Ironwood and evacuate both Atlas and Mantle.

## Etymology

* Qrow is pronounced like Crow, a black bird.
* *Branwen* is Welsh, meaning "blessed white raven/crow", which corresponds to his first name, and implies a third influence on his character, Branwen the Blessed from Welsh Mythology.

## Trivia

* Qrow alludes to Munin from Norse mythology, as well as the Scarecrow.
* The Branwen Tribe alludes to Branwen the Blessed from Norse mythology.
* According to Kerry Shawcross, Qrow was originally planned to first appear in the first episode of the series before it was pushed back to the second episode of Volume 3 instead.
* Qrow was first seen in "Burning the Candle", not in a rendered model, but only as stylized artwork, and was first mentioned in "Ruby Rose".
* Qrow's Huntsman license number is ?6734-67530-00458.