Blake Belladonna

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>  | *A simple life wouldn’t be my life! My family, my friends, my culture. I belong to them, just as much as they belong to me. To give that all away wouldn’t be simplicity, it would be betrayal.*
>  **- Blake Belladonna** | ”
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## Blake Belladonna

### Occupation

Beacon Academy Student (formerly)
Licensed Grimm Huntress

### Factions

White Fang (formerly)
Ruby's Group
Task Force Argo

### Family

* Kali Belladonna (Mother)
* Ghira Belladonna (Father)

### People

* Ruby Rose (teammate)
* Weiss Schnee (teammate)
* Yang Xiao Long (teammate & girlfriend)
* Alani Kelso (ally)
* Ashley "Sixgill" Brevis (archenemy)

### Nicknames

* Kitty
* My Darling
* The Emo One

### Weapons Used

Gambol Shroud (Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe)
Hookblade (Wrist Blade Variant)

**Blake Belladonna** is one of the members of Team *RWBY*. She is a Huntress, having been trained at the now-defunct Beacon Academy. Her weapon of choice is a Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe (VBCS) named Gambol Shroud.

Formerly a member of the Faunus terrorist group, the White Fang alongside Adam Taurus, her partner and mentor in the organization. She left the organization, Blake enrolled at the now-defunct Beacon Academy, where she became a member of Team RWBY alongside Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long.

She is also the daughter of Ghira Belladonna, the current chieftain of Menagerie and his wife Kali Belladonna.

She was dropped into the void under the Central Location by Cinder Fall, while trying to save Ruby from the same fate, later finding herself in the Ever After. She and her Team and managed to escape Ever After, and encountered the mysterious Huntsman Farren Scriver, who informs them that the last two remaining relics are located within Earth and have sent them there to retrieve the relics so that they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands.

## History

Born in Menagerie, an island outside of the Four Kingdom of Remnant that resembled places like Hawaii, Australia, and the Caribbean.

Blake was practically "born into" the White Fang organization. As in early in her life, she was involved in the organization's protests against the unfair and discriminatory treatment of Faunus. It is clear that she continued as an active supporter of the organization despite its turn to militancy approximately five years before she enrolled at Beacon Academy.

Despite her later-expressed misgivings at the organization trying to gain respect through fear, she fought alongside other members of the organization and was clearly trained to become a proficient guerrilla fighter.

On the night before the train heist, Blake approaches Adam after he turns down a deal with Cinder Fall.

### Leaving the White Fang

Blake is first seen assisting Adam Taurus in the raiding of a cargo train owned by the Schnee Dust Company, carrying shipments of Dust.

During the raid, Blake helps Adam fight off a large group of Atlesian Knight-130s in order to reach the cargo hold and find what Adam was looking for. However, upon discovering Adam's plans to blow the train up, along with the crew, Blake starts to have doubts.

They are then attacked by a Spider Droid and forced outside, where Blake distracts it long enough for Adam to charge an attack and destroy it. When he turns around, Blake decides to sever their connection and the train car, saying goodbye as the train pulls away without Adam.

Blake later tells Sun: "I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence. Instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress."

### First Day at Beacon Academy

Blake is present on the first day at Beacon Academy, reading a book in the landing area. She is seen to verbally attack Weiss Schnee in a cool manner, using the Schnee Dust Company's bad reputation as a base for her insults. After Weiss leaves the area, Ruby Rose comments on the encounter, only to turn around and find that Blake has already left.

After all the students are dismissed and sent to bed, Ruby and Yang Xiao Long spot Blake in a corner, reading a book. Ruby, forced by Yang to talk to her and make friends, is dragged over to where Blake is. Though the conversation is awkward at first, Ruby and Blake start to warm up to each other and seem to become distant friends; however, Weiss interrupts the conversation and causes an argument once more.

Knowing she will not be able to continue her book, Blake blows out the candles beside her.

*Coming Soon*

## Personality

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>  | *All my life, I fought for what I thought was right. I had a partner named Adam. More of a mentor, actually. He always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place but, of course, his idea of a perfect future turned out to be not perfect for everyone. I joined the Academy because I knew Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the noblest warriors in the world, always fighting for good, but I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy, what will I—? How can I undo so many years of hate?*
>  **- Blake wonders if she can undo all the hatred towards the Faunus, in Remnant.** | ”
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Blake displays a cool, reserved and serious personality most of the time but does not lack a humorous side, which is usually in the form of dry wit and sarcasm. Blake is a righteous person, respecting other people's lives regardless of whether they are Faunus or not. She strongly despises those who judge and discriminate based on racial prejudice. Blake is outspoken, going so far as to indirectly insult the Schnee Dust Company in front of its heiress and defend Faunus of any kind. Despite her generally quiet demeanor, she can be surprisingly charismatic, as when she rallied the Faunus to defend Mistral against the White Fang after the attack on her home.

Blake is shown to be an introvert. Although she reads books to distance herself from the discussion at hand, as the series continues, she is shown to be more facetious and friendly. Blake appears most conversant when discussing the history and plight of her people.

As a Faunus, Blake has faced discrimination in the past and wears a bow when around Humans in order to be treated for her character and not her species. However, despite having no hate for Humans, she has seen how the real world works and wonders how she can undo so many years of hate and pain. After the Fall of Beacon, Blake discards her bow and does not cover her ears again, even around the presence of Humans, showing that she is no longer afraid to be seen as a Faunus.

Blake's past negatively influenced her personality, leading to moodiness, stubbornness, sleep deprivation and trust issues at times. She also has self-loathing issues, viewing herself as a criminal hiding in plain sight because of her past with the White Fang until her teammates convinced her that they still trusted and cared for her despite her being a Faunus and a former member of the White Fang. She also viewed herself as a coward who ran from her problems, as her Semblance was a prospect of her tendency to avoid conflict. She had even felt unworthy of her parents' love after leaving them behind for the White Fang's cause. However, her strong sense of righteousness led her to strongly disagree with the White Fang's increasing level of violence and hatred towards Humans, especially Adam's. It was thanks to her realization of seeing how spiteful and uncaring Adam was for Human lives she left the group and finally decided to fight back after discovering Adam was planning to overthrow Sienna Khan and gain total control over the White Fang.

Thanks to her parents' unconditional love and Sun Wukong's support of her, Blake began to grow out of her self-loathing issues and mistrust for others, with Sun persuading her to let her friends help her as much as she believes she is helping them. She uses this in turn to persuade Ilia Amitola to leave the White Fang and to confront Adam with others' help and to reunite with her teammates at Haven.

Due to her time in the White Fang, Blake holds a bias against Atlas and its military as a whole. This is most noticeable regarding her double standard in keeping secrets. In "A New Approach", she goes along with Ruby's decision to lie to James Ironwood and keep Ozpin's disappearance, how many questions left in the Relic of Knowledge, and Salem's immortality a secret. Yet in "Worst Case Scenario", she and Yang have no trouble spilling information on the Amity Communications Tower to Robyn Hill despite Ironwood's insistence on keeping it secret, due to the former sympathizing with her nature as a vigilante. These acts are one of the reasons why Ironwood eventually loses trust in them.

Her Faunus traits also seem to give her other aspects of a cat, such as climbing up to Ruby's bed to stay away from Ruby and Yang's pet dog, Zwei. Another time, she is distracted by and instinctively decides to follow a laser pointer light to a waiting Yang in "Burning the Candle". She also has a great love for tuna, as shown in "Round One" where she drools over a bowl of noodles topped with tuna.

In “A Cat Most Curious“, when Blake’s past self offers Blake an opportunity of changing her form to either a human or a cat in order to fit in and not being discriminated, Blake declines her offer as she is done hiding for who she is and she is proud to be a Faunus. It shows on much Blake has changed and accept her status as a Faunus as she has many people who treated her equally.

## Powers and Abilities

Blake shows high agility, speed, and endurance, as shown when fighting multiple enemies yet maintaining motion and energy without fatigue. She also exhibits a high level of skill when handling Gambol Shroud. She can slash away at opponents with startling speed and deflect incoming machine-gun fire using her blade.

Blake also possesses remarkable reflexes, as she is able to dodge a nearly point-blank strike from Adam by using her Semblance. She is also capable of jumping large distances, leaping from building to building and even on moving cars, as seen in "Painting the Town...". Her fighting style takes advantage of her agility and reflexes, evading opponents' strikes until she is in the best position for a counter-blow.

As a Faunus, Blake possesses the ability of night vision, granting her the ability to see proficiently in the dark, as is shown after shooting out the power during the White Fang Faction Meeting, using the dark as a means for her and Sun to escape from Roman Torchwick and the White Fang.

Blake has somewhat enhanced hearing as well, having more than one set of ears. During her battle with Adam, she hears Yang and Jason's approach before Adam does, as indicated by her twitching cat ears.

### Weapon

*Main Article: Gambol Shroud*

Blake's weapon of choice is **Gambol Shroud**, a sword that has three forms. When sheathed, the weapon is able to slice opponents in two with its cleaver-like cover. However, when unsheathed, Blake is able to use both a sword and sheath in tandem against her opponents. It can also transform into a gun. Gambol Shroud was damaged in combat against Adam; the blade being cut horizontally in half by Wilt, and later received an upgrade in Atlas. Using the black ribbon that extends off the weapon's grip, Blake can convert Gambol Shroud into a *kusarigama*, a grappling hook to swing herself or her friends, or ensnare or tangle her opponents. During the evacuation of Atlas Gambol Shroud's ribbon is burned in two by Cinder; it is briefly taken up by Weiss, but is subsequently lost to the Void when the Evacuation Central Location dissolves, but she was able to recover her weapon in Ever After.

#### Hookblade

*Main Article: Wrist Blade*

Given to her by Jason Horne after the Battle of Haven Academy, Blake utilizes the Hookblade variant of the Wrist Blade, developed by Jason. Of which has used the "hook and run" and "hook and throw" techniques taught to her by Jason.

### Semblance

*Main Article: Shadow*

Blake's Semblance, **Shadow**, allows her to create shadow-clones of herself. These clones push her in the direction of her choosing and can be used to trick and disorient opponents.

Blake can use Dust to give her clones additional abilities. Dust allows the clones to copy an element, with her afterimages becoming completely solid or even completely intangible depending on the chosen form of Dust. Fire Dust allows her to create fiery clones that explode on contact, Ice Dust allows her to create solid ice copies of herself (which opponents can get their weapons stuck in), Earth Dust allows her to create a clone of solid stone, and Lightning Dust zips her to another location quickly.

### Weaknesses

Although Blake does not appear to have many physical weaknesses, her Gambol Shroud does in its *kusarigama* form. If she is using it to grapple and leap around, one can knock it out of its intentional trajectory to make her lose momentum. One can even cut its ribbon and force Blake to fall whilst she is swinging.

Some of her Dust clones through her Semblance can also be used against her, as seen when she was knocked aside by her own Ice Dust clone in a fight against a Cenitaur grimm.

## Trivia

### Allusion

Blake alludes to both Belle and the Beast from *Beauty and the Beast* by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve.
This allusion has had the following influences on the character and the show:

* Blake loves to read, much like Disney's version of Belle.
* In the episode "The Shining Beacon, Pt.2", Blake is seen to own a candelabra, which references Lumière, the living candelabra from the Disney adaptation. According to Miles Luna, this was part of an attempt to surround her with lots of "Belle-related items".
* Red Like Roses has the lyric "Black the Beast descends from shadows."
* Like The Beast, Blake has animal traits and is ostracized for them
* Gambol Shroud's asymmetrical dual wield form is inspired by her duality of being both Belle and The Beast.

### Color Naming Rule

* Blake is a variant of "black" from Middle English. Belladonna means "fair lady" or "beautiful woman" in Italian, and it is also the name of a toxic plant commonly known as deadly nightshade. The plant commonly bears poisonous black berries, which lends to Blake's black color theme. It also commonly bears purple bell-shaped flowers, which lends to her Aura color.
	+ Blake's name and love of literature may be a coincidental reference to the noted English poet William Blake.