Qrow Branwen

**Qrow Branwen** (pronounced "*Crow*") is the 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 known as 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.

## Statistics

* **Name**: Qrow Branwen
* **Origin**: RWBY
* **Gender**: Male
* **Age**: 32
* **Birthday**: November 29
* **Classification**: Human
* **Blood Type**: AB
* **Height**: 185.4 cm (6'1")
* **Weight**: 68 kg (149 lbs)
* **Skin Color**: Light
* **Eye Color**: Red
* **Hair Color**: Black
* **Relatives**: Raven Branwen (Older twin sister), Taiyang Xiao Long (Brother-in-law), Yang Xiao Long (Niece), Ruby Rose (Honorary Niece)
* **Alignment**: Good
* **Status**: Active
* **Class**: **SS-Class**
* **Notable Attacks/Techniques**: Crow Hunter, Shotgun Shot, Dark Talon, Reaper's Rage
* **Voice Actor**: Hiroaki Hirata, Taishi Murata (young)

## Appearance

Qrow is tall and well-built. He has graying black, spiky hair, dull red eyes, and slight stubble along his jawline. With a red, tattered cloak, he wears a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and black dress shoes.

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.

## Personality

Qrow is a rude, blunt, cynical, sometimes crass, yet cool-headed and nonchalant individual. It's acknowledged that he is an alcoholic as Glynda Goodwitch states in that "He's always drunk!". He openly criticizes the Atlas military for occupying Vale and mistreating Ozpin during the Vytal Festival. Qrow's dislike of Atlas is 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 taunts Winter into attacking him.

His mischievousness is consistent, for he shows that he is immature enough to be willing to distract Yang with a sexual quip in order to claim victory over her when playing a video game. 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 facade, however, belies the demeanor of a veteran Huntsman. While watching the Vytal Festival Tournament, he openly expresses displeasure and lack of approval while observing the matches, 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 the much safer displays of strength on the broadcast seem tame and benign in comparison.

Qrow is shown to be tender at heart despite his rough demeanor and cares for both his nieces dearly. He is also very self-conscious about his Semblance to the point self-loathing, aware of its possible impact on people around him, he makes a point to keep his distance from those he cares about. He saved Yang and Ruby from being killed by 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 also shown that he is very close to his nieces and plays the part of the childish uncle, ruffling Ruby's hair when he sees her again, playing video games with his nieces and not being above distracting them to claim victories.

He is also very cautious, warning Ruby and Yang to not let their past near-victories against Roman Torchwick and the White Fang go to their heads. Although cautious with them, 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 is also very aware of Yang's desire to find her mother, Raven, making an unsuccessful effort to conceal her face when he shows his nieces the Team STRQ picture, and quickly putting it away when he notices Yang's fixation on her.

It is shown that unlike his sister, Qrow despises killing and is upset with Raven for not contacting Yang, especially after she knew her daughter had lost her arm. He values family and finds his sister's concept of it to be skewed, his value for family is strong to the point he suggested that Raven return to help in the fight against Salem, implying he still cared for her, despite everything she had done. However, this changes after Qrow found out Raven joined forces with Cinder and set a trap for him and the rest, claiming that he no longer sees her as family anymore.

Despite Qrow general dislike of authority and rules, he seems extremely loyal to Ozpin and places great trust in him. He is shown to disregard those whom he perceives as betraying him and in "Rest and Resolutions", Qrow quickly defends Ozpin from Yang's accusations. He holds religion in doubt, but he takes Ozpin's word on the previous existence of the brother gods and their Relics.

Raven reveals 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 Lionheart had the Mistral Huntsmen killed, he expressed pure disgust and anger towards his former ally, showing how far Qrow has come since his youth.

## Abilities and Equipment

**Harbinger**: Harbinger is Qrow Branwen's signature weapon. It is a large-bladed weapon that can take on four forms total; a compact storage mode, a single-edged greatsword, a shotgun, and a scythe. In its greatsword form, the barrels of the shotgun are situated on either side of the main blade, although it is unknown whether they are functional in this state. Harbinger's ranged mode, in which the blade folds forwards, makes the shotgun barrels more prominent, with the rounds having a buckshot-like spread. Qrow can also use this mode at close range by semi-converting his weapon into its scythe form. In its scythe form, the shotgun barrels are present in the middle of the head of the scythe, and the shotguns can rotate independently of the rest of the hilt and of each other.

**Semblance: Misfortune**: Qrow's Semblance brings misfortune wherever he goes, and unlike most Semblances, his is almost constantly active, with random spikes leading to incidents ranging from things as minor as small as a glass being knocked onto the floor to things as significant as a blocked attack chopping off the corner of a building. His Semblance can come to his advantage in a fight, such as when it caused Tyrian to fall through the roof of a building. His Semblance does not discriminate on who it affects, which causes him to keep his distance from the people he cares about. He can also choose to amplify his Semblance when he wishes.

**Shapeshifting**: Granted to him by Ozpin's magical abilities, Qrow has the ability to transform into a crow at will and thus use it to fly long distances and hide in plain sight.

**Aura**: An ability that all those with a soul can use, at least with enough practice. Because Aura is the manifestation of the soul, it can appear very differently depending on who is using it. For example, the color of Aura is different from person to person. Also, a person with a strong Aura may radiate bright colors when using it. It is mentioned that anything with a soul has an Aura, but Humans and Faunus seem to be the only beings able to weaponize it for their own protection. Skilled users of Aura can create their own barriers or even increase their own abilities in some way. Weapons and armor can also act as a conduit for Aura, allowing for an even wider range of offensive and defensive capabilities. It has been shown that Aura strength degrades with continual use. This limits the applications of Aura in combat as, with time or heavy use, a person's Aura will decay to the point where they are left weakened or even incapacitated.

**Master Weapons Specialist**:

* **Master Swordsman**:
* **Master Scythe Specialist**:
* **Expert Marksman**:

**Hand-to-Hand Combatant**:

**Enhanced Strength**:

**Enhanced Speed & Reflexes**:

**Enhanced Durability**:

**Immense Endurance**:

**Keen Intellect**:

### Techniques

**Crow Hunter**: Qrow jump slashes his opponent with the scythe function of Harbinger.

**Shotgun Shot**: Using the shotgun mode of Harbinger, Qrow fires a singe shot at his opponent.

**Dark Talon**: Qrow slashes the sword function of Harbinger in a vertical manner, using his Semblance to distort the ground that sends shockwaves at the opponent.

**Reaper's Rage**: Qrow delivers a deadly combo attack from Harbinger's sword and scythe function before throwing it behind the opponent and giving a half-effort punch that stumbles the opponent and trip over the handle once Qrow pulls it out.

## Weaknesses

He's sometimes intoxicated when he fights.

Continual damage to his Aura will cause it to decay to the point where he can be left open to more significant damage.

His semblance can affect allies without his consent.

Aura's durability is cumulative; it will deplete with each attack he takes and can be brought down by characters of similar strength.

Semblances drain aura by a small amount and without aura they cannot be used until the user's aura is recharged (Though in Qrow's case this only applies to him actively focusing his Semblance as it is normally continually passively active).