Hazel Rainart

**Hazel Rainart** (ヘイゼル・レイナート, *Heizeru Reināto*), is a fictional character and antagonist in *RWBY* series. He is an associate of Salem and part of her inner circle.

"*Don’t let such a small obstacle block your path.*"

—Hazel Rainart, giving Oscar Pine some advice.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: William Orendorff (English), Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (China), Not Known (Hong Kong), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese)

### Appearance

Hazel is a tall and muscular middle-aged man, shown towering over Adam Taurus who stands 6'4". He has short brown hair, a beard and hazel eyes.

He wears a two-tone olive green coat over a black 3/4 sleeve shirt, and a large belt. His pants are black, with a pouch strapped to each pants leg, and his boots are brown with white fronts. His hairy arms appear to have some scars near the edges of his sleeves.

* Hair Color: Dark Brown
* Skin Color: Tanned white
* Eye Color: Hazel
* Age: Not Known
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: Not Known
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

"*You don’t like me. You have no reason to like me. But you don’t have to like me to get the results you want.*"

—Hazel Rainart, to Sienna Khan.
Hazel has a calm composure compared to the others of Salem's circle. He is reserved and rarely speaks. However, he still criticizes Cinder for her defeat. He has a low tolerance for acceptance of failure, and he does not let minor obstacles get in his way or stand by convention when there is a goal to be accomplished.

During the meeting with Sienna Khan, Hazel is courteous toward her, showing he has a respectful nature. However, he is not intimidated by Sienna's threats, showing a distinct level of self-confidence.

Despite his low tolerance for failure, Hazel is not cruel or unsympathetic. His reaction to Sienna's murder by Adam Taurus is a saddened look and verbal expression of both his frustration at Adam's lack of communication prior to the act and disappointment at how unnecessary the death was. This shows that, despite his allegiance to Salem, he has a certain degree of empathy and morality. Unlike his psychotic colleague, Tyrian Callows, Hazel takes no pleasure in casual slaughter, indicating there must be a higher purpose in violence for him to engage in it.

However, this changes when he encounters Ozpin. When he does, Hazel becomes filled with rage and killing intent. He holds Ozpin responsible for the death of his sister Gretchen Rainart and is determined to kill every reincarnation of him. This shows that despite his typical reluctance to fight, he is quite capable of vengeance and terrifying bouts of rage. His rage seems to be exclusively for Ozpin; he retains his calm demeanor when addressing Adam Taurus in the midst of fighting Ozpin and students in Haven Academy.

## Relationships

### Family

* Gretchen Rainart (Younger Sister; Deceased)

## Powers and Abilities

Hazel is an incredibly strong unarmed fighter that is able to fight off multiple trained huntsman at once. When Hazel deems the situation appropriate, he is able to infuse himself with raw Dust crystals. After Hazel infuses himself, the veins in his arms glow, his muscles grow, his eyes shine, his voice becomes distorted and he is able to discharge Dust energy from his entire body to enhance his attacks. Ozpin remarks that he is not to be taken lightly.

He has been shown using two types of Dust - Lightning and Fire. He can even use more than one Dust type at a time to further increase his strength. Whenever he punches the ground or another person, there is a large amount of raw Dust energy surrounding the area he strikes, dealing extra damage. When he punched Qrow Branwen and held Nora Valkyrie, he discharged enough energy for their skeleton to be temporarily seen by the naked eye. Should he need to fight enemies at range, Hazel is also capable of using the infused dust to fire blasts of raw electrical energy or fire from his arms. He can also fire blasts of both energies combined, as he did to destroy Weiss Schnee's Queen Lancer.

Because of his use of dust, the limits to his strength are currently unknown, but without it he has shown to possess enough strength to casualy dent mechanical machines with an offhanded hammer fist. In addition, he can easily lift and throw multiple trained and armed huntsman, such as Nora and Leo, indicating that his use of dust is not a substitute to his strength, but a supplement.

His most notable attribute however, is his endurance. He was shown blocking strikes from Ren and Nora's weapons with his bare hands, the latter also commenting on the abnormally high rate that Hazel recharges his Aura. Qrow also took note of Hazel's incredible durability, referring to him as "sheer willpower". All these factors, when combined with his Semblance, allows Hazel to endure many direct hits without showing any signs of fatigue or Aura loss.

### Semblance

Hazel's Semblance renders him insensitive to pain, allowing him to ignore injury and inject vast amounts of Dust into his body without any immediate consequence. However, while this ability is a great asset, it does rob Hazel of some of his awareness of peril and requires to activate it. He does not notice Nora's struggle against him as her Semblance allows her to amplify her strength by absorbing Hazel's electrical energy, thus allowing her to take control of the battle and free herself from his grasp. This shows that without the context of pain, Hazel can be exploited in a fight.

## History

### Past

Hazel is one of Salem's associates, however most of his early life and how he came to join the group are unknown.

However he seems to have a personal history with Ozpin, and judging by his comment "We've once fought with their kind before" in "*The Next Step*", he may have battled against Silver-Eyed Warriors in the past.

In "*Vault of the Spring Maiden*", it is revealed that Hazel's sister, Gretchen Rainart, died during a training mission when she joined Beacon Academy against his wishes to become a Huntress. As a result, Hazel blamed Ozpin for his sister's death.

## Synopsis

### *RWBY*

#### Meeting with Salem

After the fall of Beacon, Hazel attends a meeting with Salem and the rest of her associates at her lair. He questions how a "novice" like Ruby Rose was able to defeat Cinder Fall, recalling that they have battled with her kind before. Salem then instructs him to meet with the White Fang leader, Sienna Khan, to ensure that they fall into line.

### In Mistral

Once in Mistral, Hazel helps Oscar Pine get a ticket from a ticket machine at a train station by hitting the top and forcing one out. He tells the boy not to let something as small as that hold him back.

Arriving at the White Fang headquarters, Hazel appears before Sienna Khan, stands his ground against her threats and is prepared to convince her to cooperate with Salem. To his surprise, however, Adam murders Sienna after enacting a coup to supplant her as High Leader. As Sienna’s corpse is taken away, Hazel confronts Adam about his actions, angry at not knowing anything about his plans.

### Attack on Haven

Hazel then arrives with the White Fang at Haven Academy on the night of the attack. As the White Fang set up for the attack, Hazel enters the building and seals the door shut, preventing any entry or exit. While he seems reluctant to fight, he obliges as Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie challenge him. However their battle is cut short when Cinder impales Weiss Schnee.

After Leonardo is knocked into Hazel, he berates the headmaster over for Oscar humiliating him. However, once he learns the boy is actually Ozpin, he drops Leonardo and completely loses his composure, recognizing the cane in Oscar's hand. Vowing to kill Ozpin repeatedly, Hazel jabs shards of Lightning Dust into his arms and attacks, intent on avenging his sister who he proclaims was killed by Ozpin. Though Oscar tries reasoning with him, Hazel refuses to yield and soon finds himself on the defensive when Ozpin takes control. Qrow Branwen tries to intervene, but Hazel sends him flying with a lightning-enhanced punch. As he easily overpowers Ozpin, Qrow and Lie, he calls Ozpin a monster. But when Nora joins the battle, Hazel overpowers her at first, but his new opponent soon turns the tables on him and sends him through the wall and outside the Grand Hall. Rising to his feet, he augments his strength with Fire Dust crystals. When Blake Belladonna arrives with the Faunus of Menagerie and the Mistral police and foils Adam's end of the mission, Hazel calmly informs him to resolve the situation himself. As he watches the situation outside continue to deteriorate, he is suddenly stabbed by the stinger of Weiss' Queen Lancer and pulled back inside.

As the battle resumes, Hazel destroys Weiss' Lancer with a fire and lightning projectile. But then he is drop-kicked by Blake, and he later roars in rage after Leonardo flees the battle. Hazel then fights with Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai against Ruby, Weiss and Blake, but they are eventually worn out and on the losing side. When Yang Xiao Long emerges from the vault with the Relic of Knowledge in hand, Hazel growls in anger, realizing Cinder has failed and they have truly lost. After Emerald breaks down and unleashes a powerful hallucination of Salem on the heroes, Hazel and Mercury make their escape down a mountain path, the former carrying the unconscious Emerald.

## Battles

### Canon

* Hazel vs. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie (Interrupted)
* Hazel vs. Oscar Pine and Qrow Branwen (Continued)
* Hazel Rainart and Leonardo Lionheart Hazel and Lionheart vs.  Ozpin, Qrow Branwen and Lie Ren (Interrupted)
* Hazel Rainart vs. Nora Valkyrie (Lost)
* Hazel Rainart, Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black vs. Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Blake Belladonna (Retreated)

## Notes & Trivia

* Hazel can refer to a color, usually in relation to eyes. Hazel eyes often appear to shift in color from a brown/gold to a green. Hazel is also genus of nut-bearing trees and shrubs.
* Rainart is a name of Old German origin and can translate as either "Brave Counsel" or "Strong Judgement".
* Hazel alludes to Hansel from *Hansel & Gretel*.