James Ironwood

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 Alignment | Lawful Neutral

**General James Ironwood** was a supporting character-turned-antagonist in the animated webseries *RWBY*. He was the headmaster of Atlas Academy, a General in the Atlesian military, and a holder of two seats on the Atlesian Council.

## Background

James Ironwood became associated with Ozpin and his group, learning the existence of Salem and her control over the Grimm, as well as the many secrets of Remnant, including the existence of the Relics and the Maidens. Ironwood eventually served a dual role for Ozpin by becoming the general of the Atlas Military and the headmaster of Atlas Academy.

Prior to the Vytal Festival, Ironwood arrived in Vale with his military forces and several students from Atlas in preparation for the Grimm, which put him at odds with Ozpin immediately. After Roman Torchwick's attack on Vale, Ironwood was put in charge of security for the tournament by the council. But in the Battle of Beacon, Ironwood was unable for use his forces to fight off the Grimm, as they were either destroyed or hacked. In the aftermath of the Fall of Beacon, Ironwood returned to Atlas to continue his duties as General and Headmaster of Atlas.

Ironwood planned to restore global communications by turning Amity Colosseum into a CCT tower, and to reveal Salem's existence to the world, which is why he called all of Atlas back to the kingdom to fight the Grimm that would flock to them when panic broke out. But with Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows causing chaos in Mantle, Ironwood slowly descended into paranoia and started to make irrational decisions, including the order for Robyn Hill's arrest for stealing supplies for Amity. He was able to regain his composure long enough to reveal Salem's existence to the council, order the evacuation of Mantle, and lure and defeat Watts in Amity. But Ironwood's paranoia returned when Salem demanded for the Relics, prompting him to move Atlas away and abandon Mantle while ordering the arrest of Teams RWBY and JNR, Qrow and Oscar when they opposed his decision. Ironwood turned on Oscar and shot him out of the Vault, and was devastated when he learned from Winter Schnee that the Maiden powers were gone, preventing him from using the Relic of Creation to move Atlas. As he contemplated the next course of action, Salem herself arrived in Atlas with an army of Grimm.

Ironwood became more irrational as he accused Ruby as the potential cause of the fall of Atlas, and coldly shot Councilman Sleet dead. He then ordered Watts to hack into Penny to have her come back to Atlas, but carelessly allowed the doctor to steal his Scroll. When Salem began her attack on Atlas, Ironwood had a bomb prepared to destroy the Monstra. After learning of Winter's disobedience regarding Yang's group and that Ruby and her friends were trying to evacuate Mantle, Ironwood had their efforts thwarted. He then released a broadcast to demand Penny's return, threatening to destroy Mantle with his bomb if she did not comply within an hour. Though he is initially defeated by Team JNR, Oscar, Emerald and Winter, and locked up in prison, Ironwood escaped, killed Jacques, and overpowered Winter at the vault. But he was later defeated by her when she received the Maiden powers from Penny. Unable to stop Salem from taking the Relics, Ironwood was left to die in the fall of Atlas.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Aura:**Aura is the manifestation of one's soul, and is possessed by both human and Faunus. A necessary energy source for all Huntsmen, Aura acts as an armor of sorts protecting the user from attacks that would otherwise kill a normal human being and grants the user a minor healing factor.
* **Semblance:** Ironwood's Semblance, Mettle, strengthens his resolve which allows him to carry through with his decisions, helping James hyper-focus.
* **Hand-to-Hand Combat Skills:**In close quarters, Ironwood is shown to be a formidable fighter who makes great use of grappling his opponents, effortlessly throwing Arthur Watts with his offhand. Ironwood makes use of a fighting style which resembles boxing, utilizing punches and kicks.
* **Skilled Marksman:**Ironwood is an impressive marksman, as he effortlessly dispatched multiple Atlesian Knight-200s within the space of several seconds, the heads of the first two cleanly removed by his shots.
* **Status:**As a general, Ironwood normally doesn't associate himself with the front lines of combat and usually orders his forces using his tactical know-how and military knowledge. However, when pressed, he is very adept in combat. He has two seats on the Atlesian Council. Assuming both seats symbolize as Headmaster of Atlas Academy and General of the Atlas Military, this gives him a greater amount of authority over the Atlesian Council and the Kingdom of Atlas, allowing him to make unilateral decisions such as initiating a Dust Embargo, closing off the borders of the Kingdom from the rest of the world and even initiate and enforce martial law should he deem it necessary.

## Equipment

* **Due Process:** Due Process is Ironwood's weapon of choice, a white handgun that has an overall bulky, brick-like shape and possesses characteristics of both a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, with both a cylinder and a slide. It also has two triggers and an external hammer. Due Process itself is quite durable, able to withstand being used to hammer Grimm with Ironwood's cybernetic right arm without compromising its firing capabilities.
* **Unknown Second Handgun:** As revealed in Volume 7, General Ironwood possesses a second handgun with an identical appearance to Due Process, barring its black color scheme. This handgun fires Gravity Dust rounds which propel James similarly to Crescent Rose's recoil.
* **Cannon:** Ironwood's pistols can be paired with a silver cannon, combining into a single gun which seems to gleams of green light. The cannon combined version of the guns are capable of shooting concentrated blasts of green fire, seemingly being a stronger more potent version of Fire Dust.

## Feats

### Strength

* Effortlessly stopped a Beowolf's swipe and swung it down to the ground.
* Slammed his robotic fist on Jacque Schnee's desk with enough force to severely damage the surface.
* Sent Watts flying with a kick.
* Lifted Watts off his feet one hand.
* Grabbed Watt's ankle and slammed him onto the ground hard enough to break his Aura as the latter activated one of his rings and tried to leap away.
* Punched Watts hard enough to send him flying back.
* Slammed Watts onto the floor, dragged him across it, and dangled him over the edge of a platform with one arm.
* Dented his desk by slamming his fist down on it.
* Smashed a holographic table to pieces with one doublehanded blow.
* Manhandled a Manitcore summon and slammed it on the ground.

### Speed

* Ducked under a Beowolf's swipes.
* Dodged a bullet from Watts' revolver by firing a Gravity Dust bullet to the side.
* Dived and rolled out of the way of a Electricity Dust bullet from Watt's revolver.
* Avoided Watts' blows.
* Dodged a Electricity Dust bullet and a Fire Dust bullet that Watts aimed at his face.
* Dodged swings from Jaune Arc's sword.

### Durability

* Survived his transport aircraft crashing.
* Got slammed into a floating wall.
* Got hit by a geyser beneath him triggered by Watts.
* While a Fire Dust bullet caused his Aura to flicker, it did little to slow him down.
* His prosthetic arm could block an Electricity Dust bullet from Watts' revolver.
* Survived falling from a gravity biome with Watts and slamming into the floor of the Amity Colosseum's center platform.
	+ Said fall broke Ironwood's Aura.
* Endured having a revolver slammed into his chest.
* Took the agonizing pain of pulling his arm out of Watts' Hard-Light barrier, burning the skin off it.
* Tanked a hit from Nora Valkyrie's hammer to the face.
* Took a flurry of hits from Oscar's cane.
* Survived a reflected blast from his own cannon, although he was greatly weakened by it.

### Skill

* Became associated with Ozpin and his group.
* Became the general of the Atlas Military and the headmaster of Atlas Academy.
* Brought his military forces and several students from Atlas to Vale.
* Fought and killed a Beowolf during the Battle of Beacon.
* Shot down his own infected Alesian Knights.
* Compensated Yang Xiao Long with an Atlas-tech prosthesis.
* Shot a white Boarbatusk before it could cause any harm.
* Secured an additional seat on the Atlesian Council.
* Locked down Atlas and maintained near-dictatorial influence over Mantle.
* Used the limited resources of Mantle to build a communications tower.
* Fought and defeated Arthur Watts.
* Attempted to kill Oscar Pine by shooting him down a cavern.
* Killed Councilman Sleet.
* Briefly held his own against Team JNR, Oscar, and Winter all at once.
* Broke out of prison and killed Jacques Schnee.
* Fought Winter Schnee and briefly overpowered her.
* Has an extremely badass song sung by Caleb freakin' Hyles.

## Weaknesses

* Continual use of his Aura will cause it to decay to the point where he can be left open to more significant damage.
* His Aura's durability is cumulative; it will deplete with each attack he takes and can be brought down by characters of similar strength.
* Can be incredibly blunt and arrogant, and generally prefers the direct approach.
* Suffers from PTSD, an increased sense of paranoia, and an increased desperation to stop Salem by any means.
	+ Because of this, he has resorted to extreme actions in order to protect Atlas and the world.
	+ Caved into his paranoia upon learning that Cinder Fall was in Atlas, as well as the lies from Ruby's Group and that Salem was coming.
* Refuses to see any fault or failing in his own actions or chosen methods. While he will acknowledge the harm his actions cause, he won't actually see said actions as wrong, just brushing off the consequences as a necessary evil for the time.
* Has a bad habit of assigning blame to others while stubbornly insisting he's the one in the right for no other reason than that he said so.
* Hates anyone bringing up how his ways don't work.
* His Semblance literally forces him to follow through with whatever decision he comes up, regardless of how mad it is.
* Was defeated by Team JNR, Oscar and Winter.
* Ultimately failed to secure the Relics and died in the fall of Atlas.

## Fun Facts

* Ironwood alludes to the Tin Man from the *Wizard of Oz*.
* Ironwood's fall into the villainy was an ironic echo to his attitude towards Leonardo Lionheart's betrayal, particularly he assured to Oscar that he wouldn't become the next Lionheart, meaning how much Ironwood despised Lionheart. Ironically, both Ironwood and Lionheart were hit by the fear towards Salem and her force that drove them to the dark side.
	+ However, Ironwood is much more complicated as he had become more paranoid rather than submissive because of his fear. He refused to surrender himself to Salem and was willing to do anything, even questionable and extreme acts, only to stop Salem and protect Atlas and the Relic, making him more prone to an anti-villain at worst (especially after shooting Oscar). In contrast, Lionheart had completely submitted to his fear of Salem and became her follower out of sheer cowardice.
* In the Japanese dub, Ironwood is voiced by Masaki Terasoma, who also voiced Thales in *Fire Emblem: Three Houses*, Shadow Moon in *Kamen Rider Black*, and dubbed Agent 47 in the *Hitman* series.
* "Ironwood" is a common name applied to a number of types of wood known for their hardness. Alternatively, Ironwood is also the name of a location in Norse mythology.
* The name James means 'supplanter.' This could be a reference to military supplanting, bringing to mind greens and grays.
* Ironwood's favorite flavor of ice cream is mint chocolate.
* The writers have stated that they wanted to make Ironwood's progression into villainy subtle and make sense.