Ruby Rose

## Voices

**Ruby Rose** (留毘謂 芦事, *Ruby Rōzu*) is the main protagonist of *RWBY*. She is a Huntress, having been trained at the now-defunct Beacon Academy. Ruby's weapon of choice is her High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe known as Crescent Rose, which she designed herself.

Ruby first appeared in the "Red" Trailer visiting the grave of her mother, Summer Rose. After an invitation from Professor Ozpin following a short battle with Roman Torchwick, Ruby attends Beacon Academy in order to become a Huntress. During her time at Beacon, Ruby became a member and the leader of Team RWBY, consisting of herself, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and her own elder half-sister, Yang Xiao Long.

## Appearance

Ruby is a fair-skinned young girl with silver eyes and neck-length black hair with red tips.

During her time attending Beacon Academy, she wears a black long-sleeved blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, over which is a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and a matching skirt with red lining. She also wears a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trims around the top, and red soles.

Her outfit is topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross-shaped pins. Her emblem appears as a large silver buckle on her wide black belt, which is slung around her hips on an angle. Attached to her belt are a pocket and a row of bullets.

In the "Red" Trailer, Ruby's cloak was fastened at her throat and a large silver cross is pinned to her belt in place of her emblem.

## Personality

Ever since she was little, Ruby has had a romanticized view of the Huntsman profession. She is quick to reveal she wanted to become a Huntress in order to be like the great heroes in fairy tales, and she has described being one as far more "romantic" than being a police officer. Her mentality is described as "I don't have time for my emotions. I've gotta make sure that everybody else is okay." Lindsay Jones claims Ruby's mentality is "selfless, but that means she's not dealing with her own issues. Compartmentalizing and internalizing her grief is what might eventually destroy her." She has also shown a distinct lack of ability to pick up social cues due to being a very open and honest person. This results in her inability to pick up Weiss' sarcasm in the "The Shining Beacon" and her struggling to act formally in "It's Brawl in the Family".

Ruby is a self-proclaimed dork when it comes to weapons; she is quite intelligent, having designed and built Crescent Rose during her time at Signal, although she admits to going "a little overboard" with its design. She feels that seeing new weapons "is like meeting new people, but better." Oum has said she relies on Crescent Rose quite often in battle, which implies that her weapon is the source of her confidence in battle.

Ruby has a strong sense of moral justice, a trait she obtained from stories about heroes and monsters that her sister used to read for her, as well as the way her parents raised her. These stories are what gave her the ideals that she wished to live by and uphold throughout her life, and are the reason for her love for books. Because she is shown to be childish even when in class, she tends to study by herself to cover the necessary knowledge.

Ruby is shown to be naïve, as although she doesn't like to be the center of attention, becoming a Huntress would effectively put her in the spotlight. In addition to her dislike of attention, Ruby prefers to either be alone or with Yang. However, she has become comfortable around Team RWBY and Team JNPR. She does not lack social skills, but has problems when meeting new people. This is mostly because of her childish nature and lack of social grace, as she can be bad-mannered (only out of ignorance) and sometimes speaks without thinking. However, because of her enthusiastic personality, she can become very good friends with people who share her enthusiasm.

Despite this, Ruby's leadership skills make her a worthy teammate. While she may occasionally act without thinking, sometimes she seems to understand the situation better than most. She can then use this ability to quickly formulate plans. This was seen during Team RWBY's battle with the Nevermore, in which her teammates' positions allowed her to come up with a successful plan. Ozpin most likely assigned Ruby as team leader to ensure that she grows as an individual. This proves to be the case as she becomes a resourceful and dependable leader who studies so hard and so late, she falls asleep in the middle of the task, all to impress her teammate Weiss. She was also able to pass her beliefs as leader to Jaune Arc, thus helping him find a new sense of responsibility for the safety and well-being of his own team.

Ruby is also shown to care for all her teammates equally, despite their background. This is seen in how she expresses sympathy for Weiss' bad childhood after she explains her family's history with the White Fang, before showing the same concern moments later for Blake Belladonna when she runs away, having let slip her prior involvement with the group, and by extension indirectly revealing that she was a Faunus. Ruby's concern is further expressed in her desperate search for her teammate. This sense of care is later shown not to be limited to her teammates. She also shows some worry for Penny, telling the latter to stay out of the fight between Roman Torchwick, Blake Belladonna, and Sun Wukong.

Although Ruby has no trouble interacting with her friends, she does have trouble actually making them, and once admits that seeing new weapons "is like meeting new people, but better". This could have been a result of her having been accepted two years earlier to Beacon Academy, which forces her to leave her friends at Signal behind, as well as interact with people that are both older and more experienced than she is. Regardless, both she and Jaune Arc toast to being socially awkward during the Beacon Dance.

In the second chapter of the manga, it is revealed that Ruby originally had enochlophobia, a fear of large crowds, as shown when she freezes up during a sparring match against Cardin Winchester. However, she manages to work through that fear with some encouragement from her teammates long enough to win the spar, and by the Vytal Festival, she has overcome them entirely.

Despite her social awkwardness, Ruby is far from shy: she is enthusiastic and often eager to speak her mind. She is capable of being assertive when necessary, as she has verbally stood her ground against many people who have tried to dissuade or humiliate her, including Weiss Schnee before they became friends, Roman Torchwick, Neopolitan, Caroline Cordovin and James Ironwood. Despite her usual kindness, Ruby can also be stern with her friends and close ones when she feels it necessary, such as arguing with Qrow in Argus or with Yang in Mantle.

Ruby also has a sweet tooth, preferring five sugars in her coffee and scarfing down a large plate of cookies in "Ruby Rose". She is even seen with a plate of cookies in "Jaunedice", while her friends are eating more nutritious meals. This is shown again in "Alone Together", where Ruby rejoices and accepts coffee after learning Weiss put "blasphemous amounts of cream and sugar" in it.

In combat or dangerous situations, she is shown to be quite impulsive and battle eager, such as when she attacks a Death Stalker upon seeing it before learning of its high resistance to bullets and blades. This trait contrasts with her adaptability, for she is quite capable of forming attack plans with others in order to take down stronger foes, such as the Nevermore in "Players and Pieces" and Roman in the Atlesian Paladin-290 in "Painting the Town...". After her discussion with Ozpin in "The Badge and The Burden, Pt.2", Ruby begins to take her role as leader of Team RWBY seriously.

Ruby has been shown to be ruthless at times when it comes to protecting her loved ones, such as when she nonchalantly cuts off Tyrian Callows' stinger in "Punished" after he manages to injure and poison Qrow Branwen. After Neopolitan knocks Yang over the edge of the Central Location in "Worthy", Ruby attempts to cut Neo in half using the same motion she frequently employs on Grimm. This behavior is most likely a side effect of the trauma she experienced during the Fall of Beacon.

In "Lost", Ruby further develops as a leader whenever she and her friends find themselves in trouble. This is evident when she directs the group when they are attacked on the Argus Limited and when she stands up to Qrow after he turns down Jaune's proposed idea of stealing a military airship to get to Atlas. In "Dark" Blake recounts that Ruby's determination and optimism is something that has always inspired her, and she continues to look up to her despite being older.

Despite her stance on not keeping secrets from her teammates and friends, Ruby has done so to others. In "A New Approach", after James Ironwood inquires on what happened to Ozpin, Ruby lies, stating that she does not know what happened, despite the fact that it was her group's actions that led to his disappearance. She also states that the questions for the Relic of Knowledge were all used up, which is the same thing Ozpin said that led to them turning on him in the first place. These acts, along with Yang and Blake leaking classified information on the Amity Communications Tower to Robyn Hill, eventually result in Ironwood losing trust in them.

She also has a tendency on not backing down from a fight no matter the odds, which while admirable, can also be detrimental. In "Punished", she refuses to listen to Qrow to stay out of his fight with Tyrian as she would only get in the way, which leads to him having to protect her and leaving him open to be poisoned by Tyrian. This flaw is highlighted in her stance against Ironwood. In "Gravity", when Ironwood declares his intent to use the Relic of Creation to raise Atlas due to Salem personally coming, Ruby refuses the plan, as doing so would leave Mantle in danger. Although she and her group prevent Ironwood from carrying out the plan, this later caused both cities to be in danger when Salem landed Monstra on the island in "Midnight".

Following the events of Volume 7, Ruby goes through a major change and realized that Ironwood couldn't be trusted to make the right choices and began steeling herself to stand by her friends instead.

Ultimately, Ruby's choices can weigh heavily on her when her plans fail or her team becomes divided. When depressed or under intense pressure, she requires the same emotional support she often provides to her friends, despite constantly trying to keep up a brave face and a positive outlook as team leader. In "Dark", Ruby became overwhelmed and blamed her actions for leading to their situation, until she was reassured by Blake. She ended up breaking down in "Risk" due to the worsening situation, both her and Yang's plans ended up not working, and realizing what Salem may have possibly done to her mother after seeing the core of The Hound. However, Yang pointed out that, while Ruby's optimism and determination had occasionally been blind, it was also necessary in many situations, to provide the team with hope when they took risks. Thanks to her sister's reassurance, Ruby has regained her resolve to save the people of Remnant.

## Trivia

* Ruby alludes to Little Red Riding Hood from the fairy tale of the same name.
* Her name alludes to a type of gemstone that is often found in red. Furthermore, "Ruby" is the name of an actual shade of red. Meanwhile, her surname, "Rose", alludes to another shade of red and a type of flower that is also found most often in red.
* Though the reason for this is unknown, Ruby was given her mother's surname rather than father's to pass on.
* Although Ruby is often depicted to favor sweets like cookies, her favorite food is actually strawberries.
* At the RTX Australia 2016 RWBY Panel, Ruby's Skype username was RlyRlyKoolKid.
* Ruby's Huntress license number is 63600-34572-12560.
* According to the statistics, Ruby is a speed-type character and has moderate attack power despite her lack of unarmed combat. In addition, she is considered as the "most cutest" as describe by the series' fans.