Raven Branwen

**Raven Branwen** is the mother of Yang Xiao Long, the twin sister of Qrow Branwen, and the former lover of Taiyang Xiao Long. Her weapon of choice is Omen, a sword with a rotary chamber filled with six types of Dust blades.

She is the current leader of the Branwen Tribe, as well as a former member of Team STRQ. She is also the true Spring Maiden and had been using her fellow tribe member, Vernal, as a decoy.

## Statistics

* **Name**: Raven Branwen, Maiden of Spring
* **Origin**: RWBY
* **Gender**: Female
* **Age**: In her 30s
* **Birthday**: May 15
* **Classification**: Human, Former Huntress, Branwen Tribe Leader, Spring Maiden
* **Blood Type**: A
* **Height**: 178 cm (5'10.1")
* **Weight**: 62.4 kg (137.6 lbs)
* **Skin Color**: Light
* **Eye Color**: Red
* **Hair Color**: Black and Red
* **Key Relationships**: Taiyang Xiao Long (Ex-husband), Summer Rose (Sister-in-law), Qrow Branwen (Younger twin brother), Yang Xiao Long (Daughter)
* **Alignment**: Neutral
* **Status**: Active
* **Class**: **SS-Class**
* **Notable Attacks/Techniques**: Aerial Strike, Ice Shot, White Wind, Lethal Dash
* **Voice Actor**: Megumi Hayashibara

## Appearance

Raven wears a shallow cut black and red dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets with fingerless black gloves.

An object that looks to be made from feathers hangs from the right side of her skirt. She also wears detached black leggings. Under her leggings, she wears black boots that have red high heels and soles. Her most distinctive feature is a fearsome, full-face mask that resembles the face of a Creature of Grimm. The mask has four black and red eye slits, further enhancing the character's inhuman appearance.

Under the mask, she looks very similar to Yang; they share the same facial shape. However, her hair is jet black with red highlights, her eyebrows are a little bit higher, her complexion is significantly lighter and slight age lines are under her eyes. Raven's eye color is the same shade of red that Yang's shifts to when enraged. Her hair is tied by a red bandanna and loosely done up in a ponytail with the ends resembling curved black feathers. A cowlick can be seen protruding from the top of her head, similar to that of her daughter's.

## Personality

Raven is cynical, patronizing, selfish and stubborn. She believed her act of "kindness" of saving Yang's life from Neo was sufficient when refusing to protect her daughter when in need after that. Taiyang said Raven had a straightforward approach and saw strength as all-important in a fight, traits that Yang inherited. He adds that Raven was ambitious and gave her all to whatever cause she saw as just while acknowledging she had unspecified faults that greatly contributed to the dissolution of Team STRQ.

Raven has a "survival of the fittest" mentality and has little issues with taking the lives of the innocent or even that of other Huntsmen, indirectly or otherwise. She even killed the former Spring Maiden because she saw the girl as weak and incapable of learning.

Raven is not above manipulating others, having tried to emotionally manipulate Yang during their reunion in "Lighting the Fire" so she would choose to stay with her instead of reuniting with Qrow and Ruby Rose, and having successfully manipulated Salem's subordinates into thinking that Vernal was the Spring Maiden and into setting an ambush for Qrow and the students in order to get access to the Relic of Knowledge in "A Perfect Storm".

However, beneath her "survival of the fittest" philosophy and despite her great powers as a Huntress and a Maiden, Raven is a cowardly person, having chosen to run away from Salem after deeming the fight unwinnable despite being aware of Salem's evil goals. She is even willing to risk her brother and daughter's lives in order to get access to the Relic in hopes of defending her tribe against Salem.

While Raven and Qrow were family when growing up, she now sees Qrow as a traitor for leaving their tribe. Raven is a cynic who claims to have foreseen Ozpin's failure to protect Beacon Academy from its destruction. She believes that Ozpin is not the man her daughter thinks he is and condemns those who trust him, such as Qrow, Ruby and even Taiyang.

After defeating Cinder Fall in "Downfall", Raven shows a softer side, taking the time to close the deceased Vernal's eyes and thank her for her service. This side of her is further shown in "Haven's Fate", in which she and Yang share an emotional conversation. After Yang calls Raven out for killing the former Spring Maiden, her cowardice and hypocrisy in refusing to fight Salem, and for showing a callous indifference to her own daughter's well-being, Raven once more begs Yang to stay out of the war against Salem, but to no avail. Raven subsequently breaks down in tears, her love for her daughter finally showing itself.

## Abilities and Equipment

**Semblance: Kindered Link**: Raven's Semblance allows her to create portals in the vicinity of people she shares a bond with. Though not combat applicable, she can use these portals for quick appearence and hasty retreats. Others people are also able to pass through these portals. So far, Raven has been able to create portals to Taiyang, Qrow, Yang and Vernal.

**Shapeshifting**: Raven has the magical ability granted by Ozpin that allows her to turn into an actual raven. In this form, she is capable of flight without her spring maiden powers, as well as able to "keep on the down low".

**Omen**: Raven's main weapon of choice, which is armed with a sheath that has a rotary chamber filled with different types of Dust blades. By reattaching the handle to the sheath, Raven can interchange, or if need be, replace the Dust blade. The blades are telescopic, which allows them to be approximately twice the length of the sheath. She tends to most often use the blade made of Red Dust, though she has also used others. The colors seen so far in combat include: Red, Blue, Yellow, Gray/Black, and Green. The Dust blades, though powerful, can be broken if struck several times or hard enough.

* **Aerial Strike**: In midair, Raven lunges downward to her opponent, striking them with her Odachi.
* **Lethal Dash**: Raven draws her sheathed Odachi and slices through her opponent, inflicting heavy damage while stunning them in for a while.

**Magic**: Raven bears the power of the Spring Maiden, another magical ability granted by Ozpin that passes down through generations. It gives Raven control over the elements and weather. With these powers, Raven has been shown to be able to summon lightning, amplify her strikes with electricity, create widescale storms and strong gusts of wind, as well as the ability of flight. However, Raven is most proficient in using the ice control aspect of her powers, evident in her battle with Cinder and commentary. She is able to create and shape ice to her will, such as freezing opponents, shooting ice spike projectiles, creating platforms and wield a variety of ice based weaponry. This ability also allows her to open the vault in Haven Academy.

* **Ice Shot**: Using the powers of the Spring Maiden, Raven fires several ice bullets at her opponents.
* **White Wind**: Raven generates a wind of ice that freezes any opponent within her surrounding area.

## Weaknesses

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