Main Characters | Supporting Characters | Antagonists (Darth Nihilus) | Remnant | The Galaxy
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This page lists tropes associated with the various antagonists of Jaune Arc, Lord of Hunger.
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Antagonists
Cinder's Faction
A alliance of criminals and assassins formed by Cinder to aid her in her mission to destroy Beacon Academy and steal the remainder of the Fall Maiden's powers. Collectively, they serve as the secondary antagonistic faction of the story. Cinder Fall
Cinder Fall
Species: Human (Remnantian)
Debut: Satiation
"You, a mere GRIMM think you can command me!? To make me kneel before you!? I am Salem's chosen! I am to be the Maiden above all! And you should know your place!"
The mastermind behind the Breach and the woman pulling the White Fang's strings. She seeks to steal the Fall Maiden's power and destroy Beacon Academy.
- Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. She never gets the full power of the Fall Maiden like her canon counterpart since Nihilus indirectly causes her to commit suicide before she is able to kill Amber. That being said, she is still extremely skilled with her half-Maiden abilities and is able to hold her own against Nihilus for a short period of time.
- Admiring the Abomination: When she sees Darth Nihilus in action for the first time, she is honestly impressed and watches with admiration as Nihilus coldly kills dozens of innocent people.
- Age Lift: Cinder's canon age is hard to pin down, but it's safe to assume she's at least a full-grown adult, albeit one who can masquerade as a teenager; here, an offhand comment from Nihilus calls her a teenager.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: After Nihilus defeats her on the Amity Colosseum, Cinder decides that she would rather die than become one of Nihilus's Slave Mooks and musters up the willpower to break free of his control long enough to stab herself in the throat.
- BFS: During her battle with Darth Nihilus, Cinder creates a black-glass greatsword that is over ten feet in length and covered in flames.
- Big Bad Ensemble: From Act 2 onwards, she becomes one of the story's main villains alongside Darth Nihilus. While Nihilus's spirit serves as a personal antagonist for Jaune's character arc, Cinder provides a more physical threat to the fic's setting overall, orchestrating events like the Breach and the Fall of Beacon. The two work independently with completely separate agendas, and neither is aware of the other's existence until the end of "Destiny".
- Big Bad Wannabe: For all her cunning and fearsome power, she is ultimately outmatched by Darth Nihilus, who easily trounces her once he stops toying around and quickly upstages her as the main threat to the story.
- Break the Haughty: For most of the fic, Cinder is confident that her half-Maiden powers make her invincible. When Nihilus kills her subordinates and defeats her in battle, Cinder is overcome with feelings of terror and helplessness as her powers aren't able to overpower the Dark Lord. She can't even find it in herself to have a Villainous Breakdown and calmly lets out a defeated sigh before losing the will to continue fighting.
- Defiant to the End: When she is left broken and defeated at Nihilus's feet, Cinder doesn't try begging for her life and instead bitterly glares at Nihilus before eventually committing a Spiteful Suicide after the Sith Lord tries enslaving her mind.
- Demoted to Dragon: Defied. When Nihilus tries to make her his apprentice, she rejects his offer and gives a Badass Boast stating that she isn't interested. After Nihilus defeats her and tries to control her mind, she kills herself to avoid becoming his slave.
- Disc-One Final Boss: She's part of the Big Bad Ensemble with Darth Nihilus, being the one pulling the strings behind the scenes for Act 2 and the first half of Act 3. Then Darth Nihilus defeats her and tries to control her mind, leading her to kill herself, thus taking her out of the equation and leaving Nihilus as the sole Big Bad for the remainder of the story.
- Doublethink: While speaking to Nihilus in "Death", Cinder makes it clear that she would rather die than be someone else's slave. This is despite her internally referring to Salem as "Mistress" in the chapter immediately preceding the one where she made that declaration.
- Elemental Absorption: In addition to having control over all the elements, the Fall Maiden's powers also give Cinder the ability to absorb any element and use it to fuel her magic. When Nihilus shoots Force lightning at her during their battle, Cinder absorbs all of the electricity and uses it to create an Energy Ball that she flings back at him.
- Elemental Powers: Because Cinder possesses half of the Fall Maiden's powers, she has control over all the elements, though she prefers to stick with fire. In "Death", she uses her elemental magic to absorb Nihilus's Sith lighting, focus it into an Energy Ball, and finally fling it back at him.
- Fantastic Racism: She passingly thinks of the White Fang army as "[Adam's] pack of animals".
- Flaming Sword: She can summon flaming scimitars using her Maiden powers.
- Flight: Using her Maiden powers, Cinder can shoots jet streams of fire from the bottom of her feet and use them as impromptu thrusters to hover in the air.
- Glass Weapon: She primarily uses weapons made of black glass like her scimitars, arrows, a BFS, and a dagger.
- Green-Eyed Monster: After seeing Jaune go One-Man Army during the Breach, she feels angered by the sight of him and she is clearly envious of his Force powers.
- The Heavy: She's one of the fic's main villains, being responsible for causing the Breach and is the one pulling the strings behind the White Fang. However, she is acting on behalf of Salem and is mainly carrying out her orders.
- Intrinsic Vow: Above all else, Cinder will never, ever allow herself to be Made a Slave. This stems from her Dark and Troubled Past as former child slave to her abusive stepmother. While under Nihilus' More than Mind Control, just hearing the word "serve" in her thoughts causes her to immediately break free from his control and stab herself in the throat to avoid spending any time as his servant.
- Karmic Death: She's responsible for putting Amber in a coma after attempting to steal the Fall Maiden's powers for herself. It's fitting that the person responsible for causing her death only went after her because he wanted the very powers she had stolen from Amber.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In her quest to steal the Fall Maiden's powers, Cinder causes the Breach and the Fall of Beacon, both which result in dozens of innocent people getting killed. It's rather fitting that the only reason Nihilus goes after her is because she has half of the Fall Maiden's powers. The very power she lusted after for so long winds up being the cause of her downfall.
- Laughing Mad: Lets out a series of unhinged cackles that unnerves even Emerald and Mercury when she is faced with Darth Nihilus in "Death" and hears his Kneel Before Zod ultimatum.
- Let No Crisis Go to Waste: She takes advantage of the destruction caused by Nihilus to create a worldwide panic by broadcasting Nihilus's deeds all over the world and then sends in the White Fang to pick off the surviving students.
- Mask of Sanity: At first, Cinder comes across as a composed and calculating mastermind who treats her subordinates reasonably. After Jaune foils her plans for the Breach, we see her mask briefly slip off when Cinder starts ranting and raving while Burning with Anger. While fighting Nihilus aboard Amity, the mask falls off completely and Cinder reveals her true nature as an Ax-Crazy Screaming Warrior who is driven purely by her hatred and lust for power.
- Multishot: She can shoot three glass arrows at the same time from her bow.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Cinder is a legitimately dangerous villain who has successfully orchestrated two separate Grimm invasions of Vale. However, Darth Nihilus is far beyond her that she can't help but seem less impressive in comparison. When the two clash in "Death", Nihilus winds up overwhelming Cinder despite her pulling out all the stops with her Fall Maiden powers.
- Playing with Fire: She has an affinity for fire and prefers to use flame-based attacks when utilizing her Maiden powers.
- Shadow Archetype: She's basically Nihilus if he had never overthrown Darth Traya and remained her servant.
- Sinister Scimitar: In "Death", she uses a pair of glass scimitars during her battle with Darth Nihilus.
- Slasher Smile: Lets out one in "Death" while stabbing both her blades into Nihilus's collarbones and hearing him howl in pain.
- Smug Snake: Cinder is a genuinely intelligent woman who knows how to play a mean game of Xanatos Speed Chess. However, she has a habit of overestimating her strength while underestimating the strength of her opponents. This is due to her incredibly arrogant belief that being the Fall Maiden automatically makes her invincible. This ultimately contributes to her downfall as she is unable to realize that Darth Nihilus is vastly more powerful than her until it is too late.
- Sphere of Power: While using her Maiden powers at full strength, a sphere of flames forms around her body, giving her the appearance of a miniature sun.
- Spiteful Suicide: Faced with the prospect of forceful servitude to Nihilus, Cinder instead stabs herself in the throat on the spot, denying him herself and the Maiden powers.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: She can summon flaming glass weapons into her hands by combining her Maiden powers with her Semblance.
- The Straight and Arrow Path:
- This Cannot Be!: She has a minor breakdown after witnessing Jaune wipe out the Grimm attacking Vale with powers that are suspiciously similar to a Maiden's, insisting that it's impossible for Jaune to have that kind of power.Cinder: It has to be impossible. It has to...
- The Unfought: She's behind Roman Torchwick, the White Fang, the Breach, and the Fall of Beacon. Despite this, none of the heroes ever get the chance to confront her and by the time they even learn that she was responsible for most of the villains they've fought, she's already dead courtesy of Darth Nihilus.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: If it wasn't for her, the Breach wouldn't have happened, Jaune wouldn't have fallen to the Dark Side, and Nihilus wouldn't have been able to push Jaune past the Despair Event Horizon.
- Villains Blend in Better: Her infiltration of Beacon Academy goes off without a hitch and she is able to operate unnoticed by everyone else.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- After Jaune wipes out the majority of the Grimm attacking Vale during the Breach, Cinder completely loses her composure and goes on a rant while hyperventilating. All the while, Emerald and Mercury are walking on eggshells around her.
- Subverted in "Death". Cinder had always thought that when she died, she would rage and explode in anger. However, when Nihilus defeats her and she finds herself facing certain death, the only emotion Cinder can feel is existential dread.
- Villainous Valor: One of Cinder's few redeeming qualities is her ability to show bravery even when faced with a seemingly hopeless odds. When she comes face-to-face with Nihilus in "Death", she acts calm and composed despite facing down a Humanoid Abomination that she herself witnessed defeat a dozen Huntsmen at once.
- The Worf Effect: With half of the Fall Maiden's powers, Cinder was the strongest magic-user present at the Battle of Beacon. Nihilus sensed that she had more power than either Ozpin or Amber. Despite this, she is outmatched by Nihilus and goes down quickly once he fights her seriously.
- The Woman Behind the Man: She is the one secretly giving orders to Adam Taurus and the White Fang.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: She quickly adapts on the fly anytime something goes wrong with her plans. Despite being initially angered by Jaune's interference during the Breach, Cinder then works up a new plan to use him as a Red Herring Mole to distract Ozpin. After Nihilus takes over Jaune's body, she takes advantage of the moment to enact her master plan early and has her forces attack Beacon while everyone is still weakened from fighting Nihilus.
Emerald Sustrai
Emerald Sustrai
Species: Human (Remnantian)
Debut: Satiation
A mint-haired thief who works for Cinder.- Alas, Poor Villain: Her death is treated like this as she is killed trying to protect Cinder from Nihilus and spends her dying moments desperately reaching her hand out to Cinder's unconscious body.
- Even Evil Has Standards: In "Chaos", she is horrified by the brutality Darth Nihilus shows while slaughtering Beacon's students.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Nihilus kills her by running her through from behind with Crocea Mors.
- Master of Illusion: Her Semblance allows her to create hallucinations. Unfortunately for her Nihilus has the ability to sense danger and as such has no difficulty in seeing through her illusions.
- Undying Loyalty: To Cinder. Unlike Mercury, who tries to abandon Cinder after seeing her get knocked out by Darth Nihilus during their battle, Emerald tries to drag Cinder's unconscious body to safety. The last thing she does as she lays dying is to try and reach her hand towards Cinder.
Mercury Black
Mercury Black
Species: Human (Remnantian)
Debut: Satiation
An assassin who works for Cinder. He infiltrates Beacon alongside her, Emerald, and Neo.- Asshole Victim: As the person who framed Yang for breaking his legs during the Vytal Tournament and helped cause the Fall of Beacon, his death at Darth Nihilus' hands is well-deserved.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: He's able to figure out that Jaune has Combat Clairvoyance in addition to telekinesis by noticing how Jaune is always able to predict when and where Mercury was going to attack during their sparring session.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Invoked. He tells Emerald that while he may be an assassin, he still holds himself up to "professional" standards. In "Satiation", he was genuinely creeped out by how overly possessive and controlling Jaune was acting towards Pyrrha and called the behavior toxic. In "Chaos", he was shown to be horror-struck by the savage violence Darth Nihilus displayed while slaughtering Beacon's students.
- Villains Want Mercy: Begs for his life when he realizes that he stands no chance against Nihilus; the Dark Lord couldn't care less and drains him on the spot.
- The Worf Effect: Subjected to this when he spars with Jaune.
Roman Torchwick
Roman Torchwick
A criminal working with the White Fang who RWBY has fought on several occasions.- Demoted to Extra: Gets hit with this hard. Roman goes from being the The Heavy of the Beacon Arc to an unseen background character who's only mentioned but never makes a proper appearance. Even his death happens entirely offscreen and everyone (except Neo) treats his death as more of an afterthought.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of being Eaten Alive by a Griffon, Roman is killed when the airship he was imprisoned on is pulled from the sky by Darth Nihilus and forced to crash into Beacon, resulting in a massive Dust explosion that obliterates everything onboard.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: His death aboard Ironwood's flagship is treated with little fanfare and the story treats it offhandedly.
- The Ghost: He is never seen or heard in the story.
- Killed Offscreen: He was being held prisoner aboard the airship that Nihilus pulls from the sky and was killed when the airship crashes into Beacon and explodes.
- Offstage Villainy: Since the story is told from JNPR's perspective, they never encounter Roman and only hear firsthand accounts about his crimes, like stealing Dust or working with the White Fang, from team RWBY after they've fought him.
- Villain of Another Story: He's the main villain for team RWBY and is mentioned to have fought them several times offscreen.
Neo
Neopolitan
Species: Human (Remnantian)
Debut: Destiny
One of Cinder's underlings who infiltrated Beacon around the time of the Vytal Festival. She has a very close relationship with Roman Torchwick.- Adaptational Late Appearance: In canon, she first appears in Volume 2, before the Breach or the Vytal Festival take place. Here, Neo makes her debut during the Vytal Festival, which took place during Volume 3.
- Broken Tears: She breaks down into tears when she witnesses Roman get indirectly killed by Nihilus after he forces Roman's airship to crash into Beacon.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Is absolutely devastated by Roman's death.
- Even Evil Has Standards: In "Chaos", she is shocked by the sight of Darth Nihilus mercilessly killing dozens of students and watches it unfold in silent horror.
- Invisibility: One of the ways she applies her illusion Semblance is hiding herself and her allies from being seen. She also uses it to make it seem as though she can teleport when she's just turned invisible and used an illusion of herself as a decoy.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Figures out very quickly that Nihilus is way out of her league after he effortlessly blocks her attack and sends her flying with Force Lightning and makes a run for it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Nihilus easily parries her attack and shocks her with Force lightning, Neo wisely decides to flee and abandons Cinder's team to fight the Dark Lord without her help.
- Sole Survivor: She's the only member of Cinder's faction to survive the Fall of Beacon.
- Villainous BSoD: Upon witnessing Roman's death, Neo breaks down into Broken Tears. In the following chapter, Neo almost completely shuts down. She's shown slumping down on her knees and blankly staring at the ground as tears continue falling from her eyes.
- The Worf Effect: In canon, she is one of the strongest fighters in the show, being capable of dealing a Curb-Stomp Battle to nearly everyone. Darth Nihilus establishes himself as a bigger threat by no-selling her illusions and dispatching her with a Offhand Backhand that sends her running in terror.
Creatures of Grimm
In General
A race of shadowy monsters made of pure Dark Side energy. They are the dominant species on Remnant and have plagued humanity since ancient times.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- In the show, Griffons make their debut in Volume 3. Here, they first appear among the Grimm attacking Vale during the Breach, which takes place before the events of Volume 3.
- In RWBY, Beringels first appear in Volume 4 as part of a character short. Here, they debut amongst the Grimm attacking Vale during the Breach, which happens near the end of Volume 2.
- Animalistic Abomination: Despite being animalistic in appearance, they are not animals but rather the Dark Side itself given physical form.
- Circling Vultures: The Nevermores do this with Nihilus in "Chaos".
- Deadly Lunge: The preferred method of attack for Beowolves is to lunge at their enemies.
- Emotion Eater: They are drawn towards negative emotions.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom
- Killer Gorilla: Beringels.
- Made of Evil: Unlike the majority of Dark Side creatures which are animals mutated by the Dark Side, the Grimm are physical manifestations of the Dark Side.
- Mook Carryover: In "Chaos", a flock of Nevermores switch over to serving Darth Nihilus after he uses Beast Trick on them.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- The Soulless
- Stronger with Age
- The Usual Adversaries
- We Have Reserves
- Zerg Rush
Alpha Beowolf
Alpha Beowolf
Species: Grimm
Debut: Chance
An Alpha Beowolf that Jaune bumps into while walking to Beacon at the start of the story.
- Deadly Lunge: It's primary method of attacking people is to lunge towards them.
- Evil Is Bigger: It's much larger than any regular Beowolf and Jaune describes it as being the largest Grimm he'd ever seen prior to coming to Beacon.
- It Can Think: Despite coming across as another mindless Grimm, it's actually fairly intelligent. When Jaune suddenly pivots and changes the direction he's running during their chase, the Beowolf digs its claws into the ground to change its momentum and keep pace with its smaller prey.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: It's the Grimm-equivalent of an Elite Mook — certainly dangerous even on it's own, but child's play for any Huntsmen or even an experienced student to kill. Against a normal person with no Aura, the Alpha Beowolf is so large, powerful, and fast that the only hope for survival is to run like hell.
- Not So Above It All: Despite being a fearsome alpha Animalistic Abomination, it expresses bewilderment at Jaune trying to hide by standing still and even gives a Quizzical Tilt before attacking.
- Run or Die: Jaune doesn't even bother trying to fight this thing due to how fast and powerful it is in comparison to a normal person like him. Running away is the only option he has if he wants to survive.
- Savage Wolves: A large werewolf-like Grimm that tries to chase down and kill Jaune at the start of the story.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Only has a single appearance during the prologue and is never seen again. Despite this, it is responsible for putting the whole plot into motion by chasing Jaune into the same cavern where Nihilus's mask was being hidden.
- Spikes of Villainy: It has white spines poking out of its arms, which adds to its intimidation factor.
- Super-Persistent Predator: Surprisingly averted. Despite being a Grimm whose whole existence revolves around killing humans and having cornered Jaune inside a cavern while it was blocking the only entrance, the Alpha Beowolf just gives up once it finds that its body is to big to squeeze through the cavern's entrance.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: It unwittingly sparks the Inciting Incident for the whole story. Had it not attacked Jaune on his way to Beacon, Jaune would have never run into the cave and found Nihilus's mask.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears from the story entirely after it chases Jaune into a cave.
King Beringel
King Beringel
Species: Grimm
Debut: Breach
A massive Beringel that attacks Vale during the Breach.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The King Beringel stands at over 30 feet in height and each of its arms are at an impressive 20 feet in length.
- Disc-One Final Boss: It's alpha of the Grimm horde attacking Vale and (at the time) the most powerful adversary Team JNPR had ever faced. Despite this, it gets taken out mid-battle by Nora after she's supercharged with Force lightning.
- Horrifying the Horror: It's appearance is preceded by the sound of its footsteps causing the ground to shake, which causes the lesser Grimm in the area to start cowering and backing down.
- Killer Gorilla: It resembles a colossal gorilla that stands at 30 feet tall, is heavily armored, and is covered in spikes. During the Breach, it comes close to killing Nora before Jaune supercharges her with his Force lightning.
- King Kong Copy: It's an obvious expy of King Kong, being a gigantic Killer Gorilla that goes on a rampage through a city and has the title "King".
- King Mook: It's a supersized and far more powerful variant of the Beringel. Bonus points since it even has the title "King".
- Large and in Charge: Being the alpha of its horde, it is the largest Grimm present at the Breach.
- Original Character: It's an OC Grimm of the author's creation.
- Spikes of Villainy: The King Beringel's body is covered in bone spikes, which highlights how intimidating and dangerous it is.
- Stronger with Age: It's described as an elder Grimm and it absolutely dwarfs regular Beringels in both size and strength.
- The Worf Effect: After being established as an alpha Grimm of immense power, a frenzied Nora kills it with only a couple of headbutts after being supercharged by Jaune's Force lightning.
The Wyvern
The Wyvern
Species: Grimm
Debut: Death
A massive Grimm dragon that attacks Vale during the Battle of Beacon.
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: Its talons are capable of ripping through the armored hull of an Atlesian airship and destroying the airship's engines.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Even a Grimm as powerful and ancient as the Wyvern is ultimately no match for Nihilus, who easily devours its essence.
- Death by Adaptation: In canon, the Wyvern survives the Fall of Beacon (albeit getting Taken for Granite in the process). This version is killed by Nihilus, who drains its essence to heal himself and supercharge his Aura.
- Enemy Summoner: Its body releases black ooze that summons more Grimm.
- Graceful in Their Element: While flying through the air, the Wyvern moves gracefully and effortlessly dodges the lasers being fired at it by the Atlesian airfleet.
- Impossibly Graceful Giant: Despite it's lumbering size, the Wyvern is agile enough to dodge the laser batteries of Atlesian airships and performs barrel rolls mid-air without any difficulty.
- Like a God to Me: The Wyvern considers Salem to be its "Goddess".
- Mook Maker
- Razor Wings: During the Battle of Beacon, at one point, the Wyvern is shown using its wings to slice apart a Bullhead.
- Shrouded in Myth: Its subspecies of Grimm is so rare that even Ironwood had thought the Wyvern was just a myth until it bursts out of Mountain Glenn and attacks Vale.
- Spectacular Spinning: While engaging Atlas' airfleet in aerial combat, it frequently makes use of barrel rolls to dodge any incoming Dust lasers.
- Stronger Than They Look: Despite its wings looking thin and fragile (not to mention having a few holes), they are able to slice through an entire airship without taking any damage.
- The Worf Effect: The Wyvern is easily the most powerful and intelligent Grimm that's appeared in the story so far. It singlehandedly turns the tide of the battle against the Atlesian military and downs entire airships with ease. Nihilus kills the dragon in mere seconds with his Force Drain, showing that even the strongest Grimm still don't measure up to him.
The Monstra
The Monstra
Species: Grimm
A massive Grimm whale that was created as a result of Salem's experiments with the Grimm.
- The Ghost: Is briefly alluded to by Cinder in "Death".
- Monster Whale: Its a gigantic Grimm whale.
White Fang
In General
- Adaptational Late Appearance: In canon, the White Fang were major antagonists since the end of the first volume. Since this fic focuses on JNPR's perspective, the White Fang are only mentioned and don't appear until the Vytal Festival arc.
- Chekhov's Gunman: They are mentioned early on as a Faunus terrorist group and RWBY is mentioned to have had at least two encounters with them. Their members later appear near the end of "Nihilus", where they attack Beacon in the aftermath of Nihilus's rampage.
- Cult: They are explicitly described as such and Blake is treated like a Cult Defector for leaving them.
- Demoted to Extra: In the show, the White Fang acted as a Starter Villain of sorts for the heroes and were a major antagonistic faction for the first five volumes. Here, they're only mentioned and most of their crimes happen off-screen.
- Malevolent Masked Men: They're a group of violent terrorists who wear Grimm masks.
- The Scapegoat: They end up getting blamed by Ozpin for causing the Fall of Beacon and are portrayed by the media as the sole perpetrators of the attack. While they are a guilty party, the White Fang were little more than pawns for Cinder and it was Darth Nihilus who arguably caused the most deaths and damage.
- Villain of Another Story: For most of the story, JNPR only hears second-hand accounts of their crimes from RWBY.
- White Mask of Doom: The White Fang is infamous for wearing white Grimm masks.
Adam Taurus
Adam Taurus
Species: Faunus
Debut: Vengeance
"I fought for vengeance. Vengeance for all the Faunus that have been wronged throughout history! Today is a day of victory! [turns to Weiss] An even greater one, when I have the head of the Schnee heiress."
The leader of the White Fang and Blake's abusive ex-boyfriend.
- Age Lift: Adam's canon age is left vague, though the voice actors for Blake and Yang estimate him to be in his early-to-mid twenties. Here, Adam is referred to as a teenager by the narration.
- Asshole Victim: Given how he cut out Weiss' eyes and stabbed Blake through the stomach, it's really hard to feel sorry for the guy when Darth Nihilus drains his life.
- Big Bad Wannabe: He's convinced that the Fall of Beacon is his main event and sees it as the culmination of his revenge against Blake and the Schnee family. While fighting Blake and Weiss, he starts ranting about how he's going to spark a Faunus revolution that will overtake the entire world. In reality, he's being used as an Unwitting Pawn by Cinder, and ends up as a mere footnote in Nihilus's story. Blake even tries pointing this out to him in "Vengeance".
- Black Cloak: He's described as wearing a black cloak.
- Control Freak: According to Blake, he was one towards her during the time they spent as boyfriend and girlfriend. She mentions how he attempted to control her every thought to the point to the point where it left her traumatized.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: While fighting Nihilus, Adam moves faster than he can react and slashes him across the chest with his chokutō while being fully charged by his Semblance. Even though Nihilus tanks the attack, he's only able to do so because his Aura had been supercharged at the time. Under normal circumstances, the blow would have been lethal.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When Weiss remarks how he's just as psychotic as Blake said he was, Adam responds by slashing through her eyes, thus permanently blinding her.
- Dragon Their Feet: He's only encountered and fought by both Nihilus and the heroes after the death of his boss Cinder.
- Gaslighting: According to Blake, during their time as a couple, he regularly gaslit her about his crimes as part of the abuse he put her through.
- Hate Sink: He's an irredeemable monster who is introduced casually murdering a random student, is proud of all the destruction the White Fang has caused under his leadership, abused Blake during their time as lovers, and slashes out Weiss's eyes with his sword.
- Iaijutsu Practitioner
- Manipulative Bastard: He constantly lied to Blake and tried to control her every thought to the point where she was uncertain whether her thoughts were her own or if they were planted in her head by Adam.
- Minor Major Character: In the story, Adam only appears for a single chapter where he's treated like a Villain of the Week who is killed to establish how much stronger Nihilus has become after absorbing the Wyvern. He plays a far more pivitol role in Blake's backstory as her abusive ex-lover and his role as the leader of the White Fang makes him an important political figure in-universe.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Adam's a dangerous enough fighter on his own and poses a serious threat to Winter, Weiss, and Blake when he enters the story. Too bad he's being compared to Nihilus and Cinder, both of whom easily overshadow him in terms of strength and cunning.
- Psycho Ex-Boyfriend: He's Blake's former lover and an abusive psychopath who gaslit her at every turn.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: He's a psychotic terrorist who dresses in black, has red hair, and wears a bone-white mask.
- Revenge: He is mainly driven by a desire for revenge against the Schnee family for all their years of discriminating and exploiting the Faunus. He also seeks revenge on Blake for the "crime" of getting fed up with his abusive behavior and leaving him.
- Smug Smiler: For the majority of his scenes, he's sporting a smug smile as he inflicts pain upon his victims.
- So Last Season: Against even Dark Side Jaune, a fighter of Adam's caliber would be a serious threat. Unfortunately for Adam, by the time he's introduced, Nihilus has already undergone a Next Tier Powerup while Pyrrha has become the new Fall Maiden. Compared to those two, Adam is child's play and his strongest attacks have little-to-no effect on Nihilus.
- Super-Reflexes: He has lightning-fast reflexes which enable him to dodge Nihilus' Force Drain the first time he tries to use it on him.
- Super-Speed: He can move so fast that even Nihilus' Combat Clairvoyance and Force-enhanced reflexes are unable to keep up.
- Sword and Gun: He wields his sword Wilt and his rifle Blush in combat.
- Sword Beam: Using his Semblance, he can release waves of energy by swinging his katana.
- Technicolor Blade: His katana Wilt has a red blade.
- This Cannot Be!: His reaction to seeing Nihilus no-sell his strongest attack is to sputter out "Im-Impossible!".
- Unseen No More: For most of the fic, he's relegated to being The Ghost and mostly mentioned in Blake's POV segments. In "Destiny", Cinder relays her orders to him over her Scroll, but he is neither seen nor heard from during this scene. In "Vengeance", he finally appears in-person and dies shortly afterward.
- Unwitting Pawn: For all his talk about being a revolutionary, the truth is that he's little more than a useful idiot for Cinder, who is using his terrorist attacks as stepping stones to steal the Fall Maiden's powers. Blake calls him out on this in "Vengeance", only for him to brush off her words as lies.
- Villain of Another Story: He only appears once in the story but clearly plays a greater role in the setting. He's Blake's abusive ex-lover, is arguably the arch-enemy of Weiss's family, and leads the White Fang — a terrorist organization which Team RWBY has been fighting offscreen.
- The Worf Effect: He's shown to be one of the strongest and fastest fighters in the setting with a Semblance that allows him to pretty much One-Hit KO any opponent under the right conditions. He is quickly killed off by Darth Nihilus, showing just how much more dangerous the latter is after draining the Wyvern's essence.
White Fang Grunts
White Fang Grunts
Debut: Nihilus
The rank-and-file of the White Fang.- Faceless Goons: Their rank-and-file grunts wear Grimm masks which obscure their faces.
- Mooks: The White Fang grunts serve as these, acting as the rank-and-file infantry who are sent out to fight the heroes.
- Robbing the Dead: A pair of White Fang grunts are shown looting the bodies of dead students during the Battle of Beacon.
Salem's Forces
A secret cabal led by a mysterious being known as Salem. They seek to destroy the Huntsmen Academies and end civilization on Remnant as we know it. Cinder is one of their members. Salem
Salem
Ozpin's archenemy and the ruler of the Grimm.- Admiring the Abomination: Is deeply impressed by Nihilus power and is eager to get her hands on it.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Cinder is afraid of her and is unwilling to go against her even while having the Fall Maiden's powers.
- Arch-Enemy: She is the being that Ozpin has devoted his countless lives to fighting. He does not want to see her join forces with Nihilus and considers that to be the worst case scenario, hence why he's determined to keep Nihilus' existence a secret from her as long as possible.
- The Beastmaster: She is the master of all Grimm and has the power to control them.
- The Dreaded: To Ozpin's group. Qrow won't even say her name and instead refers to Salem as "Her".
- Evil Learns of Outside Context: At the end of the story, she learns of Darth Nihilus' existence from Cinder's footage and is so impressed by his power that she puts her original plans on hold while sending out her minions to dig up any information they can find about the Mask of Nihilus.
- The Ghost: Since she canonically doesn't appear until the end of Volume 3, she doesn't make an appearance until the epilogue and the reader only hears about her from other characters.
- Greater-Scope Villain: She's one of the greatest threats to humanity's existence and Cinder is ultimately just carrying out her orders. However, she has yet to make an actual appearance and isn't directly involved in the plot.
- Maker of Monsters: She has a habit of experimenting around with Grimm and creating her own personal monstrosities. While pondering whether Nihilus is one of Salem's experiments, Cinder recalls how she once created a flying Grimm whale.
- Not Me This Time: Upon hearing about how Jaune is supposedly possessed by the "spirit of a magic warlord who was turned into a Grimm", Qrow and Ironwood immediately suspect that Salem may be involved somehow. Ozpin dismisses it, reasoning that if Salem had the same Super-Empowering ability that he did, she would've already created her own equivalent of the Maidens by now, rather than waste it on some random teenager.
- Secret War: Is fighting one against Ozpin.
- Wicked Witch: Cinder internally refers to her as an "unstoppable witch" at one point.
Tyrian
Tyrian
A sociopath who Cinder has worked with in the past.- Bullying a Dragon: He expresses an eagerness to fight Darth Nihilus even after watching footage of him tearing through a dozen Huntsmen and pulling down an airship from the sky. Even Salem considers the idea foolish and straight-up tells Tyrian that he would've died had he gotten his wish.
- The Ghost: He's mentioned in "Vytal" by Cinder when she compares him with Jaune under the Dark Side's influence.
- Slasher Smile: Delivers one when Salem tells him to bring her the new Fall Maiden (Ruby) and gives him permission to kill anyone that gets in his way.
- The Sociopath: Is explicitly called a sociopath by Cinder and she finds Jaune's behavior during the Amity Tournament, namely his lack of empathy and sadism, similar to Tyrian's.
Cinder Fall
See Cinder's Faction above for more details on her.
Arthur Watts
- Speak Ill of the Dead: After Cinder's plan fails and she is killed, he doesn't hesitate to call her a petulant child who wasn't ready for the responsibility that was given to her. Salem chastises him for this and warns him to not be so disrespectful to dead.
Other Antagonists
Antagonists who are either unaligned or don't belong to any of the categories listed above. Darth Nihilus
Team CRDL
Team CRDL
- Dirty Coward: While retreating when faced with a terentatek is understandable, they don't even bother trying to provide support when back-up finally does arrive and instead just continue to flee in terror.
- Satellite Character: The rest of CRDL is almost always seen hanging around Cardin and their characterization doesn't go beyond being Cardin's lackeys.
Cardin Winchester
Species: Human (Remnantian)
Debut: Initiation
The leader of team CRDL. He's a school bully who develops an enmity with Jaune during his early days at Beacon.- Blackmail Backfire: His attempt to blackmail Jaune with the knowledge that his transcripts were forged fails when Jaune unknowingly uses the Jedi mind trick to compel Cardin to keep the information to himself.
- Bullying a Dragon: He continues to try messing with Jaune even after nearly getting Force-choked to death by him.
- Butt-Monkey: He is nearly Force-choked to death, mind tricked twice, gets detention after accidentally flicking a paper football at his professor, and is nearly killed by a terentatek, only to be rescued by his hated enemy.
- Break the Haughty: Cardin undergoes this as he is nearly choked out by Jaune during sparring and later nearly killed by the terentatek.
- Carry a Big Stick: His weapon of choice is a large mace.
- Mind-Control Eyes: While under the influence of Jaune's mind trick, Cardin's eyes are described as looking like they're glazed over.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Even though Jaune is running circles around him for most of their sparring match, Cardin still manages to take Jaune by surprise when he lets his guard down, demonstrating that he's not a pushover.
- Starter Villain: For Jaune.
- Weak-Willed: He's so weak-willed that a novice like Jaune is able to mind trick him without even realizing it.
The Terentatek
The Terentatek
Species: Terentatek
Debut: Fear
A powerful monster that feasts on the blood of Force-sensitives and is most active when the Dark Side is at its strongest. Unlike the Grimm which are physical manifestations of the Dark Side, the terentatek is a type of Sithspawn.noteThis particular terentatek had been hibernating beneath Forever Fall for an undisclosed amount of time. During Goodwitch's field trip to Forever Fall, it awoke from its deep slumber after sensing the Dark Side's presence radiating off Jaune and began hunting him. The terentatek was eventually killed following a prolonged battle with the combined forces of Goodwitch, JNPR, and RWBY.
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: A single slash from its claws rips through Jaune's Aura and armored chestplate like they were made of tissue paper.
- Adaptational Badass: Although capable of posing a serious threat to even Jedi Masters, terentateks could still be killed through conventional means in the KOTOR games and source material states that three Jedi were often deemed enough to deal with one terentatek. This terentatek has enhanced durability that allows it shrug off anything short of a high-calibur machine gun, demonstrates Super-Strength superior to Yang's, and is shown to overpower multiple superhuman opponents with ease.
- Adaptational Origin Connection: Downplayed. In the Legends continuity, terentateks were created by Sith alchemists. Nihilus's comments about Sithspawn in "Chaos" indicate that this backstory is still largely true for the most part. However, this particular terentatek was created by the God of Darkness, implying that the Celestials were ultimately responsible for creating the first terentateks.
- Alien Blood: The terentatek's blood is described as being green and poisonous.
- All There in the Manual: Most of the information known about the terentatek's origins comes from the author's notes or in his responses to reviewers on FFN.
- Always a Bigger Fish: It's the one of the few beings on Remnant more powerful and dangerous than a Force-sensitive being possessed by Nihilus.
- Ancient Evil: The terentatek in Forever Fall had been slumbering underground for centuries, waiting to be reawoken by the Dark Side's resurgence.
- Ax-Crazy: While the terentatek does have a taste for Force-users, it doesn't actually need food to survive and takes a sadistic pleasure in killing those it considers prey.
- Climax Boss: For the first arc. The terentatek is fought near the end of the Arc 1 where it nearly kills Jaune and forces him to unlock his Force Healing to survive. It's appearance also leads Jaune to the realization that his powers aren't a result of his Semblance.
- Close-Range Combatant: The terentatek excels at close-range combat, outmatching even the likes of Pyrrha Nikos and Yang with its sheer power and viciousness. Goodwitch notices this as well and orders the less physically powerful members of RWBY and JNPR to fight at long-range during their battle against it. Throughout its battle, Pyrrha, Yang, and Nora are unable to get more than two hits in before having to retreat due to how dangerous fighting the terentatek in close promixity is.
- The Corruption: The terentatek was once a regular animal that was mutated into an unstoppable killing machine by the Dark Side.
- David vs. Goliath: The terentatek's battle with Glynda, Team JNPR, and Team RWBY is portrayed like this. The terentatek is far larger, stronger, and better armored than any of the heroes present, yet moves at a lumbering speed. The heroes are comparatively lighter and faster, able to outrun and dodge the terentatek's slow-moving attacks but are unable to inflict any meaningful damage on their own. Meanwhile, it's clear a single hit from the terentatek would instantly kill anyone outside of a physical powerhouse like Yang.
- Death Cry Echo: Lets out one in its final moments as it lays on the ground dying from its wounds.
- Detect Evil: It can sense the presence of the Dark Side and its favorite prey are those who have fallen under the Dark Side's influence.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: The terentatek is the only serious antagonist that isn't connected to the story's Big Bad Ensemble. There was no build-up or foreshadowing to its existence prior to the chapter where it appears and dies. It's essentially a living plot device whose purpose is to make Jaune unlock his Force healing. After the creature is killed, it is never mentioned again in the story outside of a single conversation between Ozpin and Jaune in the chapter immediately following its death.
- The Dreaded: Force-users are justifiably terrified of terentateks since they're mutated apex predators that feed solely on Force-sensitives and are immune to Force abilities. Even Nihilus is scared of this thing, as the first reaction Jaune (who had Nihilus's memories implanted in him) has upon seeing a terentatek in Forever Fall was to go Oh, Crap!.
- Evil Is Bigger: At 3-4 meters tall, it towers over the heroes.
- Evil Takes a Nap: This particular terentatek had been hibernating underground for hundreds of years due to the Dark Side's absence. It wakes up after sensing the Dark Side radiating from Jaune.
- Fangs Are Evil: One of its most distinctive features is its large pair of tusks.
- Fantasy Aliens: Although RWBY was already considered Science Fantasy, the setting's sci-fi elements came from Remnant's advanced technology and the story's themes and elements are heavily geared towards fantasy. The terentatek is an extraterrestrial monster from outside of Remnant who appears in a setting with characters who are completely oblivious to the existence of aliens.
- The Force Is Strong with This One: It's able to sense the presence of Darksiders as well as how strong they are even while dormant underground. Jaune's Force signature was so powerful in the Dark Side that the terentatek sensed a "disturbance" in the Force and awoke from its underground hibernation.
- Four-Fingered Hands: The terentatek has four claws on each of its arms.
- Hero Killer: In response to a reviewer, the author mentions how a terentatek is capable of killing groups of Jedi single-handedly.
- Horrifying the Horror: The terentatek is able to evoke fear from Nihilus, who treats the beast with a mix of terror and respect.
- Immune to Bullets: Played with, its armored hide is capable of shrugging off blaster bolts with no problem.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Near the end of the battle, it gets impaled through the chest by a massive stone spear telekinetically formed by Glynda and Jaune.
- Implacable Man: The moment it senses the Dark Side from Jaune, it digs itself out of its underground hibernation and makes a beeline for him, tearing apart anything that gets in its way.
- It Can Think: One of the terentatek's most frightening traits is its adaptive intelligence, which is on full display during its battle with Team JNPR. When it's arm gets stuck in the ground, it sets up a Defensive Feint Trap by waiting for Pyrrha and Nora to drop their guard and leap at it, before abruptly turning it's body and using the spikes on its back to attempt an Inertial Impalement. When the girls panic and break off their attack, it focuses all its attacks on the strongest fighter (Pyrrha) while she's off-balance. When The Cavalry arrives in the form of Goodwitch and Team RWBY, the terentatek immediately adopts a defensive fighting style, recognizing that its prey now has a numerical advantage and spends the remainder of the fight patiently trying to pick off the heroes one-by-one.
- The Juggernaut: It's a relentless mutated super predator strong enough to destroy Jaune's Aura bank in one hit and has an armored hide that can tank anything short of aircraft-mounted weaponry. The terentatek spends the majority of its battle shrugging off nearly everything the heroes try to throw at it. The creature even survives getting shot by a 20mm chain gun firing hundreds of Dust rounds per second and being blown up by a barrage of high-yield missiles.
- Knight of Cerebus: The terentatek takes things to a whole new level once it appears and it turns a heartwarming moment during a school field trip into a desperate struggle for survival. For teams JNPR and RWBY, the terentatek is the first serious threat they've faced that outclasses them in almost every way. If either Goodwitch or Ash hadn't been present, the terentatek would have very easily killed them all. It's appearance also marks the starting point of Jaune's descent into the Dark Side as he starts to rely more on The Power of Hate in the following chapters.
- Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Since the creature hunts Force-sensitives, its body is resistant to Force-related attacks. It's able to shrug off Jaune's strongest Force push with little effort.
- Mighty Glacier: The terentatek is rather cumbersome in its movement due its heavily-armored carapace, meaning that it can't keep up with the speed of its nimbler Huntsmen opponents. At the same time, none of Team RWBY or JNPR's attacks have any effect on it and the creature's physical strength is so great that a single punch instantly overloads Yang's Energy Absorption and smashes through her Aura.
- Monster of the Week: It only appears in one chapter, where it menaces the heroes before being killed off.
- The Needless: Like the Grimm, terentateks don't need food or air to survive. The one that attacks Jaune in Forever Fall had been hibernating for centuries and only awoke after sensing the Dark Side from Jaune.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: The amount of punishment that this thing can take is unreal. Despite going up against super-powered opponents who are used to fighting monsters and fight on an entirely different level than the Jedi, the terentatek is able to survive everything that Glynda Goodwitch, Team JNPR, and Team RWBY try to throw at it. Unlike the natives of Remnant, the terentatek doesn't have Aura as an excuse for how it's able to tank so much damage and the only explanation ever given is that it has highly durable natural armor. Getting slammed in the face by Nora's Magnhild barely fazes it. Bullets, bladed weapons, and grenades are likewise ineffective. Having boulders and ice rocks smashed on its head only leaves it stunned for a few seconds. It even continues standing after being peppered with hundreds of Dust rounds fired from a 20mm chain gun, followed by a barrage of aircraft-mounted missiles. It's because of this invulnerability that even after Jaune and Glynda finally kill it, the remaining members of Teams RWBY and JNPR continue shooting at its corpse just to Make Sure He's Dead.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Nothing about the terentatek's origins are ever revealed in the story. Questions like where it came from, how it ended up on Remnant, and whether there are other terentateks present on Remnant are never answered. Although most of the terentatek's past is later revealed in the author's notes, it's never brought up in the main story.
- One-Hit KO: The terentatek is so absurdly strong that a swipe from its claws nearly kills Jaune and it later knocks Yang out of a fight with one punch. It's also stated that Jaune and Yang got off relatively easy and that a hit from the creature would instantly kill anybody else, regardless of their Aura levels.
- Outside-Context Problem: For the student huntsmen of Beacon Academy. Most of the students are used to fighting Grimm and the occasional human criminal. The terentatek is a vicious monster that is not a Grimm but is every bit as dangerous. Also unlike the Grimm, its body doesn't disintegrate upon death.
- Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Ultimately has very little to do with the main plot and it could easily have been switched out with an ancient Grimm and nothing would have really changed.
- Poisonous Person: The terentatek's blood is highly poisonous and its claws are also tipped with the same type of poison in its blood.
- Psychic Radar: It can sense the presence of Force-users within its vicinity and is stirred from its hibernation after sensing Jaune's presence in Forever Fall. It later uses this ability to track down Jaune's exact location during its hunt for him.
- Rasputinian Death: The terentatek is shot with hundreds of high-caliber bullets, blown up by several high-yield missiles, and then hit by the combined firepower of JNPR and RWBY. It finally dies after being impaled by a giant stone javelin formed by the combined telekinesis of Glynda and Jaune. And even then, the students still shoot its corpse into a bloody pulp just to be sure.
- Running on All Fours: While chasing after Cardin, the terentatek uses all four of its limbs to run faster.
- Slasher Smile: After it no-sells Jaune's most powerful Force push, it gives him a chilling smile before using its claws to almost rip him in half.
- Small Role, Big Impact: It only appears for one chapter before being killed. However, the creature nearly disembowels Jaune, forcing him to unlock his Force healing ability and driving him deeper into the Dark Side.
- Spanner in the Works: Nearly became one to Darth Nihilus. Nihilus had no idea that a terentatek was present on Remnant and the creature nearly kills Jaune, the person Nihilus was planning to use as a host.
- Spikes of Villainy: Its armored carapace is covered in spikes, which it uses against Pyrrha and Nora during their fight.
- Super Prototype: According to the author, the terentatek was created by the God of Darkness as a prototype for the Grimm. Despite being a prototype, its vastly more powerful than the majority of its successor species and Ozpin compares its strength to that of ancient Grimm.
- Super-Strength: The terentatek possesses an unparalleled level of strength. It's able to break Jaune's Aura (which is established to be unusually large) with one strike of its claws. When Yang attempted to engage in a Punch Parry with it, the monster's punch was strong enough to overload her Semblance, instantly shatter her arm, and send her body flying through a tree.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: It replaces the Ursa Major as the monster that attacks team CRDL and forces Jaune to save Cardin's life. It also shares some visible similarities with an Ursa Major, being of similar size and possessing similar Spikes of Doom.
- Time Abyss: If
Word of God is to be believed, the terentatek residing in Forever Fall predates even Ozma and Salem in age. It was created by the God of Darkness back when he was experimenting around with various Dark Side creatures as part of his attempt to create the Grimm. - Too Powerful to Live: The terentatek is a nigh-unstoppable killing machine capable of tanking almost any attack, is strong enough to one-shot nearly every fighter on Remnant, possesses a natural immunity to the Force (and magic by extension), and is an Implacable Man bent on killing Jaune. Had it not perished in the chapter where it debuts, it would've quickly overshadowed Nihilus as the biggest threat to the setting and shifted the story's focus away from Nihilus's corrupting influence on Jaune.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Despite its height, its legs are described as short and stubby and its arms are so long that it moves around on all four limbs.
- Technicolor Toxin: The terentatek's poison is colored green.
- Ultraterrestrials: While its species are alien to Remnant, this particular individual was actually created by the God of Darkness as a prototype for the Grimm, according to Word of God.
- The Voiceless: Doesn't make any vocal sounds for nearly the entirety of its appearance. The one exception is a death cry when it is killed.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: It's the first enemy that Jaune can't just overpower with brute force and it comes dangerously close to killing him, showing that even with Force-sensitivity and Nihilus's mask, Jaune isn't invincible.
- The Worf Effect: The terentatek elicits an Oh, Crap! from Nihilus, easily one-shots powerhouses like Yang and Pyrrha, and even Glynda's attacks do little more than piss it off. In a one-on-eight match against teams JNPR, RWBY, and Goodwitch, the terentatek is shown to be winning the fight until the Bullhead arrives.
- Wrestler in All of Us: During its battle with Pyrrha and Nora, the terentatek catches Pyrrha off-guard by using its arm to clothesline her mid-air.
