Blake had fled, making it clear she couldn't trust him to change. She thought him inhuman, lost, a beast. He was going to prove her wrong. Getting into Beacon was hard enough, but fitting in would be harder still. All those... humans. Will a man fuelled by hate truly be able to let go and move on; or is suffering the only thing Adam Taurus can ever bring to those around him?
— Fanfiction Dot Net summary.
The Beast of Beacon is a RWBY fanfiction written by Coeur Al'Aran. It is set in an alternate timeline in which Adam Taurus decided to follow Blake after her departure from the White Fang and join Beacon Academy himself. Throughout the story he attempts to fit into an unfamiliar environment in hopes of reconciling with his former partner.
Complete as of October 5, 2021. Can be read here.
This work contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism:
- The premise of the story has this as a basis; instead of continuing his life of terrorism, Adam joins Beacon Academy as a Huntsman-in-training. His motive for doing so isn't exactly heroic, but it's still leagues better than what his canon self devolved into.
- Downplayed with Jaune. He is still the same as he is in canon, but instead of making excuses for bullies like Cardin he tries to stand up for himself and others who are being bullied, like Adam, as he comes to Adam's defence against bullies in chapter 17.
- Downplayed with Weiss as well. She is just as haughty, and ignorant as she was in Volume 1, but after some time to learn to understand Adam, they warm up to each other enough to tolerate one another. She also is the first to rise to his defense during a school brawl, and this is despite knowing full-well Adam is a SDC loathing faunus whereas Canon!Weiss had to discover Blake was such.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed in regards to certain characters, whose actions only come off as jerkish from the eyes of others unaware of Adam's past, and generally have good reasons to act hostile towards him.
- Glynda keeps very strict eyes on Adam and swiftly reacts whenever he so much as hints at using violence, even if it's for self-defense. It gets to the point that Ruby directly accuses Glynda of racism. What Ruby doesn't know is that Adam is an ex-terrorist whose violent nature actually has a body count.note
- While Coeur has always characterized Coco with a bit of an abrasive and nasty attitude, that's usually overshadowed by her genuine bold, caring and almost sisterly nature. This story takes from Adam's perspective though, who leaves the impression of being an imposing and violent underclassman looking to bully Coco's partner. Because of this, she treats him very harshly, and their first meeting is her breaking his nose after thinking he was harassing Velvet. This unfortunately taints her view on his teammates as well.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Adam retains his abrasive personality, but he has reasons for his past actions and keeps himself from falling into his canon mindset. He actually makes an effort to get along with his team and the people around him; he befriends Pyrrha and even finds himself standing up for Weiss on a couple of occasions, much to his own shock.
- Adapted Out: Justified in-story:
- While Coeur’s habit of distilling the timeline is ever-present, the story tellingly omits the White Fang meeting subplot, implicitly because without Blake, the team isn’t driven to investigate the Fang and Torchwick’s activities (beyond Adam’s prior sabotaging).
- As of Chapter 27 and the school dance, Penny and Team SSSN have yet to appear due to their first meetings not happening.
- Alternate Universe Fic: After Blake's abandonment of him and the White Fang during the events of the Black trailer, Adam, instead of staying with the Fang and going insane with rage, follows Blake to Beacon and enrolls himself to try and prove her disillusionment with him wrong.
- Ascended Extra: Tsune, Coeur's original character who works as a nurse at Beacon. She plays very small role In Coeur's previous stories,but here's she's one of rare people that knows Adam's secret and can give him advices that other characters can't.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Adam's combat sense and expertise are such that he can hold his own against Cinder even while trapped in an illusion by Emerald, just by using tactical logic to counterattack and put himself in a position where seeing and hearing her are less vital.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Played with. Adam has since lost any and all respect and affection he once had for Blake when she refuses to do anything when he was assaulted by a bunch of racist students in the cafeteria (which she was responsible for starting in the first place) and Blake clearly wants nothing more to do with him. Her opinion has changed some over time, the most poignant events being when she sees him willingly wear a shock collar, something the old Adam would rather die than allow happen to him and when Cinder hijacks it during his match with Pyrrha. In the latter event, she nearly goes to see him and is only stopped by Jaune saying it would be best to let Adam's team look after him.
- Bedmate Reveal: After a night out clubbing, Adam wakes up in a hotel room to find Yang both naked and in bed with him.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Yang jokes about this in regards to Adam and Weiss, to the horror of both.
- Better the Devil You Know: Ozpin is reluctant to accept Adam as a student, but his hands are tied because the alternative (Adam falling back into terrorism) would be far worse; at least Adam can be kept under surveillance at Beacon Academy.
- Big Damn Heroes: Pyrrha in Chapter 35. She uses her Semblance to tear Adam's shock collar apart when Cinder hijacks it, and saves him from being shocked to death.
- Big Damn Kiss: In Chapter 41, after Adam is able to leave the courthouse following the judge's ruling, Yang kisses him. She does it right as the reporters are leaving the courthouse, catching the two in the act and promptly photographing for all the world to see.
- Big Sister Instinct: Winter makes it very clear to Adam that, if he does anything to Weiss, she will make him regret it. Neo (unintentionally) takes full advantage of this by creating an illusion of Adam holding Wilt to Weiss' neck, which prompts her to attack him.
- Bittersweet Ending: While Adam is ruled innocent in Ozpin's murder, the court still finds him guilty of all his actions as a member of the White Fang and is sentenced to 65 years in a maximum security prison with no chance for parole or early release for good behavior. The reason this doesn't go into Downer Ending territory is that the judge in charge of his case suspends his sentence for fourteen years, having Adam spend four years in Beacon and the remaining ten as a Huntsman in Vale under strict watch.
- Broken Pedestal: Atlas as a whole, but more personally Winter for Weiss. Every chapter seem to punch a new hole in Weiss' respect for her country and family. Since Ironwood puts a literal shock collar on Adam, she's made her disappointment and anger perfectly clear to Winter.
- Bullying a Dragon: Adam, as a Faunus, becomes a target of bullying from Team CRDL as well as some other human students. A desire to prove a point is the only thing preventing Adam from settling this problem violently. Once he decides enough is enough, he challenges a team of upperclassmen (the openly racist Team CRMN) by himself and methodically curb-stomps all four of them.
- Cassandra Truth: In Chapter 13, when Blake sees Ruby bonding with Adam to the point she willingly hugs him, and he accepts it, she thinks Adam is manipulating her like he did with her when they were still with the White Fang. Unbeknownst to her, Adam isn't doing that and, to his surprise, he enjoyed his time with Ruby.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Jaune; he helps Adam out at Forever Fall after the latter’s framed for dropping his own sap jar (while Blake, who witnessed Team CRMN do it, says nothing out of self-preservation), and is the first outside of Team RYST to defend him when he’s accosted at the cafeteria (with Blake again being responsible). Though Adam initially resents the teen for being Blake’s partner, it’s not lost on him that the rest of Blake’s team followed Jaune’s example while she stood by and watched.
- Commonality Connection: Ruby initially gravitates towards Adam based solely on the fact that he has a rose theme and a cool weapon. It isn't mutual at first, but in turn he starts to tolerate her because it gives him someone to side with against Weiss.
- Condescending Compassion: Following Adam’s outing in the news, Coco tells Yang and Ruby that CFVY never had an issue with them as a whole, just Adam, and that they know Team RYST were “victims” of that “bastard” as well... along with upsetting Ruby further, her words aggravate Yang until she snaps back at Coco, livid at her presumptions on the team’s nature.
- Country Matters: When Yang encounters Coco and Yatsuhashi confronting Adam some time after Coco broke Adam's nose, Yang uses this insult against Coco, and Adam is surprised at her choice of slur.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: As a warrior significantly above the level of most featured characters, Adam tends to deliver these.
- In the opening chapter, Adam dispatches Roman Torchwick with very little effort and in a span of several seconds.
- The Nevermore that shows up in Initiation took the effort of soon-to-be-Team RWBY to bring down. Adam's Semblance allows him to decapitate the beast in a fraction of the time.
- Adam's "spars" against Weiss. Though not directly described, Weiss recalls getting knocked around like a ping-pong ball, among other similar sensations. Adam calls it a warm-up for Pyrrha, who is able to challenge him properly.
- Cynical Mentor: Blake, a jaded former terrorist, reluctantly takes this role for her partner Jaune, if only to stop him seeking lessons from Adam.
- Death by Adaptation: Cinder dies at Yang and Adam's hands in Chapter 40.
- Demoted to Extra: Meta case with Jaune, who usually features heavily in Coeur’s stories being a tertiary character.
- Did You Just Have Sex?: Ruby and Weiss wonder this when Adam shows up in a good mood in Chapter 16 after a late-night sparring session with Yang. The question rattles Yang more than Adam as both deny the accusation. Adam snarks that he could stop having good moods if they're so off-putting, to which Weiss quickly backpedals.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Weiss insists that the rumours about the Schnee Dust Company’s abuse of workers are, at best, exaggerated slander and libel (knowing her father’s corruption, but not its extent). She says this in refutation to Adam Taurus when he alleges such.
- Team RYST and Pyrrha are worried about the fact that Adam is seemingly reluctant to confront his bullies, ignorant to the fact that he has faced far worse than schoolyard bullying and that him fighting back would be the worst case scenario.
- Towards the end of Chapter 25, Adam dismisses the possibility of anyone falling in love with him, not aware that Yang has spent the past several chapters agonizing over having feelings for Adam.
- Et Tu, Brute?: It's glaringly obvious that Adam is extremely hurt by Blake betraying him and abandoning the White Fang. Hell, one of the major reasons Adam is even trying to redeem himself is just to prove her wrong about him being a monster. This became even worse in chapter 17, where Adam gets beaten up by racist students in front of everyone, Blake (who, must be pointed out, has been responsible for this) just lets it happen. After the brawl, he finally lets out his pent-up, hurt feeling:Adam: If you were the one being attacked, no force on Remnant would have stopped me coming to your defense. I wouldn't have stood and watched. To think I'd see the day a Schnee would stand up for me when you wouldn't.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- As most of Beacon's Faunus students are aware of Adam being a former member of the White Fang, they understandably do their best to avoid interacting with him as seen with Velvet. That being said, even they are willing to rush to Adam's defense when he's being beaten by a bunch of racist students.
- Blake isn't willing to concede anything to Adam and is prepared to stay out of the above beating... but then one of the attackers threatens to reveal Adam's face, and she instantly moves to try and stop it. Adam starts fighting back himself before she can get far, though, and shortly the attack is stopped by the teachers' arrival.
- As apprehensive as Qrow is about trusting Adam, given his bloody history with the White Fang, even he is disgusted by Ironwood slapping a shock collar to his neck, claiming Adam does not deserve such treatment after his actions against his former allies.
- In Chapter 35, despite the vast majority of the public being apprehensive about Adam participating in the Vytal Festival, a good majority of the crowd is very quick to blow into a near riot against Atlas and Ironwood when Adam's shock collar activates in the middle of his match with Pyrrha in spite of the two clearly having fun, and Adam being no threat to anyone present.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: While playing a game, Team RYST (and Pyrrha) start griping about how all the Faunus cards and factions in the game are some of the worst, and how it's impossible to win while playing it with several of the cards having Unfortunate Names. The realization that it was designed like this and made it into a finished product makes them realize that the Fantastic Racism against Faunus runs deeper and in more subtle ways then they were previously aware of.
- Extreme Doormat: Adam's opinion of Velvet; a senior huntress student that could wipe the floor with her bullies, but doesn't have enough self respect to defend herself.
- Fantastic Racism: Since the story is about Adam, it shows the racism that Faunus have to deal with every day, and how Adam himself deals with it too.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Adam doesn't recognize Cinder at the CCT, because of the change in wardrobe and because their first meeting failed to make an impression on him (he deserted the White Fang before what would have been the second, more eventful meeting).
- For Want Of A Nail: The plot is jumpstarted by Adam going to Beacon, hoping to prove Blake is wrong about him, rather than staying with the White Fang. Things change as such:
- Adam almost immediately pursues Blake instead of returning to his terrorist operations. As such, he doesn't stick around long enough to see Cinder return and threaten the White Fang into submission. He doesn't have any idea who she is or why the Fang is behaving so differently of late.
- Adam is shopping at “From Dust ‘Til Dawn” the night of Torchwick’s robbery, and apprehends him before Cinder even arrives (though see In Spite of a Nail).
- Adam intervenes on Ruby and Weiss’ first meeting, so Blake avoids them by proxy through the day.
- The team compositions are changed; Blake snags Jaune as a partner before even landing to ensure she doesn’t partner with Adam, while Ruby/Adam and Yang/Weiss pair off.
- Due to her fame, Pyrrha doesn’t mesh well with a team that puts her on a pedestal; she and Adam bond over their mutual prowess and shared respect, which sees her bond with Team RYST. Jaune, Nora and Ren don’t encounter them during Initiation (as Adam kills the Giant Nevermore too soon for them to intervene), and because Blake avoids Adam their interactions are limited. Beyond Pyrrha, Team RYST hasn’t developed strong friendships in the student body owing to Adam’s presence, and how different people react to him and his personality.
- The Ghost: Pyrrha’s three teammates aren’t so much as described, much less identified onscreen.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: While Adam isn't exactly evil anymore, you would be hard pressed to find those who actually believe his Heel–Face Turn is genuine. Blake especially doesn't believe it, claiming it's impossible for him to change in spite of the fact that the whole reason Adam came to Beacon is to prove her wrong. There are some who are willing to give him the benefit of a doubt, such as Ozpin and Qrow. By far the worst offenders are Ironwood and Winter, the latter of which has serious problems with him being on the same team as her sister. When Adam is outed as a former White Fang member to the public, Ironwood demands either Adam be given over to Atlas or be placed under strict observation with a shock collar for good measure. The latter requirement disgusts Qrow and horrifies Weiss.
- Gilligan Cut: Chapter 25 consists largely of a discussion between Adam and Weiss, ending with Weiss grumbling about how emotionally closed-off he is and declaring "I pity the poor fool who ends up falling in love with you", which Adam dismisses as unlikely to happen. Naturally, the very next scene is Yang, who we've spent the last several chapters watching agonize over her feelings for Adam, telling Ruby she thinks she likes him.
- Hypocritical Humor: For all the times Adam chews out Velvet for refusing to face her enemies, he dreads facing his teammates after his Wounded Gazelle Gambit to the point that he considers staying in the infirmary.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite Roman Torchwick’s arrest in Chapter 1, he’s out of prison and back to his canon storyline before long.
- Internal Reveal:
- In Chapter 13, after Ruby has stressed to Adam that she needs to understand where his anger at Weiss is coming from, he decides to discreetly show her his SDC brand.
- In Chapter 20, after having drunken sex with Yang, she points out he took his bandages off the previous night, so she also knows about it.
- In Chapter 23 Weiss, concerned about her sister’s familiarity with Adam, digs up a Mistral article connecting him to the White Fang; in Chapter 24, she interrogates him over his past when he’s high-strung from working with her sister, leading to his ripping the bandage off to reveal the brand to her.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- Adam regards Weiss to be this, considering her naive and ignorant rather than actively malicious towards Faunus.
- Winter is also this, but not towards Adam, who she has all the reason in the world to distrust. She openly questions the justification of him fighting other students, not knowing that he was defending himself against racists. The problem is that she does this in front of Ruby and Weiss, both of whom have already warmed up considerably to Adam. Ruby ends up associating her with the many racists they've have had run-ins with, while Weiss (who desperately hopes that's not the case) is appalled that even Winter would openly antagonise Adam. Winter is similarly shocked that Weiss would openly defend him.
- It's All My Fault: Adam feels this way after he learns the White Fang is attacking Vale. He believes that, if he had stayed instead of following Blake to Beacon, he would be the leading the attack, but at the very least he could have made it less violent.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Adam may have been a violent terrorist in the past, but he brings up a number of valid points.
- He is completely right when he says Glynda's treatment of him could be Mistaken for Racist; sure enough, she eventually catches an accusation of such from Ruby.
- His criticism of Velvet's submissive nature is very much valid. Allowing bullies to push her around does absolutely nothing to deter them, and waiting for her teammates to interfere just drags more people into the conflict. Furthermore, Coco attacking the bullies doesn't eliminate the root of the problem; all it does is encourage them to try again when Velvet's alone since she won't fight back. That is, if they haven't moved on to bullying another Faunus.
- While there are some productive lessons in collecting sap, Adam is completely justified in thinking it's a job not worth taking up the time of Huntsmen trainees. He correctly points out that a human settlement could be in the middle of a Grimm invasion and they, the future protectors of humanity, are out in Forever Fall taking sap from trees.
- Oobleck stating that he won't stand up for racism in his class falls flat on Adam, who thinks actions speak louder than words. He believes that Oobleck won't truly act on his word that he will stop any racism he sees in his class... because that's what a lot of people say to feel good about themselves; talking about how anti-racist they are but won't do anything to actually stop it. That said, Oobleck is as much a man of action as he is a man of words, and will do something if he sees any prejudice.
- While Adam is extreme, he is correct that Faunus have never been treated fairly. With the man who kept him essentially as a slave and branded him getting off scot-free, Tsune's own past of being what is essentially an exotic pet, Team CRMN's actions, and the way Faunus are abused by the SDC, it's not hard to see where he's coming from.
- He's once again right in his confrontation with Coco Adel in Chapter 16. She's honestly baffled that Adam thinks it's possible for a Faunus to discriminate against other Faunus. The thing is, there's a reason the Boomerang Bigot trope exists. It is entirely possible for a member of a race to either consciously or subconsciously discriminate against themselves. By either accepting, normalising and/or rationalising the prejudices of others, or actively putting others down because they don't want to be included in that group.
- In Chapter 31 Yang, who has just been subjected to pity from Coco over her team being “victims” of Adam, rips into both her for daring to judge Adam and into Velvet; she nastily, but not wholly-inaccurately, accuses the latter of being every bit the coward that Adam claims she is, refusing to stand up for herself and taking abuse while having her human friends fight her battles for her, and claiming that Coco sees and treats Velvet as more of a pet than a friend because of it.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Adam's not looking to make friends any time soon, but he is slowly becoming more tolerant of his team, even Weiss.
- Weiss might be frosty and aloof, but she doesn’t judge Adam for being a faunus (being more bewildered at his early belligerence toward her) and is the first to defend him from a racist attack in the cafeteria.
- Blake, too; she ultimately means well, but her complicated feelings towards Adam lead her to make terrible judgement calls. She trains her partner, Jaune herself out of genuine worry for him if he approaches Adam, and when she sees Yang’s growing feelings for him, shows her concern (if misplaced) by removing her bow and giving her side of the story.
- Kangaroo Court: Adam's trial is set up like this, with an entirely human jury, their lawyer doing a half-assed job of protecting him, and the judge shutting down Pyrrha's attempts to correct the prosecutor when she's asked to answer questions about Adam's character. When the court reconvenes, it happens an hour later, hardly enough time for the jury to come to a decision. In a surprising turn of events, while Adam will be be sentenced to jail, the next fourteen years of his life will be spent as a student of Beacon for the first four, and the remaining ten as a Huntsman.
- Karma Houdini: Beyond Adam and Blake’s own respective situations, this is discussed and addressed concerning different individuals, especially humans partaking in Fantastic Racism:
- The man who branded Adam was never punished, died surrounded by his loved ones and friends, and had a glowing obituary; highlighting the influence of those in power, the corruption in the SDC and Atlas, and the lack of concern that leads to such crimes not being exposed.
- Adam sets up Team CRMN to get both humiliated and disgraced when he beats them in a sanctioned match and provokes the last one standing to attack him while screaming slurs; the fact they are at worst suspended angers him, but as Tsune points out, he set them up to look worse than they actually were, tying the hands of the faculty who need to visibly punish them while trying to limit the damage. She also suggests other ways he could have achieved his goals to get their bullying to cease; it’s pointed out that their actions weren’t addressed before due to them mostly acting out of the faculty’s sight, making it hard to determine past misdeeds.
- The students who attack him in the cafeteria (based on a doctored video that looked like he and Yang were fighting, not sparring) are revealed to have past histories of racist behaviour behind closed doors; Ozpin responds by expelling the worst of them.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The exact team compositions are too key to the plot (and happen too early) to be spoiler-tagged.
- Like Brother and Sister: Ruby is increasingly looking up to Adam like an admiring, adoring little sister, and becomes emphatically angry and defensive on his behalf whenever she perceives injustice done to him; Yang also affirms this in a heart-to-heart with Adam. It’s deconstructed when this makes her unwilling to even hear Adam himself tell her about his shady past because she does not want to believe anything bad about him is true; Weiss later lampshades that Ruby is still immature in many ways.
- Locked Out of the Loop: The human students at Beacon don’t know of Adam’s terrorist past due to information being suppressed by the authorities. Nor is the SDC’s habit of branding Faunus workers widely known, and Adam is in no hurry to blow it wide open; in fact, as of Chapter 20: Weiss is the only member of Team RYST still unaware that the allegations of widespread corruption and rights abuse, particularly towards Faunus workers, are true (as both Ruby and Yang have seen Adam’s brand)... until Chapter 23 inverts it with her being the first to learn he was with the White Fang.
- Made a Slave: Adam was effectively a slave to the SDC years before the start of the story, which is where he got his brand. Tsune also mentions being sold as a slave during her childhood, as well as having done away with her slavers in a brutal manner.
- Meet the In-Laws: At the end of the story, when talking with Blake, Adam says Taiyang wants to speak with him after his and Yang's Big Damn Kiss was caught on camera.
- Mistaken for Racist:
- Glynda Goodwitch is justified in her rough treatment of Adam, a confirmed terrorist who is only trying to reform to prove a point to an ex, not because he wants to make up for his past crimes. She at best singles him out when trouble occurs, and at worst treats him as a ticking time bomb ready to kill anyone in range. The problem with this is that Adam's teammates (and pretty much every non-Faunus student) are completely oblivious to his criminal past, and have come to the conclusion that the only reason Glynda might be singling him out is for being a Faunus... at one point, when she walks in on a heated argument between him and Coco Adel, she immediately lays the fault on him for it, angering Yang when she won’t hear otherwise (as both Yang and Yatsuhashi bore witness); even Coco, who hates Adam well enough, is taken aback and baffled by Glynda’s active hostility towards him.
- Ironically Blake herself is a downplayed example. When a few racist bullies prank Adam by knocking his sap over and saying he dropped it, Adam tells Ms. Goodwitch they knocked it out of his hands. She asks Blake what she saw, to which she denies seeing anything, leading to the bullies congratulating her for playing along with their prank against a faunus.
- Downplayed with Team CRMN in that they made it obvious that they were racist assholes to begin with. Adam just made it look like they were a hell of a lot worse than they actually were.
- Same as Glynda, Winter Schnee is entirely justified in her suspicion of Adam and her worrying over him being in the same team as Weiss. She fought him personally in the past and is all too aware of his views on the Schnee family. To Weiss and Ruby however, her apparent suspicion comes over as thinly veiled racism.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Weiss thinks Adam is joking about coming to Beacon for a girl; after he convinces her that no, he’s not, she begins chortling in amused incredulity that Tsune was right (about him being hormonally-driven as most any man).
- Mythology Gag: Blake taking Pyrrha’s place as Jaune’s partner, while contextually justified, also alludes to them being a recurring romantic pair in Coeur’s works.
- Never My Fault: Blake has this attitude after she leaks a video of Adam and Yang fighting each other. This leads to Adam getting beaten up in the cafeteria by racist students, which eventually escalates into an all out brawl when more students come to Adam's defense. Blake rationalizes that the brawl is not her fault, but Adam's fault for following her to Beacon.
- Nice Guy: Most of the teams have at least one (Ruby for RYST, Jaune for ABRN, Pyrrha for her unnamed team)...
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Blake, in an attempt to try and get Adam out of Beacon, leaks an edited video of Adam and Yang's sparring match that makes it seem like he's ruthlessly beating her. The result is several racist students beating the crap out of him, which then escalates into a full-blown brawl between the racist students and the ones that rush to Adam's defense (including the rest of her own team).
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Adam and Pyrrha’s first spar ends in a ring out, leaving the former in a state of shocked, cool rage at the banality of it; the latter’s own disappointment with the outcome fortunately quells his frustration, and the two become training partners thereafter.
- Not Helping Your Case:
- All authority figures aware of Adam’s past are wary of him, but the most hostile ones (such as Glynda and Winter) simply make themselves look like racist jackasses by actively antagonising him; doing so in front of Team RYST merely makes them the targets of their ire.
- Blake’s attempts to remove Adam from Beacon - including turning a blind eye to Team CRMN harassing him and doctoring footage of him and Yang sparring - only cause tension in the student body and encourage the racists (who, being unaware that she’s a disguised faunus, think she’s one of them). Trying to warn Yang about him only convinces the other girl that she’s a passive-aggressive bitch with an unfounded chip against her own ex-boyfriend.
- Oh, Crap!: Blake panics when she realizes Adam has followed her to Beacon.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Adam replaced his mask with an eye-patch. That's it. Unsurprisingly, all the Faunus students, especially Blake, recognize him immediately.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Cinder's Villainous Breakdown is basically a temper tantrum over not getting the Fall Maiden powers. Adam sees her as a brat whining over not getting the toy they want.
- Rage Breaking Point: Exploited. Adam intentionally pushes Team CRMN's members to their breaking point so that one of them would spout racist drivel and brutally assault him in front of everyone resulting in public humiliation and potential suspension. It works exactly as he intended: Glynda calls the match, Adam throws down his sword, and the last remaining member attacks him anyway.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Ozpin gets a very balanced and (by Coeur's standards especially) positive portrayal. He handles the Adam situation as best he can by containing the former terrorist, gives a fairer judgment than anyone else, and acts to correct what he sees as problems in the system. While some actions he takes are questionable he has the interests of everyone under his care at heart.
- Pointedly, over time Ozpin becomes the one human authority figure that Adam trusts, which leads to a
potent scene for the two of them: with Adam’s outing creating a PR disaster, Ironwood and Winter (who would rather he be simply arrested for his past crimes) only concede to his being allowed to continue his studies if he’s heavily monitored... which includes the degrading demand he wear a shock collar (but all heavily protested by Qrow). Adam consents on the condition that Ozpin, not Winter, is the one to secure the collar, which the headmaster reluctantly agrees to do.
- Pointedly, over time Ozpin becomes the one human authority figure that Adam trusts, which leads to a
- Recognition Failure: None of the human students recognize Adam as one of the White Fang's deadliest members. The Faunus students do but keep quiet about it for their own reasons. This was explained as the media not giving his name outside the earliest broadcasts to deny the White Fang notoriety.
- Revealing Cover Up: The authorities in Atlas put a lot of effort into withholding anything about Adam, which as Weiss observes does not mean the information doesn’t exist: there are thousands of news articles deleted and/or blocked, and if you have enough information to search with...
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: While Coco is in the right to defend her teammate Velvet from Adam (which includes decking him when she catches him looming over her), she’s completely wrong about the context; Adam wasn’t threatening Velvet with physical violence but chewing her out for letting racist humans push her around, and prior to this had bailed her out from being harassed by Team CRMN (which given his reputation she was disinclined to be thankful for).
- Secret-Keeper: The Faunus students of Beacon unintentionally act as this. They know that Adam Taurus is a terrorist, but are reluctant to mention this fact to their fellow Huntsmen-in-training.
- Ship Sinking: While Coeur doesn't like spoiling pairings in his works, he went out of his way several times early on to confirm that this would never be an Adam/Blake story. He personally hates the pairing due to the abusive undertones (which he knew would turn many readers away), explaining why he broke his rule.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Team RYST comprises Adam Taurus, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long; all three have personalities that cause friction with each other. Team Leader Ruby Rose is barely able to hold them together at times; that said, they are developing into (at worst) Fire-Forged Friends.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Seeing Adam’s SDC brand makes Ruby sick with righteous anger and disgust, especially imagining the pain and horror he must have felt receiving it. She reflects that if Weiss turns out to be aware of such SDC practices, it would make it impossible for them to work as a team anymore.
- Weiss herself is horrified upon seeing it because not only does it reflect how her grandfather's legacy has been ruined by her father, but why so many Faunus extend their anger to her entire family.
- Tranquil Fury:
- Ruby in Chapter 13 is a mix of heartbroken, sickened, and livid when she learns of Adam’s branding.
- Ozpin in Chapter 17 stops the cafeteria brawl with a loud flash of magical energy, clearly incensed at the situation as he orders the instigators to come to his office and everyone else back to their dorms; he later assures Adam that at least two of the students, who admitted to other acts of racial discrimination, would be facing expulsion.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Actually subverted by Velvet; when Adam acts to protect her from CRMN, she points out that not only has he arguably exacerbated such prejudices through his White Fang activities (which include murder), his acting out against them could in turn make them bolder (As an aside, it’s been pointed out that he’s under strict watch by the staff, so he can’t act out physically without clear and incontrovertible provocation, if that).
- Unreliable Narrator: As per
Word of God, Adam’s perspective is biased and should not be taken as gospel; while there is much truth to what he says, many of his observations and claims (such as telling Yang Xiao Long that he was never abusive towards his former partner [Blake], apparently believing his own words) aren’t necessarily true. Chapter 23 highlights this as he hears from Yang that Blake (who confronted her over the nature of their relationship) considered him abusive; he is taken aback and horrified, wondering when he went too far without realising it. - Villain Respect:
- Adam reluctantly admits that Weiss's glyphs are incredibly useful, even if he still regards her fighting style to be lackluster.
- During Adam's fight with Team CRMN, he mentally compares them to Winter Schnee, using her as a benchmark for his opponents and praising her experience and tactics.
- Villainous Breakdown: Cinder really doesn't take it well when she sees Yang with the Fall Maiden powers, turning into a raving madwoman, claiming she was owed that power and it's supposed to be hers.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Played with regarding the broken relationship between Blake and Adam. After the incident in the cafeteria, Adam's lost respect he had for his former partner while Blake wants absolutely nothing to do with him, still believing he's a monster, although her opinion does get slightly better after she sees him wearing a shock collar. Despite the broken state of their friendship, it does not stop them from working incredibly well in Chapter 37.
- Wham Episode:
- Chapter 30. Adam’s forced to come clean to his team due to the White Fang’s blackmailing him, with Ruby refusing to hear it and Yang socking him; after he violently rejects the Fang, his identity is leaked the next day in the news.
- Chapter 38. While the Battle of Beacon is underway, Yang is taken by Ozpin to the vault and made the Fall Maiden.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Adam and Blake used to be close to one another, and Adam genuinely wants to prove her wrong that he's not the monster she thinks he's become. That changes during their time in Beacon, when Blake refuses to help him out when he's being subjected to the pranks of racist students. The final straw in what little friendship they had comes in Chapter 17 after Blake does nothing to stop a group of students from beating him.Adam: If you were the one being attacked, no force on Remnant would have stopped me coming to your defense. I wouldn't have stood and watched. To think I'd see the day a Schnee would stand up for me when you wouldn't.
Blake: We're nothing now, Adam. A-as far as I'm concerned, we don't know one another. We're complete strangers.
Adam: Fitting, I certainly don't know you anymore... - Worthy Opponent: Adam regards tournament fighter Pyrrha Nikos to be this among the first years, as the only one able to keep up with him. Pyrrha reciprocates the sentiment, as Adam is one of the few to push her past her own limits. When he gets in a fight with Team CRMN, he uses his past encounters with Winter Schnee as the benchmark, and most of what he thinks about her appears to be genuine praise for her skills and cunning.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Adam's plan for his spar with the racist Team CRMN, pushing them to their limits before allowing himself to be injured to come off as the victim of a hate-motivated assault. It works.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: During his match with Pyrrha in Chapter 35, when Yang is found safe and sound by Weiss and Winter, the two decide to indulge themselves and fight for real, something Pyrrha is very happy to do with the challenge Adam gives her. That joy quickly turns to horror when his shock collar gets hijacked by Cinder in the middle of the match.
- You Monster!: Velvet calls Adam out as one for his White Fang past, while protesting his protecting her from Team CRMN.
