Warning: Spoilers from the entire series are unmarked. Read at your own risk.
Iron Woobie:
- Ruby is the young, optimistic, and cheerful leader of Team RWBY. She loses an eye when she recklessly tries to fight Neo. Her team splits up after the Fall of Beacon. She suffers from flashbacks and panics when a Grimm jabs at her other eye with its beak. All of her friends (with the exception of JNR and WBY) seemingly die in Kuroyuri. She blames herself for their "deaths". Her team fails to get the Relic of Knowledge before Salem's forces and she breaks down in tears. She finds out Qrow lied about her friends' deaths. Ruby also discovers Silver Eyes are a Superpowered Evil Side that make the user go berserk and kill every living thing in sight. Ruby is terrified of losing control. When Qrow is impaled protecting Ruby, making her use Silver Eyes, she hurts and tortures Weiss and Japan before being knocked out. After losing control, she shuts herself in her room and refuses to see anyone. She tells Weiss she recalled everything that happened while she used Silver Eyes and that she enjoyed hurting them. Weiss's reassurances that it wasn't her fail to reach her and she remains afraid of Silver Eyes. She briefly becomes a Jerkass Woobie after Qrow and Blake die. Ruby projects her blame and self-loathing at being unable to save them onto America, saying he should have died instead. Her insults and blame is a factor in him considering suicide. She does not regret her actions until it is too late to make amends since America has been captured.
- Pyrrha Nikos is an aspiring Huntress and international celebrity of Remnant. She'd prefer to be a "normal" Huntress and have friends rather than fame. She accidentally kills Penny, her friend, while the whole world is watching. Because of Penny's death, people fear her, hate her, or blame her for the fall of Beacon since Penny's death drew in the Grimm. While on an airship flight, a little girl recognizes her as the "one who killed the girl with the bow" and calls her a monster. She's taken from her world and everyone she loves and dropped into a new, unfamiliar one, where she is forced to keep her powers in check or risk being arrested by the government. She finds out the people she has been fighting for (Ozpin and Ironwood) lied to her and have done terrible things she cannot justify, making her question her entire purpose in life. Her decision to tackle England and prevent him from stopping America from leaving helped lead to America's latest abduction. Pyrrha holds her emotions in and puts on a smile but is unable to repress the trauma she feels from what happened. She is terrified of her own Semblance because of what happened to Penny and occasionally breaks down but downplays her sorrow and does not let it affect her for too long. She suffers from graphic, bloody nightmares about Penny's death and America's near-Death of Personality, revealing she feels responsible for both. She also feels guilty for mistrusting England and stopping him from going after America (which led to America's recapture at the hands of Atlas).
- Canada is the younger brother of England and the twin of America. Mantle's Aura is forced into his body in a process so painful that Canada screams himself hoarse. Desperate to forget what he endured, Canada accidentally uses his Semblance to erase his and America's memories of the lab. He is horrified by his power and fears what they say about him. He also realizes he may unconsciously be using it on himself. America's reassurances that he is a good person do not convince him otherwise. Canada gets sick and realizes Mantle is dying and killing him with it. He does not tell anyone and tries to hide his ailing health because he believes no one can save him. His body slowly freezes as the icy winds and snow kill Mantle's dying city. Eventually, he can barely walk. A mine in Mantle collapses and he almost dies. England severs the connection between Canada and Mantle’s people, saving Canada’s life but dooming Mantle's people. In the Transformation Institute, Canada is tortured by Atlas and Emerald with an electric baton. Later, he is infected with Grimm essence. It painfully spreads through his body in vein-like tendrils, which cling to his organs like spiderwebs. It makes Canada increasingly aggressive. He is captured by Salem's Warden Grimm. Emerald then uses the Relic of Destruction to torture him, while Salem also manipulates the Grimm essence inside him to cause him unbearable agony. Canada's thoughts jerk back and forth between pleas for the pain to stop and violent desires that aren't from him. He is aware his mind is breaking and being corrupted but cannot stop the process.
Jerkass Woobie:
- Vale (Amber), the strongest personification on Remnant, won the Great War almost singlehandedly. Her Aura unlocks the Choice Relic, meaning she's hunted by both Salem and Ozpin. Ozpin made Vale decimate the enemy during the war. Her King gets possessed by Ozpin and only she cares. Refusing to work with Ozpin, he tortures her into using her Semblance on what will become the lock for the Choice Relic and its Vault. He unintentionally uses the Choice Relic to make sure she can never speak ill of her "master" again. She flees her Kingdom and hides from Ozpin's men. Vale runs into an envious Mistral, who gets her ambushed by bandits. Mantle, Vale's brother, is the only one she trusts with her location. Thanks to him, Cinder finds Vale and takes part of her Aura, leaving her comatose but aware. She feels it when part of her Aura(her soul) is forced into America before Cinder kills her body. When Cinder dies, her remaining Aura goes to America, merging their souls. They are mostly-amnesiac when Roman, Neo, and Mercury pretend to be friends, but later attempted to kill them in the woods. America regains his memories, splitting their souls. Vale cannot access her Aura or Semblance, or take over America's body. She's rendered a voice in America's head, and cannot save him from danger. He begins suffering from nosebleeds and other ailments and Vale realizes her Kingdom is dying, taking both her and America with it. Vale becomes mostly cold, very pessimistic, and prone to giving up when she believes she'll lose. Rather than share emotions, she lashes out, becoming worse after she realizes she and America are dying. She eventually admits she's frustrated that she cannot help as a voice in his head.
- England (Arthur Kirkland) is the elder brother of America and Canada, who were abducted within his country. Eventually reuniting with them in another world, America and England argue, and America storms off. Next, England sees his brother hospitalized after being shot. America disappears during the fall of Beacon, forcing England to search for him again. England learns about Vale's Aura being forced into America, which may have caused his brother's Death of Personality. He finds America, who remembers nothing about England except the time England pointed a gun at him. England blames his relationship with America on Vale's influence, also coldly distancing from him until Pyrrha points out how damaged his relationship with his brother was. He tries to abandon his prejudices towards Remnant but cannot quite manage it. He plans to sever America's connection with Vale without America's knowledge. He gains America's trust, which gets shattered when America learns England planned to remove Vale from him, resulting in all of Vale's people (including Ruby and Yang) suffering from Identity Loss. America calls him out and leaves, only to be captured by Atlas soldiers. Regretting what happened, England apologizes to America but finds out his brother is slowly dying inevitably because of Vale. He'd still try to separate America and Vale if he could, this time to save America's citizens from a Loss of Identity if he dies. England is terrified his brothers will be hurt by Remnant more but keeps it to himself. He deeply hates Remnant for what they did to his brothers and is infuriated whenever America does something Atlas "wants" (including keeping the Choice Relic safe from Salem). This causes England to treat America and other Remnant natives with scorn. However, he grows to care for them and their world.
The Woobie
- Oscar Pine was a shy, friendless farmboy until he woke up with Ozpin in his head. He joins the fight against Salem but knows he is not the best fit to be the group's leader like Ozpin expects. RWBY and the others mistrust Ozpin after finding out about his past and fear he may needlessly sacrifice their lives so they keep their distance from Ozpin, which makes them isolate Oscar too. Any time they approach Oscar, they want to talk to Ozpin. Oscar becomes very withdrawn after RWBY etc. isolate him. He can tell the others mistrust Ozpin and feels uncomfortable asking for anything from them. Oscar joins the team in invading the Transformation Institute as his first mission, and sees horrible things including the execution of innocent prisoners. He is traumatized by the Institute mission but is not comfortable asking for help, and keeps his trauma to himself. Americanote is the first person to treat Oscar as only Oscar and approach him to talk to him, not Ozpin. When America inquires how Oscar is feeling after the Institute, Oscar starts crying and says he feels guilty about not saving anyone. America encourages Oscar, only for Ozpin to take control of his body mid-conversation. Oscar discovers Ozpin is slowly taking over his body and will soon take control permanently, —destroying Oscar's soul in the process— when he wakes up standing over America with a knife in his hand. Ozpin tried to murder Oscar’s only friend to get more power while Oscar was unaware. Oscar manages to wrestle control from Ozpin and saves America. He begs to be killed so Ozpin cannot harm anyone else.
- Italy suffers from extreme self-confidence issues and anxiety. He wants to prove that he is strong, both to others but mostly to himself. His failure at the simulation causes him to break down in tears. Italy willingly returns to Remnant because his brother is among the captured nations. He is still terrified but can’t bear the thought of leaving Romano's rescue to someone else. He can barely make himself shoot America and has to keep telling himself that it is the only way America can "fall asleep" and heal. He weeps as he does it even though he knows America will be fine later. Weiss screams at him and demands to know what he’s done and he tonelessly says America will "sleep and heal now". Both times Italy faces Ruby, he’s terrified and crying as he distracts her but does not give up because he knows he has the best chance of surviving her assault. He suffers from guilt from all of his failures which include Germany and Prussia’s injuries, the failed Grimm simulation, accidentally leading Ruby towards his friends instead of away, and failing to save Canada from the Warden Grimm. Every time he tries to prove himself, he messes something up or needs to be rescued. He has never had a full "win". He learns to act despite his fear, though he still believes he is a coward.
- America personifies the United States and is the brother of Canada and England. He is captured by Atlas, experimented on, vivisected, and has Vale's Aura forced into him. This makes Salem and other factions target him since Vale’s Aura is the only thing that can unlock the Relic Of Choice. He cannot inform anyone of this and must face a possible Death of Personality on his own. His brothers and best friend don't know about what he has gone through and misunderstand his motives, believing he wants to help Remnant so he can save the day. They chide him for his "selfishness", causing him to run off in tears. Throughout the series he is betrayed by Neo, Roman, Mercury, England, Russia, Penny 2.0, and Ozpin, the last of whom attempts to murder him in order to gain more power. He is also tortured by Atlas and the ex-soldier, who leaves him with permanent scars. America endures emotional, physical, and verbal abuse from both enemies and friends. Some berate him for being willing to sacrifice too much for Remnant, while others believe he is not doing enough and should be willing to kill himself to keep Remnant safe. Ruby also blames him for Blake and Qrow's deaths and tells him You Should Have Died Instead. His attempts to heal and recover (which includes going to therapy) all end with more betrayal and trauma. All the trauma he suffers causes America to eventually break down. He loses all sense of self-worth, falls into a depression, and begins to genuinely believe his life is worth nothing so he should do what Ozpin says and kill himself to stop Salem from winning. Despite this, he continues fighting, though he can no longer deny he is uncertain whether he wants to live anymore.
- Yang, of Team RWBY, is Ruby's older sister and Blake's partner. She is tricked into attacking Alfred on live television for the whole world to see. She is put in jail and awaits either expulsion or trial depending on whether Alfred survives. The news circulates the story, with many condemning Yang and calling her a monster. Yang loses an arm protecting Blake from Adam. When she wakes up, Blake has left without a word. Civilians fear Yang because they think she escaped jail and is running to Mistral's criminal underbelly to escape justice. She copes with this by reassuring herself that Ruby knows she is innocent. Mercury mocks her about her attack on Alfred and congratulates her on her brutality, she holds back tears. Blake appears at Haven but Yang realizes Blake did not go there to return to Team RWBY. She was only there because of the White Fang. Blake admits she would not have returned to the team if they had not run into each other at Haven. She would still be chasing the White Fang. Blake does not trust RWBY to protect themselves, to help her, or to her secrets. This deeply hurts Yang, who thought she and Blake were close. Once Blake learns her lesson and changes her ways, Yang happily forgives her and their friendship is restored. Yang's Uncle Qrow dies in the attack on Frontier. She cannot believe he is dead but tries to remain strong for Ruby's sake. A couple of days later, Blake is killed protecting Yang from the Warden Grimm. Yang brokenly laments how Blake died needlessly after she promised to never leave her again. She keeps fighting in Blake’s memory but blames herself for her partner's death.
