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''[[Characters/RWBYRemnant Remnant]]:'' [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] ([[Characters/RWBYJamesIronwood James Ironwood]])\\
''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ([[Characters/RWBYSalem Salem]] | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | '''White Fang''' ([[Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus Adam Taurus]]) | [[Characters/RWBYGrimmBestiary Grimm Bestiary]]\\
''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ([[Characters/RWBYSalem Salem]] | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | '''White Fang''' ([[Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus Adam Taurus]]) | [[Characters/RWBYGrimmBestiary Grimm Bestiary]]\\
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''[[Characters/RWBYRemnant Remnant]]:'' [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] ([[Characters/RWBYJamesIronwood James Ironwood]])\\
Solitas]]\\
''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ([[Characters/RWBYSalem Salem]] | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | '''White Fang'''([[Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus Adam Taurus]]) | [[Characters/RWBYGrimmBestiary Grimm Bestiary]]\\
''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ([[Characters/RWBYSalem Salem]] | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | '''White Fang'''
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For more information on Adam Taurus, please see Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Sienna Khan]]
!!Sienna Khan
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sienna_khan.png]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MonicaRial[[labelnote:Foreign [=VAs=]]]Sayaka Kinoshita (Japanese)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Debut:''' Dread in the Air[[labelnote:*]]Volume 5 Episode 2[[/labelnote]]
->''"I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Peace bred complacency, and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not allow humanity to push us down without pushing them back."''
The High Leader of the White Fang. Sienna's reign is what transformed the White Fang from a peaceful protester group into a militant organization for Faunus rights. Her weapon is a chain whip named Cerberus Whip, tipped with detachable arrowhead spikes loaded with Dust. Her Semblance, codenamed "Grudge", makes her stronger and faster whenever she breaks or damages someone's Aura.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Sienna Khan]]
!!Sienna Khan
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sienna_khan.png]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MonicaRial[[labelnote:Foreign [=VAs=]]]Sayaka Kinoshita (Japanese)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Debut:''' Dread in the Air[[labelnote:*]]Volume 5 Episode 2[[/labelnote]]
->''"I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Peace bred complacency, and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not allow humanity to push us down without pushing them back."''
The High Leader of the White Fang. Sienna's reign is what transformed the White Fang from a peaceful protester group into a militant organization for Faunus rights. Her weapon is a chain whip named Cerberus Whip, tipped with detachable arrowhead spikes loaded with Dust. Her Semblance, codenamed "Grudge", makes her stronger and faster whenever she breaks or damages someone's Aura.
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[[/folder]]
[[folder:Sienna Khan]]
!!Sienna Khan
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.
[[caption-width-right:300:''"We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more... Humans shouldn't just fear the Faunus, they should '''serve''' the Faunus."'']]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:''Click here to see his Anima arc appearance'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adam_taurus_throne.png ''"It's time I got what I deserved."'']][[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:''Click here to see him unmasked '''(SPOILERS)''''']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adam_taurus_unmasked.png ''"People hurt me long before we met. All sorts of people in all sorts of ways."'']][[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Voiced
!!!'''Debut:'''
->''"But I understand. Because all I want is you, Blake. And as I set out upon this world to deliver the
->''"I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Peace bred complacency, and acceptance of our place in the world.
Adam's weapons are a chokutÅ (Wilt) and
Added DiffLines:
* AbnormalAmmo: Due to the rifle-like mechanism of the sheath, the ''sword'' can be fired out of the gun.
* AccidentalMurder: Adam's early kills during White Fang missions were regarded as accidents or self-defense. The Volume 6 Character Short shows one occasion where Adam single-handedly protected Ghira from an ambush by anti-Faunus humans. Adam takes them all down non-lethally until one human starts shooting directly at Ghira. Adam unleashes his Semblance, and the human is killed in a single strike. Ghira is horrified and Adam looks disturbed, but Sienna and the rest of the Faunus surprise Adam by praising him as a hero. In the following scene, Blake is very concerned by the regular pattern of "accidental" deaths that are occurring on Adam's missions and asks how many more there will be. Adam doesn't know because he's risking his life to fight for the Faunus, but his sincerity is ambiguous. From the next scene on, he's no longer killing by accident and is instead killing for pleasure.
* AchillesHeel: Unlike most characters, Adam exclusively channels his [[EnergyAbsorption semblance]] through his weapon. He needs it to both collect energy and release it. Taking Wilt away from him effectively disables his semblance. Blake is able to reduce Adam's fighting skill for a time by trapping Wilt in her own sheath until he can get it back from her. Later on, Yang manages to completely neuter his Semblance by evading his blows, [[BareHandedBladeBlock catching it with her robot arm]], and disarming him.
* AlasPoorVillain: A bloodthirsty madman who wanted to [[MasterRace enslave humanity to the Faunus]], and then became [[PsychoExBoyfriend obsessed with destroying Blake]] in every sense of the word [[DomesticAbuse for leaving him]], Adam's final downfall -- which comes ''after'' he's lost everything he had short of his own life, due to his shortcomings -- carries a bittersweet atmosphere. After he's fatally run through by Blake and Yang, the soundtrack cuts to silence as Adam quietly staggers to a ledge overlooking a waterfall, falls to his knees, and looks outward while breathing his last, wearing a calm and solemn expression the entire time. Once Adam's body has fallen out of sight, Blake breaks down and collapses to her knees, sobbing. The creators confirmed they wanted the audience to feel some pathos for Adam at the end.
* AllThereInTheManual: His full name was revealed through Monty's Facebook Turnaround models during Volume 1, but not used on-screen until the halfway point of Volume 3.
* AndYourLittleDogToo: Adam vows to destroy everything Blake loves to make her pay for abandoning him. When he slices off Yang's arm, Blake goes on the run, just as he wanted. Sun follows her home, determined to have her back, but gets injured when they fight Adam's subordinate, Ilia, reinforcing Blake's belief that she needs to be alone. When Sun lectures Blake on abandoning her friends, Blake's parents reveal that Blake and Sun did recover intel from Ilia that proves Adam plans to overthrow the White Fang leader, Sienna Khan, and then destroy Haven Academy. As a result, Blake vows to stop running and take back control of the White Fang from Adam. It reaches a whole new level when he orders the assassination of Blake's parents just to spite and hurt her; not only does this fail, but it also provides just the ammo Blake needs to convince the [[BystanderSyndrome previously neutral]] people of Menagerie to stand up against him.
* AnimalMotifs: Adam ''Taurus'' has a bull motif. He has two horns, and there are markings on his mask that resemble horns as well. When he finally removes the blindfold he's wearing, it's to show that his face has been heavily scarred around the left eye; the scarring has been caused by the SDC company letters being burned into his face, meaning that he's been branded like cattle.
* AnimalStereotypes: Apart from his implied [[BrutishBulls bull heritage]], he also "[[BullSeeingRed sees red]]" and seems unwilling to consider the views of others.
* ArchEnemy: He becomes one to Blake and Yang over the course of the series. He tells Blake during the battle of Beacon that he plans on making her suffer for betraying him by abandoning the White Fang. He insists that he will destroy everything she loves; when Yang tries to rescue Blake moments later, Adam keeps his promise by defeating Yang with a single swing of his sword, amputating her right arm in the process. By the time of their final confrontation in Volume 6, Adam tells Blake that none of the pain and scarring he's experienced in his life hurt him as much as she did because she left him. When he realises she wants him to let go of the past, he vows to never let her get away from him again. He considers Yang unfinished business and is happy to fight her when she intervenes before he can kill Blake. Seeing her shaking from the PTSD flashbacks she has to the night he cut off her arm, he accuses Yang of cowardice and demands to know what Blake even sees in her. In the end, the final fight rests on the fact that he's alienated and alone while his attempts to isolate the pair from each other only succeed in making them stronger through unity, mutual trust, and team-work.
* AudibleSharpness: Adam's blade can occasionally be heard even when it hasn't touched anything. One example is the sound heard right as he's about to stab Blake.
* AxCrazy: Adam is a deranged [[FantasticRacism anti-human]] terrorist dedicated to the enslavement of humanity. He also wishes to kill all of Blake's loved ones as revenge for [[DomesticAbuse leaving him]]. The Albain brothers even take note of his instability and contemplate removing him from power in "Necessary Sacrifice".
* BadassInANiceSuit: Unlike most of the White Fang, Adam prefers smart suit-style clothing. He originally wore a single-breasted black jacket over a red top along with black trousers. After the Battle of Beacon, he changes his top to a smart, zipped jacket that is charcoal grey with black accents. In both cases, his personal symbol appears on the back of his jackets. He is one of the most powerful fighters in the White Fang, his combat skills have taken him from the bottom of the organization to become the leader of the Vale chapter of the White Fang, and eventually the High Leader of the whole White Fang organization.
* BadBoss: In "Downfall", he tries to blow up everyone there, including himself and his own followers, just to deny Blake victory. When one of the said followers demands to know what he's thinking, Adam grabs him by the throat, screaming that he's making humanity pay for what they've done. In "Haven's Fate", when his men are defeated, Adam flat-out bails on them to avoid being arrested; as Ilia points out, this has effectively cost Adam any respect and support the White Fang had for him. When his remaining followers call him out for his cowardice and mock his ineffectiveness as a leader when confronted by a fearless Blake, Adam slaughters them all in a spiteful fit of rage.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: In "Downfall", with his men cornered by Blake, the entirety of Menagerie, and the Mistral police, Adam attempts to set off bombs to kill everyone there, including himself and his followers, rather than let Blake win. Unfortunately for him, Ilia disarmed the explosives ahead of time.
* BigBadWannabe: Adam has the incredibly lofty goal of Faunus ruling the world, but his actual ability to implement that vision is lacking. In his first appearance outside of the trailers he's already been forced into a "partnership" with Cinder, and provides her with troops to do her dirty work for the first five volumes. His violent tendencies and shortsightedness lead to the Albain twins having to pick up the slack when it comes to strategy and public relations, his assassination attempt on the Belladonnas and cowardice at the Battle of Haven result in him losing all of his supporters, and that's not even mentioning how utterly insignificant of a threat he is compared to the immortal and millennia-old Salem. With no allies remaining, the once-feared revolutionary is reduced to single-mindedly stalking his former lover-turned-obsession, dying at the hands of Blake and Yang.
* BloodKnight: Given his laughter in the face of near-death to a SpiderTank, even if he can beat it, this seems to be in effect.
* BrokenPedestal: Adam was once seen as an icon of the movement to the White Fang's membership. They had so much faith in him that he was confident they'd keep following him even after the loss of Faunus' life during the breach of Vale at the end of Volume 2. In Volume 5, Sienna's personal bodyguards are willing to turn on her in favor of Adam when he launches his coup against her. However, when he attacks Haven Academy, he destroys any respect and support he had when he tries to blow up himself and his followers just to spite Blake for attempting to stop him from attacking Haven; upon failing that, he abandons his men to be captured by the Mistral authorities while he escapes. Ilia predicts that no one in the White Fang will support Adam after all of this, and indeed when he returns to the White Fang headquarters, the rank and file turn on him and make it clear they're done following his orders, which leads to Adam snapping and killing them all.
-->'''Ilia:''' Those in the White Fang that followed [Adam] won't support a leader that abandons his people. He won't have their help after this. He'll have no one at all.
* CantTakeCriticism: In "Argus Limited", Adam returns to the headquarters of the White Fang only to find the Faunus blocking his access to the throne. They refuse to step aside when he commands because they've heard how he abandoned his people at Haven Academy and ran away. While he keeps calm through most of the perceived disrespect, he can't handle his people criticizing his inability to deal with Blake. When they suggest she has more control over him than he wants to admit, he loses his temper and slaughters every single one of them. When he reminisces over that claim, he loses control again and destroys his throne.
* CatchAndReturn: Moonslice allows him to absorb the energy of attacks he blocks, and then release it back at his enemies.
* ChargedAttack: Adam needs time to charge up his EnergyAbsorption LimitBreak, as he tells Blake to distract the SpiderTank while he's doing so. Although in "Heroes and Monsters", he is shown to perform it with much less preparation. In general, Adam's Semblance requires him to either become a stationary target and absorb energy from his Aura, or to deflect gunfire and other attacks to build up energy.
* CoolMask: He wears a distinctive white mask with red accents which resembles the white and red faces of the Grimm. The distinct design marks him as more important than the normal White Fang who wears plain white masks. After the battle for Haven, he abandons the mask, and in his next appearance, he is wearing a black blindfold instead of the mask.
* CorruptedCharacterCopy: Of Prince Adam, the titular Beast from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''. Like the Beast, Adam is in a relationship with Blake, who serves as his Belle by being a BadassBookworm, and he's the head of the White Fang, a rebellion group of Faunus who've been wronged by humanity, akin to the Beast's servants being cursed alongside him. Unlike the Beast, however, Adam is a complete terrorist who not only sees his troops as [[WeHaveReserves expendable]], instead of how the Beast cared for his servants, but he views Blake as little more than an item who he feels he's {{entitled to have|you}}, much like how Gaston acts.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Incredibly jealous of Blake's closeness with Yang, to the point of driving him into a rage. His jealousy is best exemplified by him screaming "What does she even see in you!?" at Yang during their fight.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: As stated by Blake and shown in-depth in his character short, Adam ''was'' initially somewhat well-intentioned and noble, and he ''did'' care about his fellow Faunus; he's actually shocked when he kills a human in defense of Ghira and surprised when Sienna and the rest of the Fang praise him for doing so. By the end of the short, set after he takes over the White Fang, he's devolved from a quest for equal rights to pursuing Faunus supremacy and the gratification of his own desires. Whatever nobility he may have had in his goals is long gone.
* DidntSeeThatComing: During his character short, Sienna declares Adam a hero for saving Ghira's life, and the rest of the Fang cheer for him after he accidentally killed a racist who was shooting at their convoy. Adam's reaction to this is one of genuine surprise, as he'd been expecting a reprimanding from Ghira.
* DomesticAbuse: He behaves abusively towards Blake, blaming her for how he felt after she walked out on him, and blaming her for "making him" hurt her in retaliation. He tells her that he will destroy everything she cares about just because she left him. All the time he's trying to emotionally beat her down, he displays a calm, implacable determination and peppers his speech with terms of endearment such as "my love" or "my darling" which contribute to the creepiness of his behavior. Blake tells Yang that his power comes from his ability to control others and get inside their heads, which is what he did to her. After he falls out with the White Fang, he stalks her across Anima and waits until she's alone and separated from other people to ambush her. He is enraged that she's thrown away her memories of him and makes it absolutely clear that he's never going to let her go ever again.
-->'''Blake:''' Adam's strong, but his real power comes from control. He used to get in my head, make me feel small. But now I see he just wanted to pull me down to his size.
* DramaticUnmask: In "The Lady in the Shoe", he removes the blindfold covering his eyes to reveal an SDC brand in his left eye, giving context to his obsession with revenge against humanity.
* DrunkWithPower: Adam's path through the White Fang ranks takes him from a hero who inspires his people to fight back against humanity's racism towards the Faunus, into a dangerous leader who wants to punish humanity for hurting him. He murders the High Leader of the White Fang so that he can bend the entire organisation to his will in pursuit of his dream: subjugation of humanity to the Faunus. The power and the pressure of being High Leader quickly goes to his head, resulting in him making unstable decisions and using the White Fang to target the family of the ex-girlfriend who dared to dump him. This triggers the formerly reluctant Menagerie into rising up against him; they protect Haven Academy from Adam's assault, resulting in him abandoning his people to the police authorities Menagerie calls in. He then destroys any White Fang member who turns against him, successfully destroying the organisation through his abuse of power just weeks after he became his leader.
* TheDyingWalk: After he is stabbed, he staggers forward a few feet. He then collapses to his knees before toppling forwards to fall off the cliff.
* EnergyAbsorption: Adam has the ability to absorb energy [[CatchAndReturn and return it back]], channeling his Semblance to his sword; this allows him to absorb attacks by unsheathing it so the attack directly hits the blade. He then stores this energy in his sword and releases it for one large attack. When Blake tells Yang what Adam's Semblance is, she compares how similar the two Semblances are; Yang immediately latches onto the key difference between them, which is that she has to tank damage first whereas Adam doesn't.
-->'''Blake:''' His Semblance is like yours! He absorbs energy into his sword, stores it up, and then sends it back when he's ready!\\
'''Yang:''' He gets to dish out damage without having to feel it? That's just cheap.
* EvilFormerFriend: He used to be Blake's partner within the White Fang until she realized Adam was knee-deep in the new leadership's violent approach, causing her to desert him and the organization altogether. When he reappears at the end of Volume 2, he is confirmed to be one of the White Fang's leaders and has teamed up with Cinder's group. When they clash during the battle for Beacon, he insists on referring to her as "my love" and "my darling" even as he blames her for making him want to hurt her and for him deciding to destroy everything she cares about.
* EvilIsPetty: Adam wants to make Blake suffer by slaughtering everyone close to her, all because she walked away from him when she couldn't stomach his violent behavior anymore. Blake believes that Adam's desire to destroy humanity isn't because he believes that equality between humans and Faunus is impossible, but rather because he doesn't want equality to come about due to the injustices that he suffered in the past. Indeed, he doesn't want equality at all, but ''supremacy''. To drive home just how pitiful he is, Blake admits that she's come to see him as the embodiment of spite. Not hate or even rage, just spite. Best shown when he's bested by Blake, and rather than admit defeat, tries to set off the explosives that would kill her, her Faunus allies, his own followers, and himself included, just so "everyone loses". When he returns to the White Fang throne room, his remaining subordinates criticize him for turning on his people. They refuse to follow him any more and deny him access to the throne; Adam remains calm with the insubordination until his men accuse him of being controlled by Blake, whereupon his temper snaps and he slaughters every one of them. He then stalks Blake across Anima to avenge his wounded pride, blaming her for everything that's gone wrong in his life. When she tells him to let go of the past, he interprets it as throwing away her memories of them. He tries to kill her for causing him more pain than anyone ever has, and when Yang intervenes, he tries to turn Yang against Blake by claiming that Blake doesn't keep her promises to stay by the side of the people she cares about.
* EyeScream: In Volume 6, Adam takes off his blindfold to reveal what he's been hiding behind the mask he normally wears. His left eye has a red sclera and grey-black iris. Over the left side of his eye, a massive brand has been burned into his face simply stating 'SDC'.
* FacialHorror: Adam had the SDC logo burned onto his face and across his left eye, leaving permanent scarring. His left eye also has an unnatural appearance, with the red sclera and a strange greyish iris and pupil.
* FallenHero: Discussed. On the surface, Adam looks like a person who started off as a hero, but became more extreme over time until it became clear to everyone he was a monster who had fallen from his path and needed to be stopped. However, he was never the person people thought he was to begin with, and has only ever been interested in hurting the world for hurting him. Blake mentions a few times about how he seemed to change over time, from a good person to an awful one. However, during their final confrontation Yang outright accuses him of only ever having pretended to be that person.
* FantasticRacism: While there's plenty of tension between humans and Faunus, and many Faunus harbor deep resentment and anger toward humans, Adam advocates Faunus supremacism, believing that humans not only deserve to be overthrown but that the Faunus are the SuperiorSpecies and should ''rule'' over humans. Sienna's Menagerie representatives, Corsac and Fennec, tell the Belladonna family that Sienna is so troubled by Adam's violence that she wants him captured and brought to her for punishment. Adam seeks her out himself. They argue about how violence should be used to achieve their goals, with Sienna wanting Faunus to be feared and respected and Adam wanting humans enslaved to Faunus superiority. Adam murders her with the intention of martyring her death to inflame the White Fang against humanity and replaces her as leader of the White Fang.
-->'''Adam:''' We can win a war against the humans. Not only because we have the support of Hazel's master, but because the Faunus are the dominant species of this planet. We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn’t just fear the Faunus, they should serve the Faunus.
* FascistButInefficient: Adam is a supporter of Faunus supremacy and seeks to TakeOverTheWorld to achieve it, going so far as to kill Sienna Khan so he can take over the White Fang and lead them into a war against humanity. Sadly, throughout Volume 5, it's proven that while Adam is an excellent warrior, he's a ''horrible'' leader; he's hot-tempered, spiteful and petty, and makes incredibly stupid moves that blow up in his face. On top of pushing away valuable allies like Salem's faction out of petty spite and bigotry, he proceeds to order the assassination of Blake's parents just to spite and hurt her; the assassination fails and provides just the means for Blake to [[NeutralNoLonger rally the previously neutral citizens of Menagerie against him]]. When cornered at Haven, [[TakingYouWithMe Adam attempts to blow himself]] [[BadBoss and his troops up]] with everyone else instead of surrendering or risk trying to fight his way out, and when his troops are all subdued and arrested, he decides to simply [[VillainExitStageLeft make a break for it]]. Ilia predicts that no one in the White Fang will support or follow Adam after all of this, and come "Argus Limited", she's proven right; when Adam returns to his headquarters, his remaining men block his access to his throne, mock his failure at Haven, and make it clear they won't follow his orders anymore, leading to Adam flying into a rage and slaughtering them all.
* FatalFlaw: Sienna Khan sums up Adam's weakness as short-sightedness. He possesses the charisma to lead Vale's faction of the White Fang in any endeavor he supports; even when many Faunus lose their lives during the Volume 2 finale, he is confident that his followers will continue to do his bidding. Claiming he's inspired by Sienna's strength, he joins forces with Salem to destroy Beacon Academy. Sienna is furious because Adam cannot see that his actions have justified humanity's hatred and fear of the Faunus and that the White Fang is now more of a target than it ever was. Blake explains to Sun that Adam symbolizes the concept of 'spite' to her; the world hurt him, so he intends to hurt the world right back; he neither cares nor comprehends the wider consequences of his actions. He believes in Faunus' superiority and plans for a day when humanity will be forced to serve the Faunus, but he's willing to ruin his own plans for short-term gains, such as the destruction of Beacon Academy or putting a hit out on Blake's family just because they oppose him. Murdering Sienna to obtain control of the White Fang and trying to assassinate the Belladonnas motivates a previously neutral Menagerie to form an army for the sole purpose of stopping him from doing to Haven Academy what he did to Beacon; his ability to control the White Fang is therefore destroyed by his own weakness almost as soon as he set his plans into motion.
%% * Freudian Excuse and Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse have been discussed several times in the past and found not to apply for Adam (with regards to his scar). Before adding either of these two tropes, please see the Discussion Page. If you think there's a discussion point that hasn't been raised or considered in the past, please start a discussion on the Discussion Page before adding the tropes to the page.
* GeneralFailure: As a warrior, Adam is a force to be reckoned with. As a leader, he was the worst thing that ever happened to the White Fang; he's hot-tempered, spiteful, and petty, with his growing mental instability leading him to make increasingly stupid moves: on top of pushing away valuable allies like Hazel out of petty pride and bigotry, the supremely boneheaded decision to put a hit out on Blake's parents just to hurt her and subsequent failure of the said assassination attempt was just the tip of the iceberg. When cornered at Haven, [[TakingYouWithMe Adam attempts to blow himself]] [[BadBoss and his troops up]] with everyone else instead of surrendering or risk trying to fight his way out, and after his troops are defeated, he [[KnowWhenToFoldEm runs away]] and abandons them to their fate. Come "Argus Limited", Adam's remaining henchmen realize he's a horrible leader, criticize him for it, and refuse to follow his orders anymore, leading to Adam [[CantTakeCriticism snapping and slaughtering them]]. By the time the dust settles, Adam's leadership has effectively trashed the entire organization, reducing a once-formidable band of terrorists to a divided, leaderless train wreck.
* HatedByAll: Adam was originally regarded as a hero and rising star within the White Fang. However, his descent into extremist ideology and selfish obsession led to him burning his bridges with everyone. His abusive behavior drove away his love; he became a terrorist wanted for the attacks on both Beacon and Haven; he alienated himself from Salem's faction by putting his own desires ahead of hers; his obsession with revenge turned all of Menagerie against him for trying to assassinate their chief just to spite his daughter, Blake; and the White Fang turned against him for abandoning his men to the Mistral authorities to save his own skin. In the end, all he has left is his life -- and he wastes that by going after Blake in one final attempt at revenge.
* HitMeDammit: Adam is an angry, aggressive fighter. When his opponent merely blocks and parries his blows, he becomes frustrated and insists that he be attacked. During his fight with Blake and Yang, Blake is forced over the side of the cliff, leaving Yang to face him alone. He triggers Yang's PTSD from the night he cut off her arm, leaving her parrying and blocking his blows instead of fighting offensively, and then demands that she hit him.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Although he is seeking personal power and Faunus supremacy, he is willing to work with Salem's humans to achieve it. Sienna Khan calls him out on allying with the very humans he claims to despise, pointing out that his talents are being diminished by shortsightedness. He also constantly belittles Blake for fleeing him every time he attacks her, but when she stands up to him with a Faunus militia, he abandons his men to their fate and flees; Blake stops Sun going after him because she knows he'll try and ambush them, and because she wants him to finally know what it feels like to run.
* IaijutsuPractitioner: During most fights, he favors using lightning-fast attacks from a sheathed position (made easier and deadlier due to the rifle mechanism in his sheath) and completing the attack by sheathing his sword, even when in the thick of combat. The only time he doesn't do this is when he isn't fighting too seriously, such as when he's about to finish off a downed Yang.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Blake once tells her team that Adam started off as a good person who became worse over time and by degrees. She said it would start as accidents that escalated. In the Volume 6 Character Short, flashbacks over time show this descent into villainy. When Adam kills a human who is trying to kill Ghira, Ghira is horrified by the unnecessary death, and Adam also looks disturbed. However, Sienna and the other Faunus surprise him by praising him as a hero. When Blake later challenges him about the increasing frequency of human deaths occurring on his missions, she asks him how many more there will be. Adam states he doesn't know because he's out there risking his life for the Faunus cause, and people get hurt when that happens.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: During the fight between Adam, Blake, and Yang at the end of volume 6, all three of them end up running out of Aura and Semblance, resulting in the fight degenerating into a scramble to find a means to stab the other and end the fight. While Adam and Blake both dive for the same piece of Blake's broken sword, Yang separately dives for the other half of Blake's broken sword. As a result, Blake and Yang both stab Adam at the same time, Blake from the front and Yang from behind. Adam is pierced through the chest in two places, causing a large amount of blood loss. His reaction is a quiet "Oh!" before he topples off the cliff to his death.
* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Adam combines [[IaijutsuPractitioner the art of quick drawing]] with nearly indiscernible movement while {{blade spam}}ming the hell out of the SDC robots. He also somehow slices robots that are seemingly beyond his sword's reach, either through sheer speed or some other means. And that's before going into his LimitBreak, which absorbs the SpiderTank's energy blast to send it back tenfold, reducing it (and the scenery) into nothingness.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: His rifle barrel is also the ''sheathe for his sword''. On top of that, the sword has been shown to strike enemies outside of its blade range and is actually capable of storing the energy he absorbs with his LimitBreak.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: The force his sheathe can fire out his sword turns the blade into an unorthodox projectile which he's very adept with, often striking someone square in the face with the butt of his weapon. While giving chase to Blake in Argus, he's able to shoot Gambol Shroud out of the air with Wilt, disrupting Blake's escape.
* InformedAttribute: While the audience is told that Adam is quite charismatic and charming to the Faunus, this trait is rarely shown on-screen outside of Adam's character short, with Adam spending more time barking orders to his subordinates than winning them over.
* ItGetsEasier: As shown in the Volume 6 Character Short, Adam was initially shocked when he killed a human in defense of Ghira and surprised when Sienna and the other Faunus praised him for it. In the following scene, Blake is very concerned by the regular pattern of accidental deaths that are occurring on Adam's missions and asks how many more there will be. Adam doesn't know because he's risking his life to fight for the Faunus, but his sincerity is ambiguous. In the very next scene, he's actively attempting to kill a downed Schnee Dust Company guard with a huge grin on his face.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Adam wants to wipe out humanity, not because he believes peace between them and the Faunus is impossible, but because he blames them for the personal injustices he's faced. He also makes it a priority to hunt Blake down and [[RevengeByProxy hurt everyone she cares about]] because she left his abusive butt in the dust when she deserted the White Fang, displaying a WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou attitude towards doing so. In "Haven's Fate", the thing that seems to tick him off the most is Blake saying that she's "got bigger things to deal with". Even in his past, as shown during the Volume 6 Character Short, he starts off by telling the Faunus that they will claim "what we deserve"; by the time he's taken full control of the White Fang and is assaulting Haven Academy, he's instead talking about "what I deserve" and has no problem killing the Faunus who serve him to achieve his goals. His song "Lionize" reveals that he has a savior complex about his role in the White Fang, and suggests that at least partly, he was a glory-hound.
* ItsPersonal: Blake's abandonment of him triggers a long-standing personal vendetta against her, causing him to declare his intent to destroy everything she loves and start by lopping off Yang's arm. Volumes 5 and 6 deconstruct this; the prioritization of his personal grudge against Blake actively harms his ability to lead the White Fang, culminating in a mutiny against him.
* IWantThemAlive: White Fang defectors are supposed to be hunted down and killed. However, he doesn't want Blake dead; he wants her alive so that he can make her suffer for abandoning him by destroying everything she loves. When he gives the order to assassinate Ghira and Kali Belladonna, he makes it absolutely clear that Blake is to be brought to him alive.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He seems to have a soft side when he saves Blake during the Black Trailer, but then Season 3 reveals that he's violently possessive of her, does not tolerate her walking out on him, and is determined to destroy everything she cared about in retaliation, all the time [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou blaming her]] for making him behave like this.
* KlingonPromotion: Adam eventually slays Sienna and takes over the White Fang before his followers turn against him.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: At the end of Volume 5, with the tables turned on him, his men arrested, and Blake and Sun about to double-team him, Adam decides to simply run away rather than face them. Blake quickly realizes that he's trying to lure her and Sun into a trap and refuses to pursue him.
* LastVillainStand: Adam starts out as a powerful character who dominates Blake's thoughts even after she's escaped him. At the height of his power, he controls the entire White Fang, has helped bring down Beacon Academy, and is on the verge of bringing down Haven Academy. However, his deteriorating mental state and increasing obsession with reclaiming Blake cause him to unravel until both Menagerie, led by Blake, and the White Fang turn on him, forever destroying his dream of creating a world where Faunus subjugate humanity. Abandoned and alone, Adam hunts down Blake for a fight to the death, [[NeverMyFault blaming her]] for everything he's lost.
* LimitBreak: The red markings on his mask and jacket light up when he's ready to cut loose with his EnergyAbsorption.
* LogicalWeakness: During Blake and Yang's fight with Adam in Volume 6, Blake warns Yang that Adam's Semblance is [[EnergyAbsorption like hers]], except that he channels the energy through his sword instead his body like Yang does. As a result, Yang begins to avoid making contact with Adam's sword to stop him from being able to power up his Semblance from her strikes. At the end of the fight, even though Adam's Aura has broken, Yang still takes the precaution of throwing his sword off a cliff into a waterfall far below, an act which makes Adam panic.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: When Adam gets stabbed, he looks at the injury in surprise and says "Oh".
* ManipulativeBastard: Adam emotionally manipulates Blake into believing that he killed a human by accident and staying by his side after her parents left the White Fang. During his last battle with Blake and Yang, the latter asked if Blake made a promise to him or the person he was pretending to be, implying he manipulated her all her life during their time in the White Fang.
* MaskingTheDeformity: Adam Taurus wears a distinctive white mask with red accents, which resembles the faces of the Grimm, and later a black blindfold, to cover terrible scars from having been branded like cattle by the abusive SDC.
* MaskOfSanity: Adam outwardly projects a vibe of calm and control, in a way that inspires others to follow his lead. However, [[BeneathTheMask beneath]] this controlled mask is an unstable man filled with rage and described by Blake as the AnthropomorphicPersonification of spite. In a private recording he sends to the Albains, he flies into a furious rage while ordering the Belladonna family assassinated before forcibly calming himself down, complete with a hand gesture that looks like pantomiming putting on a mask. By the end of Volume 5, the mask falls off when Adam tries to blow up himself and his own followers simply so [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled Blake doesn't win]], and everyone in the White Fang sees how evil and crazy he really is. Yang even indirectly alludes to this when she counters his claim of Blake breaking her promise to him:
-->'''Yang:''' Did she make that promise to you, or to the person you were ''pretending'' to be?
* MotiveDecay: Blake's [[UnreliableNarrator initial descriptions]] of him depict a Faunus rights activist whose dedication takes him too far into terrorism, with many White Fang members, including his mentor High Leader Sienna Khan, being fooled. An abusive, manipulative ControlFreak who gaslit everyone for years, his true self only becomes clear to Blake in Volume 3, and the rest of the White Fang in Volume 5. He never believed in equality, [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist he wants humanity enslaved]]; his [[PsychoExBoyfriend increasing obsession]] with Blake destroys the White Fang, leaving him with nothing but the need to destroy Blake [[NeverMyFault for ruining his life]].
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Adam invokes this to justify killing Sienna Khan to Hazel. As he puts it, Salem was concerned over whether or not Sienna would willingly cooperate with them, and now she doesn't have to be.
-->'''Hazel:''' [[ReluctantWarrior Nobody needed to die today!]]\\
'''Adam:''' ''[[[PsychoticSmirk smirks]]]'' I... ''disagree''.
* {{Narcissist}}: Adam has multiple characteristics commonly attributed to a narcissist. He is manipulative, arrogant, egocentric, and power-hungry. He is visibly attention-hungry; he expects special treatment from people around him and has a skewed perception of himself as a heroic figure for the Faunus. He never sits on the High Leader's throne, he lounges indolently as he issues his orders. He is unable to handle criticism and takes defiance of his authority personally, retaliating spitefully and with murderous intent. As a result, when Blake turns her back on the White Fang because his violence is hurting innocents, he doesn't simply go after her, he vows to destroy everyone she loves as well. Notably, the thing Blake does that enrages him most isn't stating hatred of him, but being ''dismissive'' of him and denying him the attention he craves.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Adam's entreaty to Sienna Khan consists of him declaring the Faunus to be a superior race, better than humans in every way, and stating that humanity should be made to serve the Faunus instead of simply respecting them. In Volume 5, his clothing is changed from a black and red Asian-themed suit to a [[PuttingOnTheReich militarized grey suit]] that resembles a Nazi uniform. He has built a cult of personality around himself that he uses to inflame and radicalize Faunus against humanity. In a scene reminiscent of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire Reichstag Fire]], he murders Sienna Khan with the intention of fabricating a story about her being murdered by humans to cement his authority as the new leader and deliberately radicalize the White Fang against humanity.
* NeverMyFault: Adam blames Blake for his violent obsession with destroying her and everything she loves. He insists he only wants to hurt her because she has betrayed him by abandoning him. For a while, this worked as she was convinced everything he was doing was her fault until he pushed her far enough that she decided to begin fighting back. When he confronts Blake again at Argus, he rants that Blake ruined his life the minute she came into it, completely ignoring that he stalked her across the entire continent and waited until she was away from her friends to attack, while refusing to let her go. Blake rightfully calls him out on it and tells Adam point-blank that she wants ''nothing'' to do with him or his life.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Blake was facing an [[BystanderSyndrome impossible task]] trying to recruit a Menagerie militia to save the humans of Haven Academy from an attack being planned by the White Fang, as the Menagerie citizens just wanted to be left alone to escape the [[FantasticRacism discrimination]] they've experienced from humanity. By ordering the assassination of Blake's family, Adam cements his downfall. Not only does the attempted assassination fail, but it also gives Blake the means to [[RousingSpeech rally]] the people of Menagerie. She succeeds in creating the militia needed to defend Haven against Adam's assault. By calling in the Mistral Police Force to help them save Haven, the militia earns Mistral's gratitude, improving local relations between humanity and the Faunus and turning the remnants of the White Fang against Adam.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: Things sliced apart by his LimitBreak burn away into dust, including the spider droid and Yang's arm.
* NotSoSimilar: Yang and Adam. They have both been Blake's mission partners, been permanently scarred by others, and share a Semblance that allows them to power up by converting attack energy. However, Yang is a thrill-seeker who learned to become a Huntress who protects the people, who have to tank physical damage to convert energy into strength, and who learned to rise above her scars. Adam absorbs energy through his sword and is a manipulative abuser who descended from being a Faunus rights activist into a monster obsessed with punishing humanity for hurting him. When Blake compares the two after Team RWBY is disqualified from the Vytal tournament, she concludes Adam's "accidental" harming of others was a pattern while Yang's was a genuine, one-off accident. When the trio fight in Volume 6, Adam seeks to blame Blake for everything bad that's ever happened to him, while Yang refuses to let her take the blame for any of it and accuses Adam of lying to Blake about the kind of person he truly was, something Yang has never done.
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: Blake originally believes that Adam shares her idealism for a world where humans and Faunus are equal and peaceful; even after she abandons him in the Black Trailer for not caring if humans die during their train heist, Blake still assumes he's just gone too far in pursuit of a noble goal. When they confront each other at the end of Volume 3, Blake understands for the first time that Adam never shared her future vision, believes peaceful equality is impossible, and instead wants to enslave humanity and destroy everyone and everything Blake loves as punishment for abandoning him. He later murders and usurps his boss, Sienna Khan, with a smile, because she isn't ruthless enough to lead the Faunus into a war they can't win against humanity. Later on, when Blake turns many Faunus against him, he tries to kill them all, and his own followers, with explosives, rather than admit defeat.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Adam refuses to work with Cinder on the grounds that the White Fang members would be put in danger because of her, plus the White Fang does not work with humans. Cinder later offers him both money and Dust for his cause. After absorbing a portion of the Fall Maiden's power, she slaughters the White Fang members in front of him and reiterates that her offer can either benefit him as well as her or just her alone. It's not the money and Dust that convince him, it's a very clear threat.
* OffhandBackhand: After his confrontation with Blake and Yang results in Blake fleeing his presence with an unconscious Yang, he silently watches her run. A Creep Grimm spots his distraction and runs at him. However, Adam kills the Creep with a single swing, without once taking his attention off the departing Blake.
* OneHeadTaller: He is Blake's PsychoExBoyfriend and is considerably taller than her. When she's wearing heels, her head reaches his chin.
* PerpetualFrowner: Adam seems to have one default expression on his face: either an angry or annoyed frown. It makes the few times he [[SlasherSmile smiles]] or [[PsychoticSmirk smirks]] that much more unsettling in comparison.
* ThePeterPrinciple: Adam was Sienna’s top lieutenant and best fighter; once promoted to a leadership position he displayed his capabilities, planning the White Fang's Vale operations and was very successful in this position. He was even able to plan and execute a political take over of the White Fang. However leading a large cell is not the same as an entire organization and his abilities are shown being compromised by the stress of leadership and his increasing ego. He was High Leader for a few months before the organization was destroyed.
* PowerGlows: Whenever Adam releases the energy he stored with his semblance, his body turns completely black while any red, like his hair or clothing, glows a bright red.
* PsychoExBoyfriend: He used to be Blake's [[DomesticAbuse abusive boyfriend]], before his lack of concern for collateral human deaths during the Black Trailer leads her to leave him and the White Fang. When they confront each other during the battle for Beacon, he wants to hurt her just for [[IfICantHaveYou leaving him]] and stabs her to incite Yang to attack him. He cuts off Yang's arm in front of Blake and then tries to decapitate Blake just for protecting the unconscious Yang. He makes it clear that, not only will he [[RevengeByProxy hunt down]] everything she cares about just to get back at her, but that he completely [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou blames her]] for making him behave in such a fashion.
* PsychologicalProjection: He projects quite a few of his own character flaws onto Blake. He accuses her of cowardice, but he abandoned his own men at Haven Academy to be arrested while he escaped; the White Fang turned on him for doing that. He also calls her selfish, but he is the one determined to stalk her across the continent just to drag her back to his side regardless of what she wants. Blake rightfully calls him delusional.
* PsychoticSmirk: Adam has an oddly recurring habit of smirking or grinning sadistically post-Volume 3.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: {{Inverted|Trope}}. After a regime change, the White Fang changed from a Faunus rights organization to a terrorist organization. As one of the leaders, Adam was in a position to school Blake in the new way of doing things. When the pair take part in a train heist, Adam intends to blow the train; upon asking about the innocent humans on board, Blake is concerned to hear Adam reply "What about them?" As a result, she abandons Adam, rescuing the train of people in the process, and goes on the run from the White Fang. She decides to attend Beacon Academy and train to become a Huntress, someone who protects the people from harm. For betraying him, Adam vows to destroy everything she ever loved, guilt-tripping her into feeling like she's to blame for his actions in destroying Beacon Academy and maiming her team-mate, Yang. It eventually leads Blake to vow to take back the White Fang from him and restore it to its former peaceful model.
* PuttingOnTheReich: Adam's time skip outfit in Volume 5 has a much more militarized style, being a double-breasted outfit with a closer cut, akin to a World War II formal German officer's uniform. The zippers on his sleeves and breast even evoke military rank emblems and medals with their placement and coupled with all of his other rhetoric, [[ANaziByAnyOtherName it emphasizes the shift in his behavior and tone]].
* RecoilBoost: In conjunction with being an IaijutsuPractitioner, Adam uses the recoil to unsheathe his sword instantly.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Adam wears black trousers and a red top, over which is a black jacket with red designs on the front and back. His gloves and shoes are black, but the shoes have red soles. His hair is red, with either black horns or two black tufts of hair designed to look like horns. His rifle sheathe is black while his sword's blade is blood-red. When he activates his power, his hair becomes an even brighter red. His white mask carries intricate red designs. He is one of the leaders that deposed the old guard to drive the White Fang down a path of violent terrorism. He has no problem killing humans, even when he doesn't need to and his goal is the destruction of humanity rather than equal rights for Faunus. He regards Blake's defection from the White Fang as a personal betrayal and is determined to destroy everything she cares about is revenge. His current behavior, including victim-blaming her for "forcing" him to hurt her, indicates that he is abusive towards her.
* RedemptionRejection: At the conclusion of their duel in Volume 6, Blake offers Adam the chance to get over the pain he's caused her. However, he refuses, which seals his fate at the hands of Blake and Yang.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Not only is Adam determined to get revenge on humanity for their poor treatment of Faunus, especially himself, he's obsessed with making Blake pay for defecting from the White Fang, swearing that he'll destroy everyone and everything she loves for doing so. It backfires when his order to slaughter Blake's family fails and provides just what she needs to rally Menagerie against him, resulting in his failing to destroy Haven Academy, most of the White Fang being arrested, and Adam forced to go on the run. Even then, he hunts Blake across Anima for one final attempt at revenge, which ends with Blake and Yang double-teaming and killing him.
* RevengeByProxy: The White Fang doesn't tolerate defectors and will kill them when they track them down, but Blake's defection is deeply personal for Adam. He's not content to simply kill her. He's absolutely determined to destroy everything she's ever cared about. That includes the people she cares about. He cuts off Yang's arm as soon as he realizes Blake cares about Yang. When he finds out Blake is in Menagerie, he explodes with rage. His rant that Blake's family is the bane of his existence culminates in him issuing an order to kidnap Blake and murder her parents, a decision that makes the Albain brothers conclude that he may be too unwell to remain functioning as White Fang leader for long.
* SanitySlippage: After assuming command of the White Fang, Adam shows increasingly violent, aggressive behavior. He's so obsessed with Blake to the point where the mere mention of the Belladonna name produces outbursts. He has to make efforts to calm himself down, and issues the order to kill the Belladonnas, a plan the Albain brothers are concerned could backfire if it radicalizes Menagerie's population against the White Fang by making Ghira a martyr. The Albain brothers contemplating removing Adam from power if he becomes too erratic. After Blake foils his plans to destroy Haven Academy, he tries setting off bombs that would have killed not only Blake and her supporters but also Adam and his followers; his own followers demand to know what he's doing. When his followers learn that he abandoned his men at Haven Academy, they refuse to follow him any more and try blocking his access to the throne. When they insult the effect Blake has on Adam, he furiously slaughters them all. He sits on the throne surrounded by their dead bodies, mulling over what they just said to him. When he recalls the reference to Blake controlling him, he angrily destroys the throne.
* SheathStrike: Unlike conventional examples, the sheath is also a gun, rather than a melee weapon.
* SingleStrokeBattle: Against the Spider Droid, Adam unleashes a powerful slash that cuts the SpiderTank, the cargo, and ''even the forest background'' in one go. He uses the same attack on Yang during the battle for Beacon, cutting through her aura and causing her to lose her arm.
* SkewedPriorities: He considers Blake leaving him to be the worst thing that ever happened to him, despite having a literal brand on his face. This is very much not played for laughs, and shows the insane depths of his obsession.
* SlasherSmile: When he sees Blake for the first time in about a year during ''Battle of Beacon'', he gives her a creepy smile as he calmly, emphatically lists exactly how he's going to enact his revenge against her for the crime of walking out on him as a result of his enjoyment of killing humans.
* SlouchOfVillainy: When Hazel and Adam meet to discuss the future of Haven Academy, Hazel expects a negotiation but Adam instead achieves their goal by murdering their opposition. Hazel and Salem believe that people should only be killed if absolutely necessary, preferring to make use of them first. When Hazel angrily confronts Adam about unnecessary killing, Adam simply sits down, slumping casually against the right arm of the chair, announcing with a smirk that he felt the killing was necessary. White Fang High Leader, Sienna Khan objects to the fall of Beacon and vetoes an attack on Haven because it damages the quest for Faunus equality; Adam murders her in her own throne room as he reveals that he doesn't want equality, he wants humanity broken and enslaved to the Faunus. Hazel is powerless to stop him from inflaming the White Fang by martyring Sienna and then victoriously draping himself across the throne.
* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: According to Blake, Adam's slide into extremism was gradual, starting with justifying his violence as accidents, then self-defense, then as a necessary evil. It wasn't until the train mission where he's content to blow up innocent travelers along with the train, that Blake comprehends just how far he has fallen.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Though his pride and sadism frequently sabotage him, Adam is very intelligent. He was quick thinking and a skilled manipulator and was also capable with psychological warfare, skillfully taunting Blake and Yang in all of his engagements with the two.As a leader, Adam displayed an excellent tactical acumen, planning the White Fang's Vale operations, and successfully executed a political take over of the White Fang.
* TheSociopath: Adam first appears someone who is willing to bomb humans even when he doesn't need to. He also doesn't care about the huge loss of Faunus lives in pursuit of Salem's plans if it helps him obtain his goal. He has no interest in Faunus-Human equality, believing in Faunus superiority and seeking instead the enslavement of all humanity; if that means invading cities and tearing down symbols of humanity's power, he'll even kill the White Fang leader, his former mentor, to achieve it. His idea of love is to try forcing Blake to [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou take the blame]] for his own violence against her, then hunting her across entire continents, maiming her friends, and attempting to murder her parents, just for leaving him.
* SpeedEchoes: Adam can channel his Semblance to increase his speed. During his Volume 6 fight, he runs so fast that he leaves behind multiple silhouettes of himself that look like shadows.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: The show's four prequel trailers introduces each member of Team RWBY and what they can do in battle. However, the Black Trailer pairs Blake with Adam, who does most of the fighting and overshadows her with his signature finishing blow. In Blake's character short for Volume 5, the focus is on Ilia's back story, continuing the trend of Blake's supporting cast one-upping her in her own trailers.
* StalkerWithACrush: When Blake travels home to Menagerie after the Battle of Beacon, her opposition to the resident White Fang representatives helps her father, the Chief of Menagerie, to try and form a militia to save Haven Academy from being destroyed by Adam. When Adam hears about this, he attempts to have Blake's parents murdered and Blake brought home to him alive. After Blake leads a Menagerie force to stop Adam from destroying Haven, Adam abandons his men to avoid being arrested by Mistral authorities. When he returns to the White Fang, they refuse to take him back for abandoning his people and taunt them for being under Blake's control. Infuriated, he slaughters the remaining White Fang and decides to hunt down Blake. As Team RWBY travels from Mistral to the coastal city of Argus in their quest to reach Atlas, Adam stalks them the entire way. When Blake separates from her companions to disable the Atlesian military radar station, Adam seizes the opportunity to confront her, blaming her abandonment of him in the Black Trailer for everything that's happened to him; when he realizes she's willing to let go of her memories of their time together, an outraged Adam vows to never let her go again.
* TheStarscream: The scroll Sun and Blake manage to retrieve from Ilia reveals that Adam is planning a coup against the current White Fang leader Sienna Khan. In the Volume 5 episode "[[Recap/RWBYV5E2DreadInTheAir Dread in the Air]]", he carries out said coup and murders Sienna by running her through with Wilt.
* StartOfDarkness: Adam has two points in his life that ultimately defined who he would become. According to ''[[VideoGame/RWBYAmityArena Amity Arena]]'', he was once [[UsedToBeASweetKid an idealistic young boy]], dreaming of a better life for himself, until he was held down and branded. Gone was the idealistic young boy, and born was the member of the White Fang. At first, he believed in the cause, and cared about the Faunus as a whole. Things ultimately changed the day his group was attacked by racist humans. After accidentally killing one so as to save Ghira's life, he initially felt shame for what he did until Sienna stood up for him and began ''praising'' him. Soon, he became lionized by the White Fang, looked upon as a hero, and his hatred of humanity continued to fester. He would go on to become more vicious, more egotistical, and loved every minute of it. Adam became someone who only cared about himself, and would gladly toss aside the cause he once fought for if it got in the way of what ''he'' wants.
-->''With a scar on his face and anger in heart, a wayward boy looked for a home. When he found it... oh, how glorious it was. Accepted and loved, here was his happily ever after. But Adam was cursed with a gift few others had. Adam had... talent. And when Wilt tasted humanity's blood... Adam realized he was... STRONG. Now king without kingdom, he wonders where it went wrong. Coming up with excuses, reflecting the blame, Coming to a conclusion, we all find insane.''
* StealthPun: The name Adam was given to the "first man" in the Christian tradition. In the show, Adam is the first male character introduced, appearing in the Black Trailer, the third of four prequels for the show.
* SuperiorSpecies: He believes Faunus to be superior to humans, pointing out that they have "all that humans have, and more".
* SwordBeam: Adam can release the energy he's built up with his EnergyAbsorption semblance as a red wave projectile attack. During his character short, after deflecting and absorbing bullets while fighting a group of humans, he releases the energy in a wave at the last human, killing him and leaving a spray of blood against their truck.
* SymbolicMutilation: Adam once believed in equality between Faunus and Humans until the SDC branded him across his face like he was their property. He hid a monstrous act by humans with a Grimm-like mask to embrace how humanity sees Faunus as monsters, and seeks the enslavement of humanity to spite them for the enslavement of him.
* TakeOverTheWorld: He seeks to start a war with humanity in order to ensure Faunus supremacy across Remnant, and have humanity become their slaves.
* TakingYouWithMe: When Blake and the rest of Menagerie arrive at Haven with the Mistral police to stop Adam's attempt to destroy Haven, Adam decides to detonate the planted explosives and kill everyone. Fortunately, Ilia had disarmed the bombs before he could do it.
%% * TechnicolorBlade: The chokutÅ is colored bright red.
* TermsOfEndangerment: When he and Blake fight during the battle for Beacon, he constantly calls Blake "my darling" and "my love". Their argument consists of how he feels betrayed by Blake leaving him and the White Fang, and how he's going to go out of his way to obtain revenge by destroying everything she cares - including Beacon Academy and maiming Yang for trying to help Blake against Adam. While the pet names are supposed to be terms of endearment, they only serve to make it clear that Adam has an emotionally and physically abusive vision of his relationship with Blake.
* TheTragicRose: Adam has rose motifs. There is a stylized red rose on the back of his jacket and his weapons are named "Wilt" and "Blush", both terms that refer to roses (wilting petals and blush of color). During his signature attacks, the screen washes with red like petals becoming blood. He is a tortured soul with a tragic past that has led him to become an abusive, spiteful Faunus supremacist. Although his color scheme and the rose motif is shared by the heroine, Ruby Rose, the differences between Ruby and Adam's motifs are respectively described by the creators as [[https://twitter.com/montyoum/status/315344733134278656/photo/1 "scatter and wilt"]].
* TranquilFury: Every single line he delivers toward Blake in "Heroes and Monsters" is filled with venomous rage towards her for her perceived betrayal, but his voice is calm and controlled. Much like his fighting style, it's all contained and conservative, until he unleashes it to devastating effect.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Sienna Khan wasn't exactly a saint, considering that she was the one who pushed to convert the White Fang into using violence in the first place, but she was still a WellIntentionedExtremist who legitimately cared about Faunus equality and disapproved of Adam participating in the attack on Vale and Beacon Academy. Adam kills her and takes control, [[ANaziByAnyOtherName turning them into a full-fledged Faunus supremacist group]]. Sadly, Adam also proves to be a GeneralFailure, and his hotheadedness and SanitySlippage lead him to make increasingly stupid decisions that ultimately run the White Fang into the ground and cost him their support.
* TheUnfettered: Invading cities, destroying Huntsman Academies, killing his fellow Faunus, stalking Blake across an entire continent, helping Salem in her plans... as long as it helps him reach his own goals, Adam will stop at ''nothing''.
* UnorthodoxSheathing: Because the scabbard also functions as a rifle, Adam can use the rifle's recoil to instantly unsheathe the sword.
* TheUnreveal: In the Volume 6 Character Short, Adam is sometimes shown not wearing his mask. One scene consists of the camera focusing low down his body on the hand that's holding the mask. As he lifts his hand to put on his mask, the camera follows his hand up to his body and looks as though it's going to reach his exposed face and reveal for the first time what his eyes look like behind the mask. However, he manages to slip the mask on just before the camera reaches his face.
* VillainDecay: Adam starts off as a dangerous terrorist who dominates the fights he is in, easily wins against even talented student Huntsmen, and can rally hundreds to his call through his charismatic leadership. His threat is built up through Volume 4 as a result of trauma he has inflicted on several characters, but his return in Volume 5 reveals him to have deteriorating mental health, leading to poor decision making. After the Battle of Haven, he is reduced to a lonely fugitive who is obsessed with stalking and killing the woman who dared to stand up to him.
* VillainExitStageLeft: At the end of Volume 5. Faced with Blake and Sun double-teaming him, along with his men being defeated and arrested by the Menagerie citizens and Mistral police, Adam opts to flee from Haven.
* VillainousBreakdown: Adam has an extensive one over Volume 6, starting at the end of Volume 5. With Blake getting the best of him at Haven, turning the Faunus against him, Adam attempts a massive suicide bombing to take out his followers and enemies alike, snapping at one of his men for calling him out. With the White Fang turning against him and his plans foiled, Adam flees. When the rest of the White Fang reject and belittle him, Adam massacres them in a throne room, destroying the throne itself at the mere thought of Blake. Throughout Volume 6, Adam relentlessly stalks Blake across Remnant, becoming more and more deranged in their next confrontation; especially when Yang, no longer afraid of Adam joins the fight. When it becomes clear that Adam was never gonna stop trying to kill them, Blake and Yang kill him in self defense.
* VillainSong: The Volume 6 character short follows Adam's path from a Faunus rights activist to the villain that haunts Blake in the main show. During his first fight scene, "Lionized" begins playing, a dark rock song where the singer boasts about how he will lead the oppressed out of their pathetic existence and become glorified as a hero who unites them in strength and salvation. The scene plays through consists of a band of humans trying to kill a group of Faunus led by Ghira Belladonna; the Faunus don't fight back, instead of cowering behind their vehicles while Ghira tries unsuccessfully to reason with the humans. Adam takes on all the humans, defeating them single-handedly; while Ghira is horrified by the violence, the rest of the Faunus begin to cheer Adam as a hero.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Sienna admits that he is seen as a popular symbol amongst their organization. Despite the fact that Adam is shown to be cavalier over the loss of Faunus lives in pursuit of Salem's plans, the Vale faction of the White Fang follows him loyally. Adam confirms to Sienna that his Vale followers, and several in Mistral as well, see him as the ''true'' High Leader of the White Fang, not Sienna. Sienna's own personal bodyguards turn on her and do nothing when Adam kills her. He loses this when he flees at the end of Volume 5, leaving his forces to be arrested.
* WeaponBasedCharacterisation: Wilt and Blush, a chokuto and a shotgun-sheath, both of which are devastating in close quarters and are almost always fatal on the first blow when combined with his Semblance. Blush can fire Wilt out of its sheath, letting Adam attack even faster. Wilt is designed to channel his Semblance, an ability to absorb the energy of attacks so that he redirect that power back at the enemy. Adam is a man who wants to destroy his enemies as brutally as possible, but who has no tolerance for experiencing any suffering in return. When Yang learns that his Semblance gets channeled through his sword instead of him having to tank the damage with his body first, she calls it cheap that he can gain power without having to earn it. Throwing his sword over a cliff symbolizes the stripping of his power and sets up his final defeat.
* WesternTerrorists: He's one of the higher-ranking members of the White Fang post-reform, and he makes it clear to Cinder that they'll listen to him even after Roman's screw-up, which incidentally cost many White Fang members.
* WheresTheKaboom: When Blake arrives with the Menagerie force, Adam realizes he and his men are outnumbered and activates the detonator to the bombs that have been attached to Haven's CCT. When the bombs fail to go off, his response is a subdued "Huh?". Blake confirms that Ilia switching sides and having camouflage abilities means the bombs could be located and disarmed before the Menagerie force revealed its presence.
* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou: During the battle for Beacon, he makes it clear to Blake that he's going to go out of his way to hurt her and everything she cares about just because she walked out on him. When Yang comes into view, searching for Blake, he stabs Blake in the stomach to incite Yang into attacking him, then chops off Yang's arm. When Blake throws herself across Yang's unconscious body to protect her, Adam asks her why she keeps hurting him - blaming her for his own behavior - and then decapitates what turns out to be one of her very life-like shadow clones.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Sienna Khan]]
!!Sienna Khan
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sienna_khan.png]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MonicaRial[[labelnote:Foreign [=VAs=]]]Sayaka Kinoshita (Japanese)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Debut:''' Dread in the Air[[labelnote:*]]Volume 5 Episode 2[[/labelnote]]
->''"I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Peace bred complacency, and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not allow humanity to push us down without pushing them back."''
The High Leader of the White Fang. Sienna's reign is what transformed the White Fang from a peaceful protester group into a militant organization for Faunus rights. Her weapon is a chain whip named Cerberus Whip, tipped with detachable arrowhead spikes loaded with Dust. Her Semblance, codenamed "Grudge", makes her stronger and faster whenever she breaks or damages someone's Aura.
----
* AccidentalMurder: Adam's early kills during White Fang missions were regarded as accidents or self-defense. The Volume 6 Character Short shows one occasion where Adam single-handedly protected Ghira from an ambush by anti-Faunus humans. Adam takes them all down non-lethally until one human starts shooting directly at Ghira. Adam unleashes his Semblance, and the human is killed in a single strike. Ghira is horrified and Adam looks disturbed, but Sienna and the rest of the Faunus surprise Adam by praising him as a hero. In the following scene, Blake is very concerned by the regular pattern of "accidental" deaths that are occurring on Adam's missions and asks how many more there will be. Adam doesn't know because he's risking his life to fight for the Faunus, but his sincerity is ambiguous. From the next scene on, he's no longer killing by accident and is instead killing for pleasure.
* AchillesHeel: Unlike most characters, Adam exclusively channels his [[EnergyAbsorption semblance]] through his weapon. He needs it to both collect energy and release it. Taking Wilt away from him effectively disables his semblance. Blake is able to reduce Adam's fighting skill for a time by trapping Wilt in her own sheath until he can get it back from her. Later on, Yang manages to completely neuter his Semblance by evading his blows, [[BareHandedBladeBlock catching it with her robot arm]], and disarming him.
* AlasPoorVillain: A bloodthirsty madman who wanted to [[MasterRace enslave humanity to the Faunus]], and then became [[PsychoExBoyfriend obsessed with destroying Blake]] in every sense of the word [[DomesticAbuse for leaving him]], Adam's final downfall -- which comes ''after'' he's lost everything he had short of his own life, due to his shortcomings -- carries a bittersweet atmosphere. After he's fatally run through by Blake and Yang, the soundtrack cuts to silence as Adam quietly staggers to a ledge overlooking a waterfall, falls to his knees, and looks outward while breathing his last, wearing a calm and solemn expression the entire time. Once Adam's body has fallen out of sight, Blake breaks down and collapses to her knees, sobbing. The creators confirmed they wanted the audience to feel some pathos for Adam at the end.
* AllThereInTheManual: His full name was revealed through Monty's Facebook Turnaround models during Volume 1, but not used on-screen until the halfway point of Volume 3.
* AndYourLittleDogToo: Adam vows to destroy everything Blake loves to make her pay for abandoning him. When he slices off Yang's arm, Blake goes on the run, just as he wanted. Sun follows her home, determined to have her back, but gets injured when they fight Adam's subordinate, Ilia, reinforcing Blake's belief that she needs to be alone. When Sun lectures Blake on abandoning her friends, Blake's parents reveal that Blake and Sun did recover intel from Ilia that proves Adam plans to overthrow the White Fang leader, Sienna Khan, and then destroy Haven Academy. As a result, Blake vows to stop running and take back control of the White Fang from Adam. It reaches a whole new level when he orders the assassination of Blake's parents just to spite and hurt her; not only does this fail, but it also provides just the ammo Blake needs to convince the [[BystanderSyndrome previously neutral]] people of Menagerie to stand up against him.
* AnimalMotifs: Adam ''Taurus'' has a bull motif. He has two horns, and there are markings on his mask that resemble horns as well. When he finally removes the blindfold he's wearing, it's to show that his face has been heavily scarred around the left eye; the scarring has been caused by the SDC company letters being burned into his face, meaning that he's been branded like cattle.
* AnimalStereotypes: Apart from his implied [[BrutishBulls bull heritage]], he also "[[BullSeeingRed sees red]]" and seems unwilling to consider the views of others.
* ArchEnemy: He becomes one to Blake and Yang over the course of the series. He tells Blake during the battle of Beacon that he plans on making her suffer for betraying him by abandoning the White Fang. He insists that he will destroy everything she loves; when Yang tries to rescue Blake moments later, Adam keeps his promise by defeating Yang with a single swing of his sword, amputating her right arm in the process. By the time of their final confrontation in Volume 6, Adam tells Blake that none of the pain and scarring he's experienced in his life hurt him as much as she did because she left him. When he realises she wants him to let go of the past, he vows to never let her get away from him again. He considers Yang unfinished business and is happy to fight her when she intervenes before he can kill Blake. Seeing her shaking from the PTSD flashbacks she has to the night he cut off her arm, he accuses Yang of cowardice and demands to know what Blake even sees in her. In the end, the final fight rests on the fact that he's alienated and alone while his attempts to isolate the pair from each other only succeed in making them stronger through unity, mutual trust, and team-work.
* AudibleSharpness: Adam's blade can occasionally be heard even when it hasn't touched anything. One example is the sound heard right as he's about to stab Blake.
* AxCrazy: Adam is a deranged [[FantasticRacism anti-human]] terrorist dedicated to the enslavement of humanity. He also wishes to kill all of Blake's loved ones as revenge for [[DomesticAbuse leaving him]]. The Albain brothers even take note of his instability and contemplate removing him from power in "Necessary Sacrifice".
* BadassInANiceSuit: Unlike most of the White Fang, Adam prefers smart suit-style clothing. He originally wore a single-breasted black jacket over a red top along with black trousers. After the Battle of Beacon, he changes his top to a smart, zipped jacket that is charcoal grey with black accents. In both cases, his personal symbol appears on the back of his jackets. He is one of the most powerful fighters in the White Fang, his combat skills have taken him from the bottom of the organization to become the leader of the Vale chapter of the White Fang, and eventually the High Leader of the whole White Fang organization.
* BadBoss: In "Downfall", he tries to blow up everyone there, including himself and his own followers, just to deny Blake victory. When one of the said followers demands to know what he's thinking, Adam grabs him by the throat, screaming that he's making humanity pay for what they've done. In "Haven's Fate", when his men are defeated, Adam flat-out bails on them to avoid being arrested; as Ilia points out, this has effectively cost Adam any respect and support the White Fang had for him. When his remaining followers call him out for his cowardice and mock his ineffectiveness as a leader when confronted by a fearless Blake, Adam slaughters them all in a spiteful fit of rage.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: In "Downfall", with his men cornered by Blake, the entirety of Menagerie, and the Mistral police, Adam attempts to set off bombs to kill everyone there, including himself and his followers, rather than let Blake win. Unfortunately for him, Ilia disarmed the explosives ahead of time.
* BigBadWannabe: Adam has the incredibly lofty goal of Faunus ruling the world, but his actual ability to implement that vision is lacking. In his first appearance outside of the trailers he's already been forced into a "partnership" with Cinder, and provides her with troops to do her dirty work for the first five volumes. His violent tendencies and shortsightedness lead to the Albain twins having to pick up the slack when it comes to strategy and public relations, his assassination attempt on the Belladonnas and cowardice at the Battle of Haven result in him losing all of his supporters, and that's not even mentioning how utterly insignificant of a threat he is compared to the immortal and millennia-old Salem. With no allies remaining, the once-feared revolutionary is reduced to single-mindedly stalking his former lover-turned-obsession, dying at the hands of Blake and Yang.
* BloodKnight: Given his laughter in the face of near-death to a SpiderTank, even if he can beat it, this seems to be in effect.
* BrokenPedestal: Adam was once seen as an icon of the movement to the White Fang's membership. They had so much faith in him that he was confident they'd keep following him even after the loss of Faunus' life during the breach of Vale at the end of Volume 2. In Volume 5, Sienna's personal bodyguards are willing to turn on her in favor of Adam when he launches his coup against her. However, when he attacks Haven Academy, he destroys any respect and support he had when he tries to blow up himself and his followers just to spite Blake for attempting to stop him from attacking Haven; upon failing that, he abandons his men to be captured by the Mistral authorities while he escapes. Ilia predicts that no one in the White Fang will support Adam after all of this, and indeed when he returns to the White Fang headquarters, the rank and file turn on him and make it clear they're done following his orders, which leads to Adam snapping and killing them all.
-->'''Ilia:''' Those in the White Fang that followed [Adam] won't support a leader that abandons his people. He won't have their help after this. He'll have no one at all.
* CantTakeCriticism: In "Argus Limited", Adam returns to the headquarters of the White Fang only to find the Faunus blocking his access to the throne. They refuse to step aside when he commands because they've heard how he abandoned his people at Haven Academy and ran away. While he keeps calm through most of the perceived disrespect, he can't handle his people criticizing his inability to deal with Blake. When they suggest she has more control over him than he wants to admit, he loses his temper and slaughters every single one of them. When he reminisces over that claim, he loses control again and destroys his throne.
* CatchAndReturn: Moonslice allows him to absorb the energy of attacks he blocks, and then release it back at his enemies.
* ChargedAttack: Adam needs time to charge up his EnergyAbsorption LimitBreak, as he tells Blake to distract the SpiderTank while he's doing so. Although in "Heroes and Monsters", he is shown to perform it with much less preparation. In general, Adam's Semblance requires him to either become a stationary target and absorb energy from his Aura, or to deflect gunfire and other attacks to build up energy.
* CoolMask: He wears a distinctive white mask with red accents which resembles the white and red faces of the Grimm. The distinct design marks him as more important than the normal White Fang who wears plain white masks. After the battle for Haven, he abandons the mask, and in his next appearance, he is wearing a black blindfold instead of the mask.
* CorruptedCharacterCopy: Of Prince Adam, the titular Beast from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''. Like the Beast, Adam is in a relationship with Blake, who serves as his Belle by being a BadassBookworm, and he's the head of the White Fang, a rebellion group of Faunus who've been wronged by humanity, akin to the Beast's servants being cursed alongside him. Unlike the Beast, however, Adam is a complete terrorist who not only sees his troops as [[WeHaveReserves expendable]], instead of how the Beast cared for his servants, but he views Blake as little more than an item who he feels he's {{entitled to have|you}}, much like how Gaston acts.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Incredibly jealous of Blake's closeness with Yang, to the point of driving him into a rage. His jealousy is best exemplified by him screaming "What does she even see in you!?" at Yang during their fight.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: As stated by Blake and shown in-depth in his character short, Adam ''was'' initially somewhat well-intentioned and noble, and he ''did'' care about his fellow Faunus; he's actually shocked when he kills a human in defense of Ghira and surprised when Sienna and the rest of the Fang praise him for doing so. By the end of the short, set after he takes over the White Fang, he's devolved from a quest for equal rights to pursuing Faunus supremacy and the gratification of his own desires. Whatever nobility he may have had in his goals is long gone.
* DidntSeeThatComing: During his character short, Sienna declares Adam a hero for saving Ghira's life, and the rest of the Fang cheer for him after he accidentally killed a racist who was shooting at their convoy. Adam's reaction to this is one of genuine surprise, as he'd been expecting a reprimanding from Ghira.
* DomesticAbuse: He behaves abusively towards Blake, blaming her for how he felt after she walked out on him, and blaming her for "making him" hurt her in retaliation. He tells her that he will destroy everything she cares about just because she left him. All the time he's trying to emotionally beat her down, he displays a calm, implacable determination and peppers his speech with terms of endearment such as "my love" or "my darling" which contribute to the creepiness of his behavior. Blake tells Yang that his power comes from his ability to control others and get inside their heads, which is what he did to her. After he falls out with the White Fang, he stalks her across Anima and waits until she's alone and separated from other people to ambush her. He is enraged that she's thrown away her memories of him and makes it absolutely clear that he's never going to let her go ever again.
-->'''Blake:''' Adam's strong, but his real power comes from control. He used to get in my head, make me feel small. But now I see he just wanted to pull me down to his size.
* DramaticUnmask: In "The Lady in the Shoe", he removes the blindfold covering his eyes to reveal an SDC brand in his left eye, giving context to his obsession with revenge against humanity.
* DrunkWithPower: Adam's path through the White Fang ranks takes him from a hero who inspires his people to fight back against humanity's racism towards the Faunus, into a dangerous leader who wants to punish humanity for hurting him. He murders the High Leader of the White Fang so that he can bend the entire organisation to his will in pursuit of his dream: subjugation of humanity to the Faunus. The power and the pressure of being High Leader quickly goes to his head, resulting in him making unstable decisions and using the White Fang to target the family of the ex-girlfriend who dared to dump him. This triggers the formerly reluctant Menagerie into rising up against him; they protect Haven Academy from Adam's assault, resulting in him abandoning his people to the police authorities Menagerie calls in. He then destroys any White Fang member who turns against him, successfully destroying the organisation through his abuse of power just weeks after he became his leader.
* TheDyingWalk: After he is stabbed, he staggers forward a few feet. He then collapses to his knees before toppling forwards to fall off the cliff.
* EnergyAbsorption: Adam has the ability to absorb energy [[CatchAndReturn and return it back]], channeling his Semblance to his sword; this allows him to absorb attacks by unsheathing it so the attack directly hits the blade. He then stores this energy in his sword and releases it for one large attack. When Blake tells Yang what Adam's Semblance is, she compares how similar the two Semblances are; Yang immediately latches onto the key difference between them, which is that she has to tank damage first whereas Adam doesn't.
-->'''Blake:''' His Semblance is like yours! He absorbs energy into his sword, stores it up, and then sends it back when he's ready!\\
'''Yang:''' He gets to dish out damage without having to feel it? That's just cheap.
* EvilFormerFriend: He used to be Blake's partner within the White Fang until she realized Adam was knee-deep in the new leadership's violent approach, causing her to desert him and the organization altogether. When he reappears at the end of Volume 2, he is confirmed to be one of the White Fang's leaders and has teamed up with Cinder's group. When they clash during the battle for Beacon, he insists on referring to her as "my love" and "my darling" even as he blames her for making him want to hurt her and for him deciding to destroy everything she cares about.
* EvilIsPetty: Adam wants to make Blake suffer by slaughtering everyone close to her, all because she walked away from him when she couldn't stomach his violent behavior anymore. Blake believes that Adam's desire to destroy humanity isn't because he believes that equality between humans and Faunus is impossible, but rather because he doesn't want equality to come about due to the injustices that he suffered in the past. Indeed, he doesn't want equality at all, but ''supremacy''. To drive home just how pitiful he is, Blake admits that she's come to see him as the embodiment of spite. Not hate or even rage, just spite. Best shown when he's bested by Blake, and rather than admit defeat, tries to set off the explosives that would kill her, her Faunus allies, his own followers, and himself included, just so "everyone loses". When he returns to the White Fang throne room, his remaining subordinates criticize him for turning on his people. They refuse to follow him any more and deny him access to the throne; Adam remains calm with the insubordination until his men accuse him of being controlled by Blake, whereupon his temper snaps and he slaughters every one of them. He then stalks Blake across Anima to avenge his wounded pride, blaming her for everything that's gone wrong in his life. When she tells him to let go of the past, he interprets it as throwing away her memories of them. He tries to kill her for causing him more pain than anyone ever has, and when Yang intervenes, he tries to turn Yang against Blake by claiming that Blake doesn't keep her promises to stay by the side of the people she cares about.
* EyeScream: In Volume 6, Adam takes off his blindfold to reveal what he's been hiding behind the mask he normally wears. His left eye has a red sclera and grey-black iris. Over the left side of his eye, a massive brand has been burned into his face simply stating 'SDC'.
* FacialHorror: Adam had the SDC logo burned onto his face and across his left eye, leaving permanent scarring. His left eye also has an unnatural appearance, with the red sclera and a strange greyish iris and pupil.
* FallenHero: Discussed. On the surface, Adam looks like a person who started off as a hero, but became more extreme over time until it became clear to everyone he was a monster who had fallen from his path and needed to be stopped. However, he was never the person people thought he was to begin with, and has only ever been interested in hurting the world for hurting him. Blake mentions a few times about how he seemed to change over time, from a good person to an awful one. However, during their final confrontation Yang outright accuses him of only ever having pretended to be that person.
* FantasticRacism: While there's plenty of tension between humans and Faunus, and many Faunus harbor deep resentment and anger toward humans, Adam advocates Faunus supremacism, believing that humans not only deserve to be overthrown but that the Faunus are the SuperiorSpecies and should ''rule'' over humans. Sienna's Menagerie representatives, Corsac and Fennec, tell the Belladonna family that Sienna is so troubled by Adam's violence that she wants him captured and brought to her for punishment. Adam seeks her out himself. They argue about how violence should be used to achieve their goals, with Sienna wanting Faunus to be feared and respected and Adam wanting humans enslaved to Faunus superiority. Adam murders her with the intention of martyring her death to inflame the White Fang against humanity and replaces her as leader of the White Fang.
-->'''Adam:''' We can win a war against the humans. Not only because we have the support of Hazel's master, but because the Faunus are the dominant species of this planet. We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn’t just fear the Faunus, they should serve the Faunus.
* FascistButInefficient: Adam is a supporter of Faunus supremacy and seeks to TakeOverTheWorld to achieve it, going so far as to kill Sienna Khan so he can take over the White Fang and lead them into a war against humanity. Sadly, throughout Volume 5, it's proven that while Adam is an excellent warrior, he's a ''horrible'' leader; he's hot-tempered, spiteful and petty, and makes incredibly stupid moves that blow up in his face. On top of pushing away valuable allies like Salem's faction out of petty spite and bigotry, he proceeds to order the assassination of Blake's parents just to spite and hurt her; the assassination fails and provides just the means for Blake to [[NeutralNoLonger rally the previously neutral citizens of Menagerie against him]]. When cornered at Haven, [[TakingYouWithMe Adam attempts to blow himself]] [[BadBoss and his troops up]] with everyone else instead of surrendering or risk trying to fight his way out, and when his troops are all subdued and arrested, he decides to simply [[VillainExitStageLeft make a break for it]]. Ilia predicts that no one in the White Fang will support or follow Adam after all of this, and come "Argus Limited", she's proven right; when Adam returns to his headquarters, his remaining men block his access to his throne, mock his failure at Haven, and make it clear they won't follow his orders anymore, leading to Adam flying into a rage and slaughtering them all.
* FatalFlaw: Sienna Khan sums up Adam's weakness as short-sightedness. He possesses the charisma to lead Vale's faction of the White Fang in any endeavor he supports; even when many Faunus lose their lives during the Volume 2 finale, he is confident that his followers will continue to do his bidding. Claiming he's inspired by Sienna's strength, he joins forces with Salem to destroy Beacon Academy. Sienna is furious because Adam cannot see that his actions have justified humanity's hatred and fear of the Faunus and that the White Fang is now more of a target than it ever was. Blake explains to Sun that Adam symbolizes the concept of 'spite' to her; the world hurt him, so he intends to hurt the world right back; he neither cares nor comprehends the wider consequences of his actions. He believes in Faunus' superiority and plans for a day when humanity will be forced to serve the Faunus, but he's willing to ruin his own plans for short-term gains, such as the destruction of Beacon Academy or putting a hit out on Blake's family just because they oppose him. Murdering Sienna to obtain control of the White Fang and trying to assassinate the Belladonnas motivates a previously neutral Menagerie to form an army for the sole purpose of stopping him from doing to Haven Academy what he did to Beacon; his ability to control the White Fang is therefore destroyed by his own weakness almost as soon as he set his plans into motion.
%% * Freudian Excuse and Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse have been discussed several times in the past and found not to apply for Adam (with regards to his scar). Before adding either of these two tropes, please see the Discussion Page. If you think there's a discussion point that hasn't been raised or considered in the past, please start a discussion on the Discussion Page before adding the tropes to the page.
* GeneralFailure: As a warrior, Adam is a force to be reckoned with. As a leader, he was the worst thing that ever happened to the White Fang; he's hot-tempered, spiteful, and petty, with his growing mental instability leading him to make increasingly stupid moves: on top of pushing away valuable allies like Hazel out of petty pride and bigotry, the supremely boneheaded decision to put a hit out on Blake's parents just to hurt her and subsequent failure of the said assassination attempt was just the tip of the iceberg. When cornered at Haven, [[TakingYouWithMe Adam attempts to blow himself]] [[BadBoss and his troops up]] with everyone else instead of surrendering or risk trying to fight his way out, and after his troops are defeated, he [[KnowWhenToFoldEm runs away]] and abandons them to their fate. Come "Argus Limited", Adam's remaining henchmen realize he's a horrible leader, criticize him for it, and refuse to follow his orders anymore, leading to Adam [[CantTakeCriticism snapping and slaughtering them]]. By the time the dust settles, Adam's leadership has effectively trashed the entire organization, reducing a once-formidable band of terrorists to a divided, leaderless train wreck.
* HatedByAll: Adam was originally regarded as a hero and rising star within the White Fang. However, his descent into extremist ideology and selfish obsession led to him burning his bridges with everyone. His abusive behavior drove away his love; he became a terrorist wanted for the attacks on both Beacon and Haven; he alienated himself from Salem's faction by putting his own desires ahead of hers; his obsession with revenge turned all of Menagerie against him for trying to assassinate their chief just to spite his daughter, Blake; and the White Fang turned against him for abandoning his men to the Mistral authorities to save his own skin. In the end, all he has left is his life -- and he wastes that by going after Blake in one final attempt at revenge.
* HitMeDammit: Adam is an angry, aggressive fighter. When his opponent merely blocks and parries his blows, he becomes frustrated and insists that he be attacked. During his fight with Blake and Yang, Blake is forced over the side of the cliff, leaving Yang to face him alone. He triggers Yang's PTSD from the night he cut off her arm, leaving her parrying and blocking his blows instead of fighting offensively, and then demands that she hit him.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Although he is seeking personal power and Faunus supremacy, he is willing to work with Salem's humans to achieve it. Sienna Khan calls him out on allying with the very humans he claims to despise, pointing out that his talents are being diminished by shortsightedness. He also constantly belittles Blake for fleeing him every time he attacks her, but when she stands up to him with a Faunus militia, he abandons his men to their fate and flees; Blake stops Sun going after him because she knows he'll try and ambush them, and because she wants him to finally know what it feels like to run.
* IaijutsuPractitioner: During most fights, he favors using lightning-fast attacks from a sheathed position (made easier and deadlier due to the rifle mechanism in his sheath) and completing the attack by sheathing his sword, even when in the thick of combat. The only time he doesn't do this is when he isn't fighting too seriously, such as when he's about to finish off a downed Yang.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Blake once tells her team that Adam started off as a good person who became worse over time and by degrees. She said it would start as accidents that escalated. In the Volume 6 Character Short, flashbacks over time show this descent into villainy. When Adam kills a human who is trying to kill Ghira, Ghira is horrified by the unnecessary death, and Adam also looks disturbed. However, Sienna and the other Faunus surprise him by praising him as a hero. When Blake later challenges him about the increasing frequency of human deaths occurring on his missions, she asks him how many more there will be. Adam states he doesn't know because he's out there risking his life for the Faunus cause, and people get hurt when that happens.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: During the fight between Adam, Blake, and Yang at the end of volume 6, all three of them end up running out of Aura and Semblance, resulting in the fight degenerating into a scramble to find a means to stab the other and end the fight. While Adam and Blake both dive for the same piece of Blake's broken sword, Yang separately dives for the other half of Blake's broken sword. As a result, Blake and Yang both stab Adam at the same time, Blake from the front and Yang from behind. Adam is pierced through the chest in two places, causing a large amount of blood loss. His reaction is a quiet "Oh!" before he topples off the cliff to his death.
* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Adam combines [[IaijutsuPractitioner the art of quick drawing]] with nearly indiscernible movement while {{blade spam}}ming the hell out of the SDC robots. He also somehow slices robots that are seemingly beyond his sword's reach, either through sheer speed or some other means. And that's before going into his LimitBreak, which absorbs the SpiderTank's energy blast to send it back tenfold, reducing it (and the scenery) into nothingness.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: His rifle barrel is also the ''sheathe for his sword''. On top of that, the sword has been shown to strike enemies outside of its blade range and is actually capable of storing the energy he absorbs with his LimitBreak.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: The force his sheathe can fire out his sword turns the blade into an unorthodox projectile which he's very adept with, often striking someone square in the face with the butt of his weapon. While giving chase to Blake in Argus, he's able to shoot Gambol Shroud out of the air with Wilt, disrupting Blake's escape.
* InformedAttribute: While the audience is told that Adam is quite charismatic and charming to the Faunus, this trait is rarely shown on-screen outside of Adam's character short, with Adam spending more time barking orders to his subordinates than winning them over.
* ItGetsEasier: As shown in the Volume 6 Character Short, Adam was initially shocked when he killed a human in defense of Ghira and surprised when Sienna and the other Faunus praised him for it. In the following scene, Blake is very concerned by the regular pattern of accidental deaths that are occurring on Adam's missions and asks how many more there will be. Adam doesn't know because he's risking his life to fight for the Faunus, but his sincerity is ambiguous. In the very next scene, he's actively attempting to kill a downed Schnee Dust Company guard with a huge grin on his face.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Adam wants to wipe out humanity, not because he believes peace between them and the Faunus is impossible, but because he blames them for the personal injustices he's faced. He also makes it a priority to hunt Blake down and [[RevengeByProxy hurt everyone she cares about]] because she left his abusive butt in the dust when she deserted the White Fang, displaying a WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou attitude towards doing so. In "Haven's Fate", the thing that seems to tick him off the most is Blake saying that she's "got bigger things to deal with". Even in his past, as shown during the Volume 6 Character Short, he starts off by telling the Faunus that they will claim "what we deserve"; by the time he's taken full control of the White Fang and is assaulting Haven Academy, he's instead talking about "what I deserve" and has no problem killing the Faunus who serve him to achieve his goals. His song "Lionize" reveals that he has a savior complex about his role in the White Fang, and suggests that at least partly, he was a glory-hound.
* ItsPersonal: Blake's abandonment of him triggers a long-standing personal vendetta against her, causing him to declare his intent to destroy everything she loves and start by lopping off Yang's arm. Volumes 5 and 6 deconstruct this; the prioritization of his personal grudge against Blake actively harms his ability to lead the White Fang, culminating in a mutiny against him.
* IWantThemAlive: White Fang defectors are supposed to be hunted down and killed. However, he doesn't want Blake dead; he wants her alive so that he can make her suffer for abandoning him by destroying everything she loves. When he gives the order to assassinate Ghira and Kali Belladonna, he makes it absolutely clear that Blake is to be brought to him alive.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He seems to have a soft side when he saves Blake during the Black Trailer, but then Season 3 reveals that he's violently possessive of her, does not tolerate her walking out on him, and is determined to destroy everything she cared about in retaliation, all the time [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou blaming her]] for making him behave like this.
* KlingonPromotion: Adam eventually slays Sienna and takes over the White Fang before his followers turn against him.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: At the end of Volume 5, with the tables turned on him, his men arrested, and Blake and Sun about to double-team him, Adam decides to simply run away rather than face them. Blake quickly realizes that he's trying to lure her and Sun into a trap and refuses to pursue him.
* LastVillainStand: Adam starts out as a powerful character who dominates Blake's thoughts even after she's escaped him. At the height of his power, he controls the entire White Fang, has helped bring down Beacon Academy, and is on the verge of bringing down Haven Academy. However, his deteriorating mental state and increasing obsession with reclaiming Blake cause him to unravel until both Menagerie, led by Blake, and the White Fang turn on him, forever destroying his dream of creating a world where Faunus subjugate humanity. Abandoned and alone, Adam hunts down Blake for a fight to the death, [[NeverMyFault blaming her]] for everything he's lost.
* LimitBreak: The red markings on his mask and jacket light up when he's ready to cut loose with his EnergyAbsorption.
* LogicalWeakness: During Blake and Yang's fight with Adam in Volume 6, Blake warns Yang that Adam's Semblance is [[EnergyAbsorption like hers]], except that he channels the energy through his sword instead his body like Yang does. As a result, Yang begins to avoid making contact with Adam's sword to stop him from being able to power up his Semblance from her strikes. At the end of the fight, even though Adam's Aura has broken, Yang still takes the precaution of throwing his sword off a cliff into a waterfall far below, an act which makes Adam panic.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: When Adam gets stabbed, he looks at the injury in surprise and says "Oh".
* ManipulativeBastard: Adam emotionally manipulates Blake into believing that he killed a human by accident and staying by his side after her parents left the White Fang. During his last battle with Blake and Yang, the latter asked if Blake made a promise to him or the person he was pretending to be, implying he manipulated her all her life during their time in the White Fang.
* MaskingTheDeformity: Adam Taurus wears a distinctive white mask with red accents, which resembles the faces of the Grimm, and later a black blindfold, to cover terrible scars from having been branded like cattle by the abusive SDC.
* MaskOfSanity: Adam outwardly projects a vibe of calm and control, in a way that inspires others to follow his lead. However, [[BeneathTheMask beneath]] this controlled mask is an unstable man filled with rage and described by Blake as the AnthropomorphicPersonification of spite. In a private recording he sends to the Albains, he flies into a furious rage while ordering the Belladonna family assassinated before forcibly calming himself down, complete with a hand gesture that looks like pantomiming putting on a mask. By the end of Volume 5, the mask falls off when Adam tries to blow up himself and his own followers simply so [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled Blake doesn't win]], and everyone in the White Fang sees how evil and crazy he really is. Yang even indirectly alludes to this when she counters his claim of Blake breaking her promise to him:
-->'''Yang:''' Did she make that promise to you, or to the person you were ''pretending'' to be?
* MotiveDecay: Blake's [[UnreliableNarrator initial descriptions]] of him depict a Faunus rights activist whose dedication takes him too far into terrorism, with many White Fang members, including his mentor High Leader Sienna Khan, being fooled. An abusive, manipulative ControlFreak who gaslit everyone for years, his true self only becomes clear to Blake in Volume 3, and the rest of the White Fang in Volume 5. He never believed in equality, [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist he wants humanity enslaved]]; his [[PsychoExBoyfriend increasing obsession]] with Blake destroys the White Fang, leaving him with nothing but the need to destroy Blake [[NeverMyFault for ruining his life]].
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Adam invokes this to justify killing Sienna Khan to Hazel. As he puts it, Salem was concerned over whether or not Sienna would willingly cooperate with them, and now she doesn't have to be.
-->'''Hazel:''' [[ReluctantWarrior Nobody needed to die today!]]\\
'''Adam:''' ''[[[PsychoticSmirk smirks]]]'' I... ''disagree''.
* {{Narcissist}}: Adam has multiple characteristics commonly attributed to a narcissist. He is manipulative, arrogant, egocentric, and power-hungry. He is visibly attention-hungry; he expects special treatment from people around him and has a skewed perception of himself as a heroic figure for the Faunus. He never sits on the High Leader's throne, he lounges indolently as he issues his orders. He is unable to handle criticism and takes defiance of his authority personally, retaliating spitefully and with murderous intent. As a result, when Blake turns her back on the White Fang because his violence is hurting innocents, he doesn't simply go after her, he vows to destroy everyone she loves as well. Notably, the thing Blake does that enrages him most isn't stating hatred of him, but being ''dismissive'' of him and denying him the attention he craves.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Adam's entreaty to Sienna Khan consists of him declaring the Faunus to be a superior race, better than humans in every way, and stating that humanity should be made to serve the Faunus instead of simply respecting them. In Volume 5, his clothing is changed from a black and red Asian-themed suit to a [[PuttingOnTheReich militarized grey suit]] that resembles a Nazi uniform. He has built a cult of personality around himself that he uses to inflame and radicalize Faunus against humanity. In a scene reminiscent of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire Reichstag Fire]], he murders Sienna Khan with the intention of fabricating a story about her being murdered by humans to cement his authority as the new leader and deliberately radicalize the White Fang against humanity.
* NeverMyFault: Adam blames Blake for his violent obsession with destroying her and everything she loves. He insists he only wants to hurt her because she has betrayed him by abandoning him. For a while, this worked as she was convinced everything he was doing was her fault until he pushed her far enough that she decided to begin fighting back. When he confronts Blake again at Argus, he rants that Blake ruined his life the minute she came into it, completely ignoring that he stalked her across the entire continent and waited until she was away from her friends to attack, while refusing to let her go. Blake rightfully calls him out on it and tells Adam point-blank that she wants ''nothing'' to do with him or his life.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Blake was facing an [[BystanderSyndrome impossible task]] trying to recruit a Menagerie militia to save the humans of Haven Academy from an attack being planned by the White Fang, as the Menagerie citizens just wanted to be left alone to escape the [[FantasticRacism discrimination]] they've experienced from humanity. By ordering the assassination of Blake's family, Adam cements his downfall. Not only does the attempted assassination fail, but it also gives Blake the means to [[RousingSpeech rally]] the people of Menagerie. She succeeds in creating the militia needed to defend Haven against Adam's assault. By calling in the Mistral Police Force to help them save Haven, the militia earns Mistral's gratitude, improving local relations between humanity and the Faunus and turning the remnants of the White Fang against Adam.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: Things sliced apart by his LimitBreak burn away into dust, including the spider droid and Yang's arm.
* NotSoSimilar: Yang and Adam. They have both been Blake's mission partners, been permanently scarred by others, and share a Semblance that allows them to power up by converting attack energy. However, Yang is a thrill-seeker who learned to become a Huntress who protects the people, who have to tank physical damage to convert energy into strength, and who learned to rise above her scars. Adam absorbs energy through his sword and is a manipulative abuser who descended from being a Faunus rights activist into a monster obsessed with punishing humanity for hurting him. When Blake compares the two after Team RWBY is disqualified from the Vytal tournament, she concludes Adam's "accidental" harming of others was a pattern while Yang's was a genuine, one-off accident. When the trio fight in Volume 6, Adam seeks to blame Blake for everything bad that's ever happened to him, while Yang refuses to let her take the blame for any of it and accuses Adam of lying to Blake about the kind of person he truly was, something Yang has never done.
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: Blake originally believes that Adam shares her idealism for a world where humans and Faunus are equal and peaceful; even after she abandons him in the Black Trailer for not caring if humans die during their train heist, Blake still assumes he's just gone too far in pursuit of a noble goal. When they confront each other at the end of Volume 3, Blake understands for the first time that Adam never shared her future vision, believes peaceful equality is impossible, and instead wants to enslave humanity and destroy everyone and everything Blake loves as punishment for abandoning him. He later murders and usurps his boss, Sienna Khan, with a smile, because she isn't ruthless enough to lead the Faunus into a war they can't win against humanity. Later on, when Blake turns many Faunus against him, he tries to kill them all, and his own followers, with explosives, rather than admit defeat.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Adam refuses to work with Cinder on the grounds that the White Fang members would be put in danger because of her, plus the White Fang does not work with humans. Cinder later offers him both money and Dust for his cause. After absorbing a portion of the Fall Maiden's power, she slaughters the White Fang members in front of him and reiterates that her offer can either benefit him as well as her or just her alone. It's not the money and Dust that convince him, it's a very clear threat.
* OffhandBackhand: After his confrontation with Blake and Yang results in Blake fleeing his presence with an unconscious Yang, he silently watches her run. A Creep Grimm spots his distraction and runs at him. However, Adam kills the Creep with a single swing, without once taking his attention off the departing Blake.
* OneHeadTaller: He is Blake's PsychoExBoyfriend and is considerably taller than her. When she's wearing heels, her head reaches his chin.
* PerpetualFrowner: Adam seems to have one default expression on his face: either an angry or annoyed frown. It makes the few times he [[SlasherSmile smiles]] or [[PsychoticSmirk smirks]] that much more unsettling in comparison.
* ThePeterPrinciple: Adam was Sienna’s top lieutenant and best fighter; once promoted to a leadership position he displayed his capabilities, planning the White Fang's Vale operations and was very successful in this position. He was even able to plan and execute a political take over of the White Fang. However leading a large cell is not the same as an entire organization and his abilities are shown being compromised by the stress of leadership and his increasing ego. He was High Leader for a few months before the organization was destroyed.
* PowerGlows: Whenever Adam releases the energy he stored with his semblance, his body turns completely black while any red, like his hair or clothing, glows a bright red.
* PsychoExBoyfriend: He used to be Blake's [[DomesticAbuse abusive boyfriend]], before his lack of concern for collateral human deaths during the Black Trailer leads her to leave him and the White Fang. When they confront each other during the battle for Beacon, he wants to hurt her just for [[IfICantHaveYou leaving him]] and stabs her to incite Yang to attack him. He cuts off Yang's arm in front of Blake and then tries to decapitate Blake just for protecting the unconscious Yang. He makes it clear that, not only will he [[RevengeByProxy hunt down]] everything she cares about just to get back at her, but that he completely [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou blames her]] for making him behave in such a fashion.
* PsychologicalProjection: He projects quite a few of his own character flaws onto Blake. He accuses her of cowardice, but he abandoned his own men at Haven Academy to be arrested while he escaped; the White Fang turned on him for doing that. He also calls her selfish, but he is the one determined to stalk her across the continent just to drag her back to his side regardless of what she wants. Blake rightfully calls him delusional.
* PsychoticSmirk: Adam has an oddly recurring habit of smirking or grinning sadistically post-Volume 3.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: {{Inverted|Trope}}. After a regime change, the White Fang changed from a Faunus rights organization to a terrorist organization. As one of the leaders, Adam was in a position to school Blake in the new way of doing things. When the pair take part in a train heist, Adam intends to blow the train; upon asking about the innocent humans on board, Blake is concerned to hear Adam reply "What about them?" As a result, she abandons Adam, rescuing the train of people in the process, and goes on the run from the White Fang. She decides to attend Beacon Academy and train to become a Huntress, someone who protects the people from harm. For betraying him, Adam vows to destroy everything she ever loved, guilt-tripping her into feeling like she's to blame for his actions in destroying Beacon Academy and maiming her team-mate, Yang. It eventually leads Blake to vow to take back the White Fang from him and restore it to its former peaceful model.
* PuttingOnTheReich: Adam's time skip outfit in Volume 5 has a much more militarized style, being a double-breasted outfit with a closer cut, akin to a World War II formal German officer's uniform. The zippers on his sleeves and breast even evoke military rank emblems and medals with their placement and coupled with all of his other rhetoric, [[ANaziByAnyOtherName it emphasizes the shift in his behavior and tone]].
* RecoilBoost: In conjunction with being an IaijutsuPractitioner, Adam uses the recoil to unsheathe his sword instantly.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Adam wears black trousers and a red top, over which is a black jacket with red designs on the front and back. His gloves and shoes are black, but the shoes have red soles. His hair is red, with either black horns or two black tufts of hair designed to look like horns. His rifle sheathe is black while his sword's blade is blood-red. When he activates his power, his hair becomes an even brighter red. His white mask carries intricate red designs. He is one of the leaders that deposed the old guard to drive the White Fang down a path of violent terrorism. He has no problem killing humans, even when he doesn't need to and his goal is the destruction of humanity rather than equal rights for Faunus. He regards Blake's defection from the White Fang as a personal betrayal and is determined to destroy everything she cares about is revenge. His current behavior, including victim-blaming her for "forcing" him to hurt her, indicates that he is abusive towards her.
* RedemptionRejection: At the conclusion of their duel in Volume 6, Blake offers Adam the chance to get over the pain he's caused her. However, he refuses, which seals his fate at the hands of Blake and Yang.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Not only is Adam determined to get revenge on humanity for their poor treatment of Faunus, especially himself, he's obsessed with making Blake pay for defecting from the White Fang, swearing that he'll destroy everyone and everything she loves for doing so. It backfires when his order to slaughter Blake's family fails and provides just what she needs to rally Menagerie against him, resulting in his failing to destroy Haven Academy, most of the White Fang being arrested, and Adam forced to go on the run. Even then, he hunts Blake across Anima for one final attempt at revenge, which ends with Blake and Yang double-teaming and killing him.
* RevengeByProxy: The White Fang doesn't tolerate defectors and will kill them when they track them down, but Blake's defection is deeply personal for Adam. He's not content to simply kill her. He's absolutely determined to destroy everything she's ever cared about. That includes the people she cares about. He cuts off Yang's arm as soon as he realizes Blake cares about Yang. When he finds out Blake is in Menagerie, he explodes with rage. His rant that Blake's family is the bane of his existence culminates in him issuing an order to kidnap Blake and murder her parents, a decision that makes the Albain brothers conclude that he may be too unwell to remain functioning as White Fang leader for long.
* SanitySlippage: After assuming command of the White Fang, Adam shows increasingly violent, aggressive behavior. He's so obsessed with Blake to the point where the mere mention of the Belladonna name produces outbursts. He has to make efforts to calm himself down, and issues the order to kill the Belladonnas, a plan the Albain brothers are concerned could backfire if it radicalizes Menagerie's population against the White Fang by making Ghira a martyr. The Albain brothers contemplating removing Adam from power if he becomes too erratic. After Blake foils his plans to destroy Haven Academy, he tries setting off bombs that would have killed not only Blake and her supporters but also Adam and his followers; his own followers demand to know what he's doing. When his followers learn that he abandoned his men at Haven Academy, they refuse to follow him any more and try blocking his access to the throne. When they insult the effect Blake has on Adam, he furiously slaughters them all. He sits on the throne surrounded by their dead bodies, mulling over what they just said to him. When he recalls the reference to Blake controlling him, he angrily destroys the throne.
* SheathStrike: Unlike conventional examples, the sheath is also a gun, rather than a melee weapon.
* SingleStrokeBattle: Against the Spider Droid, Adam unleashes a powerful slash that cuts the SpiderTank, the cargo, and ''even the forest background'' in one go. He uses the same attack on Yang during the battle for Beacon, cutting through her aura and causing her to lose her arm.
* SkewedPriorities: He considers Blake leaving him to be the worst thing that ever happened to him, despite having a literal brand on his face. This is very much not played for laughs, and shows the insane depths of his obsession.
* SlasherSmile: When he sees Blake for the first time in about a year during ''Battle of Beacon'', he gives her a creepy smile as he calmly, emphatically lists exactly how he's going to enact his revenge against her for the crime of walking out on him as a result of his enjoyment of killing humans.
* SlouchOfVillainy: When Hazel and Adam meet to discuss the future of Haven Academy, Hazel expects a negotiation but Adam instead achieves their goal by murdering their opposition. Hazel and Salem believe that people should only be killed if absolutely necessary, preferring to make use of them first. When Hazel angrily confronts Adam about unnecessary killing, Adam simply sits down, slumping casually against the right arm of the chair, announcing with a smirk that he felt the killing was necessary. White Fang High Leader, Sienna Khan objects to the fall of Beacon and vetoes an attack on Haven because it damages the quest for Faunus equality; Adam murders her in her own throne room as he reveals that he doesn't want equality, he wants humanity broken and enslaved to the Faunus. Hazel is powerless to stop him from inflaming the White Fang by martyring Sienna and then victoriously draping himself across the throne.
* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: According to Blake, Adam's slide into extremism was gradual, starting with justifying his violence as accidents, then self-defense, then as a necessary evil. It wasn't until the train mission where he's content to blow up innocent travelers along with the train, that Blake comprehends just how far he has fallen.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Though his pride and sadism frequently sabotage him, Adam is very intelligent. He was quick thinking and a skilled manipulator and was also capable with psychological warfare, skillfully taunting Blake and Yang in all of his engagements with the two.As a leader, Adam displayed an excellent tactical acumen, planning the White Fang's Vale operations, and successfully executed a political take over of the White Fang.
* TheSociopath: Adam first appears someone who is willing to bomb humans even when he doesn't need to. He also doesn't care about the huge loss of Faunus lives in pursuit of Salem's plans if it helps him obtain his goal. He has no interest in Faunus-Human equality, believing in Faunus superiority and seeking instead the enslavement of all humanity; if that means invading cities and tearing down symbols of humanity's power, he'll even kill the White Fang leader, his former mentor, to achieve it. His idea of love is to try forcing Blake to [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou take the blame]] for his own violence against her, then hunting her across entire continents, maiming her friends, and attempting to murder her parents, just for leaving him.
* SpeedEchoes: Adam can channel his Semblance to increase his speed. During his Volume 6 fight, he runs so fast that he leaves behind multiple silhouettes of himself that look like shadows.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: The show's four prequel trailers introduces each member of Team RWBY and what they can do in battle. However, the Black Trailer pairs Blake with Adam, who does most of the fighting and overshadows her with his signature finishing blow. In Blake's character short for Volume 5, the focus is on Ilia's back story, continuing the trend of Blake's supporting cast one-upping her in her own trailers.
* StalkerWithACrush: When Blake travels home to Menagerie after the Battle of Beacon, her opposition to the resident White Fang representatives helps her father, the Chief of Menagerie, to try and form a militia to save Haven Academy from being destroyed by Adam. When Adam hears about this, he attempts to have Blake's parents murdered and Blake brought home to him alive. After Blake leads a Menagerie force to stop Adam from destroying Haven, Adam abandons his men to avoid being arrested by Mistral authorities. When he returns to the White Fang, they refuse to take him back for abandoning his people and taunt them for being under Blake's control. Infuriated, he slaughters the remaining White Fang and decides to hunt down Blake. As Team RWBY travels from Mistral to the coastal city of Argus in their quest to reach Atlas, Adam stalks them the entire way. When Blake separates from her companions to disable the Atlesian military radar station, Adam seizes the opportunity to confront her, blaming her abandonment of him in the Black Trailer for everything that's happened to him; when he realizes she's willing to let go of her memories of their time together, an outraged Adam vows to never let her go again.
* TheStarscream: The scroll Sun and Blake manage to retrieve from Ilia reveals that Adam is planning a coup against the current White Fang leader Sienna Khan. In the Volume 5 episode "[[Recap/RWBYV5E2DreadInTheAir Dread in the Air]]", he carries out said coup and murders Sienna by running her through with Wilt.
* StartOfDarkness: Adam has two points in his life that ultimately defined who he would become. According to ''[[VideoGame/RWBYAmityArena Amity Arena]]'', he was once [[UsedToBeASweetKid an idealistic young boy]], dreaming of a better life for himself, until he was held down and branded. Gone was the idealistic young boy, and born was the member of the White Fang. At first, he believed in the cause, and cared about the Faunus as a whole. Things ultimately changed the day his group was attacked by racist humans. After accidentally killing one so as to save Ghira's life, he initially felt shame for what he did until Sienna stood up for him and began ''praising'' him. Soon, he became lionized by the White Fang, looked upon as a hero, and his hatred of humanity continued to fester. He would go on to become more vicious, more egotistical, and loved every minute of it. Adam became someone who only cared about himself, and would gladly toss aside the cause he once fought for if it got in the way of what ''he'' wants.
-->''With a scar on his face and anger in heart, a wayward boy looked for a home. When he found it... oh, how glorious it was. Accepted and loved, here was his happily ever after. But Adam was cursed with a gift few others had. Adam had... talent. And when Wilt tasted humanity's blood... Adam realized he was... STRONG. Now king without kingdom, he wonders where it went wrong. Coming up with excuses, reflecting the blame, Coming to a conclusion, we all find insane.''
* StealthPun: The name Adam was given to the "first man" in the Christian tradition. In the show, Adam is the first male character introduced, appearing in the Black Trailer, the third of four prequels for the show.
* SuperiorSpecies: He believes Faunus to be superior to humans, pointing out that they have "all that humans have, and more".
* SwordBeam: Adam can release the energy he's built up with his EnergyAbsorption semblance as a red wave projectile attack. During his character short, after deflecting and absorbing bullets while fighting a group of humans, he releases the energy in a wave at the last human, killing him and leaving a spray of blood against their truck.
* SymbolicMutilation: Adam once believed in equality between Faunus and Humans until the SDC branded him across his face like he was their property. He hid a monstrous act by humans with a Grimm-like mask to embrace how humanity sees Faunus as monsters, and seeks the enslavement of humanity to spite them for the enslavement of him.
* TakeOverTheWorld: He seeks to start a war with humanity in order to ensure Faunus supremacy across Remnant, and have humanity become their slaves.
* TakingYouWithMe: When Blake and the rest of Menagerie arrive at Haven with the Mistral police to stop Adam's attempt to destroy Haven, Adam decides to detonate the planted explosives and kill everyone. Fortunately, Ilia had disarmed the bombs before he could do it.
%% * TechnicolorBlade: The chokutÅ is colored bright red.
* TermsOfEndangerment: When he and Blake fight during the battle for Beacon, he constantly calls Blake "my darling" and "my love". Their argument consists of how he feels betrayed by Blake leaving him and the White Fang, and how he's going to go out of his way to obtain revenge by destroying everything she cares - including Beacon Academy and maiming Yang for trying to help Blake against Adam. While the pet names are supposed to be terms of endearment, they only serve to make it clear that Adam has an emotionally and physically abusive vision of his relationship with Blake.
* TheTragicRose: Adam has rose motifs. There is a stylized red rose on the back of his jacket and his weapons are named "Wilt" and "Blush", both terms that refer to roses (wilting petals and blush of color). During his signature attacks, the screen washes with red like petals becoming blood. He is a tortured soul with a tragic past that has led him to become an abusive, spiteful Faunus supremacist. Although his color scheme and the rose motif is shared by the heroine, Ruby Rose, the differences between Ruby and Adam's motifs are respectively described by the creators as [[https://twitter.com/montyoum/status/315344733134278656/photo/1 "scatter and wilt"]].
* TranquilFury: Every single line he delivers toward Blake in "Heroes and Monsters" is filled with venomous rage towards her for her perceived betrayal, but his voice is calm and controlled. Much like his fighting style, it's all contained and conservative, until he unleashes it to devastating effect.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Sienna Khan wasn't exactly a saint, considering that she was the one who pushed to convert the White Fang into using violence in the first place, but she was still a WellIntentionedExtremist who legitimately cared about Faunus equality and disapproved of Adam participating in the attack on Vale and Beacon Academy. Adam kills her and takes control, [[ANaziByAnyOtherName turning them into a full-fledged Faunus supremacist group]]. Sadly, Adam also proves to be a GeneralFailure, and his hotheadedness and SanitySlippage lead him to make increasingly stupid decisions that ultimately run the White Fang into the ground and cost him their support.
* TheUnfettered: Invading cities, destroying Huntsman Academies, killing his fellow Faunus, stalking Blake across an entire continent, helping Salem in her plans... as long as it helps him reach his own goals, Adam will stop at ''nothing''.
* UnorthodoxSheathing: Because the scabbard also functions as a rifle, Adam can use the rifle's recoil to instantly unsheathe the sword.
* TheUnreveal: In the Volume 6 Character Short, Adam is sometimes shown not wearing his mask. One scene consists of the camera focusing low down his body on the hand that's holding the mask. As he lifts his hand to put on his mask, the camera follows his hand up to his body and looks as though it's going to reach his exposed face and reveal for the first time what his eyes look like behind the mask. However, he manages to slip the mask on just before the camera reaches his face.
* VillainDecay: Adam starts off as a dangerous terrorist who dominates the fights he is in, easily wins against even talented student Huntsmen, and can rally hundreds to his call through his charismatic leadership. His threat is built up through Volume 4 as a result of trauma he has inflicted on several characters, but his return in Volume 5 reveals him to have deteriorating mental health, leading to poor decision making. After the Battle of Haven, he is reduced to a lonely fugitive who is obsessed with stalking and killing the woman who dared to stand up to him.
* VillainExitStageLeft: At the end of Volume 5. Faced with Blake and Sun double-teaming him, along with his men being defeated and arrested by the Menagerie citizens and Mistral police, Adam opts to flee from Haven.
* VillainousBreakdown: Adam has an extensive one over Volume 6, starting at the end of Volume 5. With Blake getting the best of him at Haven, turning the Faunus against him, Adam attempts a massive suicide bombing to take out his followers and enemies alike, snapping at one of his men for calling him out. With the White Fang turning against him and his plans foiled, Adam flees. When the rest of the White Fang reject and belittle him, Adam massacres them in a throne room, destroying the throne itself at the mere thought of Blake. Throughout Volume 6, Adam relentlessly stalks Blake across Remnant, becoming more and more deranged in their next confrontation; especially when Yang, no longer afraid of Adam joins the fight. When it becomes clear that Adam was never gonna stop trying to kill them, Blake and Yang kill him in self defense.
* VillainSong: The Volume 6 character short follows Adam's path from a Faunus rights activist to the villain that haunts Blake in the main show. During his first fight scene, "Lionized" begins playing, a dark rock song where the singer boasts about how he will lead the oppressed out of their pathetic existence and become glorified as a hero who unites them in strength and salvation. The scene plays through consists of a band of humans trying to kill a group of Faunus led by Ghira Belladonna; the Faunus don't fight back, instead of cowering behind their vehicles while Ghira tries unsuccessfully to reason with the humans. Adam takes on all the humans, defeating them single-handedly; while Ghira is horrified by the violence, the rest of the Faunus begin to cheer Adam as a hero.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Sienna admits that he is seen as a popular symbol amongst their organization. Despite the fact that Adam is shown to be cavalier over the loss of Faunus lives in pursuit of Salem's plans, the Vale faction of the White Fang follows him loyally. Adam confirms to Sienna that his Vale followers, and several in Mistral as well, see him as the ''true'' High Leader of the White Fang, not Sienna. Sienna's own personal bodyguards turn on her and do nothing when Adam kills her. He loses this when he flees at the end of Volume 5, leaving his forces to be arrested.
* WeaponBasedCharacterisation: Wilt and Blush, a chokuto and a shotgun-sheath, both of which are devastating in close quarters and are almost always fatal on the first blow when combined with his Semblance. Blush can fire Wilt out of its sheath, letting Adam attack even faster. Wilt is designed to channel his Semblance, an ability to absorb the energy of attacks so that he redirect that power back at the enemy. Adam is a man who wants to destroy his enemies as brutally as possible, but who has no tolerance for experiencing any suffering in return. When Yang learns that his Semblance gets channeled through his sword instead of him having to tank the damage with his body first, she calls it cheap that he can gain power without having to earn it. Throwing his sword over a cliff symbolizes the stripping of his power and sets up his final defeat.
* WesternTerrorists: He's one of the higher-ranking members of the White Fang post-reform, and he makes it clear to Cinder that they'll listen to him even after Roman's screw-up, which incidentally cost many White Fang members.
* WheresTheKaboom: When Blake arrives with the Menagerie force, Adam realizes he and his men are outnumbered and activates the detonator to the bombs that have been attached to Haven's CCT. When the bombs fail to go off, his response is a subdued "Huh?". Blake confirms that Ilia switching sides and having camouflage abilities means the bombs could be located and disarmed before the Menagerie force revealed its presence.
* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou: During the battle for Beacon, he makes it clear to Blake that he's going to go out of his way to hurt her and everything she cares about just because she walked out on him. When Yang comes into view, searching for Blake, he stabs Blake in the stomach to incite Yang into attacking him, then chops off Yang's arm. When Blake throws herself across Yang's unconscious body to protect her, Adam asks her why she keeps hurting him - blaming her for his own behavior - and then decapitates what turns out to be one of her very life-like shadow clones.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Sienna Khan]]
!!Sienna Khan
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sienna_khan.png]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MonicaRial[[labelnote:Foreign [=VAs=]]]Sayaka Kinoshita (Japanese)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Debut:''' Dread in the Air[[labelnote:*]]Volume 5 Episode 2[[/labelnote]]
->''"I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Peace bred complacency, and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not allow humanity to push us down without pushing them back."''
The High Leader of the White Fang. Sienna's reign is what transformed the White Fang from a peaceful protester group into a militant organization for Faunus rights. Her weapon is a chain whip named Cerberus Whip, tipped with detachable arrowhead spikes loaded with Dust. Her Semblance, codenamed "Grudge", makes her stronger and faster whenever she breaks or damages someone's Aura.
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''[[Characters/RWBYTheHeroes The Heroes]]:'' [[Characters/RWBYRubyRose Ruby Rose]] | [[Characters/RWBYWeissSchnee Weiss Schnee]] | [[Characters/RWBYBlakeBelladonna Blake Belladonna]] | [[Characters/RWBYYangXiaoLong Yang Xiao Long]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] ([[Characters/RWBYJauneArc Jaune Arc]]) | [[Characters/RWBYOzpinAndOscar Ozpin and Oscar]]\\
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''[[Characters/RWBYTheHeroes The Heroes]]:'' [[Characters/RWBYRubyRose Ruby Rose]] | [[Characters/RWBYWeissSchnee Weiss Schnee]] | [[Characters/RWBYBlakeBelladonna Blake Belladonna]] | [[Characters/RWBYYangXiaoLong Yang Xiao Long]] [[Characters/RWBYTeamRWBY Team RWBY]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] ([[Characters/RWBYJauneArc Jaune Arc]]) | [[Characters/RWBYOzpinAndOscar Ozpin and Oscar]]\\
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''[[Characters/RWBYRemnantMythos Remnant]]:'' [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] ([[Characters/RWBYJamesIronwood James Ironwood]])\\
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''Kingdoms:'' [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] ([[Characters/RWBYJamesIronwood James Ironwood]])\\
''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ([[Characters/RWBYSalem Salem]] | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | '''White Fang''' ([[Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus Adam Taurus]])\\
''Beyond Remnant:'' [[Characters/RWBYTheEverAfter The Ever After]]\\
''World of Remnant:'' [[Characters/RWBYRemnantMythos Remnant Mythos]] | [[Characters/RWBYGrimmBestiary Grimm Bestiary]]-]]]]]
''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ([[Characters/RWBYSalem Salem]] | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | '''White Fang''' ([[Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus Adam Taurus]])\\
''Beyond Remnant:'' [[Characters/RWBYTheEverAfter The Ever After]]\\
''World of Remnant:'' [[Characters/RWBYRemnantMythos Remnant Mythos]] | [[Characters/RWBYGrimmBestiary Grimm Bestiary]]-]]]]]
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''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ([[Characters/RWBYSalem Salem]] | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | '''White Fang''' ([[Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus Adam
''Beyond Remnant:'' [[Characters/RWBYTheEverAfter The Ever
''World of Remnant:'' [[Characters/RWBYRemnantMythos Remnant Mythos]] | [[Characters/RWBYGrimmBestiary Grimm Bestiary]]-]]]]]
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* GutturalGrowler: He doesn't talk often, but whenever he does it's with a harsh, deep voice.
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* GutturalGrowler: He speaks with a deep, gravelly voice that befits his role as the Albains' main assassin and troubleshooter.
