Other Media: RWBY: Ice Queendom - RWBY: The Official Manga - RWBY/Justice League - Justice League × RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen - RWBY Chibi

Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Volume 8 are unmarked.

World of Remnant

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_5_110.jpeg

Remnant, with its moon rising

The World of Remnant is a realm full of nomadic wanderers, mythic tales, and secret histories. While most of its inhabitants gather together in kingdoms, some walk a life unconnected to nations. Some are figures of the distant past and ancient legends, whose reach continues to affect the present. And others are beings that defy all explanation, their existence known only to a select few.

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Kingdoms of Remnant

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_5071.jpeg

L-R: Vacuo, Vale, Atlas, Mistral

Humans and faunus have organized themselves into four kingdoms: Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, and Atlas, built on the continents of Sanus, Anima, and Solitas.

Between Kingdoms

People who choose not to tie themself to one nation in order to extend their reach, or those whose nationality has been forgotten by time.

Alyx

Voiced By: Shara Kirby

Debut: Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds^*Volume 9, Episode 6

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_1486.png

Famous throughout the world for being the heroine of a beloved children's story, in reality Alyx was just a selfish girl who really did fall into a fairy tale world but alongside her brother.

The story of her experiences became one of the most beloved children's books on Remnant.

The Atoner: The Cat eventually reveals their knowledge of what happened to Alyx, mentioning that Alyx became determined to correct her wrongdoings. This is what the fairy tale has claimed from the beginning. What the story doesn't reveal is that she was explicitly concerned about the wrongs she had done to the Afterans; after talking to the Tree, she decides to remain behind in the Ever After to atone for her misdeeds, such as poisoning Jaune. However, this results in her inadvertently betraying the Cat, after originally promising to take them back to Remnant. The vengeful Cat subsequently kills her.
Cain and Abel: According to Jaune, the Tree demands a sacrifice to send someone back to Remnant since he figured out that the cruel and selfish Alyx sacrificed her kind and clever brother, Lewis, in order to get home. Jaune turns out to be wrong. Alyx got herself and her brother to the Tree, then realised she needed to atone for her wrongdoing in the Ever After, so Lewis returned home while she remained behind.
Dead All Along: While Team RWBY and Jaune originally thought Alyx left the Ever After and wrote the story, it's later revealed this wasn't the case. Her brother Lewis actually left the Ever After and wrote the story because Alyx decided to fix every problem she caused in the Ever After. Lewis omitted himself from the story as a memento to her. Before Alyx could start however, a vengeful Curious Cat killed her for backtracking on her promise to take them to Remnant.
Evil All Along: Alyx wasn't just the "petulant girl" of the fairy tale; she was a selfish and cruel girl who wasn't as clever as the story makes out. Jaune reveals she was cruel and manipulative. After visiting the Herbalist, she becomes paranoid and determined not to let anyone stop her from getting home. Thus, she poisons Jaune and abandons him with her brother. Jaune is convinced she sacrificed her brother to the tree to get home. Upon experiencing a Heel Realization, Alyx tried atoning for her actions.
Historical Hero Upgrade: In-universe example. Alyx's depiction in The Girl who Fell Through the World, is a Lighter and Softer version of how she was during her adventures with the Cat, the Rusted Knight, and other Afterans. The author of the tale is her brother Lewis, who wrote the tale as the story he wished had happened. Alyx never makes it home alive because she wishes to atone for her terrible behaviour, so Lewis writes the story as a memento to her, glossing over her flaws, removing some of the events and people they experienced, and erasing his existence entirely.
Improperly Paranoid: Late in her journey through the Ever After, she became convinced someone in their party was plotting against her, but the actions she took only made things worse. She assumed that Jaune was manipulating her and trying to trap her in the Ever After, and so she poisoned him to stop him; when her talk with the Tree convinced her to go back and fix her mistakes, the Cat killed her for reneging on their bargain.
My God, What Have I Done?: Implied, For all the selfish things she did through her journey, she eventually realized what she'd done and what she had to do to correct it. Just before entering the door that would take her back to Remnant, Alyx had a crisis of conscious and decided to stay in the Ever After to undo all the bad things she did, including hurting Jaune. Lewis returned home, but she did not.
Never My Fault: Alyx is a selfish girl whose attitude towards others causes countless problems in the Ever After, and yet she never takes responsibility for her actions. Her experiences in the Ever After make her increasingly cruel, manipulative and paranoid, convinced that everyone is trying to stop her from getting back home. Just before she makes it home, her meeting with the Tree causes her to have a crisis of conscience about all the things she's done. She decides to atone for everything, thereby refusing to return home to Remnant like she promised the Cat. The Cat kills her in revenge while Lewis escapes safely back home.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: When she realized that she had to fix the mistakes she made in the Ever After, her decision to atone robbed the Curious Cat of their chance to enter Remnant, so they killed her in revenge.
Self-Serving Memory: Team RWBY conclude that Alyx wrote the story about her own experiences in the Ever After, portraying herself as a petulant child who learned how to be a better person. However, Jaune reveals how cruel and paranoid she really was, and believes she used the book to make herself out to be better than she really was. In particular, Jaune believes she omitted her brother's existence and presence from the story to hide the fact she sacrificed him to the Tree. However, this is subverted as it's eventually revealed that Lewis wrote the story and omitted himself from the tale to honour his sister's decision to sacrifice her chance to return to Remnant in order to atone for all the wrongs she had done to the Afterans.
Tampering with Food and Drink: After her experience with the Herbalist, she makes use of drugs in the food she makes. She poisons Jaune because she thinks he's trying to stop her from getting back home.
Unfinished Business: Downplayed, While this may never be enough to atone for all the pain she caused Jaune and what she did in the Everafter, Alyx left a portion of her spirit in her knife which the Blacksmith uses to rejuvenate him and returns him to his young adult self.
Unreliable Expositor: Team RWBY is alarmed to discover that there are things about the real Ever After that were never mentioned in the book. The story excludes Ascension, the existence of certain important individuals, and the fact that Alyx was a far more terrible person than the story admits. In particular, it omits the existence of Lewis, Alyx's brother. This is because it was Lewis who left the Ever After and wrote the book to honour his sister's choice to remain behind and fix the wrongs she had done to the Afterans.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: According to Jaune, she treated everything in the Ever After like it was just a game and ruined the Afterans' lives with no remorse. She even tried to kill Jaune to get him out of her way, mistaking him for another Afteran.
Written by the Winners: Jaune has a very dim view of the book and the reason why it was written, believing that Alyx's success in escaping from the Ever After gave her the chance to portray herself in an heroic light. He believes Alyx wrote the book to omit any reference to her brother because she sacrificed him to the Tree just to return home. Once home, she then lied about what happened to make herself look better and hide what she did to her brother. In reality, Lewis was the one who made it home and wrote the story, as Alyx had a crisis of conscience from speaking with the Tree. He wrote the story but excluded himself as a memento to his sister.

Amber

Voiced By: Laura Bailey^{Foreign VAs}Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese)

Debut: Fall^*Volume 3 Episode 6

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The latest inheritor of the Fall Maiden's power, who was assaulted and had half of her power stolen by Cinder. Afterwards, she was placed inside an Atlesian cryogenic life support machine in the vault underneath Beacon Academy where she could rest while remaining hidden from her enemies. She fights with a retractable staff that has two Dust crystals on each end.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The first thing she does when she sees Cinder about to sap her powers is to plead "no".
Barehanded Blade Block: One of the techniques Cinder "inherited" from her, she blocks her assailant's projectiles with her bare palms.
Barrier Warrior: She can simply let Emerald and Mercury's shots bounce off either her Aura or a force field she projects.
Blow You Away: When using her Fall Maiden power, she utilises wind more than any other elements and sometimes in combination with other elements. She surrounds her attackers in tornadoes, she throws them back with blasts of wind, she uses wind to kick up leaves where she encases the leaves in ice to create blades and then uses the wind to hurl them at her opponents as a Flechette Storm. The in-universe fairy tale of the Four Seasons implies that a wind affinity was associated with the very first Fall Maiden.
Elemental Powers: Although she initially fights using Dust, when she does use her Fall Maiden powers, she can summon thunderclouds to create lightning attacks, she turns leaves into lethal blades by encasing them in ice she creates, she can create tornados and blast people back with wind attacks and she can create fire to throw fireballs at opponents.
Elemental Weapon: Her weapon has two large Dust crystals affixed to either end that allow her to produce jets of flame or gusts of wind.
Fireball Eyeballs: When she taps into her maiden power her eyes become surrounded in fire.
Friend to All Children: This is used against her by Cinder: they set up a trap for Amber by having Emerald use her powers to create the image of a crying child, in order for her to be led into an ambush.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Amber was lured into a trap because of her kindness, and she got her scars when Cinder's parasitic Grimm drew her powers out from her face. The scars left on her face look only like stains.
Magic Knight: Even with powers that are referred to as magic, Amber's fight against Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald shows that she's not adverse to mixing it up hand-to-hand and integrates her powers into her close-combat skills for good measure.
Meaningful Name: Amber is a substance composed of tree sap that's prized for its ability to perfectly preserve bodies without them decaying. This is exactly the state that Amber is in when she's introduced to the audience, being maintained indefinitely in stasis due to having been attacked in a way she could not recover from.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Her want to help the crying child that was made as an illusory trap is what leads her into being ambushed.
No Last Name Given: She is only ever referred to as Amber or Autumn, even in secret.
Petal Power: She summons a storm of leaves from a nearby tree before freezing them into razor blades, attacking Mercury and Emerald with them.
Playing with Fire: Amber fights with a staff that contains wind and fire Dust, favouring a wind and fire theme. Although she is willing to use a range of elemental powers when fighting Mercury and Emerald, as soon as Cinder enters the fray and ups the danger level, Amber begins using fire attacks on top of her Dust attacks.
Power Floats: When she activates her Maiden powers, she begins to float into the air, before unleashing massive blasts of wind and lightning.
Shoot the Mage First: Despite Cinder being the only one who can touch her and having just knocked her unconscious, Amber is smart enough to try to kill Emerald first, who was creating the illusions.
Temporal Theme Naming: Females with seasonal names are all very plot significant. Amber is also known as Autumn, the current wielder of the mythical Fall Maiden's magical power. Cinder has stolen half her power and left her comatose, leaving the protectors of the world with an unprecedented crisis on their hands.
Weather Manipulation: In her battle with Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald, Amber was shown to be able to conjure lightning, summon powerful winds, and freeze objects in the air around her.

Fort Lee

Debut: RWBY: The Session

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The CEO of Starhead Industrial Company and father of Iona Rockshow. He served as the main antagonist of the light novel RWBY: The Session

Big Bad: He is the leader of a human supremacist group that uses his status as the owner of a resort to kidnap and enslave Faunus
Casting a Shadow: Fort Lee's semblance allows him to turn his own shadow into a sticky goo that restrains and weakens his enemies.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: He is the CEO of Starhead Industrial Company and is the leader of a human supremacist organization that enslaves Faunus.
Fantastic Racism: He is probably the most extreme example towards Faunus in the entire franchise. He's not only openly hateful towards Faunus viewing them as nothing more than animals, but wants all of them to be either enslaved or exterminated.

Iona Rockshow

Debut: RWBY: The Session

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_1484.png

A little girl who is from the Starhead Industrial Company and the daughter of Fort Lee.

Child Prodigy: She's only around 5 years old and is already good enough to pilot an Animal Mecha to get Team RWBY on the ropes, and help them navigate and escape the mines as it is in the process of self-destructing.
Heel–Face Turn: Iona turns on her father and agrees to help Team RWBY and JNPR when they reveal to her that he's been using his resort island as a trap to capture and enslave Faunus, despite having previously distrusted faunus herself for the White Fang murdering her brother.

Lewis (Spoilers!)

Lewis

Debut: Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds^*Volume 9, Episode 6

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Alyx's brother, who fell into the Ever After with her. For some reason, the story based on her adventure there makes no mention of his existence...

Cain and Abel: He appears to have been the Abel to Alyx's Cain, being the kind and clever brother to his cruel and selfish sister. Alyx is also suspected of essentially killing Lewis, just as Cain had done to Abel, though this later turns out to be false.
Early-Bird Cameo: Lewis can be briefly seen in Volume 9's opening as a second blue trail following Alyx's, as well as a silhouette standing next to her in a painting.
I Was Never Here: Despite The Girl Who Fell Through the World purportedly being based on Alyx's experiences in the Ever After, Lewis is not even so much as mentioned or alluded to. This makes the revelation that Alyx had a brother at all a total surprise. Jaune theorizes that Alyx sacrificed Lewis to the Tree to return to Remnant, and then deliberately excluded him from the story to make herself look better. The penultimate episode reveals that this was invoked by none other than Lewis himself, so that the story could be 'what he wished had happened' rather than what actually transpired.
Named After Somebody Famous: Lewis is named after Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis is the true author of The Girl Who Fell Through the World, Remnant's equivalent to that very same story.
Nice Guy: Jaune describes him as the "kind one" between him and Alyx, contrasting the former's personality with the latter's selfish and vindictive actions.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lewis' and Alyx's decision to not bring the Curious Cat back with him while she remained behind indirectly made things worse as they inadvertently betray and cause the Cat to become evil.
Red Herring: Volume 9 spends a good time suggesting that the reason for his exclusion from The Girl Who Fell Through the World was that Alyx had sacrificed him to the Tree to escape the Ever After, and then purposely wrote him out after she returned to Remnant. Then in the penultimate episode, the Cat reveals that it had been Lewis who returned to Remnant, while Alyx had stayed behind to makes amends for her previous mistakes, only to be killed by the Cat for seemingly going back on her promise to bring them to Remnant. He would then go on to write the story, intentionally excluding himself to make it a tribute to his lost sister.
Walking Spoiler: His very existence is meant come as a surprise to both Team RWBY and the viewers, revealing that The Girl Who Fell Through the World was not a wholly accurate retelling of Alyx's journey through the Ever After. The reasons for this discrepancy are only revealed toward the end of Volume 9, and can't be mentioned without bringing up the Cat's true goal and motivations.
Written by the Winners: Lewis is the only one who makes it back home to Remnant from the Ever After. This gives him the chance to write a story about what he wished had happened and to portray his sister in a more heroic light to honour her decision to remain in the Ever After atoning for the wrongs she had done.

Marcus Black

Debut: Beginning of the End^*Volume 3 Episode 7

Mercury Black's father and a famous assassin. Cinder sought him out with the intent of hiring him, but Mercury kills him before she can do so. His Semblance allowed him to steal other Semblances.

Abusive Parent: Marcus was a complete bastard to his son, and Mercury never speaks of his father in a positive light. When Cinder arrives at his house, she finds a seriously injured Mercury, who has just killed his father. Mercury also compares him to Qrow in that he smelled of whiskey, implying he was an alcoholic. He tells Emerald that his father hated him, and being trained by him just meant that every day was a beating. When Mercury discovered his Semblance, Marcus "stole it" with his own. He claimed Semblances were a crutch and that it would make Mercury weak; while he said that Mercury could have it back when he was strong, he never did return it.
The Alcoholic: A throwaway line in Volume 3 has Mercury compare Qrow to Marcus in how they both reeked of alcohol.
Family Theme Naming: Roman gods. Marcus refers to Mars, the god of war, while his son Mercury's name refers to the messenger god.
Misery Builds Character: Marcus trained Mercury from birth to become an assassin. Mercury states that his father hated him and that the training he received was "a beating" every single day. Marcus claimed that Semblances make people weak and that they should train without them. When Mercury discovered his, Marcus immediately stole it with his own Semblance, stating it would just become a crutch for Mercury. Instead, he forced Mercury to endure harsh training to become as strong and skilled as possible without one.
Posthumous Character: In the show's timeline, he's already dead. He is only shown during a flashback of how Cinder recruits Mercury, and he's just been killed at that point.
Professional Killer: He was an assassin by trade and had a reputation as having the skill required by Cinder for the mission she had in mind. When she arrives as Marcus's house, it's to find that Marcus has just been killed by his son, whom he trained to be an assassin like him.

Dr. Merlot

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/merlot_smug.jpg

"Welcome to the testing grounds, students. Why don't you get acquainted with my test subjects? They could use the exercise."

Voiced by: Dave Fennoy

"Oh, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Dr. Merlot. You don't know me, but I most certainly know who you are. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled you're here. You might be exactly what I need for a very important... experiment."

The main villain of the video game RWBY: Grimm Eclipse. A scientist and former student of Ozpin's who is fascinated by the Grimm, seeing them as a perfect life form and desiring to further increase their power.

This video game is treated as canon.

Admiring the Abomination: He believes that while the Grimm are individually flawed and damaged, as a species they are beautiful and full of potential.
Ax-Crazy: He gleefully sends his army of Grimm and robots to tear apart Teams RWBY and JNPR. During his Villainous Breakdown he reveals that he wants to see them Eaten Alive.
The Beastmaster: He has direct control over the Grimm, to the point where they even act as a security force to protect his labs.
Been There, Shaped History: The game all but states that the reason Mountain Glenn was overrun and destroyed by Grimm was this man's experiments. At the very least, he made the situation far worse than it could have been.
Big Bad: The creator and master of the mutant Grimm in Grimm Eclipse. He is responsible for the hacking of the control centers, he caused the destruction of Mountain Glenn, and gleefully attempts to kill Teams RWBY and JNPR when they stumble onto his island.
Evilutionary Biologist: He believes the Grimm are a more perfect lifeform than humanity, and wishes to see just how powerful they can become with his help.
A God Am I: As his Sanity Slippage furthered, he went from a scientist desiring to make use out of the Grimm for humanity, to a man seeing himself as the god of the Grimm.
Gratuitous Latin: The title of his Villain Song "Lusus Naturae" is, roughly, Latin for "freaks of nature". Merlot however uses it as a term of endearment, seeing the Grimm that he studies as untapped potential that he wants to make use of.
Mad Scientist: His ultimate goal is to fulfill the Grimm's potential by using science to improve them where nature failed, a goal that got him labeled as a madman. The various mutant Grimm that appear in the game prove that, whatever else, he isn't wrong about their capacity for improvement.
Mecha-Mooks: He uses heavily-armed combat robots as his main security. They consist of a mixture of red warrior machines with a double-bladed staff, and white gun-toting droids that can alternate between grenade launchers and rapid-fire energy cannons.
Never Found the Body: He was presumed dead after the fall of Mountain Glenn. Again at the end of the game, when his laboratory is destroyed but his fate is ultimately unknown. However, Merlot can be heard laughing in the background after the ending of the game when 30 chess pieces are found. By the time of Justice League × RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen part two, even Team RWBY believe that he might still be alive.
Never My Fault: Dr. Merlot asks if Ozpin would believe him if he said the fall of Mountain Glenn wasn't his fault. However, the only thing Ozpin is willing to believe is that Merlot never takes responsibility for his actions.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dr. Merlot initially wanted to mutate the Grimm to turn them into forces of good. However, after being written off, he suffers Sanity Slippage to become a selfish, sociopathic man who only cared about furthering his research.
Oh, Crap!: Starts to lose his cool when Team RWBY begins hacking into his computers with Ozpin's help due to a security oversight.
Dr. Merlot: Did you just... oh no... how could I be so stupid?!
Psychopathic Manchild: He threw a fit after being written off and, when he encounters Teams RWBY and JNPR, he's mocking and cocky. However, when they start getting through his defenses, destroying his research, and killing his Mutated Deathstalker, he descends through a Villainous Breakdown into whining about them not being killed.
A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: He once studied at Beacon under Ozpin, but even then the teachers thought something was very wrong with him. Ozpin in particular saw his studying of Grimm as a futile, if not blasphemous practice, causing Merlot to reject Ozpin and Beacon, and continue his studies on his own.
Sanity Slippage: Dr. Merlot initially desired to turn the Grimm from forces against humanity into forces for humanity. After being written off as insane and condemned by Ozpin, he slowly began to become as insane as they said he was, focused solely on continuing his research.
Smug Snake: He initially comes off as very secure in his power and is dismissive of Team RWBY's attempts to foil his plans. This self-assurance gradually breaks down as nothing he throws at RWBY manages to stop them.
The Sociopath: He no longer cares about his original goal of mutating Grimm for humanity's benefit, and only seeks to further his research. He shows absolutely no remorse for the millions of people he got slaughtered in Mountain Glenn, and is incredibly sadistic while sending his Grimm and robotic guards to kill Teams RWBY and JNPR.
Taking You with Me: Upon the destruction of his prize specimen, a mutated Deathstalker, he decides to just blow up the whole facility. Fortunately, Team RWBY escapes.
Dr. Merlot: No! Nooooo! My one of a kind specimen! This is inconceivable!
Professor Ozpin: It's all over, Merlot. You've got nothing left.
Dr. Merlot: There is something I can do. Let's end this with a bang.
Villain Song: "Lusus Naturae", played in the credits of Grimm Eclipse. The song talks about how much Dr. Merlot admires the Grimm and what potential they might have if he uplifts them through his science. He wants to be seen as more than just a madman and boasts about how his master plan is to create the perfect beast and give it a useful existence.
Villainous Breakdown: Once Team RWBY starts doing some actual damage to his labs and his experiments, he starts losing his cool and demanding to know why they aren't dead yet.

Historical Figures

Throughout Remnant's history, there have been men and women who have left a footprint on history — for good or for ill.

Emperor of Mistral

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2f9e4fc0_2958_41c1_87dd_89766ca0772e.jpeg

The unnamed ruler of Mistral during the time of the Great War. A harsh and aggressive ruler, he conquered most of Anima and his insistence on expanding his territory into Sanus led him into conflict with the King of Vale, triggering the start of the Great War.

Break the Haughty: At the end of the Vacuo Campaign, he — along with the other rulers of Remnant — surrenders to the King of Vale, willingly offering his crown just to get the King of Vale to stop decimating his forces.
The Emperor: Mistral was ruled by an Emperor who was responsible for most of the tension that triggered the Great War. With the help of its trading partner, Mantle, the Mistral Emperor conquered Anima, selectively enforcing Mantle's decree of suppressing the population's emotions as a way to fight the Grimm, and engaging in practices such as exploiting the people and using slave labour. When the Emperor decided to expand into Sanus, clashes with Vale began. This triggered the Great War, with Mistral and Mantle trying to conquer Vale. Only when they told Vacuo to side with them or else, did Vacuo decide that they needed to be stopped; they entered the war on Vale's side.
Hypocrite: When Mantle decided to repress the arts and emotions to protect themselves from the Grimm, they insisted that their trading partner — Mistral — do the same. The Emperor agreed to the terms, then only selectively enforced the repression — inflicting it on the outer regions of the empire while sparing the inner territory where the wealthy elite resided. Qrow comments that Mistral is full of jerks.
Politically Incorrect Villain: The Emperor engaged in a lot of activities that Vale disapproved. In particular, they made a habit of exploiting people and using Faunus slave labour. Part of the treaty terms at the end of the Great War was the King of Vale's insistence that slavery be forever banned.

General Lagune

One of the commanders of the human armies during the Faunus Wars, he's remembered only as an inexperienced general who had poor knowledge of the enemy and even worse strategy.

General Failure: Lagune was inexperienced, had poor knowledge of the Faunus strengths and weakness, and wasn't good at strategy. Yet he was put in charge of a massive army of men, enabling him to make the single most disastrous decision for the human side of the Faunus War.
Gone Horribly Wrong: The humans were doing well in the war against the Faunus until the Battle of Fort Castle. General Lagune came up with a plan to use his massive army against the smaller Faunus force to achieve a decisive victory — by attacking at night, a time when Faunus could see clearly and humans could not. It did achieve a decisive victory — for the Faunus instead of the humans. The humans never recovered from this battle, and Lagune is only remembered as a failure.

The King of Vale

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/king_of_vale.jpg

The unnamed ruler of Vale during the time of the Great War. An apparently wise and benevolent ruler, he tried to avoid the conflict with Mistral and Mantle when the former began to settle territory that Vale was expanding into. When the inevitable happened, however, he stepped up to challenge the invaders... and did so decisively.

Cool Sword: During the Great War, he entered battle armed only with his sword and sceptre. "World of Remnant" artwork of the king shows the sword was a large weapon that was styled like a sabre and is implied to be either golden in colour or connected to the yellow-themed Vacuo. When legend speaks of his most terrible battle that ended the war, it's the sword and the damage he dealt with it that gets mentioned most, which is later implied to be because that sword was none other than the Relic of Destruction itself.
Dual Wielding: He went into battle armed with only his sword and his royal sceptre; legend claims that was all he needed to lay waste to entire armies and end the Great War.
The Good King: As a ruler, he tried to avoid going to war with two other powerful kingdoms; knowing that it would be a long, brutal, and bloody struggle, he tried peace until it became impossible. The Vacuo Campaign ended the war with huge loss of life, and the leaders of three kingdoms all subjugating themselves to him and offering him their kingdoms. Instead of ruling the world, he turned down the offer and instead forged an alliance between the kingdoms designed to bring humans together to fight for each other instead of against each other; the treaty ended the Vale kingship, restructured the governments, and founded the Huntsman Academies to keep the kingdoms safe. It also gave birth to the peace-celebrating Vytal Festival.
Legacy Character: To create unity after the Great War, the King of Vale designed the four great Huntsman Academies, in the process installing his four most loyal and trustworthy lieutenants as the headmasters. When Ozpin is trying to convince Oscar that he's not imagining Ozpin's voice inside his head, Ozpin mentions that he helped build Haven Academy. He later gives Team RNJR similar information to the King of Vale's story: the Academies were designed to function via the headmasters taking orders from Ozpin because they're his chosen, most loyal lieutenants whom he is supposed to be able to trust, especially in times of reincarnation. Raven reiterates to Yang and Weiss what Ozpin admitted to Oscar: that Ozpin is the man who designed the schools in the first place.
Offered the Crown: Vale's king was offered the crowns of every single other kingdom involved in the war, giving him the opportunity to rule the entire world. He refused and used the moment to forge a peace and mutual-defence treaty between all the kingdoms, rebuilding the kingdoms, allying them all together as a unified people, founding the Huntsman Academies to protect everyone and even ending the Vale kingship forever.
One-Man Army: He wreaked terrible death tolls on the armies of Mistral and Mantle, to the point that the battle in Vacuo was so deadly that both of his opponents surrendered due to the massive losses they took. Even Vacuo surrendered in the wake of the devastation wrought to its territory. The Vacuo World of Remnant episode states that, eighty years after the end of the Great War, Vacuo still hasn't recovered.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Once Vale's king was forced to accept the inevitability of war, he was more than willing to fight on the front line and put in his share of work to end the war... single-handedly, legend claims.
Staff of Authority: On the battlefield, he may have wielded a mighty blade in his right hand, but in his left hand he wielded his royal sceptre.

Malik the Sunderer

The first king of Vacuo, a legendary figure that lived hundreds of years ago.

Distinguishing Mark: It is said that his descendents have a birthmark. One member of the family in every generation will be born with an upside-down crown somewhere on their body. Nobody knows if there's anything truth to the legend.
Founder of the Kingdom: The Kingdom of Vacuo only exists because he founded it. Originally a lush paradise when he created the kingdom, it has since become a harsh desert kingdom where people struggle to survive.
Red Baron: When referenced, he isn't known as King Malik, he is always called 'Malik the Sunderer'. There isn't much detail on why.

Nicholas Schnee

^{Click here for his portrait.}

The founder of the Schnee Dust Company, he is the father of Willow Schnee, as well as the grandfather of Weiss, Winter and Whitley Schnee. He did not pass his company on Willow, instead passing it to his son-in-law, Jacques Schnee (né Gelé).

BFS: Like the armors he inspired, Nicholas evidently wielded a massive greatsword; the handle alone was as long as his torso.
Disease by Any Other Name: Nicholas was forced to retire and hand over his company to his son-in-law because he had an illness that was caused by years of working in the Dust mines. In real life, coal mines were notorious for giving miners Coalworker's Pneumoconiosis or "Black Lung". Although the Remnant disease isn't given a name, the conditions associated with Dust mining are shown to be very similar to those for coal mining.
Holiday Motif: His back story is connected to St. Nicholas, who is regarded as the inspiration for Santa Claus. Like the modern version of Santa Claus, Nicholas was a kind and generous man who operated out of the frozen north, favoured the colour red and wore a snowy white beard.
Honest Corporate Executive: He worked extremely hard to obtain the skills required to locate and develop Dust mining to reverse the economic decline that Mantle was suffering from after the Great War ended. With his combat skills, he personally led the expeditions to locate dust deposits and risked his life to protect the men under his command. He was a highly respected man and when the company started becoming successful it quickly gained a reputation for quality and affordability, triggering an industrial renaissance. Anything stamped with the Schnee logo was therefore highly trusted.
Horrible Judge of Character: He allowed Jacques to take over the Schnee Dust Company because of his business acumen. Sadly, he overlooked Jacques' serious lack of moral fiber; Jacques turned out to be a Corrupt Corporate Executive, and has turned against everything Nicholas stood for by, among other things, using shady business practices to maximize profit, driving rival companies out of business, exploiting his workers, and keeping the people of Mantle in poverty, all while hiding his unsavory dealings with aggressive PR.
Knight in Shining Armor: Portraits of Nicholas in the Schnee Manor depict him in knightly armour. The design of the armour can also be seen in the Knight statues that decorate the house and forms the basis for the Arma Gigas that Weiss defeats in the White Trailer and later utilizes as her primary summon. Nicholas was noted as being a man of the people, who became wealthy only as a result of his quest to create a better economy and living conditions for the people of Mantle. He personally led miners on dangerous quests to find new Dust mines and they had a great deal of respect for his willingness to risk his life for others. He only gave up his adventuring lifestyle when it became clear to him just how much his wife and family missed being with him.
Prospector: Nicholas established his company with expeditions into the wilds of Remnant, using his skills as a soldier and his experience as a miner to locate new Dust veins. His hard work paid off, and his company became famous for its quality Dust at reasonable prices.
Red Is Heroic: The World of Remnant short depicts Nicholas, an honest businessman and trained huntsman, wearing a red scarf, while family portraits depict him with a long red cape. The Schnee family is typically associated with the colour white, to the extent that the patriarch, Jacques, adopted the color when he married into the family. The family these days has a reputation for ruthless business dealings and unethical labor practices but Nicholas forged a reputation as a compassionate leader who looked after his men and worked hard to lift the people of Mantle out of poverty. He is the only member of the family associated with red as the dominant color motif.
Scarf of Asskicking: The World of Remnant short depicts a heroic figure with a distinctive red scarf. Nicholas was an accomplished soldier and Huntsman, personally overseeing dangerous expeditions and exploring potential Dust mines. His hands-on approach earned him considerable respect, and helped in establishing the Schnee Dust Company as a global brand. That legacy of heroism inspired his granddaughter, Weiss, to follow in his footsteps and become a Huntress. Actual portraits of the man in-show instead show him wearing a red cape with a fur collar.
Self-Made Man: He was the son of a Dust miner who became a soldier. He went to combat class and voraciously studied anything he didn't know. Determined to help restore the ailing Kingdom of Mantle's fortunes, he used these skills and what little he inherited from his father to arrange Dust expeditions, seeking out untapped Dust seams. When he finally succeeded, the company he set up snowballed into a global monopoly because he ensured a quality product at an affordable price that people came to trust and value highly.

Fairy Tales of Remnant

Remnant is a world full of legends and fairy tales, folklore that few believe could ever be true but which have influenced the development of the world in ways most humans and Faunus will never realise. These are the stories, all of which contain a kernel of truth buried at the heart of the myth.

Some of the myths feature directly in the show itself while others have been collected from all over Remnant by Professor Ozpin and put together in a book called RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant, which has been animated in its own right as RWBY: Fairy Tales.

The Gift of the Moon

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"Don't worry."

"We'll always know that other sun is a fake."

A fairy tale that tells the story of how the world ended up with a broken...

... sun.

Despair Event Horizon: The broken sun never recovered from its shattering. It sits in the dark sky with a dim light, forced to pull the fake sun that replaced it through the air. Doing twice the work it used to while shining so dimly and being broken, means the sun has never recovered and continues to mourn. In fact, it was so notorious for "mooning" over its lost splendour that humanity renamed it the "moon".
Detonation Moon: Averted. Originally, the world had a sun which bathed half the world in light. At night, there was no moon and no stars, and therefore absolutely no light at all. When humanity decided to try and light the night, they convinced the sun to race faster and faster across the sky, hoping that it could move so fast all the world would be constantly bathed in light. This exhausted the sun so much that it collapsed, falling out of the sky to crash onto the earth. This shattered the sun and spilled all its light. Humanity was forced to make a brand new sun and fill it with the broken sun's spilled light. With the new sun doing a better job, the broken sun got stuck as the moon, lighting the night sky but never bright enough to make it day. As a result, this fairy tale is really a Detonation Sun story.
Endless Daytime: One of the plans Humans employed to try and have less darkness is to convince the sun to move so fast, it'll always be light. Unfortunately, the sun exhausted itself very fast and crashed out of the sky, breaking it in the process.
Humans Are Flawed: Ozpin notes that many versions of the story emphasizes the fact that it was humanity's fault that the sun was broken in the first place. He then points out that, while they did damage the sun, they were also the ones to correct the mistake by repairing the original sun and creating a new, brighter sun. Humanity may err, but they can achieve feats that rival or even outshine the gods' if they work together towards a common goal.
Light Equals Hope: Ozpin uses this tale as a symbol for what humanity can achieve when it works together. He says that the world used to be divided between light and darkness. However, humanity overcame its flaws to unite together and make the darkness brighter for all.
Melancholy Moon: The moon is a symbol of melancholy because it is itself melancholy. It was originally the sun until Humans accidentally broke it. They managed to collect all the spilled light and create a brand new, even brighter, sun. This left the old sun a broken shell of its former self, skulking through the darkness with a much dimmer light. Unable to stop brooding over its changed circumstances, the old sun was renamed "moon" because it wouldn't stop "mooning over its golden days".
Weird Sun: When humanity accidentally broke the original sun, they managed to get it back into the sky, but it was a broken shadow of itself, unable to do more than shine dimly. Its rays also scattered, creating stars. Humanity collected up the spilled sunlight and built a huge glass sun to contain it. They then hoisted it into the sky and tied it to the old sun with rope. The original sun was renamed the moon, and the Remnant is lit with a fake sun by day and the darkness is lit with the real, broken sun by night as it drags the fake sun through the sky behind it.

The Girl in the Tower

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"...or, at least, that's what should have been..."

"The two fell deeply in love, planned adventures around the world, and lived happily ever after..."

Once upon a time, there was a lonely girl who lived in a lonely tower because she had been imprisoned there by her cruel father. While countless heroes died trying to free her from the castle in the hope of winning her hand in marriage, she simply longed for her freedom.

One day, the greatest hero in all the land came to her rescue. They fell in love and lived happily ever after...

Except, what the world doesn't know is that living happily ever after is the one thing they didn't do.

In General

Big Fancy Castle: In Jinn's version of the tale, Salem is imprisoned in a huge, isolated, fairy tale castle that bears a striking resemblance to Beacon Academy. However, in the fairy tale itself, the artistic depiction of her prison is a single, lone tower.
Girl in the Tower: When her mother died in childbirth, her father locked her away in an isolated castle and barely ever visited her. Twisted by his grief, he became cruel, obsessed with wealth, and willing to manipulate others to achieve his goals. The girl eventually figured out a way to tell the world of her plight and convince many people to try and rescue her. Only one succeeded.
Happily Ever After: Subverted. When the maiden and the hero escape the tower together, they're reluctant to part ways and quickly fall in love. They decide to travel the world together, plan adventures and live happily ever after. Professor Ozpin hints in his notes that the "happily ever after" ending is not an honest conclusion to the tale and that the reality is much more tragic. Jinn confirms to Ruby's group that the real story definitely did not end happily ever after.
Love at First Sight: From the moment it took the hero to reach the damsel's chamber to the time it took them to fight their way out of the castle and escape wasn't very long... but it was all they needed to fall deeply in love and decide to spend the rest of their lives together.
Once Upon a Time: This fairy tale is written in a very traditional way, beginning with the standard "A long, long time ago..." and ending with "happily ever after". Ozpin deconstructs this story in his notes, observing that it was a classic piece of propaganda, written by a protagonist who understood the power of fairy tales to inspire.
Propaganda Piece: invoked Ozpin observes that this fairy tale is unique; the protagonist is the architect of her own rescue and the tale is self-aware because she uses the power of storytelling to transform her own plight into a fairy tale that moves people into trying to save her. Her knowledge of the power to shape reality and influence readers led countless men to their deaths in their attempts to rescue her. Ozpin, therefore, wonders how much of her tale is actually false, hinting that the version that appears in his book is the very version Salem herself wrote to inspire men to rescue her.
Rescue Romance: The maiden wasn't interested in anything other than obtaining her freedom, and the hero who eventually rescued her was only interested in correcting an injustice. However, by the time he'd finished rescuing her, they'd both fallen deeply in love.

The Girl

Damsel in Distress: In Jinn's version of the tale, the maiden in the tower was capable of wielding magic. However, all humans could wield magic, so it didn't give her any advantage. She remained locked away for years while countless heroes tried, and failed, to rescue her. Jinn confirms the maiden was Salem.
Damsel out of Distress: In the fairy tale, the girl was imprisoned since birth. She was educated in secret by her nanny and figured out for herself the weaknesses of the magical barriers trapping her in the fortress: people couldn't pass through them, but inanimate objects could. So, she started writing stories about herself and her plight with the intention of inspiring people to come and rescue her, and promising her rescuer all her father's lands and wealth if they succeeded. She would throw them through the window, where the wind would carry them far and wide. She was successful in inspiring men to try and rescue her, although most of them died in the attempt.
Genre Savvy: The girl grew up reading fairy tales in secret, dreaming of a day when she would be rescued by a fairy tale prince, become a great and noble queen, and have daughters of her own. It inspires her to turn her situation into a fairy tale, which she sends to all the lands, relying on the power of fairy tales to inspire attempts to rescue her. It succeeds.
Standard Hero Reward: When she writes the stories of her plight in the hope that people will come and rescue her, she offers whoever succeeds her father's land and wealth, as well as her hand in marriage. Although she's deliberately creating a manipulative narrative to achieve her goal of freedom, when a hero finally succeeds in rescuing her, she does offer to honor her promise to let him have her father's lands and wealth. The hero, however, was only rescuing her to right an injustice, so refuses to accept the reward.

The Hero

For Great Justice: The hero of the tale was the greatest warrior in the world, famed far and wide for having a pure heart that fought only for justice. While countless other heroes had tried to save the maiden in the hope of being rewarded with her hand in marriage, he decided to rescue her solely to correct an injustice. His name then was Ozma, the original form of Professor Ozpin.
Ideal Hero: The man who finally rescued the maiden was a famous hero, brave and gallant. He had a pure heart and always fought for justice. Unlike other heroes, who only fought to save her because they hoped for her hand in marriage, he only fought to save her because he wanted to correct an injustice. One of the reasons why she falls in love with him is because she's surprised to meet a real-life fairy tale hero.

The Lord

Abusive Parent: He kept his daughter locked in a tower during her early years and was also horribly neglectful of her, leaving the maid to actually raise her. Although Jinn mentions that he's cruel, the full fairy tale suggests that he has violent tantrums that make his daughter fear him. He also deprived her of anything he thought she could use to end her life to escape her terrible life, initially including even writing implements.
Adaptational Nice Guy: In the animated episode, he is still an unpleasant person, but is significantly less depraved than his literary counterpart. He still keeps her locked away from birth, is neglectful, and kills anyone who tries to rescue her; however, the book describes him as a full-blown tyrant who murders his own staff and replaces them with powerful warriors. In the episode, none of this is mentioned, limiting his depiction to that of a deeply troubled man who is haunted and excessively overprotective.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He genuinely loved his wife and her death in childbirth leads him down a dark path; this never changes, no matter how evil he becomes. The tale suggests that his obsession with his possessions is a desire to fill the void her death left behind in his heart. However, this is subverted with his daughter: although he claims to love her, and that all the terrible things he's done to her are to protect her, she eventually comes to realise that he only regards her as a possession and not as a person or even a daughter.
Fallen Hero: He was originally one of the greatest, and most beloved, heroes in the land. He was known for protecting people, saving damsels, and was overall a kind man. Following his wife's death, everything went downhill; he blamed the gods for his misfortune and became obsessed with his treasures to a murderous extent. He eventually becomes a tyrant who is feared throughout the land.
Rage Against the Heavens: The girl's father is devastated when his wife dies and he never gets over her death. He blames the gods and takes out his anger against them on the people around him: he locks his daughter in a tower, abuses his staff, and overtaxes his people.
Sorcerous Overlord: He is a powerful lord, with extensive lands and people under his command; he is also very wealthy, owning vast treasures, and is an unusually powerful sorcerer even by the standards of the all-magical human race. After becoming a violent, paranoid, unstable tyrant following his wife's death, he terrifies and murders his subjects and close allies alike. His daughter cannot escape the tower because of how powerful his forcefields are, and his power is why no hero can successfully rescue her; anyone making it far enough to confront him, loses the magical battles they engage in.

The Girl Who Fell Through the World

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"This is the story of a girl... who had a lot of problems."

"She brushed off her bumps and bruises, for nothing hurt worse than the pain in her chest."

The tale of a young girl called Alyx, who leaves home and ends up adventuring through a magical world called the Ever After.

In General

Alice Allusion: Remnant's famous tale of a girl that falls while trying to escape her mistakes and responsibilities, and ends up in a strange new world. It's clearly intended to allude to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; the girl's name is even Alyx, which is a variant of "Alice".
Bittersweet Ending: The girl is finally able to make it back home from her adventure after learning from her mistakes. However, her journey changes her forever, leaving her a much sadder person.
Down the Rabbit Hole: Alyx's journey begins with her falling down through Remnant into a new world.
Hollow World: The girl falls through Remnant to reach the magical world in which her adventure occurs.
Trapped in Another World: Alyx finds herself in a strange world after her fall, and has to find a way to return home.

Alyx

Devious Daggers: Alyx's main weapon is a dagger she took great care to retrieve from the Jinxy Peddler. In the story she lied, cheated and stole to forge her way through.
Didn't Think This Through: The girl's adventure happens because she runs away from home to escape her failures. This results in her failures following her wherever she goes.
My Nayme Is: The heroine's name is "Alyx", which is a rare variant form of the name "Alice".
Never My Fault: It is the girl's refusal to own her original failures that lead to the problems that follow. Blake mentions that her attitude and behaviour led to her causing countless problems in the Ever After.
Stranger in a Familiar Land: The conclusion of the tale involves her returning home, a much sadder person than when she left because of how her adventure has changed her.
Pragmatic Hero: When Team RWBY discusses Alyx's portrayal in the fairy tale, Yang comments that she was a mean girl who lied, cheated, and stole her way through the story. Weiss counters that interpretation by saying Alyx was just trying to survive in an unfamiliar land, whose customs she had no knowledge of.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: According to Blake, Alyx's unfamiliarity with the customs of the Ever After caused so much chaos that eventually she triggered a war among its people.

The Grimm Child

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Yes.

Had she caught a chill in the forest?

A little girl dares her brother to go into the scary forest. What comes out is one of the greatest horror stories in all of Remnant.

In General

Adaptational Badass: This is the most famous and notorious fairy tale on Remnant. A single Chill goes unrecognized for what it is, hopping from human to human until it wipes out an entire town in a single night. However, Professor Ozpin warns that the real Chill is incapable of this feat. It cannot control its victims for more than a few minutes, and it is incapable of speech; the most a possessed human can do is repeat the last word they spoke before they died. Chills are also heavily reliant on people being hesitant to harm a loved one. As a result, real Chills are incapable of the feats the story claims.
Body Horror: In the fairy tale, each possessed human becomes icy cold to the touch. When they die, they're left with snow-white hair and skin, black eyes, and red or black veins covering their bodies. Ozpin observes that real Chills don't actually do this and the original version of this tale didn't do this either. The appearance of the victims in this tale were conflated long ago with the appearance of a witch who appears in an ancient fairy tale about a white witch who lived in the woods, and it has become by far the most popular version of the tale in Remnant. The description exactly matches Salem's appearance, something Ozpin is well aware of but doesn't outright state.
Body Surf: Chills can possess a human with the slightest of touches, and it only needs these very slight touches to be able to move from one victim to another. There's very little most people can do to defend against these Grimm, but they're limited to shadows and can only control a possessed human for a few minutes at most.
Darkness Equals Death: In regions where Chills dwell, going near shadows can get humans killed. Chills live in the shadows and a human only has to barely contact one to be instantly possessed. The act of possessing a human kills them. Where Chills roam, darkness and shadow need to be avoided.
Don't Go in the Woods: The tale is triggered by Poppy daring her younger brother to go into the woods that their parents have forbidden them from entering. When she first enters, she's scared back out by shadows seeming to close in on her. When she goes back in to find her brother, the woods take on an eerie, otherworldly feel. By the end of the tale, she's realised the horrifying significance of why the forest was dangerous to enter and exactly what monster they brought back with them when they left.
Madness Mantra: Ozpin warns that, unlike in the fairy tale, a Chill-possessed human is incapable of normal speech. They either cannot speak at all or they can only say the very last word the human said at the moment of death. In these cases, the possessed human will repeat this word over and over and over again.
Propaganda Piece: invoked The appearance of the victims in the tale are part of the reason why this version is so popular across Remnant. While Ozpin claims this popularity is why he chose this version of the tale, it's implied that the real reason is because the appearance of the victims perfectly matches Salem's physical appearance; he goes to great lengths to make it clear to the reader that the origin of this appearance comes from a white witch who appeared in her own fairy tale about a white witch in the woods. Ozpin may not have wanted to openly tell the world Salem existed, but he still managed to find a way to let the entire world know what she looked like.
Staking the Loved One: Chills can only control a possessed human for a few minutes so they depend heavily on people's hesitation to harm loved ones. Even the slightest contact allows a Chill to move to a new person, usually almost always a loved one or close friend of the possessed.
Tainted Veins: In the fairy tale, the Chill leaves its victims with dark veins covering snow-white skin. Ozpin makes it clear that real Chills do not do this and that the appearance comes from a different origin, a fairy tale about a white witch in the woods; in other words, Salem.
Touch of Death: It requires only the slightest touch for a Chill to be able to move from a possessed human to a new one. The act of possession instantly kills the victim.

Poppy

Big Sister Bully: Oak is very young, terrified of being alone, and always wants to do what his big sister does. Poppy thinks of him as a whiny, clingy, dirty scaredy-cat. When their parents leave them alone for a bit, she tries to dare Oak to enter the forest their parents forbade them from going near. Oak tries to obey his parents' order, but Poppy is relentless about bullying him into the forest. She terrifies him, pretends to abandon him, and then promises she'd never play with him again and spend all her time with her friends. She gets her way in the end... and it dooms the entire town.
Dead All Along: Poppy wakes up from a bad dream right into a waking nightmare as she discovers her family dead. Searching the town reveals everyone's dead. She returns home to pack and flee the town, only to discover a dead body where her suitcase should be... underneath the bed she woke up in. When she looks at herself in the mirror, she realises the truth: she's been dead all this time. The demon left her for last and then let her think she was still alive until she had come to understand what she had unleashed. What she doesn't know is whether the Chill did this to torment her or to thank her.
Heel Realization: When Poppy realizes the entire town is dead, she begins to understand that Oak died in the forest. Forcing her brother to enter the forest just to defy her parents had doomed the entire town to destruction... and her along with it. She doesn't know if the Grimm possessing her is tormenting her or thanking her, but it knows she's the one responsible.
My God, What Have I Done?: Forcing Oak to enter the forest unleashed a Grimm that destroyed the entire town in a single night. Poppy only begins to understand the full scale of what she's done as she races from house to house, finding every single person dead. By dawn, she's found so many bodies that she's functioning on autopilot, completely numb and utterly certain that it's her fault.
Sole Survivor: Subverted. Poppy doesn't understand why the Chill left her alone in the forest, and why she was spared. As it becomes increasingly clear that the entire town has been decimated, she becomes increasingly puzzled. It's only when she's searching for her suitcase to pack and flee the town that she realises the truth: she didn't survive; she's been Dead All Along.

The Hunter's Children

Big Brother Voiced By: Gabe Kunda

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwbyhunterschildren1a.jpg

"We work much better as a team."

"But why are you the only one who fights them?"

When a hunter of Grimm dies, his four children disagree on how best to live their lives and go their separate ways. Through their individual trials, they become wiser people and learn the importance of uniting together as a team.

In General

Badass Family: The hunter defends the village from Grimm until he dies. Although she's dead in the story, his wife is the one who taught the four children how to fight. Once the hunter dies, the four children take over as protectors of the people against the Grimm.
Secret Identity: Ozpin mentions how the four siblings embody the traits Huntsmen need and how their story can be seen as a template for the four-man team system in the Huntsman Academies. He then speculates that the King of Vale had this very tale in mind when designing the Huntsman Academies. The hunter in the tale is very strongly implied to have been one of Ozma's previous incarnations, and the King of Vale has been all but confirmed to have been Ozma. Ozpin, however, can't publicly reveal that he's a reincarnating immortal whose previous lifetimes have included both this hunter and the King of Vale; instead, he emphasizes the link between this tale and the Huntsmen Academies by using his personal experience with Huntsman team-work while consigning the motives of the King of Vale to "speculation" that makes sense to him because of this experience.

The Hunter

Detect Evil: The hunter's Semblance allowed him to detect the presence of the Grimm.
Guilt Complex: One of the reasons why the hunter keeps going out day after day to fight the Grimm and keep them away from the village is because they killed his wife. He hates himself for not being there when she died and so hates the Grimm as well.
Heartbroken Badass: The hunter lost his wife to the Grimm. One of the reasons he keeps fighting them when no one else does is because he hates them for killing her. On the nights when he admits this reason to his children, the mood in the house tends to become somber.

The Children

Didn't Think This Through: For all the younger brother's adventurous bravado and selfishness, he had never actually left home or experienced the world without his family by his side. His lack of worldly experience leaves him lost in the forest very quickly and the drawback of his Semblance is so great that he's unable to fight or see where he's going whenever it's active. He ends up huddled in a ball, lost, alone, and surrounded by Grimm.
Emotion Suppression: The youngest daughter has the ability to calm both Humans and animals. Her ability is extremely useful for protecting people from the Grimm by helping suppress the negative emotions that attract the Grimm in the first place.
Invisibility with Drawbacks: The youngest son has the ability to hide in plain sight. However, he has to close his eyes to do it, which means that he can't move around without getting lost and tripping over. His power also doesn't hide his emotions, so if he uses it on the Grimm, they can still sense his presence through his emotions and therefore can still surround his location even if they don't know exactly where he is.
Sibling Team: By the end of the tale, the four siblings have figured out that the reason their father died was because he was fighting the Grimm alone, and that their own limitations make it harder to protect themselves and other people as well. As a team, they compensate for each other's flaws and become a much stronger and more successful force.
Super-Empowering: The oldest brother has the ability to link Auras when people are in physical contact, even if that physical contact is something like a rope tied between people. This allows him to boost the Aura and abilities of himself and other people. It can even turn a person into a one-man army against the Grimm if necessary.

The Indecisive King

The Indecisive King (a.k.a. The King, the Crown, and the Widow)

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"You must keep living."

"What should I do?"

Once upon a time, a wise king received a mysterious crown that leads to him making some bad decisions. With the help of an even wiser widow, he is able to resolve the matter and move on with his life.

In General

Alternate Aesop Interpretation: invoked Ozpin again finds an alternative Aesop in the story that's just as important as the established one. No matter what hardships you face in life, or how hard the decisions you face are, you must always keep living. Ozpin thinks this message is an uplifting one.
Blessed with Suck: The silver crown has the power to give the wearer knowledge of the future. However, the king is shown a vision of a moment when he faces a choice that appears to have no favourable outcomes. He becomes obsessed with trying to find a decent solution because he assumes that the crown is giving him time to find an answer before the moment arrives. The widow, however, believes the crown is a curse that has burdened him with future knowledge before he's ready to handle it. She encourages him to abandon the crown and instead trust his own instincts to make the best decisions that he can on the basis of the knowledge that's available at the time.
Crown of Power: The silver crown has the power to give the wearer knowledge of the future so that the wearer can make a choice about how to handle the event in advance. While the king considers it a boon, he becomes so obsessed with trying to solve a potentially unsolvable future dilemma that he has to be shown what a curse it truly is by a concerned widow, who feels that it's burdening the wearer with knowledge before they're ready to handle it. The moral of the tale is that, while knowledge can be power, too much knowledge can leave people dangerously powerless and paralyzed.
Either/Or Title: The fairy tale is more simply called "The Indecisive King". However, its full title is actually "The Indecisive King (a.k.a. The King, the Crown, and the Widow)".
Foreshadowing: The crown is heavily implied to be the Relic of Choice. The silhouette of the Relic is revealed in Volume 6, a crown with a marking indicating where jewels or some kind of stones might be located. The book also includes an "artist's rendition" of the crown. It's the exact same shape as the Relic's silhouette and the markings of the stones or jewels are the same shape and in the same location; the artist's image also makes it the same shade of gold as both the Relics of Knowledge and Creation.
Unwinnable Training Simulation: Discussed. The king believes that the crown is a gift, revealing a future moment in which he's faced with an impossible choice that has no favourable outcomes so that he has the time to find a good solution. Every time he returns to the crown to try a solution, however, he always fails. It makes him moody, paranoid, and indecisive in the process. The widow tells him that the crown is a curse that has burdened him with future knowledge he's not ready for and that he needs to accept that sometimes there are no favourable outcomes. Instead, he should simply rely on his instincts and knowledge to make the best decision he can or to accept making a mistake knowing he tried his very best.

The King

The Good King: The king is renowned far and wide for being a wise, kind, and generous man. People come to him from all over the land to ask for his help in solving their problems. He doesn't turn anyone away. When he receives the grieving widow, who has lost everything, he even lets her stay in the castle for as long as she needs to get back on her feet.
Not Himself: After his first day with the crown, the King hears the first of his petitioners, a man who hoped his son would marry above his station but who instead wishes to marry a baker's daughter. After giving the usual wise, insightful answer he's famous for, the King suddenly changes his mind and tells the man to follow his first instinct. The Widow and the castle's staff all immediately realize something is wrong as the king has never second-guessed his verdicts before or given bad advice.
Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: The first time the King second guesses his decision after getting the crown, it's because a woman came to court asking if she should marry the rich man chosen for her or the poor man she loves. While he at first advises her to marry for true love, as such a thing is rare, he then changes his mind, citing that love won't fill your belly or keep you warm during winter.

The Widow

The High Queen: The Widow becomes this at the conclusion of the story, finding happiness and marrying the King that she saved. The King was once more renowned for his wisdom, and for the "even wiser" Queen that ruled at his side.
Little Bit Beastly: The written tale makes no mention of the Queen being a Faunus, but the animated version reveals that she has a dog's tail.
Meaningful Echo: The widow asks what she should do after the Grimm destroy her village and family. He tells her to keep living and lets her stay in the castle for as long as she needs to get back on her feet. Months later, the king is throwing his life away over an impossible dilemma the crown has presented him with until she intervenes. He asks her what he should do and she tells him to keep living. It helps end his obsession, allowing him to move on.

The Infinite Man

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwbyinfiniteman1a.jpg

"Not even a very good one."

"I am only a man."

A man rescues some villagers from the Grimm, which accidentally starts a movement when word of his abilities spread far and wide. This tale is the story of how he handles the situation and the mistakes he makes along the way.

In General

Alternate Aesop Interpretation: invoked Ozpin admits that this tale teaches him a new lesson every time he reads it. However, in general, he regards the tale as being a message about the power of belief and how it can move people for good, for ill, or for a mixture of both.
Arc Words: Several phrases are repeated throughout the tale for significant reasons.
- The Man constantly describes himself as being only a man, and not a very good one. Many characters don't seem to believe this because of his magical abilities and the fact that he can reincarnate. However, at the end of the tale, his most devoted follower has been broken by tragedy and has come to believe that he truly wasn't a good man, after all. As much as he wanted people to understand this, he is still deeply hurt by her rejection.
- Every time he makes a decision, it's followed by a statement declaring it to be a mistake and not his last. Throughout the tale, it isn't explained why his decision is a mistake until the very end and his very final mistake. What was a thriving organization of people dedicated to bettering the lives of humanity, unifying humanity in peace and harmony, and teaching people how to fight the Grimm, ends up being wiped out of existence by a group of powerful, mysterious warriors who want to destroy the man and everything he stands for.
The Day of Reckoning: It's only very vaguely mentioned in the tale, but the Circle is working towards uniting humanity in peace and harmony in preparation for the day when the gods return and subject humanity to their final judgment.
Downer Ending: Although it started by accident, the Man accomplishes something truly beneficial for humanity through his teaching of peace, harmony and how to fight the Grimm. His most devoted follower becomes a great leader in her own right after he dies, and when he catches up with her in his next reincarnation, he is truly amazed at what she's achieved. However, a band of mysterious and powerful warriors arrives one day, seeking to kill a "god". Even though he points out he's not a god, they pursue the confrontation anyway. To protect his people and everything they've worked for, he allows the warriors to kill him. The warriors don't keep their promise and destroy the organization so completely that, by the time the man reincarnates again, no one has ever heard of it. Only his most devoted follower remains alive, a bitter old woman who has had her faith and hope completely broken.
Propaganda Piece: invoked Ozpin talks about this tale being one of the most used tales for propaganda in Remnant history. He then admits to putting together this version from multiple accounts to try and create as fair and balanced a story as possible, including "embellishing" the story slightly to attribute motives to the man that he confesses may be coloured by his own assumptions and prejudice. Unlike his notes for the other fairy tales, he's somewhat defensive in his reasoning; he can't publicly admit to being the Infinite Man, but he clearly wants the opportunity to finally tell his side of the story.

The Man

A God I Am Not: People who know the man can wield magic and other abilities, are utterly convinced he's a god, especially when they hear he can reincarnate and so is immortal. Every single time, he tries to refute this by insisting that he's not a god, he's just a very flawed human being who doesn't think of himself as being a very good person at all.
Guilt Complex: Although the Man repeatedly insists that he's just a man, that he's not a god, that he's deeply flawed and people who tend to rely on him end up regretting it, people keep flocking to him anyway, thinking his honesty is just a sign of how humble and unassuming he is. Although he's deeply disturbed by the situation, he also sees it as an opportunity to try and complete his mission to unite humanity in harmony. Although it's eventually wiped out by what is implied to be agents of Salem, the Man clearly blames himself for how things turned out, especially as the girl comes to blame him, too. In his notes, Ozpin talks about presenting the man as both a hero and a fool, and how he and the girl placed impossible expectations on each other. However, the notes indicate that Ozma is still feeling guilty about it to this day, and just wants someone, somewhere, to forgive him.
Humble Hero: Deconstructed. The Man keeps insisting that he's just a man, not even a very good one and that he makes many mistakes; he even warns them that people who get close to him and follow him will end up regretting it. However, people think he's just being humble and unassuming and this is why he would make an excellent leader for them. They don't understand that he's telling them the honest truth. By the time they understand, it's too late. After he's killed and the people massacred, only his most devout supporter is allowed to live: a broken, old woman who is left believing it was folly to put so much faith into one person and that he truly wasn't a very good man, after all.
No Name Given: The tale never reveals what the man's name is. Every time the girl asks, he refuses to tell her. He simply says he's had many names. The reason their group gets given the name "The Circle" is because the girl wants to create a name for people to rally around, something the man himself does not want. Since he refuses to reveal his name, even after years together, the girl comes up with the Circle as a solution to her dilemma.
Resurrective Immortality: The Man describes his life as a circle. He has lived countless lives, reincarnating every time he dies. The Girl meets three of his incarnations over the course of the tale, first as a young girl, then as a middle-aged woman, and finally as an elderly woman. This is Ozma's form of immortality because the Infinite Man is one of his previous incarnations.
Stop Worshipping Me: The Man wants to help people and has a mission to unite humanity. However, people keep mistaking his abilities for the power of a god and forming a cult-like organisation around him called the Circle. No matter how many times he tells them that he's not a god, that he's a deeply flawed man, and that they're doing really good work even without him, they just think he's being humble.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: It's only briefly mentioned in the tale, but one of the reasons the Man gives in to the Circle, despite his misgivings, is because this accidental movement is the closest he's ever got to uniting humanity in harmony and completing his mission. He desperately wants to complete his mission because only then will his immortality end and allow him to finally rest in peace. This man is one of Ozma's previous lives. The events occurred a long time ago, even before most people knew about Aura, Semblances, and how to fight the Grimm. Ozpin is still trying to achieve that mission to this very day, and still with no end in sight.
Will Not Tell a Lie: The Man never lies to people. At the beginning of the tale, he hesitantly confirms the girl is right about seeing him use magic to defeat the Grimm; on his deathbed, she asks him if he told the truth about his ability to reincarnate. He tells he that he's never lied to her; the problem is that people create their own truths. He spends much of the tale trying to correct people's misconceptions about him and his abilities, warning them repeatedly that he's a flawed person who makes mistakes and honestly revealing his fear that they will suffer if they keep following him because people who follow him tend to end up regretting it, or worse. Events unfold exactly as he feared and the tale ends with him dreading the girl (who has since become an old woman) asking him to confirm his identity. He won't be able to lie to her even though he knows the truth will be extremely painful for both of them. She doesn't ask him, which hurts him even more because he knows she's doing that to reject him and everything he stands for.

The Girl

Despair Event Horizon: A young girl he saves at the beginning of his tale becomes his most devoted follower and an excellent leader of the cause after he dies. Although she encourages him to remain when his next reincarnation visits, it leads to a tragedy where warriors hunt them down to wipe their movement out of existence. She loses an arm and an eye but is permitted to live — solely as a warning to the world never to place their faith in a single person again. When she and the man's next reincarnation meet, her faith and hope have been broken and she completely believes he was indeed not a very good man.

The Warrior Leader

Duel to the Death: After the Infinite Man returns to the Circle in a new life, the Circle is invaded by a band of powerful warriors; the leader challenges the Man's reputation and wishes to fight to the death to prove whether or not the stories are true. To get the Man to agree, the warrior leader agrees to leave the Circle unharmed after the duel.
I Lied: Discussed. The warrior leader who challenges the Infinite Man promises that, win or lose the Duel to the Death, the warriors will leave the Circle alone and unharmed. Worried about collateral damage to innocent bystanders, the Man throws the fight to protect the Circle and is killed. In his next reincarnation, he learns that the warrior lied; her band destroyed the Circle, everything they were working for, and permitted only the Girl to live as a warning to never trust the Man again.
Spare a Messenger: After killing the Man, the mysterious warriors went back on their agreement and slaughtered the members of the Circle. Many years later, he meets an elderly woman and recognizes her as the most devout of his followers. She theorizes that they might have spared her life, after taking her arm and her eye, to serve as a warning to others.

The Judgement of Faunus

The Judgment of Faunus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwbyjudgementfaunus1a.jpg

"So be it."

"We choose life."

A Faunus creation myth about how a god's attempt to end a great war between Humans and animals created a brand new set of problems for the survivors.

In General

Chilly Reception: The Faunus seek the sanctuary of the Human settlement some of them came from when they were still Human. Instead of being welcomed home by their friends and relatives, they're confronted by cold, stone-faced villagers who close their doors and hearts and try to drive them away. This makes the ex-Human Faunus begin to understand why the ex-animal Faunus think Humans are so narrow-minded and heartless.
Convicted by Public Opinion: The Faunus were seeking protection from the Grimm, but the Humans are so horrified by their appearance they decide the Faunus were coordinating an attack with the Grimm. The Faunus can't do or say anything to change their minds, and when they're all forced to flee to find a safe haven, the Humans make sure that the safe haven they find is completely closed to the Faunus. The Faunus are forced to continue searching for a safe haven to call home... to this very day, they haven't found it.
Creation Myth: This tale explains that the Faunus came into being as a god's attempt to end a war between Humans and animals. Unfortunately, most of the newly created Faunus were promptly wiped out by the Grimm and chased from Human villages by people who had once been their friends and family. The Faunus haven't stopped running from Humans and Grimm ever since, and still haven't found a place they can call home.
Downer Ending: Discussed. The tale doesn't really end because the Faunus are still struggling with the Humans and the Grimm, and still searching for a place to call home. Ozpin observes that most Faunus fairy tales are open-ended, being either bittersweet or downright depressing. It's a reflection of how the Faunus feel their story is still unfolding and that they have yet to find their true purpose.
Fantastic Racism: Humans and animals are deeply prejudiced against each other, with animals believing Humans are destructive and untrustworthy while Humans resented animals for being stronger and refusing to help them fight the Grimm. However, once they're turned into Faunus, they all become subject to prejudice, fear, and loathing from Humans.
Irrational Hatred: When the newly formed Faunus are attacked by Grimm, they flee for protection to the Human towns the ex-Humans came from. However, as soon as the Humans see them, they are horrified. With the Grimm descending on the settlement, the Humans immediately conclude that the Faunus and the Grimm are in league with each other and turn on the Faunus in hatred. Even though the Faunus point out that they're the Humans' own friends and relatives, the Humans don't care: the Faunus look different, the Grimm attacked at the same time, and that's all they need to reject and loathe the Faunus.

The God of Animals

Ambiguous Gender: Despite the masculine term, the god is never given a gender and is described in gender-neutral terms, using gender-neutral pronouns.
Demonization: Ozpin observes that the Faunus depict their god as wise and noble. However, Humans tend to depict the same god as a Trickster God who cannot be trusted. He considers it quite telling, given that this is how Humans have also demonized the Faunus.
From Bad to Worse: The god was trying to stop a war when they turned the animals and Humans fighting it into Faunus to bring them together and understand each other's differences. However, while they ended the war between Animals and Humans, they created a war between Humans and Faunus over anti-Faunus prejudice; being as vulnerable to Grimm as Humans, the Faunus are therefore on the run from both Humans and the Grimm and have no safe haven to call home.
Horned Humanoid: The god that stops the fighting and creates the Faunus is depicted as a human with antlers growing from their head. This is what makes both humans and animals trust the god at first, believing that seeing the elements of themselves in the god means the god will favor their own race.
"Not So Different" Remark: Humans and animals are at war because of what they fear and envy in the other. This blinds them to their similarities, which the god spots as soon as he starts talking to them. To teach them how they can be so much more together than divided, he transforms them all into something that's part-Human, part-animal.

The Man Who Stared at the Sun

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"Let us begin."

"Since you suggested a competition, perhaps I could choose the nature of it?"

A Vacuan folktale about a man who gets into an argument with the sun. To resolve their debate, they hold a staring contest where the loser will be the one who blinks or looks away first.

In General

Alternate Aesop Interpretation: invoked The official moral of the tale is that the farmer losing his eyesight to win the contest teaches people that success is only possible if they're willing to sacrifice something important. However, both Copper and Ozpin prefer to interpret the moral as really being "don't stare at the sun".
The Bet: The staring contest is a wager between the Farmer and the Sun. If the Farmer wins, the Sun will always give his plants just the right amount of light and warmth, not too much, so his crops will flourish as long as his family works the fields. If the Sun wins, the Farmer's family will always praise and worship the Sun and spread the word to other humans.
Bittersweet Ending: Lampshaded by the sun. The farmer wins the competition and gains the blessing of the sun on his crops and those of his descendants. However, he sacrifices his eyesight to do so. Although the sun is angry that victory was achieved through trickery, they accept the result because the farmer has lost the ability to ever again look upon his beautiful family or his crops, and can no longer use his Semblance to explore the world.
Staring Contest: The contest the farmer and sun engage in is to see who can outstare the other. If the sun wins, the farmer and his descendants have to worship the sun and encourage others to do so. If the farmer wins, the sun has to favour his and his descendants' crops with optimal crop-growing conditions. The sun suggests this because they know they're too bright for humans to look at for more than a few moments and therefore assume it will be an easy contest to win.

The Farmer

Blinded by the Sun: The sun suggests a staring contest because they know that humans can't stare at them without going blind, and they expect the farmer to want to avoid that fate. However, the farmer accepts the challenge, unwaveringly stares at the sun, and eventually wins the contest because the sun is distracted by its duty to the rest of the world, which isn't receiving any light. When they demand to know how the farmer won, the farmer confesses that he went blind in seconds; since the damage was done, he decided to keep going and fake it.
Determined Homesteader: The farmer's wife only finds out about the contest when the farmer doesn't come home for dinner and the sun doesn't set. After failing to convince him to come home, she leaves and the sun tries to get the farmer to look away by observing how upset she is. However, the wife takes that as a challenge, brings food to the farmer, and then takes over running the farm. Thanks to her work and the help of the children, the farm thrives, which allows the farmer to concentrate solely on the sun.
Refuge in Audacity: The sun is amazed to lose the contest since humans can't stare at them for more than a few seconds and demands to know how the farmer achieved it. The farmer reveals that he was blinded within seconds of looking directly at the sun. Since the damage was already done, he decided to keep his eyes wide open and fake it. The sun is angry to have been tricked but honours the result because of how much the farmer has sacrificed to win.
Super-Speed: The farmer's Semblance allows him to cover great distances in the blink of an eye. It enables him to easily manage his extensive farmland and allows him to explore the wonders of Sanus. The reason the sun turns down the initial contest suggestion of a race is because they've seen the farmer run faster than the wind.

The Sun

Dude, Where's My Respect?: The sun often feels like it's unappreciated for the hard work it does in providing warmth and light. Most people only ever complain about the Sun when it's too hot or it can't be seen through the clouds.
Graceful Loser: The sun is angry at how the farmer won, but also recognises how much the farmer has lost in the process. It, therefore, accepts the loss and honours the bargain.

The Shallow Sea

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"This is who we are."

"This can be your home, if you want it."

A Faunus creation myth about how the God of Animals chose special Humans to be transformed into the first Faunus so that they could live together on a magical island where animals can go but Humans cannot.

In General

The Chosen People: When the God of Animals went looking for Humans, they wanted only the special ones, the ones who seemed a little bit more than Human. They selected the misfits, the outcasts, and those who felt they didn't belong or didn't feel comfortable in their own skin. They took them on a long journey and, at the end of it, asked them for a leap of faith. Those who completed the final test became the first Faunus, the people chosen by the God of Animals to join them on their magical island. The God of Animals is therefore regarded as the god of Faunus as well.
Creation Myth: This tale explains the origin of the Faunus and why they came into being. It also explains why Humans treat Faunus so badly. However, it also mentions an island haven that has a lot in common with the Faunus island of Menagerie. The harsh reality of Menagerie and the fact it represents the continued fight for equality with Humans have soured Faunus on this tale, and they've stopped telling the story to Faunus children.
Fantastic Racism: The origin of humanity's racism against the Faunus can be traced back to the Humans the God of Animals chose to come to their island. Some Humans couldn't make the leap of faith to cross the Shallow Sea and join the god on the island. Instead, they were horrified by the changes they witnessed happening in the other people. The god declared their disappointment in them and sent them back home. However, they were left with envy and resentment of the Faunus for being what they could never be.
Irony: Ozpin discusses the irony of Menagerie in terms of this tale because it's the reason Faunus have stopped telling what used to be a favourite tale. The island haven in the tale bears a striking similarity to Menagerie, which was given to the Faunus as a sop by Humanity instead of dealing properly with the racism. The island is mostly inhospitable desert, filled with dangerous wildlife, so Faunus have to squash into the single, overcrowded habitable region. The bitter political reality of Menagerie has destroyed the magic of the tale.
Oral Tradition: Discussed. Ozpin comments that many Faunus tales are never heard by Humans and are never written down. As a result, this is the first time this particular tale has ever been recorded in writing for mass consumption. Part of the reason why Ozpin decided to do it was the discovery that this tale has fallen out of favour with Faunus and seems to be dying out. By writing it down, Ozpin hopes the tale will never be lost.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: The God of Animals is twice described as being "sagacious, perspicacious, and most veracious"; once when describing their decision to protect an island as a safe haven from Humans, and once when observing that the God of Animals is easily bored.
Utopia: Subverted. The tale initially mentions a special island, the only place in the world Humans can't be found because the God of Animals protects it as a haven for all animals. When the god decides to bring Humans to the island, the first thing the Humans are shown are the downsides to living there. The island appears to be a harsh desert from coast to coast and is filled with countless wild animals. They're only shown the paradise on the southern shore last. The god makes it clear that this is a place that can be their home only if they work hard for it. The people who accept the god's offer do so because they realise that, while the land is no more hospitable than any other place, what they're being offered is control over their own fates, free from the influence of others.

The God of Animals

Ambiguous Gender: Whether the god has a gender or none, or whether gender is even relevant to a god, isn't covered by the tale. Instead, the tale is written in a way that ensures no firm conclusion can be reached.
God Is Flawed: As wise, noble, and beneficient as they believe the God of Animals to be, the Faunus also regard them as being prone to boredom. In fact, Faunus actually regard it as a natural consequence of just how wise, insightful, and honest the god is. It's the god's boredom that makes them go exploring humanity to see if any Humans can be brought to their island haven, which is what leads to the creation of the Faunus.
Humans Are Flawed: The God of Animals is fascinated with humanity's creativity, adaptability, and changeability. However, Humans are too ruinous to be allowed onto their island haven, so they can't allow just any old Human to set foot on it.
The Maker: The God of Animals hand-picked Humans to come and live on their island haven, but transformed them into part-animal beings to temper the ruinous nature of humanity. This created a brand new race on Remnant that was neither animal nor Human but contained elements of both. The God of Animals is therefore regarded as the creator of the Faunus.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: The God of Animals was able to take the form of any animal they desired, whenever they desired. They could transform from a ram to a shark on a whim, and their travels around the world are described in terms such as "cantered and burrowed and fluttered over the earth". They can also take the form of a Human if necessary, and can also transform into a combination of creatures, taking different pieces of different animals to become something entirely unique.

The Silver-Eyed Warriors

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"...it's a ridiculous story."

"It was said that even a single look from one of these fighters could strike a Grimm down..."

Once upon a time, long before even the Kingdoms existed, children born with silver eyes were destined to become the greatest warriors in the world, capable of striking down the monstrous Grimm with a mere look.

The legends of what the Silver-Eyed Warriors are supposed to be capable of are so ancient that almost no one has heard of them, and even fewer believe in these powers. However, every so often, a person with silver eyes is born... and one of them is Ruby Rose.

Born Winner: Silver-Eyed Warriors are born with the ability to be the best of all warriors and to be capable of defeating the Grimm with a single look. According to legend, it's their destiny.
Deadly Gaze: According to legend, the Creatures of Grimm are afraid of silver-eyed warriors because the warriors are capable of striking the Grimm down with a single look. It's supposedly a ridiculous tale, but it is actually true. The legend does not clarify how the Silver-Eye power actually works, so even most people who have heard the legend don't really understand what to expect from the power.
Legend Fades to Myth: The legend of the Silver-Eyed Warriors is so old that modern-day people don't even know the legend ever existed, never mind knowing that the legend is real. The legend doesn't just predate Huntsmen, it predates the concept of people living in Kingdoms. Ruby's power indicates that the core points of the legend are true but that there is no guarantee a Silver-Eyed Warrior will ever tap into their power; if they do, they still need to be trained, no matter what folklore claims their destiny will be.
Light 'em Up: According to legend, Silver-Eyed Warriors possessed eyes that shone like mirrors, reflecting the light of the world onto darkness.
Magical Eye: The Silver-Eyed Warriors are believed to have a supernatural ability that is linked to their eye colour. Silver is a very rare eye colour in Remnant and it means a person will be an exceptional warrior who may be capable of striking the Grimm down with a mere look.
Superpower Lottery: The Creatures of Grimm are the most fearsome monsters humanity has ever encountered and they are so numerous that they dominate Remnant. However, Silver-Eyed Warriors are supposedly born with the ability to become the greatest of all warriors and to be able to strike the Grimm down with just a look. Huntsmen are schooled to become powerful fighting machines that have mastered the extra power that well-trained Aura, Semblance, and Dust provide. However, even they can't do the things that legend claims the Silver-Eyed Warriors can do.
Technicolor Eyes: Very few people on Remnant have silver-coloured eyes or have heard the legend of the Silver-Eyed Warriors. However, people born with silver eyes are believed to have a warrior's destiny: they possess both the ability to become the greatest fighters and a supernatural power that can kill the Grimm.

The Story of the Seasons

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"Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The Four Maidens." ^note

"In return for their kindness, the man grants the maidens incredible powers so that they may continue to help others all over the world."

The Remnant fairytale, The Story of the Seasons, tells of four sisters who traveled the world helping people. One day, they came across a reclusive old wizard and decided to help him overcome his isolation. Their kindness was rewarded with the gift of magical powers representing the four seasons and which could be used to benefit the whole of mankind.

What most of Remnant doesn't know is that the legend has a kernel of truth to it, with the powers of the Four Maidens being passed to new guardians when the old ones die.

In General

All-Loving Hero: When the Old Wizard asks them what made him so special that they'd go out of their way to help him, they tell him he's not special at all: he was a person in need of help, so they helped him, as they help every single person they come across. He is so impressed with their compassion, that he gives them the gift of his magical powers so that the sisters can use them to help humanity.
Elemental Motifs: The four sisters obtained the powers of the elements, with legend suggesting that Spring could make plants grow, Summer could produce fire, Fall could produce wind, and Winter could create ice, in keeping with their seasonal themes.
Legend Fades to Myth: The Story of the Seasons is based on truth as the Four Maidens really do exist, and they do indeed have Elemental Powers. However, the story has taken on such mythic properties that the accuracy of the tale is hard to unravel. Pyrrha learns that this is deliberate. People sought the incredible power of the Maidens for nefarious purposes, requiring the protectors of the Maidens to hide them away, letting them fade into legend and fairytale just to keep the Maidens safe.

The Old Wizard

The Hermit: The Old Wizard lived in an isolated cabin in the middle of a forest. He received no visitors and hadn't even left the house to step outside in centuries when the sisters encountered him. Through their compassion and persistence, they encouraged him to accept their presence, and their help and to even step into the sunlight, transforming his life for the better. The Old Wizard is one of Ozpin's previous incarnations.
The Shut-In: Not only is the Old Wizard a hermit, but he also doesn't even step outside his door. He hasn't left the cottage in so long that it doesn't even occur to him to open the front door; he communicates with the sisters from the window he was sitting beside when they arrived. The third sister, Summer, has to coax him outside to enjoy the sunshine with them.

Winter

The Stoic: Winter is described as a calm, sedate girl who simply sits quietly under a tree while the Old Wizard watches her in confusion. The serenity she exudes makes the Old Wizard start wishing he could share it, too. In the longer version of the tale, he invites her into his home to get out of the cold where she spends several months teaching him meditation until he learns how to achieve serenity of his own.

Spring

Earthy Barefoot Character: Spring walks around in bare feet, unlike all her other sisters who wear shoes. It completes the nature theme that is associated with her, as she also wears a crown of leaves and carries seeds, fruits, and flowers in a basket.
Green Thumb: Spring, the second sister to appear, restored the Old Wizard's garden, fixing the fences and sowing seeds. The story strongly implies the plants were growing within the span of a day, suggesting she had some kind of supernatural ability to grow plants even before the Old Wizard rewarded her with elemental magic.
Nature Lover: Spring is a cheerful, spry girl who carries a basket of fruits, flowers, and seeds. She leaps around the Old Wizard's garden, sowing seeds, planting, and fixing his fence. She's heavily associated with nature, wearing a crown of leaves and having bracelets made out of plants. She also doesn't wear shoes even though the rest of her sisters do. When she's given her magical powers at the end of the tale, she uses them to supernaturally grow plants.

Summer

Genki Girl: The third sister, Summer, announces her presence with a giggle. When she introduces herself to the Old Wizard, she starts giggling again. She spins and twirls as she reveals she finds him funny for not stepping outside his door and encourages him to join them in the sun. When he does so, she tags him and encourages him to join them in playing games and just having a good, fun time.

Fall

Wise Beyond Their Years: Fall is the sister who asks the Old Wizard who he is. When he tells her that he's not very interesting because he has no one to love and nothing to his name, she shows him where he lives, the views from his cottage, and the garden that Spring has created. Although he's been alive for centuries, she's the one to open his eyes to what her sisters have done to show him what he does have so that he no longer obsesses over what he doesn't have.

The Two Brothers

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"As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go."

"The older sibling, the God of Light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the God of Darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction."

Legend tells of an old god who split himself into two: the God of Light, who created the forces of life, such as water, plants, and wildlife, and his younger brother, the God of Darkness, who created the forces of destruction, such as drought, fire, and famine. In response to Light's creation of animals, the God of Darkness created the Creatures of Grimm, destructive beings of malice and hate. To stop the God of Darkness's destructive ways, the God of Light suggested they create something together that they could both be proud of. That final masterpiece was humanity, gifted with the powers of Knowledge, Creation, Destruction, and Choice.

Unknown to most of Remnant, these four gifts exist in a physical form known as Relics. The four Huntsman Academies were created to separate, hide and protect the Relics from being misused.

In General

The Day of Reckoning: In the full tale, the two gods get so tired of each other, they want to go their separate ways. However, they gave so much essence to the creation of Remnant and its lifeforms that they don't have the power to leave without taking back their essence. That would mean destroying everything. The God of Darkness wants to do this, but the God of Light isn't so eager. They compromise by coming up with a test. If humanity can prove itself worthy, they will remain and let humanity live. If humanity isn't worthy, they will destroy the planet, take back their essence and go their separate ways.
Equivalent Exchange: Even gods can't create something from nothing. To create a companion, the old god had to destroy himself so that the two beings left in his place were both brand-new entities. When the two brothers decide to create a world and populate it, they had to do it from their own essence. In the end, they use up so much essence to create the world that, when they want to leave, they cannot unless they start destroying things to take back their essence.
Have You Seen My God?: According to one legend, the Gods of Light and Darkness used to live on Remnant. However, they eventually decided to leave the world and depart for destinations unknown. They left behind humanity and the four Relics of Knowledge, Creation, Destruction, and Choice to help guide humanity in their absence. In the full fairy tale, they realise they can't leave the world because they've given too much of their essence to it. They decide to rest and leave humanity to its own devices, each brother forming a new continent that takes the shape of a dragon. When The Day of Reckoning comes, they will wake up and decide whether humanity is worthy of living.
Humans Are Special: To end their feud, the two brothers created humanity as the great masterpiece that they could both take pride in. As a result, they gave them a combination of abilities not seen in any previous creations: Knowledge, Creation, Destruction, and, most importantly, Choice — the ability to choose what to do with their gifts.
Lack of Empathy: Originally, the two gods created the world because they wanted entertainment. This changes once the God of Light creates animals; sensing their pain and suffering, he learns empathy and to take responsibility for the life he has created. However, the God of Darkness cannot create living beings and therefore continues to toy with them for his own amusement. The God of Light ends up suggesting they create Humanity together in the hope that his brother will experience the same learning curve that he did.
The Maker: While the God of Light created the plants and animals and the God of Darkness created the Creatures of Grimm, only humanity is created by both gods, ending their feud by combining their powers to create a work they can both take pride in. Humanity possesses each god's ability to create and destroy, so the two brothers also gave humanity two other gifts: Dark gave humanity the knowledge of how to create and destroy while Light gave them the ability to choose how to use that knowledge. The one side-effect of Dark's gift is that humanity also knows fear.
The Multiverse: The story opens with a lone dragon traveling through the universe, trying to find other life. He searches all the worlds and realms, and through every plane of existence, but finds nothing. The story doesn't mention how many other realms and planes exist, it simply hints there are multiple ones.
Our Gods Are Different: Remnant has dozens of gods, but most of them aren't real. According to Qrow, Ozpin believes the Gods of Light and Dark really did once exist, with the God of Light being responsible for the creation of all living things and the God of Darkness being responsible for the creation of all forces of destruction, including the Grimm. These two brothers were themselves created by an even older god, who was so lonely in an empty universe that he split himself in half just to create company for himself, giving rise to the two brothers.
Sibling Yin-Yang: One brother is a being of pure light, the other a being of unfathomable darkness. They have separate personalities and desires, but complementary abilities. The God of Darkness is a dark reflection of the God of Light. When they create a world, their creations reflect each other: Light creates the sun, Dark the moon; Light creates a land of lush vegetation, Dark creates a land of desert and mountains; Light creates plants and animals, Dark creates the Grimm.
Speak in Unison: Both gods are incorrectly convinced they were the original god and the other is the copy, created for companionship. When they argue about how different or similar they really are from each other, they conclude their debate by simultaneously declaring that they regret ever making the other.

The Old God

Dimensional Traveler: When the old god finds himself alone in the universe, he begins traveling through other realms and planes of existence, searching everywhere for signs of life.
Hates Being Alone: The old god was so overcome with loneliness that he decided to split himself in half and create a companion. However, this act destroys him as an entity and the two beings that exist after the split are both brand-new beings.
Space Isolation Horror: The old god finds himself in a universe where there is absolutely nothing: initially, he searches for other beings like himself. Not only does he find none, he finds nothing. He searches every world he can find, every realm he can access, and every plane of existence he can cross into. Nothing else exists. To cope with the isolation, he decides to split himself in half to create a companion. However, the act of doing so destroys him. The two beings that exist in his place are not his original self and a copy, but two completely brand new beings. Unwilling to face the continued isolation, the two new beings decide to create a world filled with life.

The God of Light

Creating Life: The God of Light possessed the power to create forces of life, producing such things as water, plants, and wildlife. No matter how his younger brother tried to destroy his creations, life always kept returning to Remnant.
God of Light: The God of Light is a creation god, responsible for creating all life (plants, water, animals). His younger brother, the God of Darkness, is a destruction deity and is responsible for creating all forces of destruction (natural disasters, disease, the Grimm). After a long period of feuding, the two brothers called a truce by uniting their powers to create humanity.
Gone Horribly Right: The God of Light suggests they create Humanity together in the hope that the God of Darkness will learn to feel empathy and responsibility for life the way he did. Unfortunately, the God of Darkness learns to admire humanity's ability to grow from adversity and refusal to give in to despair. As a result, he concludes that the only way for humanity to achieve its true potential is to increase his acts of destruction rather than ending them as Light had hoped.
Fertility God: The God of Light is, as his name suggests, the deity in control of light and life. He creates plants, water, and wildlife, and often opposed his brother, the God of Darkness, who brings destruction. He and his brother later came to a compromise, and together created humanity.
Hypocrite: The God of Light doesn't like the God of Darkness constantly destroying his creations and asks him to stop, which the God of Darkness won't do. When the God of Light later tells his brother to get rid of the Grimm to protect Humanity, the God of Darkness angrily accuses the God of Light of hypocrisy by demanding the destruction of his after having protested the reverse. Light rejects the accusation by pointing out that his creations are alive while Dark's are not; while his creations feel and suffer, Dark's creations are just forces of malice and hate. His response offends Dark, resulting in their conflict intensifying.
Not So Similar: Upon hearing the God of Darkness accuse him of hypocrisy for wanting Dark's creations destroyed but not his own, Light declares that the Grimm are not alive, being crafted from malice and hate to destroy good. Taking that as a personal slight, Dark states they're just the same as each other; Light counters by saying only their forms and powers are similar; everything else about them is different.
Stronger Sibling: The images accompanying Qrow's telling of their fable depict the God of Light standing triumphant over a prone God of Darkness after the former had had enough of the latter destroying his creations every night. It implies that the God of Light is more powerful than the God of Darkness. However, the full tale says the old god split himself in half, with the two new beings having complementary abilities. In the fairy tale, when the two fight, there is no clear winner; they stop because they're tearing the world apart and humanity begs them to stop.

The God of Darkness

Destroyer Deity: The God of Darkness possessed the power to create forces of destruction, such as drought, fire, and famine. Qrow says that, every night, he would see his older brother's creations and become disgusted. Eventually, he creates the Creatures of Grimm to share his innate desire to destroy everything they encounter. However, the full fairy tale states that Dark found Light's creation to be dull, so he created earthquakes and volcanoes to make things lively.
"Not So Different" Remark: The God of Darkness believes that he and Light are essentially the same. They both have creations and have both challenged the other at different times to destroy the other's creations. Light, however, disagrees.
Sadist: Light asks his brother to stop destroying his creations, but Dark argues that he's making things more lively. He enjoys watching living things flee and die from the disasters he creates. Light becomes increasingly frustrated with Dark's desire to make life suffer and comes up with a plan for them to jointly create humanity in the hope Dark will learn to use his power responsibly. However, Dark becomes fascinated with humanity's resourcefulness in adversity and so sends increasingly difficult challenges their way to help them grow, such as natural disasters and Grimm attacks.
Secret Test of Character: The God of Darkness is fascinated by humanity's resourcefulness and how adversity seems to make them grow. He, therefore, believes that the God of Light is overprotecting them and begins sending them challenges to help them develop, such as natural disasters. He even begins making more Grimm to give them even stronger challenges. The God of Light does not approve.
The Un-Favourite: In the full tale, the Grimm hate humanity because they're jealous that their creator, the God of Darkness, is so fascinated with humanity that he's forgotten all about the Grimm. They, therefore, hunt humanity relentlessly.

The Warrior in the Woods

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warrior_woods__1_7.png

"And everyone I didn't."

"I remember everyone I've saved."

This is the tale of a mysterious hermit who keeps a nearby village safe without their knowledge, until a boy one day ventures too far into the forest and encounters her.

In General

Arc Words: "Because I can. Because no-one else will." This sentiment is cited by the Warrior when the hero asks her why she keeps protecting people after what humans did to her. He also tells her that the reason he keeps offering to look after her is because he can and because no else will. At the end of the tale, he decides to protect the village in the Warrior's place because he can, and because no-one else will.
Bittersweet Ending: Although the Warrior is gone, and he has no idea if she's alive or dead, he vows to protect the village in her place. However, he also knows the time is coming when the village will be forced to leave to find somewhere safer to live. He doesn't know how long he can keep protecting them, or what the future holds for them, but he'll do what he can because he's able to do it, and because there's no-one else to do it.
Full-Boar Action: The hero's first encounter with the Grimm consists of him being confronted by a Boarbatusk. He has no idea what it is, he's transfixed by the huge tusks, the four glowing eyes and the huge size of the creature. Once it realises he's there, it doesn't hesitate to charge at him.
False Utopia: The village dwells at the edge of a lush forest and is considered the safest place in the land to live. The Grimm don't attack, so the people live peaceful, care-free, and happy lives. What they don't know is that they're being protected by a reclusive warrior who is hiding in the forest. She doesn't want the village to know she exists, and the villagers have no interest in scratching beneath the surface of their unusual safety; they are therefore oblivious to the fact that their utopia is so fragile that it depends entirely on the life and dedication of a single person.
Light 'em Up: When the hero encounters the owl Grimm, he's grown into a young man. While he has a crudely made blade, he's not skilled with it and only manages to kill two of the three birds. Just before the bird can kill him, the clearing lights up with a brilliant white light that destroys the third owl. The light heralds the appearance of the Warrior. Although the hero asks her what the light was, she refuses to answer him.
No Name Given: Although the hero asks the Warrior to tell him her name, she refuses. From the time he met her as a child to the time he last sees her as a man, he never does learn her name. The story never reveals his name either.
Ominous Owl: The third Grimm the hero encounters are three huge owls who are jet black and possess deadly stares. They have razor sharp feathers and deadly talons. He manages to kill two of them, but is unable to finish off the third without help.
Savage Wolves: The hero's second encounter with a Grimm consists of a Beowolf attacking him. He again panics and freezes in fear because of its sharp fangs and claws, and spikes over the body.
Uncertain Doom: When the hero finds the Warrior's home has been destroyed, he can't tell if it was destroyed by Grimm or humans. Her weapon has been left behind, but there's no sign of her. He never finds out what happened to her, and doesn't know if she's alive or dead.
We Have Become Complacent: The villagers have lived with their peaceful, good fortune for so long that they believe they will always live this way. It makes them complacement about the threat of the Grimm because they assume they have none. As a result, they don't understand why the Grimm leave them alone and therefore don't recognise the danger they're in when the Grimm finally start taking an interest in their existence.

The Hero

Deer in the Headlights: The hero is so stunned by the appearance of his first ever Grimm that he screams in terror, which only attracts it to him. When it charges him, all he can do is throw up his arms in front of him and close his eyes. Running away or climbing a tree never even occurs to him. The only reason he survives is because the Warrior arrives just in time to save him.
Love at First Sight: The hero is immediately taken by how beautiful the Warrior is and keeps returning to the forest over and over, even though she keeps telling him to leave her alone. He eventually admits to the villagers that he fell in love with her the moment he first saw her silver eyes.
Only Friend: Although the Warrior keeps telling the hero to leave her alone and stop coming back, she eventually learns to accept the routine and even prepares tea in anticipation of his next visit. She still doesn't want him to tell the village about her, but she comes to accept him.
Secret-Keeper: The hero never tells the villagers about the Warrior or that he keeps going back into the forest to find her. Only after she's disappeared and the village is in danger from the Grimm does he finally tell them about her and why their village is no longer safe.
Take Up My Sword: When the Grimm return to the village, the villagers speculate that it's either because they're cutting down the forest, or because their population is large enough to attract the Grimm with negative emotions. The hero fights his way through the forest to locate the Warrior, but finds her home ransacked and her weapon left behind. He takes the weapon and vows to protect the village in her stead for as long as he is able.

The Warrior

The Hermit: The Warrior lives alone in the deep forest. Not only does she avoid the village, she doesn't even want them to know she exists. She eventually tells the hero that her home was massacred, and she's been living alone ever since.
Humans Are the Real Monsters: The Warrior's backstory is tragic. She lives alone because most of her people were killed long ago. Her family is dead and if there are any survivors like her, they're scattered all over Remnant. The hero assumes she's talking about a Grimm attack, but she tells him humans were to blame for her tragedy.
Leave Me Alone!: The Warrior keeps telling the hero to leave her alone and stay out of the forest, to no avail. Because her clothes are torn, old and falling apart, he brings clothes his mother no longer wears to give to her. She initially rejects his gift, claiming she doesn't need anything and can't accept them anyway. She eventually accepts them just to get him to leave, but she is wearing them the next time he sees her.
Meaningful Appearance: When the Warrior first appears, her cloak is torn, and her clothing is barely more than rags patched together. Even her weapon has seen better days, with the wooden handle cracked and beginning to split. She lives alone in the forest, constantly fighting the Grimm and thereby protecting the village. However, it's also a hint of where she comes from, and the tragic backstory that left her alone in the world with nothing to her name.
The Pollyanna: The hero can't understand why she's willing to protect people after learning that humans destroyed her family and left her alone with nothing. She tells him that she protects people because she can and she's the only one who will. She also states that some people are good and that gives her hope.
Technicolor Eyes: The Warrior has bright, silver eyes. This trait is what makes the hero fall in love with her and keep trying to visit her even when she doesn't want him around.
Unkempt Beauty: Her clothes are almost rags, and she doesn't care about her appearance, but the hero thinks she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. He's particularly smitten with her silver eyes.

Other Beings

Not everyone who has walked the face of Remnant has been human. Some have been gods, and some have been created by gods.

Jinn

Voiced by: Colleen Clinkenbeard^{Foreign VAs}Chiaki Takahashi (Japanese)

Debut: Uncovered^*Volume 6 Episode 2

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwby_jinn_8.png

"Tell me. What knowledge do you seek?"

"I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid Humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. I've been graced with the ability to answer three questions every 100 years."

When the name "Jinn" is spoken by a person who is holding the Relic of Knowledge, a woman forms out of the mist it emits. Jinn was gifted by the God of Light with the ability to answer any question she is asked, but only three times every one hundred years.

Awful Truth: When Ruby asks Jinn what Ozpin is hiding from them, Jinn tells them a story that leads to a significant revelation that devastates them all. She reveals that Salem was cursed with immortality; Salem attempted to take her own life by mortal and supernatural means. In a battle with a previous incarnation of Ozpin, that incarnation actually managed to obliterate Salem, only for her to reform moments later in the same spot. When a different incarnation of Ozpin finds the Relic of Knowledge, he asks her how can he destroy Salem. She replies "you can't", devastating him. Her vision stops at that point leaving them to cope with the knowledge that Salem cannot be killed as best they can.
Barbie Doll Anatomy: When she forms, she is completely naked. After a moment, decorative chains and jewellery form on her body, but absolutely no clothing. However, she has no defined features of a normal human body. Although there is blue fog swirling around her, akin to a dress, it's very thin and doesn't hide enough to explain the lack of anatomical markings.
Chained by Fashion: She has chains incorporated into various pieces of the jewelery she wears, as well as long lengths of chain hanging from her bracelets. The circlet she wears is also made out of chain links.
Early-Bird Cameo: A statue of her is seen at the entrance to the Haven Vault in Volume 5 before she is introduced in person in "Uncovered".
Genie in a Bottle: The Relic of Knowledge is an ornate lamp that can change its size and float in mid-air. However, when the name 'Jinn' is spoken by the person holding the lamp, blue mist spills out of it that reforms into the shape of a naked, blue woman.
Giant Woman: Production notes put her at 12 feet tall, making her the second tallest (humanoid) character in RWBY and the tallest woman.
Literal Genie: When Jinn reveals the story behind Ozpin and Salem's Forever War, the heroes learn that Oz once asked "How do I destroy Salem?" and that Jinn told him "You can't." During Volume 7, Ren is concerned that they don't have a plan for properly stopping Salem, leading to a discussion of what Jinn told Oz. Nora speculates that perhaps Jinn was suggesting that someone other than Oz can destroy Salem.
Loophole Abuse: When Ruby struggles to activate her silver eyes against the Leviathan, she summons Jinn knowing that Jinn's mere appearance will stop time. After Ruby apologises for using her to buy more time without wanting to ask a question, Jinn admits she's impressed by the tactic before warning Ruby that she will never again permit herself to be used this way and that she will only manifest in the future for the third and final question.
Master of Illusion: To answer questions, she creates illusions to visualize the information that she shares.
Ms. Fanservice: Jinn is very curvaceous, with a classic hourglass figure, and the chains draped around her waist are balanced against the curve of her hips. She wears jewellery on her body, such as bracelets, anklets, earrings and necklaces, but she is otherwise completely naked. When she first manifests, Qrow doesn't know where to put his eyes and tries to avoid staring at her.
The Omniscient: Jinn cannot answer questions about things that haven't happened yet, but she can answer any question put to her about current or past events. She is limited to only being allowed to answer three questions every hundred years.
Our Genies Are Different: When someone holds the Relic of Knowledge and speaks the name 'Jinn', blue mist spills from the Relic and manifests the form of a blue woman. She has long pointed ears and is completely naked except for golden chains and jewellery. She refers to herself as a 'being' that was created by the God of Light to impart knowledge to humanity. Rather than granting wishes, she can answer a total of three questions every one hundred years.
Time Stands Still: When summoned, Jinn freezes time outside of herself and those seeking her knowledge, so that she can deliver her knowledge without interruption. Ruby takes advantage of this by summoning Jinn to give herself extra time to activate her silver eyes. She apologises to Jinn for summoning her without wanting to ask a question and Jinn makes it clear that she won't permit this kind of Loophole Abuse to ever happen again... even if she admits to being impressed that Ruby came up with the plan.

Ambrosius

Voiced by: Valentine Stokes^{Foreign VAs}Shunsuke Takeuchi (Japanese)

Debut: Creation^*Volume 8 Episode 12

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/v8_ambrosius_profile_pic.png

"All I'll say is it had better be worth it after my last project. A floating city? How pedestrian."

"It seems someone has come to engage my creative wiles!"

A spirit who resides in the Relic of Creation. He can create anything, but only if the summoner can envisage how it would function.

Barbie Doll Anatomy: Ambrosius is naked aside from the chains and jewelry that he wears, but he does not have any visible nipples or genitalia.
Benevolent Genie: While a Literal Genie, he's very upfront about that fact before hand and clarifies what he'll need to actually make the idea work before creating it.
Chained by Fashion: Just like Jinn before him, Ambrosius wears golden chains as adornments. They have matching golden cuffs on their wrists with chains attached to nothing, while Ambrosius adorns himself with a chain harness worn over his chest.
Creative Sterility: It is not Ambrosius' job to figure out what a new creation should do. The human making the request has to be able to explain to him how they would expect the creation to function, otherwise he cannot make it. Ozpin describes this limitation in terms of a craftsman requiring a design blueprint to follow. He advises the heroes to think of real-world examples and use literal blueprints where possible to both explain how their request should function and to minimize the trouble Ambrosius can cause by exploiting the way they phrase their requests. This can also cause just as many problems, however, as Ambrosius will follow the exact specifications of blueprints and include offhand statements or turns of phrase into the design.
Eccentric Artist: Ambrosius has an over-the-top and flamboyant personality. He regards himself as an artist who is deeply disappointed by how pedestrian his last project was — raising Atlas into the sky. He's thrilled when he learns what Penny is, and both excited and nervous at how unpredictable and dangerous the challenge of saving Penny's life will be. He is also impressed by the way Team RWBY make their requests of him, complimenting them on having done their homework in advance.
Incoming Ham: Whenever he is summoned, his manifestation consists of him twirling out of smoke while yelling "Ah! It seems someone has come to engage my creative wiles!".
Jeweler's Eye Loupe: Ambrosius creates an eye loupe out of thin air with a snap of his fingers to analyze Penny's true nature. It allows him to spot the virus that's destroying her.
Large Ham: Ambrosius is described as a "character" by Ozpin when discussing how to deal with the Relic of Creation's spirit, and his assessment isn't wrong. Ambrosius is more kooky and jovial in conversation than the composed and calm Jinn, and he's prone to thinking out loud and wildly gesticulating when he creates things.
Literal Genie: Ambrosius makes it clear that he will give Team RWBY exactly what they ask for, and will not accept any complaints if the result isn't exactly what they want. Ozpin had warned the heroes in advance about this, so Team RWBY is able to approach him with extremely detailed requests, including blueprints, to minimize any potential shortcomings in their designs. However, Weiss describes the evacuation portals as a 'one-way ticket to Vacuo'. Ambrosius therefore makes the Vacuo portal one-way. Anyone who reaches Vacuo cannot return to the central location, which causes problems on both sides of the door.
Loophole Abuse: He has to obey the rule that he cannot destroy, although people are free to use his creations in destructive ways. Both Team RWBY and Cinder are able to exploit this, with Team RWBY using very particular wording to achieve the bizarre, dangerous outcome they're after, and Cinder using extremely vague wording to achieve the lethal outcome she desires. Team RWBY ask him to take Penny's existing robot parts to create a new virus-infected robot that will cease to exist the next time he creates something new; this strips Penny down to her soul, leaving him with the problem of keeping Penny's soul alive — an outcome he warns will be unpredictable and dangerous. Cinder simply asks him to add more flames to the fires of Atlas, thereby trapping Watts in a burning room from which he cannot escape.
Milking the Giant Cow: Ambrosius gesticulates wildly while he speaks and thinks, as if he were pulling threads for a tapestry. He also does this while actually using his abilities.
Mr. Fanservice: Ambrosius is a fully-nude giant with a Barbie Doll Anatomy and the muscular body of a Greek god.
No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Mundane requests, such as making Atlas float, bore and irritate him. Team RWBY's first request is so challenging, however, that he's thrilled by the sheer headache it causes him. He has to create a copy of Penny using her existing robot parts, which will fall foul of his "one creation only" rule. The real Penny is therefore left as a soul without a complete body. As he is not allowed to destroy anything, Penny must continue to exist and her new physical form is more about what her soul can manifest than his own work, allowing it to survive the "only one creation" rule. He does warn the team that this request is extremely dangerous, as even Ambrosius has no idea what will actually result from the process.
No Ontological Inertia: One big limitation on his power seems to be that only one creation of his can exist at any given time: the moment he makes something new, the last thing he created dissolves and disappears. Team RWBY has to very carefully word their instructions on Penny to exploit a loophole to prevent her new body from disappearing like this.
Our Genies Are Different: Ambrosius manifests from a magical object when summoned, appearing in a cloud of blue mist and bond to serve the person that summoned him. While Jinn answers questions, Ambrosius plays a bit closer to the traditional Genie through creating whatever it is that his Summoner requests from him. And just like the Genies of legend, his creations can be a double-edged sword if the request is not well-thought out, extremely detailed, and worded with extreme care. Ambrosius warns Ruby that he will create exactly what is asked of him, with no room for complaints if they aren't pleased with the final outcome.
The Power of Creation: As the spirit of the Staff of Creation, Ambrosius has the ability to create anything out of thin air. But this comes with a number of caveats: Anything he makes will vanish as soon as something else is made, he must have exact blueprints and specifications to let him visualize what needs to be made and how the user wants them to be made, and he can't bring anyone Back from the Dead.
Psychotic Smirk: He briefly flashes this while fulfilling Team RWBY's request to create bridges in space and time to evacuate all of Atlas and Mantle's citizens to Vacuo before the former comes crashing down, implying that there are some things they neglected to mention that allow him to fill the blanks.

Light and Dark

The Gods of Light and Darkness

Debut: The Lost Fable^*Volume 6 Episode 3

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwby_gods.PNG

"So long as this world turns, you shall walk its face."

Long ago, two gods used to live with humanity on Remnant. They dwelt in separate domains that could be visited by humanity, and were known as the Gods of Light and Darkness.

They eventually left Remnant and exist solely in the memories of humanity as a fairy tale known as "The Two Brothers". Only a few humans on Remnant know the reality that lies behind the myth.

In General

Barbie Doll Anatomy: When they take humanoid form, the Brother Gods are naked, their bodies only forming the outline of a humanoid shape. The God of Light's body is formed from shades of gold, as if he's made of light while the God of Darkness's body is formed from shades of purple, as if he's made from darkness. There are very few anatomical structures on their bodies, including a lack of facial definition that leaves them with no eyes, nose or mouth. The only facial structures they do have are eyebrow ridges.
Cruel Mercy: Their solution to Salem's attempt to manipulate them into resurrecting her dead lover is to give her Complete Immortality, a punishment designed to prevent her from being able to reunite in death with her lost love. When she raises an army against the gods in revenge, the God of Darkness wipes out the entirety of humanity, asking Salem if she thought there was no further punishment the gods could bestow upon her. The two gods then abandon Remnant completely, leaving Salem to live alone on an empty world, unable to die.
Dramatically Missing the Point: The Brother Gods have caused the show's plot by first punishing Salem with immortality to learn the importance of the balance between life and death and then via Light resurrecting Ozma to guide humanity to whatever interpretation of a redemptive harmonious existence the gods personally believe in and approve of. This has pitted Ozma and Salem against each in a Forever War fuelled by pain and flawed concepts of how humans should behave that mimics the fraught relationship between the Brothers and the lesson they've never learned. The Blacksmith explains in the Volume 9 finale that balance must be reached naturally; it cannot be forced. The Brothers have failed to learn this lesson and keep trying to enforce their flawed understanding of balance onto Remnant, trapping Ozma and Salem into an artificial conflict that drives the show's main plot.
Fatal Flaw: Sloth. Originally, the brothers were hard-working minor gods of creation/destruction, but after discovering they could create creatures that would do most of their work for them, they chose to build entire worlds for the purpose of creating recursive agents of creation and destruction. Eventually, they lost sight of the reason they were working in the first place.
Final Solution: When humanity rises up against the Brother Gods at the Domain of Light, they attempt to use magic to win. The God of Darkness is so insulted that they'd attack him with the very gift he granted them that he destroys every human alive except for the woman who led the uprising. Although the God of Light does not contribute to the destruction, he allows it to happen and then justifies his brother's actions.
Foreshadowing: Dark's horns are goat-like and Light's horns are antlers. Volume 9 reveals that this is neither coincidence nor personal choice. They were created by the Ever After's Tree in the form of a goat (Dark) and a deer (Light).
Greater-Scope Villain: While not the main antagonists of the series, the Brothers' are ultimately responsible for not only kickstarting the Secret War between Ozpin and Salem, but also causing problems long before Remnant even came into existence. The duo used to live in the Ever After where their roles were to maintain the world's balance. However, they became increasingly confrontational with each other's acts of creation and destruction, which led to them creating the Curious Cat and the Jabberwalker. In the end, they were causing so much damage that the Tree gave them the ability to leave the Ever After and explore their abilities without doing further harm. However, both the Cat and Jabberwalker were created with fatal flaws that would become increasingly problematic for everyone in Ever After even long after the two Brothers had gone. Learning nothing from their past mistakes, Light and Dark would repeat these errors by enforcing their False Dichotomy onto a grieving Salem and an unwitting Ozma, leading to their conflict lasting to the present day in a battle that is threatening all of Remnant's denizens long after the Gods abandoned their creations once again.
Have You Seen My God?: The God of Light is frustrated that his 'beautiful experiment' has been failing for some time and the God of Darkness is angry that humanity would dare rise up and attack them with the very gift of magic that he gave them. The uprising is the final straw. The God of Light tells its leader that he and his brother need to reflect on their failure, and she must do the same. While he departs by fading away into nothing, the God of Darkness is angry with the demands made of humanity's creators and departs more violently. He leaves the planet as a burst of raw energy that shoots into space and smashes through the moon. The God of Light later recalls Ozma from the afterlife with a mission to unite humanity and then use the four Relics together to summon the gods back to Remnant. This will trigger a Judgement Day where the gods will decide if humanity is worthy of being reunited with the gods or whether they are irredeemable, in which case the entire planet will wiped out of existence. Volume 9 later reveals that they themselves were created by the Ever After to assist it and created the Curious Cat and the Jabberwalker, only to leave it due to their constant fights with each other causing the balance to be disrupted and leading them to create Remnant and other worlds as a result.
Horned Humanoid: When the Brother Gods take humanoid form, they both possess horns on their heads. The God of Darkness possesses the large, curled horns of a ram or goat while the God of Light possesses a large spread of antlers like a stag.
Humanity on Trial: The God of Light sent Ozma to unite humanity and then summon the gods back with the four Relics. If they decide humanity cannot be redeemed, they will destroy the planet.
Jerkass Gods: The Brothers created the world of Remnant as an experiment but quarreled over how the world would manifest by using their own creations as weapons against the other: the God of Light would create things that he liked, such as plants and animals, but his brother would destroy everything he disliked and eventually created the Creatures of Grimm to help him do that. While they settle their feud by creating humanity together, they lose pride in their experiment over time. They punish Salem for demanding the resurrection of her dead lover, but only after they squabble about it via resurrecting and killing him multiple times in front of her. When she seeks revenge by inciting a rebellion against them, they destroy humanity; declaring it a failed experiment, they deliberately leave her alone on an empty world, unable to die. When the God of Light finally reincarnates her dead lover, it's only to prepare the second evolution of humanity for Judgement Day. On that day, they will either restore humanity to its full potential or declare humanity to be irredeemable and destroy all life, including the planet. Originally created by the Ever After's Tree to manage the Ever After, they created both the Jabberwalker and Curious Cat as experiments. However, the Jabberwalker and its ability to permanently kill Afterans never worked properly while the Curious Cat was given the ability to fix every broken heart except its own, resulting in both flawed creations becoming problems for the realm over time. Rather than improve their creations or destroy them when they caused grievous harm, the brothers argued about the fallout until they grew tired of thinking about their mistakes and made more experiments to ignore their old ones. As their experimentation caused them to outgrow the Ever After, the Tree created a doorway for them to explore new realms to create and destroy to their hearts' content without bringing further harm to the Afteran balance.
Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: Light is the older brother and responsible for the creation of life, which Dark despised and set about destroying, even creating the Creatures of Grimm to achieve this. While they formed a truce by creating humanity together, Light receives the worship and adoration of humanity while humanity fears and avoids Darkness. The two domains in which they dwell reflect their differences. Light lives atop a mountain, surrounded by golden plants, and is a welcoming place to visit. Dark's domain is in a realm of endless darkness where fearsome Grimm roam and skeletons of humans who died lie scattered. The God of Darkness's jealousy over the God of Light's relationship with humanity leaves him vulnerable to Salem's manipulations, setting the world of Remnant on course for a tragic catastrophe.
The Maker: They created Remnant and all its inhabitants. According to legend, the God of Light created most forms of life on the planet, while the God of Darkness created the Grimm and other destructive forces, before the Brothers combined their powers to create humanity. They also created the Ever After's inhabitants prior to creating Remnant.
The Omnipotent: They are the most powerful beings in the setting, shown to be able to create and end life at will, give and take magic from mortals, and travel freely between the worlds of life and death. However, Salem is able to trick them because they are not all-knowing.
Our Dragons Are Different: The Brother Gods have the ability to transform into dragons, which they use when anticipating conflict. The God of Darkness takes on a lizard-like form with four strong limbs and bat-like wings. His face has the appearance of a sheep's skull, his ram's horns grow in size, and he has a preference for standing on the ground rather than flying in the air. The God of Light transforms into a serpentine dragon with tiny limbs and no wings. His face sports long barbels like a catfish and he retains an expansive head of antlers. Despite the lack of wings, he tends to float in the air instead of settling on the ground.
Our Gods Are Different: The Brother Gods live on Remnant with the humans they created together. The God of Darkness dwells in the Domain of Darkness and represents destructive forces. He created the Creatures of Grimm which are spawned from pools of annihilation deep within his domain. The God of Light dwells in the Domain of Light and is responsible for the creation of life. His domain contains a single lake that is known as the Pool of Creation and Life. Their last act on Remnant is to destroy humanity for rising up against them, an act carried out by the God of Darkness and justified by the God of Light. The God of Darkness smashes the moon when he leaves the planet but the God of Light resurrects Ozma to a newly created form of humanity with a mission to unite humanity, whereupon he must summon the gods for Judgement Day. On that day, the gods will decide if humanity is worthy or irredeemable. If the former, the gods will return to live among them; if the latter, the gods will destroy the entire planet.
Person of Mass Destruction: The two brothers created the world and everything on it. When Salem turns humanity against the gods, the God of Darkness destroys the whole of humanity with a single attack. As they depart the planet, the God of Darkness casually smashes through the moon, leaving it shattered. The God of Light's terms to Ozma is that humanity gets one chance at redemption. If it fails, the two gods will destroy the planet.
Physical God: They are extremely powerful beings with physical forms and they have the power to destroy and create living beings. When they created Remnant and humanity, they lived among them as physically accessible beings to anyone who wished to visit. Although the scale of their powers dwarf even the original form of magic-wielding humanity, they experience the same emotions as humans and suffer the same sort of character flaws. It's Salem realizing that they're as fallible as humans that lead her to turn humanity against them, but it's their vast power that enabled them to destroy and abandon humanity in retaliation. Volume 9 reveals that they were created by the Ever After as minor gods, but they grew more powerful over time; they eventually outgrew their original purpose and were released to explore other realms away from their native home.
Sibling Yin-Yang: The God of Darkness represents destruction and annihilation, and his domain contains the Pools of Grimm from which come forth the Creatures of Grimm. He is an impulsive, impetuous god, easily prone to acting in anger or jealousy. His brother, the God of Light, represents creation and life, and his domain contains the single Pool of Life. He is more thoughtful and patient than his younger brother.
Thicker Than Water: When the God of Light explains to his brother how Salem tricked him into resurrecting Ozma, the God of Darkness apologizes to his brother for lashing out and attacking his character; and when the human armies rallied by Salem invade the sanctuary of the God of Light, the God of Darkness immediately rushes to his brother's side.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: They were originally minor gods that were adorably precocious as they learned how to use their abilities. However, their experiments led to them creating beings to do all the work for them, slowly corrupting them with laziness and greed. It was the Ever After's decision to allow them to explore new realms to prevent them further harming the Ever After that produced the conditions that allowed them to create Remnant, complete with all the mistakes that followed.

The God of Light

Voiced by: Chase McCaskill^{Foreign VAs}Fuminori Komatsu (Japanese)

"This planet was a beautiful experiment, but it is merely a remnant of what it once was. We will learn from this failure. I hope that you will learn from yours."

A god that once dwelt within the Domain of Light, an isolated mountain vale where a beautiful golden tree overlooked a serene lake. The path towards his domain was littered with votive offerings from the many humans who came seeking his wisdom and blessing.

He was the older brother of the God of Darkness.

The Chooser of the One: To address the absence of the gods from Remnant, the God of Light chooses a single human to act as a guide that will help humanity achieve its potential. That guide also has been given the knowledge required to summon the gods back to Remnant. Ozma is brought back from death to carry out this mission, which requires him to be constantly reborn into the body of a living man so that his immortality will never leave him alone. If Ozma manages to unite humanity in harmony, he is to bring the four Relics together and summon the gods back to Remnant. If the gods deem humanity worthy, they will restore humanity to its full potential and live among them once more. However, if they are summoned to Remnant while humanity is in a disunited and fractured state, they will deem humanity irredeemable and destroy the entire world.
Everybody Loves Zeus: When the gods lived among humans, people always prayed to the God of Light and approached him for requests of divine assistance. He is portrayed positively in myths as sympathetic and protective of humanity, and their advocate to curb the God of Darkness's omnicidal tendencies. In reality, he viewed Remnant as an experiment, tolerated and defended his brother's destruction of the first humans and, after cursing Salem to never reunite with her beloved, later reincarnates him anyway to give the reborn humanity one chance at redemption or they'll destroy the planet... by forcing him to endlessly Fusion Dance with living men, potentially inflicting Loss of Identity on every host he Body Surfs into.
God of Light: As a creation deity, Light created all life by himself; the exception is humanity, which he created with his brother. He resides in the Domain of Light, a very sunny location set in the mountains, surrounded by golden grass and containing a circle of gold-leaved trees. He has the ability to produce light from his body, which can destroy the Grimm; certain humans have inherited his ability to do this, but only if they possess the rare trait of silver eyes.
Gold-Colored Superiority: The God of Light takes forms that appear to be made of golden light. He is the elder brother, the one gifted with the power of creation and the one who wins the long battle with his younger brother, the God of Darkness. He receives much worship and votive offerings from humanity, who often seek his blessing and support. The God of Darkness, by contrast, has a terrifying reputation among humanity, none of whom seek him out for blessings or to leave him offerings. As a result, he is so happy when a mortal finally seeks his help that he breaks the rules governing life and death without a second thought. When his brother intervenes to correct the mistake, the God of Darkness bitterly accuses his brother of having stacked the rules against him.
Light Is Not Good: The God of Light is a being of creation, not goodness, who created all plants and animals; he and the God of Darkness created humanity together, but he is the god humanity prefers to seek blessings and help from as he's perceived to be more empathic and cordial. However, the Lost Fable and subsequent appearances casts doubt on this image, highlighting him instead as a rigidly order-oriented being with little interest in deviating from the hardline rules he's set with his brother, regardless of how suffocating they really are and how lopsided they are in his favor. When the God of Darkness destroys humanity for rebelling against the gods, the God of Light permits it to occur without resistence then justifies it by claiming that humanity is a failed 'experiment'. He leaves the rebellion's immortal leader alone on an empty world as punishment for defying the gods; while he later offers Ozma one chance to redeem humanity, he makes it clear that failure will result in him declaring humanity irredeemable and destroying the planet itself.
Magical Eye: When the two brothers confront each other over the resurrection of Ozma, the God of Darkness transforms into his dragon form and his Grimm move forward to attack the God of Light. A burst of white light erupts from the God of Light, destroying all the Grimm within range but leaving all humans and gods within range unharmed. When the light recedes, he is revealed to have transformed into his own dragon form and his eyes are glowing. Maria believes the power of the Silver Eyes is a gift from the God of Light because Jinn's vision of the confrontation made it clear to her that the light was coming from the God of Light's silver eyes, which is exactly how the power of the Silver-Eyed Warriors works.
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When he is asked by a distraught young woman to restore her lost love back to life, he initially tries to reason with her. When she fails to accept his position, he ends the discussion with a calm, but stern, "Let. Him. Rest." Salem's persistence in bringing Ozma back to life results in cursed immortality for both of them, locking them into a never-ending battle for the fate of humanity that allows neither one of them to be able to rest in peace.
Tranquil Fury: Even when the God of Light argues with his brother over the importance of maintaining the rules of life and death, his voice remains calm and even-toned. When he lectures Salem on his decision to punish her selfishness and arrogance by inflicting immortality on her so that she is forever separated from her deceased love, he remains soft-spoken. When Salem leads an army of humans to attack the gods, while the God of Darkness lashes out in anger to destroy all humanity, the God of Light explains why Salem's mistakes have resulted in humanity's destruction in an almost soothing tone.

The God of Darkness

Voiced by: Bruce DuBose^{Foreign VAs}Yasuyuki Kase (Japanese)

"I have done what I please, brother. You may bask in the powers of creation, but you do not own them."

A god that once dwelt within the Domain of Darkness, an isolated realm that was shadowed by constant night. Few humans dared to venture to his realm as they all knew what horrors were birthed in his inky black pools of annihilation.

He was the younger brother of the God of Light.

Body Horror: When a mortal visits the Domain of Darkness, the God manifests from his pools in a laborious fashion. He thrashes around, body loudly cricking and contorting into the correct alignments for the human form. When he starts moving across the surface of the pool, his body is still contorted in ways that are impossible for the human form until he finally sorts himself out and stands straight and tall. His entire manifestation is almost identical to the way the Nuckelavee moves during the Volume 4 battle with Team RNJR.
Dark Is Not Evil: Despite being more impetuous and self-centred than his brother, the God of Darkness is a being of destruction, not evil. He creates destructive forces, such as fire, famine or the Creatures of Grimm, but he also helped the God of Light to create humanity and gifted them with the ability wield magic. It therefore upsets him that his terrible reputation means humans don't ever seek him out for help or blessings. When Salem asks him to resurrect Ozma, he instantly grants her request without any strings attached because he's happy to be able to create for once. He will apologise for making mistakes, and unites with his brother to punish Salem and to confront the first humans' rebellion.
Destroyer Deity: The God of Darkness reigns over a domain that is filled with many pools of annihilation. These pools spawn the Grimm, creatures that share the God of Darkness's innate desire to destroy. He also wipes out humanity after Salem leads them in rebellion, taking back the magic he had gifted humanity and using it to annihilate every living person. Their original role in the Ever After was clearing the realm of the stuff that was there before they were created, so that there would be room for the other creations of the Tree.
Extreme Omni-Goat: If he wants to, he is capable of consuming everything to destroy it, and is shown doing so in the form of a goat that eats everything it comes across, no matter what it is. He was originally created to destroy everything that needed to be removed so that the Ever After could be made habitable. His original form was that of a goat, and his method of destroying what needed to be removed was to eat it.
Everyone Hates Hades: The God of Darkness was feared by his creations, and myth continues to portray him in a negative manner compared to his more beloved brother. The tale of "The Two Brothers" presents him as malicious, omnicidal and inferior to the God of Light, despising life and only tempered when his brother defeated him. In reality, Darkness was not a malicious being and granted the gift of Magic to humanity. As they feared him, he never received visitors to his realm and was so delighted when one finally approached him that he granted Salem's request without a second thought. When humanity turned against the Gods, he was deeply hurt by them using his blessing against him.
God of Darkness: The God of Darkness is the antithesis of his brother, the God of Light. He once resided in the Land of Darkness, a barren wasteland filled with Grimm pools.
I Just Want to Be Loved: The God of Darkness has a terrible reputation among humanity. His domain is lifeless and eternally night, spawning only the Creatures of Grimm and death for anyone who travels there. As a result, he receives no worshipers; no one seeks his blessing, asks for his help or leaves him votive offerings — they always seek out his brother instead. As a result, when a mortal woman comes to him seeking his help to save her lost love, he's thrilled to have the opportunity to prove he's just as worthy of human faith as his brother. He therefore does exactly what the woman asks of him with no strings attached. When his brother shows up to chastise him and undo the resurrection, the God of Darkness bitterly claims that the rules they live by are stacked in the God of Light's favour, leaving him jealous and angry with the adoration and reverence and power that his brother receives compared to him.
It's Personal: When Salem's army begins attacking the gods with magic, Darkness captures all the magic in one clawed hand. He comments "My own magic used against me?" in an offended tone. This act is what triggers his decision to kill every human on the planet, leaving the perpetrator — Salem — the sole survivor. He then makes it clear that it's to ensure she doesn't think that immortality is the worst punishment the gods could have bestowed upon her; when she tries to order them to not depart, Darkness chastises her for making demands of her creators then smashes the moon as he departs to emphasise his point.
Purple Is Powerful: The God of Darkness seems to be made of darkness whenever he forms. His form is dark purple edged by much brighter purple, and whenever he uses his powers, it has the same motif. His domain is a land of night, surrounded by strange purple crystals. He created the destructive forces of the world, such as famine, fire and the Creatures of Grimm. However, he was also the god who gifted humanity with the ability to use magic. When humanity tries to use their magical power to destroy the brothers, the God of Darkness captures his gift back and crushes it. That act sends out a wave of purple power across the entire world, reducing all of humanity to ashes.
Reverse Arm-Fold: When the two gods unite to pronounce their judgement upon Salem, the God of Darkness clasps his hands behind his body; this is unlike the God of Light, who normally clasps his hands in front of his body when addressing mortals. The reversed stance emphasises their contrary natures, even though it also gives the God of Darkness the same air of timeless, patient wisdom that his brother exudes.

Characters / RWBY: Remnant

Edit Locked

Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Volume 8 are unmarked.

World of Remnant

Kingdoms of Remnant

Between Kingdoms

Alyx

Voiced By: Shara Kirby

Debut: Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds*Volume 9, Episode 6

Amber

Voiced By: Laura BaileyForeign VAsAyako Kawasumi (Japanese)

Debut: Fall*Volume 3 Episode 6

Fort Lee

Debut: RWBY: The Session

Iona Rockshow

Debut: RWBY: The Session

Lewis

Debut: Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds*Volume 9, Episode 6

Marcus Black

Debut: Beginning of the End*Volume 3 Episode 7

Dr. Merlot

Historical Figures

Emperor of Mistral

General Lagune

The King of Vale

Malik the Sunderer

Nicholas Schnee

Fairy Tales of Remnant

The Gift of the Moon

The Girl in the Tower

In General

The Girl

The Hero

The Lord

The Girl Who Fell Through the World

In General

Alyx

The Grimm Child

In General

Poppy

The Hunter's Children

Big Brother Voiced By: Gabe Kunda

In General

The Hunter

The Children

The Indecisive King (a.k.a. The King, the Crown, and the Widow)

In General

The King

The Widow

The Infinite Man

In General

The Man

The Girl

The Warrior Leader

The Judgment of Faunus

In General

The God of Animals

The Man Who Stared at the Sun

In General

The Farmer

The Sun

The Shallow Sea

In General

The God of Animals

The Silver-Eyed Warriors

The Story of the Seasons

In General

The Old Wizard

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

The Two Brothers

In General

The Old God

The God of Light

The God of Darkness

The Warrior in the Woods

In General

The Hero

Debut: Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds^*Volume 9, Episode 6

Voiced By: Laura Bailey^{Foreign VAs}Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese)

Debut: Fall^*Volume 3 Episode 6

Debut: Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds^*Volume 9, Episode 6

Debut: Beginning of the End^*Volume 3 Episode 7

Voiced by: Colleen Clinkenbeard^{Foreign VAs}Chiaki Takahashi (Japanese)

Debut: Uncovered^*Volume 6 Episode 2

Voiced by: Valentine Stokes^{Foreign VAs}Shunsuke Takeuchi (Japanese)

Debut: Creation^*Volume 8 Episode 12

Debut: The Lost Fable^*Volume 6 Episode 3

Voiced by: Chase McCaskill^{Foreign VAs}Fuminori Komatsu (Japanese)

Voiced by: Bruce DuBose^{Foreign VAs}Yasuyuki Kase (Japanese)