Character Analysis: Ruby Rose

Next character analysis is from the popular web series RWBY!

Brief Backstory

In the world of remnant there exists hunters that fight monsters known as grim. Ruby’s goal is to be one of these hunters once she gets old enough. But one day she finds herself in a tussle with some bandits trying to rob a store and holds her own in a fight against them. After that she’s brought in to meet the heaster of the famous hunter academy Beacon and is asked if she’d like to attend early.

Well obviously she says “heck yeah.”

Personality

Energetic and happy. She’s innocent and likes cookies. Also she wants be a hero like in books she reads. Pretty typical protagonist behavior with a sense of justice. If someone is in trouble she tries to jump in and save them. A rather cliche starting point, but not a bad personality at all! When it comes to fighting she’s a bit more serious. The only time she genuinely took action that differed was when her friend Pyrrha was in danger and she jumped in to save her with her late friend Penny’s sword. But but that’s about the only exception she really managed without her scythe. As in she actually picks up something else and tries to fight with it.

Character development

What’s that?

No seriously. It’s been five seasons and the main character hasn’t had next to any character development. Her personality hasn’t changed at all but ALL of her friends have had some semblance of change.

Weiss became nicer and more independent, Blake stopped running away from her problems, Yang learned to be less reckless. But Ruby?

Well...We see her cry over her friends deaths. Which is expected. But her personality is basically exactly the same. She has a few moments she talks about missing them and then she’s fine like 2 minutes later. Guess she’s not that damaged by it. Really nothing about her has changed. And she never asks questions or persists when people are clearly trying to steer away the answer.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Ummm....

Uh....

She’s useless without her weapon?

Uhhhh....

She’s the main character?

Her sense of justice and running into fights gets her in trouble when the person is way more experienced than her. Which is always. Thinking she can save the day by herself but getting thrown into situations that involves fighting other experienced fighters and not from, she almost always over estimates what she can do and has to be saved by some outside force.

That’s... that’s it.

She’s very bland. Also very naive since she very rarely questions things unless it’s needed for the plot to go along.

Personal Opinion

The most boring protagonist ever. She does NOTHING. So far she hasn’t fought any major bosses that mean anything and let’s her friends take care of those fights for her. I’m not even joking. Everyone else fights for her. In the first episode she epically fights a group of thieves on her own, never fights like that ever again by herself. And if she does ever fight anyone solo, it’s offscreen. And her special silver eye power She apparently has that can 1 hit KO any grim she comes across? She found that out in the season 3 finale. Season 5 just ended and I don’t even think she’s even said the word “silver” once since then. She just stands there and doesn’t do anything.

Season one villain- gets away

Season two villain- beat in an epic group fight and captured

Saeson thee villain- Ruby used her deus ex machina powers in one blast to impair the enemy. We don’t get to really see it in action. Oh and the villain is fine but is now hell bent on revenge.

Season four villain- no solo fights for the protagonist. Ruby has to rely on others for EVERY battle.

Season five villain- the volume three villain hell bent on revenge on Ruby? Beaten by a new character we just met in this volume. Ruby doesn’t fight her once. Heck, her existence isn’t even acknowledged.

I know people say, “the show gets better! She’ll get better just keep watching!” It’s five seasons in. We should never have to wait that long for slight development of a protagonist. I understand that their personality is a core concept of their character. But if traumatic events happen that don’t test the reasons as to WHY they have that personality, why does the character have it? I’m not saying she needs to turn into a cold and hardened super-warrior. But she should be starting to question the way she acts towards things slightly. Training differently, asking more questions, making a choice she may not have made in the past, SOMETHING that shows that she changed or learned something just a little. Not just say “this event made me sad.” But then have her not change at all beyond that comment. Their personality is the result of the their life experiences and how they react to them. And since nothing super traumatic of this magnitude has never really happened in Ruby’s life, her not having any changes to they way she acts or at least questioning it, isn’t realistic. Even giving brief reasoning as to why she’s so happy all the time would be acceptable, but it’s never touched down on. She could be putting on the face so that she keeps her teams moral up, or maybe she promised a loved one that she’d keep smiling. ANY explanation of that nature would’ve been fine, but instead she basically become as opinionated as a background character at this point. Her starting personality is fine, but she has next to no progression as a character. And that makes her BORING. You should never reach a place in your story where you main character has no purpose and they’re just standing there. If they don’t drive the story, then they aren’t doing their duty as the main character.

This concludes the first post for the RWBY analysis posts. I keep watching solely for best girl Weiss, because she’s precious and I love her. And I will explain the reasons as to why... next analysis! And if I happen to rip on your favorite character and you disagree with me, feel free to say why you like them in the comments. But let’s be nice and civil to others!