Raven

Raven Branwen is a character in RWBY. She is a former Huntress, the mother of Yang Xiao Long, the older twin sister of Qrow Branwen and the estranged wife of Taiyang Xiao Long. Her weapon of choice is Omen, a sword with a rotary chamber filled with six types of Dust blades. She first appeared in "No Brakes", saving her daughter from being killed by Neopolitan, before vanishing through a portal.

Raven is the leader of the Branwen Tribe as well as a former member of Team STRQ alongside Summer Rose, Taiyang and Qrow. She is also the current Spring Maiden who used her fellow tribe member Vernal as a decoy, until her death at the hands of Cinder Fall in "Downfall".

In her first appearances in Volume 2, Raven's outfit consisted of a V neck black and red kimono top with a black pleated skirt that has black shorts underneath, with series of beaded necklaces. She also wears a red obi sash around her waist alongside a red tasset wrapped around her waist that carries her weapon's sheath. Attached to it is a long black object that is either fur or feathers, with a red and white bandana material like hanging from behind her. Her forearms bear red armored gauntlets that protrude outwards and black fingerless gloves. She wore black mid-thigh high boots, that had armor plating with red splatter patterns and black heels.

Her most distinctive feature is a fearsome, full-face mask that resembles the face of a Creature of Grimm. The mask has four eye slits, further enhancing the character's inhuman appearance. In Volume 2, Raven's eyes are visible through the lower slits, but in Volume 5, the slits are black and red inside. She wears this mask to not only hide her Maiden powers, but to also appear more intimidating when leading her tribe.

Under the mask, she looks very similar to Yang; they share the same facial shape and long, bushy hair. However, Raven's hair is jet black, her eyebrows are a little bit higher, her complexion is significantly lighter and slight age lines are under her eyes. Her hair is tied by a red bandanna and loosely done up in a ponytail with the ends resembling curved black feathers. A cowlick can be seen protruding from the top of her head, similar to that of her daughter's.

Raven is cynical, patronizing, selfish and stubborn. She believed her act of "kindness" of saving Yang's life from Neopolitan was sufficient despite having left Yang at a very young age and refused to protect her daughter when in need after that. Raven is intended to be more intimidating the less you know about her.

Given her upbringing in a nomadic bandit tribe, Raven has a "survival of the fittest" mentality, and she has little issues with taking the lives of the innocent or even that of Huntsmen, indirectly or otherwise. Despite murdering the former Spring Maiden, Raven presented her actions as merciful and necessary, saying that the Maiden never learned anything despite the training Raven put her through and that she wasn't cut out for this world.

However, beneath her "survival of the fittest" philosophy and despite her great powers as a Maiden, Raven is a coward who is really troubled and fakes confidence. Her fear of Salem is so great that she chose to run from it all after deeming the fight unwinnable. She is even willing to risk her brother and daughter's lives in order to get access to the Relic of Knowledge in hopes of warding off Salem. As Yang pointed out, Raven's definition of strength is shallow. As despite her great power, she chooses to run away from her problems instead of facing them, sacrificing others as shields to gain herself advantage. In the end, Raven's survival of the fittest philosophy is just a façade to hide her fear of Salem and her other insecurities, one that is heavily implied to be a fear of being a mother.

Raven is not above manipulating others, having tried to emotionally manipulate Yang during their reunion in "Lighting the Fire" so she would choose to stay with her instead of reuniting with Qrow and Ruby Rose, first by taking a faux warm and theatrical attitude before revealing secret information and threatening Yang in the hope that it would scare her from joining Qrow and Ozpin. She also successfully deceived Salem's subordinates into thinking that Vernal was the Spring Maiden and into setting an ambush for Qrow and the students in order to get access to the Relic in "A Perfect Storm", although the latter was due to Cinder Fall's need for revenge.

Weapon:

Raven's weapon of choice is Omen, a scabbard that has a rotary chamber filled with different types of Dust blades, reminiscent of the Dust vial chamber of Myrtenaster wielded by Weiss Schnee. The blades, when connected with the accompanying handle, are reminiscent of the long-bladed, single-edged ōdachi, or "great sword". Using the handle, Raven is able to wield a variety of different blades, each one possessing a different color and property.

By reattaching the handle to the scabbard, Raven is able to interchange, or if need be, replace the Dust blade. The blades are telescopic, which allows them to be approximately twice the length of the scabbard. She tends to most often use the blade made of Red Dust, though she has also used others. The colors seen so far in combat include Red, Blue, Yellow, Gray/Black, and Green. The Dust blades, though powerful, can be broken if struck several times or hard enough. Since they are Dust, she can use them for elemental based attacks.

Semblance:

Raven's Semblance, Kindred Link, allows her to create portals to instantly travel to people she has a strong emotional connection with and can cover vast distances through them. Raven largely uses this ability to make an exit, rather than for offensive purposes: she has notably used them to teleport to Yang in order to save her from Neo, as well as to leave the bar in Higanbana after talking with Qrow and to allow Salem's associates to walk into Haven Academy from her camp. Raven can also allow other people through her portals, as she did with Weiss and Yang, without going through herself or requiring them to be bonded to her, provided they are with- or traveling to- someone she is bonded with. To activate the ability, she swings her sword, causing a portal to open a few feet in whatever the direction the blade was swung at, but she is also able to open portals without her sword, such as when she opened one in her bird form. To date, she has bonded with at least four people:

Taiyang Xiao Long Qrow Branwen Yang Xiao Long Vernal