Yang Xiao Long

Yang Xiao Long is a titular protagonist of RWBY. She is a Huntress, having been trained at the now-defunct Beacon Academy. Her weapons of choice are a pair of Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets, Ember Celica.

She made her first appearance in the "Yellow" Trailer, searching for clues regarding the whereabouts of her mother, Raven Branwen, who left her when she was a child. From Volume 1, Yang became a member of Team RWBY alongside her younger half-sister Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. Her father is Taiyang Xiao Long.

Yang is a tall, fair-skinned young woman with lilac eyes and long, thick, wavy bright golden hair that fades to pale gold at the tips with a cowlick sticking out at the top, greatly resembling her mother. When her Semblance is active, her eyes become red and her hair gains a fiery glow.

During her attendance at Beacon, she wears a tan jacket that bares her midriff, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this, she wears a low-cut yellow crop top with her emblem on the left breast in black.

She also wears a brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with her emblem emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath this is a long, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side, as well as a pair of tight black spandex compression shorts that reach her upper thighs. She wears a pair of brown, knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, with the right sock pushed down just below the knee. A gray bandanna is tied around her left knee. In Volume 2, she wears a purple bandanna around the same knee. An orange infinity scarf and black fingerless gloves complete her outfit.

Yang's voice actress, Barbara Dunkelman, has said that when Yang's character was described to her, she was described as "the kind of person who would teach someone how to swim by pushing them in the water". This speaks volumes about how Yang approaches most things in life. She is very straightforward and confident.

Yang is also described as being a cheerful, energetic, and bright young lady. She is arguably the most flippant, carefree, and adventurous member of her team, frequently making sarcastic comments and jokes even in the heat of battle and often taking combat and hostile situations lightly. Yang is very sociable and extroverted, even in unfamiliar situations. Yang's love of adventure is the main reason that she decided to become a Huntress. Blake considers Yang the personification of the word "strength". According to Ruby, she snores loudly.

However, Yang's "brawler" fighting style is evocative of her personality. Her anger, one of her main assets in battle, can lead her to act predictably and has put her into danger repeatedly. She was easily frustrated when she couldn't land a hit on Neopolitan and could not attack precisely because of it, leading to her getting knocked unconscious and almost killed. Yang is also very protective of her hair, becoming enraged when someone touches or rips or cuts even a small portion of her hair, causing her to attack with straight, blunt force the one who did it. However she is comfortable with letting Ruby touch or brush her hair or even use it to toy with her sister by tickling her nose. According to Taiyang, she shares a flaw with her mother: thinking strength is all that matters in a fight. Her thoughtless anger also led to the quick loss of her right arm in a short encounter with Adam Taurus after he angered her by injuring Blake. While recovering from her injuries, her father lectures her about this weakness and guides her in what she needs to do to start overcoming it along with her flaw that she shares with her mother.

Despite this, Yang is quite mature. She is extremely nurturing and motherly, particularly toward her younger sister, Ruby. Yang pushes her into being outgoing and also worries a great deal about her sister across the many battles they fight in. This protective and encouraging nature extends to Blake and Weiss as well. Yang is worried about Blake on several occasions, such as when she runs from her team and when she suffers from sleep and appetite problems, opening Yang to discussing her stubborn past. What Yang does not reveal is that she suffers from abandonment issues, blaming herself for her mother not sticking around.

Yang's weapon of choice is Ember Celica, it is radically different compared to those used by her teammates, being a pair of gauntlets which can retract into bracelets. Yang's fighting style involves combining her punches with explosive shots from Ember Celica for moderate or short-ranged attacks.

Ember Celica has powerful recoil, which Yang can use to augment the force of her punch and accelerate her movements. The force is powerful enough to launch her high in the air. The recoil also reloads and prepares the gauntlets for the next shot.

Yang's Semblance, Burn, as Ruby states during the events of "Painting the Town...", lets her absorb kinetic energy from every blow she takes and use it to make herself more powerful; this is a form of kinetic energy absorption, with Yang subsequently redirecting said energy against her opponent with double the amount of force. As a side-effect of her Semblance, Yang's eyes turn red and her hair sometimes begins glowing and even becomes covered in flames. Yang's Semblance does not make her angry, but anger has sometimes led her to impulsively activate it.