Yang Xiao Long | The Pun Queen's snack

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.

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 finger-less gloves complete her outfit.

While riding her motorcycle, Bumblebee, she wears yellow goggles and a matching helmet that bears her emblem in black on either side. While outdoors, she sometimes wears a pair of yellow-rimmed aviator sunglasses.

During her time at Beacon, Yang's pajamas consist of an orange tank top with her emblem on the front in red, and black boy shorts.

At her home in Patch, Yang wears another set of pajamas, which consist of a dark-yellow short-sleeved shirt with black shorts.

During the events of "A Minor Hiccup" and "Painting the Town...", Yang wears an alternate outfit code-named "Hunter".

This outfit consists of a deep-collared cream vest worn over a low cut black shirt; both are covered by a dark gray shrug with a raised collar, three-quarter sleeves adorned with a single black stripe down the outside of each sleeve, and gold cuffs. A black mini skirt is worn under the cream vest.

A pair of crooked black belts with gold accents are slung around her hip, with a purple piece of fabric attached to the left-rear section of the lower belt. She wears thigh high stockings attached to her miniskirt by garter-belts on the front and back of each thigh, decorated with four golden studs above her knee and her emblem on the outside of each thigh in gold. She also wears black ankle boots with multiple buckles and white ribbons on the back tied in a bow. Around her neck is a purple pendant set in silver.

During her attendance at Beacon, Yang wears the same brown shoes, red tartan skirt, white blouse with maroon trim and thin red bow, a brown vest with gold buttons, and maroon blazer with gold trim as every other girl attending Beacon, alongside with a pair of thigh-high black stockings. She retains her fingerless black gloves, as seen in "Best Day Ever".

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.

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 is also quite guile as she was able to teach Weiss on how to play Remnant: The Game by explaining to her how to use her cards in the game only to better trick Weiss into wasting her armies.

Yang is also the queen of puns, so she'll make puns either at the right moment or the wrong time. But nobody seems to think her puns are funny, except her.