Hey guys, I understand that we’ve been getting a lot of new members to the FNDM around this time thanks to RTX and it’s really exciting, especially with RWBY set to come out in Japan soon. But some of you guys might not understand somethings that it seems a lot of older blogs all agree on, like why there’s so much art featuring Black!Blake and I get that might be confusing, so here’s a post that will hopefully catch you up on all of that stuff.
For those who aren’t counting there’re exactly 2 black characters in RWBY. Emerald, and Sage. We also have 4 characters with darker skin; Fox, Neptune, Arslan and Nadir. Emerald appeared in the very last episode of season 1 and Neptune didn’t appear until season 2. We went 99% of the entire first season without seeing a single black person. In their absence, a lot of the FNDM started to pick out characteristics of different characters that would label them something other that “white.”
Blake- Faunus in general symbolize a lot of minority groups in America. From Blake “coming out” as a Faunus to her team, to Faunus being marginalized and discriminated against, to Faunus even being relocated to an unsafe reservation on a small island without a kingdom. Blake’s color motif also refers to the color black in both first and last name (belladonnas are actually really pretty by the way). With no black characters in RWBY in season 1, a lot artists (literary and graphic) both projected and accepted Black!Blake into their list of headcanons.
Yang- Yang’s name translates from Chinese to “Little Light Dragon” or “Small Dragon of Sunshine.” When asked why he chose the colors he did for RWBY’s motif, Monty literally (jokingly) pointed to himself when he got to Yang. A lot of people headcanon Yang as East Asian, usually Chinese.
Ruby- With Yang’s being headcanoned as Chinese, and Ruby’s father also being Taiyang (a name that also has Chinese roots), Ruby’s been HC’d as half-Chinese as well.
Lie Ren- Ren is a character with several Chinese ties. He’s strongly believed to be allude to Hua Mulan. His name also translates to “huntsman” from its Chinese characters. His name also seems to be structured as an East Asian name, with “Ren” being his given name and “Lie” his surname. As such, he is heavily believed to be Chinese.
Pyrrha Nikos- Pyrrha is often drawn to be a slightly darker skin tone than she is in canon. Monty revealed that Pyrrha alludes to the Greek hero Achilles. The country of Greece is home to people with all different shades of skin. During season 1, a lot of artists who began to HC Blake as Black also HC’d Pyrrha with a darker skin tone.
Sun Wukong- Sun Wukong, is literally based off Sun Wukong, a character from the 16th century Chinese novel “Journey to the West.” Sun’s weapons are also named after the staff of the original Sun Wukong. Basically: the man’s probably Chinese.
Velvet Scarlatina- For the same reasons Blake has been HC’d as Black, it’s not uncommon to find fanart of Velvet HC’d as a race and skin tone other than “white.”
Yatsuhashi Daichi- During RTX2014, Monty Tweeted a few pictures of yatsuhashi, a Japanese treat, as well as a photo of a rendition of Yatsuhashi Kengyo. At the time we had no idea what it meant, but we’ve since learned that he was referencing Yatsuhashi Daichi. Since then, it’s been pretty much assumed that Yatsuhashi has Japanese roots.
Cinder Fall- When asked how Cinder looks so young when she’s clearly much older than a high school aged student during RWBY Afterbuzz Chapters 1 & 2, Monty’s answer was literally “Asians.” Don’t be surprised to find a lot of art with Cinder drawn with Asian features, whether they be East Asian or South Asian even Philippine or Indonesian features is entirely up to the artist.
TL;DR: There’re a lot of characters in RWBY. 45 named characters and 46 if you add Shopkeep. The FNDM loves the show- we wouldn’t watch it if we didn’t- but like any form of media, people like to see themselves in what they love, and will create art to do it. It won’t be uncommon to find any of the HC’s I listed above in art, or even art pieces where characters I haven’t listed are different races, or even characters that are listed as a race other than I explained. There doesn’t have to be a reason for it and is sometimes just the product of what an artist felt like creating. It’s got nothing to do with feeling as if we “know more about the show than it’s creators” as I’ve seen people say. Nothing to do with wanting to upset other people, and hey, if you don’t like a single one of these HC’s for any reason that’s okay. However the problem comes when people are rude and obnoxious with these HC’s. It comes off as racist, and like in the real world, people are very quick to get angry at you when you’re saying racist things. And if you’re currently asking “why is it okay to make art of pale characters as darker skinned but not the other way around” please spend some time researching “whitewashing” and it’s effects on the people being marginalized. Please be kind to one another.
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