Blake Belladonna

These fan-contents capture the spirit of this character: Chapter 4 of "The Atrocities of Atlas" by SkyleafAlchemist19.
Each characters theme title says a lot about their origin- Blake's "From Shadows": Always surrounded by giants. Adam. Her parents legacy. The history of Faunus' everywhere. She feels small and helpless against such towering issues. She wants to escape such choking darkness but is afraid to leave as she's been in them almost her whole life. Afraid and curious all the time.
Blake Belladonna and Twilight Syndrome: Blake Belladonna is a black hole of screen time and character regression, sucking in those around her into her void of nothingness. Somehow, someway, this character has caused four different people to become obsessed with her. A girl with absolutely no redeeming qualities. The characters of Yang, Adam, Sun, and Ilia all revolve around Blake. They either never had anything else going for them in the cases of Sun and Ilia, or their characters have been reduced to living for Blake in the cases of Yang and Adam.
Sun spent the entirety of volumes 4 and 5 turning Blake into a decent person. Making her recognize her selfishness, cowardice and arrogance. The question is, why? What did he ever see in her before this when all she did was abuse him physically and verbally? Any normal guy who had feelings for such an unappreciative girl who treated him like that would have moved on to better options.
Ilia loved Blake apparently. Why, I can't say. Her ass maybe? It's never really explained why. She just did for some cheap drama.
Remember when Adam used to have a character outside of Blake? He was a terrorist/revolutionary leader who had goals outside of a single girl. But then his character came to revolve around hurting Blake and everyone she loved. He was turned into an allegory for an abusive stalker ex-boyfriend when he could have been so much more than that. Wasted potential for a man who was branded and tortured by the SCHNEE Dust Company, when Blake's teammate was... wait for it... Weiss SCHNEE. But apparently the scar on his head must have given him brain damage since he never made that connection. At least now that he's dead he, and his terrible storyline, can finally rest in peace.
And finally Yang. Speaking of once having character, remember when she had things going for her? She was a thrill-seeking huntress who wanted to enjoy life. She had a sister who she cared for dearly. She desperately wanted to find her mother and find out why she abandoned her as a baby. But now her life revolves around Blake, and the proof has been in volume 6. Her only relationship is with Blake, rather than her own blood relatives. Yang hasn't shown an iota of concern for Ruby, who's struggling to keep everyone together in the face of Ozpin's lies and lack of plan. She hasn't shown any concern for her constantly drunk, depressed uncle whose life no longer has any meaning after learning he's wasted the past 20 years of his life. Every meaningful interaction in volume 6 has been with Blake, and only Blake.
I'm truly baffled at what Blake has done, or what redeeming characteristics she has which has earned this much adoration from this many people. The only possible explanation I can come up with is that the Bellabooty is indeed THAT good.
As for Yang, her issues with Ozpin are not exclusive to her. It's not her storyline. Just because she yelled about birds once doesn't mean that Ruby, Jaune, Qrow, and the rest of them don't have anger issues with Oz.
Yang's PTSD was a joke. In the end it didn't matter at all. Yang had nightmares and hallucinations about Adam, only for her to fight completely normally, and in fact better than normal, once she came face to face with him. Her arm shaking a little bit is meaningless when it did not hinder her abilities at all. She was clear-headed enough to formulate a plan and remember her dad's advice. She might as well have not had PTSD when she thrashed Adam as thoroughly as she did.
No. Adam's first major moment in the show comes during the volume 3 flashback where he's shown rejecting Cinder's offer for an alliance. It's there that we see his passionate belief that the White Fang is a force of revolution, and that he's not willing to send his men to die for her human cause.
In fact when his lieutenant insists that they'll find Blake after she ran away, Adam goes as far as to say "forget it". Because he had more important things to do.
But all this was thrown out the window to make Adam an abusive ex-boyfriend only a few episodes later.
Are we watching totally different shows? He is coerced into working with Cinder after she had obtained half of the Maiden's powers and slaughtered his men. It couldn't be made any clearer that he joined with her only under duress.
This is partially a reason why I was never a real big fan of Blake; I never got why so many characters were so eager to rally to her when she never really did anything that told me she had earned that kind of devotion from them. During Beacon, all her relationships were pretty one-sided, everyone going out of their way for her sake, but she never really doing anything in return, and it didn't help that it felt like her character arc moved at a glacial pace and took until the end of V4 to actually get anywhere. That, combined with how the White Fang felt more like it existed for the purpose of Blake's backstory as opposed to being a proper world event (along with every other issue the WF had piled on top of that), how multiple characters were handicapped just to add to her own story, and how said story felt so distant compared everything with Salem and the Relics, Blake always had an uphill battle when it came to my views on her.
This brings up an interesting question. How in the world did RNJR support themselves in the months they were traveling? Obviously they did the odd bit of Grimm-slaying in return for services, but that can't have worked all the time. Presumably, they had to pay for some stuff, but you've got, in order of affluence:
Ren and Nora: literally orphans with likely little financial wealth
Jaune: ran away from home with the clothes on his back and his family's sword (which he then made a unilateral decision to modify, but that's a different discussion)
Ruby: maybe had an allowance of some sort, since we do know that she buys comics and magazines and stuff, and also has a decent family structure and good schooling.
Unless the Beacon students had a stipend, how did they afford anything after the Fall?
I really want to read a fic now where RNJR's walk across that country was just them being grifters looking to make money and move on before they could be caught, like The Music Man.
That would actually be rather interesting, especially since Ren and/or Nora could realistically already have some experience in that area, and it'd be reasonable if Ruby had learned a thing or two from Blake (assuming she had to pickpocket to get by), and I could even see her having a moral dilemma.
I honestly feel like they're trying to make Jacques out as worse than he actually is just to make Blake/the White Fang/the Belladonna family plotlines look better. They certainly try to paint humanity as the "bad guys" in that conflict when I would argue that humanity has done plenty good for the faunus and that the faunus actually have it better than humans. I can't point to any faunus settlement that's less than a tropical island paradise but I can point to quite a few destroyed/impoverish human settlements. I also can't recall any faunus being treated like an animal but I do recall Child!Nora having to get food from the trash and local bullies joking that she has rabies. Well with this mounting evidence against mankind, how dare Jacques give equal pay to his human and faunus workers...oh wait...
For my stories I'm just having it be that faunus only get mammalian traits, except for the platypus. They're creepy enough as is .
You make a good point, friend, and I think perhaps I can add to your point of why Blake's comment feels off.
To me it doesn't feel like a character or person speaking, but rather a writer explaining the "core" of their character. As a writer myself I've played word association with my characters, but a character saying them aloud breaks the immersion as it feels like they're saying what the writer wants them to say instead of what they would say. And as you say it just comes across as kinda shallow, which Blake in my opinion often does already. But doing so with the best friends she abandoned doesn't really help...
Also, it doesn't help that Blake's first impression of Ruby shouldn't have been "purity". Blake views the world in shades of gray, believing there's no such thing as pure good or pure evil. She also told Ruby that life isn't a fairy tail and shouldn't think much about Ruby's line about their job being to make the world a better place. The writers as well as the story paints this as idealistic when in my opinion it's realistic, but paints Blake as the realist when in my opinion she's an idealist. To me Blake's original definition of Ruby should be more along the lines of "childish", but especially after Volume 3. As far as Blake knows, Ruby's world fell apart.
"Defiance" for Weiss isn't too far off in my opinion, but at the same time you have to ask "Defiant of what?" You can't really say her father in the first few volumes in my opinion as she originally defends her father's actions and condemns the White Fang, but this subplot is kinda dropped soon after. And we can only assume that Blake saw Weiss' father bring her back to Atlas against her will where she's stayed ever since.
Then there's "strength" for Yang, her best friend when last she saw her was unconscious after having her arm cut off and as far as Blake knows probably has no future as a huntress ahead of her. Defining someone as strength after abandoning them on the worst day of their life and knowing they're going to battle depression and all kinds of emotional battles just feels apathetic in my opinion.
The first and last times Blake saw her friends they didn't (shouldn't) personify these traits to her, and as far as she knows Ruby could be made bitter over all that has happened to her, Weiss could be obeying her father having lost everything, and Yang laying in bed crying over all she's lost. And even if it's a case of "I knew they'd be back to normal" I still find that very cruel, and not all that believable to be honest. Blake wanted her friends to hate her, and in a way I think they should still resent her if nothing else.
She hurt them all and was the only one who had a real choice at the end of Volume 3 (that we know of but I won't get into), and if you recall immediately after playing word association with Sun, Blake laughs and smiles at him. Then she gives exposition of all she has learned about friendship from Sun instead of the friends she shared a room with for two semesters(ish), or after all her talks with Yang, and puts all her attention on Ilia. I understand the parallel the writers were trying to make in that Blake sees Ilia as her former self and that saving her is redemption for what she did to her former teammates, but the execution was a bit off in my opinion. Blake's friends in the grand scheme of things are just a small part of her story...
(Sorry for rambling. It's rather late but I wanted to get that off my chest)
How not to write: Blake
You know what the worst way to make a political statement in your story is? I don’t actually know.
However, I do know that using a girl with cat ears taped to her head as a stand-in for your racial allegory isn’t a good idea.
It’s tough to talk about Blake without talking about the white fang. In fact, it’s virtually impossible because they’re her entire character, much like how an overwhelming portion of Weiss revolves around her family.
When Blake has a conflict, it stems from faunus racism. In volume 1, Blake runs from the team because of her past with the white fang. In volume 2, Blake goes crazy because of the white fang, and her big question from Oobleck is about how she’ll resolve racial oppression. In volume 3, the one-dimensional black panther stand-ins come to separate Blake from her group. In volume 4, Blake’s family time is interrupted to deal with the hand-rubbingly, mustache twirlingly evil white fang brothers. And In volume 5, Blake’s whole plot revolves around stopping Adam.
Remember how with Weiss I was weary about her becoming a one-trick pony? I think this sums up why.
It’s safe to say that even if you wanted to argue Blake had some identify outside of being the token-minority, that was quickly swallowed up. On the rare instance Blake gets to be a real character, that moment is quashed by something stupid.
When Blake runs from her team, she meets another faunus and spends the majority of her time talking about her white fang past or trying to find the white fang (never mind the whole splitting from your team). It’s no coincidence that Volume 2 has her best arc, as said arc involves a negative trait of the character that isn’t directly tied to the white fang plot (if you squint anyways) and is resolved through interacting with her teammate, fulfilling the idea that rwby is in fact a team of people who care about one-another. In volume 4, Blake has time to reconnect with her family, have a genuinely heart-felt relationship…and then Sun comes in to push wacky hi-jinks!
Blake rarely ever gets to be a character that isn’t just a token. While it’s not unreasonable to have a character angst over what makes them a minority (racism, sexuality, gender, etc.) you need to remember that that character is still a person, a person who has other issues, be they familial, platonic, or rom-no, we’ll save that for another time.
Needless to say, the racism on display isn’t done well either. Until volume 5, the most “subtle” form of racism came from a team of bullies who tormented one faunus. Once. Bullies are not a good way of showing racism or homophobia or sexism, because they’re not people who genuinely believe in this topic to make a statement, but to lord power over someone.
If you wanted real, oppressive racism, you need to have characters the audience likes display it. Have Ruby or Yang make an uncomfortable joke about Rabbit Faunus, or Deer Faunus, or any Faunus. Have Jaune say something stupid, as he is normally want to do.
When you have the designated hate sink be a racist, they’re just fulfilling their role. When you have a likeable character display this negative trait, it puts the problematic nature of these issues into perspective. If Blake’s friends had said made Velvet feel uncomfortable, there could have been a real dialogue over what is right and wrong to say to a faunus; instead, the team just feels bad that a bully picks on the poor bunny girl.
Blake shows just how little the writers know about writing a long running show. Monty takes some blame here(Not hating on him but he was not the best at writing.) Blake's backstory makes no sense given how everyone reacts to her. A smart writer would have designed the characters to the point where they knew everything about the characters from the start. Blake's relationship with Adam was a stupid retcon, it was better as a mentor/older brother figure falling deeper and deeper into the pits of darkness. All major players should be designed and their backstory known to the writers long before the story ever needs to see them. Khan, Girha, Kali, Lionheart, Qrow, Raven, Summer the list goes on and on but they need to figure out the full plot and start planning the next two volumes, keeping the planning at least a full volume ahead of production. For example, Blake obviously isn't a coward in the traditional sense. She's an ex-terrorist turned huntress. Why would a coward want anything to do with either? Giving her a specific fear would works better in the context of the story.
I know it's meant to be a dramatic reveal, but it still annoys me that it took Blake so long to reveal what Adam's semblance is. Kind of an important detail to gloss over when you've already fought him twice and are anticipating a third fight. Especially given what is semblance is.

Physical Description

Body Features

It’s really weird how Blake wearing a bow to hide the fact that she’s a faunus was treated as this big reveal and an important part of her character and then her getting rid of it had zero narrative meaning whatsoever. Blake finally discarding her bow should have signified a milestone of character growth for her. That bow had heavy symbolic weight to it, especially when you consider the conversation pre-bow Blake had with Ilia about the Ilia’s experience with “passing” as human. The bow represented Blake hiding who she was out of fear for how humans would treat her if they knew she was a faunus. You’d expect her discarding it to be this big “I’m done hiding who I am and I’m done being scared” moment, right?
But actually she just casually throws it into the ocean one day because she’s going to a place where there won’t be any humans. Her line is literally “Well, won’t be needing this anymore.” And I think she shrugs a little on top of that. Like that decision was utterly meaningless to her.
And then despite us being told how important hiding her true identity from the humans was, when she leaves Menagerie she doesn’t bother to get a new bow, and she doesn’t appear to have any strong feelings regarding having her ears out. We get no indication that newly bowless Blake is nervous or proud or feeling anything at all about walking around exposed. On top of that, we get maybe one other character who even acknowledges the change. I thought passing as human was supposed to be a big deal. I thought Blake wearing the bow was supposed to make people treat her differently. Now she’s walking around in public as a faunus and no one even seems to notice. That entire plotline with the bow may as well have not even happened since apparently nobody cares.
I’m honestly 100% convinced that M&K scrapped the bow and its significance purely to show off the new ear animations as soon as they possibly could once they switched to the new animation team and program. They’ve been flexing those ears hard, and it seems like the FNDM has been so thoroughly blinded by cute kitty ear wiggles :3 that they’ve completely failed to notice that M&K killed a major part of Blake’s character to give us those ear wiggles.
This was so dumb they literally do not care about these characters It's not even that hard to give meaning to Blake dropping her bow permanently I did that in Vol 5 of my rewrite and it comes at the end of her arc about hiding who she is and she makes a public show of taking the bow off and revealing she's a faunus to everyone It starts a new part of her character arc and initiates parts of the plot as well as show that Blake has grown and isn't afraid of what people think because her goals are bigger than that IT'S NOT THAT HARD GUYS

Special abilities

The drawback for Blake’s Semblance and clone Semblances in general is that the user still feels phantom pains whenever the clone(s) is attacked.
Blake unintentionally does Stealth Hi/Bye to people several times throughout the series. She developed this from her time as an assassin for the White Fang and her naturally quiet nature. Sort of based on how I unintentionally sneak up and sneak away on people. Blake uses Dust with her Semblance way more often. Blake’s Semblance is called “From Shadows”.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

I totally thought she was a book bandit the first few episodes. My theory was that since Grimm are attracted to negative emotion, there were certain books that were banned because they provoked negative thoughts, but that also made them super valuable and rare print. (Plus come on she's supposed to be belle) and that she sold them to buyers for hella money and that's how she survived. And that she was at the school to steal some of Ozpin’s books because he had some rare fairy tales or some sh*t. But my imagination was far FAR from the truth. (use this to rewrite her backstory and/or use it to create a new antagonistic organization that revolves around preserving books, even the negative ones, to oppose organizations that are like Fahrenheit 451. This could replace the WF plotline).
You know the thing that really gets me about Blake, and the thing I'm surprised not many people are talking about is actually in Episode 11 where Sun is waking up. Imagine this setup for example, the last time Sun and Blake talked before the fight with Illia was when Blake was slapping him and yelling at him, anger fueled or abusive it doesn't matter for this. Sun is put in danger enough to make his survival questioned, at least to some extent. Several hours to contemplate "oh shit if he had died the last interaction would have been me hitting and yelling at him". And still she turns it into something about her, no apology no nothing, she literally turns that into a "poor me" scenario.
That was what really ticked me off, and you know what, that could in more extreme cases be construed as a warning sign towards a tendency towards abusive behaviour. Basically yes. Sun wakes, Blake starts bitching. Before Sun says anything she already says “shut up” to him. Like it or not the real problem in blacksun is Blake. Blake is 1/3 the reason I ship Solar Flare.
Agree 100%, I hate “woe is me” characters and that's exactly what Blake has become. Tbh in the ship Blacksun people always hate on Sun but Blake's the one making all the problems and treating people unfairly. Sun's just an adorable cherub trying to fix things and what happens? He gets slapped. Yeah, he's totally the bad guy. 
I don't hate Blake, it's just that everything surrounding her finds a way to frustrate me. I don't find her a sympathetic/likable character in the slightest, and her story is by far the one I'm least interested in. Which is completely contrary to what the writers believe.
I'm not interested in her backstory, but especially now that it's been retconned that she ran away from two very loving parents (something Ruby, Yang, and Weiss don't have). Her having been "abused" by Adam also comes out of nowhere in my opinion as that's not the impression I got from her in their first onscreen interaction together and Blake's first three years on screen. Racism and abusive relationships have to be treated with the gravity they deserve, otherwise they leave a bad taste in people's mouths. I know this probably sounds harsh, but there's good reason, and it's hard not to sound harsh when a character you're already not interested in isn't likable/sympathetic but is treated (in my opinion) far better than your favorite characters.
There's a difference between self-guilt and guilt from empathy, and Blake lacks the latter in my opinion. I think quite a few RWBY characters have difficulty with empathy, but I thought Blake was going to get better after the first volume, but she only got worse and went through character regression. I'm against her running away after Volume 3, and yes I do understand the context of why she ran, but that doesn't make her likable/sympathetic in my eyes. I feel that this is character development she went through in 2013, and after two semesters living with three girls who were like her sisters, and eight months apart from each other, her having to be told to stop being selfish and to stop hurting the people that care about her really hurts her character in my eyes.
It also doesn't help that going into Volume 4, I needed Yang's story to be nothing short of excellent, but the girl who lost her arm and was going through depression got less focus than the girl feeling self-guilt over what happened. And Blake's story just wasn't very good in my opinion. While other characters are "punished" for their actions, in my opinion Blake's are always defended by the writers. It just gets old a couple of years when it feels like this character can't do wrong, and sometimes it feels like Yang and Weiss are just there to give her character development.
Like I said, I don't "hate" Blake's character. Having written 300,000 words in fanfics where she's often the eyes of the story, it should be obvious that I love her. I just don't like how her character is presented in the show and I look at her in a completely different light than the writers. It also doesn't help that the story shifted (in my opinion) from defending Ruby's worldview of good and evil to Blake's shades of gray, and that Ruby and other characters were "punished" for it.
Sorry if that sounded like a rant. That wasn't my intention. I want to love Blake's character again, but I think there are several things in my opinion that the writers have to address before that.

Education

Blake let adam go at the end of v5, so all the people that adam killed between then and his own terribly written death? yeah, that's on her too. this could've been the start of a good redemption arc for Blake where she learns the errors of her ways, but this was unintentional by the writers so that's not gonna happen. in fact, the reason why blake lets adam go is "so he knows what it feels like to run away", which is such a petty reason that it makes bella swan look quasi-decent.

Morality & Philosophy

Blake: “Adam can't be redeemed because he's a White Fang member that murders humans for giving nonexistent discrimination, terrorizes people, and wants to dominate all humankind.” Also Blake: “It's okay, Ilia, I know you were trying to kill my parents and also trying to terrorize humans since you're like in the White Fang, which is an organization that does the same Adam does, but I forgive you because you're a lesbian.”
The Troubled Soul of Blake Belladonna. Continuing on from previous posts detailing my thoughts on the character of Weiss, I decided to try working up a post on Blake's character given recent developments. As opposed to my impression of Weiss as the nicest and most innocent member of Team RWBY, Blake appears to me to be the meanest and least innocent member. The latter is not that hard to grasp, partly because she is a Faunus and moreso because she was a member of the White Fang. Her meanness would largely extend from those experiences and are more a mark of her lack of innocence than any inherent character flaws. She grew up in a constant environment of violence and hostility directed at her enemies and those of her people. That this extends to her life after leaving the group is of little surprise.
It isn't too hard to pin down instances where this meanness pops up in the story. Right from the outset she is needling Weiss about her company's more unsavory activities and her initial attitude towards Ruby and Yang is cold and dismissive. She is almost eager to rib people about their faults, like when she is mocking Cardin's ignorance out of her distaste for him as contrasted with Pyrrha more directly calling out his bigotry. In The Stray, Blake does not directly say to Weiss that she has ulterior motives for wanting to see the students from Vecchia, but just blithely notes this to the others loud enough for her to hear. Her upbringing has made her a bit rough with people even when they do not actually give her a reason. I think this masks a somewhat deeper hardship, though not necessarily one of tragedy thrust upon her as much as tragedy chosen.
At first I had considered the possibility that Blake truly chose to be part of a violent political organization, either out of frustration with discrimination or because she was out for revenge over some event in her life. The Volume 1 finale nixed that possibility, however, as her association with them apparently began before the group had become militant. Yet her description of her involvement with them still makes it seem like she was not forced or influenced into it by anyone. Her own description of the organization's history makes it sound as if the group had been founded relatively recently saying "back then", meaning when she joined, the White Fang was formed "in the ashes of war" as a peaceful organization. My speculation is that perhaps the Faunus War happened early in the lives of the students or not long before they were born. Blake became acquainted with them out of some humanitarian circumstance during the early aftermath, either being in a refugee camp or orphaned due to the war, and joined their protests out of a sense of gratitude and obligation towards them as much as any concern for her people.
Were she born into circumstances such as being orphaned or a refugee then it is quite possible she was a bit of a delinquent herself, out of necessity more than anything since she would be living in squalor. Perhaps this was the real reason for her annoyance with Weiss suggesting Sun would end up joining the White Fang. Blake herself had been a bit of a criminal before joining the group. Growing up in such hardship would contribute to her later negative attitudes in life, such as her remarks about life not being like a fairy tale and her generally rude demeanor. It also left her primed for the White Fang both as a peaceful organization and later as a violent organization. To this effect we also have to consider Sun's quip about the White Fang being a "cult" when Blake chastises him for his petty theft. Although it could have been hyperbole, it could have been meant seriously and point to the White Fang, from its inception, having had religious or spiritual undertones or strict indoctrination akin to certain fascist and communist organizations. A disadvantaged youth such as Blake would have been fodder for the group in that case. Blake could have easily chosen not to join the group, but upon choosing to join it would be harder for her to leave the longer she stayed.
Even then it is likely she continued with them out of choice after their descent into violence due to her experiences. Protests of any kind tend to run into trouble with the authorities and when one looks at the history of race-related protests it can get particularly brutal. Violent crackdowns by the police are common as are protests descending into violent riots. Faced with continued discrimination and suppression by the authorities, it seems likely that Blake was initially supportive of the turn towards a more, shall we say, aggressive approach. Together with some hefty indoctrination by the new leadership, it is safe to say Blake was a happy participant in the violent turn of the White Fang for a time.
Her explanation of the group's actions and her reasons for leaving it suggest something to the contrary, that she was not fond of their violent means and left because she tired of it. This is where I have to suggest Blake was not being entirely forthright, perhaps even lying, about the group and her involvement with it. For one, she only describes acts of arson and hijackings, yet Weiss indicates that the White Fang also killed people associated with her family and their company. Seems unusual for Blake to neglect to mention that, especially since we see in the Black Trailer that she saw her own mentor was willing to kill innocent civilians as part of their campaign against the Schnee Dust Company. Hard to imagine the whole "killing people" thing slipped her mind when explaining why she could not be with the group any longer. That Blake's response to Weiss calling the White Fang a bunch of "liars, thieves, and murderers" was her quip that "maybe we were tired" of being mistreated suggests knowledge of this fact as well as an attempt to justify it.
The last point leads me to my most bold suggestion and probably the one that will be the most contentious. I believe Blake has killed people. Not just cut down a few Grimm or sliced up a few robots, but actually taken the lives of living, breathing people.Please note the murderous look in her eyes. My feelings on this were to some extent prompted by her description of the White Fang lacking consistency with what Weiss said, but the real moment when I thought of this as a real possibility was her reaction to Roman. We may see Blake dispense with an Ursa using brutal and seamless efficiency and tear apart automatons like it was nothing, but that is a far cry from killing a human being. Yet the lack of hesitation and uncertainty Blake showed in running up behind Roman and putting a blade to his throat is not suggestive of someone who has merely killed a few soulless monsters and machines. Indeed, her comment about "ending their little operation" had all the connotations of a death threat on which she fully intended to follow through. Were she someone only versed in arson, robbery, and animal-slaying, you would expect her to tremble and show a little weakness at the thought of slitting a man's threat, criminal though he may be, and yet she is steady as a rock.
Personally, I had only considered her as possibly knowing of and at best assisting in some of the more lethal operations of the White Fang, but it is hard to square that with her evasiveness on the question of them killing people together with her own demonstrated lethality. One can see her last name itself as suggesting a more brutal past, belladonna being well-known as a plant with a lethal poison. It is not too hard to imagine how she could have wound up killing people. Arson is a fairly dangerous crime with all sorts of potential for hazard and it is not a stretch to suggest that Blake was involved in them. Perhaps it starts out with her setting fire to a shop and the racist shop owner winds up dead as a result. It was not intended to go down that way, at least as far as she knew, but it is justified and rationalized as an accident and the owner being a deserving victim. Then it gets down to a few normal acts of self-defense or resistance. Some security guard or police officer tries to interfere with an operation and, in order to avoid being harmed herself, Blake kills him. Again, she is reassured and her actions rationalized as necessary.
Here is where I think we get to the real reason for her leaving the group. Her killing efficiency demonstrated, she gets looped in to the more brutal operations. She would begin taking part in assassinations, kidnappings, and extrajudicial executions of powerful humans who are responsible for Faunus oppression. It would be easy enough to rationalize and justify killing bad people, yet it would begin having an effect. Gradually, she would become better and less hesitant about taking lives and this would get her some favor with the organization. Perhaps it is during this time that Adam takes her under his wing, helping her become a more capable killer. He hardens her further to the point where she begins to lose recognition of herself. By the time of the Black Trailer, she has begun to seriously consider leaving as much for her own sake as it is out of a desire to stop contributing to the violence. I can imagine her somber look sitting on that rock being her reflecting on more than the violence of the group, but the blood on her own hands.
Blake participating in the train operation is itself an indicator of her having engaged in more lethal actions. Taking someone who had been non-violent and bringing her right into an operation where she would be responsible for killing random train workers is not the sort of thing that would be rational. It makes more sense that she was chosen out of a belief that she was "ready" to engage in such an operation. However, taking innocent life happened to be the one thing she simply could not have on her hands and thus she decides then and there to break off from the White Fang. She may have even seen her future self in the White Fang reflect in Adam's callous disregard for innocents. In this context, her hesitancy to discuss the more brutal actions of the group and justifying those acts when pressed is as much about her discomfort with her own involvement in those actions.
Now, I do not want people to think any of this would make her a bad character. As noted at the beginning, even though I believe her involvement in the group and its later violence was still a choice, it is not a sign of an inherently bad character. In addition to the more sympathetic circumstances of her initially joining the group and the influence they gained over her, the most important thing to remember is that Blake is a teenage girl. Most kids her age would be painting their nails, trying on clothes, and talking about cute boys, not taking part in assassinations and train robberies. She was, to put it bluntly, a child soldier and most people recognize that child soldiers are a much more sympathetic bunch than regular soldiers. That she decided herself to leave the organization is really an indication of a certain moral strength.
For Blake leaving them would not be enough to minimize the guilt she would have over her actions, though. Becoming a huntress may even be about saving lives in an effort to atone for those she has taken or just about finding a way to put her sins behind her as though they never happened. The latter is somewhat more consistent with her overall charade at Beacon. Concealing her past involvement with the White Fang is one thing, but Blake made a point of concealing her Faunus heritage from everyone, including her team, for months and that would not be an easy thing to manage. We can say it was about protecting her identity, but I would suggest it was a deception out of a desire to feel like a normal carefree human. A deception motivated by her own guilt and shame and her yearning to have lived a regular life. The life of a child soldier is a story of innocence being snuffed out in its prime, never having the opportunity to exhaust itself naturally. Her charade with the bow was Blake aspiring to recover some of her lost childhood in some small way.
This sort of detail of Blake having killed people as part of the White Fang would be important for her to hold back. Part of it would be a desire to put it out of her mind and another part of it would be to avoid the inevitable reaction it would bring. Having been part of the White Fang would be bad enough, but one can only imagine how the team would react if it were revealed that she actually killed people. I cannot see her admitting to that sort of thing on her own, either. One way to have it come out would be Adam's inevitable introduction into the series. He would taunt Blake about her friends not really knowing her and especially pointing out Weiss as someone who might want to know with whom she is living such a carefree school life. For a bit of added drama Blake could turn out to have killed someone very important to Weiss, a family member or close family friend who was like family. Such a revelation in the story would probably not be resolved quickly either like it was with them finding out she was in the White Fang. I can even see it being used as the basis for a short-term "I was a fool to believe I belonged with you guys anyway" Face-Heel Turn by Blake, a long-term departure from the team, or both.
In summation, I do not think we have even come close to delving into the depths of Blake's background and that she has held back some of her worst deeds out of shame and fear. At the same time, I do not believe this makes her a less sympathetic character, but instead would make her story tragically sympathetic. She would be as much a victim of the White Fang as a victim of any human.
Exactly, where does one White fang end and another begin? Who lead the White Fang forces that killed Weiss's family members and family friends. We are led to believe that was going on for about a decade since she was a child. It couldn't have been Adam with Blake by his side at the time as they were together since she left her family as a child/preteen. It had to have been conducted under Sienna's influence.
The way I saw her talking down to Adam wasn't that she was upset he took out a huntsmen school but that he galvanized so many Faunus with out her aid or permission. She was scared of him gaining too many followers for his own causes and wanted him to use his talents for recruitment to her own ends. In short I don't think she was ever the benevolent stern leader the show tried to portray her as.
Yeah Blake is disgusted that the White Fang would lower itself by working with a human was by far the more racist of comparisons considering the White Fang was actively working with a human. It wasn't that he was a crook that offended her, it was that he was a human crook.
"Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?" Yes Blake, why would murderers, killers and thieves aid a man known for theft? The white fang were the ones who destroyed government equipment, stole dust and tried to use a train as a mobile bomb to kill innocent people. How could they stoop so low as to work with a human who's only MO at the time was Larceny.
It's like she never considered what Roman was selling the Faunus at their own Hate Rally. He didn't try and say humans weren't at fault, he just pointed out that the people at the top were fine with the status quo and with letting the commoners fight amongst themselves which he was right about.
Dammit the whole Racism plot that wanted to push will never get better, its foundations are made from pillars of spit.
Man, I just realized that Blake would have let the White Fang from Vol 1 go do as they please if she didn't notice Roman bossing them around. What a bitch.
Plot twist: Blake was the true abuser in her relationship and this is all just Adam plan to get revenge. Think about it for second! Blake's response is to strike anyone that even mildly annoys her and we haven't seen Adam strike her ONCE (except in V3, but that was a fight to the death). Maybe Adam just went crazy from years of abuse...
Given how manipulative and insane Blake is, I can actually believe Edgelord Samurai was a nice guy before meeting Kray-Kray Catgirl.
Personally, I don't think the majority of the people who supposedly "hate" Blake "hate" her because of her flaws or because she doesn't fit their wish fulfillment. Just because a characters acts in an understandable manner that doesn't necessarily make them "likable". If Jaune slapped Ruby because he was angry and when she just trying to help I don't think many people would sympathize with him, but especially if he did it again and when Ruby has been nothing but good to him (except that time she laughed at his hoodie).
For some people Blake's problems are viewed as self-inflicted, and after several years of the same (re)development and the character failing every time they're given the chance to prove themself it can get old, but especially when that character hurts the people that love them, and especially when that includes your favorite character. There's also the problem that some people view Blake's guilt as being "self-guilt", meaning she's more upset with herself than the person who lost their arm protecting her and who she abandoned when they needed her most. Understandable? Sure, but that doesn't mean it's likable or sympathetic. Does Blake feel more sorry for herself or for the people she's hurt? It's a fair question in my opinion.
In Volume 1 we're told that Weiss has lost family and friends to the White Fang, and more or less blames them for loss of her childhood and her father coming home in such a bad mood so often. Blake however defends the actions of the White Fang and only felt sorry for herself afterward, not that the girl who had lost family and friends as well as her childhood. The story even paints the picture that we should feel more sorry for Blake instead of Weiss, when in my opinion Blake feels very little guilt for what happened to Weiss and for spending so many years with a terrorist organization that has murdered and made people's lives miserable. For some people there's just a certain lack of empathy and/or guilt.
There's also the problem with Blake's worldview in Volume 1. Blake tells Ruby that life isn't a fairy tale, something Ruby is quick to agree to and says that's why they're there, to make it better. However, in my opinion the story tries painting the picture that Blake's worldview is realistic when her goal of making all humans treat the faunus equally is very idealistic, especially coming from a former member of a terrorist organization. Blake isn't searching for forgiveness either for her actions with the White Fang or for what she did to her friends, and so for some it's hard to "forgive" her.
Some of the characters have been dealt with very harshly for what the writers' perceived as flaws, however Blake is the opposite in many respects. It took her best friend losing her arm, Blake abandoning her friends, about half a year, going home to her loving mom and dad, her romantic interest nearly being killed, and said romantic interest telling her that she's selfish and to stop hurting the people she cares about for Blake's character to finally learn. Blake's story has taken up a large portion of RWBY's screen time, and you can argue that the main characters at times have often been used as her supporting characters, and for people who prefer those characters it can feel like a slap in the face, but especially if you feel they deserved/needed more focus than her or feel her story has been inconsistent and/or has plot holes.
At the end of Volume 5 Blake defeated Adam handedly, has reunited and been forgiven by the friends she once abandoned, has reconnected with two loving parents (something her friends don't have), has a romantic interest who would follow her to the end of the world when she probably wouldn't, rekindled an old friendship with Ilia, and defeated her "ghosts" so to speak. But a lot of it just doesn't feel earned in my opinion, but especially not after everything Ruby, Weiss, and Yang have been through and lost to get here comparatively.
Like ourselves no character is perfect or without flaws, and I think just about everyone will agree that's a good thing. However, just because a character's flaw is understandable that doesn't necessarily make it "likable". A lot of Blake's problems are self-inflicted, and after a few years that can be hard to sympathize with but especially when it's your favorite characters that keep getting hurt because of them, or if you simply just don't enjoy her story. In my opinion Blake's story has often taken precedence of Ruby, Weiss, and Yang's, and sometimes I feel they've been treated unfairly while she's handled with kid gloves. Her two main subplots revolve around an abusive relationship and racism. Those are two very, very real subject that some people here have dealt with. And if a viewer feels that the writing isn't treating racism or abusive relationships with the gravity they deserve, then it can leave a bad taste in their mouth.
I personally don't believe the problem is with the audience being unforgiving toward an imperfect character, or that the problem is "wish fulfillment". A person can like/dislike any character for whatever reason they choose, and in my opinion many people have a good reason for disliking Blake's portrayal and/or her story, or simply preferring Ruby, Weiss, and Yang. Just my opinion and/or observations.
No, it's because of things like her never learning. It's because of things like she's the most angsty one when all of her problems come from her own choices and are also the most solvable. It's because she tries to act like she's the most mature one when she's run away from all of her struggles and arguably has the most black-and-white view out of all of the main 4. It's because she's had everything, everything handed to her on a silver platter from two living, happy, important, loving parents to high-ranking importance in the White Fang to even having this near-comical harem of people pining after her that grows with every(Bumblebee moment in V2) single(Adam in V3) bloody(Sun for sure in V4) volume(Ilia in V5).
It's because she's never punished for her flaws. She's never punished at all. Ruby had her optimistic nature crushed. Weiss lost her family and wealth. Yang lost her whole arm and mental stability. Blake's lost... ? In fact, in the grand scheme of things, she's only gained things.
It's because only other people get punished for her flaws.
It's because one of the punished came crawling back to even say it wasn't her fault after being treated horribly by her.
It's because as it turns out, Ruby didn't succeed on her first try to be heroic, she failed: was too slow to save Penny, was too slow to save Pyrrha, was too hard-headed and got Qrow wounded. Weiss didn't succeed on her first try to be independent, she failed: got disowned, had to sacrifice people(the crashed plane), and wound up in Raven's clutches. Yang didn't succeed on her first try to cool off, she failed: she became depressed, lethargic and even when she had her arm she was showing how it affected her until the end of V5.
It's because Blake did succeed the moment she applied herself.
Her flaws are only one part of the far, far greater whole. It's nonsense to try and discount them.

Personality Characteristics

Vices & Personality flaws

Character flaws are fine but the writers thinking that what Blake does is okay isn’t a character flaw, it’s a flaw in the writing. Even discounting that Yang has had enough people leave her without her say, that's just a stain I don't think would be worked around. 20 years later it will still be a fact that when Yang needed her Blake just left, and there’s no way that they can justify that being a healthy friendship.
If Sun hadn't come to Menagerie with her, Blake could easily be completely written out of the story at this point because she's sitting at home, feeling sorry for herself and being coddled by her parents, contributing nothing to the plot.
(Sorry for the rant, but that scene started my dislike of Blake, and she's only gotten worse as the series goes on. A lot of people defend her despite these flaws and still demonize Weiss, whose actually grown and changed.)
"MAYBE WE WERE TIRED OF GETTING PUSHED AROUND!" comes to mind. She defends them, even though they've already become violent (which is why she left in the first place). Yes, she wants them to go back to the peaceful ways, but she was still making excuses for them. Not so much after the Breach/ Fall of Beacon, but before then... Yeah, she was.
Made even worse by the fact that when Weiss points out that the White Fang "want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!", Blake simply states that "they're very misguided". Let that sink in. Blake tries to excuse the White Fang even though she knows that they've become Omnicidal Maniacs. Yeah....gonna need some Olympics-level gymnastics logic to justify that.
Shoving someone against a desk because they are actively causing themselves harm and distress to make them listen is nowhere near the same as murder. Yang is mostly very nice, just like Ruby.
Yang feels justified because she wasn’t the attacker. We know her personality and know she doesn’t attack people with intent to cause permanent harm unprovoked. She was walking away when that happened, and she’s never gone for such a lethal attack on a human before. Blake knows this too. They always have Aura, and she knows she won’t kill them. Blake has no reason to believe Yang would do this intentionally. Beforehand, Yang even takes a deep breath and calms down, her eyes change color back to lavender, and she gives a wave to the crowd. Yang giving a conflicting story to what happened is a big deal, and she’s never done this before, or gone out of her way to cause this kind of injury. She wouldn’t be so upset if she’d intentionally done that, and it would be contradictory to her personality to be happy she did it. But as far as she knows, Mercury attacked her, and she defended herself. Someone being told reality isn’t the same as what you lived is confused, there’s no arguing that.
Again, Blake has no reason to believe Yang is turning into Adam, Adam and Yang would have wholly different motivations here. Yang’s not known for violently assaulting people who have done nothing wrong. The closest we’ve gotten to that is Junior in her trailer (and she doesn’t try to kill him). But otherwise she doesn’t go around assaulting people with intent to cripple or murder them. Yang had just told Ironwood what happened, She’s borderline being arrested at that point. Blake was there for that. And, I’d bet good money Blake had been there before that when the actual police were asking questions.
I brought it up because Blake knows Yang is honest about these things, She has no reason to believe Yang is lying. Yet she still demands an outright statement from Yang. She can tell Yang is hurting, Yang cries when she realizes Blake doesn’t believe her. Blake is not dumb enough to think Yang would lie about something so severe when Yang has shown she’s willing to admit fault.
Yet, despite her acknowledgement, she does it anyway. She’s aware this is very out of character for Yang. Yang doesn’t cripple downed opponents, or remotely show the levels of sadism required for that kind of action. Blake can acknowledge the fear, that’s fine, but she then has to also acknowledge why it’s illogical to assume this of Yang. If she can accept Ruby, Yang, and Weiss Schnee (The person she’d just told off for assuming the worst of people for no good reason, I should note) giving her the benefit of the doubt after she revealed her association with the White Fang (which, as I explained above, should give Weiss ZERO reason to ever trust Blake again by this logic), and actively defended them against completely valid criticism (and some invalid). She should return the favor without adding an inane caveat.
Blake is well aware that Yang is not the same as Adam. Yang does not have that personality, she has not randomly lashed out at innocent people, or ever gone out of her way to cause this kind of harm before now (except against Grimm...but those are Grimm and therefore an entirely different case). The fact Yang is obviously upset and confused as to why literally everyone is telling her that what she saw didn’t happen, is proof Yang didn’t intentionally cripple a downed opponent. Yang’s not known for this kind of sadism, if you want someone who suggests limb breaking as retribution, that’s Nora. Blake has more reason to believe that Yang is telling the truth, something is up (this happened after The Breach, which opens up a whole can of worms on conspiracies to someone as paranoid as Blake), and to try and figure out what could have caused this to happen, instead of assume Yang is going rogue. You are picking out an exception in Yang’s behavior and using it like it is her norm. Can she lose her temper? Yes. Does she randomly assault people? No. does she randomly try to murder people? Also no. Has she been more violent over the series? Also no. Has she shown, at any point, any level of sadism needed to just randomly turn around and sucker shotgun-punch a guy without aura in the leg? Also no. You have one instance of Yang putting Blake against a desk (twice), because Blake was being totally irrational, depriving herself of sleep, and trying to do something she’d explicitly promised not to do. This is not on the same scale as mindless maiming and murder. You are conflating a metaphorical slap on the face to a shotgun blast to the face (well, leg… you get the idea).
This is random, and very out of character. Mercury wasn’t someone Yang would remotely bear a grudge against. You could’ve made a more convincing argument for her being violent towards Neon, than Mercury (It’d still be a bad argument, but there’s at least Neon taunting her to faux-justify it).
I’m not playing revisionist. Blake has evidence against thinking Yang is becoming a monster, and she ignores it despite the clear differences between circumstances and reactions. I’m not saying I don’t see the parallels from Blake’s point of view. But there’s more stuff against Yang being like Adam, than there is for it.
That’s why it pisses me off so much. Blake knows better, and still does it anyway.
A school sanctioned fighting tournament and activism on the front lines where violence is encouraged are two very different scenarios. Judging from Blake calling her parents "cowards" (she apologized for doing so) she likely thought the bureaucratic approach to Faunus rights wasn't working. Adam was ok with violence, just not mindless slaughter. Odds are Blake fell into that category as well. Adam just went from "We have to defend ourselves if they attack" to "We have to preemptively attack first" to "Who cares about Human life/ Dissenting Faunus' lives?" If I had to guess. Yang has not made any progression towards that violent turn. This was in instant that was wholly irrational, and Yang was insisting that something had happened that contradicted reality. She has no reason not to think something is up, and Yang is telling the truth. Because she has no reason to distrust Yang.
You keep trying to play up Yang's temper, like she's constantly breaking things, or persistently violent for no reason. Getting angry in a fight makes sense, The Pushing Incident was completely understandable frustration on Yang's part. Yang's never gone to "I will kill you" in one of those tantrums (again, except against Grimm). She’s not an abusive person who just lashes out randomly whenever she’s mad and shrugs it off because people’s Aura will protect them. You’re trying to make this seems like that Start of Darkness, and I see the point. But we both know, and Blake knows, this simply isn’t how Yang is as a person. She isn’t violent for no reason, and she’s less fight-happy than Nora. you have to push her to it. Just like Yang’s semblance. She can take abuse and then, once you reach a boiling point, she can dish it back out. Her only Hair Trigger Temper moments are literally surrounding her hair. Otherwise she doesn’t jump to “punch in the face” as a primary plan.
This is different though. Everything about the situation surrounding this makes it highly suspicious. This is violently out of character for Yang, and she's never shown this before. The fact Yang has a conflicting story, as in literally saying something different happened than what everyone else say happen, is a massive red flag. They've been fighting a conspiracy for months now, The Breach just happened. Everything here shows that Yang isn't going down the slippery slope of madness, but that something's up. Adam wouldn’t be arguing that something completely different from reality, but he’d certainly be saying it was in self defense.
That’s the thing, this isn’t “graudal” this was instantaneous. Going from “stopping when she’s won the fight, taking a deep breath, and calming down” to “I’mma maim this fool” is a violent change. We didn’t got from 0 to 100 slowly, we went from 0 to 100 in a split-second.
It is that she felt the need to force Yang to make a statement about it. She knew damn well she was going to believe Yang anyway, there was no reason to even say she doubted Yang for a moment. There was no reason for her not to say "I believe you Yang." and leave it at that. Even Weiss believed Yang without question (Ruby was a no brainer in that regard). Blake had already made up her mind. It was inane and only served to bring unnecessary sadness to Yang, who was already very obviously distressed. This was purely for Blake's own selfish desire for reassurance.
The reason I've come to hate Blake. and I think Hate may be too strong a word, more "Greatly annoyed to the point of infuriation", is that she keeps regressing. This wasn't the reason I started disliking her. The scene with Weiss started my dislike because of the sheer hypocrisy of it all. This event made me mad, but I understood where she was coming from. It still made me mad, but it didn't sour her any further to me. When she ran away from Yang at the Fall, that's when I really started disliking her. Then, when we found out her whole "I have no place to go back to" thing is bullshit and she's got a literal mansion waiting for her if she'd just swallow her pride, it came to a boiling point. She had a good life, willingly abandoned it, got a second chance at life, and abandoned it when her past came a'knockin. Ran back to her original life with her tail between her legs, and almost got someone killed again because she wouldn't just stand up to her past properly (There is no good reason for Ilia to be free right now, Blake could have easily detained her with Sun's help).
Every time Blake has a chance to fight her past, she runs. She won't develop, and it pisses me off. I'm hopeful for Volume 5, as it seems she's finally done running. Which will be a massive redeeming moment for her in my eyes.
Perhaps it's my love of the Nakama/ True Friends stick together mentality common in anime and cartoons that makes me dislike Blake for her cowardice and (hypocrisy like hers in general pisses me off). When people stand up for you, you stick with them. You don't run, you don't abandon your friends. I'll admit, that's my own personal hang up though.
Yang lost an arm for her, Weiss gave her forgiveness despite being justified in not trusting her. And Ruby didn't treat her any differently than she did anyone else. Sun was incredibly positive and forced her out of her shell through sheer enthusiasm and persistence. She had everything she could ever want, and she ran away from them when they needed her most.
I understand her reasoning behind running, she's afraid it'll get them hurt more. And it hurts her to do this. But she knows running won't solve her problems. She has to fight her demons one way or another, and standing firm with your friends is the only way she'll ever manage it. It seems like she knows this, but keeps fighting it. If she avoids Yang because she's ashamed of what happened, like she avoided coming back to Menagerie, it'll be understandable, but goddamn infuriating. She can make amends so easily. Everyone around her EXCEPT those she's stood up for (Adam/The White Fang) has given her so many second chances, and she just runs away until she's cornered again by Adam/ The White Fang. Getting more people hurt because she won't face her demons.
I want her to fight back and stand up for herself. Apologize for running so much, and try to give her teammates the trust and warmth they've been giving her. Because, in an ironic twist. Black is leaving everyone cold and yearning, burdened by her violent past. The beast descended from shadows, and yellow beauty almost burned out.
I agreed it was understandable, but I find her action to force Yang to make a statement unnecessary, and just mean (not intentionally so, but still mean). She’d already made up her mind, and further inducing sadness on Yang when she’d already decided to support her friend was unnecessary. Especially given the near boundless kindness and forgiveness they’d shown her.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Blake was one of the White Fang's most efficient assassins.
Blake is a Friend that Nobody Likes.
As a former member of the White Fang, she holds valuable insider information on their plans and goals, organizational structure and important figures. Blake did nothing with this information.
When Blake "reveals" to be a faunus, there is a comedic "Wait, that was a secret?" reaction from her friends. Blake's disguise is super thin and the only reason why no one has brought it up before is because Remnant doesn't care about discrimination based on race. Blake will be revealed as a faunus to the public. And then it will be revealed that everyone knew about it and didn't know it was a secret.
Adam and Blake is so vague that someone could say Blake was the real abuser who manipulated a torture victim into needing her and they wouldnt be wrong because there is no evidence to prove otherwise.
Relationships in rwby are awful, nobody shares likes, dislikes or common goals but at the same time no one has conflicts (hating Ozpin isnt a conflict when everyone does) so there almost no "real bolding" for better or worse. This means rwby idea of "1-1 bonding" that isnt confirmed sexual atraction is either
A) "i know you didnt ask but let me tell you my sad backstory that you wont care about later"
B) intentional acts of ship teasing that break the flow of the episode by how forced/obvious they can be
C) Characters literally gaslighting the audience into believing they were friends (Who the fuck is Oscar???)
At least Jaune and Ruby bonded of something both like, which is pyrrha. What the hell did Blake and Yang bond over that both cared? They never convinced me they were good friends yet now i am expected to believe they're lovers(?). Wow... I've never thought of it that way. How savage of you. I like it. Lol. Do you think Blake is an unreliable narrator? Regardless of what the show presents and/or the Writers say? Blake is the only narrator and all she has is her words and actions, and from that alone i never got the idea that blake LOVED Adam, but Adam seemed to love blake to an unhealthy degree. I like to think Adam was the victim because it's the only way to justify his sudden insanity turn.
What if Adam was a mentally broken man who saw Blake not hating his deformed face and thought Blake was the purest angel in the planet? What if Blake never really loved Adam and only dated him to learn how to fight so she can join the white fang? I know it's pretty absurd but it would make sense in hindsight.
I think Yang wanted Blake back because she has abandonment issues from her mom. My theory is that, thanks to Raven leaving but saving Yang's life, Yang developed delusional ideas that her quitters still love her deep inside and will come back someday. What if Yang only grabbed Blake's hand because she's afraid Blake would leave her again? Blake on the other hand, abandoned Yang with no plans to return and now that they met she seems only driven by guilt. What if she doesn't even like yang but is unintentionally feeding her love delusions? What if that's exactly what she did to Adam? If Blake left again, would Yang become Adam 2.0? Funny to think about it.
I don't have much hopes for them as a couple because they share nothing at all. It will either be cringy teenage drama (love triangle when) or boring non stop reminders that they are girlfriends.
I know how it became popular, I just don't understand the reasons. When and if Yang turns out to be gay, those moments with Blake will be colored that way. The problem is that it is completely one-sided. Other than the one dance they had together, Blake has never performed a single act of friendship toward Yang in the whole series. Instead, how is Yang rewarded for talking Blake off the proverbial ledge, being compared to Adam, how is Yang rewarded for losing her arm defending her friend who compared her to the same man earlier, being abandoned by another black haired emo loner and having her advice from the talk (i.e. the thing the ship built upon) completely forgotten about. Just like Sun tells Blake at the end of volume 4, Blake running away from her friends helps no one but herself. Blake's actions go so far beyond non-mutual that it almost feels like a rejection of Yang's friendship, and if I can't see them as friends, how can I see them together.
I know I'm just ranting at this point, but it doesn't make any sense that no one is mad at Blake. Ruby, Blake left your sister after she got her arm cut off trying to save her. Weiss, Blake left after she promised that the next time something happened she would go to her teammates. Yang. You lost an arm for her and she left. She even doubted you would never harm someone on purpose just because she compared you to someone like Adam who you are almost nothing like. Oh, wait. I forgot. Ruby and Yang's relationship is irrelevant, Weiss apparently humbled up after Atlas so she's completely over it for some reason, and Blake is the most pretentiously written character, so they made Yang not as mad for shipping fuel.
The yellow jacket/hornet scene where Yang grabs Blake’s hand pisses me off now. At first I rolled my eyes but the fact that she left her SISTER and her uncle is unforgivable. I am fully convinced they made Yang angry at Blake just for that toxic yellow jacket BS. What happened to protective big sister yang who defends her family and trusts her uncle. Why isn’t ANYONE mad at Blake? Ruby should be at least spiteful about what happened to her sister. Even JNPR would be like smh at Blake for running and leaving her friends behind while Pyrrha dies protecting them when she knew she has no chance. No wonder she lost to her in the food fight. Also its volume 6, how the f$&@ has ruby not have more than 3 lines if dialogue with Blake for the past 5 volumes!?
Still hilarious that Ruby and Blake don't talk to each other. "Oh, you like books? I love books! Maybe we'll talk about them someday!" (six years later).
She has not 1, not 2, not 3, but FOUR possible love interests in Sun, Yang, Adam and Illia. The story is suffering yet the focus is on making everyone want to love this brooding, bland, cardboard of a character who regresses in most volumes as a character.
She is the reason why Yang and Adam are not what they used to be. Her character arcs effect both of them and make them act very different and unpleasant compared to before. Yang went from a likeable, strong, tough-willed character to a walking husk of ship bait. Adam went from a 3 dimensional gray area to an angry ex-boyfriend. Blake is a terrible character, stop making her arcs influence others.

Family Ties

Anyone notice that Blake has no issue with being shown on a public, worldwide broadcast with no alterations to her outfit from her time in the White Fang (aside from her bow) and her real name being used? This is what happens when the writers don't consider that stuff like Blake being the daughter of Menagerie's chieftain and a former leader of the White Fang creates problems when looking back at older volumes. Suddenly, one wonders why no faunus (i.e. Velvet) ever approaches Blake about her name or no White Fang operatives ever bother trying to capture/threaten/poison Blake. In fact, no one in this show ever poisons anyone (aside from Qrow). It's not like anyone has a poison-detecting semblance. Definitely would've made killing Ghira pretty easy.
It's also worth noting that Blake's connection with Weiss should've made it a priority to target her to get to Weiss. Or did the WF forget that Weiss is heiress to that company they all hate? Damn it, now I'm thinking more about this than the writers.

Hobbies & Pets

Blake is an avid artist, not just a casual doodler, and will draw portraits of all her friends as a gift if they actually make it to graduation.
Blake and Tuckson are old friends and she regularly visits his shop. Tuckson was where she was planning on hiding to when the story started but his death changed that plan. Blake really shows how socially insecure she is when she struggles to ask to borrow a copy of "Ninjas of Love". Her interest in romance and the fact that she'd rather hide it, shown how she'd rather hide her copy of the book than let someone catch her reading it would be a great chance to show a more insecure side to her. I feel Blake could use more to her character that's separate from her white fang melodrama. She may be an ex-terrorist, but she's still a teenage girl with her own insecurities and embarrassing interests. Her connection to Tucson would also further justify Blake's more prevalent streak of angst in volume 2 and her urgency to stop the White Fang.

Wealth & Financial state

Should Blake have been an orphan?
I believe Blake being an orphan was what the writers were trying to convoy for the first three volumes. To suddenly change that character dynamic "moments" after abandoning her friends certainly left a bad taste in my mouth, but especially when it turns out she has a loving mom and dad which is something Weiss, Ruby, and Yang don't have. It further paints the picture in my mind that Blake is the root cause for her suffering, and that just doesn't make for a likable/sympathetic character.
It also doesn't help that it was never even hinted at for over three years, and I believe her being an orphan was more hinted at than anything. No one had ever heard of the Belladonna name despite its association with the White Fang and Menagerie, something I'd expect a Schnee to instantly recognize if they were at "war" even before the White Fang became violent. It has plot holes in my opinion and feels like a retcon just to have a "boyfriend meets the parents in a stereotypical/fanfic kinda way".
On top of that retcon I also believe it turning out that Blake is a "victim" (or at least the writers' interpretation) of an abusive relationship came out of nowhere. I didn't get that impression in the first three volumes, or the Black Trailer and flashback scene for that matter. And Adam turning out to be a "My love this" and "My love that" kinda weirdo when that really wasn't the impression I got beforehand just feels odd, kinda like the writers didn't know who Adam was until multiple years later. And if Blake knows all these things about Adam, then perhaps she should show a little bit of initiative before he comes for her.
Sorry if this sounds negative. As I said in my opinion Blake is not at all a likable/sympathetic character for abandoning her best friend who had just lost an arm and quickly fell into depression because of it. Especially when you can make the argument that Blake felt more sorry for herself than the best friend who lost an arm. I think there are multiple recons surrounding her character, I find her the least interesting/sympathetic/likable of the main four, and worst of all I find that the writing around her character has not even attempted to treat real life issues with the gravity they deserve. Racism, persecution, and abusive relationships are very real things things that people have dealt with. And when they're treated as just being tacked onto a character to make them more sympathetic/likable that sometimes leaves a bad taste in people's mouths.
There's also the problem with Blake's philosophy of seeing the world in gray as being the "message" of RWBY when we were initially seeing light and darkness through Ruby's childlike eyes. Something changed along the way when Ruby is the one being "punished" by the writers and Blake the one seemingly rewarded. These are all just my opinions, and I probably don't have to explain why I'm towards Ruby's (original) world view and completely against Blake's.
But Weiss mentioned that she had a very difficult childhood and Ghira only stepped down around five years or so ago from the White Fang. I just have trouble that nobody whether they're faunus or Schnee have any idea who the "prime minister" of Menagerie (or that particular settlement) is, or his past affiliation with the White Fang. And personally I feel fan speculation would be more effort than was put into writing this particular plot point.
I'm sorry but this world view point does matter to me. I am a Christian, and I have no interest in a story where the childlike character that wears crosses is called "childish" by her writers and is "punished" for not knowing that life isn't fair despite her mother being dead. Yes I do believe the White Fang being "sympathetic" people (terrorists) that were simply pushed too far has been poorly written, as has the racism subplot, and that Blake's character comes across as rather wishy-washy as though the writers aren't sure how her seeing the world in shades of gray comes into play. They seem more keen on punishing the other characters for not sharing Blake's world view despite not clearly defining it. But even if it was well-written and the clear message of RWBY with Ruby's world view being prove false, it's not something I can support being who/what I am.
I don't mean to argue, friend. It seems we're mostly in agreement just from different viewpoints. I just feel very strongly about Blake's story as like Yang's it has severely hindered my enjoyment of the show. And for obvious reasons I can't support Blake's world view or her actions.

Character Prototype

Ever since the trailer of RWBY, I thought the story of Blake and Adam was going to be a new perspective storytelling of "Beauty and the Beast" like they based them both from. A tragedy of Blake watching someone she loves( familiarly) delving too far into the dark path and doesn't know how to save him. But instead we just get "Discrimination is unfair! Humanity is in there! Standing in the concession! Plotting their oppression!" exposition and Adam an irredeemable villain who is just a piece of shit racist terrorist who got his ass handed to him on a silver platter despite all that hype, awe, and fear of his combat abilities.
They dont need to know more than the wirters but their perception of the character is directly linked at how they portray them, and Arryn/Barb sound painfully out of touch there.
Like for an example, the brazilian VA of Goku says Goku's greatest strenght is working hard and never giving up, and the VA relates to that so he tries his best to sell his hardwork and he suceeds considering everyone here loves him and Goku.
Meanwhile, Arryn struggles to name Blake's qualities *("when she is honest she is honest?"), a character she voices for years. If i had to say one it would be her dedication to faunus rights but Arryn never "sold" Blake on that.
Another thing i remember is when Blake double slapped Sun, Arryn said it wanst out of character nor bad writing, it was Blake losing it because of her past of abuse. Except Miles later said it was supposed to be a soft shoulder slap but the animation team didnt get that.
I dont know, i feel like RWBY has this big disconnect between animators, VAs and writers. Looking at many scenes, it's like those 3 are on whole different terms and intentions. It does seem like that, doesn't it? It's like there's three separate versions of the story and the characters, and each episode swaps between them depending on who had the most influence on the scene. I've been spending time doing a rewrite of RWBY that attempts to be as close to the show we know as it possibly can, and I've been struck by how easy everything has been. Given how much we talk about the flaws in the characterization and the plot, it's been startlingly easy to find ways of keeping the way the crew talks about them intact while improving them overall. I'll post it here on the sub when I finish it. Indeed, i'd blame it on lack of direction (i refuse to believe Cinder's VA gets any) but there is a certain awkwardness from many scenes where i cant tell exactly what was the intended reaction because it feels like the same character is playing 3 different headcanons.
Like, lets look at Yang meeting Adam at the waterfall. Many people criticize that scene for Yang not looking scared and beating his ass but was that intentional or not? Adam mentions Yang was shaking so she was supposed to be scared right? Did the animators make Yang look "annoyed" to look "badass"? Did Barbara sound more confident than Yang because she hates Adam and/or didnt worry that much about the ptsd? How much of what the writers wanted went through and wasnt cut or misinterpreted?
I have no idea, only guesses.