Though RWBY is set in a fantasy world much different from our own, it doesn't mean the characters aren't still completely relatable. As the teenagers at the center of the story struggle to master skills they're being taught, they tease one another, form relationships, and face their family dramas. Just because the series is rooted in fantasy as those same teens battle Grimm doesn't mean they don't act like teenagers.
One of the most relatable characters in the series is team leader Ruby Rose. Despite being younger than her assigned teammates, Ruby rises to the challenge of guiding them, even filling in the leadership role when Team JNPR loses Pyrrha. Just because she grows into her role as a hero doesn't mean she's not still a regular kid.
10 Ruby Loves Comic Books
In one of the first scenes where audiences are introduced to Ruby, she's browsing in a shop before going up against a few Grimm. What she decides to hang back and look at before the Grimm attack, however, is something specific.
Ruby is busy excitedly flipping through comic books when she has to use her scythe to defend herself and the shop. Years ago, there was a stigma attached to loving comic books, but with the increase in superhero movies and television series, it's become more mainstream.
9 Ruby Looks Up To Her Big Sister
Sibling relationships can be fraught with drama. There's tension and conflict between even the closest siblings, and younger siblings tend to look up to their older siblings. Ruby clearly has an interest in being a Huntress because of her family, but it's her sister Yang who she looks up to the most.
When Ruby first enrolls at Beacon Academy, she attempts to follow Yang around, but Yang has her own friends and quickly separates from her sister. During their initial test, Ruby hopes to be paired up with her sister instead of an older student with more experience, and looks for Yang in the woods before she ends up paired with Weiss. No one can blame her for wanting to have her sister to lean on, even if the two do go their separate ways for a while eight volumes later.
8 Ruby Is Insecure About Her Leadership Skills
The entirety of Team RWBY is surprised when Ruby is named as their leader at Beacon. She might have an extremely useful Semblance, but Ruby has less experience in a formal training setting than the older students since she's significantly younger than they are. It's strange to think of her leading the team from the outset, and comments from others definitely make her doubt herself, despite her optimistic nature.
Weiss doubts Ruby's leadership potential the most, and her comments undercut Ruby's confidence until the two grow to trust one another. In the eighth volume of the series, when Ruby actually voices her own doubts, another teammate, Blake, reassures her as well, confessing that she admires Ruby. The two older girls trusting her makes Ruby's confidence bloom.
7 Ruby's Friends Become Her Family
When the series begins, it's clear that teams of Huntsmen are practically thrown together at random. It's chance that binds them together at Beacon, not necessarily skill, which means the teams sometimes end up being a wrong fit. That's not what happens with Team RWBY or Team JNPR; both teams become incredibly close.
Outside of her own team, Ruby bonds with Jaune, Nora, and Ren while they travel across Remnant. Both groups of teenagers band together to fight Salem when no one else knows the truth behind the Grimm. They travel together, live together, fight together, and they would do anything for one another. Ruby's friendships with these six other people is something any viewer would want.
6 Ruby Avoids Her Grief With Missions
At first glance, it seems that Ruby is an eternal optimist in the series, one who never lets anything get her down. That's not entirely true. There are moments throughout the show where her resolve and confidence crack, and they most often pertain to her fear of losing people, or her grief for the ones she's already lost.
Everyone deals with loss in different ways. Ruby's the kind of person who sets a goal in front of her to avoid that loss and keep her mind occupied. It's most evident when she tries to pull Yang out of her depression by bringing her on a mission, and also evident in her reactions any time her mother is brought up, or when she shares that she's terrified of losing her teammates. Saving the world means she doesn't have to focus on her grief.
5 Ruby Has A Sweet Tooth
Everyone has their vices. What's more relatable than a character having the most common vice amongst teenagers there is: sugar?
Beyond some excitement about pancakes and a food fight in the Beacon cafeteria early in the series, food isn't a huge focal point of the show. There's too much going on to focus on what meals and snacks the teams are indulging in. The only exception is Ruby scarfing down cookies when detained at Beacon and Team RWBY loving their coffee and tea at school. Ruby, much to Weiss' disgust, takes her coffee with five sugars. No one can blame her for wanting to sweeten up the bitterness.
4 Ruby Questions Ironwood's Authority
As the story of Ozpin's betrayal and Salem's origins unfold, the audience is firmly on the side of Ruby and her friends, who want to help people and stop Salem's reign of terror. When they make it to Mantle and Ironwood, the audience is also privy to Ironwood's tightening control over everyone, including Ruby and her allies.
Ruby is one of the few people willing to come clean to Ironwood — but only when she thinks it's necessary for him to have the whole picture. The audience can't fault her for not trusting him. Ironwood might be in the biggest position of authority in the series, but it's also clear that power and control are his priorities.
3 Ruby Has Fun When Training
Though RWBY can get very dark, there are still elements of lightness, especially when Huntsmen in training get together. There's an infectious excitement amongst them. Ruby genuinely has fun learning from other potential Huntsmen as the Vytal Festival approaches and when she meets up with some of those contestants later in Mantle.
Ruby enjoying the speed offered by her Semblance, and being able to let loose alongside people with similar interests, is an important part of being a kid. Everyone needs a chance to not focus on work, school, or world-saving responsibilities.
2 Ruby Can't Resist Zwei's Puppy Dog Eyes
While he doesn't get a lot of screentime in the series, there's no denying that Ruby's dog Zwei is adorable. Wanting to have a pet by your side isn't all that unusual for someone away from home for the first time. Students away at camp or living in a college dorm frequently wish they had their cat or dog or parrot with them, and Ruby's decision to hide Zwei while she's at school is easy to understand.
1 Ruby Loves A Good Upgrade
One of the times the audience sees Ruby most excited in the show is when the group gets new clothing and repairs done to their weapons after their long journey. In the real world, teenagers might not be upgrading their scythes for war, but it's like getting a new wardrobe for a school or job change, or like getting a new expansion pack for your favorite video game. Ruby's excitement about the newness of everything is completely relatable.
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