The world of Remnant that Roosterteeth's RWBY is set in is far from a hospitable place. With creatures of Grimm lurking outside the safety of Kingdom walls and plots to destroy the Kingdoms going on, the residents of this world are under constant threat.
But, as it stands, the one thing that gets in the way of all of these evil forces are the huntsmen that take on dangerous missions. They ensure the safety of the Kingdoms and various settlements outside of them every day. Most fans of the series would agree that taking on such a job would be daunting.
10 The Job Board Can Be Misleading
When a huntsman takes a mission from the job board, all they're given to work with is the description of what they're doing. From there, anything can happen. They can either walk into exactly what they signed up for, or it can be nothing at all like they were expecting. Team RWBY's escapades in Mountain Glenn are a clear example of that, where what was supposed to be a simple scouting mission turned into a straight assault on the White Fang's train. This ended up causing Team JNPR's mission to get derailed as well.
9 The Creatures Of Grimm Are Relentless And Can Overwhelm On Solo Missions
While the main cast of characters can make short work of Grimm as a larger unit, a huntsman taking a job independently might have a harder time. This does come with some exceptions in terms of abilities.
Huntsmen are more likely to be overwhelmed if put in a precarious position on their own. For example, when they're defending a town from a full-scale Grimm invasion. Even the strongest huntsmen can quickly run out of resources to use, while the Grimm's resources are seemingly endless.
8 Losing Teammates Would Hurt But It's Likely An Unavoidable Reality
Tragedy comes with the job as a Huntsman, and many skilled teams have lost members to the seemingly endless fight against Grimm. Clear cases of this include Team STRQ, Team JNPR, and Team BRNZ. A team's cohesion can easily be broken up by the death of a member. At best it'll be a burden they carry with them forever. In worse cases, it'll be a loss that only leads to more death for the team.
7 Semblances Can Either Be A Blessing Or A Curse
Not everyone on Remnant will get a helpful semblance, like with the variety of powers that Team RWBY has to work with. Some unlucky huntsmen will end up with semblances like Qrow's misfortune or Ironwood's Mettle. These semblances mostly work against their owners.
Not all huntsmen will be cursed with these semblances. For example, in some cases, huntsmen would be better off not discovering their semblance out of concern for developing one of these detrimental abilities.
6 Faunus Huntsmen Still Have To Put Up With Discrimination
If the hostilities of Grimm and Salem's minions weren't enough of a problem, another problem is the discrimination that the faunus have to deal with on top of all of that. A faunus huntsman would have to handle people kicking them out of their businesses or worse. While steps have been taken around Remnant to give faunus better treatment, certain people will likely never change. Faunus huntsmen simply have to hope that the town they're protecting will appreciate their presence, or find a way to hide their faunus trait.
5 Bandits Would Easily Disrupt Any Simple Job
Grimm are not the only threat that huntsmen find themselves at odds with in the field. Bandits can raid entire villages and towns, ransacking them. These bandits can come with unpredictable weapons and semblances at their disposal, making for a daunting encounter.
What makes these encounters with bandits worse is that after the destruction happens, Grimm can come in to attack and finish off any survivors of the initial attack. The gravity of this is multiplied when the intense negativity of one of these bandit attacks is likely to draw in stronger Grimm creatures.
4 Getting Dragged Into The Greater Conflict With Salem Would Suck
This isn't always guaranteed to happen to huntsmen. However, the most skilled huntsmen would eventually gain knowledge of this eons-old conflict. The worst thing about knowing this information is being unable to do much about it. The main characters have taken direct action, but even then they received some knowledge that Ozpin wouldn't have told them directly. Most huntsmen dragged into this conflict don't know the truth about Salem's immortality, and would likely continue fighting till they died.
3 Mortality Rates In This Job Are High
Huntsmen frequently die on the job. This can be a result of a misleading job listing or even a simple slip-up in skill. This can even happen before their training is completed, like with what happened to Hazel's sister, Gretchen. The worst part about this is how the fatalities aren't that uncommon when it comes to being huntsmen – to the point where certain characters like Qrow and Roman are incredibly jaded about that fact.
2 Betrayals Can Come From Anywhere
The life of a huntsman is full of betrayal from anywhere and everywhere. Headmaster Lionheart betrayed countless huntsmen in Mistral by sending them on suicide missions that likely led them directly into Salem's forces.
Betrayals don't have to be as major as being sold out to Salem; they can be smaller. Sometimes it could be a matter of money, whereas other huntsmen might betray their teammates and allies for monetary benefits.
1 Dust Is Not A Cheap Expense
If a huntsman needs dust for their weapon, they might be in for a rude surprise when it comes to expenses. While this is often glossed over for the main protagonists, the limited resource that is dust can cause problems for huntsmen dependent on it.
This matter is only multiplied by events that happened throughout RWBY. Dust was stolen by the White Fang's forces or Roman Torchwick, and Ironwood's dust embargo throttled the widespread sale of the valuable resource across Remnant.