In Rooster Teeth’s anime series RWBY, brave Huntsmen defend the world of Remnant against creatures called Grimm. While a lot of that defense comes in the form of intense fight training and the use of magic-like Semblances, Huntsmen also have specialized weapons. Their weapons are often a reflection of their fighting style or personality. For example, Yang Xiao Long’s Ember Silica has explosive punches, just like Yang’s temper, and is complementary to her Semblance.
For Ruby Rose, she has a weapon that is the high tech version of a classic. Crescent Rose is a scythe that can also be used as a rifle. It rarely leaves Ruby’s side. From Ruby’s first introduction to Professor Ozpin, fans learn that it takes some serious skill to wield a scythe like Crescent Rose, but here are 10 more things fans might not know about Ruby’s weapon of choice.
10 Crescent Rose Was The First Weapon Named Aloud In The Series
All of the weapons aren’t just functional in the series, they’re also sentimental. Every Huntsman has a named weapon that they care for and use for their entire time on the job.
Ruby’s weapon is especially sentimental because she doesn’t just name it based on its skill. She makes her weapon part of her family, sharing her name with it. Crescent Rose also happens to be the very first weapon to be named within the series. Most of the other weapon names are only known thanks to concept art or question and answer sessions with the creative team behind RWBY.
9 Ruby Built Her Weapon
Since this bit of information is mentioned, some fans might be aware of the fact that Ruby built her own weapon. It was, however, mentioned way back in the first volume of the series, so some fans might have forgotten.
Before attending Beacon Academy, Ruby studied at Signal Academy. It’s a tradition for students to forge their own weapons at Signal. That means the students from Signal know the ins and outs of their weapons better than a Huntsman who picked one up from somewhere else and could design a weapon to fit their fighting style exactly.
8 Crescent Rose’s Design Is Inspired By Harbinger
Though Crescent Rose is all Ruby, right down to the color scheme, Ruby did take some inspiration from a different weapon.
While attending Signal Academy, Ruby’s teacher happened to be her uncle Qrow Branwen. It’s Qrow who taught Ruby to wield a scythe, to begin with. Ozpin even references not knowing anyone who could fight with a scythe better than Qrow. As a result of learning from his fighting style, Ruby designed Crescent Rose with Qrow’s own scythe, Harbinger, in mind.
7 It Has Two Different Scythe Modes
Most of the weapons in RWBY convert into a second type of weapon. The exception to that rule is something like Jaune Arc’s sword. There is no gun built into it, unlike the majority of other weapons in the series. Ruby’s scythe, however, has two different scythe modes in addition to having a rifle barrel.
The standard scythe mode features Crescent Rose with its scythe out. That’s how fans most often see it. Crescent Rose, however, can be extended further for maximum reach and damage in its “war scythe” mode, meaning it’s even more battle-ready. There’s less curvature to the blade in this particular mode.
6 Crescent Rose Has A Massive Recoil
With the way Ruby wields Crescent Rose, it might seem like the rifle aspect of the scythe has no recoil at all. That’s not the case. Ruby simply adapts her fighting style to work with the recoil.
When Ruby uses Crescent Rose as a rifle, she often shoots while jumping onto the weapon itself, or while hanging onto it. The recoil then propels her into the air, giving her the effect of flying.
5 It Has Been Used In An Impossible Fashion
The firing part of Crescent Rose is a “bolt-action” rifle. That means it shoots single shots at a time. Within the series, however, it has made some impossible shots.
During one battle with Roman Torchwick, Ruby inexplicably is able to use Crescent Rose as if it’s an automatic weapon. The rapid-fire bullets are only seen in that single fight, so it’s not clear if it was a mistake on the part of the creative team, or if Crescent Rose has more tricks built-in than fans know.
4 An Atlas Upgrade Added Rotation
For the seventh volume of the series, Team RWBY and their allies made their way to Atlas. The visit gave everyone a chance to get some new clothes and have their weapons upgraded.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like Crescent Rose gets an upgrade - until the weapon is seen in use in a fight. Pietro Polendina added one simple thing to the scythe. The blade doesn’t sit still when extended anymore. Now, the blade can rotate 180 degrees so that Ruby can take on enemies on either side of her without having to turn around.
3 A Tribute Version Of The Weapon Honors Monty Oum
The anime-themed social networking platform Gaia Online is built around a love for gaming. Its users can discuss games and anime in forums where they can also nab avatars designed for the site. When RWBY creator Monty Oum passed away from a severe allergic reaction, the community developers created a weapon that could be used in avatars.
Modeled after Crescent Rose, its name is Red Crescent instead. Its tagline also read “keep moving forward,” a quote originally attributed to Walt Disney, but also used by Oum.
2 Four Different Kinds Of Dust Ammunition Have Been Used In Its Rifle
Dust is a substance that can be used to increase different abilities in the series. For example, Cinder Fall enjoyed sewing Fire Dust into her clothing to increase her own ability to superheat objects. Ruby can use Dust with Crescent Rose provided she uses the ammunition version of Dust.
So far, she’s only used four different kinds of Dust as rounds in her rifle. She’s used Fire Dust and Ice Dust, both of which allow Crescent Rose to shoot flames or pieces of ice, respectively. Ruby has also employed Gravity Dust to make the recoil of Crescent Rose even larger to project her further. Lightning Dust shoots out lightning projectiles that would normally paralyze a target, though, in Ruby’s case, she shot it at Nora Valkyrie to increase her friend’s strength in battle.
1 Crescent Rose Has Appeared On The Big Screen
RWBY has never had its own big screen movie - at least not yet. While the series is available to stream directly through Rooster Teeth, as well as a few other streaming outlets, at least one character has appeared on the big screen.
Ruby wielded Crescent Rose as part of a massive battle sequence in Ready Player One. The movie, based on the book of the same name, brought many pop culture icons to the big screen. Ruby and her scythe are pretty difficult to spot, but Rooster Teeth did grant permission for them to be used in the movie.