Glyphs

Overview Image Gallery

Glyphs Shield Projectiles Summoning User Weiss SchneeNegative WeissWinter SchneeWillow Schnee Type Movement, Creation (Unofficial) Target Self, Others Media First Appearance ""White" Trailer"

Glyphs[1] are the hereditary Semblance shared by the members of the Schnee Family. The known users are the sisters Weiss Schnee and Winter Schnee, and their mother Willow Schnee.

When the Schnees use their Semblance, they create a flat glyph which has a variety of effects, from moving to conjuring avatars to creating Dust formations. The Glyph has the same design as the Schnee snowflake family symbol. Different effects have different Glyph designs.

Glyphs can be used as a solid shield or barrier, as seen while Weiss fought the Boarbatusk in "The Badge and The Burden, Pt.2". Glyphs can also be used to accelerate objects both through the air and over surfaces, as seen in "Players and Pieces".

Glyphs have a variety of effects on objects, monsters, and people. They can be for propulsion, as they have the ability to control motion, with the basic Glyph type exerting push forces on other objects and acting as a solid surface. The appearance of said objects changes with different types of Glyphs, three examples being her Time Dilation Glyphs, Arma Gigas Summoning Glyphs, and Queen Lancer Summoning Glyphs.

One variant of Glyphs, called Time Dilation,[2] speeds up actions[3] and is the result of mixing Lightning Dust with the Semblance.[4] Glyphs are also able to confer these enhancements upon other people, as seen when Weiss enhances Blake's speed during their fight against the Atlesian Paladin-290 in "Painting the Town...". A black version of the basic Glyph, which exerts pull forces, appears to result from the use of Dust, as evidenced by Myrtenaster's Dust chamber revolving in the "Volume 5 Weiss Character Short".[5]

In the RWBY x Justice League comic, it is revealed that Weiss' Glyphs can be used as a power source, presumably through centrifugal energy, as she was able to restore the power to Victor Stone's cybernetic body parts by replacing his Dust batteries with a Glyph.[6]

Another application of Glyphs is Avatars. According to Winter in "Lessons Learned", members of the Schnee family are able to summon avatars of foes that they have previously defeated in combat and bring them to fight for their side. It is likely that this only extends to Grimm, as those are the only such foes whose avatars have been used.

Weiss' Semblance, Glyphs

Weiss often uses her Glyphs for propulsion, as they have the ability to control motion. Using Myrtenaster, she modifies these Glyphs by changing which Dust vial is in use, giving a wide variety of effects. In the official board game, RWBY: Combat Ready, she can use her Semblance as a "Deflection Glyph".[7]

In "Lessons Learned", while helping Weiss practice summoning, Winter instructs her to think about foes that caused her to push past who she was and become who she is. The foe that Weiss concentrates on is the Arma Gigas she had previously defeated in the "White" Trailer. As time goes on, she makes slow progress summoning it - from a tiny sword in "Lessons Learned" to an arm and a sword in "Heroes and Monsters" to the full avatar in "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back", albeit much smaller than the real one.

In "Tipping Point", Weiss accidentally summons the Boarbatusk she defeated in Peter Port's class using her Semblance, marking another non-deliberate summoning, though this time of a full-bodied creature.

In "Dread in the Air", it is revealed that avatars can also teleport via Glyphs and react to events outside of Weiss' field of view, suggesting a degree of autonomy or that Weiss can perceive the world to some extent through the perspective of her avatar.

She can change the size of her avatars, either shrinking them or make them grow to their true size, as seen in "Unforeseen Complications" and "Lighting the Fire".

In "Downfall", Weiss summons the Queen Lancer she defeated in the airship battle to impale Hazel and draw him back into the school building.

In "Dark", Weiss attempts to summon a Nevermore, but it was swiftly defeated.

In "Worthy" Weiss summons the Arma Gigas sword as a shield to protect herself and civilians from projectiles fired from Cinder. She also used the Arma Gigas sword during her land strategy in "Ace Operatives".

In "Rude, Red, and Royal" Weiss manages to use the feather projectiles of her Nevermore avatar and the sword of her Arma Gigas without fully summoning them. She fully summons the Nevermore to fight the Curious Cat in "Of Solitude and Self", but it is eventually destroyed.

In "The First Step, Pt.2", Weiss uses her Glyphs as solid platforms to leap off of during her descent. She also uses a Glyph as a solid shield or barrier during her battle against the Boarbatusk in "The Badge and The Burden, Pt.2". She is also seen using her Glyphs to accelerate objects both through the air and over surfaces in "Players and Pieces" and various other occasions. On one occasion, her Glyph turned red while she launched Ruby towards a Nevermore.

Upon training in Atlas, Weiss displayed a level of mastery over her Semblance, as seen where she could activate and use several different Glyphs while in combat.

In "With Friends Like These", she use her Glyphs to create several ice spikes while simultaneously summoning her Arma Gigas.

Despite their durability, Glyphs are not completely indestructible: when her cargo ship began to fall out of the sky, her gravity Glyphs were ripped apart. During her fight against Cinder Fall, the latter was able to burn through them with ease.

Winter's Semblance, Glyphs

Winter's Glyphs have many of the same effects that her sister's does, most notably including the ability to exert forces on herself and objects, which Winter uses to increase her speed to superhuman levels and boost jumps.

Like Weiss and other members of the Schnee family, she can also summon avatars of her past enemies to fight for her. Unlike Weiss at first, she displays great mastery of this aspect of her Semblance. Her avatars are known to include Beowolves along with a Manticore which she can use as flight transportation. She can also change the size of her avatars as well, often summoning dozens of small Nevermores. Her avatars take on a white-blue coloration and emit a soft glow.

After becoming the Winter Maiden, she was easily able to use her new powers due to her Semblance already functioning like a spell being cast, which increased her understanding of her powers. Because of this, the Nevermores she summoned against Cinder were boosted by her Maiden powers.[8]

In "Dark", Willow summons a Boarbatusk to protect her son from The Hound, during its hunt in the Schnee Manor.

Unlike Weiss, she had a different Glyph symbol since it took shape because of the Nightmare and she was far stronger due to being a Nightmare counterpart. She was capable of using her Glyphs beyond impossibility like transportation, summoning Grimm, and using Dust much stronger than Weiss could.

In "Do You Have a Plan?", Negative Weiss was capable of summoning limited supplies of Dust to refill her weapons. She was also capable of summoning Grimm without defeating them.

In "Where You Belong", Negative Weiss teleported herself to Ruby, Blake and Yang's location to banished Blake and Yang far away with her teleport Glyph.