White Fang (RWBY)

The White Fang is a radical political organization in the world of RWBY. It is first mentioned in the pilot episode. Described as being a "once peaceful organization," the White Fang is reported to have disrupted a Faunus civil rights protest. Further comments in Jaunedice, Pt.2 and The Stray confirms that The White Fang is a Faunus terrorist group that is using violent means to counter the perceived and actual discrimination suffered by the Faunus race. It is described as being in a bloody conflict with the Schnee Dust Company that has included thefts, kidnappings, murders and sabotage of SDC activities.

Weiss Schnee claimed that The White Fang's objective is the genocide of the human race. It is unclear how accurate this statement is or if it is on how she interprets the situation; Weiss is understandably biased against the movement. However, it is interesting to note that Blake Belladonna did not deny this accusation, instead justifying it as their being "misguided" and "tired of being pushed around".

History
After The Faunus War, the White Fang was founded as a symbol of peace and unity between Faunus and Humans. However, mankind continued to discriminate the Faunus forcing the White Fang to become the voice of the Faunus.

Initially, these took the classical forms of non-violent political protest with such tactics as mass rallies and boycotts of organizations that discriminated against Faunus in any way. Then, approximately five years before the present day, after fruitless attempts to be accepted by the Humans as equals, the leader of the White Fang stepped down and was replaced by a new leadership who didn't share his/her beliefs of true peace between the Faunus and the Humans and though these actions, the White Fang adopted it's current violent and aggressive behaviour. Amongst the direct actions organized were the fire-bombing of stores that refused to serve faunus and the theft or sabotage of cargo trains originating from organizations that used faunus labor.

Under its new leadership, the White Fang retaliated against the people and organizations who once treated them as lesser beings and slaves. Ironically, in an attempt to gain equality and make the faunus race free from fear, the White Fang itself had become a cause of fear and hatred amongst humans and faunus alike. If some humans now treated faunus as equals, it was not out of any true respect but only from their fear of the actions of the White Fang.

The Schnee Dust Company is a particular recent target of White Fang. In The Shining Beacon, Blake criticised the company, claiming it was notorious for its "controversial labour forces" and this seems to mesh with her later statement that White Fang targeted companies that exploited faunus labourers. It is unknown if the SDC really does abuse Faunus workers or if it is just targeted as a prominent human corporation that employs large number of Faunus workers.

Activities
Amongst the known crimes committed by The White Fang has been the murder of several SDC executives and the theft of a whole train car full of Dust. Additionally, White Fang is stated to have "disrupted" more peaceful Faunus rights activities, causing them to turn violent. They now set fire to shops that refuse to serve the faunus, steal cargo that use faunus labor and orchestrate organized attacks. Previously, the White Fang had participated in peaceful protests until their turn to violence.

During Black and White, it is revealed that The White Fang and Roman Torchwick have what Roman calls a "joint business venture"; despite Roman's and White Fang's prejudices against each other's species, they have decided to work together. However, knowingly or unknowingly, the organization is, in fact, following the agenda of the mysterious super-criminal Cinder Fall.

The attempted Dust heist in Black and White also demonstrate the degree to which White Fang has developed as a powerful paramilitary organization in the five years since it has begun openly espousing a military solution to the issue of faunus discrimination. The organization deploys at least five Bullheads to steal large shipping containers full of Dust. Unlike the normal civilian models, at least three of these aircraft were equipped with fast-firing machine-cannon under the nose. Additionally, each aircraft was carrying a dismount squad of at least five fighters, equipped with rifle-like weapons and swords, who are clearly trained in airborne assault tactics. This demonstrates the degree to which the organization has become a serious military power in its own right.

Members
Blake is shown to be a former member of White Fang from her use of the pronoun 'we' when discussing the movement with Weiss. It is logical to assume that Adam Taurus is also a member given that the two were involved together in an attempt to destroy a SDC cargo train. Blake was clearly disturbed at the thought of murdering the train's crew but still fought to prevent the shipment from reaching its destination, cutting it loose from its locomotive so that the cargo could be stolen.

Blake later told Weiss that she regarded the White Fang's members as 'misguided'. Although she clearly still espouses the movement's core beliefs, it is also clear that she no longer agrees with the methods it is using to achieve its ends, and would prefer to gain equality through other means that don't require violence.

It is revealed that the White Fang's former leader advocated peaceful protests and rallies, but the new leader had a new way of thinking and replaced the protests with organized attacks, which was the main reason Blake left.


 * Blake Belladonna (former member)
 * Adam Taurus

Weaponry and Abilities
Veteran members such as the likes of Adam Taurus and Blake Belladonna are shown to be extremely skilled operatives with unique weaponry. The mainstream members however have rifles and swords as weaponry, however they are seen to be able to deploy from Bullhead VTOLs and land on their feet.

Trivia

 * The White Fang shares its name with a novel written by Jack London, as well as the character the novel is named after. The novel follows the perspective of White Fang, a wolfdog, as he sees the world of humans and endures the hardships it brings, which turn him savage. By the end of the novel, White Fang is tamed by a man named Weedon Scott, and his savage nature turns into a more peaceful one, until he eventually saves Scott's life.