User blog:Love Robin/Cardin Winchester

"This is the part where you lose."

- Cardin, while fighting Jaune Arc

Cardin Winchester is an attendee of Beacon Academy, and the leader of Team CRDL. He was first seen in the episode The First Step, in which he prepares to be launched into the Emerald Forest. In Players and Pieces, Cardin is made leader of Team CRDL.

Appearance
Cardin has burnt-orange hair that is combed backwards with a slight peak at the front and indigo eyes. He wears silver-grey armor with gold trim. The chest-plate sports a bird with its wings outstretched. Underneath the armor, he wears a black shirt with red trimmings and black pants with a red belt tied around his waist. It should also be noted that Cardin is very tall. He stands at least a head above the rest of his teammates.

History
Cardin is first seen preparing to be launched into the Emerald Forest for initiation. At some point after the initiation begins, he and his partner retrieve the one of two black bishop pieces, and they return to the cliff, completing the initiation. Cardin, his partner, and the pair that retrieved the second black bishop piece are later formed into team CRDL, of which Cardin is made the leader.

Starting from the first week at school, Cardin begins to bully Jaune Arc, whom he sees as weak. Later, the two duel in a sparring class, and Cardin easily defeats Jaune, remarking at the end of the duel that it would be fine to him if Jaune were to be eaten by a Beowolf. Later that day, he and his teammates bully Velvet Scarlatina during lunch because of her status as a Faunus. Cardin is seen pulling on her rabbit ears as Russel calls her a freak and the other team members laugh at Velvet until she leaves in tears. Cardin then watches with a menacing smile as Jaune leave the room.

Cardin continues to pick on Jaune, even during class, getting an inattentive Jaune to be called upon to answer a question, and then laughing when Jaunes gets it badly wrong. When Cardin is then asked the same question by Professor Oobleck about the advantage the Faunus had in the Battle at Fort Castle, he gives a discriminatory response. Pyrrha calls him out on his bigotry and then provides the correct response to Cardin's annoyance. After Oobleck reprimands Jaune and Cardin for their poor performance in his class, as they are leaving the class, Cardin pushes Jaune to the floor and walks away laughing. On the roof, shortly after, Jaune reveals that he lied his way into Beacon, and then sends away Pyrrha in a form of frustration and depression. Cardin appears before him and reveals that he heard their conversation from his dorm. He then promises not to tell Jaune's secret, calling him a "friend" and then puts him in a headlock, stating they will be friends for a long time as long Jaune is there for him. He then asks Jaune to do his homework for him, and calls him buddy. Shortly before leaving, he says that the secret is safe with him.

Some time later, Cardin has Jaune doing favors for him and his team. Shortly after Jaune talks with Ruby, Cardin calls Jaune in asking him to get Rapier Wasps. Jaune is also is made to fill their jars with sap the next day and then Cardin leads his team and Jaune to Pyrrha's location. Looking to get back at her, Cardin asks Jaune to throw a jar of sap at Pyrrha, following which he will release a swarm of Rapier Wasps to attack her. Even though Cardin threatens to reveal his secret, Jaune is hesitant about hurting his teammate and eventually refuses. Instead, he throws the jar at Cardin, causing sap to cover Cardin's chest plate. Cardin, along with his team grab Jaune in order to punish him.

Cardin is next seen beating up Jaune in another area of the forest as his teammates watch, telling Jaune that throwing the jar was a bad idea. After Jaune unintentionally uses his Aura to repel a blow from Cardin, a large Ursa arrives and is attracted to the sap on Cardin's chest. His team promptly abandons him, and Cardin is forced to defend himself to no avail, having his weapon knocked out of his hand. Despite him bullying Jaune, Jaune rushes to Cardin's defense, protecting him from what could have been a fatal blow. After Jaune defeats the Ursa, Cardin is impressed with Jaune's ability and expresses as much, but Jaune simply warns Cardin to stay away from his friends and his team.

Personality
Cardin's personality can compared to the classic "school bully". He enjoys picking on others for his and his team's own enjoyment. This is shown as his tormenting Velvet Scarlatina for being a Faunus, which could also reflect some prejudice towards the humanoid species. He is also shown to be excessively picking on Jaune. As of Episode 12, Cardin is shown to be quite manipulative, going as far as blackmailing Jaune in order to have Jaune do his work. In Jaunedice, Pt.2, Cardin further showed his racism and discrimination towards the Faunus by saying it is easier to train an animal than a soldier, which reflects on how he sees the Faunus as nothing but complete animals, which left Professor Oobleck disappointed.

Cardin has shown to get offended quite easily, such as when he clinched his fists in anger when Blake Belladonna commented on General Lagune's failure, which is how he will be remembered by. This may show that Cardin looked up to, or approved of General Lagune. As of Episode 12, Cardin is shown to be quite manipulative, going as far as blackmailing Jaune in order to have Jaune do his work. Cardin himself has proven to be quite cunning, to which he called Jaune a friend, sarcastically, while stating he wouldn't reveal his secret. However, this may have been Cardin's way of getting Jaune to do everything for him, in return to not tell the secret, or a trick in fooling Jaune long enough until the secret is revealed.

He is also shown to hold a grudge. In episode 13 he requests, the night before the field trip, that Jaune get him some rapier wasps. He then has Jaune get him some extra tree sap while in the forest. He plans to use both of these to get revenge on Pyrrha for humiliating him in a class by answering a question he could not. This may also show that he has pleasure in hurting others, or having others hurt people they are close to.

Despite his ability as a Huntsman, Cardin appears to be cowardly, as he tried to run from the Ursa, where not even defending himself worked.

Skills and Abilities
As of Jaunedice, he is shown to be physically superior to Jaune during their battle, seeing as how he was able to overpower him easily and be able to swing his weapon one-handedly and disarm Jaune from his shield in one hit. His current weapon is a mace.

Cardin is also rather opportunistic, as he quickly noticed an exploitable weak point to use as leverage on Jaune.

Trivia

 * The inspiration for Cardin's name is Henry Beaufort, the Bishop of Winchester and a cardinal, who presided over the trial of Joan of Arc (namesake of Jaune Arc) prior to her being burnt at the stake. Miles Luna has commented that the inspiration for Cardin's name comes from history, rather than stories, lending further credence to this allusion.
 * In keeping with his team's bird-themed naming, his first name is likely also derived from the cardinal, an American bird species.
 * Cardin is the first member of Team CRDL to have his weapon revealed as of Episode 11.