Raven Branwen

"The weak die. The strong live. Those are the rules."

- Raven, talking to her brother, Qrow. Raven Branwen is an antagonist in the American web cartoon series RWBY. She is the mother of Yang Xiao Long, the twin sister of Qrow Branwen, and was a member of Team STRQ. She is a minor anti-hero in Volume 2, Volume 4, and a major antagonist in Volume 5 of RWBY.

She is voiced by Anna Hullum in the english dub, and voiced by Megumi Hayashibara japanese dub

Background
Both Raven Branwen and Qrow were raised in a tribe that consisted, according to Qrow, of murderers and thieves.

She was a part of Team STRQ with Summer Rose, Taiyang Xiao Long, and Qrow Branwen. She was once in a relationship with Taiyang and bore a daughter with him: Yang Xiao Long. Not long after Yang's birth, she left, returning to her old tribe and eventually becoming its leader.

Volume 2
Meanwhile, Neopolitan is about to execute Yang, but a mysterious woman in red teleports in and silently challenges her, and Neopolitan flees immediately. The woman leaves just as Yang recovers, and Yang gets a brief glimpse of her rescuer before she disappears into a red portal.

In a post-credits scene, Yang heads to the Beacon courtyard at night and meets Raven Branwen, who removes her mask, revealing that she looks just like Yang with a darker color palette. Raven then tells Yang that they have a lot to talk about, as the screen cuts to black, ending the volume.

Volume 3
Yang, sitting alone in her dorm room, is visited by her uncle, Qrow Branwen. Yang unexpectedly tells Qrow that she saw her mother, Raven Branwen, when she saved her from Neopolitan in "No Brakes". Qrow reveals that he has actually been in contact with Raven, who asked him to pass on a message to her daughter, Raven saved Yang once, but will not do so a second time. Qrow muses that Raven is dangerous, with a worldview that he disagrees with, but he also offers some information that might help Yang find her.

Volume 4
In Higanbana, Qrow stays at a bar across the street from the inn. He is served a drink he did not order, which the waitress explains is from a lady upstairs with "red eyes". He goes up the stairs and is met by Raven Branwen, his sister and Yang's mother. Raven wants to find out if Salem has Ozpin's relic, but Qrow is more interested in criticizing her for not being there for Yang after she lost her arm, as well as her leading the tribe of bandits that attacked Shion. Raven in turn chastises him for leaving the tribe behind, their "family," a term Qrow objects to her using to describe "killers and thieves." Not giving her an answer she likes, Qrow asks if she can tell him where the Spring Maiden is. Raven refuses to answer and exits through one of her portals, leaving an annoyed Qrow and a startled waitress.

Volume 5
At the crash site of the cargo airship, Weiss Schnee encounters Raven Branwen and two members of her tribe, and she is knocked unconscious.

Personality
During the Beacon Arc, Qrow calls his sister a dangerous person, whose worldview clashes with his own. Nevertheless, in "No Brakes", Raven saves Yang's life from Neo, but later has Qrow warn her daughter not to expect any "further kindness."

In "Family", it is revealed that she has a "survival of the fittest" mentality and, despite having graduated from Beacon Academy as a Huntress, has little issues with taking lives of the innocent or even that of other Huntsmen, indirectly or otherwise. Raven is more serious than her brother and is somewhat demanding, focusing on her mission over family ties. She sees Qrow as a traitor for leaving their tribe. Additionally, Raven is a cynic who claims to have foreseen Ozpin's failure to protect Beacon from its destruction.

In "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back", Taiyang reveals Raven was stubborn during her academy days, had a very direct approach, and saw strength as all-important in a fight, traits that her daughter inherited. He added that Raven was ambitious, and gave her all to whatever cause she saw as just. Taiyang also revealed that Raven had a number of unspecified faults that greatly contributed to the dissolution of Team STRQ.

Whether or not she is likely to be religious, Raven does believe in the existence of the relics.

Appearance
Raven wears a shallow cut black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets. She wore gloves in Volume 2, but in Volume 4 she is seen wearing fingerless gloves.

An object that looks to be made from feathers hangs from the right side of her skirt. She also wears detached black leggings with a red splatter pattern, and black leather boots beneath them. Her most distinctive feature is a fearsome, full-face mask that resembles the face of a Creature of Grimm. The mask has four eye slits, further enhancing the character's inhuman appearance.

Under the mask, she looks very similar to Yang, sharing the same youthful appearance, facial shape, and even the fringe of her hairstyle; though her hair is black with red highlights, her eyebrows are a little bit higher, her complexion is significantly lighter, and there are slight age lines under her eyes. Raven's eye color is the same shade of red that Yang's shift to when enraged.

Trivia

 * Branwen is Welsh, meaning "blessed white raven/crow", which corresponds to her first name. Raven can refer to a number of bird species in the genus Corvus, or in reference to the color black.
 * As well as the fact that their first names, Raven and Qrow (crow), are both black birds in the genus Corvus. Specifically, ravens are a type of crow.
 * During the scene where Yang talks about her search for Raven and being saved by her uncle Qrow in "Burning the Candle", the text on the chalkboard (enlarged) is an extract from a poem about Huginn and Muninn, two ravens from Norse mythology. The text supposedly reads:
 * Hugin and Munin fly each day over the spacious earth.
 * I fear for Hugin, that he not come back, yet more anxious am I for Munin.
 * She wears the same necklace as Neopolitan and Coco Adel.
 * Her mask appears to be a more elaborately-styled version of the Grimm Masks worn by the White Fang.
 * Notably, her mask and feathered hair give her an appearance markedly similar to a Nevermore, likely referencing her name.
 * The red and black portal Raven uses is visually similar to the one created by Cinder's glove in "Beginning of the End". A similar looking portal is seen in both the Volume 1 and Volume 3 Opening animations.
 * Since Yang never mentions actually meeting Raven during her conversation with Qrow, it can be assumed that the post credit scene in Volume 2 is some kind of dream or vision.