Adam Taurus

"What you want is impossible! But I understand because all I want is you, Blake. And as I set out upon this world and deliver the justice mankind so greatly deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love."

- Adam Taurus to Blake Belladonna.

Adam Taurus is the tertiary antagonist in the world of RWBY. He is a high-ranking member of the White Fang and both the mentor and former romantic partner of Blake Belladonna.

He is voiced by Garrett Hunter (English) and Yūichi Nakamura (Japanese).

Appearance
Adam is a tall Faunus man with red hair that spikes backwards in a windswept way. While most of his hair is red, a portion of it in the back is brown. A noticeable trait of his appearance is the mask he wears, which obscures his eyes and upper face.

This mask is whitish-tan with red, Japanese style, flame-like symbols decorating the front, brown beast-like-ear pieces of cloth on the top of both sides, and two slits on each side, presumably to allow for vision. This may be a redesigned version of the Grimm masks typically worn by members of the White Fang.

Adam wears a long-sleeved black trench coat with slit sleeves and more red designs and a white symbol on the left side. His trench coat is red on the inside with red flame-like accents at the bottom and a large emblem on the back, with a white tulip design covered by a red rose design.

He wears long black pants and black shoes that are red on the bottom, and black gloves with more red emblems on their forehand, appearing to be a variant of the Greek letter Ω (Omega), the last letter in the Greek alphabet.

He wears a black belt with white domino marks on it. His appearance generally consists of black and red, similar to the color scheme used by Ruby Rose.

Background
Little is known about Adam's past or how he became affiliated with the White Fang. One night before a planned raid on a train, he is approached in his camp by Cinder Fall and her associates Emerald and Mercury under the proposition of an alliance which she believed would help both their groups. He promptly refuses, citing the unnecessary risk of his men dying for a human cause. As he orders them to leave, Blake approaches him and asks what they were discussing, to which he replies that it's unimportant and they must focus on the train.

"Black" Trailer
In the "Black" Trailer, Adam and Blake stand atop a cliff waiting for the train to arrive. When the train is about to pass, Adam and Blake slide down the cliff and leap onto the roof of the train before opening up a panel and jumping inside. Adam and Blake then find themselves surrounded by a squad of Atlesian Knight-130s. Adam's katana, Wilt, shoots out of his sheath and hits one of the androids in the head, stunning it as he rushes forward and grabs his sword, before cutting it to pieces. The rest of the androids charge in to attack Blake and Adam, but the two easily defeat them as they make their way through the train and enter a cargo hold.

Adam looks inside one of the crates and tells Blake to move up to the next car while he sets the charges, having found the target. Blake asks about the people on the train, but Adam shows no concern for them. Just then a Spider Droid lowers itself from the ceiling and attacks the pair. The two unsuccessfully fight the droid and Adam is forced to save Blake when she is about to be stepped on.

The droid then fires a large blast that knocks both Adam and Blake onto a flatbed car. Adam tells Blake to keep it distracted while he prepares for an attack. Blake fights it off, but retreats behind Adam when the droid charges for an attack. Adam uses his sword to stop the blast, seemingly absorbing the energy from it, which he then uses to destroy the droid. When Adam turns around however, he sees Blake on the next car, and the latter says goodbye to him before separating the cars.

After Blake's desertion, Adam decides to cease any pursuit of her and focus on returning to Mistral before being interrupted by Cinder Fall and her underlings slaughtering all the White Fang members in the encampment. He is forced to accept their offer, where he receives Dust and funding to continue his operations, or face death had he rejected it.

Volume 2
In "Breach", Adam is briefly seen following the Grimm invasion, conversing with Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Black. When Mercury expresses doubt that the White Fang will listen to them again after the losses they suffered, Adam reassures the trio that the organization will listen to him.

Volume 3
In "PvP", Adam is seen in a Bullhead leading the White Fang in their assault on Beacon Academy. Adam then orders his troops to bring the humans to their knees before unleashing Grimm they've brought along with them.

In "Battle of Beacon", during the Grimm invasion, he was seen tossing aside an Atlas Soldier in Beacon's dining hall, when he notices Blake, calling her "his darling."

In "Heroes and Monsters", he then states that he wishes to "light the fires of revolution" with her, provoking Blake to intervene when he attempts to stab a student from Atlas. However, he proceeds to kick her away and disarm her, stating that while her goal of peacefully striving towards equality is impossible, he can relate because he views his desire to be with her as impossible. When she attempts to shoot at him, Adam simply absorbs the energy, and declares that he will accomplish revenge by destroying her loved ones, starting with Yang.

He baits Yang by stabbing Blake in the abdomen, bypassing her Aura and provoking Yang's angry charge. He immediately intercepts her attack by severing her arm. Approaching Yang to finish her off, Blake crawls in between them to protect her. As he bemoans why Blake had to hurt him, he decapitates Blake - only to discover she used a clone as a diversion to escape. He calmly disposes of a Creep before walking away.

His whereabouts after Ruby defeated Cinder and the end of the Battle of Beacon are unknown.

Volume 4
In "Family", he appears in one of Yang's post traumatic stress-induced nightmares stalking her and eventually attacking.

Personality
Blake describes him as feeling completely justified in how he went about making the world a better place. However, his vision for a perfect future did not include everyone, and Blake began to believe that Adam himself was becoming a monster in the process of trying to obtain it. Unlike Blake, he is shown to have little regard for the lives of innocent people, as he planned to blow up the train with everyone on board.

In "Beginning of the End", he takes his cause, and the lives of his underlings seriously, rejecting Cinder Fall's initial offer of an alliance, citing the unnecessary risk of dying for a human cause. It is also hinted that he dislikes Huntsmen, sardonically stating she could have gone to one who strayed from their 'righteous path'.

In "Heroes and Monsters", Adam's ruthless personality comes to light. He is revealed to be a cruel, sadistic, bitter and vengeful man who will not let anyone or anything stop him from dispensing his twisted idea of justice upon humanity and the world. He appears to take great pleasure in tormenting Blake, taunting her by calling her "darling" or "my love" and ultimately promising to destroy everything she loves as penance for her betrayal of the White Fang and, by extension, him. He exhibits extremely possessive and violent behavior.

He is also merciless towards his enemies, slicing off Yang Xiao Long's arm with ease when she rushes him and even attempting to decapitate Blake when she appeared to stand between him and a crippled Yang.

Skills and Abilities
Adam's abilities and skills seem to be on par with that of a highly skilled Huntsmen. He is adept in swordsmanship, quickly cutting through Atlesian Knight-130s with ease. He has a preference towards the usage of "Iaido", a method in Japanese sword fighting that involves quickly unsheathing for a rapid attack and then sheathing again.

He has been shown in the trailer to be able to slash at enemies that are seemingly out of his blade's range, implying that he either moved there and back quickly or somehow extended the range of his blade. When he used Wilt to open the train car roof hatch, he moved so quickly that his strike was almost invisible to the human eye.

He will also occasionally use Blush for ranged attacks in conjunction with Wilt. Furthermore, Adam's speed is shown to enable him to deflect numerous bullets in rapid succession with Wilt and Blush. Like Blake, Adam appears to have advanced endurance, showing no signs of fatigue during an extended battle.

Adam is able to absorb or block the energy from an enemy attack and re-emit it again, usually with his sword. When absorbing attacks or shortly before striking back, the details on his body appear to glow red. When he attacks, the color appears to drain from the world and everything turns red and black. This move apparently requires some preparation, as he tells Blake to buy him some time before he is able to perform it. When he uses this ability, red rose petals are shown floating in the air, symbolizing his theme of "wilt". In "Heroes and Monsters", his first strike against Yang is so powerful that it both breaks through her Aura and completely severs her arm, all in a single hit.

Trivia

 * In Hebrew, Adam (אדם) means "Man" and Adom (אדום) means "Red." It is likely that Adam's name is a play on these two words. Adam is also known in Abrahamic religions as the first man created, possibly referencing the fact that he is the first male character to appear.
 * In the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast/Prince's name is often thought by fans to be Adam (although he is not referred to as such officially). Further similarities between Adam and the Beast are their respective roses. The Beast was transformed by a cursed, wilting rose, wilting being the operating connection, since Adam's emblem slightly resembles the Beast's rose.
 * Blake is based off of Belle, presenting further similarities.
 * Adam underwent a character re-design sometime during the development of the "Black" Trailer. In behind-the-scenes footage released by RWBY animator Shane Newville on his Vine account, Adam's original model can be seen. Adam's original model lacks his signature longcoat, instead having a black short-sleeved top with combat vest, cargo pants and combat boots. His sword, Wilt, originally had a black blade that glowed orange when making strikes, and was carried diagonally across his back rather than at his side.