Raven Branwen

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

- Raven, talking to her brother, Qrow. Raven Branwen is a major 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.

Taiyang had a very direct approach, and saw traits that her daughter inherited.Taiyang also revealed that Raven had a number of unspecified faults that greatly contributed to the dissolution of Team STRQ. She is a minor anti-hero in Volume 2 and Volume 4, and a major antagonist in Volume 5 of RWBY.

She is voiced by Anna Hullum in the original English version, and by Megumi Hayashibara in the Japanese dub.

History
Raven Branwen and Qrow were raised in a tribe of murderers and thieves.

Volume 2
Raven first appears when Neopolitan is about to execute Yang, teleporting in and silently challenging her, and Neopolitan flees immediately. Raven 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 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 is visited by her uncle, Qrow Branwen. Yang tells Qrow that she saw her mother when Qrow reveals that he 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 offers some information that might help Yang find her.

Volume 4
In Higanbana, Qrow stays at a 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 Raven wants to find out if Salem has Ozpin's relic, but  the tribe of bandits attacked Shion. Raven chastises him for leaving the tribe behind, their "family," a term Qrow objects to her using to describe "killers and thieves." 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. She is also revealed to have the Spring Maiden among her tribe, having presumably taken the latter in once she ran from her responsibilities as a Maiden.

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.