Hello! What are some of you`r favorite character/outfit designs when it comes to RWBY? I also wonder if the designs hold any symbolical significance?
Hi!
Here are some of my favourite designs in no particular order!
1) Ruby Rose
Ruby’s design is interesting because it combines elements of both Creation and Destruction.
After all, her silver eyes are linked to Creation:
Maria: Precisely! It is the desire to preserve life which fuels the light inside you. And to make no mistake, it is light. Preservation is an extension of creation, or, at the very least, an enemy of destruction.
Still, her weapon is a scythe, which is symbolically linked to death aka Destruction:
The Grimm Reaper
Once again, we have the dychotomy Soul (the eyes) = Creation and Body (the weapon) = Destruction.
What is more, both the Silver Eyes and Crescent Rose are linked to the moon. Not only that, but as @ gatheringkeepsakes notices in this post, the moon itself is like a “scattering rose”:
Both scattering and roses are two recurring motifs in Ruby’s design.
They are clearly conveyed in Ruby’s Petal Burst, which appears as a rose scattering. Both imageries are linked to contradictive ideas.
On one hand Ruby scatters because she is flexible, has an original approach to things and can’t be restrained by gravity or any kind of obstacle. On the other hand there is this:
Maria: You know, you don't give yourself enough credit.
Ruby: Oh... Thanks.
Maria: That wasn't a compliment.
In her struggle to move forward Ruby might spread herself too thin and her petals might get lost.
Similarly, red roses are symbols of both life and death in the story.
They are associated to life in how they are linked to a young life blooming:
Blake: I know you don't always know what to do, but that's never stopped you from doing something. I was like that as a girl, but time and... a lot of other things, took their toll on me.
Ruby embodies purity also because of her young age that lets her be hopeful.
However, red roses also resemble blood:
It doesn't matter how The petals scatter now Every nightmare just discloses It's your blood that's red like roses
It is a powerful juxtaposition that fits Ruby’s character and her complicated feelings over Summer:
To Ruby Summer is both hope and despair, creation and destruction since she gave life to Ruby, but is also the girl’s first experience with death and loss.
This is why the eyes Ruby inherited from Summer are so pivotal not only in the series itself, but in Ruby’s personal arc too.
So far they are at the centre of Ruby’s story-line.
She receives knowledge about them from Maria, who plays the role of the Grandmother in Ruby’s Little Red Riding Hood allusion:
And they are linked to both creation in how they protect life, but also to destruction in how they kill Grimm. Not only that, but Ruby activating them is linked to her witnessing Pyrrha’s death and being unable to save her friend.
What Ruby chooses to do with her silver eyes, aka her mother’s legacy, will probably be her self-actualizing choice. As for now, I think she will use them to save Cinder aka the Wolf and the Victim in Ruby’s plot-line, where she plays both the Hood and the Hunter.
Speaking of which, it is fun how her hood, which clearly plays tribute to her allusion loosely connects her also to super-hero imagery, since she flies in it and uses it to cover and protect others with her semblance.
In any case, Ruby’s main challenge is to overcome her mother’s shadow and this is pretty much summed up by her emblem, which is the same as Summer’s and that Ruby must make her own.
Interestingly, these are challenges Ruby shares with her partner.
2) Weiss Schnee
Weiss’s design is similar to Ruby in how her power:
And her emblem are traits she shares with other members of her family. They represent a difficult legacy she must deal with and make her own if she wants to grow.
At the same time, both the Schnee family crest and her glyphs convey pretty clearly Weiss’s most important motif, which is snow.
This motif can be declined in two ways.
1) Snow and ice are symbolic of Weiss’s loneliness:
This is why frozen roses appear in her character short for volume 5, while the song Path to Isolation plays in the background.
The whole short is Weiss’s losing fight to melt the ice that covers her home and heart:
However, she can’t do it alone, but she needs friends and a new family to succeed.
She needs red to complement her white. This is why this color can be found pretty often in Weiss’s designs. It is symbolic of her partnership with Ruby, which plays into the allusion of Snow-White and Rose-Red (Weiss’s secondary allusion).
However, the color red also says something about Weiss herself. It conveys her hidden warmth and childishness, which she initially hides within herself:
But wears proudly later on:
2) Weiss is a snowflake (a Schnee) that looks for her own uniqueness (agency) in a snow storm (her family). She finds it little by little and builds her own character as the story goes on.
Her summons are precisely this symbolically.
This is why her most iconic one is Arma Gigas:
It represents both Weiss’s ideal self (a knight in shining armor) and her family legacy, which is possessed by an evil ghost Weiss is able to exorcise.
In other words, Arma Gigas is Weiss’s reflection. It is partial and confused when she is unsure of who she is, but finally appears when she finds herself.
Mirrors and reflections are another motif of Weiss’s character, which are underlined by her multiple character songs (the Mirror Mirror series).
Weiss has been controlled her whole life and brought up, so that she can be the perfect Schnee heiress. The result is that she does not really know who she is. She has no clear self-image.
However, she knows she wants to be more than a name and rebels against her destiny.
The signs of this defiance are seen in her design:
She adopts an asymmetrical way to style her hair to figth the image of perfection, which is requested from her. Similarly, as she struggles more against her father, she gets a scar on her face, which is symbolically a crack in the mirror she is imprisoned in.
Let’s also highlight that this mirror imagery and how it ties with her summons is used in a metaphorical way in Weiss’s fight against Marrow in volume 7.
Marrow’s allusion is The Dog and Its Reflection, which is a fable about a dog mistakenly believing his own reflection to be the real thing. He sees himself in a poddle of water carrying a piece of meat, thinks that the steak in the other dog’s mouth is bigger and lets go of his own to steal it. The end result is that he loses the meat that falls in the water.
Now, this fable means several things when it comes to Marrow. However, when it comes to his fight with Weiss, it is about him using Freeze against Weiss (the real thing), only to let go of her to stop Arma Gigas (her reflection). This leads to him being defeated by Weiss. In short, Arma Gigas acts as Weiss’s reflection in that fight and plays with Marrow’s allusion strengthening the notion that the Knight is a part of who Weiss is.
Finally, the choice to turn Weiss in a singer is interesting given her allusion. Snowhite’s singing is famous because it manages to get even to animals. However, the ones Weiss uses her singing voice to placate are not beasts, but the Atlas Elites. Given Atlas’s racism against Faunus and how this plot-line plays in Weiss’s arc, it is an interesting inversion. It is as if the true animals are the rich people of Atlas, who enjoy their superficial lives at the expense of others.
At the same time, Weiss’s two performances frame her as a singing bird in a cage. The cage might be golden, but it is still a cage.
Weiss is like a princess in Atlas and this is why a crown is incorporated in her design. However, she is unhappy and stucked in her own privilege, which is underlined (intentional or not) by her main color being white.
She is Snowhite, a princess, who is a prisoner in her own castle because of her parental abuse and it is interesting how her story counterbalances Cinderella’s own abusive story, that happens in the same kingdom, but starts at the very bottom instead than at the very top.
3) Cinder Fall
Cinder is Cinderella, but a “bad victim-version” of her. So, her chosen path to reach the top and to become a Queen has destructive and self-destructive elements to it.
This idea is especially explored in the Atlas arc, where Cinder “goes back home” and her background is revealed. Because of this, Cinder’s design in this specific arc is resonant on at least two additional levels.
1) Her design is juxtaposed to that of the two Schnee sisters. They are white, while she is black. They are ice, while she is fire.
Not only that, but Cinder has motifs she shares with respectively Weiss and Winter.
Weiss starts the story with a very frail sense of self. Her story is to break the mirror she is trapped in, so that she can grow:
I'm shattering the mirror that kept me split in pieces That stood between my mind and my heart This is where I'll start
Cinder’s sense of self is even frailer to the point that she is not just trapped into glass, but she herself is made of glass forged through heat (abuse):
Winter and Cinder are both maidens called after their respective season.
However, Winter is given her name and the maiden power is imposed on her. Her development lies in making that choice hers through friendship and trust.
Cinder is a nobody who calls herself a Maiden and decides to steal others’ powers and choices.
At the same time, fall and winter are two seasons that are close, but at the same time different. Just like Winter and Cinder come from opposite yet similar circumstances.
2) Cinder’s outfit in the Atlas’s arc fits with the chess motif she and Ironwood share.
She is the black Queen:
While Ironwood is the white King:
Ironwood loses because the King needs other pawns to work properly. He might be the most important piece on the board, but he is not the most powerful, far from it. Still, he chooses to see himself as a solitary hero and pushes others away. This ends up in him falling with Atlas.
Cinder wins because of her flexibility that fits the most powerful piece on the board.
Their different approaches are well summed up in volume 7:
Cinder: The timeline has changed.
Ironwood: The timeline has changed. And so we must change accordingly.
Both react to a change of circumstances, which is no beneficial to them. However, Ironwood becomes too rigid and fails to face the emergency, while Cinder turns the situation to her advantage.
In the end, though, Cinder stays a piece on the board. Ironically, she completes her climb to the top and ends the Atlas arc by flying away victorious, while the kingdom falls. She is a successful Queen. Still, a queen is not that different from a pawn.
Even outside the specific symbolism of the Atlas arc, Cinder’s design is a rich one.
It is mostly built on duality. Cinder is burnt (black), but also burns (red). She is also associated to autumn through her orange flames and aura to the point that the aura around her eyes resembles both leaves and fire. Similarly she falls, but also makes others fall.
This idea of Cinder as both victim and perpetrator is well conveyed thanks to her looks.
Since the first volumes, Cinder has always had two sides of her:
Her right side is visible and pretty, even embellished (look at the jewel on her ankle). However, her left side is hidden with one of her eyes usually covered.
This dychotomy becomes stronger after the Vale arc, when Cinder loses her left eye and arm. She blames Ruby for this, but the true culprit is Salem who is slowly turning Cinder into a Grimm. Since then, Cinder’s outfits have all been about asymmetry, so that she can hide her monstruous parts.
Let’s highlight that Cinder has had this tendency to cover up things she dislikes about herself since the beginning. For example, the scar on her neck being covered in all her outfits shows how much Cinder needs to project an invincible image of herself to the outside.
This happens because deep down Cinder’s self-identity is strongly dependent on how others see her. This is why her emblem (a pair of slippers) is literally given to her:
And ties to her Cinderella’s allusion together with her weapons (her other slippers).
When it comes to Cinder’s Midnight, it is interesting that it consists of a pair of swords (like Rhodes’s ) turning into a bow. It is the idea of two halves becoming a unit (another hint at Cinder’s duality) and its bow form references the rainbow phase in alchemy and the peacock whose feathers Cinder wears and that is associated with her, as @hamliet explains.
At the same time, the choice of a bow as a weapon plays into Pyrrha’s allusion where Achilles is killed by an arrow shot by Paris.
4) Pyrrha Nikos
Pyrrha’s design has three layers to it.
1) It fits Pyrrha’s allusion since it uses a classical Greek Hero aesthetic.
Not only that, but Pyrrha’s name itself plays into this imagery.
As a matter of fact Pyrrha is how Achilles is called while masked as a woman. At the same time, Pyrrha Nikos also means pyrrhic victory, so something that is officially a victory, but that feels more like a loss.
This foreshadows Pyrrha’s story since at least two of her official victories are more like losses:
Mercury forfeits, but hel gains knowledge about Pyrrha’s semblance. Later on this knowledge is used to orchestrate Pyrrha’s “win” against Penny, that ends with the robot-girl destroyed.
In general, Pyrrha has all it takes to be a winner in life. However, she dies tragically, while still too young.
This happens because her arc is written as a Greek Tragedy. In this way, her whole allusion becomes a meta-commentary of her story.
In Greek Tragedies, the character’s main foe is destiny and destiny is precisely what Pyrrha’s character explores:
Pyrrha: Do you believe in destiny?
Of course, in Pyrrha’s case, things are made more nuanced by destiny being thematically intertwined with choice. Destiny is deep down a chosen goal and this is also why it can be so painful.
Pyrrha is a girl that has always known what her destiny is:
Pyrrha: I've always felt as though I was destined to become a Huntress - to protect the world...
This is symbolically what her semblance is about:
Cinder: Hmm... People assume that she's fated for victory, when she's really taking fate into her own hands.
However, even if she seems to have her own destiny in her own hands, she ends up losing control:
Only to re-affirm her own agency in the end with a very brave, but also self-sacrificial choice.
So, Pyrrha’s story is a Greek Tragedy because it is about her struggling with destiny. Destiny is not something decided by the Gods, but what a person chooses, despite the impossible to control events of life.
2) Pyrrha’s name means also red and red is, together with gold, Pyrrha’s main color.
This color scheme ties her to fall, which fits her being the chosen Fall Maiden (just see what the Forever Fall Forest looks like)
At the same time, symbols related to “fall” in the story have usually a tragic component to them:
Fall is a season where one comes to term with the death of nature and prepares herself for the difficulties of winter.
It is a season of falling and passing:
Pyrrha: For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee.
This sad and nostalgic feel fits Pyrrha’s story.
3) The color gold coupled with Pyrrha’s metallic armour is part of a metal motif Pyrrha shares with Jaune.
Jaune is lead, while Pyrrha is gold. Pyrrha is close to self-actualization and she finalizes it with her final choice to fight Cinder, while Jaune has yet to reach that stage.
This is why Pyrrha teaches Jaune how to become a better warrior and a better person. Jaune’s journey is one to become more like Pyrrha, so that her legacy is not lost.
This is also establised through their respective weapons. As a matter of fact both have a shield and a weapon they use to attack.
However, Jaune is initially out of balance. His weapon is too heavy for him and less versitile than Pyrrha’s. Not only that, but even its evolution is unbalanced. In the Mistral arc, for example, Jaune focuses on making Crocea Mors‘s attack stronger as a symbolic commentary of his unsolved feelings of anger and grief. It is only in Atlas, after he reaches an inner equilibrium that Jaune also makes his defenses stronger.
Pyrrha is instead well balanced since the beginning. Her Miló and Akoúo̱ are complementary in combat and symbolic of inner harmony.
This is conveyed through their names. Miló is used to attack and its name means “I speak”, while Akoúo̱ is a defensive tool and it is called “I listen”. One represents a more passive/reactive approach, while the other an active one. In fights, like in personal relationships, they are both needed.
Initially, Jaune is too “active” both as a fighter:
Glynda: Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy.
And as a person since he speaks without really listening to others:
Jaune: That's easy for you to say. You've probably got guys clamoring over each other just to ask you out.
Pyrrha: You'd be surprised.
Jaune: Oh please. If you don't get a date to the dance, I'll wear a dress. Heh.
His journey has been one of growth towards “passiveness”, so he has learnt how to fight defensively and how to be more sensitive to others.
Pyrrha is instead more balanced (at least in combat, while in personal relationships she needs to be more active, like she is in the end). Still Cinder breaks Miló (steals her choice/agency) and overcomes Akoúo̱ (her defenses). She literally takes Pyrrha’s “crown”:
Just as she takes her destiny and her life.
That said, Pyrrha’s metal has been incorporated into Jaune’s weapon, so that he can keep growing and reach the harmony conveyed through Pyrrha’s emblem where her complementary weapons appear together.
5) Penny Polendina
Penny’s emblem is similar to Pyrrha’s since it has her weapon on it.
However, it holds a different meaning from Pyrrha’s one.
The imagery of Floating Array perfectly encapsulates Penny’s main conflict.
Is Penny moving the strings? Or is she moved by them?
On one hand it is obvious that Penny is the one controlling her blades. They are her weapons after all. On the other hand her blades are in fact used to hack Penny herself.
With the addition that the blades have the same power symbol that appears in Penny’s rebuilt design, it becomes clear that there is an overlapping between Penny and her weapon.
Maybe it is precisely because of this that in her human form Penny leaves Floating Array behind and creates new blades she is able to move without strings.
In general, her rebuilt design has more metal than her original one.
Her bow has a metallic component that was not present in the Vale arc and her legs are more obviously mechanical. The power symbol also makes clearer that she is an android and that she can be switched on and off by others.
This is to convey how after the time-skip Penny has less free time because of her job as the Protector of Atlas. It also foreshadows how her enemies will try to control her throughout the Atlas arc.
What is more, I like that Floating Array is on a backpack Penny always wears. It ties well with another important component of Penny’s design aka her childishness.
Penny carrying her weapon in a backpack as a girl carries her schoolbooks fits this idea that is conveyed also through her freckles, her ahoge and her overall body language.
As a matter of fact Penny’s story is about a child growing into a full person and making herself independent from her father. This is why symbolically Penny’s aura is from her dad. It is a way to convey how she is his creation that needs to grow into herself.
Penny’s final design embodies this since it highlights Penny’s humanity and her being emotionally open to others.
So, she loses the power button and all her mechanical components like her legs and her bow. She even loses her gloves to emphasize how she can now feel freely.
There is another interesting aspect of Penny’s “design”. It is not really about her, but rather about how her allusion has been played overall in her arc to comment her story with fitting imagery.
In other words, Penny’s story starts with her making friends with Ruby against her superior’s wishes. By this point she fights Lampwick instead of joining him:
It is an inversion of Pinocchio’s original story line.
Later on she dies because of two false friends:
This fits the idea of Pinocchio being tricked by the Cat and the Fox.
She comes back to life and meets a Blue Fairy (Fria) for the first time. By this point she risks to die swallowed with her loved ones because of Monstra appearing.
However, she survives and receives a human body by another Blue Fairy (Ambrosius). Still, this is only a part of Penny’s arc because she needs choice to become her own person.
This is why she meets the Blue Fairy a third time and Penny is actually the one creating her in an inversion of the original book:
Personally, I think it is cool that Winter is literally surrounded by blue aura that conveys both the idea she is ice vs Cinder’s fire, but also that she is the final Blue Fairy in Penny’s story.
Last but not least, Penny’s green tones, her name and her metallic body make her the copper character when it comes to the alchemical metals in RWBY. Copper is the metal associated with Venus and it represents love and femininity. Both attributes fit Penny perfectly.
6) Mercury Black
Mercury has two main motifs that are tied to his name.
On one hand he alludes to the god Mercury. On the other hand he embodies the metal mercury, just like Penny embodies copper.
Both imageries are conveyed perfectly through two aspects of his design.
The first one is a detail of his Atlas outfit aka his flight tag. As the wiki explains:
Mercury's flight tag, "M80-495", plays on his name. 80 is the atomic number for the element of Mercury, and the year 495 is the date of the foundation of the Temple of Mercury, the Roman god, playing to his allusion.
The second element is Mercury’s prosthetic legs that are highly symbolic and the core of his design.
In particular, his legs convey two different aspects of Mercury’s reaction to Marcus’s abuse.
1) His metallic prothesis are symbolic of the metal mercury and of how the boy weaponizes his trauma.
Marcus has clearly treated Mercury as a weapon, but instead to claim his personhood back, his son chooses to embrace the identity forced on him:
I'm the one That was born in a nightmare a murderer's son Got no gun But I gleam like a blade and I'm harder than iron
It is not by chance that the song references iron since that is the metal associated to Mars aka Marcus, instead of mercury itself.
Mercury’s journey will probably be about discovering his own identity outside his father. Still, he won’t be able to do it until he does not let go:
This is what Yang and Mercury’s foiling in volume 3 and 5 has specifically been about.
Both characters weaponize their pain, but in opposite ways.
Yang does so through her semblance. Her strategy consists in enduring and feeling the pain, so that then she can give it back with additional damage.
Mercury does so through his weapon aka his legs. He uses his unfeeling limbs to endure damage he could not withstand if he had legs made of meat and bones.
These opposite coping mechanisms are shown through the two characters having similar yet opposite weapons and fighting styles (punches vs kicks). Moreover, they come out in their fight during the Vytal Festival.
On one hand Yang wins using her semblance and is later on called out by her father:
Taiyang: Do you realize that you used your Semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers?
In a sense, it is the philosophy embodied by her semblance (you punch me, I punch you back harder) that leads her to fall for Mercury’s trap. She shoots him without properly analyzing the situation or questioning Mercury’s actions.
On the other hand Mercury loses on purpose and has Yang shoot him in the leg after his aura is broken. In other words, he is simply hurting himself more, but he does not realize it because he symbolically doesn’t feel it.
That said, volume 5 shows Yang’s progess and Mercury’s stagnation through the scene above.
Yang has started healing, while Mercury can’t really do the same. This is also why his prothesis seem made os scrap metal compared to Yang’s. It is because he has actually never started a process of elaboration of his trauma, so it still appears bare and raw.
The only thing Mercury does is to cover it up (just like Cinder with her scar). Not only that, but he also covers most of his skin. After all, this is the major change between his looks in the flashback and his appearance in volume 2. Then his arms are bare, while he covers them in the series.
Apart from that, he does not really change much, especially compared to Cinder and Emerald. This is because the second reaction Mercury has to his trauma is the inability to move on.
2) Mercury’s legs tie with his allusion to the god Mercury, but as an inversion.
According to mythology Mercury/Hermes has the power to fly and to go everywhere. However, Mercury has no legs, so he is symbolically stuck:
Tyrian: All you ever learned was pain and violence, and now you're too afraid to leave it. Such a tragedy.
This is why he can’t currently escape Salem. It is because psychologically he can only react to his situation trying to fit in more, even if he will never truly be happy where he is.
These different elements are conveyed by Mercury’s emblem, which is similar to Talaria. On one hand Mercury chooses his weapon because he sees himself as a weapon. On the other hand he chooses the embellished version of his trauma aka the cover up to the ugliness beneath.
Moreover, Mercury’s two motifs of metal and god actually convey similar thematic ideas.
Both Mercury the god and mercury the metal are about reconciling opposites and exploring boundaries.
This same concept is well represented by Mercury’s main color, which is gray. Gray is what comes out if you mix black (Mercury’s surname) and white (Mercury’s aura). It is a color symbolic of nuance and complexity.
Finally, Mercury’s allusion is not limited to his own design, but influences also Emerald’s since she plays into his allusion.
7) Emerald Sustrai
Emerald has two main motifs and they both tie with Mercury’s allusion. Moreover, they can both be found in her name.
On one hand she has a thief motif (sustrai means thief), since Mercury is the protector of thieves. On the other hand she alludes to the Emerald Tablet (emerald), which was written by the god Mercury.
These two ideas are conveyed in several ways through her design.
1) Emerald is designed to appear as a though gangster girl.
For example, this is what Thief’s Respite is about.
It consists on a pair of guns that can turn also in sickle blades and kusarigamas.
The guns complement Emerald’s cow-girl looks that are especially emphasized in Atlas, but have always been present thanks to her signature chaps. Cow-boys and cow-girls are associated with a violent world without laws and this fits Emerald’s life in the criminal world.
The kusarigamas are similarly a hint to her humble origins since they are traditionally considered a weapon for poor people in Japan.
In general, Emerald’s humble past and present potential is well conveyed also through the use of Emerald’s main color aka emerald green.
Her outfits so far have all some green on the chest (her heart) and earthy tones surrounding it.
This is a metaphor to describe what Emerald herself says in her song:
I'm the one Who rose out of filth and was loved by no-one
There is a gemstone (potential for good) inside of her, but it is surrounded by filth (her environment). Her story is about making this potential emerge more. This may also be why brown changes into black and white in Atlas. It is because “the filth” is slowly being left behind.
1) The Emerald Tablet allusion is played straight with her name and her main color.
That said, even Emerald’s Egyptian design may be a part of it. This is because Mercury has an Egyptian alter-ego in the god Thot and the Tablet is traditionally linked to Egypt as much as it is linked to Greece/Rome.
In general, Emerald looking as a an Egyptian works well with her semblance, which can be compared to mirages, both for its effect and for its aesthetic:
This desert imagery also fits with Emerald loosely resembling a snake. As a matter of fact Emerald’s red eyes and green hair with two long locks make her similar to this animal.
Why does Emerald look like a snake, though?
Once again, it has to do with her being linked to Mercury. As a matter of fact the metal mercury in alchemy can be associated to snakes. Similarly, the emerald is also the gemstone associated to the planet Mercury.
Other than this, Emerald’s design also explores her link to Cinder.
For example, her top in the Vale’s arc resembles Cinder’s own one when she took Emerald in. Even Emerald wearing heels is an attempt to look more like Cinder.
Finally, Emerald’s emblem conveys many of the topics listed above nicely.
a) Its positioning on the back is Emerald imitating Cinder.
b) It being a cut gem is about Emerald being a raw gem that needs refinement.
c) It being an emerald is a link to the planet Mercury and to the Emerald Tablet.
8) Ilia Amitola
Ilia is a character that plays in another’s allusion, like Emerald.
In particular, she is one of the many beasts in Blake’s allusion.
Adam is the Beast prisoner of his own curse (the withering rose). He is a beast the Beauty can’t save.
The Faunus as a whole are the Beast Blake wants to show the goodness of to the world.
Yang is the Beast the Beauty falls in love with.
Blake herself is the Beast who wants to redeem herself.
Finally, Ilia is the Beast the Beauty redeems.
Because of this, Ilia’s design heavily ties in her chameleon motif and it does so on many levels.
Superficially, many elements of Ilia’s appearance can be linked to a chameleon. For example, her hair are styled in a way that resembles a chameleon’s tail and Lightening Lash with its flexibility and speed is simiilar to a chameleon tongue. Even the darker spots on her skin can be seen as chameleon’s scales and her White Fang mask is a chameleon mask.
That said, Ilia’s character concept is deeper and more thematic. Ilia is a chameleon because she tries to camouflage and to fit in. She does so to survive, but it ends up damaging her in the long run. This is why Blake helps her true colors emerge and shatters the Grimm Mask she has been hiding behind.
This idea is explored through the ability of her skin to change colors. This ability highlights two opposite traits of Ilia.
On one hand she uses it to mask who she is and how she feels:
Ilia: ...and absolutely, under no circumstances, was I allowed to change colors. No one could know I was a Faunus.
On the other hand she is not always successful at this and her skin conveys her feelings:
Ilia: I lost control. Every inch of me turned blue as I wept.
This is the contradiction Ilia is built in as a character.
Finally her name Amitola means rainbow and this is probably a reference to her changing colors. At the same time, it is a fun easter egg considering Ilia is one of the first confirmed LGBTQ+ characters in the show.
These are some of my favourite designs and I hope you enjoed my analysis of them!
I would add Neopolitan and Ren’s designs are faves as well, but I have no energy left to analyze them :’’’) Maybe in another meta!
Finally, there are some designs like Adam, Tock and Sienna Khan that are great, but underused. Of these, I think the most wasted one is honestly Adam’s. He is given an exceptionally rich design, but the story fails to properly capitalize on it.
Thank you for the ask! I had much fun doing this!
