James Ironwood

Gen. James Ironwood (ジェイムズ・アイアンウッド, Jeimuzu Aianuddo), is both a fictional character and deuteragonist from the Project Blazblue's Tales of RWBY series created by Monty Oum and Kōsuke Fujishima. He was the Headmaster of Atlas Academy.

He was also a general and renowned military leader in the Atlesian Military, as well as a holder of two seats on the Atlesian Council. For currently unknown reasons, the entire right section of his body (later his left arm) has been replaced with a robotic prosthesis.

He was also a important member of a secret brotherhood led by Ozpin, whose purpose is to protect Remnant. As such, James has knowledge kept secret from most of the world, despite disagreeing with Oz over using military force to handle threats head-on.

Originally when he was introduced, he was a friend. But, with two criminals causing chaos, learning he was lied and they were coming, he betrays them and intended on raising Atlas out of reach. He was killed when Atlas crashed into Mantle and both cities were flooded.

"I will sacrifice... whatever it takes... to stop them."
 * —General James Ironwood, declaring his conviction to Arthur Watts.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Jason Rose (English), Masaki Terasoma (Japanese), Not Known (Albanian), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Cantonese), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (Galician), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hong Kong), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Indonesian), Not Known (Isralian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Mandarin), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Tagalog), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Valencian), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

Original (Volumes 1–3)
James is shown to be well dressed and clean, much like Ozpin. He wears a white overcoat, with a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red necktie and a white glove on his right hand. His suit pants share the same color as his overcoat and are tucked into silver boots accented in gray.

While Team RWBY and the others were on a mission at Mountain Glenn, James mentions that his left arm is acting up. During the Battle of Beacon, it is revealed that his entire right side is cybernetic.

He has grown stubble and his hair is black, with some gray areas, while his eyebrows are solid black. He has a strip of silver metal above his right eyebrow, a neurotransmitter that helps him operate the robotic parts of his body.

In both concept art and the Volume 3 Opening, James is shown wearing battle armor on his shoulder, with straps forming an 'x' over his overcoat. He is also showed wearing two large belts over his coat. Interestingly, this design was never used in the show.

Post-Timeskip (Volumes 4–Current)
After the Fall of Beacon, his appearance became less pristine in his figure. He has a fully grown beard, and his hair is slightly messier and more disheveled. Ironwood wears a dark-blue collared shirt and red tie, along with a white coat with blue and red accents. He wears a white vest over the collared shirt, with two dark-blue belts, one across his chest, the other around his waist. Lastly, he now sports blue pants and boots.

Following his battle with Arthur Watts, the entirety of Ironwood's left arm is burned by Arthur's Rings, damaged to the point where Watts hints that it may need to be amputated and replaced with cybernetics. Once Ironwood arrives back in Atlas Academy, he bandages it and wears a sling over the arm.


 * Hair Color: Black (Greying)
 * Skin Color: White
 * Eye Color: Blue
 * Age: Not Known
 * Birthday: Not Known
 * Height: 6'6" (1.98 meters)
 * Weight: Not Known

Personality
James was courteous to his allies, as shown by his first onscreen interaction with Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch. He was also far-thinking and tactical, wondering about the future, as seen when he spoke to Ozpin about Qrow's message. He also had a jovial, friendly, humorous and proud public persona, which he used as a spokesman for the weapon manufacturers of Atlas. He also respected courage, loyalty, selflessness, and duty above all in people and displayed a generous personality.

This was evident in him compensating Yang Xiao Long with an Atlas-tech prosthesis before her father, came to ask him for one. Consistent with this was his disdain for people who were apathetic to the problems and safety of the world's populace. He held contempt for a socialite at a Schnee fundraising event when he commented Weiss was the only person making sense there.

Though courageous yet bullheaded, James was rather sympathetic towards those who abstained from combat in dire circumstances, as was shown when he gave the students at Amity Colosseum the choice to fight or flee to safety during the Fall of Beacon. This showed that while he valued the dutiful and strong of will, he remained mindful that not everyone was suited to a life on the front lines of war. However, as courteous as James appeared, he could also be incredibly blunt and bullheaded, often preferring the direct approach.

When he felt necessary, Ironwood was not afraid to bring the full might of his military command to bear, which sparked disagreements with both Glynda and Ozpin. Nevertheless, Ironwood was extremely loyal to his comrades, and however questionable his methods were, he seemed to have genuinely good intentions behind them. However, for all his good intentions, he did have a number of flaws. Ironwood consistently believed his ideas were justified, something he did not deny.

This lead to a more proactive yet headstrong approach to problems and attempting more preemptive measures, as opposed to Ozpin's more subtle, reactive and analytical methods. Ironwood also didn't care about Ozpin's rules which was shown when he created the Ace-Ops, a five person team that lacked a color theme because he preferred an efficient team. Another flaw was the double-standards he had that others noticed; In "Mountain Glenn", Glynda mentioned that Ironwood was always asking people to trust him, but had shown to very hesitant to trust others in return.

In "Worst Case Scenario", he attempted to rebuke Nora's criticisms on the negative effect his regime was having on Mantle by claiming that everyone was making sacrifices, but Nora retorts that so far Mantle was bearing all of the burden. In "Breach", James went behind Ozpin's back by reporting his actions to the Vale Council and having his authority over the Vytal Festival's security transferred to Ironwood, which he felt was necessary to ensure the protection of Vale.

But in "Gravity", his reaction to finding out that Yang and Blake went behind his back to tell Robyn Hill about the Amity project and helping her escape capture was that of outrage, screaming that "Loyalty ALWAYS matters!". In "Ultimatum", he blamed Mantle for all the problems he dealt with when it was ultimately his actions that led to it. Due to the events of the Fall of Beacon, James suffered from a degree of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and an increased desperation to stop Salem by any means.

This, while coupled with his typical bullheadedness and bluntness made him make several decisions that led to many of his own people from Atlas to see him in a bad light due to the countermeasures he had implemented. Of those, Jacques, Robyn, Pietro Polendina and Councilmen Sleet and Camilla began doubting his state of mind and the honesty of his intentions.

James' military status resulted in his oversight of all scientific and research-based endeavors under his jurisdiction, such as the unethical Aura experiments by the Atlas Military in Aura transference and life supports used to prevent the Fall Maiden's powers from being assimilated by Cinder Fall. James knew he was treading into ethical gray areas, but bitterly swallowed any of his possible discomforts and criticisms from others for the sake of global safety and his loyalty to Ozpin's Group.

James was also well aware of his bad reputation, but was willing to sacrifice what it took if it meant both protecting his Kingdom and stopping Salem. He also chose to trust Ruby's Group with his secrets, claiming that in order to defeat Salem they needed to trust one another. In "As Above, So Below", he began to start expressing doubt about his actions and believed that he had only helped Salem's plans move forward. Upon learning the truth about Salem and Ozpin, he was shocked at being lied to.

However, he was willing to focus on saving Mantle and at first seemed to have taken the truth well after advice from Oscar Pine. He was also willing to finally tell the truth about Salem and work with Robyn despite ordering her arrest. During his fight with Arthur Watts in "Gravity", he showed no hesitation when he sacrificed his only remaining Human hand to get out of his trap. This action represented him losing another part of his Humanity. As of "Gravity", once he learned Cinder was in Atlas, as well as the lies from Ruby's Group and that Salem was coming, Hames resorted to drastic measures.

Now more distrustful than ever before, he believed the entirety of Ruby's Group betrayed him, leading him to commit many unethical acts in order to prevent Salem from winning, due to him feeling like her arrival was a personal matter. He decided to abandon Mantle despite the people not being fully evacuated and use the Relic of Creation to raise Atlas into the sky instead of Amity Tower, abandoning his original plan to solely save the city instead. He also planned on putting the entire Kingdom of Atlas in a state of martial law without the council's approval.

He even went so far as to shoot Oscar without any hesitation afterwards so he could proceed with his plans. He performed many of these actions because he believed that he was backed into a corner and was doing the only sensible thing. Miles Luna believed that if Ironwood allowed himself to be more vulnerable more often, then things would have gone differently between him and Ruby's Group. As of "Divide" James took even more extreme actions than before, such as when he killed Councilman Sleet when he questioned his decision of declaring martial law and forcing Arthur to work with him at gunpoint in order to hack Penny Polendina to bring her back.

His most ruthless actions were shown in "Ultimatum", when he wanted to use Yang, Ren, and Jaune as leverage against Penny and later prevented the SDC from evacuating Mantle so he could hold it hostage with a bomb to force Penny back to his side. After he escaped his cell in "Worthy", he decided to kill Jacques Schnee after he asked if he would help free him too by vaporizing him with his cell. After being betrayed by Winter Schnee, he shed a tear before engaging her in battle.

He became even more fixated on keeping Atlas away from Salem despite it being already too late. He also stated that it's everyone's fault for everything bad that had happened to the Kingdom, refusing to acknowledge his own actions in the process. In "The Final Word" after Cinder told him it's checkmate, James accepted his defeat before his death. James also had an immense interest and love for astronomy, later choosing to reflect that in his office at Atlas Academy.

Friends/Allies

 * Winter Schnee

Family

 * Patty Fleur (granddaughter)

Neutral

 * Jacques Schnee
 * Team RWBY
 * Ruby Rose
 * Weiss Schnee
 * Blake Belladonna
 * Yang Xiao Long
 * Team JNPR
 * Jaune Arc
 * Nora Valkyrie
 * Lie Ren
 * Ozpin's Group
 * Ozpin
 * Qrow Branwen
 * Oscar Pine
 * Happy Huntresses
 * Robyn Hill

Rivals

 * Zaveid

Enemies

 * Abbey
 * Melchior Mayvin
 * Demon's Inner Circle
 * Salem
 * Arthur Watts
 * Alexei Dinoia

Abilities and Powers
James Ironwood was an impressive marksman as he effortlessly dispatched multiple Atlesian Knight-200s within the space of several seconds, the heads of the first two cleanly removed by his shots. During his conversation with Jacques Schnee, he slams his robotic fist on Jacques' desk with enough force to severely damage the surface. In close quarters, James is shown to be a formidable fighter who makes great use of grappling his opponents, effortlessly throwing Arthur Watts with his offhand.

James makes use of a fighting style which resembles boxing, utilizing punches and kicks. He was also even able to temporarily handle numerous opponents, shown when he battled Jaune, Nora, Oscar, Lie and Winter all at once, even after being disarmed before the fight. In "The Final Word", he bested Winter in battle and nearly won the fight, only losing after she suddenly inherited the Maiden power upon Penny's passing.

James was also extremely durable, being able to take a full hit to the face from Magnhild while Nora was boosted by both her Semblance and one of Winter's glyphs without being knocked out. He was also able to survive a redirected beam from his cannon, which was powerful enough to destroy a Hard-Light cell and vaporize Jacques Schnee.

Status
As a general, Ironwood normally didn't associate himself with the front lines of combat and usually ordered his forces using his tactical know-how and military knowledge. However, when pressed, he was very adept in combat.

In "Remembrance", he was revealed to have two seats on the Atlesian Council, one for being Headmaster of Atlas Academy and another for being the General of the Atlas Military. This gave him a greater amount of authority over the Atlesian Council and the Kingdom of Atlas, allowing him to make unilateral decisions such as initiating a Dust Embargo, closing off the borders of the Kingdom from the rest of the world and even initiate and enforce martial law should he deem it necessary.

Upon declaring martial law in Atlas, Ironwood possessed supreme political power over the Kingdom and was able to carry out any actions against those he saw as a hindrance or threat. In "Divide", he killed Councilman Sleet when he demanded answers on why he declared martial law.

Prosthesis
As seen in "Heroes and Monsters", approximately half of James's upper body and his right arm were a prosthesis that granted him several above average physical abilities. He was strong enough to block the attacks of an Alpha Beowolf barehanded using his metal right hand and tear through concrete and stone with his metal fingers.

In "Taking Control", he slammed his robotic fist on Jacques' desk with enough force to severely damage the surface. After severely damaging his left arm due to Watt's Ring Trap, James had his left arm amputated and also replaced with a prosthetic arm by the events of "Divide".

Semblance

 * Main article: Mettle

The Mettle, James' Semblance, strengthened his resolve which allowed him to carry through with his decisions, helping James hyper-focus.

Weapons

 * Main article: Due Process

The Due Process, James' weapon of choice are a pair of revolver guns, which he used to fight off Grimm who were attacking Amity Arena. He shot using his organic arm; in close combat, he also used his revolver to pistol-whip opponents, usually switching to his cybernetic arm for added power. He possessed formidable physical strength in close combat, as his cybernetic arm was able to completely stop a fully-armored Beowolf's attack and throw the beast around with little effort.

Later, it was revealed that James possesses a second gun, one that is almost identical to Due Process, only instead of white the gun is shown to be black with silver floral details. It fires Gravity Dust bullets, where James uses it to propel himself in the air during his battle with Arthur. In the fight, Arthur shoots the black revolver away from James, causing him to drop it in the Amity Colosseum. James was not seen recovering the weapon, but instead only uses Due Process from that point.

As shown in "Divide", however, he later regained the black gun. In "Creation", James revealed he could utilize both his revolvers and insert them into a silver cannon, which was capable of firing a deadly beam. He could also utilize it as a blunt weapon and quickly remove his revolvers if he chose to. The cannon was specifically designed with the intent of being able to kill Penny Polendina, who was both an android and a Maiden.

Theme songs

 * Gravity: "Hero" - Caleb Hyles.

Etymology

 * James alludes to the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.
 * "Ironwood" is a common name applied to a number of types of wood known for their hardness. Alternatively, Ironwood (Járnviðr) is also the name of a location in Norse mythology.
 * The name James means 'supplanter.' This could reference military supplanting, bringing to mind greens and grays.