There's been some discussion about Ruby being more of a Walking Plot Device than a character, so let's look at how the plot has handled Ruby so far, as of volume 4 being finished with volume 5 on its way.

I'll bold and italicize what I count as the writers using Ruby as solely a tool to move the story in the direction they want it to go.

Edit: Okay, so I guess I need to clear up what I was going for here. I know this explanation is long, but bear with me.

1. I was trying to take a look at how often Ruby's moments in the spotlight/foreground are spent solely being used to move the plot forward vs actually overtly and openly (read: not subtly) being a character/person having a character moment, more deeply than just reacting to the situation or having a physical conflict with the bad guys.

2. The big issue with Ruby is not that she has zero characterization, character moments, or development since volume 1. She actually kind of does have that stuff. It's that, after volume 1, her character moments are often left to mere subtleties in what she says and the way she acts, while other characters - such as Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Pyrrha, and now Nora and Ren - very often get their character moments placed front and center on a stage for us to very clearly and easily see without having to actually try. As a result, the other characters overshadow Ruby's characterization, and she appears to be less interesting in comparison.

In volume 1, she actually showed and spoke about having insecurities, both about being considered special and about her nervousness with making new friends. She also showed worry and doubt in herself when asking Ozpin if Weiss was right that her being chosen as leader was a mistake. After Ozpin gave her a speech about how being a leader means leading by example, we then see that Ruby has corrected herself - where before, she had been goofing off in class and ignoring Professor Port's lecture, we later see that she now makes an effort to take her studies more seriously, as she stayed up late doing homework. She then later passed on knowledge about the importance of being a leader to Jaune. That scene was about more than just Ruby giving Jaune the pep talk he needed to stand up to Cardin, since it also showed how much Ruby had grown as a leader.

After volume 1, Ruby started having less and less character focus and more plot focus... which damaged her as a character. That is what I'm trying to talk about here.

Like I said, her characterization, character moments, and development are more often left as subtleties after volume 1, while other significant cast members - Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Pyrrha, and now Nora and Ren - have been getting character moments and development that actually take to the stage, right in front of us, front and center, in a way that's very obvious, where we actually know that they're having a moment or development.

It certainly doesn't help that, instead of giving Ruby more moments to really talk about and show how she has felt and dealt with things, they have other characters talk about it instead. Yang mentioned that Ruby was really torn up when Summer disappeared. Ruby has not mentioned it at all, and you would think this would be an important and significant moment from her past for Ruby herself to touch on, if she was so torn up about it. Jaune said that Ruby lost Pyrrha, Penny, her team, and in a way, her sister... and that really seemed like something that Ruby herself should have gotten to talk about at some point.

Instead, Jaune talking about it got turned into "Despite all that, you decided to go after the bad guys, and that's why we followed you, because it's inspiring and stuff." Okay, so that's you, Nora, and Ren, but what about Ruby? What about Ruby's deeper feelings and how she dealt with the Fall of Beacon?

Yang got to talk about her deeper feelings about her experience with the Fall of Beacon, in End of the Beginning.

Blake got to talk about her deeper feelings about her experience with the Fall of Beacon and why she ran off because of it, in Taking Control.

Weiss had an outburst and showed frustration when a rich woman said that Vale deserved what happened, in Tipping Point.

Ruby hasn't gotten to talk about it or deeply show how she felt. And that is a big example of how Ruby's teammates overshadow her, as well as an example of how the show treats Ruby differently than it does her teammates, in a bad way.

Now... onto the quick overview of her screentime in volumes 1-4, with summaries where I explain how I feel about all that (also, summaries on certain specific episodes, as well).

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Volume 1

Ruby Rose

Pilot episode

Stopped Torchwick's robbery

Kinda sorta assisted Glynda in trying to stop Cinder

Along with Ozpin, basically introduced to us the concept of Huntsmen and Huntresses

Was let into Beacon two years early

The Shining Beacon

Met Weiss, sorta Blake, and Jaune

Through their meeting, we got exposition on who Weiss is, what the SDC is, the fact that Jaune's weapon is a hand-me-down from the Great War, and the fact that combat school students forge their own weapons

The Shining Beacon Pt 2

Got yelled at by Weiss

Listened to Opzin's speech

Finally really met Blake. Actually showed a bit of characterization with her whole thing about story books and wanting to protect people who can't protect themselves.

The First Step

"I DRINK MILK"

Showed more characterization in her hesitation to meet new people

Helped Jaune find his locker

"oh noes we're getting partners today"

The First Step Pt 2

Got partnered with Weiss, eager to make a better impression

The Emerald Forest

Got in Weiss' way in the fight, argued with her.

The Emerald Forest Pt 2

Argued with Weiss some more, was very sad that Weiss was judging her without really knowing her

Players and Pieces

Tried really hard to show Weiss she's a capable fighter

Got everyone to try retreating

Came up with the plan to kill the Nevermore

The Badge and the Burden

Decorated the room

Got bored and goofed off in class, which is why Weiss angrily volunteered to fight the Boarbatusk. I won't count that as "Purely being there to move the plot", as it was also there to show who Ruby was as a student and what about her annoyed Weiss.

The Badge and the Burden Pt 2

Annoyed Weiss during the Boarbatusk fight

Got into heated conversation with Weiss in the hall

Learned a lesson about being a leader

It was this conflict plus Weiss' conversation with Port that caused Weiss to be able to summon a Boarbatusk.

Jaunedice

"Cardin's a bully."

Forever Fall

Gave Jaune the Nope speech, using what she had learned about being a leader! That was a pretty good character moment for Ruby, so I won't count it as "Purely just being there to move the plot".

Forever Fall Pt 2

Ruby and Weiss caused Pyrrha to reveal to us the term Semblance.

The Stray

Befriended Penny (+1 friend!)

Black and White

Ruby and Yang dragged Weiss out into the city to search for Blake

Ruby has a talk with Penny, wherein she basically kind of explains friendship a little bit to Penny, and they both say they would want their friends to talk to them about things

Penny followed Ruby to the docks and then kicked major ass because Ruby got shot. Roman fled because of Penny. Ruby only headed over there because she happened to see smoke from Roman shooting the ground, anyway.

Summary

Okay, so, in volume 1, they actually did a pretty good job with actually letting Ruby be a person with characterization and her own little internal and external conflicts. She was mainly just used as a tool solely to move the story in Black and White, and there's nothing wrong with that. Throughout volume 1, she was actually acting like a person, a normal character. Sure, Weiss, Blake, and Jaune got a lot of spotlight, but Ruby was focused on a lot at the beginning, in the initiation, and in The Badge and the Burden.

So, overall, volume 1 was a good volume for Ruby. Buuut then we move to volume 2...

Volume 2

Best Day Ever

Food fight

Welcome to Beacon

Played a board game

Got excited that Team RWBY's conversation led to everyone deciding to investigate Torchwick and the White Fang

A Minor Hiccup

Ditched Weiss to find out what happened to Penny

Saw Ironwood's presentation on the new AKs and the Paladin, thus allowing us to see it through her

Was the cause of Penny losing skin on her palms and thus confessing she's a robot. Basically, they used her for the confirmation "reveal". Though, they chose Ruby because her keeping Penny's secret is part of their friendship thing. But... that hasn't really led anywhere, so far, has it? Well, Ruby knowing Penny was a robot gave her a reason to try urgently to get past Mercury and stop the match between Penny and Pyrrha, but that's plot.

Painting the Town

Helped fight the Paladin, called out team attack directions

Extracurricular

Was there. Just... was on-screen but didn't really step into a spotlight or more into the foreground than anyone around her.

Burning the Candle

Moped that Blake wasn't going to the dance

Showed up at the dance

Was someone for Ozpin to give a speech to

Dance Dance Infiltration

Was there to tell Jaune that Neptune turned Weiss down, leading to the scene where Jaune talked to Pyrrha and found out that she had feelings for him, etc.

leading to the scene where Jaune talked to Pyrrha and found out that she had feelings for him, etc. Followed Cinder to the CCT and tried to stop her

Field Trip

Informed Ozpin's group that the Dust lady working with Torchwick infiltrated the CCT, also slipped them the info about the White Fang gathering in the southeast. After she left, Ozpin and Ironwood had one of the conflicts that ultimately led to Ironwood throwing Ozpin under the bus to the Council in Breach and becoming the head of security for the festival.

After she left, Ozpin and Ironwood had one of the conflicts that ultimately led to Ironwood throwing Ozpin under the bus to the Council in Breach and becoming the head of security for the festival. Decided to take Zwei with her on the field trip. I almost counted this, but... really, there was no one she could ask to dogsit Zwei, and even if he is special, she probably didn't wanna leave him all alone in their dorm. Plus, she was happy to see him again.

Ozpin let Team RWBY go to Mountain Glenn because Ruby slipped him the info about the WF gathering there.

Search and Destroy

Everyone fought things

She allowed us to be told about the Goliaths

Caused us to get some Oobleck characterization

"Tomorrow will be better" (aka Ruby is still an optimist, tiny character thing)

Mountain Glenn

Fell through a sinkhole and got captured by the White Fang, thus leading to her team and Oobleck having to find her, therefore they found the WF's operation. This was one of those "just so happened" things. It just so happened that Zwei decided to go pee outside, thus making Ruby leave the camp. It just so happened that there were White Fang members patrolling near enough to hear Zwei bark and start talking about it within earshot of Ruby. It just so happened that the ground caved beneath Ruby's feet at that very moment. It just so happened that Ruby had to throw her scythe up onto the road so she could save Zwei from falling into the sinkhole, thus leaving her defenseless.

No Brakes

Told her team and Oobleck about the train so they tried to stop it

Did a lot of helping off-screen

Breach

Fought things

Was happy they stopped the breach

Summary

I feel like volume 2 is where they started dropping her being a person and started their descent into Walking Plot Device. It feels a lot like Ruby got pretty pushed to the side here. If it weren't for the fact that this became a trend, that wouldn't be so bad. After all, Blake got moved to the background for most of volume 3, and that was fine because she had been getting a lot of focus and she still got to have focus later on.

Yang mentioning Ruby being really torn up about Summer's disappearance felt more like a piece of Yang's back story, and we still haven't gotten anything from Ruby herself about her experience from her point of view with that part of their past. If Ruby was so torn up, surely that time period was a pretty significant part of Ruby's past, right?

Meanwhile Weiss, Blake, and Yang continued acting like characters who were living their lives and dealing with things, with their own internal conflicts.

Volume 3

Round One

Got a character moment talking to Summer's grave

Fought in the tournament

Emerald talked to Team RWBY and found out who they chose for the doubles because she pickpocketed Ruby. It didn't necessarily have to be Ruby. It could've been Weiss, especially since Weiss lagged behind the others at first. Blake and Yang are probably street smart enough to exclude them as alternatives that she could have pickpocketed.

It didn't necessarily have to be Ruby. It could've been Weiss, especially since Weiss lagged behind the others at first. Blake and Yang are probably street smart enough to exclude them as alternatives that she could have pickpocketed. Ate ramen

New Challengers

Was there.

It's Brawl in the Family

"Your sister?"

Met Winter, with an awkward attempt to be proper

Super happy to see Uncle Qrow

Lessons Learned

Got Qrow to tell us about his last mission

Ruby and Yang caused Qrow to give an interesting speech, which led into Qrow showing the STRQ photo, which caused Yang to realize who saved her on the train. Ruby was the one who started the conversation on her and Yang feeling like pro Huntresses, but the conversation was pretty smooth and Yang contributed, so I'm not counting it.

Never Miss a Beat

Penny told her the only people who knew she was a robot were her, Ironwood, and Penny's father

Watched Weiss and Yang's fight

Fall

Was there. Told Yang to break a leg.

Destiny

Didn't believe Yang hurt Mercury for no reason

Talked to JNPR about Yang's situation and told Pyrrha to win for Beacon

Had a conversation with Velvet that made her realize something's suspicious about Mercury and possibly Emerald

Just happened to see Emerald was in the stands even though, from what Ruby had heard, Emerald was supposed to be on the way to Mistral

Ran into Mercury in the maintenance hall

PvP

Faced Mercury

Cried that Penny died

Battle of Beacon

Stopped the Nevermore from attacking Pyrrha

Knew it wasn't Pyrrha's fault because of Mercury. This moment quickly transitions to an Arkos moment.

Left with everyone else

Went to Ironwood's main ship after Ironwood got shot down

Heroes and Monsters

Fought Neo and Roman on Ironwood's ship's roof. Her being there had led to Roman going up to the roof, which led to Roman getting eaten.

Dunno whether to count her stereotypical shounen protagonist speech ("We will stop them, and I will stop you. Bet on that!") as a character moment, but sure.

Pretty much took down Ironwood's ship, which ended the Black Queen virus' control of the robots

End of the Beginning

Silver eye powers!

Talked to Yang, which was more of a Yang moment than a Ruby moment.

JNR headed out to Mistral because she was going to Mistral. Jaune even said so in volume 4.

The Yang moment in End of the Beginning: There was also a bit of a Ruby moment in there, or at least, there'd be more of a Ruby moment if they ever actually took a closer look at how Ruby felt seeing Yang like that. Once the scene was over, the show was done paying attention to that.

All we got from Ruby seeing Yang like that was a frowny face and a sad, quiet "I love you". You know what we got out of Yang about everything that happened? Actual dialogue from the heart that reflects how she feels, telling Ruby that she's not okay, that everything is gone. She outright expresses that she's upset that Blake ran off, says she doesn't care, then angrily cuts Ruby off saying there doesn't have to be a reason Blake left. We even see Yang through a window while she wipes tears from her eye. Ruby didn't have to give us a big expression of how she felt seeing Yang like that in that very moment, but it would've been nice to have that be visited later, by her, not just a mention by Jaune. Why do other characters talk about Ruby's pain for her?

Summary

So... honestly, there was more focus on Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, and Ozpin's group as characters living their lives and dealing with things in volume 3. Meanwhile, it felt like Ruby was focused on as mainly a vessel for plot stuff to happen to, to do things for the plot, and for us to see other plot things happening elsewhere. It'd be nice if other members of Team RWBY had these "Right place at the right time to move the plot" moments and let Ruby be a person with character moments and development and back story reveals once in a while.

No, Blake at the White Fang meeting in volume 2 and at the docks in volume 1 don't count because neither of those was a "Just happened to be in the right place at the right time" moment. Blake intentionally infiltrated the WF meeting to find info, and Blake intentionally staked out the docks to see if the WF was stealing Dust. Both events were planned and had expected results. Ruby just stumbles into plot because the writers need her to and does so on a frequent basis.

I'm not saying it's a terrible thing for a character to stumble into plot. I'm saying it's bad that they frequently use Ruby to do this, and it wouldn't be quite so bad if they actually spread it out among the characters. When you set one character as your designated "Stumbles into plot and is a vessel to make plot things happen" character, that's bad, especially when you stop giving that character moments to actually act like a person, more deeply than them just reacting to the current situation or having a physical conflict with the bad guys.

Volume 4

The Next Step

Led RNJR's bounty (the Petra Gigas) to the clearing to fight it

Laughed at Jaune's hoodie

Remembrance

Had a dream that hasn't really held much significance yet

Found Shion's ruins with JNR

Was the character we saw Jaune's late-night training session through, when we honestly could've seen it through Nora or Ren, which would've been equally, if not more, significant, considering they were also Pyrrha's teammates. God knows Nora and Ren have had barely any focus, spotlight, significant character moments, etc until their Kuroyuri back story stuff.

Family

Went to Higanbana, checked into an inn

Tipping Point

Thought the journey wouldn't take so long

Listened to Ren's story about Oniyuri

Was Tyrian's target and the reason he attacked RNJR in the first place

Was the reason Qrow showed up and stepped in

Punished

Was the reason Qrow was envenomed (Will explain why this is important in Kuroyuri)

(Will explain why this is important in Kuroyuri) Cut Tyrian's stinger

A Much Needed Talk

Because Qrow came out of the shadows to save Ruby, he ended up explaining the truth behind the Fall of Beacon, the Maidens, and the Relics to RNJR, as well as gave us that exposition about the Relics

Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

Insisted on going to Kuroyuri in search of medicine, thus splitting RNJR up (Again, will explain in Kuroyuri)

Kuroyuri

Finally had a pretty significant character moment.

Ren and Nora found the Nuckelavee's cave.

Now, the reason I'm making such a big deal about RNJR splitting up boiling down to being because of Ruby is because literally the entire reason the plot had RNJR split up was just so Nora and Ren could find the Nuckelavee's cave so that we could see it and see Li Ren's arrow in the cave. That was the only purpose. Miles and Kerry sent the story down this path literally just to have Ren and Nora find the cave.

To get to this point, they had to follow this series of events: Ruby jumps into the fight, Qrow has to save Ruby from a falling wooden beam, Qrow lets his guard down and gets stung, Qrow passes out, RNJR must carry Qrow, Ruby insists on searching for medicine in Kuroyuri, RNJR splits up so Ruby and Jaune can search Kuroyuri while Ren and Nora avoid painful memories and thus find the cave. The plot used Ruby to make this happen.

Taking Control

Was there.

No Safe Haven

Helped fight the Nuckelavee

Had a pretty nice character moment with the letter she wrote

Summary

So, again, Ruby was mostly off to the side or alongside everyone else and didn't step into the foreground or the spotlight much. She did move into the foreground to... be Tyrian's target and cause Qrow to show up so we could get exposition and so that RNJR would split up specifically so we could see the Nuckelavee's cave and Li's arrow. She also stepped into the foreground for a couple of character moments. But once again, she was mostly off to the side and being used for the plot.

What happened to Weiss? Personal conflict that made her actually feel like a person, a character, not just a tool with which to further the plot. Yes, the plot used her for us to hear Jacques and Ironwood's conversations through, but the reason she was there to overhear them is because she had personal reasons to be there. The plot didn't even rope her into something to further itself.

What happened to Blake? Personal internal conflict where she had to be taught a lesson. And then she encountered an external conflict with the bad guys, and it was personal. She started getting into it because it's personal for her.

What happened to Yang? Not much, but she dealt with personal stuff, not just dealing with her nightmares and trauma flashbacks, but also fear and frustration.

We need more stuff like that for Ruby.

Overall

The problem is pretty much that

There's too much of Ruby being used as a tool to progress the story or for the plot to happen to/through.

There's not enough of Ruby stepping into the foreground or the spotlight for actual character moments, where she's doing something deeper than reacting to the situation or having a physical conflict with the bad guys.

It seems like, for the most part, Ruby is the designated "Stumbles into plot and is a vessel to make plot things happen" character, and other characters don't get an even share of this role. Perhaps if other characters took a turn with the role, it would free up Ruby to be a deeper character for once.

Ever since volume 2, she hasn't been having enough conflict that is on an emotional level, rather than a physical one. She has mainly just been having conflict that involves her going "I use my scythe against it, pow pow!" while other protagonists have been having conflicts and issues that include talking, feelings, and deeper motivations.

So, the big problem with Ruby is that the show frequently treats her as a figure that helps further the plot and has plot happen to them, and it hasn't been treating her as an actual character, her own person, often enough. Meanwhile, it lets other characters like Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha be actual characters and their own people.

The show actually allowed Ruby to act like a character and a person back in volume 1. What happened to that?