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| “ | Don't let such a small obstacle block your path. | „ |
| ~ Hazel Rainart. |
| “ | You don't like me. You have no reason to like me. But you don't have to like me to get the results you want. | „ |
| ~ Hazel, to Sienna Khan. |
| “ | You thought you could hide from ME?! You'll pay for what you did. You'll die, over AND OVER AGAIN! | „ |
| ~ Hazel, to Ozpin. |
| “ | I'm doing what Gretchen would have done! | „ |
| ~ Hazel, to Salem. |
Hazel Rainart is a major antagonist in the American web cartoon series RWBY. He was an associate of Salem and part of her inner circle.
In Volume 8, after learning about Salem's true goal, he decided to defect from her inner circle to help Oscar Pine and Emerald Sustrai escape from Monstra, during which he sacrificed himself to hold her back allowing Oscar to destroy her and Monstra.
He was voiced by William Orendorff, who also provides the vocal sound effects of the Grimm.
Appearance[]
Hazel was a tall and muscular middle-aged man. He was also unusually large and broad, as he was shown to tower over Adam Taurus, who stood 6'4". He had short brown hair, a beard and hazel eyes. His hairy arms had some large scars running up them, a result of using Dust infusions.
Mistral Attire (Volumes 4-6)[]
Originally, Hazel wore a two-tone olive green coat over a black 3/4 sleeve shirt, and a large belt. His pants were black, with a pouch strapped to each pants leg, and his boots are brown with white fronts. Some of his scars near the edges of his sleeves are visible.
Atlas Attire (Volume 8)[]
Upon Salem's arrival in Atlas, Hazel wore his hair in a short slicked back ponytail, and had trimmed his beard shorter. He wore a sleeveless dark green vest with yellow trimmings, revealing the full extent of the scars running up his arm. Hazel wore bandages on his forearms, beneath fingerless brown gloves with silver armor over his hands. He wore brown pants with leather straps connecting to two belts, and armored boots that are similar to those of his previous outfit.
History[]
Background[]
Not much is known about Hazel's past except that he had a sister named Gretchen who desired to become a Huntress under Ozpin's guidance. However, Gretchen died during training, and Hazel holds Ozpin responsible for her death. Later on, Hazel encountered Salem and was able to successfully kill her, although because of her curse, she came right back and subdued him. Salem was eventually able to recruit Hazel into her inner circle by promising vengeance for his sister, furthering his vendetta against Ozpin.
Volume 4[]
In "The Next Step", Hazel attends a meeting at Salem's Domain with fellow associates Watts, Cinder and Tyrian. He questions how Cinder was able to lose against a "novice" like Ruby Rose, stating that they've dealt with silver-eyed warriors in the past. Salem later instructs Hazel to meet with the White Fang leader, Sienna Khan, and ensure that they fall in line, to which he complies.
In "Kuroyuri", Hazel is seen in Mistral walking past a train station until he notices Oscar failing to get a train ticket from the machine. He helps Oscar by slamming on the machine with his hand, causing it to malfunction and shoot out a ticket for him. Hazel then tells the child not to let something as small as that hold him back before leaving.
Volume 5[]
In "Dread in the Air", Hazel appears before Sienna Khan during her meeting with Adam Taurus, standing his ground against her threats and prepared to convince her to cooperate with Salem. However, to his surprise, Adam commits a coup and murders Khan to usurp her position as High Leader of the White Fang. Hazel confronts Adam about his actions, angered that he withheld his plans from him and acted without his approval. Adam justifies his actions as it removes Salem's concern about Khan's willingness to cooperate. Hazel then states that no one needed to die, before leaving the meeting, to which Adam disagrees.
In "The More the Merrier", Hazel enters the meeting room to join Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, Raven and Vernal in their confrontation with Qrow, Team RNJR, Oscar, Weiss and Yang; closing the door behind him and revealing that the White Fang is beginning their assault on Haven and planting explosive charges across the school grounds. While everyone begins fighting, Hazel is confronted by Ren and Nora. Hazel tells the two he does not wish to fight them, but upon hearing their refusal to back down, accepts their challenge and engages them in battle.
In "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Hazel next seen berating Lionheart over being humiliated by Oscar. Though once he learns the boy is actually Ozpin, he drops Lionheart and completely loses his composure, recognizing the cane in Oscar's hand. Vowing to kill him repeatedly, Hazel jabs two shards of Lightning Dust into his arms and attacks, intent on avenging his sister who he proclaims was killed by Ozpin. Though Oscar tries reasoning with him, Hazel refuses to yield, but soon finds himself on the defensive when Ozpin takes over. Qrow Branwen tries to intervene, but Hazel sends him flying with an lightning-enhanced punch.
In "Downfall", Hazel easily defeats Ren, Qrow, and Oscar before Nora charges at him. Hazel angrily asks Ozpin how many more children have to die for him, electrocuting Nora without realizing it was actually enhancing her strength. Nora throws Hazel off of her, and Ozpin (through Oscar) reveals his Semblance is the ability to take great physical pain, hence why he is able to inject himself with so much Dust. When Hazel charges at her again, she uses Magnhild to send him flying outside the building where Adam and the White Fang are. He injects himself with even more Dust before witnessing Blake, Ilia, and Sun Wukong arrive with Faunus from Menagerie to stop the White Fang. When Adam asks Hazel what to do, he tells him it's Adam's own business and to figure it out for himself, contrasting what Adam said to him when he assassinated Sienna Khan. Hazel is impaled by a Lancer summoned by Weiss and dragged back into the building.
In "Haven's Fate", Hazel destroys Weiss' Lancer with a fire and lightning projectile. But then he is drop-kicked by Blake, and he later roars in rage after Lionheart flees the battle. Hazel then fights with Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai against Ruby, Weiss and Blake, but they are eventually worn out and on the losing side. When Yang Xiao Long emerges from the vault with the Relic of Knowledge in hand, Hazel growls in anger, realizing Cinder has failed and they have truly lost. After Emerald breaks down and unleashes a powerful hallucination on the heroes, Hazel and Mercury make their escape down a mountain path, the former carrying the unconscious Emerald.
Volume 6[]
In “So That’s How It Is”, Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury return to Salem’s palace empty-handed, they briefly encounter Tyrian by the front entrance. Hazel leads the two inside of the palace. Inside the council chamber, the three are seen kneeling down. Salem inquires about why they failed their mission and Hazel tries to take the blame. This only invokes Salem’s wrath, causing her to bind Hazel to the floor with disembodied Grimm hands. After Salem releases Hazel, he speaks up about how Ozpin is leading Qrow and the children to Atlas. Hearing this infuriates Salem, Hazel along with the rest are dismissed, right before she unleashes her rage.
In "Our Way", Hazel looks on as Salem creates hybrid Beringels with wings on their backs, telling Mercury and Emerald that she is taking matters into her own hands.
Volume 8[]
In “Divide”, Hazel with Emerald and Mercury make their way to Salem. After climbing the steps to the immortal queen’s throne room, they notice Cinder has returned. Emerald delightfully runs towards Cinder while Mercury and Hazel stoically stand aside. After scolding Cinder by telling her to know her place, Hazel along with the rest of the subordinates are dismissed by their master.
In “Fault”, after trying to get Oscar to tell her the password to the Lamp of Knowledge, Hazel walks into the room, where he brutally beats Oscar. Telling him that was for Haven Academy, and the rest that follows will be for his sister.
In "Midnight", in an attempt to use Salem's own tactics against her (dividing her enemies against each other), Ozpin takes over Oscar's body and attempts to reason with Hazel. Here, Hazel reveals he did once try to kill Salem the first time he encountered her, and although he succeeded, she came back and defeated him.
In "War", Ozpin reveals to Hazel the truth about Salem's immortality and her true motivations for obtaining the Relics as a way to bring the old gods back to destroy the world and end her curse. Hazel is hesitant to believe Ozpin, so Oscar resumes control of his body and tells Hazel to call for Jinn when approaching the Relic of Knowledge and use it to find the truth for himself.
In "Witch", Hazel brings Oscar to the chamber containing the Relic of Knowledge, with Emerald following behind them. Hazel tests Oscar by telling him if he's lying, Hazel would pay the price before Oscar would. Oscar successfully calls for Jinn and motions for Hazel to ask his question...only for Hazel to state his questions were answered. Believing Ozpin told the truth, Hazel decides to get both Oscar and Emerald off of Monstra. During their escape, Hazel and Emerald are approached by Salem, who has sensed that there are not only intruders aboard Monstra but that one of them stole the lamp (unbeknownst to anyone, it was actually Neo). After Salem takes down Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Emerald, she attempts to kill Oscar/Ozpin once more before Hazel shows up, seemingly complying with Salem's orders. However, after Hazel quietly warns Oscar not to let any more "Gretchens" happen again, Hazel fully turns on his former master and attacks her, saving Emerald and giving the others an opening to escape. Encouraging Emerald to escape with them, Hazel declares stopping Salem is what Gretchen would have wanted him to do and begins fighting her. Although he gets the upper hand for a while, he is once again taken down by Salem before Oscar/Ozpin intervenes. Before Salem can unleash her full power on Oscar/Ozpin, Hazel wraps himself around Salem, telling Oscar/Ozpin to do what he needs to do, prompting Oscar/Ozpin to unleash his power.
Other Media[]
RWBY: Amity Arena[]
Hazel appears as a Legendary unit in RWBY: Amity Arena. He is a powerful melee unit that, when deployed, locks onto a single target at a time and relentlessly attacks until one of them is defeated.
Personality[]
| “ | He’s wounded in a way that cannot be healed. | „ |
| ~ Ozpin, describing Hazel. |
Hazel has a calm composure compared to the rest of Salem's associates. He is reserved and rarely speaks unless there's something important or he's given an assignment from Salem. He has a low tolerance or acceptance of failure, and does not let minor obstacles get in his way or stand by convention when there is a goal to be accomplished. Hazel is shown to have a sense of respect, being courteous and polite when speaking to Sienna Khan. However, he is not intimidated by Khan's threats, meaning that he has a distinct level of self-confidence.
Hazel is easily the most moral and empathetic member of Salem's Inner Circle. He rarely shows cruelty and doesn't resort to violence to get what he wants unless absolutely necessary, taking no pleasure in pointless slaughter, insisting to Sienna Khan that he doesn't aim to cause trouble and no one needs to die. His reaction to Khan's murder is a saddened look and verbal condemnation to Adam for his lack of communication about his plans and the needlessness of Khan's death. He has also shown a soft spot for children. He helps Oscar Pine acquire a train ticket by pounding on the machine. At the fight at Haven Academy, he had no desire to fight Nora and Ren and was willing to let them go without a fight, only fighting when they attacked him and clearly showing restraint to not kill them. He criticizes Ozpin for "hiding behind the face of a child". When he returns to Salem's castle with Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, he attempts to take the blame for Cinder's failure in Mistral, presumably to try and save Emerald and Mercury from punishment by Salem.
However, this changes when he encounters Ozpin. When he does, Hazel becomes filled with rage and killing intent, vowing to kill every reincarnation of Ozpin for the death of his sister, Gretchen. He holds no remorse in attempting to murder Oscar, stating that his blood wouldn't be on his hands, but rather on Ozpin's for choosing the child as his host. This shows that in spite of his typical reluctance to fight that he is quite capable of vengeance and terrifying bouts of rage. Also as revealed in "The More the Merrier" Hazel murdered several huntsmen from Mistral under Salem's orders, indicating that he has no problems with killing if it hurts Ozpin in any way. He also attempted to brutally torture Nora with electricity for standing between him and Ozpin in "Downfall", showing how violent Hazel can become when blinded by his grudge against Ozpin.
In the end, however, Hazel is motivated by his feelings of anger towards Ozpin for leading countless children including his sister to their deaths by fighting against the immortal Salem, as he had tried to kill Salem but failed. Even so, towards Oscar, Hazel shows a moral compass, as he holds back from torturing him too much and offered him a chance to just give up the password and he will stop torturing him, showing while he hates Ozpin, he takes no actual pleasure in Oscar's pain. Ultimately, after learning Salem wants to destroy the world, Hazel finally shows his morality and compassion and turns away from Salem. Finally seeing reason over how Gretchen would never have wanted him to side with Salem as she had fought as a Huntress to help and protect people and believed in Ozpin, Hazel decides to side with Ozpin and is particularly motivated to ensure Emerald and Oscar would not be lost. Although he showed fear towards Salem before, he shows no hesitation or fear in fighting her, showing how his subservience to Salem was more out of a desperate desire to do something in Gretchen's name than fear, and was even willing to burn himself along with Salem so that Oscar could use his magic against them both, finally showing his inner selflessness.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | He's sheer willpower. | „ |
| ~ Qrow Branwen, on their seemingly tireless opponent. |
Fighting Prowess[]
Hazel is an incredibly strong fighter who prefers to fight with his bare hands. Even the likes of Cinder Fall held him in high regard to where she believed he has the strength to kill a fully trained Huntsmen. Relying on brute force and his Semblance, which allows him to be completely negate pain, his fighting style is rough but intelligent, relying on simple but efficient wide swings and able to maximize his full weight and strength into his blows, and despite his massive frame, he is still considerably fast and agile to be able to move quickly and precisely with ease. His strength is enough to easily cause a machine to dispense a train ticket with a simple pound from his bare arm, leaving a dent.
He is shown to have no issue dealing with multiple opponents, as seen when he is able to block attacks from Nora's Magnhild while simultaneously contending with Ren, while holding back as he didn't want to hurt them as they were children. While fighting at full potency, he could easily defeat the likes of Qrow Branwen.
Hazel later displays the full extent of his physical combat prowess in his fight with Salem, where he proved strong enough to easily launch Salem off her feet with a single punch and knock her down and actually damage her, whereas the extremely strong Yang Xiao Long was unable to even faze her with physical blows, and also agile and fast enough to catch her by surprise and easily dodge her attacks.
Dust Mastery[]
Due to his Semblance, Hazel is able to inject himself with raw dust crystals with minimum pain and effect, causing the veins in his arms glow, his muscles to grow, his eyes shine, his voice becomes distorted, and he can discharge and fire Dust energy from his entire body to enhance his attacks. He has been shown using two types of Dust, Lightning and Fire, being able to use more than one Dust type at a time to further increase his strength and combine attacks for enhanced hits. Indeed, in his battle with Salem, he proved himself to be easily the greatest master of using Dust in the entire series, wielding several forms of them to great effect to challenge Salem's magic. He was able to combine Lightning, Earth and Fire Dust and mold it to form a volatile spiked boulder to throw at Salem, create a barrier using Hard Light Dust, propel himself through the air using Wind Dust, increase his physical speed and reflexes using Lightning Dust and create several fireballs to throw at Salem using Fire Dust, demonstrating an absolute mastery at using Dust without a weapon and in a primitive raw form.
Semblance[]
Hazel´s Semblance, Numbing Agent, renders him impervious to any form of pain, which allows him to ignore injury and infuse large amounts of Dust into his body, However, despite this he was susceptible to being injured. If enough damage was caused to his body, he would be unable to continue fighting regardless of whether he felt it or not. This critical weakness was somewhat compensated by the abnormally fast rate that his Aura could replenish at.
Quotes[]
| “ | We've dealt with their kind before. | „ |
| ~ Hazel, talking about Ruby. |
| “ | Nobody needed to die today. | „ |
| ~ Hazel to Adam Taurus regarding the murder of Sienna Khan. |
| “ | The White Fang is prepping demolition and securing the school grounds. No one’s getting in, and no one’s getting out. | „ |
| ~ Hazel, to everyone. |
| “ | He didn’t tell you my tale, did he, boy? I thought you looked familiar, to think that evil was inside you when our paths first crossed. Your blood won’t be on my hands, it’ll be on his. | „ |
| ~ Hazel, to Oscar. |
| “ | TELL HIM OZPIN! TELL HIM HOW YOU KILLED HER! | „ |
| ~ Hazel demanding Ozpin tell Oscar what happened to his sister |
| “ | She was only a child! She wasn't ready! | „ |
| ~ Hazel to Oscar about Gretchen. |
| “ | Hiding behind the face of a child? A monster like you must be stopped!! | „ |
| ~ Hazel, to Ozpin. |
| “ | How many more children must die for you?! | „ |
| ~ Hazel to Ozpin. |
| “ | This... is your business, not mine. Fix it | „ |
| ~ Hazel, after Adam loses control of his side of the Haven assault. |
| “ | There's an old saying. If you want something done right... do it yourself. | „ |
| ~ Hazel to Emerald and Mercury as Salem creates the winged Beringels |
| “ | That was for Haven Academy. Everything that follows... will be for my sister. | „ |
| ~ Hazel, as he proceeds to brutally beat Oscar. |
| “ | No more Gretchen's, boy. | „ |
| ~ Hazel to Oscar before formally turning against Salem. |
Gallery[]
Images[]
Trivia[]
- Hazel alludes to Hansel from Hansel & Gretel.
- His sister Gretchen furthers this allusion, as the Gretel to his Hansel.
- Hazel can refer to a color, usually in relation to eyes. Hazel eyes often appear to shift in color from a brown/gold to a green.
- Rainart is a name of Old German origin and can translate as either "Brave Counsel" or "Strong Judgement".
- Hazel is thus far the only known member of Salem's Faction to have met Ozpin before the events of the series, excluding Salem herself (though the circumstances behind their past were not revealed until the Volume 5 episode "Vault of the Spring Maiden").
- In the Japanese dub, Hazel is voiced by Akio Ōtsuka, who also voiced Marshall D. Teach, All For One and Mushiban.
- When Hazel powered up against Salem using his Semblance, he deliberately overdosed on using Dust since he already knew he wouldn't survive the fight.
