Dust

For the World of Remnant episode of the same name, see Dust (WoR episode).

“

Dust. By definition, it is a naturally occurring energy propellant that can be triggered by the Aura of Humans and Faunus. But in reality, it is much, much more.

”

Dust is a source of energy in Remnant. The physical properties of Dust make it incredibly useful for a variety of purposes, particularly in the weapons of many characters in the series. It is known to make a distinctive "shimmering" sound passively and when in use.

The name "Dust" is implied to be a reference to the primordial state which mankind originally believed it was born from. As a natural resource, it is sometimes poetically referred to as "Nature's Wrath",^[1] or more prosaically as an energy propellant.^[2]

History[]

According to ancient legends recounted during the opening narration of "Ruby Rose", mankind was fighting a losing struggle against creatures of darkness known as the Grimm. However, through their resourcefulness and ingenuity, Humanity managed to discover and harness a source of power they named "Dust" in order to battle the Grimm. It is revealed in "The Lost Fable" that Dust came to be at some point during the second wave of Humanity. Since mankind could not use Magic as it could before, Dust was used to compensate.

The advent of Dust became the turning point in the war. It would appear that after mankind drove back the Grimm and built civilizations, Dust became integrated into everyday life within Remnant.^[1] However, despite its widespread use and prevalence in society, Humanity has yet to understand the origins or the implications of their involvement with Dust.^[3] During the Great War, Vacuo was targeted by Mistral and Mantle because it had the largest reserves of Dust in the World. Before they could get it however, the warrior King of Vale stopped the invasion himself and ended the war in the process.

After the Great War ended, Nicholas Schnee wanted to help his Kingdom recover and using funds he obtained after his father died, funded an exploration for possible Dust Mines while managing to find one. After this, he created the Schnee Dust Company which was originally known for being trustworthy and reliable back in the past. After his health started to fail him, his son-in-law Jacques Schnee manages to convince him to let him deal with the company. After he did however, the Schnee Dust Company began partaking in controversial business practices like abusing Faunus workers and shady dealings. At some later point, Jacques admitted to his wife Willow Schnee that he only married her for the Schnee name and company.

Following the Great War, both the Schnee Dust Company and the Mistral Trading Company drained the Kingdom of Vacuo of its Dust resources. This caused the people of Vacuo's capital to resent people from outside the Kingdom. An incarnation of Ozma used the Relic of Creation to raise the city of Atlas to give the people of the Kingdom a beacon of hope. As a cover story, it was said that the city was raised using Gravity Dust. At the same time, the Kingdom of Atlas became the primary source of Hard-Light Dust, which is considered the rarest type of Dust in Remnant.

A few years before the beginning of the series, former Vale city manager and corrupt councilman Jimmy Vanille helped the Xiong Family criminal syndicate illegally smuggle Dust into the city while he took parts of these shipments back to his family estate and placed the stolen Dust in his daughter's room after she left and became a criminal. When a gang war between the Xiong Family and their rival from Mistral Spider broke out at the Vanille Estate in Vale, Jimmy's daughter managed to trick Spider's leader Lil' Miss Malachite to shoot the Dust in her bedroom and led to the destruction of the estate while killing Jimmy and his wife Carmel Vanille and multiple members from both sides including the Xiong Family's leader Hei Xiong. Following the explosion, Lil' Miss and the rest of Spider pulled out of Vale and returned to Mistral to recover.

At the start of the series, Roman Torchwick began stealing Dust shipments all over the Kingdom of Vale, causing the Kingdom's Huntsmen and military to not have enough to protect Vale. This also caused an economic crisis which forced the Schnee Dust Company to increase the price of any remaining Dust in the Kingdom.

After the Fall of Beacon, General James Ironwood placed an embargo on Dust, preventing any from leaving the Kingdom of Atlas officially and caused the Schnee Dust Company's stocks to plummet.

For her invasion of Atlas, Salem created Monstra as her mobile base. The giant Grimm was able to fly in the air due to the enormous amount of Gravity Dust implanted on its back. Following Jacques Schnee's arrest, many of the Schnee Dust Company's workers quit and Jacques was eventually killed by General James Ironwood. After the Kingdom of Atlas was destroyed, the SDC ceased to exist when the company's headquarters along with all of their Dust operations in the Kingdom were destroyed. Due to the destruction of the Kingdom, all of the Dust that was being stockpiled from the embargo was lost.

Description[]

Serving as an energy source that is nearly all purpose, Dust can be triggered by the Aura of Humans and Faunus.

Dust can be found in two distinct states, crystalline and powdered. Dust, whether crystalline or powdered, is highly explosive. For example, during the Dust store robbery, Roman Torchwick threw a crystal at Ruby Rose's feet and fired at it, causing a sizable explosion. The powdered form appears more volatile since something as innocuous as a sneeze is enough to detonate a cloud of Dust.

In the RWBY: World of Remnant episode "Dust", the four basic types are shown to be Fire, Water, Electricity, and Wind.^[4] These four types can be fused into other types of Dust if they form next to each other, each with its own unique properties, such as Ice being the combination of Water and Wind.^[3][4] This fusion can occur naturally in rare instances - as shown with Gravity Dust- or artificially, as with Hard-Light Dust.^[3][4] Because of this, some types of Dust are much more rare and expensive than others. According to Caroline Cordovin, Atlas was the father of Hard-Light Dust, and it is primarily fused by the SDC.^[3][4]

For unknown reasons, Dust does not function outside of the atmosphere of Remnant, precluding the possibility of space flight.^[5] Despite this, Dust has been shown to function normally in the Ever After, despite being a completely different realm from Remnant. It is also unknown if Grimm can activate Dust, Monstra was able to fly in the air due to the massive amount of Gravity Dust implanted in its back, but Gravity Dust levitates without needing to be activated as seen with Lake Matsu's flying islands.

Uses of Dust[]

Dust serves as a power source for the majority of technology in Remnant, from airships to androids, though some alternative technologies do exist.^[6]

Dust can still be used without the aid of weapons or machines and can be unleashed in its raw form such as lightning. Technology powered by Dust is known to glow.^[7] When Weiss slices an Atlesian Paladin-290 in half, the circuitry is revealed inside, indicating that it is powered by electricity; although, Dust as an additional fuel source is likely as well. Alternatively, this may reveal that Dust-powered objects also require circuits to function. Or simply that Lightning Dust can produce electricity in a way that can be used similarly to batteries or generators, allowing normal circuitry to function.

The people of Remnant attempted to achieve spaceflight and space-based communications with Dust as propellant fuel, but its inability to operate outside of Remnant's atmosphere hindered these endeavors.

Combat[]

The discovery of Dust was instrumental to Humanity's initial defeat of the Grimm, and Dust continues to be used extensively in combat. Dust can be harnessed in a variety of ways, but when used in its raw form, its full potential requires both an Aura and the intelligence to use it, meaning Humans, Faunus, and certain artificial beings, such as Penny Polendina, are the only ones who are able to use it for combat in this state. Furthermore, the effective use of raw Dust requires a certain level of discipline to keep from losing control of it.^[8]

Dustweave[]

An "age-old technique," weaving Dust into clothes is first shown by Cinder who first makes use of it with her original battle outfit in "Ruby Rose" and then again with her stealth outfit in "Dance Dance Infiltration", both of which utilized orange Dust. These two instances occurred before Volume 3 and, as a result, were prior to Monty Oum adding the Maidens to the story.^[9] In "Field Trip", Ruby mentions Cinder's clothes "lit up", leading James Ironwood to speculate that Cinder utilized Dust weaved into her clothing to enable her weapon, Midnight. Ironwood expresses that someone's identity cannot be proven simply by the fact that they utilize it as a weapon.

Fusing Dust with One's Body[]

An effective, though unorthodox, use of Dust is physical infusion within one's body. Hazel Rainart is the first to display the method of fusing Dust with oneself, by stabbing Dust crystals into his arms. As shown in "Vault of the Spring Maiden" when Hazel Rainart stabs a few Lightning Dust crystals into his arms. The process causes his muscles to grow exponentially, enhancing his strikes proportional to that growth, while the electrical overflow discharges from his entire body.

Apparently, there is a limit to how much raw Dust an ordinary person is capable of metabolizing at a time. A prime example of this is how Hazel is only capable of utilizing as much Dust as he does due to his Numbing Agent rendering him impervious to the sensation of pain.

Dust-Imbued Blades[]

Dust-imbued blades are first shown by Adam Taurus and Raven Branwen, in two somewhat different ways. Adam's sword, Wilt appears to have a fixed blade, imbued with Fire Dust which he uses in the "Black" Trailer and the Volume 3 Opening.^[10] Raven's sword, Omen, is capable of switching between multiple blades imbued with different types of Dust. She is first seen using the Dust in one of the blades during her fight with Cinder at Haven Academy when she swings her sword to produce a path of ice, which she uses to slide past Cinder.

Powdered Dust[]

Adding powdered Dust to one's weapon is first shown by Weiss, who inserts vials of powdered Dust into a revolving chamber in her weapon, Myrtenaster. Her weapon has an exhaust port at the base of the blade, which allows the powdered Dust to leak out onto the blade. Weiss can choose to activate this Dust in a number of ways. One method is to swing her blade, which disturbs the Dust, causing it to activate and follow the swing of the blade. Another method is to use her glyphs to active and direct the Dust. The third method is to utilize her Aura to activate the Dust and control its manifestation, such as when she directs tiny flames from the tip of Myrtenaster over to several candles in "The Coming Storm".

Dust Crystals[]

Adding a Dust crystal to one's weapon is first shown in different ways in Volume 3 by Reese Chloris, Dew and Amber. During the Vytal Festival Tournament, Reese pushes an orange Dust crystal inside of her hoverboard to give it the ability to produce heat. Dew has a cut Wind Dust crystal embedded in the head of her spear. Amber placed uncut Dust crystals within twisted wooden branches on either end of her staff.

Dust Bullets[]

Dust bullets are much simpler to use, merely requiring the user to pull the trigger. Ruby's weapon, Crescent Rose, has also been mentioned to use rounds containing different kinds of Dust.^[11] Torchwick also makes reference to Dust rounds as being amongst the merchandise he stole, in the episode "Best Day Ever". It is mentioned that such rounds come in several different sizes and cartridges to be used for any given situation.

One prominent example of raw Dust usage is Weiss' Multi-Action Dust Rapier, Myrtenaster, which contains vials of numerous colors of powdered Dust in its revolving chamber. She can allow Dust to flow from an exhaust port^[12] onto Myrtenaster's blade to augment her attacks, such as casting fire from her blade.^[13] She can also use her glyphs to manipulate how Dust flows and manifests. She has demonstrated this ability numerous times with Ice Dust by manipulating what shape the ice would take.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Dust Bullet magazines have emblems on them to show what types of Dust are in that magazine. For example, a magazine that uses Fire Dust has an emblem of a flame on it.

Dust and Semblances[]

Because of Dust's connections to Aura, one's Semblance can also be affected it. Notably, a novel use of Dust is Weiss Schnee's use of Lightning Dust to create Time Dilation with her Glyphs. In the episode "No Brakes", Blake Belladonna inserts Dust vials into her weapon, Gambol Shroud, and uses it in conjunction with her Semblance. While normally her Shadow images are simply evanescent copies of her, with Dust, they take on the properties of an element, such as stone statues, ice sculptures or explosive fiery apparitions. Coco Adel can use her Hype to cause Dust to explode and increase its attack power while Arrastra Skye can use her Equilibrium to break down the atoms of Dust to redirect it at her target. Marton from Team SMMK has the ability to nullify the effects of Dust using his Semblance.

Utility[]

Amity Colosseum Arena[]

During the combat tournament of the Vytal Festival, Dust crystals are scattered throughout the arena for combatants to use. During the match between Team RWBY and Team ABRN, Ruby detonates Ice Dust to immobilize an opponent. Reese also combines orange Dust with her weapon. She later uses her weapon to freeze the leg of an Atlesian Paladin 290 in "Heroes and Monsters".

The Colosseum also has artificially created weather due to the use of Dust. These environmental Dust controls were created by Arthur Watts.^[18]

Vehicles[]

Vehicles run on Dust. The Mistral Train has cyan glowing pipes, presumed to be Hard-Light Dust and Yang's Motorcycle, Bumblebee, was said to run on Combustion Dust.

Vehicles, such as trains and streetcars, make use of Dust in varying ways. In "Kuroyuri", the train's pipes glow cyan when its active and fade to dull gray when powered down. The Argus Limited's track has a line of Gravity Dust through the middle of it. The streetcar that Teams RWBY and JNPR ride in "The Grimm Reaper" has a faint purple glow beneath it,^[19] hinting to Gravity Dust being responsible for its levitation.

Art Director Patrick Rodriguez designed a functional Dust powered engine for a Vehicle, but it was never used.^[20] Just Rite, a refueling station, offers services to refuel vehicles somewhere in Anima.

Mundane[]

As Remnant's primary source of functional power, Dust has many uses in everyday life, across all walks of life and the full breadth of morality. One example of this early in Remnant's history was when Mantle integrated Dust into a system built in their houses. Stoves use Dust to heat the burners, as indicated by Dust's signature "shimmering" sound effect when Ruby turns on a stove in "Known by its Song". Today, nearly all screens from the commonly used Scrolls to computers are holographically projected in the air and are highly likely made with Hard-Light Dust. It appears that buildings do not need to be connected to a central power grid in order to power lights, as Maria turns on a cordless lamp in the abandoned Brunswick Farms, in "Alone in the Woods". Construction workers in "The Grimm Reaper" are seen using a levitating cart to haul bricks. This cart makes the Dust "shimmering" noise when one of the workers drops a brick onto it.

Production and Distribution[]

The Schnee Dust Company was one of the largest producers of Dust in the world. Dust was mined from the Schnee Quarry, purified, and transported by railway lines^[21] or by sea^[22] to distributors. Dust was then sold to the public by Dust shops such as From Dust Till Dawn. Some Dust shops like the one in Kuchinashi hire bouncers and bodyguards to prevent their Dust from being stolen by thieves. According to Flynt Coal, his father's own Dust business was forced to shut down because of the Schnee Dust Company, showing they had monopolized smaller dust businesses to become as big as they had gotten.

The Mistral Trading Company is a Dust company stationed in the Kingdom of Mistral. Like the Schnee Dust Company, they have many Dust processing plants outside it's Kingdom, one of them being abandoned and used by The Crown. Both the Schnee Dust Company and Mistral Trading Company eventually drained the Kingdom of Vacuo of its Dust resources, despite it having the largest Dust reserves in the world.

Crystalline Dust is apparently safe enough to leave out on display openly, whereas powdered Dust is dispensed from tubes on the wall and stored in portable cylindrical canisters. Bags that have been seen on store shelves have the same bright hues as the tubes and their Dust, but whether they contain Dust themselves is unknown.

Much like real-world resources, Dust has been said to be a limited resource as it is mined from the ground.^[23] The RWBY: World of Remnant episode "Schnee Dust Company" depicts a crystal-to-bullet process, with a hint that this process was costly.

When locating the site of a potential new Dust Mine, the Schnee Dust Company would send someone into the potential mining site and obtain a Dust sample to see if they could mine there. If the Dust had inert specks and imperfections however, the mine site would be deemed unusable and would be abandoned by the company.^[24]

Dust smuggling is considered illegal and done by certain crime syndicates like the Xiong Family who managed to smuggle Dust into Vale with the help of corrupt councilman and city manager Jimmy Vanille. Secretly however, Jimmy stole parts of those shipments and had them placed in his estate. This heightens after the events of Volume 3, General James Ironwood had put an embargo on Dust distribution in effect. This made it harder to obtain dust throughout Remnant with some people having resorted to smuggling dust out of Atlas until the Kingdom's destruction in Volume 8. The Lien price for Dust is currently unknown.

Later, the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, Jacques Schnee, was killed by Ironwood in "Worthy". The company itself was later destroyed in "The Final Word" when its headquarters and all of its Dust operations in Atlas were destroyed with the kingdom itself. This is likely to drastically impact Dust prices and availability.

Types of Dust[]

The colors of Dust that have been seen thus far are as follows: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Dark Orange, Bright Orange, Pale Green, Cyan, Light Blue, Dark Blue, Blue, Black/Purple, and White.

Primary Dust[]

Fire[]

Fire Dust, or Burn^[25] Dust, is red in color^[26] and can be used to create fire in various forms, such as fireballs and fire waves. It is one of the four primary types.

It is first seen in the ""Black" Trailer", when Adam's sword trails fire as he fights Atlesian Knight-130 robots. In the show proper, it is first seen in "The Emerald Forest" when Weiss Schnee accidentally sets the Emerald Forest on fire. It can also be produced in the form of fireballs. In "The Coming Storm", Weiss uses Fire Dust to create and control tiny fires, which she uses to light candles.

Water[]

Water Dust is blue in color^[26] and can be used to create water. It is one of the four primary types.

While it has only been used to make Steam Dust in the series, it's effects in battle when used by itself have never been shown.

Electricity[]

Electricity, or Lightning Dust, is yellow in color^[26] and can be used to generate electricity in forms such as bolts of lightning and electrical currents. It is one of the four primary types.

Electricity generated from this Dust can be used to stun enemies, as seen when Ilia uses it on Corsac Albain in "True Colors". The electricity can also interfere with electronics, including prostheses, as seen in "Seeing Red".

Hazel Rainart is later seen using Lightning Dust to shoot bolts of lightning from his fists, as well as electrically charge his touch and his attacks during the Battle of Haven. In RWBY: The Grimm Campaign, the Kuchinashi prison uses Lightning Dust in its prison cell bars to keep even the most well-trained Huntsmen locked up. Lightning Dust can also be used to power shock collars, such as the one that Cinder Fall was forced to wear when she worked at the Glass Unicorn, though she builds a tolerance to it.

Mixing Gravity Dust with Lightning Dust will create a magnetic effect.^[27]

Wind[]

Wind, or Air, Dust can be used to create wind in various forms, such as gusts and tornadoes. It has been portrayed as both white and green in color in different appearances. According to The World of RWBY: The Official Companion, Wind Dust is white^[26], but according to Lore Keeper Eddy Rivas, Wind Dust is pale green^[28], while its effects are white.^[29] It is also one of the four primary types.

It is first used by Dew Gayl in "New Challengers..."^[30] when she creates three tornadoes, which surround Sage Ayana before combining into a larger tornado and tossing him out of the arena. Weiss uses the Dust to create a whirlwind to block the sound wave blast from Flynt Coal's trumpet in "Never Miss a Beat", and Amber uses a Wind Dust crystal to create gusts of wind to push her enemies away in "Beginning of the End". During Volume 8, Wind Dust was shown to be used in Tornado Grenades.

Inconsistencies[]

During Volume 2, Wind Dust was said to correspond to the green crescent shape in the World of Remnant episode, "Dust".^[31]

In Volume 3, Dew uses her spear to create tornadoes, and the crystal inserted into the head of her spear is green. However, during that same volume, Weiss and Amber are seen using white Dust to produce wind. When Weiss chooses to use Wind Dust against Flynt, the camera focuses on the vial of powdered white Dust in Myrtenaster, and Amber directs the wind with the end of her staff that contains a white Dust crystal.

Wind Dust continued to be white in Volume 5, as shown by the white glow produced by Fennec Albain's Wind Dust dagger.

During the run of Volume 6, Rooster Teeth released a line of Dust-themed rock candies, with the green candy labeled as "Wind Dust". This conflicted with the color code shown on the Dust page of The World of RWBY: The Official Companion, which labeled white Dust crystals as "Wind".

Later, in RWBY: The Grimm Campaign, it is once again listed as green in color. Eddy Rivas revealed the previous color of white was an error and that Wind Dust is canonically a pale green.^[28]

Combination Dust[]

Steam[]

Steam Dust is the combination of Fire and Water Dust^[6], and can generate clouds of steam.

It is first used by Mercury Black in "Lessons Learned" during his battle with Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi, where he creates a large smokescreen to make an opening to attack the duo. It's later repeated in "Fall" in his match against Yang.

Gravity[]

Gravity Dust is black,^[26] sometimes purple in color and can be used to manipulate gravitational fields, often to pull objects or create a field that pushes outward. Despite the fact that in reality, gravity can only pull objects, Gravity Dust does not seem to have this limitation. It is used in public transport to make vehicles hover and some Huntsmen incorporate Gravity Dust into weapons for a stronger impact or to recall thrown weapons. Due to the properties of Gravity Dust, the public story behind Atlas' airborne city was that it was powered by this unique Dust type. In actuality, the City of Atlas remained afloat due to the power of the Relic of Creation.

Gravity Dust is implied to be a combination of Fire and Lightning Dust, occurring with the two in the Schnee Dust Company Mine 2. It is also shown in "Dread in the Air", where giant black crystals cause the pieces of land in which they form to levitate, thus creating floating islands such as the ones above Lake Matsu in Anima. The Land of Darkness was shown to have Gravity Dust spread throughout it. Unlike naturally occurring ones, these did not cause gravitational effects around the area.

Mixing Gravity Dust with Lightning Dust will create a magnetic effect.^[32]

It is first used by Ruby when she uses Gravity Dust ammunition in the "Red" Trailer. In the show proper, it appears to be first seen being used in conjunction with Weiss' Semblance to create black glyphs, as evidenced by the rotation of Myrtenaster's Dust chamber in the "Volume 5 Weiss Character Short".^[33] Roy Stallion's saws use Gravity Dust to return back to him when thrown. It is later seen in use by Maria Calavera with her weapons, Life and Death. When she had both sickles, Maria could choose to either use her Aura or press a button on either of the sickles to attract one sickle to the other like magnets. She could also utilize her Aura to levitate the sickles around herself.

The tracks of Argus Limited are lined with Gravity Dust. It allows the train to move faster and more efficiently by hovering above the tracks. Cars in "Cordially Invited" used Gravity Dust to levitate above the ground.

Gravity Dust naturally floats so it was able to be integrated into the body of Monstra, Salem's giant Grimm whale ship she uses to attack Atlas.

Trivia[]

In RWBY: The Grimm Campaign, Gravity Dust is mistakenly marked as Metal Dust in the character sheets of the game.^[34]

Combustion[]

Combustion Dust is often used as fuel for machinery and can give a user a major boost to their physical activity. It is shown to be a combination of Fire and Wind Dust, occurring in caves close to Essen. It was first revealed in the Official Companion book.

It is used to power Yang Xiao Long's sports motorcycle, Bumblebee.^[35]

Zure Ayu's sister Cye later gives the first one mined to Yang in order to power up her Semblance Burn. This Dust is used as a fuel for machinery. Harnessing this kind of Dust correctly can give a major boost to any physical activity as well, be it throwing a fishing spear or throwing a punch. Weiss Schnee states that this kind of Dust is uncommon and that anyone would be lucky to mine it in such a pure form.^[36]

Ice[]

Ice Dust is light blue in color^[26] and can be used to create ice in any shape, such as crystals, thin sheets or even large structures like curved ramps or platforms that float in water. It is formed by the combination of Water and Wind Dust.^[6]

It is first used by Weiss in the "White" Trailer, to trap an Arma Gigas' feet. In the series proper, it is once again first used by Weiss, who utilizes it in "Players and Pieces" to trap a Death Stalker's stinger and save Ruby. Ice Dust has been used many times throughout the series to create large ice crystals, often to trap or impale enemies. Weiss has created ice crystals to push White Fang members off of a train in "No Brakes", as well as to protect herself and her teammates from the train crash in the same episode. In "Painting the Town...", Weiss uses this Dust to create a thin sheet of ice on a highway to make an Atlesian Paladin-290 slip and fall. In "Breach", Weiss briefly uses this Dust to create an ice sword resembling her Arma Gigas' sword, while using a glyph to swing the sword at a group of Grimm. Blake utilizes this Dust in conjunction with her Semblance to form an ice sculpture of herself in "No Brakes". In "Dread in the Air", Weiss fires ice beams at a group of Lancers. These ice beams are a somewhat darker blue than Hard-Light laser projectiles, have a snowy effect and do not curve through the air like Hard-Light lasers. In "The Lady in the Shoe", Weiss spreads the effect of her Ice Dust through the ocean water in front of her ice platform to temporarily trap the Colossus' leg.

Inconsistencies[]

In "The Shining Beacon", dark blue Dust is shown to be ice, as Ruby sneezes on red, dark blue and yellow Dust, resulting in fire, ice and lightning.

Hard-Light[]

Hard-Light Dust is cyan in color and can be used to form solid objects made of light energy. Being a combination of Fire, Water, Lightning, and Wind, it is the rarest type of Dust and can seemingly only be artificially made.^[37][3][4] Caroline Cordovin notes that Atlas was the father of Hard-Light Dust, indicating that Atlas was a major user and creator of technology that used this Dust. It is largely produced by the Schnee Dust Company.^[3][4]

One example of its use is laser-like projectiles, first used by Weiss in "Players and Pieces",^[38] with a similar version being used in the "White" Trailer". Another use for Hard-Light Dust is the creation of shields, by both people and technology. Weiss first uses it as a personal shield while fighting the White Fang Lieutenant in "No Brakes",^[39] and its first technological use is seen in the Amity Colosseum throughout Volume 3.^[40] The cities of Argus and Atlas also used it for defense. Shield technology appears to be its primary use. In RWBY: The Grimm Campaign, Hard-Light Dust can be used to create display cases. It has also been seen in the pipes of a train engine in Mistral.^[41]

Velvet Scarlatina's weapon, Anesidora, projects Hard-Light Dust into the shape of weaponry that she has taken photographs of.^[37] Due to the Dust Embargo, Velvet has had a harder time managing to get her hands on Hard-Light Dust and is forced to hold off on using her weapons copying feature as a result.

Hard-Light Dust is shown to be burning to touch, having degloved James Ironwood's left arm during a fight with Arthur Watts.

Lava[]

Among other things bright orange Dust can be turned to a molten projectile when superheated, that splatters to the ground when blocked,^[42] to make weaponry out of obsidian or some other form of black glass^[43] and to melt ice by generating heat.^[44] It is unknown what combination is made for this Dust, though it appears to include Fire.

It is first used by Cinder, whose dress has the Dust sewn into its designs, in "Ruby Rose". It is later seen in the fire biome of Amity Colosseum in Volume 3.

Plant[]

Plant Dust is green in color.^[26] It was first revealed in The World of RWBY: The Official Companion, but still has yet to be used or even appear in the main show proper. It is unknown what combination is made for this Dust.

It is first used in RWBY: The Grimm Campaign by Arrastra Skye to attack the trucks used by the Wave in "A Rebellious Reunion", causing plant vines to ensnare the trucks.

Plant Dust is likely used for farming purposes as well and is likely used in areas like the fields that were used for the city of Atlas to obtain crops.

Rock[]

Rock or Earth Dust is dark orange in color^[26] and can be used to create rocks. It is unknown what combination is made for this Dust to be fused.

It is first used by Blake when she combines it with her Semblance to create a stone copy of herself in "No Brakes".

When used with a weapon, Earth Dust can fire large stones as projectiles. This is first shown by Leonardo Lionheart, who uses his Stalwart to create a flaming rock and launch it during the Battle of Haven. This method is also shown by Cordovin's Colossus, which fires boulders from its cannon, some of which create spiky stone structures upon impact with the ground. Earth Dust can also be used defensively, such as when Weiss creates a stone wall to block Cordovin's ice blast in "The Lady in the Shoe".

Inconsistencies[]

Blake and Weiss use Dust to create stone in "No Brakes" and "The Lady in the Shoe" respectively, despite not possessing orange Dust. Weiss' rapier, Myrtenaster, always contains red, blue, yellow, white, purple and cyan Dust, except in "A Minor Hiccup", when it temporarily had all green Dust and then reverted in the following episode. The Dust magazine that Weiss gives to Blake in "No Brakes" contains the same colors as Myrtenaster.

In "The Lady in the Shoe", the Colossus' cannon glows white, instead of orange, when firing boulders. When using the other types of Dust, the cannon glows different colors - yellow for Electricity Dust and blue for Ice Dust.

Leonardo uses white Dust to create the rock element in his flaming rock attacks, indicated by the sphere in the middle glowing white when it was previously red in hue.

Trivia[]

• Dust alludes to Materia from the Final Fantasy video game series.^[45][4]
  • Monty Oum stated that, originally, all of the Dust in Myrtenaster was going to be red but still have different effects. This was because he felt that red went well with Weiss' design, as well as the fact that, design-wise, he was uncomfortable with having a character with a certain color palette walk around with "a rainbow" on them. He ended up putting those feelings aside and deciding that it would be better for the audience if Dust was color-coded.^[46]
• In Chapter 1 of the 2018 manga, it was mentioned Dust could be refined into a liquid aside from a powder, but this hasn't been revealed in other series.
• While Dust is used in most weapons in the series, not all weapons use it like Gillian Asturias's bow due to her hatred of Dust.
• The process of locating potential Dust mining sites is similar to how people locate potential ore mines in real life.
• Given that Dust can function in the Ever After but not outside of Remnant's atmosphere, it is possible that Dust requires oxygen to react.

References[]

Setting

Setting Aura ▾ Image Gallery • Magic ▾ Image Gallery • Semblance ▾ Image Gallery • Kingdoms • Huntsmen • Color Naming Rule • Teams • Emblems ▾ Details • Fairy Tales • Maidens • Silver-Eyed Warrior ▾ Image Gallery • Religion • Allusions • Ascension • Immortality Races Human • Faunus ▾ Image Gallery • Grimm ▾ Image Gallery • Animals • The Gods ▾ History Image Gallery • Afteran Groups Schnee Dust Company • White Fang ▾ Image Gallery • Cinder's Faction ▾ Image Gallery • Salem's Inner Circle • Ozpin's Group • Vale Police Department • Merlot Industries • Branwen Tribe ▾ Image Gallery • Ruby's Group ▾ Image Gallery • Spider ▾ Image Gallery • Menagerie Guard ▾ Image Gallery • Ace Operatives ▾ Image Gallery • Ironwood's Group • Happy Huntresses • Human Nextwork • Atlas Military • Special Operatives Unit • Beacon Brigade • The Crown • Mistral Trading Company • The Circle • Hana Guild • Wave • Yang's Group ▾ Image Gallery • Justice League • Huntsman Academies • Lady Browning's Preparatory Academy For Girls • Xiong Family ▾ Image Gallery • The Hearth • Black Sheep • Starhead Industrial Company Vehicles Vale Airship ▾ Image Gallery • Atlesian Airship ▾ Image Gallery • Air Bus ▾ Image Gallery • Bullhead ▾ Image Gallery • Atlesian Dropship ▾ Image Gallery • Bumblebee ▾ Image Gallery • Winter's Airship ▾ Image Gallery • Black Cargo Train ▾ Image Gallery • Ship ▾ Image Gallery • Cargo Airship ▾ Image Gallery • Argus Limited ▾ Image Gallery • Manta ▾ Image Gallery • Mistral Airship • Mistral Train ▾ Image Gallery • HVB Rhino ▾ Image Gallery • Schnee Dust Company Freighter • Atlas Police Airship ▾ Image Gallery Technology Vehicle • Scroll ▾ Image Gallery • Cross Continental Transmit System ▾ Image Gallery • Locker ▾ Image Gallery • Prosthesis • Yang's Prosthetic Arm ▾ Image Gallery • Amity Communications Tower • Black Queen ▾ Image Gallery Relics Relic of Knowledge ▾ Image Gallery • Relic of Creation ▾ Image Gallery • Relic of Destruction ▾ Image Gallery • Relic of Choice ▾ Image Gallery Media Vale News Network • Literature • Remnant: The Game Products Food • Pumpkin Pete's • Dust ▾ Image Gallery Events Remnant Timeline • Great War • Faunus Rights Revolution • Vytal Festival ▾ Image Gallery • Faunus Civil Rights Protest • Beacon Academy Initiation • Beacon Dance • White Fang Faction Meeting • Fall of Beacon • Shade Academy Initiation • Battle of Haven • Battle of Mantle • Battle of Atlas Items Relics ▾ Image Gallery • Grimm Mask • Cinder's Glove • Magic Necklace • Cloak of Displacement • Grimm Liquid ▾ Image Gallery • Lien • Invisibility Cloak • Growgurt Parfait • Stopwatch Fruit • Tock's Stopwatch