Leonardo Lionheart

Professor Leonardo Lionheart (レオナルド・ライオンハート, Reonarudo Raionhāto), also nicknamed as "Leo" (レオ, Reo), is the fictional character and deuteragonist from the RWBY series. He was a lion Faunus and the headmaster of Haven Academy, and a former member of Ozpin's Group who became turncoat as seen "The Next Step". Salem referred to Lionheart as an informant for her organization, and in "No Safe Haven", he was seen meeting with Arthur Watts.

He was killed by a Seer Grimm, which was commanded by Salem in "Haven's Fate".

"You can call it whatever you want, it doesn’t really matter. We’re here… helping her. I’ve crossed a line… I’ve done things that Ozpin will never forgive, and he shouldn’t! I don’t know where I go from here."
 * —Leonardo Lionheart to Raven.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Daman Mills (English), Not Known (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

Appearance
Leonardo was a middle-aged man with a mane of tan/gray hair and a beard. He had a tanned complexion with brown eyebrows and dark brown eyes.

He wore a brown great coat with a matching mantle, which had cross emblems on each side. He also wore a white dress shirt under his coat, a western neck tie and carried a pocket watch. Lionheart also wore dark brown slacks and dress shoes.

It was revealed in "The More the Merrier" that he was a lion Faunus and possessed a tufted lion's tail the same color as his hair and beard.


 * Hair Color: Tan/Gray
 * Skin Color: Not Known
 * Eye Color: Dark Brown
 * Age: Not Known
 * Birthday: Not Known
 * Height: Not Known
 * Weight: Not Known

Personality
"I'm helping her for the same reason you are - I'm afraid. We...we can't stop her...No one can..."
 * —Leonardo Lionheart to Raven on why he's aiding Salem.

On the surface Leonardo Lionheart demonstrated a rather polite and jovial persona and genuinely came off as a well-meaning and compasionate man. He was also shown to be easily startled and seemed to be somewhat timid. Despite this, he was willing to argue with people like Qrow Branwen and seemed unafraid to speak his mind to his fellow huntsman. Lionheart also showed to be less impulsive than Qrow, suggested they waited and to figure out a better way to retrieve the Spring Maiden from Raven Branwen, rather than immediately head out to fight the Branwen Tribe and get to her.

However, in front of Salem, he revealed himself to be cowardly and greatly values self-preservation, he acted subservient and submissive to her and was clearly frightened of her. Away from her, Leonardo was both truly and fully ashamed of what he had done in her name and strongly felt Ozpin should have not forgiven him. In his final moments, Leonardo panicked and vainly begs to Salem for his life, after pleading for another chance and attempting turning on her.

Leonardo, despite his apparent self-loathing for his actions, had a tendency to rationalize his choices in a vain effort to ease his own conscience.

Weapons
Leonardo was armed with a Dust-loaded disk-shaped weapon strapped to his wrist from which he could launch conjured Dust projectiles.

He had stated in "Welcome to Haven" however, that he was not the fighter that he used to be.

Past
Lionheart was one of Ozpin's associates, but for an unknown amount of time, he was in contact with Salem's associates, leaving his allegiances in question up to his debut in RWBY.

Working for Salem and Watts
Several months after the Fall of Beacon Academy, Dr. Arthur Watts visited him in Mistral on behalf of Salem. On a later day, Lionheart received word from Qrow Branwen that he would be coming to Haven with a few students from Beacon. When he met them, he was shocked to hear that Team RNJR already learned about the Maidens and Relics from Qrow. Inside his office, Lionheart explained what happened to Haven. According to him, shortly after the Fall of Beacon, the Grimm attacked the city of Mistral, prompting the teachers of Haven to fight off the monsters. Lionheart gave them all a leave, causing a complete desertion of the school. When Qrow revealed the Spring Maiden was with his sister Raven, Lionheart copied the coordinates of the location of the bandit tribe from Qrow's Scroll and insisted he needeed time to convince the city council he needed Huntsmen for the search. After Qrow and Team RNJR left, Watts contacted him to tell him to work on improvisation.

Watts then appeared and took Lionheart to a Seer, which established connection between them and Salem. Lionheart gave his report about the location of the Spring Maiden and implored her to hurry because he was at odds with Qrow. The Seer suddenly choked him, and Salem warned him not to overstep his boundaries before she had the Grimm let him go.

Many days later, Raven visited Lionheart after she made a deal with Salem’s faction for her brother's death in exchange for having Vernal lead them to the Relic of Knowledge. At her request, he called Qrow and said he prepared a raid party to fight the bandits and retrieve the Spring Maiden, thus setting up a trap for Qrow to be killed in line with Raven's deal. After ending the call, Lionheart admitted to Raven he worked for Salem because he was afraid of her and knew her as an unstoppable force. He acknowledged he crossed a line with his betrayal to Ozpin and said the Beacon headmaster would never forgive him. After Raven told him to man up because he did what he had to do to survive, Lionheart asked who she was trying to convince but received no answer as she left his office.

Battle of Haven
On the night of the full moon, Lionheart met with Qrow and the students and nervously asked why they brought their weapons. Suddenly, Raven revealed herself the conspiracy between the Haven's headmaster and Salem's crew. Cinder Fall, her faction and Hazel Rainart also appeared and ambushed the heroes, and the Fall Maiden revealed that Lionheart had been working for Salem for a long time and sent her information that allowed her to kill the Mistral Huntsmen and Huntresses, much to Qrow’s horror. In the ensuing battle, Lionheart was confronted by Oscar Pine and told him to leave. When the boy continued to approach him, Lionheart attacked him with his weapon but to no avail as Oscar drew out his cane. Upon seeing the weapon, Lionheart was shocked that Ozpin managed to reincarnate so quickly. As they fought, the headmaster thought of a plan to turn the boy to Salem in the hopes of pleasing her.

After Cinder impaled Weiss Schnee, Oscar knocked Lionheart down the stairs, and Hazel criticized him for having a boy make a fool of him. The headmaster told him Oscar is Ozpin's reincarnation, and Hazel dropped him to the floor. Lionheart opened the way to the Vault for Cinder, Raven and Vernal and was instructed to make sure Ruby was kept alive. Later on, he aided Hazel by firing projectiles at Oscar and Qrow as a distraction.

After the White Fang were halted outside and Ruby shot at Lionheart, the headmaster retreated to his office. He rifled through his desk only to find the Seer at his door. Salem used the Grimm to ask where he was going and if there was anything Lionheart wished to tell her. Lionheart reported that Cinder altered the plan to allow Qrow and the students to show up. He said the White Fang attack was stopped and the Relic of Knowledge may not have been recovered.

Death
A panicking Lionheart repeatedly swore he could still assist Salem, but she was unmoved. He attempted to shoot the Seer, but it quickly disarmed him. He then resorted to running around the Seer, but it wrapped his leg. He continued to scream as the Seer dragged him across the floor and sliced him with its tentacles. After Lionheart struggled to say "please", the Seer sliced him one last time, killing him. From her domain, Salem called Lionheart a coward.

Canon

 * Leonardo Lionheart vs. Oscar Pine (Lost)
 * Leonardo Lionheart and Hazel Rainart vs. Qrow Branwen and Oscar Pine

Canon

 * Battle of Haven

Notes & Trivia

 * Professor Leonardo Lionheart heavily alludes to the Cowardly Lion from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.