Tyrian Callows

Tyrian Callows (ティリアン・キャロウズ, Tirian Kyarōsu), is both the fictional character and antagonist of the RWBY series created by Monty Oum. He is a pale psychopathic scorpion Faunus who is an associate of Salem and part of her inner circle, showing himself to be extremely devoted to Salem.

In Volume 4, mocking Cinder for the injuries she suffered at the Fall of Beacon, Tyrian is assigned by Salem to find and capture Ruby. However, while catching up to Team RNJR, Tyrian is forced to retreat after Ruby cut off his tail when he poisoned Qrow. After returning to Salem and losing her favor, a distraught Tyrian vents out his frustrations on a Beowolf that tried to kill him. In Volume 6, Tyrian is outfitted with a new bionic tail developed by Arthur and accompanies the scientist to Atlas after mocking Mercury and Emerald over their dilemma with Cinder's absence.

"My heart and body belong only to our goddess!"
 * —Tyrian Callows, proclaiming his devotion to Salem.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Josh Grelle (English), Yoku Shioya (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)

Appearance
Tyrian is a pale man with gold eyes and a brown ponytail braided to resemble a scorpion's tail. He wears a white sleeveless jacket with leather belts strapped to it, along with white pants. His jacket is left open, exposing his bare chest, which is crisscrossed with prominent scars. His arms are covered with purple bandages and leather vambraces. He also wears leather boots covering his entire shin with knee guards.

On each earlobe is a silver, ring-shaped earring, and near the top of his left ear is another matching earring. In the episode "Menagerie", he appears in a dark brown jacket which he wears open the same way he does with his white one.

In "Tipping Point", it is revealed that his animal trait as a Faunus is a scorpion stinger which protrudes from his back. When not in use, he disguises it by wrapping it around his belt. His eyes can also change color from gold to purple. The stinger is separated from the tail after Ruby Rose cut it off with Crescent Rose.

The stump itself was temporarily attached to a metallic cap before the entire tail was covered with metallic plates and a prosthetic stinger was added at the end.


 * Hair Color: Brown
 * Skin Color: Pale White
 * Eye Color: Gold (Normal), Purple
 * Age: Not Known
 * Birthday: Not Known
 * Height: Not Known
 * Weight: Not Known

Personality
Tyrian was described to his voice actor, Josh Grelle, as psychotic incarnate, and someone who wants to see the world burn. Tyrian appears to be a highly unstable, maladjusted, manipulative and outright sadistic individual. He frequently bursts into fits of uncontrollable, maniacal laughter and relishes in gruesome thoughts, such as removing one of Ruby's eyes in revenge for her taking one of Cinder Fall's. He also expresses extreme glee when instructed to find Ruby, though is disappointed when told he must capture her alive.

He finds amusement in taunting his opponents while he fights and shows joy when Team RNJR will not allow him to take Ruby without a fight, indicating a level of bloodlust. When he appears to have the upper hand in a fight he becomes overconfident and careless, letting himself take hits as long as he can continue to press the advantage. He also has a flair for the dramatic, wildly posturing and gesturing with deliberate dramatic pauses as if he were giving a stage performance. Another one of his eccentricities is sitting in a crouching position in his chair.

His instability is evident when he suffers from a mental breakdown after hearing he disappointed Salem. Tyrian proceeds to cry in despair before viciously retaliating against a Beowolf which lunges at him and regaining a sense of his sadistic joy as he repeatedly strikes it.

He is also surprisingly observant and insightful regarding the character of others. He was able to deduce Mercury's predicament rather easily.

Friends/Allies

 * Salem's Faction
 * Salem
 * Arthur Watts

Neutral

 * Cinder's Faction
 * Cinder Fall
 * Emerald Sustrai
 * Mercury Black

Enemies

 * Team RWBY
 * Ruby Rose
 * Team JNPR
 * Jaune Arc
 * Ozpin's Group
 * Qrow Branwen

Abilities and Powers
Tyrian is extremely quick, able to dash behind an opponent and attack in the blink of an eye. He is also strong enough to block an attack from a fully charged Nora Valkyrie with ease and is able to overpower Team RNJR without much effort. While he displays traits that may suggest otherwise, he is incredibly combat-efficient, is smart enough to know which targets to prioritize, and had the forethought to hide his Faunus trait in order to get an advantage against Team RNJR. His fighting style makes effective use of all five of his limbs, allowing him to engage multiple opponents with minimal difficulty. However, his style is not flawless, and his chaotic mindset does leave him open to attacks from superior strategists, which resulted in the loss of his stinger, albeit after delivering a near-fatal dose of venom to Qrow Branwen.

Tyrian is shown to be quite strong, as even with his tail mutilated he is still powerful enough to send a Beowolf flying backward with considerable force with the damaged appendage.

According to Cinder, Tyrian is strong enough to kill fully trained Huntsmen.

Weapons

 * Main article: Tyrian's Wrist Blades

Tyrian's weapon of choice is a set of wrist blades attached to his vambraces equipped with firearms.

He also uses his stinger in combat, which he can contract and extend at will. The stinger appears to be remarkably durable as it blocks Nora's attack, even when Nora was powered up by an electric shot from Crescent Rose. Much like how scorpion stingers are usually a conduit for venom, Tyrian's stinger can inject venom when used as a barb, as seen when he grazed Qrow with it. When he intends to sting someone, his eyes turn dark purple. After the battle against Qrow and Team RNJR, he lost his stinger along with a portion of his tail. His venom was potent enough to corrode stone and incapacitate someone who was simply grazed by his stinger within less than a day. He was given a metallic stinger as a replacement by Arthur Watts.

Past
Tyrian is one of Salem's associates. His early life and how he came to join the group are unknown.

RWBY
Tyrian had been assigned to hunt down the Spring Maiden for some time. However, after the Fall of Beacon, he was recalled by Salem to attend a meeting which was also attended by Hazel Rainart, Doctor Arthur Watts, Cinder Fall and Salem herself.

At the meeting, Tyrian is reassigned by Salem to hunt down Ruby Rose in retaliation for her badly wounding Cinder atop Beacon Tower. Tyrian expresses glee at this prospect until he is informed that he is to capture her alive and bring her to his "goddess". Despite his initial disappointment, he willingly agrees to follow the order. He turns to Cinder and assures her that he will take one of Ruby's eyes as a form of retribution against her.

Hunting Ruby Rose
Tyrian arrives at Higanbana and asks the waitress for help in his search for Ruby. Later, he pursues Ruby and her group to Oniyuri and attacks them. It is revealed during the fight that he is a scorpion Faunus. When questioned about his motives for attacking them, he speaks cryptically, saying that he has an interest in Jaune Arc and that he only matters to Ruby. He overwhelms Team RNJR rather easily and knocks Ruby to the ground. However, before he can strike her with his stinger, Qrow Branwen intervenes. After some small talk with Qrow, a fierce battle ensues between Tyrian and his opponents. It ends when Tyrian wounds Qrow with his stinger, which Ruby immediately dismembers. Unable to continue the fight due to his injury, he flees.

When he returns to Salem, he tells her that he failed to capture Ruby and grovels before her. He begs for forgiveness and tells her that he managed to poison Qrow, but she coldly remarks that she is disappointed and walks away. This causes Tyrian to break down in tears. He takes out his despair on a nearby Beowolf, pinning it down and repeatedly stabbing it with his blades as his cries turn into maniacal laughter.

Attack on Haven
Sometime after Tyrian's return to Salem, Watts returns and gives him a temporary metallic cap for his tail.

After Salem learns of Qrow's well being, she has Cinder send Tyrian to her conference room.

After Qrow is unable to find any Huntsmen to raid the Branwen Tribe, Cinder tells him Tyrian and Hazel are responsible for killing them after Professor Lionheart gave information to Salem.

After Haven
Following the failed attack on Haven Academy, Tyrian greets Hazel, Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black upon their return. He also takes the time to taunt the trio about Cinder's supposed death and points out that Emerald should be careful with what she says, as Cinder is not around to defend her. He listens as Hazel explains their failure, and Salem's rage knocks the table into him, knocking him over. Tyrian berates Watts when the latter questions how Salem knew Cinder was alive. He is initially shocked when Hazel reveals Ozpin has already reincarnated, and he later retreats from the meeting room to avoid Salem's wrath.

Some time later, Tyrian is given a new prosthetic tail with a stinger that can store venom. He then comes across Emerald and Mercury in the midst of their argument, mocking the latter for only knowing pain and violence and being afraid to leave that life behind. Tyrian then counters and knocks Mercury on the floor, and then jumps on him ready to sting him. He mocks the pair for not loving what they are doing, but denies giving the notion that they should just leave. Tyrian then shares that he and Watts have been commanded by Salem to head for Atlas. He does not disclose the reason why and leaves the pair when the doctor calls for him, once again mocking them to do what makes them happy.

Canon

 * Tyrian Callows vs. Team RNJR and Qrow Branwen (Lost)

Notes & Trivia

 * The color Tyrian is a shade of purple, similar to the color of the venom from his tail, and that of his eyes when he is prepared to use it.
 * Tyrian is based on the scorpion from the fable The Scorpion and the Frog.
 * Callows can mean lacking in color or firmness, typically referring to when insects or other arthropods, such as spiders, shed their exoskeleton, and something that is unfledged and immature.
 * Tyrian's wrist blades resemble the pedipalp pincers of a scorpion, which is consistent with the fact that he is a scorpion Faunus.