Overview History

Gillian Asturias is a character from RWBY: Before the Dawn. She was a former Huntress hailing from Shade Academy who deserted in order to restore the Vacuan monarchy, ruling as a queen and leader of The Crown.


Gillian is a fair-skinned woman with black hair braided into two loops on either side. She wears a long dress with many sheer layers of blue, white, green, and purple that resembles running water, and a silver chain was wrapped around her waist matching the slim silver diadem that gleams on her head.

She has a crown-shaped brand mark on her wrist.


Gillian is an extremely cunning individual, said to have been highly ambitious in her goals, being the top of her class in Shade Academy. Gillian had an extreme obsession with the history of Vacuo, and delusions of grandeur, believing herself to be the descendent of royalty (despite it being an untraceable lineage), and thus having the right to rule. Coco noted that the crown-shaped mark on her wrist (said to be a birthmark proving royal lineage her father, who showed Coco his own prior, and claimed both his children inherited it) appeared to be a brand rather than a birthmark. While Coco questions whether it was Finn or Gillian herself who branded her, Finn's insistence that both Gillian and Jax have it and Gillian's reaction to Coco asking implies that it was her father and she was unaware.

Gillian's obsession with the Vacuan monarchy and her perceived place within it has dragged her and the rest of her team over the edge into madness as they are driven further and further into committing more extreme criminal acts.

Gillian is shown to have a very royal attitude, being very demanding and somewhat short-tempered, but still keeping a cool head. She is shown to despise Atlas and its technology like her father, to the point of being unable to stand the sight of a Scroll. She also refused to use Dust in combat and fought without it.

Despite this, Gillian's main loyalty is to her brother, truly loving him above all else to the point of helping him form The Crown and abandoning her ambitions for it. Still, she had a greater fear of death than love for her brother and was willing to betray him if it meant saving herself.

As implied by Theodore, Gillian was said to have been "corrupted" by her brother Jax's influence, meaning that Gillian might not have always been the way she was. Also, her own attempts to stop The Crown and her brother upon learning of the severe threat it was becoming to their lives, shows that Gillian was nowhere near as fanatic or obsessed with their crusade as Jax was.

Powers and Abilities

Gillian was stated to be a powerful Huntress of her own right, being skilled enough to reach the top of her class during her time at Shade Academy. Her weapon was a simple bow and arrow due to her hatred of technology and also didn't use Dust in combat. According to her father, Finn Asturias, she has a naturally high amount of Aura.


Main article: Aura Siphon

Gillian's Semblance, Aura Siphon, is her true power, which allows her to transfer Aura between different people, much like Jaune Arc. However, she is also able to drain Aura from others to recover her own, as well as storing it for herself. This adds onto her own Aura, forming a rainbow of color. Gillian is also capable of forming a chain of Aura by draining it from one person, and using herself as a link to transfer it into another. Aura passed onto others will eventually fade, and she needs physical contact to transfer it.

This Semblance grants Gillian numerous advantages in a battle, due to her being able to siphon aura and store it into herself, this granted her the ability to continuously siphon aura from her opponents to simultaneously reinforce her own Aura reserves and protection while at the same time draining her opponents, allowing her to weaken their own defenses and possibly disable the use of their Semblances. Gillian's semblance in particular would be vital in The Crown's operations as she was able to provide her twin brother Jax the vast aura reserves he needed to make liberal and free use of his own Semblance to build their army.

When Gillian's mother, Luna Asturias was pregnant with Gillian and Jax, she had became sick near constantly and her Aura would deplete with no clear reason as to why. At the time, the same would happen with Jax. It was thought to be a condition until it was realized Gillian’s Semblance had been draining them. An emergency procedure was needed to save Jax from being drained, and Luna died in the process. This shows that Gillian's Semblance was already powerful enough that even prior to her birth, it was already active.



  • Gillian alludes to the character of Jill in the traditional nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill.

Color Naming Rule

  • Asturias is an autonomous community within the northwest of Spain, typically known for its mountainous setting with vast and lush greenery.


  • Gillian was stated to be one of the few people who actively attempted to experiment on Grimm. With her Semblance, she decided to see what would happen if she tried to transfer Aura to them. This resulted in the Grimm excessively siphoning immense amounts of it from her and nearly drained her dry in the process.
  • Gillian's Semblance is similar to Jaune Arc's Aura Amp, where she could similarly amplify the Aura of others by using her Semblance.


RWBY/Justice League
Minor Characters