Jacques Schnee

Jacques Schnee (ジャック・シュニー, Jakku Shūnī); né Gelè, is both the fictional character and deuteragonist from the RWBY series. He is the President of the Schnee Dust Company (SDC), the largest Dust-mining company in Remnant. He is the father of Winter, Weiss and Whitley Schnee.

In the series, he is first mentioned in the episode "The Stray" and makes a first brief non-speaking appearance in "End of the Beginning". He also appears briefly in the Manga. His first speaking appearance is in "Remembrance".

"I'm not talking about the good of my company; I'm talking about the good of Atlas, our entire Kingdom!"
 * —Jacques Schnee, trying to convince James Ironwood to give in.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Jason Douglas (English), Madoka Shiga (Japanese), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Poland), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

Appearance
Jacques has gray-white hair and a pale complexion. He has a large gray mustache, and his eyes are a cold blue color.

He is seen wearing a pure white double-breasted jacket with a red handkerchief in the breast pocket, underneath which he wears a blue shirt and vest and a gray-white tie, printed with the same emblem on his shoes and above his study. He has a silver-colored ring on his right hand.

On the back wall behind his desk is a portrait from when he was younger, depicting him with black hair and a thinner mustache.


 * Hair Color: White (Formerly Black)
 * Skin Color: Pale White
 * Eye Color: Light Blue
 * Age: Not Known
 * Birthday: Not Known
 * Height: Not Known
 * Weight: Not Known

Personality
Jacques is cold, arrogant, vindictive, and overbearing. He entered a loveless marriage into the Schnee family in order to take control of the Schnee Dust Company. Weiss states that it was her father's leadership of the company that saw its reputation sullied by unethical practices. He is on poor terms with both Winter and Weiss, and the nature of his marriage drove his wife into alcoholism. When Weiss refuses to answer his calls, he cuts her off from the family fortune in order to force her to talk to him. A similar situation is said to have occurred between him and Winter upon her enlistment to the military. Jacques is shown to be egotistical, joking with peers that he's repeatedly the good guy when it comes to the Faunus situation, when in reality he's apathetic.

Jacques also seems to be a cold and calculating person, more concerned with reputation and wealth than the people close to him, or the ethics of a situation. His wife is suggested to have suspected the true motivations of their marriage long before Jacques admitted to them himself. James Ironwood clearly saw through Jacques' attempts to convince him that the Dust embargo he placed would hurt Atlas and should be removed, only for Jacques to accidentally reveal his altruism to be a front when mentioning that the embargo has caused the SDC to lose millions of lien in exports.

Despite Jacques' poor relationship with his daughters, the fact that he personally fetched Weiss after the Battle of Beacon indicates some sense of worry for her safety. However, his actions during "Remembrance" show him to be more concerned with the SDC and the Schnee name, rather than Weiss herself. His controlling nature is made clear when he forces Weiss to sing at the SDC charity concert with an implied threat of consequences if she refused, and when he restricts Weiss' freedom of movement after the incident at the fundraiser. He also follows through with consequences for refusing his commands, such as when Weiss challenges him in "Punished".

Friends/Allies

 * Schnee Dust Company

Family

 * Nicholas Schnee (Father-in-law)
 * Unnamed Wife
 * Winter Schnee (Daughter)
 * [Weiss Schnee (Daughter)
 * Whitley Schnee (Son)

Neutral

 * James Ironwood

Enemies

 * White Fang

Powers and Abilities
In addition to Jacques' considerable personal wealth, as the President of the SDC, he is a highly influential individual in Remnant. He has connections not only to the upper echelons of high society in Atlas but close connections to the brass of the Atlesian Military, calling Ironwood a longtime friend and "trusted ally". It is also implied that he has some significant influence with the Atlesian Council.

Past
Jacques Gelè married into the Schnee family and took on their surname. He later took over the Schnee Dust Company after convincing the founder, Nicholas Schnee, that he would be the perfect successor when Nicholas' health began to fail. He fathered two daughters and a son: Winter, Weiss and Whitley Schnee. His first daughter, Winter, studied to become a Huntress at Atlas Academy, and later joined Atlesian Military as a Specialist after graduating. His second daughter, Weiss, left for Beacon Academy to study and become a Huntress as well. Jacques has been stated to have been displeased with both Winter and Weiss' decisions, the former for her career in the military, and the latter for enrolling at Beacon rather than Atlas. At some point he retaliated against Winter by cutting her off from the family fortune.

According to Weiss, under his leadership, the Company began to operate in a "moral gray area", and soon became infamous for "controversial labor forces and questionable business partners". This exploitation made them a target for the Faunus militant group known as the White Fang, which began a campaign of terror against the Company, kidnapping and executing board members, interfering with their infrastructure and preying on Schnee family members and friends. This caused the President to become foul-tempered, resulting in a rather difficult childhood for Weiss.

Manga
In Chapter 3 of the manga, it is said that as a child, Weiss' father always placed extremely high expectations upon her, and in spite of her efforts, she was never able to earn his approval. Weiss attempts to move away from her home in Atlas to study at Beacon Academy in Vale. When her father learns of this, he administers a "test" of her worth, forcing her to fight an Arma Gigas in a dangerous battle.

During the Semester
In "The Stray", Weiss attributes her difficult childhood to her father's tumultuous emotional state, which was caused by the White Fang's attacks on the Company. She explains to her teammates that this is the reason she despises the White Fang and mistrusts Faunus.

In "Mountain Glenn", Weiss states that her father is the reason the Schnee Dust Company descended into controversial activities and that she refuses to let her father be the end of her family legacy.

Vytal Festival Tournament
During the Vytal Festival, Weiss' father attempts to call her on her Scroll, but Weiss refuses to answer him. In response, he cancels her credit card, cutting her off from the family fortune.

Later, Weiss' sister Winter Schnee visits Vale and deduces what happened between Weiss and their father, since she experienced a similar situation when she joined the Atlas military. The two sisters commiserate on their shared difficult relationship with their father. Winter says that Weiss has a choice, either get back into her father's favor, or forge her own path independent of his control. That night, Weiss again rejects a call from her father, making her choice to live on her own.

Battle of Beacon
In the following mass Grimm invasion of Vale and the destruction of Beacon, Jacques personally comes to Vale to collect her and bring her back home where he believes it is safe. Weiss is seen sitting with him morosely on an aircraft on the way back to Atlas.

In Atlas
He is shown arguing with James Ironwood regarding his embargo of exporting Dust. He then tells Weiss that she will be performing vocals at a charity concert for the Schnee Dust Company.

Jacques is present at the charity concert and the after-party where he debates with other party guests about politics, including his company's involvement in economic disparity, employment opportunity and Faunus discrimination. He also tries to restrain Weiss when she loses her temper with the attendees.

Back at the Schnee Family Home he scolds his daughter for her behavior at the party. During their argument he slaps her when she challenges his right to the Schnee name. Jacques grounds Weiss and declares that Whitley will be the heir instead of her.

On the night that James Ironwood informs Jacques that he intends to close the borders of Atlas within a week, the two men get temporarily locked in Jacques' study as Weiss makes her escape.

Etymology

 * His first name is the French equivalent of the name James, which originates from Jacob. This name means "someone who grasps at the heels" or "supplanter", which fits him well given his backstory.
 * His pre-marriage surname, Gelé, means 'frozen' in French.
 * Like the rest of his family, his married surname means "snow" in German.

Notes & Trivia

 * Jacques alludes to Jack Frost. For more information on this allusion, as well as other choices the creators made for this character, see Jacques Schnee/Behind the Scenes.
 * A picture of Weiss and her father from "End of the Beginning" was used to promote the Father's Day sales at the Rooster Teeth Store on June 19th, 2016.
 * Weiss' father was originally intended to appear in the Volume 1 Opening. He can be seen as a mysterious figure in the original storyboards featured as extras on the DVD release of Volume 1.