| “ | I'm not particularly fond of failure. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Arthur Watts. |
| “ | James Ironwood never recognized my genius. After everything I gave him, he still disgraced me. I simply wish to return the favor. | „ |
| ~ Watts on his motivation. |
| “ | Watts: You never appreciated my genius, James! You just stood atop it and called yourself a GIANT! (runs up to James and punches him in the chest) Ironwood: I gave you everything you could have wanted! Watts: You chose that fat imbecile over me! |
„ |
| ~ Arthur Watts arguing with James Ironwood during their battle. |
Dr. Arthur Watts is a major antagonist in the ongoing anime-influenced animated webseries RWBY. He was one of Salem’s closest subordinates and was the arch-nemesis to General Ironwood.
He was voiced by Christopher Sabat (who also voiced his digital copy in Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen and VIRM in Darling in the Franxx) in English and by Tōru Ōkawa in the Japanese dub.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
Background/In General[]
- While he was rejected by James Ironwood and was envious of Pietro Polendina due to his creation of Penny being given more recognition than Watts' security network, this does not make him tragic because his excuse is a petty one that ultimately shows how spiteful he really is.
- Even though he is shown to despise Cinder and has a rivalry with her, this is merely because Watts shows disgust at her poor planning skills and sense of entitlement regarding her status as the Fall Maiden, not her actions.
- Despite his verbal chewing out of Cinder in "Ultimatum", he only called her out on her incompetence and made no attempt to morally object her crimes. It's also rather hypocritical of him to call her out on her selfishness given Watts' aforementioned petty vendetta against Ironwood and Pietro.
- Although he has a few moments where he can be somewhat comedic, he is still played completely seriously in-universe. Furthermore, his supposedly funny scenes aren’t very prominent or remembered throughout the series and he is mostly portrayed as a bully whose motive is based on a childish rivalry with James Ironwood.
- Despite the series having a rather high heinous standard, Watts is still able to stand out due to attempting to destroy the city of Mantle twice with a fair lack of resources as a mere scientist with zero advanced weaponry of his own.
RWBY[]
Volume 3[]
- He created the Black Queen virus, which would be used by Cinder to rig the Vytal tournament matches, causing the Grimm invasion of Vale by hacking the kingdoms communications to spread panic, and hacking the Atlas drones to attack civilians on live TV, causing the Fall of Beacon.
- Though it wasn't his intention, this led to Team RWBY getting separated for a long time (which caused Yang to be depressed about her fear of losing Blake, leading to Ruby and Weiss helping her to feel better). Thankfully, Team RWBY reunited later on in the series, so their disbandment wasn't permanent.
Volume 7[]
- He helped Tyrian murder most of the attendees at Robyn Hill's victory party and placed the blame on Penny by doctoring the security drone footage.
- After having enough of his petty rivalry with James Ironwood, Watts lost his temper and switched off the heating grid in Mantle. This would lead to the citizens almost freezing to death and Watts wanted to spite James and ruin his life, and this action also allowed Salem and an army of Grimm to invade and endanger the city.
- He tried to kill James Ironwood during their battle, and angrily claims that James never appreciated his genius (even though James had every right not to be grateful for Arthur's intelligence). When James replies by saying that he gave Watts everything he could have wanted, Watts still doesn't reform and says that James chose Pietro instead, all while insulting Pietro indirectly by calling him a "fat imbecile".
- He trapped James Ironwood's flesh and blood left arm in a hard light shield, resulting in him sustaining third degree burns on his left arm when he pulled it out, leading to him having to get another cybernetic arm.
- While he says that he hopes that James sacrifices whatever it takes to defeat Salem, this is not out of any honor or respect. Rather, Watts is saying that due to admitting defeat and not caring about the situation that James and the heroes are faced with.
Volume 8[]
- He hacked Penny Polendina with a command to "self-terminate" after opening the Atlas Vault, due to the fact that "he would have no use for her".
- He helped Cinder and Neopolitan murder a room full of unarmed Atlesian faculty workers.
- He used a self-destruct program on a hacked Atlesian Knight droid in an attempt to kill Qrow, Robyn, and the Ace-Ops. Then, he made a second attempt to murder them by hacking into Ironwood's bomb, as well as levelling the city of Mantle, which was currently still evacuating.
- While he has a horrific death in the form of being trapped in the Atlas command center and burned alive by Cinder via the Staff of Creation, this is in no way played for sympathy.
External Links[]
- Arthur Watts on the RWBY Wiki
- Arthur Watts on the Villains Wiki
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