Rooster Teeth's popular anime-inspired series RWBY recently confirmed its very first transgender character, May Marigold -- a fact that means a great deal to the performer behind the character, Kdin Jenzen.
Voiced by Jenzen, a longtime Rooster Teeth employee who herself publicly came out as transgender in 2016, the character of May Marigold first appeared in RWBY Volume 7 in 2019. A graduate of Atlas Academy, May is a member of the Happy Huntresses, a group that has sided with the Atlesian city of Mantle in its conflict against the Kingdom of Atlas itself. She is also the cousin of Henry Marigold, a minor character who appeared back in Volume 4.
In the mid-season finale of RWBY Volume 8, "War" -- which debuted for Rooster Teeth FIRST subscribers last month on Dec. 19 before being released to the public one week later -- it was revealed that May is, in fact, a transgender woman. "Mantle needed me, and to the Marigolds, that meant I wasn't their son anymore," she says. "And I made sure that everyone knew that I wasn't their daughter."
Shortly after the episode's public release, Jenzen offered her thoughts regarding this revelation in Twitter thread. "I say 'I waited a year and half for this moment,' but I've been waiting my whole life," she said. "I've never seen anything like this and only dreamed of something so wildly powerful and meaningful existing in media. More than that I'm the one who was blessed enough to get the chance to do it." As Jenzen and RWBY showrunner Kerry Shawcross explained in an episode of the former's Stay Zen podcast, this decision regarding May's background was actually made before Jenzen was cast in the role.
"As someone who is trans, this was everything I ever dreamed of seeing," Jenzen continued. "As someone who saw her VO career burst into flames after coming out, this was a moment of triumph." She explained just how emotional the recording process was and that the RWBY crew was more than accommodating. "None of this would have been possible without every single person on the team being as open and kind as they are," she said. Jenzen also spoke to the outpouring of support she's received from fans, saying she's "so deeply humbled by everyone's response."
CBR reached out to Jenzen for further comment. "I think my favorite part of May Marigold's story, overall, is that she found herself before she found herself," she said. "It's the truest part of what helped me resonate so personally with her character. May's choice of the people who needed her over the privilege she was born into, brought on by self-reflection, helped her be who she was always meant to be. While the themes go so perfectly hand-in-hand with self-discovery and that realization, RWBY's handling of it all really stood out to me compared to how most other shows/movies/etc. handle these moments."
She elaborated, "It's often either a 'shocking revelation' or a 'simple small comment' how most choose to reveal in canon a character's LGBTQIA+ status. Yet RWBY found the way to thread the needle by making May's moment not focus solely on her being her, but about everything happening in the now. Her story is relevant to the protagonists, moves the plot forward, and gives various motivational pushes to those around her. This is what makes me truly love what we were able to accomplish. It was loud and soft in all the right ways."
As for fan response, Jenzen says it's "everything I could have hoped for and more. I've gotten messages every day since the episode aired from so many people expressing just how much that moment meant to them, how different it felt compared to other shows handling this topic, and how they hope more people can learn from this to create more moments like this one. My other favorite part is the messages I've gotten from people who were truly only ever introduced to being transgender through May's moment in Volume 8 and started to realize things about themselves or even how they'd been treating other people around them."
Jenzen concluded, "Honestly, this will be a hard moment to top in my career and I wouldn't have it any other way."
Rooster Teeth Animation's RWBY stars Lindsay Jones as Ruby Rose, Kara Eberle as Weiss Schnee, Arryn Zech as Blake Belladonna and Barbara Dunkelman as Yang Xiao Long. The show returns for the back half of Volume 8 on Feb. 6 on Rooster Teeth FIRST.