Willow Schnee is the daughter of Nicholas Schnee, a renowned Huntsman and the founder of the SDC.
This is well known.
Her father was a just and compassionate man, ruling his company with much the same principles, even occasionally going as far as setting down into the mines himself to work amongst his employees; a combination of all these traits and reasons was what had cause such unprecedented rise of popularity and trust in the company. He had raised his only daughter to be an heiress with these same values in mind.
This is also well known.
What is not well is that, despite her regal, downright magical appearance and attitude during her early adulthood and the few years she'd spent as the head of SDC, Willow is not a strong person, and never has been. So similar to her father, except in that tiny but important regard.
Sure, she is okay at fighting and surviving – Nicholas, the strict Huntsman and a loving father, made sure to prepare her daughter for the harsh realities of life; or most of them, at least. But it isn't easy for the girl: she struggles, she cries, she whines, before eventually succeeding - and even then, not always.
Too bad the stress of actually running the company is even worse that Willow could have eved imagined. She wants to do this; not only that, but even instinctually, Willow knows it is necessary – the company is, simply put, a blessing upon the newly built kingdom of Atlas and Remnant as a whole, and her father, 15 years later, is not up to the task of being in command anymore; but even with him taking a backseat and helping her from behind the scenes, it doesn't do much to relieve the absolute slog the younger Schnee finds herself in. Daily meetings with shareholders, contracts, constant problems – she is too young for this, it's misery. Misery she quietly seeks to escape somehow, but knows she could not.
Until Jacques Gelè enters her life.
The first time they meet is at some high-class congregation organized by the Council of Atlas themselves; she does not remember the reason, and, to be frank, holds very little love for politics in her heart. She is there, glowing like an edelweiss, happy to get at least a little reprieve from her job and he…he is roguishly handsome, a true gentleman, stuck following some socialite even though his face said he would really rather be with someone else.
He finds that "someone else" in Willow. It takes them only a single conversation to hit it off. A conversation ended with a promise to keep in touch; and keep in touch they do. Secret meetings, romantic dates – it's everything Willow needs. He is everything she needs.
Willow is 23 when they first meet. She is 24 when, after a whole year of dating – the best year she has had in her life so far – she announces her desire to marry him. Nicholas approves.
They become a couple – Gelè officially becomes a Schnee. The first years of the marriage are absolutely everything Willow could ask for – she is living the dream. Her workload is still exhausting – but as Jacques expresses his own desire to assist in overseeing company matters, she accepts it in a heartbeat, slowly giving him more and more responsibilities – and her own power. When Nicholas dies, she grieves, with her husband at her side. He promises Willow to honor his legacy.
Winter is born a year after their marriage. Willow is, in her own opinion, the happiest woman on Remnant that day. Seeing the little screaming ball of life that is hers, she promises herself to be the best mother she can be. She hand-picks the nannies to watch over her first-born, and even then, does not mind doing her motherly duties as often as possible.
Willow is living the dream, and she wants to live in it as long as possible; so, when the first complaints about degrading working conditions and delayed payments start to roll in – all because Jacques chose to "invest" the money elsewhere more profitable – she turns a blind eye to it. After all, one mistake is nothing to worry about, right? She busies herself with raising Winter, her child a great way to shut the reality off.
She is Willow's lifeline. Even Jacques, so caring, so majestic at the start of their marriage, slowly grows colder, more distant. They rarely talk.
Willow tells herself that he's just overworked.
When the first reports of cruel, inhumane treatments of Faunus miners start to roll in, only to be swiped under the rug almost instantly, Willow does not know what to do. Deep down, she wishes to confront Jacques regarding this, but does not find the strength within to do so. What she finds instead is a bottle of expensive whiskey, her Father's collection. The burn in her throat is the farthest thing from pleasant, but it lets her forget about this; she will do it next time, perhaps. The next time that comes way too late.
When Weiss is born, it's a miracle for Willow. She smiles, but her smile is more brittle. She still wishes to be the best mother she can be, for both sisters, but it's getting harder to be there for them over time, the promise of a bottle and sitting in solitude more and more alluring.
A year or so after Weiss' birth, the Faunus rights group – the White Fang – take a swift turn for the worse, starting their feud with the SDC. Willow finally musters up the courage to go and confront her husband.
Jacques, no less distressed by the terrorist attacks and upset that Winter is not content with being a potential heir, simply blows her off. Willow tries again and again, yet somehow the man has just the words to shut her up and down, every time. She's losing hope; a terrible realization brews within her mind that she desperately tries to stave off, clinging to naïve hope.
When Whitley comes into the world – a person born of almost mechanical reproduction, not of passion – Willow can barely smile. Her children see her less and less, more acquainted with tutors and maids than their own mother, who finds more and more solace in a bottle by the day, trying to think of a way to make her husband come to senses – even if subconsciously that terrible realization tells her it's all for naught. All the while her company grows richer…at the expense of moral bankruptcy.
All of this reaches it's boiling point during Weiss' tenth birthday, where Jacques does not even bother to show up, too busy with company's affairs. Willow, drunk just enough to get a touch of Vacuoan courage and still retain rationality, goes to truly confronts Jacques.
The rage has boiled over. Both scream and shout, accusing each other. A scandal of this magnitude somewhere beyond the walls would surely attract a small Grimm Incursion.
It is here that he finally admits the horrible truth that Willow had suspected all along: he never loved her, he just married into the family for wealth and status. Willow's heart freezes; Jacques stomps and crushes it with a swift reminder that, legally, half of company's shares will belong to him in case of a divorce.
There is nothing she can do.
Willow freezes.
Leaving Jacques' office, she spots her children – all of them – just beside the door, having heard all of that. All she says is "I'm sorry", and then she's gone – literally and metaphorically. All that remains of Willow from that day onward is a husk of a once hopeful woman; a husk that drowns itself in alcohol and escapism, whose only goal is to escape reality that has befallen it. Days, weeks, months, years roll by, and Willow doesn't change, all hope for herself long lost.
She considers her situation hopeless, but, in rare moments of lucidity, she realizes how far her two daughters have come, how both of them defy their father's perverted ideals. In those moments, she does what she can to help them: it is her who gives James Ironwood, general of the Atlesian Armed Forces and an old acquaintance, a secret phone call regarding Winter's desire to join the military and ensures her enlistment as soon as possible – to make sure Jacques has no time to pry her back; she, again, is the one to inform Ozpin ahead of time that Weiss, already a Huntress-in-training (something that Willow could not find in herself to be), wishes to attend Beacon Academy; she is the one to order installation hidden cameras in the Schnee Manor – something that will lead to her husband's arrest several years later.
All the while Jacques is none the wiser; after all, once somebody's been dead for almost a decade, you don't expect them to just come back.
(It is such a shame she can do nothing for Whitley, however; she is sure he does not even consider her his own mother anymore.)
Despite all that, Willow is still frozen. And even her husband's – her mistake's – swift arrest and departure might not thaw her out.
Babby's first attempt at writing a character that isn't a blank slate-ish SI ;)
Make sure to tell me how I did - I wouldn't want to accidentally butcher Winter, Whitley or Best Girl the same way I potentially butchered their mom.