Ruby is a quiet, shy and awkward kraken who lives in the seaside town of Oceanside. Just like the rest of her family, she lives her life pretending to be a human. She feels occasionally embarrassed by her parents and sees her younger brother as annoying, but overall loves them all greatly. Being a sophomore at Oceanside High School, she tries her best to fit in with the other students, attempting to act as normal as possible. However, her awkwardness gets thrown at the forefront whenever she speaks to her beloved crush Connor.
Despite her persona, she had feelings of resentment towards her mother after she found out that her mom knew about her heritage but didn’t tell her. She also feels betrayed by “Chelsea” after she reveals herself as Nerissa, though she quickly bounces back after a heartfelt conversation with her uncle.
The girl’s reserved nature resulted in a lack of self-confidence, which made many situations Ruby had to endure much worse for her. She was prone to heavy bouts of anxiety and some moments even led to panic attacks, such as when meeting the “new girl” in school, Chelsea. Throughout the film, she starts to develop a sense of confidence, and by the end is able to become a brave and confident individual, someone who is inspiring to those around her.
Her interest in the ocean is an interesting one, and something that is seen all throughout the film. Even though she had never entered it, the ocean had always endeared her, appearing to be well-drawn to it. Her bedroom is filled with ocean-related knickknacks, and she reads a quarterly-released magazine called The Marine Biologist Quarterly, even if her mother expressed her objections. Despite this fixation, she was deathly afraid of the ocean, never wanting to be confronted by it in a situation, which stemmed from her mom’s anti-ocean rule. Her thalassophobia was so severe that when faced with trying to save a drowning Connor, she had a panic attack before accidentally falling in. This phobia was overcome after having a talk with Brill, deciding to take a leap of faith that would change her life forever.
Ruby, to put it mildly, is a math nerd. So much so that she originally decided to ask Connor, who she tutors in the subject, to prom with an advanced quadratic equation. She’s even a champion mathlete at her school, geeking out about the subject with her friends, even if they think it’s not very cool. Due to her ability to apply the steps of an equation to real life, she was able to evaluate the severity of the underwater volcanic area known as The Well of Seas by tossing a discarded ship into one of the currents. On top of this, she also figured out how to destroy the Trident of Oceanus by making use of the exponential growth formula using the three giant krakens’ laser eye abilities. This skill allows her to use her smarts to her advantage, making her more calculating.
Physical Appearance[]
Ruby is a spindly anthropomorphic kraken that sports aquamarine skin, having dark blue shoulder-length tentacle hair protruding from the top of her head, the coloration transitioning into a cyan near the tips. She possesses vibrant turquoise eyes with white sclera and dark blue eyelashes, with her most distinctive physical attribute being her ears, which resemble pectoral fins.
Her typical wardrobe includes a green turtleneck sweater, purple high-waisted jean short shorts, purple, dark grey, and white striped leggings, grey knitted socks, and dark purple boots with purplish blue laces.
Ruby has worn attire that differs from her normal outfit on certain occasions:
On some days, she goes to school wearing wireless white headphones which appear with a headband cushion and multicolored LED’s on top of the speaker covers. The speaker covers themselves have a raised symmetrical red and white pattern, resembling a buoy. These headphones are presumably shared by the two Gillman children, as Sam is seen wearing them later in the film.
At the end of her prom presentation to her mother, Ruby wore her normal outfit with black sunglasses. She later wears these when walking out of school one day with Chelsea.
The day after the library incident, Ruby wore her normal outfit with an oversized pale purple jacket and temporarily wearing the headphones and sunglasses. The jacket itself appears to be a rain jacket, with many sea-themed patterns sewn onto it.
During prom, Ruby showed up with an outfit seemingly created by her kraken abilities. The outfit consists of a purple sparkling dress, a ‘crown’, and pearl earrings, ending off with her normal socks and boots.
Giant Kraken form
Ruby’s three physical appearances as a Giant Kraken.
When exposed to ocean water, Ruby transforms into a giant kraken. In this form, her skin changes to purple, having a slight sparkling texture present throughout most of her body. Her hair is also affected by the transformation, getting longer in length, suckers that now line the inner parts, and having small, glowing strips in-between each lock. Ruby’s ears are larger, a visible sparkling gradient prominent on the ends. Her eyes become a vibrant purple, with her eyelashes being a darker coloration. On her now webbed hands and feet, the suckers are always visible, albeit lacking a glow. On her torso, she has six fins that jut upwards, with three on each side, resembling a ribcage. Her upper arms and legs gain three spikes on each, with her lower limbs now having pelvic fins that protrude from the outer sides for stability. Ruby’s most distinguishing trait in this form, besides her size, is the extra leg, which has the same appearance as the other two. This extra appendage also aids in movement throughout the seven seas.
When Ruby’s bioluminescence is activated, her skin glows a bright pink, with the ends of her tentacle hair glowing purple. Her torso fins shine to the point of appearing almost white. As the bioluminescence goes down her arms and legs, it becomes more and more visible, even on her hands and feet. The suckers on them gleam a bright blue coloration, which contrasts with the darker shade of the suckers on her tentacle hair.
When her body armor is in use, her entire body is coated in a thin scaly-like substance, making her appear darker than normal. Despite the darker coloration, the sparkling trait from her skin remains, appearing a bright blue color all over the armor.
Kraken Abilities[]
Superhuman Strength: In her size form, Ruby posseses high-level superhuman strength.
Body Armor: Ruby possesses a protective body armor that offers enhanced defense. The armor can be summoned by Ruby at any time to protect herself from any physical harm. The armor itself seems to possess tough rock-like properties.
Camouflage: Ruby inherits the ability to achieve a full invisibility-like camouflage. This ability allows her to blend seamlessly into her surroundings.
Laser Eyes: Ruby possesses the ability to emit powerful laser beams from her eyes. These laser beams are formidable weapons in combat, capable of inflicting significant damage upon her adversaries.
Super Speed: Ruby is able to move at incredible speed while in water, capable of moving at superhuman velocities. In her quest to retrieve the Trident of Oceanus, she showcases her speed underwater, illustrating her agility and swiftness.
Despite her mother and grandmother sharing the same powers, she is easily the most powerful of the royals due to her young age, quick study traits and quite a few attributes that make her on edge than the two former.
She is first seen waking up to prepare her routine of arriving Oceanside High School, where she sees a new transfer student named Chelsea gathering a huge amount of attention to her charm, the latter then sees Ruby and notices her true nature, leading to Ruby feeling anxious and leaves, next Ruby's friends see Conner and handed Ruby a confetti Cannon despite planning on proposing to him through a calculator, Upon the encounter she felt a bit overwhelmed due to Connor fondling with the cannon, resulting in himself accidentally being blasted into the ocean, Ruby in a quick retaliation then secretly transforms into her Kraken form and hurried Connor out of the Ocean and swam back to her Family's lighthouse to confront her mother Agatha Gillman about her powers after unintentionally scaring the librarian.
Upon returning home, Ruby became dismay over her mother shielding the secrets of her heritage, this would result in Ruby consulting her Grandmamah who sensed her presence and showed her the true history of her Mother, who once fought in the Sea battle against the mermaids, she succeeds and hid the powerful trident into the deepest pits of the Ocean, to prevent anyone from obtaining the power to rule the sea, Ruby became destined to confront her mother the truth about it, She was then briefly stopped by a Crazy Lighthouse fisherman named Gordon who accuses her of being a Kraken, which then Ruby innocently dumbfounds and dismisses it as she continues her walk home.
The next day at School, Ruby sees everyone on their phones to see her Kraken form destroying and fleeing the library, leading to Ruby hiding in the Girl bathroom stalls in fear of her abilities, there she meets Chelsea again talking to the other girls outside which Ruby notices and awkwardly shouts for her need, she then has a conversation with Chelsea over her powers, Chelsea then cheers Ruby up and ditches Oceanside High towards the ocean, where she reveals herself to be a mermaid and spends quality time with Ruby in her kraken form, where Chelsea reveals herself as Nerissa's "illegitimate" daughter during the Ocean War, which Ruby sympathizes with and was convinced to obtain the trident back for Chelsea to bring peace to both their kind, leading to Ruby arriving to meet with her Grandmamah to train fiercely with her abilities.
Ruby arrives as Prom began and had a conversation with her mother about being friends with a mermaid, Ruby later storms out of the house after calling her mother out for not telling her the truth sooner. Afterwards, Agatha confronts Grandmamah for trying to control her life through Ruby. As Agatha tells Grandmamah that Ruby made friends with a mermaid, Grandmamah reveals that Nerissa never had a daughter, much to Agatha's surprise as she realizes that Ruby's in trouble. Ruby was met by Chelsea again in the ocean who instructs her to obtain the Trident through the obstacles protecting the cursed object, Ruby successfully manages to bypass the unstable environment and gave Chelsea the Trident, the latter, in a sinister glow reveals her true motives, revealing herself to be Nerissa and attacks Ruby by kicking her into a rock, leaving her trapped underneath debre of rocks. Ruby was later found by her uncle, who gave her motivation as he realizes why Agatha renounced her title and left the ocean: She choose Ruby over the throne. While Nerissa ambushes the Gillman household by destroying a portion of it, Agatha Gillman appears towards Nerissa along with Grandmamah in their Giant forms to challenge Nerissa, but soon were overwhelmed due to the Trident. As Nerissa prepares to finish off both the latters, Ruby Gillman emerged in a determined state and fought Nerissa as both women grappled for the trident, during the fight Ruby manages to block each of the trident's blows, but was tackled by Nerissa's fin and tumbles, Nerissa attempts to attack Ruby's father and brother but was hit by Doug's house by Agatha, Ruby gets up and rushes towards Nerissa in an attempt to attack, but was thrown into the ocean, generating a massive wave slowly heading towards the students of Oceanside including Gordon, Ruby gets back up and notices the giant wave as she quickly lifts the boat away to safety at the last second, much to everyone's surprise and appreciation. After gently putting the boat down, Ruby was then knocked and pinned down by Nerissa who attempts to impale her while taunting her of being a "monster", Ruby slowly corrects her and uses her laser eyes to blast the trident away. Ruby then hurries to her mother and Grandmamah and convinces them both to work together and formulate a plan to destroy the trident by a formula called the "Exponential Growth Theorem", Nerissa then attempts to impale the trio of Krakens again, but was pushed back by Ruby's laser and tries to talk her down to give up her lust for power, Nerissa refutes by this but Ruby calls upon her mother and Grandmother as they begin to use their beams of energy to stagger Nerissa, as she would hold both of their hands as they completely eradicated the Trident and sending Nerissa transforming back to her human form as she flies away and lands in the ocean where she is quickly captured by Gordon Lighthouse and his pet who pinches her despite her pleas. Afterwards Ruby, Agatha, and Grandmamah stand victorious as everyone cheers for them as Agatha apologizes to Ruby and promises to never keep secrets from her again. As Ruby and Agatha reconcile by sharing a hug, Ruby swims towards the cruise boat and changes her outfit into a prom dress. She apologizes to her friends, but they brush it off due to her heroism as they then give a big hug, Ruby then spots Connor and confesses her invitation to dance to which Connor replies by forming quadratic graphs to spell out the word Yes, much to her surprise and the two began to dance while her Grandmamah meets her grandson, Ruby sees her family and waves at them.
Ruby and his friends in the epilogue.
In the following day, Ruby walks down to her high school with her boyfriend Connor, as Gordon's boat stops as Brill pops his head to warn her niece about a devil whale heading to the Kraken kingdom, Ruby responds by handing her friends her stuff as she determinedly rushes towards the ocean bay and transforms to her Kraken form as she swims away while her Grandmamah narrated the closing of the movie.
Sam is Ruby’s "annoying little brother". They seem to have a neutral relationship, as he constantly teases her, which is where her annoyance for him came from. Despite their fights and disagreements, the two still care greatly about one another, as Sam shows his more fierce and protective side when Ruby is battling Nerissa.
When he discovers that Ruby is a giant kraken, he shows his immense excitement, perhaps too much since she ended up lashing out at him.
Grandmamah is Ruby's grandma - or 'Grandmamah' with emphasis on the second 'mah' as Grandmamah prefers to be called, she is a blunt force and a somewhat warlord Kraken who wants Ruby to be next-in-line of the Kraken kingdom - to lead the kingdom as the new leader.
While she doesn't prefer Ruby's lifestyle - started by Agatha herself - she expressed strong dislike hiding amongst humans and is very against it; as she believes Ruby's heritage belongs to the Kraken kingdom, she still has a sense of understanding as Grandmamah allows her to go back to the surface but knows that Ruby will return eventually.
While Grandmamah is a bit forceful, she only really trains Ruby because she asks for it; unintentionally playing a role to Nerissa's plot and expresses her worry towards Ruby when she realizes Ruby was friends with the actual Mermaid Queen.
Even after winning against Nerissa, Ruby still shows some mercy as she does briefly stop Grandmamah from potentially killing Nerissa and Grandmamah follows Ruby's moral code.
Ruby loves to math-tutor Connor but he has a sweet-natured innocence that she can't help but find irresistible, so much that she longs for them to go "prom" together (even though neither are a "prom" kind of person). However, after an embarrassing prom-posal goes awry, Ruby jumps into the water to save Connor from drowning (even though Chelsea is mis-credited as the one who saved him). Throughout the film, their relationship grows.
Ruby and Chelsea as friends (This art made for fans on the internet.)
Chelsea Van Der Zee (or Nerissa) is the 'sea-girl' bestie and later archenemy of Ruby. As Ruby is a Kraken while Chelsea is a mermaid, but this relationship is only one-sided as Chelsea is only forming an ill-advised friendship with Ruby; essentially manipulating her with a fake story and her fake motive of wanting to get the Trident of Oceanus to end the war between Krakens and Mermaids.
After Nerissa continues manipulating Ruby to the point where Ruby finally accomplishes their goal of 'getting the Trident', she outright says her plan to Ruby and did not hold back in trying to kill her - but unbeknownst to Nerissa, Ruby lived and the two eventually fought in the surface, with Ruby and the other royal Krakens winning the battle due to her obsession of keeping the Trident.
Even while Nerissa being in such a vulnerable state after losing to the three royals, Ruby still shows some mercy as she does briefly stop Grandmamah, despite all of the bad actions that Nerissa has done to Ruby, Ruby still decides to spare Nerissa, showing that she still has a kind and merciful heart.
Ruby’s activated form radiates light on objects and characters around her. The pink light casts a flattering glow on other characters and creates an intentional connection between them.[2]
In the Menchie's Frozen Yogurt promotion, she has a raspberry sorbet named after her.[3]
According to The Art of Ruby Gillman, Ruby's early design depicts her to resemble more of a saurian sea kaiju.
In the original concept, she was initially going to be an only child and not have a grandmother. Template:Citation needed
She has fewer tentacles than her mother and grandmother, due to the fact that she is younger.
Her nickname "Ruby-Doo", is a reference to Hanna-Barbera's famous dog, Scooby-Doo. It may be a reference to Scooby's sister, also called Ruby-Doo.[1]
Maya Hawke, Leah Lewis, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Addison Eastering, Brianna Denski, Riele Downs, JoJo Siwa, Rachel Zegler, Iris Apatow, Madison Hu, Sophie Nélisse, Ciara Bravo, Sydney Sweeney, Brianne Howey, Madeline Brewer, Brittany O'Grady, Angourie Rice, Jenna Ortega, Meg Delacy and Ariana Greenblatt are shortlisted for the voice Ruby before Lana Condor landed the role.
In an earlier draft of the film, Ruby was going to have the role of protector to contrast her mother's place as a warrior and her grandmother's as queen.[4]
She is based to Will Stronghold, the protagonist of Sky High. Executive producer Mike Mitchell, who directed Sky High, inspired this character.
Both have are normal teenagers at high school without knowing they have super powers (Ruby and Will), one who is the princess of the kraken kingdom and the other who is the son of the two superheroes.
Both have parents who work as real estate agents.
Both have crushes (Connor and Layla). One has a skater boyfriend and another has a girlfriend who was a childhood friend.
Both meet the two popular girls (Chelsea and Gwen), who are the daughter of an ancient supervillain who the parents of the protagonist defeated (Nerissa and Royal Pain).
Both initially became friends or crushes of the main antagonist, until he tricked them into getting the weapon for his revenge.
In the end the protagonist embraces the powers that come with their heritage (Kraken and superpowers) to beat the shit out of our combatants in the end.
Both became the heroes in prom right after they defeat the villains and are arrested at the end. And in the end they dance with crushes.
Just like Sky High, in the film Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken has a phrase meaning at the end 'So in the end, my mermaid best friend became my arch-enemy and my best friend became my boyfriend. But, hey that's high school.' - Ruby Gillman
