Ren and Nora are former members of Ravens tribeRaven and Qrow say they were taken in by the tribe , not that they were born into it . I believe that the tribe recruits via the villages they raid and they picked up Ren and Nora . At some point down the line , Nora or Ren started to be seen as weak by the rest of the tribe and was thrown out . The other left with them due to their close friendship and their increasing moral objection to the tribes action . They applied for Beacon having nowhere else to go and remembering stories that their leader once attended . In this theory , Raven is known mostly as a leader and doesnt consort with the tribe without her mask so Ren and Nora dont recognise the similarity to Yang . As for who the weaker one of the two would be , logic would dictate Ren however I would guess Nora due to her obvious attachment to Ren , her overly aggressive nature and this speechwuLBRigqX 5 A which while played for laughs implies an unnatrual fear of not being seen as strong . This then ties into the theories that Rens semblance is only deadly which is why he has not used it .