Loose Ruth

Ruth is calm, serious and confident enough to pursue an outlaw with an almost unimaginable bounty. Unlike some of the louder criminals around him, he generally maintains a composed demeanor.

His confidence also makes him willing to act on incomplete information. The confusion surrounding Vash's appearance repeatedly causes bounty hunters to mistake one another for their quarry.

Ruth is an armed professional bounty hunter accustomed to dangerous targets. He carries a large firearm and has enough confidence in his own skill to enter a confrontation involving the supposed Humanoid Typhoon.

Canon does not establish any supernatural abilities or specialized powers for him. His threat comes from conventional weapons and experience rather than the extraordinary abilities possessed by Vash and later antagonists.

Ruth appears in the first episode, where Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson are attempting to identify Vash based on contradictory rumors.

The resulting confusion becomes part of the episode's central joke: descriptions of the legendary outlaw are unreliable enough that armed bounty hunters repeatedly identify the wrong man.

Ruth's appearance helps establish both the enormous incentive created by Vash's bounty and the absurd mythology that has grown around the Humanoid Typhoon.

Vash the Stampede is Ruth's bounty target, pursued for the $$60 billion reward.

Descartes is another bounty-seeking outlaw caught in the confusion over Vash's identity. He mistakes Ruth for Vash based on Ruth's appearance and weapon.

Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson encounter Ruth while conducting their own search for the Humanoid Typhoon.