#the path of isolation

[malice-death]

RWBY Song Analysis: Winter vs. The Path to Isolation

Now I know what some of you are probably thinking, "The Path to Isolation is a Weiss Schnee song and has nothing to do with her sister.

But after looking at the deleted V9 epilogue, I can clearly see that this song can work for V7-V9 Winter.

And here's the reason why.

To start it off, Winter's return in Volume 7 was something that I couldn't wait to see, considering she is one of my favorite characters.

Winter as a whole is a very serious character, trying her hardest to keep up with the people around her, and make sure no one sees any sort of weakness, or disloyalty to Ironwood and the whole of Atlas.

Now when push came to shove during the volumes, She had to make choices she wasn't proud of nor dejected the orders in certain areas.

Even worse was probably all the deaths caused by the things around them.

Back of course this is about how V10 Winter suits "The Path to Isolation" now.

"It starts with the unexpected loss of something dear."

Already got one notch on the board. At the very end of V8, Winter witnessed the loss of her dear sister, Weiss.

"The warmth that comforted and cradled. Just disappears."

This one can pertain to Penny in a way, another person she lost, who physically disappeared, someone who sought to make sure she knew her life was valued.

"And in its place, there's nothing, just than endless empty hole."

Winter clearly shows how she felt in the deleted animatic, speaking on a more negative value, and really doesn't know how to cope properly with the grief she is feeling."

"The light that showed the way is gone and darkness takes control."

This one goes to Winter talking Ruby in a way, considering to everyone who came because of her video, but since she is dad, Winter doesn't think she can believe in such a voice, allowing the darkness in her heart take control.

"Bitterness and anger, are quick to fill the void."

"The path of isolation is littered with the dreams that lay destroyed."

While studying the song, this line alone was harder to think about, cause in the original context of thinking about Wiess, you can clearly see where this fits into her story.

But Winter's I had to rewatch a lot of the series to see where such things could take place in V10 potentially.

In the end I decided that this was talking about the hope that Winter could've felt after defeating Ironwood, and "saving" Atlas/Mantle, but because of how the cards were dealt, those thoughts could be ruined.

"The cold seems to grow in my soul, its consuming me."

"Confused and I'm losing myself in the storm."

This one goes out to fighting physically and for fighting emotionally.

Winter spent a long time forgetting about how she felt about the things around her, always just following orders. But when everything happened, when everyone fell, and with Ironwood dead, she has no choice but to face the things that she never considered before.

"Growing jaded, being pushed, I'm unraveling."

"Can't find myself when I'm constantly pushed to conform."

Before Weiss was suffering at her father's whim and will, it was Winter who had that heiress seat, who was being pushed around to make sure she always followed through on everything.

Think about how she speaks, how the solider grows cold when she knew that she could have others standing there beside her.

"Enemies surround me, but the worst appear as friends."

"Liars and pretenders, only seek to reach their ends."

Winter has known many people, but Ironwood was someone she trusted, someone she knew for the longest time, but to see him falter to see him make orders that she couldn't approve of morally, was breaking her, making her remember all the things she probably to get away from such ideals.

And when you're in the military its harder to know friend from foe.

"Everything is breaking, right before my eyes."

"Looking in the mirror, I see someone that I don't recognize."

When Penny died, and Winter became the Winter Maiden, she didn't get a real chance at goodbye, just like when Weiss fell, she didn't get a proper chance at goodbye.

So, while she stands in the back breaking into pieces, the person, the maiden she sees every time she wakes up wasn't the person she wanted to know or see.

It was still that hard to remember who she was in the end.

"The joy my heart use to know is eluding me."

"Removed and the one thing I feel is alone."

"Smile's faded, and I'm spinning and sinking. I'm weakening."

This one brings us to the V9 epilogue, and how broken and alone Winter is. She stands away from her mother and Qrow, and even when she stands around anyone else, she seems to be at a distance.

"Frozen in solitude, loneliness chills to the bone."

"Memories escaping me, as my heart begins to drain."

"Scars that cover wounds, can't hide the self-inflicted pain."

To be honest, I was thinking that Winter must hide her own scars that she got over the years. And the fact that she decides that she doesn't want everyone back.

She believes that they aren't going to come back.

"Everything my mind wants, in conflict with my heart."

"Fighting back surrender, but every day I'm falling more apart."

Winter as a solider and a sister, and friend as well, but in the world she was born and trained in, she wasn't thinking about those things.

Her mind thinks in orders, while her heart thinks in feelings.

It's one of those things that almost never add up in certain types of military trained induvials.

I was the same sort of way for the first few months in my training.

It can take a lot of time to ease back into your heart.

"Mirror what's this thing that I see?"

"Who is staring back at me?" "A stranger to my heart has filled my mind."

This one goes to Penny and Winter, considering that when a maiden dies a bit of their spirit goes into their next host. Not to process or make a new person, but to give them new perspective on things that they never thought of before.

"Mirror"

"Help Me"

"Who Am I?"

Winter is not Snow White, she is the mirror, the thing that Weiss relied on.

And whose to say that the mirror never quesitoned themselves?" In the end sadly, until V10 comes out all of this is pure speculation.

But personally its my way to celebrate the end of V9, and the hopes of a new Volume on the horizon.

Until next time.

Thank you for reading.

And thank you, my dear Winter Maiden.

[godbirdart]

「 boys don't cry 」

about suppressed emotions, downplayed heartaches, and the expectations to remain stoically self reliant without the community and connection needed to help open the paths away from isolated self destruction.

[brbarou]

more bee and beloved...

[reclaiming-god]

queer love is beautiful and sacred, don't let anyone tell you otherwise 🫵

[violetcoloredskies]

idk how much more of this I can take

[budd-ie]

I don’t think Xie Lian ever really got the chance to feel human. When he was born he was the center of the world, and since he was young he wanted to be a god. There was nothing he couldn’t do and nobody who didn’t love him, he had massive privilege and he knew it, and at the time, he really genuinely thought he was omnipotent. His mind skipped mortality and went straight to expecting godhood. But even when this period of his life is over, what comes next is isolation. Now, he’s someone without heavenly appeal but with knowledge and experiences much beyond the understanding of mortals. He lives among them, takes the same jobs, eats the same food, has the same needs, he can try to help them, he can try to love them as he always has, but there’s still something that’s just not quite the same. He may understand their plight after living through poverty, but he’s never truly been the common person he’s always wished to save. He can’t grow old, he can’t die, nothing can kill him, his existence is something so beyond humanity but still so far from the god he dreamed of being. And so, he berates himself whenever he has strong emotions or slips up a little or says something kind of weird or misses little details, becuase he still sees himself as not quite human enough to make those kinds of completely normal mistakes. He pushes people away before he has the chance to hurt them, before they have the chance to learn to hate him. So when Hua Cheng finally comes into the picture, he’s trying to say it’s okay to be human, Xie Lian. It’s okay to want to save yourself too.

[bklily]

Caught myself thinking about Chloe Bourgeois and my unpopular opinions about her (that redemption arcs are so expected in any mean character of any media that she is a refreshingly nuanced and interesting take on a character that refuses to take accountability and go through a redemption arc because she doesn't like the consequences that come with taking responsibility for her bad actions and that I very much prefer how her arc is unfortunately tragic in the original show). I am then shot 57 times.

[friendsinsolitude]

It’s silly to think of Mizuki dropping out of school in WL2 as a good thing, because despite everything Mizuki likes going to school. She has like one william lines like “I guess coming to school isn’t so bad every now and again” with that genuine smile of hers after something nice happening, because despite school as a closed environment with so many people that shun her, more and more it’s also filled with people that love and understand her, fun experiences she’d never get to have otherwise.

Mizuki wants a prototypical youth, having fun with friends, being involved in school events, wearing a cute uniform, chatting at lunch, hanging out after school, the works. She doesn’t avoid parts of those things for matter of not wanting them, she’s been systematically excluded from them. Like the middle school festival where Mizuki and Rui met on the rooftop: “If you like that sort of thing, why aren’t you down there with them?” “I wish I could. I would if I actually could.” “��I guess we’re kinda like two peas in a pod.” She’s stuck observing instead of experiencing, it’s a forced choice, not something she wants.

For Mizuki in the present, it’s been a learning curve of having people who do include her, who want her to be at school because they like her and understand her, people who will let her have that youth she wants. There are still people who deny her, that adversity will never go away, but it’s bearable because she has so many people who do accept her. She has a place away from school where she can recoup her energy. Mizuki in WL2 doesn’t have any of that. There isn’t anything that offsets or outweighs the pain school gives her. So she drops out.

[pearsandrust]

i don't think feixiao was always aware of just how much value a single life holds. she grew up in a borisin war camp, a place where people were constantly killing and dying and being replaced. in such conditions, it's hard to convince yourself that individual lives have any meaning at all. when she first joins the verdant knights, it isn't because she cares about saving others. she was always surrounded by death, so her motive was simple and vengeful. i want the borisin dead.

feixiao learns of the value of life when she loses her friend, and she only fully understands it when she watches the hunt's arrow take general yueyu and her soldiers as well. that day, she realizes the true cost of a "shooting star" -- total destruction does not discriminate between friend and foe. even though her childhood was cruel, it's not nearly as haunting as the chill of lan's arrow. from then onwards, feixiao's nightmares are not about running from her captors; they're about the people she couldn't save.

in her last character story, feixiao takes the long way home, listening to the sounds of a bustling market from the other side of a wall. she marvels at the sound of children, perhaps because the younger version of her could have never imagined so much life in one place. she says to herself, "what a wonderful time this is". and finally, when hoolay asks her what she fights for, she says this:

So that just one more person can live and return to the Yaoqing alongside me.

feixiao was not always altruistic. she was not always willing to give up her life for other people -- in fact, her very first "mistake" was running from the borisin without looking back, abandoning her friend in the process. but honestly, that makes her goodwill all the more admirable.

[thatringboy]

I don't think people actually hate volumes 4-6 as much as the fndm claims to abhor them. Not only do they carry narrative significance with the introduction of new antagonists (Tyrian, Hazel, Watts), new worldbuilding (Anima, Menagerie, Atlas), new protagonists (Oscar, Maria, Klein/Schnee Household), but arguably some of the most important arcs in the show including but not limited to Ozpin's possession of Oscar, RNJR's grief over Pyrrha, Yang's road to recovery, Blake's reunion with her family and past, the beginning of Ironwood's descent, Ren's vengeance, the beginning Raven's redemption, and the descent of Adam. Literally none of the awesome moments in volumes 7-9 could be possible without the "filler" volumes

[swiiivet-screamathon]

"What's got you sitting here then?"

"Ensuring nothing catastrophic occurs and mild amounts of watch duty."

"Is he up to... mild mannered not-worth-standing-up-for trouble?"

"It is him yes, but I wouldn't quite call it trouble, not as of now at least."

Lily sits down next to Pv on the wooden bench, following his eyesight to Crepe's workshop, its large barge doors wide open with dark smoke pouring out and within are two small cookies doing... well, something, it's hard to tell at this distance with it being so obscured.

"That's, not- trouble?" She asks as she lays her head on Pv's shoulder.

"Seems to be working as intended in fact. Crepe knew this would happen and wanted to make sure no one bothered them thinking the place was on fire."

"Because they knew everybody would listen to you?"

"I don't want to be that egotistical, I'm sure our kingdom would listen to Raisin too."

"Hmhm~"

They watch on as they continue working on it, Smilk floating around in circles around Crepe as they both seem to be working on what best can be guessed as some sort of engine.

"I know I'm the problem in this sentiment, but I still can't believe out of all cookies the two of them paired up into what sounds like a functional duo-- You've got any idea how that happened?"

"I wouldn't say I do, probably some curiosity killing cats though."

"Ah, right, of course thats the case. Has he gotten along with anyone else so far?"

"He was certainly less sociable than he is now, that's for sure."

"Not the grandest of friendpools then, huh? More than one is still a positive though."

"Agreed."

"...My mind is just occupied with him now, how funny. After everything we've been through and yet he still manages to be the main character whenever he's around after so much time. You've still not managed to get him into a new set of icing?"

"He's got a loud presence, a good skill for an actor I'd say. Though you are right, I have not."

"Have you tried at all?-- Nevermind, I'm not even sure what I mean with that question; forcing him into a shirt seems very strange hmhm."

"I have asked him, though no forcing anyone in any shirts-- but he seems incredibly apprehensive about it. Every time I get a status update it seems any comment made by anyone of an kind makes him give up on trying for long bouts of time."

"I didn't take 'obvious' to be a trait of his, power of a title I suppose. I've got motivation to throw my hat in the ring though given the circumstances."

"Really? Did your encounter with Salt make you into fashion? :p"

"I suppose fashion tends to aim in the direction of bold, doesn't it? If I can be frank with you though, I think I mostly want to build rapport; bringing the Fount of Knowledge into the modern day sounds quite interesting, and you've sure been taking your sweet time getting him to act in line. ^^"

"Don't be so restrictive on him, and don't let your ulterior motives get the better of you. You're the most curious person I know but you know what happens if you go wild with it."

"Dramatic sigh-- She can be crumbled in the crust for hundreds of years and I will still be haunted by it. /lh I've got little desire to hinder your rehabilitation, I'm just not quite the same kind of altruist as you are. :p"

"If you start studying him like you did in school--"

"Wha~at-- There's no grade on the line, and I'm sure the teacher won't notice."

"No matter the form you take you'll always be a disaster. :D"

"x)"

[non-un-topo]

No work just writing todayy...

[souenkun]

I loooove the jp fandom's headcanon that geeta and larry are childhood friends who met during their time in the academy and, sometime in the future, geeta personally recruited larry to work for the paldean pokemon league, as she must be one of the first people who knew of his prowess in pokemon battling! Like yeah, the whole geeta being a "strict boss who is frustrated by larry's stubborn insistence to be an average worker that she has to assign him different workloads just to broaden his horizon" idea is intriguing, but stepping it up a notch by making geeta be the "best friend a.k.a the only one who has seen larry at his very best and his very worst, and knows for a fact that he could excel at anything he put his mind into if he steps out of his comfort zone, so she doesn't particularly drag him out of said zone, but pushes him out of it each time she can because she can't bear to see her best friend be unaware of the good chances and positive things that awaits him out there, not if she has a (small) say in it" is also downright hilarious 😭🤚

[kinokoshoujoart]

the coolest kids in forgotten valley!!☆

(…it seems there may have been a stretch of time where rock and lumina were the only kids in forgotten valley…🥲)

poseref

[devwell]

im watching an analysis on serial experiments lain and read the document from vrchat that basically confirms the connection between game lain and anime lain as the same lain but with different memories and new body, as the series often discuss the topic of "not needing flesh", "lain is an executable program" and more importantly, "if nobody remember it, does it ever happen?" which lain herself prove that belief isn't true what curious is there's apparently AILain, a chatbot that was active at the end of 2023 to early 2024, I haven't found much info about it yet.

[shannonsketches]

another very small detail in the goku and vegeta as foils set up in how they approach their lives is that in the very first chapter of super's manga Goku only ever uses singular pronouns talking about himself and his family and Vegeta's first line in the entire series is bumper art in which he uses a collective 'we' in regard to his family and I just think that's neat