#knowing that Killer could've given up and never visit them again

[zu-is-here]

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[itsclydebitches]

"I hate that a woman who didn't want to be a mother is never allowed to be anything other than what Yang sees her as." — excuse me anon? raven didn't Have to become a mother, you're telling me a technologically advanced world like remnant didn't have birth control or abortions? there were a million & one things raven could've done that didn't involve neglecting her newborn or abusing the adult yang grew into. stop with the raven apologism, yeesh.

Like taking the simple statement “But Raven was allowed to leave the Salem fight,” it’s not so much what she did but how she did it. The fact remains that we simply don’t know anything about Yang’s conception, Remnant health care, or the family dynamics involved (who might have wanted a kid straight out of school and who might not), which just leaves us with the action “Raven decided she didn’t want to raise Yang.” Which I have no problem with. That’s adoption. Mother carries a child to term (for whatever reason), decides she doesn’t want to be a mother (for whatever reason), and allows someone else to care for the child, in this case a very loving ex and his new girlfriend/wife. That’s all fine. 

The problem is how Raven treated Yang after that. She didn’t remove herself entirely from the family, which seems to have left Tai and Qrow in the awkward spot of telling Yang, “It’s complicated.” Is your mother coming back? Does she intend to be a part of your life? Does she care about you at all? We don’t know because she ran off with her horrible bandit tribe and only talks to us when she wants something (more on that below). It wasn’t a clean break with a hard, but equally clear story to tell a child: No, your biological mother isn’t a part of your life. Summer is your mother. So please don’t ever, say, go traversing very dangerous woods in an attempt to find her. A clean break would have allowed Yang’s family to definitively say that Raven wasn’t ready/willing/capable of being a part of the family, answering the, “Why did you leave me?” question. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Raven didn’t become a non-mother part of Yang’s life either. Which would have been really easy considering she has a portal semblance that takes her right to her family on a whim. She could have been the “complicated” family member who visits every few months, knowing Yang but not being close to her as a mom would. It still would have been hard, but at least it would have created opportunities for them to talk, providing that closure, and likewise given Yang an answer to that question, “Hey, why did you leave?” 

Instead, Raven tried to maintain this in-between status that (clearly) really messed with Yang. She’s not a mother who divorced her husband (or whatever relationship she and Tai had), permanently removing herself from that dynamic. Nor is she someone who divorced Tai but visits when she can, letting Yang have a relationship with both parents. She turned herself into a mystery, even more-so when she decided “Okay I’ll save you ONCE but never again.” How cruel is that? Not just the implication that Yang is only worth saving once, but the act of unexpectedly entering her life at the age of 16 and then leaving again via portal. There she absolutely abandoned Yang, leaving her with those same fears of, “Why aren’t I good enough for you to stick around?” We also know that she uses her family like chess pieces, only calling on them when she thinks it can be beneficial to her - “Can’t a girl just catch up with family?” 

Qrow: Did you know Yang lost her arm?

Raven: That’s not - 

Qrow: Rhetorical question. I know you know. It’s just obnoxious you’d bring up family and then carry on like your own daughter doesn’t exist. 

Raven: I saved her!

Qrow: Once. Because that was your rule, right? Real mom of the year material, sis. 

[Raven proceeds to grab Qrow and demands to know, again, whether Salem has the relic]

Does Yang losing her arm endanger Raven? No. Does it help Raven? No. So right now Raven doesn’t care. She’s going to turn the conversation back to herself: how much power does Salem have and how likely am I to feel the heat for it? 

Raven: I just want to know what we’re up against

Qrow: Which ‘we’ are you referring to? 

Qrow knows that ‘we’ doesn’t include him, or his allies, or the rest of his family - including Yang. The ‘we’ is Raven, first and foremost, and whatever bandits are willing to follow and (in Vernal/the maiden’s case) die for her. She might “lead her people” but so far we’ve only seen her use those people to help keep herself alive. Even if we work under the assumption that both women are outliers (which I don’t think we should), Raven’s people are “killers and thieves.” She leads a group that ransacks others to the extent that it draws grimm and leaves devastation in its wake. This is what Raven’s leadership looks like:  

Her justification? “The weak die. The strong live.” 

Raven thinks she should be supported because they’re family by blood, even though she hasn’t been there for them. Raven thinks she can save Yang once and then be rewarded for it, as if she hasn’t ignored her for the rest of her life. Hell, Raven could have even screwed up throughout Yang’s childhood (she’s human!) but then apologized later, admitting that she hasn’t done right by her. Instead, Raven has two significant conversations with Yang and in both she refuses to take any responsibility for her own actions. Ozpin wasn’t strong enough to beat Salem so she had to abandon everyone. The spring maiden wasn’t strong enough so she had to kill her. Even if Raven’s negligence had been completely unintentional (which I don’t think it was), she hasn’t demonstrated any true remorse for what she’s done to Yang, intentional or otherwise. When something bad happens it’s never her fault. 

If Raven had made a clean break from Yang that would have been fine. If she’d become a part of Yang’s life as something other than her mother that also would have been fine. But Raven uses Yang like a tool. She saves her so she can hold that over Qrow’s head later. She becomes interested in her only when she’s powerful, trying to tempt her into the tribe. Yang isn’t a daughter to Raven, she’s a potential weapon, a shield, or whatever else Raven might need her to be. In the vault, Yang becomes her new decoy target. And if Raven were to ever deem Yang “weak,” she’d abandon her completely, or even kill her as a “mercy.” Like she did with the spring maiden. Like she did with the people of Shion. Like she did with every hero in the story when she decided that supporting Salem had a better chance of resulting in her survival. Raven didn’t abandon Yang because she was a mother who decided she didn’t want a kid. Raven abandoned Yang because she’s stayed in her life just enough to treat her like a tool instead of like a daughter, or even just a stranger. There’s a lot that I don’t trust about Yang’s perspective, but when she says her mom is an abandoning coward? 100% agree.