#rwby character analysis

[maxiemumdamage]

Ok but Summer’s design is basically just Volume 1 Ruby and I mean that as a good thing.

Like, the puffy skirt, the belt/corset, the mid length cape, the frilled trim on the boots, the crossed belt holding the emblem.

Ruby was 100% just trying to emulate Summer even in her earliest days, even before she became the protagonist in our eyes and the story. Of course, we know that come Volume 4 and Volume 7, she changed — and many people pointed out that Ruby’s design then shifted to instead include mementos from the many other people she lost.

(I can’t find it, but there was a post with Ruby’s volume 4 design that circled all the components of Pyrrha and Penny’s old designs that it paralleled - the wrap of her cloak and emblem paralleling Pyrrha’s sash, the high socks like Penny’s, etc.)

The point being, Ruby essentially started presenting herself as an amalgamation of all the people she lost. (There’s a reason Penny’s design elements disappeared in Volume 7 when Ruby learned she was alive. So maybe that’ll see a reappearance, now. Pain.) She’s seeing those people as perfect paragons she has to emulate, to honor their sacrifice.

I think Ruby won’t ascend with Summer’s weapon, or at least I hope she won’t. Because I think she needs to decide who she is for herself, without carrying the guilt and legacy of the mother she lost.

[anthurak]

Something I find interesting about rewatching Yang’s scenes talking about her childhood in Volumes 2 and 5 is how she doesn’t really… defend Tai’s actions and the way he seemed to have effectively checked out on her and Ruby for several years after Summer’s disappearance.

Now sure, she doesn’t really decry him, but we don’t hear Yang trying to claim that her father ‘had his reasons’ for what he did or otherwise trying to justify his actions. She just presents what Taiyang did fairly matter-of-factly. Likewise, I think we can see a similarly frank assessment of Tai’s parenting from Ruby in Volume 9 when she directly acknowledges that Yang raised her.

Putting these together, I really get the sense that both Yang and Ruby are very much aware of Tai’s actions and how he let them down as a father, rather than trying to defend or cover for him.

So why has Yang and the story as a whole only given a general, indirect acknowledgement of Tai’s actions and never really confronted him directly about how he let his daughters down as a father?

Well, I think it’s because that rather than trying to defend or cover for their father’s actions, Yang and Ruby are engaging in that much less melodramatic but ALL too common practice of just… not talking about the problems of a close family member.

Rather than going through the surely difficult and ugly process of confronting Tai over how he failed them as a father, Yang and Ruby have taken the fair easier option of simply not talking about it. Even though both of them, particularly Yang, are very much aware of the problem.

It also probably doesn’t help that in the present of the show, Tai has grown into, if not a good parent per-say, at least a decent one. Which in turn probably gives Yang and Ruby even more reason to just… not talk about that time he kinda-sorta abandoned them for several of their formative years.

See also, what Tai does to help Yang’s recovery in Volume 4. Sure, some of his methods were questionable, but he did ultimately help Yang recover and move on, which I think in turn makes Yang all the more reluctant to confront him on his past failings as a father.

So where do I think this is all going?

Well, with the Volume 9 finale clearly sowing the seeds for a major arc of Ruby and Yang diving into aspects of their family history they never knew about, most notably the long-awaited truth of what REALLY happened to Summer, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if some other long-brewing issues started bubbling to the surface as well.

As I’ve stated in other recent posts, at this point Yang’s original recounting of her family history to Blake all the way back in Volume 2 now absolutely REEKS of ‘unreliable narration’, and that there is clearly a WHOLE fucking lot that Yang, and Ruby, have no idea about regarding their parents.

So if during the process of Ruby and Yang finally digging into their family past, they happened to discover that Tai and Qrow have been keeping some massively important pieces of information from them all this time, effectively lying to Ruby and Yang for YEARS?

(say about, I dunno… Ruby’s ‘real’ father actually being a certain angry/depressed bird woman?)

Well I’d say that would be just the thing that could blow the lid off right off a LOT of resentment towards her father that Yang has been bottling up all this time.

I’ve stated this before, but I think it’s worth keeping in mind that ALL of Team STRQ have been presented as well-meaning yet massively flawed/shitty/fuckup parents to Ruby and Yang in each their own way. For one, all of them bailed on their daughters in one way or another, whether it be Raven and Summer bailing physically, Taiyang emotionally/psychologically, or Qrow doing a bit of both.

Thus far, we’ve seen two members of Team STRQ confronted by either Ruby or Yang over their failings as a parent and been subsequently driven to improve: Raven by Yang in Volume 5, and Qrow by Ruby in Volume 6. Which in turn leaves Summer and Taiyang, the supposed ‘good parents’ as the more ‘overt’ text of the show has led us to assume.

Of course, over the course of the last three volumes, we got more and more hints, before the ending of Volume 9 confirmed, that Summer Rose was not in fact the perfect ‘supermom’ that Ruby and Yang remember her as, having lied to and walked out on her family to go on mysterious mission with Raven from which she never returned.

And reading between the lines, Tai’s own problems as a father have been sitting right in front of us since Volume 2, only just beneath the surface as Yang and Ruby decline to really talk about them.

So with a story arc focused on exploring the truth about Summer Rose looking to be close on the horizon, a long-simmering confrontation between Yang and her father (one that could likely strongly parallel her confrontation with Raven) seems likewise inevitable.

[iamafanofcartoons]

RWBY Bumbleby Development Scene V7C7

Alright, let me talk about one that is a bit more underappreciated amidst all the amazing scenes they have.  Their talk in V7C7 is one of my favorite scenes in the entire show for multiple reasons.  But my main reason is the amazing portrayal of a healthy disagreement.

Usually bring this one up as often as I can, especially when comparing Yang and Adam, because it's one of the scenes which truly highlights how great of a foil Adam was, and in a way still is, for Yang.  Disagreements are inevitable. Regardless of the relationship you have  with a person. No matter how close you are with someone, you can't always agree with them. And that's okay. The important thing is always in how you both handle it.

Whenever Blake and Adam disagreed on something, Adam never listened to Blake's concerns, he always brushed  them aside or even went as far as to guilt trip her.

You don't have to end up agreeing with whoever you're having a disagreement, it's fine if you don't.  But the least you can do is listen to their concerns and take them to heart, which Adam never did.  And that's ultimately what makes the V7C7 scene so great for me. Blake and Yang don't even end up agreeing on the whole Ironwood situation, and that was fine, they didn't have to.  Yang listened to Blake's concerns, then put on the table her own point of view. 

In the end the conversation switches topics to Adam's death (which I'll get to in a bit), but it's clear in Volume 8 they didn't end up agreeing with each other's points of view here Yang still believed they should have told Ironwood the truth, while Blake didn't And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

In the end nothing changed between them due to the disagreement because this is a healthy relationship.  That was a healthy discussion between two people with different points of views.(the FNDM could never lmao)  It's a discussion which, along with Ruby and Yang's  disagreement as well, showed that just because you end up disagreeing with someone you love, that doesn't mean you love them any less.  Because that's what a healthy relationship of any kind is all about. Communication.  And that leads to the second part of the conversation  which solidified this scene as one of the best in the show for me, the talk about Adam's death.  Now obviously, I would have loved a bit more focus on this, but I am content with what we got too.  Because in the end it's once again an amazing comparison between Yang and Adam.

You can tell from her surprised face from the end of the conversation, but Blake didn't really expect her words to change anything.  Because that's what she was used to, her words not holding any weight and being brushed aside.  Her body language, the way she wraps her arms  around herself which we saw back in her argument with Adam too, it shows just how small and powerless she feels in both moments

But this is Yang. Blake's words hold more weight for Yang than she could have realized. Agreeing or disagreeing, it doesn't matter Yang never wants  for Blake to be forced to do something she doesn't want to. 

 And it's truly heartbreaking in a way how you can see Blake's surprise. How she was not used to her words being listened to.  But then the surprise breaks into a smile as she realizes that yes, this is Yang. Not Adam.

That Yang always listened to what she had to say regardless of if they agreed or not.  And all of this was such a great portrayal of a healthy disagreement. Of communication in a relationship.  And to top it all off, this all happens while that incredible instrumental of an  acoustic version of Trust Love plays in the background.  Because that's what they choose to do. To trust in each other, to trust in the love they have for each other and open up. 

https://twitter.com/SAlle1304/status/1635417982125113344

[asm5129]

So, remember all those criticisms of Jaune “stealing” Ruby’s screen time or whatever?

Well, as we can see now, any time spent on Jaune was actually *also* time spent on Ruby, building up to the ultimate catalyst of both of their hero complexes and other trauma reaching their boiling point *together*, forcing Ruby to finally face her pain

I just think that’s neat

[onesheeptwosheepandachicken]

Nora calling out Ironwood on his paranoia, stubbornness, and constant mistreatment of Mantle.

Ironwood apologists: Ironwood is under a lot of stress, its his badly written semblance, Blake and Yang are helping a terrorist, he was badly retconned into a cartoon villain.

Its like anything a male character says is defended to the point of worship, while anything a woman says is ignored or twisted.

[sunder-the-gold]

I really must wonder, what had you invested in the Brother Gods of RWBY? Most people I lurk seemed to just sign them "assholes to be kicked in the nuts" after the Ozma's task reveal. What matter brought you to be rooting for the Brothers, especially their feud, with GoL's side and why? Can you tell me about your insight on the characters of those Brothers and why you think so? These are very genuine questions with genuine curiosity have a nice day drink your water regularly

It never occurred to me to question your genuine curiosity. You’ve shown nothing but sincerity so far.

But you’ve asked a very difficult question, by asking me to compare myself to others. What a minefield.

Obviously, I think I am correct; else I wouldn’t think what I do, and I would change my mind to think something else.

So, if I think something different from the majority, and I think I am right to do so, how do I justify this without supposing myself wiser, smarter, or more compassionate than the majority?

Misotheism

You’ll find advocates who won’t tolerate hearing a single criticism of Team RWBY, and will dismiss any as misogyny. You’ll find critics who can’t say a single good thing about Team RWBY, and for all I know they might well be misogynist. Some of Jaune’s worst critics might be misandrist.

So, maybe the worst critics of the Two Brothers are misotheists -- people inclined to hate gods or any personages in godlike positions of power and authority.

I’m certainly not a misotheist, so I’m not predisposed to hate the gods. I try to judge the gods according to their own actions, as well as according to their perspectives and intentions.

Just Sibling Things

One factor of my sympathy towards the Two Brothers, and the Older Brother in particular, is that I myself am an older brother. My younger brother and I are “Irish Twins”, in that he was conceived relatively shortly after I was born, and so most of our lives we have been roughly equal in size, strength, and skill.

I know what it is like to disagree with such a brother, and to do everything in my power to bend him to my will, including the final resort of violence. I know the ultimate futility of changing someone else’s mind with appeals to reason, appeals to emotion, or even threats of force, and thus the importance of achieving a good relationship based on respect and compromise.

I was also the more creative one, and my brother the more destructive one, though my brother was nowhere near as terrible as the Younger Brother. Unlike the Younger Brother, mine was by far the more sociable of the two of us, so I have an inkling of how the Older Brother couldn’t bring himself to kill the Younger Brother and leave himself alone in the universe... assuming such a feat was even possible for the two of them.

“No” Means “No” (but it doesn’t mean “I hate you”)

I also grew up respecting my mother’s authority and trusting in her love for me. I learned early in life that my parents had limited resources and couldn’t give me everything I asked for, or even everything that they wanted to give me without being asked.

Mother would certainly try to explain herself if I asked Why, but she made it clear very early that she would never tolerate whining or tantrums. If I could not request for something politely or offer a polite counter-argument, the answer would automatically become “No”. Because she wanted my brother and I to know how to persuade other adults by the time we had become adults.

Thinking More Than One Step Ahead

Some people have what I think is called “Phase 1” thinking, where they can only imagine the immediate reaction to an action and they stop there, content that their goal is achieved with no consequences.

For example, they look at how the God of Creation, at best, only bowed his head and turned his eyes away in sorrow as his brother murdered the first humanity. (Some fans don’t even bother to remember that much detail, because it contradicts their headcanon that the Brothers are equally at fault.)

Their Phase 1 thinking is that the Older Brother should have intervened to protect humanity, and then the whole thing would just magically blow over with no consequences.

Phase 2+ thinking is recognizing that is a childish fantasy.

1) There is no way words would have stopped this war. Words didn’t stop the God of Destruction during the divine war; limited violence followed by words of reconciliation did.

2) The Younger Brother was rearing for a physical fight just from the Older Brother barging into his room to enforce the rules they had agreed upon. For his brother to assault him after humanity did, and to do so while actually breaking their rules himself*, there’s no way the God of Destruction wouldn’t fight back. *(At least, it makes absolute sense that their original agreement would include “If they ever choose Destruction to the point of trying to destroy US, then I win our Destruction versus Creation bet and I get to destroy them.” Followed by the canonical compromise “best two out of three; I get a second chance to show they will choose Creation”.)

3) A divine fistfight between gods who can casually destroy a planet is going to result in far more collateral damage than when there was no planet for the God of Creation to worry about. As Ozpin told Pyrrha “You’d only get in the way”, but Remnant had no power to flee from the fight like Pyrrha could.

4) This isn’t the first time the God of Creation has been helpless to save his creations from his brother destroying them. This isn’t the first time his heart has been broken. Sectors of the fandom live to talk about psychological abuse and the ways that abuse-victims try to protect themselves from more pain, and they’ll forgive Cinder’s abuse of Emerald because of Cinder’s own past of abuse, but somehow that doesn’t apply to the God of Creation who NEVER WANTED things to get this bad.

The God of Life has a pool of immortality just laying around waiting to be used, and his brother is the God of Death, and people place equal blame on the God of Life that his equal and opposite demands that people die.

Because the God of Death resurrected ONE mortal out of envy for his brother and for his own flattered ego, that somehow erases the fact that he’s logically the ultimate reason why Ozma died in the first place, and it means that Salem didn’t actually need to hear the explanation she didn’t want to hear from the God of Life about why he couldn’t afford to bring Ozma back even though he wanted to.

Phase 1 thinking. The next phase would be realizing that if the Older Brother hadn’t intervened, the Younger Brother would have found himself constantly inundated by humans begging for their loved ones back, and when he would inevitably refuse, they would begin shouting at him like Salem shouted at his brother, and like others certainly shouted at the Older Brother many times before Salem.

And I don’t think the God of Destruction would have responded to angry demands as gracefully as his brother.

[autumnsorbet]

🌹🎀Oscar & Penny ⚙️🌹

There are many parallels between Oscar and Penny from the fact that Oscar is kind of the chosen one destined to bring the world together and the fact that Penny was built to save the world,

The fact that Oscar become the next Oz and that's something he doesn't want.

Penny becoming the winter maiden and that's something she doesn't want and them getting possessed/taking over by someone else and eyes glowing

many other parallels they have with each other but today I want to talk about the inspiration they take from one of the only person who's really pushed them forward and helped inspire them Ruby I mainly just want to talk about their outfits though

Penny to inspiration with her volume seven through eight design looks similar to Ruby's volume 1

through 3 design, and then you have Ruby's volume for design her sleeves mirror Penny sleeves from volume 1 through

And then you have Oscar where his outfit kind of almost perfectly mirrors Ruby's Volume 4 through 6 design

So I'm guessing whatever design / outfit Oscar has next it will probably mirror some of rubies volume 7-9 design

[hyperfixation-hideout]

I was thinking about Maria reading Oscar the story of the farmer who founded Brunswick Farms and tried to use the Apathy to his benefit.

A story which Oscar finishes/helps finish reading later.

Could the reason Oscar was so prominent in the telling of this story both times it was read possibly be an intentional parallel between Bartleby and Oscar’s characters?

I like the idea of "He seemed like quite the ambitious fellow, always thinking of new schemes to overcome the odds" applying to Oscar. Because... he does. Oz tempted Oscar with the opportunity for greatness, appealing to a sense of ambition to do something more with his life. Oscar’s repeatedly and consistently used critical thinking and creative problem solving to utilize enemies’ assets against them, and/or for his own benefit. Like Bartleby’s attempt to use the Apathy in a positive, tactical way. He and Oscar definitely share the tendency for experimental high-risk high-reward scheming.

Two ambitious farmers who are always thinking up new methods to turn an obstacle into an advantage.

[megashadowdragon]

“Something so special about Blake and Weiss starting out as the most antagonistic members of team RWBY only to now be the glue holding them together.

Blake has stepped up in Ruby's place to be the optimist and the ideas-haver, coming up with their next steps, being the negotiator. Weiss having her back, cracking jokes, trying to keep everyone together, desperately trying to find a way to break the tragedy of the bridge to them without making their efforts seem futile.

They've come so far from volume 1 and it makes me emotional:”

[howlingday]

Have you ever feel that Jaune got to much focus? I mean he's called a main charater (for better or worse) in a show called RWBY. About Team RWBY. It's just looking at both sides as much as I like Jaune maybe their was or still is to much focus on him.

Hardly.

Tell me something. Did Sasuke get too much focus in a show called Naruto? Did Knuckles get too much attention in the show Sonic X? What about Harry Potter? One Punch Man? Hey Arnold?

The Jaune "getting too much focus because the show is called RWBY" is the saddest, weakest excuse ever uttered. Jaune is a main character, along with Ren and Nora, who, need I remind you all, got plenty of love and attention despite not being "Team RWBY"?

Now, does the FNDM give him too much attention? My second favorite tag on this hiellsite is "jaune arc," AFTER "rwby," agrees with this statement, and to be honest, I don't think that's a problem with the show's writing as much as it is with the audience's reception of him.

There being "too much focus" on Jaune is only in comparison to the weaker writing for the "main characters" because the show puts more effort into the action and the plot than into the development of the core cast of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.

Ruby has silver eyes and is supposed to be the hero who saves the world, but it wasn't until Volume 9 that she really got a solid win for her character.

Weiss comes back home in Volume 7 and her biggest character moment is when she's stopping her father's escape. Then... nothing.

Blake and Yang are by far the worst because their characters are now wholly reliant on each other. And before that, Yang's character was reliant on Ruby while Blake's character relied on the White Fang plot, which ended in Volume 5, and Adam, who died in Volume 6.

But what about Jaune's character? Well, let's see; Jaune was the loser everyman character who acted as the foil to the prodigal child of destiny that was Ruby Rose. His partner, Pyrrha "Invincible Girl" Nikos, takes him under her wing and trains him as her mentor. She then dies, leaving him to train and grow on his own despite his team being there, whereas Ruby loses her entire team and gets their help to accomplish reaching Mistral.

...Typing this out, yeah, I would say Jaune got more thought and effort put into his story and character development, but I don't think it's "too much". If anything, I'd say the issue is RWBY didn't get enough. All we got for them were flashy moves and kicks and bruises, but it's all shallow, surface-level development. Looking back, I see RWBY as the same people as they were at Beacon, while Jaune has completely changed since his initial appearance.

And again, that's not Jaune getting too much attention. It's just RWBY never really grew up right.

[swapauanon]

Having finally seen Volume 9, and I think it's important to point out something: A lot of people have claimed that Ruby's "Isn't that why we're here? To make things better?" is evidence that she was ALWAYS taking personal responsibility for everything that goes wrong in the world...

But I'm going to be frank, that misses the entire point of the scene with the Herbalist.

When Weiss, Blake, and Yang confronted their past selves, they confronted who they were at the start of their arcs, in their respective trailers. Each of them has grown into a stronger, more mature, healthier person since then.

Ruby's character arc began with her chat with Ozpin in "The Badge and the Burden". That's when she started taking on more and more responsibilities, to the detriment of her mental health. You'll notice that her mental health REALLY starts to nosedive when Ozpin, Qrow, and Cordovin all wind up letting her down in Volume 6.

Every time someone she looks up to fails her, Ruby starts taking more and more personal responsibilities on. All the while feeling personally responsible for every failure, both real and perceived.

Ruby Rose at the start of the series was a healthier, happier person than Ruby Rose was when she met the herbalist in Volume 9. If she had ALWAYS been that unhealthy, her past self would've acted VERY differently in that vision.

She started the series as a realist, and slowly became a suicidal cynic as more and more of the adults in her life let her down and betrayed her trust.

Where her friends grew and matured, Ruby chafed and regressed.

She underwent NEGATIVE character development, but not in the sense of becoming a villain protagonist as most other examples of this kind of character arc would, but in going from a functional human being to a broken shell. The rest of her arc will have to be dedicated to picking up the pieces.

[bobauthorman]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I want to bring it out into the open. Each of Oz’s main lieutenants are deconstructions of character archetypes. Well, everyone in RWBY is a deconstruction, but no one wants to talk about Oz’s circle.

Oz, as has been established, turns the fantasy mentor archetype on its head. Not only is he a bad mentor, whose reckless manipulations never pan out, but the protags are far less forgiving of his string-pulling, and have every right to be. Unforgiving, that is.

Ironwood, similarly, deconstructs the ‘Anti-authority authority figure’; like Captain Kirk (Star Trek) or Nick Fury (Marvel), they are military leaders who frequently chaff under their more politically-minded peers and superiors, who undercut those peers whenever they can. Unlike Kirk/Fury, this is not a sign of open-mindedness, but arrogance and stuborness, the childish belief that the rules don’t apply to him.

Qrow is much like Wolverine (X-Men), a ‘Bad Boy with a Gold Heart’ who is kept in line by his loyalty to the mentor figure. In this case, Qrow’s Too Cool For School ‘tude is coping mechanism and mask for the massive chip on his shoulder, and because his self-worth was tied so deeply to serving Oz, when Oz is exposed as the fraud he is, Qrow has a full-on breakdown.

Lionheart was much harder to figure out, given that he only has one volume’s worth of screen time, and even we don’t get much of Lionheart’s personality. I theorize that Lionheart was intended to be a dig at the ‘Token Minority’ archetype. For many series in the old days, there are these characters who supposed to represent different races. (For example, Haji from Johnny Quest). Unfortunately, these characters are rarely given any personality outside of ‘Guy from foreign culture’, often becoming a deliverer of stereotypical views showrunners have. CRWBY has stated that Lionheart was made headmaster by Oz as a token for Faunus (The series allegory for minorities), but we hear nothing of whether that did any good (Blake even accuses Oz of not doing more for the Faunus). It’s possible that because of this Lionheart lacked the strength of self to stop Salem from forcing his compliance with the attacks on Vale and Haven.

Theodore hasn’t appeared in the series proper, but from the book Before The Dawn I could make a case that he encompasses the stock shonen hero; destructive strength and a destructive temper. The problem is, he’s a moron, but lacks that ‘Deeper wisdom’ even himbos like Son Goku and Monkey D Luffy have to compensate. And his dependence on the smarter but weaker female lead (In this case, Rumpole) to handle the more organizational aspects of his position means that when Rumpole is compromised, Theodore’s shoddy management nearly causes Shade Academy to implode.

[anthurak]

An In-Depth Analysis of the Interpersonal Relationships of Team STRQ (and why Rosebird is DEFINITELY a thing)

So I’d like to do something of an analysis on the interpersonal relationships of Team STRQ. More specifically, analyzing Qrow’s, Taiyang’s, and Raven’s respective relationships with Summer, based on what the show has directly told, and shown us.

Starting with Qrow, as I think this analysis is the most straightforward. Now to get one thing out of the way, I think we can definitively say at this point that Qrow is NOT RUBY’S SECRET DAD. Beyond CRWBY thoroughly debunking the theory at this point, nothing we’ve seen or heard really paints Qrow as having been in any kind of romantic relationship with Summer. Or at least any that would supersede any romantic relationship with Raven and/or Tai in some ‘Poly-STRQ’ scenario.

To begin with what we’ve heard of Qrow’s relationship with Summer, we’ve actually heard quite a bit, relatively speaking. In terms of dialogue, we’ve heard more about Summer from Qrow than either Tai or Raven, which is helpful in getting a sense of what their relationship may have been like. From his conversations with Ruby in Volumes 3 and 7, we can say that Qrow views Summer with both admiration (“She was always the best of us…”) and fondness and affection (“Bit of a brat though. But hey, I like brats.”). But the detail I find most telling is the ease that Qrow has in talking about Summer, particularly in Volume 7. When Ruby asks him about Summer and her ‘last mission’, Qrow isn’t hesitant or all that uncomfortable with talking about his teammate. Which gives the impression that Qrow has actually coped with Summer’s (apparent) death fairly well.

Which in turn is notable because THE go-to narrative method of hinting that a character was romantically involved or had feelings for another character long missing/dead is to show them being clearly uncomfortable TALKING about that other character (something we’ll be revisiting in a little bit…). Something we don’t see from Qrow when he talks about Summer.

It’s also notable that while Qrow, along with almost all the other adults in the show, was something of an unreliable narrator in the early volumes, his talk with Ruby about Summer happened AFTER Volume 6 when Qrow opted to finally start being open with and trusting of his niece and protégé. Meaning that I think we can trust that Qrow is being genuine in his talk with Ruby in Volume 7.

And in terms of what the show has so far directly shown us about Qrow’s relationship with Summer, the answer is notably: Nothing. Because unlike Tai and Raven, Qrow was absent from the big important flashback giving us our first look at Summer. Which combined with what we’ve heard from Qrow, tells me that the narrative of RWBY considers Summer’s relationship with Qrow to be less dramatically important/significant than her relationships with Tai or Raven.

Moving on to Taiyang, what’s interesting is that Tai’s relationship with Summer is kind of in the inverse situation of what we see with Qrow’s. In that with Qrow we’ve heard some but seen nothing, with Tai we’ve seen some but heard almost nothing.

I mean, consider for a moment that prior to the tenth episode of the NINTH volume of the series, EVERYTHING we knew about Taiyang’s relationship with Summer Rose came to us second-hand from Yang in ONE conversation with Blake back in Volume Two! I’ve spoken before in other posts that if feels quite curious that while the overlying text of the story claims that Summer’s relationship with Tai should be very important, given that they are supposed to be Ruby’s PARENTS, yet we have heard effectively NOTHING about it. Other than a simple claim that ‘it existed’. I mean, forget how we’ve heard more about Summer from Qrow than we have from Tai; we’ve heard more about Summer from RAVEN than we have from Tai (more on THAT in a little bit XD)

Now of course, unlike with Qrow, as of the finale of Volume 9, we have actually SEEN a look at Tai’s relationship with Summer. Albeit a brief look, but enough to get something of a sense of it. What I find interesting is that despite this being our first look at Summer’s relationship with Tai, this scene/vision doesn’t really tell us, or Ruby, anything she/we didn’t already know about these two. That Summer and Tai were really close… and that’s pretty much it.

And what I find even more interesting is a curious amount of ambiguity towards the nature of Summer’s and Tai’s relationship in this scene. Despite the text of the show claiming that these two were lovers, this scene is notably lacking the kind of overt romantic gestures we might expect, such as a kiss or long held gaze. Yes, Summer and Tai have a very close hug, but let’s not forget that RWBY has used close, intimate hugs like this as a gesture of platonic or familial love/affection just as much if not MORE times than as a gesture of romantic love. Just look at Ren’s hugs with Jaune, or Jaune’s hug with Ruby, or even that time Ironwood hugged Qrow. Simply put, I don’t think that hug tells us nearly as much about Summer’s and Tai’s relationship as people might think.

Finally, we come to Raven. And funny enough, unlike Qrow and Tai, I would argue that we have both heard AND seen QUITE a bit about Summer’s relationship with Raven.

When it comes to what we’ve heard, it’s not just what we have heard from Raven about Summer that’s important, but what we HAVEN’T heard as well. Across Volumes 4 and 5, we see Raven all too happy to mock, criticize and generally smack-talk just about everyone from her old life, from Ozpin, Qrow, Taiyang and even Yang.

But not Summer.

For some reason, Raven NEVER has anything bad to say about SUMMER.

And the ONE time Raven does mention Summer, it is during a talk with Ruby, Summer’s daughter. Not only that, but rather than criticizing or mocking Summer’s memory, Raven’s line of “You sound like your mother,” is at worst neutral and might even have an undercurrent of respect.

Finally, Raven’s tone and demeanor when she says this line come off as very guarded and restrained. Combined with how she never mentions her outside of this scene, one thing becomes quite clear:

Raven does not like to talk about Summer.

Remember what I said back in the Qrow section about characters having difficulty/resistance to talking about another long-missing/dead character as an easy way to hint at a prior romance or romantic feelings?

Yeah, this is EXACTLY what I was talking about.

And then we come to the flashback/vision in Volume 9’s finale. The scene which, while also brief, showed us a LOT about Summer’s relationship with Raven.

Whereas Summer’s scene with Tai merely showed us things we already knew from Yang, her scene with Raven is a MAJOR reveal that establishes a whole new dynamic that both Ruby, and much of the audience had NO idea about.

That Summer and Raven were actually quite a bit closer than anyone ever realized. That Summer apparently trusted Raven more than ANYONE else to help on her secret mission while also having apparently taken Raven leaving Yang, Ruby and herself rather personally. And that Raven herself was actually quite a bit more upbeat and joking around Summer than we see her in the present, while also specifically showing a joking, awkward and even bashful side around Summer that has a lot of curious similarities to how Yang has acted around BLAKE.

And when we take this scene in conjunction with what we see of Raven in the present, a surprisingly consistent and complete picture emerges of Raven’s relationship with Summer.

In Volume 5, Yang notes that Raven is different from the woman she heard about from Tai and Qrow. Introducing the question that something changed Raven from the driven, determined and loyal woman Qrow and Tai knew to the bitter, angry and fearful woman we see at present. Well now we know almost for certain WHAT that something was:

Raven lost SUMMER.

Taking these two elements together, we can see that Raven CARED about Summer. Cared about her so much that loosing Summer almost certainly BROKE Raven. Whatever happened during that mission turned Raven from this…

…to this.

We also know that Summer encountered Salem during her last mission, and whatever happened during that encounter seems to have inspired Salem to begin her grimm-hybridization experiments. And now that we know that Raven was with Summer on that mission, it becomes pretty easy to guess why Raven is so convinced Salem cannot be killed, and is so utterly TERRIFIED at the prospect of facing her again:

Because Salem took Summer away from her.

Raven’s refusal to smack-talk Summer and the great difficulty she has in even mentioning her, Raven’s utter terror of the woman who did SOMETHING to Summer, that we now know Raven was almost certainly present to witness, and Raven being both quite friendly and awkward and willing to help Summer with her secret mission in the past.

All of it adds up to Raven having cared about Summer a GREAT deal. Likely cared about her the most out of her teammates. Given how she’s clearly taken Summer’s loss far harder than Qrow or Tai.

And when we add in Summer’s clear trust in Raven, that she trusted Raven above anyone else to help in her secret mission and even her clear resentment of Raven leaving Yang, Ruby and herself, we get a sense of just how close these were.

Summer and Raven were in all likelihood closer with each other than they were with anyone else. Sure, Summer certainly cared about Tai and Qrow, but it is Raven whom she TRUSTED above all others. And despite whatever caused Raven to leave her team, she still came back to help Summer with clearly no hesitation or reservation.

The funny thing is, with this scene we now know, or at least can reliably infer, more about Summer’s relationship with RAVEN, than we do about her relationships with either Qrow OR Tai.

And the thing is, this makes perfect sense when you consider the story arc going forward that this scene is almost certainly setting up:

That Raven is now THE pivotal figure in the mystery of what happened to Summer Rose. Because it is now clear to both the audience and to Ruby that Raven must KNOW what happened to Summer. Going forward, it is Raven whom Ruby and her team and family must pursue for the answers of what happened to Summer.

With this scene, the relationship between Raven and Summer just became THE most consequential among those of Team STRQ for the story going forward.

It’s one of the big reasons why Rosebird as a pairing just feels so fitting for these two. It’s why it suddenly makes sense we don’t hear all that much about Summer from Tai or Qrow, and why neither of them know what happened to her; because the story of who Summer was and WHAT happened to her isn’t theirs to tell.

That story is RAVEN’s. And of course, Summer herself once we find out she’s not actually dead.

And the crazy thing is, even Raven turning out to be Ruby’s father feels like a natural extension of this: The relationship between Summer and Raven is now established as this very significant and consequential element, and now Ruby will almost certainly be driven to seek Raven out for answers as to what happened to her mother.

(Note that I say RUBY specifically. Because while Yang will certainly be involved and invested in this search as well, it is ultimately Ruby and only Ruby who saw the vision. Thusly, SHE is the one ultimately driving this arc.)

So we now have Ruby on a quest to find Raven to find out what happened to Summer. The young girl seeking out the older woman whom she bares a curious resemblance to in order to find out what happened to her mother, whom this other woman was actually quite close with.

The writers might not have confirmed or directly hinted at Raven being Ruby’s secret dad, but they sure as hell put us on a narrative path the could absolutely lead to such a reveal.

[iamafanofcartoons]

Due to backlash from the Ironwood apologists upon seeing the V9 finale and that Ruby’s message did work?

Several people had discussions on why Ironwood was a flawed people and his plans didn’t add up.

https://twitter.com/tgJaeded/status/1651603323621875714

[onesheeptwosheepandachicken]

An Analysis on how Ironwood was always mean to be a villain. Research gathered thanks to I’mStrange https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnKj59v_DcE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckqMqtsy80U

@tumblingxelian, you may find this useful.

https://dudethatswhack.tumblr.com/post/623923686067585024/ironwood-being-the-worst-for-333-minutes

[sunder-the-gold]

Might I ask what your opinion is on the development of Team RWBY as characters and if it is satisfactory? I've gotten into a couple of arguments lately about this (that Team RWBY is either not developed or only developed the bare minimum) and I've found them to be rather...lackluster. I have seen someone say that Weiss hasn't developed at all since Volume 1, only her situation has and that Yang hasn't developed at all in her relation to her view on honesty. I found both (among others) to be insufficient but it raises the question if these specific arguments are bad, if the way they were argued was bad or if I'm just stubborn (all three are valid options). So I was curious what your views on the subject are?

I think you're listening to hate-watchers, or else to people who grew up being taught only how to complain rather than how to think critically. But I suppose I repeat myself.

To say that the only thing changed about Weiss is her situation is laughable. V1 Weiss's first reflex was to further her own goals; the current Weiss reflexively puts the good of her team first. V1 Weiss would not have stood between Cinder and Penny, would not have had enough confidence in Jaune that he could turn things around if she bought him enough time.

In Volume 5, Yang made the foolhardy statement that Ruby would always know or choose the right path. In Volume 7, Yang abandoned that foolishness a little too completely. In Volume 8, she found the "just right" balance of knowing that Ruby is as well-intentioned as Ozpin, and just as fallible. So Yang needs to be as supportive as she's always been while also being as critical and questioning as Raven advised her be.

That's leaving aside how Yang overcame her hang-ups with Raven, to use her long-awaited reunion only as a way to reach the family that actually loved Yang. And then Yang overcome Raven again, to win the Lamp of Knowledge, even at great personal cost. ("Emotional damage!")

Blake's experiences with her friends always helping her to keep moving forward have rebuilt her confidence and optimism.

Ruby's struggles to keep her team moving forward while saving the world have torn her down. Like Ozpin, it's not that Ruby has failed because of any particular character flaw or miscalculation, but simply because the opposition is so overwhelming.

Ruby won a great victory in saving as many Atlesians as she could, but she failed to save Atlas, she failed to save her team, then she learned she failed to save Penny, the Lamp, and the Staff. And she's not even sure she saved the Atlesians, since no one understands why no one returned through the gates to help.

(Ironic that Weiss mentions that, considering it was her ill-considered statement that instructed Ambrosius to make the gates one-way exits.)