#yang is influenced so much by all of strq it hurts

[strqyr]

tai is often characterized as this 'always positive, keep on smiling, hide the pain with a joke' yang-lite and having thought about it more, i... i don't think i agree?

first things first: tai quite literally wears his heart on a sleeve; he may not talk about his feelings a lot--presumably, since we have primarily seen him interact with his daughters, so it might just be a case of not wanting to burden them with his problems--but he definitely shows his emotions, clear as day. there's no pretence that he's fine, he's just the type to take his time and not rush it.

you know who kinda does do the whole 'gotta stay positive, smiles all around', 'hide your fear with a joke' thing that yang took upon herself to be for ruby's sake, to 'pick up the pieces'?

summer rose.

summer, who upon being caught leaving by tai, turns around to hide her emotions, before facing tai with a smile and some levity: "you know how ozpin gets. mystery after mystery." <- an opening for further jokes.

it's not one-to-one comparison--e.g. yang doesn't need to turn around to steel herself first (that's what ruby does)--but like. the influence is there; the acting of like everything is fine, great even! see, i'm smiling and even making jokes!! :)

it's just. yang trying to fill the void summer left behind.

[sir-adamus]

I'd like to hear what you think about the possibility of Raven dying. Do you think it's likely? and if you think she will, why?

i think theres a likelihood for it, the way shes set up, a Redemption Equals Death use is a possibility, but i think id prefer if she didnt (and not just because ill be annoyed if Raven dies before Qrow does)

because i dont see what good it would do in the long run; a lot of people think its likely as a way to give Yang the Spring Maidens power but i dont think thats likely to happen because;

from a Doylist standpoint, the Maiden powers were only invented following volume 2, so it wouldnt make much sense in whatever planned endgame for the girls for them to get those powers (not to mention running the risk of making them too overpowered)

from a Watsonian standpoint; it doesnt make sense for Raven to do that to Yang. Raven would greatly prefer if Yang stayed out of this whole mess; she respects Yangs wishes to get involved for Ruby even after trying to convince her to stay, and lets Yang take the Relic and the heat from Salem because shes terrified of Salem and that overrides all her other instincts, and that is so telling during her final scene with Yang in volume 5 where she can only cry and say “im sorry” before leaving

that moment is so revealing about Raven as a character because it makes it so clear that she knows, she knows that what shes doing is awful but shes so scared she cant not do it. and Yang tearing apart her arguments recontextualises so many of her other scenes; all of Ravens posturing, all her boasts, those are all lies shes telling to try and convince herself because she cant help herself, shes that desperate to hide from the truth because the guilt and fear would swallow her whole

just from that, i think its more likely that Raven, faced with a situation where she would end up dying, would be trying to think of anyone else but Yang so as not to doom her into this situation any further - for all of her many, many faults, she does care about Yang, and she knows how the Maiden power transfer works, she wouldnt want to inflict that on Yang if she could help it

and thats why i think it would be more interesting narratively if that dressing down from Yang leads Raven to develop and face her fears much like Blake (who she is foil to) has, and reclaim that person she used to be, and join the fight again, not for Ozpin, and not for any hope that this can be won, but for Yangs sake

on top of that, killing Raven off would only serve to hurt Yang more and deprive her of any real resolution with Raven; i dont think they could ever be in a position where Raven would be a mother to Yang, its too late for that, but that doesnt mean they cant have some kind of healthy dynamic in future if given the chance

and i know the argument is “team STRQ is the team RWBY that failed” as a reason why Raven shouldnt or wont develop but like, thats the thing, they failed, theyve already done that. the failure has happened, but that doesnt mean they cant change and grow now (especially in response to the girls)

like Qrow is trying to combat his alcoholism now thanks to Rubys influence, so i dont see why Raven shouldnt get the opportunity to try and crawl out of the hole shes dug herself into

plus itd be nice to see Raven use her Semblance in a way that its so clearly meant for, not for running away, but running to someone

[hawkeyedflame]

Tbh I think the reason I love Raven so much is because she's such an unapologetic selfish bitch. Like the total opposite of Yang and I just really like that dynamic they have

i love her because she’s just.. extremely complex? i’m kind of inclined to believe MMK didn’t even intend for her to be such a complicated character but if you ask me she is one of the most in-depth characters in the entire show, and one of the only non-protags whose motivations actually run deep enough to cause her behavior to persist in this immoral direction for so long. (i’m talking as opposed to emerald and mercury who clearly realize they’re out of their depths, or hazel whose reason for hating ozpin doesn’t even begin to justify siding with the person whose creations are ultimately responsible for his sister’s untimely death)

raven went to beacon to learn to kill huntsmen to help protect her tribe. she was born and raised in it-- it’s all she’s ever known, and of course the armchair morality of the rich and the comfortable cannot possibly make sense to someone with that sort of background. the laws of her existence revolve around survival and they always have. you can call it evil or wrong, but she doesn’t see it that way. she sees huntsmen as a threat to her and her people. learning to kill them was a necessity for her community’s continued survival.

but then she had a kid with someone outside the tribe. she totally shouldn’t have done that if she never intended to keep a foot in each world. i’m inclined to believe yang was either an accident or an indication that raven never meant to leave. as it stands, we still don’t know why she ended up falling for taiyang or why she had a kid with him. we don’t know how much her time at beacon influenced her away from her tribe and if she had planned to actually stay and raise yang initially. we don’t know what exactly motivated her into abandoning her newborn child to return to her old ways of pillage and murder. sure, she told yang and weiss that salem was unstoppable and the fight was pointless, and we can easily make the connection that she fled in no small part out of fear, but we don’t know to what extent her loyalties had actually shifted in favor of STRQ and ozpin by the time she actually ran away. was it painful for her to run away? or was it all a part of her plan? 

she seems to care for yang a great deal in her own way. she has a stubborn facade but it appears to upset her deeply watching yang get tangled up in the fight against salem. it almost seems to me like, after yang rejected her (selfish) olive branch, she’s trying to deepen the emotional chasm between them in hopes that it won’t devastate her watching her daughter get hurt or die.

i mean, there’s a lot more to it. she straight up tried to get her own brother killed. she has no qualms murdering innocent people and she’s not exactly morally upstanding in any regard whatsoever. but i think, more than anything, yang was right about her. she’s afraid. she’s been driven by fear and survival instinct her entire life and learning about salem’s existence only increased the frantic nature of her self-preservation tenfold. the real question is whether she’s going to die a coward or rise up to defy yang’s accusations, answer the call to duty, and start thinking beyond herself.

and that’s why i love her so much thank you for coming to my TED Talk

[strqyr]

i'm back again with another branwen post™, this time delving onto their reasons for originally staying instead of going back to the tribe, and how those reasons have influenced their development in the past as well as in the present.

and those reasons are family and mission.

this is something that was already set up in their very first interaction in volume 4; qrow is the one to bring up family, while raven is focused on the mission. and while these are certainly A Thing for them, respectively, it is not The Thing that drives them.

because they're actually flipped, as things often are with the branwens.

early on, qrow's loyalty to ozpin was well known; it was basically blind loyalty at that point. and it makes sense, because all qrow has ever wanted to do is to do good. he heard the stories about the grimm reaper, he looked up to her to the point of fashioning his own weapon after hers. even before attending beacon and joining ozpin's cause, he wanted to become a huntsman, for a chance to do some real good.

and ultimately, ozpin gave him a cause, a mission qrow could dedicate himself to, even if it meant staying away from his family for months at the time.

so he stayed, instead of perhaps taking a paper out of the grimm reaper's book and traveling alone, doing good while ensuring he wouldn't harm those he cares about with his semblance.

he stayed, and it was ozpin who gave him something meaningful to work towards, something to drive him, something to dedicate himself to.

and he did. he did so to the point of even getting ruby and yang involved, his family, despite knowing how dangerous it would get. knowing the risks, knowing the target ruby would have on her back thanks to her silver eyes. all because it was for a good cause.

(but he also did so knowing that this time, he would be there to protect them. that this time, things would turn out differently.)

(he's not feeling that so much right now, but luckily, it's only temporary.)

all of this is why qrow's turning point is finding out that ozpin lied. it's his "the rug is pulled from under him and there's nowhere to hide" moment.

so he falls, but he gets back up, because he still has his family to look out for (and all the other kids, too). because despite the hurt the truth caused, his mission is not over, and he can still do some good while at it.

for raven, family is an important part of her character, whether it's about team strq or the branwen tribe.

and while raven had joined ozpin's cause as well, it's because of this why I believe the reason behind raven staying had more to do with her relationship with tai and their move to patch to perhaps start a family than anything else.

but it's also the importance of family to raven why things ended up poorly; because with the tribe, when you're family, you stand by each other no matter what:

qrow: they were killers and thieves.

raven: they were your family.

so when raven told the rest of her team the truth about salem and how ozpin had lied to them, and they chose to believe ozpin instead of her? well...

raven: sorry, brother. sometimes family disappoints you like that.

that's why raven went back to the tribe. even though she likely knew that they weren't so great – especially when compared to the family she found with her team – at least they never chose someone else over her.

as far as we know, raven never contacted tai or summer after she left, but she kept in touch with qrow whenever it suited her, because not only is qrow her brother, he was also part of the tribe family, too.

(it's also why she kept eyes on yang in bird form, enough that yang could recognize her, because yang never disappointed her like so... until she chose ruby over raven, anyway.)

but just like qrow had his turning point when it came to his mission, raven's turning point regarding her family also happened in volume 5.

qrow disowned her. vernal is dead. there's the whole complicated emotional mess that happened with yang, but ultimately, it too ended with raven failing at that one thing she tried to do: to keep yang away from ozpin's war.

all that was left for her was a portal to tai – a bridge that was possibly already burned long time ago – and she kept flying; perhaps to a place that reminds her of a time of happiness. of a time when she still had her family around her.

and maybe from there, she too can get back up, just like qrow did.