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RWBY Theory: Glyphs, Hallucinations, and Ancient Magic Connections

This theory explores the potential links between Semblances, Magic, and the characters Weiss Schnee, Emerald Sustrai, and Neopolitan (Neo) in RWBY. It suggests that their unique abilities—Glyphs, Hallucinations, and Overactive Imagination—may have deeper connections to Remnant’s ancient Magic, possibly hinting at their ties to the world’s forgotten past.

Magic in Remnant: A Brief Overview

Magic is a mysterious and ancient power that shaped Remnant’s creation. The Gods of Light and Darkness used Magic to form the world, and the God of Darkness granted the original Humanity the ability to wield it. After Humanity’s rebellion, the God of Darkness purged the planet, leaving no trace of Magic for the second era of Humanity. Only a few individuals retain access to this power:

Salem: As an original Human cursed with immortality, Salem wields powerful Magic, including energy blasts, telekinesis, flight, superhuman strength, clairvoyance, and the ability to manipulate shadows or summon cyclones. Her immortality allows her to regenerate from any injury, even complete destruction, though regeneration time varies.

Ozma/Ozpin/Oscar: Ozma, another original Human, possessed vast magical abilities, such as energy blasts, flight, and creating pocket dimensions (e.g., the Vaults). His reincarnations, including Ozpin and Oscar, retain some Magic, though it has dwindled due to creating the Maidens and repeated reincarnations. They can conjure energy barriers and fire energy beams.

Maidens and Branwen Siblings: Ozma used his Magic to create the Maidens and grant Qrow and Raven Branwen the ability to shapeshift into corvids, showing his ability to bestow magical traits.

Eddy Rivas confirmed in a Reddit AMA that Semblances and Magic are linked, though the exact nature of this connection remains unclear. This theory posits that certain Semblances, particularly those of Weiss, Emerald, and Neo, may reflect traces of ancient Magic.

Weiss Schnee’s Glyphs: A Magical Semblance

Glyphs, the hereditary Semblance of the Schnee family, are unique in their versatility and magical aesthetic. Unlike most Semblances, which are individualistic, Glyphs are passed down through the Schnee bloodline, suggesting a deeper, possibly magical origin. The Semblance manifests as snowflake-shaped symbols with various effects:

Propulsion: Glyphs can accelerate objects or people through the air or across surfaces, as seen in Players and Pieces.

Barriers: They can form solid shields, as Weiss did against the Boarbatusk in The Badge and The Burden, Pt.2.

Summoning: Weiss and Winter can summon avatars of defeated foes, such as the Arma Gigas or Queen Lancer.

Time Dilation: When combined with Lightning Dust, Glyphs can speed up actions, as seen when Weiss enhanced Blake’s speed in Painting the Town....

Power Source: In the RWBY x Justice League comic, Weiss’ Glyphs powered Victor Stone’s cybernetic parts, suggesting they generate centrifugal energy.

The Glyphs’ snowflake design mirrors the Schnee family symbol, which resembles Salem’s emblem, hinting at a symbolic or historical connection. Winter Schnee describes Glyphs as a “muscle” that grows stronger with practice, but their hereditary nature and magical aesthetic set them apart from typical Semblances. Their ability to manipulate time, summon avatars, and interact with Dust in unique ways suggests a closer tie to Magic than most Semblances.

Emerald Sustrai’s Hallucinations: A Mind-Bending Power

Emerald’s Semblance, Hallucinations, allows her to alter sensory information in a target’s mind, creating vivid illusions that only the target perceives. Unlike Neo’s illusions, which are visible to everyone, Emerald’s hallucinations are individualized. Key aspects include:

Versatility: Emerald can make targets see or hear things that aren’t there, as seen when she made Amber see an invisible attacker in Beginning of the End. She can also affect multiple targets, though this initially caused headaches.

Evolution: By Volume 8, Emerald’s Semblance has grown stronger. She can affect at least three people without strain (Witch), evade Grimm detection (War), and even influence Salem, a being of ancient Magic. She can also sense minds within a certain radius.

Weaknesses: Maintaining hallucinations requires concentration and Aura, limiting Emerald’s mobility. Subtle mistakes, like stirring dust while invisible, can break the illusion (Beginning of the End). Her Semblance is less effective against advanced cybernetic sensors, like Penny’s heat vision.

Non-Biological Targets: Emerald’s hallucinations work on synthetic beings (e.g., Penny) and cybernetic enhancements (e.g., Maria’s prosthetic eyes), though with limitations.

Emerald’s glowing red eyes, which don’t match her green hair, are notable. Many RWBY characters have eyes matching their hair, but Emerald’s solid red eyes glow when using her Semblance, suggesting a connection to something otherworldly. Her ability to affect Grimm and Salem, beings tied to ancient Magic, further supports this. Her lack of family or home adds mystery, possibly implying an origin linked to Remnant’s magical past.

Neopolitan’s Overactive Imagination: Illusions Evolving Beyond Limits

Neo’s Semblance, Overactive Imagination, creates physical illusions visible to everyone, which shatter like glass when broken. Her Semblance has evolved significantly, particularly after her fall into the Ever After, suggesting a connection to ancient forces. Key features include:

Basic Illusions: Neo can disguise herself or objects, as seen when she altered her appearance in Round One or disguised an airship in Our Way. Her illusions can mimic others’ appearances, voices, and expressions, as when she impersonated Nora in The Enemy of Trust.

Camouflage and Teleportation: Neo can blend into surroundings (Witch) or fake teleportation (No Brakes), enhancing her combat deception.

Evolution in the Ever After: After landing in the Abandoned Acre, Neo’s Semblance gained the ability to create tangible, semi-autonomous clones of herself or others (Rude, Red, and Royal). These clones can replicate abilities, weapons, and voices, as seen with Jabberwalker clones (The Parfait Predicament) and recreations of Penny, Pyrrha, and others (Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble).

Complex Constructs: Neo can create entire environments, like the Vanille Manor tea room, complete with functional furniture and weapons (Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble). Her clones can bleed and mimic personalities, blurring the line between illusion and reality.

Possession by the Curious Cat: When the Curious Cat possessed Neo, it used her Semblance with equal mastery, creating distorted Ruby clones and transforming Neo’s body (A Tale Involving a Tree).

Psychological Projection: Neo can project her psyche through clones, as seen when her Roman clone voiced her subconscious thoughts (Of Solitude and Self).

Neo’s changing eye colors (pink, brown, green) and her Dissociative Identity Disorder-like childhood manifestation of “Neopolitan” as a separate entity suggest an unstable, possibly magical origin. The Abandoned Acre, described as an experimental ground of the Gods, amplified her Semblance, implying Neo’s power may be tied to ancient Magic. Her ability to create life-like clones with abilities and personalities pushes her Semblance beyond typical limits, resembling magical feats.

Theory: Connections to Ancient Magic

The Semblances of Weiss, Emerald, and Neo share traits that suggest a link to Remnant’s ancient Magic:

Magical Aesthetics: Glyphs have a mystical snowflake design, Hallucinations affect even magical beings like Salem, and Overactive Imagination creates near-real constructs, all resembling magical effects.

Unusual Origins: Weiss’ hereditary Semblance, Emerald’s mysterious background, and Neo’s evolution in the Gods’ experimental ground hint at connections to Remnant’s magical past.

Eye Symbolism: Emerald’s glowing red eyes and Neo’s shifting eye colors align with RWBY’s pattern of unusual eyes indicating powerful or magical traits (e.g., Yang’s purple eyes tied to Raven’s spacetime-breaking Semblance and Maiden powers).

Versatility and Evolution: All three Semblances are unusually versatile and have evolved beyond typical limits, suggesting they tap into a deeper power source, possibly Magic.

Hypotheses

Weiss’ Glyphs: The Schnee family’s Semblance may descend from a magical bloodline or an ancient ritual tied to the Gods, explaining its hereditary nature and magical versatility. The snowflake symbol’s similarity to Salem’s emblem could indicate a historical connection.

Emerald’s Hallucinations: Emerald’s ability to affect Grimm, Salem, and synthetic beings suggests her Semblance may derive from a magical anomaly, possibly tied to her unknown origins or exposure to a magical artifact.

Neo’s Overactive Imagination: Neo’s Semblance evolution in the Ever After, a place linked to the Gods, implies her power may have been amplified by ancient Magic. Her childhood manifestation of “Neopolitan” as a separate entity could indicate a magical or supernatural origin.

Supporting Evidence

Eddy Rivas’ confirmation of a Semblance-Magic link.

The magical aesthetics and effects of Glyphs, Hallucinations, and Overactive Imagination.

The unique traits of Weiss, Emerald, and Neo (hereditary Semblance, glowing eyes, shifting eye colors, and Dissociative Identity Disorder-like symptoms).

The Abandoned Acre’s role in evolving Neo’s Semblance, tying it to the Gods’ influence.

Conclusion

Weiss’ Glyphs, Emerald’s Hallucinations, and Neo’s Overactive Imagination stand out as Semblances with potential ties to Remnant’s ancient Magic. Their versatility, magical aesthetics, and connections to unusual origins or divine influences suggest they may be remnants of a forgotten magical era. Further exploration of their backgrounds and the nature of Semblances could reveal how these powers bridge the gap between Aura and the lost art of Magic, deepening our understanding of RWBY’s world. (Raven and Ruby are other examples as well. ) Basically some are able to be much more connected to old magic than others

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oh ok

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A Twitter Thread from David Bowles:

[Text transcript at the end of the screenshots]

I'll let you in on a secret. I have a doctorate in education, but the field’s basically just a 100 years old. We don’t really know what we’re doing. Our scholarly understanding of how learning happens is like astronomy 2000 years ago.

Most classroom practice is astrology.

Before the late 19th century, no human society had ever attempted to formally educate the entire populace. It was either aristocracy, meritocracy, or a blend. And always male.

We’re still smack-dab in the middle of the largest experiment on children ever done.

Most teachers perpetuate the “banking” model (Freire) used on them by their teachers, who likewise inherited it from theirs, etc.

Thus the elite “Lyceum” style of instruction continues even though it’s ineffectual with most kids.

What’s worse, the key strategies we’ve discovered, driven by cognitive science & child psychology, are quite regularly dismissed by pencil-pushing, test-driven administrators. Much like Trump ignores science, the majority of principals & superintendents I’ve known flout research.

Some definitions:

Banking model --> kids are like piggy banks: empty till you fill them with knowledge that you're the expert in.

Lyceum --> originally Aristotle's school, where the sons of land-owning citizens learned through lectures and research.

Things we (scholars) DO know:

-Homework doesn't really help, especially younger kids.

-Students don't learn a thing from testing. Most teachers don't either (it's supposed to help them tweak instruction, but that rarely happens).

-Spending too much time on weak subjects HURTS.

Do you want kids to learn? Here's something we've discovered: kids learn things that matter to them, either because the knowledge and skills are "cool," or because .... they give the kids tools to liberate themselves and their communities.

Maintaining the status quo? Nope.

Kids are acutely aware of injustice and by nature rebellious against the systems of authority that keep autonomy away from them.

If you're perpetuating those systems, teachers, you've already freaking lost.

They won't be learning much from you. Except what not to become. Sure, you can wear them down. That's what happened to most of you, isn't it? You saw the hideous flaw in the world and wanted to heal it. But year after numbing year, they made you learn their dogma by rote.

And now many of you are breaking the souls of children, too.

For what?

It's all smoke and mirrors. All the carefully crafted objectives, units and exams.

WE. DON'T. KNOW. HOW. PEOPLE. LEARN.

We barely understand the physical mechanisms behind MEMORY. But we DO know kids aren't empty piggy banks. They are BRIMMING with thought.

The last and most disgusting reality? The thing I hear in classroom after freaking classroom?

Education is all about capitalism.

"You need to learn these skills to get a good job." To be a good laborer. To help the wealthy generate more wealth, while you get scraps.

THAT is why modern education is a failure.

Its basic premise is monstrous.

"Why should I learn to read, Dr. Bowles?"

Because reading is magical. It makes life worth living. And being able to read, you can decode the strategies of your oppressors & stop them w/ their own words.

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apparently my boss who is a professor at my school doesn’t have a cell phone and his coworkers were upset by this so they bought him a childs toy phone and labeled it “David’s jitterbug” (for those of you that don’t know jitterbugs are phones made for old people that have like massive buttons and shit) so the other day I walked into his office to ask him a question and he pressed a button on it which made it start loudly playing the ABCs and he said “excuse me I have to take this” and then started singing along to the ABCs while shooing me out of his office

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I don't know how long this will last, but the situation here in Gaza is getting worse every day after the war between Iran and Israel. I forgot about Gaza. No one talks about us anymore, and the news doesn't mention us. All that is being discussed is Iran, Israel, and America.It's as if they forgot that the main problem is Gaza.

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beach day!

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could there be the a beach episode (like, the anime-staple beach episode???)

and, in your opinion, how could each character react to such an episode?

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Happy pride month to my dad. When I came out as bi to him, this man googled what it ment, look at me and said "ohh. Yeah. You get that from me. You'd have far more siblings of I only shaged women." And went right back to his work emails.

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I made a viral tweet about porn on ace week send help people are being weird and defensive

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This may be the worst use of LLMs anyone has attempted, ever. Up there with recognizing mushrooms.

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Gatekeeping is so good and important

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“who is linkin park?” - one shot KO by my younger coworker

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Find more of my comics on my Tapas! Once Upon a Meet Cute

I redid this older comic I made for my storytelling class based on this post. Have some cute wlw love in your day.

It’s hard, if I had more free time I could make it so pretty, this is what I could throw together for the assignment.

Help support a queer artist: Ko fi, Redbubble, Teepublic

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shade

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Hey babes, c’mere for a sec, I’m gonna hold your hand while I say something we both need to hear

It’s okay, and encouraged even, to make and create things that (maybe) only you’ll like. You need to feed the creativity, appeal to your id in a way that literally no one else can. Allow yourself to be a little self indulgent without expectation, especially in this hellscape world.

And also, you’re allowed to be sad if, in sharing that work, it doesn’t receive good feedback, or even little to none. It can feel very personal, especially with things close to heart like that. It doesn’t make you a bad, selfish, or arrogant person. Just remember that social media nowadays is unkind to artists for a variety of reasons, and don’t let yourself get caught up in the numbers game. Lots of likes+reblogs+shares etc. ≠ worth, don’t chase that rabbit.

I know there’s no high like validation, and that it’s hard to create when it feels like presenting to a void, but you’ve gotta create for you at the end of the day. Create for kid you, for teenage you, for the you who hasn’t shown up yet. Don’t let the internet, other people, or the world take that from you.

Keep doing what you want to do, not what you think will be popular or well-received. There’s folks out there who will love it, sometimes it takes time for them to find it.

Anyways. Love u have a good day

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Penny should have been able to dance with Ruby at the Beacon Ball

I would have loved to see something like Ruby awkwardly trying to dip Penny and fall over on top of her, and then Yang teasing Ruby for it

They could talk some more and be weird with each other

Maybe they even get Weiss to join them to distract her from Neptune

Maybe all three of them have a wonderful night together

Maybe they end the night sleeping in each other's arms