thesefleetingthoughts - Tumblr blog

[thesefleetingthoughts]

I liked the full epilogue. This makes me even sadder to know what we're missing each season because of limited budget haha, this would have been fire if animated.

On the theory side I'm not sure what to speculate yet. I find Raven's presence but Tai's absence interesting since they were last seen together - and if Vale trully fell then he has no reason to stay back. (unless it's about the relic?)

The lack of Pietro/Maria, even a snippet, has me raise an eyebrow too, considering they really focused on everyone, even insignificant side characters in this full epilogue. These two are preparing something too spoilery for us to witness that's for sure. As for the rest, having read After the Fall and Before the Dawn, I'm having a hard time trying to come up with theories. There's just too many characters involved at that point for my brain haha

[thesefleetingthoughts]

The full epilogue will be gated behind FIRST...? Don't get me wrong I'm used to buy a FIRST subscription to access new RWBY content like we used to in the past but I'm confused this time, I thought RT was shutting down sometime soon? What's the point of subbing now

[thesefleetingthoughts]

I think RWBY did a great job putting Pietro and Jacques in the same place (Atlas/Mantle) but make them diametrically opposed, in many ways. And from a personality standpoint, Weiss probably thought Pietro was everything her father wasn't, as a dad. And even when he showed he wasn't perfectly fine emitionally and tried to oppose the Amity launch in V8C5, it was because he was /scared to lose his own daughter/ (a second time)

[thesefleetingthoughts]

Are you normal or do you often think about how Penny refused to give up in V8C5, supporting Amity even with the virus eating away at her. How she's the main reason Ruby's message went out to the world, sending help the heroes' way as we see in the V9 finale. Cause I do.

[thesefleetingthoughts]

it's still doesn't take away that there was defently something that happen there that we didn't see

Giving Jaune condition in V9 it would made sence that he would skip the part when Penny told him somthing that might change everything about her death

We clearly saw that Jaune didn't belive that someone can come back as we see that he belived The Tree to be death

Now with the Genital Gems showing him a diffrente approuch to life he could fill in this information

I snorted quite loud I'm sorry, your autocorrect changed "genial gems" into something else haha

Yeah it doesn't mean we won't get a possible outcome from the off-screen conversation but the odds are lowered. I'm less expecting him to realize something about it now that it's confirmed it was said offscreen and more Winter/Pietro to be the ones figuring something out now, considering the gang knows about Penny's death and how it happened and how nobody brought a possibility up yet. Clearly proving Jaune to be wrong about the whole death and resurrection of the paper pleasers has to be for something more than just said paper pleasers and I do hope it's applied to Penny in the future.

[thesefleetingthoughts]

So apparently Jaune told the gang offscreen when it comes to what he had to do to Penny and I'm a little bummed. It was presented as such a big deal in the finale so I was expecting it to be some sort of emotional reveal, leading to some sort of mini-arc to resolve à la Yang/Jaune/Ren stranded in the snow in V8 type of deal, but with Ruby/Jaune. I understand having to cut scenes down for production purposes but out of all the things to cut this one feels a tad off.

[thesefleetingthoughts]

If the sword theory is true i wonder how they will find out...

If Penny still have her consciousness maybe she could give them a sign like a morse code or somthing

(She is the only character in any official media that we see that can talk in morse code)

How do you think they will find out?

Good question. I'd think either Winter finding out prior the heros' return or Jaune sharing about the scene that got cut out from the camera in the V8 finale. Maybe she told him something more that we don't know of, something that could've been irrelevant in his opinion and when his mind was too clouded by his issues in V9, but that he could feel like sharing now. "I have a plan" or something. Considering what Alyx did to him with the dagger if I follow the theory he could be the one to think of it.

For Winter I think maybe she could sense a difference between Fria's powers, Penny's, and her own somehow. She's been Fria's caretaker for a long time before the powers were passed down so if something "felt off" she could probably single it out and theorize about it. Not to mention Pietro's here too and to be able to give Penny his aura he must know a whole lot about it on paper. I think he could probably figure things out if he had the puzzle pieces presented to him

[thesefleetingthoughts]

I might not put the words right: i didnt mean it to say "this is my opinion you should follow that" i just show my opinion i didnt meant to make it look like you were wrong anyone has there opinion and thats ok you shouldn't change it because of me

But i have to ask: if a full maiden power give Penny trobles what the diffrente will be if she will have only half of it?

Alright, fair enough, I guess there was a misunderstanding then.

As for your question, my personal opinions is that it's all about burden and how it's shared. RW/BY has always been vocal about fighting in teams instead of alone because fighting alone is a tactical disadvantage in this series. If you fight all alone (like Summer), you're bound to meet a tragic fate.

When it comes to greater powers in this show we've seen how horrendous the burden gets - teams leaders with Ruby/Jaune, silver-eyed warriors with Ruby/Maria/Summer, magic with Ozcar/nations. And we've seen how bad it can emotionally get when the person is trully feeling isolated (Ruby V9). So to me, splitting the burden is a good solution to this problem.

Not to mention I think it would make sense narratively for Winter to help Penny in some way after the development she underwent in V7-8 with refuting IW's influence and breaking her chains. Winter becoming a full Maiden also feels wrong because it's exactly what IW wanted. So in a way, splitting the powers with her friend would be a nice twist.

Lastly, it's more about balance in writing but I think Penny coming back with a mechanical body AND getting the full maiden powers would simply be too OP. If you recall, she won against Neo & Cinder because of her robotics. She knocked Neo out with her lazer beam and caught Cinder by using her thermal vision. She could almost take the Ace Ops in a fight alone, if not for Marrow's semblance (FOUR hunstmen). The moment Ambrosius removed her mechanical parts is when she lost, in the finale. Aside from Watts (who is de*d) who can make apparels to hack her, and people who know her other weaknesses (magnetism, too emotional, self-detrimental sense of justice) - she can't be beaten that easily, even with good tactics. So imagine having to write fight scenes but you have Penny lying around with the gang at full maiden powers + full mech body. No restraints on magic like Oz/car to prevent a merge too. It feels a bit much to me haha

[thesefleetingthoughts]

So I was scrolling threw my favorite post amd i came across yours about how Penny might be in Jaune sword and I think there is somthing that give the theory even more sense: after jaune did what Penny tell him to do his sword break, this is the first time it happend not only on screen but also for Jaune as we see him suprise to see his sword break.

What if when Penny gave her aura to Jaune's sword it made it more vornable?

Also why is Winter needed to bring Penny her memory back? Why would Penny lose them in the first place? It is her soul which (as we see with Ozpin) contain her memories, the only one we need is Pietro to give his last aura (and life) because with the sword break Penny lose some part of her aura

(While I wouldn't mind and actually would love for Winter to play part in Penny returne, any senerio when Winter need to give her aura to Penny would end with Penny getting the maiden power which take away the freedom she want, she need to come back without it to be fully free)

I'll answer in sections.

1) Jaune's sword breaking is symbolism for him taking the life of an innocent person, opposed to fighting soulless beings (grimm). It's emphasized by the fact the break happens on the bloodied side of the blade rather than lower. I don't think it has anything to do with what Penny did or didn't do to the sword itself.

2) While I did write it like that, Winter being necessary for the memory bit is not a definitive element of the theory. In some scenarios she does have the memories, in others not, I chose to include it because it was the version that fit this specific theory the most in my opinion. I try to pick elements that make the most sense in canon so it doesn't look like a shitpost but a proper theory haha. The reason why the memories would go to her is explained in length in the theory post you read so I recommend reading it again. But basically because of how the maiden power transfer works - you cannot give the maiden powers without giving out your aura, as we've seen with Cinder/Amber, Fria/Penny. So inevitably to become the Maiden, Winter would have to inherit the passed-down aura of the former holder, Penny, and the memories that come naturally with it. Enter Jaune and the whole trick explained in the theory post (that I invite you to read again I don't want to rewrite everything here xD ) 3) "any senerio when Winter need to give her aura to Penny would end with Penny getting the maiden power which take away the freedom she want, she need to come back without it to be fully free" -> I'm not trying to be mean or condescending but I have to say it, to be honest and frank with you. You're entitled to your own opinion and that's not a question anymore but a proper fact you want others to accept. I personally don't agree with this and think she can be free while having half the powers, too. I'm not going to mold my own opinions on yours just to make you happy. A lot of people have already told you this in different manners I believe, but please don't try to push your own views on others. We're all very open to discussion and theories but saying "she needs to" as if it was an absolute truth isn't the way to go about this.

[thesefleetingthoughts]

May I add to this? It’s also the case for V8 when Penny crashes down in front of the Schnee manor and Ruby finds her. In the show Ruby’s face is hidden - but she was PLANNED to have a reaction on display in the OG storyboards. It was removed on purpose for what I think is what you wrote about. Whole sequence below

Sometimes I wonder whether V7’s lack of an intense emotional reaction to reuniting with a presumed dead friend is because they were saving that for a more important reunion later down the line. Wouldn’t be the first time CRWBY cut down on some of the emotions of a scene to save that impact for later. Apparently during the Bumbleby hug at the beginning of V9 the animators almost included what looked like a little head kiss but kept it out due to the real kiss coming up.

So maybe they’re saving Ruby’s tears and “I missed you”s and “never scare me like that again”s for when she finally has Penny back for good.

[thesefleetingthoughts]

What does it mean... This specific shade of teal/water green for the souls in V9C9 being extremely close to Penny’s eye colour when in cold lightning and Ruby being in both this scene and one with fireflies (V4) that’s EERILY similar. And fireflies also bein associated with Penny (Chibi) and again Ruby being there.

Penny’s eyes (top left in cold lightning - rest I assume to be warm lightning)

Colour swatches for both scenes

[thesefleetingthoughts]

Okay so wait a minute. If the Blacksmith has all the weapons of the /deceased/ for people to pick a reference from before ascending, and she had Penny’s, Summer’s and Alyx’s weapons when Ruby visited the first time in V9C5... But doesn’t have Penny’s anymore when Ruby visits again in V9C9 AND still possessed Summer’s and Alyx’s, AND we know Little/Somewhat didn’t take it for themselves as V9C10 shows...

Either another key character took Penny’s sword before Ruby got there or Penny isn’t “deceased” anymore by the time Ruby reached the tree

[thesefleetingthoughts]

I think V9C10 + V9C9 gave us the missing puzzle piece for the Penny 3.0 revival theories through Winter and I’ll be writing why I think so below. Be warned, this post will be mildly long.

To start off the explanation - if you’re unfamiliar with the Penny/Winter theory that sprouted two years ago after the V8 finale I’ll try to summarize it as much as I can but i really recommend you to dig the OG posts because they’re much more complete and explanatory.

The Winter theory itself has several itterations but the one that interests us here is the one that supposes that Penny only sent a fraction of herself to Winter - namely her memories, while she split the rest and stored it /somewhere else/ during the Maiden Power transfer. This last “place” has been debated in revival theories but a lot of us have settled on it to be Jaune’s sword and I believe V9C10 may have comforted this idea. The theory concludes by stating that both parts could potentially be rejoined into a new mechanical body made by Pietro to revive Penny.

Back when it sprouted, this specific revival theory relied on four major facts: 1) The aura color during the Maiden Power transfer from Penny to Winter was wrong. Unlike Fria -> Penny where the aura color was Fria’s color (blue), during Penny -> Winter the color was yellow, with green microparticles escaping on the sides. The only occurences of yellow aura color we’ve seen is the God of Light, yang... and Jaune.

2) Penny’s words to Jaune and the hidden offscreen information. We can hear Penny tell Jaune “but there is one thing you can do” and then later on “Trust me” when she asks him to finish what Cinder had started and there is a very short amount of time where the camera pans to another place of the battlefield, right before we hear Jaune crying. This confidence in Penny and the purposeful removal of the audience from her last moments raises questions.

3) The nature of Penny’s “new body” and how much Ambrosius’s magic and tricks might have affected her abilities, added to how perceptive she is have led a few of us to think she perfectly knew what she was doing when she died. The first to spot Blake was a Faunus, the first to understand perfectly Ruby’s semblance.

4) Each school led by Ozpin’s circle being equipped to relay Maidenhood from a girl to another through aura transfer machines (Vale, Atlas) so far implies Vacuo’s school, Shade Academy also possess an aura transfer machine, which could be the tool used to rejoin both of Penny’s separate parts.

Now that this is out of the way - time to focus on V9C10/V9C9 and the two most important scenes relevant to the Winter theory. Jaune’s youth coming back to him and Alyx’s death by the hands of the cat. 

When the Tree/blacksmith hands the dagger to Jaune, it starts glowing a faded/dirt yellow color.

At first I thought it was reacting to Jaune’s own aura or that maybe it was god-like magic since we learned the origin of the gods in the same episode. But there IS a more accurate faded/dirt yellow color in the episode, Alyx’s eye color as well as the whole color used to depict her spirit helping Jaune. It most likely indicates that the faded yellow was not Jaune’s aura color but /Alyx’s aura color/.

Which means that she managed to imbue her own weapon with her aura. But not only that, considering the effect on Jaune is to make him young again, she quite litteraly imbued her own lifeforce/lifespan into the knife. It would also explain why Jaune kept two streaks of “old hair” - she was far too young to replenish the entire lifespan the old man had spent on the island, she could only give as much as she had herself. That point is the key for the Winter theory.

But before that I can picture some of you you going “but why would Alice do that anyways and throw her remaining lifespan away since she wanted to help afterans”. Because she couldn’t do anything else; litteraly. In V9C9 we learned the cat tried to kill her - and succeeded in doing so and thus prevented her to accomplish her newfound goal. What is interesting is that there is NO time on screen at all between the moment Alyx finds her new goal to help Afterans/Jaune and the cat assaults her in retaliation during the flashback shown to the audience; followed by a deliberate shot on the fallen dagger on the ground - which can only mean one thing. She desperately imbued the dagger with her aura /as she was dying/ - because that’s the only thing she could do to “help” in that moment.

And who else could’ve done the same, with a certain sword?

Now if Penny performed the same trick Alyx did and she in fact stored a whole chunk of aura in Jaune’s sword as she died, this would explain why green particles escape during the aura transfer while the rest was yellow. She may have abused Jaune’s semblance one way or another to bypass the necessity to use up her own aura to pass the powers/memories down to Winter, hence the yellow glow.

And now we’re stuck with another problem: Jaune’s sword was broken in half. Great, does that mean Penny can’t come back because there’s not enough aura stored in the sword anymore? And that’s where another itteration of the Winter theory comes into play - the one where Pietro sacrifices himself/his aura to bring Penny back while Winter gives the memories back. Because he doesn’t have to do that anymore now.

V7 implied Pietro has /just enough/ aura to bring Penny back once more if she were to be detroyed and that it would be lethal to him, because it drains his life each time he does so. Or at least it’s heavily implied considering his health and how much older to Watts he looks now compared to the P.E.N.N.Y project photo in V7. But now - if she’s trully stored half her lifeforce in the broken sword - he might just have to give half of his own aura and remain alive.

Winter, Pietro, Jaune and the Aura Transfer machine are the keys to this revival theory and the fact V9 kept lingering on Penny’s fate only to SHOW us Alyx’s trick in V9C10 makes me think we might not be so dellusional after all. And the fact we see Amity floating above Vacuo in the last V9C10 shot confirms that YES, Pietro is around for this whole thing to be possible. it’s still a theory based on speculations but I hope it was enjoyable to read.

[thesefleetingthoughts]

Thanks for sticking around for my theories for Vol 9 btw - this account might go on semi-hiatus until V10 as I might only post about theories for next Volume sporadically.

[thesefleetingthoughts]

Did Pietro and Maria make it to Vacuo too???

[thesefleetingthoughts]

I don’t have much to say on this ep, there’s one single point that really bums me out but I won’t talk about it

[thesefleetingthoughts]

Soooooo they had Jaune go young again but not lose his memories...? What was the point...? Is he going to behave like a 50 yo still (depression aside) because of that or