History FridgeBrilliance / RWBY

*** For Salem: Salem herself. Although she's officially the Black Queen, she can be regarded as a Black King instead. At this point (mid-Vol 5) she has not once involved herself directly in a plot, and has stayed in a castle in the middle of the Grimmlands, presumably for protection. She only speaks from the safety of the shadows, like a good King should.

* When Ironwood learns of Yang, Jaune and Ren being let got by Winter, he angrily mutters that holding them hostage was "''their'' last chance" before blowing up and yelling "Now '''I''' have nothing!". For all of Ironwood's talk about protecting everyone and saving Atlas, him declaring that "he" has nothing shows that he's more concerned with being right and getting his way than actually saving lives.

** There's also something to be said regarding the symbolism of a hero and their weapon. Yang lost her arm, but reclaimed it relatively quickly, and still had to "earn" it back, proving her worthiness to use it. Much is made, early in the Volume, of finding Crescent Rose, yet when they do, it's because Jaune already found it and just gives it to Ruby. She didn't earn it back, didn't face anything specifically to prove her worth to wield it. It's just handed to her. . . or, one might say, thrust upon her, just like the responsibility of leading her team, and now defeating Salem. Crescent Rose, in that sense, comes to represent everything about herself Ruby no longer feels she's worthy of. It's no longer a weapon, but a burden she doesn't feel fit to carry and ''doesn't want'' to carry anymore. Notably, at the end of the Volume, Ruby chooses to remain herself by willingly taking up Crescent Rose again, symbolzing her choice to shoulder her burdens again, to accept all the great and terrible power and responsibility that has been thrust upon the girl named Ruby Rose.

* Having Neo’s illusion of Ironwood deliver the following words to Ruby is incredibly ironic, considering they applied to him as much as, if not more than they do to Ruby:

* The Grimm being drawn to negative emotions makes more sense when one considers that they’re essentially the successors to the Jabberwalker. The Jabberwalker was made to deal with Afterans too troubled for the Curious Cat to fix, who logically would be suffering because of that, and how could it be expected to do so without a way to find them?

** Even the Brother Gods, Light and Dark, fall into the same cycle of being trapped by the past and have a ''very'' corrupted philosophy about moving forward. As revealed in Volume 9, the brothers were beings from the Ever After who happily helped the Tree create a land for all of it's creations and clear away the wilderness. But when they discovered that they could create beings to do their job for them (the Curious Cat and the Jabberwalker), they slowly became corrupted by laziness, greed, and pride; losing sight of their original purposes and fighting over whether creation or destruction should prevail. They chose to abandon the Ever After to go make new worlds, leaving the denizens of their home living in constant fear of dying to the Jabberwalker and the Cat eventually being driven insane because the Gods did not give them a way to ascend if they needed help. The Brothers then proceed to repeat their mistakes with Salem, serving the "antagonist" role in her backstory, which ultimately lead to humanity rising against them. Instead of trying to resolve the issue, they decide to invoke a FinalSolution, [[HistoryRepeats abandoned Remnant]] just like the Ever After, then shouldered Ozma with the responsibility of fixing all of the long term issues ''they'' caused for the world since the beginning, and all of the new ones that would follow with the introduction of the four Relics. The Brothers ultimately started the war between Ozpin and Salem that is dooming Remnant because the duo failed to learn that balance must be achieved naturally and that they were responsible for mending their mistakes. Their idea of "moving on" consists of creating something new before abandoning it because it was not perfect in their eyes. This allows whatever they leave behind to wreak havoc on the world and put innocent beings in danger, while the Brothers continue enforcing the cycle of flawed creation and destruction through their FalseDichotomy.

** Hazel Reinhart joined Salem's faction to avenge his huntress-wannabe sister who died in an unfortunate accident during her training; his leader used this motivation to turn him into an enforcer and murderer by promising he'd eventually destroy the target of his anger, Ozpin. Ozpin's latest incarnation, Oscar, convinces Hazel to reflect on his actions and choose a different path. This leads to the latter dying trying to protect Oscar and Emerald from Salem because that's "what Gretchen would have done", and his sacrifice buys the heroes time to escape and ultimately save the people of Atlas. Hazel's case is unique because unlike the others, his death was entirely his own choice, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath dying while fighting Salem to make amends for his villainy]].

** It's also a demonstration that, [[{{Irony}} as cathartic as his speech to Cinder is, much of his own criticisms of Cinder can just as easily apply to]] '''him'''. He believes that ''he'' was entitled to respect from Ironwood and was pissed off when that pivotal project and respect went to Pietro's own work. He claims that you need to be smart, but there are a number of times where his own plans fail because of his own [[SmugSnake smug arrogance preventing him from noticing the flaws of his own plans.]] Also, his belief that you have to be worthy as opposed to just deserving rings hollow given that ''he'' wasn't worthy enough in Ironwood's eyes back when he was still a respected Atlesian scientist. Ultimately showing that as valid as his criticisms were, the scenario was very much a case of the pot calling the kettle black, given that his own inability to recognize these traits in himself led to Cinder easily manipulating him to his own demise.
*** It also goes even further than that, given that Cinder's own backstory establishes that she went through an absolutely hellish life of abuse and torment, with authority figures either abusing her or basically refusing to help her except in the most half-baked ways, leading her to become the target of an even more dangerous and malevolent abuser in the form of Salem. Watts by contrast was a respected Atlesian scientist who basically let his own petty jealousy and envy towards Pietro push him to fake his own death and help out Salem out of spite, instead of buckling down and improving himself. Overall, for all of Watts' belief in his own superiority, his ultimate desires paint him as an incredibly cruel and petty man who for all of his genius, wasn't as smart as he believed himself to be.

** Yang actually asks "How do we take the next step," and later compares what they've figured they need to do to "falling off a cliff," to which Blake counters "I think we're already falling." The metaphor about as unsbutle as it could possibly be: the only thing keeping them apart is their own fear and hesitance, and on some level, they're completely aware of that.

* Ruby and Jaune finally reach Meltdown status, but end up being horrifyingly toxic after spending ''years'' of subconsciously bottling up their feelings. You'd think a team of trained soldiers would notice all the signs of an impending mental breakdown - until you realize that Grimm-infested Remnant ''never needed to refine that skill''. Every time a huntress started losing their grip, the stress would literally attract Grimm to their location, meaning other teammates could easily determine how bad the stress gauge was based on how aggroed the Grimm were. And if someone got angry enough to murder something, there'd be an endless slew of monsters to vent (or die to). Everyone on Remnant has exchanged their training in emotional awareness with ''monster-detecting'' awareness. Ruby and Jaune could ''only'' have this level of uninterrupted Meltdown here, on a whole different planet, which doesn't immediately react to their angst with 'karmic' monster attacks. Without Grimm to indicate an issue, WBY automatically assumes everything is fine with both Ruby and Jaune and then get blindsided by their respective breakdowns.