History FridgeBrilliance / RWBY

* Salem has clearly planned out the roles that each of her subordinates play in fighting Ozpin's forces and obtaining the relics, but it was difficult to tell why she made Hazel a part of her circle. While he's exceptionally strong and the most diplomatic of the group, she has other people who have these traits (Cinder and Tyrian are also strong fighters, and Watts can be diplomatic when he needs to be). After “Vault of the Spring Maiden�, though, his most important purpose is clear. His grudge against Ozpin is so strong that, as Hazel himself states, he wants to kill Ozpin every time he reincarnates. And given Ozpin's open fear of him, he may be capable of doing so in the right situation. Hazel is a major setback for Ozpin, and therefore very useful for Salem.

** And in Grimm Eclipse, this is subtly manifested as Jaune's Ult.

* Adam seems quite pathetic in his entire confrontation with Blake, but it makes complete sense why he would be like this. Blake has won majorly against Adam, not just in outsmarting him and conquering her fear of him, but also ideologically by completely proving him wrong about peace being impossible between Humans and Faunus. That's why he was freaking out at the police showing up to assist the Menagerie contingent and why he was specifically asking her how she did it -- to Adam, this scenario of an army of united Faunus and humans fighting against him, especially the humans in power that he'd expect to attack the Faunus purely out of FantasticRacism, was not only unaccounted for, but ''literally impossible''. Hazel pretty much telling Adam to go screw himself was the cherry on the top. Blake and her allies are united, fired up, and ready to stand up against him, and Adam's allies are dwindling, defecting, and/or openly questioning his sanity. On top of already being unhinged, it's no wonder he tried to blow everyone up; in the words of Tommy Wiseau, everybody betray him, he fed up with this warrrrld.
** Also, in all prior moments where Adam was shown as a cool and badass character, he was in the position of power, with no significant threat to himself or his plans facing him. But one's true strength is shown only in their lowest moments. Adam had one such moment when Cinder invaded his camp and threatened him with her newly-acquired Fall Maiden powers - and he immediately caved in, without even a token attempt to uphold his previous policy of not helping humans, or to avenge his defeated "brothers and sisters" before him. While he presents himself as strong and cool when given opportunity, rationalizing that he made those "powerful friends" of his own accord, in reality he's a weak and petty person who easily breaks down under pressure.

* In a post-credit scene, we have Qrow seated at a bar as Oscar approaches him. Qrow responds by calling him "Pipsqueak". Both Qrow and Oscar are voiced respectively by Vic Mignogna and Aaron Dismuke, who are most well-known for voicing the Elric brothers in Fullmetal Alchemist. One of the biggest running gags was having Edward, voiced by Mignogna, being called out for his diminutive size compared to his brother, Alphonse, voiced by Dismuke.

* Monty had mentioned that the character designs have more than a few pockets on them. His reasoning is so people who cosplay the characters will have places to put their phones, wallets, game systems, etc. while in costume.

* When Salem questions Emerald about where the Lamp is, the latter says she doesn't know, which is the truth: she (nor anyone else in-universe) didn't see Neo take it away, yet Salem [[CassandraTruth isn't convinced]] despite her ability to discern lies from people. It's likely not just because anger for Emerald's betrayal is impairing her judgment, but she also knows that Emerald's Semblance can work on ''her'' now: Emerald could easily be making Salem hear a lie and/or fooling her lie-detection sense. And because of the anger, she doesn't even consider the fact that Emerald isn't using it on her/is actually telling the truth.

* When Salem questions Emerald about where the Lamp is, the latter says she doesn't know, which is the truth: she (nor anyone else in-universe) didn't see Neo take it away, yet Salem [[CassandraTruth isn't convinced]] despite her ability to discern lies from people. It's likely not just because of anger for Emerald's betrayal impairing her judgment, but she als knows that Emerald's Semblance can work on ''her'' now: Emerald could easily be making Salem hear a lie and/or fooling her lie-detection sense, at least in her conclusions. And because of the anger, she doesn't even consider the fact that Emerald isn't using it on her/is actually telling the truth.

* In Volume 7, Ironwood believed he had to step up and take Ozpin's place as the BigGood; he notably upgraded his outfit to include a BadassLongCoat, which makes it look like he's wearing a cape. This shows he's trying to step up become the [[TheCape paragon that will save Remnant]], even though he still clings to his rigid my-way-or-the-highway attitude. Cut to the last 4 episodes where he’s completely ditched the long coat and stays that way as he descends into tyranny and paranoia. Ironwood threw away his image of a hero and is willing to go full KnightTemplar and HeWhoFightsMonsters for the sake of defending Atlus, the rest of Remnant be damned.

* Clover's last words to Qrow, "Someone had to take the fall" seem a bit odd at a first glance, but when one takes Ironwood's NeverMyFault attitude into account, they make total sense. Ironwood refuses to acknowledge his mistakes and failings, so when he does blunder, his first instinct is try and foist blame onto someone else; when Jacques talks about his lack of trust, Ironwood mentions that "If Oz had listened to me", indirectly putting the fault for the Fall of Beacon on Ozpin even though Ironwood's automated army did most of the damage to the Kingdom of Vale as a whole and that he likely wouldn't have been able to stop the Fall in Ozpin's position. And this attitude bleeds into his subordinates, such as Winter blaming Qrow's drunkenness after she attacked him for his words in "Brawl In The Family" or Clover telling Qrow, "I thought I could trust you!" in "With Friends Like These". When Ironwood put out arrest orders for RWBY, JNPR, and Qrow, it wasn't just because they were a threat to his plans, he also wanted them as scapegoats for the negative consequences of his decisions. With his dying breath, Clover admitted the real reason why Qrow and the kids had been named enemies of the state (rr, more accurately, enemies of Ironwood).

* The Hound is reavled to have been made using a silver-eyed Faunus, one with fox ears. It was literally a [[Literature/TheFoxAndTheHound fox and a hound]].

* In Volume 7, Ironwood believed he had to step up and take Ozpin's place as the BigGood; he notably upgraded his outfit to include a BadassLongCoat, which makes it look like he's wearing a cape. This shows he's trying to step up become the paragon that will save Remnant, even though he still clings to his rigid my-way-or-the-highway attitude. Cut to the last 4 episodes where he’s completely ditched the long coat and stays that way as he descends into tyranny and paranoia. Ironwood threw away his image of a hero and is willing to go full KnightTemplar and HeWhoFightsMonsters for the sake of defending Atlus, the rest of Remnant be damned.

* Clover's last words to Qrow, "Someone had to take the fall" seem a bit odd at a first glance, but when one takes Ironwood's NeverMyFault attitude into account, they make total sense. Ironwood refuses to acknowledge his mistakes and failings, so when he does blunder, his first instinct is try and foist blame onto someone else; When Jacques talks about his lack of trust, Ironwood mentions that "If Oz had listened to me", indirectly putting the fault for the Fall of Beacon on Ozpin even though Ironwood's automated army did most of the damage to the Kingdom of Vale as a whole. And this attitude bleeds into his subordinates, such as Winter blaming Qrow's drunkenness after she attacked him for his words in "Brawl In The Family" or Clover telling Qrow, "I thought I could trust you!" in "With Friends Like These". When Ironwood put out arrest orders for RWBY, JNPR, and Qrow, it wasn't just because they were a threat to his plans, he also wanted them as scapegoats for the negative consequences of his decisions. With his dying breath, Clover admitted the real reason why Qrow and the kids had been named enemies of the state (Or, more accurately, Ironwood).

** Blake's Gambol Shroud is a zigzagged sort of manner. Gambol Shroud's broken blade is repaired with Atlas Technology, giving it a golden accent and strengthening the weapon so that it will likely not break again when facing down an opponent of similar caliber to Adam. However, as Blake spent a significant part of her life fighting Atlas, Gambol Shroud is naturally versatile, and as such she has no need for it to be given a dramatic upgrade like the others.

* As stupid as it is, [[GeneralFailure Ironwood's]] plan to get ''[[EvilGenius Watts]]'' to hack Penny is consistent with his character; throughout the series, Ironwood has clung to the belief that he can force or cajole people to do what he wants. Combined with his tendency to overestimate the effectiveness of his decisionfs, it's perfectly reasonable that he thinks he's gotten Watts under heel and that simply holding a gun to the latter's head will make him comply without problem. All Watts has to do is feign submission while working very subtly to set things up for Salem's benefit later on.

* Throughout the series, most of the characters that are capable of moving at some degree of SuperSpeed also possess SuperReflexes as a [[RequiredSecondaryPowers required secondary power]]. Ruby, however, curiously does ''not'' have those, which frequently gets her outmaneuered and successfully hit by other fast characters (and even some BadassNormal ones like Torchwick), and in mundane life she's almost clumsy. This could be explained by her being young and inexpirienced, but the reveal that her power is more of a teleportation than speed also shows that lightning-fast refelexes aren't actually ''required'' for her Semblance.
* As stupid as it is, [[GeneralFailure Ironwood's]] plan to get ''[[EvilGenius Watts]]'' to hack Penny is consistent with his character; throughout the series, Ironwood has clung to the belief that he can force or cajole people to do what he wants. Combined with his tendency to overestimate the effectiveness of his decisions, it's perfectly reasonable that he thinks he's gotten Watts under heel and that simply holding a gun to the latter's head will make him comply without problem. All Watts has to do is feign submission while working very subtly to set things up for Salem's benefit later on.

* Notably, Atlas defence force in the seventh episode consisits mostly of living soldiers (with the addition of some Paladins piloted by living soldiers), even though fighting Grimm off with huge numbers of disposable robots used to be a primary strategy of Atlesian militaty. However, given the state of Ironwood's mind after the fiasco at Beacon, it's understandable that his trust in combat droids has plummeted, so he had them reassigned onto less important tasks (i.e. guarding Mantle) and did not bother to build new ones as they were continually destroyed by Grimm attacks.

** Adam is stuck in the past and unable to move on, lashing out at anyone who he feels hurt him, including those who were not responsible for his injuries or setbacks. He never attempts to address his physical or mental trauma, instead hiding both in a literal and metaphorical mask of a monster. Even with several outs provided, he remained trapped in his same denial and delusion until the bitter end.
** Hazel was unable to move on or process his sister's accidental death in a positive manner, instead blaming Ozpin and devoting himself to a much worse evil for fundamentally pointless revenge; Hazel's obsessed with killing a perpetually reincarnating being that will outlive him. Pursuing this goal means that he tears other families apart since he's fully prepared to kill anyone that lets him take another shot at Ozpin (the Huntsmen in Mistral being an example), and he rationalizes killing Ozpin's current host as saving them from the immortal's evil. His inability to process grief directly leads to his being an antagonist, and it's reflected in his Semblance allowing him to block out and ignore his own pain.

** Like Ironwood, Raven is not a villain (sure she's a bandit, but doesn't directly fight RWBY), but deals with a similar pattern of past fears. She cannot move past her bitterness towards Ozpin revealing the earth-shattering truth about Salem and the Grimm, and is constantly afraid of getting dragged into the war between the two sides. Instead of accepting that past fear and fighting on like her daughter does, she clings to it to justify her warped ideology of "survival of the fittest" as an excuse to keep running away from a fight she thinks that she could never win.

** And of course Salem, as the show's main antagonist, embodies all this more than anyone. She, an actual being of infinite life, who literally could do anything, learn anything, create anything humanly possible, bring world peace, who could save countless lives and prevent countless tragedies like her own, managed to ''waste'' said infinite life on petty revenge against the Gods, spending the overwhelming majority of it alone and miserable, and brought nothing but grief to herself and humanity (both versions), just because she couldn't move on and kept making the wrong choices.

** Ruby reveres her lost mother. But instead of constantly chasing after her memory or blaming someone for her loss, she simply tries her hardest to be a huntress who her mother would be proud of. She honors her mother's memory, but it doesn't hold her from living her life.

** Penny hasn't forgotten that Cinder is responsible for her first "death", but instead of just pressing on the attack, she chooses to be by Fria's side when she passes. This earns her the power of the Winter Maiden. And unlike Winter or the Ace Ops, who all blindly follow Ironwood's orders, she decides to join Ruby and their friends in an effort to find another way to save Atlas.
** The entire way Ozma's immortality works is directly counter to the way Salem's works. Instead of being one single, static person, he merges with a new (though similar) person every time he reincarnates, slowly changing and moving forward.
* Qrow and Raven were both sent to Beacon for the same mission by the Branwen Tribe and both connected with their teammates. Yet it's Qrow who chose them over the tribe, not Raven, who started a family with Tai. This is probably because Qrow wasn't treated as well as Raven was once their semblances were known as his caused trouble whereas Raven's gave them an escape route provided they had someone she cared about away from trouble.

** In Volume 4 Ruby and the remnants of team JNPR are trekking across Mistral to meet with Professor Lionheart, whose very name is a blatant allusion to the Cowardly Lion in Ozpin's group. However, Ruby's known a Cowardly Lion from the beginning - Jaune. A good naturted man capable of great feats, but is (initially) limited by his poor self confidence.

* Cinder's rather contemptuous attitude towards Atlesian characters (such as General Ironwood, Dr. Watts and Winter Schnee) makes a hell of a lot more sense when we discover that part of her childhood was spent being slave labour for an elite Atlesian hotelier. It's practically guaranteed that she was forced to serve the Atlesian upper class, so she has no love or respect for anyone hailing from the nation that enslaved her.

** The Grimm River's very existence explains why Salem hasn't attacked Atlas. The giant storm cloud and flying Grimm swarm are a ''diversion'' to hold everyone's attention (Including a certain General who suffers from tunnel vision) so the River can flow into the kingdom unnoticed. When Salem gets word that a way to easily claim the Winter Maiden, she attacks.