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The Ever After

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/everafter2a.png

It's not make-believe. It's where the Afterans live.

"This entire world is put together like a bunch of mixed-up puzzle pieces. How does anyone make sense of this?"

— Yang Xiao Long

Certain fairy tales have implied that Remnant is just one among many worlds; one of the most popular children's tales of all is The Girl Who Fell Through the World, a story about a young heroine called Alyx, who adventured through a strange realm known as the Ever After to find her way back home.

The Ever After is dominated by a giant mystical tree that stands at the heart of a patchwork world of hexagonal landscapes called acres. This world is populated with talking animals, living toys and strange creatures that defy pigeon-holing; natives of the Ever After are collectively known as Afterans.

Remnant's natives can access the Ever After if they get lost in the Void Between the Worlds and fall into the realm by accident. Making it back home to Remnant will almost certainly require adventuring through the realm just as Alyx once did in the fairy tale... although that doesn't guarantee an adventurer will have exactly the same experience.

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In General

Animal Jingoism:
- The mice have no love for cats, so they're initially fearful of Blake because of her cat ears. They quickly come round, however, once they learn she's not a threat. The mouse leader apologises, explaining that they've had bad experiences with cats. They also have issues with snakes.
- The Curious Cat seems a bit eager to eat Little, but accepts that they're "spoken for" after Blake claims them.
Bazaar of the Bizarre: In the Ever After, markets and travelling salesmen can market fantastical goods by equally fantastical vendors. The market in the Crimson Acre have vendors including toy unicorns and a talking raccoon who sells objects for intangible prices, such as the feeling of being loved or the buyer's saddest and happiest memories. In the Gardens Acre, vendors include animated teapots or metallic birds, selling everything from mud cookies to leprechaun nose hairs.
Cessation of Existence: If a creature of the Ever After is eaten by the Jabberwalker, they do not ascend and are lost forever.
Deader than Dead: If an Afteran is killed by the Jabberwalker, they're not only killed permanently, but they also cease to exist.
Death Is Cheap: Discussed. Denizens of the Ever After don't die. Instead, they experience a process called ascension; they are recalled by the Ever After to undergo a process of fixing or changing, whereupon they're sent back to Ever After to find their purpose anew. They have no memories of their previous incarnations and may therefore have entirely new personalities, identities or purposes. The Red Prince therefore takes a cavaliere approach to beheading those who annoy him because they'll just be "fixed"; the Curious Cat has to remind him that humans don't work that way. When the Cat clarifies ascension to Team RWBY, he is also cavalier about it, but they're disturbed by the Death of Personality and Loss of Identity that goes with it. The Jabberwalker is considered The Dreaded because, through eating a denizen of the Ever After, they destroy that denizen's ability to ascend by inflicting upon them a true death.
Death of Personality: If one of the inhabitants of the Ever After doesn't manage to fulfill their role that they are given, they return to the land itself and are "fixed" in order to fulfill it again. In the process of being fixed though, they lose their memories from before they were fixed as well as sometimes altering their personality since it isn't usually part of their role. However, there is a chance that their heart will remember past experiences from before. Team RWBY end up witnessing the Herbalist getting swallowed up into the Ever After to be fixed and learn that the Red King ended up becoming the Red Prince due to their experiences with Alyx making him unable to fulfill their role.
Empathic Environment: The weather of the Ever After can be influenced by a person's emotions. Ruby keeps causing thunderstorms and rainfall due to her grief and emotions; the weather clears whenever she pushes those emotions away to focus on other things, and bright sunlight starts shining on one occasion when Blake becomes enthusiastic about where they are and what they should do. While in the Crimson Acre, the Red Soldiers find them by following Ruby's rainstorm, concluding that their targets must be there because they'll be sad they ruined the Red Prince's birthday.
God Is Good: The primordial God of the Ever After is the Tree, which has created the system of Ascension so that Afterans would not need to fear dying, could develop as people, and would live forever without the obvious drawbacks of immortality. If the Blacksmith is any indication, the Tree truly loves their creations, even those that caused trouble like the Curious Cat, the Brothers, and Neo, and wants them all to be free to grow into their best selves. When Ruby is taken by the Tree, the Tree gives her complete agency on who she will become while gently guiding her to accept herself as enough, even waiving the usual rules of Ascension when Ruby decides she wants to keep her memories.
His Name Really Is "Barkeep": The typical Afteran naming pattern is for characters to be named after their purpose, whether as individuals or as groups. As a result, the Red Prince is only ever called that; Herb's "name" comes from him being The Herbalist; the Paper Pleasers are paper beings whose purpose is make their environment pleasing and to please any visitors that arrive; the Curious Cat is a cat whose purpose is to be curious, enabling them to fix broken hearts and keep the ascension cycle working. The very few individuals who have more personalised names, do so for very specific, meaningful reasons.
History Repeats: When traveling through the Ever After, Blake notices how everything they are doing is exactly what Alyx did during her journey through the Ever After. While there are differences between the realm in the story and the one they're experiencing, the path they take through the realm to reach their destination is following in Alyx's footsteps. Weiss sarcastically complains that it's like they're in a sequel to Alyx's story.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Curious Cat explains that denizens who complete or fail at their role, or who lose their way, are returned to the Ever After, where they will be "fixed". When they return, they will begin anew their journey to find their purpose; they will have no memory of their former lives, although their hearts do "remember" past hurts because the heart never forgets, though the Curious Cat implies that it's possible for a heart to forget if is too weak, hence why they give some of their heart to the Herbalist.
Level Ate: One of the acres visible in a wide shot of the land looks like a frosted cake topped with fruit like strawberries as well as candy canes and candy corn. On a map drawn up of the Ever After this is labeled the Cake Acre, or Cakre.
Living Toys: Some of the denizens of the Ever After are sentient toys that can move around. Most of them appear to live in the Red Acre under the rule of the Red Prince and their Toy Soldiers.
Non-Human Non-Binary: While some of them do use masculine or feminine pronouns, as a race of magical beings many of them are unconcerned with gender and are just addressed as "they", including the Curious Cat and Little. Little, being a particularly young inhabitant, doesn't even seem to know what a "girl" is when Ruby identifies herself as one. The Red Prince seems to be the main exception to this, being called by male pronouns in-universe and out.
Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Due to how alien a concept it is compared to Remnant's understanding of death, Team RWBY's initially sceptical about the idea of Ascension, their worries only exacerbated by the Curious Cat's vagueness over the subject; the Cat notes their attitude's the same as Alyx's and may be because they're from Remnant. Jaune, who's influenced by his traumatic past, considers the Tree a monster who devours the Ever Afterans and the Cat its agent. Team WBY start taking the Afteran view seriously upon meeting the Paper Pleasers, but it's not until they and Jaune see it in action when the Paper Pleasers are reincarnated into sturdiers versions of themselves that they realise the Tree is actually helping the Afterans achieve their purposes. Ruby herself is aided by the Tree's personification, the Blacksmith, in healing her broken spirit, and the five leave the Ever After without issue.
Nothing Left to Do but Die: Afterans live to fulfill their purpose or role in life, to the point that they name themselves after their purpose. If an Afteran has completed their purpose, they might then choose to ascend and start a new life with a new purpose.
Past-Life Memories: Ascension does not permit a denizen to carry their memories of past lives into their next reincarnation. However, the heart rarely forgets, so sometimes a reincarnation will behave in a manner affected by their heart's "memories" of past experiences. The Red Prince hates humans because their heart remembers being cheated and defeated by Alyx even though he doesn't.
Patchwork Map: The Ever After is divided into many distinct, hexagonal biomes, separated by a bottomless white void and connected by bridges that strongly delineate the change in environment. The specific sections are known as Acres.
Reincarnation: The people of the Ever After do not die as living things in Remnant do. When they complete their goal in life, fail at said goal, or lose their way, they are absorbed into the Ever After and "ascend", being remade into a new version of themselves to find their purpose anew.
Talking Animal: Some denizens of Ever After look like normal animals from Remnant. However, they're sentient and can talk. Ruby screams and almost drops Little when the mouse starts communicating with her. Weiss is equally shocked when the leader of the mouse starts declaring victory after having captured her and Blake. The Herbalist however looks like a giant caterpillar larger than Ruby with Human arms and three eyes and visibly scares the group with his appearance when he comes out of the leaf pile.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Once the Brother Gods' experiments become too much of a threat to the Ever After, the Tree gives them a way to leave so they can create new worlds to experiment with and hopefully learn the true meaning of balance. Unfortunately, they never figure this out, and continue to try artificially defining balance in the worlds they created. This triggers Remnant's troubled history and the show's plot, as the Brothers' flawed definition of the balance of life and death is what leads them to make both Salem and Ozma immortal for the reasons they did.
The Wonderland: The Ever After is a strange location that functions on fairy tale logic instead of Remnant's logic. The landscape is split into hexagonal "acres", each linked by bridges that span abyssal gaps that descend into the Void Between the Worlds. Every acre has different environments that are shaped to the needs of its denizes, which include talking animals and living toys. The Jungle Acre has golden skies and two suns while the Red Acre has red vegetation, green skies and one sun. At the centre of it all looms an enormous tree that sheds rainbow leaves across the entire realm, and every resident plays "roles" that are determined by what they are.
World Tree: A very large tree with multi-colored leaves is visible from across multiple acres. Team RWBY believes, from Alyx's fairy tale, that it has a path to return them to Remnant. However, attempts to travel directly to it result in people suddenly appearing back at their starting point. The Cat states one does not go to the Tree, it comes to you when you're ready, as it's not a place you go but a place you know. Jaune realizes the meaning when he accepts the Tree's purpose, as the benign force behind Ascension, him and WBY immediately being transported to it in a flurry of leaves at the realization.

The Jungle Acre

An acre containing a shoreline and a jungle forest filled with strange birds, killer vines and talking mice. There are two suns in a cloudless, golden sky.

This is the first acre that Team RWBY encounters.

Little

Little / Somewhat

Voiced By: Luci Christian ^{Foreign VAs}Aoi Yūki (Japanese)

Debut: A Place of Particular Concern^*Volume 9 Episode 1

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwby_little.PNG

"How does one Little?"

^{Click here to see Somewhat}

A brown and white mouse who befriends Ruby when she helps them obtain a cheese-plant they're struggling to pull out of the ground. Ruby gives them the name Little as they have no name of their own. They decide to accompany Ruby on her travels through the Ever After as a Native Guide for Team RWBY.

Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: When Little ascends, they appear in the Ever After wearing a belt, cape, and fingerless gloves.
Anthropomorphic Transformation: Little was a talking mouse when Ruby first met them. After being killed by Neo, Little ascends and becomes a larger, anthropomorphic mouse wearing a cape, belt, and gloves as if emulating Ruby.
The Cutie: They are adorable, optimistic, very innocent, and comically naive. They want to be Ruby's friend and their antics are one of the few things that can make Ruby smile when she's struggling with trauma. Unfortunately, they end up being smashed by Neopolitan's heel when they try to save her from the Cat; Ruby is forced to watch and it becomes the final straw that convinces her to attempt suicide.
Foil: After the heroes spend all volume worrying about whether they'll screw up the Ever After the way Alyx did before them, the Blacksmith explains that any Remnant natives that make it to the Ever After always have an enormous impact on it. A single act of dishonesty from Alyx towards the Cat broke its heart and, with nothing existing that could ever fix the Cat, this led to immense harm for the Ever After. However, a single act of kindness from Ruby to Little triggered a transformation that led to their resurrection as Somewhat, an adventurer hero who will do immense good for the Ever After. The clashing impacts that Little and the Cat have on Ruby (the Cat trying to bring Ruby to despair and Little trying to keep Ruby's hope alive) are direct results of the impacts both Ruby and Alyx had on the Ever After through the primary Afterans that travelled with them.
Have We Met?: When Team RWBY sees Little after their death, Ruby is overjoyed to see them again. Having ascended, the Afteran doesn't have Little's memories and doesn't recognize them, but they do note that Ruby seems familiar, like a happy dream they can't remember.
It Can Think: Ruby wishes the mouse could help her, prompting Little to sit up and offer to try. A shocked Ruby struggles to explain why it's so surprising to her a mouse can talk.
Knight Errant: Ascension brings Little back as Somewhat, a very large mouse who decides that what they want to do in life is help people, in any way they can, becoming a hero like Ruby aspired to be. Somewhat obtains a steed to complete the role when Jaune asks them to look after Juniper once he's gone; Somewhat solemnly vows to always do so and they're last seen riding Juniper away from the door.
Meaningful Name: After ascending, the Afteran who was Little names themself "Somewhat" because while they don't have a singular role, they're "somewhat" many different roles in life.
The Nameless: Upon being asked what their name is, the mouse states they're too young to have a name. Ruby names them "Little". Little implies that a mouse is only named once they've been given a purpose.
Native Guide: As Ruby, Weiss and Blake make for higher ground to get a look at the lay of the Ever After's land, they're not really sure where they're going. Little offers to be a guide since they have no role in the mouse village. Subverted in that, once they set out on the journey, Little falls asleep on Ruby's shoulder, leaving the trio to their own devices. They later state they've never even gone that far from their home village.
Non-Human Sidekick: By offering to be Team RWBY's guide, Little effectively joins Team RWBY as their non-human companion. However, they spend a lot of time sleeping on Ruby's shoulder.
Really Fond of Sleeping: Despite offering to be Team RWBY's guide, Little spends most of their time sleeping on Ruby. Even when poked, they barely stir.
Rodents of Unusual Size: As Somewhat, they're about half as tall as Ruby.

Mouse Leader

Voiced By: Jamie Battle

Debut: A Place of Particular Concern^*Volume 9 Episode 1

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mouse_leader.png

A scarred black, green and white mouse who leads the capture of Weiss and Blake, but befriends them after Little and Ruby intervene.

Ear Notch: Accompanying their scarred face and blinded left eye, this mouse has tears in both ears.
It Can Think: When Weiss and Blake are captured by vines, Weiss is shocked when a mouse next loudly declares victory to their army. Blake, however, doesn't bat an eyelid, as she's more interested in trying to escape the vines.
Large Ham: When Weiss and Blake are captured, the mouse declares victory to their people with grandiose prose and bombastic tones, galvanising the mouse army to join in the victory celebration.
Rugged Scar: The mouse is clearly a survivor of some past fight; they have scars on their face that cover their blinded left eye.

The King's Acre

An acre filled with red vegetation and green skies with a single sun. This is acre contains a bustling market town and the Crimson Castle.

This is the second acre that Team RWBY encounters.

The Jinxy Peddler

Voiced By: Brendan Blaber

Debut: Altercation at the Auspicious Auction^*Volume 9 Episode 2

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_jinxy_peddler.png

"I am Jinxy, and these... are the finest treasures of the acre!"

The Jinxy Peddler, usually called "Jinxy", is a talking raccoon famed for holding auctions and tricking denizens of Ever After into giving up random things for tat that's magically disgused as "treasures". Although they travel the Ever After looking for "treasures", they can be located in the Crimson Acre, selling their wares.

Con Man: Their main M.O. is to disguise random items he's collected or stolen as something valuable using a form of magic, and then auction them off. This happens to Yang's cybernetic arm, which he disguises as a sceptre.
Everyone Has Standards: They're a con artist and shown to have no problems stealing an unconscious woman's prosthetic arm, but they show genuine sympathy and pity when they realize Ruby is so despondent that she can't fill a jar with hope as her price for the jade marionette she's bidding for. When their con is exposed, they begrudgingly return what they took from their buyers. For example, they can be seen in the background giving one person a hug, as that was the price they originally demanded from that buyer.
Expecting Someone Taller: When the team gets their first real look at Jinxy, Blake remarks that they look much older than the story depected, the first real sign that Team RWBY's trials in the Ever After are taking place long after the events of "The Girl Who Fell Through the World".
Glamour: They disguise their trinkets as more desirable treasures. At first it seems they're limited by mass, disguising Yang's arm as a staff of similar size or a mouse as a figurine, but then it's revealed they turned one of Penny's sword constructs into a far smaller jade marionette.
Honest John's Dealership: They run a traveling auction house that peddles random junk that has been magically disguised as valuable treasures.
Intangible Price: Jinxy doesn't con for money, which doesn't exist in the Ever After. They instead barter for random things. This can range from simply a hug to "enough hope to fill this jar".
Rascally Raccoon: A raccoon that takes things when others are not looking, disguise the product as something else and then auctions them off to duped customers.

The Red Prince

Voiced By: Michael Malconian^{Foreign VAs}Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese)

Debut: Rude, Red, and Royal^*Volume 9 Episode 3

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_red_prince_4.png

"Hmph! Why, I never! Coming to someone's castle without even knowing who they are, and on my birthday!"

The bratty and violent ruler of the Crimson Castle. He challenges Team RWBY to a game to celebrate their birthday for help to get to the Tree, but proves to be both a cheater and a sore loser with deadly implications.

Ax-Crazy: He has an ad-campaign all over the King's Acre to advertise his birthday party but becomes paranoid and accusatory when Team RWBY mention it, has some of his guards beheaded because he dislikes the colour of the gift they give him, and becomes murderous whenever things don't go his way. He has a Villainous Breakdown when he starts losing his game against Ruby and attempts to kill Team RWBY for not letting him win a game on his birthday. His sole purpose in life is to win this game, so he tends to fall apart if he fails to fulfill his purpose. However, when he reincarnated after losing the game to Alyx, his heart was broken by the experience that this is the reason why he's so unstable, unreasonable and violent.
Body to Jewel: Their tears bounce on the ground like solid objects, appearing to be porcelain marbles.
The Caligula: He is the only seen member of royalty of any authority in their acre, but he is petulant brat, beheading people for the slightest offence against him, and playing rigged games that don't seem to end well for anyone who actually beats him.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: In the sense that Team RWBY's journey through Ever After is like a sequel to Alyx's, the Red Prince is completely different from the Red King, being an erratic and childish enemy while the Red King ended up befriending and helping Alyx.
Cool Crown: The Red Prince wears a gold crown lined with jewelry. The crown is too big and often slides around on their head.
Disproportionate Retribution: He has two guards beheaded who attempt to give him Penny's sword as a present simply because it's the color green, and threatens to do the same to Team RWBY after they win their board game despite their blatant cheating. Mitigated somewhat by the Ever After's power to ascend those who fail their duties — beheading them is little more than a violent form of firing.
Evil Prince: The Red Prince is shown to be cruel to their own soldiers such as beheading them for amusement and is shown to be dishonest such as cheating at games to win.
Fantastic Racism: He despises all humans, because of the Red King's previous experience with Alyx the first time that humans came to the Ever After which left the King so broken that he ascended. When the Red Prince learns that Ruby, Weiss and Yang are humans as well, he becomes furious and their entire court turns on them.
Freudian Excuse: Their hatred of humans and compulsion to win at any cost and cheat to achieve is because the Red King lost to Alyx. The soldiers blame humans for the Red Prince's disposition, as a result. As the Red King, he was so distraught at failing their purpose by losing their game to Alyx that he was reincarnated to renew their purpose. He came back as the Red Prince, who was made to win the game at any cost.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: When he learns Team RWBY has humans among them, his porcelain head breaks with large angry cracks running down his face to better reflect their cruelty and rage; he wants to see the humans dead more than anything.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Like the Queen of Hearts, it takes very little for him to loses their temper. When gifted with one of Penny's swords, he throws a hissy fit because it's green, kicks it away, and orders the guards who brought it to be decapitated.
Improperly Paranoid: He freaks out when he realises that Team RWBY knows it's their birthday, theorising there's been a breach of royal secrecy. However, he's just stated that it's their birthday and he has posters all over town about it.
Inadequate Inheritor: Team RWBY was hoping to meet the Red King, a wise and kind ruler who helped Alyx in the fairy tale. However, a guard bitterly complains that, if it wasn't for "their kind", the Red King would still be in charge instead of them having to deal with the bratty Red Prince. Their fellow guards frantically shush him due to their own fear of the Prince.
Monster of the Week: While he is the main villain of "Rude, Red, and Royal", he is defeated in the same episode.
Off with His Head!: Their main way of dealing with their problems is to decapitate anyone who displeases him, much like the Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Outside-Context Problem: Their presence completely derails Team RWBY's attempts to simply follow the story of "The Girl Who Fell Through the World". The original story has a friendly Red King and no reference to an emotionally unstable Red Prince. As a result, Team RWBY are blindsided by this change. Although they try to mimic Alyx's path through the story by engaging in a game with the Red Prince, the outcome is completely different, and much more unfavourable, to Alyx's experience of playing the Red King.
Royal Brat: The Red Prince is a loud, obnoxious, and volatile child who answers any displeasure to him with beheadings and loses their temper when he's forced to capitulate. He is a vastly exaggerated, and more dangerous, version of the childishness displayed by the Queen of Hearts during the trial in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and their temper tantrum at the end of the board game is reflective of the chaos the Red Queen causes at the end of the chess game in Through the Looking Glass.
Sadist: Beheading people cheers him up; when Ruby tries to confirm her friends won't get hurt when he shrinks them down for the board game, he only gives her a chilling Slasher Smile in response.
Sore Loser: If the Curious Cat is to be believed, winning games is his entire reason for being and he does not handle losing well. When he was the Red King, he took losing to Alyx so poorly that he ascended soon after. When he came back, the Red Prince was "fixed" so that he just flat-out cheats should his opponent show even the slightest upper-hand.
Uncertain Doom: The Curious Cat gives the Red Prince a piece of his heart to convince him not to execute Team RWBY. We later learn that mending Afterans this way often signals for the Tree to take them for ascension and the Red King ascended after he lost his game against Alyx, but we have no confirmation if the Red Prince also ascended or remained as himself.
Villainous Breakdown: After Team RWBY beats their pawns, the Red Prince loses their temper, flips the game table over and tries beheading them for their victory. The Curious Cat tells him to stand down, which prompts the tearful prince to exile the girls from their acre.

Toy Guards

Voiced By: Billy B. Burson III, Michael Malconian

Debut: Rude, Red, and Royal^*Volume 9 Episode 3

The Red Prince's loyal (if incompetent) guards.

Henchmen Race: The Toy Soldiers are all identical and serve as the Red Prince's flunkies.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: They aren't very good at their jobs and live in complete fear of The Red Prince's wrath, who will have them beheaded for the slightest inconvenience. However, they seem to get on well with the townsfolk, and are moved to tears by Ruby's story of the "powerful warrior".
Killed Offscreen: The two soldiers who claimed responsibility for finding Penny's sword to the Red Prince are dragged behind the bushes and beheaded simply because it was green. Fortunately, Death Is Cheap for them.
Manchild: Although they're the size of a grown man and are the king's soldiers, they also have simple, childlike personalities.
Mix-and-Match Weapon: The guards are armed with long halberds that also function as trumpets to play appropriate fanfare for their prince.

The Gardens Acre

An acre that appears to exist in perpetual darkness. The forest is a cultivated garden of bioluminscent fungal species, glowing plants and shaped ponds. There's also a market area that stands in the middle of a lake that can be reached by travelling on lily pads.

This is the third acre that Team RWBY encounters.

Hawker

The Hawker

Voiced By: César Altagracia

Debut: The Parfait Predicament^*Volume 9 Episode 5

A blue human-sized bird that sells mud cookies at the Garden.

Hold the Line: After getting his purpose changed by the Cat, he helps hold the Jabberwalkers off while Team RWBY escapes.
Punny Name: The Hawker is hawking his wares to the crowds.
Uncertain Doom: He's last seen being swarmed by Jabberwalkers. There is a loud screeching and a tearing noise, heavily implying he was eaten. The Blacksmith is later shown inspecting a figurine of his current form. While the figurines represent Ascension has occurred, they're a mixture of historic Ascensions (such as the Brothers' current forms) and current Ascensions (such as Somewhat's newly Ascended form). The Hawker's figurine is of the form they wore when they fought the Jabberwalkers, thereby making his Ascension status ambiguous.

The Herbalist

Voiced By: Chris Guerrero

Debut: A Cat Most Curious^*Volume 9 Episode 4

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwby_herbalist.PNG

"I am an herbalist. I make medicines and remedies to help others on their journeys. It is what I am."

A blue caterpillar living in the Garden Acre. It's his job to brew up concoctions and medicines to help people on their journeys.

Adapted Out: An In-Universe example. While Alyx actually did meet him during her original journey, any mention of him in the story was removed entirely. Because of this, Team RWBY are shocked when they see him and ask him what he was since he was never in the story to their knowledge. Jaune later reveals that a meeting with the Herbalist triggered Alyx into giving into her more negative traits, making her paranoid that Jaune was trying to stop her from leaving and leading to her poisoning him to prevent "interference".
Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Herbalist is a gigantic blue caterpillar. Team RWBY are clearly scared the first time they see him. After his ascension, his caterpillar body has gone; he now has a pair of legs and butterfly wings.
Cynical Mentor: The Herbalist is a bit sarcastic and dour, but seems to be legitimately trying to help Team RWBY. He's just too confused and frustrated at Team RWBY's inability to give him definitive answers to their questions as they in turn are confused about what information he actually needs to obtain to help them.
Dark Is Not Evil: The Herbalist is a gigantic, creepy caterpillar with a bad attitude, but he genuinely doesn't mean any harm. He only wants to help people to move forward in their journeys.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He might be impatient and grouchy, but he truly just wants to help the group. Even if the methods he employs are questionable.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Herb's attempt to give Team RWBY visions, breaks down Ruby and has her teetering on the brink of giving in to her past self's suggestion to no longer be herself. The Cat tells Herb to leave her alone and declares that he's lost his way. Jaune reveals Alyx also visited the Herbalist; he doesn't know what Herb told her, but it amplified her negative traits, making her cruel, paranoid and dangerous. She thus poisoned Jaune, abandoned her brother, and Jaune believes she ultimately sacrificed Lewis to the Tree to obtain her passage home.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Team RWBY's failure to give a solid answer to his questions prompts the Herbalist to personally make them inhale special smoke to send them on a Vision Quest and find the answers themselves. While this works fine with Weiss, Blake, and Yang, who have already come to terms with their baggage, Ruby struggles due to her trauma. While the Cat acts like something bad would have happened to Ruby if they hadn't intervened in time, it later becomes clear that Ruby could have ascended from Herb's actions, depriving the Cat of a viable host to possess in order to escape the Ever After to Remnant.
You Have Failed Me: The Cat claims that Herb's disappearance after the vision quest is the Ever After recalling him to fix whatever's gone wrong with his ability to properly perform his role. Jaune later tells Team RWBY that the Cat sends Afterans to the Tree when they've lost their way, and the Cat eventually confirms that they were afraid Herb would deprive them of Ruby by ascending her before they could claim her body for themself.

The Rusted Knight

Jaune Arc / The Rusted Knight

Debut: The Parfait Predicament^*Volume 9 Episode 5

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_5348.png

"Oh, and let's not forget the reason we're in the Ever After in the first place is because of your plan that didn’t work! What about you?! IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU!"

A mysterious knight in rusted armor riding a Jackalope, he's the valiant defender of the Ever After. In actuality, he is Jaune Arc, having been sent back in time in the Ever After.

Be Careful What You Wish For: Being trapped in the Ever After alone for years transforms him into the Rusted Knight, a fairy tale hero from one of Remnant's most beloved children's stories. However, he learns the truth behind the fairy tale is deeply unpleasant; Alyx is a selfish person who becomes increasingly paranoid and cruel over time, betraying both Jaune's misguided and clumsy attempts to help her and possibly her own brother in her quest to get back home. Bitter, jaded, and burned out, Jaune's a Knight in Sour Armor who believes he can't even make it as a make-believe hero, never mind a real one.
Blaming the Victim: Ruby suffers flashbacks and hallucinations while fighting with Neo's Jabberwalkers, prompting her companions to focus on her as well as the Paper Pleasers to Ascend. As Ruby asks why no one's considering her feelings and refers to the Paper Pleasers as Jaune's "make-believe friends", a frustrated Jaune calls out Ruby for their deaths because Neo's been searching for Ruby along with the chain of events which led them to the Ever After. Even as he realises what he's done seconds later, it's too late to take it back.
Heroic Wannabe: After falling into the Ever After, Jaune unintentionally holds the Paper Pleasers hostage for years just to experience the cheap thrill of saving lives, sabotaging his and Team RWBY's efforts to return to Remnant because of his misplaced fears of the Ever Tree. Seeing the Paper Pleasers' reincarnated forms making a beautiful sculpture out of the water that destroyed their previous forms makes him realise his selfishness. Weiss tells him even the greatest heroes fail; he should just accept he's a brave and good person who tries his best. With Jaune finally accepting the truth, the heroes travel to the Tree and locate Ruby; once he's exposed to the Tree's hallucinogenic smoke, an image of Alyx — whom he unsuccessfully tried to help as the Rusted Knight — tells him he needs to be himself and try his best if he wants to become a true hero. By accepting what everyone's been telling him about his unheroic behaviour, he begins to grow out of the trope.
Heroic Willpower: Despite everything that happened to him, the Knight never lost faith and kept steadfastly protecting others no matter what. It's implied this is what prompted the Curious Cat's animosity with him, as Jaune's willpower never broke waiting to reunite with Team RWBY for decades, forcing the Cat to try for other hosts instead.
Horse of a Different Color: His battle steed is a large white jackalope with huge brass-coloured antlers and golden eyes.
Image Song: Jaune gets his first image song in Volume 9, "Quiet". A meditation on his failures and years of suffering in the Ever After as the Rusted Knight, it plays in a stripped-down, instrumental version as he and WBY behold the return of the Paper Pleasers as the Genial Gems and have an epiphany about the true purpose of the Tree.
Knight in Shining Armor: A subverted example. The Rusted Knight of the Ever After is portrayed in the fairy tale "The Girl Who Fell Through the World" as the one who protects the realm, helps Alyx get home, and takes the poison that was meant for her. However, the truth is that the Rusted Knight is really Jaune, who is trapped in the realm for decades and becomes a Heroic Wannabe, desperately trying to protect the Paper Pleasers from themselves, preventing them from Ascending like they're supposed to, and thereby accidentally becoming the "villain" of the Origami Acre when he thinks he's being the hero.
Long List: The daily tasks the Rusted Knight appoints himself to for protecting the paper pleasers from themselves is made up of four sheets of paper taped together to keep track of everything.
Loyal Animal Companion: Juniper is devoted to Jaune, having acted as his battle partner and his only friend during his time alone. She catches Jaune after the Cat attacks him, and when his Aura breaks she protects him. It's mutual, as Jaune tells Somewhat that "she means the world to me" and makes Somewhat promise to take care of her when he leaves.
Meaningful Name: The jackalope's name is extremely important to the Rusted Knight's past. Jaune named it Juniper in memory of Team JNPR.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Juniper has the face, ears, and paws of a rabbit and the antlers, tail, and general body shape of a deer. She also acts like a horse and even makes a few horse-like whinnies.
Oh, Crap!: After sleeping in the following day after finding Team RWBY, the Rusted Knight bolts awake by the sound of an explosion, frantically shouting "I'm late!" as he rushes to arm himself and stop the frequently recurring disasters of his village.
Passing the Torch: When Jaune goes back to Remnant, he gives Juniper to Somewhat, who will implicitly take up his former role as the protector of the Ever After.
The Slow Path: Jaune's situation means he has to wait a very long time to be reunited with Team RWBY; this is unlike their experience, where they reunite very quickly after being separated. After landing last in the Ever After, Jaune finds a tree that grows clocks. Picking one forces him to travel backwards in time until he destroys the clock. With no way of knowing how to return to his original time, Jaune has to live there for decades until Team RWBY arrives. In the process, he meets Alyx and discovers he's the Rusted Knight in the very fairy tale he (and the rest of Remnant) read as a child. The Curious Cat implies to Ruby and Weiss that the stress, loneliness, and betrayal he's experienced in the Ever After has done a number on his mental health.
Taking the Bullet: It is said in the fairy tale that "the Rusted Knight drank the poison in [Alyx's] stead". The truth is darker; thinking that Jaune (who was trying to keep things on track with The Girl who Fell Through the World) was keeping her from leaving the Ever After, Alyx poisoned him and left him to die.
Wrecked Weapon: The Rusted Knight is named for his rusted armor and weaponry. His sword, Crocea Mors, is still broken from Cinder's attack at the end of Volume 8.

The Origami Acre

This Acre is the home of the Paper Pleasers and Jaune Arc during his time in the Ever After.

This is the fourth acre that Team RWBY encounters.

The Paper Pleasers

Debut: The Perils of Paper Houses^*Volume 9, Episode 7

The denizens of the Paper Acre, who had nursed Jaune back to health after he had been poisoned by Alyx. They have fulfilled their purpose some time ago and are ready to ascend, but Jaune has repeatedly thwarted their attempts.

Animate Inanimate Object: The Paper Pleasers are living origami stars, and are as fragile and vulnerable as normal paper.
Alliterative Name: They're called the Paper Pleasers. Following their ascension, they are renamed the Genial Gems to suit their new forms.
Big Dam Plot: They try breaking down their dam every day so the water will ascend them. They finally succeed when Jaune is distracted by the attacking Jabberwalkers.
Came Back Strong: After they are killed in the flood, they come back as the Genial Gems, who have sturdier bodies that won't dissipate in water like their predecessors.
Crystalline Creature: As the Genial Gems, they have the same basic body shape but are made of jewel instead of paper.
Made of Plasticine: Deconstructed; Since they are outright made of paper, they can easily be killed by water, fire, or anything capable of tearing their bodies apart. However, they are fully aware of how fragile they and their creations are, which is why they want to ascend into stronger forms.
Nice Guy: They were made to be the nicest creatures of the Ever After, constantly serving those around them including the land itself by beautifying it. They don't even resent Jaune for holding them hostage, having repeatedly tried to explain to him why what he's doing is harmful rather than hurting him and understanding that his actions come from misplaced paternalism rather than genuine malice. This is also what allows them to ascend without any trauma remaining in their soul, unlike the Red Prince.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: They nursed Jaune back to health after he had been poisoned by Alyx. In exchange, he essentially took them hostage by stopping them from ascending.
Nothing Left to Do but Die: The Paper Pleasers have completed their purpose of making their acre beautiful, and want to ascend so they may try again as more resilient creatures. But Jaune, who sees ascension as death and erasure, prevents them from going to the Tree willingly and thwarts their every effort to end their own lives.
Small Role, Big Impact: They only play a major role in their debut episode, but they give a lot of insight regarding the true nature of Ascension and the Tree. Their ascension and how the others react to it also serve as the trigger to Ruby's breakdown, setting up the climax for Volume 9.
Smarter Than You Look: Despite Jaune considering them too stupid to look after themselves and their behavior being somewhat childlike, they have achieved their purpose by themselves, know full well how fragile they and their creations truly are along with what they want to become upon Ascension, and have the emotional maturity and understanding that Jaune's "protection" comes from misplaced paternalism.

Others

Some of the denizens aren't known to be native to any specific acre or come from acres that haven't been named.

The Blacksmith

Voiced By: Kimlinh Tran^{Foreign VAs}Haruka Shibuya (Japanese)

Debut: The Parfait Predicament^*Volume 9 Episode 5

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/v9_09_blacksmith_profilepic.png

"Nothing. No one is ever truly lost."

A mechanical-looking Blacksmith, with a tree root growing out of her back, that is intimately connected to the Tree and its purpose of reincarnating Afterans to their next lives.

Above the Gods: The Brothers are sibling gods who created the world of Remnant, its lifeforms and the Grimm. They are also the very first creations of the Ever After's World Tree, made to prune and cultivate the Ever After's cyclical world. Once they began changing the Ever After and making creations to suit their own desires, the Tree realised they were becoming too dangerous for the Ever After and gave them permission to leave and start creating their own worlds. The exit created by the Tree permits the return of both the Brothers and any creations made by the Brothers should they ever want to. As the avatar of the Tree, the Blacksmith manages and forges all of the Tree's creations, including the Brothers. She is able to convey the truth about the origins of Remnant and the Ever After, explaining why the gods have a fundamentally flawed understanding of how existence really works.
Anthropomorphic Personification: The Blacksmith is the avatar of the Tree itself.
The Blacksmith: The Blacksmith works a seemingly portable forge, and stocks several different weapons. While a few of her weapons seem more found than forged, she is seen working on a metallic butterfly wing when Ruby encounters her. It's implied she forges the new bodies for people undergoing ascension, as the Herbalist emerges with those same wings after ascending.
Collector of the Strange: The Blacksmith's inventory includes both her own work and weapons she's somehow gotten ahold of elsewhere. These include one of Penny's swords, Alyx's dagger, and a Huntsman gun-axe. The gun-axe is later revealed to be a mimic of Summer Rose's weapon.
Emissary from the Divine: She is a very compassionate figure that communicates with people who seek the Tree for Ascension. While her exact relationship with the tree is hazily defined, she guides the visitor through the choices they need to make to define their next life and forges the bodies their new lives will wear.
Improvised Golem: A clearer look at her in the light shows she's made of random, generally metal, objects bound together in the shape of a person.
Intangible Price: She offers one of her weapons to Ruby in exchange for "her burden", implicitly her Chronic Hero Syndrome. Ruby resists the offer, but the Blacksmith says that she'll be back whenever she's ready to deal.
The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: While Ruby is wandering the market, the lights suddenly goes out and she's left in darkness until the glow of the Blacksmith's forge appears behind her. When Ruby's friends call out to her, she finds herself back in the marketplace as nothing happened. There's no sign of the forge and her companions only saw her seemingly talking to nothing.
Magical Guide: The Blacksmith helps those who ascended towards who they need to be for themselves in their next lives. Ruby's unhealthy high standards for herself get deconstructed as the Blacksmith gently guides Ruby's thoughts towards a more healthy way of thinking in that just being herself is enough.
Mr. Exposition: Once Team RWBY and Jaune pass through the door, the Blacksmith is there to greet them and offers answers to all their questions, telling them of what became of Alyx and even the origin of the Two Brothers.
Plant Person: The Blacksmith has a length of tree root growing near her spine and is intimately connected to the Tree's purpose for reincarnating Afterans. When Ruby asks her if she is the Tree, she laughs and says that while she could say that, it's too simplistic an answer for what the Tree really is and does.
Power Echoes: Her voice echoes, adding to her otherworldly image and the dreamlike atmosphere of her forge.
Robot Hair: She has the appearance of a robot, but possesses hair of indeterminate material that it is tied back at the nape of her neck. She wears a bandana which contains a few chains hanging out from them like a wisp of hair, although the rest of her hair is not made of chains.
Secret Test of Character: She offers Ruby hundreds of choices of people she could be, each giving off feelings of who she would become if she chose it. However, Ruby reaching out for her mother's weapon shows her a vision of how her mother wasn't as perfect as she thought, and that she is loved just the way she is. This triggers the appearance of Crescent Rose and Ruby realizing that she wants to be herself, which the Blacksmith approves of.
The Shrink: Though the Blue-and-Orange Morality of Ascension initially confuses and terrifies the protagonists, the Blacksmith says Ascension's voluntary and deeply compassionate. She also clearly draws a line between the right and wrong reasons for Ascending, or perhaps the difference between Afterans and humans: while the Tree has no problem accepting Afterans who simply want to move onto the next stage of their lives or realign themselves to a purpose, the Blacksmith tells Ruby to accept herself rather than Ascend out of self-loathing.

The Curious Cat

Voiced By: Robbie Daymond^{Foreign VAs}Setsuji Satou (Japanese)

Debut: Rude, Red and Royal^*Volume 9 Episode 3

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwby_curious_cat.PNG

"Well, times change, you know, and so do we when it's our time to change. Don't you?"

A mysterious feline who loves to ask questions.

Actor Allusion: Their monochromatic Game Face is confirmed via Word of God to be a Shout-Out to Loki from Persona 5, due to the Cat and Loki's user sharing the same voice actor.
Alas, Poor Villain: After the Cat is beaten down, their last exchange with Ruby highlights their ruined mental state, heavily implying they know on some level that they're as broken as they claim humans are but they can't do anything about it. Moments later, the Cat is devoured by Neo's Jabberwalker clones while screaming in terror, a swift but brutal affair which Team RWBY react to with horror. Post-mortem, the Blacksmith expresses sorrow for the Cat's turn for the worse and the fact they couldn't be fixed by the Tree, and the flashback of the Cat's beginnings which highlights their original character hammers home the tragedy of their "unfortunate change" due to circumstances that were beyond their ability to change.
Allergic to Routine: Because they're constantly curious for new experiences, they're no longer interested in going to the Tree that team RWBY wishes to reach, because they've already been there before. Team RWBY has to lure them there with the prospect of being told all there is to know about. Remnant This is partially a lie, as the Cat does want to go to the tree, but wants to mentally break one of the girls before then so it can possess their body to return to Remnant with.
Alliterative Name: The Curious Cat.
Arch-Enemy: The Cat is effectively Jaune's biggest enemy during his time in the Ever After, with Jaune blaming them for seemingly getting Lewis fed to the tree and the Cat themself not being fond of the Rusted Knight either. It becomes even more personal when Jaune learns that they killed Alyx after she decided to stay and atone for her misdeeds.
Arc Villain: While the Cat has a frequently curious personality, it eventually turns out the Cat's determined to go to any lengths to search for answers to unanswered questions. Since their inability to figure out why the Gods abandoned it in favour of somewhere else has driven the Cat insane, they've been trying to leave for decades so they can find the answer. They fail with Alyx, and Jaune's too dedicated to waiting for Team RWBY and too mistrustful of the Cat. Thus, it focuses on manipulating Ruby; if a person crosses the Despair Event Horizon, their soul empties enough for the Cat to possess them. After Neo drives Ruby to despair and apparent suicide, the Cat realises Neo's an even emptier soul than Ruby and possesses her instead. The Curious Cat therefore becomes the final obstacle that Team RWBY and Jaune must defeat before they can achieve the goal they've pursued throughout Volume 9 of leaving the Ever After, which they succeed in during the finale after Ruby's triumphant return.
Assimilation Backfire: The Curious Cat needs to possess someone who's passed the Despair Event Horizon so they can use them to escape the Ever After into Remnant. When they possessed Neo, it turns out she has no emotional connection to Remnant anymore, and therefore can't pass through the door despite the Cat's efforts. Twofold when they learn that possessing Neo makes them vulnerable to experiencing her emotional turmoil, after the Cat has taken a big breath of the smoke from the Tree's burning leaves under the belief they retained their immunity.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: The Cat is very easily distracted by just about anything. Team RWBY often struggles to keep them on topic during a conversation, because one butterfly is all it takes to immediately make the Cat run off and forget all about what they were talking about.
Audience Surrogate: Team RWBY tells the Cat about Remnant, which prompts them to ask questions the viewers have been asking for years, ranging from as minor as wondering what happened to Ciel after Volume 3 to as significant as wondering about the implications of Ozpin and Oscar Sharing a Body.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: A Running Gag with their endless stream of questions is that the last one they ask in a conversation will have nothing to do with the other questions.
Bait-and-Switch: Jaune's rant about them indicates that they're Evil All Along, only for the Cat to respond in a hurt way that indicates they're tired of being used just for information and then cast aside when they're no longer useful. The next time we see them, they're pulling a Big Damn Heroes to save Ruby from Neo... only to immediately start sinking their claws into Ruby and confirming that Jaune was right; the Cat is a manipulative monster, and was only using the Team RWBY so he could break Ruby down enough to possess her and escape to Remnant.
Breath Weapon: They can shoot energy from their mouth to attack others.
Catch-22 Dilemma:
- In order to enter Remnant through the Ever Tree, they need to 'empty' a chosen vessel's soul out enough to make room for them to insert their heart into them and take full control. To do this, they try to drive natives of Remnant past the Despair Event Horizon to make them an Empty Shell that can be possessed. However, when they finally succeed with Neo, it turns out that the vessel also needs to possess an emotional connection to Remnant in order to use the Tree's portal; this prevents the Cat from leaving because Neo is too empty to have any remaining ties to Remnant. The Cat therefore decides to switch back to its original plan of possessing Ruby, believing she has the necessary connection; however, this also implies that possessing such a connection at all means that the vessel is no longer 'empty' enough to suit the Cat's purpose.
- Their purpose is to guide Afterans to ascension when they lose their way and mend their hearts when they break. However, if the Cat loses their way, they need to ascend, but they cannot do so on their own and need the Cat to help them, except they are the Cat and can't use their powers on themself.
Cats Are Mean: The Cat is Innocently Insensitive at best, and often makes carelessly or thoughtlessly cruel quips or jibes at others that sting their pride or mental state. Driven to evil by their inability to satisfy their curiosity about their makers, they try breaking Ruby to create an empty soul for it to possess. Although they fail with Ruby, they eventually succeed with Neo. The reveal of their true motives involves them losing their magenta-and-cyan colour in favour of becoming a black-and-white villain with a vicious, fang-filled grin.
Clipped-Wing Angel: After being forced out of Neo by the rush of memories and emotions, the Curious Cat transforms into a large Beast Man to continue trying to kill the heroes. Unfortunately for them, losing access to Neo's Semblance gets rid of the only advantage the Cat had, and while they battle WBY and Jaune with a slight advantage, the reunited Team RWBY trounces them. Once Ruby joins the fight the Cat's barely even able to scratch any of them before the four launch a Combination Attack that puts them down for good.
Constantly Curious: A subverted example. The Cat has an insatiable appetite for information. They're always asking questions and looking for something new to fascinate them, but rarely seem to understand the impact of the questions they're asking. However, it's eventually revealed they know exactly what they're doing and they intend to emotionally wear down Ruby until she's in a bereft state that's suitable for possession. This turns out to be its Fatal Flaw and implied to be the reason the Cat's the way it is, as the desire to know why the Brother Gods left the Ever After is what drives it.
Curiosity Is a Crapshoot: The Cat was created to be as curious as possible in order to fulfill its role, which is to guide Afterans to Ascension whenever they need help finding a new purpose. However, this leads to the Cat being mistrusted by beings from Remnant who interpret Ascension as Death of Personality and see it as something to fear instead of look forward to. The Cat eventually reveals that its purpose leaves it so driven to find answers to its questions that it cannot stop trying to uncover the reason why its makers abandoned the Ever After. It believes that its only solution is to possess a being from Remnant and travel there to find the answers it seeks; this requires breaking down a target until they cross the Despair Event Horizon, which opens their soul to Demonic Possession. In effect, being created "curious" means that the Cat has been driven to insanity and evil by an unanswerable question.
Detachable Lower Half: The Curious Cat can detach their back half from their front half and fuse themselves back together again, which they often do as they're searching for bugs.
Devoured by the Horde: Seconds after Team RWBY thwarts the Cat's plans, the latter is eaten alive by Neo's Jabberwalker clones. Team RWBY, who has a front row seat to their death, are understandably horrified.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The way the Curious Cat talks about possessing both Ruby and Neo, along with the way they pounce on Neo before they possess her, comes off as disturbingly reminiscent of a sexual predator. The Orifice Invasion they do to Neo as they posses her doesn't exactly help either.
Dramatic Irony: One of the major factors behind The Cat's Start of Darkness was wanting to know why the Brother Gods abandoned them. As the Blacksmith reveals, The Cat was "abandoned" because their purpose was to help the other inhabitants of the Ever After if they ever lost their way, and there was no reason for the Brothers to take The Cat along when they left to create other worlds. The only problem was they didn't realize The Cat wouldn't have anyone to help them when they lost their way.
Evil All Along: The Cat is eventually revealed to be more sinister than they initially appeared as those seemingly Innocently Insensitive comments were actually attempts to fill Ruby with despair so they could possess her to learn everything she knows and leave the Ever After.
Evil Costume Switch: After revealing that they were actually evil and witnessing Ruby commit suicide by drinking the tea, they decide to alter their appearance by changing the purple and blue of their design to black and white instead and grows bigger as a result right before they take over Neopolitan.
Eviler than Thou: The Cat comes into direct conflict with Neo once Ruby is at her breaking point, because Neo's desire to force Ruby to Ascend threatens the Cat's own plans to possess Ruby so they can access Remnant. Neo actually accomplishes her goal, but when the Meaningless Villain Victory reduces her to an Empty Shell, the Cat salvages their plan by possessing Neo instead; the latter having just enough presence of mind to be visibly horrified before the Cat takes her over.
Evil Laugh: The Cat regularly dissolves into laughter when they confront the heroes at the end of Volume 9. Their laughter is made more evil and unsettling because they've possessed Neo, whose inability to talk does not hinder the Cat's own ability to do so.
Fantastic Racism: The Cat has a dim opinion of humans, saying all of them are "broken, weak, confused, incomplete" creatures who break everything they touch, and they get a kick out of tormenting Jaune and Ruby. It's heavily implied that this attitude stems from the Cat's experiences with Alyx and the negative impact her "betrayal" had on them.
Foil: After the heroes spend all volume worrying about whether they'll screw up the Ever After the way Alyx did before them, the Blacksmith explains that any Remnant natives that make it to the Ever After always have an enormous impact on it. A single act of dishonesty from Alyx towards the Cat broke its heart and, with nothing existing that could ever fix the Cat, this led to immense harm for the Ever After. However, a single act of kindness from Ruby to Little triggered a transformation that led to their resurrection as Somewhat, an adventurer hero who will do immense good for the Ever After. The clashing impacts that Little and the Cat have on Ruby (the Cat trying to bring Ruby to despair and Little trying to keep Ruby's hope alive) are direct results of the impacts both Ruby and Alyx had on the Ever After through the primary Afterans that travelled with them.
Good Powers, Bad People: They have the power to assist those weary or misguided from their roles by giving them a piece of their own heart, and offering new perspectives that revitalize their determination. They can extend this to full-on Mind Control, making an Afteran named Hawker relentlessly and recklessly attack a Jabberwalker. They can also extend this further to Demonic Possession, fully entering the body of someone who's crossed the Despair Event Horizon to use as their own.
Have You Seen My God?: They eventually reveal that their true motive is to emotionally break a human from Remnant so thoroughly that they'll be an Empty Shell for them to possess. That will allow them to travel to Remnant to find answers to the questions the Cat has about their long-disappeared creators.
Horrifying the Horror: After the Curious Cat realizes Neo's been reduced to an Empty Shell, they gleefully tell her she'll be a suitable vessel for them, much to Neo's horror. This scenario is later reversed at the conclusion of the ninth volume, where being tricked into experiencing Neo's emotions and memories by breathing in smoke from the Tree's leaves causes the Cat to writhe on the floor in agony and terror before being forced to leave her body.
"No! These regrets! These feelings! I can't...! I CAN'T!"
Innocently Insensitive: While the Cat continuously asks questions due to their curiosity, they ask Team RWBY how they planned to stop Salem since Atlas was gone which only starts to worsen Ruby's state. This is later subverted in "Tea Amidst Terrible Troubles" when they reveal that they intentionally have been trying to break down Ruby in order to possess her, meaning that these comments were actually intended to make her feel bad with the Cat knowing what they were doing.
It's All About Me: The Cat's a very self-serving being, who only cares about escaping the Ever After to sate their "curse" of curiosity and find out why their Gods abandoned them, others be damned. Even before revealing their true colors, they only perceive others as sources of new knowledge or tools to the Cat's own ends. Once Alyx chose to stay in the Ever After to fix the damage she'd done to its inhabitants and to Jaune instead of fulfilling her deal to take the Cat to Remnant, the Cat furiously murdered her. While recounting this event to Jaune and Team RWBY, the Cat's voice is spitting with venom at Alyx's decision which the Cat frames as a "betrayal" of them, and the Cat mocks Alyx's conscientiousness.
Jerkass to One: The Cat is manipulative and ruthless in attaining their goals, and loathes humans to the point of cruelty, but they especially despise Jaune Arc, their former comrade and the sole remaining human member of the quadrio that they formed with Alyx. When pretending to be Team RWBY's ally, the Cat can't stop theirself from directing disparaging remarks at Jaune over his stubborness and shortcomings, in contrast to how they impeccably feign politeness and benevolence towards Team RWBY. When possessing Neo, the Cat needlessly goes out of their way to spit vitriol at Jaune specifically for no other reason than to spite him and put him down. And during the fight at the door, the Cat furiously rants and screams at Jaune when clashing with him, and they smile in pleasure when attacking Jaune in a psychological low blow with illusions of two people whose deaths traumatized him the most deeply. Jaune, for his part, returns the animosity, especially after he finds out the truth about Alyx's Heel–Face Door-Slam and the Cat's role in it.
Light Is Not Good: The Cat is a strange-looking creature that appears to be made out of some kind of hard light. They're revealed to be one of the Brothers' early creations to assist the denizens of the Ever After and heal their hearts, but became a self-serving, sadistic monster who used those same abilities to control and possess.
Manipulative Bastard: Jaune distrusts the Cat because he believes it's a manipulative being that brainwashes and controls Afterans to accept Death of Personality by portraying it as "healing" those who are lost or bereft of purpose. Thus, it presents itself as a friendly figure that is curious to learn new things while manipulating the individual into voluntarily giving themselves up to the Tree to nourish it. His instincts are not entirely wrong when it's revealed that the Cat was deliberately manipulating Ruby from the beginning to try and break her down until she became bereft of purpose. Once her soul was "empty", the Cat planned to possess her in order to travel to Remnant in the hopes of learning why their makers abandoned the Ever After in favour of creating Remnant. When Neo's vengeance prevents the Cat from possessing Ruby's body, they realise Neo's hollow victory has left her so empty that she's even more suitable as a vessel, and it possesses her instead.
Mask of Sanity: A downplayed example. The Cat spends most of Volume 9 acting mischievous, eccentric and flighty at worst around Team RWBY and Jaune. After losing their chance to possess Ruby only to instead target Neo, the Cat's tone and demeanor become a lot more manic — in the next episode, the Cat's voice sounds outright psychotic when they open up to the heroes about Alyx's fate and then they seek another chance to possess Ruby.
Meta Guy: After RWBY tells them the history of Remnant and recounts their own adventures, the Curious Cat makes a number of criticisms to the "story" such as the unfortunate implications of Oscar and Ozpin sharing a body or there being quite a lot of characters to keep up with. They also make a remark about the "voice work" being shoddy in parts, pointing out Weiss as an example.
Meaningful Name: The Curious Cat's name is a reference to the saying "Curiosity Killed the Cat". Throughout their life, the Cat could never ascend due to his role always making him Curious and eventually leading to Curiosity Is a Crapshoot and made it's main goal to escape the Ever After in order to learn why it's creators the Brother Gods abandoned them to make other worlds like Remnant. Eventually, the Cat decided to possess Neopolitan in order to escape until they are forced out due to her emotional trauma and defeated by Team RWBY. Before they can attack again however, Neopolitan creates clones of the Jabberwalker in order to devour the Cat. In other words, Curiosity Killed the Cat.
Motor Mouth: The Cat's endless curiosity and commentary on what they see means they will not stop talking other than to hunt insects, usually butterflies.
Native Guide: Unlike Little, who's never strayed too far from their own village before, the Curious Cat has been to many places, including the Tree. Team RWBY is able to convince the Cat to act as their guide by telling them what they know about their world of Remnant.
Non-Standard Character Design: Even amongst the Afterans. One, they have a checkerboard pattern on their skin, which is described as the overall aesthetic of the Ever After bleeding into their design. Two, they have a white outline, which actually caused problems in animation since the pipeline was built for black outlines shared by the rest of the cast.
No Self-Buffs: They can use their Soul Fragment abilities to help Afterans Ascend and realign to their purposes. However, this means that there is no one to help them if they stray. Their curiosity turned into a curse a long time ago and their desperation to escape it drove them to evil, preying on human visitors to the Ever After in an attempt to reach Remnant so that it can start answering the questions it has about that world.
"Not So Different" Remark: After Team RWBY and Jaune accuse the Cat of using and manipulating them to get them to the Tree for absorption, the Cat points out they were using and manipulating them to get themselves back to Remnant. They say Ascension only happens to Afterans, so they were helping them get home, whereas they're just repeating what Alyx did to them, which was use them and then ultimately betray them. They and the heroes ultimately part ways, unable to handle each other's motives.
Offscreen Teleportation: Never take your eyes off the Curious Cat, or they'll vanish off to their newest curiosity before you even realize it.
Psychological Projection: Their Villainous Breakdown after finally being defeated sees them devolving into crazed ranting that humans are "broken, weak, confused, and incomplete", something that aptly describes the Cat after giving away so many pieces of their heart, especially after Alyx let them down by deciding to stay behind.
Psychopomp: After Team RWBY demands to know what happened to the Herbalist, the Cat explains Herb lost their way and their heart was too weak to do anything about it. They subsequently gave Herb a piece of their heart, which allowed Herb to return to the Ever After and undergo Ascension, a process of "fixing" them before returning them to the Ever After to rediscover their purpose. Jaune believes the Cat's role is to "feed the Tree" with the lives of the Afterans under the pretense of helping them find a purpose. Blake realises that, when the Cat gave Herb a piece of their heart, the reason the ground opened up and swallowed them is because the Tree's roots spread out through the whole Ever After, allowing it to reclaim people from anywhere in the world.
Sadist: The Cat reveals in a gleeful tone of voice that they've been trying to break Ruby for their own purposes the entire time, before they sink their claws partway into her soul, causing her to shriek in agony. When the Cat opts to possess Neo instead of Ruby, they gleefully explain what they're about to do to her while she has just enough presence of mind to look terrified, and then they go out of their way to mock Jaune on his "sob story" and failings before departing.
Sizeshifter: They are normally the size of a house cat, but when pressed can take on a much larger and more intimidating form. When they decide to attack Neo, they increase in size so that they're as tall as a person when standing on their hind legs. This allows them to loom over Neo before possessing her.
Slasher Smile: They pull a disturbing one when they reveal they've been manipulating Ruby to become their host, and when they possess Neo.
Soul Fragment: They have the ability to give a bit of their heart to other people; they give a little to the Red Prince and the Herbalist, both of whom calm down and reflect on themselves honestly. In a darker light, they're also able to give a person a new purpose temporarily, which seems to function like Mind Control.
Start of Darkness: The Curious Cat was originally dutiful in their purpose within the Ever After of helping Afterans who lost their way. But their curiosity grew too great with the burning question of why the Gods left them in the Ever After. What finally turned the Cat to their wicked ways was when Alyx had her change of heart and chose to stay in the Ever After to fix her mistakes. To the Cat, she broke her promise and denied them the way to Remnant and the answers they crave, breaking their heart in turn. The furious Cat killed Alyx, and from there would go to any length to finally escape the Ever After.
Super Prototype: As the first original creation of the Brother Gods, the Cat has a variety of powers their fellow Afterans lack. Aside from the ability to bestow a piece of their heart to others, they can also disappear, float in the air, detach their body parts, unleash blasts of energy from their mouth, assume control over other people, even possessing their bodies should they become bereft of purpose, and shapeshift into larger forms for combat. However, the Cat's many powers are offset by their unquenchable curiosity and inability to mend their own heart or Ascend.
Time Abyss: Unlike the other inhabitants of the Ever After, the Cat's curiosity means they can't Ascend and lose their memories. It's later revealed that they were the first of the Brothers' creations, making them older than Salem, Ozma, and the entire world of Remnant.
Tragic Bigot: Implied Trope. The Curious Cat's psyche snapped after one of the first three humans they ever met promised to take the Cat to Remnant to learn more, and callously wrought havoc across the Ever After during their trek whilst having no intention of upholding their promise to the Cat — the latter act caused the Cat's weary mind to finally snap. Years later, the Cat plans to use deception and force against Team RWBY to reach Remnant, and they decry all humans as weak, broken and confused creatures who ruin everything they touch.
Tragic Villain: The Curious Cat's evil comes not from their own choices, but from a fundamental flaw placed in them since they were created: their heart can break and they can lose their purpose, but they can't heal theirself from either like they can heal other Afterans of the same. The thousands of years of abandonment, the Cat's own insatiable curiosity, and Alyx's perceived betrayal eventually transformed them from a sweet, compassionate creature who was happy to heal wayward souls into a bitter, selfish and sadistic monster who was unable to think of anything but their desperate need to get to Remnant and their hatred of humans. It's also heavily implied (via Psychological Projection) that the Cat knows they're broken but cannot do anything about it.
Undignified Death: After being forcibly ejected from Neo and getting trounced by a reawakened Ruby, the Cat meets their end screaming in agony as they are Eaten Alive by Neo's Jabberwalker clones.
Unreliable Narrator: The Curious Cat claims that Alyx broke her promise to take them to Remnant, painting her as a selfish girl who turned her back on everyone, even her brother. In truth, while Lewis returned to Remnant, Alyx decided she needed to stay in the Ever After and fix all the damage she caused. The Curious Cat killed her for taking away their chance to enter Remnant through her.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: "Of Solitude and Self" reveals that once upon a time at the very beginning of their existence the Curious Cat used to truly use their abilities to help others instead of being what they became, assisting those weary or misguided from their roles by giving them a piece of their own heart and offering new perspectives that revitalize their determination and being very gentle with those they helped like this. Then, they became an example of Curiosity Is a Crapshoot and transformed into the bitter, self-serving monster that Team RWBY would go on to meet. The Blacksmith actually shows notable sympathy towards the Cat, saying as the Gods created it with the ability to mend every broken heart except their own, once their suffering began, there was no way back for them.
Villainous Breakdown:
- They briefly lose their demeanour after Ruby is Driven to Suicide and sacrificed to the Tree, until they notice Neo who no longer has a purpose.
- They have a much deeper one when they rant about humans after being defeated by Team RWBY, and when Neo's Jabberwalker clones surround and devour them.
Walking Spoiler: They play a pivotal role in the final episodes of Volume 9, making it hard to discuss their actions without spoiling the volume's climax.
You Didn't Ask: The Cat quickly deflects any accusations of withholding information by simply stating no one asked them that specific question.

The Jabberwalker

Voiced By: Richard Norman

Debut: A Place of Particular Concern^*Volume 9 Episode 1

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jabberwalker.png

"Seeking... Searching... Scouring... Stalking..."

A strange creature with a caprine-shaped metallic head bearing three separate pairs of horns and a Grimm-esque body. It appears to have a quirk where it voices its thoughts and actions out loud.

Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear if the clones that Neo makes of it have the same ability to permanently kill Afterans the way that the original does. The Blacksmith is seen carving the Hawker on her table and has a representation of the Curious Cat. The representations on her table are of the forms living beings possess after having had a confirmed Ascension, such as the form of Somewhat, the Herbalist, a gem representing the Genial Gems, and the Brother Gods' later forms. However, the statues of the Hawker and the Curious Cat are in their familiar forms, making it ambiguous as to whether they Ascended into forms identical to their old ones or didn't Ascend at all.
Cessation of Existence: In the Ever After, Death Is Cheap and any fatal injury merely sends the Afteran back to the Tree for repair, with the potential to come back better than before. However, the Jabberwalker has the ability to permanently kill any Afteran they eat; the Afteran ceases to exist, body and soul.
Demonic Head Shake: Its eeriness is compounded by the fact that its head leaves both after and future images when it moves, darting in random directions before focusing on a new target.
The Dreaded: For the denizens of the Ever After, there is nothing scarier than this creature. It eats the people it captures, which prevents the victim from "ascending" in the world's form of reincarnation. Fortunately, there's only one Jabberwalker in the Ever After and a Rusted Knight exists to protect the people from it. And then Neo learns how to clone the creature, enabling her to attack with a clone army of them.
Flawed Prototype: The Volume 9 finale reveals it to be a creation of the two Brothers, meaning its slight resemblance to the Grimm isn't coincidence; it's their Afteran predecessor. However, it is far weaker with it only being a true threat against Afterans, who lack any kind of protector or warrior until the Rusted Knight.
Gone Horribly Wrong: The Brothers created it as a counter to the Cat, to kill Afterans who could not be repaired so they could be sent back to the Tree. However, the Jabberwalker proved to be far too powerful, inflicting final death on the things it ate, and far too stupid, attacking all Afterans regardless of whether they needed it or not. The Brothers argued heavily over whether to keep it or destroy it, but neither fixed it.
Hidden Agenda Villain: The people of Ever After don't know where it came from or why it hunts them. It is shown searching for something and paws through the rubble of a darkened wasteland while muttering about "fixing", but it's not revealed what it's looking for or what it wants to fix. Neo arriving and hijacking it for her own purposes turns it towards hunting Team RWBY. The end of the Volume heavily implies that it was searching for the Curious Cat and wanted to "fix" the Cat's insanity by devouring it, and confirms it was an experiment by the Brothers Gone Horribly Wrong.
Hijacked by Ganon: Shortly after it's introduced, it is killed by Neo, who makes clones of it from her Semblance, sending it to attack Team RWBY in her quest for revenge.
Know When to Fold 'Em: As soon as the Jabberwalker realizes it's outnumbered three-to-one, it assesses the situation then decides to retreat because the odds are against it.
Meaningful Name: The Jabberwalker narrates its every move and desire.
Non-Malicious Monster: The Jabberwalker does not wish genuine malice on the beings it hunts, but is simply acting out its purpose as the Brothers gave it.
Obviously Evil: When Ruby, Weiss and Blake first encounter the creature, they see a lean, grimm-like body, a strange metallic head with three sets of horns, and it's talking to itself in a strange, echoing voice. Its head creates echoes of its movements both before and after they happen, it seems to be hunting for something. Weiss and Blake automatically assume it's dangerous even before it's spotted them and move in to attack it, weapons drawn. Once Yang joins in, the Jabberwalker assesses the trio, then flees. The Curious Cat reveals that the Jabberwalker is a creature that eats other denizens of the Ever After, an action that can cause actual death and circumvent the world's reincarnation cycle.
Paper Tiger: Despite its fearsome appearance and voice, it does not seem to be as dangerous as it looks. It quickly flees when outnumbered by Team RWBY, and it's terrified when Neo uses her Semblance to create a clone army to fight it. It's revealed to be more dangerous to the people of the Ever After due to their lack of capable fighters save for the Rusted Knight. It is also much more dangerous when there's more than one.
Reincarnation: At the very end of Volume 9, as the Blacksmith reaches to pick up the statues of the Brother Gods, a model of the Jabberwalker is clearly seen among the models of the other Ascended characters. It's therefore heavily implied that Neo did kill it off-screen and that, even though it brings permanent death to those it kills, it is as capable of Ascending as the others.
Sapient Eat Sapient: The Jabberwalker is a sapient creature and will eat other sentient denizens of the Ever After. The clones made by Neopolitan also have the same properties as the original, so their victims' deaths are permanent.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Jabberwalker is a creature with purple skin that spasms when it moves just like the God of Darkness. It's later revealed that the Jabberwalker was created by the Brothers in the Ever After's distant past.
Voice of the Legion: When Ruby, Weiss and Blake encounter the Jabberwalker, it's speaking single words with a reverberating, almost electronic-sounding, echo. Weiss and Blake immediately draw their weapons and move in on it, assuming it's evil and a threat before it's even noticed them. When it does spot them, it charges at Blake with the declaration "Danger! Death!"

Characters / RWBY: The Ever After

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The Ever After

The Jungle Acre

Little / Somewhat

Voiced By: Luci Christian Foreign VAsAoi Yūki (Japanese)

Debut: A Place of Particular Concern*Volume 9 Episode 1

Mouse Leader

Voiced By: Jamie Battle

Debut: A Place of Particular Concern*Volume 9 Episode 1

The King's Acre

The Jinxy Peddler

Voiced By: Brendan Blaber

Debut: Altercation at the Auspicious Auction*Volume 9 Episode 2

The Red Prince

Voiced By: Michael MalconianForeign VAsKappei Yamaguchi (Japanese)

Debut: Rude, Red, and Royal*Volume 9 Episode 3

Toy Guards

Voiced By: Billy B. Burson III, Michael Malconian

Debut: Rude, Red, and Royal*Volume 9 Episode 3

The Gardens Acre

The Hawker

Voiced By: César Altagracia

Debut: The Parfait Predicament*Volume 9 Episode 5

The Herbalist

Voiced By: Chris Guerrero

Debut: A Cat Most Curious*Volume 9 Episode 4

Jaune Arc / The Rusted Knight

Debut: The Parfait Predicament*Volume 9 Episode 5

The Origami Acre

The Paper Pleasers

Debut: The Perils of Paper Houses*Volume 9, Episode 7

Others

The Blacksmith

Voiced By: Kimlinh TranForeign VAsHaruka Shibuya (Japanese)

Debut: The Parfait Predicament*Volume 9 Episode 5

The Curious Cat

Voiced By: Robbie DaymondForeign VAsSetsuji Satou (Japanese)

Debut: Rude, Red and Royal*Volume 9 Episode 3

The Jabberwalker

Voiced By: Richard Norman

Debut: A Place of Particular Concern*Volume 9 Episode 1

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Index

Next

Voiced By: Luci Christian ^{Foreign VAs}Aoi Yūki (Japanese)

Debut: A Place of Particular Concern^*Volume 9 Episode 1

Debut: A Place of Particular Concern^*Volume 9 Episode 1

Debut: Altercation at the Auspicious Auction^*Volume 9 Episode 2

Voiced By: Michael Malconian^{Foreign VAs}Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese)

Debut: Rude, Red, and Royal^*Volume 9 Episode 3

Debut: Rude, Red, and Royal^*Volume 9 Episode 3

Debut: The Parfait Predicament^*Volume 9 Episode 5

Debut: A Cat Most Curious^*Volume 9 Episode 4

Debut: The Parfait Predicament^*Volume 9 Episode 5

Debut: The Perils of Paper Houses^*Volume 9, Episode 7

Voiced By: Kimlinh Tran^{Foreign VAs}Haruka Shibuya (Japanese)

Debut: The Parfait Predicament^*Volume 9 Episode 5

Voiced By: Robbie Daymond^{Foreign VAs}Setsuji Satou (Japanese)

Debut: Rude, Red and Royal^*Volume 9 Episode 3

Debut: A Place of Particular Concern^*Volume 9 Episode 1