Fridge for RWBY.
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Fridge Sadness
- Seeing how Weiss first reacts to seeing her big sister and how she wanted bunk beds when she was younger, Weiss may have wished to have a normal and loving relationship with her big sis. Instead, Winter is very cold to her little sister and even hits her when she makes a simple mistake. The worst part is that Winter clearly loves Weiss just as much as Weiss loves her, but she can't show it in public.
- Pyrrha's last kiss with Jaune is made worse in retrospect, once Jaune's semblance is actually revealed. His ability to enhance the Aura and abilities of others would have allowed Pyrrha to unleash greater level of Ferrokenetic ability than she had before, recharged her Aura and even healed her wounds, such as the arrow straight to her heel that set her up for Cinder's killing blow. Far from being a liability that Pyrrha had to keep away from the fighting, Jaune's presence could have made all the difference between her death or survival, especially since he did unlock his Semblance the next time the heroes faced Cinder, but by refusing to fight together and not trusting Jaune enough to be capable of protecting himself, Pyrrha sealed her own fate. It's never elaborated if Jaune has since realized this, but given his feelings of inadequacy for the task faced by everybody, realizing he was denied the chance to make a meaningful difference to events because of how weak others perceived him to be would only make him feel worse.
- Notice how, in "The Lost Fable", whilst Ozma eventually came clean to Salem about the secret he'd been hiding from her (the nature and purpose of his resurrection), there's nothing throughout the Origins Episode to suggest that Salem ever came clean to Ozma about the secret she'd been hiding (that she was directly responsible for provoking the Gods into eradicating the rest of the original human race). It's entirely possible that across all his lives, Ozpin didn't know Salem's secret (not for certain at least) until Jinn showed it to him and Team RWBY during this episode's present-day setting. Think about that: during this episode, as if re-viewing the worst mistakes and losses of his long life in one sitting wasn't bad enough, Ozpin has also just watched conclusive and excruciatingly-detailed proof that the woman he loved is responsible for ending the world as he originally knew it and breaking the current world for millennia, and that all of this started because he died. Is it any wonder he was in the state that he was at the start of the next episode and reacted so badly to Qrow's rejection?! This also makes one feel even more that Qrow and Team RWBY were much harsher on Ozpin than he deserved in that moment.
- According to Word of God, Ironwood's Semblance, Mettle, gives him the conviction to make whatever sacrifices he needs to achieve his goals. Semblances almost always stop working when the owner's Aura breaks, so after Winter defeated him, he saw Salem holding the item he'd sacrificed scores of innocent lives to protect without his Semblance. My God, What Have I Done? probably doesn't even begin to describe what he felt in that moment.
- May pilots her getaway craft from the right-hand seat, which is typically meant for the co-pilot. (Compare her with Neo, who sits on the left in the same make of aircraft.) It's not hard to imagine that May's muscle memory defaulted to getting in the co-pilot's side, expecting Robyn to be there to take the wheel.
- While Jaune NEEDED to fill his time stopping the Paper Pleasers from Ascending to keep himself mentally occupied and as sane as possible, his increased obsession with it also prevented him from meeting up and guiding team RWBY himself, which could have prevented them from redoing parts of Alyx's story including their meeting with the Curious Cat, who wanted to break Ruby and turn her into a new vessel for themself to escape the Ever After.
- What made this worse is that his newfound duties were what kept him sane for literal decades while Ruby and Neo were so broken within a day of entering Ever After that Ruby drank poisoned tea and ascended while Neo became an Empty Shell ripe for possession by the Curious Cat, who Jaune was right about being Evil All Along.
- What makes the suicide of the Paper Pleasers even sadder is the fact that if Jaune hadn't prevented them from Ascending, they would have just simply gone to the tree by touching its leaves instead of going through horrific ways to kill themselves.
- Ruby's venting at Jaune over mourning for his paper friends takes on a whole new meaning when you remember how she barely had time to mourn for the loss of Penny and anytime she is given a chance to, it's immediately taken away either by Ever After's denizens or her own friends (who she includes in the venting). What's worse? The way WBY comforts Jaune over the loss of his paper friends, to Ruby at least, made her feel like a bunch of paper people (who they collectively agreed wanted to die just minutes prior) were more important than a close friend who risked everything to save yet died regardless.
- The illusion Torchwick conjured up by Neo's Semblance notably two voices that are switching back and forth if you listen carefullynote . While it emphasizes his true nature as a physical illusion created by Neo, there's a slight sadness to it by the implication of her starting to forget what Roman once sounded like. By the time of Volume 9, a good amount of In-Universe years have passed since Roman Torchwick's death and the only physical thing Neo has left of him is his spare bowler hat. Taking this into factor and the Cross Continental Transmit System being offline after Volume 3, it's a high possibility that Neo has no physical recording of Roman's voice to listen to for further remembrance.
- The sad thing? The one time Ruby's Kirk Summation could have worked? It's the one time she's too mad to even use it, as when Neo brings up her reason for wanting Ruby dead, she just refuses to even tell Neo what happened to Roman.
- Neo's Penny illusion's speech is very personal and much longer than any of her other illusion's lines. At first one could just assume she was using how close Ruby was to Penny to torment her... until one realizes the idea of "Someone who meant the world to you, who you failed to protect" applies just as much to Roman and Neo as it does to Penny and Ruby.
- Jaune's weapons and fighting style changing over the course of time can be used to reflect his mental state and growth. He starts off with a basic sword and shield with little experience on how to use them. After the fall of Becacon and the death of Pyrrha, he gets an upgrade with his bastard sword, throwing defense to the wayside and making what can be seen as suicide charges best seen in his fight with Cinder. In Atlas, he gets another upgrade to his shield and focusing more on defense while also making new friends. After killing Penny his sword breaks likely pushing him to the breaking point and he doesn't get it fixed in the everafter letting it collect rust with like him staying with the paper pleasers and falling into a routine.
- When Ruby vents to Yang and Blake about how everyone was happy for them finally kissing, while it might have been Lampshade Hanging at the notion that it took them forever to get to that point, when you factor in that Ruby was processing the loss of Penny and how one of the more popular ships with Ruby was with Penny, it can read differently as her being envious at what Blake and Yang have. The final nail in the coffin? Jaune blaming Ruby for him having to kill Penny and making it seem like it traumatized him more than her, as her next words after Jaune's own snapping was to tell Blake to shut up.
