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Arcs:
Reawakening arc: 1-2
A Slayer of Feral Beasts
Take heed, thou with eyes of Argent, touched by the Wraiths themselves. You have been born unto a crucible where you are destined for everlasting war. You and whoever is unfortunate to stand at your side will face eternal torment against horrors beyond comprehension, and they will fall before your unbelievable might. Wherever you go you and your seed will find no peace, and only death, destruction and untold suffering will follow in your wake. The enemies of Argent D'Nur – traitors, beasts and the Slaves of Doom, you will exterminate them all.
- Corrax Entry 1:2
- Bag of Spilling: In this chapter, the Slayer discovers his Chain-gun, Plasma Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Gauss Cannon, and BFG-9000 were sent to Atlas while he was unconscious.
- BFS: The Slayer took Marlowe's chainsaw for himself. It qualifies because of its sheer size and how he wields it as if it were just a sword.
- Chainsaw Good: The Doom Slayer takes Marlowe's chainsaw for himself when his old one runs out of fuel.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: The Praetor Suit played this trope.
- Establishing Series Moment: Want to know what you're in for? The Slayer brutally mutilates the White Fang. He outright punched the jaw clean off of one of them! Yep, you're in for one hell of a bloodbath.
- Full-Frontal Assault: The Doom Slayer's first action upon reawakening was to slaughter some members of the White Fang while completely naked.
- Groin Attack: William performs this trope when he cuts off Marlowe’s groin with a broken sword.
- Mistaken for Racist: The Slayer doesn't have anything against Faunus - or Beastkin as he calls them. He got mistaken by White Fang members for a racist because of what he refers to them as and some of his insults toward Adam motivated him to kill his opponent more than he normally would be.
- Naked on Revival: Since the Atlesian scientists took his armor to study, the Doom Slayer first awakens in the buff.
Kneecapped With a High-Powered Energy Pistol
So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
- Corrax Entry 7:17
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Ironwood appears in this chapter before his Vol. 2 debut alongside Winter, whose first appearance here takes place before her Vol. 3 debut.
- Beyond the Impossible: Winter saw that the Grimm were very hesitant to fight the Slayer. She didn't think it was possible for Grimm to feel fear.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Slayer's first encounter with the White Fang and Adam.
- Horrifying the Horror: The Creatures of Grimm, the soulless animalistic abominations that roam the World of Remnant, with an attraction to negative emotions, and hostility to Humans & Faunus, are terrified of the Doom Slayer and are reluctant to fight him.
- Hypocrite: During their fight, Adam Taurus calls the Slayer a murderer. Adam Taurus, a homicidal maniac who gleefully kills humans left and right out of his desire for revenge for the abuses of the Faunus race, calls the Slayer a murderer.
- Knee-capping: Adam Taurus’ fight with the Doom Slayers ends with him getting shot in the kneecaps.
- Visual Title Drop: What happens in this chapter? The Slayer kneecaps Adam with his high-powered energy pistol.
The New World arc: Chapters 3-7
Guns and Roses, Beneath The Black Snow
Be wary of even the fair maiden's innocent, purest smile. For behind it there is a warrior's soul ready to be unleashed, untainted that it will withstand unholy damnation to bring even the Shadow Realms to heel.
- Corrax Entry 5:14
- Odd Friendship: Ruby, a hyperactive scythe-wielding weapon fanatic, befriends the Doom Slayer, a near-silent, rage-filled demon killer.
Sign of Evil, Obscured by Shroud
Treat the beastmen's women delicately. For she is of more sound of mind and reason than the men who easily succumb to the rage that drives them feral. Do not be so quick to judge should one carry a blade in one hand and a gun in the other, for she might very well be the one to redeem the beastmen of their sins long past against D'Nur.
- Corrax Entry 8:6
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Blake Belladonna first appears in this chapter.
Corpsegrinder
Hell dares profane the holy city with their Unwilling slaves' footsteps? For everyone we killed I hope they felt each death as if were a kick to their demonic balls!
- An Unidentified Night Sentinel, Following the first (pyrrhic) victory during the defense of the Taras Nabad, The Holy City
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- All of Team CFVY debuts in this Chapter. In canon, Velvet first appeared in the Volume 1 episode “Jaunedice”, while Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi debut in Volume 2’s “Field Trip”.
- Deag Grav makes his debut in this Chapter while his first appearance was in DOOM Eternal.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: The Slayer and Ruby when fighting a horde of Grimm.
- Brutal Honesty: When Ruby was on the verge of puking from the gruesome ritualistic suicide they saw in a cathedral, the Slayer told her to suck it up. He even told Yang after she killed a Possessed to get over the whole "These Hands Have Killed" stint since they're going to be killing them a lot from then on.
- Break the Cutie: Blake becomes distraught at the sight of Fiona & Viola
- Suicide Pact: The Slayer, Blake, and Ruby discover a ritualistic mass suicide that took place inside the Marysville Cathedral of the Two Brothers.
- Shout-Out: The title of this chapter refers to George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher, who was the lead singer of the band Cannibal Corpse.
- Stress Vomit: Ruby after the Marysville Cathedral fight.
- These Hands Have Killed: Ruby has this reaction after the fight in Marysville, knowing that the Possessed she killed were once people.
Hot Ember Steel Uppercut
She shines brighter than a thousand suns, her heat is enough to bring the mightiest of dragons down and the power behind her fists will give even the shadow lords pause. She will join your crusade without question, for she lives only for the conflict your journey shall surely bring.
- Corrax Entry 6:21
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Yang Xiao-Long and Glynda Goodwitch debut in this chapter.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: While the Slayer acknowledges that Yang is attractive, he's completely unperturbed by her flirtatious nature. This actually surprises Yang.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The Bullhead pilot when he notices an incoming Beringel.
- Winter when she notices the airship crashland.
White Myrtles, Silver Eyes
At Doom’s Gate arc: 8-12
BJ Blazkowicz III
- Death by Adaptation: Junior's men (the ones that assisted Roman's robbery) are a case of What Happened to the Mouse? in canon since they were never heard from again and their fates are unconfirmed. Here, the Slayer brutally injures them when they attempt the same robbery.
The Infernal Beacon
- The Gadfly: William flicks Weiss' nose for no reason.
- It's All About Me: As Glynda states after reading her codex, Olivia Pierce only cared about achieving God-hood and her followers were little more than stepping-stones to get that power. In her farewell to them, she outright told them this in what is perhaps the most backhanded “thank you” ‘’ever’’.
- Shout-Out: The phrase "Raining blood from a lacerated sky" found in this Chapter, comes from the Slayer song, "Raining Blood".
Rip and Tear
Selective Truths
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck.
- Professor Leonardo Lionheart.
- Salem.
- Eye Scream: In Ruby’s nightmare, it’s revealed that this Summer had her eyes bored out of her sockets and has a giant, bloody hole in her stomach, indicating that her womb was ripped out of her body!
- Summer: Please, Ruby. Come rot in Hell with me.
- Idiot Ball: The Councils of Remnant refuse to send reinforcements to the Academies still under siege from demons, demand that occult artifacts be brought straight to them when getting rid of them entirely will do a better job at mitigating Hell portals, and on top of that, still plan on having the Vytal Festival when canceling the event and pouring their focus into their demon invasion problem would be far more productive, and they're later pretty much forced to cancel it. It's telling that Ozpin and the Slayer often get better results by ignoring them.
- Oh, Crap!: Blake has this reaction after William says the word ‘Cat’ to her.
Bruises
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Amber makes an early appearance.
- Berserk Button: Yang does this after VEGA estimates Team RWBY has a 90% chance of dying during a full-scale demonic invasion.
- Brutal Honesty:
- William figures out that Blake is a Faunus in hiding very easily and calls her out on running from her problems rather than facing them.
- Ozpin's introduction speech to the new students at Beacon actually subverts the brutal honesty it displayed in canon. Since the students that survived were able to fend off the demons, an unseen enemy that caught everyone off guard, Ozpin included, he's more polite with his words since everyone has already proven themselves.
- Mythology Gag: The Slayer gives the tip "shoot em' till' they die", which is a spin on the fake GamePro magazine protip "To defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies."
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The Slayer and Ozpin have a fight offscreen.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Ozpin tells the Slayer that if he can land one hit on him, he can leave Beacon grounds and do whatever he wants. While Ozpin stalemates the Slayer, he takes several hits, so he lost his bet and has to give the Slayer free reign over where he goes.
- Ship Tease: Yang is rather appreciative of seeing William bare-chested when he's getting bandaged up, deciding to stay and watch while Weiss and Ruby leave the tent blushing.
- The Worf Effect: A downplayed case occurs when Ozpin fights the Slayer. The battle happens off-screen and ultimately ends in a stalemate with the two of them bloodied and bruised, which shows that Ozpin is the ONLY person on Remnant that can fight the Slayer and hope to come out alive when he actually wants to kill you.
Demon Seed arc: 13-20
This Train of Pain…
- Brutal Honesty: Williams plays this trope numerous times:
- He is harsh when he mentors Team RWBY when it comes to fighting. He pretty much calls Ruby "hopeless" when she doesn't have her weapon - which is pretty damn accurate - and calls Yang out on having very easily exploitable problems (such as her long hair and her temper) that can easily be rectified.
- He also calls out RWBY, JNPR, and Glynda for not stopping CRDL's bullying, since doing nothing about it is as bad as being a bully in his eyes.
- Bystander Syndrome: Averted and Discussed. Unlike everybody else, William doesn't sit back and let Velvet get picked on by Cardin and reacts accordingly.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: William wrecked Team RWBY while training. Yang called him out on holding back against them, with Weiss asking if she's borderline-suicidal in wanting him to go all out.
- Grudging "Thank You": While Velvet was grateful that the Slayer helped protect her from team CRDL, she was very disgruntled that he had to be the one to help her (she considers him to be as frightening and monstrous as the demons) and not her teammates.
- Mythology Gag: Yang expected William to openly declare "Guns are for wusses." This originates from the Doom Comic.
- Shout-Out: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song 'Clandestine Ways' by Cattle Decapitation.
- Sleeps in the Nude: Cinder is shown getting out of bed naked. She doesn't flinch when Salem’ (communicating through a Seer Grimm) enters the room to talk to her.
- Underestimating Badassery: Cardin assumes that a majority of the Slayer's abilities came from his Praetor Suit, and that he'd be a sitting duck without it due to his inability to produce Aura. He’s about to be proven wrong in the next chapter.
14: …Is Finally Boarding
- Armor Is Useless: The Aura levels of Team CRDL were at 100% (in the green), yet the Slayer managed to bring each of them to their knees.
- Armor-Piercing Question: The Slayer asks Glynda if she is stopping him now.
- Bullying a Dragon: Team CRDL naturally paid the price for this. And Cardin still plans on getting back at him one day.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Team CRDL's 'fight' against the Slayer. To add salt to the wounds, he wasn't even wearing his Praetor suit.
- Mythology Gag: Cardin named his mace "The Great Communicator", which was the nickname for Doomguy’s chainsaw. Ironically, the Slayer finds this name to be incredibly dumb.
- Shout-Out: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song 'Clandestine Ways' by Cattle Decapitation.
- Too Dumb to Live: Team CRDL did this in regards to the Slayer, to the point where they enter this territory. They're still squarely in this territory for the record.
- Underestimating Badassery: Team CRDL was under the impression that a majority of the Slayer's abilities came from his Praetor Suit, and that he'd be a sitting duck without it due to his inability to produce Aura. This notion is almost immediately dispelled after he casually beats down Team CRDL without a shred of effort or his suit. If anything, the collective of Beacon's student body is more terrified of him than they already were.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Velvet calls her teammates out on not being there to help her when she was being bullied by team CRDL.
Chapter 15: Burning Hellblade Impale
- Curb-Stomp Battle: During a sparring match between Team JNPR and the Slayer, the former lasted only a minute and forty-seven seconds. This is considered a massive improvement, as the last time they sparred, they only lasted twenty seconds.
- Oh, Crap!: Jaune panics when the Slayer starts suspecting the truth about how he got into Beacon.
Chapter 16: Intestinal Garrote
Chapter 17: GRVE Encounter
Chapter 18: A Study In Pain
Chapter 19: The Monster
- Big Brother Bully: Downplayed. William was shown to be a loving older brother, but there is a minor flashback that heavily implies that he hit his younger brother, though he was also shown feeling absolutely horrible about what he did. He was actually so convinced that he'd become this that he ran away so he wouldn't hurt his brother ever again.
- Mythology Gag: Cinder's hate for the Slayer after he nearly killed her reflects her canon counterpart's hate for Ruby after she bested and crippled her in the Volume 3 finale.
Chapter 20: Hellbound
- Wham Episode: This chapter reveals that Professor Peach was behind the demon assaults on Beacon Academy and ends with Team RWBY and the Doom Slayer getting sent to Hell.
