Follow TV Tropes

Following

Webcomic / Henceforward

Go To

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

"At the inheriting ceremony of Weiss Schnee, a sudden Faunus attack was commenced without warning. In chaos, Weiss wanted to rendezvous with Blake first, only to find she had betrayed the entire Team RWBY… Henceforward, Team RWBY no longer exists."
Chapter 1

Henceforward AU is an alternate universe webcomic created by Kuma, based on the Rooster Teeth show RWBY. After a shocking betrayal and a rise in terrorist attacks, the world of Remnant has taken a sharp turn for the worst. Enter Weiss, the sole graduating huntress of the former Team RWBY, and her Huntress-Freelance former leader as they try to make things right.

The comic can be read on the author's Tumblr or Pixiv.

The comic has been on indefinite hiatus since 2018, currently making it a Dead Fic.


Henceforward contains examples of:

  • Alien Invasion: In this universe, humans are a race of people who descended to Remnant from the moon, conquered the native Faunus, and used Faunus genes to give themselves semblance and Aura.
  • Arc Words: Henceforward…
  • Badass Boast: "I bear the hatred of the entire world".
  • Becoming the Mask: Blake when literally putting on a mask after becoming a wanted terrorist.
  • Betrayal Fic: The story starts with Blake betraying everyone.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Happens several times throughout the manga:
    • The first chapter opens with Weiss defending a roomful of businessmen from a rabid Grimm. Subverted in that said Grimm was let in by Ruby intentionally so Weiss could showcase her power.
    • Just as it seems Ruby and Weiss will be killed by the horde of Grimm in chapter 16, Yang makes a comeback and defeats all the creatures.
    • After Jaune is swallowed up by the Grimm lake in chapter 29, Pyrrha makes a heroic comeback and completely empties the lake to save him. This is after we learn that the lakes have the ability to utterly corrupt anything that falls into them, making Pyrrha's invulnerability to it all the more impressive.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Yang has become a lot more eager for violence post-timeskip.
  • Bridal Carry:
    • Weiss to Ruby after the latter is injured in chapter 16. While absolutely shredding the Grimm around them, no less.
    • Happens again in chapter 34, this time by Yang to Blake during their fight.
  • Call-Back:
    • Weiss calls Ruby a dolt several times, but it is clear the two's relationship has progressed a long way since their first meeting.
    • Jaune calls Weiss Snow Angel as a joke the first time they speak on panel.
    • "I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."
    • Ruby says "I'm combat ready!" during her reunion with Yang in chapter five, after she drinks three mugs of alcohol.
    • Just like how RWBY fended off Roman using team attacks in Volume 2, Ruby uses "White Rose" as an attack combo for her and Weiss.
    • Yang says "nailed it" after being sent flying by a Grimm attack in chapter 11.
    • A dark version in chapter 26, when Jaune orders Nora to break Ruby's legs after she speaks badly of Pyrrha.
    • Possibly unintentional, but during her fight with Yang, Blake says, "Do you believe in fate?". Yang's reply? "I don't believe in destiny." The minor language incongruity may be a a result of Engrish.
    • Upon Roman's comeback as of chapter 38, he says to Ruby, "Remember what I said? What I'm best at is "surviving"."
  • The Cameo: Adam shows up in Blake's flashback to explain the origin of the Faunus-human conflict.
  • Career-Ending Injury: Ruby was stabbed straight through her spine with Blake’s Gambol Shroud. Though she narrowly avoids death and paralysis, this inhibits her physical capabilities to an extreme degree. Her reflexes are dulled, she can only lift half her body weight, and she must avoid any more physical trauma for fear of the damage worsening. This keeps her from achieving her dream of becoming an official Huntress and forces her to heavily redesign her weapon and fighting style to manage any sort of combat effectiveness.
  • Cooldown Hug: Between Ruby and Yang, and later Blake and Yang.
  • Cool Mask: A kitsune one is worn by Blake to conceal the marks under her eyes which indicate her connection with the Faunus network.
  • Creepy Crosses: Ruby wears a large cross-shaped pendant in her first outfit. It turns out to be a Tragic Keepsake made from the shards of Gambol Shroud.
  • Darker and Edgier:
    • The tone of the series is very dark from the get-go, with Blake having tried to kill Ruby and people across Remnant suffering from some unnamed Aura-related illness.
    • Inverted in some ways as of Volume 3's sudden shift in tone, as in Henceforward Pyrrha is still alive and eventually makes a heroic comeback to save Jaune when he falls into a Grimm lake, Yang still has both arms, and a panel in chapter 21 and chapter 31 imply Penny is alive and well at Beacon. It turns out even Roman is still alive! Kuma has commented by saying that Henceforward is an alternate timeline from RWBY. In general, it appears the world has become Darker and Edgier, while for individual characters their fates are actually Lighter and Softer as of Volume 3.
  • Deadly Hug: "Blake. I miss you so much... I was always praying. Always praying that I can meet you again, AND MAKE YOU PAY!"
  • Death Seeker: Yang feels responsible for Ruby's condition after she couldn't bring herself to kill Blake. As a result, she makes herself out to be The Scapegoat for the incident and runs away (contrasting what happens in the actual show). She becomes much more reckless and moody, at least until Ruby finds her again.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: The history of Remnant is basically the multiple violent takeovers of Taiwan all rolled in one, with emphasis on the Qing and Japanese ones.
  • Ear Notch: Blake’s ear after a gang of Faunus try to tear them off for siding with humanity.
  • Eldritch Location: The lake in chapter 6. It's filled with Grimm masks, and when Blake drops a bouquet of flowers into it, a tree bearing dead bodies instead of fruit sprouts up. It is a Grimm graveyard with the ability to corrupt anything that falls into it.
  • Engrish: Kuma is a native Chinese speaker, so the English in speech bubbles, while still conveying the general meaning successfully, tends to lack grammaticality.
  • Enemy Within: The Network for Blake and the Faunus race in general.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: Jaune's hair is longer and messier post-timeskip.
  • Expressive Hair: Yang's cowlick.
  • Flashback: Happens quite often in order to explain events in the present.
  • Fighting Your Friend: Team JN_R battle against Ruby in chapter 24 and 25, a culmination of their different methods of achieving the same goal.
  • Forced Transformation:
    • the Creatures of Grimm, having once been Faunus.
    • Also seen in the rabbit Faunus boy, who can transform into a giant Grimm when in a rage and back into a child when he calms down.
  • Government Conspiracy: The human governments are concealing the truth about the origin of Faunus, by teaching a false history in schools and sabotaging any successful attempts to capture and study Grimm.
  • Guilt Complex: Ruby feels that her limitations as a team leader are what led to RWBY falling apart.
  • Handicapped Badass: Despite making a recovery from her illness and blowing up a Grimm lake in true heroic fashion, Pyrrha now has to learn to live without the help of her semblance, upon which she was so reliant before.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Despite attacking Ruby in chapter 28 and her subsequently crippling his entire team, just a minute later Jaune doesn't hesitate to jump into the Grimm lake to save her from falling in.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters
  • Human Weapon: Weiss undergoes grueling training after Blake's betrayal, and succeeds in attaining the ability to summon and manipulate Dust from her own body.
  • I Did What I Had to Do
  • Important Haircut: Ruby at the end of chapter 31.
  • In the Hood: Jaune when JN_R confront Ruby, to signify the fall from innocence he's undergone since their Beacon days.
  • The Mole:
    • Unintentionally Blake after betraying Team RWBY and nearly killing Ruby.
    • Yang to the rest of the world after lying and claiming to help Blake and the faunus terrorists get into Weiss’ inauguration in the first place.
  • Mythical Motifs: Dragons to Yang.
  • No Shirt, Long Jacket: Sun retains his Walking Shirtless Scene status all these years later.
  • Official Couple: Most teammates become a couple after the timeskip, including Ruby and Weiss, Ren and Nora, who go on to have a child together.
  • Older and Wiser: Everyone, as expected. However, this comes with a great deal of guilt for the members of Team RWBY, each of whom feels partially responsible for the ways things are in the present.
  • People Jars: Grimm are stored in these by Oobleck for research into the Aura-affecting disease.
  • Perfect Pacifist People: the Faunus because of their telepathic network, before the humans invaded and corrupted the network with negative emotions, causing many of them to shift into Grimm.
  • Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: Ruby and Jaune both come out scarred after Weiss’ inauguration.
  • Power of Trust
  • Power Tattoo: Yang, revealed once she takes off Ember Celica.
  • Regretful Traitor: Blake.
  • Rugged Scar:
    • Sun has a long vertical scar starting at his chin. It's not explained how he got it.
    • Jaune, too, has a prominent scar on his forehead as a result of the incident which nearly killed him and caused Pyrrha to sacrifice her Aura to save his life.
  • Satellite Character: Team SSSN sans Sun. Not like it's much different in the actual show.
  • Soap Opera Disease: The vague illness which causes humans' Aura to go haywire, resulting in the loss of their physical function.
  • Stern Chase: Blake and Yang after the timeskip.
  • Stripperific: Yang isn't wearing much post-timeskip. It's never commented on In-Universe.
  • Teasing Creator: Vague hints can be found on Kuma's tumblr. Word of God says we might see Qrow and Winter return.
  • Time Skip: The story takes place an unspecified number of years after Team RWBY and JNPR graduate from Beacon. Word of God says everyone is aged 20+.
  • Title Drop: In the first chapter. It becomes an Arc Word throughout the story.
  • The Unapologetic: Blake claims to be this when Yang asks about her stabbing Ruby.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Jaune has improved significantly since he first entered Beacon. In addition to being the leader of Team JN_R, he formed a counter-terrorism organization which provides aid for the refugees in the camps. As a result, he and his team are literally honored as gods. Unfortunately, because of his guilt over Pyrrha's condition, he's also developed a Hair-Trigger Temper. Although he mellows out when Pyrrha has been cured of the illness.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Yang and Sun. They've grown close due to both of them being on the run from the law, but Yang still treats Sun like a Butt-Monkey and Sun drags her into a bar fight in response.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Cinder and co. are nowhere to be seen. In fact, the only returning villain from the show so far seems to be Roman. As an Alternate Universe, it seems safe to say that all conflicts from the first two volumes were settled prior to Henceforward, and everything post-volume two occurs in a separate timeline.
  • We Used to Be Friends: The rest of team RWBY to Blake.
  • Wrecked Weapon: Blake snaps Myrtenaster during her Face–Heel Turn. She also fights with the shards of Gambol Shroud using her evolved semblance.
  • Zero-Approval Gambit: Blake becomes the common enemy of humans and Faunus so they’ll start working together and thus stop a war between them.


Top