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FergardStratoavis A Fluff Ringer from Bellveins (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: A gay little love melody
A Fluff Ringer
#41351: Nov 4th 2016 at 3:41:18 PM

Nothing wrong with challenging it. The end of Vol. 3 was such a challenge and she passed it well enough.

At the end of the day, Ruby wants to be a hero, but is also likely motivated by some major comeuppance to find the ones responsible for Penny and Pyrrha's deaths as well as the Fall of Beacon and bring 'em to justice. She's not just aimlessly wandering around like a knight-errant.

ch00beh ??? from Who Knows Where Since: Jul, 2010
???
#41352: Nov 4th 2016 at 3:43:52 PM

ruby is having dreams of pyrrah’s death and has an askew glance when the schnee dust company is mentioned. I would not write her off as 100% unflappable.

"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Twitter
randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#41353: Nov 4th 2016 at 3:46:34 PM

Why's she havin' those dreams...? They don't have a connection.

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
ch00beh ??? from Who Knows Where Since: Jul, 2010
???
#41354: Nov 4th 2016 at 3:50:00 PM

survivor’s guilt would be my guess if there isn’t anything supernatural going on. Ruby is a super empathetic character who is all about her friends.

"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Twitter
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#41355: Nov 4th 2016 at 3:51:42 PM

Or to be precise, we can look at the three qualities of Japanese Spirit: A natural gift or talent, an unshakeable resolve, and unstoppable determination. Obviously, Ruby Rose possesses all of those in abundance, making her a paragon of this and thus worthy of being a true hero. In comparison, Pyrrha was lacking. Is it any wonder she was doomed to fail from the beginning? With her initial lack of resolve and the maiden's power being artificially implanted, she was never the real hero.
Pyrrha absolutely has all those things, though. She's hands-down the best fighter among the students at Beacon (her talent), and she never questioned her goal of becoming a huntress and fighting the grimm (her resolve — though she was uncertain about the maiden shenanigans, the question there was how to fight the grimm, not whether to), and she never gave up or quit in that goal (her determination).

Indeed, it was this last that led to her death, as she insisted on attacking an enemy that vastly outclassed her because she was utterly and completely determined not to let everyone else down. The fact that she died anyway is a profound subversion of Japanese Spirit, where her singular pursual of a noble goal and uncompromising stubbornness in pursuing it would have been rewarded with victory.

However, Japanese stories tend to take this a step farther. The Hero as a pure avatar of Japanese Spirit is singular in the absolute; every other character is shown to be incapable of winning the central conflict. They can help, but it all comes down to the one hero at the end. [...] It all comes down to Ruby.
While this does seem to be true due to Ruby's silver eyed shenanigans, it doesn't really mesh with Japanese Spirit. While Ruby's silver eyes certainly count as a special talent, she's yet to demonstrate any coherent long-term goal or philosophy for living her life to be resolute over, nor any particular determination in pursuing that goal. As has already been mentioned, she hasn't really expressed any strong opinions on much of anything, nor has she been seriously tested by hardship or loss affecting her personally.

Is it that bad to have a main character unpeturbed by dark secrets, inner turmoil and what have you?
Not at all, and the complaint isn't that Ruby fails to be a grimdark bundle of angst. The complaint is that she isn't anything. She's ostensibly the main character, but nothing that goes on is about her. It feels like she's just along for the ride in her own story. She doesn't feel like a protagonist because she's not a driving force in the story in any way. Even taking into account Villains Act, Heroes React, she's not even a driving force in the reaction. She fights enemies when they show up in front of her, goes where other people tell her to, and has yet to really take the initiative about anything. Other characters have things they're passionate about, things that matter to them, things they're willing to take risks to achieve. Ruby... doesn't, really.

Hell, in season four, she's not even travelling around the world to Put the Band Back Together and reunite with her True Companions after the single most traumatic thing they went through together. Yang lost an arm and is suffering through a low-grade Heroic BSoD. Weiss is back in Atlas despite her wishes. Blake is missing and, as far as Ruby knows, dead. All of them could use her help, and "helping my friends" is the one thing Ruby has expressed a positive interest in. So what does she do? Instead of setting out to help her friends through their respective Darkest Hours, she... hooks up with her backup set of friends and goes off to do something else.

There's nothing in the story (short of the silver eyes thing, a trait that could have easily been given to any other character) that makes it about Ruby. So why the hell is she the main character?

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41356: Nov 4th 2016 at 3:55:53 PM

Emotional issues aside, neither Weiss or Yang are in physical danger. Seeing as Blake left on her own, I understand Ruby not feeling she is either.

Right now Ruby is basically continuing what they all started because none of the others are willing/able to, with the added incentive of wanting to find out more about her powers, and likely avenging Pyrrha and Penny.

edited 4th Nov '16 3:56:26 PM by LSBK

TPPR10 Craving for fish from up north Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
Craving for fish
#41357: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:02:40 PM

So why the hell is she the main character?

Then who should be the main character?

I sort of brought the term "anchor character" in a previous post, and in terms to describe it, the anchor character is the character who really puts us into the world. They are the character where things will return to. Even when focus shifts to other characters in the cast, that character is still there for the main story to resume. The story won't be just about a web of characters with really little connecting each other together, there is at least a center to things.

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Darthwyn leader of Inherit from The void Since: Feb, 2016 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
leader of Inherit
#41358: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:03:28 PM

Ruby also wouldn't exactly know where Blake is currently and the last time Blake ran they found by going where they heard fighting. At best following the next lead would be the only option. Yang wasn't exactly keen on going anywhere in her condition or Ruby would have asked for her help. Weiss is probably going to get involved depending on how the dust embrago goes in the future.

"Shall I use you, or make you mine... I'm not so sure what I'll do." - Dorthy
God_of_Awesome Since: Jan, 2001
#41359: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:10:43 PM

I haven't got any problems with Ruby playing Captain Carrot.

Mind, Cap. C isn't ever the main character, Vimes is.

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#41360: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:10:45 PM

@Tobias: Ruby's answer for "what motivates her" is a child's answer because when you get down to it, she's really quite childish for her age.

RhymeBeat True colors from Eastern Standard Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
True colors
#41361: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:13:03 PM

There's also the fact that she is the youngest member of the main cast.

The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.
randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#41362: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:17:00 PM

She's childish...at 15, understandable.

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CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#41363: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:19:49 PM

[up] Childish in ways that go a bit beyond her age, I'd say, which isn't necessarily bad.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#41364: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:33:16 PM

Emotional issues aside, neither Weiss or Yang are in physical danger. Seeing as Blake left on her own, I understand Ruby not feeling she is either.

Maybe not physical, but they are still her friends and they're suffering. And she's not there for any of them. Not even her sister. She's just like, "Huh, my team broke up. Sucks. Back to heroing!"

She spent five seconds trying to reach Yang and then gave up and went to Mistral. Like, the f*ck? Does she just not care about any of these people she spent the last three seasons forging relationships with? Ruby says she wants to help people and right now her sister desperately needs help but she's decided to abandon her and go have more wicked sweet battles with monsters.

Like I was saying before, helping people takes a lot of forms. By leaving Yang behind, promptly forgetting Blake and Weiss exist, and dashing off to Mistral, Ruby has firmly established that she's not helping people. She just wants to slay monsters in awesome fight scenes. The moment the people she actually cares about need her help for something that isn't monster slaying, she dumps them on the curb and finds new partners to slay monsters with.

That is atrocious behavior for a protagonist. It would make a great flaw if properly explored, mind you. But I don't think RT are actually considering the Unfortunate Implications of Ruby's choices or even why she would have made that choice. They just want her to go to Mistral so she can have adventures. Which is how her role is overtaking her character. Her character wants to help people, but her role is to fight Cinder, so she's leaving the people she loves in pain to go do that.

Right now Ruby is basically continuing what they all started because none of the others are willing/able to, with the added incentive of wanting to find out more about her powers, and likely avenging Pyrrha and Penny.

Avenging Pyrrha and Penny would be a motivation if she ever exhibited it. Right now, the most she has are trauma flashbacks in her dreams, whereupon she wakes up and goes, "Huh, that was weird," and doesn't spare it a second thought.

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LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41365: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:35:24 PM

I don't think we were supposed to assume Ruby left like the next day after that. But Yang isn't any state, physically or emotionally to go do what Ruby and the others feel that they need to do.

If she had left alone that would be one thing, but Yang is at home with their father. She's in good hands at a safe location.

And you're talking about helping Weiss and Blake in ways she just can't. Weiss wasn't kidnapped, she was taken back home by her father. And there is absolutely no way for her to find Blake. There really isn't anything that she can do on either of those fronts right now, and seems weird to hold it against her that instead of trying to do the impossible, she's trying to move forward with something productive. Again, if they were in actual danger it would be one thing, but they aren't.

But this does make me wonder even more how Son gets to Blake.

edited 4th Nov '16 4:39:46 PM by LSBK

ch00beh ??? from Who Knows Where Since: Jul, 2010
???
#41366: Nov 4th 2016 at 4:48:28 PM

the seasons were shown changing before ruby left Yang

"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Twitter
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#41367: Nov 4th 2016 at 5:08:20 PM

@Tobias: That kind of insensitive behavior and a number of other things are one of the reasons I like(d) the interpretation of Ruby as a high functioning autistic; it provides a more interesting context for some of her behaviors than Moral Dissonance or bad writing.

Unless the writers are of a much higher caliber in terms of subtly than we're accustomed to, that's unlikely to be intentional, at least consciously.

edited 4th Nov '16 5:30:32 PM by CaptainCapsase

BlackYakuzu94 CHADhan Player. from Easy Coast/NY Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
CHADhan Player.
#41368: Nov 4th 2016 at 5:13:42 PM

I mean Ruby is indeed a likable enough character, but it is pretty apparent that her motivations aren't as fleshed as those around her.

I don't think it makes her Ill ited to be the main character.

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#41369: Nov 4th 2016 at 5:29:02 PM

Good thing Yang got her arm chopped off, otherwise she'd be included in this conversation.

The sisters got the least development in the first three volumes, up until the end for Yang. Weiss and Blake needed it more since I doubt anyone would care about "Rich Brat" and "Emo Bookworm" if they stayed that way when they all separated.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#41370: Nov 4th 2016 at 6:06:10 PM

Even before she lost her arm, Yang had a significant want - "I want to find my mom" - and a defining identity flaw: she's an adrenaline junkie. Although we didn't know the story behind her want yet, both of these things were apparent as early as the Yellow trailer.

edited 4th Nov '16 6:06:56 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41371: Nov 4th 2016 at 6:07:40 PM

The mom thing didn't really come up that often and I'm not sure if her thrill seeking counts as a flaw.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#41372: Nov 4th 2016 at 6:08:29 PM

I would say the characters who most resemble Ruby in terms of development are actually Ren and Nora. They're pretty one-note. But they're secondary characters whose main purpose is comedy, so it's less noticeable.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
BlackYakuzu94 CHADhan Player. from Easy Coast/NY Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
CHADhan Player.
#41373: Nov 4th 2016 at 6:20:37 PM

Well Yang might have to rethink her motives now; she wanted adventure and a life of thrill...and it costed her piece of mind and her arm.

But yea, I do kinda see where Tobias is coming from; RWBY never really felt like Ruby Rose's story but the story of the students of Beacon in general, just seen through Ruby's eyes. It became pretty apparent through the series that Ruby herself had decidedly little focus on her as a character, to the point where I felt like it was more of an Ensemble series.

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41374: Nov 4th 2016 at 6:24:46 PM

I mean, I thought it was supposed to be an Ensemble Cast, with just slightly more attention to Ruby than the other three (and Jaune, I guess).

edited 4th Nov '16 6:25:14 PM by LSBK

BlackYakuzu94 CHADhan Player. from Easy Coast/NY Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
CHADhan Player.
#41375: Nov 4th 2016 at 6:26:22 PM

Exactly, but the entire last part of Volume 3 seemed to remind the audience "Hey guys, Ruby is still the main character (And Jaune too I guess...)"

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.

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