RWBY Spoilers Thread

@doineedaname, the thing is that we aren't entirely sure about that. Cinder definitely wants all the Maidens powers and has been groomed as a Vessel for Salem to gather them. But notably, nothing has been said concerning whether Salem herself cares about the Maiden powers beyond their use in opening the Vaults. Our only information concerning it is that she obviously needs them to open the Vaults, but also that she specifically groomed Cinder to be a Vessel that is trying to gather them all and is aided by a Grimm parasite in doing so.

The Grimm Parasite is the curious thing, because it's something we're explicitly shown that Salem controls. Which may be as simple as a method to keep her Vessel on a short leash, or could have further meaning since these fragments of Ozma's power are being gathered inside a Grimm for some reason.

We're only starting to get any real information about Salem's true intentions. We also know that her servants don't know her goals, other than perhaps Tyrian. Instead, she offers them things they want and they each seem to have their own ideas about what the plan is and their roles in it.

Cinder could have just stayed up, clean up house with the others because they're just busy staring at Weiss, then headed downstairs.

The main Roosterteeth account being Horny on Main.

https://twitter.com/RoosterTeeth/status/1367570878557487112

RWDE: They hate Ironwood!

CRWBY: Consistently and openly horny for Ironwood.

God tho the fact he's literally Authoritarian school principal gives so many oppurinties for School punishment fantasies I'm amazed those sides of the FNDM haven't taken advantage of that like with Glynda.

The First man

I mean.....the crew referring to him as "Daddy Ironwood" behind the scenes.

Though he does spend his first two volumes simping over Glynda, so this is probably a man that secretly wants to be stepped on.

I mean a big chunk of speculation was that james and glynda did have a thing in the pass.

Funny thing people often said the same about clover and robyn.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"

Well, that's certainly one way to stop Ironwood's nuke and recharge the cane at the same time.

Okay. First, I need to get around to watching Fate/Stay Night one day. I just can't figure out which one is first because there seem to be so many iterations.

Second, I now desperately want Emerald to be the Batman to someone's Robin.

No. Not that Robyn.

That said, we do already know what the distinction is. Semblance depends on Aura, so if Aura runs out, a Semblance can't be used. Magic is independent of Aura. If an Aura runs out, magic can keep going. Humanity Revised don't recognise Semblance as magic because it's mundane to them, and they think magic doesn't exist. To Humanity Prime, however, it's a fragment of magic — an extremely limited remnant of a much greater whole.

The Hazel/Salem fight shows us both the link and difference between Humanity Revised and Humanity Prime. Hazel can do the same things Salem can do, but in a much more difficult, restricted and fractured way. They can both produce magic from their hands. They can both lift themselves off the ground with Wind. But Salem can do it with a flick of her hand. Hazel needs a functioning Aura, his Semblance activated and access to Dust to achieve the same effects. Even then, her effects are smooth, refined and elegant, while the effects he produces are rough, unrefined and inelegant. She can keep using magic without apparent limit, he'd be in trouble as soon as he ran out of Aura and Dust.

Even the most mage-like characters, Weiss and Glynda, can't use their abilities if they run out of Aura and Dust. Take Weiss, for example; her use of abilities — as great as they are by Humanity Revised's standards — are still rough and limited compared to what Salem's doing. We see Salem using multiple magical effects at the same time. Weiss has to use her Dust effects one at a time.

The most mage-like character in general that we've seen was Glynda in the pilot episode. Even she is limited by Aura and Dust compared to Salem.

Nearly. The fairy tales hint that Ozma kept fighting the fight alone until his four children figured out that they're stronger united than fighting alone, like their father was doing. That seems to be where Ozma had his eyes opened to the potential of people who have activated Auras and Semblances, and who are working together. Ozpin outright states the King of Vale instituted the team-system in the Huntsmen Academies because of those four children.

It's the Infinite Man where Ozma first begins teaching people on a wide scale how to train their Auras and Semblances to fight back against the Grimm. That fairy tale states he fell into this completely by accident and initially with some reluctance. The Huntsmen Academies seem to be an attempt to resurrect the idea of the Circle but in a much more comprehensive, sophisticated and successful way. So, the Infinite Man is the conceptual origin of the Huntsman Academies and the Hunter's Children is the conceptual origin of Huntsmen being trained to favour team-work.

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.

I remember one Tumblr post that said

"Ironwood and Cinder are both the same flavor of dramatic bitch, the difference is that Cinder does it on purpose to make herself seem more in control than she actually feels, while Ironwood films himself declaring his intentions to blow up an entire half of a kingdom under a dramatic spotlight thinking he's just being rational "

I watched UBW first and then checked out Zero. Haven't checked out the other versions of the story.

UBW was really good and I consider Zero to be an Animated masterpiece

While there's benefits to both orders you watch them in, I would lean towards UBW as while it's the second show, Watching Zero first might disappoint you as UBW dosent really resolve alot of the stuff leftover from Zero, most weirdly the stuff with Sakura

It was a little weird to watch, it was like watching the star wars original trilogy then the prequels but revenge of the Sith has a litany of huge things that just, never come up in the OT..

Edited by Snoketrope on Mar 4th 2021 at 8:42:44 AM

The First man

As someone part of the Nasuverse fandom, I can think of no better way to introduce someone to the franchise than with this video.

From personal experience, thanks to having already been spoiled on the twists to the original VN years before I joined, I started with Zero, watched UBW, read up on the Fate and HF routes, and then jumped right into FGO. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on it. Take it from someone who enjoys FGO, don't get into FGO.

Edited by RebelFalcon on Mar 4th 2021 at 1:38:48 PM

Vegeta: I'm back bitches!

I think the Gods, or atleast one of them is on Remnant.

IDK... that line about Taking Humanities forms and walking among them as equals from the fairy tales book sounds like foreshadowing-ish to me.

The First man

I'm normally not a fan of Eruption Fang, but his latest video got me thinking.

Do you think Ironwood is going to have a My God, What Have I Done? moment when someone (probably Qrow) finally manages to break his aura?

Because he brings up an interesting point: The show vilifies Ironwood for something he kinda can't control. His Semblance. Everything he's been doing (at least as far as his villainy is concerned) is the result of tunnel vision induced escalation created by his Mettle. He can't turn it off, and by its very nature, he's not going to notice when it's affecting his decisions because it manifests as resolve and certainty that he's right. His semblance physically stops self-doubt and self-reflection, at least the way it's described.

Do the characters around him (and maybe even Ironwood himself) not know about his Semblance? Because if they did, at this point wouldn't someone's plan be to break his aura so he can at last look at what he's been doing with some kind of clarity?

Edited by GNinja on Mar 5th 2021 at 9:37:03 AM

Kaze ni Nare!

That's an interesting question. I'm very on the fence, especially since it seems OBVIOUS that (for example) Qrow is going to kill Ironwood.

I think it would cap off the tragedy of his character arc, to realize how badly he screwed up.

I'm thinking that the heroes' first response to Ironwood's demands might be something akin to "You Monster!"

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.

The problem is that fans refuse to acknowledge his Semblance is at work because it "robs his responsibilities" when it is literally the best explanation to why he neglects Mantle (tunnel vision) and has a nice literary nod (A.I. Is a Crapshoot).

It's not like it robs him of agency like some say, it's a choice to use a semblance unless your someone like Qrow.

The First man

The other problem is that there's no real "tell" when the Semblance works like you do with others. Not even that generic "water ripple" effect that new Semblances have.

Yeah, Ironwood's Semblance being a more passive one makes the line between "OK this is actually his Semblance working here" and "He's just being a douchecanoe" really blurry. A visual effect of some sort whenever it activates would have cleared it up a lot.

So, let's hang an anchor from the sun... also my Tumblr

https://luimnigh.tumblr.com/post/644836948074201088/tumblezwei-i-think-the-biggest-problem-with

I've been saying the Protags are the ones in an actual conflict like people act like James is in for so long and this post hit it out of the park with how it said it

The First man

As far as I'm concerned, Semblances work similarly to Stands - they reflect the user's nature in various ways.

All that Ironwood's Semblance does is complement who he is as a person: someone who would push himself through trauma, 0 hours of sleep and self-doubt - he's already the type of person who would do those things. It shouldn't be able to force him to do things he doesn't want to.

Honestly, if the crew hadn't spilled what Ironwood's semblance was, the only thing that would change it would really change is that the people defending him wouldn't be able to use it as an excuse for his behavior.

About Madame's motives in torturing Cinder, do you think she's doing it For the Evulz?

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.

The second time seems to suggest that, with her walking to a cleaning Cinder who seems confused before the Madame just tortures her for no reason.

The First man

It Amused Me is the trope you're looking for.

He has a passive Semblance, like Qrow. So, no, he doesn't have a choice. It's always on.

While I don't disagree with their overall point, their post does have a problem.

It's starts well enough, arguing that he never thought of saving Mantle, and never cared.

But then they dare people to find a single instance where he makes it equally important to Atlas.

That's shifting the goal posts. It's a different subject.

The point of V7 was that the heroes finally turned him around on Mantle. They got him to care. That's why the evacuation began and the heroes finally started working together.

But, not even then, would we argue that Ironwood regards Mantle as equally important as Atlas. He doesn't consider any part of Remnant to be as important as Atlas. That's the whole point of him raising Atlas — he's not just sacrificing Mantle, he's sacrificing the whole of Remnant.

This poster is right when they say that Ironwood regards Mantle as lesser, expendable and didn't even hesitate or think twice about sacrificing Mantle to save Atlas. But they're wrong when they say this is because Ironwood didn't care at all. He did care, and he still didn't think twice about doing it.

Ironwood's worse than sacrificing what he doesn't care about. He sacrifices what he does care about without a second thought, too, and we've been seeing that since V2:

• Cares about Ozpin, but sacrifices him to the Vale Council.
• Cares about Atlas, but sacrifices her reputation by imposing a Dust embargo on the world.
• Cares about Fria, but sacrifices her to save Atlas.
• Cares about Mantle, but sacrifices it to save Atlas.
• Cares about Oscar, but sacrifices their friendship (and tries to sacrifice his life) to save Atlas.
• Cares about Qrow, but sacrifices their friendship to save Atlas.
• Cares about Remnant, but sacrifices it to save Atlas.
• Cares about Winter, but is clearly going to sacrifice her next.

And, while it's not overtly stated, the fact that Watts calls Ironwood 'James' means they were friends once. And, despite Watts' evil, notice how we haven't heard him rescind Watts' right to call him that. Jacques still calls him James, too. Ironwood was a friend of the family. He hasn't rescinded Jacques' right to call him that either. The only person from whom he's rescinded the right to call him 'James' is Oscar.

That's something we have to bear in mind here. Ironwood was introduced as a hero with some flaws, but who has a good heart. Glynda told us so. Yet, this 'good-hearted' man is a long-standing family friend of a Corrupt Corporate Executive who exploits and abuses his employees and who treats Mantle works like crap.

It's very easy to see how Ilia concluded that the world is split into humans who hate and humans who let the hate happen because that's exactly what Atlas is like. Even the good people stand by and let it happen.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Mar 5th 2021 at 11:32:48 AM

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.

So, looks like we should all get ready for some crazy shit. For tomorrow is Episode 11, and as we all know, every Volume sans Volume 1 has Episode 11 be the one where something major happens.

• RWBY V2 E11 "No Brakes": The beginning of the Breach; Weiss and Yang being defeated by the Lt. and Neo respectively; the first appearance of Raven.
• RWBY V3 E11 "Heroes and Monsters": Adam cuts off Yang's arm; Roman is devoured by the Griffon; Cinder kills Amber and becomes the Fall Maiden; Weiss finally manages a partial full sized summon.
• RWBY V4 E11 "Taking Control": Weiss finally leaves the Schnee manor; Ironwood declares his intent to seal off Atlas from the rest of Remnant; the Belladonna's learn about Adam's coup on Sienna Khan; Yang leaves home to find Ruby; Ren is forced to face the Nuckleavee once more.
• RWBY V5 E11 "The More the Merrier": Cinder's group, Raven, and Hazel finally confront the protagonists at Haven; Jaune reveals he has no regard for his own life after exploding at Cinder; Cinder impales Weiss after Jaune is Defiant to the End when she threatens to kill him.
• RWBY V6E11 "The Lady in the Shoe": The heroes are forced to fight Cordovin so they can get to Atlas; Adam reveals what's underneath his mask and attempts to follow through on his declaration of killing Blake; Gambol Shroud is broken in two; Yang finally confronts Adam again, with her and Blake teaming up to fight him together.
• RWBY V7 E11 "Gravity": Ironwood flays his arm to escape Watt's Hard Light rings; Qrow, Robyn, and Clover confront and capture Tyrian; Ironwood blows up at Blake and Yang for leaking info to Robyn when they didn't know if she could be trusted; Salem directly contacts them, intimidates Ironwood, and reveals to Ruby she knew Summer; Ironwood finally snaps, declares Martial Law, and instigates his asinine plan to ascend Atlas to the heavens, turning on the protags and making the Ace-Ops into their enemies.

Vegeta: I'm back bitches!

I would recommend avoiding leaks like the plague to play it safe.

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.

x2 Episode 11, with the exception of V1, V4, and (debatably) V5, has also had awesome choreography and fights.

Also, Adam didn't do his coup of Sienna until V5. The Belladonnas learned about his planned assault on Haven in V4 episode 11.

We all have to answer to the call of fate when it beckons us, even if it is not at a moment of our choosing.