#anyway did y'all know it's been 1 288 days since raven appeared in the show and i miss her very much

[strqyr]

i'm back again with another branwen post™, this time delving onto their reasons for originally staying instead of going back to the tribe, and how those reasons have influenced their development in the past as well as in the present.

and those reasons are family and mission.

this is something that was already set up in their very first interaction in volume 4; qrow is the one to bring up family, while raven is focused on the mission. and while these are certainly A Thing for them, respectively, it is not The Thing that drives them.

because they're actually flipped, as things often are with the branwens.

early on, qrow's loyalty to ozpin was well known; it was basically blind loyalty at that point. and it makes sense, because all qrow has ever wanted to do is to do good. he heard the stories about the grimm reaper, he looked up to her to the point of fashioning his own weapon after hers. even before attending beacon and joining ozpin's cause, he wanted to become a huntsman, for a chance to do some real good.

and ultimately, ozpin gave him a cause, a mission qrow could dedicate himself to, even if it meant staying away from his family for months at the time.

so he stayed, instead of perhaps taking a paper out of the grimm reaper's book and traveling alone, doing good while ensuring he wouldn't harm those he cares about with his semblance.

he stayed, and it was ozpin who gave him something meaningful to work towards, something to drive him, something to dedicate himself to.

and he did. he did so to the point of even getting ruby and yang involved, his family, despite knowing how dangerous it would get. knowing the risks, knowing the target ruby would have on her back thanks to her silver eyes. all because it was for a good cause.

(but he also did so knowing that this time, he would be there to protect them. that this time, things would turn out differently.)

(he's not feeling that so much right now, but luckily, it's only temporary.)

all of this is why qrow's turning point is finding out that ozpin lied. it's his "the rug is pulled from under him and there's nowhere to hide" moment.

so he falls, but he gets back up, because he still has his family to look out for (and all the other kids, too). because despite the hurt the truth caused, his mission is not over, and he can still do some good while at it.

for raven, family is an important part of her character, whether it's about team strq or the branwen tribe.

and while raven had joined ozpin's cause as well, it's because of this why I believe the reason behind raven staying had more to do with her relationship with tai and their move to patch to perhaps start a family than anything else.

but it's also the importance of family to raven why things ended up poorly; because with the tribe, when you're family, you stand by each other no matter what:

qrow: they were killers and thieves.

raven: they were your family.

so when raven told the rest of her team the truth about salem and how ozpin had lied to them, and they chose to believe ozpin instead of her? well...

raven: sorry, brother. sometimes family disappoints you like that.

that's why raven went back to the tribe. even though she likely knew that they weren't so great – especially when compared to the family she found with her team – at least they never chose someone else over her.

as far as we know, raven never contacted tai or summer after she left, but she kept in touch with qrow whenever it suited her, because not only is qrow her brother, he was also part of the tribe family, too.

(it's also why she kept eyes on yang in bird form, enough that yang could recognize her, because yang never disappointed her like so... until she chose ruby over raven, anyway.)

but just like qrow had his turning point when it came to his mission, raven's turning point regarding her family also happened in volume 5.

qrow disowned her. vernal is dead. there's the whole complicated emotional mess that happened with yang, but ultimately, it too ended with raven failing at that one thing she tried to do: to keep yang away from ozpin's war.

all that was left for her was a portal to tai – a bridge that was possibly already burned long time ago – and she kept flying; perhaps to a place that reminds her of a time of happiness. of a time when she still had her family around her.

and maybe from there, she too can get back up, just like qrow did.

#rwby #raven branwen #qrow branwen #branwen twins #anyway did y'all know it's been 1 288 days since raven appeared in the show and i miss her very much