#is it bc neo came back? did they have to implement the horror rule of 'if there aint a body they aint dead'

[constantvariations]

When there's a show that has lots of combat but little to no killing, there's usually a reason for that. I don't just mean the target audience being children (which is a stupid claim anyway, kids can handle way more shit than adults give them credit for), I mean a Watsonian explanation

Aang doesn't kill because he believes it's against his pacifist culture

Batman doesn't kill because he believes in second chances

Vash doesn't kill because it would make Rem sad

But when it comes to the rwby world, the whos and whys of killing... aren't really there?

The villains kill on-screen often, which is a given since, yknow, villains. But our heroes have never had a discussion of how far they're willing to go for their goals

It could've been established during any of the Salem talks, but instead the writers handle it with kid gloves with that Saturday morning cartoon "How do I destroy Salem?" Like, we saw a whole ass human being turned to ash, ShawLuna, you can say "kill," I promise

Due to this, I thought the dynamic was "villains kill, heroes don't," which is fairly typical for shows with this tone

And then Adam was murdered. On screen. By two of our heroes

It was genuinely jarring. There was no lead up to this kind of action, no talk of "doing whatever it takes" or "we have to prepare to do things we might live to regret." Just BAM STAB DEAD

And not even a conversation after! There's literally nothing to distinguish the before/after murder versions of Yang and Blake, which is bad! You took a whole ass man's life! Blake knew him personally! His dreams, his fears, the way he took his coffee, the whole nine yards! Even if it had to be done, that should still have a major affect! Hell, my best friend cried for hours after a bird hit the windshield on our road trip, yet these two are totally okay with ending a person

Even stranger, there has yet to be actual blood spilled by our heroes after that. Not even a skinned knee! Deaths happen around them, not because of them

You've already opened the door for the reaper, you might as well let it settle in for tea

#rwde #its no surprise they pull out the only hero murder on the face of the racism plot #they really hated adam for no reason huh #i genuinely cant tell who they enjoy writing other than blonde screenhog #but seriously tho why havent ruby or weiss spilled actual blood? they have blades ffs itd be easy as hell #or why didn't shawluna take inspiration from the disney movie and just shove adam off the cliff for the classic/cliche villain fall? #is it bc neo came back? did they have to implement the horror rule of 'if there aint a body they aint dead' #it just feels so weird how murder is handled here #or harming people in general #easiest case in point: the narrative surrounding the dismemberment of yang vs tyrian #its more evidence that these writers have protagonist based morals rather than a solid foundation of anything in remnant #which given how they are irl... is it really a surprise? #ugh why did a show w such amazing potential get trapped in the hands of clowns im dying squirtle