#summer maiden emerald theory

[bestworstcase]

hi it's me again this might be too much of an ask but do you think it would be possible to do a list of all the allusions that Salem is/has? not her own personal ones (rapunzel etc.) but the role she has in other people's stories (I ask because I made a joke to someone about hansel and gretel and went "hazel and gretchen" -> "salem is the witch to hazel's hansel in a world where neither hansel nor gretel survives" which also factors into the "gretchen is the spring maiden and died during Summer's Mission" theory in which case raven would be her witch) not just all the ones where she's The Witch (archetype) but also other antagonists or roles like the wolf to ruby and summer (wherein summer is both the grandmother and the woodcutter) or the fairy godmother to cinder if that's too much to ask of you I understand in which case I'll have to make a chart with my own red string and thumbtacks

um so basically:

<- this is how the story goes.

to break it down:

CORE ALLUSIONS.

in approximate order of importance, these are: maiden-in-the-tower tales, the marvelous land of oz, cinderella, and the little prince. structurally it isn't as complex as the above diagram makes it appear because the petrosinella -> persinette -> rapunzel -> petrosinella circle and the ozian narrative are the same narrative through different eyes. cinder and oscar are the proverbial twins and summer rose is important connective tissue gluing everything together.

maiden-in-the-tower: - salem is always the maiden - ozma is always the prince - the god of light is always the captor

petrosinella: - the og divine rebellion - failed bc dark sided with light

persinette: - the ozlem kingdom - ozma Left Her to escape the curse

rapunzel: - war for the relics - ozma is the blinded prince + the pilot - both are stranded in the desert - truth will rise etc etc leading to:

petrosinella, again: - the broken fairytale to be mended - the hound is the dog - cinder is the lion - summer is the wolf - "you saved yourself" <- the girl in the tower comes due

the marvelous land of oz: - ozma is ozma - ozpin is the wizard + tippetarius --> meaning he "chose" his curse - the god of light is mombi (cursed ozma) - salem is glinda (searching for ozma) - oscar is jack pumpkinhead (tip's "son" + existential dread) - summer rose is general jinjur (holding the emerald city) - qrow is the scarecrow (ruling in the wizard's absence) --> the scarecrow and jinjur fight over the crown - ironwood is nick chopper (emperor of winkie country) - lionheart is the soldier with green whiskers (coward, traitor) - raven is the woggle bug (=maiden of knowledge) --> mutters in silver wishing pill only the bug can use - mutters about silver eyes and mombi's rose - glinda forces mombi to tell the truth, free ozma, and then relinquish her magical power. hello

cinderella: - salem is the grave of her mother / the fairy godmother - summer is the stepmother (probably) - ruby and yang are the stepsisters - the crown...?

the little prince: - ozma is the pilot, see prev re: blind in the desert - oscar is the little prince - (ruby in V9 is also the little prince) - (summer is her rose; salem is the sheep)

MINOR / CHARACTER ALLUSIONS

hansel and gretel: - hazel is hansel, gretchen is gretel - salem is the witch - ozpin is the evil mother - gretchen dies in the woods under mysterious circumstances - hansel pushes the witch into the oven because it's what gretel would have done. laugh!

sherlock holmes: - watts is dr. watson (but evil) - salem is holmes (but evil) - mumbles. cinder is adler (outmaneuvers them both)

the scorpion and the...: - tyrian is the scorpion - "f. pickerel" is a frog - qrow is also a frog - salem is the turtle

little red riding hood: - ruby is little red - the Idea Of Summer Rose is the mother - the Real Summer is the big bad wolf + the huntsman - salem is the grandmother - witches can be right giants can be good etc - the key here is that the grandmother is the goal; ruby is trying to beat salem. the wolf is the obstacle; summer joined salem. the huntsman is the resolution; summer joined salem for a good reason.

book of job conspiracy theory: - salem is job - ozma + rwbyjnor is eliphaz et al - the god of light is the satan - the god of darkness is the deity

yeah

[ficretus]

Knightfall, another Cinderella story?

Well, this was inevitable to happen eventually. I am running out of Joan of Arc Knightfall theories, so might as well jump over to Cinderella theory. I even did Rhodopis theory before proper Cinderella one. Oh well, either way let's get to it.

CINDER ELLA:

Unless you are extremely daft, it should come as no surprise that Cinder's primary literary influence is Cinderella. If you didn't figure it out from her veryyy subtle name reference, her backstory from Volume 8 should be dead giveaway.

Although her backstory is extremely on the nose Cinderella story, I'll mostly avoid talking about it. Her backstory is basically Cinderella story with tragic ending, but it is also finished story. Cinderella doesn't get to the ball and ends up murdering everyone, the end. After the conclusion of her backstory, Cinder somehow ended up finding Salem and started a new Cinderella story.

Does this make any sense? I'd say yes, story getting repeated with different conclusion is not unheard of in RWBY. Take Ruby for example, her story is endlessly repeating Red Riding Hood story with different characters playing the role of Wolf (Beowulf from her backstory, Cinder, Hound, and probably Summer Rose later on).

Tragic conclusion of one story doesn't mean all others will be tragic as well. As seen with Ruby, she managed to fend off both Cinder and Hound, but was unable to save people "devoured" by them (in Hound's case I mean silver eyed Faunus inside of him, not Oscar). However, I find it very unlikely Ruby will always be unable to save people from Wolf, she will eventually be able to triumph. Nothing concrete, but I'd say failure in first Cinderella story doesn't mean Cinder will forever fail and have her story end up as tragedy.

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In this segment I wanted to focus on Cinder's current Cinderella story. While her backstory mostly takes elements from Grimm version of the story, current one is way more Perrault.

Roles of Evil Stepmother and Fairy Godmother are both filled by Salem. Stepmother is someone restraining Cinderella and keeping her under her thumb. Fairy Godmother on the other hand provides Cinderella with tools to fulfill her desires. Salem does both for Cinder: she gave her Grimm arm as a tool to absorb Maiden powers, but at the same time that Grimm arm serves as a leash and a way to punish Cinder. The fact Salem makes Cinder repeat the same mantra Madame did (character which is on the nose Stepmother reference) is another clear reference.

Emerald and Mercury play a role of creatures turned into Cinderella's servants. This is based on both their standings in society (one being street urchin, other being crippled orphan) and the way Cinder recruited them. Fairy Godmother sends Cinderella to find mice, rat and lizards so she can turn them into her servants just like Salem sends Cinder to find Marcus Black but she ends up recruiting Mercury instead. Cinder catches Emerald stealing and ends up recruiting her, just like Cinderella found a rat caught in a mouse trap. Emerald growing disillusioned with Cinder in episode called Midnight is also fitting considering Cinderella's servants turned back into the animals after the clock struck midnight.

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Role of stepsisters on the other hand doesn't seem that clear. Looking at Salem's faction, straightforward way would be to read Watts and Tyrian as stepsisters. Both of them heavily dislike Cinder and often mock her during their interactions. And while they are not biologically related to Salem, both of them are loyal minions that always obey her orders and follow her plans. Stark contrast to problem child Cinder who often disregards Salem's interests in favor of her own.

Reason I say it's not that clear is that they are not competition for Cinder's end goal of obtaining Maiden powers. That's why I see Pyrrha, Winter and Weiss as plausible stepsister candidates. While none of them have any connection to Salem, they are all competition in some way. Pyrrha and Winter were selected as Maiden vessels, making them not only clear obstacle to Cinder's goals, but also usurpers to what she perceives as her destiny (different to lets say Raven, who became Maiden before story even began and wasn't selected via Maiden machine).

Winter and Weiss make sense since they are siblings and also exist as a contrast to Cinder's childhood. Former were raised privileged as members of Atlas upper class, while Cinder was raised as a slave. From Cinder's perspective, they represent everything wrong with Atlas and everything she was denied as a child.

Weiss and Pyrrha only make sense in context of Jaune as Prince Charming (more on that later). If Weiss' attraction to Jaune is not just Volume 9 thing and persists further, then that groups Weiss and Pyrrha as characters that have crush on Jaune. This would make them competition to Cinder who consistently "dances" with Prince Jaune.

MANY DANCES OF FALL MAIDEN:

So Cinderella has been equipped with all the tools and followers to reach her goal, but what is her goal? Thing that annoys me when people claim Cinderella's primary motivation is Prince. It is not. In no major version of Cinderella is her primary motivation Prince, she just wants to get to the ball and have fun. Cinderella meeting Prince is consequence of her getting to the ball.

"I wish I could. I wish I could." She was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing.

This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, "You wish that you could go to the ball; is it not so?"

"Yes," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh.

This is quote from Perrault version, no mentions of Prince anywhere.

Why does this even matter? Well it separates Cinderella's goal, that being getting to the ball and Prince. They are two different things and should be read differently as well. For Cinder her goal is getting all the Maiden powers. Prince is not Maiden powers, he/she is consequence of her quest for power.

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In RWBY, Ozpin compares fighting to dancing during Volume 2.

"If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different"

So whenever Cinder fights someone, it's potentially a reference to Cinderella's dance with Prince at the ball.

Depending on story version, number of dances she has with the Prince varies. In Grimm version it's 3 dances, 2 in Perrault and 1 in Disney version. However, I'll respect older versions more here, especially since Cinder doesn't seem to follow Disney version that much. So in conclusion, she has to have multiple dances with Prince.

Prince is the one to approach Cinderella, not the other way around. He is immediately smitten with her and is obsessed by her in all major versions.

Perrault version:

The king's son led her to the most honorable seat, and afterwards took her out to dance with him. She danced so very gracefully that they all more and more admired her. A fine meal was served up, but the young prince ate not a morsel, so intently was he busied in gazing on her.

Grimm version:

He never let go of her hand, and whenever anyone else came and asked her to dance, he would say, "She is my dance partner."

She danced until evening, and then she wanted to go home. But the prince said, "I will go along and escort you,"

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So Prince in RWBY should also be someone that goes after Cinder, develops an obsession with her and fights her multiple times. Prince should also be consequence of her goal, not her primary goal.

It might be very obvious where am I going with this.. it's Jaune. Let's go over all major opponents Cinder fought throughout the story and why I think they work/don't work as Prince.

Ruby: She both works and doesn't. She works as straightforward Prince in first 3 volumes. She in thorn in Cinder's side throughout the early portion of the story, but not her primary goal. Ruby is simply consequence of Cinder's quest for power, just like dance with Prince is consequence of Cinderella coming to the ball. They even fight during Beacon Ball, which is very on the nose reference to Cinderella's dance at the ball (Cinder even has to escape before midnight). Final encounter at the end of Volume 3 once again feels as Cinderella reference, Prince encountering unmasked Cinderella just like Ruby encounters "unmasked" Cinder.

This is where things complicate and where I feel we are getting into third Cinderella story. Cinder's story reaches tragic ending at the end of Volume 3, permanently scarring her and turning her into monster. Why do I say this? Because Cinderella references seemingly reset back to the starting point, as well as Ruby/Cinder rivalry changes. Ruby is no longer consequence of Cinder's goals, she is (or at least her death is) one of her goals. They never "dance" again after this and Cinder makes sure they are never in "dancing" distance of each other. Ruby also develops very impersonal rivalry with Cinder where she looks at her as more of a nuisance she has to deal with than proper rival.

But then again, Ruby is the only character that can fulfill the role of Cinder's savior considering her silver eyes are the only thing that can free Cinder from Salem. It's bit annoying, she is Prince, then she isn't, but if Cinder is ever gonna be redeemed Ruby has to become Prince once again.

Amber: Goal, not consequence. Poor girl didn't even know they were dancing

Ozma's incarnations: They fought single time and that was mostly off screen. Doesn't feel major for me to read them as Prince Charming. Neither side seems to hold any major interest in each either. For Oscar Cinder is just another enemy, for Cinder Oscar is someone she needs to capture for Salem's interests or target to hurt Ruby.

Pyrrha: Cool fight, but not quite Prince Charming. Pyrrha goes after Cinder, but it lacks edge overall. For neither side fight is particularly personal. For Pyrrha Cinder is someone she needs to stop, for Cinder Pyrrha is just another powerful enemy in her way. It will also always remain single fight.

Raven: She is Cinder's goal as a Spring Maiden, not consequence of her actions. Raven has next to no interest in Cinder beyond her being Salem's agent.

Neo: This one actually works surprisingly well with them being partners throughout Atlas portion of the story, but I don't think it's quite there. Neo's revenge quest is consequence of Cinder's action. However, I think it lacks edge from Neo's side. Working with Cinder is simply means to an end for her until she kills Ruby.

Winter and Penny: Initially works since she fights both of them on her path to Fria, but both cease being Prince once they become Maiden.

Weiss: Almost completely impersonal from Weiss' side, poor girl just keeps getting targeted because Cinder wants to hurt someone else's feelings.

Now onto the main course.

JAUNE AS PRINCE CHARMING:

Jaune works for multiple reasons. First, he has an unhealthy obsession with her after she killed Pyrrha. He goes on a quest to find her at Haven academy similar to how Prince attempts to pursue Cinderella after every dance. This works especially well with Grimm version where Prince pursues her all the way to her home. Jaune is content with dying, as long as he can inconvenience Cinder in some way and buy his friends some time.

Prince's possessiveness also works with their Haven encounter. Jaune picks Cinder as his opponent just like Prince approaches Cinderella and picks her as his dance partner. Speaking of dance, due to their skill difference, fight ends up being almost dance like. Jaune cannot seriously challenge Cinder, while Cinder is not taking the fight seriously. Setting being open hall and all opponents being matched mostly 1v1 (Nora and Ren once again being party poopers and ignoring literary references) also add to the ball room allusion.

Needless to say, fighting Jaune is definitely not Cinder's goal. Just like dancing with Prince is consequence of Cinderella coming to the ball, fight with Jaune is consequence of Cinder's quest for power. Just like in Cinderella story, Cinder eventually has to leave, disengaging the fight.

Additionally, they end up fighting once again at the end of Volume 8. Once again, fight with Jaune is consequence of Cinder's quest for power, this time going after Penny. He is the one to engage the fight, realizing she is present after seeing her glass shards through the portal. So she appears at the ball again, he once again goes after her and she once again disengages the fight and leaves.

And unlike Ruby, from Jaune's perspective rivalry with Cinder is extremely personal. Which makes additional encounters between them almost inevitable.

SUBVERSION OR...?:

So how does this particular Cinderella story end? And thing is, I can easily see it going the way of full subversion, as in another tragic Cinderella story. Reason I tend to focus on Joan of Arc theories and references is because I feel that it's convoluted enough for me to think it's straightforward story. What's the point of going out of your way to give Cinder plenty of obscure Joan's King references post Volume 3 if the goal is to subvert them with the most expected conclusion of the story. It's hard to appreciate subversion when you don't even understand what is being subverted. Cinderella is bit different. Story is familiar to pretty much everyone and references are more clear. It's entirely possible they'll go Adam route again.

Either way, let me present two plausible endings I can see them creating. Both are of course based on end of story sequence when Prince finds Cinderella and realizes poor servant girl was the princess he was dancing all along.

One is as I said, "Adam" version. Jaune has final encounter with Cinder (probably alongside someone like Weiss), her likely being completely disgraced at that point. She starts going on unhinged Adam like rants (revealing her true self much like Cinderella shows her true self to Prince) on how she is actually the victim, bla bla bla. Jaune tries to persuade her to stop and she continues fighting him until he eventually kills her. Since Cinder's Cinderella was arch enemy to her Prince, it would make some sense for their final encounter to end up in blood. In my previous theory I stated how I find repeating Adam formula to be boring as shit, but I cannot disregard possibility of this happening as much as I heavily dislike it conceptually.

Other is more straightforward version of Cinderella story. Jaune and Cinder would have another fight, this time Jaune pushing her back significantly. This is reference to the last dance Cinderella and Prince have in the story. In Perrault version she loses track of time and has to run, losing her glass slipper. In Grimm version, while she runs she falls for the Prince's trap and loses one of her golden shoes in tar trap. Whatever version you go with, she loses her shoe to the Prince, in Grimm version due to his ingenuity. In this fight we'd see her metaphorical mask slip more and more (mask which Jaune nicked before, mask which seems to be made out of glass) showing glimpses of her true self. This is conceptually relatively similar to the fight I theorized in one of my Vacuo theories I'll link below.

This would eventually lead to non combat encounter between the two, where her mask completely slips, showing her true self. Their rivalry ending with Jaune sympathizing with her to some degree and offering her help, redeeming her.

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What are your thoughts? Feel free to comment if I missed some Cinderella and Prince references or if you have your own interpretations. That's all for today.

#cinder fall #jaune arc #rwby jaune arc #rwby cinder fall #knightfall #rwby knightfall

[onewomancitadel]

Actually you know what, I spend a lot of time criticising my own analysis because it's fun and I think that at the very least I'm not falling to some of the most grievous sins of fantheorising and that's important even if I'm wrong, idealistic, put too much stock in one thing or another, get a thematic chord incorrect, etc.

I constantly feel like a failure and have a fear of being seen as stupid pretty chronically and I am still 'growing and learning' as they say. So I am trying very hard to convince myself that I try anyway and that matters. Like I am thinking of the times I have changed my opinion about something (e.g. once I had an opinion about Ruby/Oscar that I had simply because someone whom I felt knew better than me because I'm a dummy and they're obviously smarter than me was challenged and I changed my opinion and it made sense), or have considered alternatives and I think that that sort of reflection is important. Especially when I am plagued by 'you are an idiot you are an idiot you are an idiot' at all times of the day because hopefully that fear of being stupid shouldn't block one off from learning (that's what I really fear, that and being a burden).

Though I really really think the ability to reconsider one's points is sometimes made impossible by rude people in fandom who make everyone defensive so maybe my historically poor fandom experiences influence that a bit too and historically poor experience in general in life.

Obviously this is on my mind a bit because Volume 9 is coming up, and with a longer break than usual I've had more time to think - though honestly there's not a whole lot one can predict other than really broad beats which is, for me, focussed almost entirely on katabasis (and how it may or may not be played with considering the name of the world they've descended to), and I haven't really speculated at all on the actual Vacuo front because the Emerald City stuff is not going to be exact. I think Nora's arc might be the most clear and I really don't know if they're going to do Summer Maiden stuff this early, and my guess of a Summer Maiden endgame doesn't come until likely much later. That's the thing - I also don't trust a hyperspecific theory.

You can read my V9 Speculation tag, though I'm not entirely sure if that includes my speculation that Raven may have something to do with bringing Yang and co. home.

#ish #hahaha #V9 speculation

[team-rowoby]

I had a dream last night where Emerald became the Summer Maiden. Cinder and Emerald had been fighting and Emerald was down, and Cinder was ranting about the power not going to her, and out of focus in the foreground, you see Emerald sit up. Cinder looks over, then there's a slow zoom shot of Emerald's back with the maiden theme soft in the background, before she looks over her shoulder with the eye flames lighting up, and then I woke up. Rooster teeth hire me.

#emerald sustrai #summer maiden emerald theory #rwby theory #eppi yaps #also the whole thing was done with mmd models

[blueinkjpeg]

Okay so obviously RWBY chibi is known for foreshadowing major events in RWBY and with the new shorts we’ve already had Winter saying that her sister would jump off a cliff for her which duh, is a v8 callback. And then we have Cinder saying

“She (Coco) will burn!”

And a lot of people- including me, are theorizing that Cinder’s gonna kill Coco in upcoming seasons. But then I thought, why would Cinder want Coco dead? She’s a minor character?? It could just be that Coco was in her lane of fire and got burned- a “wrong place at the wrong time” sort of thing. But then I thought: “why does Cinder want anyone dead?” Aside from Ruby and her team, Cinder only wants the maidens dead. And in this line, Cinder insinuates that shes jealous of Coco, or something Coco has (being cool) that Cinder is not as good at.

Coco’s introduction is:

Alluding to summer vacation. This is the first time she has been seen in Chibi, as well as the first time she has been seen since v3. So if anything in chibi was going to be significant for Coco, it would be alluded to here.

You can probably already see where I’m going with this. If Coco is revealed to be the summer maiden, she would be in the same place (Shade Academy, we know she’s there because of the CVFY novels) at the same time as Winter, who had just gotten her maiden powers three minutes ago. Coco has presumably been training for months now and has much more experience than Winter, so Winter’s line here:

“Child! I demand that you reveal your secrets at once!”

... Suddenly makes sense! Whoever the Summer maiden ends up being- if theyre alive and well and in shade academy- of course they’re going to be training Winter, so of course if Coco were the summer maiden, she would be showing her the ropes.

As to how Coco would get the maiden powers- many who have read the CVFY novels speculate that Professor Rumpole is the current Summer maiden. She’s a powerful huntress and Theodore’s right hand, so it would make sense. Coco often mentions how amazing she thinks Rumpole is. Rumpole also trust and respects Coco.

So if anything bad happened to Rumpole after Before the Dawn and before v9, it would make sense for the powers to go to Coco.

Though this also insinuates that Cinder is going to kill her and take the Summer maiden powers. So uh.... 😬

So my point is:

🕯.

🕯 🕯

🕯 Summer maiden Coco 🕯

.🕯. 🕯

.🕯

Also,,,, uh:

“I hate it when there’s nothing I can do to help!”

So how do we think she’s gonna die folks 😐😬😬

#rwby chibi #coco Adel #RWBY #RWBY theory #winter schnee #vacuo #shade academy #RWBY volume 9 #rwby vol 9 #summer maiden #on god I hope I’m right #lmaooo wait her seeing Emerald again is gonna be so funny #wait Emerald and coco vs Cinder 👁👁 #velvet scarlatina #nooo RT don’t bury your gays they’re so sexy haha #rwby before the dawn #professor Rumpole #xanthe rumpole #coco wears sunglasses 🤔 #her eyes r hidden 🤔🤔🤔

[astoria00]

Vol 9 predictions?

Not gonna lie, it's never been as hard to theorize or trying to predict stuff as it is now after volume 8. Still, I kinda got to think a little, so why not share my thoughts? Some people seem to appreciate them from what I heard XD

Anyways, what do we know?

Team RWBY, Neo and Jaune are somewhere else, picket dimension, or something else, we will see. This will be their detour. If we follow the formula it will take them a whole volume to get out and to Vacuo, following two more volumes focused on the battle for Vacuo I imagine. So if we indeed have a breather volume I imagine Crwby will use it to built tension up with the refugees from Atlas. Depending on when Mercury and Tyrian arrived or will arrive. My bet is they are still on their way. They didn't have instant transportation like the refugees, so they will arrive after them.

This could be used to stirr the pot so to speak. Tyrian being a faunus himself could probably cause a lot of damage and the people of Atlas might even help him out with their prejudice. The discrepancy between humans and faunus will finally be the central focus of the conflict there.

Now that Salem's existence is out in the open there could also be some kind of recruiting going on. People wanting to join Salem's cause. Since Vacuo should have been the next target I wonder if they just alter their original plan or if it's totally restrategized. Anyways if Tyrian is able to gather some people for Salem his search for the Summer Maiden is gonna be easier. Maybe they could even get the Summer Maiden to join them. If she is indeed as young as people already speculate, she may not be happy about the secrecy and might be manipulated into joining Salem. This way Winter would have to go up against the Summer Maiden in combat.

And I say that because I am pretty sure Cinder is not being send to Vacuo until maybe volume 10. We can only speculate where Salem and Cinder are headed, but after losing most of her Grimm army, I don't see her flying straight to Vacuo. She is probably gonna go to Evernight to strategize and to keep tabs on what's happening in Vacuo, probably even telling Tyrian and Mercury about the refugees already being there, so they can already figure something out to do about this.

As for Salem herself? She is probably gonna work on Cinder. They haven't been truly alone since before vol 1. Even in volume 4 Emerald and Mercury had been there. This will probably further Cinder's character arc and her relationship with Salem, as well as them touching on the topic of Emerald having betrayed her. I don't see Salem sending Cinder to Vacuo any time soon, until she has her under her full control again, which means stripping down her layers of individuality and her quest of finding her true self. I also expect her to maybe personally train her this time around.

As for the topic of betrayal, Cinder will most likely inform Mercury of Emerald changing sides, so a confrontation between those two seems to be more than likely.

His arc will probably be a parallel to Cinder's in that sense. Just as Yang's recover in volume 4 was a parallel to Cinder's rather unhealthy one, we might see something like that happening with Mercury and Cinder. Mercury dealing with it in a more healthy way and without outside manipulation, than Cinder who is gonna be with Salem the whole time and may gently prodded into not needing anyone but Salem mentality and discarding her own identity in favor of hers.

Now what else could be happening?

Well, in regards to RWBY and co. there might be conflict. People wanting Ruby to be angry at Jaune or being sympathetic, it is clear that there will be a theme of rage and revenge as the major focus, which also fits perfectly with Neo also being there. I don't think Neo will join the heroes or anything like that, but that she will learn a valuable lesson in regards to holding grudges and being trapped by one's negative emotions and rage. Maybe her coming to terms with her relationship with Cinder and what to do about it in the end. I still believe there could be a strong possibility of Neo being a key factor for Cinder's redemption later on. Cinder having a partner was after all something CRWBY wanted all along and their relationship was far different than the one Cinder had with her subordinates.

With our refugee group I could imagine Emerald opening up about her feelings for Cinder and the best person for that would of course be Blake, but Blake is not there, so Nora and Ren seem to be the best bet there, unless they postpone that plotpoint until after RWBY is back with them.

So...those were just some thoughts I had regarding the next volume. As I said, a lot is really hard to see into and who knows if anything I envision to happen will actually happen, but it was what made the most narrative sense to me for now. But let's see what CRWBY will come up with =)

#rwby #cinder fall #salem rwby #rwby theories #just my thoughts on this #rwby9 #neo rwby #emerald sustrai #mercury black #summer maiden #tyrian callows #predictions?

[hamliet]

What function do you think the maiden powers have from the alchemical point of view?

That’s a very good question, lol.

Basically, the most obvious potential reference that comes to mind is this art of four maidens from Mylius Philosophorum:

These are not four maidens of seasons, though, but instead four maidens of the elements. The symbols on the globes below reveal their elements: earth, water, air, fire. These symbols are still used today.

In the flaming flasks above their head, we see earth marked with a shadowed man, water with... some kind of vegetation, air with a bird, and fire with a lion.

In RWBY, the maidens are indeed linked to ancient elements as part of their powers. However, the link between the maidens and a specific element is tenuous at best. This post does the best job of laying out a specific pattern with the maidens: fall with fire (Cinder, whose name is obviously a reference to fire, and Amber with lightning), ice with Raven, and wind with Penny and snow with Winter (though Winter also calms the storm, which is air). However, then they overlap with both Winter and Raven using water, and Raven is also interesting cuz you’d expect she’d use air given her name. Anyways, all that to say: the link between a particular maiden character and a particular element isn’t entirely there. However, the maidens might function as the elements do in alchemy for the overall story: being reconciled to create the philosopher’s stone.

But... because I miss RWBY, let’s speculate on the summer maiden, eh?

Thus far, the maidens have all been connected to someone with their name: Cinder Fall steals the power, Vernal is a decoy for Raven, and Winter inherits the powers from Penny. Thus, it’s quite possible the maiden is somehow linked to Summer Rose, which also fits with the set up in us discovering more about what happened to Summer in volume 8, which will surely be expanded upon in the next volumes.

I think the novels reference the summer maiden as being somewhat of a vigilante in the desert, so she’s most likely a new character (maybe she witnessed what happened to Summer?) Anyways, while we might get a maiden who sticks around, she’s probably more likely to die at some point in the upcoming volumes and pass it to a character we know (we already have A Lot of characters sooo). I mean it’s kind of a pattern with the maidens thus far, after all.

If she does die, who will inherit it? I want to talk about three possibilities, and I’m not going to consider that one of Team RWBY will inherit it, because I do not think they will, though it’s not impossible. And most likely it’ll be someone else I never considered because my specific plot predictions tend to be wrong.

1) Ilia Amitola

I’ve seen people speculate that because Cinder kinda has a connection to Ruby, Raven to Yang, and Winter to Weiss, it makes sense that Blake would have a connection to the next maiden, and Ilia’s the most likely person for this. Which could fit. However, this is kind of the only argument for Ilia that I see--that Blake needs a connection to a maiden--rather than an arc reason or story reason for it to be Ilia. Ilia’s arc was pretty well settled, and while I don’t doubt she’ll return to the story, I’m not quite sure it’ll be in Vacuo. I’m not opposed but not on board yet either.

2) Nora Valkyrie

Nora was hinted to get focus and development in the upcoming volumes, so this could certainly be a way of giving her said focus to “find out who Nora is,” as she says. It would also be interesting in that Team JNPR would have a maiden on their team after all, and no doubt bring back memories of Pyrrha. I’m open to it.

3) Emerald Sustrai

This one I actually think is the most interesting possibility in terms of the narrative and the characters’ arcs, but I’m not like “it has to happen” or anything. Emerald still has unresolved business with Cinder and with Mercury, and this would challenge her character. Cinder would have to try to sweet-talk her into re-joining Salem at first, and/or try to kill the one person who truly did care about Cinder even when treated horribly. Mercury, too, would probably be challenged in terms of what to do: Emerald is his one positive bond, and he’d have to choose what to do. He is definitely getting redeemed, and this could be an interesting way of instigating his questioning about whether he truly belongs with Salem and his ultimate redemption. Also, it could cement Emerald’s redemption by firstly offering her what she wanted for so long--Cinder’s praise--and also revenge for any anger that might come up at Cinder if Salem decides to try to manipulate Emerald--and also challenge Ren, Nora, and Oscar (and the others once they return) in terms of trusting Emerald. Idk, Emerald becoming the Summer Maiden seems to offer the most potential storytelling wise especially as we’re probably at the two-thirds tipping point, but could be wrong, and I’m sure whomever it is will have a great story.

On a very tenuous elemental powers link level, it would make sense that the Summer Maiden might use earth as her main element, and Emerald is indeed marked as earth (her last name means ‘roots’) and water (it also means ‘undercurrent,’ and yes also ‘thief’).

#rwby meta #ask hamliet #rwby #rwby theory #summer maiden #rwby summer maiden #ilia amitola #emerald sustrai #nora valkyrie #alchemy #mercury black #cinder fall

[good-wtch]

I’m not very good at explaining rwby theories but I think Winter is going to bring back Penny.

Here’s the thing: Penny was the perfect Winter Maiden because she has such large themes of Creation in her character. I mean, she was literally built as a machine but still chose to become a girl. And when Ambrosius removed her mechanical parts she was (most likely) the one to give herself a human body. This girl is all about Creation.

And then there’s Winter. The only parallel to creation that I can think of is her semblance and her preference for summoning, but that’s a pretty weak comparison when you look at Raven (Knowledge) and Cinder (Choice) who both heavily associate with their relics representations.

Which is why I believe Winter is going to do something drastic that relates to creation. And I think that thing is going to be the revivification of Penny. Be it with her aura or the Maiden powers, she will bring her back.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe it isn’t? Anyway, I do think it’s also interesting to theorize about who may be the Summer Maiden because they will have to relate to Destruction. Perhaps… Emerald?

#rwby #rwby theory #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #rwby8 spoilers #penny polendina #winter schnee #cinder fall #raven branwen #emerald sustrai

[astradrifting]

 AGOT - Jon I (Chapter 5)

There were times—not many, but a few—when Jon Snow was glad he was a bastard. As he filled his wine cup once more from a passing flagon, it struck him that this might be one of them.

I don’t know why D&D decided Jon could never lie, when literally the first line in his POV is a lie. He’s so good at it he can even lie to himself!

****

A singer was playing the high harp and reciting a ballad, but down at this end of the hall his voice could scarcely be heard above the roar of the fire, the clangor of pewter plates and cups, and the low mutter of a hundred drunken conversations.

A singer with a high harp and a ballad seems like a vague Rhaegar allusion. That Jon can’t actually hear him makes me happy in a very petty way.

****

His lord father had come first, escorting the queen. She was as beautiful as men said. A jeweled tiara gleamed amidst her long golden hair, its emeralds a perfect match for the green of her eyes. His father helped her up the steps to the dais and led her to her seat, but the queen never so much as looked at him. Even at fourteen, Jon could see through her smile.

I think this part is actually Jon being indignant on Ned’s behalf that Cersei was rude to him, by not looking at him when he escorts her, not that she never looked at Jon. Also, there’s those observation skills. He’s never been taken in by a pretty smile.

****

After them came the children. Little Rickon first, managing the long walk with all the dignity a three-year-old could muster. Jon had to urge him on when he stopped to visit.

Adorable!!!

****

Jon noticed the shy looks she gave Robb as they passed between the tables and the timid way she smiled at him. He decided she was insipid. Robb didn’t even have the sense to realize how stupid she was; he was grinning like a fool.

Jon’s a mean drunk I guess 💀

****

Sansa, two years older, drew the crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon. He was twelve, younger than Jon or Robb, but taller than either, to Jon’s vast dismay. Prince Joffrey had his sister’s hair and his mother’s deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey’s pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell’s Great Hall.

Joffrey according to Jon: 👁👄👁

But Sansa looked radiant 🥰

****

He was more interested in the pair that came behind him: the queen’s brothers, the Lannisters of Casterly Rock. The Lion and the Imp; there was no mistaking which was which. Ser Jaime Lannister was twin to Queen Cersei; tall and golden, with flashing green eyes and a smile that cut like a knife. He wore crimson silk, high black boots, a black satin cloak. On the breast of his tunic, the lion of his House was embroidered in gold thread, roaring its defiance. They called him the Lion of Lannister to his face and whispered “Kingslayer” behind his back. Jon found it hard to look away from him.

This is what a king should look like, he thought to himself as the man passed.

Giving me big ‘muscled like a maiden’s fantasy’ vibes there, Jon.

Also, curiously enough Jaime’s introduced wearing black and red, Targaryen colours. Maybe a nod to the incest storyline, possibly leftover foreshadowing from when Jaime was going to become king, as per the outline.

Otherwise this means that, like everybody else in this story, Jaime is a secret Targaryen. He and Cersei can join the ranks of Jon, Tyrion, Varys, Mance Rayder and while we’re at it… *spins a wheel of names* Meera too.

****

His brothers and sisters had not been permitted to bring their wolves to the banquet, but there were more curs than Jon could count at this end of the hall, and no one had said a word about his pup. He told himself he was fortunate in that too.

His eyes stung. Jon rubbed at them savagely, cursing the smoke.

Jon spends half this chapter on the verge of tears, my angsty little lad.

****

Jon looked up happily as his uncle Ben put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair much as Jon had ruffled the wolf’s.

They actually call him Ben and ‘uncle Ben’ a few times in the series, which I honestly think might be a Spider-Man allusion. Surrogate father figure Uncle Ben’s early disappearance/death kicking off the plot… There’s also a saying that nobody stays dead in comics except for Uncle Ben - considering all the other resurrections in the books, metaphorical and literal, yet GRRM says that Benjen isn’t Coldhands, it might be the same for this Uncle Ben too.

****

Jon swelled with pride. “Robb is a stronger lance than I am, but I’m the better sword, and Hullen says I sit a horse as well as anyone in the castle.”

"[Garlan] is a great knight," Ser Loras replied. "A better sword than me, in truth, though I'm the better lance." (ASOS, Sansa I)

Love a Jon-Garlan parallel! Also thinking about Garlan being the older brother made me realise - in the story everyone thinks that Jon is younger than Robb, but timeline-wise, he has to be older, because Robb was conceived in the two weeks before Ned left to fight at the Trident, and Rhaegar must have at least already been in the capital by then to rally the loyalists, so Jon was conceived weeks, if not months earlier. Which means that Ned has definitely lied about when Jon’s birthday is.

Jon being the product of a ‘youthful indiscretion’ before he was married is less of a stain on Ned’s honour than him betraying his marriage bed but I imagine Catelyn’s fears about Jon usurping her children might have had more basis if he was known to be the eldest, so maybe that’s why Ned lied about how old he is.

****

“Daeron Targaryen was only fourteen when he conquered Dorne,” Jon said. The Young Dragon was one of his heroes. 

"A conquest that lasted a summer," his uncle pointed out. "Your Boy King lost ten thousand men taking the place, and another fifty trying to hold it. Someone should have told him that war isn't a game." He took another sip of wine. "Also," he said, wiping his mouth, "Daeron Targaryen was only eighteen when he died. Or have you forgotten that part?"

Jon is unfortunately, a jock. And a bit of an idiot. 

There’s something about Jon’s hero dying at 18, Waymar dying at 18 just a few chapters ago... Jon has them all beat by dying at 17.

****

"You are a boy of fourteen," Benjen said. "Not a man, not yet. Until you have known a woman, you cannot understand what you would be giving up."

"I don't care about that!" Jon said hotly.

"You might, if you knew what it meant," Benjen said. "If you knew what the oath would cost you, you might be less eager to pay the price, son."

Jon felt anger rise inside him. "I'm not your son!"

Benjen Stark stood up. “More’s the pity.”

Establishing Benjen as a somewhat contentious father figure to Jon - even more fuel for my brand new Uncle Ben ‘theory’.

****

The wolf pup padded closer and nuzzled at Jon's face, but he kept a wary eye on Tyrion Lannister, and when the dwarf reached out to pet him, he drew back and bared his fangs in a silent snarl. 

"Shy, isn't he?" Lannister observed.

"Sit, Ghost," Jon commanded. "That's it. Keep still." He looked up at the dwarf. "You can touch him now. He won't move until I tell him to. I've been training him."

Possibly he and Sansa are the only ones who properly trained their direwolves, considering how the rest of them will end up behaving.

****

“If I wasn’t here, he’d tear out your throat,” Jon said. It wasn’t actually true yet, but it would be.

Pffffft! Edgy edgy edge-lord 💀

Though I also always feel like issuing casual threats to Tyrion Lannister so I can’t really blame him.

****

Standing, he was taller than the dwarf. It made him feel strange.

He’s got a weird preoccupation with comparing his height to Lannister men in this chapter. My headcanon for the books is that Jon’s quite tall by ADWD but evidently he’s tiny in AGOT if he feels strange being tall next to a dwarf.

****

final thoughts:

Believe it or not, I didn’t actually have Jonsa in mind with my new Uncle Ben theory, but I did just remember that brown haired Peter Parker’s main love interest is red-haired MJ :P

#astra re-reads #agot re-read #jon chapters

[womenofwonder]

Option on RWBY ships:

Btw, I don’t usually ship characters. Romance is usually the least interesting part of the story for me so expect a lot of meh.

Arkos: obviously I love this, it’s perfect

Blacksun: ehh, it’s cute. I started out feeling kinda meh, it was sweet but not really interesting, but now it’s growing on me. Ironically the same thing is happening with Bumblebee, although I still like Blake and Yang better platonically

Bunanas: so this is a ship between Velvet and Sun, and it’s honestly really cute to imagine even if it is completely random. I like it better then Blacksun…I think?

Candy Cane: this is just weird. I can’t imagine Nora being anything but a older sister to Oscar. The age gap makes it creepy too, not the four years is much of a gap, but when your teenagers it’s a big gap.

Chocolate Arc: this is hilarious to imagine but obviously yeah, Coco isn’t going to fall for someone like Jaune

Cinnabun: I barely know anything about Yatsuhashi but he and Velvet are cute, I guess? Still like her better with Sun

ClockRose: heck no!

Coconuts: again, can’t see Sun doing anything but annoying Coco. I really don’t like the whole ‘badass jerk of a girl falls for goof ball trope.’ It always ends up feeling sexist in several ways

Combat Boots: honestly outside of an AU I can’t see Yang ever forgiving Mercury much less falling in love with him. Also Mercury just doesn’t deserve her

Combat goggles: I feel like Yang and Neptune would have fun causally dating each other and slowly realizing they actually like (Blake/Sun/Jaune/whoever) and become each other’s wingmen. That fanfic better be lying around somewhere

Crimson Lotus: okay, if I didn’t love Renora and Rosegarden so much I’d probably ship this. It’s really cute

Crimson Sun: this feels like an excuse to write lemons of the two hottest characters

Crimson wings: look I understand most of the shipping heroes with villains because they’re both hot and the villain/hero dynamic is always fun. But Cardin…he’s not even hot. He’s not even interesting. And yet people ship him with Ruby? Why?

Daddie Issues: you know I see where this is coming from but they would just end up murdering each other.

Dairy Farm: obviously this is downright creepy in cannon, but in an au where Neo isn’t evil and both are closer in age, this would be adorable. I feel like Neo’s main problem is she’s incredibly lonely—other then Roman no one bothers to understand or talk to her. If Oscar reached out to her, and she began to protect him…it would be perfect. In way even better then Rosegarden because I think Neo would still be a bit of pycho even when good, and it would be fun to see her lose it when Salem hurts him.

Ilia/Adam: I just want to say I am forever grateful the show went out of its way to avoid this obnoxious, cliche ship from being canon

Dragon slayer: I see why people ship Jaune and Yang, I really do. They’re both the team mom/dad of their team, they’ve got the whole goofball/badass thing going (which is a trope I do like when the badass isn’t a jerk), they both have a good sense of humor, etc. But I just can’t see them as romantic. It feels really weird. I can’t even explain why. I understand shipping them but I really can’t ship them myself.

Emercury: I really love this ship, but I also don’t mind at all if the show decides to make them platonic. I enjoy their relationship in general and it works either way.

Oscar/Emerald: again, feel creepy. I love the idea of a sibling relationship and can’t see them possibly being romantic even without the age gape.

Cinder/Qrow: yeah again. Both are sexy and good for angsty lemons. I’m not into that stuff so I don’t ship them

Fall Stinger: I just don’t know why anyone would ship Tyrian with anyone. Unless it was Salem and even that is super creepy

Firerobber: I like villain relationships but Roman already has Neo and Cinder is a hot mess. Literally

Firewall: I don’t know why anyone would ship Watts with anyone. He’s even worst less ship-able then Tyrian

Footloose: I don’t actually ship it but just imagine Mercury and Melanie bonding over weaponized feet.

Freckles: Yeah this is just painful. The two most adorable characters (Penny and Oscar), who go through the worst things imaginable. It’s endless fluff, angst, and whump, and I love cute romance and tragic romances, so this is definitely something I ship.

Frostbite: seriously, this is so weird and toxic. Having Adam fall for Weiss or vice versa. Maybe it would work in an AU or something but it’s just too creepy

Funky Beats: it’s cute, I ship it.

Gelato: yeah I love healthy villainous relationships! Neo and Roman are freaking adorable, and I’m sad that we didn’t see more of them together.

Grandmasters: I obviously don’t ship Salem and Ozpin because that’s just creepy, but I do like their romance. I like tragic romances, and this probably the most tragic one in existence

Greek Lotus: I don’t see the chemistry and crashes two of my favorite ships so…

Green Knight: well, she kinda helped kill his last girlfriend so…unless it’s AU this isn’t going to work. Even if it is an AU. This feels like another ship made solely for lemons

Velvet/Cardin: yeah, a bigot changing his mind when he falls in love with a minority isn’t cute. Isn’t sweet. It isn’t romantic. I don’t even excuse lemons that use this trope. Even porn ought to be above that

Weiss/Cardin: WOULD EVERYONE STOP SHIPPING CARDIN WITH PEOPLE

Hummingbird: it’s hard to ship something when you only know one character, but I was interested in the theory that Qrow was actually Ruby’s father. But then in season 7 Qrow’s description of Summer made me rethink it, and it didn’t sound anything like how you’d describe a romantic relationship. So I don’t really like that theory anymore

Iceberg: this is just cliche and boring. I get them dating but it wouldn’t last that long

Flynt/Weiss: I really love this one, it’s my favorite ship with Weiss. I don’t want it to actually happened in cannon because that would be random, but I feel like it would be fun for both their characters. And they both share an interest in music. I’m imagining an AU where he gets her into jazz and she starts singing it at all her concerts to the horror of Jaques.

Iron Maiden: honestly what. Why. Gross

Iron witch: well I definitely see why people like it. I actually wouldn’t mind it being cannon, It’d be a good combination of funny/tragic and I’d like to see Glynda mentoring Winter

Jailbirds: this just feels forced and also Qrow is probably too old for her. I like their relationship and don’t want it to be romantic

Knight fall: lemon ship. Moving on

Knight Life: I feel like Jaune just gets shipped with everyone but this is cute I guess

Lancaster: it’s cute, but I can’t ship it because it feels cliche. I was worried that Jaune was going to be her love interest when they first met and was relieved to see him with Pyrrha instead. It just feels forced and boring to have him end up with Ruby

Pyrrha/Mercury: this really popular for some unfathomable reason. I like Mercury but Pyrrha deserves better

Marrowgold (May/Marrow): I just don’t see it

Nikong: Pyrrha and Sun would be cute together, but I don’t really love this ship. It’s kinda meh.

Nora’s Arc: no. Just no. It technically would work but their platonic relationship is way too good to lose

Old Silver: this is Maria/Pietro, and I think it’s adorable. They both strike me as really flirty for their ages and both are very good mentors. They can be the crazy grandparents of the team

Ozglyn: just don’t see it

Phoenix: yeah Raven was a horrible girlfriend/wife. I don’t ship her Taiyang

QuickSilver: Ruby deserves better than Mercury.

Rehab (Qrow/Glynda): the fact that this is called rehab explains why I don’t ship it

ReNora: yeah, this is probably my favorite ship. I don’t think I have to explain why.

Robotic Knight: I briefly shipped this but now disagree

Rosegarden: I really love Rosegarden, they’re just too adorable together, though the whole Ozpin does make it a little awkward

Rosewick: I can’t see this happening, even in an AU

Coco/Fox: I don’t know enough about Fox to really ship them, but the fact that Coco canonically slaps his butt during battle definitely makes me want to

Mercury/Neo: I could see this working. It would be pretty cute

Silent Knight: again, it would have to be an AU and even then I don’t see it working

Snowbird: so at first I really liked the idea of Qrow and Winter being ex’s, but now that I think about it he has to be at least twenty years older then her. Also, I have to say that while they have chemistry I think they would just end up killing each other

Speakeasy (Flynt/Coco): I got to say I like this ship and could see them having a lot of chemistry together

Strawbanna: I just can’t see Ruby and Sun together. It feels weird

Sunflakes: Can’t see it working

Sunflowyr (Ren/Yang): don’t see any chemistry. Again this just seems random

Tauradonna: this is obviously as toxic as you get.

The Hunt (Cardin/Blake): stop shipping Cardin with anyone!

Mercury/Cinder: Mercury is way too young, and even if he wasn’t this would be really weird. Also Cinder makes him look like a stable, peaceful person, so also no.

Toxic Petals: I swear I’m done with this. No more Cardin, Tyrian, or Watts ships. They too gross

Velveteen Knight: Aw, they’d be cute together

White Knight: I really hate this ship. It’s so obnoxious and boring, and nearly falls into the jerky badass/goofball trope I hate

Winter Soldier: ew, no, Ironwood is like her dad

Wise Dragon: anyone care to explain why this is so popular? Sage barely has any character to him, I can’t ship him with anyone

Yellow rose: Yeah, I kinda ship this, but again, it’s difficult when you barely know one character

IronQrow: I understand why you would ship this but I just don’t see it. Guys can hug without being gay you know

Martial arts: why?

Noah’s Arc: why?

Sea Monkeys: again I understand why you could ship it but I don’t. They’re obviously just friends to me

Shovel Knight: like most Oscar ships it feels weird. Jaune is obviously a big brother to him

TaiQrow: As funny as it is for Tai to sleep with every member of his team, I don’t ship it.

Fair game: I really can’t stand Clover so again, don’t ship it

Achilles heel: Cinder literally kills Pyrrha, why would you ship them?

Baked Alaska: lemon ship

Black glass: annnd, another lemon ship.

Blood Mint: yeah I don’t see Emerald and Ruby ever being a couple

Catmelon: I found Ilia’s crush on Blake kinda cringy and I can’t see them being a couple

ColdMurder (Weiss/Cinder): even in an au I don’t see it working

Cold Steel (Penny/Winter) eeewww, they’re practically sisters

Cream Machine (Neo/Penny): I mean…if she wasn’t evil…and wasn’t so much older…it might work? Maybe?

Crosshares: cute but I feel like Velvet is too much of a doormat for Coco

Digital Clock: Ciel obviously didn’t care much for Penny, and she was barely a character at all. I don’t see it

Pyrrha/Nora: don’t see it, and also can’t stand the idea of breaking up the two best ships

Falling Petals: I get that Cinder is hot, but can we stop shipping her with the kids she’s trying to murder? Because I can see several things wrong with that

Freezerburn: again, for no reason that I can think of this ship just doesn’t work for me. Much like Dragonslayer it just feels weird

Gingersnaps (Penny/Nora): that would be chaotic. I can’t really see them romantically though like most Penny ships it would be cute

Guilty Conscience (Bree/Winter): oh please no. They really don’t have any reason to be together

Ladybug: I just can’t see Blake with Ruby at all. Blake feels way to old even though she’s only older by two years.

Milk and Cereal (Ruby and Pyrrha): I guess it would work but I just don’t any chemistry

Mint chocolate (Emerald/Coco): if Coco managed to forgive her for everything that happened at Beacon I could maybe see this happening. There is some chemistry

Mommy issues: Nah, can’t see this working out.

Monochrome: Blake and Weiss have never had any romance chemistry despite plenty of opportunity to have it, so again, I see them as strictly platonic and shipping them feels almost like incest. I know that doesn’t make sense

Nordic Winter: I can’t see Weiss handling Penny, but again, any Penny ship is pretty cute

Nuts and Dolts: I would ship, but I like them together platonically too well. Definitely understand the ship, though I find it funny that Ruby, who insist she likes weapons better then people, would fall in love with a personified weapon. I know that’s probably racist against robots

Overheating (Penny/Cinder): I take back what I said about every Penny ship being cute

PennyWeiss: but this one is pretty cute

Pink Lemonade: can you imagine the chaos of Yang and Nora dating each other? They both need someone with a cooler head to keep them in check

Scheenoks: with Weiss’s fangirling I can definitely see were this is coming from, but Weiss is too mean for Pyrrha

Steadfast: I really don’t ship any of the ace-ops with anyone. I found them all boring and annoying except for Marrow

Strawberry Shortcake (Neo/Ruby): not seeing it

Sugar Rush (Ruby/Nora): Again, too much chaos. They both need chill partners. And I love Rosegarden and ReNora too much

Thunder cat (Blake/Nora): don’t see any chemistry between them

WhiteRose: I can see why this is shipped and I don’t dislike WhiteRose shippers. I just prefer Rosegarden, and find Weiss and Ruby working better together romantically

Bumblebee: again, I see this working better platonically, not romantically. It kind of annoyed me at first, but it is growing on me, much like Blacksun. I still like Blacksun better though

Enabler: No.

#Rwby #rwby ships #bumblebee #blacksun #rosegarden #roman/neo #WhiteRose #Arkos #Renora #ruby rose #wiess Schnee #snowbird #qrow #winter Schnee #fairgame #blake bellodona #Yang Xiao Long #oscar pine

[musings-from-mars]

The Chess Motif and Salem’s Forces

So I got to thinking about the chess imagery we often see associated with Salem and her faction, and I came upon this theory that her underlings each represent a different chess piece, each with their own uses, advantages and limitations.

With my middling knowledge about chess and chess tactics and my analysis of each of Salem’s current faction members, here’s who I think each of them represent.

The King: Salem

This one’s pretty easy to pick out. The King is the most important piece in chess; the whole object of the game is to capture your opponent’s King to win. The King itself isn’t a very agile piece at all, as it only moves one space at a time in any unobstructed direction. Therefore, the King surrounds itself with several other more capable pieces which are used to defend it and attack the opposing side.

Salem fits this role to a T. She never once has gotten directly involved in engaging the enemy, but her defenses are so well executed, the opposing side is nowhere close to “capturing” her.

But of course, if the King is captured, it’s all over. Hence why the heroes’ ultimate goal is to stop her.

The Pawns: Emerald, and to a lesser extent, Neo

The Pawn is the least valuable piece in chess. It only moves forward one space at a time (with exceptions), and are generally expendable. Pawns will often be sacrificed if it means gaining an advantage. However, the fewer Pawns one has left, the less likely they are to sacrifice them.

In the same way, Salem does not view Emerald or Neo as highly valuable, but still useful. In the right time and place, a pawn can be used offensively, or as effective defense.

However, the main reason I see them both as pawns is because they’re both young women, possible candidates for maiden powers. The biggest strength associated with Pawns is if they’re moved far enough across the board, they can be promoted to a higher piece, usually a Queen. More about that in a bit...

The Bishop: Watts

Bishops are crafty pieces, able to move in any diagonal unobstructed direction. However, they aren’t very powerful on their own.

Watts is a perfect fit for this role. He’s a capable fighter and can hold his own, but he’s not the strongest when alone. He does his best work in conjunction with others, which is why he often is accompanied by Tyrian.

However, since the Bishop can’t do much on its own, its more likely to be sacrificed to opposing capture for an advantage (captured quite literally at the moment, in fact).

Lastly, in an endgame situation, if the only pieces a side has remaining is their King and a Bishop, (unless the opponent bungles so badly that they box themself in among their own pieces somehow?), it is impossible for these two pieces to achieve a checkmate. A King with a Rook or Queen can, but a King and Bishop on their own is not a winning combination.

The Knights: Tyrian, and to a lesser extent, Mercury

Knights are very agile and useful pieces. They’re the only pieces which can jump over others, and therefore don’t need an unobstructed path to move. They also move in an odd two-by-one L-shaped path that is difficult to predict or defend against.

Tyrian seems like a Knight because of a Knight’s ability to move past other pieces to get behind the opponent’s defenses. A few well strung-together moves with a Knight can decimate an opponent because there’s no way to block their path. Tyrian is unusually agile, unpredictable, and difficult to defend against, and his specialty is infiltrating and causing chaos, as we’ve seen in Mantle. Knights are also very useful for defending the King from attack for these reasons, hence Tyrian’s loyalty to Salem.

I struggled with which piece Mercury fit the best, but I settled on Knight for him as well for of much of the same reasons as Tyrian. His fighting style often throws his opponents off because it’s so different, and his role in orchestrating the Fall of Beacon by subtly learning Pyrrha’s semblance and goading Yang into attacking him out of turn at the tournament show how useful he is in assisting an attack.

But much like the Bishop, a lone King and Knight cannot win on their own.

The Rook: Hazel

Since he’s built like a stone tower, this one wasn’t very difficult to choose. The Rook is the most powerful non-Queen piece on the board. It can move forward, backward, and sideways along any unobstructed path. Unless a proper defense is in place, the Rook can steamroll anything in its path, and is among the most useful pieces in an endgame situation.

A lone Rook and the King can win on their own. Rooks are very rarely sacrificed for an advantage, so losing a Rook is an especially hard hit to take...

The Queen: Cinder

And now the most powerful piece on the board. The Queen can move in any unobstructed diagonal, forward, backward, or sideways direction. It essentially has the combined abilities of the Rook and Bishop.

The Queen is almost never sacrificed under any circumstances, unless immediate victory is otherwise conceivable.

It’s no wonder Cinder identifies with the Queen piece. She is the most powerful member of Salem’s faction and is the most capable of effectively attacking the enemy. Losing the Queen is perhaps the worst thing that could happen short of losing the game altogether.

At the start of every game of chess, the Queen is always right by the King’s side, symbolizing the Queen’s role of being the King’s most important piece of offense and defense. Moreover, I do think Cinder represents the Queen, but more specifically, she represents a former Pawn who has been promoted to a Queen because the King pushed her so far across the board in the pursuit of further power.

One more thing about Queens. In most chess sets (at least the one I have and the competition sets we used on the school chess team), two Queens per color are included in the set, just in case a Pawn is promoted while another Queen is still present on the board. This makes a total of four possible Queens, much like how there are four Maidens. At the moment, there is one Queen to Salem’s side, and one Queen to Ozpin’s (Penny, also a former Pawn), while Raven and the Summer Maiden are essentially off the board for now.

(It is possible to have more Queens than that if more Pawns are promoted, but that’s a pretty rare occurrence).

I might consider doing an analysis like this for Ozpin’s side, but I feel assigning roles in that case would be more difficult. But I might, maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

So there you have it! I honestly had lots of fun nerding out about chess despite not seriously playing it in years. I enjoy the aesthetic and I appreciate the fact that CRWBY does too.

#rwby #rwby theory #cinder fall #neopolitan #emerald sustrai #salem #hazel reinhart #tyrian callows #mercury black #arthur watts

[rwby-sk]

Im just saying, if cinder showed human emotion to people she liked, i wouldnt say no

I question if she currently likes anyone

Especially after seeing that Emerald defected

-

But I agree, I'd love to see Cinder show some kind of kindness to /someone/

She's imitating Salem to pretend to be strong. In control, ambitious, manipulative, etc

But the lesson of RWBY is that, friends make you stronger. Not just power

If Cinder is going to ultimately turn on Salem, she's going to need to care about someone other than herself

(Looks at "summer maiden is a child" theory)

#rwby is a lot like naruto #friends = strength #also #surviving falls from huge heights

[johnnygameshow]

Time for a RWBY Theory

This time it's about the summer maiden and who I think will have the power by the end of the volume

My current theory is that the Summer maiden is going to be a brand new character who will be a lot more vibrant than the maidens of past, one that is more impulsive and more headfirst approach. However I think she won't have the power forever. Every Maiden in the story has either passed their powers on after being introduced, Fria->Penny->Winter had it stolen Amber->Cinder, or had it recently obtained but by a character we already knew about Raven. So I think that the power of the summer maiden is going to transfer to someone amidst the story and that person is Emerald.

Here me out on this, all of the powers have been either given to someone in the story already or an established character in the background and Emerald seems like the perfect candidate. She claims the power Cinder says she wants in order to rule over others. She will most likely take the power from the summer maiden as cinder almost defeats her, and then Emerald will be the one to defeat Cinder. The one woman who took her in and was a savior to Emerald almost would then try to kill her for that power and Emerald will have no choice to but to fight back and defeat Cinder herself.

#rwby #crwby #rwby theory #rwby volume 9 predictions #emerald rwby #emerald sustrai #rwby cinder #cinder fall #rwby maidens

[kitwalker-rwby]

Some Rwby theories I have that I don’t have the energy to elaborate on but would be excited if other people supported

(get ready for a lot of “these people are related” theories)

1, Hazel is Oscar’s biological father.

2, Cinder and Summer are half sisters. Summer’s last mission was not only to try to destroy Salem, she wanted to save Cinder. Cinder was very young at the time and does not remember this.

3, Summer is alive, and trapped in Evernight castle along with a bunch of other SEW’s whom Salem experiments on/tortures.

4, Emerald will be the one who is eventually forced to kill Cinder.

5, Robyn will become the leader of a new Atlas/Mantle/Whatever the kingdom’s name will be after Salem’s attack

6, Ironwood, Fria, and Nora are related. (somehow Idk I just think it’d be a cool plot twist)

7, Tyrian is the son of Tock.

8, Glynda is a “Vessel” for the Crown of Choice.

9, Glynda, the Arcs and the Schnees are Ozlem descendants.

10, When Raven inevitably passes Yang will not only gain her maiden powers, she will gain her transformation abilities as well, transforming into either an albatross or a phoenix.

11, With Clover dead resting, Harriet is going to become the new leader of the Ace Ops.

12, Qrow is definitely gonna survive the series. I just really don’t feel like he’s gonna get killed off anymore *fingers crossed for this one*

13, This is more of a wish, but at the end of the series, Blake and Yang are gonna get married and open a huntsman academy in Menagerie, which is an official kingdom by that point.

#rwby #rwby theory #qrow branwen #bumbleby #cinder fall #glynda goodwitch #robyn hill #yang xiao long #raven branwen #harriet bree #hazel rainhart #oscar pine #summer rose #nora valkyrie

[nights-lament]

RWBY Volume 8, Chapter 11

My various thoughts and opinions on Chapter 10 of RWBY Volume 8, “Risk”

SPOILERS BELOW:

I love the way they focus on the same background characters we’ve seen before in the shots with the refugees. Due to how the human mind works, it’s hard to make us care about gigantic nameless crowds, but the father and daughter that, just a few hours ago were enjoying a peaceful picnic? The woman who was amongst the thirsty moms and her racist mom (who is now holding hands with Fiona’s Uncle Gus. Lovely background development there)? We know a bit of their story, We can care about them. Wonderful storytelling, there.

Ironwood made Fiona cry. His fate has officially been sealed.

Ok, since Elm is rationalizing this by thinking it’s a bluff, I’m holding out a shred of hope for her. Vine, on the other hand, can join Harriet in fucking all the way off.

I am torn between rooting for/ loving everything Marrow is saying and wanting nothing more for him to shut the hell up.  He was saying everything that needed to be said, but after what happened with Sleet, he was practically begging for a bullet.

WINTER YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE QUEEN!!!

The fact that anyone bought Winter’s “taking him to the brig” bullshit shows that there is only one brain cell left among the Atlas elites and Winter and Marrow are sharing it.

Oh man, seeing Ruby snapping is really sad, but almost cathartic, in a way, like this has needed to happen for a while.

Man, Ren, Watts, Marrow, and now Nora. These past few episodes have just been a conga line of people calling others out on their shit. Go off, Nora.

Look at Jaune reading the room. God, I love this man.

“When my mom ran from the Grimm and left me behind-” Wow. Um, ok, there’s a lot to unpack there.

Ok, the idea of Renora deciding NOT to become an item should make me sad, but honestly I’m loving this development. As much as I love Renora, Nora’s got a point that they’ve always felt like a linked item. Ren and Nora rarely felt like separate characters, they were always simply Ren and Nora, and realistically it’s not healthy to define yourself by your relationship to another. This is actually an incredibly healthy decision that Nora has come to, and the fact that they’re openly communicating their feelings and properly supporting each other just warms my heart to no end. The fact that they both outright said “I love you” probably helps a lot too.

All right, they’re gonna need to release a proper color chart for these petals. What the hell does “incredibly light pink” mean?

He did the boop. HE DID THE BOOP!

Ok, I feel like it was Winter and Marrow that Qrow and Robyn saw, but a part of me also feels like that would be too obvious. Unless CRWBY thought they were being sneaky with Winter arresting Marrow and next episode will be the big reveal that, to no one’s surprise, Winter is defecting.

Once again, the Summer-Hound theory becomes just a little more canon. God, this conversation is heartbreaking.   Seeing Ruby doubting herself now is just devastating. Fortunately, Yang is here with a great supportive speech. Now all Ruby needs is pick-me-up from Weiss and she’ll have a whole set.

Well, there goes the “Hacked!Penny can’t access her Maiden Powers” theory.

There’s something about seeing everyone working together to hold Penny down that’s almost wholesome in a tragic kind of way. Such a classic bonding activity. See? Even Emerald’s getting involved. Inclusion for everyone.

Ok, Penny, I was trying to make a joke, there. Hard to do when you decide to make it that dark.

On one hand, the Aura boost almost seemed like too easy a solution. On the other hand, it’s very thematically appropriate and didn’t solve the issue permanently, so I’ll allow it.

Emerald’s speech was corny and awkward as hell and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yeah, sorry Emerald, you said you switched sides! No take backs, you’ve officially been adopted.

Yang’s and Emerald’s relationship is slowly morphing into that of Glimmer and Catra and I have zero complaints about that.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting with the heroes properly reuniting with Ozpin, but this level of wholesome was not it. Everyone seems to be on the same page with each other and quite frankly I love it.

And there it is, the stage is set. Ruby and company have “agreed” to hand Penny over (never in the history of “x comes alone” has that ever worked out, no way in hell RWBY would break that tradition), Cinder, Watts and Neo have overheard, and Qrow and Robyn have presumably met up with the newly defected Winter and Marrow. Now we wait for the proper showdown. This volume has been so amazing, can’t wait to see how CRWBY ties it all together.

#rwby #rwby volume 8 #rwby spoilers #rwby thoughts and opinions #rooster teeth animation

[bananaapplewaffle]

About the Maidens...

This post contains spoilers for RWBY VOLUME 8 CHAPTER 8 and possibly even future episodes but this is just a theory so...read at your own risk [Also I’m not putting it under a “more” because tumblr said fuck off last time I did that, so old school warning it is]

Alright since this is the second time I’m writing this I’m gonna make this sweet and to the point.

Basically RWBY VOLUME 8 CHAPTER 8 had me and my friend screaming about it. Then we calmed down enough to theorize then we started screaming again.

So I’m gonna talk about how Team RWBY is going to obtain their maiden powers.

Winter: Okay so, Winter was supposed to get the maidens power, somewhat similar to how Pyrrha was to acquire it. But that didn’t happen, instead Penny got them. Here’s the issue that arose from this. Nora has been doubting her “usefulness”, Penny has also begun to lose herself and now the two of them have gotten closer.

I believe Nora will be the next to receive the power. HOWEVER, Nora is going to end up dying in battle, as a *Valkyrie would. [*Don’t quote me on this tough, I may be getting Odin Sphere’s lore mixed up with actual mythology]. Then the power will be transferred to Weiss who has both gotten close to Nora and I feel like Weiss has redefined herself from being just the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company to a Huntress set out to help those in need and that’s something that Nora relates(?) to. Basically, these girls are going through it and I’m scared. 

[Also side note, while writing this I had the terrible thought that all of team JPNR will die. Y’all let’s hope I’m wrong about Nora cuz if I’m right then—]

Spring: This is somewhat self explanatory to be honest. Raven’s gonna die probably from saving Yang. 

Summer: This is up in the air beside Tyrian and Mercury going to Vacuo and Sun and Neptune are already there. So the real question is: “Is the Summer Maiden someone Blake knows? Or will she develop a relationship with the Maiden? 

Fall: Now, as we know, Cinder has the Fall Maiden  powers. Which obviously she’s not going to give them to Ruby. At least not as voluntarily. When we first met Cinder, she was that bitch. Now? She’s back to being Step Sister Cinder. Salem is now her evil step mom, but there’s no step siblings. There’s no more Cinder, Emerald and Mercury plus Neo. Now, it's just Cinder and Salem. Cinder is nothing without Salem after all.

Anyway, back to the main subject. Now that Cinder is one track minded on getting back at Ruby and “getting the rest of the maiden powers”, she’ll only have those two things on her mind when she dies. 

“How dare this child! I was supposed to have everything! She promised me everything! And now I have nothing”

“You’ve done your job well, Cinder.” 

And since I don’t think Salem can get the maiden powers, guess who its going too?~

Which in the end, all has gone according to Salem’s plans. 

To put an end to the cycle of Maidens. 

#waffled theories #rwby theory #rwby theories #rwby spoilers #rwby vol 8 spoilers #spoilers #rwby #rwby vol 8 #nora valkyrie #penny polendina #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #raven branwen #blake belladonna #tyrian callows #mercury black #sun wukong #neptune vasilias #cinder fall #salem #emerald sustrai #neopolitian (rwby) #ruby rose #rwby maidens