#fria the winter maiden

[bestworstcase]

i do think it’s thematically important that the maidens are inherited in this specific way, it’s not an accident that when the narrative sets down the rules the potential violence is not just remarked upon but given emphasis and used explicitly as justification for the aura transfer machines. nearly everything ozpin does is rooted in keeping the maidens within his control—selecting candidates in anticipation of their deaths, giving the branwens bird forms to identify maidens when the line of inheritance jumps the tracks, chaining the maidens to these vaults, etc—and his greatest adversary in this endeavor is the maidens themselves, because the magic preferentially selecting maiden-killers is, in effect, the magic fighting against this control.

why does the magic transfer itself like this? it will not be controlled. throughout the years ozma and his allies have devoted enormous effort to dictating the Final Thoughts of anyone who receives this power in order to maintain control over it (& their abject failure in this regard leads to the invention of the aura transfer machines); meanwhile the magic binds itself to "random" heirs if the candidate its host has in mind is unsuitable, and prefers to go to ozma’s enemies when it can.

(and do mark that. the person in the maiden’s Final Thoughts is explicitly only a suggestion, one the magic can and will disregard if he or she is unsuitable. ozpin et al believe that these candidates are only rejected if they are 1. male or 2. too old, but none of them can read minds; and as ozpin says, maidens choose themselves. it’s just as likely that there are additional disqualifying criteria, such as the candidate being coerced or just not being spiritually compatible. there’s no reason to think that KILLING A MAIDEN couldn’t be a disqualifying act if the magic were unwilling.)

of note in this regard is that cinder breaks amber’s aura (orange) before using the beetle to draw out the magic (golden):

which matters because the magic is attached to aura and separates at the moment of death; as i said in the last post, the grimm beetle is successful because it respects the magic’s own rules. cinder breaks the outward projection of amber’s soul and then shoots her in the back (symbolically, killing her) and then claims the magic as she begins to die. had she walked up and slit amber’s throat here instead, she would have almost certainly inherited all of the magic too. the grimm beetle thumbs the scales a bit but in the context of the magic’s rules, it’s playing ball.

whereas:

when cinder uses her arm to drain raven’s/penny’s auras, she doesn’t gain any portion of the spring/winter maiden’s magic, nor do either of them suffer lasting harm in the vein of amber (coma) or pietro (holes burned through his aura).

so there’s nothing special about grimm that allows them to violate the magical rules. all evidence suggests that the ATMs don’t work for this purpose either: as soon as amber dies, the magic rips free, and cinder’s grimm arm can harvest aura but not magic. it follows that in the event of a complete aura transfer, the magic would detach from the donor aura as soon as the donor died, leaving the recipient with two souls and no magic. there is a degree of wiggle room (under particular circumstances you can convince the magic to begin separating before the previous maiden is fully dead) but you can’t outright cheat.

which is the whole point. you can’t take a maiden’s magic without killing her and you can’t circumvent the maiden’s agency by stealing the soul of its host. the maidens are unbound by death. and i think there’s a literal causal relationship between how ozma treats the maidens and how they choose their hosts—he can’t use them as weapons without losing them, or outright delivering this magic into salem’s hands. nor can he hoard them or hide them away forever because he can’t dictate their final thoughts.

#mumbles into a cup. #the ''kill a maiden to gain her power'' thing is the magic’s escape route #which a) is WHY cinder is choice and b) means that once this system is dismantled and ended the #inherent violence in how the maidens are inherited also ends. & that’s what fria -> penny -> winter sets up.

[hadesisqueer]

RWBY Maiden Plots so far

Someone tell the Summer Maiden she is being dragged into their bullshit next volume.

#rwby #rwby maidens #rwvy volume 9 #fall maiden #spring maiden #winter maiden #summer maiden #cinder fall #penny polendina #amber rwby #winter schnee #raven branwen #rwby fria #rwby memes

[wp-blaze]

The Pure, Unadulterated Gospel

I want to get back to the basics, and be very plain, because I have been told that my articles are too long. This article is going to be a “remake” of “The solution to evil, The Good News”, and this time I want to give without any digression the pure message of the Gospel […]

[etincelleart]

So what do you think the yellow color when penny gave her power to winter meant?

So I have two main ideas for that :

It has something to do with Jaune's Semblance, that he used right before Penny asked him to kill her.

I don't think we really know how his Semblance can expend exactly, we got some hints in Volume 7 with Vine asking him if he "ever thought about extending his Aura". So did he mean that like physically like Vine and Emerald did ? Or an extension in a different way, in time or space for example ? For now there's no confirmation, but it feels like there's something they will do (or have already done) with that.

So yeah, I was thinking that MAYBE, Jaune's Semblance impacted Penny's Aura, maybe it only changed colors because of it, or maybe it also gave her some strenght and reinforced her Aura ? Idk but this is one idea.

2. It has something to do with Ambrosius' work and actions after "recreating" Penny.

I noticed in a recent tiny rewatch of the chapter "Creation" of Volume 8 that when Ambrosius "recreate" Penny, there's this similar gold light kinda coming out of her body, my interpretation of that is that it's when her Aura was removed from her robot body. But we see right after through the robot body's vision that her Aura is really green inside her new flesh body, and we see it again while she fights and fall on the bridge at some point with Weiss. So her Aura REALLY should be green during the transfer, that's what would be logical since Fria's was blue. So I thought that maybe it was Ambrosius' actions, I know a lot of people said that Penny was only made of Aura after that and didn't have a flesh body. I mean, I believe she still had a flesh body (she bleeded after all-). But what Ambrosius did to her, maybe it made her body special ? She wasn't born in a flesh body after all. So maybe this particularity made her body glow in a different way, because her body was made differently than everyone. But it still doesn't really explain everything at all to me...

One last idea, more boring (krkr), is that it would be because of the place they are. This isn't a physical place, they kinda met in the "mind", or somewhere not on Remnant. It wasn't imagination but it was still somewhere not physical. So I guess it would have to do with that maybe, while we saw Fria's transfer in the physical world of Remnant. But yet idk, even if it's a different place, WHY would it be gold, like I don't really see the reason, it should have been green for it to be logical from the start x)

That's why something's a bit weird here for sure to me-

#rwby #penny #penny polendina #winter #winter schnee #transfer #fria #maiden #winter maiden #powers #aura #ambrosius #rwby theory #theory

[bridgyrose]

i have couple ida do which rather do you7 cna do both you or want o or nither may becoeimng a maide i have trans girls whintely witner maiden where she befcome winter affer witner dies

May sighed and looked out over Mantle from the rooftop of an SDC warehouse, her eyes scanned the streets for any sign of trouble from grimm that breached the wall. Her hand stayed on the shaft of her weapon, at the ready at the first sign of danger. 

“Marigold, what do you think you’re doing?” 

“Trying to keep Mantle safe, unlike you.” May rolled her eyes and looked down at the figure below her. “Or is Ironwood pretending to care by having you patrol the warehouses, Winter?” 

Winter sighed and climbed her way up onto the warehouse. “I’m trying to keep you out of trouble. That’s what teammates are for, arent they? Or did you forget about that the same day you abandoned your post?” 

“I didnt abandon, I looked the other way. You’ve seen the state Mantle’s in, we cant leave it like this. We can go find the Happy Huntresses-” 

“And you know exactly why we cant.” Winter put a hand on May’s shoulder. “We graduated from Atlas and are part of the military until our service is up. We’re both in line to be specialists, and from the sound of it, going to be very close to the general himself. We can finally have a place to belong.” 

“I already have a place to belong!” May pointed out towards the city. “I belong out here, helping Mantle. I made that decision when I saw how everyone here is being treated. You see that wall out there? Its not keeping any grimm out!” 

“That’s what the mechanical soldiers are for. They can handle the grimm.” 

A scream from an older woman pierced through the air along with the sounds of a grimm roar. May sighed and pulled her weapon off her back and started to rush out to help. “You mean like that?” 

“May! Get back here!” Winter groaned in frustration and used her glyphs to follow behind May. “I’m not done with you yet!” 

“Then you better keep up with me!” 

May weaved her way through the city streets she had started to get to know so well from her nightly excursions. Her semblance activated as she attempted to keep out of sight from the light of the warehouse district and to catch the grimm unaware and slam her staff into the grimm to knock it away. 

The older woman stopped and watched May, a small smile crossed her lips. “You… came to save me?” 

May nodded and put herself between the woman and the grimm, her hands gripped her staff tightly. “Of course I did. That’s what being a huntress is about, right?” 

The older woman nodded and slowly knelt down as she watched May fight off the grimm. “I’ll… take a short rest…” 

“Let me get… you to a hospital… first!” May slammed the end of her staff down into the grimm and pierced its chest. As the grimm started to turn to smoke and ash, she made her way to the older woman to help her up. “Its too cold to rest out here.” 

“Such… a nice… young woman. What is your name?” 

“May. And yours?” 

“Fria.” Fria smiled and her eyes started to glow as she held May's arm, the world around them seemed to stop. “May is such a pretty name.” 

May froze as she looked around at the snowflakes that held in place. “What’s going on?” 

“We both know I’m not going to make it, so I’m bestowing you a gift.” Fria closed her eyes and took a breath as she felt her power move from her to May. The fire in her eyes began to fade as she opened her eyes once more and watched golden flames ignite in May’s. “A thank you for what you’ve done.” 

“I.. I dont understand.” May stood up and watched as the snow around her began to fall again, panic started to take over and the storm overhead began to enrage. The wind picked up as the temperature dropped. Wet flakes of snow became rigid slivers of icicles that fell from the sky, pelting and shattering against anything they hit. All May could do was hold the woman close to protect her and rush to the nearest hospital. “I’m not letting you go yet!” 

“May watch out!” 

May froze as a glyph stopped her from getting hit by a truck that sped through the road, her legs shook as she took a few breaths. “I… I cant stop…” 

Winter rushed over and pulled May into some cover and sighed. “What do you think you’re doing? Cant you see the storm has gotten worse and your aura-” She paused as she looked into May’s eyes and watched as the flames started to die down along with the storm. “What’s going on?” 

“I… I dont know… I need to get this woman to the hospital but storm… the storm grew worse when she talked to me and I… I…” May took a few breaths to calm down as she looked at Winter and finally steadied herself. “What’s happening to me?” 

Winter sighed and listened to the sound of an airship fly overhead and land in the alleyway. “I dont know, but I have a feeling Ironwood might.” 

May slowly nodded and looked down at the woman in her arms. “Just until we know what’s going on.”

#rwby #may marigold #winter schnee #hellbore #may x winter #tagging as hellbore because that's the plan #drabbles #may-den may #maiden!may #fria #enjoy some maiden may

[justrandom9]

Head cannon of fria and oscar meet accidently by chance.

(the surveillance team, irresponsibly slept on their shift, fria leaving her quarters, impulsively wander the empty halls, searching)

-

Oscar:(walking alone, eyes focused on long memory, feeling a strong attachment to the object, and laughs to himself knowing it shouldn’t mean anything him. bump to some one) Oh, I’m sorry didn’t exp--

(both fria and oscar locked eyes to each other, unknown to each other, but felt they knew one another.)

-

Fria: Apologies “young man”(not knowing why she chokes on her last statement)

Oscar: Oh no! I should apologize, I didn’t mean to bump in to you, should have been more aware of my surroundings!!.. uhm I’m sorry!? but have we met? you seemed familiar?!

Fria: I’m afraid my memory isn’t what it used to be!, But I have this strange strong feeling I do know you?! I should know you!? But your appearance, age are different?!, But your eyes!.. Your eyes are still the same.. So old, Alone, Hurt, but still have so much hope, despite all you have seen.. I’m happy those haven’t changed!!

Oscar:(oscar couldn’t comprehend why, but he felt the urge to speak, a wrong, he knew nothing about) I- I am sorry!, I didn’t know this would become of you, to “ALL” of you over the centuries.. I thought- I thought i was helping, I did not wish to push my curse to any of you, I didn’t know!, I’m so so sorry!!!(chest, and shoulders heavy, oscar legs shaky, losing strength with each second, until he fell to his knees, tears falling, emotions running through his mind, shame, anger, self loathing, couldn’t tell if this was oz attempt to resurface or his!?)

-

Fria:(unaware why, the boy is in all four crying, apologizing to her?! she wanted to assured the boy she hold no malice, but didn’t, instead she went on her knees to be on his level, a gentle hand on his shoulder, encouraging him to look at her, not questioning or fighting it, fria allowed herself to the unkown force, then the words came to the surface) You don’t need to apologies for something you did not force upon, nor not knowing of the consequences by offering your magic, nor do I regret accepting it! even after so MANY years. I don’t fully understand it myself, but i feel it, emotions.. anger, betrayel, forsaken, honor, respect, admiration, but amongs these feelings, one stands out the most, OLDER then the rest, it’s empathy!

I know not many before me were good, some were cruel, others selfish, many scared, and few truly understood the burden wielding the mantle. It may not the same as your curse, But i understand! The guilt and shame you constantly carry with each life.. it almost broke me!! But then i was reminded of something that someone VERY old who could understand me, who struggle with it, and continues despite the hardship, who I helped!, knowing now, what i didnt knew then.. Thank you! for reminding me, we may not be able to change or choose who or what “We” are, but can press on, endure the cards we been dealt with, and hope for a better tomorrow, don’t you think so Oz?!(seeing the boy, puzzle and surprised expression... a memory came to fria mind, she didn’t knew him, but did once, long long ago, the same expression from the silly old hermit in the woods alone in his cabin. Fria smile, in some level glad much have changed but his silliness never did)

Oscar:(suprised and yet not at the same time, oscar saw and analyze fria warm kind eyes.. a memory came to him, one far older then ozpin, he remembers the young women in her blue robe, the first to sit in silence with him on the coldest winter, the eldest of four sisters) Winter!?

-

(before Fria could answer Oscar, the surveilliance team and guards came, looking for her to escort back to her quarters)

Guard: Ma’am your not suppose to be out of your quarters it’s not safe for you, please come with us.

Fria/winter: Oh dear! I forgot.. well it was nice talking and catching up with you, Old Man(satisfy speaking “Her”, “Their” truth, a piece of Fria peace of mind.. but one more reminder from an old friend), and remember never stop moving forward!

(Guards whispering to each other)

Guard.1: Her condition getting worse, she doesn’t know she was talking to a kid!

guard.2: Quiet, she’s has  Alzheimer's, she’s not deaf!

-

hermit/Oscar: Never stop moving forward... Thank you, old friend!

#Oscar Pine #hermit oz #fria #first winter maiden #the idea inspire by MHA #OFA #AFO #RWBY #old friends #talking after centuries apart #headcannon #shit post #the maidens in my mind send signals to their host #they can't take control #but they can channel their thoughts #if the host is willing to be the filter #they don't have acces to memories #like ozcar #the host can feel it #but not too strongly #past wielders experience the current host #only observe #can't push for control #Fria not realizing she wanted to have a friend before her end #winter had the chance to say hello to her friend #oscar learning past selves made choices too #they were their own people too #before becoming a collection of a singular being

[strqyr]

if the summer maiden's identity is going to be known only to a limited group of people and that group is what we saw in the first episode of beyond, winter and raven being there is going to be so interesting.

like. to prove ironwood wasn't keeping any secrets from her, not only did winter tell weiss about fria but she brought here there, behind the glass, letting her know she was the next in line to inherit the powers.

and raven was the one to tell yang and weiss to question everything, to not just blindly believe everything they're told and that even when people are being forthcoming with information, they might still be hiding something; the implication that she would have told yang about her being the spring maiden had yang stayed is right there, too.

it's obviously a different situation—the summer maiden's identity wouldn't be winter's or raven's secret to tell—, but their past interactions with weiss and yang show so much potential for the taking in the future.

#rwby #rwby beyond #rwby spoilers #winter schnee #raven branwen

[ecoamerica]

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[anthurak]

Theory: Penny the Great and Powerful

A while back, I did a post theorizing on how Penny could return another time, specifically due to having essentially ‘piggybacked’ her consciousness onto the Winter Maiden powers before they transferred to Winter, likely with the hope that she could be extracted from Winter at a later date.

And ever since I made that post, I’ve only become more convinced that this IS indeed where the story is going. For one, looking back at Penny’s final moments, I think it’s clear that SOMETHING is being set up for later. I mean just look at Penny’s final words to Jaune:

“Trust me.”

This wasn’t some apology, a call to action or some last goodbye. Penny had a PLAN.

Then of course there’s her final words to Winter: “I won’t be gone. I’ll be a part of you.”

Now sure, at the time we were all thinking the same thing as Winter, that this was Penny echoing Winter’s own figurative words when Fria passed the powers to her at the end of the last volume.

Buuuuttt… what if Penny was speaking LITERALLY? I mean, speaking literally while everyone else is speaking figuratively/metaphorically IS kinda Penny’s thing.

And on top of all this, Penny attaching herself to the Maiden powers frankly makes perfect sense when we consider just where the powers came from.

I think at this point it’s safe to assume that the ‘Maiden Transference’ is really just the Oz Reincarnation Cycle at work. I mean think about it; upon the death of the holder, the Maiden Powers jump to a new host that fits a certain set of criteria, just like Oz does.

When Oz split his powers among the four original Maidens, I imagine they ALSO got the reincarnation protocol. However, because the reincarnation program was made specifically for Ozma, this meant that the consciousness/memories of Maidens didn’t transfer. Instead, it’s just been the raw magic alone that’s been reincarnating into new hosts.

I imagine that this is likely due to Oz’s own lack of knowledge/understanding of both his magic and the reincarnation cycle. He may have believed that simply giving these girls the magic would allow them to start reincarnating just he like does, not knowing or understanding that additional steps needed to be taken in order to ‘key’ their own spirits to the magic in place of his own. Or perhaps Oz simply didn’t expect the reincarnation magic to transfer at all.

Incidentally, this would also explain why the Maiden transference can seem to be so random. Oz’s reincarnation protocol is keyed specifically to HIS consciousness, and thus has very specific criteria to look for when selecting a new host, a ‘like-minded soul’ as various people have put it. Whereas because the Maiden Powers aren’t transferring a consciousness/spirit, their criteria for selecting a new host is likely as basic and general as possible. Heck, the age-range criteria may have been a built-in base-criteria, given how Oz also always seems to transfer into young men/boys, meaning that literally the only new criteria for the Maiden Powers’ reincarnation protocol was ‘girl/woman’. Which in turn explains the whole ‘goes to whoever’s in the host’s final thoughts’ thing. The criteria for the next host are SO general/nebulous/vague that the previous host can actually influence/guide where the powers are going to go.

Basically, the Maiden Powers have been reincarnating into new hosts just like Oz has, just simply absent of any conscious spirit attached to them.

Until now.

THIS is the bit I’ve gotten particularly interested in just now.

What if Penny was able to figure out HOW the Maiden Transference/Reincarnation Cycle worked and in turn was able to key her own consciousness/spirit to the reincarnation program just as Oz was?

Which in turn, would effectively make Penny another Oz-spirit.

I mean, they ARE both associated with the color green…

Now I know that everyone reading this is probably immediately thinking about the unsettling implications this could have for Winter, ie; does this mean Penny’s consciousness is going to overtake and merge with Winter’s just like Oz does with his hosts?

But let’s not forget a KEY aspect of RWBY’s character dynamics is contrast. Meaning that Penny becoming another reincarnating spirit like Oz means that she would end up representing a FOIL to him. Which would mean that Penny’s situation would be decidedly DIFFERENT.

What if everyone is at first terrified that Penny and Winter are going to merge just like Oz has with all of his hosts, but after a while it becomes clear that the merging… isn’t happening.

What if Penny has wound up gaining a far greater knowledge and understanding of the reincarnation cycle/protocol, and has figured how to simply STOP the merging process from happening. Something that Oz never could do himself.

Or perhaps, something that Oz never TRIED to do himself.

I think it’s all too likely that Oz has always simply assumed that there was nothing that could be done to stop his spirit from merging with those of his hosts. After all, this reincarnation cycle was created by the God of Light, the all-powerful creator of the world. How could he, a mere mortal, possibly hope to stop, alter or even understand such a power?

While Penny is under NO such compulsion and could have spent a LOT of time poking around in the metaphysical program files of her new maiden powers to figure out how they worked. Possibly even getting some ideas of how to extract herself from Winter, with or without the Maiden Powers. She may even have some ideas of how to extract Oz himself…

And of course, this would all thematically tie in PERFECTLY with the whole ‘actually the gods aren’t so all-powerful’ revelations that Team RWBY will be bringing.

#rwby #rwby theory #rwby analysis #Penny Polendina #penny revival theory #winter schnee #ozpin #ozma #rwby maidens #rwby gods #character parallels #character foils

[lintuwaterfall]

I am sorry folks, but she is dead.

Penny died. Please let her rest. "I'll be a part of you." That is Penny making a callback to V7's finale after Fria passed the power to Penny and Winter said something similar. It is not Penny she is literally part of Winter. Neither Raven nor Cinder show signs of having a previous Maiden in them. This is not the Oz Soul situation. And if there was a way to seperate a conscience from a body, don't you think it would be more important to use such a trick on Oz/Oscar at this point? Look, I get it. We all loved the adorkable ginger Pinnochio, but she gave her life much like Pyrrha did. "It will be just like Beacon again!" She said in Volume 7. And the Atlas Arc did end up like the Beacon Arc. The area is attacked by Salem's forces, Team RWBY fails to stop The Fall but manages to prevent things from being even worse, and someone close to them dies fighting Cinder (Pyrrha/Penny), but Cinder is prevented from fully basking in victory (Ruby awakening her eyes for the first time/Jaune mercy killing Penny to keep the Winter Maiden powers from going to Cinder). In the end one of the main things about RWBY is coming to terms with Death. Destruction is as much a part of Life as Creation is. Clear away the old so something new can grow. It hurts, but that's life, as unfair as it may seem. Pretty much every major death, every major loss, that the show has had has had some kind of purpose, be it negative or positive, and that comes down to how characters handle and process it. Be it the death of a lover, the death of an abuser, a mother's promise, or a promise to a fallen friend and mentor, each has driven the characters we have followed all these years. Penny is another death on the list, and if/when RWBY continues one thing I am sure we will cover is how those close to Penny act. Do they remain in the quagmire of their grief and sorrow (as we see Winter seemingly doing in the epilogue animatic and how Jaune was during the journey to Haven) or do we see people move forward (like Team JRN made a choice to do in front of Pyrrha's Statue) for the sake of the world and people that Penny loved and gave her life to protect.

#rwby #penny polendina #winter schnee #professor ozpin #oscar pine #cinder fall #salem #ruby rose #pyrrha nikos

[desib717]

Thinking about the overall progression through the Atlas arc in regards to the idea of whether or not the previous Winter Maiden is "gone" or not is really interesting.

There are a couple of scenes in V7:

Penny: If you do that, you'll be- Fria: I'll be gone.

Penny (about Fria): She's... gone. Winter: No. She's a part of you now.

Then in V8:

Winter: When you're... gone- Penny: I won't be gone, I'll be a part of you!

And in the V9 Epilogue:

Winter: Because of me, Penny is gone... forever.

Clearly this whole idea was meant to be a very important theme throughout this arc, and I find it particularly interesting that Winter was the first one to suggest that a dead Maiden isn't gone, but has now seemed to turn back on that philosophy.

The way that the framing here seems to have circled back to where we started definitely makes Winter's line in the epilogue stick out that much more, and makes me even more convinced that we're not meant to be taking it at face value.

#Penny Polendina #RWBY #Winter Schnee

[neopoliitan]

Idea I saw. Cinder is totally power hungry, Winter will fight to her last breath to protect others, Raven is totally survival of the fittest, but what if the Summer Maiden, the one tasked with protecting the Sword of Destruction, just. Doesn't fight. Abhors violence. Won't pick up a weapon ever. Refuses to even think about participating in combat. Also considering this Maiden is likely to be a child and how we lost Amber Vernal Fria and Penny, I hope she lives.

Using maiden powers to explicitly help rather than harm would be a really neat idea, especially in Vacuo's arid climate.

[thesefleetingthoughts]

I think V9C10 + V9C9 gave us the missing puzzle piece for the Penny 3.0 revival theories through Winter and I’ll be writing why I think so below. Be warned, this post will be mildly long.

To start off the explanation - if you’re unfamiliar with the Penny/Winter theory that sprouted two years ago after the V8 finale I’ll try to summarize it as much as I can but i really recommend you to dig the OG posts because they’re much more complete and explanatory.

The Winter theory itself has several itterations but the one that interests us here is the one that supposes that Penny only sent a fraction of herself to Winter - namely her memories, while she split the rest and stored it /somewhere else/ during the Maiden Power transfer. This last “place” has been debated in revival theories but a lot of us have settled on it to be Jaune’s sword and I believe V9C10 may have comforted this idea. The theory concludes by stating that both parts could potentially be rejoined into a new mechanical body made by Pietro to revive Penny.

Back when it sprouted, this specific revival theory relied on four major facts: 1) The aura color during the Maiden Power transfer from Penny to Winter was wrong. Unlike Fria -> Penny where the aura color was Fria’s color (blue), during Penny -> Winter the color was yellow, with green microparticles escaping on the sides. The only occurences of yellow aura color we’ve seen is the God of Light, yang... and Jaune.

2) Penny’s words to Jaune and the hidden offscreen information. We can hear Penny tell Jaune “but there is one thing you can do” and then later on “Trust me” when she asks him to finish what Cinder had started and there is a very short amount of time where the camera pans to another place of the battlefield, right before we hear Jaune crying. This confidence in Penny and the purposeful removal of the audience from her last moments raises questions.

3) The nature of Penny’s “new body” and how much Ambrosius’s magic and tricks might have affected her abilities, added to how perceptive she is have led a few of us to think she perfectly knew what she was doing when she died. The first to spot Blake was a Faunus, the first to understand perfectly Ruby’s semblance.

4) Each school led by Ozpin’s circle being equipped to relay Maidenhood from a girl to another through aura transfer machines (Vale, Atlas) so far implies Vacuo’s school, Shade Academy also possess an aura transfer machine, which could be the tool used to rejoin both of Penny’s separate parts.

Now that this is out of the way - time to focus on V9C10/V9C9 and the two most important scenes relevant to the Winter theory. Jaune’s youth coming back to him and Alyx’s death by the hands of the cat. 

When the Tree/blacksmith hands the dagger to Jaune, it starts glowing a faded/dirt yellow color.

At first I thought it was reacting to Jaune’s own aura or that maybe it was god-like magic since we learned the origin of the gods in the same episode. But there IS a more accurate faded/dirt yellow color in the episode, Alyx’s eye color as well as the whole color used to depict her spirit helping Jaune. It most likely indicates that the faded yellow was not Jaune’s aura color but /Alyx’s aura color/.

Which means that she managed to imbue her own weapon with her aura. But not only that, considering the effect on Jaune is to make him young again, she quite litteraly imbued her own lifeforce/lifespan into the knife. It would also explain why Jaune kept two streaks of “old hair” - she was far too young to replenish the entire lifespan the old man had spent on the island, she could only give as much as she had herself. That point is the key for the Winter theory.

But before that I can picture some of you you going “but why would Alice do that anyways and throw her remaining lifespan away since she wanted to help afterans”. Because she couldn’t do anything else; litteraly. In V9C9 we learned the cat tried to kill her - and succeeded in doing so and thus prevented her to accomplish her newfound goal. What is interesting is that there is NO time on screen at all between the moment Alyx finds her new goal to help Afterans/Jaune and the cat assaults her in retaliation during the flashback shown to the audience; followed by a deliberate shot on the fallen dagger on the ground - which can only mean one thing. She desperately imbued the dagger with her aura /as she was dying/ - because that’s the only thing she could do to “help” in that moment.

And who else could’ve done the same, with a certain sword?

Now if Penny performed the same trick Alyx did and she in fact stored a whole chunk of aura in Jaune’s sword as she died, this would explain why green particles escape during the aura transfer while the rest was yellow. She may have abused Jaune’s semblance one way or another to bypass the necessity to use up her own aura to pass the powers/memories down to Winter, hence the yellow glow.

And now we’re stuck with another problem: Jaune’s sword was broken in half. Great, does that mean Penny can’t come back because there’s not enough aura stored in the sword anymore? And that’s where another itteration of the Winter theory comes into play - the one where Pietro sacrifices himself/his aura to bring Penny back while Winter gives the memories back. Because he doesn’t have to do that anymore now.

V7 implied Pietro has /just enough/ aura to bring Penny back once more if she were to be detroyed and that it would be lethal to him, because it drains his life each time he does so. Or at least it’s heavily implied considering his health and how much older to Watts he looks now compared to the P.E.N.N.Y project photo in V7. But now - if she’s trully stored half her lifeforce in the broken sword - he might just have to give half of his own aura and remain alive.

Winter, Pietro, Jaune and the Aura Transfer machine are the keys to this revival theory and the fact V9 kept lingering on Penny’s fate only to SHOW us Alyx’s trick in V9C10 makes me think we might not be so dellusional after all. And the fact we see Amity floating above Vacuo in the last V9C10 shot confirms that YES, Pietro is around for this whole thing to be possible. it’s still a theory based on speculations but I hope it was enjoyable to read.

#penny polendina #rwby #jaune arc #winter schnee #pietro polendina #alyx #rwby spoilers #rwby9 spoilers #rwby9 #tftponders

[bestworstcase]

HI HELLOE HAVE YOU SEEN THE RWBY BEYOND EPISODE???? BELIEVE ME YOU KNOW WHAT BIT IM ASKING ABOUT

I HAVE

grhrksg i’m actually not sure what bit you’re asking about because there were like three things that made me go hm. hmmmmm

sun referring to oscar as “ozpin” and being repeatedly corrected is very. hoo boy between that and the violence the curse begins to inflict on both oscar and oz once ozma starts to fight it… can you hear the cannons being loaded

very interested in raven being around, because she isn’t in the 9.11 animatic—either she arrived on the refugee ship from vale and has been working with the coalition since, or plans for her got shuffled around because of whatever had to be cut from v9. both very juicy possibilities

huge side eye at mystery girl. the obvious answer is summer maiden; raven and winter being known as maidens even to outsiders like sun says mystery girl has hitherto not been around, which might indicate that mystery girl is someone they just identified and are bringing into the circle. or it might mean she isn’t the summer maiden YET, but she’s the candidate they’ve picked out to receive the powers, which in turn would suggest the current maiden is either incapacitated a la fria or an enemy. either way the possibility that vacuo might be round three of team oz trying to anoint a maiden is very exciting. especially with raven involved!

i lied. secret fourth thing. ren and nora are excluded from this meeting—which might just mean they’re busy, we do see them involved in meetings in the 9.11 animatic, but. oscar/ozpin, theodore, qrow, two maidens plus one either maiden or maiden candidate. sun and neptune get bodily thrown out when they’re caught eavesdropping—compare “you should always get friends involved” in v2, which became team rwby’s guiding philosophy. where are ren and nora and robyn and the ace ops? the ‘inner circle’ expanded dramatically from v4 to v8; now team rwby is gone, and we’re glimpsing secretive headmasters-maidens-and-spies (oh my!) meetings again. old habits die hard?

thoughts still need a while to cook. but some delicious crumbs

[hadesisqueer]

Maidenbowls so far (Amber VS Cinder doesn't count, since Cinder wasn't a Maiden yet).

1) Cinder (Fall Maiden) VS Raven (Spring Maiden). Cinder wants to take her power.

Winner: Raven. Cinder loses.

2) Cinder VS Fria (Winter Maiden). Cinder tries to steal her power as well.

Winner: Fria. Cinder loses. Again. Penny gets the powers.

3) Cinder VS Penny (Winter Maiden) in her android body. Cinder is trying to take Penny's power again.

Winner: Penny. This one was actually pretty embarrassing for Cinder.

4) Cinder VS Penny again.

Winner: Cinder. However, she doesn't get the Winter Maiden powers because Penny sacrifices herself before she can take them, and gives them to Winter, who immediately flies in to fight Cinder.

5) Cinder VS Winter (Winter Maiden).

Winner: Unclear. Although it was short, it looked like Winter was actually doing good, considering the woman was being held together by duct-tape; however, Cinder killed Weiss to distract her (please get another move Cinder first it hurts second it never works she ends up coming back later) so she could keep the relics, and then they both get interrupted by Salem. Therefore, there's not a real winner, since we never saw how the fight could have ended.

Will we ever get a maidenbowl in which Cinder isn't one of the fighters? I'd liked to see Winter and Raven beating each other up as Qrow eats popcorn and watches.

Anyway, can't wait for the next one! The Summer Maiden is probably gonna be involved. Good luck!

#rwby #rwby maidens #maidenbowl #cinder fall #penny polendina #rwby fria #raven branwen #winter schnee #summer maiden #qrow branwen #rwby amber

[ficretus]

Theory: Speculating about Summer Maiden

So far Summer Maiden is the only Maiden we have no whereabouts of. Not even Vacuo novels provide anything about her or her Relic. I wanted to throw some thoughts around who I think will be Summer Maiden by the end of the Vacuo arc.

CURRENT SUMMER MAIDEN:

As I said, no idea. But let me get one thing out the way, I don't think Summer Rose is Summer Maiden or that she'll be at any point in the story. This might seem relatively weird considering so far characters with season in their name did eventually become Maiden of their respective season, but I don't think this is the case with Summer.

First of all, it would be bit random considering that power is tied to Vacuo and Summer herself doesn't have any Vacuo connections we know of. Second, it is somewhat implied that Summer is still alive, likely being Salem's Grimm experiment. If Summer was Summer Maiden and is under Salem's control, why would Salem bother with Cinder? Summer would be loyal subordinate that is second to none in combat. Why would you need to groom new subordinate of questionable loyalty and lesser combat ability? Third, in case she isn't Summer Maiden and is just one of Salem's thralls, I don't think she can inherit the power. Chronologically she'd be in late 30s or even 40s, making her too old to inherit the power.

For Summer to be Summer Maiden, it would mean she became one ages ago and isn't currently under Salem's control (because that kind of creates plot holes in Salem's plan). But I feel that both kind of damages her character (she becomes another Raven, abandoning her family for her own goals) and wastes implications Hound creates. I think her fate will be revealed during Vacuo arc, during summer portion of the story, if that makes sense.

I suspect we'll have another Amber or Fria situation with current Summer Maiden. As in, minimally established character that will give away their power to more important character narrative wise down the line.

GATHERING CLUES:

First place I looked into is The Four Maidens, in universe fairy tale about Maidens. For those uninitiated, it's a fairy tale about recluse Old Wizard being visited by girls representing Maidens. They visit him in sequence of Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, each teaching him valuable lesson.

Maiden lessons are key part to focus on here. While in the story, they are something Old Wizard has to learn, in RWBY it's something Maidens themselves have to learn.

For example, Winter appears in front of Old Wizard's house, sitting in state of absolute tranquility. Wizard sits down and copies her example thinking about his own strange predicament. This somewhat matches Winter, who in her own moment of clarity realizes Ironwood is lost cause and turns against him.

Other two examples are much clearer parallels. Spring shows up and plants flowers all over Old Wizard's yard, turning a pile of dirt into beautiful garden. This implies Spring Maiden is all about fostering life. This matches well as a lesson Raven needs to learn as a Spring Maiden, someone who both abandoned her family and used her protege as a decoy.

Fall Maiden urges Old Wizard to be thankful for what he has. This matches Cinder who needs to learn to be grateful for what she already has, instead of seeking out all other Maiden powers.

Summer Maiden convinces Old Wizard to step outside. Upon doing so, Old Wizard starts laughing at himself for even staying indoors all this time. So whoever becomes Summer Maiden needs to have a flaw that makes them distrustful of the world. Their character arc needs to be about opening themselves to the world.

______________________________________________________________

All three current Maidens also have personal connection to the members of Team RWBY. This is either set up for eventual transfer of power to respective members of Team RWBY or they simply exist as dark reflections of respective team members.

Raven is Yang's mother, Winter is Weiss' sister and Cinder is Ruby's nemesis. This mean, whoever will be Summer Maiden needs to have some kind of connection to Blake.

______________________________________________________________

Lastly, all three current Maidens were at some point of the story antagonists. Winter was an antagonist during the portion of Atlas arc as Ironwood's most loyal subordinate, Raven was antagonist throughout most of Mistral arc and Cinder is still major antagonist. So whoever becomes Summer Maiden had to have been antagonist at some point of the story.

CANDIDATES:

First candidate I have is Gillian Asturias, one of the main villains of Vacuo novels. She is leader of villainous Crown faction, who seek to restore Vacuoan monarchy with Gillian in charge. She believes she is descendant of legendary Vacuoan kings, albeit this claim is based on delusion her father convinced her of.

Why do I think she might become Summer Maiden? First of all, she is an antagonist. While at the end of the novel, she gets imprisoned... it's RWBY prison, nobody stays there. Her Semblance allows her to siphon Aura which theoretically means she could take the power all by herself (since all transfer methods we've seen so far were Aura based). She also has a motive to become a Maiden, what better way to show you are true heir to the throne then seizing divine power that allows you to control the elements.

She also fits with Summer Maiden lesson. She is extremely traditionalist, avoiding the use of both Dust and Scroll. Crown members are also xenophobic to some degree. Both of these traits make her good candidate for a lesson about opening yourself to the world.

Issue with her is that she has no connections to any member of Team RWBY. While it's not out the question they might eventually interact, I am doubtful writers will have her establish some really personal relationship with Blake. I think she might become Summer Maiden, but more of a interim Maiden like Penny was.

______________________________________________________________

My preferred choice so far is Ilia. She matches all the criteria I've set up earlier. First of all, she is a former antagonist. Second, she matches well with lesson of Summer Maiden. As an antagonist, she was member of more radical version of White Fang that was no longer about Faunus equality and more about their supremacy. This "us versus them" mentality symbolically parallels Old Wizard refusing to leave his house, closed off from everybody else.

Summer Maiden lesson can also be manifested in another way. If you think about it, it's almost inevitable White Fang will appear in Vacuo to assist the good guys. And who else will be there? Ace Ops. Ilia will be forced to work side by side with people who represent abuse she suffered as a child. This could create interesting dynamic of Ilia and White Fang refusing to cooperate with them, creating an issue for good guys cause (in fact you can have entire Volume 10 be about previously opposed sides coming to terms with each other for the greater good considering you'll have Ace Ops, Happy Huntresses, White Fang and potentially even Branwen tribe all working together). Her character arc would be about letting go of her hatred and trauma and opening herself to the world, fulfilling the Summer Maiden lesson.

Of course, Ilia is also personally connected to Blake. Yeah, she is "just" her friend, but when you think about it, that's the most personal relationship Blake has outside of her team. Unlike her other team members, she doesn't have a sister, her mother is too old to inherit the power and her nemesis was not only male... he is busy being dead. Ilia becoming a Maiden would also diversify the roster by giving us Faunus Maiden. After all, if all kingdoms are coming together why not also have that symbolically reflected in Maiden roster.

_____________________________________________________________

What are your thoughts? Do you have any other Maiden candidate you think is more likely? If you do, feel free to comment it.

#rwby theory #rwby volume 10 #rwby vacuo #greenlight volume 10 #rwby ilia #ilia amitola #gillian asturias #rwby

[citadelofmythoughts]

https://www.tumblr.com/citadelofmythoughts/743438721729413120/im-still-confused-why-ozpin-didnt-select-glynda

An additionally cynical thing to consider is that he probably didn't choose Glynda because while she's certainly loyal, she's also not exactly the kind of person you can really control. She's very smart and very independent, and also likely experienced enough to not take any of Ozpin's crap on the matter if he tried something like that.

Ozpin picking out younger women isn't just because of the ease of access due to running an academy, it's also much easier to groom them into doing what he thinks needs to be done.

This is exactly what Ironwood attempted to do with Winter, who was escaping Jacques and thus very vulnerable.

Fria was extremely loyal to James (or at least loyal to her duty).

Penny was pulled in every direction by numerous people trying to control and influence her.

And Pyrrha basically got driven into a mental breakdown over the entire thing.

Tellingly the only other maidens who aren't being forced into the situation against their wills are Cinder and Raven, two very independent women who've long since been disillusioned with Ozpin's world order.

That's a darker motivation than I want to give to Oz, even if I'm not his biggest fan.

I think the biggest problems with the Maiden power is that once you receive it, you're no longer a person, you become a thing to be used for a specific purpose and that's a hell of a thing to put onto a young woman.

So, while I don't think Oz was being malicious, I do think he was being callous, just like he was with the building of the Academies and pushing young people into danger before they were ready.

[howlingday]

My idea for a DEATH BATTLE!

I'm submitting it here because I think more people will see it. I'll post it on my own blog later.

August 16, 2023

Azula vs. Cinder Fall (Avatar vs. RWBY)

Avatar's sadistic princess confronts RWBY's Fall Maiden in this cruel flame fight!

Azula: Avatar's power-hungry prodigious Princess of the Fire Nation.

Cinder Fall: RWBY's scorching Fall Maiden.

Wiz: Fire is the element of power and passion, caressing us with warmth and light...

Boomstick: ..but these psychotic ladies have burned so much and yet can't satisfy their thirst for might. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.

Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.

PREFACE:

I get that Cinder isn't popular but please don't give me heat. If this is already a popular matchup, please don't gut me, I came up with this MU the same day the day before Stitch vs Rocket Raccoon was released. I don't follow the VS. community outside of DB! I did this because I had an idea, I thought others should hear it, and I thought it would be novel since Avatar is one of, if not the biggest, pieces of animation to influence RWBY. There's no thumbnail and I don't go into as much detail as in an actual episode, this is just my idea.

My format: I'll explain why I want this battle to happen as well as the possible connections, the art style, and how the battle could go down. Since I don't do VS. stuff, I won't give calcs.

WHY:

Connections: megalomaniacal prokinetics. One is born into royalty and power, a princess to a lord, and set to inherit the throne. She is a prodigy, a strategist, and a careful planner. However, she is an excellent manipulator, sadistic and cruel. The other was born a street rat that was abused and had to claw her way to power, eventually selling part of her humanity. She is impulsive despite initially giving the impression of being a femme fatale mastermind. She loses battle after battle, starting conflicts in the name of her thirst for power and might until she is put in her place by her associate. Both eventually suffer a major loss (Azula on the day of Sozin's Comet and Cinder to Ruby during the Fall of Beacon) that exemplify the downfall of their characters. Both are traumatized due to family (Azula being traumatized because she thought her mother didn't love her and her father's expectations and Cinder because of Madame and her daughters abusing her and Rhodes being willing to fight her). Both contributed to the downfall of meaningful landmarks (the Earth Kingdom coup and the Fall of Beacon) after infiltrating the locations with disguises (Cinder as a Kyoshi Warrior and Cinder as a Haven Academy student). They have connections to speeches of power, which I will elaborate on with my...

Personal reasons:

I admit that I want these two to get their teeth kicked in, but there is a bigger reason why I am "pitching" this MU: the character interactions. Recall this quote from Azula: "You were born with nothing, so you've had to struggle, and connive, and claw your way to power. But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you're born with. The fact is, they don't know which one of us is going to be sitting on that throne, and which one is going to be bowing down." Then, there's Arthur Watts's famous monologue to Cinder: "Oh, of course you are! Because that's just what you do, isn't it? And how has that worked out for you? You stormed into Fria's room, thinking you can take on Ironwood's top fighter and war machine. But you couldn't. And that machine became the Winter Maiden. Oh, and let's not forget your deal with Raven Branwen. Get all your enemies in one place so you'd have a shot at revenge. If only someone could have warned you against such a miserable idea. Oh wait, I did! But you pushed ahead and you lost it, when all you had to do was your job! You think you're entitled to everything just because you've suffered, but suffering isn't enough! You can't just be strong, you have to be smart! You can't just be deserving, you have to be worthy! But all you have ever been, is a bloody migraine!" which leads to Cinder crying. THIS is the big reason why I want these 2 to fight. Azula is a good reader of people, so she'll have no problem dissecting Cinder's megalomania, and imagine Cinder's reaction when she is exposed by Azula. Cinder struts around like a big shot, but Watts revealed that she is not only not what she thinks she is, but idiotic and entitled, undeserving of her power, so being toyed by Azula could lead to a meltdown. Regarding their abilities, Azula's blue flames and lightning would be a great contrast to Cinder's red and orange flames and glass manipulation. There's the possibility of a close-quarters fight due to Azula's martial arts training and Cinder's blade training. There's also the possibility of aerial combat due to Cinder's flaming flight.

THE FIGHT ITSELF:

Art and animation:

The dream is that it'll be a hand-drawn fight, but it'll realistically be a sprite battle (all Avatar fights have been w/ sprites) or 3D (all RWBY battles have been in 3D). Going with the infamy of both characters (at least Cinder's), I don't think they'll pour a lot of resources into the project, so I'm guessing sprites. Sozin's Comet will NOT be a factor in this fight.

Possible setup:

(Think Ganondorf vs Dracula) Cinder, being the power-hungry hothead that she is, storms into the throne room with a flare. Azula is unphased, lounging on her throne casually like in the Day of Black Sun, though she was not expecting a challenger. However, she sees something in the one-eyed woman. Azula smirks; she knows what kind of person is confronting her, and she's ready to have fun. It's almost as if Long Feng was an insecure firebender.

"I'm here to claim what is mine." (Like in volume 8's "Take what is mine.")

They banter, Azula being the narcissist that she is, provokes Cinder into attacking her. Azula catches the attack, and Cinder starts to lose her cool.

FIGHT!

So, they fight. Notable highlights:

1. There's fire everywhere, but Azula notices that her opponent isn't a good martial artist after a close spar, but she is proficient with blades, and they're made of glass, too. She's never seen this kind of firebending.

2. Trying to keep her distance, Cinder launches fireballs, summons explosions from the ground, shoots arrows from Midnight (that's right, I'm bringing this relic back), and launches small glass projectiles.

3. Azula catches Cinder off guard with lightning.

4. At one point, the two cause a giant explosion (I'm sorry for reusing this so much), with Cinder soaring to avoid the blast. Azula doesn't come out unscathed.

5. Azula knows what she has to do though, and she smirks. Her opponent may be floating above her, but she is beneath the Princess. Azula pulls a Long Feng, exposing Cinder's insecurities, the fruitlessness in Cinder's pursuit of power, the missing eye, and how shoddily she fights, and Cinder breaks down, shouting and charging headfirst at her enemy. She lost to Little Red, Raven Branwen, and even Watts; she won't lose to this prissy girl.

6. Azula, smugly manipulates her opponent: "I know why you fight. You fight for power, for strength, for superiority. Admirable though your efforts may be, it's meaningless. Your eyes alone reveal your story: a powerless runt pushed around and abused, even betrayed. You killed almost all that stood in your path until you lost your eye and your arm. You willingly sacrificed yourself for power, but you fight so poorly, and it didn't get you anything except misery and defeat."

7. The battle ends with Cinder shooting Azula and using Scorching Caress like she did with Pyhrra, leading to her crying like with Watts or Azula using lightning to shock Cinder to death like she would've done to Zuko.

Azula is the smarter of the two, is the superior martial artist, and has the faster attack in lightning manipulation, but Cinder has greater mobility with her flight and if scaled to Emerald and Mercury like in Blake vs Mikasa, she's capable of dodging lightning, can likely end the fight with Scorching Caress, and theoretically won't run out of weapons since as long as there's dirt, she can turn it into glass. Azula is at the risk of a mental breakdown and Cinder is prone to manipulation and has underestimated her opponents.

Ending puns:

"Azula simply made Cinder fall."

"Azula got flamed, and got her glass kicked."

Possible track names:

"Fallen Hot Megalomania"

The names would be in reference to Cinder's last name, the idea that both have fallen from grace or power and their unending drive for power.

It would take elements and cues from Cinder's theme from Vol. 8 and the final fight between Zuko and Azula.

THANK YOU AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS!

---------------------------------------------------

Wow... Just... WOW!

I've honestly considered these two in a fight, and honestly, I'm still not sure who would win.

Next Time on Death Battle...

VS

ROYAL FLAME

Princess Azula:

+ Master manipulator

+ Fire-bending prodigy

+ Skilled martial artist

+ Outwitted the entire Earth Kingdom

- Emotionally unsound

- Quick to anger

Cinder Fall:

+ Skilled in armed combat

+ Responsible for the destruction of Beacon, Haven, and Atlas

+ Effective airborne combatant

- Easily tricked

- Grimm arm cannot recover with aura

What do y'all think?

#submission #cinder fall #rwby cinder #princess azula #atla azula #death battle #ideas #not afraid #my submissions #my thoughts #atla #avatar the last airbender #rwby