#CLAIMS TO BE THE WINTER MAIDEN... DIES ANYWAY

[strqyr]

OK, random thought on the Spring/Gretchen mystery- what if Spring was old/injured/sick/etc., and Oz was grooming Gretchen to be the new Spring (a la Pyrrha for Fall and Winter for Winter), but it went wrong?

Oz takes Gretchen to the previous Spring to make the transition, but something happens and both Spring and Gretchen get killed. Whoever the Spring powers pass to nopes right out of there.

If you tilt your head and squint, "I took Gretchen to become the new Spring Maiden but she got killed" could be twisted into "Gretchen died on a training mission"- not entirely untrue, but a hell of a lie of omission.

And this is a stretch, but is there any possibility that the timeline works out to where the Summer/Raven Secret Mission was involved? Raven unexpectedly getting the Spring powers and booking would be entirely in character.

But... what role would Summer have played in what happened?

i know it's 'only' hazel's bio from amity arena, but it certainly heavily implies that ozpin had more influence in gretchen's choice beyond being the headmaster of an academy gretchen chose to attend:

losing his only family gretchen to her training mission, hazel denies that his twin sister's choice was ever hers to make. that the honeyed words of ozpin, an immortal being long removed of the burdens of mere humanity, coaxed her to give up her life. a life hazel so cherished. how could an innocent and talented youth resist those seductive words? talk of duty, untold glory, legendary exploits, and heroes of old? how was she to know that she was merely one little girl caught in a war between behemoths, immortals, gods? instead of dissuading her, saving her life, ozpin gave her the choice... to throw it away.

parts of it are. eerily fitting for pyrrha's situation as well, so i wouldn't be surprised at all if it turns out gretchen was seen as a candidate to inherit the powers—though that would add another layer to explain who the spring maiden before her was, and idk if they want to 'complicate' this matter further by adding another character into the mix—or that she already was the spring maiden and that was the reason why ozpin would have, presumably, spoken to her directly.

as for the timeline, it's impossible to say for certain since we have no idea how old hazel and gretchen would have been in the present. hazel has wrinkles but no greying hair, tyrian is more or less the same and he's said to be in his mid-to-late 30s so that'd be the best guess, i suppose; the spring maiden running away happened over a decade ago, as would have summer's mission. depending on how far you're willing to take 'over a decade' and assuming gretchen would have been about the age of rwbyjnr when she died, it could work. might have to stretch that 'over a decade' a lot (i mean technically anything over ten years work. if it goes closer to twenty years, then so be it) or assume that hazel was on the younger side rather than older, but it's plausible.

of course there's also the fact that raven allegedly mercy-killed the spring maiden and btw was also sent to learn how to kill huntsmen by the tribe (is this relevant? who knows.) and there's the discrepancy between gretchen dying on a training mission (was it beacon related? wouldn't be the first time ozpin has sent students on a training mission they're not actually qualified for...) and spring running away and abandoning everyone (description that fits raven to the tee), and then there's raven claiming the tribe found spring (that's not a training mission... not one ozpin would necessarily know about, anyway). plus the whole mystery of why raven left in the first place.

...rambling aside, there is the connecting thread of training in all of this; gretchen died on a training mission, the spring maiden ran and abandoned her training, and when she was found by the branwen tribe raven tried training her.

if all of this fits together somehow, then someone's lying. and when the options are ozpin and / or raven, i'm just going to throw in the towel. i'll end up losing my sanity if i try to figure that one out.

and that's before summer enters with a steel chair.

#rwby #anon #ask.strqyr #the mystery of the spring maiden #i thought i'd left you behind but alas

[bestworstcase]

there’s… something in the way rwby uses power as a concept, strength as a separate concept, and magic as a device to interrogate both that is really interesting and also difficult for me to parse cleanly—in particular because the distinction drawn between power and strength is not always clearly defined, in that in certain cases strength is evidently being used synonymously with power instead , not in a muddying-the-waters way but i think as a means of revealing something about the characters who can’t or won’t distinguish strength from power or (salem) are commenting on the perceptions of characters in the former category. in particular the power/strength distinction fascinates in regards to “there will be no victory in strength,” in which it is contextually clear that salem is referring to strength-as-power—in contrast to what she means by strength when she includes it alongside courage and resourcefulness as fundamental traits of humankind—and likewise clear that ozma understands strength to mean power (otherwise his rebuttal of “or perhaps victory is found in the simpler things” makes little sense).

i suppose an argument could be made for salem using strength in the other sense throughout the whole monologue—but given the narrative keeps firmly and overtly validating “no victory in strength” as the correct stance that doesn’t quite ring true. salem perceives this conflict—i think—as largely an ideological one in which she is taking advantage of ozma’s reliance on powerful symbols and guardians to corrode the hope, trust, and social cohesion that he neglects to maintain as a direct consequence of his fixation on symbols and guardians, and ozma occupies this peculiar place of at once recognizing that as salem’s strategy but wholly failing to meet her on that ideological battlefield, which is why he loses. he trains child soldiers; salem waits for him to sabotage himself and then strikes when the cracks begins to show.

—anyway, the maidens and their power function as, primarily, a device for examining… this. magic is power but the narrative point of a character becoming a maiden is not to make them more powerful but rather to make them focal points in the ideological struggle between strength-as-power vs strength-as-humanity. (which among other things is why analysis regarding the maidens that centers power in the discussion feels like it misses the point.)

i think this is most overtly clear with amber, fria, and the unnamed spring maiden, all of whom were unambiguously embedded in the conspiracies of the old vanguard, which treated them as little more than malleable vessels for the power they contained; so much so that ozpin’s associates refer to them exclusively by their titles (fall/autumn, winter, spring) and the two of them still alive in the present of the story are literally reduced to mere storage containers awaiting the inauguration of the next-in-line. they’re the fixation on symbol and guardian taken to its logical and horrific conclusion.

but it’s pretty evident in the other maidens as well: raven claimed spring’s magic for herself and left ozpin’s conspiracy behind, but she hasn’t let go of the underlying mindset that power is strength and strength is everything. thus, she’s at once one of the most formidable characters in the story and also one of the most fragile, so ruled by cowardice that she can’t bring herself to do anything but run and hide in desperation to just survive one more day.

penny gave fria a moment of dignity and compassion before she died and received winter’s magic in return, freely given—but that transition occurred within the structure of the conspiracy (fria believed her to be ironwood’s chosen heir), and as a consequence penny couldn’t escape what that power meant to atlas, to ironwood. this made it impossible for her to truly integrate the magic into her identity, and made the magic itself nothing but an unfair and painful burden on her shoulders.

—which is why, when penny gave it to winter, she did so simply and only because winter was her friend. it wasn’t a tactical choice or one made with the intention of conferring some responsibility onto winter’s shoulders; it was a gift, and a way of gently and peacefully saying goodbye to one of her closest friends. that it gave winter the boost she needed to leave her battle with ironwood and race to the aid of her sister and friend is beside the point except insofar as it symbolizes the triumph of humanity over power; the exact moment when winter wins that duel is when she gets to her feet and says “you chose nothing; this was a gift”—when she rejects ironwood’s power over her soul and destiny and claims instead penny’s friendship and her own ability to choose. (there is a reason she then defeats him by deflecting his own blast back at him and flying away, rather than like, blowing him to smithereens with her new godlike power; it’s about her emotional victory over his control, and how that has freed her from him so completely that he can’t harm her any longer.)

& that leaves cinder, who interests me most on the grounds that she is at once motivated by relentless pursuit of power because she believes being powerful is the only way to be free, and also the ultimate representation of how atlesian society—the purest distillation of the post-war order—ruins people because it enshrines power above all; and intertwined with that is the fact that cinder is salem’s maiden, not ozpin’s, and salem spent two volumes quietly but persistently attempting to coax cinder into grasping that power is not everything and then in 8 got so fed up with her obsession with power that she drove cinder into open rebellion before she realized she needed to change tactics. and of course what cinder truly needs is to relinquish her obsession with power, which is borne out of a terror of being controlled and harmed, which makes the role salem occupies in her story rather complicated in that salem is both someone who harms and controls her and the character invested in easing cinder out of the mindset that allows salem to harm and control her gjdhdks. but, like—on a symbolic or thematic level, cinder is wrestling with the ideological clash between strength-as-power and strength-as-humanity in a way the other maidens haven’t, and i think that is probably because she is on salem’s side and salem represents change and challenge to the status quo; of course her protege would be the maiden who most exemplifies this struggle.

anyway i’m. curious to see where and how or if this narrative use of magic will come into play with ozma’s and salem’s magic; i think it has a little bit with ozma’s, in oscar’s reluctance to use it because he associates it with the loss of his own identity, and then there’s salem’s—apparent—preference for using other means besides her own phenomenal magical power to achieve her ends, even to the point of using dust over innate magic in the creation of specialized grimm. rwby has been so consistent in its handling of the maiden power (and silver eyes, for that matter) that i feel… fairly confident that the same general thematic principles apply to ozma’s and salem’s, but we haven’t seen enough of either of them in relation to their magic for me to have a good sense of exactly how they fit in beyond their being powerful not being the narrative point of them having magic. (and the mystifying puzzle of the fight in witch, and why salem… did that. i have a granule of a thought here but i need a third data point before i can complete it.)

[cloverebi]

not penny dying again 😢

#CLAIMS TO BE THE WINTER MAIDEN... DIES ANYWAY #rwby #rwby spoilers #rip

[sepedarodatiga]

The Snow Queen fairytale as a motif used in GoT/ASOIAF

First of all, how many fairytales and myths can GRRM fit into this story, seriously?? I know many have written well thought and well informed meta of various fairytale motives fit with ASOIAF/GoT, and I am just here adding into an already huge pile, but it bothers me, okay. I have to get it out there into the tumblr void. And this is not really a well thought and well informed meta (I’m not a folklore/literature expert, not to mention European folklore/literature), I’m just pointing my fingers into the patterns I saw fit. Also, I can’t count myself as ASOIAF book reader, I just watch the show. What I know about the books, I read it here in tumblr. 

But anyway, you might be surprised as to which character I saw fit as The Snow Queen in GoT

It’s Daenerys Targaryen.

I know I know... whaat? The Mother of Dragons, Bride of Fire as The Snow Queen? Get out of here, right...

But it’s a pun. It’s not The Snow Queen, it’s Jon Snow’s Queen, get it? Remember how Jon repeatedly saying “you’re my queen” to Dany during season 8? Yeah. Oh and Jon is Kay, while Sansa is Gerda. 

What made me realize that Dany is The Snow Queen is when I was reading my son the fairytale. In the version retold by Kate Friend, it describes The Snow Queen as beautiful and terrible. And I was like, huh, just like Dany, especially with the white hair and the all white costume in season 8. 

Daenerys Targaryen, beautiful and terrible.

And then of course the story went on describing how Kay becomes her prisoner and then I was like, well that’s like Jon Snow during season 8 too.... And then in Disney’s adaptation Frozen, Elsa has white hair with purple eyeshadow, while Anna (Gerda) has....red hair....which is like... Sansa Stark. Then I also remember the illustration on my son’s book which is by John Patience, that reminded me of the Iron Throne.

The Snow Queen illustration by John Patience. See how much alike this setting is with the Red Keep? Especially in Dany’s vision in HoTU when snow was falling.

So I went investigating, and shit... I mean obviously the sequencing was moved around, GRRM likes to subvert things, but my God!

Before we get into Jon Snow and his queen, I have to start with the other characters first. And I will be taking excerpt of the story from The Hans Christian Andersen Center website which I assume would be the most original one.

Gerda = Sansa Stark

Here is a description of Gerda’s power:  “No power that I could give could be as great as that which she already has. Don't you see how men and beasts are compelled to serve her, and how far she has come in the wide world since she started out in her naked feet? We mustn't tell her about this power. Strength lies in her heart, because she is such a sweet, innocent child.”

Furthermore, her connection with Kay are through roses (they have a window box full of roses) and a song that goes like this:  "Where roses bloom so sweetly in the vale, There shall you find the Christ Child, without fail." Another variation of the song is: “The rose in the valley has flowers so sweet, and angels come down there the children to greet.” She saved Kay with her prayers, hugs, kisses, tears and her song and their reunion literally ended winter and brings spring. If that’s not Sansa Stark (and the jonsa reunion), then I don’t know what is.

Gerda made a journey to the North to find Kay and bring him back together with her to their home. Sansa did not meant to make a journey North to find Jon and bring him back home, but this is what happened anyway. The story even stressed on the fact that when they came back to their homes, they were no longer children but grown ups. On her quest Gerda offered her red shoes to the river to get information about Kay’s whereabouts but the red shoes were given back to her the first time. But she did it once again and the river set her on the path to find Kay. I’m not really sure but for Sansa it could be her betrothal to Joffrey that was then canceled but then she got married to Tyrion Lannister. Her red shoes is her name and her claim to the North.

Gerda then met an old woman who wanted to keep her and made her forget about Kay by keeping all the roses underground. The old woman’s place was beautiful. Here is an excerpt:  “Then Gerda was led into the flower garden. How fragrant and lovely it was! Every known flower of every season was there in full bloom. No picture book was ever so pretty and gay. Gerda jumped for joy, and played in the garden until the sun went down behind the tall cherry trees. Then she was tucked into a beautiful bed, under a red silk coverlet quilted with blue violets. There she slept, and there she dreamed as gloriously as any queen on her wedding day.” But then she saw a rose on the old woman’s hat and finally remembers her purpose of finding Kay. I would say that the old woman is Cersei Lannister who tried to make Sansa forget about her home and her innocence. Sansa was also saved from her clutch by roses (The Tyrells).

Then Gerda with information from a crow, met a Princess and Prince. She thought that the Prince might be Kay, but it turns out he was not. This might be Sansa’s vale arc and the Prince is either Petyr Baelish or Harry Hardyng. The Prince and Princess also gave provisions for Gerda’s journey to the North, so this may be that the KoTV helps Sansa getting Winterfell back. The crow, has a ladylove, another crow and they finally get married and live in the Princess’s castle though unfortunately the crow then died. The crow was a wild forest crow while his ladylove is a tame crow. These two crows could be genderbent into Sam Tarly and Gilly. Remember that Sam is mock as Jon’s ladylove by Alliser Thorne?

Next Gerda met a robber girl who sleeps with a knife and have plenty of pigeons. Yep, of course that is very much like Arya Stark (who sometimes is being referred to as “a girl”)

The pigeons told Gerda about Kay and The Snow Queen. The robber girl finally gave Gerda her reindeer called Bae for her journey to the North. The girl likes to tickle the reindeer’s neck with her knife. At the end of the story it is told that the robber girl then decided to leave her place and find adventure in the world. Very much like Arya’s ending.

Now about that reindeer Bae who helped Gerda to reach to Kay in The Snow Queen’s palace in the far North. In ASOIAF/GoT, we can connect Bae to Baelish. Make sense. Petyr Baelish helps Sansa get to North and Arya’s knife did end up in his neck. But also we can connect it to two foreshadowing of Sansa bearing Jon’s child. The first is more well-known: Bael the Bard. The second one I think is more hidden and I made a post about it quite long ago: Baelor. Is this far fetched? Maybe, but I’ll take it.

Kay = Jon (+ The Night King)

Kay and Gerda are neighbours and they share a garden (particularly a flower box full of roses). Their relationship, in the words of Hans Christian Andersen himself are: “These children were not brother and sister, but they loved each other just as much as if they had been.” So they are NOT brother and sister but love each other as such. While Jon and Sansa are also NOT brother and sister but was raised as such.

Then Kay got splinters of magic mirror stuck to his eyes and his heart. The mirror “made everything great and good that was reflected in it appear small and ugly, but which magnified all evil things until each blemish loomed large”. It made Kay hated all the roses, they look ugly now to his eyes and also made Kay loved the snow and the cold. Jon Snow at the beginning of the story was a cynical little boy because he was raised as a bastard. He wanted to leave Winterfell and sneered at the idea of having a family of his own because he felt that he can’t have them. So he went to the coldest place there is.

In the story, Kay plays with his sled, and then The Snow Queen came with her sled and Kay hooked his sled to hers. The Snow Queen first, covers Kay in a bearskin rug and gave Kay kisses. The first kiss “was colder than ice. He felt it right down to his heart, half of which was already an icy lump. He felt as if he were dying, but only for a moment. Then he felt quite comfortable, and no longer noticed the cold”. The second kiss makes Kay forgets about Gerda and their homes. The third kiss, The Snow Queen does not give him because it would be the kiss of death.

I argue that GRRM subvert this story. I think Jon Snow was already saved by Sansa before he met Dany. The splinters in his eyes and heart was already gone when he faced The Snow Queen. The reunion happened before he met Dany. The first two kisses also already happened: Jon Snow had died and came alive again, and he also forced to forget about his home and family while he was at the Night’s Watch. The bearskin rug which The Snow Queen used to cover Kay can allude to Jeor Mormont and/or Longclaw. 

Then Jon Snow met his queen finally, but instead of a hooking sleds.... it’s dragons. Jon Snow’s sled was his dragon Rhaegal which are hooked to Dany’s sled Drogon. But his eyes wasn’t blinded by the splinter and his heart were already warm. He knowingly and willingly follow the dragon to save his family.

And the third kiss of death that wasn’t given by The Snow Queen? Jon Snow will give it to his queen instead.

Now let’s go back a little bit. Kay was also given a puzzle from ice by The Snow Queen, and if he can solve it then he is free. He was supposed to spell the word “eternity” but he couldn’t figure it out with the shard in his eyes and heart. In GoT we know exactly who has got an shard in his heart.

The Night King. And so that is why he plays with puzzle in ice. He is struggling to form the one symbol that would set him free.

Bonuses

Other than those patterns, there are several interesting tidbits from the story that fits with ASOIAF. There is this one blog said that The Snow Queen story was inspired by another story called “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” which if you read it, it is essentially “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” (the bear is a white bear, by the way)

More bonuses here. When Gerda finally remembers to find Kay during her time in the old woman’s home because of the rose, different flowers gave her different stories even though none tells her about Kay.

This is the story from tiger lily:

"Do you hear the drum? Boom, boom! It was only two notes, always boom, boom! Hear the women wail. Hear the priests chant. The Hindoo woman in her long red robe stands on the funeral pyre. The flames rise around her and her dead husband, but the Hindoo woman is thinking of that living man in the crowd around them. She is thinking of him whose eyes are burning hotter than the flames-of him whose fiery glances have pierced her heart more deeply than these flames that soon will burn her body to ashes. Can the flame of the heart die in the flame of the funeral pyre?"

So GRRM didn’t take the sati ritual for Dany’s rites of passage as mother of dragons from just anywhere, but it is from this story.

Also, hear this story from hyacinth

"There were three sisters, quite transparent and very fair. One wore a red dress, the second wore a blue one, and the third went all in white. Hand in hand they danced in the clear moonlight, beside a calm lake. They were not elfin folk. They were human beings. The air was sweet, and the sisters disappeared into the forest. The fragrance of the air grew sweeter. Three coffins, in which lie the three sisters, glide out of the forest and across the lake. The fireflies hover about them like little flickering lights. Are the dancing sisters sleeping or are they dead? The fragrance of the flowers says they are dead, and the evening bell tolls for their funeral."

Of course this immediately bring to memory the quote of Jon Snow with Val: “The light of the half-moon turned Val’s honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow. She took a deep breath. “The air tastes sweet.”” Well then, according to Hans Christian Andersen, that means death. There are three sisters here which could allude to the three queens at the almost end of GoT: Cersei Lannister (red), Sansa Stark (blue) and Daenerys Targaryen (white).

So those are my stab at it. I would be interested to hear if anyone’s take on it.

#jonsa #anti jonerys #anti daenerys targaryen #sansa stark #jon snow #the snow queen

[luckyharbinger]

(REPOST) Winter’s Role in Volume 8

...and as it relates to Staff Theory, because...well, look who posted this.

So it’s not really a secret that Winter has always had a sort of passive role throughout the series. She’s a supporting character in every sense, not just a non-main character but a character who’s never the center of her own story. Everything she is as a person is tightly bound to someone else, as opposed to the kids of Team RWBY, JNOR, and co. who could all easily be the main characters of their own mini-series. Everything Winter does or “desires” is in the interest of someone else.

So what I’m going to discuss below is how that narrative rut affects her, how it relates to a few other characters, and what it might mean for the finale of Volume 8.

Alas, the original of this post got deleted, so if you liked the analysis, please give this one a reblog instead, since the other read-more directs to nothing.

Let’s start with V8Ch1.

This seems like a pretty normal thing to say to someone in the wake of terrible loss, doesn’t it?

Well...yes, on the surface. But from a narrative standpoint, there’s a little more going on here. This is one of many instances in which Winter is expected to take the place of someone else.

In Volume 7, it’s established that Winter was selected to be the next Winter Maiden, something she claims that she’d taken as her own destiny, but obviously not something she herself had ever planned for. At that time, it was unclear if taking the Maiden ability would change her as a person. But with that mantle taken by Penny (haha), Winter has a new void to fill: the one Clover left behind.

Let’s take a look at V7Ch3.

Sounds familiar, no?

The way the narrative compares Winter and Clover is more subtle than the comparison between Clover and Qrow, but there all the same. It’s a more situational difference and something that doesn’t have as much to do with who they are as people. In a narrative sense, Clover’s death quite literally marks a pivot in the plot where things go from pretty bad to absolutely fucked. Clover, you see, is Atlas’s good luck charm. When he’s around, things go well. He’s playful with his team. He likes Qrow. He says “James.”

Winter, on the other hand, isn’t lucky at all. After Clover dies (and with Winter attempting and failing to replace him), things are a little less than ideal. Everything’s going to hell. Winter is frigid and professional with his team, such as when she pulls rank. She’s always disliked Qrow. She says “sir.”

Anyways, back to V8.

It's pretty obvious in this scene that James could use a bit of comfort. He's only human. He's afraid. But James and Winter don't have that kind of relationship. She calls him sir. The person who would've called him "James" is on the table in the other room, and in fact, James had just been looking there before turning to thank her.

Winter almost forgets herself here. The pause between the question and "sir" implies that for a moment, Winter saw a terrified man instead of her usually fearless General. But James and Winter are colleagues, not friends, so Winter adds the formality back in, despite James quietly admitting to a moment of weakness.

Let's be clear: James is not consciously expecting Winter to replace Clover emotionally. No one is. James and Clover clearly have a history (see this post for a bit of talk on how Clover represents James's now lost left hand) and Winter obviously can't make up for that.

Let's take a look at V8CH7.

There's a reason Ren cuts Harriet off before she says "Clover." I'd wager there's two reasons. The first, of course, being that Clover is due to return, and the second being that even if he wasn't, Winter can't ever be him, and it's a disservice to her personhood to act as though she could.

Now, Winter knows she can't fill that void Clover left. I don't think she's really trying to, even as she's aware of that expectation (however subconscious that expectation may be). You can tell by the way they hide her expression when Harriet tries to named her as Clover's replacement. But Winter isn't like Weiss, where she becomes her own person after being free from her father. She doesn't fight people's expectations or really establish her own goals like Weiss does. She either runs from it (Schnee legacy) or she just goes with it (Maiden, Clover.)

I think Winter in some way will be a catalyst for the finale events. Nothing on Atlas's side will change until Winter changes, and she could very well be the last straw to either undo James or put him back together. It's not enough for Winter to simply not fulfill the expectation to replace Clover. She must actively and openly refuse it.

I'm not really sure what's going to trigger this change. Possibly Marrow, should he defect first, possibly a confrontation with Weiss after the bomb goes off. But every character's name speaks to some aspect of their character, and I think that if James represents Atlas, then much like the harsh climate, Winter will be something that's deeply impactful towards the fate of both him and the city.

Winter has not been her own person as long as we have known her, and that won't change so long as she is filling an expectation, taking someone else's place, or filling some void. Both Penny and Ren have stated that she matters, not as a Maiden or as a soldier but as a person with choices, and her character cannot grow until she takes those words to heart.

Both James and the Ace Ops are upset that someone they loved has died, but societal norms set in Atlas even before the Great War insist that teams aren’t made of your ride-or-dies, but of coworkers with no platonic or familial attachments. This emotional dissonance leaves them seeking a quick replacement instead of properly processing their grief, and this is where they subconsciously attach their emotional needs to their professional requirements from Winter.

What Ren is saying here isn’t just that Clover is too important to be replaced, but that Winter is too important to replace him.

#Winter Schnee #Clover Ebi #James Ironwood #fair game #Ace Ops #Qrow Branwen #Staff of Creation Theory #rwby8 #my post #analysis

[yellowmagicalgirl]

A Ring, A Blade, An Ornament, A Wreath

Ilia would like to one day propose to Blake using Faunus customs, but she doesn't know which ones.

Years later, Blake makes an assumption about the type of proposal Ilia would like.

This was originally written for the 2021 Rare Pairs Exchange over on AO3. It takes place both pre-canon and post-Volume 8 due to a time skip in the middle.

CW: References to past character death as well as canon-typical anti-Faunus racism.

AO3

FFN

In Mantle and Atlas, they used rings to propose. It was a human tradition, yes, but it was one perpetuated by Faunus as well. Ilia still remembered her parents wedding rings, woven out of discarded wires. They weren’t much in terms of expensive materials as proof of being able to provide for each other, but they had been handmade proof of her parents’ love for each other. She hadn’t gotten them back with the rest of her parents things when they had died. In a best-case scenario, her parents’ rings had been thought to be debris from the cave-in. It was more likely that humans had taken them, though whether out of mockery of Ilia’s grief, wanting to claim some sort of repayment with precious objects, or mockery of the materials used Ilia would never be sure.

Ilia and her parents had been cowards, and she didn’t want to emulate them or the human-supremacist society she had grown up in. She especially didn’t want to emulate them when she proposed to Blake. She promised herself that she wouldn’t give Blake a ring… after Ilia figured out how to confess her feelings to Blake, of course.

Faunus had many different proposal traditions, but theirs had been stamped out as they tried to assimilate with humans. The scholars of Menagerie were trying to piece together older cultural traditions, and Menagerie had many different proposal traditions as a result. Ilia wondered what type of proposal Blake would prefer. Out of all the traditions Ilia had heard about, she found she preferred the ones where she would have to make something for Blake. It was what her parents had done, and it felt purer than all those stuffy girls at Ilia’s prep school daydreaming about getting an expensive gem-encrusted ring of fine metals.

One of the traditions Ilia liked was one that had originally come from one of the deserts of Anima that she liked most. It had started with some of the Faunus tribes that had inhabited the area and then having spread to humans because it was a useful tradition, only to become frowned upon as one of the pre-Mistrali kingdoms tried to colonize the area with religious fervor. And yet, the tradition had survived to make it to Menagerie, with happy couples giving each other small, intricate blades no bigger than a hand.

Ilia had made Lightning Lash herself, so maybe she would be good at making a blade for Blake. Granted, Blake had made Gambol Shroud all on her own, so it wasn’t like she needed a blade from Ilia. Then again, the blades didn’t look like they were useful. Well, maybe they were useful for things like cutting small, thin vegetables or spreading butter, but Blake deserved a blade she could defend herself with. Not that she needed Ilia’s help with that, since Blake had always been an amazing fighter with a strong, defensive semblance.

Perhaps Blake would prefer the traditions originally held by the Dacia, a nomadic Faunus community that originated in southwestern Sanus. They used hair ornaments, worn at the end of braids. Granted, Blake didn’t braid her hair, and she didn’t wear any hair ornaments aside from the bow she used to hide her ears whenever she would go into a human settlement for supplies. Ilia didn’t like that part about Blake, how she hid and tried to blend in with humans. Still, Blake was doing a lot better than Ilia had in that regard. Even when they went to get supplies, Blake wouldn’t stand back when they saw a non-passing Faunus being harassed.

Ilia sighed. Blake was so cool and beautiful, and she was wasted on Adam. Maybe Ilia would finally tell Blake that when Blake came back from the train mission she and Adam were going on tomorrow morning. Maybe. Ilia wasn’t sure how she would be able to do so.

New Mantle had become rather prosperous compared to the refugee camp it had been eight years ago. Granted, it helped that the Grimm were finally defeated less than a year after the fall of Atlas. Ilia had felt strangely sad, hearing the news that the cities she had grown up in were both gone. She had hated both of them, symbols of her own cowardice as a bystander, and yet they had both held good memories, no matter how tainted they were. Her parents’ graves and the house she grew up in had flooded; her prep school would have been smashed with the impact. And all that strange anguish she had felt at losing places she hadn’t planned on ever returning to had only gone up exponentially when she learned that Blake was dead. Or, more specifically, she had fallen. She was technically missing, as no one expected to ever find a body.

Blake hadn’t been Ilia’s first love, but she had been Ilia’s greatest love.

And then she came back. She had changed; she was the first Faunus with magical powers who was not a maiden or a bearer of silver eyes.

And finally, finally, she was looking at Ilia the way that Ilia had always hoped Blake would.

Things had changed in the years since. Ilia and Blake were dating, and Salem had been defeated. The world was not at peace, but it was far closer to it than it had been during Ilia’s childhood. The two of them had settled down together in the outskirts of Vale, but right now they were visiting friends. Tonight, they would be meeting up with Neon, Coal, and their daughter Irida for dinner, but that was hours from now. Right now, they were walking through one of the street markets. They had grabbed a light lunch from one of the Atlesian-Vacuan stalls and were now looking for a trash can to dispose of the paper wrappers.

“Oh hey, look!” Blake said, pointing. Ilia turned her head, expecting to see a trash can but instead she saw a stall.

A ring maker’s stall. The rings were done in the style of Atlesian engagement rings. It was a temporary stall, which made sense. The spring equinox was coming up, and it was an old Mantle tradition to propose at the start of spring and marry at the start of summer. Ilia still remembered being so shocked when her prep school classmate talked about having attended a winter wedding; the tradition hadn’t carried to the city in the sky that promised freedom from Grimm, hunger, and the bitter cold.

Blake looked at Ilia, smiled, blushed, looked away again, and took a breath. “What’s your ring size?”

Ilia blinked and then dropped Blake’s hand so that Ilia could put both hands in front of her mouth. “I, are you –“

“No, no, not yet. I’d do something at least a little fancier than just picking out rings together and calling it a day. But, we’ve been dating for years, and I think that it’ll be time, soon. And, since you grew up in Mantle, I thought you’d like to follow the ring tradition.”

“I mean, if you had asked me a decade ago, I would’ve been insulted by it. Now, I’m not too sure. How did your parents get engaged?”

“My mom’s family is from Mistral, so my dad proposed to her with Mistrali traditions. And, since it’s a woven wreath of flowers, and our family name is from a flower…”

“Oh, no, he didn’t.”

“Yeah, he proposed with a wreath of poisonous flowers. Obviously, my mom accepted his proposal anyways, but I wouldn’t want to recreate my parents’ proposal.”

A woven wreath of flowers, though not of conventional materials. Made by Ghira’s own hands to show his love for Kali.

“How would you feel about a non-poisonous wreath?”

Blake smiled at her. “You still haven’t told me your ring size.”

#rwby #ilia amitola #blake belladonna #catmeleon #my writing

[magnhild]

let’s talk about nora valkyrie

warning: this post is not a solid, coherent discussion. it is simply a mess of my thoughts and ideas and is rather messy. also, it contains spoilers for volume 7 of rwby, but if you can see this post then you’re probably all caught up and don’t have spoilers tagged.

so anyway let’s get into it.

I’ve always loved Nora, there’s never been any doubt about that. but at the same time, she’s always off to the side, hasn’t done too much to contribute to the plot and arguably hasn’t had any character development either. This volume though is where I think that changes. Volume 7 is truly taking steps to make sure we know she’s part of the main cast alongside her teammates and RWBY, to the point where she’s now joined Yang and Blake as one of my top favourite characters. And I think she’s going to be far more important in this volume and possibly the next ones than any of us anticipated.

Some of us had already picked up that there was more to Nora than one would first think. We’ve picked up on her brutal honesty and her surprising perceptiveness, both when it comes to people’s feelings and how to potentially solve issues. She’s certainly smarter than most people give her credit for. But volume 7 is bringing all this to the surface so that everyone can see, and I don’t think they’re just doing so for no reason. They could easily have Blake taking her role in the story, or maybe even Ruby or Weiss. But of all people, it’s Nora who’s standing up more than any of the main cast for Mantle’s wellbeing and calling Ironwood out for what he’s doing to harm it. For her, it almost seems personal, with episode 7 seeing her get angrier than we’ve ever seen her before. In fact, aside from direct confrontation with villains, we’ve rarely seen any character get this angry so far in the show. I’ve seen people say that it’s because she was an orphan and she doesn’t want to see the people of Mantle go through what she did, but I don’t think it’s that simple. After all, Ren was an orphan too, but he seems to be taking the opposite stance to her (and that’s a whole other can of worms). No, I think- and disclaimer, I’m not claiming to have come up with this- that Mantle is Nora’s original hometown and where she spent her life before somehow winding up in Anima. After all, we have absolutely no knowledge of where she came from or went through before meeting Ren aside from the fact that she was not from Kuroyuri. As for further details on her backstory, there are several possibilities. Maybe her family were extremely poor and suffered greatly from the city’s circumstances. Maybe she’s the child of a human-faunus couple and faced discrimination from both humans and faunus as a result, especially given the racism of Atlas. Maybe her parents died early on in her life and she was an orphan long before meeting Ren. Or maybe her parents died early, but she was taken in by other family. Perhaps a grandmother who might just be on her deathbed deep within Atlas who’s constantly thinking of her lost granddaughter.

Yes, the Winter Maiden Nora theory sure is a good one and if my personal theory (the human/faunus child one) falls through, I’d be very happy with it. It certainly makes sense. Not only did we never get a mention of the current Winter Maiden’s last name, but her first has some interesting origins. Fria is one of the modern spellings of Freyja, a Norse goddess, who, according to some scholars, was one of the Valkyries of Norse myth. Interesting, huh? There’s also the fact that it seems a little too easy and obvious for Winter to get the powers. Not to mention, it would certainly be a very interesting choice for the story if the powers go to someone who is beginning to oppose Ironwood rather than his most trusted lieutenant. And if Nora does indeed become the Winter Maiden, the whole game changes. Atlas’ fate is suddenly going to pretty much be in the hands of this 19-year-old woman who isn’t looking to be a very big fan of Atlas right now and is already getting stressed enough as it is. I don’t actually know much about proper Norse mythology, but I know that, in the Marvel movie at least, it’s Thor himself who causes Ragnarök. Whether or not it’s the same in the actual folklore, I don’t know, but it’s definitely something to think about.

So yeah, there are a lot of possibilities surrounding Nora being from Mantle but now let’s talk about where she could be headed with these possibilities in mind. I think it’s clear at this point that she is regretting allying with Ironwood with each passing day. In the very first episode of Volume 7, she expressed her dry disappointment with the state Mantle’s in and she’s continued to do so as time’s gone on. We also know that she supports Robyn Hill and it’s been implied that she thinks she’s doing a much better job at helping people than Ironwood is. And then there’s Ren. Despite their kiss in episode 6, it’s clear that they’re still having problems, especially now that Ren’s showed a worrying amount of support towards Ironwood- it even seems to have surprised Ruby. With all this coming to a head, I don’t think Nora’s going to be staying with the team for long. Something’s going to happen, something like a huge argument or a break of her trust and it’s going to push her right to someone who she knows is doing the right thing- Robyn. After all, Nora expressed frustration with all the lies she and the others are having to keep in the very same episode Robyn’s Semblance was revealed to be the ability to know the truth. There’s also my personal headcanon of her, May and Joanna all being trans girls and bonding over it, but I’m not getting my hopes too high for that.

Honestly though, if Nora joins the Huntresses, I think it’ll be great, both inside the show and out. I personally don’t think that what Ironwood’s doing is a good idea at all, nor do I agree with his methods and I think Nora rebelling could be the push the others to do the same (especially since Yang and Blake have already done it a little bit). It could be the cause of some really interesting conflict and we could get a lot of character building. Would she leave in secret or make it very clear where she’s going? Would her friends be able go after her or will Ironwood insist that the Amity project is more important? Will Ren feeling deeply betrayed and angered or will it be the wake-up call he needs? The choice opens so many doors and if it’s the direction they take and I’m very much here for it

Then there’s Ren. I’ve already mentioned him several times in this post, so all I’m gonna say is that I don’t think their conflict will doom them, not at all. Ren and Nora have been best friends since they were young kids and were all each other had for the longest time. They’re not going to let this ruin their friendship after all they’ve been through together. And despite what I keep seeing people saying, I think episode 6 made it clear that Ren does return Nora’s romantic feelings and it’s all in the kiss. There’s no way he’d have reacted the way he did- wrapping his arms around her and staying in the kiss for several seconds- if he didn’t feel the same way. He’d have pulled away or at the very least looked uncomfortable with it. I honestly think that, once Ren realizes that how he’s acting is risking him losing her for good, he’ll come to his senses. Every friendship and every couple have their arguments but that doesn’t mean it has to end. I have faith that they’ll get through this, even if it takes a while.

So yeah, there’s all of my jumbled-together thoughts about Nora and where I think she could be headed. I actually didn’t get down quite all of what I wanted to say, but there’ll be time for that when I eventually make Nora’s episode of my ‘Why I Love’ series on YouTube, though that’ll definitely be after volume 7 in case anything more important happens with her. For now, I hope this satisfies you guys and gives you something to think about in the seven weeks (yes, seven- they’re taking a break after episode 8) that we have to go of Volume 7.

bye nerds

#rwby #rwby theory #rwby analysis #rwby spoilers #nora valkyrie #becky rambles

[robiness]

Raven Branwen could teach us to trust love (theory, V7CH12 spoilers)

Yeah, that’s what I said.

In my theory about Qrow’s arc, I mentioned that the worst possibility is that Raven gets to Qrow, because obviously they’re hostile to each other and have different worldviews. He’s fragile and can be easily manipulated to returning to the Branwen ways. 

It was a Qrow theory, so I focused on him. All I said about Raven was that she’s clever and brutal, and she wants her family to concede that she’s right in her philosophy. 

I’ve seen a few ideas about Raven saving everything, but I dismissed them because of my own perception of her character. But after seeing them a couple more times today, I considered a new possibility. 

(this is a theory for a RWBY7 hopeful ending, if you don’t want to get your hopes up, i’ll understand)

Yes, Raven is clever, brutal, ruthless. I still firmly believe that she’ll do anything for what she considers worth fighting for. In my perspective, these are (1) protecting her tribe, and (2) making her family realize that she was right all along.

(2) is something she constantly keeps doing even in hostile situations. She tries and tries, and is extremely frustrated at the stupidity she sees. She feels betrayed by Qrow, too, since he used to subscribe to their ways, but she still tries.

She HAS expressed outright care before. Most obvious is the Yang vs Neo fight yes, but there’s another one I forgot and now made me consider her influence as a positive thing.

This conversation between her and Yang in Volume 5.

Most of V5, Raven is rigid in her beliefs. She’s very firm with trying to convince Yang she was right when they met in the tribe, and even in Haven Academy, she left without caring if Qrow or anyone died, but she still tried to get through to her brother.

Later, when Yang confronts her after the Maiden fight, her reaction is angry. She thinks, again, that Yang is getting it all wrong like everything else. Ozpin’s war is hopeless, and Raven is the only one not brainwashed into his ideals. This was probably exacerbated by the fact she just defeated Cinder, again proving that she’s on top. 

“It's not that simple. You don't know me, you don't know what I've been through, the choices I've had to make!”  

“I've stared death in the face over and over again! And every time I've spat in that face and survived because I'm strong enough to do what others won't!” 

“Who do you think you are lecturing me?! Standing there, shaking like a scared little girl?!” 

She feels superior, and righteous in her rage. 

But then Yang calls her bluff. Raven might think she was making the right decisions, but Yang saw very clearly that she was too weak to do anything else but kill and run.

Yang proved to her that she did know Raven, because she was right in thinking that Raven would bail yet again if Yang offered to take the Relic that was a magnet for danger. 

Then, Raven makes this expression for the first time:

She is guilty, ashamed, upset, and at the time, I thought that this was only because she was putting her daughter in danger.  

But if you think about it, she’s never completely cared about her family’s lives before, not if they interfere with her highest priorities. I’ll repeat: (1) protecting her tribe, and (2) making her family realize that she was right all along.

However, Yang just proved to her that... she wasn’t right. At least, not in the image she was trying to project - a righteous, fearless woman who was making difficult decisions. 

I... I'm sorry...

I can bet that she’s never said these words before. Not to Tai, not to Qrow, not to Summer. But now she says this to her daughter who just proved to be much braver than she is. Who wrecked her worldview. 

So what? She left anyway. Why would she come now? Why would she change?

I think the fact that she left is the answer. She made a quick, automatic decision to run away, despite her claims of righteousness and bravery. But she was crying and emotional as she did.

Once she was gone, she was gone. There was no mention of her in the next two volumes, other than a teased visit to Tai, and who knows what that was about? 

Also, a LOT of people had asked why tf did Yang never tell anybody about her mom being the Spring Maiden.

I don’t really know why Yang as a character made that decision. But maybe the narrative kept her out on purpose, to make viewers forget about her.

Because, you know, I never understood why Raven Branwen was the Spring Maiden, when all other potential Maidens had some sort of connection to the seasons they were assigned (Pyrrha, then Cinder to Fall, Winter/Penny to Winter). 

Raven was, if anything, the entire opposite of the concept of spring - rebirth, life, change for the better. 

I think she’s about to prove me wrong.

Volume 7: Qrow and Clover

Clover and Qrow had a healthy developing relationship that was cut off prematurely. This broke Qrow and stopped his recovery for seemingly no reason other than to hurt him, and us. 

Clover and Qrow had quick but utterly significant scenes that seemed to be wasted just like that. Why? 

I think it still stands that this was meant to really, really hurt. 

But. 

As said in my Qrow theory, and those of many others, only Raven can get to Qrow now in his fragile state, with their connection through her Semblance.

Clover and Qrow are in the tundra, out in the snow. If Raven gets there, how could she save them? By opening another portal to Yang, who is in Atlas, a city with the greatest technology and Pietro Polendina, either or both of which should be enough to save Clover. 

Ironwood survived half of his body getting so mangled that they had to replace it with metal. If Clover was left in the tundra, then yeah he has no chance. But if Raven gets them to Atlas, where all the resources are... 

Let’s talk about this color scheme. 

I, like many others, immediately recognized this as the bi flag colours. It was insulting, demeaning, and cruel for a volume that puts heavy emphasis on “trust love”.

But what if it was put there to indicate that we still should trust despite what just happened? It would still be a traumatizing creative decision, but it would make sense to a predominantly cishet main crew. And any other staff who may have considered that it may hurt would be distracted by the (potential) utter brilliance of it.

The setting was a dark, isolated tundra when Clover died. But the sun rose.

When is a sunrise significant in that kind of setting? That’s right, spring. Hope, love. 

Qrow and Clover’s connection was wonderful, but underdeveloped. We assumed the theme Trust Love applied to them, but it was twisted cruelly, making the audience feel like it was just for shock value.

But what if it’s not their love that should be trusted right now? It is in its early stages, which is why we were so angry at the loss of potential. So maybe it’s not the focus.

What if it’s the unexpected love of Raven (spring, hope, sunrise) coming to aid her brother?

Qrow’s recovery: Raven

I’ve extensively talked about the twins’ relationship from Qrow’s perspective. It’s fractured and opposing. That’s a given.

But imagine. Imagine if at this darkest hour, Qrow’s big sister, who he’s given up on, saves him and makes things better. 

Clover was good for Qrow, but he doesn’t have to be the only one that is. Raven being open to compromise AND saving Clover? That would be such relief for my poor bird.

A real partner, and estranged sister back in his life? That will skyrocket his recovery so much that I’m literally crying right now at the thought.

Supporting Literary Parallels: 

1.  The first part of this post brings up the Aesop’s Fable that Clover is based on. To summarize, the Fisherman is down on his luck, but something unexpected happens, he gets his fish that makes his days better.

2. Qrow is the scarecrow of the Wizard of Oz. This is why many of us are terrified of what’s going to happen next, because the other two companions of Dorothy, Leo (Lion) and Ironwood (Tin Man) have lost the gifts they seek. 

However, we have forgotten that the scarecrow is Qrow’s basis on a lesser degree. Even his position is lower - he’s not a Headmaster, he’s a simple Huntsman. He “serves” Oz, yes, but that part is nulled when his loyalty was betrayed by Ozpin’s secrets.

Even when he was helping Ozpin, he wasn’t a major player, he didn’t guard any relics, he was primarily a spy, which connects more to his forefront literary basis:

3. Hugin and Munin (sources: 1, 2)

Hugin (thought) is Raven. Munin (memory, mind) is Qrow. In Norse mythology, these are Odin’s two ravens that he sends out to spy for information around the worlds. 

Hugin and Munin Fly every day Over all the world; I worry for Hugin That he might not return, But I worry more for Munin.

Raven (thinks herself objective and sensible) definitely matches “might not return”, and Qrow (mental health poster boy held down by memories) is definitely someone who’s always on the brink of tragedy. 

But the thing about the original ravens is that they’re always together. Qrow and Raven have never worked together in-show. That’s the difference between the originals and our characters.

My theory is that they’ll come together, because Raven and Qrow have already shown signs of change from what their originals represent.

But it’s two ravens, no crows! At first, this bummed me out, I thought that this fact would be more supportive of my first tragic Qrow theory. But then...

Crows travel in groups, they’re more sociable (Qrow and his kids). Ravens often travel in pairs (her apparent closeness with Vernal). (bird facts source)

While Qrow would enjoy being with a lot of people, Raven would probably be more picky with her companions, and Vernal, her second, is now dead. 

Therefore, even if Qrow needs Raven at this very moment, Raven needs her brother, too. It’s not only Qrow who will benefit from the reunion.

The Branwen twins will both be better if they work together. In human minds, plans (Raven) and passion (Qrow) need to coincide for survival.

And if this theory comes through, there will be two ravens to satisfy Raven, and Qrow will always be himself, surrounded by family, at the same time. (hint hint side note crows mate for life the two would still have a lot of development to do)

Last thoughts:

This could be wrong. The Qrow tragedy might still happen. Something completely different could. Raven could be a total bitch the whole series.

IDK OKAY. bUT YEAH IM HOPING fuuuuck

Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t trust anything anymore. After all, so many people were truly hurt by last episode, it was still damaging. Turning this around won’t erase that fact. 

But... I really want my Qrow happy. He’s been the most relatable character for me, with the things he goes through, and I’d love it so much if he will come out stronger, with a large support system and some goddamn happiness. And I think... my version makes sense, too?

So maybe everything has a reason. Maybe this is setting up for something really great. We’re very hurt now, but... the sun is rising.

To prepare us for spring?

#rwby #rwby7 #rwby theory #rwby analysis #qrow branwen #raven branwen #clover ebi #yang xiao long #rwby meta #fair game #let qrow branwen be happy #clover ebi defense squad #lucky charms #FUCK #sigh #meta

[bywandandsword]

Ok so, just now for that last post the generator shot out ‘Simple Country Protagonist of Noble Birth’, and that’s essentially one of my OCs so here’s her story if your interested

The takes place in the 1880-90s. When the story starts, Simon’s been on the run for almost five years, dressed as a boy, and half the time she forgets that she’s not one. She spent six months riding up and down the river on the steamboat and got off in Missouri to find other work, hopping from job to job, always reading the papers for any news from New Orleans, and has gotten very good at pretending to be just another young man looking for work. She spent a few months riding the rails, with the vague notion of California or Canada or where ever, just always on the move. Margaritte’s family down south has gotten very powerful, and even more so when she married again, this time to an oil baron turned senator. Simon doesn’t know if Marg is still hunting for her, but isn’t about to risk being found. At the start of the story, she finds herself in Kansas, following a river she was told would lead her to a road, which she could follow to a railway, but either she’s lost or it’s way father than she anticipated, she’s almost out of food, and it’s late September, so it’s getting cooler than is comfortable for someone without a jacket at night. That’s when she sees a farm, miles away from anything, and all the residents are having their lunch outside, enjoying the some of the last few pleasant sunny days of the year. Well, this is too easy, Simon thinks, she’ll just take a bit of bread, a bit of meat and cheese, maybe a better knife, and be on her way with none the wiser, just like she’d done a dozen times in the last few years, she’s long gotten over any moral debate about stealing. Only this time after she grabs what she wants, an incident involving an insistent horse leads to her being discovered. The oldest son Michael (who has two younger twin sibs), wants to take her into town right then and hand this thieving boy over to the law. The father, an older man named Mr. Elias Blez, sees how travel worn and ragged the youth is, how he didn’t take anything but food, and knows that winter is almost upon them, and thinking they’ve been needing a bit of help around the farm anyway, makes Simon a deal. If Simon agrees to work for them as a farm hand until May, they’ll let him leave with as much food and supplies as they can spare and won’t turn him into the law. Mr. Belz also makes it clear that if Simon does try to run, he wouldn’t make it out of the county. It’s black mail, but Mr. Belz think’s its ultimately going to prevent Simon dying of exposure or worse somewhere. Simon, who doesn’t feel like she has much of a choice, agrees. Almost immediately, Mrs. Johanna Belz figures out that Simon isn’t a man, but Simon is like, “We already have an agreement, I won’t be treated any different because of this realization” (cause guess who doesn’t ID as a woman anymore but who doesn’t have the vocabulary to say she’s genderqueer!) and the family hesitantly agrees to let this weird half-feral runaway be. So, she helps them do the last of the harvest and the culling and the rest of the winter preparations. Michael expects Simon to rob them blind and run away any moment now. Simon is secretly glad to have a place to stay for the winter and actually grows to care a great deal for this family, though she still puts up the distanced grumpy front she started with. They go into town sometimes and Simon always presents as male. As winter goes on, Simon gets the first taste in a long time of what it’s like to be in a family again and all the feelings she’s suppressed start bubbling up. Once, after a long day, a family friend and his kids brings over some food, booze, and instruments and the two groups have an impromptu party. Simon gets shnockered and when she gets pressured and dared to sing something, she grabs the fiddle and preforms an old diddy her father used to play in French, then a piece by Bach, then a waltz. And once she’s felt the shape of French in her mouth, her first language, she doesn’t release it easily, the more she drinks the more French she speaks and the more the Belzs wonder how the hell a ragged vagabond they found stealing from them acquired training in classical violin and learned French. 

-

Flashback: Her full name is Marie Simone Madeline Lereau de Saint-Maxent, but everyone just called her Maggie. She got this absurdly long name cause she happens to be the eldest child of the wealthy merchant Saint-Maxent family, living in New Orleans. Her father is gone a lot for business and she’s an only child but she has her mother and tutors for company and spends most of her childhood receiving a strict, classical education, even spending a few summers at a boarding school in Paris. When she’s 14, her mother gives birth to her younger brother, Jean René, but she dies shortly after. Obviously everyone is devastated, but Father decides his children need a mother and, as was commonly done at the time, he marries a recently widowed woman with three children of her own, Margaritte. It starts out pleasant as it could be, but as Maggie ages, and Father refuses to change his will to prefer Margaritte’s children over Maggie and Jean, Marg gets manipulative and controlling of Maggie, though never towards baby Jean. The years roll on in this tense way until, when Maggie is 17, Father, Maggie, and two of Marg’s children catch the Fever. Father dies, but Maggie and the other youths recover. Marg uses this as an opportunity to force Maggie to sign paperwork denouncing her claim to the inheritance, and produces a forged will to back it up. She’s paid off the police and the lawyers to make it stick and threatens that if Maggie turned up dead, no one would know that she didn’t die from fever too. Maggie refuses and that night, men sent by Marg break into her room and try to drag her out, but she manages to get free of them, grab one of their guns, and kills one of the assailants. The others flee. She grabs as much clothes, money, and just, stuff that she can fit into a bag and runs. She catches a train that night to Baton Rouge. She’s still got the gun and the whole train ride, she’s processing wtf just happened and cleaning the blood off her hands and worrying about her brother and wondering if it was really fever that killed her father or poison, but by the time she gets to Baton Rouge, she’s together enough to think. She uses her mother’s maiden name, gets in contact with a friend, the son of a family servant, and rents a room in a low-key b&b and waits for the newspapers. Sure enough, they report that all members of the Saint-Maxent family had died, except the youngest, and that Marg find herself a fortunate and exceedinglyy wealthy new heiress. Her contact reports that Marg’s men are still looking for Maggie and offers to help her disappear. They sell what valuables Maggie brought with her, except the gun, she cuts her hair, starts going by Simon. She buys some of men’s clothes clothes, using enough money to bribe her way onto temporary employment on a steam boat headed north. 

-

Simon doesn’t say anything more about it until almost February. By this point, she’s grown to love and trust the Belzes and their community and vice versa, Michael has grown to trust her too (especially after Plot and Hijinks), and when he stopped being a dick to her, she befriended him and has feelings for him but like hell is she going to admit it to herself much less anyone else. She’s starting to think this might be someplace she can stay, actually build a life, a home. Then Marg’s name shows up in the paper. I haven’t figured it out but for business reasons Marg has bought a house in the closest big city, maybe Kansas City or Dodge City? and is using it as a base of operations for a branch of her business. But that means she and many of her people are less than a stones throw away, practically breathing down he neck, and Simon just fucking has a panic attack. What if her step mother comes to their town? Are they still looking for her? What if someone identifies her? What if one of her men recognizes her? And what’s happened to her brother, who’d be about ten? Well, Mrs. Belz finds Simon clutching the newspaper, hyperventilating, and after that, the truth comes pouring out. Everyone is shocked. I haven’t actually thought much past this scene, where Simon tells her story to the very shocked Belzes, but Stuff will happen. The Belzes talk her out of just bolting for Canada, Simon will eventually encounter Marg again face to face after she rogues into the house for some reason. Marg has a delicate little pistol, but Simon still has that old blood stained revolver. Way after this, Michael will fistfight one of the goons, and the story will eventually be brought to light, but I have no idea how that will all play out or the consequences. 

#Sword speaks #READ IT!

[roosterteethwatchdog]

Hey so lets talk about this. This is a work in progress of the Adam VS Yang fight that Shane said was cut. So I've had this since May I found this on accident in a comment section on YouTube. I was going to some of you here but when I was still deciding weather or not I should RTX came and when the Adam short came out someone, since the link was out in the wild, had the audacity to not only post it on the RWBY reddit (y'know Roosterteeth territory) but also didn't at least try to hide the name of the person who posted it on they're dropbox since it was supposed to be a private thing. I had to go warn the individual to take it down since I didn't want RT breathing down their neck. So if you were there and wondered why the link stopped working after an hour there's your answer and now it's back on the reddit and made it's way here though it got overshadowed by the Adam short.

Anyways back to the vid I contacted the person who put the dropbox on the comment section I found and they showed me a chatlog they had with the person who gave them the link. That person got it from a discord from someone who claimed to be a friend of Monty. That friend also said some other things.

1. Monty came up with the maidens. He pitched it and Miles liked it.

2. Monty wasn't an assertive person and because of this Miles and Kerry meddled in some of his scenes and changed the overall plot causing Monty to want leave RT.

3. Sheena was supposed to be Winter.

Speaking of Sheena here's an old AMA I found that she did a couple of weeks after Monty died.

https://www.reddit.com/r/roosterteeth/comments/2x6ac1/i_am_sheena_duquette_oum_ask_me_anything/?utm_source=BD&utm_medium=Search&utm_name=Bing&utm_content=PSR1

Notice how she seemed so excited to cosplay as Winter and  she details how she helped Monty with RWBY. 

Also the person who gave the chatlog also showed me a conversation because he actually DM'd Shane about this and to his surprise Shane responded and he refused to look at it. Shane's reasoning being that something felt off  and he isn't "Eager to cause any kind of  trouble over anything RT related"  

So now with all of this there is a question in that "What does this say about the letter now?" like this exist even if Shane doesn't want to confirm its validity. (Which if he did would make RT less than pleased) So if anyone has questions or anything of the sort let me know.

EDIT: So this is a detail about the fight that was pointed out by @kaedeichinose   The song used is a song called "Session" by linkin park. I went back to the letter and read the section where Shane talks about the fight.

EDIT: Here’s the chat log and dm.

#rwde

[emsorcism]

    Some may have noticed ( and two I have told outright ) that the character tags I use for the main ten are all lines from one single poem- ‘Seasons’ by Laurie Hill. 

As winter touched her ashen face, it touched this heart that beat. With memories of the spring of her, the warmth my soul did meet. The summer of her laughter, the autumn of her sighs. The breeze blown clouds her whispers, the rambling brook her cries. No spring will warm my life again, nor summer bring the dove. No autumn bring the still for me, since winter claimed my love.

    Naturally I changed the pronouns of the second stanza so it would fit the boys but it’s otherwise unchanged. But why choose a poem, and why this one in particular? 

    It’s all because of this post here, which uses the song ‘The Seasons of My Love’ from Game of Thrones. I don’t know why but I found it to be very sweet and accurate for the four daughters of darkness. Because of this I ended up associating them all with their given seasons- spring for Jess, summer for Sam, autumn for Ashley and winter for Emily.

    as a side note this also means i think of Mucha’s “four seasons” posters for them

    When I decided to revive emsorcism I had to revive the tags as well and I decided no better way to do so than to take inspiration from that post. I went through a few versions like ‘winter maiden’, ‘as white as winter’ and I even considered doing it based off of the tarot at one point- y’know, The Hanged Man. 

    Eventually I turned to poetry. That sounds so nerdy... but it’s a great source for aesthetics and beauty, both inside and outside of rp! In my opinion, anyway OTL

    And then I came across ‘Seasons’. Ugh, my heart! It’s about someone mourning the loss of their beloved but the interpretation is different for Emily. I shall now begin the Big Dissertation in regards to why I gave each character a certain line because yes, I do  put a disproportionate amount of thought into these things! 

    Hannah “As winter touched her ashen face / it touched this heart that beat.”     Beth  “With memories of the spring of her / the warmth my soul did meet.”

    Hannah and Beth share the first stanza since they are the ones which kick off the game. Initially their tags were going to be the other way around but once I considered Handigo I decided this way was better. Winter touching an ashen face is reference to both the season Hannah ‘died’ in and to her appearance as the alpha wendigo later on. Memories of Beth are less tainted than that of Hannah since she didn’t become a wendigo and I headcanon that Emily was friends with both twins, so she looks upon their times together fondly. 

    Mike “The summer of his laughter,”

    ‘The summer’ here being the era of Mike and Emily’s romantic relationship. I believe they were together for a while ( in teenager time ) and that their time together was one of the high times of Emily’s life- she had a great boyfriend, a great best friend, an active friend group and was doing incredibly well in school. It was a carefree point in her life. 

    Chris “the autumn of his sighs.”

    This was a bit of a ‘leftover’ line, the type that you pair with someone because they and it are the only ones left free after everyone else have been paired. I don’t think Emily and Chris were ever close, I imagine he would’ve found her confronting personality tiring most of the time, especially when she butted heads with someone. 

    Matt “The breeze blown clouds his whispers,”

    Oh, Matt. I hate to say it but Emily didn’t deserve you, not as a rebound, at least. ‘Breeze blown’ is in reference to how fleeting his and Emily’s relationship together was. There’s no solid timeline in regards to when Mike broke up with Emily but I believe it was at least five to six months before the events of the main game, leaving Emily and Matt’s relationship a few months old at best. I interpreted ‘whispers’ as a symbol of romance in the poem- though it could also be trust, as in telling someone your secrets- and I think Matt was quite a romantic! 

    Josh “the rambling brook his cries.”

    Josh, Josh, Josh! I’m still kinda bummed that he and Emily never properly interacted. The most we get is him breaking up the catfight between her and Jess. Emily and him were never too close, in fact I think that she was rather cautious around him given his mental health. Her parents never really talked to her about that type of thing, leaving TV to do the education and we all know how stellar media depictions are. Technically this one cheated a bit since I associated ‘his cries’ with him crying out while he was hallucinating in the mines- something Emily isn’t aware of. Still, it’s a good association. 

    Jess “No spring will warm my life again,”

    JEEEESSSSS ;U; JESS AND EMILLLYYYYY ;;;U;;; I do love these two and their friendship, honestly. Jess was Emily’s first true friend, marking the ‘spring’ and warmth of her life. She is also vivacious and bright, a further association with spring. 

    Sam “nor summer bring the dove.”

    It may seem like an obvious association, what with birds and all, but that was more of a subconscious thing since I only remembered Josh called her a bathing bird later on. Emily has a rather solid friendship with Sam that can only be seen in-game under certain circumstances, such as if she accompanies Sam out of the basement without Ashley, she expresses concern for her. Sam is also just rather... summer-y, don’t you think?

    Ashley “No autumn bring the still for me,”

    Hoo boy, now here is someone Emily didn’t like who for once wasn’t involved in her love life! ‘The still’ I believe is in reference to calmness but Ashley does anything but calm Emily, if anything she just makes her angry. Perhaps ‘the still’ is the tranquility of anger? Lmao.

    Emily “since winter claimed my love.”

    And now we end with my girl. Winter claimed both her love as in the people she loved and her general love of life itself. She’s also a stereotypical ‘ice queen’, thus winter.

#❝ i were damn’d beneath all depth in hell ❞ { mun blah } #❝ as winter touched her ashen face ╱ it touched this heart that beat ❞ { hannah } #❝ with memories of the spring of her ╱ the warmth my soul did meet ❞ { beth } #❝ the summer of his laughter ❞ { mike } #❝ the autumn of his sighs ❞ { chris } #❝ the breeze blown clouds his whispers ❞ { matt } #❝ the rambling brook his cries ❞ { josh } #❝ no spring will warm my life again ❞ { jess } #❝ nor summer bring the dove ❞ { sam } #❝ no autumn bring the still for me ❞ { ashley } #❝ since winter claimed my love ❞ { emily } #❝ since winter claimed my love ❞ { hc }

[knightofbalance-13]

http://xenodweeb.tumblr.com/post/177174184562/misterblank42-hey-so-lets-talk-about-this-this

You people make me sick.

Hey so lets talk about this. This is a work in progress of the Adam VS Yang fight that Shane said was cut. So I’ve had this since May I found this on accident in a comment section on YouTube. I was going to some of you here but when I was still deciding weather or not I should RTX came and when the Adam short came out someone, since the link was out in the wild, had the audacity to not only post it on the RWBY reddit (y'know Roosterteeth territory) but also didn’t at least try to hide the name of the person who posted it on they’re dropbox since it was supposed to be a private thing. I had to go warn the individual to take it down since I didn’t want RT breathing down their neck. So if you were there and wondered why the link stopped working after an hour there’s your answer and now it’s back on the reddit and made it’s way here though it got overshadowed by the Adam short.

Anyways back to the vid I contacted the person who put the dropbox on the comment section I found and they showed me a chatlog they had with the person who gave them the link. That person got it from a discord from someone who claimed to be a friend of Monty. That friend also said some other things.

1. Monty came up with the maidens. He pitched it and Miles liked it.

2. Monty wasn’t an assertive person and because of this Miles and Kerry meddled in some of his scenes and changed the overall plot causing Monty to want leave RT.

3. Sheena was supposed to be Winter.

Speaking of Sheena here’s an old AMA I found that she did a couple of weeks after Monty died.

https://www.reddit.com/r/roosterteeth/comments/2x6ac1/i_am_sheena_duquette_oum_ask_me_anything/?utm_source=BD&utm_medium=Search&utm_name=Bing&utm_content=PSR1

Notice how she seemed so excited to cosplay as Winter and  she details how she helped Monty with RWBY. 

Also the person who gave the chatlog also showed me a conversation because he actually DM’d Shane about this and to his surprise Shane responded and he refused to look at it. Shane’s reasoning being that something felt off  and he isn’t “Eager to cause any kind of  trouble over anything RT related"  

So now with all of this there is a question in that “What does this say about the letter now?” like this exist even if Shane doesn’t want to confirm its validity. (Which if he did would make RT less than pleased) So if anyone has questions or anything of the sort let me know.

EDIT: So this is a detail about the fight that was pointed out by @kaedeichinose   The song used is a song called “Session” by linkin park. I went back to the letter and read the section where Shane talks about the fight.

Wanna know what’s missing in the original post here?

PROOF.

All of this is copy pasted from the original post. There is no alterations or modifications from me, this is what you get.  And yet, there is next to NO links, no screenshots, no names and the OP has even admitted to convincing someone to delete evidence complete with a built in excuse to weasel out of any issues. So there is NO way to validate what they are saying. For all we know, he made the video in the link and made up the rest of it just to start shit. Considering this si from the same guy who uses Glassdoor reviews, reviews that can be FABRICATED mind you while all of them being from ANONYOMOUS EMPLOYEES, this is very much likely.

ESPECIALLY the shit involving Monty and Shane.

“Monty wasn’t an assertive person”

I call bullshit on this using the Penny fight scene and the Raven fight scene. BOTH are things that Miles and Kerry noted on not wanting and yet BOTH are canon. If Monty was not assertive, HOW did these things get into canon against the wishes of his co-writers? Not to mention the numerous times we’ve seen people telling that man to take a break and the fact that Shane’s letter NEVER MENTIONED THIS.

“because of this Miles and Kerry meddled in some of his scenes and changed the overall plot causing Monty to want leave RT.“

A. If Miles and Kerry were THIS bad, WHY did Monty approached them for help? Obviously Miles nor Kerry are experienced writers so it couldn’t be for their expertise. So what else does that leave us aside from ‘they’re nice’?

And B. Once again, I looked through Shane’s letter. he NEVER mentions this nor Monty wanting to leave RT. Despite Shane being a bit out of his mind at the time of the letter: I believe HIM before I’d believe YOU. And if he never mentioned it then I’d just suspect you’re lying.

‘Shane responded and he refused to look at it. Shane’s reasoning being that something felt off  and he isn’t “Eager to cause any kind of  trouble over anything RT related"  So now with all of this there is a question in that “What does this say about the letter now?” like this exist even if Shane doesn’t want to confirm its validity.’

WHY would Shane respond to some rando who messaged him about something he hasn’t spoken about in THREE YEARS, especially to denounce his own letter? That doesn’t make ANY sense.

So this whole post is just a case of ‘it happened because I say so!’ without so much as the BARE MINNUM of evidence or proof. This is just stirring up an old issue to get people to fling shit again.

As evidence by the reblog here.

This is why it disgusts me that the only true gotcha non-fans can come up with to dismiss/belittle thinking about it deeply than “show bad” is just “It remixed assets and that’s still bad in a generation where a game made of unchanged assets can get popular enough to help bring a game genre to the mainstream.”

There’s far worse things RT has done than just “Despite being enough of a hit to appear in an anime fighting game made by one of the more well known fighting game devs, they somehow managed to steal assets from Bethany Esda for the very first trailer the show had,” Especially when those posts had shit that read like a 4chan post and took Monty’s words out of context to demonize him for remixing pre-made assets.

And yet you’ll push that shit in regards to RT, Xenodweeb.

And not like this post reads like anything better. Wanna know what OP reminds me of? That Kiwi Farms post that said Sheena killed Monty for insurance money. Should we just believe THEM because they said it, regardless of human empathy and emotion Xenodweeb?

Or are you no better than they are?

RT is pulling some Konami grade shit with Monty’s show and those people are supporting callout posts that also treated Monty like scum to dismiss looking into it and discovering RT’s ACTUAL bullshit and I’m still so fucking bitter about that.

No, you’re bitter that you can’t fling shit and accuse people of bullshit without reprocussions. I also happen to know that you don’t give a FUCK about people’s lives considering what I’ve heard. Why?

THAT is why HBomb’s RWBY video is so much more important than the milquetoast garbage RWBY critical youtubers so far have been and have given us. Unlike those people, who are cool with associating with reactionary scumbags like Chris Ray Gun or talk like reactionaries themselves, HBomb has actually made some strong hard left criticism towards both media and reactionary types.

Because you’re fucking PSYCHO. You see the death of a man before his time and the depression and sadness of another man as EXCUSES to push your own political agenda.

Well, not like the rest of you are any better considering Sokumo bitches about how RWBY doesn’t portray groups like BLM as innocent angels (despite the WF not BEING like BLM intentionally) and Dudeblade bitches about RWBY not being sexist.

Just goes to show how fucked up you are Xenodweeb since THEY never had the AUDACITY to use Monty for this.

I trust HBomb can, if not kickstart the discourse so it’s not dogshit anymore, at least give us something decent to use to show people how bad RT actually is.

Heh, wanna know what the funny thing is?

https://twitter.com/Hbomberguy/status/985266613707595778

Your precious Hbomb would actually DEFEND RT.

And let me guess Xenodweeb, he’s wrong now and he must burn for his sins?

Because that’s ALL you people think about.

Not the consequences of your actions, not whether or not you’re doing what is right, not who you are hurting with this shit, not even if this shit is correct:

Just whether or not you get what you want.

You’re all sick.

P.S. Stop calling everyone who disagrees with you an alt account of me.

#xenodweeb #misterblank42

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

So, Dany is 'The Stallion Who Mounts the World' and 'The Prince That Was Promised', is she also 'Azor Ahai'? Or are all three different versions of the same legend/prophecy? And since Jon is also a PTWP and most say he is 'Azor Ahai' could he be considered TSWMTW? Sorry if these questions seem sort of like 'ugh, semantics!', but I'm just trying to figure out which prophecy belongs to which character.

I think all three legendary figures are part of the same legend – or to be more accurate, there are multiple legends and prophecies all based around the same historical event. The Long Night was worldwide, and multiple cultures have legends of a great hero who ended it.

…the Long Night, when a season of winter came that lasted a generation—a generation in which children were born, grew into adulthood, and in many cases died without ever seeing the spring. Indeed, some of the old wives’ tales say that they never even beheld the light of day, so complete was the winter that fell on the world. While this last may well be no more than fancy, the fact that some cataclysm took place many thousands of years ago seems certain. Lomas Longstrider, in his Wonders Made by Man, recounts meeting descendants of the Rhoynar in the ruins of the festival city of Chroyane who have tales of a darkness that made the Rhoyne dwindle and disappear, her waters frozen as far south as the joining of the Selhoru. According to these tales, the return of the sun came only when a hero convinced Mother Rhoyne’s many children—lesser gods such as the Crab King and the Old Man of the River—to put aside their bickering and join together to sing a secret song that brought back the day.It is also written that there are annals in Asshai of such a darkness, and of a hero who fought against it with a red sword. His deeds are said to have been performed before the rise of Valyria, in the earliest age when Old Ghis was first forming its empire. This legend has spread west from Asshai, and the followers of R’hllor claim that this hero was named Azor Ahai, and prophesy his return. In the Jade Compendium, Colloquo Votar recounts a curious legend from Yi Ti, which states that the sun hid its face from the earth for a lifetime, ashamed at something none could discover, and that disaster was averted only by the deeds of a woman with a monkey’s tail.

–The World of Ice and Fire

TWOIAF also has another legend from Yi Ti:

In the annals of the Further East, it was the Blood Betrayal, as [the Bloodstone Emperor’s] usurpation is named, that ushered in the age of darkness called the Long Night. Despairing of the evil that had been unleashed on earth, the Maiden-Made-of-Light turned her back upon the world, and the Lion of Night came forth in all his wroth to punish the wickedness of men.How long the darkness endured no man can say, but all agree that it was only when a great warrior—known variously as Hyrkoon the Hero, Azor Ahai, Yin Tar, Neferion, and Eldric Shadowchaser—arose to give courage to the race of men and lead the virtuous into battle with his blazing sword Lightbringer that the darkness was put to rout, and light and love returned once more to the world.

–The World of Ice and Fire

The Last Hero of Northern Westeros legend is another one of these historical figures who stopped the Long Night.

How the Long Night came to an end is a matter of legend, as all such matters of the distant past have become. In the North, they tell of a last hero who sought out the intercession of the children of the forest, his companions abandoning him or dying one by one as they faced ravenous giants, cold servants, and the Others themselves. Alone he finally reached the children, despite the efforts of the white walkers, and all the tales agree this was a turning point. Thanks to the children, the first men of the Night’s Watch banded together and were able to fight—and win—the Battle for the Dawn: the last battle that broke the endless winter and sent the Others fleeing to the icy north.

–The World of Ice and Fire

“I found one account of the Long Night that spoke of the last hero slaying Others with a blade of dragonsteel. Supposedly they could not stand against it.”“Dragonsteel?” The term was new to Jon. “Valyrian steel?”“That was my first thought as well.”

–ADWD, Jon II

Which interestingly bears resemblance to a story of Azor Ahai:

“I looked at that book Maester Aemon left me. The Jade Compendium. The pages that told of Azor Ahai. Lightbringer was his sword. Tempered with his wife’s blood if Votar can be believed. Thereafter Lightbringer was never cold to the touch, but warm as Nissa Nissa had been warm. In battle the blade burned fiery hot. Once Azor Ahai fought a monster. When he thrust the sword through the belly of the beast, its blood began to boil. Smoke and steam poured from its mouth, its eyes melted and dribbled down its cheeks, and its body burst into flame.”

–ADWD, Jon III

Melisandre believes that the prophecy of Azor Ahai Reborn and the prophecy of the Prince that was Promised are the same thing. (Whether she’s right or not, we don’t know, but Maester Aemon doesn’t correct her when she makes that claim.) Since she uses the names interchangeably, it’s hard to tell what the differences between the prophecies are, but both seem to refer to a hero who will be born under a bleeding star, amidst salt and smoke, who will wake dragons from stone. Only TPTWP seems to be connected to the concept that “the dragon must have three heads”, however, and only TPTWP was prophesied to come from the line of Aerys and Rhaella. Also note that per TWOIAF, there's an ancient Valyrian prophecy that the “Doom of Man” would come from Westeros, which we do not know much about yet, but I would bet is connected to TPTWP.

And as for the Stallion Who Mounts the World:

“What does it mean?” she asked. “What is this stallion? Everyone was shouting it at me, but I don’t understand.”“The stallion is the khal of khals promised in ancient prophecy, child. He will unite the Dothraki into a single khalasar and ride to the ends of the earth, or so it was promised. All the people of the world will be his herd.”

–AGOT, Daenerys V

A Dothraki prince that was promised in prophecy– that’s way too similar to “the prince that was promised” for me to think that they’re not connected. Especially since “the ends of the earth” is a good definition for what lies beyond the curtain of light at the end of the world, where the Others come from. Or, in a previous iteration of history, whatever lies beyond the Five Forts.

Anyway, who’s who or who’s which? I don’t think it really matters. Jon and Dany are Azor Ahai and they’re the Prince that was Promised, because the dragon must have three heads, because they are the song of ice and fire, because the first Long Night was stopped by Hyrkoon the Hero, Azor Ahai, Yin Tar, Neferion, Eldric Shadowchaser, the Yi Tish woman with the monkey’s tail, the Rhoynar singing hero, and the Last Hero. There are multiple aspects of both prophecies, and both Jon and Dany will fulfill them. (As will a third person, perhaps, maybe with more aspects of the Last Hero.)

Regarding TSWMTW specifically – because Dany is likely to be the only one to majorly interact with the Dothraki, especially the dosh khaleen, they’re likely to only recognize her as the Stallion. But it’s possible Jon might be recognized as well if he eventually encounters any Dothraki, or if we get more details of that prophecy it’ll match things we know about him. We’ll just have to wait and see…

#redheadedwhat #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #daenerys targaryen #jon snow #asoiaf theories #the prince that was promised #azor ahai #the stallion who mounts the world #the last hero #the dragon must have three heads #the long night #the song of ice and fire #asoiaf prophecies #it's not semantics if they're *supposed* to be the same thing :)

[moderndaybard]

RWBY Thoughts: Maidens, Relics, and Team RWBY (And a little more)

Advanced Warning: Kind of a long post, and dwells on elements discussed in the first episode of Volume 5. Not really spoilers, I think, but if you’d rather not risk it at all, you have been warned.

Alright, so I want to talk RWBY for a quick second, since all the people I would normally discuss new episodes/revelations/theories with are back at school, and I am not. (Miss you guys!)

Now, since the second episode of Volume 5 has not hit YouTube yet, I will keep myself to what was shown in the first episode, since I don’t like to be ‘that person’. But anyway, most of what I want to address was in that episode already, so…

After is aw the first episode, I looked up reactions to it, and one person’s sticks out in my memory: they were discussing the ties between the Maidens and the Relics as explained to us by Professor Lionheart, and specifically questioning why Winter was tied to Creation, and Summer to Destruction, since it tends to be the other way around in most fantasy works. Interestingly enough, my head cannon answer to this comes from a theory I’d held since the maidens were first explained in Volume Three: that Team RWBY will eventually all be Maidens. (The introduction of the silver-eyed warriors as something else, and perhaps even more powerful, has made me hold this one more loosely, but I still think there will at least be significant connections.)

Okay, so if we go with that, which is which? Based on design and powers, I’d say Weiss is a dead ringer for Winter, Yang for Summer, and the Rose motif has me pinning Ruby herself as Spring, leaving Fall for Blake. What does this have to do with the Relics, especially Creation and Destruction? Well, consider Weiss and Yang’s powers and Semblance: Weiss’s glyphs, especially her summoning, are crating or changing things around her, while Yang’s fiery temper tends to wreak destruction—this links with their elemental motif’s as well, since Ice accumulates and builds up (and can be sculpted/shaped, if only temporarily) while Fire, which can be used in creation, tends to be a highly effective tool of destruction. Actually, this realized connection has made me think my initial head cannon may be more right than I’ve been believing lately, but that remains to be seen.

I also want to briefly touch a few points relating to Fall—why Fall is Choice, why Blake is Fall, and what will become of Cinder, if the power is to transfer? I think Fall is Choice because, in the legend we heard in World of Remnant, Fall was the last of the Maidens to appear, and it was after she did that the Old Man made the choice to focus outward once again and to grant them their powers. Similarly, I think Blake may eventually either be or be tied to the Fall Maiden, as choice has played a specifically large role in her backstory—choice to remain with the White Fang after her parents left; choice to leave the White Fang when they crossed the line; choice to leave her friends after the fall of Beacon; choice to reclaim the White Fang instead of destroy it; and she’s offering Illia the choice to leave the white Fang before everything falls out.

Which just leaves us with Cinder. Now, initially, I’d assumed Ruby would be Fall, since they seemed to be setting up something personal between her and Cinder, thus easily leading to a scene where Ruby defeats Cinder and claims the powers of Fall. But again, her own more spring-based motif, the revelation of the Silver-Eyed Warriors (which we still don’t know all that much about), and thinking about how Blake fits the Choice theme for Fall has made me discard the notion. Does that mean I think Blake will defeat Cinder? No. I don’t think she’s got a real reason to go after her, honestly. Blake’s specific enemies are Adam and the corrupt members of the white Fang, so I don’t think Cinder’s going to be on her radar.

Who will defeat Cinder then, and how would Blake get the powers?

Juane.

I believe Juane will be the one to defeat Cinder, in the end (or just her end). Not just because of avenging Pyrrha, but because Cinder won’t expect it. Cinder’s definitely got allusions of grandeur and a focus on obvious strength and power: she’s focused on Ruby, on defeating and overpowering her, and in the new intro, she also seems to be facing up against the Spring Maiden—her equal in power, presumably. I don’t think she respects or thinks much of someone like Juane, who hasn’t even unlocked his semblance, yet.

Now picture this: Cinder is facing Ruby, and maybe even Spring. There’s a big fight, lots of people involved on the periphery, including Juane, Nora, and Ren. Spring goes down, and because she’s been working with Ruby, or at least talking with her as Ruby tries to persuade her to come to Haven, the power transfers to Ruby, but she doesn’t have time to figure out how to use it, and Cinder’s doubling down on her, since she’s now her rival in more ways than one. So Ruby’s overpowered (not killed) and Cinder’s about to land the kill-blow when…Juane. Coming to his friend’s aid and avenging Pyrrha in the same strike, with his grandfather’s venerable weapons reinforced by Pyrrha’s memory, Juane defeats Fall. Cinder’s so surprised, that she doesn’t have time to think of a new Maiden candidate before she dies, so the power flits about and settles on Blake, who is either nearby, or perhaps in the middle of fighting the White Fang, even.

Just a thought, but I think it would tie some nice themes together, especially that of unexpected strength or heroism from those perceived as weak or inferior, and we’ve seen that Juane definitely wants his revenge on Cinder. Admittedly, this scene is pictured in context of happening this volume, which I honestly highly doubt will happen. I think each member becoming a maiden will be a lot more gradually spread out, if it occurs at all, but it was a fun exercise to picture, and would serve Cinder right that she gets taken down by someone she’d never spared a second thought for.

Whew. Sorry for the extra-long post, I’ve just been pondering over various elements of it for close to two weeks now, and I don’t have anybody here to discuss them with, so I just had to get them out. For any of you reading this (thank you for sticking with me through this long ramble, BTW), who watch RWBY—what do you think? I admit, it’s really far into head cannon territory, but are there things you think I missed? Do you think it’s at least an answer to the Winter/Creation Summer/Destruction conundrum? Who do you think will ultimately beat Cinder?

#rwby #volume 5 #Episode 1 #welcome to haven #Four maidens #Relics #my thoughts #my theory #my post #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #cinder fall #juane arc

[what-even-is-thiss]

The Four Seasons

OMG you guys I finally have an excuse to smush together the Sanders Sides and Norse mythology. Don’t ask why I wanted to do that. I’m embarrassed enough that I actually wrote this. Like, really embarrassed. I couldn’t find a way to be satisfied with this. This is the version I wrote that I hate the least.

Anyways, @momfriendlogan had a cool idea for an au where the Sanders Sides are the four seasons and @ec-sanderssides added a cool thing to that post about how each of them would be affected by the other’s seasons, and I’ve been working on a story where I shoehorn some characters into mythology, and this idea went really well with it. And Sumarr and Vetr exist in traditional Norse mythology, but I cut the original seasons out. They don’t exist here. I’m bending the mythology A LOT, but if Marvel can butcher Norse mythology then so can I.

Tip Jar

Warnings: None I can think of. Let me know if it needs some. 2,181 words.

Abstract: The Sanders Sides as four brothers that represent the seasons. Kind of told as a myth or something like that I dunno.

Quick note before you read: I didn’t know what to call them at first, since we don’t have Anxiety’s name and their names aren’t Nordic, so I call them by the season they represent, so for reference;

Anxiety=Autumn/Fall

Logic=Winter

Prince=Summer

Morality=Spring

Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t feel comfortable calling them their normal names in this au. Ugh, I’m going to regret writing this tomorrow. Hope you enjoy.

              Nobody quite knows when the brothers came, or who they came from. For all anyone knew they were primordial beings carved from the first ice and fire. Or perhaps they came with the creation of Midgard. Odin often pressed them for information, but they never gave any, and they always saw through his disguise.

One year, shortly after the creation of Midgard, the allfather took notice of the changing weather. In Asgard and Vanaheim it was always summer, and in the early days of Midgard it had been that way as well. Being the god of knowledge that he was, he had to find out why.

He came across on his travels a man sitting on top of a mountain. He wore all black and had several leaves stuck in his hair that he seemed to not notice in the slightest. Altogether, he looked incredibly disheveled and tired. He sat there, drinking a hot drink and watching the world below with a strange form of calm.

“You there!” the god cried out, “Do you know the reasons for the changes in the weather?”

The man leaned back against the tree that was growing at this altitude despite the odds and caught a leaf as it fell.

“I know who you are, old man. Why don’t you stop poking your nose in where it doesn’t belong?” he said.

Soon after that, the gods learned of the seasons. They were hard to find and hard to talk to, and nearly impossible to get information out of.

Soon the realms of the gods were affected by the seasons as well. In time, the Vanir grew sick and tired off all of their precious crops and flowers being killed on a yearly basis and Freja, the goddess of beauty, sent her strongest fallen warrior from her halls to find them and demand that they stop.

The young warrior knew that the seasons began in Midgard, and so they would probably live there. She searched for years in the mortal world, fighting monsters and giants, but found no gods.

One day, she was wandering through a forest in the northern part of the world. The snow was deep and she was cold. She began to fear dying all over again, when she spotted a hall.

It was a long hall, made of wood, and surrounded by lines of trees. She knew this was her only way out of frostbite, so she swallowed her pride and pounded on the door.

A man standing tall in the armor and rich clothes of a nobleman answered the door. He seemed to be radiating a small amount of light and as he opened the door, the young warrior felt the snow melt around her and her core be filled with the warmth and radiance of the summer sun.

“And who are you? Someone looking for another favor?” The radiant man asked.

“Oh, a person? A person? Let them in! Let them in!” a tired but excited voice called from inside.

The woman was welcomed into a warm hall with a fire blazing in the center. It was not made for guests. There were dead vines hanging from the ceiling and there were two other men almost identical in appearance to the regal summery stranger.

The first one she noticed was dressed in simple peasant clothes and had worn hands like a farmer. He was kneeling next to the fire in the center of the room stirring the coals and had tired bags under his eyes. Despite this, he was nearly as bright and radiant as the one that had answered the door.

The other man was dressed all in black and sleeping on a pile of furs in the corner. He seemed to be the opposite of the other two, and seemed to have an aura of darkness and doom about him, and eerily reminded her of creatures she had met from the realm of hel.

The warrior knelt beside the fire and warmed herself cautiously.

“Are you the seasons my lords? The ones that bring the changes in the weather?” she asked respectfully.

“Yes we are, and stop being so formal,” the regal one said. “This place is stuffy enough without a warrior making grand speeches,”

“Are you pretending that you never do that?” came a voice from the corner.

“Autumn, I thought you were asleep,” the man stirring the coals said.

“When do I ever sleep? Especially with nosy residents of Folkvang coming in,” the dark figure said sitting up.

This one was even more tired looking than Spring, for she had guessed by now which one they were. Winter was probably out in the worlds now, cursing the winds of the great eagle with bitter cold and crafting snowflakes to cover the land and freeze the plants.

“I am going to sleep,” Spring said, yawning. “You all should sleep too,”

He walked over to where Autumn had been sleeping and fell down, falling asleep almost immediately. It wasn’t long before he was clinging to the other man like a scared child.

Autumn obviously didn’t like this, but let him stay.

“Ugh. He gets like this every winter. When Winter gets back tonight I’m passing him over,” He looked over at summer. “Are you going demand payment or not?”

Summer sat down in a chair in the corner. “Why don’t you ask her?” he said in a huff.

Autumn sighed in a way that was somewhere beyond tired. “You always have to hold a grudge over that. It can’t be summer forever. And I know that’s why you’re here, girl. Trust me, he would like the same thing, but it’s not happening,”

“What did you mean by payment?” the warrior asked carefully.

“Tell us stories, young maiden,” said Summer. “We grow bored in here waiting for him to return, and only the dark one over there likes leaving this time of year. I can’t stand it, so cure our boredom!”

The fallen warrior stood and told the tale of how she died. She told of a great battle between her tribe and the Saxons and how she had killed twenty men before bleeding out and dying standing up. She told of her quest to find them. Every giant that had crossed her path, and every wolf that had tried to send her to Hel. Before she could finish however, the door flew open.

There was Winter. He shocked her. This was his time of year, so power radiated off of him. Ice snaked through the open door and over the close wall as he entered. He was dressed in surprisingly very little for the weather. He was dressed properly like a scholor or poet would during the summer.

His walk was so proper it annoyed her beyond belief.

“Ah, I suspected Freja would send someone,” he said, closing the door and allowing the fire to heat the place again. “You can tell her what we told all the others. We will not stop and threats do not work,”

“Oi! Winter!” Autumn called out. “Take this one off of me, will you? He is like a clingy dog,”

Winter sat next down to Spring and tapped him on the shoulder. Spring immediately made the switch over and clung to his other brother instead.

Freja was not happy when she heard the news, but the seasons kept to their word and made no such change.

Many centuries passed and the gods were forgotten, but still very much alive and just as baffled by the seasons as ever. They were hard to catch, but when you found one and got to talking with them, or even saw them work, you would have a story to tell for ages.

It was around the time that men began to shoot fire and bullets that the god of poets Bragi claimed that he saw Summer transition into fall.

“It was so confusing,” he said to a group of fallen warriors. “I saw Summer running through a city, and it was as if the mortals never saw him at all, and his brother was chasing him until he caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. It was all incredibly confusing,”

“Well what’d ya reckon is happening now?” asked a fallen soldier with a musket on his knees.

“I’d suspect Autumn is out there right now, tearing down all of his brother’s work. Putting the leaves and animals to sleep and cooling the air. You can’t outrun him any more than you could outrun the end of the world,”

Spring always visited Vanaheim first, though why nobody knew. It was easy to spot him there shortly after he began melting the snow. Sometimes when he was really excited, the gods and fallen warriors of the world could swear they could hear laughter coming from the air.

The warrior that had been sent to find the seasons all those centuries ago often ran away from the battlefield during the spring, trying to follow the laughter whenever she heard it. She had spent several days with them. Longer than anyone else had, and she longed to see what Spring was like when he was not so tired.

Centuries after, she fell asleep by a tree on a cold spring morning, waiting for something. When she woke up, she heard a delighted squee.

“Oh, you’re awake! You look so cute!” said an excited voice.

The cold battle hardened warrior jumped with fright when she saw the radiant face in front of her. Now he was wearing spectacles and a sweater vest. Small flowers were growing around where he sat on the grass in front of her.

“I never asked your name! What is it?” Spring asked excitedly.

“Uh, Brenna. Spring, I have been looking for you for almost a thousand years. What in the worlds are you doing and... Did you put a blanket on me?”

“Uh huh. It’s still to early to be sleeping outside, you know,” He said happily. “Well, I’m gonna go now. Bye!”

“Wait! I have so many...”

But he was gone. She kept the floral print quilt.

Odin decided to give it another try. Despite his centuries of inability to get any information out of the brothers, he thought he had the perfect disguise.

However, when he knocked on the door of the log cabin where the seasons lived, he was once again proven wrong.

The heat around the cottage was intense. Odin hoped they would let him in, but when the door was opened by a frazzled Winter, he immediately regretted coming.

Winter was red in the face and sweating. His normally clean button-up shirt was rolled up at the sleeves and wrinkled. He had a bottle of water in one hand, and his glasses kept slipping off his nose from the intense summer heat.

“We have told you before Odin,” He said angrily. “We can see through your disguises. Oh, how are you surviving in that coat? Oh my. Go away,”

He slammed the door shut. Odin decided to try and find summer. He was always in a good mood during his time of year. Maybe if he bought him a beer or something he would give him some information.

After a couple months of searching he found Summer on a beach watching a group of young people sit around a roaring fire. They didn’t notice him sitting there, laughing heartily at each stupid joke they made.

He looked over at the god observing him.

“What? Didn’t trust your ravens with this one?” he said smiling.

He looked so young. Even his eyes sparkled with youth. He wore a light golden jacket and white t-shirt and jeans and sunglasses were perched on his head. He smiled at the confused god that didn’t know how the other had seen him.

“You never just want to sit and talk, do you old man?” He asked laughing with the huge laugh of a Shakespearean actor. “You should have learned by now we are not here to make your nerd quests more fun,”

Odin gave in and sat there and talked. Invisible to the mortals, they talked about the changing times. At the end of the conversation an unexpected visitor popped up.

A pair of hands placed themselves over Summer’s eyes.

“Boo. Found you,” said a darkly amused Fall, his upturned hood making him look just slightly menacing in the firelight.

“Oh, curse it all! Is it that time already!?” the warmer season exclaimed.

“’Fraid so, buddy. I’ll take it from here. Hey, old man. Trying to press him for information?”

“We were just talking this time,” Summer said, pulling his brother’s hands off of his eyes. “I suppose I’ll be going now. Goodbye,”

And both of them seemed to disappear in a gust of wind.

The gods still don’t know exactly who they are, and they are beginning to come to terms with the idea that perhaps they never will. They are as fleeting and predictable and unpredictable as the seasons they personify, but perhaps it’s better if it stays that way.

#I'm seriously tempted to erase this #aurgh #It did not turn out as well as I hoped #but I have no more ideas #roman wrote a thing #sanders sides #roman sanders #prince sanders #anxiety sanders #morality sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #logic sanders #sanders sides seasons au #norse mythology crossover #fanfiction #fan fiction #fanfic #fan fic