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aspoonofsugar · 9 months

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Blake's Jungle Book

The Jungle Book is Blake's secondary allusion, which is used to describe our Cat Girl's political plotline, her relationship with the White Fang and her interactions in Menagerie (her personal Jungle).

A POLITICAL FAIRY TALE

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a metaphor for the author's moral and political beliefs. Unluckily, these ideals are not that good, as Kipling is the author of The White Man's Burden, a famous racist poem. In short, Kipling believed it was the duty of the white man to colonize and educate the "savages" (ugh).

This philosophy appears in The Jungle Book, as well (luckily not as much and together with better themes). Now, RWBY counters this by turning Kipling's premise upside down.

Kipling's works often present the English Colonialism as positive and helpful

Blake's Jungle Book shows a discriminated minority fighting for freedom, conquering violence and helping the world

So, RWBY's Jungle Book becomes an answer to the original tale. It refuses its racism, but keeps intact the vibrating characters and the powerful themes of freedom and self-discovery.

SUMMARY AND KEY ELEMENTS

The Jungle Book is not a novel, but rather an anthology of short stories that often have animals as protagonists. Among these, Mowgli's fables are the most famous and the focus of this meta.

So, here comes a summary of Mowgli's coming of age journey, which is told in several separated tales.

One night, a couple of wolves (in some versions Rama, the father, and Raksha, the mother) find a human cub and adopt him. They call him Mowgli (frog) because he is hairless. Still, the tiger Shere Khan wants to kill the baby. The matter is discussed at the pack's meeting, where Akela (the leader of the wolves), Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther all defend the child. In the end, Mowgli is accepted into the group thanks to Bagheera offering a bull for him.

Mowgli grows like a wolf of the pack and lives several adventures under the mentorship of Bagheera, Baloo and later on Kaa the python. He follows the Law of the Jungle and feels part of the pack (the free people). Meanwhile, though, Akela grows weaker and Shere Khan spreads his influence among the younger wolves. He convinces them to antagonize Akela and Mowgli. One night, Akela fails to kill the prey, which means the other wolves can kill him. Shere Khan wants to use this chance to seize the position of leader and have Mowgli die. However, Mowgli steals a pot of fire (the so called red flower) to use against the tiger, has him run away and saves Akela. Still, the pack is left with no leader and Mowgli himself feels betrayed by the other wolves siding with Shere Khan. So, he leaves the jungle and goes to live with the humans.

In the human village he is adopted by a woman called Messua and starts herding the buffalos. One day, he is reached by one of his wolf brothers who warns him Shere Khan is coming to kill him. Mowgli decides to attack first and has the buffalos run over the tiger, who is stomped to death. A human hunter sees this and enters a fight with Mowgli over the tiger's skin. The hunter turns the other villagers against the boy, who is forced to leave. He goes back to the jungle, where he is now considered a king, as a result of him killing Shere Khan.

However, the humans think of Mowgli as a demon now and lash out against Messua. They have the woman and her husband tied up to be executed. Mowgli frees them and then decides to destroy the village. He asks for the elephants' help and has them stomp over all the fields. In this way, the humans are forced to relocate and the village gets engulfed by the animals and the vegetation.

Some time later, a new wolf pack is born, but they are soon threatened by the red dogs, who are very aggressive and kill everyone in their path. Mowgli decides to fight together with the wolves and asks for Kaa's advice. The python helps Mowgli lead the dogs where the bees live. The insects emerge from their nest and kill half of the group, while the other half is defeated by the wolves. In this fight, Akela finally dies and tells Mowgli to go live with the humans.

Years later in spring, Mowgli follows Akela's advice and goes to another human village, where he finds Messua again. He goes to live with her and says goodbye to the jungle. Bagheera kills a bull just like the one he offered for Mowgli's safety in the beginning. This is the panther's goodbye and he, Baloo and Kaa all bless Mowgli, as he leaves.

Mowgli's story deals with themes key to Blake's arc.

1- Freedom

Your hopes have become my burden. I will find my own liberation…

Mowgli's pack is called the free people and Blake's White Fang fights for the faunus's freedom. Not only that, but the jungle animals call each other's brothers and sisters, just like the faunus in Menagerie do.

Bagheera went on, "Open your eyes, Little Brother"

Ghira: It's your brothers and sisters.

So, both Kipling's animals and Blake's faunus explore freedom. On the one hand the jungle animals follow the Law of the Jungle and are noble and free because of it. On the other hand the faunus must decide if giving up their own morality is a price they want to pay for their liberation.

Does being free mean you chain someone else up? Or is there another path to freedom?

2- The animal/human dychotomy

Past Blake: It’s simple, really. You could just be human, or just a cat, if you wanted. Really, it’s up to you. Blake: Why would I do that? Past Blake: Like I said, it’s simple, much simpler than trying to be a bridge between Humans and Faunus. Why struggle with that responsibility?

Mowgli and Blake are both animal and human. This in itself is a double-edged sword. On the one hand they find friends and allies both among the faunus/animals and among the humans. On the other hand they sometimes feel they don't belong anywhere. This conflict is explored by them moving freely between the 2 worlds.

Mowgli goes back and forth between the jungle and the human village:

He grows in the jungle, but leaves after the fight with Shere Khan

He lives in the human village for a while, but things do not work out and he goes back to the jungle after killing the tiger

He becomes an adult in the jungle, where he grows powerful enough to lead his pack against the red dogs

He finally chooses to start a new life among humans

Blake goes back and forth between Menagerie/the White Fang and Remnant/team RWBY:

She grows with the White Fang (her pack), but chooses to leave it after Sienna Khan (Shere Khan) becomes the new leader

She lives at Beacon (the human village), where she hides among humans and tries to conform. Still, things don't work out and Adam and the White Fang (the jungle) catch up to her

She goes back to Menagerie (the jungle) and grows strong enough to lead her people (the wolves) against the White Fang (the red dogs)

She finally leaves Menagerie and the White Fang (the jungle) and starts a new life with her team (humans)

So, Blake's story can really be told through The Jungle Book. Let's see to what extent and how the faunus of Menagerie fit the jungle chatacters.

Before we start, though, here are some metas by @blue-cheeseinmyoffwhites, which explore the Jungle Book allusion:

Ilia as Mowgli

Kali as Raksha

Ghira as Bagheera

I am going to reference several ideas present in these posts, so a big thank you to the OP's contributions!

BAGHEERA VS SHERE KHAN

The Jungle Book starts with a disagreement between Mowgli's parental figures and Shere Khan. They fight over the future of the newfound human cub. Should he live or should he die?

This same conflict is present in RWBY, as well. It is just that here the ideological clash is not about a single human child, but rather on the human race, as a whole. Should faunus try to live peacefully with humans or should they fight them violently?

Two leaders come to opposite answers to this question.

On the one hand there is Ghira (together with his wife Kali):

Kali and Ghira allude to all of Mowgli's parental figures, who are:

Raksha - the mother wolf who finds and adopts Mowgli

Akela - the leader of the wolf pack

Baloo - the bear who teaches the little cubs the Law of the Jungle

Bagheera - the black panther who used to live with humans

Kali is loosely based on Raksha in the sense that she alludes to the Goddess Kali, who is worshipped in some areas (like Bengal) as Raksha Kali (Kali the protector). She is also Blake's proud mama wolf (even if she is a cat :P) and is ready to do anything for her daughter's sake.

Ghira instead shares traits with all 3 of Mowgli's fathers. He is the leader of the White Fang, just like Akela is the head of the pack. He transmits his ideals of peace and equality to Blake, just like Baloo teaches Mowgli the Law of the Jungle. Finally, he is the chieftain of Menagerie, just like Bagheera used to live in the raja's menagerie. This is also why the black panther knows more about humans than the other people of the jungle. Similarly, Gheera wants to co-exist with the human race.

On the other hand there is Sienna Khan:

Sienna obviously alludes to the tiger Shere Khan. She is a tiger faunus, who despises humans, just like Kipling's character. Moreover, her personality is on some level similar to Shere Khan's:

Sienna: I'm starting to doubt either of you fully comprehend what it is that I want. I want humanity to fear the Faunus, to know that we demand respect! I do not want to start a war with the humans that we cannot win!

Here, Sienna basically says she is not gonna start a fight she is gonna lose. This personality trait is confirmed by her semblance Grudge, which lets her grow stronger and faster when facing a weakened enemy. In short, she symbolically grows more aggressive and powerful against an opponent already on their last leg. This is similar to the tiger, as Shere Khan is famous for fighting mostly when he has the advantage.

What's important is that Ghira and Sienna's rivalry mirrors Bagheera/Akela and Shere Khan's. On the one hand Bagheera and Shere Khan are opposites ideologically. The panther respects humans, while the tiger hates them. On the other hand Akela and Shere Khan are political enemies, as they fight over the control of the wolf pack. Similarly, Ghira and Sienna embody opposite ideals and disagree on how to lead the White Fang.

In the end, the 2 characters' stories mirror those of their literary counter-parts.

Bagheera and Akela remain close to Mowgli, who keeps following their teachings. In particular, Akela loses control over the wolves, but he is saved by Mowgli who grows into a leader of his own.

Shere Khan briefly becomes the leader of the wolves, but is defeated twice. First politically, as Mowgli humiliates him in front of the wolves. Secondly physically, as he follows Mowgli to kill him, but ends up dead instead.

Likewise, Ghira gives up the leadership of the White Fang and retires. Still, he gets his daughter back and Blake becomes his political heir. Sienna instead influences the younger generation (Adam, Blake and Ilia), but is killed by Adam, who steps up as her ideological successor. Her death even combines both of Shere Khan's defeats:

Mowgli wins against the tiger by using fire, which the people of the jungle call red flower. Adam is the red flower (cursed red rose) who steals Sienna's support and organizes a coup (political death).

Mowgli kills the tiger by having the oxens run over him. Adam is the bull who stomps Sienna to death and kills her (physical death).

Ghira and Sienna leave behind two opposite political legacies, which are picked up by respectively Blake and Adam. So, the panther and tiger's ideological conflict goes on with the cat and the bull's antagonism.

BLAKE VS ADAM

Blake and Adam's conflict ties with The Jungle Book in 3 different ways:

Blake is Mowgli and Adam is Shere Khan - They fight for survival

In The Jungle Book 2016 movie Shere Khan is blind from one eye. The tiger is said to have lost it to humans and their red flower (fire). This is very similar to Adam's backstory. He was abused by humans and lost an eye to them. As a result, he gets corrupted by a metaphorical red flower (the cursed rose), which turns him into a selfish beast. Both the tiger and Adam are blinded by their hate and are defeated because of this.

Not only that, but Adam's personality is really similar to Kipling's Shere Khan (way more than Sienna's). Both are bullies, which turn a wound (Shere Khan's injured leg and Adam's lost eye) into an excuse to hurt others. Both are short sighted and short lived leaders. Shere Khan's status as chief ends immediately because of Mowgli and Adam's command is lost because of Blake. Finally, both follow Mowgli and Blake to murder them, but are killed instead. The way Adam dies even alludes to the 2 ways Mowgli wins against the tiger:

Adam loses because of his anger blinding him, just like a crazy bull. Mowgli uses the oxens' fear and anger to lead them over Shere Khan.

Adam is defeated by Blake and Yang's combined efforts. In particular, Yang is the fire that helps Blake win against her personal Shere Khan.

So, Adam and Blake's conflict really mirrors Shere Khan and Mowgli's, with Blake gaining two big victories against the tiger/bull. The first political (at Haven) and the second physical (at Argus).

Blake is Bagheera and Adam is Shere Khan - They fight over Mowgli

Blake and Adam inherit Ghira and Sienna's philosophies. Not only that, but they make these ideals more radical:

Ghira: She's learned a lesson that evaded me until I was much older: That there is strength in forgiveness.

Adam: We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn't just fear the Faunus, they should serve the Faunus.

Ghira admits that Blake has already surpassed him in terms of inner strength, idealism and ability to forgive. Adam claims that Sienna is not extreme enough in her grudge against humans. Humans should not only fear the faunus, but also serve them.

Blake mobilitates the faunus for peace and love, while Adam invites them to war and hate. So, what was a political disagreement for Ghira and Sienna becomes a full out fight for Blake and Adam. Once again, we have a black cat and a red beast fighting over how to deal with humanity. Symbolically this conflict becomes about one simple soul:

Ilia can be seen as based on Mowgli, especially when it comes to her backstory and chameleon traits:

Blake: Why… why'd you join the White Fang? Ilia: Same reason as you. Blake: But… Ilia: But why fight when I pass for Human?

As Blake highlights, Ilia could pass up as human. In a sense, she is "hairless", just like Mowgli who is jokingly called by his friends "little frog". So, Ilia could easily blend in and this is at the center of her background:

Ilia: We lived in Mantle with the other Faunus working the mines. But my parents wanted something better for me. They managed to enroll me in an Atlas prep school. Imagine that - a little Faunus girl from Mantle going to the city of dreams. I felt like a princess. But I had to follow a set of rules. No bringing friends home, no talking about my parents…and absolutely, under no circumstances, was I allowed to change colors. No one could know I was a Faunus.

Ilia tries to integrate in Atlas (a human village) and perfectly follows her parents' rules (the Law of the Jungle). Still, things eventually do not work out and Ilia leaves Atlas disgusted and heartbroken:

Ilia: I lost control. Every inch of me turned blue as I wept. And suddenly all the girls that I'd laughed and played with… were scared of me. Blake: I'm sorry. Ilia: Don't be. I broke their teeth.

This story parallels and partly inverts Mowgli's. Just like the human cub, she finds herself adopted by people different from her. She feels part of the pack, but a sudden tragedy makes her realize this isn't the case. She is betrayed and leaves to go back to her people. She joins the White Fang, but finds a violent and controlling reality.

So, Ilia herself is the Mowgli Blake and Adam are symbolically fighting for. After all, she is a foil of both.

Just like Blake, Ilia is a young girl who finds herself in a toxic cult. She is confused and manipulated and can't really build up the strength to leave. Her arc also partly inverts Blake's. She starts by hiding her faunus heritage and goes on by joining a violent movement. Blake is initially a terrorist and later on covers her faunus trait. They conceal parts of themselves, both in the White Fang and among humans. Their goal is to be accepted for who they are.

Just like Adam, she is a faunus exploited by Atlas, who grows resentful towards humans because of the Kingdom's racism. They are also parallels when it comes to Blake, as they both fall in love with her. Despite their past feelings, they are also ready to hurt her. In particular, Adam comes up with the plan to kill Blake's family and Ilia takes part in it out of desperation.

In short, Ilia walks a fine line between Blake and Adam and can either turn a new leaf or spiral more:

Blake: That's what worries me about Ilia. She's not like Adam, not yet at least, but I don't know how long that will last.

Luckily, a happy ending awaits our chameleon Mowgli. The conflict between Bagheera and Shere Khan over her destiny is won by the panther and Ilia is happily adopted by the wolf pack:

She finds a sister in Blake and new parents in the Belladonnas. This fits Mowgli's story. Even if he buries his wolf parents in their cave (just like Ilia's die in a cave in), he finds happiness and an adoptive mother in Messua (and Ilia joins Ghira and Kali).

Blake and Adam are two Mowglis - They fight over the Jungle

Mowgli is a character with a duality to him. On the one hand he is honorable, loyal to his people and he refuses to kill humans, even if they treat him poorly. On the other hand he is proud, angers easily and he destroys a village for revenge. He is both respected and feared by his peers:

Blake: We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect… out of fear.

Blake and Adam embody these 2 different sides of Mowgli.

Blake is the Mowgli who fights for her family, her wolf one (Ghira and Kali) and her human one (team RWBY). She is mistreated by both the wolf pack (White Fang) and the human village (society). Still, she doesn't give up on either:

Blake: We're not going to destroy the White Fang. We're going to take it back.

Yang: But you never gave up on them (people). Even when they hurt you. You never give up. You know what matters to you.

Adam is the Mowgli out for revenge, who doesn't forgive either the faunus (the wolves) nor the humans (the villagers). He wants to be on top and relishes his enemies' pain.

Allusion-wise, this difference plays out in the aftermath of Sienna's death, which parallels that of Shere Khan's final defeat. As a matter of fact the tiger's demise marks the beginning of Mowgli's conflict with the humans. This happens because an arrogant hunter wants to take credit for the kill, so he convinces the other villagers Mowgli is a demon.

Well, Adam comes up with a similar lie:

Adam: Give our former leader a proper burial. All who were here tonight will claim that Sienna was murdered by a human Huntsman.

He uses Sienna's death to spread hate towards the humans and the Huntsmen. Not only that, but he manipulates the people of Menagerie into believing the Belladonnas are liars and enemies of the faunus:

Ilia: The Belladonnas are the worse kind of Faunus! They want us to work with the same people that are trying to hold us down! If you truly, truly want to help your people… now is the time to support Adam, not the Belladonnas!

The result of Adam's scheme, though, is that Blake unites the Menagerie faunus (the jungle) by her side.

At the same time, Adam takes up Sienna's mantle as High Leader by killing her. This is how Mowgli gains the other animals' respect after showing them the tiger's skin. By this point, the wolf boy has the jungle antagonize the humans, just like Adam plans a full out attack on Haven.

Both Blake and Adam become the leaders of the jungle and have it advance against their enemy, like Mowgli does. It is just that Blake becomes an inspiration out of love and trust, while Adam grows into a king through hate and violence. So, their collision becomes a clash between 2 opposite ideas of jungle (faunus).

TWO RED FLOWERS

Mowgli's duality is nothing, but humanity's double nature. He can be both a god and a demon. Similarly, people can be both heroes and monsters. This juxtaposition is well conveyed through the red flower aka fire.

On the one hand the red flower gives light and warmth:

Blake uses fire to symbolically draw Ilia into the light and force her to show her "true colors".

On the other hand fire destroys and burns:

Blake: Humans didn't do this. We did this: Faunus. We did this to ourselves.

Blake chooses light and a loving rose who is hopeful and idealistic:

Adam chooses destruction and a spiteful rose who consumes and burns:

Blake and Adam's different ideologies are well conveyed through their two war songs:

This time The ways of the past we'll get over We'll climb Enlighten a new state of mind And now I'll stand with you shoulder to shoulder Out of the ashes a new flame ignite Rise up from shadows and into the light We'll stand undivided Our futures aligned A new brotherhood This time

I'm here I'm your savior I'll be lionized I am the path to reclamation This world will have no peace til our dream's realized No mercy no compassion our fate's justified Time to turn the table on who's tyrannized

Blake sings together with others. This is a recurring motif with her musical themes. After all, she sings alongside Adam, Sun, Ghira and Yang. When it comes to "This Time", though, the use of "We" shows how much Blake's community means to her. She thinks of the faunus as her brothers and sisters ("A new brotherhood") and considers them as equals ("I'll stand with you shoulder to shoulder"). She sees her pack as a political movement made of free people, ready to fight as one.

Adam sings to others instead. He presents himself as a savior and a hero, some kind of chosen one. By doing so he shows he doesn't consider the people he is supposed to fight for as equals. Everyone is below him. This feeling gets clearly exasperated with time.

He starts his own short with this:

Adam: Now - it's time we got what we deserved.

And he ends it this way:

Adam: It's time I got what I deserved.

He goes from "We" (community/brotherhood) to "I" (individual/savior).

Basically, Blake wants equality ("It's time to save our fate and walk beside the human race"), while Adam wants a new hierarchy ("Time to turn the table on who's tyrannized"):

Blake: I never wanted this! I wanted equality! I wanted peace! Adam: What you want is impossible!

Blake thinks true freedom is realized when everyone is free and equal. Adam instead believes freedom is simply imprisoning someone else.

These two mentalities tie with the idea of fighting, which is found in both Blake and Adam's rhetoric:

No way to avoid the warfare No way to escape this strife Hear now-listen to me This time retreat Spells our final defeat We must win our life

Lead them to salvation and regain our lives Behold your flaccid leaders Too weak to take the prize Replace them with a warrior It's time we mobilize

It is interesting because Blake and Ghira are seen as pacifists and even criticized for this. Adam and Sienna instead present themselves as fighters who are not scared to spill blood. And yet, the Belladonnas are the ones asking their people to fight:

Ghira: To do this, I think the answer is clear, we must go to Haven and protect it at all costs!

Adam and the White Fang instead claim they will fight in the faunus' place:

Ilia: He (Adam) will bring about the future that you deserve. And if you are unwilling to fight, know that the White Fang will do it for you!

This is addressed in Blake's speech in Menagerie:

Blake: So why are we letting Adam do it for us?! By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we're not proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is the message that Adam Taurus will bring to the world if no one stops him. But we can stop him! (...) I understand that to ask you to leave your homes and protect Haven Academy is asking you to put your lives at risk. But that's what's at stake.

To give up one's agency to another is the opposite of freedom. Blake wants her people to be active and to choose their destiny. Adam instead is happy with them being passive, so that he can choose in their stead. Blake inspires the faunus to take their lives in their own hands, while Adam convinces them they do not really need to. Blake truly wants people to be free. Adam instead wants people to be his subjects.

These are Blake and Adam's opposite political manifestos, which are conveyed through two different flags.

Blake's flag mixes the old White Fang's symbol with a new yellow one, as there is continuity between Blake's movement and Ghira's. At the same time, white and especially yellow are two colors linked to light:

Blake symbolically brings Adam into the light and shows his real self to the world.

Adam's flag uses a red symbol, which appears more threatening. Red is linked to blood, as his movement is way more blood-thirsty than the original White Fang:

Adam at Beacon is surrounded by destruction and red flames.

So, Blake and Adam's emblems represent the two different sides of the "red flower". One is a flame which burns gold and sheds light. The other is a flame which burns red and spills blood.

THE RED DOGS

The White Fang's red symbol brings to mind the Red Dogs. They are an aggressive group of dogs, which antagonize Mowgli's wolf pack in the second part of the story. This allusion is hinted at also by the Albain Brothers:

They are literally two red dogs and serve as Adam's most trusted allies.

In general, the short story Red Dogs describes Blake's conflict with Adam very well.

First of all, the war with the Red Dogs is in the second part of Mowgli's story and it marks a reconciliation between Mowgli and the wolf pack. Similarly, Blake and Adam's fight happens after Sienna's death and it ends with Blake mending her relationship with the faunus liberation movement.

Secondly, this story just perfectly fits Blake's plot-wise.

It opens with the arrival of a stranger. He is a lonely wolf (Won-Tolla), who has lost his family and a limb to the Red Dogs. He wants to fight the dogs for revenge, but advises the wolves to leave.

He loosely resembles a certain firecracker:

I am the golden one Who burns just like the sun Next time we meet is your disaster I'll bring the punishment Your song will be lament Revenge, my happy ever after

Luckily, Yang doesn't lose her loved ones to Adam (at least not permanently), but she still gets her arm cut and swears revenge.

Mowgli refuses to leave and urges the pack to fight. He says he is no part of the pack anymore, but that he will join the wolves for this battle. This is similar to Blake's speech to the faunus. She doesn't have to help the humans. Still, she is willing to and invites the other faunus to do the same. They shouldn't run away, but fight with pride:

Now is the time you must fight for your lives The battle is on you're already inside Don't turn back now There's nowhere to hide Nowhere to build a new world Nowhere to start anew Here. Now. Is all that we've got Ready or not There's a war to be fought Only one way through

Still, the real similarities between Kipling's story and Blake's struggle are found in her final confrontation with Adam:

Mowgli defeats the Red Dogs thanks to a well-thought plan, while Blake wins against Adam thanks to her bravery. Still, the two fights follow similar patterns.

Both Mowgli and Blake face their opponents in a forest and lead them to a rocky area above a river:

In The Jungle Book, this is where the murderous bees have their nest. Mowgli runs quickly past them and jumps in the river, where he is helped by Kaa. The dogs are instead killed by the insects and fall in the stream, which leads the survivors to the wolf pack, ready to finish them off.

In RWBY, this bridge over a river is where the bees (Blake + Yang) kill Adam:

Symbolically, bumblebee even falls into the water to show that it is in fact the bees' river.

There are also other similarities. For example, Mowgli cuts the leader of the dogs' tail and uses it to provoke the group and bait them towards the bees. Blake and Yang instead try to take away Adam's sword:

And Yang uses it to lead Adam to where Blake ambushes him.

Finally, Mowgli and the Won-Tolla kill the head of the pack together:

Sure, Won-Tolla dies, while Yang survives. Still, in both situations the emphasis is on the necessity to even the score:

You may have taken the lead but I'll even the score You won the battle you won't win the war Not now and Nevermore

Both the wolf and our golden beauty are able to pay their "blood debt" and find peace.

Kipling's story ends with Akela's death. The wolf is one of Mowgli's parental figures and his passing marks the end of the book and the beginning of Mowgli's new life. After all, he is the one who advises the boy to go back to the humans.

Similarly, Adam's death represents a new beginning for Blake, as it grants her freedom.

FREEDOM IS FINALLY HERE

Nevermore Will I be afraid Nor will I run away It's behind me Freedom is finally here

Throughout her arc, Blake grows close to several faunus, who offer different takes on freedom. It is thanks to them that our cat girl finds "her own liberation".

Initially, Blake wishes for everyone to be free and equal and yet she herself is a prisoner of her own shadows:

Blake: I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy, what will I - how can I undo so many years of hate?

She feels obligated to solve all of the faunus' problems on her own. Basically, she is ready to free others at the cost of chaining herself.

Adam is her opposite. He wants no limitations nor boundaries and is willing to enslave others to succeed. He starts with Blake herself:

Adam: What, do you want me to just abandon our cause? Like your parents? Blake: No! I'm not saying that! I… I don't know.

He traps her in an abusive relationship with no way out.

To escape Blake needs the help of a free spirit:

Sun alludes to the bandar-log (monkey people). They don't follow any rules, they often change their mind and they're unpredictable. This description fits our Monkey Boy to a tee. Sun is air-headed and does what he wants with no regards for rules. He is a stowaway who runs from the police and happily steals some food for him and Blake. This is similar to how Kipling's monkeys act.

It is just that in The Jungle Book these characters are framed as negative. They kidnap Mowgli and are eaten by Kaa the python. In RWBY instead, Sun is one of Blake's most trusted allies and the two of them defeat a giant snake together:

More importantly, Sun teaches Blake about freedom:

You're free to do the things you want But listen, so am I I've made my choice And now I'm making mine

Blake is free to make her own choices, but her friends are free to make theirs. She is free to leave, but Sun is free to follow her and to help her.

This mentality eventually gets through to Blake and even helps her save Ilia:

Blake: I'm going to try and help her the way you helped me. You showed me that sometimes you need to be there for a friend even when they don't want you to be. I was drowning in guilt and fear, I tried to push you away, but you didn't give up on me. And I can't give up on Ilia. It's about time I saved my friends for once.

Ilia is really the opposite of Sun. If Sun is free and believes everyone's free, then Ilia is trapped and steals others' freedom away:

Ilia says to a tied up Blake: We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good, no matter how much it hurts. (...) I was always jealous of the way you looked at him (Adam). I wanted you to look at me that way. But we can't always get what we want!

She represents the part of Blake who is a prisoner of the past. This is why Blake eventually frees her in two different ways:

Ilia: I still don't feel like I deserve the freedom you and your family granted me.

Ilia is given both physical freedom (she isn't arrested) and mental freedom (she joins a new liberation movement).

Going back to Sun, he helps Blake free herself and others. This may be why she decides to make the new symbol of the White Fang yellow (Sun's color):

Still, Sun's mentality is not perfect:

And his teammates already had plenty to hold over his head. He wondered when they were going to get over it. So what if Sun had gone off to do his own thing for a while? That was just the kind of guy he was; he had to go where he was needed. The gang had been back together for weeks now, but it still hadn’t blown over. Scarlet was acting bossier than usual, and Sage had been giving Sun the silent treatment. At least Neptune always had his back, but something seemed to be off with him, too, no matter how much he insisted that everything was fine.

Sun's refusal to apply any kind of obligations to both himself and others is healing for Blake, but it doesn't work for long term relationships. If you share a bond with someone, you have responsibilities toward them, like they do toward you. Sun has instead the tendency to run away from these kinds of duties. He is incredibly generous with Blake, but he also leaves his team with no warning.

His relationship with Blake is summarized by this line:

Blake: Be careful. Sun: No promises.

Sun isn't gonna ask Blake to make any promises. She can come and go as she pleases, but Sun himself can and will do the same:

Sun: I go where I'm needed!

This is very similar to how the bandar-log act. They do not follow the Law of the Jungle, which means they are not bounded by it. Still, this also means they can't build strong relationships with the other animals. Mowgli and his friends instead do follow the Law, which makes them truly free.

Sun is a great friend to Blake, but our cat girl's freedom isn't found in the absence of obligations. It lies instead in the choice to share a vow with a person ready to reciprocate it.

I made a vow I'm not alone Not dying now we're protecting our own

BY THE BULL THAT BOUGHT ME

Mowgli's story starts and ends with a bull. Bagheera offers the wolf pack a bull for them to accept Mowgli. This means the boy is forever in debt until another bull is sacrificed. This is why when Mowgli chooses to live with humans, Bagheera kills another bull. The panther is paying the debt, so that his friend can leave the jungle and be free.

Blake's arc starts and ends with Adam, a bull faunus. She is introduced at Adam's side and with time he becomes the main obstacle between Blake and her new life. In particular, Adam reproaches Blake for breaking her promise to him:

Adam: You know, she made a promise to me once. That she'd always be at my side. Heh, and look how well she's kept it.

Like Mowgli, Blake has still a debt to pay, which is addressed and solved in Bumbleby's fight against Adam:

Yang: Did she make that promise to you? Or to the person you were pretending to be?

Yang doesn't dismiss Blake's vow to Adam, but points out it isn't valid because Adam tricked Blake and did not reciprocate her promise. In other words, the relationship between Adam and Blake is unbalanced, which makes it unhealthy.

Blake and Yang's bond is different:

Blake: She's not protecting me, Adam. And I'm not protecting her. We're protecting each other.

It is a pact of mutual trust and love.

The metaphor is very clear. Blake's promise to Adam represents their romantic bond, which needs to be cut, so that our cat girl can start a new relationship with Yang. Bumbleby vs Adam being a chemical wedding just makes this symbolism stronger.

Blake disowns her vow with Adam and takes a new one with Yang:

Blake: I have people who actually care about me, and I promised I'd never leave them again. So I'm not dying now.

Just like Mowgli pays his debt to the jungle with the death of a bull, Blake is fred by her previous vow thanks to Adam's death. In this way, Mowgli can join the other humans in spring and Blake can start her new love story with Yang in Mistral (the Kingdom of spring):

Blake: I… I am not going to break my promise, I swear.

After Adam's fall, Blake affirms her promise to Yang once again. This is Blake's wedding vows to her golden beauty.

The end result is that Blake finds freedom and a new life full of gold and light by integrating with Yang (humanity):

At the same time, she is and will always be a faunus (a child of the jungle) and is not going to betray the spirit and ideals of her people:

Blake: A simple life wouldn’t be my life! My family, my friends, my culture. I belong to them, just as much as they belong to me. To give that all away wouldn’t be simplicity, it would be betrayal.

Just like Mowgli isn't forgetting the Law of the Jungle.

In conclusion, Blake's Jungle Book is a tale of freedom, both political and personal. Blake realizes she can't be free by imprisoning others, but also that she herself needs to be unchained to truly help people. She decides her own path as a bridge between humans and faunus and this choice itself is freedom.

#rwby #blake belladonna #rwby meta #once upon an allusion #greenlight volume 10 #my meta #adam taurus #ilia amitola #sun wukong #yang xiao long #bumbleby #ghira belladonna #sienna khan

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