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[onewomancitadel]

How did you come to the conclusion that Cinder doesn't like to be touched? I did not notice this at all. Does this mean that Cinder actually fears being close to people?

Watch her scenes and simply pay attention and draw your own conclusions.

Two off the top of my head, Watts touches her and she burns him, another is Emerald taking the Grimm hand ('Shadow Hand') and she recoils from the touch.

Given the fact that she's been tortured onscreen, she probably has a complicated relationship to physical touch in general. Rhodes pats her on the head when he dies, too, so there's not a great association there.

Cinder fears being close to people, yes. I think this is an inherent wound to the character. She doesn't let anybody in. The question is, of course, what character is able to overcome these narrative obstacles.

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[onewomancitadel]

This is just guesswork of course but what does Jaune and CInders first emotional bonding moment look like in your mind? Like how does Jaune first break through to her emotionally? Because I figure she has to let he walls down somehow and let the pain out before she can really heal.

I am going to assume that you don't read my fanfic, and in which case, my first assumption would be to point you in that direction. The lived-in world of feelings is better conveyed through that than my writing here.

But let's put that aside and consider from a canon perspective. We're not really thinking purely in terms of character writing here - if we're writing Knightfall in the show proper, then we've got scene and mood and music and set-up and dramatic pacing. The how matters. I can conceive of the why! I can say to you, oh this makes sense - but how does it happen? We know it should, but how do you get Jaune from point A to point B.

The point I keep circling back around to when it comes to this sort of question - perhaps the only guarantee I have - is that a confrontation over the Crown of Choice, the Beacon Relic, seems likely. The Indecisive King foreshadowing aside, it's Cinder's Relic, Jaune is the last survivor from the first Beacon Vault fight. It's asking to be reprised. Who would see it coming, though?

I can't help but think that's the perfect set-up to really, really, really touching her emotionally. To get there, Jaune has to start asking questions about the whole story, and why he's here, and what his purpose is. Like he's been set up for now.

It works on two levels: we, the audience, are expecting a fight, and Cinder's expecting a fight. They're inevitable enemies. It must be coming, right? She's got the Relic, she's used the Crown, she's seen something terrible and she doesn't know what to do. There's the slow-build up and tension...

Now imagine what happens if he doesn't fight her.

But it's a totally different tone of interaction. How can she be so broken inside?

I think it'd be very, very romantic, if you ask me. I've said this before, and I'll say it again, but if you know the Julie/Miller scene, imagine the Julie/Miller scene but even more transcendental and hopeful.

I think I draw the parallel because he believed in her when no one else did, and it paid off, and saved the world.

Like... this is not 'friendship saves the day' type intimacy, this is 'at the expense of possibly everything, I am laying down my arms at your feet to not fight you, I am asking you a question and I want an answer, I am answering the question you have in your eyes, I am not hurting you, I am staying here with you, and you don't have to run anymore' type business. This is a power you've never imagined.

So what would be her reaction? That's the thing, Jaune's superpower is compassion and vulnerability - she'd be disarmed by it. But would there be something more there? What if she's scared? What if she's alone? What if she's not anymore?

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[onewomancitadel]

Are you subscribed the Brandon Sanderson on youtube? Hes got some great informative content on writing. I think hes even givin some good examples of "critical" analysis.

No I fucking hate him.

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[onewomancitadel]

I know you say Jaune saving Cinder is romantic and compelling and all that but hes still helping someone who wronged him, scorned mocked belittled him. Dont you think that minds him rather pathetic if he helps her? 4 xample in real life if a woman mocks berates a man while viewing him as inferior stepping on him and humiliating him in public and he gets on his knees and decides to spend his life fulfilling her every desire wouldnt you look down on him?

No I think it makes him really really really sexy because he'd embody the most powerful ideas in the story that transcend flesh and form and aren't rooted in really embarrassing gender politics and the setup for the entire narrative resolution would hinge on him.

I'd really recommend you learn to consider narrative on its own terms instead of trying to make everything allegorical to real life. Jaune is stronger than Cinder when he's on his back. He unsettles her. But all you can see is something emasculating, because you're blinded. You can't even see anything related to his character emerging onscreen because you're so anxious about your power fantasy.

I know you say Jaune saving Cinder is romantic and compelling

I am honestly so proud of you managing to read anything on my blog, I can't even be mad.

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[onewomancitadel]

Whats your response to the whole "cool motive, still murder" argument people love to throw around these days? It's an oversimplified cheesy one-liner but a lot of people are actually taking it seriously.

Nonnie, I'm sorry my response to this is late.

It's silly. I think I may have criticised it once in the span of time between when you asked this and now, but the line of dialogue is literally from a cop-comedy show and said by a cop, who famously has no reason to care about the intentions of someone committing a crime, especially if they're trying to charge them for something.

I'm just saying, its ethics are completely inappropriate for analysing narrative to the point of being so laughably, laughably absurd it makes you look stupid trying to challenge it. It's a thought terminating cliché, which means people whip it out to shut down the conversation and position themselves on the high ground: they're speaking to a wisdom that everybody should simply acknowledge and therefore shut up.

In the time of pithy online debates constrained to text and not conversation, and more importantly constrained by wordcount and actual substantial attention time, this sort of rhetorical tactic flourishes. It's underhanded. No doubt the moral content of this statement (that intentions don't matter, that narrative is flat and cynical, that people are just mathematical sums, that you can figure out the moral weight of an individual based on weighing one's soul against the feather of Twitter shortform) is inversely related to the platforms it's home to.

By 'people taking it seriously', you're not exaggerating, not remotely; actual published authors bandy this shit out unironically (most infamously, Bardugo herself of Darkling fame in The Grisha Trilogy).

So how do you challenge this type of narrative cynicism - and of course, flat ethics? I can't tell you what the best tactic is, but if people aren't interested in listening to what you have to say in response (because that's the purpose of the thought terminating cliché), a mode of attack that can work is the Socratic method.

Why doesn't it matter? Why should or shouldn't I care about motive in narrative? What does that teach me about the character and the story? What's the purpose of enaging with a story and its moral message if I don't consider everything it has to offer?

There is no 'winning', (and that's not the point, one supposes; other people decide that in a true debate environment) but it's better than wasting your breath.

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[onewomancitadel]

If cinder is healed by the silver eyes, do you think it will simply remove all the Grimm appendages, or do you think it will give her her arm back?

I think it could go either way.

You can make the argument that Grimm is in addition to her arm (there's bone underneath? Not sure how regeneration works here) or that her arm is missing entirely (like Yang). Depending on whether they want to develop a replacement with her (magic, glass, Aura) is up to the narrative space afforded.

I think the magic/glass/Aura combo has the most potential and would be the coolest, particularly since then the magic is materially part of her body.

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[onewomancitadel]

I wasn't kidding about the inbox extravaganza.

#seraphina's inbox extravaganza

[onewomancitadel]

Do you think that Jaune's semblance has evolved again in V9 due to his recent interactions with Cinder? Interacting with her seems to be the only thing that gets him to change/grow. eXtra question; I'm a little mad that they didn't let Jaune & Cinder have an actual conversation when they met again. How come the writers wont let them talk?

Honestly the whole angle they're playing with Jaune this volume - that he's suppressing the characteristics associated with his Semblance - is really interesting. He's a Rusted Knight and a Huntsman, and little more than that (not a healer). Complete fissure in his identity. Break you down to make you stronger. Whom are you meant to save, and whom can you save?

I don't really know what to say about conversations or no conversations. But I do think there's a specific amount of character development needed before the meat of the relationship can actually be realised beyond angry feelings of anger and enmity. I think that once you do that, the development of the relationship actually happens quite quickly. Put those two alone in a room together and you'd run through your screentime too fast, if you want this to be the crescendo romance before the actual handling of the Ozlem resolution.

If they play it that way. I'm reserving doubt, as I always do, and it's up to you whether you agree with me.

But I still think his development this volume is curiously, curiously moving in a rather workable direction. I don't think the abstract hard rules of his Semblance evolution matters per se, but I do wonder how or if they choose to develop it. I've written about his Semblance before here and what its actual nature may be, and how that might augment other characters' emotional and Semblance development. Perhaps they expand in that direction.

But yes, if he does have Semblance development as a consequence of Cinder and the position he was forced into by her yet again, it'd make my reading of her as his anima more pronounced (the anima awakens spiritual development).

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[onewomancitadel]

Hiii

It has been a bit lol

Forgive me if this has been asked before, but given your focus on Jungian analysis towards RWBY, what's your take on the supposed origin of the Brother Gods in the Fairy Tales book? Of how Light and Dark were one dragon that split itself in twain, and neither could agree on who was the original. It comes off as a quite literal variation of the Shadow or anima/animus taken form...

I mean clearly the whole Light vs Dark conflict is continued in the form of the Ozlem divorce proceedings, and then further down into Ruby and Cinder and co. The obvious solution here would be the union of this new variation of Light and Dark (aka Ruby/Jaune and Cinder) together to settle the cycle of conflict once and for all.

But there's the question of whether the Brothers reuniting as one is in the cards at all to begin with. Or perhaps they themselves are meant to be the final obstacle to overcome by the newest iteration of Light/Dark in whatever form that may be.

I apologize if this is all a bit incoherent it's very late but I've had this sitting in my head for half the week and needed to get it out there

Also I hope you've been alright this Thanksgiving season <3

My reply to this is a little late, but monomythically speaking the world began as the cosmic androgyne egg, and then broke open.

I was thinking about this in relation to the moon (the moon as a cosmic egg is pretty appropriate) and the representation of the split of the world through the split of the moon (the brother destroys it), and from that comes the split of Ozma and Salem (animus and anima of humanity, Ozma is pitted to fight Salem eternally, and is a quest he keeps secret) and the Faunus emerging altogether (the archetypal Shadow of humanity). This physical split representing a metaphysical one makes sense. The goal is to return to the unified forms.

Neither is 'first', both are equal. Everyone was one, and then it was two. The conflict of the world is rooted in this separation. But it's a false binary, that's the point.

So the brothers as an expression of that makes sense. How can one of them possibly be first? Isn't it fitting that they're disputing something metaphysically silly? I think it's probably quite telling that they refuse to empathise with their human supplicants, because they refuse to confront what they really are themselves... but I have a different theory about that I'm expanding in my fanfic.

There's obviously a falsehood about them to be vanquished, and yes, I ultimately think sympathising with Salem means you need to solve the Brother Gods dilemma. Also, there's probably 'more' to the story that we're missing which might be revealed yet. The fairytale is a slim bit of the picture.

Of course, it's interesting how you can see this reflected through the rest of the story, even Ruby and Cinder as lunar twins.

No need to apologise for incoherency at all. It's a delight to hear from you, I apologise for the lateness of my response.

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[onewomancitadel]

Hey, I’m rather curious about something. Have you ever read passages from “the song of Achilles”?

Yes I read it on an aeroplane ride and it sucks.

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[onewomancitadel]

Imo i can see where you're coming from but if Jaune were to actually get with Cinder I'd lose all respect for his character.

I hope he does just to make you mad.

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[onewomancitadel]

your post about feeling bad about only ever posting knightfall made me laugh because i had the same thought earlier about how i basically only post rubyneo but then i thought to myself. who tf cares seraphina only posts knightfall and is having the time of her life with them im gonna continue playing dollies with rubyneo idc anymore.

Ok, this is very inspiring, thank you.

I think it's very weird how we second-guess discussing things that we enjoy, and have a reason to talk about, and that's even more reason to keep doing it.

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[onewomancitadel]

Howdy, just a question. Trying to write a knightfall fic on ao3, and I think I've got an alright grasp on the characters. But I'm struggling with the more intimate nuances of their relationship, y'know the stuff that makes your fics read as if they were in Canon, like skimming eye. Just wondered if you had any tips on making their relationship more realistic, so that I can write them more true to form?

P.S. Very big fan :)

I don't really enjoy giving out specific advice like this, because I don't think it necessarily teaches you the fundamental skills to writing character voice and interaction - which is, in part, a totally intuitive experience that happens on a deep level, which sometimes writing courses and advice simply can't teach. It must be done.

You need to be thinking about it from the heart, and thinking about what romantic ideals you value, and what you think the relationship embodies. Consider the relationship on canonical terms, what character wounds are present and how they might be healed.

The reason it's meaningful is because you're writing and because you see something unique about the relationship. Why do you want to write to form? Why are you referring to my fanfic as a blueprint? I'm not asking that to be rude, it's a question about identifying what you actually value.

Every writer has some sort of inspiration, but it's probably very likely that you have inspirations that go beyond another Knightfall fanfic author. Be yourself; incorporate everything you know.

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[onewomancitadel]

the neo and jaune opening image is about how jaune is gonna wingman for neo to get ruby to like heevwjfhwkfbwlfnwlfne [cherry branwyns has walked into an electric fence]

God forbid Jaune is ever a wingman, if you want Neo to have any chance.

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[onewomancitadel]

Do you think that Cinder likes and enjoys pain?

I think she accepts it as inevitable and part of being alive. It's the only guaranteed thing in life for her. That means she's capable of very bad things because of it, because of how poisoned her worldview is. But there is pain in life, there is discomfort, so she's not entirely wrong.

How do you integrate her into the story? Do you reject her, and the inevitability of being alive and everything that entails? What does Cinder's wounded idealism mean in contrast to Ruby's?

A flat interpretation that she 'enjoys' it is flagrant nonsense. 'Enjoyment' is not the terminology we're dealing with here. It's about survival. So how do you go beyond that is the question.

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[onewomancitadel]

Hey, whats up? Hope you've been doing well and living a good life. It's been a while since we last talked but I was wondering if you could compile a link of all your Ozlem posts and their parallels to knightfall? I wanted to review them to see if there was anything I missed about the foreshadowing of romance in the story. -EmperorLuffy

Probably a bit late to this one, sorry. Hope you're doing well!

If this question is still applicable, you can peruse my Ozlem posts under my Reverse Ozlem tag. I'm not going through and compiling all my posts, that would take too long and would annoy me.

It's not like it's something that takes overly much to explain, since it's quite an elegant thing: it's Ozlem, redeemed. Lovers-to-enemies, enemies-to-lovers. It's like poetry, it rhymes. That the other canon romances similarly reprise this idea is part of its inherent argumentation.

I discussed it a bit in my Knightfall masterpost as well, but what makes it work is that once you see it, it justifies the ideas of the story. It's all there. Redemption.

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