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rosecorcoranwrites · 4 years

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Thoughts on Twists

Every story ever told can be broken down into three parts. The beginning. The middle. And the twist!

—Goosebumps (2015)

Jordan Peele’s Us and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village Spoilers ahead, so read with caution!

There's something about a good plot twist: the shock, the awe, the feeling of having your world turned upside down. A good twist might make you see a character in a new light, or rethink everything you thought you knew about the setting. A bad twist, on the other hand, can ruin an otherwise decent story. Bad twists feel cheap and stupid, and make what might have been good, even great stories into muddled and unbelievable messes. So what makes a twist good or bad?

First, some preliminaries: what is a twist? Although we all use the phrase "twists and turns", I submit that a plot twist is a little different than a plot turn. A turn might be defined as the plot taking a completely unexpected direction, like "Wow! Who would have thought that guy would end up becoming the villain!". On the other hand, a twist is when we learn an unexpected fact about the world or a character that had been there, secretly, all along: "Wow! Who would have thought that guy was the villain the whole time!".

Since we're on the subject, it should be noted that twist villains are not the only type of twist there is. Nor are twist endings, the quote from Goosebumps notwithstanding. Though twists tend to occur towards the latter part of narratives, they can be sprinkled throughout. I would love to give some examples of this, but one of the problems with talking about good twists is that you don't want to give them away, and talking about them almost invariably does just that.

Obviously, a twist ought to be unpredictable, but a predictable twist does not make a bad story. Erased, which is one of four perfect stories in existence, has a twist you can see coming from a mile away, and yet it remains perfect. Why? First, because the story doesn't hinge on the twist, for one thing; it's cat and mouse, so it's okay if we know who the cat is. Second, a twist that is predictable isn't really a twist. I mean, it is but it isn't; it's one of those weird gray areas of trying to be the thing, but failing. But that's okay. A failed attempt at being a twist is, in my mind, not the same thing as a properly executed but just plain bad twist. But maybe we're getting into the weeds a bit.

I would say that a bad twist is any twist that is not a good twist, and a good twist follows certain rules: it must be believable; it must make sense in retrospect; and, for double twists, the second one must make the story better as a whole. Basically, good twists are satisfying, and bad twists aren't, usually because they break one of the three rules.

Rule 1: A twist must be believable!

By this, I mean believable in whatever world the writer has set up. If supernatural elements are established, or at least hinted at, a supernatural twist is fine. If, however, there is not one hint or peep of the supernatural throughout the story, but it turns out that the killer is a wizard, or an alien, or a ghost, it's awful. Sure, it's unexpected, but in the dumbest way possible. Good twists should be like slight-of-hand; the audience should delight at being fooled. Unbelievable twists feel more like being lied to by someone who's really bad at lying. They feel like an insult.

And don't think that introducing random supernatural elements into a story is the only way to be unbelievable. Sometimes, making a "real world" twist can feel just as unrealistic. I'll say as little as I can, because it's still less than a year old, but I think that Jordan Peele's Us pulls this. I was really excited for that movie when I saw the trailers, and then I read the synopsis and got even more excited, because I hoped that he would try a certain twist. And he did, and I think it's brilliant! But he went for another twist as well (the one that occurs first in the film, actually), which kind of ruins the whole movie. Why? Because that first twist is logistically, financially, geographically, and hereditarily unbelievable (in particular, (SPOILER, obviously): it's idiotic that the child doppelgängers are the offspring of the cloned parents, and not clones of the normal kids. Even if the clone parents had sex at the exact same time as the normal parents, the sperm and egg that happen to unite would be totally random, even accepting the ridiculous idea that the mother clone would ovulate at the same time as the normal mother. Never mind the rest of the absurdity of a vast government(?) clone experiment that just leaves an unlocked exit in a beachside funhouse). It took what could have been a great movie and made it seem fake and silly. I know I wrote a whole post about not being harsh on the plot holes in horror movies, but this particular twist is based on real things in the real world, not monsters or spirits or what have you (and seriously, a mysterious, ever-changing-yet-always-present carnival funhouse that inexplicable spits out doppelgängers from time to time is way scarier than a poorly run scientific experiment). It strains the suspension of disbelief. It's too much to take. Quite simply, I don't buy it. And a good twist should never make the audience say "I don't buy it."

Rule 2: A twist must make sense in retrospect!

The best twists are those that are staring you in the face the whole time. Once you finally learn the truth, you should be able to look back and say, "I can't believe I didn't see that coming!". As an example of such a twist is M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit. Every time I watch that movie with someone who hasn't seen it, it strikes me just how obvious the twist is, and yet no one ever guesses it.

Bad twists tend to come out of left field, or else don’t mesh with what came before. They feel like the writers are cheating by not giving you anything to go off of, but still want you to cheer for them anyway. Hans being the villain in Frozen is one such twist. His early actions in the film don’t jive with his take-the-throne scheme, specifically in that he stops Weselton’s men from killing Elsa in her palace. Why does he do this? The only reason I can think of, given that he was just going to have her executed later anyway, is so the audience wouldn’t know he’s a villain. It’s not in character and doesn't make sense when you learn what he was eventually planning.

Part of making sense in retrospect is having clues to the twist throughout the rest of the story. These might be seemingly unimportant, mundane details that the audience passes over, or they might be red herrings that seem to indicate one thing but actually mean something quite different. Either way, once the twist is revealed, those clues should become obvious. The Ace Attorney games excel at this. There was a case I was playing, and, after finally eliminating one of the two main suspects, I was stumped. If it wasn’t one of those two, who was it? I pulled up the cast list and went one by one, slowly eliminating the impossible until I was left with one improbable suspect. “No,” I thought, “it can’t be them. But, it can’t be anyone else, so…Wait!” Like puzzle pieces falling into place, everything suddenly fit. That person not only had to be the killer because no one else could, it made sense for them to be the killer given all of their past actions.

A twist that I’m not a fan of is the one in And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie. Before you grab your pitchforks and torches, let me explain for those people who have never read the book: ten strangers meet on an island and are killed, one-by-one, for their past misdeeds. While the book is entertaining and is the granddaddy of all such whittling-down-the-cast who-dun-its, the twist itself is kind of… meh. Yes, the killer’s motive makes sense, but there weren’t any clues or details one could look back on and say, “Ah! Of course! I was blind not to see it!” The little twist as to how they accomplished some of the killings was clever, but as for their identity, well… I feel like Christie could have chosen any of the ten and done the same thing with them. Nothing pointed to that one person in particular being the killer, and it made the whole twist a lot less satisfying.

Rule 3: Double twists must make the story better as a whole!

Double twists are those where one twist comes after another. The second twist can either build on the first one, or subvert it. As an author, I can tell you that double twists are a nice way of covering your bases, because even if someone sees the first twist coming, they usually won’t see the second one. As a reader, I’m crazy about double twists. And yet, people either misuse them by having them make the story worse or don’t use them to make the story better. Basically, a bad double twist is one of those that breaks rule 1 or 2. Sometimes, though, a really good double twist can salvage a single twist that breaks either of these rules, assuming that the story isn't too far gone at that point (Jordan Peele, I'm looking at you).

Let’s take at movie with a double twist, and see if it works or not: M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. Shyamalan is quite...something, in that he soars to heights and sink to depths in terms of quality. On a scale of The Happening to The Visit (I don’t acknowledge the existence of The Last Airbender or After Earth; they're not Shyamalanian enough), I would say that The Village is just above Lady in the Water but below Glass. Don’t get me wrong, there are parts of The Village that were quite scary and interesting, but its twists? They're just not doing it for me.

SPOILERS, I guess, but this movie's been out for fifteen years, and the twists are nothing great, so, here we go: it turns out the monsters in the woods are actually villagers in suits who deter people from leaving the community, and—double twist—the movie takes place in the modern day, but the village’s inhabitants experienced loss and crime in regular society and formed their weird community in the woods in order to raise their children peacefully. This second twist was neither believable nor hinted at. For example, why do all the adults—all of whom presumably grew up in normal society—use a stilted, old-timey speech (other than to fool the audience on time period)? Also, though we know the elders have secrets they keep in black boxes, we’re never shown even a hint that these might be things from the modern era until the ending. Why not have a full color photo, or an anachronistic piece of technology? The audience would think these were goofs or sloppy filmmaking, until the reveal that it was all part of a carefully set-up twist.

I’m not a fan of the fake-monster twist either, because I’m always in favor of supernatural elements, but it’s not bad in and of itself. If it were the only twist in the film, it would be an okay movie. But that second one, well…It doesn’t make the film better—I think most people would agree it makes it worse—so it’s not a good double twist. How would I fix it? Add one more twist. The blind girl goes into the woods to get medicine, and is attacked by the murderer in a monster suit, just like in the original movie. Only this time, rather than luring him into a hole, she is saved by another creature. “Who’s that?” the audience wonders, until it rips the murderer apart with its claws and then gallops away on all fours or climbs up a tree or something, because—plot twist—there really are monsters out there in the woods! Like I said, I’m always in favor of the supernatural (Besides, the elders do say that they based the creatures off local legends). At this point, you can keep the modern-day twist or not (if you do, I would move the monster fight to after she’s coming home with the medicine). This new twist wouldn’t make it the best movie ever or anything, but it would make it a little better, a little scarier, a bit more unsettling. If the modern setting stays, this twists hits home the already-present-but-somewhat-undercut message that you can try to make a perfect, planned life, but there are still things out there you can't control. I think it would make for a more satisfying story over all.

And that, right there, is what should be at the heart of any twist (or, dare I say it, any story element): satisfying the audience. No one goes into a book or a movie or a game wanting to be lied to or cheated. We want to be dazzled, amazed, maybe even fooled but in a way that we can appreciate. We want a twist that will knock our socks off and change everything we thought we knew, while being right in front of us the whole time. But, honestly, we'll settle for a not-so-mind-blowing twist that at least satisfies our need for a good story. Heck, we'll even take a predictable twist, as long as the story itself is good. Why? Because surprising your audience is a bonus, but satisfying them is a necessity. And that is what a good twist does.

#plot twists #plot twist #us spoilers #us spoiler #the village spoiler #the village spoilers #the village #m. knight shyamalan #jordan peele #jordan peele's us #what a twist #twist ending #writelr #writeblr #twist villain

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aftermathdb · 4 years

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DEATH BATTLE Review: Genos vs. War Machine

So I only recently remembered that my other preferred opponent for War Machine was Steel from DC, and that I still wanted Genos to fight Cyborg.

So throughout the episode proper, Wiz pronounces Genos as “Jen-Os” while Boomstick says “Gene-Os.”

Genos’ Preview.

So to start off, Genos was an ordinary kid until his family was killed by a rampaging robot cyborg. However, he found a scientist who rebuilt him into a cyborg as well, allowing Genos to fight back and take his revenge.

However, Genos would soon meet Saitama, and train under him to learn more after nearly dying to a mosquito lady that Boomstick openly expresses is very attractive.

Regardless, the two became friends, and Genos was very popular due to his appearance and attitude.

But in order to fight giant monsters and evil dudes, Genos would need a lot of weapons.

Some of his weapons, like his adhesive from the heels, were built-in as a response to other threats.

Genos is also equipped with special sensors in his eyes that let him track heat and image signatures.

He has a wide assortment of weapons, like detachable body parts, missiles, and incinerator cannnons.

And when he wants to get really serious, he blasts foes with two of them at once.

Unib- I mean, uh, Spiral Incineration Cannon!

He’s got a stronger one that I unfortunately didn’t get a screenshot for, but yeah. It’s strong.

All of this leads into a Wiz and Boomstick segment where they finally fixed Boomstick’s smile.

Adding on, Genos once used his incinerator cannons on a mountain, which resulted in a blast worth over 66 kilotons of TNT.

He’s even managed to tag and track a massive meteor, which means that he can move 200 times faster than sound.

And remember the mosquito lady?- Her swarm of mosquitoes once covered Genos completely. While that may not sound intimidating, he was swarmed by nearly 65 Trillion of those things. Which equates to 358178 tons of mosquitoes. I doubt that there’s a masochist that would still want to get it on with the bug-lady if those are her party-mates.

But regardless of his weakness of his power core being the one thing that fuels everything, Genos has shown time and time again that he can compete with the best.

And Boomstick provides a nice little heartwarming moment that while Genos hasn’t found his family’s killer yet, he’s found a new family with Saitama and friends. And that he’ll keep getting stronger.

Y’know, I forgot how much of an edgelord he could be before he met Saitama.

War Machine′s Preview.

So right off the bat, we go into a brief backstory about Colonel James Rupert Rhodes and how he wanted to be in the military annd wound up helping out Iron Man, so Iron Man helped him back.

Eventually, Tony offered Rhodes a suit of his own and Rhodes became War Machine.

Worth noting: Boomstick absolutely gushes about the amount of weapons Rhodes has on deck. It’s kinda nice to see him going back to his “Lover of weapons” persona rather than his “pervvy redneck” one.

Anyways, Rhodes has a massive amount of weapons, including a powerful beam that he can fire from his chest. Spiral Incin- I mean, Unibeam!

And all this talk about weapons leads into our next Wiz and Boomstick segment.

Real men wear pink… Except for Dan. Dan just sucks.

Regardless, the hosts go over how Rhodes has gotten multiple suits, each stronger than the last.

The latest one comes equipped with camo and Ghost tech, allowing Rhodes to turn invisible and intangible. Making him immune to most attacks.

And should the suit ever be in danger of falling into the wrong hands, Rhodes can detonate it. I guess that’s a thing this episode since Genos can do the same thing.

Also worth noting is that since Tony isn’t one for half-measures, Rhodey’s suit is just as strong as the Iron Man suit, just not as maneuverable what with all the weapons. This means that it can scale to Tony’s suits in terms of strength. What does this mean?

It means that he can survive massive blows.

This one in particular was worth over 2.5 Megatons of TNT.

And despite the lack of maneuverability, the suit is still fast. In a short ammount of time, Rhodes managed to get into orbit. This means that he was moving at over mach 600.

Rhodey’s PTSD can make it hard for him to keep his head on straight in a fight, but when it comes down to protecting the people, his friends, the planet, or even just punching some dictator in the face, he’s always going to power through.

Also, remember how in Iron Man vs. Lex Luthor, Iron Man’s end quote was just him showing off his weapon?

Same verse as the first it seems.

The Battle Itself.

RT 2D Animation team on deck for this animated fight (directed by Jordan Battle), Genos will be voiced by Howard Wang and War Machine will be voiced by Mark Allen Jr. Therewolf made K.O Computer , and audio by Chris Kokkinos.

So, Rhodes is basically taking a nice flight when an explosion interrupts him and makes him spill some of his coffee. Credit where it’s due, he takes it more in stride than when Leonardo lost his food.

So, after confronting Genos, the Demon Cyborg determines that War Machine is another cyborg. Lack of credit where it’s due: He jumps to conclusions just as fast as Jason did.

So, right off the bat, it’s fairly clear that Rhodes has some advantage in at least one area. As he was just able to catch Genos’ punch with ease. It’s either in strength or defense.

More likely to be defense because Genos’ Incinerator cannons don’t really do much against the War Machine.

So we get a really nice fist clash, and with Rhodes keeping up, he may either match speed or surpass it.

He certainly takes tech. He was able to find some flaws in his opponent that Genos simply can’t counter.

But credit where it’s due: Genos doesn’t go down easy.

We cycle back into another punch clash right before the fight is brought back down to the ground.

Rhodes turns on his invisibility and Genos, well…

He can’t find him. Genos believes that he went home, but then he makes the mistake of insulting the tech, which ticks off Rhodey.

So Genos retaliates by rendering the invisibility useless with his adhesive making Rhodes visible enough to hit, which Genos follows up with…

Rhodes counters…

God I love Beam Struggles. Genos kinda wins this one and gets a bit overconfident. But…

Rhodes was still standing.

Anyways, Genos starts spamming an attack.

Like… You know that one scene in the Days of Future Past HISHE where Mystique just tries to shoot Trask but it doesn’t work? Yeah, this is pretty much like that.

So Rhodes escapes the glue trap and starts his attack.

Finishing Blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Verdict + Explanation.

Okay, so right off the bat, Rhodes was just a better Genos.

Experience was obvious. Rhodes has seen way more than what Genos has, and that’s before putting on the suit.

Genos knocking around the Elder Centipede is impressive, as it clocks in at about 725 meters, and the amount of force to knock it around would be over 15 Megatons of TNT

But Rhodes has taken on far stronger and dealt way more damage.

Tony-Designed suits can bust up mountains, and those feats are worth over 280 Terratons of TNT. And yeah, they made a typo here. Better start asking questions or telling them to fix this. Pretty sure that it doesn’t matter in the long run, but still.

Rhodes was also way faster.

And even if Genos could get in a hit, he’s got no counters for the massive amounts of tech that Rhodey has at his disposal, like energy draining tech or “Ghost Chameleon” mode as Boomstick put it.

Overall impression.

So the previews go by pretty fast, essentially glossing over backstory and personality, and focusing on each character’s stats feats, and arsenal. Which, while I’m not against, kinda makes this episode feel really fast-paced with little room to breathe between each stat. This, while being an interesting way to show the character off, makes it really hard to keep up with what each character can do and what they have at their disposal. In comparison to the previous episode, where they do have room to breathe between each stat, these characters seem as if they are only analyzing their stats and nothing else.

It just seems as if this was written in a rush is all. Trying to get as much information out as possible, and that rush job is pretty apparent when you see those typos.

Not to mention that the animation felt a bit repetitive in certain parts. Like the punch clashes. I like those and all, but there’s a reason why the Jotaro vs. Kenshiro one is a better one. It’s because the punches actually clash. Heck! Even the Venom vs. Bane punch clash was better.

Also, it seems odd that they chose this battle to be a hand-drawn one. I’m pretty sure that there are plenty of fan-made Genos sprites or even official ones too. Not that it isn’t spectacular or anything, I’m just kinda curious.

Also: I was looking around in the comments section, and there are a lot of comments about audio. Maybe it’s because my mother could surpass Sindel’s loudest scream when watching Basketball, but I didn’t notice anything. Maybe you did.

7.5/10. Great fight, just a weird one…

Next Time…

Y’know, maybe I should start watching one of these.

I mean, I wasn’t interested at all in Yu Yu Hakusho until Hiei made his debut, and now I’m pushing for Krillin vs. Kuwabara (People who think that Krillin vs. Saitama is a good fight should honestly just admit that they want a baldy battle and be done with it).

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

From what I understand, a missed opportunity for Icy vs. Elsa.

#Death Battle #Deathbattle #review

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mmead2113 · 4 years

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*** Tumblr 1: Rhetoric and Narratives***

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In this entry, I will examine these critical questions: What central narrative(s) does this artifact tell through its rhetorical elements? In doing so, what values does it promote or ignore (who does it include and exclude)? In which ways is this narrative (ethically) productive for society, in which ways is it limiting, and is it more productive or limiting?

To investigate these questions, I examined Taika Waititi’s 2019 movie Jojo Rabbit as my rhetorical artifact. Through strong character development and a unique view of the human condition, Jojo Rabbit creates a central narrative that nobody is innately evil, and that hate is taught through society (and thus can be untaught). Overall the narrative is productive because it ethically demonstrates how togetherness can overcome hate even in the worst of situations.

Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi) is a film adaptation of the book Caging Skies (Christine Leunens) that depicts the life of a young boy – named Jojo Betzler – in the Hitler Youth during the 1940’s. The movie covers Jojo’s life from the mid-war era to the liberation of his German town following the collapse of the Third Reich. In the beginning, Jojo is completely swept up in the Nazi fanaticism, and even has an imaginary Hitler friend (but it is how his 10-year-old mind envisions Hitler, not actual Hitler). After getting injured during a Hitler Youth camp excursion, Jojo is sent back to his hometown where he eventually discovers a young Jewish girl named Elsa living in secret in his home under the protection of his mother. Faced with a dilemma that challenges everything Jojo was raised to believe under the Nazi rule, his character undergoes great moral changes to eventually realize that Jews are just like him; and that they are not the horrifying monsters that his upbringing taught him to see them as. Thus, the film ends with Jojo and Elsa becoming great friends by the time their town is liberated by Allied forces.

One way the narrative that “hatred is taught” is prevalent in Jojo Rabbit is in the movie’s opening sequence, where Jojo is attending a week-long camp in the mountains for the Hitler Youth. At this camp, young boys undergo daily activities that are reminiscent of modern Boy Scout camps, such as basic survival skills and group activities in the outdoors. However, they also participate (in a satirically funny manner) in Nazi-centered fanaticism drills to mold their minds into a certain way of thinking. These drills include how to make a swastika stance with their bodies, a group-think session where they all contribute to a drawing of what a Jew is in their minds, and they cap off each night with a book burning rather than a typical campfire. The Jew drawing scene especially encapsulates the narrative that hatred is taught, as in this scene one Hitler youth child shouts out “Add fangs!” followed by another stating “And a serpent’s tongue!” The drawing is then completed when a young girl says “Scales!” to which the Nazi woman doing the drawing and leading the session replies, “Ya! Scales, because once upon a time a Jewish man mated with a fish. The Arians are 1000 times more civilized and advanced than any other race.” This statement is then met with great excitement among the children, as it emphasizes beliefs that they have already had beaten into their minds by the society that’s raised them. These ideas are all they know, and thus affirmation of their opinions only strengthens the hatred they have for these people in their minds. This scene is a shining example of the narrative that “hatred can be taught” since it features hatred, quite literally, being taught, and all the children clearly taking it in. It is through this unique view into the human condition – and what life may have been like growing up in Germany in the 1940’s (satirically) – that we are first introduced to the movie’s central narrative.

Another way the narrative is evident is when Jojo first encounters Elsa, a Jewish girl living in secret in his home under the protection of his mother. Up until this point, Jojo is a fanatic, 10-year old Nazi who believes in the power of the Third Reich not because he chooses to, but because he has never been exposed to another way of thinking in his life. When he meets Elsa, he is equally terrified and dumbfounded. He’s confronted by his worst fear: a Jew. However, she’s not this fishy, fanged monster that he always pictured. Instead, she is a completely normal girl, whom he actually has a crush on. His instincts kick in at first, and he reacts in the only way he’s been taught: by attempting to assert dominance since he has been raised to believe that he (of Arian race) is far better than Elsa. Jojo says, “You are weak, like an eyelash. I am born of Arian ancestry. My blood is the color of a pure red rose, and my eyes are blue…” This line is representative of the social truths that Jojo has been taught to accept. As explained by Palczewski, Ice and Fritch (2012), social truth is a set of “…beliefs and values that do not refer to some objective reality, but to social reality – those beliefs about what is right that people have arrived at together.” Jojo’s social truths from the Nazi society have taught him hatred, and he has accepted (and embraced) that up to this point, emphasizing the central narrative.

With this central narrative comes the idea that hatred can also be untaught. After what Jojo says to Elsa, she reacts by wrestling and pinning him, saying, “Break free great Arian. There are no weak Jews. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who cannot even grow a full mustache.” Here, Jojo is taught the lesson that he is indeed not the strongest person and that he clearly has no power of Elsa, despite what he was raised to believe. This is the beginning of his moral growth as a character, and through his character development, the central narrative is completely brought to bear. Jojo’s character is the foil through which we see how hatred is imbued in someone, but it is also through Jojo that we see how hatred can be removed and replaced with a sense of togetherness and love, as by the end of the film, Elsa is his greatest friend.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to this narrative, though there are mostly advantages. One advantage is that the message is incredibly positive and lacks in any negative meaning. It is one that states that hatefulness can be addressed and resolved, a much more positive outlook than simply believing that hate is innate and cannot be changed. Therefore, ethically this message is incredibly productive for society as it encourages proper moral developments, especially with the young. It is hard to find any disadvantages of this narrative. One disadvantage could be that by believing hatred is only taught, society is seen to be completely to blame for all wrongs committed by an individual: not the individual themselves. In other words, the narrative is almost giving excuses for those that act morally/ethically incorrectly. This disadvantage is certainly not very strong though and is hardly even a disadvantage, and as such it does not affect the overall positivity and importance of the central narrative.

Igartua and Barrios further explain how narratives can directly influence societal behavior by discussing how narratives in the film “Camino” (Fesser, 2008) caused an empirical change in the audience’s views on Opus Dei and religion. They tested this by – in simple terms – asking participants in the study to fill out questionnaires both before and after the testing. These questionnaires determined their overall connection to the main character of “Camino,” as well as their feelings towards Opus Dei and religion (and they attempted to determine how involved in the narratives each participant was likely to be). The results empirically demonstrated that narratives in film can directly affect the audience’s opinions on the subject matter, as the participants were found to have more hatred towards Opus Dei and religion after the film; a belief that aligned with the central narrative of the movie. This furthers the impact of films like Jojo Rabbit, which have messages intended to change the audience’s thoughts on certain topics. In fact, Jojo Rabbit closes with a quote clearly stating the message the director wanted to tell the audience: “Go to the limits of your longing. Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” Whether or not the film does successfully change the audience depends on each individual, but Jojo Rabbit’s unique view into the human condition with what life would be like as a child in such a tough environment truly does try to reach out to the audience and deliver its central narrative on a personal level: something that is possible as shown by Igartua and Barrios in their study.

In summary, Jojo Rabbit’s phenomenal character arc and moral development with Jojo – along with the unique view into a radically different society from a child’s perspective – allows the film’s central narrative that “hate” is something that is taught (and can therefore be “untaught”) to be delivered effectively to the audience; enabling them to potentially embrace the ideals the films puts forth and directly influence modern societal truths.

Igartua, Juan-José, and Isabel Barrios. “Changing Real-World Beliefs With Controversial Movies: Processes and Mechanisms of Narrative Persuasion.” Journal of Communication, vol. 62, no. 3, June 2012, pp. 514–531., doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01640.x.

Palczewski, C. H., Ice, R., Fritch, J. (2012). Narratives. In Rhetoric in Civic Life (pp. 117- 146). State College, PA: Strata Publishing, Inc.

Jojo Rabbit. Dir. Taika Waititi. Searchlight Pictures, November 2019. Film.

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littlemisssquiggles · 6 years

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RWBY Musings #48: The possible mystical connection between the Faunus and the existence of magic in Remnant. Were the Faunus formerly animals that were made human by magic?

@bloomfireprincess asked “I love your musings! Especially the possible origins of the silver eyed warriors! But how do you think the Faunus fit into it?

Maybe they were the first beings created by the elder brother, and he created the silver eyed after to protect his creation and the world? What if that's the deep seeded resentment, that they were first but pushed to the background by the humans?”

Squiggles Answers:

@bloomfireprincess Hey Bloom. Though my original intent was to wait until my original files were salvaged, as of this week, I’m still awaiting a positive update on the state of my old system. So given my recent streak of RWBY Remarks, I figured it’d be more favourable to just resume working on my musing posts even if it meant starting from scratch.

I know I said I had started your answers before in a previous file but I think the theories I shared in this new post exceeded my previous points. So I think you might like them.So here I am, at long last with my response to your questions. So without keeping you waiting any longer, let’s dive right into it:

Silver Lining

“How do I think the Faunus fit into the origins of the Silver Eyed Warriors? Were the Faunus the first beings created by the Elder Brother? Were Silver Eyes created to protect the Faunus as the first creations of the God of Light?”

These are some great questions Bloom. While I do like your idea about the Faunus possibly being one of the first forms of life created by the God of Light, however I personally don’t think this is the case. Not to discourage you or debunk your theory by the way.

As I said, it’s a great hunch. I just have my own idea of how the Faunus fit into the history of Remnant and sadly, my concept involves the Faunus’ origin coming a little later into the world.

Similar to the First People of Remnant, I also don’t believe that the Silver Eyed Warriors shared any ties to the Faunus either. Just as I described in my original post on the Silver Eyes, my main guess is still that they were an ancient race of beings that existed in a time before the current Remnant, in a previous world that was the God of Light’s first attempt at a planet filled with life that was soon thwarted by the God of Darkness and his monstrous Grimm.

I still think the Moon of Remnant is a relic of that original world that was partially destroyed after the Brother Gods first opposed one another and pitted their strongest creations: the Creatures of Grimm and the Silver Eyed Warriors against each other in a War that hurt the planet.

Or…perhaps the Moon was formerly the home world to the original Silver Eyed Warriors that the God of Light had intended to make into Remnant or another New World with the Silver Eyes as its first people. However all of that amounted to nothing because the God of Darkness sent forth his monsters to destroy everything. Either way I strongly believe there is a deeper connection between the Moon of Remnant and the Silver Eyed Warriors.

This makes me wonder something now. I wonder if the Creatures of Grimm weren’t the God of Darkness’ most dangerous creations but his second. When I think of the character of Salem and consider the uniqueness of the type of creature she is, it makes me wonder if Salem might’ve been part of another ancient race from the same era as the Silver Eyes.

In RWBY Musing #39, I shared a theory about Salem previously being a human woman who was part of the First People of Remnant. I theorized that in her past life, Salem was Ales (or Elsa as some of you preferred) and she was the partner and lover of Ozpin.

The Eve to his Adam as I speculated that in his very first lifetime, Oz was the First Man of Remnant under an original name of his own that I dubbed Emmanuel. In a similar fashion to Eve in the Bible, Salem was manipulated by a Grimm that resulted in her being banished by the Gods after trying to steal the Relics. Later on, Salem becomes fully possessed by said Grimm, turning her into the Wicked Witch and proclaimed Mother of the Grimm that we know her to be. That was one theory I shared for Salem’s beginning. Now I have another assumption.

I’ve brought up Grimm-like human hybrids before, correct? What if…before Remnant, before even the Creatures of Grimm, there were others like Salem. For lack of a better term, I’m going to refer to these beings as the Grimmoire (cause why not).

What if…in the forgotten past that Salem once quoted back in V1, in the first incarnation of the World that became the Moon, the Brother Gods feuded over the fate of this old world and sent their strongest creations to war: The Silver Eyed Warriors and the Grimmoire.

It could help justify how Salem is able to communicate and control the Grimm. Her being part of an original race born from the same dark powers as the Grimm---the very first one of their kind---then it would make as much sense for her to lead them as it would if Salem was just a superior type of Grimm possessing a human body. It could also explain how Salem can ‘create’ the Grimm.

What if…Salem was even the Queen of the Grimmoire---the First and only surviving member of her race with powers beyond that of any of her kind. Powers that made her just as great as a god. A goddess as Tyrian once put it.

It could also explain Salem’s interest in Ruby. Ruby is a Silver Eyed Warrior and as far as I know, the only one in existence in Remnant. If Salem is a Grimmoire (granted that my theory is canon) and the Grimmoire are like the Grimm then the Silver Eyes are their main weakness. Salem’s weakness. It’d make sense for Salem to want to see how her ‘old nemesis’ held up in the current Remnant especially if she’s following up from the previous one she encountered, referring to Summer Rose.

Pulling from RWBY Musing #46, I believe Ozpin sent Summer Rose on her last mission which got her killed. That mission was to defeat Salem once and for all. But Summer failed and died because she wasn’t strong enough as a Silver Eyed Warrior. Now that burden and responsibility has fallen to Ruby who has the chance to become a fully-realized Silver Eyes with the power to put an end to Salem.

Buuuuut…I’m getting off track here.

Returning to the Faunus---it’s as I said, I don’t see a connection between the Silver Eyes and the Faunus. If it were anyone else, like the Brother Gods or Ozpin or even Salem, then yes, most definitely. But not the Faunus. I believe the Faunus have their own origin that is completely separate from the Silver Eyes.

That being said I do like your idea of other Silver Eyes being reborn into the current Remnant to be the protectors of mankind. It ties in with a little follow-up hunch I have about the God of Light creating a couple of Silver Eyes to defend the First People of Remnant and their first kingdom. Perhaps it were even the Silver Eyes who inspired and helped shape Remnant’s first legion of huntsmen.

However I’m not sure how that will fit since in the main series, apart from Ozpin, no one else seems to know about the Silver Eyes. As for the Faunus, I’m starting to think they might’ve come later in Remnant’s history. At least a little ways after Mankind had already started colonizing Remnant.

Man and Faunus

A lot of the history surrounding the Faunus and their resentment towards man was actually already explained in World of Remnant. The Faunus are basically indigenous people of Remnant. According to the episode on the Faunus; they were first discovered by early man at some point in Remnant’s history.

But because of Man misinterpreting them as a threat due to their animalistic traits, the Faunus; who were once a free race left to roam Remnant as their home, they were instead driven into a life of danger and ridicule at the hands of the very man who mistook their kind for monsters.

These are some quotes on the History and Biology of the Faunus and their connexion to Mankind taken from RWBY V5 C4.5 (World of Remnant: Faunus):

“…As far as everyone’s aware, Faunus have been around as long as mankind; if not a little longer. History gets a little fuzzy past a certain point. But we do know that their kind and ours are completely compatible from a biological standpoint…”

“…Scientists are still scratching their heads when it comes to a lot about the Faunus. But science isn’t the problem; it’s how we all get along, or in this case, how we don’t…”

“…Early man was scared to death of the Faunus and honestly, it’s not too hard to sympathize with that. Seeing something that looks like you and acts like you walk out of the forest and reveal a pair of fangs can be a…little upsetting…

Like most things Man doesn’t understand, all sorts of rumors and stories surround the Faunus. People avoided them like the plague, pushing them out of settlements and sometimes even hunting them down.

Man began to outnumber the Faunus and the Faunus began to consider Man as nothing more than a hostile species.

These clashes between species were unavoidable as land that was safe from the Grimm was in constant short supply. But it was the Grimm that finally brought Humans and Faunus together for the first time. A village in Sanus fell under attack and the reason anyone survived was because the Humans and Faunus united against their common enemy. It was a step in the right direction but it didn’t fix everything.

Once humanity learnt that they weren’t so different from the Faunus, they still used those differences as an excuse to exploit and alienate them. The trade men of the Faunus differed around the world and things wouldn’t improve much for them until the Great War.

Vale and Vacuo against Mantle and Mistral. A war unlike anything anyone had ever seen. And when it was over, the world was desperate to find compromises to ensure they never see the likes of it again.

The Faunus were awarded equal rights as citizens of Remnant. And as an apology, they were given an entire continent of their own to do with as they pleased. There were some who saw this as fair and just. But many saw it for what it really was---a slap in the face from a nation of sore losers. And so Menagerie was born.

There’s still Faunus all over the world. Though the fair equality they were promised varies from place to place, but Menagerie will always be their safe haven. Here’s the thing though, you can only push and prod people so much before they reach a tipping point. And when you pack those people together, it just makes it all the easier for them to get organized and get even…”

This info actually ties into what Blake explained to Sun when they first arrived in Menagerie back in V4.

“…We asked to be equal, to be treated just like everyone else. Instead we were given an island and told to make do. So we did the best we could. We came together and we made a home where any Faunus could feel welcome. But this island, this town, will always be a reminder that we're still not equal. That we're still second class citizens…"

To once live in an free open world only to have mankind basically just give you one patch of land when the entire world used to be fair game to be shared by both man and Faunus---when you look at it from that standpoint, as a viewer I don’t blame the Faunus for being displeased.

I mean, speaking as someone of African descent from a nation that was once colonialized under the British before we gained our own independence, I could imagine being very displeased if suddenly all the black people or perhaps all the people of colour in the world were forced into one single area on the map and told to make do with the landscape. All the while still being treated as outcasts by the population if they dared tried to make a life in another area. That sort of life wouldn’t be the most ideal.

But that’s only one aspect of the Faunus’s history. The only thing that wasn’t answered about the Faunus was where they came from. You would think that the easy answer would be that Man and Faunus were cut from the same cloth as both creations of the Brother Gods, right? But what’s odd to me is that there was no clarification of that during Qrow’s rendition of the Tale of the Brother Gods story.

The Tale of the Brother Gods, as told by Qrow Branwen in V4, C8:

"…Not many people are super religious these days. This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real. They were brothers.

The older sibling, the God of Light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the God of Darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction.

As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that the elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the God of Darkness brought drought, fire, famine, all that he could do to rid Remnant of life. But life always returned.

So one night, the younger brother went and made something. Something that share his innate desire to destroy anything and everything.

The Creatures of Grimm. You guessed it.

The older brother had finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation. Together. Something that they could both be proud of. Their masterpiece. Younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow: The Path of Light or the Path of Darkness. And that is how humanity came to be…"

At the end of the Brother Gods story, Qrow mentions that they made ‘humanity’ together. Sure you could make the argument that when Qrow said ‘humanity’ he was referring to both Man and the Faunus, right?

However to make sure, I checked back V4 C8 at the exact point when Qrow brought up the Brother Gods creating Humanity. In the final shot when he was describing the Brother’s collaborated creation, we get one image with a group of silhouettes to represent humanity being born in Remnant.

However…I don’t recognize any Faunus in this shot. How strange that all of these shapes appear human and not one of them represents the Faunus species. Either the Faunus were omitted from this depiction because a CRWBY production artist forget to add some Faunus to the shot and no one noticed till after the episode was made (which I doubt) or…it was done intentionally to show that when the Brothers made humanity, they only made Mankind. Not the Faunus.

This is, however, slightly contradicted a bit by what Qrow said on the Faunus in World of Remnant: Faunus.

Then again…the wording ‘as far as everyone’s aware’ gives me the impression that this is more a common assumption in Remnant as opposed to an actual fact. As far as any Remnant historian is concerned, the Faunus were around for as long as man. Simple deduction but there aren’t any further provided evidence to support this. As a matter of fact, the show even goes out of its way to explain it that way--- as if no one is truly clear on the exact origins of the Faunus either. That’s a cool touch.

Additionally, the Faunus being around as long as mankind; if not a little longer doesn’t necessarily mean that the Faunus came before or even around the same time Mankind was born. If anything, I think it more hints that the Faunus might have longer lifespans that allow them to outlive the average human.

Who knows? Perhaps there are ancient Faunus in the modern Remnant who have lived for decades and can probably shed light on history surrounding their own kind not known to others and the audience. While there isn’t much more canonical evidence from the series to support this assumption, there isn’t anything to denounce it either. So for now, it remains a possibility.

The impression I get here is that there is no clear origin of where exactly the Faunus came from. As I said, the practical conclusion would’ve been to assume that all Faunus were a created by the Brother Gods.

However, the weird part is that each time RWBY delves into the Faunus; it’s presented in a manner that makes me assume otherwise. Heck, the very first line that Qrow says in World of Remnant Faunus is:

“…Y’know most of us spend a lot of time talking about Mankind versus Grimm, but technically, there is a third party in the mix. The Faunus…”

My point is that there’s some other underlining mystery surrounding where the Faunus came from. A little extra thing we have yet to learn about them. I mean I guess it could be a ruse set up by the CRWBY Writers to subvert the audience from the actual clear truth that the Faunus are being treated as inferior to Man despite sharing the same origins. When you look at it that way, it makes sense especially in the context of the narrative the series has already created for the Faunus.

Still… I wish to divert from that and toss in another potential consideration that could also be an outcome.

What if…the Brother Gods only created mankind and it was another entity that made the Faunus and brought them into Remnant?

An interesting ideology, yes? I’m probably reading too much into this but it’s just a feeling I have based on all the info I’ve gathered on the Faunus so far from the canon series.

But now pegs the question: If the Brother Gods didn’t create the Faunus then who did and with what?

Here's what I think.

Where Have All the Animals Gone?

I’m not saying that animals don’t exist in Remnant. However what I do find a little peculiar is that we haven’t seen much animals in RWBY.

I mean we’ve seen one or two animals establishing that they do exist in the World of Remnant. It’s just that…I find it weird, not to mention ironic, that we see more of the Faunus and the Creatures of Grimm than actual legit real animals. I find this funny since both species have been called out for their animalistic similarities.

“…Each Faunus has a single animalistic trait; some more apparent than others…” ---World of Remnant: Faunus

“… Many ancient cultures believed the Creatures of Grimm to be animals possessed by evil spirits or perhaps the spirits of tortured animals themselves. However, further study---as well as the discovery of newer, more horrific forms of Grimm---does not support this hypothesis. With new creatures discovered every day, scientists perpetually find themselves with more questions than answers…”---World of Remnant: Grimm

I can actually count the real animals I’ve spotted in RWBY thus far on my fingers alone. There is RWBY’s number one indestructible Grimm-bashing power Corgi, Zwei, who everyone knows. There was that one bird (I think it was a crow) that Ruby accidentally knocked down back in V1 after Ozpin launched all the students off the cliff into the Emerald Forest. There was the horse that Fall Maiden Amber was seen riding in V3.

And lastly, there were the numerous flocks of birds that we’ve spotted throughout volumes and character shorts between the first trilogy and the Mistral Arc. I mean at least there are birds, right?

After that…that’s it. I can’t recall seeing anymore. Correct me if I’m wrong if you’ve spotted others. Like I said, we know animals do exist in Remnant since the characters have food and products that come from animals like milk and meat. So at least we know there are animals raised as livestock for food. But why haven’t we seen more? You get what I’m saying, right?

For the love of Oum, Oscar Pine is a character who literally grew up on a farm and still we don’t so much as see a single cow or chicken or sheep roaming said farm. Seriously, where are all the animals?

Either the budget required for the CRWBY to model, rig and animate animals into RWBY is so high that it’s cumbersome to dare try or…there is an actual narrative world-building reason why we don’t see a lot more real animals roaming Remnant.

The smart alec answer might be ‘Squiggles, we don’t see any real animals in RWBY because real animals aren’t important to the story of RWBY. Doi!’ to which, I say, you’re probably 100% right in that regards and I’m most likely just overthinking things as usual.

However…this squiggle meister is curious about something. Let’s say… there is a connection between the Faunus and the animals of Remnant.

What if…and this is a big if…the Faunus---the First Faunus originated from animals given human likeness by someone who possessed the power to do so. What I’m trying to say is that I think the Faunus were created using magic.

Think about it. What’s the closest thing in the universe of RWBY to the power of the Brother Gods? The answer is magic.

As demonstrated by Professor Ozpin, if magic has the potential to grant humans the ability to turn into animals like in the case of the Branwen Twins. Then who’s to say the reverse isn’t possible where magic can turn animals into what we know as the Faunus?

This is why I don’t think there’s a connection between the Silver Eyed Warriors and the Faunus. I think the Silver Eyes predate even the Faunus. If I had to make a list of beings in Remnant based on who I believe were created first, it would go:

The Creatures of Grimm (by the God of Darkness), the Silver Eyed Warriors (by the God of Light again to firstly combat the Grimm in the God’s Feud), Mankind (by both Brother Gods working together) and then the Faunus.

This is only my assumption but I think the Faunus came into the picture after Mankind had already started populating the world. My only thing is that I’m not sure what Remnant was like in the ancient days after the world was made and the First People of Remnant walked the earth starting to create civilization.

If magic does exist in the RWBY-verse then, just like the Silver Eyed Warriors, was magic or the use of the mystical arts another thing that was been lost and forgotten to time?

I mean Qrow did imply once that Remnant had been around for a very long time. So who knows what kind of eras existed in the world before arriving at the modern time that we recognize.

Perhaps there was a period in Remnant’s history where magic was a prominent thing so it was more recognized by the general public as opposed to the current story where the very prospect of magic sounds so farfetched, even the main characters are in disbelief of its existence.

“ ...Legends; stories scattered through time, mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains; forgetting so easily that we are remnants, by products of a forgotten past...” --- RWBY VI CI

Perhaps magic was more known during the time of the First People of Remnant, a time when the Brother Gods made their presence more known to the world as I described in RWBY Musing #39.

Or…perhaps magic was just something that only a handful of people knew existed and could only vouch for it after encountering the one being in the Remnant we know possesses magic.

Or…perhaps the skill for one to use magic derives from years of training one’s Aura to the point that they become more than just a mere mortal and awaken newer kinds of powers.

“…Unlocking your Semblance isn’t the end. It can still grow and evolve. Providing you’re willing to put in the work, who knows what could happen…” --- Ozpin (RWBY V5: C4)

“…With enough training and focus, a user's Aura can turn them into something much more than just a man...”---World of Remnant: Aura

I’m not quite sure what the case with that will be. All I’m here to state is that maybe there is indeed a magical connection to the Faunus.

What does Remnant, the Grimm and Mankind all have in common? They were all created by powerful supernatural beings who possessed magic or the power of a god or however you chose to refer it. The same could be said for the Faunus.

I just don’t think it was the magic of the gods that spawned the Faunus but more so another character known for possessing the closest equivalent to such a ‘god-like’ power.

God of the Faunus

Now for the real meat of this post. Once upon a time, I read a RWBY Theory from back in the early days of V1 and V3 where a fan theorized that Ozpin created the Faunus. Though interesting, at the time I didn’t know what to make of that theory because I guess there wasn’t much canonical evidence to support it. Now seasons later, I’m beginning to wonder if that original theorist might’ve been on to something.

It’s not to say that the Faunus, the First Faunus, were originally lab experiments that escaped into the wilds of Remnant. That wouldn’t really make sense since according to the World of Remnant episode on the Faunus; they existed long before the current Remnant where technology is booming.

So the theory that makes sense, at least for now, is the one about Faunus being animals transformed into the Faunus via magic.

And who do we know in the RWBY series has the power to turn animals into humans? Ozpin. Here me out with this one. As I said, it was already established in the series canon that Ozpin has dabbled in using his power to ‘create special beings’ in his past lives.

I wouldn’t exactly call the Maidens a race of powerful beings but they are close enough. The Maidens were technically normal women who were granted immense power beyond anything norm in Remnant and they were created singlehandedly by Ozpin.

And let’s not forget, that Ozpin also granted the Branwen Twins the ability to shapeshift into birds. And he made that possible for the Branwens with just a sliver of his magic all in his past life.

So…if Oz’s magic can turn humans into animals, what’s to say his magic can’t do the opposite? I’m starting to slowly believe that Oz might’ve unintentionally created the Faunus using his magic. I don’t have much more evidence from the canon series to support this but, it’s starting to make sense given what we know of Ozpin, his abilities and the unknown origins of the Faunus provided by the series.

When I say Oz unintentionally made the Faunus, I mean it could have been a scenario that occurred after he was reincarnated for the first time and realized he had powers. Now I’d imagine that in his second or third lifetimes, Ozpin originally did not have as much grasp on his magical skill so he probably had moments where he suffered a couple ‘boo-boos’ with using magic or legit moments where his magic did things that he never anticipated would happen.

I mean, I’m sure when Ozpin first created the Maidens he didn’t anticipate that the power would ‘evolve’ the way it did so that the original Four Maidens could each have successors that would carry on their legacy of power and continue to aid Oz in the protection of the Relics. After all, I’m sure it must’ve surprised Oz the first time he learnt that the Maiden Magic could be passed onto another.

For my fellow FNDM fam who watch Nomad of Nowhere. Spoilers for the first season but remember how the Papa magician that created the Nomad didn’t expect it to possess magic of its own.

Imagine if… there was a similar scenario with Ozpin where, in his past life, he probably encountered some poor animals that had been preyed upon and injured by the Grimm.

In his attempt to help those animals, Ozpin used his magic in hopes that his power might heal the creatures. However what he did not anticipate was for his power to turn the animals into human-like beings still retaining their animalistic features. And that’s how the First Faunus were born.

It’s be interesting, not to mention kinda funny if, Ozpin used his magic on some animals and didn’t realize that he had made the Faunus until a few lifetimes later when word of the existence of the Faunus became rampant throughout Remnant.

You think that a person like Ozpin who’s lived many lifetimes would have also played some part in shaping Remnant’s history, especially for the Faunus, right?

Imagine if…Remember that memorable point in Remnant history when Mankind and Faunus came together for the first time to fight the Grimm in that village in Sanus? Perhaps in one of his previous lives, Ozpin was somehow responsible for instigating that?

What if…Ozpin was somehow responsible for planting the seeds that also lead to the Faunus receiving equal rights following the first Great War too?

I mean a common theory among RWBY theorists is the belief that Oz was formerly the King of Vale who helped end the Great War. So who knows how much Oz has played a part in shaping Remnant’s history for both mankind and the Faunus.

You never know. I wouldn’t put it past him if he did since he is the only known human in Remnant who has that kind of power and influence.

If Ozpin’s predecessors were responsible for creating the Maidens and essentially founding the Four Huntsmen Academies that house the Relics while also appointing his most trusted to be the Headmasters. For real, what else has Ozpin done to shape the world? But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Back on the Faunus, I honestly would not be surprised if later we learnt that not only was Ozpin formerly responsible for creating the Faunus but also shaping every event that led to ‘his creations’ finding their place in the world. That sounds like something Oz would do, right?

With this in mind, this brings up a curious question I have about the Faunus. Religion isn’t something that’s normally discussed or depicted in RWBY. I mean, Qrow just mentions the possibility of it in V4 like an afterthought.

That being said, I wonder if there are indeed those ‘super religious’ cultures in Remnant comprised of people who spend their days praying to said ‘created gods’. If some of them are the Faunus then who do the Faunus view as their god?

I ask this question because I have this concept where somewhere in Faunus culture; there is an interpretation of who the Faunus believe as their god--- the mystical entity they believed created their species. This depiction is one that Ozpin recognizes as one of his past lives. Meaning that the Faunus believed him to be their God; only reimagined as a Faunus. It’d be an interesting twist if the more religious Faunus believed that there God was probably a Faunus like them---A Faunus God of some sort; but in actuality they were made by an immortal wizard who is closer to human than Faunus.

I like this idea because it would tie into my hunch about Ozpin unknowingly creating the Faunus in one of his past lives with his magic. Not to mention that I also quite like the satire of the Faunus viewing Ozpin as a god when in actuality, the old wizard is nothing more than just an angel that fell from grace when he was cursed by the true Gods of Remnant for failing to stop the personification of the devil and their demons in the RWBY-verse.

‘…Born an angel, heaven-sent. Falls from grace are never elegant…’

When you put it like that, it sounds quite compelling. But for now, it’s only another hunch in a pool of hunches.

So in conclusion…

I am sooo sorry that it took me this me to answer you, Bloom. I know you told me that you don’t mind waiting but still, mucho apologies fam. Nonetheless, I hope this answered your question. Thanks for sending them to me by the way. I always appreciate hearing feedback from fellow RWBY fam regarding my posts so it was awesome to receive yours. It definitely helped me to concoct theories surrounding the Faunus that I never considered.

Honestly, it’d be really interesting if there was a side to Ozpin that harbours some inkling of a, not so much a grudge, but more so a feeling of longing to return to his former glory where he was someone in tune with the Gods. Or at least die and actually get to rest in peace this time instead of returning to complicate another successor’s livelihood. You don’t get a line like ‘born an angel, heaven sent’ for a character if it didn’t garner some symbolism for something important involving said character that involved real gods, y’know what I’m saying.

I truly like the thought of Ozpin, in a subconscious attempt to feel worthy or like the former angel he once was, using his magical powers to perform miracles he believed would aid mankind. Y’know…give his own gifts to mankind like the Brother Gods did before him.

I mean, he did create the Maidens and the Branwen Twins; in spite of fact that the Maidens became targets for the forces of evil to prey upon their magic including one of the Branwens who additionally became someone who is against him.

At least there’s the Faunus. Ozpin could’ve potentially given the people of Remnant the gift of the Faunus and look what good they did for man---y’know what, never mind.

I’d even go so far as to bring up the idea of Oz potentially creating the Silver Eyed Warriors too. I mean that’s another theory I’ve observed circulating the fandom. However as you know, I’m more in favour of my earlier hunch about the Silver Eyes being an early creation of the God of Light to combat the first onset of Grimm set by the God of Darkness or…perhaps another ancient race that resembles Salem. That’s my view on it.

I know they’re all just theories but I really like those ideas above anything else. Definitely more so than Ozpin creating the Silver Eyed Warriors. I mean it’s a terrific theory especially if anyone can sell the idea really well. But to me, not every magical concoction that suddenly appears in Remnant has to connect back to Ozpin.

I am inclined, however, to the belief of Ozpin sharing a close special bond to a former Silver Eyed Warrior in his first life.

I’m not talking about Oz being a Silver Eyed Warrior himself. But more like, perhaps one of the first people Ozpin ever truly loved or cared deeply for was in fact a Silver Eyed Warrior and his past with them is what also sparked his whole endless debacle with Salem. I really, really like this idea. Might talk about this some more in a future musing or remark or something. But for now, these are just my views.

Anyways, I hope you liked this musing. Let me know what you think Bloom and to all my other readers, I hope this musing was enjoyable and gave you something to muse about with RWBY.

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

#rwby #rwby theories #professor ozpin #rwby faunus #blake belladonna #rwby musings

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martyslittleusedblog · 7 years

Text

A Record of Wasteland’s Should-Be Residents, Locations, etc.

Credit to @wasteland-unused for doing the research! I’m hoping that if these ideas are all compiled into one place, it’ll be easier to think of a story involving them. There’s a lot of stuff, so look below the cut. They’re supposed to link to their respective pages, but something’s gone screwy with my blog’s theme...

Residents

The MixUps

Phoebe the SeaBee

Fear, Shame, and Ignorance

The Lost Boys

Zeke Holloway

Lucky, Madame Mim’s cousin

Atticus Thorn

Pink Elephants

Mousercise / Ossercise

Vermithrax Pejorative

Wienie

Toby Bear

Max Hare

Supai

The Hunter (from The Black Cauldron)

Major Domo and Minor Domo

The kid from A Cowboy Needs a Horse

Terrible Tom

Waldo C. Graphic

The robots from Modern Inventions

Blackbeard, the original central pirate captain in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Looking-Glass Land Chess Pieces

Double-O Duck (a prototype of Darkwing Duck)

The White Rabbit’s Monkey gardener

Moana’s nine brothers (and maybe prototype!Moana)

The Cape Dogs

Casey and his daughters, the Caseyettes

Scrapped Dumbo crow designs

Captain Hook? (the version from the Peter Pan peanut butter commercials)

Concept art Dash

The characters of Fun with Mr. Future (possibly including Mr. Future himself)

Snug the Pilot

Winnie the Pooh characters (jerkass comic versions)

The Broken Toys

Redfeather the Turkey

Creepy Thanksgiving parade floats (from the ‘70s!)

Eilonwy

The Argumentative Grasshopper

Neverland Mermaids

Scrapped worm-like monster from Hercules

Scrapped versions of Elsa and the Queen of Arendelle

The Music Box

Spink

Windwagon Smith and his love, Molly

The original Hatbox Ghost

Old King Cole (Would he still be a king? Because Oswald is king...)

Early version of Lady

Bucky Bug, June Bug, and Bo Bug

Early Captain Hook

The Magic Mirror

The Skeleton Crew from James and the Giant Peach

Nasira

Stromboli

The Fair Folk

The Horned King

Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch

Patricia and Percy Pig

Mheetu

Clarice

Slimy the Weasel (as a Blotling)

Giant dinosaur mouse

Herbie the Love Bug

George Geef (and maybe Goofy Jr, too)

Push the Talking Trash Can

Expedition Everest’s animatronic yeti

Kat Nipp

Trudy van Tubb

Experiment 000 (Cyber)

Zeus / Jupiter and Vulcan (Fantasia versions)

Yeti animatronic

Fifi the Pekingese Dog

The mice in Great Guns and All Wet

Babkak, Omar, and Kassim

The Crows from Dumbo

Scrapped!Gaston(s?)

Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear from Song of the South (and Splash Mountain)

Keelhaul Pete

American folk tale characters (protagonists, primarily)

Fifinellas (female Gremlins) and Widgets (baby Gremlins)

Lyth

The Dreamfinder and Figment the Dragon

Drossel von Flügel and Gedächtnis

Master Control Program (MCP)

Rejected Sleeping Beauty fairies

Various obscure Disney robots

9-Eyes

Kopa

Sheriff Crabb

Rocky the Rhino

The Lion and the Unicorn

Woody Pride (scrapped version)

Inspector Javert (from That Missing Candelabra)

Yzma (scrapped version)

Francine “Fanny” Cottontail

Maleficent (scrapped versions, plus disguise!)

Julius the Cat

Belle’s extended family

Previously-scrapped Beetleworx

The pirates from the King Neptune short

The Mechanical Cow

Eega Beeva

Willie the Whale

J.P. Whiskers

Sora (scrapped version)

Miklos Mouse

Sylvester Shyster

Burrito

Señorita Cactus

The Mariachi Butterflies

Donna Duck

The Aracuan Bird

Miguelito Maracas

Scrapped Peter Pan pirates

Maximilian (already has a Beetleworx, but perhaps put the real one in?)

Elvira (and scrapped version of Edgar?)

The Fujitas

Banagi

Captain Gore and Priscilla

Scrapped “Drink Me” bottle

The White Knight

The Gryphon and the Mock Turtle

The Duchess and company

The Golden Harp?

Scrapped Dwarfs (with, um...certain exceptions...)

Bootleg Pete

Dentist Pete

Robin Williams lost boy from Back to Never Land

Lucky the Dinosaur

Sunflower and/or Otika

The Jabberwock

Characters from Mistress Masham’s Repose

Humphrey the Bear (He made a cameo in 2, apparently, but how about a proper appearance?)

Clara Cluck

The Nutcracker Sentries

Don Quixote

Arawn

Captain Cleaver

Gendarme

Locations

Wintertime Park

The Tick Tock Croc Aquarium

Oswald’s Barrel House

Mickey’s Kitchen (possibly re-opened in Wasteland as Oswald’s Kitchen)

Cannibal Cove/Pirates’ Cove

Mission to Mars

Videopolis

The factory on top of the beanstalk

The Walt Disney Story

“Disney’s America” (or, as I like to call it, Americaland)

World of Motion

El Rio Del Tiempo

Discovery Island (see here if you’re wondering about the Adventurer’s Club)

Pooh’s Playful Spot

River Country

Disney’s Dark Kingdom

Disneyland New York?

Time Keeper

Silent Film Stunt Show

Previously-scrapped Wonderland area

Back to Never Land

Demon Jungle

Beastly Kingdom

Music

Feed the Birds

Arabian Nights Reprise #1

Wherever You Are

Mickey Mouse Disco

We’re Gonna Get Outta this Dump

Chimpanzoo

Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim

Laughing Place

Proud of Your Boy

The Cinderella Work Song

Dancing on a Cloud

If You’ll Believe in Me

I’m Odd

Snuff Out the Light

Beyond the Laughing Sky (which may sound kind of familiar...)

Warrior Face

You’re Never Too Old to Be Young

Music in Your Soup

Beta Epic Mickey tracks (known so far)

Blue Oak Tree

Beware the Jabberwock

Dream Caravan

Misc.

World War II Insignias

Pack Mules?

Photo Cutouts

Booze

Duck Pimples

Cranium Command

Stitch’s Great Escape

Beacon of Souls

Mickey Mouse Club Circus

Flubber AKA Flying Rubber

Wind-Up Mickey Toy

The Star of Astoroth

Plaza Swan Boats and Mike Fink Keel Boats

Guns and other military equipment

Cigars

Scrapped Content from Epic Mickey

The characters, concepts, etc, from 10 scrapped Disney and Pixar films

The collar of the Cat from Outer Space

1930′s Horace X Clarabelle Valentine’s Day card

Mickey’s Army Uniform

Animatronic Hook’s Flying Ship

A very hurtful (to Oswald) quote from Walt (WARNING: angst)

Disney Animator Memorials

Tom Oreb “stylish” 50′s redesigns of classic Disney characters

Spectrobes

What’s this about ICP!?

Unproduced Disney TV shows

The magic sword from The Black Cauldron

The Golden Pelydryn

The Crypt

The Black Cauldron concept art by Tim Burton (potential Bog Easy Blotling ideas?)

The Great Movie Ride

Indicators of the fallen of Wasteland

Peter Pan’s Shadow (either a Pete Pan’s shadow or Blotlings resembling Peter Pan’s shadow)

The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter

The Jug Pump

Disney Princess Academy

Blotlings inspired by The Army of the Dead from The Black Cauldron

Chernabog’s Minions (as Bog Easy Blotling designs)

Splashtacular

Maelstrom

America Sings

Polyps

More about Gremlins (Read the PDF of the book here!)

Pig Head / “Toonarooned”

Scrapped Blot ideas

Tapestry of Nations Parade

Creepy vintage Oswald merch

20′s slang

The Shadow King

Blot!Mickey (could be used for a Blot!Miklos or something)

More creepy vintage Mickey merch

Gas flares

#epic mickey #wastelandunused #creativity fuel #imagination fuel

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