#also interesting how Weiss related the Prince to herself

[schneezburger]

“I’m just saying that we’ve already lost all the house staff, and mother locked herself in her room.”

“I sent them away. How could one expect them to be ruled by someone like me?”

Just two little Prince’s left all alone in their large homes.

[something-very-special]

Impressions

I know I’m way behind on progression through Replicant (insofar as anybody can be ‘way behind’ in the sense of playing a video game for personal entertainment), buuuut I figured I’d share a few thoughts.

Presently I’m doing sidequest mop-up post-Barren Temple, for reference:

So just to get this overall out of the way, I am legitimately fascinated by the differences between NIER and Replicant. This is something I picked up on when I played RepliCant to grab footage for my LP, but given my extremely limited understanding of Japanese all I could get was the tone between characters and to my unpracticed ear they sounded pretty different. I always assumed that Weiss was somehow even more condescending to Brother and hah hah, wow. Even kind of expecting the dialogue and delivery differences I was not prepared for some of the dialogue and delivery differences. Weiss just straight-up insulting BroNier on the regular, not even doing sarcastic eye-rolls like he does with Papa. I don’t remember the exact line that set me off but somewhere in the Barren Temple I was just laughing my ass off at how much of a dick Weiss is.

Thought the ‘miracles’ conversation in the Junk Heap was interesting, too. I remember Papa Nier telling Weiss to stuff it because ‘those kids need a miracle’ and Weiss kind of backs down-- obviously doesn’t believe it, but he knows better than to push. And Brother tries but Weiss is just not having this optimism bullshit. Little things, but the tenor of the relationship is definitely different.

One of the more interesting aspects early on is the way the Lunar Tear is treated. Obviously I don’t know if this was part of the original game or a script adjustment, but Brother talking about the Tear as a source of money as opposed to Father saying it can grant wishes was interesting. Maybe it was to justify that Kaine just has a whole necklace of the damn things and therefore it’s rare but not literally magic, but it always sounded like it was just meant to be taken as a myth to me anyway. Then again, it’s established in the Grimoire that Brother has a fixation specifically on making money so he can support himself and Yonah (versus Papa Nier, who has obviously already established himself as an adult rather than a kid still figuring things out and hoping that enough money will solve all their problems).

Where the dialogue doesn’t diverge is interesting, too. Mostly I’m talking about the scene after defeating Hook. I always found Papa Nier exclaiming “You’re going to live, Kaine!” and “Yes, we’re friends now!” to be obvious holdovers from a younger protagonist just goddamn hilarious when Papa Nier is saying them. They’re still really funny with Brother Nier but just remembering Papa Nier doing the exact same delivery in his deep, manly voice just re-elevated the whole scene into comedy gold.

All of that is really why I was interested in getting the game so already my money is well spent. But there’s some other stuff:

They butchered the OST! ...or so people keep telling me on Youtube. I admit I do think the re-orchestrations is largely inferior to the original (although there are some that are at least as good in a different way, and whatever they did to The Lost Forest -- which was one of my least favorite tracks in the original -- I really enjoy) but I wouldn’t call it a butchering and I highly suspect that if I didn’t have the eleven years of the original OST and its association within the game itself I wouldn’t bat an eye, it still all sounds great.

Also, a weird observation, but I found that the soundtrack sounds much better coming out of the TV speakers than through headphones. I’m not sure if somehow it was optimized for play through external speakers, or maybe just not hearing the added orchestration right up against my eardrums, but when I went to the Lost Shrine with headphones on I was admittedly disappointed, but going to it again and listening through the TV it worked significantly better.

(I’m not sure if this is necessarily a factor, but the booklet in the White Snow edition mentions that the new soundtrack was all studio mixed rather than having the individual tracks layered. While I don’t think that would have an impact on music quality it almost definitely makes a difference in the way it’s produced.)

I miss chest-thrusting to double jump Movement overall feels much more refined and polished. It’s not as slick as Automata, but it definitely feels like a natural evolution of the original game, and as an apologist for NIER’s combat I can appreciate that. A little more responsive, I appreciate being able to move while casting magic, and it still has a bit of a crunch behind weapon impact (although I wish it felt a bit heavier).

But goodness I miss the stupid animation for double-jumping. I mean sure, an aerial somersault is a classic indication of a double jump, but I just loved that Nier would chest-thrust so hard he would break the laws of physics and ascend higher.

It also feels a bit like the aerial dodge was nerfed for movement purposes? I really don’t feel as much horizontal thrust to get a running start after diving off the Library balcony.

Fully voiced? Fully voiced?! I knew this was happening but I totally forgot until the NPC villagers started talking to me! Some of the incidental deliveries are a bit awkward, but as somebody whose glasses prescription is a decade out of date I appreciate this immensely.

The item guy in Seafront just being from the goddamn Bronx is a thing of beauty.

BroNier does fit into the Village better. One of the little details I love in the game is that each bit of civilization has its own style. The maps aren’t large enough to really convey how long travel takes, but the different styles between the Village and Seafront just kind of helped to ‘place’ the characters in a really neat, subtle way (Emil’s sash identifies him as ‘belonging to’ Seafront, which is actually pertinent when you get that sidequest where you find the letter from his science-mom in town! I assume she always wore a kicky sash when she went to work in the underground child torture bunker.)

Facade obviously also has their own style, but it’s... hard not to appreciate.

Papa Nier’s dress doesn’t really ‘place’ him anywhere, which doesn’t feel weird for the main character, and I feel like it’s implied that he isn’t really from the Village in a meaningful way anyway and kind of drifted in at some point after Yonah had been born. But younger Brother Nier is actually wearing the local fashion and it’s a neat little detail that I didn’t appreciate back when I played PS3 RepliCant. (Probably because I didn’t bother talking to any NPCs what with not being able to read the dialogue, so I never really had him standing next to anybody for long enough to process.) Older Brother Nier takes on a very different outfit that winds up displacing him from the rest of the Village (and any other towns), which is a pretty nice visual metaphor, too.

I have a confession to make. I still enjoy fishing in this game.

Yeah I said it. I’ll say it again too-- I like the fishing minigame. I happily blitzed through the Fisherman’s available Gambits, and then just caught five sharks while I was hanging out, and then also caught the sandfish ahead of time, and also wound up with a half-ton giant catfish (??!?) trying to remember where the black bass are located.

Cart me away.

Related but I laughed far too hard when the fisherman says “the WESTERN beach”. I wonder why they changed that line. I just can’t imagine.

And those seals. Always a delight to go to early Seafront and just plant yourself between a couple of seals. Watch the ocean. Listen to the music and the waves. Watch the seals lazily roll around and make cute seal barks.

The most depressing thing about the timeskip is losing those seals.

My garden--! The gardening timeskip exploit was fixed due to a difference in PS4 architecture. :/ I know there’s still an exploit involving time zones but I didn’t go in knowing that and I was horrified when I adjusted the system clock only to find my crops weren’t growing. Is Legendary Gardener still a trophy? Fffffuuuuu

My BARREN TEMPLE. The Barren Temple is, to me, a legitimately funny dungeon, between Sechs getting himself abducted, Kaine getting herself abducted and Nier and Weiss just sighing in resignation, and the whole concept of the rules-based challenges. And the adjustment they made to the Prince’s dialogue before you meet him is so good-- the original felt a little disjointed and felt like it ended with the Prince being confused. It was still funny, but here Weiss just gives zero fucks about insulting the Prince (and presumably knows that’s exactly who he’s talking to) and it’s just great.

And I say all of that because I just died laughing when I got to the infamous Racing Wolf room and saw they outlawed evasion.

Evasion works differently in this game anyway so you wouldn’t have really been able to do the same trick before (dodge roll; in the original release you would dodge roll forward by tapping the button, but a default evasion has you backstep. Of course you could arrange BroNier to face away from the trap and then evade, but it would be significantly dicier, and I feel like the pattern on the shots was awkward enough that you wouldn’t have an opening in the second row (and probably would’ve have dodged your ass right into the bullets anyway). But just that they acknowledged the trick and then flipped you off with it was amazing. Aggravating? My amusement far outweighed my frustration since the Defend trick was still solid.

It also felt like more rooms outlawed jumping? That I can’t corroborate (I was really focusing on whether they did something to Racing Wolf, which is of course the most traumatic of the rooms) but I feel like it wasn’t as easy to cheese some of those rooms as it had been previously.

Dark Blast is amazing. Cheesed the shit out of the actual ‘Evasive Mouse’ room, though. I remember having some difficulties when the miniboss shows up since you can’t dodge out of the way of his lava pillar attack, but I just circle-strafed with Dark Blast and he died comically quickly.

This is actually more relevant to the magic as a whole, but in the time since I first played NIER (so... probably the time I fifth played NIER) I learned more about the little intracacies of the magic system. Like, really little intricacies, like how you can use magic with just a button tap and it actually has different effects... like Dark Blast dealing significantly more damage. It’s not as easy as just holding down the button and getting the multi-shot off the charge, but for a single enemy like that just rapid-fire tapping the button chews through the lifebar.

This tap strategy is really appreciated for Dark Hand (forward thrust punch) and Dark Lance (which is even better thanks to the game’s lock-assist-- a much appreciated quality-of-life adjustment), and I look forward to getting Dark Execution because of its fast activation feature (spreading the lances in a forward cone in front of you, extremely useful for crowd control when you can’t afford to wait for Execution to charge up).

Fragile Delivery still sucks. I don’t know why I had such a terrible time with the first Fragile Delivery but I broke that... Ming vase or whatever you’re delivering half a dozen times. Send that guy a steel rug instead, Guard #3, he is not worth whatever piece of art you had me destroy six times.

And the game still holds up. This is probably a ‘needless to say’ thing but yeah, this is still a great game. I always have a little bit of apprehension going back to something I loved just in case there’s a rose-colored effect going on. Not that I really expected that to happen with this game (I’ve played NIER recently enough that I didn’t think nostalgia would blind me) but, you know, always a possibility.

(That and that the remaster would be... perhaps of dubious quality. It happens.)

Nope! Still engaging. Still charming. I’m always impressed to go back to this game with all the knowledge of its inevitable misery and remember that it’s also just plain funny. NIER is one of those games that’s just like I remember it but better every time I go back to it.

I’m so glad that Automata did well enough to spur greater interest in this game. It really didn’t get the chance it deserved back in 2010 and now it’s topping some of the sales charts. That’s fantastic.

Just... fantastic.

[conspirwbytheorist-inactive]

Some Cinder Thoughts

So I saw this post from @hoepunkausta a while back and was going to reply. Then I realized that this was the first time I’d actually sat down and taken a good look at Cinder and holy cow is there a lot to this character. Anyways, it got me thinking about Cinder's potential background and, while I've always seen her as a foil and tied to Ruby, I never realized how she could potentially tie in to ALL of team RWBY. Which is. . .pretty awesome from not only a narrative point of view but in regards to character redemption as well. Full take under the cut.

TLDR: If we assume Cinder’s backstory is in keeping with the popular version of the Cinderella tale, it ties-in to a lot of the our heroes’ traumas, giving each of them a reason to relate to her. Currently, Salem maintains control over Cinder by presenting herself as the fairy godmother, because were Cinder to see her as the stepmother she was, she would potentially leave. Were she to break away from Salem, recognizing her shared traumas with the members of Team RWBY could provide her with the connection needed to grow and heal as a person.

***Content Warning: Mentions of abuse/abuser tactics***

Intro

The post itself is pretty simple. Do we think Cinder came from an abusive background or do we think she came from a normal family that died under tragic circumstances before she met Salem? I’d always gotten the vibe that Cinder came to Salem searching for power after a life of rather horrific abuse similar to a more traditional Cinderella story.

The way she craves power, not just as a resource but as something she desperately needs for her own survival (her line about Pyrrha “taking her fate into her own hands” in V2 and the “I refuse to starve” of V7 come to mind), leads to believe that she came from a home that didn’t allow her much freedom or agency. She seems to know exactly what it feels like to not be in control of her own life and, now that she has found her escape from it (Salem), refuses to ever go back.

But how does this translate into ties to Team RWBY? She obviously has been foiled with Ruby, but the other 3? Kind of a big leap to make. Well, stick with me. Naturally, when thinking of a Cinder backstory, it makes sense to look at her main allusion, the Cinderella fairy tale.

A Cinder Story

Cinderella doesn’t start her story with an evil stepmother and step sisters. By most accounts she started out fairly privileged. With that in mind, imagine this woman, who we have come to know as a murdering power-driven villain, as a small child with seemingly everything she needed. A loving family, relative financial stability, decent social standing, etc. until one day, out of nowhere. Her mother dies. And suddenly she finds her world turned upside down. Her father remarries to a woman who loathes her and, who, after his death, does her best to control her, isolate her. Everyday she is told she is lesser than her sisters, meant to act as a servant. To cope with the difficult circumstances, she daydreams about a perfect place (in the main story, the ball/landed nobility but in Cinder’s case perhaps the opulence of Atlas) where if she can just prove herself good enough, endure enough pain, she can finally earn a happy ever after.

Now, what’s interesting here is that in just this bare bones outline of the Cinderella story, we touch on the key traumas of each of our four protagonists. Ruby and Summer’s death, Weiss’s isolation and molding under Jacques, Blake’s experience of racism as a faunus and abuse under Adam and Yang’s attempting to live up to Summer’s ideal to cope with abandonment. Which is really fricking cool because it means if ANY of this hypothetical backstory were to come to light, at least SOMEONE if not EVERYONE from the team has a potential point of empathy for where Cinder is coming from.

Something I love about RWBY is how it (for the most part) does its best to show how people are not inherently good or evil, but rather products of their circumstances and environment. So imagine the narrative and thematic potential of a villain for whom each of our cast could theoretically look at and think “Wow. That really could have been me” instead of “look at this monster”. A moment where they realize that, had things gone a bit differently, had they not been a position to cope with their traumas and actively choose to love instead of being engulfed by their pain and anger, they very much could have been this story’s villains rather than its heroes. A moment where, through Cinder, they concretely realize themselves as products of choice rather than destiny and, in that same vein, perhaps Cinder can see the same for herself.

Okay, but what about the Salem part? If we reduce “badness” all to a matter of choice ignores another key theme of RWBY: the importance of an awesome support network and team to back you up. At every point of the series our heroes have had someone to help them. Ruby had Yang and Qrow growing up before her team and JNR after Beacon, Weiss had Winter and Klein, Blake Ilia and Sun, and Yang had Ruby growing up and Tai after Beacon. But who did Cinder have to help her through her darkest times? No one. Except Salem.

The Case of the Fairy Stepmother

That brings me to the second part of the question: Is Salem the stepmother or Fairy Godmother? Honestly I think it’s both. The real question (and what I think will be the biggest obstacle for Cinder growing as a character) is how does Cinder see it?

In the Cinderella story, the Fairy Godmother and Evil Stepmother play opposing roles. Stepmother does all that she can to keep Cinderella underfoot and away from realizing her full potential as a person while the Fairy Godmother steps in when Cindy is at her lowest and uses her magic to give her all that she needs to get that “Happily Ever After”. In theory it should be impossible for one person to be both at the same time, but turns out it’s a matter of perspective.

Imagine Cinder at her lowest point. Maybe she was a no-name seamstress in Argus who daydreamed about being swept up into the glamour of the Atlas elite. Maybe she was a scared kid who saw becoming a huntress as her ticket out of poverty and into a life of adventure. Imagine her getting that wish of her own accord. Playing the game, doing everything right, biding her time until finally, she escapes - only to find herself trapped in a new way. (a Prince Charming who controls her as a plaything, a student not willing to be a child soldier, there are so many possibilities here). Only to see that the system was stacked against her in way where she could never escape it under her own power. That’s. . . a lot to process and a feeling of hopelessness that I think a lot of us can relate to (especially in our current world-state).

Then Salem comes in and not only promises Cinder the power to create her own destiny, but delivers it. Cinder goes from having almost nothing to magically receiving the means to accomplish anything she desired. All because of Salem. I see a lot of people question why Cinder is so loyal to Salem, but given this view, it’d be very difficult for her not to feel indebted to her savior in some regard.

Furthermore, Salem seems relatively fond of Cinder. She defends her from ridicule in Volume 4, goes out of her way to praise her strengths and, honestly, seems to have more patience with her than the rest of WTCH.  Given her backstory, I wouldn’t even be remotely surprised if what drew Salem to Cinder was the chance to give this angry young woman the power she wished that she had had prior to her curse. It’s almost. . . motherly. In a way I would expect a millennia old woman driven mad by isolation and Grimm Lakes and a very traumatized Cinder to view motherhood.

But, that doesn’t mean that the two have a healthy relationship. We as the audience see how Salem’s “love” comes at a price. She never hesitates to keep Cinder underfoot: oscillating between praise and threats of punishment, criticizing Cinder’s discomfort in Volume 4 as weakness, and making it clear that Cinder is only important to her insofar as her usefulness. The whole “Without you I am nothing” really illustrates how far out of her way Salem goes to make Cinder painfully aware that all that she has, all that she has accomplished is because of Salem’s magic. Salem hasn’t helped Cinder as a benefactor. A benefactor would let Cinder proceed to live her own life. Salem has instead taken advantage of Cinder’s lack of any support network and feelings of isolation to establish herself as Cinder’s sole source of support.

While we as an audience can see how abusive this dynamic is, Cinder can’t. Right now, she’s more or less fully embedded in Salem’s manipulation tactics - Salem’s narrative is her truth. And, even if she does come to see it (don’t think I missed the hints of resentment in the trailer), there’s nowhere for her to go. What can she do? Go rogue? The woman has an entire Grimm army! Turn to Emerald, Mercury, or Neo? They’re all either children or also in on all this! Just like the Stepmother, so long as Salem keeps Cinder feeling isolated, the chances of her escaping or changing remain slim.

Seeds of Support and Redemption

So, that leaves us with two things Cinder needs in order to break away from Salem:

Recognizing Salem as a controlling/toxic “Stepmother” figure instead of a  “Fairy Grimm-Mother” and that this is NOT what she wants out of life.

Finding connections/a support network she can go to after leaving

This is why Cinder having parallels to all of Team RWBY is so frickin cool. I’m still not 100% certain of a full Cinder redemption. Like, I love her as a character. But part of the reason I love her is that she is a hot mess who will go full ride or die no matter the situation. So getting her to even pause and go “is this what I want out of my life?” is probably going to take something pretty drastic to rattle her current convictions.

However, that being said, I find it really suspicious that the team would take a character that could be used to parallel the traumas of all four main heroes and just hang her out to dry. In a different show, I might think they could set her up with a death as a warning for our protagonists. But, that doesn’t make sense. Every possible warning I can think of motivating Cinder’s death is already being conveyed by another character. The dangers of falling to spite? Adam. Isolation causes only weakness and pain? Raven. Sacrificing humanity for the sake of power is a crap idea? Ironwood.

Instead, these seems like a great way to set up a situation where Cinder can find connection. After all, if our team could potentially look at Cinder and go “This could have been me”, what’s to stop Cinder from looking at them, seeing their pain and how they support each other, and going “Huh. Maybe this could be me?”. Especially if something radical has just happened to get her to want to break away from Salem for whatever reason. Maybe I’m just crazy, maybe I’ve been sitting on this too long, but I think that that would be really cool for a show about the power of love and connection to have its longest-term “villain” illustrate how, given support and humanity, victims of abuse can grow and find genuine connection with people.

[razorblade180]

Talking about the Bees

Over the years bmblb has given me a mix of emotions that were difficult to explain but I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on them now and I’m kinda just putting them out into the air. Bmblb is a really cute ship; Blake and Yang are aesthetically pleasing together and fans come up with really interesting things for them. Outside of that however, it is a bit of a challenge to enjoy this ship and it comes down two things really.

The first thing is really easy to explain. It suffers from what most ships in shows have where there’s plenty of pairings; it’s gotten so big that it’s constantly louder than most ships. This problem really can’t be fixed all that much unfortunately. For those who don’t get what I’m saying I’ll explain. When I watch RWBY and Blake and Yang do anything together, I instantly know social media is gonna be flooded with it. The fans are all gonna post similar things regarding that clip that everything else about that episode practically gets drowned out. I remember in V5 where countless of people were talking about how Yang was gonna react to Blake in the final episode and not about how she was gonna confront her mother. What makes it seem louder is even during a hiatus there’s no real slow down. Someone can make a post saying “Bees killedAdam” today and it most likely trend higher than an extremely well drawn picture of Oscar. No other ship does this. When major things happen to big ships like White Rose and Renora people eat up for a couple of weeks then move on; they don’t even flood the hashtags really. It’s only Bmblb that has this constant high 24/7 because of the sheer size and energy of the shippers; that’s why it’s super easy to upset the hive; not to mention the Wasps.

The second thing is a bit more controversial but these are my opinions and obviously no one is obligated to agree with me. Bmblb to me does not seemed earned. Like I said, they look cute together but their relationship is really hollow and leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. It’s like Rooster Teeth made all the plot points but never connected them; some have dashed lines but that’s it. Yang in vol5 was so touchy over the subject of Blake that she lashed out momentarily at Weiss and Ruby. Even after talking about it with Weiss, a lot of pent of emotions were still there and could only be resolved by confronting Blake with them. At the end of the volume I held out hope that her saying they were fine was just because it was the end of the volume. Then we got to V6

It starts of good with their being this awkwardness between them; things aren’t normal yet and that’s good. Next major thing is the barn scene and that’s where the ball drops. Yang getting upset at Blake for her comment about being protected should’ve been the flood gate for a well of deeper problems. Yang should’ve ripped into her about all the pain she’s caused her since V3. Blake didn’t believe Yang during the tournament incident, then she left without a word, now she’s back by coincidence and talking about standing by people when they need help. That aggression she showed Ruby and Weiss should’ve been in full force here while Blake tried defending herself and also getting a angry instead of Yang just leaving; then having her help only Blake a few scenes later. I mean Yang has a golden opportunity to talk about her abandonment issues here.

That argument could’ve caused the both of them to not speak to each other and only be hurt up until the airship mission. Instead of a cute scene of Blake telling Yang how bad stealth she is, replace it with Blake trying to apologize again and clear the air as Yang only listens because as much as she wants to forgive her, she’s genuinely hurt so Blake goes to do her part of the mission without an answer. Then Adam shows up and Yang rushes into action like in the show. Both of them are forced to get their shit together and face the vital reason they are in this emotional situation. The scene plays out as normal about them protecting each other and we have them both break down and crying after they beat him too. They’re both apologizing for everything that’s happened and Yang tells her how much Blake means to her. Now these awkward and cute scenes in V7 feel earned between them and not bait because they have a complete arc.

We know Rooster Teeth can pull this off because they’ve made a complete arc before. Blake met Sun and he started as a stranger she’s into and would help her with or without permission. She likes it until it becomes a problem in V4 where she actively tries shuts him out of her life and is upset that he’s around to the point she hits him. Sun however continues to push the boundaries. This comes to a head where she gets really upset after he could’ve died. Both of them end up having a serious conversation where they air out all of their emotional stress. Then we spend V5 with Blake actively including him and giving him information about her life willing to the point she tells him about Ilia’s past and let’s him know she’s going to meet her.

This payoff keeps happening from that point forward where they have each other’s back and supporting one other until the end of the volume. The two of them confident that they don’t even have to constantly be around each other and that they can handle things separately. Then the arc closes in the beginning of V6. Blake went from hitting Sun and not wanting him around to being sad that he’s leaving her and kisses him on the cheek. Sun isn’t worried about her and trying to stick with her. He knows Blake is where she needs to be and doesn’t pressure her to figure everything out so fast; he respects her boundaries. They had a complete arc.

This is why Bmblb and BlackSun are so aggressive. More fans love Bmblb and they are drowning in evidence that their ship will be canon, BlackSun feels more complete. Their relationship has matured more naturally; the dots connect. There’s just not as many dots at this point. I’m not picking sides or anything because at this point o think Blake should be single and focus on who she is as a person for awhile, which would do Yang’s character some good. Yang has not initiated any meaningful conversation or action with anyone except Blake and her mom. Weiss just happened to be kidnapped by Raven and she also made Yang open up after her lash out. Yang barely talks to Ruby and outside of V1 and their hug in V5 there hasn’t been a real heart to heart with them, but she’s talked with, or about Blake plenty with varying emotions. Jaune is consistent with his feelings. Pyrrha makes him sad and any serious conversation holds a wait of him struggling to press on and slowly getting better because almost everyone has talked to him to help progress his character. Yang is trapped in a bubble talking to Blake and Blake is only allowed to really talk to Weiss if it’s about racism.

I know it’s a bit of tangent but Rooster Teeth is kinda letting this problem bleed over into other characters; especially when it comes to making plot points with no lines. Perfect example we got this volume. Ruby has been in the mindset that she failed to save Penny for like a year and felt crushed about her friends death, yet did not sob uncontrollably learning that her friend was alive. But she cried when she saw her sister, a person she left at home who wasn’t talking to her. If Pyrrha came back you could bet everything that Jaune would be on the floor in tears because it would be weird of he didn’t do that for someone he mourned over. It’s almost like if it’s not shipping related then RT doesn’t care that much but they obviously love Bmblb, yet it’s skeleton of what it should be by now!

That kinda wraps up the basis of my feelings towards the Bees. I really do think this ship is nice but it’s just so lack luster for the amount of people who love it way more than me and for RT to try and sell people on it. I don’t like comparing shows but for anyone who’s heard of The Dragon Prince, season 3 is nine episodes yet the evolution of two characters relationships feels way more natural; also it wasn’t planned from the beginning of the show. If they can do it, Rooster Teeth can too. I say this because I care and want to see the show improve. Like besides Adam, what do Yang and Blake have to talk about? Yang never is in the above faunus oppression. Anytime Blake gets racism thrown her way it’s Weiss that deals with it. Blake and Yang killed the lifeblood their ship was riding on way too long.

[littlemisssquiggles]

*fluffs you* Uhm... Any thoughts on Chapter 5 yet? You know I don't mind spoilers :)

Apologies for the late response! Say no more Mizu. I gotchu fam! If I’m beingcompletely honest with you, I don’t have much to say about this episode mostly in the sense that, even after processing it for an entire day, I’m still riding the high of it. I will say overall that I enjoyed this episode so I think for the most part, this time I’m just only going to mention the two key parts that I enjoyed the most about this episode, if that’s okay:

JNPR RISES

First of all, as you’ve probably seen by now from my blog—a wild cute farm boy was sighted in this episode. Naturally this made this squiggle meister very very happy. 

Going in CH5 especially following the last episode, what I mostly wantedout of this new chapter on Oscar’s side was mostly to see him show up. I honestly felt like a mom whose kid went away to summer camp and hasn’t seen them in weeks. I just wanted to see Oscar to be reminded that he’s still in the PLOT (unlike certain other characters *coughsMariacoughs*). But I ended up getting more than I bargained for.

This episode showed Oscar teaming up with JNR in an all fours team battle against an Atlesian huntsmen team I’ve been waiting to make a comeback since V3. 

RWBY BROUGHT BACK THE FNKI! 

Seriously it was SO GREAT seeing Neon and Flynt returning. I was worried that with our heroes spending time mostly with the Ace Ops that we weren’t going to catch them at all. 

Luckily Eddy Rivas came in clutch for us FNKI fans this episode. Myfavourite part of CH5 was the fight between FNKI and JNR with Oscar. It wasso good. Seeing their interactions on the battlefield. Hearing Neon roast Nora and having Nora Harry Pottering herself around the battlefield trying to catch her was awesome.

Since when can Nora use the hammer to fly around like a witch on a broomstick!? This is the first time we’ve seen that and I really really love it! Need more hammer Witch Nora!

Watching Jaune fight Flynt and Ren fight Ivory while Oscar fought the giantKobalt and seeing all three of them kick ass. The fact that FNKI lost to JNPRmade me smile because a) it shows how much JNR has indeed improved since FNKI met them during the Vytal Festival, b) it highlights how much Oscar has been improving on his own without Oz and c) it shows how well Oscar works with JNR.

Seriously this scene gave me more hope for Oscar inevitably joining JNR to revive JNPR because that’s something that this squiggle meister has been hoping for since V5. For me, one thing I’ve always wanted for Oscar is for him to gain his own place on the team beyond his role as Ozma’s current descendant in the cycle and Ozpin’s successor. 

Hence why I fell in love with the theory of him joining JNR to revive their huntsmen team. 

While they’ve done well on their own up until this point, admittedly JNRhas been incomplete since Pyrrha’s death. And one thing I’ve always appreciated about the JNR gang is how they always felt like a family. 

I know Team RWBY is our core protagonist team but I’ve always felt more attached to JNPR and I believed them to have the stronger family rapport than RWBY. 

This is why I was hoping Oscar would eventually join them. Become a part of their little family and give Oscar three brothers-in-arms that he can count on both off and on the battlefield.

I felt like Oscar would fit well with JNR. Not just because they were short one member and his last name coincidentally provides that missing “P” from JNR…but mostly because I figured Oscar would complement Jaune, Nora and Ren just much as Pyrrha did once before. Thus making the young farm boy turned little barn prince fit well within JNR. 

I always liked the idea of Oscar making JNR feel whole again and reviving their group through his growing bond and comradery with each member. 

Beyond that, I wanted Oscar to experience what it was like to be a partof huntsmen team since part of the enjoyment of RWBY for me was watching these characters grow close to one another over the seasons. 

Becoming teammates then friends and then to a greater extent—a family. I wanted the same experience for Oscar because right now, he could really use that. 

He could use more friends. He could use a family. People he could happily call his brothers and sisters. His people and I think JNR can provide that him. No, I know JNR can provide him that. JNR are ¾ of who I believed could become Oscar’s Golden Circle of most trusted confidantes (the final member being Ruby, of course) and I’m not giving up on that headcanon. 

I figured that’s what the Writers were going for last season with the whole Argus subplot between Jaune and Oscar. But…well, we all know how that went. Nonetheless, maybe there’s hope for this season. I’d love for the PLOT to revisit Oscar’s departure last season and I’d like to think it could come back up for the sake of his development to come from this season. But as always we, will see how that goes.

—————————

SISTER SISTER 

This episode also confirmed what most of us RWBY Theorists has been theorizing for years. Winter is going to be the next candidate for Winter Maiden. 

According to the episode, Ironwood has not only been grooming Winter to become the next Winter Maiden following the passing of the old one but he’s also been grooming the Winter Maiden to choose Winter as her next successor by having Winter be the only person to interact with the old Maiden. 

That’s an interesting take. I mean, my theory has always been thatIronwood wanted to control the succession of the Maidens but I figured he wouldhave done it using Atlas’ experimental aura technology. Not by literallygrooming the old candidate to pick his designated next one. It’s kind a poor way of doing it because as Oz once put it—”Maidens choose themselves”. 

The only time this rule has been broken is when Maidens have been killed and their powers end up going to their assailants as opposed to someone they cared about. This also makes me curious as to what would happened should Ironwood’s plan not work with the Winter Maiden.

I remember Qrow mentioned something about the Maidens back in a previous volume regarding what would happen should a maiden not have someone to choose in mind.

I know Ironwood is trying to make the Granny Winter pick Winter but…what if…this doesn’t happen? 

After all, you can’t just make a person care about someone just because she created a controlled scenario for them to force this type of bond. It doesn’t exactly work that way. While Ironwood might succeed in making Granny Winter care for Winter, I doubt he can make her care about her enough to have the powers pass onto her.

Imagine if…it becomes a case where the Winter Maiden had a daughter or a perhaps a granddaughter or great niece? Perhaps the Winter Maiden never had any children of her own since Maidens are usual chosen young. Perhaps Granny Winter has only known the life of a Maiden and has mostly lived it in isolation. However the only exception was her keeping in contact with the last family member that she had before she became a Maiden. Maybe she had a sister? Or a brother who eventually had a child of their own. A daughter. 

What if…the Winter Maiden has young niece or great niece she never met. And she’s been thinking about that person for some time. Especially now that’s she on her death bed. Perhaps…Granny Winter has one dying wish that she confided in Winter? That she wanted to be reunited with her niece.

Perhaps…she confided this in Winter and she’s been keeping that little secret from even Ironwood this entire time. 

Overall, this whole plot point with Winter and Granny Winter is really intriguing. And what’s more cool about is that it puts Winter more into perspective. This is the first time the show has really focused on Winter as a person; highlighting how she feels. We’ve seen Winter display a softer side to her otherwise stoic demenour but it’s usual reserved for her closest family such as her sister, Weiss.

This is the first time we’ve seen Winter show genuine care for anyone outside of her family. I wish we had gotten more time to spend with Winter and Granny Winter. It was nice to see how Winter has accepted her fate. It was also good to see just how much Winter values General Ironwood. It wouldn’t surprise me if part of the reason Winter respects the General is because she sees him as a father figure—at least a better one than her own father. I just really enjoyed that moment between Weiss and Winter. It’s very rare we see the Schnee Sisters interact so it was lovely seeing them have their moment this episode.

I know I call the Winter Maiden Granny Winter, but in actuality, her name is Fria. And one thing I’m curious about is whether or Fria will be based on the Norse Goddess of the same name?

Is Fria related to Nora?

This isn’t really a point of the episode but a theory I have based on what I learnt of the Winter Maiden. To me, the name “Fria” reminds me of “Freya”

According to research, Freya, in Norse mythology, is the Goddess of love but she is also associated with sex, lust, beauty, sorcery, fertility, gold, war and death.It is also stated that Freya shares a connection to Thor. Since Nora is RWBY’s equivalent of Thor and since it’s been teased that us fans will be learning more about Nora’s backstory soon, I’m starting to wonder if there will be an unspoken connection to Nora and Fria---the Winter Maiden.

Technically, the Maidens are the closest thing to goddesses in Remnant given their strong potency in magic. So I’m curious if at some point it will be revealed that Nora is a long-lost relative of Fria---probably her only living family member---who was stolen from her as a child by bandits who then trafficked Nora off to Mistral where she ultimately escaped her captives and wound up in Kunoyuri where she met Ren.

Imagine if...it’s a case where...Nora hasn’t seen Fria in years. Nor does she even remember her since Nora was abducted as a child so all the trauma of being kidnapped from her family forced Nora to somehow repress her past. Perhaps V7 will end on a cliffhanger note with Fria revealing to Winter her last dying wish---

To be somehow be reunited with her beloved granddaughter before she parted Remnant and returned to the Gods. And her granddaughter’s name was Nora Valkyrie.

Imagine if...V7 ends on Nora just learning that she is the granddaughter of the Winter Maiden who desperately wants to see her before she goes. But Nora becomes torn up about it since hearing about Fria causes all the repressed memories of her past to suddenly resurface after so long and for the first time since she first met Ren, Nora becomes a emotionally vulnerable and scared girl again--- unable to cope with this startling revelation and this time, it will Ren’s turn to support Nora on the qualms of her past along with Jaune (and possibly Oscar to since he is connected to the Maidens being the successor to the man who created them). I’m not sure if this will be the case in the serious. 

However I am definitely down for this theory becoming canon if possible.

Nora becoming the Winter Maiden would surprisingly fit given the fact that her fairytale counterpart is an mythological god. Nora will literally become Thor if she rises to Maiden status and thunder is her element of choice.

Just picture Nora like Thor in Thor: Ragnarok. Her crystal blue-green eyes aglow with electricity surging around her body. And Nora using thunder as her element of choice as a Maiden even though she’s supposedly the Winter Maiden still fits since, technically---Cinder is the Fall Maiden and her element of choice is Fire.

Raven is the Spring Maiden and her element of choice was surprisingly Ice of all things. So Nora as the Winter Maiden using thunder. That would be purely badass!

The only gripe that I have with this theory is that Nora rising to Maiden status would put a greater death flag target on her back than her red hair. Theorists are already saying that Nora might be killed by Tyrian since in mythology, Thor was killed by a scorpion. 

I personally don’t want Nora to die at all! I like and care too much about Nora as character. Raven is a Maiden and she lived. So if Nora becomes a Maiden, I expect her to live too. I’d actually be livid if Nora ends up dying especially since she’s been with us since V1. Pyrhha’s death was one thing but Nora’s...I’ll be really pissed if she gets killed off. ESPECIALLY in the event of JNPR being revived through Oscar.

So yeah, while I really want Nora to become the Winter Maiden, I don’t want her to die either. But regardless, for now I’m going to stick a pin in this theory and keep it on the table of possibilities.

----

Robynn Death Flags + Ace Frames

And that’s pretty much it. That’s all I have to say on CH5, Mizu. As an honourary mention, I did like seeing Robyn Hill. She was cool and I’m intrigued by her and her Happy Huntresses. I’m especially curious about her possible connection to Clover because they seemed to have history. Definitely giving me Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham vibes. But beyond that, there wasn’t much for me to say on the part with Robyn. However I am looking forward to seeing her and her huntresses in action soon.

The title of the next episode---CH6 is titled “Night Out” and our heroes are expected to be attending the Watch party for the election campaign between Jacques and Robyn. 

I have a hunch that CH6 is going to be another “calm before the storm” type of episode just like CH4. 

I have a feeling that Tyrian is going to probably show up during the rally targeting Robyn to kill her. 

Since Tyrian is working with Watts and since Watts was shown eyeballing the Ace Ops in the opening, my theory is that Watts is going to have Tyrian either kill off Robyn or at least target her and make it look as if Clover of the Ace Ops was responsible for the hit on Robyn at the rally.

Thus making the public of Mantle believe that the Ace Ops were the ones behind all the murders of the spokespeople in Mantle like Forest. #FRWBY

I think it’s going to start with Clover first since he’s the leader of the Aces and we’ve seen more of him than his teammates. 

I have a feeling that Watts plan is to use either Clover and/or the Ace Ops as martyrs to further tarnish the General’s public image through a huge scandal with Robyn. 

I think Robyn is either going to die or be believed to have been killed with Clover blamed for her death. 

An Ace Op---one of the General’s personal attack dogs--- accused of killing the key representative for Mantle to keep her from gaining a seat on the governing council---hence keeping Mantle out of Atlas? That’s a good scandal. One that could destroy James even further. 

I still stand by my theory that Jacques plan is to usurp James and through Watts’ aid, I think there’s a huge possibility.

Unless Jacques is nothing but a perfect pawn to Watts for him to pin everything on in the end just to cover his tracks and cause an even worse scandal for Atlas with Mantle.

I dunno. These are all just theories but I’m gonna stick with them for now. In the meantime, I hope this answers your Mizu.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[thousandeyesand-one]

S08E01

Ok so here's where D&D suck. They try to create an "open to interpretation" kind of scenario with most female characters, arya is definitely there but nobody is given a hard time over it more than Daenerys. They never explain or make her explain the why's & how's, because they want daenerys to be the "bad ass dragon queen whose impulse has given the show it's many epic cinematic moments"

GRRM does something quite similar too. He writes characters as faulted as human beings are supposed to be, he likes to conflict a reader's mind in the most tiring way possible. He said afterall he believes Faulkner's words "The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself".

He makes his character do an action/say some words that more or likely they HAD to. But then he introduces the consequences of the said action/words while at the same time he gives a reason & understanding of why such a hard decision was made/tough words were used. GRRM creates conflict in such a way that it is upto YOU. The Reader, to decide for themselves what they make of the situation. Which ultimately means it's only one's assumption to choose to believe the character was wrong because you choose to ignore the reason behind their action/words. While the one's who support the character chooses to accept the character not only with the reason behind the action/words but also with the consequences of it.

Your "hate" towards daenerys is just YOUR assumption, your villainization of daenerys is just YOUR assumption, your degradation of daenerys's efforts & experiences is just YOUR assumption. Not the actual story definitely not the author's intent.

The scene where daenerys takes the unsullied is the most bad-ass, jaw dropping & inspiring scene centered on a female character ever. When it dropped I remember GA being taken by how "bad-ass" she is. But now I see haters using Astaphor as a "brutality" condoned by daenerys. All because the show never cared to reflect upon a deeper more sympathetic thought process behind doing what she did. While tge book reading haters like I said above choose to ignore her reason & only care about the consequences.

Tv Show: "we never really get this sense .. of her capacity for cruelty. They are surrounded by people who are terrible people but haven't done anything to her personally. It's interesting to me how the sphere of her empathy widens the sphere of her cruelty widens as well."

-Dan Weiss ( X )

Books:

"I was alone for a long time, Jorah. All alone but for my brother. I was such a small scared thing. Viserys should have protected me, but instead he hurt me and scared me worse. He shouldn't have done that. He wasn't just my brother, he was my king. Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can't protect themselves?"

"Some kings make themselves. Robert did."

"He was no true king," Dany said scornfully. "He did no justice. Justice . . . that's what kings are for."

– Daenerys III ASOS

The show never showed this side of daenerys's story GRRM is literally giving a reason behind what she is doing at Astaphor while in the future books you get the consequences of those actions, THAT'S HOW YOU CREATE AN INTERNAL CONFLICT IN A READER (&/or) VIEWER.

What D&D do with dany all the time is leave her reasons behind & only show her actions & the consequences. Which over time lead everyone to believe she is descending into some form of madness, that she is an entitled power hungry monarch & that she is actually being a villain! Ignoring the fact that D&D draw inspiration for the show from a book series whose author treats all of his characters in a conflicting manner. 

Something like that happened in s08e01. Am not talking about the s@nsa vs daenerys situation. I think it's a call back to Alaric Stark & Queen Alysanne Targaryen's relations. Alaric Stark was known to be cold & hard towards Queen Alysanne at first but eventually softened towards her in time being as he got to know her more. S@nsa stans don't need a reason to hate on daenerys so this storyline was like a gift to them to continue that petty hate.

No matter what their relationship prospers into I have to say s@nsa was being unnecessarily rude towards daenerys. Alaric Stark actually had a reason to be cold towards the Targaryens, his brother died defending the wall against a mutiny caused by some prisoners King Jaehaerys had sent to the wall. But there is nothing that daenerys did to harm the Starks?! S@nsa herself has no reason to hold a grudge towards daenerys or the Targaryens. The northern lords are being a bunch of ignorant fucks still dwelling on the politics of the past that which a "smart" person would overlook given the state of emergency they are in. Instead s@nsa is using that ignorance to incite more segregation in Winterfell. Knowing well that the wall was breached she is treating the dragons as a burden when girl! they are your best defence against the undead one that Night King controls. S@nsa might be smart but right now she is not acting smart!

Regarding the matter of food, I don't think s@nsa understands the level of danger that the oncoming army of the dead possesses against the living. Alaric Stark was judgemental of Queen Alysanne & the party that travelled with her because she wasn't necessarily there to defend Winterfell against anything, she was there on one of the many royal progression's that the king & queen did all over the kingdoms. But daenerys isn't here on some progress she is here to stand her armies beside the North men & Knights of the Vale in the fight. It is S@nsa's duty as the Lady of Winterfell to arrange for the food & other commodities for perhaps the greatest alliance northerners have.

I don't much tread into the doylism aspect of things but the way s@nsa said that she didn't account for the dothraki & the unsullied did she mean she was expecting Jon to die in the south? Because there was only two ways Jon's southern trip would go he might return with allies hence more mouths to feed or he might die. That sure don't sound all that smart of a deduction though!

When daenerys said "whatever they want" she defended her children reminds me of how everyone used to tell the direwolves don't belong inside the castle walls but out in the wild but the stark kids defended them anyways. Daenerys did the same thing too she defended her magical wild beasts who, just like the direwolves are dangerous & different.

Daenerys expecting respect from sansa isn't entitlement, Jon is S@nsa's king & daenerys is Jon's Queen. By that it is a certain decency to give daenerys that respect. In inside the episode video David nutter & Sophie say that s@nsa wants daenerys to know that this is HER home??! I mean daenerys doesn't want her home she wants your respect, she has a home it's called Dragonstone!

“No man has ever died from bending his knee,” her father had once told her.

“He who kneels may rise again, blade in hand. He who will not kneel stays dead, stiff legs and all.”

-the Kings Prize ADWD

I just can't wait until s@nsa softens upto daenerys like Alaric did towards Alysanne. So people can actually focus on other more important things in the storyline.

Then about the reaction Sam had when he learnt about his father & brother's death.. THAT WAS ABSURD. He clearly wasn't that sad when he learned of randyll's death but his brother's death affected him most. Which reminds me of a quote..

He wondered whether Dickon would shed a tear for his brother who died in the snow, somewhere off beyond the edge of the world. Why should he? A coward’s not worth weeping over.

-Samwell I, ASOS.

Do it now. Stop crying and fight, you baby. Fight, craven. It was his father he heard, it was Alliser Thorne, it was his brother Dickon and the boy Rast.

Craven, craven, craven. He giggled hysterically, wondering if they would make a wight of him, a huge fat white wight always tripping over its own dead feet.

Do it, Sam. Was that Jon, now? Jon was dead. You can do it, you can, just do it.

-Samwell I, ASOS.

Sam remembers his brother in the books with the likes of Ser Alliser Thorne & Rast. It is understandable that his heart might be broken to listen of his brothers death but to do what he did especially to the last remaining family of his mentor, Maester Aemon  Who treated him 1000x times better than both his father & brother.. Maester Aemon felt so passionately about Daenerys & he only trusted that information to Sam.

"No one ever looked for a girl," he said. "It was a prince that was promised, not a princess. Rhaegar, I thought... What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years. Daenerys is the one, born amidst salt and smoke. The dragons prove it." Just talking of her seemed to make him stronger. "I must go to her. I must."

-Maester Aemon, Samwell IV, AFFC.

Daenerys is our hope. Tell them that, at the citadel. Make them listen. They must send her a Maester. Daenerys must be counseled, taught, protected."

-Maester Aemon, Samwell IV, AFFC.

Alleras stepped up next to sam. "Aemon would've gone to her if he had the strength. He wanted us to send a Maester to her, to counsel her & protect her & fetch her safely home." "Did he?" Archmaester marwyn shrugged. "Perhaps it's good that he died before he got to oldtown. Elsewise the grey sheep might have had to kill him, and that would have made the poor old dears wring with wrinkled hands." "Kill him?" Sam said, shocked. "Why?" "If I tell you they may kill you too" marwyn smiled a ghastly smile the juice of the sourleaf running red between his teeth.

-Samwell V, AFFC.

It is so awful that Sam has infact put the last two family members of Maester Aemon's blood against each other. He is treating Daenerys the way he treated Alliser Thorne when Sam realised if Ser Alliser becomes the Lord Commander his life would be hell so he literally uses Jon & raises him to be a Lord Commander in the hind sight to protect himself. When Jon actually (in the books) decides to fight for Winterfell & take stannis's offer.

Instead, he blamed Jon Snow and wondered when Jon’s heart had turned to stone. Once he asked Maester Aemon that very question, when Gilly was down at the canal fetching water for them. “When you raised him up to be the lord commander,” the old man answered.

-Maester Aemon, Samwell III, AFFC

“Dragons,” Aemon whispered. “The grief and glory of my House, they were.”

- Maester Aemon, Samwell III, AFFC

Not only was Sam's reaction a little over the top but it was wrong how he channeled it upon Jon as well. He ruined the most important revelation of Jon's life because of, again, himself. Jon also didn't seem to care about the fact that daenerys is related to her (lmao) but was more taken aback by Sam suggesting him treason against daenerys.

I do not want to play the oathbreaker, even for good reason.

- Jon VIII, ACOK.

Jon Snow flexed the fingers of his sword hand, remembering all he’d lost. Sam, you sweet fat fool, you played me a cruel jape when you made me lord commander. A lord commander has no friends.

-Jon X, ADWD.

"I had a frightening dream last night, m'lord," Dolorous Edd confessed. "You were my steward, fetching my food & cleaning up my leaving. I was Lord Commander, with never a moment's peace." Jon did not smile. "Your nightmare, my life."

-Jon VI, ADWD.

Daenerys: "We all enjoy what we're good at" Jon: "I don't!"

-GOT, s07e03.

Jon doesn't want to have power for the sake of power. Over & over again in the books & in the show he made it clear he did what he did to fight the Army of the Dead not for a crown.

Jon: "Do you think we can beat the Army of the Dead without her? I fought them sansa twice, you want to worry about who holds what title I am telling you it doesn't matter. Without her we don't stand a chance.. Do you have any Faith in me at all?

Sansa: you know I do.

Jon: she'll be a good queen, for all of us. She's not her father. 

Sansa: no, she's much prettier .... Did you bend the knee to save the North or because you love her?

-GOT s08e01

There are two reasons why anyone would bend the knee.

•Out of fear, fear of cruelty, collapse or death.

•Out of love & respect & trust.

Jon bent the knee to daenerys for the latter, that scene with sansa & Jon was cut off annoyingly leaving the argument hanging but there was more than just love, yes Love is there My god if this isn't what every jonerys stan had been screaming since s07 ended. But there was more than love, there was respect for letting him mine the dragonglass regardless of no existing alliance, there is also trust when daenerys actually not only let him go beyond the wall but also flew all the way there, solidifying the trust he placed in her to come to his aid without an alliance in place. 

Jon glanced over his shoulder. The shadow was there, just as she had said, etched in moonlight against the wall. A girl in grey on a dying horse, he thought. Coming here, to you. Arya. He turned back to the Red priestess. Jon could feel her warmth. She has power. The thought came unbidden, seizing him with iron teeth, but this was not a woman he cared to be indebted to, not even for his little sister.

-Jon IV, ADWD.

But instead he chose to be indebted to daenerys by asking for her help without giving her anything in return. Because he trusts her to be a good, reliable Queen & she won his trust.

Sam: "Don't you know?

Jon: know what?

Sam: Daenerys, she executed my father & brother. They were her prisoners.

Jon: ......

Sam: she didn't tell you

Jon: I'm so sorry. We need to end this war.

Sam: would you have done it?

Jon: I have executed men who disobeyed me.

Sam: you've also spared men thousands of Wildlings when they refused to kneel.

Jon: I wasn't a king.

Sam: but you were you've always been. Jon: I gave her my crown Sam. I've bent the knee am not King in the North anymore.

Sam: Am not talking about the king in the north am talking about the king of the bloody seven kingdoms.

.......

your mother was Lyanna Stark your father, your real father was Rhaegar Targaryen. You've never been a Bastard you are Aegon Targaryen true heir to the iron throne.

.............

You're the true king, Aegon Targaryen, sixth of his name, protector of the realm, all of it.

Jon: Daenerys is our Queen.

Sam: she shouldn't be.

Jon: it's treason.

Sam: it's the truth. You gave up your crown to save your people would she do the same?

She literally did the very thing in s07e06 when she left dragonstone with Drogon, Rhaegal & Viserion to rescue Jon.

Tyrion: "You cant win the throne if you're dead. You cant break the wheel if you're dead."

Daenerys: "So what would you have me do?"

Tyrion: Nothing. Sometimes nothing is the hardest thing to do. If you die we're all lost everyone, everything!"

Daenerys: "You told me to do nothing once before & i lostened to you ... am not doing nothing again."

There are moments in the story both in books & show where we do undeniably see daenerys put the people or her children ahead of her crown.

That morning she summoned her captains and commanders to the garden, rather than descending to the audience chamber. "Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros, but afterward he gave them peace, prosperity, and justice. But all I have brought to Slaver's Bay is death and ruin. I have been more khal than queen, smashing and plundering, then moving on."

"You have brought freedom as well," Missandei pointed out.

"Freedom to starve?" asked Dany sharply. "Freedom to die? Am I a dragon, or a harpy?" Am I mad? Do I have the taint?

"A dragon," Ser Barristan said with certainty. "Meereen is not Westeros, Your Grace."

"But how can I rule seven kingdoms if I cannot rule a single city?" He had no answer to that. Dany turned away from them, to gaze out over the city once again. "My children need time to heal and learn. My dragons need time to grow and test their wings. And I need the same. I will not let this city go the way of Astapor. I will not let the harpy of Yunkai chain up those I've freed all over again." She turned back to look at their faces. "I will not march."

"What will you do then, Khaleesi?" asked Rakharo.

"Stay," she said. "Rule. And be a queen."

– Daenerys VI, ASOS.

Not that she must or she needs to give up her crown for Jon or anyone so Sam can be convinced with her being a good queen. Fuck that! Sam is being impulsive here (something that daenerys is blamed of, turns out everyone does it) she has on multiple occasions put her people first. Sam hopefully learns it in time because his knows I don't want him to be the A-hole he acted like..

If she had been some ordinary woman, she would gladly have spent her whole life touching Daario, tracing his scars and making him tell her how he’d come by every one. I would give up my crown if he asked it of me, Dany thought … but he had not asked it, and never would. Daario might whisper words of love when the two of them were as one, but she knew it was the dragon queen he loved. If I gave up my crown, he would not want me. Besides, kings who lost their crowns oft lost their heads as well, and she could see no reason why it would be any different for a queen.

-Daenerys VII, ADWD.

A queen belongs not to herself but to her people.

– Daenerys V, ADWD.

The red priests believed in two gods, she had heard, but two who were eternally at war. Dany liked that even less. She would not want to be eternally at war.

- Daenerys V, ASOS.

"We will have it all back someday, sweet sister," he would promise her. Sometimes his hands shook when he talked about it. "The jewels and the silks, Dragonstone and King's Landing, the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms, all they have taken from us, we will have it back." Viserys lived for that day. All that Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known.

- Daenerys I, AGOT.

She did take a dozen flasks of scented oils, the perfumes of her childhood; she had only to close her eyes and sniff them and she could see the big house with the red door once more.

- Daenerys VI, AGOT.

"He died for me." Dany clutched her lion pelt to her chest. Underneath, a sheer white linen tunic covered her to midthigh. She had been dreaming of a house with a red door when Missandei woke her. There had been no time to dress.

- Daenerys I, ADWD.

"Is it Daario? What's happened?" In her dream they had been man and wife, simple folk who lived a simple life in a tall stone house with a red door. In her dream he had been kissing her all over—her mouth, her neck, her breasts.

-Daenerys II, ADWD.

Dany had never known a home. In Braavos, there had been a house with a red door, but that was all.

-Daenerys III, ADWD.

Soon Dany was as clean as she was ever going to be. She pushed herself to her feet, splashing softly. Water ran down her legs and beaded on her breasts. The sun was climbing up the sky, and her people would soon be gathering. She would rather have drifted in the fragrant pool all day, eating iced fruit off silver trays and dreaming of a house with a red door, but a queen belongs to her people, not to herself.

- Daenerys IX, ADWD.

Isn't it amazing how the very episode in which Sam raises the question "will she give up her crown?" is the very episode where daenerys said this 

She obviously didn't feel at home neither at Dragonstone nor at Winterfell. This romantic moment is the closest to a house with the red door this show has ever done.

Also notice how throughout the episode whenever Jon is speaking to others he refers to daenerys as Queen. But when he is alone with her by that waterfall he refers to her as "a southern girl". Jon loves the girl daenerys not "the floppy ears" of the dragon queen that she wears..

If she had been some ordinary woman, she would gladly have spent her whole life touching Daario, tracing his scars and making him tell her how he’d come by every one. I would give up my crown if he asked it of me, Dany thought … but he had not asked it, and never would. Daario might whisper words of love when the two of them were as one, but she knew it was the dragon queen he loved. If I gave up my crown, he would not want me. Besides, kings who lost their crowns oft lost their heads as well, and she could see no reason why it would be any different for a queen.

-Daenerys VII, ADWD.

"So we pray. I want to plant my olive trees and see them fruit." Does it matter that Hizdahr's kisses do not please me? Peace will please me. Am I a queen or just a woman?

- Daenerys VII, ADWD.

So the point is neither does it make sense for Jon to turn against daenerys all of a sudden for something like a title that he himself just said doesn't matter to him. Given that the third episode is where the battle for dawn is supposed to take place. Iron throne is not on Jon's mind. Plus I don't think Daenerys will be anything but shocked, confused yet happy to find a family member, none other than the son of her elder brother whom she idolizes, she is in love with Jon as he is with her!

A crown should not sit easy on the head. One of her royal forebears had said that, once. Some Aegon, but which one? Five Aegons had ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. There would have been a sixth, but the Usurper’s dogs had murdered her brother’s son when he was still a babe at the breast. If he had lived, I might have married him.

-Daenerys I, ADWD.

Ser Davos is already planning a better solution to all this. A just woman & an honorable man to probably get married!

Now I need Sam to somehow learn more & more about who daenerys actually is.

[kaedeichinose]

riproarrude replied to your post: what was the fucking point of making jaune joan of...

I honestly find really think any of the characters have that much to duo with their inspirations, aside from Neon, who’s an annoying rainbow cat

ruby and blake are surprisingly tied to their stories, and I’m going to hand it to monty for this one. red riding hood is obvious with the red hood, beowolves, female relative dying thanks to said monsters but rrh is often seen as an aesop about young women losing their innocence and being punished for how naieve they are. a big part of ruby as a character is her childlike innocence getting in her way and clouding her view, even though shes opted to walk a dangerous path. the entire thing about huntsmen also ties heavily into rrh too.

blake obviously has her whole beauty and the beast thing as both in relation to her view of herself as a faunus and in regards to her relationship with adam. you can take it a step further and say the violent terrorist aspect of blake can also be seen as her “beast” side. she also likes reading. the beast in the story flies into a rage when beauty’s father tries to take something precious to him (a rose in story, potentially blake in series). theres also adam’s association with wilting flowers but im sure mkg arent going to do anything with that one

weiss and yang are a little weaker bc theyre the worst written but. yang has her encounter with the three bears, and in some variations a literal hunter is who saves her from the bears. i have a feeling yang losing her arm, if monty planned it, was to mimic goldilocks being punished for her hubris and being chased by said bears but the Writers and bad at their jobs.

weiss comes from a royal-esque family, with the parent who married into the family being literally evil. jacques, much like the wicked queen, shows frustration and anger over the fact weiss displays schnee family traits that he cant even hope to achieve. the queen uses multiple attempts to try and kill snow, which could be linked to jacques long lasting and ultimately futile attempts to abuse and control her, and she also has her dwarves i nthe vein of klein. i wouldnt be surprised if jacques sends out a new antagonist to drag her back ala the huntsman but we’ll have to see. snow white is also the only girl here with a traditional prince which may explain her multiple instant and awful love interests.

tldr i honestly think there was a legitimate, thought out attempt to tie characters to what they were based on but most of the linking traits are things that were displayed when monty was still with us so I highly doubt any character from this point on is going to display anything, and i dont think the established traits of team rwbles are going to be maintained. But I do think they exist.