#even when cinder isn't the focus of the post i still talk about her lol

[fadedneonzzz]

There’s been some discussion about who should’ve become the Winter Maiden, and it seems there are people who wanted Nora to become the maiden for...some reason. And I think it’s actually a good thing she didn’t because I feel it’d add an unnecessary weight to her character.

The theory for Nora becoming the Winter Maiden started all the way back in V7 when people began to speculate that Fria might’ve been related to Nora. This later turned out to be false as Fria died before Nora had a chance to meet her. This was solely based on the fact that Fria’s hairstyle slightly resembled Nora’s, there was also the possibility Fria was a reference to Freya from Norse mythology. Nora being based off of Thor, it was possible since outside of V4 we had no idea what Nora’s backstory was.

The Nora maiden theory didn’t come back until midway through V8 when Nora was incapacitated but managed to calm Penny down.

This gave Nora and Penny something in common, they’re both having internal conflicts that’s eating at them in different ways. Penny is trying to fight off the virus as best she can, but Nora is trying to find out who she is without Ren. This kind of comes back in the episode Risk where Penny and Nora do kind of build some type of bond, but obviously Penny was much closer to Ruby which is why she offered to give the powers to her.

V8 was mostly about Cinder and Penny, but Nora was getting more spotlight than normal at certain points in the volume. It kind of felt like they were setting her up for something special. It was also pretty interesting that Nora passed by Cinder before she started her attack, which again looks like they’re setting up for her to do something unexpected.

As for the Finale, I can see why Nora fans were disappointed as she doesn’t do anything aside from going to get help and I think this is why people say they wanted Nora to become the maiden. They wanted her character arc to make significant impact in the story or at least V8 (correct me if I’m wrong). However I don’t think that would’ve helped Nora’s character, in fact it might’ve done the opposite. Not to get meta here, but most maidens in RWBY have death flags and personally I didn’t think they’d kill off Penny (again), Raven has (unfortunately) been irrelevant since V5, and while Cinder has lasted longer than any maiden so far she still has plenty of death flags. I really don’t see why Nora needed all that pressure on her in addition to her own character arc to discover herself.

Even if Nora did get the maiden powers and she was still in the pocket dimension I doubt it would’ve made a difference. I think this because Winter was the only one who (with maiden powers) could match Cinder. You might think Nora could’ve beaten Cinder with maiden powers, please keep in mind that CRWBY themselves confirmed that the only reason Penny beat Cinder the first time in Amity was because she was a robot. Winter is also a much more experienced fighter than Nora especially since she’s mastered the Schnee semblance.

If Nora tried to fight Cinder with maiden powers, Nora would’ve lost.

So, I don’t understand how it could’ve helped from a narrative standpoint, a character standpoint, and I don’t think Nora needed it. I understand people want Nora to get more character development, I do too, and I’m looking forward to seeing it play out. However, things do take time. 

[onewomancitadel]

on much more fun topics than me being heated about a theory that i barely ever see i think i finally figured out why wk throws me off so bad in terms of r/wby ship patterning and i have a little post about it that im working on BUT i will say this: i think the whole traumatic experience of being the last ones standing is a red herring to draw attention to wk and how it isnt at all comparable to bb or rn. and also cmsn-r/wby-j/npr foiling Thoughts

Yes I look forward to your little post <3

I would agree with the 'last ones standing' red herring, and I also think there's probably a purpose keeping Jaune around to witness Winter being very angry at Cinder.

Idk, I've seen it argued that the fall patterning is suggestive of future ships but... Jaune is the last one to fall, Cinder is the last one to leave through the portal, so... which pattern are we following, sorry?

So specifically what you're talking about here is comparing where RN and BB have been in traumatic situations with each other, and how that mirrors WK, but in a red herring way? Because RN, they have the Knuckleavee together, and BB has Adam (obviously), but both of these are very emotionally charged for them. Meanwhile, WK is more of happenstance, is that what you're saying? And of course everybody is going to focus on it, because Blake/Sun was canon in the end...

I mean, I think it's necessary that there was someone there close to Ruby that witnessed what happened with Penny, so I think that's the narrative emergent need. And even if you're looking for Knightfall it's probably easy to write her off as an Adam-esque figure... despite the fact Jaune wanting to hunt Cinder down, if anything, puts him in that position (which is not at all the same thing - they're enemies, but still). And they've gone to pains to demonstrate Cinder isn't an Adam...

I'm not sure what specific foiling you mean about the teams in this case. It did occur to me now it's not hard to argue that Jaune would never leave someone behind - that's his worst fear - and now he's the one left behind. Emerald's specific strength in V8 is that she didn't leave Cinder behind and she helped save Oscar.. idk... I'm trying to parse it here, but anyway, Cinder's the only one to go back through the portal to Atlas and not be reborn so something is up with her whilst we're at it, she's 'left behind'... But feel free to elaborate what you're thinking or also save it for your own post.

Anyway, I'm glad you have said this because I wondered if I were alone in it, and as it is, the 'red herring'ness lines up pretty well. If anything WK is more of a red herring than Blake/Sun ever was, lol. Jaune/Weiss was onesided in the early Beacon Volumes, and the thread of Pyrrha-Weiss-Ruby teammate worry (V3/V5/V6) is... platonic.

So again, red herringy, especially when the V5 confrontation is about Jaune/Cinder and their respective ideologies as opposed to Weiss (sorry Weiss).

Thank you for your lovely asks as always. <3