#ironwood may have tried to bomb mantle

[clarablightt]

me, watching v8: wow, Ironwood has really lost it! he’s tearing this kingdom apart!

Ironwood: *kills Jacque Schnee*

me: y’know i’ve supported Ironwood every step of the way i voted for that guy!

[dragynkeep]

I genuinely could have excused the whole lying to Ironwood cheap subplot if the show had done two things;

1 - Replaced those scenes in which RWB sip tea at the manor feeling sorry for themselves with the scenes where the two of them (not all three because I admit that someone physically capable has to protect Nora and the others who for whatever reason didn't evacuate to the underground IIRC) with scenes in which they either join the Atlesian army and actually fight Salem and the grimm or went to Mantle to kill the grimm there, or they split forces to help both. This at least would've shown that the heroes' actions match their words. "This is my home. And I'm not giving it up without a fight", my ass.

2 - In the Ever After they continued to elaborate on the heroes' despair and have them think that it's their actions that led to so many deaths and destruction. And the narrative wouldn't brush off Ruby's doubts and regrets as a flaw like "If you as much as presume that we didn't do everything less than perfect then there must be something wrong with you, don't listen to that demon on your shoulder whispering that evil shit to you"

It may not have been enouch to "save" the show from the clownery it proudly presents as a mOrAlY gRaY cONfLicT, but at least there would've been a good theme about how sometimes even with one's utmost benevolent intentions, they can still end up making horrible mistakes, good intentions don't necessarily make you a good person. And the characters wouldn't have been such blatant hypocrites lmao. I mean that manor scene proves that these characters have no idea who they are and what they've gotten into.

It's so annoying because these are simple ways to not make me wanna pull my own teeth out whenever the show tries to do anything interesting with the plot. The whole lying to Ironwood plotline could've been good, and in V7 it WAS good because it was setting everything up for Ruby to realise that, like Ozpin, it's hard to know when to trust when you've been betrayed and hurt before.

But the show doesn't want Ruby to be wrong. Every time it's brought up that she, and Team RWBY as a whole, fucked up, they just hide behind sad eyes and that they tried so that's all that matters. When no, just because you had good intentions doesn't mean you're washed of the consequences of those actions you made.

And while Ruby was slightly saved in V9 with how she was actually reacting to everything she did, WBY are just horrible people and horrible characters.

Who cares about the people that died in our plan, or the lives displaced or the impoverished kingdom forced to clean up our mistakes? We did our best so that's that, and anyone who still calls us out is like the comically evil Ironwood who wanted to bomb the poor.

No wonder the FNDM has a poor comprehension of grey morality and actual good writing if this is the show they stan so hard.

[rwbyuser24]

What if the Happy Huntresses were villains?

I just read the idea on reddit, and find it interesting. Let's explore if it makes sense and If it could have been an interesting idea.

1.-Are the Happy Huntresses bad people?

According to the villains wiki, they somewhat are.

This one are the categories of the Happy Huntresses on the villains wiki.

This is the list of Robyn Hill.

I think that they aren't bad people. They have their heart in the right place... they are just misguided.

Considering how that the Happy Huntresses didn't know about Amity, and that stealing from the military happened after Ironwood (Supposedly) attempted to kill Robyn. I think it made sense for her to steal from the military to make Ironwood repair the wall.

What wasn't justified was Robyn initiating a fight in the manta. Nor ramming the cargo ship with the bomb. (I mean, there was the risk of the bomb exploding).

But, hey, the HH are huntresses, they Grimm for the sake of Mantle. Robyn tried to become a politician to help everyone. She helped fight Tyrian. The HH helped with the evacuation. At the end, Robyn tried to stop Ironwood's soldiers from blowing up Mantle. May helped the girls in the launch of Amity Tower. Joanna and Fiona helped coordinate the people of Mantle and the defenses for them.

2.-But, how it would be?

Ok, beyond that, how would be the Happy Huntresses as villains?

We maintain the Happy Huntresses the same till after the night of elections. After that the HH start attacking the military trucks, not because they were just attacked by Tyrian, but because they lost the election. The HH would be willing to even to kill soldiers with the goal of steal military supplies. The HH would be also stealing SDC supplies and liberating exploited workers.

Instead of agreeing to participate in the council meeting, Robyn that night would organize a revolution.

She would obtain the loyalty of soldiers of the military who are from Mantle and faunus soldiers too. She would also make her own militia. In this scenario Watts doesn't turn off the heating, I will reveal why later. At the end, the council, including Jacques would be executed and Ironwood would be forced to escape along Ruby's group. Ironwood would be convinced to reveal the truth so he does.

But in that moment, it would be too late:

"What else will he be able to do with the access Jacques' given him?"

"With enough time… whatever he wants."

By then, Watts would have access to the technology of the military and would use that to eliminate the resistance of Ironwood's soldiers.

During the end of volume 7 it is revealed the Happy Huntress have been working with Watts and Tyrian all this time. Robyn Hill was promised the security and freedom of the kingdom in exchange for her help. Now Robyn Hill will rule and she would maintain Atlas out of the war against Salem. And also would secretly provide resources for Watts.

During volume 8, Ironwood and remnants of his military along Ruby's group would have a civil war with Happy Huntress forces and the rogue technology of hacked by Watts. What would be weird to everyone is that the rogue robots of Watts don't attack Robyn's forces, only Ironwood's and Ruby's forces.

In this scenario Salem wouldn't come, to maintain in secret the alliance between her and the Happy Huntresses.

Robyn meanwhile would force Hanlon Fifeston to work with her. Now Fifeston would have to extract the fear out of POWs and put that into the orbs. Robyn would say that it is to maintain the Grimm far from Mantle, but some of these orbs would be given to Watts.

Like in canon, Ruby would make it to the command center to warn everyone about Salem and ask for help.

Due to lacking opposition from the military, Cinder would make it to the medical facility where is Fria, and after having problems with her, the tired Fria would end up dying at the hands of Cinder, being her the last person she saw.

Now Cinder have the winter and the fall maiden power and would take the staff of creation and brought take it with herself.

At the end, Cinder and Neo would go to fight Ruby's group (After they had to fight against the HH's forces and the rogue robots of Watts).

Fighting against a tired Ruby's group, the fight would be evenly match. But our heroes would manage to win.

At the end, seeing that no one was coming, our heroes would escape using the Amity tower to go to Vacuo. Ironwood and would have to sacrifice himself to stop Robyn Hill, so our heroes can escape.

Winter and Penny would remain in Atlas leading a resistance against Robyn Hill.

At the end, Watts will reunite with Cinder and Neo and will use his robots to go to Vacuo.

3.-Do I like the Happy huntresses being evil?

I should be sincere, I don't like too much the idea.

Why? Because it feels like a cheap way to make Ironwood better. Like, "The kids shouldn't trust this person, they should have trust Ironwood instead". I prefer a more nuanced Ironwood.

Besides, I don't like the idea of having to fight against people who are oppressed... again. Feels repetitive and like if RWBY's show have a problem with those who are oppressed.

Also I don't like the idea of having the first transgender character as a villain. Nor I like the idea of having a group of entirely compromised by women as villains. Feels a bit sexist.

Even so there are things that I like: The Happy Huntresses are villains are so interesting. A good intentioned extremist willing to do whatever it takes to protect their people

4.-Conclusions

I just realized that Robyn Hill as a villain is basically what the people wanted Adam as a villain to be. A good intentioned extremist with the power to fight the good guys but with good motivations. Besides in my small brainstorm I made Robyn kill Jacques.

But those are only my ideas. I may dislike the Happy Huntresses as villains but maybe you like the idea.

[itsclydebitches]

If the writers had successfully developed Ironwood into a villain, the storyline still would have faltered because, with the heroes 100% secure in their choices and the enemy vulnerable about theirs, they, no matter how bad, will always feel easier to connect and empathise with because they feel more human compared to the heroes. Ironwood assures not!Penny she's doing the right thing. Ironwood pleads with Winter. Ironwood tears up. The heroes just tell themselves that they made the right choice.

Yeah, RWBY has a lot going on, including a lot of problems, so fixing one aspect, even a big one, isn't going to fix everything else too... but it would certainly help lol.

For me, the most frustrating thing about these later volumes is that the writing gets so close to letting the cast be flawed, complex, relatable heroes, but then continually pulls back at the last moment. Ren calls the group out on their failures, but Yang and Jaune instantly dismiss them. Ruby has a breakdown about how her plan didn't work, but Yang instantly reassures her that they tried, so it's fine. May insists that they make a hard choice for once, but instead they remain in the mansion and the next time we see her, May has completely changed her tune, claiming that there's nothing more the heroes could have done. (With the problem always being that yes, there was a lot more the heroes could have done). And then we've got all the moments where the story doesn't overtly establish a problem, but hints at it strongly, so strongly that in any other show you'd be mocked for thinking it wouldn't be resolved. However, RWBY drops conflicts like hot potatoes. How will Weiss resolve her disagreement with Winter? She doesn't. How will Qrow grapple with his decisions that got Clover killed? He doesn't. How will Yang work through this nonexistent fight with Blake? She doesn't.

Yeah, it's easy to differentiate the good from the bad on the surface because Ruby sheds tears, gives passionate speeches, and Ironwood is, canonically, trying to bomb a city. It's only when you ask what Ruby is crying over, what the speeches lead to, and whether this sudden turn into villainy makes sense (it doesn't) that you might go, 'Hold on, I'm honestly feeling more sympathy for the bad guy legitimately grappling with his decisions, than the heroic girl confidently leading a kingdom to their doom.' RWBY doesn't let the heroes make mistakes anymore, which means that we don't get to read their emotions as anything other than righteous fury. No matter what the heroes say or do, the audience is supposed to respond with, "Yeah! You tell 'em!" which would get pretty old pretty fast even if I did legitimately have that response within the context of the events. But when it's stuff like, "Yeah, you attack that ally instead of sending Weiss to Atlas" or "Yeah, you lie to Ironwood, and Mantle, and the entirety of Remnant, just like Ozpin lied to you" or "Yeah, you strip Penny of her identity without her consent and then frame that as a marked improvement; the chance for her to finally be 'real'" it, uh... gets pretty hard to drum up the emotional response I know the story wants to invoke. Ironwood is a mess by the end of the series and no, I don't feel for the man who wants to kill a whole city for no apparent reason. I do, however, feel for the man who was driven to extremes due to outside forces, part of which came from people he thought he could trust, and from a meta perspective, the authors who gave up on his development halfway through, resulting in a 'genocidal general' that didn't make sense within the story.

[theseerasures]

Re: that anon who asked about the shuffle step of the themes of sacrifice

I also found the ideological shift in the volume very interesting, and I think she most interesting bits are with Team RRAYNBOW. Like I think the dynamic between Yang and Ruby and their respective missions this volume is very interesting (if maybe a bit underdeveloped, atm at least). You said a little about it with Team JOYR in Chapter 7. Do you have anymore thoughts about the "shuffle step" in regards to that?

i’m gonna admit upfront that i find this question kind of perplexing, because i don’t know what “ideological shift” it could be alluding to when imo our heroes didn’t so much pivot (or shift, or shuffle step) ideologically so much as make a series of context-specific decisions according to what they felt in the moment they could live with, or would die for (don’t make me tap the sign, etc).

what i DO think might be helpful, though, is to lay out what was at stake in each of the weighty choices/discussions our heroes took part in, from the very beginning of the Long Night to the end of volume 8, to see what (if any) throughlines persist or change. so:

Cordially Invited (7.8) to Out in the Open (7.10): our heroes are all in accord. transparency (telling the truth to Robyn) and collaboration (working with/helping Mantle) are paramount, and Ruby specifically takes steps to remedy her own wavering in that earlier in the season, by letting Oscar tell the whole truth to Ironwood. what’s key about this run, though, is that our heroes aren’t calling the shots yet. they advocate for certain actions when advising Ironwood, but they still trust him to take charge of deciding Atlas/Mantle’s fate.

Gravity (7.11): the Big Shift in terms of status quo. our heroes (JNR more implicitly) remain in accord--abandoning Mantle is the line in the sand they refuse to cross. but what does RWBY advocate for, if not Ironwood’s plan? they all agree that the best thing to do is to stand their ground, but for what? Blake and Weiss are comparatively silent on that front, but Ruby and Yang are more explicit. Ruby makes her plea about Amity--that if they hold out long enough, they can do what they always planned, and unite the world, and get help. Yang’s argument is that Huntsmen and Huntresses don’t back down from a fight. (she’s also the first person to suss out that Amity isn’t ready for launch.) this difference is going to come up later.

The Enemy of Trust (7.13): Oscar makes his last individual plea to Ironwood. his reasoning, much like Blake’s (and presumably Weiss’), is simply that abandoning Mantle is a sacrifice of such magnitude that it becomes unconscionable. it’s wrong because it’s wrong, and Ironwood’s rebuttal that it’s pointless to argue about philosophy when Salem’s right on their doorstep, is dickish, but not incomprehensible. Oscar is still looking to retain the advisory capacity that Team Unwieldy Acronym has had for the entire season, and guide Ironwood to making the right call, but that bridge has already been burned. they have to decide the fate of Atlas/Mantle now if they want to save both.

Divide (8.1): The team is no longer in accord. Ruby and Yang recognize that though they agree about Ironwood, their reasons for not abandoning Mantle are different. Ruby’s looking at the big picture, both in terms of what they have to do for the world, and what the world can do for them. Amity looks to be the only obstacle to getting both and saving everyone. Yang thinks it’s pointless. Yang didn’t want to abandon Mantle because that’s just not what you do, but she has no expectation of fighting toward any good outcome. she’s gonna do what seems more readily achievable, which is saving whatever lives can be saved. Ren and Nora split along similar lines more acrimoniously, because Ren at this point is desperate for tangible success and Nora is...just as desperate for total consuming optimism. Blake throws her lot in with Ruby, Weiss abstains, remaining the most quiet on the fate of Atlas/Mantle despite being Atlesian. Jaune and Oscar, though they go with Yang, mostly go for pragmatic reasons.

Refuge (8.2) to Midnight (8.6), Yang’s Team: the plan to help with Mantle is almost immediately derailed when the Hound kidnaps Oscar. i’ve talked about JYR’s plea to Winter in War, but that of course is not the first time that team chooses the few over the many; they do that IMMEDIATELY after Oscar is kidnapped, when Fiona calls for their help and they--without even verbally consulting with each other--go for Oscar instead. in that moment the more proximal thing they can and need to achieve becomes rescuing their friend, whose captor was still in view. but crucially: as soon as they lose Oscar in Fault, and especially after they discover the Grimm River in Amity, JYR had been on their way back to Mantle, and presumably, back to the less impossible thing to do, the thing they promised the Happy Huntresses they’d help with. running into the AceOps and Salem’s invasion throws a monkey wrench into that plan. suddenly rescuing Oscar becomes possible (though not probable)...

War (8.7), Yang’s Team: but not if Ironwood blows up the Whale, whereupon the equation changes again because now doing nothing for Oscar means leaving Oscar to certain death. tbh the confrontation on the airship is about like fifteen different things at once, because the variables keep changing and everyone is having their own argument over whether to rescue Oscar, and why. Yang’s response once she hears about the bomb is mostly you can’t; it is once again just not what Huntresses do, with some personal stakes thrown in. for the AceOps it is about the weighing of lives, and how they can’t put the mission to save Atlas on hold for one life. Jaune is the one who thinks of an idea where they might be able to do one without delaying the other (the second time this season Jaune has suggested the “go for both” option), where they would be the only ones risking their lives, and no harm comes to the greater good. only then does Ren jump in and shift the argument to caring and friendship; that is to say, after the stakes have been lowered so it’s not Oscar vs. Atlas anymore. i don’t think it takes away from his big moment, though: we know from Fault that Ren has taken Yang’s challenge of “let’s do what we can do” and run with it, and come up with “and what we can do is nothing because we’re not ready and we get everything wrong,” so him vowing to do whatever we can here is important. the point is clear: Team Hero draws their strength from their friends, and they’re willing to die for each other...but the question of if they’d let the world burn for their friend is put off for now.

Strings (8.3) to War (8.7), Ruby’s Team: in contrast to Yang’s plan faceplanting at the first hurdle, Ruby’s plan...works. they accomplish their primary objective! but they had to pay a steep price, and the only immediate consequence of that victory was entirely negative. Nora threw so much of herself into Ruby’s optimistic gamble that she now has lasting scars, and if they had never gone to Atlas Command Penny would not have been hacked (so easily; she might have been regardless). Ruby successfully put the ball in the world’s court, but that the problem: the ball is in the world’s court, and the longer it stays there the less sure she is that help will come. and it IS just about the help they’ll receive by War; Salem batting away Atlas’ hard light shields has shifted the goalposts from “hope the other Kingdoms can prepare :/” to “BLAKE’S PARENTS CAN YOU PICK US UP???” the question of Atlas or Mantle rears its ugly head for the first time since Gravity, and this is the first time Weiss is the first one to advocate, and she says we can’t leave--which, not coincidentally, is also what RWBY said to Ironwood in Gravity. May’s argument, of course, is driven by far more compassion: the need in Mantle is greater, and having finished facilitating Ruby’s (and Robyn’s) plan she’s going to do what Yang decided to do, what Joanna wanted them to do, which is fight for every last life. there’s no longer any big wheels to turn, nor any big powers to convince; all they have to do is decide what they themselves will do, and who to fight for. and Weiss finally shows her hand here. she believes in not leaving Mantle behind, but when it comes to the faces she’d fight and die for, Weiss’ are still in Atlas. Blake and Ruby are the ones to abstain this time, and notably when Ruby tries to argue that they’re all in this together it’s much less effective, because...there’s nothing left for them to do together. Ruby is out of concrete solutions.

Witch (8.9): what goes easily missed here that in retrospect is very important is...Oscar kills Hazel. (which means that an Ozcarnation killed BOTH of the Rainart twins.) we all thought he doubled back to make a sacrifice play, and he did, but not for himself. he received Hazel’s verbal consent, and Hazel would have died regardless, but the point still stands. he had to kill Hazel to neutralize Salem, to buy them the time they desperately needed. an unsettling portent for what comes later, innit? it highlights what his own kidnapping, Nora’s injuries, and Penny’s hacking already illustrates, which is that they are now risking every inch of their body and souls in this fray, and it also illuminates the other part of that, which is that by continuing to throw themselves back into this conflict, they now control the fates of other people as well. Hazel trusted Oscar to make the right call, but Oscar had to make the call.

Risk (8.11): where we ultimately land with the splitting of teams is that: Yang’s team went out to achieve the easily graspable, and they ended up forging alliances they never anticipated and dealing a devastating blow to Salem. Ruby’s team went out to achieve what should have been much more difficult, and they did, but with little palpable impact beyond the negative. what comes out and blends exquisitely with their conversation about Summer is that yes, Ruby sent out the call to warn the world, because she believed in humanity and unity, but Ruby sent out the call because she wanted help. she wanted people--say, parental figures--to save her and tell her things would be okay, and she wanted back the innocence to believe them. Ruby didn’t ask to be the face of the war against Salem, and she most certainly does not want to be in charge of it; she has lived with the material consequences of her family being the centerpiece of that war for her entire life. the Hound reveal is the final twist in the knife of Ruby’s childhood, because now the figure on the highest pedestal in Ruby’s mind has been perverted to a malevolent specter, and if that’s the case there are no more adults. THEY have to be the adults now, and look what a terrible job she’s done with that. Yang’s response is that Ruby is not alone--either in her traumatic fall into adulthood, or in her choices not panning out as expected. all they can do is the best they can in the moment, and Yang’s probably going to keep defaulting to what feels more tangible to her, but that doesn’t mean she wants Ruby to stop going for pie-in-the-sky options, either. Summer is still Yang’s hero, which means Ruby is too. what matters most is that they remain responsive to the moment, and don’t get bowled over by despair when something inevitably go off the rails.

so given all these developments, what are we to make of the plan from Creation (8.12) to The Final Word (8.14)? we start with the archetypal Third Option, as championed by Ruby and Jaune: use the Staff to save Penny and Mantle, and Atlas along the way. but the priorities of the plan--civilians first, presumably even before the Relics or the Maiden powers (though the question of one of them or a Relic is really only answered by Winter, who does not speak for Team Hero)--have Yang all over them. we have to do this for Yang isn’t just because Yang’s gone, it’s because they know it’s what Yang would have wanted, and they will respect that. they made a Ruby n Jaune style Big Plan, but when that plan fell to pieces there was no time to think of a fourth, or fifth, or sixth option that would get everyone out, so they had to improvise and double down on what they all agreed was most important. the choice between their friends or the people could no longer be deferred, or augmented, so they chose. civilians, then the Relics and the Maiden powers, then each other. and when any of them wavered--Blake, Ruby, Jaune--someone else checked them, reminded them to trust and respect what they all committed to. they’re still drawing strength from each other, still dying for each other, but they acknowledge that they are not directing just their fates with their decisions anymore. they took a huge desperate gamble to save Atlas/Mantle, and it worked, but what they gambled with was their own lives. and they made themselves make peace with that--that they’d have to do what they can, everything they can, without hoping for salvation for themselves, even from friends or family.

in the end, what comes across just from doing a close reading of these moments is that RWBY’s views on sacrifice, logic vs. sentiment, the greater vs. the few, etc can’t really be plotted on a solid line. that’s why i can’t really think of what happened this volume as a palpable shift--because so many of these choices were context and character dependent. what i DO think happened with our heroes’ ethical beliefs (or “ideology” ig) is that they were tested across a sequence of stressful and traumatic situations, and as a result they had to compromise on a few things they hoped to never have to compromise in order to shore up defenses on what they were certain they could not live without, or would die for (or both! in the case of six of them). if they have to die like every other Huntsman in history so be it, but they refuse to be so cavalier with the lives of others. none of that is meant to be definitive, however: in-universe RWBY is far from over, and Team Hero is going to get to re-litigate and reexamine these questions from lots more angles, out-of-universe...RWBY is far from over, and the point of the show is not to provide an ethical rubric against which the audience can judge themselves and the characters. there are things--like y’know. genocide--that this show will always consider to be beyond the pale, but in terms of grayer complex questions it is content to simply feel out what is and is not allowable in each particular instance, without trying to resolve all options into One Correct Option.

because sometimes you do just have to sit with the discomfort of there not being one right choice or one golden rule, and sometimes you are awash in the consequences of not only your own actions but the actions of others. and then you have to keep going.

[kingangelrose]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 8 Recap

“Dark” ------------

In the Atlas prison, Qrow, along with Robyn, Watts and Jacques were hearing the noises of the war outside between the Atlas and the Grimm, but Qrow noticed that there was something headed towards them and suddenly, the wall blew up in front of them causing the roof above them to start collapsing, and all that was seen outside of the giant hole through the wall was a raven cawing.

Meanwhile, back at the Schnee Manor, Klein was treating Nora, as she was slowly regaining consciousness, then Ruby, Weiss and Whitley carry Penny into the room, laying her down on the smaller bed by Nora, Ruby asks Klein if he can help her, Klein says that even what they have told them, he hardly knows what Penny is, but her basic anatomy is similar enough to stitch up her wound.

The power in the manor shut down due to the bombings outside, May calls Ruby on speaking, wanting to know if their okay, Ruby tells her that the bombing cause half of Atlas’ power to go out, but their okay. 

May apologized for not staying with them as she flies her airship, saying that time is running out for the people of Mantle in the carter. Ruby apologizes back and tells May that when they know what’s wrong with Penny, they’ll do something to help them. May then tells her before she signs off to not beat herself up, saying at that point, she doesn’t know how much is left to be done.

Ruby says, with tears in her eye that it’s all too much, The Grimm, The Carter, Nora and Penny, she wanted to know how they could fix all of it, Klein then says they can’t worry about fixing everything and try and focus on fixing things one step at a time, he then says that he can work faster to fix one problem if the power was turned back on.

Willow Scnhee then arrives at the door, saying that they have a generator near the edge of the estate, also saying that she’s above drinking in the dark, then greeting Klein in whom she hasn’t seen in a while. 

Weiss brings up that Schnee Dust Company executives have their own exhilarate power supplies in case of city wide blackout, saying that it’s extremely unfair, but it may be so bad to have company perks. Whitley then says that the SDC just doesn’t have perks, but the whole company. Whitley goes on to say that if the people of Mantle need a way out, they could use the rows of cargo ships sitting in the hangars because of the embargo, Weiss then says that there are also drones there similar to the ones at Snowshoe Shipping, Whitley says that he can order as much as they need to pilot the ships down to the crater and get people to safety while the Grimm are occupied with General Ironwood’s forces, all he needs to do is to access Jacques’ computer.

Ruby and Blake head to the generator to turn it on, while it’s processing, Blake tells Ruby that this will work, Ruby replies by saying that nothing else has. Blake then tells Ruby....

“I know you don’t always know what to do, but that’s never stopped you from doing something. I was like that as a girl, but time and...a lot of other things took their toll on me and then I wasn’t sure if that girl could actually survive in the world...until I met you. It was a little strange at first cause you were younger, but I’ve always looked up to you, Ruby, and I still do.” - Blake Belladonna

Ruby, with tears in her eyes, thanks Blake for those kind words as the generator’s process was now completed and the power was back on in the Schnee Manor, but as soon as they did, Blake’s expression turned to shocked as she saw The Hound in the window right behind Ruby.

The Hound busted through the window, which caused a big noise that was heard inside the manor, causing Willow to reach for her wine bottle shaken. Weiss then contacts Ruby and Blake to know what’s going on, Blake just said that it was a Grimm attack, but they were to occupied with it to say anything else, Weiss then leaves the room to let Whitley carry out the rest of the plan on the computer.

Ruby asked what kind of Grimm is The Hound, but Blake said it was just a Grimm, unaware that it was sentient, telling her to focus on her Silver Eyed Attack while she holds it off, however, it didn’t last long as the Hound made quick work of Blake, it then said “Get The Girl” as it charged and took down Ruby, depleting her aura and holding onto her, The Hound then spread out its wings and was about to fly away with Ruby, but then, Blake used her weapon to wrap around the legs over the Hound, holding it in place, Weiss arrives on the scene, then she warns Klein about the Grimm and tells him to keep everyone together and call if there is trouble.

Inside the manor, Willow dropped her wine bottle and glass, Klein asks her to calm herself, but Willow says she can’t and runs out of the room, but then suddenly,  Penny woke up with glowing red eyes, but as a completely different person, hacked by Watts, Klein tries to treat Penny when he turned around to see her up, but Penny didn’t respond as she pushes him away, but trying to fight to it, Penny activates her maiden powers to try and fight the control off.

Weiss tries to summon a giant ice Grimm to fight off the Hound, but suddenly, the underground Grimm appeared distracting Blake and Weiss, The Hound broke free from Blake’s weapon and then saw the green light emanating from the manor, Ruby warns Weiss and Blake that the Hound is after Penny, the Hound drops Ruby to the ground, knocking her out for a while, Weiss then goes to help Klein and the others while Blake tries to help Ruby, but then out of nowhere a centipede like Grimm comes from underground, confronting Blake.

Back in the manor, Klein tries to Penny to calm down saying that she is okay, but Penny then says that she doesn’t want to help Salem, just then, a now conscious Nora grabs Penny’s hand and tells her that no one will make her do anything that she doesn’t want to do, Penny, still fighting the control says that their is a part of her that is making her do so.

“It’s just a part of you...don’t forget about the rest...” - Nora Valkyrie.

Hearing this, Penny stops her maiden power, holding onto Nora’s hand. Weiss then calls back Klein to let her know she’s on her way to help, Klein asks her to hurry, saying that Willow and Whitley have yet to return.

Willow ran into her room in a panic, she was about reach for her wine bottle, but she decided not to, just then, the Hound busted through the front entrance window, sniffing out Penny, who’s green blood was stained on the floor of the entrance, Weiss entered the manor to search for the Hound, then Willow contacted Weiss shouting “Above you!” and then the Hound came down and struck Weiss to a piano, Weiss was ready to fight it, but the Hound sniffed out something and crawled onto the walls to the hallway, searching.

Willow tells Weiss that she can see the Hound crawl to the hallway near Winter’s old room, then asking if Weiss can kill it, Weiss asks Willow what it’s doing, Willow says that she doesn’t know and asks what it’s doing here, Weiss then says it doesn’t matter and tells her to keep an eye out on it so she can track it down. Willow agrees and keeps a look out, but where the Hound was heading towards next, shocked her.

Willow tries to warn Whitley who was finishing the shipment, but Whitley ignored it and said she was the last thing he needed, just then, the Hound came in the room slowly where Whitley was in, surprised by this, he hid as quick as he could behind the desk, the Hound was sniffing around the room when the computer sounded a notification about the credentials being verified, the Hound was moving closer and closer to the desk, saying “I Know You’re Here...”

Suddenly, a summoned Ice boar Grimm charges and holds down the Hound, Willow arrived and shouted at Whitley to run, which he did, before confirming the orders to the crater. Willow and Whitley ran as fast they could away from the Hound, and before it could get them, Weiss summons an ice wall to defend her mother and brother from The Hound. “I didn’t forget you...” - Weiss Schnee

But the Hound was breaking through the ice wall, Weiss tells Willow and Whitley to run while she fends it off.

While fighting this acid spewing Grimm, Blake then pleads with Ruby to get back up and that she needs her. Blake uses fire and ice clones to try and counter its attacks, but this Grimm was too formidable as it was about to finish her off, but then suddenly, Ruby awakens and finishes off the Grimm, then smiles at Blake, saying that she heard Blake calling her for help, as she helps her up.

Penny then lets out a scream, trying so hard to fight off Watts’ control, but it was too late, Penny succumbed to it and walks out of the room to the entrance area, Whitley asks what she was doing, Penny then said that she was going to the vault and was going to self-terminate, then suddenly, the Hound attacked Penny, but she held him off, then suddenly, the Hound grows another arm on its back, holding on Penny’s head and slamming her down three times. 

The Hound held Penny hostage, and then Ruby with a serious tone said that was enough, then she used her Silver Eyes to blast the Hound through the window of the entrance way, letting go of Penny.

But then, in a shocking turn of event, as the Hound was getting right back up to its feet, it was living person who was the Hound all along, as he was slowly regenerating he kept saying “Take The Girl!”, but as he was slowly headed towards Ruby’s team, Willow and Whitley pushed down the knight statue to take down The Hound, destroying it. Ruby fell to her knees after what she just saw, Weiss asked what it was and all Ruby could as she sees the Hound turn dust... “....That was....a person....” - Ruby Rose

Back at the prison, Cinder Fall removes the debris from Watts’ body and says to him that this is the first time I’d be happy to see him again as she helps him up to his feet. Watts tries to ask what she was doing there, but Cinder covers his mouth and says that it’s her turn to ask for something, as she carries Watts in fireman’s carry position. The Atlas security arrive to stop Cinder from helping Watts escape, but Cinder used her flame semblance to fly above them, dodge the rocket launcher and fly away to the Whale back to Salem. 

----------- The secret of The Hound has been revealed to be a faunus! That means Salem has the power to turn humans and faunus into Grimm Hounds. Is there any hope to turn them back to normal? If not, what will Ruby’s decision be? What of Penny? Will she be able to break free from Watts’ hacking control before she leads herself to destruction? So many questions have yet to be answers and will be found out on the final chapters of RWBY Volume 8.

[sapphic-yang]

RWBY Volume 8 - Chapter 7: War

Thoughts & Theories

1. Salem framed trying to bring Ozma back as a wrong that needed to be righted. It wasn’t. It was just selfishness. Now, she does the same thing with all of her followers. Hazel’s vengeance for Gretchen, Neo’s for Roman, Mercury mad at the world for the loss of his semblance, Watts’s vendetta against Ironwood, Cinder’s quest for power. The only exception is Emerald. unsurprising that she seems to be the one with the most doubts.

2. I LOVE the way Ren’s new powers are being visualized. I’m super curious though why Winter’s petals are a huge variety of colors? Does it represent conflicting emotions?

It also explains the flower petal he tries to catch in the opening. I can’t wait for him to use his semblance to connect with her feelings.

3. Ren out here saying what we’ve all been thinking. I want Marrow to connect with Harriet, and Elm with Vine. I want them to accept that being close to one another isn’t a weekness.

4. I haven’t seen this many death flags since Pyrrha. Winter really is gonna suicide bomb the whale huh?

5. Ooooh! So Harriet lost her old partner? That explains why she fears getting attached. Also haha Tortuga means tortoise in Spanish.

6. I don’t think Hazel will turn, but Emerald? She has the password, time for Aladdin to use her magic lamp. Will she try to turn Cinder though? How will Cinder react? I’m hoping she turns on Salem but tries to seek power on her own.

7. I love that May is blunt and honest without being an active dick like the Ace-Ops. She’s right. Not every story has a happy ending, not every problem has a solution that solves everything, people ae going to die. It’s important for the girls to hear this, and they look devastated about it. Look at Blake’s ears!

8. Oh Nora you are good for so much! I can’t wait for her and Ren to reunite. He needs to see her feelings and tell her how much she’s worth.

She needs to know she isn’t replaceable.

9. Klein returns! Whitely is a soft boy after all!

10. The boys are on a road trip to Vacuo huh? I wonder if this will lead into a Vacuo arc in the show, or be addressed in another book?

11. When was he last time these two were apart for an extended period?? The way they look at each other... I gotta admit, I ship it.

12. Of course Tyrion knows the truth. Should have guessed.

13. I really like the consistency of Jaune stepping up and being the man with the plan. He really has become an excellent leader.

14. Blake being worried about the others is sweet but they are not ok! Honey, your girlfriend is about to charge into Salem’s home base!

15. I just really love this moment. As a transwoman I totally understand how transition can feel like becoming a whole new person. And I love how it was mirrored with her leaving Atlas for Mantle. She found her true identity and her true home. The son of Atlas became the daughter of Mantle.

16. Yeah were the hell are Qrow, Robyn and Watts during all this? I can’t believe we have to wait six weeks for the prison break.

17. What are you sorry for honey you did great! Unless she knows Watts has control... and she’s about to do something horrible she doesn’t want to...

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

To be fair, I feel like we all knew that Emerald would be redeemed whereas all the warning signs about Ironwood was presentvrom day one. If he didn't bring his army to vale, the Fall of Beacon may not have happened. Like I'll agree that the build up to him wanting to nuke Mantle could have been built up a bit better but the whole thing about Ironwood is that he believes he's the hero of his own story while not being able to see that he's become the villain. His progression from a flawed hero to villain honestly felt completely natural because he let fear control his actions. Heck, V7 was all about us seeing the struggle between him keeping his humanity and casting it away since he honestly thought that the reason why Salem was as powerful as she is because she casted away her humanity and believed the end justified the means. I just don't really get how people can complain about him becoming a villain since all the arguments I've heard seem to just be ignoring cannon.

My problem with Ironwood isn't solely based around him being a villain. It's how his status as a villain conflicts with the show's themes.

Throughout Volume 8, Ruby preaches the importance of everyone coming together to fight Salem, and welcomes Emerald into the group with open arms despite being the one who caused Pyrrha to kill Penny, yet she still wants to treat Ironwood as a menace to society despite never once trying to talk him out of bombing Mantle or trying to resolve things in a peaceful way.

In the same speech Ruby gives through Amity (basically taking credit for Ironwood's plan like a true hero) where she says the world needs to come together, she says Ironwood can't be trusted.

If a big part of Volumes 6 and 7 was the team struggling to trust Ozpin and Ironwood for their shady actions, why did everyone openly accept Hazel and Emerald, who have done things that were just as bad, if not worse than Ozpin and Ironwood? I wouldn't mind if there were some trust issues, but a couple of episodes after Emerald defects, she's just treated like she's always been with the good guys.

RWBY wants to preach the importance of compassion, yet the only time someone actually tries to reach out compassionately to Ironwood, he gets shot for his troubles.

[kitkatopinions]

Look i like the ace ops but... why keep them in the story? I mean the writers killed clover and vine, so why stop there? Vine's death was beyond stupid but if they went the extra mile to kill him why not kill more of the ace ops to make it more tragic and serious. (More on a personal note why keep robyn alive she is so useless. She could said "i will take the bomb away form mantle!" And heroicly save them and die and vine could be alive but nooo)

Hard agree here. The RWBY writers seem to be incapable of making choices about who to trim from their cast, leaving them with massive character bloat problems. This partially explains why even the main four girls get neglected and don't get challenged and grow much anymore. In Atlas, they brought back Ironwood and Penny, quickly tried to flesh out the barely present in season 3 Winter, brought back in Whitley, who only got a couple season four scenes, introduced us to Willow, were trying to force a quick 'meaningful' friendship with Clover, pushed all the Ace Ops (more in season 8,) and tried to make everyone care about Robyn, while featuring May prominently in season 8, and introduced Pietro... And on top of that, they had newly brought in Neo, not fleshed out yet Watts and Tyrian along with Jacques, then brought in Salem, Mercury, Emerald, and Hazel. The amount of cast that we were either introduced to, weren't fleshed out yet, or needed attention when they returned was astronomical.

Don't get me wrong, I think featuring some of these characters was not only a good idea, but pretty unavoidable. In the same way that everyone assumes that Headmaster Theodore is going to be featured in the Vacuo arc and that we'll see Sun's return, there were people everyone pretty much assumed we'd see in the Atlas arc, only it's even more so for Atlas, since we already had a number of characters with established connections to the mains that were all in Atlas (Ironwood, Winter, Whitley, and Jacques.) But they A. Went way too far and way too much on bringing back and introducing characters, and B. Messed up or neglected many of the characters they introduced or brought back.

They shouldn't have overloaded the cast so much. Bringing in Maria as a supposed main and bringing back Neo when they didn't seem to have much to give her were faulty enough choices in volume six imo, let alone upwards of ten new or returning characters. There was so little time to devote to the mains that I've heard Ironwood had more screen time than RWBY in volume seven. And on top of that, they can't just let characters go, they have to keep around characters even when they've been stagnating for seasons. Cinder doesn't die in V6, she recovers and is back, but gets less and less interesting with every scene she's in. After serving their purpose, Team JNR or at least the N and the R don't get quietly written out of the show like other teams or characters before them, and instead they have to contrive pointless drama surrounding their romantic life because the writers have nothing else to do with them. Maria didn't leave the group in Argus or part ways with them as soon as they got to Atlas, she sticks around to make their power scaling look even more horrible and then gets abandoned by both the mains and the story out in the tundra.

Weiss's conflict with Jacques is treated like a comical nuisance and her faulty relationships with the whole rest of her family gets shafted to the side, and instead there's tons of focus on tons of characters who either don't matter, won't matter, or should've stayed side characters or not been involved in these particular seasons. And they only gave themselves two seasons, one of which takes place over two to three in-universe days, to do everything they wanted to do with all these characters? It's sloppy.

If this show doesn't drop a lot of these side characters, it's just going to get worse in Vacuo. This is one of the only reasons I'm looking forward to the likely standalone Island season. Just some good old fashioned small cast adventures where some focus can finally be put on the mains. If they don't get real actual development (instead of just saying they have or 'addressing flaws' only to then tell us those flaws don't exist and none of the characters need to change,) then I'm gonna... Post about it. XD

But yeah, in my opinion, when trimming down the bloated character cast in RWBY, the Ace Ops and Robyn should be the first causalities to that.

[lostatsea303]

Let’s Talk About The Finale

Hey guys before we talk about that last episode we’re going full spoiler in this post so if you haven’t seen it yet you may want to stop here

So I wanted to make this post after seeing so many different opinions on the content of this episode and I figured I could add my two cents in and hopefully bring some praise and constructive criticism from my point of view.

First let’s talk Directing, Choreography, and Acting

First off let’s tip our hats to the VAs this episode they all did an amazing job! Elizabeth Maxwell, Miles Luna, and Taylor McNee all deserve recognition for being standouts in an episode where everyone nailed their parts.

In terms of choreography I think this met the RWBY standard. The Ironwood and maiden fights were top notch and while the RWB fight against Cinder and Neo felt a little off I think this was intentional; Team RWBY has been fighting and without rest for nearly 24 straight hours, they’re going to be slow and tired.

Directing I thought was very solid. There are some great shots I want to highlight in fact:

I think all these shots are excellent and there are a few more I’ll be using later. Directing and lighting has been something I think this volume has done exceedingly well! However there is one scene I think fell short.

This kinda looks like a meme doesn’t it? This moment completely took me out of the moment and I was wondering why. It’s not because of Harriet’s action’s I think she was sick of physically fighting and just wanted everyone to leave so she could die going down with the ship. No, I realized it was this shot: if this sequence had a close up of Qrow struggling against the weight of the bomb and cut back to another close up of Harriet yelling where you could see the desperation on her face (cause CRWBY did a great job with facial animation) it would work. Instead the framing, drab lighting, and stillness really hurt this scene.

Outside of this one scene however, I think this was a stellar finale in terms of production value!

WRITING

Overall I thought this was another good episode for the writers. Character dialogue was on point:

“You chose nothing, this was a gift”

“Whatever you wanted, I hope it was worth it.”

“I’ve only done what’s best for Remnant, and no one is grateful.”

And of course the whole Cinder and Salem interaction.

The events within the episode, I think, were all very good choices but there are two in particular I want to focus on:

The Sacrifice

I’m gonna talk about this first because I know this is where there is the most division right now and understandably so. We all love Penny, she has always been one of the purest characters within the show. That is why her death, even so shortly after she became human, is not only the right decision but a good one.

When you think about it Penny and Pyrrha are very similar characters: Morally upright, strong, and viewed as paragons amongst their peers. Pyrrha was chosen to be Vale’s Guardian and Penny was the protector of Mantle. They were people who always did the right thing for everyone else. However, their journey’s, not as people within the show but characters within a piece of art, would always require them to meet their end. 

Penny’s development was never about her learning what it was like to be a “real girl” because she already got that from being friends with Ruby. Her development was based around one of the key themes of this show: choice and control

RWBY has always focused on the question of who do we choose to be and what do we let control us. Penny rarely had a choice, and was always in danger of losing her control to someone else. At Beacon she was at Ironwood’s behest, in this season Watts had control over her in spurts. She was always in a battle to decide who she would be, and this was shown literally in the show with the fight between the virus and her soul. So when she became human she completed the biggest step in her journey of development: she no longer had any strings.

And she finally got to feel the warmth of the heart.

And that left her character development at an end. She had already learned what it meant to live, she finally got to experience the physical side of it, and finally she couldn’t be controlled again.

So when faced with the threat of someone taking away her control (Cinder) the completion of her character arc comes with her making the choice that Ruby didn’t earlier. But this time she was at peace with it, because she wasn’t dying because she had to due to an uncontrollable circumstance. No, now she chose to give her friend’s a chance, give Remnant hope in a new Winter maiden, and take from the enemy what they once took from her.

She chose.

While this completes her character arc it also develops everyone else’s which leads us into our final section

The Separation

We all knew that they were going to fall, you don’t have foreboding lines like “Do not fall” and not explain why.

But now all of the events have culminated in a perfect storm for our characters next season. Here’s what I mean:

This finale, especially with Penny’s sacrifice sets up every single character in this show for major developments. Starting from the outside:

Winter now has to learn to be a leader, not just a soldier anymore. She has to unlearn the years of regimenting and oppression that she’s been a part of.

Ren and Nora get to truly figure out who they are: There will be no team leaders among them, they will have to become them.

Oscar and Ozpin have to become the heroes that the former has always wanted to be and the latter always had other to become.

Qrow continues to learn to deal with loss and how even in spite of it he can keep moving forward and that the pains of the past can push him to better instead of holding him down.

Neo will learn what family is supposed to be, and coming to understand forgiveness for the things others do.

Jaune has to come to grips with the reality of being a hero and that sometimes the best choices we can make for others are the ones that cost the most of us.

Ruby will have to face not only another close loss in her life but she’ll have to learn about sacrifice and the unfortunate necessity of it. She’s been surrounded her whole life with people making the choice to sacrifice for her: Summer, Yang, Qrow, Weiss, and now Penny. She’s going to have to face Jaune making the choice she wouldn’t (Not to say that situation called for it but understanding the differences in those situations) and understanding that sometimes people have to go. While we should always do our best to save everyone we can, sometimes running away from the grief in our lives can creating greater loss than if we face it when we have to. 

Weiss has to learn to let go of control. She tried to protect and save everyone but in the end she was the last one from her team left. We’ve subtly seen through out this volume, and really the last couple of them if we’re being honest, Weiss always trying to be moderate within the team and be the glue and protector of the team as a whole. She’s always trying to be the best teammate she always promised to be but that has made her terrified to fail and in the end it’s stopped her from reaching her full potential. It’s a noble thing she does, but she’s so beholden to the expectations of other’s (now her friends instead of her family) that it secludes her. We’ve seen moments of her true strength when she focuses and trusts herself but she still hasn’t fully gotten there.

Blake is the flipside to Weiss, she needs to learn to take control. She’s still held down by the fear of being what Adam said she was that she won’t take the step forward. Whether this be with her relationship to Yang or even in situations like the one we saw in the second to last episode frozen and unsure how to proceed at the end. She tries to play it safe because of what she’s gone through. But Penny’s sacrifice and when she thought she lost Yang will push her.

Yang has already learned to necessity of sacrifice but she has to learn that not every situation requires it. Put simply she has to learn what she means to the others. Yang has always been the first to throw herself in the line of fire for others and take the risk when it’s time. But she’s never thought about how she affects others with her sacrifice. Penny’s loss may initially affirm her current view but she will have to come to face that Penny’s sacrifice happened only when absolutely necessary and when it was best for everyone else. Yang needs to know she’s worth more than what she can do for other people.

CONCLUSION

Honestly guys this was alot and if you read all this way thank you! I’m sure some people will disagree with some of my thoughts and that’s totally ok! In the end we’re all fans, and we all care alot about this show.

See you guys next season!

[blue-rose-89]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 14 (The Final Word).....

The finale in which Volume 3 has been bumped off in terms of downer ending....

What Did We Learn......

Team RWB has fallen

This was to be expected but oof.

-Ruby loses Crescent Rose before she falls off the path. Blake tries to save her but she too falls with her.

-Weiss is the last of her team to fall in the finale (more on that in a minute)

Neo has fallen.

Just as I suspected, Cinder was faking the sincere apology from last episode and she wastes no time in knocking Neo off with Ruby into the void.

Vine has fallen

-The most logic-driven member of the Ace Ops sacrifices himself to save Harriet from the bomb that was going to detonate due to Watts hacking.

-The Ace Ops have finally acknowledged that they’re friends and that they went after Harriet with Robyn because they care about her.

-Qrow’s semblance may evolved in to using good luck like Clover. Could this mean that he can manipulate both versions of luck?

Penny has fallen

-Penny gets fatally wounded when Cinder attempts to steal her powers. Knowing that there’s know saving her, she asks Jaune to kill her so that the powers will go to the one she trusts outside of RWBY and JNPR. Jaune very reluctantly grants her final wish.

Who does the power of the Winter Maiden go to? WINTER SCHNEE

WINTER SCNHEE BECOMES THE NEW WINTER MAIDEN

When her fight against Ironwood seems hopeless, Penny meets Winter in a white void so that she can say goodbye to her and bestow her the Maiden’s power. Winter doesn’t want her to go but Penny makes a promise to her (”I won’t be gone, I’ll be a part of you.”).

-Winter uses her inherited power to defeat Ironwood and flee into the portal to help Weiss. She ends up being too late to save her.

Jaune has fallen

-Cinder gets the Relic of Creation and uses it to destroy the paths. Jaune doesn’t make it out in time and he falls. Winter tries to save him but by the time she notices the paths disappearing she gets locked out and is stuck in Vacuo.

-Jaune’s sword gets destroyed during the fight against Cinder.

-Nora makes it out but she’s not with Team ROE.

-Winter ends up with Team ROE and her remaining family. She begins to fight off the Grimm. 

Cinder Fall wins

After many setbacks that were caused by her ego, Cinder wins both relics by becoming more ruthless and manipulative than she was back in the Beacon arc. She is a villainous example of the “learning from your mistakes” lesson.

-To cover her tracks, Cinder lies to a now-revived Salem about Neo killing Ruby and using up the last question. She also kills Watts by using the staff of creation to create a fire in Atlas, which led to the paths to Vacuo disappearing from an earlier scene. 

-Atlas and Mantle are destroyed along with Ironwood.

-Cinder delivers The Final Word of the volume to Ironwood before leaving with Salem: “Checkmate.”

New post-credit scene

The final scene of the volume shows Crescent Rose landing on the shore of a beach with a very large tree in the background (a Tree of Yggdrasil reference, perhaps?). 

And with that Volume 8 ends. The bad guys win, RWBY and Jaune have been defeated and are now trapped in another world beyond Remnant, ROE and Winter are in Vacuo, Nora is somewhere else in Vacuo, and Robyn and Qrow and the remaining Ace Ops end up watching the two cities get destroyed. 

There’s really nothing much to say other than having no choice but to wait until Volume 9 to see what sort of journey RWBY and Jaune will take in order to get back to Remnant.

[toooldforfandom-liveblogs]

RWBY Liveblog V08E07 - War

Okay! The band aid has been ripped off so let's continue with RWBY! War seems to be a pretty self-explanatory name but who knows, maybe nothing bad will continue to happen? I don't know so let's do this!

I wonder why Atlas went with human soldiers versus using robots. Wouldn't a mass invasion be the perfect place to use all that canon fodder? Although, maybe Ironwood could be scared of getting hacked again.

Plain fields are Rooster Teeth's biggest enemy.

Other than getting distracted by the textured flat ground, I was thinking about how terrifying it'd be to see a whale that size just floating around or crashing close to me.

Very terrifying I'd say, even without the gross Grimm spit.

Okay. All I know about battle formations comes from playing some RTS games in the 90s and Mount & Blade... but, wouldn't using square formations be really bad for ranged units against melee units in a frontal attack?

Uhh, looking a tiny bit intense there buddy.

Can't imagine Manta Squad Omega is anything good if that soldier dared to almost question Ironwood's orders. What is going to be the new addition to Ironwood's list of war crimes?

That's a really late reaction considering THE GIANT GRIMM HORNETS

It shouldn't surprise me they arrested them in the middle of an invasion, but it does. * sigh * priorities

Huh. What could they have against a giant whale?

...somehow this is going to get Pietro inside that whale, isn't it?

Interesting expression here. What Ironwood is describing sounds like a suicide mission so I guess this is acceptance?

They left thousands to die in Mantle and Jaune still thinks they'd care? Although, once they are close to the whale Winter could go "go find Oscar, we'll detonate the bomb" to win back some karma points.

For a second there Salem looked like she was conducting an orchestra and * chef kiss *

watcha doing emerald

…how is her semblance affecting that Grimm? I was already confused by her semblance working against Penny...

A world order that will consist of having no world at all. Revolutionary, really.

Cinder's backstory? Really good. Hazel's? Waaaaaaaay down in the list.

I couldn't care less about Hazel, but Emerald is listening and that is interesting. What is she going to do? Oz hasn't revealed anything she hadn't heard before but she hasn't drunk Salem's kool-aid so anything helps.

oh right, these characters exist

"It's been a couple of episodes, did you forget Nora's deal this volume? No worries, here it is."

This volume has been rather blunt. I mean, RWBY has never been subtle but this volume has been trusting the viewer less than usual. Or maybe it's just that there have been more chances to make it noticeable.

I'm glad they are having this conversation, if only to know what's going to happen with them. Still a lot of episodes left, can't spend them all here.

And there's no way Ruby is not going to see and probably fight hacked Penny at some point. Writers gotta extract all the drama juice they can.

I wondered last season if May's being trans would be more than just a twitter message so, this is great!

May is already taking out and sharpening the guillotine.

I know this is supposed to be serious but she looks so incredibly shocked at the softest possible rebuke ever.

wtf are you doing May

(I know, I know, she doesn't like being compared to "the other side" but still, she seems to be just under Harriet in the "needs an anger management session" list)

…I mean, there are sides. Multiple sides even, trying to kill or capture you, Ruby.

But I guess she's right about the general population of both Atlas and Mantle.

A hint of character development???

It's nice to see Salem's goal finally be explicitly stated by someone. Oz could be guessing but at least it's the same guess that everyone had.

I mean, he's right.

Bold strategy Oscar, let's see if it pays off.

I'd usually say that it could work but EMERALD IS OUTSIDE. She could give the password to Cinder in hopes it could help her. Or stay quiet and escape with Hazel. Or, more interestingly, she could use the lamp herself. Although, I'm not sure what she'd be interested in asking. Hopefully not "Does Cinder care about me?"

Ohh, preparing for next volume. Mercury is probably at the bottom of my list in terms of being an interesting villain, next to Tyrian, so I hope he's joined by someone else.

While they have not been the greatest of friends, Emerald keeps going to Mercury since they were at least partners in being underlings to Cinder. Now she's going to be alone and I wonder why.

Isolating Emerald could work if the writers want her to have more of a reason to escape, but it's not like she wants to oppose Salem, she just wants Cinder [to care about her]

lol, and of course Tyrian would be around to confirm it all

oh no

oh noooo

Are they going to end up fighting each other in a future volume? I kinda hope they don't, or at least wait until they get a good dose of character development. As they are right now it wouldn't be very interesting.

ooooooh, nice one Jaune.

Winter was obviously struggling with the decision so that's the perfect excuse.

Harriet: "lol no."

REEEEEEEEEEEEEN, FINALLY, YOU'RE MAKING SENSE AGAIN

Who could've guessed that freezing his ass off for a couple of hours and getting arrested was what he needed.

Who killed Harriet's pet bunny

Having Harriet nearby is doing an excellent job showing Ren how wrong he was in idolizing how they worked. Thanks Harriet, you're a wonderful bad example.

...is Ren leveling up his semblance? Is that a thing they can do?

Huh.

"the power of friendship... is real 🤯"

I bet this episode was directed by the same dude that directed episode four.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh take that

I also bet someone already made the connection between the colors and the emotions they are supposed to represent. Which is not me, I'll just trust new and improved Ren.

end of the season: qrow and robyn save them

Wow, Heisenberg cameo.

aw, Whitley

One more mind blown this episode.

you baka

lol at Ruby in the background going "just like her sister"

awwwww

I'm glad there was this moment of brightness before everyone goes to die fight.

OH C'MON

This is so dumb.

I thought the writers would at least make an effort to have them fight somewhere else instead of having Penny somehow crash right in front of Ruby.

Oh Penny, I'm sorry too. You're just a vehicle for cheap drama. Made to suffer and rebuilt last season just to do it again.

---

So, besides those awful 30 seconds, that I'm going to totally ignore for as long as possible, I liked this episode. Lots of things happened.

Hazel, Emerald and Mercury now know the truth. Hazel and Emerald have the password for the lamp (maybe they'll hide who is going to call Jinn and just have it not respond when Salem tries to use it). May got an in-universe reveal that she's trans, which is great. Whitley gained a soul. Ren recovered his along with leveling up his semblance. And they made it explicit that both Marrow and Winter are not big fans of what it's going on (which feels... unnecessary)

It feels like the end of season is brewing but there are still a ton of episodes left so I'm very curious about what's going to happen. Until next time!

EDIT: Also, this episode was indeed directed by the same guy as the one who directed episode four! A lot more restrained this time so at least it wasn’t immediately obvious.

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 11 Review/Remix

Not the most action packed chapter we’ve ever had, and certainly not as dramatic as Chapter 11s from past Volumes. But this week had some wonderful surprises and existential dread and depression in equal measure and I think that’s a formula for a pretty damn good watch.

Despite the devastating energy bomb Oscar delivered last episode, we open with the city of Atlas overrun with tons of Grimm. The people are still hiding in the subway, fearing for their lives twice over now that Ironwood’s monologue is playing and showing just how off his rocker he is. Those in the crater mines take it far worse, though we see some of the humans and faunus who had previously seemed on edge with each other holding one another in solidarity and comfort. Fiona breaks down in tears and is pulled into a Happy Huntress group hug by Joanna and May, so it’s a small comfort to see they’re all still alive.

Ironwood and Winter walk the halls of Atlas command together, and Winter can’t help but notice the fearful reverence the general’s presence instills in lesser officers. The Ace Ops are talking things over in the wake of their boss’ ultimatum, and Elm is of the belief that Ironwood was just bluffing about nuking Mantle if he doesn’t get what he wants. Vine agrees it may very well be the kick in the pants Team RWBY and the others will need to finally see the right path, but we the audience are getting pretty sick of hearing this shtick. Marrow thinks Ironwood is taking this too far, and Harriet is just angrily indifferent about the whole thing. Ironwood rounds the corner and addresses the squad with their new orders: get some drones ready to drop the bomb. Winter asks why exactly they need to actually make those kind of preparations, and he makes it clear that he really does intend to remove Mantle from the equation if he is prompted to. He actually thinks committing this massacre, nay genocide, will make Penny more willing to return to his command if she no longer has an alternative job. No, dumbass, she’ll only want to defy and even kill you more! This is how he believes they will save Atlas, but Marrow has had more than enough and calls him on his shit for a line like that. All this is doing is helping Salem in her mission to divide and destroy the world, and it’s spitting in the face of everything Marrow thought the Atlas military stood for. Harriet threatens to clean his clock if he doesn’t shut up, and Vine again suggests that this would be a necessary sacrifice for the good of the Kingdom. Elm tries to agree, to say that this should be their top priority whether they like it or not, but Marrow has more to say. He can’t believe any of them actually buy the nonsense they’re spouting, and wants to know if there’s anything his teammates actually believe in anymore. With so many moral compromises, where do they draw the line of patriotism vs fascism? The faunus man gives a pretty good clincher to his tirade by calling his badge and rank nothing more than a collar. Say what you want about the writing of the faunus discrimination subplots in the prior volumes, I think this was pretty good. Ironwood isn’t about to let Marrow walk away from a rant like that without consequences and we can hear his cocking his gun. Marrow hears it too, but before he can react Winter comes in from his right with a sucker punch that knocks him to the floor. As she drops a knee on Marrow’s back to cuff him for insubordination we see Ironwood was a second away from shooting this man, one of his few trusted elite soldiers left, in the back of the head for an execution without mercy or hesitation. She just saved his goddamn life and that makes her an MVP for this Volume. The other Ace Ops realize this close encounter with death too, and they all share the same expression of shock fear dread and confusion. Not even Vine can hide how much he doesn’t like what could have just occurred. Winter says she’s going to take this “traitor” to the brig where he belongs and Ironwood allows her to leave and do so, only taking his finger off the trigger once they’ve walked past him. Those with a better understanding of trigger discipline than I could probably make something poignant out of that, so have at it if you can. What is abundantly clear to us is that Winter will be taking Marrow no such place. She has absolutely had enough and she’s about to desert with him in tow. The remaining three have to get back in line and spend a little time rethinking their positions on this job. Well, at least one of them will be, I don’t think Harriet is gonna change course after what she’s already done.

From one tense situation to another, we go to the Schnee manor dining room where Team RWBY are trying to figure out their next moves with Oscar and Emerald. They know they don’t want Ironwood getting his hands on Penny, but they don’t know what to do instead that won’t result in mass casualties. They don’t know that Robyn and Qrow have flown the coop and might come to their aid soon, and under Ironwood’s watch there’s no way to try and evacuate the people in the crater before he drops the bomb. It’s a real bad situation with no clear solutions or backup plans. Emerald can’t help but be snarky and say if the perpetual optimism engine that is Ruby can’t think of what to do then there’s no right answer at all. Weiss is annoyed that Em is giving them sass when they really don’t need any, but Yang is downright furious and her to GTFO if she doesn’t like trying to help them solve this. Emerald tenses up when Yang stomps towards her with clenched fists, and her hands go to her weapons in case she needs to defend herself. We know Yang wouldn’t actually throw a punch even if she’s mad like this, but Em doesn’t. Probably because the most substantial thing connecting the two of them was the time Emerald used her semblance to make Yang look like a heartless brute who would break a leg for no reason on live TV. Also Emerald doesn’t have the best role models for how to handle frustration... Oscar continues to insist they all just take a deep breath and remember the big picture rather than lose it over small disagreements, and reminds them that Em is going to be staying on their side cuz Salem won’t let her safely be anywhere else. But when he tries to reassure the group with a reminder that Oz is back to offer help too it just tenses the situation further. Ruby’s got her head in her arms on the table, and she’s really having a hard time of it all. Oscar muses about all the negative personal energies keeping them from a productive cohesion, and Ruby pops off. A day’s worth of their best efforts, hard fought battles and painful consequences, and nothing has gotten better. Just like at the start of the Volume, all they’ve been able to do is argue over what to try and do while Atlas heads towards its demise. Yang tries to put an encouraging hand on her shoulder but she brushes it off and runs out of the room in a huff. Everyone silently realizes how much they’ve fucked this up if Ruby is so hopeless and desperate, and Yang follows her sister out of the room.

Upstairs, Jaune is doing his best to boost Nora’s Aura and help her heal faster, but it’s not doing anything about her lightning scars. Those babies are here to stay, and I don’t mind it. It shows history, survival and a damn good story about what she’s been able to power through. Ren is sitting at the foot of the bed, and the best he’s able to offer is how glad he is Nora is okay. She seems indifferent and even passive aggressive at the diagnosis on her scars, claiming it’s just another example of her being classic dumb Nora. Ren tries to object that this wasn’t her being stupid or foolhardy, but she bites back at him with all the resentment she seems to have been holding in since they split ways yesterday. He’s got no right to say what it was or wasn’t, he wasn’t there to see it. He pushed away from her when things went wrong because he didn’t want to have to feel anything he thought would be too hard to deal with. Ren makes no effort to argue, he knows she’s right and he apologizes profusely for how he wronged both her and Jaune. He regrets the things he said to them, or more likely the things he said to Jaune out on the tundra since he and Nora haven’t exactly talked much. He admits he’s been mad at himself for not measuring up to their mentor figures in the Ace Ops, for how little he could help when Tyrian came a’ slashing at Robyn’s election rally, and for slipping up and letting Neo get away with the Lamp. Mentioning the rally of course gets Nora’s attention away from her pissed off brooding, and she does start to listen a little more sympathetically. Ren says that he tried to tunnel vision on getting stronger in the hopes it would mean he wouldn’t fail again and bring the team down with him. We know from Ironwood how bad tunnel vision is, so I’m glad Ren is realizing it was a bad choice. Ren has realized now that by doing all that he failed the worst of all, that being in his role as a member of this team and as a partner to Nora. The two of them lock eyes, and Jaune notices the deeper meaning behind this prolonged eye contact and knows he should make himself scarce for now so they can have this more important conversation sans his third wheeling ass. Good boy, but a bit over the top excusing himself.

All Nora can find the words to ask is why Ren hadn’t said anything about these personal doubts sooner so they could try and deal with it and grow as a team, and he says he wanted to try and solve it himself because it was his problem and he was the one dragging the group down because of it. She disagrees on the grounds of her own perceived failings, being silly of mind and strong of muscle and little else of value. Ren won’t hear that kind of self depreciation sitting down, so he moves further up the bed to sit by her lap. He tries his best to give her affirmations by rephrasing her qualities as great things but she’s just not willing to hear it... until he gets a little more passionate about it than he may have meant to. These are the things he loves about her. Because he loves her. Lie Ren tells Nora Valkyrie “I love you”. Nora knows in her heart he really means that, but she has some things she wants to get off her chest. In the single sentence of backstory we get, her mom apparently abandoned her and fled from a Grimm attack before she ended up in Kuroyuri meeting Ren. SInce then they’ve always been an inseparable pair, and she wouldn’t give up a day of that for anything. But now she realizes she needs some time to really learn who she is as her own person and fighter, and going back to being as close as they were wouldn’t allow that kind of growth. Because Nora loves Ren too, always has. And she can tell their separate missions have done him some good too, but she needs a little more time before she’s ready to be the partner a great guy like him deserves. She just wants to know if that kind of request is okay with him. He puts a hand against her cheek and lovingly wipes away the tear she had shed. Of course that’s okay. He’s proud of her for being mindful of her own happiness and growth, and is willing to put the relationship they both very much look forward to having on hold while she grows as a person. This is a very healthy dynamic and all meming aside we really love to see it portrayed so naturally and acceptably in media. And for good wholesome measure, Ren Boops Nora. They laugh and smile and press their foreheads together because Rooster Teeth loves showing us that as a sign of proximity and intimate comfort.

Cutting to something far less happy, Qrow is retrieving Harbinger and Robyn’s gauntlet crossbow from a locker in what I assume might be evidence lockup. He asks Robyn if she’s got the security cameras running on loop, presumably so they can sneak through the halls undetected, but she is currently distracted. At least one screen is feeding audio of Ironwood’s threat to Mantle, and others are showing he really is gearing up to do so. Qrow tries to reassure her by resolutely saying they’ll stop him before he has the chance to, but she doesn’t seem to pleased with that plan. Regardless, they make their way through the halls and head for an elevator to take them up to the Academy. After avoiding being spotted by guards, they make it to the elevator but Robyn stops Qrow before he can hit the call button. She tries to advocate for a better way to solve this, he insists there isn’t one. Robyn says it’s not just about Qrow so it isn’t his choice alone to make what is or isn’t the only solution. Qrow just keeps insisting that this is what he’s gonna do and when he does it’ll all be safe and over with, but Robyn tries to suggest success isn’t guaranteed and if they fail it’ll only doom hundreds more than if they try something else. Qrow doesn’t give a damn, he just yells that Ironwood deserves to be killed, because in case the pronoun game was too hard Qrow is dead set on doing a murder. Robyn claps a hand over Qrow’s mouth and pushes him against the wall because they ARE still trying not to get caught remember? I really have to admit on my first watch I thought this was gonna be an eruption of some kind of romantic tension I just hadn’t noticed til now and she was going to shut him up with a kiss. But no, thank god they didn’t pull that tired trick. After making sure the coast really is clear, she gets to the heart of things. She can tell Qrow is in pain, he’s mourning, and its a shroud he’s well accustomed to. But don’t act like this is righteous justice for the people at large, Qrow wants blood on his hands purely for personal vengeance. She acknowledges that Clover had a lot of qualities worth looking up to the way Qrow had, but she thinks that at the end of the day Qrow has proven to be the better man and the better Huntsman. I feel like she could have phrased that a touch better so as to not speak quite so ill of the recently deceased, but the pep talk is there. He’s got the will to fight for what he believes is the right course of action rather than just what a higher up says he needs to, and that is the sort of strength of character that’s worth a whole lot in this world, so she hopes he won’t go abandoning it now that the going is even rougher. He seems to be calmed and inspired by this, but before any more words are said the elevator pings that it’s stopping on this floor so the two ready their weapons to fight whoever emerges. The doors open, but we have the perspective of whoever is inside looking out to see the two hunters drop their guard in confusion. As that is the end of that scene we will not be finding out who they saw for at least another week, but I think it’s most likely to be Winter and Marrow and the four of them will form an unlikely alliance.

Back in Schnee manor, Yang reaches the foyer to see Ruby sitting on the stairs clutching a banister. Instead of going right up to her Yang goes past to take a look at the collapsed suit of armor. She’s heard by now how Ruby and the others managed to kill the Hound, and tries to give her little sis amused props for doing what the elder sibling couldn’t. Instead Ruby just asks if Yang knows what they saw inside the Grimm. Yang says she does, and tenses up like she wants to brush past this very depressing topic Ruby is hinting at. Ruby is having none of that and just says what we’ve all been thinking. Summer Rose was most certainly turned into a Grimm too. Fearing the possibility in her head was one thing, but to hear Ruby say it aloud with a voice so hollow and hopeless is too much and Yang falls to her knees sobbing in a second flat. Yang tries to wipe the tears away, to be calm and strong like always, but Ruby isn’t stopping. They know Salem used to want Silver Eyed Warriors dead because of Maria’s brush with death years ago, but now Salem wants Ruby brought in alive and it seems obvious why. So why wouldn’t it be the case that Summer was the turning point, that fighting her was when Salem realized she could do so much more with her mortal foes? Ruby has had enough of lying to themselves for the sake of optimistic hope, her hope that Amity could get a message out got them nowhere but further failure and she blames herself for being childish. Yang takes her hand and assures her that it wasn’t childishness but rather optimism and hope. Those are things they desperately need in this struggle, but to be blindly optimistic can certainly be bad so they need to be smart about which risks they take. Ruby still isn’t about to concede this point because the risk she took was a failure and their message didn’t bring any help. I should like to remind the reader/viewer that it took about a week for Team RWBY to get from Mistral to Atlas and this message went out... 12 hours ago? Maybe 16? You’re giving up the ghost a little soon there sweetie, though they do need that help ASAP so better late than never isn’t really a viable option. Yang reminds Ruby that her plan was a bust too, but she kept trying to do good things that weren’t part of the plan and they did some good there. Summer took a risk too, by leaving for the mission she never came back from. And there’s little question that went according to plan either, but she still did her best and Yang still considers Summer her hero. As she embraces her little sister, I get the strong feeling that Summer isn’t the only Rose she considers her hero either... and by the tears that start welling up in Ruby’s eyes she clearly knows that.

Their sweet moment is shattered by the sound of equally shattered glass, and Jaune comes rushing down the stairs to tell them to get outside immediately. Penny woke up and the virus is in control again to make her head for the Vault without delay. Ruby bursts into her path to beg her to stop, and it does get her to start struggling against her digital orders. She begs to be stopped, and Ruby wraps her arms around her because honestly she’s just trying her best and with a weapon like Crescent Rose she’s gotta have some upper body strength. But that’s pretty meaningless against Penny’s rocket boots as she takes off with Ruby in tow. Blake and Ren use Gambol Shroud and Storm Flower (thank god for the grappling hook upgrade last Volume) to try and pull her down by each arm with the rest of their teams providing tug of war style support. Weiss uses a black glyph to really hold her in place once her feet are on the ground again. Before anyone can figure out what to do to properly subdue her Penny uses her magic to summon a cold vortex and blow them all off guard so she can start flying away again, still repeating her orders to open the Vault and self-terminate, though now she sounds emotional and conflicted about it due to her mental struggle. Before she can get any farther, a new set of chains grab her shoulders. Emerald has joined in, and even if it was a small gesture I found myself very enthusiastic to see her pitching in for the rescue. She yells for someone to do something already, and Jaune lets go of Blake’s side of the struggle (guess it would have been off balance if him Nora and Oscar were all helping Ren) to boost Weiss’ Aura so she can make a stronger inertia glyph. Back on the ground, Ruby hugs Penny again and asks how she can help her friend. And Penny says Ruby should kill her. If she does, Penny guarantees Ruby will be the one she gives the Winter Maiden powers to. None of the group like hearing this idea one little bit, but she thinks it’s the only way since she can’t fight the virus. But once again Nora swoops in with the sage words about it only being a part of you and not letting that be the end of it. Penny’s more than just a robot receiving orders, she’s got human spirit and willpower that’s been resisting for so long. This gets the gears in Ruby’s head turning and she realizes the human part can be what saves her. Jaune needs to boost her Aura, which he rushes over to do immediately. It seems to do the trick, and her soul is doing a much better job of keeping the virus contained, though it’s not gone forever. Everyone comes in for a happy group huddle, and she is assured that she is far more than a machine and that humanity is what will keep her going in spite of the remaining virus. It’s a very soft and touching moment. 

Then Emerald has something to say. They’re wrong... about being in the same place they started yesterday. They’ve made progress even though they can’t quite see it right now. They’ve taken some hits, and she admits some of that has been her fault, but that’s war so you gotta roll with the punches and fight on. She just really won’t like it if they give up the moment she decides she’ll fight by their side, okay?! It’s not like she likes these friendly, kind, understanding and emotionally complex fellow teens that are willing to take her in, baka!!! Oscar points out that she’s admitted she wants to stay with them and they all have a happy laugh realizing she’s got a softer side after all. Oscar helps her back to her feet, then addresses the group. Ozpin has some things he wants to say to them all, if they’re willing to hear it. They all share a look and decide that yes, they will listen. Oz comes forth and immediately launches into a speech about a fairy tale. Typical. We can presume these are further details about “The Girl who Fell Through the World”, and he says that girl took her grand trip to run away from consequences of a choice she has to make. But her problems only grow because the initial issue was never resolved. That’s the very thing he’s done here, his problem being the consequences of the truth and his past coming to light. He regrets not trusting them with the whole story and he regrets retreating into Oscar’s mind when he was found out. The group decides they understand where he was coming from a bit since in that interim they had to make some impossible choices about trust too. Trusting in someone is a risk, and they decide they’ll take that risk on him one more time. From the look of things, that second chance is going to Emerald too, and I hope she makes them proud. Penny winces again and it’s clear that one way or the other they will need to take her to the Vault. Ruby thinks on that for a second and realizes that’s actually worth a shot considering who they have at their disposal and the likelihood of it not going exactly how Ironwood thinks it will. To that end we see Ironwood down in the Vault receiving a call from Ruby saying Penny will be there. He sets the stipulation that Penny meet him at the entrance of the Academy and she has to come alone. I’m sure no green haired illusionist will play a hand in whether or not she really is alone... But either way there will be unexpected company because Watts hooked up a broken Scroll to the wiring of an Atlas robot to listen in on Ironwood’s call and know where the meeting will be. Neo arrives in the alley where the doctor and Cinder waiting, and it seems miss Fall has a scheme to get the ice cream psycho precisely what she’s demanding of them.

But what exactly these carefully laid plans will be has to wait a little while, cuz that’s the end for this week. Great job all around for this well balanced episode with many kinds of scenes and many ways to make my heart hurt...

[calliecat93]

So… been a while since I did one of these. Yeah, long story short 2020 just ruined my anxiety and a bunch of other things and I just couldn’t handle doing the reviews after I feel so behind during the first half of V8. Even the six-week break didn’t do anything to reignite the motivation or help the anxiety, so I decided it was best to quit and just wait for the volume to be over. Which with how emotionally draining the volume was which may have very well impaired my judgment at the time, was probably the best decision. But V8 has been over for months now and we’re awaiting V9. So it’s time to finally finish this.

I normally do one chapter per review, but since I now know all that’s coming, I’m going to do two chapters per review. That means four total reviews, then a mass V8 review, and then hopefully things go better when V9 starts. So last I left off, we got Cinder backstory, the Ace-Ops running into YJR, and Salem breaking Atlas’ shields to finally go forward with her invasion. The dark times are upon Atlas and our heroes are running out of time. So… what happens now? Well, let's find out.

Overview

I normally break down everything moment by moment, but we’re gonna keep it brief since there’s a lot to cover.

In War as Salem’s attack marches forward, all of our heroes are in a bind. RWB wants to help Atlas while May wants to return to Mantle and points out that they can’t have both. Nora is still in need of a doctor, which causes Whitley, who overheard, to call in a character that we haven’t seen in quite a while. With JYR, they were captured by the Ace-Ops, who has now been tasked to use a bomb to blow up the whale. Our heroes negotiate with Winter to allow them time to go in and rescue Oscar and causes Ren to make an unexpected discovery. Meanwhile, in the whale, Emerald overhears Oscar/Oz again pleading to Hazel to see reason, even going as far as to give him the password to the Lamp. Not for Salem, for Hazel. This causes Emerald’s doubts to become even more concerning and with Mercury leaving with Tyrian for Vacuo and Cinder focused solely on her quest for power, she is left alone to decide what she wishes to do.

In RWBY’s 100th chapter Dark, we are at the Schnee Manor where the power blows out. But when they recall that they have an emergency generator, Whitley realizes that they can use the SDC to get supplies to the Mantle refugees. Ruby and Blake go to restore the power as Ruby is still struggling to maintain her usual optimism, but they encounter a Grimm in the process. Specifically, The Hound. Meanwhile, Penny, who crash-landed in front of the Manor last episode, tries to maintain control as Watts’ virus goes into effect. During the battle, it ends with Ruby discovering The Hound. One that utterly horrifies her…

Review

Okay, there is a LOT to go over with these two chapters, So let’s break this down event by event.

Monstra

Let’s discuss our villains first since we have some pretty major developments. First, we have Hazel. We had just about everything that I had assumed before confirmed. The reason that Hazel works for Salem isn’t merely just because she claims to want a new world order. Honestly, I think that Hazel just fooled himself to justify his decision to himself. No, as he talks to Ozcar, the truth becomes crystal clear. Hazel has given up. He confronted her once, and all that happened was she kept coming back until he was too exhausted to fight anymore. She broke him. Fighting her was futile and by taking advantage of this, Salem set him on the only path that he had left: getting revenge on Ozpin. Even though he’ll reincarnate, he can still be hurt. He can still be killed. He can still suffer. It was all that Hazel had left, and it consumed him.

As much as I know that some had issues with Hazel’s backstory, losing your sibling to circumstances that weren’t really anyone’s fault but you still feel so angry that you just need to blame something is very understandable. I’ve been in that place. I think that many of us have. And to learn that he did try to fight Salem at first but in the end, gave up due to her immortality… can you imagine how many others likely went down that route? Wanting to fight Salem but when the horrible truth came out were left empty? RWBY went through it in V6 and barely recovered, so it’s easy to see where Hazel is coming from. It’s easy to see why he won’t believe Oz when he tells him what Salem’s true goal, the release of death via summoning the Gods judgment, is. Oscar takes over and reveals the password, trusting Hazel to decide for himself what to do. Not Salem, Hazel. Will it pay off? Only time will tell.

But Hazel isn’t the only one privy to this new information. Emerald overheard all of it. Whatever fears that she had were all confirmed. Mercury is dismissive, both not believing it (until Tyrian confirms it) and even if he did, points out that Hazel failed and fell into line. It’s going to take time for the assassin to change his mind. As far as he’s concerned, he’s on top of the world, or at least in the best place that he can be in. Better than when he was with Marcus at least. Emerald though? She’s been doubtful and scared since at least the end of V3, even earlier if we count the flashbacks in Beginning of the End. The only thing that has kept her around along with the fear of Salem has been her devotion to Cinder. But with how Cinder has been coldly dismissive of her thus far this volume and now knowing that she’s part of something far worse than she imagined, it looks like Emerald may be deciding that it’s not worth it anymore. The question is, will she act before it’s too late? With Mercury off to Vacuo, she’s on her own to make that choice.

The villains’ stuff is mainly setup for Chapter 9 but it’s good stuff. We’re getting everything in place for the many payoffs that we’ve been waiting a long time for. Many of us have been hoping for Emerald to defect. While IDT as many have wanted the same for Hazel, he’s certainly the nobler of his buddies and has shown signs of possible redemption, so I’ve been hoping for it. Oz and Oscar’s efforts seem to be paying off and Oscar taking over and playing a huge gamble is pure excellence. It’s both Oz trusting the boy and working in tandem with him showing how he is genuinely trying to be better and showing Oscar’s growth with his more diplomatic skills here. It failed to work on Ironwood, but perhaps this time he’ll have better luck.

JYR and the Ace-Ops

Like with the villains, their stuff is contained all within War. But boy do we have plenty to go over. With Atlas in utter chaos, to the point of all the citizens having to hide in a subway, Ironwood has decided to have Winter and her team bomb Monstra. Which makes sense… except that Oscar’s in there. Needless to say, JYR isn’t happy about that. But Harriet, Elm, and Vine remain committed to their ‘we have no feelings’ routine. Even though it’s so obvious that they’re lying through their teeth. Ren’s Semblance confirmed it, but it’s not hard to tell. Elm and especially Harriet are hiding their feelings through their anger and doubling down on following orders. Vine does try to remain reasonable, but otherwise retains his emotionless demeanor. Marrow… he just clearly doesn't want to be there anymore. He’s still trying to remain comitted to what he’s doing, but this and Chapter 9 are going to be changing that big time

And WInter? Oh Lord Winter. She wants to do the right thing but is bound to her loyalty and duty to Ironwood and Atlas, and she doesn’t know which one to follow. Her orders? Or her heart? The choice may seem like a no-brainer to us, but to Winter it’s more complicated. She feels that she owes Ironwood so much. Because of him and the military, she escaped her father and his control. I think that she does realize that this point that she’s just exchanged one puppetmaster for another, but she doesn't know how to cut the strings. We see some signs of hope, both in the last volume when she allowed Weiss and the others to escape, and here when she grants JYR’s request to go into the whale to find Oscar before the bomb arrives. She knows that if Ironwood finds out she’ll be in trouble. She remains conflicted, but it’s still a signt hat it’s not too late. It allows her (and Marrow forthat mater) to remain sympathetic while others like Harriet… well, they’re not making it easy, let’s leave it at that.

That brings us to Ren. He’s had it hard thus far, his emotional control slipping, his split-off from Nora, and everything that built up the last volume coming crashing down. He’s been pushing everyone away, but now? He can’t afford to do so. Not with Oscar in danger. When Harriet says that teammates are replaceable, he strongly disagrees. He and Jaune would absolutely know how wrong this is. They’ve never replaced Pyrrha after all. Even if one considers Oscar part of JNR, he’s never been considered the new Pyrrha. He’s just Oscar, their friend. When he finally admitted that to himself, it allowed Ren’s Semblance to evolve. Instead of simply masking emotions, he can now see them via colored flower petals. Yes dear readers, Ren is an empath.

This development is perfect/. It happened at the right time, Ren finally admitting his feelings for those that he cares about instead of internalizing them and pushing those people away as he has been with Nora. It’s a natural evolution of his powers. He can mask emotions to protect others from the Grimm, and now that he can take it off he can see beneatht he masks of others. Harriet and Elm’s rage. Vine’s uncertainty (I’m assuming anyways based on what happens later). Marrow’s sadness. Winter’s collection of so many different colored petals, reflecting the war that she is having with herself. Now that Ren is beginning to open up, he can now help others do the same. Semblances reflect the on using them, and I think this says a lot about what Ren is truly meant to be and will be in the future.

Schnee Manor

Now we get to the meat of this post. Let’s go over the events in War first. While our heroes are safe at Schnee Manor, they’re conflicted on what to do. May wants to, and by Dark does, go back to Mantle since things are just as bad there and they don’t have the military to save them. Weiss however? She wants to help Atlas. Despite everything, Atlas is still Weiss’ home and there are still family and innocent people that she wishes to save. She’s a Huntress, that’s her job. May however? Her family dismissed her when she was their son, and she made it very clear that she is in no way their daughter. Which first, that was a brilliant way to add that representation. Kdin confirmed that May was Transgender last volume, but now we have undeniable proof in the show itself and it was perfectly delivered. She also makes a good point, Mantle has no protection. The whole reason that RWBY went against Ironwood was that he chose to leave Mantle to die. At this point, it does seem like the heroes can have it both ways. It worked in the past, but not here. Not anymore. But even May admits as she leaves that at this point, there might not be anythign left to do for either city. It’s just… bleak. Even moreso than in V3.

This of course hits Ruby. Normally, her optimism and hope carry her through. It was practically what got the heroes through V6 alive and well. But now? No. Even she can’t deny how bad things have gotten. When she and Blake go to turn on the backup generator, it’s clear how conflicted she is. She wants to help everyone. She chose to send the message because it seemed like the best chance to save everyone. But the longer that she waits, the more unlikely it all seems. She’s becoming utterly overwhelmed. Honestly, with how 2020 went, I find this very relatable. You w\see all the suffering caused by COVID and the horror of the police brutality against Black people and so many other awful things we’re still in the midst of. You want to do something. You want to help everyone and want things to just be okay. But when you do, all of it weighs down on you because you simply can’t help everyone. As Klein said, you can only focus on what’s in front of you first. You feel helpless, scared, maybe even angry. But we’re only human. We can only do what we can a step at a time in whatever way we can, even if it’s just being a shoulder to lean on. It’s at least something.

This leads to something that I have practically been begging CRWBY to do for years now, have Blake comfort her. We’ve had very scarce Ruby and Blake interactions, but it’s always been pretty clear that Blake trusts Ruby and has followed her lead faithfully more or less since the team formed. I think it was very fitting for Blake to be the one who reached out to her as it calls back to when they first talked in Volume 1. Back when Ruby expressed her love of books and wanting to make the world better like the heroes that she would read about. How Blake admired her goal but also viewed it as rather childish. Considering everything with the Faunus oppression, the White Fang, and of course Adam, who could blame her? But Ruby gave her hope. Ruby got her to see that they can make the world better. That despite everything, it’s their job to protect everyone and to move forward. Ruby’s been able to push them ahead so much, and they all still need her. It’s what Ruby needed to hear and it shows how far that both girls have come since those early days at Beacon. Which since this happened in the 100th episode, was very fitting.

Now I’m not gonna say too much about The Hound here. The entire fight scene was awesome and the thing stalking through the Schnee Manor? It somehow felt more horrifying than The Apathy did in Volume 6. How do you manage that?! Whitley and Willow ultimately killing it via the armor was also pretty cool and it’s nice to see the civilian characters getting involved, showing that they don’t have to be helpless like with the ship captain and crew back in Volume 4. Then the final revelation, that The Hound was not only human but had Silver Eyes… yeah Ruby’s reaction could not be more justified. I’m gonna go into my thoughts more in the 11-12 review since Ruby goes more into her feelings there. But the revelations that this one scene caused… yeah, it’s added a whole new level of horror to not just Salem, but the Grimm as a whole. It’s kind of a bummer that The Hound was killed off and it just feels so soon, but with how so much is going on at this point… yeah I’m gonna forgive it especially since the death still leaves a lot to think about in the future.

So let’s talk Schnee family! First, Willow. I like how they handled her here. She’s an anxious mess, which makes complete sense. She has to keep forcing herself to not drink, but without that coping mechanism, she’s so anxious that she ends up running out of Weiss’ room in utter panic. Fortunately, she’s still able to get her act together enough to be of help. She uses the security cameras to warn Weiss and keep an eye on The Hound. Which also allows her to see it heading for Whitley. But instead of waiting on Weiss and since Whitley understandably doesn’t want to listen to her, she does the right thing: act like a mother and save her child. Including actually using her Glyphs to summon a Boarbutusk. Yes, Willow. In a jam-packed volume like this, it’s nice to see these bits of character development for even the minor characters and it was done well here.

Then we have Whitley. I’m gonna admit it, it feels like his change is pretty rushed, but again we have about a million other things going on. Plus I guess the worst situations can bring out the best in people. That’s certainly the case here. He over-hears RWB and May talking and decides to call Klein, who is apparently a doctor, not only a butler (the temptation to NOT make an ‘I’m a doctor, not an X’ joke after getting into Star Trek is REALLY hard XD) to treat Nora. Which Weiss’ reaction to seeing him and him not at all blaming her for being fired was just beautiful. But it’s Whitley making a decision. Not due to his father’s influence. Not to get Weiss’ attention. He did it because Nora needed help and it was simply the right thing to do. The fact that he acted independently makes Weiss so happy that she hugs him. It surprises Whitley… but you can tell that he’s happy about it.

I think that really encouraged Whitley. Jaques isn’t there anymore. There’s no one controlling his fate anymore. It doens’t matter if Whitley defies him now, Jaques can’t do a thing about it. It’s Whitley who realizes that they have the resources and ability to send supplies and help to Mantle. It’s him who goes to his father’s office to get the process underway. Even when The Hound comes in, he still makes sure to give the authorization before making a run for it. With the fear of his father gone and Weiss showing more support, Whitley is showing that he’s not a bad person. He was very much like his sister was; someone trapped and forced to succumb to the toxic influences to survive. He didn’t have the support that Weiss did, nor the skills that either of his sisters had that let them escape. But he’s taking those steps now. He has an attitude still, but he’s kind of where Volume 1-3 Wess was; a major brat but one very much on their way to improving. If Whitey ends up taking over whatever remains of the SDC or outright remakes it, I think that he’ll be a fine leader while his sisters continue as Huntresses.

Finally, we come to Penny. I should probably talk about Nora as well, but since Chapter 11 is when she expresses how she feels ike how Ruby does, I’m going to hold off until then As far as Penny goes… God, I… it just hurts. Knowing how this ultimately will end only makes it more painful to go back through. But just as Chapter 5 made it look like Penny would finally be allowed to choose for herself, Watts ruins all of it. This is a girl who is utterly trapped. Ironwood bound her down by isolating her and then forcing the protection of a whole city on her. Pietro, while well-meaning, was over-protective and allowing that to keep Penny held by her strings. He let go… and look at how it ended. The Maiden Powers, while something that Penny accepted, now has her targeted on all sides and she can’t escape them while bound tot he responsibilities that come with it. Now we have Watts’ virus and despite her best efforts, she can’t stop it.

It’s just… heart-wrenching. Especially when Nora wakes up and calms her down by reminding her that whatever is trying to take over is only a part of her, not the whole being. It works… for a few moments. But in the end, all that Penny can do is succumb. This girl truly has no control over anything. Not over her own life. Not over the abilities that she possesses. And now not even over her own mind and body. She keeps having her strings yanked back and forth, wanting to just snap them off but all her limbs are held in place so she can’t. Watching her act utterly robotic, blankly describing how she will open the Vault then self-terminate… it’s just so wrong. Not to mention her coming dangerously close to being carted off to Salem with only Ruby managing a Silver Eyes blast saving her. It was hard to watch back when these premiered but after the finale? It’s just… it’s just so cruel.

Both of these chapters were excellent. War is mainly a setup chapter and ho boy the event that it sets up for… Chapter 9 is gonna be fun to talk about! But it also had plenty of pay-offs, especially for Ren and great moments like May’s scene, Salem conducting the Grimm, and it just captures the bleakness yet determination of our heroes perfectly. Then Dark… boy is that chapter title appropriate. Again great moments like the Ruby and Blake talk, the entire fight sequence, and probably the most horrifying revelation thus far. There’s some minor stuff like the jailbreak as well that made RWBY’s 100th chapter, as well as the chapter to kick off the return after the six-week hiatus, a thrill to watch. That's not even going into Alex Abraham's spectacular score, especially when the big reveal/death of The Hound happens. Just... it's just perfect. It can feel like there’s just so much going on that it gets hard to keep up with at times… but to be fair, that’s how our heroes feel as well, so I supposed that’s appropriate.

Chapter Stats

War

Favorite Character: Lie Ren

Favorite Scene: Ren unlocking his emotion-reading power

Least Favorite Scene: RWB sipping tea. It’s not a bad scene, but them just kind of standing by while the chaos is going on… it just feels a tad out of place.

Favorite Voice Actor: Kdin Jenzen (May Marigold)

Favorite Animation: Salem conducting the Grimm attack.

Rating: 8/10

Dark

Favorite Character: Ruby Rose

Favorite Scene: Ruby and Blake talk

Least Favorite Scene: I got nothing. Everything here was perfect.

Favorite Voice Actor: Arryn Zeck (Blake) and Jason Liebrecht (The Hound)

Favorite Animation: As horrifying as it was, The Hound reveal.

Rating: 10/10

Final Thoughts

When I watched these, all I could really do was stare wide-eyed. Even though I knew that this volume was going to be intense, somehow I wasn’t prepared for any of it. Certainly not for everything in these chapters. But all of it was just so freakin’ good. Does it feel emotionally draining? Yes. It was a big part of why I’m only getting to these several months later. But was it still worth watching? Absolutely. Compare Dark to the first chapter of Volume 1. RWBY has come such a long way. A lot of things both good and bad have happened in between, but it’s still going and I plan to be here until the bitter end. With quality like this, it gives me a good reason to stick around. So six more chapters/three reviews to go.

(Image Sources)

[itsclydebitches]

Kinda feel that the Commentary trying to sweep Harriet trying to bomb Mantle under the rug is probably one of the noticeably worse parts of the Commentary.

Like, you have to be pretty damn deranged to bomb an entire city of civilians (unless it’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic). That’s not something you can brush aside with the ‘trauma’ card, it’s genuinely psychotic, and a complete loss of heart and mind. Doubly so when you have literally no reason to do it besides, “Boss said so.” I mean, Ironwood being serious in his bomb threat is what got Winter and Marrow to turn on him.

Harriet getting a “she’s not bad, just twaumatized ~uwu~” use feels really annoying. Probably because I am utterly sick of Fandom Metas constantly talking about Trauma characters may or-may-not have.

What really stands out to me—both in terms of what RT wrote/has said as well as the fandom's response to both—is that Harriet is, in that moment, exactly the kind of person they want the rest of the cast to be:

Clover tries to peacefully arrest Qrow because he trusts Ironwood, has no other information to go on, fully expects to find out this was all a big misunderstanding, but also knows he’s fighting a war where many presumed allies are revealed to be Salem agents, all of this during a time when he just heard Salem is on her way: “He’s just a bootlicker mindlessly following orders.”

The Ace Ops are part of a long scene where they catalogue precisely how bad a state they’re in which includes having just fought a major battle they’re exhausted from, they’ve lost their first line of defense at the Kingdom’s border, the heat is out, Salem is minutes away, and they don’t believe they have time to evacuate anyone else. This leads to them agreeing with Ironwood that they should save who they can along with trying to keep the Relics and a Maiden safe: “They’re just a bunch of bootlickers mindlessly following orders.” (A perspective that's very reinforced by Yang’s line to Blake while fighting Elm and Vine.)

Ren begins to trust and believe in a leader that everyone else on his team is also assisting and fighting alongside, he’s struggling with an intense fear of what’s to come, he wants to try and prepare for these challenges but the others brush that desire off, admits that he’s struggling to explain everything he’s feeling right now which results in Nora forcing a kiss on him to ‘fix’ things, finally shares his numerous problems with their recent choices and his teammates respond by yelling at him, ignoring him, and telling him he’s a bad partner/friend, and if we take the comics as canon all of this is colored by him seeing some of his dead father in Ironwood: “Can’t believe Ren spent so long being a bootlicker mindlessly following orders. Thank god he finally got with the program.”

Meanwhile:

Harriet ACTUALLY mindlessly follows orders. She ACTUALLY has no logical, understandable, or justifiable reason to drop a bomb on Mantle after everything else Ironwood has done and after Penny has clearly escaped, rendering the threat itself useless. Harriet is, for the first time in the Atlas arc, 100% trying to follow orders without any critical thought of her own, without even a minuscule understandable reason, making her the exact thing the writing of RWBY and the fandom has called everyone else associated with Ironwood for two volumes: “Poor Harriet. She’s so traumatized. It’s not good, obviously, but still totally understandable why she’d try to go that far. She just needed Vine and Elm to remind her of the Power of Friendship so she can instantly get over the trauma of losing Clover, the man we never saw her having any romantic interest in.”

Honestly, I’m just endlessly scratching my head over when morals do and do not apply in this show. Clover was murdered days before the bomb threat was even a thought in Ironwood’s head, but we’re meant to believe he absolutely would have gone through with it. Meanwhile, Harriet is actually alive, actually there, actually doing everything in her power to drop the bomb, but we’re meant to believe she’s just struggling with some generic “trauma” and needs a “We care about you” to remind her that taking out an entire city is a bad thing. She gets instant forgiveness that the dead guy who didn't try to do this thing, didn't even know this thing was an option, isn't allowed. How does that make any sense?

[swapauanon]

Last Minute Volume 8 Part 2 Theories

Penny and Cinder

Watts will die the same way the Madame did, strangled to death by a child he tried to exploit while desperately using technology to try and regain control of her. Cinder will bear witness to this, and will, for the very first time since learning of Penny’s true nature, regard her as a person instead of a machine. She’ll still try to kill her for the Maiden Power, but throughout the entire battle with the badly beaten and exhausted Penny, will not make any attacks on Penny’s personhood out of newfound respect for her.

But when she actually wins, and goes for the killing blow, she won’t see Penny Polendina: she’ll see her younger self. And that brief moment of hesitation will be enough for Penny to get away as Cinder quietly reflects on her actions for the past 8 Volumes.

Oscar’s Redemption Train

Emerald will help Oscar escape with the Lamp of Knowledge, while Hazel will probably end up dying to help JOYRE (the E is for Emerald) to escape.

Winter’s Fall

Winter and the Ace Ops will run into Salem, who’ll seduce them to her side against Ironwood by appealing to their emotions. For Winter, Elm, and Vine, she’ll appeal to their loyalty to Atlas and basically point out how Ironwood’s mismanagement has gotten so many people killed, and how sacrificing him might be their only option. For Marrow, she’ll appeal to the fact that the Military has rewarded his loyalty with nothing but abuse since Day 1, playing off of his hatred of his coworkers. For Harriet, she’ll take advantage of her misplaced anger and promise to help her get even with Ruby. To sweeten the deal, she’ll even heal Winter’s injuries, while lamenting that magic can’t cure infections. When Marrow shows himself to be unsure of his current course of action, Winter will try to be reassuring (as seen by that trailer shot where Winter’s hand is conspicuously missing the braces she has to wear to walk).

Why Ironwood Freaked Out

When we see that trailer shot of Ironwood’s panicked reaction to something off screen: I came to the conclusion that, in the show itself, it’ll be the last time we see Ironwood alive.

Something will happen when the camera cuts away, but when it cuts back, we’ll see one of two things:

Penny strangling Watts to death while covered in Ironwood’s blood.

Winter standing over Ironwood’s corpse as her new Ironwood summon orders the Atlesian Army to stand down and announces that Atlas is surrendering and submitting to Salem’s rule. Neo will use her Semblance to make the Summon look like Ironwood while Cinder uses her Semblance to dispose of his corpse.

Either way, Winter will make Salem the Queen of Atlas, who’ll order the Military to open fire on the reinforcements Ruby called for.

The Hound

Will be revealed to have Summer inside of it. Cinder will witness the Hound regenerating around Summer’s body and realize THAT is what Salem plans to turn her into.

Marrow’s Arc

While Marrow will pretend to be okay with joining Salem’s faction, he will take the soonest opportunity to flee and defect to the hero’s side as soon as the fighting stops, as he knows that there’s not much he can do if Salem kills them.

Raven’s Role

Raven, Taiyang, and Zwei (who is still a good boy) will arrive and join up with Yang’s group, with Raven very clearly having not learned her lesson and still being a self-serving coward, at which point it will be revealed that QROW was the only one unaware that Raven was the Spring Maiden, instead thinking that Yang was and just didn’t know how to close the Vault. While Yang never said that Raven was the Spring Maiden, everyone else was able to piece it together from context clues and just didn’t press it, Ozpin not wanting to force Yang to discuss something she clearly wasn’t ready for (Yang feeling somewhat guilty for lashing out at Ozpin after learning this).

Raven, however, will die in the final episode in a purely performative heroic sacrifice where she detonates the bomb to destroy the Monstra, raining the Grimm Liquid contained within on Atlas and Mantle and causing a huge chunk of Atlas to collapse into the Crater. She only does this AFTER Salem has already relocated to Ironwood’s office and her final words before getting vaporized in the blast will be a spiteful “Now it’s your problem, daughter!” even though Yang isn’t there to hear her.

Blake however, will have heard from Marrow that the last he had seen of Yang she had gone in to rescue Oscar, and state that last he heard of it, Oscar was still imprisoned by Salem.

The Final Shot Before the Credits Role

Just as all hope seems lost, reinforcement from Mistral and Menagerie will arrive, setting the stage for Volume 9.

Where Do We Go From Here?

JOYR and RWBN will reunite in V9C1 and swap notes.

Yang, upon learning that Summer is still alive and inside the Hound, will come to the realization that her REAL mother is still alive and decide that she will find and rescue her mother.

Cinder will be left alone, having driven away Emerald, while Neo will have found a way into Salem’s inner circle. With nothing to do but reflect, she comes to the (rightful) conclusion that she’s a monster, and decides that the only way to atone is with her own blood. From this point until she’s finally freed of the Shadow Hand (the official name of her Grimm Arm), she’ll be a death seeker.

Winter, Elm, and Vine will be morally conflicted, and if Winter killed Ironwood herself, she’ll try and consult her Ironwood Summon for advice. Either way, she’ll have officially alienated her family.

With Hazel and Watts dead and Tyrian and Mercury in Vacuo, Salem will use Neo and the Ace Ops to replace her followers.

RWBYJRON will reconcile with Ozpin.

Emerald will develop a guilt-complex and start treating Penny the way she used to treat Cinder, much to Penny’s concern.

Yang and Blake will get to meet each other’s parents. Awkward hilarity ensues.

Ironwood is dead and nobody cares except for Winter.

Cordovin will show up with the reinforcements and she and Maria will find come to the horrifying realization that they are, for once, on the same side and have to work together.

Volume 9 Opening Guesses

We’ll have a shot of Salem placing a white king on a chess board. The white queen will turn into Winter as the king turns into either a Seer (if Penny killed Ironwood) or an Ironwood Summon (if Winter killed him) and the rest of the pieces turn into Winter’s other Summons, as the black pieces turn into the heroes, with the Black King turning into the Staff of Creation and Penny being the Black Queen (ironically enough).

The Happy Huntresses will fight Winter and the Ace Ops who haven’t defected yet, Robyn vs Harriet, Fiona vs Vine, Joanna vs Elm, and May vs Winter.

There’ll be a shot referencing the V7 OP where Weiss stands with her mother, Whitley, and Klein before the snow sweeps that image away to reveal Winter standing alone.

There’ll be a shot of Cinder glaring hatefully at her Beacon Arc self as the image of Amber materializes behind her, before Yang and Penny show up, the images of Raven and Fria behind them. All three will be using their Maiden Powers.

We’ll get a shot of Ruby, Taiyang, Yang, and Qrow reaching out for Summer, who gets dragged into the shadows, only for the Hound to lunge out to meet them.

Maria and Cordovin will awkwardly shake hands while glaring at each other and visibly tightening their grips to try and get the other to let go.

The final shot will be the Vault of the Winter Maiden opening to reveal the Monty Oum credit every OP closes on.