#like they're manipulating him but he's secretly meta-manipulating them while being manipulated himself

[panharmonium]

this is funny because literally the only thing sasuke does for the entirety of the story is let himself be used as a pawn by every manipulative man he has the misfortune to meet

[maichais]

on betrayed brotherly bonds : kinn and vegas

this sits as very biased meta but the problem is i don’t think for a second that vegas was going to shoot. he wasn’t going to shoot kinn and he definitely wasn’t going to shoot porsche and i think, for all their surface level hatred of each other, kinn knew it.

he still yelled in desperation when vegas pointed that gun at porsche but that’s because kinn can’t keep himself sane when it comes to porsche, can't bear the possibility of his lover being threatened, especially with an opponent as fierce as vegas.

but coming back to the point: vegas was never, for a moment, going to shoot kinn.

and it’s not like he doesn’t have plenty of chances to. right here:

instead of his evil little monologue

or here:

instead of just yelling kinn's name and running after him when there’s a fully functional gun in his hands.

i think someone could argue he wanted to do his lil villain monologue. that he didn’t want to shoot kinn carelessly, wanted the other to see him and understand what he was feeling and kill him while looking him dead in the eyes.

and you know what that’s valid, maybe that is why vegas didn’t shoot and maybe i’m completely off the mark. 

but in the universe where i am not insane, this set of expressions:

just looks like two brothers standing at the end of a very twisted road. vegas looks angry but kinn looks almost calm, which goes against everything we're led to believe about them.

because i am nothing if not a hopeless goner for optimistic tragedies, i think maybe there was a point when kinn and vegas didn’t hate each other. when they were younger and vegas was just a kid and kinn was his cool older cousin. long before gun started to poison vegas’ life, both of them young and, by virtue of being somewhere near in age, close. 

i think a lot of vegas’ anger towards kinn also seems tinged with resentment. it feels very reminiscent of someone who was betrayed or whose expectations were defied and his heart broken and he’s never since recovered, not fully. i think the minute they started growing up even a little and korn’s focus shifted from tankhun to kinn as his heir (because that’s all they are to him, replaceable weapons), the little possibility of peace humming between the families in the form of the kinnvegas bond had to be wiped out.

that whole spiel in the hospital where kinn says there is a major and minor family to foster competition feels so rehearsed and deliberately planted i have a hard time believing they're not korn’s words. and gun, of course, hardly helped matters.

my bet is this: something happens when they’re young – tankhun gets kidnapped one time too many and korn realises he’s useless to him now – and kinn is picked to be the heir-in-training. gun wastes no time tearing his son away and both fathers start their little circles of abuse but vegas has it rougher. he’s forced into worse situations with a physically abusive dad whereas korn’s manipulation is soft but unwavering. from the outside, he looks indulgent. as vegas gets sucked into the dirtier rings of the minor family life, he sees kinn in the lap of luxury, being spoiled and it breaks something in him. i think he loved kinn once, as a younger brother, and he can’t stand that he was forgotten. 

because kinn did forget him. kinn was so busy being papa’s perfect little boy he started to do exactly what he never would have wanted and became mean and firm and obedient like korn demanded. sentimentality had to be cut out and kinn was suddenly no longer the person who vegas could approach with a stinging cheek or when his duties suffocated him.

all it takes, then, to cut the thread loose is vegas coming to him, one last time, hoping secretly they can still go back, and kinn scornful as he throws his father’s words in his cousin’s face.

i think it’s what makes vegas snap. 

he sinks and sinks and kinn watches him, above water, and the bitterness could swallow vegas whole but he doesn’t let it. he promises to be better for macau, to never let anybody have his full faith like that again, to never place himself in anyone’s hands like that. 

until, of course—

but well. that’s for later. 

[misstrashchan]

The Man With Two Souls, Pt. 2

Okay, so this ended up being a fucking long part 2 to my previous meta post. There was a lot I wanted to get down, and if it doesn't make sense or you don't agree with it, that's fine, I'd just be happy if you read it. Now I can rest until the finale comes and beats me up.

So, there's a few more Salem and Adam parallels to start off with like

(8) Having the same reaction to hearing someone mention Blake and Oz and the possibility of them getting the upper hand against them

(9) Chronologically after this happens (we see Adam destroy the throne room in Volume 6 episode 2, but we see him lose his mask at the end of the Adam trailer) deciding to go after Blake on his own while Salem creates the winged Beringel grimm and plans to go to Atlas herself, presumably to go after Oscar/Ozpin so he doesn't get in the way of her plans (as well as Ruby since she clearly needs her as well)

"If you want something done right, you do it yourself" - Volume 6 Chapter 13

(10) Adam and Salem telling Blake and Oz about how they're going to destroy them and those around them

"The ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind's greatest attribute. Which is why I will focus all of my effort to snuff it out. How does it feel? Knowing that all your time and effort has been for nothing. That your guardians have failed you. That everything you've built will be torn down before your very eyes."

"So you send your guardians, your huntsman and huntresses. And when they fail and you turn to your smaller soul, know that you send her to the same pitiful demise. This is the beginning of the end, Ozpin. And I can't wait to watch you burn." - Salem, Volume 3 Chapter 12

"What you want is impossible! But I understand. Because all I want is you, Blake. And as I set out and deliver the justice mankind so greatly deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love. Starting with her." - Adam, Volume 3 Chapter 11

(11) Salem and Adam's perception of Oz and Blake affecting their perspective of themselves... and the audience.

Okay, this one's honestly kind of weird. For so, so long there were a lot of people who bought into the idea that Ozpin was secretly evil or somehow worse than Salem, or that he'd done something terrible and unforgivable to Salem. I fully admit, I was one of those people. I mean, I didn't think he was evil, but the way Salem talked to him at the end of volume 3, listening to the song Divide, I thought, he must have done something bad to Salem, right? How could she hate him so much otherwise?

And the worst thing he did... was leave her. When he couldn't go along with being a genocidal dictator of the whole world alongside Salem, and didn't want their children to be a part of that either.

And as for Adam, he tells Blake that she hurt him more than anybody because she left him.

"All sorts of people hurt me in all sorts of different ways. But no one hurt me quite like you, Blake. You didn't leave scars. You just left me alone." - Adam, Volume 6 Chapter 12

And Salem would also have been hurt from Ozma trying to leave her. Especially when you think about her backstory, how she was kept isolated in a tower, and instead of finding freedom in the outside world, found it in Ozma. And then he died, and she was alone again. And then the Gods destroyed humanity, and Salem is left alone one again for god knows how long.

"Once again, Salem was alone." - Volume 6 Chapter 3

And weirdly, similar to Ozpin there were people who bought into Adam's false perception of Blake too. That Blake is somehow the one who hurt Adam more than he hurt her (which is, completely insane).

And Salem and Adam want Oz and Blake to feel that way. To be paralyzed with self hatred and doubt, to be stuck in the past, and feel as if everything is their fault. That Salem and Adam are their responsibility, at first to save them, and then to stop them.

You see it with Adam's gaslighting, trying to paint her as an unfaithful coward. And I mean, just listen to the song Divide. The whole song is Salem trying to make out Ozpin to be the villain, that she's killing people but the real murderer is him for trying to give people hope, even if it was hope based on a desperate lie.

"It was you who ended their lives! Made them to dig their own graves! With your dark, sick, cruel design, convinced them their world could be saved." - Divide

And there were a lot of people convinced by Salem's song Divide that Ozpin was far worse than he really was, to the point it was surprising that he hadn't wronged Salem in some way like most people were expecting.

And Adam tries to make Blake believe that she's a coward, that she's selfish and weak, that running away from her problems is all she knows how to do.

And for a long while, Blake believed he was right. That she was toxic to the people around her, that she made things worse for them. And there were some people in the fandom who thought that she really was this toxic person.

It's actually kind of scary, but Salem and Adam managed to manipulate not only Blake and Oz's perception of themselves, but also the audience as well in how they saw them.

I don't doubt for a moment this is going to extend to Oscar as well if she meets him, that she'll likely try to convince him that he's just Ozpin and that he, Oscar, doesn't matter, and he'll fail and make the same mistakes as their past lives. Which undoubtedly parts of the fandom are going to take Salem's false perception of Oscar to heart as well and believe her.

Which brings me to move on from Blake's parallels with her first "soul" and Ozpin, to her second "soul" and Oscar.

Now Blake alluding to the Man with Two Souls is metaphorical, while in Oscar's case it's very literal, and it's no coincidence she's the one who first introduces us to the concept to us with the book she's reading during the Shining Beacon.

"...It's about a man with two souls. Each fighting for control over his body"

(It's important to note that the conflict between the two souls is not one of Good vs Evil)

Blake's conflict of her two metaphorical souls fighting for control, is the false perception Adam had of Blake and who she used to be with him, her past that she can't escape, and the struggle for her smaller, more honest soul, trying to define herself and decide who she wants to be. And for Oscar, he's struggling to define himself and decide who he wants to be, because of the merge with Ozpin, and that his past will become Oscar's too.

Both of them want to do the right thing and rise to their challenges, but it seems like such an impossible task to them that they're afraid to meet it.

"I'm... scared. I'm more scared than I've ever been. Than I ever thought was possible. I always knew I wanted to be more than a farmhand. But this? Who would ask for this?" - Oscar, Volume 5 Chapter 5

"I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsman and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy what will I... How can I undo so many years of hate?" - Blake, Volume 2, Chapter 10

But the person who sees Blake's "other soul" the person she's truly capable of being, who she really is, even when she can't herself, is Yang.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out. You're not one to back down from a challenge Blake." - Yang, Volume 2 Chapter 10

And the one who sees Oscar and who he's capable of being even when he can't himself, is Ruby.

"Hey Oscar? I know this isn't going to be easy. But the fact that you're trying says a lot about you. You're braver than you think." - Ruby, Volume 5 Chapter 5

Blake and Oscar are also the first people we see Yang and Ruby open up to about their past trauma. The difference between the two being that in the Burning the Candle scene Yang is more willing to be vulnerable around Blake, to let her guard down and open up to her about her abandonment issues and how they've affected her.

Because as a more emotionally mature character she understands she needs to do that in order to properly relate to Blake so she can offer her support. She gets frustrated however when Blake still refuses her support, and so she has to give her a push to accept it.

Ruby, however, isn't as emotionally mature as Yang, and doesn't find it easy to let down her guard and talk about her emotions. Her mentality being described as "I don't have time for my emotions, I've got to make sure everybody else is okay" - RWBY Rewind: Ruby Rose Rewinds With Us

She feels like she constantly needs to be a pillar of strength and support for everyone around her as a leader. She has a hard time opening up about her own feelings and being vulnerable around others. For her, it seems much more natural to internalize those feelings rather than face them head on. As a leader, she feels she isn't supposed to show fear or doubt. If she admits how she's hurting or how scared she is, she'd be afraid of those around her losing faith.

Ironically, it's Ozpin's words of advice to her that enforce this mentality

"But if you aren't constantly performing at your best, what reason do you give others to follow you?"

So even though only a minute ago Oscar saw that Ruby was clearly upset over something (being reminded of Penny's death)

Ruby then goes on to act like nothing's wrong when she then attempts to reassure Oscar. And it feels like a performance, and though Ruby genuinely does want to reassure him, it comes across as insincere to him. He's frustrated because Ruby isn't being honest about how she's feeling, and is only concerned with his feelings.

So in the Dojo scene we have Oscar start to push Ruby past that flawed mentality that Ozpin enforced, to be more honest about how she's feeling, to talk about how the Fall of Beacon and the loss of Phyrra and Penny affected her, how she's afraid of Salem killing people she cares about, and that she'd kill anyone regardless.

And with both Ruby and Yang opening up about their past experiences they can relate to Blake and Oscar's own fears, doubts and insecurities. Blake's need for answers and Oscar's fear of the fight with Salem, and Yang's need for answers and Ruby's fear of the fight with Salem.

"I told you! I'm not telling you to stop! I haven't. To this day I still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me. But I will never let that search control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process what good are we?" - Yang, Volume 2 Chapter 6

"I am scared! But not just for me. What happened at Beacon shows that Salem doesn't care if you're standing against her or not. She'll kill anybody. And that, scares me most of all. Phyrra... Penny... I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt. That I didn't think about them every day since I lost them. That I didn't wish I had spent more time with them. If it had been me instead, I know they would have kept fighting too. No matter how dangerous it was. So that's what I choose to do. To keep moving forward." - Ruby, Volume 5 Chapter 5

And by demonstrating their own resolve, as well as their belief in the kind of people Blake and Oscar are capable of being that inspires them to be that person.

"I'm. Not. Running."

"You. Will." - Blake and Adam, Volume 3 Chapter 11

"She made a choice. To put others before herself. And so do I."

"Then you've chosen death." - Oscar and Hazel, Volume 5 Chapter 12

There's also Blake expressing her doubt in Yang during volume 3 after she attacked Mecury, causing Yang to question her own judgement.

She compares it to how Adam used to attack people, and of course she knows Yang wouldn't do something like that without good reason, but she can't but feel like the situation is very familiar. And Blake knows Yang isn't Adam, and makes it clear that she's decided to trust Yang.

"I want to trust you. I will trust you." - Volume 3 Chapter 8

But despite that, Blake's words do still weigh on her mind even when she's alone, where Qrow comes to talk to her about what happened and reassure her, and then they end up talking about her mum.

And then with Ruby in volume 7, Oscar expresses his doubt in Ruby in her decision to lie and hide the truth from Ironwood, comparing it to how Ozpin did the same to them, which, similar to Yang, causes Ruby to question her own judgement. And obviously he knows Ruby isn't Ozpin, that she probably had a good reason for lying. But again, the situation just feels so familiar.

But ultimately he decides to put his trust in Ruby, even before Ironwood.

"I do believe in you. But not only you." - Volume 7 Chapter 7

And by episode 9 they're both on the same page in deciding to choose the truth over fear. (if only James could have stayed on that page too)

Similarly to Yang, we see Ruby alone in episode 4 of volume 7, and you can tell Oscar's words are still weighing on her mind, as Qrow comes over to talk to her and she asks him if she is like Ozpin, and he reassures her that she's not, and then they end up talking about her mother.

Okay, so I'm going to go out on a limb here, and you can call me out on my bullshit if you like, but I'm making a prediction (like, 12 hours from the finale, but hey, it might happen later in the series for all I know)

If we're going full in on the parallels here, remember how Yang lost an arm trying to protect Blake from Adam, and afterwards Blake ends up leaving Yang like Raven, believing she'd be better off without her?

And how Salem is on her way to Atlas after hearing Ozpin had reincarnated, the foreshadowing for Ruby losing an eye and them bringing up her trauma around Summer in Chapter 11?

On top of her wanting Ruby alive?

I'm gonna guess Ruby loses an eye trying to protect Oscar, and then afterwards either Oscar or Ruby tries to sacrifice and give themselves up to Salem, except it ends up being a hollow sacrifice like Summer's

"I didn't have a choice I did what I had to do I made a sacrifice but forced a bigger sacrifice on you!" - Red like Roses Part 2

Because Salem would end up taking both of them either way. I actually can't imagine a scenario where she doesn't, because she needs both of them. But one of them has a worse fate, a "bigger sacrifice" in store for them when they reach Evernight (which I'm still thinking is Ruby)

[easilydistractedbyfanfic]

Surprised by your answer to the fave murven moment! Thought itd be something like that scene in s4 when they're under fire from drones and Murphy goes back for Raven on the beach. What are some of your headcanons for raven/Murphy? (As a couple or as individuals).

LOL! Well, I said it could change in ten minutes for a reason! Listen it is soooooo tough to pick a favorite, because I think so many of them are meaningful in different ways! S4 had some truly fantastic scenes - I could watch their argument in Becca’s lab and the fallout of that over and over again. Heck, I *have* watched that scene over and over again! And I love how in that drone scene Raven is so, so confused by Murphy’s help. She’s surprised and almost disturbed that her opinion of him has been upended but then she makes a serious point to thank him for it afterwardsI love that about her.

Sooo...how long do you have for these headcanons? A few hours? Because I could probably go on that long! LOL! I’ll put a few here but I really do have quite a lot of thoughts about them, and I both love and hate that we get to fill in so much ourselves - only hate it because I desperately want to see more of them & their stories onscreen!

~ I think Raven & Murphy hung out on the Ring more than anyone knows about. Six years is a long time, neither one of them like having nothing to do, they have similar senses of humor, and they came out of those 6 years much closer than when they went in, and that’s not just because they lived in the same place. I have fic ideas about this (what a surprise). I think Murphy is more interested in some of Raven’s work than he lets on - he sure tends to have a lot of opinions on what she’s doing and he thinks his sarcastic comments & suggestions keep her on her toes. Begrudgingly, Raven secretly agrees.

~ Maybe an unpopular opinion, but... I don’t think Raven ever truly hated Murphy, even soon after he shot her. Partly because I don’t think Raven tends to focus on hate or revenge, but also because she didn’t tell the adults that it was Murphy who shot her, and because I think canon shows us that she feels guilty when she tries to hand over Murphy instead of Finn to the Grounders. Her interactions with him after her injury tend to be more full of annoyance rather than hate. I do think she understands where he’s coming from even when she’s angry about what’s happened to her, and she feels empathy towards him even if she doesn’t want to. And even though she yells that she hates him during her breakdown in Becca’s lab, a lot of that is influenced by her strokes and her not being completely herself. To me in that moment where Luna gets Raven to calm down and she looks up at Murphy with a ton of regret, I think Raven fully understands that she lost control in the same way Murphy did in the past. That’s the moment, right there, where Raven lets go of her past resentment towards him, IMHO. Not that she doesn’t have reason to hate him after it all, of course, but I just don’t think she did, and I don’t think her canon behavior showed that she did either.

~ I think Murphy’s character is not well understood at times by fandom - not that I am suggesting that I am the best judge of him, fyi. I think he’s very smart, though in a different way than some of the other characters, and I don’t think he’s as selfish as people tend to believe. He’s no saint but I have read some takes that paint him as mean, selfish or ruthless and I don’t agree at all. With him going into the Sky Box so young, I like other opinions I’ve read about him being in solitary a lot. Also I think he read a lot during this time, and he does seem well-versed in past pop culture, so I’m going to assume movies were available in the Sky Box too, so I think he ate those up. I like to consider that Murphy isn’t a bad speller but wrote that message on the Dropship and spelled die wrong on purpose. To me this fits with his ability to influence & manipulate people, but he’s gotten much better at this since S1.

~ Of course we didn’t get it in S6, but there were a LOT of potential missing scenes between many of the characters, especially since they were just “off screen” at times. So I headcanon that Raven definitely had a chat with Murphy about how often he’s been getting himself drunk on Sanctum. It’s impossible for me to believe that she’d stand back and watch him do that to himself with both of their shared pasts with drunken parents. Their mothers both drank themselves to death - there’s no way Raven would let Murphy go down that same path without speaking up. But I think it would be the version of Raven that’s gentler with Murphy than she is with others, because even if she doesn’t approve, she gets why he’s doing it and she doesn’t blame him for wanting an escape - she just thinks he’s being too reckless with it.

~ This is a bit random and out of nowhere, but I think that on the Ring, while Echo and Emori were trying to teach everyone Trigedasleng, I think Raven & Murphy were the worst students. Not because they didn’t think it was valuable, but because Murphy rarely felt like taking things seriously up there, and because Raven was often mentally focused on repairs and ideas for getting them home, so she’d zone out during whatever lessons they had, her head caught up in something else. Eventually they both realized their inattention was hurting Emori’s feelings and they tried harder after that.

~ Alright, last bit! I tend to think of Raven as “the intellect”, and Murphy as “the instinct”. It’s the essence of their characters but also why they work so well together, because each of them brings something the other needs to the table. So to me in S5 when Murphy says he’s staying on the E-IV with Raven because she might need backup and it’s the ‘survivor’s move’, I don’t think he’s reacting just out of anger. Murphy can be impulsive but he’s also calculating - he doesn’t just make this choice on a whim, IMHO. As he says later, at first he thought he made the choice for one reason, but then he realized that wasn’t it. I think in the moment when he walks out of the shuttle and back onto the E-IV to stay with Raven, I think there’s a lot going on in his head that urge him towards this choice, including his memories of leaving Raven behind to die at Becca’s Lab. Maybe for the countdown to S7, I will finally write up the meta that bounces around in my head about Raven, Murphy and how their survival is often tied together, but to me it all IS tied together and I have a lot of examples to point to, LOL.

Okay, per my usual, I am a wordy bitch! I hope you aren’t sorry you asked! Thank you for the question! Ask me a ship question!