#oscar and ozma are mentioned

[angstandhappiness]

INTERESTING

ozqrow week day 6: supernatural/adventure @ozqrowweek​

qrow buys a house because it’s the cheapest thing on the market, only to discover the deal is too good to be true. not only is the mansion in ruins– it’s haunted by a great number of ghosts. but, on the bright side, this one’s kind of hot.

read more for the extremely long, in-depth explanation of the house and the ghosts/incarnations because i got wayyy too into this concept

Keep reading

[st-whalefall]

Listen, I love the lost fable, it’s great, it’s so much fun, but it’s really misleading (that’s the point) and a lot of audience members take it at face value.

Two things stick out to me as hints that point to Jinn’s vision being not completely, totally, really the absolute truth:

1. In volume 8, the staff of creation/Ambrosias is revealed to be one of those “give you exactly what you ask for” macguffins, after Oscar tries to go back through the portal and it’s shown the portal is one way, a la “A one-way ticket to Vacuo.”

2. In volume 9, we’re told by the tree that the brothers Grimm were “born” simultaneously. The god of light is Not the elder brother. In the lost fable Jinn says, “It was here the elder brother dwelled beside his fountain,“ & “…all while careful to make no mention of [the god of darkness]’s elder,” and we now know this to be false.

Bring these two pieces together (and other things but were focusing on point 1 & 2 for brevity) and we’re meant to find Jinn’s vision suspect.

What did Ruby ask Jinn again?

“What is Ozpin hiding from us?”

So, what Jinn showed them was not The Truth. But what Ozpin thinks, what Ozma believes, to be true.

And the characters took that vision at face value, but we the audience are meant to question it.

[merp-blerp]

Gaylor/Kaylor and Oz: Parallels and Theories 🌼🌈❇️

CW: Light Spoilers for L. Frank Baum's Oz book series (books 1-15) and major spoilers for Return to Oz (1985). And this post is very late-stage-Kaylor-specific, so if that's not up your alley, that's chill.

There is now a Vol. 2 with new additions and info! I recommend reading this part first.

Overblown Analysis Under the Cut ↓

As a huge Oz nerd, I and many others have noticed many Oz media parallels in Taylor's music. I wanted to piece together some I've seen mentioned and some I've noticed myself. More things could pop up as time goes on, so I could imagine me editing or making a second part to this post if necessary.

Part 1: Rainbows 🌈

In the 1939 film, Dorothy's home, Kansas, is portrayed as a dreary sepia or greige color, that way the contrast to the gorgeous technicolor of the land of Oz could be even more effective on the audience. Somewhat surprisingly I guess, this sepia color is reflected in the book, with Kansas being described as "the great grey prairie" and even W. W. Denslow's original illustrations of Kansas being colored in greige; the pages don't include more color until Dorothy is swept into the cyclone on her way to Oz.

So many of Taylor's lyrics describe events turning her world from colorless to colorful or vice versa. "The rest of the world was black and white // But we were in screaming color" from "OOTW", "You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else" from "Illicit Affairs", "If all you want is gray for me // Then it's just white noise, and it's my choice" from "BDILH", "Like a rainbow with all of the colors" from "ME!" turning into "I'm just... in shades of greige" from "The Prophecy", etc.

For TTPD, from a gaylor perspective, the sepia and greige theme of the album is supposed to reflect that for Taylor the closet is colorless and sad. It also invokes old Hollywood and how closeting is an old-fashioned practice figuratively and literally. Closeting is a practice based on outdated mindsets and fears and it's been a practice since Hollywood as we know it today was beginning to be established. MGM Dorothy actress Judy Garland was in at least one lavender marriage and might've been queer herself, but the latter isn't as confirmed as other victims of closeting of the time like, say, her husband Vincente Minnelli. Taylor often utilizes vintage imagery in her music, romanticizing it, but the song "TTPD" (and other points in the album) calls her out for it with her lover having to remind Taylor that they are living in modern times despite being held down by old-fashioned ideals. The Wizard of Oz (1939) film is arguably the epitome of old Hollywood nostalgia, so it makes sense for Taylor to use it as a way to tell the story she wants to tell, especially if it's a queer one since Oz is very special to a lot of queer people.

For what it's worth, Ashley Park performed the film's song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on The Drew Barrymore Show in what looks to be the Christian Siriano rainbow dress. Fun! Curiously, I can't find a video of this performance, I just happened to stumble upon this GIF on giphy.com and an article talking about the performance.

As an extra tidbit, in the Oz books, the rainbow is personified in the character Polychrome, the youngest daughter of the rainbow. She happens to be featured in one half of a certain famous quote from The Road to Oz. Polychrome comments, "You have some queer friends, Dorothy," to which Dorothy responds, "The queerness doesn’t matter, so long as they’re friends." This quote is theorized to be the inspiration for the phrase "friend(s) of Dorothy" in queer slang. And it's nice to have a friend like Dorothea, of course. Speaking of which...

Part 2: Dorothy and Ozma 🌪️🌺

Dorothy Gale needs no introduction, but I will give Princess/Queen Ozma one since she's a more niche character. Ozma is the rightful ruler of Oz. The "Wizard", Oscar Diggs, was not meant to rule over Oz. He went to great lengths to usurp the throne from Ozma's father, Pastoria, and hide Ozma away as a baby, dumping her on a witch named Mombi, who enslaves her and disguises her as a boy named Tip so she and others won't know her identity. She learns the truth about who she is and takes back her throne in book 2, The Marvelous Land of Oz (This backstory is why Ozma is a trans icon, along with a sapphic one). Ozma and Dorothy meet each other in book 3, Ozma of Oz, and are inseparable from there on. A common queer interpretation of Oz sees Kansas as like the closet and Oz as being out and free. A part of why the queer interpretations of Oz work particularly well in the books is because in The Emerald City of Oz, Dorothy and her Kansas family move to Oz permanently when Kansas stops being liveable for them. So Dorothy becomes the second ruler of Oz and Ozma's "constant companion" at Ozma's "proposal", as L. Frank Baum describes it. Dorothy is the only person allowed in Ozma's bedroom unannounced, which is cutely domestic. Baum's story and John R. Neil's illustrations of the two often depict them as being very close, holding hands, and kissing. It's not really knowable if Baum intended for it to be seen this way, but many modern Oz book fans see them as a couple.

Naturally, there's the theory that Taylor's song "Dorothea" is about Karlie, as well as the fact that Karlie dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween 2023 and did a partly-Oz-inspired photoshoot in 2010, among other Oz-themed things. Also, after the first book, Baum had a falling out with Denslow and appointed a new illustrator, John R. Neil; Neil's design of Dorothy sports a blonde bob, which reminds me of the "Karlie Kut" a bit, even if that's coincidental. Since the Karlie as Dorothy theory is pretty well established, I want to forward a theory about Taylor taking on the role of Ozma.

For starters, Taylor wears a gingham green dress in her music video for "Karma (ft. Ice Spice)" as she skips and sweeps down a yellow brick road in red shoes, looped braids, and lemon beret. This outfit is a bit perplexing, as while it seems very Dorothy-inspired, it actively makes itself just different enough from how Dorothy is illustrated in the first Oz book and seen in pop culture. It could be suggested that this is for copyright reasons since 1939 Dorothy is not in the public domain yet and using that likeness would require making a payment. However, thanks to the book specifically describing/illustrating Dorothy as wearing blue and white gingham and pigtail braids, these features can still be used, as all of Baum's Oz novels are in the public domain. Oddly, the only potentially copyright-able aspect of Dorothy's costume is the one that Taylor kept, the ruby slippers exclusive to MGM's '39 film, since in the book Dorothy's shoes are silver. So why were all these unnecessary changes here?

My main theory is that Taylor is subtly invoking Ozma in a way that would still be recognizably Oz-ian, as I don't think most people would catch on to the Oz reference if Taylor dressed as a more accurate-looking Ozma. Hence why the gingham and red shoes are present even though Ozma is never described as wearing anything like that. Ozma is often depicted in long flowing white or green dresses. And while Ozma's hair is usually free in Neil's illustrations, her hair is sometimes tied into a bun, and Taylor's looped braids seem to be in the same family as a bun (I don't know how else to say that, I hope you get what I mean...). The lemon beret is hard to explain. As far as I know/can recall, lemons have never played a major role in any Oz media, so my guess is that the hat is meant to match the yellow brick road or maybe slightly invoke the fighting trees from the film and book. Since Taylor's outfit is similar but not the same as Dorothy's, it could be interpreted as Taylor dressing as someone adjacent to Dorothy, or a friend of Dorothy's, and Ozma would definitely fit that title. Ozma is also a fairy, so this also lines up with my Taylor is the beast to Karlie's beauty theory, since a fairy is a creature. And as the small, coincidental cherry on top, Ozma was originally described as blonde like Taylor in the story's text, despite the fact that Neil always drew her as a brunette. Dorothy's appearance outside of her clothes is rarely if ever given, that way anyone could see themselves in Dorothy, her design not mattering too greatly. The only clue to her physical looks is in the illustrations, but the consistency changes over the Oz series when it comes to Dorothy's design, so again it doesn't matter. Kind of like how, whether a song has male pronouns or not, it’s always describing Karlie, the "design" of the muse not mattering. And it actually does make some sense for Ozma to have the ruby slippers, even though she never had them in the books, but more on that in the next part. If Karlie is Dorothy, Taylor is Ozma.

An alternate, more flimsy idea is that Taylor is dressed as Dorothy in her green dress returning to the Wizard with the wicked witch's broom as proof that she melted her. However, this doesn't quite work for me personally, as in the film, Dorothy never got a green dress from the Emerald City. And while book Dorothy did get a "green" dress, she never had to bring the witch's broom to the Wizard and her dress wasn't actually green but white; it only appeared green in the Emerald City due to the green spectacles everyone was tricked into wearing by the shamming Wizard. And of course, book Dorothy's slippers weren't red like Taylor's, but silver. Maybe I'm being too particular, but to me, the details of the two titular versions of Oz make this idea weak.

Another idea is that Taylor is dressed as an amalgamation of Dorothy and the witch, which is definitely an interesting thought. In the 1st book, both Dorothy and the witch have no magic of their own and need to obtain magical items, like the silver shoes or the golden cap. But the difference is that the witch uses her power to do evil while Dorothy doesn't know the power she has, even by the time the shoes get her to Kansas again, as they presumably could do way more than that. The idea of Taylor combining the two is interesting, but again the red shoes put me off.

I think the Ozma theory works the best (and I think it's the cutest).

The story of Ozma being unrightfully taken from her throne and hidden away from everyone and herself reminds me of many stories told through Taylor's music. Lyrics like "I (I) don't (don't) like your kingdom keys (keys) // They (they) once belonged to me (me) // You (you) asked me for a place to sleep // Locked me out and threw a feast (what?)" from "LWYMMD" and trapped imagery in MVs like "Willow" feel somewhat reminiscent of that story.

Taylor isn't any kind of genderqueer as far as anyone publicly knows for sure, but Taylor definitely seems to have no problem with aligning herself with masculinity and taking on male roles. Take things like the wonderland photoshoot (Lordy! 🤭), Taylor semi-confirming she's Folklore's JaMEs, "The Man", "Peter", and maybe etc. Ozma being a girl but forced to present as a guy for years could be seen as similar to Taylor having to paint some of her songs about women as being from a male perspective, or some songs never being officially said to be from a male perspective being assumed to be so anyway, like "Question...?"

One more small parallel between Taylor and Ozma: Ozma is often pictured as wearing two poppies, one on each side of her head, seemingly in her hair or connected to her crown. Reminds me of "Say a solemn prayer, place a poppy in my hair" from "The Great War".

Part 3: Return to Oz 👠

Return to Oz (1985) is an unofficial sequel to The Wizard of Oz (1939) made by Disney. It takes the stories of The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz and combines them into an original story. At least in America, this is the only feature-length film to feature Ozma and attempt to vaguely adapt the novels more closely. (Context for RTO photos in the image descriptions, which is the case for every image and GIF on this post because why the hell not)

Return to Oz adds a setting that wasn't featured in any of the Oz books: a mental hospital. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, concerned that Dorothy isn't sleeping and won't stop insisting Oz is real, send Dorothy to a mental hospital in an attempt to get her help (not out of malice). As we know, TTPD features the theme of asylums prevalently. The treatment chosen to help Dorothy is electroshock therapy, similar to Taylor receiving electroshock therapy in the MV for "Fortnight". In "Down Bad", Taylor says, "They'll say I'm nuts if I talk about the existence of you", just like how Em and Henry thought Dorothy needed psychiatric help when she talked about Oz being real.

When Dorothy stays over at the hospital for treatment, a character named Nurse Wilson (Kansas doppelganger of Mombi) escorts her to her room; Nurse Wilson wears a black dress very similar in style to Taylor's black dress from "Fortnight".

When the power goes out and the electroshock therapy isn't given a chance to begin, a fellow patient revealed later to be Ozma helps Dorothy escape the asylum by freeing her from the bed she's strapped to and bolting with her. Ozma and Dorothy slip into a river while running away, in which Ozma finds an abandoned chicken coop for Dorothy to ride through said river to Oz, Dorothy fearing Ozma drowned during the process until the end of the film. This is similar to Taylor and Post Malone's character escaping the asylum after Post cuts the power in "Fortnight". Ozma unstrapping Dorothy from her bed is similar to the nurse who unchains Taylor from the bed in "Fortnight", theorized to be played by Karlie herself. And Ozma finding the coop for Dorothy to ride away on is reminiscent of Taylor clinging to her piano in "Cardigan". Clinging to something when in rough water is common imagery, so it could definitely be coincidental, but I thought I'd mention it.

In this film, Ozma is trapped in a mirror by the witch Mombi, reminiscent of Taylor depicting herself as trapped behind glass closets in numerous MVs. After Dorothy saves Oz, she is the one to free Ozma from her glass prison by touching her hand and guiding her out of the glass, similar to Post and Taylor in the last scene in the "Fortnight" MV. Ozma in the mirror behaves like Dorothy's reflection, which reminds me of Taylor having Post's tattoos when she wipes her face in the mirror as if to say she's a reflection of his character.

Dorothy gives Ozma the ruby slippers before leaving Oz (Disney paid for the right to use them). That could help to explain why Taylor wears the ruby slippers that Ozma never had in the books if she's truly dressed as Ozma. And notably, when dressing up as Dorothy for Halloween, Karlie wore a full Dorothy costume, except for the ruby/silver slippers, arguably the most important part. As if Karlie was in "Kansas" and gave Taylor her shoes.

Dorothy chooses to return home in the end, but Ozma gifts her a way for them to communicate: through her mirror. This way Ozma can watch over her and when Dorothy wants to return to Oz, Ozma will make it happen. I've mentioned the parallels with the glass closets, but this also reminds me of "A tiny screen's the only place I see you now" from "Dorothea". In the book and '39 film, Dorothy uses her shoes to get back to Kansas, but in RTO, they are presumably going to be used to get Dorothy back to Oz when the time is right. So maybe after Taylor potentially comes out she will use Karlie's ruby slippers to sweep into the rescue and save Karlie from Kansas/the closet and back to Oz/freedom with her. Outside of RTO, it could also work the other way, with Taylor using the shoes to go home, especially with all the lyrics Taylor's had about returning home to/with her lover. Kansas doesn't represent anything bad in the original story, so it's possible that Kansas isn't a debilitating cage/closet, just home where you feel safe with the ones you love. Ozma also encourages Dorothy to keep their communication secret. Dorothy wants Aunt Em and Uncle Henry to know of Ozma, as she calls for Em to come and look as soon as she summons Ozma. But Ozma seems to see it as best kept quiet, no exact reason given to the audience from what I can tell, but it's understood by Dorothy and Ozma themselves. Pretty similar to Kar and Tay maintaining their closet for reasons we gaylors don't fully get to know, at least not yet.

(I didn't know where to put this little factoid, but in this film, the only times Ozma really smiles is at Dorothy. It's not important, just a bit cute and sad.)

And as a bonus for you Spade riddle fans out there, when Dorothy meets Ozma in the hospital, Ozma gifts Dorothy a pumpkin because "it's Halloween soon". The pumpkin is a Kansas doppelganger to an Oz character called Jack Pumpkinhead, who calls both Ozma and Dorothy "Mom" because Dorothy saved him from Mombi and Ozma built him and brought him to life. A bit reminiscent of Karlie and Taylor having Levi and Elijah if you ask me. I'm admittedly not a huge riddles person because it goes a bit over my talents, but I think they're intriguing and I'm curious if the riddles and Oz/RTO together would mean anything.

There's debate on whether Post's character is supposed to represent Taylor working with herself to get free or Karlie. I think it could be either or even both in a convoluted way. I like both theories. If "Fortnight" is based on RTO, the roles of Ozma and Dorthy seem switched, with Dorothy rescuing Ozma from the asylum. However, the tattoo mirror scene suggests that Taylor is mirroring Post's character, or playing him, and if that's Karlie, maybe the MV could be seen as Taylor playing Karlie in a sense since they're "twins" whose pasts are "parallel lines", while Post is either playing Taylor or Karlie; they are one and the same. The MV is really interesting to ponder in general.

Part 4: Miscellaneous Oz Connections ❇️

Lightning round (filled with tons of reaches)! ⚡️

In the "ME!" MV, Taylor and Brandon running up to the green building with a rainbow beam on it whilst in green marching band outfits looks similar to Dorothy and her friends running toward the Emerald City in the '39 film.

The all-pink soldiers in the marching band scene of "ME!" remind me of Glinda's all-female red army in the books.

In "loml", Taylor sings "The coward claimed he was a lion", a reference to the cowardly lion.

The men in the "ME!" MV falling from the sky with umbrellas reminds me of Dorothy and her cousin Zeb falling through the sky with an umbrella down to Oz in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.

Taylor might've been in a Wizard of Oz play at her school in 2006. The linked post doesn't give too much evidence admittedly, but I think it's worth saying that the play at least happened at her school.

I wasn't sure where to put this mini-analysis, but I think it's interesting that Taylor associates Dianna Agron with Wonderland and Karlie with Oz and the differences that could suggest. Alice and Dorothy go through similar adventures, but the two go about them very differently. Dorothy adapts to Oz very quickly and loves it there, enough for it to be her second home. Meanwhile, Alice certainly doesn't enjoy Wonderland as much as Dorothy loves Oz, itching to get out and stay out. Dorothy is very active in her role, making friends and changing Oz forever, while Alice passively goes through the motions and lets things happen before escaping to the next thing. It seems like Baum wrote the Oz books to give children lessons on friendship, feminism, and more, while Lewis Carroll wrote the Alice books with the exact purpose of saying nothing and giving birth to the genre of "nonsense writing". And Wonderland is definitely a dream in the original two novels while Oz is a very real place in the books. I know the associations seemingly have to do with the muses’ actual taste in fairytales, but I wonder how the differences speak to the story Taylor’s spun in her music about them. Assuming both Oz and Wonderland are freedom to some degree, does Wonderland being temporary speak to Taylor and Dianna as a couple, while Taylor and Karlie are still ongoing IMO, just like the Oz book series to this day (Canonical Oz books are still being written by different authors. There’s 40+ of them)? Is there something in the fact that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an English fairytale and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is considered the first American fairytale, and Karlie convinced Taylor to stay in America and live in New York rather than London where Dianna was? Do Alice and Dorothy’s different reactions to their discovered worlds speak to how both Karlie and Dianna feel about closeting vs being out or maybe how they feel toward Taylor in some way? I genuinely have no clue, but it's some interesting food for thought. (This isn't Dianna, Swiftgron, or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland slander btw, I don't know enough about Swiftgron besides the basics to do that.)

In Conclusion 🌼

I have no way of knowing if Taylor has even read the Oz books, seen Return to Oz, and knows all this information, but I think it's fun that these connections are there. If there are more connections you thought of or ones that you think I missed, let me know!

Thanks for reading!

[howlingday]

For you're jaune is hades au. I'm curious, what other powers does jaune have: A grimm form? Magic? Items of power? Authority?

Youve mentioned blue fire and he's created reapers.

"So, what exactly can you do?" Ruby asked, sitting across from Jaune. "Like, does you being here kind of put 'the balance of the natural order' at risk?"

"Well," Jaune chuckled, "at first, it would have, but I have reapers to take care of everything for me now."

"At first?" Qrow asked. "What was it like 'at first'?"

"Not good." Jaune said, a chill in the air not going unnoticed as he said it. "Before the reapers, I had to be there for everything. Every dead child in his mother's arms, every man of wealth begging for 'more time'." He shook his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to kill the mood. Ozma always said I was a downer to talk to."

"Gee, I wonder why." Yang said with a very nervous chuckle from her seat next to him. "Uh, what else can ya do?"

"I can make fire."

"You, too?"

"Well, it's kind of different." Jaune held out his palm and a blue flame flickered inside. Yang instinctively reached for him, only for his palm to shut and snuff it. "Don't touch it. It's probably the worst fire you'd ever touch."

"I can take it." She chuckled.

"No, you can't." Jaune rolled his eyes. "This isn't like mortal fire. It would burn away souls if it could."

"Like a fire in the soul?" She fingerbanged at him. He gave a groan in return. Of all the beings the Brothers made, it was always the ones with their sense of humor that were the worst.

"What else can you do?" Nora bounced in her seat across from Yang. "Can you turn into a Grimm? Use magic? Ooh, ooh, do you have an epic class loot or like a dominion power?!"

"I, er..." Jaune blinked, struggling for words.

"Nora, calm down." Ren placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, making Jaune smile a little. "But I am curious about your answers as well."

"Uh... Well, going in order; no, I can't; yes, but not without some consequences; I guess my sword would be 'epic class loot'; and I don't know what you mean by dominion."

"You know," Nora leaned closer, "like a... like a... like a mind-control superpower, or something. You're the god of death, so that would mean you're the god of souls! Ooh! The god of auras!"

"Actually, no." Jaune replied. "I can't touch control aura. Aura is a gift of the Brother of Light, so I can't do much besides whittling it down. And I'm not so much a god of souls as much as a guide of souls."

"Well..." Nora leaned back. "That's lame."

"Nora." Ren chided.

Jaune chuckled, along with the rest of the group. Well, everyone except Oscar. The poor boy was still so lost and confused. When Jaune's eyes cast over him, he flinched and looked away. He hated when people looked at him like that.

[bestworstcase]

@sailorb00 tags here

#i was also on the fence about the EA siblings and Theodore being related by looks alone (#... and the alice + dorothy comparison#mostly chalked it up to coincidence but now that they're conf. to be from Vacuo it's looking less like coincidence fsdf#then is the girl on the desk photograph Alyx before she and Lewis found the EA?#And Theodore juat inherited it? He grew up on his great-great grandfather/uncle/who know's stories about the EA being real?#Maybe in hopes that one day his sister would return and be welcomed by family? even if they're generations apart#if Lewis's pseudonym is Theodore Im gonna lose it#I mean we dont know his or the EA siblings' surnames.#IS THAT WHY THEODORE DOESNT GO BY HIS SURNAME#BC OF THE FAMILY LEGACY???#ok imma go sit down now before i hurt myself w/ speculation fsdf

YEAH SAME on the being like Doubt.jpg about a relation between theodore and lewis on the basis of… skin color, basically, but the minute i heard “i couldn’t believe they were from vacuo,” that’s a deliberate choice to link these kids to the setting for the next major story arc, and that’s happening in conjunction with several developments in the 9.11 animatic that suggest history is about to become very important (soaring popular support for the crown—probable mountain glenn history-repeating-itself theme with salem razing vale—oscar mentioning vacuo’s history of colonization—plus the great war having ended with ozma’s use of the sword in vacuo).

it’s very. raises eyebrow. alrighty then!

so whatever lewis did after coming home, other than writing tgwfttw, probably has some narrative relevance—might be as small as something jaune needs to find closure, or it might be bigger than that, who knows, but if it was a hundred and fifty years ago and it matters enough to be in the story, then the story needs a vehicle to deliver this information in a manner that feels naturalistic and non-arbitrary. (jaune-stumbles-across-loved-one’s-memorial-statue-by-chance once is a believable happenstance; twice, a cheap contrivance.)

the simplest way to do that is to introduce a vacuan character with some connection to lewis, and the obvious choice there is a descendent, because lewis lived a long enough time ago that family lineage is kind of the only plausible reason for a living character in the present to have a meaningful personal connection to lewis.

(and it can’t be oz, because oz had no idea the ever after existed.)

this descendent-character also ideally should be prominent enough in the story to matter for reasons unrelated to their relation to lewis, to avoid feeling shoehorned in. and they are probably human, given the apparent rarity of interracial human/faunus couples.

that pretty much narrows it down to theodore, or the asturias twins. NOW hysterical as it would be for jax and gillian to be descended from lewis, finn asturias is obsessed with “the old stories about [his] family” and yet doesn’t drop even a single hint about the ever after, so i think we can rule that out.

which leaves theodore. hmm.

that picture in his office:

She still remembered that her attention had been drawn to one photo in particular: a black-and-white picture of a young girl in pigtails and a checkered dress with a small black dog. She hadn’t mustered the courage to ask who she was to Theodore. A daughter? A sister? Whoever she was, Velvet could see the resemblance.

plainly evokes dorothy, and even bearing in mind that there may be discrepancies (theodore is described as blue-eyed in the book but has brown eyes in beyond, for example)… there’s nothing in this photo to suggest a resemblance to alyx beyond ‘young girl.’ alyx doesn’t wear her hair in pigtails, nor does she have checkered patterns anywhere in her design, nor does she have a little black dog. so i doubt it’s her.

but black-and-white does suggest it’s old. ‘sister’ seems a lot more plausible than ‘daughter’ for that reason, and ‘mother or aunt’ even more likely than either of those.

(the other thing about a young girl with a small black dog in This story, is.

it’s a symbol for the deaths of the ozlem girls and the inescapable grief that underlies the whole conflict between ozma and salem—there’s a reason she sends a giant monstrous hound to capture oz and then huddles in the shadows miserably looking at conjured images of her daughters until oscar wakes up; the black dog reappears as this terrifying monster in conjunction with the surfacing of all this pain.

so the question is to what extent this small black dog in the photograph is Just Toto, and whether the specific narrative symbolism is or isn’t in play here; Did This Girl Die? that would preclude her being theodore’s mother but she could well be an aunt or great-aunt.)

of course the point of drawing attention to this photograph might be as simple as hinting at theodore’s quote-unquote real ozian allusion; not dorothy but the silver shoes lost in the desert. which is an interesting angle to consider with regard to this possibility of lewis being his ancestor, because on the one hand there’s the silver shoes carrying dorothy home yet becoming irretrievably lost themselves in doing so, and on the other there’s alyx, the white rabbit, guiding people home yet never able to return home herself. see the rhyme?

in a sense jaune and team rwby bring alyx home with them, in that they know what happened to her and if there are descendants of lewis still living in vacuo then the question of why she never came home can finally be answered. and if the descendent is theodore, then the intertextual confluence between him and alyx is more resonant than the surface dorothy-and-alice comparison; the silver shoes are the home the white rabbit returns to, as a memory, a hundred and fifty-odd years late. and it matters.

but also i have a little hamster wheel churning at all times in the back of my mind and right now it’s churning around: sixty, seventy years before the great war began, vacuo was a colonial territory of mistral—before the great war, it had no formal government, it wasn’t a state, and oscar references the history of colonization in the 9.11 animatic. so that history and the history of the great war—which was for vacuo a war for independence—is narratively salient. lewis was a child who grew up in vacuo during the fractious decades preceding the great war; he gives a face to this period in history.

and jaune told lewis and alyx not only that he was from remnant but that he was from more than a century in their future; he and lewis “compared notes on remnant.” jaune couldn’t believe they were from vacuo, “back before the war, before huntsmen.”

they compared notes.

jaune’s grandfather fought in the great war.

so lewis went back home to colonial vacuo fifty, sixty, seventy years before the great war knowing that the great war was going to happen. knowing that within his lifetime vacuo would fight for its independence and win. knowing that there would be peace in the end. according to what blake says in 9.2, in the book, alyx “didn’t know [afteran] customs and started a war between the townsfolk” and that takes on a really different subtext now that we know the story’s author was a man who grew up in colonial vacuo knowing that the great war was coming.

either lewis and alyx were vacuan, or they were mistrali but born in vacuo; either way the tenor of the girl who fell through the world suggests that lewis’ sympathies lay with vacuo. both options stand to be compelling if he acted upon this knowledge more directly than writing anti-colonial themes into his children’s book. or books. there is also the boy who fell from the sky, mentioned in after the fall, and alice’s adventures in wonderland does have a somewhat lesser-known sequel.

i doubt lewis fought in the great war himself—he was probably in his seventies or older by then—but if he had children they would have been of an age to fight for vacuo, and if lewis had passed down to them the stories he knew of what remnant would be like after…

y’see how lewis could have ended up playing a really important role in vacuo’s side of the great war, if he’d decided not to leave matters in the hands of fate? jaune told him about what the world would be like after the great war, but lewis also figured out that jaune knew more than he let on, figured out that jaune remembered a story lewis hadn’t written down yet. he knew that knowledge of the future could shape the future, because if it hadn’t been for jaune and jaune’s foreknowledge of his book, he might not have written it the way he did, as a guide for how to get out of the ever after.

so he goes home, knowing the great war will happen and what the outcome will be—or else knowing that it might happen that way. who did he become with that knowledge? what did he choose to do with what he knew? the one thing we know is he became a storyteller, and “storytellers have great power” is a prominent narrative theme.

salem inspired the world to rebel against the brothers by telling the story of what they had done to her, and speaking of her vision of a time when humanity could be free.

lewis…?

[strqyr]

Ngl, to me, Ozpin is so, so interesting, but not just regarding his reincarnation and past lives (though those Are very interesting). Like,, it's said that Ozpin became Headmaster at a young age and was a 'prodigy'. And based on the information we have on his age, that being younger than Theodore who's in his mid-late 40s, it's so interesting to consider exactly HOW young he mightve been. I'm willing to bet, based on appearance and facts, that he was probably 37-39 when he died, maybe very early 40s at the oldest. N like. That says that at the absolute youngest, he was probably 20 when he became Headmaster, and like, 24 at the oldest.

Which is like. That's WILD to me? I'm sure it's more likely he was 22-24 when he became Headmaster, but that's RIGHT AFTER he would get his Huntsman license, if he got it all naturally. If his last incarnations circle had kids and They knew (I wouldn't be surprised, it'd be juicy), and they were in high places, it's entirely possible that he got into that position earlier than he should have, possibly Unwillingly. I'm sure it's not canon, but I feel like that's WAY juicier than just "He got into the Headmaster position on his own by his own choice". Besides, I doubt the KoV would've wanted Ozpin to get shoved into such a position, if we can base how he mightve been on how Ozpin acts (merge n all).

Like. Idk I feel like Ozpin, the life and the incarnation, is So interesting especially if all this is true? Plus Oz parallels Pyrrha so I feel like him getting shoved into a position he didn't initially want would only hammer that in more. I am DESPERATE for a rwby spinoff that focuses on STRQ and Ozpin 🙏

i absolutely need to know how old ozpin was exactly when he became the headmaster of beacon and it will forever be one of my biggest frustrations with rwby that they never give their adult characters exact ages like please, i need to know 😭

but just by doing detective work, it's like. okay, in the novels he's said to be the youngest headmaster beacon has had, but in the show it's said he was one of the youngest headmasters, no specific academy mentioned, so i don't think he was like. impossibly young? he's a licensed huntsman, so prodigy or not, he likely would have gone through one of the academies and graduating first.

now, my own little pet theory is that ozma doesn't reincarnate into warriors—take a look at his known reincarnations, and none of them come across as having had any training before he popped into their head—so i'm thinking that ozpin wasn't attending an academy when that happened, which also leaves the door open that he could have been younger than 17 when he did—meaning that in addition to pyrrha, he might also parallel ruby, the two people he chose in one way or another—and during that time not only was he training (and gaining the muscle memory from ozma), but he was also prepared for the role of the headmaster by the inner circle members the king of vale left behind (since he's mentioned as ozpin's predecessor).

he was also already the headmaster of beacon when team strq was on their first year, so i'm thinking he's like... maybe 2-4 years older than them? which would put him at early-to-mid forties at the time of his death (depending on how old team strq are), which would still put him as younger than theodore, who is in his mid-to-late forties, maybe early fifties according to yatsuhashi.

but hard agree on team strq spinoff. for me that has always been about more than just strq—though it goes without saying that's obviously where my bias lies lol—, it's also about ozpin and how he formed his inner circle around him because all of them—especially the headmasters—were like. his friends? these are not people chosen by his predecessor, these people were chosen by him and i need to know and see how that happened and how ozpin handled it all like did he go through the same awkwardness as oscar where people older and more experienced than him looked at him like he should know what to do??

there's just so much there to dig into and i must have it. please.

[peterneptune16]

Top 5 reasons I love RoseGarden

1. They help each other grow as people - Ruby and Oscar have really just helped each other flower into being the people they truly are meant to be. Oscar has became who he is due to support from the others, most commonly being Ruby. Meanwhile Ruby has became more of who she truly is with Oscar’s help in more subtle ways. With Oscar, she clearly has someone she wants to constantly look out for and make sure that he’s doing okay no matter what. Showing just how loyal and true of a friend she is to others, and how great of a protector she can be.

2. They’re incredibly supportive of one another - The two of them have done everything they possibly can to show how much they really support one another. Ruby was there to support Oscar when no one else really did all the way back in Volume 5. Then in Volume 6 she continued to express support for him and was the only person to remind him he was his own person. Later on in Volume 6, Oscar openly supported Ruby, letting her know he knew her plan would work. Then in Volume 7, they supported what each other chose to do and didn’t do anything rash until they came upon the agreement to be honest with Ironwood. Finally in Volume 8, Ruby expressed support for Oscar despite him seeing himself as a failure after not being able to convince Ironwood to listen to him. Then there’s also how the two of them have a habit of looking out for one another and being pretty commonly concerned for each other. Ruby’s concern for Oscar in V6, Oscar yelling out Ruby’s name multiple times, Ruby being the one to go out and look for Oscar in V8, and even in V9 Ruby showed concern for Oscar’s well being both in the first episode- and the other scene, no major spoilers here but we all know the one.

3. The amount of parallels is INSANE - Okay so, I’ll try my best to not spoil things as well as I possibly can. But oh my God the amount of parallels these two have is so freaking cute and really makes you think. Oscar in V7 & V8 foreshadowed so much that Ruby’s actions would mirror in V9. But even more than that, the two of them parallel other canon ships in the world like Summer/Tai and Ozma/Salem to a degree. They even have the whole Sun/Moon and Red/Green thing going on, not to mention Oscar only started wearing Red after he met Ruby and it’s been pretty much confirmed that people in Remnant will wear the colors of their partners/love interests. Then there’s even ones that have yet to get the proper payoff. Like- Oscar and Ruby FINALLY hugging, let’s hope that finally happens in V10.

4. The idea they found each other at the right time - They seemed to have found each other right when the other needed someone to help lift them up. Oscar had just been randomly chosen to be Ozpin’s next host and the information clearly weighed super heavily on him, and Ruby’s kind words clearly helped him feel so much better. Meanwhile, for Ruby, she had just lost a ton after all that happened at Beacon- so her having a new friend and someone who really trusts and believes her no matter what, it had to be helpful and make her feel like she’s really doing the right thing.

5. It’s too adorable to not love - This is the simplest reason, but they’re just two little dorks and it’s beautiful. The one reason that’s really not complex at all. I just love them.

[itsclydebitches]

I rndmly remembered that the WoR episode on Aura basically stated that whatever was going on with Ozpin was the result of his own aura training... like damn, the original RWBY trilogy set things to go to significantly better places than we ended.

I don't remember that one, but it's been literal years since I watched those and I'm pretty sure I saw most episodes only once. But yeah, there was a lot in the WoR series that was either dropped or retconned. Which remains wild to me because if I was going to make a side series specifically about the world building that hasn't made it into the show, I'd want to be very certain about what I was putting out there. That's not a one-off comment by a background character in a random episode six seasons back. That's now the audience's go-to source for unanswered questions. I mean, we know now not to take the franchise additions at their word, but at the time you'd think that whatever made the cut could have had more thought put into it—or more commitment—considering that's the only reason for its existence.

Anyway yeah, I wish the show as a whole put more emphasis on aura/semblances than it does magic, especially nowadays. If aura can be continually trained and semblances continually evolve with the fighter, it would make perfect sense that the guy who's thousands of years old could have some buckwild abilities at his disposal. Really, as someone who loves Oz it's very frustrating to see how his skills have been treated throughout the show's run. We never return to the Cinder fight and it's never explained how she bested him (power scaling in this show is nonexistent). The gears on his cane are teased for years with nothing coming of it except a ridiculous mega-blast five seasons later. He can give people the ability to turn into birds because... that's definitely connected to his other powers and has been relevant throughout the show's run... He presumably doesn't have a semblance, but we don't know if Oscar gets one (or if Ozpin's body had a semblance that Ozma could make use of post-merge). He supposedly has magic but never uses it until it's randomly revealed that, oh yeah, he's been storing energy up for years and years. Here's a giant boom that conveniently hurts Salem, kills the grimm, kills Hazel, but doesn't touch any of the heroes still inside the whale, neatly avoiding the entire ethical dilemma here without explaining how that's possible.

Ozpin has been treated so badly by the narrative in regards to his secrets, his abusive past, and the merge that it's easy to forget that he's supposed to be a thousands-year-old magic wielder who was a staggeringly proficient fighter before he went through several lifetimes worth of experience and training. This guy should be a BEAST on the battlefield, even while controlling a child's body. He's a little like the Cas of RWBY to me. Whoops, made this character too overpowered, huh? He's not even the primary protagonist, so we can't afford for him to constantly be showing her up even though that would make internal sense and allow her to grow in different ways. Yet instead of coming up with interesting and logical reasons for why he can't make use of that astounding power at any given moment, we'll just ignore it. Until the heroes need a deus ex machina, of course. Then we'll slip in an ambiguous line about how that power is almost gone. Maybe it's still relevant, maybe not. Maybe it'll get the characters out of an impossible bind, maybe we'll never mention it again. Gotta keep the options open!

[multiversal-pig-outing]

Rwby fantasy au part 7 leadership

Now that are done with the introduction of the races lets see of there leader ship. Some where mention when talking about the other races.

The Dragokin is led by a chef. Which are chosen in a tournament style competition. Testing battle prowess and intelligence. Chef Sienna has been leading the Dragokin for some time now winning the last 5 tournaments. The between tournaments are usually about 50 to 70 years.

Like I said Human and Faunus are ruled by a royal family and council. The number of members being 7. The current king and queen being King Ozma and Queen Salem. While council members being James Iron, Qrow Branwen, Mina lavender, Bruce Wayne, Leonardo lionheart, Oscar pine and Glynda goodwitch.

Giants are led by the Ymir that are usually voted in to power by the people. With the current head being Summer rose. Dwarfs like I have said are led by a monarchy. So no need to go into that.

The Fae due to there nature is very hard to get information about. But from what we could gather. They tech have a monarchy led by queen and king. There names unknown but there more peace keepers between the several fairy clan leaders.

[rwby-necromancer-au]

Hello and welcome to the world of the RWBY Necromancer AU!

My name is Morgan/Bowl, you’re lovely writer and blog owner. I’m the sole owner of this blog so if you have any questions about the AU, feel free to ask me directly! :]

Now, with that out of the way, here’s some things you need to know,

Salem’s whole thing happened a WHILE ago, so she is a thing of the past. There will be mentions of her and leftovers from the war against her, however she does not ever fight the main characters

Ozpin is functionally immortal, due to Ozma originally figuring out how to revive himself before death, there began a duplication loop of his magic. He gained his revived magic, but his original living magic needed somewhere to go, so it attached itself to the next host. Ever since then, each of the heirs to the magic are immediately revived after death without any control over it, thus continuing the cycle.

Oscar is autistic in this AU, he is 10 physically, but mentally he is more akin to a 5 year old.

Speaking of mental ages, revived people will take the appearance of whatever their mental age is, not the age they died at. So for instance, Oscar died when he was 7 but because of his mental age being 5, he looks like your typical 5 year-old

Ozpin, Oscar, Qrow, and Glynda are the main characters in this au, RWBY and Co play supporting roles

Ironwood, and by extension, Atlas & Mantle, are the main antagonists of the story. Mistral also serves as an antagonist but more so as a support for Atlas & Mantle

Pursuers are soldiers of Atlas who are assigned to hunt down and kill necromancers or capture them to put into a necromancer prison. No exceptions. Even children.

Songbirds are random people who decided to give up their names, identities, and lives for the cause of saving these necromancers from the prisons and from Atlas. They are known for singing coded songs that tell different meanings.

Ozpin, Qrow, and Glynda all met in Atlas when they were 12, two years later they were captured and put into a Necromancer prison. Three years after that is when they escaped via the songbirds and made their way to Vale

Vale and Vacuo are safe havens for magic users and especially necromancers

Healers are forced to work for the Atlesian government because of their healing magic

Shapeshifters are rare and most people in Atlas think they don’t even exist. They also have the capacity to change their general appearance so long as it still looks like them (I.e, changing hair length, sex, or body height), this is the only other form they have besides their animal form.

Shapeshifters are also capable of having animal features, however many have evolved to lack these features as a result of Atlas attempting to breed Shapeshifting out of people. Qrow for example, does not have feathers, while Blake, has cat ears and a tail.

This story is dark so be forewarned.

There is a separate timeline occurring on this blog called the Young Necromancer AU timeline. Which is how the story of what happened in the main characters’ teenage hoods is told.

Anonymous is on at all times unless I begin to get concerning or otherwise rude asks in an unreasonable amount

Cloqwork (Ozpin x Qrow) is in fact a thing here, it’s my favorite ship, sue me.

If you’re not sure what to ask, feel free to ask me what I’m in the mood for and I’ll give you some options :)

I go by they/them and necro/necrom pronouns!

Here’s how to use those:

Here is some other info you may want to know!

The map of Vale in the N! AU:

Holidays:

Past events timeline:

I hope you enjoy the AU! Hope to see you soon!

[etruatcaelum]

On Semblances.

As this post mentions, neither Salem nor Ozma have ‘true’ ancient magic anymore: her immense power derives from the pools of light and darkness, and when Ozma created the maidens, they sacrificed their divine gifts but awakened their aura. Both now wield powers functionally identical to the aura and dust-based magic of modern humans; the sole difference between them and ordinary humans is vastly greater experience and, in Salem’s case, the interaction between her infinite aura and her grimmness.

(That is the subject for another post, but in essence grimm flesh and atrum ‘burn’ aura and this reaction can be controlled and channeled just like dust; Salem, who is grimm, uses this to her advantage to mimic ‘true’ magic.)

And, because their ‘magic’ is really just aura trained to a level beyond what any mortal could achieve in a single lifetime, both of them do have semblances.

Salem’s semblance is less an outward projection of her self than an inward one. It developed through the slow reconstruction of her mind and soul after a long period during which she had no sense of identity and was just kind of mindlessly dreaming all the time; her semblance sparked from the need to become whole and to know herself again. What it does, in essence, is immanentize her thinking.

Think method of loci, but crystallized from the imaginary construct into a real, tangible place—in a sense, the interior of her soul, her semblance, is a realm. Not one anything like as vast or complicated as Remnant or the Ever After, but quite a bit larger and more intricate than the vaults, and accessible only through doors she chooses to open.

It’s how she keeps herself sane and also why her sense of identity and conviction are so unshakable in the present: Salem knows herself extremely well and nearly everything that defines who and what she is, she made a deliberate choice to include as a fundamental part of herself. She is capable of change—and in fact capable of changing herself very rapidly and easily, once she decides to do so—but she cannot be forced or coerced or compelled or worn down or manipulated into it. Because the only way she can change is for her to literally disassemble and reassemble parts of herself and her semblance will not let her do that if she doesn’t truly want it to.

Ozma doesn’t know that they even have a semblance, because their semblance fluctuates from one life to the next; they believe the permutations of their own semblance have all been semblances taken from the lives they steal. What’s actually going on is that their very fragile sense of self gave them a semblance that lacks clear definition because it has yet to be fully-realized. It warps and bends and molds itself into the hollowed-out masks of every host, then loses that shape once those masks crumble again to expose Ozma.

There are, however, some constants:

The base essence of their semblance is remembrance and accretion of time. It’s the grasping for another chance and the tearing pain of almost and the venom of what if and maybe then and it wasn’t supposed to happen this way all rolled into one. It’s the aching possibility on the trailing edge of a mistake. Often, it takes the form of small-scale temporal manipulation: with Ozpin, it became an ability to ‘skip’ a second or two here and an idle moment there and ‘save up’ that time to spend all at once, squeezing several minutes worth of action into a single fraction of a second. (<- Ozma still has this ability and Oscar can tap into it for a while, but after the events of V8 it fades as their self-identification as Ozpin disintegrates.)

As themself—once freed from their curse and restored to live as their own person—their semblance is effectively only half-formed: not quite latent, but not truly manifested either. They will need to find themself and know themself before they’re able to fully bring it out. In its true, unalloyed form, Ozma’s semblance is unbinding: the breaking of chains, the opening of doors, the snipped thread of fate to unleash boundless possibility.

In less poetic terms, they will be able to reach back and bring forward the moments when what is now became inescapable. Nothing can be undone, nothing erased: the past cannot be unwritten, but what they can do is create a second chance to rewrite the future, whether by literally making a new possibility that didn’t exist before or by cutting through whatever beliefs or rationalizations a person clings to to pretend that they have no other choice.

Their fully-realized semblance will turn inward and confront them whether they like it or not; toward other people it is entirely under their control. (<- It is also quite likely the one thing capable of reaching into Salem’s head and shaking the foundations of her self, by drawing out her line of reasoning for committing to those choices and asking her to walk those paths anew, decide again.)

Oscar does not have a semblance and will not have a semblance until he’s separated from Ozma. If the integration were completed he would eventually produce a new permutation of Ozma’s, but it wouldn’t in any meaningful sense belong to Oscar, because Oscar as an individual would, for all intents and purposes, be dead.

But once he’s separated from Ozma, and once he sorts out who he is and who he wants to be outside of the looming existential dread of becoming Ozma, he’ll be able to discover his semblance.

(<- Also his aura, when not subsumed by Ozma’s, will turn out to actually be orange. Like a pumpkin. Because his Ozian allusion isn’t Tip OR Dorothy, it’s Jack Pumpkinhead)

Oscar’s semblance is… essentially, a hyper-specialized form of empathy: he can take the words people say and unfold them to reveal the things they mean, the feelings they’re trying to express but can’t communicate clearly, and then find the words to articulate those things back. He’s an interpreter, not of language but of emotions. He’s able to very quickly talk through to the heart of a problem, and he’s preternaturally good at listening in a way that makes people feel seen and heard. It also has the side effect of making him almost impossible to lie to.

Even with Ozma in his head, there are traces of this latent ability eking through to the surface—his determination to connect with Ironwood throughout V7, his intuitive sense for what to say to Hazel and Emerald to earn their trust, and even earlier, his realization that Ozpin is lying and his ability to break through long enough to spill Jinn’s name: these are all inklings of what could be, if not smothered by Ozma’s curse.

That sort of rising-to-the-surface is very rare among Ozma’s hosts. With Oscar, it’s happening partly because he’s fighting so hard to hold on for as long as he can, partly because his upbringing gave him a pretty strong sense of identity to begin with, and partly because the nature of his semblance itself resists falsehood and obfuscation. Latent though it is, it still gives him a firm place to stand when he pushes back and asserts himself against Ozma’s resignation. This struggle also has the effect of deepening the potential of his semblance—in effect, training it before it even properly manifests—so that once he’s free and it emerges fully he gets in tune with it fast.

[littlemisssquiggles]

So there a theory that Oscar will maybe get a semblance that helps him fly

Peploe got the idea from what yang said in volume 8 episode 4 and from what

Jaune's lost said in volume 9 were paper pleaser oscar would try to fly away on a kite

So some think Oscar will fly

Hi there anon-chan. Thank you for your inbox!

I’ve actually seen that same theory buzzing around before and I do recall answering a similar inbox prompting me for my opinion on it long ago. So I’ll basically repeat the same stance I shared last time. While I’m not against the idea of Oscar having flight as a power, I personally don’t think that should be his semblance since the ability to fly is something Oscar could do easily if he used magic.

Take the maidens for example. All three out of the four maidens we’ve encountered thus far in the show share the ability to fly and since the maidens were originally born from Ozma’s magic, one can easily assume that the maidens are using their magic to fly.

Same thing could be said about the Branwen Twins who turn into birds via magic to fly.

We also got a hint of Ozma using his magic to fly in his second lifetime during that scene in the Lost Fable when he and Salem first presented themselves as “new gods” to the people of Remnant.

Keeping that in mind, if the CRWBY Writers would just do us Pineheads a huge solid and simply allow Oscar to be the great and powerful character he’s meant to be by actually tapping into what little magic he inherited through Ozma’s lineage, I’m sure Oscar could use it to grant him flight or hovering abilities too. So there would be no need for him to have that as a semblance since he can do it with magic.

As we’ve learnt from RWBY’s lore, a person’s semblance is an awakened power within each huntsmen and huntress that is unique to them. This is why Oscar’s semblance needs to be a power that is unique only to him. He already has a fear of becoming someone else. Just another life for Ozma to live through. Not to mention that most of Oscar’s current skills, powers(i.e magic) and even his signature weapon---the Long Memory--- are things he gained from Ozma. That being said, Oscar needs to have a semblance representative of his own soul. His own being. A power he can truly call his own and his own only.

And I’m sorry m’fam but flight doesn’t sell that for me. Especially when you taken into account that flight is something we’ve seen other magic users do.

So if you wanna see Oscar Pine fly, let him use magic dagnabbit!

And before you or anyone else says it, yes I know the reason why Oscar can’t use magic in the show is because according to the canon, it accelerates the Merge. But in all seriousness, that just sounds like a BS reason to nerf Oscar and keep him from being probably the most powerful heroes in the main cast.

Weiss Schnee is allowed to pull time dilation, glyphs and all kinds of summons out of her snow white ass but Oscar can’t use an inkling of the magical powers he inherited from his past lives because…PLOT?!

This is why Oscar’s semblance needs and I will stress this again---NEEDS to be something extraordinary. A power that would make all the other characters immediately jealous when he finally awakens it, just as Ruby said back in V7.

That’s how I see it. Hope that answers your question anon-chan.

~LMS (2023)

[ofdarkestdesires]

You're given the chance to rewrite RWBY. How do you do it?

In all honesty, I do not have a problem with the basic framework of RWBY (up to a certain point). A lot of my problems with it have to do with the characters, how they act in situations, how they react off of each other, and how they choose not to react.

Getting into specifics would take too long, but I do have a general idea for most of the story:

Volumes 1-5 I'm honestly alright with. I am a bit annoyed that Yang is more willing to listen to the bitch that birthed her and peaced out for at least fifteen years than she is the uncle who raised her or the professor who has been nothing but kind to her, but whatever.

Volume 6, let the girls react in different ways to Ozma's story. Let there be a divide amongst the girls--Yang is enraged, Blake is in a doom spiral, Weiss feels sympathy to Salem's plight, and Ruby is compassionate to Ozcar. Let there be moments where people other than Blake and Yang notice a shadowy figure following them to set up Adam's arrival. Let there be another plan aside from stealing an ally's airship and disabling communications for an entire city, and then when the other plan fails, have Weiss decide to change plans and go with the crazy one. Everything else plays out as intended.

Volume 7, DO NOT GIVE RUBY A PASS. This bitch is doing the same things Ozpin was doing--either point that out and make her change tactics, or make her realize that they were a bit harsh bullying Ozpin away. Have the girls call Yang and Blake out for sharing information to a total stranger. Make Oscar falling to his "death" be from James aggressively approaching him, going from aggressively shouting to breaking down in hopelessness as he doesn't know what to do, and a Grimm attack throwing them both off balance sends Oscar hurtling to his "death". And with that, show us Ironwood's Semblance snap into place as an emergency mode.

Volume 8, GOOD LORD THIS ONE IS ROUGH!! But it can work--even the bomb can work!--if we remember the set-up of framing mentioned back in Volume 7. Have Watts take the damaged scroll that was used to attempt to summon Penny and use it to instead set up Ironwood's villain speech as a distraction. When James goes out to greet her, he goes to explain himself, but everyone jumps him instead. Also, the group doesn't automatically embrace Emerald after one act of kindness. Ozpin's cane reveal was dumb, let it actually be the bomb and they escape by the skin of their teeth. Show Jaune running out of aura while trying to stabilize Penny, and that's what spurs the decision for sacrifice (I hate it but if we have to keep it, at least some in-world explanation for why the healer can't heal would've been appreciated). HAVE RUBY EMOTE AT ALL WHEN YANG IS TOSSED TO THE VOID.

Volume 9...doesn't exist for me. There is just too much tonal whiplash between the girls for me to bother trying to fix it, and we don't have the full ten episodes yet (also, how is this volume this fucked up and it's a full five episodes shorter than the others?!)

[flux-goodra]

So rewatching RWBY vol 4 this time (2 and 3 were good but nothing worth mentioning except good old Ruby catching on about Emerald better than JNPR) and there’s a couple things I’d like to bring up that I’ve not seen people talk about.

One, Salem and her crew wanted Ruby from the start and holy moly knowing what I learned from Vol 8… I’m scared for Ruby. But Salem makes something apparent that I completely forgot, she outright says that the silver eyes can harm maidens. For years I’ve been theorising that the silver eyes are essentially the eraser for anything from the old world and that if she wanted to, Ruby could use them on Salem to hurt and possibly kill her, and perhaps send Ozma to his final death.

Two, Oscar Pine. I’ll be honest I’ve never really liked Oscar. I always felt he was an unnecessary character and took away from the development of the main characters. And admittedly I’ve said a lot of nasty and, ashamedly, toxic stuff about him the past. But looking back at where he started… while my dislike of him has not changed (aside from the toxic shit going away), I do feel sorry for him. He was ripped away from home by Ozpin and his war. He had very little say in the matter. Did he even have the chance to say goodbye to his aunt? My hope for him is either he gets to be the end of the Oz cycle and goes peacefully with all the knowledge, or a Donna Noble ending where he gets to forget the knowledge of all the Oz’s and goes away to live a peaceful life with a farmer’s kid. (I swear this has nothing to do with my dislike of Rose Garden, sorry about that, I just like Ruby with Weiss, Penny or Emerald better. Though I suppose that’s a small specification, I don’t like him shipped with anyone honestly)

Final thought: I forgot how much I hated Jacques and Tyrian. God they’re awful.

[bestworstcase]

You’ve mentioned a few times that Salem is awkward, could you get into you’re reasoning and evidence for this characterization (as she is currently)? I’m fascinated by this reading and fully persuadable. Her origin story being the tower, it makes sense she’d be a little socially stunted but she was charismatic enough then to convince others to fight for her through words alone (tho that is different from in person social skills (to that point she persuaded kingdoms to revolt against the gods)). Millions of years of isolation wouldn’t put a shine on amicability, but these things /inform/ characterization. I’m interested in what you see in her as awkward in how she’s presented to us in the Current Era (Remnant Era?)

this post regarding her interrogation of oscar in 8.4 is salient because that's the scene that rly convinced me she's being written this way on purpose. there's a lot of contributing factors, though:

both then (fomenting rebellion) and now (recruiting hazel), salem's standard approach to getting people on her side involves basically walking up and "demonstrating her powers," i.e. inviting or just letting the person she's trying to sway kill her over and over again until they're willing to hear her out. she can (and did) make a compelling enough argument for people to follow her, but the way she chooses to make people listen is by subjecting herself to extreme violence.

further, it's shown in V8 that even within her own inner circle, there is a lot of confusion regarding what salem wants—so much so that tyrian and hazel think diametrically opposed things. why does this confusion exist? ozpin (and most of the fandom) believe it is because salem lies; but a) salem hates lies and liars, and b) the idea that salem herself is deceitful is founded on things jinn says of her in the lost fable, which is a verifiably unreliable narrative. if we look at the two onscreen instances of salem speaking of her goals—"the moment you put your desires before my own" and "in pursuit of a new world"—what strikes me about both is her vagueness.

when cinder questions her in V5, salem answers in a very oblique way: "working with bandits? leaving ruby alive? what's the point!?" -> "never underestimate the usefulness of others; take leonardo. he was one of ozpin's most trusted, but now…" both the bandit (raven) and ruby were or are among ozpin's "most trusted," and salem's point is that she wants to turn both of them against ozpin (like leo and summer). but she does not actually Say That. i made this analogy in the oscar interrogation post but i'll make it again: the way salem answers cinder's question is like showing her work on a math problem but not actually giving the answer. a lot of salem's dialogue is like this: she talks in examples, hints, and implications.

in fact the one time we have ever seen salem clearly state what she means is after ozma asks her "what are you saying?" <- i find this to be significant not only because it flags that other characters find salem's speech to be opaque or unclear sometimes, but because salem answers him honestly and without any hesitation, which indicates that she was not trying to be vague or obfuscate her meaning on purpose. asked for clarification, she clarifies.

then there is what she says to ozma once he tells her the whole truth: "why spend our lives trying to redeem these humans when we could replace them with what they could never be?"—now i am not going to get into my whole theory here, suffice it to say that i think that by "them" salem meant the gods in accordance with her longstanding ambitions—but the salient piece for this discussion is that this bolded phrase is a direct paraphrase from the final lines of 'the shallow sea' and i do think that that is, given the preponderance of thematic links between salem and the faunus, probably intentional, i.e. salem is quoting that myth to express her rejection of ozma's mandate (compare ozma's reliance on fairytales to communicate and make sense of his existence.)

lastly, there are several occasions when salem is talking (to her inner circle in 6.4, or to ironwood in 7.11, or oscar in 8.4) only to be interrupted with unexpected new information (ozpin is back; ruby used the lamp; oscar is fronting). in the first two examples, salem responds by either kicking everyone else out or leaving herself. see the linked post for a more thorough breakdown of her conversation with oscar, but suffice it to say that she responds in a very awkward and disjointed way before she's able to get herself back on track.

so we have a pattern of:

speaking vaguely or being cryptic, in a manner that other characters explicitly find to be confusing,

clarifying readily the one time she's asked for clarification,

paraphrasing the concluding lines of a myth about people embracing change and leaving their old selves behind to live their truth in a new world that is harsh but free, in order to articulate her rejection of "redemption" and the divine mandate,

and ending conversations very abruptly when interrupted mid-speech.

and this pattern exists in correlation with a pair of soliloquies whose language is markedly more eloquent, even poetic, and delivered with a clarity and emotional smoothness that is often lacking from her spoken dialogue.

what this suggests, to me, is that salem struggles to articulate her thoughts (the soliloquies) into words (her dialogue), and that she deals with it with preparation—by planning out what she intends to say and how she'll say it in advance. that she relies heavily on scripts and rehearses speeches and conversations in her head specifically to avoid having to speak off the cuff, in essence.

(and i think this is generally the basis for ozma's distrust and doubts: she told him the truth but in a really confusing and cryptic way that didn't always make sense. if she wasn't coherent—and how could she be after millions of years alone?—of course he wasn't sure whether he could believe what she said!)

basically, i think she's capable of being compellingly persuasive only under particular circumstances (planned speeches given to an audience primed to listen to what she says by violent, spectacular demonstrations of her immortality), and she flounders in ordinary conversation because a) she struggles to find the right words to express her meaning clearly, b) her natural affect is blunted and sometimes erratic (<- "well… :) perhaps you and i can have a better working relationship……… >:( oscar, was it? /:"), and c) she knows both of these things make her come across as an insincere liar.

<- there is a performative aspect to… nearly every scene in front of her inner circle or her enemies; that informs this reading too. as does the fact that there are many, many characters who are tangibly more charismatic than she is—ozpin, blake, oscar, cinder, robyn, ruby, yang—whereas the character whose manner of speech most resembles salem's is pyrrha, who speaks in an overly formal way and explicitly feels socially isolated and unable to form real connections with people.

[strqyr]

Honestly i also wonder why Ozpins name doesn't follow the color naming rule?? It's smth I've always kinda vaguely wondered, but I always figured that it had a simple answer like "Oh, we need Ozpin to stand out because he's the immortal wizard, so he's not gonna fit in with modern naming conventions." And besides, we unfortunately don't know his first name (Miles confirmed in a cameo that Ozpin is his last name, which makes sense) so we don't know if that fits in with typical naming conventions or not.

I don't think there's really an important answer as to why Ozpins name doesn't fit in with the color naming rule, mostly bc I don't think Everyone on Remnant probably fits it (I swear there's an example in rwby, but I don't feel like hunting for it) and also bc of what I said. I don't think 'Ozpin' is a name used by every incarnation either, since I'm like, 90% sure the merge doesn't work like that (based on in-universe proof, and something something soul merge, soul is identity in rwby, so that means change of identity... and also Oz has changed the most... I'm gonna stop here, I have a mountain of thoughts on the merge and I will word vomit abt it so I'm sparing you). Plus I think at some point crwby said he goes by different names each incarnation and doesn't like being called Ozma? Idk take that with a mountain of salt or just ignore it, I found that tidbit of information on a video about the merge and I still need to factcheck it loll.

I think Ozpin might just be meant to stand out, like Salem. And the color naming rule is pretty new (I believe it started during/just before the great war as a form of rebellion)- Oscar fits it himself. Or idk, maybe Ozpin comes from an older family so their last names don't fit the rule, who knows? Could be fun to use that with headcanons. Idk, fun thoughts :3

Sorry for rambling in your inbox as I usually do, I tried to keep it shorter this time 🫡 emphasis on uh. Tried

i doubt there's an in-universe reason for it either at this point. maybe there used to be but it was changed and that little "for reasons" tidbit—which iirc never made it into the show—is all that's left of the idea.

hence my curiosity over it, too, bc i'm a nosy gremlin who likes to know all the show goes through during development lol. for context, the quote comes from the color naming rules monty posted on twitter (thank you wiki for sourcing this stuff) soon after V1 had finished airing, which is why i'm like, okay, something probably changed bc miles confirmed 'ozpin' is his last name many many many years later on his cameo(?) which. also isn't part of the show.

so it's not like none of this really matters when it's not even really part of the canon but, again. i'm a nosy gremlin, and i like to speculate.

and the reason why i think it was changed is exactly bc of that confirmation, since it's not like both of the names need to fit the rule—james ironwood is a perfect example of that, and i'm pretty sure as much was confirmed by the writers at some point—, and it wouldn't really make sense to go "ozpin doesn't fit the rule... for reasons ;)" if his first name was color-based, y'know?

so from there i'm like. okay. the man with two souls was mentioned in V1 as was mentions of ozpin being quite "off" and like "he wasn't even there", so clearly some form of body-hopping reincarnation was part of the plan all along. and when the color rule also has an in-universe reasoning as a post-war expression against limiting arts and such, it makes sense that ozpin's name—if originally meant to be that of the reincarnating one to match with salem in a club of "i only have one name in a show where just about everyone has both first and last name"—wouldn't have fit... assuming the plan was for the reincarnating one, nowadays known as 'ozma', to have eventually used his original name with each reincarnation.

pure speculation of course, but yeah. it's less about what's happening in-universe and what reasons it might have now, and more about the choices made during development and why this might have been something that was eventually dropped for one reason or another.

also like. i don't. really. see how they could bring it back at this point without it being... convoluted? maybe if it was like "ozma only reincarnates into people who don't follow the rule bc reasons / to stand out" but. oscar exists, so that's out, and i don't see any reason to go back and explore why ozpin's name presumably—as we do not know what his first name is—, doesn't follow the rule. like unfortunately to my peace of mind, that's pretty low on the list of important things that need to be addressed. which is a shame, but you win some and you lose some lol