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bestworstcase · 13 days ago

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any thoughts on the branwens (as in, the group, not the twins) like world building tidbits? also, because i’ve seen people bring it up, raven has killed a lot of people (assumably??), so how do you think the show will handle that going forward?

i kind of metronome back and forth with the branwens on how i read them, because – with the disclaimer that it is Not That Deep because the whole bandit tribe exists to service raven's character and to a lesser extent qrow's, i just brought a shovel – i think there's two interesting ways to take them:

the branwens are an ethnic group, probably historically pastoralist nomads. in this case the composition of the camp we see – 100% able-bodied fighters, no children or elderly – would indicate that this is just a war party and the rest of this society is out in the hinterlands with the livestock. mistrali expansion in the pre-war era would have driven them further and further onto marginal land, with the result of them becoming increasingly reliant on raiding to survive.

the branwens represent a grab-bag of disaffected people who Left Mistral because of its various problems (steep class stratification, widespread poverty, rampant organized crime, political corruption, imperial history meaning many people living in mistral now are descended from conquered peoples…) and discovered that like, subsistence farming is hard and turned to banditry instead, in which case the branwens are unlikely to be very cohesive in the absence of a strong leader because there's less of a cultural bond.

#2 strikes me as more in line with the probable intention based on how they're portrayed, but assuming "branwen" is the tribe name (as opposed to them being "the branwen tribe" now because a woman named raven branwen leads them), then i think #1 is more interesting with regard to ozpin admitting qrow and raven to beacon.

if the branwens are an ethnic minority in mistral, ozpin is a lot more likely to have heard of them vs an ad hoc group of bandits. now consider how "the branwens are an ethnic minority (and the encampment we see is a war party, supplementing a pastoral subsistence base by raiding)" alters the context of "aside from grimm, huntsmen were the only ones capable of ruining our raids and hunting us down. our tribe needed a counterforce." and think about the mistrali huntsmen openly extorting passengers for protection money.

right. like, again it's Not That Deep, we're in headcanon territory here, but pulling away from the text in this way adds an interesting dimension to the twins' enrollment – on the one hand it would be discriminatory for ozpin to reject them on the basis of being branwens and on the other, we know that mistral broadly has a serious problem with corrupt and outright criminal huntsmen and the fear of huntsmen "hunting us down" means something very different if the bandits are just the military force of a nomadic society – it's a fear not for the warriors but for the most vulnerable members.

and then you have the twins on this divergent path because their purpose (to protect those of their people who cannot defend themselves) is exactly ozpin's purpose, he just defines the whole world as his people. it's not so much that the twins reject the branwen way of thinking as it is that ozpin challenges them to expand upon it, to think bigger and wider than before.

qrow embraces this and it shifts his perspective on the raiding – he comes to see it as part of the problem, the warriors as killers and thieves; raven likewise embraces it but in her mind, ozpin's ideals are the justification for the raiding. the warriors exist to defend the people, here as at home. what difference does it make if the danger is from grimm or huntsmen or deprivation?

(on its face this may seem contradicted by "the strong live, the weak die," except that raven is also someone preoccupied with "our people," "our family," "we must do what's right for the tribe" and so forth; a strong society is one that can protect its people, even the weak, and the rhetorical idea of heroic guardians sheltering the defenseless populace boils down to "the strong live, and the weak will die without protection by the strong.")

#2 interests me more in terms of how it contributes to the picture the narrative has painted of mistral as this decaying empire that is sort of hemorrhaging population because people. don't want to live there, don't want to have its way of life imposed on them, and we see over and over that the people who feel this way often feel so strongly that they'd genuinely rather leave and take their chances with the grimm.

like, we don't see that in vale – mountain glenn was built under vale's auspices and populated by valean citizens – and we don't see it in atlas – the free towns in arrowfell are clearly older than atlas/mantle. and we don't see it in vacuo, where despite marked cultural differences between desert vacuans and city vacuans both groups firmly consider themselves One People.

i think it's less interesting in regard to the twins than the first option, though. because if the branwens are legitimately just bandits then the absence of children/elderly in the camp would imply that the twins were kept solely to be trained into weapons and the break between them is more straightforward, with their different perspectives reflecting a childhood dynamic where qrow was the whipping boy and raven favored.

whereas if the branwens constitute a whole, functional society – a) any children born into this group must learn some basic self defense as a matter of course, they live in grimm territory, and b) the nature of qrow's semblance, the tribe's fear of him, and his grimm reaper fanboying opens the question of whether it was less "the twins were kept to be molded into living weapons" and more "qrow didn't want to become a warrior, but misfortune kept getting blamed for things like sheep dying or a birth going wrong or grimm hitting the main camp and he wanted so badly to be good for something, and going on raids kept him at a safe distance from home and in a place where he could at least try to inflict misfortune on the enemy instead."

you still have the dynamic of qrow suffering ostracism and maybe even the threat of exile while raven is a natural fit for what she wants to be, and the first stroke of the lifelong pattern qrow has of isolating himself from people he cares for in this specific way. "why couldn't you travel with us?" / "did you know that crows are a sign of bad luck?" – hits different if the defining experience of qrow's childhood was running with war parties because he was too dangerous to be a shepherd. if the thing that really appealed to him most about the legend of the grimm reaper was that she was good enough to protect and defend her people alone.

and then from raven's side you have the maybe not entirely getting why qrow would want to be anything else, and the being glad her brother is with her most of the time, and the being afraid he might leave her behind. i just think it allows for more complexity.

as for raven killing people: i honestly don't think it's going to matter that much beyond maybe raven and yang having a conversation about it – bc i think yang will probably want to know more about why raven picked banditry over being her mom. like.

it happened. raven feeling remorseful isn't going to make it not have happened. she can't bring those people back to life or rebuild those towns or undo what she did. in vacuo, on the other side of the world, there's not really anything she can do meaningfully within the scope of the story to make amends to the people she hurt, either. what matters in the moment is that she's here now, doing what she can to help. the narrative has always cared more about the present and the future than the past, and the stakes are too high for the characters to let "but you did all this awful stuff in the past" become a distraction.

gestures at letting neo go.

gestures at giving emerald a second chance.

and while the context is different and in no way morally equivalent, i'll point out that like. team rwby have killed people too – the white fang militants in v2 for example, and of course adam – they are trained combatants fighting a war. none of them have ever blinked at using lethal force when it is appropriate to do so. and if they can find it in themselves to show grace to emerald, whose reason for participating in the terroristic sack of beacon was more or less just devotion to cinder, then i don't think subsistence raiding is somehow a bridge too far.

not to say that what the branwens do isn't bad but it is of a different scale from terrorism, and raiding for provisions you need to survive is a lot closer to killing enemy combatants in a battle, or to robyn's or sienna's vigilantism, than it is to terrorism. so yeah i think it's ancillary to the personal reconciliation between raven and yang moreso than it is some sort of moral quandary necessitating special handling by the narrative.

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goldenamaranthe-blog · 11 months ago

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You May Now Catch the Bride

Soft music fills the crisp, autumn air outside of the Xiao Long - Rose (now added Branwen) residence in Patch. The trees are bursting with color as two families sit on opposite sides of an outdoor aisle of golden leaves leading to a Menagerian style altar. On the left, Taiyang, Qrow, Raven, and Team ORNJ are sitting misty eyed. On the right, Kali, Ghira, Ilia, and Team SSSN are whooping and hollering (except Kali and Ghira, who are crying messes)

Blake and Yang stand at the altar with a small archway of vines intertwined over them. Blake is wearing a traditional Menagerian wedding dress. Weiss stands behind her in a blue and white bridesmaid dress and fanning her face to keep the tears at bay. Yang is wearing black slacks, yellow dress shirt, and black vest. Ruby is standing behind her in a black and red combat skirt, tights, heeled boots, red blouse, and black vest.

Velvet is taking photos of the wedding at the perfect vantage points with a little help from one of Whitley's drones. Behind the alter, Ozpin (freed from his curse and allowed to have his own body back with one final life) stands with a book in hand.

Ozpin: Blake Belladonna, in the tapestry of your lives, do you promise to be Yang’s constant thread, weaving a story of love, resilience, and unwavering companionship. Today, tomorrow, and always?

Blake: (holding Yang’s hands and looking into misting lilac as she places a ring on Yang’s finger) I promise.

Ozpin: Yang Xiao Long, do you promise to be Blake’s steadfast support, her partner in both stillness and motion, and take each step forward towards a future filled with love, laughter, and endless warmth?

Yang: (clears her throat so it doesn't crack as she holds Blake’s hands, her prosthetic thumb rubbing over the ring on Blake’s finger) I promise.

Ozpin: Then I now pronounce you wife and wife. (Claps the book closed and stares pointedly at Yang) You may now catch the bride.

Yang: (blinks in confusion) Wait. What?

Blake: (mischief glints in her eye as she pecks Yang on the cheek and sprints down the aisle with a trail of laughter in her wake)

Yang: (shakes off the initial shock before giving chase with a bark of laughter) Hey! Get back here!

The guests all cheer and shout as Yang closes in on Blake. The two run around the "venue" playfully. Blake does a few flips and jumps over tables and chairs while Yang cuts her off. Finally, Blake slows down just enough to spin around on her heel and be caught by Yang. The two topple into the largest pile of leaves and kiss as gold, orange, and red leaves slowly settle around them.

#bumbleby #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #rwby #no crack #rwby feels post #wedding #domestic bees #they're in love your honor #the last time blake ran #yang caught her love #post Salem war #rwby ozpin #you may now catch the bride #it was hard to write this in dialogue #let's set a wedding in Patch for once

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strqyr · 1 year ago

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Here are some dots for you to connect: 1) Raven guards the Relic of Knowledge, but her Amity Arena bio puts emphasis on Choice 2) Ozpin says he took extra precautions when hiding the Relic of Choice (there is a fan theory that it is not at Beacon) 3) the Relics attract Grimm 4) when Yang went looking for Raven with Ruby, she found an abandoned house full of Grimm 5) in the Fairy Tale of the Indecisive King, the Relic of Choice drives the King insane with knowledge of the future

okay, so. i have many thoughts on this so apologizes beforehand if i start rambling a lot and this all goes all over the place.

anyway, starting with the vaults: i'm assuming the vaults were made by the god of light to keep the relics safe until ozma found them, and thus originally ozma was the key to all of them via the four blessings he has, and by giving one blessing to one maiden each (the wizard summoned as much of his magic as he could, and bestowed it upon four maidens), the maidens became the key to their respective blessing (winter for creation, summer for destruction, etc.)

if this is the case, then i doubt that ozpin managed to do anything to the beacon vault that would necessarily alter the vault itself, bc it's not in the realm of his magical abilities; that is to say, if it's currently not at beacon, i'm doubtful it has ever been there in the first place—unless this can be filed under "who knows what else ozpin has hid from us over the eyes" in which case, well. what i just said goes out the window lol. anyway, thanks to the haven vault, we also have some level of understanding of what "more challenging" might mean: the haven vault had a secret elevator revealed by a pocket watch inserted into a slot meant for it in a statue. so whatever ozpins means by "more challenging", it needs to go beyond additional object as a key to reveal the entrance to the area were the vault resides.

so, let's talk about choice for a moment. every chance they get, choice is, to an extent, categorized as change. humanity was given choice, the ability to use the knowledge they had gathered and to choose between the paths of light and darkness. the shallow sea is a story about humans having the choice to join the god of animals on their island, to jump into the waters below and turn into what would become faunus. ascension is about change, but the tree doesn't force anyone to ascend; afterans can ignore the call, or in some other cases they can be stopped from ascending by someone else, and whatever they become afterwards is their choice to make, by using information they gathered in their previous life.

(perhaps it's interesting then, that no matter how much knowledge the cat has, no matter how much they learn, they don't have the choice to ascend.)

ozpin gave the branwen twins a choice to accept the gift he offered in form of shapeshifting. they accepted, just like the maidens did before them. the maidens became keys to the vaults... if an object as an additional security to a vault is out of question, what's the step above that? is it another person? perhaps.... two?

it doesn't surprise me that choice pops up so much with raven; she is the maiden of knowledge, and choice is to knowledge as creation is to destruction: they're two sides of the same coin. you really can't have one without the other. but it's the weight behind it—and how the crown in the story gives a glimpse of future and how sure raven was the ozpin would fail and beacon would fall—that gives it the air of "maybe there's something more to this", and based on what we do know, the safest bet currently is that the shapeshifting came with something extra that raven and qrow probably didn't agree to (and that maybe, raven found out.)

(it would also be funny if by "more challenging" ozpin really meant "good luck getting raven to cooperate lol")

as for the location of the beacon vault... i've discussed this to much detail and i've gone between "ozpin said the tower couldn't fall and all those (now destroyed) gears could probably do something fancy if the long memory with its gears can store kinetic energy" and "tai is sus for being so vague about his reasons for not going after ruby—"i've got to... look after some things."—and staying solidly on patch no matter what" and at this... in universe it's been over a year since the fall of beacon and whoever coughsummercough is looking for the vault at beacon is not succeeding at it even after all this time, so that does maaaaaybe give more credence to the possibility that is has never been there in the first place? but if it's on patch, then it probably wasn't a secret all of team strq was aware of—and i think it's interesting how qrow says "summer secret" so... casually? like, the summer rose who never lies? which makes it sound like keeping oz-related secrets from each other was the norm for team strq and this was understood across the board and trying to fish for more information was a no-go from the start—so it being a secret tai had to keep would make sense. and if that's the case, then the old abandoned building that was probably tai and raven's old home since yang thought she could find raven there would be the prime suspect.

but really, i have no idea where the vault actually could be located at. i'm more certain that raven and qrow are extra keys to its exact location, but the vault itself could be anywhere: could be at beacon, could be on patch, or forever fall, or somewhere in the ruins of emerald forest where new students choose a relic that puts them onto teams... could be mountain glenn.

honestly, if change is central to choice, then who knows, maybe it moves around between few select locations. could be all of the above. let the vault be free to choose lmao

#rwby #ask.strqyr

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problematic-rwby-shipping-poll · 8 months ago

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I/NCEST BRACKET - ROUND ONE: BRANWENCEST VS ALBAINCEST

Propaganda is below the cut.

BRANWENCEST

“They have such an amazing amount of tension and complex history and feelings, it makes their dynamic so fun and interesting. Plus y’know, who knows what happens in the Branwen Tribe.”

ALBAINCEST

"they are doing it in front of their weird alter thing and they're bringing in a religion kink.

#rwby #problematic rwby shipping poll #raven branwen #qrow branwen #branwencest #fennec albain #corsac albain #albaincest #i/ncest bracket #i/ncest bracket round one

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thats-how-i-like-it · 7 months ago

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★ list of my f/os!! (and making special tags for them <3)

I don't mind sharing* as long as your respectful, but I would like to ask for those who have my parental f/os as their romantic f/o to please keep some space/tag their stuff appropriately.

I may edit this list when I get a new f/o or something.

here they are:

shinsou hitoshi (mha) -> #lavender hues 💜 | unlabeled

hatsume mei (mha) -> #dear machinery baby 💗 | qpr

underswap papyrus (undertale au) -> #honey bones 🍯 | unlabeled/familial (shipcest)

geto suguru (jjk) -> #against all odds 🖤 | romantic/familial (shipcest)

uraraka ochako (mha) -> #floating candy cloud 🍬 | romantic *she's the only f/o I'm not comfortable sharing, if you also selfship with her and we become mutuals, please let me know your f/o tags so I can avoid seeing it in my dash (/gen /nm)

bakugou katsuki (mha) -> #my future number one 💥 | qpr

portia and julian devorak (the arcana) -> #the mischievous redheads 🍒 | alterous

asra alnazar (the arcana) -> #that wonderful magician 🔮 | romantic/familial (shipcest)

fresh sans (undertale au) -> #colorful swagger �� | qpr

joanne harcourt (kuroshitsuji) -> my little blond boy ✨ | sexual/familial/younger brother (shipcest)

riley andersen (inside out) -> my sunshine girl ☀️ | familial/younger sister (shipcest)

fizzarolli (hb) -> #best clowns forever 🃏 | platonic

verosika mayday (hb) -> #hot pink sweetheart 💖 | platonic/fwb

gojo satoru (jjk) -> #sapphire crystals 💙 | qpr

kaminari denki (mha) -> #electric angel pals ⚡ | platonic/fwb

montgomery gator (fnafsb) -> #rock and gator-aid 🐊

kenji sato (ultraman rising) -> #ultrasecret affairs🦸 | sexual/romantic

sero hanta (mha) -> #tape-worm buddies 🧡 | platonic/ambiguous

aizawa shouta and hizashi yamada (mha) -> #the loud and sleepy fam 🌓 | familial/parental (my fathers <3)

qrow branwen (rwby) -> #guided by the crow 🥀🐦‍⬛ | familial/parental (uncle - shipcest) (I use ruby as a s/i so I also ship those two because, that's us!! yay :3)

lenore (castlevania) -> #a lovely vampiric obsession 💌 | familial/parental/sexual (shipcest)

cross sans (undertale au "xtale") -> #silly bonehead 👾 | familial/younger brother

yuugo and lucas (tpn): #the bunker duo ⚔️ | familial/parental (uncles/parental figures)

#ray talks about.💫#my f/os #proship safe #self ship #f/o list

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supersaiyanjedi14 · 2 years ago

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RWBY COMBAT ANALYSIS: HAZEL RAINART

“When she came for me, I killed her over and over again. The longest she was gone was only a few hours, before she put herself back together. When I couldn't lift my arms anymore, she showed me that, through her, I could have the vengeance I needed.”

PHYSICAL

At the time of his death in Atlas, two years after the Fall of Beacon, Hazel Rainart was a human male who appeared to be in his mid to late forties. While much of his early background is unknown, the catalyst for his life would come with the death of his sister Gretchen, who lost her life during a training exercise at Beacon Huntsman Academy. Although not initially cruel or violent, the grief-stricken Hazel blamed the institution of the academies themselves for putting her in that position, placing personal blame upon Beacon’s Headmaster Ozpin. It was there where the immortal sorceress Salem found him. Though Hazel initially responded violently towards her, his attempts to kill the witch proved unsuccessful due to her immortality, which, when combined with his growing nihilistic worldview, left him primed for Salem’s manipulations after pushing him to the point of exhaustion. She convinced him that they could prevent the needless deaths of children by tearing down the Huntsman academies, in addition to giving him the opportunity to take his revenge against Ozpin in the most direct and violent way possible. Hazel accepted the offer, loyally serving Salem as an enforcer while being kept in line through fear of her invincibility and power.

A beast of a man, Hazel stood at a towering 8 feet and was distinguished by his dark brown hair and beard, hazel eyes, and bulky muscular build, the latter heavily scarred through his frequent use of Dust infusion in battle. Even compared to Faunus and enhanced humans, Hazel’s athletic performance levels were simply monstrous. He possessed terrifying physical strength, casually ragdolling most of his adversaries with his grapples and sending them flying with the force of his blows. Even without the infusion of Dust, he was able to catch Nora Valkyrie’s hammer strike with one hand before throwing her away, and a single bare-knuckle punch was enough to send Salem flying across the outside platforms of the Monstra. Though I hesitate to classify his baseline strength level as superhuman, it is entirely possible that the aftereffects of the Dust he has injected himself with over the years has altered his body chemistry in some permanent fashion. Despite his size and bulk, Hazel was surprisingly fast and agile, evading attacks from Qrow Branwen and dodging Salem’s magic energy strikes during their final battle with deft rolls and evasions. However, he was definitively outpaced by Ozpin at Haven, more detrimental in that his current host body, Oscar Pine, was underdeveloped, making this feat one of pure muscle memory. That said, Hazel was competent in the use of external propellants to enhance his mobility, using wind Dust to enhance his power jumps and cover great distance extremely quickly.

Described by Qrow Branwen as “sheer willpower”, Hazel Rainart’s endurance and tolerance for injury was nothing short of inhuman. Though his Semblance allowed him to ignore pain, he still had to contend with the injuries he suffered, and good God Almighty has he taken some hits. At Haven, Hazel accidentally triggered Nora Valkyrie’s Semblance by supercharging her with electricity, giving her the strength to slam him through the outer wall of Haven’s auditorium and into the courtyard, and was shortly thereafter impaled by Weiss Schnee’s Summoned Lancer and yanked back to the arena. This was soon followed by a flying kick from Blake Belladonna, all the while enduring the infusion of electric and fire Dust into his arms. Despite all of this, Hazel was still on his feet and continuing to fight even into the late stages of the battle, only retreating when conclusively denied the chance to obtain the Relic. When he defected from Salem in Atlas, Hazel injected himself with even more Dust, turning his body into a grotesque horror show of spikes and scar tissue. In hi ssubsequent battle with Salem, he was slammed into the walls and had his face slammed repeatedly into the ground, briefly subduing him, yet followed this up by immediately seizing Salem and biting down on a fire crystal, setting the pair on fire while giving Oscar an opportunity to unleash the power stored within the Long Memory. Though this obliterated the Monstra and killed Hazel, this last act served as a testament to his will to persevere and fight, even while he lacked the discipline of a true Huntsman.

Due to his ability to numb himself to pain, Hazel did not bother wearing protective clothing, and he instead choes to wear simple travel garb that allowed him to utilize his body to the fullest. When the Monstra arrived in Atlas, he wore a green sleeveless vest with brown trousers, completing the outfit with heavy boots and armored gloves. Holsters containing Dust crystals were strapped to his belt, giving him access to the tools of his elemental wrath.

RANKING: Tier 2, Peak Human Fitness

Any long-term after-effects of the Dust Hazel injects on his body is purely speculative, and as such I cannot officially describe him as a baseline superhuman. Despite that, he was about as close as one could get, combining exceptional athletic performance with a tolerance for injury most opponents can’t even conceive. Hazel is not only the tallest character on the show so far, but his levels of strength and endurance are, even on his worst day, comparable to the greatest heavyweight Huntsmen, and his use of Dust can make it even greater. Hazel is still mortal and does have his limitations, but considering what it took to finally kill the bastard, he is not going to go down easily no matter who he faces.

MARTIAL

Hazel Rainart was an oddity among his peers in that he carried no weapon. Instead, Hazel relied on his own flesh and blood fists in battle, using his body as his weapon while infusing himself with Dust. Given his opposition to his sister attending Beacon, it is very likely that Hazel did not attend any form of combat school, possibly developing his Aura and Semblance merely out of necessity. Despite this lack of training, Hazel was still a powerful warrior, and had clearly been in enough fights to know how to conduct himself. When Hazel was first approached by Salem, he regularly struck her with what should have been fatal injuries, going at her for hours before collapsing from sheer exhaustion. Though Salem’s immortality left Hazel’s efforts in vain, as well as it being entirely likely that Salem put up no fight in order to flaunt her invincibility, the simple fact that Hazel was able to power through in such a way provides a powerful glimpse into this man’s savagery and raw output.

As far as his actual means of battle was concerned, Hazel was less a martial artist and more of a brawler, utilizing simplistic yet brutal full-body movements to utilize his weight and strength to their fullest. His basic fighting style consisted of brutally direct punches, arm sweeps, kicks, and grapples, all these movements performed with single-minded aggression aimed at overcoming the opponent as directly as possible. When defending, he favored simple arm blocks to intercept incoming attacks, while his Semblance and Aura allowed him to simply ignore projectiles. Though this single-mindedness made him somewhat predictable, it didn’t matter most of the time due to his sheer output being enough to either overwhelm his enemies immediately, or else get them backpedaling in retreat. However, despite his general savagery, he was by no means crude, and often his strikes were performed with calculated control to produce the desired result. Furthermore, Hazel was not a lumbering glacier, and could be quite mobile when forced to evade. By keeping his range of techniques to a simple yet reliable set, Hazel could function well against just about any adversary to great effect, emphasizing different movements to adapt to the situation. When factoring in his raw physical power, this simple general style also served as a great equalizer to make up for his lack of skill, contending with superior martial artists by being a stronger fighter. This domineering style was heavily reinforced by his integration of Dust-based attacks, utilizing elemental fury through both active projections and enhancing his already monstrous strength.

In terms of strategy and tactics, Hazel was an interesting case in that his conduct was radically different depending on his frame of mind in the moment. Day-to-day, he typically composed and measured, keeping his cool and often being a voice of reason among his allies. He eschewed violence where it was not needed, perfectly willing to call out Adam Taurus for his decision to assassinate Sienna Khan when it could have been avoided. He proved his capacity as a strategic planner when he orchestrated Oscar Pine and Emerald Sustrai’s escape from the Monstra, even getting the drop on Salem by concealing his defection until the opportune moment. However, in live combat, Hazel’s conduct was far more blunt and direct, and made even more erratic depending on the state of his body. When he was clear of Dust, he was methodical and defense-oriented, holding his ground against incoming attacks and utilizing his superior strength to retaliate. When Dust entered the picture, though, he tended to devolve into a mindless brute, catapulting himself into a violent frenzy of savage intensity. Even while the Dust in his system enhanced his attack output and made him harder to get a bead on, it also badly undercut his self-control and left him open to retaliation. The greatest displays of this disparity were during his participation in the Battle of Haven. Hazel opened by sealing the auditorium closed, trapping Ozpin’s party while leaving the White Fang free to rig their bombing. When Cinder Fall’s taunts triggered a brawl, he was attacked by Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, whose attacks he was able to almost casually fend off, even throwing Nora bodily across the room before immediately repelling Ren. However, after Oscar Pine was outed as Ozpin’s latest host, Hazel’s latent grief over his sister’s death triggered a berserk outburst, stabbing electric Dust into his arms and promising to murder the two on the spot, only failing due to Qrow Branwen’s intervention. Oscar’s attempts to talk Hazel down proved pointless, prompting Ozpin to forcibly take over Oscar’s body to fight back. Despite unleashing a terrifying onslaught, Hazel was definitively outclassed, the wizard able to trip him up by targeting his joints and keeping him at bay with his superior agility. Hazel managed to turn the tables with area effect Dust strikes and the aid of Leo Lionheart, even managing to overpower Qrow with a punch to the back. Nora and Ren eventually came to Ozpin’s aid and reengaged, and while Hazel was able to subdue Ren, Nora’s Semblance allowed her to turn Hazel’s Dust against him, turning his electrocuting grapple into a supercharge that allowed her to launch him out of the building. Hazel responded by adding fire Dust to his arms, eventually slaying Weiss Schnee’s Summoned Lancer before being knocked back by Blake Belladonna. Ultimately, the battle was a failure, as Ruby Rose, Weiss and Blake were able to fend off Hazel, Emerald and Mercury Black long enough for Yang Xiao Long to return from the Relic vault and force a retreat.

Despite his tendency towards tactless and vengeful attitude towards Ozpin, Hazel disliked misplaced retribution and blaming others for his own failures, fully willing to take the fall for the failed mission even as Salem tortured him with summoned Grimm arms in her castle. Obviously aware of his conduct while jacked up on Dust, Hazel likely refrained from injecting himself if he could avoid it, knowing full well the kind of monster he could become if he overloaded his body. As such, I would argue that Hazel’s typical tactical approach was based on calculated risks and incremental escalation, starting off with his bare knuckle brawler’s style to get a feel for the opponent and working in Dust only if and as needed. The risk came in the form of the amount of Dust injected, as every additional crystal runs the risk of degrading his composure and tactical awareness further. Despite the disaster at Haven, Hazel remained in Salem’s good graces and joined his master in the conquest of Atlas several months later. When the Hound captured Oscar Pine, Hazel initially welcomed the chance to torture the one he blame for Gretchen’s death, but both wizard and host managed to talk the brute down, deconstructing his defeatist outlook and encouraging him to rebel. The final straw came when Ozpin gave Hazel the name of the Relic guardian, Jinn, as a final bid for trust, prompting him to finally turn his back on the Grimm Queen and allow Emerald Sustrai to free Oscar. When Salem attacked Oscar’s escape party, Hazel initially pretended to keep serving her, only to return the Long Memory to Oscar and blindside her with a surprise punch after she threatened to torture Emerald for her betrayal. His newfound conviction overriding his restraint, Hazel infused himself with numerous Dust crystals, turning himself into a terrifying physical and elemental juggernaut and boldly declaring that he would no longer insult his sister’s memory. Hazel attacked the witch with a series of projectiles to contend with her magic powers and overpower her direct defenses, brutally slamming her into the ground and literally beating her into a pulp. However, this act only served to aggravate Salem, and though he managed to defend from her magical energies, he was thrown against the wall and battered into submission. However, Hazel recovered quickly and seized Salem in a bear hug, giving Oscar the opportunity to obliterate the Monstra. Though this conclusively killed Hazel, he never faltered, his last act being to turn himself into a living funeral pyre in a final effort to put the witch down for good.

RANKING: Tier 4, Advanced Application

Despite his ability to contend with several high-caliber Huntsmen, Hazel is not a true combat master, and his technique demonstrates a severe lack of polish. Instead, Hazel’s effectiveness in battle is tied to his ability to supplant skill with raw performance, bullying through more developed fighting techniques with sheer brute force. His capabilities easily qualify him as an expert fighter, but his strategies are fairly straightforward, and even as he bolsters his performance with Dust, he becomes just as undisciplined and savage. Regardless, Hazel’s output still makes him an incredibly devastating combatant, his gambit of canceling out skill with overwhelming force usually paid off, helped along by the fact that he is an unyielding aggressor who can, will, and did go kamikaze if necessary.

SPECIAL

Hazel Rainart’s Semblance was a Numbing Agent that allowed him to cancel out the sensation of pain. While this power did not make him immune to injury, it did allow him to ignore it and focus through battles without any noticeable toll on his performance. In most situations, Hazel’s Semblance was simply a useful utility tool that helped in the field, mitigating the infirmities of pain and allowing him to persevere in his endeavors. However, he took it to the next level with his heavy, in some ways excessive, infusion of Dust into his body. The injection of raw Dust obviously has detrimental effects on the body, causing systems to break down and leaving agonizing pain (to say nothing of the fact that you’re literally stabbing a magic combustible crystal into yourself). Thanks to his Semblance allowing him to ignore pain, Hazel was not held back by the agony of the Dust in his body, allowing him to not only fight as if he didn’t have sharp magic rocks sticking out of his back, but also to escalate by adding more Dust than should have been possible to do reliably. However, Hazel was no sadomasochist who could afford to be stupid because it doesn’t hurt. As previously discussed, Hazel was clearly aware of how fragile his composure was when jacked up on Dust, so he understood the risk of relying too heavily on his Semblance. His gradual inclusion of Dust over time was likely a way of balancing out his Semblance’s practical benefits with the long-term risks. Furthermore, I believe Hazel’s Semblance doubled as a regenerative healing factor, as his Aura was able to recharge at an abnormally fast rate during the Battle of Haven. The degree of this is even more impressive considering that Hazel’s Aura had to contend with both the intrusive substance in his bloodstream and the mounting injuries he was sustaining.

As has been brought up multiple times, Hazel Rainart’s primary tools in battle were his collection of raw Dust crystals that he would inject into his body. One of the more unorthodox and dangerous applications of the substance, the user would directly stab the Dust into their muscles, greatly enhancing their physical strength and giving them the ability to channel the properties of the specific Dust as elemental powers. Though the full extent of his loadout is unconfirmed, Hazel is known to have carried electric, fire, earth, wind, ice, and even hard light Dust by the time of his death, his horribly scarred torso serving as a testament to how heavily he had utilized this power. Already a physical heavyweight, Hazel’s strength was pushed to absurd superhuman levels when using his Dust, having sent both Qrow Branwen and Lie Ren catapulting through the air with a single incapacitating blow and reducing the pillars of the Haven entrance hall to splinters. The elemental aftereffects of the Dust in question factored quite heavily into Hazel’s overall fighting style. When using an electric infusion at Haven, he functionally turned his hands into flesh and blood tasers. Furthermore, he could leverage his Dust as ranged projectiles, incapacitating Ren with a blast of electricity and shooting several fireballs at Salem during their final battle. Additionally, Hazel was talented at mixing and matching the effects of different Dust types, notably combining fire and electricity at Haven and killing Weiss Schnee’s Summoned Lancer with an electric fireball. Easily his greatest display of both his power and this combination tactic was during his final battle with Salem, utilizing the earth, fire and electric Dusts in his body to form a volatile spiked boulder that broke through Salem’s defenses and forced her to the ground. Though he favored direct offensive applications, Hazel has been seen using his Dust for utility and defense as well. Wind Dust allowed him to form contained tornados to traverse the battlefield, and he could use hard light Dust to form a protective barrier strong enough to resist direct hits from Salem’s energy beams.

Hazel’s use of his special abilities were surprisingly varied and flexible despite his emphasis on brute force. Instead of utilizing his Semblance simply to run into situations with reckless abandon, he used it to maintain his composure under duress and replenish his energies. Instead of only using his Dust to blast his opponents to pulp with nature, he utilized specific elements for specific purposes, carrying a variety of tools that he could use to adapt to and control the flow of the fight. Where Hazel’s weaknesses manifested were when he went overboard, as his need to balance out the strain of the Dust with maintaining his Aura badly undercut his self-control, something he was clearly aware of given his reluctance to utilize more Dust than was necessary. When he rages, he regresses to physical combat, and while his abilities still made him a terrifying juggernaut, ramping up his attack output, it also meant that he ran the risk of failing to make full use of his powers. Furthermore, Hazel’s use of his powers could also backfire if the opponent was capable of turning his chosen elements to their own advantage. At Haven, Hazel used his electric hands to try and subdue Nora Valkyrie, but Nora’s High Voltage allowed her to soak it up and overpower him. Against Salem, Hazel gained a solid advantage at first, closing the distance and brutally beating her down, but her immortality and vast magical might allowed her to subvert and beat him at his own game. For all his versatility, Hazel is bound to come up short if he is unable to overpower his opponent. Regardless, Hazel’s last act served as a testament to how far he is willing to push his abilities to achieve victory, showing zero hesitation to igniting himself in a last ditch effort to stop Salem.

RANKING: Tier 2, Flexible Combat

While infusing Dust into the body is not an unprecedented feat, Hazel’s Semblance gives him the power to take this capability further than any other person reasonably could. Numbing himself to the pain of direct infusion allows him to continuously add more power and ability to himself, providing him with layers of tools that further his ability to adapt to situations, even against opponents more powerful than himself. Like any conduit, Hazel will eventually burn out, be it through the sheer volume of Dust or his inability to maintain his composure, but his unparalleled force of will and varied used of his Dust abilities makes him so powerful and flexible that most opponents would only be able to contend. While he is resistant to going overboard on the Dust, more will be added the longer the fight drags on, and he always has the option to escalate.

OVERALL RANKING: TIER 3, ADVANCED HUNTSMAN

Hazel was easily one the most physically dangerous characters in the RWBY setting, and he brings with him a level of intensity and output nearly unmatched by the standards of his contemporaries. He is a towering, heavily muscled giant who will fight to the death, a ruthless and vicious unarmed fighter who will not hesitate to snap his opponents like a twig, and he wields tremendous ethereal might in a way that only magic-based combatants have been able to replicate or surpass. However, Hazel is held back by his lack of development as a martial artist, having spent his career coasting on power rather than properly building his skill set. Despite his physical might, Hazel does not have any significant permanent enhancements or traits. He’s just a bodybuilder who occasionally roids himself up. While his fighting skills are potent and strong, his lack of subtlety and polish can lean to oversights that weaker adversaries have taken advantage of, and his special powers are often reliant on the type of Dust he is using at the time, and overdosing cripples his ability to think strategically. Hazel’s primary attribute as a fighter is the direct application of power, and his greatest difficulties have come when he cannot properly leverage that power, either when the opponent stays out of his crosshairs and keeps him at bay, or, more disastrously, when the opponent is more powerful than he is.

All that being said, Hazel’s threat level is not to be underestimated, as his reliance on power is not an oversight but a calculated risk. Unlike Cinder Fall, Hazel does not zealously claim power for the sake of it, as he is fully aware of how that would turn him into a mindless beast. Despite his own hypocrisy in certain areas, namely his claims about his sister despite serving everything she hated, Hazel was consistent in the use of power to achieve his ends and nothing more rather than subjugate the lesser. He only unleashed his unrestrained might when bereft of other options or personally provoked. Whenever presented with a better alternative, both in life and battle he took it, this attitude ultimately coming to its logical extreme in his final defection from Salem. Furthermore, Hazel is a great example of how placement in a lower tier does not translate into automatic inferiority, as he was able to overbear the definitive Tier 2 and pose a serious threat to the two quintessential Tier 1s purely on the back of his raw intensity. His problems arise when brute strength simply isn’t enough, and if his strength fails him, he has nothing to fall back on.

*originally posted on RoosterTeeth Community page on 03-6-21*

*all images taken from RWBY Wiki*

RWBY Combat Analysis

#rwby #rwby combat analysis #hazel rainart #rwby hazel #salem's faction #peak human fitness #advanced application #flexible combat

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an-overthroned-crow · 6 months ago

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Hi. I’m Qrow. I’m an introject of Qrow from a RWBY AU which I will not outwardly name. I have side source from HTTYD’s Toothless.

#alter intro #qrow branwen fictive #qrow branwen introject #qrow branwen alter #rwby alter #rwby fictive #rwby introject

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stabby-potato · 2 years ago

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RWBY headcanon time!

You know how the characters are very multicoloured? Hair and eyes that just don't happen on earth but are seemingly natural on Remnant? I have an idea on why this could be.

What if a persons Aura can alter their colours? So if you have a red aura, you may find stuff like your hair, eyes, and nails starting to change colour to match. Not guaranteed, and not necessarily all 3 or completely, but it can happen. It starts out individual but aura changed colours can also be passed down to children.

Some character examples:

Ruby's red highlights. Summer could've had white highlights before her (she doesn't in canon but whatever).

The Schnee family's white hair. Every member, just like their semblance.

Lie Ren's pink eyes(inherited) and pink highlights.

Qrow & Raven Branwens red eyes? This one comes with a bonus angsty headcanon. They were born with a different eye colour, but a bandit leader kidnapped them to be her own kids. When their aura happened to change their eyes to match her own, they found they couldn't remember who they were before.

#rwby #headcanon

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heliosthegriffin · 1 year ago

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@lonesilverw0lf All great ideas! Oh, you've given me some many ideas, you have no idea, thank you.

I'll make sure to use them to varying extents, but I love the idea of Jaune's Granpa finding his gear, but I'll probably have to alter it a bit, as minor spoiler

Jaune's about to get a equipment overhaul, from the Xiong, it'll be part of the debt.

But ... There's still Jaune's old workshop, isn't there? And, it has plenty of space for sword practice doesn't it, and plenty of old, broken gear? It might be a fair walk into the woods, but nothing a old veteran can't handle.

I also have big plans involving Penny and the Relics, it's not the way you probably think either. Penny's complicated to talk about, but she's going to be a big, big part of Jaune's character growth down the line. Along with Vernals, and the other Knight Girls.

WMB Industries is very important, I have mentioned them yet, but they are going be three enormous bastards in the future.

The Relics? Oh hoho, they not locked up. They're out there, waiting to be claimed...

Did I mention Jessica Cruz is going to appear later on?

Four relics, sounds like just enough for another team...

Ignore the above. I wrote nothing.

But, I do love evil doppelgangers, so bringing in Team BLGA definitely sounds interesting.

Ying also sounds fun... Ying Branwen, perhaps? Being Qrow's daughter, instead of Ravens.

Also, the government is definitely suppressing information, I mean, Jaune's paranoid, but he's definitely on to something. You don't have a society with 99.9% of people in the dark without some major interference, and those that are in the know, other than the extremely powerful or skilled, end up disappearing.

His grandpa would agree, as he's in his mid-90's, and seen the only major war in Remnant history, the Faunus Revolution, and worked through many spec ops, was there for the fall of the Noble Class, and seen the underbelly of society all the way through to his grandchildren birth.

Man, if he was just a couple years younger, he'd be out there with his grandson, ready to make his final years memorable.

Crocea Mors being a hunk of iron is great! Maybe even meteor iron, explaining it's otherworldly durability and cutting edge, hmm...

The Shadow Knight definately has inspired a movement, but, most of the people he saved weren't from Grimm, and those that he did rationalize it away as a big dog, or a bear that got into the city.

Regardless, he's saved alot of people, like Reese's aunt, and has a lot of good will garnered because of it, resulting in a large, underground fan club, as he is also being repressed by Information Networks.

As they're is tons of video of him fighting Grimm on Traffic camera, but that film tends to end up lost for some reason. But, at the moment, he's not worth the effort to deal with, as he's making the job easier to suppressed information, if there is less Grimm to attack people.

Though, the same people are scared shitless of Team RWBYP, for obvious reasons. Make of that what you will.

Amber being like Chopper is hilarous, she also definately knows physical therapy, so yeah, that's happening, which will ... lead to some interesting walk ins.

Vernal is more then she lets on, Once a Branwen, Always a Branwen. So, she knows a lot of interesting skills, so expect her to show up plenty. Also, she'll be inking up Jaune and the girls, so got that right, hehehe.

Now, onto ancient automatrons? Well, if I ever want to include Ikaros or other robot girls, I have a good entrance into it. I'm a big fan of ancient magic things, so yeah, I'll have to do something with it.

Yeah, I'm definitely going with a bit of Dynamites approach to Ciel, but with my own spin, a straight-laced student council president who definitely disapprove of Jaune's 'delinquent' lifestyle, but secretly wants to want to walk on the wild side as much as he does. But, can't bring herself to, so she'll try anything to bring Jaune over to her side, trying to avoid being seduced by his lifestyle, with Jaune unintentionally doing so every time they study.

I also have plans for Arslan to appear, in the School side, eager to have a rival worth her time, coming to Beacon after hearing of a 'unbeatable student' and unforunatle for Jaune, she doesn't care that he's trying to reform... And, as the heir to one of the last Aura Familys on Remnant she's looking for a strong husband after college.

She will be bring several lackeys with her too, and they can't stand Jaune getting her attention, so yeah, simps. They'll be a new antagonist force for him, to replace CDRL. As Jaune has to be a model student, they're be trying they're best to provoke him, which eventually, Jaune will have a bit of break when he finds out, while model students can't get into fights, they can certainly 'spar' in the gyms...

Poor Arslans going to lose her damn mind.

The Knight will eventually become the Sixth Ranger to the Girls, and that will be a fun topic. 'What do you mean you don't under stand wind and fire, makes bigger fire?! No! Throwing around a bigger magic does not solve the damn problem!' So yeah, he'll be in charge of getting them actually trained.

Sorry, Glynda you failed. Speaking of which, Lady Purple will appear eventually, though she just has her canon semblance ... and a lifetime of mastery over it, along with indepth knowledge of physics.

Be afraid. Be very Afraid. There's a reason Ruby and Pyrrha fear her.

However, the reason's why they're so chaotic is to be revealed, beyond teenage girls been giving superpowers, there's underlying issues for each of them, that Jaune, or the Knight, will help work them through.

How they team up is bit more interesting, but it involves the next jump in danger from actual villains like Roman, who have a bit more going on perhaps, a little boost from supernatural means as well, besides aura that is.

Team CDRL's redemption arc will be a long running gag, as other people will join them, resulting in a mix between Might Guy and Rock Lee along with The Body Improvement Club from Mob Psycho 100.

Cinder will go crazy of The Knight, but I'm not actually sure what I'm going to do with her yet, as I have a couple idea, but I haven't decided on which, as I will say, Salem is not a conscious mover and shaker anymore.

Or, is Ozpin.