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We don’t talk about how these scenes are parallels enough and I think that’s a crime
Like DUH it’s the first time they meet all together and then it’s the first time they all meet together AGAIN (like metaphorically due to how much they’ve changed it’s them meeting again like reintroducing themselves kinda thing which is so fun and insane and great)
And that’s all good and great for OVERALL analysis like it represents the tensions between them all the uncertainty but also how they’ve been through it before and the hope that they can do it again while simultaneously being dooming because it didn’t work out the first time why would it the second and blah blah blah
But that’s not what THIS is an analysis of I’m talking about THE BEESS specifically and how it’s SUCH an on the nose acknowledgment and representation of how they switch places and how they’re whole dynamic is as a whole like COME ON!!!!
So we’re all so very aware of how clearly Yang and Blake are supposed to be like yin and yang(obviously) their color thing with souls and eyes, the cat and dragon thing, they’re whole vibe, like. It’s SOOOOO obvious



SOOOOO obvious, I don’t need to go into that we all know this
But something not 100% glaringly Obvious about Yin and Yang as a concept is that they transform into each other night transforms to day, day into night they switch
And we watch as this happens with Blake and Yang
As Blake becomes mentally better Yang becomes mentally worse that’s pretty much all of v4-5
Blake is awkward trying to start up conversations immediately defending Yang at every turn desperately trying to have a relationship with her again not by asking or begging for forgiveness but by genuinely attempting to earn it by proving she can count on her that she’s not going to run anymore that she does care and understands(she doesn’t really with this part but she’s trying) her feelings
Yang is closed off she’s expecting the worst expecting Blake to be the same as before only allowing herself to be around Blake because she’s willing to go through how bad it was the first time again just to have a little bit more of her life spent with her but never because she actually thinks things will change
They switch dynamics
And this is shown SOOOO clearly and obviously in this scene
Additionally in the first episode when they all meet they have a different first meeting where all but one are there it’s Blake Weiss and ruby arguing about dust and all that fun stuff
We have that here to!! It’s the other!! reunion when Weiss and Yang show up at the house
But of course!!! Yang and Blake are swapped!! Instead of Blake explaining the terrible history of the schnee dust company it’s Yang explaining the history of ozpin lying to them all the time
THEYRE SO RAHHHHGGGGGGG
#rwby#yang xiao long#blake belladonna#bumbleby#ruby rose#weiss schnee#rwby bumbleby#yang x blake#blake x yang#ruby analysis
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that and COVID denialism, obviously, which i somehow managed to miss despite *this* plot point below
UNIT aren’t always cops. they’re a nebulous enough fictional organisation that they can be whatever the show wants them to represent. in Lucky Day, they’re the NHS, the WHO, and they’re climatologists.
#i’ve never seen a more obvious parallel to what’s going on in the world right now.#i’m begging the rAdIcaL side of the fandom not to act obtuse#ivy.txt#UNIT#doctor who meta#doctor who#doctor who spoilers#doctor who series 15#doctor who season 2#doctor who lucky day#lucky day#ruby sunday#kate stewart#shirley anne bingham#conrad clark#millie gibson#ncuti gatwa#pete mctighe#russell t davies#doctor who analysis#dw
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…of course RWBY’s ultimate, kindest and most worthwhile deity is a Blacksmith. One of the first things we learn about Ruby in episode TWO of the series is that she forged her own weapon.
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I've been thinking about semblances and what they show us about the characters. Many of them are straightforward: Blake had a tendency to run, Yang uses beatdowns in her life to motivate her to be stronger and doesn't show that she feels every inch of the pain, etc.
And then there's Ruby. The way the show approaches her semblance is unique and so fascinating. Ruby has the ability to break herself down into tiny pieces, which allows her to bear a lot of weight and make it through and past things she otherwise couldn't. Gee, I wonder what that might represent. Ruby, the queen of giving up pieces of herself in order to bear the weight others struggle to hold: having a semblance where she molecularly breaks herself down and it allows her to carry her entire team at once. Then there's the fact that she turns into Rose petals, when all she's wanted all her life was to be like her Mother, Summer Rose. And in trying to do that, she also breaks herself apart and tries to rearrange the pieces to fit.
All of that makes sense, but what I adore about the writing in this show is the fact that Ruby didn't know this was her semblance until Volume 8. Up until Ruby's breaking point, every single person thought Ruby had a speed semblance. She was enthusiastic and energetic, why wouldn't she?
Surely there's no need to look any further. Ruby doesn't get weighed down despite all the struggles. She's such a good leader. She's totally fine. She just has a speed semblance, and nothing more to it. There's nothing wrong with how she has been handling everything that is happening.
Just like how no one truly saw past her mask throughout all the series, no one thought to look deeper into her semblance either. Not even Ruby understood her semblance or all that she was doing to herself.
The only one who did? Who saw Ruby as she was? Who also figured out what she does? Penny.
Anyway, astounded by the depth to this show. Despite its flaws, it is a work of passion, and it shows.
#yes this was mostly a ruby analysis#but Like the NND of it all I couldn't resist#nnd#nuts and dolts#rwby#rwby meta#rwby analysis#ruby rose#apparently today is rwby day#for my blog
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So one of the cool and interesting ways ‘Steven Universe’ used to try and balance being both a series of 11-minutes episodes that each have their own satisfying emotional resolution and being an overarching story with complicated character arcs that take multiple seasons to resolve is the… I’m going to call it the ‘Not Quite Right Lesson’ episodes. Episodes where a character kinda learns a Very Important Lesson… but a more careful and retrospective look at the situation shows that what they learned is not Quite the Right Thing for them. They internalized something in that adventure which just ended up causing more Emotional Troubles for themselves farther down the line.
‘The Test’ is the most classic example.
As a standalone thing, it’s just a sweet episode about Steven learning to accept that his caretakers are also flawed and confused and figuring this shit up as they’re going along just like he is, and then doing a nice thing for their sake.
But looking back at this episode, it is quite obviously the nadir of Steven appointing himself as the Family Therapist and repressing all of his problems so he could better help the Gems’ with theirs. Like, there have been some early warning signs for this Complex, but this episode is the one that really cemented that idea in his mind and probably the reason it took him like the Entire Rest of the Show Including a Post-Finale Season to really untangle it.
But… also, I’ve been thinking a lot about the episode right after that, ‘Future Vision’. I think it’s also a very important ‘Not Quite Right Lesson Episode’ for the character of Garnet, and to some extent, the Crystal Gems as a whole. In many ways, it is to the CGs' character arcs' what 'the Test' is to Steven's.
So in this episode, Garnet reveals to Steven the fact that she has Future Vision. She hoped that telling Steven a little bit more about herself and being honest with him will lead to a greater understanding and a greater bond between them… but it backfired. It just led Steven to become a total paranoid, terrified wreck stuck in a total existential crisis.
And it seems like the lesson Garnet learned is that… she should’ve never taken that risk at all. That it would’ve been better for everyone if she just kept Steven ignorant of the truth forever.
Extremely reinforced with the ending of the episode, where Garnet chooses to once again hide an uncomfortable truth (that he just came very close to dying again) from Steven, for the sake of his own ‘peace of mind’.
So, like, the Gems were already hiding uncomfortable truths from Steven since day one. “If you could only know what we really are” and all of that. But I think… With the actual truth of Homeworld encroaching on them more and more at this point of the story arc, this would’ve been a great time for the Gems to reconsider their attitude and actually Explain to Steven What the Hell is Going On.
But instead, I think Garnet saw the events of ‘Future Vision’ as a reinforcement of the idea that there’s just some things Steven is Better Off Not Knowing. Actually being frank with him about Homeworld and the Diamonds and the War right there and then, that would have just overwhelmed Steven with fears and worries and would’ve ended up doing nothing but hurting him. And Garnet can’t accept that possibility, not again.
And so, Garnet, alongside Amethyst and Pearl, keep all these truths from Steven as long as possible. Only revealing bits of information when they have to. For Amethyst it’s about her emotionally-evasive attitude (also, she legit doesn’t know all of that stuff herself). For Pearl it’s about how she learned to romanticize Rose’s own fucked-up obsession with secrets. For Garnet, with her usually very direct attitude and preference for the most straightforward solutions, I think it’s very much the events of ‘Future Vision’ that were still playing in her head every time she had the choice to actually Explain something to Steven and decided not to.
But that, indeed, was Not Quite the Right Lesson. While being bluntly and directly told by Garnet all about the Many Ways He Could Die caused Steven to go into an anxiety spiral and an existential crisis for an episode - the way the Gems have been consistently secretive and evasive with Steven ended up causing him so much more emotional grief to him in the long run. As all of these secrets ended up revealed to him in the most surprising, dramatic and traumatizing way possible.
And the secretive attitudes ended up driving a wedge between Steven and the Gems.
Even after they promised to be more honest with him. Because the sight of Steven crying on the roof that day is one that Garnet can easily move away from. Because Garnet’s Not Quite Right Lesson was almost as difficult for her to unlearn as Steven’s own.
But after the big confrontation at the start of the Zoo Arc, Garnet ended up being the most upfront about the Crystal Gems’ history. Almost overeager to share what she knows about the past.
I mean also, again, Amethyst just has less to tell and Pearl is hiding secrets for reasons beyond her control - but I think it’s also important to consider from the perspective of Garnet’s arc.
Because the fallout of the Pink Diamond Reveal is very much centered around Garnet (or, well, Ruby and Sapphire). That was the Truth that was hidden from her 'for her own good'. And at the end of the day, despite all the grief that unveiling that truth has caused
It has also brought them, all of them, a lot closer.
There's a reason why 'the Truth' is Garnet's Final Missing Piece in the movie. It is as central to her character arc in the series as Lesbian AngstTM grief over lost love is to Pearl.
And still, some remnants of the Trauma of 'Future Vision' remained...
After all, even the very last episode of 'Future' was centered around the Gems once again trying to hide things from Steven (at that case, their turmoil about him leaving) for his own sake
Even though it once again just caused Steven a whole lot of grief.
It's maybe notable that at the end of this episode, Garnet, once again, tells Steven what's waiting for him in his Future...
#steven universe#su#steven universe future#su future#suf#su analysis#garnet#garnet steven universe#garnet su#steven#steven universe garnet#su garnet#ruby#sapphire#ruby steven universe#ruby su#sapphire su#sapphire steven universe#steven quartz universe#steven quartz demayo#su steven
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the way in the v9 poster, wby are surrounding ruby but not really seeing her, causing her to feel trapped and smothered.
but then in the new art, wby are behind her. they are giving her space to breathe but they're right there, watching, ready to catch her in case she falls.
#rwby#ruby rose#weiss schnee#blake belladonna#yang xiao long#rwby analysis#oh how i've missed this#spending hours stringing along barely-there ideas#and stringing along even less-there sentences
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[Image ID: GIFs of Ruby and Sapphire from Steven Universe sitting in a fire-lit cave. Ruby says "I've never had a third eye before." Sapphire replies "I've never had more than one! It was nice." /.End ID]
A change of vision
This scene is more complicated than it looks at first glance.
Ruby and Sapphire have just fused for the first time and are awkwardly talking about their experience. Ruby says "I've never had a third eye before." On the surface, that's just a statement of fact, as is Sapphire's "I've never had more than one!" Ruby's only ever fused with other Rubies, and we saw that the Giant Ruby still had only two eyes. Sapphire's never fused at all, so of course she's only had one eye her whole life.
But we know from both the show's subtext and from Crewniverse statements that Sapphire's future vision is quite different from Garnet's. Sapphire sees one future, inevitable, unrelenting, separate from her involvement. She does not interfere; she describes what is. Ruby is the opposite; she is a Gem of action and emotion, impulsive, without much consideration. When they are combined as Garnet, Sapphire's future vision transmutes into something more dynamic. Garnet can see multiple futures, and she can get involved to choose the one she wants.
When Ruby states that she's "never had a third eye before," she's subtly making reference to the experience of seeing in a way that's new to her--not just a simplistic statement of physically having a different number of eyes than she's used to. Through being part of Garnet, she had a new experience of perception. She saw outside of the right now. She saw beyond a life of taking orders and carrying them out without any thought of what's next, any shred of judgment, any expectation of consideration. Even though it was just for a moment, her world opened up in a tantalizing way.
And when Sapphire said she's "never had more than one," she was describing a transformative experience as well. There was always one way before. One future. Vision, but no complexity. No consideration for emotion, for desire, for passion. With Ruby's impulsivity, her chaos, her ability to make destiny change, Sapphire's future vision became multifaceted when she was part of Garnet. She, too, saw beyond in a way she never had before. Suddenly, futures could involve choices SHE could make, and though that was scary enough to freeze her temporarily, she knew she wanted to have an opportunity to take leave of her tunnel vision and see in three dimensions (and beyond). "It was nice."
[Image ID: GIF of Garnet from Steven Universe in her early pink and blue form, looking at the camera with three wide eyes. /.End ID]
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Taiyang Xiao Long is a bad parent.
Tai is a pretty bad dad. Not Jacques Schnee, but there’s some real issues to be considered. Some of his reasons for this are understandable, not necessarily his fault and it doesn’t make him a bad person, but it does make him a bad parent. And yes he loves his daughters and they love him, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t not a bad parent.
For one: the parentification of Yang.
When Summer dies he is paralysed by grief. It’s said he just shuts down, and this does happen. Grief does that and hits different people differently. None the less, Yang was younger than ten and looking after herself, Ruby and probably him as well. Not to mention she sneaks off with Ruby to find Raven and they would have died if Qrow hadn’t saved them. Yang was left picking up the pieces after Summer died.
Yang still has trauma from this, and from (as is implied) continuing to be a key figure and parent in Ruby’s life. Ruby mentions several times that Yang raised her (as well as them both referring to Qrow as a role model and mentor more than Taiyang). Yang did a lot of raising herself and raising her sister when she was a child herself. Its very heavily implied that even once he was past his grief, he had stepped back as a parent and was very busy with his teaching.
Again, and I cannot emphasise this enough, it’s not necessary his fault and it doesn’t make him evil, but it still had impacts on his kids that lasted to adulthood. It was still bad parenting.
For two: staying in Patch.
This one annoys me more.
When Ruby left to go to Haven and he didn’t go after her, that made sense, Yang still needed help and Qrow was able to go after her. Fine.
But then Yang left. Yang went after Ruby and Qrow, and he stayed behind. Knowing about Salem, knowing what was at Haven, knowing what was at risk, he didn’t go after his kids or help, he stayed behind. Despite having been a part of Ozpin’s inner circle, despite knowing what these kids, his kids, are heading towards, he stayed at home.
And before anyone says ‘he’s retired’ or ‘he’s a teacher’ it’s mentioned he was a teacher and it makes sense that Summer died he chose to stay home and be with the kids. However, once the kids are both at Beacon he starts taking missions again. And this is fate of the world stuff. He could have gone with them, but he stayed in Patch with his gardening and his sunflowers. Yet again, it seems he’s happy to leave his kids to manage themselves, this is a reoccurring pattern.
In conclusion:
He loves his daughters, and they love him. He tries to do what’s best for them, however, his actions had a lasting negative impact on his daughters. He neglects them in his grief and leaves his eldest to raise his youngest and it’s suggested several times that even when he recovers from his grief, this pattern of behaviour continues. He is a good person, a huntsman, and loves his kids, but he’s still a bad parent.
And it makes him a very interesting character. I think this is better than a two dimensional ‘good parent’. It drives and influences Ruby and Yang as people, somewhat influences Qrow, shapes all their relationships. It’s a very real, messy family dynamic.
TLDR- he loves his kids but his actions negatively impact them in ways that last into adulthood. They’re a messy family, they do love each other, but even considering outside factors, the end result is that he was a bad parent to Yang and Ruby.
#rwby#I think one issue is people also mischaracterise Yang which eliminates Tai’s blame#and yes I use this in my fanfics#taiyang xiao long#yang xiao long#ruby rose#rwby ruby rose#qrow branwen#rwby thoughts#rwby analysis#rwby meta#raven branwen#summer rose
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So by this point, I think many of us are likely familiar with the idea that the breakup of Team RWBY at the end of Volume 3 is meant to thematically parallel the breakup of Team STRQ in the wake of Summer’s death, ie; Ruby falls into a coma for a few days while Summer disappears and then both their teams fracture. Along with a popular sub-theory that Blake leaving Yang after the Fall is meant to parallel Raven leaving Tai.
But the thing is, if Ruby falling into a coma at the end of Volume 3 is meant to parallel Summer’s (supposed) death and the way this loss caused the fracturing and breakup of their respective teams, then Raven’s actions DON’T really parallel Blake nearly as well as a lot of people think.
And in fact, I feel like Qrow could potentially have paralleled Blake’s actions FAR better.
Like people talk about how Raven ‘abandoned’ Tai just like Blake ran away from Yang after the Fall of Beacon. Except if the point of parallel to the Fall of Beacon is Summer’s death, then the parallel doesn’t work because Raven was ALREADY GONE from Team STRQ by the time Summer disappeared. To the point where Tai, Qrow and Ozpin had (and still have) NO IDEA she was even involved in whatever happened to Summer. Raven can’t exactly have abandoned Tai just like Blake did to Yang if Raven wasn’t even around.
Instead, as I’ve discussed in the past, I think Raven’s actions following Summer’s ‘death’ potentially line up far better with WEISS. Like if it turns out that losing Summer was what actually drove Raven to return to her tribe, then that lines up very nicely with Weiss being taken back to her family/Atlas in the wake of the Fall of Beacon: Both return to the shitty, abusive family that raised them. And given how much of Weiss’s character is tied up in her family and their ‘legacy’, then the way Raven eventually took over her tribe makes her an ideal foil; effectively representing a Weiss who did eventually take over the Schnee family and company, but in the process internalized all the pain and trauma her family gave her.
And as for a cherry on top; if Ruby falling into a coma after the Fall of Beacon is meant to parallel Summer’s supposed ‘death’, then what was one of the last things Ruby did at the Fall?
Run off on a special mission with Weiss, just like we now know Summer did with Raven.
Now going back to my point about how Raven was not even around to abandon Tai just like Blake did to Yang, you know who WAS presumably around when Summer ‘died’?
Yeah; Qrow.
Let’s consider what exactly Blake actually did following the Fall of Beacon beyond just a surface-level reading: Yes, she did go back to her family, similar to what Raven may have done, but given that the Belladonnas are NOT actually shitty and abusive, I maintain that Weiss is still the better parallel to Raven. Instead, let’s consider Blake’s whole arc across Volumes 4 and 5 relating to the White Fang: At first being depressed over loss and perceived failure before being inspired to start working for a better cause, in this case pushing back against and stopping Adam’s takeover of the White Fang.
So I have to wonder; what if this reflects what Qrow did with Ozpin and the conspiracy following Summer’s ‘death’? Maybe Qrow and his teammates had helped Ozpin in the past and knew what he was doing, but what if THIS was the point where Qrow became fully committed to Ozpin’s cause and joined the Ozluminati full-time? Perhaps seeing it as a way of ‘honoring’ Summer’s memory.
Instead of staying with the one teammate he had left (and possible partner) who was now in a massive depressive spiral AND had two kids to take care of.
It starts to make Qrow and Tai feel a lot like Blake and Yang, doesn’t it?
This is one of the big reasons why I think Qrow and Tai are the REAL foil to Bumbleby on Team STRQ. They effectively give us a look at a version of Blake and Yang whose relationship failed. Or rather, were never able to ‘take the next step’ and actually form their relationship.
Qrow is a Blake who fully internalized her self-loathing and belief that she didn’t deserve Yang or that Yang was better off without her and has simply been pining for Yang from afar.
Meanwhile Tai is a Yang who likewise fully internalized her fears of abandonment and fully resents Blake for leaving her or may not have ever even fully recognized her feelings for Blake in the first place.
Essentially, Qrow and Tai are the version of Blake and Yang who weren’t able to work through all the problems, issues and baggage which allowed them to actually start their relationship. Like a Blake who didn’t get that vital pep-talk from Sun at the end of Volume 4, or a Yang who likewise didn’t get that vital talk from Weiss in Volume 5.
Which in turn leads us to what I brought up earlier with Qrow joining up with the Ozluminati full-time, essentially representing a Blake who threw herself into reforming the White Fang instead of returning to Team RWBY and reconnecting with Yang. Meanwhile Tai simply throws himself into a deep depression, grief and ‘moping’, ironically all the things he would later accuse Yang of doing (at some point I’m going to do a post on just how much PROJECTING Tai has likely been doing…)
So now Qrow and Tai have this low-key toxic relationship where Qrow is more-or-less aware of Tai’s extremely dysfunctional parenting but has also been enabling it and a lot of Tai’s unhealthy coping mechanisms over the years because he’s been pining for Tai ever since their Beacon days and still is pining in a very depressed, self-loathing ‘I don’t deserve him/to be happy’ way and also doesn’t want to risk conflict with his former partner and also the only teammate he has left.
Thus Qrow keeps his distance and just goes along with Tai’s dysfunctions and/or lets Tai push him away. Which in turn just reinforces Tai’s abandonment issues.
And Ruby and Yang are still stuck with utterly dysfunctional parental figures.
Oh, and if you need more proof about the deliberate parallels between Blake and Qrow…
youtube
Then how about the whole damn song where they sing about how they’ve always felt terrible about themselves but now things are looking up for them.
#rwby#rwby analysis#rwby theory#character parallels#character foils#Team STRQ#Team RWBY#RWBY-STRQ parallels and foils#relationship parallels#Qrow Branwen#Blake Belladonna#Taiyang Xiao Long#Yang Xiao Long#Raven Branwen#Weiss Schnee#Summer Rose#Ruby Rose#taiqrow#bumbleby#rosebird#taiqrow is the failed foil to bumbleby#how raven is NOT the foil to blake on team strq#QROW is the foil to blake on team strq#why yet another long-held fandom assumption doesn't actually hold up that well#Youtube
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Recently rewatched the Gaslight District Pilot (again) and my favorite scene is still the very last one, the Human Death Ceremony.

Just the way Mel starts protectively hugging the egg close to her as Ken talks about destroying the prophesised human to maintain their eternal life... like it's an act! it's a lie! she knows Ken is just decieving everyone, this was what her whole plan was for! But her deep seated desire to belong and be accepted by her family as she is, means everything he's saying about how the human child born of the angel's egg will never belong and find peace in their lands, is hitting on all her inner fears and insecurities. Because even though it's a lie, there is a bit of truth in the lie of what Ken's saying for Mel, because he's said things of a similar nature that cast her as an outsider in her own family:
Ken: You're not one of us. And you never will be.
Even though in this scene he says it out of a desire to protect her, it's incredibly isolating for Mel, especially within her own family, especially coming from Ken, who she craves the approval of, who is the only one who knows she's human and loves her/has raised her.
Like even the framing with Mel being physically seperated and divided is the same, though in the Human Death Ceremony it's by the spike, a division that's much more harsh and hurtful (as it's the fate that awaits her if her true identity is ever revealed)

Much like the words Ken says that Mel is so afraid to hear him say to her:
Ken: Rotten little human hidin' in that egg, listen, and listen good. You shall never find peace in our land... as we will bathe this spike in your black blood time and time again. For you are the one thing to threaten our gift of eternal life. Now, let us rejoice in our victory! Let us restart the cycle! Let us praise the black hand for ANOTHER 10,000 YEARS!!!
...and that's when she starts projecting onto the angel's egg and pulling it close to her as if to protect it:


It represents the part of herself she wants to hide and initially to kill, (she came up with the plan to steal the angel's egg and smash it in front of the whole town, as a plan to cover up her identity as the real human born of the angel's egg). Being human means being vulnerable, mortal, fragile as an egg, all things she believes she needs to reject to belong and be part of her family:
Melancholy: (Giggling) I'm invincible! Me! A member of the Smiling Dead! (Laughs, then passes out)
(Ken looks at his daughter with a sad and disappointed expression on his face, not wanting her to be like him)
Ken: (Sighs) I'll make sure you never end up... like one of us.
But her humanity is a part of who she is, and Mel, I think deep down wants to be accepted and loved for her true self, which includes being human.
Additionally Mel could've easily still smashed the egg once she saw it was starting to hatch and gotten away with her deceit. But she hesitates, and instead pulls it close to her again to wait and see what hatches.


And still holds on to the angel bird hatchling after being found out.

The hatchling, if it's similar to most baby birds, will likely imprint on Mel, as well as the fact that the angel birds seem to keep a close eye on Mel as the prohesised human child.
Mel is likely going to see this bird baby as an extension of herself based on how she was projecting onto the angel's egg even before it hatched. The angel's egg that has been stolen from the heavens and is (hopefully, unless it's killed horribly/forgotten about in the next episode and I end up eating my words) going to be raised in the Gaslight District within a found family much like Mel herself was. The angel birds seem to bleed black blood like she does too, so in various ways it represents a side of Mel that she's forced to hide away and is convinced is unlovable.
...But maybe through accepting and loving the baby angel she can find a way to love and accept herself as a whole, her human/angel side included.
I just. I love love LOVE when a protagonist gets attached to A Little Guy that represents healing/reconnecting with their inner child!!!
#the gaslight district#tgd#melacholy hill#ken the butcher#the gaslight district meta#the gaslight district analysis#the gaslight district theories#here's hoping Mel and Baby Angel will enter the healing your inner child duos#like Ruby/Little and Kyoko/Maria and Jinx/Isha#also other people have definitely said this but omg I want a plushie of the angel bird so badddddd
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We Invest Things With Significance, or: Why Sutekh Isn’t Sutekh, But Death Itself. alternative title: Fear Is the Mind Killer.
the Doctor Who Series 14/1 thesis statement
i don’t think that sutekh has literally been attached to the TARDIS since Pyramids of Mars. i think that the salt at the edge of the universe — the grievous mistake that caused all myths to become a reality — was what made him appear. and he’s not the same character as sutekh the osiran, a powerful alien that delusionally believed himself to be a god. he *is* a god. nuwho-Sutekh is Death Incarnate.
ergo, this version of Sutekh is the literal psychic manifestation of the Doctor’s deep-seated, guilt-motivated fear of the idea that his arrival brings death wherever he treads. this death-anxiety was turned into a physical presence, haunting the TARDIS all through the Doctor’s timestream, because of the salt. that’s the reason why the Doctor didn’t spot any Susan Twists before Wild Blue Yonder…
there are two timelines in Doctor Who — relative time and universal time. universal time is the history of the universe. relative time is how the Doctor experiences it. in universal time, Sutekh has supposedly been hitchhiking through the vortex for millenia. in relative time, he has only been doing so since Fourteen accidentally invited myths back into the world.


the Doctor was insecure and afraid and believed the above quote (from the very first episode!! spoken by the very first named character in nuwho to die on screen, no less!) to be true. but until WBY it had only been true on a symbolic, metaphorical level. myths, legends, concepts and stories becoming real after the salt caused the Doctor’s anxiety about being a death-bringer to take the shape of a black dog — a universally recognised symbol of death — wearing the name and voice of his most formidable enemy, Sutekh.
in a way, this plotline mirrors The Woman from 73 Yards similarly being a manifestation of Ruby’s worst fear — that of being abandoned by everyone she loves for something intrinsic and incorrigible inside her that she cannot change. Ruby fears being left completely alone, so “The Woman” causes everyone in her life to leave her. the Doctor fears that his coming always heralds mass destruction (“maybe i’m the bad luck”), so “Sutekh” makes sure that the TARDIS literally becomes an altar of death.
ever since Wild Blue Yonder, stories in doctor who have become sources of immense power. the worst, most potent stories we tell ourselves are the lies that our sick brains whisper to us — secret anxieties that we’re not good enough, that all our loved ones will inevitably leave, that we carry nothing but bad luck in our wake. what better clay to mould a monster from than the protagonists’ own neuroses?
and if anybody’s still in doubt, here’s the plain text, all laid out below:
we invest things with significance. that’s what the salt at the edge of the universe really meant. that’s what almost every episode this series has been about, thematically — the imaginary kastarions, the cosplaying chuldur, the bogeyman written into life because kids need a scary story. myths become real to us because we believe in them, love and death and monsters too.
#dw#doctor who#doctor who meta#doctor who series 14#dw meta#doctor who analysis#👁️#doctor who theory#ruby sunday#fifteenth doctor#fourth doctor#sutekh#73 yards#empire of death#the legend of ruby sunday#russell t davies#steven moffat#fourteenth doctor#wild blue yonder#ncuti gatwa#millie gibson#kitty.txt
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Something I find so interesting about The Badge and the Burden in hindsight:
Weiss learned a correct lesson which set her on the path to becoming a better person, while Ruby learned a wrong lesson that set her on a path of self-destruction.
#it’s because Weiss talked to Port who despite his faults is a well adjusted Huntsman#while Ruby talked to Ozpin aka Mr. Hero General Man Behind the Curtain#weiss schnee#ruby rose#rwby1#rwby analysis#rwby#max.txt
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Yang fluctuates a lot between keeping Ruby close and pushing her away during initiation. She hypes her up, implores her to talk to people, and then ditches her. She then invites her to sit next to her during the assembly and sleeps right next to her that night, pushing back against Weiss's anger towards her sister. Only to imply that she thinks Ruby should be on a separate team from her. Only to call out for her during the actual initiation. She's only excited to learn they're on the same team and that her little sister is her leader.
She's so inconsistent. What gives?
Without context, I can see why many people can initially be unsure of why Yang is doing this and even feel offended on Ruby's behalf. But then we come to learn that Yang raised her. That they have always been close, and Ruby has relied on Yang for a lot during their lives.
Once we know them, it becomes really clear that Yang had no real desire to leave Ruby behind. Every attempt to put distance between them was for Ruby's benefit, not hers. Ruby was socially anxious and introverted. She had a history of using Yang as a crutch, and Yang knew it. So she tried to force her to step out of her shell, to blossom. But then her big sister instincts kicked back in, and she couldn't resist being right there again.
She was trying so hard to do what was right for her baby sister, but she didn't know how to, and she also didn't want Ruby to feel actually abandoned for even a single instant.
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One of the themes in RWBY is about the current generation being failed by the previous one. We see it a lot with the mess that is the Xiao Long-Rose-Branwen family.
Every single member of Team STRQ failed Yang and Ruby, to a greater and/or lesser extent.
(read more cut because this gets long, although I make no promises that I'll cover everything, and please forgive any typos, I'm very tired)
Raven abandoned her daughter and her husband (yes, husband, according to 'The World of RWBY' book by Daniel Wallace, written with input from CRWBY), and the rest of her team. Yang wasn't old enough to remember her, and may well have still been a baby at the time. The reason why seems to have been for Raven to take the leadership of the Branwen tribe of bandits, although I think it was more complicated than that, which would fit with Raven being such a complicated woman.
Summer. Yang's super-mom. The mother who stepped up. I deeply respect that. She had the best of intentions when she left on that super secret mission with Raven, presumably to confront Salem. To protect her family, and hopefully so she'd never need to leave them again. Unfortunately good intentions pave the road to hell, and she ended up never going home to her girls. That truly tore the family apart, and it never really recovered. Yang's abandonment issues aren't only from Raven leaving, and a lot of Ruby's issues come from trying to live up to the memory of Summer while being held to impossible standards.
Tai didn't react well to the loss of Summer. To quote Yang: he shut down. Yang had to pick up the pieces and keep things together. Alone. Because Tai was always busy with school, and Ruby couldn't talk yet. It's striking that Yang refers to her dad by name in Alone Together when talking to Weiss about it. Most kids don't do that when referring to their parents. Your mileage may vary about what that means, but to me it sounds a lot like resentment. Don't get me wrong, Yang loves her dad. But it's entirely possible to feel both love and resentment.
I do empathise with Tai. I'm all too familiar with grief and loss and depression. I'm sure he did his best, and as far as we know he did keep his kids fed and clothed, and gave them treats from time to time like the boba tea mentioned in the RWBY Beyond episode. But the fact remains that Yang ended up doing more to raise Ruby than she ever should have or would have if at least one of her mothers had stayed. Yang had no reason to lie to Weiss about that.
And Tai definitely failed his daughters. Even without anything else, there's the incident when Yang and Ruby were left alone when clearly too young to be unattended, and Yang went in search of Raven, with Ruby pulled in a wagon. That they weren't devoured by Grimm is thanks to Qrow, and possibly Raven for getting Qrow there, because I don't know how else he found them in time besides good luck for once (or very bad luck for the Grimm).
Does that mean Raven might have given Yang more than one save, or wriggled out of her rule about that by getting Qrow to do the saving? Does she secretly have a bond with Ruby, and that was Ruby's save? Whatever the case, Raven failed them too, because Yang wouldn't have been looking for her if she hadn't needed a mother, and Raven was well aware she no longer had one.
I do think it quite likely that by this point Raven had become the Spring Maiden, so might not have felt able to return even if she wanted to - it would have risked endangering the girls if someone learned Raven was a Maiden and tried to take the power for themselves.
Did that near disaster give Tai a wake up call? Did Yang only raise Ruby until then? We don't know for sure, but as someone raised by a single mother for a while, I can tell you that single parents can't work and raise children without help. There doesn't seem to be any extended family around to have done so, probably all killed by Grimm in the dangerous world that is Remnant... Plus there's Ruby's words to Yang when they're reunited in Volume 9: "If you thought we wouldn’t come for you, then you must’ve forgotten who raised me." I really don't think Ruby is referring to Tai there. Especially with referring to just herself and not both Yang and herself with 'who raised me.'
Childcare exists in Remnant, at least in Argus (there's a mention of needing to collect Jaune's nephew from childcare in Volume 6). I can't imagine it's unheard of in Patch. Yet Tai doesn't seem to have used it. To be clear, if any of the rest of Team STRQ had been left as a single parent they'd have needed help with childcare too, you can't both work and raise children at the same time. That goes for Summer too, even super-mom would need help. Maybe Tai's teaching job didn't pay well enough for him to afford it. Maybe he feared reaching out for help would mean losing his daughters, and I have no doubt that he loves them, and not just because they're all he has left of their mothers.
The way Tai talks to Yang during her training session in Volume 4 does make me wonder if he associates her far too closely with Raven, because while there are similarities Yang is very much her own person and also influenced by Summer far more than by Raven. We don't see him interact much with Ruby, but I wouldn't be surprised if he similarly associates her too much with Summer.
It doesn't help that Yang and Ruby so closely resemble their mothers - and they do, despite Yang's hair and eyes being different to Raven's, apart from when her eyes turn red. That must've given Tai quite a shock the first time it happened... Anyway, my point is that Raven is like a dark reflection of Yang. Or Yang a bright reflection of Raven, I'm not sure which. The physical resemblance of mothers and daughters can't have helped Tai with constant reminders of them, especially as they grew older and the resemblance more striking.
Qrow... I'm sure Drunkle Qrow did his best to help out, but at the time his mindset on his Semblance would have limited him to fleeting visits rather than living with Tai and the girls. He simply loved them too much to want to risk Misfortune hurting them.
That and Qrow was raised by bandits, a rough upbringing where he was made to feel like a bad luck charm. I'm not entirely certain he'd have seen the problem with Yang having to raise Ruby. There is a story in the Yang official manga anthology where Qrow acknowledges kid!Yang has every right to be angry about being burdened with the responsibilities of grown ups, but how canon those anthologies are is ambiguous.
One thing for sure: both Yang and Ruby were familiar with Qrow being drunk, and having to deal with that, although never as bad as it got in Volume 6.
And yes, Ruby does talk about Qrow teaching at Signal, and having taught her to fight, and that Tai taught Yang, but that does not mean they were a happy family living together while that happened. Sorry, this family has been haunted and broken ever since Summer disappeared, and the cracks appeared when Raven noped out of there to be a bandit queen.
I've mostly talked about how Yang was affected. But Ruby was too. Sure, she had more of a childhood than Yang did, because to some extent Yang made sure of that. Chances are Ruby got good at pretending things are fine when they aren't. That and Ruby is quite possibly socially awkward for a reason: she was at least partly raised by a child only two years older than she was. Yang did her best, I've no doubt about that, but there's no way she knew what she was doing.
Why does Yang seem comparatively normal if she at least in part raised herself? Because she's good at blending in and wearing masks. She'd have to be to avoid raising suspicions with her teachers about the situation at home, because Tai couldn't have been the only one who afraid about the kids being taken away. One of Yang's worst nightmares must've been about being taken into care by social services and separated from Ruby. Presuming of course that Remnant has social services. It surely has to have something because of the likelihood of those orphaned by Grimm attacks, in addition to the more usual family breakdowns.
In conclusion: this is such a messy family, and as has been noted by @one-real-wrimonkey that's part of what makes them so interesting (sorry, I hope you don't mind being tagged).
#RWBY analysis#Team STRQ#Summer Rose#Taiyang Xiao Long#Raven Branwen#Qrow Branwen#Yang Xiao Long#RWBY Ruby#no hate intended towards any of them#no one's perfect#not even Summer
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Hate the criticism of Volume 9 that it's "Filler"
Meanwhile we have the blacksmith summing up a central theme of the show through saying
"Balance is not two forces locked in never ending battle; balance is an ecosystem. An organism. A living, breathing thing. Thus, balance cannot be restored with force or calculation - true balance finds its own equilibrium. It only requires love and the patience to see if things through to the end."
Which also rebukes the narratives we've been told. Humanity can never be in balance when forced or manipulated into it, but that is exactly what the Gods sought to do, precisely because they lack that love and patience for their creations.
Similarly it's also what both Oz and Salem sought to do. Salem sought to manipulate the Gods into bringing back Ozma, then sought to use force against them when that did not work. She even ends up being permanently locked in the struggle between life and death herself when she is consumed by the Grimm. Oz, in his incarnation as the unnamed " Warrior King of Vale" used force to unite the kingdoms after the great war even having his own Vacuan allies surrendering to him because of his use of overwhelming force. Then as Ozpin he used manipulation behind the scenes to maintain this unity. Yet cracks inevitably began to show as people began to distrust him, culminating in Ironwood bringing his army which was instrumental in causing the Fall of Beacon and the rest of the events of the show.
And you wanna call this shit filler?
#Not to mention it's the entire culmination of both Ruby and Jaune's character arcs and respective struggles with their hero complexes#As well as setting up the mystery of Summer's death/disappearance and the circumstances around it#Bees is also there but I admittedly still am very ambivalent about bees unless in a poly context but good for them#also I fully plagiarised this analysis from my own reddit comment where I got angry at someone in the HTDM sub and did analysis out of spit#rwby#rwby volume 9
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Have you noticed how often the word or implication of “fall” is in RWBY? It’s fucking FASCINATING
As far back as volume 1, the protagonists were launched into the air and needed to have “landing strategies” as they fell
Then they were in a forest called Forever Fall
The fall of beacon, of course
Cinder Fall
The Fall maiden being such a significant lynchpin in the Fall of Beacon and Pyrrha’s death
Ironwood’s fall into tyranny
Ambrosious’ warning not to fall
Falling into the Ever After
A book called After The Fall
Multiple volume openings using the symbolism of the characters falling
Yang saying she feels like if she lets go she’ll fall, Blake replying they’re already falling, creating the first time “fall” has been used in a positive way which is really interesting!?
I’m sure there’s more, too
I don’t know what it means but it’s THERE and it’s SO INTERESTING
#rwby#rwby positivity#rwby analysis#rwby after the fall#RWBY fall#falling#thematic#storytelling#cinder fall#ruby rose#pyrrha nikos#there’s something here#but I don’t know what
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