#rwby v9 predictions

[short-wooloo]

RWBY V9 theory

Given how much Ruby is still repressing her feelings and ignoring her own state in favor of moving forward, I suspect that next episode or episode 3 she will dismiss the search for Crescent Rose under the pretense of "we don't have time, let's go", probably opting to pick up and use whatever weapon she finds, only for it to not "fit" her, and despite the fact that this other weapon does not work for her, Ruby will insist on pushing on

Weapons in RWBY are often crafted by the user, they are representations of the wielder and are effectively a piece of them, a piece of their soul, particularly true for Ruby, she's a weapons geek, Crescent is her baby

So in essence, Ruby would be discarding a part of her soul in the name of victory (which also can seeve as a parallel to Ironwood, the disregard of the self in order to win, ignoring what this does to a person, essentially Ruby is in danger of being on the path Ironwood took)

And I suspect the blacksmith will come into play here somehow, more or less articulating the above to Ruby

Ruby can't just replace/discard/foegwt Crescent, it's a part of her, it is her

(Couldn't resist)

Ruby will not be able to truly move forward until she reclaims Crescent, aka stops trying to push forward in spite of her issues, only when she takes time to see to her own needs, processes, reclaims Crescent, will she move forward

[bubble-hunter]

I have been waiting 6 years for this

[penny-weiss]

Things that broke my heart, RWBY V9C5

CRWBY are coming for my heart in Volume 9.

The memory of Penny is following Ruby everywhere, but Ruby is still insistent she can handle her burdens alone. Then after she insists she is okay, we get a flash with Summer.

Ruby then giving up the broach that carries a mother's promise.

Weiss having flashbacks to the fall of Atlas. At least her team is there for her this time.

Jaune named the rabbit "Juniper." Not to mention the obvious that he is a rusted knight and has clearly been in the Ever After for some time.

And lastly, the team's excitement at meeting the rusted knight disappearing once they realized who it was.

[z-1-wolfe]

[takes a deep breath] so CRWBY really looked at the bright girl in volume 1 and went like, we're going to traumatize the f*ck out of her so that in a decade or so she completely breaks down after seeing those she cares 'bout die over and over again and just kills herself

And this is going to weigh on the minds of her teammates forever. They're going to look back one day and remember who Ruby used to be, and then they're going to realize what the world made her become. And it will shatter them every time they remember this scene.

[puzzlingfrost]

She's gonna lose an eye, isn't she?

[rotisia]

Just had a thought and had to share. Did Ruby know that was her sister and friends watching her drink the tea? Cause I think an argument could be made that she just thought that they were more Neo clones made to torment her. Which is why she drank it so easily while looking them right in the eyes. She thought she was going to continue to be tormented by copies of her team. She wasn’t looking at them to show them she gave up, she was looking at them so that they would be the last things she saw, even if they were an illusion.

[yangscowlick]

Having had an interest in fairy tales and myths for so long, one thing I’ve found —I dont want to say deficient — but notable is that R-W-B-Y all seem to be working off the same Girl Who Fell Through the World tale. When Blake runs through the first chapters of the story, Yang immediately follows with the next chapters, and they land on the tree. There isn’t any difference in the versions of the story that they know, at least in the broad strokes.

But the funny thing about fairy tales is that they get morphed through generations and cultures. It would be interesting if the Atlas vs Vale vs Menagerie etc versions that RWBY grew up hearing all differed in small ways based on the winding path of mythology.

Which is all to say, it would be interesting if they come across a piece in the story that Blake doesn’t know. Perhaps one that only Yang and Ruby know from the version that Summer used to read to them, which Summer knows because [insert Summer lore here].

[seer918]

ADDENDUM TO MY ‘NEO BECOMES RUBY’S BIG BAD WOLF THEORY

I ain’t throwing in the towel, I will somehow come off with a one right prediction from this volume out of...well, four at this point given my previous post BUT

Imagine if you will Curious Cat in Neo's body and possibly(?) with access to her memories might know about The Hound and while not knowing the full context knows that Ruby's terrified of that thing because fair, it's a shambling abomination even by Grimm standards and uses Neo's semblance to give himself a more bestial body to fight with since it's a feral, it probably isn't used to using weapons yet CC: "There's one question, right now, that I want answered before I leave this damned place...Who's afraid of the Big. BAD. WOLF?!"

[prodkeiji]

yang about to go batshit crazy in chapter 9 i fear

[ryuto12]

Calling it now, the end credit scene will be in Vacuo.

[short-wooloo]

So obviously we never got an atlas ball episode...

But it's not too late to get an Ever After ball episode

Balls are very frequent occurrences in fairy tales after all, and team RWBY is now in fairy tale land

We could even have a fairy godmother magically create dresses for the girls

[blue-scorpion-king]

It always goes back to the metal of the Moon.

For my fourth prediction of RWBY V9 going forward, which it hit me in the form of a epiphany-

The Silver Eyes.

It always goes back to the Silver Eyes in RWBY at points of great importance.

Ever since the first episode of RWBY, at Volume 1.

At this point in time, this can be the moment Ruby uses her eyes or they activates on their own.

This... I have actually not thought of until this epiphany.

Like wait.

The Curious Cat did not ask about Ruby’s eye color.

I think. I could be wrong.

And when Maria tells Ruby about the foundation of the power of the eyes, which is the preservation of life, which is an aspect of CREATION-

The scene has a *butterfly* on it.

Now, the butterfly is linked to the eyes, to Creation. NOT ‘Ascension’ as people might think.

The symbolism simply carried over, like the butterfly is carrying it.

And.

It is going to come back and bite the Cat in the ass.

He wasn’t *curious* enough.

And this epiphany actually gave me *hope.* And I had to the urge to *laugh*! I didn’t really think about this, until I did, and when this hit me.

I will say for when Saturday comes-

The power of the Silver Eyes would be Ruby’s ‘cocoon’.

NOT Ascension.

---

~The Bat~

[daniels-rwby-blog]

What if uno reverse happens?

so i've rewatched volume nine's intro recently and like. with the events of the recent episode i can't help but look at this image

and think

"what if the curious cat uses neo's powers to create illusions of ruby to torment wby and jaune?"

And pulls a uno reverse on what neo did to ruby and torments them as a side plot to cut to while ruby is dealing with the blacksmith and summer and all that sweet jazz in the tree, perhaps while Ruby negotiates Thier escape or the cats death, the cat is grinding down WBY+Jaune

Or ruby stabs the illusion of the cat as a symbol of getting rid of those thoughts?

[wild-moss-art]

They are gonna leave ruby behind in the ever after she’s never coming back

[internecion-witch]

Ok ive got a highly specific prediction for the general plot points for the next episode or two:

Ruby is obviously struggling right now, and is in no shape to be heroing. So of course the entire team is going to stumble on some sort of problem, it doesn't have to be specific, maybe it's Neo, maybe not. I'm just going to call it the problem.

Blake immediately volunteers RWBY to help solve the problem, and they all split up, Ruby and Weiss go do two separate things and Blake and Yang stay to help locally.

Whatever Weiss does isn't important. But it is important that whatever Ruby does, she fucks up, badly. Maybe she gets someone killed, maybe she just outright failed, the point is she feels like even less of a Huntress than ever.

Yang and Blake are having an easy enough time together. they do well, and handle their part of the problem. They're alone for the first time since they all fell and we finally get the Bees kiss.

Then Ruby walks in, at her complete low point, to the Bees complete high point. Leveraging the fact that bees are cannon into even more ammunition to completely destroy Ruby with.

Ruby cannot even fathom how if this is really the fucking time for this, right now? The problem is coming Weiss is somewhere and they're spending their time doing this!?!?

[rwbyrg]

If it's alright, I'm just curious, do you have any thoughts of your own or theories about Oscar or Ruby or both of them in terms of v10? To add, do you have any theories for the merge and how it will end up for both Oscar and Ozpin? Like will it be a good or bad thing? Sorry if these questions seem vague lol

Of course it's alright to ask! I do have many thoughts and a handful of theories. I'll admit most of them are wishful thinking since there's truly no way to tell where the story will go until it actually happens. But if I were to distill it to the ones I'm most expecting and why, then I'd probably say:

Expansion on Ruby's solo arc that kicked off in V9

Acknowledging the setups (plural) between Ruby and Oscar's arcs

The merge-curse is eventually broken (blame the allusions)

I'll elaborate a bit below.

1. Expanding on Ruby's Arc

What we saw Ruby go through in V9 is very much not the end of that particular plot line, imo. We saw a bit of this in Justice League: Part 2 and the final ep of RWBY Beyond where she talks to Clark and Yang about her struggles a bit. Ruby needs to learn how to both ask for and accept help from those around her so the weight of everything she's carrying doesn't crush her. Especially now when they're down to the wire and she's come back as a resurrected martyr who's face has been used at the centre of the resistance movement she's now helping to lead. How will she live up to the expectations and pressures of that impossible pedestal when she's only a human girl with very normal knees who's barely keeping it together? Also, while I don't know exactly how they're going to address everything she experienced, and I struggle to imagine her speaking about Neo's Horror House to anyone directly... that sort of trauma doesn't just go away once it's over. So I would be very surprised if the effects of it didn't ripple throughout the remaining chapters of the show. Especially when every other member of RWBY has seemingly had the bulk of their main character arcs already. It's long overdue for Ruby to get that time in the spotlight. Which does sort of lead into my next point...

2. Acknowledging the Setups in Ruby and Oscar's Dynamic

For starters, we've got the merge and ascension parallels to address. Ruby and Oscar have always mirrored each other's issues around identity, choice, fear, responsibility, leadership, etc., and this buildup seems to be coming to a head following V9. From Oscar's "I'm just going to be another one of his lives, aren't I?" to Ruby's "What if you could be anyone?", and how the two of them will relate to each other in light of those contrasting - but similar - experiences. Especially with Ruby having just come back from the tree to find Oscar fighting against the merge harder than ever before. But we also have their attachments to each other to sort out as well. Ruby and Oscar have been watching each other's backs in different ways since V5, their reunion hug in V8 was interrupted where no other "pairing's" was, and they were the only "pairing" still to be split up between the Ever After and Remnant. Not to mention that, while they were separated, Ruby was pushed to a breaking point after being shown an illusion of losing Oscar, while Oscar was back in the real world eulogizing about how he lost Ruby. CRWBY doesn't setup relationship parallels and focuses as intensely and intentionally as this without pay off at some point.

Again, while the specifics are nearly impossible to predict, I'm expecting a bit of a Dojo Scene Reprise, heart-to-heart of sorts, and/or, something that puts those attachments to the test. My immediate thought is that this test will finally push Oscar to unlocking his semblance since getting shot, falling from Atlas, being kidnapped, and tortured were all not enough to make it happen. (Although my wishful thinking is that it unlocks in a happier moment, I think that's much less likely.)

If I were to engage in pure speculation on this, my easiest bet is that it will come at the hands of Tyrian. When our Little Prince was first introduced, it was almost as if he was waking from a nightmare of that villain laughing with glee at the opportunity to hunt down a certain rose. And with this being the Vacuo arc with Ruby and Oscar getting a lot of focus, and Tyrian already on the prowl within the kingdom, it would make a lot of sense. The little prince fated to have a confrontation with a venomous antagonist in the desert over his attachment to a rose is about as textbook as it gets. (I could also see it go to Cinder or being delayed until they follow through on the threat of Ruby being kidnapped by Salem, if that's the route they decide to take. But again we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.)

3. Oscar and the Merge

I'm not entirely sure where they're headed with this one between now and the resolution... but I do think the resolution itself will otherwise be a happy one, if not bittersweet. RWBY is a story about breaking cycles, and Oz has been part of one of the longest on Remnant since the very beginning. Pairing that with this show being, ultimately, a happy story, as well as a looking at two of Oscar and Oz's shared allusions, I can only imagine they will be separated by the end.

The first allusions to mention are from The Marvelous Land of Oz. Princess Ozma (aka Oscar) is the rightful heir to the kingdom and next in line to take over when it's time for the wizard to retire. It's very clear that - however this plays out - Oscar is the final incarnation. Typically, when one ruler leaves the throne that's it. They're gone. Oz has fiddled with Remnant's history for countless millennia now in his endless fight against Salem. When the dust settles and it's time for Remnant to rebuild, it should be up to the new generation to take charge without his influence from "the old world" in the mix.

From a Little Prince lens - for those unfamiliar with the book - the aviator (aka Oz) spends much of the story waffling about the little prince he is stranded with in the desert... only to be very sad when his new friend leaves him behind to go home to the stars. RWBY is already subverting this story a bit with Oscar being the one wanting to be rid of his pilot instead of the other way around. If I were to guess how the show will carry this further, it would be that Oz moves on, but perhaps with some lingering attachment on either (or both) sides. Maybe a bit of a "all this time I wanted it to end, but now that it's finally happening, I wish I (you) didn't have to go".

At least that's what seems to make sense to me, thematically speaking. Oscar will be irreversibly changed by these events even if he is freed from the curse, however. There is no question about it. Because that is what the Hero's Journey is all about.

The hero leaves their farm and they fall through a new world. It is both horrifying and exciting in equal measure. And throughout it all they are changed by the experiences they have and the people they meet - both good and bad, within their control and outside of it. And when the quest is finally over, there is grief. Because you are not the same person you were when you left home, and you can never truly return to what you had and who you were before it all happened.

This is also, coincidentally, just what it means to grow up. Which - while not the only one, and certainly not unique to Oscar's arc alone - has always been one of the loudest allegories hiding within the merge to me. We meet and know people, we don't always have a say in how long they can stay and how they change us... and then one day they are gone, but their influence and our memories of them stay with us. And then, as RWBY has taught us since the very beginning, we keep moving forward despite it all.

( @creatoriamari tagging you here just in case to make sure you get the notif because I don't know if it still works if I saved the ask as a draft. 🙇‍♀️)