#very curious to rewatch v9

[tifaisms]

RWBY and Trauma

So, i want to talk a little bit about RWBY. Specifically, with regards to its thematic storytelling. I think I made a post about this a few days ago but im gonna make a longer one here.

RWBY tackles a lot of themes in its storytelling. Death, grief, fear, trust, etc. to name a few.

One of the bigger themes is "keep moving forward", which was also Monty's motto. It is exemplified through the characters, both heroes and villains, and how they handle trauma and suffering.

The villains have pretty much all suffered. Salem, Cinder, Hazel, Mercury, Emerald, Roman, Neo, even Watts, all suffered. They experienced trauma, and hardship, and it shaped them.

The big difference between them and team RWBY is that they cannot move forward. Where team RWBY learn to grow and change. Salem couldn't accept loss, and grief, and instead turned those emotions to anger, same with Hazel, Adam, Neo, they all refused to move beyond their trauma. Yang put it pretty well in V8 - all this death and destruction because something bad happened to you once upon a time?

Trauma is inevitable. But the difference between the heroes and the villains is how their trauma impacts them going forward. And not just in a "the villains react negatively and the heroes don't" because Ruby reacted poorly, as did Blake, and Weiss in the early volumes. Qrow drinks to deal with it, and Ozpin let the betrayal he experienced define him.

The difference here is that the heroes try to grow and stop making their suffering everyone else's problem. You cannot use your trauma to justify lashing out at the world and other people. I think Kratos in God of War put it quite well - "Do not be sorry. Be better." You can't hurt people because you are traumatised, because all that does is traumatise everyone else. It isn't a justification for lashing out. Salem was traumatised, and she murdered so many people, and traumatised a bunch of other people, who will only continue that cycle.

It is worth noting that some of the antagonists do grow and change and become better. Ilia, Emerald, Hazel, and Neo are the big examples. They were all hurt by the world, and they turned to anger and violence. But Ilia is convinced by Blake that it isn't what she wants, and Blake is right. So Ilia turns away from that path. Hazel and Emerald both change and grow, and whilst Hazel gets the noble sacrifice, Emerald has to make amends for hurting people by being and doing better, and trying to make a positive impact on the world. And Neo had an entire arc culminating in her seeking revenge, and getting it, and realising that it was a hollow victory that left her with nothing but directionless grief and anger. When she had nothing to pursue, she was forced to confront the fact that she was just running from her actual feelings and lashing out. In the end, she chooses to go to the tree willingly, which is essentially willingly giving in to change and growth, because that's what the tree does.

The central conflict of the show is essentially that everyone has suffered, and experienced trauma. But it is the hero's ability and desire to grow beyond it and be better, so that they stop hurting the people around them, that sets them apart from the villains, who refuse to keep moving forward and instead just let their suffering infect everyone else, perpetuating an endless cycle of violence and conflict.

[bestworstcase]

Honestly still can't get over how you go into such well in-depth and coherent narrative deep dives! They're always such a joy to read ✨❤️ (I swear if I had your grasp of articulation I'd finally get around to polishing my note doc about Tang Sanzang/JTTW and how it relates to Starr Sanzang being the prime Summer Maiden candidate fsdf.).

ANYWAY. I just wanted to say that I didn't put two-and-two together about Alyx and Little being possibly connected until I read it in passing during one of your posts. Like after reading it, I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes as I wrapped my brain around it fsdf

It makes sense omg! Like of course Little could be Alyx in a new form!!! Alyx=Alice Liddell=Little!

I always thought that maybe Alyx was reincarnated into Juniper, because of the rabbit pin she wore + her hair tie, etc., yada yada.

And like yeah, sure Juniper is Jaune's companion, but:

-Little is implied to be a new/or a new version of an Ever Afteran since they have no purpose or even a name.

-They're scared if cats (I mean yes, they're a mouse, but Alyx was also killed by the Curious Cat, so ✨past life trauma ahoy!✨)

-They're also drawn to Ruby, who goes on a similar narrative journey to Alyx in the Ever After, while also acting as a guide for Ruby

-Which in by helping Ruby/guiding her, is in turn able to fulfil Alyx's desire of 'fixing everything she broke' (i.e. by being by Ruby's side until their 'death', they inadvertently lead Jaune to the Ever After Tree=allowing him to meet the Blacksmith, and then go home to Remnant.)

GAH! THAT THEORY MAKES SO MUCH SENSE. So, uh, apologies for the mini tangent, but just wanted to thank you for this unintentioned big brained moment! Now I'm gonna see V9 with a new perspective on my next rewatch! 🥰✨❤️

<3

there’s also this moment:

where the facsimile of penny’s sword manifested from ruby’s grief transforms into alyx’s dagger when little wakes up, and then as she lifts it up and tilts it toward little, the reflection of alyx’s face appears. it’s little’s reflection, just as the reflections of penny and summer are really reflections of ruby—her grief, her insecurities, manifesting as images of her fallen friend and her missing mother because she can’t recognize herself.

and then:

alyx lied -> little is a child playing pretend (“i’ll be your trusty guide!”)

alyx tricked the peddler -> little steals the jade mannequin for ruby

alyx cheated at the red king’s game -> little helps ruby play the prince’s game

the cat, on alyx’s book: “yes. oh, please! i simply must know more. what did she write about? how was i portrayed? and… do i smell a mouse?” <- the cat knows alyx didn’t write that book because they know they killed her and she ascended. the heart, as they say, very rarely forgets. thinking about alyx and lewis brings little to their attention—their heart knows who little used to be!

alyx broke her promise to the cat, and the cat killed her -> the cat betrays ruby in turn, and little bites them and goes you’re not a friend.

alyx wanted to go home no matter what -> little wants to help ruby get home no matter what

alyx acted selfishly but her dying wish was to help put things right -> little is a selfless but very helpless child who dies trying their best to help ruby -> they become somewhat, who is both selfless and able to take action to help others

alyx’s rabbit pin and narrative role as the white rabbit -> somewhat adopts juniper as their steed

also. the narrative makes a point of emphasizing that ruby didn’t see little in the tree, although we do see the blacksmith making their new face. but jaune does see alyx during the same time.

[tifaisms]

RWBY and Trauma Part 2: Team RWBY

Ruby lost a lot of people that she was close with, and moved forward too much - she ended up hurting people close to her because she refused to process her grief, and it led to her own misery, and that isn't something anyone wants to see. She also lashed out at people close to her in volume 9 as a direct result of her refusing to process her trauma, and seeing everyone else dealing with theirs and moving forward.

Weiss has trauma around her upbringing, and she let it colour her worldview and caused her to hold biases and prejudice that she worked to undo over the course of the show. She also hurt her brother without even realising - a documented phenomenon among children with siblings in abusive households is the complex cocktail of emotions around feelings of leaving, being left behind, being the favourite, etc. so Weiss ultimately made peace with her family, including her brother, because he was as much a victim as she was and he didn't deserve to be treated like a villain for it. they are now on the road to making peace with each other and moving forward as a family.

Blake suffered tremendously at the hands of Adam. She became wrapped up in his twisted view of the world and his twisted sense of justice, and she managed to escape from it, but Blake suffers from a specific trauma response that Ruby also has - she runs away. But where Ruby simply avoids her trauma, Blake physically distances herself from it. The problem is that she hurts people by doing so because she abandons them, and they are left to pick up the pieces by themselves. it takes Ilia, of all people, to help her understand this. Blake worked with Ilia to help her make amends for her actions, because staying behind to patch things up is far better than running away from the past. you need to confront it head on, and Blake realises through helping Ilia that she herself isn't staying behind to make things right. Ilia doesn't run away from her actions, and Blake shouldn't either. She realises that running away only hurts people close to you, and it doesn't help you in the long run. so Blake learns to commit. I'm very curious to rewatch v9 because I don't remember who makes the first move in the BB confession, but I think it works better if it's Blake, so I hope it is, because her whole deal was running away, so for her to CHOOSE to stay, even if things aren't perfect or going great, is a big personal step for her.

side note re Blake, Sun was very important for her arc because he is a shonen protag archetype and that really helps people deal with trauma by simply addressing it directly. He never gives her the answers, but he does push her out of her comfort zone to reach conclusions herself. Excellent supporting character, if a bit messy in the way he was written into v4. He was necessary for Blake to open up and deal with her trauma.

Yang's trauma is around abandonment and anger. Anger is an amoral emotion - it is the ways in which it is directed that lead to negative consequences. And Yang's semblance is representative of her anger manifesting in self destructive ways, because she needs to take the hit to get the payback. After Yang trains, she fights smarter, and learns that her anger, her semblance, is a powerful tool, but it is NOT something you should rely on. Keep a cool head, and you can protect people a lot better. It's also worth noting that Yang has dealt with her abandonment trauma as a result of Blake coming back, because abandonment leads to feelings of inadequacy - did they leave because they don't love me? and when Yang is shown that that is not the case, by blake coming back and making amends, and by disowning Raven instead of the other way around, she realises that she isn't the problem and never was - Blake ran because she was scared, but she came back because she realised it was wrong of her to run and hurt Yang in that way. Raven ran because she was a coward, and chose not to return because she is still running.

I've seen some people point out that team RWBY and team STRQ kinda parallel each other, with Summer and Ruby being the leader with the crushing weight of the world on their shoulders, Tai and Yang having been abandoned by the love of their life, Blake and Raven running from their problems when things look bad, and Weiss and Qrow having trauma related to their loneliness and isolation.

The fundamental difference is that team RWBY grew.

Summer told no one anything, and presumably died on a mission in secret. Ruby never shared her burdens with anyone, and it technically killed her in V9, but she was reborn and now needs to realise that she is not Atlas - the weight of the world is not her burden alone to bear.

Tai was left behind by Raven, and it destroyed him. Yang was left by Blake, and even before Blake came back, she prioritised the people she still had in her life, namely Ruby, and decided to do what she could for them.

Raven ran away from all of her problems and all of the people she cared about out of fear and paranoia, and never stayed in one place for too long. Blake did the same, until she realised that she was hurting people she cared about, and would rather face difficult problems with them than run away without them.

Qrow lets his isolation seclude him from people out of fear of hurting them, and it drives him into a depressive spiral. Weiss is isolated too, and even though their circumstances lead both to solitude, Weiss begins the slow road to making connections. I want to note that Qrow also does this, and eve nthough it kinda blows up in his face, I believe that he will also continue making strides and paralleling Weiss breaking away from terrible family members.

One last thing to touch on then I'm done, I'm sorry this post is so long lmao it's just a LOT to discuss.

I want to talk about Yang's semblance and how it parallels Adam's. Yang's strength comes from her anger. She takes the hit, and gets a rage power up to dish it out twofold, but it is self destructive and risky. Because anger can be directed and used for good, but it is dangerous to YOU. Adam on the other hand has no physical drawbacks to his anger on a magic system level. But that doesn't mean the anger isn't there, and it doesn't mean the anger isn't destroying him. It's jsut not physically destroying him. Having two characters rely on anger in this way, and having them parallel each other in a number of ways, is really cool.

Okay, I'm done for real. Hope you all enjoyed reading.