#we've never seen hereditary together

[pretypidge]

peter from hereditary 🤝 kendall roy unequivocally should have just killed themselves the moment they accidentally killed someone in a car crash bc they were driving high, instead of coming back and facing the family of the dead guy

[boylikeanangel]

can you please share a bit more of your thoughts on the spoilers? i haven't seen them anywhere and it would be nice to know them coming from you

hiii tumblr mobile does not give timestamps for asks so idk if this is in regard to the spoilers from the interviews or the screenings but all my thoughts are kinda connected to both so SPOILER WARNING FOR THE FIRST TWO EPISODES OF SEASON 2 UNDER THE CUT LALALALA

I don't even know where to start like. I have been in a state of shock all day because literally everything my friends and I speculated about is real. literally all of it. all of our wildest theories about aziraphale and crowley's first meeting were confirmed by the fans who saw the screening. I have never won this fucking hard and ive won AT GOOD OMENS OF ALL THINGS. 2022 me would be laughing. june 2023 me would be laughing. two days ago me would be LAUGHING. I genuinely think this may be one of the best seasons of tv ever guys

like. do you understand. how much this changes. how our understanding of crowley and aziraphale's dynamic throughout time has been totally flipped on its head. aziraphale approached crowley first. crowley was the one who sheltered aziraphale with his wing. so eden was aziraphale returning the favour. DO YOU UNDERSTAND. AZIRAPHALE FELL FIRST. HE DIDNT TAKE SIX THOUSAND YEARS TO CATCH UP. HE HASN'T BEEN CLUELESS THIS ENTIRE TIME. they've literally been connected this entire time, right from before sides or the concept of evil or hatred or enemies were even invented. of course they'd never buy into the whole "hereditary enemies" thing. AZIRAPHALE KNOWS HIM. HE KNOWS CROWLEY. HE'S ALWAYS KNOWN HIM.

and it doesn't even feel like a retcon. it doesn't feel like we need to ignore a bunch of stuff from season 1 to accept or enjoy the added content this season. it's literally just. more shit to help quantify the depth of their love for each other. their connection over countless millennia. I mean if you go back to the very first scene in season 1, aziraphale literally does a double take when crowley appears next to him. that's him realising who it is. he fucking recognised crowley and freaked out for a second. that's why he didn't hear what crowley said!!! he was processing!!!! AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON HOW MUCH MORE SHIT FROM SEASON 1 HURTS NOW. AZIRAPHALE PLEADING WITH CROWLEY BECAUSE HE WAS AN ANGEL, ONCE. CROWLEY WANTING TO TAKE AZIRAPHALE AND RUN AWAY TO LIVE IN A GALAXY THEY HELPED BUILD TOGETHER. AZIRAPHALE ALWAYS TELLING CROWLEY NOT TO QUESTION GOD AND BEING SO AFRAID TO DO THE SAME BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT'S EXACTLY WHY CROWLEY FELL IN THE FIRST PLACE. it's not retconning its just making everything worse!!! azcrow is canon and everything is worse now!!!!!!

the biblical minisode. well. I cannot think about that without having to pace around my house like a person going into labour. I literally stress cleaned my entire house earlier to distract myself from thinking about it. crowley has always always ALWAYS protected aziraphale. always. literally the only reason aziraphale has never killed anything is because crowley has protected him from ever having to do that. crowley's dedication to preserving aziraphale's goodness and allowing him to be his own definition of angelic/holy is the greatest act of service he could bestow upon him and it makes me SICK because him pushing aziraphale to kill adam in 1x06 after all that shows just how desperate he was. both of them realising and understanding at the exact same time that the only person in the universe who really understands them or knows what they're going through is the other, the only person they can rely upon is the other, its just. we've been so wrong. about aziraphale. about the extent to which he knows how important crowley is to him. he's always known. he's just been so afraid. him being prepared to fall to keep doing what he believes is right is so fucking heartbreaking and weve done him such a disservice all these years for calling him naive and mocking him for being slow on the uptake. HE'S ALWAYS KNOWN. HE JUST COULDN'T DO ANYTHING WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE. AND THAT'S SO MUCH WORSE

basically I have never been more scared in my entire life because if they packed this much into the first two episodes and it was deemed tame enough to show ahead of release then what the fuck is in the next four. what are we getting ourselves in for . it's really dawning on me the scope of what this experience is going to be and I simply dont think im going to survive it. again I never expected any of this. this was my definitive "high hopes low expectations" season of tv and it's now it's shaping up to be one the best things I've probably ever seen in my life and. it's cognitive dissonance in its crystallised form. how did we fucking get here.

AND GOOD OLD FASHIONED LOVER BOY??????? PLAYING IN CROWLEY'S CAR AS HE GOES TO MAKE UP WITH AZIRAPHALE?????? SAY SIKE RIGHT NOW THIS ISN'T FUNNY

in conclusion

[scarlet--wiccan]

If Chthon never blessed her with Chaos Magic, which amplified her mutant power to become probability manipulation, then what's your theory of her actual pure mutant power could be?

Just as a follow-up, after I made this post, Busiek himself commented and added some extra clarity--

What we said was that her mutant power would have channeled some form of natural force (a la her father's magnetism), but Chthon shifted things so that she channeled chaos magic. So what she was putting out was chaos magic, but uncontrolled chaos magic was simply disruptive -- she was essentially hurling chaos-grenades, as she put it. And chaos disrupts order, thus causing improbable things to happen. So she wields chaos magic -- the process of wielding it is the mutant part, the stuff she wields is the magic part. Her training in magic gave her more control over what she was doing with it.

Thanks @kurtbusiek !

Busiek states that Wanda's nascent mutant power would have channeled some form of natural force, similar to Magneto's, which I think we can categorize as an elemental mutation. There are a lot of different mutants with elemental powers, and they don't all work the same way, but if I had to guess, I imagine Wanda would have something similar to Magneto himself, or Rictor, back when his power was more about seismic vibrations-- we're talking about intangible forces of nature and scientific phenomena, not literal elemental bending like in ATLA.

What exactly would that be? I don't know. Probably not magnetism itself, since that would make Lorna redundant. Maybe something related to acceleration and inertia, as a compliment to Pietro's speed.

Nowadays, it's kind of a moot point. The same explanation for how her powers came together still holds, but the origin of her "mutation" is significantly different. She wasn't born with it, and it has nothing to with Magneto, so that connection is no longer relevant. As far as I can tell, the Evolutionary's experiments and Chthon's intervention happened... basically at the same time? So I don't think there was ever any version of Wanda's power that existed prior to what it is now.

Again, this is purely headcanon, but I think it would make a lot more sense if both Wanda and Pietro's powers were the result of the same equation-- hereditary magic + Evolutionary experiment + Chthon = uncanny mutate abilities that, as we've seen, are both capable of escalating and expanding beyond conventional limits. And this would go a long way towards explaining how Pietro was able to become a vessel of Chthon back in the 2010s.

[krimreader]

The Schnee semblance being directly from the god of darkness would also explain why it's, well, a schnee semblance. So far, we've never seen anything indicating that semblances are hereditary besides this one case - on the contrary, actually.

In fact, the only possibly hereditary abilities we've seen are the magic Ozpin and Salem's kids inherited, and the silver eyes: gifts from the god of darkness and the one of light, respectively.

They're on an island in a place outside of Remnant that, as far as we know, still has magic on it. Ruby has the ability to destroy grimm matter (to purrify it, you could say), while Weiss is basically a grimm necromancer, who is gaining the ability to summon grimm she didn't even deal the finishing blow to. What if together they found a way to heal the people Salem experimented on?

RWBY is a show that, no matter how dark it goes, strays away from unnecessarily killing characters: there were only a few major deaths, and all served to further the plot or a character's development. The Hound's death served to raise the stakes of the story, as well as show us what could happen to Ruby (or what could've happened to Summer). And it's pretty safe to assume he was not Salem's only successful experiment. Having RWBY & Co. kill others would be pointless, as well as going against what the show is trying to do. Healing them, however? Healing goes well with the show's Hopepunk narrative, of being able to pull through no matter how dire the situation is - that you can be (quite literally) swallowed by darkness, and still find a way to heal.

In my last post, I went into detail about how the popular theory of ‘Grimm!Summer’, that Summer Rose was turned into a Grimm Hybrid by Salem and is either being controlled by or even voluntarily working for Salem, might actually be one big red herring by CRWBY.

So, if Summer isn’t Salem’s secret drama-bomb, where is she? Well, ever since Volume 8 ended, I’ve noticed an interesting trend running through RWBY as a whole.

So far, the ‘Part 3’ of each major arc (Volumes 3 and 6 respectively) have introduced a new, mentor-esque character who happens to be VERY important to Ruby’s character. Qrow in Volume 3, and Maria in Volume 6. Not only that, but these characters are also ‘built up’ through references and allusions in the previous two volumes of the arc leading up to their introduction.

Well, guess who got referenced quite a bit over the last couple of volumes?

Across both Volumes 1 and 2, Qrow Branwen is a very mysterious figure. Mentioned and referenced a number of times by various characters, before finally making his first proper appearance in Volume 3.

Now while Maria herself isn’t mentioned in any way during Volumes 4 or 5, the Silver Eyed Warriors that she represents ARE. The warriors with Silver Eyes are these mysterious figures brought up a fair number of times during the two volumes, in turn setting the stage for us to actually MEET another Silver Eyed Warrior in Volume 6.

And wouldn’t you know it, after six volumes with barely a mention, suddenly Volumes 7 and 8 have brought up Summer Rose a number of times. From Qrow talking about her with Ruby near the start of Volume 7, to Salem dropping drama bombs on both Ruby and Yang at the end of Volume 7 and midway through Volume 8, to Ruby and Yang talking about Summer in what might be the show’s angstiest scene yet. Basically, Volumes 7 and 8 have been building up Summer in the same way that Volumes 1 and 2 built up Qrow and Volumes 4 and 5 built up Maria.

Which in turn primes Volume 9 as the volume where we finally meet Summer.

Now, how exactly could this play out?

Well, I think Summer also wound up in the same Void dimension that Team RWBY and co. fell into. Now this might seem a bit of a stretch at first but remember that we know basically NOTHING about what exactly happened when Summer met Salem, beyond that the meeting happened. Likewise, we also know NOTHING about the Void dimension, like how one might enter or leave.

I mentioned in the ‘red herring’ post that the Hound could just as easily be hinting Cinder’s grimmification as to could be to Grimm!Summer. And I’m thinking that Summer’s role in Volume 9 could itself tie back into that. Basically, I’m thinking that Summer has been partially hybridized just like Cinder is.

Summer was captured and experimented on by Salem, but Salem wasn’t able to get the grimm-corruption to fully ‘stick’ so to speak. And in the process of Summer either attempting to escape or getting ‘disposed of’ by Salem, or something else, she would up in the Void dimension. It’s also possible that in the years she’s been stuck there, Summer’s ‘grimplants’ have actually grown to the point where combined with simply being alone for close to ten years have left Summer more than a little loony by the time Ruby and co. meet her.

Imagine we’re two or three episodes into Volume 9. Ruby and co. are still just getting their bearings. Maybe Ruby hasn’t even found everyone yet. Everything is still very creepy, mysterious and unknown.

And then all of a sudden, Ruby encounters or is even attacked by this mysterious, crazed, possibly even feral figure in a ragged, dirty gray cloak. Ruby and whoever else might be with her are able to fight the figure off, but in the process, Ruby manages to spot what is clearly Grimm material under the cloak. Realizing that this thing must be a Grimm, Ruby unleashes a silver eye blast. The figure lets out a pained scream in what is clearly a woman’s voice.

The mysterious assailant stops attacking a falls to the ground. Ruby and co. approach cautiously before the woman raises a clearly human hand.

“Wait… I’m sorry I attacked you,” the woman speaks in a hoarse voice that clearly hasn’t been used in a while.

“I just… never thought I’d see other people again…” the woman stands before pulling down her hood.

Revealing a very familiar face, with silver eyes, a long, wild and unkempt mane of dark-red hair, and a few clear spots of grimm corruption.

And Ruby’s eyes go wide with shock and we end the episode on a single word:

“…Mom?”

(Side note: I can absolutely see Summer not recognizing Ruby at first. Remember that Ruby had to have been only about four or five years old when Summer left and it has been a LONG time. Heck, Summer might take a minute to recognize Yang.)

The thing is, I feel like this scenario fits both Ruby’s character arc and the broader narrative RWBY uses as a whole much better than Summer showing up as a surprise twist villain working for/being controlled by Salem.

RWBY’s approach to how it portrays the parents and mentors of its heroines (aside from the outright villainous ones like Jacques) as some combination of ‘well-intentioned but deeply flawed’. People who may have wanted to do good but went about it in the wrong way and wound up destroying themselves. They are, first and foremost, people.

Introducing Summer as some shocking, enigmatic minion of Salem’s treats her more as some kind of ‘prop’ who might end up becoming an actual character after she’s freed/redeemed. Instead, introducing Summer like this lets her start as an actual character right off the bat.

Also, introducing Summer this way fits RWBY’s trend of ‘de-romanticizing’ and ‘breaking the pedestal’ of the heroes and mentors that our protagonists have spent their lives looking up to. Introducing Summer as an outright villain still presents her as this incredible paragon, just one that’s now become an equally important threat.

Instead, THIS Summer is neither of those things. She’s simply a broken woman half-crazed from isolation, half-feral from cruel experiments who’s been destroyed by the torture she endured and the weight of her heroic convictions there were always far too heavy to shoulder alone.

In other words, everything that RUBY is in danger of becoming if she continues to be consumed by the Hero Complex we’ve been seeing play out over the last few volumes.

This positions Summer to play perfectly into the arc Ruby is likely to be on in Volume 9. Giving Ruby this connection she’s never really known while also showing her that she REALLY needs to rethink a few things. In this way, Summer could not only be filling a similar role to Maria in Volume 6 as a new mentor-figure, but ALSO fills a similar rug-pulling, pedestal-breaking, ‘our heroes aren’t the paragons we thought they were’ role that Ozpin and Qrow filled in Volume 6.

Additionally, introducing Summer in this way as a ‘failed test subject’ actually serves the whole ‘Salem is creating Grimm Hybrids’ plot-thread better than if Summer was introduced as a full-on villain. The ‘villain/Salem’s-minion’ route doesn’t actually reveal doesn’t really give us or the heroines any more information than could already be inferred from encountering the Hound. Instead, meeting Summer in Volume 9 presents the opportunity to build off the Hound reveal in Volume 8 with Summer providing more insight and information on just what Salem is doing. Instead of these reveals being put off until later, Ruby and the others can actually get an up-close look at what Salem has been doing. Hell, Summer might even have gotten an idea at what Salem actually WANTS to do with these Grimm Hybrids and what her broader goals are.

The ‘Part Threes’ of each arc (Volumes 3 and 6) have always delivered MAJOR revelations and lore-dumps. And Summer Rose providing insight into what Salem is actually after would certainly fit the bill.

Incidentally, meeting Summer like this and seeing what Salem has done to her would also give the heroines, and Ruby in particular, a reason to actually WANT to help Cinder and free her from Salem’s control. Even with all that Cinder has done, I can still see Ruby drawing the connection between the Hound, whatever grimplants Summer has and the Grimm-arm she’s seen on Cinder, and decide that NO ONE deserves that fate. Not even Cinder.

Now would this be an easy decision? HELL no. I can definitely imagine Jaune in particular being shocked that Ruby would even consider helping Cinder after all she’s done to them and getting into a heated argument with Ruby over it. An argument that probably wouldn’t get fully resolved before the group fights Cinder again in later volumes.

Finally, this route also gives an opportunity for both the heroines and us to learn more about the nature of Grimm in general through how the experiments have affected Summer. Obviously, Ruby would want to try and help Summer by removing her grimplants with her silver eyes, but it almost certainly wouldn’t be so easy. It could end up being a recurring issue in the volume; Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake trying to figure out a way to help Summer.

And funny enough, I actually have a feeling that Weiss is actually going to have a pivotal role to play here. For a while now, I’ve had a feeling that Weiss’s glyph semblance is actually the counterpart to Ruby’s Silver Eyes. A power that originates from the God of Darkness just as the Silver Eyes seem to have come from the God of Light. Namely, the fact that Weiss and other Schnees can summon Grimm is a pretty good indicator. If Volume 9 sees Weiss start to realize that her semblance is actually tied very closely to the true nature of the Grimm, I think her and Ruby could together be the key to truly undoing Grimm corruption.