#white knight arc

[miwhotep]

THE WHITE KNIGHT ARC AND ITS CONNECTIONS TO THE DARK KNIGHT MOVIE

Since it came up in my last analysis, I got the urge to rewatch the Dark Knight movie so it's finally my time to make an in-depth comparison between this and the White Knight arc which is heavily inspired by the movie.

I will list all similarities I could find by comparing the Yuumori characters to their Dark Knight movie counterparts. I will mention the differences when it is interesting, but I didn't want to turn this into a movie review, so The Dark Knight is still worth watching. However, even with that, warning: there will be spoilers regarding the movie.

(And since you've mentioned you would be interested, @diveintovortex , I ping you.)

But before I switch to the character comparison, here's these two covers where the manga actually referenced the movie with using one of its most popular quotes (said in a crucial moment by Harvey Dent).

"The night is the darkest just before the dawn. And the dawn is coming."

The three main characters of the arc and the Dark Knight movie roles they have: the Lord of Crime/Batman, Adam Whiteley/Harvey Dent and Milverton/Joker.

THE LORD OF CRIME / BATMAN

Let's talk about the similarities between the Lord of Crime (here, I will mean the role, so not just William, but all three Moriarties) and Batman.

First, they have some similar tools - the Lord of Crime shown to use something similar to Batman's equipment he can get onto buildings with, he also wears a coat.

Both of them hides their identity from the public and both of them have a well-respected public persona - the Moriarties are nobles and Batman is a wealthy businessman, Bruce Wayne. Both of them also donate a lot.

Both of them has an agent/informant in the police - for the Lord of Crime, it is Patterson, for Batman, it is James Gordon (and both Patterson and James Gordon wear glasses).

Both Batman and the Lord of Crime are someone the common people looked up to first and saw as their hope - then their views changed when Whiteley and Harvey Dent arrived to the scene.

Both Batman and the Lord of Crime fight for a good cause, to make a better society with means outside of the law (but unlike the LoC, Batman doesn't kill). Batman wants to clean Gotham from the mobs and the Lord of Crime England from the evil nobles. Gotham and England are also shown to have similar curses what makes the people on the low's life a hell - Gotham has corruption what makes the city unable to thrive and England has the class system.

They both got refered to with the name "Dark Knight. For Batman, it occurs at the end of the movie and for the Lord of Crime, it's the title of the next chapter (which, despite that the Lord of Crime doesn't appear in it, is all about the Lord of Crime in talks between Milverton and Ruskin and Sherlock and Mycroft).

Getting more into the plot-wise similarities - at the start of the White Knight arc, someone complains that kids nowadays play that they are the Lord of Crime and even injuring each other during that. At the start of the movie, people dressing up as Batman show up and fight criminals in even more violent ways (like using guns what Batman never used) which also lead to complaining from the ordinary people.

In the movie, Batman catches the Chinese mob leader and gives him to Harvey Dent, so through the information he can get from him, Dent can catch the other mob leaders - while in Yuumori, Albert gives information to Whiteley about the corruption in the House of Lords and their connections to the mafia. These informations can be used to Dent and Whiteley solve the problems.

As Harvey Dent becames the hero Gotham needs and seems to be able to solve the problems, Bruce Wayne thinks he can quit being Batman - just like the Moriarties think they don't need to continue with the Moriarty plan because Whiteley can bring the equality they wanted.

After Harvey Dent turns into the villain Two-face and murders people, then dies (but not by Batman's hands), Batman tooks the blame for his crimes, so Gotham can still have the hope what Dent gave to the people. The Lord of Crime similarly takes the blame for Whiteley's crime, so people can still believe in his equality movement.

This way, Batman becomes a villain in the eyes of the society - just like the Lord of Crime. And they both getting chased by the police at the end of the movie/arc led by their police agents, James Gordon and Patterson (in the anime) who both know the truth, but for the bigger good, they decided to play along.

ADAM WHITELEY / HARVEY DENT

Let's move onto Whiteley and Harvey Dent.

Both Whiteley and Harvey have blond hair, really idealistic personalities and a well-respected public position - Harvey is district attorney and Whiteley is a parliament member.

Harvey Dent fights for the same issue as Batman just like Whiteley fights for the same cause like the Lord of Crime, but they are with the means of the law. They also get threats for their activities.

Both of them called as White Knight by the people who view them as their heroes.

Whiteley uses his hunch (intuition regarding people) and puts his most trust into getting by with this, similarly Harvey Dent believes in his ability to make his chance and use a coin (even if it's a tricky one first) to make decisions. Both of these will lead to their ends.

Both of them survives an assassination in public, but Harvey Dent notices the gun in time, while Whiteley smells the smoke. They defeat their assassins by themselves.

For Harvey, his moral support is his girlfriend, Rachel while for Whiteley, his brother Sam. After they lose them, both of them fall apart and commit crimes.

They both end up using a not lawful method to achieve their goal - Harvey, despite being against Batman's ways, ends up siding with him and Whiteley tries to blackmail. Both of them fails.

Bruce Wayne supports Harvey Dent's activities with money and the Moriarties support Whiteley with information - and neither Harvey or Whiteley knows that they are supported by Batman or the Lord of Crime.

Both of them get betrayed by the police they put their trust into and lose their loved ones thanks to them what makes them commit crimes. (But since Harvey was more mentally unstable even before that, he actually starts murdering people while Whiteley only commits one murder).

In the anime, after Whiteley commits the murder, the blood on his face makes him similar to Harvey Dent after he became Two-face.

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Harvey and Whiteley died and remained as heroes in the people's eyes while Batman the Lord of Crime who lived and took the blame, became villains in the eye of the public.

MILVERTON / THE JOKER

The biggest deviations from the Dark Knight movie is between Milverton and Joker's character so I want to start with the two biggest differences: Milverton has a public persona outside his villain activities (but what he also use for those villain activities) while Joker doesn't. Joker also acts more impulsively and hates control while Milverton is a control freak. But beside these two, there are lot of similarities between them as well, even if sometimes with a twist.

The Milverton cover to the White Knight arc is really similar to one of the Dark Knight movie posters.

Milverton wearing a purple suit in the anime similarly to Joker (while the missing green from Joker's outfit is found at Ruskin). Both of them have overly messy hair.

They both use the media to scare/manipulate the public and kills those henchmen they have no more use of (but unlike Joker, Milverton has Ruskin as his constant partner in crime, also his bodyguards while the Joker is completely alone).

"Some men just wants to watch the world burn." Both Joker and Milverton's only goal is to cause as much suffer as they can. Neither of them can get negotiated with - Milverton doesn't blackmail for money just for torture and Joker even burns the money what he got as a payment.

Joker keeps telling to people how he ended up like that, how he got his scars, but the story is always different. We never learn the truth about his background. Milverton is the same - he gives some explanation why he is evil but that story exlains nothing and most likely a just a good-sounding excuse. We never learn how he turned into a villain either.

Joker wants to cause chaos what turns the civilians into monsters. Milverton's Jack the Ripper plan was the same and he also mentions that his media power is just to tempt people to sin.

After the mob is unable to catch Batman, Joker visits them and offers that he will deal with him, making them to hire him with showing his power by killing one of the mob leaders first. Similarly, Milverton kills the failed assassin to make the House of Lords to hire him, but in his case, to deal with Whiteley.

However, similarly to Joker's obsession with Batman's defeat, Milverton is also obsessed with defeating the Lord of Crime.

Joker looks down on the mob leaders like Milverton looks down on the House of Lords. Both thinks that they are the only worthy criminals because they don't do evil for personal gain.

Joker wants to make Batman to break his one rule (no killing) by murdering one of Batman's loved ones first. Milverton uses a similar method to tempt Whiteley to sin.

"I took Gotham's White Knight and brought him down to our level." Joker wanted and caused the good-hearted Harvey to fall to make him someone like him similarly to Milverton who also wanted and made Whiteley to sin.

****

It ended up to be quite a long post but that's just shows again how much the movie inspired the arc. I really love both and anyone who didn't watch The Dark Knight yet, I can only recommend!

[pilot-boi]

Thanks to @epic-arc I’ve been thinking about this all day, so here’s WALL-E White Knight I guess

[howlingday]

Jaune: Hey, Weiss, my team already has their hands full. Could Team RWBY take some of the extra work off our hands?

Weiss: Of course! I'll add it to my to-do list!

Jaune: Thanks! (Leaves)

Weiss: (Blushing)

Yang: "Sure, Jaune~! I'm not busy~! In fact, the only thing on my to-do list is you~!"

Ruby: (Wheezes)

[intooned]

YES! EXACTLY THIS!

Yeah, you don't just get away with treating someone like the gum beneath your boots then think you can have your way with them when they make something of themselves. Even after they literally brought you back to life, there wasn't a speck of gratitude you could spit at their feet? You don't get to be the loudest advocate for them being worthless, then hope to just cozy up 7 volumes later, with zero acknowledgement of your past treatment of them. The AU.DA.CI.TY! Pyrrha would never. And if Nora, after holding her bleeding team together, ever found out...

Full explanation here

[notmaplemable]

Artic Fox Weiss: You should choose me as your mate.

Wolf Ruby: No, pick me!

Jaune: I don't know.

Weiss: Have you considered this? *cute yip*

Jaune: Aww.

Ruby: But what about this! *puppy dog eyes*

Jaune: Awwww.

Weiss: So?

Ruby: Which one of us do you pick?

Jaune: ...

Jaune: ...

Jaune: ...I can't pick one.

[kiyomides]

The result of today's stream ~

They're so sweet qwq

[juanarc-thethird]

Nicholas: Mom, Dad, why don't you have photos of your wedding?

Weiss: We didn't had a proper wedding. We were still in the middle of the war. So in the middle of the base your aunt Blake's dad married us.

Jaune: *Sad face* He sentenced me to life, with no chance of parole.

Weiss: Shut up, you begged me to marry you.

Jaune: *Smiling* Its true, I did.

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Weiss: After being your girlfriend for over a year, I realize you’re an idiot.

Jaune: It took you a year, and I’m the idiot?

Weiss: Wait… *Processing*

Weiss: *Angry* …Asshole.

[obligatoryjauneblog]

Winter: Weiss, is it me or has your friend Arc... changed since returning?

Weiss: Oh? Oh.. yes, you se-

Winter: He's so much more... mature...

Willow: And handsome...

Whitley: And sexy.

Schnee women: ......

Whitley: D-did I say that out loud?

[rwac96]

Hoodie Thief (WhiteKnight)

Jaune: *wearing an orange shirt* "Dammit, where's my hoodie?!" *shifts his head left to right*

Ruby: "I think I saw Weiss with it last."

Jaune: "WEISS! Have you seen my hoodie?!"

*Weiss wore Jaune's hoodie, not looking up from looking over her grandfather's journals*

Weiss: *reading* "I threw it out."

Ruby: "...You look rather comfy."

Weiss: *still reading* "Hush!"

Jaune: *annoyed* "You 'threw out' the last five ones!"

[spahhzy]

Whiteknight kid: and the teacher said I could go to my art class but only after I finished my snack and I told her 'that wasn't fair!' cause I reall-hey!

The child voice startled one Weiss Schnee who, with an empty wine glass in hand, raised her head up from nap she was in.

Weiss: Hmm?

Whiteknight child: You're not listening again...

Weiss: No, I'm listening...art class, right?

Whiteknight kid: I think you should let me walk to school by myself... you've changed since dad d-

Weiss: I'm fine...

Rising up from her chair, Weiss, with a slight wobble in her step, grabbed her coat.

Weiss: It's too dangerous to walk alone besides it's good we spend this time together.

Whiteknight kid: You didn't even wake me up this morning... I had to wake you up. I could have been late.

Weiss: You know I'm not at my best in the morning sweetie, cut me some slack, okay? Even adults make mistakes...

Weiss: I'm going to miss you today...aren't you going to miss me?

Whiteknight kid: Are you gonna remember to pick me up?...

Weiss: Of course I am!

Weiss: I love you!

Whiteknight kid: ...Please don't be late.

...

Weiss sat in front of two graves as rain fell heavy. The raindrops were mixed in with the unending tears, snot, and blood red eyes.

Weiss: I'm sorry I was too late.

[miwhotep]

Another scene in White Knight what makes me keep wandering.

Milverton getting surprised when he sees Whiteley's blackmail documents.

And it is more interesting than it first seems if we analyze it.

It's clearly not the House of Lords' corruption what surprised him - he surely already knew about this, they were the best patrons of his newspaper after all, he used basically everything he could to "negotiate" with them - or better to phrase, blackmail them to maintain his power. Plus, Milverton most likely was involved in the corruption, one way or another - the House of Lords kept hiring him for cases like corrupting Whiteley.

No - what surprised Milverton here is Whiteley having documents like these. Since if Whiteley had these documents, why haven't he used it sooner instead of the desperate fighting with the House of Lords? Also, Milverton researched and analyzed Whiteley and knew that he was a good man - that's why he wanted to tempt him to sin so much - he also talks about that Whiteley is not the person who would publish documents like these, that Whiteley is not a person who blackmails. Whiteley keeping documents he could use for blackmail is not something what fit into the picture Milverton had about Whiteley.

Whiteley came to blackmail - and Milverton noted with a worried, calculating look "I see" - to himself. But it's not about the blackmail situation itself - since it didn't complicate his plan to eliminate Whiteley, he didn't need to change his plans - the method he chose to ruin Whiteley's reputation could neutralize this threat, as he explains it later. In this scene, Milverton realized that Whiteley coming to blackmail with these documents now means that he got them from someone else recently - that someone other than him kept documents what can be used for blackmail, and that someone was on the side of good since they gave them to Whiteley.

Here, he realizes that someone else, using similar methods to him joined the game.

However, when he analyzed the situation to Ruskin after the blackmail scene, he only focus on Whiteley and the crime he was about to commit, not on the mysterious new player. We don't see Milverton contemplate on this topic deeper... but it's in his mind, this can be what he vaguely refers to in Dark Knight when he talks about the Lord of Crime and Whiteley's possible relationship, that the Lord of Crime tried to save Whiteley from the House of Lords.

Here, he suspected that the Lord of Crime supported Whiteley - the Lord of Crime also got to know super fast that Whiteley committed murder - so at this point, he put the picture together.

But after how suprised he was in that scene, I wish we could see him contemplating about the situation afterwards, yet, we moved away from it so fast. He mentions in Dark Knight that he expected something to happen - then he starts talking about the Lord of Crime in a way what suggest that what he expected was some reaction from the Lord of Crime related to the Whiteley commit murder-situation. So in the scene where we see Milverton being surprised.... did he already have a faint guess that the mysterious new player is the Lord of Crime?

[pilot-boi]

He's watching her write the first draft of the law that will allow them to marry Pyrrha

Thank you to @cameron56357 for reminding me that this AU exists

[howlingday]

Meanwhile, in Jaune's bedroom...

Jaune: V-Velvet?! What- What are you doing?!

Velvet: You're about to go on a mission, right~? Leaving me all alone~.

Jaune: I- I can't help it! It's a team-building exercise. Mandatory.

Velvet: So I have to go two whole days without you~? All alone~? Then I guess I better refill my "Arc reserves"~.

Jaune: A-Arc reserves?

Velvet: I want to hold you, feel you, touch your manliness~. Please, help me feel like a woman~.

Jaune: Why is it when we're alone you only act like this? And we shouldn't, since I'm still a junior rank to you!

Velvet: Ranks have no place in the bedroom, Jaune~. Only you and me, a man and a woman~.

Jaune: M-Man... and... woman...

Pyrrha: What do you think you're doing, Velvet?

Velvet: Oh no~! It seems my Jaune and I have been caught by a scary-faced champion~.

Jaune: P-PYRRHA?!

Pyrrha: Even when I'm in the same room, you still act so bold.

Velvet: I'm always bold when I'm this close to Jaune~. SEE~? (Jumps into Jaune)

Jaune: AGH- Huh?

Weiss: (Behind Jaune, Stroking his hair) Don't hog him all to yourself, Velvet.

Jaune: W-Weiss?! When did you-

Weiss: Don't forget that this is a joint exercise, Jaune. That means you and I have plenty of time to tend to your needs~.

Jaune: What needs?!

Pyrrha: (Eye twitches) And now Weiss is acting like this?

Ruby: H-Hey! Don't leave me out of this~! (Tackles) Jaune and I have to share this bed, too~! Jaune is mine, too~!

Velvet: No, he's mine~!

Weiss: His needs must be treated first!

Jaune: (Smothered, Strangled) C-CAN'T... BREATHE...

Pyrrha: For the love of Salem... I'm his partner, remember?!

Velvet/Weiss/Ruby: BUT I'M HIS...!

Jaune: (Pants) Air!

Pyrrha: LIKE HELL YOU ARE! (Charges in) YOU'RE ALL WRONG! (Jumps) HE BELONGS TO (Dives into Jaune) MEEE~!

Jaune: WAITWAITWAITPYRRHANO

[epic-arc]

Me: Oh rwby just posted something silly on twitter

me:

[notmaplemable]

Jaune: Okay, which one of you did it?

Ruby: Did what?

Jaune: Put a paper called "Jaune's to-do list" on the school notice board?

Yang: Wasn't any of us.

Blake: What exactly is the problem there?

Jaune: The problem is that most of the girls at this school wrote their name on the list.

Jaune: Including all of you!

Weiss: Then you better get to work if you plan on finishing any time soon.