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anthurak · 1 year

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So I’ve been thinking about the whole theory of ‘Poly-STR’ that a lot of the fandom seems to have started latching onto recently, particularly with the revelation/confirmation that Summer and Raven were a LOT closer than anyone (aside from Rosebird shippers) thought.

And the funny thing is, I don’t think anyone really appreciates the fact that the theory of Summer, Taiyang and Raven having been in a polycule is actually built on an incredibly shaky foundation.

See, let’s consider for a moment where the theory of Poly-STR comes from; that this ship wasn’t created all on its own, but is simply the latest interpretation of a Summer-Tai-Raven dynamic that we’ve known about since Volume 2 when Yang explained her family backstory to Blake. That Raven was Tai’s first love and the two of them had Yang together, only for Raven to vanish without a trace. And sometime afterward, Tai got together with Summer and they had Ruby together. And sometime after that, Summer left on a mission and never came home.

Now if you’ve been with the fandom since Volume 2, you should know that there have been a number of different interpretations and developments of the dynamic between these three over the years; That Summer is Tai’s second love who stepped in after his first love Raven ran away. That there was some kind of outright love-triangle with Summer and Raven rivaling over Taiyang. And most recently, that Summer, Tai and Raven were in a polycule.

But here’s the wrinkle that I don’t think anyone is really appreciating:

This whole idea of a Summer-Tai-Raven dynamic that the fandom has been drawing all these ideas/ships from is based almost entirely off of YANG’s story that she told to Blake back in Volume 2.

And it is becoming very clear, especially after this latest episode, that Yang’s knowledge of her parents and family is in fact EXTREMELY flawed/limited. Even as early in the show as Yang’s very conversation with Blake in V2, we’ve known that Yang seemingly didn’t even know that Raven was her birth mother until AFTER Summer vanished. Then in Volume 3 we and Yang learn that Qrow has actually been in on-and-off contact with Raven for all these years and even has a pretty good idea where she is. Then when we learn about her bird transformation and portaling semblance, it becomes clear that, far from being ‘gone without a trace, never to return’, Raven has been around quite a bit and keeping an eye on Yang, and likely Ruby as well. And it’s pretty easy to guess that Qrow and Tai almost certainly KNEW about this, and DIDN’T tell Yang or Ruby.

Then in Volume 7, we and Ruby learn from Qrow that neither he, nor Tai, nor even Ozpin has any real idea what Summer’s final mission was even about. As Qrow puts it, this wasn’t an ‘Oz secret’, but a Summer secret.

Now at the end of Volume 9, we get a glimpse at just how little Ruby and Yang REALLY know. It turns out that Summer deliberately lied to nearly ALL of her friends and family about the true nature of her mysterious mission. And it turns out that Summer and Raven were FAR CLOSER than Yang or Ruby ever had any inkling of. With Summer apparently trusting Raven above all others with helping her on this secret mission, with Raven herself acting much friendlier with Summer than she has with ANYONE else we’ve seen.

Basically, I think all that we’ve seen calls pretty much EVERYTHING Yang told Blake about her family past during Volume 2 into question. You know, that very same conversation that the fandom has based much of, if not almost their entire perception of the Summer-Tai-Raven dynamic on?

Remember that RWBY has at this point a long and consistent history of both unreliable narrators and mentors/leaders/parents concealing VERY important information from their kids/our heroines. So should it really be so surprising there is a LOT that Ruby and Yang are wrong about concerning their parents and family?

It’s why I find it so interesting to see how some people seem so convinced about something like Poly-STR being a thing.

Like when I hear people say things like ‘Tai and Raven were definitely a couple’ or ‘Summer was definitely Tai’s second love’ or ‘Tai is definitely Ruby’s father’, I can’t help but wonder; ‘Are you sure? Are you really sure?’

Simply put, I don’t think much of the fandom really appreciates just how IN THE DARK we really are concerning the details of Team STRQ and what was REALLY going on before Ruby and Yang were old enough to fully remember.

#rwby #rwby rambling #rwby analysis #Team STRQ #Summer Rose #Raven Branwen #Taiyang Xiao Long #Qrow Branwen #Ruby Rose #Yang Xiao Long #unreliable narrators #rosebird #rosebird parents theory #why yang is an EXTREMELY unreliable narrator #not her fault considering she had to have been something like FIVE at the time #in which i MAY be pissing off the poly-str shippers...

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mythicamagic · 2 years

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I want to write a fanfic where most of the time I'm going to use Yang's point of view, do you have any tips for writing his character? I would also like to know what it takes to get Yang's attention? What do you think it takes to make him angry?

I would rec consuming lots of extra Yang content that you can find here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI4vB7iWRo0YcghZ5_fTM8WzaEaJLRj6u

this way you can get a feel for how he'd react to more scenarios. I especially rec listening to the 'Aria' videos as they are from Yang's POV towards some events in the original game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDwe4u0FCjY&list=PLI4vB7iWRo0YcghZ5_fTM8WzaEaJLRj6u&index=11

Essentially what it takes to get Yang's attention is a combination of many things - a strong will to survive, but also to hold onto some sense of their values - alongside a healthy sense of scepticism/being down to earth.

As we see here, Lili displays a will to survive.

Yang is intrigued by this because he expected nothing from a local church girl. However, Lili goes a step further and holds onto her values by not sleeping with Yang right away- and also caring for Elena during her withdrawals. On the flip side of this though, blind faith in the church alongside hypocritically upholding an image of 'goodness' like the Falzones pisses Yang off.

Therefore a healthy balance needs to be achieved. It's why this conversation in the Finale route is so important: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfL6Hu2aWho&list=PLI4vB7iWRo0YcghZ5_fTM8WzaEaJLRj6u&index=19

Lili displays a sense of down-to-earth rationality that Yang can understand about her own sense of faith. She's being realistic - which is something Yang responds to because of the harsh environment where he grew up. Faith like how zealous religious followers might preach are little more than dreams in his eyes. And 'Dreams' are just substanceless things drug addicts cling to. Yang lives in the here and now. He's motivated by pleasure not ideals.

But going back to what makes Yang angry - he can be extremely possessive once he likes someone. He became angry when Lan dressed Lili in a tight outfit without his say, and jealous when a man kissed Lili's hand, resulting in this scene:

Yang doesn't seem to understand his emotions very well though and is an extremely unreliable narrator. He contradicts himself and has little personal insight. He's extremely intelligent but when it comes to understanding himself, he's dumb as rocks. Therefore he's a very 'actions speak louder than words' kind of guy. He won't understand why he bought Lili the panda plushy, he just acted on a 'whim.' He won't know why he's 'bored' because Lili is spending all her time with a recuperating Elena but when asked if he wants to have sex with another woman, he'll decline and practically jump at the chance to have a date with Lili XD

I hope this rambling text made some sense lol whenever I write Yang I try to keep in mind what leads to a good end for Lili with Yang = being realistic/a healthy sceptic and good conversationalist

vs what leads to a bad end = Lili becomes enamoured with Yang and creates an idealised 'nice' version of him in her mind. Yang loses all respect for her and 'toys' with her until he kills her.

#yang piofiore #piofiore no banshou

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lily-lilou · 3 years

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Great thoughts on magic systems! I just got recommenef to visit your blog and it's wonderful :-D what do you think about how the human half of the continent is devoid of magic? Almost as if it has been drained of it's magical sources a la dark magic. Or perhaps the continent not having magic is it's natural state and xadia somehow became magic infused? So many questions.

ooooh hello, nice to meet you, Anon!!!

and thank you, for the ask and the compliment :D

Well, I do have some theories about why the human half of the continent is devoided of magic.

First of all, I think we should notice that it's not entirely devoided of magic. Some places are still filled with it even though they're located in the human part of the continent. But they're hidden, hard to find (the moon nexus, the grotto where Claudia found her glowing fireflies in s1 and probably other places we don't know about yet).

And with that I do have some theories. (under the cut 'cause it's a little long ^^')

1) it's because (like you said) of dark magic

Since dark magic destroys what it uses and leaves nothing behind (if not for corrupted remains, it seems) it could be the overuse, along the years, of magical ressources that slowly drained the land of it's physical/primal magic.

It would fit with the "hidden" part of it, if the places where we still find magic are still like that because no one found them or, if they were found, weren't completely drained of their magic...

I would add to this theory that, if it's in any part close from truth, it could also be a long-game move from Xadia. We know from the creators (don't remember where, but I'm pretty sure it was in one of the earliest AMA on Reddit) that Xadia is more characterized by "timelessness" and "perfection".

And since we also know that Archdragons and some type of elves have extra long lifespan (several thousands years for startouch and archdragons, several centuries for the rest, apparently), time would indeed mean nothing to them.

With that in mind: dividing the continent to let humans use all of their part's magic until there's none left? In almost one millenia (so not much for Xadia) = no more magic = no more dark magic = disappearance of that higly controversial practice. problem solved and it's not Xadia's fault. Because Xadia is perfection and killing innocents along the bad ones it's not perfection (yes, we know Xadia and it's view of innocence is higly controversial too, but that's another story, another theory... and we would need more informations about what truly happened 1000years ago, we only got unreliable narrators, until now...)

It would also fit with one of @beautifulterriblequeen hc, where Moonshadow elves are some kind of police for humans. After all, they're sent after "bad humans" when they do "bad deeds" to correct them, give an example. We also see how Sunfire elves have a lot of intel about humans (Kazi and KSL, etc.) while humans don't know much about Xadia. It's as if Xadia is acting like a (distant, cold and really condescendant) parent with an unruly child. (... we all remember Sol Regem)

In fact, when you see how Xadia is looking down on humans, I'm pretty sure they're totally convinced of their own magnanimity. because "there's nothing worth saving in humans" and yet they let them live.

But I'm digressing and drifting again... sorry...

so! second theory

2) It's about who live in the land.

I think I mentionned that in one of my theories, but here it is:

Magic (in my theory) is one part physical (primal magic) and another part... well, about "love", and "feelings" and everything related to the heart. It's forgiveness, empathy, all of that.

I'm really not sure this is close from truth, but I do like to think that while Xadians have an affinity for primal magic and so infuse the land with their presence, humans have one to the other part of magic. But it's so... invisible that it doesn't look like magic at all. And yet, we have an Ezran with strong empathy who can talk to animals... (however, I'm still up for @kotikala 's theory about Ezran having an afinity with the stars, hehehehe)

Anyway! with that theory, some things seems to fit: the human part of the land is almost devoided of magic because there has been almost no xadians here since the division. But we can see that the kingdoms have come to an alliance. Despite their differences, and all, they're united, they even created a temple for the summit of the pentarchy in Allhaven Hill (the place where we saw all the other kings and queens). Because their magic is just about this, (I guess?)

As for Xadia, it's filled with primal magic, sure, but when it's about the heart, about being together... I mean... In the 1st episode of s1, when we got those... screenshots of the first wars, on the elven part: we never saw tidebounds or earthblood elves. (maybe they''re not fighters, but somehow I highly doubt that...

nobody will convince me that these two can't fight. NOBODY!!!)

Moonshadow elves? Messed up to the last extent, so much that apparently (according to Devon in HBMP ep5), it can be confusing as if you're allowed to show your feelings or not... (and seriously who ghost a 15 years old girl without even giving her a chance? WHO? SHE'S A BABY AND SHE NEEDS HER DADS!!!!!!! ... sorry, sensitive subject...)

Skywings? Loners, it seems. even Ibis, who's supposed to be an ambasador between elves and dragons according to his descritpion on the official site. Aaand... I mean... The dragon queen is dying in s3 and except for him, they're absolutely NO ONE on the storm spire. Nobody seems to care?

hem! Dragonguards? 6 of them just let their king and most of all another baby down just to save their freaking lives.

Startouch? ahahah! Seems, from Callum's spellsbook, that it's extremely rare to see one of them, so they're kind of never here (And I won't even talk about Aaravos... and since we got that wonderful tweet from A.Ehasz I won't not talk about it:

I'm pretty sure Startouch are nothing but walking disasters...

I'm not sure if it's me coming with this or if I saw that in an interview, but I'm pretty sure A.Ehasz said once that Xadians aren't that close to each other (amongs different kind of elves, especially, I mean).

Okay, digressing again. All of this to say what?

That of course, nothing is as white and black as what I wrote above, I'm more talking about tendencies who would be influenced by magic. But Humans infuse... people with their magic, Xadians infuse the land, and they're both supposed to work together because magic is a whole thing.

That's why magic created both. (see that like some kind of yin and yang?)

and finally my 3rd theory. The most stupid but somehow my favorite:

3) it's Aaravos fault.

No reason, just like that.

Because he plans. Because he knows! Because he gives me a "mad scientist" vibe. The "why not" more than the "why" kind of mad scientist(still sure he has a hand in the creation of dark magic).... you know?

did he do it without anyone noticing? Or did he convinced Luna Tenebris, 1000years ago, after the fall of Sol Regem and Elarion, to mess up with magic and remove it from the human part of the land, presenting it as a faster way to erease dark magic but in fact planning something sinister?

I don't know.

In fact I don't know if any of these theories are right, but they're fun. I wonder if you have another, however ^^

Thank you again for asking, have a really nice day, Anon :D

#ooooh #a wild ask appeared #hehehehe #tdp theories #about magic #dark magic #and all #ask #... what is my tag for asks anyway?#Oo

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gingersnapwolves · 3 years

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it’s two AM and I have insomnia, so while I’m on the topic of writing posts that generate too much meta, let me drop this hot take: I do not get fandom’s love of Nie Mingjue.

First disclaimer: as always, stan and let stan, ship and let ship, have a shrine to Nie Mingjue in your bedroom, I don’t judge. This is my personal opinion only.

Second disclaimer: no, I have not seen Fatal Journey. I’m of the opinion that one should not have to watch all the extraneous material a show produces in order to keep up with fandom. Fatal Journey looks depressing and I genuinely have no interest in watching it.

So, here we go. Nie Mingjue. Why do people like this guy?

His main positive qualities seem to be that he’s strong and powerful and has a badass sword. That, um. That’s pretty much it as far as I can see.

He’s hot-tempered and impulsive. He nearly executes Xue Yang the minute he meets him. The whole confrontation with Meng Yao is a little tricky to interpret because of the unreliable narrator thing; we see one thing when it initially happens and then something slightly different when we’re seeing NMJ’s memories later. But either way, he exiles MY from The Unclean Realm after giving MY only the barest chance to explain himself (though, uh, you weren’t doing a great job there, MY, I’ll go to my grave still laughing at ‘Xue Yang did it’) with the implication that if MY hadn’t just saved his life, he would have executed him. Which, given that MY had obviously been his loyal assistant for years, is one hell of a turnaround.

We’re told that he’s a great general and strategist, but all we’re showed is that he tries to sneak into Nightless City and assassinate WRH, a plan that fails on absolutely every level and would have ended in him getting killed if MY hadn’t been there.

And then of course we get into the real hot potato, which is his treatment of the Wen civilians. Like. Dude was downright bloodthirsty about this. He absolutely wants a bunch of non-cultivators who almost definitely had nothing to do with WRH’s actions executed for the crime of existing while related to WRH. Not only does he speak in favor of their harsh treatment, he chastises LXC (gently) and JC (not so gently) for trying to speak against it. He implies that not wanting these people dead is weak and/or foolish. I can’t get over this! I’m not saying it wasn’t historically accurate or whatever, but I just find him extremely unlikable!

We’re obviously told that Nie Huaisang loved his brother very much but we almost never see them interacting. The biggest interactions they have are towards the very beginning, where NHS is scolded (reasonably) for goofing off and not going straight back to Qinghe, and then where NHS tries to ask about MY being exiled and NMJ shuts him down (less reasonably). (Again: have not seen Fatal Journey, do not believe it should be necessary.)

The only scene in the entire show where I found him even vaguely likable was in the flashback where he shuts down the people bullying Meng Yao. But even that is a demonstration of his impulsivity and short-sightedness, even as it was badass and awesome. Because that did nothing to actually help Meng Yao. If anything, it only made things worse because it made the other people in Qinghe resent him even more. Plus it most likely left Meng Yao with lingering questions over whether or not NMJ actually promoted him on merit, or whether he was just making a point to a bunch of assholes.

The reason I’m thinking about this is because I keep going back to that idea for a Mingli fic, and while I love the idea of the One Braincell Trio enacting Parent Trap level shenanigans, I’m less enamored of what the results of those shenanigans would be. Like, does NMJ really deserve someone like JYL, who is an actual goddess?

tl;dr I do not see NMJ’s appeal, can someone explain to me why so many people like this guy?

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nyahuaisang · 5 years

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Sangcheng Analysis

I'm gonna talk about why sangcheng is a great ship that, if written right, would be just as perfect as wangxian. To do this I've come up with a system to determine whether a ship is good or not.

Chemistry: This is whether their relationship has potential or not. Would these two be able to grow to like each other? Could a connection be made? Basically, is something there?

ex. jin ling and jiang cheng would never have chemistry because they see one another as family

Circumstance: This is whether the lives they live and how they exist in the world of the story they're in affects their relationship or not. Would their actions cause a ripple in their relationship? Would their responsibilities cause them to fall out? Are there people that they care for more that unless explained away, would override ship person a's love for ship person b?

e.x. jiang cheng would never fall in love with jin guangyao because he put jin ling in danger; it's highly unlikely for mingjue to start something with wen qing if his relationship with xichen is still stable because he clearly cares for xichen in canon.

Dynamic: This is whether their roles and position in the story compliments each other or not. Are they foils to one another? Do they work well together? Do they have differing opinions and beliefs?

e.x. while definitely having chemistry of some sort and the circumstances do make them a compelling ship, their extremely differing beliefs and priorities make jfm/yzy a very toxic pairing

Of course these often overlaps one another but I think this is the best way to organize everything and there definitely are exceptions to them, like rarepairs, crackships, aus, ships purely for angst, etc..etc...and people enjoy them because they lack one or more of these points but I brought these points up in particular because sangcheng has high levels of all of them.

Chemistry

Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang has been friends since their time at Gusu at age 15 and possibly even before that as they're already good friends by the time they're at Gusu and Huaisang knows that JC and WWX are as close as brothers, something the normal Nie sect disciples didn't seem to know. In fact, Huaisang is the only one to be as close as he is to the Jiang bros. This could be chalked off as he's the only other sect heir their age who isn't an ass to their sister but I don't see either wwx or jc as someone who would reject someone's friendship because of their status(JC only does this when it actually jeopardizes his sect/status).

Huaisang also fits quite well into JC's list of marriage partner requirements.

Gentle Beauty: Self explanatory

Obedient: Huaisang's very passive and tends to listen to what people tells him unless he absolutely doesn't want to or can't accept it. He's obedient but he's not conforming nor a slave to people's orders. E.x. him running into the demon eating cave(or whatever) when WWX told everyone told to; he follows the Gusu Lan rules to an extent, etc etc..

Economical: Despite seemingly being spoiled and loves trinkets, Huaisang most likely would try to get things for a good price if he were to handle the finances himself. Despite it falling in reputation somewhat, he still kept the Nie Sect as one of the top 4 even after 13 years and if he sometimes spend a lot that's only because he's....

From a good family: The Nie Sect is one of the 4 most prominent sects so Huaisang grew up being spoiled often(Xichen and JGY tells Mingjue to stop spoiling him) and while he's not to the point of spending money on expensive items all the times, he'd probably still aware that he has a big budget and can afford to spend a lot sometimes.

Cultivation should not be too high: Self explanatory

Personality not too strong: Huaisang is not as aggressive as his brother nor as loud/outspoken as WWX. He's quite mellow and down-to earth most of the time

Doesn't talk too much: Huaisang prefers letting others talk and chiming in when he sees fit, such as during Gusu arc and 2nd siege.

Isn't too loud: pretty much self explanatory

Doesn't spend too much money: look at Economical. While Huaisang does spend a lit on trinkets, his net worth and family status should be taken into consideration.

Good to Jin Ling: This is the most controversial part but I will explain why this is not a problem in the next part.

They both know exactly what the other has been through as they've gone through the same lost and experience. They both lost a sibling to a person they also considered a sibling and was left behind all by themselves in the position of their sect's throne at a young age. Understanding the pain the other person went through plays a great part in how much chemistry a relationship will have because the pairing knows each other better and knows exactly what the other needs in their time of grief.

Circumstance

The biggest circumstantial problem is undoubtedly how much danger Jin Ling got into. However, I believe none of those instances were due to Huaisang. Jin Ling got into the 2nd siege and Guanyin Temple himself, outside of Huaisang's control. JGY took Jin Ling hostage of his own volition. It makes absolutely no sense story wise for Huaisang to have led Jin Ling to the Man Eating Castle or Yi City because Wangxian were already heading there. Huaisang knows that the arm would led them to these locations, that's why he planted it for wangxian to find. And if he didn't know the other parts would be in these locations, he wouldn't have known to lead Jin Ling there in the first place.

And in all these instances, having Jin Ling being in these places doesn't benefit Huaisang in anyway. Wangxian was already heading to these places and all Jin Ling and the Juniors did was add more lives for Wangxian to worry about. If the kids hadn't been well behaved and listened to WWX, it might've led to WWX slipping up and dying to Xue Yang or Song Lan to protect them and pushing Huaisang back to square 1. There's also no proof other then WWX's suspicions. Thr hunter that led the kids to Yi City was nondescript. WWX may be smart but he is not god. He doesn't know everything and is an unreliable narrator at times.

On the other hand, there are a lot of circumstantial positives for SangCheng. They're both sect heirs and they both did just as terrible actions as the other. Huaisang indirectly caused the death of the Mo family(not mxy though, we have no proof of that either and I have my reasons as to why I believe he didnt push him into it) and caused Xichen some trauma and Jiang Cheng led a siege on what he knows is not just farmers and elders but also a TODDLER. One's actions would not cause the other to reject them because that would be pure hypocriticism.

Dynamic

Sangcheng has one of the best dynamics I've ever seen. They're a perfect example of the Power Couple. Their way of life compliments each other and one's flaws are made up for by the other. Jiang Cheng's leadership-ness and domineering characteristic gives Huaisang a voice to speak out with. He may have hid more then he showed but Huaisang is not someone who takes center stage to speak his thoughts, he's very much an introvert who prefers to talk when other people starts the conversation. In turn, Huaisang's mellow, calm and collectedness would reign Jiang Cheng in should he get too hot headed. Huaisang would know when and how to calm Jiang Cheng since he had Mingjue as a brother and especially after his qi deviation, Huaisang would know when to put his foot down.

Them knowing what each other went through also does wonders for ther dynamic because they're the two characters in the series who knows each other the most at their deepest, darkest, most vulnerable cores. Jiang Cheng would know why Huaisang did all he did as he knows the pain of losing a sibling and vice versa.

Conclusion

As childhood friends and fellow sect leaders, Sangcheng would have plenty of chances to grow closer and it's heighten by how much Huaisang fits Jiang Cheng's ideals. They both did just as terrible shit as each other so they wouldn't judge each other and it's highly unlikely Huaisang had anything to do with the bs Jin Ling got into. Their strengths make up for each other's flaws and they know firsthand what the other went through and how they feel. Sangcheng is honestly one of the best ships, on par with Wangxian and I hope this meta gives a better insight and open some people's eyes to it (*´ω｀)

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tonotbelionized · 5 years

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Yang’s Mental Health: You Left Us! Why?

Yang Xiao Long, our sunny little dragon, is a character that has a lot of emphasis on her character being that there’s more to her than meets the eye. While she may seem like a carefree, badass boxer with a love for adventure and the unpredictability of it, we as the audience are shown quite early on that she does deal with a lot more beneath the surface.

Even before her amputation and later development of PTSD, we are shown that Yang actually isn’t as happy all the time as she appears to be, and is shown to be deeply affected by the absence of her biological mother; Raven. We’re given a sense that she has trouble actually talking about her problems, even with her sister Ruby or her friends.

So let’s see how deep into her psyche her problems lie, and how the show goes about dealing with these issues that threaten that damper out her fire.

Yang’s Abandonment & Trust Issues

Abandonment and difficulty in trusting people go hand in hand with Yang. It’s not that she has difficulty in growing bonds with people, as we see that she’s open and friendly even to people that she’s never met before, an offset to Blake who’s issues are more trusting people in general.

However, just because Yang can still make bonds with people easily doesn’t mean she expects them to last. It’s explicitly shown in her song regarding her feelings of Blake leaving, All That Matters. She never thought that Blake would always stay with her, because eventually everyone does leave, and the important part of that song is that Yang never asked Blake to commit because of this fear.

Even when she braced herself to what she believed to be an eventuality (everyone she loves leaves her), Yang admits in the song that she never would’ve expected Blake to leave her like she did. When Yang was at her lowest, Blake left without saying a word, and that just cuts her deeper because she was never told why Blake left. It’s the exact same as Raven not giving her a reason for leaving either in Yang’s mind, and to handle with that loss in friendship, Yang falls back on old habits. She clearly shows anger to mask the fact that she’s feeling lost and upset, only letting herself grieve when Ruby’s left the room.

Being abandoned at birth by Raven, and later losing her maternal replacement Summer, at such a young age meant that Yang would have had to rationalise this loss in her own way. Her behaviour both in her later life and from the tidbits we’re given in her conversations with Taiyang can help us see how Yang actually coped with it.

Given that Ruby was old enough to have solid memories of her mother, which doesn’t happen until the child is around five years old, so Yang would’ve been seven at the earliest with Summer’s death. With a child at that age, there are many different ways that they would process the loss, but it would only in limited ways because they are still trying to understand the concept of death overall. The ones that I think apply to Yang the most are:

May conceal their loss

Being irritable, having more tantrums, or developing aggressive behaviour

Looking for the person who’s died

With concealing her loss, we can see Yang doing that exact thing in the actual show. She rarely talks about Raven until she talks to Blake in Volume 2, and it’s implied in her annoyance at actually talking about her with Taiyang in Volume 4 that they weren’t really allowed to talk about this loss before. It’s even worse with Summer Rose, as Yang only talks about her when talking to Blake and in passing comment with Weiss in Volume 5, but both their losses still affect her.but the fact that Blake left so soon and without even saying a word while Yang was at her lowest meant that she

Her aggressive behaviour is shown even before she developed PTSD. While she’s pretty laid back while fighting, she does quickly jump to violence with her fight in Junior’s bar in her trailer, and that she is quickly prone to angry outbursts at the slightest annoyance. It’s so much part of her character that Cinder takes advantage of it to pit her against Mercury, her previous outbursts with Neon meaning that it’s not hard for the people watching to assume Yang is that violent.

While Raven didn’t die, her absence is basically the same thing because she isn’t there, and Yang had never seen her until her time in Beacon. Her desire to look for her biological mother pushed Yang to take Ruby and put her in danger when they are attacked by Grimm, and Yang acknowledges herself that her push and want to find Raven almost got her and her little sister killed. This is the only one that Yang seems to have moved on by herself, as she never allows her mission for answers control her life or put people she loves in danger again.

While it’s not Taiyang’s fault that he fell into a deep depression after that, we do have to acknowledge that he didn’t help Yang through this loss emotionally. Without someone to help her rationalise and develop healthy coping mechanisms to handle her negative emotions, Yang has been left to deal with these problems alone, and that’s led to her doing so the only way she knows how; by simply ignoring them or letting them fester as anger. It’s the same problem I’ve highlighted in my Mentality of Adam post, a child that isn’t given guidance is at danger of becoming lost.

Yang’s PTSD

Before we go into depth about Yang’s PTSD, I would like to mention that there is a difference in PTSD and C-PTSD, or Complex Post-Traumatic Disorder, because that’s the main reason why I don’t connect with some of Yang’s struggles. We both have different forms of this disorder.

The main difference that has to be said is that PTSD is from a singular moment of trauma, like a natural disaster or a single moment of violence. In Yang’s case, her PTSD is caused by her dismemberment by Adam, a singular moment of trauma that continues to haunt her long after the incident has happened. C-PTSD is caused by ongoing cases of extreme violence and stress, such as childhood abuse, leading to victims experiencing particularly intense symptoms.

Moving on, PTSD is one of the central obstacles that Yang has to learn to live with, given that she was very much pushed to the background in terms of development compared to the rest of Team RWBY, at least until her fight with Mercury. At the beginning, we are clearly shown that Yang suffering from multiple symptoms of the disorder; nightmares, flashbacks that trigger panic attacks, insomnia, easily irritable and angered, temporary detachment from Ruby after she lost her arm.

This aspect of her mental state is given a lot of screen time, and Yang is never shown to just get over her fears. Even after trying on her new arm and getting back some of her old self confidence, Yang still shows that she has problems to deal with because of this disorder. She is easily angered whereas before, she could have be in high tense situations without losing her cool that much, especially in Weiss and Blake’s argument in Volume 1 and her talk with Blake in Volume 2. Now, Yang is shown to even snap at her friends when she’s stressed, and her hand shakes as a visual medium to show when she’s starting to get into highly stressful situations.

This even carries on into Volume 6. Her behaviour deteriorates not just because of her PTSD, but also because of the Apathy in the farm, and we see that she still suffers from flashbacks of Adam. When Blake tries to comfort Yang and instead accidentally oversteps her boundaries, Yang is easily offended and brushes Blake off, still showing that easily irritable side that hasn’t quite been dealt with.

When she finally faces against Adam, she’s obviously in a better space mentally than she was in the beginning of her arc, but that doesn’t mean that her PTSD has now been fixed because you can never fix a mental disorder, you can only manage it. And it shows in their fight. When Adam brings up what he did to her in Beacon, Yang falters, she’s clearly stressed from her hand shaking, but now she’s been taught how to deal with that fear without losing her temper or by buckling under the pressure. As much as I personally deride the hand holding scene with Blake, I will give it credit in that the grounding effect it would have on Yang would help her control that overwhelming sensation PTSD can bring out.

I continue to hold hope that the writers won’t know push it under the rug just because Adam is dead, given that they’ve treated Yang’s arm as a good replacement without showing how much having a prosthetic affects her, not only mentally but physically as well. PTSD and amputation are not interchangeable.

Yang as an Unreliable Narrator

There are only a few ways to learn of a character’s backstory and childhood; we either see enough ourselves to put the pieces together, or the character tells someone, and by proxy the audience. This is the same for Yang. While we have only one flashback to show how Yang’s drive to find Raven put her and Ruby in danger, we mostly get the information from Yang herself, but that puts up a serious problem.

Because of the emotional impact the events had on her, Yang has become an unreliable narrator. That’s not to say that she’s completely lying, it’s obvious that Taiyang was severely depressed after losing Summer and Raven, but trauma and mental illness can mean that a person recalls their past in a somewhat tinted way. Not quite completely incorrect, but morphed slightly from the truth.

Yang felt completely alone but we know that Qrow and Taiyang were there for her in terms of helping to raise Ruby and meet Yang’s physical needs, but she has clearly felt that she couldn’t rely on the grown ups in her life for emotional support. Because of this, she has gone to simply burying her feelings on the subject and being there emotionally for Ruby whenever she needed it. A hint at how skewered her perception is, or perhaps the fault of the writers, is what she said to Weiss during their talk.

“My mom left me. Ruby’s mom left too. Tai was always busy with school and Ruby couldn’t even talk yet. I had to pick up the pieces. I had to keep things together. Alone.”

A small mention to the Ruby line. It might be intentional, or a result of the writers keeping the timeline very vague and as such impacting the story, but Ruby would’ve been talking if she was old enough to remember what Summer Rose looked like in that amount of detail. Children start talking when they’re eighteen to twenty-four months old, and Ruby would’ve been older than that.

The main thing with this quote is how Yang deals with Summer Rose’s death. She puts it in the same frame of mind as Raven leaving, despite the fact that Summer didn’t willingly choose to die. It paints Yang with a severely impacted mental state that she can’t emotionally distinguish between someone willingly abandoning her and someone dying on a mission. As a result, we can’t distinguish enough accurately what actually happened or what is being recalled through Yang’s view.

What she says also goes against what canon established beforehand. We were told that Taiyang was overprotective by Ruby’s shared empathy over Penny’s father being overprotective to her, we know that the two girls have a good relationship with their father through their interactions and their reaction to Tai sending Zwei through the mail. Not only that, but Tai was competent in raising the girls enough that Yang had to wait until he left the house before she could go looking for Raven.

These contradictory statements on Taiyang just shows that Yang is not at a good place emotionally to give the audience a clear picture of what her childhood and her father really were like, and that’s not Yang’s fault. As I said before, she was never taught how to handle these negative emotions properly because Taiyang was struggling with his depression, and because of this tragedy, she’s internalised the grief as well as she could. Unfortunately for Yang, this trauma has morphed her personality but her memories too.

Edit: Also another point that I just had to add on, memory in and of itself is extremely unreliable. Most often we remember how we felt with trauma, not exactly what happened, and that leads to a biased perception on a series of events.

That’s the basis for Yang and her mental state, and given that the main source of her PTSD has been dealt with, we can hopefully see a proper resolution with her dealing with these negative coping mechanisms and become more open about her feelings with her friends.

Thanks for reading guys, see you all later!

#rwby #crtq #yang xiao long #post: mine #I really really love yang as shown on my tier list so #I had to give my baby dragon some insight #especially with volume 7 incoming and we hopefully see her recover more #also I hope they remember that her arm is not just a cool upgrade and should actually impact on her life outside of her ptsd like please

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kob131 · 5 years

Text

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZiQAq_nf1s

“Could have expanded on the ideas surrounding the character but you just couldn’t do that, Rooster Teeth?”-

Look man, I get getting angry about a character you like being killed off-

But for fuck’s sake, keep the creators out of your bullshit.

0:24 See the thing is-

If you take a look at numerous things surrounding the show and how the show actually treats them: Expectations are almost completely out of the CRWBY’s hands.

This isn’t like what happened with The Last Jedi were the creators purposefully built up what their predecessor did only to completely dash them-We had people making theories about and treating the shattered moon as this huge plot point when no one makes any mention of it and it’s basically there to look cool. And then when the unimportant background object was given non-earth shattering reveal, people bitched at the CRWBY. So unless you can show beyond a shadow of doubt they did this with Adam (which you’ve failed to do twice before): All I’m going to do is throw you in the same bin as the Yang fans who insist that she has no flaws.

1:13 Wanna note here this spider tank is smaller and weaker looking than the Paladin from Volume 2 (the same one that Team RWBY had troubles with until Yang punched it out full force with her Semblance). Looking being the operative word because assumption is the same thing Eruption here is basing his argument on so if he tries to bring up the Paladin being outclassed later on then the Spider Tank is logically even more outclassed.

Also of note:

The Spider Tank does not have Aura.

Adam absorbs a full three second blast.

And Adam is not shown taking a hit once.

These are all important factors.

1:23 Same expectation for Yang surprisingly, to the point she was considered a Mary Sue pre Volume 2, Episode 10. There we established Yang isn’t as powerful as she seems due to her anger, recklessness and lack of finesse in her fighting style. This shows that weaknesses in these characters can be established after their establishing moments since we had never seen Yang faced with a situation like this before. Again, keep this in mind.

1:53 No actually. Two of three things you stated are not established here. Adam is not established as a leader due to this being a two man operation PRECISELY because it’s a two man operation. Because of this, Adam is not shown leading anyone and in fact is portrayed as Blake’s equal as he almost never gives her orders. Nor is he presented as caring about the WF as he never expressly shows concern or dedication to the cause. He only seems to care about blowing up a train full of humans.

If anything, he is established a powerful combatant with a bloodlust against humans. That’s all.

3:02 *holds up a finger*

Unreliable Narrator.

It’s a trope where the person giving the information isn’t exactly reliable and thus the information isn’t that good. Reasons can range from lies to insanity to personal bias. Personal bias, like say an abuse survivor glorifying their abuser because of mental damage.

In order for me to take Blake’s words as you do at face value, you have to prove this is inconsistent behavior for an abuse survivor.

Not to mention the fact that you ignore an important bit of context: Adam approved of and helped carry out a plan to destroy not just Beacon but Vale as well. Both of which contain a fair number of Fanaus. He makes no attempt to warn Fanaus ahead of time nor does he seem to care about them.

4:40 yes and I’m sure Adolf wouldn’t want to waste German soldiers on a Jewish cause.

The issue here is that you focus on the word ‘cause’ whereas the narrative could be focused on the word ‘human’. A racist psychopath wouldn’t waste time and resources helping someone who they are racist against.

4:48... And you showcase a clip where Adam clarifies ‘human’, meaning it barely has anything to do with leadership and everything to do with racism. … Why?

5:08 Once again, the same traits can apply to a racist psychopath sending people to die for his own selfish reason rather than some leader. You have not shown anything to disprove the first interpretation (which is the one you arguing against as you think his character was changed.)

5:25 Really? It didn’t become shaky when Blake contradicted the idea of Adam being someone reasonable when she expressed concern and FEAR over the fact that Yang acted slightly like Adam? It didn’t become shaky when you never proved Adam being a leader and only proved him being racist? It didn’t become shaky upon reflecting on all this as the only reason you think Adam is a leader is because of Blake, someone who has reason to be an unreliable narrator especially with her actions in Volume 3?

I think we’ve been riding on a completely different set of trails this whole time.

5:33 >Not romantic >”my mentor” >Same show with Arkos in it

Yeah, either show me proof it's platonic or this was a case of Schrodinger's Relationship where it can be both things at the same time due to a lack of information, only to be defined when given solid proof.

5:45 Once again, I refer to Adolf Hitler who acted like his actions were a revolution himself. And I don't refer to Adolf for no reason, Adam display all the classical examples of a racist sociopath like Hitler did. Hell, he was one Mein Kampf quote away from being a more blatant Nazi Expy than the Daleks.

7:05 Except that Yang’s power level was cemented before this with the destruction of the Paladin, a feat FAR greater than Adams previous feat, only to be defeated by someone who never showed that level of strength (Neo) by acting around her and taking advantage of Yang’s weaknesses. This cements a very simple idea: Power is not everything. Yang was shown to be more powerful than Neo but Neo was far more skilled and was able to work around Yang’s Semblance and anger issues. Not just that, but Adam is once again NEVER shown to take a hit from Blake OR Yang in this whole fight so his DURABILITY is undefined.

So you’re basically applying DBZ logic to something more like JoJo in nature. Not really anyone’s fault here but yours.

8:05 Except not really.

Blake said Adam was misguided. Illa acts misguided.

Blake said Adam fell off the slipperly slope. Illa acts her descent.

Blake said Adam was these things. Illa IS these things.

This like saying Raven’s character was retconned because Taiyang described her differently, never mind how Taiyang has an inherent bias for Raven/would have a reason to lie.

Illa exists because she is what you deluded Adam was. Once again, no one’s fault but your own.

8:10 And you know...Illa doesn’t contradict a single thing stated about her unlike Adam who contradicted EVERYTHING stated about him...by Blake...his abuse victim...

You uh, wanna rethink your arguments now? Cuz you’re sounding less like someone who knows what they’re talking about and more like a RWDE poster.

8:40 You know, aside from the fact that Sienna denied him what he wanted and stood in his way...like Blake...a Fanaus...and former partner/lover.

Wow those arguments just keep getting more and more flimsy. Wonder if we’ll get to the point where I can just quote the show to disprove you.

9:01 Like say, trying to kill the Runaway Blake or the Belladonnas or, I dunno, THE HUNDREDS OF FANAUS THAT LIVED IN VALE/BEACON WHO HELPED TRY TO KILL WITHOUT REMORSE?

See how each of Adam’s actions makes him look more and more self centered, almost as though he’s breaking down and losing the mask he’s portrayed himself as?

9:45 Wrong.

Here’s where we get to the fundamental misunderstanding you have about Adam.

Why does he want to hurt humans? Because they hurt him.

Why does he want to hurt Blake? Because she hurt him.

Why does Adam work for the WF? Because it benefits him.

Why does Adam believe in Fanaus Supremacy? Because it benefits him.

Adam’s character never changed. It never made this dramatic shift you keep hinting at. He was always this way. All his actions have the common thread of benefitting himself whereas the character you think he is would have some kind of self sacrifice for his people.

But that’s only half the story. I’ll get to the other half when you do.

10:17 *raises eyebrow*

… Do I even need to bring up things like the KKK and the Nazis, who were both groups of people in VASTLY greater numbers that were manipulated and used by manipulative people without any real rational reason because people are not rational? Hell, want a better example? BLM is an organization of people who do terrible things because they feel oppressed, nevermind how that doesn’t excuse their actions nor that their leaders care more about their own selfish desires than anything meaningful.

Your argument doesn’t work, history disagrees with you.

10:26 So are all known dictators and tyrants: That doesn’t mean Adam was a misguided revolutionary.

10:43 No it just didn’t exist. He was never the character you made him out to be, your disappointment is the result of nothing more than buying into an illusion. And I can’t blame anyone for that but the person who willingly did that. I don’t care how sad you are: You fail because of your own flaws.

10:56 No, nobody but Adam stans felt that way. No one said that but people who refused to accept the idea that Adam wasn’t what they thought he was. It's the same damn bullshit in regards to Raven: It’s not the writers fault you hyped yourself for something they contradicted. If you want an example of hyping up a character aspect then abandoning it: Look at how cinder was portrayed in Volume 4 and how the sympathetic angle was abandoned in Volume 5 onward. THAT is the fault of the writers. Not this.

11:31 Except-

A. Adam was never in it for anyone but himself as his previous actions with Vale/Beacon can attest.

And B. Blake directly says that the change was only temporary and we can see that such extremity only leads to creating the opposite. Adam was created as the result of Jacques’ opportunistic and psychopathic actions, making Adam opportunistic and psychopathic. And we can see this in our world: white supremacy as a whole was on it’s last legs a few years ago and it was on the verge of becoming as arachic and out dated as monarchies and slavery. But when extremists yelling about how awful white people are as a whole and being violent extremists rose up, white supremacy resurged. Why? Because those hurt by the first group became extremist themselves due to how people gravitate between extremes. And the first group only existed because of the older form of the second group being douchebags in the past.

Adam works not as a revolutionary but as a cautionary tale of how self sustaining this cycle of hate is. Eventually, Adam would have caused Fanaus racism to spike right back up and give those racists a strawman to point to, just like what happened at our doorstep.

12:57 No, Sienna is portrayed as opportunistic and power hungry and Adam is giving a sadistic smile at the praise. There is no ambiguity here: Ghira is and was portrayed as in the right and Adam/Sienna were portrayed as and are in the wrong. You’re ignoring context. AGAIN.

13:47 Says the guy whose trying to discredit everything Adam related post Volume 2 and would have every reason to willfully misrepsent the scene to support his argument, nevermind how he hasn’t proven a damn thing.

14:29 And just because you say it doesn’t make it so, especially considering a loot of people found Adam interesting again after this short AND this finale.

15:00 No, he’s always been 100% for himself. It’s just that Blake is an easier and more recent target than humans.

15:53 And yet he overcomes her, like the Fall Of Beacon. Forgot that part eh?

16:04 Nope.

The development with Yang was never her strength but rather her tactics. Thing is, we never see Adam use tactics in a fight. We never see him think or strategize in fights. And his style reflects someone who fights with power alone. Meanwhile, Yang has developed from Volume 3 with her training because Taiyang taught her that she can’t just power through everything in sight and has to THINK her way around thing. This being demonstrated by tripping up Taiyang, prioritizing the long ranged bandits in her Volumee 5 fight, letting go of her arm in the Haven fight and here by not feeding Adam’s Semblance and instead waiting for an opening to strike him down and disarm him (you know, like Neo did in Volume 2.)

The show directly said this, you have no excuse Eruption Fang.

16:30 No you just overhyped the boss and made it look tougher than they are. you basically hyped the Minotaur from SMT4 as Matador from SMT3, despite the latter being tougher than the former.

17:01 ADAM. IS NOT. THE FANAUS.

BLAKE is the representative of the Fanaus.

Just as Jacques isn’t the representative of the humans, WEISS is.

Stop trying to make Adam look like the only Fanaus involved in the conflict.

And even THEN: Adam IS Morally grey. Just not the ‘misguided revolutionary’ you made him out to be.

Remember when I said that Adam is selfish being only half the story? Well, Adam is selfish BECAUSE of his brand. Why? Because that action symbolizes how he lost his agency and his innocence a long time ago, now seeking control over other people through either tricking people into following him or abusing them until they listen, because he lost the control he once had. Because the branding scarred him so deeply it changed him as a person. But because of his obsession with control over others, he’s stuck in a mentally immature state. He’s just a scared child trying to get back at the people who hurt him and get back SOME semblance of control that he lost, nevermind how he hurts others because a child never thinks about such things.

He isn’t a misguided revolutionary, he’s a victim of abuse and racism that defined him before he had a choice, so he now tries to rob others of choice to feel better.

It’s the same thing Nazi Germany went through in regards to WWI’s aftermath, where their economy tanked and they became hungry and cold so they sought out anything to make themselves feel better, even if the option was a manchild of a dictator.

And that’s why this is no one’s fault but your own, Collen. You were given a morally grey character as you say you were promised: You just threw a fit because it wasn’t 100% what you wanted.

18:07 And just because someone is evil doesn’t mean they cannot be pitied or understood. You are denying complex writing for your headcanon.

19:10 No you’re just salty and denying it.

19:41 and yet you ignore the bad decisions Adam makes on his path through life, deciding to be violently, giving in to his abusive urges, deciding to be selfish and deciding to hurt other people for his own benefit: basically preaching what the show said except worse in every regard.

20:08 You say as every ‘inconsistency’ you try to list is more evident of you ignoring facts right in front of you just to make yourself feel better than an actual inconsistency. I would have given this to you except by going through all this bullshit and spewing all of this, I’ve come to learn that Adam was never inconsistent and that the only fault was not portraying Blake’s symptoms of abuse more clearly.

20:12 And this si where we’re stopping because I swear, this one line makes me wanna smack you upside the head.

Adam didn’t ‘die’ in Volume 3. Your Adam NEVER EXISTED. He was never real, he was just an illusion built on misinformation and denial of reality. And yet instead of reflecting and thinking about Adam’s actions and trying to see if there’s a connecting thread, you decide to stomp your feet, flail your arms and insult everyone else, even the creators, just because you didn’t get what you wanted.

Either accept it or let go.

#rwby #rwby6

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