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valkyrieelysia18 · 2 years

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Owl House AU: Protagonist Swap

Hey there everyone! Not sure if this will ever turn into a story, but it’s been something that has been rattling around in my brain since I was reading Hollow Mind AU: The Empress and the Boy by TheSealer on Archive of Our Own. Here’s the link if you want to check it out https://archiveofourown.org/works/39244665/chapters/98197797.

So, this is mainly just my notes on how I would do Philip in this kind of an AU as well as a couple of other notes on some other details.

Philip Wittebane: Modern Version

He grew up in foster care with his older brother Caleb. His parents died before he could really remember them. Caleb does though and Philip is really attached to him. Part of Phillip’s character growth will be him acknowledging his brother as his own person and accepting they may end up on different paths in life. Has been through quite a few foster homes, generally the less liked of the siblings.

He has some serious anger issues as well as a hard time admitting when he’s wrong. Might also be the autism spectrum. Generally, works better alone despite others’ attempts to get him to socialize. His current foster parents happily jumped at the social worker’s recommendation to send him to a facility to help with those issues. This will lead into his journey into the Boiling Isles.

He loves history and science, like Luz part of his disconnect with his peers is that most kids aren’t interested in what he is. Gives him quite a lot of interesting trivia. He actually doesn’t like fantasy, doesn’t understand why Caleb loves it so much. While Luz’s journey in canon was about going too far into fantasy into escapism, Philip’s journey will have him realize the importance of fantasy and how the two realms are equally horrific and wonderful.

In terms of sexuality and romance, Philip is still trying to figure himself out. Might be something the Isles gives him a hand with.

Coming to the Isles was far from consensual and Philip will be spending his time trying to find a way back to the Human Realm. This is complicated by the fact the Empress is a human hater whose philosophy is well spread on the Isles and is planning on invasion and genocide. He probably wouldn’t have lasted 24 hours had he not been taken in by his mentor.

The Mentor: Kasarana Clawthorne

A mysterious witch and a powerful Oracle, she saves Philip and takes him. Their relationship starts off seemingly transactional (you clean my house and do chores, I let you stay, and you’ll be protected) eventually shifts into a genuine bond. However, unlike Eda being a Reluctant Mentor, Kasarana is a Mentor with an Agenda and is guiding Philip to eventually stand against the Empress. She does grow to care for him, despite her attempts to keep some distance between them.

In spite of all that, Philip would probably say she is the best foster parent he has ever had. Which says a lot about his past foster parents.

She has periods of ill health that she has to take medication for. This is due to a curse she has which she refuses to discuss with anyone save the house demon.

Her appearance is that of a slender pale witch in her late thirties/early forties though she’s implied to be a quite a bit older than that. She has long dark blue wavy hair and light crystal blue eyes. She mostly dresses in cool colors: blues, purples, and greens.

She is probably one of the few witches Empress Luzura seems hesitant to deal with. The Empress seems to hold her in great respect and care, a feeling which is not mutual with Kasarana feeling nothing but hatred and contempt. However, the Oracle seems to go to great lengths to not confront her directly. They share a history and Kasarana is the only one other than The Collector to know about the Empress’ true identity, plans, and motivations.

She is quite the bibliophile, having an extensive library. She especially has a lot of books from the human world. The selection ranges from Dante’s Inferno to a Harry Potter expy (the latter of which Philip definitely judges her for).

There are other Clawthornes on the Isles, but she isn’t in regular contact with them as they are on the side of the Empress.

Her palisman is a white Dove named Desdemona.

Miscellaneous

There will be a House Demon that helps Kasarana in guiding Philip though I don’t have a clear picture of them yet.

Terra Snapdragon will be around Philip’s age and will be his first true friendship. Might also develop romantic feelings later down the line.

In an interesting twist, Philip actually meets Caleb’s canon witch lover before he does, who will be a Clawthorne in this story. The two don’t get along first, Philip due to his issues and her due to buying into the Empress’ propaganda on humans. She considers them horrible inferior creatures and suffice to say both of them have quite a bit of growing up to do. They do eventually develop an older sister/younger brother dynamic.

Much like Luz, Philip will also eventually carve his own Palisman though unlike her, he will figure out his own goal.

Empress Luzura thinks that being The Collector’s friend means she has a degree of control over him, and she can get him to do what she wants. Spoiler Alert: She is wrong. VERY WRONG.

Well, that’s what I’ve got so far! If you have any suggestions or think I should pursue this further, hit me up.

#owl house #phillip wittebane #owl house au

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valkyrieelysia18 · 2 years

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(Spoilers) On Belos/Philip

You know, I never expected to see a character on show I love to embody a phrase I think about whenever I contemplate dealing with historical figures, but hey I should learn to not underestimate Dana Terrace.

Simply put, People of the past are people of their day.

Belos/Phillip is undoubtably a villain and is seen as such, however his viewpoint is understandable when you consider the time period and circumstances he was raised in. He grew up in a time where witches were seen as a real threat and evil. The idea of exterminating them would not have the horrific connotations we would of the present view in regards to genocide. From the view of late 1600′s British colonial America, he would be seen as a hero.

I know this isn’t something we like to think about, but lots of people we might look up to history wouldn’t come off so well by modern standards. Charles Dickens was an excellent writer that advocated for social change, but his treatment of his wife Catherine was absolutely horrific. Coco Chanel was one of the most influential fashion designers to have ever lived, but she also spied for the Nazis. I don’t think I need to go into how many of the Founding Fathers of America were slaveholders.

Simply put, we always need to take context into account whenever we judge historical figures.

Now before you all get on my case, let me say that the context makes Belos/Phillip understandable.

Understandable is not the same thing as justified or in some cases even forgivable.

Belos/Phillip has long since crossed the line and has definitely lived long enough to become the villain. How he has treated the inhabitants of the Boiling Isles, the Golden Guards, and those who have trusted him are not justified. And let’s face it, the guy is working on over three hundred years of outdated information and assumptions and has refused to change at all.

And how his brother took a different path shows that someone who came from that same place and mindset can make a different decision. Of what happens when you let go of your preconceived assumptions and open yourself up to learn.

Everyone has the capacity to change, but not everyone wants to.

#the owl house #toh #belos #phillip wittebane

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valkyrieelysia18 · 3 years

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My Thoughts on Reboots, Remakes, Sequels, and Spinoffs

Hey there everybody! I know that everyone and their mother have an opinion on this topic, but I just wanted to added my two cents on to to something that wasn’t going to be that long.

Part of the reason I’m doing this post is because two series I loved dearly when I was younger, Winx Club and Inuyasha, have gotten a live action remake series and a sequel series. Now I’m not here to talk on the many MANY wrongs of Fate The Winx Saga or the issues of Yashahime because other people have already went into detail on that stuff. Instead I’m going to talk about what I feel like adapting old properties as whole.

As we fully know and acknowledge, nostalgia is a powerful force with an iron grip and Hollywood and other film/tv makers are doing their best to exploit our nostalgia for as much cash as they can get from us. It’s considered less work and less risky to adapt an older project with a ready fanbase than it is come up with an original property. Most of the time these things aren’t made because there is more to expand on in either the work’s world or characters or bring a new fresh take to it, but because it would make money. Manipulative as it is, its sound business logic.

That being said: remakes, reboots, spinoffs, and sequels aren’t inherently bad. When done well, they don’t just keep to the heart and soul of the original work, they SURPASS it. There’s nothing wrong with changing things from the source material, especially if it’s to add more diversity to the line up or correct a problematic element found in the original series. Even if an interpretation doesn’t hold a candle to the original, it’s still fun to see what creators can dream up for a franchise. For example, Batman the Animated Series will always be the definitive Batman experience for me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy Batman Beyond, Batman the Brave and the Bold, the Dark Knight, Arkham Asylum, or other adaptations of the character.

The problem is more often than not, these projects are not handled well. As I said before, it’s more to make money than to actually be a good and/or faithful adaptation. I think everyone remembers the fiasco that was the live action Jem and the Holograms film from a couple years ago. That movie did the worse thing an adaptation can do for fans: used the the name for brand recognition and threw just about everything out from the original series to appeal to the modern crowd (by the way the makers of this movie didn’t even seem to understand THAT demographic), spitting in the face of the original fans. It honestly wasn’t that surprising the film was pulled from theaters so quickly. As a Winx Club fan, I can relate to Jem fans now in a way that I wasn’t able to back then.

Now some would say fans can be extremely judgmental and toxic when it comes to any changes to their beloved franchises. To an extent, I do agree. For example, I was almost five years old when the Star Wars Prequels came out and thus didn’t really get the hate for it because I didn’t have the nostalgia the older fans did. Now that I am older and have watched both trilogies, I can acknowledge that the original trilogy was better in terms of story and characters, but those films are far from perfect. And you got to give the prequel trilogy credit in that had a distinct definite vision and that it was telling its own story, not just relying on what came before.

But in my honest opinion, I think a lot of the hate from fans of these series comes from the fact that these adaptations more often than not seem to spite the fans and butcher the things they used to love. And considering this is where the original buzz and money come from for these projects, it feels like those behind these projects are going for short term cash rather than long term gain.

I think sequel series in particular can come as off very problematic if their continuation seems to retcon or destroy a very good and satisfying ending. Part of why I can’t really get behind Yashahime is because it feels like the series kind of invalidates the really good ending of the original series and how poorly it has treated the og characters. A series’ ending is arguably the hardest thing to pull off well, it’s one thing to start strong but its another thing to carry that quality to end of the story. And even if a finale isn’t bad, it can still be controversial or divisive among fans. Ducktales 2017 is a great series, but even it stumbled in its finale. Anyone who’s seen it can probably guess what I’m talking about.

So, how should we approach these projects? I think the best mindset to going into these continuations is cautious optimism. That way you’ll be surprised if it turns out to be good, but not too disappointed if it turns out to be the opposite.

And if nothing else there is this comfort for us who live in this time: where canon fails, there is fan fiction. Seriously, I see more passion, creativity, and quality from things I read and view for free on the internet than things that have huge production teams and tons of money poured into them.

Sorry if this just seems like a ramble to you guys, but you know sometimes that there are things you just need to get out there. And hey it turns out this my 100th post on tumblr. So yay to me.

Don’t worry for those who are here for my Rewrite post. Next time we’re going to get to Cinder....AND I HAVE THOUGHTS.

See you soon!

#reboots #remakes #sequels #spinoffs #yashahime #fate the winx saga #batman the animated series #ducktales 2017 #jem and the holograms #star wars #rwby rewrite is coming up next

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valkyrieelysia18 · 3 years

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Addendum: Hey there guys! Normally I wouldn’t go back on anything I did in these posts, but looking back on things there is a significant thing I would like to change in regards to Penny and Pelia’s designs.

While I still like the idea of basing Penny’s original design on that of Pietro’s late wife, given that Pietro is black I think at least one of or both of the girls should have darker skin tones as a result. It might look a little odd, but given that they are robots genetic probability should not be a factor when it comes to their physical appearances. UNLIKE SOME OTHER INSTANCES WE WILL GET TO LATER.

I apologize if you were hoping for something more substantial or if you think this is me backtracking. I am white and therefore I don’t think about diversity or racism the way a lot of people do. I will get more into the context on that as well as how I would implement diversity in the reboot in the future post on The White Fang, but long story short, I am a white person who happens to be self aware and wishes to see more stories with racial diversity and opportunities to be given minority actors and actresses.

That’s all I want to say. Next post will be about something completely different so stay tuned.

RWBY Rewrite: Penny Polendina

Salutations Tumblr users! Today, we tackle beloved fan favorite robot girl Penny Polendina.

Now as I stated before, I dropped RWBY after Volume 6 and didn’t really watch Volume 7. I have however heard about certain developments and one plot point made me grateful I got out earlier or I would have rage quit this Volume anyway.

They brought back Penny, with all her memories completely intact.

This destroys one of the best pieces of writing in the show. Penny’s death was meant to symbolize the death of innocence in the show and it led in to the Fall of Beacon as well as Pyrrha’s death. Up until now, the show had been treating it as if a real girl had died. Vexed Viewer on YouTube has done a video on the topic that explains this better than I could. Even if they were going to bring Penny back in some way, she shouldn’t have been exactly the same as if nothing happened. Such as her memory of Vale (and everyone she met) being completely gone or her personality being significantly changed she isn’t even the same person anymore.

So, in this post I am going to be going over her history, role in the plot, and ‘successor’ for the Atlas Arc.

Creation and History

Okay, slight can of worms, but if Doctor Polendina is black, why is his daughter one of the most obviously white characters of the cast?

Alright, there actually is a legitimate reason for that in this rewrite. Penny’s physical features are actually based on Pietro’s late wife Clara Polendina (reference to the Nutcracker ballet) who worked with her husband. The two were very much happy and in love, but Clara died in a Grimm attack before they could have children. Thus, Penny is basically the daughter Pietro never got to have with her. Clara won’t come up that much in the Rewrite, but she was close to both of her husband’s prized students Arthur Watts and Willow Schnee. Arthur would note the resemblance and bring it up during his final confrontation with the doctor (This is what you ruined my life for as well as countless others?! Clara would be ashamed.) Willow would also bring it up and notice the similarities in both Penny and her successor.

However, the Atlas military and Ironwood’s desires to build something like Penny is less heartwarming. There was the original desire of making stronger robots for mass production to protect humans that evolved into infiltration and espionage purposes. But James Ironwood would see Polendina’s plans and see an immense opportunity. A young woman who would never age or die. An individual that they would never have to worry about running away or disobeying orders. Such a person becoming a Maiden would mean that they would never have to worry about the transfer process ever again. That would explain why Penny said that it would be her job to save the world one day, but they don’t think she’s ready for it yet. She is Ironwood’s hope for the future of the Maidens. And just in case she isn’t perfected in time for the next transfer, Winter is being trained and kept in reserve. Ironwood would provide all of the materials Pietro could need, including a crystalized substance that no one knows much about other than it being a classified by the military. It’s source will be noted in a spoiler’s section in this post, but it’s the very thing finally got things to work.

But while Pietro is aware something is up and suspicious of Ironwood’s intentions, he loves his little robot daughter regardless. There will be some flashbacks involving her first days awake (showing her curiosity and determination) as well as her bidding her father good bye when she leaves for the Vytal Festival.

Vale

The only thing I’d really change about Penny in the Vale Arc is giving her more time to interact with the cast, especially Ruby. What we got was okay, but I think it would be much more impactful if Ruby got to spend more time with Penny before her death. I’d definitely like it if Penny would bring up her father during their conversations, saying she was sure that two of them would get along given how much Ruby likes weapons.

It might be also nice for Pyrrha to feel a little off by her sensing all the metal when they first meet, but not realize why or how important that is. Just bit of foreshadowing.

Pelia

So, as you might have guessed by now, Penny will stay dead in this Rewrite. With the kind of story and tone I’m working with, it’s important that there is legitimate consequences to events and actions of the characters. As such, characters who died will stay dead. They may be referenced, appear in flashbacks, haunt our characters’ dreams, perhaps having a spirit linger with unfinished business to help the main characters on their path, but there is no chance of resurrection.

Not that Pietro wasn’t thinking along the same lines as others had considering Penny is a robot. They did manage to retrieve her body and core, but when he managed to build a new body, reboot, and restart, it wasn’t Penny greeting him. Rather, it was a completely personality. And they did not recognize anything or anyone. Pietro was devastated.

Thus I introduce Pelia Polendina, or Pelly. This is reference to the Coppelia ballet that actually includes a toy inventor trying bring a doll to life that he calls a daughter, much like Pinocchio. Only instead of magic bringing a puppet to life, the inventor tries to bring Coppelia to life by stealing a human soul and putting it in the doll. Quite the dark contrast and is actually going to be a bit of foreshadowing. I will say her appearance is actually pretty similar to Penny’s redesign with longer hair, though I would picture her more similar to dishwasher 1910′s design in https://www.deviantart.com/dishwasher1910/art/penny3-0-SD-758463321 . Check them out on DeviantArt, their work is amazing.

Pelia is considerably different than Penny. Whereas Penny was bright, enthusiastic, and rather trusting; Pelly is subdued, talks very mechanically, and is significantly less naïve. While Penny longed to be a part of something greater and be with humans despite her lack of social skills, Pelly avoids most people and is afraid of what Atlas(and by extension Ironwood) wants with a robot like her. This is partly due to her finding about Penny and how the world reacted with the Fall of Beacon.

In regards to Penny, she feels rather guilty about being alive in her place though she doesn’t quite realize that’s what she is feeling. This would lead to her trying to find out everything she could on Penny to understand her emotions, learning about Ruby and the others in the process. Pietro is devastated by the loss and incredibly frustrated with her, not really considering her alive in the same way Penny was which given her personality isn’t that unreasonable to think. Pelia does care about her creator and tries to assist him in what ways she can, but his attitude towards her is not positive and as such she mostly stays out of his way.

Atlas

Pelia’s first proper appearance would be in the Atlas Arc when the group visits Doctor Polendina for weapons repairs after their meeting with Ironwood doesn’t go well and the good doctor isn’t the on the best terms with the General at present. The man is not pleased or in the mood to humor them, though he does defrost a little when Ruby shows her geeky know how on weapons. (He may have also said some rather terrible things about Pyrrha which made the group somewhat grateful JNR wasn’t there.) As the group leaves the building and goes on their way, Ruby looks up to the upstairs window as she feels she’s being watched. She doesn’t see anything, but as she turns and walks away Pelia comes into view from the window. Having recognized who the people who just visited were, Pelly sneaks out and follows the group in the secret for a while.

She finally gets revealed while the group is watching Weiss dance ballet at a Mantle Community Theater. The Atlas Arc is primarily Weiss centric and part of her Arc in proving herself as worthy of the Schnee name will have her prove herself to people of Mantle. One such instance will have her helping out at the community theatre in learning and teaching dance. It’s in which she is showing off her skills Pelia accidentally reveals herself to the group having been incredibly entranced in ballet (little show to her inspiration). Ruby at first mistakes her for Penny so she gets very emotional, only to temper down when she realizes Pelia’s not her. The situation is cleared up and the group gets more insight into the situation of Atlas as well as the strain between the General and Pietro.

Pelia has three distinct dynamics of interactions with the group: Ruby on Penny, Weiss and Winter on siblings, and Oscar on succession. With Ruby, Pelia gets to know more about Penny as a person and Ruby gets a chance to fully process her loss. Pelia’s not Penny, but she comes to appreciate her all the same. Ruby also comes up with Yang in regards to sibling interactions, but Pelia’s focus in this case is more on the Schnee siblings. She’s basically wondering what sisters act like and whether Penny would have seen her as a sister. This lets her get some ballet lessons from Weiss as well as close to Winter. Then there’s her relationship with Oscar with the two of them having to deal with their predecessors and the problems they’ve let them to deal with. The both of them come to realize through talking with each other is that they shouldn’t compare themselves to those who came before. They have their own views and ways of doing things different from their predecessors and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The only thing they can do is do things the best THEY can.

The big turning point in the Atlas Arc for Pelia is when Pietro finds out abut the Winter Maiden and what Ironwood’s original plans were. While I am majorly rewriting the Atlas Arc, I do actually like the idea of an old Winter Maiden who is on her last legs. Pietro doesn’t get all the details of course, but it gives him the idea that the magic could bring Penny back to life. Aside from the whole ‘Dead means dead’ world I’m working with, it’s also a way to show that magic that cannot bring back the dead. I know that’s very much true in the show though not directly stated, but here I want to lay the ground rules down on what magic is and is not capable of.

After being called back by Pietro and assisting him in breaking into the facility where the transfer is soon to take place, the two enter the room that was originally prepped for Winter (who is distracted with everyone else on things going wrong due to Pietro’s interference) with the old woman in the pod. Pietro has explained things and orders Pelia to get in the other pod. Pelia doesn’t move, having been conflicted during this entre plan which shows all over her face. The doctor orders again, much firmer this time. A few moments pass as she thinks it over; fear, doubt, determination all playout in her expressions. Finally, she speaks. “No.”

While Pelia may have been built to be a weapon, she still has free will. Unlike Penny who accepted her role without many doubts, Pelia rejects that her only purpose is to be someone’s tool of war. She wants to help others, but she doesn’t want to fight. I think that if you bring choice into a story as a main theme, you also have to give the characters the choice not to fight, to walk away even if they don’t actually do it. Above all, Pelia doesn’t think that sacrificing others for herself is what Penny would have wanted after having met Ruby and gotten to know what she was like.

She would tell this to Pietro, who would get furious and argue with her. this would continue until they were interrupted by Watts. Watts, with revenge on the brain, would focus on Doctor Polendina and tell Pelia to run along. I know this seems a little hypocritical for Watts to do this considering his advice to Cinder in Volume 5, but this a different situation. Spoilers for the future Atlas Arc Rewrite and future James Ironwood post, go to the next paragraph if you don’t want spoilers. You see, the villains don’t need the Winter Maiden to open the Vault for them because Ironwood already took the Relic of Creation out of the Vault years ago (and is NOT holding up Atlas). In fact, a bit of the power from the staff was used to create Penny which was the the crystalized substance. Watts knows this due to his hacking Ironwood’s system and has already retrieved the Relic and sent it on the way to Salem. This will make the results in Atlas a lot more bittersweet: our heroes will win on the people’s side of things, but lose the Relic. Back to Watts, the man is all about efficiency. While the Winter Maiden’s powers would be nice, they don’t have a vessel for it at the moment and it’s not necessary for their primary goal. Once the business side of things is taken care of, then he’ll indulge in revenge.

Pelia, while conflicted, would run and get to the group to tell them everything. She would then spend the rest of the conflicting helping to escort and treat the wounded, giving her a presence to the people of Atlas. Pietro will be arrested and will be convicted for his crimes, Watts dead but having gotten the last laugh in the end with his technological abilities exposing his teacher and those who left him out to dry.

Once everything is settled, Pelly will stay behind in Atlas as the new right hand of new Headmistress Winter Schnee. Basically, she becomes the Glynda to Winter’s Ozpin (though Winter is a much more hands on no nonsense person). She bids the group goodbye, hoping to Ruby that they will meet again.

After Atlas

I don’t have much in mind for Pelia after the Atlas Arc except for two things. Firstly, that she and Pietro do eventually reconcile and develop something of a relationship when she visits him in prison on her off days. (Jacques is not so lucky in regards to his children.)

The second is when she and Winter will meet everyone at the lowest point of the story. Ruby will have learned some pretty dark truths, including some choices her mother made that’s really made her think. Pelia will actually have a similar conversation with Ruby that she had with Oscar. In how she’s no more Penny than Ruby is Summer. She’ll remark that perhaps Ruby put her mother on a bit too much of a pedestal thanks to the way her family viewed her. When in reality Summer was just a person and people make mistakes. Right now, what choices Summer made in the past aren’t what matters. What matters is what Ruby wants to do now.

Okay, I think I started before the coronavirus stuff went crazy. I am so sorry. Not sure when I’ll get beck to this.

However, I know the next subject is going to quite the doozy…

#rwde #rwby rewrite #penny polendina #pelia #addendum to post #stupid me #stop asian hate #black lives matter #just be decent human beings

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valkyrieelysia18 · 3 years

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RWBY Rewrite: The Relics

Hello there everyone! I’m back with another post on my Rewrite series that hopefully will delight you.

Admittedly, this might be an odd topic after my last post. Well, that one was pretty big and I wanted something a bit smaller to tackle. I had thought about getting into the White Fang next, but that post is going to be a dozy and then I thought of the Relics. And I thought “Sure, that’ll work.”

The Relics, in my opinion, were handled poorly in the show. Items that can grant great power and when collected something amazing/terrible have been done before and done well (which is honestly true a lot of stuff in RWBY). In RWBY, we didn’t know the Relics existed until over halfway through Volume 4, reduced the Maidens to essentially gate keys in Volume 5, and even at the end of Volume 6 we only know what the lamp can do on its own. I mean come on, Dragon Ball took one episode to explain its titular item (granted they were a lot more simple, but still)! So we’re going to tackle these things.

Now before we get into the individual items, let’s address some things that about the Items as a whole.

The first thing to note about the Relics in this Rewrite is that gathering the four together won’t summon the Gods back to Remnant. The Brothers in this Rewrite are much more distant figures, preferring to observe their creations rather than directly interfering.

So then, why does Salem want to collect them? The full reason will be in her and Ozpin’s backstory post, but to put it simply Salem has a more personal history with the Relics here and wishes to get them back. She views that leaving them in the hands of mortals will just lead to them abusing the items, causing more pain and suffering for the world. Not an entirely baseless viewpoint as we’ll get into soon enough.

The next thing to note is that before the Relics were under the care of the Academies and Ozpin’s group, each was possessed by a former Royal Family. Vale had Choice, Mistral had Knowledge, Vacuo had Destruction, and Mantle had Creation. Granted as time passed and certain things were failed to be passed on, by the time of the Great War only the Crown of Choice’s abilities were known and even then only to a select few.

Each Relic will have a have a spirit that will be involved with the item’s power. I’m not sure whether it was said in RWBY after I left that each Relic had a spirit or whether Jinn was an exception, but I’m going to roll with the first one. Also, each Spirit technically doesn’t have a biological sex, they choose how they want to look.

Also, only the Lamp will have the blue glow. The other Relics will associated with the color of their kingdom: the Staff having a White crystal, the Sword having an Orange gleaming blade, and a Green jewel in the center of the Crown. They can still have the gold, but this will make them more distinct from each other.

Finally, they are NOT the major Grimm magnets as presented in the original show. While they do give off a sort of a signature that Grimm can recognize, it’s a faint one. It would attract Grimm attention if it stayed out for too long in the wild or Grimm would be looking for it in an area if Salem directed them personally to it.

All right, now let’s get down to business!

Knowledge: Jinn

The Lamp of Knowledge is the only Relic we’ve gotten to know it’s full abilities as well as meet its spirit. Even then, I think that three questions every a hundred years is maybe a little too limited for something that is a power of the gods. So, I’m changing it.

Instead of granting three questions within a certain time frame, I like the idea of giving anyone who uses the lamp the ability to ask Jinn one question of the past and present. Everyone is entitled to knowledge after all and they should determine how they want to use it. I know, I kind of stole the idea from the scepter from the direct to video Aladdin King of Thieves, but I think it’s a good setup. It’s powerful, but it still has limitations. This will contrast with its opposite the Crown, which will be more exclusive and deal with the future.

Then there’s Jinn and am I the only who thought her design was lazy? I mean we get it, she’s a genie, but there’s nothing interesting or unique in her design. Pretty sure comparisons to Aladdin’s Genie and Magi’s Paimon have been made. I’d leave her redesign to someone who is fully capable of putting a new spin on it, but I would like the idea of her not having a consistent wardrobe. Maybe have her wear a top that was similar to something found in Central Mistral while wearing a hairpiece you would identify being at home in Eastern Mistral. Not only would this symbolize how multicultural Mistral is, but also how history is made of many different parts.

Now Jinn herself wouldn’t be that different of a character from canon. She would still be a rather pleasant, teasing spirit who is quite thrilled to finally be out of the Vault again. Amongst the Relic spirits, she’s probably the one who has the least regard for mortals, but that’s partly because of what people usually use her for. Most people would ask about power, riches, dark secrets; it got kind of boring and predictable for Jinn and it was less pleasant when they would get mad at her for telling them truths they didn’t want to hear. Let’s just say a few rulers of Mistral that used her Relic didn’t use it very wisely.

Jinn’s favorite type of petitioner would be someone like Oobleck: someone who would ask her about some part of history that doesn’t have much known about it and she doesn’t get to talk about nearly as much as she’d like to so she actually goes into more detail than necessary. She’d also respect someone who probably knows the answer she’s going to give them is not one they want to hear, but is resolved to face the truth whatever it is.

Creation: Eve/Ev

The Staff of Creation is a bit interesting in that works better for some than others. It uses what a person pictures in their mind to bring what they want to reality, within reason. So it really works best with someone very creative and has a clear vision of what they want to do. It can’t create something that’s alive (like a dog) or that had been living (like someone who has passed on). Also, the more detailed and involved an item is, the longer it will take for the Staff to recharge. For example, the little crystals (which are basically a crystallized form of the staff’s power) Ironwood has been creating as an alternative energy source would take a couple of hours to a day depending on how many were created at a time. Whereas a huge detailed palace would take decades to over a century, longer than it would have taken them to build in real time.

Eve is the Spirit of Creation and would have a rather androgynous appearance. I was also thinking that the Spirit could be called Eve or Ev depending on who’s addressing them. Their main color would be white, but their appearance would resemble that of artist. Perhaps having smudges of charcoal on their face or a splattering of color on an apron. I think it would be really ironic that the kingdom that banned the arts at one point would have a Spirit that is quintessentially an artist, heck Eve might have locked up during that time and forgotten about until after the war was over. Again, I’d leave the design to someone who is much better suited for it.

Now in this Rewrite, the Staff is no longer in the Vault because Ironwood took it out. He reasoned that having a powerful tool that could be used to in the fight against of Salem would be wasted simply being left in the Vault. Needless to say, Eve doesn’t like the way Ironwood is using them. It’s clear the power is just a means to an end to him, something he can use to make Atlas more secure. There is no love or passion for what he’s creating and he treats them with no courtesy or respect, not listening at all when they try to talk to him. When Watts eventually comes to retrieve the Staff, Eve is basically “Oh thank the Brothers! I could care less about your plans, just get me out of here!” It’s sort of a summary of what partly causes Ironwood’s fall: the inability to get that people aren’t purely logical beings that will do what they are told for the greater good, but emotional irrational people who will snap when pushed too far.

The best person Eve could work with is someone who specializes in the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, etc. Someone who has a very clear vision and obviously very passionate about the things they want to create. Eve would also enjoy someone who is perfectly okay if they don’t get their creation exactly right on the first try and is more than willing to take Eve’s advice/criticism.

Destruction: Adamou

The Sword of Destruction is perhaps the easiest Relic to understand and use. Using the sword will increase your physical abilities and the sword can send out waves of power that can devastate a group of foes or alter the environment. However, using it takes quite a bit of energy. Best case scenario will involve a week of recovery. Worst case scenario you expend years of your life. Even the King of Vale with all his power, lost two or three years he should have had to live on that Final Battle of the Great War. This cost was so great to the old Vacuo Monarchs (and given that most of their past was peaceful) that it was hidden away and forgotten about until the Great War happened and the last King of Vale rediscovered it.

I’m still little unsure of how I would like Adamou, the Spirit of Destruction, to look like. The closest example that comes to mind is something like Nemesis from Fire Emblem Three Houses: a large older battle scarred man with light armor. Once again, I’m a writer and not a character designer so if anyone has ideas I’d be willing to see them. That being said, his name is actually a West Africa variation of the name Adam, putting him in contrast to Eve. Anyone who has a passing understanding of the Old Testament should probably understand what I’m doing here.

Adamou, despite his outward and intimidating appearance, is actually a pretty easy going spirit. He’s also somewhat disappointed in how he doesn’t get used as much compared to his brethren, but he does understand why and has great respect for the old rulers of Vacuo for doing what they did. He enjoys a good fight, but he also enjoys competitions of all kinds whether physical or mental. You could talk him into a little kiddie board game and he’d go at with as much glee as slaying a hoard of Grimm. As the Spirit of Destruction, he knows better than anyone that life is finite and it’s best to live and fight to the fullest until your time comes.

Adamou would gravitate to people like Yang or Pyrrha: those who enjoy combat and wish to live their life to the fullest. Those who’s spirits burn bright even if it means they burn out quicker. That said, he also respects those who fight to protect those they love and things they believe in (to an extent, he’s not fond of fanatics who would give their lives away without a second thought for something obviously sketchy).

Choice: Caesar

Whereas the Lamp reveals the past and present, the Crown of Choice is focused on the future. Those who wear it have the ability to see the possible outcomes of any choice they face. As such you can see what the cost and consequences of your options. That being said, it’s not a hundred percent as the future is always in motion and there’s no telling how other people’s actions and choices may affect what you decide. Still, the predictions do tend to be very accurate. There’s also the possibility that wielder may obsess over said choices or may become dependent on the Crown, but that has happened very rarely since Caesar usually stops their wielders before they go too far in this.

The thing about the Crown is that unlike the Lamp, it can only be used by one person. When its user dies, the Crown is free to be taken up by another and once it has bonded to someone they are bound for life. Now the Crown can be lent to another person, but every wielder can only do so once in their lifetime and those who borrow it can only use it for three days. On the fourth day, the crown will tighten around the person’s head, giving great pain and hallucinations, and will only stop if that person takes it off at which they can no longer use it.

Seeing the obvious issues of such a powerful item potentially falling into the wrong hands, the first King of Vale came to an agreement with the Spirit Caesar to set up a trap/test to anyone who would try to claim the Crown. The Crown would be placed in a special chamber when not in use with a multitude of different crowns and circlets in the room. It’s up to the person to choose the right crown with no outside input. Get it wrong and the crown will turn to ash and that person is forever barred from taking the Crown. The twist? The true crown’s appearance in the trial is in fact not a crown, but a wreath of laurels (which can be seen on Beacon’s symbol). And if you’re thinking this sounds quite a bit like the scenario from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, that’s cause it is as its kind of the sort of trial you’d find in a fable or fairy tale. It would take either a very thoughtful and self aware person to pass the trial as well as one not greedy. It’s also made a little more complicated as the Crown looks slightly different for each of it’s wielders, which will be noticed in an earlier scene with our group of heroes in a hall of portraits of the past monarchs of the Vale. Because that is what determined who would succeed to the throne of Vale.

And yes, we will learn a lot more on this when I do the King of Vale Rewrite Post.

As a result of the nature of Crown, Caesar is the spirit that is the most close to mortals as they build a strong personal relationship with their users. As part of this, when a new wielder is chosen, Caesar will take upon the appearance of their predecessor to guide the new one. I’m still a little torn over whether Caesar should appear as the old wielder when they first took up the Crown, in the peak of that person’s life, or how they looked when they died.

Caesar, for the most part, acts as a sort of advisor to their wielder. That can come off as them acting very parental which given how often the Crown would pass from parent to child is quite fitting. They will give advice when asked for, but in general will advise against using the Crown’s power if its a situation their user can more than handle on their own. They are very much the type of person who would advocate that “It’s the journey, not the destination” and is more than willing to let their wielder fail if it meant they could learn something from it. That said, they do get very attached and is probably the only Spirit that would openly speak positively about Salem due to her history with them and also has issues with Ozpin. They and Jinn will be the ones to eventually give the more specific details to group about Ozpin and Salem’s history after they got the general outline elsewhere.

Caesar has worked with many different types of people, but the main thing they each had in common is that they were the type of people who were always concerned with the consequences of their actions for those around them and the kingdom of Vale as a whole. They generally work best with someone who is humble and empathetic. However, they generally don’t like someone if they put a singular goal above everything else without consideration of all the consequences (again, issues with Ozpin).

Well, that turned out longer than I was expecting it too. I guess I just got into the creative juices. Anyway, I think I’ll do a different post before coming back to do Cinder. And just as a reminder people, I dropped this show at the end of Volume 6 so don’t bring up anything after that to me in a comment.

See you soon!

#rwby rewrite #rwde #the relics #jinn #relic spirits

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valkyrieelysia18 · 3 years

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Writing Advice: Backstory Tips

Happy holidays everybody! Sorry this isn’t another Rewrite post, but there is a connection to it. As I have stated many times, I dropped RWBY after Volume 6, but I still hear quite a bit about and I recently got to hear about Cinder’s backstory.

Oh boy.....long story short, my Rewrite post on Cinder is going to be vastly different from canon, but that’s not what I’m going to talk about today. I decided to give a bit of positive tips in regards to character backstories. Consider it a little holiday cheer from me and next post should be another RWBY Rewrite.

With that said, here’s five quick tips I think any writer should keep in mind when it comes to plotting out a character’s backstory.

1. A backstory is meant to tell the audience information and answer questions that they didn’t already know.

When getting into a character’s backstory, you need to be aware of what the audience knows about the character and what you know about the character. While you will be firmly aware of how this character got to this point in the story, the audience only knows what’s been shown or told to them. If you’re going to revisit a character’s backstory in more detail after having only briefly mentioned it, you should expand on it and reveal information that you haven’t already.

Some good key questions to keep in mind are as follows:

Who is this character? What are the events that got them to this point?

Where did they come from and how did it shape them?

What are their goals and motivations?/Why are they doing what they’re doing?

2. Backstories should be consistent with the character the audience knows.

Since a character’s backstory is not going to be first thing we see involving a character, it needs to make sense that this background produced this character. Having someone with a high class demeanor and sense of superiority doesn’t make much sense from someone who came from the slums and begged for pennies. If the backstory does not fit the character in story, it creates a disconnect for the audience and they’ll call you out on it. You don’t have to be too detailed or intricate, but it has to make sense with what all the audience knows about that character prior to learning their backstory. Not just one part of the character.

3. Timing is everything.

Reveal something too early, the audience might think the character is going to get killed off soon. Reveal something too late, the audience will have gotten tired and won’t care. This is a very difficult thing to do well so make sure to have a good outline of your story and consider carefully where you’d want to put a character’s backstory.

4. Not every character needs a backstory, but if a character has a big role in the story they should get one.

You definitely need to give your main characters backstories as well the minor characters who play significant roles in the plot and the villains. Not everyone needs to have their life story told to the audience. In fact, doing that would get pretty tedious. Also, consider how much you really need to be revealed about a character.

5. Be VERY careful when including real world issues and controversial topics in backstories.

This is very easy to have unfortunate implications come off if you don’t do it properly. Things like abuse, human trafficking, institutional racism, trans rights, and more are very much a part of our world. Doing them very poorly will not make those who have been affected by them in audience very happy. Not doing proper research on the topic will come off as condescending, uninformed, and/or as I said with unfortunate implications. If you’re absolutely sure you want to include something like this, PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH. And I don’t mean a quick Google search. I mean articles, books, documentaries, and anything else you can find with trusted and verifiable sources. At the very least, find someone who is very familiar with the subject and ask them to look over it and give their input.

Yeah, it’s kind of obvious what set off that last point. I know that it’s easier to fix something than create something new. However, that does not excuse poor research and unfortunate implications on real world issues.

Okay, well I hope you all have happy holidays. Hopefully 2021 will be less terrible than 2020. I’m not going to tempt fate though. See you all again soon!

#rwde #kinda rwde #writing advice #i will get to you cinder

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valkyrieelysia18 · 3 years

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RWBY Rewrite: The Jaundice Arc

Hey there everybody! Sorry it’s been awhile since you’ve heard from me, but I’ve got a job now and less of writing drive than I had when I was high school/college. Doesn’t mean it’s completely gone though and now I’m going to tackle the point that people started to really have problems with RWBY: the Jaundice Arc.

I know, big guns, but frankly I wanted to get this one. Partially because I want to do Jaune’s post eventually and I feel like I need to do this one before I can do that one, and partially because like I said before: this point where people really started to have problems with the show. And more specifically, this when people REALLY start to dislike Jaune.

Now, I’ve touched on my feelings on him before, but let me get this all out and over with. I don’t hate Jaune and I don’t think he’s an inherently bad character. Almost everyone on this show has been written badly and I think the absolutely simmering undercurrents that some parts of the RWDE community have for him is perhaps a little over the top. Personally, I think the core idea of his character is pretty good and he’s at his best in my opinion when he’s playing support to the other characters.

That being said, I completely understand why people dislike him. He has been constantly given focus away from the main team, which started in Volume 1 which was already short as it was to devote about a quarter of your episodes to a non main character in your first season. He also doesn’t suffer nearly as much for the consequences of his actions while the female characters get constant crap for theirs. I’m not even going to go into the Miles Luna Author Self Insert thing.

After having read fan fiction and seen some rewrite scenarios on Youtube, I personally think that Jaune can be written well so long as he’s not being written by Miles and Kerry. With that, I’m ready to take my crack at it.

Setup

As I said, Jaune took massive screen time away from the main characters since early on in the series. There’s an easy way to fix this. As I stated in an earlier post, I was going to spend the first volume/season focusing on Team RWBY aside from a small potential team up with Team JNPR. Jaune, and his other teammates, would mainly be relegated to comedy and background support for the main four girls after the Initiation. I’d throw in a few hints of what’s to come with them, but that’s it. Thus, I’d actually put the Jaundice Arc in the second volume/season which would be significantly larger than the first.

Because we’d be doing it then, we’d have bit more buildup for this story. Cardin’s bullying and enmity towards Jaune would be set up in the prior volume/season’s class interactions. As I noted in my School Rewrite, Jaune’s strategic abilities would also be showcased early on as well as Cardin’s tendency to go head on and brutal without realizing potential problems with that approach. Jaune’s relationship with Pyrrha and the rest of his team would also be better set up.

Now that the board is set, let’s get to it.

Student Days

The first thing I would absolutely change is making it clear that Jaune is actually trying. That was the thing that really did irk me with how Miles and Kerry wrote this arc, despite having gone through the effort of cheating his way into a huntsman academy, he then proceeds to goof off and put absolutely no effort into it. So, before and during this arc, it’ll be clearly shown he’s been studying like crazy and putting in extra time into the fighting simulations that are available for students. He’s not failing in terms of his regular studies, but he’s not top of the class either. In terms of physical combat, he’s the worst in his year, but he’s exceptional in Strategy and Tactics. This I think would be a good and reasonable place for Jaune starting out given his character and background prior to the series.

Thing is, this pisses Cardin off. He sees how much of a weakling Jaune is as a fighter and can see that he is so out of place at Beacon. Despite this, he’s paired with arguably the strongest person in their class who hangs on his every word and has (unintentionally) been showing him up as a leader during Strategy and Tactics. He knows something is off with Jaune, leading him to spy on him to figure out what’s up.

I wouldn’t change that much with him and Pyrrha’s interaction on the roof, I already briefed the reason why Pyrrha trusts him as a leader in her rewrite post. Maybe throw in a hint that his father really didn’t want Jaune to become a huntsman, but I’ll get into that when I get into his backstory proper.

I also wouldn’t change that much revolving in his talk with Cardin straight after save for one thing. After Jaune is left alone with his thoughts on this situation his lies have gotten him into, the scene shifts to being shown on a screen, making it clear that this is being watched from a camera on the roof. A finger taps on the screen a few times and we hear a familiar pensive hum.

The fall out with his team and his one on one with Ruby isn’t really changed, aside from Ren and Nora being more vocally concerned about Jaune’s actions and Pyrrha’s frosty change in behavior which the latter shoots down the concerns sharply.

Forever Falls/Aftermath

I don’t think I’ll change that much regarding the trip itself. I was thinking of mentioning the reason the teams are there is because this is their group task for the month (gathering sap for Professor Peach, who would actually be here taking originally Glynda’s place) and that’s why it’s only these three teams here. Same overall events occur: CRDL tries to get Pyrrha, Jaune stands up to Cardin, Grimm take down with Pyrrha’s unknown aid.

Jaune does apologize to Pyrrha like in the original and ask to train him. Though I was thinking that he’d get something a bit more painful than just a hard shove. I was thinking she’d take his hand and tackle him to the ground hard while pointing out his weaknesses.

This will cut to Ozpin’s office, with Cardin finishing up with telling his version of events who is obviously very agitated from the day’s events. In this Rewrite, there is no reason why he wouldn’t just tell on Jaune. Ozpin merely takes it all in with pensive expression before asking about the light that seemed to protect Jaune. Cardin answers this with confusion and some surprise, Ozpin nodding with a “Good to know” before updating a file on his tablet. Cardin is even more confused and asks what the Headmaster is going to do about Jaune. His answer: Nothing.

Cardin is shocked and furious at the Headmaster, going into him a bit before threatening to go to the board with this. Ozpin responds that even if he did so, he wouldn’t have a case. Cardin is completely confused as Ozpin explains: When students apply for Beacon, their applications go through extensive background checks before there are selections for the second round (ie the Entrance Exam). Such fake transcripts would have been discovered around that time.....had they actually gone through the admissions board. As it was, Jaune’s was accepted through an alternative.

But honestly, that’s not to say the admissions board is completely infallible, Ozpin would muse. Some are very inclined to promote those connected to them, others are interested in advancing their career elsewhere,.....and some might be inclined to take money from very influential people, such as a well meaning Uncle whose Council seat is up for reelection soon. Cardin gets noticeably stiff at that last one. Then Ozpin bring up some videos to the screen, all of them showing Cardin and his team bullying others, particularly Faunus students. The headmaster then would muse aloud that he wonder how Councilman Winchester, or moreso his Faunus opponent, would react to such un-Huntsman like behavior getting out into the news. Cardin immediately gets what the headmaster wants and goes completely quiet. Ozpin would merely say that he is a big believer in second chances and that while he understands that shenanigans in such as a school as this is to expected, Cardin would do best to remember that even if he thinks no one is watching he should act like there is. This cuts the meeting to a close with Cardin leaving quietly and Oz going back to his tablet, clicking back to a file with Jaune’s symbol on in it amongst others files with symbols on them. Only Jaune’s is a different color than the others and a scroll up would show us only one other file with that same color: Ruby’s.

Okay, it feels like I spent a lot of this post musing on the Cardin and Ozpin scene (really I could have done a oneshot on it), but this really was an important scene to establish some very important things to this Rewrite.

1. Ozpin is not an idiot. Ozpin is shown to be very aware of what’s going on at his school. While he may not get directly involved with things, he is shown to be watching his students. And while he is shown to be merciful in giving Cardin a second chance after the crap he pulled, he is also shown to not be a pushover. With such vigilance showcased, it will the Fall of Beacon even more devastating in how Ozpin missed his enemies working under his nose.

2. Ozpin’s true nature and goals are thrown into question. This rewrite is going to be more morally gray, especially in regards to Ozpin. Not only has he blackmailed a student to keep it quiet about another student, he knowingly let someone into his school he knew wasn’t qualified. In this rewrite up until this point he would have been shown as a distant but well intentioned headmaster. Now, he’s just gotten plenty shady. It would also bring into question Ruby’s enrollment into Beacon given that she got in in the same way (also strengthening those two’s parallels, but I digress).

3. Makes us question why Ozpin let Jaune in and sets up that Jaune is important in some way. As noted in my musings in a previous post, it makes no sense for Jaune to have gotten into Beacon unless Ozpin saw his transcripts and accepted him on that alone. Since we are shown in this scene Ozpin is aware of the transcripts, it makes us question what did he accept Jaune for. This also sets up that he will be important to the story moving forward, and not just as the revenge driven not ex boyfriend of the girl who tragically died.

Now, why did Ozpin accept him? Well, that will be covered in his own character post. I think this is plenty long enough and I think I will do something different before I get back to these Rewrite post. I hope like this one more than the last.

See you all! And stay save in this Covid time!

#rwby rewrite #Jaune Arc #pyrrha nikos #cardin winchester #rwde #team jnpr #professor ozpin

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valkyrieelysia18 · 4 years

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RWBY Rewrite: Penny Polendina

Salutations Tumblr users! Today, we tackle beloved fan favorite robot girl Penny Polendina.

They brought back Penny, with all her memories completely intact.

So, in this post I am going to be going over her history, role in the plot, and ‘successor’ for the Atlas Arc.

Creation and History

Okay, slight can of worms, but if Doctor Polendina is black, why is his daughter one of the most obviously white characters of the cast?

Vale

It might be also nice for Pyrrha to feel a little off by her sensing all the metal when they first meet, but not realize why or how important that is. Just bit of foreshadowing.

Pelia

Atlas

After Atlas

Okay, I think I started before the coronavirus stuff went crazy. I am so sorry. Not sure when I’ll get beck to this.

However, I know the next subject is going to quite the doozy...

#rwde #rwby rewrite #penny polendina #dr polendina #ruby rose #weiss schnee #Oscar Pine #winter schnee

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valkyrieelysia18 · 4 years

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RWBY Rewrite: The Academies

Hey there! Sorry, it’s been awhile but between job searching and my own hang ups I don’t write as much as I used to. But I still do get that itch so let’s get down to business. And as stated before, anything from Volume 7 and beyond will be disregarded.

I think it’s very clear that RWBY’s worldbuilding is far from decent. If you have to release supplemental videos to explain things that essential to understand for world, you have some serious writing problems. Originally, I actually liked the idea of World of Remnant videos. They were visually pleasing to watch and it’s good way to get exposition dumps out of the way that wouldn’t really make sense in the time and place we’re at.

And then it hit me like a pile of bricks. WE’RE AT A SCHOOL! It’s the perfect place for boring exposition dumps!

Seriously, they really underutilized the schools with just making it a gathering place for people and events. Granted many who write magical high school stories in manga and anime are often guilty of the same thing, but considering that RWBY was influenced by the anime it’s not a surprise they also inherited some of it’s weak points.

So, let’s see if we can improve the Academies. Note that I’m mostly focusing on Beacon because after the Vale Arc we’ll only see the schools in passing.

Admissions

The first thing that needs to be made clear is that getting into the one of the four academies is not easy. Not everyone can become a huntsman and just because you were enrolled in a combat school is not a guarantee.

Firstly, those who wish to apply to an academy must submit their application which will be submitted to various background checks as well as the scrutiny of the admissions team. About half of the applicants are the cut down and the other half will then proceed to the entrance exam. The place to take the exam for a specific academy is the capital city of their kingdom. For those who wish to transfer kingdoms, they have to go to a separate location as well as have an essay on why they want to as part of their written exam.

This exam is two part: a written exam testing their general knowledge and a combat portion which they will display the mastery of their fighting style and weapons. Acceptance is then decided upon their combined score and will notify the applicants either electronically or through the mail. From there, only a quarter of the original applicants end up enrolled in a huntsman academy. And that is not taking into account those who do and don’t make it to graduation.

The only way to not have to go through the background checks and exams is if the person had the headmaster/headmistress’ personal recommendation which grants them immediate acceptance (what Ruby and Jaune have). This will actually become a plot point in the Mistral Arc as that’s how Cinder and her group were accepted and that bit of knowledge will make sure our heroes not walk into the ambush blind.

Teachers

I can’t believe I have to say this, but there needs to more than four visible teachers on a campus. And considering that Peach has never made an appearance, that does not count. There’s also the matter of maintenance, library, cafeteria staff, office work, and whole bunch of other stuff that I can’t think of off the top of my head.

Referencing My Hero Academia again (something I will probably do quite a bit in this Rewrite series and I recommend to anyone burned off of RWBY), UA had a vast colorful staff and while we don’t personally meet all of them, at least we know that there is enough of them that would be able to run a fictional school.

Classes

We really got a look at three classes at Beacon and while Grimm Studies, Combat Class, and History are what I would imagine are necessary classes for the students, there needs to be more. Things such as First Aid, Survival, Dust Application, Weapons Forging, Tactics and Strategy, and much more.

The thing about these classes is that there is so much they could do in expanding the lore and building up the characters. Like for example, in Dust Applications Weiss could showcase her mastery and understanding of using dust only to have a student in the background make a comment mentioning something of Schnee family history. This could set up the late Nicholas Schnee as well as give Jacques more of a bad reputation outside of the Faunus characters/the White Fang.

Another example would be to have Cardin answering a hypothetical scenario in Strategy and Tactics only for Jaune to point some flaws in his answer and offer a better solution. This would not only show and not tell that what Jaune lacks on the battlefield in physical strength, he makes up for it with his mind; it would also set up Cardin’s enmity toward him in a way that makes sense.

Monthly Team Tasks

This came not from an anime, but a video game. Trails of Cold Steel sets up one of the better fictional special academies I’ve seen (even if the story did go somewhat off the rails). In particular, the idea of monthly group tasks is one that I think that would work for the huntsman academies. These tasks are in a way training them for actual missions. The completion of these tasks, along with grades and combat scores, would help determine a team’s ranking. Certain things at school can only be done if you have a high enough rank such as access to more difficult training simulations or entrance into the Vytal Festival Tournament.

At the beginning of each month, each team will get a list of tasks that need to be completed before the end of the month. Each team’s tasks is different, as fighting styles and what that team needs to work on is taken into account. That isn’t to say two teams can’t have the same objective. One task could be to clear out a certain number of Grimm from the Emerald Forrest, another could be to listen in on a specific lecture or assist a teacher with their work. That’s actually how I’d set up the Forever Falls trip during the Jaundice Arc (Trust me, I will get to that Rewrite post eventually.).

This would be another to expand the world and it’s lore as the group tasks would be a great excuse to have the characters explore the city of Vale in much more detail. One I would have definitely done is having RWBY and JNPR head to a museum for an exhibit about the Great War and the Last King of Vale. It would have a lot more details on the events of the war as well certain bits of information that would definitely come up later on in the series. But those two subjects are their own Rewrite posts for another day.

Okay, that took longer to get this out than I think people would have hoped and isn’t as long as some of my other posts. I’m going back to a character post next and I think I will tackle a very specific character whose choices involving her are rather.....questionable.

Hope you guys enjoyed and I’ll get on it soon!

#rwde #rwby rewrite #beacon academy #we need more teachers #and things to do at school #as the daughter of a teacher this drives me nuts #professor ozpin

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valkyrieelysia18 · 4 years

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RWBY Rewrite: Pyrrha Nikos

Hello again! And this time I get to use that for the right post. Today we are taking a look at one of the characters that got severely short changed when it came to character development Pyrrha Nikos.

Pyrrha is perhaps one of the more popular characters of RWBY and her background and fighting abilities gave her immense potential. Her personality was rather sweet too. Unfortunately, the first two volumes didn’t really give her much outside of Jaune and when we finally got something in the third volume, she got killed off. Here’s the thing....I don’t actually mind that she got killed off.

Now before you all crucify me, let me explain. Volume 3 was a mixed bag of storytelling, but I don’t have any problems with the deaths and losses. It was a good way of setting the tone going forward: People are going to die, characters we have grown close to aren’t safe, and even our main team is not untouchable. Pyrrha’s death, the death of the seemingly untouchable perfect hero that seemed fated for success, was honestly a good idea.....executed poorly.

To get what I’m going on about, I’m going to talk about one of the few things I think the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime did better Brotherhood; the buildup and death of Maes Hughes. We get introduced to him a couple of years prior to the story’s present and when we come back to the current time, we see Maes quite a bit whether it helping the other characters or just him being his loveable self. We know him and his family very well. We see him as a father, a husband, a soldier, and a friend. When he dies, its a genuine gut punch. Especially because we know he had a life prior to the plot.

That was never something I got from Pyrrha. For someone who hates her fame, we don’t really see her deal with it all that much outside of her first conversation with Weiss and the Pumpkin Pete’s advertising which one episode in early Volume 1. We only get her talking about one member of her family (her mother) and it’s never brought up again. No, that scene in Argus does not count. Show, don’t tell is a very much a problem with Pyrrha’s story arc.

Then of course there is the biggest problem of all this: her relationship with Jaune. Now, I’m going to get into this more when we get to the Rewrite for the Jaunedice Arc, but I’ll give you a brief overview of feelings on him. I like Jaune and I don’t think that he’s an inherently bad character. He does have some good qualities and potential. Unfortunately, even though I like Jaune, I recognize that he has gotten way too much screen time (to the detriment of many other characters including Ruby and Pyrrha) and he has gotten away with a lot of things with little blowback to himself. I guess I’m more inclined to blame the writers than Jaune because everyone is done in by the writing. So, it’s still going to be there, but majorly changed to make it a lot more balanced and believable. Basically, the relationship is important to her, but it doesn’t define who she is as a character.

I feel this writing is going to get a bit more in depth so prepare yourself accordingly. Also note that I dropped RWBY after Volume 6 so anything introduced or mentioned in Volume 7 and beyond will be disregarded. So let’s get into it!

Before Beacon: Prophecy and Fame

In this Rewrite, Pyrrha was born in a port city in Southern Anima that draws heavily from the Ancient Greco-Roman culture. She was the only child of very prosperous merchants, her family having gained great wealth following the Great War due to their ties to other kingdoms in trade. Much like Weiss’s family, they’re relatively noveau rich. Her parents doted on her and when she got older, they saw she was a natural in the art of combat. They took her to a seer in the city, an older woman by the name of Laurel Visione who as you might guess is a reference to the Oracle of Delphi. Laurel tells Pyrrha and her parents that she was blessed with great strength and talent. That her star is bright and she has the ability to become a great warrior with a great destiny.

Her parents are pleased by these words, but Pyrrha notices the woman seems to be holding something back. As her parents leave, she lingers behind and asks the woman about it. Laurel smiles and tells that those gifted with that much brightness, also tend to burn out young. She goes on and tells Pyrrha that if she chooses the path of a hero, she will save many lives and inspire many more, but it will also take her away from what she truly wants. It doesn’t mean that she will die, free will should always be taken into account, but if she chooses this path she will meet death sooner rather than later. She’s telling Pyrrha this because it’s her destiny, not her parents, and its up to her to choose how she’s going to face that destiny. As a parting piece of advice, she tells her that everything happens for a reason, even if we don’t see that reason until much later.

Pyrrha keeps this all in mind, as well as keeping it a secret from her parents. We’ll get back to Laurel later.

Her parents, unaware of this, go all out in supporting her in her training. With every new tournament and success, their pride grows even more. They do however realize, that the success is affecting her standing among her peers, her fame making it all but impossible for her to have friends. There is an also accident with Pyrrha’s semblance that almost permanently injured someone because Pyrrha lost control. As a result, Pyrrha only uses a fraction of her semblance’s power and that gives more context to when she got upset during Volume 3 when she used it on Jaune in the courtyard.

When she announces to her parents she’s applying for Beacon, they’re shocked. Not everyone who graduates from a combat school ends up at the Academies (such institutes are super competitive) and with Pyrrha’s semblance mainly geared towards fighting people, throwing away her tournament career when she’s at the top of her game seems rash. Tournament fighting isn’t easy and isn’t as prestigious as being a Huntress, but it’s also much safer with sanctioned rules and the paycheck being just as lucrative. Not to mention, she’d be doing her schooling on a completely different continent. As parents, they love their daughter and want what's best for her, but they honestly can’t understand why she’s doing this. Nevertheless, she’s made her decision and there’s nothing they can say to change her mind. All they can do is see her off with a smile and wish her well.

Beacon: Fame, Friendship, and Love

Now a somewhat constant thing that comes up with Pyrrha during her school days is that her fame is very much hanging over her. Students are constantly trying to get her autograph, people like Cardin try to rile her up, and during the tournament some Haven students openly disparage her for transferring to another kingdom. This will eventually allow her and Weiss to get closer, as Weiss has had to deal with fame and even higher expectations since she was younger than Pyrrha.

Her relationship with her teammates become the first genuine experiences she has with friendship; Nora is a great workout buddy who makes everyone laugh and Ren is someone she can talk a lot of things over with such as the differences between Central Anima and Southern Anima. However, she is new to working with a team and it takes her a little while to get used to it. This is part of the reason why she’s so trusting of Jaune’s leadership at the beginning until it is shaken by him revealing the truth about his transcripts.

Of course, being a rewrite she also gets a lot more interaction with Team RWBY. Her relationship with Ruby is very much highlighted with the younger girl being a tad more idealistic and naïve with Pyrrha being a bit more reserved and more knowledgeable about her future goals. These two are very much foils to each other, which I will get to later on.

Then of course there is her relationship with Jaune. In the show, she says that Jaune was the first person to treat her as a regular girl and this rewrite will be showing that. While others will be interested in her accolades and fame, Jaune will show interest in Pyrrha as a person like the things she enjoys and what growing up for her was like. They start on a strong friendship with Pyrrha’s feelings developing into something more and Jaune a tad more oblivious to it. This will definitely change their relationship from Volumes 1 and 2, but not 3. Though I would probably cut out one of the Arkos songs because there are two more than it needs to be. It gives off the impression that Pyrrha defined herself solely by her relationship with Jaune and you never want to make a character come off as just a love interest to another character. And there are so many other people who would probably benefit with a song POV.

Death: Aftermath and Distrust

The main difference about Pyrrha’s death in canon and this rewrite is that her death affects everyone in the main group, especially her teammates and Ruby. Jaune is still very affected as he was her partner and friend and still has very conflicted thoughts over her romantic feelings towards him, but Ren and Nora are also noticeably grieving her in their own ways. Ruby tries to bottle it up most of the time, much like how she treats a lot of her negative emotions and that comes back to bite her much later on when she is at her lowest and reaches her emotional breaking point. For most of the story, she gets very haunting dreams about Pyrrha (occasionally accompanied by Penny) saying that she has accepted her destiny and questions what Ruby is going to do. This will be foreshadowing for what I’ll talk about in the next section.

The biggest effect that Pyrrha’s death has is that JNR is much more distrusting of Ozpin than RWBY. While they will recognize that Pyrrha made her own decision and they blame Cinder and the others for her death, they still see the whole choice presented to Pyrrha as extremely sketchy and questionable. Pyrrha was the type of person who would not have said no if it meant saving people. And more than just what could have been the result of the transfer, its the fact that they chose a first year student for the job when there should have been better candidates with more experience and a better understanding of what they were getting into (especially as we know the cut off date for Maiden powers is 30).

Jaune, Ren, and Nora still see Salem and her group as the biggest threat to humanity, but that doesn’t mean they like or trust Ozpin (this is not the same for Oscar, but that’s another post). And given that this rewrite will make Oz a much more morally gray character who HAS done some pretty reprehensible things in his conflict with Salem, this distrust will turn out to be very much justified.

Another change to the story is that after Mistral Arc, JNR would actually split off from the main group. Getting the Relic to Atlas is definitely a priority, but this also leaves Shade Academy in a bit of the dark with how things are going. So RWBY, Qrow, and Ozcar would head to Atlas with the Relic while JNR accompanied by Team SSSN would head to Vacuo (which doesn’t have closed borders and therefore would be easier to travel to) after a taking a short detour to Pyrrha’s hometown to give the news to her parents in person. This would make writing the Atlas Arc easier by trimming down the size of the group.

The meeting with Pyrrha’s parents....does not go well. The actual confirmation of their daughter’s death is heartbreaking and their grief and anger is focused on the immediate targets: her teammates. They angrily ask why they didn’t try to stop her or get professional help. They especially treat Jaune harshly when he tells them she sent him away before going to confront Cinder. The three very much realize that they’re not welcome and present what’s left of Pyrrha’s personal things (including her circlet). The two calm down a bit as they see these things and accept them with thanks, but politely tell the group to leave and allow them to grieve alone. They disapproved of her choice and this result makes them feel justified in their opinion. They feel cheated of their only child, who could have done so much...had she not chosen to become a Huntress.

As JNR leaves the house, they’re greeted by Laurel Visione. After a brief conversation about her past with Pyrrha in Laurel’s home, they question why she would tell Pyrrha about her destiny if that destiny would lead to her death. Laurel would tell them that she wanted to Pyrrha to understand the full risks of the path she was walking towards. If she wanted to turn back from that, she could have, she’d have more than enough time to come to the decision, but she choose not to. She accepted her destiny and had viewed it with a measure of peace. Laurel states that she probably died with some regrets, very few people don’t, but she made her own decision to that end and she wouldn’t have blamed anyone for it.

Before the group leave to meet up with Team SSSN to head to Shade, Laurel tells them one last thing: That the choice that Pyrrha had in front of her is the same one that Ruby is also going to deal with.

Destiny: Ruby

Perhaps the best way to summarize the foil relationship between Pyrrha and Ruby is a quote from one of my favorite animes of all time Princess Tutu: “Those who accept their fate find happiness; those who defy it, glory.”

Pyrrha knew from practically the beginning that her destiny as a hero would lead to an early end. And she accepted it. If it meant saving others and doing what was right, she would gladly give her life to do so. During Volume 3 with the Maiden choice hanging over is when she actually considers walking away from everything and staying with her friends, realizing what Laurel meant all those years ago. But in the end, she still chose her path even if she didn’t know everything about what was going on.

As for Ruby, I mentioned Raven giving a warning to Ruby about using her eyes would lead to an early grave like her mother and grandfather (who are posthumous characters who will play a role in the greater story). I’m not going into specifics right now, but the Silver Eyes bear a great cost in this Rewrite and almost all Silver Eyed Warriors die extremely young. The path of a Silver Eye, of a great hero that Ruby had wanted to emulate, will turn out to have a dark price to it.

The difference between Ruby and Pyrrha is that Ruby does not accept this fate. She will not walk away from the fight, but she is not going to readily sacrifice herself either. She is going to take a look at her fate, her people’s history, Ozpin and Salem’s conflict, and tell them to screw destiny. Screw people making assumptions and choices for her. The only person who gets decide who she is and what she stands for is her. And everyone has the right to make that same decision.

OKAY, that post took longer than I thought it was going to. At least I got it out before I went with my family on our Christmas vacation. The next post will probably get out in 2020. As for the topic, let’s just say it’s not about a person....

#rwde #pyrrha nikos #Jaune Arc #ruby rose #rwby rewrite #lie ren #nora valkyrie #arkos

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valkyrieelysia18 · 5 years

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Writing Advice: Being Mean to Your Characters vs Bullying Your Characters

Hey there everybody! I needed a little break before my next RWBY Rewrite post so I decided to do a post on something completely different. This idea has been rattling around my head as I’ve seen how Season 3 of Miraculous Ladybug has been handling things lately and as you can probably guess, it’s not been particularly positive.

I think it’s important to note that as writers, we HAVE to be mean to our characters at times. If there’s no conflict, there’s no real story. It’s important to shake up the status quo from time to time to keep things from being too predictable and make the people following the story feel as if there’s genuine stakes. Most of all, it’s important for our characters to experience hardship so they can learn and grow. Much as I joke about whatever doesn’t kill you scars you for life, hardship and failure do make people wiser and more well rounded individuals.

That being said, there is nothing more effective to turn me off a story (aside from an unlikeable or unrelatable protagonist) than the narrative and the people in it constantly crapping on the main character for no other reason than to make them suffer. THAT is what I mean by Bullying Your Characters. It’s one thing to have a small instance of meanness for a joke or perhaps having a reality ensues moment and the protagonist has to answer for that. It’s another thing to have it CONSTANTLY happen to the point where you wonder why the author hates that character so much.

It’s a really sad day when you have to turn to fan fiction to see your favorite characters treated well.

The two main examples that come to mind are Lance from Voltron Legendary Defender and Marinette from Miraculous Ladybug.

Out of all paladins, Lance was my favorite character. He was kind of annoying at the beginning with some of his flirting and joking, but he quickly showed he was capable of stepping up when he needed to and we got glimpses of his deeper insecurities and depths as time went on. Unfortunately after a promising beginning, the writers failed to use Lance to his fullest potential. Most of the time, his actions were overshadowed by other characters and was treated as the butt of the joke which after his many scenes of lonely introspection came off as hurtful rather than funny. All those doubts and fear were never given a satisfying conclusion in which he proves them wrong and shows him as utterly indispensable to the team. And then there was his ending which was just.....sad. A hasty ill written romance and spending the rest of his life mourning said love. I don’t think that’s just my Klance shipper bias talking as I get the impression even the Allurance shippers didn’t like it. Bottom line, the langst tag exists for reason.

Then we’ve got Marinette, whose treatment during Season 3 of Miraculous Ladybug is the reason this post exists. Despite being the main character, Marinette has been constantly jerked around this season for the sake of the status quo and the jokes. Marinette ALWAYS has to learn a lesson, ALWAYS has to apologize. Her feelings and actions have been exaggerated and belittled for the sake of ‘being funny.’ She is held to an unreasonable standard which makes her put everyone else first, with her own feelings and desires being not treated as a priority.

And that’s not even getting into the massive double standard when it comes to the treatment of Adrien. Despite being acknowledged as her equal partner in universe, he is not treated this way the narrative. Adrien is never allowed to be wrong or acknowledged as being at fault for a problem. He’s never allowed to learn a lesson and he doesn't take being a hero all that seriously. Moreover, he is told he is not at fault for not liking a girl whereas Marinette is made to feel guilty for rejecting Chat and still has to deal with him pursuing her even after she told him she wasn’t interested. This has got to be one of the worst presentations of how to handle rejection I’ve ever seen. There’s a reason people have soured off the Love Square.

So, what’s the lesson to take away from this? Remember that while your characters do need some hardships, unless it’s a tragedy you shouldn’t go overboard. Bullying your beloved characters will not make your readers very happy and will come off as really mean spirited. In the case of huge fandoms, they may very well rewrite your story. And speaking some who has read some fan rewrites, they most certainly CAN do better than the original writers.

Well, I hope this post was enjoyable. Next up in my RWBY Rewrite posts, I’ve got a certain red head to deal with....

#ml salt #voltron legendary defender #marinette dupen chang #vld lance #adrien agreste #writing advice #langst #ml adrien

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valkyrieelysia18 · 5 years

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Oh, don’t I ever?

I’ve don’t think I’ve ever related so much to a tweet in my entire life

(Ps not me, but I recommend you follow them if you have a Twitter. They make some amazing art)

#rwde #ml salt #voltron legendary disaster #my next real post is coming

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valkyrieelysia18 · 5 years

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RWBY Rewrite: The Branwen Tribe

Hey there! Sorry this took a while, I haven’t been up to writing much these days and I’ve been moving. I apologize for the short length, but this is more like an addendum post to Raven rather than a fully fleshed out thing.

Now the Branwen Tribe COULD have been interesting. But as I said previously, they just turned into another generic group of disposable mooks. The only two got any significant screen time were Raven and Vernal, the later really not that much. So this post is going to talk a little bit about the history and culture of the Branwen Tribe.

History

The Branwen Tribe originally resided in the Northern parts of Anima as a ferocious warrior clan until it was conquered by the old Mistralian empire about 125 years ago. They were then forced to abandon their ancestral home and relocate to the capital to join the emperor’s service under their leader Morrigan Branwen. Not many were particularly happy about this change, but they complied nonetheless and dedicated themselves to the way of battle. As years went by, they gained a fierce reputation for their success and brutal force on the battlefield with towns and cities surrendering themselves to the empire with just mention of the Branwen Tribe.

Unfortunately, this success came with a great deal of suspicion and distrust from the Mistralian court, especially the successive emperor. Twenty five years later, they had amassed enough power and influence that they could have probably overthrown the dynasty and taken over the empire without much fuss. Counting against them was also the fact that they still retained their culture and traditions rather than completely conforming. While most of those traditions were rather progressive for the time, to the more traditional Mistralians they were considered deviants and infidels. The emperor thought about killing them, but couldn’t really come up with any substantial evidence for treason and given the rising tensions of the world at this time realized that killing off perfectly good soldiers when he might need them in the future would be incredibly wasteful. So instead, the emperor exiled them in everything but name to another province in Central Anima that was a significant distance from the capital. And in case you were wondering, yes this is the last emperor of Mistral.

Needless to say, many in the Branwen Tribe were not happy with being essentially banished to the middle of nowhere. Even more so when it turned out this province wasn’t even a fertile nowhere and they didn’t have sufficient resources to get through the winter. In desperation, Morrigan Branwen directly petitioned for aid, but was ignored by the governor of the province. THIS is when the Branwen Tribe actually started stealing. At the beginning, they really didn’t kill on mass so much as go for the goods under Morrigan’s orders. It wasn’t until the Great War happened and Morrigan’s death early on in the war allowed the title of leader to pass to her son Wuotan (who just so happens to Raven and Qrow’s grandfather) that they became the brutal bandits we know today and fought only for themselves.

So, what does this backstory add? It adds context and history to the Branwen Tribe that had been lacking. We could understand why Raven might feel compelled to follow in her forbearers’ footsteps while Qrow is equally horrified of their actions. Being warriors who were screwed over and essentially abandoned by the country they served gives the Branwen Tribe a less generic motivation than just a “weak die, strong survive” mentality.

It also gives an interesting connection to the villains’ side. As stated in a previous post, in this Rewrite Cinder is a member of the former Mistralian Royal Family. She would be aware of the Tribe’s history and potentially feel that they were partly to blame for the fall of her family as they turned their backs on their emperor. As such, she finds it utterly ironic that she gets to take a shot at Qrow and later has to work with Raven to get the Relic. She wouldn’t reveal this all up front, dropping cryptic phrases like how she’s aware of the Branwen Tribe’s reputation and how cowardice must run in the family for Raven.

Culture

The Branwen Tribe is somewhat based on the Norse, as you might perhaps might have guessed from the names of Morrigan and Wuotan. However, after years in Central Anima, they have mixed and integrated certain portions of Central Mistralian culture. The Tribe is mostly made up of the remnants of the Old Tribe, but does have a surge in outsiders who came in wishing to join up.

The culture of the Branwen Tribe is pretty egalitarian. Everyone fights, everyone works. Those who don’t, don’t eat. “The weak die, the strong survive.” As stated previously, they were pretty forward thinking in that women were pretty much equal in status to men and fought on the battlefield. Morrigan Branwen’s story and deeds are still passed down in the Tribe to this day (partially because for all his issues and cruelties, Wuotan Branwen loved his mother). This also applied to the Faunus as they allowed them to join the Tribe as full members and their standing depended on their skill and contributions. In present day, the Tribe has connections to the Current White Fang, allowing for an exchange of information of goods.

The Branwen Tribe prioritize the group rather than the individual, which to be fair is not uncommon in a lot of places of Mistral. If someone deserts for the Kingdoms, they are considered dead in the eyes of the Tribe and are never spoken of again. They also have a very deep respect towards their leadership as Morrigan Branwen basically kept the Tribe from forming any plots against the emperor while they were still in the capital by her command alone.

Another interesting thing about the Branwen Tribe is names. All full members of the Tribe have two names: the one they are born with and the name they are gifted upon going though a coming of age/joining the Tribe ritual held once a year. Generally, the name is bestowed by the chieftain and afterwards will be addressed as such by the Tribe. What name is bestowed generally depends on one’s actions and personality though it’s quite common to be given a name from nature, particularly birds. This gives Qrow’s little fireside chat back in Volume 4 a little more substance to it and as well as Vernal’s name.

Okay, that’s everything I could think of for now. If anyone has other ideas they might think would work with this, I’d love to hear them.

Now as to my next post.....oh boy. I’m going to have to do another post for something different before that one because there is just so much to tacke. Uh....the Arkos shippers aren’t going to be happy....

Until next time!

#rwby rewrite #raven branwen #Vernal #branwen tribe #qrow branwen #sorry this is late

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valkyrieelysia18 · 5 years

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About the Last Post

My apologies if my last post sounded kind of self righteous. It started out as an explanation as to why “Don’t like it, don’t watch/read it” is very different when coming from a fan creator versus someone working on an official series and kind of meandered into a critique on Rooster Teeth as a whole. I am sorry, that was not my original intention. The company has just been doing a lot of stuff that’s been rubbing me the wrong way.

I actually was interested in the more story focused plot direction that Miles and Kerry were going in with Volume 4 and beyond. At least until I realized how terrible the writing was. And even with the new writers, I am not coming back to RWBY.

Don’t worry, you’ll see the Branwen Tribe Rewrite post soon.

#rwde #My writing #writing #fanfiction

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valkyrieelysia18 · 5 years

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“If you don’t like it, don’t watch it” - My Thoughts

Hi everyone! Sorry if it’s been a while, I’ve been dealing with some things on my end. The Branwen Tribe Addendum to the Raven Branwen post is coming, but a post that Barbara Dunkelman said a while back I’ve turning over in my mind. I think you all know which one I’m referring to.

The reason it’s been bothering me is because I said the same thing in an author’s note in a fan fiction I’ve been writing. And given the reaction to that post, I’ve been wondering if whether what I was wrong in saying something like that and I should issue an apology. Then I considered the situation and I realized that the phrase is significantly different there than coming from someone associated with an official work for three reasons

1. This is a hobby, not a job.

While there are many people in the fan fiction community looking to improve their writing so they could pursue a career with their own work, there are others who just write for the fun of it myself included. While I may not write that much anymore, I still view it as something I do for fun. That’s not the case with someone working on an official project, where they are accountable to not just themselves for their words and actions.

Now it does get kind of annoying when I get reviews that are essentially overly long critiques of my work that I didn’t ask for, but that’s another story.

2. I am under no obligation to deliver a quality product.

As I said, writing is a hobby for me, not a job. I’m not getting paid for any of this, I’m not contractually obligated to deliver a certain amount of content over a set amount of time. What I write may not be great by certain standards, but I’m not being scrutinized by a significantly sizeable fan base who WILL call me out on my actions. A phrase I heard that summarizes this quite well is this: “Fan Fiction is not made for you, it’s shared with you.”

This is not case with a very popular series which is dependent on people watching it for people working on it to get paid. And considering how much Rooster Teeth’s quality has dropped and the reports of how badly they’ve been treating their regularly employees, you think they’d try to keep as much money as they can. But given their far from professional past behavior, it’s not that much of a surprise.

3. There’s a difference between “It’s bad” and “It’s not my thing.”

I think any person who is a fan of anything realizes that there are just certain things that they personally can not enjoy. For example, I am not a horror fan and I avoid the genre like the plague. There are genuinely good horror movies that may be universally acclaimed, but I just wouldn’t be able to get into it.

If someone does not like a certain fan fic, that person can easily leave the story behind and find something that’s more to their taste (though that might be easier for some depending on the size of that fandom’s archive). Their enjoyment is not dependent on that particular story.

This isn’t the case with the official work.

Barbara’s phrasing seems to be imply that we are viewing RWBY like it’s not our thing when it couldn’t be any further than the truth.

We LOVED RWBY. From the beginning trailers to the first couple Volumes, we loved this series. Despite the technical limitations, the subpar world building, and the questionable choices in terms of story and character writing (looking at you Jaune); we felt the passion and style from it’s creator that we were wiling to forgive its weaker aspects. And when Monty died and the team’s new direction went against the things that we loved about this series, our patience and good will dried up. I had enough in Volume 6 because I realized that I can’t keep hoping for this series to change only to be disappointed again and again.

Final Thoughts

As I’ve said before, I was not a fan who got into the series because of Monty, but I respect what he created. It was by no means perfect, but it at least it made a conscious decision to have style over substance. Now RWBY doesn’t even have that.

The fact remains is that when you put something out there for people, you’re going to be criticized, especially if the work is subpar to your previous entries. And if you��re a creator of a very profitable and successful series, you should be listening and taking notes on the criticism you get. Rooster Teeth is acting like it’s still a small indie company when that couldn’t be further from the truth. That they ignore criticisms from the very fans that got them to where they are today just shows how lacking in awareness they are.

Luckily, we do have plenty of RWBY inspired creations to indulge ourselves in as well as the pretty promising Shounen manga adaptation by Bunta Kinami, but we’ll always look back at old RWBY and shake our hands at where it all went wrong.

#rwby #fanfiction #rwde

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valkyrieelysia18 · 5 years

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RWBY Rewrite: Raven Branwen

Hey there everybody! You know, I was debating Raven and Adam for quite a bit until inspiration hit on the former teammate of Team STRQ and candidate for worst mother in the show. And you know how writers get when they’ve stumbled across something.

Still, Raven is definitely one of the more disappointing characters, having made a strong first impression for further appearances to take away the coolness. Most of the disappointment comes from her being set up as a third party to Oz vs Salem conflict, which could offer a unique perspective on both sides of the conflict. Unfortunately, she came off as selfish manipulate bitch that the main reason we cheered her on during the end of Volume 5 was because Cinder was much MUCH worse.

Now with these rewrites, I don’t intend to change fighting styles and weapons (mainly because I have no idea how to do that, unlike certain people I am fully capable of admitting when I am out of my depth and leave that to someone who knows what they’re talking about). As for personalities, I don’t think I’m massively rewriting them given how little some of these characters had been given, but you can correct me if I’m wrong. Raven will still be a strong bandit leader with a survival of the fittest mentality.

Now the first thing I would change is in regards to her semblance, albeit more along the lines of refining what was already established. Her portals lead to people she has bonded tp, but bonding is not so simple as it seems. The type of bonding needed for this would be someone she trusts wholeheartedly, someone she would willingly die for. These bonds of hers are both her strength and her weakness. When a bond is established, Raven is then attuned emotionally to them, always having a sense of them in the back of her mind and feeling their general mental state. Much like Qrow’s semblance, she can never truly turn it off. As such, she is fully aware of what Yang feels about her as well as being the first person to know about Summer’s death due to feeling it. Naturally, this a very emotional side effect and plays quite the role in her relationships with Yang and Summer.

The big changes would relate to her main relationships of the story: the Branwen Tribe, Team STRQ, Ozpin, and Yang.

Branwen Tribe

In the show, the Branwen Tribe was the Disposable Mook Group Number Thirteen with no real depth to them. Under this tag, I was originally going give an overview the Tribe’s history and culture, but it became too lengthy. I’ll have that as an additional separate post. Long story short, they are going to be much more dangerous and a lot more connected to the history and culture of Anima.

As to Raven’s relationship to the Tribe in general, it’s a lot more complex. Unlike Qrow who was always kind of an outcast, Raven was actually well regarded by the Tribe and was seen as a potential successor to the Chieftain of the time. While Raven knows the Tribe was brutal and unforgiving, it was her home and there were people she did care about there (though not as much Qrow). In fact, Vernal was the daughter of a late friend of hers that she took under her wing, basically her goddaughter. In addition, Raven never truly felt comfortable in the Kingdoms. Even as grew to care for her teammates and fell in to the lifestyle of a huntress, she could never conform completely to the system. At least part of the reason she did leave her teammates and Yang was because the Tribe was where she felt she belonged. Still selfish, but selfish for an understandable reason.

The one other thing to clarify in relation to the Branwen Tribe is the former Spring Maiden. For someone trying to keep a low profile, taking in one of the biggest targets on Salem’s list seems counterproductive. In this rewrite, Raven would take her in due to a sense of empathy, with the girl having discovered Leo’s treachery and was desperate to get as far away as she could. Her death by Raven’s hands would genuinely be an act of mercy, having been fatally injured during a raid and the only thing that could be done is make her death quick and less painful. As to inheriting the Maiden powers, Raven would not have known about the cutoff date for being Maiden and kind of assumed she was too old by that point (would have turned thirty in a week). This was because Ozpin wouldn’t have told her and the others every little detail about magic and his situation, though this time it was more to him viewing it as a trivial detail rather than actively trying to hide it.

Team STRQ

Her relationships with her teammates are equal parts love and care with anger and frustration. Before Beacon, Qrow was the only bondmate she had. Summer and Tai she took a while to warm up to, but grew close to them despite trying not to do so because she felt nothing could ever truly come of it. And in this Rewrite, she’s not the sole reason Team STRQ falls apart; none of them are completely blameless.

Qrow was the first bond she ever forged and is arguably the strongest bond she has. Part of the reason she wanted the position of Chieftain was so that she could make things better for her brother in the Tribe. While heading to Beacon led them to new experiences and new bonds, it also led to a distance growing between as Qrow took to the Kingdoms and everything in them. This would lead to Raven feeling somewhat lonely and jealous, in how her brother was so much happier then when it had just been them. This distance only grows as they get involved with Ozpin and the bigger conflict. The more Raven sees, the more concerned she gets and brings up her doubts about Ozpin to Qrow as well as mentioning that they should probably return to the Tribe soon. Qrow at first brushes her off, getting more irritated as she continues with it. This would culminate in an argument in which Qrow tells his sister off for being so distrusting of the man who’s trying to save humanity and that the Tribe should rot for all the things they’ve done; he’d rather die than go back. It’s at this point Raven realizes that her brother won’t listen to her anymore. These bittersweet feelings influence her relationship with her brother to this day; as much as she cares about him, she can’t save him. This will also play a part in her relationship with Ozpin.

Her relationship with Tai didn’t start off with the best first impressions (she definitely had to restrain from strangling him during the Initiation and almost did during the first week of classes), but eventual grew very strong. Unfortunately, the relationship while passionate, was between two people who are not suited for long term romantic relationships. Raven has her obvious issues and I’ll get Tai’s in his post(believe me, there will quite a bit to discuss). Not to mention they’re two people with vastly different goals and expectations out of a relationship. Tai was happy in teaching and in Vale, there was no way she could have convinced him to throw it all away for the bandit life style. Raven does still have some fond feelings for him, but she does get even more frustrated with Tai than Qrow as she feels he could have tried to talk the girls out of becoming huntresses or at least told them the whole truth of things before they went off to Beacon.

Last but not least we have Summer. Raven didn’t really like Summer at first because she really didn’t seem like leadership material, much like Weiss and Ruby at the beginning. It isn’t until Raven gets a demonstration of “Good is Not Nice” from her leader that she really began to respect her. The relationship grew and by the time Raven was leaving for the Tribe, Summer was the only positive relationship she had at that point. In fact, she actually tried to convince Summer to come with her, but Summer declined as she had reasons of her own for fighting for Ozpin along with their other teammates to watch over. Summer also shared quite a bit with Raven, including the price behind the Silver Eye powers which is a lot more costly than in the canon. Raven’s respect was so great that she asked Summer to be the mother Yang needed and explain things to the girl when she was old enough to understand. This plan is naturally torn apart by Summer’s death. Due to their bondmate connection, Raven fully felt Summer’s death and to this day, it is something she has not gotten over(whether these feelings are platonic, sisterly, or romantic, I leave that to fan speculation). Half of her blames herself for not going to her side, at the time she was helping her people in the midst of a natural disaster. The other half blames Ozpin.

Ozpin

Oh boy, Ozpin may not be her strongest relationship, but it is perhaps the one that had the most impact on her life. Raven’s first impressions of Ozpin was someone to respect, but not trust as it seemed he was keeping a close eye on her and Qrow. It would take a while for her to realize he was keeping a close eye on Team STRQ as a whole and wouldn’t fully get the answers to that until Ozpin filled them in on the greater conflict. Long story short, Tai decides not to get in any further but the other three are brought into the inner circle. Raven is driven by the need to know more, but ultimately finding the truth to be more horrible than she imagined.

It starts with the bird magic. Unlike the canon, the bird transformation does have significant issues with it. On the minor side, the two will behave a bit more like birds such as having cravings for seeds, being drawn to shiny objects, etc. On the major side though, the magic also amplifies their fight/flight instincts and it gets stronger the longer they stay in bird form to the point where if they stay transformed long enough they will slowly forget their humanity (which is why they will transform for an hour at most). Now, to Ozpin’s defense, this was not something he deliberately kept from them, these were unintended side effects. Raven, however, is pissed that he didn’t consider how the magic might have affected them and could have warned them after Qrow and her stay transform for a little too long with Summer snapping them back to themselves. And that’s not the only problem she has with Ozpin.

As mentioned earlier, she did grow concerned with what she had learned and getting the whole truth about Salem and Ozpin as well as the lengths Ozpin has gone to defeat her, Raven’s doubts come to a head and she tries to get her brother to understand her point of view and get out. By this point, Qrow is fully committed to Ozpin’s brotherhood and views her actions and mindset as being unreasonable and selfish. While their relationship wasn’t as close as they were before, this confrontation was an utter shock to Raven. From there on, she blames Ozpin for “stealing” her brother and “blinding” him to the reality of the conflict.

But what really cements her hatred of Ozpin and giving up the fight with Salem is Summer’s death. Summer died at Salem’s hands, on a mission for Ozpin, and Raven was emotionally connected to her when she died. In response, Raven would make her way to Ozpin to confront him, which is also how he and others get the news. While Ozpin is genuinely grieved by Summer’s death, his first reaction to Raven’s words is frustration and despair that not even Summer using her eyes could stop Salem. THIS is Raven’s breaking point, the realization that Ozpin will use anything and anyone for his war Salem, even people he does significantly care about. After everything that Summer had done for him.... She actually attacks him for this, only to beaten down by Ozpin. He lets her go, but warns her to never return to Beacon and he won’t be so lenient if she tries this again.

In other words, this is where Sacrifice comes from.

Yang

Out of all her relationships, Raven’s feelings for her daughter are the most complicated. For starters, I don’t think Yang was a planned pregnancy (neither was Ruby in my opinion). Tai was the over moon about it, but Raven wasn’t as thrilled. Partly because her doubt with Ozpin had had her seriously consider returning to the Tribe and the pregnancy was a delay in that, but also because Raven had absolutely no idea how to be a mom and didn’t have much in terms of maternal instinct. Contrary to popular belief, not all women have a natural inclination and understanding of children and babies (myself included). Ultimately, it wasn’t Yang’s fault she left, she had planned on going back to the Tribe from the beginning and she will tell Yang all this when she asks for answers.

She did consider taking Yang with her back to the Tribe, but realized that she couldn’t take care of a baby like that and Yang would be better off growing up inside one of the kingdoms. Like I said, she did entrust Summer to be the mother she couldn’t be and to tell Yang the truth when she was old enough. After Summer died, she really wasn’t in a state to come back even if she wanted to return. After sometime, she did resolve to pop back and check up on Yang from time to time. It does hurt her a bit that Yang has such obviously negative feelings towards her, but she accepts it and is fully okay with her daughter viewing Summer as her mother figure. She, in no way, regrets her choice.

And if there is one thing she is impressed by it’s how protective Yang is of Ruby because it reminds her how protective she got with Qrow when they were younger. Raven’s feelings on Ruby are complicated (she’s perfectly okay with Tai moving on, but the timing is rather questionable), but her respect for Summer and love for Yang does make Ruby fall under her one save rule as well as something else. On the journey to Mistral, Team RNJR and Qrow come close to perishing and are saved by Raven’s timely intervention. Tense atmosphere aside, she points them in the right direction and gives Ruby a warning both about the conflict she was walking straight into and not to use her Silver Eye powers unless she wants to follow her mother and grandfather’s path into an early grave.

Her role in the story would still be that of a third party and she will be both enemy and ally to the group during different points in the story. I do plan on her dying to help them as well as Qrow and Tai get away to safety, after finding out that there is a way to bring the conflict to an end and realizing that Summer fought not because she wanted to save the world, but because she wanted to protect those she cared about. In the end, she would die with her mind at peace and her last thoughts would be of either Yang or Ruby, passing on the Spring Maiden powers.

Oh boy, this post got long. And the next one’s going to be on Branwen Tribe history and culture. Maybe after that, I’ll get to Adam or Pyrrha. Hope you guys are up for that!

#rwde #rwby rewrite #raven branwen #taiyang xiao long #qrow branwen #Summer Rose #TEAM STRQ #yang xiao long #ruby rose #Ozpin #vernal

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valkyrieelysia18 · 5 years

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The Dead Parent: The Dragon Prince VS RWBY

Well, this is an unexpected post, but as someone is going through a series of Rewrite posts for RWBY, by examining the series and how it handles its story characters, I am also prone to make comparisons to other series that I feel CRWBY (or more specifically Miles and Kerry) could learn from.

Now, I’ve said before that I’m not the biggest fan of the dead parent trope, but I do realize that just because the trope is overused, doesn’t mean it can’t be used correctly. It is unfortunate that this tends to happen more to mothers than to fathers, but I’m not here to debate that issue. I’m here to talk about how to do it correctly using two examples: one to follow and the other to avoid.

Done Right: Queen Sarai from The Dragon Prince

Right now, The Dragon Prince is one of my favorite series. Coming from the writers of Avatar: The Last Airbender, it is wonderful engaging fantasy series with a rich world and deep and interesting characters. While it is by no means perfect, there is so much to enjoy and I highly recommend it to anyone. And one example of how the series does things right is Queen Sarai, Callum and Ezran’s late mother.

Queen Sarai died prior to the events of the series and while we didn’t get to know why until Season Two, Season One still gave her a presence without her directly appearing. We saw what she looked like from both her grave statue and Callum’s drawings. Not only that but Callum, Amaya, and even Viren talk about her and gave us an idea of what she was like and how her memory still affects and influences others.

When Season Two came around, we actually got a flashback of when she was alive and that just reinforced what had been set up. In fact, we see her not just as a wife, sister, and mother, but also as a queen, an advisor, and a warrior. We also see her act less than perfect; she jokes, she grimaces, and she gets angry. And her influence is even stronger than what was first realized in that it was her death that put Harrow on the course to kill the Dragon King Thunder and kick off the events of the series. This is even further empathized when it is her that brings Callum back to himself at the end of the season. All of this goes to show how much she affected the world and the people she knew.

Another thing to note is how her sons view her differently. Back in Season One, Callum is shown to be drawing her and speaks of her very warmly. Ezran on the other hand looks a bit uncomfortable when Callum brings her up. After the flashback in Season Two, this makes sense. Callum was about five when his mother died, old enough to really remember her and with his eidetic memory he would never forget what she looked like. Ezran, however, was still a baby and it’s highly unlikely he has many if any clear memories of his mother and has to rely on what he’s heard from Callum and Harrow. I find their responses rather realistic, with Ezran not entirely sure how to feel about her and the memory of her being able to bring Callum back from the brink.

Done Wrong: Summer Rose from RWBY

Oh RWBY. I’m staring to think you should have ‘Wasted Potential’ put in as a subtitle. As I have said before and will continue to say, it’s not about the premise, it’s the execution. There are some good ideas in RWBY, but it’s very clear that Miles and Kerry are not professional writers and I question how much of this is really planned and how much they’re making up as they go along. The weak story was a lot more forgivable when the series was focused on the kickass fight scenes and colorful characters, but with the change to a more story focused approach that made the earlier problems all the more apparent. And one of the most obvious examples that can be pointed to is the treatment of Summer Rose, mother of Ruby Rose and stepmother of Yang Xiao Long.

Outside of the grave with her symbol on it, we first see Summer Rose in the Team STRQ photo and that small glimpse of her on the cliff at the end of Ruby’s memory montage. These appearances tells us nothing really about her except her incredible resemblance to Ruby. Not to mention, she’s never truly the main focus of these images, either off to the side or at the end of more recent memories.

In terms of the characters talking about her, they almost never do. It’s been implied that Summer played a role in the great conflict of Oz vs. Salem, but this is never really brought up at all. Her former teammates only mention her in relation to Ruby (and Yang once). Taiyang never brings her up or is seen visiting her grave even though she’s supposedly his second great love. Just as well Raven and Qrow never mention her as a leader, a teammate, or a friend. We never get the impression that she truly matters to these characters, that her death and memory had an impact on them to this day.

In fact, the most we get about Summer Rose is from Yang who describes her as “Supermom, baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters.” Yeah, these sounds like character roles rather than an actual character. And after this point, Yang describes her as Ruby’s mom, despite the fact that Summer was the one to raise her and has more right to be called her mother than Raven ever did.

And then there’s Ruby. Despite being implied to be a big influence on her daughter, Ruby never talks about her to anybody and has only talked to her grave once out of three visits. When she talks with Maria, she doesn’t bring up her mother even though it would be the perfect time to do so. And then there is the flashback glimpse that doesn’t make much sense when you remember that Yang said that when Summer died, Ruby couldn’t even talk yet. As I’ve said before in a previous post, that would mean Ruby would have been less than two years old. There is no way she should remember Summer that clearly.

Well, I hope this makes sense to other people. I will admit I partly wrote this for catharsis sake, but that’s how my Sienna post got written so my feelings can’t miss the mark that much. I promise the next post will be a Rewrite.

#rwde #the dragon prince #queen sarai #Summer Rose #king harrow #viren #amaya #callum #ezran #ruby rose #yang xiao long #taiyang xiao long #raven branwen #qrow branwen #TEAM STRQ

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