The Crown: A Legacy Forged in Lies
For a while now I’ve been thinking about the Vacuo rebel group who called themselves The Crown and the siblings who ran it. Thinking over the history that led them to this point, as well as the symbol they used for their revolution, I found myself wondering about the history that may have sparked it and realized that its inception predates the twins Jax and Gillian Asturias and could be traced back to the ending of the Great War when Vacuo ceased to be a Monarchy and formally became a Democracy.
In the book RWBY: Before the Dawn we learn through a history lesson that Vacuo had a rich history, one that had for generations been ruled by Kings and Queens in the past. This makes sense as Vale, Mantle, Mistral, and Vacuo were all at one point in time governed by monarchies and were thus considered Kingdoms, a moniker that was carried over when they each began being governed by Councils. Vacuo’s, however, is a matter of pride for them. Their history is a major part of their identity and to overlook this fact is to overlook a vital part of their people’s identity. Knowing this we can begin to understand how an organization such as Crown could be conceived as well as start to see what sort of people had given rise to it before it ultimately devolved into the poor excuse for a rebellion that it eventually died as.
The first thing we should consider is the symbol itself; a Crown. According to Jax and Gillian’s father, every generation of the Asturias blood line has had at least one member of their family who was born with a birthmark in the shape of a crown, marking them as a descendant and heir of the royal line of Vacuo. While hereditary birthmarks are not unheard of, to have a consistent one each subsequent generation that matches the one prior to it is unheard of. In fact, it’s highly unlikely that the mark both Jax and Gillian bore wasn’t a birth mark at all, something which Coco Adel took note of when fighting Gillian. We’ll shelve this for now but it will come into play later on. For now, to truly understand Crown’s origins we have to go back to before the Great War, prior to its conclusion 80 years prior.
Before the rise of the Councils, Vacuo was ruled by a monarchy. This of course means that they had a King, Queen, and a court of Nobles. This of course means that they were the ones to hold power and influence, to dictate the ebb and flow of Vacuo’s politics. Then, with the conclusion of the war, things changed drastically. All at ones those who once held the power found themselves with none. For some this wasn’t much of a problem. The transition from a Monarchy to a Democracy simply meant a shift in priorities. For others, however, the loss of the power and influence they once held in the courts was too great for them and they quickly went from being Nobles to commoners in an instant. It was an insult that their families could not tolerate. After all, Vacuo had been a monarchy for centuries. Why should they change that just because a foreign King decided that they should shift their politics? They were still Kingdoms and Kingdoms were presided over by rules not councilors, were they not? Their place was at the top of Vacuan society, not down amongst the rabble.
Granted, much of this is speculation and everything prior to this and following could be completely wrong but that’s the point of a theory, to speculate on what may have happened until we find out what really happened.
It stands to reason that a number of these nobles would band together through a shared dislike of the new powers governing their Kingdom and the loss of their own power and influence. It would also stand to reason that many would want a return to the old ways, enough so that they would begin plotting their return in secret. Knowing they couldn’t stage a revolution so soon after losing the vast amount of resources they once possessed, they would instead bide their time, waiting for the moment when future generations could take up their burden and return Vacuo to its previous glory. Knowing all this, they would then adopt a symbol, one that would forever remind them of their beginning as well as act as a goal to eventually work towards achieving; a Crown.
80 years would pass since that time. As is the custom of Vacuo, those who survived did so because they were stronger, more perceptive and better able to work alongside their communities rather than rely on one’s own skills. Community is an important part of Vacuan culture, after all. It is only by relying on the strength of your community and adding your own strength to it that you are able to survive and prosper in the harsh deserts. During this time the Asturias would survive in the capital, favoring their family’s vaunted history over the ever modernizing culture and the technology that defined it. All of this may have been a subtle way of maintaining an eye on their goal, ensuring that each generation never forgot their routs while also maintaining a singular eye on their goal. However, like the harsh desert winds slowly beat away at the weather stone wall, so too did the passage of time chip away at the vision once held by the noble families, turning from an act of defiance into a legend passed down from generation to the next, filling them with wonder and pride at a life their ancestors once held.
Until Jax Asturias was born.
Born with a semblance that allowed him to overpower a person’s will and raised on the stories of his ancient ancestors and their family’s royal lineage, it was almost a guarantee that he would develop a personality revolving around entitlement meant and the belief that he had been marked from birth alongside his sister. It was only a matter of time before everything boiled over and the birth of Crown and their revolution was put into action. Unfortunately for him, his arrogance, coupled with the tenacity and resourcefulness of veteran students from Beacon, proved more than he was capable of handling and he would later lead to his undoing at Yatsuhashi’s semblance.
So what does this all have to do with his apparent birthmark? A great deal to be sure. Returning to the days of his ancestors for a moment, we can assume that the Crown became a rallying symbol for them, one that they no doubt wore on themselves to some manner to show their loyalty to it, with even the most devoid branding themselves with the Crown. It is to that end that I believe the Asturias family, in a show of loyalty to their family lineage, branded themselves with the mark, claiming it proof of their royal heritage. In the case of Jax and Gillian, however, both were branded and at a young age no doubt. Their father, obviously wanting them to stand united, may have done as a means of ensuring neither would feel inferior to the other but unfortunately it only led to something far worse.
With all this in mind there does arise the question of whether or not I believe any of this to be true? In all honesty, to some extent yes. There’s a great deal we don’t yet know in regards to the world of Remnant and its vast histories. For all we know the Asturias’ birth mark could very well have been a branding given to them by their father. On the other hand it could in fact be hereditary, not unlike the Schnee family’s semblance, and thus was truly an oddity when both Jax and Gillian were born with it. We don’t know what we don’t know but that doesn’t mean we can have fun speculating.
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