I wonder why your Yang post didn’t make it in the gags? :| I’m sure the fandom would’ve loved to see it especially the parallels
I’m not sure! Who knows with the Tumblr gods :| I’m happy at least one person saw though - I love Bumbleby and the parallels were too good not to rant over.
EDIT: Weirdly this ask made it into the tags, so I’m going to circumvent fate and post it here… 🐝🐝🐝
Yang Xiao Long’s Eastern name origins and allusion to Bees
What follows is an essay/rant about the parallels between RWBY’s Yang Xiao Long and iconic martial arts badass, Xiao Long Nü, that blew. my. mind.
I stumbled across RWBY when Vol 7 aired and had no inkling of what the show was about (even less re: Bumbleby).
Having been born in Hong Kong and raised on a steady diet of martial arts dramas, based purely on the name ‘Yang Xiao Long’ and RWBY’s heavy martial arts influence, my instinctive reference point for Yang’s character wasn’t Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but rather Jin Yong’s 1959 novel, The Return of the Condor Heroes. [Side note: Jin Yong is essentially the Shakespeare of Wuxia (‘martial heroes’) fiction. There are countless modern remakes of his works.]
Here’s Xiao Long Nü (小龍女 in Chinese):
To cut an extremely long and convoluted story short, Xiao Long Nü is abandoned as an infant, adopted into the powerful Ancient Tomb Sect, becomes their leader and martial arts legend at age 14, kicks names and takes ass.
And now the part where the literary coincidences get super interesting.
Parallel 1: Their literal names
Yang’s full name is Yang Xiao Long (陽小龍), which is why Taiyang refers to her as his ‘Sunny Little Dragon’. It’s a direct translation, but also a nod to Xiao Long Nü (小龍女), which translates into ‘Little Dragon Maiden’. Like Yang, Xiao Long Nü is known for her fiery independence and ability to push through tough times.
Some have pointed out that ‘Xiao Long’ is a possible reference to Bruce ‘Little Dragon’ Lee (李小龍). I love the idea of Yang’s name drawing from both, as that would make her literary origins even more OP.
The ‘Maiden’ bit also hints at the tantalizing theory that each member of RWBY will eventually become one of the Four Maidens, Yang being the most likely candidate to receive Raven’s Spring Maiden powers.
Parallel 2: The name ‘Yang’
Yang is so called due to the first character of her Chinese name, Yang or 陽, which means ‘sun’ or ‘light’ and alludes to her gold/yellow color scheme, as well as her particular semblance.
There’s a second possible veiled reference. In ‘The Return of the Condor Heroes’, Xiao Long Nü meets and becomes entangled with a rebellious teenager, Yang Guo (楊過). [Side note: This ‘Yang’ is a different Chinese character, but pronounced the same and shares the same radical ie. pictorial component.]
Their relationship begins as one of master and student (despite being close in age). Xiao Long Nü agrees to train Yang Guo, and both fall madly in love with the other over the course of several years/RWBY volumes.
Their love, however, is severely tested on numerous occasions. A big challenge is that romances between master and student are considered extremely taboo in the martial arts world - not unlike, say, the taboo that likely surrounds Faunus/human relationships in Remnant due to longstanding prejudices. In the end, they persevere through personal traumas, deadly enemies and lengthy separations to emerge stronger as a couple. Sound familiar?
‘Yang Xiao Long’ is inherently a ship name; an amalgamation of the names of two people who together represent one of Wuxia literature’s greatest love stories of all time - one that is steeped in fantasy lore, while remaining true to the realities of heartbreak and finding your soul mate.
[BONUS: holy shit someone just DM’d me to remind me that Yang Guo, like our Yang, also had his right arm sliced off with a sword. I can’t believe I forgot that vital parallel :O]
Parallel 3: Their weapons
Xiao Long Nü’s signature weapons are LITERAL BEES.
As a disciple of the Ancient Tomb Sect, one of her key skills is carrying out stealth attacks using golden darts coated in jade bee poison, or ‘玉蜂針’, literally ‘jade bee needles’ (see below).
These bee-imbued weapons are launched at deadly speeds to take out unsuspecting enemies.
Xiao Long Nü can also summon and control a swarm of jade bees to aid in attacks by playing an ancient Chinese instrument called the guqin.
Poetically, the only antidote for the damage inflicted by jade bee needles is the rare honey that jade bees produce. Thus the source of the initial pain…
… becomes the spring from which healing can begin.
In conclusion, I love how RWBY signals certain character traits and ships via subtle (and not-so-subtle) visual and literary clues. As someone who was initially more familiar with Wuxia stories, it was pretty cool seeing the Bumbleby parallels as the show progressed.
dededos
baratheonpilled
blakekathryn
kianamaiart
kaledo-art
theartofmadeline
