Adam Taurus and how he was never ruined to begin with
A lot of people on social media have claimed that Adam Taurus was “Retconned” into being an abusive ex, and that he was “meant to be” a freedom fighter and an anti-hero.
In this post, we’ll look into Adam’s actions and words throughout the show, and discuss instead how Miles and Kerry remained consistent with Adam’s character.
In the black trailer we see Adam working Blake. Right now this doesn't really imply anything on their relationship .Just that they are working together. The initial plan seems to just be to steal the cargo on the train. When Adam says he will set the charges Blake shows concern about civilian passengers and crew being caught in the explosion. Adam says "What about them?" This shows he doesn't care about any bystanders as long as he finishes what he is set out to do. At this point we still don't know what that is. It also shows that Blake had no clue about the explosives. If the plan was to always blow up the train then Blake wouldn't need to express concern for passengers if she knew it was always going to be demolished. Adam also used Blake as a distraction for him to destroy the spider tank which we never see again.
In volume one I don't believe Adam is even mentioned. I could be wrong. Blake just talks about the WF but not Adam himself. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
In volume two Blake mentions how Adam started the trend of wearing Grimm masks to 'dawn the faces of monsters that some people make them out to be.' Then she talks about him at the campfire and actually name drops him here. She explains how his vision of a perfect world isn't the perfect world for others. This shows where Blake started to distrust him and puts Adam in the perception of possibly being misunderstood in his goals. Then she drops the line of 'When I found out my oldest partner had turned into a monster I ran!'. At this point Adam has did some very ill moral things according to Blake. The train heist was the last straw when he was willing to kill people there who had nothing to do with faunus oppression. Then we finally see Adam at the very end of the volume. Here he shows no remorse for any of his brothers in arms and simply states that the group will continue to listen to him. This paints his goal as fighting for faunus rights extremely questionable.
In volume 3 we have a flashback to when Cinder tries to recruit him. At first he refuses to work for any human regardless of what they could offer him. We learn this is before the train heist were Blake runs. Then we see after the heist where Adam says not to worry about Blake and that they need to return to Mistral. Most likely to report back to Sienna about the train heist. At this point he only lost control of Blake but is still in control of the WF Vale branch. He isn't obsessed with her. Cinder then returns after getting half the maiden power and decimates his camp. She then offer's him dust and lien in payment for his services. Adam does not turn down her offer. He is now compromising his own convictions by working with a human he refused earlier. If he was truly the revolutionary that a lot of people paint him as at this point then he would have fought Cinder and never partner with her. It doesn't matter that he would have been outmatched he would have died a martyr with his convictions intact. Later on the volume Blake talks about Adam again, not naming him this time. Saying that she got close to him and how he slowly changed and how he kept making excuses for getting more and more violent. This is where the abuse starts to become more apparent. Just because Blake called Adam a mentor in V2 does not mean she also wasn't romantically involved with him. Being one doesn't make the other impossible. She also trusts her team a lot more to divulge something incredibly personal to her. Then we have the fall of Beacon. Adam was not hunting down Blake. They just happened to run into each other. Adams goal was never to hunt down Blake, but when she showed up he took the opportunity. Adam lays on thick how much her betrayal actually hurt him. And declares that he will take that pain and direct back at Blake buy killing everything she loves and holds dear. Then Yang attacks and loses her arm because lost her cool and launched and extremely telegraphed attack that Adam took advantage of. Blake used her semblance to escape with Yang and Adam continued to kill the people around him, and some Grimm, since that is what he was paid for. He was less of a revolutionary here and more of a mercenary for Cinder in my opinion.
So, from what I've seen Adam's character didn't really change. We hear what Adam said he was for, but then we see him act differently by ignoring his convictions to his cause and pulling in people that would help him kill humans, or blow up more schools. From here on he craved more control and since Sienna didn't agree with how the WF should proceed he decided to take over. Nothing about this character screams 'ruined' character to me. He wanted the Belladonnas killed because they were getting in his way. He killed Sienna for getting in his way.
Blake took away his control and his image. He chased her for revenge. He wanted to make her suffer for his loss. “Why can’t you leave me alone?” was more of him saying “Why do you keep standing in my way?”
Could they have gone a different route with him? Sure. But the same could be said for every other character. Since shopkeeper isn't some Vale underground info broker who uses a dust shop as as front I guess he could be a 'ruined' character to since that is also very interesting. People need to let people have their opinions. Some people don't like how Adam turned out, and that's fine. Other's like how he was a foil to Blake and then to Yang. That's fine too. But don't attack people for liking/not liking the other's opinion. And don't attack the writers saying they can't write a good character. They just didn't write what you wanted in character. This does not make them bad writers. It just means they didn't write something that you prefer. Everything is subjective. That's the nuance of story telling. Some people will enjoy the story shown while others won't. Doesn't make the story bad. It just means it didn't appeal to one of the groups.
Also: Semblances.
Adam’s Semblance says so much about him as a person, and the difference between him and Yang as people.
Moonslice allows Adam to store energy by blocking attacks with his blade, then release it in a powerful attack. This is contrasted with Yang’s Burn, which lets her accumulate power when she takes hits and use it to enhance her strength and speed.
They’re similar Semblances, but Adam’s is much narrower in scope and purpose. The only use Moonslice has is as a direct attack, while Yang’s has allowed her to protect herself and others—she’s even used it to intercept an attack meant for someone else. Moonslice also requires Adam to have a weapon to gather and release his Semblance through.
Because, for Adam, all that power matters for is as a weapon, something to hurt others. That is his only desire, and that is reflected in his Semblance.
But even more telling is the fact that—unlike Yang, who has to personally take life’s blows in order to grow stronger—it’s Adam’s weapon that takes the hits for the sake of his attack instead of him. Adam derives power from the punishment his weapon receives.
…in other words, it perfectly reflects how Adam appropriated the oppression and abuse the Faunus have suffered for the sake of his desire to hurt others.
They didn’t ruin his character, he was always that way, people just head-canoned him into their edgy abused/neglected power fantasy character and were upset when he ended up going to the logical conclusion of his character arc.
That's always what his character was. An obsessive self entitled maniac that felt that he deserves the world because he suffered, and everyone else was in the wrong.
He was always that character and wasn’t poorly written for that type of character. He was rather realistic actually. If you wanted him to be a different type of character that's fine if you're writing a fanfic, but this is always how his character was.
I believe in keeping with RWBY's preference for subverting tropes, Adam is an Ill-intentioned extremist version of the "White Male Savior" typically common in anime, tv shows, and movies.
Side note? Adam cut off Yang’s arm
Why do people keep saying that Yang had no reason to fight Adam compared to Weiss, when A) Blake was Yang’s partner, B) Yang lost an arm due to Adam, and C) Adam and Yang had similar yet different semblances?
Let’s go further.
Yang and Adam both go through a lot of suffering. However Yang uses her suffering as experience to try to help Blake grow as a person in volume 2 chapter 6. We see in the Adam short that Adam tries using his pain to manipulate and gaslight Blake.
Yang’s semblance is like a Guardian, meant to protect others or be used to help others. Adam’s semblance is more like an Abuser’s power to take somebody’s attempt to defend themselves and use it to hurt them or others.
Yang and Adam are both elements of Anger. But Yang reflects it through her words, causing many critics to hate her for having any mood that isn’t positive 100% of the time. Adam’s anger is reflected in his attacks on people, which seem to be defended by critics as being “a kicked dog?” I’m sorry, I have to go through more notes from what I’ve seen of Adam Apologists.
Anyway, moving forward. Yang is shown repeatedly being concerned about others wellbeing, even those she has no relationship to. Nora is repeatedly shown doing the same, even calling out Ironwood on his sociopathy and disregard for anyone that he cannot use or intends to sacrifice. I bring up Ironwood because Adam ALSO uses and sacrifices other people to achieve his goals, and both love to talk about “The greater good” as an excuse for their actions. Adam showing no regard for his followers who die at Mount Glenn or Beacon, telling Cinder they will still support her if he tells them to. Yang in multiple volumes is shown to be willing to put herself out there for others faunus or human.
Adam is shown being a Faunus Supremacist, or at least wanting to wipe out humans. Yang literally calls out a racist in V8 pointing out how the Faunus were doing more for Mantle than Ironwood ever did, showing people that despite Ironwood’s propaganda broadcasts, they did not need Atlas so much as Atlas needed Mantle.
Also , regarding design?
Yang’s style of character is one that becomes increasingly conservative, less sexualized...which amusingly causes a lot of people to claim she’s “no longer fun”...I personally didn’t realize that a female character’s purpose is apparently to be “lewded or waifu’d”. As she becomes less interested in men, more mature, she represents a female character who is both complex and more interesting to write in LGBT settings. Furthermore, as we see in “Turning Red” its honestly refreshing for female main characters to be allowed to be moody...something that is considered either bad writing or “no longer fun” if a woman is angry....Honestly I feel sympathy for the writers of Turning Red...all that magnificent work they put into their characters, the story, everything...and people went all out in review-bombing them...I suppose this is why we can’t have nice things. One last note is that Yang is also a person who doesn’t let the bad in the world stop her from being idealistic or compassionate to others. That’s a very mature mindset to have, not to mention the whole standing up to the law when doing the right thing is different from obeying a law that may be bad for others.
As for Adam. There’s no other way to say this. He is “abused neglected male reader” material. He is the straight white male, angry at the world, wielding a sword, claiming to be giving the world the justice it deserves. He’s even got the weeboo Katana! Adam Taurus is a teenage male fanfic writer’s fantasy. The fact that his “enemies” or more specifically the people he hurts often are women is also something worth noting. (Blake, Yang, Sienna)...as is his complex of being oppressed or harmed by said women...he’s basically perfect revenge fantasy protagonist material. Which is why so many fanfic writers who focus on him try to make him into a hero and the women opposing him into villains.
One final example of the foils....While both characters prefer to fight over talk? Yang shows restraint multiple times, and prefers to still offer people the chance to walk away. Adam repeatedly is shown to be stubborn and embrace violence first to the point of chasing anyone who’s “Wronged” him, to where Yang and Blake had to put him down.
Its interesting...A lot of people got furious that Yang and Blake killed Adam, but NOT that Adam was trying to kill them...Apparently Adam cutting off Yang’s arm is ignored or laughed at, but Yang and Blake killing Adam is considered first-degree murder, not self-defense?
I still wanna know why , despite Blake trying to reform the White Fang members like Ilia and preach pacifism over violence....why do people keep calling Blake a terrorist who is “just as bad as Adam” or “responsible for just as many deaths as Adam?”
I will never understand people trying to justify the actions of male antagonists or portray them as victims when the people facing them are female protagonists who are idealists rather than cynical.
