A Semblance of Reasoning, Part 5
Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. How long has it’s been? Eh, who knows. Anyway, We’ve covered the Semblances of the Main Heroes, the Assisting Heroes, the “Mentor” Figures, and the Main Villains. So, perhaps now we should get into the Supporting Allies.
Sun Wukong, probably the first supporter. His Semblance is called Via Sun, and functionally it manifests clones of pure energy. Unlike Blake and her Shadow clones, these clones are bright yellow and translucent. Also unlike Blake, who’s clones stand still, Sun’s clones are capable of movement and have physical force, allowing them to attack or hold down a target.
How exactly Sun created his Semblance I won’t know precisely, but, if flashbacks in “RWBY: Before the Dawn” are any indication, when Sun was a child, his youth is what prevented him from helping out with his tribe. And there’s an old proverb “Many hands make a lighter load.” perhaps Sun created his Semblance as a means of helping out.
I’ve always been of the belief that characters who have duplication Semblances are secretly lonely. However, Sun is an interesting display of this belief. He’s first introduced not as part of a team, and clearly sees no problem with going off without them at a given notice. As he explains in the beginning of Before the Dawn, his semblance lets him be a team of his own, so there’s no need (in his mind) to worry about having help. Of course,
He’s from Vacuo, where people die very easily, (And Sun lost his parents as a child) so I theorize that this is a subconscious preventative action- If losing people hurts, don’t forge close bonds so it won’t hurt when you lose them.
Technically, Oscar Pine doesn’t have a Semblance. However, much like Watts, that lack of Semblance is something to talk about. After the Fall of Beacon in Volume 3, Oscar becomes the next vessel for Ozpin’s soul (I will not say reincarnation). As such, much of his sense of self from Volume 4 onward is that he’s “The new Ozpin”, something more or less all of the adults he spends any time with treat him as. Because of this distorted self, Oscar probably hasn’t been able to manifest his own Semblance.
Of course, Oscar does have access to Ozpin’s magic, which is not necessarily a good thing. Each usage of magic speeds up the merger between Ozpin and Oscar. If Oscar doesn’t find his own self, he’ll lose it in the tide of Oz’s wave…
Every fantasy show needs an old, quirky mentor, and RWBY has Maria Calavera! Her power is called “Preflexes”, a form of heightened sensory perception that lets sense what’s happening around her and predict her opponents movements. Kinda like Mantra or Observation Haki from One Piece.
Growing up, Maria was made aware that, according to her father, there used to be Silver Eyed Warriors around the world, but they’ve vanished, which meant some force was doing away with the SEWs. With instructions to keep her powers secret, Maria began to do her work from behind a mask. What if her Semblance was born out of always being on guard from some unknown assailant? An underlying worry about what is lurking just out of sight?
And finally, Robyn Hill. Her Semblance is Lie Detection, and the name is rather misleading. Rather than “Detecting” lies, what Robyn does is take someone by the hand, and if they are telling the truth, the aura around their hands glow green. Presumably, it a glows a different color if the person she’s testing lies.
Given that she grew up in Atlas, where the leaders lie and break promises at the drop of a hat, it’s no wonder that Robyn gained this power. Of course, this is also has made things difficult for her as well. As she tells Qrow, people give her space out of fear that she’ll expose their secrets.
But what makes her Semblance really interesting that it’s not just detecting lies, but also demonstrating truth. In most shows, a character with this sort of power just goes, “Oh, I can sense that you’re lying.” But, Robyn doesn’t do that. We don’t take it on her word, she has the power to visually show whether or not someone is being honest. And she never uses it as weapon! It’s never, “You’re lying and I can prove it” but always, “If you’re telling the truth, let me show it”.
