#ruby semblance

[anthurak]

Okay, so to hopefully lighten the mood a bit after all the newfound sympathetic angst we’ve been subjected to this last episode, I thought it might be fun to just gush for a bit about how completely, utterly, BUSTED Ruby’s semblance potentially is.

First off, Evasion. Forget Blake’s ‘drop a clone and shift a few meters’, whenever Ruby goes into ‘Petal form’, it is basically impossible to actually hit her. Just about any kind of attack is just going to phase through her harmlessly.

Next, good luck keeping Ruby IN or OUT of just about anywhere. Does your supposedly IMPENETRABLE vault and/or prison have any opening wider than A MOLECULE? Because if so, too bad. This girl is finding a way a in and out.

Finally there is the whole deconstructing and reconstructing matter at a molecular level thing. Because that’s kind of a big deal. Like what if Ruby figured out how to reconstruct objects a bit... differently than how she deconstructed them? Even if we assume that Ruby could only do this on objects she is very familiar with, we could get crazy stuff like Ruby altering her clothing on the fly (what if THAT’S how she gets her Vacuo outfit?), or maybe in a battle at some point Crescent Rose is broken into a dozen pieces. One petal burst later and she’s good as new.

And that’s just the reconstructing angle. Right now Ruby can selectively choose what or who she brings into the proverbial slipstream with her. Imagine if she also figured out how to selectively choose what she brings out of it? Put another way, what if Ruby figured out how to deconstruct something, and then just... NOT reconstruct it afterwards?

Ruby’s semblance is right up there with Pyrrha’s in how completely broken it can potentially be. Right now, the only thing holding it back is simple lack of experience, which Ruby is only going to get more of.

Simply put, I think we are definitely going to see Ruby pull of some absolutely insane stuff with her semblance in the future. And it is going to be AWESOME.

[anthurak]

So here’s a CRAZY little detail I just realized:

When you think about it, the mechanics of Ruby’s semblance (deconstructing and reconstructing herself at a molecular level) might actually function VERY similar to Salem’s immortality. ie: Everything she dies, Salem reconstructs herself at a molecular level just like Ruby does when she teleports.

I think it’s pretty clear looking at the flashbacks that Salem’s immortality most likely isn’t some kind of regeneration or healing factor. For one, it kind of goes against the idea of the ‘curse’ placed upon her by the gods. She’s meant to be effectively ‘locked in place’, unable to die. Not to mention, molecular reconstruction makes Salem’s Immortality all the more ‘Total’. The fact is, you can beat a Healing factor through sheer attrition, no matter how strong it is. Just look at the Homunculi from Fullmetal Alchemist. Even if something can regenerate from just a single cell, that won’t do them any good if they’re completely incinerated, which I think we can assume Salem tried herself.

But molecular reconstruction? You basically can’t beat that. Cut them apart, incinerate them, hell vaporize them? Doesn’t mean a damn thing if their very molecules are simply reassembling themselves every time they’re separated. We see in Jinn’s vision that Ozma reduced Salem to a charred smear on the ground, and she reformed from that.

So with that in mind, what if Ruby can do the same thing? When you think about it, Ruby is basically vaporizing herself every time she uses her semblance and is able to put herself, her clothing, Crescent Rose and anyone she brought with her back together perfectly without even realizing it. 

Picture this: It’s the big climactic battle with Cinder. At a critical moment, Cinder finds an opening and slices Ruby’s arm clean off... only for that arm to suddenly burst into petals and reform on Ruby’s shoulder good as new.

Recently, we’ve been theorizing how Ruby’s semblance is a metaphor for her psychological baggage/trauma, but I think we’ve been ignoring the flipside: The fact that Ruby’s semblance could very well represent a metaphorical and LITERAL ability to bounce back from ANYTHING.