Pyrrha & Cinder - Achilles, Hector, Patroclus & Paris
I’m in my Homer era once again, so let’s talk about RWBY’s allusions to the Iliad and other Greek myths during the Fall of Beacon.
Or rather, let’s talk about how I think Cinder and Pyrrha both pull triple duty with their allusions when they fight. During their climactic final battle, Pyrrha was Achilles, Patroclus, and Hector, and to each of those allusions Cinder in turn played Paris, Hector, and Achilles.
Obviously there’s a lot to say there, so long post under the cut:
Part 1: Pyrrha as Achilles, Cinder as Paris
So, this one is obvious — Achilles takes an arrow to the ankle, shot by Paris, in the battle where he dies. Pyrrha takes an arrow to the ankle, shot by Cinder, in the battle where she dies. Simple, right?
Except…it’s kind of not. Achilles is classically considered the Best of the Achaeans — that’s why the Iliad is introduced as the story of the wrath of Achilles. He’s the big narrative driver (and as soon as he decides to fight again, it’s over for the Trojans). It’s also why it’s narratively significant that noble Achilles dies to Paris, who’s considered the Worst of the Trojans.
Pyrrha is the best of her generation of Huntresses, in terms of current skill and power. Her being Achilles, Best of the Achaeans, makes sense. But while Paris is considered the Worst of the Trojans, that moniker so doesn’t work for Cinder. She’s not the weakest of Team WTCH — on the contrary, I’d say she’s the most valuable, least disposable member of Salem’s inner circle.
From what we’ve seen, Watts is the Tech Guy, Tyrian is a bounty hunter, and Hazel does the combat stuff really well but is more importantly Salem’s Diplomat, the guy she uses for maintaining good relations with pawns for as long as they’re needed.
Those are all important and necessary tasks, sure, but…not ones Salem would necessarily struggle to find replacements for. We see her do it quickly in the Volume 9 Epilogue, using Jax and Gillian as her new people-persons (Hazel) and Mercury as a new enforcer (Tyrian-substitute/supplement).
But replacing Cinder would be hard. Finding someone young enough to become a Maiden, yet so alone and jaded and broken as to desperately crave the power and validation Salem offers enough to kill for it, would be hard. Salem does need Cinder, in a very real way, hence why she tries so hard in Volume 8 to keep Cinder on side and loyal and performing, rather than just replace her with Emerald or Neo (both of the right age/gender to be Maidens and present to threaten/manipulate if Salem is so inclined).
(Emerald and Neo are respectively harder to manipulate and lacking the conviction/long term motivation to be used as Maidens, IMHO, hence why Salem doesn’t try that even as a backup option. But that’s another post altogether.)
Cinder is also just bluntly the strongest member of Team WTCH. Sure, she probably wasn’t stronger than Hazel or Tyrian pre-canon, but she maybe was once she got half the power from Amber, and certainly was once she became a fully fledged Fall Maiden. Cinder is now the strongest of Salem’s followers.
You could potentially make an argument that Cinder is the worst in sense that she had it the worst — that she suffered the most intensely, lost the most willpower, hit rock bottom the most deeply of them all. But by then…at that point we’re divorced from what made Paris the Worst of the Achaeans.
Paris is weak, cowardly, and weepy, a man at home in bed instead of on the battlefield in a war he caused. He hides behind the walls of Ilion and the sacrifices of his brothers, Hector especially, to stay alive, despite the fact he’s the reason they’re sacrificing, because Paris started the whole war by taking Helen.
And…that might be Cinder’s real connection to Paris. As he took Helen, who was first Menelaus’s wife, Cinder took the Fall Maiden’s powers, which were first Amber’s. The status of a beautiful divine wife and the sanctity of marriage, versus the power/status of the Fall Maiden’s magic and choice to open the vault. That’s how Cinder fits into her role as Paris. It’s in her deeds, rather than her personality, capability, or greater narrative function.
Part 2: Pyrrha as Hector, Cinder as Achilles
As established, there are ways to make Cinder as Paris fit. But upon further inspection…Pyrrha doesn’t quite match up to Achilles. At least, not to him fighting in his primary narrative, the Iliad. (She does align better with him in some sequel and supplemental texts, including Achilles’ death.)
Achilles may be avenging Patroclus, but he ultimately came to Troy as an invader, a conqueror, seeking glory and treasure. He only later gains the motive of helping his friend — initially, it’s entirely for the benefit of himself, for glory and strength and a heroic death, that he goes to Troy.
Granted, Pyrrha does have a heroic death, one that she walks into willingly. But in her grand, final battle…Pyrrha is not the conquering champion who wins the climactic fight, the one with divine power whose victory was guaranteed from the start. That’s Cinder. Cinder is Achilles. Cinder is the one with Maiden powers, the one that no lone mortal Huntress can hope to beat.
Instead, Pyrrha is Hector. Pyrrha is defending her home against a stronger opponent she knows she can’t hope to beat. She’s the loyal and loving friend who sent her partner and loved one (Deiphobus/Andromache, both parts played by Jaune) to safety but herself stayed behind to fight. Pyrrha takes on a battle she can’t hope to win against a divinely blessed enemy for the sake of her school/Troy.
Pyrrha is Hector to Cinder’s Achilles — and after all, Cinder far better fits the profile of a wrathful avenger, even if she’s fighting for the sake of herself and not a loved one.
Cinder is Achilles, avenging the weak abused girl who was failed by Huntsmen by burning Beacon to the ground. She is not noble, not heroic, but we do understand her desire for destruction. We know why she wants to make the world burn. We see her wrath, and it drives RWBY’s narrative almost as much as Salem’s own anger does.
Part 3: Pyrrha as Patroclus, Cinder as Hector
Okay, this one may seem like a reach. But hear me out:
When Patroclus is killed, he’s disguised as Achilles — he took up his partner’s armor (but not spear, as Achilles’ was too heavy for him to wield) — as a way to raise the morale of the plague-struck and ass-kicked Achaean army. He doesn’t have the divine blessings and parentage that Achilles does, though, and as such is killed by the superiorly skilled and more powerful Hector.
And Pyrrha died fighting in place of Amber, of Ozpin, of the magical people who actually possess the power needed to fight a Maiden solo and survive. Pyrrha knew she lacked the necessary strength, she just also knew her loved ones needed her.
That said — people ignore how strong Patroclus was. He kills 27 named characters before he finally goes down (and the way it’s presented sounds like a math word problem, in a way I find funny, but not the point). He didn’t have what it took to beat Hector, but Patroclus was still far more powerful and capable than most of those he fought alongside.
Moreover, it’s the death of Patroclus that drives Achilles back to the frontlines and to kill Hector — and seeing Pyrrha die causes Ruby to activate her Silver Eyes for the first time, maiming Cinder. Not to mention how the loss of Pyrrha drives JNR for the rest of the show.
But of course, for Pyrrha to be Patroclus means Cinder must at least momentarily play the part of Patroclus’ killer — Hector. The favorite and most glorious of Priam’s sons, or the most valued and trusted of Salem’s followers. It almost does fit, doesn’t it?
Well, for one thing, I think it’s fascinating that out of the three allusions, each character has, two are shared. The parts of Achilles and Hector are played by both Pyrrha and Cinder. They’re representative of very different parts of those characters, to be sure, but…it does feel like a hint towards how similar they could have been. How good Cinder could have been without her tragic past, or how bad anyone else in her shoes would’ve similarly gotten.
Moreover…well. We do see the ghost of Achilles in Hades, during the Odyssey, and get advice from him. Given that…I think it’s possible we’ll hear from Pyrrha, and potentially Amber, in some kind of Maiden mindscape, perhaps the same one Winter and Penny conversed in.
I also do entertain thoughts of whether Cinder is alluding to any other famed archers — AKA either Artemis as a protector of young girls (and yet the one Iphigenia is sacrificed to) or Apollo as the plague god who shot down many Achaeans in Book 1.
There’s definitely more to say on this topic, but this was most of my thoughts and just what I actually wanted to look into. If you read this far, thank you!
