#tahnex

[kdinjenzen]

Hi Kdin! Hope you’re doing well 😁 if you’re still answering asks, could you order the Eeveelutions in order of your faves please? Like I know Sylveon is obviously Top because Sylveon is the fucking best, but I’m curious where you rank the others

Sylveon

Vaporeon

Espeon

Glaceon

Umbreon

Leafeon

Flareon

Jolteon

But like, I love them all, ya know? They’re all so cute!

[erughostcat]

The ‘bloconut’ was supposed to go to Defence, however you said you’d throw yourself in front of any fruit to protect them, so it was sent to you instead

i felt that one pelt me in the gut, thanks 😔

call me the defence defence force 😂

[conspirwbytheorist-inactive]

Part 2 of answer for @tahnex :

Delayed this one a bit to gather my thoughts since this is touches on some personal things for me.

I've got. . .very strong opinions about Raven giving her powers to Yang. Don't get me wrong, I understand why people like the idea of Maiden Yang, I do. I don't judge anyone for liking the theory or hoping it happens. But, with all that's going on between these two, I don't think it works for giving these characters the arc and growth they need.

Like, up until this point Raven and Yang's whole dynamic has essentially Yang being stuck dealing with the problems Raven causes/runs away from. She's had to grow up young in part because she only had one parent: got roped into a war Raven fled from: had to drive halfway across Remnant to connect because Raven was terrified of making the first move. Not to mention how the only time Raven's helped Yang turned into a lecture of "I'll only save you once".

As much as it'd be nice to know Raven loves her, I think she already knows that. (I think realizing that Raven never fully let go of Yang mixed with the emotions in the Vault scene made that abundantly clear for her) What she needs is, for once, for her mother to be there for her. Actually see her and her needs as they are and act to help her daughter.

She failed with the lamp. Yang gave Raven plenty of chances to step up in the vault and instead she fled, leaving Yang with yet another burden to deal with. Maiden powers, by and large, are not something to be envied. Raven herself called them a "curse" (in fact, everyone save for Cinder seems to see them as a bad thing). They give a person unimaginable magic, sure, but also a life that revolves around that magic (avoiding assassins, deciding how to use it, etc.)

The last thing Yang needs is more power, more responsibility. She's shouldered plenty in her life. What she needs is to be held and to have someone say "no, this isn't on you" and take something off her plate.

It's what I hope we see Blake eventually drive home for Yang, but to have Raven - the very woman who sent Yang down that path in the first place - be the parent to step up do that for her. It would mean a lot. For both of them.

Maybe have Raven spend enough time with her daughter beforehand to get a taste of what she gave up. Realize how much pain she could have avoided by staying in her life. Find a love and connection worth dying for. Normally, it'd be sweet for Yang to be the last person in Raven's thoughts. But Raven gave up that luxury the moment she became a maiden. The least she can do is finally let go and make sure those powers are one mistake Yang doesn't have to deal with for the rest of her days.

Speaking as someone who relates. . .a lot to Yang with a mother very similar to Raven: it's one thing to know a parent loves you. It's another thing entirely to have them actually act like it and be there for you in a meaningful way. I don't know if I'll ever get that for myself, but that doesn't mean I can't wish it for Yang, right?

[bloodraven55]

Hey, I saw you replied to a question Kdin got about Ren being ace, is it ok to ask a couple of questions? I’m writing a fanfic that’s got Ren and Nora in the background, with Ren being asexual but not aromantic. I’m trying to do it so he’s pretty much the same character as in RWBY, and he’s ok with kissing but nothing more. It’s pretty much only going to be brought up once (it’s a bumblebee and Whiterose fic primarily). Does that sound realistic? Thank you!

Yeah that sounds totally realistic to me 👌

[conspirwbytheorist-inactive]

Seeing as we now have confirmation that semblances can evolve and change, do you think anyone else’s will have a major change and evolution and if so whose? All the semblance improvements we’ve seen have been more of a low level improvement, like Sun being able to control more clones, Blake’s clones being better, Weiss’ summons, Ruby’s split into three and carrying people, all of them are still based on the original semblance, whereas with Ren whilst it’s definitely related to his “emotion-blocker”, actually seeing other people’s emotions is a major difference (I think anyway).

I think it'd be pretty cool if we did! Personally, in terms of most likely, I have to say Nora. Ren's semblance evolution is huge, but it's essentially him embracing the other parts of his power. Namely, he's always been very in tune with people's emotions (it's how he knows which feelings to suppress in others) he just hasn't ever openly realized it because of his own repression. A lot of his work this volume has revolved around him getting in touch with his emotions, so it makes sense to have the semblance evolve that way.

Likewise, Nora's power revolves around absorbing electricty (energy) from other sources and turning it into strength. With her theme this volume looking like learning to trust her own strength, I think it'd be epic if her semblance evolved from relying on converting external sources to being able to generate lightning on her own.

Still mulling what that shock they felt trying to pick Magnhild up is meant to foreshadow. . .But she is Thor and did just get KO'd by an ungodly amount of electricity. I'd be really surprised if all she got from that were the scars.

[conspirwbytheorist-inactive]

Finally question 3: how many of team RWBY will get maiden powers, or is it only destined to be given to characters other than the main four? If you think any of the girls will get the powers who do you think will get what and why? I’m calling Yang getting Raven’s Spring powers and it breaking her emotionally, because it will show that Raven cared for and loved her and her literal last thoughts were of her daughter. Might be obvious but it’s a hell of a tug on the old heartstrings.

[Splitting this into 2 parts because I have some strong and very specific feelings about Raven passing her powers to Yang. 😅]

Hmm, I really prefer the idea of the maiden powers going to non-RWBY members. A big theme of the show (and, for personal reasons one of my favorites) is the idea of strength in small, simple things instead of raw power. And, as cool as it would be to see our girls with flaming eyes, having the ultimate message be "they had to be magical super beings to take down the big bad" kind of directly contradicts that message.

Personally, I like the idea of our team members serving as inspirations for the 4 maidens. Right now the 3 we have all have an unhealthy view of the thing they examplify. Cinder is choice, but struggles to feel agency in her life. Raven is knowledge, but in seeing it as an ends became isolated and consumed by fear. Penny is creation and struggles with creating her own sense of self indep. of her role as Mantle's protector/agent of Atlas's military.

Which are all things our members struggle with - Ruby with agency as an SEW and huntress. Yang in balancing knowledge and passion (ultimately how learning forges connection). Weiss in creating a new identity for herself apart from the Schnee name. I like the idea of our girls resolving these main arcs and exemplifying what a healthy relationship to these ideals looks like. And for their personal experiences to help them encourage/inspire these maidens to come into their own.

In general, I think it sends a more grounded message that heroism exists in the little things we do that improve ourselves and inspire others instead of feeling we have to be something more than human.

[conspirwbytheorist-inactive]

Here’s a question for you: Do you think maiden powers and silver eyes can ever co exist? Like if a maiden’s last thoughts were of someone with silver eyes, could that person have both the silver eyes and maiden powers? I’m thinking not, but am open to agreements/disagreements.

Ooh, interesting! As a heads up: I tend to gravitate towards character/lit analysis more than in-universe mechanics, so this is relatively new territory for me, lol.

Honestly, I don't think I personally understand how the magic systems work enough to swing strongly either way? Like. I think it's been pretty strongly implied that without assistance (like Salem's Grimm bug/arm), one person can't hold more than one set of maiden powers. [world of Remnant was adamant about there always being four, as did the fairy tale, etc.] So, if whatever rules of magic that apply there go for silver eyes as well, then the powers would likely go elsewhere.

But we have an example of someone who already possessed some form of magic (Raven) being able to inherit maiden powers without a device. So having other magic powers in general doesn't seem to be a disqualifier for maidenhood. Does that mean Maiden Powers are a class unto their own? Are their different tiers of magical gifts that cancel each other out and others that stack? Do Silver Eyes count as a magical power? Or a bonus semblance like how Schnees have glyphs and summons? Or perhaps a genetic mutation/entirely separate gift stemming from the God of Light?

Narrative-wise I think it's unlikely we'd see this 1) Bc a silver eyed maiden would be OP AS HECK and 2) Bc maiden powers and SEW powers seem to rep different empowerment metaphors. (most of our maidens are young prev. disenfranchised/manipulated women gifted great power. SEW's seem to be more a question of familial ties and being burdened with a fate at birth) But, yeah. Depending on how the rules of magic actually function in Remnant I could see silver-eyed maidens being a theoretical possibility.

(I would be really interested in hearing more on your thoughts, though. It seems you've spent a bit of time on this and I'd love to get some more perspective/ideas on how this stuff works!)

[conspirwbytheorist-inactive]

Question 2 (Silver eyes boogaloo): Can men be silver eyed warriors? The only ones we’ve seen are Maria, Summer, and Ruby. It’s definitely canon that Maidens are women only (including Penny and imo potentially May), but I don’t know about Maria’s father. She mentions that he would have been disappointed in her showing off, which suggests he was a huntsman, but I don’t know if he was ever mentioned as a silver eyed warrior.

Kinda like the last one, unfortunately, lol. We haven't gotten a lot of specific lore/info about what Silver eyes are/how they function yet.

All 4 of the SEW's that appear (Ruby, Summer, Maria and "the Warrior in The Woods") are women. Almost any model we've seen meant to portray one has been a woman. Thematically, RWBY very much focuses on "soft" power (diplomacy, empathy, communication, etc.) and matrilineal connections (Summer and Ruby, Schnee Semblance, Yang's issues focusing on Raven, not Tai, etc.). So, with that being said I think there is a strong implication that all SEW's are women.

But. At the same time, there's still so many things we don't know about how they work. Four is a very limited sample size and, despite all of our examples being women, most discourse we've heard about SEW's has stayed in gender neutral pronouns. Then, like you said, Maria's father was a bit ambiguous (though him living long enough to see her go to school might be indicative that he wasn't since they tend to pass away so young). With what we currently know I don't see a reason why men couldn't also inherit Silver Eyes?

I'm hoping part of Ruby's work processing her pain regarding her mother will involve her learning more and more about the powers/history of Silver Eyed Warriors. But, yeah, with what we've got I can only kind of shrug and go "eeeeehhhhhhh????"