"Locked away by her cruel father, Salem was a girl who desired but one thing: freedom" Oh. So Weiss
And that's a fitting choice of quote because we immediately see Ruby observing and sympathising with Salem's very Weissian plight
Salem is then rescued by Ozma, a warrior who fights "only for righteousness" instead of pursuing self-serving goals, and prevails due to his "pure heart and courageous soul", which definitely sounds Rubyish
❤️ I wonder if this means anything 🤍
And the WhiteRose parallel isn't the only one these two have going on (I think they're meant to have multiple different parallels), but it is a particularly strong one and look at my blog title and header, of course I'm going to focus on this one
I also think that the WhiteRose parallels aren't as simple as "Ruby is Ozma, Weiss is Salem", because things get complicated after Ozma's first death. More under the readmore
Here it's instead Weiss who we see sympathising with Salem as Salem grieves Ozma and wonders how the gods could allow him to die. I can think of 3 possible things this could be saying:
Salem parallels Weiss (see above) so this foreshadows that Weiss will suffer loss in the future. Possible candidates may be the Fall of Atlas (unlikely, a whole city vs a person), Ruby's Ascension (unlikely, Ruby returned relatively quickly compared to Ozma), or something we haven't seen happen yet
Weiss is already sympathising with Salem because of their similar histories, so she's now wondering how she'd react if something like this happened to her own Ozma (*cough* Ruby *cough*). Could potentially combine with the 1st option
Salem no longer parallels Weiss. When she did, we saw Ruby sympathising with her, so this suggests a role-reversal - that Salem now parallels Ruby. Ruby who has at this point lost Summer, Penny (fits with the Ozma-as-Penny interpretation, I've got less thoughts on that one but I do like it) and Pyrrha, nearly lost Weiss (fits an Ozma-as-Weiss interpretation, fits with the idea that the prior set of parallels has been reversed), and will suffer more loss going forward. This interpretation is the one I personally agree with as it fits with what we see after this.
Both Weiss and Ruby are shown observing Salem's petition to Light. Salem begs for the resurrection of her lover but is denied. On one level, this could indicate that both of them will be disappointed by/lose faith in a light/order-aligned authority - Ozpin is the obvious candidate here and I do think that's the case for Ruby, but for Weiss it might be someone different (Winter initially siding with Ironwood is one option here, but I don't know if it's the right one)
Another way to interpret this... Salem is petitioning to bring Ozma back from the dead. Ruby and Weiss appear on opposite sides of Salem and "the other side" is a common term for the afterlife. If we are assuming that the Ozma-Salem parallel here flipped from Ruby-Weiss to Weiss-Ruby after Ozma's death, this might suggest that Ruby will try to make some sort of bargain with someone (possibly Light-associated) to save or spare Weiss's life
A third possible interpretation is that this is foreshadowing Ruby's use of the Silver Eyes, which do seem to be derived from Light. We do see later this volume that Weiss features prominently in Ruby's thoughts when she activates her Silver Eye powers
I don't know which, if any, of those interpretations are the right ones, but I do know that if we see that bargain to save Weiss's life happen, I will be at least a little annoying about it
There's some other things that happen after this that also lend themselves to the idea that after Ozma's death, Salem is a parallel to Ruby, but I wanna talk about those separately so instead let's skip ahead to after Salem and Ozma reunite and become an Evil Overlord Couple
One has a black, red, and white color scheme. The other has a blue, white, and gray color scheme. Salem's color scheme has more black and less red than Ruby's and Ozma's more blue and less gray than Weiss (at least right now), but the similarity is there. Ozma's incarnation here even has white hair.
And whose horrified reactions do we see when Ozma and Salem get turbodivorced?
Now, I don't think Ruby and Weiss will be taking over Remnant any time soon, and I don't see them having a duel to the death either, but this could be setting them up as foils to the Evil Overlord Couple. Maybe it's just about their relationship - that Weiss wouldn't go behind Ruby's back and Ruby wouldn't dismiss Weiss's concerns, that they have a trust that Ozma and Salem no longer have, if they ever did
(It could also be setting up future plot developments, either ones that we've already seen since then or ones that are yet to come, but those would probably be more general rather than relating to Weiss and Ruby specifically. There's at least some comparison here to the Atlas Arc, which also features a plan to unite the world and a tragedy that destroys a fortress resulting from mistrust and secrecy, but again - that's more general rather than being to do with these two specifically)
And getting back to the topic of how the relationship between Weiss and Ruby differs from that between Ozma and Salem... Like I mention in this post, the Ozma/Salem relationship is actually not a healthy one, and the way Jinn describes them falling in love highlights that: Ozma saved Salem and Salem found "freedom" in her relationship with him rather than the outside world she'd yearned for, while Ozma only considers his own life worth saving because of his relationship with Salem.
In Volume 4, Weiss is locked up by her cruel father but is rescued... by herself, with help from Klein. In Volume 9, during Ruby's Ascension, she chooses herself, for herself (compare Ozma choosing to stay dead until he learns Salem's still alive, at which point he agrees to be resurrected without hesitation and almost immediately seeks Salem out). Unlike Salem with Ozma, Weiss doesn't owe her freedom to Ruby and she isn't Ruby's one and only reason for coming back. Neither one is the other's only important relationship, the way Ozma and Salem seemed to be
So uh. tl;dr: there is a strong parallel between Ozma and Salem and Ruby and Weiss, which starts with Ruby-as-Ozma and Salem-as-Weiss but reverses after Ozma's first death. Unlike Ozma and Salem, Ruby and Weiss are not dependent on each other, leading to a healthier relationship and a better chance of a good outcome
The Lost Fable is one of the most important episodes in RWBY. It's the second longest episode in the series, explains the mythological origins of Remnant, gives us the history of Ozpin and Salem, sets the tone for future events and plotpoints, and completely shakes up the status quo. So how did Celtic fuck it up?
For starters, Jinn is way more verbose than canon. I'll just insert their introductory dialogue for comparison
Canon: "I am Jinn, a being created by the god of light to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. I’ve been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one hundred years. You’re in luck, as I’m still able to answer two questions this era.”
FRWBY: "I am Jinn, sent by the gods to catalogue the knowledge of existence and to bestow it upon the inheritors of man. I can answer questions of all there is and all there used to be. But Temper your thirsts for knowledge for I can only answer up to three questions. And once asked each question takes a century to renew. This is my second summoning in as much time. As such there are only two questions that remain. Please, tell me, what is your query?"
I liked the framing of The Lost Fable here where the cast picks up various books telling the story of Oz and Salem, but got sick of Celti's narration about it. He basically repeats "A young X picks up *insert book* and speaks in Jinn's voice" six times
In canon The Lost Fable was a story entirely focused on Oz, Salem, the gods, and their central conflict. There really isn't any scene or dialogue you could remove without weakening the story, it's pretty tight despite how dense with lore it is
In FRWBY, between Celtic's bloat problems of adding in useless shit that doesn't fucking matter and Jinn being about twice as much a talker as she is in canon, this is a slog
These pointless details include:
-Salem sending out a message for a hero free her from her father's tower
-Oz and Salem journeying and meeting actual faceless nameless nobodies
-After the gods curse Salem with immortality we meet four hooded faceless nameless magi that are humanity's defenders
-They try to stop the gods from wiping out humanity and accomplish nothing instantly dying instead
-Salem repeatedly eggs on Oz to keep expanding the kingdom they made to "enlighten the lesser people" by conquering and absorbing their nations. This happens three times
Now let's list off the major differences in The Lost Fable from canon:
-Oz is "more cunning than brave"
-The Brothers have an actual fight that results in them destroying the moon and leaving Remnant
-The Grimm were created in response to Salem's trickery to punish all of humanity
-Salem becomes a guiding figure for humanity and gets worshipped as an immortal god in the process
-In response to this worship, the Brothers wipe out humanity sans Salem
-Oz's mission isn't to unite humanity, but to "prove that humanity is more than mindless shadow" whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean. Nobody in-universe knows what this means either
-Oz ends up with Salem a LOT longer after he reincarnates in remnant
-Oz and Salem become international nation conquerors due to being the only people on the planet with magic, and they get worshipped as gods. Why the Brothers didn't appear again to wipe out humanity due to the false idol worship is beyond me
-While Oz is away their children get assassinated, and Salem blames him for not being there to protect them starting their beef. Reminder she's the one instigating him leaving in the first place
-Oz asks Jinn what can kill Salem, and only the gods can do it. He refuses to summon them despite having the means to do so because he knows they'll kill Salem
So there ya go, villain Oz. He's kept the world at war with Salem for thousands of years and destroyed who knows how many lives because he still loves her. As Lionheart put it all he tells is lies, and as Raven put it he isn't fighting to beat Salem but to keep the world the way he likes it. They're fully justified in betraying him in this universe
First of all, the Brothers. While The Lost Fable frames them in a pretty malicious light, they aren't entirely evil. They still deeply care enough about one another to the point that the elder telling the younger that he's being used by Salem was all that was needed to stop their potential fighting. And as we learn in Volume 9, they're moreso VERY flawed creators who have poor ideas about how they should treat their creations rather than actively malicious. In FRWBY they're your typical jackass gods with no good or redeeming qualities, and I expect that V9 will have them intentionally destroy the Ever After with the tree kicking them out to keep up this characterization
And then there's Oz. This is a real chicken or egg situation. Did Celtic want Roman to be Oz's next host and rewrote him to be a villain to keep the similar soul rule? Did he rewrite The Lost Fable and make Oz into a villain and had Roman replace Oscar after? Or did he just make shit up as he went on despite having hindsight on his side? Either way, Oz is just as bad if not WORSE than Salem in this rewrite and he should be left to die in a ditch if him dying didn't mean he'd steal the life of another person
The Lost Fable was completely overhauled, changing the story of a hero faced with an impossible mission against an invincible enemy, into one of two villains fucking up the world because Oz still cares about Salem despite everything. I fail to see how this "fixes" RWBY Celtic
Salem's response to Dark wiping out her army is interesting, at it's basically, "I'll do what I did before, only with a bigger army!"
Doesn't that sound familiar?
It's the same way Ironwood reacted to the Fall of Beacon. He tried to defend Vale by flying out a collection of airships and robots...and when he returned to Atlas, his idea of a defense is to deploying a massive fleet of airships (While leaving the robots in the less important- to him- Mantle).
Oscar wasn't kidding when he said Ironwood was just like Salem...
Do you have hcs/theories on Ozma’s family for the show proper? I kept thinking how Ozma is implied to be suicidal before he met Salem and I wonder what caused that to develop. We do have quite a bit on Salem’s parents.
We are given so little information about Ozma’s background before he enters Salem’s life. We can only infer from what little is said about him in Jinn’s narration and depiction during The Lost Fable:
“A legendary hero…The people of the lands knew him as Ozma.”
“Ozma had been ready to give his life for justice countless times, but now saw a woman worth saving it for.”
There are also brief glimpses of Ozma in "The Girl in the Tower" from the animated series RWBY: Fairy Tales:
But these glimpses do not tell us more about Ozma himself, only how he entered Salem’s story.
And we’re left with his bedridden end:
“Ozma, the infallible hero of legend, fell ill. And where all of the beasts and blades of the world had fallen short, a single sickness prevailed.”
My interpretation of Ozma, in the show proper, is very close to what I depict in Mountain King (although without my homemade wrinkle of the Howling). What I extrapolate from what little we’re given is this:
Ozma was born with some terminal affliction that ended his young life prematurely. And how others in his life—parents, possible siblings, friends, strangers—reacted to and navigated his short life span resulted in some, let’s say, learned patterns for Ozma’s psychology. I like long-term illness/terminal disease rather than surprise plague infection for the exact long-term, learned behaviors it imprints on the man himself.
Ozma ran away from his family to live his life righteously—dangerously—until either his adventures or his sickness killed him. I bet he was hoping he would find his end via the former rather than the latter.
I don’t think you can take the fatalistic musings out of the Ozma and still have it be the Ozma. “Ready to give his life for justice countless times, but now saw a woman worth saving it for,” is hmm blunt in what it’s alluding to.
The variables for the Ozma formula make a similar sense if he was an orphan rather than a runaway. But him being a runaway is something I’m sentimentally attached to for some *cough* unknown reason.
Listen, the self-isolating tendencies are crucial!
Ozma, much like Salem, is a profoundly lonely character.
She had her tower.
And he had the lonesome road.
I’ll put excerpts from In the Hall of the Mountain King which speak to my “headcannon” of Ozma’s background/family/origins under the cut, quotes from Chapter 10:
“I was born dying, Ozma begins, unfolding like a picture book with secret folded paper pop-out slides, inserts, and panels. Animated and colorful.”
“My family, before I fled them, treated me like I was made of glass, and that each new day would be the fateful day I shattered.
They were afraid to love me. My parents did not give me a name.
To them, I was a wretched, ill-fated thing; better off dead now, then left to struggle here a short while and die an inescapable, painful death.
My parents spoke once of putting me out of my misery behind a closed door.
I fled their home that night.
It had never been my home. Not really. I had always been a passing visitor to them.”
…
“From then on, I lived my life wild and reckless. Though the Howling spelled my doom, it also meant my magic was potent. I could be useful. I ventured forth and spent my time in service to those left unprotected. The wretched, the wounded, and the forgotten. I would go where no other dared tread. I held out my hand to the misbegotten. Even when they slapped my hand away or shrunk back from me.
I understood their mistrust.”
…
“I was a wanderer. I never put down roots. I listened to the call of the wind and followed it. Every place I blew through bringing new experiences, new faces and voices. I wanted to see it all, as much as I could.
As much as I was allowed.”
…
“I became known in the lands I traveled. The people sang my chosen name and called for me in times of need. Those who wielded wealth and power with cruelty feared my name.
I was wild and clever; and I knew how to spin a tale when it counted.”
…
“In every town I aided they would beg me to stay.
“Why don’t you stick around? We could use someone like you.”
“You’ve made a difference. You’re more than welcome to stay.”
“This could be your home too, y’know.”
The fear I felt each time someone reached for me…I could not stay. I could not let them in.
I could not let them love me.
The agony of my pitiful existence. The cruel irony. I had so much love in my heart, but I did not allow myself to give it in any other way than the unexpected goodness of a stranger.
rwby v6ch3 concept art // @/ryebreadgf on tumblr // sylvia plath // what the dragon said: a love story - catherynne m. valente // reuse the cels - car seat headrest // @/peteski on instagram // toward certain divorce - marvin bell // rwby: fairy tales of remant
