RWBY Theory: The Eyes of Adam Taurus
For five volumes now, Adam Taurus has been witnessing the world of Remnant from behind a mask.
His mask is such an intrinsic part of his imagery, and of the White Fang’s imagery, that it became an accepted part of his character. It just remained in place, almost innocuous, for four full seasons.
Until yesterday. Until Volume 5, Chapter 2.
Sienna Khan, in her last moments, reaches for Adam’s Grimm mask.
While he is in the act of deposing her, his blade piercing her body, she uses the last of her life to try to pry the mask off of his face.
For Sienna to spend her last moments like this tells us something critical- that without the mask, Adam would literally be exposed, made vulnerable, in some meaningful way. And while we can’t definitively solve the mystery right now, we do have something to guide us. One of RWBY’s most central images is that of the eye.
Characters like Yang, Neo, and Cinder have eyes that reflect their nature and their powers. However, their eyes don’t leave them vulnerable or exposed in any way- their eyes just indicate the status and use of their powers, like Yang’s eyes turning red as her Semblance activates, or Cinder’s eyes emitting fire once she becomes the Fall Maiden. As far as I can think, only one character has eyes that would actually endanger them.
Ruby Rose, the Silver-Eyed Warrior.
Ruby’s Silver Eyes mark her as something other than a regular human. Her eyes leave her vulnerable to groups like Salem’s, who know about Silver-Eyed Warriors and actively hunt them. While Ruby never knew the truth about her eyes until recently, what would happen if someone was raised with that knowledge? What if that person was told to conceal their eyes from a young age so as to protect themselves? What if that person had a convenient need to conceal their face anyway, because they were part of a terrorist organization?
What if Adam Taurus is a Silver-Eyed Warrior?
In some ways, this makes so much sense- we’ve always wondered why Ruby and Adam are so closely aligned in their design and powers. Both characters are strongly associated with red and black, and both are associated with roses through their emblems.
Just as Ruby’s Semblance and weapon is themed around the concept of “Scatter,” Adam’s Semblance and weapons are themed around the concept of “Wilt.”
Both also distort color- while Ruby primarily brings out red and white, Adam primarily brings out red and black.
Perhaps most importantly, both are associated with imagery of the moon- hell, Adam’s Semblance is even referred to as “Moonslice.”
The narrative of the show is going through great lengths to align Ruby and Adam with the same imagery and ideas. And while so much about Adam is still unknown, the biggest mystery is the one the show directly presents us with: the presence of Adam’s mask. Perhaps his mask might just conceal something else, like some terrible scars or burns from a human attack. That is certainly possible.
But that wouldn’t answer why Adam has seemed to be such a central figure for this show for so long.
The answer to that might just be that Adam is essentially the inverse of Ruby: a Silver-Eyed Warrior just as she is, but one who is aware of their powers, one who hunts humans instead of Grimm, one who hides and deceives instead of charging forward, and one who works to bring the world to its knees, rather than saving it.
Adam is the corrupted paladin, the Fallen Silver-Eyed Warrior.
As always, thanks for reading. Want to check out my other writings? Then, check out the Four Trials Theories, or my thoughts on other subjects.
| R | W | B | Y |
| R- Addendum |
| Conclusion |
-Lie Ren’s Semblance
-Why Qrow can transform
-Weiss’s Character Arc
- Why Ruby’s last name is Rose, not Xiao Long
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