Name: Benji || Age: 26 || Sex: No thanks || Pronouns: He/Him They/Them || Interests: Nintendo and Food I'm a wannabe film critic
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Looking back, this might actually be my favourite scene in the entire show (even if v5 was a mess).
The quote, “You’re my daughter after all,” hits different now. And I’ll explain why.
Yang is nothing like Raven, because she’s no coward who’ll run. As she said, she’d face Salem when the time comes unlike Raven who’ll just run away.
And in v8, this is exactly what she did.
So when Yang ignored her and walked past her, choosing to fight even in such an awful situation, it reminded her of the mission that killed Summer — where she too walked past Raven, willing to fight on even with the stakes.
And now we finally know why she cried — she realised Yang was always Summer’s daughter, never hers.
I also love how they used Jaune and our perspective on him to warp the audience’s view of the Cat.
At first, the Cat is genuinely helpful, and doesn’t really gain anything from helping besides knowledge that satisfies their curiosity. They’re cleverer than the average Afteran, have more freedom, but they seem good.
Jaune enters and casts doubt on that, especially when he brings up Alyx and Lewis. But…we don’t believe him for long. Because he’s so clearly unhinged, so clearly resents the entirety of the Ever After when we’ve seen good in it from Little and the Paper Pleasers. It becomes likelier than Jaune is being irrational, that his distrust and hate for the Cat is just another form of his trauma and paranoia.
And then Chapter 8. There’s one brief moment where it seems that the Cat really does care for Ruby, really does intend to help….
But no. They try to hollow her out and possess her, and when it succeeds on Neo it’s horrifying. Jaune was right not to trust them. We just didn’t realize that, because we couldn’t trust Jaune.
The thing about the tea party is Neo is obviously projecting.
The illusions are saying things Neo wants to say to RWBY, the pictures on the walls aren’t direct memories, their reconstructions meant to show an event in an understandable way, not an accurate one.
It’s all this projection, Neo saying all of her thoughts in rapid, furious anger.
Then Penny talks to RWBY:
“Do you know what it feels like to be failed by the person you love most in the world?”
This? This is much different. In a sea of angry projection this is… emotional. Thought out. Painful. Did Neo sit down and write that line? It hurts, but it doesn’t exactly fit Ruby’s situation with Penny, not really.
But you know… Roman loved Neo most in the world.
But Neo didn’t make it back to him. She didn’t protect him. She wasn’t there when he died. Didn’t manage to stand by him, even when she swore she would, even when he would have stayed with her.
She failed.
She failed the person who loved her most in the world.
I wonder, when Ruby looked Yang in the eyes before she drank the tea, if she realized she was actually looking at her sister and not an illusion made by Neo.
She probably looked at Yang thinking “I’m sorry for failing you,” not realising it was her actual sister she just made watch her as she tried to commit suicide, not realising the trauma she was about to make her sister go through by watching her do it.
It’s such a goddamn tragedy and I feel terrible for both of them.
I’ve been reflecting and processing today’s episode
CW: suicide and self harm
I think it always would have been controversial
Even with the proper trigger warnings (seriously, damn you Crunchyroll and/or RT for your utter failure on that front)
But Im not sure the story they’re telling would work without it
Especially after 9 volumes of tragedies and Ruby blaming herself for every single one
Not being able to get the support she needed at any time
Not to mention what the fact this is something real war veterans face
It gives us a very hard lesson about rooting for violence, no matter how “necessary” it is
As well as anyone who was excited about witnessing Ruby’s breakdown
When they should have been wishing her help
It also shows just how destructive to uncritically idolize characters that live lives of violence as Ruby did, and as many members of western audiences do
Sacrifice and violence *can’t* be requisites for heroism
And…I do appreciate that this is an extreme subversion of the heroic sacrifice, something we’ve been trained to celebrate
Ruby doesn’t get a badass Tony Stark style heroic sacrifice
This forces us to reckon with what we tend to root for when it comes to our fictional heroes
But shit that trigger warning was so pitiful
Like, its remarkable they’re not worried about getting sued levels of pitiful
We spent all hiatus theorizing about Ruby meeting her dead friends in the afterlife but not like that.
Like, Pyrrha and Penny, I expected. Even Ironwood. But Ruby carried guilt even over deaths that weren’t her fault, that she wasn’t there for and befell people she hardly knew, like Clover and even Leo.
And because it was Neo’s illusion, rather than a real confrontation, every one of them sought to blame and hurt her.
yang watching all her family members leave her and the one person she tried with all her might to save time and time again was the one to take herself away from her
The Red Flags of Ruby’s Suicidality Throughout The Volume
It should be obvious, but this short essay will cover heavy subjects of suicide, so if you’re uncomfortable with this subject matter please don’t read this.
The first red flag was in episode 4, where Ruby contemplated erasing her current self due to her failures, after talking to her ‘past self’.
This gets reinforced by the lyrics of Trapdoor, which is about how worthless and unneeded Ruby feels.
One common mindset among suicidal people is this: what if I’m useless? What if my friends don’t need me anymore? What if they don’t care about me? What if I’ll keep ruining everything? Would the world be better without me?
Suicidal people are usually full of self-loathing and blame.
Even in the episode 7 fight Ruby felt useless after seeing C-PTSD red flags (they’re not Neo hallucinations because she didn’t see the Schnee manor grounds struggle with hacked Penny). In her eyes, the others are fighting well without her, so she’s useless.
Another set of red flags is snapping at your loved ones, pushing them away and driving yourself into isolation. We see ALL these in episodes 7 and 8, with Ruby snapping at her friends and running away, and even pushing Little away.
And on top of it she feels like her friends don’t care, the world is against her, etc. which is YET another red flag.
(Massive disclaimer that this is NOT anti WBY and they, especially Yang, tried to reach out to her throughout the volume.)
I’d like to mention that if your loved one attempts and you tried to help but couldn’t do it, it is NOT your fault. We’re not all experts and we try our best, so do not ever blame yourself for these things.
It’s not uncommon for suicidal people to refuse help, and on top of it Ruby has always been selfless to self destructive levels.
And the last thing, her self blame over her loved ones dying. While Penny and Pyrrha were apparitions, they still reflected her self blame. And Little dying? The final straw.
So her suicide attempt in the end was being built up all volume.
All I can say is that I hope Ruby somehow gets rescued and also recovers from her mental health problems because JESUS CHRIST.
This was a bit hard for me to write, especially as someone with BPD and frequent suicidal tendencies. This topic hits hard for me. However, I’m not an expert and this post shouldn’t be taken as gospel. There may be details even I missed, so feel free to add your own observations.
And remember that if you are suicidal as well, you’re not alone. You’ll always have people who care about you, and resources to help out.
