Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-28171999-20190208002539/@comment-37471367-20190228020915

Arkantos95 wrote: Problem with all of this being brought up: Ironwood effectively runs Atlas. If he says Blake is getting out of a cell, she's getting out of a cell. Jacques is his little bitch-boy on his best day.

As for Weiss and Jacques- Jacques has almost nothing to gain from fucking with Weiss. He did nothing wrong when it came to stripping her of her inheritance/grounding her when she honestly should've been detained.

While I would agree that Ironwood wouldn’t just sit there and let it happen, there’s only so much that can be done. Yes, he can keep Blake from possibly being imprisoned, but I doubt that stops a man like Jacques. If a frontal attack fails, he can and will use subterfuge. Ironwood is bound by ethics, as grey as that area can be. Jacques has no such qualms.

You are right in a logical sense. Logically, Jacques has nothing to gain. But that is logically. What about psychologically, emotionally?

When Weiss wanted to attend Beacon as a Huntress, he made her fight an Arma Gigas that was clearly a life threatening encounter. When Weiss ignored his call, Jacques retaliated by freezing her accounts just as he did to Winter. When Weiss rightly called him and the other socialites out for not caring, unless it was for their own gain, he yelled at her. When Weiss rightly states she has done a great deal to honor the Schnee name, a name he married into clearly for power, he slaps her (Gun cocks in anger) and removes her claim as heiress. So what should he do for defying him yet again, and in a publicly embarrassing way? Simple: If he can’t bring her under his control, he’ll demonstrate what happens when someone defies him.

Jacques is power hungry with the ego to drive it. He wants EVERYTHING under his control. Any disobedience is a personal affront to his ego, and for that, he will retaliate. What Advocate is suggesting is essentially his final ultimatum to Weiss: Fall in line, or I’ll destroy you and your friends (Public image, her overall life), or possibly just the latter with no compromise.

It has an interesting premise as a conflict and for the characters actually.

Ruby will be confronted with an evil that can’t be reasoned with, cannot be appealed to with a speech, cannot be fought and will not hesitate to ruin her and more importantly, her friends and family. A battle of political optics and wits is something she has never confronted. In fact, I dare say Jacques is a lot like Salem. It may help to appease those who talk incessantly about “character development” like it’s a universal requirement.

Weiss has already had her arc in becoming her own person, not subject to the whims of that “father”. These theoretical maneuvers will bring her clash with Jacques to a head, with only one leaving with the Schnee name. Now comes the next part. Now comes the time for her to start doing what she stated way back in Volume 2: to right the SDC’s wrongs, to reclaim the Schnee name, by foiling Jacques’ shady moves and possibly exposing him.

Advocate has already described Blake’s angle.

And now for Yang. Her mentality will be tested under this scrutiny. This isn’t a match where she can destroy the opponent physically. This is a game of political maneuvering and optics, something she is honestly ill suited for at the moment, with her temper and angst. This would certainly be events that teach to keep her emotions in check not just on the battlefield, but in everything, and many battles are won through brain in place of brute force.

Team RWBY would have to prove through words and actions (I.e. doing their job as Huntresses) that they are the good guys to the very dismissive public jury that is Atlas in addition to a legal crowd.

What I see from what Advocate and I have been discussing is a simultaneous arc between Faunus discrimination at its worst and an entertaining conflict between our heroes and a very different enemy. This has the potential to be a very investing, exciting and good fight not of the blade, but if the mind. A battle of wits.

That being said, as a word of caution, both me and Advocate would have realize this is theory and speculation. We shouldn’t set ourselves up for disappointment. Maybe Miles and Kerry have the same idea. But if they don’t, we’ll have to see what they put out and judge for what it is, not simply for it’s conformity to our theories.