Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-68.13.203.44-20150925014952/@comment-14909251-20150926044112

Phantomlink959 wrote: Yang is the only sane man. She acts a little bit too bubbly at times but has actually hown ot be quite intelligent and mature when needed. Well, the Scarecrow was not really dumb in the first place. He just seemed dumb and thought he was dumb.

Kyvos wrote: RWBY characters are meant to allude to only one character. They may draw inspiration from others, and they can act as a sort of substitute for another character's relationship, but that doesn't make them based on another character. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang are not from the Wizard of Oz.

That said, there are allusions to the Wizard of Oz beyond Ozpin and Glynda. I believe we have confirmation that Ironwood is the Tin Man, but if not, we're fairly certain. Zwei is almost definitely based on Toto, and early on we thought Qrow could be the Scarecrow. Ozpin being based next to the Emerald Forest is a reference to the Emerald City.

And while Ruby is not Dorothy, she does fill substitute roles. She carries Zwei around with her, was rescued by Glynda, and had a wish granted by Ozpin. She may substitute for the ruby slippers at some point, based on her name. But she's not Dorothy, she's Little Red Riding Hood. I do think the plot can also reference stories or legends and not just the characters. There are definitely some parallels with Wizard of Oz in certain elements of the story. Hell, if you argue that Yang is Scarecrow, Weiss is the Tin Man, and Blake is the Cowardly Lion, then even the order in which they meet Ruby matches Wizard of Oz. As I mentioned above, Scarecrow was always smart. In fact, he was the smartest of the three and that same contrast applied to each. Tin Man, despite wanting a heart, was the most caring. Cowardly Lion was the most courageous. Easy to see how these might be applied to our girls.