End of the Beginning

"End of the Beginning" is the fortieth episode of RWBY and the final episode of Volume 3. It premiered for Rooster Teeth sponsors on February 13th, 2016 and was made public on February 14th, 2016.

Summary
In the vault beneath Beacon Academy, Ozpin and the newly-ascended Fall Maiden, Cinder Fall, battle in a tremendous display of power.

Outside, Bartholomew Oobleck and Peter Port are evacuating all the remaining students from what remains of Beacon Academy to the relative safety of Vale. At the landing pads, Ruby Rose is reunited with Weiss Schnee, but learns that Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc are still missing, while Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren are injured and can no longer fight. Yang Xiao Long lies unconscious, after losing her arm to Adam Taurus. Blake Belladonna, also badly wounded, tearfully apologizes to the unconscious Yang and reaches out to hold her hand. Sun Wukong attempts to convince everyone to join the evacuees and get to safety, but Ruby and Weiss resolve to find Pyrrha and Jaune and bring them back.

Jaune and Pyrrha have escaped the vault and arrive outside Beacon Tower. However, they see Cinder ascend to the top of the Tower, with Ozpin nowhere to be seen. Jaune realizes that Pyrrha intends to go back into the Tower to fight Cinder and attempts to convince her not to. Ignoring his pleas, Pyrrha kisses Jaune passionately, before locking him in a rocket-propelled locker and sending him away to safety. As Pyrrha ascends the tower to confront Cinder alone, Jaune frantically calls Weiss and Ruby and begs them to stop Pyrrha from fighting Cinder.

In what was Ozpin's office, Cinder makes eye contact with the Grimm Dragon and communicates with it, but is interrupted when Pyrrha exits the elevator and begins fighting Cinder. During their fight, the Dragon destroys the top of Beacon Tower. Although thoroughly outmatched by Cinder's power, Pyrrha puts up an admirable effort. Ultimately, however, Cinder is victorious, firing an arrow into Pyrrha's heel. With Weiss' assistance, Ruby arrives at the top, only to see Cinder kill Pyrrha with an arrow through the chest. Pyrrha dies, and her body is incinerated by Cinder's powers. When Ruby sees this, she screams as a blinding white light emanates from her eyes, enveloping the Dragon and Cinder.

Some time later, Ruby wakes up in her bed at home. Her father, Taiyang Xiao Long, is at her side, and is overjoyed to find her awake. It is revealed that the Cross Continental Transmit System has been rendered inoperative due to the destruction of the Tower, disabling all communications with the outside world, and that Ozpin's whereabouts are still unknown. Taiyang explains that Ruby had somehow "frozen" the Dragon, but that it is still alive and attracting hordes of Grimm to what remains of the school. Qrow Branwen found Ruby after the battle and brought her back safely.

Qrow arrives and asks to speak to Ruby alone. Taiyang reluctantly leaves, and gives Qrow a disapproving look. Qrow tells Ruby she is "special" – her silver eyes, a trait she shared with her mother, Summer Rose, are extremely rare. In an old legend that pre-dates Huntsmen and the Kingdoms, it is said that those with silver eyes are "destined to lead the life of a warrior", and that the creatures of Grimm feared of them. Qrow says he had been investigating the enemy under Ozpin's direction, but with him gone, Qrow will have to continue Ozpin's work in his stead. Just before leaving, he deliberately mentions that his investigations led him all the way to Haven.

Ruby visits Yang, but she finds Yang despondent over the loss of her arm, the destruction of the school and the deaths of Penny and Pyrrha. Yang tells Ruby that Weiss returned to Atlas with her father and that Blake ran away after the battle. Yang bitterly states that she does not care where Blake went and claims that bad things can happen for no reason at all. She asks to be left alone. Ruby tells her sister she loves her, but receives no reply.

As winter sets in, Ruby leaves home with the three remaining members of Team JNPR. Together, the four depart for Haven, which is their only lead in their fledgling investigation. Weiss is seen with her father, heading back to Atlas, and Blake is seen running across the rooftops of Vale alone. On the way to Haven, Ruby visits the grave of her mother, Summer, as the snows of winter fall.

Far away, in a barren land, a mysterious woman named Salem reflects on the success of her first move to destroy mankind by dividing and depriving them of hope. She invites an absent Ozpin to send in his Guardians, his Huntsmen and his Huntresses, and his "simple soul"; she will defeat them all.

In a post-credits scene, Qrow, now in possession of Ozpin's Cane, watches over Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren from afar as they begin their journey. He transforms into a crow and flies towards them.

Trivia

 * At just over 28 minutes, including opening and credits, this is the longest episode of RWBY released to date.
 * Before her death, Pyrrha is struck in the ankle by one of Cinder's arrows. This is a reference to her character's inspiration, Achilles, who was struck in the heel by an arrow and died.
 * It is revealed that the mysterious narrator voiced by Jen Taylor from "Ruby Rose" and the first volume of RWBY: World of Remnant is a character and primary antagonist named Salem. At the end of this episode, she continues the conversation she shares with Ozpin from "Ruby Rose".


 * The way Pyrrha holds Jaune after they kiss heavily resembles the way she holds him while she unlocks his Aura in "The Emerald Forest".
 * Qrow's apparent ability to turn into or control crows is a callback to the appearances of crows as early as the "Red" Trailer. Crows also appeared in the "Black" Trailer and the "Yellow" Trailer, as well as episodes of the series itself, including "It's Brawl in the Family".
 * Yang's line, "Sometimes bad things just happen", is an exact repetition of a line Qrow says to her in "Destiny".
 * The room that Yang is sleeping in is actually the guest room of the house. The room Ruby wakes up in is their shared room, with two beds for them both.
 * In an interview with AfterBuzzTV writers Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross revealed that privately, they refer to the newly formed team, made up of Ruby Rose, Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc, and Lie Ren, as Team RNJR (Ranger). However, this group of characters may not be referred to as such within the show.
 * After Ruby wakes up at her house and recalls the events of what happened at Beacon, she mentions Cinder's name, despite never having learned it on screen. It is unknown how she knows this.
 * Cinder was most likely using her real name in the tournament, like Emerald and Mercury. Since no one knew that the person who attacked Amber was named Cinder Fall, there was no risk in using her real name.
 * Amber's lifeless body is briefly visible in the background of Cinder and Ozpin's fight.