User blog comment:Zathronas/Analysis by an author - Ruby Rose/@comment-5426254-20160407005852/@comment-24218038-20160410152055

I think I see your mistake now. You believe a protagonist advances the plot. That's not necessarily the case. At least until the third act.

She's not going to stop the antagonist until the third act. Ruby is supposed to be subjected to all the suffering around her, watching everyone suffer, that's what makes her grow. She'll fight and win most battles but that will not change one thing until she grows enough to understand her world. The reason she's not effective right now is she doesn't understand the goal of the antagonists. (We don't either by the way.)

Here's what going to happen in RWBY. Ruby will continue to have things happen to her, she will see others around her suffer. She WILL lose someone else, this is a guarantee. You think things are bad now? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

When things get their darkess, when all the kingdoms have fallen, when thousands of grimm attack the fractured remnants of humanity, when everyone starts to lose hope... that's when she'll step up.

Until then she's a kid trying her best in a world she doesn't quite understand and she learning.