User blog:BenRG/Episode 2 and What We See of the Characters

Well, episode 2 is past and we now have had the entire core cast introduced. What have we learnt about these kids upon whose young shoulders the fate of a world has been unceremoniously deposited?

Let's run it down:

Ruby Rose

We still know frustratingly little about Ruby 's background beyond inferrances and innuendo from Monty in various interviews. We know that it is unlikely that Ruby is Yang's biological sister. We know that she is somehow connected with someone named 'Summner Rose' who is either buried or at least memorialised on a cliff-side somewhere. This person is important enough to Ruby that she trecked miles through the snow and a Beowolf-infested forest to pay her respects. However, we know little beyond this.

In terms of personality, Ruby is a strange chimera of contradictions. She's a perky, up-beat and generally excitable person who idolises the Hunters and Huntresses, to the point where the 'romance' of their calling made her select them over a career in the police. She is clearly a mechanical engineer of some skill, having assembled and obviously maintained Crescent Rose, a complex weapon with many moving parts, herself from a young age. It is also clear like many other fictional mechanical geniuses, she prefers machines to humans for company. This explains her social awkwardness, as demonstrated in her encounter with Jaune.

To me, the key to Ruby's personality is in the contradiction of her wanting to be a Huntress, aspiring to attend the greatest Hunter's Academy in the world and yet wanting to be a "normal girl with normal knees". This is not really a contradiction. It is a sign of someone who is not out for their own glory but rather wants to be the very best she can be so that she can better serve others.

Yang Xiao Long

Yang is one of the easiest of the Core Four to interpret. We know she comes from a family that inculcated her and her adoptive (?) sister with strong moral standards. We know that her dedication to peace and justice are such that she (despite not even having started her final training, let alone graduating) went into a Mafia Bar without any back-up to interrogate the son of the Don. This is a sign of a young woman who believes in the job and will face down fear and extreme odds to fight for them.

Yang's perpetually cheerful persona simply reflects that of her adoptive sister and is another indication of how generally good their upbringing by the Xiao Long family was. Nonetheless, Yang has a dark side - a love of the fight and a fierce temper when roused that makes me think of the old-style berserkers. Maybe she could also have shown a bit more concern about Ruby when her friends arrived. Then again, what teenager is really happy having her kid sister around when she's with her friends?

Yang has a very formal fighting style that many have compared to contemporary boxing and kick-boxing. She is less intuitative and more 'regulation' in her moves that indicates she is not a born warror. Rather this is a vocation of choice.

Weiss Schnee

Pity the poor little rich girl. Especially the poor little rich girl whose family are apparently one of the big sentient rights abusers on your planet.

A lot of people have expressed disappointment in Weiss's first appearance but there are several things that people fail to appreciate here. Firstly, she's right to be upset - Ruby had practically stumbled into, and knocked over, a case full of nitroglycerine bottles. You'd freak out too. Secondly, we learn so much about her background from the lyrics of her Trailer song, Mirror, Mirror.

"Who is the loneliest of them all?" - She is; it seems that she may have been brought up somewhat-isolated in the family's home. Consequently, she doesn't really know how to relate to people as well as she should. Additionally, when one has received what she wants at the moment she wants it from birth, you don't learn patience or very much in the way of empathy and kindness.

"I can hide it from the world, why can't you let me hide from me?" - Weiss is far from a fool; she knows her faults and, more importantly, she knows her family's faults. It is for that reason, she's a rebel, deciding to pursue the dangerous life of a Huntress rather than the myriad of safe occupations a woman of her social standing could enter into irrespective of qualification or talent. She knows that there is a lot of darkness in her family's business and her shame at that makes her defensive, as witnessed by her retreat when Blake made a point of telling Ruby all about it.

There is an element of self-pity about Weiss but that is, perhaps, forgivable. Her background and her family are not eactly the sort of thing calculated to lead to a stable personality.

Weiss is, in many ways, the most emotionally-damaged of the girls and, I suspect, will be the one who will enjoy the most character growth.

Blake Belladonna

Blake fascinates me because much about her is a mystery. From her trailer, we know that she was associated with a terrorist ; possibly one of the Fauna radical group The White Fang. It is also known that she broke from them because she disagreed with the value Adam placed on human life.

Does this make her a Fauna? The evidence is still equivocal on this. She appears generally human but she does have some strange features, most notably the feral-looking yellow eyes and slightly pointed ears, that suggests she might not be fully human. My favorite explanation is for her to be a Fauna-human hybrid, straddling two worlds but fully at home with neither.

Maybe this is the key to Blake's unusually insular and quiet persona. Being an outcast from not one but two worlds is difficult for a teenager to handle. It seems that she has responded to this by immersing herself in books. Her way of speaking is precise and her approach hyper-logical that suggests that she has taught herself an intellectual and possibly somewhat-judgemental view of the world. It will doubtless be a major character development for her to learn that she cannot categorise everyone as neatly as books would make you think and that trying to make logical sense of decisions that are fundamentally illogical is a fool's errand.

Like Weiss, Blake has much to learn and much growing as a person to do. She must learn not to judge; she must learn to trust, even to trust the heir to the company she has fought for many years ; she must learn to open her heart and allow people to know her.

Jeane Arc

So, we reach the previously-unsuspected Sixth Ranger who, I think, may shake up a lot of fan theories about where this show is going.

Jaune at first seemed codemned to be a comic character, a young man who responds to the first sight of Beacon Academy by chucking up his lunch. However, once we properly meet him, there is something about him that stands out. He has nobility, a certain degree of comedic charm and is a genuinely friendly person, just what a lonely girl, having been jumped two years, needs to help her adjust.

It is clear that Jaune has some of the same issues as Weiss. He has a famous forebear and it is clear that considerable expectation has been laid upon him to live up to that past example. This has left him feeling insecure and a bit out of his comfort zone, as was shown by his babbling monologue about his name to Ruby.

In some ways, Jaune is a deliberate counterpart to Ruby's personality. Where she is capable and confident, bordering on reckless, he is uncertain and fumbling. Where she has a sophisticated weapon she built herself, he has a treasured family heirloom with an apparent lack of special features. Where she is uncertain in social situations, he steps forward to greet a stranger.

To me, the jury is out as to whether there is going to be romance between them. Certainly, Ruby was flirting with him in a slightly inept 'first crush' way as they were walking by the pond. However, other Cadet Huntresses have been shown offering him friendship and  the fact they are going to end up on different teams suggests that any relationship between him and Ruby will have many barriers to overcome.

Overall, Jaune is a necessary antidote from the high-powered 'superhero' girls and reminds us that it is personal dedication, training and a desire to do the job that defines a hero, not his or her powers.

So! That's my view on the main kids so far! Your comments and thoughs will be welcome!