Vytal Festival


 * "Vytal Festival Tournament" redirects here. For the World of Remnant episode of the same name, see "Vytal Festival Tournament."

The Vytal Festival was created to serve as a celebration of peace between the Kingdoms. Every two years, a Kingdom would be chosen to open its doors to the world, allowing citizens from every corner of Remnant to meet and indulge in one another's cultures.



The Vytal Festival is an international festival in Remnant held every two years, where the various cultures of the world are celebrated with dances, parades and a combat tournament. The hosts of the festival rotate each year, with the host opening its borders to visitors from the other kingdoms.

In Team RWBY's first year, the 40th Vytal Festival was held in Vale. For the duration of the festival, a large fairground was set up on the Beacon campus, where visitors from the kingdoms can intermingle. According to Weiss Schnee, the festival takes considerable planning and organization to set it up.

History
The Vytal Festival was inaugurated following the end of the Great War, a destructive conflict taking place eighty years before the events of the series. The war was fought between the four kingdoms over questions of individuality and self-expression. Named after Vytal, a small island north of Vale where the treaty was signed, the Vytal Festival was created with the purpose of celebrating the diversity of the cultures of Remnant.

Tournament
A major part of the Vytal Festival is the combat tournament, in which students from the numerous Huntsmen academies compete.

The festival seems to be of significant importance and prestige, as Glynda Goodwitch pushed students to practice months before it begins, and the members of Team RWBY showed great excitement upon hearing of it in "Jaunedice, Pt.2." Glynda says that Beacon students competing in the tournament would be representing all of Vale.

Representatives of the four kingdoms converged upon Vale beginning in the second semester of Team RWBY's first year. In "Welcome to Beacon", the Atlesian contingent, including Penny and led by academy headmaster and military leader General Ironwood, arrived aboard three Airships in an impressive show of force. Haven Academy, of the Mistral region, sent teams SSSN and ABRN; Cinder Fall, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai also claimed to be from Haven. Students from Vacuo were also shown to be present for the festival.

Visiting students from the other academies received accommodation on the Beacon campus, and were involved in events such as the Beacon Dance (as seen in "Dance Dance Infiltration") and sent on a range of missions supervised by Beacon ("Field Trip").

As seen in "Extracurricular," during the second semester, sparring matches in preparation for the tournament were also held. Participants in these sparring matches included Pyrrha Nikos, Team CRDL and Mercury Black. The same episode also states that contestants must first qualify for the tournament before competing.



The setting for the combat tournament is Amity Colosseum, taking the form of a large, floating arena or stadium, surrounded by spectator stands. The stadium is built from the resources and contributions of the four Kingdoms, and is capable of travelling across Remnant to each of the four Kingdoms, typically heading to the specific Kingdom hosting the tournament.

The fighting arena itself is capable of changing its environment into several different "biomes," including grasslands, fire and ice, geyser fields, stormy mountains and a few others. Dust crystals are also scattered around the arena for combatants to use.

Matches

 * Team RWBY vs. Team ABRN

Trivia

 * While the World of Remnant episode "Vytal Festival Tournament" states that the festival is held biennially, screenshots from the show proper as well as the official poster indicate that it is held "annually." If it is assumed that the festival shown in the show is the 40th Vytal Festival, the biennial statement lines up more correctly with the previously established 80-year gap between the Great War and the events of the series.