User blog comment:ChishioKunrin/How the plot has used Ruby Rose/@comment-71.175.63.159-20170719201510

I'm going to preface this again with the statement that character development is multi-fold and not just a character constantly evolving and changing. It's also what we learn about a character in terms of how they got to where they are and what has made them who they are. I get frustrated with the argument that Ruby hasn't been developed as a character because ultimately, when you ask people what they would have liked to see that would have qualified for what they consider "character development", they either don't have a concrete answer or they seem to want Ruby to become a completely different person. Additionally, characters are intended to move the plot around and/or move the story arcs of others. You cannot constantly have every character developing at the same rate nor should they and especially not at the expense of the plot which is ultimately what a story is intended to do, tell a story.

I'll leave off discussing most of the V1 stuff as Chish even admitted here that Ruby's development was obvious. I will briefly disagree with the idea that there's anything inherently wrong with the fact that she was the primary reason Penny was at the docks because again, sometimes characters just have to move the plot forward (if that wasn't your argument than please disregard). Also, the conversation she has with Penny about Blake was completely missed (or ignored)? Ruby and Penny briefly discuss Blake and the effect her revelation and recent vanishing act has had on RWBY. Ruby's obviously unsure of what to do in the face of her team being divided and somebody having deceived her (even for good reason). This establishes an on-going character flaw with Ruby as a Team leader which we see revisited in V2/V3/V4. Ruby does not know how to mediate problems amongst her teammates, beyond hoping they'll talk to her or come around on their own. And it also demonstrates how Ruby's always more hurt by the fact that her friends choose to do things entirely on their own, than trust in her as a friend/leader and let her help them. As I've stated elsewhere, Ruby's #1 desire is to help people. That is a key aspect of her character. But she has a terrible time trying to figure out how best to do that and gets upset when people don't let her even try to help.

Either way, right away, just from V1, the argument that Ruby has received no development as a character is invalid. If you want to argue that Ruby hasn't gotten any character development /since/ V1 then fine, but there is no debating the fact that she /has/ received character development of some kind within the series as it currently exists.

Moving on to V2, I'm mostly just going to stick to addressing the italicized points because otherwise I'll be typing all day. Yes, Ruby is present at the in-canon reveal that Penny is a robot. This makes sense given she's Penny's friend though? Also, this scene where Penny reveals she's a robot is meant to invoke and build on the scene they shared in V1. A friend has a secret they're afraid of getting out. They run. Only this time, it's Penny herself with the secret, not Blake. Ruby pursues and actively tries to get Penny to trust her and to /talk to her/, a thing they both have stated they would want their friends to do. And this time, Ruby manages to do what she couldn't before. She persists and succeeds in convincing a friend to talk to her and allow her to /help/. Additionally, the idea that this talk didn't lead to anything is incorrect. Ruby does what she thinks is most helpful and being a good friend which is keep Penny's secret. She doesn't go tell Ozpin. She doesn't tell her friends. She doesn't even tell her sister or teammates. If she had, PVP wouldn't have happened. For Ruby, who wants to help people, to think she's been helping when in fact her "help" led to the death of the friend she was trying to protect? That's devastating. It's exactly why she completely lost her chill towards the climax of V3.

As I read through the rest of your points for V2, I'm beginning to notice a pattern here already which is, you seem to be only looking at the surface of what Ruby is doing in a scene without actually considering what relation that has to other things we've seen her do or will see her do and what it tells us about her character. Ignored is the fact that in V2-1, Ruby wanted her team to bond and spend time together; She's trying to make good on her duties as a leader, part of which is to make sure her team works well together and isn't stressed out, a desire built on in V2-2 where they're playing a dumb board game together and a recurring character flaw again pointed out that she's still having issues with getting her team to be forthcoming with her and each other when they're having problems. Her gung-ho "WE'RE GONNA SAVE THE WORLD" attitude is in complete contrast to how we find her at the end of V3 going into V4. No longer is she excited and eager about it. Now it's a duty and she's taking it very somberly. And I could go on. She's just "there" in Extracurricular? She's again struggling with a teammate who won't let anyone help her, and immediately becomes discouraged to the point where even the ever hopeful Ruby basically states that a dance is pointless if they can't get their reticent teammate to go. That's pretty drastic. And the examples go on.

I'm going to stop this essay here because I've been sitting here staring at white text on black for 2 hours now and it's hurting my eyes but I will continue with a full response later so that I can more directly address other parts of V2, as well as V3/V4, although Chishio, I hope you and others who feel Ruby has had minimal character development will consider what I've said here in regards to people just looking on the surface and/or only paying attention to the obvious or drastic as opposed to taking a deeper look and noticing the patterns.

For now I'm going to maintain that her character development not only is there but she's had consistent character flaws acknowledged and built upon as the series has gone on in addition to us learning more about her past and how she got to where she was.