Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-70.164.250.74-20180322215425/@comment-2600:6C44:880:DD2:B1CD:A88E:3C4:CCA2-20180425104721

SomeoneYouUsedToKnow wrote: There is a difference between "can't run away, must defeat evil for the good of mankind" and "eh, didn't know them very long, I got sad that they died but it doesn't matter".

Ruby saw Penny die, got sad, then went back to her old self. Saw Pyrrha die, activated a DEM, then went back to her old self. She never acts, speaks, or even implies that the deaths of her friends had any effect on her.

Sure, "she can't waste time being scared, she must face evil". But, that does not justify Ruby not showing even a small change in character, not showing any growth or development whatsoever, even after the death of her friends, even if they weren't the closest of friends.

Want an example of how it was done right? Yang.

The whole thing, about being scared yet not running away, instead choosing to face danger. Yang told the exact same thing to Raven, with different words yet same meaning.

But unlike Ruby, we got Yang suffering PTSD for a whole episode, having a real nightmare about Adam, along with a twitchy hand throughout Vol.5.

So in the end, she and Ruby said essentially the same thing, they have pretty much the same reasons to continue fighting. But unlike Ruby, Yang actually was developed, because those reasons do not prevent development, and are NOT a justification for NOT DEVELOPING CHARACTERS. With your first point, there's a really darn big issue you seem to have completely overlooked; Penny wasn't the first person Ruby lost in her life. The first person she ever lost was her mom, Summer - at a young age, to boot.

Ruby's had experience learning how to compartmentalize the hurt of loss and move forward from a young age, hence why Penny and Phyrra's deaths didn't slow her down as much. And that's not even saying it didn't hurt her - just that she's capable of partitioning it; hell, the whole reason she doesn't mention them might be a coping mechanism in and of itself (a "don't say it, don't think it" line of thought) the same as how she never brings up her mom in spite of how much sle loved her.

Or in other words; honestly speaking, that kind of premise does potentially justify there being no outward change in her character - because unlike Yang's current-tense PTSD, Ruby is someone who could be argued as already being post-PTSD. She's keeping it all inside, thinking that she's got to be the one that everyone can rely on; the "hero" who can't let people see how much pain clings to her. By contrast, Yang might actually be the worst possible example to use in contrast to Ruby - Yang wasn't used to losing, was used to being the strong one and was always the least serious of the group goals-wise, so this kind of loss was both a bigger shock to her compared to someone who's already been through that kind of shock.

If I were to try and make a comparison, it'd be kinda like Shirou Emiya from the Fate/Stay Night series - someone who quite literally has no real sense of self-preservation or self-concern, thinking that nobody else needs to be burdened with their grief but themselves and wanting to protect everyone else's feelings at the cost of themselves. The big difference, aside from the obvious contrasts in their personality, is that Ruby hasn't yet hit the point where her traumas start spilling out - largely because nobody's really called her out on it like Oscar has. And in all liklthood, nobody will until Ruby starts displaying self-destructive or self-sacrifical tendencies akin to martyr syndrome; only then would it be likely for her character to hit it's turning point.