Talk:Pyrrha Nikos/@comment-27170788-20170429054156

Alright, alright, I know people are gonna disagree with this, but meh, people are entitled to their own opinions. But in case anyone happens to be interested, here's mine.

Firstly-- Pyrrha's death ruined me. I sobbed harder than I have over a fictional character in a long time. But I've had some time to think about it more now, and this is basically what I've come up with.

So, it's pretty clear from what happened that Pyrrha actually did die-- even with the fantasy elements in RWBY, the chance that she didn't die is basically zero, unless the writers pull some crazy twist (which would probably not be a good idea, seeing as that would be really, really hard to pull off well) and change everything. I don't believe she survived, and I will hold that view unless proven otherwise. However, given the mechanics (and number of unrevealed mechanics) in the world of RWBY, I would say it's by no means out of the question for her to come back from the dead at some point.

Whether or not reviving Pyrrha is a good idea is heavily debated. Heavily. And for good reason-- characters coming back from the dead is very touchy, and if done wrong, can cause more harm than good in terms of the story. As for me, I say it depends on how and why. Her death has left a lot of opportunities for Jaune and Ruby to grow in their character, and if the writers did bring her back, depending on how they did it, it could jeopardize that development. That said, I'm quite partial to a storyline I've seen a few of you guys tossing around on here--

Salem revives (or promises to revive) Pyrrha. This could go a number of ways. A promise could be used to try and divide the team-- if Salem approached Jaune (and potentially even Ruby) with such an offer, it would undoubtedly be a temptation. It would probably tempt Jaune more, and has the potential of causing division amongst the team members (divided we fall). However, what I feel could be even more of an effective plotline is the idea of Salem reviving Pyrrha, and somehow (in the process, by Salem's doing, etc.) this ends up with Pyrrha forgetting her former life, after which Salem convinces her to work with them. Having their old, presumed dead friend turned against them would wreak havoc on the team, especially since most of the team was good friends with Pyrrha. Again, this would probably have the strongest effect on Jaune and Ruby, and this plotline could lead to some very intense moments with the team trying to get Pyrrha to remember (and possibly with Pyrrha herself trying to remember and being torn between worlds). Of course, if they came into combat, there would be the added struggle of the team trying desperately not to hurt her, because despite everything she's still their friend (even if she doesn't know it). If Pyrrha does come back, I think a plotline like this could work really well for her revival-- keeping the stakes high, and not making it too easy. Rescuing Pyrrha AND still managing to stop Salem would be a much higher personal payoff, and would add that much reward to victory. That said, there's also the possibility that Pyrrha could be unrescuable-- too corrupted by Salem to be able to be saved. That could provide a much more tragic ending to the story. (I must say, though, I'm a sucker for happy endings, and one of the biggest reasons I cried so hard over Pyrrha's death was because of Jaune and Ruby.  Pyrrha is my favorite character, but I'm attached to all of them, and so seeing them grieving her makes everything that much worse.  I'd be quite happy to see an ending where "Just this once, everybody lives".)

If this or a similar route isn't taken, I feel like the next best option to keep a revival from negating the significance of Pyrrha's death would be for it to be a late-series event, after the characters have had to mourn and heal. Perhaps this could come through Jaune-- after all, we don't know his semblance yet (and yes, I know there's debate over hints that have been dropped-- I won't get into that here, though, because the bottom line is, we don't know for sure). Perhaps he could discover his semblance through coming to terms with Pyrrha's death and healing from it-- only to discover that his semblance provides a way for her to return. Or, it could be unrelated to his semblance, but still require an emotional journey. I feel like this wouldn't take away from the significance of her death as much as her just suddenly appearing would, since it would be sort of a "reward" almost for the characters learning to handle grief and ultimately being able to continue on.

Lastly, there's the idea of Pyrrha never reviving. If this is the route that's taken, I sincerely hope we at least see Jaune and Ruby and the others find closure, because right now they're still hurting and seeing them hurting like that leaves me hurting, and like I said, I like happy endings. I enjoy the sort of story that gives you closure, even if not everyone survives. And I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. That's just what I personally would prefer.

So that's basically my two cents on the "should Pyrrha come back" issue. I'm very partial to the idea of Salem bringing her back as an antagonist and how that would add both to her character and to the others' as they resolve that conflict, but ultimately, whether they revive her or not, I just want to see it handled well. If she comes back, I just hope it's not a "poof here's Pyrrha!" sort of thing. If she doesn't, I do hope we at least get some closure. But in the end, only time will tell what may come of this... in the meantime, I look forward to seeing what this next season of RWBY may bring, whether it involves Pyrrha coming back or not :)