User blog:The Bespectacled Guy/What to (Probably) Expect from V3E11 As Fecal Matter Continues to Hit the Proverbial Fan at an Increasingly Heightened Pace

It's been more than a year since my last blog post, but there's a lot on my mind right now regarding the show. Consequently, I thought that I would share my rambling, tangential thoughts with you all, rather than just writing another extremely lengthy comment on someone else's blog post. So yeah. Next episode and such.





Three different plot-lines are set to reach their climax in Episode 11:

1) Ruby's continual struggle against Roman

2) Blake's conflict with Adam reignited

3) The "will-she/won't-she" maiden stuff with Pyrrha

 

My predictions for this episode (or possibly the next one), are:

- Roman (and/or possibly Neo) will die. I sincerely hope that this will not happen, as I really enjoy Roman as a character and lament how little his background and overall personality have been explored in this show. However, I believe that Monty, Miles and Kerry didn't just want a re-tread of last season - they were likely planning something more daring. To show that they mean business, I suspect that they wanted to kill off an important character, preferably a villain. This would demonstrate that they are unafraid to take bold steps and would raise the stakes in the narrative, proving that this is not a story everybody is going to walk away from scott-free.

Of the various different villains, I think that Roman is the most likely to meet an unhappy ending this season. He's already escaped from situations like the one he currently finds himself in multiple times within the narrative, and if he does it again, it could end up seeming repetitive. In addition, Roman is probably the least consequential of all the villains within the overall narrative of the show at this stage, as, apart from the aerial barrage he is currently unleashing, he has more or less fulfilled his purpose already. Adam still has to conclude his fight with Blake (which I suspect will not happen here - more on that later). Cinder's plan is still relatively murky at this stage. Emerald and Mercury are important sidekicks for Cinder (though Emerald could become a turncoat at some point). Roman, on the other hand, served a much greater purpose in Volume 2, with his orchestration of the dust robberies and Grimm attack, but his usefulness has expired in that sense. Currently, h is only role is to head the air assault on Beacon, meaning that he will need to be out of the way by the end of the volume if it is to end on a happy note, which I suspect it will. Lastly, and perhaps most compellingly, the teaser for the new episode displays him as standing triumphantly on the roof of one of the aircraft, laughing maniacally and looming over the protagonist. This is often a hallmark of a villain's subsequent demise (see this for more details). I include Neo as another possible candidate for doom as she is also up on the roof and, having just fought the protagonist, may be susceptible to a "downfall". It's also worth noting that we do not see her at all in the part where Roman is standing over Ruby.



However, Roman and Neo are very popular among the fan-base (as evidenced by the poll in the screenshot on the left), and it must be said that Neo hasn't really had all that much focus on her yet as a character (and Yang is yet to gain the opportunity to inflict revenge), which leads me to believe that... 

- It will be a "Disney Villain Death" in case they decide to bring one or both of them back. The only thing writers like more than killing off prominent characters is to bring them back in a forced and contrived manner, and while Miles and Kerry do seem to be improving their writing skills to some extent... well, let's face it, they're no Steinbeck. If Roman/Neo does/do 'die', it will likely be from falling off the top of the airship they're standing precariously on (go figure), and we will not see the bodies land on the ground. This will leave the possibility of survival somewhat open (though highly unlikely), which could lead to them being brought back at a later date if the fans demanded as such. How will they fall off, you ask? Well, if Neo isn't thrown off during the altercation with Ruby, I believe it will be Ironwood who hurls one or both of them from the rooftop, whether by physically removing them, shooting them off, or by some other means. After all, he's the only other person in the air right now with any meaningful source of firepower, and aside from the obvious theatrical heroics he would undertake in the act of saving Ruby, he also has personal reasons for going after them. They are the ones who destroyed his fleet and turned his armies against him. If he still has a functioning aircraft, I would imagine that he would be the one to deal the final blow on this pair of miscreants. This would obviously mean that...



<p style="font-weight:normal;">- '''Ironwood will still be alive. '''This one's pretty self-explanatory. Would Miles, Kerry et al. kill off an important supporting character before their powers, abilities and motivations are properly explored? I think not. It could basically turn out to be a re-tread of the return of Oobleck and Zwei in "Breach", with Ironwood emerging majestically from the wreckage of his aircraft (provided he doesn't go after Roman and Neo first). This would also be a good opportunity for the audience to get a first glimpse of his robotic arm, as he would presumably not be in the best of conditions after surviving a nasty crash, with torn clothes and an unsteady gait.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Speaking of Oobleck, I don't feel confident enough, one way or the other, to declare whether or not he and Port will die. Have to wait and see on that one. Port's final lines were oddly fatalistic, but we've already been promised a "Field Trip"-like story arc featuring him, which makes me question the likelihood of his sudden death via nasty Grimm griffons.

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<p style="font-weight:normal;">'''- The fight between Adam and Blake will end a bit like the new Star Wars movie (SPOILERS FOR THE NEW STAR WARS IN THIS SECTION). '''So I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb here and assume that everyone reading this has seen Star Wars 7 by now. If not, consider yourself warned.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">So, just to recap, after Han is killed and Finn is lightsabered into unconsciousness, the villainous Kylo Ren comes face-to-face with our unwittingly heroic protagonist, Rey. The pair draw their lightsabers and begin to duel. Eyes locked, sword against sword. The landscape crumbles around them, but still they fight. Furious words are exchanged, but no serious injuries occur. Eventually, Kylo forces Rey into an extremely difficult situation, with her leaning backwards over a snowy gorge. As she struggles there, he offers her a tempting proposition - to give in to the dark side of the force, as he did, and become his pupil. Think of all the power she could have! It could all come to her, so easily... But she declines. Forcefully (rimshot). She pushes him back, continuing to fight him and eventually cutting his face open. Eventually, the battle ends when the earth between them literally splits in two, and the pair flee to safety. It is clear that they will meet again.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">I guess this is just a needlessly long-winded way of saying that I think that Adam will offer to re-admit Blake into the White Fang; that the fight will ultimately end with a semi-victory for Blake; that Adam will then leave in an injured state, and Blake's mind will have been excessively fucked with. Also, go and watch the new Star Wars. It's a lot of fun.

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<p style="font-weight:normal;">- '''Pyrrha and Jaune will (finally) kiss. '''So it seems pretty clear at this point that Pyrrha is probably going to accept the maiden's powers that have been offered to her. What her new powers will be, and what effect they will have on her psyche/memory, I do not know. But what I strongly believe is that the moment before Pyrrha enters the machine will serve as the culmination of her relationship with Jaune up to this point. Think about it. In previous volumes, most of the implications of a possible romantic relationship between Jaune and Pyrrha came from the occasional shared smile. Now, there's been tears shed; they've openly shown signs of affection towards each other; they've been able to talk seriously to one another and they've fought together while aiming to protect each other (that wasn't the specific image I was looking for from that episode, but it'll do - I'm sure you all know which one I mean). Clearly, something is building here, and while Jaune is not shown in the teaser, it's certainly true that he followed her into the building where Ozpin was. I think that Jaune will follow Pyrrha down to the basement, and heavily protest against her decision when he realises what it is, but Ozpin will politely demolish his argument and Pyrrha will, more tenderly, ask him to trust her and believe when she says it will be OK (or some other soppy bollocks like that). She will conclude by kissing him to demonstrate that she does truly care about him, before getting into the machine and receiving the power. This will likely happen at the end of the episode, and something will probably go wrong in the process (because when doesn't that happen with untested machinery in works of fiction?). So long as she doesn't die or end up looking like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly, I don't think there will be too much fretting from the fanbase, leaving a greater opportunity for their attentions to be focused on that last act of love that the two share.

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<p style="font-weight:normal;">Speaking of love, I hope that Adam and Blake actually were in a relationship before, because then that lends the Black Trailer so much more emotional power, and that's already my favourite thing with "RWBY" in the title by a fucking mile.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">That's all. Hopefully they don't fuck up this finale.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Specs out.