User blog:Deafro/A Glimpe into Motivation

So season 1 is over and now we get to judge the story as a cohesive sectioned whole. Overall its pretty good, not as amazing as I thought it would be, but still easily a 8/10 overall. Even now I'm stunned by how little time it takes for them to portray the depth of each of these characters, and the story had enough meat to sate me from week to week on speculation. It did in thirty seconds what most shows might take entire seasons to complete, and while it did stumble from time to time, I think the characters in this show were far stronger than people give them credit for.

Everything about these characters, all their depth, can be traced back to one simple question with a simple answer.

What is it, that the character desires?

Weiss was the first person to catch my attention in this show so I'll start with her. What do you think she desires? She is bossy, overly controlling, desires a place of leadership, and seeks powerful allies like Pyrhha in order to becomes the best. What is the centeral core that unifies these traits together, the center of the elaborate web? It is power, power and control. She needs to know she is in command of her own decisions.

Now we are getting somewhere. Weiss needs power, but if that need isn't being met, it means she has a lack of power, a lack of control. Why would that be? She is the heiress to one of the most influential companies on the planet and yet she has no power? Of course, she must be a slave to the company, a asset that only helps to promote, the company.

Just look at her weapon. It is a weapon that by its design is a advertisement of the companies products. Even her look is crafted, designed to be attractive and pleasing to the eye, and her training as a huntress might just be a step in expanding the companies market even further. She is just a pretty bird in a cage, and even her choice to be a huntress is something the company exploits. Well she can't strike out at her father, but she can at least sate her feelings by taking her place at the head of her year.

You could get the starts of this from just the first encounter, and its only elaborated on as the story progresses. Sure it isn't spelled out in text, but the motivation is there, its there for all the characters (except CRDL but yeah). This central core can say so much, did say so much, that they were already finished characterising the main four halfway through the series, and had ample time to expand on JNPR's motivations. This is something amazing, and something I am glad to steal from their craft. Now I have to go before all the sugar wears off and I crash.

If you want to hear more about other characters just let me know. Maybe I'm spouting nonsense, maybe it strikes a note, but either way I want to hear the devil's advocate on this one.