Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4010415-20170717151617/@comment-4010415-20170720090819

I don't think summons require Dust, considering that Winter summoned a Beowolf in Lessons Learned despite not having her sword with her at all. She made a summon glyph in the palm of her hand and then there was a bright light and poof, Beowolf summon appears.

As for the songs... I do think that The Path to Isolation -> Mirror Mirror -> Mirror Mirror Part 2 could tell us a story of Weiss going through something, changing, and evolving as time goes on.

The Path to Isolation - Sounds like she's very uncertain of who she is, feeling lost and paranoid, and has recently lost something or someone important to her. I've already mentioned that one can draw a connection between this song and her "voiceover" in the manga about never having a sense of self and seeking to create one she can be proud of just like Winter did.

Mirror Mirror - Sounds like she's feeling lonely inside, and she's also afraid that her heart will turn to stone (figuratively, of course). She mentions wanting to be saved from the things she sees and wants to hide from herself.

Mirror Mirror Part 2 - "Some believe in fairy stories and the ghosts that they can't see. I know that I could do so much, if I could just believe in me." She talks about being told to forget her dreams and do some other thing she's being told to do, and she keeps being shown disapproval, so she isolates herself to get away from it. But now she's finding her way (since she started attending Beacon with the rest of Team RWBY, I guess), and the song ends with "I think I might change it all", like she now has hope.

One thing that has come up in This Life is Mine is Weiss' claim that Jacques told her she's nothing on her own: "Believed you when you told me I was nothing on my own." If this is true, then that could explain the confidence issues shown in Mirror Mirror Part 2, where she say she could do so much if she could just believe in herself, implying that she understands now that she is capable of doing a lot but still has trouble believing in herself anyway. That seems like she has gone a really long time not believing in herself and thinking she can't do anything. What I mean is, there's a point where you've had low confidence and/or low self-esteem for so long that it's become ingrained in yourself, so you have to actually work to believe in yourself, even if you finally know and understand that you can do something great once you do believe in yourself.