User blog:Hallucinia/Thoughts about the Nature of Family in RWBY

Grimm Tidings

A short blog series dedicated to random drabbles and observations on Roosterteeth’s RWBY.

















Episode One:



The Sins of the Father

How does family affect ties in both fiction and real life?



Hello, my name is Hallucinia.

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<p class="MsoNormal">First off, I don’t mean to get anything out of this blog, it’s just for fun. My teachers and friends said I should start a daily writing piece, so I thought—well, why not do it on something I like?

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<p class="MsoNormal">So, as one of my goals in the future is to become an author, most of my blog pieces will use RWBY (seeing as it is a fantasy kitchen sink) as a medium to point out themes, characters arcs, theories and suggestions on various aspects of fictional writing. I’m not a professional writer myself, though, so take as much as you want from me—I’m in no place to tell you what to do!

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<p class="MsoNormal">So, here I am. If this isn’t an appropriate place for such things, I’ll understand, and take it down immediately. And of course, everything I write about in this blog comes solely from my own experiences. I understand each person has their own thoughts and opinions, and that they may disagree with me.

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<p class="MsoNormal">But, of course, that’s one of the joys of the human experience. So if after reading this blog, you have your own comments, add-ons, disagreements—please leave a comment!

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<p class="MsoNormal">Awesome!

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<p class="MsoNormal">So, with that out of the way, let’s move onto today’s main topic: what is the role of family ties in both fiction and real life?

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<p class="MsoNormal">This blog is dedicated, by the way, to Weiss and Winter Schnee. Howdy, Snow Angels!

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<p class="MsoNormal">Let’s begin!

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<p class="MsoNormal">First off, I don’t think anyone will deny that RWBY so far is chock-filled with murky allusions of past events and people. We’ve got the Great War, the Faunus Rights Revolution, Atlas’s Gift, etc, etc. But the most interesting of all allusions are those regarding people—specifically, families.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Because, in the end, when you get down to business, the most important thing in any piece of fiction are the people, and how they react to things—and we humans are social animals, and nothing binds us more socially than the ties of blood.

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<p class="MsoNormal">So, so far, the only confirmed family deal is the Schnee family, who of course, run the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest businesses in all of Remnant. The most probable guess for Weiss then, is that her father wants her to take over the Company after he retires or is dead and buried.

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<p class="MsoNormal">As a scion of a family business myself, I can tell you, if unwanted, the family legacy is a heavy weight indeed.

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<p class="MsoNormal">So—Schnee Dust Company—what’s up with that?

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<p class="MsoNormal">The Schnee family in RWBY is one of clearest examples of an example of family as burden. In most pieces of fiction admittedly, families are usually either dead, or the enemy. Harry Potter is a great example of the former, and another example of the latter other than RWBY would be Star Wars (although admittedly, it doesn’t really play a central role). There are supportive families, but those are few and far between. Most of them end up in the background (think Deltora Quest). The only piece of fiction that I think really accurately (to a point) displays the full-range of familial possibilities, however, would be A Song of Ice and Fire. Seriously, although violent, that series is pretty much gold. You’ve got supportive families in the Starks, and dysfunctional families for pretty much everyone else. ASoIaF is an exception though, for reasons I’ll get to below.

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<p class="MsoNormal">So—why the prevalence of dysfunctional families? The reason is simple: fiction thrives on conflict. Unless you are a super good author, most readers will not read about perfect utopias. So, don’t be afraid to include dysfunctional families, or worry that they are cliché—that’s simply how interesting fiction rolls (unless of course, you go the dead/absent parent route). The only exception? Your work focuses on multiple branching viewpoints of multiple characters, so you can have inter-familial conflict. Thus, Game of Thrones.

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<p class="MsoNormal">But why are familial conflicts so interesting?

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<p class="MsoNormal">An observation I’ve made is that in human society, two units of information are passed down each generation: cultural genes and biological genes. And, as biology class will teach you, genes “want” to be propagated.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Family then, represents the strongest link to both. By being born into a family, you are bound by both cultural and genetic ties. These want to be preserved. You can’t escape blood. But you still haven’t been given culture, so your family raises you, and teaches you to be (in Weiss’s case) a Schnee.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The most common human urge is to be immortal. In one of the oldest tales of the world, The Epic of Gilgamesh, the titular king seeks and fails to find biological immortality, but is comforted by the fact is great deeds shall earn him eternal life through legend. Considering the story is over six thousand years old and was ancient when Rome was young, Gilgamesh probably is feeling pretty good about himself, wherever he is.

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<p class="MsoNormal">In a way, when you have a child, you don’t really die. Your blood lives on. Sure, it might not be you you, but think about it this way: the very first living creature has in a way, survived, all the way through to the you reading this page. You’ve got some of the exact same material that made it, it. It’s hasn’t really died, after all those billions of years. That’s one form of immortality.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The second form? Your culture. What views you had—what you experienced—can all be preserved by tradition.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Adolf Busch “Budweiser” (yes, of the beer fame) dropped six drops of Budweiser on the lips of his newborn son, August, so that the first thing he ever tasted would be Budweiser. Then, August placed six drops of beer on the tongue of his son, Adolf Jr. Down seven generations, each “Budweiser” has tasted beer as their very first drink. That’s tradition. In a way, the original August lives on.

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<p class="MsoNormal">To deny your heritage—that’s akin to murder! A potentially thousand-year tradition stops. The hopes and dreams of your parents, and their parents before them—ends, because of your selfishness. It’s human nature.

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<p class="MsoNormal">NOTE:

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<p class="MsoNormal">Just as an aside: that’s one reason many political ideologies completely fail, and if you want political conflict in your story, familial ties is really good stuff. Read Antigone for a really good thousand-year old drama between the ties of clan and the obligations of the state.

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<p class="MsoNormal">For example:

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<p class="MsoNormal">Democracy relies freedom and equality of the people, yet there are distinct dynastic clans. The Reagons, for example, are almost “American royalty”. Not that it’s bad, but it’s obviously not “pure” democracy.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Communism requires a classless, communal state. But even from the beginning, each leader broke the spirit by giving their own children the best they could afford. Xu Ji Ping, current premier of China, for example, gave his daughter an American education. How’s that for class equality?

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<p class="MsoNormal">Plato recognized this, and advocated that children not know their parents. But, in the end, even he conceded this was frankly, impossible, due to the limits of human nature.

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<p class="MsoNormal">By the way, I don’t have anything against the aforementioned ideologies, I just thought this would be a good place to point out potential political drama, if you are so inclined to write about them.

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<p class="MsoNormal">END NOTE!

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<p class="MsoNormal">So, enough theorizing. What does this really mean, in RWBY?

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<p class="MsoNormal">First off, in RWBY.

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<p class="MsoNormal">There really are only three scenarios, in-story. Every other case is simply a branch off (note, I’m going by character arc inside the context of the story. Obviously, option 1 happens to everyone, at some point).

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<p class="MsoNormal">1) Weiss dies mid-story. Crap. Well, not much to say here.

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<p class="MsoNormal">2) The SDC superego is far too powerful, and completely devours Weiss.

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<p class="MsoNormal">3) Weiss’s own ego is too strong, and she isn’t subsumed into the company. Cue Let It Go.

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<p class="MsoNormal">And within those branches, there can be two more variations:

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<p class="MsoNormal">2a) Weiss fully accepts the Company superego, and becomes happy while doing her work. This is possible. Think of all the things you did when you were a kid that you would never do when you grew up.

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<p class="MsoNormal">2b) Weiss doesn’t fully accept the Company. More angst! This can potentially lead to 3, if there is a sequel to RWBY.

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<p class="MsoNormal">3a) Weiss embraces her decision! Yay! She’s free!

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<p class="MsoNormal">3b) She is left regretting her decision forever. More angst. May lead to 2, if there is a sequel.

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<p class="MsoNormal">And etc, etc, etc.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Each of these offers a delicious amount of conflict and lots and lots of character potential.

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<p class="MsoNormal">At this point, I have completely no idea what route RWBY will go. However, personally, I am hoping for a 2a), or Weiss accepts the company and is happy arc. It may simply be due to my own circumstances, but that aside, I believe offer the correct balance of everyone being happy, angst just enough to be interesting, and a kind of sense of continuation.

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<p class="MsoNormal">If it does happen, I’ll write a fanfic sequel: Weiss VS Board of Directors. Those damned shareholders don’t know their place!

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<p class="MsoNormal">So, long story short. Family ties create instant drama, because of the emotional baggage riding on them. Familial villains are very easy to write sympathetically, and it’s something that most people will instantly understand.

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<p class="MsoNormal">In short, it’s awesome fiction fodder.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Still, keep in mind; bad writing can still ruin everything. Although familial obligations is usually a really easy to create tension, you still have to keep the basic tenets of writing in mind (no one-dimensional characters, consistent plot, etc).

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<p class="MsoNormal">So, that’s it for today.

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<p class="MsoNormal">If anyone has any comments or questions, I’ll be happy to answer them!