Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-14909251-20131124211317/@comment-24198837-20140601044426

Well, Pyrrha is a little like Ruby. She's a more... trusting character. She trusts people to do the right thing, and be honorable. That got Ruby shot in Episode 16.

Someone's going to use underhanded tactics (Not cheating, per se, but something she herself wouldn't do) and take her down.

For example - She'd take someone (An antagonist) down, drain their aura, whatever. She starts to walk away, feeling that she's won. They, however, aren't about to loose to that and continue the fight, hitting/stabbing/shooting her in the back (she's not expecting it), critically wounding her. Who won the fight? The person still standing. Why? Pyrrha was naive.

The earlier point still stands - regulated combat is not actual combat. I remember when I was in junior high, and we had a Fencing unit in our gym class. You see, one of the kids competed in tournaments (That's actually why we had the unit, his parents brought in extra gear and rapiers for us) (They were rich). Anyway, he gave a whole "I'm the best, you all suck; But I'll train you" speech, and he asked us if any of us wanted to spar him to prove his point.

I accepted the challange. Three swings later, my sword was at his chest and his was on the ground, five feet away. If we were in a tournament, I would've broken like 5 rules. But we wern't.

Needless to say, the teachers gave him the victory. But I only lost by rules; I won by swordplay. If it was an actual fight, he'd be dead.

And yes, I know that Middle-school not-swordfights aren't anything like real combat, but the point still stands. If you go into battle expecting people to play by your rules, well, they won't. They won't block with perfect form. They won't fight with a pattern. They won't use your tactics. They are going to do something that you won't expect, and you are going to loose. And, if the person you loose to isn't a good one, your loss will likely result in a very painful death.