Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-68.62.24.88-20130413185629

Most people reference the song "Red Like Roses" in characterizing the RWBY team and speculating identity and fable connection, and righty so since the gons apprently identifies each of the 4 main girls. So I thought I would try to analyze it as best as I could.

"Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest

White is cold and always yearning, brudened by the royal test

Black the beast descends from shadow

Yellow beauty burns gold"

So, starting with Ruby "Red". Of all the characterizations in the song, I find hers the most ambiguous, but then I realized that it correlates directly with the very first scene of her trailer. Most viewers believe she is out for revenge, and the on she is avenging is the person buried in the grave she is visiting. The song lyrics heavily support the possibility that she saw someone (whom, in keeping with Little Red Riding Hood, I call "Grandmother")  murdered in front of her eyes (Red like roses = blood, a Romantic comparison of death and beauty) and it's all she thinks about (fills my dreams), avenging this person (brings me to the place you rest).

Before going on, I would like to also put forward the idea that maybe the grave isn't a grave, but a memorial. Consider it's awkward and out of the way placement (on a cliff!?) and then think about Ruby's remarkable proficiency with the gun (scythe thing). Perhaps she was a soldier, a survivor and the "Red like roses fills my dreams" refers to a PTSD breakdown from battle, or "brings me to the place you rest" refer's to survivor's guilt.

Next, White. The obvious fable comparison is Snow White (Mirror, Mirror; Weiss Schnee = White Snow) and the lyrics "cold and always yearning" could draw a connection to her forest exile and desire to return to the castle (let me just say, I know Mr. Oum stated that the characters are independent of fairy tales, but these are speculations based on what we've got). So let's consider for a second that so far, while all the girls draw sometimes obvious, sometimes, subtle comparisons to fairy tales, White is the only princess. The lyric "burdened by a royal test" could go toward the Snow White story of an evicted and disgraced royal whose battle is with an incompetent and evil monarch. We find her in the trailer battling a knight (albeit a monstrous and possibly soulless one). Knights of old were nobles who pledged an allegiance to their monarch (no, let's not get into the discussions of political and religious autonomy), provide serivce get honor.

So what better opponent is there for Weiss to battle than a vestige monarchical power? Furthermore, they fight in what (based on the stained glass window like designs) appears to be a church, a symbol of conservative order. I think it makes a semi-clear statement that White is of royal blood and her conflict with a hereditary succession or some kind of coup.

Black the beast descends from shadows. Some interpret this as a Beauty and the Beast kind of thing, where Black is referred to as a beast, her fighting style is beastly, her partner's name Adam is the name of the Disney prince wo became the beast, etc. In my opinion, Black and Yellow will provide the internal turmoil that is always necessary in group style shows (ex. Buttercup and Bubbles PPG, Leonardo and Raphael TMNT)

Why? "Yellow Beauty""Black the Beast" Obvious opposites. Apart from that, I can't gather much, sorry.

So, analyzing the song, what do you think is Yellow or Black's significance? 