User blog:ChishioKunrin/How the plot has used Ruby Rose

There's been some discussion about Ruby being more of a Walking Plot Device than a character, so let's look at how the plot has handled Ruby so far, as of volume 4 being finished with volume 5 on its way.

I'll bold and italicize what I count as the writers using Ruby as solely a tool to move the story in the direction they want it to go.

Ruby Rose

 * Pilot episode
 * Stopped Torchwick's robbery
 * Kinda sorta assisted Glynda in trying to stop Cinder
 * Along with Ozpin, basically introduced to us the concept of Huntsmen and Huntresses
 * Was let into Beacon two years early

The Shining Beacon

 * Met Weiss, sorta Blake, and Jaune
 * Through their meeting, we got exposition on who Weiss is, what the SDC is, the fact that Jaune's weapon is a hand-me-down from the Great War, and the fact that combat school students forge their own weapons

The Shining Beacon Pt 2

 * Got yelled at by Weiss
 * Listened to Opzin's speech
 * Finally really met Blake. Actually showed a bit of characterization with her whole thing about story books and wanting to protect people who can't protect themselves.

The First Step

 * "I DRINK MILK"
 * Showed more characterization in her hesitation to meet new people
 * Helped Jaune find his locker
 * "oh noes we're getting partners today"

The First Step Pt 2

 * Got partnered with Weiss, eager to make a better impression

The Emerald Forest

 * Got in Weiss' way in the fight, argued with her.

The Emerald Forest Pt 2

 * Argued with Weiss some more, was very sad that Weiss was judging her without really knowing her

Players and Pieces

 * Tried really hard to show Weiss she's a capable fighter
 * Got everyone to try retreating
 * Came up with the plan to kill the Nevermore

The Badge and the Burden

 * Decorated the room
 * Got bored and goofed off in class, which is why Weiss angrily volunteered to fight the Boarbatusk. I won't count that as "Purely being there to move the plot", as it was also there to show who Ruby was as a student and what about her annoyed Weiss.

The Badge and the Burden Pt 2
It was this conflict plus Weiss' conversation with Port that caused Weiss to be able to summon a Boarbatusk.
 * Annoyed Weiss during the Boarbatusk fight
 * Got into heated conversation with Weiss in the hall
 * Learned a lesson about being a leader

Jaunedice

 * "Cardin's a bully."

Forever Fall

 * Gave Jaune the Nope speech, using what she had learned about being a leader! That was a pretty good character moment for Ruby, so I won't count it as "Purely just being there to move the plot".

Forever Fall Pt 2

 * Ruby and Weiss caused Pyrrha to reveal to us the term Semblance.

The Stray

 * Befriended Penny (+1 friend!)

Black and White

 * Ruby and Yang dragged Weiss out into the city to search for Blake
 * Penny followed Ruby to the docks and then kicked major ass because Ruby got shot. Roman fled because of Penny. Ruby only headed over there because she happened to see smoke from Roman shooting the ground, anyway.

Summary
Okay, so, in volume 1, they actually did a pretty good job with actually letting Ruby be a person with characterization and her own little internal and external conflicts. She was mainly just used as a tool solely to move the story in Black and White, and there's nothing wrong with that. Throughout volume 1, she was actually acting like a person, a normal character. Sure, Weiss, Blake, and Jaune got a lot of spotlight, but Ruby was focused on a lot at the beginning, in the initiation, and in The Badge and the Burden.

So, overall, volume 1 was a good volume for Ruby. Buuut then we move to volume 2...

Best Day Ever

 * Food fight

Welcome to Beacon

 * Played a board game
 * Got excited that Team RWBY's conversation led to everyone deciding to investigate Torchwick and the White Fang

A Minor Hiccup

 * Ditched Weiss to find out what happened to Penny
 * Saw Ironwood's presentation on the new AKs and the Paladin, thus allowing us to see it through her
 * Was the cause of Penny losing skin on her palms and thus confessing she's a robot. Basically, they used her for the confirmation "reveal". Though, they chose Ruby because her keeping Penny's secret is part of their friendship thing. But... that hasn't really led anywhere, so far, has it?

Painting the Town

 * Helped fight the Paladin, called out team attack directions

Extracurricular

 * Was there. Just... was on-screen but didn't really step into a spotlight or more into the foreground than anyone around her.

Burning the Candle

 * Moped that Blake wasn't going to the dance
 * Showed up at the dance
 * Was someone for Ozpin to give a speech to

Dance Dance Infiltration

 * Was there to tell Jaune that Neptune turned Weiss down, leading to the scene where Jaune talked to Pyrrha and found out that she had feelings for him, etc.
 * Followed Cinder to the CCT and tried to stop her

Field Trip

 * Informed Ozpin's group that the Dust lady working with Torchwick infiltrated the CCT, also slipped them the info about the White Fang gathering in the southeast. After she left, Ozpin and Ironwood had one of the conflicts that ultimately led to Ironwood throwing Ozpin under the bus to the Council in Breach and becoming the head of security for the festival.
 * Decided to take Zwei with her on the field trip. I almost counted this, but... really, there was no one she could ask to dogsit Zwei, and even if he is special, she probably didn't wanna leave him all alone in their dorm. Plus, she was happy to see him again.
 * Ozpin let Team RWBY go to Mountain Glenn because Ruby slipped him the info about the WF gathering there.

Search and Destroy

 * Everyone fought things
 * She allowed us to be told about the Goliaths
 * Caused us to get some Oobleck characterization
 * "Tomorrow will be better" (aka Ruby is still an optimist, tiny character thing)

Mountain Glenn

 * Fell through a sinkhole and got captured by the White Fang, thus leading to her team and Oobleck having to find her, therefore they found the WF's operation

No Brakes

 * Told her team and Oobleck about the train so they tried to stop it
 * Did a lot of helping off-screen

Breach

 * Fought things
 * Was happy they stopped the breach

Summary
I feel like volume 2 is where they started dropping her being a person and started their descent into Walking Plot Device. It feels a lot like Ruby got pretty pushed to the side here. Yang mentioning Ruby being really torn up about Summer's disappearance felt more like a piece of Yang's back story, and we still haven't gotten anything from Ruby herself about her experience from her point of view with that part of their past. If Ruby was so torn up, surely that time period was a pretty significant part of Ruby's past, right?

Meanwhile Weiss, Blake, and Yang continued acting like characters who were living their lives and dealing with things, with their own internal conflicts.

Round One

 * Got a character moment talking to Summer's grave
 * Fought in the tournament
 * Emerald talked to Team RWBY and found out who they chose for the doubles because she pickpocketed Ruby. It didn't necessarily have to be Ruby. It could've been Weiss, especially since Weiss lagged behind the others at first. Blake and Yang are probably street smart enough to exclude them as alternatives that she could have pickpocketed.
 * Ate ramen

New Challengers

 * Was there.

It's Brawl in the Family

 * "Your sister?"
 * Met Winter, with an awkward attempt to be proper
 * Super happy to see Uncle Qrow

Lessons Learned

 * Got Qrow to tell us about his last mission
 * Ruby and Yang caused Qrow to give an interesting speech, which led into Qrow showing the STRQ photo, which caused Yang to realize who saved her on the train. Ruby was the one who started the conversation on her and Yang feeling like pro Huntresses, but the conversation was pretty smooth and Yang contributed, so I'm not counting it.

Never Miss a Beat

 * Penny told her the only people who knew she was a robot were her, Ironwood, and Penny's father
 * Watched Weiss and Yang's fight

Fall

 * Was there. Told Yang to break a leg.

Destiny

 * Didn't believe Yang hurt Mercury for no reason
 * Talked to JNPR about Yang's situation and told Pyrrha to win for Beacon
 * Had a conversation with Velvet that made her realize something's suspicious about Mercury and possibly Emerald
 * Just happened to see Emerald was in the stands even though, from what Ruby had heard, Emerald was supposed to be on the way to Mistral
 * Ran into Mercury in the maintenance hall

PvP

 * Faced Mercury
 * Cried that Penny died

Battle of Beacon

 * Stopped the Nevermore from attacking Pyrrha
 * Knew it wasn't Pyrrha's fault because of Mercury. This moment quickly transitions to an Arkos moment.
 * Left with everyone else
 * Went to Ironwood's main ship after Ironwood got shot down

Heroes and Monsters

 * Fought Neo and Roman on Ironwood's ship's roof. Her being there had led to Roman going up to the roof, which led to Roman getting eaten.
 * Dunno whether to count her stereotypical shounen protagonist speech ("We will stop them, and I will stop you. Bet on that!") as a character moment, but sure.
 * Pretty much took down Ironwood's ship, which ended the Black Queen virus' control of the robots

End of the Beginning

 * Silver eye powers!
 * Talked to Yang, which was more of a Yang moment than a Ruby moment.
 * JNR headed out to Mistral because she was going to Mistral. Jaune even said so in volume 4.

The Yang moment in End of the Beginning: There was also a bit of a Ruby moment in there, or at least, there'd be more of a Ruby moment if they ever actually took a closer look at how Ruby felt seeing Yang like that. Once the scene was over, the show was done paying attention to that.

All we got from Ruby seeing Yang like that was a frowny face and a sad, quiet "I love you". You know what we got out of Yang about everything that happened? Actual dialogue from the heart that reflects how she feels, telling Ruby that she's not okay, that everything is gone. She outright expresses that she's upset that Blake ran off, says she doesn't care, then angrily cuts Ruby off saying there doesn't have to be a reason Blake left. We even see Yang through a window while she wipes tears from her eye. Ruby didn't have to give us a big expression of how she felt seeing Yang like that in that very moment, but it would've been nice to have that be visited later, by her, not just a mention by Jaune. Why does everyone else keep talking about Ruby's pain for her?

Summary
So... uh... Honestly, there was more focus on Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, and Ozpin's group as characters living their lives and dealing with things in volume 3. Meanwhile, it felt like Ruby was focused on as mainly a vessel for plot stuff to happen to, to do things for the plot, and for us to see other plot things happening elsewhere. It'd be nice if other members of Team RWBY had these "Right place at the right time to move the plot" moments and let Ruby be a person with character moments and development and back story reveals once in a while.

No, Blake at the White Fang meeting in volume 2 and at the docks in volume 1 don't count because neither of those was a "Just happened to be in the right place at the right time" moment. Blake intentionally infiltrated the WF meeting to find info, and Blake intentionally staked out the docks to see if the WF was stealing Dust. Both events were planned and had expected results. Ruby just stumbles into plot because the writers need her to and does so on a frequent basis.

I'm not saying it's a terrible thing for a character to stumble into plot. I'm saying it's bad that they frequently use Ruby to do this, and it wouldn't be quite so bad if they actually spread it out among the characters. When you set one character as your designated "Stumbles into plot and is a vessel to make plot things happen" character, that's bad, especially when you stop giving that character moments to actually act like a person, more deeply than them just reacting to the current situation or having a physical conflict with the bad guys.

The Next Step

 * Led RNJR's bounty (the Petra Gigas) to the clearing to fight it
 * Laughed at Jaune's hoodie

Remembrance

 * Had a dream that hasn't really held much significance yet
 * Found Shion's ruins with JNR
 * Was the character we saw Jaune's late-night training session through, when we honestly could've seen it through Nora or Ren, which would've been equally, if not more, significant, considering they were also Pyrrha's teammates. God knows Nora and Ren have had barely any focus, spotlight, significant character moments, etc until their Kuroyuri back story stuff.

Family

 * Went to Higanbana, checked into an inn

Tipping Point

 * Thought the journey wouldn't take so long
 * Listened to Ren's story about Oniyuri
 * Was Tyrian's target and the reason he attacked RNJR in the first place
 * Was the reason Qrow showed up and stepped in

Punished

 * Was the reason Qrow was envenomed (Will explain why this is important in Kuroyuri)
 * Cut Tyrian's stinger

A Much Needed Talk

 * Because Qrow came out of the shadows to save Ruby, he ended up explaining the truth behind the Fall of Beacon, the Maidens, and the Relics to RNJR, as well as gave us that exposition about the Relics

Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

 * Insisted on going to Kuroyuri in search of medicine, thus splitting RNJR up (Again, will explain in Kuroyuri)

Kuroyuri

 * Finally had a pretty significant character moment.
 * Ren and Nora found the Nuckelavee's cave.

Now, the reason I'm making such a big deal about RNJR splitting up boiling down to being because of Ruby is because literally the entire reason the plot had RNJR split up was just so Nora and Ren could find the Nuckelavee's cave so that we could see it and see Li Ren's arrow in the cave. That was the only purpose. Miles and Kerry sent the story down this path literally just to have Ren and Nora find the cave.

To get to this point, they had to follow this series of events: Ruby jumps into the fight, Qrow has to save Ruby from a falling wooden beam, Qrow lets his guard down and gets stung, Qrow passes out, RNJR must carry Qrow, Ruby insists on searching for medicine in Kuroyuri, RNJR splits up so Ruby and Jaune can search Kuroyuri while Ren and Nora avoid painful memories and thus find the cave. The plot used Ruby to make this happen.

Taking Control

 * Was there.

No Safe Haven

 * Helped fight the Nuckelavee
 * Had a nice character moment with the letter she wrote

Summary
So, again, Ruby was mostly off to the side or alongside everyone else and didn't step into the foreground or the spotlight much. She did move into the foreground to... be Tyrian's target and cause Qrow to show up so we could get exposition and so that RNJR would split up specifically so we could see the Nuckelavee's cave and Li's arrow. She also stepped into the foreground for a couple of character moments. But once again, she was mostly off to the side and being used for the plot.

What happened to Weiss? Personal conflict that made her actually feel like a person, a character, not just a tool with which to further the plot. Yes, the plot used her for us to hear Jacques and Ironwood's conversations through, but the reason she was there to overhear them is because she had personal reasons to be there. The plot didn't even rope her into something to further itself.

What happened to Blake? Personal internal conflict where she had to be taught a lesson. And then she encountered an external conflict with the bad guys, and it was personal. She started getting into it because it's personal for her.

What happened to Yang? Not much, but she dealt with personal stuff, not just dealing with her nightmares and trauma flashbacks, but also fear and frustration.

We need more stuff like that for Ruby.

Overall
The problem is pretty much that


 * There's too much of Ruby being used as a tool to progress the story or for the plot to happen to/through.

So, the big problem with Ruby is that the show frequently treats her as a figure that helps further the plot and has plot happen to them, and it hasn't been treating her as an actual character, her own person, often enough. Meanwhile, it lets other characters like Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha be actual characters and their own people.
 * There's not enough of Ruby stepping into the foreground or the spotlight for actual character moments, where she's doing something deeper than reacting to the situation or having a physical conflict with the bad guys.
 * It seems like, for the most part, Ruby is the designated "Stumbles into plot and is a vessel to make plot things happen" character, and other characters don't get an even share of this role. Perhaps if other characters took a turn with the role, it would free up Ruby to be a deeper character for once.

The show actually allowed Ruby to act like a character and a person back in volume 1. What happened to that?