Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-14909251-20131108234109

Somewhat lost in the discussion of the Volume 1 finale is that we now have two conflicting descriptions of the White Fang and its history from two main characters. Weiss, who presumably has decent knowledge of the White Fang's actions against her company, and Blake, who obviously has insider knowledge of the White Fang's activities given her previous involvement with them. They each give versions of the history that seem to be at odds.

According to Weiss, the White Fang have been at war with the SDC for years and this conflict has included executions and disappearances. She further states that it has been going on since she was a child and as long as she can remember, suggesting at least a decade of conflict. Anther comment she makes about them is that they want to wipe out humanity.

According to Blake, the White Fang only became violent five years ago, previously being a peaceful activist organization that was itself originally meant as a sort of friendship association, and she only mentions presumably non-lethal arson attacks and cargo hijackings. Blake says these acts are about gaining equality.

The length of time the White Fang has been violent, the extent of their actions, and their motivations all seem to be described differently. Either one of them is lying or there is some misunderstanding going on here. We can safely presume that Weiss is not mistaken about people affiliated with the company and her family disappearing or being killed and we can safely presume that Blake is not mistaken about the leadership change.

Yet the exact nature of what the White Fang does and how long it has been engaging in violence is not as clear. It is entirely possible for an outwardly peaceful organization to have secretly engaged in violent political actions such as executions and disappearances. These could have been approved at the highest level or just been machinations by a faction within the group who eventually seized power over the entire organization. However, it is also possible that Weiss was talking about more than just the White Fang, but Faunus unaffiliated with the group carrying out violent acts. This would explain why her distrust extends beyond just that organization.

Even if we presume the executions and disappearances were in the past five years, though Weiss seems to indicate they went on longer than that, it is hard to imagine Blake leaving this out as part of her reason for leaving the organization. Of course, from the Black Trailer we know Blake is aware that they were at least capable of killing innocent civilian workers, and it is hard to imagine they went from non-lethal actions to killing random civilians all of a sudden without her knowing of the slow transition to lethal violence. Seems more likely that Blake would have known about more "acceptable" killings of deserving indivdiuals, especially since she is close to Adam who appears to be a high-level member of the group.

At the same time, we have Blake not denying genocidal ambitions on the part of the White Fang and expressly stating they would not work with humans, though she was technically wrong on that last point it does suggest this was how they were when she was a member.

I am actually more inclined to believe Weiss would downplay her own suffering out of pride, while Blake would downplay the actions of the White Fang, and her own actions by extension, for the same reason. I can believe that Blake was understating the White Fang's offenses out of pride or lingering loyalties to a group she had believed in strongly. Alternatively, I can just as easily believe that Weiss was lumping together various different violent acts committed by the Faunus with the White Fang just being the most recent offenders.

So, is one of them right and the other wrong, are they both wrong to some extent, or is there some other explanation for the inconsistencies that can accommodate both sides? 