Talk:Summer's Gravestone/@comment-2600:1010:B061:AFC2:2C13:3B0D:6C41:C8E9-20180416053655

So sorry in advance for this basically essay length theory writeup but honestly it wouldn't have been as clearly explained if I made it shorter. So just to clarify here I'm convinced one of the 2 variations that I bring up will either literally be the end scenario or more relevant than irrelevant to the end scenario. So just for the sake of helping to understanding my thought process for these theories I will mention I have a probably unhealthy obsession with reading books of all styles and watching film in general. I also enjoy almost as much as reading/watching books and film attempting to dissect and understand not just the symbolism and other literary devices used but also the writers mental process and influences that lead to the media I really enjoy. If you want a totally non fleshed out and admittedly not so great tl;dr scroll to the bottom.

Okay so after seeing all through season 5 (I won't mention to major of spoilers such as major events that have occurred, the only way I'd be spoiling anything is if one of my 2 theories are correct) at least 4 to 6 times and paying close attention to foreshadowing, hints and typical story progression/main beats and themes I'm still not convinced Summer Rose is guareented dead though I do thinks it's the most likely scenario. So realistically just like most detailed yet lightly touched on events and objects with rwby I've been convinced the use of the thirteenth line from "The Last Summer Rose" poem "thus kindly I scatter" wasn't used just for catchiness or a lightly relevent reference, I'm fully convinced it is foreshadowing for possibly the climax or a massive game changing event. Before reading further please read the short poem and possibly a interpretration if needed.

So to seperate my 2 theories I'll start with the one assuming summer rose is still alive. Considering the poem is all about contemplating the value of one's life if everyone you loved is gone (not necessarily dead but in any way that would make real communication with them impossible since roses are generally regarded as flowers of love it could be interpreted that not just death but coma or having become someone completely different could apply since love could be killed in that sense if your loved one was a entierly different person). If summer rose was to show up at some point (ignoring theories of where she was and why because it's not relevant to this prediction) I feel as though outside of information gained through stories a picture and her grave/memorial that this line is most indicative of her present story and it's direction since it's the only line spoken about her ever in the present tense. So I’d assume with all that in mind she would become near the end of the story the late game main protagonist ala it was her story all along sort of deal, in which case everyone she ever knew and loved and possibly their loved ones as well would meet one end or another possibly by her actions directly or indirectly (not neccesarily killed but possibly taken to another world/dimension since the vaults already showed spaces relevant to that exist or are unfortunately committed to the wrong cause/side kind of like the theory Ozpin is a lesser evil to Salem while Summer may know the "good" solution and have to either take out her loved ones or simply give up due to the sentiment echoed in the poem that it wouldn't be a world worth having without them). This ending would in order to stay true to RWBY's storytelling themes and patterns would have to conclude with her death being the thus kindly I scatter moment and that would give way to some kind of beautiful ending such as a new world without grim, magic or maidens basically anything used for evil during the show and/or allowing the ones she was fighting for (team RWBY and other friends) live on in peace.

Now while I think that first theory is the least likely due to my heavy doubts on the theory that summer rose is alive I feel this scenario where she is already dead would be more likely. In this theory I'm taking the thus kindly I scatter grave/memorial quote as a kind of indirect last words or hint towards the reasoning or event that lead to her death (since it has yet to be mentioned who or why that quote was choosen) and it being a sort of final plot solution that she set into motion. Generally speaking it would be in the realm of her somehow having been a maiden or defeating/killing a maiden and somehow ending that maidens line of transfer of power considering how different flowers bloom in different seasons the other "decayed flowers" could be reference to all the maidens powers (not the maidens themselves) that were once used for good now being used for more sinister motives thus being a decayed version of itself and her moment of scattering could allude to that power being scattered away rather tha given to another and thus dead in its own more poetically beautiful way (keep in mind the story of the original 4 maidens states they were sisters thus considering the powers as a symbol/remnant of those sisters the idea that all the other ones being "dead" in whatever capacity probably the sinister abuse concept could still fit neatly into the poem's context). So to hold true to the poem's context this action would have to have made whatever "evil" end involving the use of all 4 maidens powers and/or the relics that represent them impossible or at least vulnerable enough for the good guys to prevail where they couldn't have otherwise thus making that action of scattering the catalyst that made the good ending possible. Now how the information is acquired that that was summer rose's doing is irrelevant to the point I'm making about the contextual tie in.

tl;dr given how much RWBY focusses on self sacrifice and the importance of family both of blood and choice in a huge varity of ways, the poem "The Last Summer Rose" which Summer Rose's gravestone quote "thus kindly, I scatter" is taken from essentially is a contextual telling of either how RWBY ends or of the event that is the catalyst to RWBY's end. Just like graves are thematically the end of a character but not necessarily the end of their influence, this being on such a important characters (alive or not) gravestone/memorial essentially states this is how it ends.