User blog:GlassGolem/Volume 3 Retrospective - GG edition

Hey, long time no see.

I realize this is an odd time to make a blog about vol.3; what with vol.4 ep.1 going to be released tomorrow. But well... after Monty died, my depression got really bad and I just sort of... shut down.

I did still manage to binge watch vol.3 at some point, and I quite enjoyed it: hilarious, heartwarming, awesome, and with a finale that genuinely brought be to tears!

it also turned out almost exactly as I thought it would.

OK, that's an exaggeration; I didn't predict who would die, or the existence of the seasonal maidens, or the exact details of Cinder's plan. But I did have a rough idea of would happen.

For starters, let's look at a blog I made back when vol.2 ep.2 was hot news; In a very real sense, the Darkness(of the Grimm) has smothered the Light(of Beacon).

Next, I believed there was something "special" in Beacon; perhaps a "Light-Stone" that could repel the Grimm, which Cinder planed to destroy/steal? As it turned out, there was not something magical hidden in Beacon, but someone - Amber.

Then, we have the Character Deaths™. It would be rather expected for an "old mentor type" character to die to both show how dangerous the villain is, and spurn the start of the main characters' journey(Ozpins disappearance had this sort off effect). But in vol.2, we already had Mercury and Emerald kill a man in cold blood to show they mean business; killing another "side character" wouldn't have had much of an impact. So I... I wouldn't say thought, rather hoped... that they wouldn't go that route.

Woo boy, they didn't.

It's rather telling that out of the three major deaths this volume(excluding Amber), two could be considered members of the "main cast", with Pyrrha being part of the "second A-Team". That's not random; Monty had planed from the start that a main character would die at the end of the first "season", after we've had hours to get to know them. With all that time, we could be forgiven for thinking they might survive their fights(even if victory is impossible). But killing Pyrrha is twofold - it shows that even a main character can die in this story; and that even the strongest can die, for "there will be no victory in strength".

Finally, Salem, or the "Black King" as I liked to refer to her as... I believed from vol.2 onwards that the "Mysterious Narrator" was the true Big Bad - with Cinder as the "Black Queen" it only made sense there would be a King as well, wouldn't it?

So what do I think is in store for vol.4?

Difficult to say - I know we've had 3 volumes, but this marks the first "true" new season of RWBY; The world has changed irreversibly, and there's many more volumes to go before the end, I think.

I would think that Cinder will still play a big part in this volume - our heroes are chasing after her, after all - but actually defeating her is not feasible in this volume. Ruby still has a much learn about her power; we have much to learn about Ren and Nora; and everyone really needs to know if the other seasonal maidens are safe.

Beyond that, there will probably some shot sections with the other... "former" members of Team RWBY, if only so we know whats happening to them.

... I guess that's really all I wanted to say...

See you tomorrow!