Ascension is a process that occurs in the Ever After and is linked to the Great Tree.
Description[]
Similar to concepts such as resurrection and reincarnation, Ascension occurs when an Afteran is no longer doing the assigned role that they are supposed to be. It is triggered by them losing their ways, wearing out, doubting themselves, or even just finishing their assigned tasks. Upon ascending, all Afterans are taken to the Great Tree and repurposed into someone or something else with a new identity, personality, and role in the Ever After. Their memories are erased in the process; however, their hearts do not forget their defining moments.
Notable examples include the Red King and the Herbalist, who both underwent Ascension after no longer properly fulfilling their duties. The former was eventually reborn into a new being known as the Red Prince.
As revealed in “Of Solitude and Self”, the God of Light and God of Darkness were the ones originally in charge of handling the process of Ascension. However, as time went on, the Brothers quickly grew in power, and no longer bound to their role, decided to create beings who could replace them. The first was the Curious Cat, who would go around finding and “fixing” the broken parts of the Ever After, as well as and taking on their role of managing Ascension, as they can trigger the process in other Afterans. They gave the Cat numerous abilities to help them in their new role and duty, one of those was the ability to decide whether or not an Afteran is performing their roles adequately, and persuade them to continue in their role, or to send them to the tree. After the success of the Cat, the Brothers created a second being, the Jabberwalker, who could “finish what the Cat started” and provide the Afterans a way to stop ascending and die. They gave it the ability to disrupt the Ascensions of other Afterans by devouring them, preventing them from being reborn.
According to the Curious Cat, Humans and other creatures from different worlds are unable to be properly ascended by the tree and so the results are largely unpredictable. Though this was disputed by the Blacksmith, who claimed that Ruby Rose was getting very close to Ascension at the time.
Process[]
Ruby being confronted by a hallucination of her past self
The process of Ascension can begin through multiple means. As shown with Team RWBY’s meeting with the Herbalist, one way is through the Great Tree’s leaves. By inhaling the smoke from the leaves, a being would hallucinate someone important or significant to them, who then begins questioning their identities, goals and desires and tempting them at the prospect of changing, such as when Yang, Weiss, Ruby and Blake were faced with their past selves. It's been implied that if the four had accepted the proposals of these hallucinations, they would have then been swallowed into the ground by the tree's Roots and put through Ascension. After being hit with the smoke by Team RWBY and Jaune Arc, Neopolitan began her Ascension by jumping into the tree itself after letting go of Roman Torchwick for good.
Later, during Neo’s plot to break Ruby, she convinced her to drink a cup of tea brewed with a leaf of the tree. Once Ruby had ingested it, she briefly glowed the same multicolored, purple, blue, green, yellow color of the leaves before being swallowed into the ground by the tree's roots. It's not clear whether or not the choice to Ascend could be rejected or not like it could with the smoke.
The Cat giving the Herbalist “a piece of their heart”.
Another method to reach Ascension is through the Curious Cat. When a Afteran has a “Broken Heart” and has become unsure, confused or unhappy with their “roles”, the Curious Cat can help them by “giving them a piece of their heart”, which either convinces and assures them of their roles or convinces and causes them to go to the tree and ascend. As shown with the Herbalist, after the Cat gave him a piece of their heart and convinced them to ascend, they were immediately taken by a hole in the ground and collected by the tree’s roots after he agreed that he wasn’t following his original role anymore and needed to change.
The final method to ascend, as shown with the Paper Pleasers, is to die in the Ever After. When a Afteran’s body is destroyed their remains are stated to be blown by the wind to the Great Tree, where they automatically go through Ascension. Little also went through this method of ascension after being crushed by Neo.
Once someone accepts going through Ascension, they are immediately brought to the tree in the Central Acre of the Ever After, where they are then encased within the tree inside a wooden chrysalis, very much like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, until they finish ascending and emerge in their new form and identity.
The Blacksmith helping and guiding Ruby’s decision on her new identity and form.
Once inside the Great Tree, the person seemingly meets with the Blacksmith as they are transported into her workshop that is located in an entirely separate realm within the tree. The Blacksmith then asks them on who and what they want to become in their next life. The Blacksmith then tries to guide this soul through this process and decision. As implied, once the soul decides what they want, the Blacksmith is the one in charge of creating their new form and gives them the powers and abilities they would need to help them fulfill their new purpose.
When this process is complete, the soul emerges from their wooden chrysalis in their new form and identity, not having any memories of their previous lives but still retaining certain feelings. This is confirmed in the case of the Red Prince, where despite going through Ascension, he possesses a deep mistrust in humans and a belief that they were all cheaters due to the past experience of his original self as the Red King. The Curious Cat explained that this was due to "the heart hardly ever forgets", implying that despite losing their original personality and memories, an Afteran still retains certain emotional aspects of their original selves in their new incarnations. This is further shown with Little, who after Ascending, no longer had memories of their time with Ruby and her friends, but still retained their feelings of friendship with them, describing them as familiar and Ruby in particular as “like a happy dream they can’t remember” and even calling her “huntress”.
For Humans, while the person is able to choose a new identity for themselves, the process can also be an opportunity to rediscover who they truly are. Upon which, they emerge from the cocoon in their original form along with all their memories, with only a slight alteration to their appearance. This was first demonstrated by Ruby Rose, who after a great crisis of faith in herself was able to regain confidence in herself as a Huntress, thus allowing her to emerge as herself, but with all the damage she received during her fight with Neo healed up and regains her emblem pin that she previously gave away to the Teapot Lady.
There may also be a time limit with Ascension, as during Ruby's inability to decide what to be, the Blacksmith claims that Ruby's time to decide was running out. This implies that if a figure cannot figure out who or what they should be, they may forcibly be ejected or become something else altogether, though this is unconfirmed. It is very likely that the Blacksmith said that because her friends were losing against the Curious Cat.
History[]
Ascension is described as a core process of the Ever After, being deeply intertwined in Afterans' lifestyles and culture. Due to this, it can be assumed that it has existed as long as the Ever After itself.
Following his encounter with Alyx where he lost his game due to her cheating, the Red King was inconsolable and wavering about his role, so the tree saw fit to have him ascended to make him more resolute in his role. Following his Ascension, he became the Red Prince, who resumed his rule of the Crimson Castle, this time determined to win his game at any cost. Thus, where the King was honorable, the Prince now saw fit to cheat in his game to win no matter what.
The Herbalist's Ascension.
Another Afteran who went through Ascension was the Herbalist. Team RWBY visited him in "A Cat Most Curious", where they asked for guidance toward the tree, which the Herbalist assumed meant they wanted his help to ascend. Using the tree's leaves, he used his mist ability to try to perform the Curious Cat's role, questioning their resolve to determine whether they are fit to ascend. While Yang, Weiss and Blake were resolute in refusing the offer to "become someone else", Ruby was left uncertain and depressed due to her recent defeats and perceived failures. Interrupting the process before Ruby could take the offer of Ascension, the Cat claimed the Herbalis wasn't performing his role adequately and gave him a piece of their heart to allow him to ascend and find his role again. (However, the Cat's real motivation behind disrupting the Herbalist's actions was revealed later in "Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble")
This led Team RWBY to question the Curious Cat on what exactly Ascension was, and they explained the process to the team in "The Parfait Predicament". Soon after, Ruby Rose meets the Blacksmith, who offers her to set her burden down, seeing as she was the only one to doubt her role in the Herbalist's mist.
During the events of "Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble", Neopolitan attempts to drive Ruby Rose to despair and drink tea made from a leaf from the tree to ascend. In order to do this, she uses clones of people she knew Ruby Rose failed to save in the past or that she had some role in their deaths recreated from her Semblance Overactive Imagination. Among them was Roman Torchwick, Pyrrha Nikos, Penny Polendina, Leonardo Lionheart, Clover Ebi, Ozpin and James Ironwood who she used to beat Ruby physically and mentally while calling her out for her actions ever since she started at Beacon Academy. She also used clones of her friends Oscar Pine, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie and Qrow Branwen to torment her into drinking the tea as well. Eventually, after Ruby witnesses Neo smashing her heel on Little and killing them, she finally ends up being driven to despair and drinks the tea to ascend right as the real Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune arrive.
In "A Tale Involving a Tree" WBY, Jaune and Juniper finally reach the Tree after Jaune found acceptance in his inability to save everyone. There they found the wooden chrysalises of the Herbalist and Ruby. Yang attempted to free her sister from the Tree, but Jaune stopped her, finally understanding that Ruby's Ascension was up to her and not them. Shortly later the group witnesses the Herbalist break free from his wooden shell, revealing him to have gained legs and wings from his Ascension. This helps Blake convince Yang to accept Ruby’s Ascension, despite the reality upsetting them both.
After choosing a representation of Crescent Rose, Ruby emerged from the tree as herself. Following the defeat of the Curious Cat, Neo jumped into the tree to undergo an Ascension of her own while Little emerged, having ascended into a new mouse dubbed "Somewhat" by Ruby.
Trivia[]
- As revealed in “Of Solitude and Self”, the Curious Cat is possibly the only being who is completely unable to go through Ascension. This is seen where they stated to be immune to the effects of the Tree’s leaves and were only affected by them due to at the time, they were sharing a body with another. It would later be confirmed by the Blacksmith that the Cat did indeed have a “broken heart”, but unlike the other Afterans, had no one and no way to go to the tree to repair themselves, resulting in them to be gradually be twisted by their anger, resentment, sadness and obsession.
- Despite confirmation that Non-Afterans can ascend in the Ever After, it's stated by the Blacksmith that Alyx had died and passed on, with only a piece of her spirit remaining. This implies that if a species outside the Ever After dies without accepting Ascension through the leaves, they perish fully and do not ascend.
- The Gods have the ability to disrupt the process of Ascension, as seen with their creation of the Curious Cat and the Jabberwalker. The former was incapable of ascending, while the latter can prevent Ascension by devouring Afterans.
References[]
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