Mettle[1] was the Semblance of James Ironwood. It bears particular distinction as the only Semblance of which the effects were never explicitly shown or mentioned, to the point where it isn't even named within the series.
It strengthened his resolve, which allowed him to carry through with his decisions, and helped him hyper-focus.
Description[]
As a passive Semblance, Mettle was only ever present in the background, essentially acting as the uncompromising aspect of Ironwood's personality. It emboldened him to act swiftly and helped lessen the psychological burden of difficult decisions. If anything got in the way of his goals, he took action to eliminate the variable from the equation as soon as possible. However, this had the consequence of feeding into his paranoia, making him hesitant to take advice from or even trust those closest to him. By his own account, the sole exception to this was Winter Schnee.
It was also unable to fully suppress his mental burdens or mounting stress, nor could it grant him true emotional clarity, as was evident by his visibly increasing desperation throughout the invasion of Atlas. At best, it could make him appear calm and collected, even when he was acting otherwise.
Possible Uses[]
Upon learning of Salem's impending arrival, his Semblance likely played a part in him declaring martial law and using the Relic of Creation to raise Atlas, keeping the Relics and Maiden out of her reach. This resulted in the loss of trust from Ruby's Group when they opposed this idea, leading to him ordering them all apprehended in "Gravity". When Oscar Pine confronted him in "The Enemy of Trust" about his choices, he shot him in an attempt to kill him.
In "Divide", when Councilmen Sleet and Camilla confronted him about his decision to enact martial law, Ironwood ultimately decided to shoot and kill Sleet as a show of force, a warning to the others not to oppose him.
In "Strings", it was revealed Ironwood planned to use the captured Watts' hacking skills to bring Penny Polendina back under his control and continue to work towards his plan to raise Atlas.
In "Ultimatum", after Qrow Branwen and Robyn escaped custody because of the actions of Cinder Fall and Harriet Bree informed him of Winter deciding to release Yang's Group, his Semblance was likely integral in his decision to threaten Ruby's Group into working with him using the Atlas Bomb.
In "Risk", Ironwood almost killed Marrow Amin immediately after he spoke out against his plans, and only failed to do so due to Winter's quick thinking.
When Ironwood was freed from his cell in "Worthy", his focus seemed to be on obtaining the Staff, which led to him killing Jacques Schnee in the adjacent cell and later engage in battle with Winter in the Atlas Vault leading into "The Final Word", ultimately leading to his own death.
Trivia[]
- Ironwood's character alludes to the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz, who wished to have a heart. This fits well with his Semblance, as it often made him act heartlessly.
- It's name is also likely a pun, as "mettle" is a homophone of "metal."
- It is theorized by some that the moments when Ironwood's eyes are dimmed or lacking a visible highlight are instances of him utilizing Mettle, though this has not been confirmed. As such, it is difficult to determine exactly which actions were a result of his Semblance or not.
- Ironwood's voice actor, Jason Rose, mentioned during a 2021 GalaxyCon panel that he was unaware of Mettle while recording for the character, and only learned of it from a fan following it's reveal at RTX 2020. Without this outside knowledge, it's reasonable for one to assume that Ironwood may for whatever reason lack a Semblance, similar to what was revealed about Watts never bothering to develop his.
- According to the show's writers during the RTX 2020 panel, Mettle was meant to be mentioned explicitly at some point during Volume 7 or 8, and was always accounted for while constructing the story, but they never felt it was so important compared to anything else occurring that it would've merited disrupting the situation for the sake of exposition. They also expressed hopes of bringing attention to it in some future material.
References[]
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