Also known as the Fable that Shouldâve Stayed
Lost. At nearly 24 minutes (excluding intro and
credits), this is the longest chapter of RWBY ever produced, and when this came out, CRWBY
really wanted to emphasize how much of an undertaking this was. But even with all the asset creation, unique
set design, and clear effort the animators were made to put into just this one episode,
something about âThe Lost Fableâ never sat right with me. I walked away feeling⌠nothing. Not even in that way where a piece of media
leaves you numb and lost, and you know that was the intent. I just felt empty. Unaffected. The grand story weâd been building up to
for 6 seasons - ever since 2013 - turned out to be so⌠shallow. I mentioned in my recent Making Peace with
RWBY video how I was high off toxic positivity at the time. I let my perceptions and thoughts of the show
be warped so I could continue to enjoy it, when in my gut I knew I wasnât happy with
what we got. I even convinced myself it was okay that this
episode left me disappointed, cuz it was my own fault for expecting too much, and itâs
okay if the show doesnât want to tell a compelling story with rich themes. But the thing is⌠I donât believe any of that. A story that sits on such a storytelling goldmine,
that has the potential to explore complex themes of what it means to be human, what
it means to be alive, and refuses to isnât a story worth twisting yourself in knots over. That all said, if you did enjoy âThe Lost
Fableâ or you enjoy modern RWBY, this isnât to shame you or insult you in any way. Iâm glad that youâre able to enjoy it. However, I should also be allowed to express
my own disappointments. Now you might be wondering why itâs given
me such problems. It functions just fine as an origin story
for Remnant, Ozpin, and Salem. And thatâs the thing: on a superficial level,
it functions (somewhat). It gives you the appearance of a story in
which the world became a Remnant of its former glory, caused by Salemâs arrogance which
will go on to torment Ozpin through all his lifetimes. But if you look a bit deeper at any part of
this episode, it quickly falls apart. Thereâs nothing here but the illusion of
an epic fairytale, and if you even squint your eyes just a bit, you see through the
mist to find Miles and Kerry telling the animators to spend all-nighters with no overtime pay
rendering this out âfor the fans.â (Miles) âOur vice president would be like,
âAnd remember Monday is Memorial Day or whatever, so everybody has that off,â and
then you just hear the Animation Department go *nervous laughter*. One of the things that really helps the team
is reminding people, âHey, I know youâre tired, and I know you wanna go home, and I
know it seems like youâve been here forever, but all this time and energy is impacting
people literally all around the world.â So here we are. Weâre gonna go in depth as to why âThe
Lost Fableâ doesnât work on any level. And to begin our journey, a tale of why RWBY
is kinda fucked to begin with. Before we dive into the specifics of this
cursed folktale, first we need to establish the core issues of the show as a whole, because
they all play into why this story just doesnât work beyond the bare minimum. Salem is the catalyst for the Lost Fableâs
plot. Sheâs the one who instigates conflict with
the gods, leading to the end of the world, and eventually becomes the big bad weâre
dealing with in the present. Thatâs why our story begins with her, as
a lonely girl locked in a lonely tower by her cruel father⌠At least, Jinn says heâs cruel? (Jinn) âLocked away by her cruel father.â I think heâs cruel, cuz we never meet the
man. And itâs here we start running into our
problems. RWBY has always struggled with its obsession
with mystery and withholding information to keep fans guessing and coming back for answers. The issue there, however, is that storytelling
relies on prioritizing what information to give the audience so they understand the conflicts
and can get invested, versus what to hold off on until later. And oftentimes, novice writers will withhold
far too much, giving their audience little to nothing to get them hooked in the present. Thatâs part of the reason itâs so frustrating
we were made to wait 6 whole seasons for basic information about the main conflict of the
series. And I do mean basic. This entire chapter feels like the bare bones
summary of plot points all crammed into as short a chapter as possible. This may be one of the longest chapters of
the series, but within the context of what itâs trying to accomplish, it feels rushed,
trying to breeze through so much information with so little time to explore anything meaningfully. âThe Lost Fableâ would be better served
as a two or three parter, or maybe even a whole volume to itself given volumes structurally
are basically extended movies rather than full seasons. Even then, it wouldâve been best if some
of the information here had been shared before this to give us anchor points to work with. Because we donât have the time to properly
delve into anything going on, we basically get a SparkNotes edition of Remnantâs origin
story. We donât get to know the characters fully,
we donât know who they are, where they come from, what their motivations are, nor why
they have these motivations. Rather, characters are treated as vehicles
for plot progression, with surface-level character work to leave the audience to fill in the
gaps that the writers left in. Itâs part of the reason so many people walk
away with aggressively different interpretations of the entire show and its characters; because
clarity has never been a priority for RWBY. With this show, you donât really get a story;
you get the illusion of a story⌠probably induced by inhaling Jinnâs obnoxious smoke
clouds. Salemâs probably the best example of all
of this. Weâre told sheâs locked in a tower by
her âcruel father,â as Jinn says. (Jinn) âBy her cruel father.â Weâre using Jinn as a narrator to tell us
the basics of the story so we have an easy jumping off point. Okay. Nothing inherently wrong with using a narrator
for these sorts of things. The issue is weâre not grounded enough in
whatâs going on to get a full understanding of the context, leaving viewers to do guesswork
themselves to follow whatâs happening. Most people would probably assume Salemâs
father is abusive, or maybe overprotective, and thatâs why he stuck her here against
her will. However, someone could also say heâs just
an evil man who wants to keep his family as possessions. Or maybe heâs a cynical recluse, and keeps
Salem around as the only form of human connection he deems worthwhile. Because we donât have the information as
to why Salem is being kept here, and what her fatherâs motivation is, we canât fully
be invested in the story, because weâre actively wondering what his motivation is. Rather than being immersed in the emotional
beats of Salemâs captivity and liberation, weâre stuck in theory-brain mode crafting
narratives based on what weâd prefer to see in the story, which in turn are based
on our own biases, likely from whatever media knowledge weâre working from. And to make matters more frustrating, they
go more into detail about Salemâs story in the fairy tale book, which tells stories
from all across Remnant. But this is another issue RWBY has always
struggled with: using supplemental content as a crutch to make up for its own failures
in storytelling. The purpose of supplemental content is to
add value to a work thatâs already complete and of merit; thatâs what supplemental literally
means. Ideally, you get a finished product you can
enjoy, and if you really love it and want more, supplemental material lets you immerse
yourself even further than most casual audiences would bother with. RWBY, however, knows of its shortcomings in
conveying information, and rather than trying to fix it, instead uses supplemental content
as both a quick fix and a shield. This way, they can just say, âAll your unanswered
questions are in this fairy tale book, or this canonical novel.â The problem is that you shouldnât need supplemental
content in order to complete your understanding of a work. Thatâs not what supplementing is. Not to mention, the purpose of storytelling
is to captivate your audience by⌠well, telling them a good story. And that story needs to be finished and polished. When you buy any product, letâs say a computer
for example, youâd expect it to be finished right out of the box, right? But what if the company you bought it from
said you needed all these additional pieces of hardware so it could perform basic functions,
like connect to the internet, or play movies and music, or just not crash every 5 seconds? Pardon me for my lack of computer knowledge,
but thatâs not the point. The point is that a product needs to be complete
for customer satisfaction. And as much as I dislike the commodification
of art, that still holds true on a storytelling level. Your audience should be able to kick back,
relax, and enjoy your story in all its glory. The work comes from you, the storytelling,
crafting your work for the enjoyment of others. Making them do the work on their own just
so they can understand whatâs going on not only risks them losing interest, but is a
betrayal to what it means to share a story in the first place. And this isnât the same as holding your
audienceâs hand aggressively and beating them over the head with what youâre trying
to say. Telling a subtle but coherent story is vastly
different from telling a story where your audience literally has to google basic things
like your worldbuilding, your character motivations, so on, so forth. I liken it to puzzles. Telling a good story is like providing your
audience with a puzzle, and the more complex your story is, the more subtle, the more pieces
are scattered about. Your story is the picture of the puzzle that
guides the audience to piecing it together to give them satisfaction, but youâre still
doing a bulk of the work to give them the information they need within the text itself. The RWBY approach, meanwhile, entails giving
your audience a very blurred, low-res image of your finished puzzle, and then chucking
the puzzle pieces at their face. And oh no, now theyâre all over the floor;
some pieces are broken, some are chipped or soggy, and some are just plain missing, forcing
the audience to literally construct their own pieces in some hopeless, desperate bid
to understand what the fuck kinda paradise would be worth all this torment. Except the end paradise isnât a paradise,
itâs âThe Lost Fable,â so⌠no thanks, Iâll just burn the pieces I was provided
and go watch Girlfriends on Netflix. âOH HELL NO!â Thatâs also not counting all the pieces
that are in extra sets that will cost you $10 extra. I mention Salem cuz sheâs the prime example
of this fundamental failure. The text itself fails to give us a clear image
of her background, why sheâs in the tower, and her most basic motivations and flaws,
and as such weâre given the illusion of a story that winds up becoming distorted based
on our own expectations and desires. Itâs the same with Ozma, itâs the same
with the Gods, and itâs the same with⌠pretty much everything else in the show. Ultimately, RWBY isnât even really its own
story, but a hollow imitation of other stories. Thereâs a huge difference between taking
inspiration from other stories and artists you admire to create your own thing versus
mimicry. So much great art was inspired by other art
that the creator enjoyed. For instance, Taylor writing âDeath By A
Thousand Cutsâ because she loved Something Great on Netflix - oh my god, how is this
woman real? And skilled writers know that tropes arenât
something to be avoided. Actually, they canât be avoided cuz thatâs
not how this works. âThatâs not how it works! Thatâs not how any of this works!â But rather, tropes building blocks to be played
with to tell a story they may wanna see more of in the world. RWBY, meanwhile, was never given enough time
in the oven, nor handed to writers capable of bringing that original vision to life,
and as such has stumbled trying to become something other than itself since its premiere. âThe Lost Fableâ really serves as a microcosm
of all the showâs problems. Itâs every minor problem in plot, pacing,
character writing, and everything else all boiled down into a 26 minute experience of
overwhelming ambivalence. Thatâs probably part of the reason why it
fucked me up so much when I first saw it. Itâs the culmination of RWBYâs shortcomings
that I wanted to believe they could grow past⌠but they had 6 volumes to do that. And this was proof they never would. I couldnât admit that at the time. But now I can. And now with our full understanding of RWBYâs
problems, we can finally talk about the details of âLost Fableâ and why itâs such a
shallow, vacuous mess that says nothing. So as weâve established, âThe Lost Fableâ
doesnât tell us why Salemâs father has locked her away from the world; we get no
information beyond him being âcruel.â But you can be cruel for many reasons, and
in different ways. Maybe itâs a cruel overprotectiveness, doubting
the good in the world and Salemâs ability to fend for herself. Or maybe itâs just a malicious enjoyment
of her misery, a way for her father to exert control over someone else. The reason why this all matters is because
his motivation - or lack thereof - directly feeds into Salemâs motivation. It explains the environment sheâs growing
up in, how sheâs been raised, and how all of that paints her own picture of the world. Weâre told Salem dreams of freedom, but
why? Does she just earnestly wanna see the world
and want more? Or does she have an ulterior motive; some
goal to pursue once sheâs out? Maybe she wants to learn more about her parents
before they built this tower, or what happened to her mother⌠ya know, the one we only
know about from the goddamn fairy tale book. âDo you have daddy issues?â âI donât even have a mom!â âNEITHER DO WE!â Maybe she wants to spite her father and live
recklessly, or see whether heâs right about the worldâs dangers, or even go full conquest
mode and become a bigger tyrant than he ever was? If he was, oh god. Maybe sheâs always shown malicious tendencies
for whatever reason⌠âWhy?â âThatâs the question on everybodyâs
mind, isnât it? I wish I had an answer.â And her father is trying to keep not only
her safe, but the world at large from her. (Cruella) âSome people struggle not to be
drawn into the darkness. But ever since I was a little girl, Iâve
said⌠âWhy not splash in, and have fun?ââ We. Donât. Know. Do you see how quickly this lack of information
spirals? Any one of these stories can be engaging on
its own, but because weâre not given any context, weâre not able to understand anyoneâs
motivations and follow their journeys with full investment. Maybe some people think Salem just doesnât
have people skills and thatâs why she doesnât know how to grieve later on, or maybe some
people think she was manipulative from the start because of her upbringing and it was
only a matter of time. That ambiguity isnât from a well-crafted
story, but rather, a lack of storytelling from the writers who are paid and credited
for their work here. And on top of that, why doesnât Salem just
bust out of her tower from the start? Weâre told everyone here has magic, so whatâs
stopping Salem from using that magic to take down her father, then get the hell out, or
just fly out her fuckinâ window? An easy critique is that her cruel father
probably has mentally abused her into staying, which is all too common among victims of all
kinds of abuse. However, it doesnât quite work here because,
again, we donât have the context of Salemâs imprisonment. Without the full details of the situation,
weâre left to guess why she hasnât tried leaving, whether it be legit fears of fleeing
her captor, or just plain lazy writing while she waits for her hero. The fairy tale book mentions her throwing
letters from her window, beckoning heroes to come and save her, and even suggests that
this shows her manipulative tendencies and her ability to craft a narrative from Day
1. But⌠this is literally just her asking for
help. Nevermind itâs not in the show itself, but
even if it were, this wouldnât even work the way the writers intended if it played
out how it does in the book. Her father is said to be more overprotective
and sympathetic in the fairy tale book, thus villainizing Salem, but it honestly feels
more like a retcon the writers came up with to make Salem look worse in hindsight, almost
like propaganda. And again - itâs not even in the show, so
itâs irrelevant. Her whirlwind romance with Ozma likewise falls
flat. Weâll get to Ozma a bit later, but weâre
led to believe the two fell deeply in love after her rescue because Jinn told us. (Jinn) âThe two fell deeply in love!â âSure Jan.â You could argue thatâs meant to make fun
of the tired cliche of love at first sight we see in fairy tales, or how people fall
in love and get married in like 3 days, but usually in those old stories they actually
do a good job portraying that the circumstances did indeed make them fall in love. Or at the very least, that theyâre infatuated
with each other. And also, itâs a fairy tale, itâs not
meant to be realistic, but I digress. None of that happens with Salem and Ozma. Instead, some random guy comes to save the
boring lady from her pointless tower, and then they hold hands and he dies. Wow. What a tragedy indeed. Even if this were a parody or satire, it'd
still bore me to sleep. Salemâs connection with Ozma is whatâs
supposed to cause her to lash out at the gods demanding his return. So like Salemâs fatherâs motivation informing
hers, the lack of a meaningful bond between Salem and Ozma robs this conflict of all its
potency. Itâs basically like the domino effect: the
writers fail to properly establish one thing, and the rest of their writing collapses in
a series of crashes and dumpster fires. It even goes back to her own motivation for
seeing the world. This and her romance with Ozma should work
together to inform why she demands his death be reversed. Is it a simple flaw of her arrogance, wanting
Ozma back in her possession and not caring about death? Or does she simply not understand what death
is? Without these crucial pieces, we canât understand
what sheâs going through or why she does these things, and therefore, the story doesnât
work. All of this feels like common problems of
a first draft, where the goal is just to get the story out in its most raw, most basic
form before refining it prior to publication. But knowing RWBYâs production timeline where
volumes are cranked out in less than a year, and chapters are rendered and exported within
the same week as their release, I very much doubt the showâs scripts get more than one
or two drafts before theyâre shoved down the pipeline for the poor animators to work
tirelessly on, trying to give some life to a project thatâs dead on arrival. So we have no clue if Salem even understands
death, nor why she wants Ozma back, but dammit she wants him back! And here we reach yet another divide at which
people will argue whether sheâs pitiful or contemptible, lost or selfish. Donât worry, thereâs plenty more forks
in the road the writers will be hard braking at. Youâre not walking away without at least
some degree of whiplash. Through the dark forest we drive, and no matter
which road we take, all paths lead to the ravine of despair⌠which weirdly does make
an appearance at the end of Volume 8, but I digress. So once sheâs given immortality by the gods,
they claim itâs a punishment. She wonât be able to enter the afterlife
to reunite with Ozma until she understands the balance of life and death. (God of Light) âYou must learn the importance
of life and death. Only then may you rest.â On its own, I actually really love this. It asserts the fragility of life that must
be respected and cherished. Immortality isnât a blessing, but a curse,
never letting you rest, and guaranteeing that even if you do make new connections, youâll
be forced to watch them grow old and die over and over until you relent and choose isolation. And even if you donât, humanity will eventually
die out. And then when the world is barren, when your
kind has gone extinct, youâll still be wandering the wastes for all time. Alone. Unfortunately, I donât think the writers
actually thought that one through. It doesnât even really work given Salem
wasnât established to have this fear of death or defiance of death. This is a classic Need vs Want. Your character wants something external, but
they need something internal; in Salemâs case, she wants her fairy tale romance with
Ozma, but what she needs is to understand how life works and accept it⌠along with
some therapy. I donât know if they have therapy in ancient
times, but⌠apparently they donât have doctors, so good luck, girl, good luck. But we donât know her want nor her need. Iâm not even sure the writers thought that
far ahead, so now we have an amorphous character whose wants and needs arenât clearly defined,
thus failing to give the audience anything concrete to latch onto. She winds up âmanipulatingâ the human
kingdoms to turn on the gods, but it doesnât really mean all that much. She talks about people not having to watch
their loved ones die anymore, which would be interesting to explore given all living
things are born with an inherent fear of death. Survival drives us to build communities and
protect ourselves and each other, but it can also lead us to destroying anything perceived
as a threat; even ignoring death can have astronomical consequences if you do it your
whole life. But Salemâs words arenât shown as ones
that ring true for mankind. Instead, Jinnâs tone, the framing, and the
music all suggest that this is mere manipulation, and the humans mere fools. That Salemâs giving these people lofty promises
to turn them against the gods whoâve crafted a perfect world for them and she doesnât
mean a damn thing. (Jinn) âWith the kings and queens in awe,
she pulled them deeper into her scheme. When they could claim the powers of their
creators for themselves!â But all these problems have applied to this
supposed utopia as well, along with the Brother Gods, which⌠hoo, weâll get to them, donât you worry. But itâs not even portrayed as a morally
gray situation where everyoneâs a bit in the wrong and failing to communicate, thus
breeding conflict. Instead, itâs a clumsy conflict that doesnât
think as to whether Salem has a point, nor whether the gods themselves may be at fault
for the way they handle things. Theyâre gods, after all, and gods be infallible,
her da der der. Yes, I know Jinn says that Salem realizes
they're fallible, but the show never bothers to do anything substantial with that outside
of her scheme. Like you donât have the gods questioning
their morals or choices, they just assume theyâre always right. And the story also assumes theyâre correct,
so thatâs great. Salem winds up being left alone, which⌠I guess it makes her sad? Jinn says she blamed everyone but herself,
but once again, I must repeat that the failure to establish her motivations and character
beyond superficial âI want my dead boyfriend backâ has left us, much like Salem, wandering
the darkness looking for some kind of reason for our suffering. For some divine answer. But all weâre greeted with is despairâŚ
and also a creepy pool of Grimm ichor to dive headfirst into. On a story and thematic level, Salem falling
into the Grimm pool once sheâs alone is great. And I meet that sincerely. On a plot level, it explains why sheâs part
Grimm later on, but more importantly on a character level, itâs the moment she gives
into her darkest impulses and commits to being a monster, and on a thematic level, it represents
how isolation imposed by your own failings and misdeeds can turn you into something much
darker; how those vices can twist you into something else entirely. But again, this is me constructing an entire
story myself because the show couldnât be bothered to tell a complete story of its own. After this, we donât see her again until
her reunion with Ozma. Supposedly, sheâs built a little cottage
for herself, living alone, far away from the newly evolved people who fear her as a witch. Sidenote: oh my god, mood girl. I vibe with this gothic cottage core aesthetic;
put some folklore and evermore on and sign me the fuck up. But we have no clue what this has done to
her either than make her hate the gods more. Which⌠yeah, same though. But then she suggests a full-on conquest with
Ozma where they guide the poor lost humans. âWe could become the gods of this world! We can mold these lands into whatever we wantâŚ
what YOU want!â Again, the framing here suggests sheâs evil,
but⌠why? (Jinn) âThe hearts of men are easily swayed.â What about her plan is evil? Hell, the show doesnât even really explain
her plan all that much. She seems to want to take the godsâ place
and create a paradise, but the writing keeps this undercurrent of treachery and malice
going the whole way without anything to really back it up. Like, Salemâs encouraging Ozma to help her
build themselves a little kingdom to give some order to this ruined world. What about this is inherently evil? If they were commanding Grimm to slaughter
people, targeting marginalized groups like the faunus, or just taking away peopleâs
most basic liberties, then yeah, Iâd agree thereâs poison in the water; but none of
that happens. The only âevidenceâ of her evil is her
and Ozmaâs assumed army waging war, and her talking about fighting and destroying
their opposition to spread their word. (Ozma) âAre we sure this is right?â (Salem) âYou said we needed to bring humanity
together. In order to do that, we have to spread our
word. And destroy those who would deny it.â But⌠thatâs something literally every
country on the planet, and nearly every religion, has done. Itâs just standard fare when youâre building
a nation. Like thatâs not Dark Lord shit, thatâs
just regular people shit. Then later on when Ozma tells her about the
God of Lightâs mission, Salem says it doesnât matter. Her exact words are âWhy bother trying to
redeem these humans, when we could replace them with what they could never be?â Iâve heard people try to argue sheâs referring
to replacing the gods as she stated earlier, but that doesnât grammatically trackâŚ
and also it would be redundant because it means her motivations havenât changed, versus
this scene trying to imply Salemâs somehow taking a turn for the worse. The object Salem is referring to in that sentence
is âthese humans.â As such, the âthemâ in the second clause
is still the object from the first clause - âthese humans.â I didnât expect to have to explain basic
grammar rules, but here we are. So she wants to âreplace the humans.â The reason this kinda makes sense is because
in the previous scene, we saw their nameless daughter (weâll talk about the daughters
eventually, relax) showing off her newfound magic. Because Salem and Ozma have magic, their children
have magic too. Simple enough. So now the obvious assumption would be that
Salem finds the current humanity worthless, because theyâve lost the ability to perform
magic. Thus, it would make sense that her goal would
be to wipe them out, and then replace them all with sorcerers, similar to the way the
old world worked, just replace the Brother Gods with herself and Ozma. But the show doesnât really⌠commit to
that? It doesnât explain it and make that obvious,
and thus her plan, like her motivations, is still as cloudy as Jinnâs Lantern fumes. At this point you basically have to guess
itâs just to spite the gods and nothing else, even though Volume 8 winds up throwing
that in the trash. âAll she craves now is release. Death!â But⌠thatâs for another time. And this is where her original motivation
comes to bite the writers in the ass. Without that, thereâs nothing to inform
how sheâs changed, thus allowing us to understand her better as a villain. If she has a fear of death, then maybe she
wants to make everyone immortal like herself. Plenty of animes and RPGs do that, where you
wipe out the humanity that already exists in favor of an ideal thatâs easier for you
to stomach, like replicas, or lifeless beings, or emotionless husks. Hello Tales games, how are you today? But this is all just speculation. Nothing in the text points to this, because
the text itself doesnât point to anything but an obscure destination of âSalem bad,
she must be stopped.â *âI Did Something Badâ by Taylor Swift*
What wouldâve been interesting to see would be that fear of death twisting her into something
truly monstrous. Like, maybe she has this moment of realizing
because of her immortality, sheâs going to watch Ozma grow old and die over and over
as he reincarnates, and left with large chunks of time where heâs lost to her. And worse than that, a realization that because
their daughters are mortal, theyâll die and just never come back. And maybe Salem canât handle that. Maybe that fear of losing connection drives
her to scorn it altogether, leading her to detach, which fuels the last straw before
she kills them all in cold blood. But nah! She just kills them because Ozma didnât
wanna do conquest with her anymore. So Salem is a fucking mess. Sheâs nothing more than a device for conflict
that the writers can throw at the heroes and go âWow, isnât she scary? Isnât she powerful? Isnât she a MAD WOMAN?!â âAnd I canât wait to watch you burn.â Sheâs the embodiment of this showâs inability
to tell a coherent story that knows how to establish context, and convey a worthwhile
character arc in favor of the illusion of something deep. And in reality, that profoundness is actually
about as deep as a dried-up puddle in the middle of the Nevada Desert. So I canât even throw myself into the ichor
pool right after her. Wonderful. And now we move onto Ozma⌠poor characterless,
motivationless, and agency⌠less Ozma. Look, we were on a roll, just go with it. But Ozmaâs kinda the inverse of Salem: whereas
her character writing was unclear in which direction the writers wanted it to go in,
Ozmaâs just has⌠no direction. He exists solely as an aimless object of Salemâs
desire to superficially explain her actions, and then to oppose her later on when they
decide sheâs the bad guy⌠oh and also so the main characters can abuse him and Oscar
later on, but weâll get there, good lord. Like Salem, we donât have enough information
about Ozma to understand him as a character from the onset: who he is, whatâs his background,
whatâs his motivation, etc. Except while we at least knew Salemâs father
was vaguely cruel and locked her in a tower, all weâve got about Ozma is that heâs
supposedly a hero, and heâs quite popular. Thatâs it. Well, also that heâs pretty, but that just
goes without saying, like⌠goddamn. Wait, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, the bad writing, right. Mhm. Okay. Excuse me. Excuse me being gay. So we have no clue where Ozma is from, and
no clue as to his motivations. Heâs a hero, sure, but why? What made him decide he wants to help people? Does he travel around the world like a drifter,
maybe even as a thrill seeker? Does he take mercenary jobs, does he fight
dark lords or rogue monsters, is he righteous or possibly self-serving? Nothing. We get nothing but a vaguely do-gooding, pretty
blank sleight. No motivation, just⌠sure, letâs free
Salem from this stupid tower because the script says so. Weâre not even really sure of what his abilities
are beyond the general magical abilities everyone has, which⌠oh god, we also need to talk about those,
cuz damn they are boring. It robs us of how the dynamic with Salem would
play out, thus preventing the audience from becoming fully invested in either of them
as characters, as well as their relationship. And thatâs especially a mistake because
the loss of that relationship is whatâs meant to inform Salemâs supposed descent
into villainy. And just touching on the death brieflyâŚ
a single sickness prevailed? What? Okay, okay, I will admit, I kinda like the
simplicity of this in theory. It shows how death can be unexpected, and
come from the most basic of things. But also, this is some bullshit. Youâre telling me a healthy young man whoâs
fit enough to travel the lands adventuring was taken down by the common cold, I guess? How? Yâall have magic, but you donât have healers
or even doctors? And also, isnât this meant to be a utopia
filled with prosperity protected by the gods? Sure, people can still get sick and die, but
a little cold shouldn't be able to take out a person so presumably young and healthy. Youâd expect that more from a time period
and environment lacking in quality healthcare and medicine, or something like a serious
disease or even plague, which⌠I mean, if it was that, they wouldâve established
that in the text, right? Isnât this something you would expect more
from a hellish wasteland like, idk, REMNANT?! Not the Utopia that Remnant Once Was? Maybe even a disease wrought by one of the
gods to fuel Salemâs hatred of them? But nah, nah, that would require too much
thought and nuance to fully write out. So Ozma just⌠dies cuz he needs to die for
Salem, and thankfully Salem doesnât have much to clean up given he just poofs away
in a cloud of Jinn smoke. Youâd think the death of such a well-respected,
beloved hero would garner more attention from the public, and we could see how Salem deals
with that, and how in turn that displays her true character. Maybe she shuns the community Ozma once loved
and served. But⌠letâs be real, when has this show
ever cared about building a believable world that feels lived in? The next we see of Ozma is him getting yo-yoâd
between the realms of life and death by the Brother Gods throwing a goddamn tantrum. âI seeâŚ!â *gasp* âA OZMA!â âYES!â âI see a OZMA! It is under the sofa!â Like, this poor man just died, and now heâs
being brought back to life without his knowledge in the domain of the Dark Lord, only for the
God of Light to kill him again, to which the God of Darkness immediately brings him back
before killing him in a plume of hellfire. He has no agency in any of this, and no real
say beyond vague confusion, nor does he bring this up later on and ask Salem, âWhat was
up with that?â Itâs literally just to⌠well, Iâd say
traumatize Salem, but to be honest I have no clue what the hell they were trying to
do with her character at this point, and they somehow managed to make Ozmaâs horror both
laughable and memeable. Which⌠impressive, guys. Wow. If your goal was to make me think Salem was
awful for going against the gods, you kinda failed cuz sheâs right. They suck. Everyone sucks! It brings into question the morality of the
Gods, and whether they actually respect human life the way they claim Salem doesnât, but
again, saving it for later. But on the note of the Gods, itâs the God
of Light who asks Ozma whether he wants to go back to his world for⌠reasons? Even the goddamn Gods donât have a coherent
motivation. Dude, didnât you just give up on Remnant? Why bother bringing Ozma back and throwing
him headfirst into an eternity of suffering in a ruined world you abandoned? âAnd if Iâm dead to you, why are you at
the wake?â But even beyond that, this is one of the few
times Ozma has any kind of agency, but itâs rendered hollow by the fact heâs had none
of it leading up to this moment, and he and Salemâs relationship has proven more stale
than moldy bread. And when heâs sent back to Remnant, itâsâŚ
as some white-haired dude? He doesnât even have a name of his own. The Ozcarnations are designed in such a way
where when the current Oz dies, his soul is randomly assigned to another young man who
becomes the host, and eventually their souls become one, but theyâre also kinda⌠mind
roommates! *Golden Girls theme song*
However, this isnât Ozma hopping into some random guyâs head and having to talk to
him the way that Ozpin had to convince Oscar to save the world. This is just straight-up possession. This guy presumably already had a life of
his own given heâs in the middle of defending himself from Grimm when Ozma awakens and first
looks through his eyes. Which is⌠odd, given one of the villagers
doesnât even know who he is when Ozma saves him. âThank you! Please, tell me your name! Who are you?â And the argument of this person just coming
into being now doesnât make sense because⌠why in the fuck was he created to be killing
a Grimm with farming equipment right out the gate? And why right next to some random burning
village? The show tries so hard to appear deep and
tragic with the whole concept of the Ozcarnations, and this fear that Oscar is going to lose
himself one day, and itâs out of both he and Ozpinâs control. But it never actually feels engaging, mostly
because itâs never explored in what this means for either character, nor does it feel
like something that the writers are interested in beyond, âWow, look at how tragic these
charactersâ story is!â And this is proof of it. In the origin story, we donât even see Ozma
having to struggle with sharing a body with this random guy, see them bond, and watch
that possession slowly progress as the chapter goes on. No, that would take too long and be inconvenient
to write in, so Ozma just straight-up body hops, Oscar is distrubed by it, and then we
never address it again. He later runs into Salem, and⌠my god this
reunion is so underwhelming. If you were separated from your one true love
for literal eons after enduring indescribable trauma and hardship, and then suddenly in
this new world you managed to find each other again, what would you do? Wouldnât you be speechless, or maybe run
up to them to hug them while crying your eyes out? But neither of them do that. All they do is slowly amble towards each other,
hold hands awkwardly, and then go, âLol what do we do?â I mean, Iâd get that kinda from Ozma given
the warning he got from the God of Light, and especially Salemâs current appearance
as a Grimm witch, not to mention all the things people have been saying about her for⌠some
reason. *âEnd Gameâ by Taylor Swift*
But maybe Salem is beside herself with relief and joy, and it makes Ozma suppress his doubts. And we get⌠NOTHING! Yay. I swear, this feels less like Iâm watching
characters struggle and face tragedy, and more like Iâm having Wiki page summaries
narrated to me by a genderbent version of the Genie from Aladdin subjected to rule 34. So later on, Ozma has this realization that
violence is wrong and conquest bad, which causes him to reveal to Salem the mission
the God of Light stuck him with. Again, no clue why Salemâs a bad guy here
when sheâs just doing what literally every leader of a young nation does, but⌠okay. Sure. Alright. But he decides sheâs now too far gone because
clearly thatâs the conclusion the writers want the audience to arrive at. They never bother giving us a good reason
for it, nor actually leading us there competently, but⌠they tried, I guess? Not even sure about that but Iâm tired so
weâll just say they did at this point for the sake of my own sanity. There is actually a deleted scene presumably
from this chapter that was shown off in the Volume 6 trailer which shows the reborn Ozma
floating before a bunch of presumed followers, bowing in fear before him. That was probably going to be another moment
to establish Ozmaâs cementing distrust of Salem, but was cut for⌠reasons. This happens all the time with this show. Because chapters are finished last minute,
certain things will be abruptly cut for the sake of getting them out on time, even if
they may seem vital to whatever botched story the writers attempted at telling. This even happened recently with Volume 8. I wonât talk about it for too long, but
Volume 8 hinges around Salem laying siege to one of the four kingdoms and the main characters
having to face her. Well actually, only one of them interacts
with her, and even then itâs only for two seconds before they explode her 5 episodes
before the actual finale. No, I donât get why she wasnât the final
boss of the season either, but Ruby and Blake were initially meant to go to the hell whale
- yes, her wartime lair for traveling is a demon Monstro, just go with it, itâll make
life easier for both of us - to go fight Salem before she exploded. That, however, was cut for time; at least,
thatâs what the writers admitted at a panel. Theyâll share tons of information like that
outside the actual show, and yes, itâs infuriating. Some will argue this was because of the ice
storm which battered Texas earlier this year, but that chapter was actually the last one
released before said ice storm hit, and was also the second chapter back after a 6-week
mid-volume hiatus, during which the team was presumably working on the volume⌠or were
they? I donât know. All I know is the fact the animators were
expected to crank out a new volume as usual in the midst of a pandemic because this is
the only thing making Rooster Teeth money at the moment and they desperately need it,
all while still enduring awful working conditions, which is just⌠hideous. Iâll probably go more into this if I make
a video all about Volume 8 specifically, but suffice to say⌠fuck Rooster Teeth. Just, fuck âem, and god help the employees. Corporations arenât your friend, they donât
care about doing the right thing, they care about making money. Thatâs what the system requires. Anyhow, Ozma tries to get himself and his
daughters away from Salem, only for her to viciously slaughter them all. Yes. All of them, even their daughters who had
no clue what the hell was even going on. Before Ozma can say a word, Salem incinerates
him on the spot, and then continues to reincarnate still processing his trauma before realizing
he has to defeat and destroy his former lover in order to accomplish the mission he got
from the God of Light. Why is he still so gung-ho on this mission? Your guess is as good as mine, but I suspect
the answer is the same as to why he got Salem out of the tower: heâs a vaguely do-gooding
blank sleight. Who is slightly less pretty now. And then when he asks Jinn how to destroy
Salem, he gets this: âYou canât.â Thus he falls into despair, and has to lie
to his future followers so he can continue the fight. First of all⌠what an oddly phrased question
to ask? âHow do I destroy Salem?â Like, it makes sense, but wouldnât you expect
something like, âHow do I defeat Salem?â or âHow do I stop Salem?â Destruction specifically feels convenient
so the writers can strip him, the characters, and the audience of hope and leave them shocked,
but it rings so hollow⌠mostly cuz this entire chapter is hollow. But also because the scenario is obviously
an obnoxious red herring, and incredibly contrived. And all that aside, the characters are still
convinced Ozma is a villain? This honestly deserves its own section, which
will be our final talking point of this terrible evening. But Ozma is so clearly a victim, both in the
actual storyline of both Salem and the Gods, and also on a meta level of the writing. I mean, all the characters are victims of
these writers, but Ozma specifically. Specifically, and especially. Hardly any real agency, no depth or true convictions,
and immense amounts of needless pain, suffering, and trauma in the hopes those alone can give
the illusion of a deep, tragic character. And after all of that, they have the nerve
to frame him as the bad guy. To have the main characters ridicule, lecture,
and beat him, and to have the audience go along with it. And the sad part is⌠it worked. For a lot of people, myself at the time of
âLost Fableâsâ release included. So a lot of this video has been focused on
writing and storytelling, and folding in advice for writers within my critiques. That said, understanding and imparting that
knowledge is far easier than actually applying it. You can only really learn this through experience
by writing on your own time, working on several projects of your own until you feel your skills
are polished enough to pull off whatever your ultimate goal is. Which is why I wanted to mention my own book,
De Cineribus: From the Ashes⌠look I feel weird mentioning it here, but this is what
self-promotion entails (oh dear). Anyhow, my debut urban fantasy novel is likewise
set in a speculative future version of our own world following the revelation of magic
and sorcerers to humankind, and humans not taking it well and doing what they do best:
ruining everything. We follow Felix Brasher, an angsty little
fire sorcerer who wields both blue flames and repressed trauma from his upbringing,
who now struggles with the pursuit of power versus actually understanding why that lust
for power exists in the first place. Itâs a story of magic, friendship, love,
deception, trauma, power, bartering with a creepy masked figure who might as well be
the Devil, and all-around chaos. Also itâs VERY gay. De Cineribus is currently available for preorder,
and will be released on November 16 of this year! Sales links will be down in the description,
along with a link to videos more about the book, and the first four chapters over on
my fancy author website! Iâve been crafting this thing for 5 years
at this point, so if you could take the time to check it out, itâd be much appreciated! That said, Amazon is being a bitch when it
comes to physical copies. Long story short, I made my physical books
through Ingramspark, and I donât think Amazon liked that very much, so if you would like
the physical books, and for whatever reason - on whatever Amazon store you use through
the link below - theyâre not available, follow the Barnes & Noble link! Unfortunately, that will only work for U.S.-based
people, I need to get on this and figure this shit out. Self-publishing is hard. And now, back to tearing apart RWBY! A big part of Remnantâs worldbuilding is
that⌠well, itâs a remnant. Itâs a leftover scrap from the old world,
which was presumably prosperous and vibrant with magic; before it was abandoned by benevolent
gods providing their blessings. A world in which people were happier, less
inclined towards sin, and suffering was nonexistent. A stark contrast from the world of bloody
evolution weâre stranded in now. Only issue is⌠fuck no, this is not that
world! We already mentioned how Ozma dying of a random
cold alone is kinda emblematic of this not being a real paradise. And that brings us into the question of the
Brother Gods: do they suck? Well, in terms of design, yes. Oh my god, their humanoid designs are so boring
to behold. I will admit, I do like how the God of Light
is an eastern dragon since theyâre considered divine and benevolent, whereas the God of
Darkness is a western dragon, which was considered demonic and malevolent. But beyond that, I hate these fuckers. Granted, Iâve always had a bit of an anti-authority
streak in me, so Iâm naturally wary of these gods claiming to have a perfect system so
long as everyone does what they say. But if I may be petty for a moment⌠theyâre
seriously boring though. I hate harping on this, but seriously? One god of light, one god of darkness? Thatâs the most original thing you could
come up with? Especially in a series led by four young women
where the number 4 is crucial, in a world supposedly filled with rich fairy tales inspired
by every culture the world over, where weâre trying to emphasize that life is more than
simple binaries, simple good and evil, all we get is discount Brothers Grimm? The Gods donât even really have their own
motivations in âThe Lost Fable.â They just exist to have conflict with Salem
and then send Ozma on his way to his eternal torment. The God of Darkness was said to hate his brotherâs
creations back in that Volume 4 exposition dump, but⌠why? No clue! He just hates flowers cuz theyâre stupid
and gay and he made Grimm to trample them. Yeah, the demons that feed off of human misery
and vice? Their origin is equally boring, as discussed
in my Grimm video, itâs great, go watch it after this one. The God of Darkness here is just some dick
whoâs happy someone finally asked him nicely for something, only to take it away because
he was second-choice, and then later exterminate all of mankind because a few angry soldiers
showed up on his brotherâs doorstep. Thereâs no motivation for this. He doesnât even seem to enjoy being wicked
for wickednessâ sake like a classic Disney villain. Maleficent would eat this bitch alive⌠along
with everyone else in the cast. âOh dear, what an awkward situation.â Heâs just vaguely jealous of his brother
cuz heâs more popular, but he doesnât really do anything about it. His Boringness is even the reason why Remnantâs
moon is shattered. Oh yeah, all those years people spent theorizing
why the moon is the way it is, how it could possibly tie into Salem, or the Grimm, or
even the Silver-Eyed Warriors? Forget all that. Itâs just cuz the God of Darkness yeeted
himself into it on the way out. How riveting. Itâs a lazy and vapid answer that fans had
been craving for several years at that point, and equally shallow in its symbolism. Supplemental material tries to say itâs
symbolic of the folly of man, but weâll discuss in a bit why thatâs a crock of shit. And again, supplemental shit doesnât count! The God of Light, meanwhile, is actually worse
than his brother. Honestly, heâs to blame for everything wrong
in Remnant now, but the show frames him as a creator whoâs being failed by his creations
because obviously the light god deer boi must always mean well! If heâs supposed to be benevolent, then
why doesnât he empathize with Salem and give her the tools to move on? You might say itâs not his job, but why
would a divine being capable of creating entire worlds be bound by the same earthly limitations
as mortals? And the way he engages with his brother in
yo-yoing Ozma to and fro death doesnât exactly scream âloving god.â And when humanity is destroyed, again, it
doesnât feel justified because it isnât. Itâs a relatively tiny army compared to
the entirety of the human population, but all of mankind is judged and promptly eradicated
because Salem convinced their leaders, who probably weren't even elected by the by, to
fight the gods after school⌠by the old flag pole! Shouldnât the extermination of all life
be a last resort? Granted, itâs the God of Darkness who does
this, but the God of Light doesnât try to stop him. He just looks away while vaguely sulking. And if these gods are capable of bringing
people to and from death, it makes no sense why the God of Light couldnât have reversed
his brotherâs actions right then and there. Instead, he just gives up entirely because
the actions of a small, very gullible chunk of humans was enough to make him sad. If you look closely you can see a little dragon
tear dripping down the side of his stupid mustache. The God of Lightâs motivations donât make
sense, which is to say he doesnât have one beyond, âIâm so disappointed in my creations.â But he still seems to care, at least enough
to revive one dead human and chuck him right back into the hell pit to try and do what
he never couldâve: unite humanity and teach them to do better. Good luck with that, kiddo, good luck. Why does he even care? Is he meant to be a good guy, cuz his actions
certainly donât carry that. Is he meant to be arrogant, and incapable
of understanding people are complex creatures beyond a good-and-bad binary? The show doesnât support that, especially
given the Silver Eye powers of love and compassion come directly from him rather than these peopleâs
own understanding of humanity heâs never been able to grasp. If the Silver Eye powers are good and they
come from this guy, the framing would suggest this guy is good too, which NO HE AINâT! Not to mention if heâs so kind and generous,
why did he create such a bafflingly cruel reincarnation system for Ozma? He says itâs so heâll never be alone,
but like⌠was the Avatar ever truly alone despite each incarnation being their own person
with their own autonomy? Thereâs no reason it needed to be this cruel
a process, robbing each life of their autonomy as theyâre randomly chosen and slowly absorbed
into Ozmaâs consciousness, just like the God of Light didnât have to pout while his
brother broke the world. Weâve seen how much this whole process weighs
on Ozpin and Oscar, so why would a benevolent god design such a harsh system for no good
reason? And the whole, âhumanity will be made whole
againâ thing⌠What does that even mean? The only tangible difference between old humanity
and new humanity, besides their origin, is that the latter canât perform magic. Big fuckinâ whoop! That magic couldnât stop the common cold
from ending the world, so who even cares? Aside from that, thereâs no difference whatsoever. The only substantive difference is their environment:
old humanity lived in an ostensibly prosperous and peaceful world; new humanity, meanwhile,
is essentially stranded in hell among an endless horde of angry demons with only the bare minimum
essentials to protect themselves. This story could easily touch on what it even
means to be human, and whether the nature of humanity is good or bad, or whether it
can even be categorized either way given how messy and chaotic life can be. The showâs failure with the Grimm ties directly
into this. Because they arenât enough of a threat,
the audience canât be convinced that life on Remnant is difficult within or without
the kingdomsâ walls, and as such, this claim that humanityâs lives as a whole are miserable
now without the gods remains baseless. Aura and Semblances couldâve even been brought
into this. Again, Aura and Semblance rules are stupid
and dumb and not well explained in the slightest, but thereâs potential in them as ideas,
especially in this new world. All living things have souls, and thus presumably
have Aura. However, Semblances donât seem to be part
of the old world. Why? Well, they probably didnât need Semblances
back then. They all had magic, after all, so there was
never a need to unlock Aura and develop oneâs Semblance the way people need to now. And Semblances are all unique to the individual,
all meant to reflect something about who they are⌠in theory, at least. So maybe, in that uniqueness, though Semblances
could be seen as a pale imitation of the original magic, they could also be seen as striking,
misshapen sparks of that old flame. The remnants of magic in the planetâs people. Their unwavering wills, and the expression
of themselves and their light within even the darkest depths. A beauty that could never have existed without
the ugliness of the world they were born into, capturing the duality of life, and the paradoxical
nature of what it means to be alive. But again, NONE OF THAT TO BE SEEN. Salem never comments on Semblances versus
magic, the show never talks about the differences in depth and how the characters interpret
them. Hell it couldnât even be bothered to explain
Semblances within the show itself - without those godforsaken World of Remnant shorts
- until Volume 5! âSemblance?â âYou know! Like your very own superpower! Everybodyâs got one!â In one of the most blatant âAs you know,
Bobâ ways imaginable. For those unaware, âAs you know, Bobâ
refers to a clunky exposition technique where one character explains the worldbuilding to
another character to give information to the audience, when both characters should already
know these things to begin with given this is the world they live in. The faunus are also an afterthought here,
which is⌠unsurprising. Supposedly their origin got cut just like
the Ozma scene, so weâll likely never really know what their story is beyond emerging from
bloody evolution. The fairy tale book talks about different
faunus creation myths, but Iâll repeat myself briefly: thatâs not what supplemental content
is for. Dust isnât explained either. It just briefly makes an appearance in a random
marketplace next to the faunus that Ozma walks past. This is especially a fumble given how important
Dust was made out to be at the very start of the series, explained in Hbomberguyâs
video all about the show, itâs great, go watch it. Look, I just love me some good left tube content,
okay? If Lindsay and ContraPoints made good content
about fake animes Iâd never shut up about them in my videos either. Oh by the way, go watch Lindsay Ellis and
ContraPoints or you're grounded. âHow am I supposed to explain to my child--â
âHANG YOUR SHITTY CHILD FOR ALL I CARE! Mackayleigh will just have to figure out how
to navigate a world where the gays are allowed to kiss in public on her own!â But people still debate what Dust is. Is it the remains of old humanity, making
them the equivalent of dinosaurs becoming fossil fuels for us to burn? Is it the fallen chunks of the shattered moon
crashing into Remnant? Will we explore what these things could mean
thematically? You know the drill now, OF COURSE NOT! Even the Relics and Maidens are complete afterthoughts
here. The God of Light just⌠shows silhouettes
of them to Ozma and tells him to collect all four to start Judgment Day whenever humanityâs
ready. Theyâre shallow macguffins and nothing else. Their origin, along with that of the vaults
as these extradimensional holding spaces, isnât even touched upon. The Maidens, likewise, get nothing more than
a technical cameo through Ozma and Salemâs nameless daughters. Also wanna mention that Ozpin mentions in
Volume 5 how he created the Maidens by giving them each a share of his magic. âI sacrificed a great deal of magic to four
young women. They were the first Maidens.â Yes, I know âOz lies,â but given the show
never gave us an alternative, the only canonical answer we have is that the God of Light didnât
create the Maidens, Ozma did, and he did it at some point between the end of âThe Lost
Fableâ and the start of the series. I talk more about the Maidens and Relics in
my video The Four Maidens Represent Nothing, but to summarize⌠yeah none of it means
anything, it doesnât say anything. Theyâre just shallow macguffins to move
the plot along, and nothing more. More illusory storytelling, which⌠RWBY viewers should be accustomed to at this
goddamn point. So to summarize what Ozmaâs been through,
he saved a random woman from a random tower, and - according to the Wiki pages Jinn memorized
- fell deeply in love with her only to die shortly thereafter from a bad head cold. He was then yeeted betwixt the shores of life
and death by the ghastly gods themselves, then tasked by a comically oversized golden
globe for furries to fix all the worldâs woes, all while robbing each reincarnation
of his new life in hellworld of their autonomy. All this followed by his now demonic lover
ostensibly manipulating him into building her an empire, and then slaughtering him and
their children, all in front of his eyes as their home burns to ash around them after
a brutal offscreen fight, for daring to question her, at the end of which heâs burned alive,
and then is reborn to process this through several lifetimes of trauma and alcoholism. But yeah, he did lie about some stuff, so
I guess heâs the bad guy, right? Yeah, I guess, sure. Alright. This is such bafflingly stupid reasoning for
Ozpinâs villification, both in-universe by the characters, and on a writing level
by the showâs framing itself. When someone goes through such a horrific
experience, especially at the hands of someone they once loved, theyâre not exactly going
to be over the moon at the thought of sharing that trauma, even with close, trusted loved
ones, let alone some random schoolchildren and their depressed bird uncle. It essentially comes off as, âHow dare you
not tell us all the gory bits of your past in vivid detail!â, without any compassion,
or even a twinge of sympathy, from any of our supposed heroes. Not an ounce of regret for making Ozma relive
something thatâs probably haunted him for the literal eons heâs been trapped here
on Remnant. This is likely because the show had tried
for years to clue us in on how shady Oz and his inner circle were,
âWhat is this?! Who are you?!â âYou know who we are.â (Ironwood) âAtlas has been studying Aura
from a more scientific standpoint. And we believe weâve found a way to capture
it.â âThatâsâŚâ âClassified.â âWrong!â And goddamn, do I regret buying this horseshit
and fueling it in my earlier videos. But they really tried to sell us on the idea
that Oz wasnât sharing everything, especially with Salemâs talk of him using children
as disposable shields, and that weird talk in Volume 5 about how awful it is he gave
Qrow and Raven, who consented, the power to become birds at will. Wow. How awful! Next youâll be telling me he gave Ruby the
power to turn into rose petals - wait no, thatâs just a Semblance she naturally developed,
then thatâs fine I guess. Magic, Semblances, so vastly different! The point is the show believes Oz is in the
wrong for⌠something. Like the needless suffering that comes with
his reincarnation process, it seems the writers want to inject moral grayness into this story,
but didnât bother actually thinking through what constructing a morally gray conflict
might entail. Instead, they just suggest the idea that Oz
has done some fucked up shiznits with nothing to back it up, and then pretend like this
huge lore dump where he mostly suffers through events largely out of his own control is evidence
of his wickedness. Do you know what this is called? Itâs called victim blaming. And not gonna lie, Oz is justified in withholding
a lot of this information. Itâs lying by omission, yes, but letâs
be real: if he told people, theyâd all give up immediately and let Salem end the world
(or whatever the hell she wants, I doubt she even knows). Itâs likely that Ozâs thought process
is that putting up a fight against her, even if it lasts forever, is worth giving the majority
of people a relatively happier life within the safety of the kingdoms. Again, this is the show forcing me to come
up with all this on my own, but even then I still donât see the awfulness in Ozâs
lies. If anything, it makes sense why heâd act
this way. Even if you think heâs wrong for lying,
heâs by no means a villain, nor is he some kind of bloodthirsty monster or malicious
liar. But no one even thinks to address the horrifying
shit he had to endure. No one asks about his love for Salem, his
daughters, or about how he dealt with what heâd gone through in the centuries since. Instead, they all decide to gang up on him
and crucify him as an irredeemable, heartless traitor. This couldâve worked if it was portrayed
as a heat of the moment decision, while everyone was high on shock and emotions. But you know what usually follows a heat of
the moment decision? Regret. Reflection. âOh shit, I just made an awful fucking choice
because I let my emotions get the better of me before I could think through my options.â Literally none of the characters do that. Not Ruby, not Weiss, not Blake, and ESPECIALLY
not Yang, for some reason. But these opinions of Oz stick, with them
being wary at the thought of his return even two whole volumes later. Even after he saves them on several occasions
and BLOWS UP THE WITCH. Not to mention that theyâre all okay with
the abuse Qrow doles out on Ozpin and, by extension, Oscar. No one apologizes to either one of them for
Qrowâs actions, Qrow himself doesnât really give a shit, and Oscar doesnât clarify whether
he felt the pain as Qrow punched him. The writers seem to really harp on that conflict
of the Ozcarnations becoming one, but they seem to have skipped over this bit where Oscar
is getting the brunt of the backlash and literal physical pain because of Ozpinâs actions,
and Oscar doesnât even get apologies from it. Itâs either lukewarm concern or complete
indifference⌠or in Jauneâs case, flat-out aggression. âHeâs in YOUR head, isnât he? Did you already know about this?â âHe didnât know anything!â (Jaune) âHow much longer can we even trust
him?! What if weâve been talking to that liar
this whole time?!â âJAUNE!â Also, I donât know if yâall have noticed,
but this show has such a weird fixation on physically abusing Oscar specifically. He gets beaten by Hazel in their fight in
Volume 5, heâs punched by Qrow and shoved into a wall by Jaune in 6, he gets assaulted
and left in rough shape by Neo in 7, then promptly shot off a cliff to his near death
by Ironwood, and after the Hound makes Oscar his new chew toy in Volume 8, he spends most
of the volume being brutally tortured by both Salem and Hazel. Like⌠what the fuck, guys? Again, needless suffering isnât a substitute
for actual character writing. Also not a good look he's one of the few characters
in the show who isn't pale as a corpse, and the only dark-skinned member of either of
the main teams. But the mention of the charactersâ reactions
earlier brings me to another point: the cast of RWBY operates on a hive mind. My friend Cynzi directed me to this fantastic
Reddit post Iâll share here and link down in the description that points it out; god
bless the critics Subreddit. I canât believe the main [RWBY] Reddit tried
to ban yâall, like what the fuck man? Actually, um⌠given how they reacted to
my recent video, after I used to be their favorite, yeah, I can believe it. Oh I can believe it. *âI Did Something Badâ by Taylor Swift*
But the gist of it goes that the writers donât think about each character individually; what
each of their individual motivations are, what knowledge theyâre working with compared
to others, nor what each of their goals are. Instead, they all operate on the same system
so the writers have the easiest time churning out half-baked scripts. Itâs part of the reason so much of the story
feels illusory; the characters in RWBY arenât true characters, but rather chess pieces to
move about the board. And unfortunately, the RWBY writers donât
know how to play chess, nor use it for effective symbolism when it comes to Jacques YES I WILL
DIE BITTER THAT BLAKE AND WEISS DIDNâT TAKE THAT BASTARD DOWN TOGETHER, WTF MAN. WTF? But with normal character writing, youâd
have each character responding to the Lost Fable differently based on their own experiences
and biases. Like, maybe Weiss feels for Salem for being
locked away by her cruel father, or Ozma for the abuse he endured. Maybe Blake is similar on the abuse front,
but feels contempt at Ozma for allowing Salem to build such a presumably evil empire, that
maybe did some fucked up shit to Faunus? Maybe Yang doesnât know how to feel and
just sees Ozpin as an easy scapegoat, and is also fueled on what Raven told her. And maybe Ruby sees the complexities of it
all and starts to question her wanting to make the world good when it seems like itâs
all just too chaotic to fix. Instead, they all just go, âOzpin is a liar
and he sucks,â and then they cancel him on Twitter before punching Oscar into a tree. Something I didnât bring up during this,
but find incredibly telling about the effort behind not only âThe Lost Fableâ but the
showâs recent volumes, is the lack of fights in this chapter. There is not one fight to be found here. Every time one is about to start, we cut away
from it. Ozma and Salem escape the fortress? Use stills! Salemâs about to fight the gods? God of Light eats the camera and we cut to
black. Salem v. Ozma? Only show their shadows and the main charactersâ
reactions like this is a YouTube reaction video. On a pragmatic level it was most likely to
save on time and budget, but this also speaks to a deeper misunderstanding the writers have
towards the roots of their own story. RWBY was initially conceived as a show where
fights were fundamental to the formula. That was mostly cuz Monty was best at making
well-choreographed, flashy, character-driven fights, but he also understood that fights
are a great way at showing your charactersâ true colors in a tough moment, and working
out a conflict in a fun and flashy way. After all, you canât make a diamond if you
donât put it under intense heat and pressure. But while the choreography of the fights may
have technically improved in recent volumes⌠mostly, they still lack the energy and soul
of the Beacon Era when Monty was still here. The animators do their best, but the writersâ
inability to understand these characters and write them accordingly seems to translate
into how CRWBY, on a production and directorial level, handles their fights. They feel like an afterthought, devoid of
any real emotion or meaning. Instead, fights in modern RWBY feel tacked
on, like a mandate to please the fans without thinking as to how they can truly enhance
the story. This was especially an issue in Volume 8 in
many regards, but itâs also a huge problem with âLost Fable.â Granted, Monty-style fights couldnât save
the Beacon volumes given just how disjointed the production process was and how awful the
scripts were, but at least back then they were fun spectacles to revel in out of context,
and also the only place where consistent characterization seemed to appear? Thereâs a reason why people still enjoy
the food fight, or the train fights, or Pyrrha versus Mercury in isolated clips on YouTube,
but no oneâs clamoring to do the same with Blake versus Ilia, or Cinder vs Penny. So to recap, âThe Lost Fableâ is a shallow,
half-hearted mess, and iâs the culmination of all the showâs writing problems, condensed
into 26 minutes of vapid or nonexistent character motivations, bizarre plot choices, and no
emotional resonance whatsoever. On a surface level it may be an epic fable
for the ages, but itâs gilded. Scratch that surface even barely, and youâll
immediately see just how shoddy this thing really is. Anyhow, if you enjoyed that video and would
like to see more content like this from me (assuming the Reddit doesnât track me down
and murder me), then be sure to subscribe and ring that bell for notifications because
YouTube hates creators. And as a gentle reminder, preorder links for
my upcoming novel are in the description below. If youâd like to further support myself
and the channel beyond just the book, then please consider, if youâre willing and able,
pledging your support over on Patreon. Iâm the Unicorn of War, and goddamn âThe
Lost Fableâ is a shit show.
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Its really strange how the video has been taken down 3 times manually. This does not happen to most critics but this is a special case. Now, i dont want to demonize RT but there might be someone in their company that is abusing the DMCA button a lil bit too much in this case.
I wonder if RT realized that trying to suppress something that you donât want people to see only creates more of a reason for people wanting to see it, i.e. Streisand Effect.
Reaction videos showing the entire episode:......
A Critique showing clips of the episode years after release: "CRIME"
RT canât handle the truth!
if it was a bot I wouldn't mind, just Youtube being Youtube but the fact that it was manually claimed? Yeah, that looks sus on RT's part.
I wonder which parts of the video were claimed though.
Yeah, I downloaded the video this time... it's one of my favourite RWBY critic videos as it goes over "The Lost Fable".
Iâve been seeing a lot of conversation both in the comments, and on various Redditâs about UoW video getting taken down in which people seem to be very happy to say like âRT is suppressing criticism!!!!â And other things of that nature, since the claim is manual. But hereâs my perspective as someone who has had to deal with the copyright system with RWBY specifically:
RWBY Volume 1-3 are incredibly hard to react to these days. Footage gets claimed all the time, and even blocked whereas Volumes 6-8 donât (or didnât), have the same issues. Hunter and I attempted to do a âRWBY Re-reactionâ of Volumes 1-3, and we had a LOT of issues when with 6-8, RT hasnât even claimed our stuff at allâŚ
So why was 1-3 like that, but not volumes like 6-8? Back then, the difference was the Japanese rights regarding RWBY. The reason why Volumes 1-3 was giving us so many issues was because it was Warner Japan issuing the claims. Sometimes it came up as Warner Japan, sometimes Rooster Teeth, but that in my opinion was the root of the issue. The Japanese broadcasting rights for the show were making RT become more strict compared to when the volume initially airs.
So fast forward to now: why is UoW having so many issues all of a sudden, when other critics and RWBYTubers did not with these volumes? Well, what JUST released (at least, I think it did lol)? RWBY Volumes 5-7 in Japanese. UoW may be using the English dub, but content ID for image and sound can be separate as well as together. If I had to bet money, I donât think itâs an American RT employee reviewing the claims - itâs someone who works for the department in Japan who is like ânope, we donât care what it isâ.
Because this has happened to me before with other anime - Shadows House. The video was fair use, so I sent a counter notice, innocently thinking theyâd release the block and just take my monetization like other companies do. They sent back a manual claim and gave me a copyright strike. The only way to fight them was for me to basically say âtake me to court thenâ and they backed down. It has nothing to do with praising or criticizing the show (in my case, the Shadows House review was positive), itâs just that Japanese companies do not have the same outlook on fair use as American companies do, and most of the time will just manually send a counter claim or a strike because most YouTubers wonât know to fight it further.
TLDR; Itâs probably not Rooster Teeth, but probably Warner Japan or whoever does the Japanese rights claiming on behalf of Rooster Teeth - thatâs just my 2 cents.
This is getting ridiculous. It is one thing to have an automated bot accidentally claiming a video once, and quite another for a company to manually block a critical video repeatedly.