#rosebird

I know what you are…

if you can’t read the text:

“You should lay down,” Summer says as she sits on the grass, patting her lap.

“No,” Raven’s face reddens. “You’re gonna make me fall asleep.”

“No, I won’t,” Summer replies in a way that makes it seem like she totally will.

Raven chooses to believe her anyway.

So first off, thanks! Glad to hear it XD

And I’ve actually discussed the possibility of Summer being trans a few times over the years since I started theorizing on Rosebird Parents. And where I’ve ultimately landed is that while I think it’s a cool idea (definitely a lot of AU potential), I don’t think it works all that well in canon.

Namely in that Summer having been the one to be pregnant with Ruby simply gives her far more plausible deniability that Tai could be Ruby’s father. Basically, Summer being trans and thus unable to get pregnant turns Ruby’s true parentage into an ‘open secret’ for anyone who actually knows about Summer being trans. And makes it a lot more questionable as to how this information could have been kept from Ruby and Yang this whole time.

And even if we assume that Summer was VERY secretive about being trans and only her teammates knew, that still ends up painting Qrow in a rather unfavorable light for keeping this secret from Ruby all this time. Like in particular it would make their conversation in Pomp and Circumstance rather uncomfortable in hindsight. The scene paints Qrow finally being fully open and honest to Ruby about what he knows, and doesn’t, about Summer, yet it turns out he was still hiding a MASSIVE secret from Ruby.

Whereas, as I detailed in this post, if Summer was the one to get pregnant with Ruby, then it’s quite plausible that Qrow wouldn’t actually know that Raven is Ruby’s real ‘father’. Or at least not know for sure, and thus not be comfortable with dropping this massive bombshell on Ruby just on a guess.

Again, Summer being trans makes Rosebird Parents into way more of an ‘open secret’, whereas Summer having been the one to have Ruby makes it entirely possible that ONLY Summer, Raven and Tai actually know about Ruby’s true parentage, with Qrow being the only person in any kind of position to even suspect otherwise.

I always feel bad about shooting this theory down, because I do think it is cool in and of itself (again, some fun AU potential), but when mapping out the narrative logistics of it all, I just don’t think it works well in a canon context. As opposed to Raven being functionally intersex or some advanced medical procedure or magic chicanery being involved (personally, the last option is my favorite).