#stormmodblog

Jaune is trying too hard to become the perfect hero in Volume 9. He's stagnated greatly, stuck in the past and unable to overcome his trauma and grief, refusing to fully process it and constantly seeking out a way to live out a Hero Fantasy. And being a Hero is something he's always wanted to be, he's always wished to be a Hero, and his arc has always been about his struggles to understand what it means to be a Hero and accepting how he can be one without sacrificing himself. So, how does Alyx telling him to be the kind of man you always wanted to be, instead of an ideal, perfect hero he was currently trying to force himself to become, help Jaune exactly? I feel like I'm missing something, so I'm hoping you can help me out. Your theories have always helped me understand RWBY in ways I never would have otherwise, so hopefully you can spin the same magic again!

Hi!

So, I have discussed Jaune's arc in the Ever After in several metas. Here are some:

The long story short is that Alyx represents a part of Jaune's self. Specifically she is Jaune's inner child (she is Jaune's Little in a sense). She represents all his fantasies of being a hero who saves the damsel in distress. Except Alyx isn't a damself in distress, but a person who can both hurt others and save others. Just like Jaune, who is not a perfect hero, but a boy who wants to be good and to become a man.

So, for Jaune to accept Alyx's open hand means he is ready to make another step towards the Self. His true self and not an idealized version. This is the point of volume 9, after all. It is about acceptance, first and foremost in the sense of self-acceptance. The characters are all asked to let go of idealized ideas, to accept their limits:

Weiss: I think you’re asking too much of yourself. We’ve been telling ourselves that failing means we’re no good. But I can guarantee even the best Huntsmen in history… they’ve all lost. But they were still incredibly brave… and good.

Only once they do, they can truly moving forward the self they truly want to become. This is what Alyx is telling Jaune to do: embrace your true self because this is the only way to truly grow in the person you want to be.

I get that Ruby is not in an okay place at the moment. She has trauma from Beacon and Altas that is not fully addressed. And her teammates have not reached out to support her in Volume 9 until her outburst (partly due to bad timing. Because holy shit did her backing away from Crescent Rose send alarms ringing in everyone's heads). But blaming the entire Hunter system as toxic and needing to be removed feels very, 'throwing out the baby with the bathwater', you know?

the system currently in place is a post-war concept. it is, at most, 80 years old. we know the world managed to do just fine without it, as before the war kingdoms were expanding and finding new grounds to settle. as a systemic group huntsmen and huntresses aren't needed: the main reason for the academies to exist is to defend the relics hidden in vaults within them, putting a huge target on them that the students meant to defend them don't even know about. same students who usually start training to kill monsters (and potentially other people as well, since that can be part of the job) at the age of 13. that's a child.

we're talking about a system that is basically churning out child soldiers. there's no reason why they need to graduate at the age of 21 instead of starting to train at that age.

we're talking about a system that has no way to actually keep track of all of huntsmen and huntresses to ensure that they aren't abusing their power. these are people who have trained in combat, who have unlocked their aura for extra protection, who can have special powers in form of semblances. these are people who have the power to arrest others. the power imbalance between a regular citizen and a huntsman is absurd. they are super-powered mercenaries who are also cops and if the one you've trusted your life with decides being a decent person doesn't pay enough or doesn't bring them enough joy anymore or whatever, there's not much a regular citizen can do against them alone.

and we have seen them abuse their power already. this is not a what if? this is a holy shit this is already happening. raven has been the bandit queen of anima for almost 20 years, people are terrified of her, and qrow only cared to amass a group to go deal with the tribe when he found out the spring maiden is there. how is this not a problem?

my point is nothing in the show is actually selling me the idea that the huntsmen system is necessary. just because there are few good eggs doesn't mean the rest isn't rotten, that there aren't issues that need to be fixed.

there will always be heroes, people willing to defend those who need help. but they don't need to have a title of a huntsman or a huntress to do so—clearly, since humanity was doing just fine before the war without the academies. and a town or a family should not be required to have enough money to pay for someone to protect them or else trust a goodwill of a stranger to care about them enough to help without a payment (especially when there's a lot of 'looking the other way, this doesn't concern me' going on).

“I-I had no idea reincarnation was real... I’m glad Farrow got him back...”

“He... I know we were enemies but... I do admire Lucky somewhat... he was very, very brave... and he saved everyone... a hero...”

“I hold enormous regret for what happened to him that day... I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way Farrow, Levas and Savel reacted... it’s burned in my mind until the day I die.”

“As it should be.”

fun fact: it’s not just GOING to happen, the earth’s magnetic polarity flip is already underway! 

better fun fact: this is business as usual and probably won’t kill anyone. worst that could happen is we need to replace a WHOLE bunch of communications satellites. 

(whatever, it’s not like the cable companies can’t afford it.)

so the thing is that earth’s magnetic field isn’t fully stable, due to the core that generates it being partially liquid! every few hundred thousand years or so, enough liquid iron sloshes around in the core to flip the field and swap magnetic north with magnetic south, like turning a fridge magnet upside down. 

but the OTHER thing is, this flip doesn’t happen all at once, or even in a single human lifetime! the flip can take 1,000 to 10,000 years to fully complete, so it’s not like you’ll wake up one day with all your electronic devices shorted out.

the part that scientists are actually concerned about is, as you say, that earth’s magnetic field weakens significantly during the flip, meaning the cosmic radiation gets closer to the earth’s surface than it should! this in turn means that anything in high-to-medium earth orbit gets a greatly increased dose of cosmic radiation, meaning that satellite burnout is a real concern, but nothing is going to spontaneously combust!

skin cancer rates will probably skyrocket, though.

WHEN IN DOUBT, GET IT CHECKED OUT!

so yeah, it’s happening! but it’s happening very slowly, and probably the worst that happens is that humans have to adjust their GPS calculations to account for a fucked-up magnetic pole at some point and satellites will need to be replaced more often or made impervious to radiation somehow. 

oh, and your children and their children and their children’s-children’s children might have to use more sunscreen and stay out of the sun more for the next 10,000 years or so. so no biggie!

a soap opera is a long running serial where the loose ends are never all tied up, characters rotate in importance (but are typically all tied in a complicated web), generally produce staggering amounts of content (such as a new episode every day/weekday), and is full of melodrama.