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What's up RWBY-ans...RWBY-ers...RWBY-aiahs...whatever we are calling ourselves these days! Are you ready for the RWBY Volume 7 premiere this Saturday, November 2nd? Truth be told: I'm not!
I completely mismanaged my weekend of festivities so I'm not sure when I'll actually get around to watching it. I know, it's awful. But, hopefully, I can avoid all the spoilers until I get around to it. Cross your fingers for me!
In the meantime, I wanted to share my thoughts on what we can expect from this season...erm...volume (am I the only one who botches this EVERY time?). The storyline and tempo of RWBY has seemed to follow a pattern of a volume that is slower in pace and all about character development, then a volume where the plot is quick and a million things happen and all of our favorite characters are murdered—sorry, I'm still not over Pyrrha, and I never will be!
So, now that we know Ozpin's dark romance with Salem, Adam is dead, and Ruby can sort of sometimes control her silvery-eye-power-thing, what can we expect from Volume 7 of RWBY?
Atlas At Last
I think it's safe to assume that the team will finally make it to Atlas this season/volume. After all, that was their goal for most of Volume 6, but one thing or another kept preventing them from making much progress on the matter.
But once they arrive at Atlas, how will things go down?
The Weissful Heir of the Schnee Dust Company
Although we saw some strides in character development for Weiss Schnee in Volume 5, her growth has only just begun and will continue to cascade in Volume 7. Probably within the first two episodes of the season, Weiss will find herself back in her home country and forced to confront her father (and possibly her brother) once and for all. My guess is that Winter—her sister—will be brought into the mix somehow, though I think the day-saving will largely fall to Weiss.
In fact, as team RWBY, team JORN/ORNJ(?), and Qrow make their way through Atlas in search of the next Relic, I think it'll be Weiss who plays a key role in helping them secure the Relic of Creation, thus finally proving to her father and the rest of the social elites that she is competent and brilliant. This revelation will of course overthrow her father's hold on the Schnee Dust Company, giving Weiss the honor of holding the title of President herself, but having changed so much and no longer caring about her namesake's financial legacy, Weiss will likely hand that "crown" over to her sister instead.
I for one would love to see me some more Weiss character development. She was my least favorite character at the beginning—and is still the only team member of RWBY that I haven't cosplayed yet—but she has grown on me the most. Come to think of it, maybe I should cosplay as her next...
Ruby Falls and Cinder Rises
Have you ever noticed the power behind Ruby's name? Ruby Rose, as in rises. And then you have Cinder Fall, something that I think all of us have been hoping she'd do since she puppeteered Penny's death and murdered Pyrrha. DIE ALREADY, CINDER!
I, for one, have never thought their names were coincidental. The rivalry between Cinder and Ruby has been obvious from the start, but the writers have continued to push off their ultimate encounter. Why is that?
Some of you might argue because it'll be saved for the very last volume, but I disagree. Cinder isn't some hotshot, Salem is. Cinder doesn't have a gang of mercenaries and Grimm at her disposal, Salem does.
That being said, the only reason they had for postponing a brawl between Ruby and Cinder was that Ruby wasn't ready yet. And quite frankly, she still isnt' ready. Cinder has the power of a Maiden, her semblace, and whatever benefits she gets from being part-Grimm. She's always had more control over her powers and, arguably, has therefore been more powerful. However, this is changing.
Ruby discovered how to trigger her silver eyes in Volume 6, bringing her one step closer to being able to stand-off and fight Cinder in a fairly-matched battle. However, the face-off between Ruby and Cinder won't come in Volume 7.
Cinder has explicit instructions from Salem not to seek revenge on Ruby, so instead, she's sent Neo to do her dirty work for her. So in Volume 7, I anticipate that an entire episode will be wasted on a battle between Neo and Ruby that no one really cares about. Seriously, I just want to see Cinder and Ruby duke-it-out! Hopefully, they give it to us in season 8.
There is a slight chance though that Neo will attempt an attack but fail, forcing Cinder to go after the team instead. That I could see happening in Volume 7, although it would have to happen pretty early on to give Cinder enough time to follow after them.
Eenie, Meanie, Miney, Nora
Maybe you heard the rumor, maybe you haven't, so let me set the stage first. When RWBY first came out, viewers learned that the team members of team JNPR were all based on people who had to cross-dress at some point in their histories (Joan of Arc, Thor, Achilles, and Mulan). What some cleverly twisted fans also realized is that all of those people also died in their storylines.
Ever since Pyrrha's death, fans have speculated, myself included, whether or not all of the members of team JNPR would die at some point.
If this rumor is, in fact, true, I believe we will see our second team JNPR death this season, and I think it might be dear Nora. No, Jaune. Wait, no, yes, it'll definitely be Nora. Maybe.
Okay, truth is, I'm torn between the two of them.
On the one hand, I think killing Jaune would make a lot of sense. Pyrrha's death rocked Jaune's world in the worst ways possible, but it forced him into a leadership role he hadn't been able to fully embrace until then. He's spent the last few seasons mourning over her, while simultaneously putting on a strong face for his team, but it wasn't until last season, and the Pyrrha Nikos statue in Argus, that we finally saw him make peace with her death. With that, I feel like his character arc is complete and therefore Jaue is the most logical choice to axe-off (sorry Jaune). Besides, now that Ozpin/Ozcar is around, he seems like a likely candidate for the role of team leader, having lived for an eternity.
However, without Jaune, I realize that the teams will lose their healer, a semblance he's only just barely started using, and something that might come in handy with the fight against Cinder, Salem, and every other bad guy they encounter!
With those issues in mind, I go back to Nora. Nora is a spitfire with a supernova's worth of energy bustling inside her, just ready to release. It makes her unpredictable and reckless, at times, qualities that could easily get someone killed during a fight with someone a little more calculated and subtle (say, Neo?).
Nora's death would make sense to me because her character arc seems as though it is done too. Since she and Ren have officialized their relationships, honestly neither of them have had much spotlight in the storyline. "Why don't you think Ren will die then, if he's in the same boat?" Mostly just because fans believe that team JNPR will be killed off the same way the characters that they're based off died. In Ren's case, Mulan committed suicide, something we've speculated might happen once Nora dies.
As tragic as it would be, having another death befall the group would might also serve to re-ignite them in a way. We saw a lot of group tension and defeatedness (partially due to The Apathy the group encountered in Volume 6), and seeing yet another of their friends die, might be just what they "need" to re-cement just how important this work is.
With all of that said though, this is one rumor I have always hoped was false. Well, mostly. I like the poetry of it, and it would maybe help me feel better about Pyrrha's death, knowing that it served a greater poetic purpose, but believe me when I say, I don't actually want to see any of them die.
Okay, maybe Ren.
Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall Maiden
Now that you have that lovely song stuck in your head (you're welcome), this wouldn't be a RWBY Volume7 Prediction post if we didn't talk about the Maidens!
Is it just me, or has it been a while since there's been much talk about the Maidens in the show? This is what the show does though! They like to lull you into a state of forgetfulness and then BAM! The thing you thought was important but haven't thought about it in years is suddenly important again.
So we know Cinder Fall is the Fall Maiden, would it be too cliche for Winter Schnee to be the Winter Maiden? I know Raven Brawnwen is the Spring Maiden and there's no real connection from her name to "spring," but her decoy Vernal had that name-connection, so maybe this theory can still work.
If this is true and Winter is the Winter Maiden, I might have to tweak my previous predictions about Weiss Schnee. Like, I'm thinking that maybe Winter dies and passes on her Maiden powers to Weiss, which is how she plays such an integral role in finding the relic. Or something. I don't know, it's a brewing thought, and one that even I think is a little farfetched and out there.
One thing on my mind for food for thought: do we know a character named Summer yet? Seems like a Vacuo name to me. I'm going to have to keep my ears open.
There you have it, my predictions for volume 7 of RWBY. The team will finally make it to Atlas, securing a second relic, but along the way people will die, reputations will be renewed, and one more Maiden will be discovered.
Thanks so much for reading!
Until next time!
Stay nerdy,
Jessaca Willis