History Literature / RWBYRomanHoliday

* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Lady Beat namedrops the id, ego, and superego theory as part of her personal philosophy, believing that all people are governed by these three attributes and bringing them in harmony is how beauty is achieved. Of course, she herself isn't a psychologist, and her idea of thirds certainly didn't give mental stability to either herself or Neo.

** Roman spends years putting together get-rich-quick plots in the book; these are mocked by the Malachite Twins. Neo tears off his note about a "death cannon", and even silently thinks of him as a "dum-dum". This is a nod to his constantly failing {{Zany Scheme}}s in ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'', which includes a death ray that leads to Neo calling him "my dum-dum". However, when he does finally carry out one of them in the novel -- stealing and monopolising Vale's coffee supply -- the scheme is successful.

** The first four chapters from Roman's point of view are named after his LastWords. "Lie", "Steal", "Cheat", and "Survive".
** Once Neo and Roman first form their partnership, there are a few references to their dynamic in ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi''.
*** Roman's first big heist plan with Neo isn't for Dust like she thought, but to steal and monopolize Vale's supply of ''coffee''. It's a ZanyScheme not unlike his other get-rich-quick plots in ''Chibi'' that just so happens to ''work''.
*** One of the notes Neo tears off of Roman's plans board is the design of a Dust-powered "death cannon" like the one Roman and Neo tried to use on Team RWBY in their debut in ''Chibi''.
*** In her mind, Neo calls Roman a "Dum-Dum", her favorite insult in ''Chibi''.

* MythologyGag: Once Neo and Roman first form their partnership, there are a few references to their dynamic in ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi''.
** Roman's first big heist plan with Neo isn't for Dust like she thought, but to steal and monopolize Vale's supply of ''coffee''. It's a ZanyScheme not unlike his other get-rich-quick plots in ''Chibi'' that just so happens to ''work''.
** One of the notes Neo tears off of Roman's plans board is the design of a Dust-powered "death cannon" like the one Roman and Neo tried to use on Team RWBY in their debut in ''Chibi''.
** In her mind, Neo calls Roman a "Dum-Dum", her favorite insult in ''Chibi''.

** Roman's first big heist plan with Neo isn't for Dust like she thought, but to steal and monopolize Vale's supply of ''coffee''. It's a ZannyScheme not unlike his other get-rich-quick plots in ''Chibi'' that just so happens to ''work''.

* OnlyFriend: Kept isolated by hostile parents for most of her childhood, Trivia is forced to socialize with her imaginary friend Neo. Her first chance to make any friends occurs when she starts attending Lady Beat's academy at the age of 18. However, she is quickly isolated by the Malachite twins, who turn the students against her. When she joins the "advanced" program, the twins insist on bringing her into their friendship, but she knows they're false friends. As a result, the first -- and only -- true friend Neo is able to make is with Roman. The novel therefore helps clarify exactly why Neo is so loyal to Roman in the main show, and why his death sent her on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, first against Cinder, then against Ruby.

* DramaticIrony: Roman survives in a room with a Grimm because he knows that Grimm are drawn to anger even more than fear and takes advantage of that, keeping calm and riling up his captor to draw the Grimm towards him. This is exactly how he'll eventually die: his fury at Neo's supposed death not only distracts him from the much bigger threat in favor of beating on Ruby, it sends him into an [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech anger-fueled tirade]], allowing the Grimm to notice him amidst the overall carnage and [[EatenAlive devour him]].

* SavedByCanon: Since the events of the novel take place before the events of ''RWBY'', characters such as Roman, Neo, the Malachite twins, Lil' Miss Malachite, and Hei Xiong will survive any conflicts they go through.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: As Roman and Neo are the {{villain protagonist}}s of the book, the two of them are given plenty of sympathetic traits; they care less for actual villainy and are more interested in their own survival and hedonistic pleasure. Contrast that with the Spiders under Lil' Miss Malachite and the Xiong Family under Hei Xiong, who are ruthless villains that will murder and maim just to prove a point. [[spoiler:They're also willing to turn their territories into [[MobWar war zones]] to control the criminal underworld, as both the cities of Mistral and Vale discover.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: Lie. Cheat. Survive]]

* ThatWomanIsDead: Trivia's long journey into becoming Neopolitan eventually ends with her decision to disown her real name forever. [[spoiler:After Jimmy and Carmel are killed, Neo concludes that Trivia died in that moment, too.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: Lie, steal, cheat, & survive.]]

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[[caption-width-right:350: Lie, cheat, & survive.]]

''RWBY: Roman Holiday'' is a ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' young adult novel written by E.C. Myers, with help from Kerry Shawcross and Eddy Rivas, and published by Scholastic. It was released on September 7, 2021. It is a prequel, taking place years before the events of the main series, showing how Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan met and became partners in crime.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: While Roman and Neo are the {{villain protagonist}}s of the book, the two of them care less for actual villainy and are more interested in their own survival and hedonistic pleasure, and are given plenty of sympathetic traits. Contrast that with the Spiders under Lil' Miss Malachite and the Xiong Family under Hei Xiong, who desire to control Vale's criminal underworld and [[spoiler:start a MobWar over the territory.]]

* DramaticIrony: Roman survives in a room with a Grimm because he knows that Grimm are drawn to anger even more than fear and takes advantage of that, keeping calm and riling up his captor to draw the Grimm towards him. This is exactly how he'll eventually die: his fury at Neo's supposed death not only distracts him from the much bigger threat in favor of beating on Ruby, it sends him into an [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech anger fueled tirade]], allowing the Grimm to notice him amidst the overall carnage and [[EatenAlive devour him.]]

* IKnowMortalKombat: The first time Trivia sneaks out of the house, she steals her tutor's car. The teenage Trivia had never driven one before, but makes good use of her experience playing driving simulators. Near the conclusion of the story, she teaches herself to fly a Bullhead through a combination of video game experience, reading a manual, and observing a pilot at the controls prior to ''hijacking'' the ship.

* OnlyFriend: Kept isolated by hostile parents for most of her childhood, Trivia is forced to socialize with her imaginary friend Neo. Her first chance to make any friends occurs when she starts attending Lady Beat's academy at the age of 18. However, she is quickly isolated by the Malachite twins, who turn the students against her. When she joins the "advanced" program, the twins insist on bringing her into their friendship, but she knows they're false friends. As a result, the first -- and only -- true friend Neo is able to make is with Roman. The novel therefore helps clarify exactly why Neo is so loyal to Roman in the main show, and [[spoiler:why his death sent her on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, first against Cinder, then against Ruby.]]

* OnlyFriend: Kept isolated by hostile parents for most of her childhood, Trivia is forced to socialize with her imaginary friend Neo. Her first chance to make any friends occurs when she starts attending Lady Beat's academy at the age of 18. However, she is quickly isolated by the Malachite twins, who turn the students against her. When she joins the "advanced" program, the twins insist on bringing her into their friendship, but she knows they're false friends. As a result, the first -- and only -- true friend Neo is able to make is with Roman. The novel therefore helps clarify exactly why Neo is so loyal to Roman in the main show.

* HideYourOtherness: Trivia was born with one pink eye, something that horrifies her parents. She is forced to wear a contact lens that makes the eye as brown as the other. Linked to her extraordinary Semblance, which initially manifests as a girl with pink eyes and hair, her parents what that to be hidden and never used, too. Even after Trivia eventually masters her Semblance and embraces her identity as Neo, she is so affected by this childhood experience that, when she brings Roman back to the mansion, she uses her Semblance to make herself appear brown-haired and brown-eyed. Roman tells her to stop and let her parents see her true self, which helps break the last few influences her upbringing holds over her.

* DramaticIrony: Roman survives in a room with a Grimm because he knows that Grimm are drawn to anger even more than fear and takes advantage of that, keeping calm and riling up his captor to draw the Grimm towards him. This is exactly how he'll eventually die: his fury at Neo's supposed death not only distracts him from the much bigger threat in favor of beating on Ruby, it sends him into an [[SedgwickSpeech anger fueled tirade]], allowing the Grimm to notice him amidst the overall carnage and [[EatenAlive devour him.]]

* DramaticIrony: Roman survives in a room with a Grimm because he knows that Grimm are drawn to anger even more than fear and takes advantage of that, keeping calm and riling up his captor to draw the Grimm towards him. This is exactly how he'll eventually die: his fury at Neo's supposed death not only distracts him from the much bigger threat in favor of beating on Ruby, but draws the Grimm straight to him.

* MobWar: A war between criminal organisations in Mistral provides Lil Miss with the opportunity to expand her organisation elsewhere, triggering further wars as a result. [[spoiler:She begins expanding into Vale, eventually triggering a war with Vale's dominant crime organisation, the Xiong family. It comes to a head at Trivia's family estate until Neo and Roman find a way to end it for good.]]
* OnlyFriend: Kept isolated by hostile parents for most of her childhood, Trivia is forced to socialise with her imaginary friend Neo. Her first chance to make any friends occurs when she starts attending Lady Beat's academy at the age of 18. However, she is quickly isolated by the Malachite twins, who turn the students against her. When she joins the "advanced" programme, the twins insist on bringing her into their friendship, but she knows they're false friends. As a result, the first -- and only -- true friend Neo is able to make is with Roman. The novel therefore helps clarify exactly why Neo is so loyal to Roman in the main show.

* RobbingTheMobBank: The first bank Roman robs in Vale belongs to Hei Xiong, who is not happy about it and tries to have Roman killed. Roman chose the target deliberately to make himself known to Hei Xiong. However, he does try to avoid hitting Xiong businesses after that.

* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Trivia's parents wanted the perfect child and constantly punish Trivia for not being one. They hate her muteness, her pink eye, and the nature and power of her Semblance. They thus pressure her to speak, wear a contact lens to hide her eye, and stop using her Semblance.

* BatmanGambit: Early in the book, Roman talks the Malachite Twins into helping with a scheme to bring down a rival gang in Mistral. It works, but the fracas nearly gets the Twins seriously hurt, and Lil' Miss forbids Roman from interacting with the Twins again. This is what Roman wanted, as he hated babysitting the Twins.

* RobbingTheMobBank: The first bank Roman robs happened to belong to Hei Xiong, who was not happy about it and tried to have Roman killed. Afterwards, Roman focuses his heists on areas out of Hei Xiong's control.