RWBY / Tropes O To R

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RWBY provides examples of the following tropes:

Tropes O

• Object-Shaped Landmass: Invoked in-universe. In the world of Remnant, there are two continents that have a dragon-esque appearance. The eastern continent of Anima has a serpentine form and the unnamed north-western continent has a lizardine form. Although the original map creation produced these shapes by accident, it was incorporated into the lore of the world in the form of a legend about the two Brother Gods who created the world. When the Two Brothers fought over the fate of the world, they agreed to enter a state of hibernation; the God of Light became the continent of Anima and the God of Darkness became the unnamed north-western continent. They sleep until The Day of Reckoning, where they will judge humanity's existence. Although there is truth to the legend that the two Brother Gods have dragon forms and that humanity is under a secret test of redemption that could see them destroyed if they fail, the disappearance of the two gods is more complicated than them becoming the continents, and the fairy tale is implied to be humanity's way of explaining the appearance of their world.
• Odd Couple: All the pairs in "The First Step" end up being this, in some sense. Many are also Red Oni, Blue Oni. Childish Ruby with the know-it-all Weiss, hotheaded Yang with quiet Blake, The Ace Pyrrha with clumsy and incompetent Jaune, and the classic pairing of Genki Girl and Deadpan Snarker, Nora/Ren. The last one is lampshaded by Glynda.
• Odd Name Out:
  • The names of the four alt outfits for the RWBY crew are Slayer (Ruby), Intruder (Blake), Hunter (Yang) and SnowPea (Weiss).
  • The names of the Huntsman academies and combat schools mentioned so far have names related to either a sense of relief (Shade, Haven, Sanctum) or of hope (Beacon, Signal). Except for Atlas, its name is notable in that it is a less direct, non-definitional reference to protection.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse:
  • Cinder amasses all of her followers this way, starting with threatening to call the cops on a young thief and ending with threatening to wipe out a terrorist group if they don't agree to be her muscle while always pointing out the benefits of working with her. Roman Torchwick implies this is the case for him as well, though his recruitment in the Whole Episode Flashback is limited only to an audio of him meeting Cinder.
  • Volume 5 shows that this is a terrible way of building loyalty, and only works if the subject is truly intimidated. When Cinder cajoles Raven's Bandit Clan for help with the theft of the Haven Relic, Raven only agrees after showing how unimpressed she is by Cinder's threats. She later confides with her subordinate that they are going to double-cross Cinder the first chance they get.
• Offhand Backhand:
  • Adam does this twice to Grimm attempting to attack him and Blake in Beacon's Cafeteria. The first so he can have his revenge, then to defend himself once Blake escapes with Yang's unconscious body.
• Offscreen Teleportation: One of the animation gags in the first volume had characters leaving a dotted outline where they were previously standing before the camera angle changed.
• Off with His Head!:
  • This is how the Giant Nevermore meets its end in during the Beacon Academy initiation, courtesy of a plan by Ruby involving a Fastball Special and the use of Weiss's runes to run up a mountain before finishing it with Crescent Rose.
  • Later in Volume 9 when Team RWBY are trapped in the Ever After, they meet the Red Prince who is shown to enjoy doing this for amusement. Team RWBY see this firsthand when he is shown displeased with Penny's weapon since it is green and has the two toy soldiers that claimed to bring it themselves beheaded as a result. He later attempts to do this to Team RWBY themselves before being talked out of this by the Curious Cat.
• Ominous Obsidian Ooze: The Creatures of Grimm are born from pools of black ooze that litter the landscape of Salem's domain, pulling themselves out of the muck before heading off to kill any human they find. Volume 6 reveals them to be the Pools of Annihilation, the liquified essence of the God of Darkness.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Jaune suffers from motion sickness, so his introduction consists of him vomiting on the flight into Beacon. Since it's the first thing Ruby ever learns about him, she nicknames him "Vomit Boy". While reminiscing about the past over dinner in Volume 5, Jaune mentions feeling queasy because of how much they've all eaten, so Yang calls him "Vomit Boy", leaving him unimpressed. In the next volume, Ruby has him listed on her scroll under that nickname.
• Once More, with Volume!: During their field trip to the ruins of Mountain Glenn, Oobleck sometimes confuses Team RWBY with his idiosyncratic style of speech. When he instantly corrects his estimation for how long it will take them to find a lone Beowolf's pack due to the pack appearing in front of him, Weiss asks "What?" in confusion. When he adds the warning that the Grimm have spotted them, she exclaims "What?!" in alarm. However, Oobleck misunderstands her reaction and repeats his warn at top volume straight into her ear.
• One-Man Army:
  • In the Red trailer, Ruby destroys dozens of Beowolves all by herself.
  • In the Black trailer Blake (with some help from Adam) destroy dozens of Schnee robots during their train heist.
  • Penny in Vol. 1 Episode 16, where she thrashed some White Fang goons and destroyed at least one of their planes.
• One-Steve Limit: Mostly played straight, with the major aversion of two characters named ‘May’ - May Zedong, a student from Shade and a member of Team BRNZ, and May Marigold, a member of the Happy Huntresses.
• One-Word Title: All titles in Volume 8 are a single word with the exception for the final episode.
• Only One Female Mold: The early seasons featured three character models for men — one thin, one stocky, and one short and fat, the latter two being seldom used — but only one for women, distinguished only by slight changes in breast size. Variations in coloration, height, and wild anime-style hair and attire helped to mask it, but the abundance of women in the series made it conspicuous at times. The initial shift to Maya only increased the use of this trope, as many of the male characters introduced in Volume 4 had totally unique character models, while there was still only one for women. Beginning in Volume 6, women with unique faces and bodies began to appear.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When Ruby first encounters Penny in Volume 2, she tries to find out where Penny's been since she mysteriously disappeared during the Volume 1 finale, but Penny acts like she has no idea who Ruby is. It turns out that Penny is being monitored by the Atlesian military because she's a very special person who cannot be allowed to roam freely without some kind of escort or guardian. She's terrified of getting Ruby into trouble if they're caught together.
  • During the Volume 3 finale, Ruby unleashes an ability neither she nor Cinder ever expected to exist. Cinder, who until that point had been carrying out the villainous plot with smug, self-assured pleasure, is shocked into panic as she unleashes an incredulous Big "WHAT?!". It's a game-changer for Cinder, revealing that the mythical powers she's been stealing have a crippling weakness to Ruby's inherited and equally mythical power. It leaves her permanently scarred down the left side of her body, forcing her to wear a mask that hides the left side of her face and resulting in her replacing her left arm with that of a Grimm. It takes her the whole of the next volume just to recover.
  • At the end of the fourth volume, Ren, usually the calm, patient and collected member of Team JNPR, loses all control of his emotions when they fight the Grimm that has been destroying the villages they've been coming across throughout the volume. He fights recklessly, thoughtlessly, and almost gets himself killed before Nora can slap some sense back into his head. The Grimm is a creature that destroyed his home village when he was a child leaving him to raise himself as an orphan. They finally encounter it in the ruins of Ren's home village, making it an intensely emotional issue for Ren.
    • Even before that, his behavior when they find the sign leading to Kuroyuri and are deciding whether to go there or chance the mountain is very unusual for him: He's stubborn, unwilling to reveal why he doesn't want to go there, and actually comes very close to yelling at the others. Given his normal consideration of others and relatively calm attitude, this can come as a bit of a shock, even after his history with the village is revealed not too much later.
  • Ozpin is calm and collected throughout the show, so much so that he has been criticized by Ironwood for not being more proactive in dealing with Salem or the White Fang, and by Qrow for not being so passive about Ironwood usurping his authority over the Vytal Festival. The few times he has become annoyed or angry, his tone may become clipped and authoritative but he still doesn't lose control. When stranded in the snow on the way to Argus, Ozpin becomes visibly rattled by Team RWBY's persistent questioning of his motives as they try and figure out what he's hiding. However, when they realize they can ask the Relic of Knowledge to reveal the answer to that question, Ozpin finally panics. He screams "No!" and charges towards Ruby. Everyone is absolutely shocked by his reaction, and it's the Relic of Knowledge itself who intervenes to stop him. His secret is a game-changer in that it reveals how Salem came to be the villain she is and just how completely unstoppable she really is. The heroes are left shattered by the truth, and Ozpin is left devastated by their despair, Qrow's in particular.
  • During the battle at Haven, Ruby starts out trying to reason with people like Raven and Emerald. Then people started getting hurt. When she leaps in to help her sister, Yang asks if she's okay. Ruby admits she's not; she's angry. The significance of a cheerful, always-positive girl losing her tolerance and getting angry stops the background music cold.
    • During the events of "The Perils of Paper Houses" when she doesn't even fight against the Jabberwalkers, starts seeing hallucinations of Cinder, Penny, and Salem, and eventually refuses to even touch Crescent Rose after the fight when Jaune tries to give it to her, everyone present finally realized that something was wrong with Ruby after she uncharacteristically lashes out at her friends and gets into a heated argument with Jaune and decides to leave the group as a result.
• Open Secret: Blake doesn't want people to know she's a Faunus to avoid the discrimination they receive, yet lots of people know about it. She told Team RWBY and Team JNPR, Ozpin and Sun figure it out by themselves and Oobleck's lack of surprise when overhearing her discuss it suggests he also figured it out himself, Neptune was told by Sun, and Torchwick and his mooks know since it was revealed during a fight with them. After the Fall of Beacon, however, Blake decides to discard the ribbon she used to cover her cat ears when she travels home to the Faunus haven of Menagerie. When she leaves and rejoins Team RWBY, she never returns to wearing the bow.
• Opposing Combat Philosophies: Huntsmen are professional monster slayers who possess unique weapons and combat outfits that complement their personalities and fighting styles. They are encouraged to put the protection of the people first and so remain independent from kingdom politics and hierarchies. However, the Kingdom of Atlas pressurises its Huntsmen students to enrol in the military as super-soldier Specialists that obey the military chain-of-command without question; most wear the same military uniform and use military-issue weapons, although the most elite will customise their uniforms and retain their unique weapons. The difference between true Huntsmen and Atlesian "super-soldiers" becomes a major plot point of the Atlas Arc, where the free-thinking and idealistic Beacon-trained heroes clash with the obedient, militaristic Atlesian-trained General Ironwood, Winter Schnee and Ace-Ops over how best to defend the kingdom from the Big Bad.
• Orchestra Hit Techno Battle: How the battle between Yang and Junior's night club is framed during the Yellow Trailer. Yang visits the same bar in the show proper in season 2 and the same music is playing, but everyone involved comes to a tense armistice rather than a fight.
• Orgasmic Combat: The crew have acknowledged that while the girls are recording their yells and grunts for fight scenes, there's two ways they can sound: like they're having sex, and like they're taking a poo. Blake in particular can get very loud in her fights, like in the "Black" trailer.
• Our Demons Are Different: The Grimm, creatures of Living Shadow with red and white masks. They are stated to have no souls, are attracted to negative emotions, and their origins and motivations (besides Kill All Humans) are unknown. Later in the series, the Grimm are revealed to have been created by the God of Darkness in order to dispose of the creations of his brother, The God Of Light, until they both eventually created Humanity. After the first wave of humanity was wiped out, the creatures of Grimm were left behind on Remnant as the gods departed from the planet. Eventually, the Grimm would serve under Big Bad Salem as her own footsoldiers.
• Our Souls Are Different: All living beings have a soul except the Grimm. Souls create Aura, which can be locked, trained or manifested passively. Aura can create effects such as a Deflector Shield or Ki Manipulation, and fuel Semblances, a unique ability shaped by an individual's personality. Aura can also be channelled into inanimate objects, empowering weapons and armour; science has even created an Aura-using robot. Rare, secret events can cause soul and Aura mergers that risk the loss of the original independent selves. Ozpin attempts an artificial soul merger between Amber and Pyrrha to prevent Cinder obtaining Amber's full Maiden powers. Ozpin himself underwent a soul merger when he was a child, and later soul-merges with a young farm-boy called Oscar, causing them to share thoughts and memories.
• Out of Focus:
  • For most of Volumes 1-3, Team JNPR's storylines focus more on Jaune and Pyrrha, with Nora as comic relief. Ren, however, remains mostly in the background as a quiet boy who doesn't talk much, isn't flashy, and only reacts to the events around him. From Volume 4, his role increases significantly, with Volume 4 building up Ren's past to create the season's climax.
  • In Volumes 2-3, Sun and Neptune get screentime, but their team-mates Scarlet and Sage have no role in the plot. They have one cameo as background characters in Volume 2; in Volume 3, while they do appear for Team SSSN's tournament fight, Sage has little focus and is eliminated very quickly, while Scarlet gets a couple of lines and brief fight before he is also elminated. They do appear during the climactic battle of the volume, but only as part of the student ensemble.
  • In Volume 4, Yang's storyline remains based in Vale. Although Oobleck and Port visit Taiyang's house to find out how Yang is doing, Glynda stays out of the spotlight in this volume save for a cameo that uses stock footage from Volume 3. Oobleck, Port and news updates indicate she's leading Beacon Academy's cleanup efforts and also in charge of Beacon's recovery attempts.
  • Following Cinder's defeat at the end of Volume 5 and subsequent exile from Salem's forces, both Mercury and Emerald see a significantly reduced screen presence in favour of setting up and carrying out the villainous plot of Volume 7, for which they're not required. As a result, they only make two appearances throughout all of Volume 6 and are completely absent from Volume 7 but they do return for Volume 8 in which Mercury is upgraded to Salem's group, but sent out of the volume early to prepare for the Vacuo Arc, while Emerald gets a Heel–Face Turn and joins the main cast as a hero.
  • After being a Supporting Protagonist for much of the Mistral volumes, Volume 7 benches Jaune. He's is the only member of RWBY or JNR to not have any importance on the main plot, although his comic relief mini-plot does turn out to be useful for the climax at the end of the volume.
  • After having a prominent role in Volume 6, Maria is largely in the background during Volumes 7, remaining at Pietro's side as his aid while the others work with General Ironwood on protecting Atlas and Mantle. In Volume 8, both she and Pietro are reduced to largely background roles, disappearing from the plot completely after an early episode.

Tropes P-Q

• Paper-Thin Disguise: In "Painting The Town", Blake and Sun infiltrate a White Fang meeting with their only disguises being Grimm masks, Blake's slightly different outfit, and Sun's shirt being buttoned. Justified because nobody bar Torchwick would recognize them in the first place, and being in a large crowd prevents him from immediately spotting them. Once he does spot them, he recognizes Blake immediately.
• Parasol of Pain: Neo uses her umbrella as a shield and bludgeoning weapon. The hilt also contains a dagger.
• Parental Abandonment: Raven Branwen, the mother of Yang, abandoned her daughter at such a young age that Yang didn't even know who she was. She then proceeds to abandon her yet again after saving her life.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Ruby is visibly disgusted when Qrow promises to share some "inappropriate stories" about Team STRQ (the team he was on with Ruby and Yang's father and their respective mothers) back when they were younger.
• Parodies for Dummies: In their first meeting, Weiss is furious when Ruby's sneeze inadvertently triggers an explosion of Fire Dust. Later, Weiss shoves a "Dust for Dummies and Other Inadequate Individuals" pamphlet in Ruby's face; she recites the disclaimer in a voice that becomes comically fast and high-pitched before ordering Ruby to read it and never speak to her again.
• Personality Powers: When Team RNJR realizes that Oscar doesn't know what a Semblance is, they explain the subject. Ren states that nobody knows whether or not Semblance is connected to personality; some people theorize that the power is based on the personality, some people theorize that the personality is based on the power, and other people don't think there's any connection between the two. Semblance is therefore something of a puzzle to the people of Remnant. The only main character that has discussed how they personally see Semblance is Blake, who once told her team-mates at a low point in her life that she thinks she's a coward because she runs away from her problems and that her Semblance reinforces her sense of cowardice by creating clones that take the hits meant for her.
• Person of Mass Destruction:
  • The Four Maidens are women with access to magical Elemental Powers (some of the only magic in the world, in fact), capable of altering the weather on a large scale, creating elemental weapons out of thin air, Flight, and are surrounded by a Sphere of Power when they get serious. Unfortunately, due to a quirk of the way the powers are transferred, it's possible to obtain the powers through murdering the previous wielder, so there's an entire Benevolent Conspiracy dedicated to protecting them.
  • Salem and her husband Ozma are the last original humans left, meaning they have full access to the magic humanity once had. Early on in Remnant's history, they posed as gods by destroying anything that opposed them, and when they had a falling out their battle destroyed their castle (and killed their daughters in the crossfire). Ozma gave up much of his power to create the Maidens, but Salem is still the most powerful single entity on the planet, never mind the fact that she has Complete Immortality and an endless army of Grimm.
• Pet the Dog: In Volume 4, Whitley hints that he tries coping with his father Jacques's abuse by imitating him. Once away from Jacques's influence four volumes later, his behavioural changes surprise everyone. After discovering that his sister's group is struggling to care for the critically injured Nora, Whitley secretly calls for the medically-trained Klein. Thanks to Weiss admitting she's proud of him, Whitley becomes a friendlier individual, especially towards his family.
• Pinball Projectile: Yang's first appearance in Volume 5 has her punch a guy so hard he bounces around the room multiple times before his momentum projects him out the door.
• Phony Degree: Jaune got into Beacon by forging his credentials. He had zero combat experience and didn't even know what Aura is before Pyrrha gave him lessons.
• Pinned to the Ground:
  • During the penultimate episode of season 2, after Blake's use of Dust in combination with her Semblance results in Torchwick getting thrown to the ground, he tries to get back up only for her to pin him back down with her foot on his chest.
  • After Ruby's use of her silver eyes leaves Cinder vulnerable, Jaune goes in for the kill trying to stab her. Cinder manages to dodge at the last moment causing Jaune to lose his balance and fall to the ground. As he tries to get back up, Cinder, angry that he almost managed to kill her, stomps on his chest pinning him back down to the ground.
  • After their first battle, Salem pins down Oz before killing him.
• Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: In Volume 8, Pietro explains how the P.E.N.N.Y. Project came into existence, showing Ruby and Weiss a photograph of the five competing scientists Ironwood had to choose between. His thumb is obscuring the face of one of the scientists. Once he puts the photograph back down, his thumb reveals that the scientist is Salem's agent, Arthur Watts. However, this is an in-universe example; it's obvious to the audience that he's obscuring Watts, but the heroes don't even know Watts exists at this point, so it prevents Ruby and Weiss from seeing who he is for a little while longer.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Throughout the series, protagonist Ruby Rose constantly goes through trauma after seeing friends and allies die, a Kingdom destroyed and seeing her friends all overcome their own issues while they constantly rely on her to be the leader as well as them being unaware of Ruby's own issues. Ruby's own trauma eventually reaches its breaking point during Volume 9 when she and her friends are in the Ever After. After the Paper Pleasers flood their village at the end of chapter 7, Ruby is pushed to her Rage Breaking Point and snaps at her friends for constantly leaning on her for help and not realizing she was hurting. Seconds later, a distraught Jaune blames Ruby for the heroes' situation in the Ever After and Neo's rampage. Blake tries calming things down, but a tearful Ruby flies off with Little as her friends watch in shock. Ruby leave Little in Chapter 8 as well and argues that following her will only get them killed.
• Points of Light Setting: The Creatures of Grimm are found everywhere throughout Remnant, seeking to destroy humanity and their creations. In the countless years that humanity had roamed the planet there have only been four locations that have survived throughout the centuries. Those being the four Kingdoms, Vale, Vacuo, Mistral and Atlas, only surviving due to humanities tenacity and the natural barriers, such as mountains and frigid temperatures, keeping Grimm away. Although small villages have been built, they do not last long thanks to the Grimm. There is also the island Menagerie, a safe haven for the faunus, though two-thirds of the island is covered in desert and there is deadly wildlife keeping people from expanding.
• Powder Keg Crowd: Because of the strict security General Ironwood placed on the nation of Solitas, as well as the Dust embargo cutting off most of Atlas and Mantle's export business, the impoverished people of Mantle are at an all-time high in public tension and resentment. When the heroes first arrive in Mantle, they find people complaining about the constant military patrols, argumentative drunks hanging around the streets, and see young children throwing stones at security drones. When Jacques Schnee shuts down all "non-essential personnel", he announces that people should blame Ironwood and vote for him because, once on the council, he can get them their jobs back. Mantle's response is a full-blown riot in the streets.
• Power Crystal: There is a crystalline substance known as Dust which was pivotal in humanity driving out the Grimm and establishing society. By the beginning of the series, the Schnee Dust Company led by Weiss' father Jacques Schnee have a monopoly over Dust distribution throughout the world of Remnant. Dust not only powers people's weapons, but also acts as fuel for vehicles and ammunition for firearms. It can be woven into clothing and be directly fused with a person's body (though that is extremely dangerous). Hazel Rainart is able to fuse Dust into his body without feeling the pain due to his Semblance Numbing Agent making him unable to feel pain.
• The Power of Glass: Variation. Cinder Fall's Semblance allows her to superheat objects, which she mainly uses for turning earth into various glass-shaped weapons; the glass is always obsidian, in keeping with her fire and volcanic themes. This is in keeping with her Fairytale Motif of Cinderella, who is famously associated with glass slippers.
• Precious Puppy: Ruby and Yang's family owns a corgi named Zwei. Ruby and Weiss gush over how adorable it is.
• Precision F-Strike: The show initially began with very clean scripts, but as the plot entered darker territory, the adult characters have become harsher with their language.
  • "Damn" has been the most common bad word of choice. Qrow demands to know whether or not Ironwood "give[s] a damn" about being discreet; when the battle for Beacon kicks off, an Atlesian ship's captain uses "dammit" twice; Jacques admits that he doesn't "give a damn" about Weiss's ambitions; Qrow tells Team RNJR that he thinks Salem is doing a "damn good job" of destroying humanity; Yang uses "dammit" in a bout of fury when Raven refuses to help her locate Qrow and Ruby; and Jaune expresses his disgust at Cinder being able to live with what she's done "all with that damn smile on [her] face".
  • Some of the harshest language in the show occurs when Tyrian calls Ruby a "bitch" after she cuts off his scorpion tail for hurting Qrow, and when Yang calls Ozpin a "bastard" after learning the Awful Truth about the Secret War between him and Salem.
  • The lyrics of various songs on the show's soundtracks have also included swearing that was blocked out to some degree. One variant of "I Burn" includes a guest verse by Lamar Hall that initially included F-bombs until it was censored, and "Red Like Roses, Part II" mentions being "trapped inside a nightmare every single effing day".
• Prepare to Die: In "Breach", Coco uses this as a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner against a Beowolf.
  Coco: You just destroyed my favorite clothing store. (spits) Prepare to die.
• Production Foreshadowing: Ruby's tray attack on Pyrrha during the food fight in Volume 2 is nearly identical to one of Reese's hoverboard attacks on Blake in Volume 3.
• Product Placement: "Lessons Learned" begins with an ad for Rooster Teeth's Christmas items, and "Never Miss a Beat" and "Fall" both begin with an ad for the new RWBY: Grimm Eclipse game.
• Prosthetic Limb Reveal:
  • Mercury Black has prosthetic legs. They're revealed via flashback in an episode after he performs a Deliberate Injury Gambit on Yang.
  • The entire right side of James Ironwood from the shoulder down is robotic.
• Protagonist Title: "RWBY" is the name of the team that is made up of the four protagonists. It's also pronounced as "Ruby", after main character and team leader Ruby Rose.
• Protectorate: To unleash the powers of the Silver Eyes, a warrior uses the feelings they have of family and friends to generate a powerful energy that is driven by the need to protect all life. Ruby's powers first manifest when she tries to rescue Pyrrha, and later to save Jaune from a suicidal attack on Cinder. Her power first manifests when she witnesses Cinder killing Pyrrha during the Battle of Beacon, and again when she fears the same thing will happen to Jaune during the battle of Haven. In Volume 6, she meets an old woman who helps her trigger the power to save Blake from being killed by the Apathy. Maria is an ancient warrior whose best days are behind her, but she was born with silver eyes and teaches Ruby that life is so beautiful and precious that it must always be protected.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • Ironwood's Fatal Flaw is his paranoia and mistrust, but it also means he's right about a lot of things, too. He's right to suspect Ozpin hiding something from his own Benevolent Conspiracy, he's right about Haven being the second target after Beacon, and he's right not to trust Leo. He's right to suspect that the villains are using an Atlesian hacker and that they would be willing to use a refugee evacuation as a cover for infiltration and sabotage. Unfortunately, many of the decisions he makes in response to his paranoia turn out play into the villains hands, dooming the Kingdom of Atlas instead of protecting it. Some of things the heroes could have used for their own plans therefore get missed because of how unstable and unreliable Ironwood becomes; this leaves them vulnerable to being infiltrated by Cinder and Neo when they're evacuating the kingdom's refugees, the very thing Ironwood feared.
  • After spending years alone in the Ever After with his trauma from Atlas and experiencing new betrayals while waiting for Team RWBY to arrive, Jaune Arc starts going through Sanity Slippage and becomes increasingly mistrustful of Afterans. This causes problems for Team RWBY, and the Afterans themselves, as he won't listen them due to his belief that they're too clever, too stupid or too manipulative. Once Team RWBY realise how unstable Jaune has become, they begin to listen to the Afterans more than their old friend... until it turns out that Jaune's instincts were right all along. Jaune is adamant that the Curious Cat cannot be trusted. The Cat is manipulative, appears to help Afterans Ascend to the Tree for its own motives and sugar-coats a process that is really a form of death through Loss of Identity and Death of Personality. In Volume 9, Episode 8, the Cat's true motive for helping Team RWBY go to the tree is revealed; they've been deliberately breaking down Ruby's state of mind with the intention of possessing her in order to travel to Remnant and confront the gods for abandoning their world.
• Pun-Based Title: "PvP", a term which usually means "player versus player" (the episode is the first time two protagonists square off against each other), but in the context of the episode also refers to the fight between Penny and Pyrrha.
• Punny Name:
  • From Dust Till Dawn, a Dust shop whose owner has become a recurring character.
  • And Roman Torchwick (as in Roman candle) whose weapon is a firework launcher.
  • The representatives of Team FNKI that we see in "Never Miss a Beat": Flynt Coal (a name created in Let's Play Minecraft that alludes to flint and coal) and Neon Katt (Nyan Cat).
• Putting the "Pal" in Principal: Professor Ozpin is looked-up-to by just about every student in the school and is willing to bend the rules a few times for his students' benefit.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Pyrrha Nikos has a name of Greek origins. While her first name comes from a word meaning "flame-haired", her surname means "victor of the people". The term "pyrrhic victory" comes from the name of King Pyrrhus, whose name shares the same origin as Pyrrha. Pyrrha's name therefore can translate to "Pyrrhic Victory". During Pyrrha's tournament match against Penny, she defeats Penny but only in a way that leaves her feeling devastated. As a result of Emerald making her see a threat that doesn't exist, Pyrrha uses the full force of her magnetism Semblance to repulse Penny's swords. As Penny is a secretly a robot who is controlling her swords via wires, Pyrrha's act accidentally entangles Penny with the wires, garotting Penny so successfully that her body is torn into pieces on live television.
• Quarreling Song: The full version of "Red Like Roses, Pt. 2", which includes the mother's reply and a final back-and-forth.
• Quotes Fit for a Trailer: The 30-second advert for "Battle of Beacon" ends with Cinder saying "Do not miss what happens next." In the episode, the line occurs when Mercury is broadcasting a live feed of the devastation that's occurring to Vale, and Cinder is instructing him to capture the next stage of the invasion.

Tropes R

• Rage Against the Mentor:
  • Having seen the impact on former allies, Ozpin keeps many secrets, fearing that the Awful Truth will destroy people's hope. A friend betrays him to Salem and Ironwood turns on him in Volume 2. In Volume 5, Raven fails to talk Yang out of helping him, who instead demands his honesty from then on. In Volume 6, the heroes confront him once and for all, learn the Awful Truth and turn on him, causing him to break and retreat in despair. After struggling with the dilemma of whether to tell Ironwood the full truth, they learn the hard way that trust and truth are more complicated than they appreciated. In Volume 8, they reconcile with a repentant Ozpin, admitting they finally understand his situation; however, his role permanently changes from leader to advisor.
  • After Qrow learns the Awful Truth about Ozpin in Volume 6, his shattered Undying Loyalty sends him into a downward alcoholic spiral until he becomes The Load. After trying to shut down the heroes one too many times for trying to get the Relic of Knowledge to Atlas, Ruby snaps and yells at him that they've done remarkable things without adult help, so they're going to continue whether or not he approves. When he later berates himself for letting them continue, Ruby firmly tells him they would have carried on without him and they're no longer his responsibility. Although he sobers up and their relationships repair, the arc is the end of Qrow's role as Ruby's mentor.
  • After Winter escaped her abusive father by joining the military, General Ironwood became her mentor, grooming her to become a Special Operative and right-hand woman. Ironwood's downward spiral into authoritarianism during the Atlas Arc sees her increasingly struggling to justify and support his decisions until she events defects to the heroes' side. When they fight, he lashes out at her "betrayal" while she declares him an enemy of the kingdom he once swore to protect; their relationship is severed for good.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • While interrogating Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury after the failure of Haven, Salem becomes increasingly frustrated the more she hears from her subordinates. When Hazel tries taking responsibility for the failure in Haven, she throws the conference table aside, but otherwise doesn't harm anyone and focuses on interrogating the truth from them via inciting terror of what she'll do to them. But upon realising that Ozpin led the protagonists at Haven and is in possession of the Relic, that's when Salem orders everyone to leave and lets out a window-shattering scream.
  • In Volume 9, a big part of the story is that Ruby is suffering from the trauma caused by the events of Volumes 7 and 8, which gets missed, ignored or swept aside by the other girls as they try to escape the Ever After. This comes to a head in Chapter 7 after a group of Jabberwalkers attack the village of Paper Pleasers Jaune had spent years protecting. When the Paper Pleasers are able to destroy their dam and allow themselves to finally Ascend, Weiss, Blake and Yang run to Jaune's side, despite the fact that Ruby had a panic attack during the assault and is clearly not okay, Ruby snaps at the girls when Weiss tries to get her to say something to Jaune, yelling at them over how they keep relying on her for help and ignoring her for their own problems. When Jaune snaps at her and blames her for having a It's All About Me attitude that got them to this point, it and Blake trying to backburner the problem again is enough to make Ruby bail on her friends, leaving with just Crescent Rose and Little the Mouse.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Ozpin intended to recruit Team RWBY as his new enforcers of the likes of Team STRQ while Pyrrha from Team JNPR was the next candidate to become the Fall Maiden working directly under him. The Fall of Beacon resulted in the losses of Ozpin, Pyrrha and worldwide communication, effectively crippling the main line of defense against Salem. Because Ozpin's strongest allies are at different sides of the globe and Salem's existence is a global secret, he has to rely on his students and new host, Oscar Pine, to stop her. Although Team RWBY and JNPR are talented warriors for their age, they're still teenagers who were not able to complete their training and have very few allies to rely on.
• Railroading: In Volume 9, Team RWBY discovers they're in the Ever After, a world right out of the fairy tale "The Girl Who Fell Through the World". They know that to escape the world, they have to reach the giant tree in the center. But trying to just walk straight there results in you magically looping back around to where you started walking. The Ever After is forcing Team RWBY to interact with each "acre" of the Ever After in a similar sequence of events to those in the fairy tale.
• Rash Promise: Ozpin mentions in Volume 1 that he has made more mistakes than anyone else on the planet. One of those includes a promise he made in the heat of the moment, which has come to define his entire existence, for both good and ill. A rash acceptance of the God of Light's offer to reincarnate to redeem humanity, allows Ozma to reunite with his lover, Salem, in defiance of the god's warning that she's changed for the worse. It takes him too long to recognise the truth, and their tragic falling out locks them into a cycle of pain and violence; the pair have been fighting over the fate of humanity for millennia, both lying to their allies for different reasons: heroes tend to turn on Oz when they learn Salem's an Invincible Villain, and villains tend to turn on Salem when they learn she's trying to destroy the world instead of creating a new world order.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: The Volume 8 finale, "The Final Word", is a dark ending for the heroes, who lose much... but not quite everything. Atlas and Mantle are permanently destroyed; Salem gains two Relics; Penny and Vine sacrifice themselves; and Team RWBY, Jaune and Neo are all lost to the Void Between the Worlds. However, the Relic of Knowledge running out of questions means Salem can't use it; the Winter Maiden's power remains with the heroes, allowing Winter to save the refugees from sandstorms and Grimm hordes; it's heavily implied a new kingdom can be built because the heroes evacuated the people and believe kingdoms are people, not infrastructure; and the The Stinger implies that characters who fell into the Void are alive and trapped rather than dead.
• Razor Floss: The primary purpose of Penny's sword wires are to help her control her swords when in battle. However, they're so sharp that they can function as garrotes. Penny's sword wires end up wrapping around her during her match against Pyrrha, and they split her into pieces.
• Reaction Shot:
  • A quick one by the robot guards in the "Black" trailer after Adam takes out the first one.
  • A great non-human one from the pair of ursae in Episode 6 after Yang notices a strand of her hair floating down.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Marrow struggles to accept increasingly ruthless orders, until he finally reaches his breaking point and tells both Ironwood and his team-mates exactly how he feels about their behaviour. Holding the city of Mantle hostage with a bomb causes Marrow to explode in outrage at their willingness to "do Salem's job for her". He calls them out for making excuses, accusing them of believing in nothing and railing against Ironwood for betraying the ideals Marrow believed they were fighting for. This rant nearly earns Marrow a bullet in the back from Due Process, with Winter's intervention saving him from execution.
• Recoil Boost: Characters will often use the recoil from their guns to gain bursts of speed, change direction in midair, or power up their attacks.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Adam wears black trousers and a red top, over which is a black jacket with red designs on the front and back. His gloves and shoes are black, but the shoes have red soles. His hair is red, with either black horns or two black tufts of hair designed to look like horns. His rifle sheathe is black while his sword's blade is blood-red. When he activates his power, his hair becomes an even brighter red. His white mask carries intricate red designs. He is one of the leaders that deposed the old guard to drive the White Fang down a path of violent terrorism. He has no problem killing humans, even when he doesn't need to and his goal is the destruction of humanity rather than equal rights for Faunus. He regards Blake's defection from the White Fang as a personal betrayal and is determined to destroy everything she cares about in revenge. His current behaviour, including victim-blaming her for "forcing" him to hurt her, indicates that he is abusive towards her.
• Red Herring:
  • Over a decade before Volume 5, the then-new Spring Maiden couldn't handle the responsibilities her mythical power carried with it and ran away from both the Big Bad and Big Good, disappearing off everyone's radar. Qrow eventually discovers that she has been hiding in the wilderness with his estranged sister Raven's Bandit Clan, but the villains reach her first. Raven and Vernal are forced to help Cinder gain access to the Relic of Knowledge, but each side is planning to double-cross the other. Cinder attacks Vernal, determined to obtain the Spring Maiden's power, but discovers Vernal's a decoy to hide the fact that Raven's the real Spring Maiden. Raven killed Spring many years ago, who bequeathed the power to her. She later trained Vernal as her decoy should the two ever face Salem.
  • In Volume 7, it's revealed that Ironwood has assigned Winter to take care of the frail Winter Maiden, so that she will receive the power when Fria dies. In the finale "The Enemy of Trust", she is sent to take Fria's power, but Cinder intervenes to ensure the power doesn't go to either of them. Only Penny can reach the Winter Maiden in time, and so the dying Fria passes the power to her instead of Winter. It is then subverted one volume later when a dying Penny chooses Winter to receive the power, feeling it's fitting that the person it was originally intended for receives it, after all.
• Reduced to Dust: Cinder's Semblance allows her to convert particles (such as sand or dust) to glass. With the Maiden powers, she has the ability to do the opposite. When she chooses, she can touch something and incinerate it to dust as she demonstrates at the end of the third volume. During the Battle of Beacon, Pyrrha attempts to protect Beacon Tower by fighting Cinder, even though she knows Cinder has obtained the Fall Maiden's full power. Cinder kills her by firing a burning arrow into Pyrrha's chest. The arrow dissipates into tiny glowing embers. As Pyrrha dies, Cinder gently touches her head and Pyrrha's body dissolves into ash embers that billow gently away on the breeze. The only thing left behind is Pyrrha's circlet.
• Reforged into a Minion: In Volume 8, Salem unveils a new experimental Grimm called the Hound, which is custom-modified for the specific task she needs it to complete. The Hound is capable of shapeshifting, human intelligence and can even talk. The core of the creature turns out to be a dead Silver-Eyed Warrior who has been transformed into a Grimm that is completely loyal to Salem. A horrified Ruby speculates that this is the reason why Salem wants her captured alive, and concludes that Salem must have conducted this same experiment on her own silver-eyed mother, who was presumed killed-in-action long ago under mysterious circumstances.
• Remember That You Trust Me: In "Welcome to Beacon", Weiss notices Blake's habit of sulking and alienating herself from the group coming up more than usual. She reminds Blake of her promise in "Black and White" to allow her team to help her with her problems.
• Reminder Failure: Weiss mentally tells herself to charge at an enemy with the right foot first. She ends up running with the left foot first.
• Repeat Cut:
  • Used as Ren destroyed the black head of the King Taijitu.
  • Ruby's initial "encounter" with the giant Nevermore during her team's Combination Attack gets a triple take. Weiss's ice attack a few seconds earlier gets a double.
  • Used repeatedly during the first Grimm encounter in "Search and Destroy".
  • Used pointedly during Ironwood's confrontation with a Beowolf.
  • Qrow's interception as Tyrian is about to kill Ruby in "Tipping Point" gets a triple take.
• The Rest Shall Pass: This occurs multiple times during "No Brakes":
  • Yang fights Neo in the first carriage so the others can go on ahead, and is almost killed.
  • Then Weiss fights the White Fang Lieutenant, so Blake can go fight Torchwick.
• The Reveal: In Volume 8, Yang, Jaune, Ren and Oscar are attacked by three Sabyrs that halt in mid-charge, turn tail and flee in fear. Alarmed because they've never heard of Grimm behaving like that, the heroes quickly discover why... and the truth terrifies them as well. Ambushed by a unique, shapeshifting werewolf-esque Grimm, the heroes quickly discover its purpose is to capture Oscar, that it can use human battle tactics, and that it can talk. Their minds are blown. A few episodes later, the same Grimm attacks Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Penny. By using her silver eyes, Ruby is stunned to discover the Grimm is actually a transformed silver-eyed Faunus; this confirms Salem experiments on Grimm-people hybrids, why she wants Ruby taken alive, and that she did something similar to Ruby's silver-eyed Missing Mom.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Under Ghira Belladonna's leadership, the White Fang was originally a peaceful protest group seeking to end the second-class-citizen status of Faunus and achieve equality with humans. Impatient with the slow rate of progress, Sienna Khan led a coup of the old order to establish a more militant organization that is willing to use violence where necessary to achieve equality at a faster rate. Ghira Belladonna left the White Fang, disapproving of Sienna's methods even if they agree on the end-goal. However, Adam Taurus leads the Vale branch of the White Fang and is seeking a much more extreme form of terrorism. He has no interest in equality with humanity; he believes in Faunus superiority and wants humanity subjugated and enslaved to them. He uses violence as a standard tactic instead of a last resort and he has no problem in letting entire units of Faunus be killed if it will help him achieve his goal. He also has no tolerance for defection; defectors get hunted down and killed if they try and escape the organisation. His willingness to destroy symbols of human authority, such as Beacon Academy, puts him at odds with Sienna Khan, who seems him as a threat to the White Fang's existence and ability to eventually achieve peace with humanity. He responds by killing her and taking her place as High Leader of the full organization. When he learns that his defected ex-girlfriend and daughter of the original leader, Blake Belladonna, is attempting to recruit a Faunus army in Menagerie to protect Haven Academy from suffering Beacon's fate, he decides to honor a promise he once made to her — to destroy everything she loves just for turning her back on him and his cause. He sends assassins to murder Blake's parents and capture her to send a message to Menagerie that Faunus are either with him or against him. It backfires on him when the Faunus, who had been reluctant to put their lives on the line for humans, are so angry with Adam turning on his own kind that they unite together, save Haven Academy from being destroyed, and alert the Mistral Police Force to what Adam's doing. Adam is forced to go on the run leaving behind a re-energized Ghira Belladonna, who decides to create a brand new equal rights Faunus organisation.
• Rewatch Bonus: Given the immense amount of planning that went into the story concept, the show is littered with many little details that seem insignificant at the time, but take on greater significance on subsequent rewatches. For example:
  • In the Yellow Trailer, Roman Torchwick appears for a split second, hiring the red-sunglasses-wearing thugs who show up in the first episode of the show. Roman himself becomes a major villain for the first two volumes.
  • Also in the Yellow Trailer, a black bird launches itself from a telephone wire as Yang dismounts from her bike and heads into the club. In Volume 3, a red-eyed raven watches Qrow and Winter fight outside Beacon Academy and the volume finale shows a red-eyed raven sitting in a tree outside the bedridden Yang's window. The Volume 3 stinger reveals that Qrow can transform into a crow, and the fourth volume very strongly implies that his red-eyed twin sister Raven is following him and Team RNJR in raven form. The fifth volume confirms that Raven can shapeshift into a red-eyed raven, and that she's been keeping tabs on her family. So, while Yang has been beating the streets looking for clues to her mother's whereabouts and learning to control her obsession with finding her mother, her mother's been right there watching her all along.
  • Once Pyrrha's Semblance has been revealed, it's possible to re-watch earlier episodes and see how she uses it in every fight.
  • In Volume 1, Blake's bow sometimes seems to twitch by itself, which could be animation glitches. Once it's confirmed that she is using the bow to hide cat ears, it's easy to see the ear movement occurring when the bow twitches.
  • Numerous scenes come off a lot differently with the revelation that Raven is the real Spring Maiden.
    • In her conversation with Qrow Raven never actually says that the Spring Maiden is a different person. Her tone becomes much more mocking when Qrow confirms what he believes and when she leaves an enclosed lantern goes out by itself.
    • When Yang and Weiss attempt to flee the Branwen camp, a lightning bolt strikes the ground and Vernal yells out "ENOUGH!", with Vernal holding her arm out and Raven thanking her, giving the impression that Vernal caused the lightning bolt. Vernal isn't actually shown throwing it though.
    • When Vernal is asked to show her powers to Salem's group, she keeps her eyes closed while Raven is wearing her mask.
    • Raven specifically told Vernal not to use the Spring Maiden Powers on Weiss, that she wasn't worth it. The whole point behind that is to keep up appearances in front of Cinder that Vernal is the Maiden and explain why she isn't using her powers.
  • After learning about Qrow's Semblance in Volume 4, rewatch his scenes in Volume 3 and catch when he causes seemingly random bad luck, such as when the bartender knocks over his glass.
  • In Volume 9, one character's dialogue and actions take on new context once their past and motives are revealed. The later reveal of the Curious Cat's true nature and intentions reframes their behaviour towards Ruby and what they did to Alyx after she had a Heel Realisation and broke her promise to the Cat in order to atone for her mistakes in the Ever After instead of taking the Cat to Remnant.
• The Right of a Superior Species: Adam is of the opinion that because Faunus are superior to humans (better night vision, various additional powers based on their animal part, interbreeding with a human often produces a Faunus child), his kind deserve to dominate humanity.
• Robotic Reveal:
  • Penny reveals to Ruby that she's a robot at the end of "A Minor Hiccup".
  • Volume 3 Episode 7: Mercury has robotic legs.
  • Volume 3 Episode 11: Ironwood is a cyborg. The right half of his body is entirely cybernetic.
• Rocky Roll Call: In "Players and Pieces", the gang all call out each others' names as they come together. Nora ends it by dramatically announcing her own name.
• Rookie Male, Experienced Female: The inexperienced Jaune is paired up with Pyrrha Nikos, a noted student and tournament winner who is singled out for her remarkable skills. She becomes his tutor after learning that Jaune has absolutely no experience and falsified his entrance papers. Subverted trope. Jaune never gets the chance to prove to her how much he's learned because she dies in Volume 3, long before his skills are ready to come to her rescue; this haunts him for many volumes.
• Rookie Red Ranger: Both teams RWBY and JNPR are led by (and in RWBY's case, named for) their least experienced member.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Vale's king during the Great Offscreen War not only personally led the Final Battle in Vacuo, but was apparently so bloody, terrifying and awesome that when the dust settled the other three leaders knelt to him and offered him their Kingdoms. He decided to hammer out a global piece, set up new government structures and establish the Academies; he then left the kingdoms to get on with the job of governing while he taught students how to fight. and teach others how fight instead.
• Ruder and Cruder: Downplayed. During the first few volumes, there was no swearing at all, not even minor cursing. Slowly, the profanity began to be added as the teenage characters became older and the stakes of the plot became higher. Initially, very mild profanity like 'damn' was slipped in at key moments until the fight between Tyrian and Qrow in Volume 4; the fight ends with Tyrian snarling 'You bitch' at Ruby. Since that fight, it's become a normal part of the show for characters to use mild cursing such as 'bitch' or 'bastard' when the situation becomes emotionally charged.
• Rule of Animation Conservation:
  • If a character has color in their design and a distinct face, you can be pretty certain they're going to be important later on. This idiosyncrasy has been used for several visual gags.
  • Downplayed with most of CRDL. Other than Cardin, they so far have not been important, to the point where we haven't even seen their weapons outside of the Volume 2 opening. On the other hand, their styles are more generic than other characters.
  • Averted as of Volume 2, with bystanders no longer being rendered as mere black silhouettes and are now about as detailed as plot-important characters.
  • As of Volume 3, background characters are now being rendered using static, 2D images more often than in the previous volumes. And being rendered a 2D image does not exempt the character from becoming much more important in the story, like Taiyang.
• Rule of Cool: Physics does not work that way and it is far too awesome for anyone to care.
• Rule of Symbolism: The final fight sequence of Volume 6 is an intense and deeply personal grudge match, Blake and Yang vs. Adam Taurus. Gambol Shroud is shattered in half by Adam during the fight, but later Adam loses his own weapon courtesy of Yang and then a scramble for the shards of Blake's broken sword ensues. Blake and Yang get the shards first and they dramatically skewer Adam from the front and from behind, fatally wounding him. Much like with the Gambol Shroud, Adam caused the two girls terrible damage in previous encounters (stabbing Blake and slicing off Yang's arm, to say nothing of the psychological pain he's responsible for), but the two nevertheless overcome their traumas - and him - by working together.
• Running Gag:
  • Jaune being thrown into the air. So far it's been done by a test launcher, a scorpion, and a hammer (twice). There was even one time where he was launched into the air in a locker, and in the first episode of Volume 2 he is thrown into a window off screen right before the Food Fight breaks out.
  • Weiss being flabbergasted by someone FlashStepping in front of her. First Ruby, then Penny.
  • Everybody being greeted normally with the exception of Weiss, with most characters calling her Ice Queen. Her response is always a taken aback "Hey!" She even cuts in with it during the song Dream Come True when it calls her "uptight".

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