World of Remnant
Starting in Volume 2, world-building episodes were aired that form part of the mini-series known as the World of Remnant.The Volume 3 episodes are narrated by Professor Ozpin, the enigmatic headmaster of Beacon Academy who knows more about the world and than any other living person, and whose narrated response to the Female Narrator in the pilot episode suggests he knows the Female Narrator of the Volume 2 World of Remnant episodes.
The episodes are: Vytal Festival Tournament, Huntsmen, Cross Continental Transmit System and The Four Maidens.
In General
- First-Person Perspective: Ozpin narrates the information in each episode as if he's sitting the audience down for a chat. His narration tends to be factual but with an optimistic look towards the intentions, abilities and hopes of humanity. However, his narration tends to end on a note of caution — a hope that humanity will continue to move in the right direction for its future, which also serves as a slightly ominous hint that it would be a bad thing if humanity did fall from its path.
- The Idealist: The subjects Ozpin narrate emphasise the best in people and what humans are capable of when they work together. He ends the episodes by emphasising how goodness, peace and unity help humanity achieve their potential and encouraging people to never stray from such ideals.
Vytal Festival Tournament
"May we never stray from that path."
"After the newly formed Huntsman Academies proved to be a success, the Vytal Festival Tournament was designed to test the strengths of the kingdoms' warriors in a safe and friendly competitive environment — a wonderful method in which to ensure the world's Huntsmen would never settle for mediocrity, but would constantly strive to become the absolute best they could be."
—Professor Ozpin
An introduction to what the Vytal Festival Tournament is, why it exists, and why it's so important to the survival of humanity.
This episode first aired at the beginning of Volume 3, and so prior to Round One.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: When the episode depicts the people from each of the four Kingdoms, Vale's soldiers are green, Mistral's are blue, Mantle's are white and Vacuo's are orange. When Ozpin states that the creation of Amity Colosseum was the culmination of the four kingdoms' efforts, the visuals show the design of Amity Colosseum coming together from four distinct parts. Each part is colour-coded to a kingdom, implying that was the part that each kingdom was responsible for creating: the arena is the white of Mantle/Atlas; the landing ports are the blue of Mistral; the underbelly is the yellow of Vacuo; and the Gravity crystals to keep it airborne are the green of Vale.
- Floating Continent: Amity Colosseum is a massive structure that forms the shape of a burning torch, with the arena as the widest structure at the top and the narrowest structure being at the bottom and consisting of the huge Gravity crystals that keeps the arena floating in the air. In the middle are landing ports where the airships dock for the arena's audience to arrive and leave. Amity Colosseum is designed to travel like an airship to each kingdom, depending on which kingdom has responsibility for hosting the festival.
- Founding Day: The day the world met after the Great War on the small island of Vytal to restructure the world's governments and ensure lasting peace is commemorated every other year by the Vytal Festival Tournament. The festival is held by different kingdoms in rotation and the cultures of the world come together to exchange knowledge and ideas while a tournament occurs involving the best fighters from each kingdom.
- Friendly Rivalry: The Vytal Festival Tournament is supposed to provide a safe and friendly environment for the best fighters in the world to come together and test their strength and skills.
- Great Offscreen War: Ozpin introduces the Great War in this episode, stating that this war is the reason why the Vytal Festival Tournament exists; the war was so terrible that the world came together in its aftermath to create something that would keep them forever united in peace.
- National Weapon: When the episode depicts the soldiers of the four Kingdoms, Vale soldiers are represented with straight swords, Mistral's with Dust-using fantasy weapons, Mantle's soldiers are using guns and Vacuo's are using javelins.
- When It All Began: The modern world that the main show is set is exists because of the Great War. The war ended when the leaders of the Kingdoms came together to choose peace over bloodshed. They redesigned the world's systems of governance, created the Huntsman Academies, and establishing new laws and traditions. Without this war, the heroes of the show would be living in a very different world; indeed, Huntsmen wouldn't even exist.
Huntsmen
"But all are expected to serve humanity... and never succumb to the darkness."
Written by Miles Luna & Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross
"The occupation was established alongside the Huntsmen academies after the Great War with the hope of creating elite warriors whose sole purpose would be to combat the creatures of Grimm."
— Professor Ozpin
The reason why Huntsmen exist, their purpose, their role in the world and why they're trained the way they are.
This episode first aired between the episodes It's Brawl in the Family and Lessons Learned.
- The Ace: Huntsmen are the best and brightest of all warriors in Remnant, ranking higher than either Kingdom police or military in terms of strength and skill. This elite profession was created after the war to ensure there were warriors capable of protecting humanity from the Grimm.
- Armies Are Evil: To help preserve the peace after the Great War, the Huntsman career was designed to be independent from any kingdom allegiance. However, Atlas is increasingly indoctrinating its Academy students with a military lifestyle and pressuring them to join the military's Special Ops unit when they graduate. This is frowned upon by the rest of Remnant and Atlas Academy is starting to be increasingly scrutinised for doing this.
- Creature Hunter Organisation: Humans are naturally ill-equipped to defend themselves against the Creatures of Grimm. While Dust has provided them with technology that can even the odds, humanity does have some innate abilities that could help if the required training is provided. Huntsman Academies train people to unlock their Aura and develop their Semblances so that they can fight back against the Grimm.
- Foreshadowing:
- In this episode, each Academy is represented on the world map by the insignia of its kingdom. Vale's motif is two axes surrounded by a wreath crown; Mistral's is a styalised lamp; Atlas's is a staff set against a cog; and Vacuo's is a triple sword motif. In Volume 6 of the main show it becomes clear just how important to the plot these four motifs are.
- The episode discusses why the Huntsmen Academies were designed to be indepenent from Kingdoms and political agendas, and how things are different in the Kingdom of Atlas. This becomes a plot point in Volume 7.
- Heroic Spirit: The Huntsman Academies are supposed to train students to become the warrior ideal: talented, elite fighters, who are highly trained both physically and mentally to deal with the most dangerous monsters in the world in order to protect their fellow humans and make the world a better place to live for everyone. They are therefore expected to be honourable, kind and compassionate as well as being highly trained, skilled and knowledgeable.
- Impartial Purpose-Driven Faction: The Huntsman Academies were set up to be politically and factionally impartial. Their purpose is to train the next generation of protectors, who will defend civilisation from being wiped out by the Creatures of Grimm. Licensed Huntsmen are encouraged to be independent of the Kingdoms, showing neither loyalty nor favour to one Kingdom over another. This independence and impartiality is to ensure that Huntsmen always put protection of the people first instead of being used by politics or factionalism for agendas and power-plays. The Kingdom of Atlas receives a lot of criticism for forcing its Huntsman training and career into a military path and for treating its Huntsman Academy as a recruitment ground for the military.
- The Incorruptible: Huntsmen are expected to live up to the ideal: noble fighters who are motivated only by the desire to protect the people, and who will never succumb to the darkness.
- Punch-Clock Hero: The Huntsman occupation was created after the Great War. The Huntsmen Academies are dedicated to training Huntsmen, who graduate into that specific career option. After graduation, it's up to each Huntsman to decide how they will carry out their job. They can work in teams or alone, and can pick and choose the missions they want to take.
- Strong and Skilled: Huntsmen are the elite fighters of the world. They are intensively trained in specialist academies to unlock their Auras, develop their Semblances, and fight at a much higher level than even military training. They therefore work outside, and outrank, the standard hierarchies of society such as police and military — but only because they've put in the effort to become such capable fighters.
Cross Continental Transmit System
"If the people of Remnant are to speak, then they shall do so together... or not at all."
Written by Miles Luna & Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross
"The Cross Continental Transmit System has, and will continue to, advance the progression of mankind. However, if one of the four towers is taken offline, the entire network falls with it, a slight inconvenience during routine maintenance."
— Professor Ozpin
What the Cross Continental Transmit System (CCT) is, how it was invented and how important it is for world peace and Kingdom survival.
This episode first aired between the episodes Fall and Beginning of the End.
- The Alternet: The CCT system allows wireless transmission across the planet, enabling humans to share audio, images, video and text can all be shared, as well as real-time communication. This allows humanity to have an online web at its fingertips for use whenever it wants.
- Divided We Fall: The CCT system consists of four relay towers, which are centred in each of the four kingdoms, and located at each of the Huntsman Academies (Beacon, Haven, Atlas and Shade). The system only works if all four towers are functioning. If a single Tower is deactivated, the entire world network goes down, leaving people only local communication and blind to what's going on in the rest of the world. Ozpin claims it is a poetic reminder that humanity can only survive together.
- Enforced Technology Levels: No matter how futuristic the setting gets with holographic AI technology, androids that are indistiguishable from humans, airships, and a mystical form of energy known as Dust, humanity is completely unable to achieve space travel; they don't even have satellite technology. This is because Dust only works within a certain proximity to Remnant. Once it gets too high within the atmosphere, Dust stops working completely. Since Remnant is entirely dependent on Dust technology, space remains out of reach.
- Foreshadowing: Ozpin ends the epiosde by commenting on how poetic the design of the CCT is. All four towers are required for the CCT to work, meaning that if one fails, all fail. He sees that as a symbol of humanity, where humanity must stand united and speak with one voice, otherwise it'll be unable to speak at all. Not only does this foreshadow something that occurs at the end of Volume 3, but it also foreshadows a reveal that occurs early in Volume 6.
- Snail Mail: Prior to the invention of the CCT, communication around the world had to be done by physical means. However, travel throughout Remnant is extremely dangerous because the Creatures of Grimm are drawn to attack humans and their creations. As a result, physical postal services were unreliable — often not reaching their destination or being significantly delayed, depending on how much Grimm interfered with transport.
The Four Maidens
"Never in his years had he come across such kindness."
"Deep in the forests of Remnant, beside a great and mighty river, stood the small, fragile home of a cold, frail man – a lone wizard."
— Professor Ozpin
The fairy tale known as The Story of the Seasons is told in full, revealing how four kind sisters received magical powers from an old wizard they decided to help.
This episode first aired between the episodes PvP and Battle of Beacon.
- All-Loving Hero: When the Old Wizard asks them what made him so special that they'd go out of their way to help him, they tell him he's not special at all: he is a person in need of help, so they helped him, as they help every single person they come across. He is so impressed with their compassion, that he gives them the gift of his magical powers so that the sisters can use them to help humanity.
- Color-Coded Characters: Each sister is associated with a specific colour. The first sister arrives when it is snowing and is coloured in shades of blue; she represents Winter. The second sister arrives in brighter weather to tend his garden, and is coloured in shades of green; she represents Spring. The third sister encourages him to enjoy the sunshine and is colour coded in shades of purple; she represents Summer. The final sister arrives at sunset to an autumn-like setting and is colour coded in shades of orange. She represents Autumn.
- Earthy Barefoot Character: Spring walks around with bare feet, unlike all her other sisters who wear shoes. It completes the nature theme that is associated with her, as she also wears a crown of leaves and carries seeds, fruits and flowers in a basket.
- Elemental Motifs: The fairy tale suggests the four sisters obtain Elemental Powers, so Spring can make plants grow, Summer can produce fire, Fall can produce wind, and Winter can create ice.
- Genki Girl: The third sister, Summer, announces her presence with a giggle. When she introduces herself to the Old Wizard, she starts giggling again. She spins and twirls as she reveals she finds him funny for not stepping outside his door, and encourages him to join them in the sun. When he does so, she tags him and encourages him to join them in playing games and just having a good, fun time.
- Green Thumb: Spring, the second sister to appear, restores the Old Wizard's garden, fixing the fences and sowing seeds. The story strongly implies that the plants are growing within the span of a day, suggesting she has some kind of supernatural ability to grow plants even before the Old Wizard rewards her with elemental magic.
- The Hermit: The Old Wizard lives in an isolated cabin in the middle of a forest. He receives no visitors and hasn't even left the house in centuries. Through their compassion and persistence, the sisters encourage him to accept their presence, their help and to even step into the sunlight, transforming his life for the better. In return, he rewards them with his magical powers so that they can use them to help humanity.
- Nature Lover: Spring is a cheerful, spry girl who carries a basket of fruits, flowers and seeds. She leaps around the Old Wizard's garden, sowing seeds, planting, and fixing his fence. She's heavily associated with nature, wearing a a crown of leaves and having bracelets made out of plants. She also doesn't wear shoes even though the rest of her sisters do. When she's given her magical powers at the end of the tale, she uses it to supernaturally grow plants.
- The Shut-In: Not only is the Old Wizard a hermit, he doesn't even step outside his door. He hasn't left the cottage in so long that it doesn't even occur to him to open the front door; he communicates with the sisters from the window he was sat beside when they arrived. The third sister, Summer, has to coax him outside to enjoy the sunshine with them.
- The Stoic: Winter is described as a calm, sedate girl who simply sits quietly under a tree while the Old Wizard watches her in confusion. The serenity she exudes makes the Old Wizard start wishing he could share it, too.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Fall is the sister who asks the Old Wizard who he is. When he tells her that he's not very interesting because he has no-one to love and nothing to his name, she shows him where he lives, the views from his cottage and the garden that Spring has created. Although he's been alive for centuries, she's the one to open his eyes to what her sisters have done to show him what he does have so that he no longer obsesses over what he doesn't have.
