War
"Stand by for further orders, and don’t let those fugitives out of your sight."
Written by Kiersi Burkhart and Miles Luna
Directed by Connor Pickens
Directed by Connor Pickens
"Please, Winter, give us a chance to try to rescue him first! We... we could be your test run. You don’t know what’ll be waiting for you inside, right? So we can go ahead to check it out, and look for Oscar while we’re inside."
— Jaune Arc
With Salem's forces finally commencing their assault, Team RWB and her friends struggle with the dilemma of rescuing either Atlas or Mantle.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Armor-Piercing Response: While Ozpin manages to make enough of a connection to get Hazel to listen to the truth about Salem's immortality, he can't get past Hazel's refusal to trust anything he says. Oscar tries a different route and gives Hazel the information he needs to activate the Relic of Knowledge. After Hazel lashes out furiously at Oscar giving up the information to Salem so easily, Oscar calmly tells him, "I'm giving you the password and hoping you'll find the truth for yourself." A stunned Hazel immediately lets go of his grip on Oscar.
- Aura Vision: Ren's Semblance is shown to work this way - he senses anger radiating off of Harriet as a storm of glowing red petals, and accurately points out that Clover's death hit her a lot harder than she's letting on. He then goes on to say that the Ace-Ops constantly fight their feelings about one another, and that it explains why they are so dysfunctional as a team.
- Beneath the Mask: The Ace-Ops are masking their true emotions with professionalism, but Ren's Aura Vision reveals they're angry, conflicted, afraid, and mourning for Clover under the surface. Especially Winter, who seems to be calm, but is a storm of conflicting emotions when Ren sees her.
- Call-Back:
- After May asks RWB which side they're on when they argue who needs help, Atlas or Mantle, Blake points out they've been asked that before, calling back to "Gravity", when Elm asked who they were loyal to over the same argument.
- During Jinn's vision in the Volume 6 episode "The Lost Fable", one of the ways Salem gathered followers to fight the Gods was to repeatedly kill herself or allow others to kill her in order to prove her immortality. Hazel's recounting of his first meeting with Salem indicates she's still using that tactic to gather followers.
- Conducting the Carnage: To regenerate the Grimm army, Salem stands above her whale's mouth, rocking back and forth while waving her arms as if she is a conductor. At the same time, the whale rocks back and forth.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Ren notes that Marrow and Winter don't really want to be a part of this at all. Marrow replies that he has a job to do, but seems conflicted. Winter seems calmer, but she does allow Jaune, Ren and Yang to go inside the whale, and has a lot of conflicting emotions about the whole thing.
- Curse Escape Clause: Ozpin reveals that the wording of the gods' curse on Salem states that "for as long as this world turns, you shall walk its face", and Salem is operating under the assumption that destroying the world will fulfill the terms of her curse and allow her the death she seeks.
- Death Seeker: Ozpin points out to Hazel Salem's true endgame is her desire to end her immortality. However, the only way to die, as far as both she and Ozpin know, is based on the original terms of her curse: the gods said "for as long as this world turns, you shall walk its face". Thus, she plans to summon the gods with the Relics so that they will witness the worst of humanity, declare humanity irredeemable and destroy the planet, hoping the destruction will take her along with it.
- Dramatic Irony: When Harriet and Ren argue about whether its sensible for him, Jaune and Yang to enter the Grimm whale in the hopes of saving Oscar, Harriet declares that losing a team-mate just means replacing them and moving on. Ren angrily points out that no one is replaceable. Harriet used the argument because it's happened twice to Ace-Ops. Marrow is the team rookie because he replaced Tortuga and Clover only died a day ago but has already been replaced with Winter. Harriet doesn't know that Jaune, Ren and Nora decided in Argus to keep fighting like Pyrrha was still a member of their team and, while they treat Oscar like an unofficial member of their team, he has never been treated like a replacement for Pyrrha by any of the heroes.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Emerald overhears Ozpin telling Hazel Salem wants to destroy the world, and informs Mercury of the situation. While both Hazel and Mercury's first instinct is to mistrust Ozpin's claim, Emerald believes it and is deeply worried about it. However, when Oscar intervenes to tell Hazel how to activate the lamp so he can ask Jinn for the truth, Hazel becomes much more unsettled about the whole situation. Tyrian also overhears Mercury dismissing Emerald's fears and confirms that it's actually true. This finally spooks Mercury, leaving him as visibly concerned as Emerald. Until that point, the trio had believed Salem wanted to establish a new world order and they had no problem committing evil acts for that goal. Even they don't want to destroy the world, however.
- I Have No Daughter!: Weiss asks about May's family in Atlas, but May angrily says the Marigolds disowned her for choosing to help Mantle over Atlas. To make matters worse, May scornfully saying she wasn't their "son" anymore heavily implies their refusal to acknowledge her as a woman.
- Internal Reveal: Oscar and Ozpin are being tortured to try and force them to reveal how to activate the Relic of Knowledge, something the show revealed to the viewers two volumes earlier. When Ozpin fails to win Hazel over by telling him Salem's planning to use the Relics to destroy the world, Oscar gives Hazel the password and asks him to find the truth for himself instead of handing the information to Salem; this leaves Hazel very unsettled.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Winter and the Ace-Ops intend to carry out Ironwood's plan to plant a bomb inside the Grimm whale even though Oscar is still held prisoner inside. While the Ace-Ops are openly antagonistic and unsympathetic towards Jaune, Ren, and Yang's desire to rescue him, their reasoning is valid; risking the lives of three perfectly good soldiers or delaying the attack on the whale and putting thousands of civilians in jeopardy to save one man is an extremely dangerous risk.
- Machine Blood: When Penny crashes outside the Schnee mansion, she’s leaking some kind of green fluid as if she's bleeding out. Given that she’s a robot, it’s probably some type of fuel or lubricant.
- Meaningful Echo: After Team RWB insists on helping Atlas instead of Mantle, May asks, "Whose side are you on?", much like Elm did when RWBY felt Mantle needed their help more than Atlas. It serves to make clear that, while Mantle might be neglected by Atlas, the people in charge of protecting each city just plainly don't care about the other at best, or actively resent them at worst.
- Meaningful Look: Emerald initially fails to convince Mercury that he should be worried by Ozpin's revelations to Hazel, but he looks alarmed when Tyrian confirms that it's true Salem wants to destroy the world. He then hustles Mercury off to their waiting airship before either Mercury or Emerald can say another word. As the airship prepares to take off for Vacuo, Mercury glances at Emerald. Seeing how anxious she looks, his expression softens slightly and he gives her a tiny nod of reassurance. The implication is that he now agrees with her concerns and they're still in this together.
- Noodle Incident: While arguing with Jaune, Yang and Ren, Harriet tells them that people die and the rest of them just move on. As evidence for that, she mentions Tortuga being replaced by Marrow. Nothing else is mentioned about him, so who he was, how he died and how recently it happened isn't mentioned.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Tyrian acts overly familiar with Mercury and repeatedly touches and wraps his tail around him while walking to the airship. Tyrian obviously knows it makes the assassin uncomfortable, and does it to taunt him.
- Onrushing Army: The Grimm horde that emerges from the monstrous whale charges straight at Atlas's collective army of armored soldiers and Paladin mechs across an empty field, conditions which are not particularly favorable. However, Grimm are unintelligent and essentially only know how to Zerg Rush, while Atlas's forces did not expect to ever actually have to fight within their actual city — it makes sense that they'd have no time whatsoever to prepare any cover or better defenses there specifically.
- The Power of Friendship: After spending most of this volume and the last adrift and frustrated because he feels helpless and doesn't know what to do next, Ren finally makes a stand for pursuing Oscar because he's their friend and they care about him. The conviction he gains from this (and from snapping at Harriet that people aren't replaceable) is what lets him evolve his Semblance into Aura Vision and gain insight into the Ace-Ops' emotional states.
- Stalker Shot: As May and Team RWB discuss the situation with Atlas and Mantle, a zoom-out reveals that Whitley has been overhearing their conversation.
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: After being alluded to throughout the series, Salem's plan is finally revealed; she doesn't want to control the world, but to cause as much chaos as humanly possible. She can unite the Relics, summoning the gods back when humanity is at its worst, causing the gods to declare humanity irredeemable and destroy the planet. The terms of her curse are that she will exist for "as long as the world turns"; she's therefore hoping that planetary destruction will finally allow her the sweet release of death.
- Suicide Mission: Winter and the Ace-Ops are given a mission to plant a bomb inside the Grimm whale, with Winter realizing how dangerous the mission is.
- Thought They Knew Already: Tyrian is legitimately surprised to discover that Mercury and Emerald didn't know that Salem intends to destroy Remnant outright rather than simply take it over, and points out that it should have been obvious from the beginning.Tyrian: Salem is destruction incarnate! Our mistress wishes to see the end of it all! There is no ideal more beautiful. If you couldn't see that from the start, you must be out of your mind.
- Unexpected Kindness: Whitley overhears the conversation his sister and her companions have about Nora's injuries, the crisis they're in, their inability to decide what the best thing to do is, and all the arguments they have throughout the scene. Thus, after Whitley summons Klein to give Nora proper medical treatment, Weiss says she's proud of his altruistic efforts.
- Victory by Endurance: Salem used this against Hazel to recruit him. According to Hazel, when he first met Salem he tried killing her, and did so over and over. The most he was able to do was destroy her physical body for a few hours before she pulled herself back together. The realization that he couldn't kill her broke him, and made him vulnerable to her suggestion that he instead direct his anger and hatred toward Ozpin.
- We ARE Struggling Together: May decides to help Mantle instead of hanging around the Schnee Manor doing nothing. Weiss thinks they should stay in Atlas, prompting May to observe that the kingdom has an army while Mantle only has a handful of fighters. While arguing, May asks what side Weiss is on, triggering Blake's memory of Elm saying the same question when they argued in Ironwood's office. Ruby angrily says they should do this together. While May calms down and asks her what they should do, Ruby doesn't know what the answer is.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Ozpin explains to Hazel that what Salem is hiding is that all she wants is release from her curse of immortality. Because the gods told her when they cursed her that "for as long as the world still turns, you shall walk its face", she believes that stopping the world from turning will end her curse and finally allow her to die.
- With Us or Against Us: While arguing with Weiss about whether Atlas or Mantle would benefit most from their help, May asks, "Whose side are you on?". Blake is reminded of Elm asking that question just before the Ace-Ops and Team RWBY came to blows over Ironwood. Though Ruby points out they're in this together and there are no sides, she also admits she doesn't know what the answer is.
"I'm... I'm sorry..."
