RWBY/WMG

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Ruby and Yang are missing a parent.

Initially suggested by the gravestone seen in both the "Red" trailer and the opening credits of the first season. And by the first line of "Red Like Roses", the song from the "Red" trailer:

Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest...

"Red Like Roses Part 2" (heard under the battle in V1E8) is even more explicit:

I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute;
Couldn't bear another day without you in it.
All of the joy that I had known for all my life
Was stripped away from me the minute that you died.

Yang mentions their father at one point, and uses the present tense. The only other relative of theirs that we hear of (as of the end of the first volume of the first season) is "Uncle Qrow", and we don't hear much. What Ruby says, though, suggests someone at least in loco parentis for the younger of the sisters, if not an actual guardian. Confirmed in V2E6.

Blake's bow is hiding animal ears of some sort.

This speculation dates back to the first appearance of her silhouette at the end of the "Red" trailer, which caused much debate as to whether the shape seen was a bow or ears. Confirmed in V1E15.

The train Blake and "Adam" attacked in the "Black" trailer belonged to Weiss Schnee or her family.

Based on the presence of the distinctive "snowflake" logo on the crates and containers therein. Seems to be confirmed in V1E15.

"Adam" is a faunus.

Initially suggested by Blake's apparent origins in Beauty and The Beast along with the third line of "Red Like Roses"

Black the beast descends from shadows

and the entirety of the "Black" trailer's song, "From Shadows". Also, if one looks closely enough, he appears to have horns.

Seems to be confirmed in V1E15 -- if the White Fang attack on a Schnee train which Weiss mentions is indeed the event portrayed in the "Black" trailer then Adam is a member of the White Fang and therefore must be a faunus. He does wear a mask similar to that worn by White Fang members seen elsewhere in the series.

Confirmed in V2E10, albeit indirectly, when Blake describes the "mentor who became a monster" who was one reason she left the White Fang. Definitively confirmed in the final pre-credits moments of V2E12, when he appears and reassures Cinder that he has the White Fang under control. And basically nailed down as true in subsequent volumes.

Ruby and Yang are faunus, or descended from/related to a faunus

Ruby's "Uncle Qrow" is described by Professor Ozpin as "an old crow". The usage is odd, but taken one way it may mean that Ruby's uncle is an avian Faunus. If he's a blood relation, neither married into the family nor a friend-of-the-family pseudo-"uncle", it may mean Ruby and Yang have some kind of Faunus heritage even if they show no signs of it. On the other hand, all the Faunus we've seen so far have been mammalian Half-Human Hybrids -- there's no evidence that there are non-mammalian Faunus. Appears to be disproved as of V2E6, but not definitively so. Even so, its continued plausibility hinges on whether Ozpin actually said "crow" or "Qrow". Disproved as of V3E3. Qrow has no faunus traits. And there are non-mammalian Faunus, whom we see in Menagerie in volume 5. However, the Stinger to V3E12 all but says outright that he can turn into an actual crow at will, and it's outright confirmed in V4.

Ozpin was on a team with Ruby's mother, and something went horribly wrong, leading to her death.

This is based on his unfinished line "I've made more mistakes than..." and commenting on Ruby's silver eyes, which he did as if recognizing them.

The lyrics of "Red Like Roses Part 2" also suggest that someone close to Ruby -- possibly her mother -- was a Huntsman or Huntress:

I know you didn't plan this;
You tried to do what's right.
But in the middle of this madness,
I'm the one you left to win this fight.

If true, it adds some support, however indirect, to this supposition.

Partially disproved in V2E6. Ozpin wasn't on the team with Ruby's mother; instead, it was composed of Ruby's mother, Yang's mother, their father, and Qrow. Ruby's mother disappeared on a solo mission and is presumed dead; whether she really is remains unseen. And Ozpin's comment about having made more mistakes turns out to be about his relationship with Salem over the last few thousand years.

Glynda and Cinder know each other.

When Cinder steps into the door in episode 1, Glynda's eyes narrow before Cinder's powers light up. Recognition?

Tying into above, the image of Ozpin, Glynda, Cinder, and Ruby's mother (Summer Rose is the current fan name, from the tombstone) being a Beacon team, with aforementioned screw-up leading to Summer's death and Cinder's Start of Darkness.

"Summer Rose" is confirmed as the name of Ruby's mother in V2E6, and the team composition Jossed. Everything else is up in the air still.

Appears to be disproved by Goodwitch's dialogue at the start of V2E8, where she only refers to Cinder as "the woman I fought the night we met Ruby", and clearly has no idea of her identity. Later episodes in V2 and V3 suggest that Goodwitch knows of her, due to her membership in the Ancient Tradition that supports the Maidens, but they have never met.

Cinder is Blake's mother.

Speculation based on the similar complexion, eyes, and dark hair.

Hahahahahaha no. We meet Blake's mother in V4. And she's not Cinder.

Cinder is Yang's mother

An alternative, based on the fire powers in common. In this case, Yang was actually adopted into Ruby's family, not the other way around. Partly Jossed in V2E6: Yang is definitively declared Ruby's half-sister, but her mother is missing, having just walked off leaving behind her husband(?) and infant daughter. Yang's Flash Back, however, suggests she has, or has seen, a photo of her mother, making it unlikely she would fail to identify Cinder if she were actually Yang's mother. Appears to be disproved outright by the Volume 2 Stinger -- the woman whom the credits identify as "Raven Branwen" is, except for hair and eye color, almost Yang's twin. Early in Volume 3 Raven Branwen is definitively identified as Yang's mother.

Cinder is the current ("new") leader of the White Fang.

During Blake's background montage, she never uses a gender-based pronoun to describe the new leader. This is to disguise that it's a she, and namely Cinder. Given Blake's backstory has her note "you could say I was born into it", it's entirely possible this ties back to the "Cinder = Blake's mom" theory and explains her defensiveness about the White Fang.

Disproved by the scene with Adam from V2E12 referenced above -- the White Fang is only working with Cinder and her people, and Adam appears to be in charge of them now. V4 reveals Adam's not in charge of the White Fang as a whole... yet. He corrects that in V5, though it appears it may not last much past the end of that volume. Adam remains leader of the White Fang in V6, but not by popular acclaim -- rather it's strongly implied it's been through the time-honored tradition of killing everyone who objected.

The White Fang killed Weiss' mother

Weiss' comments about the White Fang attacking her family's company are leaving out other details. She mentions her father a lot, but nothing about her mother. Her mother was another casualty, possibly so young that Weiss doesn't remember her much.

Jossed in V4E2. When we first meet Whitley Schnee, he mentions that he heard their father shouting at someone in his study. Weiss asks, "Mother?", to which he replies, "No, she's already drinking in the garden." So although we never see her at all during V4, she is clearly around and alive, if even more distant from their children than Jacques is. We finally see Willow Schnee on-screen in V7, and she's very much alive, if soused.

Weiss' father is abusive

Extending on this, Weiss's anger at the White Fang and the faunus is also a case of aiming her anger elsewhere than where it's deserved. She mentions her father came home furious every day, and her hand curls into a fist when she mentions a "very awkward childhood". It's possible that Mr. Schnee was actually abusive, and Weiss is directing some of that anger onto the White Fang and the faunus, rather than blame him. Emotional abuse is confirmed as of the events of Volume 4. It does not appear he has ever been physically abusive, though.

Ozpin, Ironwood and Goodwitch are all much older than they look

We know from V2E8 that the Colourful Theme Naming began at least 80 years earlier as defiance of the unknown other side of the "great war", but none of these three follow that theme. And although none of them look older than their thirties (or maybe forties for Ironwood), they are in positions of significant power, have worked together for "many years" and seem to have more than just textbook knowledge of the great war.

As of V5 we now know that this is not just true for Ozpin, but incredibly, almost horrifically true. He has been cursed with a form of Resurrective Immortality for thousands of years.

Salem is Summer Rose

Suggested mainly by the combination of Conservation of Detail and the fact that the details of Summer Rose's death are still not known.

Dust is the fossilized remains of Humanity V1.0

Dust allows Humanity V2.0 to do the kind of magical things the first round of humanity could do natively. It's possible the gods' destruction of the original inhabitants of Remnant crystallized out all their magic, to be found when humanity was reborn.

Penny Polendina and Pietro Polendina are Horcruxes for each other

In V7 we learned that Penny's "robot with a soul" status comes from her father Pietro donating part of his soul to give her one. This is why he was able to "resurrect" her between the events of the end of V3 and the beginning of V7.

  • Jossed at the end of V8.