RWBY V8 C14

## Plot

Of course the finale is the only episode this volume that breaks the one word title trend, and of course it uses a line from the theme song as its incredibly short description. This episode starts with another content warning, but instead of flashing lights, it mentions death. Well, I'm getting Lion Guard flashbacks, which is something I never thought would happen while watching RWBY, of all things. The description on the Rooster Teeth site also provides the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-8255). The actual episode starts with the giant Grimm whale still slowly disintegrating, and Salem still regenerating. Then we see Winter and Ironwood fighting. He asks her not to blame him, saying that he's sacrificed everything, which reminded me of what he told Watts after their fight in the previous volume. Like he said there though, he'd sacrifice whatever it takes to stop Salem. Winter tells him that he sacrificed everyone else. He's the one who closed the borders and squeezed Mantle until it broke. Almost everything he did before and during volume 7 just made things worse for them and better for Salem, and closing the borders didn't stop Watts, Tyrian, Cinder, or Neo from sneaking into Atlas anyways. Because the Atlesian military is just full of incompetent and sleep deprived idiots, I guess? Ironwood still thinks that he's only done what's best for Remnant, and says that no one is grateful. How could they be? Almost no one else knew about Salem, the maidens, or the relics until a day or two ago! Penny and Cinder are fighting in the central location, and Weiss saves Penny with a Queen Lancer summon. Jaune reminds Nora that the evacuation is still priority one. Penny tells Weiss that all Cinder has ever wanted is the maiden power. She can distract her and buy everyone else time. Cinder destroys the Lancer summon, and the girls' Auras flicker when they fall on the platform with the Vacuo portal, which is still teeming with fleeing civilians. The relic falls next to Weiss, who is stunned, so Penny steps in front of her and tells Cinder that she's the one she wants. However, Cinder tells her that she wants it all. Before she can attack them again though, Blake kicks her in the face, having made a decision. I was hoping that she'd be able to help *everyone* by having her Semblance evolve to create more autonomous clones that can fight or do other things on their own, like help evacuate civilians. After all, Ruby and Ren's Semblances have already been used in different ways this volume, so why not hers, especially since she hardly ever uses her Semblance, and when she does, they're usually elemental clones instead of her shadow ones. Also, no one can convince me that she didn't learn "kick someone in the face" from Sun. Anyways, she tells Weiss to get up. She does, takes the relic, and leaves to help Ruby while Blake and Penny fight Cinder. If I have only one complaint, it's that no one thinks to abuse the power of either relic to freeze time. I get that Jinn might not even come out because she's all out of questions, but why can't Ruby or Weiss summon Ambrosius to freeze time and get everyone out of there, then make something else once they're all in Vacuo, trapping Cinder and Neo in this dimension space? Then again, that ability might not work here, since they're technically not in Remnant. Anyway, Qrow is trying to talk Harriet down. She prepares to drop the bomb, and he tries to stop it from falling off the airship. They see Elm using her Semblance to stand on Robyn's airship, and holding onto Vine, who is using his own Semblance to hold onto the other ship. Elm tells Hare not to do this. They're still evacuating in Mantle. Hare yells why they can't just let her do her job, and Elm admits that she is their friend after all, and they won't let her go through with this. This *instantly* gets through to her and makes her regret everything she's done. Qrow loses his grip and is tossed to the side. Before the bomb can fall, he takes out Clover's pin, and it sparkles like it did when Clover used his Semblance, as a sound is heard, sort of like the sound that Emerald's illusion Semblance used to make. The bomb stops just before it falls. It's been speculated that Qrow and Clover actually had the same Semblance of fortune, and their different outlooks of cynicism and optimism were just what made their Semblances work differently. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief… and then Watts initiates the countdown timer. It's easy to miss the first time, or the first few times watching the episode, especially if the quality isn't the best, but Ruby is actually crying while fighting Neo by herself, clearly devastated by her sister's "death". Weiss shows up and bats Neo through a portal with the staff. She helps Ruby up and says they have to do this for Yang. Cinder sees this, kicks Blake off the platform so Penny will go after her to catch her, and activates a familiar looking (and sounding) explosion beneath their feet. Weiss notices before it goes off, gives the staff to Ruby, and pushes her away. The explosion breaks Weiss's Aura, but she doesn't fall off the platform. And then Neo comes back and attacks Ruby, who loses the staff to her. Fighting with a huge scythe against someone like Neo must already be really hard, but fighting one handed? Yikes. Ruby falls off the platform, but she lands on another one. Unfortunately, her beloved Crescent Rose isn't so lucky, and it falls into the void. There are thirty seconds left on the bomb's timer. Qrow tells Harriet that the autopilot is locked, and they have to go. There isn't enough time to get out of the blast range. She apologizes, thinking that she's killed them all. Vine goes up to her and uses his Semblance to give her to Elm. He looks at the bomb, and then his hands. Elm knows what he's thinking and says he can't. He says he can, if it means saving his friends. He can use his Semblance to minimize the blast radius of the bomb, but in order to do that, he has to sacrifice himself. Harriet *loses it* when she realizes this and screams as Elm drags her away. Qrow jumps off the ship and turns into a bird. I like how Vine's Semblance looks like a flower before it encompasses the whole ship… which explodes. This moment was actually really sad to me, mostly due to the music and the brilliant voice acting of Dawn M. Bennett and Anairis Quinones, the voices actors for Elm and Harriet. Tom Womack was good as Vine, even if he wasn't given much depth or development. I certainly never expected his character to die. Now Elm and Hare have both lost the other person connected to their Aesop tale inspiration. However, I feel like Vine could've used his Semblance on just the bomb, from the other airship, and then he would've been fine. Whatever, balancing this many characters would be hard for anyone to do. Ruby tells Neo that whatever she wanted, she hopes it was worth it, and seemingly surrenders. However, that was just to goad Neo into attacking her and putting her in a vulnerable position. Ruby steps off the platform, uses her Semblance to fly around to the other side and get behind Neo, and then pushes her off. Before she can catch the staff though, Cinder attacks her from behind and depletes her Aura. She falls and holds onto Neo's foot. Cinder takes the staff, and instead of pulling Neo up, takes the lamp from her, and kicks her parasol into the void. She tells her that she never should've threatened her, and Ruby, who tries to activate her silver eyes, should've never been born, before she smacks Neo's hand with the staff, causing both girls to fall. Penny throws Blake to Ruby before Cinder hits her with a fireball. Blake is able to catch Ruby and hook onto a platform with her weapon… but Cinder burns part of the ribbon as they're swinging, and they fall into the void anyways. Penny is devastated… and so is Weiss, who picks up Blake's weapon and attacks Cinder with it, even though she's shaking and has tears in her eyes. The evacuation is finally over, and Jaune tells Nora to go through the portal to Vacuo and bring any Huntsmen she can find back here. Cinder tells Weiss that it figures a Schnee would be the last one standing, letting all her friends die first. Penny blocks her fire breath attack before it can hit and kill Weiss, and tells her that she wouldn't know anything about friends. Then Jaune attacks her with his shield. Weiss dual wielding Gambol Shroud is cool, fitting, and also really sad, even if I know that Blake isn't really dead. At the very least, maybe this could finally lead into a *real* Gambol Shroud upgrade in the future? Cinder's Grimm arm suddenly starts freaking out and hurting again, and she realizes that Salem is back. She separates everyone from each other… and impales Penny with her Grimm arm to try stealing the maiden powers again. We see things from Penny's point of view as Weiss attacks Cinder, forcing her to stop, and Jaune goes up to her and starts using his Semblance on her. However, she says there isn't enough time to heal her. They can't let Cinder get the staff and the power… but there is something else Jaune can do. Penny asks him to let her choose this one thing for herself, and she also asks him to trust her… as she puts two fingers on his sword. As a Huntsman, he still has a job to do, and he has to understand that there really isn't a choice to make. Well, there is, but it's Penny's choice to make, not his. We see Ironwood deplete Winter's Aura. Cinder disarms Weiss of Gambol Shroud, which falls into the void, but before she can kill her, she hears Jaune scream. He's crying… and his sword is covered in Penny's blood. We suddenly see her in a blank white space, waiting for someone, sort of like when Ozma talked to the God of Light. She says salutations… to Winter, in her volume 7 design. She asks her where they are and what this is, and Penny tells her that she thought of her, and here they are. Winter realizes that Penny has died, and she was the last person she thought of. Penny says she thought it was fitting, since it was supposed to be her power. Winter tells her that she was always the real maiden at heart. She was the real machine that only followed orders. Penny holds her hands and tells her that she was her friend. Winter thanks her for trusting her with the power. Penny won't be gone, she'll be part of her, which is what Winter told her about Fria in volume 7. Ironwood sees that she's the new maiden and says that the destiny he chose for her has arrived. She tells him that he chose nothing. This was a gift. He tries to shoot her, but she reflects the laser blast back at him with the maiden powers and flies through the portal. Surprisingly, this doesn't kill him. Cinder attacks Jaune, *breaks his sword*, and asks where it went, before Winter attacks her, and the two fight. It looks like receiving the powers restored at least part of Winter's Aura, since she can use her Semblance again. Cinder attacks Jaune and Weiss, who are heading towards the Vacuo portal. Jaune barely blocks a fireball with another shield grenade, but then Cinder unleashes another scream explosion on them, which breaks his Aura and sends Weiss over the platform. Winter can't get to her in time to save her. She's devastated and enraged, but before she can continue to fight Cinder, they hear Salem scream. Jaune tells Winter that they need to go now. She tells Cinder that she's going to pay for everything she's done. Cinder simply leaves through a portal into Atlas… and then all of the portals and walkways start disappearing very quickly, since she used the staff to make something else. Winter can fly to the Vacuo portal, but sees too late that Jaune is in trouble, and her forward momentum carries her through the portal before she can help him. He tries to jump through it, but it disappears, and he falls into the void. Meanwhile, in Vacuo, Nora is banging on the portal, and Emerald, Oscar, and Ren are having trouble against all the Grimm. Couldn't Fiona, Joanna, and May at least be helping? Then Winter comes through, the portal disappears, she cries when she sees her mother, brother, and Klein, and lets out all of her feelings on the Grimm. Ironwood sees Cinder head down the stairs with the staff and the lamp, and she sees Salem arrive. She plays the part of a humble and loyal servant perfectly, claiming that she failed her again. She says that they used the staff to save thousands, Neo killed Ruby and they both fell, Ruby's teammates also fell, but they used the lamp's final question before they did, and she couldn't even stop the maiden from escaping without putting the relics in jeopardy. She apologizes to Salem, bows down to her, and gives her the relics. Salem has truly forgiven her this time. She tells her that she's done well, and in the pursuit of a new world, no cost is too great. They're done here. If Salem knows that Cinder is lying, then she probably doesn't care, since she only wants the relics. How she gets them isn't the point. They don't even pay attention to Ironwood, who is conscious and reaching for one of his guns. Cinder simply tells him that that's checkmate as they fly away, victorious, and he just… gives up. Before that though, it's revealed that Cinder used the staff to create a fire in the command center in order to kill Watts. As someone with pyrophobia, this is terrifying. Cinder basically "regressed" back into her volume 1-3 self, just with more power and sadism. Checkmate is the final word of the episode and volume, and is likely the real title if you want to keep the one word theming for all of the episodes. Robyn, Qrow, Elm, Hare, and Marrow watch as Atlas crashes into Mantle, destroying both cities, and then floods. Qrow is especially devastated, calling out for Ruby and Yang into his ear piece, and getting no answer. Winter clearly knew about the evacuation plan, so did she tell Marrow, Robyn, or Qrow, since she was with them when she got in touch with Weiss? I'm just saying, for all they know everyone is in Vacuo, and that's why they can't contact anyone. Or they're all dead. Speaking of which, I think Watts and Ironwood are super dead. Watts was either killed by smoke inhalation, fire, being crushed to death, or drowning. Same thing for Ironwood, just in a different location with less fire, and only the latter two methods are applicable to him. The credits are set to a song called Friend… which is a Penny song. Why? Yes, people are devastated that she died again, yes, some people are calling this (among other things) bad writing and are dropping the show; and yes, I admit that I also wanted to see Pietro's reaction to her human body and watch as she learned and tried new things (like spicy food!) Or she could've unlocked a Semblance! Sadly, that's just not how real life works out for everyone. The end credits scene reveals that Crescent Rose, and by extension, our heroes (and Neo) somehow survived, and landed on a strange island with a giant tree. Volume 9 is shorter than the other volumes, with only ten chapters. Due to the ongoing pandemic, working from home and then in a new office, and to avoid crunch, it was pushed back to premiere in 2023, two years after this volume, which I'm personally fine with. I used the extra time to focus on school, and then working two jobs after I graduated. Based on when they fell, I think Yang and possibly Neo will be by themselves for a bit, Blake and Ruby will be together, and possibly Jaune and Weiss as well, until they all reunite with each other, get Neo to chill, and figure out how to get to Vacuo. And then the sneak peek proved me wrong, since we see Ruby fight Neo while they're falling, and then she's alone when she wakes up on the island. Who knows if we'll even see Ren, Nora, Oscar, Emerald, Winter, Qrow, Robyn, Harriet, Elm, Marrow, Pietro, Maria, etc., in the next volume? We do not… sort of. I feel really bad for Blake, Ruby, and Jaune in particular, since their weapons are either missing, broken, or both. On the "bright" side, at least Blake and Yang could talk to Jaune about killing someone, albeit polar opposite people in very different circumstances. They know what it's like to have no choice but to take a life. Unfortunately, that does not happen. The place they're in is called the Ever After, and in the first episode, Ruby gains a nameless talking mouse companion that she calls Little, which might be a reference to the talking mouse Stuart Little. This place is like Wonderland or Candyland on hallucinogenic drugs. Basically, the characters are stuck in a fairy tale, and they need to reach the giant tree in order to get back home to Remnant, but that's easier said than done. People are complaining because it's been delayed again, but… Everyone and everything except the models for the girls, Neo, and Jaune likely had to be created from scratch. That is so much new asset creation, I bet it made Mantle look like a cakewalk. I also bet that's why they didn't really show us Vacuo at the end of this volume as well, like how volume 6 had 13 episodes instead of 14 because all of the new assets that would've been needed for Mantle alone was too much work. Additionally, the music for the main show is done in part by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams, and they had a family emergency in 2021, which is why we didn't get the full volume 8 soundtrack until 2022. I don't like it when people *demand* a reason for a delay. It could be anything, and I doubt knowing would make us feel better or somehow make the wait feel shorter. It will get here when it gets here, which will be when the CRWBY feel that it's ready (or if Warner Media and Discovery make them), and not a moment sooner. It's possibly also because of the weird spinoff material, like *Ice Queendom*, since most of the original actors returned for the English dub, plus a new original song, voice clips, and animated cutscenes for the video game *RWBY Arrowfell* (which is actually canon and takes place during volume 7), and there's also a *Justice League* crossover movie based on a comic book series. Franchises are weird. Sadly, much of the animation team was laid off (or their contracts ended, it's not super clear), and while pre-production already seems to be underway for volume 10, who knows what will happen? Anyway, volume 9 finally started airing on February 18, 2023. I don't know how my dad works two jobs. It probably helps that his are technically seasonal, but they overlap, especially in the winter. The volume aired exclusively on CrunchyRoll, which I don't currently have, and it would only be made available to Rooster Teeth First members *one year later*! And I'm not even a First member. Screw it, piracy will reign supreme. I know I shouldn't do that because the future of the show I love depends on the support of fans like myself, and now that I have a job I don't exactly have the "I'm literally broke and need to pinch every penny I can" excuse that I had while I was in school. I don't really like shopping online though, so merch isn't an option. I'm already subscribed to three different streaming services, but I only semi-regularly use two of them. Maybe I'll binge the whole thing with a free trial. Who knows? Maybe I'll find something else to watch too. There's *Lupin the Third*, Snow White with the Red Hair, the *Ace Attorney* anime, and possibly more. I don't even have a credit card though, and every time I suggest using my debit card, my mom looks like she's going to tear my head off. She's had her identity stolen before, and she's super overprotective, so that makes sense.