RWBY Volume 4 proves that it is always darkest before dawn. In Volume 3 of RWBY we saw the darkest hour as Beacon Academy fell, Ozpin was supposedly killed, Cinder absorbed and killed Pyrrha Nikos, and Yang lost an arm. Volume 4 explores the aftermath of these events, as Ruby, Weise, Blake, and Yang are coming to terms with what has happened.
Ruby:
Ruby has decided to travel with team JNPR (JNRR) to Mistral on behalf of Qrow to investigate and locate where the next maiden might be. Throughout, her journey Ruby is exposed to several towns laid in ruins from Grimm creature attacks. These attacks occurred because the Grimm were attracted to negativity, which lead to the huntsman and huntresses of these towns to fight the Grimm. With an increase in fighting it attracted more Grimm, leading to the huntsman and huntresses being defeated and the town overrun. With Ruby being exposed to this her innocence is immediately being challenged as she is witnessing this level of destruction town after town. This is the first time in her life that she has seen how the real world outside of the cities operates, in many of them these types of events are common. With her witnessing this Ruby instantly becomes more mature as she now is beginning to realize what is at stake in the world of Remnant if they don’t stop this new threat of Salem. Ruby’s maturity is further established as she is attacked by Tyrian, upon Salem’s orders. Luckily for them Qrow steps in to the fight, giving Ruby enough time to develop and execute a plan to cut off Tyrian’s tail, which forces him to retreat. Prior to the events that have taken place in volume 3 Ruby would of never have been able to develop or enact a plan to this caliber to save herself and her team. With plan being successful the only problem was that Qrow was poisoned by Tyrian, resulting in him needing medical help. This exposes Ruby to the threats that exist when huntsman and huntresses are assigned missions as they run the risk of a team member dyeing. With Qrow poisoned a choice has to be made on what to do with him and what the best course of action is in the situation. This has a maturing effect on Ruby as for the first time she has to make a life or death decision for a teammate, this is what huntsman and huntress have to face when they are on missions.
Weiss:
Following the fall of Beacon Weiss was escorted back to the kingdom of Atlas for her own protection, upon her father’s orders. While, in the safety of her home, we begin to see Weiss struggle morally with what has occurred and her families position on it. In particular, her father wants to use the turmoil that has occurred in Beacon, to increase his dust company’s profits, by using Weiss at the head of it. With this action, with her brother’s advice, Weiss questions her father on this topic resulting in her being placed under house arrest and kicked out of the family business. With this action we see Weiss act upon what she feels is morally right, as she challenges her father’s motives. Furthermore, we see that Weiss once placed under house arrest continues to act upon her morals as she realizes she needs to help stop the problems that are occurring in the world and decides to leave. By doing this she is effectively giving up her life as a Schnee who is set to run a multi-national business in return for doing what is right. Throughout this volume we see Weiss slowly come to this conclusion as she wants to live a life she controls and not one that has been predetermined for her, by another person.
Blake:
At the end of volume 3 after failing to defeat Adam and letting Yang’s arm get cut off Blake fled Beacon. She immediately came to the realization that she only causes harm to her friends rather than helping them, thus she set a coarse to return home. On her journey home she is accompanied by Sun, who is constantly challenging her idea of where she stands with her friends. This comes to a head as the White Fang has a large presences with Blake’s father, the village chief, who happens to be semi-supporting them. This connection forces Blake to take action as she tries to convince her father to separate him and the village from them. In many ways this action is taken to hurt the White Fang morally and finicality as they will lose support in both these areas. With losing this support it will delay and help to prevent other operations they are planning to do, thus helping her friends. Furthermore, we see Blake’s opinion of her usefulness to her friends change after Sun is placed into a coma. When Sun awakens after several days Blake attempts to explain to him why she is no good, but he makes it clear to her that her friends will be fighting with or without her. By making this statement, it helps to open up her eyes and make it clear to her that she is needed to stop the White Fang. With her eyes opened and her thought process cleared she is able to come up with a unique plan to not only stop the White Fang and change the world or Remnant. As Blake is going to infiltrate and take over the White Fang thus granting a light of hope that might occur in the next volume.
Yang:
At the end of Volume 3, for the first time we see Yang in a vulnerable position as she lost her arm. Throughout the 4th volume we see Yang struggling mentally and physically as she attempts to regain her strength and confidence. Yang after losing her arm, is suffering from PTSD as she is reliving the events that have occurred over and over again. This is affecting her desire to want to recover or even open the prosthetic she has received. For the first time we see how damaged Yang is from this experiences as she is questioning if she wants to be a huntresses. Eventually Yang over hears her dad talk to his friends, her professors, about his adventures and fun during his academy days. In hearing this and joining the conversation her interest is peaked about wanting to be a huntress again, thus creating an impetus for her to try the prosthetic arm sent to her. As a result of this Yang enters the next stage of her recovery, which is learning how to master her new arm and incorporate it into her fighting style. In particular this is done through sparring with her father as it gets her use to her new arm. Through this process her father begins to teach her that in a fight there is more than just power, as she has to incorporate balances. This forces Yang to build upon her natural raw strength and use balance to fight more effectively. Ultimately this is a sign of maturity for Yang as it shows how she is learning how to make better choices both as a fighter and in determining where she wants to go as a huntress.
Conclusion:
Without a doubt the ending to RWBY Volume 3 was the darkest ending to the anime in recent years. The start to Volume 4 addressed the aftermath of that ending as Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all have different struggles that they are contending with. Despite those struggles all 4 of these characters have managed to power through and begin to get there lives back on track. It is always darkest before the dawn, and dawn is beginning to break as RWBY 4 has ended. The only question that remains is will it be sunny or rainy for Volume 5.
RWBY Volume 3 can be purchased here.
