So, I'm moving from Blake to take a look at another tragic character from RWBY, and it's Penny. Now, while I've kicked the idea around of trying to figure out what the hell PENNY stands for, I said screw it because it's too hard, and there's something about Penny that's more interesting to me. It is...
This likely sounds odd to many of you because we all saw Pyrrha turn Penny into quarters. So, what doubt could there be? Well, first I want to look at Penny's death from the philosophic angle of because Penny was a robot, was she ever alive to begin with? From there, I'll be looking at Penny's death in a more literal light. Basically, because Penny's a robot, can't she be fixed? So, let's take a look at Penny.
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| "I'm combat ready!" |
1. Was Penny Ever Alive to Begin With?
The first issue with claiming Penny is dead is that first it has to be proven she was alive. I'm taking this stance because robots are objects and therefore not alive, ergo they can't literally die. Maybe break, but not die. Even if we could classify Penny as an android, we have the same issue. But, Penny does have something going for her that other robots and androids don't.
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| "I'm the first synthetic person capable of generating an aura." |
Penny calls herself the "first synthetic person capable of generating an aura." And as we know, aura is a manifestation of one's soul. While the "soul" hasn't been objectively defined in the RWBY-verse, many world religions and philosophies believe all human beings have a soul, and that is what separates us from other life on the planet such as animals and plants. The presence of her aura suggests Penny has a soul which means yes, she was actually alive, and not in the way animals and plants are. But, this raises another question: how did Penny get the soul?
We know from what Ironwood said in Volume 3 that Atlas has been experimenting with aura including its transference. So that Pyrrha could gain Amber's powers, Amber's soul had to be transferred into her. And if you're following along, then you what I'm going to ask next: where did Penny get her soul? From whom was it transferred? Is it possible there was a real girl named Penny somewhere in Atlas? Another possibility is that Penny is actually an animal as we know from Zwei's antics in Vol 2 and Pyrrha's explanation to Jaune on aura, animals also have souls. And if Penny was originally a dog or a cat, that might explain why she's so weird, trusting, and enthusiastic.
But going back to Penny, there is another defense for the case of Penny being actually alive. It comes from when she first met Ruby and the girls. When Ruby said she was Penny's friend, Penny responded with "We can paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" Now, if you know Penny's a robot, then this whole exchange is a little weird. Why would a synthetic lifeform be interested in painting her nails and trying on clothes? True, she could be programmed to act that way, but the part that really gets me is the talking "about cute boys." If Penny's a robot, how does she know what makes a boy cute? Is she affected by pheromones and hormones? This then raises a few other, uncomfortable questions: does she have an interest in procreating, and how anatomically correct is she? This helps defend the claim she was actually living because robots and androids shouldn't care about propagation, or at least, propagation of the human species, and they wouldn't have an opinion on cute boys.
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| "Sen-sational!" |
But, again, Penny could be programmed to act like this. But, because she has an aura and therefore, a soul, she's likely very familiar with what it's like to be a girl. Regardless, there is a decent argument for the fact that Penny was indeed alive and therefore she could die. But, she's still a robot, and that brings us to our next question.
2. Can't Penny Be Repaired?
Unlike regular meat people, Penny's body was made of metal. And the thing about things made out of metal, such as cars, is that they can be repaired. Another thing to consider is that just because Penny's material body was destroyed, that doesn't mean her soul went to wherever souls go to on Remnant. I mean, look at Ozpin: he's most likely dead, and yet he now shares a body with Oscar. As for Penny, it's entirely possible her body and programming had a fail-safe in case of an emergency. It's quite possible she only shut down. Her body could've been recovered from the stadium and all her files transferred into another body along with her soul. Add to all this, when Penny was destroyed, we got to see her "father" in the episode.
Now, from a writing stand point, why would someone make the effort to show us Penny's father unless it wasn't important somewhere down the line? True, Miles and Kerry may have shown us Penny's father so that we know what to look out for while moving ahead with the show, but did you note his reaction at Penny's destruction? He wasn't exactly crushed. He looked more irritated than anything else as if to say yes, he's angry that Penny was destroyed, but not to the point where he actually lost something dear.
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| This is not outrage or woe. |
Yeah, no, I don't believe Penny is dead dead. I think her body was destroyed, but I think her programming can be saved. I sense we will see her again in the future, but I'm not sure in what capacity. It's possible we may see an android that looks exactly like Penny but has a different name and a different soul attached to her, or Penny will be back right as rain except for her memories. Her soul survived, sure, but maybe her CPU was wiped. I think that's most likely possibility because it goes with what we know, plus it would give Miles and Kerry another opportunity to rip our hearts out. As if we need our hearts ripped out anymore from Vol. 3.
Anyway, that'll be it for now. I think for next week I'm going to look into the mystery and importance of the silver eyes. It could finally be my triumphant return to RWBY Theory. Or, maybe not. We'll see. Until then...
Keep writing, my friends.
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