So, ever since the last character short, I've had Blake on the brain a lot. And what with my last post of Why Isn't Blake More Popular?, I wanted to cover another Blake topic that most RWBY fans, and Blake fans especially, probably think they already have figured out. And that, is that Sun is going to be Blake's Pyrrha, or in other words, Sun's going to be killed off so Blake can stop pussy footing around and get on with her story. It's understandable why the community would think that. Looking at Blake, a lot of people see a character who has issues with her story and character advancing. We also see a character who seems dependent on another character for her identity. Without Sun, would we even know that Blake is capable of love or even smiling?
Now, there's nothing wrong with character A being characterized through their interactions with character B, hell, that's one of the best ways to show characterization, but with Blake it seems to be a crutch. Like I keep saying, she's the most stock character out of the four leading roles--she doesn't stand out enough on her own, which is to say, she couldn't carry a story by herself. As a result, she needs Sun, and so, rather than being Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong, two independent characters, the two make up a single, whole character. But, I don't think Sun will be killed off. I don't think he'll be Blake's Pyrrha. Let me explain why.
1. Lazy and Predictable Writing
The first and most pertinent reason is because it's lazy and predictable. Now, many people predicted Pyrrha's death, but that wasn't hard. She was predestined by dint of her name. But, riddle me this: how many people predicted Penny's death or Ozpin's? Miles and Kerry aren't masters of their art, but they're not novices, either. And remember, they watch Game of Thrones and work for Rooster Teeth. What does that mean? Well, I've never seen a single episode of GoT, but its reputation for plot twists is well-known. And Rooster Teeth was founded by men like Gus Sorola, Burnie Burns, and Geoff Ramsey, they're notorious trolls. Sure, some people who work at RT aren't trolls, assholes, or smartasses, but I bet a lot of them are--it's the company culture. So, I would expect Miles and Kerry to set up a scene that makes it look like Sun is going to die, but then save his ass at the last second, or they would know what people are predicting, and purposely do the opposite. I mean, why not? What's stopping them? Speaking of which, that brings me to my next point.
2. There Are No Rules
People are predicting Sun's death because of Pyrrha, but Pyrrha didn't set a standard or a rule. There's no rule saying Sun has to die just because Pyrrha did just because Blake is plagued in the same way Jaune was. And going back to my belief that the ultimate goal is to turn Team RWBY into the four Maidens, why can't Blake keep Sun? Show me the rule that says Maidens can't have boyfriends or husbands. In fact, I was thinking about it this week, and I was like, "Hey! Wait a minute! If the Maidens are vessels of such incredible power, but their power is just as famous amongst baddies as it is among good guys, how come they don't have bodyguards?"
I mean, seriously think about this: if Qrow had been with Amber, do you think Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald could've gotten the drop on her? Qrow chased all three of them off by himself. I know that some people might argue that if the Maidens had bodyguards, then that would make the Maidens too conspicuous, but what if each Maiden had only four huntsmen with them? Two visible and two trailing from the shadows. They'd stay inconspicuous (enough), and the Maidens wouldn't get jumped. Maybe that's what Amber's big mistake was. Remember, someone called her young and inexperienced. Maybe she thought she knew better and ventured out without her escort, Qrow, and that's how she got attacked. Because I mean, when you think about it, how did Qrow manage to show up in the (TA-DA!) nick of time? How did he find her if he was supposed to be doing recon for Ozpin? Which then begs the question, does the Spring Maiden have a bodyguard? Remember, everyone's still looking for her, but they haven't managed to track her yet. Maybe someone's with her making sure she isn't conspicuous. Perhaps a boyfriend.
Hence, if Blake did become a Maiden, why couldn't she still be with Sun? Even if the current Maidens don't have boyfriends or husbands, why couldn't a Maiden still have one? Now, true, we still don't know all the rules and conditions to being a Maiden, but is there any reason from a writing standpoint that they can't? And similarly, there's no precedent saying Sun needs to die for Blake. Something else that I thought of was that Pyrrha's death didn't really advance Jaune's story. There's not enough evidence in Volume 4 to suggest his story has actually advanced. (Chalk that up on the list of Things Wrong with Vol. 4.)
3. Sun's Semi-Permanent
If I asked you to name the main characters in RWBY, who might you say? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, for starters. But, don't you think that's a little too narrow? Couldn't we also expand that to Jaune? Maybe even Ren and Nora? And then, couldn't we expand that even further to include Sun? I mean, why not? He's got as much of a tie to the main cast as anyone else does. Consider this: he followed Blake home, and he's met her parents. That's something Pyrrha never accomplished. She never met Papa and Mama Arc. But, Sun has met Mommy and Daddy Belladonna, and what's more, Mommy Belladonna approves of Sun.
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| "I like him." "Mom!" |
Sure, Sun could still be killed horribly, but again, from a writing perspective, why would you have a character who's going to die meet the parents? That's extra attachments. It might make Sun's death look more sympathetic, but he's not a member of the main cast. So, why would you give him all these attachments to other characters and then kill him off? It doesn't make a lot of sense from a writing perspective. At least, not to me. I know I wouldn't do that for a character who goes on to become fridge stuffing. It's too much for too little. And with Mama Belladonna's blessing, it seems like Miles and Kerry intend for Sun to be around for a while; a long while; a long, long, long while. I think there are wedding bells somewhere down the line for these two.
4. Sun Isn't Pyrrha
Pyrrha was liked. Well, that's a bit of an understatement. Pyrrha was well liked. Monty, Miles, and Kerry purposely wrote her to be well liked, just so that it would hurt that much more when they stole her from us!
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| Pyrrha was our precious!!! |
When I think of Pyrrha's character archetype, I call her a paladin. She's the lawful good, superhero, woman of the people, unbreakable, upholder of the status quo, perpetual vanquisher of evil. She has no limits, and she never stops. She's Superman, more or less. Characters designed like this are meant to be liked. If you don't like them, then you're probably the bad guy. But, when we look at Sun, we don't see that.
Sun's more chaotic good. I mean, he's been a stowaway at least once in his life, and he's stolen fruit, but he's never done anything actually evil. He kind of takes on the reckless rogue archetype. He's sort of like Han Solo; he does what he wants so long as it doesn't actually hurt anyone or violate anyone's freedom. And while these characters are liked--Han Solo was at one point the most popular Star Wars character ever and many of the old guard will still call him their favorite--the rogue is generally not as liked as the paladin. They're not the heroes of the people because at anytime, they could decide to leave and follow their own interests. They're not loyal to a fault. So, if Sun were killed off, I don't think his death would mean as much to the audience as Pyrrha's death did.
Pyrrha's was still a bit of a shock. When she died, it looked like Arkos was finally canon, and she did monumentally well in her battle against Cinder. Maybe if she had stayed in the vault and fought alongside Ozpin, Cinder would've been defeated. But Sun, he's not on Pyrrha's level, whether it's her morality, fighting ability, or likability. And, when it comes to Blake's love life, there are a lot of people out there who would rather see her with Yang. Hell, the Bumbleby shippers might actually celebrate his death. Ergo, there wouldn't be a mass upset with Sun's death like there was with Pyrrha. It might do some good for Blake, but a chunk of the audience won't care. So, the more convenient thing to do would be to keep Sun in the story rather than trying to make him utterly irreplaceable in Blake's life, because, let's face it, that's the only way people would be really, really upset with his death. Right now, he's still kind of superfluous.
5. Blake Isn't Jaune
When Jaune got to Beacon, he was practically useless. He was more a burden than an asset. He needed special training sessions, and even then, he's still not where he should be as a huntsman. Blake doesn't have that problem. She's quite competent. She can take care of herself, so what would Sun's death do for her?
Now, some may try to argue that whereas Jaune was physically weak and needed Pyrrha to become physically strong, Blake is emotionally weak and needs Sun to be emotionally strong. It's just the difference in their characters. But, Jaune is still kind of physically weak, and Blake's not really emotionally weak; she's just got a bad habit of running away. I mean, she stood up to Adam at the battle of Beacon, and even claimed she wasn't running. She only ran then because Adam threatened to kill Yang, and Blake was in no condition fight. My point here is that Blake can choose to fight when pushed far enough, like she chose to do at the end of Vol. 4. Jaune meanwhile still isn't as far along as he should be, but because of Pyrrha's death, he feels that he has to keep training to honor her memory because she was one of the few people who believed in him. Blake and Sun don't have that relationship dynamic; Sun's not into her because he sees something that no one else does.
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| It's because she's a sexy kitty. Meow! (I kid.) |
So, Blake wouldn't benefit from Sun's death in the same way that Jaune benefitted from Pyrrha's. It would ultimately be useless and just whittle down the cast. Ergo, I don't think Sun is going to be Blake's Pyrrha.
Now, I admit, I could be wrong. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Miles and Kerry could find a way to kill off Sun and make it meaningful, but it would take a hell of a lot of work. Assuming they want to do it right.
Anyway, that's it for now. I'm not too sure what I'm going to cover next week, but I did have a bunch of stuff lined up before I heard about Blake's character short. I could also go over all the reasons why I hate Bumbleby and talk about who I think the gay character actually is. But, if I do do that, I probably won't make it a regular post because I know some people really like these posts and while they too hate Bumbleby, they probably don't want to see the Bumbleby hate entry take the place of a regular post. So, we'll see.
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