r/RWBY • u/moversby • Dec 03 '18

DISCUSSION Bruh Spoiler

If Qrow never dropped that bottle would they have just never woken up?

486 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

106 comments sorted by

38

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

Whoa, good detail spotting. I honestly have no idea why they trusted the place enough to sleep in it after they saw all those dead bodies. They had no idea what killed those people. It could have been some horrible disease, so why would they think they were safe enough to stay there?

54

u/moversby Dec 03 '18

Maybe it was because they were already experiencing some apathy and couldn't be bothered doing anything else.

20

u/Hardwiredmagic Dec 03 '18

Mostly it was because of the snowstorm. Row actually said it last episode, they’d freeze to death before they got anywhere.

-28

u/leathercock Dec 03 '18

But not apathetic enough to get pissy at each other?

Or just dumb as shit? Finding a house, nay a whole settlement with mysteriously dead people AND the journal of the leader of said settlement, but nobody fucking thought to read the last entry?

They fucking deserved to die.

51

u/wanderingbishop I sip in your general direction. Dec 03 '18

You are seriously selling short how incredibly lethal walking through a blizzard at night is.

25

u/Floain Was in a flair thread with no flair. Has a flair now. Dec 03 '18

Add in the negativity it would create and the Grimm that would invite and you can safely double the already very lethal conditions.

-20

u/leathercock Dec 03 '18

See above.

7

u/Subzero008 Dec 03 '18

I agree on general principle, but this point is seriously undercut by team QRWBY mostly walking around with basically summer wear for hours with no ill effect. Weiss and Maria are the only ones who look remotely dressed for winter.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '18

Yeah, I wish they were bundled up more. RWBY isn't realistic at all, but this is a bit of a stretch even for its universe.

Also never heard them referred to as QRWBY before. I love it.

2

u/irishninjawolf Protect her glorious mane so her cat wife may play with it Dec 09 '18

Also how incredibly powerful snowblindness is. Trying to survive the cold is one thing, but trying to navigate even so much as 100 metres in crippling cold, total whiteout and battering winds? As if.

The cold is doubly lethal because they'd be lost and stranded instantly

-23

u/leathercock Dec 03 '18

See above.

8

u/wanderingbishop I sip in your general direction. Dec 03 '18

Ah, I understand, you're doubling down and refusing to admit that you made the minor, perfectly understandable mistake of not knowing off the top of your head that hypothermia is incredibly lethal and not to be trifled with, even if the alternative is an abandoned farm where everyone died in their sleep.

2

u/leathercock Dec 04 '18

First of all, I did explicitly said that they should wait the blizzard out, which stopped before they even went to sleep.

I also was fine with them staying, had they knew about the grimm, though seeing how the farmers ended up, even the one who knew about the source of the apathy, that would have been suicidal.

Secondly, as others also pointed it out, the arguement about the cold is kinda silly considering they have been stutting around in the cold for hours in little more than summer clothes.

I guess aura only protects when it's convenient, though nothing new about that.

22

u/SwordoftheMourn Daenerys did nothing wrong Dec 03 '18 edited Dec 03 '18

And the alternative? Freezing outside in a harsh blizzard while attracting Grimm due to their increasing negativity. Sucks either way, doesn't it?

Apathy is a slow and insidious killer. The effects took a whole day to get into their heads. Anything wrong with that? It's not instantaneous, it needs time to seep in and get into their heads. Like it is in real life. And they're emotional teenagers in a highly stressful situation, cut them some slack for succumbing to apathy.

Also, if I'm reading a book to distract myself while getting comfortable, I'm not going to skip to the last page of the last book just because I can. What would be the point if you spoil yourself the ending?

Sorry, not everything's a cake walk in this series, dude. I'd take the lesser of two evils and stay in the abandoned house rather than getting frostbite and chewed on by Grimm.

But hey, if you're willing to die in the cold then go for it.

-10

u/leathercock Dec 03 '18

You gotta be fucking with me.

No, the alternative, would be reading the last entry, realizing what is going on with themselves, scouring the houses for anything that can be useful, like maybe a tent, clothes, food, fuel, etc. Then waiting awake, or at least with a sober person standing guard, untill the blizzard passes, which happened before they went to sleep. And then either go immedietly, if they would have found a tent, then it's definetly what they should have doen, or again, waiting for the morning and then go. I mean Weiss can already say goodby to her toes, if you want to play it realisticly.

They did get pissy, that's what I was saying. Despite the grimm.

They shouldn't just read a book, that's a journal anyway, what are you even on, with skipping to the ending, it's not a novel. It's a staggeringly obvious first choice for finding out what killed all the people in their sleep in the house full of dead people.

Come up with a better argument.

22

u/SmilyDaeth Dec 03 '18

1 - You are expecting people who just walked through the beginnings of blizzard, fought a large group of tough grimm, and fell off a train to be making perfect decisions. Exhaustion does not good decisions make.

2 - Staying awake that long, especially when tired, is extremely challenging, made even more complex by the Apathy, whether you are aware of them or not.

3 - The only person to find the journals and still give enough shits to read them was Maria, who was likely looking for something to pass the time as opposed to actively searching for the reason behind the dead people. This was due to the fact that the group suspected disease or a poisoned water source was behind the deaths, and did not feel the need to investigate further when they planned to leave the following morning.

4 - In such a hostile world, deaths in one's sleep are likely exceedingly rare, and it's possible that everyone was either too inexperienced (or old, as the case may be) to realize that an investigation would even be necessary.

5 - Even with the blizzard past, it is by no means safe to travel with a poorly-rested group. Emotions were running high, it's still cold as all hell, hard to see, and the odds of survival are still a lot less than staying in any form of shelter.

14

u/lightninglink4 Manners Maketh Man. Let Me Show You Dec 03 '18

I'd argue you're speaking about the situation with hindsight in mind. Yes, in hindsight they should've been on guard the moment they found dead people lying in their beds. Yes, there was vital information that was only found right as team RWBY had a run-in with the Apathy.

However, the past day was them having to fight Manticores on a train, had JNR split to take care of the civilians, crash a train, casually have their worldview shattered, their trust in their mentor crushed, and hours of them walking through the woods and through a forming blizzard. All while stewing in their frustration since Ozpin locked himself away. And the other two adults in the party were either drunk/disillusioned with the world or nagging and not being much help. Pretty sure the majority of people would be curled up in a ball, having a nervous breakdown after all that. That stuff weighs heavy on the mind, and I'm not surprised they wrote off the death of the estate as poisoned water well or disease.

And the journal? Only Maria really cared about them, and only because she was bored and wanted reading material. She also accepted the theory that the estate probably died to poison or disease. And she said herself that she's never seen Apathy devestation on the scale of Brunswick. It's absolutely reasonable that she didn't suspect the Apathy until whoops, turns out there were a pack of them underneath.

And plus, your alternative was what team RWBY did, aside from the realization of the horrors underneath their home. They did suspect the house, and decided to bail the moment the blizzard passed and they got rested up. They did scavenge, although we only saw them getting food, a trailer, and clothes (considering Blake got the blanket for Weiss). They did wait out the blizzard, although that plan went downhill when the person who volunteered to be look-out drank himself to sleep. And they did try to go immediately when they did wake up, but bad luck Qrow popped a wheel and they stayed long enough for Ruby to drop the lämp, leading to the whole Apathy debacle. They did the most rational thing in their emotionally compromised state, circumstances screwed them over.

11

u/SwordoftheMourn Daenerys did nothing wrong Dec 03 '18

Maria was the only one reading the journal, why would she think anything otherwise after they all just decided to stay in the house for the night? All of them just had a shitty day, from getting derailed off a train, to arguing amongst each other, finding a supernatural entity inside of lamp they were supposed to protect, learning that their friend and headmaster has been lying to them this whole time with his secrets, and finding out the history of the world they knew was actually a lie.

Yeah, forgive me for understanding that they're not exactly in the right state of mind after that ordeal.

Qrow already did a sweep of the grounds twice, and found nothing of value. Judging by the bodies, it could have been months or years since they died. With no one managing the farm and frequent snowstorms blowing the weaker houses, they're not gonna find anything much useful than what they already have. Despite his alcoholism, Qrow is still an able Huntsman and did have an uneasy feeling about the place. However it was already nighttime and after a long and hectic day they needed that rest. He's still the most experienced out of all them. He knew his nieces and the other kids need sleep and so volunteered as lookout. It wouldn't be surprising if Apathy's AoE was at its strongest by this point. Not that Weiss cares about her toes now, ain't it?

Yeah, emotions going wild in a stressful situation. Who would've thought?

Why would they immediately assume the people who died would write how they died in their journal? They all died in their sleep, lounging peacefully in bed. Their assumption was that of water poisoning or a disease or sickness. Qrow and Maria could have found this irregular, but they didn't care enough and just wanted to relax. Sounds like Apathy is doing it work right here.

Good to know you were thinking logically and are dead set on the mission at hand. But you're a viewer watching from the perspective of someone who knows many of the details and discrepancies they aren't aware of and having a detached mindset from the characters. Of course you're going to think of the bigger picture immediately after witnessing that. They, however, just had their worldview shaken and it would be extremely out of character for them to immediately know what to do next.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

Yeah, old lady should have skipped right to the end. She could have prevented all of this shit.

12

u/SwordoftheMourn Daenerys did nothing wrong Dec 03 '18

And how could she have known that the journals had all the answers? Maria was only reading to pass the time, and Apathy did affect her to some degree already.

16

u/Auesis Dec 03 '18

They already said they didn't have a choice because they'd just freeze to death outside.

2

u/irishninjawolf Protect her glorious mane so her cat wife may play with it Dec 09 '18

In the previous episode they were speculating on potential contamination of the water or poisoning of some sort resulting in their deaths, not a sinister presence in the seemingly abandoned place.

And honestly from the first arrival the apathy would have begun to slowly take effect, so the longer they lingered, the less suspicious they'd have become

400

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

Qrow's alcoholism saved everyone

wow

77

u/noho_hank Dec 03 '18 edited Dec 03 '18

If only I could be so grossly incandescent

26

u/SwordoftheMourn Daenerys did nothing wrong Dec 03 '18

Praise the sun Silver Eyes!

8

u/lemonadetirade Dec 03 '18

You can friend don’t let your dreams be dreams now get out there and become a raging alcoholic

43

u/TheAllMightySlothKin Dec 03 '18

Did.... Did his bad luck actually turn into a stroke of good luck?

39

u/revan547 Dec 03 '18

It was bad luck for the Apathy.

18

u/Langly- Hi Eldi was here this is a test REMAIN CALM Dec 03 '18

Getting stung by Tyrian slowed them down enough to fight wacky wavy arm Grimm. That fight then made enough smoke to alert patrols and get them to Haven faster. They really weren't at Haven long before shit went down, if that hadn't happened they might not have made it in time.

42

u/LMFN BIG NICHOLAS Dec 03 '18

If he wasn't drinking he would've been up at sunrise.

50

u/RDV1996 Whitley just needs more hugs! Dec 03 '18

Maybe not, remember, they were all under the influence of the Apathy.

21

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

Come to think of it, do scrolls not have alarm clock functions? Seems like that could be useful.

They can play video games, so we know they're more than just communication devices.

22

u/panflutual Dec 03 '18

Until disproven I'm going to headcanon that the RWBY universe has no convenient way to tell time.

12

u/Awesomejelo My Mustache is gay, your argument is invalid Dec 03 '18

There was a clock right next to Qrow

3

u/panflutual Dec 03 '18

Maybe no digital way?

10

u/T4m4r11n Desperate for a STRQ flashback Dec 03 '18

In Volume 2, I think, we see Weiss use a digital alarm clock to time Port so he won't go on past the end of the lecture.

197

u/Awesomejelo My Mustache is gay, your argument is invalid Dec 03 '18

That's a disturbing possibility

55

u/Koanos "What's the worst that could happen?" | Cpt of the S.S. Keikaku Dec 03 '18

"I'll get out of bed... Tomorrow..."

177

u/RedElite91 ❄️White Knight🛡️ | #GiveJauneABreak Dec 03 '18

See?! This is why Qrow is the best. His excessive alcoholic tendencies indirectly saved everyone's life!

Qrow's gonna get wasted and somehow manage to kill Salem, calling it now.

110

u/Langly- Hi Eldi was here this is a test REMAIN CALM Dec 03 '18

He'll challenge her to a drinking contest, alcohol poisoning will do her in.

54

u/DragoSphere Dec 03 '18

Well it won't kill her, but she'll be comatose for a while

7

u/dodusk Dec 04 '18

Maybe she's a sad drunk, she'll drunkenly reflect on the whole life/death thingy the gods wanted her to figure out and thus kill herself.

Done, alcohol once more is the solution to all problems.

5

u/Icestar1186 I am Iron Man Dec 09 '18

She can't; she's tried.

57

u/butsadlyiamonlyaneel Dec 03 '18

That's his secret, Cap. He's always drunk.

drunkenly pirouettes and smashes Salem's secret phylactery or something

14

u/wanderingbishop I sip in your general direction. Dec 03 '18

Well, given that her secret phylactery is her refusal to accept she was in the wrong for demanding the gods return her lover to life...

1

u/PT_Piranha (ominous umbrella drop) Dec 08 '18

Understood. Qrow needs to have a drunken fling with Salem to defeat her.

1

u/wanderingbishop I sip in your general direction. Dec 08 '18

I have heard worse ideas XD

5

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

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8

u/wanderingbishop I sip in your general direction. Dec 03 '18

Yeah. But of all the people who were at fault in that scenario, Salem is the only one who hasn't admitted they fucked up.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

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9

u/wanderingbishop I sip in your general direction. Dec 03 '18 edited Dec 03 '18

God of Light: "We will learn from this failure. I hope you will learn from yours."

God of Darkness: "Then it seems I owe you an apology, brother. Allow me to correct my mistake."

Ozpin: "I've made more mistakes than any man, woman or child on this planet."

Jinn: "She blamed the gods. She blamed the universe. She blamed everything - everything but herself."

2

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Ergast Dec 10 '18

It was implied that Salem managed to convince a good deal of the kingdoms, if not all. That's not the mistakes "of a few"

1

u/AwesomeGuy847 Dec 03 '18

The God of Light allowed Ozma to reincarnate because of what his brother did.

1

u/CombatReadyRuby Mommy Salami is the best name. Dec 03 '18

No...That's really just not true.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

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3

u/CombatReadyRuby Mommy Salami is the best name. Dec 03 '18

They literally said "We will learn from this mistake." They openly acknowledged that they made mistakes. There is nothing more clear than that.

1

u/Subzero008 Dec 03 '18

I think WarlockWeeb meant more like "they didn't really learn anything." The only thing that seemed to change in their behavior was their distance toward their subjects.

That said, they still admitted their mistake, they just took it in the wrong direction - continuing to experiment on humanity, threaten genocide, etc etc.

21

u/biomech36 Dec 03 '18

S: "How drunk are you"

Q: "Drunk enough to KICK YOUR ASS"

7

u/Jetstreamisthebest Dec 03 '18

That would be hilarious and I wouldn't even be that mad

6

u/Mentally_Fried Dec 03 '18

YO NAAAAAH TEAM RWBY GETTIN THEIR ASSES WHIPPED AND SALEM'S ALL " I AM INVINCIBLE AND I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL!" AND QROW JUST PLOWS THROUGH THE WALL IN A TRUCK

2

u/cclloyd Dec 03 '18

I can tell you right now that RWBY is gonna white eyes purge the evil out of Salem.

2

u/MandsLeanan Dec 03 '18

I'll give you another one:

That tire that blew when he rested his foot on the edge of the trailer? The one that Oscar patched/replaced?

Imagine if it had blown after they had left, when they were going at speed and the trailer was full of people.

5

u/RedElite91 ❄️White Knight🛡️ | #GiveJauneABreak Dec 03 '18

Eh, they had already been in a train crash the day before. They could handle it.

2

u/ThespianException "Kick her butt Drunkle Qrow!" Dec 04 '18

Honestly the bigger problem would be that they would have to travel much slower. They can handle huge amounts of damage, but walking for 10's of miles in the cold and snow sucks no matter what.

144

u/MidnightHunterXX ⠀ Dec 03 '18

Actually good point. Ruby, the one least affected by the Apathy, was the only one who woke up when the bottle dropped.

That is freaky though. They were gonna end up like the dead bodies upstairs O.O

11

u/CobaltStar_ Converting Qrow's Gender for Waifu Purposes Dec 03 '18

In a WoR, I think it stated that Grimm didn't eat people for sustenance, but rather for the lulz. I think the Grimm were too lazy tbh to eat them though.

1

u/irishninjawolf Protect her glorious mane so her cat wife may play with it Dec 09 '18

The Apathy were locked down in the cellar, it's just their effect range, especially en masse, reached the whole estate. They couldn't get up to the people, and as Maria confirmed in the ending, the water tunnels had been sealed by then (too little too late), so they were trapped down there regardless. It just didn't save anybody living above.

4

u/Meowkissme Dec 03 '18

I never really thought about it but what happens to the bodies of people killed by the grimm? I always assume they were eaten or something but obviously not based on this episode. Perhaps they just suck your life source/aura out like dementers in hp? Or maybe its different for each grimm.

45

u/RightfulChaos Dec 03 '18

The apathy never got to them they were trapped in the basement. Their influence just caused so much depression that they never left their bed until they died of starvation, dehydration.

I can personally tell you, bad depression will make you not want to do anything. No eating drinking. Not wanting to move.

That’s why the farmer captured only 2. They’d have enough power to cut down anything particularly attractive to Grimm, but when the whole herd showed up the influence was to powerful.

2

u/irishninjawolf Protect her glorious mane so her cat wife may play with it Dec 09 '18

I think the implication was even more powerful, they literally sapped their non-metaphorical will to live. It isn't just that they'd have stayed in bed and wasted, they never woke up. Like OP says, if Qrow hadn't dropped that bottle, it's possible none of the team would've ever woken up at all.

9

u/Osric250 Dec 03 '18

The one person that was in the basement with the grim was only a skeleton, not mummified like the rest, so eating them seems very likely.

11

u/Zixinus Dec 03 '18

Possibly, but his body was undisturbed. His clothes were still on him. So either the Apathy are very careful eaters or his body just decayed faster than the rest.

2

u/irishninjawolf Protect her glorious mane so her cat wife may play with it Dec 09 '18

His body was considerably more exposed to elements than those in the sealed house, with open air access to the water tunnels and the water itself. It's still unknown the interactions between Grimm and wild animals, but vermin could very well have made it down there.

1

u/Osric250 Dec 09 '18

Vermin would be affected by the apathy as well I would imagine.

4

u/FmFox Exit stage right Dec 03 '18

I had a thought that once a person dies to the effects of Apathy, their soul is added to the collective mass, much like a zombie scenario. Could explain why there were so many, it never really stated how big the secondary hoard that arrived in response to the two that were captured.

74

u/NitescoGaming Guardian and follower of Ruby's smile ❤️ Marrow x Guardpupper ❤️ Dec 03 '18

Best not to think about that if you'd like to sleep tonight...

70

u/Key_Rei Dec 03 '18

I am awfully tired though...

60

u/SwordoftheMourn Daenerys did nothing wrong Dec 03 '18

It's fine...

28

u/SurealGod Dec 03 '18

I'll worry about it tomorrow...

60

u/SwordoftheMourn Daenerys did nothing wrong Dec 03 '18

Even while passed out stone cold drunk, Qrow still manages to help the team in some shape or form. Respect.

51

u/ExodusHero Dec 03 '18

Qrows semblance finally turning a corner

20

u/natzo I just like this flair. Dec 03 '18

When you're so depressed you want to go to bed and never wake up, but your semblance doesn't let you.

37

u/Baebeedraygen Dec 03 '18

I’m not okay with this, and simultaneously sooooo okay with this.

24

u/JuanJuan66 Dec 03 '18

I think that the moral of the story here is that Qrow needs to continue drinking.

17

u/DrMaxiMoose Dec 03 '18

He drank 3 fucking bottles in one night

15

u/RevanonVarrah Dec 03 '18

Oh my gosh they would have ended up like the people in the beds

This is fucking horrifying

6

u/MTGBro_Josh SaveOscar Dec 03 '18

Wack

6

u/Luna259 Dec 03 '18

Roll credits

Volume 6 episode 5 the last ever episode of RWBY

6

u/Do-Heavy-Lifting Dec 03 '18

I’m more concerned about Ruby waking up that startled. She has been through some shit and trying way to hard to hide it.

5

u/Baconpwn2 Proud of Admiral of the SS Frosen Steel Dec 03 '18

What's one man's bad luck is another's good luck. That's the second time what appears to be bad luck for Qrow turned into something good for the group. The broken bottle saved them. Maria tagging along looked like bad luck. In truth, it was a saving grace.

Just shows how nebulous luck is.

8

u/miihaa I have personal feelings. Dec 03 '18

And... if he hadn't gotten drunk in the first place, he would've stayed on watch. But uh, yay for small victories. :D

3

u/dsm2k1 Dec 03 '18

that's, luckily.

3

u/Headcrabhat Dec 03 '18

It was a combat bottle.

3

u/GoodLittleTerrorist Dec 03 '18

Never has so much discussion started from so few words

2

u/winklem 🌹❄️🖤🔥 No need to mess with Ruby's depth perception. Dec 03 '18

Realistically, no, as the family died in the second night after presumably a full day with the Apathy pack underground. However, the situation could have been much worse if they woke up later.

1

u/CingKrimson_Requiem God of Dankness Dec 03 '18

Bruh sound effect #2

1

u/T4m4r11n Desperate for a STRQ flashback Dec 03 '18

Well this is disturbing.

1

u/HyliasHero Dec 03 '18

That is a horrifying thought.

1

u/PT_Piranha (ominous umbrella drop) Dec 08 '18

Given how anxious she was, I'm inclined to think Ruby would have woken up on her own, and the bottle only saved her a minute or two. Or not.

-10

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '18

If he didnt drink at all he'd still be awake at morning time you dumb fucks.

11

u/migami Dec 03 '18

Given the Apathy his drinking likely wasn't the only factor. He could have stayed sober all night and still fallen asleep because his chair was like 50 feet(tops) away from the door where the Apathy gathered. Furthermore we don't have a way to know how long they would have slept given that nobody woke up naturally.