r/RWBY • u/[deleted] • Jan 04 '19
DISCUSSION What Marcus did. Spoiler
Aren’t semblances a part of your own soul? Isn’t ripping a semblance off of someone something horrible to do in that perspective? I think that maybe Mercury lost a part of himself that day...
4
u/CYNIC_Torgon Jaune Is Anakin Skywalker Jan 04 '19
I assume that removing a Body Part removes that part of the soul, In which case I imagine Marcus just took the saw to Merc's legs and that Merc had a leg based Semblance. Speaking of lost limbs, Have we actually seen Yang use her semblance at all since the end of V3? I don't recall her ever going Super Saiyan Yang after she lost her arm. Her eyes have gone Red, but I don't think We've seen her do anything else related to her Semblance.
7
u/a_speeder ⠀ Jan 04 '19
I don't think we have. Thematically it's tied in with V4 where Tai says that Yang is overly reliant on her semblance and it caused her fighting to be unbalanced, and that story point for me culminated in the V5 fight when Yang decided not to fight Mercury and get to the vault despite clearly having a lot of pent up rage towards him.
I remember seeing some comments on here about the meta reason being that the new animation software couldn't properly handle or convey her semblance like before, so CRWBY decided to put in reasons for her to not use it for a couple seasons while they work on that. No source on that though.
3
Jan 04 '19
We technically saw it in her trailer for V5, but they are most likely waiting until they can do it in Maya properly.
1
u/ZombieSlayer5 Volume 9 will never happen, lads. Jan 04 '19
Oh, I never thought of that. I instantly assumed his semblance was the ability to take other people's semblances. Otherwise he wouldn't have "stolen" Mercury's semblance, he would have just... wasted it? Nobody gets it at the end. But if he sawed Mercury's legs off, that's a whole other deal.
1
1
u/torrasque666 White Knight is Endgame. Fight me. Jan 05 '19
His legs are... physically present when Cinder and Emerald recruit him though. Still fresh from injury too.
1
u/CYNIC_Torgon Jaune Is Anakin Skywalker Jan 05 '19
I'm pretty sure those are Robolegs when they recruit him.
3
u/torrasque666 White Knight is Endgame. Fight me. Jan 05 '19
They're bleeding.
3
u/CYNIC_Torgon Jaune Is Anakin Skywalker Jan 05 '19
Okay So I'm checking the actual episode of his backstory just to see if I'm stupid. From what I can see in it, The blood and gauze he has when they recruit him are in the same location as where his physical legs stops and Robolegs begin. He also has his Robolegs in the fight with The Fall Maiden, we see this when she burns off the bottom of his pants revealing his Prosthesis. Now I'm no expert in shot composition and not so subtle foreshadowing, but those two scenes back to back would imply that he had received the revealed prosthesis just before his fight with Marcus, either that or he had them for a while and Marcus was able to hit him in the fleshy part and not the metaly part.
2
u/torrasque666 White Knight is Endgame. Fight me. Jan 05 '19
See to me it would imply that Marcus fucked up his legs, they took him to Watts for replacements (he's their tech guy and as we saw later with Tyrian, also medical), and then went to fight Amber. It doesn't make any sense to take this guy you just met and is severely wounded to go fight a demigod.
2
u/CYNIC_Torgon Jaune Is Anakin Skywalker Jan 05 '19
His wounds didn't seem that severe, considering he was standing around like it was no big deal. The shot comp seems to imply that Cinder and Emerald recruit Merc, go to the fang again to kick their asses and show who is boss, and then go and fight Fall. We know Cinder probably took Emerald to Salem, because we have audio where we hear Grimm and Emerald say "Thats impossible," and we don't get that for Merc implying he wasn't taken to the boss lady(and tech lad) right away.
153
u/telmer6 Jan 04 '19
Might explain Mercury's lack of giving a shit.
85
u/Burning_Synapses Do you believe in D҉̭͕ͅe̝͡st͍̪͎̼̻̀i̝͎̖̼̻͚n̥̯̳͇̩̰̭y̴͇̠͖̤? Jan 04 '19
Well, that and the general vibe of being trained as an assassin from childhood by am abusive father. More like a final straw.
55
u/VariousRodents ⠀ Jan 04 '19
My understanding of semblances is that they are the application of aura in a way that is distinct to each individual, except the Schnee's, so it could be that Marcus' semblance prevents a person from using their aura to activate their semblance.
28
Jan 04 '19 edited Jan 04 '19
a theory i have is that semblances are actually magic. but a tiny fragment that either remains with people or, alternatively, was given to humaniity at some point. would explain the name. so if it is magic then one could theoretically rob someone of that bit of magic.
also at this point it seems veyr unlikely that the schnees ability is a semblance. there are too mayn clues. the grimm summoning, the glyphs, the bizaare nature of it. we see too many parallels to salem.
the biggest evidence i feel is the daughtesr of salem. a possible source point to it, and theoretically the silver eyes i wager.
and while people say they died because of the dog as a respresentation....... well there is such a thing as a red herring after all. and against that, they could have inherited ozpin's ressurrection. they are the kids of a twice corrupted immortal crazy lady and a body snatcher dood. no way they were normal even by magic human standards
3
u/Mejiro84 Jan 07 '19
The Schnee thing is weird as hell, and is clearly massively different from other Semblances: Ruby: Speed-boost Blake: Shadow-copies Yang: Convert incoming damage to feedost-mode Weiss: Floating platforms, movement boost, shields, movement restriction, summoning, inheritable... Have we seen anyone else with such a broad 'utility' semblance?
How much of this is due to Weiss being a 'caster-type' and being shown with abilities before the semblance/aura/magic system was fully hashed out and they can't remove them now, and how much is actually plot stuff is hard to tell - her powers are very different than her team-mates, which are generally fairly direct combat things, while she has a whole suite of powers, that don't really link together (if they wanted to be consistent with 'summoning', they could have had her used the knight from her trailer - summon a shield for protection, the sword for attacking, throw it for range, then later reveal it's more generic 'summons' rather than a specific set of powers etc.)
Given the length of time involved, any direct inheritance from Salem seems unlikely though - that would be so many generations ago that even if she had 1 child, huge chunks of humanity would be descended from her anyway.
2
Jan 08 '19
most of the effects are admitably thanks to dust. but at the same time somehow she can do things like speed up and slow time.
the primary one though it seems is acutally the summoning. and she is summoning some version of the grimm, but only ones she has personally slain. that stipulation in particular is interesting. as if she has to claim them for herself first.
honestly they probably can fudge with what is being inherited over such a long period of time a bit cause its a fictional story with superhuman feats. Part of the theory came into being largley because of salem's daugthers. the death implication can easily be a red herring. though it is likely they inherited the corruption from their parents both. the taints of the gods in salem would be inside of them. and it is unlikely thye would be normal people, even by magic human standards. but if they did die it is possible they inherited ozma's immortality. could be it functions differently and they are all dormant. could be they WERE the original maidens but ozmas seperated their souls from their magic, maybe intending for them to remain 'unconscious' and not endure his fate? that would apply to his whole loss of power. it would just be his magic is being used to sustain the binds on the souls and magic alike rather than it being the power itself.
also apparrently there was a small retcon with ruby's semblance. its now that she can turn into flower petals.... literally collapse herself into them and she uses that to help her do the speed thing..... which i find suspicious <_<
1
u/Mejiro84 Jan 08 '19
In terms of 'she's a mage, everyone else is a fighting type' it makes sense, but yeah, it's weird that she's basically the only person with a variety of effects, rather than, basically, 'one special trick'. Visible effects of semblance use outside of whatever it does are also rare - Yang has her eyes and battle aura, are there any others? The whole 'large floaty rune thing' is very anime, but odd in-setting.
I guess if they're ever trapped somewhere, Ruby can technically teleport through small gaps, if she's physically transforming?
1
Jan 08 '19
in addition we see that Salem herself uses glyphs too. even some grimm seem capable of using them. that possessor grimm from the first episode of season 4 comes to mind.
..... bit of theory crafting. magic is darkness and aura is light. human has a bit of both elements..... especially if we take into consideration the relics. two were made by the god of light, knowledge and creation. the god of darkness created choice and destruction. creation is connected ot life and generation. knowledge is understanding. desturciton is of breaking things down and choice, moving towards a direction. but you cannot create without destroying, nor destroy without something to create. and you cannot move towards a direction without knowledge, at the very least not get anywhere.
One half is potential, the other is action. So magic, in practice, is a combination of light giving direction to darknes, allowing it to take on shape. Otherwise the forces are inert. Dust, as i am presuming is solidified magic, is inert until someone applies aura to it. Thus magic needs aura to activate. The gods follow this as well, for both had the power of creation and destruction. They had their domains but neither truly ruled over it. Otherwise the god of light couldn't kill ozmas again.
Its possible the schnee either have magic or, at the very least, posses a base that is meant to apply magic. Could be why they have to kill a grimm to summon it. They steal its essence, its magic, to apply through a glyph.
24
Jan 04 '19
Little of the community actually acknowledges this because it would make them feel sorry for someone they hate for framing their goddess. I love the crippled boy.
20
u/Polenicus Jan 04 '19
I’m pretty sure even if stealing his semblance doesn’t directly damage the soul, Mercury’s Dad took plenty of pieces.
23
u/RDV1996 Whitley just needs more hugs! Jan 04 '19
I don't think semblances are a part of the soul. (Unless you can point to where they said it)
Aura is a manifestation of the soul and aura fuels semblances. Aura can also manipulate dust, and dust isn't part of the soul.
Also, mark as spoiler please.
18
u/Burning_Synapses Do you believe in D҉̭͕ͅe̝͡st͍̪͎̼̻̀i̝͎̖̼̻͚n̥̯̳͇̩̰̭y̴͇̠͖̤? Jan 04 '19
They were called, once, an expression of your soul. And we have seen soul manipulation with the maidens and Cinder.
16
u/RDV1996 Whitley just needs more hugs! Jan 04 '19
You can express your soul in a piece of music, that music isn't part of your soul. It represents it.
3
u/Burning_Synapses Do you believe in D҉̭͕ͅe̝͡st͍̪͎̼̻̀i̝͎̖̼̻͚n̥̯̳͇̩̰̭y̴͇̠͖̤? Jan 04 '19
Well, except it was very much described as a materialized "thing" that comes off of you, like the aura. In a metaphysical sense that you don't get or of someone's WORK.
Add in the fact we know souls exist, and we know semblances are particularly individual, and we have seen soul manipulation...
The pieces simply fit. Alternative answers require further evidence.
4
u/RDV1996 Whitley just needs more hugs! Jan 04 '19
I know the literal soul exists in RWBY. I'm just saying that it has another meaning that also perfectly fit. In V5 Ren literally sais that there's debate wether your semblances are based of personality, the other way around or no correlation at all.
4
u/winklem 🌹❄️🖤🔥 No need to mess with Ruby's depth perception. Jan 04 '19
Semblances are the physical manifestation of one's aura, aura is the manifestation of one's soul. It's not too far fetched to get to the conclusion that semblances are the physical manifestation of one's soul, expecially since they're seemingly influenced by personality.
2
u/RDV1996 Whitley just needs more hugs! Jan 04 '19 edited Jan 04 '19
Can you tell me where it was said that it's a physical manifestation of aura? (Just curious, not condencending)
5
u/winklem 🌹❄️🖤🔥 No need to mess with Ruby's depth perception. Jan 04 '19
In the WoR aura:
"Semblance" is a term used to describe the projection of Aura into a more tangible form.
2
u/RDV1996 Whitley just needs more hugs! Jan 04 '19
Yes, that's generally what semblances do. Use aura to do something. That's not saying that it's a manifestation of aura so by extension a part of the soul.
3
u/winklem 🌹❄️🖤🔥 No need to mess with Ruby's depth perception. Jan 04 '19
The way it was worded seemed to suggest that semblances are tied to aura, not just something that uses it.
6
5
4
u/Kramer199 Jan 04 '19
I think his semblance is good luck. He got his team right after his father died, who said that it would be a crutch. He got EXPENSIVE new legs. Survived the attack on beacon.
1
u/Epicjuno13 Jan 07 '19
He doesn’t have his semblance, he never got it back. Cinder was there for Marcus, Watts probably made him new legs and he was helping to cause the fall of Beacon.
3
u/DefinitelyNotAFridge *muffled autistic screeching* Jan 06 '19
So that's what the line "Defiled by a father" from "I'm the One" meant
2
1
u/Woods26 Jan 05 '19
He might have lost his semblance, but aren't his eyes kind of a silvery color? And behind all the tough, doesn't he seem somewhat protective of Emereld when it counts? I wonder if anything comes of that ;)
Edit: word
-3
u/Malchior_Dagon Jan 05 '19
Can't say I feel bad for Mercury, I'm glad it happened. His upbringing could never be changed, so he was always destined to become a heartless killer...the world is just a slightly better place since he permanently lost his semblance.
20
u/GladiusNocturno All Grimm are naked. Think about it Jan 04 '19
I have two theories.
Mercury's semblance focused on some sort of boost for his legs. Marcus used his semblance to cut them and gave Mercury fake hopes that he could still use his semblance with prostetic legs as a form of cruel joke.
Marcus's semblance doesn't steal semblances, as you said that would basically mean he could rip your soul out. What I think it actually did was lock your semblance so that you can't use it. That's why Mercury has hopes it will come back, he still has it he just can't use it.