The Ironwood Fixers: Parallels in Ruby’s and Oscar’s Actions in V3 and V7
It’s striking how Oscar’s actions at the end of V7 parallel Ruby’s actions at the start of the Battle of Beacon in V3. Both incidents begin with the exact same pincer manuever on the part of Salem’s forces, a ground attack by the Grimm occurring simultaneously with the reveal that Cinder has corrupted a crucial system of Ironwood’s defenses; at the Vytal Festival the compromised system is Ironwood’s computers, in Atlas it’s Ironwood’s brain.
In the ensuing panic at Amity Arena Ruby and Team JNPR flee to a shuttle. In the ensuing panic at Atlas Academy Oscar and Team JNR flee to a shuttle.
But at the last minute Ruby/Oscar turn back into the teeth of danger to try to fix Ironwood’s problem.
They go to the heart of Ironwood’s power. At Beacon it’s his flagship; at Atlas, it’s the Vault of the Winter Maiden. Here, Ruby tries to save the ship, and Oscar tries to save the man. Both antagonists first express disbelief at the hero’s mission.
“Little Red, little Red, you are just determined to be the hero of Vale, aren'tcha?”
“Do you intend to fight me?”
(It doesn’t quite come through in these screenshots, but the strong vertical line pattern on the top of the ship is the same as the strong vertical line pattern on the floor of the Vault. I wondered why the Vault floor looked like a landing strip.)
Then both heroes are informed by their antagonists that they have greatly underestimated the scope of the problem.
“You’re asking the wrong questions, Red! It’s not what I have to gain, it’s that I can’t afford to lose!”
“You still think I’m afraid?”
Both Torchwick and Ironwood are terrified of Salem, and consequently both men feel trapped. Because they feel trapped, both men lash out.
“Like it or not, the people that hired me are going to change the world! You can’t stop ‘em, I can’t stop 'em!”
“You can label me whatever you’d like, but the fact of the matter is I was right! The minute I softened, let my guard down, that’s when Salem had her opening.”
Both men accuse our heroes of not understanding how “the real world” drives them to the actions they have taken, thus trying to deny responsibility for their part in the deeds going down at that moment.
“You got spirit, Red. But this is the real world! The real world is cold! The real world doesn't care about spirit!”
“All excellent philosophical points that won’t matter if Salem wins.”
Then both men proceed to state their goal.
“You wanna be a hero? Then play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history! As for me, I’ll do what I do best: lie, steal, cheat, and SURVIVE!”
“I am done letting others’ inability to see the big picture get in the way of doing what’s right. Robyn, the council, this kingdom… even you.”
(When I started this essay I thought I was going to have to gloss over the actual confrontations, but when I looked at the quotes I realized that in his more upper-class speech mannerisms Ironwood echoed Torchwick point for point.)
Shortly thereafter, both our heroes fall, only to be saved by their weapon-based landing strategies. And about the same time, both our antagonists are thwarted in their goals by a supernatural force, Torchwick by a Nevermore and Ironwood by the Winter Maiden.
Oscar failed in his reason for turning back. But in the chaos of the Battle of Beacon, it’s possible to overlook that Ruby also failed in her primary reason for turning back. She wasn’t able to liberate the flagship, but it’s destruction freed the robots from Watts’ virus. Likewise, while Oscar is unable to liberate Ironwood from the General’s crippling terror, his actions free Ozpin from his self-imposed exile.
And in both cases those are well-timed moves, because the very next thing that happens is that the third arm of Salem’s pincer manuever shows up, her air support.
Oscar’s confrontation with Ironwood also parallels Ruby’s confrontation with Raven at the Battle of Haven, so I’ll discuss that in my next post. But let me make one last point. In Ruby’s confrontation with Torchwick he reveals that his actions are based on his conclusion that Salem will win no matter what he does. If Ironwood also concludes that Salem will win no matter what he does and acts accordingly, events will take a very dark turn.
Note: This post has been edited to comply with Tumblr’s photo limit. To see all the pics, go here: http://aminoapps.com/p/kicxzq
As excited as I am for the Renora reunion, I’m really looking forward to the Oscar and Nora reunion.
Oscar seeing Nora bandaged and scarred. Nora seeing Oscar beaten, bloodied, and bruised. And each of them looking at the other and thinking ‘what happened, it’s only been about 10 hours. How did this happen to you?’.
I just really love the Nora-Oscar dynamic. Nora’s always been so protective towards Oscar, she loves him to death. And Oscar is used to her being so loud, proud, and energetic, and seeing her like this is going to be such a shock to him, and I’m honestly looking forward to that interaction so much
The whole atlas army saw this right? They must’ve known it couldn’t’ve just been a bomb. It didn’t just destroy the whale, it vaporised all the Grimm!
Oscar, you have to reveal yourself. Tell people who and what you are. What you did. They will see him as the little hero he is, look to him as a symbol of hope
He is there saviour
But does he WANT to be recognized as a savior? Kinda think he could scan Ozma’s memories and see that was a bad idea.
Does he have much choice now? If people saw then they’re gonna ask questions. One thing Oscar is not is a lier.
Besides, remember what Oz said to him when he first came to him
“greatness in knowing that when the world needed help, you were the one to reach out your hand”
His time is coming
You misunderstood me. I didn’t say that Oscar might not want to be a savior. He does. I said he might not want to be RECOGNIZED as a savior.
Being a celebrity can interfere with being a hero – or anything else.
The whole atlas army saw this right? They must’ve known it couldn’t’ve just been a bomb. It didn’t just destroy the whale, it vaporised all the Grimm!
Oscar, you have to reveal yourself. Tell people who and what you are. What you did. They will see him as the little hero he is, look to him as a symbol of hope
He is there saviour
But does he WANT to be recognized as a savior? Kinda think he could scan Ozma’s memories and see that was a bad idea.
Ya’ll know I’m gonna be that chick to go in and try to capture every frame of this moment because this is what these showrunners have brought me to.
Looking at this moment frame by frame is actually kind of jokey. Ruby goes from being genuinely happy to see Oscar and ready to hug him to being like Bambi caught in the headlights at the sight of Emerald clambering in behind Oscar.
I wanted to see each frame of this moment from the point of Ruby perking up after noticing Oscar coming in to her smile at seeing him and how she was ready to hug him with him already waiting to hug her.
I am so hung up on this moment that I wanted to pinpoint the exact moment Ruby’s expression changed from happy to surprised when she noticed that Emerald was there. Because before all that, it was nothing but smilesfor Oscar. LOOK AT IT.
I’m pretty sure some other Rosegardening Pinehead must’ve already analysed the shit out of this scene already but that’s fine. Now you get the added bonus of my colourful squiggly commentary on top of it because I’M NOT OVER THIS YET.
LOOK AT THEM. LOOK HOW HAPPY THEY WERE TO SEE EACH OTHER.
LOOK AT OSCAR. WHEN HAVE WE EVER SEEN OSCAR WILLINGLYOUTSTRETCH HIS ARMS TO HUG SOMEONE.
NO ONE ELSE GOT THIS TREATMENT.
I don’t recall Oscar outstretching his arms to hug Nora or Jaune. But for Ruby—for his rose—thislittle prince was READY for that hug.
And RUBY…she WAS gonna give him that hug. YOU KNOW THIS ROSE WAS GONNA HUG THE SHIT OUTTA THAT BOY.
RUBY was probably gonna run into Oscar’s arms and GIVE HIM THE BEST HUG HE’S EVER GOTTEN BUT THESE PUNKS INTERRUPTED THAT. THEY INTERRUPTED IT TWICE. FIRST WITH EMERALD. THEN WITH IRON-DICKTATOR’S ULTIMATUM.
I’M SORRY. HOURS IN AND I’M STILL NOT OVER THIS.
My children—I don’t know why they denied you of this moment. I don’t understand. It bothers me so.
It’s been a while I know but I also did a bunch of other projects, joined the RG week, made a few short comics even animations and of course art also… let’s say I kinda started a RG Au that is now 30k words and is supposed to just be a guide in case a make a comic about it… ._.
Anyway is not only 7 pages I’ll post the other 9 pages in a bit ;)
