lesson 2.2 - vonnegut Flashcards | Quizlet

Theories and Overanalyses with Metas and Exspiro
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This analysis of Red Like Roses will focus on the lyrics of the aforementioned song with a focus on their relation to foreshadowing. I would analyze the rest but unfortunately, I am not musically inclined. I will be analyzing and dissecting this as though I would a poem as songs and poems have little differences. Now it is worth noting most of my experience with poetry concerns translating classical Latin poetry.
Before getting to the song I must outline a couple of rules that are important to further conjecture. (Many may know all of these but I would like to ensure that this is accessible to anyone, even those brand new to the community)

1. (I apologize about how painfully obvious this may be) Characters and teams have color names. https://rwby.fandom.com/wiki/Color_Naming_Rule
2. Every character in the show references or alludes to another character in something else.
3. A character may allude to one character but allude to an entirely different one depending on the frame of reference. i.e. Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck alludes to Bartholomew from Dr. Seuss's book Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Meanwhile Professor Peter Port alludes to Peter in the tale Peter and the Wolf. However if one was to ponder what the characters Dr. Oobleck, Professor Port, and their colleague Professor Peach reference one may find that they instead distinctly allude to Luigi, Mario, and Princess Peach respectively from the Mario video game franchise.

Now to get to the song. The lyrics in case you don't have them memorized:

Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest.
White is cold and always yearning burdened by a royal test.
Black the beast descends from shadows.
Yellow beauty burns... Gold.

First, after this point in the post, we will assume the bolded colors reference their corresponding characters in Team RWBY. For a bit of a twist, we will not be doing the lines in order.
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Yellow:
Beauty. Burns. Gold. It seems like such a small simple line. Don't let it trick you. I'm going to start by breaking these down.
Starting with the word "beauty" which has a plethora of meanings, synonyms, and symbols. Beauty can be symbolically associated with: innocence, allure, style, red, gold, roses. It could also be much more directly associated with the character "Beauty" from Beauty and the Beast. The symbols of innocence, red, and roses are easily representative of Ruby. While allure and style are more applicable to Yang or her love interest. For the sake of this post, we will be assuming that Blake fits that role.
Onto dissecting "Burns" which has many synonyms: heat, ignite, incinerate. The core thing to note however is the affiliation with fire which has prominent symbolism in itself. Fire can symbolize both the forces of creation and destruction, an eternal flame, birth and resurrection, spiritual enlightenment, sexuality, passion, and martyrdom.
Gold happens to be both a metal and a color both possessing relevant meanings: flexibility, immutability, vitality, light. It also relates directly to greed and the solar system. Light and solar system correlate with Yang's name. Flexibility and immutability are just different words for Yang's stubbornness and adaptability.
An interesting thing of note is that all of these have some symbolisms that are the opposite of their others.
Now for some interpretations of these. Something that struck me is that both beauty and gold have reflexive symbolism. They can refer to each other and they could also refer to Yang. Yang burns... Yang. Sounds a bit silly but bear with me. In Latin poetry for example, sometimes a poet will create an image with the words he uses. For example, if something takes place in a dark cave, he will put dark at the very start of the sentence and cave at the far end; this creates the effect that the entire sentence is occurring inside of the dark cave. Yang burns inside of Yang, perhaps. Hmmm, A burning (passion) occurs within Yang. I think this interpretation does lend to Yang's thrill-seeking. These are also brought to mind:

"The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long." -Lao Tzu, Te Tao Ching
"Burn the candle at both ends" -English Idiom

Another interpretation could be that Ruby burns... Yang being separate, unable to stop it. From Yang's perspective, Ruby is innocent and she feels responsible for her protection. This bears a direct relation to both Yang's view on family and her "Momma Bear" trait.
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Black:
Now we have a beast descending from shadows. More direct and a little less poetic than the last one.
Beast is a very loaded word in the context of RWBY. First time I heard it I thought: Grimm. We also have Faunus, which could have beast being used as a reference/derogatory term. Then we have The Beast, as in Beauty and The Beast. Beast can also refer to a more primal evil or demon, but that is kind of covered by Grimm.
Next, for Blake we have shadows and she just happens to have shadow clones. Shadows could refer to Blake's semblance or literal darkness. It may also mean that the occurrence is merely unexpected. There are also many symbolisms related to evil, however, I am going to say that these are less relevant as Blake is a protagonist who utilizes the shadows.
For descends it is important only to know its definitions: Move down spatially. Originate or come from. Swoop or Pounce. To lower or worsen status.
Now several interpretations include Adam as the Beast fittingly. Adam descends in status after Blake( the shadows). This is an event that has occurred throughout all 6 volumes of the show. It is particularly well illustrated by the Adam short for Volume 6.
Grimm unexpectedly attacking could be a good illustration of Blake's trials. This is not necessarily illustrating the actual trials, but rather Blake's perception of them. She did grow up with a wealthy loving family and yet she has always viewed herself as having to struggle against the odds to survive. It also illustrates actual situations where they have to unexpectedly face Grimm, such as the fall of Beacon.
The Faunus society leaves the shadows. Blake has always striven to progress the Faunus situation. We see this when she first tells Sun of her past in Volume 1. We see some enormous progress towards her goals when she brings the people of Menagerie to stop Adam's White Fang in Volume 5. At Haven, we also see the people of Menagerie literally coming out of shadows to join society. Blake even takes the first step out of the shadows for the Faunus people when she removes her bow in Volume 4.
Then we have Adam pouncing on Blake to destroy her when we least expect it. The 2 most important and memorable times are at the fall of Beacon and at Argus. Just when we think things couldn't get any worse, Adam shows up almost as if he was drawn to the situation the same way as the beasts known as Grimm are. He latches onto Blake like a predator would pounce on its prey, and refuses to let anything come between them and destruction.
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Bumblebee: (Theory)
What? You didn't read the Bumblebee line? Well here it is:

Black the Beast descends from shadows.
Yellow Beauty burns... Gold.

Beauty and the Beast anyone? Just to reiterate Blake is Beauty. Who is the Beast? Well, it's Adam of course, but it's also Yang, sometimes. (Rule 3) I stated that a character can represent a different character in a different frame of reference. Alone she is Goldilocks; with Belle, she is the Beast.
Both Beasts pounce unexpectedly. The Old Beast Adam shows up at the fall of Beacon to unexpectedly cause hardship. Shortly afterward out of the shadows comes the New Beast Yang to save Blake. Later at Argus, the same events occur with a different outcome. Furthering this we found out that both Beasts have extraordinarily similar semblances. Both creating energy from pain only Adam refuses to feel and grow from his pain.
Blake burns away... while Yang tries to provide safety. I am reminded of the scene in Volume 2 where Yang convinces Blake to stop burning herself out.
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White:
"Cold and always yearning" merely describes Weiss's personality. The large thing to note is the "always" meaning that she will likely stay cold and yearning at least on a basic level of her personality, even if she has warmed some.
Now we wonder why exactly the Royal Test burdens Weiss, but that is not the real question here: What is the Royal Test? We don't know. We can theorize though. The first place to start is: To what might the Royal Test allude? First off I'm making a distinction between royalty and nobility, the former being the royal family and the latter being the aristocracy. Now what sort of tests have rulers had to pass? I'm not going to name all of them because I can't if someone thinks of an important one that I missed then tell me. However, every individual test is not what is important rather what is being tested and how.
A famous and beloved story of a ruler being tested is that of King Arthur pulling the sword from the stone. This test has the ruler proving his worthiness to rule before God through a magical test. This seems unlikely to be in RWBY for many reasons starting with the Gods having literally left Remnant and ending with the fact that hunters and huntresses generally create their own unique non-magical weapons.
There is also the legend of the Gordian Knot. Alexander the Great undoes an impossible knot by cleverly cheating. A ruler could overcome an impossible test with their cleverness by cheating or by changing the rules of said task. Although Weiss is clever this doesn't seem to be her style to me.
The Praetorian, guards of the Roman emperor, did install several emperors themselves. This would be an example of ruling via conspiracy. This is much more like Ozpin's or Jacques's methods than Weiss's.
Other tests may include wars, divine right, election, and selection by the aristocracy.
The Magna Carta is my favorite royal test for this situation. The Feudal Lords of England got together and drew up a contract of sorts for the king to agree to. By agreeing to the Magna Carta he agreed to stop trampling over the rights of his subjects. This seems to me to be very much the sort of test that we may see Weiss put through especially given the state of the SDC. On top of that the rights of the downtrodden do seem to be something of a burden to Weiss.
If I have missed or forgotten a detail about our information on the Royal Test please inform me.
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Red:
Red like roses, has two interpretations that I have thought of. An easy interpretation is that it is a simile comparing an object to being the color. The imagery evokes the color of blood supported further by the word 'fills'. As this 'red' fills dreams so does our blood fill our bodies. Another interpretation is that Ruby is like Roses. As in Ruby being akin to her ancestors on her mother's side. Ruby got her silver eyes from her mother who got them from her ancestors. Silver eyes are essentially the mark of a warrior or hunter if not a hero. By this, we gather that the Rose family has been a family of warriors for as long as they have had silver eyes. This may be saying that Ruby is like her heroic heritage.
Dreams for the most part likely refer to either Ruby's unconscious or Ruby's aspirations.
The place you rest is in my eyes referencing death. As the show has gone on more options for whom 'you' references have surfaced, unfortunately. Ruby may be being brought to the place her mother rests; this is supported by our view of her grave just before we are shown Salem for the first time. Ruby may also be headed for where Penny and/or Pyrrha rests. She may also be going to the place where her heroic ancestors rest. 'You' may also be much more broad stroke referring to all those who now rest in the grave.
How about another version of rests? Evil never dies it merely rests. If one slices through a Grimm it is gone, but there will always be more. Salem orchestrates schemes behind the scenes even when she can rest for centuries without dying. Ozpin is perceived by many on a scale anywhere from misguided to more evil than Salem. Ozma similarly never dies. The Grimm Brothers are also perceived by some as evil and are resting on another world/plane/universe.
I have thought of the 4 following interpretations of the presented facts:
Ruby unconsciously seeks vengeance against those who have caused death.
Ruby endeavors to be a hero for those she has lost.
Ruby is growing into the legacy of her ancestors.
As a hero, Ruby acts to stop even the undying evil of old.
There is one problem with the first two possibly even three, however, and it is illustrated with the following quote. "...but we have to try. If not for us than for the people we have already... than for the people we haven't lost yet." (That comes from Volume 4 Episode 12 in Ruby's letter to Yang).
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Weapons:
Weapons are very core to everything RWBY. Fittingly each of these lines mentions the characters' primary weapon. Ruby has her rose or Crescent Rose mentioned. Blake has shadows mentioned which both her Gambol Shroud and shadow clones are. Yang's Ember Celica are mentioned by the word burns. Yang is also seen to temper her rage in combat similarly to how a blacksmith may temper metal like Gold. Weiss's is a little harder to see, but her Glyphs are mentioned by the word burdened. After all, Weiss does use her Glyphs to bear people's burdens, oftentimes lifting them aloft through platforms or summons. Her semblance is also a burden to her in that it connects her with the Schnee name which for many has become far too loaded with extra meaning.
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Theory:
Supposing these lyrics are still important and impactful, I believe that this song is a good illustration of how the title characters' journey and growth has and will progress. Finding the right interpretations could in this case even let us predict some of the coming events. We may be able to foresee future character growth or predict the direction it will take.
I would like to in general provide more than one theory because of the very nature of theories and because I usually have quite a few, but in this case, it is less about the theories and more about the interpretations provided.
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Now here is what I ask of you. Tell us your thoughts, theories, insights, and wild ideas. The point of this post was not for me to just tell the readers a bunch of thoughts but to spark discussion on it. That being said I would also appreciate critique of the format, flow, and general idea here. We do plan on posting more of these (hopefully with more consistent formatting).
In case anyone missed it, this is part of a collaborative project between myself, Exspiro_V_Cremantam , and Metas_M_Petivero .
If you have read all of this I would like to wish you a great day even if you do not have any feedback. 😁