“Legends;
stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the
exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants,
byproducts of a forgotten past.”1 Throughout humanity’s history, we
have told and written stories meant to grasp the attention of young and old
alike. We have done so through the use of universal archetypes, and common
narratives. Rooster Teeth’s online animated series RWBY is no different on that front. The series, created by Monty
Oum, follows the lives of protagonists Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake
Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long as they train to become huntresses to fight the
creatures of Grimm; fearsome monsters that are created whenever fear and doubt
is present. And even if there are slight differences here and there, the female
protagonists from RWBY bear an uncanny resemblance to the characters of Little
Red Cap, the Snow Queen, Beauty (as well as the Beast), and Rapunzel,
respectively, from classic fairy tales from around the world.
To
start off, let’s compare the traits of Ruby Rose, the leader of Team RWBY, and
Little Red Cap from the Brothers Grimm’s Little Red Cap. While the two
bear striking resemblances to each other in attributes other than this, the
first and most obvious is that of appearance.
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| From left to right: references 2 & 3 |
The most obvious
similarity appearance wise is the presence of the trademark red hood. While the
origin of Ruby’s red hood is never brought to light, Little Red’s was gifted to
her by her grandmother ("Once she [her grandmother] gave her a little red
velvet cap, which was so becoming to her that she wanted to wear anything else,
and that was why everyone called her Little Red Cap."4).
Because of this similarity, one of the main antagonists from the RWBY series,
Roman Torchwick, occasionally refers to Ruby as “Little Red”, further reinforcing
this connection. They are both also given a distinction among the people
surrounding them; their age, which is apparent in their appearance as well as
other attributes. Little Red Cap is described as a "dear little girl whom
everyone loved,” though her age is never actually specified.5
Ruby, following in those same archetypal steps, is only fifteen years old as
opposed to her peers who are seventeen years of age or above.6 This
age gap provides both of them with some issues, Ruby’s in the form of a
childish nature and a lack of social grace, and Little Red’s in the form of
childish naivety and foolishness.
Moving
past the superficial, similarities continue to crop up around the two of them.
In Ruby’s trailer, rose petals are featured heavily in many areas, including
but not limited to, flowing off of her red hood to substitution for what would
otherwise be a fairly gory amount of bloodshed.7 And while this may
seem to be a minor observation, in the Grimm story, flowers are of large
significance as well. Flowers in Little Red Cap’s story are what cause her to
stray from her path in the woods, allowing the wolf to reach her grandmother
before she does.
Speaking
of wolves, they crop up in both narratives as well. In Little Red Cap, a
wolf is seen as the main antagonist who ends up consuming both the girl’s
grandmother and Little Red Cap herself. The wolf is eventually slain by a
hunter who was passing by the grandmother’s house and the two are rescued.8
In Ruby’s trailer, however, the tables are flipped slightly. Wolf-like
creatures of Grimm, Beowolves, are shown to be attacking Ruby, and she herself
fights back against them, taking on the role that the hunter plays in the
traditional story. Later on in the series, it is revealed that she is training
to become a huntress, a form of defense against the creatures of Grimm that
protect the people of Remnant from them.9
Though
the similarities between Ruby and Little Red Cap are striking, the similarities
between Weiss Schnee and the Snow Queen from Hans Christian Andersen’s The
Snow Queen are even more so. As we did previously, we will start with the
matter of appearance.
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| From left to right: references 10 & 11 |
The color schemes for
both Weiss and the Snow Queen are very similar, consisting mostly of ice blues,
silvers, and whites, and both are drawn as strikingly beautiful women. In the
Snow Queen’s case, she is also described in her story as “A young lady, dressed
in the finest white gauze, made of a million little flakes like stars. She was
so beautiful and delicate, but she was of ice, of dazzling, sparkling ice; yet
she lived,” a description which can be applied to Weiss’ attire as well as her
own.12 One other physical similarity is the fact that they both wear
tiara-like headpieces that almost appear to be made of icicles, though Weiss’
is visibly smaller than that of the Snow Queen.
Along
with their physical similarities, they have similar abilities as well. Weiss,
with the help of her rapier and a substance referred to as Dust, has the
ability to control many elements including time, fire, ice, and many more
during combat using glyphs, manifestations of her power in the physical world
in the form of geometric patterns wherever she wishes them to be; they work as
a sort of channel for her power so that the elements are concentrated on the
area she wants it to be as opposed to letting them run amuck.13 The
Snow Queen, on the other hand, is the literal personification of the winter
season and, thus, has the ability to control everything that the season
entails, including the bitter cold wind, ice, and many other pieces that make
winter what it is.
Furthering
the similarities between these two, the Snow Queen’s palace is described to be
“empty, vast, and cold just like her,” leading the reader to believe that the
Snow Queen is a cold figure in every sense of the word and represents not only
the beauty, but also the lethality of the winter season.14 Weiss is
“irritable and confident in her abilities, though also acknowledges her
deficiencies and the need to hone her skills further,” and “her confidence in
her skills and intellect often comes off as arrogance to others.15”
She is also fairly snobbish and uptight, but she has a beautiful heart under
the wall she put up to protect her from the outside world. This façade leads a
lot of people to believe that Weiss is also a very cold person, though for the
most part it is just residual snobbery from her upbringing as the heiress to a
major company.
Along
with all of these connections, a fairly easy one to make is the connection
between Weiss’ sigil and the predominant feature of the Snow Queen and her
castle. Weiss’ sigil that she wears on the back of her jacket depicts a
snowflake, the universal symbol of the winter season. The Snow Queen, while
being the personification of the winter season herself, features ice crystals
and snow predominantly inside her castle, as well as in her own attire. However,
even though that previous connection was the easiest thus far to make, the
easiest one is this; Weiss has been nicknamed “Ice Queen” by the characters of
Sun Wukong, Roman Torchwick, and Jaune Arc in the show itself, providing an
irrefutable link between the two characters.
While
the previous characters bore resemblance to one character in particular, the
character of Blake Belladonna is an abnormality in that, instead of one
character, she bears likeness to the character of Beauty, as well as to the
character of Beast, in the Jeanne-Marie LePrince de
Beaumont story Beauty and the Beast.
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| From left to right: references 16 & 17 |
Blake
and the Beast from the original tale are a textbook example of the phrase “appearances
can be deceiving,” but in opposing ways. Beast is portrayed as a hideous
monster, but beneath the monstrous exterior is actually a wonderful prince who
was cursed to be appalling aesthetically. He hides this fact, however, in order
to make sure Beauty would love him for who he was as opposed to just his looks.18
Blake masquerades in a very different way; she masquerades as a normal human,
when in reality she is a separate race referred to as a Faunus. This race
appears to be half human, half animal, and often presents itself in a person by
giving them some sort of animal appendage, such as a monkey tail or, in Blake’s
case, cat ears that she hides with her bow. However, her masquerade is similar
to Beast’s in that she pretends to be a normal human to avoid ridicule from
fellow classmates, as well as judgement from her friends.19
In
this same general vein, Blake and Beast are similar due to the shared
experience of prejudice against them from the public. In Blake’s trailer, the
words “stripped of all rights, just a lesser being; crushed by cruel, ruthless
human rule” are heard, alluding to the prejudice and hatred for the Faunus by
ignorant individuals in the world who do not understand differences.20 Because
of this prejudice against them, many Faunus have been hurt and killed by people
who just do not understand. Beast was cursed by an evil fairy, leaving him in
such a state that no woman would ever take him for a husband. This leads the
reader to believe that, during the course of the story, he has tried to court women
in the beastly state he was left in by the fairy, and has been turned down
because of his looks.
One
final nail in the proverbial coffin for the similarities between these two are
the words that are heard in not Blake’s trailer, but Ruby’s trailer. In the
trailer, many analogies are made for the various members of the RWBY squad,
among them “black the beast descends from shadows,” alluding to the fact that
Blake is a hidden beast, much like Beast is in the original tale.21
Blake
and Beauty have many similarities as well, beginning, of course, aesthetically.
Both are depicted as beautiful women; simple as that. However, the similarities
run far deeper than that. One immediate link between the two is an object that
featured in Ruby’s trailer, as well in both Blake’s and Beauty and the Beast;
roses. Roses are featured in the background of Blake’s trailer for almost the
entire duration, and, much like in Ruby’s, they are also used for varying
purposes (simulation of blood spray, a show of great speed, etc.).22
In the fairy tale, when Beauty’s father goes away, he asks all his children
what they would like for him to bring back for them. While her siblings ask for
gaudy material belongings, Beauty asks simply for a single rose and for his
safe return. It is this rose that ends up getting her father in trouble with
the Beast when he tries to take one from his castle garden. This single object
was what set the entire tale in motion, so naturally it should be marked for
its importance in both the tale, as well as in Blake’s trailer.
Other
similarities continue to crop up as well; for example, when Blake is first introduced
in the series, she is seen reading a book, suggesting a thirst for knowledge.
In Beauty and the Beast, when Beauty’s father was still wealthy, he “spared
no cost for her education,” and when she was taken to Beast’s castle, she was
put up in an apartment that contained a “large library, a harpsicord, and
several music books,” which shows that the two women share an interest in books
as well as knowledge.23
Along
with their thirst for knowledge came an understanding of differences, which
resulted in a strong sense of moral justice for both characters. For Blake,
regardless of whether they are Faunus or not, she treats everyone equally. She
also despises those who judge and discriminate based on prejudices, especially
those based on someone’s race. She is more than willing to fight for what she
believes in as well, and often does, though almost never through physical
confrontation.24 Beauty’s moral compass is slightly different,
though she does still have a very distinct sense of right and wrong, as shown
when she offers herself up to take her father’s place at the Beast’s castle to
save him from the torment she would have caused him in asking for a rose. This
trait also shows distinctly when she is speaking to Beast and says “Among
mankind, there are many that deserve that name more than you, and I prefer you,
just as you are, to those, who, under a human form, hide a treacherous,
corrupt, and ungrateful heart.”25
While Blake encompasses the characters of both Beauty and the Beast, the character of Yang Xiao Long is a good example of a character that, while based in the same general character, has elements from varying versions of that character. Yang is based off the character of Rapunzel from the tale Rapunzel, written by the Brothers Grimm, but contains distinct elements from the same character that was written in the Walt Disney Studios film, Tangled.
While Blake encompasses the characters of both Beauty and the Beast, the character of Yang Xiao Long is a good example of a character that, while based in the same general character, has elements from varying versions of that character. Yang is based off the character of Rapunzel from the tale Rapunzel, written by the Brothers Grimm, but contains distinct elements from the same character that was written in the Walt Disney Studios film, Tangled.
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| Top (from left to right): references 26 & 27 Bottom: reference 28 |
The
most obvious connection between the characters of Yang and Rapunzel comes from
their appearance. Yang is classically beautiful, with long blonde hair and a voluptuous
body. Rapunzel, in the original tale was described with “magnificent long hair,
fine as spun gold,” and it was said that she “grew into the most beautiful
child under the sun.29” However, these attributes are not just as
they appear. Yang uses her long, golden hair to channel her semblance, which is
power you can use during battle, so naturally she is very protective of it. In
fact, in her trailer, an enemy is seen to have ripped out a chunk of her hair
and she ends up pummeling him through the glass of a window.30 In
the original tale of Rapunzel, she just had extremely long hair that was used
as the only mode of transportation in and out of the tower where she was held. In
Tangled, however, Rapunzel’s hair possesses healing qualities that she
can activate by singing a special song. These healing qualities managed to keep
Mother Gothel (her mother figure) young far past when she should have been.31
Another
character trait that both Rapunzel and Yang share is that of kindness. Yang,
when possible, is incredibly nurturing to her sister. She is also sympathetic
to the Faunus, and has a fairly optimistic view on life, for the most part.32
Rapunzel from the Disney adaptation has a very optimistic view in life, as
well, hoping to one day see the lanterns that are released on her birthday
every year by the king and queen, and convincing herself that if she believes,
she will someday be able to go. She is also friendly to Pascal and Maximus, and
kind to the thugs and citizens she meets during her journey to the kingdom.33
One
area in which the two differ slightly is their intellectual maturity. Despite
her fun-loving demeanor and young age, Yang is “deceptively mature, insightful
and worldly-wise, and is capable of holding a serious discussion at length and
offering intelligent, thoughtful advice.34” However, due to her
isolation, in both the Disney adaptation and the original tale, Rapunzel does
not have much world knowledge because of her lack of experience in normal
society. This does not mean that she
is not intelligent, though. She is intelligent in both versions, and can
certainly hold her own against obstacles that cross her path.
One
thing is for certain for both characters, however; they do not need a “Prince
Charming” character to save them from their fates. Yang is more than capable of
battling her own dragons and is being trained with the rest of the RWBY squad to
do so. In the original tale, Rapunzel ends up saving her prince with her tears,
curing his blindness, after setting out to look for him in the woods when he
failed (spectacularly) to save her; in Tangled, Rapunzel ties up the prince
character (Flynn Rider) and interrogates him when she first meets him. And
while the two of them do end up
falling in love, Rapunzel brings him back to life in this version, again, with
her tears, effectively saving him.
The
lesson that we can all take from the RWBY series is how to be our own heroes.
Though we cannot train to literally fight monsters, we can face our demons and
become warriors in our own right. Rooster Teeth took the Little Red Cap, Snow
Queen, Beauty (and Beast), and Rapunzel archetypes for a spin with their
characters of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long,
and yet they still very much fall under those categories; they are not by any
means unrecognizable. These characters help to illustrate the underlying lesson
of the series as a whole. RWBY is dramatic, gritty, and dark at times, but this
only helps to emphasize the point that only we can save ourselves; because, in
the words of Blake herself, “the real world is not the same as a fairy tale.”
