Nora Should've Become the Winter Maiden

INTRO:

Winter shouldn’t have become the Winter Maiden - Nora should’ve.

Volume 8 is rife with problems, but the one that bothers me most… at least at the moment, is Winter becoming the Maiden. For all of Volume 8, Winter and Penny never interact even once, nor does Winter struggle with her mission of, ya know, killing Penny to take the power. We never know if she’s gung-ho about that mission, or hesitant. Instead, Winter keeps getting sidetracked, whether it’s arresting Yang’s group, or fighting the big dumb whale, or… bombs that ironically hold the power to destroy any climax. Go ahead, make your jokes, because they’re probably more satisfying an ending than Volume 8’s finale.

The finale is filled with baffling choices, like Ruby falling in the middle of everyone despite being the title character, or Jaune being the one to kill Penny despite never having a single significant moment with her prior, or even Penny being made human. That’s not even touching on the fact that three-fourths of the title characters couldn’t be bothered to encounter the Big Bad before she explodes 5 chapters before the actual volume’s finale… okay then.

But the reason Winter becoming the Maiden instead of Nora bothers me most boils down to one thing: the writers not understanding the organic character arcs in front of them. The whole volume, Nora struggles with standing on her own without Ren by her side, and she reflects on the codependent nature of their… let’s be real, it’s not even a relationship, it’s a situationship. But Nora’s need to find herself resonated with a lot of people, myself included. It’s another case of the side characters getting compelling arcs that Team RWBY never gets to enjoy, but that’s for another time. For that issue, I recommend Twiins Iink’s video, “Who’s Even the Main Character Anymore?”

But during the volume, Nora and Penny develop a cute little friendship that’s unexpected, but very welcome, as it’s rooted in both Nora and Penny trying to find their own agency and senses of self in the wake of… the world being on fire.

Now a big reason why I’m making this is because I couldn’t get the idea to work in my Volume 8 rewrite. As much as I love the idea, it just isn’t organic to the new structure I created. As such, I figured I’d give it a little shine in its own video. So we’re going to explain, in depth, why Nora should’ve become the Winter Maiden, beginning with why Winter becoming the Winter Maiden is pointless, and adds nothing to the story.

MAIDEN WINTER IS POINTLESS:

The reveal in Volume 7 that Winter is going to succeed Fria as the Winter Maiden is so clearly a red herring. For those who don’t know, a red herring refers to a trope where you use clues to guide the audience’s expectations one way, with the intention of subverting or breaking those expectations later on. When Winter talked about the privilege of becoming the Winter Maiden, it screamed, “Oh, so she’s not gonna be the Maiden - someone else will get the power in a dramatic moment.” And Volume 7’s finale delivered on that promise with Penny becoming the Maiden.

As a Maiden, Winter would’ve just followed Ironwood’s orders and helped him raise Atlas into space. She does seem to doubt Ironwood throughout Volume 8, but they don’t actually do anything substantial with that until the double cross where she saves Marrow, which… dude, that came right after Harriet told Ironwood how Winter disobeyed orders and let Yang’s group go into the Hell Whale. Why in the fuck is Ironwood still trusting Winter with anything if he’s so paranoid?

But Winter doesn’t actually want the power for any real reason. Weiss talks about how Ironwood groomed Winter’s military career for this purpose, and Winter admits it’s true. But she also talked about making it her own choice now, and though that scene is powerful in explaining Winter’s thought process, it also shows how far she’s willing to go for Ironwood, the new authority figure she’s replaced Jacques with. That’s the fundamental difference between her and Weiss: Winter sought out a new authority figure to follow to replace her old one; Weiss grew past that need and is skeptical of any authority.

This echoes the concept of characters struggling with their needs versus their wants: their exterior goals versus what they actually need internally to grow as people. For Winter, her want is to follow Ironwood’s orders, help him achieve his goals, and do so by using the power of the Winter Maiden, but her need - at least, extrapolated from what we’ve been given - is to realize her need for an authority figure in the first place, why she gravitated towards Ironwood to replace Jacques, and to either move past that, or to take a more active role in deciding who is worthy of her trust and support.

Winter becoming a Maiden doesn’t add anything of value to her story. My friend Maxwell Media Inc. loves this choice for Winter, because his perspective is that Winter wasn’t ready for the power of the Maiden at the end of Volume 7, but she’s grown enough to be worthy at the end of Volume 8. And though I respect that perspective, I don’t agree with that applied to what we’ve been given. Had this been written differently, maybe I would agree, but Winter didn’t really have any substantial growth over the course of Volume 8.

If anything, Winter’s been unravelling ever since Ironwood went to crazy town and became a bigger villain than Salem ever fuckin’ was. Sidenote: damn this show really doesn’t know what morally gray means. Like first Oz is morally gray cuz he lied sometimes, and now Ironwood’s morally gray as he murders councilmen for talking too loud and bombs the poors for funzies. But Winter is seeing she’s lost respect and trust in Ironwood as an authority figure, which should throw into question why she ever wanted the Maiden power in the first place.

Winter being set adrift with no clear way forward would be so interesting to see. Losing Ironwood, Jacques, and Weiss all in the same day, losing any sense of purpose in her function of serving the General of Atlas, and even losing the chance to become the Winter Maiden to give some meaning to it all. Winter would hit rock bottom, and that could force her to question her actions up until this point, and facilitate true change as she reconnects with her mother and brother in Vacuo.

You could argue she could do that as a Maiden, but by giving her the Maiden powers at all, you’re essentially giving her what she wanted without making her go through the steps to realize what her need is. She doesn’t need to struggle with this sense of aimlessness and loss. And while this could be done well in making her question why she wanted these powers, it’s not worth everything that was sacrificed to make it happen.

And to add more salt in the wound, the fact Penny and Winter have no scenes together before this happens makes this feel even more contrived. Like we want Winter to become the Maiden, so we’re warping characters’ motivations, actions, and thought processes to reach that end point. Back in Volume 7, the two of them did have a handful of interesting scenes together, where Winter accidentally revealed that she doesn’t view Penny as a full person, and she made Penny think about what it is she wants versus what Ironwood wants. But those things alone don’t explain why Penny would’ve chosen Winter.

All they’re really good for is Penny deciding to take on the burden of the Winter Maiden, and then telling Ironwood to go fuck himself, but they don’t explain why Penny would think Winter would be the best fit for the power, and the last person in Penny’s thoughts before she died. It would be like if you received this beautiful gift, but you had to decide who to give it to before you passed. Who gets this thing in your will? And instead of a best friend who’s been there by your side, championing you all along, you decide to give it to that one random coworker you had who said one accidentally inspiring thing off the cuff whom you haven’t spoken to or thought about since.

MAIDEN NORA IS EVERYTHING:

All through Volume 7, Nora was the most vocal on trusting Robyn and helping the people of Mantle. Chapter 2, she says the people of Mantle are hurting. Chapter 6, she’s imploring Ironwood to reach out to Robyn and is excited about going to her rally on election night. Chapter 7, she calls out Ironwood about even thinking about declaring martial law and is sick of lying to everyone about Amity and Salem. Chapter 10, we see her on the ground interacting with frightened Mantle citizens and trying to calm them down, while everyone else is focused solely on subduing the Grimm.

Everything here suggests Nora’s story is about caring for the people of Mantle, far more than any of her friends bother to. Again, problems in side characters getting storylines Team RWBY should be getting, especially Blake given the number of Faunus who live in Mantle, but the show forgot the White Fang exists, so for that problem, I recommend my old White Fang video. But for right now, let’s just focus on the fact that Nora is being set up to care about Mantle.

She’s also being given the cold shoulder by Ren, who she’s been inseparable from and in love with since childhood. And though Ren is merely afraid of his own feelings, Nora doesn’t know that - for all she knows, she loves Ren more than Ren loves her, if he even loves her at all, and Ren distancing himself is clearly taking a toll on her emotionally. Hell, he even screams at her when they lose the Lamp when she tries to argue against Ren saying they weren’t ready to be Huntsmen.

So Volume 8 naturally splits them up. Yes, it’s weird that Nora is going to help Ruby’s team with the Amity plan while Ren is focused on evacuating Mantle, given Ren was so focused on the “big picture” Ironwood kept prattling on about in Volume 7, but again, problems for another time. At the very least, it meant Nora getting time to befriend Penny. It starts in Chapter 3, where Nora expresses her frustrations with Ren to Blake and Weiss, and they tell her to focus on herself and doing what only she can do, which then leads into Nora being the most iconic woman in the room, and the one who deserves to be the main character far more than Red-And-Black, Blue and Gray, and White with a bit of Purple.

They even foreshadow the friendship between Nora and Penny by having Nora be the one who’s most anxious on getting outside to help Penny, and Penny rushing to check on Nora when she passes out. Penny even carries Nora into the hangar and lays her down in the airship, suggesting that Penny really cares for Nora and is concerned about her wellbeing. It already starts tying Nora’s storyline into Penny’s while one of them isn’t even conscious. Penny’s apology for what’s happened to Nora especially ties a neat little ribbon on this.

When Nora awakens in the manor, both she and Penny are in the “sick bay” as Judgmental Critter and Twiins call it. When Penny struggles with fighting off the virus, Nora holds her hand and tells her, “It’s just a part of you. Don’t forget about the rest,” a direct quote from what Blake told her. Nora is using what she’s trying to learn to help Penny through her struggle, and they’re literally sitting in the dark together as the Hound wrecks everyone’s shit.

When Ironwood makes his ultimatum, Nora’s still in Weiss’ room, and she looks nervously at an unconscious Penny. This suggests Nora specifically has a significant connection to Penny that’ll be paid off some way later, be it Maiden power succession, or just somehow supporting her later on. And in a way, it does get paid off when Penny tries to flee the manor, and Nora yells, “If you were only a machine you never could’ve fought back for this long!” Followed by one of the most precious hugs ever. Ginger solidarity.

But it’s so clear that Nora and Penny share a strong connection. Though it only started in Volume 8, it already carries a strong weight for their stories, and honestly, Penny seems a lot closer to Nora in Volume 8 than she even deos with Ruby, given Ruby’s too busy… sipping tea in a fancy manor and standing around waiting to get mauled by hellhounds.

Even the editing choices in the finale echo this, with Nora being the one who wants to join the fight. Like this shot early in Chapter 14, where Nora looks as Penny and Weiss try to outrun Cinder, and Jaune has to tell her to focus on the evacuation.

Even in Chapter 13, this shot frames Nora as the main focus, and when she runs off, Cinder enters the frame. That suggests Nora has an importance to what’s about to happen… at least, that’s what the framing tells your brain, cuz in reality I doubt much thought when into this aside from, “Her da der, yeah Nora can fly away while Cinder smirks.”

And then when Jaune tells Nora to get help through the portal, that doesn’t even make sense. You’d think it would be Nora who goes off to help the others, because she’s been the one itching to fight Cinder and protect Penny the whole time. Not to mention Nora’s a stronger combatant than Jaune, and she can clear more distance given she can suddenly fly on Maghnhild. She’d probably fly off to fight Cinder once everyone was through the door before Jaune could even say anything to her.

That would also eliminate the weird, “There’s no time” thing when Penny says Jaune should stop healing her and kill her, cuz… dude, he’s a healer, calm down. Even the fact it was Jaune to kill Penny, again, makes no sense, because Jaune has no established connection to Penny. There’s no emotional payoff here. It should’ve been Nora, or Ruby, or literally anyone who’s had an emotional moment with Penny beforehand who’s routinely been with her. When I say Jaune stole the spotlight yet again, this is why - there was no reason for Jaune to have killed Penny, and it adds nothing to the story aside from more needless Jaune angst. I thought we were done with this when he mourned Pyrrha in Volume 6, but I guess we always need more of it.

And when you think about it, Nora getting trapped in… whatever the hell the beach is would be more interesting than Jaune. It forces a potentially long separation between her and Ren, and whatever awaits the girls in what I assume is some alternate dimension, it could be used to build on Nora’s desire to find herself and stand on her own.

There’s also the fact Nora becoming the Maiden connections to previous threads, like Pyrrha wanting to become the Fall Maiden, only to lose the power and be murdered by Cinder shortly thereafter. By becoming the Winter Maiden, Nora is in a way honoring the last wishes of her fallen friend, and avenging her by going after Cinder.

Not to mention in terms of fights, it could make Nora’s fighting style so much more interesting by giving her access to magic. Maiden magic is boring given they all have the same elemental powers, yes - as I mention in my the Four Maidens Represent Nothing video - but at least this way, Nora would get to wield all the pink lightning her heart desires to fuel her Semblance whenever she wants. You know when Thor goes full Odin Mode in Thor Ragnarok? Imagine that, but pink, and you get Winter Maiden Nora. It’s everything.

Now with all my arguments about why this would be fire said, we’re going to work a little rewrite magic. The last section will be a rewrite of the finale to integrate Nora gaining the Winter Maiden powers, so… strap yourselves in, fam, we’re in for a ride.

FINAL BATTLE REWRITE:

So going into this, we’re not gonna bother trying to adjust all the problems with the rest of the volume, because… well for one we’ll be here all day, but also doing that resulted in my Volume 8 Rewrite videos. So… nah. We’re gonna be keeping everything from canon intact, for better or worse, except for one thing: we’re not making Penny a “real girl.” She already is a real girl, and she proved that by getting the Maiden power in the first place. She’s never expressed a desire to become a gross flesh person, and Ruby even said back in Volume 2, “You think just because you’ve got nuts and bolts instead of fleshy guts makes you any less real than me?”

I’m not gonna bother with specifics for this here, but I wanna mention that Penny is going into the finale still a robot, but virus-free, albeit still weakened from the volume’s events and slightly damaged. The fight, likewise, is mostly the same. We’re not focusing on adjusting all the annoying subplots like Winter v. Ironwood, or desert bat fight, or the goddamn bombing of an empty city nonsense, because I refuse to waste as much time as the end of Volume 8 did.

That said, while Yang does fall first, from there the order is going to change, along with who falls. When Blake moves to save Ruby, they both don’t fall. Instead, Blake throws Ruby up onto a platform while she falls, sacrificing herself, and possibly mouthing, “They need you.” Cinder’s pissed, but before Cinder can attack Ruby again, Weiss shoots at her with tears in her eyes.

When we cut to Jaune and Nora, Nora tells Jaune to get help, cuz she’s through waiting, and she jumps in to join Ruby, Weiss, and Penny against Cinder, where Ruby picks up the blade part of Gambol Shroud instead of Weiss. Cinder senses Salem’s return, sends out the fire to knock them back, then stabs Penny with the Grimm arm, only for Weiss to distract Cinder for a bit. Ruby tends to Penny while Nora says she’s gonna head through the portal to get Jaune so he can heal her.

Penny tells Ruby there’s not enough time. There’s no way Jaune will get back here before Cinder kills them all and takes the power, and she asks Ruby to kill her so she can give her the power. Ruby cries, saying she can’t do it. She can’t do this to one of her best friends, and even if she could, she doesn’t want the power. Penny pleads, saying that she’ll always be with Ruby even when she’s gone, and that she already has another person in mind in that case. If Ruby honors Penny’s wish, Penny will honor Ruby’s.

Tears in her eyes, Ruby complies, using Gambol Shroud to stab Penny as she cries out. We then cut to Nora, who’s about to run through the door to Vacuo before everything goes white. She’s confused, but sees Penny in the distance, with her human feet. It’s here we see the human version of Penny, proving she’s been human all along, as Allison Are You suggested in the Volume 8 podcast she guest starred in with Twiins Iink and Judgmental Critter. Thank you, Allison!

Nora realizes what this means, but Penny says it’s okay. This is what she wanted. Through all this chaos, it was Nora who told Penny she was her own person; that she had agency, and the virus was just a part of who she was. Even her strength during their mission into the military compound showed Penny the kind of strength she always wanted to embody. Nora says she’s just a clumsy oaf who’s trying to find herself, to which Penny says, “Well, when you find her, you’re going to be in awe of her jus like I am now.” Am I still crying from Sirs & Madams’ “Boop Too”? Yes. Yes I am.

If this is what Penny wants, Nora says yes. She would be honored to take on the responsibility as both the Winter Maiden, and the Protector of Mantle. We cut back to reality, where Nora stops at the door, and echoing back to Penny opening her eyes as we cut between her and Oscar in Volume 7’s finale, we cut between Nora opening her eyes and Cinder demanding Ruby where the power went. And guess what? NORA MAIDEN EYES ARE PINK, BITCHES. PINK AURA FLAMES, maybe with some pink electric sparks too?

Nora rushes back into the fight and attacks Cinder, showing us just how powerful she truly is with pink lightning storms and blizzards, and maybe even recreating Penny’s swords with various elements to honor her, kinda like when Velvet used her Semblance to mimic Penny’s swords, but cooler. During this fight, Nora’s voice echoes, “This is for Penny. This is for Pyrrha. This is for Blake and Yang. This is for everyone I love you’ve hurt.”

All the while, Ruby carries Weiss to the portal. Elsewhere, Winter has managed to outsmart Ironwood - “strength will never bring victory” - and rushes through the portal, witnessing the chaos and seeing an injured Weiss being carried by Ruby. The Staff falls like before, but Cinder gets an idea when she spots Winter, and goes, “The people you love, huh? Who said I was done hurting them?”

We get the whole explosion thing on the bridge just before Ruby and Weiss reach the door, where Weiss falls into the void while Ruby barely manages to hang on. Winter cries out for Weiss, but Nora can’t make it in time, and Weiss vanishes. Everyone is in shock, and Cinder retrieves the Staff and laughs her ass off. At Salem’s scream, Ruby asserts they have to go… NOW. And Winter screams, “You are going to pay for everything you’ve done!”

Winter rushes through the door, as does Nora, but Ruby’s Aura being broken means she can’t use her Semblance. Maybe we can cheat the rules and have her glitch in and out of it, but it’ll be even more painful as Nora screams out for Ruby as she goes through the door, and Ruby just barely misses it as it disappears, and she falls into darkness.

Nora cries at the door like we see in canon, but she then gets up, and looks back angrily at the camera with the Maiden eyes, blows back the Grimm, and GOES. TO. TOWN. Originally I wanted Nora to fall onto wannabe Destiny Islands too to find herself in the… spirit world, I guess? But the more I thought about it, they’d need the Winter Maiden more in Vacuo, and it’d be interesting to see what Nora’s been up to when we get back to her. Plus, it means only Team RWBY is on the island with Neo - a chance for the main characters to actually be main characters?! Unbelievable!

And though I hate the thought of Penny dying again, we could go the extra mile of having Pietro sacrifice himself to bring Penny back one last time. Giving up his life so his daughter can live, but this time without the burden of the Maiden power on her shoulders. I don’t know, but Penny deserved better, fam.

CONCLUSION & OUTRO:

So… yeah. Winter Maiden Nora is everything, and we were fucking robbed. Lowkey, this idea has been tumbling about the back of my mind for a while now, and that “Boop Too” fan song I mentioned earlier actually sparked me wanting to make this into a full video. It’s nice to have fun making RWBY videos again, even if the fandom is… yeah. In any case, I hope you all enjoyed! And if you love the way canon turned out - if you love Winter as the Winter Maiden - please know I’m not trying to take that away from you or say you’re wrong for enjoying it. I just don’t agree, and we should all be free to discuss our feelings without being called scum for it.

In any case, if you did enjoy this video and would like to see more content like this from me, then be sure to subscribe and ring that bell for notifications to stay informed of when it’s coming, because YouTube hates creators. And if you’d like to support myself and the channel, then you can pledge your support over on Patreon, as well as preorder my upcoming debut urban fantasy novel, De Cineribus: From the Ashes, over on Amazon or wherever else you get your books!

I’m the Unicorn of War, and Winter Maiden Nora would unleash the most glorious pink shit show the world has ever fucking seen.