Ruby Rose And Michael Kaiser: Two Growing Roses

Ruby Rose and Michael Kaiser: Two Growing Roses

I don't know about you but Kaiser shares things in common with Ruby and in a way Kaiser is what Ruby would have been if she hadn't received love from her family and friends in her life.

I'm quite aware that many think that Ruby is more like Kunigami and Kaiser is more like Mercury and Cinder but as I watched their arcs I couldn't help but notice how they are more similar than it seems and that's because Ruby and Kaiser are the same person under different circumstances.

To begin with, Ruby and Kaiser's struggle is rooted in their respective relationships with their families. To begin with, they had to deal with enormous pain at a very young age caused by the disappearance of their mothers:

On the one hand Ruby was raised in an unstable family environment where her mother went on a mission and never returned which caused her family to break down: her father Tai was consumed by depression, Yang had to be a surrogate mother for Ruby although she was also a girl who suffers from the abandonment of Raven, and Qrow, despite being the most stable figure for Ruby, he already had a history of having a semblance of bad luck that he cannot control and that he comes from a family of bandits but Summer's disappearance was the straw that broke the camel's back and he ended up sinking into alcoholism but despite everything all of them continued to love Ruby and tried to do everything possible to stay together as a family.

On the other hand, Kaiser grew up in a completely broken family: his father was a film director and his mother was a famous actress, they both fell in love and Kaiser was born as a result of that relationship, but his mother abandons them to continue with her acting career and his father is so submerged by pain to the point that he becomes an alcoholic, loses his prestige as a director and vents all his anger and pain on his son to the point of telling him that himself (Kaiser's father) and Kaiser's mother are worth less but that Kaiser doesn't even have value.

Both situations are quite different but the effect it caused on both is practically the same: Ruby and Kaiser see themselves as a burden and want to compensate their existence by being special.

Ruby witnesses her suffering from the loss of her mother, which is why she ends up seeing herself as a burden and wanting to be a copy of her mother, not only because she admires her and wants to emulate her to feel that somehow Summer still alive, but she also empathizes with her family and wants to ease the pain they have from losing Summer.

Kaiser sees himself as less than human and witnessing violence and insults throughout his childhood which makes him unable Kaiser is unable to empathize with others, interacts with people through violenceand ends up believing that in order to feel that he is valuable and not a burden he has to take away the value of others.

Even the mere fact that they both look like their mothers only makes them both view their own existence as less: Ruby feels like she has to be Summer's copy to make up for her lack but knows she can never replace her. Because of the way Kaiser's father treated him, Kaiser subconsciously internalizes that he can never be a human (in other words he can never make up for his mother's absence or be loved by his father) because to his own father Kaiser is worth less than himself (Kaiser's father) and his mother (and there are even indications that Kaiser's father probably hated him because of the resemblance Kaiser has to his mother and that made him remember her and increased his pain for abandoning him after having Kaiser).

They have rose motifs and the reason is because of their mothers: Summer left her rose emblem as a symbol of love for her daughters, Kaiser's mother abandoned him and his father and the only thing she left behind was a blue rose that Kaiser's father keeps it as a souvenir of her, becoming a reminder of lack of love.

As I said before, Ruby and Kaiser have rose motifs only that Ruby's motifs focus on the petals and Kaiser's motifs focus on the thorns, this shows that despite being opposites they still have similarities between them just like the petals and thorns are different parts of the rose but they are still parts of the same flower.

Also the fact that their rose motifs are different is because Ruby received love which makes her develop kindness while Kaiser only received hate which makes him develop his malice. This shaped the way they both seek to compensate for their existence:

Ruby compensate her existence by being the huntress who helps and protects everyone with her kindness.

Kaiser compensate his existence by being a striker who crushes his enemies on the field with his malice.

The way in which they both want to compensate or give meaning to their existence is through something that they were passionate about since their childhood: Ruby always listened to fairy tales, stories of Summer and the stories of other hunters in general and the only good thing that Kaiser had in his childhood was his soccer ball that bought himself.

Ruby and Kaiser get their chance to continue their quest to compensate for their existence after they got into trouble and they are detained for that: Ruby stopping Roman from robbing a dust store and Glynda helps her but immediately afterwards takes her to an interrogation room for acting without being a licensed hunter and Kaiser being framed for a crime he didn't commit, beating his father for trying to protect his precious soccer ball and the police and being arrested for it.

After Ruby and Kaiser are detained, an adult (Ozpin/Ray Dark) comes to recruit them when they realizes that they have talent for their respective areas (huntress and silver eyed warrior/footballer and striker). Ruby and Kaiser take the opportunity and join them and although at first they have trouble adapting to their teammates, they eventually manage to become outstanding huntress/footballer who manage to inspire them. Only while Ruby inspires them with her skill as a leader and her optimism, Kaiser does so through his skill as a striker and manipulation.

Part of the reason they have managed to be so prominent in their respective fields is because they have proven capable of being resourceful and cunning, even more than people give them credit for: Ruby is always seen as a naive and enthusiastic girl, but she has managed to make her enemies lower their guard and attack them when they least expect it and Kaiser not only manipulates people off the field, but is able to think and create solid plays when playing his matches.

However, Ruby and Kaiser share their obsession with being the best in their respective areas to the point of becoming symbols because that way they don't have to deal with their trauma and even refuse to talk about it with those closest to them. Ruby is so busy saving others that she doesn't have time to think about her own trauma, Kaiser takes too much delight in being the best striker on his team that he pushes aside any thoughts about his own trauma. Neither of them thinks about it because both Ruby and Kaiser see themselves as worthless to the point that not only do they feel they have to prove that they are not a burden, but they both believe that their own traumas are not important because Ruby and Kaiser deep down doesn't believe that themselves are important.

Ruby and Kaiser have a belief in “making the impossible happen”, Ruby really believes that she should keep fighting even if winning is impossible, she believes that she and her friends can stop Salem and change Remnant for the better, Kaiser really believes that if he was able to escape from his abusive home that seemed impossible, he can achieve anything he sets his mind to. However, Ruby and Kaiser take this belief to extremes due to their respective traumas, which prevents them from having true growth: Ruby truly believes that she has the weight of the world on her shoulders and that she has to solve everyone's problems, Kaiser never believed in himself to the point that he needs to feel that others are inferior to him in order to feel special.

All of the above makes both characters want to become symbols (after all there is nothing better to represent the impossible than a symbol), only they don't understand that being symbols isn't about Ruby redeeming the world with her hope or Kaiser destroying the hope of others; it's about Ruby and Kaiser learning to live in a world that wants to crush hope with their hope still intact.

Ruby and Kaiser believe that symbols are loved by everyone and that symbols don't feel pain but always move forward but Ruby and Kaiser forget that they are still human so seeing themselves as symbols that don't feel pain is not a healthy coping mechanism and as their respective stories progress these coping mechanisms stop being viable and they are forced to take the first step to grow which is to accept their humanity (accept their trauma to be able to face it, accept that they are humans who suffer and they fail like anyone else but don't let themselves be defined by said suffering or failures, be more independent, trust others more and ask for their help, etc.) because if they don't do so they will not advance.

Even in their closest relationships there are subtle evidences and consequences of that stagnation, Ruby feels that she owes it to Yang to be the perfect little sister and leader, Kaiser always receives assistance from Ness and depends on his passes to score goals (Ness and Yang are also dependent on Kaiser and Ruby: Yang sees Ruby as the younger sister who needs protection, Ness sees Kaiser as a symbol of the magic he wants to see but doesn't know him for who he really is, Ruby and Kaiser on the other hand don't understand that they are already enough for Yang and Ness, so I I think that both Kaiser and Ness and Ruby and Yang have to be more independent from each other so that their bond is healthier and stronger).

Their abilities as well as their roses motif show evidence of this stagnation too. Ruby rushes to be the perfect hunter by using her semblance to help others quickly, but she can scatter and lose herself. On the other hand, Kaiser is so focused on crushing his opponents with his thorned goals that he doesn't realize that he could become crushed by his own thorns.

But part of those first steps that they need to take to begin to evolve begin with a process of destruction

and rebirth.

Part of that rebirth is that both have to redefine the meaning of their rose motifs: Ruby and Kaiser must convert the meaning of the rose (a mother's promise/a mother's abandonment, being in the end a reminder of the pain left by the departures of both women in the lives of Ruby and Kaiser) and give them a new meaning, converting them from the symbol of their mothers to their own symbols, the roses go from being a symbol of loss to a symbol of hope. Ruby transforms her mother's rose symbol into a symbol of “achieving the impossible” not only for her family, friends and the people of Remnant but also for herself by inspiring everyone to have hope, Kaiser is finally able to stand up, regain his hope and turn the game in his favor with his “Impact Kaiser Magnum” move, a move that was considered impossible in the circumstances in which he found himself.

Ruby Rose stops being Summer Rose 2.0, remembers who she is and takes the first steps to recognize herself as her own person, Kaiser goes from being the prodigy of Bastard Munchen, remembers who he was and that drives him to take the first steps to define himself not because of his status but as his own person.

Curiously, both had to reconnect with their inner child in order to move forward and take these first steps towards their evolution: Ruby connects with Little (who represents her inner child) who is vital for her development in volume 9, Kaiser remembers his self as a child and this becomes key to his growth in the match against PXG.

And even both of them have a rivalry with someone who are considered high-level strategists who have enormous resentment towards our roses for different reasons:

Although Isagi has more valid reasons for being upset with Kaiser than Cinder being upset with Ruby but that still doesn't take away from the fact that part of the reason Ruby and Kaiser go through their breakdowns and development arcs is because of the actions of Cinder and Isagi.

Cinder hates Ruby for hurting her with her silver eyes (optimism), but I'm sure that later Ruby along with other characters will save and inspire Cinder to change.

Isagi on the other hand clearly hates Kaiser for the way he treats him (malice) but also sees Kaiser as the type of soccer player he aspires to be and is inspired by his plays to improve his own.

Our roses' journey is not over yet, but considering how their arcs are similar despite their differences, I am excited to see how they will end and I am very sure that there will be more similarities and contrast between the two.

This image perfectly sums up the character of Lila/Cerise/whatever her name is: the series tries hard to paint her as a star manipulator when actually she isn't a manipulator but just an opportunist and bad liar who takes advantage of the stupidity of others and she only achieves everything she wants only because the script orders that.

I’m sorry, just…she didn’t even hide the jewelry bag, I’m dying.

The people who support Belos remind me a lot of the people who support Funny Valentine justifying that everything he did was for the good of his country but they forget that his actions would affect the entire world and sooner or later the United States would have repercussions for Valentine's actions. Literally Valentine is a genocidal white colonizer in the sense that during the time in which he governs they continue to massacre the natives and steal their territory as seen in the story of Sandman and his plan is basically to expand this genocide in the rest of the countries. of the world to adhere to an ideal world led by the United States. Likewise, if Belos were to succeed and go to the Human World he would probably only expand that same genocide of the Boiling Islands into the Human Realm so that they would adhere to his ideal of what humans should be like.

Clearly Luz and Johnny are selfish but they mature, they improve as people, they are able to interact with people who do not adhere to what Belos and Valentine want (witches and foreigners) and they do not seek to harm others to maintain an ideology of supremacist entitlement like Belos and Valentine were doing.

Furthermore, Belos is the type of colonizer who loathes a culture, but also feels entitled to it and is pissed off when it doesn’t bend over backwards to his demands. He wanted the glyphs of the Titan but he refused to respect her and her people, her body, her customs, and opted to take it by force; A method needlessly more complicated, difficult, and arduous than just humbling himself and learning on someone else’s terms. 

So to see some people have the fucking gall to treat Belos’ seizure of what is essentially a native resource as some W over that mean and unsuccessful Titan, disparage Luz as ‘not working’ for the glyphs like he did (ignoring how this brown girl actually put in the work of adapting to another culture), and unironically praise his ‘protestant work ethic’ is just… racist! It’s racist!!! 

It’s buying into the conservative strong man myth that Belos got where he did ‘by the grit of his own teeth’, when really he lied to and cheated people who actually put in effort and suffered the consequences for him; He stood on people’s shoulders without consent and attributed their sacrifices as his own like so many American Dream capitalists, instead of appreciating and reciprocating others’ help the way Luz did. It’s buying into the idea that Belos’ atrocities can be overlooked for the sake of admiring how he ‘got things done’, because that’s just the price of success!!! Like I dunno maybe we shouldn’t even jokingly praise a character for being a colonizing thief, a swindling capitalist in all but name.

This reminds me of that time I saw someone’s Road to El Dorado AU where Philip plays the role of one of the white Spanish dudes. Like are you fucking for real. You saw a genocidal white colonizer who impersonates a local religion he has no real understanding over to manipulate the natives for his own selfish ends and you actually said, “Okay but what if we treated it as a cute and good thing this time? What if we treated his blatant disinterest in everything that isn’t seizing the natives’ resources as a teehee trait???” I don’t care if Philip is chill and doesn’t murder people in this version of events. Y’all are just being lowkey, if not outright, racist. 

Belos is an effective satire of right-wing conservatives and radicalized white supremacists, genocidal colonizers who bastardize and appropriate cultures, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” success stories, entitled abusers with all their excuses, and Christian self-flagellation and savior complexes. Dana based him off of televangelists, cult leaders, and her own conservative relatives. And yet so many people willingly ignore the whole point of Belos’ narrative and themes to reduce him to just “Caleb’s moody brother” or some sadboi victim of religious trauma, as if Philip didn't willingly embrace Puritan ideology regardless of whatever drawbacks it may have had, because it ultimately promised superiority…

And with the AUs that strip Belos of everything that makes him Belos for the sake of some feel-good story that undermines the show’s themes and does his victims dirty, that isn’t even an alternate version that’s just a completely different, made-up guy with none of the depth. How he's going to learn his lesson in a redemption fic if the first thing the writer does is undo the curse to restore Philip's White Man status that he so obsessively clung onto, and lost for that very reason? How is he going to learn his lesson if the writer can't seem to properly comprehend what exactly he did wrong and the actual reasons for it???

It's quite curious and funny that Star accidentally achieved in a matter of minutes what Belos wanted to do, having planned it for more than 400 years.

Angron using the chancla be like:

Secret weapon.

It would be fantastic and even fun if this happened in the show but taking into account the mediocre writing that the show has, I highly doubt that the writers would let something like this be done.

So is that just her own schedule and she was keeping it up to date with everything she knows about Adrien then? That’d honestly be a lot less creepy and a good explanation.

Still a bit stalker-ish having all that stuff about Adrien on there in the first place but it’s an improvement

Also that looks like the picture from the opening credits of Alya and Marinette where they have mustaches drawn on