Branwen Twins - Tumblr Posts
Me!? Obsessed?!?? Nooooo…
i feel like every time i talk about the branwen semblances it's super angsty, so here's something different: i think it's actually really fucking funny how qrow would like to keep his distance to his friends and family due to his semblance... and then you've got raven's semblance which leads directly to him, no matter how far he tries to go. there's no escape.
and i know it's common to think that in terms of partnerships in team strq, qrow partnering with someone other than raven would have been bad luck to him bc they wanted to stick together, etc., but like. i feel like it could very well be the other way around; qrow would have been more than happy to partner with a random person so he doesn't have to worry about his semblance that much—if he was already planning to be a lone huntsman like the grimm reaper, he wouldn't have been looking to make friends, necessarily—bc that would have meant he wouldn't have to 'endanger' raven, only for raven to portal to him before they even landed.
Qrow was named for his bad luck. Logical conclusion = the twins were given names later than usual. Did they have names before? Did they forget their names because they were too young to remember, did they just not have names, or is Qrow's name just a coincidence (considering what he says in V4, it doesn't seem likely)?
But then we also have Raven. 'Raven' and 'Qrow', twins with matching names. Qrow was named after his semblance; why was Raven given that name? Was it just something said as a throwaway, is there a deeper meaning behind it? Or was it a name she gave herself to match with Qrow?
Even weirder that Raven keeps the emblem after leaving the inner circle.
the fact that raven and qrow's emblems are so tied to ozpin makes me wonder when they actually like, made them, and how deep that tie is because—
okay. gears and clock -> obviously inspired by ozpin. together with the wings, they form two eyes -> raven and qrow were ozpin's spies, his eyes where he could not be; "the last eye is blinded..." salem knows that, too.
here's the thing: before, i thought that that was it, essentially. their emblems forming eyes, the inner part, that's "all" that they took from ozpin; the wing itself is something from them.
BUT. if them being spies is already part of it... the wing part could be from ozpin giving them shapeshifting, which would mean that there's.. nothing really in their emblems that is just them; the only difference, the only part that implies a choice made by each of them, is the inner part: a clock or a gear.
yet, it's still tied to ozpin.
emblems haven't been given the same kind of This Is A Big Deal!! as weapons are—"they're extensions of ourselves! they're a part of us!"—but they're still a way to identify someone, their property, etc. like... it's about one's identity.
what does it say about raven and qrow, about their past before beacon, before meeting ozpin, when their emblems are all him?
Qrow building a complex compact weapon with many forms but the scythe form was teased all of volume three and has only been shown again in volume 6
Raven who seems to have a regular sword but also many Disposable swords. Uses them until she’s done and then they break and are discarded.
They went to Beacon together but even if they had their weapons before then they must’ve. They must’ve created their weapons together surely. Raven is smiling in that One Picture
Qrow spoke fondly of their team before “Raven broke them up” heavy quotes on that
Idk twin relationships are always special and seeing them in media and like. I KNOW they were once close they had to be. What happens between ages 22 and now like. Did Raven stick up for him as kids or did she teach him how to hide his weakness. Was he the distraction while she slipped in behind. Did they laugh together after pulling pranks. If one got punished were they punished together or did they volunteer to stay with their sibling
They make me crazy
they had to be close. even if there was a distance between them—e.g. qrow spent more time away from the camp compared to raven, qrow feeling guilty over his semblance, etc—i still feel like... they'd kill for each other, ya know? despite everything, qrow still asks her to come back. despite everything, raven checks up on him after he gets poisoned by tyrian (it's not like she'd expect to actually spy on him to get information she didn't get from him directly; she makes her presence known).
i just. there's so much past to them, what they've been together. maybe they lost that understanding between them at some point, but i don't think either of them really gave up on one another? they're—or, well. were—still trying, in their own weird ways that didn't really take into account what the other was saying, but it's the thought that counts. to me.
they're just so—branwens!!! i would literally gobble up any backstory for them, but more than anything i need them to have been partners i will ignore canon for this that's how important this is to me. i need the eventual growing distance to hurt even more. like, your honor. they're twins. fuck me up.
Hi so me being me I've decided to hyperanalyze the conversation Qrow and Raven had in Higanbana practically line by line bcus I have Many Thoughts and this is the best way I can think of to get them all out. If you can't tell I'm absolutely obsessed with these two. Btw.
Thanks to the RWBY wiki for providing transcripts for every episode, otherwise I definitely would have missed smth despite having just watched this scene recently lol
I put it under the read more for easier scrolling due to how long this post got!
I immediately noticed smth in the very first lines of the interaction:
Raven: "Hello, brother." Qrow: "...Raven."
You'll notice throughout the whole conversation that Raven never calls Qrow by his name, only condescendingly referring to him as "brother" this one time and never calling him anything else. Meanwhile, Qrow directly refers to Raven a total of three times throughout the conversation, and only one doesn't call Raven by her name (which we'll get to shortly)
On the other hand, Qrow doesn't bother with even so much as a greeting beyond simply stating Raven's name
It's different ways of communicating their distance. While Raven holds her relationship with Qrow over his head — never once, even outside of this scene, does she call him "brother" with affection iirc, only derision and condescension — Qrow doesn't seem to rly know how to greet her. He hesitates before saying her name and approaching her, as if trying to assess the situation before acting
Qrow: "So, what do you want?" Raven: "A girl can't just catch up with her family?" Qrow: "She can, but you're not. Now how 'bout we get on with it? Unless you plan on keeping these [drinks] comin'."
Again, Raven seems to bring up her familial ties with Qrow as a tactic to get him to do what she wants — in this case, stick around to talk to her despite him not seeming to rly want to. Frankly, it feels manipulative. We're gonna put a pin in this for now and come back to it in just a moment
Additionally, Qrow already knows that Raven's not just here for a friendly chat between two siblings, and sees right thru her facade that it is. Raven is here bcus she wants smth from him. But interestingly, it is Raven in V5 that says, in an almost frustrated/disappointed tone, "Family. Only coming around when they need something." There's another pin; keep both in mind
Raven: "Does she have it?" Qrow: "...Did you know Yang lost her arm?" Raven: "That's not—" Qrow: "Rhetorical question, I know you know. It's just obnoxious that you'd bring up family and then carry on like your own daughter doesn't exist." Raven: "I saved her." Qrow: "Once. Because that was your rule, right? Real 'Mom of the Year' material, sis."
Qrow dodges Raven's question about the Relic and instead brings up her hypocrisy in how she treats family. And it's a good point. Here she is lording her siblingship with Qrow over his head while simultaneously defending and upholding her rule that she is only obligated to help her own daughter a single time. Another pinpoint on our little conspiracy board
Also, here's the one time in this conversation Qrow refers to Raven as "sis". Like Raven's use of "brother", Qrow's use of "sis" is very pointed and with intent. But it's not to manipulate Raven, it's a snarky jab meant to rly hammer home Qrow's point
Raven: "I told you Beacon would fall, and it did. I told you Ozpin would fail, and he has. Now you tell me. Does. Salem. Have it?" Qrow: "I thought you weren't interested in all of that." Raven: "I just want to know what we are up against." Qrow: "And which 'we' are you referring to?"
A few things of note here. At some point in the past, Raven expressed an outright disinterest in Ozpin's inner circle, at least to Qrow. Qrow also feels excluded in the "we" Raven mentions being against Salem. To me, there seems to be a distinct possibility here that it wasn't that Raven felt personally disinterested in Ozpin's operations, but that she somehow felt excluded and feigned a lack of interest in order to protect herself. An idea that is further supported in my eyes by the following dialogue:
Qrow: "You should come back, Raven. The only way we'd beat her is by working together. All of us." Raven: "You're the one who left. The tribe raised us, and you turned your back on them." Qrow: "They were killers and thieves." Raven: "They were your family." Qrow: "You have a very skewed perception of that word."
And there it is. Raven's problem is laid out here for us, loud and clear: She feels like she was the one abandoned, not the one running away. She says it outright! "You're the one who left." To her, Qrow is the traitor, the one who left their family behind. If you ask Qrow (or, for that matter, Tai, Yang, and even Summer based on the scene in V9), it's the opposite
Bcus they have different definitions of family
Another thing to pin (I promise this will all become clear soon)
Raven: "I lead our people now. And as leader, I will do everything in my power to ensure our survival." Qrow: "I saw. The people of Shion saw, too." Raven: "The weak die. The strong live. Those are the rules." Qrow: "Well, you've certainly got someone strong on your side. I've seen the damage." Raven: "We couldn't have known the Grimm would set in as quickly as they did." Qrow: "I'm not talking about the Grimm. And I'm not talking about you, either."
Notice Raven's shift from "the tribe" to "our people". More of that guilt tripping!
Additionally, Raven is *obsessed* with rules. One save. The weak die, the strong live. Raven lives and breathes rules, even seemingly arbitrary ones. Guess what this is? Another pin!
Raven: "If you don't know where the Relic is, then we have nothing left to talk about." Qrow: "I don't know where the Spring Maiden is, either, but if you do, I need you to tell me." Raven: "And why would I do that?" Qrow: "Because without her, we're all going to die." Raven: "...And which 'we' are you referring to?"
Qrow's "either" here implies that he also doesn't know where the Crown of Choice is, which is... interesting. He's one of Ozpin's closest lieutenants, and is in the dark on where Beacon's Relic is? Wherever it is, it is such a closely kept secret that even Ozpin's best spy doesn't know where it is (maybe so that in the event Qrow gets captured by Salem he can't be forced into giving her the information?)
Meanwhile, Raven's "And why would I [tell you]?" implies that she does know who the Spring Maiden is (obviously. Raven's the Spring Maiden lol) but refuses to disclose to Qrow
A lantern sputters out after Qrow says "Without [Spring] we're all going to die." Now, I genuinely can't remember if this is headcanon or canon, but iirc Misfortune seems to act up when Qrow's upset. He's clearly tired of this little game of dancing around topics that Raven's been playing with him
And once again, Raven indicates a feeling of exclusion from Qrow's life in the iconic final line. She gets the final word in before leaving
We've finally reached the end of the conversation. Now what does all of this tell us?
And here is where all of those pins I wrote down are relevant. As I mentioned, the twins view family very differently
Qrow's view is pretty obvious: he views family as the ppl in his life who matter most to him. Unlike Raven, he does not view the tribe as family despite the fact that they raised him, disgustedly referring to them as "killers and thieves". It's implied that he was, in fact, neglected and/or likely abused by the Branwen tribe, saying in V6C4, "No one wanted me... I was cursed..." further explaining his distaste for them. Furthermore, despite not being related to Ruby by blood, they clearly consider one another family throughout the series, and he even seems closer to her than he seems to his niece who's actually blood related to him (I personally headcanon that he keeps more of a distance from Yang bcus she reminds him too much of Raven, who he feels abandoned and hurt by, but that's neither here nor there). Bloodlines and debts are secondary compared to loyalty, if they're considered at all. He is obviously furious that Raven only insists on saving Yang once and never directly interacting with her beyond that, despite Raven constantly guilting Qrow over abandoning his so-called "family" of the tribe. And yet. And yet. He still offers Raven a place back in his life, even if only to unite against Salem
Raven's view, to me, has been an enigma for a while. But after hyperanalyzing this conversation, after noting down all of those points of interest, I feel like I've finally cracked the code. Raven views family as an obligation, an exchange that always has an ulterior motive behind it. She seeks out Qrow only bcus she desires smth from him despite showing distaste when someone does the same to her; condescendingly calls Qrow "brother" more than his actual name and calls the tribe their "family" to try guilting him into doing what she wants; and feels fierce loyalty to the tribe but barely interacts with her daughter, only seeming to count one of the two as true family. She views the concept of family with cynicism and seems to feel an obligation to the tribe, as if she "owes" them for raising her
I think the two's perceptions of what defines family are all to do with the way the tribe treated both of them. This crosses a bit into headcanon territory, but as you can see by the above quotes and analysis, I rly don't think I'm just making it up entirely
As I already mentioned, I think it's implied that the Branwen tribe neglected/abused Qrow. In fact, we could probably blame their treatment of him for the deep self-loathing he has due to his "cursed" Semblance. But what about Raven?
Well, it's simple: I think she was abused, too, just in a different way. While Qrow was likely shown and told on a consistent basis that he was unwanted, unloved, undeserving of good things, Raven may have been shown and told she was wanted, loved, and deserving of good things... if she did what the tribe told her. If she repaid them for raising her and her brother, for being her "family". The way she uses her familial ties with Qrow as almost blackmail may be exactly the way the tribe treated her. Her obsession with following rules may stem from the fact that she had to follow the rules the tribe set for her in order to be accepted and deemed worth smth
As for her distance from Yang... honestly, I wonder if Raven is aware that Yang deserves better and keeps her distance as her way of doing that. When Summer confronts Raven in the V9 scene, Raven says, "...You're better at that life. Better than I was." She seems to have a fear and insecurity about being a good family member, a good mother, and maybe that's why she fled. Maybe she was scared of being like her abusers due to how she emulates them as a self-preservation tactic in so many other ways. Not entirely sure about this point tho
And I think too this is why the twins don't rly understand one another. They may have been unaware of the different ways in which the other was treated. Qrow, constantly unwanted and loathed, can't understand why Raven sticks around with the tribe; Raven, who obeyed the tribe and, in doing so, garnered enough of their favor to even eventually become leader, can't understand why Qrow can't just be "good", earn respect, and stay
This dissonance between the two experiences may also be completely intentional on the part of the tribe; abusers will often eliminate their targets' support systems in order to make them completely reliant on the abuser, so it's highly likely that the wedge was intentionally driven between the two siblings so that they could not find support in one another. This would also tie into why the twins seem to feel excluded from one another's lives and abandoned by one another: bcus they were made to feel that way by their common abusers, and did nothing to challenge these assumptions bcus they saw no reason to — and only seemed to keep proving one another right if they did
Which rly has some disturbing implications about how the Branwen tribe works. Like, do they just pick orphaned kids up off the street and abuse them into being perfect little bandits, molded to be of the greatest possible use and discarded if they're deemed worthless? Plus Qrow says his Semblance is how he got his name, which implies that the tribe also renames the kids they scoop up (possibly as a form of control or a way to make sure they can't be tracked down by any remaining family)? Plus there's the whole thing where Qrow and Raven were originally sent to Beacon to learn how to kill Huntsmen, which carries with it the implication that the Branwen tribe grooms literal orphan children into becoming stone-hearted murderers? What. The heck.
And if I'm right, if the Branwen tribe is that severely abusive, then like... wow, no wonder Qrow and Raven are Like That. They're both very deeply hurt people expressing it in different ways
I was considering adding their conversation at the Battle of Haven to this post, but I think that would be better as its own thing. Also I haven't gotten there on my rewatch yet so I may miss some details if I try to analyze it rn; it's better to wait overall methinks
But I have reached the point of my rewatch where we see Weiss and Whitley interact, and I think it would be very efficient to sum up what Qrow and Raven's relationship seems to be by using those siblings as a point of reference. Qrow = Weiss, actively trying to break free from and fight back against their abusers in different ways, while Raven = Whitley, continuing to do as their abusers want and have wanted as a method of self-preservation. Only, unlike Weiss and Whitley, Qrow and Raven have yet to come to a point where they can understand one another. I think that's a good way to briefly summarize the uh. Absolutely massive post this is.
In conclusion, I may have cracked the majority of the Branwen twins' pre-Beacon backstory purely by hyperanalyzing a single conversation. Oopsies
clover: it's a good thing they had someone to look up to and get them through it. not everyone is so lucky. qrow: i don't know about that. thanks, by the way. for looking out for 'em. you and your team. clover: what good is saving the world without another generation waiting in the wings? hopefully they'll leave remnant better than we left it for them.
raven: and... uh... what about... you're just going to leave them? summer: you're one to talk. raven: it's... you're better at that life, better than i was... summer: if i do this right... then there's nothing to worry about. trust me.
clover: robyn needs help. surrender, and we can take her to atlas, get her patched up. qrow: never pegged you for the manipulative type. but i've learned a lot of things tonight.
raven: summer rose telling lies... first time for everything.
clover: i enjoyed working with you, you know. even with that endless cynicism of yours. (there's no beating salem.) qrow: i'm usually proven right. clover: we don't have to fight, friend. qrow: you don't know my friends. that's how it always goes.
with friends like these, who needs enemies :)
my fave branwen things:
raven has red eyes and lightish red aura & qrow has lightish red eyes and red aura
hero / monster dichotomy
"the branwen twins have always been... interesting, to say the least." <- thank you oobleck for the food
their weapons are named harbinger & omen, like who came up with the name first and who followed along or was it a team effort? i need answers.
what is up with their semblances, they're so in sync in the angstiest way possible that i'm just AUGH
speaking of angst: their backstory is painful but also super interesting to explore. would like to see it one day :')
they really are birds
qrow says that no one wanted him bc he was cursed so realistically there's a non-zero chance that the tribe would have tried to get rid of him, multiple times even, each attempt foiled thanks to raven's semblance, right?
so realistically there's a perfectly good chance that at some point during strq's beacon years, before there has been time for an actual trust to be built between them, qrow could have gotten seriously injured on a mission and despite summer's and / or tai's suggestions of raven running ahead to the nearest town and open a portal there to get qrow help as fast as possible, raven absolutely refuses to leave his side bc that's exactly the kind of situation the tribe would have used as an opportunity to get rid of qrow and there's no chance in hell she's going to take that risk here either, no matter how goody two shoes her new teammates may be.
i love kindred link and everything it says about raven, and thinking about in relation to qrow and his semblance is always fun--
but. but but but. there's a catch; add in how no one wanted qrow but raven's semblance would still be useful for the tribe if they just could get it to work for literally anyone else but qrow and oh. oh no. the unfortunate inplications have arrived and i want out of this ride!!
Trying to kill him, sure. Understandable. That's something Qrow's probably willing to shrug off.
In fact I fully believe every member of team strq has tried to kill at least one other team member at some point (because they are both individually and collectively disasters).
But this time Raven's throwing of Qrow under the bus also put Ruby and Yang (and the rest of his kids, but I don't think he's willing to admit that) in danger.
And true to form Qrow seems to care far more about them being put in danger than himself. Hence his statement "you've crossed a line".
Its definitely something they can move past, especially if Raven ends up helping get the kids out of the ever after. But I think the twins are too stubborn to just move past it without outside help.
Outside help most likely taking the form of Taiyang lamenting that he's gonna be babysitting these two idiots for the rest of his life, and Robyn barely resisting the urge to pull out the popcorn and egg them on further.
i find it so funny when people are like "qrow's going to be so mad at raven for trying to kill him the next time they meet" when
qrow wouldn't even know that? he wasn't there when raven claimed she wanted qrow dead, and she certainly did not tell him at haven either
raven didn't even actually want qrow dead. if he was going to be such a big problem for knowing about the spring maiden, raven had plenty of opportunities to get rid of him after higanbana... ya know, like that time he was dying of poison
qrow doesn't exactly have the highest of high horses here; he was planning on attacking the tribe to get the spring maiden, and considering he was trying to recruit huntsmen and huntresses for the task, it didn't exactly sound like they were going to ask nicely—which on its own is pretty damning because based on what they knew, the spring maiden had ran away to get away from them, and here they were, planning to take her back by what sounds like force
the very first thing qrow did when he found out raven was there at haven was to shoot at her, and raven was offended he didn't do it properly.
they're siblings with a very fucked up relationship. i feel like attempted murders at each other are basically water under the bridge by default for them.
I feel like the biggest piece of evidence for this is that Raven has made, to the best of my memory, zero comments about Qrow's semblance.
You'd think given their propensity for getting under each others skin there would've been a jab about it thrown out by Raven at some point, but no.
There is an argument that for all their sniping at each other the twins have certain lines and topics for the other that they simply won't cross. Which is fair, but you would think that rule would only apply in direct conversation with each other. Raven doesn't even bring it up when trying to convince Yang to stay.
The easiest explanation for why Raven never makes jabs at Qrows semblance is, in my mind, that she doesn't see it as a negative thing.
To Raven the cloud that always hung over Qrow's head was the safest place in her world.
i just can't get over the fact that qrow has a semblance that makes him keep his distance, especially from his family, and raven has a semblance that allows her to go straight to her brother whenever she wants.
like. fuck. y'all can't convince me being around qrow wasn't a safe place for raven when they were kids; her semblance is excellent for getting out of a tough spot and i bet there were a lot of those living with bandits, who wouldn't dare go near qrow because he's """cursed"""—being with qrow was the safest place on remnant for raven, no matter how much qrow thought it was the least.