General James Ironwood - Tumblr Posts

I never finished this and I suppose I really ought to

Repost because someone decided to false flag this as porn ha ha haaa

Can y'all not

Could we posthumously award General Ironwood the title of King Ironwood the first? For his bravery and his efforts in preserving the Kingdom of Atlas?

You can 100% be angry at Ruby lying to Ironwood. Here's the thing.

People want to instantly jump down Ironwood's throat for ignoring Mantle, but Team RWBY have been doing nothing but wasting time and BRINGING the danger onto Atlas and Mantle as they carry the Lamp around with them. As much as they spout about Mantle, they really didn't do anything for them either.

As I had said before in a previous post, Volume 7 is a terribly slow one, as if the writers truly had nowhere to go with the season unless they slowed down a ton of subplots to extend the watch time. Literally nothing happened in Volume 7 until we reached the tail-end of it. Ironwood fighting Watts, Penny and Nora fighting some main antagonists, and Team RWBY still being shafted to the side, and Penny becoming the maiden.

Even Weiss' side mission of investigating her dad was pointless. Yes, I am deadass serious. I've been rewatching Volume 7 just for Ironwood and legitimately, nothing important happens until the near-end. Team Kids weren't remarkable at all and weren't doing anything. Even Robyn went absolutely nowhere and became useless in Volume 8. Sure, it sounds like they were "trying" to set her up for something unique, but all we got was some stupid politics arc and then her team stealing from the military, and yes even the theft was pointless because we never heard about it ever again. And why would we? Team RWBY destroyed Atlas and Mantle.

Actually, both sides didn't do anything special for Mantle. All they could do was just bellyache about it and then get angry with Ironwood whenever he took a breath of air, and Ironwood was focused on Atlas. However, that didn't always mean he didn't care for Mantle. Meanwhile I seriously have no idea what Team Kids wanted for Mantle. Hell, they even became divided into either saving Mantle or saving "everyone" in Volume 8. Seriously?

So, they were running around in circles, chasing their own tails. Hence why the writers must have thought, "oops, we should really wave that magic Staff to wrap all this up, we fucked it up. And kill Ironwood because maybe this will never let us touch the Atlas arc ever again."

Say or think what you will about Volume 7, but to me, Volume 8 really showed its ass.

Just because the kids first started their journey into Atlas by taking a stroll through Mantle, doesn't mean they suddenly care with all their heart. I didn't see anything for them to care about.

One thing to note on people who say that RWBY’s plan with the Staff was better than Ironwood’s. Besides the fact that they “cheated” in using it, Oz never told the headmasters the specifics on how the Relics work, considering that Leo never knew Jinn’s name otherwise Salem would have known too. Ironwood thought it was simply something that generates infinite energy and based his plan around that. But if he knew what the group knew? I believe he would have come up with something much better.

That's a really good point, anon, one I don't think I've seen come up very often in conversations about Ironwood's intentions. Granted, a potential pushback is that just because Leo didn't know something doesn't mean Ironwood is in the same boat, but the story certainly implies that he's just as ignorant. Like Qrow, Ironwood didn't know about Salem's immortality and if he knew more about the Relic you'd expect him to test Ruby's lie in the office. Where did the final questions go? What did you ask? How did you know how to accomplish that when that password is a closely guarded secret? If Ironwood understands the Relics as thoroughly as the group did at the start of Volume 7, Ruby showing up with possession of a super secret password, two questions (supposedly) gone, and Ozpin conspicuously absent is damn suspicious. But if Ironwood understands the Relics only as objects with vague powers, he has no reason to question Ruby or Ozpin. Ruby says questions are gone? He has no reason to doubt that because — again, like Qrow — the show has implied that Ironwood may not have even known that questions were a possibility, let alone how many, how often, how many should actually be left, etc. (Remember that Ozpin had already lied once about the number.) If Qrow was shocked to see Jinn come out, wouldn't Ironwood be too? Now, extrapolate that to the Staff. If Ozpin said only that the Staff produces energy, why would Ironwood doubt that? And that does seem to be what Ozpin told him:

We are going to take our plan for Amity Tower and apply it to the city of Atlas. It was Oz's plan in a former life, but he didn't take it far enough. If we harness the power of the Staff, and raise ourselves high into the atmosphere, the city's artificial climate will keep citizens and food supplies unharmed.

We've long established that Ozpin gives out information in pieces and keeps as much to himself as he can. So he tells his inner circle that Salem wants these Relics, but not why. Later, he divulges that one Relic allows for questions, but they're gone for the next 100 years. Later still, Qrow is shocked to see a freaking magical woman come out of the Lamp, announcing that two questions still remain, because Ozpin both lies and lets people reach inaccurate conclusions based on what he has told them. So at the end of Volume 7, Ironwood is basically in the position of Qrow prior to the snow scene. He hasn't spoken with Ozpin since the Fall of Beacon and, thus, hasn't gone through the same realization of how many secrets have been kept from him. Or rather, he has, but the responsibility for that has shifted to the group. They said the questions were gone. They said Ozpin was gone. They betrayed him to Robyn. They kept Salem's immortality a secret. Ironwood is fully focused on them in this moment — as one would expect given everything that's gone down between them — and shifting through Ozpin's past claims to test their validity is, you know, not something he really has time for. So Ironwood seems to still be working from what Ozpin told him, accepting it as true:

Ozpin suggested that Ironwood use the Staff to raise Atlas.

The implication is that this is what the Staff is capable of doing and only what it's capable of: producing that kind of energy. This is, as Ironwood says, "the power of the Staff."

Atlas' many years of hovering in the air gave Ironwood the idea to hover Amity and reestablish communication between the Kingdoms.

Neither of these ideas take the power "far enough."

So now that Salem is here, let's rise even higher, hopefully out of her reach.

Unless I'm forgetting a scene that says otherwise (very possible), all of this seems to suggest that Ironwood didn't know the Staff could do others things. Like, say, open a bunch of magical portals for the people of Atlas and Mantle to escape through. Though it admittedly doesn't help that RWBY is so damn vague about who knows what and when and how. The group talks about the Staff like a cure-all solution in the dining room, but when did they learn (or assume) that the Staff could do something like fix all these problems? The God of Light didn't give detailed explanations of the Relics in Jinn's vision. The group (I don't think) discussed this at another point... characters just know things when it's convenient. So yes, we could maybe argue that Ironwood just knew about the Staff like the group just knew about it too, or he should have been smart enough to figure it out like the group apparently figured it out (putting aside that this is more about the authors handing certain characters knowledge rather than which characters are actually thinking through potentialities)... but again, the writing doesn't really imply that. And it's implications like this that paint the group as the more responsible party to me. Unlike Ironwood, they had this information for weeks before Salem's arrival. Unlike Ironwood (presumably, based on the above), they understood how the Staff worked. Or, perhaps more accurately, they didn't fully understand, but they had the means with which to learn. Unlike Ironwood, they knew Ozpin was still around and at any point they could have asked him about the Staff, to try and prepare their resources before the war arrived on their doorstep once more. Unlike Ironwood, they hadn't just been betrayed by their allies. Unlike Ironwood, they weren't suffering from a lost limb. Unlike Ironwood, they had two days — not a couple of minutes — to come up with some kind of plan.

It's so easy to be disgusted by Ironwood because yes, the idea of leaving anyone behind is horrific. But take a couple seconds to consider how and why Ironwood made that decision and it's easy to see that it stems from ignorance and prioritizing the many over the few, not a generic, villainous desire to abandon poor people. The group are the ones who had this information the whole time, had the means (thanks to that knowledge) of bettering their circumstances, hadn't just suffered betrayal and gruesome injury, and were later afforded time to literally sit around contemplate their problem for as long as they pleased. The situations are radically different and, thus, so is the blame. It's like watching a relay race where one party has a broken leg, wasn't told where the finish line was, has reason to think his teammates are going to undermine him, and was given about thirty seconds to complete the challenge. "Why couldn't you have just finished the race? Why can't you be more like them" the spectators ask, gesturing to the healthy group who fully trust one another and possess insider knowledge of the race's rules while also having a two day time limit to leisurely jog it. Idk. Why were they successful? Kinda feels like they had some significant advantages that the other party lacked... If we set aside everything else Ironwood was grappling with — betrayal, the shock of Salem's immortality (which the group spent days coming to terms with), losing an arm (what Yang spent months coming to terms with), the threat of immediate destruction, the responsibility of the entire world, and a canonically ambiguous semblance — then yeah, he might have come up with something other than "abandon Mantle" if he had a better idea of how to use the Staff.

Ruby's responsibility as a hero was not to save Mantle after things had reached their absolute breaking point, doing so by dissolving friendships and panicking the entire world. Ruby's responsibility as a hero was to save Mantle by doing long term work before this all went down, like reconciling with Ozpin, practicing her silver eyes, and extending Ironwood the trust she demands from others, so that when Ironwood has a crazy idea like, "Let's just run and leave half the Kingdom behind" she can go, "No, Ozpin has taught me that we can use the Staff in other ways. My abilities mean we can hold off Salem's grimm long enough to finish evacuations and I've extended enough trust to you that you'll trust me now and help me take this risk. I've prepared for this. I've earned it."

If then Ironwood had rejected a perfectly good plan and the offer to work together to instead run and needlessly leave people behind to die... yeah, then he'd be a cowardly antagonist who needs to be stopped. As it's written, he's just an understandably panicked man doing his best against a buttload of opposition from the people meant to be helping him.

I heard that when Ironwood goes out to eat on father's day, Ironwood eats for free.

Happy Father's Day to James, and James only.

The daddiest General.

I wonder if anyone in this god forsaken fandom ever actually sat and put themselves in ironwood's shoes

You can't feel the entire right half of your body

You can't rely on the little bristles of sensation on your toes in the dark, feeling where carpet ends or where stairs begin

You can't reach for a glass and effortlessly, instinctually know when you've touched it. Know how to grasp it, how much force to keep it from dropping --- or shattering in your hand

You lay down in bed, and you lay wong--- and it hurts, and the putrid sloughing flesh of your unhealing scars sobs orange serous fluid from beneath your metal seams, and another set of your sheets is ruined

For all the people screaming ~omg trans rights are human rights!~ nobody seems to mind throwing a dick joke in ironwood's face

Do some basic logic

He's mutilated

(And he's still beautiful, desirable, and wholly deserving of love)

Would Ironwood be considered a mgtow? (mghow)

That is a complex question to answer because mgtow is essentially about selfishness, to various degrees.

Ironwood is selfless to a fault since he is willing to sacrifice his life for Atlas.

However, Ironwood's selflessness is based on selfishness since a Man should be allowed to use his strength and resources for his own desires. Ironwood desired to save Atlas. Selflessness is thus borne from selfishness.

Ultimately, I believe Ironwood is Mgtow. Ironwood is a man who has a strong sense of self. Ironically, his essential self is one of selfless sacrifice.

Step 1: build a new global communications thingamajig out of Amity Arena.

Step 2: Tell the people of Atlas about Salem.

Step 3: Use the military to help Atlas come to grips with the fight against Salem.

Step 4: Tell Remnant about Salem.

Step 5: Atlas mobilizes the army to deal with the global panic.

https://rwby.fandom.com/wiki/A_New_Approach

From the episode transcript as linked above.

Step Ruby: Derail everything then co-opt Ironwood's plan when it all goes to shit, and conveniently paint Ironwood as the bad guy.

To the Ironwood fans who said that he had a plan and Team RWBY didn't at the end of Volume 7-

What, exactly, WAS his plan? Not what you interpret as his plan, what was his plan as stated/shown in the show itself?

And on top of that, for the Ironwood fans who said that Team RWBY suffered no consequences-

What is your definition and example of consequences in stories.

Compared to RWBY's plan where the majority of Atlas died when Cinder blew up the dimension bridge, or are trapped in a sandstorm made of flying Grimm, and Salem takes two of the four relics from RWBY leaving them with NO relics?

Also RWBY's plan led to Jaune killing Penny. A pro gamer move, losing the items you were meant to protect, and killing your own teammate.

Furthermore, Atlas's defences as they were have held back the Grimm since the show started. Salem has also shown to have failed to directly damage Atlas's shield, and she needed infiltrators to sabotage Atlas's mechanics before she could invade Atlas. The fact that Salem had failed to get through Atlas's embargo before V7 further indicates the superiority of Atlas's defences against Salem's Grimm in a direct fight.

Taking that into account, Atlas could have either stalemated Salem long enough to get reinforcements from the Mistral or Vacuo, or used Ambro's power, since Atlas would have the Winter Maiden, to fashion a propulsion system to get Atlas to Argus, which is relatively unharmed and the closest city friendly to Atlas.

You can't say that Ambro can't build a dimensional network that connects Atlas to Argus once Atlas is safely up in the air away from Salem. RWBY did it to get to Vacuo.

In any case, Ironwood's 'spreading the word about Salem' at the beginning of V7 still applies at the end because;

(1) RWBY did what Ironwood always intended to do in V8; and

(2) There was ever only ONE plan, and the events of end V7 and the entirery of V8 are the result when RWBY derailed Ironwood's strategy, and everyone is trying to pick up the pieces.

Therefore, step Ironwood has more options than step RWBY. Which only led to agonizing failure.

Speaking of, you said in your post that Ironwood would be playing siege warfare against an enemy that doesn't need to eat, sleep, and can't die. Now this is Ironwood dealing with this enemy from a tech laden fortress which is adequately manned, and bolstered by a still combat effective army. How would RWBY fair any better with a dozen Huntresses between them and the Happy Huntresses, in street-to-street fighting against an enemy that doesn't need to eat, sleep, and can't die? While protecting a mass of civilians at the same time, panicking and attracting more Grimm as they do so?

To the Ironwood fans who said that he had a plan and Team RWBY didn't at the end of Volume 7-

What, exactly, WAS his plan? Not what you interpret as his plan, what was his plan as stated/shown in the show itself?

And on top of that, for the Ironwood fans who said that Team RWBY suffered no consequences-

What is your definition and example of consequences in stories.

What Was Ironwood's plan?

For V7, Ironwood only had one plan. Turning Amity arena into a satellite, and telling Remnant about Salem's existence. The steps and contingencies for this Amity plan is outlined in episode 2, and V7's narrative generally deals with the Amity Plan's implementation, and its failure.

Ironwood's 'plan' toward the end of V7:

Is not so much a plan as it is a tactical decision. Ironwood finds himself in an un-ideal situation and makes a choice to act on the circumstances to get out of the un-ideal situation.

In Ironwood's case, a plan and a decision is not the same. Ironwood's diplomatic personality is a distinct vibe compared to his tactical mood.

Outside of a tactical situation, Ironwood is someone who can consider multiple perspectives and was able to work with other people to do what was best for Atlas. Trusting RWBY with the relic, and standing together with Robyn Hill, are both examples of Ironwood's flexibility outside of tactical situations.

Ironwood's 'Mettle' semblance emphasizes this distinction as it helps Ironwood hyper focus on a single difficult decision. However Ironwood's Amity plan was a fairly complex, multi-stage affair, that probably wouldn't be possible if Ironwood was hyper-focused.

This distinction is important as clarification. It indicates that Ironwood's plan from the start wasn't to abandon Mantle. Instead, Ironwood made a tactical decision to isolate Atlas in response to a threat Ironwood prioritized over the Grimm. It was not as if Ironwood had planned to abandon Mantle from the start.

However, if we are forced to only consider Ironwood's tactical decision at the end of V7, we need to understand the nature of the threat Ironwood is prioritizing responding to.

During the episode gravity, Ironwood's plan is:

"The timeline has changed. And so we must change accordingly. We are going to take our plan for Amity Tower and apply it to the city of Atlas. It was Oz's plan in a former life. But he didn't take it far enough. If we harness the power of the Staff and raise ourselves high into the atmosphere, the city's artificial climate will keep citizens and food supplies unharmed. Always out of reach of whatever Salem may try to send our way."

At this point, I will state that while I accept Ironwood's plan as stated in this line, I am going to read this line as divorced from the language the writers had Ironwood use for this line. In this part of the narrative, Ironwood is set up to be the antagonist to RWBY, and the dialogue reflects this. However sensible Ironwood's plan may be, the way it is presented is meant to make Ironwood an opponent, which is a bit of a bias that may influence the audience's perception of Ironwood's tactical decision.

At its most essential, Ironwood's plan is to isolate Atlas by lifting it to a height where the Grimm can't survive without the aid of Atlas's artificial climate technology.

The conflict here isn't that the plan won't work, its just that Ironwood won't give Mantle time to evacuate onto Atlas.

"Blake: But we're nowhere near finished evacuating everyone! You'd be leaving Mantle to die.

Ironwood: Yes… I would."

No one questioned the validity of Ironwood's plan, only the morality of Ironwood's execution of the plan, and that is something I may write about some other time.

But if we were forced by fndoomers (eh-heh) to question the validity of Ironwood's tactic, we have to approach the question on two fronts.

Firstly, what is the threat Ironwood is responding to? I believe that Ironwood wasn't focused on the Grimm, at this moment, but on the infiltrators who had breached his security. Just like what happened during the Fall of Beacon.

Infiltration was a threat that occupied Ironwood's mind over the course of V7. Now, I'm not going to say 'Ironwood was always worried about infiltrators and lifting Atlas into space was some endgame thing'. However, Ironwood was cautious about the possibility of infiltration, and the fact that his security was breached, as represented by the queen piece on his desk and Salem showing up in his office, pushed Ironwood to isolate Atlas.

Just as how quarantine is a measure against infection, the validity of Ironwood's tactic is made obvious when one considers that Ironwood is focused on trying to deal with the security breach, and not solely on the Grimm.

Secondly, RWBY's plan at the end of V7 was to hold ground and fight the Grimm. The episode doesn't exactly say how RWBY intended to fight the Grimm, but like Ironwood's response to his security breach, RWBY's 'plan' is a tactical decision in response to an un-ideal situation.

In fact, RWBY's tactic isn't unfeasible at this stage. No one right then really had a plan to beat Salem, but they needed to come up with a response to the circumstances unfolding around them. With support from Atlas, RWBY could feasibly hold Mantle for as long as it was needed for the plot to help RWBY beat Salem.

However, RWBY failed to grasp that Ironwood's focus was on the security breach. A security breach that RWBY may have contributed to, to an extent. The Grimm was not as big a threat as the infiltrators who may be operating in Atlas, and would likely exploit the chaos of combat to execute whatever plans they may have. (Namely, stealing the relics. Which was always Salem's priority, but that is a separate topic.)

Would isolating Atlas in space have dealt with the security breach? Very likely so. For example, Robyn Hill did not know what Ironwood's plan for Amity was until she was TOLD by Blake and Yang. Ironwood's security in Atlas was not fully breached as while Ironwood's office was infiltrated, the Staff was not taken until V8, and by playing his cards close to his chest Ironwood was able to trap Watts. Even RWBY was deceived when Ironwood lied that the Amity Tower was operational to bait Watts.

It seems likely, therefore, that isolating Atlas would be a more suitable response to the infiltrators. While fighting the Grimm would just spread everyone thin, and leave them vulnerable to a more damaging surprise attack from their blindspot. Like in Beacon, and a bit like in V8, to be fair.

In conclusion:

Ironwood's plan is always to raise Amity Tower and tell the world about Salem.

Ironwood's tactical decision is viable if you consider that; no one in the show questions the workability of launching Atlas into space, and that Ironwood's priority was dealing with the infiltrators, not the Grimm.

This is ultimately a primer of sorts for Ironwood fans so that they'd be aware of what Ironwood likely intended to do for V7. A little clarity, perhaps, amidst the heated misrepresentations and misunderstandings that surround Ironwood and his role in V7 and V8.

First, the narrative was being set up to make Ironwood the bad guy, so shit was going down the way it had to. Writer's prerogative and I'm not a writer on RWBY.

Second, your point relates to the morality of Ironwood's plan. Which is not related to this post, and also something most of RWDE would agree with you as being morally gray.

I like saying the plan is moral because its fun to do so.

So on both counts, your fears can be put to rest.

What Was Ironwood's plan?

For V7, Ironwood only had one plan. Turning Amity arena into a satellite, and telling Remnant about Salem's existence. The steps and contingencies for this Amity plan is outlined in episode 2, and V7's narrative generally deals with the Amity Plan's implementation, and its failure.

Ironwood's 'plan' toward the end of V7:

Is not so much a plan as it is a tactical decision. Ironwood finds himself in an un-ideal situation and makes a choice to act on the circumstances to get out of the un-ideal situation.

In Ironwood's case, a plan and a decision is not the same. Ironwood's diplomatic personality is a distinct vibe compared to his tactical mood.

Outside of a tactical situation, Ironwood is someone who can consider multiple perspectives and was able to work with other people to do what was best for Atlas. Trusting RWBY with the relic, and standing together with Robyn Hill, are both examples of Ironwood's flexibility outside of tactical situations.

Ironwood's 'Mettle' semblance emphasizes this distinction as it helps Ironwood hyper focus on a single difficult decision. However Ironwood's Amity plan was a fairly complex, multi-stage affair, that probably wouldn't be possible if Ironwood was hyper-focused.

This distinction is important as clarification. It indicates that Ironwood's plan from the start wasn't to abandon Mantle. Instead, Ironwood made a tactical decision to isolate Atlas in response to a threat Ironwood prioritized over the Grimm. It was not as if Ironwood had planned to abandon Mantle from the start.

However, if we are forced to only consider Ironwood's tactical decision at the end of V7, we need to understand the nature of the threat Ironwood is prioritizing responding to.

During the episode gravity, Ironwood's plan is:

"The timeline has changed. And so we must change accordingly. We are going to take our plan for Amity Tower and apply it to the city of Atlas. It was Oz's plan in a former life. But he didn't take it far enough. If we harness the power of the Staff and raise ourselves high into the atmosphere, the city's artificial climate will keep citizens and food supplies unharmed. Always out of reach of whatever Salem may try to send our way."

At this point, I will state that while I accept Ironwood's plan as stated in this line, I am going to read this line as divorced from the language the writers had Ironwood use for this line. In this part of the narrative, Ironwood is set up to be the antagonist to RWBY, and the dialogue reflects this. However sensible Ironwood's plan may be, the way it is presented is meant to make Ironwood an opponent, which is a bit of a bias that may influence the audience's perception of Ironwood's tactical decision.

At its most essential, Ironwood's plan is to isolate Atlas by lifting it to a height where the Grimm can't survive without the aid of Atlas's artificial climate technology.

The conflict here isn't that the plan won't work, its just that Ironwood won't give Mantle time to evacuate onto Atlas.

"Blake: But we're nowhere near finished evacuating everyone! You'd be leaving Mantle to die.

Ironwood: Yes… I would."

No one questioned the validity of Ironwood's plan, only the morality of Ironwood's execution of the plan, and that is something I may write about some other time.

But if we were forced by fndoomers (eh-heh) to question the validity of Ironwood's tactic, we have to approach the question on two fronts.

Firstly, what is the threat Ironwood is responding to? I believe that Ironwood wasn't focused on the Grimm, at this moment, but on the infiltrators who had breached his security. Just like what happened during the Fall of Beacon.

Infiltration was a threat that occupied Ironwood's mind over the course of V7. Now, I'm not going to say 'Ironwood was always worried about infiltrators and lifting Atlas into space was some endgame thing'. However, Ironwood was cautious about the possibility of infiltration, and the fact that his security was breached, as represented by the queen piece on his desk and Salem showing up in his office, pushed Ironwood to isolate Atlas.

Just as how quarantine is a measure against infection, the validity of Ironwood's tactic is made obvious when one considers that Ironwood is focused on trying to deal with the security breach, and not solely on the Grimm.

Secondly, RWBY's plan at the end of V7 was to hold ground and fight the Grimm. The episode doesn't exactly say how RWBY intended to fight the Grimm, but like Ironwood's response to his security breach, RWBY's 'plan' is a tactical decision in response to an un-ideal situation.

In fact, RWBY's tactic isn't unfeasible at this stage. No one right then really had a plan to beat Salem, but they needed to come up with a response to the circumstances unfolding around them. With support from Atlas, RWBY could feasibly hold Mantle for as long as it was needed for the plot to help RWBY beat Salem.

However, RWBY failed to grasp that Ironwood's focus was on the security breach. A security breach that RWBY may have contributed to, to an extent. The Grimm was not as big a threat as the infiltrators who may be operating in Atlas, and would likely exploit the chaos of combat to execute whatever plans they may have. (Namely, stealing the relics. Which was always Salem's priority, but that is a separate topic.)

Would isolating Atlas in space have dealt with the security breach? Very likely so. For example, Robyn Hill did not know what Ironwood's plan for Amity was until she was TOLD by Blake and Yang. Ironwood's security in Atlas was not fully breached as while Ironwood's office was infiltrated, the Staff was not taken until V8, and by playing his cards close to his chest Ironwood was able to trap Watts. Even RWBY was deceived when Ironwood lied that the Amity Tower was operational to bait Watts.

It seems likely, therefore, that isolating Atlas would be a more suitable response to the infiltrators. While fighting the Grimm would just spread everyone thin, and leave them vulnerable to a more damaging surprise attack from their blindspot. Like in Beacon, and a bit like in V8, to be fair.

In conclusion:

Ironwood's plan is always to raise Amity Tower and tell the world about Salem.

Ironwood's tactical decision is viable if you consider that; no one in the show questions the workability of launching Atlas into space, and that Ironwood's priority was dealing with the infiltrators, not the Grimm.

This is ultimately a primer of sorts for Ironwood fans so that they'd be aware of what Ironwood likely intended to do for V7. A little clarity, perhaps, amidst the heated misrepresentations and misunderstandings that surround Ironwood and his role in V7 and V8.

Ironwood's First Time

Weiss Schnee slid her lean arms around the General's broad shoulders, rests her lips next to the General's ear, and said.

"Nervous?"

General Ironwood leans back and melts into Weiss's embrace, his beard brushed against the sleeve of Weiss's dress and he savored the scent and sensation of Weiss's presence through the silk. Ironwood then looked up into Weiss's eyes and said.

"Nervous? Yes. Yes, I am."

Weiss chuckled as she traced the line of Ironwood's beard which wrapped around a jaw chiseled from granite.

"First time?"

Ironwood shrugged and said.

"No, I've been nervous many times."

Now there are two of them!

"General," Amonico Glass said as he leaned forward and placed his corpulent elbows on the table, "the Audit you are asking for is inconceivable. The overtime alone I would have to authorize would be downright criminal! What you want from my company is out of the board's range!"

Through the holoimage, General James Ironwood leaned back in his chair and said.

"Not ... for a Schnee."

Two figures flickered into view behind Ironwood. Behind Ironwood Weiss Schnee, dressed in a white blouse with its sleeves rolled up her forearms and buttons loose at her throat and chest, placed a hand on Ironwood's left shoulder and struck Amonico a glare over her thin, wire-rimmed glasses.

Whitley Schnee, his plain white business suit making the young man sharper than his age would imply, hovered by Ironwood's right shoulder and stared sharply at his older sister's intimacy with Ironwood while Ironwood said.

"May I present my auditors, Weiss and Whitley Schnee, they will audit your firm's sheets."

The holoimage then faded out and shut off.

Across from Amonico, Bram Thornmane smashed a white-gloved fist onto the table and said.

"This is getting out of hand! Now there are two of them!"

Amonico sighed and fell back against his chair, he then took off his glasses and polished them before he said.

"Jacques should not have agreed to that arrangement."

Atlesian Lien will do fine:

"Atlesian Lien? For this?" the merchant said as he played with the furry tufts on his Caracal ears and considered the offer, "no. No, for Menagerie furniture of this quality? I need something more ... real."

General Ironwood, exhausted by a day of haggling with the cagey merchant, simply waved his hand and said.

"The Lien will do fine."

"No," the Merchant said, "they won't."

"The. Lien. Will. Do. Fine." Ironwood said with another wave of his hand.

"No. They won't!"

With the sense that a quick sale was further from his pocket than ever before, the Merchant poked Ironwood in the chest and said.

"What, you think you some kind of Huntsman, waving your hand like that?"

Ironwood then removed his glove and showed the Merchant his mechanical hand. He then placed the hand on a nearby boudoir and cracked the wood with a casual flex of the iron digits.

"On second thoughts," the Merchant finally said, "Atlesian Lien will do fine."

At This Range

Ironwood: *Watching a battle take place*

Winter: General, perhaps you should take cover.

Ironwood: Don't be ridiculous, they couldn't hit an elephant at this range.

At that exact moment a bullet hits Ironwood in the head and harmlessly falls to the ground.

Ironwood: I stand corrected, they couldn't hit an elephant at this range twice.

Whatever we have nowadays is not capitalism.

You need to trade in capital to have capitalism, but nowadays trade is done on the basis of unlimited credit and unpayable loans. The money being passed around has no capital behind it, and the value of the money is decided by central banks and monetary institutions. Usually, they run under the banner of a six-pointed star.

It's at a point where the most capitalistic example of capitalism was when a streamer sold her bathwater to her fans.

If the villain is fighting against the status quo, its not capitalism I'll tell you that much.

What Was Ironwood's plan?

For V7, Ironwood only had one plan. Turning Amity arena into a satellite, and telling Remnant about Salem's existence. The steps and contingencies for this Amity plan is outlined in episode 2, and V7's narrative generally deals with the Amity Plan's implementation, and its failure.

Ironwood's 'plan' toward the end of V7:

Is not so much a plan as it is a tactical decision. Ironwood finds himself in an un-ideal situation and makes a choice to act on the circumstances to get out of the un-ideal situation.

In Ironwood's case, a plan and a decision is not the same. Ironwood's diplomatic personality is a distinct vibe compared to his tactical mood.

Outside of a tactical situation, Ironwood is someone who can consider multiple perspectives and was able to work with other people to do what was best for Atlas. Trusting RWBY with the relic, and standing together with Robyn Hill, are both examples of Ironwood's flexibility outside of tactical situations.

Ironwood's 'Mettle' semblance emphasizes this distinction as it helps Ironwood hyper focus on a single difficult decision. However Ironwood's Amity plan was a fairly complex, multi-stage affair, that probably wouldn't be possible if Ironwood was hyper-focused.

This distinction is important as clarification. It indicates that Ironwood's plan from the start wasn't to abandon Mantle. Instead, Ironwood made a tactical decision to isolate Atlas in response to a threat Ironwood prioritized over the Grimm. It was not as if Ironwood had planned to abandon Mantle from the start.

However, if we are forced to only consider Ironwood's tactical decision at the end of V7, we need to understand the nature of the threat Ironwood is prioritizing responding to.

During the episode gravity, Ironwood's plan is:

"The timeline has changed. And so we must change accordingly. We are going to take our plan for Amity Tower and apply it to the city of Atlas. It was Oz's plan in a former life. But he didn't take it far enough. If we harness the power of the Staff and raise ourselves high into the atmosphere, the city's artificial climate will keep citizens and food supplies unharmed. Always out of reach of whatever Salem may try to send our way."

At this point, I will state that while I accept Ironwood's plan as stated in this line, I am going to read this line as divorced from the language the writers had Ironwood use for this line. In this part of the narrative, Ironwood is set up to be the antagonist to RWBY, and the dialogue reflects this. However sensible Ironwood's plan may be, the way it is presented is meant to make Ironwood an opponent, which is a bit of a bias that may influence the audience's perception of Ironwood's tactical decision.

At its most essential, Ironwood's plan is to isolate Atlas by lifting it to a height where the Grimm can't survive without the aid of Atlas's artificial climate technology.

The conflict here isn't that the plan won't work, its just that Ironwood won't give Mantle time to evacuate onto Atlas.

"Blake: But we're nowhere near finished evacuating everyone! You'd be leaving Mantle to die.

Ironwood: Yes… I would."

No one questioned the validity of Ironwood's plan, only the morality of Ironwood's execution of the plan, and that is something I may write about some other time.

But if we were forced by fndoomers (eh-heh) to question the validity of Ironwood's tactic, we have to approach the question on two fronts.

Firstly, what is the threat Ironwood is responding to? I believe that Ironwood wasn't focused on the Grimm, at this moment, but on the infiltrators who had breached his security. Just like what happened during the Fall of Beacon.

Infiltration was a threat that occupied Ironwood's mind over the course of V7. Now, I'm not going to say 'Ironwood was always worried about infiltrators and lifting Atlas into space was some endgame thing'. However, Ironwood was cautious about the possibility of infiltration, and the fact that his security was breached, as represented by the queen piece on his desk and Salem showing up in his office, pushed Ironwood to isolate Atlas.

Just as how quarantine is a measure against infection, the validity of Ironwood's tactic is made obvious when one considers that Ironwood is focused on trying to deal with the security breach, and not solely on the Grimm.

Secondly, RWBY's plan at the end of V7 was to hold ground and fight the Grimm. The episode doesn't exactly say how RWBY intended to fight the Grimm, but like Ironwood's response to his security breach, RWBY's 'plan' is a tactical decision in response to an un-ideal situation.

In fact, RWBY's tactic isn't unfeasible at this stage. No one right then really had a plan to beat Salem, but they needed to come up with a response to the circumstances unfolding around them. With support from Atlas, RWBY could feasibly hold Mantle for as long as it was needed for the plot to help RWBY beat Salem.

However, RWBY failed to grasp that Ironwood's focus was on the security breach. A security breach that RWBY may have contributed to, to an extent. The Grimm was not as big a threat as the infiltrators who may be operating in Atlas, and would likely exploit the chaos of combat to execute whatever plans they may have. (Namely, stealing the relics. Which was always Salem's priority, but that is a separate topic.)

Would isolating Atlas in space have dealt with the security breach? Very likely so. For example, Robyn Hill did not know what Ironwood's plan for Amity was until she was TOLD by Blake and Yang. Ironwood's security in Atlas was not fully breached as while Ironwood's office was infiltrated, the Staff was not taken until V8, and by playing his cards close to his chest Ironwood was able to trap Watts. Even RWBY was deceived when Ironwood lied that the Amity Tower was operational to bait Watts.

It seems likely, therefore, that isolating Atlas would be a more suitable response to the infiltrators. While fighting the Grimm would just spread everyone thin, and leave them vulnerable to a more damaging surprise attack from their blindspot. Like in Beacon, and a bit like in V8, to be fair.

In conclusion:

Ironwood's plan is always to raise Amity Tower and tell the world about Salem.

Ironwood's tactical decision is viable if you consider that; no one in the show questions the workability of launching Atlas into space, and that Ironwood's priority was dealing with the infiltrators, not the Grimm.

This is ultimately a primer of sorts for Ironwood fans so that they'd be aware of what Ironwood likely intended to do for V7. A little clarity, perhaps, amidst the heated misrepresentations and misunderstandings that surround Ironwood and his role in V7 and V8.