Hey guys!
I have a pretty quick RWBY theory I wanted to talk about before I get into the a few
more complex theories that I have been wanting to discuss for a while.
I do plan on talking about all of Team STRQ in the near future, but for now I just wanted
to mostly focus on everyone’s favorite bird man, Uncle Qrow.
More specifically, his semblance, and why I think there may be more to it than we have
been led to believe.
As we know, Qrow himself has described his semblance as bad luck.
This is heard and seen everywhere, his song is called Bad Luck Charm and whenever we see
a random object around him breaking it is almost always attributed to his doing.
However, unlike most other semblances, his is passive.
Meaning that even if he does not want to, bad things seem to happen around him.
Honestly it seems that we have seen more instances of his semblance being a hinderance to his
daily life than being a benefit during battle.
After doing quite a bit of research on semblances for my Mercury theory video, which you can
check out by clicking the link shown right now, I have begun to question things.
Most importantly, it is very possible that Qrow does not truly understand his semblance.
Like I mentioned in my Mercury video, more often than not, a semblance gives a way for
a character to survive in a situation that would have otherwise killed them and shows
their motivations in life.
Nora got hit by lightning but only survived due to her semblance being activated.
This is more or less the same with Ren and the Grimm attack he survived as a child.
We can also use this logic with characters like Blake, Emerald, Yang, and even Adam.
So, what’s up with Qrow’s semblance?
Well, we do have this famous quote from Ren: “A common philosophy is that a warrior’s
Semblance is a part of who they are.
Some say your personality and character can define your Semblance while some claim that
it is the other way around.”
For the examples of semblances, I gave above, they mostly seem to be examples of the former.
But the show would have us believe for Qrow it is the latter.
He has always had bad luck, and because of that is unable to get close to the people
he cares about and his personality formed from there.
Yet, in this video I am going to argue that the way his semblance manifests is because
of his own actions and beliefs, and if he changes his ways he could eventually become
more of an advantage than a burden.
I had always been interested in exploring Qrow’s semblance, but a line from RWBY Rewind
really got me thinking.
One of the hosts, Jackie, asks former host Yssa, about Qrow’s semblance in Season 2
Episode 9.
Yssa now works on the show, so she likely knows quite a bit more about these characters
than what is already revealed.
And from the look Yssa gave after Jackie made that statement, I feel like she also agrees
this is a good idea.
So basically, his outlook on life effects his semblance.
His alcoholism and his negative thoughts about his power make it manifest in the form it
is currently.
Meaning, his semblance may in fact just be luck.
Any kind of luck on either side of the spectrum, both good and bad can happen for him.
But his negative attitude towards everything he does has always caused misfortune to happen
around him.
Although I should point out that the very nature of bad luck is subjective.
If he got good luck, how would that manifest?
Would it be that bad things will happen to enemies while fighting, such as when Qrow
fights Tyrian and Tyrian falls through a wooden plank, or will it be more that he will randomly
encounter supplies he needs?
But even then, the Tyrian incident could still be counted as bad luck despite the positive
outcome it had for Qrow since it was negative for Tyrian.
So, guessing how his semblance could change is a bit tricky.
Also, Qrow having just good luck would probably be OP, but I still really want to see his
semblance evolve from just being a negative aspect on his life.
Now this is total speculation on my end, but I could definitely imagine that ever since
he was born, the tribe that he grew up in hated him because he was believed to have
bad luck.
This is a bit sad, but the possibility has always intrigued me- what if it was his birth
that killed his mother?
Qrow and Raven’s mother may have been the current leader of the tribe, but she passed
soon after Qrow was born.
We know that his twin sister Raven is the older of the two, so if his mother died I
could see the tribe making him feel responsible for something that was outside of his control.
Nonetheless, this caused his tribe to see him as their bad luck charm, as he was the
cause of death of their former leader.
Surely believing this from a very young age, that you only bring death and misfortune wherever
you go, does not impact a child well.
They made him believe he could only be a bad omen, so that is exactly what he became.
This self-fulfilling prophecy has only caused him to stay distant from others and has led
to more suffering.
The sad part about this is that Raven’s semblance allows her to teleport directly
to those that she loves at any moment, yet she is the one that abandoned her significant
other and daughter.
This directly contrasts with Qrow, who has always watched over Ruby and Yang, and wants
to be there for them, but until recently never seemed to stay with them for too long in fear
for how he could accidentally hurt them.
There may have been something that happened with Summer in the past that he does not wish
to repeat.
Of course, information about Summer Rose is very sparse at the moment, so let’s hope
we get more on that next volume.
But back to what else may be affecting his semblance.
Jackie also mentioned that his drinking habits could impact his semblance negatively, which
I agree with.
At the end of season 6 it does seem he may be turning over a new leaf and will stop drinking,
so maybe his semblance won’t spike as much as it did prior.
Although for him to just give up drinking so quickly is easier said than done.
Yet if he actually knows there is a connection between drinking and his semblance spiking,
that is quite irresponsible on Qrow’s part.
If it was the other way around and drinking caused his semblance to unintentionally be
activated less often, then I could see a case for him being an alcoholic.
But maybe he is finally realizing he needs act more responsibly so he can be as helpful
as possible.
Anyways, with all of this combined, I just really don’t want his semblance to be as
simple as him causing bad luck with there being nothing he can do about it.
So far this is really the only semblance that has clear negative side effects and is more
or less random.
Every other semblance does not inadvertently hurt allies or harm others in normal circumstances.
His current semblance, as is, just doesn’t make sense.
He is the only RWBY character where his semblance can inadvertently hurt those that are on the
same side as him and can even harm others in normal circumstances.
This is why I think eventually, before he leaves the group, we will see that there is
more to his semblance than we once thought, and he will realize that he is not just a
burden on those around him.
If he can turn his semblance around and make it exert good luck, that is definitely something
very valuable.
Qrow needs to see he is worth a lot and is much more than the brainless scarecrow he
has made himself out to be.
So that’s all I have to say for this video!
But if you enjoyed it and would like to see me make more RWBY videos, please give us a
subscribe, or if you would like to help support the channel feel free to become a Patron on
Patreon!
I have a few other RWBY videos you can check out.
Most notably is my video about Mercury and his semblance, but I also did a Jaune video
a while back that is still a bit relevant.
As I mentioned before I do want to do a video on Team STRQ, and I do have some other video
ideas floating around that I might get to eventually.
Although we have a long time until Volume 7 airs, so I have plenty of time to talk about
everything I want to regarding RWBY.
Thank you for watching and have an animated day!