Yang Xiao Long's nightmare (RWBY Volume 4)

PTSD confirmed for Yang.

I do not own RWBY, RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum. I am posting this as a fan, for fans, with no intentions of profit.

[machinagenex]

If she freaks out about this, imagine if she hears that the fandom has been making arm puns at least months after it happened

[rebelfighter]

I didn't realize how LOUD battlefield noises sound in a nightmare compared to the actual event. Maybe cause in the heat of the moment there's no time to think and process what's happening normally. But now that Yang's alone with her own thoughts and isolated from the outside world, it's that much scarier. Sucky situation all around.

[SoTotallyTokoTTV]

when Yang fires shots and it has no effect i could play Silver's "IT'S NO USE" sound effect over that and it'd make this 10x funnier

[cannyweng]

I feel so bad for her... everything she went through...being left alone, and losing her arm...

[jayblade]

Me: This is Yang, we're talking about, surely- *Nightmare scene comes on* GIVE THE WAIFU EMERGENCY HUGS AND "THERE THERE, IT'S OKAY"S STAT! SOMEONE HELP HER!

[thelastroman]

I’ve had nightmares like that before. I remember the abuse I used to receive from (name redacted). I’m an anxious person by nature and they used to play with my emotions, severely enough that now I have heart problems from how much stress and anger used to feel. Thank God for therapy.

[kimchantal]

If i would have a nightmare like this, i would end up screaming like the Nuckelavee when waking up...

[TheJaredPunch]

Nightmare fuel, for Yang... and for us...😱😱😱

[Southhs]

I wonder what the real Adam would think if he saw this

[Razor_]

Normal people see Adam cut the arm of Yang: 😫.
Metal gear rising players see the scene: The only thing I know for real.

[arbitersblade]

theres one big problem I have here WHY CHANGE ADAMS OUTFIT in volume 5. the old outfit looks great in this animation compared to the very strange outfit adam has on in volume 5

[thekeeperofpromise]

I'm gonna admit. I've taken a look at the comment section and found that some people are unsatisfied with how this went. I'm not a person who likes to take sides in arguments or debates, but I'll state my opinion as delicately and moderately as I can. If you disagree with my opinion, that's fine. We are all entitled to our opinions, but we must present them as kindly as we can. If I offend you in any way, I give you a pre-emptive apology, as offending people is not my intention.

I feel that Yang Xiao Long's character arc regarding PTSD is not as poorly done as some people say it is, but I also acknowledge that it could have been done better. I do feel that the setup for Yang's trauma and character arc was well done through at least the end of volume 3 and the first half of volume 4, as it definitely gave room for her to grow beyond a person with a love of her teammates, sister, and goes mad against her enemies. While the PTSD got downplayed over the course of volumes 4 and 5, it still was given some degree of focus when you see her hands shake, even getting a moderate moment in volume 6 when she and Blake are alone with the latter realizing just how badly losing her arm to Adam affected her. Even after his death, volume 7 shows that the memory of Adam still affects Yang and Blake, discussing his death, implying that there may or may not be lingering trauma. 

But even I cannot deny, that the final payoff in particular, could have been significantly improved with it showing that deep down, Yang is very much terrified of Adam, perhaps with Adam relentlessly attacking her after knocking out Blake, taunting her about he's going to make her suffer horribly, possibly scratching her at one point, causing her to flash back to that moment at Beacon she lost her arm, and causing her to shift to completely going on the defensive, with her face even going from anger to fear upon remembering her vulnerability against him. He could even cut off a strand or two of her hair, with her not even getting angry because she's too scared to get angry. He could also taunt her with how he's going to kill her painfully after knocking her to the ground, mocking her with telling her how he intends to kill her slowly, possibly by chopping off her other arm, then some of her toes, then both legs, and finally behead her, with her getting more terrified with every mention, just barely escaping the next move he makes with his sword by sending herself back with Ember Celica, nearly knocking him off balance. He resumes his assault, as Yang frantically keeps defending herself until Blake shows up and briefly catches Adam off guard with a surprise attack before he throws her off. At that point, Yang also recalls Blake at Adam's mercy during Beacon and also catches Adam off guard before rushing to Blake's side.

At that point we get the whole "protecting each other" line before we get a dialogue beginning with Adam mocking them about how Blake and Yang don't seem to fear him enough. At this point, Yang could admit that deep down, she does fear him as much as he thinks she should, how during the entirety of their rematch, she kept thinking about how at Beacon, she lost her arm because of him, and even now, still fears him, still fears that this time, something worse could happen to her, such as losing another limb, or her life. But she then mentions how the memory of losing her arm came from an even worse thought: she lost her arm because she was trying to save Blake, because the idea of losing someone she cares about has always terrified her even more than dying or getting ripped apart (at this point it won't be openly stated, but its implied that nearly getting Ruby killed searching for her mom left an impression on her), which is what gives her the resolve to fight. And then Blake realizes that she feels the exact same way, and realizes that Adam's weakness is exactly that, even saying to his face that his lack of understanding of fear and love will be his downfall; that because of the fear of losing one another and love of one another gives them the strength to fight him, why it cost him the White Fang, and that his inability to fear or love anything or anyone will get him killed. Adam of course, gets angered by the insinuation that he is weak and proceeds to charge at them, causing the fight to play out like we saw it.

Even so, though the final payoff was not the best it could have been, we cannot ignore the fact that Rooster Teeth and CRWBY have a limited set of resources to work with (admittedly possibly because Rooster Teeth tries to focus on spreading out interest as much as it can rather than making quality content in one thing), between budget and episode length and count constraints and annual deadlines. And with the difficulty of handling something so big after it's creator left it, and the desire to please the fans as much as they can by not leaving the show hanging (come on let's be honest here, if they actually stopped the show at volume 3, we would be begging them to continue it, ignorant of the fact of any potential drop in quality in favor of quantity), you can't really blame CRWBY too much for things turning south.

Maybe I'm taking too positive of a stance towards how things could have been handled. But I'm okay with that. When I see fans complain about something, it does leave me with a negative feeling. I could either ignore their opinions entirely remaining a naive individual, or accept their opinions wholeheartedly about how "crappy" something is and wallow in misery about how this or that is terrible. But when watching a show, or movie, or reading some fictional stories, I always like to take a "glass half full" worldview towards it. Yes, many fictional works are flawed. Yes, this or that could have been handled better. But nearly every story has its virtues. Every story handles something in a good way, one way or another. And though I do have to remember that the story is flawed, I also like to remember it has parts I enjoy and can enjoy it for. Stories were written for us to enjoy. If we were to focus on every teeny tiny detail about how a story could be improved, nothing we look at could be good. And how could we live life, if everything were terrible? What could we enjoy, if everything was bad? And if anything was perfect, we could never find a good story ever again. And then how would we enjoy anything afterwards?


But I'll admit, firing Vic was an absolutely dick move by RT. I'm not taking a moderate stance on that.

[nachoxd]

0:23 Adam is literally catching me the mf that keeps spamming ultimate attacks in any game

[mitthrawdoritos]

And than V6 Happen! And her PTSD WENT OUT THE Window along with all the build up behind it good work crwby you out done your self

[cmreturns]

the one who cutoff her arm but we may never know who is under that mask?

[halkras]

Is this dream about "anger control/haunt by failure" ????

[Reonnex]

What if adam is part snake? Or spider? He had 4 eye wholes and it will be wierd to have part of your vision cut.

[nauticalbloom]

Volume 8 is never gonna come out i been waiting forever

[dankbudew]

V4: PTSD done rather realistically and what that can do to a person


V6: WHAT PTSD?!!!!
(If you take account how Veterans live with PTSD, you kinda end up feeling a bit offended)

[nauticalbloom]

She does not have PTSD she will get her arm back some seaspn