RWBY Vol 8 Chapter 9 – Witch Discussion
Is everyone still breathing? Good, then join Sophie, Clare and Nathaniel for their discussion of RWBY Vol 8 Chapter 9 – Witch.
RWBY Vol 8 Chapter 9 – Witch Synopsis
The clock is ticking on Jaune (Miles Luna), Ren (Neath Oum), and Yang (Barbara Dunkelman)’s rescue mission. The Ace-Ops hold the line against Salem (Jen Taylor)’s forces.
Let’s hear it for the animation department because holy crap this chapter was impressive. From that sweeping opening shot of the Atlesian military advancing to some incredible fight scenes what was your standout moment this chapter?
N – it looked amazing throughout, I do admit that the sweep of the battle could have done with more texture but I also not gonna kick up a fuss about it because they do an amazing job overall. The fight scenes that we see later on are probably some of the best we’ve seen so far and in their defence this is one of the largest conflicts that they’ve animated.
C – It has to be our good guys versus Salem. Specifically Yang and Hazel (William Orendorff). That fight was incredible. Seeing Hazel go all out was amazing. I think he used every single kind of dust crystal. That moment where he did the double punch and flamed up his hands had me yelling! It reminded me of Henry Cavill’s character in Mission: Impossible – Fallout in the fight in the bathroom.
S – I had the same thought as Clare, when Hazel lit his fists up my head went straight to Henry Cavill. The whole sequence of Hazel vs Salem (Jen Taylor) was amazing, some of the moves from Hazel we have never seen before so it was good to see what he could do.
After his dramatic speech on board Winter’s ship Ren seems to have dealt with a lot of the emotional turmoil he was feeling, and especially his feelings towards Jaune. In this chapter we saw him, with Jaune’s help, sensing AND masking emotions with his Semblance, not to mention encouraging. Is anyone else worried about him?
S – Not as much as I was, it worried me that both of their auras were flickering out, even Jaune’s!
C – Yeah, that was quite concerning. Especially after last week, seeing how fast the Grimm took down Ruby and Blake’s auras I am starting to wonder if there’s something about this many Grimm being so close that is having an effect on people? I am really worried about Ren though. Nothing had better happen to him – he has to get back together with Nora!
N – I was surprisingly less concerned about him this episode then in previous, he was not himself however he was more confident and supportive which is something we haven’t really seen him do as much in the past.
Oscar (Aaron Dismuke) and Oz (Shannon McCormick) had a little chat early in the chapter, leading to Oscar making a dramatic decision during the climactic fight to use the magic he was so reluctant to earlier on. He said during their chat that when they used magic he could feel their two souls merging faster, given how much he used against Salem…do you think that might have been the end of our little Farm Boy?
C – I really hope not. I still maintain hope that they can find a way to separate him from Ozpin. Part of me wonders if a “Flatliners” type deal would work ponders.
S – I hope not, I like Oscar. I do wonder what he is going to do to Salem, from what he said it seemed like he could make her go away for a while.
N – It’s a really concerning situation because I like Oscar, so I really don’t want to see him disappear but if they sort it out and somehow manage to stop the change I don’t want Ozpin to disappear either. It’s a 50/50 split with how I feel about the predicament.
C – But Oz will find a new host right? He wouldn’t be GONE gone. Just… temporarily.
We saw Flynt Coal (Flynt Flossy) and Neon Katt (Meg Turney) from Team FNKI on the battlefield alongside the Ace-Ops and Winter, but they looked very nervous. Since they haven’t been through quite the same baptism of fire as Teams RWBY and JNR since the Fall of Beacon, do you think they are in danger?
S – Everyone is in danger, but teams RWBY and JNR have certainly seen their fair share of combat. And I’m guessing they know a lot more than team FNKI, Marrow though was definitely pulling at my heartstrings this episode. He is clearly the heart of the group.
N – definitely they’re in a different frying pan compared to the others and as Sophie mentioned they aren’t as used to the heat compared to RWBY and JNR. I think they’re strong fighters and they can hold their own but I think there will be some casualties in this and they’ll use characters that we’ve seen before and know to an extent.
C – Marrow is still a very good boi and needs to abandon Ace Ops and follow his heart and help out our heroes! I am worried about FNKI, I know we saw them training in Atlas in the last volume, but they still don’t have the real world fight experience that our heroes have.
Speaking of Oscar, his plan to turn Hazel actually paid off, and with the unexpected bonus of completely convincing Emerald (Katie Newville) too. Were you surprised it worked?
C – A little. Part of me still expected to be so cowed by Salem that he would take the lamp to her with the password…but I am happy that the plan worked out in the end.
N – Not surprised with Hazel as much but very surprised with Emerald, I expected her to turn but not that quickly not without maybe trying to convince Cinder to leave with her.
S – It was a good plan to be fair. Emerald was already having second thoughts when Tyrian pretty much confirmed that Salem wants to end the world. And Hazel’s motives were about getting revenge for what happened to his sister, Salem had clearly twisted the truth and kept things from him so he would do her bidding.
Neo was present when Oscar summoned Jinn for Hazel and Emerald. So she now knows the password. The Sentinels alerted Salem to something which she believed was the lamp in danger, but she showed up to stop Yang, Jaune, Ren and Oscar leaving with Emerald. And Hazel turns up to join the fight later leaving Neo as the only one unaccounted for… do you think she took the lamp?
S – oh absolutely, but what can she do? It’s not like she can say the password.
C – Yep, and is probably heading to find Cinder right about now! I know she doesn’t speak, but there does seem to be some form of communication. Maybe she’ll go RWBY Chibi on us and write it on a whiteboard?
N – She totally took it but the question is who’s team is she on? Salem’s? Cinder? Or her own…?
Okay, let’s talk about the battle against Salem. First of all, Yang’s exploding round assault. The effect when those rounds blew…
C – Was seriously gross and awesome at the same time. I guess we got a small glimpse during this fight of what Hazel saw when she first came to him and he killed her over and over.
N – I was not expecting her to take any damage at all let alone Salem chunks being blasted off!
S – It’s kind of nice to know Yang could kick her ass if Salem wasn’t immortal and didn’t have magic. It was a bit gross though, I wonder if she even feels it anymore.
And when Yang started mouthing off to Salem, was anyone else screaming at her to shut up?
N – I’m surprised Yang actually left this conflict in the way she did, I’m happy she did but she definitely acted like herself, loud and headstrong. This was a scary scene but I’m glad she did it, it really shows how she is as a character.
S – Maybe….. Yes. More like shouting no no no no no no no Yang STFU!! Although she did say Summer Rose was her mom which is nice. Salem’s creepy face makes me think she is gonna bring Summer back as one of her experiments, I really hope not.
C – Oh god, actually screaming at the screen. I agree Soph, her calling Summer Rose her mom was really sweet, but yeah, Salem’s face when she heard the name did NOT give me happy thoughts.
Hazel squared up to Salem, a woman he knew from first hand previous experience was unkillable. Do you think he knew he was never going to win?
C – Yep. I think he sacrificed himself for the sake of the others, to buy them time to get off Monstra. When he gave Oscar back the cane he said “No more Gretchens”, meaning no more children dying. I kinda hope he makes it out, but if he doesn’t, his sacrifice was pretty epic.
S – Yea he was just being a distraction, giving them a chance to get out. Anyone else thinking Emerald is not gonna have a good time when they get out of Monstra? I mean she is one of the villains.
N – I think that everyone else wouldn’t have made it out if he didn’t intervene and even though he knew it could be his last fight he wanted to do the right thing.
And the cliffhanger… WHAT DID OSCAR DO?!
S – I have no idea, maybe put Salem into a state that takes her a long time to rebuild herself. I did shout “BURN THE WITCH” as Hazel was holding her waiting for Oscar to do his thing.
C – I have no idea. We did see the green orb when Ironwood dropped him off that platform in Atlas didn’t we? Maybe it slows time or something or is some kind of magical force field to allow him to withstand what would kill anyone else (massive fall. Huge blast of magic…). Whatever the hell it was, waiting a week to find out is too much. And I swear if we come back next week and the POV goes back to Ruby, Blake and Weiss, or to Qrow and Robyn, and we don’t get a follow up I may flip a table…
S – LMAO Clare! As much as I miss Qrow and would love to know he is still alive, I kinda agree. Next week’s episode needs to carry on from where this one left off!
N – I wanted to flip everything, I mean bravo it’s a brilliant cliffhanger but god damn if they don’t show what happens next week I’m going to go mad.
So that’s it for our discussion of RWBY Vol 8 Chapter 9 – Witch. We’d love to know what you guys thought, so let us know in the comments or reply on social media.
RWBY Vol 8 Chapter 9 – Witch is available on RoosterTeeth.com now for RTFirst subscribers. It will be available on Saturday February 20th for non-First members. You can check out our review of the previous chapter HERE.
