RWBY Volume 5 OST Analysis | Script

Hello everyone! So this Friday, I'll be sharing a video analyzing the Volume 5 Soundtrack, but today, you get the script for it! Enjoy!

INTRO:

So the Volume Five soundtrack dropped last week out of the blue because Jeff Williams enjoys using a desperate, desperate fandom as his personal marketing time. We always knew he was a genius. Anyways, it’s time to delve into each track and discuss their potential story implications. And just a heads up, we’re not gonna go super in-depth on every individual lyric and musical technique: that’s Eruption Fang and SheNoob’s department; I’m staying in my lane.

And one more thing: THESE ARE JUST MY INTERPRETATIONS, SO EVERYONE CALM DOWN IN ADVANCE.

God the comments section is gonna be a dumpster fire, and I guarantee at least 10% is going to be shitting on Miles and Kerry somehow.

THE TRIUMPH:

“The Triumph” is the intro song to Volume Five. It’s all about the heroes finally standing their ground, turning the tides, and saving the day after such horrible losses and failures. Contrasted with Volume Three’s intro “When it Falls” and Volume Four’s “Let’s Just Live,” “The Triumph” isn’t interested in wallowing in darkness, self-pity, and grief–it’s about being a gun. “Yeah, I’m a girl, but I’m also a gun.”

I wanna talk specifically about the bridge: From “It’s not Destiny” to “Every tear that’s dried.” The first portion about Destiny refers specifically to Pyrrha discussing the concept of fate in Volume 3 Chapter 8, “Destiny” (Pyrrha talking about Destiny), as well as the Volume 3 finale “End of the Beginning” (Pyrrha asking Cinder if she believes in Destiny).

Pyrrha wonders what her fate could be: whether to accept the Fall Maiden powers or not. And in the end, it would appear that Fate planned a cruel end for her at Cinder’s hands, while Cinder believes that it’s her Destiny to wield all of the Maiden powers for herself.

But here, the heroes are saying to hell with Destiny, and to hell with Fate. They are going to defeat Salem and save humanity. They are going to avenge Pyrrha, Penny, and all the others who’ve lost their lives in this war.

And the line about being powered by every tear that’s dried, means that not only are we done crying, but our grief is what makes us stronger. Our love for those we’ve lost is what keeps us going. So long as we hold onto their memory, they’re never truly gone.

IGNITE:

“Ignite” is the feature song played in the Volume 5 Yang Character Short. It’s essentially “I Burn Part 0.5.” “Ignite” refers to the beginning of a fire, and this will continue into Yang’s signature song “I Burn,” and later, “Armed and Ready” for her triumphant return. Excluding all the sad songs about being a bad sister and pining over a cat girl, of course.

There’s not much to talk about here, but it definitely showcases Yang’s initial protectiveness over her sister and her badassery. There’s also the lines about standing apart from the easily-processed uniform army of same, which I take to mean Yang’s go with the flow attitude and how unapologetically authentic she is.

I also love the little references to the quote from the Yellow Trailer, namely the misshapen sparks, and the beauty greater than pure symmetry can contain.

Also, brief appreciation for the Lamar rap and the trumpets they added in to give the song a little jazzy flare. Because Yang and jazz are always a YES.

PATH TO ISOLATION:

“Path to Isolation” is the feature song played in the Volume 5 Weiss Character Short. Like “Ignite,” “Path to Isolation” is a prequel song to Weiss’ signature song “Mirror Mirror.” This song is all about her descent into her Ice Queen status.

What I love most about this song is that it can be likened to “This Life is Mine.” The soft orchestral ballad becoming rock part way through helps “Path to Isolation” mirror (GODDAMMIT BARB) the end of Weiss’ arc of self-discovery. It all begins with rock, and it ends with rock, cuz WEISS. IS. DEFIANCE.

Other than that, not really much to talk about, though I’m pretty certain that the unexpected loss is either the death of Nicholas Schnee, or Weiss’ mother Willow becoming an alcoholic recluse. That’s really when Jacques started showing himself as Jacques-ass, and Weiss’ life turned to liquid shit.

SMILE:

“Smile” is the feature song played in the Volume 5 Blake Character Short. Well, really it was played at the very end, but it still counts. While the other songs in the Character Shorts served as prequel songs to their respective characters’ signature songs, “Smile” instead is about Ilia’s struggle following the deaths of her parents, and her quest for revenge against humanity.

The intro is most definitely Ilia’s parents talking to her. The jungle vibes given from the drums—and other instruments I’m too uncultured to know what the hell they are but they sound really cool—remind me of Menagerie, likely signifying the Faunus’ culture and heritage, despite them having lived in Mantle.

Here, Jeff and Casey stand in as Ilia’s parents, explaining to a young Ilia that she’s done nothing wrong, but will have to face anti-Faunus prejudice regardless. Still, they have a chance to give her a better life since she can pass as human, sending her to the prep school in Atlas. But then their part slowly fades out, indicating their deaths, and as the whisper to keep the secret turns to a hiss, Ilia takes over.

Casey stands in as Ilia, vowing vengeance in a slower, more eerie version of the chorus. The song turns to rock as Ilia warps her parent’s words—represented through Jeff saying “You’ll know what to do”—to fit the more radical White Fang philosophy of Sienna Khan and, later, Adam Taurus.

I still love that even though the content of the song is most definitely dark and antagonistic, the melody still carries a strange uplifting tone. Perhaps it hints to Ilia’s redemption, or just her enjoyment of vengeance. Still, at least we know Ilia’s tale has a happy ending.

Heh. Tail. Cuz… cuz Faunus. I know that’s probably racist in the world of Remnant, but… I mean, we make cat jokes about Blake all the time, guys. C’mon.

ALL THINGS MUST DIE:

“All Things Must Die” is the song played towards the end of Raven and Cinder’s Maiden fight (Or as I like to call it, the Battle of the Bitches) in Chapter 13, “Downfall.” While I would like to interpret the song as Death itself coming for Cinder’s lack of a soul, recent information suggests that this is, indeed, a Cinder song… goddammit.

The song starts slow and haunting, talking about life being a journey towards death. Every day, you grow, you age, and as such, you inevitably march closer and closer to your end. The lyrics also seem to reference “This Will Be The Day,” in “Bloody evolution,” as well as legends scattering, and day and night severing as the sky becomes black. Really, this song is the nightmare of someone suffering an existential crisis.

I also recently discovered an interesting tidbit about the lines “Murder, Unkiness, Conspiracy.” Initially I thought these were listing Cinder’s crimes: murdering people; being a bitch; and putting people into a panic. And the line “Embers extinguished in eggify” I assumed played on the Cinderella theme of Cinder being reduced to ashes and no one remembering her, namely since “effigy” has a negative connotation of involving being destroyed to show anger towards the person it’s modeled after.

However, some friends pointed out that like how “Murder” is a reference to as group of crows - also, ha! Murder of Birds. HI, ARNOLD. - a group of ravens can be referred to as an unkindness or a conspiracy, so these lines could instead be referring to Qrow and Raven. Still not sure on the “effigy” part, but perhaps it’s Cinder talking about enjoying murder because she’s a homicidally maniacal bitch.

Still, I find it so ironic that if this is indeed a Cinder song, the hell she’s in for. She’s done so many horrible things in the name of power, possibly even to become immortal by possessing all of the Maiden powers, which were originally Ozpin’s. She chided Ozpin for his arrogance, yet Cinder’s arrogance is the reason why the Fall of Haven failed, and why the villains are now on the run. If Cinder hadn’t given into her desire to revenge against Ruby, then perhaps the Relic would now be in Salem’s hands, and Haven would be left in ruins.

Whether Cinder is gone or not, she gave up part of her humanity for more power, and if she does return, odds are she’ll come back even less human. Vexed Viewer pointed out in one of his viewers how Cinder is a terrible character because she’s gone through the exact same events as in Volume 3, and while I do agree Cinder has the apparent personality of a broomstick, I find it interesting. Perhaps it shows that Cinder will never learn from her mistakes, and will continue this cycle until she, like all things must inevitably, dies.

Also god groups of animals have such weird fucking names, I just… why? Why?

THIS TIME:

“This Time” is the song played in the end credits of Volume Five. At one point considered “From Shadows Part II,” “This Time” is all about Blake, Sun, and Ilia taking down the White Fang and starting a new brotherhood on behalf of the Faunus.

The intro echoes back to the piano from “From Shadows,” but rather than being Blake and Adam singing about the White Fang destroying humanity to avenge the Faunus, this—similar to “Like Morning Follows Night”—is primarily Blake and Sun telling the Faunus that it’s time to step up and stop Adam.

In Volume 5 Chapter 10, “True Colors,” Blake gave a speech to the people of Kuo Kuana following the White Fang’s assault on her home that the Faunus need to actively stop the White Fang before humanity is given any more reasons to hate and fear their kind. The lyrics reflect this, in Blake and Sun announcing to the people of Menagerie that they can’t hide themselves in the corner of the world and expect things to get better. If they want the world to get better, they have to take matters into their own hands through peace, harmony, and a little ass-kicking.

This also confirms Blake refusing to run away. She’s rising from the shadows and refusing to run away. Her whole life, Blake has struggled with running from her problems and loved ones. She ran away from her parents to join Adam when Ghira stepped down from the White Fang. She ran away from Adam and the White Fang when she realized what a monster Adam had a become. She ran away from her friends and her teammate in the ashes of the Fall of Beacon. But this time, she’s not running. She’s taking the fight head-on, and she’s going to win.

ALL THAT MATTERS:

“All That Matters” is the song played during Team RWBY’s reunion in Chapter 14, “Haven’s Fate.” While some would like to interpret this song as all about Team RWBY’s emotionally mixed reunion, evidence suggests that it’s actually Yang’s angst over reuniting with Blake. Or really, her… YANGST. I have no regrets.

Here, Yang admits she didn’t expect Blake to stick around, but she never would’ve expected that after she lost her arm trying to save her, that Blake would just up and leave without so much as a goodbye. She didn’t say where she was going or why, but instead, left Yang hanging without closure, and given Yang’s abandonment issues with both her parents, this wasn’t the best move.

Particularly, the song calls back to “From Shadows” and “Wings,” both songs strongly associated with Blake (“Thought that I could pull you from the shadows, maybe help you find your wings.”). But even in her attempts to help Blake, particularly back in Volume 2 in trying to get her to go to the dance and enjoy herself for just one night, it’s ultimately meant nothing. Yang was left in turmoil over everything she loved being completely uprooted. She needed Blake there to help her through this pain, but she wasn’t. Yang had to pull herself out of her depression and trauma, and she’s still fighting her way through it.

Even with Blake having returned, Yang’s trust towards Blake is still permanently damaged. In Yang’s eyes, what’s to stop Blake from running away again the next time something horrible happens. She wants to believe Blake saying she’s not going anywhere, but after how hurt she’s been, all these sound like to Yang are pretty lies. She’s happy Blake is back, but that was in the heat of the movement. These two still have a lot to talk through, and trust I will cry through every moment of it.

Also I hereby dub this the “Sad Gay Song.” Because my god, this song hurts so deep.

GOLD ~ ACOUSTIC:

While the original “Gold” was a song only featured in the credits and soundtrack of Volume One, the acoustic version is only on the Volume Five Soundtrack. Like the other acoustics, it takes the uplifting tone of the original song and flips it on its head, making it much more somber and bittersweet.

“Gold” was all about Yang being there for Ruby. Through all the darkness, all the hardships, Yang would be there to help Ruby through it. She essentially served as a mother to her sister when both of their moms were gone, and their father was off either on missions or teaching at Signal.

But the acoustic makes me believe this is referring to Ruby having gone off on her own with the remnants of Team JNPR to Mistral, leaving Yang on Patch to sort through her issues on her own. Yang pushed Ruby away, saying she could do whatever she wanted, and calling her plan reckless and stupid. She was in a dark place where she didn’t care about anything. She couldn’t. Two of her friends were dead, her team was disbanded, she’d just lost her arm, and her teammate, and potential love interest, had abandoned her. She’d lost her flame.

To me, this song is Yang reminiscing over the brighter days of childhood, when Ruby was still small, and everything was simpler. And this is compounded by the episode score in “Known by its Song” when Ruby, Yang, and Weiss have their heartfelt reunion.

CONCLUSION:

The Volume Five soundtrack was well worth the long… long wait. Here’s hoping that in Volume Six, the songs will be better integrated into the episodes. Also, Jeff, please dear god don’t do this to us again. Don’t just randomly drop the soundtrack outta the blue. Yes, it’s genius, but it’s also abusive. How dare.

Anyways, I’m the Unicorn of War, I’m still blasting these goddamn songs, where is the Volume 6 Soundtrack, and this has been a shit show.

But seriously, if the Volume 6 Soundtrack just drops out of the blue, imma be pissed. I mean, I’m gonna love it anyways, but please never do this to us again.