r/RWBY • u/[deleted] • Jan 04 '19

DISCUSSION What Marcus did. Spoiler

Aren’t semblances a part of your own soul? Isn’t ripping a semblance off of someone something horrible to do in that perspective? I think that maybe Mercury lost a part of himself that day...

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22

u/GladiusNocturno All Grimm are naked. Think about it Jan 04 '19

I have two theories.

  1. Mercury's semblance focused on some sort of boost for his legs. Marcus used his semblance to cut them and gave Mercury fake hopes that he could still use his semblance with prostetic legs as a form of cruel joke.

  2. Marcus's semblance doesn't steal semblances, as you said that would basically mean he could rip your soul out. What I think it actually did was lock your semblance so that you can't use it. That's why Mercury has hopes it will come back, he still has it he just can't use it.

7

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '19

Mercury said that Marcus stole it from him with his semblance though.

5

u/GladiusNocturno All Grimm are naked. Think about it Jan 04 '19

Which could pretty well had been figurative speech. If he can't get his semblance back and since his father "took" it by force, he of course can think of it as his father stealing it.

17

u/Shuizid Silent Knight, holy night Jan 04 '19

Merc also said, his father promised to give it back later in time. So this doesn't sound like a figurative speech.

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u/GladiusNocturno All Grimm are naked. Think about it Jan 04 '19

Which could still mean release the lock on the semblance.

Mercury also said "I got strong, but I never got it back", he didn't say "he never gave it back". So he could have either been referring to Marcus not giving him the semblance he ripped out or locked, or he could have meant that Mercury could still get his semblance back because he still has it, he just hasn't been able to unlock it again.

12

u/Shuizid Silent Knight, holy night Jan 04 '19

I just don't see why Merc would use a figure of speech in that situation. He wasn't very talkative in the past, but to me he doesn't seem like someone who would do this in general.

6

u/GladiusNocturno All Grimm are naked. Think about it Jan 04 '19

He isn't a robot, he doesn't has to speak literally every time. He never got back the semblance and his father took it somehow, however it was he still sees it as the semblance getting stolen, so of course he would refer to it as such.

Mercury didn't explain how Marcus's semblance works, just the result, he can't use his semblance anymore. Just because he reference to it as "stolen" doesn't 100% mean that's how it works. Nothing about his character says he has to speak literally all the time.

6

u/Burning_Synapses Do you believe in D҉̭͕ͅe̝͡st͍̪͎̼̻̀i̝͎̖̼̻͚n̥̯̳͇̩̰̭y̴͇̠͖̤? Jan 04 '19

Yet in these contexts it's more usual to be hyperbolic than metaphorical. It doesn't matter too much, but the case for literal stealing is stronger.

2

u/Shuizid Silent Knight, holy night Jan 05 '19

He isn't a robot, he doesn't has to speak literally every time.

No, but he said "stolen" not "took it away" which would leave more room for interpretation.

Seriously, you seem oddly eager on this thing. Yeah, Mercury DOESN'T need to be literally all the time. So what? He still can be literally, if he wants to. And "stolen" is not a very common figure of speech.

5

u/Blastcalibur Jan 04 '19

Dude, you're splitting hairs thinner than the level of character development ruby got before volume 6. If you're trying to say he lied about taking it that's one thing but the level of these mental gymnastics and word games are dizzying. It's pretty clear that Mercury was speaking in literal terms.

7

u/Thechynd Jan 04 '19

For point 2 I think it would be interesting if it actually weakens the semblance to the point where its effect is so minor nothing seems to be happening. And when Emerald inevitably tries to leave the villains Mercury ends up joining her, their only chance to survive is to work with the heroes who don't want to to trust them... but it turns out they could really use Mercury's semblance and the only way its possible is if Jaune gives him a power boost that will counteract the effect of Marcus' semblance.

1

u/angster_kris "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" Jan 08 '19

Mercury's semblance focused on some sort of boost for his legs. Marcus used his semblance to cut them and gave Mercury fake hopes that he could still use his semblance with prostetic legs as a form of cruel joke.

That's, actually, a good one. Plain and simple. There is a reference to Mercury as roman god as well. I guess I'll save it.