Summer Rose

The Grimm Reaper

Her arc can be about a number of things, maybe she sees one of the capitals do something wrong so her desire to be a hero goes against her desire to be a Huntress, maybe she gets confronted with Tyrian again and accidentally kills him and she needs to overcome that, how about Emerald revealing exactly what she did to Pyrrha and Ruby flying into a rage, or on a more personal level Ruby finds out Jaques slapped Weiss and decides to shoot his arm and she has an argument with Weiss.
It’s like she’s kept a mystery for mystery’s sake, despite the fact that not elaborating on Summer is damaging the character of not just Yang, but also Ruby and likely the rest of STRQ.
I just want them to actually talk about Summer, she is literally the one character that only has been brought up and never really explored. I thought she was going to be brought up in vol 5 when Weiss and Yang were talking to Raven but they didn't. I don't know that talk always seemed off to me because of it....like sort of pointless/wasted. Like they just talked about how not to trust Ozpin but they emphasized the problem on him giving R&Q the ability to turn into birds. I honestly could never see the problem with it seeing as how to me it is no different than another semblance.
I have to disagree. When you are making a long form story, it takes a very particular mind and a lot of talent and prior experience to just make up a story as you go along and have it work. Typically, the best writers start writing their stories (after the premise, designing principal, and character web is established, of course,) by determining how the story will end, and this is even more crucial when attempting to write a long form story like RWBY, where each season (or volume) typically starts where the previous one ends. If you don't know how the season ends, then how are you going to plan ahead and outline the next season while the current one is being produced? The reasoning is simple: If you start a story before you know where it's going to end, it like starting to drive and THEN figuring out where you want to go. Summer being thrown in at the last minute is just further proof that CRWBY were attempting to create a world that they didn't have the skills for.
The writers have this bad habit of shrouding things in mystery to generate hype, then failing to deliver on it late down the line.
They do it with their villains, their heroes, and every character in between. The more vague they are—the more undefined—the better. Now what does that say about the writers' relationship with their own material? I dunno about you, but this tells me they haven't 100% thought through their ideas before putting them in, or are not confident in their ability to properly build them up, and are leaving so many questions open in order to give themselves more time to think about answers, and to gauge audience expectation. If they had anything special planned, they should plant clues or bring up the intrigue from time to time. But they don't ever acknowledge the existences of these "truths" that we don't yet know before the exact moment they decide to drop them. They make no effort to create intrigue on their own; they stay silent and leave it up to the fans. It's as if they're deliberately trying to put off the thought for as long as possible, afraid of screwing things up even more for themselves by laying down the wrong tracks, or somehow giving it away. They're so preoccupied with the reveal that the build up doesn't matter to them. And if there's no buildup, how can you have payoff? And so finally after months or even years of waiting, they decide to pull the trigger, and...people walk away dissatisfied. What gives?
This failure to indicate important revelations and their respective buildup creates a tangled mess of mixed signals and contradicting interpretations within the fandom as a whole, ultimately leading to inevitable disappointment when the truth is sloppily revealed. And I'll say it again. It's inevitable that this happens when you refuse to send out any of the right signals.
Summer Rose is just one more example of this disconcerting trend in RWBY's writing mentality. And I am predicting it right now, for viewers of the future to look back on, that the execution of her reveal will also end in disappointment. I know because none of the right signals have been telegraphed in the present, or the past, and nothing in the future can possibly remedy this storytelling injustice. Perhaps an even bigger reason is this: the number of fan theories for Summer Rose number far more than the most controversial character to date—Adam Taurus—and will win any popularity contest when compared to just about any character. There is nothing the writers can do to reconcile the innumerable headcanons out there. There is nothing that will get us all on the same page. That means this can only end poorly.
And in my personal experience, nowhere was this writing philosophy more apparent than in V5C4 and V5C6, where we finally get to see Yang "confront" Raven, an event that has been postponed for a long time. I emphasize the word "postponed" because there is no way in heck that I'm convinced that this meeting was build-up. A big problem that the writers have is that they constantly have the protagonists being passive characters rather than active characters, and the same is true for this scene that has been hyped up for years. The only time Yang was ever proactive in finding her mom (that wasn't a flashback) was all the way back in the Yellow Trailer, yet I'm skeptical on if the writers actually had any idea of who the woman in the picture was supposed to be beyond "Uhh...we'll think about who she is later...I guess". Outside of that, all of the Raven-searching was handled by Qrow, not Yang. So when Yang finally does get off her butt and does the thing that a lot of fans say is her goal & motivation (even though the rest of the show contradicts that) the meeting feels cheap and unearned on several levels. First, Yang finds Raven way too easily because despite the narrative supposedly(?) wanting me to believe that tracking down her missing mother was this hard trial for her...Raven is so well-known that a freaking random gas station owner could tell Yang where she is. Whenever I watch V2C6, it always feels like the narrative is trying to say that no one knows where Raven is, but in the premiere of V6 we're painted a picture of a world where Raven is so infamous that random smucks can point you to her direction, and when we finally do get to see Yang talk to Raven, the latter acts like they were playing some messed-up version of hide-and-seek. I literally have no idea of what to make of this set-up. For that last point one can easily state that Raven is just being condescending, but those far more qualified than I have already gone into how Raven's character is too contradictory to make any sense of (see Raven's section).
And as a cherry-on-top of this Disappointment Salad, the scenes between Yang and Raven at the camp are so boring that I fall to sleep. Yang does not care in the slightest that the woman in front of her is the one that she risked the lives of both her and her supposedly beloved little sister trying to find. What was even point of all this supposed “build-up” if all we get is a fizzle? Also, Raven is literally killing other Huntsmen and raiding villages. Seriously, Qrow and Tai speak of Raven like she simply lives a quiet life in the woods and just didn't want a family. What the hell is wrong with them? Why are they not stopping her? That should be their job, right?
Yang someway, somewhere, somehow- through some herculean logic that us mere mortals will never be able to comprehend - decides that finding her elusive mother and telling her to teleport her to Ruby is easier than going to Ruby herself. The logic that Yang presents for why she doesn’t just do the obvious is asinine. The show acts like traveling to an easily located area to find a person who you know is definitely there is somehow harder than tracking people that roam the countryside at random intervals that is lead by a woman who has a history of not wanting to be found.
Unfortunately there’s no sort of communication device that works once you reached a certain distance that you could use to tell someone something like your exact location-
V6C7- : Ruby looks to her Scroll, her contact name for Jaune being "Vomit Boy". She looks at the little signal symbol under Jaune's portrait, watching it get better as she points her Scroll toward the road ahead. The group sees a hill where the snow ends. Yang proceeds forward to drive them up the hill. At the top of the hill, the group sees a walled city in the distance along the ocean.
Yang: (smiling) “Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived in Argus.”
-Sure would be great if one of those existed in the world of Remnant.
Yang finding her mom is made to look so easy that it just makes Yang look stupid to not have found her beforehand, and/or that she wasn't really trying to find her all that much. This is the part where the series’ logic broke my immersion because when it comes to taking any sort of action to further her goal, our protagonist did literally everything wrong yet gets rewarded for it at the end. Combining that with the downright bad dialogue between Yang and Raven despite this being a scene that the writers have had ample time and opportunity to at least bring it up to the level of ‘okay’, and you get one of the most disappointing sequences in the show for me. But hey, there’s still one bright spot. The “Yang calls Blake out on her BS” idea hasn’t been touched on yet, so surely the writers will get that right...right?-
Yang: “WhAt iF I WaNtEd hEr HeRe FoR mE?!”
-Yeah it sucks. I have no idea why the writers insisted that Blake have a harem, but alas. I know that I sound like a broken record, but it bears repeating that Yang’s logic makes no sense here. Before the fall of Beacon we have seen Yang and Blake have a grand total of about 3 noteworthy conversations( not all of whom were even friendly between them), 0 times where they just hung out, they share precisely 0 common interests...and yet we’re supposed to be convinced that Yang is in love with her for some reason. (pinches nose) I don’t know, this show is stupid, okay? .
Sorry, I know that this became more of a Yang and Raven character rant but Yang and Raven are pretty frustrating characters to watch, so there’s that, haha.

Physical Description

Special abilities

How not to write: Silver Eyes
What are silver eyes?
The cynical answer is that they’re a convenient method to the hurt overpowered bad guy while still being able to have some kind of tension. Cinder killed the best fighter of the school and Ruby is coming at her already tired out? Silver eyes! Cinder is about to kill Jaune? Silver eyes!
However, the in-universe explanation for silver eyes is…I don’t know. We’re half way into the show and not only is the audience not given an explanation for this magical power the main character just has, it goes almost entirely unacknowledged.
Ruby’s eyes are brought at the beginning of season 1, then finally there’s an attempt at pay off (but not enough to avoid the label of “ass-pull”) at the end of season 3 and they even attempt to explain what these powers did, but only on a very surface level. Season 4 just sweeps the entire concept under the rug. When season 5 brings up that Ruby and Jaune need more training, Ruby is told to learn hand to hand instead of the magical eye beam powers that might be a touch more useful in the fight against an enemy that is weak against them. There’s no justification for it either, Ruby never says she has an issue with the power.
To me, the silver eyes “state” reminds me most of the avatar state from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In the avatar state, the main character Aang would lose a large chunk of his self-control in exchange for a massive power boost. The series explored this idea all throughout its run time, with Aang growing reluctant to use it for various personal reasons, to him having to decide if controlling it means giving up important aspects of himself, to nearly dying because of it, and then finally learning to control it. The important thing to remember is that all of this was done in a little over 3 years.
Now, you may argue that RWBY doesn’t have the same amount of time per episode to handle these things, however if the silver eyes are going to be a plot important device, they need to be treated as such. You don’t have to dedicate several episodes just to these powers, but you need to make an attempt. And It doesn’t matter if Ruby never intends to master them or even use them, that’s still something you have to make the audience aware of and you still need to explain them regardless.
This goes back to what I criticized as Ruby’s key issue: she’s not as much a character as she is set of established character points that never go anywhere or do anything. How did Summer’s death affect Ruby beyond making her sad? We don’t know. How do these silver eye powers work? We don’t know. But worse than most problems with Ruby, the silver eyes are a part of the world that implies there’s some other unique power system, and it’s another thing that goes unexplored.
Like many ideas in this show, the silver eyes are bad…
But, they don’t have to be. The silver eyes are a concept that could have worked if the writers were willing to commit and explore it. Instead, they come, they go, they come again, and then they’re gone once more.
Even if you find an idea of yours is being criticized to the point you feel it’d be better to drop it, think about it first. Can you make the idea better? Can you explain it, expand on it, use to enhance characterization? If you can do any of those things or other ideas with similar merit, try. Just, try.
And if making it work just isn’t happening, ax it. The worse thing you can do with a concept is to leave in while doing nothing to justify its continued existence. When this happens, your audience will always be left wondering when that element will make a return and be disappointed when it just doesn’t.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

When Summer learns of the “lie” that Hunters are dying for, Qrow realizes that something is off about Summer when he sees her drinking. “That’s usually my job”, he quips, “What’s eatin’ ya, shortstack?”. It’s around this time where Summer changes her stance from “hesitant for Ruby being a Huntress but still supportive” to “100% out of the question”. Qrow mistakes Summer’s dourness for her grieving over the death of the R in their group, and tries to cheer her up, saying that he misses her too. Using that as a way to deflect from the real truth, Summer asks Qrow if he ever wonders what the purpose of their job is, and they philosophize over it a little while until they see Ruby and Yang playing and Qrow concludes that, for him personally, it’s so that the next generation can have a better future. Summer takes this last part to heart and is where her absolute stance on not letting Ruby be a Huntress comes in. When/If Ruby remembers about this, she will have a 10-Minute Retirement as a Huntress, trying to rationalize that she wants to honor her mother’s last wish and that Pyrrha can fill her role in better than she can, until her friends snap her out of it and Weiss asks her “Is that what you want to do?”
Can we make this Summer's theme until we get an official one?:

Accomplishments & Achievements

Summer Rose was a Living Legend. Ruby mentions that she went on missions while Taiyang stayed home and she was the leader of Team STRQ, which had a badass like Qrow on it. She was a legendary huntress that many huntresses in training look up to as a role model. Those inspired by her will include Pyrrha, Coco, Winter, and Team NDGO.

Social

Family Ties

Maria is Summer’s mother and Ruby’s grandmother.
I think CRWBY doesn't know how to write personal interactions, let alone relationships. None of the characters really have any good interactions w/ each other outside of ships. They view goofy moments as good storytelling & relationship building. Ruby & Yang hardly seem like sisters, both physically & in terms of characterization. Qrow & Raven also seem to have lackluster interactions. All that could be forgiven, but there's nothing else to really pay attention to. The story is a bit directionless & flimsy, at best. It's stupid & makes little sense at worst. And w/o a good story, the action is a bit pointless, especially since it's drop in quality. RWBY had so much potential, but I see it going the way of "The Legend of Korra" if they don't make some much needed improvements.
Yeah. Even the significant character of Summer has been poorly developed so far. Other than season 3 scene with Ruby visiting her grave, there has been no development/exploration of her bond with her mum. Yang said Ruby was too young to remember her and that is fine but if Summer is going to be some part of the shows lore, they might as well explore her character through her loved ones and the people who knew her. The flashback in volume 6 chapter 14 doesn't even count cuz Ruby never talked about her mum ever since volume 3. You could even say that they forgot all about Summer until the final chapter or they didn't even try and slapped that scene at the last moment. When the silver eyes were in discussion, they didn't take the opportunity for Ruby to even think about her. The relationship is so weak, I can count the scenes involving Ruby and Summer alone on one hand and that also includes the vol 6 flashback.
True. If anything other characters could have flashbacks to Summer, like say Yang (since Summer's basically the only mom's she's known). It would've been interesting if Yang asked Raven why couldn't she have been a mom like Summer was to her. But w/ the way Raven's poorly written, she probably would have a lame response--if she responded at all. CRWBY seems to come up w/ ideas, but don't know how to explain them. And whenever questions are ask or a continuity error is mentioned, they're not ready for it & respond in anger. IDC what anyone says, it seems like CRWBY's making everything up as they go along. Either that or they're changing things that were previously planned, to disastrous effect. And instead of spending time on fixing and/or establishing things, they'd rather worry about -ships & creating even more pointless characters (like Oscar & Maria). It would've been more interesting if Oz "reincarnated" (even though it's more of body hopping) in Qrow.
The relations between all the characters seem very hollow whether ships or not and it's bad. Ruby and Yang are supposed to be sisters but we see nothing showing that outside of Yang saying she wants to be there for her sister but then immediately runs to Blake in every situation. As you said they are supposed to be teams but never feel that way due to lack of conversations and interactions as a whole. As the viewer who know nothing between curtain characters but are treated as if we do, and it doesn't help with the outside sources being told to us via RTX panels and simple head cannons to fill any holes, if at all. The ships in this show never feel natural but are told that they are cough Arryn *cough*, Arkos was a one way ship with Pyrrha wanting Jaune but he was too focused on Weiss. So when vol 5&6 come around is seems odd with how emotional he is towards her death, I would understand if it was because she was a teammate/partner but no, its feels more like a lost lover despite not having those kind of emotion for her till during/after her death. Bumblebee is a major issue in my opinion. We are given very few interactions between the two in the first 3 volumes, be away for 2, and be awkward around each other for most of the latest one. As stated in the video we get WAY more time between Blake and Sun than Blake and Yang as well as flirting to boot. I feel they wanted to add tension to Blake's choice of relationships so they added Ilia as one, kept Sun as one, made Adam an ex, and finally Yang for another. There was no need to go through all this if the final choice was going to be Yang, just make them a thing at the end of 2 when we had decent evidence of it possibly being a thing, have them "break up" in 3, and finally have them fix everything in 6 after both of them having doubts about the other for 2 volumes. With what we are given in the show it feels like Blake and Yang just suddenly fall for each other with no build up or even closure on their issues with one another because they need to be a thing. If the writers want to create relationships, make them work and not potentially compromise a story. Make it subtle with hint here and there scattered throughout the main story and maybe have them get together when things are quite and peaceful, sort of, so they reflect on what brought them here. Another big thing is to make sure it doesn't disturb the team aspect of the show, make it so they still care for everyone in the team equally and not raise another's importance above everyone else. If a team member is caring more for one person over the others, it destroys that team feeling and now they seem split on who's more important to each other and can ruin otherwise great teamwork.
But in game Ruby has better chemistry with Hyde (a character from a different world) than Blake from her own team.

Mannerisms

Summer was snarky, blunt, direct, practical, and relatively no nonsense for the most part, but she was also caring, warm, empathetic, and nurturing. Summer was beneficial to Team STRQ through the years in holding them together even after they fractured following Raven leaving. It would have been far more fascinating if Summer was more like Weiss, tbh. I still believe making Summer the “perfect wife” kind of shit would be boring. Perfect characters are boring and “perfect loving wives who then get fridged for angst” is boring. Summer is already doomed character so at least make her interesting.
I hope when/if we get a flashback, Summer won’t just be a clone of Ruby. She'll have her own different (but similar?) personality. Technically as far as we know, She is visually similar to Ruby, with the cape and the hair and the genetic weapons for eyes. But we can assume she didn't use a Scythe like Ruby and Qrow because Ozpin only ever makes mention of Qrow using a Scythe.
I imagine that the two will be very similar, but the differences will be clear. In my own headcanon, I think Summer was more calm and collected than Ruby, who actually gets her general attitude and energy from Tai, but her hopefulness from Summer. Nature and Nurture.

Honorary & Occupational Titles

The Grimm Reaper

Eyes

Silver