Bommel
Don't let me detain you.
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- Nov 7, 2020
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So I have some gripes with Katy Sith's design and character, which I'm bringing up because I'm kindoff a big fan of the origical folkloric figure.A bit more of a proper bio for Katy Sith:
She is an optimistic sweetheart of a girl who was content doing some online modeling then becoming a farm wife for Jaune in Radian.
She's blonde, fit, busty, and a bit of an unintentional tease. She's fun, optimistic, and a bit simplistic in her outlook but very sweet. She also hates Menagerian Faunus. She and her family have been proud Valeans for generations and allies of the Arcs. They own their own farm next to the Arc grounds and have so for centuries. They are not second-class citizens and think The White Fang and Ghira Belladonna can go to hell.
She's basically the hot girl next door. Think Luanne from "King of the Hill" for how she's a bit of a ditz but very sweet and kind. She's also very religious and works for charities in the Church of the Broken Table. She and Jaune were childhood friends, very close. She was always a ray of sunshine in his life, and he was a steadying influence in hers. They were very close even before dating. Her big brother, Mercer Sith Jr, was very protective of his little sister so trusting her with Jaune was a big mark of respect he held for the Arc scion.
Main issue though is that Katy was content to live in Radian and for Jaune to become her husband as a farmer or Doctor. She wants to run a farm and have lots of children right where she is. Jaune wasn't content to do that. They argued over it a lot. Katy isn't stupid or controlling, she just knows what she wants out of life: To be a bride to a good man and mother of his children in the town she loves. Jaune wants a wife and kids someday, but he doesn't want to follow his mother's dictates.
So again, they did argue, but they were friends before they were in a romantic relationship. So they agreed to break up but stay friends.
Narratively speaking she's supposed to represent the temptation Jaune had for a simple, non-heroic life, to just follow what his mother wanted him to do. But he couldn't. So there's a slight element of tragedy to the relationship.
She's obviously based on The cat-sìth, a fairy creature from Celtic mythology (mostly the Gaelic versions) that resemble a large black cat with a white spot on its chest, or in some version is a witch instead of a fairy that could transform into a cat nine times.
In the British Isles, cats in myth/folklore in general are highly linked to magic, prosperity, health and luck (but white cats are associated with bad luck, evil and death), but the Cat-sith are dangerous, troublemaking cats of monstrous in size (specifics may vary) that haunts the Scottish Highlands, with transformative powers based on their nine lives, and can commune with the dead, foretell death and steal the souls of the dead (they're not really malevolent or evil, but they are tricky and dangerous because they are celtic faeries (also called Aos sí/Aos sídhe, which means something like people of the fairy mounds).
The cat-sìth may have been inspired by the Scottish wildcat itself, or possible by Kellas cats, which are a distinctive hybrid between Scottish wildcats and domestic cats found only in Scotland
Katy Sith's design takes nothing from this beyond cat, and she doesn't even have black hair with a single white spot (or even a shirt like that), and there are loads of other mythical or folklore cats to draw inspiration from or confuse her with (beyond her name).
Like the Russian Cat Bayun, the ancient Egyptian goddess Bast, the Japanese bakeneko, Freya's cats from Norse mythology who pulled her chariot (though those are male), and many others.
There's also ship's cats (especially black ones) who are considered lucky to sailors as they would have fair voyages and always return home safely as long as the cat was kept happy and healthy, at home or on the ship, and they also hunt rats on board.
As for characterisation, Katy isn't a trickster, isn't dangerous, can't do anything magical/witchy (not even having Aura as far as I'm aware), any kind of transformation.
So I don't see any real connection between the two figures beyond the name and cat parts.
In the British Isles, cats in myth/folklore in general are highly linked to magic, prosperity, health and luck (but white cats are associated with bad luck, evil and death), but the Cat-sith are dangerous, troublemaking cats of monstrous in size (specifics may vary) that haunts the Scottish Highlands, with transformative powers based on their nine lives, and can commune with the dead, foretell death and steal the souls of the dead (they're not really malevolent or evil, but they are tricky and dangerous because they are celtic faeries (also called Aos sí/Aos sídhe, which means something like people of the fairy mounds).
The cat-sìth may have been inspired by the Scottish wildcat itself, or possible by Kellas cats, which are a distinctive hybrid between Scottish wildcats and domestic cats found only in Scotland
Katy Sith's design takes nothing from this beyond cat, and she doesn't even have black hair with a single white spot (or even a shirt like that), and there are loads of other mythical or folklore cats to draw inspiration from or confuse her with (beyond her name).
Like the Russian Cat Bayun, the ancient Egyptian goddess Bast, the Japanese bakeneko, Freya's cats from Norse mythology who pulled her chariot (though those are male), and many others.
There's also ship's cats (especially black ones) who are considered lucky to sailors as they would have fair voyages and always return home safely as long as the cat was kept happy and healthy, at home or on the ship, and they also hunt rats on board.
As for characterisation, Katy isn't a trickster, isn't dangerous, can't do anything magical/witchy (not even having Aura as far as I'm aware), any kind of transformation.
So I don't see any real connection between the two figures beyond the name and cat parts.
With all that said, I still think she's a fun character and I will still enjoy reading stories with her in it.
Ideas
- What if there were some survivors on Remnant after the d*ckhead brother gods wiped out all of humanity, with their group surviving long enough to where humanity re-evolved or was re-created (presumably by the d*ckhead brother gods) on Remnant?
Ozpin and Salem may not even know about it because they deliberately hid themselves from the two who were involved in causing the apocalypse, perhaps for a fear that they might cause another one.
Some characters are descendent from those survivors having to survive an Apocalypse and post-apocalypse, possibly without any of the magic they relied on before, and all their modern day descendents will likely have forgotten (almost) all of this, with only some vague stories or legends remaining.
Some possibles are the Arc clan/family (which could explain their unusually strong Semblances and large amount of aura), the Schnee family (who's very versatile family Semblance is pretty close to magic), a possible origin for the Silver Eyes (being created with as a final tool of survival with the last bits of real magic they had left).
- What if Yharnam from Bloodborne was once in Remnant?
The cool weapons of both settings are fairly similar and in both Hunters/Huntsmen fight against monstrous beasts, and I'm not the first to notice this (there is more than 1 crossover story I'm sure).
So what if someone like Isabel is descendent from some of the survivors of Yharnam, which is why she has such a body horror Semblance (the effects have been diluted through the generations, but it's still somewhat there).
- When Jaune was a young child, he encountered some "Magical Girl Mascot animal/creature", who gave him magical girl powers after they mistook him for a girl because Jaune was dressed up as a girl by his sisters.
He could have had these powers the whole time, might have forgotten about them, or they may only start to manifest now that he's older, or were suppressed because the "Magical Girl Mascot community" figured out the screwup and tried to hide the embracing mistake.
- Related ideas to the magical girl one.
- What if some other students of Beacon or other huntsmen schools get Magical Girl powers (by accident or through Jaune somehow), but it goes hilariously wrong in some way.
- What if some of the adults like Willow, Kali, Glynda, etc. accidentally end up with Magical Girl powers that were meant for girls that are way younger than them.
- Somewhat of a solution to my previous gripe about Katy Sith not being anything like the mythical Cat-sith, what if Katy Sith (and possibly her entire clan/family) a "Magical Girl Mascot animal/creature", or descendent from one, and this is how Jaune, RWBY and JNPR, some of their schoolmates, or the mature women gain Magical Girl powers (deliberately or by complete accident).
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