No one has acknowledged anything Ironwood has done, characters or fandom. Like I fully understand that he’s meant to look bad. Everything has very horrific implications at the surface level: omg Ironwood set up the embargo, closed the border, has military in the streets, is taking resources from his people, etc. It’s all very much textbook dictator who has Gone Too Far. Problem is, that setup only works when a) the person in question doesn’t have arguably very valid reasons for taking things to that extreme and b) the audience doesn’t know those reasons and therefore can’t start sympathizing and/or agreeing with them, turning a more straight-forward villain into a morally gray one or even, as I’d argue with Ironwood, a tragic hero. Though even using that definition runs into complications because Ironwood doesn’t have that primary flaw like hubris, leading to his own downfall. Rather, the writing keeps showing us that, a lot like Ozpin, he’s just presented with really shitty choices and forced to make a decision. His conflict is external. Ironwood’s pride hasn’t gotten him into this mess, having an immortal, thousand year old, has endless time to plan, really good at her job villain has.

Something like pride—or given RWBY’s fairy tale origins heartlessness—could have been that kind of flaw… if (again, again, again) we were actually shown that on screen. If Ironwood was actually setting up security measures because he wanted complete control over Mantle, rather than because he watched Beacon fall from the inside out and is desperately trying to keep that from happening to his people, to say nothing of learning that another headmaster has just betrayed them in the worst way possible. If he hadn’t given Mantle Penny, demonstrating both that he’s trying to provide better, less intimidating forms of protection as well as the fact that he’s learned some of what Ozpin wanted to teach him: give the people a guardian. If we didn’t get a whole volume of our heroes insisting that Amity has to be finished, knowing Ironwood intended to use that to save the world, irrevocably justifying taking those resources. If we didn’t watch him stick up for the group during their arrest, exclaim that he’s so happy they’re here, trust them with his plan, with the relic, hug Qrow, give them licenses and an attempt at a party, let them talk or even scream at him in their frustration, take their advice about telling the council, potentially ruin his arm in an effort to continue protecting them… It’s really astounding to me precisely how much work RWBY has done to say, “Ironwood is a very good, very heroic man who is trying to make the best possible decision with nothing but bad decisions available” and then turned around last episode to present him solely as that callous dictator “abandoning” his people. And yes, that’s absolutely the characterization we got. Which I know not merely because of a basic analysis of that scene but because the vast majority of the fandom has bought that characterization hook, line, and sinker. The last week my dash has been stuffed with posts going, “Yes! Take him down! I knew he was evil.” That scene was not fair—let alone kind—to Ironwood in the way that it should have been and it gave everyone the opening they needed to ignore the rest of the volume and prioritize Team RWBY’s own surface reading. They say they want to save people? Heroes! Ironwood says he needs to sacrifice Mantle? Villain! Never mind the actual situation wherein Team RWBY is arguing for the death of everyone whereas Ironwood is attempting to both save a chunk of his people + ensure that the war lives on. I’ve literally seen people complaining that he didn’t show enough sympathy, as if having a breakdown in his office isn’t enough and as if they have time for him to get all weepy over something he hasn’t even done yet. Which just shows how quickly most viewers are willing to throw these characters under the bus. Ironwood suddenly makes a decision without… idek what people want. Smiling? Crying? Begging Team RWBY to believe that he’s right? The fact that he’s mad (when he’s allowed to be mad) and stern (when he needs to be stern) is being used as some sort of “proof” that he was the heartless tinman all along.

Overall I’m just really over this disconnect. They did it with Ozpin and now they’re doing it with Ironwood: we’ll give you whole volumes worth of material demonstrating that they’re flawed but ultimately good people, only to suddenly swerve and insist they’re antagonists once they do something the group doesn’t like. I mean heaven forbid we actually get one moment of support in this show. I’m still waiting for even the shred of sympathy for Ozpin that everyone claimed we’d get once the group “calmed down.” Yeeeeah. It’s been weeks now. If our heroes can’t even extend the briefest bit of compassion towards their headmaster after watching his 1,000 years of hell that included the murder of his children, I highly doubt they’ll extend any towards Ironwood after making such a horrific call. No matter how much he’s done for him. All that support on his end and all the moral complexity of his situation is simply erased the moment Team RWBY decides they don’t like him anymore. And that sucks because all these characters deserve better. Ironwood doesn’t deserve to have his characterization erased like that and Team RWBY deserves to be complex, autonomous people with a continued capacity for growth.