The following contains spoilers for RWBY Vol. 9, Episode 6, "Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds," now streaming on Crunchyroll. This article also contains a brief mention of suicide.
RWBY is an American web series from Rooster Teeth that takes place in the fictional world of Remnant. Inspired by both anime and western fairy tales, the members of Team RWBY are Ruby Rose, her sister Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee. The four initially started as students at the Beacon Academy, training to become Huntresses who specialize in killing monsters known as Grimm. After an attack from the villainous Cinder destroyed the school, all four girls went their separate ways for a while, then later reunited to deal with the larger threat of Salem, whom Cinder worked under.
One of the major selling points of RWBY has been the budding romance between Blake and Yang (aka Bumbleby), who started as academic partners and quickly became best friends. After many trials and tribulations in the first eight volumes, Blake and Yang finally confessed their romantic feelings for each other and shared their first kiss in Vol. 9, Episode 6, "Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds." While this major milestone has been heavily celebrated by Bumbleby fans, the canonization of Blake and Yang's romance is more significant than the culmination of a kiss. The way the relationship was built up has actively challenged television's troubling trends with LGBTQIA stories and set the gold standard for WLW representation on television.
Mainstream TV Has a Troubling Trend with LGBTQIA Stories
LGBTQIA representation has undoubtedly increased in various media over the past two decades. Unfortunately, despite the abundance of LGBTQIA content on television, good representation is still hard to come by. For starters, two disturbing patterns have emerged over the last decade. The first is the tendency for streamers to cancel LGBTQIA shows -- especially ones fronted by queer women -- after only one or two seasons. The second disturbing trend is the tendency for showrunners to fulfill the "Bury Your Gays" trope, typically after two queer characters officially confessed their mutual romantic feelings. Both Killing Eve and Warrior Nun notoriously did this in their final seasons.
In Killing Eve, Villanelle was shot dead in the Season 4 finale, not long after sharing a passionate kiss with Eve. Warrior Nun also did this in the Season 2 finale when Ava sacrificed herself to save the world not long after she kissed Beatrice in the same episode. HBO's The Last of Us continued this trend with Bill and Frank in a mutual suicide, then later Ellie and Riley shortly after the two shared their first kiss. In the latter case, one girl was forced to kill the other. While House of the Dragon managed to subvert the trope with Ser Laenor Velaryon and his male lover (in contrast with the source material), he's still legally declared dead in Westeros. Given this disturbing pattern in so many mainstream stories, RWBY's Blake and Yang offer a refreshing alternative with a carefully crafted romance spanning a decade.
RWBY Focused on Building Blake and Yang's Friendship First
According to Blake and Yang's voice actors Arryn Zech and Barbara Dunkelman on Always Open, the characters' romantic relationship was planned from the beginning. However, in contrast with many modern TV romances, RWBY's showrunners (referred to as CRWBY) didn't want to rush the relationship, opting for a more slow-burn approach. In execution, this was achieved by not teasing a romance right away when RWBY Vol. 1 debuted in 2013. Instead, Blake and Yang were given individual problems to work through, which provided the foundation for their friendship and initial attraction.
Blake was initially depicted as an extreme introvert who was profoundly distrustful of people and felt like she had to hide much of who she was (especially the fact she was a Faunus with a criminal past as a White Fang member) to be accepted. By contrast, Yang was depicted as extremely outgoing, confident and funny, but these traits were also used to mask the feelings of abandonment she felt toward her mother Raven. Despite these extreme personality differences, both girls still found themselves drawn to each other's unique strengths, which was further explored in Vols. 2 and 3.
RWBY Subtly Hinted at Blake and Yang's Romantic Attraction
The Vol. 2 episode "Burning the Candle" provided the first major clue that their mutual attraction was romantic in nature. By this point, Yang was already aware of Blake's past with the White Fang and grew concerned about Blake's growing obsession with her former gang's activities. This led to Yang opening up to Blake about her own past, especially her abandonment issues. She even briefly flirted with Blake when she invited the latter to dance with her at the school dance.
The anime spinoff RWBY: Ice Queendom (which takes place between Vols. 1 and 2), explicitly confirmed their romantic attraction in two ways. The first was when Yang objected to Blake's dangerous plan to save Weiss from a Nightmare Grimm, but Blake trusted Yang to save her in the end. The second confirmation occurred in Ice Queendom's reinterpretation of the Vol. 2 episode "Best Day Ever." In the Japanese-language version of the episode, Yang asked Blake in a flirty voice if she's written her own fiction and to let her read it sometime. Since she caught Blake reading a novel called Ninjas of Love (which is implied to be an erotic romance novel) earlier in the episode, it was heavily implied that Yang wanted to read Blake's erotic romance stories.
RWBY Gave Blake and Yang Hardships Without the 'Bury Your Gays' Trope
Of course, this romantic buildup wasn't always smooth sailing. By the end of RWBY Vol. 3, Blake and Yang's budding romance was thrown a major curveball in the form of Cinder and the White Fang. The latter two joined forces to destroy the Beacon Academy, which resulted in a violent reunion between Blake and her ex-boyfriend Adam, who also happened to be the leader of the White Fang. Since he was angry over her dumping him (due to his murderous methods), he attacked Blake with the intent to kill her. Yang intervened, but Adam exploited her anger as a weakness and severed her right arm. This knocked her unconscious, and though Blake managed to save Yang from Adam, she promptly left Yang and returned to her family.
Had this been a conventional TV show, Yang's dismemberment would've easily fulfilled RWBY's "Bury Your Gays" trope. However, Yang survived the attack and was later fitted with a bionic arm. She was also given an arc in which she experienced depression and PTSD over the loss of her right arm. She also struggled with her anger toward Blake for leaving her at her most vulnerable, which strained their relationship. When they finally reunited, Yang was initially cold toward Blake, who was already dealing with intense feelings of guilt and self-loathing over Yang's injury. It wasn't until Blake and Yang confronted Adam again in Vol. 6 that the two reconciled, especially after they were both forced to kill Adam in self-defense.
After this defining battle, Blake and Yang decided to emotionally heal and work on rebuilding their relationship. This culminated in them finally confessing their mutual romantic feelings for one another in Vol. 9, leading up to their first kiss. Not only did the kiss feel earned, but it also depicted how much Blake and Yang had grown as characters. Blake learned to love herself and be more receptive to love. Yang also learned to be open about her feelings instead of fearing abandonment. Just as important, both women learned to be comfortable with emotional vulnerability, which was something both struggled with in the past.
What Mainstream TV Can Learn from RWBY's Blake and Yang
Overall, there are two main lessons mainstream television producers can learn from RWBY's Blake and Yang. The first is to give shows enough time to build an audience. RWBY started off as a low-budget animation project that grew in popularity. This not only allowed RWBY to continue telling stories 10 years later and become a global franchise, but it led to the development of one of the best WLW romances -- in this case, between two bisexual women.
The second lesson mainstream television producers can learn from Blake and Yang is to take the time to develop queer characters and their relationships. It's also possible to throw curveballs that challenge the relationship in meaningful ways without falling into the trap of "Bury Your Gays." While RWBY has yet to conclude its run, after 10 years of building Bumbleby, there's no reason to think it'll fulfill the trope now. Even less so after Bumbleby dodged it on more than one occasion. If the show does end with Blake and Yang getting their happily ever after, mainstream television producers will have their work cut out for them.
New episodes of RWBY Vol. 9 debut every Saturday on Crunchyroll.