RWBY's Arkos Ship is Adorable

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Richard Goulter
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Recently I went back and re-watched RWBY’s Volume 3, Chapter 12.
Spoilers (up to end of Season 3) below; although I reckon RWBY’s story is good enough that it wouldn’t be “spoiled” by lack of surprise.

I also had some fun watching some of the reaction videos for the episode.
I’m not a big fan of reaction videos in general; nothing against them, it’s just I’d rather watch the video myself than see someone else watch it.
– But V3C12 (or, S3E12) is so intense that it’s a lot of fun to share the reaction with them. – And, also, watching these videos, you can’t help but notice “wow, these people are geeks like me”. <3 – The other benefit is the fans will each point out details of the episode I didn’t notice.

The episode’s first half concludes the combat which has been raging since Volume 3 Chapter 10. – For a show which’d previously been very skimpy on fighting scenes, it’s suffice to say this is an intense sequence.
But chiefly, Pyrrha finally kisses Jaune, then she goes off to battle the big boss baddie and gets killed.


I found it a delight to search “Arkos” on YouTube and come across “The Shipping Corner: Arkos” from Romance Scrooge.
– The video does a great job discussing the ship between Jaune Ark and Pyrrha Nikos. (NiKos? … took me a long time to get that one).

Maybe worth mentioning, and not obvious to me, but together with the other two on their team (Nora and Ren, who are also shipped together, but currently not “together together”), the characters are loosely based upon cross-dressers: Ren is Mulan, Nora is Thor; Jaune Ark is … Joan of Arc, Pyrrha Nikos is Achilles.
– Small touch, but Pyrrha is shot in the Achilles Heel before her death.

– Anyway, yeah, what I liked about the video is it did a good job of explaining why the relationship was mutually beneficial between Pyrrha and Jaune. Otherwise it’s quite clear that he’s certainly with a better person.
In a way there’s a kind-of symmetry to them: Pyrrha recognises potential in Jaune that others fail to see it; Jaune recognises humanity in Pyrrha where others fail to see it. (& Jaune’s potential increasingly becomes realised under Pyrrha’s mentorship; Pyrrha’s humanity increasingly comes to fore ’till she decides her duty/pursuit of destiny was more important).

(Personally my favourite AMV under the search is this one. <3 the fan art, n’awwwh).


Even so, I’d like to keep track of some of the great moments for the Arkos ship. Forgiving out-of-order:

This in turn mirrors

That covers the highlights, for me; but some other tidbits:

I guess the light-hearted RWBY-Chibi has a few more. RWBY Chibi 9 features a game of tag, Pyrrha tags Jaune. (One of the fan-submitted subtitles, now sadly gone, was “You’re mine tonight”, ha).

Shoulder Love

It’s also a bit strange, but it seems that shoulders play an important part of their relationship. Mostly in terms of touching-shoulder as encouragement.

If nothing else, I guess that highlights just how much of their relationship is mutual faith and encouragement.


The other thing I noticed re-watching the above; Ruby and Weiss’s partnership improves dramatically. W. can’t stand R. at the beginning; W.’s pride tells her that she should have been leader, and R. isn’t so competent. – Yet by this latest episode, W. follows R.’s leadership as Ruby makes the heroic decision to go after their missing friends in the city devastated by monsters. – That character growth/development is a really nice touch.


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