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Achilles Heel is the femslash ship between Pyrrha Nikos and Cinder Fall from the RWBY fandom.
Canon[]
Volume 3[]
During the Vytal Festival, Cinder orchestrates Penny's "death" and has Pyrrha framed for it. She is able to do this from the arena stands, without making herself known to Pyrrha or anyone else. As such, the two do not directly interact until Chapter 11. As Pyrrha gets ready to have the Fall Maiden powers transferred to her, Cinder suddenly enters and steals the powers for herself. Pyrrha and Jaune choose to flee before Cinder can attack them with her newly acquired powers. In Chapter 12, Pyrrha then decides to try and fight Cinder herself.
The fight commences when Pyrrha immediately hurls Miló at Cinder when the door to the elevator opens. Cinder casually dodges the attack. Pyrrha then tosses her other weapon, Akoúo, at Cinder, who blocks the attack with her elbow. She then blocks Pyrrha's following kick. Pyrrha lands on her feet and retrieves her weapons. Pyrrha is eventually overpowered and Cinder shoots her in the heel with an arrow. Cinder kneels in front of a hurt Pyrrha and mockingly tells her that the maiden powers were never hers to begin with, and that she will make better use of them. Pyrrha looks up at her and defiantly asks her if she believes in destiny, to which Cinder responds "yes". She then shoots Pyrrha in the heart with another arrow, killing her. This causes Pyrrha's body to disintegrate. It is later revealed in The World of RWBY: The Official Companion that Cinder purposefully chose to disintegrate Pyrrha rather than letting her suffocate to death from the arrow wound.
The two both seem to have red as their main theme color. They also both have a connection to the Fall Maiden; Pyrrha was supposed to inherit the powers, while Cinder ended up stealing them. While they do not interact much in canon, the one interaction they do share is incredibly important to their characters and the plot as a whole.
Moments[]
Volume 2[]
- Cinder tells Emerald to add Pyrrha to "the list".
- Cinder has Mercury to fight against Pyrrha to see what kind of semblance she has.
- Cinder tells Mercury that she's impressed with the results of the fight with Pyrrha.
Volume 3[]
Chapter 11
- Pyrrha attempts to fight Cinder before being sent away by Ozpin.
Volume 6[]
- Cinder tells Neo that she believes in destiny, quoting Pyrrha's words to her.
Fanon[]
Achilles Heel is a rarepair in the RWBY fandom, due to the two being enemies, and Cinder killing Pyrrha. Some fans view them as a tragic couple, and enjoy the idea of shipping them because Cinder killed Pyrrha. Other shippers enjoy their dynamic, an opposites-attract ship due to their drastically different personalities. Works will often portray them as Enemies-To-Lovers, due to their canonical interaction.
Achilles Heel first began to sail after Chapter 12 was released, which saw Cinder killing Pyrrha. The ship seems to have been more popular in the earlier days of the fandom, around the time that Pyrrha first died. Since then, its popularity has faded in favour of other ships for Cinder (who is still alive). Achilles Heel is most rivalled by Arkos for Pyrrha and Falling Petals and Spicecream for Cinder.
There are currently over 60 works on AO3 for Achilles Heel.
Fandom[]
FAN FICTION
- Cinder/Pyrrha tag on AO3
- Cinder & Pyrrha tag on AO3
TUMBLR
- Achilles Heel posts on Tumblr
- Pyrrha x Cinder posts on Tumblr
Trivia[]
- Their ship name comes from the Greek god Achilles who Pyrrha is based on. Achilles was fatally shot in his heel which became his downfall, Pyrrha being shot in her heel is a direct reference to this, as this injury later lead to her death.
Gallery[]
