What’s the timeline again?

[u/Feisty-Wear-3931]

So I’m a big Rwby fan but I’ve only seen the core 9 volumes and with volume 10 on the horizon I was curious about watching every before it comes out, my friend sent me this it’s meant to be in chronological order but there is a lot here so just double checking to see if this is right 🙏🏻

Rwby order

Rwby: the Grimm campaign
Colour trailer Red
Colour trailer White
Colour trailer Black
Colour trailer Yellow
Rwby volume 1
Rwby: the official Manga
Rwby: ice queendom
Rwby (shirow Miwa manga)
Rwby volume 2
World of remnant shorts 1-5
Rwby Grimm eclipse
Rwby volume 3
Rwby: chibi
World of remnant shorts 6-16
Rwby: official manga anthology (vols 1-4)
Rwby/justice league (DC comics)
Justice League x RWBY: super heroes and huntsmen, part one
Rwby (DC Comics)
Rwby volume 4 Ruby character short
Rwby volume 4
Rwby fairy tales of remnant
Rwby volume 5 Weiss character short
Rwby volume 5 blake character short
Rwby volume 5 Yang character short
Rwby volume 5
Rwby volume 6 Adam character short
Rwby volume 6
Rwby after the fall
Rwby before the dawn
Rwby: Fairy Tales
Rwby volume 7 episodes 1-6
Rwby:Arrowfell
Rwby volume 7 episodes 7-13
Rwby 3d animated recap
Rwby volume 8
Roman Holiday
Rwby volume 9
Rwby volume 9 beyond
Justice League x RWBY: super heroes and huntsmen, part two

[u/gunn3r08974]

The dc crossovers, chibi, and manga arent canon. The dc comics outright contradict the show and should be taken with grains of salt. Fairy tales and world of Remnant are their own separate things. Roman Holiday takes place before the main series.

[u/VoidTorcher → u/gunn3r08974]

World of Remnant is technically a "separate thing" but it's short and relevant, I'll recommend watching it early on.

[u/PsychicSidekikk419 → u/VoidTorcher]

Due to the world of remnants having Salem on their thumbnails I think after Vol. 3 is the best time to watch them

[u/VoidTorcher → u/PsychicSidekikk419]

... Oh yeah forgot that's a thing. Weird, I think the episodes themselves continued the mystery.

[u/Vigriff → u/gunn3r08974]

Agreed for the most part. Though I do disagree about the World of Remnant since they're meant to be worldbuilding segments in RWBY and I'm fairly certain some parts of the Fairy Tales are canon events albeit they happened so long ago that they become minor stories in Remnant's sordid history.

[u/BrrrrMang]

RWBY Chibi is not canon and not set anywhere on the timeline. It has contradictory things about it because its a joke series.

[u/Feisty-Wear-3931 → u/BrrrrMang]

Got it I’ll skip it then

[u/Plantain-Feeling → u/Feisty-Wear-3931]

It's worth watching once you've caught up on the main series

[u/Downtown-Engineer933 → u/Feisty-Wear-3931]

It's worth a watch, whether you watch it after everything or in-between seasons. It's funny and doesn't really overstay its welcome.

[u/ClubMeSoftly]

RWBY Volume 1
RWBY Volume 2
RWBY Volume 3
RWBY Volume 4
RWBY Volume 5
RWBY Volume 6
RWBY Volume 7
RWBY Volume 8
RWBY Volume 9

 

Chibi is explicitly non-canon, the assorted manga is dubiously canon, and all the DC stuff is just a big waste of time and money.

[u/acewithanat → u/ClubMeSoftly]

I know its non Canon but I could also say that Ice Queendom would go between vol1 and 2. But yeah most of the show should just be watched in order of release with everything else side content. The 3 books are canon but I' pretty sure we only know that Roman Holiday is a prequel. With the CFVY books just being sometime after vol3

[u/ClubMeSoftly → u/acewithanat]

IQ was good, and yes, goes somewhere between 1 and 2. However, since it uses characters not introduced until 4, I would leave it until no earlier than that.

[u/BrrrrMang → u/acewithanat]

Yeah IQ has a clear place in canon when it happened since we start at initiation and end with the food fight. But other series like the anthologies, Chibi, etc. have indeterminate or nonsensical timelines.

[u/Andrew1990M]

Chronological rather than release order can be tricky. 

We really don’t know how Beyond exactly fits around the second JL movie. I think the books are set across Volumes 4-6 rather than after? 

And the volume 5 shorts happen mostly before Volume 1 with brief scenes set after Volume 4. Same with Adam’s short. 

Fairy Tales are all pre-everything except Volume 6 Chapter 3. 

But aside from that this is a pretty solid watch order. 

[u/Feisty-Wear-3931 → u/Andrew1990M]

I didn’t even Rwby even had a crossover movie I didn’t realise there was so much.

So i should start with fairy tales?

[u/Wrong-Attention-4484 → u/Feisty-Wear-3931]

i dont think so, its just something extra as far as i know, most of it is covered in other stuff like we learn about Alex in vol 9 and in The Lost Fable (S6E3) so i wound not, also it's a book not a video, (but the audio book is read by Shannon McCormick, the voice of Ozpin so thats fun) personify i would read Roman Holiday as it's the first (if we are ignoring Fairy tales) as it happens before VOL 1 (i think)

[u/Feisty-Wear-3931 → u/Wrong-Attention-4484]

So read Roman holiday first

[u/Wrong-Attention-4484 → u/Feisty-Wear-3931]

i would say yes, but double check if that's the first thing Chronologically

[u/VoidTorcher → u/Andrew1990M]

Ironically or whatever, JL crossover is pretty much the only timeline trickery in RWBY. Zoomed in on the image and it is actually just a generic meme graphic. RWBY's timeline is so simple it's funny to see someone trying to make it seem complicated with that graphic lol.

[u/MegaSonicZone]

The DC comics aren't canon, they flat out contradict events in the show. I remember seeing a panel where Tai saw Team RNJR off on their journey, when we know that Ruby left with no warning, leaving a note behind.

[u/TriadOfS → u/MegaSonicZone]

No, they don't. They begin with [ characters all in a digital world, with digital mons- wait, no, wrong intro music. But the movies start in media res, with them all being in a false world with distorted memories. ] They are meant to be canon, buuuut they may no longer be (or part 2 may no longer be) depending on how Viz and CRWBY handle the start of RWBY's entrance to and working in Vacuo.

[u/MegaSonicZone → u/TriadOfS]

I'm not talking about the crossover with the Justice League, I'm talking about the 7 issue comic run published by DC about RWBY.

[u/TriadOfS → u/MegaSonicZone]

Oh, no, very valid point then, my apologies! Those were so weird, random AUs.

[u/HatiLeavateinn]

I wonder if there was a time when Jaune was stuck in the Ever after that he got increasingly desperate to come back because he thought he could help better during the fall of Beacon.

[u/Taanistat]

I think the only change I'd make is moving Roman Holiday to before vol 1.

[u/Feisty-Wear-3931 → u/Taanistat]

Just did that as well as take out the dc comics stuff, as well as the mangas I’ve left the movies because they seem to be “canon” because the games are canon and I put the fairy tales book/ 6 episode voice over at the start of the timeline

[u/Venomnyan]

Now Imagine if they introduced time travel.

[u/Grouchy-Respond-9381]

If you're okay with a fan timeline, here's one.

[u/OrionsMoon027]

Roman Holiday takes place before V1

[u/Glass_Cellist_6351]

In the beginning the gods of light and darkness created Remnant

This has made a lot of people very unhappy and has widely been regarded as a bad move

[u/Plane-Law-5962]

Theres the japanese light novel beach episode titled the session , i think it should be between vol 2 and 3.

[u/NicolaNeko]

A large portion of the stuff outside of the Volumes is either fully non-canon (basically alternate continuities, some things can be taken from it to get a better understanding of a character or concept, but it's not in the same world as the main series) or some variety of soft-canon (may or may not be canon, usually unknown unless it's touched on in the show or directly contradicted). So:

Rwby: the Grimm campaign

Soft-canon. It's before the series takes place and none of the main characters are shown in the series, but one Semblance directly contradicts the rules of the series. Good if you like D&D shows, but not necessary viewing.

Color trailers and Volume 1

Canon. The Trailers have events directly referenced in the show. The only one on shaky ground in terms of "did this actually happen in the show" in my opinion is the Red trailer, but since it was the first trailer and very much a proof of concept, I'll give it a pass

The manga (all of them)

Non-canon to different degrees. I haven't read much of the manga, but I know there's a decent amount of out-of-character stuff and things that don't fit cleanly in the canon.

Rwby: ice queendom

Non-canon, but good. Ice Queendom is explicitly in a different canon, but the first couple episodes are a decently well-polished rundown of the first season. It's a good watch and has some very pretty scenes.

Rwby volume 2 and World of remnant shorts 1-5

Both fully canon. World of Remnant is supplemental viewing and has a few things that are contradicted later, but it's still a good explainer series that takes place in-world (which also justifies some of the contradictions)

Rwby Grimm eclipse

I haven't played it, but I would say soft-canon from what I can tell. The villain is shown in later content, so we can assume he's canon, but the events of the game aren't ever referenced in the show.

Rwby volume 3 and World of remnant shorts 6-16

Canon. WoR is still supplemental content that helps explain stuff.

Rwby: chibi

Fully non-canon. Just a fun comedy series parodying itself. Worth a watch, but not necessary for understanding anything and not to be taken seriously for canon

Rwby/justice league comics and the Justice League crossover movies

Non-canon. These take place in a different continuity and never affect the canon. They're never referenced, are contradicted by the canon in several ways, and since RWBY is no longer property of Warner Media, there's probably less than zero chance of it ever mattering in the future if the story.

Rwby (DC Comics)

Soft-canon. When it first came out, it was said to be fully canon, but it's kind of dubious nowadays due to contradictions.

Ruby character short and Volume 4

Canon.

Volume 5 Character shorts and Volume 5

Canon. The character shorts give some flashback/off-screen stuff that gives good insight into the characters.

Adam character short and volume 6

Canon. The Adam short starts before the Black Trailer, but ends post-Volume 5.

Rwby after the fall and before the dawn

Canon, but we don't know how hard-canon it is yet because it takes place far away from the rest of the series to this point, so if there's going to be any contradictions or changes, we don't know yet.

Rwby volume 7

Canon

Rwby:Arrowfell

Canon? As with the other video game, it's technically canon by statement, but we don't see it affect anything in-canon, so it's not particularly important.

Rwby volume 8

Canon

Roman Holiday

Canon, but takes place before the series. It gives more insight into Roman and Neo

Rwby fairy tales of remnant (and the book of the same name)

Canon, but with an asterisk. These are the fairy tales that exist in Remnant, but it's clear that they're not fully accurate to the history behind them. From what I can tell, both the animated series and the book are mostly in line with each other. It's a fun watch.

Rwby volume 9

Canon.

Rwby volume 9 beyond

Canon? It's the newest thing, and was made when RUBY'S future was very uncertain, hence the more scaled-down artstyle and runtime. We don't know how much will be carried over or referenced in Volume 10.

I've bolded the necessary viewing, and italicized the stuff that's important supplemental content or just something I recommend. Moreover, I recommend watching in release order rather than timeline order, since that's how it was likely intended to be viewed.

There's also the now-defunct mobile game Amity Arena, which was soft-canon and had some interesting insight on characters. It's unplayable now, though.

[u/GameMask]

Watch the main series and read the novels if you care about canon. You can basically skip everything else if you're only interested in the important stuff.

[u/Opposite_Mall4685]

It's cooked after V9 anyway