It is with a heavy heart... that I say that two days ago at 4:34 PM, Our friend, our inspiration, and our fellow creator has passed away. Monty Oum, at the age of 33 years old, died in the hospital in which he resided for his final hours. Monty, even though I had never met him, was an amazing inspiration for all my stories and many, thousands of other stories here, on fan fiction and other sites. To me, Monty was a creative Genius... he was a great mind that was cut off to early. He lived a relativity short life but he accomplished so much, and hey... he created his own Anime... something he always wanted to do.

In spite of his passing, the community will carry on his vision of RWBY and its colorful cast (Unintentional Pun) of characters. Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Zwei, Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Coco, Velvet, Yatsuhashi, Fox, Sun, Neptune, Neo, Cinder, Roman, Perry, Peter, Bartholomew, Ozpin, Glynda, Peach, Crow, James, Emerald, Mercury, Penny, Adam, Junior, Miltia, and Melanie will all miss him, their creator, and the mind that brought them into their world. The world of Remnant, A world filled with corrupt business, terrorist organizations, heroes and villains, monsters of darkness, and much more... so much more.

I recently mailed a letter into the Rooster Teeth offices regarding the death of Monty and explaining my experience upon reading the news of his death. How Monty was one of my inspirations to start writing fan-fiction. His death will not deter me, it will not crush me, it will strengthen my creative image, it will bring up the creative visions that he kick started those long years ago when RWBY volume I Episode I hit the YouTube's.

Goodbye Monty... you will be missed. Even though you are gone, buried beneath the soil or the waves, we will honor you. Just remember that stories are told, retold, and then told again. Through these telling's they lose their core, but Monty's life was not a story... it was a legend... the Legend of Monty Oum. A writer, an artist, a friend, and an inspiration.

Because it is through these great feats that we reach greatness, some... are cut down by life, this cruel game we play, before we can achieve greatness... However, Monty achieved this level of existence... by reaching the hearts of millions and inspiring thousands of them to continue where he left us off. His final chapter may have been written but from his final chapter springs countless more, from those who those pages touched, from the countless his world filled with sadness, joy, excitement, sympathy, and so many more, countless emotions.

Monty... I know you can't read this because your time, unfortunately, has passed, I wish you the best of luck in the great blue yonder. Also if there was some world that I could go to, despite the fact that there are creatures of darkness and an evil terrorist organization running around, it would be Remnant. I hope you have fun at Beacon Monty... Don't beat up on Jaune too much… I finish this with tears in my eyes and a knot in my stomach.

We all loved you Monty… We always will, and we will never forget you.

Monty Oum

Born: June 22, 1981

Died: February 1, 2015