Allusions by Tier

Legend: ? - The significance of this work is unsure. ~ - Which tier this work belongs in is unsure.

TIER ZERO: MYTHOS
These are stories which are less important as plot elements than they are as world-building.

Genesis The Alphabet of ben Sirach The Dead Moon Trigun (?~)

TIER ONE: EPIC
These are stories whose breadth is as great as the breadth of RWBY, stretching from its start to finish and touching upon virtually every character.

The Lord of the Rings Star Wars Trilogy Avatar: The Last Airbender (~) Fullmetal Alchemist Sailor Moon (~)

TIER TWO: ODYSSEY
Stories that focus on a subset of characters within RWBY, but form very long ongoing braided threads of connected adventures.

The Wizard of Oz The Snow Queen The Jungle Book Journey to the West Pinocchio (~)

TIER THREE: CATASTROPHE
Stories that focus on limited spans of RWBY's plot, but within those spans dominate the plot and broadly connect to many things.

The Iliad The Hidden Fortress The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (~) Revelations (?) Green Eggs and Ham

TIER FOUR: LEGENDS
Stories that focus on and define the personal arc of a single character but only strongly influence those characters' close companions.

Cinderella Joan of Arc Beauty and the Beast Billy the Kid Aladdin Theseus and the Minotaur

TIER FIVE: ORIGINS
Stories that don't influence the plot so much as the conceptualization of a subset of the characters, but are thematically important and will be significantly referenced.

Little Red Riding Hood Snow White (~) Goldilocks Myth of Thor (~) Mulan (~) Myth of Hephaestus (~) Cowboy Bebop

TIER SIX: CROSSOVERS
Stories that don't seem to influence the plot at all and are only used as the bases for supporting characters.

A Clockwork Orange Peter and the Wolf The Velveteen Rabbit Peter Pan Life of Aesop Myth of Scorpio

TIER SEVEN: FLAVORS
Not stories at all, but merely ideas and themes and static characters used as the bases for characters and other elements within RWBY.

Hot Cocoa Red Velvet Cake Fox Hunter Pie Yatsuhashi Neapolitan Ice Cream Coco Chanel The Flying Fox Nyan Cat