Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-27404492-20170918133425/@comment-14909251-20170923050522

ChishioKunrin wrote: I've gotta say, I do subscribe to the theory that Salem is actually the bug that's pretending to be a ring on her finger, and that bug may have actually taken over a human body. Phantomlink said the bug kinda looks like a tick, which is a parasitic bug.

Oh God, what if Cinder does have the Grimm beetle she used inside of her? What if it eventually takes control of her or starts mutating her? Not a big fan of this theory myself. I feel it somewhat diminishes Salem to imagine her as just a controlled human. One theory I think would be better is both Salem and Ozpin being the two brothers who have been effectively reincarnated over and over again. Salem would obviously be from the brother (maybe sister) who created the Grimm, which would explain her knowledge about them. That would kind of give added meaning to Ozpin telling Qrow that two of the gods mentioned in legends were real.

Part of what makes this fit is it gives context to their interaction. From the very beginning we are given the impression of Salem as a long-lived being who knows the history of the world inside and out. She is engaged in a tense conversation over the fate of the world with Ozpin, who was de-facto confirmed later on to be long-lived himself. Then there is the idea of him being the King of Vale who won the Great War. Everything about this conveys an image of two people who have been at this whole chess game for a very, very long time.

Here is a thought, what if the purpose of the beetle is to contain another Aura? By contain I mean restrain or restrict. When Ozpin switched to Oscar's body, Oscar was very much in control and not Ozpin. It could be the Grimm beetle is there to restrain the consciousness of whoever it is Salem currently occupies. That would allow Salem to be Summer Rose and would make more sense in a way. Perhaps it was even a situation of Summer Rose killing Salem's previous host and then Salem thought of Summer at the end either on accident or as a very deliberate way of neutralizing her.

Saying "your mom died" is a lot easier than "Your mom has been possessed by the soul of an evil ancient god she defeated in battle who commands an army of monsters so you probably won't be seeing her around much anymore." On that matter I would note that Summer Rose is the only one in the picture of Team STRQ whose face is somewhat concealed. Maybe the point of that is so that it can be believable that Salem might not be immediately recognized as Summer by Ruby and Yang.

It also allows a narrative where perhaps Summer Rose is proving more resilient than Salem expected and thus she is having trouble controlling the vessel. That being the case she would want to find a new vessel, preferably a younger and more vibrant model and also possibly female. Obviously, that vessel would need to have a Grimm beetle as well.