Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-91.35.22.223-20151113193325

So we all know the Chaos Syndicate, right? Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black and all their affiliates (Torchwick, Neo, the White Fang)? We know their sworn enemies are "the powers that be", the governments/rulers of the Kingdoms. All they want do do is spread chaos, right? Right? I propose a... different narrative.

What do we know about them? While their exact plans remain a mystery, we have seen that they are willing to commit theft and robbery, endanger innocent civilians and kill anyone who wants to "get out". All the traits needed for your run-of-the-mill evil organization. But by critically examining their behavior, reflecting on the implications made in the soundtrack and remembering Ironwood, Goodwitch and Ozpin are keeping everyone in the dark on several things, I came to a rather radical conclusion (as long as I don't give RT way too much credit for their work -_-)

First off, let me state that no realistic person/character would act in a way that they themselves would define as "evil". Going off of that, it is very clear that Cinder (referring to her as the supposed leader of the group) has greater plans than "be evil" and "spread chaos". The song "Sacrifice" from the end of volume 2 episode 12 can be seen as Cinder singing partially to herself and an unknown person(I won't get into a revival of the Cinder = Summer theory here), basically reinforcing her belief that the goal she is trying to achieve is worth the sacrifices that have to be made. She refuses to bow down to the unknown person and become their "sacrifice". While "they" blind the people and keep them on their knees, Cinder is convinced that the truth will come to light (the "revealed by mirrored eyes" part would be enough to start its own thread). This clearly indicates that Cinders enemy, the government, is keeping some major secret from everyone, as was already hinted at in the volume 2 opening. What that secret is, I can't tell, but it's something horrible enough for Cinder and co. to think it justifies what they are doing.

On the other hand, Ozpin, Goodwitch and Ironwood don't seem to be diabolical schemers, so they are either in the dark about what ever Cinder is trying to stop/bring to light, or it is a morally grey conflict to begin with, with both sides believing to do the right thing, while neither is technically right or wrong. (the latter being more likely in my opinion)

On the matter of Raven, I think she is on the side of the Chaos Syndicate, mainly because of the strong Grim symbolism surrounding both her and the Syndicate. The clash between what she believed to be right and what the hunters and huntresses are used for is the most likely explaination for her disappearence, because she knew Taiyang had a different opinion. But she couldn't take the newborn Yang with her into a life on the run. So Yang ended up a huntress, becoming an enemy of the syndicate while oblivious to the actual conflict. Raven, however, didn't want her daughter to die in the battle with Neo, becoming a martyr for her enemies' cause, so she intervened. Their meeting in the after credits scene may be foreshadowing that Yang might meet her in secret at points during volume 3, slowly but surely becoming aware of this big conflict and, ultimately, switch over to the Syndicate's side.

Another interesting matter is which side Ruby is going to take. We know she has rather childish views on morality, seeing basically only black and white. Maybe she will never be made aware of what's going on and stay with Beacon, decide to stay with Beacon because she thinks that side of the conflict is right, switch over like Yang (which I doubt) or maybe she becomes an advocate of some sort of "middle way", a compromise of sorts. I can see two routes this can go: Either she retains her childlike innocence and gets all the quarreling adults back down to earth, or she looses it, leading to a switch in tone to be much more serious/cynical. 