Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-70.72.38.180-20150731170639/@comment-14909251-20150804220926

73.Anon.52 wrote: Alignment... no, alliance... hell yes you need a reason to justify one. If you want to switch sides, you need something the other side wants.

This isn't AoT or GoT, the walls aren't held as punishment, huntsman are respected and well paid/looked after. Emerald is a thief and likely a murderer, she needs some reason to go far enough to actually help RWBY, as opposed to just bailing on Cinder. Blake is quite probably a thief and a murderer too, but she is a member of Team RWBY. I don't see how that means Emerald needs a better reason to turn on Cinder. Providing her loyalty to Cinder is premised on gratitude over a good deed, a few good deeds from someone else as Cinder neglects or even hurts her could be sufficient reason for her to turn. Not suggesting Emerald would suddenly not care about Cinder, but just that she might oppose her plans.