Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-34633327-20180120015359/@comment-34633327-20180120204528

MetallicArcher wrote: I still do not buy Raven murdered the Spring Maiden for the powers, even if I don't believe a word that comes out of Raven's mouth, there is still that:

a) becoming a Maiden is completely contraproducent to staying away from the shadow war

b) her reaction to Cinder implying that's what she did

The Spring Maiden might have been dying, asked to be killed, or maybe killed herself in front of Raven OR  out of control in some form of destructive rampage and Raven killed her to stop her. But I do not buy "cold blood murder for power" here. The implication wasn't that Raven did it for power, its that she saw Spring wasn't making progress and was too weak to defend herself, she'd just be a target for everyone. So to spare her from the pain of dealing with that, she Mercy Killed her. I doubt Raven intended for the powers to go right into her, rather I think she hoped the powers would go into someone random.

In a sense, I can see why. Both sides seem to treat the Maiden's more like objects then people. Qrow kept telling Raven to hand the Spring Maiden over, and when we all thought it was Vernal, I was like "What if she doesn't want to go with you though? You gonna force her?", and Watts did outright state the Maiden's were only a means to an end. And seeing as Cinder was perfectly content with killing who she thought had the power, the false Maiden didn't care she was killing a person, she just cared she was taking the power. And had she actually gotten the power and the relic, I doubt Salem would have cared so long as the mission was completed successfully.

Raven seems to view the world in the most cynical way possible. She has seen the depravity of it, faced death numerous times, and seen the evil that is Salem, while believing Ozpin's efforts are futile. So, she does what any person would when they have no hope: They survive. She was afraid, but didn't want to admit it. She lives in fear. I guess she didn't want Spring to be worse than her, to live in just as much, if not more, fear of being seen as only a tool. I can understand the perspective, seeing as it's one I tend to dip into on my moodier days.