Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-43756665-20200208204457/@comment-14909251-20200216043955

Guedjroy wrote:

But I think it needs to be said, you are inherently biased in favor of her.

Nope.

With that said, whether you like her or hate her, Cinder is an objectively terrible villain.

Nope. Here is the thing, when you are clearly biased against the character your assessment of other people's bias regarding the character is worthless as is any statement to the effect of declaring your opinion "objectively" correct. What you interpret as "bias" towards Cinder is really just reasoned disagreement with your opinion because it is flawed. Looking through all your reasons for why she is "terrible" and therefore somehow needs to die, I see a lot of holes, for instance.

While exposition is useful sometimes, you can get a sense of a character's motivations without needing anything explicit. Backstory isn't nearly as complicated here since every character alludes to some mythical figure. Since we already know Cinder's allusion, we already have a hint at her backstory. Her motivation has been provided in a bare sense and, considering her likely backstory, it isn't hard to figure out how that came to be her motivation.

I would say it is more that people do not like her for some reason and those people do not see the actual character development that has been shown. Part of it may just be that it is a lot more subtle than with other characters. Not all of it is subtle, but it seems the significance goes over people's head. Cinder's speech in Volume 3 is actually one thing I have highlighted previously as hinting at her motivations and her comments in Volume 7 strongly suggest this is the case.

Kaitryona Acheron wrote: I agree with everything you said, but let me add this. Cinder also doesn't work as a villain because she's weak to Ruby.

The problem is that, until the Return to Beacon arc, someone will have to bear that weakness in order for the villains to be serious threats. Probably can't rest on the Summer Maiden doing what Salem wants and that means they need someone with the same Grimm bug thing and thus having the same weakness. I don't think that means she doesn't work as a villain. For one, Ruby hasn't exactly mastered her whole special eyes thing. Also, it literally just means she can't fight Ruby directly.

No one else can really be out there scrapping with all the other characters, concocting devious plots, or playing on their history. Salem can't show up on her giant whale Grimm in every arc, Tyrian is too much of a psychopath, Watts is too much of a plotter, Hazel is too decent, Emerald is too innocent, Mercury is too specialized, and Neo can't talk. As much as you all may hate Cinder, there really just isn't a good replacement for her in the story. That means they have to keep her alive for a few more Volumes, at least.