Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-6920530-20131125175119

I've noticed a crap-ton of speculations going around about Cinder. And, quite frankly, most of those don't make sense so I've decided to give my two cents on the topic.

"Cinder is probably Ruby's mom."

This theory can't be right for a few reasons:

1. We all saw Summer Rose's grave stone in the first trailer, and her ghost appears in the opening of the series. I.e. Ruby's mom is dead. I'm assuming she sacrificed her life in some battle, judging by her lines in Red Like Roses Part II.

2. Cinder's last name is different from Ruby's. Now before you start saying things like "but Ruby and Yang have different last names...", let's take a look at Weiss Schnee:

She's the heiress to the Schnee dust company, meaning it's a family-owned business. In other words, her entire immediate family shares her last name.

Still not convinced? How about Melanie and Miltiades Malachite, the twins with the same last name.

3. The last reason why Cinder isn't Ruby's mom is because Cinder had attacked Ruby without remorse, in the first episode. That isn't a sign of a caring mother! And, once again, judging from Red Like Roses Part II it seems to me that Ruby's mom cares deeply for her.

However, there could be a small chance that Cinder could be Ruby's mom. Cinder could be under some sort of brainwash spell, mind-control, or has amnesia. It's a pretty farfetched idea, but it's Monty so anything's possible. Anyway, this brings us to theory 2:

"Cinder could be the queen mentioned by Qrow, or one of the witches from Wizard of Oz"

This one is a bit... iffy, to say the least. It's highly probable, but I do have my own thoery:

Cinder alludes to Cinderella, so she cannot allude to other fairytale characters. I'm guessing this because of her name, and the obvious glass slippers. So, let's say she is alluding to Cinderella.

Then, that leaves us with the mysterious "queen." I don't think this queen could be Cinder because Cinderella only became queen by marriage. And the fact that typical "boss" characters aren't revealed so soon in a series. Even in RvB, we didn't know who the real mastermind was until much later. So, I'm assuming that Cinder is just another "pawn."

Speaking of pawns, take a look at Qrow's message carefully: "The queen has pawns."

Who do we know that's a queen themed around chess pieces, and games?

My best guess here is that the mysterious queen is, in fact, the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland, a fairy tale that has yet been used in RWBY.

Cinder's most likely not alluding to the Red Queen for the reasons stated above, and the fact that Lewis Carroll's Red Queen possibly alludes to Queen Victoria, in some manner.

However, there is a big chance that Cinder's probably the Red Queen, or a wicked witch. 