User blog comment:Zathronas/Speculative Author - What's the deal with Salem?/@comment-10390252-20160218132739

For some time I've thought that Grimm are made of Dust. Specifically, dust energised by dark aura - the bioetheric energy released by negative emotions. They are Creatures of the Id - Our fear, paranoia, greed, suspicion and hatred made flesh and turned into a foe that we cannot defeat, only hold at bay (much like our negative emotions and instincts, really).

The point is that Remnant's native ecosphere is based entirely on dust-entities. However, the huge, engulfing power of human aura, both positive and negative, has come close to wiping it out. Salem is a scientist, IMHO, perhaps a contemporary of Ozpin's whose studies of the crystaline dust life-forms of the Uninhabited Continent (the place we see her) has convinced her that humanity has no rightful place on Remnant, that they are destroying its natural state by trying to turn it into a duplicate of their long-forgotten world of origin.

It is possible that prolonged exposure to the crystallite life-forms (which may include fully-sentient intelligences) has permanently altered her mind as much it has clearly altered her body. That's only a guess; it's just as possible that she's a Well-Intentioned Extremist. In either case, her declared position is that humans have no rightful place on Remnant and that existence of an large, organised population of humans is destructive to its native inhabitants.

The fact that said native inhabitants are being mined, refined and used as an energy source may mean she's got a point.

However, her goals are extreme; she has no problem working for the extinction of humanity on Remnant. Ozpin, a long-time acquaintance, dedicated his life to stopping her and is the rallying point for all the powers of human civilisation.

Just a side note - All those crystal growths and the smoky red sky in the scene with Salem? That's Remnant's natural appearance without the 'crystal fungus' (actually metascopic silicon-based native life-forms), filtered atmosphere and the imported Terran biota.