Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-66.112.186.214-20180124005925/@comment-26373260-20180223180437

Emerald is very definitely the next fall maiden, the question is whether or not it has happened yet. I can give many different (and mutually exclusive) reasons for why:

1. If Cinder died, Emerald was definitely the one she was thinking of. Emerald and Cinder have a mother-daughter-esque relationship, and the way Emerald mustered up the power to create an illusion seen by everybody in the room in the first place seems a little bit too strong to simply be her reaction to seeing Yang with the relic (in my opinion). It might have been using her reaction and enhanced power to receiving the maiden powers from Cinder.

2. This one is a bit crazy, but: Cinder didn't acquire the maiden powers through the traditional means. If Cinder died/dies, we technically don't know for certain that the powers will go to who she was thinking about, rather than who the last rightful fall maiden was thinking about. In "Beginning of the End," we see that the last thing Amber was doing while she was conscious was attempting to kill Emerald. That said, we don't know for sure that she didn't wake up some time between Qrow's half-rescue and being put in Ironwood's chamber, or if she thought of somebody else in her final moments. However, Emerald still seems the supported character.

3. If Cinder didn't die, well, Emerald will still likely be the next fall maiden because at some point one of these two things will happen.

I think we'll see Cinder again, whether dead or alive, and Emerald will return either immediately in the next season or at the end of it.

Bonus: In Vol 3 Qrow is a lot more bitter than he is in later volumes, telling Pyrrha that the maiden powers transfer through "a bunch of stupid and convoluted rules." Shortly after, he specifically complains about how they can't get passed on to some old dude. I wonder if Qrow was expecting to inherit maiden powers before that rule was known about, either from Amber who he was protecting, or maybe from Summer (I'm with the bunch that thinks Qrow is Ruby's dad).