Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-43756665-20200208204457/@comment-44822223-20200208215328

Okay. I read your wall of text (no offense) but I do believe Atlas is screwed or will be at least 90% so in Volume 8. I saw one theory for Volume 7's finale where the staff would be taken and somehow they would steer clear of Mantle and avoid crushing it but still knocking out power. However, while there is definitely a possibility that Atlas will not DIRECTLY crush Mantle, I do believe it will not be a floating city anymore, or be ruins. There is simply no way to tell until Volume 8 is released and/or concludes depending on how they do it.

I do agree with Cinder being replaced by Neo. Neo has, ironically (considering she as a character has up to this point been shown as mute) has had a greater buildup than Cinder has. While I do believe they TRIED to fix Cinder when they did the flashback sequences involving Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald, I do not believe it was properly executed for it to be a good fix. Do not get me wrong, but I do believe it did add a small bit of background and story to those three characters and explained the abilities Cinder had in the very first episode like being able to block bullets with her hand via intense aura. However, Neopolitian on the other hand was introduced as a more diverse and interesting character than Cinder in regards of her showing. First of all, she is mute, and thereby is already in a unique position of being the first mute character in the series. She also is unique as they have to use primarily actions, facial, and body expressions as well as her semblance to get across what she is trying to say. Appearances, expressions, and actions are what defines Neo, where Cinder seems to just plot to kill people and kill people with no real goals in mind. Neo wants to avenge Roman. I would almost see it as poetic justice as to Neo killing Cinder, as Cinder was the one that essentially ran the operation in Beacon.

Tyrian I personally hope dies especially for the fact he killed Clover in by far the most bloody death RWBY as a series has seen so far. Now I do personally believe that fight was definitely not logical, nor was it well executed, but I would see it as him killing Jaune, and then Qrow, after somehow getting free, killing Tyrian with the very weapon he used to kill Clover, or possibly even one of Tyrian's own weapons. I will not claim to know all the allusions in RWBY, so I am not sure how Tyrian's allusion died or who would need to be the one to land the killing blow, but I do see him being killed potentially in retaliation for a death or multiple deaths caused by him, possibly by Qrow, Nora, or Ren. (If he does indeed kill Jaune)

Jaune I do see as potentially dying by poison via Tyrian's stinger. However, I would see maybe Tyrian and Jaune fighting and it would not be a simple and quick death. However, I do see Jaune as a problem for the series. Obviously he can, based on Volume 5, bring people back from a near death state, as he did when Weiss was stabbed. However, considering he has to transfer his own aura, and in Volume 6 I believe we see it get broken, (not sure if it was a flare up after he hit rock or if it did indeed break and he had no more aura for time being) he is very much obviously not invincible. We are still relatively unaware how aura affects things such as Tyrian's poison. Qrow had his aura break PRIOR to being cut and poisoned in Volume 4, but we have no idea how it would react with Jaune and his unique aura abilities and reserves. However, I do see him being knocked out of the show, not necessarily from dying but from a number of things. I believe he needs a bit of refinement, as it seems like they may of established his semblance in Volume 5 as a bit to OP. In Volume 6, I can see him using his aura to increase the abilities of others, such as Ren. However, if he is indeed kept, I believe considering the lack of use of his semblance and our lack of knowledge of how exactly it works and how fast his aura is drained when using it, he could use a bit of tweaking to be more fatigued after using his semblance to do things like save Weiss from nearly dying. His character traits overall however make him, as you said, a problem. I do believe Oscar could take over as leader, but at the same time I think Oscar with the magic he has potential access to also may be a bit to strong.

Penny... is a unique case in my mind. Part of me sees her dying to try to save Atlas and Mantle, but part of me sees her surviving. Is she strong? Yes, she is incredibly strong. Is she able to come back from the dead? Yes, but only if her father gives up aura or soul and it was implied he may not be able to do it a 3rd time. The maiden powers do make her much stronger than before, but not by much. I could potentially see her, if her core survives, maybe not having a body and being more like an AI from Red vs Blue. Still around, still helps, but is unable to assist in combat most of the time. Also we have no idea how the maiden powers consider when someone is dead. Officially, I see her as dead when her father needs to put more of his own aura or soul into her in order to kickstart her again, meaning in my book she was dead after Volume 3 and revived some time before Volume 7. However, to fit her allusion (or at least the one I heard of) of being Pinocchio, her current life is her last life after recieveing the maiden powers. Yes, Ruby is happy she is back, but personally I do not see her progression as stalling. It is like in Red vs Blue when Epsilon took over as Church. It was the same character, but at the same time isn't. However, this is different in Penny's case since it is the same person down to every part of her aside from an appearance change and potentially upgrade with her jetpack boots. However, I believe if she is indeed killed, Ruby will not be able to handle losing her a second time and something inside her will... snap... for lack of a better word. Even if it is not displayed at that moment, I could see it deeply affecting Ruby to the point she changes once more like she did between Volumes 3 and 4, becoming more protective of the people she cares for, even more than she did when she cut off Tyrian's original tail after he cut Qrow. It would also be possible she loses it and ends up lashing out at whoever kills Penny, be it Salem or Tyrian or whoever.

Ironwood I do see as dying in Volume 8. I could see him sacrificing himself, as you said, in an attempt to save the other characters so they can fight on, even though they betrayed him once he said his plan to break away from Mantle and leave everyone in it for dead to save Atlas, and they lied to him. Despite him being paranoid, I can definitely see him doing everything in his power to save Atlas and/or the main cast of characters so they can fight on. If Ironwood is like a captain, and Atlas is guarantee to fall (which I believe it is), I see him dying trying to get everyone he can to as safe a position as he can.

I see the main cast definitely failing to save Atlas, but I can see them having a potentially kind of draw at best and an outright loss (which honestly they kind of need) at worst. The worse thing that I can see happening is the retrieve the relic and lose Atlas and Mantle in the process of saving it. In that case it is like 75-90% loss for them and a 25-10% victory. Yes, I can see them SOMEHOW getting the relic even though they appeared to be on a ship getting the heck out of dodge. However, I can see the fall of Atlas having a toll on both the cast and the world of Remnant as a whole. The loss of a kingdom, one of humanity's few final strongholds, is a huge blow. However, we still have no idea if Salem and Cinder ever recovered the relic from Beacon. That one relic could very easily be out of play until a later time, or maybe Salem does have that relic. We have no idea, but all evidence up to this point would seemingly indicate the Beacon relic is not recovered yet. Of course, many things will be unconfirmed for awhile until Volume 8 is released, so only time will tell. Maybe at RTX we will get a peak or a teaser or something of Volume 8, but we will have to wait and see.