Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25266931-20170206193307/@comment-14138255-20170211045224

Also, we don't mind people dying in RWBY.

Moriarty: That's what people DO!!!

If anything it raises the stakes and adds a bit of a scale to the show, showing that shit is hitting the fan and it's an even bigger race against the clock to stop her. Even if civilization is unmade, there can still be a happy (or rather, optimistic) ending.