User blog:BenRG/Cinder Fall Origin/Identity Theory

This is my current theory about the origin and true identity of the enigmatic Cinder Fall. It was originally posted on a forum thread but it occured to me that it was a bit of a hijack in some ways, so it's better off here.

Origins
Cinder Fall's birth name is Autumn Rose; she is Summer Rose's twin sister and, therefore, Ruby and Yang's maternal aunt; When she was young, a friend who was a photographer took a photograph of her that we now know as 'The Transient Princess' and is the only image Ruby and Yang have of their missing kin.

Autum was in the same team at Beacon Academy with Summer, Glynda and Emma Tang, Team SAGE. Team SAGE were very much the Team RWBY of their era: brilliant, unquantifiable mavericks who promised to have their very own legend written in history. Ozpin (who was just Dust Applications professor at that time) took them on as a personal project. They developed a personal bond with him as a mentor and guide; all adopted his personal philosophy to a certain degree.

After graduating, SAGE continued to do odd jobs for Ozpin as part of his greater objective of reforming society; it all came to an end in a mission to the Snowy Forest, about 10 years before the start of volume 1. Due to bad intel, SAGE were ambushed; Summer was killed whilst covering Autumn as she evacuated Glynda and Emma, who were both wounded and unconscious. Emma would later die of her injuries later in hospital.

Autumn would never forget what happened on that last, ill-fated mission. To a certain extent she blamed Ozpin for her twin's and, Emma, her former school partner's deaths. She also would never forget what she saw on that mission - the organisation of corruption, hypocrisy and perverted order that had been hiding beneath the surface of society and the scale of the 'shadow' army that was waiting to swoop down to snuff out every hint of freedom. Autumn decided that the only way to cure this ill that seemed to penetrate every part of society was to totally destroy the current social order and force civilisation to start anew (she's somewhat like V from the graphic novel (and original) version of V for Vendetta in that way). Ironically, this belief that society had become irredeemably corrupt was something that originally haunted Summer (the opening narration of volume 1 was Ozpin's memory of his last conversation with his most brilliant apprentice). The rest of SAGE had laughed at her pessimism but, after the ambush and what they saw on that mission, Autumn decided that her twin had been right after all;

Because Autumn Rose was a heroine, she felt the need to adopt a new identity to match her new, darker role. She chose the name Cinder Fall to symbolise her intent to burn the world to the foundation and then allow new shoots to grow from amid the ashes.

Effect on Other Characters
Cinder is very much Ruby and Yang's only link back to their mother; their father doesn't talk too much about her due to his own understandable grief. They've both wondered what happened to their "Auntie A"; like berieved children throughout history, maybe they even thought both of them leaving was somehow their fault. Yang has taken it upon herself to find out what happened to her, hence her rather... forceful attempt to question Junior.

It's been a long time, of course, and Cinder is really a very different person in many ways to Autumn Rose. It is unlikely that she would have recognised the cloaked figure on that rooftop with that damned traitor and turn-coat Glynda, beyond possibly assuming the kid was her former best friend's apprentice. It should be intersting to see how she reacts to finding out that she nearly killed her youngest niece. Will she try to turn them to her way of thinking and bring them over to her side?

For what it's worth Yang, who has that nasty underlying anger and vanity, may indeed take a walk on the Dark Side with her aunt at some point during the show and getting her to turn back will be a major challenge for Ruby.

Objectives
So, what does 'Cinder' want? Is it power? Revenge? Well, this version of her would be at least partly motivated by vengeance. However, I'm genuinely of the opinion that, irrespective of Cinder's origins, her objective is to destroy civilsation because she believes it is unworthy of survival.

Like a lot of true anarchist cultists, Cinder and her followers don't care about actually getting power for themselves. Destroying what currently stands is more important; I'm not even sure if she cares if she survives the end of all things.

However... Ruby and Yang could change that, reminding her of things beyond her desire to avenge Summer's death and punish Ozpin by destroying the world to the protection of which he has dedicated his life. Maybe, as prophecied in the lyrics of This Will Be the Day, Ruby's heart will open minds, maybe even Cinder's to the light of hope and a future based on building rather than destroying.

We can only wait and see.