Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-69.138.248.186-20170111152805/@comment-3387274-20170329103214

The problem you have here is that whether Qrow wanted to protect Ruby or was willing to use her as bait, the logical course of action is precisely the same.

If Qrow wanted Ruby safe, he knew that somebody would come for her, and he knew if he stayed close his semblence would work against her. By hanging back but keeping watch, he kept her safe from his semblence, while also staying in position to intercept whoever Salem sent after Ruby.

If Qrow wanted to use her as bait, he knew somebody was coming for her, and if he hung back but kept watch he would be in position to take them out when the attacked. If he told Ruby nothing that somebody would not be expecting him, making it a trap.

Net result:

whatever his intent, the sensible course of action regarding Ruby and Salem's agent is to keep his distance but keep an eye out.

13th madman (talk)

Also of note, his decission to give the Mistral hint to Ruby is the same in that it can be spun either way; we've all assumed he dropped the hint so Ruby could help, but what we've overlooked so far is that Qrow needed Somebody to go to Mistral, and didn't have any other options besides himself.

On the one hand, Ruby has the eyes and wanted to help, so it is simple to assume he told her where to go in order to let her help.

On the other, Qrow knew somebody would be coming after Ruby, and had to protect her as well as going to Mistral to deal with the threat there. So by dropping the hint he took a third option, by sending Ruby to where he himself needed to go, and thus keeping her close while he got on with the business of working against Salem.