Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-35941743-20190304195312/@comment-14909251-20190327234952

DrAgOnHiTmAn wrote: That is essentially what they did with Roman, too. We get a hint at his motivations to moment he dies, getting no explanation. He was used merely as a device to advance the plot (he could've been used as a learning device for Ruby but the writers used it to solidify her already distorted world views, for some reason), and I think Adam was merely used as a device to advance and ground Yang and Blake's co-development (which is why he was a somewhat shallow character). I definitely think both could have been done better but they seem to frequently use characters as plot devices without developing their characters. They're practically half-way there with Cinder, absolutely using her as a plot device but they're trying to dip their fingers in her character, though doing it with a hidden agenda which makes her seem just as shallow as ever. Repeatedly having her reference to the same line that never had any meaning doesn't make her a deep character, no new meaning or development occurs when she references believing in destiny with no explanation. Roman was apparently never meant to be a major character, though, which we can't really say was the case for Adam or Cinder. Also, while it didn't explore Adam's character as much as I hoped in light of the big reveal right before he died, there was some exploration of his character and his backstory. We haven't got any of that with Cinder. They haven't told us why she wants power and why she wants to be feared. A few points in that dialogue it sounds kind of like she's speaking from a very wounded place. Given her character's inspiration, it isn't hard to imagine what that backstory might entail.

Killing her off this early and without exploring her character further would be a travesty even more serious than Adam in terms of the wider plot. With Adam it is only a disappointment in terms of that particular segment of the story and some of it can still be recovered if they play things right. Cinder's story would be a more personal one and its significance entirely lost if they killed her off. Being a much more significant villain who is central to the main plot of the story second only to Salem, it would definitely a bad thing for them to kill her off in the fashion that they have done to other villains.