User blog comment:Gundam Legilis/Viewer Discretion/@comment-25110963-20160102040117/@comment-26397825-20160102050154

It was more the tone of voice that he said it in. I got a distinct feeling of distaste in his tone of voice, not from the words. I am aware that not every dad who drinks is abusive, and it would be nice if RT did disprove my theory and had it all as an accident, maybe involving thieves that accidentally set fire to something as Mercury is the only one of his family who makes it out alive but they had a happy family relationship.

I'm just saying my current theory based on the tone of voice Mercury had when he was describing the smell of Qrow and how I took it, and following along the whole 'abusive dad cliche, oh look, the bad guy promised power to the kid who wants to be stronger and that's how he got them to join the dark side'.