Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-24993958-20160711184711/@comment-24993958-20160808130622

SomeoneYouUsedToKnow wrote: So tell me, what do you think is the difference between "a Semblance" and "a spell from another universe"?... Exactly that…a spell from another universe…didn’t think I’d have to elaborate but here goes.

Out of every semblance we’ve seen in 3 volumes, we have to my knowledge only 1 that requires something detrimental to happen to the user, aka Yang. But while realistically I can only think of some fringe situation where she might punch herself to gain a boost in strength, your semblance can only be beneficial if they literally hinder themself. This is not something we’ve yet to see on the show, hence the other universe part, other universes such as a moba like DOTA where skills that root the user and the target for x seconds not only can exist, but I can name them without much hastle, as opposed to RWBY.

And the spell part…really that speaks for itself; like you pointed out a lot of semblances can be associated with spells. So there you go, long winded explanation on why I called your semblance a “spell from another universe”.