Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-34633327-20171201215836/@comment-27648673-20171203035546

Is it just me, or was Ilia's affection for Blake not a motivation point that led her to the place she is now?

She only brought it up when Blake said "This isn't you!" She used her feelings for Blake to back up her claim that Blake truly didn't know her at all, and that Blake's efforts to not only rally Menagerie but also bring Ilia to her side wouldn't work. She's angry that Blake claims to know her when she feels that Blake doesn't, so she reflects back on her past when Blake essentially left her behind for Adam, and she uses that feeling of loneliness (a very prominent theme in this episode) to essentially explain to Blake just how much Blake doesn't know about her - "You think you know a lot about me? Guess what? I got a huge gay crush on you, ya little bitch. You don't know shit."

Unlike Adam, Ilia is fighting for the Faunus, not out of spite or bitterness towards Blake. She might feel that bitterness, but she hasn't acted on it. She's still tried to help Blake or warn her multiple times, and in my opinion, her "turning point" here wasn't her giving into that bitterness and moving onward to spite, but her carrying out her responsibility as a member of the White Fang, and enforcing their ideologies that she truly believes in due to her own background.

In the end, that bitterness could be there, but it isn't something that she's using to justify her actions, nor is it something that drives her to do what she does. Her point of view isn't narrowed to only Blake, unlike Adam - she still believes that her actions are for the betterment of the Faunus, and she's focused on that, not "Blake doesn't love me ;-; I'm so sad."