Talk:Neopolitan/@comment-26466954-20160103192156/@comment-26466954-20160106225050

All right, I have no problem with supporting my theory with more evidence. I don't have any conviction for that Penny prototype idea, but I do have some justification for Neo impersonating Pyrrha.

In Volume 2 Chapter 5: Extracurricular, Cinder made it a point to have Mercury and Emerald study all the most impressive students at Beacon and filter out all the small fries until the true champions in the making remained. We don't know what her criteria for this was, but based on how she made her choice after being told Pyrrah's semblance, it's fair to assume she decided based on what their semblances were...

Cinder herself clarified what they were doing at the time... preparing to take away what power their enemies had. Since we still have no evidence that she has any way of removing anyone's innate semblances, it's only fair now to assume that she was trying to root out which female student at Beacon is next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's power, knowing that the protectors would seek this student out, and then capture it for herself like she did with Amber. I don't think she plans to use her power-stealing glove on several students in her list that made the cut... Cinder is out for Maiden power, and provided she only wants Autumn for now and doesn't go blindly seeking out the other Maidens, this means she only needs to work around ONE person...

This idea was literally never revisited again by the time the volume 2 finale rolled around. Cinder's plans had been changed at the time, but the story line never went anywhere near Pyrrha, because it was nowhere near time to reveal the reason why she was a fulcrum to Cinder's plan yet.

I think we can all agree that Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald didn't just add Neo to the team to have the standard four combatants for the tournament. They're using her abilities for something, they need her for something major or Cinder wouldn't bother with her since, as far as we know, she was not involved with Cinder during her finest hour where she stole half of the Fall Maiden power like Emerald and Mercury were. Considering Neo has the ability to distort perceptions (whether it's a semblance or not), it only makes sense that Cinder would use her to further her own plans. She already did the same with Emerald back in the beginning of their backstory.

Cinder gave Neo her mission. She has studied Pyrrha, knowing that they would need to take away her power in the future... All it would take is to study her mannerisms and noble nature to give Neo all she would need to mimic her when the time comes, which would give Cinder access to the Fall Maiden power, and ultimately take away the power that was rightfully Pyrrha's.

Now I'm of the opinion that the Pyrrha who was told the story of the Maidens... well, that could go either way. Mercury and Emerald were both in on Mercury's leg getting "broken" even though their acting fooled some fans into thinking Cinder made that happen without Mercury even knowing. It's not a stretch then to say that Neo's acting skills are also capable of fooling everyone including the fans. The Pyrrha in the room with Ozpin, Qrow, Ironwood, and Glynda was identical to the Pyrrha we know and love, so I truly can't even say if that was Neo or not... But based on the random green eye shadow she was wearing in that nurse uniform (which Cinder herself was wearing the same disguise, hair and all, and did NOT wear any eye shadow with it), AND the noticeable green eye shadow that Pyrrha's character model has, it's now implied at this point that Neo is ready and able to take on Pyrrha's form and become the Fall Maiden in her place. She flicks her eye colors all the time in a mild illusion just for FUN... who's to say she can't make a flawless disguise of an entire human when she actually puts her mind to it?

Pyrrha's smile in the elevator means nothing. That didn't trigger any warning signs for me... But when you remember what Cinder said way back in volume 2, the exposition about Pyrrha specifically, and Neo's presence most of the time being completely up in the air... all the pieces fit for her to be ready to impersonate Pyrrha on the inside to steal the last half of Fall Maiden power for Cinder... After all, why go through the trouble of seizing it again now that it will be HEAVILY guarded after what happened last time... when your minion is invited to take it herself?

One last thing... In the first chapter of Volume 3, even though it lasted mere seconds, Neo walked up to someone in her tournament disguise and revealed herself through her eyes to the audience... There was a mixed amount of fans who genuinely thought she was a new character when she appeared in the official trailer. If that isn't a foreshadowing that Neo can deceive people into believing she's someone she's not, then I don't know what is.