Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-4830106-20151116021418/@comment-86.14.243.230-20151116210330

Considering Cinder's skill and penchant for cryptic dialogue, she is very much the current antagonist. I don't think she is the big bad, but they must be related in some way. Emerald and Mercury seem to owe Cinder everything, following her blindly and obeying her every command, but theres no way Cinder is operating so autononymously without a proper motivation.

My theory is that Cinder is like Ghirahim from Skyward sword; she is and will be the primary recurring antagonist until the endgame, where we face her boss. Considering her eerie power over fire and ability to create weapons out of thin air, my guess is that she's something a little more (or perhaps less) than human. She may well be some kind of horcrux-like being trying to resurrect her master.

In regards to Autumn; she is most certainly an agent of Ozpin's cabal similar to Qrow. I agree with the hypothesis that Autumn got messed up pretty bad, longbottom style, probably by Cinder. This could either be by chance; Autumn happened to stumble upon Cinder's operation and was nearly killed as a result; or it could be in retaliation for whatever Autumn (Or less specifically Ozpin) had done to her master.

I'm not entirely put off of the theory that Cinder and Autumn are in some way the same person; Her second name belies too much possibility. Whatever the relation is it has to be pretty vague; Qrow seems to know who Cinder is in some capacity, he just wouldn't be able to put the name to her face. He knows that whoever was in the CCT that night was the same person who attacked Autumn.