Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-14138255-20151213162620/@comment-14909251-20151215022050

I am curious if Mercury getting his leg broken was always part of the plan. Cinder did say they were changing the plan after noticing that they had access to Penny. Maybe Mercury's team will still have lost and Weiss will take over due to her having been in the doubles. However, since they have Penny, they can just hack into her body to use it for what Mercury was going to do in the tournament.

While the idea of RWBY as a team being disqualified is possible, it may be that Cinder knows Ozpin will intervene for them and is counting on that to increase hostility towards the team. Seeing the team that showed such horrifically unsportsmanlike conduct continue on would incite a lot of anger. More anger and negative emotion means more Grimm.

As to the Maidens, this does provide a definitive way for them to confirm whether Summer is really dead. Presuming Summer was a Maiden and her power was passed on the normal way then it would mean she died, but if Summer's successor has not appeared yet then that would suggest Summer could be alive. If it was passed on then it seems inevitable that Ruby received the power and it would explain why Qrow took her under his wing as well as why Ozpin let her into Beacon. Then again, they may just think Ruby received the power and not know for certain.

Given Cinder is implied to have the Maiden's power it would make it seem like they were saying Cinder is the Big Bad when they talked about "the person responsible for Autumn's condition", but that feels off. They don't know Cinder, so it does not appear likely that they know exactly who is responsible. It may be they just mean the person is ultimately responsible.

When put in that light, perhaps Cinder was allowed to take the Maiden's power despite not being in charge because the true Big Bad could not take it. Presuming the power can only be transferred to a qualifying candidate, then it would point to Cinder's boss either being old, male, or not even human. Of course, I happen to think the Big Bad is Jen Taylor and she is playing a Grimm Queen, which would match up with that perfectly as a Grimm probably couldn't take the power.