Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-108.9.190.228-20151213211819/@comment-188.178.171.78-20151213213218

One possible reason might be because Mercury claims to be from Mistral, whereas Yang is Vale- thus her breaking his leg would not only cause anger towards her in the stadium, but potentially between the two kingdoms as well. Might even spread to rest of the world too, since the tournament is broadcast live. With some of their best fighters in Vale, hordes of Grimm attacking them, and possible attacks from the White Fang all occuring at once, the four kingdoms would be hard pressed to defend themselves. This chaos would allow Cinder to target not only the fall maiden, but the others as well, since nowhere in the world would be safe. I just read that someone thinks that list Cinder was working on might have been a list of maiden candidates- if so, it would seem she has a good idea about whom to target already. I also think its likely that the virus she planted into the comm tower's systems is intended to help further this chaos, possibly by hacking or shutting down the Atlesian Knights- and maybe even Penny. Her interest in Penny might also have something to do with her aura. It's possible that the tech Ironwood was talking about might have been used to create Penny- if so, it would explain Cinder's interest in her. All in all, I'd say it is indeed a pretty damn brilliant plan...