Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-26025032-20160119021526/@comment-86.14.243.230-20160120191610

This thread has veered a little too far into the shadow realm.

While Penny has a sentient soul, just like all the other characters, she is still a synthetic; thus very biologically different. What seems like a mortal wound to a synthetic being is nothing more serious than structural damage. It's more likely that Penny is the robot equivalent of unconscious than anything close to being 'dead'. She can't bleed out or sustain fatal damage like a normal person.

Atlas seems to know what aura itself is 'made of' and how to move it. The case with Penny is that she is likely a robot body for someone elses soul. Her intelligence and fighting skill are like that of an AI; those traits are programmed into her, but her character comes from this soul. Looking at her in the episode compared to her blueprints, the bottom of her core chasis was damaged but thats it. Whatever part of her thats carrying this 'soul' (Which is also likely the part that generates aura) is probably undamaged.

As such, from a technological standpoint; she can probably be rebuilt so long as the soul component is re-used. Her programming is probably backed up, but her consciousness can't be, which is why they would need it. Re-using her 'soul' would likely result in her not losing any of her memories, so she would still know team RWBY, and she would likely remember her last moments. Any psychological damage to her actual consciousness can't be accounted for; which will probably be the main issue once she is brought back.