Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-25555436-20160215005351

In a moment of hindsight, I wondered something. If there was something about him that we missed, or if he had something of importance in him.

I looked back to the moment Ozpin told Pyrrha the story of the 4 Maidens and the Old Man. Where was the Old Guy living? A small house at the top of a hill. Nothing too important, I thought.

Then, Beginning of the End. When Cinder meets Mercury, where did they meet? Near a small (burning) house at the top of a hill. It felt like too much of a coincidence.

So I thought: Is Mercury a descendant of the Old Man?  Now, what would be the things that joss this theory?

1-House and Road look very different.

2-Old Man likely died with no children.

3-Does it even matter?

Okay, fair points. But, there are ways to "counter" those points:

1-Now, sure, the design of the house and the road leading to it were different, noticeably different, from the one shown when Ozpin told Pyrrha the story. One would say this josses this theory....but, that story is definitely old. Possibly older than Ozpin. And there's no reason to believe that no one bothered to make some changes to the house or the terrain over the decades or centuries.

2-It's perfectly possible that the Old Man did have at least 1 child before becoming a hermit hikkikomori living in the middle of nowhere. There are multiple ways and reasons for that child, or one of that child's childs and so on, to start living in that house at some point either before or after the Old Man died.

3-It does. Cinder knew who Marcus Black was, most likely she was looking for him until Merc turned out to have killed him. Now, why would Cinder look for him? Well, to find Amber of course. Being the descendants of the Old Man, they surely knew about the Maidens, and likely are part of the people trying to protect them. Which means, if Cinder wanted to find a Maiden, he had at least some information.

Without this possibility, there isn't much reason for Merc to have been recruited. Emerald had the Ilusions, almost-necessary to beat the Maiden. But what did Merc have? Just great combat skills, which is nothing special in Remnant. Cinder could have easily recruited anyone other than Merc if that was all she was looking for. But, if he, like his father, has information about the Maidens and their locations, then he does become special, and Cinder has far more reasons to recruit him now. 