Sage's Allusion is the Pilgrim and the Sword. Now, it's a short story. "A Pilgrim on his way found a sword, and asked of the sword, "What is he that hath lost thee?" The sword answered to the Pilgrim, "A man alone hath lost me, but many a one have I lost." And therefore an evil man may be lost, but ere he be lost he may well harm many a one." Now, all we've got for Sage is that he has a sword called Pilgrim. I want more. I am not that creative, so I wanna see if anyone can turn this story into a Semblance for Sage.

Let's say he was a more competent leader, while just as vile. What would happen?

Perhaps I'm reading too deeply into this and this is absolutely nothing, but I feel as if CRWBY has a bit of a gender bias when it comes to their characters. Especially their villainous/antagonistic male characters.

Roman Torchwick

After explaining to Ruby his plans to survive, he gets gobbled up from a Nevermore, then the same aforementioned Grimm gets blown up. His death however, is ironic though.

Emerald Sustrai

After helping RWBY and JNR's mortal enemy bring about city wide panic and the deaths of dozens of students from Beacon, Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral including their two friends, Emerald is seemingly easily forgive for her past crimes because she's afraid of Salem and blatantly says to the audience, "I switched sides."

Adam Taurus

Is nothing more than a sociopathic manchild who joined a revolutionary movement not because he wants to see the Faunus have a chance at a better life, but because his ex-lover left him and wants to continue making her life miserable, and as a result had to be put down, because he was too insane to listen to reason.

Leonardo Lionhheart

Is nothing more than a complete and utter coward who became an asset for Salem because he fears her and wanted an easy way out. Rather than something more relatable or sympathetic i.e. Salem has a family member of his held hostage and is agreeing to her wishes because if he doesn't, she'll kill them.

Ilia Amitola

After participating in on an assassination attempt against Blake's parents. Blake simply asks is this what her parents would want and a moments later she's 100% on Blake's side.

James Ironwood

I'm not gonna go into details about this one.

Winter Schnee

After seeing how unhinged and tyrannical her CO has become, she is ready to fight him and view him as irredeemable. Not once does she try to appeal to his humanity and abandons him to die a slow and painful death. Either to be crushed by tons of rubble between two cities or drowning.

Hazel Rainart

Although he technically was redeemed, he had to die moments after his heel-face turn.

Although Cinder Fall has yet to get the axe and that won't come soon enough, it seems CRWBY really, really, wanted us to at least empathize with her, seeing as she was severely abused as a child, and wanted us to empathize with her, again after Watts berated her.

So if Mercury is killed off during the Vacuo arc, possibly Volume 10 or 11, it'll either be because he's too far gone like the 99% of male antagonistic characters, or like Hazel, and is forced to be in a "redemption equals death" scenario. If one or the other come true, then I think the series' writers have a slight gender bias. If Mercury is redeemed and lives for at least another season, or to the end of the series, then I'll be cautiously optimistic about this theory. The reason why I didn't add Watts, Tyrian, or Neo to this is because Watts' death came without any sort of build up and Tyrian is still alive. As for Neo, I think RWBY+J will have a fight with her on the mysterious beach, eventually will come to an understanding that Cinder is their true enemy, and will become a reluctant antihero who helps the protagonists.

Oscar: Semblance unlocked. Can now perform complex techniques and bursts of speed with reflexes and movements on par with Ozpin's and leave behind trails of Magic and Aura that he can later utilize as obstructions and projectiles. Can also use his Semblance to manipulate the time of his own body (along with anyone he comes in contact with) and give him enough time to gather up kinetic energy by pressuring the opponent with fast, unrelenting strikes until he pushs their Aura to the limit.

Emerald: North Praying Mantis fighting style via her weapons mixed with Mercury's. Can maintain her Semblance's effects while fighting and can shift her targets without losing focus. Uses coins to deflect and bounce bullets, flammable powder to blind and burn opponents, smoke bombs for retreating, poison wrist darts for surprise attacks, and disguised traps supplemented with her hallucinations.

Mercury: No changes to his fighting style besides upgrading Talaria. Can shoot any type of Dust bullets, extend his legs up to 3 meters, perform small Aura slashes with his boots' wings, briefly fly in the air with Fire and Wind Dust akin to rocket boots, cover his legs in a Lightning/Hard Light shield to make himself more faster and durable, and can overclock Talaria supplemented with Ice Dust, which partially acts as a replacement for his stolen Semblance.

Yang: Evolution of her Semblance. Often uses it in short bursts, striking at opponents when they fall for feints and unsuccessfully attempt to counter or dodge her attacks. When activating it, Yang channels her Semblance's power to any part of her body, adding more power to her punches, kicks, strikes, and Ember Celica's projectiles while at the risk of leaving her entire body vulnerable.

Jaune: Utilization of his weaponry. Extends his Aura to greatly enhance his sword's range and offense comparable to a Zweihänder and a Nōdachi combined together. The sword is also reforged with Dust crystals that can give him elemental advantages in battle, even when sheathed. Should Jaune extend Crocea Mors in its Zweihänder form with his Aura and Hard Light Dust, he can deliver massive blows that can rend the earth and swing fatal strikes with the power and range comparable to a Maiden's sword.

Weiss: Semblance evolution in conjugation with her fighting style. As her Grimm summons are sentient enough to follow Weiss without their existence being tied to her Aura concentration, Weiss can summon more of her fallen foes helped with her friend and allies such as Creeps, Sabyrs, Centinals, Ursai, Beowolves, Manticores, and Sphinxes, and fight in synergy with her summons. In addition, Weiss can partially summon Arma Gigas' armor and sword for enhanced defense and offense, move her summoning Glyphs distances out of the enemy’s sight when she needs to perform surprise attacks, and summon combinations to gain multiple advantages.

Leonardo Lionheart - Kenta Miyake

Shay D. Mann - Ryōhei Kimura

Vernal - Rina Satō

Sienna Khan - Aya Hisakawa

Dee - Mamoru Miyano

Dudley - Tatsuhisa Suzuki

Maria Calvera - Masako Nozawa

Lil' Miss Malachite - Kotono Mitsuishi

Caroline Cordovin - Ryōka Yuzuki

Saffron - Chiaki Takahashi

Terra - Asami Imai

Tock - Ayana Taketatsu

Pietro Polendina - Ryūsei Nakao

Clover Ebi - Tomikazu Sugita

Harriet Bree - Kanako Kondō

Elm Elderne - Rie Tanaka

Vine Zeki - Tetsuya Kakihara

Marrow Amin - Junichi Suwabe

Robyn Hill - Maaya Sakamoto

Fiona Thyme - Chiwa Saito

May Marigold - Nana Misuki

Joanna Greenleaf - Toa Yukinari

Forest - Nobuyuki Hiyama

Willow Schnee - Romi Park

Sleet - Chafurin

Camilia - Atsuko Tanaka

Fria - Mami Koyama

Thoughts? Opinions? Any suggestions or other ideas about the voice actors?

...Salem never defied the gods, and that humanity lived on having full magic? Let's assume Team RWBY still exists in this theoretical world, but with access to magic.

This is an updated list of theories and topics of discussion from last night/yesterday, expanded to include more of my thoughts on possible events of RWBY Volume 9.

Volume 9 will be like, I think it was Volume 5 or 6, where there were two plots; one about RNJR and one about Blake. The two stories in Volume 9 will be one about team RWBY, Jaune and Neo trying to get back home from wherever they end up from falling into that abyss, and the other story will be either the remaining characters looking for them or fighting Salem or a combination of looking for them and fighting Salem.

If this prediction is correct, I put 30%-40% odds on Neo dying, because she hates Ruby too much to switch sides and become another Emerald (I still didn't like that Emerald switched sides), another 30% odds on Neo just disappearing with her Semblance and going back to Salem on her own, and I put 4%-5% odds on something happening that involves Neo talking. It was always in the back of my mind that Neo would speak and say "Jinn" to summon her and something would happen there, because let's face it, if Neo did speak for the first time, that would probably be a pretty good reveal. However, I think there's a very low chance of that happening because that's Neo's whole "thing."

Ah, I did just have a thought: Cinder was the one who caused Neopolitan to fall off the platform, she betrayed Neo, so maybe she would put aside her desire for vengeance against Ruby in favor of working with them for vengeance against Cinder and ooooh what if Neo kills Cinder and becomes the Fall Maiden! Yeah, that's a bit ambitious but it would be pretty cool.

Another prediction: Summer Rose, Ruby's mom, will be revealed to have been the Summer Maiden. I do have a theory that team RWBY will become the maidens at the end of the show, but this maiden theory of mine is one of the strongest. Look at the other (current, as of Volume 8 Episode 14): The Fall Maiden is named Cinder Fall. The Winter Maiden (SPOILERS) is Winter Schnee. Raven is the Spring Maiden, but that's an outlier. For the most part, Maidens have had a name corresponding with their season. SUMMER Rose, SUMMER Maiden. It makes sense. I also predict her death will be revealed to have something to do with Salem, which was already hinted at in the scene where Salem's Hound is revealed to be a person underneath with silver eyes, so Summer's death most likely had something to do with that story element. While writing this, I thought we might get a flashback scene of Summer being killed, and I thought for a second about Tock, Salem's subordinate who blinded Maria Calavera, would make a reappearance killing Summer, because Tock was clearly some kind of hitman for Salem, but then I thought that in the scene with young Maria, Tock looks the same age or older, so by the time Summer died, which would be when Ruby was quite young, Tock would have been very old or probably dead, so unfortunately I don't think she will come back, but I firmly believe something about Summer Rose will be revealed. We don't know the current or previous Summer Maidens, and we don't know much about Summer Rose. I think these two things are meant to be hints that Summer Rose was the Summer Maiden. That, and the fact that Ruby learned about what happened to the people with silver eyes, so next Volume will probably have some information to expand on that.

Yet another prediction, this one's a bit obvious. Oscar's Semblance. I have various things to say about it. I have no idea what it's going to be, but I think it's reasonable to say it's been long enough that he hasn't had a Semblance so he's probably going to develop it. One thing I can predict about it is that Ozma's Semblance, whatever it is, is passed down to his reincarnations, so Ozpin had the same Semblance, and Oscar's Semblance is the same too. We will learn about this as part of Oscar's training with his Semblance, or after he's already unlocked it. A side note as well, Salem's Semblance. We still don't know what it is, and I think if Ozma's Semblance is revealed, it's possible Salem has the same Semblance. Something about their dealings with the Gods. However, I don't think it's super likely, but it is a possibility that their Semblances are the same. At the same time, though, I believe it is possible that neither Salem nor Ozma has a Semblance, because they are from a time where magic was common, and they both can use magic, so for writing reasons it would make both of them too powerful and for story reasons it might be that they have magic instead of Semblances.

Now, as for the post-credits scene that I had not noticed at the time I wrote the previous paragraph, it definitely asks more questions than answers, but it is interesting. I believe this land is some kind of afterlife. I also believe we will see the return of some dead characters, like Pyrrah and Roman. This would be really cool if the RWBY/Jaune/Neo team-up theory comes true, because Pyrrah and Jaune would finally be reunited, and as Swally522 said under NightDream1’s post in General a few hours ago, Neo would be reunited with Roman, which I didn’t even think about but would be an interesting thing to witness. I had the idea that Roman’s ghost would be angry that Neopolitan would even think about teaming up with Ruby, and maybe Neo would grow to realize Torchwick wasn’t as great as she thought he was. I imagine a scene where Neo is up in the afterlife-tree-thingy from the post-credits scene, and she’s sitting on a treehouse-like platform or something. She’s holding Roman’s hat and looking down at it, as Roman’s ghostly voice berates her for “teaming up with Red and her posse,” he’d say. As the voices get louder and louder, Neo shuts her eyes tightly and covers her ears but Roman’s voice won’t go away. Finally, a close up shot of Neo dramatically opening her eyes, with her eyeliner smeared from her crying, and she throws the hat off the tree, and it slowly falls to the ground below. All in all, I imagine it would be a very beautiful scene.

Overall, my eyes were really opened recently about the possibility they have with Neopolitan’s character development here. Something I thought of would be her past being explained, particularly her past with Roman and Cinder. What I would find most interesting, however, would be an explanation for why she can’t talk, and it possibly having something to do with Roman, Cinder, or Salem in some way. I would also like an explanation (or at least a justification) for why the villains spent all their time stealing Dust in the early volumes. Perhaps something to do with Salem.

The afterlife also presents another possibility: Adam. Adam, throughout the series, has been someone who always manages to find Blake no matter what, and it would be a testament to his willpower if he was able to haunt Blake even after death. Going with the theme of backstories for dead characters, I would love to see about Adam’s past. His scar is a bit hard to read, but it says “SDC,” an abbreviation for Schnee Dust Company. I had to look on Adam’s wiki page to know what his scar says but it was very surprising and reveals a lot about his past. We know that the SDC used Faunus as essentially slaves, so it would be nice to see Adam’s past in that way. Maybe what happened was he lashed out and tried to revolt against the slave owners, and as punishment he was scarred with SDC across his face, probably something about always reminding him of his place or something similar. With Adam’s appearance in the afterlife, Blake would probably struggle with the mental strain it would put on her. She would have to come to terms with the internal dilemma that she may have killed Adam, but as long as she’s in the afterlife, Adam is still there, always watching, like a subconscious presence within Blake that would possibly continue until after Volume 9. I imagine it would be traumatizing for her to see Adam in the afterlife, and I imagine he would also make some kind of grand, dramatic entrance. We know what he’s like, it seems like something he would do. It’s fun to imagine his dramatic line as he steps out from behind a wall or something, to greet Blake. Just imagine Blake, still trying to accept that she is dead, hears a footstep behind her, and she slowly looks back, as Adam dramatically walks out from behind a pillar or wall and says…

“Blake… it’s been too long.”

It sends chills down my spine. I like this wording because it references his line in the black trailer: "Blake... it's time." Overall, the afterlife theory is so much fun to speculate about. Pyrrah, Adam, Neo, Summer, Penny, Ozpin is debatable but it’s possible, and we might also see some people who will be revealed to have died. Peter and Oobleck come to mind, as I imagine they may have died at the fall of Beacon, and hey, if Ozpin is there, maybe the main cast will finally get a chance to meet Ozma. Peter and Oobleck, as I understand it, have had their voice actors shall we say… unable to voice them at the present moment, so RT would have to get new people, or maybe they could just have no voice acting and instead just appear as background characters in the afterlife, but that would be really distracting because we would be wondering “What? That’s the fat guy and the fast talking guy! They’re dead? Why? I need an explanation!” So it would be a bad situation, which is why they absolutely need voiced lines if they are to reappear. Maybe they could do some kind of pep talk thing, to keep everyone in high spirits. I think it would be interesting if either Port or Oobleck had some kind of minor past with Neo and resent her for it. Nothing grand and conspiratorial, just maybe Neo battled with one of them at some point.

That’s all the thoughts from the ol’ brain meat tonight, but I’ll update the post in some manner if I develop any new theories. I stated in the previous version of this post that I would “edit” the post in the event of new ideas, but I’m new to the Fandom site and there doesn’t appear a way to do that, so I’ll be making a whole new post.

I posted this on the discussion for Vol8 Ep14 but I think it belongs here too.

Volume 9 will be like, I think it was Volume 5 or 6, where there were two plots; one about RNJR and one about Blake. The two stories in Volume 9 will be one about team RWBY, Jaune and Neo trying to get back home from wherever they end up from falling into that abyss, and the other story will be either the remaining characters looking for them or fighting Salem or a combination of looking for them and fighting Salem.

If this prediction is correct, I put 30%-40% odds on Neo dying, because she hates Ruby too much to switch sides and become another Emerald (I still didn't like that Emerald switched sides), another 30% odds on Neo just disappearing with her Semblance and going back to Salem on her own, and I put 4%-5% odds on something happening that involves Neo talking. It was always in the back of my mind that Neo would speak and say "Jinn" to summon her and something would happen there, because let's face it, if Neo did speak for the first time, that would probably be a pretty good reveal. However, I think there's a very low chance of that happening because that's Neo's whole "thing."

Ah, I did just have a thought: Cinder was the one who caused Neopolitan to fall off the platform, she betrayed Neo, so maybe she would put aside her desire for vengeance against Ruby in favor of working with them for vengeance against Cinder and ooooh what if Neo kills Cinder and becomes the Fall Maiden! Yeah, that's a bit ambitious but it would be pretty cool.

Another prediction: Summer Rose, Ruby's mom, will be revealed to have been the Summer Maiden. I do have a theory that team RWBY will become the maidens at the end of the show, but this maiden theory of mine is one of the strongest. Look at the other (current, as of Volume 8 Episode 14): The Fall Maiden is named Cinder Fall. The Winter Maiden (SPOILERS) is Winter Schnee. Raven is the Spring Maiden, but that's an outlier. For the most part, Maidens have had a name corresponding with their season. SUMMER Rose, SUMMER Maiden. It makes sense. I also predict her death will be revealed to have something to do with Salem, which was already hinted at in the scene where Salem's Hound is revealed to be a person underneath with silver eyes, so Summer's death most likely had something to do with that story element. While writing this, I thought we might get a flashback scene of Summer being killed, and I thought for a second about Tock, Salem's subordinate who blinded Maria Calavera, would make a reappearance killing Summer, because Tock was clearly some kind of hitman for Salem, but then I thought that in the scene with young Maria, Tock looks the same age or older, so by the time Summer died, which would be when Ruby was quite young, Tock would have been very old or probably dead, so unfortunately I don't think she will come back, but I firmly believe something about Summer Rose will be revealed. We don't know the current or previous Summer Maidens, and we don't know much about Summer Rose. I think these two things are meant to be hints that Summer Rose was the Summer Maiden. That, and the fact that Ruby learned about what happened to the people with silver eyes, so next Volume will probably have some information to expand on that.

Yet another prediction, this one's a bit obvious. Oscar's Semblance. I have various things to say about it. I have no idea what it's going to be, but I think it's reasonable to say it's been long enough that he hasn't had a Semblance so he's probably going to develop it. One thing I can predict about it is that Ozma's Semblance, whatever it is, is passed down to his reincarnations, so Ozpin had the same Semblance, and Oscar's Semblance is the same too. We will learn about this as part of Oscar's training with his Semblance, or after he's already unlocked it. A side note as well, Salem's Semblance. We still don't know what it is, and I think if Ozma's Semblance is revealed, it's possible Salem has the same Semblance. Something about their dealings with the Gods. However, I don't think it's super likely, but it is a possibility that their Semblances are the same. At the same time, though, I believe it is possible that neither Salem nor Ozma has a Semblance, because they are from a time where magic was common, and they both can use magic, so for writing reasons it would make both of them too powerful and for story reasons it might be that they have magic instead of Semblances.

That's all the theories I have right now, but I'll edit this comment if I think of any more.

First, Salem alone would be fighting Team RWBY and allies in an all-out battle. Whatever happens in the end, the witch would declare war on Remnant to get the last relic or take back all four if they were captured by someone.

But after a failed final war, as a last resort, she would absorb all of Remnant's remaining Grimm Liquid in her body. And then, she would transform into a hundred-meter mutant kaiju Grimm while retaining her magic, intelligence, regenerative healing factor, and lightning bruiser status. This monster would look frightening, spike-covered, and massively built as this, but somewhat more humanoid and with wings. Such uber-powerful form would be the embodiment of her lifelong-then-culminated fury and emotional meltdown.

She would also be rapidly fighting a giant mech run by some of the heroes, and maybe a giant energy-made Ozma later. Eventually, this ultimate Grimm loses, while humanity redeems itself. When the gods come back and decide it's the case, Salem would finally enter the afterlife or reincarnate as a better person.

So what are your thoughts on this?

For starters, I don't think everyone on this list will die. This is just a compilation of who I think is most likely to die. RWBYC teased that this was supposed to be a "big" volume. To me, that translates to high body count I suppose, and so far no major characters have been (definitely) killed. Salem supposed to be the main antagonist and is set up as a huge presence. Since this is Salem's first volume outside of her lair and is physically present in front of the main cast, it does seem kind of coincidental for every named character to live through her attack. If every named character lived through her attack it would kind of diminish her status as a huge presence and main antagonist.

Most at risk

James Ironwood: For a lot of reasons, Ironwood will most definitely perish in the finale. For starters, he's beyond redeemable at this point and served his purpose as a volume antagonist. Ironwood needs to be written off somehow because he has no place in the groups next location: Vacuo. His story arc is complete, especially with Atlas falling. It makes no sense for Ironwood to continue on as an antagonist in a different location and he can't be written as a redeemable villain since we already have Emerald, and as mentioned before he's already committed too many crimes. Also, in a poetic sense, it makes sense for Ironwood to die with the fall of Atlas.

Neopolitan: Personally, Neo is my favorite character and I hope she makes it out alive. However, I can't ignore her huge death flag especially after what happened in the latest episode. Neo's story arc revolves around vengeance for Torchwick against Ruby. This is a story that can continue on for Vacuo, but probably won't. There's no trust between Cinder and Neo, just a common goal. Neo could also care less about what Cinder and Salem want, which is why she took the relic in the first place when Cinder didn't give Neo what she wanted. There's also no redemption for her in the eyes of team RWBY, like Emerald, so I can't see them willing to negotiate with her.

Unlike Ironwood, Neo has a slight chance of survival. Aside from personal bias, Neo is one of the more stronger characters. She's a master of disguise, manipulation, and endurance. Additionally, she's an amazing fighter and would've taken out Cinder in Volume 6 without the maiden powers. Neo is far from invincible though and can be taken advantage of if her weaknesses are found, and if she is distracted. Throughout the series, Neo has won against all of RWBY and JNPR and it would seem a bit Mary Sue-ish for them to all of a sudden manage to win against her, even with them being enraged by Yang's presumed death. She's also really popular, which could actually save her.

Harriet Bree: Like Ironwood, I don't think Harriet is capable of redemption. She's fully on board with helping him bomb Mantle and has complete disregard for innocent lives. Her unwavering loyalty and unlikability should kill her, but also serve as an obstacle for the main cast. I don't think she's completely doomed because they could set her up as a future antagonist, because she shares the same twisted ideology as Ironwood.

Possible death flags

Vine Zeki: He was pushed out of a moving plane midair. He probably survived that because other characters have taken worse falls and lived with minor injury. That doesn't mean he's safe though. We can some glimpse of character in the latest episode and he's still the least developed Ace Op. I just can't see all of the Ace Ops to not only survive the volume, but make it to Vacuo. Besides Marrow, I didn't think any of them would even live this far.

Winter Schnee: We're being set up for a Winter vs Ironwood death match. It's possible that Winter will lose. She was able to knock out and imprison him, but only with the help of Emerald and JNPR. This time it's 1 vs 1 and so far, it seems that Ironwood has the upper hand in terms of strength. I don't think Ironwood will spare her if she loses the battle against him, since he was ready to completely murder Marrow. Winter dying would further dehumanize Ironwood, but also serve as possible (and good) character development for Weiss in the next volume. Also, if Winter does lose the battle against Ironwood, that still doesn't guarantee that Ironwood will live.

Pietro Polendina: He hasn't appeared in a few episodes, but that doesn't mean he can't appear in the finale and be killed off. Since we don't know if he'll even appear in the episode because he wasn't seen on screen, I'm only putting him on the list because it serves a purpose of Penny to develop further as a character. Having Pietro as an Atlas causality makes a lot of sense too.

Nora Valkyrie: Nora received a lot of development this volume, which was great. Since we're being set up for loss, it opens the opportunity to kill off a main character. If a character from RWBY or JNPR were to die, it would most likely be either Ren or Nora. We're going into the next volume with a large cast just in the main group: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Penny, Qrow, Oscar, and possibly Yang, Emerald and Maria. Then we also take into consideration Sun and Neptune, and characters introduced in Vacuo.

Other characters that could die. Moderate risk, likely safe.

Emerald Sustrai

Lie Ren (If not Nora)

Robyn Hill

Arthur Watts

Let me know your thoughts and if you agree or disagree with me.

SPOILERS FOR VOLUME 8 AHEAD. IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED VOLUME 8, DON'T READ. IF YOU LOVE SPOILERS, KNOCK YOURSELF OUT.

So, I'm a little late to the ballgame when it comes to RWBY. I saw a bunch of fan art from an artist I love on instagram (check out Lesly Oh! Her art is amazing!), but I didn't know the fandom she was drawing from, so I had to look it up. I'd heard of RWBY on and off over the years, but never really looked into it. But now I've binged all the episodes up to Volume 8, Episode 9 over the span of a month, so I'm all caught up.

And I've got a bunch (one, really) of theories that've been eating me up inside. Now, this is merely a theory so try not to read into it too much. I do need to go through two points before jumping into my theory:

• First of all, I believe RWBY is not destined to go beyond nine seasons. I have a feeling that by Vol. 9, the show will end. Maybe, maybe not, who knows?

• Secondly, let's face it: RWBY is RT's only truly popular tv show. Most of the other videos they produce are almost vlog-like, and seem more suited for YouTube. But the moment RWBY ends, I believe RT will see a downhill decline unless they decide to do something drastic.

Right, now to my Theory:

So far, we've seen how psychotic Salem is. She's a pretty awful person in general. She has an army of Grimm at her disposal and she can't die. Like, cannot cannot die. She also has a loyal group of minions ... or does she?

Already, we've seen Emerald and Hazel abandon her because of basic human decency and morality. Mercury is coming to realize that Salem's plan to summon the Brothers in order to destroy the world (so she and everyone will die) is not in his best interest. I'm sure we'll see him ditch Salem in the future. Arthur Watts is now in the custody of Atlas Military, and I'm almost positive that he'll stick with them, because they aren't as terrible and he can negotiate with them, unlike Salem, who will probably dispose of him now that his work is done.

The only one who will stick with Salem is Tyrian, because he's just as bad, if not worse, than Salem, purely because he is an off-the-rails psycho.

And Cinder? Cinder was abused and controlled all her youth, and now she's seeing that same pattern with Salem. This will be a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" moment. I can see Cinder betraying Salem purely on account of Cinder wanting to be the one in power, no longer under the thumb of someone else.

And with Ruby's broadcast to the rest of Remnant, everyone knows about Salem and her nefarious plans.

The point is, we are slowly seeing the entire cast of characters uniting. Yes, General Ironwood is making some very questionable, very paranoid decisions, and yes, the villains might be fighting Salem only for their own benefit, but it ultimately doesn't matter. They're fighting against Salem in different ways but on a united front. The Brothers said that if they return to Remnant and see unity, they'll leave the world to exist peacefully, but if the war is in utter chaos and discord, they would destroy it. Salem, by her mere existence, is uniting the world against her.

I believe Salem, towards the end of Volume 8, will gain the lamp and the relic hidden at Atlas Academy. Throughout Volume 9, we may see Team RWBY and friends fight desperately to keep the remaining relics away from Salem, only to fail in the end.

And in the end, Salem wins. The Brothers are summoned.

But then everything changes: The world of Remnant is united, maybe not in the way of "world peace" but in the ultimate act of the higher good. They're united against the ultimate evil, and for the Brothers, that's enough to kill Salem and leave Remnant peacefully.

The end. Everyone lives happily ever after, and the tv show will come to a close.

I don't know, it's just a theory. Maybe not probable, but it's possible. Maybe ending RWBY will make way for some spin-offs, which will keep the franchise alive in some way and will keep subscribers.

There are definitely a lot of places the CRWBY could take it: they could make a bunch of rich and personal character shorts for the vast cast of characters (personally, a character short about Neo would be fantastic. Neo and Roman and General Ironwood and Winter and pretty much everyone). They could further explore other Huntsman Academies. They could do a prequel series about a time where there was magic everywhere (a medieval RWBY spinoff sounds awesome). And so on, and so forth.

In conclusion, I believe the creators of RWBY made a great show with a detailed, rich, in depth world, a world that can be fully explored once RWBY ends.

I suppose only time will tell.

Let me start by saying that I don't want any of this to happen, and I don't really think any of this will happen. Nevertheless . . .

There's been something on my mind recently, and I'd like to share it with you. Mainly because I feel like if I write it down and post it for all to see, then it likely won't come true (because most of what I say never comes true).

Consider this scenario takes place over the remainder of Volume 8:

• Ruby hits Salem with her silver eyes, thus destroying her grimm corruption.

• Salem realizes the error of her ways, and her immortality is voided.

• Cinder kills Salem.

• Somebody (let's say Neo) tries to kill Cinder, but it's revealed that she's immortal (because the pool she fell into in V5 was the GoL's immortality pond; the same one Salem got her immortality from).

• Cinder becomes the main antagonist of the show from here on out.

Now, I know what you're thinking. This is insanely stupid and it would never happen. You're probably right. But here's the thing. There's nothing hypothetically stopping the writers of this show from doing it anyway. Here's some reasons why they might:

• Jen Taylor is expensive. Jessica Nigri is not.

• Volume 9 might be the last volume of RWBY (due to circumstances beyond RT's control), and a final hurrah against the most hated villain on the show might be more effective than an aborted relic storyline featuring Salem.

• They've been hyping Cinder's backstory recently, which could mean she's either about to die or about to ascend to a larger role.

• Generally, the big bad doesn't take to the battlefield until right before their ultimate defeat. Salem is on the battlefield right now.

Now, with that out of the way, let's discuss why this would be the dumbest thing they could possibly do, and why it would likely lead to a viewership plunge, followed by RWBY's cancellation (if its fate hasn't already been sealed), followed by RT going belly-up.

• Cinder is a reservoir of all the worst writing deficits on the show, and elevating her to the position of 'big bad' would further highlight those deficits.

• Cinder's motivation is far too thin for her to be the big bad. 'I was the slave, and now I'm the boss' makes Daenerys' turn in S8 of GoT look masterful by comparison.

• Jessica Nigri is absolutely NOT up to the task of playing the main villain on this show. At the end of the day, she's still a cosplayer with no prior acting experience, and she would be in over her head. Big bads require a veteran to flesh them out effectively.

• The pool Cinder fell into in V5 can't be the immortality lake because A) It's geologically impossible for a basin to become a cave. B) It would be out of character for mister 'can't disrupt the delicate balance of life and death' to leave a fountain of youth behind for everyone to potentially take a bath in. And C) How did nobody discover the pool's properties while they were building the elaborate vault to house the relic of knowledge?

• Even as an immortal, Cinder would be an underwhelming villain because she's still susceptible to Ruby's silver eyes, and has far less power than Salem ever did. Not to mention, Salem's advisors would likely abandon Cinder since she doesn't command the respect that they had for Salem.

For these reasons, I think this turn of events would lead to a mass viewer exodus (this is literally the only thing that could get me to stop watching the show), and would lead to RWBY's cancellation, not to mention cause RT to become insolvent to AT&T.

One of the few really great things this show has to boast about is the fact that the main villain is somewhat enigmatic, terrifying, and is played by a veteran VA who commands the respect of the fanbase. Replacing her with Cinder would void all three of those factors, as Cinder is as basic a villain you could imagine, who doesn't instill terror and who is voiced by someone as low on the VA totem poll as you could find.

So why, then, would they do this anyway? Well, like I said, they probably won't. But, if they do, it's almost definitely a signal that RWBY has been preemptively cancelled (AT&T gave them 3 volumes to wrap it up after V6) and they're bringing it to a close as best they can. In this case, making Cinder the big bad makes some small bit of sense, because there's no way to effectively bring the relic storyline to a close in 3 volumes anyway.

But, yeah, that's all I've got. Hopefully now that I've written this down, there's absolutely no chance it comes true and we can all look forward to this show getting better and living up to its true potential. And if not, well, congrats to me for finally getting a prediction right, and I'll be seeing ya. Because there's no way I'm watching that particular dumpster fire play out.

Spoiler Warning ahead I guess. Scroll if you either don't care or have caught up with the series already:

You know how Salem got pushed into the evil juice lake and "became evil"? (at least, that's how I think it works anyway)

If Salem would be pushed into the pool of light (or life, idrk) again, would it reverse the affects of what the evil juice did to her, or would it make her stronger?

Since farm boi has been kidnapped, and is probably in a lot of trouble, let's think something positive for him.

His semblance. As we see with Jaune and Ren, it can sometimes activate with stress. And I think we all know Oscar's gonna be getting some in this volume. So why not see if one of us can call it before it happens?

Personally, I believe Oscar's semblance could be something that lets him stay separate from Oz. Like, it kinda keeps what he has. Oz can still talk, and just kinda chill, but he won't ever gain control over Oscar, and Oscar will be able to keep his own body.

To me that would be cool. But I wanna know, what does everybody else think could happen for Oscar?