Continuing on with the RWBY Theory series, this week we'll be looking at Salem and what her nefarious plan could be.
But before we begin, I want to remind everyone about my RWBY mailing list so I can keep you all up-to-date about everything I do RWBY related: http://eepurl.com/cWX8Fj. All who join will get to see the newest versions of RWBY: The Novelization ahead of everyone else. And if you really want to show me the love, support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.con/bryanclaesch. The first few will be privy to the novelizations of the White and Black trailers before their official release.
Let's get started.
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| "And I can't wait... to watch you burn!" |
There's a lot of mystery surrounding Salem. Who is she? What is she? What does she want? What's her plan? And where the hell is her "domain?" Seriously, that place looks like Hell. Where on Remnant is this?
But first things first, who is Salem besides being Ozpin's foil and potentially the antagonist of RWBY? I say potentially because she could be a puppet for someone else, or not working alone. I was trolling around Pinterest one day when I found a pin that theorized Summer was supposed to be Dorothy on her way to see the White Witch, kind of like the plot from The Wizard of Oz. This sounded strange to me so I googled "White Witch" along with "Oz," and guess what I found.
Well, I didn't find any supposed "White Witch," but I did find out that L. Frank Baum, writer of The Wonderful Land of Oz, apparently wrote other books all about the witches of Oz. And as I was coursing through the fictional history, I had a brain wave: there were two wicked witches in Oz! And the story's not that different from the original books.
So, here's what I'm thinking: Salem is the Wicked Witch of East Remnant. Why East Remnant? Well, besides the fact that the story is headed for Mistral, Tyrian found RNJR pretty damn quickly. And then he made it back to Salem pretty damn quickly. If Salem's Domain was across Remnant, there'd be no way in hell Tyrian could find RNJR and get back that fast. As we've seen in the show, it's taken somewhere between 6 to 8 months for RNJR to get to Mistral, and Blake and Sun were on that ship headed to Menagerie for at least a couple of days. And, Oscar lives on Anima and came across Hazel while travelling to Mistral. So, Salem's Domain must be somewhere in the East.
But there's a problem: We're still missing three Maidens and at least three relics, possibly four. Unless we're going to find two of each in Volume 5, it's too early for a final showdown with Salem, although a showdown of some sort might be the Vol. 5 climax. And! I remember Kerry, Monty, and Miles talking about how much material they have, and it sounds like lot. I think RWBY could be 10 to 12 seasons long. Ergo, it's possible that Salem isn't the only boss, or even the biggest boss. There could be a Wicked Witch of West Remnant.
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| Have you met my twin sister? She lives in Vacuo. |
Next, what the hell is Salem? How come she looks grim? Get it? No, but seriously, is she a Grimm or the creator of the Grimm? Is that why she looks the way she does--she created the Grimm in her image? If that's true, how old is she? Has she been around since man first stepped onto Remnant?
Well, in episode 1, Salem says, "Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts of a forgotten past." She lumps her lot in with humans when she says "we," meaning she's likely human. But is it still possible for Salem to be human and ancient as hell? Is she storing time like Ozpin was in Beacon tower? Or is she the woman with two souls. I mean, why can't there be a woman with two souls? We don't know how it's possible for one person to have two souls, but evidently, it is. Ergo, if it has happened to Oscar and Ozpin, and presumably before Ozpin, why can't there be others capable of doing it?
But also in episode 1, Salem says, "Man, born from dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful." This line raises an interesting question: how does Salem know man came from dust, or even Dust? If she's human herself, someone had to tell her which lends possibility to the fact that she is the woman with two souls. If she isn't human, then she has likely been around since before man.
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| And what's the stuff on her arms? Ivy? Her veins? Is that a commonality among all eldritch creatures? |
Unfortunately, neither of these paths offer us any real insight. So, that leads us to the final question: what is Salem's plan? We know she's looking for both the Maidens and the relics. She likely knows where the relics are since she is attacking the huntsmen academies, but the question then is, why does she want the four Maidens?
According to Qrow, the power of the Maidens pales in comparison to the relics, so why seek both? Perhaps to bolster the power of her forces so she doesn't have the Maidens working against her? That's possible. But, Salem seems to be missing a few girls for maiden positions. Counting her, Emerald, and Cinder, they're missing one girl. It's possible there are more in their faction as the table they were at at the start of Volume 4 had empty seats.
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| See? Empty chairs. Room for more members or possibly ones we haven't seen yet. |
But again, why seek out both Maidens and relics? It could have something to do with the Wizard who gave his power to the Maidens. Perhaps when all the Maidens are brought together (and sacrificed), they unlock some kind of ultimate power or tool like a fifth relic. Maybe the Wizard was only able to grant his power to the Maidens because he broke up his own power to give it to them. Who knows? But this all begs the question what does Salem want with all this power? Does she just want to remake reality in her image so it can be her paradise, or is it a bit more complicated? I'm going to say the latter because Kerry and Miles have surprised me before, so I'm not going to assume anything. Besides which, I might ruin the surprise for myself.
But alas, this leaves us with nothing, but a few speculative points. This is the greatly frustrating thing about trying to analyze the powers that be of Remnant--we still don't know everything and some of the things we do know are only stories, rumor, and legend. So, Salem wins this round.
If you guys think I missed something, tell me in the comments below. Also, in my next RWBY Theory post, I'm going to go over why some of the fanbase has fallen out of love with RWBY. Yes, it is true. Some fans grew disenchanted with RWBY during Volume 4, and I can see a few reasons why. So, I'm going to cover that next week. Be sure not to miss it by signing up to my RWBY mailing list! If I do anything RWBY related, even if it's a RWBY-colored fart, you'll be the first to hear about it: http://eepurl.com/cWX8Fj.
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