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Affiliations[]
Cinder's Faction[]
Cinder originally led a group of five individuals consisting of herself, Roman Torchwick, Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black and Neopolitan. The ultimate goal of this group was to aid Cinder in completing Salem's orders as a part of her group. They were responsible for many crimes committed throughout Vale. The faction slowly dwindled following Roman's death at the hands of a Griffon and Mercury's promotion to Salem's Inner Circle, leaving the members down to Cinder, Emerald, and Neopolitan. Emerald later defected and Cinder betrayed Neo by pushing her into the void beneath the central location, leaving her without any minions to do her bidding.
Based on her actions, it is shown that Cinder had no care for her minions, using them to further her goals as seen with Torchwick, Neo, and Emerald.
Salem's Inner Circle[]
Cinder is a member of Salem's group. She carries out the group's plan to destroy Beacon Academy, and she also greatly limits communication by destroying Beacon's Cross Continental Transmit System tower. In truth, Cinder has no real loyalty to the inner circle and only uses them to accomplish her own agenda of gaining all the Maiden powers. This is mostly seen with Cinder's distant and outright antagonistic relationship with her "allies", and betraying Arthur Watts by using the Relic of Creation to create more flames in the Atlas Command Center trapping him and leaving him to die there.
Stepfamily[]
Madame[]
When Cinder was young, she was adopted by a rich business owner in Atlas as her stepdaughter and brought her into her home and business, the Glass Unicorn. However, despite having taken her in, it was apparent that the Madame never truly cared for Cinder and only saw her as free labor, as the second she set foot in her home, she forced her to work as the sole staff for her establishment.
The Madame punishing Cinder.
During her time raising Cinder, the Madame took open pleasure in torturing Cinder by using the shock collar she forced her to wear whenever Cinder made a mistake in her eyes. She also doubled her abuse to Cinder by forcing her to say the phrase, "Without you, I am Nothing" to demoralize her from fighting back.
Cinder in turn, absolutely despised her stepmother and developed a deep grudge against her for her abuse that slowly became murderous as it continued.
This eventually lead to Cinder meeting Rhodes. Cinder having grown fed up with the Madam and her daughters abuse, stole one of the swords of the Huntsman staying in the Glass Unicorn to use against her tormentors. Despite her effort to get away with it, Cinder was immediately found out by Rhodes, who confronted her about the theft. Understanding of her unfair treatment, he told her that hurting them would not better her life in the least and only worsen it and temporarily made Cinder stop wanting to hurt them and instead convinced her to bid her time and train with him in secret to become a Huntress and turn old enough to no longer need her approval for anything.
Cinder choking the Madame to death.
However despite being taught a different way to deal with her problem, it became apparent that Cinder's grudge against her never disappeared and only grew as the years went by as the Madam continued her abuse against her with open amusement. This eventually culminated in Cinder personally killing the Madame and her two daughters after they found out about her newly gifted weapon and went to confront her about it.
After killing her stepsisters, Cinder personally made a point of slowly killing the Madame with her bare hands by choking her while she hatefully vented her long suppressed anger and hatred for her before finally snapping her neck.
As seen from Cinder's current behavior, its been shown that the Madam's negative influence is still abundant within Cinder's mind due to her years of abuse. This is mostly seen by her having unconsciously taken up several of the Madam's traits into her own behavior and personality, most notably with her relationship with Emerald Sustrai. This continued negative influence in Cinder's psyche was confirmed in "Midnight" and "Ultimatum".
Unnamed Stepsisters[]
After their mother adopted and took in the young orphaned Cinder from her children's home in Mistral, Cinder was introduced to her two new stepsisters after she was brought into their business of the Glass Unicorn.
Despite being the same age as them and her being their new stepsister, it became apparent the two girls cared absolutely nothing for the young girl and only saw her as nothing more than a servant or a sources of petty amusement for their cruelty. This is seen during Cinder's time growing up under them, where the two girls made a point of constantly bullying her and taking open pleasure at Cinder's misery and struggles. Due to this, Cinder developed a deep grudge against them.
Tormenting Cinder
Later it was also shown that the two also enjoyed tattling to their mother about Cinder's mistakes or blunders in order to get her into trouble, such as when they immediately reported to her about Cinder's newly obtained weapon after finding it in her room.
Eventually this became the last straw for Cinder, who in a rage, proceeded to murder the two of them using her weapon before proceeding to slowly choke their mother to death as she vented out her hatred for them before finally snapping her neck in revenge for all their abuse inflicted on her.
Cinder's Faction[]
Emerald Sustrai[]
Emerald was originally one of Cinder's subordinates. Cinder was shown to have direct control over her. When scolded by Cinder, Emerald became sad and submissive, calling her "ma'am". Despite her normally condescending attitude towards Emerald, Cinder appeared to view her and Mercury as her teammates, always referring to their trio as "we", and never excluded them. Emerald eagerly obeyed Cinder and did whatever she was asked by her, holding a strong amount of respect for her leader. It was revealed in "Beginning of the End" that Emerald was the first member of her faction that Cinder sought out, recruiting her to her cause while Emerald was in the process of a robbery.
Relying on Emerald
After Cinder was severely wounded by Ruby Rose, she became reliant on Emerald to communicate with others for her, to the point that, when asked questions, her automatic response was to signal for Emerald, as shown in "Of Runaways and Stowaways." Emerald placed a great deal of trust in Cinder's power, and was left emotionally devastated when she didn't return from the vault in "Haven's Fate."
As revealed by her during her fight and argument with Mercury, Emerald truly believed that Cinder cared and loved her and considered her to be her only true family. And without Cinder's presence to reassure her, Emerald began actively questioning her position as one of Salem's accomplices in her plans to wage war with the world.
Upon hearing of Mercury's spiteful revelation that Cinder truly didn't care for her, Emerald was seen to take immense anger and rejection on Mercury's analysis and ended up fighting with him due to her refusing to believe him.
In "Divide", Cinder and Emerald were reunited. However, while Emerald looked happy to see Cinder and attempted to get close to her, Cinder ordered her to be quiet. Salem referred to Emerald as one of Cinder's assets, which she didn't refute.
In "Fault", Despite Cinder's degrading tone of voice during their reunion, Emerald still retained her strong loyalty and devotion to Cinder, such as when she immediately jumped on the opportunity to help her track down Penny. Compared to Neo showing resistance and difficulty in following her orders, Emerald assured Cinder that she could help her because she had been training herself to improve her Semblance and even promised to tell no one of where they were going.
Cinder in turn, aware that she needed assistance, agreed to having her accompany her to Amity Tower, albeit begrudgingly.
In "Midnight", after waking up from being treated by Emerald, Cinder questioned Emerald why she brought her back to Monstra. Once Emerald argued she was treating her injuries, Cinder lamented that they failed. When Mercury entered the room and told Emerald that Cinder didn't care for her, her eyes flared up and she told them both to get out.
Displeased of Emerald's choice on joining her enemy
In "Worthy", after Cinder used the Lamp's last question to find out what Ruby and her friends were planning, she saw Emerald with them and became displeased of the latter joining their enemy's side.
Mercury Black[]
Mercury was originally one of Cinder's associates. Like Emerald, Cinder had Mercury under her direct control and scolded him whenever he displeased her. However, their relationship was more mutual in comparison. Mercury originally held Cinder in high regard, placing a lot of confidence in her and doing everything she asked of him. It was revealed in "Beginning of the End" that when Cinder met Mercury, the latter had killed his father, an assassin who Cinder had initially intended to recruit. As a result, she ended up inviting Mercury instead, despite Emerald's protests that they didn't need him. For his part, Mercury recognized that Cinder didn't truly care for him.
After his promotion in "Midnight", Mercury openly told Emerald that Cinder did not care for her in front of his former leader. Later, when Cinder attempted to order him around, Mercury boasted he doesn't take orders from Cinder anymore and that he now directly answers to Salem, causing Cinder to hesitate and look down in defeat.
Roman Torchwick[]
"Partners" in crime
Cinder was one of Roman's associates, assisting him in the escape stage of the failed robbery of From Dust Till Dawn by flying the Bullhead and later assaulting Ruby and Glynda Goodwitch in a brief, but fierce battle.
However, it was shown during her second appearance in "Black and White" that Roman was working under Cinder's command and was actually afraid of her. Roman had stated that he only worked with her because he did not believe she can lose.
In "The Coming Storm", Cinder denied responsibility for Roman's death and was not above using his death to manipulate his former partner in crime, Neo, to help her in her efforts to claim the Relic of Knowledge, get revenge against Ruby and kill her against Salem's orders and act as her accomplice now that she was cut off from her servants and Salem's support.
Neopolitan[]
Making a deal with her former cohort
Neo was part of Cinder's team during the Vytal Festival tournament along with Mercury and Emerald. They were an effective team in combat. They worked together in "Beginning of the End" to get Mercury out of the Amity Colosseum.
In "The Coming Storm", Cinder was attacked by Neo, who blamed her for Roman's death. However, as they fought, Cinder managed to convince her that Ruby was the one responsible and then invited the girl to work with her to kill Ruby. In "The Grimm Reaper", Cinder offered to allow Neo to kill Ruby, as she was under orders to let the Silver-Eyed Warrior live, a deal which Neo originally accepted.
In "Our Way", Cinder was impressed with Neo's ability to disguise a Mistralian airship as a Manta using her Semblance and shared her belief in destiny with her cohort.
In "Out in the Open", Neo had a mild amount of irritation towards Cinder, due to her having to complete jobs not immediately aligned with her goal of killing Ruby. Neo displayed this by rolling her eyes at Cinder and even briefly refusing when she was ordered to prioritize obtaining the Lamp and finding the Winter Maiden.
In "The Enemy of Trust", Neo again displayed her frustration when Cinder nonchalantly took the Lamp without thanking or acknowledging Neo's success or efforts in retrieving it.
When Cinder and Neo arrived at Monstra in "Divide", the former took credit for stealing the Relic of Knowledge for her own benefit to appease Salem, and later called her an asset without first asking Neo about her own opinion, causing her to begin having doubts about her continued partnership with Cinder.
In "Fault", Neo showed active displeasure with Cinder and now refused her orders, such as when she initially refused to accompany her to go to Amity Communications Tower, causing Cinder to frustratingly glare at her and later allow Emerald to accompany her as well.
In "Ultimatum", Cinder was contacted by Neo via her Scroll, telling her she now had the Lamp, and forced her to follow through with their original agreement, or face Salem's wrath once she returned.
Later in "Worthy", after reflecting on her past failures after hearing out Watts' harsh rant about her short comings, Cinder acknowledged that Neo's discontent and anger at her was not unfounded, and apologized to her, immediately offering to get her Ruby that day. They also made use of the Lamp to figure out her enemies next plan to fulfill both their objectives.
However, in "The Final Word", it was revealed that her past action of apologizing to Neo was merely a façade, as she ultimately betrays her by taking the Lamp and making her to fall into the void under the central location, stating she should have never threatened her. This shows that while Cinder understood that Neo's anger was justified, her sense of pride was still strong enough to want revenge for defying and attempting to blackmail her.
Salem's Inner Circle[]
Salem[]
Cinder standing by Salem's side
Cinder is one of Salem's subordinates. She is heard speaking to an unidentified individual in "Beginning of the End"; most likely Salem. The mysterious glove that Cinder uses to steal Amber's power in "Beginning of the End" bears Salem's emblem. Cinder is loyal to Salem through the promise of the Maidens' powers and god-like abilities, feeling as though they are owed to her.[1]
After the Fall of Beacon, Salem states that Cinder is a key part of their plans due to her status as the Fall Maiden and holds her in high regard for her successes against Ozpin and Beacon.
Cinder sees Salem as powerful and has molded her personality off her. The way Salem treats Cinder in "Fault" is nearly identical to the way Cinder treats Roman and Emerald in Vale.
However, between the two, they both have different meanings about leadership. Cinder herself lacks the strategic mindset Salem has and tends to end up pushing away her followers as a result while Salem is able to manipulate them into doing what she wants.[2]
Salem functions not only as Cinder's superior but also as her mentor. She puts Cinder through "treatment" that causes pain and holds her to a high standard when overseeing her training against several Grimm. Eventually, Cinder masters her power and uses it with no hesitation, much to Salem's delight.
Cinder is not above questioning some of Salem's decisions. In "Dread in the Air", when given the freedom to speak her mind, she questions why they are planning to work with bandits and to capture Ruby alive, believing they are already strong enough to take what they want by force. Salem tells her not to underestimate the usefulness of others. Despite Cinder questioning Salem she also is shown to respect her immensely, bowing to her after Salem warned her to be aware of Ruby Rose's powers.
"Without you, I am nothing"
In "The Coming Storm" and "The Grimm Reaper", Cinder to an extent still shows loyalty to Salem despite wanting revenge on Ruby Rose, but due to Salem's command, she decided to arrange for Neo to kill her in order to avoid possible consequences or end up like Lionheart.
During the events of "Divide", Cinder's relationship with Salem is further highlighted. It is shown that while Salem appreciates Cinder for her abilities, she none the less considers Cinder as nothing more than a piece in her chessboard and places her at only a slightly higher value than a "pawn". She also makes sure to reinforce the hierarchy between them when Cinder becomes too ambitious, such as when she prevented her from making another attempt to steal the Winter Maiden powers and was to only act when ordered to.
Cinder in turn is aware of the difference in power between them and knows not to show her usual arrogant demeanor in front of her. Instead, she is completely submissive to her after successfully returning to her side and making up for her previous failures. She also deferred to Salem's orders and decisions despite her own opinion.
In "Fault", although being submissive to Salem, Cinder is willing to go behind her back to search for the Winter Maiden powers after she was ordered to stay put.
In "Amity", Cinder proclaims that she does not serve anyone after Penny questions why she serves Salem, proving that while Cinder admires Salem's ruthlessness and power, she only obeys her so that she can claim all of the Maiden powers and has no true loyalty towards her master outside of their common interests.
In "Midnight", after her return to Monstra, Salem tortures Cinder in front of her inner circle, using Cinder's Shadow Hand to inflict pain to its host, which sparks memories of Cinder's past. However, Salem eventually decides to change her methods to instead lift Cinder up.
In "The Final Word", Cinder clutched her Shadow Hand as it started acting up, which she took as a sign Salem was back and smiled. However, after the central location was shaken by Salem's scream of rage, Cinder grabbed both the Staff and Lamp and returned to the Atlas Vault to greet her. She appeased Salem with the lie that Neo "killed" Ruby after the group used the Lamp's final question, while giving the Relics to Salem. This was enough to put Cinder in Salem's good graces despite "failing" to retrieve Watts as well.
Arthur Watts[]
No camaraderie here
Although allies, Cinder and Watts had a rough relationship. Watts mercilessly mocked her for losing to Ruby, even calling her pathetic due to her injuries. Watts took special pleasure in tormenting and angering Cinder because of her inability to talk back, but judging from some of his comments, Watts and Cinder also had a preexisting enmity before she lost her voice. Said enmity was further shown in "A Perfect Storm", when Cinder suggested deviating from the original objective in solely obtaining the Spring Maiden, inciting Watts in the process, though she burned his hand in response to him trying to overrule her.
In "Midnight", Cinder was ordered by Salem to go and rescue Watts from his imprisonment within Atlas and have him help her go after the Winter Maiden. When she did so in "Dark", she smugly prevented him from talking and claims it's her turn to ask him for something.
Cinder threatening Watts to get her way
In "Ultimatum", Cinder and Watts' relationship with each other was given more context. Upon seeing Monstra's destructions, Cinder got into an argument with Watts on what to do next, with the former wanting to go after Penny and claim the Winter Maiden powers under the presumption that Watts had full control over Penny. However, when Watts revealed that the virus he implanted would eventually cause her to self-destruct, Cinder became enraged and dangled him over the edge. She threatened to drop him due to the scenario of Penny's "death" would prevent her from collecting the Winter Maiden powers for herself.
Despite this threat to his life, Watts continued to remain defiant to her and instead berated Cinder for her stupidity and arrogance for thinking that she could simply get everything she wanted through brute force and raw power by bringing up all of Cinder's failures thus far brought about due her short sightedness, as well as for her immense sense of entitlement to power due to her suffering, telling her that power and strength itself was useless unless one had the intelligence to back it up.
Unexpectedly however, instead of dropping him, Cinder dragged him back on the ledge and sat down, before starting to cry as she calmed down.
"You deserve this, Arthur."
In "Risk", Cinder was shown to cooperate with Watts as they began making their move and met up with Neo while intercepting Ironwood and Ruby's communication. The two appeared to respect each other more, as seen in "Worthy" where they along with Neo worked together to sabotage Ruby's plan to save Atlas and Mantle. As Cinder suggested that Watts could use his intellect to finish off Atlas, delighting him. After taking control of Ironwood's base, she told Watts that he deserved it.
As seen in "The Final Word", although Watts' angry rant regarding her arrogance and short sightedness hinted at Cinder having a change of heart, but in reality she did not change at all but merely doubling down on said qualities, instead eventually betraying him and leaving him to die out of spite by setting the command center alongside the rest of Atlas on fire using the Staff.
Tyrian Callows[]
Neither works well with the other
In "The Next Step", Cinder appears to dislike Tyrian, who continuously mocks her for losing an eye to Ruby. He takes it upon himself to take one of Ruby's eyes in exchange, but this only seems to make Cinder uncomfortable.
In "Taking Control", Tyrian is not at all embarrassed to show his grief or his sadism in front of Cinder when he vents by maniacally butchering a Beowolf. Cinder, however, is visibly horrified by his behavior.
In "Divide", the two have a short argument, where Tyrian taunts Cinder for her failures and she views him in equally low regard, bringing up how she had heard of his capture. Tyrian regards Watts' capture as a necessary sacrifice, and turns to taunt Neo in that she may turn out the same.
Despite their antagonistic relationship, Cinder has at least acknowledged Tyrian's abilities and skills as a fighter and tracker, having admitted in "The More the Merrier" that Tyrian himself was fully capable of hunting down and killing fully trained Huntsmen in mass.
Hazel Rainart[]
Cinder and Hazel were associates in Salem's Inner Circle. His only acknowledgment of her so far was being unimpressed at her losing against a novice Silver-Eyed Warrior. In his comment, he referred to her as "one of us", which established he thought of her as a peer. The two later worked together to participate in the Battle of Haven, but Hazel showed no outward reaction when she did not return from the Vault.
Similarly to Tyrian, Cinder has at least acknowledged Hazel's prowess and skills as a fighter, having admitted in "The More the Merrier" that Hazel was fully capable of fighting and killing fully trained Huntsmen in mass.
White Fang[]
Adam Taurus[]
Cinder approached Adam before his attack on the Schnee Dust cargo, proposing to include him and his White Fang soldiers in a part in her plan. He was at first repulsed by the idea of aiding a human cause, but Cinder later returned with a briefcase of money and another of Dust, also having defeated the soldiers at the White Fang camp. Adam realized that the alternative to accepting her offer was death, so he accepted.
In "Breach", Adam stated that he could convince the White Fang to continue to follow Cinder's plan after the loss of members on the train in "No Brakes". While Adam helped her forces during the Fall of Beacon and the Battle of Haven, it is unknown if Cinder knew or cared that Adam was killed.
Team RWBY[]
Ruby Rose[]
Cinder is about to fight Ruby
Cinder first met Ruby indirectly during a foiled Dust robbery, where she briefly fought Ruby. The two meet again during the second semester, where an undercover Cinder claims she is visiting from Haven, alongside Emerald and Mercury. Ruby remains completely unaware, however, Cinder appears to recognize her. The two fight again during the Beacon Dance at the Cross Continental Transmit System, but Cinder retreats and keeps her identity hidden.
In "End of the Beginning", Cinder kills Pyrrha in front of Ruby, which causes the latter to scream in anguish and release her hidden powers with a bright light. Cinder is caught off guard and is enveloped in the light.
In "The Next Step", the results of Ruby's powers have left Cinder scarred, missing an eye, and almost unable to speak. Cinder harbors a grudge against Ruby, having specifically asked for something to be done about her during her meeting with her allies. In "No Safe Haven", Emerald creates a hallucination of Ruby in a submissive state for Cinder to burn alive.
In "Dread in the Air", Cinder asks Watts if Ruby is with Qrow which he confirms. She later informs Salem that she does not understand why she wants Ruby alive.
In "A Perfect Storm", Cinder agrees to Raven's terms so she can obtain the Relic and deal with Ruby in one night.
Later in "The More the Merrier", Cinder ambushes Ruby with a fireball attack through Raven Branwen's portal. However, during her fight with Jaune Arc, she is brought to her knees in pain by Ruby's usage of her Silver Eyes.
In "Uncovered", Cinder still holds a grudge against Ruby, as she decided to go after the girl and her friends instead of returning to Salem. In "The Coming Storm", it is revealed that Cinder is going against Salem's orders to bring Ruby to her alive by plotting to kill her.
Cinder's fear of Ruby displayed
Following her arrival in Atlas, Cinder began to re-prioritize her goals, choosing to classify killing Ruby as a "want", rather than a "need", such as obtaining the Relics or Maiden powers. As a result, she elects to wait to hunt down Ruby later on. In "The Enemy of Trust", when seeing Ruby about to use her eyes, she decides to flee from the Atlas Medical Facility instead of attempting to kill her. She later angrily vented her frustrations as she clutched her Grimm arm at the city of Atlas due to being denied the power of another Maiden and Ruby's interference once again.
Cinder happy seeing Ruby fall to her "death".
In "The Final Word", Cinder's hatred for Ruby was fully shown when she stated that she should never have been born, throwing her into the void of the Central Location.
Weiss Schnee[]
Though the two have never had any form of full interaction, in "The More the Merrier", Cinder had no hesitation in throwing a spear at the Aura-less Weiss, incapacitating her, following her fight with Vernal. Cinder showed to having enjoyed her act, sadistically smiling before and after it.
In "The Final Word", Cinder states to Weiss in a mocking tone that she should have expected a Schnee to be the last one standing after using her friends as shields. This attitude towards her is likely for the same reason as to why she holds her elder sister in contempt due to their rich and privileged background as part of the Atlas Elite. She later sends a blast of fire under feet, which explodes and sends her into the void.
Team JNPR[]
Jaune Arc[]
Battling an outmatched Jaune
Although she had only met him once after she became the Fall Maiden, when they meet again in "The More the Merrier", after Jaune angrily expressed his hatred for contempt for her actions and promising revenge against her, Cinder expressed no clue on who he is, further enraging him and causing him to attack her recklessly. During their fight, she constantly taunts Jaune and takes full pleasure in seeing his erratic, pained emotions as she slowly began remembering him and referring to him as the "dense one", but later becomes enraged at him for almost wounding her.
After defeating Jaune, Cinder mocks him for considering the life of his friends as more valuable than his own and sadistically makes him watch as she impales Weiss with a flaming javelin.
Cinder attacking Jaune after killing Penny
In "The Final Word", Cinder was enraged that Jaune killed Penny to prevent her from gaining the Winter Maiden powers, attacking him and demanding to know where the power went.
Pyrrha Nikos[]
Cinder kills Pyrrha.
Although they never interacted in Volume 2, it was clear that Cinder had plans for her, telling Emerald to add her to "the list". Also, Cinder seemed to be impressed by Pyrrha's Semblance.
In "End of the Beginning", Cinder fought Pyrrha in Beacon Tower. Although her opponent put up a valiant fight, Cinder ultimately defeated her by shooting an arrow at Pyrrha's heel. She taunted her fallen foe, saying that the Fall Maiden's power never belonged to her, and she confirmed that she believes in destiny. Cinder ended Pyrrha's life by shooting an arrow to her chest and disintegrating her.
As revealed in The World of RWBY: The Official Companion, Cinder had purposefully disintegrated Pyrrha rather then letting her die slowly from her arrow wound, showing Cinder giving a level of mercy at her defeated opponent.
In "Our Way", Cinder quotes Pyrrha's last words to Neo to prove that she still believes in destiny.
Ozpin's Group[]
Ozpin[]
Fighting Ozpin
In "Heroes and Monsters", Ozpin and Cinder finally met each other face to face. Cinder expressed her disdain for Ozpin by saying that Salem was right about his arrogance. They fought each other in "End of the Beginning", resulting in Ozpin's death. This led Cinder to report him as dead to the rest of Salem's faction.
In "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Cinder was shocked to see Ozpin before her once again. His presence gave her pause, though she managed to focus on her mission nonetheless.
Qrow Branwen[]
In "It's Brawl in the Family", it is clear that Cinder knows of Qrow's threat to her plot, but she suggests they do not change their plans after Mercury spots him at Beacon. Qrow previously interfered when Cinder stole Amber's power, only leaving with half of it.
James Ironwood[]
In "PvP", after rigging the battle match-up of Pyrrha and Penny Polendina and setting up Penny's death, Cinder gave a public proclamation to cause mass hysteria in Vale, during which she targeted Ironwood by proclaiming him to be "audacious enough" to be both the General and Headmaster. Later during the Battle of Beacon, Cinder's planted virus infected all of Ironwood's systems, turning all of his drones soldiers to attack him, Huntsman and innocent civilians, harming both Ironwood's and Atlas' worldwide reputation and painting them as the ones responsible for the attack.
In "Out of the Open", she took sadistic pleasure in exacerbating his paranoia and proclaimed him as easy to predict as his machines, correctly guessing that by simply scaring him, he would immediately scramble to protect the Winter Maiden and send someone to her, thus making it much easier for Cinder to locate the Maiden herself.
After Ironwood's defeat in "The Final Word", Cinder and Salem attempt to leave the Vault until the former noticed Ironwood aiming to shoot at them. Cinder declares checkmate, which caused him to give up as the two left him to die in the falling city.
Leonardo Lionheart[]
Although their exact relationship was unknown, due to her position as a member of Salem's Inner Circle, Cinder ordered Lionheart around as her subordinate. It was with his help that Cinder and her team gained entrance to the Vytal Festival by posing as students from Haven Academy. In "The More the Merrier", she revealed the full extent of his betrayal to Ozpin and his former comrades, taking pleasure in Lionheart's shame over betraying Ozpin and causing the death of many Huntsmen and Huntresses.
Following his death at the hands of Salem, Cinder likely didn't care that he died.
Ironwood's Group[]
Winter Schnee[]
"You Atlas elites are all the SAME!"
Cinder sees Winter in low regard, accusing her of being a privileged puppet to Ironwood. In their fight, Cinder begins to rant at Winter, fully showing her contempt for the Atlas specialist and deeming her to be no better than the other selfish, self-centered and greedy Atlas elites who believe that as long as they have all the power, they could keep it forever. Violently attacking her, Cinder states her refusal to "starve".
During their fight and Cinder's subsequent attempt to obtain the power of the Winter Maiden from the dying Fria, Winter manages to slash off Cinder's Shadow Hand right before she could reach the elderly Maiden, causing Cinder intense pain and sending her into a violent rage against Winter after regrowing her limb, eventually rendering her incapable of defending herself as Cinder prepares to stab her to death. However, before Cinder could finish her off, she was stopped by the recently ascended Penny and later forced to retreat by Ruby's arrival.
As revealed in "Midnight", Cinder's immediate hatred and contempt for Winter may be due to her previous abuse and maltreatment by her Atlesian adoptive "family" during her childhood and her suffering while working in the Glass Unicorn in Atlas.
In "The Final Word", Cinder once again battled Winter after the latter gained the Winter maiden powers from Penny, but was ultimately forced to stop upon hearing Salem's scream of rage, instead prioritizing the retrieval of the Relics.
Penny Polendina[]
During the Vytal Tournament, Cinder managed to obtain Penny's blueprints and schematics and later used this information to her advantage. First, by rigging the matches to have her face and be destroyed by Pyrrha whose Semblance was polarity. Then, when Penny's true robotic nature was revealed, using it during her public international proclamation to the world.
In "The Enemy of Trust", Cinder battled against Penny who prevented her from going after the Winter Maiden. Cinder reinforced her low view of Penny, referring to her as Ironwood's puppet. She claimed it was unfortunate that her first "death" was only temporary and later proceeded to threaten her to step aside lest she destroy her permanently.
Cinder attempting to steal Penny's Maiden Powers.
In "Divide", Cinder refused to refer to Penny by name and still considered her an "it". Later, Cinder attempted to go after her for the Maiden powers but was stopped by Salem.
Eventually she went and confronted Penny in "Amity". During their fight, Cinder retained her view of Penny as nothing more than a puppet by implying that Ruby and Pietro saw her as nothing more than a tool and that she was being used, but was unsuccessful.
As seen in "Worthy", Cinder once again engaged Penny in order to claim her powers, with her making a point to mockingly state that she "learned" her lesson from Penny to not underestimate her as she began overpowering her. She eventually dealt a fatal blow to her in "The Final Word" using her Shadow Hand. However before she could claim the Maiden powers, Penny was killed by Jaune to prevent them from going to her. This caused Cinder to angrily lash out as she attacked Jaune and demanded to know where the powers went.
Others[]
Rhodes[]
Cinder first met Rhodes in her childhood after she noticed his weapons and later stole them. He finds her with them, however due to having noticed her around the Glass Unicorn and the obvious abuse the Madame and her two daughters inflicts on the young girl, instead offers to train her to becoming a Huntress to win her her freedom over turning her over to her stepfamily for the theft. Cinder became close to Rhodes due to the kindness he showed her compared to the abuse she suffered under her stepmother and sisters and became the first and perhaps only person that Cinder came to truly and genuinely care for. Despite this, Rhodes himself was not fully aware of the situation that Cinder herself was in.[3]
Rhodes training Cinder in secret
As shown during their time training together, Rhodes himself became close to Cinder and implied that he began to see and care for her as something akin to a daughter. Despite Cinder's just hatred and contempt for her stepfamily, Rhodes nonetheless attempted to be a positive influence in the young girl and tried to show her a better path to life.
When Rhodes saw Cinder kill both her stepmother and stepsisters, she became furious with him for wanting to turn her over for her crimes and ends up killing him. However, despite this he bore no personal hatred towards her for her actions and before passing, gave her one last supportive look and a pat in the head before dying.
It is implied Rhodes' kindness left an impact on her, as he ultimately helped her achieve her freedom. Both Midnight and later her conjered weapons also resemble his swords.
Raven Branwen[]
Cinder, her faction, and Watts are sent to obtain the Spring Maiden from Raven. Though when Raven adds her own stipulations, Cinder sees the wisdom in her proposal and agrees to her terms.
Once they travel to the Haven Vault, Cinder deems Raven overrated and freezes her in place. Though after she fails to obtain the Maiden powers from Vernal, she turns to see that Raven herself was the Maiden.
Maiden versus Maiden
Cinder acidly remarks how the last Spring Maiden must've trusted Raven a "great deal", citing it as a mistake. The pair soon fights and during the battle, Raven calls her out for turning herself into "a monster, just for power". Though Cinder vehemently rebukes her, showing she sees Raven as no different.
Though after the intense battle, Cinder is shown to be on the losing end. She then blocks a final effort from Vernal, only to be blindsided by Raven and sent falling into the abyss.
Lil' Miss Malachite[]
Business
In "Uncovered", Cinder approaches Lil' Miss at her bar and manages to get past the bodyguards with a bag full of Lien. At first, Cinder seems unimpressed with the gangster but is then surprised and impressed that she has a whole syndicate of gangsters working on her behalf. Lil' Miss advises Cinder that "the world needs spiders", in reference to that killing her enemies isn't always the best immediate choice. In "The Coming Storm", Cinder is surprised when Lil' Miss knows who she is, thanks to Neo and later expressed annoyance upon learning that she had sold her out to her.
As seen by "The Coming Storm" and "Our Way", Cinder was shown to have developed a level of respect for Lil' Miss Malachite as she had actually taken her advise to heart about making use of anyone potentially useful (despite her personal opinions and feelings for them) and make them into her allies instead of outright killing them to instead help further her goals.
References[]
- ↑ Newsweek Interview with Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross
- ↑ RWBY Volume 8 Directors' and Writers' Commentary chapter 6
- ↑ RWBY Volume 8 Directors' and Writers' Commentary Chapter 6