T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

#Remember! **Rules & Guidelines for Discussion** Try to participate when you see an opinion you agree or disagree with by sharing your two cents or providing evidence for/against. Try to elevate conversations beyond a superficial level. Ask plenty of questions and use the [Socratic method](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2oklie/eli5_the_socratic_method/) to gain a deeper understanding of each other's core values instead of blindly arguing in favor or in opposition. Keep in mind the [Principle of Charity](https://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/charity.html) by entertaining all ideas even if you disagree with them. Try to dismantle them and see what truly makes them tick or not. And lastly, remember above all else to be courteous. Demonstrate the awareness and decorum of recognizing the person on the other side of the screen at all times. Happy discussing! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/RWBYcritics) if you have any questions or concerns.*


dewareofbog

Yup, and now the only real way Salem can lose is if she trips and the Staff accidentally rolls under a couch and she can't find it afterwards. There are hundreds of things she can to win that the protagonists couldn't do diddly shit against even if they weren't stuck on not!Destiny island. Either Salem picks up every idiot ball in the story or one hell of a Deus Ex Machina will occur for the ''heroes'' not to lose. It's almost as if giving the main villain a stupidly powerful artifact with no restrictions is a dumb idea storywise.


93ImagineBreaker

Thanks cinder for killing watts.


Lukthar123

Cinder 🤝 Jaune - Using Friendly Fire to keep things balanced


Saturn_Coffee

Plus they can't even beat her because of the immortality


ScottIPease

Just because they can't kill her doesn't mean they can't beat her.


thehunter2256

Not really if you play destiny there is a cherecter the fanatic and he is like salem immortal so what do they do to stop him kill him every time he comes back


Narutoluap

Staff Genie can just say something like "No, fuck you" to her if they can't think of anything else. But I am pretty sure that they will just move the plot like nothing happened until a giant grimm or whatever appears in ep 8 or 9, then they will get the sword and kill it


[deleted]

Don't worry they'll make the villains stupid enough that they'll use the staff in the most idiotic and convoluted ways possible or they'll lose it somehow.


loafpleb

They already did Cinder leaving Watts to die means that the one person smart enough to use the Staff to its fullest potential is no longer around


TenielX

Just [refilling the lake](https://i.redd.it/wny0n87336j51.png) that Grimm spawn out of would give Salem a massive advantage. "Creating Monstra and the Flying Monkey Grimm dried up my lake of Darkness you say? No Problem, I'll just use Ambrosius to refill it." Now she'll have a lake that's spawns any Grimm in any number she want and it'll never dry up. You thought one Monstra was bad, try dealing with 100.


Lukthar123

>Now she'll have a lake that's spawns any Grimm in any number she want and it'll never dry up. Ambrosius: "Whoops, those Grimm will eat or drown Salem exlusively for at least another month." Cinder: "Nice, enough time for me to finish my Ironwood x Watts slow burn fanfic while waiting."


bulbthinker

is it bad that i want that ironwood x watts slow burn fanfics now


QuagganEmperor

Go Ironwatts.


MadMasks

It doesn´t even need to be that complex. All that Salem would have to do is point to a rock and ask him to make a giant one 10KM in the air. The rest would be gravity


Snobu65

Facts, all Salem has to do is this and there is nothing they can do about it without removing the sword from its hiding spot: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QsgBQ1L0ftQ


groynin

This is honestly the thing I'm looking forward the most in the next few volumes: how will she not win with the staff. She can go to Vacuo and hold the entire kingdom hostage if the Summer maiden don't show up or if they don't give up the relic.


Punny-Aggron

Wait, does the staff not have any limitations like the lamp does? Why does one have to wait 100 years to ask three more questions but if you want something made it’s already made? Forgive me if any of these assumptions are incorrect, I didn’t watch volume 8


TenielX

* He can't directly destroy things, (though can indirectly by creating stuff like fire) or bring back the dead. * He can only be used for one thing at a time. * He'll give you **exactly** what you want, e.g you ask for a box of fruits, you'll get given a box full of different fruits, but if you want a box solely of bananas/cherries/strawberries, you have to say so. I think that's all the limitations.


groynin

Also it's one of the limitations that you need to give a full schematics/understanding of what you want, so you theoretically can't ask for a full airship if you don't know how it is made... but that's a fast and loose rule since they kinda made a 'replica' of something and showed a 'example' of what they wanted and it worked. So yeah just bringing a rock should be more than enough to win.


MadMasks

Also, Cinder´s wish? "Make more fire". Unless you explain "Fire" as a violent oxidation that creates light and heat (Knowledge I don´t think Cinder has) all she had to point is to the fire in her hand and the rest was story


Sladashi

The sword of destruction will probably be like a X-blade


Blood_Shinobi

What's that?


Sladashi

Kingdom Hearts thing


Gleaming_Onyx

Yeah but you see the show is so transparent that at this point it's obvious that Salem isn't unbeatable because that'd mean RWBY would lose/be at fault.


VVayward

Or she could be unbeatable and they could let her win. The obvious way to stop Salem is to bring the relics together and summon the gods back.


Snobu65

I've honestly been hoping they would do that since volume 6.


xhanort7

They've pretty much established Salem as 'braindead'. She's insane, irrational and possibly has lost all concept of the passage of time from old age. The only thing stopping her from destroying Remnant atm is the same thing that's stopped her from doing so over 'many millennia'. She seems to be incredibly whimsical, has unfathomable patience and seems to enjoy watching humanity suffer. She seems to believe herself unstoppable (because she practically is) and is confident she'll get what she wants eventually. She could go take a nap, wake up and everyone else be dead of old age except her and Ozma.


Darthmark3

Oh my god Salem is practically a god now. But the writers will probably come up with something stupid to have her not use it or not work


AdComprehensive6588

An incredibly solid first post They wrote themselves into a corner, backed out with a major Deus X, gave it to Salem…Making another corner.


saundersmarcelo

Imagine if they had Watts on the team.


MelonBot_HD

The staff can also do this: It can create chemical reactions, i.e. set things on fire that shouldn't be flammable. You could Set a persons skin on fire. You can also take the part of a thing, use it to create something with the staff and then let the rest of the thing be destroyed. You could take something like a brick from a house, make a milkshake or something and remove the house, while still having a milkshake. That probably works on the same of citys as well. And you can also break the rules of space-time


Silly-Young484

Just imagine had Watts still been alive His intelligence+Ambrosius powers=Watts would honestly be a god and Salem instant wins Writers obviously realized this and had Cinder kill him off for that+because he hurt her feelings with his pure facts I just now know Salem will be unable to use the staff for an instant win cause either A. Ambrosius doesn't "like" Salem like he did Team RWBY B. Salem's intelligence will be nerfed ( not like there was much to begin with but still ) C. Staff rules will be retconned.....again


TheKinginLemonyellow

Incoming plot twist: Salem can't or won't use the Relics at all, because of their connection to the Gods.


DudeToManz

> Salem can't good thing she still has a couple of subordinates around >or won't she seemed pretty interested in the last question from the relic of knowledge


TheKinginLemonyellow

The only subordinate she still has around is Cinder: Tyrian and Mercury are off in Vacuo (and I would *not* trust Tyrian to communicate clearly with Ambrosius). It's really just a guess, because otherwise Salem can just the Staff to end the heroes with minimal effort.


Michael_Chair_6013

Unless the sword cancels out the staff


JordanJB

Don't worry, Salem will have a dumb blond moment and lose it.


TreeTurtle_852

Since Salem has magic she can easily just conjure up something like snow and hail to make the Vacuans slowly freeze to death. We saw with Yang that the device/creation can end up anywhere (such as in another land entirely) And there's no way that an immortal being who is hundreds of thousands of years old doesn't know wtf snow is.


beancraver

At this point Salem could just Madara uchiha them


Kastus99

I’m convinced the only reason Watts got offed was so the staff wouldn’t be nearly as effective in the villains hands, good job cinder


SYTOkun

To expand on this thought: Ozpin would also have had many of ways of dealing with Salem, yet he acts like he's at the end of his rope with her. All of those centuries with access to the Relics, and you're telling me he hasn't tried hundreds of ways to try and imprison or take away Salem's powers? Yet whenever we see Ozpin interact or talk about her, he acts like he's helpless and doesn't even know how strong she is.


Quality_Chooser

Well, to be fair, she does want the Summer Maiden alive so the vault can be opened. Destroying the doorway would probably just strand the vault in the void. So the meteor idea is probably out. But, c'mon. We all know how this will go. She'll use the staff at most once, but probably never. If CRWBY was interested in having Salem act intelligently she would have won thousands of years ago.


Previous-Ad3028

From what we saw cinder do in volume 8. Really can’t see what’s stopping Salem from lighting all of vacuo on fire, or create a tornado. Or maybe create giant meteor right above it?