If Mercury Did Get His Semblance Back

First of all, before anyone pulls the ‘his semblance was stolen and therefore cannot get it back’, I am going to tell you that that makes absolutely no sense with what we do know about semblances so far. Each semblance has been shown to have a limit meaning that Marcus’ should be no exception. We know a semblance is fueled by the aura of the user so that means, if the user has no aura left, their semblance shouldn’t work. I will guess that Marcus can only hold one semblance at a time and only for a certain amount of time, or his semblance is taking other semblances to use against others.

Since Marcus was an abuser, he likely cared about his control over him regardless of whether or not his control over Mercury made him stronger. So Marcus likely never told Mercury any weaknesses about his semblance if he told Mercury much at all and chances are that Marcus likely guarded knowledge about his semblance extensively. He could have easily lied to Mercury about how his semblance worked even to the point of convincing his own son that it worked in a way that most semblances probably don’t. My guess was His semblance may have been something that disabled semblances temporarily and he convinced Mercury he took it. He might have already given Mercury back his semblance but smugly knew that he had convinced Mercury that he can’t use it to the point of not being able to which would make Marcus look even more manipulative. This also could be an example that a semblance can also be limited by someone’s mental state.

I don’t think Mercury’s semblance is gone, I think he’s just brainwashed into thinking he’ll never get it back. I think he’s blocking its use as a result of the trauma he went through or the influence Marcus had on him. He may not be doing it deliberately but I think that’s exactly what is happening. Because if Marcus’ semblance did have that kind of power to permanently remove someone’s semblance, that sounds a little too op to me. Not to mention this would mean that a semblance could transcend death but then that would also mean aura isn’t the fuel to a semblance. So Mercury might parallel Weiss in that she had to develop her power and herself as a person. Weiss developing her semblance was symbolic of her breaking free of her father’s control. So maybe Mercury rediscovering his semblance would symbolize him breaking free of being controlled, too.

Finally, I will get to the main theory I wanted to share: I think Mercury’s semblance is hit based like Yang’s. Since Mercury shares a lot of opposite parallels with Yang, I think it would make sense if his semblance interacted with hers in some way. My first guess was power absorption where if he hit’s someone, it makes them weaker but since Yang’s makes her stronger with every hit, his semblance would just nullify hers to where a fight at full strength between them would be a test of endurance. But, I then thought that that doesn’t fit Mercury’s personality nearly as well. So I had to think of what does.

I realized Mercury is the kind of person who will hurt the people that hurt him. He lashes out or gets angry when he’s hurt. It was shown in the way he dealt with his abuser: he lashed out and fought him. So I think his semblance would be retaliation. This would mean that every time someone hits him, they also get hit with the same damage. Basically, it would be a counter type semblance as well as hit based. And, since he seems to be written to be Yang’s rival or contrary, this would mean that an all out fight between them would be very dangerous because either way, Yang will be taking damage and if she just hits him, she will still take on damage, and each would just make her stronger. Keep in mind, Mercury is still getting hit so they both would be getting worn down in this fight.

With a semblance like retaliation, their fight would basically be an ongoing cycle of abuse between them to where it could honestly destroy both of them if neither of them breaks the cycle and just keeps making it worse until it literally explodes. If Yang hits him at the fullest force of her strength with her semblance activated and with his still in use, the force of it would theoretically knock them both back. So basically, I think it would be one hell of a story element if his semblance was made so that if him and Yang do get into a fight, it would just not end well for either of them. His semblance would basically be fanning the flames into an explosion.

However, they both do have one weakness: their prosthetics. If Mercury had that kind of semblance, Yang’s best bet would be to go for his legs. Same with Mercury: if he wanted to break the cycle, breaking Yang’s arm would probably make her significantly weaker. It would definitely throw her off balance. And you know what? I want to see a fight like that happen between these two. A fight that is just so huge and it takes such a toll on both of them, that they would both be lucky to walk away from it alive.

I don’t think Mercury is meant to remain an enemy and Yang would be the one person he would not fight later on because, with a semblance like retaliation, it would just be disastrous for both to try resolving their issues violently. I could see these two initially just being toxic with each other even if they ever had to team up but, if they ever had a fight with a semblance like retaliation being in the mix, they would have to figure out a way too cooperate with each other that did not involve fighting which is something neither of them would be the best at with each other since Yang does not seem to like handing out second chances to enemies and Mercury having a tendency to lash out if anyone tries to hurt him in some way. Okay, gotta remind myself to save this for fanfiction lol.



But, the only way I think Mercury could be able to be redeemed is if he was in a position where he had no choice but to depend on team RWBY at first. Because, as Tyrian said, all he has known was pain and violence to the point of being too afraid to know anything else. So he’ll either remain an enemy because of that fear or maybe he’ll be like Qrow: started out as someone raised to being a killer but then learned another way of life.

However, I do acknowledge that this may not happen and is just fan speculation. I just think it would be cool and speculating on Mercury is my absolute favorite thing to do.