So, certain sections of the FNDM have taken to accusing the show of Protagonist Centered Morality: that everything our heroes do is automatically right, and anyone who stands against them is wrong.

Which is deeply ironic and shows the extent of them missing the point, because that’s one of tropes RWBY is deconstructing at the moment.

Ironwood’s entire justification for his actions is his belief in Protagonist Centered Morality. He wholeheartedly believes that he’s the hero, the only person who can do what has to be done to stop Salem. A lot of the concepts surrounding him are ones that we genuinely see around heroes: determination, a willingness to make sacrifices to achieve his goals, being a cowboy who ignores his superiors’ (the Council) complaints about his methods because “he gets the job done”, his ability to foster loyalty in his subordinates, even his patriotism towards Atlas… All traits you regularly see in heroes.

But he’s not the hero of the story. And his wholehearted belief that he is causes the majority of his problems. He ignores the Council and the Election because he doesn’t care about them. Heroes don’t care about backroom politics. But he gets into major trouble for this.

His determination, his willingness to make sacrifices? He goes and prioritizes the needs of the many over the needs of the few, but never once thinks about taking a third option. Cooperating with the Council, with Robyn, cooperating Mantle instead of stealing their resources, that never enters his head, because he’s the hero and he has to face this burden alone.

You see it pretty damn clearly in his fight with Watts. Ironwood only ends up sacrificing his other arm because he faced Watts alone. He refused to work with anyone else, and it put him a situation that he had to make a sacrifice in order to continue. But if he’d just worked alongside someone else, he wouldn’t have to sacrifice anything.

That fight is a microcosm of his entire storyline.

Ironwood believes that he is the hero. And so, when people go against him, when they push back against his ideas, they become obstacles at best, villains at worst.

The Council dislikes his keeping secrets from them, his methods, his decisions? They’re an obstacle to be bypassed, not other voices to be listened to. Robyn Hill is protesting his neglect of Mantle? She’s just as bad as Jacques Schnee, who actively wants to depose him. Team RWBY argue against his decision to sacrifice Mantle? They’re wrong, he’s right, they have to be detained.

He’s applying protagonist-centered morality to himself and his actions. In another story, he might even be the hero. But RWBY knows this line of thinking makes him incredibly dangerous.

Because if the core principle of your moral compass is that “I am good”, you can justify anything.