Seriously, I haven't yet perceived anything resembling motive or sympathetic (or even comprehensible) background or even motivation for Cinder beyond "I Want Power!!!". She's just another Unalaq, with some hints of Amon to her, both villains I despise even more than Ozai.



Amon is whiny traumatized bitch that wants to cripple everyone so he can feel good about himself and ostensibly "stop Benders from oppressing people". His own "utopia" wouldn't last because, once he died, Benders would reemerge in another generation (like what happened to him and his brother). But at least he has a backstory and an explanation for his goals, even if the logic is pretty pathetic and childish. While he does have the same issue of "being in love with the sound of his own voice so much that every quote of his is sooooo deviously evil", some of that is actual psychological warfare and theatrical. He's playing a backwards V For Vendetta/Code Geass plot, after all.



Unalaq is even worse. He doesn't even have a proper "Loki-esque" background and somehow manages to make even Judge Frollo have character depth. He's completely flat and pathetic. And, like Cinder, he has this obnoxious feature where he's fuckin' invincible in every goddamn battle, despite being just a Waterbender Master and one who prefers to sit back and let others do his dirty work. It's one thing for a villain to be a formidable threat, but when people can't even get a scratch on them just because of Plot Armor, it annoys me all the way to hell. The plot tries making a flimsy "Oh, but he brought the Spirits back and that's good" excuse to paint him in a "Well-Intentioned Extremist" light and say he had a point, but honestly I don't see much of a difference between the Spirits and the Creatures of Grimm, except the Spirits are obnoxious self-conceited shits ON TOP of being dangerous to humanity.



Cinder is the Unalaq of RWBY because literally every other villain is more fascinating and interesting than her. She feels like someone decided to rip-off Azula's appearance mixed with vague Cinderella comparisons, but forgot to write "okay, now WHO is Cinder beyond being the Big Bad? What about her motivations, her goals, her worldview? Hm... I got nothing". She wants power, but for what? Clearly not dominion, cause Salem is going to kill all humans. Is she going to rule over the freaking Grimm? If there's some unspoken agreement that Salem is going to spare the Faunus, I doubt it involves "here, this non-Faunus woman none of you have ever heard of will be your ruler from now on, toodles!".

Salem can pull it off because she has that Thanos/Darkseid/Sauron aura of "Ultimate Evil of mysterious origins", without trying to sound like Dastardly Dick every time she talks, and it's heavily implied she has a shared past with Ozpin and that there's some sort of deep moral and philosophical struggle between them... which is personality than Cinder has ever displayed.



Mercury and Emerald feel like two idiots who joined someone they thought was like Walter White or The Kingpin, only to wind up finding out they joined Voldemort and the Death Eaters and now can't leave because they're in too deep and over their heads. They're like Draco Malfoy, basically.

Adam Taurus is basically Magneto, which is a character type we can sympathize and understand even if its quite dated. He's the typical "freedom fighter gone too far", but at least it's better than "mysterious woman who wants to DESTROY THE WORLD AND BUTCHER TEENAGERS for... reasons". He's closer to Red Lotus-level of character depth than the rest.