How Do We Destroy Salem? - RWBY Discussion + Mini Theories

[@vash3055]

Salem is a final boss that can only be defeated by Talk no jutsu! I agree that you can burn the grimm, but she can only die when she learns the meaning of life and death.

[@lovejoy550]

I fully believe that ruby's gonna talk to Salem. She's gonna realize that what she's doing is wrong Then the God's will calm down and take Salem and ozpin Soul to the afterlife

[@francescocappelli9071]

Ruby cure salem

[@thespy6707]

Yeah I’ve been saying since day one of her immortality reveal.. the only way they’ll beat her is to talk no jutsu her.. or some random lame magic bail out that overrides negates her immortality.. if not both.

[@Divaldobomamigo]

Salem will be final villain after cinder fall defeated and betrayed Salem is like yhwach,them is responsable for death of mothers of protagonists

[@Average-Joe851]

I think "defeating" Salem is a 3 step process. 1. Use Silver Eyes to destroy the grim shell Salem is in. 2. Try to convince a half-mad ungrimmed Salem to chill a bit. 3. Fail horribly and have Deus ex Machina kick in.

[@sonowbrand7824]

Step 4. Convince the Gods that they are the problem.

[@milferdjones2573]

There a non Deus ex to kick in. Gods come back blame Salem for the failure of humanity as she been trying real hard to mess it up they throw her immortal self into a uninhabited universe. Gods do some patch up but refresh the Grimm the dark one insists then leave.

[@milferdjones2573]

@@sonowbrand7824 Cat was right on having a God Complex they never wrong. They do show signs of being lessor Gods though. No creation myth, little wisdom, no afterlife involvement.

[@darkshado124]

Stage 4. Seduce Salem.

[@francescocappelli9071]

Hope

[@MewDenise]

I actually picture both Ozpin and Salem loosing their "curses" and actually dying together peacefully. Salem in some moment will have to learn the lesson of life and death so she can die. Both looking back at RWBY and even saying thank you before walking into the light or something

[@lucienwolfswift]

Actually an interesting thought. Remember Ozpin said his magic in finite. He gave some away to make the maidens. What if Ozpin at one point gives away all of his magic and they removes his reincarnation. Salem realizes what he has done and he dies. Then she truly mournes the death of Ozpin once more but with new experiences decides to accept he is gone this time. Then in that moment we see Salem free of her immortality. Perhaps she even asks for peace at last. Using all of her magic up to "restore" things or something of that nature. Then she dies. Story end ^-^

[@tomasfong40]

So the ending of KH3

[@brainflash1]

And the only way that happens is if the relics are assembled and the brothers return to take back their gifts. Salem wants to bring the relics together to destroy humanity, but she hasn't considered the possibility that the brothers could judge their creation to be worthy.

[@Sorain1]

@@brainflash1 Okay, just the idea of 'the BBEG assembles the Diablous Ex Machina and it turns out to be a Deus Ex Machina so they lose' is legitimately kind of cool. Provided that it's shown the efforts of the protagonists and their growth is why it's a Deus instead of Diabolus, that can actually work.

[@casualgamingauraous2345]

Honestly when they first revealed Salem was immortal I had the immediate idea of “Well, why not just catapult her to space somehow or get her to fall in lava?” That and since her immortality seems like she does die but only for a few seconds before fully regenerating so seems like if you placed her in a situation where she’s constantly dying and also stuck in a state of regenerating time and time again but can’t move seems like it’d do the trick..kinda.

[@ceciasa3376]

Wow.... That is actually a good theory! Summer using her Silver Eyes to blast the Grimm out of Salem actually sounds plausible. It makes sense because it explains why Salem is hunting down Silver-eyed warriors, not because they could turn her to stone (which was a theory I followed until this point), but because they could take away something that made her powerful.

[@YouAllWrite]

Cheers!

[@goddesssalem4842]

I think the end game is pretty clear, the only way for Salem to die is to learn the (balance of life and death and then may you rest), that is the condition of her curse given to her by the gods. There is no way Salem can learn the balance of life and death in her current Grimm state, that's where Ruby's eyes play a part. I believe Ruby purpose is to De-grimm Salem of that corruption and then we will see human Salem again. That's where Ozpin and Ruby have there chance of getting through to her. I believe human Salem is still in love with Ozma, if Ruby can get rid of that corruption, we will see Salem break mentality in that moment, they can get through to her and break her curse of immortality, (her learning the balance of life and death). Even Ruby's eyes can't destroy an immortal, but she can destroy Salems Grimm side. I don't believe it was ever about defeating Salem, so Jinn was correct, i believe it's about redeeming her.The holy Trinity of Ozpin Salem and Ruby, there you have it, the smaller more honest soul. PS the gods are fools, they are the blame for most of this

[@theredeft5319]

I agree with you on the purification of Salem part, but I don’t think Salem loves Ozma anymore. No what I think will get through to her is her children. Maybe we will learn the maiden’s true existence is not from Ozma giving away his magic, but the maidens are the souls of their children which have been absorbing bits of the other maidens for thousands of years.

[@TravelersProd]

I agree with your PS. The gods are imperfect beings who created imperfect beings and expected them to fit their perfect ideal for what their creations should be. Fools indeed.

[@goddesssalem4842]

@@TravelersProd Salem is a victim of circumstance, this whole chain of events started with Salem being locked up by her cruel father. Ozma freed her and they were in love, when Ozma died she hasn't development the emotional coping mechanism to deal with his death, how can you expect a young girl who's been imprisoned all her life to have a well balanced view and understanding of the world?. Just wondering, where is this selfishness the gods speak of come from, because I don't see it??. The are confusing selfishness with grief and naivety. Salems first mistake was lying to the god of darkness, a greving girl lied to a god to get her loved one back, is that really such a massive crime?, Are you telling me you wouldn't do the same?, it's not like she kill some one. The god of light said he didn't want to break the balance with his brother so he rightfully sent Salem away. But in his arrogance and pride, the god of darkness gave Salem what she wanted, he was more than happy to break the balance to get one over his brother . But what did the gods do then???, They both broke the balance of life and death by making Salem immortal. What happened to the balance that these brothers preach about?, is it one rule for them and one rule for the rest. These gods sound like hypocrites to me. What the god of darkness should of done was sent Salem away, just like the god of light did, instead he broke the balance with his brother and caused this chain of events. They left an immortal being on remnent in a pissed off state against them and they didn't stop to think that there might be consequences by doing so. The god of light through Salem under the bus just to keep his brother in line and said nothing else about his brothers betrayal. Salem lying is irrelevant, because the god of darkness shouldn't of broken the pact with his brother in the first place. These balances and cheaks are in place for a reason and the god of darkness should of sent Salem away, she needed to learn to grieve, accept her loss and move on, instead they punished her and turned her bitter towards them. And surprise surprise Salem frustration grow because she couldn't die, pushing her into a corner by turning humanity against them. We then got a second form of hypocrisy from the god of darkness, he committed global genocide and collect punishment for the so called crimes of one woman and a handful of people. Where is the so called balance in that??, I thought these gods were meant to have balance with each other ,the god of light didn't even try to stop him. When the gods left, Salem believed she could kill herself by falling into the pool of darkness, this clearly changed her, she lots her ability to feel any empathy, she became a being of destruction. This Salem is very different from the human salem, learning to manipulate wasn't something new, but being a killer is something that came from the pool of darkness. We then saw more hypocrisy from the god of light, he created a second immortal, (breaking his balance for a second time) why would you preach balance and break it at every opportunity you get. We learnt that breaking the balance brings chaos as we saw with Salem, so why would he do it again??. He could just kill Salem , but it's all about punishment with these two and nothing more. They could stop all the evil on Remnant right now, but no, they rather teach Salem a lesson. How pathetic are they. The god of light washed his hands of remnent and told Ozma to deal with the mess him and his brother created in the first place, personally I don't think these god are fit to run a bath, let alone a planet and why would you put yourself on the same pedestal as your creation?, why would you live amongst them. The god of light said we will learn from our mistakes, but he didn't, because he made a second immortal. Interesting how he bought Ozma back when he needed too, but when Salem asked him for the same request he said no. This whole conflict started because of balance, even more hypocrisy from these two gods. Did the god of light ever tell Ozma the reason why Salem did what she did?, the reason why salem did it was for you??. I'm not saying Salem is faultless, but the consequences and life experiences which were dealt to her were some of the worst and the majority of the blame goes to these two gods who haven't taking any responsibility for their participation and left Ozma to deal with this mess. Let's say the gods do come back again, is the god of darkness going to through a second temper tantrum if someone else lies to him?. Is he going to kill everybody a second time?. All humans are flawed , Salem is flawed, Ozpin is flawed, the god of darkness should know this because he created them and gave them the ability to chose light and dark, what's he going to do kill them and bring them back everytime?. I think there plenty of blame to go around starting with those two hypocrites, Ozma to blame too, because he knocked her up 4 times, set her off, told her about the relics and tried to run of with the kids, he gave her all the motivation she needed, before that she wasn't causing humanity any problems and living in the forest by herself. And yes Salem is to blame too, because her negative life experiences shaped and moulded her and she never learnt from it, but I don't put the blame solo on her like some people do.

[@TravelersProd]

@@goddesssalem4842 Exactly! This is what gets me about the whole judgment thing when the relics are gathered. Even if they deem their creation worthy of magic and their return to Remnant, there is no way I’d ever believe that the presence of such petty beings is a fair trade. Doubly so upon considering how far the people of this world have come scientifically, even creating forms of artificial magic when it comes to dust. I say they can stuff their judgment! The people of this world don’t need it.

[@sonowbrand7824]

It's weird seeing Salem post about her own demise.

[@konyoutube9]

The curse - Salem must learn the meaning of life and death. This has got me thinking, Ruby is currently undergoing a form of death and rebirth - maybe she will come out with some new wisdom that will help in the inevitable conversation with Salem.

[@curvingfyre6810]

"So long as this world turns" Halt the spin of the planet with magic rockets made by the stafc, spell is broken, she dies.

[@twinodoom]

3:55 A loophole Salem might not be aware of is that her curse may not be dependent on Remnant continuing to exist. If the Gods destroy Remnant, they could have her continue to be immortal elsewhere.

[@erichunsaker4969]

I imagine they'd just have her float in space. That fate would be worse than death

[@becca2710]

I’ve been wanting to learn how she got those veins ever since Lost Fable and I always believed it was Summer that did it but I love the idea of Salem doing it to herself even more. I’m also in agreement with your theory about the third eye gem. Great stuff as always and I’m so sad this volume is coming to a close but always looking forward to what you have to say!

[@YouAllWrite]

Thank you!

[@harperl2]

​@@YouAllWrite good stuff, I'm.sad about there only being an episode left, but well thought out content like this compliments my enjoyment.

[@Inukazan]

Eventually Salem stopped thinking.

[@CrashKinkaide]

OMG. Thank You. I've been saying this for years. You can't defeat Salem, you have to redeem her. Ok, "redeem" is probably not the best word, but yeah. There is no victory in strength.

[@arkdragon222]

use the silver eyes to get rid of the grimm parts.

[@Zack_Zander]

More like to fix her or put her to rest by having the God undo the curse rather than directly killing or destroying her. If anything, she wanted to die.

[@seanmongoven9200]

What about just "contain" her? She's had children, which is a good sign that she's still physically human, so drugs should still have the same affect on her. Go the SCP route: Bait her into a "you can't kill me" challenge, knock her out cold, then keep her in a chemically induced coma until the end of time.

[@thelastchaoslord869]

My personel thought is similar to what your describing with Cinder but with Ruby instead. Specifically, this is with the idea that every hound experiment Salam conducts she createns a more "humanoid" grimm, keeping more and more of thier sentience until that person is still mostly there, or perhaps the process takes a while and we get a partial grimm Ruby. Reasoning aside I envision Salam trying to take advantage of Rubys love for her mother and "take" that place in her mind and heart, likely by using magic. Partially just to prove she could but to also get one of her more annoying foes on her side. Problem is, by doing so she gains attachment to ruby, and even has to keep cinder from trying to kill her. Ruby would know whats happening to her of course, but the temptation of having a present "mother" figure, especially with some mind twisting magic, would make it easy to revel in the illusion for a time, but it would also bring her close enough to Salam in a non hostile situation to talk to her. To try and converse and understand. Like can you imagine a twisted Ruby telling her "mother" that she doesnt want Salam to die? That she finally has a mother and doesnt want to lose that? Only to also add that she understands why Salam wants to die though, and wont try and stop her if thats truely what she wants? Salam might even scoff and ask what Ruby could understand, only for Ruby to share what happened in the Ever After? To explain that Ruby tried to end it too, only to find that it didnt work the way she wanted? That she persisted when all she wanted was for it to be over? Salam might have to see what accepting death is like before accepting it for those she already lost. Also side note: can you imagine what its like thinking and hoping the tea would just "reset" you, only to then be forced to make a decision/choice you really arent equipped or even contemplating making? Ruby did not want to choose there after drinking the tea. Even her asking the blacksmith if the souls making a choice could be read as her not really wanting that for herself because shes already so damn tired of making choices. Might give the blacksmiths question of selfishness more weight.

[@Sorain1]

Alternative solution: Salem is cursed to walk the ground of remnant: GTFO the planet and leave her to her curse. It's not fighting, but knowing when a battle isn't needed, wanted or worth fighting is important.

[@Jackson-ub1uv]

And how do you suppose such fragmented and separated kingdoms would be able to set aside their differences and cooperate to do something _we_ have yet to do? I wouldn't be surprised if the total population of Remnant amounted to just a few million and, as of right now in the story, none of the kingdoms have any reliable way of communicating with each other. They're constantly threatened by monsters that are attracted to negative emotions, and most of Remnant's resources are already being used to protect what little there is of humanity; they simply cannot afford to do anything else until the Grimm are no longer a problem.

[@utopian4769]

To be honest, I'm not seeing an out to Salem's immortality curse that seems plausible. I've seen people say Ruby is going to Steven Universe her way into giving her a sudden change of heart, but why will Salem care about anything Ruby does or has to say if it isn't a solution to her problem? She's had centuries to stew in her bitterness, I'm sure her long lost lover Ozma has tried to persuade her into changing her outlook on life but has failed dozens of times already, and he knows her on a personal level that Ruby doesn't. What can Ruby possibly say that can change her perspective that won't seem contrived at this point? I've seen people say that Ruby will use her Silver Eyes to destroy her by destroying all Grimm but the problem with them is that they're a temporary solution to a problem that has time on its side and is essentially unstoppable and virtually nigh omnipresent. Ruby is just one person and Grimm exists all over the planet. Unless she can do a planet wide sweep of all Grimm then it won't make any real difference. Even more so since Salem has pools of darkness she can spawn more Grimm from. I've seen people say they can use the relics but like you said, Salem predates the relics so the gods probably accounted for her immortality during their creation and they would lack major foresight to create a weapon Salem could destroy herself with, so it's pretty much guaranteed a relic won't kill her either. I feel like the writers have written themselves into a corner, and until something new is introduced into the series, what we've got at the moment won't work.

[@milferdjones2573]

Unite humanity now that you told them the truth of the problem, it will not hold to long but it will for a bit only removal of the tribalism instinct will keep it together well. Use eyes to get relics back, summon gods who find humanity worth it and get rid of Salem.

[@BlankEmporium]

All good, but one problem. You think Rwby writers care about logic?

[@utopian4769]

@@milferdjones2573 You don't think it's a little naive to assume that they can achieve world peace for literally everybody on the planet just because they share a common enemy? You don't think that there are other people in the world who will look out for their own like Raven, Lionheart, or the rest of Salem's faction? Self preservation is a very real thing that people will resort to in order to survive. Not everyone has unwavering faith like Ruby does. Especially when 9 volumes in so far no one has an answer to Salem's immortality. Realistically, the Gods put humanity in a position where they can't possibly win in any scenario.

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

They actually spelled out how Salem will be gone - or more accurately, how humanity (team rwby and friends) will achieve victory - in volume 1, episode 1.

[@SpookyAri]

Salem is representative of all of humanity's insecurities and negative emotions. Whether it be jealousy, hatred, spite, vengeful, racism etc All things Salem is is what we as a single human being are capable of within ourselves. The only way to defeat her is to accept who you are, you flaws and all and instead not take it out on other people, you move to make other people not experience the things you did. It's like the difference between a hero and a villian with the same exact tragic backstory. The hero wants nothing more than for others not to experience what they did. However the villain wants to share their pain with the rest of the world.

[@veggiesnake4430]

Brute force can't be the answer. They could 'seal' Salem (Zelda-style) or otherwise freeze her in ice or time itself. But she could find a way to escape. They could befriend her (Steven Universe-style), and persuade her not to destroy the world anymore. They could fulfil her curse, teaching her the value of life and death, likely by uniting Remnant against her and summoning the gods. The third option is the most narratively compelling, and the one I expect to happen. In fact, I think Salem will 'win', gathering all the Relics and calling the gods back, but in doing so she'll also unite humanity against her, leading the gods to restore Remnant instead of destroying it. Then, she has to learn the value of life and death among a restored humanity...somehow. I have to believe Oscar is the key to this, somehow. But I'm not entirely sure how you help a Grimm learn the value of life.

[@roguebullet2852]

All you have to do is gather all 4 relics and ask the two brothers to make salem mortal. Bam, salem can be killed.

[@letendreelliott8778]

Salem is actually not that hard to beat as a physical force, I mean Hazel said himself that he was able to damage her enough that she couldn’t move for a few hours. Even assuming she wasn’t fighting back and was just wanting to show him the futility of trying to kill her, it still shows that humans have the potential to knock her out for quite a while. After doing so, there’s a lot of plausible options to if not kill her get rid of her at least semi permanently and hit her with superior tech if she does come back decades later 1. Throw her immobile body in a box and let it sink in the ocean, if she can’t "survive" high atmosphere she won’t be able to put herself back together at that pressure level 2. The gory one, cut her into pieces and scatter them all around the world, she might be able to fully grow back from one piece but until that’s shown that’s a plausible option 3. Use the goddamn overpowered staff that puts the crappy lantern to shame to create a pocket prison dimension that will trap Salem for eternity and THEN put the staff into a vault and preferably do not create useless maiden and keep the ability to open vaults to yourself. 4. Anything more creative than options 3 you can do with the staff, teleport her into space, activate an infinite amount of gravity dust above her to keep her in 1 spot and probably other things that I can’t think of rn. 5. Go the scp-682 route and put her in a tightly locked container of acid. Might need to change the fish’s water now and then but ressources aren’t really a problem when, again, you have(had) a staff that can make any amount of ANYTHING. 6. A cruel combination of all of the above: cut her into many pieces then use the staff to send her pieces to another dimension that’s filled with nothing but an ocean of acid. Of course the portal would open at the bottom of said ocean so she can’t even hope to swim back up before the pressure gets to high. Good luck getting back from that one Salem. I’m sure there’s other but those really show that Ozpin and the crew are either too merciful towards Ms Genocide or to stupid to even begin to come up with a simple viable solution. They just go : B-but she don’t be dying tho..😮

[@catherga]

I think Ozma made the vaults, which is why they can only be accessed using the specific maiden powers he also created. I don’t think they can be used to trap Salem though, since it is implied that they both have similar magical abilities and Salem could theoretically create her own door out with enough time.

[@theredeft5319]

I think Ruby is gonna flash bang her with her silver eyes purifying the Grimm part of her. Then they are gonna make her understand the balance of life and death by bringing up her children. Heck I think it’s possible the maidens were not from Ozma giving his magic away, but from the sounds of his children going from person to person slowly absorbing bits of the new maidens.

[@msk-qp6fn]

I think the black crystals on salem's hair and forhead all help her communicate and control grim. Now cinder once showed she could do something of the sort back in v3 and there was a closeup to her anklet which also had small black crystals.

[@autisonm]

I have a feeling that maybe the tree will be what changes Salem but the method of getting her there would likely mean de-grimmifying her. The cat mentions that the tree isnt a place you go, "its a place you know" which sounds similar to what the gods mentioned. Perhaps since Salem wanted to prevent others from moving on the gods decided that she needs to understand why its necessary to move on. Or perhaps instead of just letting her die and wander the Everafter (since she wouldnt learn and would probably be there for eternity) the decided to make her immortal so she couldnt possibly go to the Everafter and try to damage the tree in an attempt to destroy the cycle of life and death.

[@corgizx]

1. Lure her to Ever After 2. Have red prince shrink someone 3. Go inside Salem at small size 4. Eat growgurt parfait wile inside her 5. Profit

[@noppornwongrassamee8941]

Even if that actually worked, it won't kill Salem. Salem managed to come back from being literally vaporized. Exploding her head isn't going to do anything but slow her down. The only question is how long it'll take for her to reassemble herself.

[@slimely9758]

won't work but it'll be extremely traumatic to her and she would probably shut herself off for a while

[@Vulpecula-Enfield]

With the relic of creation, I'd create a trap that uses her curse to imprison her. The only way for her to escape would be to truly understand and accept the purpose of life and death. Only then will she rest.

[@CMDRZero01]

Mine was more destructive and literal. Ask the lamp if there is a way to stop the world from turning without killing everyone, then have the staff build it.😅

[@bellingtoned]

​@@CMDRZero01 yea fair Nuth

[@skyrogue1977]

So an Izanami then.

[@Vulpecula-Enfield]

@@skyrogue1977 Well, after thinking about it, the trap would have to be mobile since Salem is cursed to walk the earth for all eternity. So, maybe cuffs that neutralize her powers that can only be removed once she accepts the purpose of life and death. Preventing her from harming anyone and from being destroyed by the sword of destruction.

[@emperorofscelnar8443]

The only way to stop Salem is to get her to understand and accept the meaning of life and death only then will her curse end, Ruby’s team seemed to have missed that part, oblivious to those words, they where completely oblivious to it.

[@Darkphoenix-ml6nz]

Also question for Lantern. How can Salem accept the importance of life and death.

[@C4MG1RL]

Launch her into space like Kars. Infinite regen doesn't matter if she's stuck in the infinite void.

[@Hoyjose66]

I agree the only other thing I could think of is somehow RWBY gets the entire world United and not fighting each other in order to summon the gods. Maybe the would make an exception and remove Salem’s immortality.

[@iwanek4382]

One cool subversion that they would never do would be if Salem succeeds and the gods wipe the world from existence. We know for sure that there is an afterlife so we would just see all the characters reunite happily in the afterlife, juxtaposed with Salem alone in an empty Universe. She caused so much destruction and suffering and it was all for nothing and that is when she would learn her lesson and die as well. This is kind of bittersweet, but I think it could work pretty well if handled correctly.

[@7kepticc]

Man that was my idea 😂

[@iwanek4382]

Great minds think alike 😂

[@theredeft5319]

I think that would depress too many people. It would make it feel like it was all pointless. I think they will summon the gods and tell them to get lost forever. The gods have done some pretty cruel things, would anyone really want them back?

[@imperatordrakon6488]

@@theredeft5319 yes. It's better than having to be ruled by men.

[@queensalem2652]

We need more salem lore, shes a Fascinating character, too many lope holes and we need answers

[@Gamerlord17]

Here's the thing you need to understand. A fight is INEVITABLE! Salem WILL have the sword of destruction by the end and no one is gonna have enough power to get close to her. So this is where team RWBY being maidens come in. They lead the charge with Ruby as the fall maiden and they fight Salem. Ruby uses her silver eyes to get the Grimm parts out of Salem and then and ONLY then can a dialogue happen. But not before.

[@lunatica9th]

Juniper and Jabberwalker's horns remind me of the god of light and darkness...

[@thatexoguy6721]

You could always use the staff to create an SCP Foundation style containment cell. Something like they did for 682 could work, where the cell would continually damage Salem and keep her from reforming. Or not even that, just have a cell constantly being refilled with some very potent sleeping gas and let her sleep. She's immortal, but there's no reason to believe she's immune to poisons or sleeping gasses. She couldn't be killed, but sedating her should definitely be possible. Right now, a solution like that would be difficult to implement. She has her followers, so they might try to break her out. But it's better than nothing, make the cell and arm it to the teeth then unalive her followers when they come. It's not a permanent solution, but it would definitely buy time. Centuries, maybe eons. Enough time for Oz to crack the whole "unite humanity" bit without having to worry about her interference. Edit: just to add, I know that's not the point. It's not THE solution, it's not what the show SHOULD do, but it's a possibility. It could work.

[@digifreak90]

Honestly, with what we learned about the two brothers in the finale of volume 9, I wonder if RWBY will remind the brothers of the ever after where they first came into being, and how everything in that world has a purpose. I wonder if they'll be asked "What are you?" just like everyone one was asked in the Ever After.

[@keelan270]

Your theory is very similar to mine. Mine is pretty much the exact same in terms of Ruby degrimmifying Salem BUT that’s just the first step. Salem could quickly retaliate with her magic. If we remember, the Maidens use magic, the same kind that Salem & Oz do, just a lot less. And who do we know who can extract magic? Cinder 👀 It’d be a cool lil parallel to the god of Darkness’s “My own gift to them, used against me” since it was Salem that gave Cinder that ability. Whereas before if Cinder attempted this, Salem could used her grim control to stop Cinder, once she’s degrimmified she can’t. It’d be the only opportunity for Cinder to even attempt such a thing. Obviously at that point you still can’t kill her, but it pretty much defeats her. She has no weapons to use at that point and the only thing left to do if attempt to reason with her and hope she’ll learn that lesson before the gods are summoned.

[@genericwhitekidthesecond4330]

8:30 SCP Foundation: isn't sustainable you say?

[@Spider-Man-257]

Wow... I had this cool finally idea for RWBY Heroes where there are five chosen warrior's to defeat Salem, now got to change that, maybe there's a chance where my four OC's hold Salem down while Ruby keeps flashing her Silver Eyes. But it would still come with big Consequence. One of my oc's die from Silver eyes because of too much exposure, the speedster who can never catch a break and even has a Lightsaber from the Multiverse arc.

[@merlana3479]

The thing is the God of Light already said how she could die. She has to realize the value of life then she will die thats how the curse works. So I'm not sure how they go about that but they are going about it the wrong way if they want to get rid of her for good.

[@kennethherrera588]

It's funny to me, the "maiden power" can help defeat Salem... So everyone forgot that's oz magic, right?! Just fragments of a whole, that oz had for centuries but was never enough to actually beat her? Even more sending four maiden is adding them back being ONE wizard, only they don't reincarnate(we already know what happens if a maiden die/killed, the power depending on the individual, if one wants to fight that battle, willing to be a target)

[@seanmongoven9200]

Honestly, I think the best way to beat Salem is to take the SCP Foundation approach. Heck, just use the same Special Containment Procedures they use for SCP-239: Keep her in a room in a chemically induced coma until the end of time, and don't let her coma drug run out.

[@joshthomas-moore2656]

I like your idea of Salems been into the Grimm pools. The issue i have with the "talking is our victory" idea isn't that its anticlimactic, its a line Raven said in Volume 5, she said Salem can't be reasoned with and if we assume Salems trying to end her curse by summoning the gods to end the world then with all the time shes had alone and fighting Ozpin and his betrayal (In her eyes) then i don't think she'll care for any words the heroes are going to make. And we saw in Volume 8 that Yang couldn't get through to her, now admittitly Yang and Salem had just had a fight and Yang isn't the most diplomatic person in the wolrd, but even so Salem seemed to be like "Aw how cute, not intrested in your words only what i want". Now maybe burning the Grimm might make her more reasonable, but i personally feel its only applifying her darker thoughts and emotions, i still think she wants her curse over and as we saw in the flashback Salem was quite selfish before the curse was put on her or she jumped in the Grimm Pool, so maybe you can get her to hear you out, but i don't think she'll go along with whats said, i think she'll still want the curse over no matter the cost. I think the best option to deal with Salem is, assuming she summons the gods herself, is to try and make the gods believe that Salems the cause for all the disunity of humanity and faunus, i mean these gods have been tricked before this, and then have them Thanos snap Salem, which would be a win all around as the Heroes save the world and Salem gets to rest at last. My only other option is to bury her facing the centre the earth (Like how they did with bodies that were thought to be vampires) and hope she digs downward and she keeps dying in the magma in the centre of Remnant. (Personally i'm not a fan of immortal characters in media as they make writing a satisfying solution to the story rather difficult)

[@Oussennessuo]

With the relic of creation it is possible to create a portal linking to a place like the vaults, which are only openable by the maidens. So the plan is simple: 1. Take this relic back 2. Close a vault which has no relic inside 3. Create a one-way portal to the vault 4. Push Salem in Not gonna be easy, but it's a possibility

[@zephon6745]

Yes Salem can die but only the gods can kill her. Should have been Jinn's answer.

[@JohnnyTightlips2007]

I was pretty convinced the Jabberwock was bound to Ever After so how would it even get anywhere near Salem in the first place.

[@sookendestroy1]

What if you dont put salem in a vault but all of remnant, in an exact copy of remnant locked away from the original via the maiden doors. Big brain idea there

[@sweetnova3084]

Or Salem watches the heroes die for each other and learns the value of life without realizing it.😂

[@lovejoy550]

The funniest way I heard of they're beating salem is in a fan fiction called professor arc by Coeur al'aran Were they just convinced her to go through therapy And they explain that if you kill everyone ozpin might just end up in her head

[@graceznamenacek4118]

I always thought that Ozpin made the vaults because he gave the maidens their powers, so that means that he also had to make the vaults and separately put each relic in them all.

[@harperl2]

Interesting stuff. I appreciate the perspective. I think a lot of people are certainly stuck on anime fight logic when you're speaking in terms of narrative cohesion. Yes, it's possible that there's some magical McGuffin that will take her down and Ruby being the main character defeats her and all is good. Though, I'd be up for an amazing fight sequence, I just don't see them going in that route. Narratively speaking, it would be satisfying to have a conclusion with her learning her lesson or doing the villain sacrifice. Or even succumbing to her own ambitions. These would all narratively tie up well at the end of the show, if they stick the landing. Just defeating her by sealing her away or using Ruby Uchiha OP eyes doesn't seem like but it possible I guess. I bet people would bitch about it though.

[@asp-ian]

what if they found a way to ACTUALLY stop the planet from turning?

[@DeaminZaints]

Im pretty sure that it will literally just be a case of ruby using silver eyes to permanently trap Salem forever, not dead or destroyed, just trapped. Yeah the godzilla grimm broke out, but thats literally rubys 3rd time using her eyes. We will most likely have a training sesh between that to power her up, also its arguable that the reason that grimm got out was because of its mass. I think that bringing the gods back is a non-option couse they said they would wipe the world if it wasent peacefull when they came back I think "talking it out" or finding the "meaning of life" is a non-option since Salem was literally a mom and ended up partly killing her kids so i dont think she dosent understand the value of life I think blasting the grimm part out of her is a non-option because... how? This has literally never been a concept in the show, if they did it with the hound i could understand that theory, but there is no evidence for this to be possible, not with the hound and especially not with Salem who dosent just seem like she has some grimm goo all over her but is actually full on symbiotic with it. There is a reason they set up the silver eyes thing from episode 1.

[@stevelucky7579]

So let’s just create a box salem can’t destroy and stick her in there. She’s not all powerful, she just can’t die. Boom done and done.

[@YouAllWrite]

What would you make this box out of that she can't destroy? Remembering her magic is innate to so she'll always have her powers to use against it from inside. There's nothing that's actually indestructible. The closest you could say would be the vault doors but when you look at what the vault doors are they're actually a portal not an actual door. Destroying them wouldn't let you in the vault but that doesn't mean it can't be done. You can clearly see that after the haven vault is emptied. Considering it seems you can't take her off remnant into a portal either, what could you possibly even use as an example to the staff of creation for a material to make the box out of that salem can't destroy?

[@Veritas_Quaesitor_IIV]

-Or, you know, toss her into a Vault, and forget about her, toss her into the sun, and let her experience nuclear Fusion repetitively, launch her into orbit and let her float in the cold silence of space, trap her inside the moon… etc. etc. etc.

[@DavidJohnson-yt8dv]

it also could be that when summer used her silver eyes, the light might have burned a lot of the pools essence

[@YuriST]

My theory: Salem will manage to gather the 4 relics and summon the gods. Then they will judge mankind and the result will be that it actually is united against Salem, because back in vol7 Ruby managed to send the broadcast to everyone explaining the Salem situation and so every kingdom will unite against her, both human and faunus. So Ozma (Oscar) will ask the gods to remove his and her curses so they can both die in peace, leaving Oscar behind. In the end, Ruby will be the one that will save the world because she was the one that brought everyone together.

[@WardogAce]

keeping an eye on this one!

[@TeddjMakk]

Question, Cinder doesn't actually know the truth about what the gods told Oz, right? Because if she actually knew that the relics summon the gods who can casually wipe out humanity she wouldn't be working for salem.

[@CMDRZero01]

I wouldn't mind the gods coming back and then being told off for essentially screwing humanity over.

[@Zack_Zander]

If anything, the real one to blame is the Gods

[@imperatordrakon6488]

No, it was Salem for refusing to accept her husband's death

[@doktoreutanazja3818]

​@@imperatordrakon6488They should remove her immortality and kill her knowing she is treat for humanity.

[@Riddimensaur]

I could never figure out why they ever tried to stop her anyway. They should just let her do whatever she wants. Give her the relics and just chill and have a tea party or something. Work on the actual social problems of the world and fix those while Salem just sort of slowly makes her way around. It would practically solve the Grimm issue since there would be less negativity in general and while the gods may not see it as a complete change, humanity defaulting to listening and understanding as means of conflict resolution rather than violence would be something they'd recognize as a huge change and be totally cool with. Instead though so far our heroes have made several choices that have lead to innocent people dying, lied and broken the trust of friends and loved ones, and dropped an entire city on top of another leaving people stranded and in danger while also doing irreparable damage to their homes and the natural land around it. Yeah if Salem gets the relics now they'd be screwed, so I fully expect some sort of talk it out resolution at this point.

[@sookendestroy1]

Something something ruby turns against everyone and joins salem, being so bad that salem finally feels a connection to someone again At this point I believe that there are only two ways forward, ruby connects with her mother in some way as otherwise she herself cannot face salem with all the trauma, or joins salem realizing the cat and salem were right, that the gods have broken countless worlds and they dont need to destroy remnant but the gods.

[@MiguelMartinon]

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind this. It could be like Yugioh GX season 4

[@p0k3_a_m4n5]

Plot hole: Being of infinite destruction created life. Salem created and birthed the kids/maidens. This supports your theories; she had to dip into the Grimmpool multiple times in the past, + the point of the mother-daughter relation with Cinder could be coming to fruition. Alternate ending: what if the good guys could drain Salem’s magic similar to how Cinder used the Grimm to drain the maiden powers from Amber. Then Salem would be an immortal regular person not an immortal wicked witch. And it makes me think that’s why she wanted to recruit Mercury’s Father who was capable of stealing Semblances, and Tyrian is able to steal Aura -better to have them on her side before Oz gets to them. Maybe when Ruby finishes Ascending she unlocks the final stage of Silver Eyes (like you mentioned) that’s capable of draining magic (Rinnegan?) but that’d be OP.

[@thegneech]

There's a reason "victory is in a simple soul".

[@msk-qp6fn]

We need the dragon warrior

[@thegneech]

@@msk-qp6fn Or possibly Winnie the Pooh

[@willanrac]

I kinda thought it was obvious when the gods said she could only move on when she valued life back in vol 6? Saw the flash back and thought, ok thats teh clear condition...

[@Savannah_Simpson]

The thing is after everything she’s done, that kind of feels like a cop-out. It seems like it maybe past the point she’s capable of learning that lesson anyway. The gods gave someone who could appreciate the value of death, unlimited life. Of course she’s going to swing the other way and not going to appreciate life anymore.

[@STE6677]

This brought up so many things I had never thought about.

[@doctorfaust9759]

Most people who say hope they get x thing to kill her is because "oh man this is the volume they teacher an old hag the meaning and consequences of life and death and sit down and have a nice chat" there's no weight to that

[@imperatordrakon6488]

Yup.

[@alfianfawzi2064]

You know, there's this one thing that keeps dangling in the back of my head whenever Salem is brought up: THE POOL OF LIFE From Djinn's story, Salem was cursed by the gods with immortality BY PLUNGING HER INTO THE POOL OF LIFE. And her transformation into the Salem we know was complete when she PLUNGED HERSELF INTO A GRIMM POOL. so my theory is, what if the heroes can somehow find and study the Pool of Life and the Grimm Pool so that they could suck Salem's immortality out of her body, revert her back into human, and end her once and for all? Then again, I'm aware that there might be a missing link in order to accomplish that like say, they need a tool to suck out Salem's immortal Aura or they need the relics to accomplish that feat or something. But I believe that my idea could still be plausible. Plus, I believe that Team RWBY would need to become Maidens. It might not be enough to defeat Salem in one-go, but that should at least be ENOUGH TO TANK AGAINST SALEM'S BOMBARDMENTS since she's that OP. That being said, when all is done and when both Salem and Ozma let go of their immortality, Team RWBY would have to let go of their Maiden powers so that the 4 daughters could reunite with their parents once and for all.

[@ParchementPaper]

This is genuinely so interesting, ong been a while since I peeked into your content, and this really reminded me why I enjoyed your theories. The idea that the Grimm pool caused ruin in her mental state and being told of what may be the ultimate solution over learning her lesson? Locked on. HELL Even using Cinder as to run it all back a full circle and to the core/past or simply the most vulnerable part of the character? I'd be surprised if this is how it goes through, but it will b a real pleasant one :)

[@YouAllWrite]

Thank you very much for the kind words!

[@AngryAnimeFan2]

sigh, the gods said the answer all along. but I mean not "the world turns" They cursed her, because she needed to learn the meaning of the weight of a life THAT for me has always been the way to defeat her. To not destroy her over and over, but to SOMEHOW get a power that can reach her HEART. She is broken and cannot be fixed, but she can understand and that is the secret. Besides I dont think Salem will die even if the world stop sturning. yes, yes I know what they said. But for me that just mean they would have destoyed the world life not the world itself. If the gods destorying teh world also kills Salem then its fairly obvious we will have a tragic end since in the end no one seem to write a hopeful story in it. The story to unite.

[@djurran48]

The only way i could see Salem being defeated is by launching her into space Joseph Joestar style (Jojo Part 2 endbattle)

[@dimosguy]

How to beat an immortal Villain? step 1: Use a powerful attack so powerful that the Villain will take a long time to heal back up step 2: create a void object or a dimensional room where she cannot possibly escape from a very convenient magical item that can create almost everything and sealed her in there. step 3: formulate every possible outcome and moves from your Immortal enemy if she ever comes back. try to not let her win at any cost, think smart instead of acting irrationally over hard choices. step 4: Hurry, regroup everyone and collect all the magic items before some other Villain would get their hands on them all. step 5:......the immortal villain comes back *somehow* and everyone is panicking on the inside. step 6: ..... Maybe we should hurry and save what's left of this world before she'll kill us all. step 7: ..... well idk what else they can do

[@deismaccountant]

One thing I didn’t hear you discuss: What if you use the sword to destroy one of the other relics so Salem can no longer summon the gods? It’s clear they couldn’t teach her the lesson they wanted to and probably shouldn’t be brought back anyway.

[@Manuel-qk8uj]

Man I want so bad a flashback of Summer Rose vs Salem, discovering Summer Rose unlocked the highest power of Silver Eyes which could be called Platinum Eyes something like the Mangekyou Sharingan in Naruto. It'd be so sick. The most powerful and only silver-eyed warrior capable of inflicting permanent damage on Salem's physical body. Also, your theory about Silver Eyes degrimmifying Salem is very interesting, even though I still believe the veins in Salem's face/body are due to her fight vs Summer. Because if Summer Rose actually degrimmified Salem there, wouldn't she have also been able to vaporize the blackened pools of the God of Destruction? Maybe she tried and Salem didn't let her.

[@seanmongoven9200]

Bringing up the Sharingan gave me an interesting question, with a VERY interesting follow-up idea: Can Silver eyes be transplanted while maintaining their powers, and if so, what would happen if you transplanted those eyes into Salem's head?

[@Manuel-qk8uj]

@@seanmongoven9200 Well we know silver-eyed warriors can be used as Grimm(aka the Hound) so I wouldn't say it's too crazy to think silver eyes could be transplanted into Salem. I don't know if it'd have much of an effect thought cause silver eyes don't seem to have a passive ability, only when you think of protecting life they activate. Hmmm very interesting.

[@plazmasix6694]

The way I think about the way her curse works is that she is either immortal till she lands her lessons or the planet gets destroyed. I'm pretty sure you most definitely could lock her in a vault cuz there's no reason why you couldn't, I think you just took what they said way too literally. Although I would like it if they ended the series with them trying to talk no jutsu Salem instead of trying to lock her away or kill her. Maybe they could trap her temporarily and try to make her understand. Although there is the possibility that they could just kill her instead due to something else that we don't know about.

[@adaml.7736]

THANK YOU! OMG, it's like everyone I know is looking for a loophole, but finally we have a composition video as to how they can win😅 as soon as "the lost fable" episode ended and we saw how are heros reacted I knew we we're in for a long show, cause now it's a matter of the hero's knowing what the audience knows.🎉😂🎉

[@guinness12691]

So what I'm hearing is we stop the world from turning and Salem dies. Lets gooooo.

[@YouAllWrite]

Superman is appearing int he crossover film. OG superman could effect the earth's rotation. Maybe he can solve the issue for us!

[@guinness12691]

@@YouAllWrite Plus you know, all the people that will be suddenly displaced as the world grinds to a halt....though I suppose safe havens with enough gravity dust could fix that. But who has the time and resources to set that up? Definitely not Atlas with its conveniently broken CCT.

[@emperorluffy6001]

Been saying this for the longest: If you thought the story was about Ruby becoming OP and obliterating Salem with some huge attack you're reading the wrong story. Nor is this about coming up with some clever way to trap her. This is NOT about being clever or powerful. It's really baffling that people still ask this even though the God of Light *literally* already told us how to beat Salem. Salem must learn the significance of life & death. Only then will her curse be lifted and she will allowed to pass on. Thats it. Thats the win condition. RWBY is a fairy tale. Fairy tales were about learning morals and lessons. Salem didn't learn her lesson so her story kept going. So they have to teach Salem the moral of the story for the story to end. Thats how they win. Why is that so hard for people to understand?

[@Sorain1]

Because the writers have set up Salem in such a manner that there is no plausible way for that to happen to the (vast majority of the) audience.

[@alfianfawzi2064]

Speaking of your idea of Cinder being the key to Salem's defeat by learning the value of life and death, I believe I can help with that: So here's the thing, Cinder had been amassing a lot of power through her Grimmification to the point where she finally casted away her humanity as she deemed it as her weakness. So what if, in that moment, Pyrrha Nikos was able to return to Remnant by claiming Cinder's humanity all for herself in order to defeat the fully "Grimmified" Cinder? It's crazy, I know, but here's the thing: what if Pyrrha actually had a saving throw by having half of a Fall Maiden Aura transferred to her from Amber back in V3? What if she, and Amber who also had the same circumstance, had been concocting a plan inside Cinder's mindscape to defeat Cinder once she casted away her humanity? Like, my intent for that would be less about bringing Pyrrha back and more about punishing Cinder (and Salem, to an extent), as well as exploring Cinder's lust for power and punishing her with the "FEAR OF WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN". So, by the time Pyrrha happily reunited with her team, Salem finally realizes that she had been treasuring Cinder more that she was ever willing to admit herself and that she had done nothing but enabling her impulses and driving her to her own demise. In that moment of weakness will Salem finally learn the lesson of her curse, but of course, that WOULDN'T BE ENOUGH to repel her rage towards those who have killed Cinder. And the final battle against Salem still ensues. Still, as much as I'd like for the heroes to talk some sense into Salem, I believe BEATING HER UP WITH LOTS OF ANIME PEP TALKS AND A FINAL PUNCH IN THE FACE would make it cooler and true to RWBY's core about being a badass action series. Like dude, YOU GOTTA TRY TO WATCH SYMPHOGEAR AND NANOHA. THAT is what I believe the direction RWBY should go with. 😁✌

[@Ash3nR0se]

Another possibility is that Salem not only realizes that she cares about Cinder, but has to come to terms with the fact she can't magically undo what she has done to her and the fact that the heroes have to put grimmified Cinder down in order to protect other lives.

[@WardogAce]

The best chance at stopping Salem is actually gathering the four relics. That's kinda frustrating haha

[@LegatusLucius2]

Defeat her in battle, Disable her Magic, Create a prison to hold her

[@hansolav5924]

also, I could be wrong but I do not believe the vaults were made by the gods. remember, relics were in use long after they were gone. it is to be assumed Oz was an AMAZINGLY powerful wizard at the time he stowed the relics in the vaults. or he got ambrosius to make a deal. :P

[@sonowbrand7824]

Wait. The gods tasked Salem to learn the importance of life and death, when their previous creation was the Ever After. Do the gods understand life and death? I don't think they do. They made the EverAfter, which has the Tree that brings life/ascension, and the Jaberwalker that brings death. The point of the EverAfter seems to me like an experiment on self progress. Complete your task, ascend to something greater (PaperPleasers) or fail your task and be reborn as something that can succeed (Herb). The Jaberwalker is probably something made by the Dark Brother as a challenge for the Afterans to complete their purpose without dying. I don't think it can wipe out the population of Afterans as the tree could just make more, possibly without purposes so they'd have to find one like Little. They eventually left to make Remnant, where they combined life and death into the creatures they made there. Grimm might not have souls, but they still live, and they still die, just like everything else on Remnant. The purpose for creating Remnant was to learn the meaning of life and death. Each brother clearly had their own answer, but couldn't agree, so they left Salem to decide. LSS: The gods are curious and naive children.

[@Sorain1]

If that's what they go with, everyone needs to brush up on the Deicide.

[@Valiguss]

Certainly gonna be a struggle without the atlas military, which they killed But in the end there are 2 ways to win 1. Silver eyes the Grimm out then show her the importance of death 2. Bring the gods down and convince them humanity is worth saving and have them kill salem

[@BlankEmporium]

I said it before, I'll say it again. Salem is easy to defeat. Grab that experimental nuke developed by Atlas, drop it on her castle so as to clear out the Grimm army, than send in a squad of accomplished individuals like Hazel and Ozpin. Once they've dismembered Salem they than bury each body part in a separate location, each contained in a steel oxygen sealed box. Now Salem's done for. Can't heal, can't regrow, can't create new Grimm, can't do anything. The hardest part of this plan is finding her castle which is obviously on the Dragon island shaped like Smaug. Send few Atlas vessels, scout the place, and your good. Really, Salem is extremely weak and stupid. She's had thousands of years to destroy humanity and still isn't any closer now than when humans were still living in caves.

[@muazadam983]

We might have to take the Hidan approach for this one boys

[@milferdjones2573]

50 years of stories tells me that when your given ways to kill the unkillable otherwise boss those are normally the only ways. Sometimes there will be a hint or a trick but quite rare normally you got clear ways to do it you must do it. Oz's rationalization of not telling the world everything in order to hide his embarrassment and shame plus his desire to be a wise advisor which might not be possible if he told has kept the world from the only way to unite it. That finally out in the open. Uniting the world against Salem would qualify for the gods then just to get the relic's back and that what silver eyes are for. Other than it being an old world with possible hidden powers from the earlier gods who were at this old world but left that there only hope and I would think this brief information would have had more clues than the probably undoable one of this being the Earth of the Gundam UC and humanity leaving the planet after all becoming newtypes hinted by the use of Giant Robots. The moon in suspended animation there being no way for the shattered parts to stay that way and old world I saw more as life after Salem options if desired. These Gods can't be beat with their own creations thus this second humanity if not third plus can't beat their immortality curse. The lack of creation myths and lack of afterlife belief indicates combined with Ever after that these Gods not of the highest level of Gods. The Blacksmith everything can be recovered and souls traveling by would indicate access to the afterlife and that the Blacksmith might be more powerful the Brother guards maybe only Acre controllers like the Red Prince. After all the Red Prince used reality modifying magic. Thus the Gods did not make the Ever After which does not seam like something they do they escaped it. The ruined acre where the Jabberwalker searched maybe the Gods last home they controlled. They figured out how to escape as Acre guardians but that information would not let the cat escape so they left it.

[@Jackson-ub1uv]

Surely you could use the Staff of Creation to build a giant indestructible cube around her? Despite being told that she will "walk its surface", Salem seems perfectly capable of staying in one location for extended periods of time, and a building should still count as being part of Remnant, thus bypassing _that_ part as well.

[@AaronS4]

I like to know how cinder got rope into this.

[@flameroad123]

Maybe you can send Salem to the ever after and have her ascend.

[@aisudracov3314]

If I was there, after getting the backstory for Salem and Ozpin, I'd ask the group if it was okay if we used the last question to ask Jinn how to get Salem to realize the importance of life and death. We can't destroy her, that's something she "does" to herself, so to speak. That's a thought I've always had since Season 6, we know how to beat Salem, we just have to figure out the "how." Plus, no sense in leaving the last question unsued with the risk of Salem getting and using the relic, so that'd be another bird we're taking care of. That would have then made sure things actually went well with the Atlas evacuation because Cinder wouldn't have been able to ask her question, though given plot reasons, I'm sure crap would have hit the fan anyways to set things up for Season 9.

[@aisudracov3314]

Though now thinking about it about it some more, in my opinion, the most likely ending to all of this is that the Gods are called back. But before that happens, humanity has learned to live together and put their differences aside to address the threat that is Salem. This has already been set up, with Ruby telling the world about Salem in Season 8. And with the Gods back, I'm sure the one brother is going to take back control over the grimm, returning Salem to the state she was in before her little dip into the pond. I doubt they'll remove the curse on her or remove her entirely, just remove her power over the grimm and thus removing her as a threat.

[@TheJcjonesacp]

This may be my Naruto brain kicking in, or my mtg one, but while killing her may be impossible I feel like she could be sealed or locked down to prevent her from doing anymore harm. Just came to say that…I will know leave

[@hansolav5924]

for all intents and purposes, one might well assume that any shape of Salems would cease to be Salem's the moment it lost contact with Remnant. it's possible it would take the form of a grimm or otherwise try to find it's way back to the 'consensus', but most likely it'd just fall apart.(she would reform elsewhere. on remnant)

[@erinmoore1494]

Nothing permanently, what if you appled a massive amount of force over time, say a blender on crush, to leave her mist. It can take hours to regenerate. Strength will bring victory, just got to use it right. Or use yatsues semblance to mind wipe her. Mind semblances work on her, or send her to space

[@moraymarodriguez5126]

So instead of doing what she was literally told to do, which was learn why life and death is important, she is just taking a piece of what they said in a literal sense? 😠 😒She's literally like that one lazy student that doesn't want to do their homework the way they were instructed to do it because they think it's too hard that way.

[@noppornwongrassamee8941]

The problem is "as long as the world turns, you will walk its face" does NOT preclude Salem continuing to walk its surface even when the world stops turning. For that matter, even if you mass scatter the planet, that does not preclude Salem continuing to live while being flung through outer space. While Salem can't walk the face of the planet if the planet has no face, that does NOT mean Salem will be allowed to die if the planet ceases to exist. The only actual condition specified to let Salem rest (aka die) is for Salem to learn the value of life and death. Anything else is reading more into the gods' words than is actually there.

[@billa3785]

What of the cat? Although there is little time to satiate its current intent, could it potentially possess Salem and force her to then understand? Just a thought for general discussion.

[@veggiesnake4430]

Unfortunately, the Cat might be an equal if not greater evil.

[@billa3785]

@@veggiesnake4430 there must always be good and evil, light and dark. The cat wants to ask its makers why it was left behind. The cat has a very good understanding of life and death, which it could make Salem understand. Not necessarily make her no longer evil, but at which point the gods could then be brought back to maybe remove the curse of immortality. And the cat can ask its question. Ozpin/Oscar can live his final life as well.

[@veggiesnake4430]

@@billa3785 Fair arguments, but the Cat might not be able to leave the Ever After (at least, not without inhabiting and possibly killing Ruby). That thing is not trustworthy.

[@billa3785]

@@veggiesnake4430 not arguing at all, my initial comment was meant for discussion, and you are more than entitled to disagree with it. The cat was denied access when Alyx chose to stay and fix/right her wrongs, and the cat supposedly killer her. I think the cat would be able to go with team RWBY if they invite it along as it has a purpose to go there, or by making Neo ascend giving her a purpose to return to Remnant, and potentially killing her when they arrive if she doesn't want revenge on Cinder for betraying her.

[@veggiesnake4430]

@@billa3785 Oh, I'm not arguing either. I just really don't like that Cat. It is the scariest thing in this show, and I much prefer Salem.

[@effortlessfury]

I subscribe to the theory that Cinder will strip her of her magic. It neutralizes her as a threat and places her magic in a vessel that can be destroyed. Seeing the monster she created could also help impress upon her the reason why death is important. XD

[@Diabeanie]

I appreciate this idea 😂

[@BartyTheParty]

I have never heard anybody talk about "defeating Salem" like that except for the characters. I mean come on man. Please don't tell me you're JUST figuring this out now. We've had since volume 6 to think about this. Only 26 seconds in and tbh, I don't think I need to go a second further. 🤷‍♂️

[@BIGJUNK1MILLION]

Imo make the silver eyes the one thing that can permanently kill Salem. Makes Oz advancing Ruby’s education at the start make more sense and gives Ruby more importance to the overarching plot, which she desperately needs. Plus, the visual of Ruby blasting Salem with her eyes until her very soul is reduced to ashes would be just plain Metal as fuck and a great, flashy way to kill off the final boss of the series.

[@khentimentu1]

I think the entire 'learn the importance of life and death' was stupid to begin with. Honestly, how many people actually take the time to truly think about something like that? Also, she's immortal now, why should Salem care? Humans only really think about our mortality and life and death when we come close to it, usually towards the end of our years, but that's been taken out of the equation for Salem. So truly, what will motivate her to think on, learn about, and accept the purpose of life and death?

[@veggiesnake4430]

It is stupid. Noone said the gods had to wise.

[@theredeft5319]

The gods of Remnant are cruel.

[@connortripp99]

Didn’t Kyle Hill make a video on why immortality would be a horrible thing to have because of becoming bored with everything?

[@Cykeys]

Launch her into the void of space and have her drift in the space between worlds until she eventually stops thinking!

[@tavellcoops]

I like what AHS did. Where they just had the imortal chained in a cabin and everyone just takes turns killing them over and over