Lionheart Concerning Morals: RRBW Spoilers
Lionheart, unlike his canon counterpart, is somewhat better—by a long shot.
See, in canon, Lionheart basically sold out humanity to Salem just to survive. The best thing he did was admit he was terrified, unlike Raven. Still, he was a coward to the end, which ended with his death.
In RRBW, he has much more reason to join the villains. Though, in my opinion and many others', it doesn’t mean he gets off scot-free. Lionheart sided with Salem after discovering she couldn’t be killed, hoping that with her victory, there would be no more need for the Academies and seemingly using students as sacrificial pawns—without realizing that Salem plans to destroy the world. He’s clearly remorseful about betraying Ozpin’s circle. And while Lionheart may be serving as Salem’s mole, he does not tell her that Pyrrha is the new Fall Maiden and makes a weak attempt to persuade her not to go after Ruby, showing he does not want children to be harmed. He has a picture in his drawer of a human woman holding a young Lion Faunus child in her arms, meaning he also has reason for trying to end the war to keep his family alive.
Here’s the problem, though—it depends on how sympathetic you are to Lionheart.
First, by working with Salem’s group—who do kill lots of people, children included (they did that in the past and in this fic)—you are literally killing more of your own former and current students by working with Salem than they ever would have as Oz’s “pawns.” Or just putting them in mortal danger, as the Fall of Beacon shows. And by extension, it’s somewhat hypocritical, ‘cause he’s still selling out to Salem—and by extension, the world.