#salem crit

[rwdestuffs]

Salem is literally named after an event where women were falsely prosecuted and killed for it, and Oz is based off of literal conman Wizard of Oz and people are surprised that I feel more sympathy for Shadow Queen than for Oz.

[rwdestuffs]

I’m going to be pissed if the gods get to get away scott free after abusing Salem and wiping out all of humanity-

Actually wait a minute. Why aren’t people demonizing them? Salem wants to do it, and she’s satan’s more evil sister in law who has to be putt down without a shred of remourse. The gods do it, and they’re the fucking good guys?

Goddammit. This fndm is sexist as hell.

[rwdestuffs]

Dude Salem's name has nothing to do with her simplistic character. Salem and the gods are at fault you can't fault them more cause you simp over salem man. They're all shitty. Also salem's an abuser too you can't defend one abuser over another, wake up they're all shitty none more or less

In a setting where everyone’s name is a significant part of their character (Ex: Pyrrha being akin to “Pyrhhic Victory” or how Cinder’s name is Cinder) I’d contest that Salem’s name is a significant part of her character.

Also, all I want is for the gods to face consequences too. The way that the fndm acts, they seem to think that the gods were all good and are the ultimate good in the world.

They fucking gaslighted Salem. All I want is for that to be acknowledged.

Besides, that story was being told from the perspective of Jinn, who is a creation of the gods. So of course they’d want to make her out to be as irredeemable as possible and make themselves look as if they were the victims. They’re gods. They should be held to a higher standard.

Then again, I’m probably not the best to talk about this because I kinda want Salem to adopt me.

[rwdestuffs]

… Fuck.

“Have you ever heard of the tale of Salem the lonely? She feared losing those closest to her, and found that the ones who could end her loneliness cared not for her plight. But in her quest to end her solitary existence, she ultimately ended up being more alone than ever. All because of her fear of losing people.”

So… When are we getting our prequel movies that shows us Salem’s path to the Dark Side that will ultimately be ill-received until a seven season series that goes on hiatus for a while that brings it all into better context that makes her far more sympathetic than before and simultaneously makes Salem the most sympathetic character in the franchise? And also introduces a character that proves to be arguably more popular than the rest of the cast?

I… did not enjoy coming to this revelation.

I did enjoy making and using that gif, however. So that’s a plus. I don’t get to use it all too often.

Wait… Is this a done dirty post? It’s not intended to be one, but I guess it’s a lite version.

Anyways, I think I’ve said this before, but naming your main villain after the period in time when women were falsly prosecuted for crimes they didn’t commit is going to lead a lot of people to assume that she has a tragic backstory.

I mean, sure, she had a cast-iron frying pan and paints, so obviously she couldn’t have been abused- waitaminute.

Ahem… Sure, she had magic and makeup, so she obviously was living it up in her tower that she wasn’t allowed to leave, but Salem’s story is still tragic. Receiving no sympathy or words of wisdom, and then basically being demonized by her husband, Salem… Is actually kinda justified in her hatred of humanity… Despite her working with them… Okay, Shadow Queen is confusing, I’ll admit that, but considering that she’s treating Faunus better than Oz did (He hired Leo on for “woke points” whereas Salem hired Tyrian because he was actually qualified), I’d say that this is sending all kinds of mixed messages.

The bad guys are better at treating minorities than the heroes?

The writers… clearly showing that they got their education in Red State Texas… Again.

So… Salem. Shadow Queen. Grimm lord. The lady who for some dumb and likely sexist reason, doesn’t have those black vein things near her chest area (I’d be turned on by it, not gonna lie). Like… Apparently they decided to not give her that scary appearance for when she was a mother because… Scary people can’t be moms?

Uh… There are people who want a Raven redemption arc. I’m one of them.

I mean, aside from the hairstyle that she has, Salem is… still pretty? I’m kinda reminded of Xiaolin Showdown, where they keep calling Wuya a “hag” despite her being… Kinda attractive in her human form?

Wait… Shit.

I hate my brain sometimes…

But yeah. What’s the deal with Salem? She’s supposed to be the embodiment of evil, or at least, that’s what a lot of people seem to claim, and yet… She has these moments that kinda shows that she’s better than the heroes in certain regards?

Are the writers making this up as they go, and they don’t know if they want Salem to be a definitive irredeemable bad guy or not?

Actually, that would make sense.

So… Salem.

She’s really confusing.

And it feels like the writers took a bunch of evil generic villain backstory stuff, and shoved it all into one character.

Which probably explains why the other members of her circle have such weak backstories. They used all the good ones on Salem, not understanding how the good ones work.

Though, seriously. Can we get a debate going? Wuya vs. Salem. Who wins?

[rwdestuffs]

I think what disturbs me about RWBY is something with Salem and Ozma, a hero can't have a genuine happy ending, if they did, it's because either one of the couple must have done something awful. It's kinda sick. Maybe I'm reading too much into I don't know. But DC Comics had this attitude when Dan Didio was in charge if you ever heard of it "Superheroes cant have happy personal lives" It's a pretty sick mentality

Ultimately, this whole conflict is on the gods (mostly god of light) because instead of actually consoling Salem or doing something that could lift her out of darkness, GoL decided to say “For the greater good” and all that bullshit.

Because there’s a very real chance that that’s what Salem heard when her father locked her up in that tower. The gods didn’t answer her pleas then, why should she respect them now?

Really, the gods are like the Beyonder, who basically set everything up to see who would win in a fight.

[rwdestuffs]

I see people saying Salem is worse than Adam sometimes , and I would just like to argue that Salem was needlessly tortured for eons before falling in the oozy jacuzzi while Adam was a monster all along

I’m probably not the best person to talk about this to, mostly because I kinda want Salem to adopt me, but I can wholeheartedly agree that Salem got the short end of the stick here (putting it mildly), and everyone who thinks that she hasn’t suffered has clearly not understood what she went through.

Like… Really? Are we doing this again?- Really? The whole “Tormented woman goes on a rampage, and she’s evil but the abusive man literally stalks and torments young girls and he’s supposed to be redeemable” schtick?

It’s overdone, it’s detrimental, it’s harmful, it’s not even interesting anymore.

[rwdestuffs]

as much as i like and feel for salem i kinda dont want her to be redeemed,,, i think its fatigue from other anime media where every single villain gets redeemed regardless of what they’ve done but i like the idea of salem being this relentless agent of vengeance doing whatever she has to to achieve her goals to her very last yknow

I think a good enough of a compromise is that Salem, the traumatized woman, gets a redemption arc; while Cinder, the abusive fire hag, doesn’t.

[rwdestuffs]

Why am I not surprised they did that with Salem's plans? All these years later and they still haven't gotten down basic writing essentials. At this point, I've dropped the official series and am sticking to fan fiction and following the RWBY Cherish project.

If they were going to give her a goal, it should have been “get revenge on the gods.” If getting the maiden powers is part of that plan, they should’ve said so.

And if they were going to reveal her plan, they should have done so in the show proper. Not in supplemental material. This is Writing 101, and they botched it.