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This is a story trope and belongs on the A to E trope page.
Deleted line(s) 94 (click to see context) :
* {{Foil}}: To Raven. Raven and Cinder's confrontations in Volume 5 reveal that Cinder is an egomaniac who openly revels in her Maiden power and wants to be known and feared; Raven wants to be a hit-and-run criminal who avoids the limelight and is even willing to create a decoy to hide her Maiden power. Cinder is willing to immerse herself in Ozpin and Salem's war to become more powerful whereas Raven seeks to become more powerful so that she can avoid Ozpin and Salem's war. When they fight, they each accuse the other of having become a monster in their pursuit of power.
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Changed line(s) 26,27 (click to see context) from:
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[labelnote:Click here to see her post-Volume 6 appearance '''(SPOILERS)''']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cinder_v6.png "You think hoarding power means you'll have it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier! And I refuse to starve."[[/labelnote]]'']]
to:
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[labelnote:Click here to see her post-Volume 6 appearance '''(SPOILERS)''']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cinder_v6.png org/pmwiki/pub/images/atlas_cinder.jpg "You think hoarding power means you'll have it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier! And I refuse to starve."[[/labelnote]]'']]
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That's a massive stretch and trope shoehorning.
Changed line(s) 79,81 (click to see context) from:
* EvilCounterpart:
** For Ruby. A young girl being admitted into Beacon two years early contrasting with a woman infiltrating the same school illegitimately. Ruby relies on Crescent Rose almost exclusively during combat while Cinder has one of the most varied fighting styles in the entire cast. Both are looking to change the world, with Ruby hoping to give everyone a happy ending while Cinder appears to want to throw the world into chaos. They even share the same red-and-black color scheme, but where Ruby is accented with silver, Cinder is accented with gold. By the end of Volume 3 they both now possess legendary magical powers; while Cinder stole her Fall Maiden abilities by force, Ruby inherited her Silver eyed warrior powers naturally from her mother. Salem confirms that, while Cinder now has unimaginable power, it carries with it a crippling weakness - Ruby's power.
** Jaune has also proved to be her counterpart. Both where admitted to the school illegitimately but for opposite reasons, Jaune to learn and be a Hunter and Cinder to destroy it from the inside. Jaune has learned to use the power within himself to empower others with his own strength,Cinder keeps taking strength from others through unnatural means. Both have had their most effective moments working with their allies but Cinder believes this means that she has to use and throw away them when done with their use where Jaune has learned to work with them more than ever. Pointedly Jaune is the only one to accuse Cinder of being broken instead of being megalomaniac.
** For Ruby. A young girl being admitted into Beacon two years early contrasting with a woman infiltrating the same school illegitimately. Ruby relies on Crescent Rose almost exclusively during combat while Cinder has one of the most varied fighting styles in the entire cast. Both are looking to change the world, with Ruby hoping to give everyone a happy ending while Cinder appears to want to throw the world into chaos. They even share the same red-and-black color scheme, but where Ruby is accented with silver, Cinder is accented with gold. By the end of Volume 3 they both now possess legendary magical powers; while Cinder stole her Fall Maiden abilities by force, Ruby inherited her Silver eyed warrior powers naturally from her mother. Salem confirms that, while Cinder now has unimaginable power, it carries with it a crippling weakness - Ruby's power.
** Jaune has also proved to be her counterpart. Both where admitted to the school illegitimately but for opposite reasons, Jaune to learn and be a Hunter and Cinder to destroy it from the inside. Jaune has learned to use the power within himself to empower others with his own strength,Cinder keeps taking strength from others through unnatural means. Both have had their most effective moments working with their allies but Cinder believes this means that she has to use and throw away them when done with their use where Jaune has learned to work with them more than ever. Pointedly Jaune is the only one to accuse Cinder of being broken instead of being megalomaniac.
to:
* EvilCounterpart:
**EvilCounterpart: For Ruby. A young girl being admitted into Beacon two years early contrasting with a woman infiltrating the same school illegitimately. Ruby relies on Crescent Rose almost exclusively during combat while Cinder has one of the most varied fighting styles in the entire cast. Both are looking to change the world, with Ruby hoping to give everyone a happy ending while Cinder appears to want to throw the world into chaos. They even share the same red-and-black color scheme, but where Ruby is accented with silver, Cinder is accented with gold. By the end of Volume 3 they both now possess legendary magical powers; while Cinder stole her Fall Maiden abilities by force, Ruby inherited her Silver eyed warrior powers naturally from her mother. Salem confirms that, while Cinder now has unimaginable power, it carries with it a crippling weakness - Ruby's power.
** Jaune has also proved to be her counterpart. Both where admitted to the school illegitimately but for opposite reasons, Jaune to learn and be a Hunter and Cinder to destroy it from the inside. Jaune has learned to use the power within himself to empower others with his own strength,Cinder keeps taking strength from others through unnatural means. Both have had their most effective moments working with their allies but Cinder believes this means that she has to use and throw away them when done with their use where Jaune has learned to work with them more than ever. Pointedly Jaune is the only one to accuse Cinder of being broken instead of being megalomaniac.power.
**
** Jaune has also proved to be her counterpart. Both where admitted to the school illegitimately but for opposite reasons, Jaune to learn and be a Hunter and Cinder to destroy it from the inside. Jaune has learned to use the power within himself to empower others with his own strength,Cinder keeps taking strength from others through unnatural means. Both have had their most effective moments working with their allies but Cinder believes this means that she has to use and throw away them when done with their use where Jaune has learned to work with them more than ever. Pointedly Jaune is the only one to accuse Cinder of being broken instead of being megalomaniac.
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None
Changed line(s) 79 (click to see context) from:
* EvilCounterpart: For Ruby. A young girl being admitted into Beacon two years early contrasting with a woman infiltrating the same school illegitimately. Ruby relies on Crescent Rose almost exclusively during combat while Cinder has one of the most varied fighting styles in the entire cast. Both are looking to change the world, with Ruby hoping to give everyone a happy ending while Cinder appears to want to throw the world into chaos. They even share the same red-and-black color scheme, but where Ruby is accented with silver, Cinder is accented with gold. By the end of Volume 3 they both now possess legendary magical powers; while Cinder stole her Fall Maiden abilities by force, Ruby inherited her Silver eyed warrior powers naturally from her mother. Salem confirms that, while Cinder now has unimaginable power, it carries with it a crippling weakness - Ruby's power.
to:
* EvilCounterpart: EvilCounterpart:
** For Ruby. A young girl being admitted into Beacon two years early contrasting with a woman infiltrating the same school illegitimately. Ruby relies on Crescent Rose almost exclusively during combat while Cinder has one of the most varied fighting styles in the entire cast. Both are looking to change the world, with Ruby hoping to give everyone a happy ending while Cinder appears to want to throw the world into chaos. They even share the same red-and-black color scheme, but where Ruby is accented with silver, Cinder is accented with gold. By the end of Volume 3 they both now possess legendary magical powers; while Cinder stole her Fall Maiden abilities by force, Ruby inherited her Silver eyed warrior powers naturally from her mother. Salem confirms that, while Cinder now has unimaginable power, it carries with it a crippling weakness - Ruby'spower.power.
** Jaune has also proved to be her counterpart. Both where admitted to the school illegitimately but for opposite reasons, Jaune to learn and be a Hunter and Cinder to destroy it from the inside. Jaune has learned to use the power within himself to empower others with his own strength,Cinder keeps taking strength from others through unnatural means. Both have had their most effective moments working with their allies but Cinder believes this means that she has to use and throw away them when done with their use where Jaune has learned to work with them more than ever. Pointedly Jaune is the only one to accuse Cinder of being broken instead of being megalomaniac.
** For Ruby. A young girl being admitted into Beacon two years early contrasting with a woman infiltrating the same school illegitimately. Ruby relies on Crescent Rose almost exclusively during combat while Cinder has one of the most varied fighting styles in the entire cast. Both are looking to change the world, with Ruby hoping to give everyone a happy ending while Cinder appears to want to throw the world into chaos. They even share the same red-and-black color scheme, but where Ruby is accented with silver, Cinder is accented with gold. By the end of Volume 3 they both now possess legendary magical powers; while Cinder stole her Fall Maiden abilities by force, Ruby inherited her Silver eyed warrior powers naturally from her mother. Salem confirms that, while Cinder now has unimaginable power, it carries with it a crippling weakness - Ruby's
** Jaune has also proved to be her counterpart. Both where admitted to the school illegitimately but for opposite reasons, Jaune to learn and be a Hunter and Cinder to destroy it from the inside. Jaune has learned to use the power within himself to empower others with his own strength,Cinder keeps taking strength from others through unnatural means. Both have had their most effective moments working with their allies but Cinder believes this means that she has to use and throw away them when done with their use where Jaune has learned to work with them more than ever. Pointedly Jaune is the only one to accuse Cinder of being broken instead of being megalomaniac.
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Trope misuse; Foil requires two contrasting characters to interact with each other in a way that emphasises their contrasts. Adam and Cinder never interact in such a manner; their on-screen dealings are always business discussions.
Changed line(s) 94,96 (click to see context) from:
* {{Foil}}:
** Volume 5 strongly contrasts Cinder and Raven, even placing them back-to-back in promotional posters. Cinder wants to be known and feared while Raven wants to be a hit-and-run criminal who avoids the limelight. Cinder seeks to be actively involved in the war between Salem and Ozpin while Raven has done her best to stay out of it. Cinder enjoys flashing around her Maiden abilities at every opportunity while Raven has tried so hard to hide hers that she even created a decoy to distract attention from her. Both also get their Maiden powers by killing the previous Maidens, but while Cinder shows no remorse in her pursuit of power, Raven shows some hint of regret of what she did and tries to justify her action as an act of mercy for the weak Maiden so she won't be hunted by Salem for the rest of her life.
** Cinder also shares several traits with Adam. Both are primarily sword-based fighters who primarily wear red and black and control their subordinates through appeals to power and fear, with both also suffering facial scarring over one of their eyes that they wear a mask to conceal. Both are also guilty of emotional manipulation and gaslighting (Cinder with Emerald and Adam with Blake). The differences between the two regard their temper- while both are vicious when angered, Adam is far easier to enrage and loses his cool more quickly, while Cinder starts out being more able to control her rage until after the Fall of Beacon, where she becomes quicker to snap at anyone who irritates her.
** Volume 5 strongly contrasts Cinder and Raven, even placing them back-to-back in promotional posters. Cinder wants to be known and feared while Raven wants to be a hit-and-run criminal who avoids the limelight. Cinder seeks to be actively involved in the war between Salem and Ozpin while Raven has done her best to stay out of it. Cinder enjoys flashing around her Maiden abilities at every opportunity while Raven has tried so hard to hide hers that she even created a decoy to distract attention from her. Both also get their Maiden powers by killing the previous Maidens, but while Cinder shows no remorse in her pursuit of power, Raven shows some hint of regret of what she did and tries to justify her action as an act of mercy for the weak Maiden so she won't be hunted by Salem for the rest of her life.
** Cinder also shares several traits with Adam. Both are primarily sword-based fighters who primarily wear red and black and control their subordinates through appeals to power and fear, with both also suffering facial scarring over one of their eyes that they wear a mask to conceal. Both are also guilty of emotional manipulation and gaslighting (Cinder with Emerald and Adam with Blake). The differences between the two regard their temper- while both are vicious when angered, Adam is far easier to enrage and loses his cool more quickly, while Cinder starts out being more able to control her rage until after the Fall of Beacon, where she becomes quicker to snap at anyone who irritates her.
to:
* {{Foil}}:
**{{Foil}}: To Raven. Raven and Cinder's confrontations in Volume 5 strongly contrasts reveal that Cinder is an egomaniac who openly revels in her Maiden power and Raven, even placing them back-to-back in promotional posters. Cinder wants to be known and feared while feared; Raven wants to be a hit-and-run criminal who avoids the limelight. Cinder seeks to be actively involved in the war between Salem limelight and Ozpin while Raven has done her best is even willing to stay out of it. Cinder enjoys flashing around create a decoy to hide her Maiden abilities at every opportunity while power. Cinder is willing to immerse herself in Ozpin and Salem's war to become more powerful whereas Raven has tried seeks to become more powerful so hard to hide hers that she even created can avoid Ozpin and Salem's war. When they fight, they each accuse the other of having become a decoy to distract attention from her. Both also get monster in their Maiden powers by killing the previous Maidens, but while Cinder shows no remorse in her pursuit of power, Raven shows some hint of regret of what she did and tries to justify her action as an act of mercy for the weak Maiden so she won't be hunted by Salem for the rest of her life.
** Cinder also shares several traits with Adam. Both are primarily sword-based fighters who primarily wear red and black and control their subordinates through appeals to power and fear, with both also suffering facial scarring over one of their eyes that they wear a mask to conceal. Both are also guilty of emotional manipulation and gaslighting (Cinder with Emerald and Adam with Blake). The differences between the two regard their temper- while both are vicious when angered, Adam is far easier to enrage and loses his cool more quickly, while Cinder starts out being more able to control her rage until after the Fall of Beacon, where she becomes quicker to snap at anyone who irritates her.power.
**
** Cinder also shares several traits with Adam. Both are primarily sword-based fighters who primarily wear red and black and control their subordinates through appeals to power and fear, with both also suffering facial scarring over one of their eyes that they wear a mask to conceal. Both are also guilty of emotional manipulation and gaslighting (Cinder with Emerald and Adam with Blake). The differences between the two regard their temper- while both are vicious when angered, Adam is far easier to enrage and loses his cool more quickly, while Cinder starts out being more able to control her rage until after the Fall of Beacon, where she becomes quicker to snap at anyone who irritates her.
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Trimming for succinctness.
Changed line(s) 171 (click to see context) from:
* SanityHasAdvantages: For the first three volumes, Cinder is a calm and calculative manipulator who easily initiates Salem's plan to steal the Fall Maiden's power and destroy Beacon Academy; she also smoothly adapts, displaying smug pleasure instead of agitation or panic whenever unexpected situations occur. This all changes when she's maimed by Ruby's Silver Eyes. Beginning with Volume 4, Cinder becomes determined to get back at Ruby for maiming her by any means necessary; she becomes increasingly unstable and violent, adapting her plans for personal gain instead of necessity and [[RevengeBeforeReason sabotaging her ability]] to achieve her own goals in the process. Watts even comments on Cinder's growing obsession, fearing that her hatred and thirst for revenge may prove detrimental to Salem's plans. He's proven right when her agreement with Raven results in Ruby's forces being able to interfere with the attempt to steal the Relic of Knowledge before she deviates even further from the plan by attempting to steal Raven's power. As a result, Raven throws her down a chasm while the protagonists secure the Relic of Knowledge, forcing Salem's forces to flee empty-handed. Throughout Volume 6, Cinder, exiled from Salem's forces due to her failure, seems to stabilize and regain some of her strategic mind, using Little Miss Malachite's network to track Team RWBY and convincing Neo to work with her to kill Ruby. [[spoiler:She prioritizes what Salem wants and makes herself known in Volume 7 by triggering Ironwood's TraumaButton with a black queen chess piece, making him send Winter to get the Winter Maiden's power. However, from there, Cinder's flaws flare up again and she wastes time gloating to Fria about taking her powers, underestimating her strength. Even after the old woman clams down, Cinder furiously batters Winter around for wounding her, thereby giving Penny time to become the next Winter Maiden. If Cinder had kept her sadism in check, she very well could've succeeded.]]
to:
* SanityHasAdvantages: For the first three volumes, Cinder is a calm and calculative manipulator who easily initiates Salem's plan to steal the Fall Maiden's power and destroy Beacon Academy; she also smoothly adapts, displaying smug pleasure instead of agitation or panic whenever unexpected situations occur. This all changes when she's maimed by Ruby's Silver Eyes. Beginning with Volume 4, Cinder becomes is determined to get back at Ruby and her more negative traits -- such as her anger, narcissism, and lust for maiming power -- becomer more pronounced. This causes her by any means necessary; she becomes increasingly unstable and violent, adapting her to adapt plans for personal gain instead of necessity and [[RevengeBeforeReason sabotaging her ability]] to achieve her own goals in at the process. Watts even comments on Cinder's growing obsession, fearing that her hatred and thirst for revenge may prove detrimental to Salem's plans. He's proven right when her agreement with Raven results in Ruby's forces being able to interfere with cost of the attempt plan's success. Her arrogance is partially what leads to steal the loss of the Relic of Knowledge before she deviates even further from the plan by attempting Knowledge. She seems to steal Raven's power. As a result, Raven throws learn her down a chasm while the protagonists secure the Relic of Knowledge, forcing Salem's forces to flee empty-handed. Throughout lesson in Volume 6, Cinder, exiled 6 during her exile from Salem's forces due to her failure, seems to stabilize and regain some faction, regaining more of her strategic mind, using Little Miss Malachite's network to track Team RWBY and convincing Neo to work strategist mindset when teaming up with her to kill Ruby.Neo. [[spoiler:She prioritizes what Salem wants and makes herself known in Volume 7 by triggering Ironwood's TraumaButton with a black queen chess piece, making him send Winter to get the Winter Maiden's power. However, from there, Cinder's flaws flare up again and she wastes time gloating to Fria about taking her powers, underestimating her strength. Even after the old woman clams down, Cinder furiously batters Winter around for wounding her, thereby giving Penny time to become the next Winter Maiden. If Cinder had kept her sadism in check, and narcissism get the better of her when she very well could've succeeded.decides to stop and gloat, giving Fria time to regain her senses and activate her powers.]]
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Entries should never be 100% spoiler tagged.
Changed line(s) 68 (click to see context) from:
* DeerInTheHeadlights: [[spoiler:Cinder's reaction to seeing Ruby again is to reflexively brandish fireballs and stare. This gives Ruby the time she needed to concentrate and flash her Silver Eyes.]]
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* DeerInTheHeadlights: [[spoiler:Cinder's Cinder's reaction to seeing Ruby again is to reflexively brandish fireballs and stare. This gives Ruby the time she needed needs to concentrate and flash activate her Silver Eyes.]]
Changed line(s) 149 (click to see context) from:
** [[spoiler:In the Volume 7 finale, her expression when seeing Ruby again is a look of abstract horror. Despite bringing out two fireballs immediately she can only stand and stare at her before one flash of Ruby's eyes makes her flee.]]
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** [[spoiler:In In the Volume 7 finale, her expression when upon seeing Ruby again is a look of abstract horror. Despite bringing out immediately summoning two fireballs immediately to her hands, she can only stand and stare at her before until one flash of Ruby's eyes makes her flee.]]
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* DeerInTheHeadlights: [[spoiler:Cinder's reaction to seeing Ruby again is to reflexively brandish fireballs and stare. This gives Ruby the time she needed to concentrate and flash her Silver Eyes.]]
Changed line(s) 127 (click to see context) from:
* {{Lust}}: For power. Cinder wants to be strong, feared, and powerful by her own admission, and goes to such lengths as replacing her arm with that of a Grimm and murdering Amber to take the Fall Maiden power for herself. Even that isn't enough for her; she just wants ''more'', and tries to take the Spring Maiden powers for herself as well, all while ranting that she's the only one worthy of it.
to:
* {{Lust}}: For power. Cinder wants to be strong, feared, and powerful by her own admission, and goes to such lengths as replacing her arm with that of a Grimm and murdering Amber to take the Fall Maiden power for herself. Even that isn't enough for her; she just wants ''more'', and tries to take the Spring and Winter Maiden powers for herself as well, all while ranting that she's the only one worthy of it.
Changed line(s) 148 (click to see context) from:
** [[spoiler:In the Volume 7 finale, her expression when seeing Ruby again is a look of abstract horror. Despite bringing out two swords immediately she can only stand and stare at her before one flash of Ruby's eyes makes her flee.]]
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** [[spoiler:In the Volume 7 finale, her expression when seeing Ruby again is a look of abstract horror. Despite bringing out two swords fireballs immediately she can only stand and stare at her before one flash of Ruby's eyes makes her flee.]]
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Fixing word cruft.
Changed line(s) 101 (click to see context) from:
* GoodProstheticEvilProsthetic: The protagonists who have prosthetic replacements have limbs that are made with advanced Atlesian technology which function like their missing limbs and also incorporate their style of fighting to ensure they can still function as Huntsmen. General Ironwood uses clothing to completely hide the prosthetic part of his body, even when it means wearing one hand gloved and one hand ungloved, and he only uses his prosthetic arm in battle against the Grimm where its great physical strength allows him to fight without weapons. The Volume 3 finale sees both Yang and Cinder lose an arm which is replaced in Volume 4 by General Ironwood and Salem respectively. Yang chooses to paint her prosthetic in her signature color scheme (yellow with black accents), incorporating it into her asymmetrical fashion style and therefore displaying it openly. Cinder hides her prosthetic behind an overlong sleeve which allows her to use her new arm as a surprise attack: her new limb is a Grimm arm which is capable of stretching well beyond its normal range. It also enables her to easily steal the power of other Maidens by absorbing it as her victim dies in agony. [[spoiler: Even worse, the arm seems to be consuming more of her body since it has now extended up to her shoulder.]]
to:
* GoodProstheticEvilProsthetic: The protagonists who Protagonists with replacement limbs, such as Yang, tend to have prosthetic replacements have limbs that are made with advanced Atlesian technology which prosthetics that function like their missing limbs the real limb and also incorporate their style of fighting to ensure they can still function as Huntsmen. General Ironwood uses clothing to completely hide the prosthetic part of his body, even when it means wearing one hand gloved styles and one hand ungloved, and he only uses his prosthetic personal colours. Like Yang, Cinder loses an arm in battle against the Grimm where its great physical strength allows him to fight without weapons. The Volume 3 finale sees both Yang and Cinder lose an arm which is replaced in Volume 4 by General Ironwood and Salem respectively. Yang chooses to paint her prosthetic in her signature color scheme (yellow with black accents), incorporating it into her asymmetrical fashion style and therefore displaying it openly. Cinder hides her prosthetic behind an overlong sleeve which allows her to use her new arm as a surprise attack: her new limb Battle of Beacon. However, Cinder's replacement is a Grimm arm which is capable of stretching well beyond its normal range. It also enables that allows her to easily steal the power of other Maidens by absorbing Maiden powers. She has to hide it as her victim dies in agony. [[spoiler: Even worse, the arm seems from public view and it appears to be consuming more of slowly taking over her body since it has now extended up to her shoulder.]]body.
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Changed line(s) 93 (click to see context) from:
* {{Foil}}: Volume 5 strongly contrasts Cinder and Raven, even placing them back-to-back in promotional posters. Cinder wants to be known and feared while Raven wants to be a hit-and-run criminal who avoids the limelight. Cinder seeks to be actively involved in the war between Salem and Ozpin while Raven has done her best to stay out of it. Cinder enjoys flashing around her Maiden abilities at every opportunity while Raven has tried so hard to hide hers that she even created a decoy to distract attention from her. Both also get their Maiden powers by killing the previous Maidens, but while Cinder shows no remorse in her pursuit of power, Raven shows some hint of regret of what she did and tries to justify her action as an act of mercy for the weak Maiden so she won't be hunted by Salem for the rest of her life.
to:
* {{Foil}}: {{Foil}}:
** Volume 5 strongly contrasts Cinder and Raven, even placing them back-to-back in promotional posters. Cinder wants to be known and feared while Raven wants to be a hit-and-run criminal who avoids the limelight. Cinder seeks to be actively involved in the war between Salem and Ozpin while Raven has done her best to stay out of it. Cinder enjoys flashing around her Maiden abilities at every opportunity while Raven has tried so hard to hide hers that she even created a decoy to distract attention from her. Both also get their Maiden powers by killing the previous Maidens, but while Cinder shows no remorse in her pursuit of power, Raven shows some hint of regret of what she did and tries to justify her action as an act of mercy for the weak Maiden so she won't be hunted by Salem for the rest of herlife.life.
** Cinder also shares several traits with Adam. Both are primarily sword-based fighters who primarily wear red and black and control their subordinates through appeals to power and fear, with both also suffering facial scarring over one of their eyes that they wear a mask to conceal. Both are also guilty of emotional manipulation and gaslighting (Cinder with Emerald and Adam with Blake). The differences between the two regard their temper- while both are vicious when angered, Adam is far easier to enrage and loses his cool more quickly, while Cinder starts out being more able to control her rage until after the Fall of Beacon, where she becomes quicker to snap at anyone who irritates her.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: While '''friend''' is pushing it, Cinder has few genuine allies among Salem's forces, even counting the people she brought into the fold. Tyrian and Watts both take delight in mocking her failure at Beacon and her scars, Hazel treats her with cold indifference, Neo can barely stand Cinder and is reduced to rolling her eyes behind Cinder's back, while Mercury openly hates her and thinks she's "a pain." Emerald is the only person who likes her, and it's expressly pointed out that Emerald is a victim of abuse and gaslighting at Cinder's hands to make her feel this way. Even Salem finds it hard to tolerate Cinder at times, and admits that while she knows Cinder survived the Battle of Haven, she won't let Cinder rejoin their ranks unless she can actually prove herself.
** Volume 5 strongly contrasts Cinder and Raven, even placing them back-to-back in promotional posters. Cinder wants to be known and feared while Raven wants to be a hit-and-run criminal who avoids the limelight. Cinder seeks to be actively involved in the war between Salem and Ozpin while Raven has done her best to stay out of it. Cinder enjoys flashing around her Maiden abilities at every opportunity while Raven has tried so hard to hide hers that she even created a decoy to distract attention from her. Both also get their Maiden powers by killing the previous Maidens, but while Cinder shows no remorse in her pursuit of power, Raven shows some hint of regret of what she did and tries to justify her action as an act of mercy for the weak Maiden so she won't be hunted by Salem for the rest of her
** Cinder also shares several traits with Adam. Both are primarily sword-based fighters who primarily wear red and black and control their subordinates through appeals to power and fear, with both also suffering facial scarring over one of their eyes that they wear a mask to conceal. Both are also guilty of emotional manipulation and gaslighting (Cinder with Emerald and Adam with Blake). The differences between the two regard their temper- while both are vicious when angered, Adam is far easier to enrage and loses his cool more quickly, while Cinder starts out being more able to control her rage until after the Fall of Beacon, where she becomes quicker to snap at anyone who irritates her.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: While '''friend''' is pushing it, Cinder has few genuine allies among Salem's forces, even counting the people she brought into the fold. Tyrian and Watts both take delight in mocking her failure at Beacon and her scars, Hazel treats her with cold indifference, Neo can barely stand Cinder and is reduced to rolling her eyes behind Cinder's back, while Mercury openly hates her and thinks she's "a pain." Emerald is the only person who likes her, and it's expressly pointed out that Emerald is a victim of abuse and gaslighting at Cinder's hands to make her feel this way. Even Salem finds it hard to tolerate Cinder at times, and admits that while she knows Cinder survived the Battle of Haven, she won't let Cinder rejoin their ranks unless she can actually prove herself.
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It's not a character trope. The entry does exist, but it's on the Trope A to B page of the main work.
Deleted line(s) 51 (click to see context) :
* BatmanGambit: Thanks to Salem, Cinder has a passable knowledge on enough of her enemies to plan around their responses. [[spoiler:By leaving a black queen chess piece in Ironwood's office, alerting him that one of Salem's forces is inside Atlas Academy, it triggers the general's paranoia. He instructs Winter to go to Fria, either to protect the Winter Maiden or take her power. This gives Cinder someone to follow through the massive complex and easily find her prize.]]
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* BatmanGambit: Thanks to Salem, Cinder has a passable knowledge on enough of her enemies to plan around their responses. [[spoiler:By leaving a black queen chess piece in Ironwood's office, alerting him that one of Salem's forces is inside Atlas Academy, it triggers the general's paranoia. He instructs Winter to go to Fria, either to protect the Winter Maiden or take her power. This gives Cinder someone to follow through the massive complex and easily find her prize.]]
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None
Changed line(s) 26,27 (click to see context) from:
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[labelnote:Click here to see her post-Volume 6 appearance '''(SPOILERS)''']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cinder_v6.png[[/labelnote]]'']]
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[[caption-width-right:300:''[[labelnote:Click here to see her post-Volume 6 appearance '''(SPOILERS)''']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cinder_v6.png[[/labelnote]]'']]
png "You think hoarding power means you'll have it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier! And I refuse to starve."[[/labelnote]]'']]
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Deleted line(s) 164 (click to see context) :
* {{Sadist}}: Cinder takes pleasure in the pain of others. When she infiltrates the CCT, she defeats the guards with a smile on her face and assesses her network access in amusement while standing over their bodies. She describes watching the Grimm slaughtering Vale citizens as "wonderful", and when she stole the first half of Amber's power, she drew out the pain of Amber's last conscious moments with needless theatrics that gave Amber the chance to see what was going to happen to her and beg for life in horror. When she kills Pyrrha, she doesn't simply shoot her through the heart, her arrow also burns Pyrrha from the inside out -- while Pyrrha is still alive. After Ruby disfigures her, she motivates herself to grow stronger by burning alive illusions of a begging Ruby that are created by Emerald. As her sanity withers away throughout Volume 5, her sadism becomes more and more pronounced. When fighting Jaune in "The More The Merrier", she constantly taunts him over his failure to save Pyrrha and when he damages her mask, she impales Weiss with a flaming spear just to spite him.
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* {{Sadist}}: Cinder takes pleasure in the pain of others. When she infiltrates the CCT, she defeats the guards with a smile on her face and assesses her network access in amusement while standing over their bodies. She describes watching the Grimm slaughtering Vale citizens as "wonderful", and when she stole the first half of Amber's power, she drew out the pain of Amber's last conscious moments with needless theatrics that gave Amber the chance to see what was going to happen to her and beg for life in horror. When she kills Pyrrha, she doesn't simply shoot her through the heart, her arrow also burns Pyrrha from the inside out -- while Pyrrha is still alive. After Ruby disfigures her, she motivates herself to grow stronger by burning alive illusions of a begging Ruby that are created by Emerald. As her sanity withers away throughout Volume 5, her sadism becomes more and more pronounced. When fighting Jaune in "The More The Merrier", she constantly taunts him over his failure to save Pyrrha and when he damages her mask, she impales Weiss with a flaming spear just to spite him.
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Rewrote slightly. There's actually a bit of a subversion going on.
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* PragmaticVillainy: Cinder berates Emerald and Mercury for killing Tukson without her orders, but not because she's against the murder, especially since she had ordered Torchwick to do so anyway. She's just pissed that Emerald and Mercury risked exposing themselves by killing someone when they need to keep their hands clean for the infiltration of Beacon and sabotaging the Vytal Festival. Come Volume 5, however, Cinder sacrifices all sense of pragmatism; she's so [[RevengeBeforeReason fixated on getting revenge on Ruby]] for maiming her that she'll do anything to do so, even if she has to violate Salem's orders to do it.
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* PragmaticVillainy: Cinder berates Emerald and Mercury for killing Tukson without her orders, but not because she's against the murder, especially since she had ordered Torchwick to do so anyway. She's just pissed that Emerald and Mercury risked exposing themselves by killing someone when they need to keep their hands clean for the infiltration of Beacon and sabotaging the Vytal Festival. Come Volume 5, however, Cinder sacrifices all sense of pragmatism; she's so [[RevengeBeforeReason fixated on getting revenge on Ruby]] Ruby for maiming her that she'll do anything to do so, even if she has to violate Salem's orders to do it.
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* RevengeBeforeReason: From Volume 4 onwards, Cinder's entire motivation is getting back at Ruby for crippling her at the end of Volume 3, and it begins to [[SanitySlippage eat away at her mind]], leading her to adapt her plans for personal gain rather than necessity. Watts even lampshades it when Cinder agrees to a deal with Raven, calling her out on her growing obsession and fearing it may jeopardize Salem's plans. He's proven right when Cinder's hatred and obsession lead her to underestimate Raven; this leads to the villains failing to obtain the Relic or destroy Haven Academy, and Cinder herself being nearly killed by Raven and exiled from Salem's group. In Volume 6, Cinder realizes she needs to obtain the Relic before she can return to Salem, but she still wants revenge against Ruby. As Salem wants Ruby alive and has ordered Cinder not to kill her, Cinder tells Neo that the person she needs to kill for Roman's death is Ruby; by turning Neo against Ruby, Cinder hopes that Neo can kill Ruby, thereby allowing Cinder to return to Salem with the Relic and not get into trouble for Ruby's death.
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* RevengeBeforeReason: From Volume 4 onwards, Cinder's entire motivation is getting back at Subverted trope. After the Battle of Beacon, Cinder becomes obsessed with killing Ruby for crippling her at the end of Volume 3, and it begins to [[SanitySlippage eat away at her mind]], leading her to adapt her plans for personal gain rather than necessity. Watts even lampshades it when Cinder agrees to a deal so impatient with Raven, calling her out on her growing obsession and fearing it may jeopardize Salem's plans. He's proven right when enjoyment of exploiting others instead of simply taking what she wants, that Salem is forced to directly address Cinder's hatred and obsession lead her to underestimate Raven; this leads to the villains failing lust for power in terms of getting what she needs before Cinder gets what she wants. When Cinder cuts an unnecessary deal with Raven to obtain access to the Relic or destroy Haven Academy, and Cinder herself being nearly killed Spring Maiden, Watts lampshades the trope by Raven and exiled from accusing her of ruining Salem's group. In Volume 6, Cinder realizes she needs to obtain the Relic before she can return to Salem, but she still wants plans just for revenge against Ruby. As Salem wants Ruby alive and has ordered Watts' expectation of how the plan is ruined is subverted during the Battle of Haven when Cinder not prioritises stealing the Spring Maiden's power over killing Ruby; the villains fail and Cinder is exiled by Salem. Identifying a possible loophole in Salem's orders, Cinder recruits Neo to kill her, Ruby on her behalf in Atlas. However, Cinder tells Neo that the person she needs to kill for Roman's death is Ruby; again prioritises stealing a Maiden's power over killing Ruby by turning Neo against Ruby, using Salem's own argument on Neo: they will only go after Ruby once Cinder hopes that first gets what she needs. She therefore orders Neo can kill Ruby, thereby allowing Cinder to return to Salem with ignore Ruby and steal the Relic and not get into trouble of Knowledge while she goes after the Winter Maiden. Cinder therefore subverts the trope by prioritising her lust for Ruby's death.power, rather than following revenge before reason in favour of Ruby, whenever the two obsessions clash.
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Cleaning up Word Cruft and some misrepresentation of the downplaying aspect of the trope.
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* MsFanservice: She is certainly a voluptuous individual, and the camera angles are (in)famous for milking this for [[MaleGaze all of its worth]], providing us with some tantalizing shots, the most famous of which being [[http://i.imgur.com/UCmDocQ.gif a butt shot in "Dance Dance Infiltration"]]. Also, when given the chance, we see a bunch of the black shorts she wears underneath (as in the Volume 3 opening, and "Beginning of the End"). It's downplayed by Volume 4, as while she is still very curvy, she now has an enormous, nasty scar running across the entire left side of her face, courtesy of Ruby's Silver Eye powers. Cinder hides the majority of the damage with a large eyepatch, but bits of scar tissue still poke through, hinting at just how bad the disfigurement is underneath. Volume 5 downplays it even further with the revelation that Cinder lost most of her left arm at the end of Volume 3 and has replaced it with an extendable Grimm arm, complete with noticeable scarring where the arm meets the stump.
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* MsFanservice: She is certainly a voluptuous individual, individual who is first introduced to the show with her upper body in shadow and her legs entirely exposed; this sets the stage for camera angles are (in)famous for milking this for frequently [[MaleGaze all of its worth]], providing us with some tantalizing shots, the most famous of which being showing off]] her legs and curves, including a [[http://i.imgur.com/UCmDocQ.gif a butt shot shot]] in "Dance ''Dance Dance Infiltration"]]. Also, when given the chance, we see a bunch Infiltration''. Most of the black shorts her clothing is designed to show off her curves and legs; her mini-dress is designed to show off her hotpants, which are laced over her right hip; from Volume 4, she wears underneath (as in a body-hugging gown that hides the Volume 3 opening, and "Beginning of the End"). It's downplayed by Volume 4, as while she is still very curvy, she now has an enormous, nasty scar running across the entire left side of the body but exposes the right side of her face, courtesy of Ruby's Silver Eye powers. Cinder hides the majority of the damage with a large eyepatch, but bits of scar tissue still poke through, hinting at just how bad the disfigurement is underneath. body, being held in place by two chains across her right thigh; her Volume 5 downplays it even further with the revelation that Cinder lost most of her left arm 7 oufit is a black catsuit, cut off at the end of Volume 3 legs and has replaced it with an extendable Grimm arm, complete with noticeable scarring where the arm meets the stump.accompanied by thigh-high boots.
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Thought it best to include that since the page describes Salem as well as the rest of her faction.
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For information on her villainous colleagues, see Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction.
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For information on her master and her villainous colleagues, see Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction.
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per PM consensus
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[[center: [- [[Characters/{{RWBY}} Main Page]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamRWBY Team RWBY]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] | [[Characters/RWBYFriendsAndAllies Friends and Allies]] | [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] | [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] | '''Cinder Fall''' | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] | [[Characters/RWBYCreaturesOfGrimm Creatures of Grimm]] | [[Characters/RWBYWorldOfRemnant World of Remnant]] -] ]]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/{{RWBY}} Main Page]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamRWBY Team RWBY]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] | [[Characters/RWBYFriendsAndAllies Friends and Allies]] | [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] | [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] | '''Cinder Fall''' ('''Cinder Fall''') | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] | [[Characters/RWBYCreaturesOfGrimm Creatures of Grimm]] | [[Characters/RWBYWorldOfRemnant World of Remnant]] -] ]]
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Looking at other Recap pages with spun-off characters, I'm tweaking for consistency.
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[[center: [- [[Characters/{{RWBY}} Main Page]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamRWBY Team RWBY]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] | [[Characters/RWBYFriendsAndAllies Friends and Allies]] | [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] | [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ('''Cinder Fall''') | '''Cinder Fall''' | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] | [[Characters/RWBYCreaturesOfGrimm Creatures of Grimm]] | [[Characters/RWBYWorldOfRemnant World of Remnant]] -] ]]
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* XanatosSpeedChess: Cinder has a talent in taking advantage of every opportunity that comes her way to make incremental gains. When she was initially disappointed that an assassin she was hoping to recruit was killed by his previously unknown and clearly hostile son, she just shrugged and took in the clearly more talented orphan. When Team [=RWBY=] provokes Torchwick into causing the Grimm invasion early, she lets the authorities take care of it so Torchwick can be a TrojanPrisoner and use the incident to discredit Ozpin and Beacon. She initially files away Pyrrha's Semblance as a useful factoid, but when her spyware eventually discovers that Penny is a robot of clear value, she immediately arranges the tourney match ups to pit the magnetism-using Pyrrha against the all-metal Penny. The fact that she has a very simple objective for her plan (causing terror, despair, and other negative emotion to bring in the Grimm) makes it even easier for her to adapt.
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* XanatosSpeedChess: Cinder has a talent in taking advantage of every opportunity that comes her way to make incremental gains. When she was initially disappointed that an assassin she was hoping to recruit was killed by his previously unknown and clearly hostile son, she just shrugged and took in the clearly more talented orphan. When Team [=RWBY=] provokes Torchwick into causing the Grimm invasion early, she lets the authorities take care of it so Torchwick can be a TrojanPrisoner and use the incident to discredit Ozpin and Beacon. She initially files away Pyrrha's Semblance as a useful factoid, but when her spyware eventually discovers that Penny is a robot of clear value, she immediately arranges the tourney match ups to pit the magnetism-using Pyrrha against the all-metal Penny. The fact that she has a very simple objective for her plan (causing terror, despair, and other negative emotion to bring in the Grimm) makes it even easier for her to adapt.adapt.
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For information on her villainous colleagues, see Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction.
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Still clunky, so cleaned up.
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** While in Vale, she wears a pair of black hotpants underneath her signature red mini-dress that are laced together over each hip. While they expose the skin over her hip, they allow her to fight without exposing anything else.
** While in Atlas, she wears a black catsuit that has cropped legs, creating a hotpants look. She pairs this with thigh-high boots and a cape.
** While in Atlas, she wears a black catsuit that has cropped legs, creating a hotpants look. She pairs this with thigh-high boots and a cape.
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** While in Vale, For the first three volumes, she wears a pair of black hotpants underneath her signature red mini-dress that are laced together over each hip. While they expose the skin over her hip, they allow her to fight without exposing anything else.
else.
**While in Atlas, During the Atlas Arc, she wears a black catsuit that has cropped legs, creating a another hotpants look. She pairs this the catsuit with thigh-high boots and a cape.
**
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* WhoWearsShortShorts?:
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* WhoWearsShortShorts?: WhoWearsShortShorts:
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Cleaned up the entry for this one.
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* WhoWearsShortShorts?: In her Beacon outfit she wore a small pair of shorts under her dress, which seemed to be 2 pieces of cloth tied together, as it showed off parts of her hips, implying she wore nothing underneath. In her Atlas outfit she has a more traditional pair of black shorts.
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* WhoWearsShortShorts?: In her Beacon outfit WhoWearsShortShorts?:
** While in Vale, shewore wears a small pair of shorts under her dress, which seemed to be 2 pieces of cloth tied together, as it showed off parts of her hips, implying she wore nothing underneath. In her Atlas outfit she has a more traditional pair of black shorts.hotpants underneath her signature red mini-dress that are laced together over each hip. While they expose the skin over her hip, they allow her to fight without exposing anything else.
** While in Atlas, she wears a black catsuit that has cropped legs, creating a hotpants look. She pairs this with thigh-high boots and a cape.
** While in Vale, she
** While in Atlas, she wears a black catsuit that has cropped legs, creating a hotpants look. She pairs this with thigh-high boots and a cape.
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Imagination Based Superpower shoehorning (finding creative ways to use one's Semblance isn't this trope; it's about what Ozpin said in V5 about people constantly pushing their Semblances to develop them in unexpected ways). Action Fashionista shoehorning (she's had Significant Wardrobe Changes based on hiding her Grimm arm or needing temporary disguises; beyond that, her wardrobe changes have coincided with everyone else's wardrobe changes; Action Fashionista is about combat characters who need to make a fashion statement with their appearances every time they fight); Cleavage Window misuse (it's not a cleavage window, she's just got the top unzipped enough to expose her cleavage. I've checked Absolute Cleavage, because she does have it unzipped quite a way down, but it's not unzipped quite enough for that for that trope, so I've just deleted the entry); Genius Bruiser shoehorn (she doesn't haven't the intelligence feats for this trope; most of the plan is Salem's, we see her thinking fast and adapting on the fly, but that's a strategy trope, not a Genius trope — we have no idea about her intelligence level and certainly not compared to other characters)'
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* ActionFashionista:A subtle quirk of Cinder's, she seems to have a liking for fashionable clothing. While characters changing outfits for the Story Arc isn't uncommon, Cinder has done so more frequently. We see she apparently had a different-if-similar to her modern day dress when she was recruiting mercury and Emerald, and made a Fake Huntress outfit for herself in between Volumes 2 and 3 even though neither Mercury or Emerald did the same (Neo made a disguise but she was someone the protagonists would recognize) and her outfits tend to be rather eccentric, to name a ''few'' her wardrobe includes a stylish red minidress showing the sides of her shorts/underwear which show the sides of her hips, as well as a pirate-esqe outfit with a ZettaiRyouiki. This is all in addition to being the epitome of a DarkActionGirl
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* CleavageWindow: Her spy outfit in Volume 2 has one. It seems skintight catsuit wasn't "quite" enough for her fashion standards.
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* GeniusBruiser: Cinder is a StrongAndSkilled maiden with both extreme power as well as exceptional skill in hand to hand combat, she is also extremely intelligent, being able to slowly but surely instigate the Fall of Beacon and convince Remnant that the world was at the brink of war. Her smugness and egomania can get in the way as her defeat in Volume 5 shows, however in Volume 7 she shows she still has it as she's able to perfectly push the right TraumaButton for Ironwood, knowing he'd send Winter to take the winter maiden's powers, leading her right to the maiden and furthering James' paranoia.
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* ImaginationBasedSuperpower: Her semblance, Scorching Caress, allows for her to superheat objects to manipulate and alter them as she pleases, with the limit to how far unclear. Onscreen its been shown she's able to make dust or dirt into glass and said glass into swords or bows / arrows, cause explosions, or turn her SpyCatsuit into a dress.
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* ActionFashionista:A subtle quirk of Cinder's, she seems to have a liking for fashionable clothing. While characters changing outfits for the Story Arc isn't uncommon, Cinder has done so more frequently. We see she apparently had a different-if-similar to her modern day dress when she was recruiting mercury and Emerald, and made a Fake Huntress outfit for herself in between Volumes 2 and 3 even though neither Mercury or Emerald did the same (Neo made a disguise but she was someone the protagonists would recognize) and her outfits tend to be rather eccentric, to name a ''few'' her wardrobe includes a stylish red minidress showing the sides of her shorts/underwear which show the sides of her hips, as well as a pirate-esqe outfit with a ZettaiRyouiki. This is all in addition to being the epitome of a DarkActionGirl
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* CleavageWindow: Her spy outfit in Volume 2 has one. It seems skintight catsuit wasn't "quite" enough for her fashion standards.
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* GeniusBruiser: Cinder is a StrongAndSkilled maiden with both extreme power as well as exceptional skill in hand to hand combat, she is also extremely intelligent, being able to slowly but surely instigate the Fall of Beacon and convince Remnant that the world was at the brink of war. Her smugness and egomania can get in the way as her defeat in Volume 5 shows, however in Volume 7 she shows she still has it as she's able to perfectly push the right TraumaButton for Ironwood, knowing he'd send Winter to take the winter maiden's powers, leading her right to the maiden and furthering James' paranoia.
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* ImaginationBasedSuperpower: Her semblance, Scorching Caress, allows for her to superheat objects to manipulate and alter them as she pleases, with the limit to how far unclear. Onscreen its been shown she's able to make dust or dirt into glass and said glass into swords or bows / arrows, cause explosions, or turn her SpyCatsuit into a dress.
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* WhoWearsShortShorts?: In her Beacon outfit she wore a small pair of shorts under her dress, which seemed to be 2 pieces of cloth tied together, as it showed off parts of her hips, implying she wore nothing underneath. In her Atlas outfit she has a more traditional pair of black shorts.
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[[center: [- [[Characters/{{RWBY}} Main Page]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamRWBY Team RWBY]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] | [[Characters/RWBYFriendsAndAllies Friends and Allies]] | [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] | [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall (Cinder Fall)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] | [[Characters/RWBYCreaturesOfGrimm Creatures of Grimm]] | '''World of Remnant''' -] ]]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/{{RWBY}} Main Page]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamRWBY Team RWBY]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] | [[Characters/RWBYFriendsAndAllies Friends and Allies]] | [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] | [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall (Cinder Fall)]] ('''Cinder Fall''') | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] | [[Characters/RWBYCreaturesOfGrimm Creatures of Grimm]] | '''World [[Characters/RWBYWorldOfRemnant World of Remnant''' Remnant]] -] ]]
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%% Zero Context Example entries are NOT allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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[[center: [- [[Characters/{{RWBY}} Main Page]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamRWBY Team RWBY]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] | [[Characters/RWBYFriendsAndAllies Friends and Allies]] | [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] | [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall (Cinder Fall)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] | [[Characters/RWBYCreaturesOfGrimm Creatures of Grimm]] | '''World of Remnant''' -] ]]
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!!All spoilers for the first six volumes are unmarked. Examples from Volume 7 can be spoiler tagged if deemed necessary.
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'''First Members see episodes 1 week before public release. As a courtesy, please do not trope them for 1 week until they have been released to the general public. Please only trope the episodes that have been released to the general public. For more information, please visit the RWBY Forum thread.'''
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%% Zero Context Example entries are NOT allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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%% Do not spoiler-tag trope names. See Administrivia/SpoilerPolicy.
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[[center: [- [[Characters/{{RWBY}} Main Page]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamRWBY Team RWBY]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] | [[Characters/RWBYFriendsAndAllies Friends and Allies]] | [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] | [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall (Cinder Fall)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] | [[Characters/RWBYCreaturesOfGrimm Creatures of Grimm]] | '''World of Remnant''' -] ]]
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!!All spoilers for the first six volumes are unmarked. Examples from Volume 7 can be spoiler tagged if deemed necessary.
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'''First Members see episodes 1 week before public release. As a courtesy, please do not trope them for 1 week until they have been released to the general public. Please only trope the episodes that have been released to the general public. For more information, please visit the RWBY Forum thread.'''
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!!Cinder Fall
!!!'''Voiced By:''' Creator/JessicaNigri [EN], Creator/YukoKaida [JP]
!!!'''Debut:''' Ruby Rose[[labelnote:*]]Volume 1 Episode 1[[/labelnote]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cinder_mugshot.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"I want to be strong. I want to be feared.[softreturn]I want to be powerful."'']]
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[labelnote:Click here to see her post-Volume 6 appearance '''(SPOILERS)''']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cinder_v6.png[[/labelnote]]'']]
->''"It's nothing personal, dear. You're just not worthy of such power. But I am."''
An ambitious and enigmatic woman with power over fire, Cinder Fall is the leader of an equally mysterious group closely associated with crime lord Roman Torchwick. She and her teammates, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, infiltrate Beacon Academy in Volume 2, posing as transfer students from Mistral's Haven Academy while subtly preparing the terrain for a war between the kingdoms, the results of which are coming to fruition by Volume 3.
Cinder typically fights with a pair of swords called Midnight that combine into a compound bow created with dust infused clothing. After the injuries she sustained from Ruby Rose at the climax of Volume 3, she has since abandoned using Midnight in favor of using a variety of blades constructed from glass containing fire at their cores. Her Semblance is Scorching Caress, which allows her to superheat and manipulate the shape of objects, such as turning sand into glass.
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* AchillesHeel: During the Volume 3 finale, Ruby's silver eyes activate in front of Cinder. In Volume 4, Salem tells the badly injured Cinder that obtaining the Fall Maiden's magic has given her great power but also a crippling weakness against Ruby's silver eyes. From Volume 5 onwards, whenever Ruby's silver eyes activate in Cinder's presence, Cinder experiences visible pain in her Grimm arm and her magic stops functioning; she was able to steal the Fall Maiden's power with the help of a Parasite Grimm, which is heavily implied to be the reason why Ruby's power crippled her at Beacon.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Her ambition for power has made her try and kill the Fall Maiden to take her powers for her own, and indirectly caused mass chaos and some other deaths. She sums up her ambition during a flashback and the Battle of Haven makes it clear that she thinks she's entitled to all four of the Maiden powers when she tries to steal Spring's:
-->'''Cinder''': I want to be strong. I want to be feared. I want to be powerful.
* AnArmAndALeg: Cinder loses an arm and an eye at the end of Volume 3 and spends the whole of Volume 4 learning how to control her new, replacement Grimm arm, which has the ability to steal the power of the Maidens. During the Battle of Haven, Ruby's brief use of her anti-Grimm power forces Cinder to her knees, clutching her Grimm arm in pain. [[spoiler:When she extends the Grimm arm to steal the power from the dying Winter Maiden, Winter severs the limb to stop her; Cinder screams in agony as the limb regenerates then retaliates so viciously, Winter is almost killed and Cinder loses her chance to steal the Winter Maiden's powers.]]
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse:
** Adam initially refuses to work with her on the grounds that the White Fang members would be put in danger because of her, plus the White Fang does not work for a human cause like Cinder's. After absorbing the Fall Maiden's power, she slaughters the White Fang members in front of him and reiterates that her offer can either benefit him as well as her, or just her alone.
** When she tries the same tactic on Raven, by threatening her tribe's continued existence, Raven is unimpressed. She offers her own deal as the price for her cooperation, having planned in advance for the day when Salem finally found her tribe. Cinder agrees to the plan, not realising just how extensive Raven's trick is.
* AssimilationBackfire: Cinder is only able to become the Fall Maiden by murdering the current Fall Maiden, Amber, and using a special type of parasite Grimm, which absorbs the power and transfers it to her. As a result, she gains enormous power at the cost of becoming extremely vulnerable to Ruby's Silver-Eye power which exists to destroy Grimm. A brief exposure to it during the Battle of Beacon cripples her for an entire volume, where she has to relearn how to speak and is forced to wear a mask to hide the scarring on the left side of her face. During the battle of Haven, it's revealed that her left arm was destroyed by Ruby and replaced with a Grimm arm. Although she can use it as she would any other arm, and it allows her to absorb Maiden power from other Maidens, the Grimm do not have Aura. As a result, her left arm is entirely unprotected by her Aura as a result of being incompatible. It also makes the left side of her body much more vulnerable to future uses of Ruby's power.
* BadBoss: {{Downplayed}}. While she treats her subordinates with respect and doesn't spend their lives needlessly, she expects their total obedience and loyalty and will not tolerate failure or disobedience, telling them to "don't think, obey". In Vol 3 Chapter 7, she's heard slapping a disagreeable Emerald and telling her to "know her place".
* BareFistedMonk: Cinder has displayed the ability to fight competently without weapons, such as when she infiltrated Vale's CCT and when she ambushed Amber. However, when she returns to Little Miss to collect the information she's requested, she's forced into a bar brawl. She abstains from using her Maiden powers in public and is thus limited to unarmed combat. The skill that had been previously hinted at is shown in full against her more specialised opponent and shows a full range of abilities that encompass punches, kicks, acrobatics and claw swipes from her Grimm arm.
* BareHandedBladeBlock: Can deflect shots fired from Crescent Rose with just her palm, due to using half of the Fall Maiden's power she stole. Once she took all of it, she can even catch Pyrrha's Milo and deflect a thrown Akouo barehanded.
* BareYourMidriff: Her outfit in "Round One" is a {{sarashi}} and an open fur vest.
* BarrierWarrior: Every attack she uses is done through Dust, which takes Aura to manipulate. She can block high-caliber sniper rifle shots with her bare hand. While Lie Ren blocked a King Taijitu's fangs in a similar manner, he visibly struggled to do so, while Cinder does so without even flinching. Later episodes imply that the blocking and Dust manipulation powers were results of the Fall Maiden's powers she stole, rather than Aura, but how exactly the Maiden powers and Aura interact is unclear as of yet.
* TheBeastmaster: In flashbacks, she summons a Beetle Grimm from a special glove on her right hand to steal Amber's Maiden powers. The act leaves a tattoo on her back. During the Volume 3 battle for Beacon, Cinder openly communes with the Grimm Dragon that joins the fight against Vale, softly comforting the creature when it becomes agitated. When she experiences more trouble than she expected against the powerful Pyrrha, the Dragon responds to her predicament and charges to her defense. It's the sight of the charging Dragon that distracts Pyrrha and allows Cinder to gain the upper hand.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted; Cinder has been maimed by Ruby's power, and it's revealed in Volume 5 that she [[AnArmAndALeg lost an arm]] and her PeekABangs hide [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/rwby/images/c/cc/V5_13_00116.png/revision/latest?cb=20180116185328 gruesome scars]].
* BifurcatedWeapon: Cinder's weapon consists of a pair of curved blades that can be combined together by their hilts to form a bow. Flashbacks in "Fall" show she originally used a metal version of this weapon, but has since taken to manifesting it via Dust since acquiring half of the Fall Maiden's powers.
* BigWhat: In the Volume 3 finale, Cinder cries out "What?!" in angry disbelief when white power bursts out of Ruby's eyes and engulfs the entire area, freezing the Grimm Dragon in the process and badly wounding her.
* BlackSwordsAreBetter: After absorbing half of the Fall Maiden's power she takes to using black glass versions of the swords she used to wield.
* {{BFS}}: Summons a large, fiery one around three times her height in her fight against Raven. It's basically subverted though since it ends up breaking after a single BladeLock.
* BodyHorror: From Volume 4 onward, she's been maimed by Ruby, and we see the full extent of her injuries in towards the end of Volume 5; her left arm has been replaced with that of a Grimm, and a significant portion of the left side of her face [[FacialHorror is a scarred ruin]]. [[spoiler:In Volume 7, the Grimm arm has spread all the way up her shoulder joint and appears to be exposing muscle.]]
* BowAndSwordInAccord: Her weapons are [[DualWielding a pair of swords]] that can combine to form a bow. She used to have a metallic version of the pair, after absorbing half of the Fall Maiden's power, she can instantly create these swords using Dust.
* BluntYes: Her response to Pyrrha's last words, asking her if she believes in destiny.
* BrokenFaceplate: Downplayed. During the fight at Haven Academy, Cinder is briefly stunned by Ruby's short-lived use of the Silver Eyes power, and Jaune gets a strike in. Cinder manages to move her head just in time to avoid a killing blow, and the edge of Jaune's sword cuts a tiny chip out of the black ceramic covering of her ruined eye. Raven ends up breaking the mask altogether when she touches Cinder's face with her [[FacepalmOfDoom lightning-infused palm]], pushing Cinder off the Vault's ledge.
* TheBully: For all her skill and cunning, Cinder is nothing more than a smug, sadistic bully who enjoys flaunting her power and superiority over those she feels are inferior to her. As she herself states, Cinder wishes to be feared and hates being made to feel helpless in any situation. When Ruby scars Cinder with her Silver Eyes, Cinder develops an immense hatred for her. When fighting Jaune, Cinder needlessly toys with him, calling him "the dense one who can't tell when he's out of his league" and even taunts him over his failure to save Pyrrha. When Jaune manages to nick her mask with his sword, Cinder flies into a rage, ranting at him for daring to think he could actually beat her and impales Weiss with a replica of Pyrrha's spear in a replay of Pyrrha's death just to spite him.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Cinder has a habit of smiling even when witnessing the pain she's caused to others. Jaune makes an impassioned speech to call her out on it, while she remains silent. When he demands she say something in response, she asks who he is, then smirks as his temper snaps.
--> '''Jaune''': What is wrong with you?! How can you be so broken inside?! To take so many lives, and then come back here and rub it in our faces like it's something to be proud of?! All with that damn smile on your face! I'm gonna make you pay for what you did! Do you hear me?! Well? Say something!\\
'''Cinder''': Who are you again?
* TheChessmaster: Cinder is carrying out Salem's long-running plan, which endangers the entire world. Her mission is the obtain the Fall Maiden's powers and bring down Beacon. She predicts most of the cast's moves and adapts with great flexibility when something occurs that hasn't been accounted for. She starts by recruiting Mercury and Emerald, then sapping half the Fall Maiden's powers, then recruiting Torchwick and the White Fang, then commanding Dust robberies and infiltrating Beacon. From there, she infiltrates the CCT Tower, taking control of almost every defense available through the system, including the Vytal Tournament match-ups and Penny. At the end of Volume 3, she succeeds in her mission, although she is badly injured in the process.
* CombatStilettos: All of her outfits include heels, even when roof-hopping and fighting off the soldiers that try to stop her from infiltrating the communications tower in "Dance Dance Infiltration".
* DarkActionGirl: One of the most powerful fighters in the series, she's reserved with a touch of cruelty. She helped defeat the Fall Maiden and stole half of her powers, and as result she was able to duel Glynda in a magical battle, infiltrated the CCT and defeated a room full of armed soldiers single-handedly and held off Ruby using her Dust-crafted [[DualWielding dual blades]]/bow. By the end of "Heroes and Monsters", Cinder has gained all of the Fall Maiden's powers after shooting Amber in the chest with her bow.
* DidntSeeThatComing:
** Cinder enacts all of her plans with a smug attitude of expecting everything that's thrown at her, or easily adapting to the few curveballs thrown her way. However, when Ruby unleashes a previously unknown ability at the end of Volume 3, Cinder's composure vanishes with a shocked shriek of ''"What!?"''. The Volume 4 premiere reveals that Ruby's powers have left her badly scarred, rendered near mute, and utterly humbled.
** At the end of "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Cinder double-crosses Raven and Vernal at the entrance to the Relic's chamber. Freezing Raven, she impales Vernal with her Grimm arm. Hoping to absorb the Spring Maiden's powers, she's shocked to discover there's no power just as Raven breaks free of the ice. Vernal was a decoy -- the real Spring Maiden is Raven.
* DishingOutDirt: Cinder's Semblance lets her superheat objects and manipulate their shape. During her fight with Amber in Volume 3, she turned molten dirt into obsidian projectiles and hurled them at Amber telekinetically. In other scenes, she shapes glass into swords, a spear, and a knife. Most of the time these glass objects are molten in some manner, with Cinder heating and melting and then reshaping them into a new weapon; she is also shown breaking solid glass apart and reshaping it, such as when she shatters an arrow mid-flight to avoid Pyrrha's shield and reforges it with no loss of momentum. Her weapon is a pair of obsidian swords that can be combined to create a bow and arrows, but Ruby reports to Professors Ozpin and Glynda and General Ironwood that she doesn't think that forming and fighting with the weapons was Cinder's Semblance.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In "The More The Merrier", Jaune lashes out at Cinder with his sword and just barely scrapes the mask over the damaged portion of Cinder's face. She pins him to the ground with her foot while she rants about his audacity in thinking he could fight her. When she realizes he values his friends' lives above his own, she creates a javelin that looks similar to Pyrrha's and impales Weiss.
* DissonantSerenity: Everything Cinder says and does is executed with casual grace, whether she's making small talk with Ruby while disguised as a student or beating the crap out of CCT guards. Even when she's crippled Pyrrha and is preparing to kill her, her tone of voice remains calm and slightly smug. The first time Cinder loses her cool is when the power of Ruby's silver eyes activate during the battle of Beacon, catching Cinder completely off-guard. When Ruby's silver eyes briefly de-power her during the battle of Haven, Jaune takes advantage of that to strike for her face; shocked, she barely manages to dodge in time for his sword to do more than knick her face mask. She reacts with utter fury, pinning him to the ground and grinding his chest under foot while she rants angrily. And when Cinder attempts to drain the magic of the Spring Maiden from Vernal, she's so shocked to discover she can't do it, that the fact she can't find the power sends her into the sort of panic usually associated with addicts being denied the substance they're addicted to.
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Cinder takes control of the computers of the CCT, Ironwood's army and Vytal tournament, which allows her to broadcast anything she wants, regardless of any security. When Pyrrha accidentally tears apart Penny, Cinder takes over the air waves to send a global message, condemning Ozpin and Ironwood, all four academies, the Atlas army and to claim the four kingdoms are at the brink of war. Even though Oobleck tries to cut the feed, the broadcast team can't do it.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Cinder's desire is to become strong, feared and powerful and she works for Salem because it gives her the opportunity to steal Maiden powers. While she only possesses half the Fall Maiden's power, she executes Salem's plan for the destruction of Beacon Academy with great cunning, patience and adaptability, and obtains the Fall Maiden's full power. While recovering from injuries inflicted by Ruby, she becomes increasingly intolerant of Salem's measured approach to pursuing her goals and is warned by Salem to wait patiently for further power. Once unleashed to lead the infiltration of Haven Academy, Cinder's leadership becomes increasingly unstable. She revels in bullying others by flaunting her Maiden power and she watches the Spring Maiden's demonstration of power with an expression of undisguised lust; when Raven concludes that Cinder is egomaniacal, Watts agrees. Cinder sacrifices caution and stealth for the chance to confront Ruby and uses the first opportunity she gets to try and steal the Spring Maiden's power for herself, revealing in the process that she's replaced her left arm with a Grimm arm that makes it easier for her to steal Maiden powers. As a result of her obsession, impatience and growing lust for power, she ruins Salem's plan; Haven Academy is rescued, the villains are forced to flee, and Cinder is cast into a bottomless abyss by the Spring Maiden.
* DualWielding: When she infiltrates the CCT, she fights the guards and Ruby by creating a pair of combine-able swords made from Dust. In a flashback to before she gained half of Amber's powers, she used fighting a metallic, more conventional version of the swords. In Volume 5, she doesn't use her left arm since it's entirely covered in a long sleeve, at least until revealing it to be her trump card in absorbing the Maidens' powers, after which she begins dual-wielding again in her fight against Raven.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: When Salem expresses disappointment at [[PsychoSupporter Tyrian's]] failure to capture Ruby, Tyrian is devastated. He takes out his rage and sorrow on a Grimm that's attracted to his emotional state. This otherwise [[AnimalisticAbomination dangerous monster]] is rendered defenceless under an onslaught of wild hacking and slashing as Tyrian's [[CryLaughing sobs]] transform into [[LaughingMad manic laughter]]. Cinder is a power-hungry sociopath who delights in hurting and killing people, but she is so alarmed and unnerved by Tyrian's breakdown that she can only watch in open-mouthed horror.
* EvilCounterpart: For Ruby. A young girl being admitted into Beacon two years early contrasting with a woman infiltrating the same school illegitimately. Ruby relies on Crescent Rose almost exclusively during combat while Cinder has one of the most varied fighting styles in the entire cast. Both are looking to change the world, with Ruby hoping to give everyone a happy ending while Cinder appears to want to throw the world into chaos. They even share the same red-and-black color scheme, but where Ruby is accented with silver, Cinder is accented with gold. By the end of Volume 3 they both now possess legendary magical powers; while Cinder stole her Fall Maiden abilities by force, Ruby inherited her Silver eyed warrior powers naturally from her mother. Salem confirms that, while Cinder now has unimaginable power, it carries with it a crippling weakness - Ruby's power.
* EvilFeelsGood: After stealing half of the Full Maiden power, Cinder describes the feeling as "[[HorrorHunger an emptiness that burns like hunger]]", and confesses she likes it.
* EvilIsBurningHot: When Amber uses the powers of the Fall Maiden, she displays the ability to create tornadoes and bursts of fire. She can freeze leaves into flechettes and levitate. However, when Cinder absorbs the powers of the Fall Maiden, she only uses the levitation power and the fire ability. Prior to obtaining the power, she utilized her Semblance to superheat up things like glass from melted sand, so fire is what she has an affinity for.
* EvilIsPetty: Going hand-in-hand with her egomania. Cinder's driven to uplift herself while bringing everyone else down. If someone she perceives as beneath her gets the better of her, she ''will'' pay them back in the worst way possible, even if doing so is either pointless or detrimental to the long-term plan. She agrees to a deal with Raven to kill Qrow in exchange for her services because it will also allow her to get back at Ruby for maiming her, blowing off Watts's argument that doing so could jeopardize Salem's plans, and when Jaune damages her eyepatch, she flies into an UnstoppableRage, rants at him for his audacity in thinking he could fight her, and when he says that the others' lives are more valuable than his own, she impales Weiss with a flaming javelin reminiscent of Pyrrha's just to spite and hurt him.
* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: Cinder starts off as a beautiful young woman who wants to be strong, powerful and feared. To obtain great power, she uses a parasite Grimm to steal the Fall Maiden's power, which leaves a supernatural tattoo on her back. Although becoming the Fall Maiden gives her enormous magical abilities, it also makes her vulnerable to Ruby's innate magical ability. During the Battle of Beacon, Cinder is badly injured by Ruby's power. She spends all of Volume 4 recovering from her injuries, which leave her scarred on the left side of her body. She initially wears a mask to hide the ruined half of her face and replaces her destroyed left arm with a full Grimm arm, which she initially hides underneath a long sleeve. When she returns to form, she is dangerously unstable, obsessed with seeking revenge against Ruby and is so overcome with lust for further power that she ruins Salem's plan to obtain the Relic of Knowledge by trying to use her new Grimm arm to steal the Spring Maiden's power for herself. Raven even lampshades it, telling Cinder point-blank that she turned herself into a monster for power.
* EyepatchOfPower: As a result of losing her eye to Ruby, Cinder's left eye now has a simple black patch over it. However, her PeekABangs makes it hard to see most of the time.
* EyeScream: Cinder's left eye is destroyed by Ruby's Silver Eye powers at the end of Volume 3, and she's given a nasty scar across the left-side of her face in its place.
* FaceFramedInShadow: When she fights Ruby in Episode 1, her face is completely shadowed except for one burning eye. Due to this, when she and Ruby meet face-to-face, she's wearing different clothing so Ruby doesn't recognize her.
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Outwardly, Cinder is a beautiful young woman and she has no trouble blending in with the students when the four Academies gather at Beacon for the Vytal Festival. While she and her subordinates play the part of Haven students who befriend the protagonists in classes and help to protect the Kingdom of Vale from the Grimm, she is in reality the one who assaulted the Fall Maiden and spends the school year secretly infiltrating security networks so she can rig the Vytal Festival tournament fights to ensure maximum chaos when her assault on Vale begins in earnest. Sadistic, cruel, and power-hungry, Cinder revels in the destruction of Beacon and the terror and death she inflicts upon the citizens of Vale. When she murders Pyrrha for trying to protect Beacon from her, she accidentally triggers a previously unknown magical ability linked to Ruby's silver eyes that subverts this trope when it leaves her permanently scarred on the left side of her body; from Volume 4, she wears a mask to cover the damage to her face and wears a long sleeve to hide her left arm, which is later revealed to have been replaced by a Grimm arm.
* FanservicePack: Inverted. For the first three volumes, she was a standard MsFanservice and tended to have many shots and outfits that would exploit that. Her main outfit was a curve-hugging minidress with black ModestyShorts underneath during many upskirt shots in Volume Three. In Volume Four, her outfit became much more conservative. It was still a dress that hugged her curves and showed off her figure, but it was longer and she covered up her left arm entirely. And with her disfigurement, her left eye was covered as well to hide her scars. Volume Five revealed that her left arm was cut off as well and she now has an extendable Grimm arm with scarring where the arm meets the stump. Volume Six takes this further when she has to find a disguise. The outfit she wears is rather baggy and doesn't show off much of her figure. It even covers more than her previous outfit did. The trope is played straight with her new outfit in the Volume Six finale. She goes to a sleeveless look with thigh highs. [[spoiler: Though, this is still mitigated by the fact that her Grimm arm now consumes more of her body and the muscles can be seen underneath it.]]
* FashionableAsymmetry: From Volume 4 onwards, she's taken to wearing a dress that exposes her right arm and leg while her left arm and leg are completely covered. Given the loss of her left eye and scarring on the left side of her face, it's possible that Ruby's power damaged more of her left side.
* FatalFlaw: Her egomania, with a side order of sadism, an insatiable hunger for power, and a severe case of pettiness, have all led to her losing badly several times. Cinder's driven to uplift herself while bringing everyone else down, even if she has to pause to waste time gloating instead of completing the plan without incident. If someone she perceives as beneath her gets the better of her, she ''will'' pay them back in the worst way possible, even if doing so is either pointless or detrimental to the long-term plan. If she thinks there's a way to fulfill Salem's mission and get what she wants she'll go for it, no matter how risky it is. Her cruel, arrogant lust for power finally gets the better of her near the end of Volume 5, when she falls for Raven's decoy and exposes herself to defeat by Raven's hand. [[spoiler:In Volume 7, her need to gloat to Fria instead of immediately taking Fria's power gives the ailing Winter Maiden time to focus her mind and protect herself just long enough for help to arrive. Cinder then wastes even more time to take revenge on Winter for cutting off her Grimm arm, distracting Cinder from killing Fria and allowing Penny to become the new Winter Maiden instead.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: Cinder is very charismatic and capable of putting on a polite front as a means of getting what she wants. However, it is all a facade to hide her true sinister nature. When negotiating with Adam and the White Fang, she acts polite and respectful towards him and begrudgingly forces herself to bow in respect when he refuses her offer. However, once she obtains half of the Fall Maiden's power, she returns and slaughters his men to force him to join him. When overlooking the chaos in Vale, she revels in the carnage and tells Mercury to record it. As her sanity decays throughout Volume 5, Cinder's polite facade becomes less sincere as more of her sadistic side shines through, seen in her negotiations with Raven where her politeness is undercut by her thinly-veiled death threats towards her and her tribe.
* FlamingSword: During her fight with Ozpin, she is shown to be able to ignite her swords with fire. She does it again in "The More The Merrier" when she decides to get serious during her fight with Jaune.
* {{Flight}}: Cinder has the ability to fly up the Beacon Tower's lift shaft and hovers every so often during her final battle of Volume 3. It's an ability she gains only after obtaining the full power of the Fall Maiden. In flashbacks, Amber is also shown to be able to hover when using the Fall Maiden power.
* {{Foil}}: Volume 5 strongly contrasts Cinder and Raven, even placing them back-to-back in promotional posters. Cinder wants to be known and feared while Raven wants to be a hit-and-run criminal who avoids the limelight. Cinder seeks to be actively involved in the war between Salem and Ozpin while Raven has done her best to stay out of it. Cinder enjoys flashing around her Maiden abilities at every opportunity while Raven has tried so hard to hide hers that she even created a decoy to distract attention from her. Both also get their Maiden powers by killing the previous Maidens, but while Cinder shows no remorse in her pursuit of power, Raven shows some hint of regret of what she did and tries to justify her action as an act of mercy for the weak Maiden so she won't be hunted by Salem for the rest of her life.
* GlassWeapon: Cinder's weapon are a pair of blades made from obsidian glass that can be combined to create a bow that fires either regular or explosive-tipped arrows.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Her eyes glow yellow when using her fire powers, and gain flaming streaks when enhancing that fire power with the Fall Maiden powers.
* GoodProstheticEvilProsthetic: The protagonists who have prosthetic replacements have limbs that are made with advanced Atlesian technology which function like their missing limbs and also incorporate their style of fighting to ensure they can still function as Huntsmen. General Ironwood uses clothing to completely hide the prosthetic part of his body, even when it means wearing one hand gloved and one hand ungloved, and he only uses his prosthetic arm in battle against the Grimm where its great physical strength allows him to fight without weapons. The Volume 3 finale sees both Yang and Cinder lose an arm which is replaced in Volume 4 by General Ironwood and Salem respectively. Yang chooses to paint her prosthetic in her signature color scheme (yellow with black accents), incorporating it into her asymmetrical fashion style and therefore displaying it openly. Cinder hides her prosthetic behind an overlong sleeve which allows her to use her new arm as a surprise attack: her new limb is a Grimm arm which is capable of stretching well beyond its normal range. It also enables her to easily steal the power of other Maidens by absorbing it as her victim dies in agony. [[spoiler: Even worse, the arm seems to be consuming more of her body since it has now extended up to her shoulder.]]
* GoodScarsEvilScars: During the battle of Haven, her mask is shattered, revealing the extent of the damage Ruby did to her at the end of the Battle of Beacon. From the right side of her nose across to her left ear, her face is a scarred ruin, her left eye sealed shut as a result of the extent of the damage.
* GunshipRescue: She arrives in a gunship to bail Roman out in Episode 1 of Volume 1.
* GutturalGrowler: After becoming heavily scarred and losing an eye from being maimed by Ruby's silver-eyes, Cinder begins to adopt this tone. Though she mostly speaks normally, when becoming agitated or enraged her voice gains a rough edge to it. It's a reflection of Cinder's gradual SanitySlippage since the aforementioned maiming, as pre-scarring she spoke in a soft, faux-soothing tone while her plans generally went in her favor.
* HairTriggerTemper: As a sign of her growing mental instability after being maimed by Ruby's Silver Eyes, Cinder is prone to violent fits of rage at the most minuscule slights or when something doesn't go her way. In Volume 5, when Jaune manages to nick her mask, Cinder flies into a rage and rants at him for daring to think that someone as weak as him could stand a chance against her and it takes visible effort for her to calm down. [[spoiler:In the Volume 7 finale, when Winter cuts off Cinder's Grimm arm, Cinder viciously attacks her in retaliation by repeatedly throwing swords at her, nearly killing her.]]
* HateSink: [[AmbitionIsEvil Cinder Fall]] displays numerous negative traits that put her at odds even with her allies. She "teaches" Emerald her place by slapping her when Emerald tries to question her decisions; when Jaune confronts her about Pyrrha's murder, she mocks his lack of ability to protect the people he cares about, then tries to make him suffer just for having the audacity to try and defeat her; after unleashing the Grimm and White Fang upon Vale, she watches the citizens dying with undisguised pleasure. Her lack of loyalty causes Mercury to call Emerald deluded for being so loyal to a woman who doesn't return it and even estranges her from Salem, whose orders she is only willing to follow until they conflict with her own desire to kill Ruby. She is self-aware, revels in her cruelty and shows no higher ideals, not even in [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist distorted forms]]. Beneath her facade of a [[DarkActionGirl strong warrior]], she is a [[EvilIsPetty petty]], sadistic [[TheBully bully]] who needs others to suffer so that she can feel powerful.
* HealingFactor: Although her Aura cannot protect or heal her Grimm arm, the limb is capable of regenerating itself after extensive damage. [[spoiler:In her battle against Penny and Winter, Winter manages to cut Cinder's arm off entirely. After the arm disintegrates, Cinder howls in pain as a new arm grows out from her stump.]]
* TheHeavy: After Torchwick's imprisonment at the end of Volume 2, she becomes the main villain focus, driving the villainous plot and being the woman that Ozpin's secret group is trying to find. Her role becomes more significant after Roman's death, and once Salem is revealed as the villain Cinder is working for.
* HeroKiller: She orchestrates all of the tournament fights to ensure the right people are paired up to achieve her goals. She also doesn't hold back during the battle of Beacon, resulting in her actions getting several people killed. She orchestrates Pyrrha and Penny's fight so that Emerald can trick Pyrrha into destroying Penny. Later on, she shoots Amber dead to steal the remaining Fall Maiden power and then fights Pyrrha to the death. When Pyrrha's Aura finally runs out, leaving her without her Semblance, Cinder burns her to death from the inside out with a fiery arrow. Her attempt to re-enact Pyrrha's death by forcing Jaune to watch as she impales Weiss with a summoned replica of Pyrrha's javelin is what finally awakens Jaune's Semblance, the only thing that prevents Weiss from dying of her injuries.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: Everything about her is shrouded in mystery. We don't what she wants or why she wants it. Although her boss and fellow villains are known, why Cinder wants to be involved is poorly understood, especially as it becomes clear early in Volume 4 that there are things about her position that Cinder was not previously told, much to her dislike.
* HighClassGloves: Adding to the Cinderella imagery, Cinder wears shoulder length gloves on two separate occasions: A black pair in "Dance Dance Infiltration" as part of her SpyCatsuit, and a purple one in Volume 4.
* HijackedDestiny: She used a PowerParasite Grimm to steal half of the Fall Maiden power from Amber. While Cinder was mostly just after the power, the Maidens have a key role in the fight against Salem, and since Cinder is one of her subordinates, [[BewareTheSuperman this allows Salem to undermine the efforts against her]]. Pyrrha was intended to get the remainder of Amber's power, but Cinder killed her to take the rest for herself; she claims to Pyrrha that the Fall Maiden power was hers by right the entire time, and Pyrrha was promised something that was never hers. Later, she tries to steal the Spring Maiden power from Raven as well, declaring that the [[{{Narcissist}} only one worthy]] of any of the Maiden powers is herself.
* HorrorHunger: In the flashback, Cinder attempts to use a strange piece of summoning technology, in the form of a white glove, to give herself more power. Cinder is only able to partially complete the process and, when on the phone to a mysterious contact, she describes the feeling she's been left with as an "emptiness that burns like hunger". She then adds that she likes the feeling. The glove summons a Beetle Grimm that absorbs Amber's Fall Maiden power. Qrow interrupts the process before it can complete, resulting in Cinder only achieving half-Maiden status and Amber being trapped in a coma.
* HumanPopsicle: Freezes Raven solid so that she can freely attack Vernal, although she manages to break out. When Raven defeats her, she sends Cinder flying into the Haven vault's chasm and freezes Cinder's falling body in the same way just for good measure. Cinder later awakens drowning in an underground lake surrounded by melting ice. When she gets out of water, daylight is seen through the crack in a wall, indicating she spent at least several hours frozen, as the battle of Maidens happened at night. Her WantedPoster implies it might be closer to a month.
* AnIcePerson: When Amber uses the Fall Maiden power, she demonstrates the ability to freeze leaves and use them as flechette weapons. Once Cinder steals the power, she initially favours the use of fire until her control of the ability improves. After that, she begins to use ice attacks to freeze her opponents solid. Cinder senses Raven moving to attack her from behind and throws an ice-based power ball at her; Raven freezes solid, allowing Cinder to freely attack Vernal.
* IControlMyMinionsThrough: Authority. Cinder is very authoritarian and direct when interacting with her subordinates Emerald and Mercury. She expects her instructions to be followed to the letter and does not tolerate any disobedience, telling them to "don't think, obey". She is also secretive, keeping Roman on a strict need-to-know basis. When Emerald disagrees with Cinder recruiting Mercury to the team, Cinder slaps her in response, telling her to know her place. Later, when ambushing Amber, Cinder tells them to execute the attack exactly as planned. Cinder later reprimands both Emerald and Mercury for murdering Tukson as it could've blown their cover.
* ItsPersonal: She appears to have formed an intense hatred for Ruby due to being defeated and crippled by her silver eye powers, and makes sure to add during Salem's meeting that something must be done about her. When training during the Volume 4 finale, she has [[MasterOfIllusion Emerald]] summon an illusion of a defenseless Ruby on the floor begging for mercy, before she burns it with her Fall Maiden powers in a manner more concentrated than when she was testing her powers on some Grimm.
* JavelinThrower: During the battle of Haven, she summons a javelin to use on the battleground. The javelin she summons resembles Pyrrha's and she throws it at Weiss just to torment her opponent, Jaune, by forcing him to watch a replay of Pyrrha's death.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: When Adam threatens her with Wilt and Blush in order to get her to leave the White Fang alone, she decides to back out. However, she comes back when she's stolen Amber's power, and now that she's capable of annihilating the White Fang, Adam has no choice but to go with her.
%%* KubrickStare: Wears this often with an enigmatic grin, with her PeekABangs helping considerably.
* LackOfEmpathy: She has absolutely no compassion for anyone. If she even acknowledges people, they are merely tools pushing her plans further or obstacles that need to be crushed. She looks onto the carnage of Vale by the Grimm and calmly says it's "horrendous" as if it is something to be admired. Jaune even calls her out on it, demanding to know how she could be proud of all the suffering she's caused. The only acknowledgement she has for people's feeling is how she can use them to manipulate or hurt them. Mercury outright states that she doesn't care about either of them when Emerald believes otherwise.
* LadyOfBlackMagic: She's ever so composed and elegant, and a powerful user of [[PlayingWithFire fire]]. In her first battle during the pilot episode, she engages in a magical duel with Glynda, where she transforms whatever Glynda throws at her into a range of things that either become dust and scatter or attempt to strike Glynda and Ruby. During the fight, she's on a careening plane with an open hatch, but aside from poised, carefully placed leg movements, she rarely loses her balance. Once she gains the full power of the Fall Maiden, she can float in the air, conjure fire in her hands, and disintegrate and reintegrate her own arrows so that they can unnaturally bend around solid objects that get in the way of the flight path.
* LadyOfWar: Cinder maintains an air of calm and reserve, even in the heat of battle. When she infiltrates Beacon Tower, she initially employs stealth, then fights the guards in a spinning and whirling style that makes it appear as though she's dancing, even when it buys her the time to manifest glass-based and Dust-based weapons in the middle of fighting. When Ruby confronts her, she makes summoning forth a bow and arrows while engaging in leaping dodges look effortless.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Cinder wishes for nothing but to be strong, feared, and powerful, and appears to gain that by becoming the Fall Maiden and instigating the fall of Beacon Tower and Ozpin. After she is wounded in the Volume 3 finale, Salem forces her to stay close for healing, revealing that Cinder now has a crippling weakness to Ruby's power. Salem's other subordinates have no respect for her, view her as a failure and mock her injuries. Cinder didn't expect this outcome and resents it, having gone from strong, feared and powerful to weak, mocked, and protected.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Her appearances tend to be accompanied by a chilling low string motif in contrast to Salem's piano motif. Said motif also gets fuller and longer if she's overwhelming her opponent or making major progress in her plans, always adding an equally low set of intense choral vocals when she engages in battle. It reaches a climax of [[OminousLatinChanting sinister chanting]] when she kills Pyrrha, and is silenced when Ruby cripples her using her silver eyes. For the majority of volume 4, it's absent, only to make a return when she breaks out of her depression and burns an illusion of Ruby without hesitation. In Volume 5, the sinister chanting returns when she creates a copy of Pyrrha's javelin in a deliberate attempt to kill Weiss in a way that mimics Pyrrha's death, just to torment Jaune. An orchestral version of the tune plays when she falls to her assumed demise after her duel with Raven in "Downfall".
* LoopholeAbuse: Salem orders her subordinates to capture Ruby alive and bring her to Salem. Cinder, however, wants Ruby dead and thinks up a plan to try and achieve that without falling foul of Salem's wrath. When Neo turns up trying to avenge Roman's death by killing Cinder, Cinder tells her that the real culprit is Ruby and that they should team up to take her down together. Cinder admits that she's under orders not to kill Ruby but that Neo is not. As a result, once they find Ruby, Cinder will obtain the Relic for Salem while Neo is free to do what she likes to Ruby.
* {{Lust}}: For power. Cinder wants to be strong, feared, and powerful by her own admission, and goes to such lengths as replacing her arm with that of a Grimm and murdering Amber to take the Fall Maiden power for herself. Even that isn't enough for her; she just wants ''more'', and tries to take the Spring Maiden powers for herself as well, all while ranting that she's the only one worthy of it.
* MageMarksman: Skilled with archery along with her use of Dust. Her fight in CCT shows that she can conjure blades, bows, and exploding arrows from Dust, thanks to the Fall Maiden's powers.
* MagicKnight: As the Fall Maiden, Cinder has access to incredible magical powers, creating streams of fire, turning shards of molten metal into ice or glass projectiles, and being able to completely immolate a corpse to ash with a single touch. She's no slouch in close combat either, being able to easily overwhelm Ruby in sword-to-scythe combat while also being a skilled archer.
* TheManBehindTheMan: For most of Volume 1, Roman Torchwick was seen as the prime antagonist. Then she shows up at the very end to prove that he's working for her. She herself is the subordinate of the true villain, Salem - Ozpin's ArchEnemy.
* MarkedChange: The flashback reveals how Cinder obtains the tattoo on her back that lies between her shoulder blades. She uses a strange piece of summoning technology, in the form of a white glove, to give herself more power. The glove was absorbed into her body after use, leaving behind a PowerTattoo. The glove contains a red symbol of an eye inside a circle which summons forth a Beetle Grimm that steals half of Amber's Maiden power and transfers it to Cinder. After use, the Beetle Grimm vanishes and the glove faded into Cinder's arm, leaving behind the tattoo.
* MeaningfulRename: Her surname "Fall" is another name for "Autumn". The Fall Maiden's codename is Autumn, and Cinder steals the Fall Maiden's power in two stages to become the new Fall Maiden. Raven believes the surname is far too coincidental to be her real surname and suggests only an egomaniac would advertise herself in such a fashion. Watts implies that Raven's assessment is correct.
* MinidressOfPower: In the first three volumes, she has one of the shortest and most revealing dresses of any cast member, given the shortest part of the skirt has a slit up the side that reveal she's wearing either hotpants or a tight skirt underneath. Best seen in [[https://vine.co/v/hPdKOQjEZbV this rigging test of her character model]]
* MsFanservice: She is certainly a voluptuous individual, and the camera angles are (in)famous for milking this for [[MaleGaze all of its worth]], providing us with some tantalizing shots, the most famous of which being [[http://i.imgur.com/UCmDocQ.gif a butt shot in "Dance Dance Infiltration"]]. Also, when given the chance, we see a bunch of the black shorts she wears underneath (as in the Volume 3 opening, and "Beginning of the End"). It's downplayed by Volume 4, as while she is still very curvy, she now has an enormous, nasty scar running across the entire left side of her face, courtesy of Ruby's Silver Eye powers. Cinder hides the majority of the damage with a large eyepatch, but bits of scar tissue still poke through, hinting at just how bad the disfigurement is underneath. Volume 5 downplays it even further with the revelation that Cinder lost most of her left arm at the end of Volume 3 and has replaced it with an extendable Grimm arm, complete with noticeable scarring where the arm meets the stump.
* MuggedForDisguise: When Cinder is down on her luck and has no other option available, she has no problem mugging the first woman she comes across to steal her clothes and change her appearance. Cinder escapes the Vault of the Spring Maiden by punching a hole through rock with her Grimm arm. Exhausted by her battle with Raven, she collapses on the ground where she is discovered by a passing woman, who stops to see if Cinder needs help. Cinder kills the woman and steals both her clothes and money. The clothes help hide her appearance from the Mistral authorities and the money helps her pay for an audience with Lil' Miss Malachite.
* MundaneUtility: During the festival, Cinder joins her subordinates in the stands to watch the tournament. When she finds an unpopped kernel in Mercury's bucket of popcorn, she uses her Semblance to cook it directly in her hand.
* MysteriousPast: How she met Salem and joined forces with her is unknown. The only part of her past that is shown is her recruitment of her followers to set up the plan to attack Beacon Academy. She apparently wants to be strong, feared and powerful, but the reason for that is unknown.
* {{Narcissist}}: Cinder admits that she wants to be "strong, feared, and powerful", implying a need for recognition by others. During her fight with Pyrrha, she attempts to de-legitimise Pyrrha's eligibility to receive the power to bolster her sense of superiority. When Ruby permanently injures her at the end of Volume 3, Cinder begins developing a vengeful obsession with her. While still recovering from her injuries, she is disgruntled and frustrated with having to suffer disrespect and insults from the rest of Salem's subordinates. When she first meets Raven, the latter concludes that Cinder has a "slight case of egomania" to have a name that is suspiciously fitting for a Fall Maiden. When she fights Jaune, she only stops toying with him when he manages to strike her mask, almost injuring her; she instantly flies into a rage, ranting about the audacity of someone as weak as him daring to think he could beat her. When she confronts the Spring Maiden at the Relic of Knowledge's vault, she outright claims that the only person worthy of possessing such power is herself.
* NecessaryDrawback: As powerful and dangerous as Cinder's Grimm arm is, able to extend and steal Maiden power, its nature means Cinder's Aura can't protect it. After one of her swords is shattered by Raven, a bit of shrapnel stabs into her arm while the rest of her is unharmed.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The students only have a month in which to prepare for Salem's attack on Haven Academy, but they are nowhere near the ability needed to take on forces as powerful as Salem's subordinates. Salem's failure to procure the Relic of Knowledge is therefore entirely because of Cinder's impatience and hunger for power. She eagerly accepts a deal with Raven to kill Qrow in exchange for her aid in the attack on Haven Academy because it gives her an opportunity for revenge on Ruby. This puts Team RWBY into a perfect position to interfere with the villains' attempt to obtain the Relic. When she, Raven, and Vernal are at the door to the Vault, Cinder doesn't wait for Vernal to open the Vault; instead, she impales Vernal in an attempt to steal the Spring Maiden powers for herself. She discovers too late that Vernal was only a decoy and that Raven was the true Spring Maiden all along. The end result: Raven defeats Cinder, casting her into the Vault's abyss and freezing her into ice, allowing Yang to secure the Relic and forcing Salem's remaining minions to flee empty-handed. Salem knows that she survived, but makes it clear to her other subordinates that she will not allow Cinder to return until she redeems herself for her failure.
* NiceShoes: In episode one her shoes make a distinct clinking sound when she walks revealing them to be made of glass.
* NotSoDifferent: Invoked in "Downfall". When Raven expresses disgust at how far Cinder's willing to go for power and calls her a monster, Cinder retorts "Look who's talking!" While it seems like little more than a LameComeback at the time, it's revealed in the very next episode that Raven killed the previous Spring Maiden and took her power for herself, just as Cinder killed Amber for the Fall Maiden power.
* NotQuiteDead: At the climax of the fight between Cinder and Raven, Raven manages to kick Cinder over the cliff into the Vault of the Spring Maiden's chasm. After a moment's hesitation, Raven [[HumanPopsicle freezes Cinder's body]] to ice to make sure she really does die. What Raven doesn't know is that the chasm ends in water. Cinder regains consciousness as she's drowning underwater surrounded by the remnants of melting ice. She manages to claw her way back to the shoreline, but she is so exhausted from battle and almost drowning that she can barely stand; she doesn't even have the strength to summon any reliable magic.
* OhCrap:
** An expression of utter shock is the last one to register on her face, courtesy of being frozen solid whilst being kicked into the abyss below Haven's Vault.
** [[spoiler:In the Volume 7 finale, her expression when seeing Ruby again is a look of abstract horror. Despite bringing out two swords immediately she can only stand and stare at her before one flash of Ruby's eyes makes her flee.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** During the Volume 3 finale, Ruby unleashes an ability neither she nor Cinder ever expected to exist. Cinder, who until that point had been carrying out the villainous plot with smug, self-assured pleasure, is shocked into panic as she unleashes an incredulous BigWhat. It's a game-changer for Cinder, revealing that the mythical powers she's been stealing have a crippling weakness to Ruby's inherited and equally mythical power. It leaves her permanently scarred down the left side of her body, forcing her to wear a mask that hides the left side of her face and resulting in her replacing her left arm with that of a Grimm. It takes her the whole of Volume 4 just to recover.
** Cinder usually engages in battles with a smug, condescending attitude, often toying with her enemies. [[spoiler:In her battle with Winter and Penny in the Volume 7 Finale, however, Cinder's smug attitude is instead replaced with a burning hatred towards the elite Atlesians and she pursues Fria's power as desperately as if she were physically starving for it. And as the fight progresses and it becomes less likely that she will claim the Winter Maiden's power, her anger and desperation grows. By the end of the episode, Cinder is reduced to screaming in impotent rage over her failure.]]
-->'''Cinder:''' [[spoiler:You Atlas elites are all the same! You think hoarding power means you'll have it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier! And I refuse to starve.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Emerald and Mercury argue over Emerald's reliance on Cinder. She believes Cinder cares about her because Cinder rescued her from poverty, trained her, and gives her things every so often. Mercury claims that Cinder doesn't care about either of them and that Emerald is in denial. When she says that she had no family until she met Cinder, Mercury sarcastically tells her that he's sorry she didn't have a mother who loved her. The argument strongly implies that Emerald looks up to Cinder as a mother-figure and that Mercury believes the feeling is not mutual.
* PeekABangs: Her left eye is covered by her hair. From Volume 4 onwards, it also covers extensive facial scarring.
* PlayingWithFire: After gaining the Fall Maiden's powers, Cinder began using fire attacks, both directly in the form of bursts of heat and force, as well as using the heat to shape glass weaponry and projectiles. Even after she gains the entirety of the Fall Maiden's powers, which include ice, wind, and lightning abilities, she still mostly attacks with fire.
* PowerGlows: The patterns on the collar and sleeves of her dress (and on her catsuit) light up bright yellow when using Aura. The first Remnant History episode states that some "old-school" Dust Users put Dust into their clothing. When Ruby and Glynda discuss it, Ironwood points out it's such a time-honoured tradition that it can't be used to identify the villain's identity, indicating that it may be an "old school" method, but it's still very commonly used.
* ThePowerOfGlass: Variation. Cinder Fall's Semblance allows her to [[PlayingWithFire superheat]] objects, which she mainly uses for turning earth into various glass-shaped weapons. This is in keeping with her {{Fairytale Motif|s}} of ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', who [[IconicItem is famously associated]] with glass slippers.
* PowerParasite: Cinder absorbed the Fall Maiden's power from Amber by using some form of parasitic Grimm creature that appears from a portal conjured in her {{Tricked Out Glove|s}}. When she attempts to steal the Spring Maiden's power at the entrance to the chamber containing the Relic of Knowledge, she uses her left arm, which has been hidden since she was injured during the Battle of Beacon. The arm is now a Grimm arm which can extend out and, like the parasitic Grimm, can absorb a Maiden's power for Cinder's use.
* PragmaticVillainy: Cinder berates Emerald and Mercury for killing Tukson without her orders, but not because she's against the murder, especially since she had ordered Torchwick to do so anyway. She's just pissed that Emerald and Mercury risked exposing themselves by killing someone when they need to keep their hands clean for the infiltration of Beacon and sabotaging the Vytal Festival. Come Volume 5, however, Cinder sacrifices all sense of pragmatism; she's so [[RevengeBeforeReason fixated on getting revenge on Ruby]] for maiming her that she'll do anything to do so, even if she has to violate Salem's orders to do it.
* PsychoticSmirk: Whenever she feels she's on top of her enemies or has the upper hand, she will smile with smug glee at the pain and suffering that will ensue; when she witnesses the scale of suffering she's caused during the fall of Beacon, she smiles. As her sanity continues to degrade throughout Volume 5, her smiles become more frequent and more demented: Witnessing the Spring Maiden demonstrate her powers leaves Cinder leaning forward with a smile of longing and pure lust for power, giving her a deranged expression. When fighting Jaune during the battle of Haven, her smiles become almost wild as she torments him over Pyrrha's death and how badly Weiss is doing in her own fight against Vernal. When she fights Raven, their blades lock and Cinder's smiling face is almost unhinged as she starts to overpower Raven.
%% * PsychopathicManchild: While Cinder is very powerful, intelligent, and dangerous, her desire for power, [[TheBully determination to flaunt her power over those she considers inferior]], [[EvilIsPetty determination to retaliate against]] ''[[EvilIsPetty any]]'' [[EvilIsPetty perceived slight against her]] in the worst possible way, and constant bragging about how such things as the Maiden powers are worthy of her and her alone all combine to make her sound like a petulant spoiled brat throwing a tantrum because no one's kissing her ass. The mere fact that Jaune was able to land a single blow on her that only nicked her eyepatch is enough to send her into an UnstoppableRage over his audacity, leading to her ranting at him over thinking he could actually fight her and trying to kill Weiss purely to spite and hurt him. [[spoiler:When trying to steal the Winter Maiden power from Fria, Cinder degrades more and more into this as Fria edges closer to her death and she desperately attempts to claim her powers for herself, screaming in a shrill voice that Fria's powers are hers, not Penny's]].
%%-->'''Cinder''': Did you think you actually had a chance against me?! '''''YOU?!'''''
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives quite the scathing one to both the kingdoms of Vale and Atlas soon after Pyrrha's (accidental) killing of Penny, questioning why a place like Beacon would make {{Child Soldier}}s who could be prone to {{Heroic BSOD}}s so easily or why the heavily militarized Atlas would go and build RidiculouslyHumanRobots like Penny, make them combat ready and let them wander around so easily. She even claims that Mistral, the kingdom she and her associates apparently hail from, is just as bad.
* RedRightHand: The scars Cinder suffered along the left side of her body better reflect just how selfish and cruel Cinder is and, since becoming the Fall Maiden, she has become increasingly unstable, taking a sadistic delight in hurting others. The clothing style she uses to hide the left side of her body also hides the fact that her left arm has been replaced by a Grimm arm that can unnaturally extend at will. The arm possesses a similar ability to the Parasite Grimm she absorbed to enable her to steal Amber's power. Like the Grimm, she revels in the negative reactions of the people she torments.
* RevengeBeforeReason: From Volume 4 onwards, Cinder's entire motivation is getting back at Ruby for crippling her at the end of Volume 3, and it begins to [[SanitySlippage eat away at her mind]], leading her to adapt her plans for personal gain rather than necessity. Watts even lampshades it when Cinder agrees to a deal with Raven, calling her out on her growing obsession and fearing it may jeopardize Salem's plans. He's proven right when Cinder's hatred and obsession lead her to underestimate Raven; this leads to the villains failing to obtain the Relic or destroy Haven Academy, and Cinder herself being nearly killed by Raven and exiled from Salem's group. In Volume 6, Cinder realizes she needs to obtain the Relic before she can return to Salem, but she still wants revenge against Ruby. As Salem wants Ruby alive and has ordered Cinder not to kill her, Cinder tells Neo that the person she needs to kill for Roman's death is Ruby; by turning Neo against Ruby, Cinder hopes that Neo can kill Ruby, thereby allowing Cinder to return to Salem with the Relic and not get into trouble for Ruby's death.
* RubberMan: Cinder's new Grimm-like arm can stretch just like the Nuckelavee's arms, which she uses to impale Vernal through the stomach before slowly walking up to her.
* {{Sadist}}: Cinder takes pleasure in the pain of others. When she infiltrates the CCT, she defeats the guards with a smile on her face and assesses her network access in amusement while standing over their bodies. She describes watching the Grimm slaughtering Vale citizens as "wonderful", and when she stole the first half of Amber's power, she drew out the pain of Amber's last conscious moments with needless theatrics that gave Amber the chance to see what was going to happen to her and beg for life in horror. When she kills Pyrrha, she doesn't simply shoot her through the heart, her arrow also burns Pyrrha from the inside out -- while Pyrrha is still alive. After Ruby disfigures her, she motivates herself to grow stronger by burning alive illusions of a begging Ruby that are created by Emerald. As her sanity withers away throughout Volume 5, her sadism becomes more and more pronounced. When fighting Jaune in "The More The Merrier", she constantly taunts him over his failure to save Pyrrha and when he damages her mask, she impales Weiss with a flaming spear just to spite him.
* SanityHasAdvantages: For the first three volumes, Cinder is a calm and calculative manipulator who easily initiates Salem's plan to steal the Fall Maiden's power and destroy Beacon Academy; she also smoothly adapts, displaying smug pleasure instead of agitation or panic whenever unexpected situations occur. This all changes when she's maimed by Ruby's Silver Eyes. Beginning with Volume 4, Cinder becomes determined to get back at Ruby for maiming her by any means necessary; she becomes increasingly unstable and violent, adapting her plans for personal gain instead of necessity and [[RevengeBeforeReason sabotaging her ability]] to achieve her own goals in the process. Watts even comments on Cinder's growing obsession, fearing that her hatred and thirst for revenge may prove detrimental to Salem's plans. He's proven right when her agreement with Raven results in Ruby's forces being able to interfere with the attempt to steal the Relic of Knowledge before she deviates even further from the plan by attempting to steal Raven's power. As a result, Raven throws her down a chasm while the protagonists secure the Relic of Knowledge, forcing Salem's forces to flee empty-handed. Throughout Volume 6, Cinder, exiled from Salem's forces due to her failure, seems to stabilize and regain some of her strategic mind, using Little Miss Malachite's network to track Team RWBY and convincing Neo to work with her to kill Ruby. [[spoiler:She prioritizes what Salem wants and makes herself known in Volume 7 by triggering Ironwood's TraumaButton with a black queen chess piece, making him send Winter to get the Winter Maiden's power. However, from there, Cinder's flaws flare up again and she wastes time gloating to Fria about taking her powers, underestimating her strength. Even after the old woman clams down, Cinder furiously batters Winter around for wounding her, thereby giving Penny time to become the next Winter Maiden. If Cinder had kept her sadism in check, she very well could've succeeded.]]
* SanitySlippage: After being horribly scarred by Ruby's Silver Eyes, Cinder harbors an intense hatred for her and motivates herself to grow stronger by having Emerald conjure illusory copies of a begging Ruby for her to burn. In Volume 5, it is becoming clear that Cinder's desire for revenge against Ruby and her insatiable lust for power is starting to have a detrimental effect on her sanity as she has become increasingly unstable and more openly sadistic than before. Watts even begins to worry that her vindictive, unstable nature may jeopardize their plans for Haven. When fighting Jaune in "The More The Merrier", she constantly makes several insane facial expressions as she taunts him over his failure to save Pyrrha, relishing in his torment. And when Jaune manages to nick her mask, she flies into a homicidal rage, screaming at him for thinking he could actually beat her and it takes visible effort for her to calm down. In Volume 6, Salem makes it clear to her subordinates that they are to leave Cinder isolated so that she can work her way back into Salem's good graces; forced to work for herself, Cinder's sanity appears to stabilise and she begins thinking and strategizing again, using Little Miss Malachite's network to find out where Team RWBY is going and then convincing Neo to join forces with her to plot Ruby's downfall.
* {{Sarashi}}: Her combat outfit during the Vytal tournament consists of an open fur jacket over cloth binding her chest. She also has cloth binding her lower abdomen underneath the navel, as well as wraps on her arms.
* ShesGotLegs: In the first three volumes, Cinder often received focus on her long, shapely legs which were prominently on display thanks to her [[MinidressOfPower signature red mini-dress]]. Many shots in "Dance, Dance Infiltration" also [[MaleGaze focused on her legs]] while she infiltrated the CCT in a [[SpyCatsuit tight catsuit]]. In Volumes 4 and 5, her dress has an open slit on the side showing her entire right leg which is now clad in stockings. At the end of volume 6, she reveals her new outfit for Volume 7: while heavily cloaked on her left side to hide her left arm, her legs are again exposed, wearing [[ZettaiRyouiki thigh-high boots]] and hotpants.
* SinisterScimitar: When fighting Jaune in "The More The Merrier", she uses her power to create an obsidian scimitar to fight him to hide her trump card: Her left arm, which now has the arm of a Grimm designed to drain the powers of the Spring Maiden.
* TheSociopath: Cinder doesn't let anything get in the way of her goals, murdering without remorse or hesitation, ruining lives, and even plotting to unleash carnage on vulnerable city inhabitants and school students. She is happy to unleash the Grimm on Beacon Academy and the Vytal Tournament to further Salem's plans to destroy humanity, smiling at the massacre and ordering Mercury to record it. She negotiates humbly and politely to recruit Adam and the White Fang but, when that fails, she slaughters his men to force him to join. She desires power, strength and to be feared by all. After Ruby injures the left side of her body, she begins to develop rage issues and a reckless streak that includes a determination to settle the score with Ruby. Jaune even calls her "broken inside". When Jaune almost injures her face during the battle of Haven, she becomes enraged with his audacity and retaliates by trying to kill Weiss in a way that deliberately evokes the way she killed Pyrrha just to torment him with her superiority.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: In "Dance Dance Infiltration", when she spins around, her limbs illuminate orange, and she materializes a pair of swords made of Dust for battle. She later does the same when she whips out a bow with three arrows versus Ruby Rose. She summons a lot of swords against Raven, because her weapons were turning out to be [[BreakableWeapons very breakable]] in the fight.
* SpyCatSuit: She wears one in ''Dance Dance Infiltration" while breaking into the CCT tower.
* StealthHiBye: Pulls this on Ruby in "Dance Dance Infiltration", disappearing from view during the brief period where Ruby turned around.
* TheStraightAndArrowPath: She creates a magical glass bow out of nothing in "Dance Dance Infiltration". It's capable of firing 3 arrows at once, and can split into two curved swords. Prior to acquiring the Fall Maiden's powers, she used a normal metal version of the weapon.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Cinder naturally possesses golden eyes. However, after stealing just half of the Fall Maiden's legendary magical power, her eyes begin to glow like golden fire whenever she taps into the power. By the time she obtains the Fall Maiden's total power, her golden eyes glowing like fire are a sign that she's about to do something extremely evil with her magical ability. To emphasise this, the camera often zooms in on her eyes just before they start to glow. Although the Fall Maiden possesses the power to use all types of elemental magic, Cinder's glowing golden eyes are a hint that her affinity lies with the fire element. Unlike the previous Fall Maiden whose power she stole, Cinder will only use the full range of elemental magic when necessary, as she favours defaulting to fire magic above all else.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork:
** With Watts. While they both work for Salem, it's painfully obvious that the two cannot stand each other as Watts goes out of his way to antagonize Cinder every chance he gets. Cinder, for her part, is implied to give back as much as she gets. This is confirmed later on when negotiating with Raven Branwen for her cooperation with the retrieval of the Relic of Knowledge; Watts tries to negotiate peacefully, but Cinder uses not-so-subtle threats when Raven snarks back at them. When Raven proposes a counteroffer (she helps them get the Relic in exchange for the death of her brother, Qrow, in addition to them leaving her and her tribe to live in peace), Watts immediately points out the illogicality of it, but Cinder is too enticed by the possibility of getting revenge on Ruby for the loss of her eye. When Watts catches onto this, he roughly grabs Cinder by the wrist and tells her that he won't take the blame if the heist fails because of her single-mindedness; Cinder merely burns his hand with her Maiden powers, and tells him go back to Salem and "tinker with his machines", effectively shunting him out of the operation.
** Her relationship with Tyrian isn't a postive one, either; the serial killer happily teases Cinder's loss of her eye while they're in the same room and later on mocks her failure at Haven Academy. Cinder, in turn, is disgusted by his insanity when he gleefully butchers a Beowolf in front of her. [[spoiler:When she hears Ironwood's broadcast explaining Watts and Callows' actions to drive Mantle into a panic, her first reaction is irritation that "those idiots" got to Atlas before she and Neo did.]]
* TraumaticHaircut: She spends Volumes 1-3 with long shoulder length hair that spills over her left shoulder. In Volume 4, she's recovering from terrible injuries gained as a result of her brief encounter with Ruby's power. Her hair is now cut short and her fringe covers her lost left eye, just barely revealing the extent of the scarring on her face underneath the patch and hair.
* TrickedOutGloves: In the Volume 3, Chapter 7 flashback, Cinder uses a white glove emblazoned with Salem's emblem. The glove has a (possibly single-use) summoning power, which calls forth a Beetle Grimm from a portal. The Grimm has the ability to absorb Amber's power and transfer it into Cinder. Once the connection between the Beetle Grimm and Amber is severed, the Beetle Grimm is killed and the glove disintegrates, leaving behind the tattoo on her back that lies between her shoulder blades.
* TheUnfettered: Cinder is driven primarily by her ruthless ambition and relentless lust for power. Cinder is determined to uplift herself at the expense of everyone else and will stop at nothing to achieve her goals. Whether it's unleashing the Grimm on the Kingdom of Vale or stealing the powers of the Fall Maiden from an innocent girl, Cinder shows no hesitation or remorse for her actions. When she loses her arm to Ruby's Silver Eyes ability, she is willing to accept a Grimm arm if it means she can steal Maiden powers with it. Raven calls her out on this, citing it as an example of Cinder being willing to sacrifice her humanity for the sake of power.
* UngratefulBitch: Expecting Cinder to show gratitude for anything is like expecting fire to be cold. Throughout Volumes 2 and 3, Emerald and Mercury follow her orders to the letter, with Mercury even risking serious injury, yet she never once thanks them, instead acting like it is to be expected from them. [[spoiler:Cinder completely fails to obtain the Winter Maiden's power, but Neo successfully presents her with the stolen Relic of Knowledge. This immediately improves Cinder's mood, who contemptuously snatches the Relic from Neo and walks off with a smug smile and no hint of gratitude. Neo watches her go with an irritated expression on her face.]]
%%* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: She does a cartwheel just before finishing off one downed soldier with her black swords.
* VagueAge: She's youthful enough to be a candidate for receiving Maiden powers, but is older than the main cast of teenagers. However, she easily passes as a student when she presents herself as a trainee from Haven Academy so her actual age is uncertain.
* VillainHasAPoint: When Cinder learns that Raven is the real Spring Maiden, she remarks that the previous Maiden likely trusted Raven closely, which was most likely a mistake. It clearly strikes a nerve with Raven, and for good reason; in the very next episode, Yang deduces that Raven murdered the previous Spring Maiden and took her power for herself, which Raven does not deny.
* WizardDuel: In the first episode of the series, Cinder engages in a long-range duel with Glynda Goodwitch that is distinctly magical in appearance. Both women use Dust and their Semblances to create projectiles, bursts of elemental flame or ice, and outmaneuver each other with traps. Cinder wields her powers barehanded, while Glynda wields a riding crop like a wand to direct her attacks.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Cinder has a talent in taking advantage of every opportunity that comes her way to make incremental gains. When she was initially disappointed that an assassin she was hoping to recruit was killed by his previously unknown and clearly hostile son, she just shrugged and took in the clearly more talented orphan. When Team [=RWBY=] provokes Torchwick into causing the Grimm invasion early, she lets the authorities take care of it so Torchwick can be a TrojanPrisoner and use the incident to discredit Ozpin and Beacon. She initially files away Pyrrha's Semblance as a useful factoid, but when her spyware eventually discovers that Penny is a robot of clear value, she immediately arranges the tourney match ups to pit the magnetism-using Pyrrha against the all-metal Penny. The fact that she has a very simple objective for her plan (causing terror, despair, and other negative emotion to bring in the Grimm) makes it even easier for her to adapt.
!!!'''Voiced By:''' Creator/JessicaNigri [EN], Creator/YukoKaida [JP]
!!!'''Debut:''' Ruby Rose[[labelnote:*]]Volume 1 Episode 1[[/labelnote]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cinder_mugshot.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"I want to be strong. I want to be feared.[softreturn]I want to be powerful."'']]
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[labelnote:Click here to see her post-Volume 6 appearance '''(SPOILERS)''']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cinder_v6.png[[/labelnote]]'']]
->''"It's nothing personal, dear. You're just not worthy of such power. But I am."''
An ambitious and enigmatic woman with power over fire, Cinder Fall is the leader of an equally mysterious group closely associated with crime lord Roman Torchwick. She and her teammates, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, infiltrate Beacon Academy in Volume 2, posing as transfer students from Mistral's Haven Academy while subtly preparing the terrain for a war between the kingdoms, the results of which are coming to fruition by Volume 3.
Cinder typically fights with a pair of swords called Midnight that combine into a compound bow created with dust infused clothing. After the injuries she sustained from Ruby Rose at the climax of Volume 3, she has since abandoned using Midnight in favor of using a variety of blades constructed from glass containing fire at their cores. Her Semblance is Scorching Caress, which allows her to superheat and manipulate the shape of objects, such as turning sand into glass.
----
* AchillesHeel: During the Volume 3 finale, Ruby's silver eyes activate in front of Cinder. In Volume 4, Salem tells the badly injured Cinder that obtaining the Fall Maiden's magic has given her great power but also a crippling weakness against Ruby's silver eyes. From Volume 5 onwards, whenever Ruby's silver eyes activate in Cinder's presence, Cinder experiences visible pain in her Grimm arm and her magic stops functioning; she was able to steal the Fall Maiden's power with the help of a Parasite Grimm, which is heavily implied to be the reason why Ruby's power crippled her at Beacon.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Her ambition for power has made her try and kill the Fall Maiden to take her powers for her own, and indirectly caused mass chaos and some other deaths. She sums up her ambition during a flashback and the Battle of Haven makes it clear that she thinks she's entitled to all four of the Maiden powers when she tries to steal Spring's:
-->'''Cinder''': I want to be strong. I want to be feared. I want to be powerful.
* AnArmAndALeg: Cinder loses an arm and an eye at the end of Volume 3 and spends the whole of Volume 4 learning how to control her new, replacement Grimm arm, which has the ability to steal the power of the Maidens. During the Battle of Haven, Ruby's brief use of her anti-Grimm power forces Cinder to her knees, clutching her Grimm arm in pain. [[spoiler:When she extends the Grimm arm to steal the power from the dying Winter Maiden, Winter severs the limb to stop her; Cinder screams in agony as the limb regenerates then retaliates so viciously, Winter is almost killed and Cinder loses her chance to steal the Winter Maiden's powers.]]
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse:
** Adam initially refuses to work with her on the grounds that the White Fang members would be put in danger because of her, plus the White Fang does not work for a human cause like Cinder's. After absorbing the Fall Maiden's power, she slaughters the White Fang members in front of him and reiterates that her offer can either benefit him as well as her, or just her alone.
** When she tries the same tactic on Raven, by threatening her tribe's continued existence, Raven is unimpressed. She offers her own deal as the price for her cooperation, having planned in advance for the day when Salem finally found her tribe. Cinder agrees to the plan, not realising just how extensive Raven's trick is.
* AssimilationBackfire: Cinder is only able to become the Fall Maiden by murdering the current Fall Maiden, Amber, and using a special type of parasite Grimm, which absorbs the power and transfers it to her. As a result, she gains enormous power at the cost of becoming extremely vulnerable to Ruby's Silver-Eye power which exists to destroy Grimm. A brief exposure to it during the Battle of Beacon cripples her for an entire volume, where she has to relearn how to speak and is forced to wear a mask to hide the scarring on the left side of her face. During the battle of Haven, it's revealed that her left arm was destroyed by Ruby and replaced with a Grimm arm. Although she can use it as she would any other arm, and it allows her to absorb Maiden power from other Maidens, the Grimm do not have Aura. As a result, her left arm is entirely unprotected by her Aura as a result of being incompatible. It also makes the left side of her body much more vulnerable to future uses of Ruby's power.
* BadBoss: {{Downplayed}}. While she treats her subordinates with respect and doesn't spend their lives needlessly, she expects their total obedience and loyalty and will not tolerate failure or disobedience, telling them to "don't think, obey". In Vol 3 Chapter 7, she's heard slapping a disagreeable Emerald and telling her to "know her place".
* BareFistedMonk: Cinder has displayed the ability to fight competently without weapons, such as when she infiltrated Vale's CCT and when she ambushed Amber. However, when she returns to Little Miss to collect the information she's requested, she's forced into a bar brawl. She abstains from using her Maiden powers in public and is thus limited to unarmed combat. The skill that had been previously hinted at is shown in full against her more specialised opponent and shows a full range of abilities that encompass punches, kicks, acrobatics and claw swipes from her Grimm arm.
* BareHandedBladeBlock: Can deflect shots fired from Crescent Rose with just her palm, due to using half of the Fall Maiden's power she stole. Once she took all of it, she can even catch Pyrrha's Milo and deflect a thrown Akouo barehanded.
* BareYourMidriff: Her outfit in "Round One" is a {{sarashi}} and an open fur vest.
* BarrierWarrior: Every attack she uses is done through Dust, which takes Aura to manipulate. She can block high-caliber sniper rifle shots with her bare hand. While Lie Ren blocked a King Taijitu's fangs in a similar manner, he visibly struggled to do so, while Cinder does so without even flinching. Later episodes imply that the blocking and Dust manipulation powers were results of the Fall Maiden's powers she stole, rather than Aura, but how exactly the Maiden powers and Aura interact is unclear as of yet.
* TheBeastmaster: In flashbacks, she summons a Beetle Grimm from a special glove on her right hand to steal Amber's Maiden powers. The act leaves a tattoo on her back. During the Volume 3 battle for Beacon, Cinder openly communes with the Grimm Dragon that joins the fight against Vale, softly comforting the creature when it becomes agitated. When she experiences more trouble than she expected against the powerful Pyrrha, the Dragon responds to her predicament and charges to her defense. It's the sight of the charging Dragon that distracts Pyrrha and allows Cinder to gain the upper hand.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted; Cinder has been maimed by Ruby's power, and it's revealed in Volume 5 that she [[AnArmAndALeg lost an arm]] and her PeekABangs hide [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/rwby/images/c/cc/V5_13_00116.png/revision/latest?cb=20180116185328 gruesome scars]].
* BifurcatedWeapon: Cinder's weapon consists of a pair of curved blades that can be combined together by their hilts to form a bow. Flashbacks in "Fall" show she originally used a metal version of this weapon, but has since taken to manifesting it via Dust since acquiring half of the Fall Maiden's powers.
* BigWhat: In the Volume 3 finale, Cinder cries out "What?!" in angry disbelief when white power bursts out of Ruby's eyes and engulfs the entire area, freezing the Grimm Dragon in the process and badly wounding her.
* BlackSwordsAreBetter: After absorbing half of the Fall Maiden's power she takes to using black glass versions of the swords she used to wield.
* {{BFS}}: Summons a large, fiery one around three times her height in her fight against Raven. It's basically subverted though since it ends up breaking after a single BladeLock.
* BodyHorror: From Volume 4 onward, she's been maimed by Ruby, and we see the full extent of her injuries in towards the end of Volume 5; her left arm has been replaced with that of a Grimm, and a significant portion of the left side of her face [[FacialHorror is a scarred ruin]]. [[spoiler:In Volume 7, the Grimm arm has spread all the way up her shoulder joint and appears to be exposing muscle.]]
* BowAndSwordInAccord: Her weapons are [[DualWielding a pair of swords]] that can combine to form a bow. She used to have a metallic version of the pair, after absorbing half of the Fall Maiden's power, she can instantly create these swords using Dust.
* BluntYes: Her response to Pyrrha's last words, asking her if she believes in destiny.
* BrokenFaceplate: Downplayed. During the fight at Haven Academy, Cinder is briefly stunned by Ruby's short-lived use of the Silver Eyes power, and Jaune gets a strike in. Cinder manages to move her head just in time to avoid a killing blow, and the edge of Jaune's sword cuts a tiny chip out of the black ceramic covering of her ruined eye. Raven ends up breaking the mask altogether when she touches Cinder's face with her [[FacepalmOfDoom lightning-infused palm]], pushing Cinder off the Vault's ledge.
* TheBully: For all her skill and cunning, Cinder is nothing more than a smug, sadistic bully who enjoys flaunting her power and superiority over those she feels are inferior to her. As she herself states, Cinder wishes to be feared and hates being made to feel helpless in any situation. When Ruby scars Cinder with her Silver Eyes, Cinder develops an immense hatred for her. When fighting Jaune, Cinder needlessly toys with him, calling him "the dense one who can't tell when he's out of his league" and even taunts him over his failure to save Pyrrha. When Jaune manages to nick her mask with his sword, Cinder flies into a rage, ranting at him for daring to think he could actually beat her and impales Weiss with a replica of Pyrrha's spear in a replay of Pyrrha's death just to spite him.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Cinder has a habit of smiling even when witnessing the pain she's caused to others. Jaune makes an impassioned speech to call her out on it, while she remains silent. When he demands she say something in response, she asks who he is, then smirks as his temper snaps.
--> '''Jaune''': What is wrong with you?! How can you be so broken inside?! To take so many lives, and then come back here and rub it in our faces like it's something to be proud of?! All with that damn smile on your face! I'm gonna make you pay for what you did! Do you hear me?! Well? Say something!\\
'''Cinder''': Who are you again?
* TheChessmaster: Cinder is carrying out Salem's long-running plan, which endangers the entire world. Her mission is the obtain the Fall Maiden's powers and bring down Beacon. She predicts most of the cast's moves and adapts with great flexibility when something occurs that hasn't been accounted for. She starts by recruiting Mercury and Emerald, then sapping half the Fall Maiden's powers, then recruiting Torchwick and the White Fang, then commanding Dust robberies and infiltrating Beacon. From there, she infiltrates the CCT Tower, taking control of almost every defense available through the system, including the Vytal Tournament match-ups and Penny. At the end of Volume 3, she succeeds in her mission, although she is badly injured in the process.
* CombatStilettos: All of her outfits include heels, even when roof-hopping and fighting off the soldiers that try to stop her from infiltrating the communications tower in "Dance Dance Infiltration".
* DarkActionGirl: One of the most powerful fighters in the series, she's reserved with a touch of cruelty. She helped defeat the Fall Maiden and stole half of her powers, and as result she was able to duel Glynda in a magical battle, infiltrated the CCT and defeated a room full of armed soldiers single-handedly and held off Ruby using her Dust-crafted [[DualWielding dual blades]]/bow. By the end of "Heroes and Monsters", Cinder has gained all of the Fall Maiden's powers after shooting Amber in the chest with her bow.
* DidntSeeThatComing:
** Cinder enacts all of her plans with a smug attitude of expecting everything that's thrown at her, or easily adapting to the few curveballs thrown her way. However, when Ruby unleashes a previously unknown ability at the end of Volume 3, Cinder's composure vanishes with a shocked shriek of ''"What!?"''. The Volume 4 premiere reveals that Ruby's powers have left her badly scarred, rendered near mute, and utterly humbled.
** At the end of "Vault of the Spring Maiden", Cinder double-crosses Raven and Vernal at the entrance to the Relic's chamber. Freezing Raven, she impales Vernal with her Grimm arm. Hoping to absorb the Spring Maiden's powers, she's shocked to discover there's no power just as Raven breaks free of the ice. Vernal was a decoy -- the real Spring Maiden is Raven.
* DishingOutDirt: Cinder's Semblance lets her superheat objects and manipulate their shape. During her fight with Amber in Volume 3, she turned molten dirt into obsidian projectiles and hurled them at Amber telekinetically. In other scenes, she shapes glass into swords, a spear, and a knife. Most of the time these glass objects are molten in some manner, with Cinder heating and melting and then reshaping them into a new weapon; she is also shown breaking solid glass apart and reshaping it, such as when she shatters an arrow mid-flight to avoid Pyrrha's shield and reforges it with no loss of momentum. Her weapon is a pair of obsidian swords that can be combined to create a bow and arrows, but Ruby reports to Professors Ozpin and Glynda and General Ironwood that she doesn't think that forming and fighting with the weapons was Cinder's Semblance.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In "The More The Merrier", Jaune lashes out at Cinder with his sword and just barely scrapes the mask over the damaged portion of Cinder's face. She pins him to the ground with her foot while she rants about his audacity in thinking he could fight her. When she realizes he values his friends' lives above his own, she creates a javelin that looks similar to Pyrrha's and impales Weiss.
* DissonantSerenity: Everything Cinder says and does is executed with casual grace, whether she's making small talk with Ruby while disguised as a student or beating the crap out of CCT guards. Even when she's crippled Pyrrha and is preparing to kill her, her tone of voice remains calm and slightly smug. The first time Cinder loses her cool is when the power of Ruby's silver eyes activate during the battle of Beacon, catching Cinder completely off-guard. When Ruby's silver eyes briefly de-power her during the battle of Haven, Jaune takes advantage of that to strike for her face; shocked, she barely manages to dodge in time for his sword to do more than knick her face mask. She reacts with utter fury, pinning him to the ground and grinding his chest under foot while she rants angrily. And when Cinder attempts to drain the magic of the Spring Maiden from Vernal, she's so shocked to discover she can't do it, that the fact she can't find the power sends her into the sort of panic usually associated with addicts being denied the substance they're addicted to.
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Cinder takes control of the computers of the CCT, Ironwood's army and Vytal tournament, which allows her to broadcast anything she wants, regardless of any security. When Pyrrha accidentally tears apart Penny, Cinder takes over the air waves to send a global message, condemning Ozpin and Ironwood, all four academies, the Atlas army and to claim the four kingdoms are at the brink of war. Even though Oobleck tries to cut the feed, the broadcast team can't do it.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Cinder's desire is to become strong, feared and powerful and she works for Salem because it gives her the opportunity to steal Maiden powers. While she only possesses half the Fall Maiden's power, she executes Salem's plan for the destruction of Beacon Academy with great cunning, patience and adaptability, and obtains the Fall Maiden's full power. While recovering from injuries inflicted by Ruby, she becomes increasingly intolerant of Salem's measured approach to pursuing her goals and is warned by Salem to wait patiently for further power. Once unleashed to lead the infiltration of Haven Academy, Cinder's leadership becomes increasingly unstable. She revels in bullying others by flaunting her Maiden power and she watches the Spring Maiden's demonstration of power with an expression of undisguised lust; when Raven concludes that Cinder is egomaniacal, Watts agrees. Cinder sacrifices caution and stealth for the chance to confront Ruby and uses the first opportunity she gets to try and steal the Spring Maiden's power for herself, revealing in the process that she's replaced her left arm with a Grimm arm that makes it easier for her to steal Maiden powers. As a result of her obsession, impatience and growing lust for power, she ruins Salem's plan; Haven Academy is rescued, the villains are forced to flee, and Cinder is cast into a bottomless abyss by the Spring Maiden.
* DualWielding: When she infiltrates the CCT, she fights the guards and Ruby by creating a pair of combine-able swords made from Dust. In a flashback to before she gained half of Amber's powers, she used fighting a metallic, more conventional version of the swords. In Volume 5, she doesn't use her left arm since it's entirely covered in a long sleeve, at least until revealing it to be her trump card in absorbing the Maidens' powers, after which she begins dual-wielding again in her fight against Raven.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: When Salem expresses disappointment at [[PsychoSupporter Tyrian's]] failure to capture Ruby, Tyrian is devastated. He takes out his rage and sorrow on a Grimm that's attracted to his emotional state. This otherwise [[AnimalisticAbomination dangerous monster]] is rendered defenceless under an onslaught of wild hacking and slashing as Tyrian's [[CryLaughing sobs]] transform into [[LaughingMad manic laughter]]. Cinder is a power-hungry sociopath who delights in hurting and killing people, but she is so alarmed and unnerved by Tyrian's breakdown that she can only watch in open-mouthed horror.
* EvilCounterpart: For Ruby. A young girl being admitted into Beacon two years early contrasting with a woman infiltrating the same school illegitimately. Ruby relies on Crescent Rose almost exclusively during combat while Cinder has one of the most varied fighting styles in the entire cast. Both are looking to change the world, with Ruby hoping to give everyone a happy ending while Cinder appears to want to throw the world into chaos. They even share the same red-and-black color scheme, but where Ruby is accented with silver, Cinder is accented with gold. By the end of Volume 3 they both now possess legendary magical powers; while Cinder stole her Fall Maiden abilities by force, Ruby inherited her Silver eyed warrior powers naturally from her mother. Salem confirms that, while Cinder now has unimaginable power, it carries with it a crippling weakness - Ruby's power.
* EvilFeelsGood: After stealing half of the Full Maiden power, Cinder describes the feeling as "[[HorrorHunger an emptiness that burns like hunger]]", and confesses she likes it.
* EvilIsBurningHot: When Amber uses the powers of the Fall Maiden, she displays the ability to create tornadoes and bursts of fire. She can freeze leaves into flechettes and levitate. However, when Cinder absorbs the powers of the Fall Maiden, she only uses the levitation power and the fire ability. Prior to obtaining the power, she utilized her Semblance to superheat up things like glass from melted sand, so fire is what she has an affinity for.
* EvilIsPetty: Going hand-in-hand with her egomania. Cinder's driven to uplift herself while bringing everyone else down. If someone she perceives as beneath her gets the better of her, she ''will'' pay them back in the worst way possible, even if doing so is either pointless or detrimental to the long-term plan. She agrees to a deal with Raven to kill Qrow in exchange for her services because it will also allow her to get back at Ruby for maiming her, blowing off Watts's argument that doing so could jeopardize Salem's plans, and when Jaune damages her eyepatch, she flies into an UnstoppableRage, rants at him for his audacity in thinking he could fight her, and when he says that the others' lives are more valuable than his own, she impales Weiss with a flaming javelin reminiscent of Pyrrha's just to spite and hurt him.
* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: Cinder starts off as a beautiful young woman who wants to be strong, powerful and feared. To obtain great power, she uses a parasite Grimm to steal the Fall Maiden's power, which leaves a supernatural tattoo on her back. Although becoming the Fall Maiden gives her enormous magical abilities, it also makes her vulnerable to Ruby's innate magical ability. During the Battle of Beacon, Cinder is badly injured by Ruby's power. She spends all of Volume 4 recovering from her injuries, which leave her scarred on the left side of her body. She initially wears a mask to hide the ruined half of her face and replaces her destroyed left arm with a full Grimm arm, which she initially hides underneath a long sleeve. When she returns to form, she is dangerously unstable, obsessed with seeking revenge against Ruby and is so overcome with lust for further power that she ruins Salem's plan to obtain the Relic of Knowledge by trying to use her new Grimm arm to steal the Spring Maiden's power for herself. Raven even lampshades it, telling Cinder point-blank that she turned herself into a monster for power.
* EyepatchOfPower: As a result of losing her eye to Ruby, Cinder's left eye now has a simple black patch over it. However, her PeekABangs makes it hard to see most of the time.
* EyeScream: Cinder's left eye is destroyed by Ruby's Silver Eye powers at the end of Volume 3, and she's given a nasty scar across the left-side of her face in its place.
* FaceFramedInShadow: When she fights Ruby in Episode 1, her face is completely shadowed except for one burning eye. Due to this, when she and Ruby meet face-to-face, she's wearing different clothing so Ruby doesn't recognize her.
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Outwardly, Cinder is a beautiful young woman and she has no trouble blending in with the students when the four Academies gather at Beacon for the Vytal Festival. While she and her subordinates play the part of Haven students who befriend the protagonists in classes and help to protect the Kingdom of Vale from the Grimm, she is in reality the one who assaulted the Fall Maiden and spends the school year secretly infiltrating security networks so she can rig the Vytal Festival tournament fights to ensure maximum chaos when her assault on Vale begins in earnest. Sadistic, cruel, and power-hungry, Cinder revels in the destruction of Beacon and the terror and death she inflicts upon the citizens of Vale. When she murders Pyrrha for trying to protect Beacon from her, she accidentally triggers a previously unknown magical ability linked to Ruby's silver eyes that subverts this trope when it leaves her permanently scarred on the left side of her body; from Volume 4, she wears a mask to cover the damage to her face and wears a long sleeve to hide her left arm, which is later revealed to have been replaced by a Grimm arm.
* FanservicePack: Inverted. For the first three volumes, she was a standard MsFanservice and tended to have many shots and outfits that would exploit that. Her main outfit was a curve-hugging minidress with black ModestyShorts underneath during many upskirt shots in Volume Three. In Volume Four, her outfit became much more conservative. It was still a dress that hugged her curves and showed off her figure, but it was longer and she covered up her left arm entirely. And with her disfigurement, her left eye was covered as well to hide her scars. Volume Five revealed that her left arm was cut off as well and she now has an extendable Grimm arm with scarring where the arm meets the stump. Volume Six takes this further when she has to find a disguise. The outfit she wears is rather baggy and doesn't show off much of her figure. It even covers more than her previous outfit did. The trope is played straight with her new outfit in the Volume Six finale. She goes to a sleeveless look with thigh highs. [[spoiler: Though, this is still mitigated by the fact that her Grimm arm now consumes more of her body and the muscles can be seen underneath it.]]
* FashionableAsymmetry: From Volume 4 onwards, she's taken to wearing a dress that exposes her right arm and leg while her left arm and leg are completely covered. Given the loss of her left eye and scarring on the left side of her face, it's possible that Ruby's power damaged more of her left side.
* FatalFlaw: Her egomania, with a side order of sadism, an insatiable hunger for power, and a severe case of pettiness, have all led to her losing badly several times. Cinder's driven to uplift herself while bringing everyone else down, even if she has to pause to waste time gloating instead of completing the plan without incident. If someone she perceives as beneath her gets the better of her, she ''will'' pay them back in the worst way possible, even if doing so is either pointless or detrimental to the long-term plan. If she thinks there's a way to fulfill Salem's mission and get what she wants she'll go for it, no matter how risky it is. Her cruel, arrogant lust for power finally gets the better of her near the end of Volume 5, when she falls for Raven's decoy and exposes herself to defeat by Raven's hand. [[spoiler:In Volume 7, her need to gloat to Fria instead of immediately taking Fria's power gives the ailing Winter Maiden time to focus her mind and protect herself just long enough for help to arrive. Cinder then wastes even more time to take revenge on Winter for cutting off her Grimm arm, distracting Cinder from killing Fria and allowing Penny to become the new Winter Maiden instead.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: Cinder is very charismatic and capable of putting on a polite front as a means of getting what she wants. However, it is all a facade to hide her true sinister nature. When negotiating with Adam and the White Fang, she acts polite and respectful towards him and begrudgingly forces herself to bow in respect when he refuses her offer. However, once she obtains half of the Fall Maiden's power, she returns and slaughters his men to force him to join him. When overlooking the chaos in Vale, she revels in the carnage and tells Mercury to record it. As her sanity decays throughout Volume 5, Cinder's polite facade becomes less sincere as more of her sadistic side shines through, seen in her negotiations with Raven where her politeness is undercut by her thinly-veiled death threats towards her and her tribe.
* FlamingSword: During her fight with Ozpin, she is shown to be able to ignite her swords with fire. She does it again in "The More The Merrier" when she decides to get serious during her fight with Jaune.
* {{Flight}}: Cinder has the ability to fly up the Beacon Tower's lift shaft and hovers every so often during her final battle of Volume 3. It's an ability she gains only after obtaining the full power of the Fall Maiden. In flashbacks, Amber is also shown to be able to hover when using the Fall Maiden power.
* {{Foil}}: Volume 5 strongly contrasts Cinder and Raven, even placing them back-to-back in promotional posters. Cinder wants to be known and feared while Raven wants to be a hit-and-run criminal who avoids the limelight. Cinder seeks to be actively involved in the war between Salem and Ozpin while Raven has done her best to stay out of it. Cinder enjoys flashing around her Maiden abilities at every opportunity while Raven has tried so hard to hide hers that she even created a decoy to distract attention from her. Both also get their Maiden powers by killing the previous Maidens, but while Cinder shows no remorse in her pursuit of power, Raven shows some hint of regret of what she did and tries to justify her action as an act of mercy for the weak Maiden so she won't be hunted by Salem for the rest of her life.
* GlassWeapon: Cinder's weapon are a pair of blades made from obsidian glass that can be combined to create a bow that fires either regular or explosive-tipped arrows.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Her eyes glow yellow when using her fire powers, and gain flaming streaks when enhancing that fire power with the Fall Maiden powers.
* GoodProstheticEvilProsthetic: The protagonists who have prosthetic replacements have limbs that are made with advanced Atlesian technology which function like their missing limbs and also incorporate their style of fighting to ensure they can still function as Huntsmen. General Ironwood uses clothing to completely hide the prosthetic part of his body, even when it means wearing one hand gloved and one hand ungloved, and he only uses his prosthetic arm in battle against the Grimm where its great physical strength allows him to fight without weapons. The Volume 3 finale sees both Yang and Cinder lose an arm which is replaced in Volume 4 by General Ironwood and Salem respectively. Yang chooses to paint her prosthetic in her signature color scheme (yellow with black accents), incorporating it into her asymmetrical fashion style and therefore displaying it openly. Cinder hides her prosthetic behind an overlong sleeve which allows her to use her new arm as a surprise attack: her new limb is a Grimm arm which is capable of stretching well beyond its normal range. It also enables her to easily steal the power of other Maidens by absorbing it as her victim dies in agony. [[spoiler: Even worse, the arm seems to be consuming more of her body since it has now extended up to her shoulder.]]
* GoodScarsEvilScars: During the battle of Haven, her mask is shattered, revealing the extent of the damage Ruby did to her at the end of the Battle of Beacon. From the right side of her nose across to her left ear, her face is a scarred ruin, her left eye sealed shut as a result of the extent of the damage.
* GunshipRescue: She arrives in a gunship to bail Roman out in Episode 1 of Volume 1.
* GutturalGrowler: After becoming heavily scarred and losing an eye from being maimed by Ruby's silver-eyes, Cinder begins to adopt this tone. Though she mostly speaks normally, when becoming agitated or enraged her voice gains a rough edge to it. It's a reflection of Cinder's gradual SanitySlippage since the aforementioned maiming, as pre-scarring she spoke in a soft, faux-soothing tone while her plans generally went in her favor.
* HairTriggerTemper: As a sign of her growing mental instability after being maimed by Ruby's Silver Eyes, Cinder is prone to violent fits of rage at the most minuscule slights or when something doesn't go her way. In Volume 5, when Jaune manages to nick her mask, Cinder flies into a rage and rants at him for daring to think that someone as weak as him could stand a chance against her and it takes visible effort for her to calm down. [[spoiler:In the Volume 7 finale, when Winter cuts off Cinder's Grimm arm, Cinder viciously attacks her in retaliation by repeatedly throwing swords at her, nearly killing her.]]
* HateSink: [[AmbitionIsEvil Cinder Fall]] displays numerous negative traits that put her at odds even with her allies. She "teaches" Emerald her place by slapping her when Emerald tries to question her decisions; when Jaune confronts her about Pyrrha's murder, she mocks his lack of ability to protect the people he cares about, then tries to make him suffer just for having the audacity to try and defeat her; after unleashing the Grimm and White Fang upon Vale, she watches the citizens dying with undisguised pleasure. Her lack of loyalty causes Mercury to call Emerald deluded for being so loyal to a woman who doesn't return it and even estranges her from Salem, whose orders she is only willing to follow until they conflict with her own desire to kill Ruby. She is self-aware, revels in her cruelty and shows no higher ideals, not even in [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist distorted forms]]. Beneath her facade of a [[DarkActionGirl strong warrior]], she is a [[EvilIsPetty petty]], sadistic [[TheBully bully]] who needs others to suffer so that she can feel powerful.
* HealingFactor: Although her Aura cannot protect or heal her Grimm arm, the limb is capable of regenerating itself after extensive damage. [[spoiler:In her battle against Penny and Winter, Winter manages to cut Cinder's arm off entirely. After the arm disintegrates, Cinder howls in pain as a new arm grows out from her stump.]]
* TheHeavy: After Torchwick's imprisonment at the end of Volume 2, she becomes the main villain focus, driving the villainous plot and being the woman that Ozpin's secret group is trying to find. Her role becomes more significant after Roman's death, and once Salem is revealed as the villain Cinder is working for.
* HeroKiller: She orchestrates all of the tournament fights to ensure the right people are paired up to achieve her goals. She also doesn't hold back during the battle of Beacon, resulting in her actions getting several people killed. She orchestrates Pyrrha and Penny's fight so that Emerald can trick Pyrrha into destroying Penny. Later on, she shoots Amber dead to steal the remaining Fall Maiden power and then fights Pyrrha to the death. When Pyrrha's Aura finally runs out, leaving her without her Semblance, Cinder burns her to death from the inside out with a fiery arrow. Her attempt to re-enact Pyrrha's death by forcing Jaune to watch as she impales Weiss with a summoned replica of Pyrrha's javelin is what finally awakens Jaune's Semblance, the only thing that prevents Weiss from dying of her injuries.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: Everything about her is shrouded in mystery. We don't what she wants or why she wants it. Although her boss and fellow villains are known, why Cinder wants to be involved is poorly understood, especially as it becomes clear early in Volume 4 that there are things about her position that Cinder was not previously told, much to her dislike.
* HighClassGloves: Adding to the Cinderella imagery, Cinder wears shoulder length gloves on two separate occasions: A black pair in "Dance Dance Infiltration" as part of her SpyCatsuit, and a purple one in Volume 4.
* HijackedDestiny: She used a PowerParasite Grimm to steal half of the Fall Maiden power from Amber. While Cinder was mostly just after the power, the Maidens have a key role in the fight against Salem, and since Cinder is one of her subordinates, [[BewareTheSuperman this allows Salem to undermine the efforts against her]]. Pyrrha was intended to get the remainder of Amber's power, but Cinder killed her to take the rest for herself; she claims to Pyrrha that the Fall Maiden power was hers by right the entire time, and Pyrrha was promised something that was never hers. Later, she tries to steal the Spring Maiden power from Raven as well, declaring that the [[{{Narcissist}} only one worthy]] of any of the Maiden powers is herself.
* HorrorHunger: In the flashback, Cinder attempts to use a strange piece of summoning technology, in the form of a white glove, to give herself more power. Cinder is only able to partially complete the process and, when on the phone to a mysterious contact, she describes the feeling she's been left with as an "emptiness that burns like hunger". She then adds that she likes the feeling. The glove summons a Beetle Grimm that absorbs Amber's Fall Maiden power. Qrow interrupts the process before it can complete, resulting in Cinder only achieving half-Maiden status and Amber being trapped in a coma.
* HumanPopsicle: Freezes Raven solid so that she can freely attack Vernal, although she manages to break out. When Raven defeats her, she sends Cinder flying into the Haven vault's chasm and freezes Cinder's falling body in the same way just for good measure. Cinder later awakens drowning in an underground lake surrounded by melting ice. When she gets out of water, daylight is seen through the crack in a wall, indicating she spent at least several hours frozen, as the battle of Maidens happened at night. Her WantedPoster implies it might be closer to a month.
* AnIcePerson: When Amber uses the Fall Maiden power, she demonstrates the ability to freeze leaves and use them as flechette weapons. Once Cinder steals the power, she initially favours the use of fire until her control of the ability improves. After that, she begins to use ice attacks to freeze her opponents solid. Cinder senses Raven moving to attack her from behind and throws an ice-based power ball at her; Raven freezes solid, allowing Cinder to freely attack Vernal.
* IControlMyMinionsThrough: Authority. Cinder is very authoritarian and direct when interacting with her subordinates Emerald and Mercury. She expects her instructions to be followed to the letter and does not tolerate any disobedience, telling them to "don't think, obey". She is also secretive, keeping Roman on a strict need-to-know basis. When Emerald disagrees with Cinder recruiting Mercury to the team, Cinder slaps her in response, telling her to know her place. Later, when ambushing Amber, Cinder tells them to execute the attack exactly as planned. Cinder later reprimands both Emerald and Mercury for murdering Tukson as it could've blown their cover.
* ItsPersonal: She appears to have formed an intense hatred for Ruby due to being defeated and crippled by her silver eye powers, and makes sure to add during Salem's meeting that something must be done about her. When training during the Volume 4 finale, she has [[MasterOfIllusion Emerald]] summon an illusion of a defenseless Ruby on the floor begging for mercy, before she burns it with her Fall Maiden powers in a manner more concentrated than when she was testing her powers on some Grimm.
* JavelinThrower: During the battle of Haven, she summons a javelin to use on the battleground. The javelin she summons resembles Pyrrha's and she throws it at Weiss just to torment her opponent, Jaune, by forcing him to watch a replay of Pyrrha's death.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: When Adam threatens her with Wilt and Blush in order to get her to leave the White Fang alone, she decides to back out. However, she comes back when she's stolen Amber's power, and now that she's capable of annihilating the White Fang, Adam has no choice but to go with her.
%%* KubrickStare: Wears this often with an enigmatic grin, with her PeekABangs helping considerably.
* LackOfEmpathy: She has absolutely no compassion for anyone. If she even acknowledges people, they are merely tools pushing her plans further or obstacles that need to be crushed. She looks onto the carnage of Vale by the Grimm and calmly says it's "horrendous" as if it is something to be admired. Jaune even calls her out on it, demanding to know how she could be proud of all the suffering she's caused. The only acknowledgement she has for people's feeling is how she can use them to manipulate or hurt them. Mercury outright states that she doesn't care about either of them when Emerald believes otherwise.
* LadyOfBlackMagic: She's ever so composed and elegant, and a powerful user of [[PlayingWithFire fire]]. In her first battle during the pilot episode, she engages in a magical duel with Glynda, where she transforms whatever Glynda throws at her into a range of things that either become dust and scatter or attempt to strike Glynda and Ruby. During the fight, she's on a careening plane with an open hatch, but aside from poised, carefully placed leg movements, she rarely loses her balance. Once she gains the full power of the Fall Maiden, she can float in the air, conjure fire in her hands, and disintegrate and reintegrate her own arrows so that they can unnaturally bend around solid objects that get in the way of the flight path.
* LadyOfWar: Cinder maintains an air of calm and reserve, even in the heat of battle. When she infiltrates Beacon Tower, she initially employs stealth, then fights the guards in a spinning and whirling style that makes it appear as though she's dancing, even when it buys her the time to manifest glass-based and Dust-based weapons in the middle of fighting. When Ruby confronts her, she makes summoning forth a bow and arrows while engaging in leaping dodges look effortless.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Cinder wishes for nothing but to be strong, feared, and powerful, and appears to gain that by becoming the Fall Maiden and instigating the fall of Beacon Tower and Ozpin. After she is wounded in the Volume 3 finale, Salem forces her to stay close for healing, revealing that Cinder now has a crippling weakness to Ruby's power. Salem's other subordinates have no respect for her, view her as a failure and mock her injuries. Cinder didn't expect this outcome and resents it, having gone from strong, feared and powerful to weak, mocked, and protected.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Her appearances tend to be accompanied by a chilling low string motif in contrast to Salem's piano motif. Said motif also gets fuller and longer if she's overwhelming her opponent or making major progress in her plans, always adding an equally low set of intense choral vocals when she engages in battle. It reaches a climax of [[OminousLatinChanting sinister chanting]] when she kills Pyrrha, and is silenced when Ruby cripples her using her silver eyes. For the majority of volume 4, it's absent, only to make a return when she breaks out of her depression and burns an illusion of Ruby without hesitation. In Volume 5, the sinister chanting returns when she creates a copy of Pyrrha's javelin in a deliberate attempt to kill Weiss in a way that mimics Pyrrha's death, just to torment Jaune. An orchestral version of the tune plays when she falls to her assumed demise after her duel with Raven in "Downfall".
* LoopholeAbuse: Salem orders her subordinates to capture Ruby alive and bring her to Salem. Cinder, however, wants Ruby dead and thinks up a plan to try and achieve that without falling foul of Salem's wrath. When Neo turns up trying to avenge Roman's death by killing Cinder, Cinder tells her that the real culprit is Ruby and that they should team up to take her down together. Cinder admits that she's under orders not to kill Ruby but that Neo is not. As a result, once they find Ruby, Cinder will obtain the Relic for Salem while Neo is free to do what she likes to Ruby.
* {{Lust}}: For power. Cinder wants to be strong, feared, and powerful by her own admission, and goes to such lengths as replacing her arm with that of a Grimm and murdering Amber to take the Fall Maiden power for herself. Even that isn't enough for her; she just wants ''more'', and tries to take the Spring Maiden powers for herself as well, all while ranting that she's the only one worthy of it.
* MageMarksman: Skilled with archery along with her use of Dust. Her fight in CCT shows that she can conjure blades, bows, and exploding arrows from Dust, thanks to the Fall Maiden's powers.
* MagicKnight: As the Fall Maiden, Cinder has access to incredible magical powers, creating streams of fire, turning shards of molten metal into ice or glass projectiles, and being able to completely immolate a corpse to ash with a single touch. She's no slouch in close combat either, being able to easily overwhelm Ruby in sword-to-scythe combat while also being a skilled archer.
* TheManBehindTheMan: For most of Volume 1, Roman Torchwick was seen as the prime antagonist. Then she shows up at the very end to prove that he's working for her. She herself is the subordinate of the true villain, Salem - Ozpin's ArchEnemy.
* MarkedChange: The flashback reveals how Cinder obtains the tattoo on her back that lies between her shoulder blades. She uses a strange piece of summoning technology, in the form of a white glove, to give herself more power. The glove was absorbed into her body after use, leaving behind a PowerTattoo. The glove contains a red symbol of an eye inside a circle which summons forth a Beetle Grimm that steals half of Amber's Maiden power and transfers it to Cinder. After use, the Beetle Grimm vanishes and the glove faded into Cinder's arm, leaving behind the tattoo.
* MeaningfulRename: Her surname "Fall" is another name for "Autumn". The Fall Maiden's codename is Autumn, and Cinder steals the Fall Maiden's power in two stages to become the new Fall Maiden. Raven believes the surname is far too coincidental to be her real surname and suggests only an egomaniac would advertise herself in such a fashion. Watts implies that Raven's assessment is correct.
* MinidressOfPower: In the first three volumes, she has one of the shortest and most revealing dresses of any cast member, given the shortest part of the skirt has a slit up the side that reveal she's wearing either hotpants or a tight skirt underneath. Best seen in [[https://vine.co/v/hPdKOQjEZbV this rigging test of her character model]]
* MsFanservice: She is certainly a voluptuous individual, and the camera angles are (in)famous for milking this for [[MaleGaze all of its worth]], providing us with some tantalizing shots, the most famous of which being [[http://i.imgur.com/UCmDocQ.gif a butt shot in "Dance Dance Infiltration"]]. Also, when given the chance, we see a bunch of the black shorts she wears underneath (as in the Volume 3 opening, and "Beginning of the End"). It's downplayed by Volume 4, as while she is still very curvy, she now has an enormous, nasty scar running across the entire left side of her face, courtesy of Ruby's Silver Eye powers. Cinder hides the majority of the damage with a large eyepatch, but bits of scar tissue still poke through, hinting at just how bad the disfigurement is underneath. Volume 5 downplays it even further with the revelation that Cinder lost most of her left arm at the end of Volume 3 and has replaced it with an extendable Grimm arm, complete with noticeable scarring where the arm meets the stump.
* MuggedForDisguise: When Cinder is down on her luck and has no other option available, she has no problem mugging the first woman she comes across to steal her clothes and change her appearance. Cinder escapes the Vault of the Spring Maiden by punching a hole through rock with her Grimm arm. Exhausted by her battle with Raven, she collapses on the ground where she is discovered by a passing woman, who stops to see if Cinder needs help. Cinder kills the woman and steals both her clothes and money. The clothes help hide her appearance from the Mistral authorities and the money helps her pay for an audience with Lil' Miss Malachite.
* MundaneUtility: During the festival, Cinder joins her subordinates in the stands to watch the tournament. When she finds an unpopped kernel in Mercury's bucket of popcorn, she uses her Semblance to cook it directly in her hand.
* MysteriousPast: How she met Salem and joined forces with her is unknown. The only part of her past that is shown is her recruitment of her followers to set up the plan to attack Beacon Academy. She apparently wants to be strong, feared and powerful, but the reason for that is unknown.
* {{Narcissist}}: Cinder admits that she wants to be "strong, feared, and powerful", implying a need for recognition by others. During her fight with Pyrrha, she attempts to de-legitimise Pyrrha's eligibility to receive the power to bolster her sense of superiority. When Ruby permanently injures her at the end of Volume 3, Cinder begins developing a vengeful obsession with her. While still recovering from her injuries, she is disgruntled and frustrated with having to suffer disrespect and insults from the rest of Salem's subordinates. When she first meets Raven, the latter concludes that Cinder has a "slight case of egomania" to have a name that is suspiciously fitting for a Fall Maiden. When she fights Jaune, she only stops toying with him when he manages to strike her mask, almost injuring her; she instantly flies into a rage, ranting about the audacity of someone as weak as him daring to think he could beat her. When she confronts the Spring Maiden at the Relic of Knowledge's vault, she outright claims that the only person worthy of possessing such power is herself.
* NecessaryDrawback: As powerful and dangerous as Cinder's Grimm arm is, able to extend and steal Maiden power, its nature means Cinder's Aura can't protect it. After one of her swords is shattered by Raven, a bit of shrapnel stabs into her arm while the rest of her is unharmed.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The students only have a month in which to prepare for Salem's attack on Haven Academy, but they are nowhere near the ability needed to take on forces as powerful as Salem's subordinates. Salem's failure to procure the Relic of Knowledge is therefore entirely because of Cinder's impatience and hunger for power. She eagerly accepts a deal with Raven to kill Qrow in exchange for her aid in the attack on Haven Academy because it gives her an opportunity for revenge on Ruby. This puts Team RWBY into a perfect position to interfere with the villains' attempt to obtain the Relic. When she, Raven, and Vernal are at the door to the Vault, Cinder doesn't wait for Vernal to open the Vault; instead, she impales Vernal in an attempt to steal the Spring Maiden powers for herself. She discovers too late that Vernal was only a decoy and that Raven was the true Spring Maiden all along. The end result: Raven defeats Cinder, casting her into the Vault's abyss and freezing her into ice, allowing Yang to secure the Relic and forcing Salem's remaining minions to flee empty-handed. Salem knows that she survived, but makes it clear to her other subordinates that she will not allow Cinder to return until she redeems herself for her failure.
* NiceShoes: In episode one her shoes make a distinct clinking sound when she walks revealing them to be made of glass.
* NotSoDifferent: Invoked in "Downfall". When Raven expresses disgust at how far Cinder's willing to go for power and calls her a monster, Cinder retorts "Look who's talking!" While it seems like little more than a LameComeback at the time, it's revealed in the very next episode that Raven killed the previous Spring Maiden and took her power for herself, just as Cinder killed Amber for the Fall Maiden power.
* NotQuiteDead: At the climax of the fight between Cinder and Raven, Raven manages to kick Cinder over the cliff into the Vault of the Spring Maiden's chasm. After a moment's hesitation, Raven [[HumanPopsicle freezes Cinder's body]] to ice to make sure she really does die. What Raven doesn't know is that the chasm ends in water. Cinder regains consciousness as she's drowning underwater surrounded by the remnants of melting ice. She manages to claw her way back to the shoreline, but she is so exhausted from battle and almost drowning that she can barely stand; she doesn't even have the strength to summon any reliable magic.
* OhCrap:
** An expression of utter shock is the last one to register on her face, courtesy of being frozen solid whilst being kicked into the abyss below Haven's Vault.
** [[spoiler:In the Volume 7 finale, her expression when seeing Ruby again is a look of abstract horror. Despite bringing out two swords immediately she can only stand and stare at her before one flash of Ruby's eyes makes her flee.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** During the Volume 3 finale, Ruby unleashes an ability neither she nor Cinder ever expected to exist. Cinder, who until that point had been carrying out the villainous plot with smug, self-assured pleasure, is shocked into panic as she unleashes an incredulous BigWhat. It's a game-changer for Cinder, revealing that the mythical powers she's been stealing have a crippling weakness to Ruby's inherited and equally mythical power. It leaves her permanently scarred down the left side of her body, forcing her to wear a mask that hides the left side of her face and resulting in her replacing her left arm with that of a Grimm. It takes her the whole of Volume 4 just to recover.
** Cinder usually engages in battles with a smug, condescending attitude, often toying with her enemies. [[spoiler:In her battle with Winter and Penny in the Volume 7 Finale, however, Cinder's smug attitude is instead replaced with a burning hatred towards the elite Atlesians and she pursues Fria's power as desperately as if she were physically starving for it. And as the fight progresses and it becomes less likely that she will claim the Winter Maiden's power, her anger and desperation grows. By the end of the episode, Cinder is reduced to screaming in impotent rage over her failure.]]
-->'''Cinder:''' [[spoiler:You Atlas elites are all the same! You think hoarding power means you'll have it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier! And I refuse to starve.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Emerald and Mercury argue over Emerald's reliance on Cinder. She believes Cinder cares about her because Cinder rescued her from poverty, trained her, and gives her things every so often. Mercury claims that Cinder doesn't care about either of them and that Emerald is in denial. When she says that she had no family until she met Cinder, Mercury sarcastically tells her that he's sorry she didn't have a mother who loved her. The argument strongly implies that Emerald looks up to Cinder as a mother-figure and that Mercury believes the feeling is not mutual.
* PeekABangs: Her left eye is covered by her hair. From Volume 4 onwards, it also covers extensive facial scarring.
* PlayingWithFire: After gaining the Fall Maiden's powers, Cinder began using fire attacks, both directly in the form of bursts of heat and force, as well as using the heat to shape glass weaponry and projectiles. Even after she gains the entirety of the Fall Maiden's powers, which include ice, wind, and lightning abilities, she still mostly attacks with fire.
* PowerGlows: The patterns on the collar and sleeves of her dress (and on her catsuit) light up bright yellow when using Aura. The first Remnant History episode states that some "old-school" Dust Users put Dust into their clothing. When Ruby and Glynda discuss it, Ironwood points out it's such a time-honoured tradition that it can't be used to identify the villain's identity, indicating that it may be an "old school" method, but it's still very commonly used.
* ThePowerOfGlass: Variation. Cinder Fall's Semblance allows her to [[PlayingWithFire superheat]] objects, which she mainly uses for turning earth into various glass-shaped weapons. This is in keeping with her {{Fairytale Motif|s}} of ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', who [[IconicItem is famously associated]] with glass slippers.
* PowerParasite: Cinder absorbed the Fall Maiden's power from Amber by using some form of parasitic Grimm creature that appears from a portal conjured in her {{Tricked Out Glove|s}}. When she attempts to steal the Spring Maiden's power at the entrance to the chamber containing the Relic of Knowledge, she uses her left arm, which has been hidden since she was injured during the Battle of Beacon. The arm is now a Grimm arm which can extend out and, like the parasitic Grimm, can absorb a Maiden's power for Cinder's use.
* PragmaticVillainy: Cinder berates Emerald and Mercury for killing Tukson without her orders, but not because she's against the murder, especially since she had ordered Torchwick to do so anyway. She's just pissed that Emerald and Mercury risked exposing themselves by killing someone when they need to keep their hands clean for the infiltration of Beacon and sabotaging the Vytal Festival. Come Volume 5, however, Cinder sacrifices all sense of pragmatism; she's so [[RevengeBeforeReason fixated on getting revenge on Ruby]] for maiming her that she'll do anything to do so, even if she has to violate Salem's orders to do it.
* PsychoticSmirk: Whenever she feels she's on top of her enemies or has the upper hand, she will smile with smug glee at the pain and suffering that will ensue; when she witnesses the scale of suffering she's caused during the fall of Beacon, she smiles. As her sanity continues to degrade throughout Volume 5, her smiles become more frequent and more demented: Witnessing the Spring Maiden demonstrate her powers leaves Cinder leaning forward with a smile of longing and pure lust for power, giving her a deranged expression. When fighting Jaune during the battle of Haven, her smiles become almost wild as she torments him over Pyrrha's death and how badly Weiss is doing in her own fight against Vernal. When she fights Raven, their blades lock and Cinder's smiling face is almost unhinged as she starts to overpower Raven.
%% * PsychopathicManchild: While Cinder is very powerful, intelligent, and dangerous, her desire for power, [[TheBully determination to flaunt her power over those she considers inferior]], [[EvilIsPetty determination to retaliate against]] ''[[EvilIsPetty any]]'' [[EvilIsPetty perceived slight against her]] in the worst possible way, and constant bragging about how such things as the Maiden powers are worthy of her and her alone all combine to make her sound like a petulant spoiled brat throwing a tantrum because no one's kissing her ass. The mere fact that Jaune was able to land a single blow on her that only nicked her eyepatch is enough to send her into an UnstoppableRage over his audacity, leading to her ranting at him over thinking he could actually fight her and trying to kill Weiss purely to spite and hurt him. [[spoiler:When trying to steal the Winter Maiden power from Fria, Cinder degrades more and more into this as Fria edges closer to her death and she desperately attempts to claim her powers for herself, screaming in a shrill voice that Fria's powers are hers, not Penny's]].
%%-->'''Cinder''': Did you think you actually had a chance against me?! '''''YOU?!'''''
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives quite the scathing one to both the kingdoms of Vale and Atlas soon after Pyrrha's (accidental) killing of Penny, questioning why a place like Beacon would make {{Child Soldier}}s who could be prone to {{Heroic BSOD}}s so easily or why the heavily militarized Atlas would go and build RidiculouslyHumanRobots like Penny, make them combat ready and let them wander around so easily. She even claims that Mistral, the kingdom she and her associates apparently hail from, is just as bad.
* RedRightHand: The scars Cinder suffered along the left side of her body better reflect just how selfish and cruel Cinder is and, since becoming the Fall Maiden, she has become increasingly unstable, taking a sadistic delight in hurting others. The clothing style she uses to hide the left side of her body also hides the fact that her left arm has been replaced by a Grimm arm that can unnaturally extend at will. The arm possesses a similar ability to the Parasite Grimm she absorbed to enable her to steal Amber's power. Like the Grimm, she revels in the negative reactions of the people she torments.
* RevengeBeforeReason: From Volume 4 onwards, Cinder's entire motivation is getting back at Ruby for crippling her at the end of Volume 3, and it begins to [[SanitySlippage eat away at her mind]], leading her to adapt her plans for personal gain rather than necessity. Watts even lampshades it when Cinder agrees to a deal with Raven, calling her out on her growing obsession and fearing it may jeopardize Salem's plans. He's proven right when Cinder's hatred and obsession lead her to underestimate Raven; this leads to the villains failing to obtain the Relic or destroy Haven Academy, and Cinder herself being nearly killed by Raven and exiled from Salem's group. In Volume 6, Cinder realizes she needs to obtain the Relic before she can return to Salem, but she still wants revenge against Ruby. As Salem wants Ruby alive and has ordered Cinder not to kill her, Cinder tells Neo that the person she needs to kill for Roman's death is Ruby; by turning Neo against Ruby, Cinder hopes that Neo can kill Ruby, thereby allowing Cinder to return to Salem with the Relic and not get into trouble for Ruby's death.
* RubberMan: Cinder's new Grimm-like arm can stretch just like the Nuckelavee's arms, which she uses to impale Vernal through the stomach before slowly walking up to her.
* {{Sadist}}: Cinder takes pleasure in the pain of others. When she infiltrates the CCT, she defeats the guards with a smile on her face and assesses her network access in amusement while standing over their bodies. She describes watching the Grimm slaughtering Vale citizens as "wonderful", and when she stole the first half of Amber's power, she drew out the pain of Amber's last conscious moments with needless theatrics that gave Amber the chance to see what was going to happen to her and beg for life in horror. When she kills Pyrrha, she doesn't simply shoot her through the heart, her arrow also burns Pyrrha from the inside out -- while Pyrrha is still alive. After Ruby disfigures her, she motivates herself to grow stronger by burning alive illusions of a begging Ruby that are created by Emerald. As her sanity withers away throughout Volume 5, her sadism becomes more and more pronounced. When fighting Jaune in "The More The Merrier", she constantly taunts him over his failure to save Pyrrha and when he damages her mask, she impales Weiss with a flaming spear just to spite him.
* SanityHasAdvantages: For the first three volumes, Cinder is a calm and calculative manipulator who easily initiates Salem's plan to steal the Fall Maiden's power and destroy Beacon Academy; she also smoothly adapts, displaying smug pleasure instead of agitation or panic whenever unexpected situations occur. This all changes when she's maimed by Ruby's Silver Eyes. Beginning with Volume 4, Cinder becomes determined to get back at Ruby for maiming her by any means necessary; she becomes increasingly unstable and violent, adapting her plans for personal gain instead of necessity and [[RevengeBeforeReason sabotaging her ability]] to achieve her own goals in the process. Watts even comments on Cinder's growing obsession, fearing that her hatred and thirst for revenge may prove detrimental to Salem's plans. He's proven right when her agreement with Raven results in Ruby's forces being able to interfere with the attempt to steal the Relic of Knowledge before she deviates even further from the plan by attempting to steal Raven's power. As a result, Raven throws her down a chasm while the protagonists secure the Relic of Knowledge, forcing Salem's forces to flee empty-handed. Throughout Volume 6, Cinder, exiled from Salem's forces due to her failure, seems to stabilize and regain some of her strategic mind, using Little Miss Malachite's network to track Team RWBY and convincing Neo to work with her to kill Ruby. [[spoiler:She prioritizes what Salem wants and makes herself known in Volume 7 by triggering Ironwood's TraumaButton with a black queen chess piece, making him send Winter to get the Winter Maiden's power. However, from there, Cinder's flaws flare up again and she wastes time gloating to Fria about taking her powers, underestimating her strength. Even after the old woman clams down, Cinder furiously batters Winter around for wounding her, thereby giving Penny time to become the next Winter Maiden. If Cinder had kept her sadism in check, she very well could've succeeded.]]
* SanitySlippage: After being horribly scarred by Ruby's Silver Eyes, Cinder harbors an intense hatred for her and motivates herself to grow stronger by having Emerald conjure illusory copies of a begging Ruby for her to burn. In Volume 5, it is becoming clear that Cinder's desire for revenge against Ruby and her insatiable lust for power is starting to have a detrimental effect on her sanity as she has become increasingly unstable and more openly sadistic than before. Watts even begins to worry that her vindictive, unstable nature may jeopardize their plans for Haven. When fighting Jaune in "The More The Merrier", she constantly makes several insane facial expressions as she taunts him over his failure to save Pyrrha, relishing in his torment. And when Jaune manages to nick her mask, she flies into a homicidal rage, screaming at him for thinking he could actually beat her and it takes visible effort for her to calm down. In Volume 6, Salem makes it clear to her subordinates that they are to leave Cinder isolated so that she can work her way back into Salem's good graces; forced to work for herself, Cinder's sanity appears to stabilise and she begins thinking and strategizing again, using Little Miss Malachite's network to find out where Team RWBY is going and then convincing Neo to join forces with her to plot Ruby's downfall.
* {{Sarashi}}: Her combat outfit during the Vytal tournament consists of an open fur jacket over cloth binding her chest. She also has cloth binding her lower abdomen underneath the navel, as well as wraps on her arms.
* ShesGotLegs: In the first three volumes, Cinder often received focus on her long, shapely legs which were prominently on display thanks to her [[MinidressOfPower signature red mini-dress]]. Many shots in "Dance, Dance Infiltration" also [[MaleGaze focused on her legs]] while she infiltrated the CCT in a [[SpyCatsuit tight catsuit]]. In Volumes 4 and 5, her dress has an open slit on the side showing her entire right leg which is now clad in stockings. At the end of volume 6, she reveals her new outfit for Volume 7: while heavily cloaked on her left side to hide her left arm, her legs are again exposed, wearing [[ZettaiRyouiki thigh-high boots]] and hotpants.
* SinisterScimitar: When fighting Jaune in "The More The Merrier", she uses her power to create an obsidian scimitar to fight him to hide her trump card: Her left arm, which now has the arm of a Grimm designed to drain the powers of the Spring Maiden.
* TheSociopath: Cinder doesn't let anything get in the way of her goals, murdering without remorse or hesitation, ruining lives, and even plotting to unleash carnage on vulnerable city inhabitants and school students. She is happy to unleash the Grimm on Beacon Academy and the Vytal Tournament to further Salem's plans to destroy humanity, smiling at the massacre and ordering Mercury to record it. She negotiates humbly and politely to recruit Adam and the White Fang but, when that fails, she slaughters his men to force him to join. She desires power, strength and to be feared by all. After Ruby injures the left side of her body, she begins to develop rage issues and a reckless streak that includes a determination to settle the score with Ruby. Jaune even calls her "broken inside". When Jaune almost injures her face during the battle of Haven, she becomes enraged with his audacity and retaliates by trying to kill Weiss in a way that deliberately evokes the way she killed Pyrrha just to torment him with her superiority.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: In "Dance Dance Infiltration", when she spins around, her limbs illuminate orange, and she materializes a pair of swords made of Dust for battle. She later does the same when she whips out a bow with three arrows versus Ruby Rose. She summons a lot of swords against Raven, because her weapons were turning out to be [[BreakableWeapons very breakable]] in the fight.
* SpyCatSuit: She wears one in ''Dance Dance Infiltration" while breaking into the CCT tower.
* StealthHiBye: Pulls this on Ruby in "Dance Dance Infiltration", disappearing from view during the brief period where Ruby turned around.
* TheStraightAndArrowPath: She creates a magical glass bow out of nothing in "Dance Dance Infiltration". It's capable of firing 3 arrows at once, and can split into two curved swords. Prior to acquiring the Fall Maiden's powers, she used a normal metal version of the weapon.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Cinder naturally possesses golden eyes. However, after stealing just half of the Fall Maiden's legendary magical power, her eyes begin to glow like golden fire whenever she taps into the power. By the time she obtains the Fall Maiden's total power, her golden eyes glowing like fire are a sign that she's about to do something extremely evil with her magical ability. To emphasise this, the camera often zooms in on her eyes just before they start to glow. Although the Fall Maiden possesses the power to use all types of elemental magic, Cinder's glowing golden eyes are a hint that her affinity lies with the fire element. Unlike the previous Fall Maiden whose power she stole, Cinder will only use the full range of elemental magic when necessary, as she favours defaulting to fire magic above all else.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork:
** With Watts. While they both work for Salem, it's painfully obvious that the two cannot stand each other as Watts goes out of his way to antagonize Cinder every chance he gets. Cinder, for her part, is implied to give back as much as she gets. This is confirmed later on when negotiating with Raven Branwen for her cooperation with the retrieval of the Relic of Knowledge; Watts tries to negotiate peacefully, but Cinder uses not-so-subtle threats when Raven snarks back at them. When Raven proposes a counteroffer (she helps them get the Relic in exchange for the death of her brother, Qrow, in addition to them leaving her and her tribe to live in peace), Watts immediately points out the illogicality of it, but Cinder is too enticed by the possibility of getting revenge on Ruby for the loss of her eye. When Watts catches onto this, he roughly grabs Cinder by the wrist and tells her that he won't take the blame if the heist fails because of her single-mindedness; Cinder merely burns his hand with her Maiden powers, and tells him go back to Salem and "tinker with his machines", effectively shunting him out of the operation.
** Her relationship with Tyrian isn't a postive one, either; the serial killer happily teases Cinder's loss of her eye while they're in the same room and later on mocks her failure at Haven Academy. Cinder, in turn, is disgusted by his insanity when he gleefully butchers a Beowolf in front of her. [[spoiler:When she hears Ironwood's broadcast explaining Watts and Callows' actions to drive Mantle into a panic, her first reaction is irritation that "those idiots" got to Atlas before she and Neo did.]]
* TraumaticHaircut: She spends Volumes 1-3 with long shoulder length hair that spills over her left shoulder. In Volume 4, she's recovering from terrible injuries gained as a result of her brief encounter with Ruby's power. Her hair is now cut short and her fringe covers her lost left eye, just barely revealing the extent of the scarring on her face underneath the patch and hair.
* TrickedOutGloves: In the Volume 3, Chapter 7 flashback, Cinder uses a white glove emblazoned with Salem's emblem. The glove has a (possibly single-use) summoning power, which calls forth a Beetle Grimm from a portal. The Grimm has the ability to absorb Amber's power and transfer it into Cinder. Once the connection between the Beetle Grimm and Amber is severed, the Beetle Grimm is killed and the glove disintegrates, leaving behind the tattoo on her back that lies between her shoulder blades.
* TheUnfettered: Cinder is driven primarily by her ruthless ambition and relentless lust for power. Cinder is determined to uplift herself at the expense of everyone else and will stop at nothing to achieve her goals. Whether it's unleashing the Grimm on the Kingdom of Vale or stealing the powers of the Fall Maiden from an innocent girl, Cinder shows no hesitation or remorse for her actions. When she loses her arm to Ruby's Silver Eyes ability, she is willing to accept a Grimm arm if it means she can steal Maiden powers with it. Raven calls her out on this, citing it as an example of Cinder being willing to sacrifice her humanity for the sake of power.
* UngratefulBitch: Expecting Cinder to show gratitude for anything is like expecting fire to be cold. Throughout Volumes 2 and 3, Emerald and Mercury follow her orders to the letter, with Mercury even risking serious injury, yet she never once thanks them, instead acting like it is to be expected from them. [[spoiler:Cinder completely fails to obtain the Winter Maiden's power, but Neo successfully presents her with the stolen Relic of Knowledge. This immediately improves Cinder's mood, who contemptuously snatches the Relic from Neo and walks off with a smug smile and no hint of gratitude. Neo watches her go with an irritated expression on her face.]]
%%* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: She does a cartwheel just before finishing off one downed soldier with her black swords.
* VagueAge: She's youthful enough to be a candidate for receiving Maiden powers, but is older than the main cast of teenagers. However, she easily passes as a student when she presents herself as a trainee from Haven Academy so her actual age is uncertain.
* VillainHasAPoint: When Cinder learns that Raven is the real Spring Maiden, she remarks that the previous Maiden likely trusted Raven closely, which was most likely a mistake. It clearly strikes a nerve with Raven, and for good reason; in the very next episode, Yang deduces that Raven murdered the previous Spring Maiden and took her power for herself, which Raven does not deny.
* WizardDuel: In the first episode of the series, Cinder engages in a long-range duel with Glynda Goodwitch that is distinctly magical in appearance. Both women use Dust and their Semblances to create projectiles, bursts of elemental flame or ice, and outmaneuver each other with traps. Cinder wields her powers barehanded, while Glynda wields a riding crop like a wand to direct her attacks.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Cinder has a talent in taking advantage of every opportunity that comes her way to make incremental gains. When she was initially disappointed that an assassin she was hoping to recruit was killed by his previously unknown and clearly hostile son, she just shrugged and took in the clearly more talented orphan. When Team [=RWBY=] provokes Torchwick into causing the Grimm invasion early, she lets the authorities take care of it so Torchwick can be a TrojanPrisoner and use the incident to discredit Ozpin and Beacon. She initially files away Pyrrha's Semblance as a useful factoid, but when her spyware eventually discovers that Penny is a robot of clear value, she immediately arranges the tourney match ups to pit the magnetism-using Pyrrha against the all-metal Penny. The fact that she has a very simple objective for her plan (causing terror, despair, and other negative emotion to bring in the Grimm) makes it even easier for her to adapt.
