#salemfaction

One thing I kind of wish existed is Team WTCH having any real connection to Team RWBY.

In short:

Watts couldn’t care less about Team RWBY. He never even met them and probably wouldn’t give a rat’s fur hat about them. His true nemesis is Ironwood instead.

Tyrian targeted Ruby mostly because of his job under Salem’s orders. Although he was furious at her for cutting off his stinger, he ultimately became more of Qrow’s enemy due to the chaos he caused later on.

Hazel only fought Team RWBY because they got in his way. Like the others, his real opposition was Ozpin and, by extension, Oscar—far more than Team RWBY itself.

Cinder doesn’t care much about most of Team RWBY aside from Ruby. Ironically, Ruby sees her as a threat but has a stronger nemesis relationship with Cinder’s lackeys, Roman and especially Neo.

Cinder Fall is… obviously a complicated character for me. I’m genuinely mixed on her. I don’t completely hate her—she’s just very complicated.

The Good

Her intellect and combat prowess were genuinely impressive. She consistently outsmarted the heroes and absolutely demolished most of her opponents.

Her design and color scheme are still some of the coolest in the show.

Her early mystery was captivating. In Volumes 1–3, she felt like a real independent threat with her own skills, resources, and agenda. That made her stand out compared to Roman, Mercury, Adam, Emerald, or even Neo at the time.

She genuinely seemed to be building toward something bigger than what we ultimately got.

The Ruby vs. Cinder rivalry had massive potential and was being set up beautifully.

She worked great as an evil mirror/foil to RWBY, JNPR, and Ozpin’s circle through her own faction.

The Bad – Everything after Volume 3 Pretty much all of what made her compelling got stripped away and replaced with a smug, faux-competent lackey who’s obsessed with power. She was arrogant before, but it felt earned back then, and she at least had some entertaining dynamics with her allies. Now she’s played completely seriously, has zero redeeming or likable traits, and never evolves—which just makes her look pathetic.

Her once-elegant fighting style has been dumbed down, her strategic mind is basically gone, and Salem ended up inheriting all the clever traits Cinder used to have. She barely uses Maiden powers creatively, her relationships with Watts, Emerald, Mercury, and Neo devolved into her treating everyone like trash (so nothing fresh ever happens there), and the story just keeps repeating the same “Cinder wants power → Cinder screws up because of ego → Cinder throws a tantrum” cycle.

Even when she’s technically “exiled,” she’s still just following Salem’s orders in the most boring way possible. On top of that, aside from Jaune (and maybe Ruby), literally no one on Team RWBY or their extended friend group seems to care that she exists anymore.

How Tyrian Callows Can Work as a Personal Enemy for Team RWBY

Tyrian is actually one of the easiest Salem agents to turn into a genuine, burning arch-enemy for every single member of the team. He’s already halfway there in canon.

Ruby This one is already canon and extremely personal. Tyrian was sent specifically to capture or kill her on Salem’s direct orders. They fought one-on-one in Volume 4, he poisoned Qrow (her uncle and father figure) right in front of her, and she’s the one who cut off his scorpion tail. From Ruby’s side: he almost murdered the person who raised her. From Tyrian’s side: she humiliated him, permanently maimed him, and caused him to fail Salem (who then brutalized him as punishment). Tyrian is completely unhinged and obsessive; Ruby is 100% his white whale. He wants her screaming, broken, or dead, in that order.

Weiss Weiss herself never met him in canon, but Winter clearly has, and she was visibly terrified at the mere prospect of fighting Tyrian again. That alone tells us he’s left trauma on the Schnee family. Possibilities that require almost zero retcon:

Tyrian was the one who carried out several high-profile political assassinations in Atlas that got quietly blamed on the Schnee family (or that he deliberately made look like Jacques ordered them).

He stalked or fought Winter off-screen during the Atlas years, leaving her with scars (physical or mental) she never talks about.

During the fall of Atlas he targets the remaining Schnees on purpose, maybe even corners Whitley or Klein just to send Weiss a message. Tyrian has zero morals about killing entire families for fun; the Schnees are just another prestigious bloodline to paint the walls with.

Blake Extremely easy and already heavily implied. Tyrian is a Faunus who became one of the most sadistic, genocidal monsters on Remnant, the exact kind of traitor the White Fang radical wing claimed all Faunus would become if they didn’t follow them. He’s Adam Taurus cranked to eleven: a Faunus who revels in violence and serves a human witch who wants to exterminate humanity (including Faunus). His “plastic soldiers and pawns” line is almost certainly a direct dig at the White Fang. Blake hears a Faunus call her people disposable cannon fodder while laughing about murder, and it’s not hard to see why she’d take that personally. Bonus: Tyrian would find Blake’s idealism hilarious and love breaking her spirit before he kills her.

Yang Also very straightforward. Tyrian nearly murdered Qrow (the closest thing she and Ruby have to a dad), poisoned him in front of her, laughed about it, and has been actively trying to kill or capture her little sister for years. On the flip side, Tyrian sees Yang as the loud, angry obstacle that keeps getting in the way of Ruby. He’d take great pleasure in taunting her about her lost arm, her abandonment issues, or how easy it would be to finish what Adam started. Their fighting styles are also perfect mirrors: raw power vs unhinged agility. Yang would love nothing more than to punch that grin off his face permanently.

This is my opinion on the RWBY villains. For Team WTCH, I wish we had actually seen them working together more… and I don’t mean just Cinder, Hazel, Tyrian, and Watts hanging out as friends. I mean actually seeing them collaborate to cause real trouble for the heroes. Yet they barely ever appear together on screen, which kind of makes the whole team feel superfluous.

How Hazel Rainart Can Work as a Deeply Personal Enemy for Team RWBY

Hazel never directly fought RWBY for most of the series — his hatred was laser-focused on Ozpin. But with just a few logical extensions and revelations, he can easily become an enemy who hits every single girl where it hurts the most: emotionally, ideologically, and personally.

Ruby Ruby is the only actual child soldier in the room, so Hazel’s accusation that Ozpin “uses children and throws them away” lands hardest on her. She can’t fully deny it — she’s living proof. At the same time, she would sympathize with Gretchen’s death (it mirrors Summer’s disappearance), but she’d push back hard: “She died fighting Grimm, the same thing we all signed up to do. Ozpin didn’t force her — Salem did, by making the Grimm in the first place.” If Hazel ever learned that Summer Rose went on a solo mission for Ozpin and never came back… he would 100% blame Ozpin, and by extension blame Ruby for still following “the man who killed both our mothers.” That turns sympathy into something twisted and personal.

Weiss Hazel almost killed her in Haven. One punch would have ended the Schnee heiress forever, and Whitley would have grown up never seeing his sister again. That near-death experience could be the final wake-up call that makes Weiss realize how fragile her family ties actually are. Hazel becomes the living embodiment of “anyone can die at any moment because of this war Ozpin started.” Bonus points if Hazel later mocks her with “Your father sold dust that got my sister killed, little Schnee. I should thank him — he gave me the perfect reason to erase his legacy, starting with you.”

Blake This one is the most fascinating because Blake is the only person who could actually understand Hazel’s rage. She watched Adam spiral into vengeance exactly the same way: a good person, consumed by grief and justified anger, until he became the very monster he hated. Hazel is Adam if he’d been bigger, stronger, and given magic steroids by Salem. Blake would feel sick seeing the parallel. She might even try to talk him down at first… only for Hazel to throw Sienna Khan’s death and the White Fang’s destruction in her face: “You ran. I stayed and avenged them. Don’t lecture me about peace, coward.” That makes him the dark mirror of what Blake could have become.

Yang Perfect foil duo. Both are the big, protective older siblings who fight with raw physical power and Dust infused in their own bodies. Both lost (or believe they lost) a family member because of Ozpin’s war. Yang would genuinely feel for the guy who lost his little sister… right up until he tries to murder Oscar (a literal child) in front of her. Then it flips: “You think you’re the only one who lost someone? I watched my mom disappear, my dad fall apart, and my sister almost die because of this war. But I didn’t start helping the woman who wants to end the world!” Hazel becomes the embodiment of rage allowed to fester too long — the warning of what Yang could still turn into if she ever lets vengeance win again.

Conclusion Hazel doesn’t need to hate RWBY from the start. He just needs to see them as Ozpin’s latest batch of child soldiers willingly marching to their deaths. To him, killing them is mercy — putting down the next generation of victims before they end up like Gretchen. That ideology clashes directly with everything the girls believe, and forces each of them to confront the ugliest truths about the world they’re fighting for.

(Also seeing Yang don this to Hazel would be funny)

Villains Likely to Join or Effectively Serve in Salem's Inner Circle

Based on RWBY canon (main series, novels, Arrowfell game, and crossovers like DC/RWBY), here's an assessment of which listed villains would plausibly join Salem's faction or function as reliable members. Salem recruits those with personal grudges against Ozpin/humanity, ambition for power, or ideological alignment with division/destruction. Her circle favors loyal, competent subordinates who advance her Relic/Grimm agenda without excessive independence.

Canon Confirmed Members/Associates (already joined or allied):

Arthur Watts

Cinder Fall

Mercury Black

Neopolitan (temporary ally via Cinder)

Tyrian Callows

Leonardo Lionheart (former informant, killed for cowardice)

Adam Taurus (temporary ally via Cinder/White Fang)

The Hound (Grimm creation)

High Likelihood (Strong Fit – Grudges, Ambition, or Pragmatism):

Merlot (Dr. Merlot from Grimm Eclipse) — Obsessed with Grimm experimentation; could align as an outside associate like in fanworks/crossovers, enhancing Salem's Grimm army.

Lil' Miss Malachite & Melanie/Miltia Malachite (Spider syndicate) — Underworld info brokers; already aided Cinder. Pragmatic criminals could sell services/loyalty for protection/power.

Junior Xiong (Xiong Family) — Criminal boss; similar to Roman, could be coerced/recruited for resources.

Roman Torchwick (if alive/alternate) — Worked seamlessly with Cinder; loyal to power/money.

Jacques Schnee — Allied with Watts temporarily; elitist greed fits short-term deals, but too self-serving for long-term loyalty.

Vernal (if survived) — Raven's decoy; bandit pragmatism could shift allegiance.

Corsac/Fennec Albain — Fanatical Faunus supremacists; cult-like devotion could redirect to Salem's "divide humanity" goal.

Carmine Esclados, Gillian Asturias, Jax/Gillian's Team (The Crown) — Ambitious relics seekers; post-canon, some freed/recruited in novels/comics.

Medium Likelihood (Possible with Manipulation):

Neopolitan — Revenge-driven; worked with Cinder but betrayed easily.

Raven Branwen (Branwen Tribe, if listed indirectly) — Temporary ally out of fear; survivalist, but distrusts Salem.

The Crown overall — Power-hungry; could be suborned.

Shay D. Mann, Trifa, White Fang Lieutenant — Extremist remnants; ideology aligns with division.

Low Likelihood (Oppose Salem, Heroes, or Independent):

Arrowfell villains (Bram Thornmane, Hanlon Fifestone, Amoncio Glass, Team BRIR) — Local Atlas conspirators against Ironwood; no global ties to Salem, defeated/arrested pre-Atlas fall.

DC crossover villains (Joker, Harley Quinn, Lex Luthor, Scarecrow, Gorilla Grodd, Sinestro, etc.) — In comics, some temporarily ally (e.g., Lex with Salem), but mostly oppose or manipulate.

Curious Cat, Jabberwalker — Ever After chaos beings; no Remnant motivation.

James Ironwood & allies — Heroes/antagonists opposing Salem.

Sienna Khan — Killed; White Fang purist, unlikely.

Grimm/robots (Beowolf, Hound, Paladin) — Tools, not members.

Unlikely/Neutral:

Most others (e.g., Curious Cat, Negative versions, Dream Actors) are situational/one-offs without Salem synergy.

Adam is also being brought up since he’s technically part of the broader antagonist group. We know he met Salem in person — Adam was aware of Salem’s existence and specifically knew she was worried that Sienna Khan might oppose their plans. So, on his own initiative, he “fixed” the problem by overthrowing Sienna and taking over as High Leader. Ironically, that decision completely backfired on both of them. After his failed assassination attempt on the Belladonnas, Blake and her family/friends formed a militia that wrecked Adam’s part of the Haven attack. It’s still unknown if Salem even knows or cares that Adam is dead.