Salem (RWBY)

“	This is the beginning of the end, Ozpin. And I can't wait to watch you burn.	”
—Salem
Salem is the primary antagonist of RWBY. An extremely mysterious figure in Remnant and highly knowledgeable about the world and its forgotten history, she is the leader of a group of beings with malicious plans. Her goals are to find the Maidens, take their powers, take the Relics from the Huntsman Academies and weaken Humanity by snuffing out their hope. She is opposed by Ozpin, with whom she speaks directly in "Ruby Rose" and "End of the Beginning".
Salem was named Mysterious Narrator in the credits of "Black and White" and "Breach". In "Ruby Rose", the first episode of Volume 1, she serves as the narrator, giving the opening voice-over for the series. She is also the narrator of the first four RWBY: World of Remnant episodes. She makes her first on-screen appearance in the Volume 3 finale, "End of the Beginning".
== History ==
=== Before Remnant ===
Salem was born millennia ago in an age where Humanity lived alongside their creators, the brother Gods - the God of Light and the God of Darkness - and magic was a force that all could wield. Salem spent her life locked away by her father in a grand tower until one day a great warrior by the name of Ozma arrived to liberate her from her prison. After their escape, the two fell deeply in love, planning great adventures and a full life together until Ozma fell gravely ill and passed away.
Heartbroken and angry, Salem traveled to the Domain of Light, where the God of Light dwelled. There, she pleaded with him to resurrect her love but was denied. Desperate for help, she traveled to the lair of the God of Darkness, explaining her plight and taking care not to mention her visit with his elder brother. Pleased with her apparent loyalty, the God of Darkness rewarded her by bringing Ozma back from the dead. However, at that moment, the God of Light intervened and returned Ozma to the afterlife to preserve balance, only for his brother to revive him again. The God of Light explained to his brother that Salem had gone to him first and had turned the Gods against each other. The God of Darkness then destroyed Ozma once more as punishment.
Salem, enraged, prepared to attack the God of Light before she was taken to his Domain. Here, the Gods cursed her with immortality, hoping she would learn the error of her ways and come to understand the purpose of life and death. This burden of eternal life drove Salem towards one goal, the destruction of the Brother Gods. Salem traveled the world, manipulating kings and queens into turning against the Gods and eventually led a great army to the Domain of Light. Here, Humanity met its end at the hands of the God of Darkness, who killed everyone but Salem as a final punishment. The God of Light spoke sadly of his disappointment in Salem and Humanity, declaring the planet a Remnant of what it once was. The Gods then abandoned the planet, shattering Remnant's Moon in the process.
Salem, the last Human alive, wandered the Remnant alone before finding herself back in the God of Darkness' home, the Land of Darkness. Here, she found the blackened pools responsible for spawning the creatures of Grimm, the legacy of the God of Darkness. Hoping that the pools would take away her immortality and finally reunite her with her beloved Ozma, she threw herself in. The pools of Grimm were unable to destroy a being of eternal life, and they instead warped Salem's mind and body, transforming her into a being intent on destruction.
At some point after Humanity's destruction and eventual return, Salem made herself a home in a dilapidated cottage on the outskirts of a village, becoming known only as "the Witch". One day, a man came to her door, a man she recognized despite never having seen his face before. Ozma had returned, reincarnated, and the two began a new life together, though both harbored dark secrets from the other. Realizing they were the only Humans left in existence able to wield magic, they set about using their powers to act as Gods on Remnant and united the new Humanity under their rule. Their kingdom prospered, and the two eventually came to have four daughters that developed the ability to wield magic.
Around this time, Ozma began to show his doubts in regards to Salem's methods, which were becoming progressively more brutal and totalitarian. He revealed his secrets - the deal he had made with the God of Light and the existence of the Relics. Salem had decided that Humanity was unworthy and spoke of her wishes to replace them with something better. Ozma, realizing that his love had gone too far, attempted to run away with their daughters. A great battle was fought between the two, destroying their home and apparently killing their daughters in the process. Salem murdered Ozma, and so began the centuries-long conflict between the two former lovers.
For many centuries, Ozma fought against Salem, trying to protect the Relics and find a way to destroy her for good.
In recent history, she has gathered a group of followers to aid her in her goals.
== RWBY ==
=== A Voice of Warning ===
In "Ruby Rose", Salem narrates the early days of history, of Humanity, born from dust. She tells of their struggles against the Creatures of Grimm, their discovery of nature's wrath, Dust, and the beginnings of civilization in the absence of the shadow of the Grimm. While Salem maintains that strength would not bring victory, Ozpin counters by saying victory lies within simpler things that require "a smaller, more honest soul."
After the fall of Beacon Academy and the death and destruction wrought upon Vale, their conversation is continued in "End of the Beginning". Salem declares that Beacon's fate is merely the first step in her plan to divide Humanity, and thus to snuff out all hope for their survival. She threatens to destroy everything Ozpin has built and challenges him to send in his Guardians, believing they will fail as will his "simple soul".
; Episodes Covering These Events
* "Ruby Rose"
* "End of the Beginning"
=== After the Fall of Beacon ===
After the fall of Beacon, Salem holds a meeting with her subordinates in the Land of Darkness. She orders Arthur Watts to meet with the informant in Mistral, Professor Leonardo Lionheart. She sends Hazel Rainart to meet with the White Fang leader, Sienna Khan, and Tyrian Callows to hunt down Ruby Rose whilst Cinder Fall stays at her side for treatment. She claims Haven Academy will be the next to fall. Salem's treatment of Cinder includes telling the Maiden that "it" can sense her fear and that she has to make it fear her instead.
After a Seer floats into the meeting room and gives a message to Salem, she turns to Cinder and adamantly asks Cinder for a final answer confirming that she killed Ozpin. Cinder reaffirms Ozpin's death. Salem orders the Grimm to reinforce their numbers at Beacon Academy, stating "The Relic is there." She mutters to herself, "What are you planning?" Salem puts Cinder through intense training to control her powers and is not impressed with her progress. When Tyrian appears and reluctantly reports his failure in capturing Ruby, Salem tells him that he disappointed her and leaves the room. Sometime later, Salem watches and smiles as Cinder masters her power.
; Episodes Covering These Events
* "The Next Step"
* "Of Runaways and Stowaways"
* "Taking Control"
* "No Safe Haven"
=== Sights on Haven ===
After Cinder's training, Salem learns from Watts and Lionheart that the Spring Maiden is with Raven Branwen. She decides to send Cinder and her team to Anima to find the bandit leader and convince her to cooperate with them. Salem also has Watts work on a "new" tail for Tyrian. Afterward, she tells Cinder to understand everyone's usefulness and to be patient and ready to deal with Ruby.
However, as the Battle of Haven concludes, she later finds out from Lionheart that things have gone awry. Disappointed, Salem uses a Seer to kill Lionheart for his cowardice.
; Episodes Covering These Events
* "Dread in the Air"
* "Haven's Fate"
=== After Haven ===
After Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury returned from their failed mission in Haven, a displeased Salem asks who is responsible for their defeat. Hazel attempts to take the blame, but Salem sees through his lie and shows her discontent by summoning Geist arms from the floor which grab Hazel and drag him down. Salem then asks Emerald, who admits that they failed because of Cinder. Salem confirms her answer, stating that Emerald must understand the failure, and adds that Cinder "must be left to toil in her isolation until she redeems herself".
Salem tells her subordinates that no matter what drives them, they must not put their desires before her own. She discusses the Relic of Destruction in Vacuo's Shade Academy, but Hazel interrupts and informs her about Ozpin leading Qrow's group and taking Relic of Knowledge to Atlas. Upon hearing the news, an enraged Salem demands everyone to leave the council chamber. Once everyone has departed, Salem calms herself while seething with anger, but suddenly delivers a powerful scream that shatters all the windows.
Sometime later, Salem orders Watts and Tyrian to head for Atlas before Ironwood calls for help from Vacuo. Outside of her castle, Salem creates winged Beringels from the Pool of Grimm, which Hazel deems as proof of Salem finally taking matters into her own hands.
; Episodes Covering These Events
* "So That's How It Is"
* "Lost"
* "Our Way"
== Appearance ==
=== Past ===
Eons ago, Salem was a human woman with fair skin, pale platinum blonde hair and light blue eyes. She wore most her hair in a half-bun style, with a small bun on the top, and the remainder of her long hair hanging at the bottom. Most of her bangs were tied back, barring several large locks that framed her face to her left.
She wore a white, two piece dress consisting of a sleeveless, diagonally overlapping white pleated top with a raised, pale blue collar adorned with a aquamarine colored rhombus-shaped crystal on the clavicle, surrounded by two smaller white rhombuses. Her long, high-waisted skirt was white with a faint purple tint - adorned with white diamond emblems and white wavy lines near the bottom hem, ruffled around the waist and completed with a purple sash. For accessories, she wore gray, circular earrings and a pair of dull brown bracers, and her long fingernails were painted pale lilac.
=== Current ===
Salem's skin is currently a deathly pallor, with jet black sclerae in her eyes, and glowing crimson irises that shine brighter when she is agitated. While she initially retained her half-bun hairdo for her now bleached, pale white hair, she has since re-styled it into a larger bun with six offshoots wrapped together that also suspends several obsidian-colored ornaments. Over the passage of time, she has since grown dark purple veins that line her face and arms, and now has a black diamond-shaped marking in the center of her forehead.
She currently wears a very long, short-sleeved black robe that obscures her feet and partially drags across the ground, complete with a long shawl emblazoned with three interconnected, maroon-colored vertical elliptic sigils resembling a trio of overseeing eyes above a series of maroon-colored diamond emblems. She also wears a ring resembling an insect on her right index finger.
== Personality ==
Salem is miserable and insidious, patiently moving to undermine and destroy her enemies with cold, deliberate resolve. She is also highly intellectual, with a healthy respect for her enemy, mankind, which she recognizes as possessing both resourcefulness and ingenuity. She also acknowledges humanity's capacity to draw strength from hope, but she uses this knowledge to subvert and destroy them. She is humble enough to recognize that there are limits to her abilities and that she can only do so much for her subordinates.
She is very confident and self-assured, secure in her knowledge that she can best whatever Ozpin sends to stop her and her goals. She also appears to be cruel or sadistic, for she seems to relish the prospect of watching Ozpin burn.
In contrast, Salem is also fair and collegial towards her allies, giving credit where credit is due and showing genuine appreciation to those who are loyal. In enforcing this atmosphere of fairness, she also discourages unnecessary malignance and cruelty amongst her associates. When Tyrian Callows returns after having failed to capture Ruby Rose, she merely tells him that he disappointed her and walks away. She is also seen tolerating her allies unruly behavior to some extent, such as Tyrian's maniacal tendencies and Watts' snide and condescending attitude. In "So That's How It Is", Salem shows her fairness when she only blames Cinder, who was in charge of the mission, for their failure in acquiring the Relic during the Battle of Haven and forbids Hazel Rainart from taking the blame, even threatening him when he continues to attempt to do so.
However, Salem is not above losing her temper, as she is particularly demanding when inquiring whether Cinder Fall has truly killed Ozpin or not. She later became angry with Lionheart after he started to become less afraid of her and be more outspoken in her presence. This display of sheer dominance shows Salem's rather imperious and demanding personality. Her biggest displays of anger are shown in "So That's How it Is", when she first binds Hazel to the floor after he tries covering for Cinder, and then when she destroys all the windows in her council chamber upon learning that Ozpin has already reincarnated and has acquired the Relic.
In the distant past, Salem was shown to be a kind yet lonely woman, but appeared to be slightly manipulative. This was shown when her lover Ozma died of an illness, she tried tricking the Brother Gods to bring him back and then when she tricked Humanity to turn against them, only for both to fail. After she jumped into the pool of darkness in another suicide attempt, she gained a destructive nature, though she managed to curb said nature for a while.
When she and Ozma reunited, she was shown to be truly happy and Salem was shown to be a genuinely kind and loving mother to her and Ozma's daughters. However, this did not stop her from murdering Ozma and, accidentally, her daughters in a rage when she learned they were trying to flee their home once Ozma realized the monster she had become. 
Both Qrow and Raven describe her as a being who would make use of anybody to help further her goals, something Salem herself suggests when explaining her decisions to Cinder. Raven states that she would discard the people she uses if they become obsolete to her, which is later violently demonstrated when she uses a Seer to kill Leonardo Lionheart for trying to run from the Battle of Haven.
== Powers and Abilities ==
Salem, being a member of the first wave of Humanity has access to magic. She is shown to be able to fire blasts of magic from her hands. In addition to her other magic, she appears to be able to project telekinetic force as seen when she crushed a Nevermore and shattered the windows in her council chamber in a fit of uncontrolled rage.
She was also cursed with immortality by the Gods, making it impossible to destroy her. She has lived for thousands of years, during which she acquired extensive knowledge of the nature of Aura and Dust, as well as an understanding of Human nature, society and history.
After the Gods destroyed the first Humanity and left Remnant she jumped into the Grimm Pools in the Land of Darkness which altered her body further and gave her more powers and abilities. Raven Branwen reveals that Salem is the Grimm's master. As such, she can command them to do her bidding. She also possesses the ability to alter the physiology of Grimm and graft Grimm body parts to a Human's body. She causes Beringels to sprout wings in "Our Way" and gives Cinder the arm of a Geist. Salem also has the ability to summon multiple Geist arms on command as seen in "So That's How It Is", when she used them to immobilize Hazel.
Qrow Branwen claims he has "seen the things she's made" and that "they are fear". She also possesses knowledge on how to steal the powers of Maidens, a feat of which was never accomplished before according to Ozpin's group.
She also possesses some form of superhuman strength, as she easily flips the massive table in her headquarters, all while seated.
Salem is also very effective at getting others to follow her orders through fear. She controls Tyrian with statements of approval or disapproval and controls Lionheart and others by conveying their well-being is contingent on cooperation.
== Gallery ==
== Videos ==
== Trivia ==
* Salem alludes to the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz.
** She shares her name with Salem, Massachusetts, a town with a well-known historical event called the Salem Witch Trials.
** She is the enemy of Ozpin, who alludes to the Wizard of Oz.
** She is capable of magic.
** In the Volume 6 post-credits scene, she creates an army of winged Beringels, referencing the Witch's winged monkeys.
* The name "Salem" comes from the Hebrew word שלם (shalém), which means the state of being whole or intact. The name also has associations of witchcraft and the occult, due to the Salem witch trials, where many people were accused of witchcraft and executed.
** It is also a cultivar of rosemary with pale blue flowers, which is also associated with witchcraft.
* In an interview with Afterbuzz TV, writers Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross revealed that Salem's concept was done before the concepts for Team SSSN.[2] At the first RWBY Panel at RTX 2016, they estimated that she was the ninth character designed (after Teams RWBY and JNPR).[3]
* Writers Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross have confirmed that any visual resemblance between Salem and the original Winter Maiden (from the RWBY: World of Remnant episode "The Four Maidens") was a coincidence and unintentional.[4]
* One of the fairy tales mentioned by Pyrrha in the episode "Fall" is "The Girl in the Tower". As several fairy tales turned out to be real or be based on real Remnant world events, the title The Girl in the Tower likely references Salem, as she spent her early life locked away in a tower by her father.
** It could also be based on Rapunzel, the German fairy tale made famous by the The Brothers Grimm.
* Salem's backstory somewhat resembles Star Wars Legends' Abeloth, a being who used to be the servant of two godlike siblings - The Son, who represents the Dark Side of the Force, and The Daughter, who represents the Light Side of the Force, along with their Father. Envying the immortality of her masters, the servant bathed in both the Dark Side's Font of Power and the Light Side's Pool of Knowledge and became a twisted immortal entity known as Abeloth. This, in turn, led the Father, Son and Daughter to leave the planet they lived on and imprison Abeloth on it.
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Category:2010s
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Category:Immortal
Category:Master Manipulator
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Category:Web Media Villainess
Category:Witch
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