Salem (RWBY)

**Salem** (セイラム, *Seiramu*), is both a fictional character and primary antagonist from the *RWBY* series. She is a very mysterious figure in Remnant and highly knowledgeable about the world and its forgotten history, she is the leader of a group of people 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.

She was originally named as the **Mysterious Narrator** in the two 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*".

"*This is the beginning of the end, Ozpin. And I can't wait to watch you burn.*"

—Salem.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Jen Taylor (English), Kikuko Inoue (Japanese), Not Known (French), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (German), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Poland), Not Known (Serbian), Nit Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

### Appearance

Salem's skin is a deathly pallor, covered with deep red and purple veins that run up her arms and face. The sclerae of her eyes are jet black and her irises glow red, even brighter when she is agitated. She has a black diamond-shaped marking in the center of her forehead.

She wears a very long black robe with red designs resembling eyes. She also wears a ring resembling an insect on her right index finger. She has white hair formed into a bun with six offshoots from which ornaments are suspended.

* Hair Color: White
* Skin Color: Deathly White (with Deep Red and Purple veins)
* Eye Color: Red (Irises), Jet Black (Scleras)
* Age: Several Millenia
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: Not Known
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

Salem is 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 manic tendencies and Watts' snide condescending attitude.

However, Salem is not above losing her temper, as she is particularly demanding when inquiring whether Cinder 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.

Both Qrow and Raven describe her as someone 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 kills Lionheart for trying to run from the Battle of Haven.

Salem is actively seeking out the Relics left behind by the brother gods. Her current goal is to acquire all four Relics as well as the power of the four Maidens, needed to unlock the chambers containing the Relics.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Salem's Faction
	+ Arthur Watts
	+ Tyrian Callows
	+ Hazel Rainart
	+ Cinder's Faction
		- Cinder Fall
* White Fang
	+ Adam Taurus

### Neutral

* Leonardo Lionheart
* Sienna Khan
* Raven Branwen

### Enemies

* Humanity
* Ozpin's Group
	+ Ozpin
	+ Qrow Branwen
* Team RWBY
	+ Ruby Rose

## Powers and Abilities

Salem's true power is yet to be seen and very little is known of her abilities, however, she is hinted to be extremely powerful.

Raven Branwen reveals that Salem is the Grimm's master. As such, she can command them to do her bidding and even create them from the pools of black liquid outside of her home. Salem 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.

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.

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.

Salem also appears to know how to graft Grimm body parts to human bodies, as is the case when Salem gives Cinder the arm of a Geist.

## History

### Past

Salem is an individual of unknown origins, and virtually nothing is known of her past. It is also not known when or why Salem embarked on her goal to gather the Relics and weaken humanity.

All that is known is that she is thousands of years old and that she has a strong connection to the Grimm. She is also highly knowledgeable in the history of Remnant and has an encyclopedic knowledge of many of the elements, beings and societies that exist within the world.

At some stage she fell into opposition with Ozpin, who aligned himself with humanity and placed his faith in them, and was also cursed by the brother gods to remain on Remnant through a reincarnation cycle, which made him a consistent form of major opposition for millennia to come.

In recent history she gathered a group of followers to aid her in her goals.

## Synopsis

### *RWBY*

#### Before the Timeskip

In "*Ruby Rose*", Salem narrates the early 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 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".

#### After the Timeskip

##### After the Fall of Beacon

After the fall of Beacon, Salem holds a meeting with her subordinates in her lair. She orders Arthur Watts to meet with the informant in Mistral, Professor Leonardo Lionheart; 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 reporting on whether she killed Ozpin or not. 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 isn't 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.

##### 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 has a Seer kill Lionheart for his cowardice.

## Theme songs

* *End of the Beginning*: "Divide" - Casey Lee Williams.

## Etymology

* 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.

## External links

* Salem *Wikipedia*
* Salem *RWBY Wiki*

## Notes & Trivia

* 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. At the first *RWBY* Panel at RTX 2016, they estimated that she was the ninth character designed (after Teams RWBY and JNPR).
* 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.