Cinder Fall

"It's not about overpowering an enemy. It's about taking away what power they have. And we will, in time."

- Cinder to Mercury Black

Cinder Fall is one of the main antagonists of RWBY. Whilst her motives are unknown, she appears to lead a small group with malicious goals. She is the superior of Roman Torchwick and is often seen issuing orders to him. Her other subordinates include Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black.

Appearance
Cinder has black hair and glowing yellow-orange eyes, while her fingernails are painted dark red. She wears a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck minidress with yellow designs. There is a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress. The dress ends in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees.

There is a baseball diamond-shaped keyhole on the dress' upper back at the same height as her chest. The sleeves end in a triangle shape, which are wrapped or tied around her middle finger, with the gold designs of the sleeve taking over at the wrists.

She wears black shorts underneath her dress, as well as a black choker on her neck. She wears gold loop earrings with a black gem dangling from each. She has dark, glass, high-heeled shoes and a jeweled anklet on her right leg.

On her upper back, in the keyhole of her dress, she has a black tattoo of what appears to be a pair of high heel shoes placed sole to sole, forming a heart shape inside. Whenever she uses her Dust abilities, designs on parts of her dress like her arms, back, and chest light up. Her eyes and earrings also glow.

It is possible that her appearance is influenced by east Asian culture, as the designs on her dress are styled similarly to traditional Japanese or Chinese patterns.

Background
Before the events of RWBY, Cinder was recruiting members for her cause. She first recruits Emerald Sustrai, at the time a petty thief, after witnessing her using her illusions Semblance to steal.

She later attempted to recruit the skilled assassin Marcus Black, but before she is able to meet with him, he is killed by his son, Mercury Black. Cinder instead recruits Mercury to her cause. At Mercury's suggestion, Cinder recruits Roman Torchwick, a criminal in Vale.

Cinder, Emerald and Mercury then meet with the White Fang leader, Adam Taurus, and attempt to recruit him as well. However, Adam denies their offer on the grounds that they fight for a human cause for which he is unwilling to sacrifice his men.

Cinder's group then plots to attack on Amber, the current Fall Maiden, in an attempt to steal her power. After a fierce and protracted battle, Amber is defeated. Cinder then uses a mysterious glove to steal Amber's powers, but is interrupted by Qrow Branwen, who severs the connection before Cinder is able to steal all of Amber's power.

Later, Cinder returns to the White Fang camp with Emerald and Mercury. This time, Cinder secures the support of Adam and the White Fang with the threat of violence, as well as the offer of Dust and large amounts of cash.

Volume 1
In Ruby Rose, Cinder is seen piloting the Bullhead that serves as a getaway vehicle for Roman Torchwick following the attempted robbery of the Dust shop, From Dust Till Dawn. Shortly after Roman gets onto the ship to escape Ruby Rose, Glynda Goodwitch appears and attacks the ship. Roman tells Cinder that a Huntress has appeared and Cinder jumps out of the pilot's chair to confront Glynda in battle.

Cinder uses her abilities to cause a series of fiery explosions all around Glynda, stopping her attack on the Bullhead. However, Glynda counters by using the debris from the blast to try and attack Cinder. Cinder deflects the attack with several blasts before Glynda instead attacks the ship.

Cinder is knocked around, but unleashes a large blast that turns all the debris to ash. Ruby then uses Crescent Rose to fire at Cinder, but Cinder easily deflects the attacks. Cinder then creates a group of explosions under Ruby and Glynda, forcing them to jump away, allowing Cinder and Roman time to escape.

In Black and White, She appears with Emerald and Mercury to reprimand Roman for his recent failure at the docks. After he complains about having to work with the "mutts" from the White Fang, she tells him to continue working with them and says she and her associates have big plans for him.

Volume 2
In Best Day Ever, when Mercury and Emerald return to Roman's hideout, Roman comments that Cinder "sent the kids again" and quickly figures out they killed Tukson, a Faunus Cinder had told him to eliminate. This upsets Roman, but just as he is about to threaten the two, Cinder appears, causing Roman to back down.

Cinder berates both Roman and her associates; Roman for not completing his mission like she had asked and her associates for going against her orders to keep their hands clean while in Vale. Emerald tried to apologize by saying that she didn't think it was a bad idea, but Cinder tells her it isn't her job to think and only to obey, as Emerald responds with an understanding "Yes Ma'am." Cinder then turns her attention to Roman and asks why his mission wasn't completed, but he just motions to all the Dust he has been busy collecting.

Roman then asks for information on the "grand master plan" to make his next string of robberies easier, but Cinder intimidates him into dropping the subject. She does, however, inform Roman that the first phase of the plan is over and he will no longer need to collect any more Dust, as they are entering the second phase of the plan. Before she leaves, she tells Roman to have the White Fang move the Dust to a new location that she will inform him of later that night.

Some time later, Cinder is seen alongside Mercury and Emerald within Beacon Academy, seemingly having infiltrated the school posing as students. The latter bumps into Ruby, and Cinder informs her that the three are visiting from Haven Academy. Ruby then redirects them to where they are supposed to go, with Cinder thanking her and the trio walk away.

In Extracurricular, Cinder is seen talking to Mercury and Emerald about Pyrrha Nikos. After the two of them explain that Pyrrha generally only uses her Semblance to a small degree, Cinder states that she is taking fate into her own hands. Mercury then says that Cinder could easily take her on, but she responds that she doesn't want to overpower the enemy, just take their power away. Cinder then orders Emerald to add Pyrrha to an unknown list. When Mercury says that he's tired of waiting, Cinder simply states that they have a fun weekend ahead of them.

In Dance Dance Infiltration, Cinder uses the distraction of everyone being in the ballroom to sneak into the Cross Continental Transmit Tower. She quickly overcomes the Atlas Soldiers guarding the facility and then proceeds to upload a mysterious black queen chess-piece into the Tower's systems. However, she is interrupted by Ruby and the two have a brief fight until General Ironwood arrives. Cinder uses the distraction to escape, leaving Ruby alone. She quickly returns to the academy, transforming her fighting gear into a ballgown as she does so and thus evades Ironwood's troops by vanishing into the crowd in the ballroom. She then picks a dance with Mercury and tells him that once they have completed their mission at Beacon, the authorities will still be figuring out the situation.

In Breach, Cinder is seen with Mercury and Emerald at the school, shortly before appearing at the battle ground where Cinder signals the two to confront the incoming Grimm. Shortly after the fight, they are seen overlooking the city as Cinder remarks the day to have been successful. When Mercury brings up on how they lost many Faunus within the caves, he wonders if the White Fang will listen to them now, but then Adam Taurus appears and reassures the group that they will listen to him.

Volume 3
In Round One, Cinder is fighting on a team with Mercury, Emerald, and Neopolitan in the tournament. They performed well in their first match and sent Emerald and Mercury to the second round. Cinder then joins Emerald and Mercury in the stands before watching Team JNPR and Team BRNZ fight, saying that even if you know how a fight ends, that doesn't make it any less fun to watch.

In It's Brawl in the Family, she learns that Qrow Branwen is at Beacon, but decides that he is not a large enough threat to warrant a change in her plans. She then works with the virus she put into the CCT to use Ironwood's access point. She changes the tournament randomizer to match Mercury and Emerald against Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi of Team CFVY.

In Beginning of the End, she later leaves before Yang and Mercury start their match, and appears disguised as a paramedic after their plan to frame Yang is initiated. She, along with Neopolitan, whisk Mercury and Emerald away in an Air Bus to an unknown location, instructing Mercury to keep himself hidden so as to not jeopardize their plan, as she continues to rig the next series of matchups.

In PvP, after Pyrrha destroys Penny, Cinder commences her attack on Beacon by hijacking the tournament broadcast and giving a speech that reaches across Remnant.

Personality
Cinder is imperious and cunning, with a touch of cruelty as well. She also appears to be calm and collected, and is willing to take over a fight if necessary. Although she refers to her partnership with Roman as "cooperation," it is obvious that she has the upper hand, as she very quickly makes an implicit, and not very subtle, threat to Roman by conjuring a fireball in her hand.

Cinder also seems to be ambitious and demanding, stating that she has "big plans" for Roman, and is willing to enlist the White Fang to achieve her goals by any means necessary. She is also very direct on the matter at hand, such as quickly jumping to Roman's failure of robbing a cargo hold of Dust.

She doesn't seem to tolerate failure from anyone, as seen with Roman, preferring for her goals to be successful regardless of the situation. Cinder also prefers that such problems be solved quickly, as seen with Roman, and is seen to give very direct orders, and doesn't like when she is disobeyed, such as to Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black that they should keep their hands clean, and both should need only to obey.

When it comes to planning, Cinder is very secretive, keeping Roman on a strict need-to-know basis. Cinder is seen to be an excellent planner as well, often planning ahead to keep her goals in reach, and is also confident in her plans. Also, when it comes to fighting, she is seen to be quite confident, having attacked Atlas soldiers and Ruby head on. This confidence extends to her personality as well, as she shows no worry or concern upon the arrival of Qrow, who has been tracking their actions. She claims that Ozpin's Group have no idea who she, or the rest are, confident that their identity as the group who infiltrated Beacon Academy is still secret.

Additionally, she is aware of the weaknesses of her plan. Accordingly, she assigns specific instructions to her subordinates, in order to prevent them from being exploited against her. For example, in her plan to frame Yang and cause an international incident, she instructed Mercury to keep himself hidden after the group escaped to an unknown location, with Cinder disguised as a paramedic.

She also has a low tolerance for margin of error, as she instructs her followers to follow the plan as perfectly as possible, when creating the ambush against Amber, stealing part of her Maiden powers.

Powers and Abilities
Cinder possesses a high degree of skill that rivals, or even surpasses, that of Glynda Goodwitch. She seems to have a strong command over lava Dust, as seen in Ruby Rose where she makes extensive use of lava-based abilities without difficulty. Her primary technique seems to be a highly forceful blast of lava, which is powerful enough to block and knock back some of Glynda's manipulated debris.

Cinder's capabilities also include summoning pillars of lava that erupt from the ground, as well as a powerful blocking technique, easily capable of withstanding Crescent Rose's bullets. This blocking technique may be Aura based, as it strongly resembles a technique used by Lie Ren, but this is unconfirmed.

Noticeably, some of her abilities emit a high-pitched whistling sound when cast. Her eyes seem to glow brighter whenever she uses her abilities. This could be attributed to her use of Dust-related abilities.

Cinder can also wield and manipulate Dust in battle, transforming a cloud of dust she'd previously dispensed into several shards of ice, or glass, which she proceeded to launch as projectiles. She is even able to conjure a Dust-based pair of dual black glass, possibly obsidian, sword constructs and then seamlessly transform them into a bow with a series of black glass arrows ready to fire.

She is quite skilled in both unarmed combat and swordsmanship, using such skills to fend off numerous Atlas Soldiers at once and easily defeating them, without being hit once. She was confident enough in her skills to walk right up to them, despite the fact that this alerted them to her appearance. Such confidence is also seen when she decides to reveal herself to Ruby, smiling while doing so and attacking the young Huntress instantly. She also possesses enhanced speed, strength, reflexes and endurance. She is also capable of triggering this ability to change the shape of Dust-imbued clothes, as shown by her instantly changing into a dress for the dance.

Cinder has shown to be quite stealthy as well, having sneaked past behind a guard to easily knock him out. She is also seen to be skilled enough in infiltrating places without getting caught and using the advantages given to herself to blend in, escaping her pursuers from the CCT, and using the dance to instantly lose them.

She also seems to be skilled in manipulating people, having infiltrated Beacon Academy along with her partners Mercury and Emerald without raising suspicion to herself, and having others believe her to be from Haven Academy. However, it is unknown if anyone knows about her affiliation with the criminal world.

Her marksmanship skills are shown during her infiltration and her plan to capture Amber's powers in Dance Dance Infiltration and Beginning of the End, respectively. She is capable of launching three arrows at once with great accuracy and pragmatically exploiting any advantage whenever possible, such as launching an arrow in Amber's back just as the latter was about to kill Emerald.

Trivia

 * Cinder alludes to Cinderella from the fairy tale of the same name.
 * In the Volume 1 cast commentary, it is mentioned that the shoes she wears with her red dress are made of glass. This is supported by the "clink" noises they make in Ruby Rose. This references the fact that Cinderella wore glass shoes to the ball.
 * Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross made a joke that they "originally wanted to call her Cinder Ella", using the Spanish word "ella" (pronounced "eya"), meaning "she".
 * Her emblem, which is tattooed on her back, appears to be a pair of high-heel slippers placed sole to sole, making a heart in the empty space between them.
 * In the episode Dance Dance Infiltration, Mercury tells her that she should return to the dance by midnight, and she manages to make it back just before midnight. On her way back, she transforms her stealth outfit into a black dress and ditches her glass masquerade mask. This references how Cinderella needed to leave the ball by midnight, as that was when the spell that created her outfit and carriage would wear off.
 * The first part of her name alludes to a partially or mostly burned piece of coal or wood, represented in her fire abilities. Her surname alludes to Fall, the American name for one of the four calendar seasons, which brings to mind amber and brown colors.
 * Cinder's facial structure, especially her hairstyle, bears vague resemblance with Jenna Angel's, whom is a major antagonist of Digital Devil Saga series. In addition, both are major antagonists as well.