History Characters / RWBYSalem

[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/salem_v7.png]]
[[caption-width-right:299:''"This is the beginning of the end, Ozpin.[softreturn]And I can't wait to watch you burn."'']]
[[caption-width-right:299: ''[[labelnote:Click here to see her original appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/salem_human_2.png And this is the beginning of the start...[[/labelnote]]'']]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: She dislikes cowardice from her henchmen. When Cinder struggles to see the point of keeping weak and worthless people alive, Salem uses Leo as an example of how anyone can be useful for something. When Leo fails to obtain the Relic for Salem, he promises to find her and prove his usefulness. As soon as he realizes that Salem doesn't deem him useful any more, Leo attempts to flee but Salem uses her Seer Grimm to kill him and coldly calls him a coward.

-->'''Salem:''' Why. Do. You. Keep. Coming. Back?
* ThePunishment: Salem is punished with immortality for attempting to manipulate the gods into restoring the life of her beloved because it prevents her from being reunited with him in the afterlife. The gods hoped she'd learn about the importance of life and death. Instead, she realized that by having tricked them in the first place, they had proven themselves to be fallible. She spent years manipulating humanity into rising up against their creators only to witness the gods destroy humanity for her audacity. They abandoned the world to leave Salem wandering the earth alone, unable to die. The God of Light later restored a weakened version of humanity and reincarnated Ozma to guide humanity to redemption. Now the fate of humanity lies in Salem and Ozpin's hands: one trying to divide humanity to destroy it, the other trying to unite humanity to save it.

''[[Characters/RWBYRemnant Remnant]]:'' [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] ([[Characters/RWBYJamesIronwood James Ironwood]])\\
''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ('''Salem''' | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] ([[Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus Adam Taurus]]) | [[Characters/RWBYGrimmBestiary Grimm Bestiary]]\\

!!Salem

''[[Characters/RWBYTheHeroes The Heroes]]:'' [[Characters/RWBYRubyRose Ruby Rose]] | [[Characters/RWBYWeissSchnee Weiss Schnee]] | [[Characters/RWBYBlakeBelladonna Blake Belladonna]] | [[Characters/RWBYYangXiaoLong Yang Xiao Long]] | [[Characters/RWBYTeamJNPR Team JNPR]] ([[Characters/RWBYJauneArc Jaune Arc]]) | [[Characters/RWBYOzpinAndOscar Ozpin and Oscar]]\\

The narrator of the first episode and the first four "World of Remnant" videos, providing the initial exposition on the fantasy setting of ''RWBY''. She's credited as "Mysterious Narrator" at the end of Volume 1, and finally appears in the Volume 3 finale as the central antagonist of the show. Salem leads a campaign to bring about the Huntsman Academies' downfall from the shadows, commanding the Grimm, Faunus, and humans to enact her will.

!!{{Spoiler}}s for all works set prior to the end of Volumes 8 are unmarked.

''[[Characters/RWBYRemnantMythos Remnant]]:'' [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] ([[Characters/RWBYJamesIronwood James Ironwood]])\\

''Kingdoms:'' [[Characters/RWBYEasternSanus Sanus (Eastern)]] | [[Characters/RWBYWesternSanus Sanus (Western)]] | [[Characters/RWBYAnima Anima]] | [[Characters/RWBYSolitas Solitas]] ([[Characters/RWBYJamesIronwood James Ironwood]])\\
''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ('''Salem''' | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] ([[Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus Adam Taurus]])\\
''Beyond Remnant:'' [[Characters/RWBYTheEverAfter The Ever After]]\\
''World of Remnant:'' [[Characters/RWBYRemnantMythos Remnant Mythos]] | [[Characters/RWBYGrimmBestiary Grimm Bestiary]]-]]]]]

* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: A recurring statement is the fact Salem being immortal doesn't mean she's invincible. Volume 8 reveals that she can be affected by the Semblances of others, and that she can actually lose fights; Emerald's illusions successfully trick her, and Hazel and Oscar are able to obliterate her body enough to put her out commission for a short while. The fight also revealed that she does feel pain, even if she has an insanely high threshold for tolerating it.

* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: A recurring statement is the fact Salem is immortal doesn't mean she's invincible. Volume 8 reveals that she can be affected by the Semblances of others, and that she can actually lose fights; Emerald's illusions successfully trick her, and Hazel and Oscar are able to obliterate her body enough to put her out commission for a short while. The fight also revealed that she does feel pain, even if she has an insanely high threshold for tolerating it.

* GlassCannon: While she's one of the most powerful beings in the setting and her HealingFactor ''does'' mean she bounces back quickly from anything short of complete obliteration, Salem is notably less durable than most characters in the setting. Yang's gauntlets are able to messily blow up most of her torso whereas most characters with Aura would just be knocked back by it.

* LogicalWeakness: Salem's CompleteImmortality manifests as an absurd HealingFactor, not straight up immunity to damage or SuperToughness. As such, while she can't die and can regenerate from anything, she's still ''affected'' by injuries and can be stunned or hindered by them until she heals. Her HealingFactor also isn't instant and takes some amount of time depending on the injury, with complete obliteration incapacitating her for some time while her body reforms.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Salem is an ancient evil who has lived on Remnant for thousands of years, attempting to obtain the Relics and divide humanity. Several of Ozpin's former followers, such as Leo and Raven, abandoned Ozpin in the belief that she could not be stopped. Ozpin has been cursed by the gods to walk the earth for as long as it takes to stop Salem; he refers to the curse as "reincarnation" as it doesn't stop his physical body from dying, but transfers his soul, Aura and memories to a new physical body every time it happens. He confirms that he's been trying to stop Salem for thousands of years. The gods cursed Salem with immortality for trying to bring her beloved, Ozma, back from the dead. She incited humanity to betray the gods, resulting in them destroying the human race and leaving her alone. The God of Light restored a weakened form of humanity and reincarnated Ozma among them to try and guide humanity back to redemption. Humanity's redemption won't be possible, however, until Salem can be stopped.

* TragicMonster: Salem has gone through multiple stages in life, from birth, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, which turned her into the monster everyone knows her as.
** Salem found herself imprisoned in a tower from birth by her cruel father, who treated her as an object instead of his daughter, visited by no one but him and a nanny. Bearing no notable connection or instruction, aside from her powers and desire for freedom, with almost no success.
** Salem found freedom in the form of the Hero Ozma, who was successful in rescuing her, falling in love, and becoming her whole world. It ended once the Hero fell from an unknown illness, breaking her heart and stirring her desire to see him again.
** Salem found herself deceiving the gods to revive him, witnessing his death and resurrection multiple times, who in retaliation cursed her with complete immortality, thus keeping them from seeing Ozma even in the afterlife. Her curse wouldn't end until she discovered the meaning behind life and death, which is a rather obscure lesson for someone who was trapped in a tower for most of her life.
** Salem led and failed in rebellion against the Gods, resulting in the God of Darkness erasing all life on the planet, leaving the woman alone on a barren planet. In a last-ditch attempt at death, she dove into the Grimm Pool, but rather than killing her, this warped her mind and body, turning her into an immortal creature who desired destruction.
** Salem was forced to remain in the barren world alone waiting an unprecedented amount of time for Humanity to return, but different from the First Humanity. Her appearance and powers caused her to be regarded as a Witch, having no real attachment to the people there.
** Salem reunited with and married Ozma, but their changes and secrets formed a rift in the strong bond the two shared before. Her warped mind and disconnection from humanity as a whole aside from her family and Ozma, eventually led to the two fighting and sparked the death of their four children.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Salem is an ancient evil who has lived on Remnant for thousands of years, attempting to obtain the Relics and divide humanity. Several of Ozpin's former followers, such as Leo and Raven, abandoned Ozpin in the belief that she cannot be stopped. Ozpin has been cursed by the gods to walk the earth for as long as it takes to stop Salem; he refers to the curse as "reincarnation" as it doesn't stop his physical body dying, but transfers his soul, Aura and memories to a new physical body every time it happens. He confirms that he's been trying to stop Salem for thousands of years. The gods cursed Salem with immortality for trying to bring her beloved, Ozma, back from the dead. She incited humanity to betray the gods, resulting in them destroying the human race and leaving her alone. The God of Light restored a weakened form of humanity and reincarnated Ozma among them to try and guide humanity back to redemption. Humanity's redemption won't be possible, however, until Salem can be stopped.

* EternalVillain: Salem has existed for longer than the current version of humanity, and she schemes to destroy the world and humanity as a whole to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens spite the gods]], against whom she has a bitter grudge. Over the course of millennia she has schemed to destroy humanity and to defeat Ozpin, the setting's EternalHero.

''World of Remnant:'' [[Characters/RWBYWorldOfRemnant Remnant Mythos]] | [[Characters/RWBYCreaturesOfGrimm Grimm Bestiary]]-]]]]]

''Antagonists:'' [[Characters/RWBYSalemsFaction Salem's Faction]] ('''Salem''' | [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]]) | [[Characters/RWBYWhiteFang White Fang]] ([[Characters/RWBYAdamTaurus Adam Taurus]]) | [[Characters/RWBYCreaturesOfGrimm Creatures of Grimm]]\\
''World Building:'' [[Characters/RWBYWorldOfRemnant World of Remnant]] | [[Characters/RWBYTheEverAfter The Ever After]]-]]]]]

* AwfulTruth: While Salem herself, a magic-wielding human who can control Grimm, is upsetting in her own right, what makes her this trope is the fact she is completely immortal; even if you do vaporize her, [[FromASingleCell she will simply just come back after a certain amount of time]]. It's this piece of knowledge that tends to be what leads to a DespairEvenHorizon in people and what ultimately makes the heroes (temporarily) turn on Ozpin.

* LogicalWeakness:
** Salem is immortal, but she's not ''invulnerable'' to damage, she simply can't die and will inevitably regenerate from any damage she takes. In fact, being part Grimm seems to make her ''more'' vulnerable to being damaged than a normal person (like Cinder's Grimm arm). This means while they can't ''kill'' her, injuries can still hinder her while she regenerates from them and the more severe the injury, the longer it takes. Being completely obliterated isn't fatal, but will effectively knock her out for a few hours to a day.
** For all her power, Salem is mentally a normal human and her powers do nothing to change that. As such, powers such as Emerald's illusions can still fool her and it's easier to outsmart her than it is to ''outfight'' her. This is shown in Volume 8 when she's tricked by Emerald's semblence, fails to see Hazel turning on her until he hits her, and ultimately falls for Cinder's lies about the Lamp and Staff.

* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll:
** A recurring statement is the fact Salem is immortal doesn't mean she's invincible. While appearing as such, Volume 8, Episode 9 showcases she can actually lose, as Hazel and Oscar obliterating her body ''did'' successfully put her out of commission for close to a day. The same confrontation shows that while she has an insanely high threshold for pain, she still ''feels'' it and something like being lit on fire still makes her scream in agony.
** Volume 8 also shows that for all her power, Salem isn't infallible and is quite capable of being fooled just like anyone else.