History Recap / RWBYV7E13TheEnemyOfTrust

* MyMasterRightOrWrong: When Penny becomes the Winter Maiden and Ruby uses her eyes to make Cinder flee, an injured Winter demands their surrender. Weiss rebuts that they won't be doing anything of the sort, and Winter regretfully gives them a head start before warning the authorities. Penny subverts this by joining the heroes, while Winter begrudgingly plays it straight.
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Invoked by Oscar, who points out that raising Atlas will mean Salem will have free reign to slaughter the millions of people left on Remnant. Ironwood, however, dismisses the debate as "philosophical".

* OhCrap: Cinder goes through a succession of shocks which she unsuccessfully tries to recover from with renewed rage every time. Realizing that she was too late to get Fria's powers after beating up Winter, she tries to bury her shock by directing her anger at Penny. Then Ruby shows up, which is another whammy for Cinder, who tries to intimidate Ruby by preparing to attack, only to be reminded in a hurry that Ruby has Silver Eyes, forcing Cinder to flee as they flash.

-->'''Cinder:''' ''[sees Penny cradling a moribund Fria; shrilly]'' '''''She's mine!'''''

* TheStinger: [[AvertedTrope Averted]], for the first time in the series the Volume ends without an after-credits scene, instead having an InMemoriam to Monty Oum, as the episode released near the five-year anniversary of his passing.
* ThreePointLanding: When Oscar unlocks his ability to create a spherical barrier, he is able to land safely on Mantle's ground despite having fallen all the way from Atlas. He lands in a crouch, with one hand on the ground and one leg fully extended.
* TragicKeepsake: When Tyrian killed Clover with Qrow's blade, Clover's lucky badge fell off. When Qrow and Robyn are arrested, he stares silently at the bloodied badge in his hand while Robyn tries to comfort him.
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: In the previous episode, Penny is the only one of Ironwood's subordinates to openly question the ethics of his decisions or methods, whereas Winter and the Ace-Ops are determined to follow his orders even if they feel uncomfortable with them. When Fria bequeaths the Maiden powers to her, Penny decides to join Team RWBY in opposition to Ironwood rather than return to him.

* UngratefulBitch: Cinder completely fails to obtain the Winter Maiden's power, but Neo successfully presents her with the stolen Relic of Knowledge. This immediately improves Cinder's mood, who contemptuously snatches the Relic from Neo and walks off with a smug smile and no hint of gratitude. Neo watches her go with an irritated expression on her face.

* VillainousBreakdown: Cinder flies into an animalistic rage after Winter cuts off her Grimm arm and Fria stops her from stealing the power of the Winter Maiden, howling wildly and brutally beating Winter as revenge.

* KickTheMoralityPet: Throughout Volume 7, Ironwood spends considerable time with Oscar and serves as a mentor to the teenager. Their interactions have a positive impact on Ironwood, showing a warmer side to the stern General and visibly improving his condition. In this episode, Oscar seeks out Ironwood to reason with him, but he instead shoots him off the Vault's ledge.

* DontCallMeSir: When Ironwood first arrived in Ozpin's office in Volume 2, Ozpin called him "General" and he responded by telling Ozpin to dismiss the formalities between friends. When Oscar realizes just how far Ironwood is willing to go to defeat Salem, he states that Ironwood has become as dangerous as Salem. However, he calls Ironwood "James", something he's never done before. Ironwood reflects that only friends call him "James" and that Oscar should call him "General". He then shoots Oscar off the ledge he's on, shattering both Oscar's Aura and their friendship.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: During the confrontation between Ironwood and Oscar, Ironwood's eyes retain their customary sheen. When Oscar tells Ironwood he's become as dangerous as Salem and calls him by his first name, Ironwood comments that "James" is what his friends call him. Then all the light disappears from his eyes as he tells Oscar to refer to him as "General". His eyes remain lifeless as he raises his gun and shoots Oscar.

-->'''Oscar:''' Then you're [[HeWhoFightsMonsters as dangerous]] as she is, James.\\
'''Ironwood:''' James is what my friends call me. To you... it's General.

* KickTheMoralityPet: In Volume 7, Ironwood spends considerable time with Oscar and serves as a mentor to the teenager. Their interactions have a positive impact on Ironwood, showing a warmer side to the stern General and visibly improving his condition. When things reach a breaking point in this episode, Oscar seeks out Ironwood to reason with him, but he instead shoots him off the Vault's ledge.

* NeverMyFault: As Oscar tries to talk Ironwood down in the Relic Vault, the latter blames everyone, Robyn, the council, the Altas Kingdom and even Oscar, for not seeing the bigger picture and getting in the way of doing what he thinks is right. Not once does he stop to consider that he himself may have had a role in things escalating as badly as they did.

** In the Volume 2 episode [[Recap/RWBYV2E2WelcomeToBeacon "Welcome to Beacon"]], Ozpin and Ironwood's first interaction in the series, Ozpin greeted him as "General" and Ironwood asked him to [[DontCallMeSir drop the formalities]] between friends. When Oscar calls him "James", Ironwood states only his friends call him "James" and that Oscar should use "General". He then shoots Oscar, signifying the end of their friendship.
** The spherical barrier Oscar manifests to break his fall is the one Ozpin used during his Volume 3 battle with Cinder; although weaker and only partially formed, it still packs a punch and releases the green lightning that characterized Ozpin's use of the barrier.

* AllForNothing: Every decision Ironwood has made in the last few chapters winds up being for naught. Ordering the heroes to be arrested gets his best agent Clover killed and allows Tyrian to escape custody. Neo takes advantage of his arrest order for the heroes to confront Oscar and get away with the Lamp of Knowledge. Sending Winter to claim the Maiden power led Cinder right to where Fria was being held and ultimately causes the power to go to Penny, who sides with the heroes due to Ironwood's extremist methods. And Salem was far closer than the general realized, so even if things had worked in his favor it still would have failed.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The volume focuses on the heroes, Robyn and Ironwood all having different ideas about how to protect Atlas and Mantle. When they finally come together to help evacuate Mantle, the truce quickly falls apart once Ironwood realises Cinder is in town, Salem is on her way and Team RWBY leaked intel to Robyn. He orders the arrest of the heroes, the forcible extraction of the Winter Maiden powers, and the abandonment of Mantle to save Atlas. As a consequence of his extremism and paranoia corrupting his judgement, he loses the Relic of Knowledge, the Winter Maiden, almost all of his allies, and stands alone when Salem arrives on his doorstep.

Irreversible decisions are made as the heroes and villains fight for the fate of the kingdom, Relics and Winter Maiden.

Who will you become when your greatest fears are realized?

* KickTheDog: Ironwood has made increasingly dubious and extreme decisions throughout the volume as the stress of protecting the kingdom from Salem has become increasingly hard for him to carry alone. When Oscar confronts him in the Vault and compares his extremist ideas to Salem, he finally snaps and shoots Oscar in the gut. This breaks Oscar's Aura and throws him backwards to fall into the depths of the vault.