Cinder & Pyrrha

The exact mechanics of how Pyrrha comes back are not, in fact, part of the theory- all I’ve got there is reasonable speculation as to how and why it might of happened, and there’s definitely some confusion regarding a pile-up on the reincarnation super-highway with regards to Amber. The short version of that part of the theory goes something like this:

“Maidens reincarnate like Ozpin does, and Salem knows this, but she wanted a Maiden free of his influence so she created the Tick Grimm which could siphon off power while blocking soul transfer. She did not tell Cinder that that was part of what the Tick does, though, because she knew Cinder would never agree to having a headmate if something went wrong. That’s why Amber goes into a coma and her skin stays discolored- the venom of the Tick is suppressing her soul so it can’t get out of her into Cinder. But Pyrrha never had the Tick used on her, and the Maidenhood is designed to fuse a previous Maiden’s soul with the new Maiden, so it sucked Pyrrha in after her death using the tenuous connection left over from when she was in the machine.”

However, there’s no strong evidence for that- it’s just a theory which fits the facts. Even the long list of visual similarities and cinematic parallels is just icing on the cake of the real theory:
 * They have the same colors, slightly inverted: Pyrrha is gold with red trim and black undertones and Cinder is red with gold trim and black undertones.
 * They both wear black heels.
 * They both cover their entire arms, usually with dark full-length gloves.
 * They both wear collars and earings.
 * Their bangs are styled almost identically.
 * They both have bare shoulders, back, and upper chest in nearly all of their outfits.
 * They both have an ornament on their right hip, which is followed by trailing red fabric.
 * They both have weapons that come in two pieces and wear them diagonally on their backs.
 * Their ball gowns have an identical pattern.
 * Pyrrha’s ball gown, in addition to being the same color as Cinder’s main dress, has the same slit up the right side and asymmetric hem.
 * Cinder’s infiltration outfit has a belt and pouches that match Pyrrha’s, and she adds knee boots which are the same size and shape as Pyrrha’s greaves.
 * Cinder’s flashback outfit looks even more like Pyrrha’s standard outfit than her regular one because it’s form-fitting like Pyrrha’s armor and the same length as Pyrrha’s skirt.
 * Cinder’s post-fall outfit is much more similar to Pyrrha’s ball gown than it is to her usual dress, and she’s added a black glove on her right arm very similar to Pyrrha’s.
 * When Cinder’s Grimm arm is revealed, the color pattern of it matches the full-length gloves Pyrrha and Cinder tend to wear.

But How?
I was very definitely expecting Raven to reveal that she had a headmate to Yang in their finale confrontation, and for knowledge gained from the collective memories of previous Spring Maidens to play a part in her distrust of Ozpin. The fact that it never came up, and that Raven also admitted to betraying and killing the previous Maiden (and that Cinder was right about her doing so) but does not seem to be suffering any ill effet from having done so, makes the “All Maidens Reincarnate” theory look kind of weak right now.

New theory: this is all the Aura transfer machine’s fault, or possibly a combination of the Aura transfer machine and the Tick Grimm. The Maidenhoods have some means of attaching themselves to a person’s soul, and are designed to do so while that person’s body lives, and then vacate upon their death and seek out a new soul to bond with. But both the machine and the tick are experimental, never-before-used and poorly understood methods of brute-forcing the relocation and reattachment of a Maidenhood. How are they accomplishing that?

Well, maybe the tick and the machine basically spot-weld the Maidenhood directly to the person’s soul to make it stick. And the Maidenhood was described as trying to collect itself entirely within a single person, and for its separated parts to seek each other out in order to do so. So maybe the Maidenhood ended up becoming a rubber band stretched between Cinder’s and Pyrrha’s souls and anchored at each end unwillingly… and when Pyrrha died, the rubber band just snapped back, and dragged Pyrrha with it.

This still doesn’t explain Raven’s “I know people who can come back from the dead!” comment, though. Unless the previous Spring Maiden really was as weak-willed as she says, and Raven has been able to psychologically dominate her. If that’s the case, though… I don’t think that’s gonna work for Cinder versus Pyrrha.