Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-31883133-20180114001435/@comment-34633327-20180115030623

Here's an interesting thing. I was, yet again, looking on Tumblr for fanart, when I found someone's theory on who Hazel is really based on, and explains why he is working for Salem. Further investigation on my part kinda pokes some holes in it, but it still seems like an interesting possibility that others could explore and find plausibility where I can't. I did come up with an alterate interpretation of it, but I get the feeling I've been watching too much MatPat and may have gone nuts. So take this with a grain of salt. The idea is that Hazel is based on '''Faust. '''

https://megashadowdragon.tumblr.com/post/169712328887/hazel-is-based-on-faust-and-his-goal-is-to-bring Poor grammar, I know, but I did try to make sense of it.

In the story of Faust, the demon Mephistopheles makes a bet with The Lord of Heaven (Obviously refering to God) that he can lead astray one of The Lord's favorite scholars: Faust. So after Faust contemplates Suicide after being unable to find the meaning of the universe, he holds off and comes across a small Poodle, the Poodle being Mephistopheles in disguise. Mephistopheles reveals himself to Faust and offers a contract: Mephistopheles will do whatever Faust desires while on Earth, but Faust must do the inverse once in Hell.

Faust agrees to the contract and Mephistopheles takes Faust out for a night on the town. While out, Faust is made to look like a young man and meet a woman who calls herself Margeret, also known as '''Gretchen. '''Mephistopheles uses his power to aid Faust in seducing Gretchen, who soon discovers she is pregnant out of wedlock. Enraged, Gretchen's brother attacks Faust and Mephistopheles, only to die at their hands, and Gretchen, in grief, proceeds to kill her newborn baby, and is arrested for infanticide. Faust has Mephistopheles try to free Gretchen, but she refuses to go, the two forced to leave her. It is then however a voice from heavens comes down and says "Gretchen shall be spared".

So, the idea is that Hazel is based off Faust, and his sister is Gretchen, whereas Salem takes the role of Mephistopheles. The theory also believes Hazel is working for Salem in the hopes she can somehow revive his sister.

Now, obviously, this theory has some holes in it. A big one is the fact Hazel and Faust share virtually no similarities (Even if the allusions are superficial, the characters tend to atleast share certain similarities, such as Ruby and Little Red's hood, Yang and Goldylocks' flowing blond hair, Jaune and Joan's blonde knight guises). Faust was an aging old man who sought the meanings of the universe, Hazel is a heartbroken older brother that detests violence unless his murder boner for Ozpin comes up. Hell, if anyone suits Hazel more in the story, it's Gretchen's Brother, who attacked Faust and Mephistopheles for ruining Gretchen's life by getting her pregnant out of wedlock (I know its a societal thing at the time, but Values Dissonance is kinda in play for me here), and that Hazel sees Ozpin in the role of Faust (I'm not saying I do, I'm saying how Hazel sees Ozpin if using the story of Faust as a base.)

Though there is something interesting that could alter the two holes I found. The tale of Faust I've seen have two different endings. The first ending is the more optimistic one. Faust realizes he has sinned but thanks to his constant strivings and pleading from Gretchen, God allows Faust to ascend to Heaven. The second ending is the more pessimistic one. Faust believes he has irrevocably sinned and allows himself to be dragged into hell once he dies. The interesting part comes from the Optimistic Ending ironically.

When you boil down the story of Faust, it ultimately comes off as this: God and the Devil have a bet to see if the devil can sway Faust, and Faust falls for the Devils influence. In doing so he loses the one he loves, but she is saved by the forces of Heaven. In the optimistic ending, Faust sees his errors, but his constant striving and Gretchen's pleadings convinces God to save Faust's soul from damnation and let him ascend to Heaven. So how does this connect to Hazel? Well, before I brought up that Salem was Mephistopheles in this role, but what if she was actually God in the story.

So, for the sake of argument, lets have Hazel enter the role of Faust, Gretchen be Gretchen, Salem be God, and Ozpin be Mephistopheles (No SYUTK I am not demonizing Ozpin right now, I am only having Ozpin in this role in an attempt to see from Hazel's point of view.)

So, for some reason or another, Gretchen enrolls at Beacon academy despite Hazel's wishes, and loses her life during a training mission, Hazel laying the blame on Ozpin for some reason. Ozpin saying he knows Hazel and that the wounds can't be healed would imply the have at the least interacted before, so like Faust and Mephistopheles, Hazel could have been involved with Ozpin. However, Salem then approaches him and tells him that Ozpin is a force of Evil, and that she could help Hazel both get his revenge, and bring Gretchen back? How? The Relics.

The Relics are said to hold unimanginable power when together, enough to change the world. Well, whether true or not, Salem could easily say to Hazel they could raise the dead and bring Gretchen back. So, like in the story, Hazel/Faust was involved with Ozpin/Mephistopheles, and the life of Gretchen was lost, Hazel/Faust blaming the influence of Ozpin/Mephistopheles. Hazel/Faust is then offered salvation by Salem/God, and the chance to be reunited with Gretchen, in the process Salem seals the deal by convincing Hazel that Ozpin is pure evil and had led his sister astray. But the major idea the theory is based on is Salem being able to serve in the role of '''God. '''Which isn't that unreasonable.

Tyrian made mention of the fact he only lives to serve Salem, his Goddess, and while its easy to chalk that up to him being fucking nuts, the fact the Gods of Light and Darkness had to task Ozpin, who we know was once an all powerful wizard, with stopping her, leaves several interpretations. One is that the gods were too lazy to do it themselves. Another is that Salem was a force that rivaled the powers of the gods, and they needed Ozpin since they couldn't beat her themselves. Afterall, she looks like a Grimm, but the God of Darkness made the Grimm, so why would she turn on her master, a literal god? Maybe she's a goddess herself, and the brothers weren't the only gods out there, and Remnant really has something like a pantheon rather than just two gods.

So then, how does Ozpin fill the role of Mephistopheles (ROLE WISE! NOT MORALITY WISE!) Well, in the story, Mephistopheles first appeared before Faust as a poodle before revealing himself. Ozpin as we know has had many incarnations over the centuries, his most recent one before Oscar being the Headmaster of Beacon. Like in the story, Hazel found out Ozpin is more than just the headmaster, but he didn't learn it from Ozpin, he learned it from Salem. Salem tricked Hazel into thinking that Ozpin is this massive evil and that she was doing this all with well intentions, when really, the roles are switched. But Hazel's grief over Gretchen, his anger at Ozpin, and the lies told to him by Salem have made him blind to the truth. As for why Salem would want Hazel..... that I can't say yet. I have an answer, but its a spoiler. So for now, remember that all this is just a theory...... A RWBY Theory!

(Please critique this but don't assume I'm ignoring any evidence against it. Cause even I don't believe most of what I typed, I just put it down as it popped into my brain. Again though, I must reiterate, I am not atttempting to demonize Ozpin here. I put him in the role of Mephistopheles to see the basis behind Hazel's motivation and allusion. And they have twisted allusions before. Leonardo is the Cowardly Lion, yet the Cowardly Lion gained the courage he needed and helped Dorothy find the wizard, whereas Leonardo caved into his fear and sided with Salem (The Wicked Witch) in order to save his own life.)