Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-14138255-20151206164217/@comment-26206856-20151206231204

Hah! I thought there was something about guardians before, and sure enough, the very first episode mentions them:

Narrator: So you may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called "free world", but take heed... there will be no victory in strength. Sound like the black queen threatening Remnant? Also, there will be no victory in strength aka Ironwood's Military a la Qrow's whole complaint and Ozpin's point a few episodes ago.

Ozpin (voice over): But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten. Things that require a smaller, more honest soul. This doesn't necessarily mean the guardian and the 'honest soul' are separate entities, but they could be, and since we pan down onto Ruby, it's suggested Ruby is the honest soul who will be the key to the battle (whether Ozpin knows about it or not yet (and I think he does)).

Personally, I think the honest soul and the guardian are the same, but Jen/the Narrator is warning Ozpin that choosing the strongest person as the guardian will do no good. Which lends strength to the idea that the maiden must choose her fate to be the guardian, not just be assigned the role.