Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-36446807-20180803045826/@comment-4141313-20180805013157

Sentry 616 wrote: I never got the implied threat of death as the price of failing Ozpin's group.

It sounded more like she was scared of the responsibility and knowing that Salem wants her dead, so she ran off for the middle of nowhere to hide. Look how well that turned out. Didn't need to be said. From what was said, Spring was afraid. What would she have to fear? Salem, the threat she posed, and the real truth to the world. What happen if she couldn't face her fear? She wouldn't be able to fight or defend herself. What would happen then? The Ozluminati just hide her away and protect her? Didn't work with Amber, and she had training to some degree.

Maiden powers are something both Ozpin and Salem need. Mainly because they are the keys to unlocking the relics. Ozpin however needs the Maiden's to be able to defend themselves as his forces won't be able to always defend them. (Qrow presumably kept his distance from Amber due to Semblance matters, but even then he showed up too late to stop Cinder from stealing half of Fall.) With recruiting Maiden's, the choice is simple: "Work with us or die." If they can't guarentee her loyalty, she'd risk being a malfactor or at worst, a defector to the enemy.

Spring ran away. She couldn't take it. What would have Ozpin reasonably done had she been captured before Raven found her? Try and disuade from running again? Offer to protect her 24/7? It would seem easier to just kill her and try the process again with the next one, and keep trying until it works. The needs of Remnant outweigh the needs of the Maidens in the long run. So if one or two have to die until they can find one willing to work with them and strong enough to defend herself, so be it. (This is hypothetically what they think)

Just look at the known maidens.

Amber - Willing to work with Ozpin but too weak to defend herself, being beaten by two experienced teenagers and an experienced young adult.

Former Spring - Initially willing to work with Ozpin but ran away and too weak to defend herself.

Cinder - Working with Salem and strong enough to kill Ozpin.

Raven - Unwilling to work with Ozpin and strong enough to incapacitate Cinder.

So far each one has been one or the other, when they need both. And to get both, its quite possible if not likely that if the maiden was deemed a lost cause, for the sake of Remant they'd be killed and replaced with a possible more suitable candidate.

This is technically the circumstance of Amber. Half of her soul was ripped out of her and she was comatose. Time was of the essence, and they needed to keep the other half of Fall out of Cinder's claws. So they found someone loyal and at the top of her class to be a fitting replacement: Pyrrha. They had to let Amber die for the sake of Remnant. The process would have killed her afterall, ripping the other half of her soul out and putting it in Pyrrha.

Realistically, becoming a Maiden is the equivalent of no longer being considered human. Everyone will want your power, and will be willing to kill you if you don't want to work for you. Maiden's are no longer humans, but tools and weapons. Regardless of intent, if a weapon is no longer useful, its either finely tuned and sharpened, or its tossed aside and replaced.