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The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet... is fear. It's funny then, that as common as fear is... we so easily underestimate its power.
—Ozpin


Professor Ozpin was the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, and an incarnation of Ozma, the ancient warrior dedicated to protecting the world from Salem. He is the first known incarnation after the King of Vale.

During the Battle of Beacon, he was killed in battle with Cinder Fall, the newly ascended Fall Maiden. With his death, Ozma reincarnated into Oscar Pine, a farmhand from Mistral.

Appearance[]

Ozpin Volume 6

During the Beacon Arc, Ozpin looks like a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes. He has a light complexion and sharp facial features. Interestingly, Ozpin has black eyebrows, suggesting that he may have had black hair when he was younger.

He wears shaded glass spectacles and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the cowl around his neck. His outfit mainly consists of an unzipped black suit over a dark green, buttoned vest and green shirt. He also wears black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants. In addition to his cane, his other frequent accessory is a mug bearing the Beacon Academy emblem, from which he drinks hot coco.[2]

Personality[]

Ozpin is typically both stoic and affable towards people he speaks to. He, like Ruby Rose, has been shown to think outside of the box. It can be inferred from his indifference toward Ruby fighting Roman Torchwick, as well as the way he literally launches new students into the Emerald Forest for the Beacon Academy Initiation, that he has no real problem putting his students in mortal danger if he feels they can handle it, given the right reasons or to accomplish an objective. Both Theodore and Xanthe Rumpole see this attitude toward his students as reckless. Despite this, he does take into consideration that precautionary measures are in place, such as during the Beacon Academy Initiation, where students were being filmed the entire time to ensure their safety.

Ozpin can be humble, admitting that he has made many mistakes in the past. In addition, he possesses a more caring side, comforting Ruby and assuring her that her appointment as team leader was not a mistake. He is seen to care for the well being of his students, as with Blake Belladonna when he told her if she needed to tell him anything, she should not hesitate to ask. Also, while Ozpin is a Headmaster of a Huntsman Academy, he shows great care for the well-being of his students in "Welcome to Beacon", where he infers that he hopes his students will never have to fight a war. Ozpin is also shown to harbor respect for the Faunus, something made clear during his conversation with Blake, yet is highly aware of the racial discrimination they suffer from Humans.

In RWBY: After the Fall, one of his students, Coco Adel, describes Ozpin as mischievous and having a young, boyish charm that reminded Coco of her younger brother.[3] Ozpin can also be very blunt, as shown when Jaune Arc asks him questions about the launch. According to Ruby and Yang Xiao Long in "The Shining Beacon, Pt.2", Ozpin did not "seem himself" while giving his speech to the incoming students.

Ozpin is also known to believe dearly in teamwork, which is one of the reasons why the Huntsmen academies focus heavily on it.[4]

However, Ozpin is also known for being secretive, which is sometimes a detriment. Said flaw can go so far as endangering his allies, as shown in "Argus Limited" when he chose not to relay how the Relic of Knowledge attracts Grimm until the train was under attack, forcing the group to separate in order to protect both the Relic and the passengers. In "Uncovered", Ozpin is shown becoming testy after Yang and Weiss scrutinize him over breaking his promise to stop withholding secrets and making a false martyr out of Lionheart. Nevertheless, he resolutely defends his actions, believing the people of Mistral "deserve better than the truth", which in turn shows, not only how much he values his allies, even the ones who betrayed him, but also empathy to those who make mistakes. Though once he discovers the Relic is missing, he becomes fearful of his past failings and trauma at Salem's hands being exposed, so much so that he desperately tries retaking the Relic from Ruby once she summons Jinn to learn the truth.

Ozpin is also shown to have something of a guilt complex in that he tends to shoulder all the blame for both his own actions and Salem's- such as in "Unforeseen Complications", where he accepts all the blame for what happened during the Fall of Beacon. His guilt over lying to his allies as well as their anger drove him to self-exile in "So That's How It Is", even going as far as to agree with Qrow Branwen that maybe meeting him was the worst luck of the latter's life. This guilt complex is so extreme that in "War", when Hazel Rainart snaps that Ozpin deserves to be tortured, he agrees without hesitation before expressing concern for Oscar and the people in Atlas. This shows that he truly believes his life is worth less than others because of his mistakes.

He is, however, capable of reflecting on his mistakes and learning from them. In "The Enemy of Trust", Ozpin gives a monologue on the nature of fear and how it affects others, showing he has reflected on giving in to his fear since his self-exile. Later in "Refuge," he agrees with Oscar Pine about not wanting their souls to merge into one and stresses that everyone needs to learn how to work together after everything that has happened- not just the two of them. Finally in "Risk", he tells his former students that he should have trusted them with the truth and never have left when they discovered it.

Powers and Abilities[]

V3 12 00009

Ozpin parrying Cinder's attacks.

Before being killed and bonding to Oscar, Ozpin harbored immense physical power as demonstrated in his fight against Cinder after she became the Fall Maiden. He possessed superhuman speed, creating green afterimages as he moved.

From what was briefly seen of Ozpin's fighting style in his duel with Cinder, his style emphasizes adaptability, changing from powerful high speed strikes to rapid retreats to solid defense.

Ozpin is a capable strategist and leader. He has the ability to persuade even volatile personalities to cooperate with his plans and knows the right balance of firmness and kindness to get the desired results from his subordinates. He is also flexible enough to "bend the rules" if he feels the situation requires it, as shown in "Field Trip".

Weapon[]

Main article: The Long Memory

Ozpin's weapon of choice was The Long Memory, a walking cane which he built in a previous incarnation. Following his death, the cane is now wielded by Oscar Pine.

Reincarnation[]

Due to the reincarnation process, Ozpin's soul is fused with that of Oscar's, with the latter having access to his memories.

He can grant Ozpin control of his body, enhancing his combat prowess and the strength of his Aura, though it is not retained when Oscar is in control. In addition, he can forcibly take control of his body, which Oscar didn't know he could do, though this severely drains him afterwards.[5]

The merging process also caused Ozpin to take on some of Oscar's mannerisms. In "Midnight", he is much more open and expressive when dealing with Hazel, and in "War", he reveals to him the truth about Salem in an attempt to sway him, where normally he would keep it secret.

He is also more open with Ruby's Group. In "Creation", he fully explains how the Relic of Creation works during their attempt to save the people of Atlas and Mantle.

In the Volume 9 Bonus Ending Animatic, Ozpin assists Oscar in trying to fight the merge, but the efforts are unsuccessful, as when speaking to Jaune Arc in "A Knight's Journal", Oscar recalls his memories as though they were his own, needing to be reminded by Jaune otherwise.

Magic[]

V3 12 00013

Ozpin using magic to create an energy barrier.

In "Rest and Resolutions", Ozpin reveals that he himself possesses powerful Magic that he used to create the original Maidens, as well as grant Qrow and Raven Branwen the ability to shapeshift into corvids. During his battle with Cinder, he conjures an energy barrier to protect himself from her attacks. However, due to his many reincarnations, as well as his creation of the Maidens long ago, his magic has been slowly dwindling.[6]

Trivia[]

Allusion[]

Color Naming Rule[]

  • Monty Oum released an image detailing the color-naming rule of RWBY, stating "Thus all the names in RWBY (Minus Ozpin... for reasons....) follow this rule."[7][8]
    • In "Field Trip", Ozpin reveals that the color-naming rules have been a naming tradition in Remnant because of a war that ended almost eighty years before the events of the series.
    • In "Unforeseen Complications", Ozpin reveals that he had lived for thousands of years due to a curse placed on him by the Gods for failing to stop Salem in the past.

Story[]

  • Despite popular belief, Ozpin drinks hot cocoa, not coffee.[2]
    • Ozpin's voice actor, Shannon McCormick, said, "Ozpin obviously takes his coffee black", jokingly noting that there's never any cream or sugar around him when he pours a cup.[9] He also noted that, by the sound effect used in "It's Brawl in the Family" as the headmaster sloshes his coffee, he drinks iced coffee.[10] Gray G. Haddock, however, has noted that this interpretation of the sound design is not true.[11]
  • A silhouette of Ozpin appears in the World of Remnant episode, "Aura", while the narrator says "With enough training and focus, a user's Aura can turn them into something much more than just a man".
  • Due to the timeframe, it is unknown if the King of Vale merged with Ozpin following his death, or if there was an incarnation between them.
  • The reason Ozpin was chosen to be the narrator for the World of Remnant episodes released during Volume 3 was to have people "forget" about Jen Taylor, making Salem's reveal at the end of the Volume more impactful.[12]
  • During Volume 4, the original plan with Ozpin was to not reveal that he had anything to do with Oscar Pine until the very end of the Volume.[13]

Character&Design[]

References[]

  1. RWBY: Before the Dawn
  2. 2.0 2.1 Rooster Teeth online store, and Volume 3 Director's Commentary
  3. RWBY: After the Fall (p. 41).
  4. Volume 3 Blu-Ray Extra "3, 2, 1, Begin"
  5. Volume 5 Directors' Commentary Chapter 12
  6. Eddy Rivas Twitter
  7. RWBY Naming Rules
  8. Monty Oum's Twitter
  9. RWBY AfterBuzz TV (11:49)
  10. RWBY Volume 3 Afterbuzz TV 1
  11. RWBY Volume 3 Afterbuzz TV 2
  12. Volume 3 DVD Directors' Commentary Chapter 12
  13. Volume 4 Directors' Commentary Chapter 7
  14. RWBY AfterBuzz TV (14:35)
  15. Miles Luna's Cameo
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