Part Four:

When it finally gets to Ozpin, he’s this young and promising Huntsman fresh out of the academy, not yet a headmaster or the level of one but a talented Huntsman none the less. Far less cryptic and secretive this Ozpin is much more a warrior and militant than his other versions. He’s a genius and promising Huntsman brought up in a world doctrine with Hunters fighting monsters. A man with a beautiful bewitching fiancée he is in love with and means to marry right after school, maybe even mere months or weeks at the time. I want to make him older by a few years than team STQR, not by much, maybe 4 by the least. Just enough time for him after the transition to gain some standing as a headmaster, notice and prioritize a few teams, while becoming an older brother/ father figure to others.

Now at first, he is terrified by the voices in his head but as time passes Ozpin is convinced by these voices to try to make contact with the Order. I don’t know how he gets in contact with the Order, maybe he left some cryptic message to the headmasters like “I would like my cane back”, but he gets back into the fold. And he is instantly overwhelmed at first, at this point he hasn’t completely bonded with his previous memories and conscience so he can barely rely on their wisdom. Not that those incarnations are any help, from each lifetime, hundreds and decades of years past each time where they leave the order instructions that have become vague from different generations passing down their missions and beliefs. If fact I believe that as much as Oz claims to have created the Huntsman Academies, he probably contributed about 20-25%. They probably used the talents and connections they gather under the period between Old Man Oz and Father Oz to collect favors, agents, and the right benefactors and then used the lifetime of Father Oz till Ozpin to build up the academy’s. In fact, that could had been the reason the order even made contact with Father Oz  in the first place. His work with dust and machinery could had easily attached them in creating defenses, weapons, and learning skills to design classes and courses for future generations to learn. A little fitting that they sought him out as an individual rather than because he was Oz. 

So yes, this young and warrior indoctrinate Ozpin tries his best to comes to terms with what is happening and realizes something. From listening to the efforts and resources belonging to the Order he realizes he’s running out of time.  

See thanks to the show we get to see the characteristics of each Oz so far. The heroic and loving Ozma, the cowardly king known as False God Oz, the sorrowful and driven Old Man Oz, the intelligent, selfish, and parental Father Oz, the wise and warrior like Ozpin, and finally the naive soldier Oscar. When comparing Father Oz and Ozpin, it is a contrast of wisdom versus intelligence. Like how the Wise King Solomon might not had been the most brilliant mind in terms to mathematics and science in his kingdom, but by far he was the smartest when it came to matters of life and the mind. So, this wiser Ozpin notices how the years of the Oz Cycle are slowly ticking down to zero. He begins to panic as he fears his existence in just a few incarnations, what happens to his mind after his regresses to a body of a child, then that to an infant, and beyond. Would he even exist after transgressing from an infant afterwards? It does not help that each life he lived before was either extremely short or spent nothing in research and of questioning his own existence. He died young as Ozma, barely two decades as King Oz, maybe a few years as Old Man Oz with whatever spark of life the old man had extended by magic, then finally several years dedicated only to the creation of weapons and the later years with his family as Father Oz. The rest of his lives in-between match these descriptions of circumstances hindering his progression and keeping his lives short or busy. 

So, Ozpin starts to panic, no, he begins rushing into battle as a warrior. Instantly sets himself up as the Headmaster at one of the academy’s, starts preparing the forces of the Order while awarding abilities to its members without caution ultimately depleting whatever magic reserves he had left after his time as Old Man Oz. Even having his fiancée join the order to be his most trusted ally during this time as he fears the higher members of the order do not believe in his methods. Then in the academy he gives special privileges to certain promising huntsman and huntresses, groups them together and gets them ready for war. A war that the Order completely loses, horribly at the cost of many of their forces and incurring the wrath of Salem into collecting her own forces and waring back against Ozpin. I will go more into this later on, but this vague backstory of Oz helps justify many things and fill in plot points that aren’t explained. For one the character of Ozpin in relation to the Wizard of Oz, a small man behind a curtain masquerading as this fabled wise sage of a king. Why he is so secretive in earlier volumes and so directionless in the later volumes. It’s because he isn’t this all powerful being, no instead he’s this scared, and tired man in his mid to late 30s that has the weight of the world on his shoulders, a responsibility he never asked for.  

So, when we get to Oscar, I am now able to justify the problems of if Ozpin is in control of Oscar secretly or not, which is no. Yes, like the Avatar state, previous versions are able to gain control in times of immediate danger but that is much more the Avatar state reacting than a single entity. Same as with Oscar, all that Oscar is hearing is past memories and experiences, just things that will be added onto his conscience. The difference with all the other versions so far is that they had years and decades to build up distinct characteristics and beliefs as I’ve stated. Osar the most naive and youngest so far is far easier to be “directed” by Oz. Ozpin has already ceased to exist and has become a part of Oscar and as he was already a part of the OZ Cycle. He is merely a lesson for Oscar to learn from. In no way is Ozpin in control of Oscar, he’s just sharing his experiences that Oscar already owns. In a sense that’s Oscar himself reacting to the situation, he just doesn’t realize this because of the disconnect between his current mind and past experiences. Since he has not bonded into the cycle just, yet he uses his memories and experiences form the past, seemingly making himself go unconscious and letting Ozpin take control.