The Wizard of Ozpin

Okay guys, there’s something very important that I need everyone to know about Ozpin, because I don’t think people have really given this enough thought yet.

Ozpin, is the Wizard of Oz.

No really.

Okay, okay. I do realize that literally everyone knows this. Its pretty much the most obvious reference in the show. That said, maybe its too obvious? Maybe its being so apparent makes it so that people just accept it as fact and move on, never to really think about what this means for Ozpin as a character.

So, lets ask ourselves, who is the Wizard of Oz? Quite simply, a character, a very human character that puts on a grand illusion to spur others into finding their own true potential.

Now, Ozpin gets a LOT of flack from the community, and on the surface its not too hard to see why. He’s a person in power, he’s secretive, and other characters (Raven and Cinder in particular) have explicitly slandered his character. But who is Ozpin? He’s (in the least) a two-thousand year old immortal cursed by the gods to reincarnate into the bodies of ‘like-minded souls’ and tasked with the goal of stopping Salem, the effective source of all evil and wannabe destroyer of humanity. We all know this. But I think there’s a massive detail that often gets overlooked here.

Ozpin is human.

Ozpin is an incredibly old human and yes, he has a finite amount of magic, he has millennia of experience, but that doesn’t change the fact that at the end of the day Ozpin is a human set in a nearly solitary war against the root of all evil. He’s a human that either has to choose a life of isolation, of hiding his true nature from everyone around him, or sharing this horrible truth and being immediately set apart as ‘the immortal’ ‘the guardian’ and to practically never be viewed as human by his companions again. But this is necessary.

Quite frankly, Salem is terrifying. The concept of Salem, that there is a mind behind the evil monsters that have lain waste to Remnant for as long as anyone can remember that actively wants to destroy humanity is a horrifying concept. Learning about the existence of Salem, people need there to be an opposing force that’s just as powerful. They need the reassurance that there’s a wise, ancient immortal on their side too that has a plan and is going to save everyone. They need a guardian and Ozpin knows this. Because you know what happens when people realize that their guardian, their protector is the exact same as them?

Raven happens.

Raven, who is CONSTANTLY talking about people not knowing the truth about Ozpin, who KNOWS that Ozpin is doomed to fail, that he’s fighting a war he can’’t win. Raven knows that Ozpin is a human pitted against a veritable force of nature and it Scares. Her. Shitless.

And, what was it that Cinder said in her speech at the Fall of Beacon?

“This is what happens when you put your trust……to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men.”



Ozpin can’t win in a full-out confrontation with Salem, Ozpin isn’t an all powerful being, he’s human, and he fights in the most human way there is. With hope, with unity, by bringing people together towards a cause that no one can face alone. He shows people the true potential of what they can be, not because he is infinitely wise or because he can magic their problems away, but because he believes in them, because he helps them to believe in themselves. He is the man behind the curtain.

He is the Wizard of Oz.