Bold title, I know, but hear me out.

On first watch, Leonardo Lionheart is quite a flat character. He seems a coward through and through, every character doubting him which raises questions from the audience such as “Why did Ozpin put this coward in charge of a school?”

And then we get to Volume 5 Episode 11 and Volume 6 Episode 2, where we can infer some of his past thanks to Ozpin.

Ozpin alludes to the idea that Leo was once a brave man of high standing and Leo says he’s not the fighter he used to be in Volume 5 Episode 1. This suggests that Lionheart was probably one of the best of the best when it came to huntsman, and a fall from grace stripped him of his confidence, bravery and skill.

But what caused that?

Some might say it’s due to a meeting with Salem, as alluded to in Volume 5 Episode 2:

But Salem’s dialogue suggests he was already fearful at this point. So again, we have to ask ourselves why he was so scared when he was presumably such a brave, top-tier huntsman. My theory?

Leo asked Jinn a Question.

But to do this, he would have had to jump through a lot of hoops to get to her, right? There are a lot of criteria necessary to be fulfilled for one to access a relic, but here’s the thing - Leo fills each one nicely without having to stretch your suspension of disbelief, and he’s also the most Occam’s Razor candidate.

In Volume 6 Episode 2, Ozpin tells the group that the Relic of Knowledge can answer three questions every hundred years, but when we meet Jinn…

…one has already been asked.

None of the characters query this, but it’s definitely there for a reason. The writers know why someone asked a question and who it was, otherwise they would have had all three be available to the cast.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Jinn says it’s good to see Ozpin again, so he probably asked it, right?” Nu-uh. Jinn and Ozpin met once already, and he asked all of the questions, likely before the Great War - during her last century of questions.

After that, Oz probably had it secured in Haven Academy, leaving the “era” to tick over and the three questions to unlock again during the 80 years between the War and the present day. And at this point, it was more easily accessible to the Headmaster of said Academy than Ozpin. Again; Leo.

So now we know one of the questions was asked in the most recent era; the last 100 years. But there are still prerequisites required to access the relic in the first place. How does Leo stack up against those? Spoiler: It’s easier for him to get over those hurdles than anyone else.

Exhibit A: The Spring Maiden

By this point we all know you need the Spring Maiden to access the Spring/Knowledge Vault. Did Leo have the Spring Maiden at the time he needed her to be able ask Jinn a question?

Yep, he did. Leonardo seemed to know more about her than anyone else. One could assume Ozpin keeps the appropriate maiden close at hand to their vault and relic when he has them on side. Amber is kept in her vault while she’s unconscious, for one.

So Leo had the maiden, and could have used her to get to the relic to ask a question - a question that shook him to his core and caused his fall from grace. But as we know from Volume 6 Episodes 2 and 3, those in the immediate vicinity when the question is asked will also be shown the answer. So the maiden, a child at the time, in the vault with Leo, was shown the answer to his question too.

She got scared too - and ran away.

Leo’s question broke her just as it did him, making her run away, eventually stumble upon the Branwen tribe were Raven decided she was the law and killed her because she wasn’t ‘made for this world’. But, according to Leo, she was determined at first. Just… not after she saw the answer to his question.

And Spring was missing for around a decade. Perhaps a similar amount of time to the amount Leo was aiding Salem. The same thing caused them both to act the way they did - Leo’s question.

Exhibit B: The Key

Leo may have asked the question and had access to the appropriate maiden. But there’s one more prerequisite that singles out Leo alone to be the one who could have asked.

Leo is the only person with the key to the vault itself.

Leo’s pocket watch activates the Jinn statue which opens the path to the vault. Cinder knows only Leo has the key, he’s seen fondling with it in Volume 5 Episode 1. If someone wants the vault opened, they need him or his pocket watch. Leo himself has an easier access to the vault than anyone else.

TL;DR

Leo has access to the key to the Vault, the Spring maiden, and one of the questions was already asked. He had the easiest access to all three at one time.

Jinn’s answer was shared with both Leo and Spring, devastating both of them and causing Leo’s uncomfortable alliance with Salem as well as Spring to flee and be picked up by Raven.

But then… what was Leo’s question? What did he ask Jinn that broke him and Spring so badly?

I can think of one idea: