Why the Merge is a good thing, and my own speculation about how it works

@xstonehill made an amazing meta about the Merge and why Oscar’s fears of disappearing are unfounded here, I wholly recommend reading it.

I just want to share my two cents on the argument and my own theory on the matter.

I’ve already written some posts about this argument, but I’m gonna do a proper meta with screencaps and everything because I still see too many people saying “Ozpin is gonna erase Oscar and use him as a meat suit” and nope. DING DONG, YOU’RE WRONG.

So, let’s start.

1. Cessation of Existence is not a thing in the RWBY universe - Or against the argument of Ozma erasing his hosts

What I’ll always be thankful to Volume 6 of RWBY is confirming the existence of an actual afterlife in the RWBY world.

So if you wanna some edgy atheist media crap, you should watch something else.

We can assume the natural state of a soul in the RWBY world is existence and not even the Gods can interfere with that: Salem’s punishment was living forever and thus being forbidden from entering the afterlife; not erasure of her soul into nothingness.

The only beings without a soul are the Grimm, who are basically destruction incarnate and nothing else.

So, if the Gods cannot erase a soul, why assume Ozma, a simple human being, reincarnation notwithstanding, is capable of doing so?



But, if you want more proper evidence that Ozma does not, in fact, erase his soul’s hosts, look no further than the first reincarnation. (Yes, it’s estabilished as early as that).

This all too often forgotten scene is actually incredibly important:

That’s the host speaking, not Ozma. Years after the reincarnation has occurred, in a time where it’s pretty heavily implied that Ozma and his partner didn’t know how to properly communicate with each other, outside of a subconscious level (Ozma’s reaction is one of surpise, seemingly indicating that he’s not used to this kind of in-your-face interaction with his host, yet his host knows of the mission and phrases it as a shared responsibility of the both of them; note the use of we).

(Also I refuse to believe Ozma would willingly and intentionally ignore his host’s will and body, no matter his own priority at this point being his family with Salem. For a start, it seems way out of character for what we know of him, and him using the body of a non consenting person in order to pursue sexual intercourse is not a level of darkness and creepiness I’d expect or want of this show).

So, years after the reincarnation took place, leaving both Ozma and the host confused as hell and not knowing how to talk with each other face to face, the supposed “merge” taking place, the host still exists. His soul is still there.

Now that “Ozma”, as Jinn points out later, has become metter at talking with his hosts and partnering with them, and letting them live their own lives outside of his own goals and desires, why should we assume that these people, all with their own lives and loved ones, are gonna be erased by “Ozma”, who’s fond of them, refers to them as partners (see @xstonehill meta), takes their desires into account and is pretty much part of their families as much as their are his own “family”?

2. The Merge is a positive counterpart of Salem’s immortality - The Intention of the God

So, in paragraph one, it was mentioned that Salem was punished by being denied access to the afterlife.

Now, it’s a pretty valid argument that the Gods are actually assholes, but I wouldn’t call them evil, they simply operate on a lever that’s completely different from humans. I would say, in TVTropes lingo, that they operate on Blue and Orange Morality.

They clearly aren’t doing this just for the hell of it: there’s a reason behind the punishment. They want Salem to learn a lesson.

The God of Light says:

You must learn the importance of life and death

You know what this tells us? That Salem’s punishment is not actually eternal.

If she learns her lesson, she will be allowed to die and to enter the afterlife.

Now, what does this have to do with the Merge?

Well, despite Ozpin referring to it as a “curse” in volume 5, we actually learn in volume 6 that it was a choice that Ozma was offered.

If the God of Light truly had bad intentions, he would have simply forced Ozma to reincarnate, without even bringip up a choice.



But, since the God of Light is choosing Ozma as a champion and not a victim, he makes Ozma reincarnate instead of being fully immortal.

Salem’s immortality is a punishment in the way that she’s forced to be alone and never die.

Ozma’s immortality is a mean to combat Salem’s own, but in the complete opposite way: he can die and he will never be alone.

The God of Light phrases it as a clearly positive thing: a partnership between souls, a friendship and unity to stand against Salem’s hatred and loneliness. He wants Ozma and his companions to have a chance against her and to save humanity from destruction. This is clearly not a punishment.

(This also brings us back to the first paragraph: if the God intended to have “Ozma” be never alone, then what would be the point of the other soul’s being erased?)

3. My own theory about the hosts and why they will move on to the afterlife with Ozma

Ok, so the facts we have so far are very important:

There’s no such a thing as cessation of existence, for a soul; The God of Light created the Merge as a good, positive thing; The hosts’ souls are in no danger of being erased, eaten off or anything like that because that’s not a thing “Ozma” or the God of Light want, let alone a thing they can do.

Where do we go from here? How does this merge actually works? Do we still call the soul Ozma? Well, we don’t know yet and the only thing I can do is offering my own theory.

If you noticed, I have written Ozma’s name between quotes, when referring to the reincarnating entity and not simply the original man with that name.

I do believe, so far, that the reincarnation and merging process works like this: the current “Ozma” entity is, after so many centuries, not just a single man but a collective soul made of all the people connected through the reincarnation.

When the current host dies, that’s where the actual “Merge” happens, and the newest soul joins the collective, becoming the forefront personality.

Yes, that means that, if Oscar dies, he will be the new disembodied voice, not Ozpin.

However, this Merge, this fusion of souls, does NOT mean that the people involved will never be separated again.



As we have seen time and time again, the Gods forbade Salem to enter the afterlife as a punishment.

It wouldn’t make sense, at the end of the day, to have only a single guy named Ozma being able to move on and finally rest in the afterlife.

It doesn’t make sense, for the God, to impose this punishment in his champion’s companions, who, unlike him, were not even offered a choice. He’s a jerk but he has reasons and if even Salem can access the afterlife once she’s redeemed, I can’t see why the hosts should not.

Another possible theory is that, yes, the current soul is in fact the original Ozma, adopting the personality of his latest host after death. But even in this case, I completely believe the hosts have already moved on in the afterlife and are, in no way, erased from existence altogether.

Both of these theories tell us a thing: Oscar is in no danger of disappearing, not in soul, nor in personality.



He could still change and adopt his soul companion’s mannerism, just like Ozpin could become more like Oscar, but it’s not a prerogative about the Merge: that’s what happens in human relationships, period. They are not becoming a single person unless Oscar dies and, even then, it won’t be permanent.

And Oscar won’t die.



Dunno why y’all are even worried about that, honestly.

Not convinced by these theories? Then how about I phrase it differently:

Writing wise, it wouldn’t make sense to have Ozpin or Oscar erased either.

In short, it would make Oscar’s introduction in the series completely pointless.

If Oscar was supposed to be erased, then why introduce him at all? Just have Ozpin not die. That way, you don’t have to make a new character model, cast a new voice actor and spend time estabilishing the character.

Oh, yeah, voice actors!



Yeah, no. The CRWBY isn’t getting rid of Shannon McCormick or Aaron Dismuke anytime soon.



