#and again i think Oz would have suffered the exact same fate if he had stayed

[bloomfish]

My controversial and long-winded Willow/Tara thoughts

I honestly don't mind, narratively speaking, that Tara was killed. Obviously I love Tara with all my heart and was devastated when she died but I keep trying to see another way forward for Willow's arc and... I can't? Honestly I think this would have been Oz's fate had he not been written off because Seth Green had to leave.

I also think that nowadays we're very conscious of the "bury your gays" trope and there's obviously a lot to criticise about this when it's gratuitous. But especially given what Willow and Tara represented at the time... It was a different world in terms of LGBT representation. It's common knowledge that they had to fight for the onscreen kiss in The Body, the fact that a main character was even portrayed in a lesbian relationship at all on a show like Buffy was groundbreaking. All that being said, I personally don't think Tara's death was gratuitous.

The only other permadeath of a Scooby love interest until the finale is Jenny Calendar, and you can definitely make a case here for the "killing off a female love interest for manpain" trope but where would S2 be without Jenny's death? Like it just doesn't make sense without it. Passions is the moment where the stakes of the series as a whole suddenly explode into astronomical new levels. Sure, Giles could have been a woman and Jenny a man, but that also undercuts many of the themes and ideas behind the Giles+Buffy relationship and the Watchers in general.

Similarly, from the moment Willow's use of magic was introduced, EVERYTHING in her arc was leading up to Dark Willow. We got a taste of it in S5 but if the show had ended there it would never have actually reached a true conclusion. She's not punished for her Dark Moment, she's rewarded. It would have gone unresolved, and the looming threat of Willow turning to the dark side would have been hanging over the heads of the surviving Scoobies forever. Tara being mind sucked by Glory feels like a sort of... idk hasty first attempt at killing her thematically (an idea that was obviously in the works) except that her death in S5 would undercut those of Joyce and Buffy. So it's natural to resolve this in S6.

The reason I think Tara had to die for Dark Willow to emerge is that we're shown that Willow needs a grounding presence to keep her from losing control. Her 'darkest moments' almost all occur when she feels abandoned. When Oz cheats on her in S4 she tries to curse him and Veronica, when he leaves Something Blue ensues. When Tara is mind-sucked she goes apeshit on Glory. When Buffy dies she does the resurrection spell. When she and Tara fight in S6 she uses magic to make her forget, the subsequent breakup causes her to spiral. Like this is a HUGE pattern for Willow.

Oz and Tara function fairly similarly in that they are stabilising presences that pull Willow back from the brink, and so nothing short of the complete, permanent removal of Tara could force her to completely go over the edge. She couldn't have "just left" because that leaves the glimmer of hope that, like Oz, she will return. She had to die and Willow had to try and fail to bring her back.

Obviously it's not a pleasant thing. But it's just... Idk, it's narratively cohesive for me. It's so far from being even close to the worst moral failing of the writers in that single episode, let alone the series as a whole. The reason it stings so much is because Tara's death wasn't just shock value, she was a character that made a lasting impact on the show and had visible effects on characters outside of Willow (mostly Dawn and Buffy but still) so even though she was doomed from the start I don't think it's a case of a lesbian character being gratuitously killed off for angst. I get that it's a touchy subject but I also don't think it's accurate to paint every single instance of a gay character dying as 'bury your gays' when it's not necessarily so.

Anyway. There's a lot to criticise about Buffy but this isn't a personal gripe of mine- even as someone for whom Tara and her relationship with Willow was deeply and personally important at the time.

[littlemisssquiggles]

You know I absolutely adore Yang but I’m the only who’s getting really annoyed with her this volume?

You’renot alone in that regard anon-chan. But at the same time, I’m notsurprised. I mean I think tension amongst the group after the revelation wassomething we all anticipated but even still, what we got still managedto be surprising. Especially the part with Qrow. Speaking of our titular bird dad, I’mactually moredisappointed with Qrow than I amwith Yang. I expected Yang to be pissed. But Qrow… Qrow’s fury threw me for aloop the most especially with the way he struck Ozpin and Oscar.

HittingOscar was one thing but…it left me shell-shocked that Qrow would darelash outat Oz the way he did. I get for him to be peeved like his niece but…Qrow---whatQrow said to Oz was uncalled for.

Ithurt me to see Ozpin’s reaction to what Qrow told him. I wouldn’t be surprisedif Ozpin---or Ozma saw Qrow like a son.

“No onewanted me. I was cursed. I gave my life to you because you gave me a place inthis world. I thought I was finally doing some good.”

 “But… youare.”

 “Meeting youwas the worst luck of my life.”  

Ihated what Qrow said to Ozpin here because you can see how much it stung him. As a matter of fact, Ozpin leaving is becauseof Qrow’s words. Befittingly enough, the guy with misfortune as his semblance wasthe key reason why Oz decided to ups and lock himself away.

Thisis something that I’ve wondered. Ozpin locking himself away---this can’t be thefirst time he’d done this. Is this what Oz did during those lives where hespent grieving and trying to forget the pains of his past? 

Did he lock himselfaway inside the deep subconscious of his vessels and just…stayed theirwallowing in his own grief until the vessel ultimately died and Ozma justreincarnated in the body of his next vessel and did the exact same thing again? Ifthat’s the case then that makes it even more disheartening.

Ozmust have suffered from depression (notto actual mental illness but something akin to it) triggered by the loss of hischildren and the former life he had with Salem and he did this for who knowshow many lifetimes. It took Ozpin several years to come out of his depressivestate when he made his duty to the God of Light and mankind his priority togive him a purpose and to distract him from his own misery which I doubt he’sgotten over.

Ittook Oz centuries to come out of his pain while it took Qrow Branwen only a fewshort words to put Oz right back into his depressive hole.

Wow! I’m trying my best tonot be furious with Qrow this episode. I sympathize withhim for being angry over Oz giving everyone the impression that they could stopSalem but…I still think Oz didn’t deserve those words.

Asa man who’s lost all four of his children in a past life, finding Qrow and nurturinghim the way he did. I don’t know what the full consensus of the relationshipQrow had with the version of Oz he met but you cannot tell me that Oz didn’tlove Qrow. Whether it was like a best friend or a proxy son or a mixture of both---you don’t get such a reactionlike this from someone who didn’t care about the person who told them thosewords. What a f***ing mess!

Y’know,as an audience member I had my own fair share of doubts about Ozpin. I alwaysfelt like he was hiding something about his past but I never took it to thepoint where I wholeheartedly thought he was an evil or conniving person likeother fans have done. I mean I’ve toyed with the idea of Oz being different in another life but it always returned to the personhe is currently rather than who he used to be, y’know what I mean?

Ozhas always possessed a compassionate charm about him and it’s the main reasonwhy I liked him as a character.

Evenin doubt, I always held onto the belief that even if Ozpin was revealed to be aliar,there had to be a plausible reason behind his actions and it was those reasonsthat would’ve turned the tides on whether I was in Oz’s court or not.

Needlessto say, after V6 C3-4, I am more in Ozpin’s court than I ever was. When Ozpinheads stand up in favour of the old soul using the hastag #OzpinDidNothingWrong,they’re notkidding. Everything about Ozpin’s actions was justified lastepisode. Anything you could’ve pinned on Ozpin, it all fell back to someoneelse but Ozpin.

Did Ozpindefy the Gods and caused the end of the world? No. That was Salem.

Did Ozpin unknowinglycreate Salem and made her the all-powerful being that she is? No. That was the BrotherGods.

Forfuck’s sake, Ozpin has spent the last lifetimes of his life literally trying torectify the mistakes made by others. And what makes the truth even sadder isthat Ozpin is practically the scapegoat in all of this. He’s the one to getblamed for the actions that Gods and Salem did when all he’s been doing istrying to FIX EVERYTHING! That’s so not fair.

Salem’sactions brought about the destruction of Remnant the first time yet Ozma wasreincarnated in order to help prevent humanity from facing the same fate asecond time when he was practically dead during the first end of the world. Hewas no part of that yet here he is the one being forced to rectify it.

TheGods made Salem immortal and foolishly never thought to revoke her immortalityafter they abandoned Remnant, yet everyone and their mother blames Ozpin fornot telling them this information.

Ozpinhas been shouldering the brunt of these burdens for years. It’s no wonder he chose tonot tell the whole truth. Can you imagine the sheer absolute chaos news likethe existence of Salem and the Gods’ Judgement would cause? It would’ve causedworldwide panic and panic brings forth negativity. And what does negativitybring? The Grimm.

Theone thing that Ozpin was guilty of---the one thing he did wrong was not tellthe whole truth. But in spite of this, I, honestly don’t blame Oz for movingthe way he did. His reasoning behind all of it is justifiable. He did itbecause he didn’t want everyone to lose hope becauseright now, hope is all that humanity has left to thwart thedarkness. It won’t stop Salem but it will keep them going until they figure outhow to stop Salem.

Becauseif they lose hope and give in to their negative emotions, then Salem wins.If humanity loses fate in themselves, it will bring forth the Grimm and theneverything will be lost for good. Salem wouldn’t even need to summon the Godswith the Relics because humanity’s hopelessness would’ve caused their ownextinction for the second time.

Iget why Qrow and Yang would be upset but personally, if I were a character inRWBY and I was with the heroes when Qrow decided to apprehend Oz, I would haveturned on Qrow and smacked some good ass sense into both him and Yang with Yang’sown robotic arm. That’s why I’m happy that a character like Maria is with thegroup.

Mariawas me in that moment. I wouldn’t done the same thing as Maria, albeit I would’vethwacked Qrow for daring to hit a child but I would’ve done my best to remaincalm and think logically in the face of tension. I get that lies and theimplication of false hope without a plan is terrible but…I can’t get mad aboutit not when there was logical consideration behind it.

Iget why Oz never told anyone the truth. I get it which is why it sucks. Ittruly sucks.It truly sucks that even after seeing Ozpin’s past, people still turned on him.Yes I know Oz never told anyone that Salem is immortal and can’t be killed; but…that wasn’this fault?! He didn’t make herimmortal? 

Didthey not see everything else?

Didthey not see Ozpin’ssuffering? Did they not see his loss? See his pain? His grief…thefact that he GAVE UP and had to pull himself out of his own grief to focus onthe plan at hand. Did they not see, that even after Oz came up with a plan ofaction to find the Relics and found the Relic of Knowledge, did they not seehis hopelessness afterwards?

Buthere’s the thing that I’m shocked the heroes did not see? Oz knew that Salemcouldn’t be stopped yet…it never stopped him. Oz still came back again and kept movingforward.

Somy curious question is…what made Ozpin regain his hope for a second time? My best guess is that it was the original FourMaidens.

Mindyou, we still have yet to meet the Hermitof Ozpin’s reincarnates. And I’ll bet money that Mustache Ozma, the Inquisitor---theone who discovered the Relic of Knowledge and found out that he couldn’t stopSalem is the one who went onto become the Hermit. Still standing firmly withthat hunch.

 I’llbet money right now that it was the original Four Maidens who renewed Ozpin’shope in humanity and inspired him to create the Vaults to hide away the Relicsfor good while creating the huntsmen academies to train the huntsmen.

Ina way, you can also say that it was Ozma who created the huntsmen since hebuilt the academies. Ozma created the huntsmen so that they could give humanityhope in the fight against the Grimm.

EverythingOzpin has done everything in his power to keep hope alive which...makes it’s very sad to see Oz lose hope again.

 ~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)