I just saw Ch 3 of Volume 6, and man...hold on peeps. This is a huge episode.
I was right---Ozpin is a broken man. But as the gods said, he will never truly be alone. That huge moment where the brother of Life says that you will reincarnate, but in a manner that shows you are never alone---then the big zoom on Oscar. THAT was my point about Oscar in my previous post. Each incarnation will seem to have that spark in trait that allows him to pick himself up, try again, and stay focused, walking that thin line of hopelessness and hope.
But that was not the part that caught my attention the most in this behemoth of an episode. At one point, Ozpin finally asks the relic of Knowledge how to destroy Salem and the relic was blunt: You can't.
She was honest, too. You can't. It was already set by the gods that until Salem learned the need for balance of life and death, she can not die. She will forever walk the earth until she understands why they could not have brought him back (even though they eventually did) and why balance and both life and death are so important. The only way to stop Salem is to redeem her. To open her eyes and uncover her heart from the thick curtain of darkness she has embraced herself in.
Defeating Salem is not without hope, but it does seem like it is something that will not be soon in coming. She is beyond the point of revenge right now. It isn't about love or power or any of that. Her Soul has been coated in Grimm--in all the energies of the Dark God. It will take quite a bit to dig it out.
And perhaps that was already told to us. "Victory is in a simple soul." Think of it as something similar to Naruto, but not so hokey XD Certainly just talking is not going to convince Salem or heal her broken mind, heart and soul. But something can still reach her. Let's face it---if she was fully committed to this, she would have probably already ended it by now.
To me, it seems like Salem sees this way of life as the only way to keep her love. She still has it for him, in some small, dark corner of the heart. She knows how easy it is to sway the hearts of humans, so they can never really truly call the gods. Their greatest hope lies in...never calling them. In taking over the world as the news gods and bringing up a new way. That is what she tried--and it would have worked, had she not been pushing Ozma to destroy his enemies. Something that would go against the very nature of his heart.
So what we have is that Ozpin can not collect all the relics: if the gods come, they will destroy Remnant. That much is obvious. Salem may well want the relics to call the gods in her vain attempt to have a final show down with them. She may have gone off the deep end on that point, I think. I can think of no other reason for her wanting the relics. There is a chance that she wants to destroy them to ensure the gods never return, though.
I really feel that this episode was not only well written, but also gave us a great character arc for a character that might have seemed complete. I can't wait to find out the reaction of the team in the next episode.
But in all truth...in some twisted way...this may be how Salem shows her love. By keeping the gods away, keeping Humanity under her heel--Ozma will never truly die, and they will always be together.
