#'Caleb is the reason everything happened in the owl house' WRONG!

[opinated-user]

Lily: “TOH’s slip into serialisation is exactly the reason they didn’t cover whatever pointless diversion you wanted them to, and…a more open and episodic approach to storytelling would have left room for those fun divergences”.

Geez, Lily…I wonder what else could have happened to “The Owl House” to prevent it from going into things like Caleb and Evelyn’s relationship or the origins of the Collector and the Archivists or what happened between the Archivists and the Titans…Gee, sure is a mystery. Probably the fault of Dana deciding to do serialisation.

LO's bootlicking tendencies strike once again. she'll actually say anything and everything in order to avoid ever utter a real critique against Disney and their practices, or even think that they could be maybe responsible for the cancellation of the show. no, Disney gave her canon incest lesbian sisters, so they can't do wrong.

[owlhousetheories]

The Owl House is over and I'm not coping (minor spoilers for finale)

One of the biggest reasons I love this show is how well the writing is. Morals and messages come through without being preachy or obvious - like other kids shows can be. I've never seen a show wherein they show the difference between "I did something wrong, but I did it for the right reasons" and "I did something wrong, but I refuse to admit it I did it, because I'm right."

As early as season two, Luz is so worried that she's caused all the events leading up to the current plot - Belos' rise to power, forced covens, death or imprisonment of wild witches. All because she wanted to help the nice human she had befriended, who immediately betrayed her.  She carries that guilt believing that if she’d never given him that light glyph, his plans would never have happened. No matter what other people tell her, she shoulders all the blame, convinced that her and Belos are one and the same. She even says as much in “Watching and Dreaming” when talking to the Titan.

Luz: Well, Belos says he's trying to save humanity. And we are saying we want to save our families. So, isn't that the same thing? Don't—Don't these feelings come from the same place?

She isn’t aware that by questioning whether she’s done the right thing – whether her goal is more noble than Belos’ – proves that she’s nothing like him. And it’s so refreshing to have a protagonist in a show make a bad decision but make it for the right reason. This idea that the hero can’t screw up, and if they do, it’s purely for selfish or stupid reasons that they must learn from.

Because the reality is that everyone has this capability. Sometimes you’ll make a decision or a choice in life with the best intentions, and it blows up in your face. Does it make you a bad person? Are you doomed to a life of failure because of it? No. Because, just like Luz, you did it for the right reason and you can work to fix your mistakes. And as she learns from the Titan, she’s far from the first person to make that mistake.

Compare her to Belos. Belos shrouds everything he does in the guise of “protecting humanity.”  He came to the Boiling Isles to save his human brother. He wanted to kill Evelyn because she corrupted said brother. He killed his brother to save him. He offered to take Luz with him through his portal to save her. He even uses this mentality while pretending to be the benevolent leader of the Isle. He created covens to protect the people of the Boiling Isles. He persecuted wild witches to ensure they wouldn’t harm the people. I could go on. The point is, for him, he is always in the right - even with actions that directly go against his beliefs. I could understand killing witches wouldn’t conflict with puritan beliefs, but killing your own brother? Practicing magic? Talking to/making a deal with a false god (the Collector)?

Nothing is ever on him – I killed Caleb because he was corrupted, I mutilated myself in order to destroy the witches from the inside, I tricked the Collector in order to accomplish my magic genocide. It doesn’t matter how evil or conflicting the action is, Belos does it because in the end he believes he’s in the right. Nothing demonstrates this more than his actions in season 3. Even while in the human realm – the goal we’ve been led to believe is his end goal – he still feels the need to go back and complete the genocide. Because if he doesn’t, then he was wrong about the witches. He was wrong about everything. The man is a pile of corruption barely hanging on to life, only able to actively control anything so long as he has a host, and he still is convinced that it’s the witches’ fault he's like this. He still has this need to be right.

Titan: You assume Belos's goal comes from a genuine place. But that man doesn't care about about anything but his need to be the hero in his own delusion

And to be honest, his actions mimic those of actual bigots and abusers. The unending need to be right, to be the victor. Using a scapegoat – I’m doing this for humanity/the children/families/government – to justify violence and hatred. Refusing to back down; even when presented with evidence that they're wrong. And above all, the reveal that if you peel back their “justification” all you’d actually find is a hateful person lashing out because they can’t control the narrative and people are doing things they personally don’t approve of.

Keeping in mind, these two perspectives and the thematic importance in both aren’t overtly shown. It’s subtle, but shown just enough to get the message. In short, the writers of Owl House are thematic geniuses and I’m never going to emotionally recover from this show.

(Also screw Disney because this could’ve been explored so much deeper if we’d had more time).

[contrasting-realities]

You know something is wrong when you have 4 crossover aus between the owl house and hetalia...

so I made them into one au called the Emperor's Elite AU... which I moved of from a while ago but still want to share.

Warning for incest, sexual abuse, drug abuse, Belos being sent to a gulag and maybe other things that I forgot

So, the premise of this AU is that Belos rules alongside a council of advisors who all happen to be hetalia characters. There is much more than that however, and I think it’s best to start from the chronological beginning here.

Everything begins some time around the 12th century, when hetalia Russia was looking for friends. He comes across a witch from the Boiling Isles named Baba Yaga. I don't really know too much about her however she was a mentor type figure to Russia like Eda is to Luz.

Did I say came across? I meant kidnapped. Baba Yaga kidnapped Russia for the sake of some kind of ritual and was surprised to find out that he was still alive. She used Eclipse Lake to move between worlds and most humans who go through that type of rift die before they reach the other side.

Russia became attached over night due to her being one of the first people to not attack him or misunderstand his troubles. She decided to keep him as her apprentice and teach him magic.

Hetalia Ukraine gets worried when her brother doesn't come home and decides to search for him (yes, I know. This takes place 800 years ago so current events have nothing to do with this). She leaves her sister, hetalia Belarus, behind, expecting to find him and come back that day but instead she is found by a group of witches who have been using human corpses in rituals. They kidnap Ukraine and are surprised to see that she is still alive but decide to sacrifice her anyways. She was terrified and the only reason she survived, outside of her immortality, was because a cave in occurred when the ritual was being cast. She had to claw her way out of the rubble and was completely traumatized by the event. Ukraine came to the conclusion that witches were dangerous but not in the way Belos did, she only wanted to separate the demon realm and human realm from each other permanently as she encountered witches who weren't evil while she tried to find a way home.

She became known as the boogeyman of the Boiling Isles, attacking witches over the next few centuries with the intent of stopping travel between worlds. Ukraine was quite brutal in her quest, she is also a big reason for why Titans Blood is so rare, because she destroyed it all.

Now back in the Human Realm, Philip finds a little boy alone in the woods. He brings this boy back to his older brother, Caleb, who tries to fund the boy's parents but no one comes up to claim him. Due to this, Caleb adopts the boy despite the Wittebane's bad financial situation and names him Alfred.

Alfred stays with the Wittebanes for several months until two men come to the town, both are Scandinavian explorers who seem oddly interested in Alfred and return to Europe soon after. A month later and two other men show up both claiming to be Alfred's brother but they aren't related. One is French and the other is British and they really do not like each other.

They decide to settle the matter with a duel, this entire situation is confusing to the Wittebanes as no one knows why these two random men showed up and are now fighting over who will be Alfred's brother when he's already part of Caleb and Philip’s family.

The French man, ironically named Francis, wins the duel and tries to get close to Alfred, but the kid shouts that Francis isn't his brother and he runs off to the forest. He chases after Alfred and Caleb and Philip follow after him, the brit, named Arthur, follows in secret.

Francis finds Alfred inside a clearing where he is about to explain the entire situation. Caleb and Philip watch behind a bush when Arthur suddenly appears and attacks Francis. Arthur pulls out a wand and casts a spell with the intent of banishing Francis from their reality. However Francis shot Arthur before he could finish the spell, causing the magic to go out of control and send everyone in the area into the Boiling Isles.

After that incident, Francis and Arthur took responsibility to take care of the children at least, both still hated each other and frequently fought over minor things.

You'd think that growing up in the Boiling Isles would have made Philip more tolerant but no, he'd already been indoctrinated by the town's propaganda and being in a realm of magic just scared him. Caleb tried to convince him otherwise but because Arthur had sent them here with a magic spell he just saw this place as akin to hell.

Speaking of Arthur... Philip accused him of being a witch after the incident. Arthur never explained why he could use magic even though Francis seemed to know but never told anyone, which lead to Philip hating him. He also hates Francis for trying to take his brother away. Caleb sees both Arthur and Francis as irresponsible and tries to keep his brothers away from them when he can.

Eventually Philip and Caleb grow up but Alfred doesn't. Neither of them know why and both Alfred and Francis explain why even though they seem to and would know why because they aren't aging either.

Alfred is too young to think too critically of his immortality. Caleb does fall in love with Evelyn and Philip takes this as an act of misguided betrayal. To Philip killing witches isn't an issue so he confronts his brother... and winds up killing him because he didn't repent.

Evelyn attacks him for this and once he returns to the home they were all staying at he blames Evelyn for killing Caleb. Both Arthur and Francis see through the lie but have different reactions. Arthur decided to leave after seeing the writing on the wall and he abandons Alfred and Francis. While Francis decides to stay and protect Alfred since he can't leave Philip, but he isn't that good at it since Alfred doesn't trust him. Francis eventually becomes a shell of his former self filled with guilt for what came next.

Alfred fully believed Philip’s lie and he used that to manipulate his little brother. Alfred became convinced that the witches were evil and couldn't be trusted. Neither were seen in Elsewhere and Elsewhen by Luz or Lilith.

When the crusades began, Francis reluctantly played along and Alfred was excited because he thought he was a hero. Alfred fell into the same delusion that Philip did but with more excitement and pride. By this point Alfred is in his late teens as he suddenly grew up overnight.

Philip also convinced Ukraine to join him, she now goes by the name Irunya to keep people from remembering her as the boogeyman. She thinks that Philip wants to keep the human realm and demon realm from interacting so she joins him gladly.

Eventually they go after one of the last wild witches on the knee, Baba Yaga. In this confrontation they wind up fighting Russia who Ukraine is shocked to see alive but she continues their intended mission. The fight ends with Baba Yaga's death, the destruction of Eclipse Lake by Irunya (At the time, Philip had lots of Titans blood stockpiled), and Alfred beheading Russia unsuccessfully. At this point, Russia had been traveling between worlds frequently and more physically resembled a witch than a human with short pointed ears and even a nonfunctional bile sack. Alfred only beheaded him because Ukraine said that he was a human before and Alfred saw him as a traitor.

Belos takes over the Boiling Isles like in Canon but creates a council for the humans to rule with him.

Now we jump to the 1940s just after the end of World War 2. Hetalia Belarus has been the only personification in Russia's family that's still on earth. She is commonly called "Russia" and is the personification of the Soviet Union.

Belarus wants to find her brother... But not for the reasons you might think. Ever since she was young she idolized him and had an unhealthy desire to be his... spouse. (Yes she is an incestuous yandere).

Belarus thought that her brother had been sent to another world after reading about what happened to Francis and Arthur, that it was the same or a similar spell that caused the later incident.

She managed to get there by forcing Hetalia Romania, one of the few personifications with magic, to open a portal and dragging him with her. They somehow landed inside Belos's lab (the one used to make grimwalkers) and used that as a base of operations while Belarus tried to find her brother.

When she went up to the knee and found that he'd taken Baba Yaga's place, living as a mysterious hermit in a chicken footed house. She was overjoyed to see him again and originally he was at well... until she started getting obsessive. She held nothing back and tried to drag him away to marry him but he resisted, causing her to become enraged.

Belarus then cut off his hand out of anger and left. Due to having already observing grimwalkers that Belos was growing, she got an idea. She and Romania locked themselves inside the lab. Belos tried to access his lab a week later but found that Romania had put up extremely powerful wards to keep people out.

Belos sent a guard with a fake love spell to offer to her, as the incident with her brother had made the news and he connected the dots. However Belarus realized what their true motives were after letting them in and killed them.

Belos then sent his current grimwalker to deal with Belarus, just thinking of her as some crazy woman who broke into his laboratory. She took this grimwalker hostage and kept him inside her small soviet apartment.

Belos then got impatient and went to kill her himself but he underestimated her severely. Every personification has had to manipulate their bosses at some point in history for various reasons and Belos just thought that she was an crazy lady. He was wrong.

Belarus managed to make Romania use magic to knock out Belos and they restrain him inside the apartment before closing the portal on them.

A few days later the soviet government went to search for their missing personification and the police went to search her apartment, there they found Belos and the grimwalker. The incident was reported however this was when Stalin was still in charge of the country who didn't care much about a missing personification and just sent both Belos and the grimwalker to the gulag.

Both were nearly worked to death until Belos's curse went out of control and destroyed the camp, letting several prisoners escape. The grimwalker settled down with a local Siberian tribe and lived out his life peacefully but Belos didn't have it so easy.

Belos was stuck living in the woods where his curse would frequently take control of him, there wasn't much food he could eat so he either starved or went town to town and begged or, more likely due to the language barrier, stole from anyone he could. All of this cause the police to go after him quite a lot which ended poorly for them almost every time, there were so many dead police that Belos became hight feared are an outcast any where he went. He tried to use whatever he could to keep the curse under control which led to him becoming addicted to morphine.

When Stalin died in 1953, his successor immediately started working on trying to find Belarus and started off by interrogating both the grimwalker and Belos. The grimwalker didn't know much but Belos explained more about the Boiling Isles and that he knew how to build a portal. The soviets saw much more than just an opportunity to get their personification back but also a chance for potential espionage using the door in gravesfield so they made a deal. Belos would help invent a portal using earth technology for them to use and they would give him a clean record and allow him to stay in Moscow. Belos agreed since it would allow him to rebuild his life and plans. The project was kept secret and Belos took on a new name, Mikhail Smirnov.

Back in the Boiling Isles, Belarus stole Belos's mask and cape, to mimic his height she stood on Romania's shoulders and impersonated Belos until Irunya noticed that something was off about him.

Belarus just revealed herself to her sister which was shocking to say the least. She also revealed the truth about Belos's plans, the grimwalkers and Caleb's murder. Alfred in particular was hit the worst by the last one, it was his linchpin for why witches evil and to learn that Philip was actually the killer...

Alfred had an identity crisis while Irunya was Disgusted by how far Belos would go. Belarus then explained why she was here, Europe had been destroyed in a nuclear hellfire at the end of the second world war, she and Romania escaped to the Boiling Isles and cannot go back.

In secret she creates her own grimwalker as a "better" version of her brother. These grimwalkers were objects of her obsession and desire and were treated as such unlike Belos's grimwalkers which were just tools to him. It's as bad as you think it is... they suffered the same fate as the ones Belos made, thrown into the pit of death.

The others didn't like what she was doing but there wasn't much they could do since she had managed to take over Belos's deal with the Collector and had strong magic.

Much later Alfred creates a grimwalker who becomes known as Hunter, for the sake of getting closure. He is actually a good uncle and the worst thing he's ever done is just overwork Hunter sometimes because that's how he grew up and delt with work. He also told Hunter tales of his other brothers, Philip and Caleb and how Philip was an evil man who murdered his brother

At some point Romania ran into Caleb’s ghost and both tried to find a way to help him escape from Belarus, but were caught. This led to Romania being cursed with a dog spirit that puts him under her control and Caleb fleeing.

That's mostly it for all the Backstory but I'm tired and the last bit of Backstory is right before season 1 so I'll make another post on that.

I went into more detail on ao3, here's the link https://archiveofourown.org/works/51685381/chapters/130660585

[doomedandstoned]

MedEvil Madness Plagues Portland!

~By Billy Goate

March has been a month of madness and I confess given the woes of the world, it's been hard to think of a better word to describe the state of things! Consequently, you've been having your fill of madness this week in the music we've share in these page. What the hell, let's just embrace it. This weekend, March 24th & 25th, the heavy revelers of the Rose City will be congregating at Kenton Club for MEDEVIL MADNESS. The two-dayer is happening in my own backyard and features some new names, so I'm excited to check it out. Tiah Keever of Red Crow Booking is organizing. Every time I get up to Portland for gigs, Tiah is there -- for years, a staple supporter of the scene.

Like many of us, Tiah's story begins with a case of so close, so far. "One day about three years ago, I was invited to see a friend’s band at the Kenton Club," Tiah says, speaking of the now defunct post-punk no-wavers Ultragoat (great band name). "Up until recently, I'd been living near the venue, but rarely went. I can’t give a logical reason for it, but I had basically sat out a decade of local shows."

As she approached the venue, she saw a tall, lanky fellow with a big smile sporting a tank top with Black Pussy emblazoned in cursive. "I thought, this guy must be going to the concert, but he’s headed in the wrong direction. As I crossed the street, I said, 'Hey, the show is that way!' Turns out this was, Dean Carroll, drummer for Black Pussy. How embarrassing to have him say, 'Oh, I’m in the show.'"

Whatever awkwardness she felt melted away as the evening advanced. "The show was packed, a lot of friends were there, and I met a people who would become friends and cohorts in rock appreciation." After introductions to Disenchanter and the visiting Mothership, Tiah was hooked. "From that night forward, I have made it a priority to go soak up our musical offerings and," she says. "I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job of it."

Five months from that show, Tiah's enthusiasm and flair for networking developed into organizing full-fledged shows herself. Local booker Jimmy Armstrong from Sandy Hut (now with Twilight Café and Bar) took her under his wing. Her first billing was a nice fat slice of Portland stoner goodness: Full Creature, Hosmanek, and Deep Fried Boogie Band.

Tiah was hooked. "I like organizing and the thought of connecting bands I thought would sound good together." As an independent promoter up against a recent spate of closing venues, she can only curate so many shows, sometimes just one a quarter. All told, MedEvil Madness was quite a feat to put together.

"I have been wanting to put together a fest for at least two years, but the timing never panned out because there were so many other things happening -- Stumpfest, Northwest Heshfest, Hoverfest, Ceremony of Sludge, NO Fest, Festicide...sheesh! -- but eventually, I just had to tell myself, make it happen!   Everything about this show is low key and DIY, because that's what I know from growing up in Portland."

I asked Tiah to give us a breakdown of the acts she's booked for each day, and I'm personally pumped about this lineup.

Night One

HZ

Opening MedEvil Madness is Billy Anderson’s solo project, HZ (pronounced "hertz"). I've only seen it once, but obviously it intrigued me. Solo projects, man! They take a lot of nerve and obviously if anyone can pull it off, Billy can. He’s opening the show Friday night so you need to be on time to witness his sonic orchestrations. It’s a special treat to have Billy play, to hear what music he is personally creating. It’s pretty amazing.

Mammoth Salmon

Last Vestige of Humanity by MAMMOTH SALMON

Mammoth Salmon has been one of my go-to bands for quite some time now and bassist Matt Howl designed the concert poster for the fest. I first heard about them when they were playing a show with Moondrake. See how the web is spun? One band leads to another leads to another. That is why most of these bands are somehow intertwined. These guys are salt of the Earth. This will be a tour sendoff show for them. If you haven’t heard them yet this is a great time to start, the band is really dialed in!

Old Kingdom

Magic Closet EP by Old Kingdom

Old Kingdom is one of my favorite heavy bands in town. I'd seen The Ax, which both Jon and Adam were in, and I remember trying to book them and they weren’t available, but told me about their other project, Old Kingdom. My mom was in attendance for that show and said, “These guys are really loud.” It cracks me up. They are really fucking loud. The lineup has changed some since, with Aaron Powell now playing bass. Anyone who's heard Sons of Huns can attest Aaron is a beast on bass. An already heavy band somehow got heavier.

Phantom High

Phantom High is a brand new band. John I know from his band Diesto and all the awesome screen printing he does and Rich I know from Moondrake. This will be the first time anyone will be seeing this line up, with their new drummer, and I’m super stoked to have them debut on Friday and finish the night out.

Night Two

Robots of the Ancient World

Robots by Robots of the Ancient World

Can't think of a better band to kick off the next day of MedEvil than Robots of the Ancient World. I met Caleb attending another show and was invited to one of their shows. I checked em out and liked what I heard. When Moondrake was playing with Slow Season at Dante’s, they were looking for an opening band. I checked with Robots of the Ancient World and they were all systems go. Having started for Truckfighters just this month and Brant Bjork the next, their star is definitely rising. Over the summer, they're taking the show on the road. That’s exciting, but even more exciting is the news of their first full-length recording next month. You’ll dig their otherworldly vibe!

Battle Axe Massacre

The Phantom by Battle Axe Massacre

Saw these dudes perform with Moondrake and Warpfire at Dante’s and they were just awesome. I was headbanging and something hit me in the shin and when I opened my eyes I saw it was Larry Pike’s drumstick. I picked it up and put it in my cowboy boot for a souvenir. BAM has a brand new album out, 'The Phantom' (2017) and I really liked their intense sound. It’s pretty special to see them at Kenton Club, as they rarely play Portland. They are up second so, seriously, don’t be late!

Owl

Screech by Owl

Do I need to say anything about Owl? I am over the moon that they are coming up from California to do my first festival -- I can’t even fathom it. I first heard of Owl from local reviewer Mike Stender. One day he said, “Oh, have I got a shirt for you. It’s this band called Owl; I think you’ll really dig them.” I was like, “Why would I want a shirt from some band I’ve never even heard of?” Ohhhh, snap! Checked them out on el interneto and Mike was totally right....smitten. Fast forward to August 2015. They were gigging at Bunk Bar with two of my favorites, Pushy and R.I.P...but... it was the same day as Hoverfest. As the fest drew to a close, I realized there was still time to catch Owl and I got a lucky right and caught them just in time.

KLAW

KLAW by KLAW

These lovely fellows came down from the Emerald City to Kenton Club last summer with another Seattle band, Greenriver Thrillers and our locals Cougar. That show was a total blast! I’ve only seen them that one time and am really looking forward to their return and thrilled it’s for MedEvil! All the guys are really nice and they rock out!

SkullDozer

Thin by SkullDozer

These Guys.   Ben House is a great vocalist. Justin Morgan on the guitar kills it every time and now they have Jay Erbe on the drums, formerly of Disenchanter, and he's fantastic! These guys have a minimalistic approach, but I mean that in a really good way, i.e. they don’t need a million things going on at once to convey their tone. I’m really looking forward to them closing out the fest for me on Saturday night. What an honor to have the bands I like also become my friends!

MedEvil Madness takes place March 24th and 25th at World Famous Kenton Club in NE Portland.   Admission price is $5 per day.   Details of Day One can be found here and for Day Two here.