#Belos has a worse curse episode

[oyeedraw-arts]

Humors of It au Hettie about Belos and his curse in general. Being a healing head witch is both her dream job and biggest nightmare.

(aka how does she keep the Emperor alive if she knows fuck-all even about his basic medical history)

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

The Caleb and Golden Guard Ghost or Illusion in For the Future is interpreted differently by fans and haters of Belos those who think he pure evil thought it was their ghosts haunting him for his sins while those who like him thought it was repressed guilt this has done nothing to help Belos’s reputation in the fandom and unless your chronically online those were illusions and to top it all off it was never mention again and Papa Titan dismissed him and some fans take his words as true. I think the Crew being vague on Belos Past and how sympathetic he is, is the main downfall of the show writing and one of the reason why Belos fans get bullied

I feel like that's just a problem with Belos in general; casual fans and those who dislike see him as simply evil and nothing more. But fans who were invested in the potential of his character and story obviously saw something more and the show was just vague enough to make convincing arguments that there was more to him.

It is extremely frustrating to have canonical facts such as the Wittebanes only becoming witch hunters to fit in, which has huge implications for their story and the themes of the show, only for that to never be mentioned again and for Masha to undercut their own story about how "little bro was jealous of big bro."

It feels like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too, by hinting at more subtle characterization only to ignore all that and have Belos act as their Generic Bad Guy Who Represents Societal Evils.

I don't think that the writing of Belos is the main downfall of the show, I think it's just a symptom of it. The show struggles with characterization by having characters not experience actual development but switching to a different character type. Eda goes from infamous criminal to Mama Eda but she doesn't spend enough quality time with Luz to justify the change. Lilith goes from intimidating head of the Emperor's Coven to history nerd who becomes besties with the resident joke character (let's also not forget how the show largely brushed aside the fallout of Eda's curse and Lilith having to share it just to atone). Hunter spends a few episodes as the Golden Guard and then he's Sad Boy Who is Abused. I've said before that the season 1 version (or first appearance in Hunter's case) of these characters are at their most interesting and unique but by the end, they're reduced to just generically nice people.

The villains, for better or worse, don't suffer this switch. They're exactly what they're presented as despite a few tantalizing details that would suggest otherwise. The end result is a bunch of characters who act as the plot requires them too, not because of actual character growth or dynamics.

On a separate note, I don't think Belos fans are bullied because his writing is sloppy. Even if he was more explicitly sympathetic, people would still find an excuse to harass fans. I think bullies just want to make people feel bad for engaging with media in a way that is different from theirs and no amount of "justification" can excuse that. People like villains, get over it. The kind of media and characters people enjoy usually has nothing to do with their morality. But how you treat real people certainly does.

[iamchaos1234]

[spoilers for all of The Owl House]

Short version: I love found family

Long version:

Eda, King, and Luz. The original three. One a witch, one a titan, one a human. Maybe King and Eda have always been close, since Eda found him on that island. But the progression of the three's bond throughout the series made me cry when I thought about it. It starts out as Luz just being a random human, a pawn they use to get back King's crown. Then Luz decided to stay, and it's quite clear Eda doesn't really care at the start. You can see how she clearly ignores Luz's wishes. But you see as season 1 goes on, Eda starts caring for her wellbeing and starts actually bonding and caring for Luz. But you really only see the full extent of Eda's newfound care for Luz in Agony of a Witch. Eda goes to save /her/ human from Lilith, despite knowing the dangers, despite knowing it was a trap, despite knowing her curse is getting worse and worse. And as her curse takes over, she thanks Luz. For being in her life. Luz fights ferociously to save Eda, stopping at nothing to save her Boiling Isles mom. Season 2, episode 1 Eda states that she uses the money they have to get special food for Luz instead of her apple blood, which she is shown to stop at nothing to get. You see the three's bond grow so much in season 2. Luz helps King through his identity crisis, and tries her very best to help him figure out who he truly is. At the end of season 2 Eda's concern for her two children is so great, she just wants them to be safe. They shouldn't have to go through this, since they are just children. But Luz is so desperate to help, to fix her mistake, to redeem herself for her part in this horror. In Clouds on the Horizon you can see Luz's concern for Eda and her plan. Both King and Luz are terrified, because Eda talks like she may never come back. After the Day of Unity when the Collector is taking King you can see just how desperate Luz is to save her found family, her brother and her mom, she wants so badly to save them, just to make sure they are okay. You can see how emotional both are, King thanking Luz, then for her wellbeing shoving her through the portal. Throughout Thanks to Them you can see all of that sadness and want and guilt well up in Luz, not even knowing if her owl mom and little brother are alright. Then, there is Watching and Dreaming. When they all reunite, they are so happy, just so thankful to see the others okay. Then there is the battle with Belos. Eda and King can only watch, as Luz saves the Collector from Belos. Which kills her, and she can't even get the words to tell them as she fades away. In the in-between realm, her inner thoughts say she should have thanked them. Just as they had to her. The absolute fury and anger from Eda and King is insurmountable. They went from a ragtag group, to a family. A true family. Their anger is so great they shift to forms we never have seen or see again, only showing themselves in their absolute despair over Luz's death. When Luz is revived their extreme joy and relief is so great, and it shows.

A witch, a titan, and a human. A mother, a son, and a daughter

Titan I love found family 😭 don't even get me STARTED on Hunter-

This has been a Chaos rant, thanks for reading ;)

[autisticlilith]

"I just had to see my sister for... possibly the last time."

What a touching line... if only it wasn't a lie. Eda didn't want to go to the Covention, she didn't want to go to the Emperor's Coven panel, and she was in the process of trying to leave when Lilith caught up to her. By all accounts, Eda wanted to avoid her sister. If not for personal reasons, then at least for the practical reason of not wanting to get arrested. Eda says this because she knows it will trick Lilith into letting her guard down for the moment she needs to escape.

There is truth in this exchange, however. Eda brings up that the curse is getting worse—a play for sympathy, but as following episodes would show, it really is getting out of control, and she has no plan for what to do when the elixirs stop working. In response to this, Lilith says "I was surprised when I first saw you today," which could be taken to mean that she was surprised to see her here, but in context she's really saying she was surprised at the state she's in. It's been a while since they've seen each other, and in that time, Eda's appearance has changed more than expected. The curse causes her to age faster, and it seems to be accelerating over time.

The end of the episode reveals that Lilith has already made her "deal" with Emperor Belos: to bring Eda into the coven, in exchange for healing the curse. Curious then, that she doesn't open with this... or even bring it up at all, apart from a fleeting moment of hope that Eda had come to join herself.

There's a push and pull to their interactions; they both bring out each other's petty and competitive sides. But Lilith, who's supposed to be the lawful one, cares more about their rivalry than her job. She could have tried to apprehend Eda right there, but instead she gets rid of the wanted posters (somehow getting all law enforcement to just look the other way for the day) just for the chance to compete... by proxy of a duel between their students. The poor kids.

(Making kids fight each other? Sounds familiar.)

There is a moment, when Eda is down, where Lilith lets her mask slip. Her anger dissipates, as does her magic. She still genuinely cares for her sister. And she's about to say something, before Eda reveals that it was a trick.

Was she going to apologize? Was she going to negotiate, to reveal what her goal actually is, to offer her misguided attempt at help?

Or was she going to admit that she was the one who cursed Eda, right then and there? The guilt eating her alive wasn't even an intended part of the ruse.

Lilith doesn't want to force Eda into the coven. She says multiple times that she wants Eda to make that choice for herself. But it's never going to happen, because what Lilith fails to realize is that Eda isn't just being contrarian for fun; she hates the establishment for very good reasons. She would rather die than conform. And she's well on her way to doing just that...

[mdhwrites]

Would you consider explaining here, in your opinion, the decline of the Emperor's Coven as an antagonistic force or even broadly as a concept within TOH's world? And - if you don't mind me asking - do you think it had that much of an adverse effect on the series?

So I'm going to break this up into two sections to answer the two questions here. The first is going to be their decline and then why that had an actually pretty big adverse effect though not one you'll immediately feel. I'll do bold text and what not to help clarify in case you want to go to each.

The Decline of the Emperor's Coven

So it is important to recognize that there is a decline at all because it is important, regardless of how quickly it happens. The first time we see an EC guard is during the Covention demonstration in episode 5. Before then, we only have the bumbling guards of the Conformatorium as the protectors of the Isles. They have all magics, Lilith beats Eda in a witch's duel implying that she is even stronger than her, bare minimum due to not having the curse, and in general is treated with reverence. They fill out an entire stadium of people wanting to join them. Amity's biggest motivation and desire for the future is to join them. They're a BIG deal and implied to be real threats. Enough so that Eda will actually hide from them unlike in episode 1 where the regular guards made her not worry about needing a disguise of any sort. She isn't reckless with the guard but they are definitely less than the EC, even if not absolutely stated.

But... The decline starts almost immediately as the next time we see them is episode 8, Upon a Swap. Not only do they struggle with keeping Luz entirely under control while in Eda's body but they have a humiliating loss at the end of the episode when Eda swaps everyone's bodies around. I believe we still see some Conformatorium guards, something that effectively stops by S2 but this is the origin of Steve. Still, they lost Luz from other madness going on and the joke at the end is followed up by Lilith's resolve. It could be brushed off.

Unfortunately they don't really ever get another big moment. They turn into the name drop for turning in Eda but otherwise, until Agony of a Witch, we don't see any EC members besides Lilith. Unfortunately, Lilith just lets Eda go once, loses a Grugby match a different time and that's it for TEN. EPISODES. Mostly just jokes as Lilith refuses to actually do her job.

Until in Agony of a Witch, Lilith and an entire squad of scouts are beaten... By Hooty. As a joke. Yes, at the end of the episode, Lilith gets a big fight against Eda but this isn't an even fight like before. They use all the same spells they did in the previous fight but Lilith has to cheat in order to not be immediately obliterated by the power gap between her and Eda. It's not an intelligence thing either as Eda isn't using tactics besides BLOW THE FUCK UP ALREADY. Lilith has to be saved effectively by the timer running out on Eda's magic because she never had a chance. Even if she's acting high and mighty... It still leaves a worse impression for how good her magic and her ability to fight are and she is the COVEN HEAD.

Hunter does not fix this in S2 either. His accomplishments are: Bullies a couple people without magic.

Steals defenseless palisman before losing them.

Beats up Kikimora while she's under sleeping drugs.

Kind of a step down from Lilith getting to claim to have beaten the most powerful wild witch in the Isles, isn't it? On the influence on the Isles side, we don't get a lot but Amity forsakes them kind of just because. No argument or debate about this still being her world and her needing proof that Belos and the EC are evil or can't be changed from the inside. No, she's just now a wild witch because her girlfriend is because otherwise we don't get a reason. Worse, Sport in a Storm... exists? An episode where multiclassing students have less than zero interest in joining the Emperor's Coven despite that being the only way for them to legally practice the type of magic they want. Also, just by concept, it requires that people are so disinterested in the EC that they now have to actually try to recruit people versus 20 years ago when people would curse each other just for a chance into the limited positions available.

Hell, by the end, it seems like most EC guards are honestly one bad day away from quitting, with no repercussions, because of Steve and the guard Dana voices who goes to the cute cat coven which isn't even one of the big nine.

Also means that the cute coven joke, which happened three episodes before The Day of Unity where everyone needed specifically one of then sigils (though why EC coven members were affected without a representative in the ritual is unknown) had to go past Dana so many times she VOICED IT.

Sorry, got off track. On the power side, we only had Lilith before Hunter and Hunter doesn't have magic so the members have to keep up the slack. They are then immediately replaced with Abomatons and the Abomatons lose to... Everyone. They are literally never a credible threat except to Luz who had the worst chances of beating one when that came up because she already been worn down by the rest of the demonstration. Otherwise, the only moments the scouts or the abomatons are treated as real threats are when the Emerald Entrails are captured because they don't actually have a reason to fight them and cause problems for the school and when Amity tries to pretend Willow should be worried about them. Not all of them, only Willow and it's pointedly to make sure the audience knows that Amity is an idiot when it comes to Willow. That she is blatantly wrong about how much of a threat these guys are. That's still worse somehow than in Once Upon a Swap where they at least recognized these people could kick their asses without a distraction of some sort.

But that's how it falls. With how few times it shows up though, it raises a question:

2. Why Does the EC's Fall from Grace Matter?

It's actually pretty reasonable to wonder about this. Besides Hunter, they don't get a lot of appearances so why does it matter that they're inconsistent? Well... For one big reason:

They our only sign of Belos being a bad ruler. Of him being a dictator. Of him... At all. They exert his force more than even Hunter does because Hunter is constantly questioning him and not doing his job. For a villain like Belos, who is effectively not in the series for 90% of it since he doesn't take an active role until the Hollow Mind effectively, before then it's always just sweet words to people that are all lies, THAT'S A PROBLEM.

If we can't take his coven seriously... Why should take him seriously? Worse yet, why should we take Luz's opinion of him seriously? When she yells about him lying to people and she claims he's hurting people, you're left asking how? The guards are bumbling fools without direction or ability. Most of them, Hunter included, are just one push away from not doing their job. That's not what happens with a dictator and it's not what you should be thinking abut when EC members become the primary threat to our protagonists.

Instead, the show has no tension for its second half except against Belos effectively. Whenever EC members are around, victory or loss is just entirely plot dependent and we know that. That's how Willow can effortlessly bury a person and their abomaton and then they just... show up, covered in vines once we're actually pretending these people are threats. It's why they during the entirety of Labyrinth Runners, its only Gus and Hunter we're following because their lack of magic makes them able to be threatened while Amity and Willow getting in each other's way is the far larger threat than the trained soldiers. An abomaton and captain of the guard is just one not that fancy combo move away from being beaten because they're that little of a threat.

For an adventure show, that's just explicitly bad. From a thematic standpoint, it actually gets worse the more times WILLOW specifically beats them. After all, Willow is the poster child of the regime. She practiced the wrong type of magic at first before finding the one that the Titan blessed her to be able to be a master of. The more times she specifically beats the EC handedly, despite them using multiple magic types like Luz and Eda preach you should be able to... It makes you question if Belos isn't right. The evidence amongst the main characters, Gus included, is that he is and them conquering his forces better than Luz, Eda, Lilith, Barkus, Jerbo or Viney just reinforces that they're better.

Even Amity, who still only practices one type of magic, eventually beats the poster boy of the Emperor's Coven, something Luz never does in a fair fight. So is Belos wrong in thinking witches should only be using one coven?

Yes, him lying makes that the case but the show supports his arguments far more while also discrediting him as some grand tyrant who is a force that needs to be opposed. Hell, Terra tried to poison kids and its his guards, and his laws, that protect Eda and Raine during Them's the Breaks because why not? The EC scouts don't like doing evil. Steve and the cute cat coven members make that clear.

It discredits the final villain and ruins the themes while also just making the show worse at its genre. So yeah, it's a real problem... But only a problem if you think about it. If you care about the worldbuilding. Otherwise, the lack of stakes is the main one that will dig at the back of your brain because you'll want to be invested in what's happening but everytime a fight scene breaks out, it's nothing. Because you know the result.

And as Belos' only manifestation for absolutely the first season and arguably the second... That should be the last thing you feel when one a squad of these guys steps up.

======+++++======

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[jess-the-vampire]

tbh i think the answer to why belos is REALLY dead this time is like. he was surviving off of hosts for all that time in the human realm and then again when he got back to the demon realm the first thing he did was try to find a host/ vessel. his body's too degraded for him to survive without one now. maybe he could've lived if he had chosen to possess luz, but he was trying to make one last-ditch effort to sway her to his side. the boiling rain would've only worsened the way his body was collapsing so he just. ran out of time.

Here's the thing about that answer, is normally i could totally buy this answer to an extent, but the show managed to not make this detail consistent either.

So they have him build up strength supposably in TTT, and i guess somehow feeding off hunter and other creatures has given him enough strength to at least get his monster form back, ok, i'll accept that.

then he starts falling apart in FTF, and he needs to claim a dead grimwalker to build himself back up again, ok, fair enough, and raine i guess contributes as well.

but then, this entirely falls apart when we get to WAD

belos, despite being weak and falling apart the second he leaves raine's body, now has the speed of a god that raine struggles to actually catch up with him in the castle.

you'd think after spending enough time in raine's body he would once again retain his beast form, like he did with hunter, but no...he comes out far more wounded somehow despite the fact he had just used raine to help retain his body

like when he took over hunter, it was from a drop, and then he comes out a full formed monster, so why with raine does he not do the same? and how is he moving like that when he's even worse off then he was when he arrived?

And then after consuming energy from the titan's heart, something you would assume would given him enough power to once again have a full body, he comes out with one......and enough strength to somehow turn into young philip....and yet he's also equally so weak that he can be easily stomped to death with some burns. So animals and dead grimwalkers can give him his body back, and so can leeching a little off of hunter.....but not a giant titan heart?

The whole point of philip doing a lot of this is because he wanted his original body, he wanted his human form back, if he could do this the whole time....why didn't he? for any reason?

I could totally buy the reason of him running out of things to help him keep his body, if it were not for the fact the show is not consistent on how powerful the guy is supposed to be during a lot of these scenes.

Philip consuming things makes him powerful again......except when it doesn't.

Philip's falling apart and barely able to do something as simple as lash out without his arm falling off, except when he isn't.

The show wanted to have this scene with philip and luz but it's whole existence gets kinda distracting when i am wondering how the guy who just got a body back is getting easily killed off when that's supposed to be him at his full power, not to mention this power of his not really being properly established before. (The possession thing wasn't either before TTT but yeah)

outside of one scene of him in KT transforming just his head, and that's at least fine since it's just his head, he's not strong enough to have the full body not to mention its his normal face, not a way younger version of his face.

don't get me wrong, there are implications of scenes in other episodes that he maintains control over the curse, and therefore transformations.

but there are also just as many scenes that don't, like collector stating belos was struggling to maintain his human shape in KT and belos showcasing he was, not to mention EAE where his curse flairs up and it's clearly not an act for someone because he's alone.

there are implications the curse does have some control over him that he manages.

If he came out of the titan as a weak puddle, that would be one thing, but he came out with enough strength to do something collector directly said he didn't have enough strength to do back in KT anymore.

And he was supposed to be stronger there then here.

but here, some rain and stomps later, that's it i guess.

this whole situation was just totally avoidable too if they just killed him off a different way or just had a proper grasp on his powers and curse, because the more you try and figure out his curse, the more unclear it is.

Eda's owl curse makes sense, i am provided the info for it to be made clear how it works the way it does, belos's curse has none of that so there's a lot about it that makes no sense or is not explained.

in a lot of cases i can totally look past stuff like this, but i shouldn't be confused how the villain died, and his curse is supposed to contribute directly to his death.

Like suspension of disbelief, i can forgive some things, but there's too many weird issues here.

if the show wanted the idea for belos to just...fall apart because he had no strength, just do that, but by adding the tricking luz scene and the raine and the stomping....it looks more like they all just easily took out the guy at his full strength and takes me out of the moment entirely.

trust me, i desperately want a clear explanation here, but the show doesn't provide one, or at least not a completely consistent one.

[sepublic]

Belos the Storyteller

            What makes Belos SUCH an effective manipulator is just how good he is at spinning narratives, which makes sense; He’s convinced he’s the hero of his own story, Philip has lived by this particular childhood story that Gravesfield has taught him, and convinced himself wholly of it even in their absence. It’s self-perpetuating, generational trauma.

            There’s a reason his entire life has been framed by Gravesfield (the worldview that informed his own) as a tragic campfire tale of a kid trying to save his brother... Something Masha does question when they finish, indicating they’re only repeating what others have said, and have itching commentary of their own.

         Season 1 ends with the crowd initially triumphant in earning Eda’s freedom, only for Belos to take command of the narrative and spin his own take on things; Actually, the Titan TOLD me to let her go, because he deemed the effects of Eda’s curse an even worse punishment than death! Which, in addition to the yikes ableist implications of that… The very next episode, Eda may have regained her humanoid form, but she’s lost ALL of her magic and people see that. And it turns them against her despite the previous episode, because Belos took control of the narrative and turned it in HIS favor and reading.

         The next season also ends with an unsuccessful, but clear attempt at twisting and reframing the narrative; Belos lied about freeing the Collector, but then they end up free anyway! Well, it’s just as Belos promised, right? Obviously the Collector is well past the point of listening and it’s clearly bullshit, but considering Belos had to suddenly think of an excuse on the fly, not bad for an impromptu narrative!

         Philip alters his journal entries to frame himself as a tragic hero who has lost so much against his will, rather than a manipulator gleefully throwing people aside as sacrifices and preferring it that way even, because he’s conviced they’re evil! Even Luz falls for his narrative. The fake memory portraits, hiding his face, only to reframe this as a bashful hero opening up about his vulnerabilities when confronted with the unconditional love of his subjects?

         It’s peak gaslighting, taking reality and altering it in subtle ways to tell a completely different tale. And it shows how effective and adaptable Belos is, able to take any setbacks and recontextualize them as contributing to HIS story, actually! While also displaying just how delusional he is, that Belos can and WILL extrapolate any interpretation of real life, no matter how much of a stretch, that encourages him. He ignores any evidence that says otherwise or reframes it, even when so much is at stake here, because Philip is a bad reader.

         There’s the propaganda, and how he sets up the false flag attacks as early as the Deadwardian Era, all to frame this narrative of the dangers of wild magic. Anything bad that happens with magic not covenbound, clearly a lesson from the Titan about wild magic! And from a more truthful perspective, to him at least, anything bad the witches cause? Clearly God’s cautionary story about the dangers of witches and demons!

         Philip is still a kid kneeling and sitting down, enraptured, to childhood stories, and then applying them to real life without critical thought. He’s like Luz in early S1, applying her chosen one stories of isekai to her situation, but Luz actually woke up. TOH tells a very compelling tale about the way we engage with stories, a story about stories, and while it’s generally positive and in favor of it…

         Belos is a fascinating character and summation of the show’s themes, because he’s also a scathing example of just how BAD a love for stories can turn out; He’s a deeply messed-up storyteller, taking all of the strengths of fiction and showing how they can be weaponized into the common tactics of gaslighting, propaganda, manipulation, and just straight up denial and cognitive dissonance. He’d make an effective bard and DOES have red magic, and parallels with Raine...

        TOH sells a nuanced relationship with fiction and narratives, rather than just blindly supporting them. And it’s that critical, questioning approach (that it also encourages for regular life and institutions) that enables it to ultimately double-down on that love, but with real awareness and intent that expresses dedication rather than detachment; Willing to put in the time and effort to really think about and explore that relationship, accepting the concessions to reclaim it nonetheless, because it means that much.

[sleepingdeath-light]

cursed s/o hcs ; hunter

requested by ; 🌸🍄 anon (27/04/23)

fandom(s) ; the owl house

fandom masterlist(s) ; main | hunter only

character(s) ; hunter wittebane

outline ; “Hello There! So I've been flicking though the vast world of toh fanfiction and I haven't really seen any fanfics with a cursed reader in them sooo could you do Hunter with a Cursed S/o. Maybe they try to hide their curse from him but it just progressively gets more severe and harder to manage.

(Lol bonus points if the readers cursed form is a wolf.)

- 🌸🍄”

warning(s) ; some angst, but mostly fluff!

note ; i am no longer accepting requests for this character.

now hunter is no stranger to curses or the effects that they may have on the inflicted — he spent the better part of his young life tending to the festering wounds caused by belos’ curse and has come to know both eda and the owl beast rather well over the time he’s spent living under her roof — but he’s far from an expert and isn’t quite able to tell at a glance that someone is cursed

in your case, despite being your partner for longer than either of you can be bothered to measure, he just perceived the quirks and harms of your affliction as just another part of your being and never questioned them — and you made damned sure he never had a reason to

you stocked up on your potions when he was away and hid them in the lesser visited crevices of your shared home, passing off any he found as just being medication to help you cope with the aches and pains of your ‘condition’ as you’d come to call it

you spouted endless excuses to keep him away when you were at your worst so you could ride out your transformations in peace — far from your beloved and free from the worry of causing him harm when you weren’t completely yourself

when you were the beast, the creature, the wolf

but it seemed like, as the years went by, all of your efforts would be for naught: your pains worsened, your episodes became more and more frequent, you started losing parts of your day to the creature, and you could feel your control slipping

it would only be a matter of when hunter found out your little secret — when, not if (as you’d spent so many years hoping)

so you weren’t as surprised as you perhaps should have been when one day you came out of an especially rough transformation to the feeling of large, work-worn hands on your cheeks and those loving ruby eyes staring down at you

he’d seen it

he’d seen you

and now you could only brace yourself to deal with what would come — the confrontation, the judgement, the loss, and all of the other negative things that had followed similar such incidents in your past

but none of that came — he was just concerned for your well-being and upset that you thought he’d treat you like that

he helps you to your feet and has you sit down in the bathroom as he cleans your wounds, giving you the space to talk him through your condition, your perspective, and your past — only speaking up occasionally to let you know he was paying attention to what you’re saying

and when you’re done he gives you a reassuring smile, points to the scars on his face and jokes about having seen and lived through ‘much worse’ — that he’s survived too many injuries and monsters for your curse to scare him away from you

then he hugs you close, asks how he can help and mentions setting up a meeting with eda so you can try and figure out how to live with your curse if there isn’t a cure available

(and, just to make you laugh, he throws in an awkward chuckle and a joke about how much he loves wolves so his partner turning into one isn’t going to push him away)

[spookyc]

Okay so, dead end is a great show but you know what we haven't had yet? My favorite episode trope of all time, the memory episode. And I have a really freaky idea for it. (This got super long so full thing under cut.)

So, picture season 3, Norma has been tearing through the lower level angels along with Zagan, (and likely Temeluchus and Paimon too) and they've been making good progress. I picture this as a later episode, maybe like episode 7, and Norma and Zagan finally make it to Pael. He toys with them a bit, picture Luz and Belos's first fight in toh except there's no breaking of any mask. Norma and Zagan are at their top form, but Pael is simply far more skilled than they anticipated.

After some time, he chuckles, and traps Norma in the same chair that held Pugsley, with that calm smile plastered on his face. Zagan of course bolts towards her, but is restrained by several angels who file in on command.

Norma is in shock from the sudden action, but she isn't scared, she balls her fists as she glares at Pael, a determined look on her face.

Pael eyes this with great interest, chuckling again to himself.

"My my, what an interesting little one you are, I see you have returned to me with a friend." He marvels, with that soft voice of his.

"Hope you appreciated the warm welcome, we got very acquainted with your subjects." Norma replies, a devilish smirk on her face.

Pael's smile then deepens into a frown, a rare sight for the archangel.

"Yes, those foul demons have certainly trained you well, a shame really." He expresses, grimacing at the word "demon."

"And they've trained me to bring you down." She responds, her determination never faltering.

Pael shakes his head, a look of disappointment clearly expressed in the action.

"You poor girl, to think they've corrupted you like this, it is simply unforgivable." Pael utters, pity dripping from his words.

"Corrupted?"

"Why yes, they've tainted you so much, you do not even resemble yourself anymore." Pael answers.

Norma finally began to look unsettled, her hands sweating as her eyebrows knitted together.

"What do you mean by that?" She dares to ask, cursing the slight shake of her voice when she uttered her question.

Pael's smile returned and haunting laughter followed. Norma's nails dig into her hand unconsciously at the sound, and Pael's smile widens unnaturally so, the corners of his mouth rising past his cheeks.

He waves a hand and a bright golden glyph appears before her face. It was so close she could clearly see the intricate patterns and words in a ancient language spelling out around the circle. It was almost hypnotic, as if the very sight of it made her forget the horrible situation she found herself in.

"Here, dear girl, let me jog your memory." He mutters, before the glyph begins rotating rapidly, the gold growing brighter and brighter and brighter.

Norma thinks she hears a voice calling out for her, perhaps Zagan's, before the light fills the entire room, a blinding white that reverberates in her mind.

She shuts her eyes at the sight, expecting a burning pain or something worse.

She gets neither, and when she finally decides to hesitantly open her eyes, she's back in her bedroom.

The episode would follow showing several events throughout Norma's life. Perhaps even in her younger years, we'd see her Dad too, when he was still around. The memories would then become increasingly familiar, eventually replaying old scenes from the prior seasons as Norma relives them all over again.

Except, she isn't alone, Pael is with her the whole time, and he's highlighting specific moments and narrating over them. In this way, he's also changing the narrative of her own memories with his own interpretations.

Like when we cut to her watching Pauline through the years, and Pael notes:

"You've been following the wrong people your whole life, haven't you dear? Ah, but who could blame you, the most vile creatures of the planes are always the most tempting."

Right after the shots of Pauline, we'd then get shots of the demons, of Zagan, Temeluchus, and perhaps even the party itself from season 2 episode 6.

"You place your trust in those that hurt you, those that have betrayed you; you must know it is only due time before they hurt you once again, right, little one? You are a smart girl, and you have a kind heart, but these demons, these phantoms, will only use that to their advantage."

We then flash to shots of Norma and Zagan training, and Pael shakes his head.

"Your swordsmanship is impressive, young one, that friend of yours has done a wonderful job honing her personal tool." Pael notes, the word tool spoken with particular venom.

Norma has been mostly silent throughout these interactions, perhaps because she's taking it all in, or perhaps because a part of her agrees with what Pael is saying. But after that statement she turns towards him in anger.

"I am not a tool, I chose to do this!" She fires back.

Pael's expression never changes.

"It was your choice, was it, little one? But what other choice did you have? That wonderful little dog was taken from you, and you wished to inflict that pain upon us, that is why you decided to engage in this conflict, is it not?" He left no time for Norma to answer the question, the answer already being obvious.

"I am afraid the demons do not see it in that way. They, and especially that friend of yours, could not care less about the dog's death. No, it would not have mattered what reason you gave, anything would have satisfied the bloodlust they hold for us. And what a great opportunity, to have a scapegoat primed and prepared for when they at last realize they are in over their heads with this foolish war. You are a human, dear, you are expendable, and yet, remarkably flexible. Those demons could shape you into whatever they desired, and if you perished, well, there's plenty more of your kind on the Neutral Plane to gather. Your existence is inconsequential to them, my poor girl, your life is ultimately meaningless in the grand scale of their war." Pael explained, his voice wracked with pity and sympathy.

As he goes on, Norma starts to break, she shakes her head, clutches at her sleeves, pupils dilating to half their size.

"No, no that's not true, they do care, they-" Her desperate words were hardly convincing, and she was unable to continue as she felt her breath hitch in her throat, her heart pounding in her ears. She couldn't focus, and yet, Pael continued.

"They do not, dear. Those demons do not care for anyone but themselves. They are vile and selfish creatures, and I am terribly sorry that they deceived you in such a way." Pael replies with absolute finality.

His voice, it was too loud. The memories that played before Norma were too loud. Everything was too loud and too much all at once and Norma couldn't even respond to Pael anymore, the only sound emitting from her being her gasps for breath. She fell to the ground, clasping her hands over her ears and shutting her eyes.

Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop!

It was then, that Norma felt a hand on her shoulder. Instinctually she flinched at the touch, but before she could bat the hand away, she felt warmth resonate from it. It was a calming warmth, the kind of warmth you felt right before you fell alseep. But instead of drifting to a slumber, she opened her eyes, and saw she was back within Pael's chamber. She gasped for air and found she could breathe again and as she took in her surroundings, Pael stood before her once more.

"These demons have hurt you, have blinded you, have shaped you into their personal weapon. They have tainted your heart with sin, and they made you forget who you are. But, be not afraid, Norma, I can heal you, I can wash away this darkness that has consumed your heart. I can show you the light. So please, dear, make the right choice." He says, before extending a hand forward...

Unbeknownst to Norma, Zagan has finally gotten the upper hand on those tricky little angels. That's fine though, she isn't called the Chieftain of Patience for nothing. She's been so focused on getting out of those slimy things' grip, that she let her focus drift away from Norma. As she breaks free from the angels' grips, and makes sure they remember to never do that again, her eyes widen in horror at the sight before her. Pael is standing before Norma, and she looks to be in some kind of trance, her gaze completely focused on him. He's extended a hand towards her, a hand that has only the faintest hint of a glyph circling around it.

Only one deeply aware of the angels and their magic would be able to see it. The Angel's Pact. They say to never make a deal with the devil, but really, that's mostly just angel propaganda. Demons aren't hard to figure out once you know them, and their language isn't hard to decipher once you know the terminology. And besides, any demon that doesn't uphold their end of the bargain is scum to Zagan either way.

But a deal with an angel? That's something you really gotta worry about. For starters, a pact with an angel is unbreakable, there's no going back when you've made a deal with one of them. Secondly, they never mean what they say, there's always a double-edged blade to their words and angels always see things through their own perspective, they're real convincing that way. The good image they've been able to preserve for eons certainly only aids in that too, everyone always just believes angels at face value. But deep down, they're just as ugly as the demons, they always have been.

And this Angel's Pact, that is what is being presented before Norma now. But why? What had he said to her? Surely, after everything, Norma wasn't seriously considering this, right?

"Norma! Norma snap out of it!" Zagan yells out, a desperation she would never admit hiding in those words.

Pael hears this, and with a single flap of his wings, sends Zagan rocketing into the wall behind him. The impact is enough to have her torso shoot forward, and a trickle of blood runs down her mouth as she cries out in pain.

"Even now they would ask you to fight, how bitterly cruel." Pael notes, before turning back to Norma once more.

"Come, my sweet child, let us make this right again."

To be continued...

(Thinking of making this into an actual fic, would yall be interested in that? With that I'd be going into way more detail, and of course you'd also get the conclusion so let me know if that's something yall would be interested in.)

[spinaroos-47]

So, now that 2B ended, I’m going to look back at my hopes for it that wrote back in september. There’s some comments on the points I added after FATCDP released also

(put under a read more because theres quite a bit)

- More Raine, Hunter, Lumity, Lilith, Camila & Vee, Willow & Gus

We definetly got all these, and I’m so happy. I would have liked more CAmila and Vee but at least I know we’ll get them on S3

- Portal stuff 

Eh kinda? Not much, though. I’m still wondering why Belos moved it to the head. Was it because the castle was being used for the DOU?

- King’s dad 

Yep, we got it. I like how even theories I wasn’t expecting to be true were done in a way that I accept them. Like that and some in Hollow Mind 

- More Belos and Wittebane lore

We got it and boy I’m so glad we did

- More Phiip diary entries

Yep. Fucker.

- WHAT’S A GRIMWALKER?

...Yep. Boy that hurts to be right and how the truth is even worse than I expected. I do love that Hollow Mind is a lot of we expected/knew but even more terrifying than we thought it was

- Kiki’s emotional scene her VA mentioned on a livestream

That’s probably a scene from FATCDP but I can see her being talked like that by Belos in King’s tide also being what she mentioned. Hard to tell

(This is from a Cartoon Universe livestream that they did with some of the VAs, including her and Zeno)

- Epic fights

Funnily enough there was less fights than I expected, but the ones we got were amazing

- Return of the looking glass ruins

Woop, that one I wasn’t so sure if it would come back but it did, even if only for Labyrinth Runners

- Flapjack lives!

I was never on the team that he would die but it doesn’t hurt to hope for him to live

- Lumity date

Nope...I’m still holding hope for one in s3

-More magic lore/worldbuilding 

Basically every single toh episode has magic lore and worldbuilding, and the ones we got in 2B were great

- The Hunter scene Zeno likes (betting on either any sport in a storm or hollow mind)

Pretty sure he was talking about when Hunter confronts Belos about the previous Golden Guards

(also from the Cartoon Universe livestream)

- Harpy Lilith

Forever sad we didn’t get it. Buuuuut there’s still time for that

- Dell Clawthorne

I think the little b plot he and Eda had was amazing, I love it so much

- Jacob

Glad to not see this guy in 2B

- More of the curse

Eh, just a little bit, mostly about the plan against the DOU (and i like the theory that OB sensed the collector being freed)

- RAEDA (we got it, but oof its going to hurt before we get somewhere happy)

We got the somewhere happy but then it was pain again!

- Philip = Belos

To be honest i almost forgot there even was the debate about wheter Belos was Philip or the brother jsfddnjfnd, the reveal was great

- Glyph stuff

Not much but still quite a bit, which makes me happy. I wish it showed if Luz used the invisibility glyph when she branded Belos or changed it to hide just the glove

- “We’ll be keeping an eye on the owl house inhabitants” (I just want to know what he meant by that because doesnt seem like it for now)

Ok so I kinda understand it now. He did keep an eye on them, especially before EaE happened, it just wasn’t with Hunter. He probably just assigned him to look closely if the owlfam did anything suspicious or anything like that, rather than full on spying.

- Adress Luz’s mental health pls (we kinda got that in follies but again I would like more)

It got adressed! Still full of trauma and guilt though!

- Hunter redemption (or at least just getting out of that horrible situation)

I don’t like how I phrased that, but the point still stands. Honestly the way it happened I never thought would be how he would get out of the EC. Like, it feels like the plot of many fanfics I read during the hiatus about him being taken in by the owlfam. I say that in a good way, it was really good

- Hunter and glyphs

We got it!!!! Only one time but we got it!!! I wonder if we will get him using glyphs again. Definetly not while they’re stuck in the human realm

- Luz and King discover about Raine (we got it in the best way possible)

We got it in the best way possible indeed. AND THEM MEETING WAS ALL I EVER WANTED!!! And Luz having them promise to keep Eda safe :,3

- “No more secrets” my ass (this actually might be the one that i dont think will happen since on follies the secrets were adressed)

Guess who was wrong, there are definetly still some secrets there, now Hunter also being on that equation as well. And probably some things that will be kept hidden from Camila now, which will hurt. And Gus now most probably knows about the grimwalker and Wittebane deal, so these all will be adressed

- The “spy” thing with Hunter (what does this mean, Dana)

I still don’t know what she meant by that. Probably just a nickname to throw people off to what he would be/do?

- Rascal’s name (yep we got it sjfjhsfd)

And we got it said on the show!!!

So yeah, most of them did happen! I’m thinking of revisiting my predictions for each episode even though I already kinda did that with most of them on my reviews

[elementalladymallorie]

I recently saw a post mentioning how Phillip was wearing Caleb's coat after the newest episode, and I lost it so I can't give credit for it the way I want to and I'm sorry for that.

It made me wonder though. We know that Belos changed his ears to fit in, but how much more did he willingly change? His hair changed from brunet to blond. Or at least lighter hair. It doesn't see to have the same... volume? then it did when he wasn't the emperor.

He's got the same eyebags as Caleb and Hunter. His nose and eyebrows have changed. I can't tell if the face shape has been altered at all really due to the beard.

A lot of this could be age, like the eye bags and hair lightening. And some of it could be his 'curse' making him worse and sick.

But knowing that he was willing to alter his ears? I can't help but think some of it was intentional. And that he's so much worse for it too, because if that's true? Belos could have used his brothers features to fit in better.

Cause Caleb liked the Isles, loved someone in it, and probably started a family there. Philip was a pariah that was already murdering people when Luz met him, and only continued to escalate. He knew he trashed his chance at looking trust worthy, and then moved to look more like someone who did.

[kindestegg]

Pespillo’s post about how the fandom treats Hunter’s Belos-related trauma while ignoring the Collector’s to instead flatten them into funny iPad kid reminds me of how Luz’s trauma from Belos is also downplayed and ignored so she can be his best friend and therapist and the one person who gets him, meeting him on mutual ground as if the finale didn’t perfectly summarize why this is a terrible thing. Coincidentally, both Luz and the Collector are very similar in themes and motives and have their outgoing charm used as an excuse to ignore the legitimate depth going on beneath the surface.

oh you are so correct it often feels like ppl want luz to put the responsibility in herself of fixing him when like. shes fucking fourteen n he traumatized her do you think at ANY POINT shed even have the mental n emotional capability after being tossed into danger and having her loved ones threatened multiple times to PLAY THERAPIST for him and undo the literal hundreds of years of cognitive dissonant he has in a single episode?? LEAVE HER ALONE!!!!!! CHEGAAAAAA!! LET HER REST!!

also you are so right in clocking that, i did technically write something similar to the sentiment colly n luz are so similar here . but also like ive been thinking about luzs specific trauma n guilt related to helping belos n what is an actual fucked up underlying context here is that shes not JUST responsible for the nebulous acts of 'she was nice to him without knowing who he was n taught him a glyph n helped him meet the collector'. because its implied that belos NEEDED collectors help to get the draining spell started? and whats related to the draining spell? the whole coven system he started n enforced n all the domino n ripple effects that had on their society.

this, mind you, includes edas curse. hell it includes the whole drama in the clawthorne family. it includes also all the wild witches that were killed simply for resisting assimilation. it includes also all the kids bullied and tortured in subtler ways for being different. it includes probably his looking into the basilisks and yes, includes vee. it includes even all of the exhausted natural resources that were taken to fulfill his plans.

isnt that fucking terrifying? to know that actions you thought were selfless and just helping out another person, a person you looked up to even, and at some point you realized he sucked but not to HOW much he sucked... were actually setting up for a slow hellish imperialist reign that made the lives of so many people exponentially worse? that KILLED people? that WOULD have killed more? when it otherwise didnt leave them with fucked priorities and mental disorders??? FUCK MAN!!!!!! THATS FUCKED UP!! NO WONDER LUZ WANTED TO HAVE NEVER EXISTED, LOOK AT ALL THIS SHIT.

and yet... we do know even if it was a ripple effect, it was still ultimately belos' fault. it was his n his decision alone to do all this with the small push luz gave him. and in the depths of her psychological despair, even then, luz is able to grasp at some hope that she can make things right, that she can make it up to the isles and its people. she HAS to. its the least she can do for them. but it then becomes equally important just how much every step of the way she is comforted by the people she has by her side telling her that they wont abandon her, that they know she messed up terribly, but that this does not necessarily make her irredeemable, and that the only path is forward, and through it all.

and most of all, she is allowed to look back, she is allowed to think slowly, she is allowed to seek comfort when she is suffering because this does not make her egocentric in her pain over her guilt, it just means she needs this healing so she can complete her journey. you can be of no use to others if you are constantly punishing yourself, after all. and ultimately also when papa titan offers her the perspective she was kind to her son even when she had no idea king was a titan, luz truly realizes another important truth: your bad deeds do not negate your good ones. theres no score or balance of sins vs virtues pending one way or another. one horrible mistake you made is just another action in the web of your life, where if you look in another direction, you have also done immense good with other actions.

and the good you do ripples as well. it isnt a coincidence that it was also another action of kindness, attempting to save collector, that even got her to the in between. luz was never a chosen one. but through an intricate web of choices to do good, specially to these two wonderful children, she ended up right where she needed to then take papa titans power and become his vessel to rid the isles of belos for good. isnt that poetic? isnt that beautiful?

collector is much of the same. in a way, you could say he was at fault for the titans going pretty much extinct. had his presence among the titans not alerted his siblings, they would have never been able to actively find and kill off the last titans. and these were a people collector cared about, he learned of their magic, he played with them, he admired them and their strength. just. gone. and because of him? if he ever realizes that, its going to be luz all over again. and i can imagine he already feels guilty just because of the draining spell and the whole puppet thing once he starts realizing that was bad by the end of s3. this could easily send him spiraling. and i wonder... it also feels i havent seen many people touch on that in fan works. oh well.

anyway. ahem. my point is i think belos would be a very terrible character for them to be around, i feel like theyre best both trying to heal from their respective trauma n finding good support networks. and also there is so much more to them to be explored. luz also has her trauma from bullying and loss of her father, n colly has, again, being stuck in the disc and having to rely on anyone who has it to try and get them to set him free, many of them being power hungry and treating him like an object, only wanting to use him. this does make their backstories differ quite a bit, as luz wants to belong somewhere where she can be herself without judgement and people being cruel to her, and collector on the other hand just needs to be free and have good figures guiding him again. they state this. luz wanted to be understood, collector wanted a friend who wouldnt use him or betray him.

uhm this got a little long... oh well!!! heheh thank you for the ask, i always like getting a little too serious about this little show meow

[lampmanliveblogs]

After a brief hiatus, I return to you with episode 17. I don’t know the title of this one, so no guesses based on that. If I had to make any predictions… probably a follow-up on the stuff with Hunter. It’s probably not a good idea to just leave the traumatized boy alone in the woods. Luz would definitely try to find him and after she explains to Eda what was going on, she’d probably let Hunter stay in the Owl House.

The episode starts off with King and Luz preparing some cakes together. This reminds me of that one time earlier today when me and my sister made a cake together. My first thought, based mostly on the large container of apple blood there was that this is maybe for Eda’s birthday or something like that.

However, King says that he hopes ”they” will like it, implying more than one guest. Guests that King are eager to impress.

Oh, and Luz is wearing the same outfit she wore in Enchanting Grom Fright.

...I...wha-what?

Oh, so it was a dream. I had a hunch that was the case, based mostly on the fact that this came right the heck out of nowhere and made absolutely no sense.

Anyways, an episode about King again? Based on what I know of the final episode of the season (the name), I had kinda resigned myself to not getting any more on the King’s family plotline until then. So getting another episode on this plotline would be a pleasant surprise, but I really do hope we get to hear about Hunter too.

Eda says that Luz is ready to talk. Ready to talk about the events of Hollow Mind. After the intro sequence, we get some brief flashbacks to the recent events. And right out of the gate, we get this interesting revision to history.

Let’s slash and rend and crush and bruise!

Let’s curse the land in nine bright hues!

That’s… not how that went last episode, Luz.

This reminds me of Follies at the Coven Day Parade, where we got a flashback to the episode before, Yesterday’s Lie. More specifically, to the scene between Luz and Camila at the end of that episode. Luz’ recollection of Camila’s words were slightly different from the original, showing how she interpreted them differently. I think there might be a similar thing going on here.

The Collector’s original line was ”We’ll play forever, me and you, when you paint the land in nine bright hues!”

It’s interesting then that Luz heard that and got ”slash, rend, crush, and bruise” out of it. Which hey, based on what little I’ve seen of The Collector so far… that might be very well what they consider fun. So me and Luz have basically the same interpretation of this character

I feel like it might be significant that the writers have shown us twice in this season that Luz recalls certain things in a slightly different, slightly worse way than how they really happened. It might give a bit of insight into how she thinks. I’m not quite sure yet, I just felt the need to bring it up.

Those are some really good drawings, Luz.

I’m not only stopping here to say just that though, but to point out something I kinda missed in the previous episode.

Seeing that drawing of Belos’ reconstructed portal made me realize that even though we, the audience knew about it, Luz & Co. had now idea until now. I think I’ve mentioned before the possibility that if Luz wants to ever get back to the Human Realm, she’s going to have to use Belos’ portal. And now she knows he has a working portal, and the last of her Titan’s Blood reserve is gone… that’s pretty much her only choice.

Then again… Belos needs the portal for his evil plan, a plan that could possibly jeopardize all life in the Demon Realm. And at this point, one of the few ways to stop him would be to destroy the portal. For good, this time.

[unorthodox-soundwave]

Okay, so now what I've slept and the episode is up on YouTube, I'm gonna dump all my thoughts on For The Future out in a single (very long) post like I did for Thanks To Them.

Of course, that means heavy spoilers, so do not click keep reading unless you've seen the episode (or if you don't care about spoilers for the ep, which makes me wonder how you even got to this post).

Okay so. Oh my titan. Where do I start? Beginning's probably the best choice.

I had a hunch they'd do the 'End of King's Tide from the other perspective' thing, but I can't say any of that quite went how I was expecting. I kinda thought—and I think a lot of other people did too—that King was gonna be fully separated from the rest of group on the BI from the moment the Collector was let out. Lilith and Eda both attempting to confront the Collector and save King immediately was not at all what I really expected.

I'm a little curious as to how the three of them made it to the point that they did after the intro, though. I get that Lilith made new elixir for Eda's curse, but then how did Lilith get un-puppetified ahead of that? I might've missed a detail somewhere, but as far as I can remember that wasn't really elaborated on. Maybe King asked the Collector to un-puppet her?

I do love the new designs for Eda and Lilith though. Lilith's hair being back to her natural color does make it really feel like it's been a long time (plus it makes her color palette look a bit more like the aroace flag hehehe). I also like that Eda's arm hasn't been replaced by anything, just bandaged. I feel like I saw a lot of people's design-guesses for her had given her a new arm in some capacity, and I always kinda felt like it was more in-character for Eda to not really see it as something that needs a replacement.

At least they still seem to be a bit happy.

But, moving on from that, I'm absolutely going absolutely insane over the fact that the Hexsquad and Eda/Lilith/King still haven't actually gotten to reunite. Like, the Hexsquad saw King, but other than that, nobody's really aware of how the other group is doing at this point. It hurts so bad.

But speaking of the Hexsquad, there's a lot to unpack with them. I'm kind of amazed how many personal arcs are still getting fit into the show with so few epsiodes.

Willow's arc especially kind of surprised me, though it's a welcome one for sure! It was—for better or worse for myself—a very relatable thing to see portrayed how it was. And the way it tied into Hunter's whole deal as well was so artfully done.

Like, damn, this hurts.

Immediately following up the Hunter-saves-Willow scene of that arc with Luz's "The only thing I've ever really wanted was to be understood" felt like it was equally calling me out. Like damn, all these characters are so relatable it hurts.

The way Camila and Luz's arcs in this episode informed one another was super elegant. Their daughter relationship is so wholesome.

Amity getting her chance to finally confront Boscha fully was another thing I really wasn't expecting to still make it into the season with it cut down so much. In fact, I can't say I was expecting Boscha to get a chance for any sort of active role. I really need to stop underestimate how well Dana and her team are managing to work with the small number episodes, they clearly know what they're doing.

Which, as it stands, I guess the only member of the Hexsquad who hasn't had a significant season 3 arc is Gus (outside of his role in Hunter and Willow's arcs), but he went through so much in season 2 that I kinda hope he doesn't have to go through anything more.

However, a character I DO hope has to go through more BS is Belos. I'm still kinda reeling from the fact that he apparently already had a new grimwalker on the way, and then tried to POSSESS it. I'm a bit relieved that it didn't work, because I don't think I could've handled it (nor could Hunter, frankly), but Raine being the second option isn't great either.

Moving past main characters;

Getting actual characterization of The Collector has been very interesting, mainly because it seems like everyone seemed to get it pretty right that they're an Enzo Gabriel. I really do wonder how aware they are of the harm they're doing, because it seems to be getting kept a bit vague on the actual truth of that. They seem pretty largely oblivious to the fact that it's anything other than a game, but the edit to the 'bedtime story' seems to imply that they at least know some amount of it.

What affairs? "Seal them up so they never fade"??

Mom-dalia??? How in the name of the titan did she manage to pull off getting to be The Collector's mom-figure instead of getting puppeted immediately. It kind of implies that she somehow hasn't managed to actively do a single thing that annoyed the Collector this whole time, which I'm amazed by. Though, to be fair, Terra apparently hadn't done so either, so the bar might not be that high.

Caleb and the past grimwalkers have me a little confused. Are they ghosts? Guilt-formed hallucinations? Something else? Is there a link between grimwalkers and their creators that means Belos has been getting haunted by all of them this whole time? Regardless, seeing a bunch of the past grimwalkers was not something I expected either.

This shot is haunting as hell.

Mattholomule's name actually being Mat Tholomule does feel like it makes sense in retrospect, but it's also very cursed.

Edric and Emira's reunion with Amity was the first part of the episode that got me to start crying (though it was far from the last.)

Moving past characters...

The scene that revealed String Bean was kind of funny to me because "A dragon? A bird?! Oh, an otter! A spooky bat? Uh, a snake?" is almost definitely a direct callout of the fandom's guesses as time went on. Though, all of the respective guesses are also very in-character for each person (Hunter's "A bird?!" does hurt my heart a little).

The design of The Collector's House/The Archives is a little interesting to me because the way it's floating over The Titan's head makes it look like a halo. Or a crown? I feel like there's some symbolism I'm missing.

New Hexside was a very fun concept in general. I feel like the idea of "a town/society that's entirely composed of schoolchildren" was very accurately portrayed.

I dunno if the scene right at the end was meant to be the 100% canon confession or just lead-up to something in the next episode but I sobbed either way!!!!!

*chanting* Huntlow! Huntlow! Huntlow!

I think I've finally run out of things to say (though that might change).

[dogbertliveblogsowlhouse]

IT’S BEEN A MONTH FELLAS

and tomorrow the new episode comes out! now, i feel it’s kind of weird jumping directly from the middle of season 1 alllll the way to season 3, so let me give a brief summary of my thoughts on every episode that i didn’t blog in between adventures of the elements and thanks to them!

Backend of Season 1:

The First Day:  a pretty good episode to officially kick off luz’s actual tenure at hexside! also why couldn’t this basilisk have been as nice as the one we meet later

Really Small Problems: development: tibbles is my least favorite character in the entire show, and this episode is just a worse version of little dipper

Understanding Willow: great insight into willow and amity’s fractured friendship, and i love a good mindscape episode

Enchanting Grom Fight: gonna be real with you chief i remember very little about this episode outside of the last ten minutes. but hooh BOY those last ten minutes

Wing It Like Witches: usually i’m not the biggest fan of sports episodes, but this one was pretty good! also has some very good lumity in it, which is i think the main reason people remember this episode

Agony of a Witch: pretty good first part of the finale! even if it DID write out amity for no good reason

Young Blood, Old Souls: great capper to the first season, great official introduction for belos, just really great things all around. also fun fact: all my speculation of “who put the curse on eda” during the blog was a giant ruse, i knew it was lilith the whole time, and i was going to reveal that during the actual reveal, but YKNOW. THINGS HAPPEN.

SEASON 2A:

Separate Tides: fun pirate adventure! man this “golden guard” character is pretty neat, hope nothing bad happens to him!

Escaping Expulsion: this episode gives some nice insight into the families of the hexside kids, especially Amity. Odalia Blight is a very strong contender for my least favorite character in the show, but tibbles is staying there for now

Echoes of the Past: i feel like this is one of the most underrated episodes of season 2. it really gave such immense depth to king’s character so quickly, when, god bless him, he really was basically just a joke character in season one. it sets up its reveal so brilliantly and does it in such an interesting way, without directly giving away the massive reveal later in the season.

Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances: this episode is some really neat insight into the clawthorne family, which we previously knew very little about! also they really gave lilith’s beast form one of the scariest designs in the show only to never use it again, huh

Through The Looking Glass Ruins: wow, they made mattholomule not completely unlikable! way to go! also the little lumity kiss at the end was cute, if not a bit overshadowed by events to come

Hunting Palismen: yknow what, i don’t even care that the bat queen was in this episode! because this is the first episode where we really get to know hunter, who’s honestly probably my favorite (or at least one of my favorite) characters in the entire show. love this boy.

Eda’s Requiem: this episode introduces so many great characters! it didn’t really hit with me when i first watched it, but it’s grown on me. what i just said can also be applied to raine as a character in general

Knock, Knock, Knockin’ On Hooty’s Door: this. mother. fucking. episode. this episode has literally everything you could want as a fan of this show. it’s got KING development, it’s got insanely massive EDA development, it’s got the official solidification of LUMITY, and it’s got hooty galore. yes, yes, he ate the letter, but considering who the sender of that letter turned out to be, was that really a bad move in retrospect. love this one, definitely in my top 3.

Eclipse Lake: this episode is pretty good! it’s got pretty good doses of lumity, hunter, insane lore implications in backgroud details that soon turn out to be crucial plot points, and one of the coolest fight scenes in the entire show! what more could you want? a belos face reveal? WELL WE GOT THAT TOO

Yesterday’s Lie: this episode has a pretty otherworldly feel to it. which is funny considering it takes place on earth. after spending so much of the show on the boiling isles, just    going on a small adventure in a connecticut town is a pretty wild change of pace. vee is adorable, camilla is great, that in-between dimension is wild, and the ending, hooh mama. great way to cap off the first half of season 2. (also yes, i too think it’s funny how much they hyped up “evil luz” only for it to just be a cute little basilisk with no ill will in its body)

SEASON 2B:

Follies At The Coven Day Parade: ehh it’s alright. i don’t really like kikimora, and this episode just sort of cemented that further. also knowing the fact that raine was faking being mind controlled would probably make this episode rough to rewatch

Elsewhere and Elsewhen: now THIS is how you do a time travel episode. great origin story for phillip/belos, who’s honestly one of my favorite villains of all time now, throw in some nice luz and lilith bonding, some collector-shadowing, and some fun time travel chicanery, and you’ve got yourself a banger episode

Any Sport in a Storm: okay, the last sports episode was alright, but this one just... hits home. thank you, thank you, i’ll be here all night. really though, this episode is really great for hunter and willow’s development, starts a ship i didn’t know i wanted, and tibbles dies right along with one of the biggest fan theories! what fun!

Reaching Out: this episode is mostly just some fun wholesome wrestling shenanigans and then dear god do the last five minutes hit. as someone who’s also grown up without a father, and is “totally fine with it”, the big reveal of this episode just makes looking back on luz’s actions throughout the episode all the more tragic, and makes the ending even more heartwarming. also the blight twins are as great as ever

Them’s the Breaks, Kid: some adorable baby eda and raine shenanigans, plus it makes terra even more terrifying than she already was! not as fantastic as some of the other episodes in this half of the season, but it’s pretty dang good!

Hollow Mind: this is my favorite episode of the series. “oh it’s just restating information to the characters that the audience already knew” don’t care. this episode is everything i love about this show. such intense reveals, character moments, tension, and even some comedy thrown in. slowly piecing phillip’s entire backstory together through the events of the episode as well as minute background details is genuinely rewarding, and the episode officially introduces one of the most important scrunklos in the show, the collector! and the ending is genuinely stressful for everybody involved. this episode is just a three-course dinner of everything that makes the owl house great. mwah

Edge of the World: AND THE OWL SHOW JUST KEEPS SWINGING, WE GOT YET ANOTHER BANGER ON OUR HANDS. this is probably my favorite king episode, it has one of the best double-reveals i’ve ever seen in anything, and even though people already sort of pieced together King was a titan, I didn’t, okay. this episode masterfully takes things that were already set up, and uses them to its full advantage. love this one.

Labyrinth Runners: one last great classic hexside episode, that really pays off to gus’s little arc throughout the season. also introduces probably my least favorite coven head, but he’s not bad by any means. amity and willow’s plot does meander a bit, but the real stars here are gus and hunter. love their chemistry, love how overpowered little baby man gus is, love this episode.

O Titan, Where Art Thou?: this episode is fucked up! okay, that’s a bit of hyperbole. the main part that’s fucked up is the sheer contrast between luz and eda, which leads to the one fight in this show i never would have saw coming. eda’s sheer hopelessness vs luz’s misplaced optimism is really devastating to watch at times. but, the ending DOES leave a good taste in your mouth, which is great. also steve is funny. i like steve.

Clouds on the Horizon: yep, odalia’s my least favorite character in the show! this episode is a great prelude to the finale, and also the first and currently only full-on lumity kiss, so that’s great. it has a pretty good resolution to the blight family drama, some great character moments between... pretty much everyone, and leads into king’s tide pretty well. speaking of...

King’s Tide: alright i’m gonna come right out and say it, i love the collector. i love their vibe of “clueless little kid with the power to literally destroy anybody and anything if they want to, but they just want to play.” pre-release and post-release collector feel like two completely separate characters (especially when you factor in the collector we saw in the owl beast’s flashback), but it works i think. also i like phillip’s “i’m quitting my job, time to tie up every loose end” energy in this episode. a great finale to probably one of the best seasons of television in history. i love how dire the stakes are at the end, and i can’t wait to see them continued tomorrow.

and with that, that should bring us all up to speed with where i’m at currently with my thoughts on this show! can’t wait for tomorrow, seeya all then.

[celiaelise]

My thoughts after watching The Owl House for the first time! 😊 (muchos spoilers!!!)

(I watched with some good friends who had already seen it; they had strong opinions but were also determined not to spoil me.)

We yelled at the screen a LOT. The most common cries were, "It's The Fascism."/"Do you think maybe it could be the fascism?"/"yeah because you're a fucking FASCIST!" we also yelled at Lilith for her poor decision-making skills very frequently. Like, "yeah, you did this!! This is entirely your fault!!!!" Oh, and at Luz for not thinking things through, though we accepted it's a part of who she is.

I LOVE Willow soooo much!! She is so cool and fun and has great outfits; I would like to cosplay her! I started doing her little part with her during the theme sequence in s2. When they revealed her interest in derby, I was like, "she's SUCH a lesbian."

Probably the least satisfying arc to me was how quickly Eda and Lilith reconciled with their mother, but I'm 100% willing to admit that's probably bc I'm projecting my own Issues onto the situation.

My best friend couldn't help but express sympathy for Hunter and Darius the whole time, which led to a few arguments during our watch 😂 they kept saying, "he's a GOOD BOY!" about Hunter, and making excuses for Darius, and I was like, "yeah but he (Darius) could've not been a dick about it, though." But I did agree that Hunter was doing pretty well considering how abused and conditioned he was. We compared him to Lilith, who ended up in a much worse place, after being raised in a much better environment.

Obviously the Belos/Philip/Hunter/Caleb stuff is super compelling!!! My heart was breaking when Hunter ran into the woods at the end of Hollow Mind, both because of his emotional distress and because, "oh my god, he needs to get out of the open, where is he going, he is going to get himself killed." I don't remember when I first suspected Belos' true identity, but I was pretty sure by the middle of the time travel episode. The foreshadowing and reveal were masterfully done, especially with Luz clinging to the hope that Philip could help her get home.

Gus is literally the most powerful illusionist there is??? Also he's like a tiny bit unhinged, but what can you do. 🤷🏻‍♀️ My friend pointed out that all the copies he makes of himself seem to have some degree of sentience, and express fear, specifically fear of death/not existing, and thus, fear of Gus himself. Which is likely not something he's specifically doing on purpose? So that's interesting. But also he's Baby!!! Someone give him a hug!!!!! He just wants to do a good job and be accepted and appreciated!

KING!!! 🥺💕 His arc in s2 was also heartbreaking, oh my god. The episode where we saw his castle was probably the closest I got to crying during the whole show. He is also Baby.

I don't have a lot to say about Eda? Not in a bad way, though, I think I just don't relate to her much. I did really appreciate her curse as rep for people who are chronically ill and/or have to take maintenance meds just to exist every day. I'm not sure I've ever seen that treated so naturally onscreen before. wrt meds specifically, it's usually either a joke to show the character is "weak", or a Big Fucking Deal that is portrayed somewhat tragically. Obvs the curse is tragic, but Eda using the resources at her disposal to manage it isn't.

Similarly, I don't have much to say about Amity. You would think I'd relate to her more, with us both having emotionally abusive mothers, but I think her being a rich mean girl overrides that 😅 No hate, though!! I like that she's gay and a huge nerd, and that she puts up a front of being together but she's still very much Just A Kid.

Luz just being Latina and occasionally even speaking Spanish is so 🥰💕🥰💕🥰 Also no one mispronounces her name the whole show?! So nice. I am curious what her ethnicity is. I assume the creators have one in mind, but if it's hinted at in the show, I didn't notice. Though I get the feeling she isn't Mexican-American. (that's what I am) (One small downside is that I've always liked the name Luz, but I fear it will now forever be a "fandom name" in my brain 😅)

I've seen fan speculation about Hunter's clothing hiding a lot of scars, specifically his gloves. Which makes sense, but I had the thought that he could have some homunculus- or even automaton-looking shit going on under there, before I remembered that's something he probably would've noticed about his own body. Could still make for a cool AU, though!

I LOVE Kikimora! She's chaotic and kind of dumb and ADORABLE, what else can we ask of anyone?

I'm probably forgetting a lot of things. I kind of already want to rewatch it! But my attention span for this post is waning, so I'll wrap things up.

Despite the circumstances, I am very happy the kids all ended up in the human realm together!! I'm excited to see the witchlings be out of their element in our world, as that is my exact favorite flavor of hijinks! Also I'm so glad they're together and we get to see them be friends; it's refreshing what a loving and drama-free squad they are. Y'know, once they decide they're not mortal enemies, lol 😅