#belos doesnt get to take that from him

[weirdly-enough]

anyway I think willow used to call hunter caleb sometimes the same way he calls her captain. she stops after halloween.

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

Oh god now that toh ends with luz being able to travel between worlds ppl are using that to dunk on amphibia. And now that belos died ppl are using that to dunk on su.

They are different shows people! They have different themes! Amphibia is a classic take on isekai as escapism! Marcy went to amphibia to avoid her real life and while she had fun she didnt mature until after she accepted she needed to embrace change in her life! Anne matured in amphibia bc she always recognized that she has her own life to get back to! Sasha matured after realizing that too! Leaving amphibia for good means to embrace the step out of childhood! Something thats inevitable for everyone!

The owl house is about finding a community in midst of ostracization! Luz stayed in the boiling isles because she found people who accepted her quirks! The boiling isles was in danger from a bigot and luz helps her new community defeat him! Its a very queer story! Community is the center of the story so it makes sense for luz to be able to go back to the boiling isles since shes maintaining her place in the community!

Steven universe is about choosing to be kind! Its that everyone has their own specific traumas that they can overcome with the right support! Its about surviving in a world of bigots at any cost, even if it you have to work with the bigots to carve out a space for the people you love! Because people like you exist and theres nothing anyone in power can do about it! Its also a very queer story! The diamonds can never stamp out the off colors because they will always be there! Steven works with the diamonds not because he likes them but because they can improve the world for his family if only he could get through to them! Hes rewarded for choosing to be kind with success because the theme of the show is hope! Hope that anyone can change! But even though the diamonds stop being fascist steven still doesnt like them because its not about forgiveness! Its about fixing things! Stevens just polite about it!

The owl house starts off with the assumption that everyone can change but its not about the potential its about the willingness to change! The focus is on belos, whos had every chance to turn his life around but will never admit that hes wrong! And the show posits that if someone isnt willing to change theyre not worth helping! Its not about whether or not the character is fascist its about if theyre willing to stop being fascist! Several characters stop being fascist and are welcomed by the characters with open arms belos just wasnt one of them! Several characters clean up their acts but dont adequately address the previous harm they did and are STILL fully forgiven eventually! For toh forgiveness is paired with fixing things you just need to give it time!

And theres an argument that some of these shows didnt do their themes well. If you wanted to portray amphibia as an escapism world that the girls need to leave behind to get to their richer futures then having them get such caring found families go against that by giving them a potential of a good life in the isekai world. Steven universe uses the diamonds as metaphors for mental illness and relationships but its hard to stick with that when you also need to consider the countless other gems they hurt. I think its also fair if people prefer one theme over another.

But a lot of stuff i see comparing these shows just go over surface similarities? Like oh shit! These two shows have the same character archetypes! They have the same inciting incident! This must mean that theyre exactly the same in everything but names and artstyle and are trying to say the exact same things! Like. No. Sometimes,,,,,two stories,,,,,,can talk about two different things,,,,,,,

[kraviolis]

i told y’all. i told y’all i was gonna go crazy over this post made by @gummy-goat-galaxy​

full disclosure i drew literally all of this before looking into the details of the AU so this is 70% my interpretation of his original post but i need to explain my thought process so. here’s the post explaining the details of the actual AU!!! and below is what my brain made up on the spot

ok so belos finds tiny child luz and is like “fuck everyone. this is mine now” and treats her like a goddamn princess. to him, she is a Gift From God to remind him to stay on his Righteous Path. an innocent little girl who is just so bubbly and always tries to see the good in everything, including him. she is a reminder of how Pure and Good humanity is, and seeing as though she’s the literal only human he’s had any contact with besides caleb in 400 fucking years, he is never letting the demon realm corrupt her like it did to him.

she’s basically his Lamb and he the Shepherd, and because he’s so desperate to keep her “““pure”““ he strictly keeps her within the castle and even then not all of the castle is available to her. he keeps her contact with witches to an absolute bare minimum.

he entrusts her protection specifically to hunter, despite the fact he’s only 2 years older. his reasoning is “caleb did a pretty good job raising me so this’ll be fine probably.” when belos himself cannot keep an eye on her, it’s hunter’s job. luz and hunter end up being raised in a sorta similar situation to catra & adora from she-ra but they are actually siblings and not just best friends.

(if u havent seen she-ra, basically its their abusive caretaker creating a golden child + scapegoat dynamic, where one kid can do absolutely no wrong (which doesnt mean they cant still be abused/manipulated!!) while the other kid is blamed for literally everything that goes wrong. the caretaker also regularly pits them against each other to encourage competition & keep the all power in the caretaker’s hands.)

similar to catra & adora, the whole competition thing doesnt really work. luz is just too damn kind and too damn good for hunter to ever resent her, and she’s all he really has. because hunter is the scapegoat, he grows wise to belos’s manipulations WAY sooner. it’s easier to figure out when you’re being mistreated when you literally watch ur guardian treating ur sibling so much better than how they treat u.

unfortunately, because luz cannot help but see the good in absolutely everyone and can be empathetic to a fault, she doesnt realize belos’s game until she ends up sneaking out of the castle. she actually really loves belos and is thankful for him taking her in for a long time. she calls him uncle like hunter, despite belos nudging her towards seeing him as a father bcus he sees her as a pseudo-daughter. (but luz remembers her dad, and has no desire to replace him with someone else no matter how much she cares for belos)

belos does love & adore luz, he would do almost anything to keep her happy and “innocent” and “pure”, but not to the extent that he could still end up redeemed. he still manipulates & subtly emotionally abuses her to keep her in line, but it’s only when she sneaks out and meets eda the owl lady does she start getting clued into this. and once luz learns what belos has done to hunter it’s all fucking over.

hunter loves luz. she is his sister and always will be. but while he’s stuck to belos because of his duties as golden guard, she sees how green the grass is on the other side and doesn’t even hesitate to hop over there. watching her slowly grow more and more distant while she keeps sneaking out to visit with her new friends (eda, king, willow, gus, amity, etc.) is one of the most painful things hunter has had to deal with.

he feels betrayed at first, as if luz is replacing him with other people who arent broken like he is, and when luz actually leaves for good- belos lies to the public and says she was kidnapped- hunter is the one who leads the hunt to find her and bring her back home safely. when they confront each other, luz tries to do her whole dramatic speech about how wrong belos is and how he’s been lying their whole lives, but hunter already knows. the only reason he stayed was for luz, but she couldnt even stay from him? it fuckin hurts man.

they end up on opposite sides for a minute. hunter gains no satisfaction from trying to ruin this new life she’s found for herself but goddamnit, he has a job to do. he cant just defect. and then he defects after watching belos try to kill luz because she’s let herself become corrupted by the witches.

thats about all my brain got for this so far. TL;DR basically just listen to the “first time in forever” and “mother knows best reprise” and “broken crown” by mumford & sons and thats pretty much the gist of it.

[idoodlestuffsometimes]

I initially wanted my take to be accompanied by a funny haha drawing, but I am too busy rn and the brainrot is too strong.

For a long time I tried to understand WHAT makes your version of Belos far scarier than he is in the show. It was so weird but it added to the angsty atmosphere perfectly, making the situation seem more hopeless.

But! Now I have a theory. (Little disclamer: I describe the reasoning through purely subjective lenses and how I came to understand the character from the original show.)

Your Belos is far scarier because he hadn't lost anything. Caleb is right there! Alive and "well". There is no buttons to push to trigger any emotional human response. Your Belos has no tragedy that would be painful enough to make him in any way irrational.

Even the grimwalkers are created with cold calculated reason in mind. They are not the irrational impulse to get his dead brother back. Philip just can't have any possible attachement to the blond boys. He doesn't see them as the extension of Caleb and therefore cant care less if they betray him or not. Pure manipulation of the tool.

Philip wasn't alone for 4 hundred years. He had the "fellow human" by his side the whole time. And that human is also the reason for the whole ordeal. So your Philip would care less about other humans, because he doesnt have this longing for the connection. Cross him? Bam! No mercy, even if you are human.

The same goes with his relation to the human realm. Your Belos wouldnt give a shit that the world has changed. Caleb is with him and that would is enough. Again, no buttons to push!

My mind is a mess, but I hope my points are understantable.

You think my boy is scarier than canon?

[IMAGE ID: Belos looking smug, saying, "You flatter me..." /End ID]

Ah! Meta discussion in my inbox! I LOVE getting to see how people react to the stuff I make and why. It's half the fun, honestly :) Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.

For my own part, I would say the tragedy that makes him irrational is his prejudiced upbringing and his stubborn adherance to it no matter what. He was taught to never question or reconsider. The beliefs he absorbed are always, always right, and those who disagree are always wrong or misled or evil.

Even when it's a fellow human. Even when it's Caleb.

What compels me about writing my version of Belos is that he's a version of the character who wants to have his cake and eat it too. Caleb is alive. Caleb is "bewitched." In his beliefs, it would be kinder to kill him. To save his soul. To return him to God.

He doesn't. Perhaps he's more hopeful than he is in canon. Perhaps he's more selfish. Perhaps he just got lucky in a fight that was never intended to end in Caleb's death.

Either way, this is a version of Belos who refuses to take the quick and "merciful" way out. He wants to adhere to his beliefs and keep his brother at the same time, even when it means that Caleb must suffer.

[spookberry]

Recently seen a couple takes comparing that last scene with Belos groveling towards Luz with Steven Universe, particularly when he sings Change to Spinel. And I know its all in jest, but the comparisons always feel to me like they're missing the point. Because Belos does not "think he is Steven Universe" in that moment. He is using the fact that Luz is a good person who cares about people and is willing to give 2nd chances and trying to Manipulate her. He is lying through his teeth doing absolutely anything he can to not lose this already lost fight.

Which is just like not what happened in Change. For one thing Steven isn't really losing in that fight, its just the climax of the movie and his fighting style has always been about defense.

Also important is thar Spinel says "you cant change how i feel" because like thats the point of the song. That's whats being sung about, bettering yourself and healing from past traumas, its not really about trying to right wrongs against the world or anything. Getting Spinel to stop saves the world yeah but Steven is always out to help people and offer second chances while still protecting the people he cares about.(plus Spinel and Belos arent really comparible, maybe the diamond authority tho). Also its a song that doesnt work, like she literally ignores him lol which is comparible i guess.

But imo if you're going to compare the two you could compare how the shows both teach valuable lessons about forgiveness and compassion, I feel like that offers a more lucrative and less surface level line of thought. The Owl House's message is a very good companion piece to Steven Universe's tbh.

[aloii]

Haven Evermore: Scene concepts

A few concept scenes in Havens story, ill explain them down below

Slide 1) First meeting with the Emperor —

Thats kinda basically it. I would like to think that Belos probably took an interest to Havens “condition “ regarding his magic,as it is kind of similar to his in a way. And well since witches magic are biologically a part of them, Havens condition affects the color of his blood, which The emperor, upon their first meeting , finds curious.

Slide 2) Hostage —

Haven gets taken hostage by the owl lady , king and Luz ( Edas idea) upon trying to sneak in one of the emperors facilities. Haven ends up breaking down , ranting about his job and how the other scouts dont really like him. You get the idea .

Slide 3 + 4) Eclipse Lake confrontation —

Haven helps Hunter sneak out to Eclipse lake, letting him borrow one of his uniforms. Haven is there basically to protect Hunter because the Emperor would have his head off if he ever knew he helped him out. Hes there during the eclipse lake fight but mostly he fights against king, and then threatens Amity not to touch Hunter. This is TECHNICALLY Amitys and Havens first meeting but not really official i suppose. ( Fun fact the “ my prince “ was a slip of the tongue from Havens part, Later on Hunter asks him about it and Haven doesnt know how to respond )

Slide 5) Halloween night —

Belos ( possesing Hunger) blames that one of the reasons that Hunter was “ led astray “ was because of Haven. Kind of a small parallel to how Caleb was led “ astray” by Evelyn in philips eyes. So he sees this situation the same as if its history repeating itself, and ofc doesnt take it lightly. ( another fun fact, this is how Haven gets that nasty scar on the left side of his face ). Afterwards Hunter feels so bad that Belos did this to Haven but he assures Hunted that it wasn’t his fault.

[oryoucouldhavemine]

TOH Headcanon Dump Post

(Mostly the De-lights because i write them the most lmao)

Hunter:

Autistic

surprisingly tall but like in a lanky "towers over everyone" way except he has terrible posture

gets overwhelmed with sound, light, people, basically everything if it was unexpected he's probably overwhelmed

Darius is his dad but Raine and Eberwolf are like, honorary parents at this time. Eda and Camila are more like the really close aunts he always visits to me, idk i dont see Eda being a parental figure that works for him (Luz however that is her daughter fr fr)

has lots of scars from Belos trying to "teach him a lesson" about bravery and such and Hunter doesnt think anything about it until hes like changing and Darius does a drama queen dramamgic gasp, hand over chest while leaning against a wall for support

HATES tight clothing, its too restricting he enjoys oversized and loose clothes. in the human world, luz introduces him to skirts and hunter is like "WHY WOULD ANYONE NOT WEAR A SKIRT THEYRE AMAZING"

he also likes purses he thinks theyve gotta be magical or something

touch-starved but has loving friends and family who are here to help him through it

discovers fire trucks and engines in the human world and despises the boiling isles for NOT HAVING THEN WHY DONT THEY HAVE THEM THEYRE SO COOL????

Luz

ADHD + genderqueer (p sure both are canon)

SHE WOULD LOVE NEO/XENO PRONOUNS theyd have sm fun with chosing ones

Loves to dress masc and fem and soemtimes combine them in asburd ways but she always surprisingly makes the outfit work

wants a guinea pig farm. no, NEEDS a guinea pig farm. She wants to name them all after her favourite book characters and sew them tiny outfits to match she would KILL a man for a guinea pig farm

considera hunter her older brother and looks up to him a lot

LOVES her gf would also kill a man for her she is the light of her life. luz tries to do grand romantic cheesy gestures like writing amity poems or getting her a massive bouquet of flowers but something ALWAYS goes wrong (amity loves all the gestures regardless)

luz's favourite colour is purple (because of amity ofc)

she HAS to sleep either sprawled out taking up every inch of the bed possible or curled up and swadled like a little baby there is no inbetween

very tactile if luz isnt hugging someone there might me something wrong

im cutting this short i could make fifty posts about luz hcs alone

Amity

autistic + sapphic

npw that shes free from her mom, she LOVES to be imperfect, she gets happy whenever she fails a test or a spell because shes ALOWED to be imperfect now

she and hunter did NOT get along at first like even post-s3 they didnt mesh well but they both care for Luz they had to get over it (and now theyre practically ever apart)

admired lillith even more now, she thinks lillith is like, THE COOLEST person in the world but feels akward telling her

has poor circulation so she gets cold really easily

whenever shes stressed or worried, shell pull at two strands of her hair next to her face and like twirl or pull on them to ground herself

Gus

unlabelled he/they

brags about having gone to the human realm to anyone who will listen

considers himself an expert on human things despite barely actually knowing anything human

loves playing pranks but is literally terrible at them but everyone humors him and acts surprised (he knows theyre acting)

once took a human SAT just to see if he could and got a higher score than Camila got on hers and she calls him Boy Genius for it

like in Flyer Derby, hes really good at a lot of sports but he plays untraditionally. hes always underestimated by the other team but then ends up scoring all the winning points

hes a silly little guy love him

Willow

her comfort person is hunter, she feels strong all the time but it weighs on her and hunter makes her feel strong even at her weakest moments

she likes to knot and crochet! she picked it up in the human world and she finds it so calming and fun except it took her a bit before she actually got the hang of it (she made like five sweaters that had three arms but in her defense!!! she knows a lot of creatures and beings with three arms!!!)

works out! not necessarily to get strong but because working out makes her feel accomplished

amity has been trying out new hairstyles and Willow loves being Amity's pracitce head. You can barely ever find willow without some sort of fancy braid or bun hairstyle nowadays

she wants a horse. shes not actually sure what a horse IS but she wants one

super sweet to every new person she meets until they mess with her friends then she is the scariest person alive

Darius

OCD + gay

he discovers what drag queens are and becomes obsessed

"a place for everything and everything in its place" hehas harsh rules about what does where and gets easily upset if his system is ruined

he DESPISES "if you hate messes so much whyd you pick the messiest magic to learn" comments because how DARE you insinuate that abomination matter (PART OF WHAT HE IS!) is ANYTHING like mud its actually very disrespectful of you to think so he says

he and alador had a falling out in their later years of school and to cover up the hurt, darius will argue and tease him but deep down he really just misses him

at the start of him trying to care for hunter, he refuses to admit that he is like a father to him. anytime eda or raine call him a dad, he'll go out of his way to try and prove hes NOT (cut to five months layer when hes legally adopted hunter and they meecilessly tesse him)

acts like eberwolf is the biggest inconvience hes ever met but would kill anyone who tries to harm them (and hed rather die than tell them that)

does things in threes, he doesnt even notice he does it at this point but he'll like rub his hands together three times, tie his hair up with three twists, eat three waffles for breakfast, and when smth isnt in threes it feels verry OFF to him

Alador

queer + autistic

very fixated on his work, he needs to be constantly creating and if he isnt creating then hes falling behind and if hes falling behind its the end of the world

doesnt know how to properly show affection, his parents had been pretty strict and neglectful so he doesnt know how to properly show his kids that he loves and cares for them

NOT a tactile person at all. don't touch him and DEFINTELY dont touch him without permission. he has very few people who are exceptions (his kids and Darius) and even then there are limits

hates the feeling of showering so hes a bigger bath person despite darius telling him thats not an effective way to get clean

he has like eighty pairs of the exact same outfit because its the only texture he can stand

darius and his falling out was due to his parents telling him darius was dragging him down and he itched him in an attempt to make his parents proud. he deeply regrets his choice everyday (they fix their shit eventually)

he DOES have a favourite kid but he refuses to tell them such

Edric

bisexual + autistic + transmasc

this man gets NO BITCHES none zero trying to find a partner is borderline IMPOSSIBLE for some unknown reason

he runs on a schedule and if something breaks the schedule no matter how small it can ruin his whole day

vrry open with his emotions. he will tell you right away if youre bothering him or did something to upset him

WHY THE HELL IS SCHOOL SO HARD he despises english because why are all answers right and wrong he loves math because there is only one right answer but its still a tricky subject for him

dinosaurs

his biggest fear is dying alone he hates being alone its the worst thing ever

WHY IS MAGIC TRICKY AS WELL WHY IS EVERYTHING SO HARD? hes getting better though and hes really good at beastkeeping

clingy emotionally and physically he needs the constant reassurance that people are there and care for him and hes close to his sister and tends to stick to her like glue

Emira

bisexual + AuDHD + transfem

when she and edric were younger and realised they were both trans they just switched names and clothes and it took ten years for their parents to notice the switch

RSD [Rejection Senstive Dysphoria] she hates that she has it because someone can say smth as simple as "sorry i cant make it my grandma died" and she'll start thinking of a million different reasons why that person actually just hates her (shes communicated this with her siblings though and they do their best to commincate clearly back with her that no they dont hate her at all)

SO MANY BITCHES people fall at her feet they swoon when she walks by but NONE of them are her type its terrible!!!!

loves her little sister but doesnt know how to show her love through any other way outside merciless teasing

she loves her brother, she does, she just wants to be her own person outside him, to be able to turn around and not see him two feet behind her

loves english and the fact you can make any wrong answer right with enough arguing and debate. math is her least favourite subject WHY THE HELL IS IT SO HARD

has years of detention stacked up but has not attended a single day (she got suspended for a week because of it and was just like YAYYY FREE VACATION!)

will sometimes just sit in her dads workshop while he works and watch in silence because she likes hanging out with people but knows alador cant focus with sound. its both of their favourite times

Raine

lesbian + nonbinary

post-s3 runs a music therapy group where they teach people how to play instruments or how listening to music can greatly help their mental health

has been in love with eda since their breakup, they never stopped loving her and would watch from the sidelines with terror as wanted signs got hung up around the BI for years

doesnt mind dressing fem or masc but prefers the more androgynous outfits

has watched hunter from the sidelines and tried to protect them from a distance but could only do so much. post-HM raine goes out of their way to make sure hunter is safe

sees luz as a sort of step daughter and then promptly panics over that realisation for a whole day

gets flustered really easily like why is everything so embarrassing what the hell

very agile, can do backflips and stuff

Eberwolf

Unlabelled + he/they

COULD JOT STAND DARIUS AT FIRST darius and eber did NOT get along in their early years of being covenheads but then eventually learned they were both rebels and got closer now theyre kind of like begruding brothers

could kill a man in their sleep and has

loves being dirty, mud is so much fun why doesnt everyone roll around in the mud more?

has also watched hunter from afar for years, hunter used to be sent out on overnight missions into the woods and stuff and eber would follow along and protect hunter so he could focus on his mission and not random forest creatures trying to kill him

Most of these are based on my dadrius series and stuff so if you enjoyed these hcs uou should go read my fics (KaztielCS118 on ao3!!! used to be Im_Basically_Shakespeare but i changed it recently)

[crimeronan]

im.. thinking so so hard abt the posibility of belos deciding to take Little Hunter away anyway. just scooping him up, to not be seen again. still thinking luz will get over it.. but luz doesnt. luz weeps and sobs and yells and cries for months on end and then..

belos brings her hunter. and he explains, so so softly, that he ran away and hit his head and belos felt so soo bad he couldnt tell her but now hes back and hes lost his memories so hes gonna be a bit different, ok? but hes still hunter, he promises.

and i wonder how awful luz would feel when she realizes that hunter never came home.

OH NO.

god. the thing is... i'm SURE luz would love the new grimwalker just as much as she loves hunter in the main timeline. and i'm sure they would have a good relationship, even if his personality and values would obviously be different from main timeline hunter's since he's.... a different person, and all that.

and luz would have had well over a decade to love him by the time she found out grimwalkers were real.

so i think her response wouldn't even be for the first hunter... as much as just.

he can never find out.

i can never let him know he's a replacement.

[theprinceandthewitch]

Okay but, even though I dislike TTT for making the characters sit on their asses for months for no reason [like seriously, Im not sure why they're wasting time building a door without titan blood. Luz and Hunter both know a door will not work without titan blood.] It's the most entertaining episode of the season for me. When I first watched this episode I wasn't bored like i was with the other two episodes.

It's not just because of the Lunter bonding and Lunter hints - it's that they wrote the episode in such a way where it looks like Hunter is homewrecking Luz's and Amity's relationship. If you were to insert yourself into Amity's POV it looks like Hunter has a thing for Luz. And that is soooo funny to me.

like seriously,

Luz and Amity have been clinging to each other since they came to the human realm. The only time she isnt with Luz is when Luz is at school and this specific day TTT takes place on. This is one of the rare moments Amity isn't with Luz and she's going to be busy for many hours trying to figure out the mystery behind the rebus.

Amity inspires the others to venture into the human realm with her so they can figure out the mystery behind the rebus. Everyone is ready to go into town but Hunter needs to change his outfit because Amity thinks its cringe. So Hunter is like, okay, ill change and catch the next bus into town.

And then he never shows up

So it's like, hmmm, I wonder where Hunter could be on a day Amity isn't clinging to Luz and is going to be in town for many hours...

AND THEN - the next time anyone else sees him, he comes through the door with Luz lying about where they've been and what they've been doing. It's an obvious lie but no one questions it.

At the faire Amity tells everyone - including Hunter - that she wants to surprise Luz with the rebus after the carriage ride. However, after the "Wittebane Backstory" carriage ride is over Hunter and Luz completely disappear. Amity literally takes her eyes off of them for a moment and they vanish.

Then Gus says THIS as a response to Amity's worry: "Calm down. They probably just went to buy some more cars."

His dialogue here never fails to make me laugh because it sounds like Gus is covering for his bro 😭 and it's even funnier when you realize Gus just retold Hunters lie lksjdsldf

Anyways, right after Gus tells her to calm down, Amity notices the rebus is missing... She knows Luz wouldnt take it because she literally does not know it exists. HUNTER knows about the rebus though - AND he knows Amity wanted to surprise Luz with it. So its like... Why would he take it when he knows she wanted to surprise her girlfriend with it? He must have put two and two together during the carriage ride and knew the rebus was actually going to lead to titan blood [they were unsure if it was going to lead to titan blood initially].

But... that doesn't explain why he would take it... everyone was going to go get the titan blood together right after the ride. Perhaps... Hunter wanted to impress Luz by taking all the credit for uncovering the mystery behind the rebus even though he never showed up when they were looking for information about the rebus in town... That's so strange... why would he do that?

...You dont think he has a thing for Luz do you?

Let me remind you that no one else besides Luz and Hunter think Belos is still alive. Hunter didnt want anyone else to know because he doesnt want to scare them. So Hunter and Luz just VANISHING into thin air is very sus. And then the missing rebus makes their sudden disappearance even more sus because Hunter knows Amity wanted to surprise Luz with it. Also, nobody knows why Hunter stole the rebus from Amity - they NEVER get the answer to this mystery. Hunter - nor Luz - never tell them why he stole it. He never tells them he stole it because he thought Belos was alive. So, it is perfectly logical for them to assume Luz and Hunter DIDNT know Belos was alive UNTIL he intercepted them at the graveyard. Edit: So they can assume Hunter took it so that he could impress Luz with the discovery of the titan blood.

It's so fucking funny to me. It makes it extra funny because they wrote such juicy drama UNINTENTIONALLY. This is the perfect storm for Amity to know about Hunter knowing Luzs secret before she did. It also the perfect set-up for confrontation between Hunter and Amity.

[kolapon-art]

the reason belos is such an excellent villain is because he's so awful and the fact he thinks his awfulness is justified makes it so much more interesting. because you get to peel open his psychology like a grape and try to figure out how the FUCK someone decides it's justified. making him a good person takes away so much of what I love about analyzing him, like genuinely people who turn him into a sweet innocent little baby man are missing out on a really interesting awful villain. cmon guys what show are you watching let the horrible awful man be horrible awful he's more interesting than way

Far more interesting for sure. Just because a villain isnt morally grey or sympathetic, that doesnt make them one dimensional. Belos' backstory was to give context as to why part of his actions are religiously motivated and why the other parts are motivated by obssession and selfish desires.

It isnt so we can concentrate on how tragic he is, its just the base from which we can begin to analyze his psychology. Cause be that as it may, even if part of his actions are motivated by his religious zelotry due to the cult he was in, a bigger part is cause he is a very selfish egoist and that is not purely connected to the religious side of things. After all, what else would explain his insistence on the witch hunter general title or the futile creation of his yes-man grimwalkers, there just to praise him as much as it they are there cause of his obsession with his brother.

So yeah, much more interesting when his backstory is just a foundation and not the main thing we are to discuss here.

[spinaroos-47]

Time to ramble about my thoughts about palismen and why they continued to be around even though Belos said that theyre wild magic

First of all, we dont know if that's something that he only said to Hunter to keep him away from palismen in general. So 1) he's completely dependant on him for magic 2) no risk of "Caleb" being lured by witchcraft again.

They dont seem to be super around recently but even with the hexsquad you can see that their palismen aren't around a lot of the time, so probably theyre hidden in the whatever place/plane/realm theyre stored in. So we dont know how common they actually are. But i feel like its a practice that has began to fall out of popularity. Do i have a reason for that feeling? No, that's more assumption territory.

Anyways, theyre a common-ish thing.

I think they haven't been banned/outlawed because of two reasons really, Belos needing his palisman supply and also because its something that has been happening for ages.

Belos needing palismen doesnt need much explanation. The man needs palismen to live. Wouldn't be smart to not have an easy way to get more of them.

The second reason is because theyre something that has been happening for a long while, its a very important aspect of witch culture (that it's full potential was lost probably because of 1) belos 2) magical ableism 3) lack of research about it, which goes into point 2 and i do want to make a post all about that later)

The Bat Queen says that she was made thousands of years ago, the Clawthornes have been a clan that specifies on palisman carving, its something old and so important that theres clans who are dedicated to carving them.

And when something is that old and culturally important, it would be hard to take them away entirely. It isnt impossible but something like a magical power boosting sentient pet might just be too much of a change. At least on the time escale of the empire. 50 years is almost nothing compared to thousands of years

Idk how to finish this but here's my thoughts fndnfnf

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

Im surprised so many ppl think that belos's vision of caleb in for the future is actually his ghost. Death is pretty final in toh and theres never been any talk of being able to speak to the dead via ghosts. Even the ghostly spirits used in oracle magic are glowy mindless monsters and dont look like someone who could have actually been alive at one point.

I personally think its much more meaningful if caleb and the other golden guards werent ghosts but just imagined by belos. Hes been trying to bring back caleb ever since he killed him and it kind of defeats the purpose if calebs ghost has actually been there the whole time. Each grimwalker he kills is a tragedy. A poor kid with his life ruined and then cut short bc belos couldnt heal hundreds of years ago. They were never able to find a better life for themselves and many died without knowing why belos killed them. For them to get closure with the previous golden guards and caleb after death takes away from the tragedy of it all.

And ofc theres something very emotional about belos imagining everything. Whether its because he feels guilty over what hes done to caleb and the guards, or if he just misses them sometimes, or whatever, that emotion is so strong that he can never stop seeing them. Whether caleb would have forgiven phillip after all that doesnt matter anymore. Phillip sure didnt know his brother well enough by the end to know. Same with the golden guards, but belos never cared to know their feelings in the first place. But belos thinks that they must be furious at him. Thats why caleb and the guards appear the way they do: gaunt and disheveled and silent because belos knows what he did without them saying anything.

Calebs story has been lost to time. Most of the golden guards have been forgotten too. In fact not many people ever differentiated between them in the first place. But belos? No matter how hard he tries, belos will NEVER let himself forget.

[polyhexian]

Eda refers to the Martlet as Marty. I feel like Jasper would find this endearing. Idk if they're friends (does Jasper even HAVE friends in this AU? sad) but they'd at least be running in the same circles. Casual acquaintances who appreciate each other's work. They exchange idle chit-chat in the night market.

If anyone figures out who the Martlet is before Jasper makes his identity known, it's Luz. She's smart, she's genre-savvy, she still low-key thinks she's in a fantasy story (lol), and she IMMEDIATELY clocks the Martlet as 1) Having a mysterious identity, 2) Having a mysterious BACKSTORY, 3) Being low-key sad, like, ALL the time despite his cheerful badass persona, clearly he is HIDING INNER PAIN, 4) HE'S GOT A SERIOUS SOFT SPOT FOR KIDS AND AN APPARENTLY-PERSONAL HATRED FOR BELOS, THIS IS NOT ADDING UP TO ANYTHING NICE, 5) It is entirely possible she gets a glimpse of his Emperor's Coven sigil at some point.

It's not a priority for her to figure the guy out, and it'd take a while for her to collect all the pieces to the puzzle. But after meeting Hunter she pesters Lilith for information about the Golden Guard, which leads to talk of the old one, so she knows Jasper existed. She knows Hunter is an orphan being raised by an Evil Emperor, which is just…welp, there are stories that go like that and they ALWAYS involve parental drama. She sees the Martlet and Hunter fight and notes that Marty's not as antagonistic as he could be.

…Bahaha, I have no idea how to make the timeline on THIS concept make sense, cuz she doesn't know Belos = Philip until Hollow Mind and who knows how that episode would even go down in this AU, BUT imagine her cornering Jasper like "ARE YOU CALEB WITTEBANE???" and Jasper just. fucking losing it. XD

(Does Jasper know Belos's name is Philip? Does he know the surname Wittebane? Does he even know he's human? Or does he put two and two together when he catches Luz watching an echomouse journal entry? Does he get just as interested in the journal as she is, but his interest is more morbid curiosity?)

Once Luz figures things out, or once things come out, she is just, like. Unholy screeching. OH MY GOD IT'S LIKE A REVERSE DARTH VADER SITUATION.

"Human," Hunter says, infinitely tired, "WHAT are you talking about?"

"Huh, yeah, it kinda is," Eda muses.

Jasper says that bullshit "people like me don't survive stories like this" line exactly one time around Luz and she is NOT having it. NUH-UH. NO SIR. You are NOT allowed to become a sacrificial father figure immediately after being reunited with your son! Her insistence on this is only PARTIALLY due to her own paternal loss trauma, it is also very much fueled by her love of storytelling! She drags out a whiteboard and does an impromptu presentation on TROPES and CHARACTER ARCS! She gasps as she realizes - it's not HUNTER'S redemption arc that's the big one here, it's JASPER'S. He's been riding a redemption arc for 16 years! You don't just kill off a character after that kind of development! Everyone knows Redemption Equals Death happens, like, IMMEDIATELY after the Heel-Face Turn, we are WAY past that threshold! Jasper is kinda overwhelmed but appreciates her optimism.

YEASSSSS

He doesnt have FRIENDS.... but he knows people. Like he works with the CATTs fairly often. He probably shows up to meetings and stuff and hangs around. People KNOW him. He probably does know eda, they're very similar and both hate Belos. He's cagey and he's not going to reveal much but I imagine there's been a time or two he's gotten seriously injured and it's her doorstep he shows up on. He might work with the CATTs but he doesn't trust them. He feels in his bones a trust for eda. She won't turn him in, she won't pull his mask off or tear his identity from him. She'll annoy him sure. But she won't MAKE him do anything. So once in a blue moon he shows up bloody and miserable on her doorstep to ask for help. He stays the night and he's gone by morning. He probably leaves something as a thank you. Maybe some stolen snails. Maybe a stolen owl beast potion. Potion ingredients. Whatever he has.

Luz ABSOLUTELY clocks his shit IMMEDIATELY. The only thing is she doesn't know about Grimwalkers. She's missing info on the golden guards. But it's obvious he's Hunter's dad and it's obvious Hunter doesn't know that. So she thinks like... maybe he escaped Belos but left Hunter behind... but like he is still his like biological dad. She thinks he left Hunter behind and is filled with guilt.

It's not until he is unconscious on Camila's couch and she knows what Grimwalkers are that she's like... putting the pieces together

AND ABSOLUTELY SHES ON THE "NO MOTHRRFUCKER YOU DONT GET TK DIE TRAGICALLY NOW"

[drabbles-of-writing]

how would your aus be like now that we know more stuff about the show?

oh god there would be sooooooo incredibly many changes. some I'm gonna leave alone unless directly asked but for some main ones atm--

Four Years: oh dear god so many changes. both just from learning more and also from the fact of being an au I came up with when I was 14 and I would never recommend anyone ever be the age of 14, my sincerest apologies to one luz noceda. I could make a whole other post about this but just to keep it simple lets sayyyyyy...first of all, Amity doesn't go into the Emperor's Coven. I personally still like the idea, but it doesnt really fit. theres helping her mom show off to customers, and then theres being forced into a Coven that wants to murder her crush and her crush's adoptive mom. Amity gives me the impressive of someone who would just start biting. Escaping Expulsion was Amity's "standing up to her mom" episode and I love that sm for her, I'm thinking maybe it could be redone in this au to also involve refusing to even consider the Coven? Dunno, but I know Amity doesn't join it, and neither do the twins.

Keene doesn't exist anymore, obviously. we're back on the Hunter show babey and his redemption arc (like most arcs here) take a much longer time to get on with. most remains the same, but he has a lot more interaction with Luz & the gang prior to Eclipse Lake. that episode becomes more of a "we were making so much progress but then the Panic Button hit in and everything collapsed in on itself" and then some tension between the gang of Hunter feeling shitty and not talking, the guys trying to figure out whats with him, and then Hollow Mind comes in an fucks up everything, as per usual

No more angsty fics about Camila missing her daughter because Vee's here now! yaaaaay. but this does mean Camila went a longer time without ever realizing her daughter was someone else, although I imagine at some point she WOULD feel that something was just Off. obviously shes a regular human shes not gonna think a shapeshifter took the place of her daughter, but shes gonna know something is Off and Strange but she cant put her finger on it and Luz seems happy...most of Yesterday's Lie remains the same but since it's at least been two years, maybe three, since Luz has seen her mom, she looks MUCH different than how Vee changed her appearance, so it throws Camila off quite a bit

smaller things will also stay, such as Luz becoming the Owlet and everyone being their own kinda brand of rebel. I'd have to figure out how to slide in Raine, Darius, Eberwolf, etc, somewhere in here. I'll figure it out

Beta: this one stays the most unchanged I think? granted I was updating it slightly more with updates in the show than Four Years. Hunter is still local nephew of principal and Belos's plan still involves killing all witches but its just in the "saving humanity from these evils" instead of "saving humanity from these evils and then going home". still unsure how the grimwalkers would tie into this, if my guy was just continuously making kids or if hes not actually a puritan and just a nasty old guy, and all the other golden guards are Hunter's older brothers? and he was possibly kidnapped when he was a baby or something? that part im the least sure on

Emperor: well, first of all, the duo of Amity & Luz becomes the trio of Amity, Luz & Hunter. none of them get along. Amity is constantly exasperated by Luz and her dumbassery & Luz thinks shes uptight and a tryhard at times. Luz and Hunter are dumbass on dumbass hatecrimes because Luz also thinks hes uptight but also a massive brat who thinks hes better than everyone & Hunter thinks shes annoying as hell and beneath him on every level. Hunter and Amity just take one look at each other, smell the Gifted Child With Parental Issues Trying To Be Perfect In Every Single Way on each other, and immediately drop into offensive hissing cat positions.

Luz and Hunter are the ones who get along first, mostly cause Luz getting brought over to the Emperor's Coven kind of guaranteed she'd run into Hunter first and they'd end up sticking to each other and realize they're massive nerds. Luz and Amity get along next through the power of Luz being stubborn and wlw. Hunter and Amity are last and technically it only really happens because they may be petty and spiteful but they can and will set that aside for one goal: being even pettier and even more spiteful to anyone being mildly annoying to Luz

This AU in particular hasn't had a lot of updates to it so theres a lot of room to work with her. Luz technically becomes friends with Willow and Gus because shes undercover trying to get new recruits (shes terrible at it). this also means that Hunter is more easily converted to the side of Oh Belos Fucking Sucks because he already has adopted sister Luz telling him to Run and her mildly okay girlfriend yoinking him along. course this also means it fucks up Luz even more to see that Hunter is a grimwalker and, per paraphrased word of Belos, she was the favorite. if it came down to it, Belos would've happily let Hunter die, hell, would've even done it on purpose. by virtue of being human, and Hunter being a clone, she was, in fact, given special treatment, and if anything went slightly wrong then Hunter would've died. these kids are fucked up

[pespillo]

some more Acolyte! King stuff , ideas for the arc, scenes, whatever, stuff i came up while walking in the morning:

timeline wise in early S2 King would end up at The Owl House through shenanigans and is kept there for like a week, he hates it, he complains all the time, he doesnt run away because he doesnt trust anyone but Belos to get him (and he wholly believes Belos will be coming soon); very reluctantly theres a semblance to warming up to Luz and Eda, but before anything significant happens, Kikimora shows up to get him back to the castle, he is thrilled to finally being saved, but is really bitter about blowing up his cover as someone who Doesnt or cannot talk over the ocasional growl or bark.

On the way back King notices Kikimora is diverting to another direction on her dragon and asks what is she planning and where are they going, Kikimora reassures him that she doesnt plan anything but that they have to talk. While Kiki is obedient to the emperor´s coven, she was always loyal to the titan and had made an oath to serve King even over the Emperor´s word. She confesses that the Emperor never made a clear effort to search for him all this time until she offered herself to go.

King is obviously confused and trusts that Belos simply must have been making a grander plan that maybe she wasnt aware of, but Kikimora nonetheless tells him that theres something else, that Belos has been acting off for a while and that even with all that she knows (and she does hold information no one else knows, like the Day of Unity´s intent, that King is a titan, that Hunter is a grimwalker, knowing about the Collector) but she knows that its not Everything.

They both end up settling down in a far off forest and Kikimora shows that behind Belos back, she took something from his chambers that she has to give to King, but only if hes willing to take them, for she is risking her life for the titan ´s will.

King tells her that she must not hide anything from the son of the titan and that she is obliged to show him, and so she shows him she took King´s broken off halves of his horns, she doesnt know in what state King came when he first was taken in 10 yrs ago into the castle, so she wants to know from King, if he can remember anything from his youngest years, shes known the greater deal with the day of unity for a while, and she doesnt ask to be spared from it, but she hopes that King can recognize his greater place in the Isles and that maybe, theres even other nations willing to join in for a greater empire (it is in her interests after all, she wholly believes King could be a greater Emperor), but first and foremost, she wants King to know the truth.

King starts remembering upon touching the horns, freaking out at flashbacks of being taken as an egg, and then waking up in a strange place, full of people who smelled like titans, but they looked, off, but still took care of him as a baby, feeding him and leaving him to nest.

He remembers Belos mask, his eyes, staring at him intently, the glint of a golden mask beside him as well, voices, arguing, shaking hands by the end, the reflection of the moon, he remembers Belos wrapping his arms around his body and walking away into a boat;

Being sat down and given something that made him dizzy, the grinding of his horns being cut off, then warmth and arms squeezing him close to a body whenever he cried. From then on, thats just his life, to be taken care of, to be told of the divine mission his father left to Belos, the blood tests, the prodding and picking, and the promises of a better world once this one is left behind to die.

King is just left wondering; who were those people, why did Belos lie about being saved from being sacrificed as a baby? is there other people willing to honor the titans for real then? Is there hope for the Isles to not be a lost cause in his eyes if he tries searching for more answers?

Kiki tells him she can send an open letter to try finding who these people are, if she pulls some strings before the Day of Unity, she does this only for the dignity and honor of the Titan´s son.

[herobrinna]

ok so ive spammed my friend with toh thoughts a bit to much so time to ramble here i suppose. (sorry in advance thisll be very disjointed and go from one random point to another).

my main take away from the finale is that it felt a bit... hollow?

like dont get me wrong, the animation was so fucking good. getting more titan and collector lore was also so cool (and hellooo The Titan being such a genderqueer royal? absolutely love how natural toh rep is, like its just thrown out there and no one questions it, just how shit is, absolutely bangers- *gets shot*). and aaaa, the aged up re-designs of all the characters are so good, especially like the detail how all the hexsquad have a flapjack tattoo.

yet there are so many bits that just feel off? like they couldve been handle better (even with the cut runtime the show had).

first lets start with the Collector who just got done dirty, like their whole arc was about the fear of being alone again, yet at the end they decided to leave? just like that? like would it not make more sense for him to stay with Eda, to learn to control his powers better and make new friends. especially them leaving to "mature" or whatever doesnt really make sense, like how can they grow as a person if they dont interact with others, if they dont get exposed to different opinions and believes and all that.

and i dont really like Collie, but it still feels like he deserved better, especially after taking up so much runtime.

actually you know what wouldve made the show better? not introducing the Collector in the first place.

no but think about it, why waste so much runtime on a character that didnt even exist before the show was cut (and thus had very little foreshadowing and buildup to his introduction) and then to not even give them a sweeter ending?

if anything the show shouldve stuck with the Day of Unity being the true finale. like honestly if DoU happened over the 3 specials they actually had plenty of time to flesh out all the existing characters further, maybe there could have been even a little more time for more slice of life moments. but then the whole bit with Collie just feels likes taking away precious time, that his character could have only worked if the show wasnt cut, but if it wasnt cut he wouldnt have existed in the first place, so man idk.

and on the topic of the DoU, holy shit Belos got done dirty, im actually mildly mad at his demise.

like it just overall doesnt make sense thematically.

like, ok this is gonna be hard to phrase, and i would like to straight away say i dont think Belos should ever be redeemed, just gonna use other characters redemptions as example.

so toh throughout its enite runtime is really set on showing that everyone deserves a second chance for as long as they want and are willing to change. we see this with Lilith who was pretty much immediately redeemed at the beginning of s2, and whilst many people say it was rushed, or she didnt deserve it, i think otherwise. like throughout s1 she only tries to get Eda into the Emperor's coven out of the belief that Belos will cure her, cuz yknow, she feels really fucking guilty for cursing her sister, and even then she doesnt really force Eda that much into joining, like there are many moments of weakness were Lilith couldve dragged Eda to the emperor, but she didnt, she gave Eda many chances to join on her own. and again the only reason she even wanted Eda to be in the coven was to right her mistake of cursing her. so after going through that guilt for years of course shed be forgiven quickly, as she showed that she wants to change, be better and all that.

we see this with Hunter as well, though his redemption was more gradual, yet still his past wrongs arnt brought up, like how he patronised Eda and Luz during his first meeting, or attacked Amity in eclipse lake, cuz he was also doing shit out of the belief of helping people, and clearly wanted to change for the better, so why bring up his past wrongs when hes a better person now and all that.

why bring this up?

well with Belos toh brought up an interesting dilemma, what do you do with a person that doesnt want to change, thats stuck in a loop of his short sighted beliefs in a system thats ready to accept and help anyone that tries to change regardless of their past?

and the answer to that being to just kill him?

like how does that solve anything? he died thinking he was in the right, that witches are still spawns of satan or whatever tf. it just feels like it goes against what the show established.

now dont get me wrong, the scene of him trying to manipulate Luz for the millionth time and her just staring him down completely unfazed is amazing, it says more than any actual words could ever. what isnt is then Raine, Eda and King immediately stomping him afterwards, which again, just proofs Belos' point that witches are "evil" from his perspective. (how did he even die from that when even mf Collie wasnt able to kill him? and ne got hit by a car and that *still* didnt kill him either, it just feels like he shouldve survived that)

so imagine if instead of them stomping him down they decided to imprison him, that will of course also have the effect of saving him from the boiling rain. so now Belos has to live with the fact that it was witches that saved him, the same witches he'd never show that kind of mercy to, the same witches he would murder the second he got the chance, and what makes it worse is the fact that the human, the one he oh so creepily obsessed over didnt even do anything, wouldve left him suffer in the boiling rain if she had the choice.

and just generally, letting him actually *live* with the consequences of his actions would have been so much more fitting. like dying is easy, wayy too easy, an escape from consequences, but actually living with said consequences, well thats delightfully horrific.

and his death isnt the only way that they done him dirty, the Titan also basically just said that Belos is just evil and theres nothing more too it, when there literally is?? like hello what were all thos Hollow Mind paintings for if not to show that Belos aint just pure evil, how he is a victim of shitty circumstances, yet how despite that it doesnt excuse the extent to which he took shit to.

and the just forgot about that?

... oh right, they forgot the memory paintings even existed untill someone posted their own redraws of them, no wonder they fucked Belos' character up so much :/

man im getting tired from rambling this much lol

but overall its just toh has so many missed opportunities, i could go on and on about them, although not like my rambles make any sense probably, and many people have def explained similar point much better so im just gonna shit up now.

(and of course im gonna rewrite this for my oc x Belos au <3 )