#this ones for titan luz. everyone give it up for titan luz

[sunflowerinc]

[shadysadie]

I love that Raine got to be part of the final battle.

With as many people as Belos hurt, pretty much all the characters deserved to be there to help deliver the final blow (or final *stompstompstomp*) but short of doing a giant Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood style showdown in the middle of the castle (which would not suit this show like it did FMAB) there was just no way that everyone who deserved to see Belos destroyed was going to get that satisfaction. 

I really love that the one extra person that got to join the Owl Family for this was Raine. 

Because Raine has given absolutely everything to the revolution. Idle Scree has a fantastic video on the subject, but to sum it up, Raine went into the bard coven with the explicit goal of working their way up through the ranks and uncovering the truth behind Belos’ plans. It has taken them decades of espionage to get where they are. They cut themself off from all of their relationships, crossed moral boundaries, and even asked the woman they love to give up her life in order to take Belos down. 

So when Belos takes control of them they fight back.

While Hunter’s possession is a lot more brutal, simply because Belos specifically wanted to make Hunter suffer as much as possible, while mocking Luz and friends, Raine’s struggle is almost harder to watch.

They’re getting tossed around, their arms are getting dislocated at the very least, they’ve vomiting Belos goop, but they are still fighting with everything they have to regain control because they did not spend their life trying to take Belos down just to end up his play thing. 

Hunter had to crush his best friend with his own hand in order to break free of Belos, Raine is fighting with indignation and fury alone.

And they keep fighting.

Even without their weapon, as soon as they have enough control to get their fingers to their mouth, they cast Belos out. And after that, they could have given up. They were free. They must have been exhausted, but they are clever, probably the most clever person on the Boiling Isles, so they realize exactly what’s going to happen and they can not let that happen.

The way they fall up the stairs here shows just how hurt and tired they are. Think of what their timeline has looked like from their perspective: the Day of Unity happened, they nearly died from the draining spell, they fought through excruciating pain to save Eda as what they thought was their final act, then the eclipse ends and they are still alive, but suddenly these evil stars are attacking them, then they spend months “sequestered in a darkness like onto death” only to be awoken and have their most hated enemy take over their body. 

And through all that THEY KEEP GOING.

And again, this fight is brutal, they are basically suffocating in Belos’s flesh towards the end, and they still don’t give up.

They shatter their weapon in one last ditch effort to stop Belos, but it doesn’t work.

They lost. They were a second too late and now everything they fought for is for nothing. Belos made it to the heart. He can take control of the very Titan itself, and there is nothing Raine can do to stop him.

But even then, they don’t give up. They keep whistling, even if it’s weak, even if it doesn’t do much, they whistle to keep themself alive, because they are going to keep fighting until their very last breath.

So after all of that, the fact that they get to be one of the people who actively take Belos down…well, I think they say it best for themself…

[sepublic]

            Thinking about how Watching and Dreaming is a story about Choices, their relation to Change, and the Responsibility that comes with that.

         It’s about Luz choosing to be a hero, choosing herself, choosing happiness in a world where she’s made any friends; The Titan herself tells Luz that he can’t decide anything for her, it’s Luz’s decision to accept his power and return to the isles to stop Belos. It’s Luz’s choice to be a Good Witch.

         Choosing just one magic course? Luz has always been unique about choices in her own way, she can’t decide on just one thing if she can have them all; Hence why she studies all magic tracks. Why Luz maintains connections to the human and demon realms. Even her bisexuality could be seen as a meta refusal to settle for one; So it all culminates in her palisman String Bean, who represents Luz not so much being indecisive, but rather choosing it all. Choosing all of the choices, with an intent that really does make a difference to her nervousness from before.

         It’s the Collector’s choice to become better, to let go of their anger and loneliness. It’s about choosing to change, something Belos never does; What makes him ‘irredeemable’ is not all of the heinous crimes he’s committed, it’s the fact that no matter how many times he is offered the opportunity to change, even be forgiven, Belos chooses not to take it. He refuses to change.

         But the Collector does. And they’re rewarded when King chooses to give them Francois; And it was always about King’s choice, his decision that the Collector respected. It was never about having Francois, hence why they didn’t cuddle with Francois behind King’s back, rescued him from Belos’ grasp and returned him to where he belonged.

         By contrast, the Collector’s control defies the ability to choose, because they decide everything for everyone. But he can’t force people to be his friends, it’s up to them, especially on whether to forgive. The students at Hexside are understandably scared of the Collector, and in the end, the kid can’t choose for them to be his friends; That’s something they decide for themselves, even if it’s the choice he wouldn’t have liked.

         THAT was the Collector’s mistake with Belos; It was not compassion’s folly. It was that they assumed by giving Belos a chance to change, he would automatically choose to do so; In a sense, the Collector expected that choice to be made for Belos just by offering him the opportunity to take it. But it’s just a change, a possibility, there is no certainty. The Collector can’t make Belos change as a person, they can’t control him either; They can only hope, but never assume on his behalf.

         Belos also chose things for people; Made them decide on just one magic track, and/or servitude to him. Insisted to Luz she ‘choose better’ by settling for humanity, took away agency through direct possession of Raine and the Titan. Both of whom fight back and regain some semblance of change and control but for themselves. In his final moments, Belos pretends he was a victim like them; Absolves himself of responsibility by claiming he didn’t have a choice, that he was forced to by his nebulous ‘curse’, and deep down he must believe God’s Destiny also spares him accountability.

         But by placing himself at Luz’s mercy, it gives Luz the power to decide Belos’ fate; And she doesn’t choose ‘peace’ like Belos hopes, because like with the Collector, merely offering a choice does not make someone take it. Raine and the Titan still managed to fight back and decide things for themselves, as did Hunter, and so many under his coven. Caleb was under the same indoctrination growing up but changed anyway; Philip has nobody but to blame but himself, for being passive.

         People choose to get better, or don’t; There are covenscouts like Tom and his group, confronted by Steve who chose to change and improve. And when offered the compassion and opportunity to do the same, they accepted; They chose improvement. Meanwhile, Coven Heads like Terra, Adrian, and Vitimir choose to stay the same. They don’t want to change, and it’s up to people like Darius and Eberwolf to prevent any more harm from them.

         Alador chooses to change for his kids, because he misses them. He wants to be a dad they can look up to, and love. This is contrasted by Odalia, who bitterly stands off to the side; She could’ve chosen this moment to change, because it’s not like there were any other opportunities to pursue. But she doesn’t want to change.

         And that’s part of theme of Choice, it’s that you have to choose to change, proactively and make it happen, or accept that change has happened regardless of your participation. When you have the ability, you have the responsibility, both in what to choose and the consequences that come. Philip didn’t want to face the consequences of his actions, denied responsibility. But people like Luz and the Collector and so many took responsibility; They saw they were hurting others and/or themselves, stopped and fixed the damage, and grew up. There is a responsibility to always offer compassion, even if you accept that people might reject it anyway.

         Belos didn’t want to change, nor did he accept that times have changed; His brother is dead, there’s no bringing Caleb back. The human world has changed, he saw as such through Hunter’s eyes when the Gravesfield that indoctrinated him ultimately looked back on its witch hunting prejudice and decided that was wrong, admitted it changed.

         Things can’t last forever, the Collector is convinced by Luz to accept change, not just in letting go, but also in learning about and acknowledging death. Just as Luz accepted her father Manny’s death; Belos being a cancerous growth that envelops the Titan, who is a father figure to King and low key Luz herself, is a metaphor for whatever illness killed Manny. By helping the Collector, a child who doesn’t understand death, Luz basically helps her childhood self; And by stopping Belos, she comes to terms with Manny’s death, and conquers her grief to move on and find a new future and a new family.

         Because Luz and the Collector accept change, that means they don’t need to maintain an unnatural stasis; They’re able to wake up from their fantasy dreams by coming to terms with the loss of loved ones, for Luz her dad, for the Collector their previous Titan friends, and their fear of losing King. Belos, he clings to his dream of being a hero, and never wakes up, even insisting in his final words that it’s the witches who are evil, not actually him. Belos clung to the past of Gravesfield and his trauma, and was forced to face the now, the consequences that came afterwards with his sins, in the form of people actually alive and very angry.

         But even with Belos’ death, the isles changed because of him, alas; The left arm has permanently risen, the geography of that area is drastically different and people must adapt. The Titan has finally, truly died, after he moved on, no thanks to Belos; No more of HIS glyphs, but there are King’s. So things change, and Luz accepts that; Even before King’s glyphs develop, the fact that she changed enough to earn String Bean allows her to survive this period of no glyph magic to rely on just fine, and build and plan a future around that.

         There are still scars, like the literal ones of Luz, King, Eda, Hunter, and Raine; Or the emotional scars like the death of Flapjack, the trauma that everyone has suffered and is healing from. But because so many characters chose to change, and to accept change, they themselves became people so radically different, and so much happier for it. So when they all appear before Luz to thank her, to express gratitude for the compassion that enabled them to decide to change, and become new people for it…

         It’s all about Choices. It’s about Freedom. It’s about Change, how you must facilitate and/or accept it. Control is antithetical to this, at least in application to others; But when you can control yourself and exercise autonomy, that’s wonderful. People like Amity, Lilith, Bump, Alador, and so many others chose to change and become better people, to create change in themselves and the world around them. Eda and King took responsibility for their actions, Eda accepting her curse was no excuse to push aside Raine, King becoming responsible with the implications of his divinity by rejecting them to be humble.

         Luz changed people, and she never forced them to. She simply gave them the same choice that she chose for herself, and that’s beautiful. There is no Destiny that’s decided ahead of time for you, no God who decides your role in the world. There is no ‘Chosen One’, one for whom a decision has been made by someone else and thrust upon them, there is only One who Chooses. It’s all about deciding for yourself, and that’s part of the uncertainty but also freedom of growing up.

        Luz chose to enter a foreboding shack. She chose to go back for her father’s book, to remain a weirdo, for herself and for Manny. And she chose to stay in the isles rather than go back. She’s been making choices all this time, deciding her own fate and as Eda advised her, what kind of witch Luz wants to be; A Good Witch.

[wyldeking]

I've rewatched the Owl House dozens of times now and my favorite scene (excluding season 3 because that shit is magical, pun intended,) is Hunter and Amity's fight at Eclipse Lake.

Earlier in the episode, Amity and Hunter have a chat where Hunter proclaims that they both have a lot at stake, unlike Eda and King. She attempts to argue but is interrupted by the sound of her Tamagotchi-Text thing, as Luz sends a text that Amity misinterprets as Luz threatening her with leaving if she doesn't return with the Titan Blood. Hunter almost directly after takes off and gets a massive head start to Eclipse Lake.

While Eda deals with the scouts and Kikimora, Amity chases after Hunter with King by her side. She enters the room to have this exchange with Hunter.

"Don't worry. I won't pick a fight. There's no Titan Blood."

"Then why are you digging?"

"Oh, it's simple really. Belos needs Titan Blood to make a new portal key. Can't get to the human realm without it."

"There's blood in the key?"

*Amity tightens her grip around the portal key.*

"Since I failed my last mission, I thought, 'Hey, a chance to make up for it.' But I can't go back empty-handed. Not again."

Hunter is noticeably hysterical, laughing between almost every sentence he speaks.

"Long story short, this is my grave. Want me to make you one too?"

"This is really bumming me out." King says simply.

"That's just life, rat. Everyone has a use, and if you don't pbtpbt bye-bye! Your friend gets it."

With the help of King, Amity finally learns how to interpret the text. Luz had never even thought of leaving her awesome girlfriend. Almost immediately after realizing, she becomes almost as bright and sunny as Luz is. With a burst of inspiration, she decides to give Hunter the best message she could think of.

"I grew up thinking that everything was an opportunity to justify existing, but there are people out there make you feel worthless. You just have to let yourself meet them."

She offers her hand, but unfortunately, Hunter notices the key sticking out of her coat, and a battle ensues. Hunter is sweating and incredibly anxious, which shows with the way he fights. Hunter keeps dashing around, making magical sparks fly everywhere. Meanwhile Amity is holding a poker face as she almost effortlessly dodges and blocks every one of his attacks. Every attack that she throws out has a very obviously calculated plan attached.

Hunter eventually tears the key away from Amity and they end up cornering each other. Despite that, Amity still very clearly has the upper hand, with a blade pointed at the neck of the battered Hunter that is caked in abomination goo. Hunter desperately thinking of a way out to give the blood to his uncle, tells Amity, quote;

"Listen, you're strong, and I'm tired. if this continues, you'll probably escape, but here's the thing: We know where to find you and your human. So just hand over the key."

Hunter's threat to kill Amity is completely empty, as they just displayed, Amity clearly has the upper hand. But Luz? The last time she saw her she was sick out of her mind and incredibly delirious. So Amity finally slips, the key cracks as her grip tightens, spilling half the blood. Hunter wins and slips away with the key.

This scene is so damn great because the emotions of the characters make perfect sense and intertwine with everything, we've known about them up until this point. Not to mention the music in this scene absolutely slaps ass and the animation is top-notch.

[poisonousquinzel]

Luz's "do you not understand what death means to mortals?" at the beginning of the episode. Her reaching out to them after she noticed them crying.

The Collector trying to implement what they'd learned about forgiveness and forgiveness during the battle with Belos. Having it be the wrong choice, having it be what caused Luz to disappear.

Him being confused because they thought that was the right thing and it's all just so confusing. they've been yanked around and made a fool of by everyone, by his siblings, by Belos, but this time was going to be different. He was learning from good people, from people who became friends.

The excited "We can all be buddies now" before Belos tried to blast them.

Luz telling them and reassuring them that it was a good thing, that they did good, that they shouldn't give up having kindness and forgiveness towards people because that's the exact opposite outcome they need The Collector to take away from this.

The music change, the colors, the camera angles,,,

Them not understanding that the baby Titans didn't leave, they didn't abandon him, they weren't snatched away to another playground.

"the archivists aren't here, they couldn't have taken her."

They Died.

The Collector having to come to terms with mortals dying and not being able to fix her.

being completely alone grappling with the idea that things Die because her two loved ones are going fucking feral. Him being able to Tell this is serious. That something's deeply, deeply wrong all because of their reactions.

The Collector appearing so so childlike in the moment when Eda moves them aside

"Owl Lady, you know where Luz is, right?"

"Back up, kid. I don't think I can control myself right now."

the fear, and confusion, while cloaked in the shadow of the Owl Beast

The realizing that Luz isn't coming back. The "she's really gone" and the voice break as the light floats away.

I'm just, I can't, I'm throwing myself down the stairs as we speak, it's 1am how am I supposed to sleep

[lulystalgianature]

How the finale singlehandedly managed to make The Collector the most tragic character in The Owl House:

It says a lot when a crew demonstrates their talent by creating such a complex character with so little time left. The Collector (Naturally, spoilers ahead) Many suspected the redemption. But it’s not just the fact that it happened. It’s the way it was handled. So, let’s do a recap on how everything went, shall we?

Betrayed and used by the Archivists. His siblings. Family. The ones who are suppose to love, teach and protect you. Thrown away into an unknown planet, full of the only creatures that could overcome their magic.

Said family destroyed what were likely the Collector’s first, genuine friends.

Locked away by one of the very same species he had befriended for what his siblings did, for who knows how many years, being alone and forgotten for something they didn’t do.

Finally found by a human, whom the kid really thought was his friend, even trying to amuse his homicidal delusions.

Helped fulfill the man’s objective, but instead of being released as promised, is discarded like garbage along a mountain of corpses.

Get his freedom back after almost giving up, considering King a friend despite initially suspecting even him. A time to rejoice and play, unaware of the damage and trauma being done and becoming dangerously protective of his new friend.

Luz, someone King has talked about a lot and is even jealous of, comes back, apparently to destroy him and take King away, and yet, the Collector never means any genuine harm and is so desperate for companionship that wants to befriend even her. Looks so happy at the possibility of the trio befriending him that is completely unaware he’s being manipulated again.

Gets hurt in all the games being summoned, completely unaware that his new playmates are simply surviving. 

Having lived with a madman that destroyed the Grimwalkers he created for hundreds of years only to recreate them again? No wonder he thought even mortal life was as easy to fix as any broken toy, which he demonstrates so casually.

Instead of retaliating, the kid chooses to sulk in a corner, so tired of being used and hurt that it didn’t take long for Luz, the second human he ever met, to get them to open up and explain everything. So disheartened he is about being used and betrayed that tries to force himself to accept the pretending part of everything, even friendship.

Is taught a lesson in friendship, which is taken by heart, to the point the Collector tries it on Belos of all people, someone he helped for +400 years only to cruelly betray him. 

He truly wanted everyone to be friends and learn to forgive, even turning back to Luz to show her how much they learned, even looking like he wants her to be proud of him.

Sees his new friend get killed in front of him and not even his magic can do anything about anything. 

Not only is his new friend gone, but there’s much damage he indirectly caused, like trying to befriend Belos and accidentally gave him the idea to possess the Titan. Not to mention the trauma he caused to all the residents of the isles. 

Suddenly, we see the Collector’s true nature. A scared, overpowered little kid who didn’t know any better because everybody he met used him and never taught him the value of life. He just wanted friends. And now, he can only watch helplessly as his remaining friends go mad with grief and fury, and not even his powers can save them.

Tears for the first time. Despite everything the kid’s been through, it’s Luz’s death that affects him the most. Luz, the human who got them to open up, who was so patient and kind, who didn’t hesitate for a second to save him from Belos’ blast and even assured him they did good, was now gone. All that was left for him is to apologize for everything and beg Eda and King to run away.

Luz is back to save them from certain death, but it wasn’t his magic that brought her back and he must’ve known that. She looked like a Titan and was even using their magic, which he recognized earlier. Plus he also acknowledged Titans were more powerful than anyone, even Collectors. But there was no time to rejoice or process everything immediately. What mattered most is that she was back, even clinging to her subconsciously so he wouldn’t lose her again. 

But Belos was still a threat. Not even the Collector’s powers were enough to stop him anymore. He did the only thing he could do to help; keep the Archives afloat. Despite being weakened and struggling, he actually takes the time to smile at the Hexsquad to demonstrate the friendliness and will to help.

Belos is gone. The Collector is exhausted, but probably still more than capable enough of taking on the Hexsquad with a snap of his fingers. Instead, he chooses to cower, bracing themselves for any potential scold or punishment, preferring that over the risk of hurting anybody else ever again.

Tears for the second time, this time in absolute relief and happiness. The people he innocently tormented so much were offering peace and friendship. 

Despite the hardship and trials, the Collector chooses to return to the stars alone for some growth, a sharp contrast from the kid who didn’t want to be alone. But... this shows how much they learned and matured. Not only can they watch the Boiling Isles better from the sky, but it also gives everyone a chance to get used to him and take the time forgive him for everything. 

And yet... he can visit whenever he wants. He’s free at last. Free to make choices. King considers him a real friend now, and he’s likely in the process of making more... all thanks to Luz, whom he shows gratitude to by not only gifting her a portal door to come and go whenever she pleases, but also giving her a spectacular display of light for her birthday. 

In the end, after everything the Collector has been through... that’s one heck of a character development. Even though Luz was used by the same person, at least she had many friends and parental figures in her life. The Collector didn’t have any of that. His only genuine friends were eliminated and spent possibly eons imprisoned in a dark realm, being used and manipulated for hundreds of years, with nobody there to play with or befriend.

Bonus: Being himself... saved many lives. By turning everybody into puppets not only spared them of the horror that would come later, but by gathering everybody in one single place also saved every citizen on the isles. Just imagine the number of casualties we would've gotten when Titan Belos started blasting everything on sight and raising the corpse's arm while everybody was still scattered.

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

I don't know if you were asked this before or already addressed it before, but what do you think of the argument that Belos' death was supposed to be anticlimatic

See, the problem with these arguments is that it assumes that people who were disappointed with Belos' death wanted a grand, epic battle when in reality, everyone that I've spoken to wanted him to suffer more. We wanted him to go out screaming, realizing that all he did for centuries was for nothing, since that was what the previous episodes were building up to. That's not grandiose, that's even more pathetic than what we got in canon.

Belos' death is anti-climactic because for two episodes, the show was expanding on his background, making him see ghosts or hallucinations, lashing out at the idea of being wrong when he sees "Caleb," all of this suggested that this would play into his ultimate undoing. Instead, we get Luz-With-Anime-Powers yank him off the Titan heart and then he melts in the rain. Cool.

What was the point of the previous episodes then?

Anti-climaxes can work if there is a point to them, be it comedic or tragic. But there was no point to how Belos died. Luz didn't need to learn anything about herself in order to earn the Titan powers, she didn't use anything she learned about the Wittebanes against Belos in the final battle, all that happened is that the Titan told her she's a good witch and to stop comparing herself to someone Obviously Evil like Belos. Great character moment there.

Hell, nothing about Belos played in his death. Not his backstory. None of his lies. Nothing. It just happens. Giving a megalomaniac an undignified death or defeat can work though. Just look at Ozai. He built himself as the Supreme Ruler of the World, as the Phoenix King. He sees himself superior to all others and uses everyone--even his own children as pawns. So to have him be defeated by the Avatar, by an Air Nomad child, who doesn't even give him the dignity of killing him in battle but by taking away the ultimate symbol of his power, his bending, works because it's the antithesis of everything Ozai believes in.

But Belos' death has nothing to do with him as a character or his beliefs. The idea that he needs an undignified death to bring down the megalomaniac doesn't work because Belos has suffered nothing but indignities since he got slammed into a wall. He's been dying for several episodes, lost his human form and the world he knew and loved is long gone and none of this is used against him in the final episode.

In fact, Belos' death actually supports his ideology: for centuries, he's believed that witches are evil and inferior to humans. And he justified all the evil he's done in the name of the greater good: of defeating what he saw as evil. So, picture the scene, you have a rapidly dying man who is no longer a threat to anyone, who is trying to reach out to the one person he thinks is moral by virtue of her species, only to be stomped on by beings who proudly proclaim that they are in fact, immoral.

Congrats gang. You just let the evil bigot die with his feelings justified.

Even how he died doesn't make narrative sense because we've seen him rebuild himself from a droplet and King even mentions some being stuck between his toes. How is it this fight is what finishes him off for good? He's both progressively weaker in each episode and yet is able to outrun (or out crawl) both the Hexsquad after entering the portal and Raine in the castle and possess the Titan heart. Plus, despite having possessed the literal Titan's heart, that equated to having just enough power to transform into his younger self and then get melted by the rain. Ok then.

So let's say that Belos' death works for meta reasons; that evil and bigotry should be given anticlimactic deaths. Ok fine, but it's still disappointing and boring af to watch. Giving a bigoted villain a gruesome, over the top, and entertaining death doesn't mean you suddenly validate the villain's ideals, just look at Raiders of the Lost Ark and its melting Nazis.

Also, unpopular opinion, but The Owl House is not about bigotry; it doesn't say anything about where it comes from, what perpetuates it, how people fall into it, how it can be stopped, etc. The writing is too inconsistent and the world building is too flat for any kind of deep or compelling themes. Instead, it has the grotesquely simplistic idea that "Bad Man Cause Bad Things. Get Rid of Bad Man and Bad Things Go Away."

And that's ultimately why Belos' death doesn't work; because The Owl House never had anything deep to say. It's a fun, escapist fantasy that wants to have deeper themes but can't commit to them. Anything "real" a person might interpret is largely projection because the show is too ineffectual in exploring its own world building and characterization beyond surface level meanings.

[the-stolen-century]

Raine and Eda's gem fusion (TOH / Steven Universe crossover)

Their fusion dance is just the scene in Eda's Requiem where they play their instruments back-to-back, but then they glow and fuse - but continue playing, because now they have 4 arms, Raine's arms on top playing the violin and Eda's arms on the bottom playing the cittern.

Their combined gem is sphene/titanite - base colour gold (eda) with green (raine) and red (both of them) sparkles. More designs and AU description under the cut:

Separate designs for them (Eda is big and shaped like Garnet because she's a fusion between Eda and the corrupted Owlbeast. Her harpy form is the harmonious fusion that happens after the Owlbeast's corruption is healed):

Alt design for the fusion, with merged/faceted eyes instead of separate ones - I just love how perfectly Eda's pointy eyes fit under Raine's round ones!

I imagine their combined personality might be like a rock star, because Eda's brashness and showmanship overpower Raine's stage fright, so they can finally be a star musician together. I love to think about how elated they would be after their first performance!

Plot (?):

So titans can travel through space, just because they're so magical. Several hundred years ago a titan arrived on earth to hide from the Archivists, carrying with it a lot of refugees from its original planet. The titan died, exhausted by the stress of the trip, but the refugees whom he protected survived and started a new life. They are protected by shielding magic from curious humans. They are a little different from the witches and demons of the boiling isles - they're gem-based lifeforms who form visible bodies around their gems, and they have very long lifespans.

One summer, Luz the human (obsessed with gems and magic) accidentally goes through a portal that Eda has made, ends up on the island and decides to live there instead of summer camp.  She meets Eda, whose gem has become fused with the corrupted gem of the Owlbeast, so sometimes the Owlbeast takes control of their shared body.

Luz becomes best friends with King (King is basically Steven and doesn't know he's actually a titan/diamond), who didn't have any friends before her because nobody has seen his type of gem before so everyone thinks he's weird. (The gem society in Steven Universe is kind of obsessed with roles, ranks and hierarchies, so seeing an unknown gem is unsettling). She basically becomes Connie to King's Steven (non-romantic, lol).

Luz has some adventures learning about the island. She gets to know Willow, who is an "overcooked" jasper and insecure about it just like Amethyst, but v. powerful once Luz helps her overcome the insecurity. And Gus and Amity.

Meanwhile, on the titan’s home planet, Belos (not a human in this AU) has formed a deal with the Archivists to be allowed to rule the planet in a way that the Archivists approve of in exchange for trying to find the escaped titan. And now they have found earth somehow. Raine, who leads an underground rebellion against Belos, manages to be the one sent to earth. Unfortunately for them, Belos sends Hunter (Belos’s pearl - Hunter has big pearl energy, right?) along with them.

Once they arrive on earth Raine keeps trying to secretly sabotage Hunter’s attempts to find the island so they can find it first themselves and warn everyone.Don't know how that goes, but eventually they find Eda - maybe even in the human world and not on the island? So they finally meet again after a long time. Back then she was too afraid to tell them she's a fusion but now she doesn't give a fuck, which leads to them rekindling their relationship!

[mdhwrites]

Owl House tries to be critical of religious thinking and thought processes but the ending unfortunately supports the notion as well as the writing do you have the same thoughts as well?

It's not the ending that ruins this. The WHOLE SHOW is terrible at this. The reason why is obvious as well: The show is too busy mocking modern society and late stage capitalism for its villains, if it's mocking anything, to have time or room to say anything about dystopians, puritans or religion.

Just to make this point quickly: The first time we EVER hear about the Titan in any sort of context that implies even reverence is the S1 FINALE. It is only first brought up as the reason how Belos came to power: His ability to hear the Titan. Before then, the Titan is maybe used to replace God in common expletives but that's it. It's just the place they live in so supposedly one of TOH's main critiques takes an ENTIRE. SEASON. to show up.

However, it's not just how long it takes for people to start even mentioning it that's the problem. It never gains a foothold. People don't do things for the Titan. They do things for Belos. There's like maybe a half dozen LINES in the entire show that have anything to do with religious allegory besides the fact that witch hunts were religiously motivated. Maybe closer to a dozen because of Hunter's ramblings during Hollow Mind but that is ONE episode for the majority of any talk about this.

And it's not just that she show fails to depict a religion. Allegory exists for a reason. But... What is the faith then? The Coven System is MUCH closer to a stratified class system, or a communist economic system, that it literally ever comes to being a religion. It's basis might be in that but no one treats it that way. It's just a job and what you decide to specialize in.

The wild witches being absent is another part of this that also explains why it's absent. Eda doesn't get bothered by... Anyone? In the entire show? about being a wanted criminal. Covention is the absolute closest the show ever comes to having anyone besides the EC give a shit. In that one, people at least squint at her but despite her suspicious behavior, they don't do more than that. That is actually pretty accurate to how someone in the US might act in the modern day... But not in a dystopia. Especially not a religiously motivated dystopia.

A common factor between religious zealots and dystopias is the CONSTANT PARANOIA. The fear that is put into them of the other. How they are directed to destroy ANYTHING that is against the doctrine. This is why Christianity has had SO MANY SCHISMS because a single question for the faith will cause some people to lose their minds! The witch trials, no matter where they were, were often motivated by fear of demons and empowerment of others and used to keep those who might be shaking things up down, using both genuinely held beliefs and those that could be manipulated to cause the masses to agree that the person had to die. Even from a less extreme perspective, these same ideas are used to discriminate, alienate and attack.

However... That doesn't happen. Just because Eda is nice, to a couple people, an entire mob of loyal citizens is able to be rallied to go against the ONE LAW of the Isles. There is no belief there. There is no indoctrination there. If the Isles actually cared about the Titan, Eda should be fucked. Luz should cast a glyph in front of Amity and TERRIFY her because, as Amity puts it, "I've never seen someone cast it like that."

And the funny thing is, this would have made Luz's character climax statement ACTUALLY WORK. If everyone was terrified of her simply because she chose a different path, had to do things differently and was just inherently different, she could be a great stand in for all the effort so many marginalized people have to put in. All this work just to be understood against held beliefs that don't reflect reality. Held beliefs that only exist to prop up the status quote.

But that would mean making the Isles an inherently hostile place. To make Luz have to work for EVERY. SINGLE. INCH that she gains. And, well, the writers weren't interested in that. They weren't interested in a struggle. Instead, they were interested in the story of a young bi teenager going to a fantasy world and living out her dreams.

So sure, her literally being blessed by God to enact his will against his enemies is AWFUL. It explicitly makes it so that she is actually just Belos but she actually DOES hear the Titan! So you know, just don't believe in false prophets but prophets do exist and you should follow them unquestionably.

However, the problem starts LONG before then. Like almost any problem with TOH honestly.

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

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[tentacledsnakelover]

The Owl House Finale Rewrite

I love The Owl House. The story, the animation, the music, the characters. It is no surprise the show stands out as a favorite, including mine. But even being a fan cannot make me ignore the flaws of something, no matter how much I love it. I feel while the story was wrapped up well, the series from a writing standpoint was messy. A lot of my gripes with the last two specials involved not using time wisely, the Collector's character being retconned, and ignoring themes of the show. Here is how I would have rewritten the last two specials. I am by no means a professional writer. I have no idea what was going on behind the scenes and I want to give the benefit of the doubt to Dana and her team.

For The Future: The special opens immediately as Luz and her family/friends enter the demon realm. Everyone is on edge after the confrontation with Belos, and everyone with magic is drained, after having used their powers signifcantly in a realm with no ambient magic. Luz offers to bring everyone to the Owl House to recuperate. When they arrive, a wave of starry energy engulfs the house and surrounding area, bringing the puppetfied citizens of the isles with it. Willow and Luz attempt to save Willow's dad from the puppet Owl Beast, but then the Collector arrives with King, having come to play the Owl House game. King is relieved to see Luz, but horrified to see she is now in harm's way. The Collector is shocked too. King kept the Collector from trying to find Luz and her friends by claiming they would want to ruin their game and that the Hexsquad should be left alone. King manages to convince the Collector not to hurt Luz, and he takes her back to the Archives. He leaves the others by encasing the Owl House in a dome at the request of King.

The rest of the Hexsquad and Camila are then saved by a group of resistance members, consisting of Raine, Darius, Eber, the CATTS, and some Hexside kids. Raine explains after the Collector stopped the Day of Unity, Eda attempted to stop the Collector with harpy mode but turned into the Owl Beast. While the Collector dealt with beast Eda, King dropped Raine his collar, who figured out the symbol etched on it neutralized the Collector's magic. Raine has spent the past few months saving the puppetfied citizens, taking them from under the Collector's nose while they play. The Hexsquad's arrival proved the perfect distraction for Raine to save Lilith and Hooty, who the Collector was keeping an eye on due to being important characters for the game, and use the symbol to undo their puppetification.

Raine takes the group back to Hexside, which is hidden using the symbol. The group formulates a plan. Using Lilith's memory of Philip's teleportation glyph combo and her knowledge of the architecture of the Archives, the Hexsquad, CATTS, and Camila, teleport into the Archives, to find and teleport all the puppetfied citizens back to Hexside where they can be safe.

They manage to teleport all the puppetfied citizens to safety, but Odalia turns up. Having been reduced to the Collector's servant, she decides to capture the group in an effort to win the Collector's favor. The group is divided, with Willow, Gus, and Hunter in one group (Willow has her breakdown arc here with Hunter, as she blames herself for getting Luz caught and not being able to do anything). Amity and Camila manage to defeat Odalia and regroup with the kids and the CATTS.

Meanwhile, after having been captured, Luz was brought to the Archives. When they arrived, the Collector dropped Luz to the floor, the impact causing Luz to go unconscious until she is revived by the Collector (While unconscious, she appears in the In-Between Realm, where a mysterious figure tries to get her attention). King is mad at the Collector for hurting Luz, though they try to brush this off, claiming they fixed Luz, and thus it is okay. The Collector asks King to bring Luz to where Eda is being kept underguard by the puppetfied Titan Trappers. Eda is in fact, back in control of herself, and she and King embrace Luz. Eda explains she has seen that the Collector, despite his apathy towards people, is still just a kid, and she has been complying evidence to try and get him to see the error of his ways. However, the Collector arrives, having placed a bug on Luz. The Collector is furious that King lied to them about Eda being stuck in beast form and Luz leaving the demon realm on purpose. The Collector attempts to puppetify the girls but King intercepts the shot, though he remains unchanged.

The Collector now gets nervous, and after being prodded by King reveals Titans are immune to Collector magic, and that he didn't let King know that because he was afraid King wouldn't want to play with him otherwise unless he believe the Collector had control over him. The upset Collector reveals he is the last of his species, who after years of distrust and suspicion of the Titans, led to a war where the two species wiped each other to near extinction. The only surviving adult Titan, King's dad, angrily imprisoned the Collector using the tablets as a catalyst. The tablets were made by the Collector as a gift for the Titans. That way, he could always communicate with the baby Titans, who weren't afraid and distrustful of him like the adult Titans.

Luz, Eda, and King take the Collector on a tour of the isles, trying to get him to understand the importance of empathy and ethics, though the efforts end up striking a nerve with Luz, as the Collector points out Philip thought he was justified by doing what he did, and that Luz also thinks she is justified because she is a 'good guy' too, which worries Luz because she cannot handle the idea of being like Belos. (This references a cut storyboard in which the Collector questions why Luz would say other people but Belos are complex)

The trio are able to make the Collector open to the idea of being more empathetic, and he brings them back to the Archives, where they reunite with the Hexsquad and Camila. Camila and Luz have a heart to heart, which allows Stringbean to hatch. But then they notice the ground below the Archives is shaking, and the sky turns green, with the eye sockets of the Titan glowing blue. The gang realizes Belos is doing something with the Titan, and the special ends on a cliffhanger.

I will try and post my ideas for the rewrite of "Watching and Dreaming later"

[fondesmode]

okay quick warning, but SPOILERS for The Owl House Finale! scroll past if u haven't seen!

Cool. So I saw another post v similar to this, but I agree and really wanan add to this statement:

Thank god the owl house did not do these things:

Main cast stop talking for ages trope

Got rid of magic trope

Main character losing all their powers trope

Magic world combines with Normal world trope

Bad person gets redeemed because everyone can be good trope

Kill characters just for the sake of death

Now, did the show HEAVILY tease every single one of these? absolutely. And I adore the show even more for it.

The whole "i can't wait to see everyone again," followed up with "Luz, it's been a week." HGFJVG very funny

Raine being teased to die constantly but being too cool for that shit? yes thank you i woulda hated if you died

The whole losing the original glyphs because the titan finally died, concerning but sure ig, but when King was revealed to have his OWN glyphs language?? YOOO, not only is that a nice thing to bond over, but it means Luz can keep on learning new magic while going to wildmagic school!

Everyone was still able to use their own magic! With them in the archives and being unable to use their magic, i was SO worried it was gone. But then it was immediately like "no bitch you're just stupidly exhausted"

AND BELOS' DEATH SCENE. Not giving into his manipulation anymore and just letting it happen was SO satisfying! Not only that, but the parallel to Eda accepting the curse as part of her and not letting it control her, VS Belos who tried using a curse as an excuse to be a bad person etc. Love that.

AAAAAAAAAA I could go on forever honestly. But all in all, great ending and I litteraly have 0 complaints. With the 3 episodes having to summarise a whole seasons worth of content, it was done beautifully. Thank you Dana and the whole crew for this amazing show <3

[lizard-dumbass]

Alright so the TOH brainrot has come back in full force after the finale came out so now i too am making one of them lists of things that i liked/stuck out to me. Also sorry if this ends up just being a bunch of incoherent nonsense

HOLY SHIT TITAN!LUZ. the design is so cool what more can i say. Furthermore,

HOLY FUCK LUZ DIED????? i was so not expecting that and good lord was it heartbreaking. Eda and King's reaction to Luz's death were also heartbreaking, and so was the Collector finally realizing what death really is. And oh my god puppet!Camila crying as the balls of light pass by her, showing us that she has had the realization that her daughter died. After the grief and trauma of losing Manny, Camila and Luz had a heart to heart which made their bond stronger than ever, only for Camila to lose Luz aswell.

LUZ SAID THE THING! NOW EAT THIS SUCKAAAAAA!!!!!

THE BOILING ISLES IS BIGENDER BABY! i honestly love the titan so much now. His bad girl coven t-shirt and glyph pants and dad-bod are absolutely everything. (Also what's with the little hooty worm sticking out of her eye socket??)

The goddamn bread pun 😭 that warms my heart so much

The raeda in this episode was IMMACULATE. I was really hoping for a kiss but i'm still happy with what WAD gave us. The loving stares, Raine's absolute joy when Eda and Titan!Luz came to their rescue in the throne room, the hugs and nuzzles, the cuddling in their new nest, etc. They seem so relaxed and happy at the end. The world has been saved and now they can finally live their lives together and rekindle their relationship. Oh and how could i forget the EARRING SWAP!! they're wearing eachother's earrings!!! I've seen quite a few ppl interpreting the exchanging of earrings/jewelry as a marriage custom in the demon realm, implying that Eda and Raine are married in the timeskip. I never cared much for the idea of raeda getting married but you know what? I like this headcanon.

Raine whistling raine's rhapsody/eda's reqiuem.

Hunter is a palisman carver! And he has a new palisman! Apparently the little blue jay's name is Waffles and that's just adorable.

Raine also has a palisman now and it's a little fox! I wonder what their name is though.

The entire hexsquad has matching Flapjack tattoos! Also Flapjack's grave, that gave me so many feels. But im so happy to see how Hunter has healed!

Harpy Lilith!

Eda is the principal of a school now?

Eda's hook arm! Also just everyone's new outfits/appearances in general. I love Raine's fully white hair and their scars and their outfit just oozes gender. I love Luz's outfit and punk eyeliner. I love Amity's hairstyle. I love how Lilith kept her short ginger hairstyle. I love Gus's new hair and his little beard. I love Willow's shorter hair and sporty outfit. Mattholomule has a real mustache now!

Fuck yeah they figured out how to remove sigils so now the BI residents can do magic like the Titan really intended!

Aladarius canon??

Everyone reuniting with their dads. Amity running to Alador whilst Odalia just stands at the side with an annoyed face. Fucking priceless. Willow's dads kissed on screen! Hunter thinking no one would be there for him only for Darius and Eberwolf to show up and accept him into their family. my heart 😭❤️

Eda and Camila finally got to meet!

Luz reuniting with King and Eda made me sob so unbelievably hard.

Luz and Vee graduated together!

Luz goes to college in the demon realm!

I thought she was giving all her Azura stuff away at first but i think she's actually bringing it all with her to college.

I love everything about Luz's quinceañera (or should i say KING-ceañera)

I love the very last part where every character we've come to know and love over these 3 wonderful years (except Odalia lmfao) say "Byeee!" to the audience. What a perfect way to end this series.

I think that's it lol i have so many thoughts

[thatoneguy031]

Real talk? Real?? Real?!

Why on EARTH was the cast of The Owl House so drippy?!

(A sort of breakdown from someone that's only kinda sorta kept up with the show... Me, Guy.)

Spoilers too, I guess...

Look at our favorite witch-in-training, Luz Noceda. As we can all see here, she's wearing Eda's varsity jacket when she attended Hexside. Level with me, the jacket alone was enough to be a super-dope outfit, but she took it one step further and even wore matching pants, too! Heck, she even tied up her hair in a bun, for crying out loud! She kept the aesthetic of "I'm able to stay calm, but I'm not afraid to kick your butt when the time comes."

And here's another frame of yet another scene...

Luz dancing with Amity during that one Grom episode...

She wanted to look fancy while she boogied with her soon-to-be girlfriend(At the time, anyway), so she decided to wear what exactly? A tutu, and a frickin' tuxedo! Wonderful! Fabulous! It's all so wild, but you can see that not only did Luz have a plan, it worked danged-near flawlessly! And of course, she decided to wear dance shoes, as well.

And you know what?!

I'm still not done.

I'm going to be real with you here. This is where the spoilers for the end of the show REALLY, REALLY begin! If you really want to watch the show without witnessing the beauty of Luz during [REDACTED], I HIGHLY suggest that you stay away from this post, and move on with your day! Please, leave!

...Are you still here?

Are you sure you wanna be here for [REDACTED]?

Alrightie, then...

3...

2...

1...

...

Okay, you asked for it.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Freaking. Bam. Meet Titan Luz.

This is near perfection in cartoon form. Luz looks like she told Amity's parents, "Your daughter calls me mommy, too." She looks deranged in the best way possible.

First and foremost, the cloak nearly perfectly displays everything she's done throughout the series. The glyph on her chest, the bones appearing along the tips and edges of it, referencing her "magic donor", Arin Hanson- I mean Papa Titan(...Is he just called Papa King by the TOH fandom, or am I being dumb? Since, y'know, he's King's dad? I don't know, but back to the comedic analysis).

For Hootie's sake, she even somehow has longer, puffier hair, giving Eda a wink-wink-nudge-nudge without saying a thing. Even further, her eyes turned a pitch-black with yellow irises, making sure that King himself is involved with references as well.

Y'know, this reminds me of a character that I've had written out for a while. Y'all won't see her for a long, long while, but just know that she's tied to this in a way. Backstory aside, she has this one... form, let's call it, where she kind of becomes a vampire. This aspect of her is derived from an art account I follow, I won't say who until the time comes, but she also likes using her legs as her main means of attack, not only calling back to Izuku from MHA, but to her friend who she loves dearly, like a family member.

Back to the main point, I love characters that reference multiple other characters they have a connection to without being overbearing, which is why I love Titan Luz's design. Above all else, this proves that Luz really cared for everyone that has helped carry her this far, and was willing to fight for them, even after her death. And Eda even teaches her magic the way she said she would as early as the second episode of the series, iirc. And, something even more wild, is that Luz sort of looks like Azura, as well, even using one of her quotes for the finishing blow on Belos...

"...NOW EAT THIS, SUCKAAA!"

Admittedly, I don't know much about Luz's palisman, but I do indeed see that they're a cute little snek dude! ...Like how Luz freaked out the school and her principal with those snakes in the first episode(At least, I recall it being the first episode)! Everything about Luz's design is just... It's all just. So. Good.

...Look. I originally wanted to make a fun little ha-ha post about how stylish the characters from The Owl House were, as I highly respect this show and loved it, from the moment I saw King, to the very end of the series where the Collector gave Luz and the Hexsquad the ability to travel between realms, but seeing this transformation and taking the time to dissect her Titan Form design... It really brought me to tears. Not just because the show's actually over, but because I loved it with everything I could give. The way the show handled its characters, even with the rushed development that Disney demanded(Those freaking warm toilet seats), was phenomenal, given the circumstances.

I'll make a post talking more about King and just... him, I guess, but this post is already long enough as it is. Maybe even Eda, Hunter, Gus and Willow as well, if this post really makes its rounds.

[sepublic]

            Something I think a lot of people overlook is how King becomes a lot more jaded, snappy, self-aware, and overall more like a teenager during S2. Which about tracks, he DOES undergo Titan puberty…

         But mostly, I see it prompted by Echoes of the Past, which is King’s big Loss of Innocence moment, when his fantasy is shattered before his very eyes, and King realizes things are a lot more mundane and unpleasant than he’d like to admit. There’s just little moments like how he’s frustrated and dismisses Eda and Luz’s attempts to reassure him after the Gland Prix fails in Eda’s Requiem; Or in the very next episode, King’s frustrated breakdown near Hooty.

         A lot of this also has to do with King just becoming more and more frustrated in general, in response to his waning hope regarding his dad; You can see it Keeping Up A-Fear-ances, when after Lilith projects her own parental issues onto King, he has a moment of spiteful, petulant rejection towards his dad. And while King tries to be optimistic, you can see how that little brain worm just slowly grows and takes over. The pessimism it instills eventually bleeds out into the rest of the world…

         I think a lot of how in Edge of the World, King acknowledges that he knows Luz isn’t going to be here forever (or is prepared for that scenario, anyway). It shows a lot of awareness and worldliness on King’s part, he’s not some dumb, naïve kid anymore, he’s matured since S1 and you can really tell. The way he gets frustrated when admitting this to Luz and how he saw the Titan Trappers as his big solution… It really hurts.

         Luz’s Loss of Innocence and her gradual disillusionment throughout S2 is talked about a lot and I absolutely agree, as one of those people who analyzed it plenty; But I think we should give King’s more credit. He’s more clever than a lot of people give him credit for, and I like how his edgy blustering about destroying his enemies en masse is replaced by a more subdued, realist, and yet biting resignation over his situation and the mundane helplessness of it all, the constant disappointment that King is preparing himself for. He doesn’t want to be a powerful ruler, he just wants a dad, and yet something so simple is so prevalent and so unchangeable an issue.

         King is just. SO used to disappointment by the end of S2. But I love how he doesn’t totally plummet off of the deep end, something as simple as King’s trip with Steve helps King develop a more worldly outlook on life, and come to terms with being a Titan. He could easily fall into spite and anger, taking his frustration out on the world around him… But King doesn’t, he’s grown since then, he isn’t going to fall for that as other characters did.

        And this all prepares him so nicely, as did King’s development with Luz and how she supported and helped him grow, for King to take Luz’s place in his dynamic with the Collector; Someone blinded by the optimism of the fantasy. Someone who’s eventually going to have a big Loss of Innocence moment when they learn about death, and realize they CAN’T make a friend out of everyone.

         It just makes King more suited as a parallel/foil to the Collector, and a best friend; Someone who was borderline arrogant in his assurance over his power and dominion, only for his whole world to collapse around him with painful revelations. But with the support of others, King and the Collector pick themselves up after a moment of despair, and strive to accept what they’ve learned and incorporate it into their lives, while still holding onto hope in a more mature manner.

        King has the perfect opportunity to be a tyrant and take vengeance on the world, the Collector is a Yes-Man to the guy; But he doesn’t. He’s better than that. He could’ve easily had the Titan Trappers obliterated, but King evidently let them get turned into puppets like everyone else. Obviously King doesn’t have total control over the Collector, he’s also at the mercy of their whims, but King DOES have influence.

        And what does he use it for? Not to control the Collector or manipulate them. But to genuinely help and teach this kid he sees himself in. King could easily justify or just allow something like Terra being turned into a puppet after insulting him and the Collector, but he’s wizened up. He’s more in control of his emotions, more understanding that there’s more to the world than just King, even if his world IS his dad, technically. 

        He reminds the Collector that they shouldn’t do that even to Terra, of all people; King knows she terrorized his mom as a youth, but King recognizes he has a lot of power and safety in his position compared to others. He’s not going to leverage it, he’ll just have to be the bigger person instead of letting any mistreatment justify being as vindictive as he wants, which is SUCH a turnaround from the kid who wanted to obliterate anyone at the drop of a hat.

        King’s way more in control of his emotional responses now, more tempered. After being reminded of similarities by people like Gus or Luz, King has figured out empathy to see himself in others, more attuned to their emotions; Even moments as small as recognizing how he relates to Edric, or hearing out Alador’s frustrations before breaking the news to him, remind me of this. And again, it prepares King to help the Collector learn empathy, as someone who’s been through that difficult lesson.

        Just. King, man. He’s a funny goofy silly little animal sidekick, except he’s actually a little brother who grows through this whole arc of genuinely maturing and realizing the world around him and its limits. Coming to value his found family in his quest for the biological one. Going through a legitimate storyline of disillusionment, before ultimately coming to terms with his situation, and being given one little wish fulfilled to remind King it was not all for naught; Just the simple reassurance of ‘I loaf you’ from the father he’s been searching for all along.

[asherisawkward]

How do you think a "hero and villian are forced to work together" type of episode would have worked between Luz and Belos?

(Note, this is a rough outline of what season three could look like but without any focus on subplots.)

The intro would play the way it does in Thanks to Them, and we’d get some scenes of the Hexsquad adjusting to Earth while Luz is in school. She’d still be suffering from guilt, but it would be related to abandoning Camila without thinking about how that could affect her, especially with Manny’s death. Additionally, there would be a scene where Vee and Luz talk about what happened, and Vee apologizes for taking over Luz’s life and throwing out her things without permission. I think it’d be a good thing to give Vee some more time to develop and acknowledge her own mistake.

At school, we could have a few scenes of Luz trying to fit in and being shunned as evidence for why she was so eager to leave behind the Human Realm. We’d still have the scene of Flapjack finding the Codex and the Hexsquad deciding they’d go searching for the Titan’s Blood as a surprise for Luz. It would also be around this time that we see Gus and Hunter being Cosmic Frontier nerds. They’d get the scene of the group finding giraffes and getting terrified like in canon, and they meet Masha, who gives them a hand with the code.

It would then switch to follow Philip wandering about the Human Realm, possessing or feeding on animal corpses in an attempt to regain his strength. This would be an incredibly grim set of scenes focused on the difficulty Philip has with physical survival and regaining his strength after what the Collector did. A lot of his screentime would focus on the after effects Philip experiences after the Day of Unity. He’s falling apart and having a hard time becoming stable without a form to take over, and he would frequently be interrupted and distressed by various memories that Gus went through in King’s Tide coming back and tormenting him.

He’d start working up in forms until he got to a deer and get hit by a car just like in canon, and goop would get sprayed and spilled over the road, attracting Luz’ and Camila’s attention as they’re driving home with groceries. This is the point that Philip becomes a variable to the Hexsquad, and they start trying to plan around him.

Then, as the episode continued, each party would individually realize that the Collector is a threat to their respective goals (Luz’s goal being to save the Isles and Philip’s being to destroy them) along with the unwanted necessity of needing the other person in order to be able to stop the Collector from going on a rampage. Philip could help them make another portal if they gave him the right incentive with it. The group is rightfully conflicted on it, and Hunter is the most outspoken one on the Anti-Philip side of things for obvious reasons.

Philip would probably be more active about seeking Luz out because he’s more aware of her and the Hexsquad, while the latters are still putting pieces together about where he is and grappling with the fact that he may be an asset. Eventually, he’d move to digging up corpses and possessing them to get back his human form without actually hurting any humans before he forced himself into his human form briefly to get his clothes back and starts hauling himself to the Noceda household.

The scene of Philip knocking on the door of the house that the Hexsquad’s adopted would be very tense because, a) everyone is already there, so who’s knocking on the door, and, b) Philip is possessing a literal corpse to be here. Along with, you know, he’s Philip.

He wouldn’t ever say “I need your help to take down the Collector,” because he would not want to confess that he needs help and cannot take the Collector on alone. Instead, he makes it about how the Hexsquad needs him to make a stable portal and his magical expertise will be invaluable to them. Hell, he’ll even be generous and swear to not attack them while they’re teamed up. After a lot of debate and bargaining, they come to an agreement and start working together.

The rest of the episode is about how the various characters come to terms with having to be around the monster that tried to murder them all, and how Philip attempts to balance his recovery and creating the portal. On Halloween, they go out and have a bit of fun before they go to leave, and they still see the Tale of the Brothers Wittebane. The episode would end with the characters going through the portal, except for Vee, who stays behind how she does in canon. She’s been incredibly brave in facing and dealing with her abuser/captor, and I like that she’s not expected or forced to go along after that.

In For the Future, it would focus on King and the Collector for about half of it (with a little bit of Eda and Lilith) and the expanded Hexsquad for half of it.

On King’s side of things, he is dealing with a very sadistic and manipulative Collector (Shadow Collector, my beloved /j) They’re still playing Owl House with the Collector as Luz, but they’ve amped the stakes up. Instead of puppetifying everyone immediately, the Collector is forcing everyone to play their parts through intimidation, and if they mess up, then they start getting turned into a puppet slowly. It travels kind of like possession but slower, and the victims lose control and feeling of their limbs as the spell progresses. I’m thinking a horrifying situation that kind of goes, “my body is not my own.” Once someone is completely transformed, the spell is irreversible like petrification and basically becomes a corpse that is forced to move around and talk by the Collector. Eda, Hooty, and Lilith are set up by King as vital characters and are given a bit more leeway because King said they’re necessary for the game. Still, the Collector is becoming more violent as he starts to get bored with the game.

With the Hexsquad, Gus is quickly becoming one of the more important characters in the episode. The earring the at he took from Graye had a slice of Galderstone, which, contrary to popular belief, amplifies the complexity and scale of illusions that can be done. Using this knowledge, Gus makes and maintains an illusion as the Hexsquad walks that makes it seem as if there is nobody there without needing to hold breath the way they would with a glyph. He does a double-layered spell: one layer that has slight changes to the area around them and a couple animals to explain the noise they’re making, and another that just makes the group invisible to other eyes.

Willow and Amity will start talking properly about the way that things have changed over the past couple years and how just because Odalia and Alador made them stop being friends did not excuse the bullying that she did for years. Amity could properly acknowledge this and work to be better.

Camila is being a momma bear while also trying to adapt the way Luz did, and Luz finally gets to explain to her mother how she came to the Isles and how she fell in love with the place as a whole. It’s a really good bonding moment for the pair, and I think it could really help flesh out the way they interact as a family as a whole.

They’d stop at the Owl House and take a break, and Gus would have a moment where he talks to and connects with Philip. He explains his fascination and interest with humans and how he spent his childhood being enamored with them. He thought they were strange, amazing creatures that were good as a whole. Now, with what he’s seen in Philip’s memories, he feels disillusioned and hurt, like he’s lost a part of something integral to himself. How it that humans can be so horrible to people?

It would be really interesting to watch Philip and Gus to mourn their childhoods and the loss of that bright-eyed innocence about the world. After all, even if Philip believes humanity is good, he knows that there are bad people, and it can’t have been easy to learn that.

It would be a moment of genuine connection between the pair, and Philip could point out that there are good and bad people in every group, and that for every murderer or thief, there are doctors and authors and other amazing people who change the world. After listening to that, Gus pauses for a moment and says, “Have you ever considered that it’s the same way for witches, too?”

The pair stop talking after that.

Finally, finally, Luz and Philip get to talking about the way things are. Luz shares some of her concerns about being like him and how she’s a bad person for helping him meet the Collector. Philip roughly says, “You aren’t like me; you’re like Caleb.” Then we get a brief flashback scene as Philip explains a little bit of his childhood—being orphaned and dependent on Caleb with no one else in his life, the way he was all but destroyed when he saw his brother leave with Evelyn, how certain he was that Caleb wouldn’t abandon him, and everything else about his story.

At that point, Luz starts feeling awful about what happened with her mother and how scared she must have been when she found out that Luz wasn’t at summer camp and instead another realm. She wonders how she could be so thoughtless and what other ways she could have hurt the people she cares about. Philip points out that Camila is still alive and that there’s time to make things right between them. Hearing that, Luz runs off to go talk to her mother.

Camila is a bit surprised that her daughter comes to her suddenly and says that she needs to talk with her. They go into another room, and Luz pours her heart out about everything that happens and apologizes for leaving the way she did and not talking about things with her. Camila is gentle and comforts her, saying that she had been incredibly scared, but she’s proud of how much Luz has grown from her time in the Boiling Isles and how she could never ask her to leave someplace so dear to her forever.

Luz’s palisman wish in this is, “All I wanted is to feel like I belong somewhere,” because it still fits into her theme of being a weirdo and feeling misunderstood without putting pressure on her friends and family to bend over backwards to understand her even when they disagree. Stringbean is still her Palisman, but she’s just a snake as opposed to a snake-shifter.

Meanwhile, the Collector is becoming more and more suspicious of their “friend.” King goes away too often, and he’s always so secretive around Lilith and Eda! What if he’s planning something? What if he’s going to betray them the way Philip did? He begins preparing himself for King’s betrayal and spends some spies to follow the Titan. Eda, Lilith, Hooty, and King wander about in some of their limited time away from the Collector while they’re distracted or sleeping.

Eventually, the two groups meet up, and there’s a lot of joy for everyone as they reunite with each other, explain what’s been happening in the different realms, and introduce Eda, Lilith, and King to Camila. The Hexsquad is ecstatic to know that their loved ones are okay, as King confirms that he hasn’t seen any of them get puppetified (and King’s almost always there when that happens). However, once the shock has worn off, they realize that Philip is there, and they become incredibly suspicious about him. The situation is quickly explained, and the Eternal Oath between the two groups soothes them for now, but Lilith makes sure to tell Philip that she’s watching him for any suspicious business. The episode ends on the Collector, revealing that he’s seen the whole interaction.

In Watching and Dreaming, it would start shortly after Eda, Lilith, and Hooty were reunited with Luz and the rest of the Hexsquad. Philip is awkward and generally standing off to the side due to his mistreatment of both witches in the past and the growing realization that with the fight approaching, they will have to fight and either die or suffer, and Philip will have to turn against them in the end.

Eventually, the Collector would find the group and try to take King hostage for betraying him and working for his downfall. That would trigger an all out fight where everyone would scramble to get King free. Hunter would succeed by grabbing King and teleporting away after Amity restrains the Collector for a short period of time.

I’m not the best at describing fight scenes, but it would be a mess. Willow would be shooting vines at the Collector and making sure that everyone had the potential to get in range and get away if needed. Gus would be distracting, diverting, and attempting to visually overwhelm the Collector with his illusions. He might even try the bad memory thing again.

Amity would attack utilizing abomination matter and attempt to restrain the Collector’s movement. Hunter would have Flapjack and go about his usual teleportation-and-retreat based fighting style. King would use his Titan powers and Lilith would use potions (and Hooty) to destroy and hold back the puppet army. Eda and Camila would be doing their best to give the Collector hell while protecting their kids, and they’d be absolutely badass at it.

Philip would be fighting like the devil, and it’d be another opportunity to get a true sense and scale of his power. I’m thinking that because he’s the most durable and survived being liquified by the Collector, he jumps in to take most of the damage for the Hexsquad. Finally, Luz would be absolutely amazing with her glyph combinations now that Philip has had some time to teach her some of his combinations.

The fight would eventually end when Philip partially petrifies the Collector before Luz slams them with a glyph combination that nice again traps them in their prison. Then, the Hexsquad absolutely demolishes the tablet that’s used for the imprisoned and the real world to communicate.

There’s celebrations, laughing, crying, and hugging. People are hugging, and Amity and Luz kiss after the latter hugs her mother. Everyone’s celebrating, except for Philip. He’s standing off to the side and kind of staring at the scene before him. He’s seeing proof, actual proof, of the goodness of the witches and demons that he thought were evil. His entire life has been dedicated to a lie, and everything that he used to see as good is monstrous.

Philip is badly wounded, but he interrupts the festivities to attack the witches around him. Luz uses Stringbean to deflect the attack and begins fighting him back. With the wounds he has and the knowledge he’s been wrong his whole life, Philip is not fighting nearly as well as he does in his prime, making it easier for Luz to fight against him on more equal ground.

Luz asks him to stop, saying that there has to be some other way to resolve the situation. Now that she understands the situation and what caused it, maybe find another way. (Basically, she tries to pull a Steven Universe)

“How else could this have ended with how far I’ve gone?” Philip asks, continuing to fight. They continue to fight, the man getting more and more injured as they go on. Eventually, he’s too wounded to go on, and his body gives out beneath him. He passes on soon after. Luz is there when he dies, but she is not responsible for it. I want it to feel kind of somber, because he’s a pretty tragic character as a whole.

————

That’s my idea for Season Three if Philip and Luz had to team up. A lot of Thanks to Them comes from @chiconisroc’s “Was Not The Hero,” because it’s got the same sort of premise.

[bumblebbyxx]

HEY I WAS WONDER IF YOU COULD WRITE SOMETHING FLUFFY ABOUT HUNTER CONFESSING TO FEMALE Y/N AND THEY KISS?? EDA, LUZ, KING, GUS AND WILLOW WATCH HUNTER AS HE CONFESSES TO Y/N! Before Y/N could tell him how she feels about him too he apologize’s and says that that was a dumb idea and he runs away covering his face blushing. The next day Hunter tries to avoid Y/N for the whole day. Y/N decides to just go up to him when he’s all alone and finally tells him how she feels too and they kiss again!! WOOHOO!!

Hello! Thank you for your request! Here it is~

Tw: none

Contains: Fluff, adorable blushing, just a stuttering mess 

_____

Today was the day. Hunter stares at himself in the mirror, a little red with his own nerve.

“Okay..okay! You can do this, Hunter! Just..come up to her, and tell her how you feel. It won’t be hard! You used to be in the emperor’s coven, you used to battle criminals on the daily! What’s one confession to a really cool girl gonna do to your ego? Nothing, that’s what!” 

Even his lies don’t convince him. He sighs, running his hands through his hair. 

“Who am I kidding…Y/N isn’t just some cool girl…she’s the coolest! Ughh—”

Whatever. This day with everyone to the local county fair might give him some confidence. Hunter still had to get ready, after all. 

Yeah, he’s definitely not ready for this. 

_

It had been quite a day. Hunter definitely thought so. Willow and Gus ran off to go do a bet — ‘whoever pukes first before going through all the rides loses!’. Ew. And Luz and Amity went off to win some plushie for each other. Eda and King went around, scamming oblivious tourists. 

So now…he was alone. With Y/N. In a secluded spot behind the food court. They both sat together, quiet. 

Hunter glances over to Y/N. She was looking at the fireworks above, a soft smile on her features. He reddens, looking away. She was just so…pretty. How could he even start?

“Um..Y/N?”

“Yes, Hunter?” She looks over to him. The sounds of the fireworks seem to fade away when she locks eyes with him. Titan, he really was smitten. 

“I uh, have something to tell you.”

“Oh? Go ahead!” she grins. She looks at him curiously, fiddling with the hems of her dress. Hunter gulps. 

“So, you know how we’ve known each other for a while?”

“Mhm.”

“I, um, guess…I caught something in those years of knowing you.” He was just making himself suffer at this point, dragging the whole thing longer than it needed to be. Just say the words! 

Y/N continued to look at him with that awe-struck eyes. “And?” she asks gently, waiting patiently for his next string of words to come out. 

“...feelings. I..I caught feelings for you. Y-you’re just really, pretty, and really sweet, and you’re so cool, a-and..”

His face felt like it was on fire, red as a beet. Hunter stumbles on his words, while Y/N simply stares at him with those eyes, so alluring. Like she was waiting for him to get to the point.

He glances at her lips. A static shock goes against his heart, like it was trying to egg him on. 

“I..”

He leans closer. Y/N does the same. He could feel her breath on his lips, so close — it smelled like lavender, and a hint of cinnamon. From the pretzel she had eaten before, he thinks with a quiet chuckle. 

And without further ado, they lock lips. It was short, chaste, soft. It had been something Hunter found himself thinking about too much – how it would be lke to kiss her. And this..this was more than he could ever imagine. Something beyond his wildest dreams. 

He loved it. 

His heart gives a flutter before they breath apart. Suddenly shy, Y/N whispers, 

“What are you trying to say?”

“W-what I’m trying to say is—” And with that, Hunter knew he was fighting a losing battle— “NOTHING, I’M NOT SAYING ANYTHING! Y-YOU’RE CRAZY! SORRY THIS WAS A BAD IDEA. OKAY GOODBYE FOREVER.”

He stands up quickly, before running off, hiding his very red face in his hands, he looked like he was about to explode at that point. In his mind he’s firing off so many thoughts, all at once, still very flustered — oh, Titan, why did I say that, now she’s gonna hate me forever, I shouldn’t have said anything at all, and kissing her?! I’m so dead. 

Y/N was left to her own uncollected thoughts as everyone appeared from their hiding places. 

“I really thought he was gonna do it!” gasps Willow, as Gus lends her a handful of popcorn. “Jeez, he chickened out? Boo!” he adds. 

“Man, just when I thought he gathered up all his confidence,” Luz says with a shake of her head. 

“Poor Y/N, though, she’s utterly confused,” Amity says, pointing at Y/N. She seemed a little red herself, to be honest, still staring at Hunter’s fading figure. 

“He literally kissed her, what is it with you kids and your unnecessary drama?” Eda says, perhaps a little too loud. 

When Y/N turns around, everyone pops back into their hiding places.

“He…he likes me?” she says, reddening. Flustered. 

-THE NEXT DAY-

The blonde boy sighs. He had a lot on his mind. Too many thoughts clouding his rational thinking. He glances up at the wisteria tree above him. He liked the Hexside garden. A lot. It could clear his head. 

But not today. Not even the sweet scent of the wisteria could help him this time. 

“Skipping classes, are you?”

Hunter jolts at the voice — her voice — before looking her way. Y/N stands there, a soft, unreadable expression painted on her face. 

“How did you find me?” he asks first. 

She sits down beside him with a sigh. “Luz told me.”

“Of course she did..” he mutters to himself. 

It was quiet again. Neither knew what to say. When Hunter looks back at her, he realizes she was already looking at him. Surprised, he quickly glances away, cheeks red. 

“About last night…”

“Look, can we just…forget about what happened? I-I’m sorry, I made everything awkward between us–”

“No, no, not at all!” she smiles, touching his hand. “You…you put things into perspective with me, actually..”

“And? Wh…what do you think?” he was anxious, fidgeting and red. He didn’t know if he wanted to hear the next words that would escape Y/N’s lips or not. 

“I like you back, Hunter. How could I not? You’re so sweet, and very kind, and you’re stupidly adorable when you’re flustered.”

He blinks. 

What?

“..What?” He repeats the singular word in his mind. 

“I like you back, you big dork,” she repeats, grinning up at him, still red. “So, what do you say?”

“I..”

Another absentminded glance back to her lips, and Hunter gives in. The faint static of electricity blooms in his chest, the same one back at the fair…

And this time, she leans in. This time, she initiates the kiss. He didn’t think it possible to feel the fluttering in his heart again, not when it was so rare, but he did. He felt it. And suddenly he was a mess again, a stupid, dorky, awkward mess. He melts into the kiss, shutting his eyes. It was…perfect. This time, the kiss wasn’t too short, Hunter could focus on the different parts of it…how soft her lips were, probably from the chapstick she liked to use…lavender, that was it. That was why he tasted lavender…and the smell of the wisteria leaves seem to flutter and dance about the pair. 

When they both pulled apart, it was apparent Y/N herself was blushing. 

“I say..”

She waits for his response, with baited breath. 

“...that your chapstick tastes pretty good.”

She blinks, then laughs. Her laugh always was so angelic…Hunter, focus here! She giggles, slightly, still a little surprised but giddy at his joke. 

“Do you want the brand?” she teases. He rolls his eyes playfully, almost forgetting his nervousness. 

“Maybe I could try tasting it again? Uh, you know…just as a trial, to see if I wanna buy my own.”

“Be my guest.” 

They kiss again, under that wisteria tree. He was in pure bliss. Was this the feeling many spoke of? He finally understood. 

Under that wisteria tree, Hunter could see the secrets of the universe in her eyes, he could feel everything with her kiss. 

Under the wisteria tree. 

_____

Hope it wasn't too cringy lol. Thanks for your request again!!