#tried to make it as accurate as possible to what we know about belos

[goodwitchazurafan666]

Found a puritanism quiz. took it on behalf of belos.

the quiz, for those interested, can be found here: https://uquiz.com/quiz/zwSFsT?p=1470119

[waywardsunlight]

I don’t think Caleb meeting the witch is when he decided to go with her because we still need to account for the fire from Hopkin’s book and the fact that Caleb is depicted being friendly with a witch in said book and already had Flapjack + adult Caleb is portrayed with both long and short hair so at some point between meeting the witch and leaving Gravesfield, he cut his hair.

I think what’s more likely is that Caleb meets the witch and Philip gets jealous, which is why he’s hanging back. Caleb and the witch are friends and maybe she lives in Gravesfield for a minute, she gives him the materials to make flapjack, etc. Belos doesn’t really remember Flapjack’s name after so long and probably called him “that thing” because he’s made of magic and magic is evil whatever but he recognizes him on sight so I think he was probably around flapjack for quite some time. I don’t think Philip turned them in until later because Caleb would’ve been murdered too and I don’t believe he set out to kill Caleb, I think he just wanted him back until he realized it was too late and the Caleb he thought he knew was gone. 

My theory about the fire is that it’s a government building and it was possibly a jail or courthouse before it was converted into a historical society building and we associate Caleb + his wife with fire because they used fire to represent him dying, she’s shown holding fire, etc. So I think that Caleb and/or his wife started that fire as a distraction so they could escape after they tried to hang her for being a witch. The representations of her with the hat, etc came later and it’s not fully accurate because they probably didn’t know she was a witch until she was outed but I do think that there’s a lot more to this than teen Caleb just following her into the Demon Realm. 

[anistarrose]

King really was the King of Artists, and Belos stole his job: a mostly-serious TOH theory

First of all, a disclaimer: a lot of this is speculation for the sake of having fun speculating, and might be reaching a little, but I do think there’s a real chance of being partially correct! Also, I’ll be dividing this post into subheadings to make it a little more manageable, because I got a little obsessed with being thorough and it got long.

Part 1: Can King use magic?

The cold open in YBOS describes: “The Boiling Isles, born from the flesh and bones of a fallen Titan. This original magic was so potent, all life on the Isles evolved to wield magic too.” Now, the use of “wield” implies a conscious use of magic for attack, defense, and general betterment of an individual’s wellbeing — as opposed to creatures whose existence was made possible by magic, but cannot wield or benefit from it. (It’s debatable if Abominations fit that definition, but they are a logical exception, being constructs rather than lifeforms that evolved naturally.)

The implication here? Demons, like King, should be able to harness the Titan’s magic just like witches can. We receive corroboration in Witches Before Wizards, where Adegast the puppeteer demon uses potent illusion magic, and in Agony of a Witch, where Kikimora states that witches and demons both used to practice wild magic up until 50 years ago.

But King, of all characters, is by all accounts magicless. There are recurring references to how powerless he is — most notably in Once Upon a Swap, when Eda in King’s body tries to cast a spell and fails. (Even Hooty has powers in the form of Getting Long, but King’s best bet at self-defense is looking cute and hoping to cross paths with someone benevolent.)

In The Intruder, King can’t see the Light glyph as the Titan’s favor reveals it to Luz. This is probably Luz having a unique ability to see glyphs in nature, not King having a unique inability to see them — but one way or another, King is not a beneficiary of the magic the Titan shares with its inhabitants, even with those who can’t cast spell circles naturally.

Or rather, I would propose that he isn’t a beneficiary anymore.

Conclusion: King is unusually devoid of magic. Something happened that sealed his potential away.

Part 2: Well, why can’t King do magic?

At the time of writing this post (May 2021), we know two important-ish elements of King’s backstory will be addressed in S2 — his broken horn and his collar, which were both promised explanations by Dana in the AMA. I’m going to focus on his broken horn, for now.

But to connect that dot to anything, I need to establish a crucial worldbuilding detail: when demons are injured, they can revert to a less mature and less powerful form.

How do we know this? We’ve seen a couple examples: in Witches Before Wizards, Adegast shrinks after taking a sword to the head, and in I Was a Teenage Abomination, the Trash Slug reverts to its younger form after King pours salt on it. 

There’s also the curious case of the Snaggleback — there’s a taxidermied snout in Eda’s hallway that looks identical to the one in King’s book about demons, confirming the book is accurate after all.

This could mean the Snaggleback we met wasn’t fully grown, but just look at that Snaggleback’s cracked shell:

It’s a sign of another injury, just like what we saw happen to Adegast and the slug… and very reminiscent of King, with his damaged horn.

So what can these other demons tell us about King’s situation? Well, the Snaggleback had no idea about the species’ fearsome reputation and was surprised by the entry in King’s book, suggesting some kind of amnesia — aligning with King’s vague, inconsistent backstory. 

There’s also Adegast, who had magic before transforming but shows no sign of it afterwards — if he could still use magic in that form, he could’ve tried to escape with an illusory distraction, for example. And miraculously, that tiny detail from a dead one-off antagonist could actually explain so much about King and what happened to him.

Conclusion: King had magic, but he lost it when he was badly hurt, and reverted to his current form — left with only hazy memories of the power and influence he used to wield.

Or, if you’re not sold on him changing form: it’s his collar keeping his magic (and memories) sealed, like a pseudo-coven binding.

Part 3: What was King like before?

Let’s compare King to a different leader we all know and love/hate/fear. You know who replaces King in the intro, burning up a tableau of three other characters to reveal themself?

You know who else wears a mask with two horns, evoking the Titan’s skull, like King does? Or who else has a gold, circular emblem on their chest like King does? 

You know who has a tan color scheme with blue eyes, remarkably similar to what King looked like in concept art? 

Belos is a Greek word meaning “lord” or “master” that Wikipedia describes as “a title rather than a genuine name,” meaning that going around referring to yourself as “Belos” is an awful lot like going around referring to yourself as “King.”

King claims, in Covention, that his followers used to leave him offerings in fear of him. Belos debuts in a scene where one of his followers presents him an offering of a palisman on a platter. 

King uses teaching (especially in the early episodes, but as recently as The First Day) as an avenue to gain respect and subservience. Belos spread his “teachings” (literally referred to as such in YBOS) about magic and the Titan’s will to assert himself as a revered leader, and restrict the power of his subjects.

Allegedly, Belos speaks to the Titan, but the character we’ve really seen come closest to doing such a thing is Luz. She strikes up a dialogue not with words, but by carefully observing nature for glyphs, and experimenting with them to express herself — in other words, by exchanging works of art with the island.

And King doesn’t just claim to have been the King of Demons. He also claims to have been the King of Artists.

He draws all the time, clearly having a ton of fun with it, and even asks Luz for drawing advice in one of the Owl Pellets shorts. If there’s even a hint of truth to him being the former King of Artists, what would make more sense than him having spoken to the Titan, not just through innate magic but through recognizing and responding to the Titan’s messages in nature?

Conclusion: King was once what Belos now claims to be — the ruler of the Boiling Isles, and interpreter and executor of the Titan’s will.

Part 4: What happened between King, Belos, and the Titan?

This is the part where the timeline of events gets fuzzy (looking at you, Dana’s AMA response that King was “???” years old), but I still have some educated guesses.

King, and I say this with love, was not the greatest person at the start of the show. He was adorable and sympathetic and easy to forgive, but he had a habit of being cruel towards his students/servants (the Trash Slug in I Was a Teenage Abomination, the boot camp “recruits” in Adventures in the Elements, etc.) and just being selfish in general (ie, refusing to compromise with Luz on conflicting creative visions).

So, we can imagine why the Titan might cast King aside… or perhaps, be easily manipulated by someone like Belos into casting King aside, and try a new, “better” way of doing things.

Maybe Belos, with concealed ulterior motives, convinced the Titan to help him dethrone King, breaking his horn and forcing him back into a childlike state. Or maybe the Titan rebuked King without help, stripping him of his ability to see glyphs long before anyone dared to imagine forming covens, and the power vacuum remained in place for years before Belos seized the opportunity.

But King — no doubt with Luz’s help — redeeming himself, making amends with the Titan, and regaining the powers that made him the true King of Artists? That may just be one of the only things that can stop the Day of Unity, and put an end to the reign of Belos.

Part 5: Loose Ends and Alternate Possibilities

One detail that didn’t fit in here naturally is a book from Understanding Willow, with a title that translated from runes as “The Titan and His Spawn.” If King was descended from the Titan, that could explain both his importance to it and his resemblance to its skull.

I also want to give an alternative explanation for King’s lack of magic — he could just be really, really old, so old that he was born in the era when witches and demons only used glyphs because they’d yet to evolve spell circles. In this case, King’s role might’ve even been to facilitate the discovery of glyphs and teaching of wild magic, reinforcing his status as the most important person on the Isles.

And if King’s reign was, say, over a few thousand years ago, we’ve got a potential connection to the Bat Queen! She’s much too small to have been the Titan’s palisman, but would be perfectly sized for a giant, ancient, fully grown King.

Finally — on the off chance that King was a reincarnation of an ancient king, rather than a directly transformed one, then wouldn’t it be viscerally horrifying (in a very on-brand way for Dana and TOH) if the heart in Belos’s castle belonged to King’s original form? It’s a stretch, but Season 2 is confirmed to be so much darker that I feel like it’s not off the table, and that excites and terrifies me.

If you’ve made it this far, then thank you so much for reading! I’d love to know what you thought!

(I don’t think it’ll come up, but just in case, please don’t respond to this post with any spoilers for the Ep. 1-2 early releases! I’m trying to go in to those episodes unspoiled outside of trailers)

[stupid-stew]

The Blame Game

me when I have an idea and have never written fan fiction before and then accidentally write 3,000 words about it OOPSIES anyways I was like what if Eda got mad at Luz after YBOS and um could not get that out of my head

EDA

Eda was tired

So tired

Too much had happened over the course of the last day, she hadn’t had any time to think, but now she had a moment to herself, thinking was all she could do. All the events of the last 24 hours, heck the last 30 years, they all came back to her at once.

Lilith had cursed her? Her own sister? And then betrayed the emperor for her? First she’d been hurt by Lilith and then saved by her, and now Lilith was living under her roof? They’d barely talked at all in the last several decades, and now Eda was expected to just be ok with it? Just like that? After the screaming match they’d had not even an hour ago, Eda wasn’t sure there would be much talking at all for the next few days, not like she wasn’t used to it. There was too much to unpack with her sister right now, she felt too hurt to give it any more of her attention. And Luz, poor Luz, oh that kid was going to be the death of her-

A quiet whisper of “Hey Eda?” interrupted her spiraling thoughts.

Eda sat up from her nest and saw the focus of her thoughts standing in her doorway, “What’s up kid?”

What was Luz still doing awake? It was too late, was she having issues sleeping too? It wouldn't be surprising, the kid was probably traumatized up the wall.

Luz moved her mouth, but Eda didn’t hear a word she said, still consumed by her own brain

Luz, her kid. Eda supposed that she might as well admit to herself she loved the kid at this point. But what was she thinking, breaking into the emperor’s castle like that? Didn’t she know she could have gotten herself hurt, others hurt. Eda got hurt, Eda got hurt beyond repair, she’d lost her powers. Her powers had been the only thing keeping her alive, keeping her sane. What was she going to do without her magic? She couldn't live without it, she was the most powerful witch on the boiling isles for titan’s sake, but what is a witch without her power? And if Luz hadn’t broken into the castle, regardless of her intentions, maybe Eda could have had a shot at keeping her powers longer, but no, Luz just had to play the hero didn’t she, everyone else be damned huh?

“Get out” Eda said flatly

“And th- what?” Luz said, startled and confused by the sudden interruption

“I said get out, I don’t want to see you right now” she replied sharply

“Eda I don’t understa-”

“Of course you don’t understand, why would you, why would you ever think about anyone else, you didn’t even think about the repercussions of breaking into the castle”

“Eda I promise I didn’t mean for any of this to happen I just wanted to…”

“No.” Eda cut her off abruptly “I know what you wanted, you wanted to play the hero, you wanted to be back in your imaginary fantasy world where nobody gets hurt and you can always save the day, you wanted to win, guess what kiddo, you won. You won and everyone else got to lose.”

“Eda, I don’t understand what you’re trying to say…” Luz trailed off with tears forming behind her eyes

Something in eda snapped.

“I’M SAYING IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU I MIGHT STILL HAVE MY POWERS, I MIGHT STILL BE MYSELF. IT’S YOUR FAULT LUZ. IF YOU HAD TAKEN EVEN A MOMENT TO THINK BEYOND HAVING TO BE THE ONE TO SAVE ME, THEN YOU WOULDN’T HAVE NEEDED SAVING AND I COULD STILL BE LOOKING FOR A CURE. LUCKY YOU, I NO LONGER HAVE ANY MAGIC TO SAVE MYSELF SO MAYBE YOU CAN STILL BE THE HERO YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO BE AFTER ALL. I. DON’T. WANT. TO. SEE. YOU. RIGHT. NOW.”

There was a stunned silence after those last words, Eda slapped her hand over her mouth, shocked at her own outburst, and Luz doubly as hurt by the words. She didn’t know where that had come from, of course she knew that Luz hadn’t meant for any of this to happen, it wasn’t the kid’s fault Eda was cursed, much less her fault that Eda was a wanted criminal who had gotten herself caught. It was her choice to go save Luz from Lilith, even when the kid was being pressed into spikes she was more worried about the older witch than her own wellbeing.

“Luz-” Eda said, taking her hand away from her mouth to reach out towards the now shaking teen, not sure how to even begin to repair the damage she had just caused.

“No, it’s ok.” Luz cut her off, her voice breaking, “I’ll give you your space, I’m sorry.”

“Kid wait-”

The door shut with a quiet click, once again leaving Eda alone in the silence with her thoughts. She fell back into her nest.

Shit.

LUZ

Luz wasn’t sure what had just happened. She had never heard Eda yell at anyone like that before, well now with the exception of Lilith, and herself.

Was it something Luz had done? She was just telling Eda about how she had fought Belos, maybe if she replayed the events in her head…

*5 minutes earlier*

Luz stood outside the massive door to Eda’s room, not sure whether or not to enter. Eda was under a lot of stress, that had to be taking a toll on her, maybe she should just walk away and come back tomorrow…

No, this can’t wait, Eda needs to know

Luz sighed and reluctantly stepped into the doorway. Eda was laying down in her nest with her eyes closed, was she asleep?

“Hey Eda?” Luz asked in a whisper, not wanting to wake the witch if she was finally resting.

Much to Luz’s surprise, Eda sat up. “What’s up kid?”

Eda’s voice had sounded warm, which was a shock to Luz, she had half expected Eda to be mad at her, titan knew she blamed herself enough for the two of them already, but her voice also sounded empty. Maybe Luz was making a mistake, she should leave Eda alone for a little while longer. No, it was probably better to get it over with.

“Hey I’m sorry to bother you, but I need to tell you something.” Eda didn’t respond, so Luz took that as a sign to keep going. “Ok so you know how you gave me the portal key? When you and King and Lilith were up on the platform, Belos wanted to speak to me alone.” she paused, waiting for some kind of reaction, receiving none. “He wanted the portal, and I gave it to him, don’t worry, I set it on fire… which kind of means that I’m stuck here, and th-”

And then Eda had gotten mad, really mad. Was she mad about the portal? No of course it wasn’t about the portal, it was about Luz. Eda was mad at Luz. Eda hated her, maybe she should just leave, spare Eda the reminder of who made her lose her powers every time she saw Luz’s face. And the worst part is that Eda was right, she had gotten too caught up in trying to save Eda that she forgot that she could have gotten hurt. Maybe all those people back home were right, she was too caught up in her fantasy wor-

“OUCH”

Luz ran into something, more accurately, someone. She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn’t been looking in front of her and had run right into Lilith.

“Oh my titan, Luz I am so sorry are you ok?” Lilith fussed over her, seeming genuinely worried about Luz

“What do you care.” Luz scoffed, immediately regretting her words when she saw Lilith’s face drop at her words. “I’m sorry, I guess I should be asking if you’re ok as well seeing as I was the one that ran into you”

“Oh, I guess we are both at fault then, seeing as I wasn’t watching my step either, nonetheless I do apologize. What are you doing up so late? Does Edalyn not have a bedtime set for you?”

Luz took mild offense to the fact that Lilith thought of her as such a child, but most of the pain came from the fact that Lilith thought Eda still cared about her enough to make sure she got proper sleep. Instead of admitting that to Lilith, Luz settled to retort with “I was just coming back from her room, what are you even doing in the house? Didn’t eda strictly forbid you from coming in here until she says otherwise?”

Lilith chuckled slightly at that, which caught Luz off guard, but Lilith’s reply quickly caught her thoughts away from that “I suppose you’re right, but I heard screaming and wanted to make sure nobody was hurt, I guess if you were just in her room then you’re both probably fine, perhaps you could tell me what that was all about?”

And then Luz lost it.

LILITH

Lilith wasn’t sure what to do. Luz hated her, had every right to, but as she stood in the dark hallway with the teenager wrapped around her waist and sobbing, let’s just say she was more than a little bit confused. She expected a lot of emotions from Luz, anger, hatred, rage, was screaming an emotion? Maybe it should count as one. But this? This was very very far down on the list.

“Luz? What’s wrong?”

The girl mumbled something in between sobs into her dress, but it was completely inaudible.

Lilith continued to stand there with her arms out and away from Luz for another minute, not wanting to touch the girl and make her uncomfortable, and at an utter loss for how to comfort her. Not even a day ago they had been seated on the floor of a clearing in the human world while Lilith had shamefully explained herself, how had she ended up here?

Slowly, Lilith placed her hands on the younger girl’s shoulders and pushed her away enough to see her face, Lilith was horrified to see the girl had been really sobbing, hard, her face barely visible in the dark somehow still managed to show levels of pain she didn’t think were possible for someone so young.

“Luz, ” Lilith said as clearly as she could while keeping her voice soft “what’s wrong?”

She listened quietly as Luz tried to explain to her the conversation she had just had with Eda. Lilith was shocked. She had never expected Eda to yell like that at Luz, she had barely seen them interact, but she still knew that her sister cared deeply for the human, and had never expected that sort of outburst to happen, especially in Luz’s direction. Lilith knew that Eda didn’t mean it, but did Luz know that? Of course she didn’t. Lilith was used to Eda yelling at her, she took it and understood where she was coming from, but for her to snap at Luz like that? Something had to be wrong.

“Luz, look at me” Lilith looked down at the still crying girl wrapped around her waist, waiting for her to make eye contact before kneeling down on one knee to get eye level with her while still keeping her hands on Luz’s shoulders. “I need you to listen to me, ok?” Luz nodded, wiping her eyes. “Ok, this is absolutely not your fault. None of it. I don’t know why Edalyn has decided to place the blame on you, but she was wrong to do so.” Luz didn’t look convinced. Titan, Lilith thought, this girl must have really taken what Eda had said to heart. “The blame is on me, Edalyn, and Belos. Not. You. I am responsible for Eda’s curse and capturing you, for which I will never stop apologizing. Eda and I are responsible for the battle and any harm that came to you during it. I am responsible for capturing Eda, Belos is responsible for her losing her powers, even I played a part in that. None of that is on you. At all.”

Luz looked at her blankly, Lilith was unsure what to do, she had never been good with words, had she said something wrong?

“Promise?” Luz asked softly

Lilith looked at the girl in front of her, the girl who had put her life on the line for her sister, the girl who had fought the emperor and ultimately won, in all her years in the coven she had never seen Kikimora look that terrified, and Belos was a scary man, this kid was so strong, and here she was, asking the woman who had put her life in danger out of spite, for a promise.

Lilith raised her hand and drew a dim blue circle in the air, grabbed Luz’s wrist, and pulled her hand through it. “I promise none of this was your fault, and I will do everything in my power to make sure any part of it that was mine gets remedied in full.”

Their hands glowed faintly for a moment before the light went out.

“So,” Lilith began, “what do you say we get started on that promise?”

Luz, still holding onto Lilith’s hand, nodded and allowed the witch to walk her down the hallway, back to the doors where this had all begun.

EDA

Shit Shit Shit

Eda had spent the last half hour trying to think of any way to make up with Luz, she had never meant to say any of that at all, she didn’t blame Luz, not at all, she blamed herself, and Lilith, and Belos, but mostly herself

For the second time that night, Eda found her thoughts interrupted by someone in her doorframe, this time though there was no word of warning, just a silhouette.

“Lilith?” Eda asked, squinting to try and see her mystery visiter, splitting the curse must have split her night vision as well, add that to the list of awful things that had happened

“Yes.”

It was a simple reply, but enough to make Eda jump out of her nest, “What the hell Lily, I thought I told you so stay out of here, what if Luz saw you?”

“Actually…” Lilith started before tugging lightly on something out of the door frame, bringing luz out from behind the wall.

She’s been crying was all Eda thought.

“Lily I swear to titan if she has even a scratch on her-” Eda began to threaten, but then she remembered. “Oh”

“Yeah, I ran into her in the hall,” her sister replied, “can we come in? I think you have some explaining to do”

Eda nodded sadly, seeing Luz this upset, knowing that she was the one who had caused this, it was almost too much, and when Eda got upset, she had a tendency to run her mouth, so she just started talking as soon as Luz had gotten sat down and Lilith had left the room.

“Look kid, I’m sorry. I know that doesn't even begin to make up for what I said, but I mean it. None of this is your fault, I mean you could have been a little more careful, but the blame isn’t yours. I was having a rough time, which isn’t an excuse for the things I said, but I got mad and snapped at you. I wasn’t even mad at you, I was mad at myself, and I took it out on you and that was wrong of me. I was upset about the loss of my magic, it meant a lot to me, but you need to know that it’s not your fault it’s gone. I’m sorry. I was playing the blame game and you’re the one who lost, even though you weren’t the one playing. You didn’t deserve me yelling at you like that and I am so so so-”

“It’s ok.” Luz cut her off.

“-rry. What?”

“It’s ok Eda. I get it. I know you were mad, and I wish you hadn’t said those things, but I know it wasn’t my fault.” Luz said, looking the older witch right in the eyes.

Eda sighed a heavy sigh, “Good.” They looked at each other for a moment before Eda remembered. “What were you in the doorway for?”

“I had something to tell you, but I think it can wait until morning.”

“Luz, I think it is morning” Eda chuckled, looking out the window to see the sun on the horizon.

“Then it can wait until the afternoon!” the teenager exclaimed back.

Luz got up to leave, but Eda grabbed her by the wrist “and just where do you think you’re going?”

“Back to my room? Eda I have to sleep.”

Eda yanked her wrist, pulling her back into the nest “what a coincidence, I have to sleep too! Maybe we could have an apology nest party?”

Luz laughed, slightly taken aback by Eda’s sudden affection, but relieved to see that she was actually sorry and didn’t mean any harm. “Fine by me.”

“Love you, kiddo.”

“I love you too, Eda.”

They lay in silence for a moment before Eda startled Luz by yelling “LOVE YOU LILY!”

There is a sudden scrambling outside of the door and the sound of a witch’s footsteps could be heard retreating back down the stairs.

“How did you know she was still listening?” Luz asked between giggles

“She never was a quiet walker, it would have been hard for me to miss her walking away”

That was the first good sleep Eda had in years, no thoughts eating away at her, no nightmares, no curse dreams, just her and her kid.

read @novelist-becca’s alternate ending!!!!

[sepublic]

Who sold the Curse to Lilith?

           A while back, @loosescrewslefty pointed out to me that Tibbles’ shop, which he specifically cited as having been passed down through generations, is named Mud and Sundry. Mud and Sundry was located in the Night Market… Lilith bought her curse from the Night Market… Tibbles sells an elixir that cures said curse at exorbitant prices, and he is a remorseless, opportunistic capitalist. We’ve all wondered why it was called a Curse of Feathers and MUD… And the stand is called MUD and Sundry. You do the math.

           Though, if this theory is correct, then it’s worth noting that it was probably Tibbles II who sold a young Lilith that curse- We know Tibbles III is a Witch, and according to Dana, witches have about the same lifespans as humans. I’m not entirely sure Tibbles III’s age, but he doesn’t seem to be that old- At least, he was probably a child when Lilith was. So it’s more than likely that his father was in charge of Mud and Sundry, and thus sold the curse to Lilith in this theory.

           So, we’ve got the scummy family of capitalist pigs, who literally create the conditions that others need a cure for- But said cure isn’t permanent and has to be constantly bought across one’s entire life, because the curse itself is permanent. I’m not saying Tibbles could potentially become the most reviled character in this entire show, even moreso than Adegast or Odalia and Alador for me… At least, I’m not saying this UNLESS the show confirms that it was his bloodline that caused this mess. And if so, then I hope that Tibbles straight-up died and was painfully devoured alive by his own animals, back when Eda dumped those crab apples on him.

           Like, let’s be real here- Lilith is definitely terrible for what she did back as a kid, BUT! The important thing to remember is that Lilith legitimately thought the curse would last for a day, and only hinder Eda’s magic; She couldn’t have ever imagined the curse lasting for the rest of Eda’s life, which it would also shorten… Nor could Lilith have anticipated the curse turning Eda into a beast as well. Lilith was willing to curse her sister for a day- NOT for the rest of her life, nor was Lilith willing to shorten that life either. The side-effects of that curse were out of her hand, but keep in mind that Lilith had a VERY different intent…

           What I’m saying is- Screw the dude who sold a child a curse. Screw the dude who willingly, knowingly sold this kid a curse, knowing exactly the kind of damage it’d cause- And screw them for not even having the decency to be upfront and honest about the severity of this curse, especially when you know this kid is going to be using it on someone. ESPECIALLY if the kid thinks it’ll last for a day, VS someone’s entire existence… If you’re going to sell a kid something that can and WILL permanently ruin a person’s life, at least be honest about it! I’m gonna be honest, I’m way angrier at whoever sold Lilith the curse, because this is something they did for a living, and something they chose to do; And I have no sympathy for them even if they were dirt-poor, because…

           Curses explicitly hurt and ruin people’s lives. That’s literally their only, primary function. Lilith can at least reassure herself because it’s supposed to be temporary, and she’s only doing it once, and by herself. Whoever sold her the curse was a bastard who enabled this for other people, who no doubt caused a lot of people pain for money- And they enabled others to do the same, horrible things. And, if they couldn’t even be accurate about the severity of their curses, then this seller likely got a lot of people to cross lines they never would’ve otherwise- You know, like Lilith herself. They sold permanent curses, stuff that can’t be taken back for people who justifiably underestimated their severity, stuff that forces you to basically sell your soul to afford elixirs and treatment. This seller legit ruined Lilith and Eda’s lives, and shortened Eda’s especially, and I just…

           LOOK. I really hope that after that incident… I really hope that Lilith tracked down that seller. And confronted them over their dishonesty, and how it ruined Eda’s life. Considering she tried so hard to cure Eda, you know she would’ve at least tried. And as a member of the Emperor’s Coven… Really, who’s to say Lilith didn’t take her revenge? The Night Market is a hive for illegal activity- She’s fully in her authority to arrest someone, not that an enforcer of a dictatorship needs much justification anyway. And, I’d like to imagine that Lilith got her revenge, for her AND Eda’s sake… Maybe she pulled strings to get the seller petrified. Maybe she offered them to Emperor Belos himself, as a sacrifice and a source of magic bile to drain, if the seller had any…

           Because screw that person. Seriously. I’m already incensed at them as-is for the nature of their profession and their willingness to sell to children, but now it’s personal because we see firsthand, intimately, how much a curse can screw people over- Not just the victim, but even the caster, who can get tricked into the guilt of crossing a line they never would’ve! And if it was Tibbles II who sold Lilith the curse, and if Lilith DID get revenge by having him killed or imprisoned for the rest of his life, sentenced to a fate worse than death ideally… I have to wonder how this would shape Tibbles III’s feelings about the Emperor’s Coven, and about the Clawthornes.

          Does he recognize Eda as the sister of his father’s killer, low-key the cause of his father’s death? Does he resent Eda for this, is there another level to his conflict with Eda? He never brings it up, that’s worth mentioning… Though it’s possible Lilith came in and took out his father, before a younger Tibbles even realized who the culprit was. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lilith would’ve done this early into her career in the Emperor’s Coven, which likely meant that she’d be wearing the standard uniform and thus be unrecognizable.

           Would Tibbles know that it was the Emperor’s Coven who had a hand in this? Does he have feelings about giving them what they want- Or does he just not care, because profit is all that matters in the end? I wouldn’t be surprised if he was so utterly remorseless that he didn’t even bat an eye at his father’s death because it just meant getting inheritance. That in the end it’s all just business, and it’s his father’s fault for being so traceable and thus opening himself to a customer’s revenge. Then again, Tibbles DOES emphasize how Mud and Sundry was passed down through the generations, which implies some value of his familial connections and pride towards them. Who can say, besides Dana herself of course…

           All I’m saying is- I’m in the mood for bacon, all of a sudden. And if the seller IS still out and about, I really want a bonding episode between Eda and Lilith as they utterly eviscerate them. Maybe give them a taste of their own medicine… Or shall I say, curse? Really BOTH, if Tibbles II sold curses with the intent to make people reliant on the elixirs he brewed.

[sepublic]

A witch loses a true...

           Recently, @disneytva released the title for another episode; ‘Enchanting Grom Fright’, which by itself this is already a big deal, but no surprise; We know there’s going to be a Grom episode from the latest sneak peek. But what IS interesting is the specific title, because this means that all of our known episodes spell out;

           “A witch loses a true” with three letters left to fill in.

           If we ignore the possibility that Seasons 1 and 2 form one sentence (and thus the Season 1 sentence will be incomplete), this means we have only three-letter words to worry about; This narrows things down QUITE a bit and makes speculation a lot easier.

           And, we can assume that Enchanting Grom Fright comes right after Understanding Willow, because I’ve considered the possibilities if the word wasn’t ‘true’, and none of them have an E while making sense (I mean there is Truster but I already went over that). Mind you, this episode title may not be accurate- Really Small Problems was initially leaked as Mini-Problems by @disneytva, and they aren’t an official source. But considering how well ‘true’ fits into the sentence, and how much the title itself makes sense… Let’s for now operate on the assumption that Enchanting Grom Fright is accurate.

           (Even so, I could always be wrong)

           So after scrolling through a surprisingly comprehensive list of all three-letter words, I came up with a couple that might finish off our mysterious sentence;

Luz

Mom

Pal

Owl

BFF

Vow

Kid

Spy

Gay

Hug

Bud

Law

Win

Pet

Art

Sin

           ‘A witch loses a true Luz’ would be interesting, as this implies that Luz is cut off from either Eda or Amity. Given how Lilith has taken King hostage, perhaps Luz is captured, or Camila arrives to take her back to the human realm, leaving Eda behind. Or, Eda loses Luz… because she herself is captured. None of these options are pleasant, and if we’re being real, I don’t think the rest of them are going to be.

           ‘A witch loses a true mom’ is also concerning, as this can apply to Eda, who may get captured or leave everyone behind after a permanent transformation. Alternatively, Camila is captured- Or if we want to try a darker option… Perhaps Camila disapproves of Luz’s adventures and tries to bring her back home, separating Luz and Eda. Alternatively, Luz ends up arguing with Camila, and decides to stay in the Demon Realm forever, with Camila sent back to the human realm while Luz closes the gateway and decides never to return home. Thus, she loses her ‘true’ mother, Camila. And for all we know, this could be Amity losing her ‘true mom’, Lilith, who is likely a better parental figure than Mrs. Blight. If Lilith keeps failing, Belos may become displeased with her…

           Pal, BFF, Bud- They all mean the same thing, so let’s condense them together. Given how King is captured by Lilith at some point, this could refer to him; Perhaps King DOES have a hidden importance we don’t know of. If he WAS the Boiling Isles Titan, or another powerful figure, perhaps Belos learns about King and switches priorities towards capturing him. ‘A witch loses a true pet’ could also apply to King, although… He doesn’t like being called a pet. Regardless, King could become a specific target for the Emperor’s Coven, and not just because of his association with Eda. I imagine in safer circumstances he might be flattered by the attention.

           ‘A witch loses a true owl’ could apply to the aforementioned scenarios of Luz and Eda being separated, but it could also apply to Owlbert- Or maybe even Hooty, who is seen injured at some point. And given the speculation of him being an Owl Deity of sorts by @fermented-writers-block, this could make him a target for the Emperor’s Coven- Or, the Owl House itself is lost by our main protagonists, who no longer have a home!

           ‘A witch loses a true kid’ could apply to Luz, or maybe Amity cutting ties with Lilith after seeing her conflict with Luz… But ‘true kid’ is an unusual term, so this is unlikely.

          There’s also ‘A witch loses a true vow’, which might suggest that an Everlasting Oath from Covention will come up. Perhaps Amity casts another one, or it’s Eda, or Lilith, or maybe even Belos, who’s punishing Lilith for her failure after she promised to capture Eda! The results may not be pretty…

           ‘A witch loses a true spy’, perhaps Belos loses Lilith’s loyalty after she realizes the corruption of the Coven System! Or, maybe Lilith tries to use Amity to get to Eda, but Amity herself has a turn of heart and makes a stand!

           ‘A witch loses a true gay’ is just a joke. Let’s be real, Disney would never allow Dana. I’m just including it here because of Luz and Amity’s recent interactions and all… ‘A witch loses a true hug’ could also mean that Luz and Amity get interrupted at some point, but I dunno. Don’t take this bit seriously.

           ‘A witch loses a true win’, maybe Eda is close to defeating Belos, or her sister, but loses at the last second, leading to disaster. Or Lilith/Belos fail to capture Eda- Or maybe Lilith tries to defy Belos and almost gets away with it, only to lose and possibly be captured/forced to flee.

           ‘A witch loses a true art’, maybe could mean the arcane arts of magic? Luz loses the ability to perform the original form of magic? This one’s a stretch, I’m just trying to account for all possibilities here. Similarly, ‘A witch loses a true law’ could mean that something happens involving the Coven System, perhaps people begin to defy Belos’ order. And ‘A witch loses a true sin’ doesn’t really mean anything that I can think of, it just sounded cool so I included it.