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existencebringsonlypain · 10 months

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I love Hunter's ominous "BWAAA" audio cue he has in s2. It's loud and in your face when you see him the first times, as the Golden Guard, and makes you think, "oh no! villain!" I only realized this recently, but it actually ends up being used in the music itself.

It continues being used throughout the episodes-

Escaping Expulstion

Hunting Palisman (Notably, it only starts when he's actually being menacing, not when he's just whistling or being blasted off his ship.)

Until we get to Eclipse Lake, where it's barely used at all. Because he's imprisoned and unmasked the whole time. The only time it's actually used is when he betrays Amity, because he holds some semblance of power. Contrast that to the fight, where Hunter's cue isn't used at all- he's got no intimidation factor, he's clearly desperate.

As far as I can tell, it's entirely absent in Any Sport in a Storm, which is great, as he's so absolutely pathetic the entire episode, it's great. Au contraire, it's used when he reveals he tricked them, the only time he DOES hold real power.

In Hollow Mind, it's used when he blames Luz for trapping them. It's there again when he approaches the CATTs, because he's hunting down criminals! He's being scary! It's gone after Luz confronts him, because it's from Luz's perspective, and she knows him. It's gone for the rest of the episode.

I don't think it's ever there in Labrynth Runners either, as he's entirely without power in the situation. He's scared out of his mind.

And in Clouds on the Horizon, it's back! But only when you first see him, where he's smirking like an idiot and trying once again to act like he's NOT scared out of his mind. It's insanely comedic, because we all know he's just had two panic attacks within days of each other. He's perhaps the opposite of scary.

And then, it's gone. Forever, I think. From then on, he stops pretending. He's just a dorky kid now, and he's terrified. He's given up on pretending he's not. That music cue was for the Golden Guard. This is Hunter.

It's great musical storytelling! We can HEAR his character arc. We listen to how he changes, his missteps, his failures. It's always fun to hear.

Side note, when Viney goes "I had an opening for one" in ASIAS, the music does the whole violin strike cue, then immediately cuts back to the sentimental music. It's great timing.

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welcometogrouchland · 1 year

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I also think it's nice that they made Camilla a sci-fi nerd and Luz a fantasy nerd. They're genres that are often seen as completely opposing one another by many people, which is what we're led to believe about Luz and Camilla in season 1. Luz is silly, nerdy, frequently in over her head and irresponsible and loves the boiling isles. We're led to believe that Camilla is the normal, conventional TV mother who'd be disgusted and terrified by the demon realm if she saw it.

Then yesterday's lie gives us a lot of nuance to this, and we realize that while they're still very different and now on opposite sides of a conflict, both mother and daughter are incredibly kind people (seen in their treatment of Vee) who love each other but struggle to make the right choices without hurting one another.

Then thanks to them drops all this Camilla characterization and we realize! She was a nerd too this whole time! The wedge between Camilla and Luz is motivated by past traumas and grief! and for the future has them switching sides on the central conflict of where Luz should stay (Camilla now wanting Luz in the demon realm because it's what's best for her, and Luz believing that staying in the human realm is what's best for the people she loves). They finally talk and realize that, like Willow pointed out earlier in the ep, the two are so alike. Camilla reveals that she's a secret nerd too! That she had a hard time growing up and accidentally hurt Luz trying to save her from the same fait! It's so important to me that Camilla keeps calling Luz a good witch. It's affirming her interests and goals, reminding her that she's just as good as the hero of her favorite story. And Luz finally only realizes that she wants to be understood...when she's finally able to understand her mom. When she realizes that the woman she loves and admires is just as much of a nerdy screw-up as her and that there's hope for her. Her palismen ends being multiple animals at once, showing both how Luz making unconventional choices (like carving an egg) keeps paying off for her and how her potential is limitless now that she finally knows and accepts her own goals, but to me it also reminds of the fact that Camilla is a vet and passed a love of all the weird and unliked animals (like wolves, possums, snakes, etc) to her.

It's just so so sweet and it really shows how much love and thought the crew put into this mother daughter storyline (FTF haters are not welcome on this page, respectfully). I can't wait to see how both of these misunderstood but healing women (who radiate "little/big sister" and "mom" energy respectively) are gonna interact with a) the lonely, easily manipulated and well intentioned but ignorant collector (a mix of both their interests as a magic being with a space motif! I just realized that lol) and b) the nasty puritan white man who's really obsessed with conforming to society's norms even when it literally doesn't benefit him at all.

Anyway, I believe in noceda( AND clawthorne 👀) family supremacy 💙

#the owl house #toh #toh spoilers #luz noceda #camilla noceda #this isn't proofread so if there's words missing or misspellings or somethings unclear feel free to mention #but this is just a messy thought dump #I have a ROUGH WEEK. I wish there was a more positive vibe in the fandom rn (although i kinda get it but also :( sad)#but there isn't one i will create it #tentatively I don't have a responsibility to do that I just wanna talk about things i noticed and like #i am going to post reqs just u wait. bitch!#also uhhhh other things i thought while making this post but couldn't include:#hunter and gus being fantasy trekkies is really funny and cute but also fits really well with both of their characters #gus has always been in love with the human realm and this is the ultimate neat little bow on that.#he's dressed as a character he relates to (captain avery trying to get back home to the family he loves) and his interest is uniquely human #bc sci-fi is kinda uniquely rooted in/associated w/ the human realm in toh. even in something like Belos' steampunk tech #SPEAKING OF. hunter oh my GODDD #he gets so attached to the human realm in TTT bc he's finally somewhere safe (he's always been entrenched in the most-#-toxic parts of the demon realm and it's culture which is ironically propelled forward by one humans influence)#and it's like a part of him is reclaiming his weird split heritage. he loves magic and he loves sci-fi and he's silly abt both #he's not a witch or a human and he's happy. or at least he will be #anyway. i love this shows relationship to fiction it is sweet and comforting and funny

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sepublic · 1 year

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Water as a motif?

I must say, I find the visuals of Belos corrupting the isles to be surprisingly beautiful; His growths resemble coral, the green invokes seaweed... With the dust specks, the Collector, and String Bean floating by, it really does feel like we’re underwater in these scenes.

And that makes Luz’s light an interesting contrast; Deep sea light is usually a sign of predation by anglerfish, while coral offer refuge. But in this case, it’s reversed, with the coral being all-consuming, the light freeing and saving lives. Though in this scene, I guess Luz’s light does connotate something negative, in this case her own death.

Likewise, Belos having a coral motif connects him to the ocean, which... For Titans, the ocean is an interesting place, given it’s associated with the Titan Trappers, who invoke the image of lobster trappers and other types of fishermen. Plundering the seas for prey and trophies, which the Titans end up being, as biblical Leviathans in their own right (It IS the Demon Realm), with the ocean being both their domain and their graveyard. Titan corpses feeding an entire ecosystem built around them is akin to real life whale falls!

Hunter drowns at the end of Thanks to Them due to Belos, and water’s association with conformity also occurs in Camila’s dream. The Demon Realm’s oceans are boiling and hazardous, and a portal for human pollution; Hell, Philip even discovered the Water glyph combo!

What am I getting at here? I dunno. Could just be the general incorporation of thalassophobia. The oceans as a source of nurturing life and even light, but also darkness and death; Beings live naturally within the water, only to have it invaded by outside, land-dwelling forces. Belos is liquidy, so maybe it’s the association of bodies of water as a threat... Witches were historically drowned, after all.

But there may be an exception with aerial bodies of water, in this case rain and clouds; The former of which represents the Boiling Isles and ultimately what rejects and does Belos in, while sparing Luz. Human rain is a sign of home, even if initially a tragic signal when Luz returned. Could be the water of the heavens VS the water that lies below.

The Demon Realm is Hell, and they say you burn in it after all... Just maybe not with fire. Maybe Philip is being associated with actual biblical Hell, hence his ties to bodies of water below. Water as hostile to witches is also interesting, because aside from the witch trials, we know the classic tale of the Wicked Witch of the West being melted by water, one of the most iconic associations for witches; And it’s Green Belos’ death that invokes this.

#the owl house #emperor belos #philip wittebane #boiling isles #analysis #meta #symbolism

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eldritch-spouse · 5 months

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You know I think Breg would benefit from having friends, one : to give his drunk father figure some rest and two : to have people stop or encourage him in his bullshit. Obviously having monster friends would be better for him, so I made a list of the people I think he could along with (and the ones he would chomp without regrets)

Friends :

Santi: this one is easy, Santi seems to be an easygoing person and a good friend to have. When he's not drooling over Breg, I think he'd give some really good tips about life and how to deal with his obsession (after begging for a threesome and getting punched in the face), if they got close enough, Santi could even help Breg forget about some of his insecurities in the way that he would put him at ease.

Grimbly : by association, he'd be intrigued by Breg, for the first few times, their first conversations would be "You're so tall !! No you're like huge" , "Well you're small like a...bean", but they get along just fine.

Fank-E : He's friends with everyone and he'll put a bunch of stickers on Breg and he lowkey annoy the shit of him at certain times but it will end up in this semi-consensual kinda forced friendship (who's more insistant him or Breg ? I guess we'll never know)

Gallon : Him and Egghead would have talks that would leave Eggy scratching his head and staring into the void, but they're nice to each other, Gallon might be a bit condescending in reaction to a how simple Breg's mind seems to be.

Middle ground

Patches : I hesitated as putting him as friend but I think his scientific interests would put Breg off

Belo : Belo is too polite and uptight, and his fixated stare can make Breg feel uneasy, they talk just fine

Sybastian : Syb just kind of mind his bussiness and keep it pushing but there's rare times where he growls a "hello" to Breg and keeps walking

Nebul : Nope, this only reason why they're not enemies is because Nebul is civilized, but the potions and his dominating nature would make Bregory avoid him like the plague

No fucking way :

Morrell : Their interest for the same thing (human) is diverging in two different directions, Breg is like "Humans are friends not food ! 😡" and Morrell is like "yUM sTEaK !", it's their relationship on a very surface level and I think Eggy would leave it at that

Hellion : Nah, they would fight and Breg would just bite that head off his neck

Vinnel : That punk would try to pull a prank on Breg, he would fall for it, get mad and then catch Vinnel and try to squish him like a stress toy, Vinnel would be in pain for a little while and finally leave Breg alone (or plot a terrible revenge)

Did it actually turned into a scale of friends to archnemesis of TCE? Yes. Am I proud ? Yes.

Here's the thing though.

One of the first things said about Breg is that he dislikes monsters. He glorifies humans and has a general aversion to monsters, finding them generally untrustworthy. This isn't to say there can't be exceptions, like Fasma, but Breg would probably have a much bigger drive to acquire human friends.

The problem with human friends is that it wouldn't take too long for him to cross boundaries if Breg is yet to meet his obsession.

With monster friends, you're also forgetting that Breg refuses to set foot in The Clergy in general. He's been there once with Fasma, didn't like it at all, vowed not to enter it again- He'd have to meet staff outside. I sincerely don't think many of these would work out all that well, certainly not Santi. The incubus' insistence on wanting to fuck him would make Breg really aggressive really fast. Grimbly's manipulation and cute talk would fall on deaf ears and unfortunately things with Gallon would be more akin to one-sided mockery. Fank-E would genuinely irritate Breg, but since he's a machine and not a monster, things might work out given he's moderately quiet.

Belo's aura as an angel might make Breg slightly more at ease, yet somehow hyperaware of the power himself, which would probably confuse the breeder a little. Patches would get himself torn in two horizontally if he doesn't contain his scientific interest around Breg, as it could trigger really intense reactions from the ex-captive. Morell and him would just brawl, correct.

Ironically, I see him as possibly getting along with Glauk, even if there's a barrier there in the sense Breg doesn't know how to swim properly yet. Glauk is relatively small and can't say weird things to him plus seems eager to share all kinds of trinkets people dump in the aquarium. This is a bit of an impossible scenario, unless Glauk is being transported outside for some reason or another.

#Morell oc #Gallon oc #Belo oc #Patches oc #Nebul oc #Sybastian oc #Vinnel oc #Santi oc #Grimbly oc #Fank-e oc #Hellion oc #Glauk oc #Bregory

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rantceratops · 1 year

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Rotating Vee and Hunter’s lost relationship dynamic that we were totally robbed of in my head and. Just having thoughts.

So in regards to the basilisk thing, I personally don’t think Hunter actually knew directly about the project. I know that the Golden Guard was Belos’s right hand, but Belos still kept many secrets from Hunter, and I cannot see any good reason why he would have let Hunter in on that project. He only let Hunter in on things on a need to manipulate basis, and this doesn’t seem like one.

Not to mention, Hunter as the Golden Guard was not shown in any of Vee’s flashbacks when she told Luz of her origins. We see Warden Wrath and regular coven scouts, as well as Belos himself. And yeah, you could argue, maybe Hunter was just a coven scout at the time and was one of the scouts with Wrath, but honestly? I don’t think so. If the creators had wanted us to make that connection, they would have just straight up shown the Golden Guard standing there or made sure his hair noodle was sticking out of a coven mask like in COTH.

If anything, I could only see Belos using Hunter to lead the search to try and find the escaped basilisks, without disclosing any other information about them other than just, find them and bring them back. And Hunter would of course obey. But even this thought might be wrong, given that when we see the basilisks hiding from the coven, we see only Belos himself with some elite scouts(the cone mask shape seems to be a higher rank?) seemingly out looking for them.

I’m so sad we got robbed of the plot with Vee being uncomfortable with Hunter around the house because of his association with the Emperor’s Coven. I’m assuming she would have just found out at some point that he was with them, that he was the Golden Guard. And I absolutely still understand her being uncomfortable with him just because of the association itself, even if he wasn’t directly involved. (Or perhaps she could potentially recognize his voice from when Belos sent the Golden Guard out to round up the basilisks for him.)

And I am so sad that we missed the development of them working through this uncomfortableness and eventually becoming good friends, maybe even feeling a special kinship because of both being created and used. I think Vee would, with TIME and talking, absolutely sympathize and understand how Hunter felt, and he her, because they both were created artificially and used by Belos.

GOD I love them. Vee’s little “Hang in there, Hunter!” just hits so much more knowing there was supposed to be a whole little plot there.

(Note that this is just my thoughts, Hunter COULD have very well been involved directly, but to me it just doesn’t seem to be the case? I could see it far more likely that if anything Belos sent him out after them, but did not directly involve him in their creation. Either way Vee has more than enough reason to be skeptical of/dislike/hate him at first, that’s for sure.) (Warden Wrath seems to have been the head of the operation, as an interesting fact. Not really relevant, just interesting.)

#ranty rambles #the owl house #vee noceda #hunter toh #hunter and vee friendship truther #Hunter and Vee sibs? maybe!#with time!#random basilisk thoughts #I wanna read fics for this

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asherisawkward · 8 months

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What mental illness does Philip have?

I’m just going to briefly list what I’ve noticed and what others have noticed for him. I am not trying to demonize or harmfully depict any of what I list, and I have several of the disorders that I’m listing while another suggestion was made by someone diagnosed with that disorder. Some of these aren’t actual disorders but are instead symptoms or behaviors I’ve noticed in him.

Having said that, I’ve noticed traits for the following:

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Related to the Grimwalker cycle of death and rebirth)

*Unspecified Schizophrenic Spectrum Disorder (hallucinations and “delusion” associated with the BI inhabitants)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Incredibly obvious)

Possible Trauma-Induced Memory Issues (Portraits in Hollow Mind)

Substance Dependence/Addiction (palismen)

Unspecified Anxiety Disorder (Dread and anticipation leading up to the expected betrayal of Grimwalkers, the creation and use of multiple back-up plans)

Major Depressive Disorder Symptoms (Lack of care for his own degrading state, inability to care about other things)

Lack of Regard for Safety and Health (Continued use of palismen, putting himself in dangerous situations [Eclipse Lake, Stonesleeper incident, betraying the Collector], continued use of curse despite negative side effects)

Lack of Care for Life/Possible Suicide Ideation (“I just need to live long enough to see this through,” indicates a lack of regard for his own life and a lack of plans after something that takes significant effort; when I was at my worst, I had this feeling of, “I’ll do this one last thing, and then I’m done” that he seems to mimic, and he doesn’t even notice or care that his body is decaying in WAD)

Self-Harm Issues (Cut his ears and carved glyphs into his arms, continued to absorb palismen and transform when it negatively affected his health)

*This is the diagnosis suggested by @streya-nova. I’ve read it, and they make a ton of great points. Additionally, one of my aunts has paranoid schizophrenia, and I’ve recognized some overlapping symptoms. Their discussion of this is in the link below.

I hope this all made sense for you!

#The Owl House #TOH #Philip Wittebane #Emperor Belos #Mental Illnesses #Trigger Warning: Suicide Ideation #Trigger Warning: Self-Harm #Ask

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that-ari-blogger · 4 months

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Witch Side Are They On? (Young Blood, Old Souls)

Hero and villain are nebulous terms, the definitions of which can be taken to mean literally any character. Although, almost everyone knows one when they see one. It's a vibes based classification. Nobody is trying to argue that The Joker is a paragon hero (except some people), for example.

Certain characters break from the mould, with some protagonists displaying more morally challenged motivations or methods, some villains being redeemed, and some "morally grey" heroes ending up being written as power fantasies and you can usually tell when that happens.

I find the classification of characters rather redundant, as people have a habit of being complex. Sure, I have met people who fit stereotypes to a tea, but they are the exception not the rule, and the more you get to know someone, the less tropey they seem to you.

So, instead, I would like to examine the actions that The Owl House frames as evil, as well as the point at which the series decides a character is no longer redeemable.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (The Owl House)

Because good and bad are subjective, and this is the internet, I am going to define heroic and villainous actions in this context as "behaviours that The Owl House presents as desirable and undesirable" respectively. Knowledge, expression and kindness are heroic in this context, and willful ignorance, cruelty, and repression are villainous. Ok?

These themes are really well emphasised by the light and dark motif going on. Luz's name literally means light, and she is very much associated with that concept through her magic.

Compare that to Belos, who has managed to spend the entirety of the series up to this point either in literal shadows or figurative ones. We haven't seen him outside in the daylight; we haven't even seen what he looks like yet. The man exists in darkness.

What I mean by this, is light reveals, shadows conceal. A light can bring hope, show you the way out, or let you glimpse the beauty of an artwork, if someone keeps you in darkness, your eyes will adjust eventually, but you won't be seeing the full thing.

Now, here's a question: what exactly is Lilith's motivation? The flashback gives her a history, and shows her actions and sacrifices, but it doesn't redeem her by any stretch of the imagination.

Lilith made a sacrifice for power. She has been chasing Eda because of Belos, and we will get to that. But the curse was her own misdeed, and I think its fascinating how the concept of willful ignorance plays into that.

"I thought it would just be for a day."

Now, I don't know what was on that scroll. Maybe it came with a sticky note that says, "guaranteed 24-hour magic removal or your money back". But, it takes some serious mental gymnastics to decide that the thing you wanted to do because you wanted to do it with someone was worth sacrificing that someone to achieve.

And when the curse turned Eda into the beast, it never occurred to Lilith to tell anyone. I think providing evidence of the magic that caused it might have helped to fix it, but Lilith kept it a secret.

Also, if you see a system that outcasts your closest family member and TURNS PEOPLE IT DOESN'T LIKE TO STONE, and you devote yourself to upholding that system "because of all the good it does", you are deliberately ignoring some major factors.

So, Lilith engages with the theme on two fronts, she keeps the world in the dark about her own actions, and she actively ignores things about the world she is in, and that is the key here. Lilith is presented as highly intelligent and rational, but someone the clever should surely notice some things that she very much doesn't. Which leads me to believe that she is either unintelligent and rational, or intelligent and irrational.

I don't think Lilith is a villain in the series, entirely. I think she is an antagonist, and thematically opposed to the heroes. But the motivation for the specific acts of antagonism are, fundamentally, altruistic. She wants to heal her sister. The problem is that being motivated by guilt and compassion doesn't square with the actions she has taken to get to this position. So naturally, she ignores the incongruities until she runs face first into them, and her redemption comes later through her actions and decisions to seek out and understand.

Belos plays an interesting role in this as well. I mentioned in my previous post that Belos manipulates her agency out from underneath her, and I stand by that here for two reasons. 1) Belos is the system she has bought into. He has directly and intentionally, through propaganda, convinced a world that wild magic is bad and that sacrifices must be made. 2) He found a woman who was conflicted about her actions and saw a way to get rid of the most powerful witch in the boiling isles.

So, Belos too features the theme of wilful ignorance, imposing it on the boiling isles, and making use of Lilith's blind spot to further his own goals.

I've mentioned Belos' restriction of expression in the past multiple times, but there is one more of the core themes that the emperor engages with, and I think the way in which he does that is rather funny. Belos is cruel, and it is constantly tripping him up.

So, what spur's Lilith's redemption? She gets shown her actions are wrong immediately after performing them, so it can't be realisation. So, what is it that prompts her to reconsider her life choices? What causes the leader of the coven heads to bail? Lilith backs out of the coven system because Belos is a jerk.

Belos could have kept the manipulation going. He could have said that he tried and failed to heal Eda's curse. He could have said that Eda attacked him and left him no choice. But instead, he decided to gloat.

"Ah, taking her to the healing ceremony?" "I will not be healing her." "But, you, promised me." "Don't be so naïve, Lilith."

This isn't even the only time the man's desire to gloat self-sabotages him in this episode. So, let's get to that fight scene.

"Okay, I'll play."

I feel the need to point out that Belos wins the fight part of this scene hands down. I recommend UnholyBasil's excellent video on this scene, but suffice to say, anyone with the power to instantly quadruple the animation budget for a moment is a terrifying threat, and Belos is definitely that.

Up until now, the emperor was just an ideological roadblock. The antagonist has been the coven system and the Emperor's Coven that want to restrict magic. Belos has simply been the guy at the head, the one Luz must symbolically defeat.

But now, Belos barely has to lift a finger, and Luz is on the back foot. She can't even touch him. And that is the key to why the ending of the fight is so cool. Belos is untouchable, emotionally and physically, so Luz does both. She puts a crack in his armour, not enough to defeat him, but enough to break the facade he has put up and make him look like an Undertale character.

Remember what I said about self-sabotage? Well, it happens again here. Here is someone who is trying to kill Belos, someone with magic that he has seen. And he decides to waltz up to her and present his face as a target, just because he wants to needle at her mind, the man would have succeeded had he been intelligent.

That is my takeaway from Belos. He is an eejit with delusions of grandeur. Don't get me wrong, the man is a decent manipulator, but his inability to look past himself and his need to be cruel repeatedly puts a dampener on his whole mastermind shtick.

Also, he didn't think to check for the obvious glyphs on the side of the suitcase he was given, he just assumed he had won and didn't feel the need to make sure. Are we sure this guy is clever and not just charismatic?

Now, I haven't talked about Luz or Eda much, and I think it's time to rectify that.

Lilith's character design is a mirror of her sister's. She is restricted in her dress, and perfectly symmetrical. Eda meanwhile is unkempt and wild, with the torn outfit making her look unbalanced and volatile.

The Clawthorn sisters also have a Red Oni, Blue Oni motif going on between them, a trope about characters with a duality to them that has shades of colour symbolism and mythology thrown in for spice.

According to TV Tropes:

"The Red Oni is associated with passion, wildness, and defiance. The red oni character is often more brawny than brainy, extroverted, enthusiastic, determined, and filled with a zest for life. They are also much more likely to break conventions and rules than their counterpart."

Meanwhile:

"The Blue Oni is associated with serenity, control, and observing authority. A Blue Oni is more intellectual, proud, traditional, introverted, and cultured."

I those two don't sum up Eda and Lilith respectively, I don't know what does. And if you have been paying attention, the colour symbolism there appears in the designs of the two. Lilith bears more cool colours, with the blueish hair, eyes, and gem, while Eda scraps all subtlety and just wears red and orange.

So, Eda and Lilith represent two ends of the spectrum, chaotic and lawful. But its notable that when Lilith gets redeemed, she doesn't lose the logical, heavily rationalised mindset, she loses the restrictions. She ends up being free to be whomever she wants, and that person doesn't have to be as overtly wild as her sister.

Luz and Belos, however, are extremely similar characters, with one Luz and Belos, however, are extremely similar characters, with one main difference. One is kind, one is cruel. In terms of character mechanics (how they approach problems), that is the main difference. The rest of their actions come as a result of this dichotomy. Both have a form of main character syndrome, for example, but where Luz wants an adventure and to save the world, Belos wants to remake the world in his own image.

I'm not saying they are identical, or that they are the same character, I am saying that they are similar except for the most fundamental of points, derived from this difference of kindness vs cruelty. All of the lessons that Luz learns but Belos ignores, come from selflessness, all the differences come from expanding out this over and over again until you get a hero and a megalomaniac.

They are both charisma-based artificers, but they have different alignments, and that has led to them making different choices, and leading different stories that have clashed with each other. They started in a similar place, but because of the one difference, their paths diverged wildly.

Final Thoughts

Belos is a villain who would be right at home with Wiley Coyote if he wasn't so terrifying and megalomaniacal, because he cannot stop bringing about his own downfall in spectacular fashion.

I wanted to find the Tolkien quote about evil destroying itself for this post, but instead I found something that sums up The Owl House really well.

"You have to understand the good in things, to detect the real evil."

Tolkien was a man who fought in both the first and second World Wars, including the battle of the Somme, and yet he was a profoundly optimistic man, as well as being a realist. His most famous work is about someone small accomplishing a great thing against all the odds because evil cannot comprehend the simple acts of kindness.

That, transformed by generations of nerds, has resulted in The Owl House, where a villain, by dint of being clad in gold, can only shine by reflecting the light of the protagonist. And he cannot comprehend the simple kindness of community, and harmony.

Light, do not faulter.

Next week, I am diving straight into the next season, with Separate Tides, and the introduction of the woobie, so stick around if that interests you.

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#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #character analysis #what's so special about...?#the owl house #toh #toh belos #the owl house belos #emperor belos #the owl house lilith #lilith clawthorne #toh lilith #young blood old souls

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kindestegg · 1 year

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In my previous posts, I have spoken about Collector's good side quite a lot, their eagerness to learn from their environment, their ability to grow when around good influences, the growth they have shown around King, their love for titans and their compelling backstory... and have as well touched upon their flaws and their darker side.

But I feel like I am lacking in an exploration of their darker side in its own dedicated post like I have done for their growth and good side. And I feel like such a post is way overdue because recently I have seen a pretty concerning uptick in the sentiment that Collector "never meant to hurt anyone", that they don't know what killing is and that they were overall an unwitting pawn in Belos' plan. And that is... simply not the truth? There are several instances in canon that contradict this and I would like to dive into them in this post.

Let's start with a pretty controversial scene: the capturing of the Owl Beast. Now, there's a lot of people who have associated the fact that there are multiple collectors and that the collector in the Owl Beast's dream sequence appears bigger and has a different outfit to indicate that the collector that captured the Owl Beast is a different one.

Now, while I admit that that is a possibility, I would like to at the very least make some arguments for the fact that this could still be our Collector, and why that matters.

Let's start by the most glaring issue: the voice. The collector that captured the Owl Beast has the exact same voice actress, exactly the same voice as our Collector, and is in the credits as "the Collector". It is very hard to argue with that: even if we go with the theory that then all collectors must sound the same, that is an incredibly big stretch that has no real backing in canon aside from an assumption to try and explain away this clash.

Another argument often seen is that the collector seen here "sounds different" from our Collector as in their line delivery is different, as if the sadism in their voice and laughter would be enough to imply being a completely different person and uhhh...

Do you guys... also think that about the Collector in the Hollow Mind scene that properly introduced them? Because they sounded... kind of like that. But I'll touch on that soon. Back to the Owl Beast dream for now.

Another argument I have seen is that this collectors outfit is different and they are too tall/big to be our Collector... which once again I need to remind you of this?

This is a scene in which our Collector undoubtedly shows he can change sizes (becoming big enough to nearly fill up the entire room he is in, towering above everything) and the cape he's in is clearly different from his usual outfit.

And the ability that collectors have to change size is backed by the paintings in the archive halls: when in space they can be bigger than whole planets, even our Collector who is younger being nearly the same size as the planet, but when they actually go to the planet they adjust their size to the creatures on it, such as the trappers or in Collector's case, the titan babies.

There is also the matter of the Owl Beast clearly remembering the Collector and having a reaction even during the DOU to just the disc itself cracking, and later becoming frenzied when seeing him face to face. Sure, the Owl Beast could just felt threatened by any Collector, but... doesn't it make more narrative sense and have more significance that it's this Collector that it specifically has problems with? That was a REALLY strong reaction to just be a generalization.

Anyway, I briefly mentioned how Collector talks in Hollow Mind, and I feel like it really bears to examine it again and remind ourselves of it, not let it be forgotten just because he's recently been nice. As I said before, Collector is canonically someone who can be pretty sadistic and find something funny about suffering.

But... even this is something that the fandom has been trying to smooth away the edges of. I've encountered some people who, despite I'm sure just being well meaning fans of the character who want to offer a new perspective, inevitably attempt to defang him and imply that he did not know the draining spell would hurt or kill people, that the screams he imitated were something he wasn't aware was bad, and even that this extends to how Collector interpreted Belos and the grimwalkers. Essentially, through a lot of stretching and attempting to re-interpret the Hollow Mind scenes, Collector's being slowly made into a naive child who was being led around by Belos to commit crimes while somehow never learning anything from context clues.

This is essentially problematic because I feel like it misses the point of Collector's character and metanarrative purpose and turns them into something they are not. But I'll be getting to that around the end of this post. For now, rather than just going "you're wrong and that's it" (which would be rude to do!) I will try to, as kindly as possible, explain my reasoning as to why these interpretations feel like they are misreading the material.

Examining then, their behavior in Hollow Mind. Here is why I believe that they are aware of what the Draining Spell does:

First off, they mention that they and Belos will have revenge when reciting the second half of their poem. Why would they consider the Day of Unity a kind of revenge for both of them if they didn't know it would hurt people?

Similarly, the imagery they portray when talking about what the spell does definitely implies that they know the draining spell would at least affect people negatively, as they portray them blowing away into dust as well as having the sigils affect their bodies and similarly make them turn to nothing.

I know this happens rather in King's Tide, but it's something I want to use to reinforce my point: In King's Tide, Collector makes a point to say they gave Belos the draining spell, they taught him magic stronger than anybody's. I highly doubt Collector would teach Belos a spell that he didn't know the consequences of, specially considering his freedom was riding on this spell working, and Belos made sure to remind him of that every time.

Also to drive home the point he knows screams mean something bad, before Collector imitates Belos screaming and presumably lashing out at Hunter, he says that Belos was mad. So at the very least he knows that you can scream in anger.

I feel like people tend to get caught up in the fact Collector says it's like the world is singing when talking about his happiness and King snarkily responds that he wouldn't call people screaming singing. I can see how that could be interpreted as if Collector doesn't know screams are bad... but with the previous knowledge we have of this character, that makes hard to justify, and I'd like to call attention to the fact Collector never states he was talking about the people, King just uses the opportunity to point out people are screaming, and then lead onto how he should stop "freaking everyone out".

So, yes, Collector knew about the Draining Spell and all that it would entail, he likely even tailored it for Belos, and he also knows what Grimwalkers are in a sense and what is being done to them.

At the very least... he knows grimwalkers can be made, what they are called, and also insinuates they are to be played with, but is intrigued by the fact Belos keeps making them and then destroying them. We can clearly see that one of Collector's biggest flaws is his problem with rationalizing the environment around him, since he views things by what is most fun to do, he imagines putting all this effort into building something and tearing it down must be fun... ignoring that these are real people Belos is building, abusing and then killing.

In general, though, this ties to the running theme of Collector viewing anyone they haven't gotten to know and befriended with extreme disinterest. While they would prefer not to kill or hurt anyone, if the situation really calls for it as a means to an end, they will do so. There is no incentive for them to care for the grimwalkers and view them as people... so they do not. Their current only friend acts as if it's natural, so they act accordingly. King tells them they need lots of players for a game of pretend? That's easy then, just make everyone into puppets, and you don't have to worry about them as people. Dehumanization is perhaps the key word here, which ties into their themes also of bulldozing the environment and culture of the Isles, as well as their harmful escapism, refusing to see things for what they are and trying to only focus on having fun and feeling good.

I feel like it is important to establish and argue for this because many people forget that Collector's character isn't just meant to be a fully sadistic selfish villain or a genuine and kind naive child. What makes the Collector so great and interesting is that he is both those things, those parts of him mix up and dance around to create a character that fits in the narrative as a foil and parallel to multiple characters, as well as provoke interesting ethical questions to us, such as:

If a child is given the opportunity to hurt animals and people and does so, playing roughly with them and traumatizing them, what is the course of action to follow from there? Imprison them? Hurt them? Punish them in some other way? Where is the root of this child's destructive and harmful behavior? Why are they acting this way? What do they have to say about their actions?

And we do know the root: For the Future makes it a point to let us know of their backstory, that they were raised into a society that believed coming in and taking whatever they wanted was natural and anything in their way deserved their wrath. And that even if he did reject this notion in part, he cannot shake off entirely the influence this has had on him, causing him to find extreme acts of violence as a means to an end natural as well as to not consider how his altering of the landscape and culture of the Isles enacts cultural violence upon them.

The true tragedy of Collector is that they are a child that wants to learn and do good, and ultimately wants nothing more than to be free, to play, and to have friends, but because of the circumstances around them, what they were taught to believe in and the psychological torture they were subjected to inside the prison, and the fact Belos was the one person they had contact for the last four hundred years or so... they inevitably became also incredibly accustomed to violence, to taking what they want by force, to justifying as many corpses piling up as necessary to get what they want. They're terrifying, they're horrible, they're sad, they're tragic, they're genuine, they're willing to learn, they have so much potential, they are multifaceted and that is what makes them an interesting character, bad things and good things alike.

#the owl house #toh analysis #toh theory #the collector #toh collector #commander's orders #blinks cutely. hiiii. i finally wrote this. yay! the other poll winner is done!

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trevorendeavors · 1 year

Text

HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE

Now pass the phone to me.

GUYS.

There is no way these parallels are a coincidence.

I am 99% sure that Dana Terrace was referencing Kirby when making the Collector. For context, I've not seen For the Future yet, so please no spoilers beyond the trailer. I haven't seen anything other than Luz's palisman, that one thirty second clip from the owl club, and an irrelevant screenshot of Hunter.

Also plz don't spoil FTF in the comments or reblogs :(

That said,

TW: Discussion of Cults

Canonically,

Kirby:

god or godlike being

heavily associated with stars. As in, Hoshii no Kaabi (Kirby of the Stars)

ambiguous gender (referred to as he in American translations, gender neutral pronouns in Japanese)

rides on a star

The Collector:

god or godlike being

heavily associated with stars. "Child of the stars"

ambiguous gender, canonically a he/they

rides on a star

Still not convinced? Well I believe there was a specific game Dana was referencing: (MAJOR KIRBY SPOILERS AHEAD)

In Kirby star Allies, Kirby gains the ability to turn enemies into friends by launching friend hearts on them.

It’s an ability unlocked by a botched resurrection/rebirth of a dead god accidentally granting Kirby that ability.

No seriously, that's how it happens.

Here's a short summary for those not familiar with the Kirby franchise.

Basically, cult leader Lord Hyness and his closest followers once managed to stop an out-of-control being named Galacta Knight (shown below)

However, the people eventually began to fear LH and his ilk, so they preemptively tried to seal them away and erase their existence from history (rude). LH and his people survived and managed to obtain a vessel containing their Dark Lord (basically, an egg that housed a god or godlike being) Cult leader Lord Hyness then attempted to resurrect the god Void Termina.

But the ceremony went horrible wrong, shattering the vessel into friend hearts and dark hearts that were scattered to the stars. One such friend heart landed on Kirby, granting him the ability to quote-un-quote, "befriend" his enemies...

...

... by which I mean brainwash smaller enemies into doing his biddies while exorcising dark-heart-possessed individuals by beating the shit out of them until they were no longer usable vessels for possession. I'm not even kidding, this is actually canon.

Eventually, Kirby, with his amassed allies, confronts Belos, Hyness, who has this to say:

We are the masters of a power driven to the far reaches of the universe, and we have but one desire! Can one such as you possibly fathom how dearly we have clung to this dream across the aeons? How could you! You couldn't! Never ever ever! We who once faced those who were in such fear of our power that they sealed us away and banished us to the edge of the galaxy! US! As if THAT loveliness wasn't enough, they tried to erase our very existence from history! RUDE! Only through our magic were we able to overcome their science and achieve great prosperity! We alone were responsible for stopping that repulsive nightmare of a galactic crisis, yet this is how you repay us! This won't stand! It won't be forgiven! It won't be forgotten! Never ever EVER! Those who called us mad, are you listening? You left us at the edge of the galaxy to be forgotten, then went along your merry way, probably living somewhere pretty and peaceful! But know this! Your future is a farce! You have none! We, masters of a matter most dark, vow to be restored, as foretold in the book of legend, which everyone thought was just a fairy tale! It WASN'T! We have already obtained the vessel that contains our Dark Lord, and he will soon awaken and shower us in compassion! Look! The vessel of our Dark Lord is filling up even as we speak! Now the time for his greatness to enter our world has come! Welcome to a new history! A new age! The age of awesome! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARK LORD! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Grace us, Gloriously Dark Looooooord!

And when cornered, he drains the life source of his closest followers, his priestesses, and uses them as fucking battering rams.

Oh and btw they're all conscious when this happens. If you listen closely, you can actually hear their grunts of pain when they hit the ground.

When that fails, he forces the god-resurrection to fruition by tossing in the priestesses' bodies and his own into the alter, bringing foooooRTH!!!

VOID TERMINA.

A morally neutral being who also uses the same tactics as Kirby to defeat his enemies (except somehow Void doing it makes it evil or something *shrug*). Oh, and Void's implied to be born from the same material as Kirby (or vice versa).

Upon Void's defeat, it's said he may be reborn in another form and perhaps someday... a friend.

AND THEN THERE'S THE OWL HOUSE

In which The Collector, a god or godlike being, was sealed away by a Titan (probably because of their destructive, reckless nature - idk for sure I haven't seen the episode). As an act of revenge, the Collector made a deal with the inhabitants of the titan trapper witches: he would grant them (or more specifically Bill - not GF Bill btw) power in exchange for slaughtering the Titans. The blood of the last Titan (King) would then be used to revive The Collector from his prison.

Then along comes a scrunkly dunkly old human who winds up trapped on the Boiling Isles, a realm populated by witches and demons living atop a carcus. Convinced of the inherently evil nature of the inhabitants, he deceives them into aiding him in their own execution.

In order to pull this off, he enlists the help of The Collector. In exchange for promising to release them, The Collector teaches Belos magic "stronger than anybody's." That is, the Draining Spell.

Belos then professes himself to be able to commune with the dead Titan (the Boiling Isles itself) and thus convinces them to brand themselves with the sigils that would serve as their metaphorical nooses.

The draining spell works, but Belos breaks his promise by using up the last of the Titan's Blood to (attempt to) travel home, only to thwarted by Luz, who traps him in the draining spell.

Meanwhile, King makes a deal with the now-betrayed Collector: stop the draining spell in exchange for their freedom and a game of "Owl House." The Collector agrees, and King follows through on his promise. Well, part of it anyway. He frees the Collector, they stop the spell, but he attempts to escape with Luz to the human realm. The Collector stops this; Luz, her friends, and unfortunately Belos manage to escape to the human realm.

There, Belos goes around possessing and consuming various woodland creatures until he has enough sustenance to possess Hunter, one of his former second-in-commands.

This ultimately fails, which leads to him fleeing back to the Boiling Isles, where For the Future begins.

NOW LET'S TALLY UP OUR PARALLELS

WE GOT:

Horrifically misguided religious leader? Check.

Masked at some point? Yep.

Drains their closest followers and uses their bodies for their own gain? Yep.

Particularly brutally betrays their second in command?

OH YEAH.

Winds up sucked into that very spell themselves? Sorta.

Hyness intentionally sacrifices himself to the spell in order to resurrect Void Termina, whereas Belos is tricked by Luz into getting drained by the spell.

Not to mention we got the fuckin uhhhhh GODLIKE BEING WHO MIND CONTROLS FORCIBLY BEFRIENDS PEOPLE

This could be Void or Kirby paralleling the Collector depending on how you read it. However, Void and Kirby are definitely two sides of the same coin, and if my interpretation is correct, I believe The Collector is meant to be a parallel of BOTH. Neither good nor evil: simply raw power put in the hands of a child too young to comprehend or manage it.

Now I'll admit, TOH doesn't follow the KSA story tit for tat. I believe that Titan-trappers take the role of the people who sealed away the eldritch power. The placement of Galacta Knight vs the Titan as who fits in what role is harder determine.

Despite this, there are definitely some pretty solid inspirations.

The aesthetic of FTF very clearly draws inspiration from KSA. Hell, KSA was originally released in 2018, around the time Dana was developing the series. It's very likely she drew inspiration from this video game, if not played it herself. There are simply too many parallels to count.

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try02line · 6 months

Text

The Owl House: Charis!AU

Context: the Wittebane brothers get tragically separated in their youth. One is thrown abruptly in the future, while the other remains stuck in the past, how will this change their story?

Hihi, here we are with our next character- Emperor Jahdiel, the guardian of the boiling isles!

I think this character took by far THE MOST TIME- me and @magpieddd spent days on this- I nearly gave up, but eventually we were able to come up with something I am really satisfied with!

Some fun fact about his design (although not too many as I don’t want to spoil too much):

- the fact that our new emperor and Hunter’s outfit look so similar, is of course not a coincidence. I think some of you can already start guessing why

- the mask Jahdiel is wearing is heavily inspired by horned owls

- contrary to Belos, who acted more like a preacher/prophet for the titan from the safety of his throne room, Jahdiel has a more active role, which is linked as to why he is so- well, buff, and also why his regal outfit is still very much an Armour that allows him to sprint into action at any given moment, always ready for a fight

- he is a very imposing presence, personality wise, but also from a physical point of view. Due to the nature of the poses, is a bit hard to give the right idea, but Hunter is very tall for his age, and even so, the emperor can still tower over him.

- as I associate belos with the color blue and green, I decided to give Jahdiel a more or less opposite color palette, with his curse having a much more reddish color, which nearly resembles dried blood

- finally, I wanted him to be unsettling. When you walk into the throne room, you should feel as if the guards around are there more for your personal protection than not for Jahdiel’s. He is not a merciful man, and you’s rather face the coven scouts a million times over than his personal ire.

I think this is all for now! This AU is getting more and more intricate and more fun! I will soon post more about it!

Have a lovely day 🦊

#fanart #caleb wittebane #philip wittebane #the owl house #toh #toh hunter #try02art #charis!au #kid belos #kid philip #wittebros #wittebane brothers #toh phillip wittebane #toh caleb #hunter toh #hunter wittebane #toh belos #emperor belos

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inconspicouslurker · 7 months

Note

I love your hagsquad takes and hcs btw, and I was wondering do you have any for darius's friendship with eda and raine?

Thank you :D I mainly write them down here to keep them from cluttering up my mind. I figured to share them in a blog in case it might interest or entrained someone.

The thing about Darius that I love and find hilarious is that refined and posh Darius attracts feral friends.

Eda is well...we know how chaotic she is. Alador has own version of chaos. Eberwolf is legit feral. Perry isn't as bad as the others, but I think that kid has ran headfirst into danger to get first hand of the truth of the story multiple times. Plus, I think he gets very excitable. Odalia is a different type of chaos, petty and spiteful. The previous Golden Guard/ Darius mentor most likely had their own chaoticness with the simple fact of being Belos right hand man. Raine may be the least feral of them all beside Lilith. Which is refreshing for Darius. However Raine had their moments.

I assume, your question pertains their friendship to their younger years. I love Darius, and think about him and Alador often as they are my favorite hagsquad members. Darius and Alador are so intertwined that I never really put much thought of Darius outside of Alador (and therefore Odalia) in his younger years.

My take on Raine is they generally match the vibe, like a giant sponge that soaks in the energy and Raine hidden traits would surface to reflect based of who they are with. Which is usually near mischievous chaos since they usually hang with Eda. With Eda they own mischievous trouble making nature surface but they are a lot more aware of consequences of their actions then Eda. Raine try to be the voice of reason to Eda but get swayed by Eda (Mostly, Eda can talk them into anything with little reservation from Raine)

Now, Raine just one and one with Darius is a lot more dialed back. Raine calming maturity surface. As I mention before about Darius, Alador is his bestie, but I think he went along with Lilith. I love the idea of him being besties with Odalia too because it seems really fitting, but with flashbacks it doesn't seem that way. He just get along with Odalia really well as they have a lot of shared interest beside Alador. I am leaning towards Odalia and Darius were actually friends, but it more recent/the last few school years (not childhood friends) and Odalia was mostly associated with Alador which was extended to Darius as those two boys were nearly glued at the hip. Odalia was probably a pretty decent friend in her younger years but given a choice of something benefiting her friend vs herself she would pick herself 93.97% of the time. The 6.03% being something minor or trivial that she willing to give up when she in a pleased mood. Tho, he and Odalia probably bicker a lot over stupid teenager things for example, what's the better boy band. They are absolutely petty to each other over trivial things.

But teenage Darius and Raine? I assume pretty good friends with the short time frame they were giving during the school years. They may discuss more "adultish interest" such as "cultured" things that didn't interest Eda or Alador. For example, fine art and musicals and such. Both thoroughly enjoying their conversations as they probably don't really have anyone else to discuss to and it was refreshing to finally have someone to do so.

Darius probably gave a lot of advice on fashion to Raine how they can still look great while remaining neutral looking. Like, a minor small adjustment that took an obvious feminine or masculine article clothing they really like but the minor tweek on Darius advice made it neutral.

They both seek each other if they need a serious insight on something (Mostly their crushes on their besties) outside of their besties opinions. Both good at listening and giving advice with an outside perspective. Everyone but Alador knew of Darius crush but Darius was still in denial. Darius went to Raine when he stop denying and came into terms with his feelings for Alador. He discussed them with Lilith at first a few time but stopped. Lilith was great with the outside perspective but she didn't relate. It was much easier to discuss his pining with Raine who had experienced it. They get to bounce of each other their frustrations and woe. This deepen their friendship rapidly as they were confining their deepest selves to each other and neither said anything to break the others trust. Which is funny because their shared secrets they told each other, the student body has already speculated and was treated as common knowledge.

They both had an interest in the drama club. Darius making costumes and Raine with the music. (Alador was a total stagehand/set & prop design) Darius was also interested in acting. I think Raine was too but was really nervous about it, then discovered they had stage fright or something during their musical that scarred impressionable teenage Raine to gain stage fright. They didn't seem too nervous during H.E.C.K/I.F.W.O.T) granted they did a few times before hand so they had experience that may lessen their anxiety. But if someone who cannon been mention they had stage fright, they didn't seem too sheepish or nervous improvising to pretend to fight Eda with the spotlight on them in front of a coven head. All of the squad was involved in the musical. Alador wanted to stay backstage but was force to be on stage a handful of times due to lack of members to perform. He was terrible at it, and fell several times and kept going in the wrong directions.

Darius with Eda, I just have an impression he sort of hung back and let her do her thing. He was just along for the ride. He enjoys hanging out with her. She breaks him out of the cool maturity he hold himself in but she's like the devil on his left shoulder that he would roll his eyes playfully with a mischievous smirk forming on his lips when she whispers her devious pranks ideas and go along with it. She pretty much brings him back down to act his age or little younger.

They are also very competitive with each other. With physical prowess and sports to stupid wagers. Eda often dares him which he usually follows through even reluctantly because he prideful and he cant have Eda gloat about whatever stupid dare she made. Eda takes full advantage of this often daring him on things that she knows he right about but dares him otherwise because he has a need to prove her wrong.

All three together? Well, I think it changes up dramatic over the course of their school time. Raine was only at Hexside for a year or two and during that time Raine befriended everyone, have awkward teenage will they?/wont they? with eda, possibly follow through the will they part during the end of the year, and Darius own falling out with Alador. So with each episode of those would change up the dynamic of the trio.

The will they/won't they would have Darius rolling his eyes alot and teasing them playfully. Give them advice individual to help them along to get together. Eda called him out at one point about him giving advice but hasn't done a thing about Alador who he *OBVIOUSLY* has a crush on. Darius turned red and sputtered at that in denial.

Will they: Darius be happy for them but probably be nauseated of their sickenly sweet affections. Starts to feel like a third wheel. Especially if it was during the time of his fallout with Alador.

Between the two events: Darius would be slightly irritated by the obvious tension and feeling nauseous as they give each other lovey dovey eyes. "WILL YOU TWO KISS ALREADY!"

During the fallout Darius was most likely bitter at a few points, Especially if Eda and Raine are together. Not bitter at them, but bitter about his own love life or lack thereof while his friends flourishes before his eyes. If there was a angsty emo teenage Darius phase, it would be at this time. Him pretending and failing at hiding that hes not bothered by his falling out/ possibly turned down /possibly unrequited love. He spout cringy emo sayings when he feeling particularly low. “Never make someone your everything because when he leaves, there goes your everything.", “Sometimes it’s better to be alone. No one can hurt you that way.”, “What hurts more than losing you is knowing that you’re not fighting to keep me.”

*Can you tell I'm enjoying imagining for the first time, a teenaged emo phased Darius here?*

Again, I haven't thought too much on it but here are my thoughts in the thirty minutes it took me to write this since it was brought to my attention. Hopefully, its was at least somewhat entertaining.

If anyone use any these headcanons, please give a shot out to me as I am trying to included in my own fic

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rhineposting · 11 months

Text

POSSIBLY TRIGGERING CONTENT AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

And I am the idiot with the painted face

In the corner, taking up space

But when he walks in, I am loved

I am loved...?

Once more, I cannot stress enough that this depiction is not meant to be perceived in a positive light whatsoever - despite the drawing being referenced from a painting typically associated with romance.

The intention was to convey how in that particular scenario, Hunter's perception of reality and his relationship with Belos is warped from his inner turmoils resulting both from that unhealthy infatuation as well as the abuse he endured.

As he's desperate for any positive emotional stimuli, he clings onto what little vulnerability and intimacy Belos offers him - glamorizing it in his brain and treating it as evidence that Belos isn't actually horrible, without realising that they are a form of abuse too, designed to keep him loyal and in line.

And almost last but not least, I am still not a licensed professional in psychology. All my knowledge on abuse comes from personal and thus to some degree subjective observation of both fiction and reality, you know the drill.

Image Description : A painting of Belos and Hunter from The Owl House, morbidly referencing the painting "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt. Much like the original painting, it is colored mostly in yellows, oranges and warm browns.

To the right, Hunter is shown wearing his Golden Guard uniform, his white cape adorned with patterns consisting of orange dots and brown vines shaped into spirals. He looks off to the side with an expression of both exhaustion and bitter fulfillment at the same time, as he's slightly smiling. His left hand is gently laid over Belos' hand and wrist, which is holding him by the chin in what he believes to be an affectionate gesture.

To the left stands an alternate version of Belos that does not exist in canon, as he appears significantly younger with brown hair, with his blemishes being colored blue : referencing his initial storyboard version.

He is wearing a black robe with a white cape and brown pauldrons over it, resembling the clothes he was first shown in. The cape is adorned with rectangular orange, white and brown patterns, momentarily covered up with circular cross-hatching : also brown colored.

Despite holding Hunter's face by his chin and by the back of his head in what appears to be a tender and intimate gesture, he stares down at Hunter with a neutral expression that borders on being resentful : to which Hunter is oblivious. His left eye, which is obscured by the shadows, emits a slight blue glow.

The background meanwhile is painted over with light brown colored spirals, waves and yellow dots that are overlaid on top of a yellow and golden background. The patterns form no specific shape. End description.

#tw abuse mention #tw trauma talk #tw child grooming #toh #the owl house #alt belos #toh hunter #empgold #Once again the tag is here so that people may filter this post out easier for their own comfort.#I do not actually ship them in any way shape or form.#rhineart

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crimeronan · 1 month

Note

On the "Empress Luz acting scary with The Blights snippet" for some reason In my head as I was reading it, part of me was imagining Luz's accent sounding more like Belos when she's being intimidating and it's just now rattling around inside my head and won't leave.

IDK how malleable accents are, (I moved from the UK to Australia when I was like, 9 and I still sound painfully english) and at what stage these things naturally develop. But unless Belos was actively 'correcting' how she spoke... (the thought of which is its own potential bag of horror ) I imagine her normal speaking voice still being broadly as it was in canon.

Mostly because the thought hadn't occurred to me when reading most of the au and Hunter sounds just as american as the rest of of the isles, (sans Terra Snapdragon) but he wasn't really Belos' favorite now was he and probably got enough early instruction from non-Belos people to shape how he spoke. So I imagine aside from maybe the odd weirdly British pronunciation on some terms (ie Lef-tenant v Lou-tenant when referring to the rank, minor things like that, maybe the odd vowel here and there) they just sound like they did in canon.

But now here's the thought I can't shake. When Luz is being authoritative, and especially when she's using fear like in that snippet, as a tool Belos taught her how to use, even as she's trying her best to use it to be better than he was, she can't help but subconsciously sound like him. Application of force, threatening with force of law like that isn't in her nature, but she's been taught it by Belos and can do it well even if in almost all cases she hates the thought of it now, something so associated with him but also an indispensable part of "being The Empress".

Specifically in that scene I can imagine her normal speaking voice coming through for a moment as she talks about how biased she is and how much she hates The Blight all that anger is completely her own, genuine and honest, there is nothing of Belos in it...

Then her voice goes right back to BBC english when she mentions how that bias is legally irrelevant and she's right back into threatening absolute monarch mode.

you know what?? this is honestly spot-on for how i heard her in my head while i was writing it. the accent was definitely still american but there's a chipper, professional Icy Cheerleader quality to it that's all belos. luz having adopted his precise cadence and genial demeanor because it's the most effective way she knows how to be scary... Yeah That's The Stuff

and tbh it's entirely possible for her accent to slip into something more british. i know that i unconsciously mirror people's accents in conversation & am constantly worried that when i'm with my southern friends or irish friends or latine friends that they're gonna think i'm making fun of them when it's like. no i Promise this is just how i talk. probably another autism thing but i don't actually know if accent mirroring IS a common thing so.... mysteries!

regardless.... i can bestow a bit of this upon luz. between drawing on her memories of belos AND matching odalia's Smarmy Corporate Smugness, i think there's Easily some british in there. if hunter is in the room, he's definitely running mental numbers on the likelihood that luz will suddenly hear herself & Freeze Completely.

#replies #toh #princess luz au #luz noceda #i hear her speaking voice essentially the same as canon for the most part #except frequently much more strained and/or much more conciliatory.#voices and dialogue are all extremely distinct in my head to the point that #inflection and cadence are difficult to fully convey without simply. doing audio recordings of all my writing

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oryoucouldhavemine · 2 years

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No because I won't ever shut up actually about the how much color comes into play for Hunter in the aspect of Dad!rius

We have Hunter, who wears the symbol of the Golden Guard, who dresses in all gold and yellow because that's what Belos wants. Yellow is often associated with courage, something he felt as the Golden Guard despite it's negative conations. Yellow marigolds also represent death in some beliefs.

And then we have Darius, the person who gives Hunter a chance to rebel simply because he's a teen, the adult that Hunter didn't hesitate to run to after the draining ceremony began to check and see if he was okay.

Darius, who's magic and clothing and everything around him is purple. Purple that represents granduer and pride, which we see with Darius, but it also represents peace, something Hunter never had before.

Not to mention purple and yellow are complimentary colors.

So if the show does go the route of Darius taking in Hunter, not even as a father but at least as an adult who cares, then it Hunter goes from a yellow he was trapped in to a purple he can be free with.

idk im an art major and i love color theory (smth youll never hear most artists say lmao) and i love the complimetary color aspect of it, even if it most likely wasn't intentional.

(Also sorry if this post makes no sense i queued it at 1 am after taking a lot of my new meds LMAO)

#dadrius #sonter #darius deamonne #hunter wittebane #hunter deamonne #the owl house #toh

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childlikegoblinqueen · 7 months

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SCOM Writing Notes: Because it came up in comment.

So regarding Willow's emotional break. A few prompted by a comment from @immortalmint ! I wanted to address it here because I thought they were important to the narrative.

Because there's a few spoilers, I am putting it below the veil.

TW for some very frank discussions on mental health, pregnancy depression and anxiety, and some other stuff regarding parental illnesses.

Also, the next chapter's track!

Willow talks a lot about feeling like a vessel and having her voice taken away from her while everyone discusses what's best for her.

The whole idea of Willow's body and emotional condition being discussed without her is something that hits VERY close to home. There's a lot of nuance to how --- but in terms of pregnancy, I remember heading to my many appointments in my third trimester and feeling like I was donating my body to science. I would try to explain to the Drs how I felt like I had no place in my life and my pregnancy, and they would kind of blink at me like ... (what?) I have a hard time believing I am the first person who ever said that to them? I was in desperate need of therapy and I really had to seek it out myself. The refrain of "YOU'RE PREGNANT WITH TWINS! YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? WHY AREN'T YOU HAPPY?" was a lot. My body and mind were unraveling and I didn't understand WHY. There's a big need of emotional support in regular medicine. A lot of folks go into the field and CAN do the job, but they are not really capable of the bedside manner needed. I also dealt with this throughout my parents' illnesses. I would try to explain to palliative care Drs WHY my mother, for instance was in need of anti depressants (SHE'S SICK AND HER PROGNOSIS IS NOT GOOD!) And I would get confused looks and answers like "But I don't understand why she's depressed? Why is she experiencing anxiety?" Really?

2. Willow discusses how she feels awful that looking at pictures of her own childhood is so different to these new glimpses of Hunter's very bleak childhood.

I know I've mentioned this before, but a lot of this is inspired by children who have grown up in the spotlight by association, or who have experienced neglect and abuse in the public eye, but it might not have been seen that way until much later in their lives. SCOM Hunter has no interest in being famous, but he's a perfect target for paparazzi. Often (and I know in other countries -- the UK is brutal) the tabloid media treats abuse survivors -- not the best. I think about how the interest seems to be more on the abuse and not the recovery -- or privacy -- or how easily it can fall into victim blaming. Willow states that she loved Hunter before she realized what it meant to love someone who had been through what he had been through. And of course she loves ALL of him, but having to see these moments of his childhood on display when she's shopping for her Rx elixirs at the local store is beyond invasive. Even worse is that she's aware that folks look at him as complicit in his own abuse. ("He willingly used a branding glove, and now he claims sigils are bad?" "He was sitting next to Belos at a petrification! He was just staring! Clearly he felt no remorse!")

3. Vee' admission that she blames herself for Hunter being in danger.

Vee harbors a TON of guilt that Hunter is going to face retribution for massaging the truth during the trials to keep anyone from knowing that she's alive and living her best life in the HR. There's a lot of love between them, and she's already lost "siblings" in Three and Four. She has no idea what happened to them post escape and has to assume the worse. But since the trials, she's discovered that Hunter has been called a liar and though he told the truth about his observations re: The Coven Heads and Kikimora as well as a few other things that were contributed to the outcome of the trials. His mind had been invaded so many times that he can't give any memory photos anymore -- but when it came to his answer on the whereabouts of the basilisks, he tells the Inquisitors that he doesn't know the whereabouts of any basilisks currently residing on the Boiling Isles.

It isn't a LIE but if the trials are reopened and Hunter is questioned and anything he says comes into question -- it could open the door to the trio getting a retrial and being freed.

And obviously, there is NO way Hunter will sell Vee out.

#the owl house #hunter noceda #toh fanfic #sweet child o mine #spotify #toh hunter #willow park #willow x hunter #a03 fanfic #huntlow #vee toh #vee noceda #vee and hunter are siblings #Spotify

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