#Amity and Willow fixing their friendship

[sepublic]

Unlocking the Sad Backstory

I find it interesting how a lot of arcs in TOH have this general pattern of…

Character hurts others -> Character is unhappy, reconsiders their harm -> Character begins to do better -> Character’s sad backstory that re-contextualizes them is unlocked

And it applies even to characters that aren’t exactly villains or even antagonists, but for whom hurting someone nevertheless is a major premise! So to look at examples;

Amity is Willow and Luz’s bully, but we see how she’s unfairly manipulated by Lilith and is ashamed because of it. Luz reaching out to her makes Amity reconsider, she undoes the binding oath she placed on Luz. Then we see Amity’s siblings and how both parties are toxic to one another, and then we get a flashback confirming her parents are abusive. In regards to Willow specifically, Amity acknowledges she’s done harm to Willow in burning her memories, and works to fix them with Luz before we get this context.

Emira and Edric are also toxic to Amity, but in their next appearance they’re remorseful about what they’ve done to Amity, they’re working to make it up to their baby sister. And while they’re not present in the aforementioned flashback, their parents being confirmed as abusive tells you everything you need to know about them.

Lilith has a petty rivalry with Eda, but we see how much she cares and keeps breaking the law to look the other way, too. Then we see how she’s pressured by the Emperor’s Coven, and even threatened by Belos, before she captures Eda. We learn of her curse, but again; We see Lilith next and it’s reiterated that she believes this will cure Eda, we remember wanting to be kinder happened after cursing Eda. We see Lilith attempt to free Eda, and then we get the backstory about how the curse was mostly an accident. We get more info later on how Gwen’s neglect contributed to Lilith’s inferiority complex.

Hunter is the Golden Guard, he threatens to boil Luz, Eda, and King to death and wants the Selkidomus dead, but won’t even do it himself. He kidnaps Palismen to feed to Belos. But then later we see how he’s unhappy over his situation, how he feels like his uncle won’t let him help. Hunter begins to show consideration towards Flapjack and later Luz when he reveals his name, and then we get context as to how physically abusive Belos is, and where that scar came from. Flapjack returns and Hunter spares him.

Alador is either a controlling abuser to Amity, or a neglectful one. But he does hold his wife accountable when she tries to betray their daughter by going back on her end of the deal, and later shows genuine love for Amity when Alador isn’t more concerned about the family’s socioeconomic status. Amity admits how unhappy she is, Alador realizes he truly is hurting his daughter, and promises to talk with his wife over this. We later see him try, and then we see that Alador is also abused, and it’s implied his neglect comes from overworking himself in exchange for his children being spared the same.

Boscha is a bully, through and through. She torments everyone for purely petty reasons. But she also admits to feeling similar pressure as Willow, and then confesses to being lonely without Amity, Skara, Amelia, or Cat. Amity acknowledges that Boscha is lonely, but points out that Boscha needs to respect her for who she is. Boscha listens, and helps stop Kikimora. In the credits we see fully that she really was a miserable, scared child being manipulated by a grown adult.

The Collector is aiding Belos’ genocide, and (seemingly) knowingly. But they’re also fretful over the nature of their ‘friendship’ and are left betrayed and hurt. They meet King, and after being freed by him, we see how they try to be a good friend to King and are slowly listening to him bit by bit, which is why King vouches for rehabilitation over imprisonment. The Collector is already against harm to a certain point, defying what the Archivists mandate. And then we learn that they were unjustly imprisoned by the Titan, and didn’t even know about death in their childish, simplistic view of the world, seeing people as only broken and unmoving yet capable of being fixed at any time, if all the parts are there.

Gwen makes Eda feel ashamed of her curse, she neglects Lilith. But she does care for at least one daughter, and is horrified when she realizes the harm her antivaxxer actions have done. Gwen makes things up not only to Eda, but Lilith especially in taking her back home, even as Gwen explains during her reconciliation that she honestly saw Lilith as self-sufficient. And then a few episodes later, we find out her husband was mauled and left disabled by the curse, unable to continue his life’s work. And we get even more context for Gwen’s obsession in curing her daughter of the condition that gave her so much guilt.

Camila made Luz feel unwanted at home, going along with the camp, and her outburst later on was the wrong call; But she’s not punished for it, that’s not necessary. Instead she apologizes, we see Camila worry about the camp taking away Luz’s passion by salvaging her daughter’s weirdness for her, we see her be accommodating to Luz and her friends when she returns, having reflected in that time, and offering support. And then we learn that Camila was just like Luz, she fit in to survive, and she lost Manny, someone she needed to stand up for herself.

Bump is introduced as a principal willing to dissect Luz, but he also appreciates Willow’s magic and vouches for her to her parents. We see that he’s actually open-minded and cares about his students, he lets Eda enroll Luz on the fair grounds that Eda clear her own messes; Bump insists on following the coven system and places students into the detention track, but when those kids save the day, Bump owns up to a mistake he clearly didn’t like anyhow and changes things. And then we see his past, and how he’s been improving things this whole time, challenging Faust and looking out for Eda!

Even Steve technically qualifies; He’s a covenscout, he’s a jerk who knocks over someone else’s books to express his cop enthusiasm. But Steve forgives Skara for punching him in the face because he kidnapped her, and then admits to Hunter that what they’ve done is wrong, and he’s now reconsidering. Afterwards Steve has his introspective interactions with King, and then we see his face; Implying (and eventually confirmed by Dana) that he is the older brother that Mattholomule spoke of, who gave him the map to the Looking Glass Ruins that Adrian, in the previous episode, admitted he couldn’t find; Because Steve gave away the map to make his kid brother happy.

Likewise, I want to discuss two characters who don’t exactly fit this sequence, and don’t mature or get better, not of their own volition for one:

Kikimora is Belos’ assistant, she’s complicit in his executions. She tries to murder Hunter out of nothing but jealousy, helps bring Raine to Terra, goes after everyone at the Knee, etc. But then we see Kikimora is miserable because of her unsympathetic mother, who is probably abusive; She has no consideration that her daughter is obligated to their dictator, who demonstrated on live television that he’ll execute even his own high-ranking officials if they don’t go along with him, and Kikimora was there in-person. And is now expected to help with a major event involving other high-ranking officials and the dictator himself.

So we get Kikimora hurting people, being unhappy, and having a sad backstory; But we don’t have Kikimora reconsider the harm she’s doing. She accepts Luz’s help for her own sake, and instead of empathizing with Luz as a result, Kikimora betrays her when she sees a potential promotion. Kikimora is let down, we see later that she’s been demoted to the Crate Coven.

But then she attempts to bring Hunter to Belos, and it’s revealed later that she knows what happens to Grimwalkers like him, and has known about the genocide and still went along out of obsessive devotion. Despite this, Kikimora does not warrant Belos’ callousness, it’s not triumphant it’s just cruel because he was going to kill her just for being a demon, villain or saint it didn’t matter. So Kikimora is given her revenge when she helps free the Collector, who splatters Belos, an injury that leads to his eventual death, and stops the draining spell, saving Kikimora’s own life in the process!

At which point, you think she’d learn, right? But instead Kikimora does the exact same thing as Belos, which Luz calls out, despite having had her pedestal shattered because Kikimora doesn’t care about the harm to others, only herself. And so she can only temporarily be an ally, before going back to being an antagonist; The system is fine if she’s in charge, she doesn’t learn anything from what happened. And Kikimora is captured by rebelling students, and forced into community service four years later.

There’s also Belos, whom… Okay do I even need to explain??? We learn that he is upset by his brother’s death and misses him, too. And he does feel guilt about murdering Caleb and even the Grimwalkers, they weren’t purely replaceable in his eyes! But he never reconsiders his harm, he keeps repeating it, he never changes. Belos doesn’t even acknowledge that he’s doing witches and demons wrong. And while we do get his backstory, it’s clear from his priorities, the details, and Masha and the Titan’s own takeaways that he fully chose his misery, and that his backstory is not so sad with this in mind.

I wonder if the takeaway is that these characters can’t truly get better because in the end, they won’t acknowledge the harm they’ve done; They won’t admit it, they won’t do anything about it. And so they can only be counted on to care about making themselves feel better, but that’s it. And so on a pragmatic level, co-existence has to be forced.

Because with Kikimora, she’s made to do community service, and with prisons being abolished for hospitals, she’s likely on house arrest because the alternative is execution and no state should have that power. And with Belos, he proved himself too dangerous, he was well past his lifespan and dying anyway, and they were not going to sacrifice even a single, unwilling Palisman to keep Belos alive.

As for all the other characters, for whom things do work out with? I find it interesting how Sad Backstory is something for the protagonists and viewers to unlock. Maybe the idea is that the protagonists aren’t prepped to forgive a character simply over what happened in the past, just what’s happening now, and what they’re trying to do about it. You can still empathize when they’re sad, even without a backstory for context because look at Luz during Covention!

But as a whole it makes sense for the takeaways of those around them, because why should I care that you were sad, if you’re still being a jerk anyway? Now I know your sad backstory, but you’ve known it the whole time you were hurting me, so what difference does it make about you if you’re not changing; Do you just expect me to keep forgiving you out of pity?

It could be a consideration for what characters around them might realistically feel. The sad backstory, the re-contextualizing for why they’re like that, is the cherry on top to their arc; Yes this person sucks, but maybe they aren’t having a great time either. They give people a reason to be sympathetic. And then those people get to really appreciate their side of the story when they don’t have to worry about still being hurt.

Maybe it’s also a message to the audience, because with other characters showing that you still need to be careful in extending a hand, and given the toxic and abusive relationships we see, maybe this could be the context for that? An abuser’s sad backstory is the last thing on your mind; Your first thought should be that they’re hurting you.

But if they’re looking for help and actually want to improve, then you can offer it, and if they accept, then you can let yourself be caught up over their tragic past, instead of making excuses for them from the get-go because of that, RIP Hunter. When it comes to Willow, she was allowed to be angry well after learning Amity’s Sad Backstory, when she felt Amity wasn’t pulling her weight in making up for everything.

By contrast we have Eda not really giving a damn whether the curse was an accident, because Lilith still took knowingly took Luz hostage and threatened her, captured Eda. So her present actions are being unaddressed even if Lilith thinks her past one is. And when King vouches for Lilith, Eda refrains from taking vengeance; Lilith saving the family and taking the curse, past and present actions made up for, culminates in forgiveness.

It’s not enough that Lilith felt bad about it, she needed to tangibly do something about it, something genuine that doesn’t miss the point (unlike a certain emperor), and so to a no-nonsense adult like Eda, that’s when she can be forgiven. That’s when her sad backstory resonates, just as for the audience, that’s when we learn it so we can even appreciate it at all.

Some of this may just be basic storytelling conventions, like of course you’re going to get the character first and their characterizing actions, and then their backstory. But then again you could just as easily mix things up. Or it could just be an extension of this show’s larger fascination with re-contextualizing previous scenes and details. I just think it’s an interesting pattern to dwell over, and I wonder if it was intentional, how much was intentional, etc. Because with a show wanting to help kids understand abuse, to avoid it and/or realize it’s happening to them, to get help and heal, and finally figure out if they should forgive their abusers, if they want to… All of this could work in that regard.

[edalynn]

I've recently seen someone defend the bad writing of Huntl0w with "it's just because the show got cut, it would've been better if it had time!", but I disagree.

Firstly, I'm generally annoyed with people defending every flaw of the show by "but it got cut!!". Yes, some issues are because of the cut. However, the writers weren't forced to write the show the exact way it turned out, they could still make decisions about it, and they should've carefully considered what to include and devote screen time to, since they knew they had less of it.

If Huntl0w was always the plan even before the cut, but they knew they didn't have time to develop it properly, they should've just cut it. Plain and simple. It contributed nothing to the characterization or the plot, cutting it would change nothing aside from surface level blushing (highlighting how pointless its inclusion was). Fans could still ship it, crew members could still ship it in personal art, but it didn't need to be in the show.

And the "but it's bi4pan rep!!" defense for keeping it in doesn't hold up, since there's zero confirmation of Willow's identity in the show, and Hunter's entire. confirmation is a small blink and you'll miss it flag that's on screen for like 3 seconds. If a more casual viewer didn't notice that one detail, they wouldn't know this isn't just a straight ship. For an m/f ship to be good rep the characters need to be SHOWN as queer, not just confirmed via tiny split second flags and the creator confirming it on a livestream. And making them a couple despite them barely talking also reinforces some heteronormative and amatonormative messages.

(And there's the "love heals all" trope problem with WHEN the writers chose to have them hint at becoming a couple/the feelings being mutual, and just generally a problem with the pairing being the conclusion to their arcs when that's not what either of their stories were about)

Secondly, I just don't think their personalities work well together. They don't have romantic chemistry, there's no spark, they don't mesh like Luz and Amity or Eda and Raine. The only way they could be "developed" to fit together is if you retcon their personalities and tailor them into a dynamic after they've already been established, which is not good writing.

Huntl0w is just a fundamentally weak pairing. I don't think it could've been fixed, I think it would've always had a "pair the spares" feeling to it. Neither have even shown interest in romance before, and we've been given no compelling reason why they would be interested in each other specifically. The "half a witch" thing isn't it, 1) them being called the same slur isn't romantic, and 2) their experiences aren't actually that similar, Hunter has much stronger parallels with Amity (they even had the same deepest wish - to figure out their own future). Interestingly, they also barely interacted, but what we did get actually offered a strong foundation for further development of their friendship had the show not been cut.

Okay, this is one of the best, concise explanations as to everything in the show that's wrong with hunt/low. It literally never in a million years could've even been hodge-podged together to make a compelling, intriguing romance.

It contributed nothing to the characterization or the plot, cutting it would change nothing aside from surface level blushing

(And there's the "love heals all" trope problem with WHEN the writers chose to have them hint at becoming a couple/the feelings being mutual, and just generally a problem with the pairing being the conclusion to their arcs when that's not what either of their stories were about)

I feel like these both go hand in hand. Not only would not adding it have not changed a single thing about the story, but even hinting at it actually damaged their entire arcs all together. Willow's whole arc was about being strong enough on her own, while Hunter's was about discovering and becoming himself and who he wanted to be. Making both of their arcs end in them being forced to rely on each other (almost seeming co-dependent-ish) when they've barely been shown to have interacted on screen really negates every single bit of character growth we've seen up to that point.

And the "but it's bi4pan rep!!" defense for keeping it in doesn't hold up, since there's zero confirmation of Willow's identity in the show, and Hunter's entire. confirmation is a small blink and you'll miss it flag

Also, Dana literally said that her saying it outside of the show airing & unless it is actively shown on the show, makes it headcanon only. She is the creator, yes, but she made the point to say that even what she says should be considered headcanon and that everyone should be encouraged to have and share their own. So technically, it's bi4??? rep at best.

Secondly, I just don't think their personalities work well together. They don't have romantic chemistry, there's no spark, they don't mesh like Luz and Amity or Eda and Raine. The only way they could be "developed" to fit together is if you retcon their personalities and tailor them into a dynamic after they've already been established,

100 million percent. They barely even work as friends honestly, especially from the very few times we see them interact on screen. Willow is brash, confident, and holds a grudge. None of those things would be good for Hunter, an abuse victim, in a relationship. Hell, the way she pulls him underground in asias is SO reminiscent of the way Belos does the same thing in HM, it makes me uncomfortable to rewatch. And she was totally ready for the school to turn him back over to Belos despite his begging until she was convinced he actually had been with Gus, and even then it was just so they could save Gus. And on the other hand, Hunter is impulsive and fiercely overprotective of the people he cares about, which goes directly against Willow's drive to prove she can take care of and protect herself. None of those traits scream romantic compatibility lmao. In all honesty, it's more likely to create a toxic relationship, especially coupled with Hunter's trauma and PTSD.

The "half a witch" thing isn't it, 1) them being called the same slur isn't romantic, and 2) their experiences aren't actually that similar, Hunter has much stronger parallels with Amity

Yeah... I've never understood the romanticism of being called the same slur lmao... And you're totally right about Amity and Hunter having far more in common than Willow and Hunter. Amity and Hunter parallel each other amazingly and the way their friendship was set up really would've made for a far more interesting arc, especially throwing Luz into the mix as Amity's girlfriend and Hunter's "rival" sister.

They definitely should've been dropped when the show was shortened, if they were ever intended to be canon in the first place. The way it was hinted at and their interactions and arc in the show is just lazy at best and damaging to their characters at worst.

[hadesisqueer]

Rewatched some parts of The Owl House and man, it's so sad how in the latest episodes, Luz is determined to make herself feel miserable and thinks she's to blame for everything that's happened and it would have been better if she never came to the Boiling Isles because like. She doesn't even realize how much of a positive impact she had on everyone she met at the Boiling Isles and how she helped change their lives for the better.

Like for example, thanks to her, Hunter met Flapjack. He started rebelling against Belos and finding his own path, and now he has a group of friends that loves him as much as he loves them, away from his abuser.

Eda and Lilith got to repair their relationships as sisters, and their relationships with their parents as well. Edad has another kid she loves as if she were hers and King got himself an awesome older sister who adores him, while Lilith, also kinda thanks to her coming to the BI, became a better version of herself after rebelling against the Emperor's Coven and she's embracing her old nerdy self again.

Amity stopped being a mean girl that deep down always felt miserable and unhappy and changed for a better version of herself, one in which she fixed her friendship with Willow, started being friends with people that didn't make her feel worthless, fixed her relationship with her siblings (who Luz also helped out) and her father and stood up to her abusive mom.

Damn, even at Hexside. She convinced Principal Bump to make multitracks a thing and then students could choose to study any kind of magic they wanted, not just one. Which, as Bump said, motivated them a lot actually.

And more! Luz is determined to think that everything she touches, she makes it worse when actually, she makes it better. And it's so sad that she doesn't even realize it.

[achaoticdelusion]

Willow Week 2023 (Day 5): Friendships

Hexsquad's first photoshoot:

Gus is a little too high on Apple blood.

Hunter is absolutely baffled by all the bright lights.

Willow tries to bring Hunter back to reality while simultaneously trying to pull a pose.

Luz and Amity exchange playful glances, still in their own little world.

[image ID: Hexsquad stands against a light blue background. Luz and Amity exchange playful glances. Gus is positioned in a squat, a cup of apple blood in hand. Willow strikes a pose, holding her arm up. Hunter's gaze is fixed sideways.]

FINAL DAYY!! Thank you @agrebel18 for hosting this event. I had a wonderful time and it was exciting to see all the amazing things everyone came up with.

Click for better quality.

This piece took a lot longer than expected🤧.

[the-owl-house-takes]

So I think the worst take of the fandom is that all of the problems of the show would have been fixed had it gotten a full S3. That literally any problem the show had merely came from the shortening. This is... Well, just blatantly shows that the fandom not only doesn't understand how the animation industry works AND doesn't want to actually look at the narrative they did choose to focus on post the shortening call that were just... baffling.

So first let's establish how much of the show was affected by the Shortening. As a fandom, we found out about it during the hiatus between S1 and 2. This was at earliest, August 2020 since the S1 finale came out late August 2020. Dana has claimed two things that are important to this timeline. 1: The shortening was decided on shortly before the finale came out and 2: That the first episode affected by Covid, which would have been back in March/April, was Looking Glass Ruins. So we EXPLICTLY know that the shortening didn't affect the show until after S2 Ep 5.

BUT then we get into production schedules. Before S2 even BEGAN airing, we were told to stop campaigning for a full S3 because they had to get started on storyboards for the season and that was effectively the firm deadline. This means ALL of S2 was effectively done in script and storyboards by the time S2 aired. This makes sense to keep a weekly schedule and the like and most animation professionals will tell you they work MONTHS in advance of release, bare minimum.

This means, AT BEST, S2B was when the shortening really kicked in. And yes, S2B has pacing issues. It has issues in general and is when most people think the quality of the show dropped. The problem is that... The signs were always there. There's a reason why there's been a backlash because as people become disillusioned with the show, you have to ask what was driving so much before.

And a lot of that was potential. S1 is so good when you first watch it because it keeps teasing the idea that it's going to tackle things in a complex way. That it will explore concepts like Amity's abusive family, magic, fantasy vs reality, etc. like that. It's why the fandom was at its strongest during S1.

Unfortunately, the problem with presenting good ideas and then not executing on them, or completely gutting them is that those old parts are a lot harder to enjoy. As Willow was effectively not a character for half a season and then just suddenly was a jock, people began to realize the fact that she in the show is much more a plot device than anything else. They claimed "We're not doing the one kind act into friendship and forgiveness thing with Amity and Willow" and then literally did NOTHING with it until S2B and eventually DID just do the same trope anyways but now with less resonance than it would have had in Understanding Willow.

Not only that but even S1 didn't give a single shit about its worldbuilding. The First Day has Dana Terrace as a lead writer on it. If anyone knows the worldbuilding best, it should be her... So why is it that no one talks about multi-coven things being illegal? It's literally just used as meta commentary and so they entirely ignore the worldbuilding they have. Reaching Out is exactly the same, with Dana as the SOLE writer of that where Amity and everyone else treats joining a coven like going to college and not literally the word of the law.

But S1 couldn't even keep Wild Witches consistent. Half the time Eda can chill and not worry. She can go to a place funded by the EC like Hexide and not flinch for a second that Bump might call the guards on her despite that being kind of the ONE real rule to their society that makes it not just our world but with teeth. Then again, the show gives NO FUCKS about its own stuff, willing excising portions of itself that it finds cumbersome. Escaping Expulsion is BEFORE Looking Glass Ruins and yet it murders Luz's magical potential in its sleep and also discards Amity's family as easily disposable, despite how much the show claims her mother's influence is the reason why Amity behaved the way she did for all of... Three appearances? Because Amity's arc isn't actually good.

It shouldn't be surprising S2 would do this though when the writers already struggled to do anything with Luz's magic. If she's supposed to be learning and growing... Even S1 is shit at this and is repetitive. Not just with the at least three times we do "King has a minion!" B plot that isn't funny and doesn't do anything but also with its lessons. Luz theoretically learns to listen to Eda in the third episode and arguably the second as well. Then she gets her first glyph with the lesson, in theory. of not trying to take shortcuts to do magic and to not steal. And then in Adventure in the Elements, not even to impress Amity but because of her impatience, she steals something to take a shortcut to stronger magic. That is THREE episodes of the first TWELVE of the series. It usually takes most kids shows at least a LITTLE longer to be that bad at retreading its own lessons.

And the final part of this is that... S2 actually had to be effectively the exact same as it was for s3 to happen. You need the foreshadowing of the Collector for the Day of Unity. You need to FINALLY do something with Belos for the revelations of the Human Realm to happen and to do Luz's angst arc. You need Hunter to be at least 90% redeemed so he's there on their side during The Day of Unity, etc. like that. Then you get half a season in the human realm before coming back to the Isles for half a season, just like Amphibia did because returning home is the best mid-season finale you can have there. So any argument that a full S3 would have actually fixed issues with S2B is just... Wrong. The problems with S2B come with the fact that S2A wastes a FUCKTON of time on elements that don't matter.

Oh, and lest we forget that The Collector could have been cut. He had one appearance in a dream, that also doesn't make sense with his characterization, before S2B. In the fact, the crew has admitted as much. He was added AFTER the news of the Shortening because they always wanted to include a character like him so now that they didn't have the time for him... Cram him in anyways.

Could a show have EVER been saved when that's how they treat one of their two final antagonists? It's the sort of statement that just solidifies the idea that TOH didn't want three seasons. It wanted five... If not just to go on forever. To be the next monolithic show, even as it repeats character arcs, lessons and shrinks characters rather than expands them.

So no, the show isn't bad because of the shortening. The show is bad because the writing is bad.

-

[toh-tagteam-au]

Tag Team AU Synopsis – Really Small Problems + Understanding Willow

Synopsis Masterpost Link

Previous Part [Sense and Insensitivity + Adventures in the Elements + The First Day]

Next Part [Enchanting Grom Fright + Wing it Like Witches]

This is one of the big ones. The BIG ones. Big turning point episode here. All of these End Of Season 1 episodes are going to be like that. With a LOT of script screenshots.

Really Small Problems

I… didn’t have anything written for this episode, but I should mention that Tibbles hasn’t appeared in this AU because he’s actually profiting off of selling the Azura Books due to the Azura Incident and doesn’t need to do any more schemes. 

This episode wouldn’t have involved the carnival, but instead probably would have been a Willow-and-Amity-conflict centric episode and a Gus-and-Hunter friendship episode. Originally it was going to be a “Willow gets a crush on Hunter” episode that led into the pseudo-romance arc I’d been talking about for a while, but it never seemed right to me the more we saw canon Willow’s attitude towards canon Hunter in season 3. I still wanted elements of that though, since it’d be important for the Grom episode.

I’m also realizing now that I’m writing the whole synopsis that the Emerald Trio really doesn’t hang out very much in any of the episode descriptions, so I wanted to include a thing that was like “they hang out off-camera please believe me”.

Anyway, Hunter passes out at some point, which leads us into…

Understanding Willow

Which really should be called "Understanding Hunter" at this point.

The episode starts out with Hunter falling into a magical exhaustion, brought by him over-worrying about how to heal Belos. This would have assumedly been built up over the course of Really Small Problems, which I didn’t write, but somehow Amity, Willow, and Gus are there to bring him back to the Owl House. 

Amity and Willow volunteer to go into his mind and find out what is keeping him from waking up. When they’re sent in, they see that everything is extremely cluttered and all the trees are covered in notes. They hear muttering, and come across Inner Hunter, who is surrounded by paper and chalkboards. 

Hunter is surprised that they’re in there, especially when they say that he’s fallen into a magical exhaustion in the real world, and says that he feels completely fine and they can leave. Amity says that maybe the notes are what is messing with his head, and in the process of reaching out to touch them Hunter summons a wall of ice. He warns them not to touch anything – he’s almost at a breakthrough. 

Willow and Amity suggest that they help him out – the faster they figure out how to do the thing he’s researching, the sooner Hunter wakes up. Hunter agrees, and reveals he’s trying to heal someone’s curse. Not Eda’s – someone else’s.

They go through a research montage, failing multiple glyphs and exploding a few science flasks, etc, up until they start asking him questions about the curse.

Amity asks more pointed questions, making Hunter nervously ask what she’s getting at.

Hunter gets angry at the accusation, saying that this person isn’t doing it on purpose or faking it. Amity just says that it feels familiar. Hunter is generally pissed now, and tells them to get lost. Willow doesn’t stand for it, saying that he needs to wake up.

Amity figures this is enough, and burns all the notes and work. She says he’s stretching himself thin to do an impossible thing, and that sometimes things can’t be fixed. 

Hunter doesn’t like that. The mindscape warps slightly as he turns into a goopy version of Hunter, Belos eyes and all (something something turning into the thing that scares you the most as a defense mechanism), and he starts attacking them. They hide in one of his memories to escape. 

The memory they enter is in his room in the Emperor’s Castle. They hear a younger Hunter talking to someone on a bed.

Luz is revealed, as well as her humanity AND the fact that Hunter is the other Golden Guard. They hear the Inner Hunter coming (he warps the memories with mud as he goes through them), so they escape into a different memory, this time of the fight Hunter and Luz have before they start having a better relationship (it’s the same one in the Pre-Show events post)

They leave the memory when the coast is clear. Amity mentions that when Hunter told her to stop trying to protect the person she was hurting, back in Covention, he must have been speaking from experience. Willow asks if Amity was also speaking from her experience with their friendship when she told Inner Hunter that sometimes things can’t be fixed, and Amity says yes. 

They’re interrupted by Hunter, who shows up to kill them, when Amity tells him to stop because he’ll destroy his memories if he’s not careful. She burns the notes on another tree, revealing the memory there of Luz and him learning the light glyph.

Willow and Amity get out of the mindscape. Hunter wakes up, to the relief of King and Eda. 

He drags Willow, Amity, and Gus away to talk privately, and tells them the truth about being the Golden Guard. He assumes the worst, but Willow proves him wrong, saying that Hunter comes before his mask. Willow blushes here a bit.

Privately to Willow and Amity, he also expresses worry that he inadvertently outed his sister to them, and tells them not to tell anyone or her – it’s an important secret to her, and she might freak out if she finds out anyone knows. Amity doesn’t vibe with that, but agrees.

Previous Part [Sense and Insensitivity + Adventures in the Elements + The First Day]

Next Part [Enchanting Grom Fright + Wing it Like Witches]

Synopsis Masterpost Link

[rambling-for-self-improvement]

Thoughts on Episodes 14 and 15.

1) poor King, he actually didn't mean to even shrink them! Yeah he considered it but it was done on accident and he was ready to explain before Luz offered what he really wanted

2) The infamous fried orb has appeared...what the heck is the orb made of?!

3) Also King was giving me strong baby bro energy and it made me sad, he just wanted time with Luz and to commemorate things with friendship bracelets!

4) Continuing to not like Gus when he gets too much focus and that really bums me out because he's interesting but just..kind of obnoxious? I know all of them can be that way but his just seems too consistent and mean Spirited for my liking. Gus, please, I just wanna like you AND YOURE MAKING IT SO HARD

5) Eda in the crab apple sales costume (and the apples honestly) was adorable

6) Poor Willow, she got so screwed over by Amity's parents and I feel so bad for both of them and their friendship. Fuck "prestigious" families and their tendencies toward being assholes. Seems like it's mostly the parents though

7) DESPITE ALL MY RAGE I AM STILL JUST A WITCH GETTIN HAZED

8) Honestly love the memory photos and that whole magic lesson but WHY WERE THEY JUST LEFT OUT

9)Amity. Girl. You're better than this. Like they didn't know you were Willow's friend once.

10) Amity blushing because of Luz multiple times makes the ship sail

11) Willow has Two Dad's! And it wasn't like shoved in your face or made a big deal of! I love it!!!

12) Fixing the memories by fixing the little things out of place was nice, the whole plot for this and how it was executed was so well done and I enjoyed it a lot.

[nostalgic-bee]

Anyway I personally disagree with the opinion that Amity was reduced to just being Luz’s love interest in S2, in s2 she’s still unlearning so much and growing to be her own person

S2E2- she breaks the necklace that her mother gives her and has clearly used to control her for most of her life. She stands up to her mother chooses to stand up for her friends.

EP5- kind of similar to Ep 2. Her hair has been another part of her mother’s control over her, so she dyes her hair differently so that she can pull away from that control.

Ep 9- Amity is unlearning the idea that people will only ever love her if she can prove herself. She’s learning that she is loved unconditionally. ‘All my life I’ve had to justify existing’ shes learning that she doesn’t need to do that anymore.

Ep 11- I’d say her choosing not to look through Luz’s phone for answers was a great way to show character growth. All her life she’s had her own boundaries disrespected and she doesn’t want to do that to Luz

Ep 14- her being patient with Luz even when she’s hiding something. Her trying to connect with her father and admitting she no longer wants to be in the emperor’s coven, her saying she’s making her own choices.

Ep 18- Having to learn what Willow wants from her in their rekindled friendship. Realizing that Willow doesn’t want amity to protect her, having recognize and fix her mistake when she assumes that Willow wants her protection.

Ep 20- she stands up to her mother again and basically decides to cut contact with her.

I guess you could make an argument for season 3 but considering that s3 got cut short and they had a lot to tie up I can forgive that, besides in s3 we see the real Amity, the one who’s caring and a nerd and loves her friends. I do really wish Amity got her own character development moment in S3 but as I said the shortening meant they probably didn’t have time. Despite that I’d say S3 Amity is my favorite but so is S2 Amity.

Basically Amity was never reduced to a love interest even when Lumity became a thing.

[willumity2020]

There are many people who fail to fully understand Amity's character, backstory, and her intentions when it comes to her pretending to be a bully and don't even bother recontextualizing everything after Understanding Willow. This lack of understanding can be attributed to various reasons, such as not paying enough attention to the details, taking everything they see on screen at face value, or simply misunderstanding the complexity of her character.

Amity has been putting on the act and façade to hide her true self and pretending of looking down on Willow and maintaining her family's image, which she hated doing but had no choice. She wasn't bullying her, just being mean and condescending to her, and the reason she did that was to keep up appearances in front of Odalia who expected her to treat Willow as lesser than her and in front of people like Boscha and her friend group. Boscha on the other hand WAS an actual bully to Willow, which Amity couldn't stand but she had to pretend not to care and keep up the act. Amity told Willow at her birthday party they couldn't be friends anymore, it was a lie of course, but since Odalia threatened Willow, Amity had to make it look real, and because she had to be convincing, not just to Willow but also to Odalia, so she would never make good on that threat. The reason Amity PRETENDED to be mean to Willow is that because she knew if Odalia ever found out Amity still cared about Willow and being friendly with her, then Odalia would follow through on her threat to get Willow expelled from Hexside. Amity is and was fully aware she hurt Willow, she just couldn't do anything about it before, and does feel guilty over her.

The ONLY time Amity was GENUINELY mean was when she was rightfully angry with Luz for helping Willow cheat at her school assignment and getting her sent to Principal Bump's office. Amity DIDN'T try to dissect Luz. She was just trying to force Luz into revealing she wasn't an abomination. What she wanted was to prove Willow cheated. Luz wasn't tied up or anything, if she didn't want to get stabbed all she had to do was... move out of the way. Amity wasn't actually TRYING to kill Luz during their duel, it's just Amity was being aggressive and since Luz wasn't a natural born magic user like Amity, she was in danger of BEING KILLED, cause she had no innate magic to properly defend herself with.

Same as the one with Luz, Amity didn't wanted Boscha and her gang to find out about her true friendship with Willow, cause she was supposed to not be associated with those considered beneath the Blights, and because if Boscha found out they used to be friends, she would bully Willow even worse than she already did, so Amity tried to burn the photo memory of their childhood friendship.

While in Willow's mind, the real reason Amity didn't wanted to fix the memory of her friendship with Willow is that she didn't want Luz to find out, because she was afraid Luz would judge her especially without the proper context and thought she'd end up losing another real friend.

Despite fixing Willow's mind and regaining her friendship with Willow who understood and forgave her, Amity still felt bad about what happened, both the part with Odalia and the fact that she almost burned up Willow's brain trying to hide it, she knows Willow isn't angry anymore, but she still felt bad that all that stuff still happened because she was afraid to let Luz and Willow know the truth.

In Follies at the Coven Day Parade, Amity said "I'm glad we can be like this again", what she trying to say was that she wanted to make things be the way she and Willow used to be when they were kids, as shown in Labyrinth Runners where she kept getting in Willow's way because of it. She just wanted their friendship to be like it was when they were kids, which Willow stopped smiling cause she wasn't sure things could like they use to.

Made by CheesieStar

Source: twitter.com

[emsprovisions]

one having to sit in the other’s lap…etc (hehe)

You're insane. Friends to lovers prompts

one having to sit in the other’s lap when space is tight and them both blushing like crazy over it

The pro flyer derby game was packed and Matt was running late. He'd gotten held back at work until practically dusk because his supervisor wanted him to fix the support on one of the beams on the library expansion project. He was looking around wildly between his scroll where Gus was typing to let him know where they were sitting, and scanning the stands to try and find his friends. Finally he found them all crammed into the bleachers. There were so many other witches and there was absolutely no space for Matt.

"Hey Matty! You made it!" Gus's bright, happy face shone out as he waved Matt over.

Matt grimaced then shuffled his way through the tight opening in front of the flyer derby fans, stepping over feet just trying to get through without stepping on anyone.

"Sorry, excuse me," he said, cheeks red.

Finally, he made it to Gus and the others.

"Sorry I'm late. I got held up at work," Matt explained.

“Don’t worry! The game’s just getting good. Come on and sit down!”

“But there’s nowhere for me to—“

Gus reached up and tugged Matt’s wrist, pulling him towards him. Matt lost his balance and toppled over onto Gus’s lap.

He made to get up but Gus wrapped his arms around Matt’s waist, loosely letting him adjust to at least get comfortable before perching his chin on Matt’s shoulder to watch the game.

Matt’s face burned. He hadn't had time to change out of his work clothes and he reeked from working and sweating all day, which he felt bad about already, but now? In this predicament??

Gus’s friends were all watching. Luz was wiggling an eyebrow which only made Matt’s face burn hotter.

Gus was warm, his arms firm around Matt’s torso. It was increasingly getting harder to breathe. It was impossible to focus on the game.

Matt scanned the air, desperately trying to distract himself and find Willow and Skara, but the players were zipping by so fast he couldn’t make them out. He checked the scoreboard and saw that the Bonesborough Beasts were in the lead over the Latissa Snakes.

Good, he thought.

Gus shifted beneath him, bringing him right back to blushing hard, his short-lived distraction failing. He stared out at the field, but his mind was solidly on the boy who's lap he was sitting on.

Matt turned his head to look at Gus over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I stink," he grimaced.

Gus looked up and met his eyes, his own cheeks deepening with flush. "It's okay. Everyone here kinda smells bad. You smell familiar at least."

Matt had to whip his head around, the whole back of his neck was now hot, along with his ears.

"Hey," Luz suddenly piped up from beside them. "Amity and I are gonna go get some not dogs from concessions."

"Yeah, and Luz can sit on my lap when we get back so you guys can stretch out." Amity gave Matt such a knowing grin that he gulped.

"Okay, sure! Thanks. Bring us back some not dogs!" Gus said, loosening his arms from Matt's waist. "I'm sure Matt's starving."

The girls walked off after getting not dog orders and Matt slid off Gus's lap and sat down beside him on the hard metal bleachers.

He didn't know why, but there was a sad pang in his heart now. Gus bumped Matt's knee with his and reached for his hand tucked between them. He was staring forward but his cheeks were on fire. Matt threaded their fingers together, his face still warm too.

This was just normal friendship stuff. Right? It was normal to be sad about not getting to sit on your friend's lap anymore, right??

[piningpebbles]

i don’t know if anyone’s talking about it but god i just love how the owl house is implementing the storyline of having shitty ancestors who hurt people but trying to mend the bridges they burnt and be better even when (obviously) things can’t be patched that easily when there’s still an extreme power imbalance around. the collector crossing out that part in the story because he doesn’t want to be that way and just genuinely wanting to be king’s (and everyone’s) friend no matter the past is so heart-breakingly naive. king’s whole family was ripped away, all of his ancestors (as far as we know) are gone for good, and while of course he empathizes with the collector, they still hold that same power that caused both of those things to happen. the collector still holds all the cards even if they just want to play go fish with them, and it doesn’t do anyone any good to not acknowledge that. the collector is so desperate and vulnerable, susceptible to manipulation because of the power they wield and that they want things to just be perfect. i mean they got rid of the bad guy right? they stopped the draining spell right? so what more could there be? 

but you can’t just scribble out the past and “fix” the story with a snap of your fingers (or a wave of the moon). people were hurt. people are still being hurt. people who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it, and the same is true for those who ignore it. you can’t just forget the past when so many people have been hurt and still hurting, especially when you have the power to change things. similar to how willow and amity’s friendship has developed, it might not be perfect afterwards but it will be better than just trying to ignore the situation at hand-- that prevents change.

you have to acknowledge the past to be able to heal and move on.

[divinemiracles]

I wish I can I say that I prefer Hunter and Willow's friendship over to them being forced together but I can't since it's barely developed. They have the whole being "half-a-witch" but that isn't even accurate to them. Plus, they have Hunter act completely normal around other people, but have him lose his composure when around Willow and it's gotten really tiring.

Exactly. I try so hard to imagine them as friends but I can barely see it. All I can see is them being a part of the friend group yet not being much of friends themselves (Like Amity and Gus). They should have developed a bond from Willow’s kindness towards Hunter instead of the “half-a-witch” title.

The title was given to them for two completely different reasons: not having magical abilities so feeling worthless in every way possible, & not being able to excel at magic and getting bullied. Why would you compare literal child labor, neglect, and ab*se to bullying? I get Willow being bullied was extremely harsh but it shouldn’t be compared to Hunter’s trauma. His trauma is far more serious.

Then, the show “fixed” them in the end. Hunter obtained Flapjack’s abilities (which he didn’t even use) and Willow became one of the Boiling Isles’ most powerful plant witches. How do they bond after that? The crew probably also “fixed” their trauma and made them no longer self-doubtful. Their entire relationship was built on specifically trauma, which is hard to watch, seeing how much it’s romanticized.

Hunter’s face when Willow mentioned she was being called half-a-witch was just pure shock, honestly. He likely felt bad for her later but during that scene, he was just in genuine surprise. The first time he blushed was when Willow mentioned his schedule. That just felt so odd, she should have said something else. But overall, the entirety of Any Sport In A Storm was inconsistent behavior for every character.

I hate Hunter’s behavior around Willow. He just met her and she was snappy and forceful (which why would they introduce Willow to Hunter like that? She’s the sweetest person ever, she’s not rude!), so he starts blushing. That makes it seem like he was looking for an authority figure that can tell him what to do, which is so frustrating. Couldn’t the crew at least write Willow to have a conversation with Hunter about how he’s allowed to make his own choices? That is one of the many things that should have been elaborated on to enhance their relationship.

I get that Willow is Hunter’s first crush but why would he like her out of all people? Is it because she’s strong and nice? That’s Luz, he could have had a crush on Luz. Hell, I remember someone saying that it would make more sense for him to have a crush on Amity. That’s messed up since she’s lesbian but she has way more similarities to him than Willlow does. He even said it himself.

Just seeing the two interact gives me the vibe that the crew tossed a relationship in because they looked cute together and they thought that they could do it well with the shortening. Which, no. Hunter and Willow’s romantic plot line should have been dropped as a whole.

[mcfuckity]

I know a few people who dislike huntlow and say stuff like:"this ship is super rushed, hunter has to work on himself, he doesn't understand romance and it is the last thing he needs" but they ship huntric and lumity🥴like you dislike huntlow for being rushed and hunter not being able to understand romance but you ship hunter and edric who interacted only once 🤡 something tells me those are not the reasons why those people dislike this ship, but completely for different ones🫣 and they are afraid to admit. Again i don't have problem with people who dislike huntlow but i have problem with people who drag huntlow down meanwhile shipping edric and lumity. Again every person has a right to dislike or like a ship. And what is so interesting that the majority of people never brought these excuses for amity when they shipped so much lumity and attacked everybody who wasn't a fan of this ship. And also unlike amity hunter didn't have that much problems with morality, didn't harm intentionally willow and gus, even when he got them captured he still tried to fix mistake. He actually owned up to his mistakes and had to learn it the hard way. Meanwhile amity wasnt addressed for her awful behaviour and shifted the responsibility of her actions on to her parents. And she didnt even try to reconcile with willow. She suddenly became a "sofgtie" out of nowhere without getting called out and only around luz. I am sorry folks but this is not a proper redemption. People also dislike willow and gus for not being plot relevant when its clearly writers fault for not giving them episodes to shine, and it is not as infuriating as amity who got a lot of episodes dedicated to her but still ending as a "girlfriend" who doesnt do much. No offense to amity stans and they literally whine all the effing time like why people dont talk about amitys trauma, when it was the only thing discussed during s1-s2, as if all these talks and fanarts about amity wasnt enough. They always bring up amity literally all the time. 

I agree and I’ve discussed this before. I recently haven’t said anything because I want the whole show to be over before rewatching it and having a retrospective to see if anything changes. I have talked about this before though.

I adore Huntlow/Winter and I love that they are still separate and unique characters while being together. I hate the stupid excuse that Hunter isn’t “ready for a relationship” because it makes no sense. A traumatized kid just found people who makes him feel seen, heard, and loved. He also got a crush on someone who ALSO experienced mistreatment and cares so much about him. I can see why Hunter would like Willow and vice versa. I CAN’T see how Luz would like Amity since she’s BEEN bullied and she SAW Amity bully Willow. I have no idea why Luz was all in Amity’s face.

The popular fanon ships are so frustrating because they’ll just ship Hunter w a yt person with the same logic he got with Willow for.

I haven’t seen any Willow and Gus hate but they were literally sidelined to make Amity look good because they know that she didn’t have a real redemption. It makes no sense that Amity got so much screentime just to keep reiterating herself as Luz’s gf but never have Willow and Gus be there for Luz to reiterate their friendship. Hell, even in s1 and Amity was barely there, the fans literally favored her and made so much fanart of her replacing Willow and Gus/ making them background support to lumity. It was literally just “tomato Amity” and “idiot Luz” fanart flooding my feeds. At least Huntlow art has character. Amity needs nothing else.

Then the show damn near goes out the way to have Lumity on one side and Emerald Trio on the other with sprinkles of Amillow interactions to be like “See? They’re all friends 😇”. It’s getting tired fr.

[doll-babe-a-tron-queenthousand]

Hi do you have any headcannons on amity and willows friendship

Yes I do in fact! Thank you so much for the request and here you go!

● So let's get this out of the way, Willow and Amity's pre-human world friendship looked different from their in the human world friendship.

● This is mostly because Amity ruthlessly bullied Willow for years, and even though she is a forgiving person, Willow needs time to heal again.

● Amity is at first (as we've seen) very protective of Willow.

● They both make it a point to hang out without Luz sometimes in order to rebuild their friendship.

● They also DEFINITELY partake in some of their old favorite activities.

● Sleepovers, Movie Nights, Board games, you name it. They are doing it.

● They try and recreate as many old memories as possible.

● After Willow teaches Amity that she doesn't ALWAYS need help, Amity tries to make it up to Willow. Even more than before.

● Amity is afraid that even though they made up and are becoming friends again, Willow might become upset with her again.

● It takes Amity awhile to get over that insecurity.

● Speaking of things that take awhile, it takes a while for Willow to fully trust Amity again.

● Amity really hurt her in the past and she is not obligated to immediately forgive her. She takes the time she needs.

● They do not let Luz or Gus interfere in their friendship rebuilding. They want to fix it together and on their own.

● They gossip ALL THE TIME and Amity is always asking for advice.

● Willow is so good at coming up with date ideas its kinda crazy.

● Now after coming to the human realm, they rely on each other a lot more.

● Luz is hiding stuff, becoming more secluded. And that worries both of them. And with Luz being away at school and our two traumatized babies coping in their own nerd ways (Hunter and Gus ofc) while also being closed off, Amity and Willow only really have each other.

● They will often go out and run errands for Camilla togehter.

● Willow takes a lot of pictures of Amity out in the parks and such. She's just so photogenic.

● It's takes a while for the two to get used to the human realm, but they have each other.

● Camilla gave the two some money to go buy some new clothes.

● They started a game where they find random articles of clothing that didn't come from any sets and have to make an outfit for the other person. They both ended up looking super silly.

● Willow sleeps wild like we've seen, and when Amity wakes up one night and sees her, omg. She took sooooo many pictures of her.

● Willow definitely sleepwalking too, and one night Amity went to use the bathroom and Willow was just standing in the hallway and scared the shit out of her.

● Amity refuses to admit she was terrified.

● Willow also has no idea that any of this happened. So when she asks Amity why she looks like she hasn't slept, Luz holds in a laugh cause she saw it all and Amity goes tomato mode.

● Overall, their friendship is very pure. And they put so much effort into making it work. They care so much for each other it's ridiculous.

● I love them.

Thank you so much for the request, it truly means a lot, and if this isn't satisfactory, let me know! Have a good day/night, drink water. And eat a little snack. You deserve it. Stay safe!

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

Willumity aka Luz x Amity X Willow.

I know there’s Huntlow but I just want to imagine if there could’ve been a OT3 to rival Sashannarcy. Since Owl House and Amphibia are sister shows after all.

(Honest Ship Ask Meme) 

Willumity

Maybe they could rival Sashannarcy but I doubt it as the Calamity Trio fixing their toxic relationship was a central part of the story (along with the Plantars and Andrias/Core). Meanwhile Willow might feel like the odd one out when it comes to Lumity even tho’ Luz would def shower Willow in just as much kisses and cuddles as she would with Amity, then theres the slight awkwardness with Willow and Amity being in a relationship after the years of bullying and allowing bullying to happen from others. Not saying it couldn’t happen but it’d have to be years after Willow and Amity repair their friendship

[dainesanddaffodils]

willow from toh and 1, 10, and 16??

baby girl!!

1. fun headcanon

kinda stolen from Dana herself but I thought of it before I saw Dana say it so it counts as mine lol - anyway, Willow discovers roller derby while in the human realm and boy howdy does she love it. like, y'all, I get it's a kiddy disney show but flyer derby did not have nearly enough violence in it so once she discovers the roller equivalent she is delighted.

10. I recognize canon has made a decision, but given that it’s a stupid-ass decision, I’ve elected to ignore it (+ what should have happened)

I mean it's broad but like, it's gotta be her lack of screentime in the first half of s2. I don't even really know how I'd fix it I just think I want to see her more. Things like the awkward stage her and Amity's not-yet-friendship could have been explored so much more.

16. favorite canon relationship

I mean, I am a sucker for her and Hunter I won't deny it. Like, it's truly my favorite 'looks like opposites attract at first glance but then you look deeper and realize they are actually very, very, very similar people and that's what's drawn them together' trope. I like that they recognize their strengths and weaknesses in each other and they help bring out the former while teaching them not to be ashamed of the latter. The show knew they didn't have a lot of time with these two but still managed to pack in a lot of emotional depth and it gives me many feels.