#Belos does not know how to spell very well

[imsosocold]

Last minute prediction of what the confrontation between the Collector and Belos will be like:

The Collector, in tears: YOU LIED ABOUT ABOUT FREEING ME! YOU WERE GOING TO LEAVE ME TRAPPED ALL ALONE FOR FOREVER! YOU PINKIE PROMISED ME THAT YOU'D LET ME FREE! I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!

Belos, giving an autism stare™ : Cole I crossed my fingers and my toes. So you can't be mad :(

[tyrantisterror]

Your recent train of posts about you-know-who’s book series got me thinking. You once said “The Owl House works as a sort of rebuttal to Harry Potter in a lot of ways”, care to elaborate on that statement? Especially in regards to how The Owl House’s worldbuilding and themes clash with Harry Potter’s?

Oh man... I don't want my blog to be consumed by Harry Potter Hot Takes. I'd prefer to vent most of those feelings through my wizard books instead, it's more productive that way.

So, ok, short version: The Owl House is about a teenager from the mundane world discovering there's a magical world hidden away, goes there to learn magic, and in the process uncovers a plot by an abominable fascist to commit genocide. In very simplistic terms, that is more or less the same plot as Harry Potter.

But the devil's in the details, isn't it? Luz doesn't have any grand inheritance to claim, no prophecy to fulfill, nothing that makes her the most special specialest special person of all time. There's even a whole episode early on where a villain tries to lure her to her doom by claiming she's the chosen one, and the lesson is that NO ONE is "chosen" for greatness - greatness is something you make yourself, not something that's thrust upon you. She is not inherently gifted as a witch - in fact, she struggles harder because she doesn't have a a special bladder true witches are born with, and has to learn an ancient and forgotten method of spellcasting basically from scratch to cast spells at all. She is, emphatically and at times definitely deliberately, the opposite of what Harry Potter is.

So is her academic experience. There's a magic school in this setting, and (at first) it wants nothing to do with Luz because she's human, not a witch, and thus is believed to be incapable of casting spells. So Luz's primary mode of education on magic comes from a private mentor, Eda, who is also a wanted criminal and social outcast because of her disdain for the draconian rules of their society. Eda is an unconventional but magnificent mentor, one who is as willing to try new things and learn new methods as Luz herself, and who helps Luz discover ways to make possible what everyone else claims is impossible. Eventually Luz does convince the magic school to take her in, but in the process she changes how it runs, challenging a lot of its preconceived notions and forcing them to do better.

Which is vital, because the biggest problem facing the society of this magical world is narrow-minded reliance on outdated social categorization. Like HP, people are sorted into categories (covens here instead of houses), which they are then forced to stick to and never dabble in the others. It is explicitly compared to both the concept of tracking in real world education (i.e. forcing kids into a career path early and ONLY giving them education relevant to that one career) and the house system of HP:

And it's wrong. It's both presented as needlessly limiting, terrible for encouraging advancement and growth of both the students and society as a whole, and an immoral system that's only kept alive by the "Well, this is how we've always done it" inertia that keeps so many awful traditions in education alive. And I really do mean it's immoral, because it's the brain child and secretly crucial evil tool of a genocidal fascist.

I kind of cringe at writing those two words since I feel people have been WAY too quick to accuse cartoon villains from children's shows of fascism and genocide - like, Chairface Chippendale writing his name on the moon with a laser would probably kill a shitload of people in real life, but that doesn't mean he's an analogue to Hitler. But Belos, like fellow Disney villain Frollo, is clearly intended to be exactly that: a genocidal fascist. In a world full of magic-fueled absurdist black comedy beats, Emperor Belos stands out as a consistently serious threat, tonally dissonant with his surroundings in a way that makes him chillingly effective as a villain. And like real world powerful bigots, his power primarily comes from the fact that the systems of society favor his mindset over those of outsides like Luz and Eda - all the systems of oppression our heroes chafe against were either created by or worsened by him, with the express purpose of using them to kill everyone and everything in the magical world.

Luz could not be more thematically opposed to her enemy, and the story is incredibly consistent in showing how defeating Belos alone isn't enough, but that the systems that empowered him have to be disproven and dismantled. His enablers must be destroyed or humbled, the prejudices he encouraged must be torn down and fought at every turn, and innovation and progress must be embraced for the good of all. There's so much stuff you could analyze about the themes in that show regarding oppression and the othering of people who are different, and it's all so, SO much more consistent than the discussion of the same themes you'll find in Harry Potter.

[crimeronan]

Oh I am having, so so many thoughts about the Hunter yeeted to the human realm AU of the princess AU (Good Lord this Au has so many AUs which is why we love it) Assuming this happens as like, a part of the year of hell and near the end of it (like, just prior to mainline aus patricide) Hunter is just going to be, a complete wreck, especially depending on what Belos tells him about why he was sent (which if it makes Luz look bad he won't believe but might nonetheless fuck with him) and one, dealing with being locked in Camila's basement.

Things would probably end up very very murder the Emperor very quickly (ie once he's satisfied he has her sufficiently 'under control' and the second Luz gets the oportunity )... so this might end up being a very short lived situation. But... Belos being the inconsiderate jerk he is used some fancy spell where if he dies it blows up idk he wouldn't want it being used after his death though that's for sure) so Luz is stuck being The Empress (assuming things go well) without her Hunter there for her. Maybe like in some other AUs she would have Amity's (maybe dragging her in on the patricide plan) but that's it... the poor baby.

Amity (depending on her situation) might be trying to help in the same way Hunter does but is failing miserably for all of the reasons whilst being slowly driven insane. I can see Luz going to Darius and Raine for help if for no other reason than that she has nobody else.

But I'm imagining, after several months of barely getting through the day... with the adults around her barely keeping her functional, with Amity having fallen into the role of "be in the room when she has nightmares and try not to panic about anything" Hunter returns with Camila (and maybe Vee depending on how things go in the human realm) in tow.

"Heyy... sorry about being in another dimension for the past few months not not successfully killing Belos on the spot so I could be with you I will consider this a personal failing for the rest of my life.... But i did just bring back a wayyy better parental figure who... by sheer coincidence, is your actual Mom."- Hunter probably

from this concept

it's been a couple days since you sent this but i'm still thinking about all of this. trying to imagine what belos tells hunter.... my main thought is it paralleling what he tells luz in TTT. "thank you so much for all your help, hunter. but i don't need you anymore. and Neither Does She"

coming off the year of hell and all of luz's secrecy, hunter would For Sure interpret this as "belos has started physically abusing luz and has no intention of stopping." to say he'd be frantic is. An Understatement. in the main timeline canon he assumes belos killed luz without any provocation... having Actual Proof that belos has cruel intentions toward her would make him. well.

Very Upset! to say the least!

i'm not sure if he'd actually end up locked in camila's basement here, though. he clearly can't GO anywhere else. and he's in a Damn State. after her initial panic, once she'd calmed down and gotten up to speed on the situation, vee would be.... perhaps not Fully understanding, but at least less afraid. like. i think she'd lock her own door and she'd carry around a weapon whenever she went downstairs for snacks, but i dunno if they'd go the full imprisonment route.

unless hunter offered. which.... now that i'm thinking about it, he Absolutely would. hunter being like i know humans hate witches and you especially have reason to hate me but if you can get me back to the isles then you can do whatever you want to me. i won't fight i Promise

meanwhile luz is frantically trying to get to the human realm because belos is so confident that there are still witch hunters there & she does Not remember enough about modern human society to dispute it. amity For Sure clocks that luz killed belos, the same way she does in the main timeline. and she ALSO has a vested interest in getting hunter back (because he is her best friend) because she needs a rival who can best her in combat. AND she's trying to keep lilith together, which means she's often in proximity to luz anyway. so there's a lot of opportunity for her to be like. luz. are you okay?? you Have to pull it together

i think raine would insert themself politically even if luz didn't ask, because she CANNOT focus on policy right now. and it is sort of important for her to focus on policy while she's trying to govern. darius meanwhile has a similar interest to amity in getting to the human realm because what do you MEAN belos tossed his kid the little shit into hostile territory and abandoned him???

man. the sheer amount of relief luz would experience when hunter comes back. Unparalleled. girls who are going to throw themselves on him and burst into tears in the middle of the throne room.....

[tohwitchesduels]

REQUEST BATTLES OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 46: Gus Porter vs Hunter

Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character you prefer, in this tournament, you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.

information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:

Since both have quite huge profiles, I won't be getting into specifics, just motivations and I will link to their profiles in their names.

Gus Porter:

Gus Porter is a prodigy when it comes to illusion magic. Prodigious enough to skip a few grades and even defeat the coven head of illusions with his sheer raw power. Gus displays insane potential and a big imagination when it comes to his magic. Now his powers are still limited by his own imagination and creativity meaning his illusions for the most part can be used mostly for deception and distraction, but during this tournament, Gus finally revised his own skill to find even offensive capabilities of his powers. While Gus did display the willingness to study other tracks, he ultimately never did due to his reassurance in being a master illusionist how easy it comes to him, and how much he can do with illusions alone.

One must know how intelligent Gus is during his battles. He can easily fool and toy with his opponents thanks to his illusions and Gus is also not afraid to either mock or straight-up torture his enemies during his battle just to get the results he needs, and has more than enough raw power to pull his schemes to their fullest. It's worth noting that when Gus feels extreme emotions, his magic only gets amplified, however, the side effects could be that Gus actually loses control over his own powers and gets to be the victim of them too, though thankfully to the magical amplifier from Graye, the risk of that is lesser.

Gus does possess a Palisman and is known to be an utter speed demon. Gus doesn't fly in a traditional sense like most other competitors due, to preferring to surf in the air, but this only further allows him to still cast spells while midair, which mixed with his capacity to trick his opponents more dangerous. It's hard to tell however how good he is in combat with his staff, but it appears he knows how to battle with it if he still used it as a means to fight in LR when briefly facing Hunter.

One of the artifacts I allow Gus to have independently regarding whether or not his opponent also has any supportive gear is the looking glass earring he got after he defeated Adrian. The magical amplifier allows Gus to further concentrate his raw power into specific abilities he has a hard time pulling on his own and even enhancing them in the process, growing more powerful.

Gus and Hunter are the best bros and there's no bad blood between them while going into this battle nor will there be any after they finish. Gus wants to have a chance to battle the finalists; it's nothing personal. Gus realises he may be outmatched as he knows how dangerous Hunter can be but he's willing to face him as he knows Hunter isn't invincible or flawless either. Granted Gus won't do his worst towards Hunter (so no Belos trauma as it would be hit below the belt... but Gus may aim with his staff below Hunter's belt).

More Gus pictures showing his powers:

Hunter The Golden Guard:

Hunter "Insert your preferred surname/s for him", also known as a former and the youngest Golden Guard in history, head of the Emperor's Coven, Emperor Belos's right-hand man. One must know that unlike other contestants (aside from Luz) he's not constricted to specific covens and tracks since as a former leader of the coven that allows all kinds of magic, Hunter will have expertise in all types of coven magic as well, and he's also very dedicated to studying wild magic.

Hunter has no bad blood towards Gus, he's his best bro. Hunter does feel bad a bit to have to battle Gus, but he's willing to do so and win this match since he knows Gus will be a little shit if Hunter lets him win (siblings am I right?). It's worth noting that Hunter already had to face Gus at his strongest even when they weren't battled and while it wasn't easy, Hunter managed to push through Gus's powers to save him, so Hunter sees no reason why he can't do the same to take down Gus as well. After all his position in the tournament is also at stake because of this.

Hunter himself was also known as a genius teen prodigy and is undeniably a child soldier who was raised by both hell and the library to get to the very top. While he was born magicless, it did not stop him from earning his title as the right-hand man of the most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles. Hunter spends days and nights both training and learning everything about magic both as a duty and as fun. He's incredibly knowledgeable regarding all kinds of magic, meaning it's hard to actually surprise him with anything. And since he's a child soldier raised in a magical military with no magic by himself, Hunter had to survive hell even worse than some of the adults that also were part of this coven went through, and he survived it all. Hunter has already been to countless witches' duels beforehand, he made it several times through a maze full of traps, and judging by how he calls getting from the top to the bottom of the mountain alive "a classic", this might as well suggest that this Hunter's version of "summer camp", as he did that numerous times and he considers it "fond memories". Hunter without a doubt has the most experience among all participants when it comes to battling, because you know Belos never gave him a break or easy time and for Hunter to be where he is today is all thanks to his own strength, intelligence, and resilience.

Hunter certainly has one of the strongest wills among all characters in TOH, as despite going through a ridiculous amount of pain, he is capable of brushing it off and pushing forward, with his only weakness being Belos. Hunter's willpower was even able to withstand Gus's trauma bubble which specifically puts you through your worst memories and even renders you useless, but Hunter resisted its effect and calmed Gus down instead, despite his pain being very fresh and severe and Hunter in fact not being ok with it, but Hunter keeps on going anyway. One must know it's very hard to break him, trust Belos, he tried but didn't succeed. Hunter even managed to resist Belos's possession for some time, which is a lot considering Belos was his abuser and had power over him metaphorically and physically in that moment.

Hunter displayed throughout the series to have some great athletic skills and agility, being able to keep up pace with running Luz without breaking a sweat while proving he has experience in parkour and acrobatics as seen in him flying on staff. Certainly, he can use his skills to evade incoming attacks with his reflexes while keeping up with his opponents and close distance between him and his enemies. He also has plenty of brute strength at his disposal as well, considering he managed to shatter falling debris by just swinging his staff in one hand.

Hand-To-Hand Combat - Hunter has proven to be efficient in hand-to-hand combat throughout the series. While Hunter overall plays more on defense as a protector rather than offense, he is not afraid to throw a punch. This post goes more in-depth about Hunter's proficiency in staff-wielding, but I will explain some of it here too. Hunter as a trained soldier and experienced martial artist has his body be his weapon. He knows how the body works and has great control over it. He defeated both Luz and Eda in his debut with a quick kick while evading their attack, straight-up toyed with Kikimora, and had to be put to sleep to be restrained by coven scouts as he was still fighting and kicking. This also gives him a huge advantage against other competitors who are used to fighting across distance, whereas Hunter fights at a close range.

Back in EC Hunter learned how to be smart, resourceful, and strong, and as I've mentioned before multiple times, he's a child soldier. His opponents usually underestimate him, but he's not the one to be crossed. His victories compromise of defeating Eda and Luz on 2v1 in his debut; immediately defeating Luz in HP once he's recovered; defeating Kikimora in HP; and Tying with Amity in EL after being physically and mentally exhausted, in 2v1 with King (who was rather defeated by Hunter in this duel), while wielding a completely new staff and restraining himself to not kill her but just getting the key; winning flyer derby game on his first try; catching Darius off-guard (which is a feat with Darius's great reflexes); making a strong glyph combo on his very first try; resisting Gus's trauma bubble; kicking ass during Hexside against EC battle; he was defeated twice by coven scouts, which while fair, was also due to his poor condition and the second time he had to be put to sleep to be restrained; handling abomatons and scouts with rest of the Hexsquad during S2 finale; standing his ground and protecting Hexsquad from Belos while being severely weakened in KT; breaking through Willow's vines in FtF with his freshly awakened powers.

Hunter now is sub-merged with Flapjack meaning he does not require staff anymore to cast spells as magic now comes from within. What's more, I allow Hunter to also levitate/fly without the help of any staff. This is more of a fanon ability, but it's supposed to connect him to having the powers of a palisman (but no, he can't turn into a staff, nor is wooden) and abilities of a palisman are usually just enhanced abilities of the holder, meaning flight is in capacity of any witch, but all of them utilise staff since flight on its own is probably hard spell to pull off, but Hunter should do just fine for the sake of this tournament.

And now finally, let's talk about his staff. For the purposes of this tournament, I will give Hunter Waffles. You know Hunter is the best staff wielder in the entire tournament only rivaled by Luz. I already mentioned how Hunter is absolutely proficient with his staff, utilizing it for both offensive and very effective strikes and flawless defense. Hunter is also a real aerial ace capable of flying at high speeds with agility to dodge attacks and is capable of even surfing on his staff as demonstrated when he showed off in ASIAS. His flying skills were also decisive in both forming EE and winning their very first game together.

Return to Masterpost

[candyskiez]

ok I've only really yelled about this with my friends before so I might sound ridiculous here, bear with me, but I've been thinking about *why* the collector didn't understand death.

I know there's some very obvious factors here. he isn't mortal, he wasn't raised around mortals, blah blah blah. but I would like to take a moment to point out that for a long time, his only reference for what was normal for non archivists/collectors was belos.

we don't know if collectors are able to regenerate when they "break" as he put it, but it wouldn't be too far from likely. and here's why I think collector is fully convinced mortals can do that too.

how belos talks about grimwalkers.

pay attention to that wording.

"Everytime HE chooses to betray me."

he talks about every grimwalker like they're the same person. and, I mean,,, its belos. I really wouldn't be surprised if he named all of the grimwalkers hunter.

belos is the only social interaction collector got for 400 years straight. he very well could be the only mortal collector met before king let them out. he probably straight up thought every grimwalker was the same person, just being fixed again.

this also explains why he's so nonchalant over the draining spell and belos killing all the grimwalkers. they won't be gone gone. once belos has made his point, they'll be right back! just like he does with all the grimwalkers!

also the fact that he didn't think luz was gone gone because the archivists weren't there? fucking heartbreaking to me. he thinks the archivists are the only one who can take people away permanently, and they took all his friends. belos didn't take all the grimwalkers away, he always put them back. so why couldn't he make luz come back?

it's just,,, holy shit. the complexity of being a god child and not having someone who teaches morals and guilt and the concept of mortality. that is a child living in a serial killers basement. no wonder shadow collector was so different.

[sepublic]

“I gave you the draining spell! I taught you magic stronger than anybody’s!”

All right so Ipad Kid is a funny reading of the Collector and also totally true, but! But! I don’t think that’s all there is to him. Because as we’ve all guessed, the Collector embodies a lot of ideas and parallels in this show, particularly the idea of an estranged kid who is seen as too dangerous or unpredictable, a lonely kid who just wants to have fun but gets carried away in disregarding others. Like early-S1 Luz, or King.

But a common thread amongst Luz and King and other ostracized characters is that they’re actually really smart and knowledgeable about certain subjects, and rather dedicated fans of them too; And it’s already canon that the Collector taught Belos some VERY arcane magic, of only which they were privy to; Why else would Philip seek them out, tolerate them, of all people? 

Not only did the Collector know about a spell capable of harnessing the power of the eclipse to commit mass genocide, but he likely gave Belos knowledge on all of the other weird and inexplicable spells we’ve seen him perform; Particularly, things like Belos’ unusual red magic, which is able to manifest an entire worm demon from scratch, grant clarity to Eda’s mind during the curse, and even bypass the magical protections of Luz’s witch’s wool cloak. And a lot of the Collector’s knowledge could just be attributed to being VERY old, but consider;

The Collector is a BIG nerd. They hyperfixate. They can ramble all day long about magic. They know various secrets of the universe and think they’re super cool. As another parallel to Luz, they wanted to learn a LOT more, though in the Collector’s case, they may have hurt or disregarded in others in messing around with magic and experiments. They’re like a young Eda; A precocious little kid yet INCREDIBLY talented and a prodigy breaking ground in many ways. 

Imagine them being so excited to infodump about magic to Philip, someone who’s finally asking to listen; Only to be a bit disappointed when Phil cuts him off at times, only focusing on what he strictly needs because he really does not like nor care for this kid. And the Collector is disappointed because why stop there? But all right, he’ll play by Philip’s ‘rules’ of the game and focus on the specific lessons that Belos finds relevant. 

Imagine the Collector possibly befriending Luz and the others, and if even if they lose their power, they might still retain their knowledge; And thus use it to teach and herald a new age of magic, unrestricted by Belos and boosted by the Collector. Knowledge that could help people overcome the coven bindings, or at least work around them; Knowledge as reparations for the draining spell that could’ve left permanent damage to bile sacs. The Collector isn’t Head Empty, No Thoughts; They’re very much a neurodivergent kid with a LOT of shrewd passion on the workings of the universe. 

They aren’t dumb, just isolated and naive, and even then they guessed at Belos and King using them for their own ends; They just consider otherwise because it’s the only option they can believe in. They ARE a kid after all, and underestimating the Collector like that is like underestimating Luz; And we see how someone like Belos suffers for that. And we might just see how our protagonists suffer, too... A lot of the Collector’s power may very well stem from just knowing things and how to use that knowledge, and not just raw inherent power. And there’s likely so much more even they don’t know, but are more than willing and eager to learn, alongside another if they cared about magic for magic’s sake!

[sassytheturtle]

Thinking about how we’ve never once seen Hunter fighting at full strength and power in toh.

You need to remember this dude has been trained his entire life to serve as an elite soldier under the emperor. Belos wouldn’t have made him his right hand man and eventual coven head after Lilith left if he wasn’t capable of handling himself, anyone who might seek to harm the emperor or anyone else of importance, dangerous monsters and demons, and capturing powerful wild witches.

I mean, think about all the specifics of his job and training that he’s mentioned. He had to have been really freaking tough and talented to have been able to make it through all that.

And we never once get to see what he’s truly capable of.

In Seperate Tides, Hunter doesn’t see Luz or Eda as any sort of threat. He knows they’re both powerless. He’s clearly relaxed and toying with them. He’s confident that he has the upper hand and isn’t worrying about having to handle a couple of troublesome criminals.

Hunting Palismen takes place late at night. He was expecting this to be a quick and easy in and out mission. It’s understandable that he would be tired this late. And again, you have to remember that he still doesn’t view Luz as any sort of threat. He’s annoyed by her and gets caught off guard because he wasn’t expecting her to be any sort of challenge to handle.

Plus he was just in a crash and doesn’t even have his staff the majority of the episode, but is still able to easily keep up with Luz. And he willingly goes along with her afterwards so that he can get the palismen quicker and then dispose of Luz.

By the time he fights Kiki, he’s been running around all night and clearly just wants this mission to be over with. Kiki has been shown to be a pretty powerful person fighting wise, and even though she’s barely conscious, Hunter bests her fairly quickly. It wasn’t something that was really that hard for him.

Then comes to Eclipse Lake. By the time he and Amity fight, he’s exhausted, just had a mental breakdown, and fighting on an unfamiliar staff. Mental breakdowns like this leave people feeling super drained and burnt out, but he still gives Amity a pretty good run for her money.

I believe he would have easily won if not for the events in the episode leading up to the fight. I mean, he was literally just involved in a mine cart chase before he got to the lake.

In Any Sport in a Storm, other characters clearly point out the fact that he’s very talented at what he does. But he doesn’t exert full effort. He’s trying to recruit teens and play a sport.

In Labyrinth Runners, he’s dealing with the impacts and trauma from Hollow Mind. This dude has just learned that everything he thought he ever knew was a complete lie. He knows the man he once saw as his uncle wants him dead. He’s terrified. All he ever had to do before was follow orders, but now it’s up to him to make decisions and he has no idea what to do, where to go, or who to turn to. All he knows is that he has to stay as far away from Belos as possible.

All of this is clearly mentally and physically draining him. But even at this weak point, he’s able to push through and get to Gus when several other scouts and a literal coven head could not.

Again in Clouds On the Horizon, he’s still terrified and dealing with everything that happened. He’s still not in a good head space.

In King’s Tide, he’s been in yet another crash and is being effected by the draining spell. But he’s still able to push through and fight Belos, holding up fairly well, when everyone else with a sigil can barely even move.

It wasn’t even him fighting in Thanks to Them. That was just Belos using his body. But still, an argument can be made. He’s able to push through Belos’s possession after being rusty on fighting and all of his training for literal months. Belos was clearly trying to hurt Hunter when possessing him and didn’t care whether he lived or died. Hunter pushes through in minutes.

When Belos possessed Raine, he didn’t want to hurt them. He needed a body and to sustain Raine as long as he could. Raine has been trapped as a puppet, but they haven’t been conscious for months. If they were freed from puppet form, then they’d still be as used to fighting as before they were enslaved into a dreamless sleep.

Belos even comments on how powerful Raine is, but it still takes them a lot longer to push through his control than Hunter did. They did also have to push through Collector’s, but there’s still a point to be made.

In For the Future, again Hunter is still rusty, in painful grief, having to deal with all of his worst traumas coming back, and now has no magic at all. He figures out he’s able to use it later on, but it’s only ever that one spell.

This brings me back to my main point. In all of these instances, Hunter has either been tired, burnt out, in mental distress, just previously dealing with another physically taxing event, not really trying or having to use effort, rusty from lack of practice, using unfamiliar magic, or a combination of those. I believe that if we ever got to see him fight in his prime—with a staff and magic that he was used to, in a mostly stable emotional state, physically rested or not just previously having to deal with another taxing event, and with all of his training in tact and not out of practice—then we would see just how powerful and terrifying of a foe he could have really been.

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

Assorted Musings: A Jumbled Collection of Owl House Rewrites

So, I've been thinking of ways to improve The Owl House and the short answer is: make it actually stick to its premise. Show how the Boiling Isles is under the thumb of an oppressive dictator, make Luz an actual outsider in her home world, better explain how Belos came to power, etc.

The following is just a loose assortment of basic premises without rhyme or reason:

On Hexside and Amity-

Hexside and all schools (all buildings really) have a portrait of the Emperor that they say a vow to commit themselves to eradicating wild magic and upholding the Titan's laws. Luz is creeped out to the max by this as it reminds her of North Korea and other dictatorships (in addition to loving Azura, she's also a massive history nerd, to the point of correcting her teachers back home. She doesn't have many friends because she's rather intense about her hyper fixations and can be rather judgy). Hexside is also an exclusive school where a lot of students end up getting into the EC or in the upper echelons of the coven system. They have portraits of all the Hexside alumni who served as coven heads.

Amity is the top student of the school and a firm believer in the Emperor, since her mother is the ceo of Blight Industries and works closely with the Emperor himself. It is guaranteed she will be in the Emperor's Coven. She doesn't actively bully Willow, but does shun her and because of her influence, other kids avoid "half-witch" Willow as well.

On Luz in the Boiling Isles-

Eda is lazy and only took Luz in to help her in her illegal trade and sends her to Hexside so she will at least be out of her hair. She disguises Luz as a witch with undetectable magic (it can only be used in small amounts and only for minor spells). The detention kids don't multi-track as such an idea is sacrilege and it takes Luz to introduce the idea to them. Even then, they're nervous as hell about it. But Luz being Luz, she convinces them that it's not "wild magic" it's just trying out different methods to see if this is the right track. You don't want to upset the Titan by choosing the wrong magic, right?

While she is disguised as a witch in Hexside, she obviously can't use magic, which everyone makes fun of (like Akko in Little Witch Academia). She excells in Potions and Tarot Card Reading, basically anything that doesn't require a bile sac. Everyone calls her a half-witch (a term for a witch with weak or no magical abilities--sometimes witches are born with a malfunctioning bile sac). She makes friends with Willow and Gus, who is still a nerd for all things human related but keeps that secret because human trash is quickly picked up by the coven scouts. Luz steals some of Eda's human junk and explains what they are to Willow and Gus. He's thrilled but also terrified because his new friend is showing him contraband. Willow is suspicious and questions how Luz knows so much. Luz hems and haws for a bit before changing the subject. Hooty is pretty much the same. 10/10 character. King is not a child in this rewrite. His egg was in stasis for a long time and when he hatched he's functionally an adolescent but being in the egg for so long stunted his growth. He's very immature and still thinks he's the King of Demons. He pretends to hate Azura but rereads Luz's book when she's at school. Then Luz stumbles upon his fan fiction. Eda figured out right away that Luz stole her stuff ("but I gave it back, Eda!" "yeah, and I was going to sell it this afternoon but then it mysteriously wasn't in my inventory. You lost me a customer, Luz.") Eda then teaches Luz how to be a better thief and find more human stuff before the EC does.

On Belos-

Under Belos' reign, witches are judged by their strength and power; certain covens have more prestige than others: Abomination and Plant are near the top. Construction and Healing are more in the middle. Bard is at the bottom. Back in the days of the Titan, magic was communal and while, you could specialize in a specific type of magic, it was not regimented and more seen as a preference. All of it came from the Titan and all witches shared their knowledge and gifts equally.

In the days of the Titan, the Titan could speak to people but only through mediums. Although, there were some who argued that the Titan could commune with anyone if you listened and kept yourself spiritually open. Even then, some doubted how the Titan could talk at all if it was dead and perhaps the mediums were just powerful oracle/illusion witches. This led to some factions and divisions over what magic really is in the isles and how it is best used. Over time, fewer witches shared their gifts equally and petty squabbles warped into tribal conflicts. Belos manipulated these tensions by claiming the "elite" mediums spread lies about the Titan's wishes. He claimed that there used to be peace because there was one system and one way of doing things instead of all of this confusion and division. He passed himself off as a humble witch who received a vision from the Titan saying that magic should be unified. But this vision was so powerful that it left his face scarred, hence the mask (although he will show the doubting crowd his face). That only the wisest and most experienced witches could realistically practice all forms of magic while the rest would do the Titan's work in their chosen field. That way, the gifts of the Titan is still being shared among the populace but now with proper guidance. And thus the coven system was born.

Belos uses his curse as proof of being the Prophet of the Titan; when he regenerates an injury without healing magic, everyone is shocked but most importantly, they believe him. He spends his time proselytizing from town to town amassing a following. He calls them his "little birds" and they all wear bird masks as a precursor to the coven scout uniform. When they (rarely) experience violence, Belos whips them up into a frenzy as proof that the "wild witches" are against them. In one incident, Belos and his followers are prevented from preaching in a town. A fight breaks out and one of his followers is killed. Belos declares them a martyr and asks if his followers will sit by and not defend themselves? The crowd--already upset of course--then burns the town to the ground. As the years go by, people notice that Belos doesn't age and doesn't eat or drink, leading more people to believe in his divine message and join him.

[avatarmerida]

New brain rot? No, just Huntlow in a different font. It’s a Willina (?) HC/ if I wrote a fic this would be it but also I dunno if I will get so here are some crumbs under the cut if you care:

William gives me the vibes of like he is a grimwalker that Belos made but he’s the only one he’s gotten right so he has to “preserve” him until he’s needed because making a grimwalker is hard let alone a sustainable one. So that’s why he’s doing the classic sleeping thing and in his mind he’s under a curse which is why he can’t like remember a lot about his past or who he is and that’s where his arc stems from like he believes stopping by wild magic will restore his memories or something.

Also I feel like a fun little twist since this version of Hunter is very Disney-esque and I think he’d still be made of palistrom trees if they did like a Pinocchio type thing where he can’t lie (or at least can’t lie to Belos) without it causing him pain or like branches grow from him and he just chalks it up to the curse not to the clone thing. I also picture him like that frog from the Swan Princess movie where he’s convinced a kiss from a princess will save him but since he’s been asleep for who knows how long there are no royalty left.

And then okay also his is instantly charmed by Paulina. Like he just thinks she is so cute right away and she’s the only person who isn’t annoyed with his speeches of his backstory and mission and is genuinely nice to him. And they meet sooner in this version and Paulina takes longer than Willow to migrate to the plant track and maybe practices in secret and confides this to William in exchange for his secret about the lying thing. And she’s like “That’s awful, I wish I could help you.” And he’s like “I appreciate it, but only a princess can.”

And I fully subscribe to the HC that he calls her princess as a nickname and so she says “I’d like the try anyway.” And she’s not great at magic but she tries anyway and there’s a montage of them trying different spells and potions and stuff and then either they discover or William finally mentions that a kiss from a princess is how the spell was broken (according to the stories which are not factual but we’re brought over by Belos to like help manipulate people somehow) and Paulina plant girl is like “OMT there is a flower called Princess kiss and it’s rare but maybe that’s it.” And they go on a little quest where they get to know each other better and they find the flower and all it does is make him sneeze a bunch. It’s clear the books mean a literal kiss.

So William is so grateful but poor Paulina is like “If only I was a real princess, and not just a half a witch then I’d actually be able to help you.” And William blushes as he little brain process the fact that she basically said she would kiss him if it would help him and he’s like “Well, it couldn’t hurt to try.” And then they get very close to kissing before being interrupted (of course).

And then later on, William is like on to Belos and done with him and goes to tell everyone but Belos doesn’t wanna destroy him because he worked hard to make him so he turns him into a frog while he makes up another sleeping potion to try again later. And frog William tries to warn everyone but he is not a talking frog so he can’t communicate with them but he brings Paulina the princess kiss flowers and starts sneezing and Luz is like “I didn’t know frogs could sneeze?” (And idk if they do let’s pretend they don’t, Amphibia fans don’t come for me) and Paulina is like that’s weird and she puts two and two together and realizes it him and while they’re trying to figure out how to reverse it, she’s holding him tightly and assures him it’s gonna be okay and gives him a gentle kiss atop his head and he transforms back.

He’s so overjoyed and he picks her up and spins her around and he’s like “I told you being a princess was about more than a shiny crown.” Or something which is a callback to a conversation they had before. It doesn’t cure the grimwalker thing because that’s not a curse it’s what he is but then every time something goes wrong he’s like “Paulina can just kiss me and it’ll be okay.” And everyone is like “Dude you cannot just think you’re invincible because her kiss undid one super outdated curse.” And he’s like “Well it can’t hurt to try.” (It still can, btw) And Paulina is just a blushing smitten mess about how her scrawny little prince truly thinks there is nothing she can’t do.

Idk I feel like it would be a longer fix to explain all the differences but it’s an AU that I would get messy with and a little confused but that’s the vibe I got from th like 10 second clip.

[iamchaos1234]

Why not? Hunter headcanons, let's go! (TW mentions of blood, gore, death, bullying, etc)(holy shit that's a lot-)

Since he is a grimwalker that has a few affects on him. In the dark his eyes glow faintly blue, which he hates since it reminds him of Belos.

Another affect of being a grimwalker, since one of the ingredients to create one is Stonesleeper, Hunter's ears are very sensitive and ticklish. Willow loves to scratch him behind the ears, and it helps him sleep

Last grimwalker thing I'll address right now, his hair grows much faster than most. His canines are also a bit more prominent and large, causing a bit of a fanged look

He couldn't die, per se, unless the galderstone was directly damaged or all energy was drained from it too fast, such as using very powerful spells or bleeding so much it spent all its energy and had no time to recover

Hunter got hardly any sleep back as the golden guard as his only time with no duties was after hours, which was a very small time frame at night. And often times instead of sleeping he would research how to help Belos's curse, so at most he normally got 2-4 hours.

In addition, even after he ran away from the emperors coven and even in the human realm, he felt guilty for sleeping more than he used to, thinking of it as a waste of precious time.

He sleeps way better when with Willow or Luz

Hunter, after the events of Watching and Dreaming, went back to the human realm with Luz. He needed time to recover from everything, and went with Luz to help with repairs. After a couple years he returned back fully, staying with Darius. He considers himself both a Noceda and a Deamonne

He 100% got obsessed with video games in the human realm. His favorites were Zelda, especially BOTW and TOTK. He also loves animal crossing and pokemon sword. His favorite pokemon is Zacian.

Hunter hates eating in front of others. He has extreme food guilt and starves himself temporarily as a punishment to himself if he makes a mistake. This stems from the fact Belos would cut off his food if he messed up, as well as water.

When he upsets others he will often hide in the basement in a closet. Hunter feels removing himself is the best solution to most problems. Gus is the only one who really knows this, though Luz finds out later.

Panic attacks got more common after Hollow Mind, though he did have a few before then. Every time he would lock his door and curl up in a corner. He didn't want to show weakness.

After Hollow Mind he would have very strong reactions to certain triggers, and it only got worse as things continued. His eyes glowing was one of them, as well as when his hair got too long. Emperors guards also made him panic, worried they would take him back. Even Belos's name would make him start hyperventilating.

The scar across his cheek is from Belos, who got mad at him when he snapped at Belos from concern about the curse. He blamed himself fully.

The nick on his ear however, is from a particularly brutal training session. His ear was sliced almost in half, and it bled a lot but he kept fighting. He won.

Hunter has so many scars its hard to count. Some from Golden Guard training, which was vigorous and brutal. Others from taking hits for his friends in the final battles. There is one scar on his upper arm he got from tripping down a flight of stairs in the emperors palace. He isn't proud of that.

He feels guilty for letting Luz get a scar. He doesn't want anyone else to have to live with it like he does. He has a hard time not tearing up when he sees it.

Hunter went to school with Luz at her human school for the years he lived with her, saying he was a brother who had been in a boarding school before. He was very protective of Luz but ended up being a target for bullying as well.

Despite look tough to others he is very sensitive. He would sometimes come home with tears in his eyes from those bullies. Luz beat the shit out of them the very next day. Eventually they just stopped since Luz started fighting back

Hunter hates crying. He only really cries in front of Luz, but anyone else he finds it incredibly stupid and embarrassing. It's just a weakness he should hide is what he thinks. So he normally does. He had to back as the golden guard, so why not now?

Multiple times when training he almost died. One time his stomach got ripped open by a slitherbeast during the venture up the knee. That scar in particular he avoids looking at

Hunter is very strongly bonded with Luz. They act very much like true siblings, often annoying each other on purpose and wrestling, but both know when to stop and both are very comforting and protective of the other.

His connection with Vee is a bit less strong, but he did punch a bully hard enough to knock out a few teeth when they were messing with her. So that's something.

Hunter apologizes to Vee almost constantly for being one of the people to imprison her. He offers to have her punish him, which absolutely horrified her. They are chill now, and like to binge watch shows together

He 100% has a fursona which he is very proud of. Hunter would never admit it but he considers himself a furry. It's one of his ways to express himself, and Luz is very supportive of this, helping him design the fursona

At human school Hunter managed to get placed in the same grade as Luz, but he was older than everyone in the classes. He struggled a lot in math, but loved ELA and science. They took him out of class during social studies after he had a severe panic attack during class when the topic reminded him of the whole disaster with Belos

Hunter likes to draw in his free time, at first heavily picked up from Luz. But he eventually gained his own art style, which was a bit more sharp and edgy

He loves musicals and will always stay up to watch them even if everyone else already fell asleep.

Hunter likes rock music, but also enjoys most pop songs. He loves to dance along with Willow to love songs. He hates country music with a passion.

He considers Gus his closest friend. The two absolutely love having sleepovers in which they binge cosmic frontier and share about what's going on in the different dimensions.

Willow ends up asking Hunter out the day he moves back to the boiling isles. He ended up running away, feeling like he was being taunted and that it was some sort of illusion. Willow goes to find him, and he ends up accepting.

It takes him time to get used to dating Willow, but he is very affectionate. Willow loves picking him up.

As a younger kid, Belos was a bit more nice to him and would sometimes play around with him. This was purely to gain his trust, but Hunter still wonders if he ever really cared.

In his time during the human realm after everything he visits Darius like, every other day. They become very close

Hunter definitely has a sweet tooth

My hand hurts but that's all for now lol. Wanna here more headcanons for TOH? Tell me who you want next in the comments, thanks for reading!

[qcoded]

To be fair, I don't think it would have been that much of a good idea in terms of storytelling or plot for Belos to actually have freed The Collector. Considering that we know how far the kid's powers can go (Examples: Moving the fucking MOON, being able to dollify people, rearranging mass at will, etc).

Can't really blame him since there was a good chance The Collector was going to cause even more chaos.

Buuuuuuuuut, at the same time, I would have honestly loved to see how The Collector's and Belos dynamic would have been affected specifically, and how in turn that'd affect the fate of the Boiling Isles (considering that The Collector was the one who stopped the draining spell but like. mostly focusing on dynamics here).

I know damn well that if Belos tried, he'd basically have his whole plan set in stone. He spent so much time with this child, probably having to deal with The Collector's silly questions, tiring games (whatever games a shadow could play), and more, promising them to eventually set them free once in a while if the other asked for reassurance.

And eventually, he DOES end up freeing The Collector. The child would be the most happy he's ever been in centuries, because his 'best friend' actually freed him! He fufilled their promise, and they'd play so many games, just as they said years ago. So hey, it'd only be fair for The Collector to repay Philip for his kindness.

Take in mind too, Belos knows the in's and out's of this kid. After all, they did spent atleast 200+ years together, he's been emotionally manipulating this child since the start. And what happens when you pair that with complying to a request that was made from the very beginning? Unconditional trust.

I'd imagine that after The Collector was freed, he'd probably make the kid make another promise, probably along the lines of "Only listen to what I have to say, ok? The others wouldn't understand you at all, not like how I do. That way, we'll have even more fun as we play." (Honestly I made that up on the spot but you get the gist).

And y'know, Philip actually fufilled his first promise! So surely he isn't lying with this one either, so of course, Collector accepts.

Belos would probably be the most gaslighty he's ever been too.

Collector starts to doubt him? Words of affection and reassurance would be thrown his way immediately, probably even physical displays of it too.

Collector does anything that's against Belos wishes? Taking back all those previous positive reinforcements, saying how disappointed and hurt the man was after all he's done for the child, only to be doubted? Manipulation 101, everyone.

It'd all end with The Collector running back to Belos, because after all, he'd probably end up alone again, and that's the worst thing that could happen.

Honestly I could say so much more, but they're dynamic in canon is honestly complex enough and I don't have the braincells for it xd

[mdhwrites]

you've said the collector isn't a kid bc he's been alive for thousands of years, but isn't he still mentally (and physically for that matter) a kid though? or at least that's how i think the show wanted us to perceive him as

(though the show never makes it clear if the collector's species just age much more slowly than others, or if being trapped for so long caused this specific collector to never age during that time)

for the record i do 100% agree abt the collector being a monster, so i'm not trying to argue with you on that/excuse the collector's actions just bc """""he's a kid"""""

So... This is one of those things that can't really be proven or disproven. On the one hand, you have the fact that you do not need to be mentally a child to be childish. Also, you can also be a child physically but have had to grow up quickly so you have the worldview of an adult. Not only that but we don't know how his people age. He was apparently old enough to work with his brothers (he knew their guidebook on genocide) but... Apparently a couple thousand years hasn't changed him whatsoever.

The thing that stops me most from claiming he is a child... Is the Draining Spell. In fact, even more than his lines about playing in bones, how Belos likes to torture the Grimmwalkers, destroy them, etc. like that that proves he knows what death is and is kind of extremely evil with how much glee he takes of all of this, just the fact that he KNOWS the draining spell at all is not a good sign.

That is not a spell a kid learns. That is not a spell a kid is taught. MAYBE some very evil or naive kids might accidentally read it but to be able to regurgitate after having been away from such books for literally thousands of years? Let alone to be able to even theorize with someone else on how to do it on a race of people that didn't exist before you were imprisoned. That means you mastered that fucker. You are the draining king! You sapped the magic out of people for FUN. That is how much you like this spell.

Also, if we want to claim he's just a dumb kid who doesn't like death or hurting people, doesn't like mass genocide like his brothers did... What the fuck was the conversation with Belos? What was ANY of them?

"I wish for a spell that can kill all witches upon this land. To make them extinct."

"Oh, you just mean make them sleepy, right?"

"...What?"

Belos is not exactly a subtle person at the height of his ability, let alone as Philip who BARELY is even okay at his job. He used mercenaries and two people who obviously were ready to believe anything he said. MASTER MANIPULATOR! So how is it that the Collector's childish views made him okay with this? It's not like the witches imprisoned him? Hell, he was willing to work with the Titan Trappers who VERY explicitly wanted to murder Titans for him but he just calls them weird. Like... Collector, you had literally NOTHING else to do than talk to these two people. Did you literally never listen to ANYTHING they said?

It doesn't make the Collector come off as a child. It just makes it so S2 Collector is literally a different character. The two are entirely incompatible. Even if they acted the same, the knowledge base and morality of the two Collectors is too severe for them to co-exist.

BUT. Like I said: I can't firmly prove that the Collector does not have a child's mind because while S2 Collector absolutely is just childish and gullible, he is not naive nor is he a child, except in physical appearance. S3 Collector though? That's a lot harder of a sell. He literally just wants to have fun and friends and is too self centered to care about if other people are having fun too. His fun prioritizes everything. That... Honestly still isn't actually a kid's point of view. Kids aren't inherently monsters. They do feel bad for their actions, even if they want to be justified in having fun. Admittedly, the Collector does EVENTUALLY do this as well so it's still kind of there but really awkwardly when put beside even everything else in S3.

After all, he presents King with the same book that has his brother's instructions to kill everything. A kid would not pull that out. They wouldn't risk for a SECOND that being seen. At least... Not a ten year old like this. Not unless we want to say that the Collector is a literal toddler, which is not the vibe TOH is going for. No, he's old enough to know what he's doing is wrong, just not old enough to actually do something about it I GUESS.

You're not supposed to think about it, like most elements in the show. Just like how you aren't supposed to think about how Amity bullied Willow for YEARS. Or how Hunter has probably killed wild witches in the past. There are inherent, core parts of these characters that you're just supposed to ignore so that they can be redeemed and given hugs because they never actually did anything wrong. So the show can tell you they're good people, rather than addressing and showing how they've stopped being bad people.

So yeah, we can argue about if The Collector is or isn't meant to be a child. It doesn't really matter at the end of the day, especially when good luck being actually able to say one way or another. I still won't claim it. I will just claim that he is a monster before he is ANYTHING else.

And I think that's way more important.

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

It is fun how TOH takes a shot at redeeming the gems in SU and how the fandom rallies around killing the villain being TOH's final subversion when the Collector is RIGHT THERE. You know what also redeemed one character who then went into personally decided exile while also killing the big bad but did it way better? Amphibia with Andrias and the Core. *sigh* Just a side tangent from my Discord recently I wanted to share.

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

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

A Twitter you can follow too

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

[thousand-winters]

Sorry for the long ask! All the Dadrius content on your page sparked a quick thing. Hope you don't mind!

There's precious little time between Hunter's defection at the end of Hollow Mind, and when Belos will have Hunter's room searched and destroyed.

Darius has Eberwolf use one of his Beast Keeping spells to cover Darius's tracks when he sneaks into Hunter's room during that slim window of opportunity.

He knows the little prince would be devastated if his few belongings were destroyed in a raid, and that's why he was doing this.

He finds Hunter's hidden sewing kit Darius gave him only days ago, and carefully deposits it into a satchel made of abomination goo hanging at his hip.

He finds the plush pink frog under the pillow. Prior to revising his original assumptions about the young Golden Guard, he wouldn't have looked at this particular object twice. If it was hidden under the pillow and Hunter was still keeping it around, it must be of some importance to him.

The plush frog joins the sewing kit in the satchel.

He was running out time. What else? The little prince's contraband books on wild magic, no doubt. It takes him a moment to analyze the room for potential hideaways; as a rebel dealing with sensitive information, he understood the need for secrecy.

Once he figures it out, he gathers a collection of three hidden books and adds them to the bag.

Time was running out, and the coven head couldn't identify anything else truly important to Hunter in the room.

He needed to leave. Now.

I do not mind at all! I adore this.

I think the sweetest part of this is Darius has no idea of if Hunter will even hear him out, once he finds him and contacts him to tell him he's a rebel and he can trust him, and yet he's saving things for him to spare him at least a little bit of grief. And I do firmly believe he would, honestly.

Worried sick about what happened to Hunter, where is he, is he somewhere safe? Is someone looking out for him? Or is he all alone, thinking that he has lost everything in the world? Darius certainly would like to be there with him, but he can't, for multiple reasons. Right now he has to play it cool so no one suspects his bond with Hunter at the castle, but he can at least do this. So Hunter hasn't lost absolutely everything (and hopefully he'll count Darius as someone he hasn't lost either, but that's a matter for later).

I can imagine him looking at the plush often before he gets to reunite with Hunter and just... having a bit of a moment™️ there because of course he noticed that Hunter is, by all means, a child, during their sewing lessons together, but this is really on the face when it comes to making the point come across, and Darius just can't stop thinking about how they got two kids trapped inside of Belos' mind of all places and now who knows where Hunter is. It gets to him particularly if he can see the plush is very well loved, the stuffing practically crushed in some parts because of how often Hunter was hugging it and the mental image is killing Darius.

Later he'll be so glad that he managed to save all of these because at the very least he can give them as a sort of peace offering to Hunter, and it does make him stop for long enough for Darius to be able to say his part.

[crimeronan]

the idea of the Most Powerful Witch In The Boiling Isles hunting down Belos in the woods is deeply appealing to me, not even necessarily for thematic value but because it would be sick as fuck[1]. and also something deeply funny to me about INTENSELY traumatized Luz being rescued by a woman she only knows by reputation at this point in the timeline (and also this means she relatively quickly learns that her people and her Boy are all still alive. babygirl needs a break)

[1] in my heart, the Eda of five years prior to canon could evenly match Belos, but I think the exchange of less exertion but more time passed results in her being pretty close to Agony of a Witch in how her curse is progressing. so, I think she puts up a very good fight against a man who's got so much magical power due to his glyph carving and the skill to back it up on top of that, but ultimately gets knocked out

then, the owl beast comes out, and while Belos is able to handle that pretty easily, it DOES manage to knock his staff out of his hands, and when he's ranting at Eda, possibly on the verge of transforming himself in his rage, Luz (I think on some level having done the calculations of "this reads as rescue, not vengeance for a genocide, maybe people are alive? maybe Hunter is alive?" even if she doesn't consciously realize due to depression) picks it up and kills him with sleep spells just like in P!Luz AU canon because that's the one thing she thinks can bring him down without risking a transformation

Well, the footnote is longer than the original ask but I DID find a way to make it somewhat thematically resonant after all

:D

big fan of the idea that at some point in the middle of the initial fight, eda knocks belos down and has just enough downtime to call, "kid, are you okay?? raine sent me" before belos lashes out at her again.

and luz is like.

RAINE'S ALIVE??

:O :O :O

LOVE this. get his ass!!

[tohwitchesduels]

SEMI-FINALS OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 48: Willow Park vs Luz Noceda

Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character you prefer, in this tournament, you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.

Information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:

Since both have quite huge profiles, I won't be getting into specifics, just motivations and I will link to their profiles in their names.

Willow Park:

Willow Park is a prodigy in plant magic. Only a few can match her talent and raw power when it comes to her command over plant life. She's also very knowledgeable when it comes to Botanics and is very promising when it comes to them (she knows how to tame various plants and what are they capable of). However, her capabilities only extend to plant magic and not other types of magic.

Willow Park is also very strong, athletic, and sporty. She's the Captain of Flyer Derby Emeral Entrails and managed to defeat the captain of Grudgby team Boscha while playing Grudgby for the first time. It is known that Willow works out and shows a lot of physical strength. The girl knows how to pack a punch.

Willow and Luz are best friends and are always there for each other. Willow respects and recognizes Luz's growth and strength as much as Luz recognises hers, so she's absolutely willing to fight Luz fair and square. She also recognizes Luz's motivations going into the battle but she doesn't plan on losing now that the number one spot is just within her reach. Luz always believed her to get this far, and so she is.

Willow possesses a palisman and is quite capable when it comes to staff wielding. Also as captain of flyer derby, she's a very proficient and quite skilled flyer. Being capable of flying traditionally and switching midair to surfing. She is also capable of using her staff to enhance her already very potent magic.

Willow's magic is enhanced by her emotional state. If she's confident in herself she's most in control, however, if she's bottling up her feelings or feeling insecure, her magic can turn against her. Her magic also gets stronger once she uses anger and determination to power it.

Luz Noceda

Luz Noceda, the protagonist of our story, is one and only. Unlike other competitors, Luz is a rare example of a jack of all trades who does not specialize in one specific magical track and studies all of them. Normally, Luz specializes in glyphs but according to the lore of my own tournament which happens after the final battle with Belos, Luz no longer has access to glyphs. However, she now does have a magical staff that allows her to still be able to cast spells just fine as proven by Owlbert in Young Blood, Old Souls. Now, since my rules specify how at times you're not allowed to use palismen in the battle, Luz is capable of avoiding this rule thanks to String Bean's shape-shifting nature, as String Bean possibly could transform into an accessory that would allow Luz to cast a spell like everyone is none the wiser, or maybe even shape-shift into an instrument to mimic bard magic (even though Luz has no vibration based spells). Outside of that Luz would also have access to some other supporting artifacts.

The number of spells she has will be right here, so here you go

Luz recognizes and respects Willow's strength and always believes she could reach the top. She's incredibly proud to see how far Willow has come and she was expecting them to meet in the semi-finals or even finals, so here they are as expected. Luz knows how tough of an opponent Willow is, but Luz has come too far to give up now her battle with Hunter left her unsatisfied with how they came for Hunter only to last half a minute longer than her but in even worse condition than her, in the long run, making her feel like she almost missed a well-earned victory. She's not planning on repeating history. And if she gets to defeat Willow who could potentially defeat Hunter, Luz herself can in fact win the entire tournament just like that, so Luz is absolutely willing to take that chance and put everything on the line.

When it comes to Luz's fighting style, she in general prefers to outsmart and outpower her opponents with the raw strength of her magic. Luz has come far ever since she started to learn magic, currently with String Bean by her side she certainly is now more accustomed to spell-casting. Luz is quite proficient with magic now coming up with new creative ways to utilise her magic. She also now has more experience in combat meaning she's more willing to take down her opponents head-on. Luz can however be pretty reckless and impulsive when approaching her opponents, biting more than she can chew and sometimes jumping without thinking. Luz can however be quick on her feet and easily recover and come up with new ways to get an upper hand during battles.

Luz now possesses her own palisman as we all know it which happens to be none other than String Bean. String Bean showed that with her presence, Luz could be even stronger than she used to be, and Luz had plenty of experience with Owlbert beforehand to know how to use a witch's staff. Luz is a true aerial ace as Eda's Requiem episode proves as she could've won the race if it wasn't for King. She of course also knows how to correctly cast spells with staff alone and can use it in combat. String Bean also has a unique shape-shifting ability, allowing her to take on features of other creatures and use them to her advantage. Granted she can't change size with the ability so all animals will be miniature, but it can come in handy nonetheless, and she could change String Bean into other objects (like jewelry or instruments) in case she can't use Witch's staff.

Luz shall be allowed a multitude of tools to help her out during battles. One of them happens to be a crystal ball from her oracle class. Luz can use it to conjure up a single ghost that can be used to help Luz aid in the battle and also predict Luz's future. The ghost is usually chill but rather helpful. It's intangible meaning it's immune to physical attacks for the most part (but can be dispelled with special attacks) and can phase through solid objects to get to its opponents and be capable of touching them to inflict harm.

Another tool Luz would be allowed to use is tea leaves from oracle class which would also help her learn about her opponents, what they're capable of, and what they're going to do.

Luz is also equipped with a training wand in case she needs another source of magic to cast spells from. It's like a hidden dagger if someone would take her sword (as in her staff, I'm clearly alluding to Sasha Waybright's example) away.

Another tool Luz is free to use is her iconic bat which Luz can use for offensive purposes. Luz is allowed to have and use other weapons like a mace and a sword to aid her in the time of her need.

And of course, how could I not forget that Luz also has fireworks to help her in a fight to add more to her firepower.

While Luz doesn't have beast-keeping magic at all, she does seem to have an affinity to be able to tame most of the wild beasts as presented throughout the entire show with her knowledge and attitude. This means Luz is not really affected much by beast-keepers sending animals in her direction unless they're directly under the command of their masters (as in like pets. Sometimes some beasts are untamed and would not follow even the beast-keeper).

Luz also has brought snakes to her battle as she managed to tame them just enough so they would not attack her but certainly would attack her opponents. They're not venomous though considering now pressed any charges when Luz brought them to school. She will bring a few of them.

Another animal that Luz would bring with her to the battlefield are spiders. They're mostly used to just scare people during the fight by pouring them all over her opponents. Can be used as a great distraction. She has quite a large number of them and she can even naturally attract them as seen in TtT. The spiders are also not harmful and Luz is not phased by them either.

Smoke Potion - Another tool Luz would be granted to use is a smoke potion she could brew as seen in the First Day. Luz could potentially utilize it as a smokescreen or suffocation attempt.

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[lampmanliveblogs]

Luz: ”Do… you not understand what death means to mortals?” Collector: ”Noooo… no, I don’t think so. I think one of my cousin’s friends decided to check out what being dead was like… haven’t heard from them for a long time. I wonder what they found there?”

(okay, last at4w reference, I swear)

Going back to the idea of The Collector as a kid: Their ignorance of death doesn’t stem only from the fact that they’re an immortal god, but also the fact that they’re a child. And all children start out as ignorant.

But it might not be just that.

The implications in the last episode were that the little space cherub that we call The Collector was part of a group of Collectors that came to this world long ago. They waged war against the mighty Titans, the only beings that could contend with them and created the Titan Trappers for that purpose. And they might even be the reason why this planet looks the way it does.

The little Lord of the Fireflies, perhaps being the annoying young kid of the group, or maybe the cosmic equivalent of a runt was tossed aside and made friends with some Titans… until he was sealed away by King’s dad.

The point is that The Collector’s already got some baggage. And that baggage might be holding him back from processing why certain things are wrong.

Collectors: ”We have rid the world of the only beings that stood in the way of us creating a perfect collection of all the universe’s specimen.” Me: ”You ruined a perfectly good child is what you did. Look at it. It’s got trauma.”

Collector: ”So let me show you some of my favorite games…” Luz: ”Oh no! Not Knife Monopoly!” Collector: ”I was actually going to hunt you for sport, but now I’m really interested in what Knife Monopoly is.”

Pictured: you’re a really supportive person, but your neutral expression is perpetually annoyed.

More importantly, Raine’s fighting back against Belos! And they’re… doing alright. For some reason, the little crescent moon sticker peeled off and Raine turned back into a flesh and blood witch instead of a puppet, which seemed to help a little. Not sure if the sticker falling off was due to the distance from The Collector, or Raine fighting back, or if the possession by Philip caused it to decay and that’s why it fell off?

I’m kinda worried about Raine, because, well… Hunter had Philip cling to him for a few minutes and look what happened to him. Philip’s been leeching off Raine for who knows how long. Maybe Raine being a puppet helped a little, like maybe they were sturdier because of that? Still, that can’t be good for their health.

After RayRay flies off on one of Kirby’s warp stars that’s been painted blue to make it legally distinct, we get to see the inside the archive part of the Archive House, where The Collector keeps all their puppets. We see here Amity, Hunter, Willow and Gus, unceremoniously dumped on the floor.

A close-up of Amity’s hand reveals it’s beginning to twitch.

Hmm… Hooty was very briefly able to communicate last episode despite being turned into a puppet, but Lord Hooty is built different AND was using the Power of Friendship. Amity could be using the Power of Love here to break free of The Collector’s spell; maybe being briefly aware of what was going on inside the nightmare lessened the effects of the puppet spell.

It could also that my theory above about how putting some distance between The Collector and a puppet will cause the spell to lose power. The Collector’s off to some pocket dimension or something. Though I’m gonna say it’s because of the Power of Love and Friendship. After all, as we’ve established before, The Owl House is an anime and thus the power of Love and the Power of Friendship are real forces within this world.

AH YES THIS IS SURE TO MAKE THEM WANT TO BE YOUR FRIENDS COLLECTOR

So The Collector’s favorite game is Pac Man???