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rnelodyy · 2 years ago

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The Owl House And Restorative Justice

At the end of Season 1 of The Owl House, it is revealed that Lilith, the main overarching antagonist of that season, was the one to curse her sister Eda, one of the protagonists, to win a tournament when they were teenagers. This information causes Eda to fly into a screaming rage and attack Lilith, and understandably so.

Eda’s curse is essentially a chronic illness, one that, in Eda’s own words, has ruined her life, being the reason she’s considered a social outcast and why, before meeting King and Luz, she hadn’t gotten close to anyone in years. In season 2, it’s revealed that the curse is why she pushed away her partner Raine to the point that they broke it off with her, and that during a particularly bad flareup, she accidentally maimed her own father, leaving him half blind and with permanent nerve damage to his hands, making him unable to continue working as a Palisman carver. The curse has ruled Eda’s life for decades now, so to Eda, this is the ultimate betrayal.

In the first episode of Season 2, Lilith has defected from the Emperor’s Coven, split the curse between Eda and herself to mitigate the symptoms for her sister, and has moved in with Eda at the Owl House. While Lilith herself still feels guilty and feels she has to make it up to Eda, everyone else, Eda included, has seemingly either forgiven her or chosen to look past it. Eda even makes fun of her for feeling bad about cursing her, and Lilith’s guilt is seemingly absent for the rest of the series.

The response to this was… Less than stellar, shall we say. A lot of people were angry, saying Lilith got away with her crimes without even a slap on the wrist, and that Eda’s forgiveness of her was far too sudden.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this kind of critique. Amity spent years bullying Willow after her parents forced her to break off their friendship, and when she began trying to mend that relationship, the response from fans was that Willow should have been a lot more angry at Amity, and that they went back to being besties far too soon. I’ve even seen this criticism leveled at Hunter for the things he did while working for Belos, at Vee for impersonating Luz for months to trick her mother, and at Luz for hiding the fact that she helped Philip find the Collector from her friends. And it does seem strange for the show to keep tripping on this same point again and again.

Except, it’s not really. Because I think that, when viewing this show from a different angle, those supposed flaws are actually symptoms of something very important to understand – The Owl House operates on a system of crime and punishment that is very different from our world’s.

More specifically, our world mostly utilizes retributive justice. The world of The Owl House utilizes restorative justice.

So first, what do those terms mean? Broadly, they’re two different forms of handling interpersonal disputes, or dealing with crime.

Retributive justice is the one our current justice system uses, where the focus is primarily on punishing the perpetrator. Retributive justice can mean detention, suspension, expulsion, jail time, monetary fines, some kinds of community service, exile, or in more severe cases, corporal punishment or the death penalty. It’s the lens most people view the world through, where if someone hurts you, hurting them back is the correct response.

Restorative justice is a very different approach, where you instead focus on helping the victim recover from what happened, and rehabilitating the perpetrator to prevent this from happening again. Restorative justice can look like verbal or written apologies, monetary compensation for costs and trauma, therapy for both victim and perpetrator, education for the perpetrator, mediation between victim and perpetrator, a restraining order, etc.

When viewed through a retributive lens, The Owl House lets its characters get away with a lot of shit. Lilith cursing Eda, Hunter rounding up Palismen knowing they’ll be killed, Amity tormenting Willow for years, it’s all stuff that, in a retributive environment, they should be punished for, and they’re just not. Eda is only genuinely angry at Lilith for two scenes, Amity and Willow fix their relationship very quickly once Amity starts making amends, and Hunter isn’t punished at all.

However, I believe the story of The Owl House is best viewed not through a retributive lens, but through a restorative lens.

Let’s look at the Lilith-example again. Lilith’s offense was cursing Eda, which she did because she wanted to win a spot in the Emperor’s Coven. Knowing Eda was better than her, she cast a curse on her, thinking it would only last for a day. But when the time came, Eda forfeited the match, soon after which she transformed into the Owl Beast and was pelted with rocks until she ran. The curse turned out to be very permanent, and Lilith spent the next 20 years trying to fix her mistake by working for Belos to try to capture Eda, since he promised to heal her curse.

However, when she finally succeeded, Belos went back on his promise. Instead of healing Eda, he ordered her to be publicly executed. When Lilith protested, Belos essentially told her to shut up, that it was the Titan’s will, and left her there.

So, having realized her method of fixing her mistake has gone real bad, Lilith sneaks down to the Conformatorium to free Eda herself, but arrives too late and finds Luz instead. After a brief fight they end up teaming up, and Lilith leads Luz to the elevator, but they are captured by Belos and Lilith is thrown into the cage with Eda. There, she restores Eda’s partially petrified body, and after fleeing with her, Luz and King, uses a spell to split Eda’s curse evenly between their two bodies.

From a restorative justice point of view, Lilith has done pretty much everything she reasonably could do to fix things. She’s denounced the Emperor’s Coven, returned Owlbert to Luz, helped Luz find the elevator to the execution platform, saved Eda from petrification, apologized to Eda, and while there’s no way for her to cure Eda’s curse entirely, she took on half of the curse at great expense to her own health, in order to ease Eda’s symptoms.

Eda isn’t angry anymore because in her eyes, Lilith has already fixed things with her. Punishing her more at this point is pointless. What more could Lilith do, really? What other lessons could she learn? The only thing that punishment would bring at this point would be more suffering.

Let’s look at another example: Amity and Willow.

Amity’s offense was breaking off her friendship with Willow because she was a late-bloomer, bullying her for years, and allowing her friends to do so too. Willow is left with horrible self-esteem issues because of this, and combined with her failing grades, turned her into a horribly shy and withdrawn wallflower (no pun intended). After she’s moved to the plant track she starts actually getting better, but Amity and Boscha especially continue to torment her. While Amity’s bullying of Willow does peter out over time, Willow is clearly still extremely resentful of her. In an attempt to make Willow forget their friendship, Amity accidentally sets most of Willow’s memories on fire, leaving her confused, amnesiac, and unable to grasp basic concepts like that chairs are for sitting in.

Luz pushed Amity into fixing Willow’s brain by going into her mind together and piecing her memories back together. There, the Inner Willow revealed what happened to Luz and the audience.

At this point, Amity shows her that her parents were actually the ones who forced her to end the friendship because they didn’t think Willow was a suitably powerful or influential friend, threatening to make sure Willow would never get accepted into Hexside if Amity didn’t force her to leave. Amity then apologizes to Willow for going along with it, and for the bullying, and vows to make sure her friends never mess with Willow again.

Willow accepts her apology, but also makes it clear that, while it’s a start, she’s not yet ready to accept Amity in her life again. Restorative justice has not been fully attained, because to Willow, Amity hasn’t fixed everything – Boscha and her squad are still bullying her, and still consider Amity one of them. This changes two episodes later, when Amity tells Boscha to grow the fuck up when she starts bullying Willow again, and joins her and Luz’s Grudgby team despite her personal issues to get Boscha to back off. Willow doesn’t make a grand gesture of forgiveness in this episode, but it is after this point where the two become comfortable around eachother again.

Did Willow forgive Amity too quickly for years of trauma? Maybe. If she had chosen to continue keeping Amity at a distance I certainly wouldn’t have blamed her. But in the end, Amity fixed the mess she caused as best she could, and has proven herself to want to be a better person, to want to be Willow’s friend again. She worked hard to prove herself to be a person worth trusting, and Willow decided to give that trust a chance again.

And while they did become friends again, that friendship was clearly still affected by what happened, which led to bumps that the two of them had to work through. Like in Labyrinth Runners, where Amity’s overprotectiveness over Willow makes Willow feel like Amity thinks she’s incompetent, and still only sees her as the helpless person she used to be.

Willow continuing to be mad at Amity and punishing her for what she did wouldn’t be an unreasonable reaction, but it wouldn’t have fixed anything. It would certainly have an impact on Amity, seeing her former best friend rejecting her attempts to make up for what she did, but the hurt on both sides would have continued festering, because deep down, Willow missed Amity too.

In Hunter’s case, there’s the question of whether he can even be held responsible for his actions. The Palisman-kidnapping in specific was explicitly done under duress – if he failed he would face verbal and physical abuse, and be threatened with his nightmare scenario: getting thrown out of the Emperor’s Coven.

And that’s not an empty threat either. Hunter has no magic, and Belos has drilled it into him that witches without magic have no future. Without the Emperor’s Coven, his only future prospects would be starving to death on the streets or wasting away in prison. Either way, Hunter would be alone, without family or friends, without a job or job prospects, without anyone to turn to for help. Any child would be terrified of that. Hunter wasn’t always acting on direct orders – in fact he defied direct orders to stay in his room in Eclipse Lake to go look for Titan’s Blood, and then again in Hollow Mind to arrest the rebels. But he made those choices based on the idea that Belos wouldn’t want him if he was a failure, and that he needed a chance to prove that he could still be useful.

And contrary to popular belief, Hunter does know right from wrong. He has a very strong moral compass, he’s just been forced to ignore it in favor of doing whatever the Emperor wants. To shut up that little voice telling him he’s doing the wrong thing, he uses what’s called a thought-terminating cliche, a statement that feels so fundamentally true that the argument need not continue. In Hunter’s case, that statement is “It’s for the greater good.” Sure, kidnapping his new friends and abducting Palismen to feed to the Emperor and threatening someone who’s been nothing but kind to him to take the portal key from her girlfriend and justifying terrorism makes his stomach feel like he swallowed a cactus and saying it out loud makes him sound like a horrible person – but it’s for the greater good. He’s doing it to serve Belos, and Belos knows what’s best.

So by the time Hunter is out of active danger and able to rest and recover from what happened to him… what would further punishment accomplish? He already knows that he did fucked up shit while working for the EC, and he’s proven time and time again that while he’s not fighting for Belos’s approval, he’s actually a genuinely kind-hearted kid. Punishing him now would likely cause him to react very poorly, because he’s been at the wrong end of that stick so often that he’s developed severe PTSD because of it.

And if you think restorative justice is still in order – Hunter is currently hyperfixated on making sure Belos can never hurt anyone again, and for the long term, he has expressed that he wants to become a Palisman carver when he grows up. While it won’t bring back the Palismen that were killed, it will help the current Palisman population recover and reintroduce Palismen to witches who may have had to give up theirs.

When viewed through this lens, the writing of The Owl House starts to make more sense. As a show, it is extremely forgiving towards its characters – they’re still held accountable for their actions, but as long as they’re willing to grow and learn and fix the damage they caused, they are very quickly forgiven.

However, I do understand why these writing choices can be… controversial, so to say. Because it doesn’t feel very satisfying, does it? When someone hurts you on purpose, your first impulse would be to try to hurt them back, that’s just how people work.

That’s the hardest thing to come to terms with when you become an advocate for prison abolition for example – you’re not just arguing for freeing a guy who got 5 years because a cop found weed in his pockets, you’re arguing for the release, and most importantly, the humanity of some of the most vile, disgusting people this planet has ever produced. Even now, when someone commits a truly awful crime and gets sent to prison for life, my first thought is “Good, I hope they rot in there.” But that’s not justice. That’s just revenge. And revenge is not something we as a society should want to build our justice system on.

It’s not satisfying to see Lilith go from using Luz as a human shield in her fight against Eda to sleeping on the couch in Eda’s house within 2 episodes. It’s not satisfying to see Willow let Amity back into her life when Amity has hurt her so badly before, or to see Hunter become romantically involved with Willow after he literally abducted her the first time they met. But that satisfaction isn’t really the point. Revenge is satisfying in the moment, but an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, and if someone shows a genuine willingness to change, it’s often better to give them a chance to.

However, my final point is about what happens when this approach fails. Because not everyone is willing to change. Some people, when faced with the consequences of their actions, decide to dig their heels in and refuse to admit fault, or blame the victim(s), or use those same thought-terminating cliches that Hunter used to justify their actions, “I was just following orders” being a big one.

And thus, we come to Belos.

If Belos showed a willingness to change, a genuine one, not an attempt at manipulation, should he be given the chance to? That vengeful part of me is VERY empathetically saying no. But logically, reasonably, he should be given that chance, if only because he’s a human being and no human being deserves to be mistreated. That doesn’t mean his victims are obligated to forgive him or be around him again, in fact I think that, for the sake of Hunter’s mental health, Belos should stay as far away from him as humanly possible. But he should be given the chance to start over, to truly better himself and do something good with the rest of his life.

But Belos isn’t willing to change.

Belos is a product of a bad environment and grew up with a cult-like mentality and hatred for witches that he had to adopt for his own safety. It’s hard to break out of that mentality, but not impossible. Case in point: Caleb. The tragedy of Belos’s character to me is that he had so many chances to change, so many people to help him make that leap, but all of the people who offered him that help ended up dead by his hands because he couldn’t handle the idea that he may have been wrong.

At this point, Belos is stuck. Changing would mean not only giving up on his life’s work, but acknowledging to himself that everything he’s done, mutilating his body, killing his brother, slaughtering thousands and installing himself as God-Emperor of a population he despises more than anything in order to facilitate a genocide, was completely pointless.

He can’t admit that to himself. Especially the thing about Caleb’s death. He’s sunk-cost-fallacied himself so far into a corner that all he can really do when faced with opposing viewpoints is dig his heels in even deeper and lash out in a rage at anyone who challenges him. Even now, when his body is literally falling apart at the seams, he’s still trying to commit witch-genocide, because it’s all he has.

Restorative justice doesn’t work in this case, because the perpetrator needs to be receptive to it. Logically you would assume the show would default to retributive justice, and characters like Willow and Camila do take a very vengeful glee in imagining themselves beating the snot out of Belos. But right now, the primary motivation of the Hexsquad and Hunter in particular when it comes to Belos is to end the threat he poses. As long as Belos is alive and free, he will continue to hurt and kill people, and if he can’t be talked down, he needs to be either contained or killed to prevent him from causing more harm.

The Owl House provides, in my opinion, a very nuanced take on restorative justice. It shows how it works in action, how different situations impact what it looks like, and what happens when it’s simply not an option. It’s not the most satisfying story to tell your audience, because when someone hurts our babies we want them to suffer, no matter how sorry they say they are. But in this case, I think that sacrificing that bit of audience comfort is worth it to tell the story like this.

#the owl house #the owl house meta #toh meta #toh lilith #toh amity #toh hunter #toh belos

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stardust-poet · 2 months ago

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Hunter noceda dating hcs !!

A/n: I only watched the episodes with hunter in this bc I didn't feel like re watching the entire thing for the 3rd time

Warnings: a little rushed bc the first draft got deleted :(

Enjoy!

Okay

So hunter.

Gods he is so sweet

He's head over heels in love with you

From the moment he first saw you

He knew he was doomed

Mostly because the emperors coven has things against relationships

(In my personal hc don't hurt me)

Especially with wild witches

And also because he thought you were too good for him

And he is so scared of disobeying belos

(He doesn't wanna get hurt again.)

Especially with him already hiding flapjack

And he's head over heels in love with you

When he does his rebel thingy

Like after he goes into belos' mind

He goes to you

Whether you're a wild witch, a witch in a coven, a demon/monster, or in the emperors coven and worked alongside him

He's coming to you

Shaking, crying, unable to speak from the realizations he's come to

You try calming him down

Eventually it does work but he passes out in your arms eventually

Anyways

Hunter is like a lost puppy dog

Always at your heels

He's following you everywhere

Can't find hunter?

Go find yn he's with them

And if he's not with you

(Which is very rare)

He's either under a tree reading

It's probably about his special interest at the time

Wolves, wild witches/history of ye olde magic and witches

(Bc let's be honest this boy is autistic)

(We love him dearly tho)

Or he's carving palismen for new witches

(If it's set post-basically everything)

He's such a gentleman

Opening doors for you, being oh so polite

He does that little standing thing before you sit down at the table

Even is it's in a booth at a resturant

Or dinner at Camilas

He's also such a romantic

Luz or Camila probably showed him a bunch of cheesy romance movies

And he probably found a few books too

He reads/watches those like the holy scripture of winning you over

Bringing you roses because he thinks those are the most romantic

Picnic dates, fancy restaurants

Slowly leaning in to kiss like the lady and the tramp

Then poof

He's back in the real world.

He daydreams so much about you

It's almost weird

if he did confess the way he wanted to

He would make that little trail of rose petals,

Leading to a picnic with candles and fairy lights

(Guys idk shit abt romance is this good)

And he asks you to be his bf/gf/s.o without stuttering and in the cutest most romantic way possible

That's not how it happens tho

It's probably when ur really stressed with something

And you're annoyed at every little thing,

every noise that's made within 50 feet of you I'd unbearable

He slowly walks into ur room/workspace

"Yn...?"

"What?!"

He's on the verge of tears at your tone

It reminds him of belos when he was angry with him

He gets through it anyway

"I um... I like you ...? I-i ..I like you a lot like–like... I like you, yn."

"Oh titan, hunter..."

Of course you say you have the same feelings for him

You have to reassure this baby that it's okay and your sorry for snapping a little

Cuz he was about to cry

Anyways once you guys are in a relationship

He's really really touchy

But also flinching at every small touch

You have to take it really slow with him

Asking for consent everytime you hold his hand or to hug him

Eventually he warms up to you

Expect hugs from behind

A lot.

All the time.

Every minute.

He loves hugging you

And he loves cuddling you

So so so much

Nuzzling into your neck with happy, content sighs, laying on your stomach

I think he would love just. Rubbing his face on every part of your body

Seems kinda weird but it makes sense in my head

he's just a little guy‼️

I would say it's a wolf thing that he picked up on while reading but idk if that's true

Anyways he loves you so much

Give him reassurance often

(Take care of him or else🔫)

Mini taglist:

@thementallyillapollochild @daonedaonlyskh

if you want to be added or removed lemme know !!

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goop-juice · 9 months ago

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IF YOU GUYS LOVE ME YOU ALL WOULD VOTE FOR BELOS

(Below chilling on the couch)

Loser Bracket Round 3 Match 3: Emperor Belos vs Steve

The winner of the poll qualifies to the next round of the loser bracket. The other is eliminated.

#emperor belos #phillip wittebane #please let him win #please please please

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kindestegg · 2 years ago

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The plush under Collector's bed: A totally necessary analysis, trust me

So, as a recap of this scene, before King leaves to visit Eda and Lilith, Collector asks King if he could sleep with François that night.

King reminds Collector that only himself and Luz can hold François, and Collector obliges but asks that he at least leave François there to "watch over him", claiming he "doesn't like being alone".

King does so, and Collector seems satisfied. It's very telling of Collector's development that they never touch François after this interaction, showing respect for King's boundaries.

... Except! This sweet little angel is actually a master trickster! A liar and a fiend!

He had a plush under his bed the whole time!!! In fact I'm pretty sure every shot of their little bedroom planet has the underside of Collector's bed obscured UNTIL King starts to leave and we pan to see the beds from an angle which reveals the plush!

You know what this means, right? Collector could have easily pulled his plush from under his bed and cuddled up with that if he hated sleeping alone so much, but he didn't. Why?

Well, I don't think he was lying about being lonely. Loneliness seems to be a prominent common theme for Collector, both declaring his loneliness back at the start of O' Titan, during a vulnerable moment where he didn't expect anyone to hear him, so he'd have no reason to lie there...

And then also having this acknowledged by King in the current episode, who has been living with him for about two months now, so he would know Collector's state of mind better than most here.

So... what gives? Was Collector really only out to force King to give François to him? Why?

Well, my current theory about this is what François means in this scenario: a connection to King. We know François is very important to King and King does not hide this when he expresses to Collector how he won't let them hold him.

To Collector, being able to sleep with François is the ultimate foolproof way to ensure King won't leave them. First, if King eventually lets them hold him, it signifies King would trust them enough with this and hold them to a regard as high as Luz, which we know Collector seems to be jealous of. I... just realized I should probably analyze that too, huh. Well, all in its due time.

And second, even if King won't allow them to hold François, but leaves them close to Collector in their room, that already acts as a guarantee. A guarantee that King will come back for François eventually, that King won't leave them to sleep alone the entire night.

Whatever the case, François is a symbol, a meter to test their closeness for Collector and King, and considering how many times Collector has lost people they considered friends before (whether those were real friends - in the case of the titan babies - or not - in the other collectors and Belos' case -) and have been double crossed by Belos, it's no wonder they have trust issues and want to make sure King does care about keeping them company.

So... that's it, then? He probably threw his original plush under the bed and then lied to King he lost it and is now constantly trying to get King to let him either hold François or at least keep him close to him as a connection between him and King?

Well... yeah, but if you'd allow me, I'd also like to talk a little on the symbology of the plush here. You see, while we can't make out the full of what the plush looks like, it appears to be some sort of canine with pointed ears and a poofy tail. Maybe it could be a titan, even a plush replica of King, but... I don't think so. There seems to be no stitching around the neck to signify it has a skull like titans do.

See, I think this is a fox plush. And why it is important in a metatextual sense that it is a fox requires a look into lots of different possibilities, each enriching the narrative in a different way.

For one, in popular folklore, foxes are seen as tricksters, lying and cheating their way into what's most convenient for them. Villain or hero, the fox is always winning people over through tricks.

This would align with the very nature of the plush being thrown under Collector's bed: it calls back to the fact he's tricking King with this. And yes, while Collector does have his problem with "fibbers", I don't think he's above more harmless tricks, we've seen him joke around with King before, purposefully feigning ignorance to mess with him, and the very nature of how he splattered Belos was through him lying that he wasn't mad. He may dislike it when a major lie is told, but little lies and sarcasm are no stranger to him.

Another possible connotation is the fact that rabbits and foxes are naturally prey and predator. François is a rabbit, Collector's plush is a fox. King, the member of the species that was hunted by the collectors, holds the prey animal, while Collector holds the predator animal...

The position of the plushes is also important here if we go with this interpretation: François is on top of King's bed, indicating he does not conceal he is the prey here and is well aware of this. He says so as much: "this whole time I was scared of making him mad". In general he behaves like a scared animal around Collector, despite their efforts to put them in equal grounds and the fact they have spent so long together and made considerable progress in their friendship.

Collector's fox on the other hand is under their bed, signifying Collector has concealed their fox, or maybe more appropriately, buried and left the fox behind. They may be part of the species that wiped out all the titans, the predators that so mercilessly hunted King's species as prey, but they want no part in this. Their backstory seems to involve wanting to play with titans and denouncing the other collectors after all, likely being bitter at them for ruining everything and hunting their new playmates to near extinction.

Alternative readings also include a few possible pop culture references. A possible one is the prominent role of the Fox in the Little Prince. While Hunter is the one who has been nicknamed "little prince" by Darius, Collector still seems more thematically similar to the character, being a child who came from space:

The similarity also hands itself to the fact King does somewhat resemble a fox with his canine qualities and fluffy tail, and in the story, the Fox was one of the first friends the Little Prince makes on Earth, and the one to teach him how to approach someone who does not trust you yet, to "tame" them.

Yet another possible reference this could be is the Disney movie "The Fox and the Hound":

Which seems like something I should frankly make a whole separate post comparing the eerie similarities it harbors to the current dynamic Collector and King hold. But to summarize, if you don't know the movie, it follows a hunting dog pup and a fox pup that become friends at a young age, and their friendship must overcome advertisities unique to their species.

If this is a reference to this particular movie, this once again has a different reading: Collector is clearly the hunting dog here, not the fox. For him to keep a fox under his bed would signify he wants to keep King close to him, safe under his bed and protected. This could even be a call back to the very last scene the titular fox and hound in the movie share: Copper, the hound, positions himself above the fallen Todd, the fox, protecting him. The plush being under the bed to mirror this would make sense.

Whew! I think that's everything that I had in mind to comment on this particular tiny easter egg. Whatever meaning you take from this about Collector's mysterious plush, I hope I could at least inspire something in you!

#the owl house #the collector #toh collector #king clawthorne #toh theory #toh analysis #toh spoilers #Commander's orders

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wyldeking · 9 months ago

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

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

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

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

"Then why are you digging?"

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

"There's blood in the key?"

*Amity tightens her grip around the portal key.*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#the owl house #toh #hunter toh #amity blight #amity toh #lumity #lumity toh #writing #luz noceda #toh luz #I love this damn show

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hadesisqueer · 2 years ago

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#rwby #the owl house #toh #emperor belos #salem rwby #rwby salem

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rainbowangel110 · 2 years ago

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Dipper was fucking hype

Marcy was NO GOD WHY ANDRIUS YOU ASSHOLE MARCY NO FUCK GOD- ..... Okay they're kinda cool but still!!!!

Hunter was Pain Agony Oh my god Why why must the boy suffER FLAPJACK NO NO NO FUCK OH HOD HE'S DROWNING FUCK-

Catra was.... Oh shit. OH SHIT

#Idk about Callum I haven't seen The Dragon Prince so......#But Hunter all the way #Cuz that whole moment no one won basically #Dipper was fun to watch (“Let's see enny menny minny..... YOU!”) come on that shit was ICONIC #Darcy was awful in the beginning but once we got to know The Core it was kinda fun to watch #until you get reminded that this is an amalgamation of amphibians that wanna concur entire worlds #The fight in All In was fucking epic though #“Okay. Let's rumble girlfriend.” AUGH #Catra was “OH GOD (fear)” to “OH GOD (hype)” cuz S5 SHE RA FORM IS SO COOL OH MY GOD HELL YEAH #We won those fights #We had a victory for the protagonists in a way (okay Dipper didn't really but still)#Darcy was defeated and Andrius surrendered which stopped the invasion and sent the trio back to Amphibia (also the Core but still)#We got FUCKING S5 SHE RA FORM WHICH IS A WIN OF IT'S OWN!!!#We acquired a Horde Clone which helped immensely (Krytis which led to Melog and finding Horde Prime's weakness!)#But Possessed Hunter?#Almost a total loss there #Belos regained his body in a way #Luz and Hunter's secrets that they weren't ready to share yet got spilled #FLAPJACK GOT CRUSHED #HUNTER ALMOST DIED (Or he actually did and Flap revived him IDK)#Flapjack dying #The only win was going back to the Demon Realm and even getting there everyone had a hard time #Luz's guilt complex #Hunter just having lost his best friend #Willow trying to be the Reliable One #Thank god it worked out #the owl house #she ra and the princesses of power #amphibia #gravity falls

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lighthouseshepard · 30 days ago

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some comforting jarthur for @mikonezz ! (:

"Arthur? Arthur, what the fuck? Where did you - Arthur!"

John's voice rings out over the clearing as he comes into view, stumbling over the jut of a tree root well placed to trip him up. He barely manages to catch himself before tumbling to the floor, months of mastering newly human reflexes finally paying off. Cursing, he dusts a scattering of dry leaves from his clothing and focuses anew on the figure standing some small distance away.

"Arthur," he calls again, his tone an impatient rumble. "What the hell are you doing? I've been looking for you for over ten minutes!"

He makes a few hesitant shuffles toward him, glancing down for any more wayward branches. The clearing spreads out before him, a gentle unfolding of dry grass stretching in all directions strewn with the remnants of autumn’s crisp decay. Trees tower above them, their branches intermingling in a crossed network of slowly withering leaves fluttering in the breeze, a myriad of orange and brown made stunning in the late afternoon light. Every step crunches beneath him as his feet find the path they’d been traveling along once more. It’s obvious and clumsy, and still the body ahead of him doesn’t turn around.

“Arthur,” he tries, impatience winning out over anything else. “Why did you get so far ahead? You said you were going to go ahead just around the corner and then you were gone. Do you know how hard it is to find fucking anything in this forest? I could have lost you, I… Arthur?”

Arthur turns. The smile he offers John, flickering and lackluster on his lips, doesn’t quite reach his eyes. With a sense of trepidation John slows, coming to a halt before crossing the final few feet.

“Hey, John,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you behind.”

“Well, you did,” John grumbles, eyeing him carefully. “You have no idea how to get back without me. Why did you take off like that?”

Arthur swallows. His head dips down, chin bumping his chest. Something heavy sits in the line of his shoulders, an indecipherable weight hanging off his silhouette like a stone skipped and sunk into the sea. John studies the windswept tangles of his auburn hair, the wrinkled state of his shirt. What creases beneath his eyes appeared that morning were deeper, half moons faint and tender as a bruise which refused to heal.

“Sorry,” he mumbles again. “Didn’t realize. I got a bit lost in my own thoughts.”

John’s irritation dissipates in the breeze winding delicately across the clearing. Nature’s decomposition carried a strange scent. Like hay, he thought, dry and slightly sweet. He breathes it in, closing what gap remained. Arthur still wasn’t facing him, his gaze blank and distant as he stares sightlessly at a point by John’s elbow.

“Arthur?” John asks. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Arthur.”

“I said it’s nothing, John,” he snaps. His palm grips the end of the cane held firmly in one hand, braced in the earth by his feet. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry I walked off, alright? Jesus Christ, can we just go back now?”

“No.” John crosses stubborn arms over his broad chest. “Not until you tell me why you decided you wanted to disappear in a wood you can’t see.”

“I didn’t mean to-”

He breaks off, exhaling sharply. “Like I said. I… wasn’t paying attention. Didn’t realize.”

“You haven’t been paying attention all day,” John points out. “You’ve been distracted since the sun rose, Arthur. I’ve been talking to a wall since you woke up.”

“Fucking forgive me for being unfocused,” he mutters, “like I can’t catch a goddamned break from you or anyone else.”

“What?” John furrows his brow. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” He shakes his head.” Let’s head back.”

“I don’t want to head back. Would you just listen to me? We’re not going anywhere until you-”

“Don’t touch me!”

Arthur’s exclamation echoes around them. He rips his arm out of John’s attempted grasp, twisting to the right and nearly falling as he had only minutes ago. The cane clatters to the leaves below, its muted thump the only sound accompanying the rolling ring of Arthur’s plea as it dwindles into a slow, tense silence.

Leaves rustle softly overhead. John’s arm falls to his side. He refuses to look away, although Arthur was doing all he could to try and pretend he was the only one in the entire forest at that exact moment.

“Arthur,” John says softly. A small spark of frustration flickers to life in his gut, but he tampers it resolutely down. He knew enough by now to tell when such a thing would be useful to him. Clearly, that approach would do neither of them any good. “Talk to me.”

“I,” he starts, barely getting the singular word out. His breath comes unevenly, the rise and fall of his chest beneath his shirt staccato beats along a string of notes gone out of key. “I don’t know what to say, John.”

“Try me.”

He rasps a dry laugh, this one just as unhappy as the last. “Haven’t I confused you enough already?”

John hums. Anything he wanted to say, whatever he thought might work to combat whatever was going on inside Arthur’s head all clamors for his attention at once. He knew him, understood how his mind worked. For a long time he’d been inside it, curled up in scattered pieces behind those eyes while he fought to realize what would make him whole, watching and listening as Arthur’s life fell apart.

Perhaps words weren’t what he needed right now.

“Just talk,” he says simply. “I’m listening. I’ll always listen, Arthur. I want to help.”

Sighing, Arthur finally turns to face him. His expression is weary, loaded with the same tension coiling throughout his thin frame. For a second he seemed as though he were going to move forward, and it would have been so easy then to wrap him up in an embrace. But he stops halfway through, head still facing down. The air between them grows a little colder.

“I’ve always loved that about you,” he murmurs. “The fact you’re so willing to help, even when you’re upset with me.”

“I’m not upset,” John points out, “I’m… worried, Arthur. For the last few days especially you’ve been distant. I’ve tried to give you space, wait it out because I didn’t want to pry, but it’s not getting either of us anywhere.”

“I know, John, I know. I haven’t meant to snap at you, it’s just… “

“Arthur.” John was all but whispering, the name as much of a promise as a prayer in his mouth. “Please. What’s going on?”

“It’s… it’s like,” Arthur says, every syllable punctuated by a tremble he fought to hold back. “Alright, fine. I can’t catch a fucking break, John.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks, forcing himself to stay completely still. Every muscle and length of bone within him yearned to reach out and touch his face, his shoulder, anything to offer what little comfort he could. The privilege of being able to hold that body with flesh and blood of his own was a blessing he’d never grow tired of, and whenever Arthur strayed too far from him the pull of that dissonance stung like a newly reopened wound. But his demand continued to ricochet in the back of his mind: don’t touch me. So he doesn’t.

Arthur lets out a bitter laugh. “Life, John. I’m talking about this, here, with you.”

“What?” John asks hesitantly. He takes an instinctive, rustling step back. Did I… did I do something wrong? Is this about me?”

“No, no!” He glances up wild-eyed, the gold of his gaze wrought with a sudden nervous concern. “No, John, god. I’m sorry, I phrased that poorly, it’s not about you. It’s… fuck, I’m not making any sense, am I?”

John’s lips thin into a frown. “Not a bit.”

“I’m sorry. Again, it seems - I’ve been saying that a lot today, haven’t I?”

“Could say it a few times more,” John mutters.

“Yeah, darling. I could.”

John waits. Those eyes find him somehow in their darkness. As exhausted as he was, their color rivaled the soft flame of autumn soaked into every bit of foliage and underbrush around them still clinging to life.

“It’s her, John,” Arthur says after what could have been an eternity or a few elongated seconds. “I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“Oh,” John hums. “Arthur, are you-”

“No, John, don’t.” He wipes the back of his hand across one eye, refusing to acknowledge it. “It’s the weather, I think, or maybe just the way the leaves are turning red around us. She loved fall. I always preferred spring, mind you, but the way she used to talk about it could sway me in a heartbeat. I can’t even see the leaves now, John. All I’m left with is sound and the scent of the season’s… goddamn inevitable decay.”

“I could describe it to you,” John offers quietly. He moves closer, still not giving in to the urge to touch him. “If you wanted.”

“I know,” Arthur sniffs. He lends him a watery smile, tear tracks lining his cheeks. “All I wanted to do, all I’ve wanted for the longest fucking time, was to enjoy this life with you. Ever since the separation I thought I’d finally be able to relax, that we’d be safe-”

“We are safe,” John interjects. “You know that, right?”

He chokes off, heaving an unsteady breath. More salt stains his skin, miniscule rivers winding among the landscape of his scars. Without a second thought John decides to damn his request. With a soft huff of air he pulls him in.

“Sure, John, but my body remembers what it was like. And I can’t shake the feeling some outside force is still trying to fucking pick me apart. It’s like I’m going to spend the rest of my life hopping from one hard thing to the next, never getting a break in between, never knowing what really makes me happy except for you, and Noel and Oscar, the sound of your laughter, the radio you play late at night when we can’t sleep-”

"Wait a second."

"And then I wake up with thoughts like these and it's so fucking hard, John, trying to cling to that happiness -"

“Arthur,” he rumbles, the singular word a slip of velvet draping around them both. Strong arms wrap across Arthur’s back, enveloping him in an embrace that would have left him breathless had he anything left in his lungs to give. He sinks into John, pressing his face into his chest, clinging desperately to him as he’s folded up. Warmth seeps into limbs gone cold and aching from the day’s brisk chill. What music of the forest he’d been paying attention to drift further and further away until all which remained was the melody of John’s heartbeat, steady and assured.

“Sorry,” Arthur says against him. “I’ve completely ruined our little walk, haven’t I?”

John chuckles, resting his chin atop Arthur’s head. “Oh, I’ve ruined much worse. It’s alright.”

What might have been a muffled laugh wracked through with another sob answers him. John draws him in tighter.

“That’s all I want,” Arthur whispers. “I want to stop feeling as though there’s nothing to look forward to even though I know there is, like the past keeps dogging at my heels with its relentless… emptiness. And I don’t know where to start.”

“It’s going to be fine, Arthur,” he tells him. His breath stirs the ends of his hair, a reassurance in its own right. “I know you… I know we spent a long time climbing out of pit after pit, but there are moments of happiness in between. I don’t know what that looks like for you, but I can help you find them, if you want.”

“Well.” John parts them gently, shifting Arthur reluctantly off him until he could see him properly in the light. Their arms remain around each other, their faces half a foot apart. “Maybe it starts with a walk.”

Arthur sighs, sniffling once more. “Very funny.”

“I’m not joking. I’ve learned a lot from you, Arthur, and what blindsided me in the beginning still strikes me now as something of immense worth. Your resilience, your stubbornness, the way you keep going in the face of impossible odds. Even in the prison pits, there were times where you found reason to laugh. All that suffering, and you kept striving for joy in small moments.”

There is no immediate response. John wonders fleetingly if he had said the wrong thing, and he begins pulling threads from the tangle of his thoughts, searching for anything at all that might right his mistakes. To his surprise, Arthur begins to relax against him, inch by inch. That tension bleeds away like so much sand back out into the tide.

“I don’t know a fucking thing about living a human life,” John says. As Arthur opens his mouth to speak, John shushes him. “No, I don’t. I’m learning, though. Maybe that’s where we find peace, those small hours in between the difficult stretches. In walks, or… the trees changing color around us, all the subtle beauty of staying defiantly alive in a world that might want us dead. Do you understand?”

“I think so,” Arthur says weakly. John reaches up to brush a thumb under his eyes, wiping away what few tears remained, and he leans desperately into the touch. “Thank you, John. Sometimes I just need a reminder, I guess… and, um, John?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you describe it to me? The forest, I mean, if it’s not too much trouble. I’d like to listen to you talk for a while.”

He could have kissed him, then, but he doesn’t. There would be plenty of opportunity for that later. Instead John tilts his head back, gazing up into a sky dusted powder blue.

“Of course, Arthur. We’re in the middle of a clearing. The path we were following is almost entirely buried beneath a covering of dead leaves, like the trees were trying to swallow civilization’s influence up. Above us branches stretch spindly fingers into the sky, framing what I can see of it in a rickety halo tinged through with hints of amber and red. All around us the trees are alight in autumn’s bloom, but nothing compares to your eyes.”

“My… eyes?” Arthur asks in strange awe. “John?”

His cheeks flush. “Hush. Do you want me to keep going or not?”

“Oh, by all means,” Arthur says, and rests his head on John’s shoulder. “I’m listening.”

“Right. There are bushes lining the edges of the clearing sporadically, dotted with some sort of bright pink berry. Light bathes the ground in long yellow arcs which shift and shiver as the sun travels across the sky. Little green exists here, but it’s alright. Fall has a kind of atrophy I appreciate for its earnestness, its honesty, I suppose. Oh, let me tell you about the flock of birds above, too…”

#sorry i probably write jarthur fluff too much #you can pry h/c from my cold dead hands #also this is largely unedited whhchejd #may come back to it later ❤️#caspost #malevolent fic

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couldtransitionsaveher · 9 months ago

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Archetype Exploration: Perfect Soldiers

(Hey, please look at this blog's pinned post before reading this post; it gives a lot of context for the lens I'm looking at these characters through, k thx. also, shoutout to @finalgirl-nihilbliss for guessing the archetype)

CW: Abuse, Projection, Surface-Level Media Analysis

If your comfort character exhibits any of the following symptoms:

constant brooding

face frozen in a perpetual scowl

possession of a "dark past" they don't like to talk about

frequent blank stares into the middle distance

constantly trains for something uncertain

You may have just found yourself in the presence of a Perfect Soldier.

Perfect soldiers are characters who were groomed, often from birth, for the sole purpose of inflicting harm on their fellow man. These characters are efficient, tactically-minded, and above all else, violent. Perfect soldiers will often excel at combat and strategy, but struggle with emotional sensitivity.

Note that just because these characters are violent and closed off now doesn't mean that this is their natural temperament. Often, perfect soldiers have some kind of natural compassion that was stomped out through years of abuse training. This can come in the form of a sole loved one who tragically died, but more often than not, it simply manifests as a soft side sanded away.

If the Perfect Soldier doesn't start that way, who is to blame for their transformation? In sci-fi and fantasy, this transformation is usually caused by a morally corrupt institution built to churn out perfect soldiers (the Jedi Academy, the Galalunan Military Academy, the Space Marine Legions, etc.). Other times, perfect soldiers are groomed raised by a cruel and abusive father figure (Endeavor, Bro Strider, Belos, etc.). Some settings even blend the two by having an institution with a twisted general (think Shadow Weaver from She-Ra).

Typically, if a perfect soldier has a character arc, it's usually one of healing and letting go of their anger. This almost always contains at least two of these three steps in the order of your choosing:

The perfect soldier leaves the institution of their torment, either by circumstance or by excommunication. Once on the outside, they'll typically find that their raw might is irrelevant to their survival, and they'll instead need to rely on their lacking social skills. This exit from the comfort zone will prompt the soldier to learn a lot of people skills, typically leading to a "softening up" of sorts. Note that this doesn't have to be a literal escape from a physical place. Rather, it could just be a character being outside their guardian's zone of influence.

The perfect soldier discovers some imperfection with their guardian/institution. Perhaps there's some kind of inconsistency in its moral values. Other times, the soldier finds a secret the guardian/institution has been covering up. Whatever it is, this will prompt the soldier to question their leaders' infallibility.

The perfect soldier meets a person who shows concern for them in spite of the soldier's outward hostility. This outside party will likely witness or hear about the perfect soldier's tumultuous upbringing and take pity on them. This will likely prompt an attempt to reach out to the soldier, something which may or may not be rejected. Whatever the case, this act compassion will likely stick with the soldier, and prompt them to think about their own worth.

An arc like this usually resolves with a direct confrontation with the abusive mentor(s) who turned them into a weapon of war. If the soldier is a member of the supporting cast, this may come in the form of some heroic self-sacrifice, usually to protect the aforementioned outside party. Alternatively, if the soldier is a protagonist, their confrontation will likely be much more active, and may even be a proper fight. The soldier tends to win this fight either with the power of friendship or compassion but this isn't a strict requirement. If the writers really want to get spicy with it, they might even spare their tormentor, really leaning into the idea of abandoning violence (note that this runs the risk of coming off as a "forgive your abusers" narrative).

Alternatively, the lack of a grand confrontation can be a form of narrative resolution in and of itself. Living well is the best revenge, after all, and showing that our former perfect soldier has moved on to a happier, more peaceful life can be a far stronger statement of growth than a glitzy fight to the death.

(This is the part where I tie this whole thing back into the gimmick of the account. If you just wanted a Trope Talk style summary of the archetype, you've seen all there is to see. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to do your daily clicks.)

Why do you keep submitting this?

So, out of all the characters that I've seen submitted, this is easily the most prolific character archetype. At the time of writing, somewhere between 40-50 characters that have been posted roughly fit this archetype, and that's not including any of the characters I haven't posted yet.

Why do submitters connect this particular trope with trans women so damn much?

Firstly, it's important to consider that in most western fiction, the soldier is an inherently masculine archetype. From the classical epics of the Odyssey and the Iliad, to the superheroes and action stars of modern-day blockbusters, there's a very real conflation between a character's manhood and a character's capacity to do violence. A lot of mainstream military propaganda does the same, suggesting that men who enlist are more "authentically masculine" than those who don't. This archetype serves as a critique of that idea; it shows us that this masculine ideal can be, and often is, a soul-crushing experience. In a sense, the idea of transitioning serves as an escape from this image.

Furthermore, it's important to consider what this character arc is actually about: a miserable character discovering that a better life is possible, and making steps to achieve personal peace. Often, these characters are fiercely loyal to the institutions that take advantage of them. These characters are often fine with it because they can't conceive of a better world. Once that's presented to them, that's when they start to leave. Frankly, given that a lot of people still don't end up knowing about trans folks until they're adults, I'm surprised more trans people don't connect to characters like this.

Finally, this arc gets back to the core question at the center of this blog: could transition have saved her? The archetype, in its construction necessitates a level of misery, ergo it implies that the character needs saving. It's no wonder these characters tend to garner a lot of Hurt/Comfort fanfic (Anakin Skywalker alone has more Hurt/Comfort fic than some of my favorite fandoms period). There's an inherent desire for these characters have better lives, and maybe some estrogen could do it.

This is my best guess, anyway. If you have thoughts, feel free to share them.

#archetype exploration #trope analysis #cw abuse #cw projection #cw surface level media analysis #transgender #sorry for taking so long to finish this post #i've been trying to phrase it as delicately as possible

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toastling · 3 months ago

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Ever wonder what would've happened if The Owl house aired in 2013?

That's right.

We would have had an OWLSTUCK.

They would've been rendered accordingly and there would've been a short-lived comic spoken of fondly by both fanbases.

Anyway here are some kids and their classpects.

Luz Noceda - Page of Light. Duh. Most obvious one on this list. You *could* make a very strong argument for Page of Hope too, but aside from her name literally BEING Light, I think it fits a bit more. Too bad you can't multi-aspect. Though let's be real, if anybody COULD, it would be Luz Noceda, so who knows, maybe that's her special Snest (in-world Sburb variant) given gift.

Amity Blight - Witch of Breath. Breath is a lot to do with one's self in the sense of self-actualization and understanding. She needed a lil help getting there but I feel Amity fits this quite well!

Willow Park - Mage of Life. In Homestuck, Life as an aspect is most closely tied to healing, but it can also be quite literal, as we do see Life aspected characters resurrect dead friends. I think if any aspect would allow one to wield life in the most literal sense via battle plants, it'd be, well, Life!

Gus Porter - Seer of Mind. This is a class and aspect wombo combo that fits him to a goddamn T. He's far sharper about others thoughts and natures than people think, including himself. Learning to trust in his intuition is his arc. He has a pretty good grasp of others, even if he does tend to try to focus more on the good bits than the bad, even when the latter may be pertinent.

King Clawthorne - Prince of Blood. Literal royalty in name and nature, with the Blood of the Titan running through his veins whether he realizes it or not. A Prince is an active destructive class with incredible offensive capability, one that destroys its aspect or through it, in this case, Blood. As a Titan, that potential is there for King. But we know the little guy wouldn't use it unless he had to. Right?

Hunter - Heir of Time. Of all the characters, no one fits the aspect of Time better than Hunter given his relations and just how many of him have existed throughout the ages. And as for Heir, I mean, could it be any more obvious?

Vee - Sylph of Space. Conceptually, Space means a lot of things in Homestuck, and is seen by the fandom as one of the "fundamental" aspects. A common theory is no game has a potential to win without both a Space and Time player. But one thing Space represents is Form and Boundary. It is the amorphous stage the play of reality is set upon. What better for a shapeshifter? Sylphs are essentially a Healer class.

Masha - Rogue of Doom. A Thief steals for their own benefit, and a Rogue for the benefit of others. Masha Stole Doom from the entirety of her Reality Check Summer Camp crew, *especially* Vee, giving her her very first friend, potential crush, and a new home and lease on life.

The Collector - Lord of Void. He is Everything and Nothing and can create or uncreate both at will. The Lord embodies their aspect to the absolute. They are a Master class, all-powerful and uncontested in their domain. He is a leftover from a previous game of Snest, one played between just two people, the other, of course, being...

Papa Titan - Muse of Life. We've never seen an adult play any variant of Sburb. But to deal with the Collector and his games, I think he may have had no choice. A Muse, too, is a Master Class, but far more passive. The Titan is how all life in the Demon Realm exists. The Titan *is* the Isles. How much more Life-aligned can you be? And as effectively just a corpse at this point, obviously, he's pretty passive.

Emperor Belos - Knight of Rage. A perfect mastery of his aspect to both directly harm and to manipulate, a truly terrifying foe. Again, adults aren't normally players, but, you better believe he's the reason this whole damn apocalypse happened in the first place.

Boom wrote that up in like 20 minutes, welcome to my special hell.

If by chance somebody actually *likes* this and wants more for some godforsaken reason, I'll give the kids a strife specibus too.

#Toast Talks #The Owl House #TOH #Homestuck #Sburb #Owlstuck #Snest #Hexsquad #The Hexsquad #Papa Titan #TOH Collector #King Clawthorne #Classpecting

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