#Owl House analysis

[the-collector-blog]

some little analyses on the hollow mind memory panels posted by rebecca rose on twitter! transcription of the first image:

"all the black framed memories have gray and reddish spots, as opposed to the white framed ones, which have (if any) white spots. the only crystal clear memories (besides the repaired portal door) are of belos's childhood memories with caleb, before caleb met evelyn. the white framed memories become increasingly spotty from then on. this is likely because caleb leaving was traumatic for kid philip, so all the demon realm interactions and creating grimwalkers reminded him of what he viewed as the most painful event of his life. philip never moved on from that moment. the grimwalkers in his memories match the appearances of some of the apparitions he saw in the episode For the Future."

[kittykichi]

Making my own post as to not start anything, but that post going around saying Titan Luz is bad writing because she was just handed her powers by God on a silver platter is a bad take. It's taking everything such at face value without the nuance that it is.

From the beginning, Luz discovers glyphs from other people and her surroundings. Eda, her mentor and guardian with light (and to protect herself and King from Eda's curse) , Ice from the wilderness in a moment of weakness when she desires to save her friends, fire from a rival when trying to stand up for her friend through a game. Like, Belos says the Titan "hid" magic from him while he "favors" Luz, and while I think that's actually ambiguous compared to the end (I'll get there) the point is that ultimately the power Luz has is that she appreciates others! She's open-minded, she desires connection. And that's what made her so radically different from him.

Now as for "God favors her and she is the chosen one so she gets ultimate power" I wanna step back and talk about how the Titan (alive in the liminal sense) is presented to us.

When we first meet him, he's not amazingly grand or regal. In fact, he's got dad bod, comfy in his robes, synonymous with a coffee cup in hand. He's just some guy. He's also KING'S FATHER. He's watched Luz become an older sister to his son, love King SO much that she was willing to give up her old life so he wouldn't face The Collector alone. Again, she values connection to others, and not just anyone, but his son. She deserves his power because she's proven time and time again that she is selfless, to fucking fault in fact. I won't even go into all the times she self-sacrificed to make others happy. So yeah, he chooses her. Wouldn't you?

And she doesn't take it eagerly either! She's full of self-doubt that she asks why? Let's compare this to the second episode where she eagerly believes she's been chosen by the wizard and ends up beefing it. She doesn't take that power lightly. King's dad responds, "I don't see anyone else around" and basically says that he thinks she'll just do fine, but she has to choose it to. This is not "handing it on a silver platter" situation. This is a mutual agreement. This is a dad wanting to help his son, fix his mistakes, nurture a caring soul. This isn't Luz "being the chosen one™". This is a young girl who's learning to accept herself, willing to forgive herself and fight for others.

And to say this is bad writing, ESPECIALLY SINCE IT WAS PRETTY WELL KNOWN THAT THEIR SHOW GOT SIGNIFICANTLY CUT! is such a bad take, sorry. You can prefer other shows' writing, but this take isn't it, friend.

In short, Luz has always been hinted at to be good at glyph magic because she is a kind soul who values others and doesn't take selfishly. And "God" here is ultimately just some dude who cares about his son and fixing a wrong.

-mic drop-

[imsosocold]

Can't stop thinking how similar the Collector and Pip are. Neither have developed or grown in centuries. Despite being very physically old, they're still both very young mentally. Both are trapped in another realm, unable to get home. Both want to live an idealized concept of childhood and are willing do anything to attain it. Both have abandonment and trust issues and are so desperate to not be alone. All they do is repeat their past mistakes and get the same results but are unable to recognize what they're doing wrong. Their very existences are stagnant.

EDIT: MEANT TO ADD THIS AGES AGO BUT PIP AND COLE ALSO BOTH MISS HOES WHICH DON'T EXIST ANYMORE AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE GONE

[l-egionaire]

This is another topic that came up between me and my friend @ordinaryschmuck , but I feel like both in-universe and with the Fandom, the Owl House likes to act like it'd not some cliche fantasy series even though....yeah. it is. It uses a TON of cliches.

Like, one of the messages of the show is SUPPOSEd to be that the Boiling Isles doesn't work like a fantasy novel....but it does. It runs on a ton of fantasy tropes to the point even Luz points them out.

The bully who eventually becomes a friend/love interest? Check

The mysterious mentor with a past that ties them to the main antagonist or threat? Check.

The main villains second hand who isn't actually as evil as they seem and eventually betrays them? Check.

The magical system that conveniently sorts magic into multiple different categories? Check.

The main character often turns their enemies into allies using their kind heart and persuasion? Check.

One of the main characters has some secret hidden heritage that makes them extremely powerful? Check.

Even the second episode, which tries to say "Oh no, the main character isn't special or has any kind of magical destiny reason to be here" is proven to not technically be true. Because Luz inadvertently helped Belos rise to power, so she WAS destined to come the Boiling Isles in order to unknowingly play a part in its history.

And the thing is, I don't say that in a BAD way. Cliches don't necessarily make a series bad or anything. Like, I'm a big fan of Black Clover, and that is the most cliche filled anime in the universe. I'm not saying the Owl House is bad because it uses a lot of cliches. I just feel like both the show and fandom act like it's this big piece of subversive fantasy storytelling.....when it really isn't. It plays most fantasy tropes pretty straightforward. It's good and enjoyable, I just don't think it's that outside the box with its tropes or ideas. It's pretty standard fantasy fair.

[dragonturtle2]

The Collector’s Magical Kingdom of Appropriation

The Collector’s reign over the Boiling Isles is actually a huge illustrated metaphor of cultural appropriation. Sure, there are the more blatant signs of full on colonialism and genocide. We plainly see the entire native population is either enslaved or hidden away in fear, while Collector takes their territory for himself. But The Owl House has always spent time being a mirror held up to the consequences of the fantasy genre, and the desires of its fans.

Think of the stars with eyes that Collector uses to decorate the Isles, and deploys as enslaver drones. Why the star shape? It’s not just a reminder of how he/they are technically a little kid. It’s the overriding aesthetic of the Collector society. They seem to live in the cosmos itself, their clothes have celestial bodies all over them, and each one of them apparently had a phase of the moon stamped on their faces. So in order to make the Boiling Isles more appealing to himself, Collector stamped his local iconography all over them. He/They took one look at the native architecture and design and decided it wasn’t suitable to his wants. Along with morphing the citizens into wood and plaster, he gave them redesigned and rebranded outfits. Even the local ecology and vistas were crudely plastered over, to the point that a newcomer like Camila Noceda couldn’t distinguish what elements were original.

And these aesthetics are designed to wage war with each other. The inhabitants and architecture of the Boiling Isles are modeled after the free-range bizarreness of Hieronymus Bosch. The most mundane utilities are steeped in the macabre, and nobody even blinks an eye at. This reflects how the Witch civilizations have mimicked the dead giant that gave rise to their existence. Possibly how they’re so at ease with the very concept of death, since they live with the reminder of it’s inevitability, and how it can bring beauty.

What Collector prefers is an 80’s G-rated fantasy kiddie cartoon in the vein of Care Bears.

There’s also the metanarrative aspect with how Luz’s entire story has been passed on. The Collector has spent all these months play-acting Luz’s life; all her accomplishments, and all her sacred bonds. Yes it was King’s suggestion; “the Owl House” game. But Collector obviously loves it. Yet Collector has nothing but contempt for Luz herself, even as a concept. He/They get pouty or mopey whenever she gets referenced. We’ve all seen this pattern of thought with bad faith arguments from chuds online, when it comes to certain franchises. Where they don’t actually have any problems with the story or the particular tropes, they just get pissy when the protagonist is a female or person of color. Collector calls Luz “that human,” like who she was born as is an insult.

The only person Collector treats anything like a peer is King, because he is also a species that reaches Godhood. All the lesser species can be treasured pets, at best. The Collector shares a mindset (or at least outward habits) with bigoted gatekeepers, where the joys of a story or franchise aren’t deserved by people who don’t remind them of themselves. Even if those different types of people are the ones who created the story in the first place. Their accomplishments are only worthwhile if HE can use them, including stamping his name and face on them. Colonialism doesn’t just steal the fruits of labor, they steal your stories of the past, present, and future.

:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:

As an aside, the actions of erasure also extend to the only remotely real bond Collector has, King. Which isn’t surprising given that he’s literally redecorating and playing games with the corpse of King’s dad. The process King’s gone through is assimilation by way of involuntary adoption. King is dressed in Collector clothes, lives in a Collector palace (built atop his dad’s resting place), and learns Collector lore as he reads Collector bedtime stories. Meanwhile, his mom and auntie are living behind bars while they scrounge for their prescriptions.

Although this isn’t quite the intended assimilation like Collector has done for the entire Isles and witch-kind; he/they are just offering King what they enjoy most, which mostly defaults to what they’re already familiar with. That’s just normal for kids, and people in general.

I believe this is a different kind of warning Collector poses to anyone who enjoys stories, and all us involved in fandom. Not just the terror of artistic gentrification. It’s seeking out stories, characters and settings to only fulfill our own desires and preferences. Searching for only baseline wish fulfillment can trap us in a bubble that stops us from growing. Then if something is unique or incongruous, we either throw it away or end up mangling the interpretation. And when art is swept aside and destroyed, we’re also degrading where it came from. It’s creator, it’s people, and it’s country.

:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:

When King first came into his Titan power, I thought it seemed strange that it was a vocal attack. Just because the actual physical noises of the Titan - speech, language, cries - have never had any prominence in this show. Descriptions or theories of how that species have never been included in the lore reveals, or the musings or sayings of the local populace. The closest we’ve gotten is Belos’s original lie, “I am the voice of the Titan.”

I assumed it was meant to contrast with King’s squeaky voice and grand boasts being his main source of comedy. And just basic symbology about puberty. But after writing all this, I’m convinced it was setting up how to save the day from whatever Belos and Collector will try to inflict.

King will stand with his mother and sister (and hopefully aunt and Hooty) and they ALL scream out that what they have is perfect. They scream to prove they exist, and they don’t need to write any coherent song or reasonable argument to prove or earn that right. Their identity, their self perception and self respect, is their power. The most basic of expression can annihilate oppressors, as long is it’s honest. And of course, coordinated noise is a great opportunity for some musician to get involved.

Big thanks to @marztheincredible for Beta’ing the preceding essay concerning this very histories and complex subject.

[friend0f0wlsandtitans]

I know the fandom likes to baby Hunter a lot and I’ve seen a lot of comics make him cry at the slightest thing which i think is really cute and all but it’s just not like him in my opinion. Aside from two scenes where we see very small tears form in Hunter’s eyes, we’ve only ever seen him cry twice. And the first time, he was trying pretty hard to suck it up. Hunter doesn’t show much emotion and I definitely think a lot of that is due to his upbringing. He probably wasn’t allowed to show much emotion in front of Belos and if he did, Belos probably didn’t offer much support for him. So after years of that, he just started keeping it to himself. That’s my analysis at least. I feel like in this next episode that comes out only a few days from now, he’s going to be angry, quiet and numb. I mean, can you blame him? He just lost his best friend and now he has to save the world from both the collector and his abuser. Unlike Luz who had months to process her emotions a bit more, Hunter is being thrown right back into action. It doesn’t give him the time to properly grieve. I hope that they represent that a bit and do it well because that happens to a lot of people irl. They go through something really traumatizing and then some happens almost instantly after that so they can’t really process it correctly. I’m a little worried as to how they are going to deal with him and what he is going through during this episode, I just really hope they do it right (also please do not mention any leaks from the episode, i am waiting for the episode to come out officially)

[bubomicronus]

@eeveearoace @casswithmywholeheart @borkthemork @sashimi-buttons @goodartitude @arcadiii @bunnybythesea @yourpersonaltimebomb

GUYS GUYS GUYS

Analysis / Implication post below the cut

WARNING: For the Future spoilers

Was going through my dash on mobile and accidentally swiped to the 'For You' section and saw this post.

And it suddenly got the gears in my head turning. Furiously.

BELOS' GRIMWALKERS ARE ESSENTIALLY LOW-POWER PALISMANS

Think about it.

We know that Grimwalkers are clones made by magic but what if he only used enough magic to bring them to life?

That would explain why Hunter had no inherent magic and relied on the mechanized staff so much.

Going with the linked post above, it also explains how Belos is able to consume palismans to keep himself alive.

It also brings to light another horrific thought.

Palistrom wood is scarce as of Hunting Palismen, and those that are left are heavily guarded. That said, it's safe to assume that Belos has been regulating the use of Palistrom wood.

Why?

All those Grimwalkers.

It would also explain how Hunter was able to use his Flash Step powers.

Hunter is made of Palistrom wood and part of Caleb's remains.

Flapjack joining with Hunter gave the latter the ability to use magic.

Real talk, it's 2 am here and I'm falling asleep and starting to lose what little track of mind I have. I'll have more of this when I can.

[khyrrn-v2]

Guys go check out @i-am-a-scholar-of-magic if you like the Owl House. Their theories are amazing and istg I would die for their analysis.

[amoritasart]

That’s what I’ve been thinking about. If this were any other fandom, everyone would be making video essays analyzing how they would have made a more narratively satisfying story.

Luz and Hunter were wasted romance potential, and it's sad. 

Owl House Spoilers below!

After Hollow Mind, I genuinely think they would've ended up together in the earlier cartoon days. The "enemies to lovers with respect for each other under their circumstances" is SUCH a great trope and Lunter knows exactly how to portray it. It's not all sunshine lollipops, it's angst, trauma and bonding in dire situations. Almost every interaction between them is heartfelt, and every episode with Luz & Hunter just solidifies how much I enjoy watching them over Lumity's dynamic. 

While I'd like it if the show stayed ambiguous to Luz's romance so pairing her wasn't a problem, I genuinely can't see how people see Lunter's dynamic as siblings. They are so much more than that.

Luz was the first person to consider him a friend. Until he broke her trust. You can see it in his eyes that he regret it immediately, and even went as far as to protect her from Belos despite hating her guts. That's not "brotherly love," that's respect. 

In Hollow Mind, they explore their dynamic SO much more. Luz is constantly reaching out to him. She offers him her hand, protects him from the first Belos entity, throws her jacket and still tries to console him when he thinks he's about to die. There's a lot of hand holding and physical touch between the two in the episode, and it's clear that they're starting to trust each other a lot more than in Hunting Palisman. Why? Because Luz just made him realize his whole life is a lie. She was able to get that through to him despite his cocky and stubborn attitude.

Lunter is undeniably tragic and doomed for angst, along with lore on the side.

And it's worth mentioning that a lot of Belos' mind paintings reflect the events of Luz and Hunter within the episode. It's heavily implied that Belos' brother ran away with a lover.

and what do we have with Luz and Hunter throughout the episode?

Hand in hand, running away, getting Hunter to safety. Hunter's feelings and well-being were Luz's priority throughout the events of the episode.

"Siblings" MY ASS. There's so much more to their dynamic. There was skeptical trust between them until Luz offered her hand and showed Hunter the real side of Belos. She needed someone to believe her and now he does. There always tension around the two characters, and boy, that's how you write a great "enemies to lovers" ship.

You can dislike Lunter all you want, but you cannot tell me these two wouldn't have ended up together if Lumity didn't canon.

[novelist-becca]

Man.

Imagine being Eda here.

You did everything in your power to keep your daughter (who just cracked open your walls) safe and away from the fight. Argued with her about her safety and even helped carve her palisman.

Only for it to be in vain, because she ended up being killed by Belos anyway. And you got a front row seat.

You don’t even know what to do as you watch the light orbs that used to be your kid float away.

At this point, Eda doesn’t give two shits and let’s the owl beast take the reigns.

You can practically hear her grief and agony in “I don’t think I can control myself right now.”

[cartoonsofthecosmos]

there's something about eda going from despising school to running a school that hits deep. something about rebuilding instead of destroying. something about turning anger into positive change. something about recognizing that you have the power to be better than those who hurt you. you get what i'm saying

[sepublic]

Fascinating to me how in the pilot, Luz found the Boiling Isles because of AMITY... Because she's trying to return this exchange student's passport to her. She chases a bus on foot the entire way just to repay her kindness. And so she follows her through the door.

I think the final version works just as well, considering it emphasizes Luz's connection to Eda and King, as well as her relationship with her mother. But there's also something special about how in the pilot, Luz's pretty obvious crush, and hopes of finding a friend in someone who unwittingly showed her kindness (though she doesn't realize it was unintentional) is what leads her into the Boiling Isles. It's what begins everything, it's what starts her journey and helps her find the place and people where she belongs.

There's just kind of a parallel between Luz trying to return the passport, and Luz wanting to hold onto the book, her father's last gift to her representing their mutual weirdness and kinship with one another. And there would’ve been another Lumity in parallel in them being students of two worlds. The crush vibes are so much more explicit and present from the start, it's like the queer aspect of Luz and the show is intertwined, since the beginning, since the very inciting incident, with the weirdness of our cast and their found family dynamics and everything. Like you can't discuss the weirdness without mentioning the queerness, without acknowledging it as just as much the foundation to the story and Luz.

Plus there's Amity rejecting the drawing from Luz, only for it to be appreciated by Eda unknowingly... Once again, someone, unwittingly, is kind to Luz. But in this case Eda is more explicit about encouraging and welcoming Luz, and it makes me wonder if Amity necessarily dismissed the drawing as much, or only did so because she was around her peers? She's much more of a traditional, popular girl prep in the pilot. But then she DOES throw away the drawing, and her seeing Luz later could represent the shift in attitude, her reconsideration.

It's just. You have the mother figure. You have the love interest. And they bring and affirm Luz's ties to the Boiling Isles respectively. Luz doesn't get the approval she was initially looking for, but her quest for it leads her to find approval from someone else; And obviously, her chances with Amity aren't entirely off of the table! Her girlfriend brought her here. She lit up Luz's life in a way, as the final version had Luz barge into Amity's life and light up hers without meaning to.

Plus Eda not being the friend Luz expected or was looking for -they cross paths by pure coincidence- but being the one she truly starts off with in the end. Like how in the final show Luz doesn't quite get what she's looking for, but she finds something else just as great and beautiful. Luz braces herself to be mocked through her drawing by Eda only to be supported and encouraged! All three of these characters are cut from the same cloth, tied together. I love it.

[fumifooms]

I don’t like minimizing the importance and gravity of Laios and Toshiro’s fight into just being a childish squabble, even if to a degree it is framed that way, because to both of them it has a lot of personal significance and emotional weight and runs very deep to their characters… The fight isn’t nothing it’s a LOT, they made up but it’s not something easy to express and to get over for either of them which makes it all the more meaningful! I’m on both sides but there very much are sides, there’s no "they’re both having a ball, Toshiro and Laios hand in hand yay" side to the fight, that comes after

The fight with Toshiro WAS very scary to Laios, almost existentially so, but it’s moreso the "I thought I’d made a friend!!" bit and my god. My god actually

Like it’s not "just" about oh his friend liking him less than he thought, THAT IS SO MUCH. It’s a bond he thought he had being a lie it’s all the time and moments spent together either being a lie from his perspective or marred now looking back. It’s not only being upset at Toshiro for lying but upset at himself that he’s so easy to fool, it’s being upset that there’s something so wrong with you that you can’t even tell if your "close buddy" even actually likes you or not, it’s like. Holding my head. He can’t trust his own vision of events that happened do you see. There’s always this film of distrust that it could be a lie that should be there when he interacts with people there’s always this sense of cloak and dagger to expect backstabs out of nowhere because you CAN’T see it coming you CAN’T you CAN’T there’s something about you which makes it impossible so you CAN’T-

He’s so scared of not being able to read people. He knows it’s a weak spot he has, he’s always known. All of these bits are centered around social expectations and betrayals, the assumption that he doesn’t belong either in society or with other humans.

And Laios’ level of awareness is actually sort of complex to analyze, but it’s there, there’s how out of him and Falin he was the one sensitive to the ~aura of hatred~ he felt from the townspeople, there’s of course his nightmares whispering to him about the mocking looks, and how yeah actually he realizes that his gold stripper coworker was taking advantage of him. There’s of course the Winged Lion speech about his trauma and how he fundamentally mistrusts/dislikes humans to some deep seated degree, this distrust that he still keeps under control always. There’s how pre-canon he often wanted to suggest eating monsters but never worked up the courage to bring it up with the others. There’s how he gets across as stoic when he isn’t being enthusiastic…… We don’t know how aware and wary he is exactly in the moment but we do know he has some anxiety around social stuff, and looking back he does notice and aughh augh, the sense you have to hide yourself to not get hurt and be on your guard and shit and.

When you don’t know what to look out for and when to look out for it, the general ‘common sense’ of not always trusting people or noticing when someone’s messing with you becomes hypervigilance in social settings

"Man they really know what you hate huh". Being socially unaware literally plagues him, he knows, he knows it so well.

It’s so quick that it’s almost hard to digest how literal and blatant Laios summoning his monster to crush all the people who’ve hurt him is. His literal go-to coping mechanism for comfort in his literal monster-induced emotionally intense nightmares, saving him by taking away the upsetting element (the humans)

"Monsters are his coping fantasy, where they can whisk him away from humanity, all the hurt it’s caused him and its arbitrary rules" with the subtlety of a brick. Monsters are his comfort safe zone "because they kill humans" yes but no it’s because he pits them as the guardians against humans who to him are in the role of the agressors. To him they represent freedom from the shackles of what it means to be part of humanity, a fundamentally social species

[maxiemumdamage]

I love that Luz resolves the problems of the show by being herself.

She convinces the Collector to try being kind, she realizes the hallucinations and wakes up Eva and King thanks to her fandom knowledge, she used her study of glyphs extensively in the final battle. She also tries to redo her dramatic entrance with better quips and makes dumb jokes with the Titan.

But more than that…technically, the Titan could have given their power to anyone. Anyone close to King or of better moral standing than Belos (which is a low bar) could have taken the Titan’s power and fought with it if they’d ended up in that trans dimensional space.

But it’s Luz, not because she’s the only one who can, but because she’s a good person who’s been there for King and the rest of the Isles.

Luz isn’t the Chosen One - she’s just the one who was chosen. There’s no magical destiny about her defeating a great evil — she just was a kindhearted person who had the tools to help and did.

And she did so much. For the Boiling Isles, and for a lot of weirdos on earth.

[l-egionaire]

This may be an unpopular Opinion, but...Luz at the end of the series still give me SU Future Steven vibes.

Like, everyone is comfortable with themselves, knows who they are and what they're going to do with themselves....except her.

And I don't mean her going to college is the issue. College is fine. But she still doesn't seem to have any real idea of what she wants to do with herself. She wants to major in "everything" but....why? As Bump said "what does she hope to accomplish with her magic? What kind of witch does she want to be?" Which she get a Job in the Boiling Isles? The human world? Have a job in both to have money in both? She had that writing scholarship, but is she not going to use it since she's going to school in the Demon realm?

It just makes me think too much of Steven in Future's situation. He did a lot, but he didn't really KNOW what he wanted to do with himself and his future while everyone else around him did. Maybe it's just because I'm an old man in my late twenties who graduated college, but I kind if wish we knew more on what Luz was going to do with her life. And don't say "it's because of the cut season". We know what EVERYONE ELSE'S career is EXCEPT her.

[amoritasart]

ALSO I just … NEED to mention this creature. LOOK AT HIM. WHAT IS HE. WHO IS HEEE? So this is what is supposed to be Beta Hunter or whatever. Interesting, but even more so that apart from his familial connection to Obron and his eventual bond with Luz (that starts off a bit antagonistic) he is SO different to what ended up in comparison to the other characters. But you know who he does remind me of though?

Red overalls. Blue eyes. JAGGED KNIFE SWORD. Avid witch HATER. ENGLISH?? ANYWAY-

This kiiiind of convinces me that Belos and Philip were originally different characters because ?? What is this. BECAUSE HE JUST STRAIGHT UP SOUNDS LIKE HOW I’D IMAGINE TWEEN PHILIP TO BE LOL a bratty witch hater who is too proud to ask for help, but will happily accept it. Except he would have gotten to actually interact and bond (EEEEP🥹!) with Luz as humans out of place. What a tragedy !!

He sounds like such a little shit. But he’s cute! I ADORE HIM. All this time I thought William was the original Hunter… but this sounds more like he was the original Philip 😆 but contained in a time capsule instead of allowed to grow into a menace.

Alas, poor William went from witch lunatic, to knight prince, to being eradicated from existence. Such is fate. But parts of him live in Hunter and Philip. But just like the non existent Wittebane story… Won’t stop me from wondering what if !