#Vee and Hunter have so much potential

[gakriele-lvs-blog]

Vee, whispering: So... The others don't know about you... know? Hunter, also whispering: ...No, not yet... the same in your side?

Vee: Yeah, Luz promised to try to keep my... friends in contact to prevent them from getting suspicious.

Hunter: Uh... good to know.

Vee: Yeah...

*Awkard silence*

Hunter: ...Camila is a good person.

Vee: ...Yeah, she truly is.

Hunter: You...

Vee: ...Si?

Hunter: Maybe later or... wherever you have time... like, teach me how to be a normal person?

Vee: W-what do you mean by that?

Hunter: O-OH! you know... well, you know about the whole child soldier and Grimwalker thing, and since your... life wasn't that easy either I was hoping that maybe... you could teach me what you learn? You... seem to have adapted quite well when it comes to living a... normal life

Vee: Well... Not sure how much I can contribute to the camp, or my friends, or my own nature but... Yeah, I can help you with that, adapting to a completely different kind of life can be... overwhelming, so any questions you may have about social cues and that stuff, just call me, okay?

Hunter: ...Okay, fellow lab weirdo?

Vee: He, fellow lab weird.

[crimeronan]

thinking about the potential banished hunter princess timeline today, wherein hunter gets trapped in the human realm while luz is still with belos in the demon realm. mainly i'm thinking about the first night when he's volunteered to stay in camila's basement, after vee has revealed Who He Is.

vee's initial panic eventually subsides into confusion and general unhappiness. hunter has been VERY open about the situation with luz, way more than he ever was back when vee was in the dungeons. it's making her uncomfortable to recontextualize him, in no small part because it's been Years since she last saw him. he's probably a little older than her (at least, as far as vee can estimate her own age) but that means he must've been, what. fourteen?? fifteen?? when she last saw him?? and already solely responsible for caring for luz??

that seems like a reasonable and adult position when you're, like, thirteen. and grew up in a torture dungeon. but when you're a freshman in college who's gotten a Lot more experience with well-adjusted peers....

meanwhile camila does NOT want to keep anybody prisoner, but also would be Out Of Her Mind not to acknowledge that hunter is dangerous. AND she knows that he knows luz. vee's confirmed that much is 100% true. camila can't imagine getting into the isles, finding luz, and being like, "yeah, i threw your closest family out into the connecticut cold to fend for himself." Absolutely Not

so. very convenient that hunter volunteers to be imprisoned!!

it does take some time to talk hunter off the ceiling. he's very firmly like "we need to get back to the demon realm Right Now" while camila is like "that's not happening tonight" and he's like "it needs to!!!"

camila: well, it Can't. do you think i wouldn't go to her if i could?? the best thing you can do for her tonight is SLEEP.

hunter grudgingly goes.

camila puts together a stack of extra blankets because the basement can get chilly. and as she's about to bring them downstairs, vee offers her an old squishmallow or pillow pet that camila bought her years earlier. and is like. well, i'd want something to hold onto if i was him. just tell him not to hurt it. then if he DOES destroy it, we'll know what kind of person he is.

camila: baby, are you.... sure...?

vee: it's just a stuffed animal. i don't care <-said while caring deeply, caringly

hunter doesn't expect to sleep. but he also doesn't expect camila or vee to show him any kindness. so when camila explains that the blankets are to keep warm and the pillow pet is because vee wanted him to have a companion, he's like....

....i don't know how human hospitality works. i think i'm ethically obligated to follow you into battle now tho.

so when camila orders him to get some rest, he does.

camila comes down the next morning with the mildest breakfast food she can find, plus a bunch of questions about what witches eat, because she's not going to starve hunter. she finds him sound asleep curled up under all of the blankets, with the pillow pet cradled carefully under his chin. the same way he might hold a real person.

[toastling]

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.

[rantceratops]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[undeniablycandycane]

As much as I want a several-hour special on the human realm timeskip and the witches getting used to Human World Things and as much as I want to see Vee's time at the reality check camp and masking as Luz and going to human high school and seeing her and Masha interact,

I want EQUALLY AS MUCH a full series about the boiling isles being rebuilt, Eda, and Camila getting to know each other (complete with emotional conversation about how much they love Luz and agreeing to co-parent and all that and crying over their baby), the characters dealing with hardships and growing, Hunter mourning, moving on from Flapjack and getting a new Palisman, the new school being founded!!!! King's powers developing, the world being understood in a whole new light and new magic, Raeda reunion, Aladarius, the blight family divorce and kids adjusting, Huntlow, Darius practically adopting Hunter, the Collector learning about mortals and the boiling isles, Eda and Hooty backstory...

There is just SO MUCH to work with and it pains me to think of how much we missed out on cause Disney doesn't know a good series when they have it and prefer shitty lifeless live action remakes of films that came out a few years ago. There is so much potential in that ending. We could have had 5 or 6 seasons to fully flesh things out. I'm just praying that Dana finds a relatively respectable company or hell, makes one of her own to showcase more of her beautiful creation, because we have been robbed.

[gold-and-glyphs]

Thoughts and views on the following ships, if you don't mind

Vee/Hunter

Bria/Boscha

Hunter/Skara

Masha/Luz

Vee/Gus

Hunter/Amity

I think they're all equally great ships! :] But I'm assuming you wanted me to go into more detail for each, so more detail I shall!

Vee/Hunter: I've pretty much always loved Veenter and the angst potential it held! I can imagine it being a slow burn kinda relationship where they're both anxious at first but eventually learn to love each other regardless, just. augh 🥺

Bria/Boscha: I love Brischa!! They're the two meanest girls on the Boiling Isles, it was simply meant to be! Plus, I also have a Brischa fanchild so I may be a little biased hahah 🩷

Hunter/Skara: I think this ship is so much fun!! I was kinda meh about it at first but after looking at some fanart, it really did it for me! So yeah, fun ship all around ^^

Masha/Luz: Another really fun ship! I don't ship it as much as these other ships, but I still like it! I think they would have a cute dynamic

Vee/Gus: A classic!! I love how they both kinda have a 'hiding' theme, with Vee being a shape shifter and Gus an illusionist, but with each other they can be their true selves <3

Hunter/Amity: Whether platonically or romantically, I love these two's dynamic! Ngl it always pisses me off how the majority of the fandom portrays Amity hating Hunter's guts and vice versa, and like. Did they watch Eclipse Lake?? They understand each other probably way more than anyone else, they do not hate each other y'all 😭

Okay I'm done ranting now 🤗

[divinemiracles]

I will always be upset with how people state that Lunter is an invalid relationship. Allow me to give my responses to anti-Lunter statements. I’ve said these before but I’ll say them again since some people can’t understand them.

~

“Luz called him family, therefore they’re family.”

In Thanks To Them, Luz specifically said the line “You’re family now” to Hunter. Calling someone family doesn’t automatically mean that you view them as literal family. There are multiple different kinds of family: literal family, parents’ friends, found family, your own friends, etc.

People call their friends family.

It is also SO VERY COMMON for people that are Hispanic/Asian/etc. to call their close ones “family.” I should know, I’m Filipina. People seem to forget that Luz is Afro-Latina, meaning that it is common for her to call her close ones “family.”

More importantly, this line is practically the same to when Willow said “You’re one of us now” in For The Future. Being such a close friend to someone to where they call you family is the same as “being one of them.”

Also, tweets outside of the show are not canon, just the crew’s headcanons. Only things inside of the show are canon. When Zeno changed his twitter name to “Hunter Noceda,” that was a headcanon. Yes, he’s a part of the crew, but when things are canon, they’re in the source, not outside of it.

Camila has never legally adopted Hunter on screen. You can say that she could have legally done it off-screen but that’s a headcanon, not canon. Look at Camila’s house in Watching and Dreaming, there were lots of photos of Luz, Vee, and herself excluding Hunter. In the finale, it was also shown that Darius took in Hunter.

All of the Hexsquad members likely viewed Camila as a mother figure, not just Hunter. Amity’s mother was abusive, Gus and Willow had no mother, and Hunter had no healthy parental figures yet. Camila viewed all of them equally as her children, which is why she called herself a mother of six. Why would she view Hunter as her kid more than the others when she knew them all for the same amount of time?

If you’re going to say that he’s related to Luz from being Eda’s ancestor (Caleb), remember that he’s a clone of Caleb and not actually Caleb Wittebane himself.

“It’s erasing sapphic representation.”

How? Tell me: how is it erasing sapphic representation?

Luz will canonically always be in a relationship with Amity. Shipping her with a man is not going to erase her canon relationship from existence. Luz and Amity’s relationship is not going to magically disappear from the show.

Besides, Luz is bisexual, which means that she is attracted to women and men (2+ genders). If you believe that she should only be shipped with women, then you are erasing her bisexuality by only viewing her as lesbian when it comes to being in relationships.

Yes, sapphic representation is buried beneath heterosexual content but Luz and Hunter do not classify as a heterosexual relationship, they’re both bisexual, making the relationship a bisexual one.

*Bisexual wlm relationship are still a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Bisexual wlm relationships should not be viewed as anything less than wlw and wlm relationships.*

“You would rather ship Luz with a man than a woman.”

Most people who ship Lunter are people who believe that the ship had much more potential for the story than Luz and Amity did. The whole purpose of Luz and Amity being a couple was for sapphic representation (which was lovely since they are pretty healthy if you don’t look too deep into it). Lunter could fit so much more into the story narrative-wise.

Luz and Amity = Sapphic representation and light-hearted for the story.

Luz and Hunter = Deep and narratively-great (Wittecouple “reincarnated”) for the story.

Which one you ship depends on why you watch the show. Do you watch Owl House for the representation or for the lore? People watch shows for different reasons.

“Luz has already shown interest in men, therefore she shouldn’t be shipped with one.”

What I’m getting from this is that you believe Luz shouldn’t be shipped with men even though she’s bisexual since it’s “erasing sapphic representation again” and there was “already enough bisexual wlm content.” This is stating that she should only date woman in another format while trying to not sound biphobic.

This is a biphobic statement. Once again, Luz is attracted to both men and women. I don’t see a problem with shipping her with men. Erasing sapphic representation? Reread the second section of this. She will always canonically be with Amity and Lunter is not a heterosexual relationship, it’s a bisexual relationship.

If someone said that a bisexual female character who was dating a man couldn’t be shipped with women since it would erase her attraction to men, how would you feel? Upset that the character isn’t allowed to express her sexuality? It’s the same situation only swapping the genders.

~

TLDR / Recap

Since both Luz and Hunter are bisexual, Lunter is a bisexual relationship, not a heterosexual relationship. Bisexual man x woman relationship are just as valid as sapphic ones in the LGBTQIA+ community.

Luz/Amity is liked for having cute representation and Luz/Hunter is liked for lore reasons. Luz dating a man is not lessening her attraction to women because she is bisexual. Luz and Amity will always be canon.

Luz and Hunter aren’t siblings because calling someone family does not automatically mean literal family. There’s different kinds of family. It’s also common for people that are Hispanic to call their closed ones “family” and not mean literal family. Camila viewed all of the Hexsquad as her children (including Amity), why would she prioritize one over the other?

Also, things are only considered canon if they were outright stated inside of the show.

~

“Why do Lunter fans feel the need to defend it so much?” Because people don’t know how to respect harmless ships/interpretations, see that headcanons aren’t changing canon, and see that bisexual man x woman relationships are just as valid and LGBTQIA+ as sapphic/achillean ones.

[awakefor48hours]

Something I love so much about TOH is that it shows very accurate depictions of bullying. I feel like when it comes to bullying, it gets so washed down in most stories that it doesn’t make an actual impact to the story or the characters but it’s the opposite for TOH.

Camila was bullied for her interests and caused her to have a hard time growing up. Since she didn’t have the same support system that Luz did, she hid that part of herself her basement. Later when Gus and Hunter found it, she panicked.

When it was grudgby season, not only was Boscha allowed to bully and harass Willow, Luz, and Gus, she was encouraged to do it by everyone around her (students, staff, and even strangers).

Luz almost ruined her chance to date Amity because she couldn’t stand the idea of Amity potentially laughing at her. Also when she first met Vee, she got scared and panicked about Vee interacting with them. The bullying Luz endured was so bad that she would rather destroy an amusement park ride and talk to magic rats than get picked on.

Whenever Willow gets depressed, she reverts to calling herself the name that her bullies call her, Half-A-Witch Willow. This was also a big part of her slowly becoming suicidal and calling herself Half-A-Witch Willow was almost one of the last things she ever said.

The bullying in TOH is a very accurate form of bullying that you don’t typically see and it’s a nice change.

[oh-cramity-its-amity]

Hey, I’m bored so I’m gonna send you some owl house questions (unless you tell me to shut up and then I will)

Who’s your favorite character and why is it Hunter /j

How many times have you watched the series

Do you have any controversial opinions/ships? I will not hate on you I promise :D

Who’s your least favorite character(s)

Hopefully you don’t mind questions

hiiii omg sorry AUGH.

1.) not you joking that hunters my favorite character 💀😭😭 /s. nowhere near my favorite character bestie 😭😭😭.

MY FAVORITE character in all seriousness is amity or raine!!! (luz is a close tie with amity bc i was a luz kin first.) but both of their characters mean SO much to me. especially raine's. i wont go ramble heavy but a lot of the reason i love the queer characters in the show are because of the fact that their "queerness" is not made into a character trait. people acknowledge raine as who they are and dont question or think of their identity as a negative. most of the media i found growing up centered around stories about queer people and their journey to realization OF being queer, and not where they already knew. thats one of the most definitive reasons i love toh so much too.

their identities and sexualities arent a "oh theyre the gay character" or "oh thats the nonbinary one" its an extension of themselves beneath other traits. because as a queer person myself theres WAY more that makes me myself than the fact that i identify the way i do. seeing amity develop feelings on screen for luz and then choose for herself on what she wanted. breaking away from her mother and destroying the rhetoric of what was assumed and assigned onto her.

people will talk shit about it and how "amity changed for luz" or blah blah blah. but thats not entirely true. when luz met amity, she saw her as who she was. not a name. not a rich girl. she threatened her stability. the comfort. luz encouraged her in ways that no one had before. about things amity found passion in. especially Azura!! amity changed because she realized she wanted more than what her parents forced onto her. luzs carefree and comfort being WARM and encouraging to do things that SHE ENJOYED. amity changed because she wanted to be more than her parents and be happy and luz just so happened to be the catalyst of that. and raine- as a nonbinary person makes me feel so validated.

2.) uhh surprisingly ive watched s1 like a good 13 or so times??? s2 though ive only watched through fully like once when i first watched it. i did watch individual eps from s2 so its not like i hadnt watched it ONLY once. s3 at least 4 times. s1 is definitely my favorite. even if like the real plot started coming in during s2. the nostalgia of 2020 and the fandom during that time is probably my reason. s1 lumitys energy and lumity as a ship was so simple and yet different.

3.) i think the fandom forgave camila too quickly for what she did to luz. it irks me how they then turned around and "noceda siblings" became a full thing. meanwhile people forget that darius wanted the best for hunter??? "he only had _" shut up. the show was shortened!!! WHO came to hunter during s3? NOT camila. it was darius and ebber! that man is more of a candidate for a parent for hunter than camila. vee and luz as sisters? YES valid. i love that. but hunter does NOT need to be included in literally everything regarding luz. people forget that king literally called himself luzs brother. "your family now" does NOT have to mean a familial tie. there are some friends who are so close like brother and sister BUT THEY ARENT. i cant stand noceda siblings. dadrius is just something that makes sense and i like the parallel potential of it. however speaking i will not get pissy if someone enjoys it, these characters are subjective. as long as you dont tear down others favorites and are respectful i have no issue with differing of beliefs. its just for me personally i wish it wasnt so... forgetful of king and luzs siblinghood.

4.) ive covered hunter before. i don't really like him all that much just due to how fandom treats him. his character in canon is cool though. i like dadrius. its the exception. grimwalker lore still feels very interesting though.

dont mind questions at all dw. sorry for the rambles but i like talking about toh so :D.

[luzswonderland]

Thoughts on “Watching and Dreaming” Part 2

I cannot stress how much I value Eda and Raine’s relationship ❤️

Raine whistling Eda’s Requiem while they were trapped was so sweet🥹

I’m happy that Raine was able to join in on the final battle. It really does show that Raine is officially apart of the Clawthorne unit😊

“NOW EAT THIS SUCKA!” 📢

The callback to Azura’s quote in the first episode really did it for me. I teared up🥹

“Don’t you want to make peace, Luz?”

Oh please, what a loser lmao 🙄

I love how Luz just stands there in silence and let’s nature take it’s course. She realizes that this is not her fight anymore

Sweet justice is served 🙌🏾👏🏾 😊😭

“Well, we ain’t!”

“That was extremely satisfying.”

You could say that again lol

And it’s finally over 😌

The Hunter, Darius and Eberwolf moment ❤️

I’m glad the other coven heads were put in their place lol. Was kind of worried about that before the finale.

Lol at the one coven head trying to touch the throne anyway tho

This is bliss 😌🥰

I was waiting for this moment for so long OMG! 😭🤗😩

I’m glad the Collector found their way 🥹

I’m going to miss Luz doing magic through drawing glyphs. It made her unique in the Boiling Isles. At least she has Stringbean now to help her do magic though

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the epilogue at the end. They could have just ended the series with Luz overlooking the Boiling Isles, but they gave us more😭

Luz enrolling in a magic university 👏🏾

Look! All the adventures we did and didn’t get to see

I’m really curious about the Hooty one with Luz and Amity lmao

“Luz, you saw them last week.” 😐

Loved that she maintained the balance of her life on Earth and the Boiling Isles

Things I loved in the montage ❤️:

The Nocedas buying the abandoned sack

Hunter making Palsimen

This Moment 😊

Flapjack’s gravestone🥹

Lilith’s haircut

Amity’s entire new character design

Success in eliminating coven branding

Gus’ hairstyle 👏🏾

THIS MOMENT!!!

From former criminal of the Isles to headmaster of an educational institution. You love to see it😄

The chaos that Luz, King and Eda will cause now lol

Also, Vee’s family was saved 🙌🏾

King’s necklace too❤️🥹

Luz spending her past four birthdays rebuilding the Isles demonstrates so much about her character. She never slowed down in the past four years.

The attempt at the Quinceanera was sweet? 

Gotta appreciate the effort at least😅

King doing glyph magic opens up a new range of possibilities

Potentially for a spin-off?!!

The four year time skip is such a breath of fresh air😤

The world building for this show is so good!

My favorite shot in the episode 🥹

I love how the series ends with Luz thanking Eda and King for being there for her when things were confusing in her life. She found them at a time where she needed the most support and I love that for her. Not a lot of shows come full circle like this.

Love the collective “BYYYEEE!!!” at the end 😄🥹

It has been a pleasure doing these “Thoughts” on episodes over the past few years, I hope to one day I get a chance to do these again for The Owl House 😊🤗 BYYYYEEEE!!!!👋🏾👋🏾

[mdhwrites]

Do you think if Owl House’s third season were longer instead of being crammed into 3 long episodes, it would’ve been better?

I actually did a blog about this literally the night before the S3 finale and the finale did not prove me wrong!

But I want to emphasize here that a lot of these problems... are due to S2 and S1. S3 is how it is BECAUSE of the writing choices the team made going into it. There were ALWAYS going to be problems with S3 because of how S2A was paced, because of the INSANE decisions made in the face of the shortening in S2B like the Collector. Just the insane amount of mismanaged time. But I like to provide evidence:

No usable villains: S1 had the most amount of threats that could be taken seriously and even they weren't treated the best. The EC were still mostly bumblers who could be taken out by Eda or Hooty with EASE, Lilith is used for comedy far more than threat in S1, even if her role as straight man works to keep some of her menace, Kikimora is barely there and Belos is introduced at the end of the season. All the one off villains are pathetic and usually defeated through brute force in their episodes proving that except by schemes, like Really Small Problems, they're all fucked going against Luz in S2 who now has actual power behind her. So by the end of S1, you have Hunter, Kikimora and Belos. S2A will then go on to make Hunter immediately not a villain, Kikimora a joke by the end of it and ignore Belos entirely until S2B while introducing no new real villains so now they only had BELOS and their time is running out. Also, their only human realm villain is a joke who got beat by Camila, let alone anyone with magic. Speaking of:

Edit: I straight up forgot to mention the coven heads but S2 does technically set them up... and then destroys the coven system, giving them no systemic power, and Luz literally saved all of theirs lives so they have no reason to fight her. Also because the Collector is straight up not a villain in S3, he would not be sending them out to kill people even if that were his style so they don't count as usable villains and neither does the Collector.

Power Scale Issues: In literally the sixth episode, Willow singlehandedly beats the shit out of an entire squad of trained MONSTER HUNTERS without even the element of surprise. She's just that strong. By S2's end, EVERYONE will be at her level. Luz at the START of S2, before glyph combos are introduced, takes down the Selkidamus effectively single handedly. She literally only needed physical strength of pulling the thing in and NO ONE acts like it's a question if she can slay it once she's given a sword. It's really fucking bad. And as they have magic in the human realm, all of these characters are still at that power level for what would have been the first half of the season. This means threats and villains are out of the question. How about character work?

Character Blandness: Willow has no character. She is wishy washy all the way through the series and this is true even in S1 where she is shy for half the episodes and also the most brazen person you know in the other half, sometimes in the same episode. Escaping Expulsion murdered about half of Amity's potential and Reaching Out made sure that there would literally never be a conflict about Lumity and made Amity only a bland love interest with daddy issues and her dad isn't in the human realm so you got nothing on her for the first half. Hunter had to have almost all of his shit dealt with by the end of S2 so he's a certified good guy at their side by the Day of Unity who at least half of the cast have accepted so all you have is backstory angst which they can only do so much of without it being repetitive or boring, especially if you want the BIG reveal to only happen shortly before his possession. Luz has her angst which can't be resolved until post Belos revealing it so you have half a season where NO ONE CAN DO ANYTHING. You theoretically have Camila fluff and Vee angst/fluff potentially but people got pissed at Hop Pop and Sprig getting episodes dedicated to them in the human realm instead of the plot. How would most have reacted to characters who have made barely an appearance stealing half a season from the entire Hexide Squad?

Human Realm is Bad: By the end of S1, the Isles has cellphones, it has televisions, it broadcast news, it will fight for a wrong unjustly done, etc. S2 only doubles down as it introduces robots, child endangerment laws and other things that are just part of the human realm. That's why ALL of the fish out of water jokes in Thanks to Them are utter shit and require characters acting like complete morons because the two worlds are the SAME. And they have almost always been that way. The only difference is that one has electricity, the other has magic. As such, going to the human realm is just not compelling. It doesn't even have thematic reasons to do so except I guess to FINALLY actually show Luz being bullied and they didn't even do that in the specials.

And sure, stuff with the resistance could have been neat in the second half. The first half could have included good fluff like Lumity dates and Gus freaking out about the human realm for an episode. But... It would still be needing to introduce elements. It would still be scrambling for ways to fill the time because S2 killed most of the potential for the characters and was so focused on that goal, even in S2A, that it didn't introduce compelling plot elements for drama or good villains to play into its adventure elements.

Could it have been better? Possibly. But a lot of people felt how much S3's specials were just padding. Just wasted time. Now TRIPLE the length of the season?

Yeah... The shortening was a blessing, not a curse.

=======

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

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

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[crimeronan]

i really wanna know how long camila's "is my daughter having sex with her... whatever hunter is" can go on. does she start wondering if amity is involved in that too? does she end up with the confusion of "well they definitely all go off to bed together sometimes but amity and hunter really don't seem like they're sleeping together. maybe this is evidence that nothing's going on that i should be worried about? hopefully? i mean not that there'd be anything wrong with that if there was they're all adults and i have no right to try and parent luz after everything but. agh."

god, i want it to go on forever, i love it so much. i think i've talked briefly before about how camila is way more open-minded than one might initially expect: she's already spedrun the queer polyamorous daughter thing with vee and knows nonbinary n trans people like masha. she's read weird alien romances with unconventional relationship structures. she's been to pride multiple times. she could probably kiss a woman if the opportunity arose. ally of the century!

so it's not even that she's questioning IF there's something going on. she just assumes there is. and the question then is whether the kids know how to be safe. which is much less clear cut!

god, can you imagine hunter and amity getting into a genuine fight in front of her. they may not have tried to kill each other recently but they Do both still default to solving interpersonal problems by pummeling each other. camila like I SUDDENLY HAVE OTHER SAFETY CONCERNS THAT I WOULD LIKE ADDRESSED-

camila might straight-up ask about amity, though. since her place in all this seems less clear-cut. very solid potential for luz to panic because she's still convinced that amity is afraid of her and might hate her guts, & so she's like "ohhh no hahaha it's not like that!! no no i'd never ask that of amity" while amity is like "oh yeah. us?? dating?? Ha Ha :("

[thousand-winters]

Hi! Owl House Hunter and/or Collector for the ask game?

Hello there!!! How's it going?

Starting with Hunter 💛

How I feel about this character

I adore him to pieces. I'm adopting him. I'm marrying Darius just so I can raise him with him and Eberwolf.

In all seriousness, I think he's such an amazing character. I know a lot of people out there (well, frankly only the weird guys who projected too hard on him and thought he was some cold badass soldier for some reason?) think his turn to be one of the "good guys" was too sudden or that he became useless once he turned sides but none of that is true, they just didn't pay attention to his character, to how he always went more for the defense or to quickly unarm an opponent rather than hurt them, to how he was kind despite it all, how eager he was to help. And also how damn exhausted and scared he had to be at Labyrinth Runners, obviously he wasn't going to be able to fight at his full potential, though I guess it's an useless point since those people only care for Hunter as far as how "badass" he is, not for his actual character.

Don't even get me started on how damn good and real he is written when it comes to a child that grew up controlled and abused. I feel like that's where a lot of the misunderstanding about his character comes from, that a lot of people who don't understand one bit about the trauma responses to abuse feel qualified to say that he doesn't make sense when he really does.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

No one, really. I used to like him with Willow but... well, that didn't last. This isn't about me being a hater tho lmao, so we're not going to get into that, it's just not my thing.

I don't care about any ship of his at the end of the day.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Mmmm... I'm gonna say Amity. They truly had so much potential as friends with their similarities, they always will be best friends in my heart. It's such a shame we didn't see them develop that friendship we saw in glimpses in TTT but that was once again due to the lack of time.

You will always see me sprinkle moments for both of them in my fics, I'm a little deranged over how much they understood each other in Eclipse Lake, for better or for worse.

My unpopular opinion about this character

He doesn't need to be involved in everything, oh my gods, give it a rest. I love him so much but no, he doesn't need to be Luz' legal brother or King's brother too or Vee's brother, or have like twenty different parents because "the more, the better".

Yes, yes, it takes a village, but tell me why the village has to all adopt him. I think there's a point to be made there with the fact Hunter needs freedom and "disorder" in some sense since he didn't have the opportunity to just be a kid and be a little messy while he was at the EC, but not like that. He still needs a semblance of stability because he was clearly craving parental love for the longest time but he's used to a guardian that made him second guess and it's going to be hard for him to adjust to one parent, let alone like ten and while he's jumping from house to house literally every day or every couple of days. That feels like it would be a nightmare for him with trying to guess expectations and at the same time that he has to learn boundaries? Hell no, that's gonna explode into flames.

I have no doubt all of those adults will be looking out for him, but they don't need to be their parents for that. After all, say, one can imagine the Parks are going to dote on him since he's dating their daughter, isn't he? And yet they don't need to be his dads for that. Lilith cares for Luz and King but she's not their mother, she's the cool aunt™️.

It takes a village but the village doesn't have to be a nuclear family. We can have more interesting, complex relationships than that. Plus, the village doesn't seem to exist for the other kids who also need support, funnily enough.

"Darius isn't going to be enough", well, he has Eberwolf to help, so there's that. "He needs a mother", oh, we're doing super nuclear family now? Funny how he doesn't need a father when it's the other way around, and funny how the same isn't said for Gus or Amity (nor it should but you get my point). "He needs more support because he's traumatized", oh, and the other kids aren't? There's Amity who's also recovering from an abusive parental situation and has Alador, who's trying but that's the thing, he's trying, he isn't perfect, and yet nobody says anything there.

Personally, I like the idea of Lilith and Hunter bonding over their similar experiences close to Belos but I don't want her as his mother. I don't think Lilith wants to be anybody's mother anyway.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I know this was also about the time we had, but I wish him getting powers from Flap absorving into him hadn't been done like that. I disliked it a lot at the beginning and while I don't mind it as much now, I feel like with how fast everything had to go because of the shortening, it came across a bit like "Hunter mourns the loss of Flapjack, but the second he gains powers from it, he's happy again".

Obviously we still had him looking a bit sad at all the other palismen and then the fragment during Luz's nightmare but... it just didn't look great. I wish we'd had more time to address that + maybe his complicated feelings over Belos because he kinda spent TTT ignoring all of that and then Flap died and everything went too fast and he didn't have time to process, you know?

Now the Collector! 🌠

How I feel about this character

I like them! I admit I didn't at first because I found them questionable and then inconsistent but they grew on me. That's a baby!!! I feel bad for having disliked him at some point lmao.

I think they're a very fun character, and there's a lot to explore with the implications of a practically immortal being with such intense powers... we're not going there though because it hurts to think about him all alone after everybody else dies. Who knows how long beings like them live.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

No one, I don't think. I mean, he's baby.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

King, definitely!!! Their dynamic was so complicated at first, which honestly makes it all the more fun. Fascinating too since the Archivists and the Titans seemed to be at odds and plus seem to be straight up dangerous to one another, but they're the youngest out of their respective... species? And neither wants control or anything, they just want to be friends.

I think they're very sweet, and the chances they'll have each other for a good amount of their lives is very good as well, especially with those huge lifespans both of them seem to have.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I used to be so conflicted on him and how he was in their introduction in Hollow Mind versus the after but I think it can make sense. They hardly had any reference for the world and how things worked outside of Belos and WAD pretty much confirmed he thought people could be repaired just like toys so like... alright. Being around a genocidal emperor sure didn't do him any favors here.

That was my only thing, but aside from that I don't think I have unpopular opinions about them, though granted since I don't think too much about them on a regular basis, I might just not know what the common takes about them are out there.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

There's no real need for this but I wish we had gotten some closure to the Archivists situation because they make me so nervous haha. Like if they target the planet again, everyone is fucking toast, one titan and the Collector aren't going to be enough to stop that, not even with everybody else. We got a very powerful cast of characters but not cosmically powerful, you know?

I also kinda wish the Collector had been established to, yeah, maybe explore for long periods of time, but also come back to the Isles fairly often. That's a child!!! He craves company and love!!! Don't let him wander out there on his own for so long! I think since they were there for Luz's quinceañera, he might actually come around fairly often to be up to date with all that, so it might just me worrying too much tho.

Thank you for the ask! From this ask game

[rosemaidenvixen]

Hollow Fangs: Part Two

<Previous Next>

Luz had just finished tucking her last Azura book into the shelf when the smell hit her, a dry scent that reminded her of the boa enclosure at the zoo, but softer, underneath a hint of laundry soap. From the corner of her eye she saw someone stepping into the bedroom.

“Oh, Hi Vee,” she turned around fully “What’s up?”

“Hey Luz, have you seen my Hexus Hold’em cards?”

“Your cards?”

“Yeah I put them in the tea cabinet but now they aren’t there any more,”

Luz stood and walked over to her “Do you need them? I thought the others were making abomination cookies and magic plants for you,”

Vee ran a hand through the hair on the side of her head, shifting from foot to foot “They are, I have plenty of magic so I don’t really need the cards, I just like knowing where they are in case there’s an emergency,”

“Well if they’re not in the tea cabinet I don’t know where they’d be,” Luz clapped her hands together “Ooh! How about we ask the palismen to look for them, they’ve got great senses and they can get into small spaces,”

Vee’s face lit up, making the guilt in Luz's stomach feel ten times heavier.

“That’s a great idea, thanks!”

She raced out of the room, to find the palismen no doubt. Luz waited until her footsteps faded into silence before walking back over to the bookshelf and grabbing one, pulling out the card tucked deep into its pages.

More specifically the top half of the card, with teeth marks all through the middle.

She hated lying and stealing from Vee, but the hollowness in her stomach was just getting too painful. Tylenol helped but only so much, it felt like her guts were eating themselves.

But if it had just been pain she would have sucked it up and not touched Vee’s cards. She was dealing with the potential for something so much worse. 

All her senses had been getting sharper, and for the most part she could deal with too bright lights and too loud sounds, but the worst one was the smells. Not that things smelled bad, but that they smelled too good. 

Palismen had their own distinct scent, earthy and sweet, a cross between fresh cut wood and the deep forest, rich with a hint of moisture. 

Deep in some murky, instinctive part of her brain she knew that the taste promised by that scent would silence the horrible gnawing thing in the pit of her gut.

The first time Luz made that connection she’d spent over an hour throwing up in the bathroom.

Luz raised the card to her mouth and took a small bite, the paper was harsh in her mouth but the sharpness that filled her after she swallowed did ease the ache in her gut.

But even the Hexus Hold’em cards didn’t make the pain fully go away, just made it a little better for a while. The cards were better than nothing, but they were no substitute for a proper elixir.

Or a palisman.

Despite knowing that Luz still had to fight the urge to shove the rest of the card in her mouth while tucking it back in the book and sliding it back onto the shelf.

Luz couldn’t just give in to the urge to eat all the cards here and now. Not only did she have to save some in case Vee had an emergency, but she needed to ration them for herself.

 She had no idea how much her curse would grow if she couldn’t medicate it.

--

Luz was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Her entire body ached all over, skull throbbing so hard it threatened to crack in two, throat itching and stomach hollow.

Trying to let go of the physical sensations, she shut her eyes and looked inside herself.

She was in the dark space again, after all this practice she was getting good at finding it, and the curse beast was here to.

They were so much bigger than they were last time, they would have been a full head taller than Hunter if they’d stood upright. As it was they stayed hunched over at the edge of her vision, watching her warily with eyes that gleamed like coins.

Luz didn’t want to be here but she had no choice.

She took a step closer to the curse beast “Hey look I don’t want to fight…”

The beast recoiled and hissed at her. Its body was so much more defined now, muscly limbs ending in delicately clawed digits. But there were still deformities, a massive hunch on their back stooping them, scalp dotted with swollen lumps. So thin and emaciated that she could count each of its ribs.

“We’re stuck together,” Luz tried again “I know it sucks for you but we don’t have to be enemies, we can work together,”

The beast opened its mouth, exposing dagger-like canines “...hhhh…hhhh….”

It was trying to talk, Luz didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.

She stepped even closer, the beast only a foot away “What is it? What are you trying to say?”

“....hhh…huhh….”

Luz came as close as she dared, the two only a foot apart.

“Hungry!”

The beast lunged.

Luz’s eyes shot open, heart pounding, staring up at her bedroom ceiling. The only sounds Vee’s soft snores and the shifting of the air mattress.

She was such an idiot. 

Even after making peace with the owl beast Eda still had to drink her elixirs. And Luz couldn’t make peace with her own beast while its needs weren’t being met.

Her curse was hungry, starving for magic, and the cards just weren’t feeding it enough. And the only other thing they had that could feed it was–

Luz felt her eyes brimming, even as she squeezed them shut and pulled the sheet over her head.

What was she going to do?

--

Luz stared into the mirror, holding her breath.

She hadn’t looked at herself in weeks, changing in the dark and covering the mirror when she showered, staunchly ignoring the aches and pains in her back, the deep hollowness in her stomach, the rasping in her throat, the constant throbbing headache. 

But she just couldn’t do it anymore. Her body felt like it was barely holding itself together, ready to fall apart at the slightest blow. The hunger was crippling and the Tylenol and cards weren't keeping the pain at bay anymore. 

Most damning there was an ugly streak of purple creeping past her long sleeves onto the skin of her hand.

Knowing that if she waited any longer she would chicken out, Luz lifted her shirt, biting her lip through the pain, and pulled it over her head.

The sight in the mirror hit her like a fist to a gut, twisting and turning every which way, trying desperately to find some evidence that it wasn’t that bad. To her growing horror she found none.

Luz’s entire back was the sickly purple of rotten fruit. The color creeping around her shoulders, up her neck, and down her arms in a web of purple veins. To top it off a small but distinctive hump swelled over her shoulders, mirroring the one on the curse beast.

Staring at herself in the mirror, at her warped discolored body, the truth that had been lurking at the edges of her mind for weeks finally forced upfront and center.

Her curse was consuming her, cards and making peace weren’t enough. Luz couldn’t beat this thing, and it was only a matter of time before she couldn’t control herself.

Ghost nuzzling into her side, Flapjack settling in to nest in her hair, Emmeline clinging to her leg while she did her chores, Clover buzzing over her shoulder–

Belos cracking a palisman in half and inhaling the fluid within.

Her throat tightened, intensifying the itching sensation, eyes filling with tears.

She needed to tell them. It would destroy them but they needed to know. They needed to lock her away, where she couldn’t hurt them or their palismen. But when they found out she’d kept this secret for so long they would be so betrayed….

Sniffling back tears, Luz reached for the Azura costume sitting on the counter and started to pull it on.

One more night, she could hold it together to have one more good night with her friends. She’d go to the haunted hayride and give them one final night full of fun memories. 

Then tomorrow she’d tell them the truth.

Luz hissed as her costume brushed over the lump on her back, sending waves of pain crashing through her, but didn’t slow in putting it on.

One night. She could hold it together for one more night.

--

Luz ran through the woods, heart pounding. 

The glyphs were working again, the titan’s blood was close. Even without the light glyphs to guide her she could smell something, something with the tang of ozone that held the promise of power. Under that she could smell the softer, woodsy scent of Flapjack; both of them getting closer.

Why did Hunter have to run off like this? Leaving her stumbling around the woods on her own.

With no one to hold her back if she lost control.

Bursting through the trees, a clearing opened up in front of her. An old, flooded graveyard ahead; the scents of Flapjack and ozone overpowering.

Panting, Luz raced towards the strongest smell, finding Flapjack cowering behind a headstone “Flap where’s–”

He hopped back, tittering in fear, entire body trembling.

Luz’s froze, arm halting in midair, she hadn’t even realized she was reaching towards Flapjack. 

Somehow he knew, he figured out what she was.

Seeing Flapjack looking at her like that made her so unbearably sad.

“It’s– it’s ok bud,” her voice was choked from emotion “I– I promise I’m not going to hurt you,”

A dark chuckle came from behind her, sending an icy chill up her spine “Oh Luz, don’t make promises you can't keep,”

Heart pounding, blood running cold, Luz slowly turned around.

Hunter stood behind her, eyes a glowing blue, antlers sprouting from his temples, sickly green creeping across his skin–

Not Hunter, Belos.

“You’re– you’re alive!”

“And you’re out of time,” Belos’s arrogant lilt just sounded wrong coming from Hunter’s mouth “It’s impressive how long you’ve managed to go without eating a palisman, but I think you’ve hit your breaking point,”

“I– I’m not like you! I’m not going to–”

A titter of alarm jogged her train of thought, glancing down to see Flapjack clasped in her hands–

How did that happen she didn’t even remember grabbing him

Chirping in confusion and squirming in her too-tight grip. His scent overpowering.

“Go on Luz,” Belos cooed “You’ll feel much better afterwards, trust me,”

Luz felt her grip tighten, even as she wanted Flapjack as far away from here as possible. It would be so easy, just a little more pressure, crack the wood open and suck down the sweet fluid inside, the hunger that had been eating her alive finally sated.

You’re hurting him let him go don’t do this don’t hurt your friend

Something roared in the back of her mind, back and scalp throbbing in unison. The overpowering aroma filling her nostrils, mouth watering and guts writhing, as the feral, hungry thing inside her demanded to be fed.

Her grip tightened again, Flapjack squeaked in pain.

Squeeze and crack and slurp it down feed us make us whole

Luz let out a shriek and threw Flapjack with everything she had. The palisman tweeting in alarm as he soared into the distance.

The beast inside howled in rage even as Luz sighed in relief.

“Disappointing.”

Luz barely managed to duck in time as Belos lunged at her with his claws. The pain from the sudden motion nearly blinding. Recovering, she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, just in time to see Belos plunge an arm into the ground, emerging with a vial filled with deep blue liquid clasped in his claw-like fingers.

Titan’s Blood

“Oh yes, with this we can finish our work as witch hunters once and for all,”

Gritting her teeth Luz forced herself to ignore the pain and grab a stack of glyphs from her pocket. Firing them at Belos as fast as she could.

Belos easily sidestepped her attacks with a bored look on his– Hunter’s, face “You’re not even trying are you? What, afraid you’ll hurt him?”

Luz gritted her teeth, a roaring that wasn’t her own echoing in her head “I know you can hear me Hunter, fight him off!”

Belos laughed “Oh Luz, you should know there’s no fighting this, you’ve given it your best, but in the end willpower can only carry you so far,” a sly grin spread across his face “You brought this on yourself when you trespassed in my mind and became infected with my curse,”

Past the throbbing in her skull Luz still managed to feel her eyebrows crinkling in confusion. Why was he repeating that? They both already knew–

“What?”

Her heart stopped, a feeling of dread creeping over her. Luz slowly turned and saw her mom, Vee, Amity, Willow, and Gus, standing there at the edge of the graveyard, faces all masks of horror.

“Luz…” Gus stepped forward “What does he mean ‘infected’?”

Luz couldn’t move, couldn’t make a sound, throat sealed shut from the itch of her curse and the force of her guilt.

“I…I…I’m sorry I–”

From out of nowhere something slammed into her from the side, sending her flying, head cracking against a tombstone, pain crackling through her skull and exploding behind her eyes.

Belos, the graveyard, her friends, her mom all of it fell away. Her entire world was consumed by pain.

Other sensations gradually crept in, the ground underneath her, night sky above. Shouts and clangs as the others struggled against Belos.

Luz couldn’t move, laying there crumpled on the ground, entire body aching and throbbing. The others were attacking Belos, but she didn’t know if they could beat him. Even if they could, they still couldn’t save Hunter.

Belos was too strong, Hunter might get hurt, and Luz was helpless against her curse–

But wait…she might be helpless, but the beast inside her skin wasn’t.

Despite the battle in front of her Luz forced herself to shut her eyes, reaching for the dark space inside. Thanks to all her practice she was there in seconds.

I’ll stop fighting you, I’ll give you everything, I’ll help you get all the magic you need and more, I just need you to help me right now.

If she did this there’d be no going back, but that was always going to happen sooner or later, and at least this way she’d be able to protect the others.

She and Belos had the same curse, with the same needs and the same weaknesses.

But that also meant she could do everything he could.

Her eyes shot open, the scene ahead of her, the others evading and Belos attacking as clear as day. The pain that had pinned her just moments ago no longer restricted her, all falling away.

Luz pulled herself upright, bracing herself against a tombstone while the others fought on, her presence unnoticed. The itching in her throat was now a persistent buzz, she opened her mouth, wide, wide, wide, hearing the pops as the mandible slid out of its joint, tendons and cartilage slipping past each other. Sensations that should have horrified her only faintly registering as she sucked in a deep breath.

Her throat still thrummed, but this time she let it out.

A scream tore out of her throat and echoed into the night. The water rippled violently all around them, tombstones quivering and cracking, everyone in front of her clutching their ears and doubled over in pain.

Jaw snapping back into place, Luz allowed the bones and joints in her arm to dissolve until what was left was something purple and gnarled, shooting the appendage out and knocking Belos’ hand from the sky right before he could lunge at Vee.

Belos whipped towards her with a snarl, but before he could react Luz grabbed him around the chest and rapidly shortened her arm. Shooting towards him and knocking him to the ground. She propped her feet on top of him and pinned him down, her fingers pressing his arms into his side as she towered over him. Titan’s blood tumbling out of his grip.

“You think you can beat this!?” Belos snarled “You’ve been starving for months! It won’t be long until you’re a savage animal!”

In some dim corner of her mind she knew he was right, her curse was consuming her and she’d just let go of her last bit of control, it was only a matter of time until she was lost completely. But before that…

Digging her shoes into his ribs, Luz raised her other hand, allowing the skin and muscle to slide back, tapering the fingertips into needle-sharp points. Belos widened Hunter’s eyes, realizing what was about to happen just a second to late. 

Luz thrust her hand into his chest, both Belos in Hunter roaring in agony, but not stabbing. Reaching, probing, searching, closing around the foreign, slippery thing that didn’t belong inside.

“Get out,” the sound came out of her like a growl, deep and raspy and barely human as her grip closed around the slimy intruder “Get. Out!”

She pulled, only barely able to restrain herself enough to keep from hurting Hunter. The body beneath her twitching and writhing as Luz slowly but surely pulled the parasite out. He sat up and locked eyes with her, ice blue flashing with rage as he snarled at her.

Luz just snarled right back “Get out!” 

The thing in her grip ripped free of Hunter’s chest, she threw it into the water, thrashing and wriggling.

Task done, Luz stumbled off Hunter, breathing hard. Vaguely aware of Flapjack flying down to perch on his shoulder and peck at his cheek, the others racing towards them.

“Luz?” Hunter groaned and flopped onto his side, soon flanked by Willow and Amity “Luz are you ok!?”

She couldn’t speak if she wanted to, blood rushing in her ears and entire body throbbing. Her muscles twitched and crawled of their own accord, writhing under the confines of her skin as they struggled to take a larger shape. She’d kept it under control for a few seconds, long enough to stop Belos and free Hunter, but now the beast was out of its cage and there was no forcing it back inside. 

Luz was glad she stopped Belos, happy Hunter was ok, but the importance of those things was rapidly fading in her mind. Eclipsed by a ravenous, all consuming hunger.

Her limbs jerked and spasmed, through little flashes of vision she could see her skin was completely purple now. Shoulders crackling as her arms lengthened and thickened, twin pops in her knees as her legs stretched out. A powerful spasm along her spine sent her to the ground, doubled over on misjointed legs. She roared in pain as a massive pressure built between her shoulders, jaw crackling all the way open as she felt the flesh bubbling between her vertebrae. Just when the pain became unbearable something tore free with wet rip, newborn limbs twitching on her back. Throbbing in her skull resolved by twin pops on her scalp.

She knew she should be terrified, horrified by her body warping into something inhuman and the looks of fear and concern on the faces of everyone around her, but whatever fear she felt was quiet next to the burning hunger inside her.

In the tiny corner of her mind that was still hers that scared her more than anything else.

“Luz…” her mom stepped towards her “It’s ok, I’m right here baby….”

“We aren’t going anywhere,” Amity sided up to her mom “We’re going to help you through this,”

“You’re still our Luz,” Willow now “We’re going to find a potion or–” Clover flew up and buzzed in agreement, their scent wafting over her.

Tear and rip smash and swallow

Luz gripped her head and howled, the sound nothing even close to human, staggering backwards, feeling horns under her grip.

“It’s the palismen!” Hunter shouted “Keep the palismen away from her!” 

Her eyes blinked open, staring past mom and Willow to where Hunter was trying to shoo away the palismen–

Spotting the vial of titan’s blood on the ground.

In that instant Luz knew what she had to do, she only had a few seconds of lucidity left so she had to make them count. 

Whipping an arm out, the others jolting back in shock, Luz grabbed the titan’s blood and smashed it against the top of the arch. The powerful scent of ozone and hunger sated for countless days filling the air as the blood trickled and pooled to form a portal, filling the small graveyard with otherworldly light.

“Luz what–”

“Why did you–”

“What are you doing!?”

Her mom stepped up to her, only inches away “Luz, mija, it’s ok, we’re here for you, we’re going to figure this out together,”

Luz stared up at her, part of her seeing her mom, the person who loved her more than anything, who forgave and supported her even when she didn’t deserve it.

But the bigger part of her just saw an obstacle between her and her food.

Pain that had nothing to do with her curse shot through her. There was so much she wanted to say, to her mom, to all of them–

I love you I’m sorry thank you 

But there wasn’t any time. All she could do was keep them safe.

She whipped her other arm out, extending it as long as she could, sweeping them all up, shouting and squirming in alarm, and hurled them into the portal in one fluid motion.

Luz had just enough time to register the hurt and betrayal on their faces before they faded into the beyond.

She forced herself to stay still, had to stay behind, wait for the portal to close, wait for the food to be far out of her reach–

But why? Why did she have to force the food away? She was hungry, so hungry it was killing her, and food lay just beyond…

The portal flickered and a clawed hand reached forward before she pulled it back with a snarl.

No it was important, the most important thing, the food had to be out of her reach. She knew it was important it had to, even if she didn’t remember why–

The portal faded into nothing, leaving her in darkness and ending her internal debate. For a second satisfaction filled her, only to be swallowed up moments later by deep, burning hunger. She threw her head back and howled, furious at the loss of food. 

A splash caught her attention, head snapping around to see something crawling out of the water.

“Luz you stupid stupid girl! Do you have any idea what you’ve done!?”

Luz…that was a name, her name. She and others had called her that, the creature in front of her had a name to. But the knowledge of his name and hers drifted over her like fallen leaves.

Names were unimportant, all that mattered was soothing the raging hunger inside her. And this new creature had brought with them a fresh scent when they freed themselves from the water.

Here was food, old and rotten, the taste in her mouth would be foul but it would fill her stomach all the same.

She lunged, sinking her teeth into his arm.

He roared and recoiled, tearing himself free and racing off into the forest. 

Letting out a low hiss, she sank into a crouch, eyes locked on him as he retreated. He would not escape, the burning inside her would be fed.

Her wings flared to their full length behind her, flapping with more and more force, pushing air underneath her, lifting her into the sky. Rising high above the treetops, she saw the whole forest spread out before her.

When she spotted the arch a twinge of sadness hit her, a bizarre feeling of sorrow not connected to hunger sweeping through her.  

She shook her head, banishing the feeling as she flew forward, pursuing the scent trail. Flying further and further into the night after her quarry, last traces lingering sorrow soon forgotten in favor of the hunt. 

[gakriele-lvs-blog]

My thoughts for the last episode [Spoilers]:

---The beginning(approximately 5 minutes) was paced quite decent, they manage to cramp the Collector's development in all of that and it kinda works because the guy was never bad, just innocent and unaware of the bad things they had done.

---Belos as a whole was spectacular. The bastard really lives up to his expectations. And as a villain, he is one of my favorite characters by far. Possessing the Titan? We saw it coming, and they execute quite well for my perspective.

---They pull out an Anne Bounchoy in reverse here. They killed Luz to bring her back in an overpowering form. Not sure how to feel about that one. On one hand, it was a beautiful and climatic final confrontation. On the other, It undermines Luz's own achievements by giving her what she needs instead of finding it herself. Yet, I can see why they choose to do this, is just cool and considerating what she was against what else was she supposed to do?

---They really give Raine a protagonistic role on this, not unwelcome but feels a little out of the blue. Still their inclusion and relevance feels organic enough as to not to feel oppressive.

---The Hexsquad and Camila really get sideline in this one! Like, they weren't even relevant through the whole episode! Truth be told, they got more than enough development from the last episodes so I can understand why that was the case. Eda and King deserved and needed a lot of screen time to compensate for their lack of relevance through the third season. Still... Something like Hunter being present for Belos's death or Camila's reaction to Luz's "death" would have been a welcome addition

---The Collector leaving was to some extent unexpected and personally unnecessary. They kist learn a lot in a couple hours and them just leaving instead of staying and learning more feels kinda anticlimactic, let Eda be the mother's figure they need!

---The conclusion was just as expected, reunions after reunions, what else was meant to happen? It worked perfectly and it was quite a peaceful and hopeful resolution. And Luz losing glyphs magic was the perfect bittersweet closure to it. With the true death of the Titan, it makes sense that she would lose said magic, a noble sacrifice.

---Time Skips... Honestly, I hate those for a lot of reasons. Especially if they take place through multiple years. Luz's quinciallera a couple days/weeks should have been the ending, allow everyone's family to gather to celebrate together, give us as many small interactions as possible

-Vee hugging Camila and Luz upon their return and for the former to call them mom and sister

-Eda and Camila's proper introduction to one another (and the latter's reaction to harpy Eda)

-Have Lilith just randomly getting harpy form just for the giggles (the owl beast is just that happy)

-Have Hunter together with Vee, and King during the final parts of the Quinciañera giving Luz a tearful speech about how much she changed their lives for the better (They are siblings!)

-Willow and Hunter could ask at the same time to become partners (Maybe the same with Matt and Gus?)

-Have more and more people coming through the portal to see Luz (She changed a lot of lives after all)

---Basically, let the audience materialize their own far-away future. Time skips have the drawback of leaving too much development in between. Using one for Thanks to Them was understandable. But here it feels unnecessary. Instead of Luz's incoming stay on college, let's us see a open ending focus on showing us the many adventures and mysteries left unresolved, letting your audience's imagination go rampant with everything that was left to cover and wish for more!

Still, just because I have my own opinion and vision doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the episode. Although the shortening will forever taint my joy for the show, eternally wishing to see the missing potential we never got to see... I love it and nothing will change that.

[lampmanliveblogs]

While the rest of the Hexside students distract Kikimora, our heroes have just enough time to draw up the complicated teleportation circle… with a bit of help from Luz’ palisman, who has yet to take on its true final form.

Kikimora is able to shake off the attacking kids long enough to take one last shot, just as Luz activates the teleportation array and and a brilliant flash of light, their whisked away from danger and into the vast cranium of the Titan.

There they stand now, under The Collector’s Archive House, so close, yet so far away. For I fear that the hardest part is yet to come…

Listen, I don’t know anything about Star Trek, but I do know that ”Beam us up Scotty” is a Star Trek reference. So yeah, shoutout to that, as well as Camila coming out as a fellow Cosmic Frontier fan, which also doubles as a light-hearted reference to the fact that Hunter, like O’Bailey, is a clone.

And let’s not forget Amity and Willow being best friends again, that’s super precious too. You love to see it.

Alright, first things first, I love the guesses the squad had.

Camila guessed a dragon, because dragons are THE fantasy creature, and she knows how much Luz loves her fantasy books.

Hunter guesses a bird, not just because of Flapjack, but because Eda (and the rest of the Clawthorne family) has a bird palisman.

Amity guesses an otter, which is a callback to Enchanting Grom Fright, when Luz wondered if she should go to Grom dressed as an otter… with a dark side!

Willow guesses a bat because…. because… um… Bat-Queen? Maybe? They did have that excursion in the Bat-Queen’s forest back in Escape of the Palisman.

And finally, Gus throws out snake. And I’m going to be honest with you guys, I might’ve maybe had a few hints at what Luz’ palisman was gonna be. Enough to figure out it was a snake, or more accurately, snake-related.

As far as in-show foreshadowing goes… at the top of my head, last episode we had a bunch of snake imagery around Luz. We had her finding the ”snake pajamas” in Camila’s nightmare/flashback, we had Luz wearing that shirt with a staff and a snake on it, and I think she might’ve had a drawing of a snake in her notebook? As far back as episode one of season one, Luz was playing with snakes and I think Camila might’ve even said something about Luz making some friends that weren’t reptiles. That’s not even to mention the fact that Luz’ newly adopted sister is a snake.

So yeah, there’s been plenty of snakes around Luz. But of course, this isn’t just any old snake, it’s a…

A SNAKESHIFTER. You guys know I love a good pun. And just like Vee, this little cutie is a shapeshifter. Which is so perfect for Luz, the child of two worlds, a chaotic being, always on the move.

Her name is Stringbean! Now, David ”Stringbean” Akeman was an American singer-songwriter, musician, comedian, and semi-professional baseball player. String bean is also one alternate name for green beans. You can also call them haricot verts, if you wanna charge extra.

So yeah, I gotta agree with Luz here: she’s perfect! She is Luz' own infinite potential given physical form.

Now that things have calmed down just a little, Willow takes the opportunity to thank Hunter for his words before, he really helped her, and he means a lot to her too. and then they blush and almost hold hands and it’s so cute.

In fact, it’s almost a little too cute, I’m starting to get nervous here. Because surely, they’re gonna end the episode on a cliffhanger, and there’s only just over a minute left of the episode…

But before that, I’m gonna get what might very well be the last cute screenshot of this episode.

Look at the babies! Look at them!

Aaaaaaand there we have it. Good vibes ended. The camera pans upward to The Collector overlooking our heroes, with Raine still possessed by Philip looming behind them, ready to whisper yet more poisonous words into the ear of the Lord of the Fireflies.

”I think I wanna play a new game.”

And with a snap of their fingers, The Collector ends the episode right then and there as everything goes black.

Treat me like I'm evil Freeze me till I'm cold Beat me till I'm feeble Grab me till I'm old

Fry me till I'm tired Push me till I fall Treat me like a criminal Just a shadow on the wall!