#eclipse lake spoilers

[wackulart]

the evil british man strikes again

idk what happened but for some reason he's come back into my brain and ive just GOT to draw him also hes become natural for me to draw ever since the animatic i made NJDSIFKNF

and one extra phillip below this lookin extra devious blood cw; under the cut

[wlwsuperheroine]

I’m obsessed with this scene from eclipse lake

Some might see it as comedy or a visual gag on the word play of the ‘common mold’ or they might see it as foreshadowing to Luz’s death, which is understandable since she turns into a mold-like cluster.

But I think it’s deeper than that. I personally see it as using fungi as symbolism or storytelling tool to Luz’s character and development.

I have 2 points I’d like to make about that, first about Luz herself.

One of, if not, the most distinguishable trait of luz is that she’s human, it’s what sets her apart from all the other boiling isles inhabitants, to the point it became her moniker in a world full of witches and demons to many characters.

And genealogically speaking humans are more related to fungi than any other kingdom, more than even plants. We share nearly 50% of our DNA with fungi, enough for us to contract many of the same viruses a they do.

so putting the scientific perspective on the side let’s take a look at the poetic point of view.

Due to the fact that fungi’s main purpose in our ecosystem is to break down living matter and release other substances into the soil and atmosphere, they have always been a symbol for rebirth and resurrection, reincarnation and rejuvenation and regeneration.

Which yes might eludes to the finale where luz literally died and came back to life but you could also see it as luz being rebirthed into the boiling isles. There she started a new life, with a new family to love, a new house to live in, a new dream to look up to, new relationships to make and maintain, basically a brand new life.

Last thing, like luz, mycology and mycologists have always been overlooked and unappreciated, even in the scientific community. According to an article published in the guardian, fungi weren’t seen as their own kingdom of life until the 60s. Mycologists were put in a corner of the plant sciences department, rather than in their own fungal sciences department. And you could see how neglecting that must feel. But while being overlooked like fungi, mycology thrived in the dark and the damp.

The second point I’d like to make is not the fungi’s relation to luz herself but to her magic or at least how she uses magic i.e. glyphs.

We know glyphs are the first and oldest form of magic, just like how fungi was the first organism to come to life on earth. And as shown in the show, where different characters used glyphs at some point, that it’s very versatile, it’s very flexible they have a lot of uses and advantages even if many looked at glyphs with condescending disdain at first, we can’t ignore it’s potential.

Which it’s very similar to the strides fungi and mycologist are doing in the industry. Fungi’s application can be found in food, medicine, textiles, fibres, packaging materials, and there are some great research being made to use it as biofuel. And it’s not done, it’s no near being done in the field, and just like how we finished the series with luz discovering new glyphs, scientists all around the world are discovering new fungal species on a daily basis. The future is fungal.

[drbtinglecannon]

Weird little brother characters protecting Amity in an impromptu fight

And her protecting them back

[eggstronautt]

Pov : the goopers are fighting

[mourninglamby]

new toh ep kinda plarped aside from the belos shit i truly just dont like where the show is going/how the plot is progressing and i do blame the network for that no the writers or dana but man. also huntlowers about to be so annoying i really hope this show at least doesnt give us some hamfisted confession scene in the middle of the nuclear warzone like come. on. ok sorry i havent been a hater in a while and there was shit i liked abt that ep but man. compared to the first ep of s3 it flawped....

[fridaywashere]

I cannot stress this enough you know it’s about to go down in the owl house when the animation just doubles in frames per second

It simply does not get better than this

[un-bear-ably-weird]

Jim lake jr, the first boyloser i cared about <3

[pure-mornings]

Rewatching the owl house and cause this on screen for a second at the beginning of s2e9 “Eclipse Lake” he then is keeping Hunter off missions cause he wants to keep him safe in the castle cause “it would be a hassle to find a replacement” in previous episodes they failed to hunt the selkidomus and a raid on the resting place of the galdorstones just beefed up security. That’s why he pulls Hunter back from the front lines, he suddenly has become a lot less expendable since he can’t be easily replaced with a new grimwalker which he was clearly thinking of cause every time hunter/golden guards start to develop independence and critical thinking they start defying him.

[rainbowangel110]

FRRRRRRRRRRR I FEEL YA OP

Pokémon Horizons Episode 24 spoilers under the cut!

HEY AMETHIO BESTIE WHAT DOES THAT MEAN . WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

[that-ari-blogger]

That's My Boy (Eclipse Lake)

Eclipse Lake is one of those episodes that anyone who’s aware of The Owl House knows by name. This is one of the episodes that is used to recommend the series, and it earns that reputation pretty much through one scene.

I mentioned last time that Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door carries the series by taking most of the pacing issues from a shortened season into itself, and this is what I mean. Eclipse Lake is a slow burn that focuses in on one theme and explores it in detail, that being relationships.

Essentially, this episode characterises by implication. It positions Hunter and Amity as mirrors in order to shed light on Belos as a father figure and boss, as well as Luz as a girlfriend. It even throws in Eda as a spanner out of left field to orbit around this thematic as well.

This metaphor has gotten away from me.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (The Owl House; Jurassic Park; Critical Role Campaigns 1, 2, and 3)

This is a Hunter episode, and I want to clarify my reading of this character and his story before I begin anything specific. I don’t see this character as a villain, or in need of a redemption arc. When he switches sides later on in the series, it’s because he learns about what is happening behind his back. His moral code doesn’t change, he doesn’t get redeemed. He gets a support group.

Which brings me to his connection to Amity. Hunter and Amity are remarkably similar characters. They both have an abusive parental figure, whether through physical violence or emotional manipulation or both, and that has informed their personalities. The specifics are different, yes, they are different characters and that needs to be understood. But their similarities are also important.

In that vein, the biggest difference between Amity and Hunter is that Amity has people outside of her family who will look after her and back her up. The opening crawl of the episode sets this out really well, with the Owl House crew dealing with a problem without a hitch. These people trust each other, and their biggest difference of opinion is about music.

Meanwhile, I believe this is the episode in which Belos’ face is revealed, and I mean that in a literal sense and a metaphorical one. We see the most about his parenting tactics from Hunter’s behaviours, at the same time as learning what his villainy actually looks like. I will talk about all of Belos’ character designs in a later blog, for reasons that will become obvious. Instead, I want to talk about his relationship with Hunter.

“Would you like to see how it works, Hunter?”

So, this exchange, on paper, isn’t that bad. Belos is telling his nephew about the world he will give him. He is reassuring him and telling him to stay safe. There are only two things that make it unnerving. Well, two obvious things, and both of them are Hunter.

“I didn’t mean to hide, Emperor Belos.”

Thing One, is Hunter himself, or more specifically, the fact that this relationship is so one sided it almost hurts to watch. Belos speaks of grandeur, and yet his nephew is palpably uncomfortable in his presence, and eternally seeking to prove himself. The affection feels hollow because Hunter doesn’t understand it as affection, he understands it as a test. Hunter will only be happy when he is useful to his uncle, and he treats any acceptance he receives as transactional, as if he has to earn it. I wonder where he learned that.

Thing Two, is “Hunter,” the word, and how Matthew Rhys delivers it. Because it isn’t treated as a name. The tone of everything Belos says in this scene is informal, except for that one word. It reads to me like an insult, or a title. Belos addresses Hunter by his job title and has given the child no name beyond it. He sees his nephew only as a tool, and so all of the affection reads as hollow.

Notice how, as Belos speaks, he guides Hunter to the doorway, into darkness. He leads Hunter away from the light, away from knowledge, into ignorance. Almost as if willful ignorance is something Belos thrives in.

Which has a weird affect on the audience perception. The thing about humans is that when we perceive something as normal, we tend to not examine it further. So, the unsettling nature of the conversation provokes us to look deeper at what Belos is actually saying, and we see… not much.

By which, I mean that Belos never actually says anything in this conversation, nothing of meaning. He just agrees with Hunter and lets him drive his own conclusions.

“The Titan has big plans for you.”

That sounds great, but it isn’t anything. It's like a book report given by a year seven. It’s an awful lot of nothing to try and convince you there is more behind it. It’s a nebulous saying that translates to “watch this space.”

Now, people say things like this in real life, and they work because the saying means something. For an example that won’t ruffle too many feathers, Jurassic Park has the iconic “life finds away” line. Which, in isolation, doesn’t really mean much.

You could say this to make yourself feel better if you wanted, perhaps as a form of optimism. But the line doesn’t carry that meaning in the story. It’s about nature and evolution and what that means for the humans. It means that in order to survive and thrive, you need to change. Sometimes physically, sometimes intellectually. It’s also a line about freedom, and that life cannot truly be contained.

Saying “life finds a way” to reassure someone is all well and good, but it's an empty saying without its context.

For another example, this time with absolutely zero subtext, Taliesin Jaffe. To avoid gushing too much, the man is one of the few D&D players who can accurately roleplay a high wisdom score, and has displayed this many a time during the, as of current writing, three campaigns of Critical Role.

During the first campaign, Mr Jaffe’s character, said, off handedly, “life needs things to live” in regard to a specific tree requiring sustenance. An orchard can’t grow in a desert, there are certain criteria that need to be met. However, the context amplified the meaning. The first campaign was centred around the idea of community, and the idiom “no man is an island”. Companions will hold you up, keep you alive, and make your life worth living.

This gets taken out of context twice in later campaigns, and it gets poked fun at both times.

In campaign three, in a moment of exploration and new self-understanding, the line is said again, and the cast points out how little it makes sense here. The phrase is here meant to encourage a character to fill time and do something interesting because life needs things to live. On a surface level, it's kind of appropriate, but not really. It's about life worth living, not time worth spending.

Campaign two is interesting, because the saying applies 100% to what is being said, but because of the characters, it gets joked at anyway. Taliesin has just given a monologue (because of course he has) about how you only get one life, and you need to use it well and fill it with things that make it worthwhile, and so “life needs things to live” is said in response.

But the Mighty Nein were a more plain-spoken troop than the previous adventure. This speech happens less than two percent into the story, and the characters at this point don’t really care for the philosophy and poetry of the idea. Instead, they point out how easily it could have been said any other way without seeming pretentious. In this case, the line was less meaningful than explaining the character’s mindset in simple terms.

Hey look at that, Grimwalkers have a thing about eyes. Artificial humans with a thing about eyes. That's very Bladerunner. A possible Grimwalker character might have a theme of agency and justifying existence beyond their assumed use. I am going to use this in my analysis of Hollow Mind, so hold onto it for now.

Linking this back to Belos, the line about the Titan would be really poetic if it was said in earnest and in context. Because yes, a line about how fate can make martyrs or monsters of anyone would be really powerful. It could talk about being born with talents or discovering you have a gift and putting that to use, seeing your destiny laid out because of skills only you possess. But here, it just means “pipe down and follow me blindly.”

Which is either emotional abuse or spiritual abuse, depending on how you square it. I read it as both.

Keep that in mind for the rest of my series on The Owl House, because it will colour how I read Belos. Everything this man does is a façade of critical thinking, cut down by his own lack of commitment. Essentially, the man is a hypocrite pretending to be deep, and I think that was an intentional decision on behalf of the writers.

“Seem’s clear to me. Come back with results or else, you can figure out the rest.” “Luz wouldn’t make that kind of a threat. I’m an awesome girlfriend.” “Has she told you that?”

I genuinely went into this episode planning to write a whole spiel about Odalia, but it took this exchange to for me to realise that Odalia is kind of irrelevant at this point in the series. Amity doesn’t need her affection anymore and has moved past her. This episode is about the difference between Luz and Belos.

Because, just from this exchange, we can see that Hunter assumes the worst from everything. He assumes affection is transactional, as has been stated above, but he has a scuffed idea of what affection looks like. Because if someone loves you, truly, they don’t have to say it. Affection and a healthy relationship is shown not told.

The best way I can explain this is through the song Nobody, by the Crane Wives. The band has a reputation for dealing with complex emotions through their songs and have a choke hold on the AMV side of the internet only rivalled by the songs from Epic The Musical.

“She woke me up at dawn, soft spoken as a spider Spinning webs of holy words while she was still asleep Kill the moon beneath my window, pull the covers tighter And hear her voice go swinging like a hatchet through the trees”

The opening verse sets up the story. The lover is represented as a predator, the spider who has caught the perspective character in a web made of compliments. A voice that can be both divine, and violent like a hatchet. This builds, adding addiction imagery through the invocation of cigarettes, as well as contrasting the lover with what is ostensibly a beast outside. Then the chorus:

“Nobody ever loved me, ever loved me. Nobody ever loved me Like she tells me, she does.”

Show don’t tell isn’t a rule for how to write, it’s a tool for how to make a story feel real. If you want your audience to trust you, show it to them. If you don’t, highlight that they are being told it.

Here, the affection between the singer and her lover is entirely conveyed by the idea that the lover tells the protagonist that she is affectionate. She tells her that she cares about her more than anybody else. But this is being told to the protagonist, which makes the audience doubtful, and more inclined to trust what we are being shown, which isn’t a healthy relationship at all.

Then there is the fact that the repetition implies this is a mantra, something the protagonist tells herself to make her feel better.

“I’m trembling in the eye of the only storm I’ve ever known.”

The song also implies that this is the protagonist’s first relationship, and she doesn’t know better. She thinks this is what true love actually is, which leads me back to Hunter.

Hunter thinks this is normal, and so assumes that it is normal for everyone else.

“We have a lot in common, Blight. We’re both trying to show what we can bring to the table. And we can’t fail, because there’s nothing worse than disappointing someone who thinks you’re special.”

Something Hunter doesn’t get enough credit for is how he is almost perfect at reading people. In a previous episode, he psychoanalysed Luz, and here is calling Amity’s bluff with uncomfortable accuracy. Amity has been raised by Odalia fear failure just like him. But there was an almost there, and it is a pretty glaring flaw, Hunter doesn’t understand relationships.

In the previous episode, Hunter was blindsided by Luz’s ability to befriend him and give him kindness despite their opposing allegiance, and here he doesn’t understand that an affectionate relationship doesn’t include ultimatums. Luz has chosen emojis that could be misconstrued because it doesn’t occur to her that you could read the messages like that. The ultimatum doesn’t cross her mind, so she doesn’t go out of her way to clarify. Why would she? What option is there other than kindness?

And that is Luz in a nutshell, isn’t it? A character who is fundamentally kind and uses that to change people and inspire them to be better.

This isn’t the only time Belos and Luz are shown as parallels, and it is telling that, on a surface level they are similar in just about every aspect. The difference is in the nuance. Luz is genuine, for one, but there are a ton of other little differences that completely alter the meaning.

For example, both are trickster characters who don’t rely on physical prowess to defeat opponents. But where Luz is a tactician by necessity, Belos pretends to be the underdog. Also, Luz choses to subdue her opponents instead of killing them because she’s kind. Belos does it because they will be useful to him later, and he can hold the mercy over their head like a bargaining chip.

Also, Luz and Belos both rely on other people to help them achieve their goals. They are leaders and organisers. However, Luz leads from the front and inspires people to achieve great things, while Belos scares people forwards and pushes them to their extremes against their better judgement.

The two are superficially similar, but their differences are significant. Belos pretends to be the person that Luz is naturally. Although not specifically Luz. Belos creates an ideal and claims it to be himself, which is why he is so infuriated when Luz achieves it effortlessly. Belos' name means beauty, but light is what truly shines.

“Fool’s blood bad. U okay? Come home? Of course, this is Luz we are talking about.”

I mentioned at the start of this post that this episode only works because of its predecessor, and here’s why: This episode is filler.

If you think about this, the episode doesn’t push the plot forward in any meaningful way. The Harpy Eda storyline is artificial and added in this episode, so you could theoretically skip the episode and not miss anything.

So why am I wrong here?

Well, the episode not pushing the plot forward plays into its actual purpose, psychological storytelling. The fact that this episode is a dead end is the point, it’s a dead end that could have been avoided if Amity had understood the relationship she was in, and over the course of the episode, she does realise, and the futility sinks in.

This episode pushes the emotional story forward, rather than the overarching plot.

Fool’s blood is a play on fool’s gold, a substance that looks shiny but is in actuality useless. Amity can accept the failed job because she learned something about herself, and the fact that nothing will change if things go wrong is reassuring to her.

Take a guess at for whom this isn’t true.

“Since I failed my last mission, I thought: Hey, a chance to make up for it! But I can’t go back empty handed. [Laughs] Not again. Long story short, this is my grave. Want me to make you one?” “This is really bumming me out.” “That’s just life, rat. Everyone has a use, and if you don’t, bye bye. Your friend gets it.”

Please, don’t let Zeno Robinson’s phenomenal acting skill distract you from the fact that Hunter is wrong here. Like, he has reason to believe what he says, but that’s just not how life works. People don’t have uses; you don’t have to justify your existence or value. Your innate value is the benchmark for everything.

In other words:

“You know, you were right. We do have a lot in common. I grew up thinking everything was an opportunity to justify existing, but there are people out where who won’t make you feel worthless. You just have to let yourself meet them.”

The fact that Flapjack is a key player in an episode about Hunter suffering in an unhealthy relationship and rejecting positive reinforcement is a neat metaphor. Specifically, because he acts as the personification of that relationship, a creature with wings that can go wherever and give its wielder the ultimate freedom. But Hunter rejects him, and the relationship.

The teleport thing is Hunter's signature spell, as it were. But we've seen this before. Eda and Lilith used this in their duel at the end of season one. I wonder what that means.

Amity’s speech doesn’t work because Hunter doesn’t have that support group, instead he has desperation bordering on madness. Not everyone will accept help, some people need to help themselves.

Eda is a weird tie into this theme, but I think its worth discussing her interaction with the Owl Beast. In this episode, it is revealed that her ideas for how to effectively communicate have not involved actually talking.

Eda’s relationship with the Owl Beast isn’t romantic or parental, it’s a relationship with herself. It hasn’t occurred to her until now that being nice to herself is an option. The Owl Beast’s side of the bargain is literally just “eat”. Basically, Eda should take care of herself, and in exchange, she will be able to do great things.

That’s a weirdly thematic backing to a comedy subplot.

Final Thoughts

I could do a shot for shot breakdown of any scene in this episode. The cinematography and direction are impeccable. From the fact that Hunter’s POV is almost always looking up, and therefore making him seem less powerful, to the little moment when Amity has been captured and the camera uses Kikimora’s robot to frame her as trapped and boxed in.

If I get enough requests for it, I might to a breakdown for the fight sequence, because that needs its own post. So, if you want that, lemme know.

Next week is Yesterday’s lie, and I get to talk about Camilla Noceda. So stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[secretly-of-course]

NOT SPOILERS! I started this comic before the leaks even came out, it's just my idea of how their reunion should go :)

I thought it would be neat if the portal opened to Eclipse Lake, since if Philip Wittebane was telling the truth in his diary that's where he first entered the Boiling Isles. If you've seen the trailer you know my Mattholomule design is inaccurate, but it was too late for me to change it (and I still think he deserves a horn). Gus starts on the ground because if you recall, he dove through the portal at the end of Thanks To Them instead of walking like a normal person, bless ❤️

Also I have NOT seen the leak so PLEASE no spoilers!

[ghostlighthouse]

TIME TO DISCUSS DYLAN FADENS DRAWINGS!!! THE LAKE HOUSE EXPANSION SPOILERS AHOY!!!!! LETS GOOOO

first of all DYLAN IS AN ARTIST I LOVE HIM SO MUCH IM GONNA CRY..... TTvTT idk if theyll actually make this part of his character or if it was just a convenient way to link him to the lake house but either way im filing this fact away in my brain. do you think casper darling was proud of his little artist boy at all when he sent the drawings to the marmonts. kinda braggy. or do you think he doesnt appreciate art much and just saw them as fodder for further experimentation.....

ANYWAY on to the real stuff. analyzing dylans drawings!! i find it interesting that they are entirely done in black and white aside from the red. this is pre-hiss, so what was the significance of the red to dylan?? are these drawings prophetic, or did they help shape reality once they made contact with cauldron lake??

this drawings appears to depict a hiss possessed individual. upside down, it would look exactly like one of the figures suspended in air in the oldest house. but is this figure really hiss?? they arent hanging in the air, but are instead plummeting downwards. also note that they appear to be dressed similarly to dylan. even has no shoes!! so instead this could depict something else yet to come...

now this one could be a reference to yggdrasil. i havent really any thought beyond that. trees clearly hold significance in remedy lore.

tbh i have no clue what this could be depicting?? this is the only one without any red. the way the jacket looks leads me to believe that this could be an agent, possibly estevez (not enough hair to be saga). i can picture that white space on the back of the jacket being the fbc logo. are they in a cave?? or beneath something?? im not sure.

this one is REALLY interesting. a face, obscured by a red circle. the circle could represent a lot. circles were a repeating image in that vision you see after talking to dylan. it could represent a hole or portal (we came in through the hole in you), could be an eclipse, a gunshot wound (bullet hole wounds in the face, specifically the forehead, are a repeating theme in aw2). is the face anyone specific, or just a random person?? it looks familiar.... but i shant say.... (it looks a bit like ■■■■■.... maybe im crazy). either way, is this also a prophetic drawing??

i have so much more to say about dylan specifically but this feels sort of longwinded already.... maybe i will post at a later date about what dylan says, and the implications of his vision. (also, are we all in agreement that dylan has some form of future vision?? this has been my theory for a while)

[rainbowangel110]

*bangs fists on table* MANNY WAS ALSO IN THE IN-BETWEEN WATCHING OVER LUZ PLEASE I BEG PLEASE-

I don’t have time to draw nice and clean so take these doodles

Anyways they were friends and also very sad

Based on this drawing I made

[late-draft]

Some thoughts on S2 from a first-time watcher!

It's good that I saw a bunch of spoilers before watching S2 and S3, because after seeing how the plot arrived to some of these points, I feel like what I imagined would have worked better; useful for understanding one's own likes and writing.

I thought Toph would have been in bigger danger while in the metal box. In canon she's technically just being dragged back to her family, right? But the emotional impact of her success of bending metal (something believed to be impossible) would have been stronger if she was in a much bigger danger, in worse circumstances, for longer.

Long Feng was so quickly "taken down" at the start when the Earth King decided to stop following him! Yeah the Dai Li still answer to Long Feng but it felt like him losing outward power happened too quickly and he was actually scared that he had lost all power instantly. He even allowed the kids to try to show the king the truth. So which is it, do Long Feng and Dai Li have huge power, or little power?

I liked the plot twist with plot twist with plot twist with plot twist with plot twist with Azula and her goons in Kyoshi warriors' disguises, and the Dai Li still answering to Long Feng. This uplifted the plot part a bit that had been sunk in my mind just before.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Jet was actually ok in S2; he succumbed to a weakness of his by getting obsessed with "random" firebenders, but then he truly tried to be of help, he beat the goddamn brainwashing and did everything he could to help Aang and his allies. He was given a "heroic death" offscreen! Perhaps he survived, gravely injured but who knows. The writing portrays him as an ok person at the end.

If he was supposed to be an "evil version" or "irredeemed" version of Zuko, that could have been portrayed only if Jet had demonstrated more, and persistent negative traits that he would refuse to change. Before giving him an on-screen death.

It wasn't very believable to me that Iroh managed to follow Zuko so quietly and so well under lake Laogai; but from spoilers, I was convinced that Zuko had arrived to a moral decision to set Appa free and let go of his need to belong back at the royal family of the Fire Nation, all on his own. That might have been a bigger triumph of character, but... even coming to this decision because Iroh pressured him into thinking about choices (the fact that he had choices), doesn't diminish what he decided by a lot.

Fever was excellent lmao. Iroh gave him some ibuprofen But the subsequent very cheery behaviour feels like big and heavy Copium from Zuko to me!

Damn. Aang literally speedrun all those chakras opening. Guru Pathik seems alright to me and doesn't feel like a huge deus-ex mechanism considering many other elements the show has used. But I feel like the show would have benefitted a LOT more if separate episodes were devoted to unblocking the chakras. Those are supposed to be a big deal, something difficult to overcome for the hero. But also; Aang refusing to let go of Katara right at the moment when he sensed she was in danger, is actually a correct choice (from a narrative standpoint) - we aren't supposed to cheer for him to let her die. Of course we as the audience want him to try to help Katara! However what Guru Pathik had told him about attachment still stands in the writing (maybe it could have been made more clear that this attachment in question means a selfish possessive one). The writing still sets it up so that it seems like Aang WILL have to let go of the attachment in the future to successfully open the last chakra. Just... later, because this is not the right moment! ^^

Oh man. The best the writing could do for Katara was to have her make a dumb joke about Momo knocking over figurines in the war meeting? And the plan was just... "go forth and attack the Fire Nation during a solar eclipse"? This was the best the text could do?? No bits of additional strategy, problem-solving, no Katara being serious about it? And after that she decides to go for tea despite being on a crucial mission? And why would the delicate scroll requiring the Earth King's seal to set the entire army in motion be left to be carried around outside by one girl. Just so that she could run into Zuko and blow his cover, despite having last seen him as broken, crying over his uncle, fighting against his sister the Fire Nation princess. Feels like the plot really got super convoluted here just to get to points it wanted. Sadge.

[theprinceandthewitch]

Eclipse Lake is very funny, but also super annoying. The plot for this episode makes no sense, because the writers want me to suspend my disbelief and believe neither Eda or Luz can figure out there is Titan Blood in the key. Even though Eda has had the key and doorway for 30 years and Luz has been using this doorway up until the end of season 1...

... Amity figures out there's titan blood in the key towards the last third of the episode - after Hunter says you can't get to the human realm without it... She puts two and two together in this moment even though she knows her literal girlfriend has been using this key to travel between worlds.

Luz is trying to build a doorway back home, and neither Eda or Luz think "hey, we don't have to go to Eclipse Lake to get Titan Blood because we already have it in this key. All we need to do is find the right combination of ingredients to build the door."

Luz and Eda don't put two and two together because they want Hunter to take the Titan Blood back to Belos. So, Luz and Eda get lobotomized for contrived plot progression.

HOWEVER, this episode is soooo funny to me, because they insert some weird pseudo-drama between Luz and Amity that serves no purpose to the story. It just exists to take up screentime. It also doesn't benefit Hunter to make Amity feel shitty about her relationship with Luz.

At first, Hunter is trying to draw parallels between him and Amity - how unlike Eda and King, they actually have alot at stake.

... BUT THEN the focus pivots to Lumity because they created "conflict" between them at the start of the episode.

Then Hunter continues on about how Amity and him are The Same...

Hunter being the Biggest Lumity Hater doesn't benefit him at all in this scenario. It doesn't contribute to Amity's decision to unbind him. She just does it because she, Luz, and Eda need to be braindead for the plot to move in the direction the writers want it to move in. That's why despite Amity straight up saying she doesn't trust Hunter, she let's him go. And Hunter hating on Lumity doesn't give Hunter an edge over Amity in their fight for the key.

They could have just had Hunter try and find commonality with Amity because of their similar upbringings. Hunter would know Amity's history - why wouldn't he when The Blights make Abomitrons for his family? Hunter is also smart enough to be able to get an idea of someone's intentions and personality just by monitoring their behavior. That's how he's able to tell Luz was bluffing in HP. Amity is also in her Trying to Be Nice like Luz Era, so Hunter would have had a relatively easy time manipulating Amity into freeing him from her binds. He could have just made up a backstory that was similar to Amity's to get her to trust him.

But nope, bringing up Amity's past would mean Amity is allowed to be anything more than Luz's awesome girlfriend. So, we gotta insert meaningless conflict between Luz and Amity... which doesn't even work as conflict because Luz has no idea her gf thinks she's not good enough for her.

It makes you wonder why they chose to insert psuedo-drama into the first episode featuring Luz and Amity as a couple. Why did they skip Lumity's honeymoon phase and just barrel into pseudo-relationship drama?

They really had Luz's type of boy make Luz's type of girl feel shitty about her relationship with Luz... okay, interesting... why did they do that? Why was that a thing lol. That's, hmm, that's very interesting how you did that knowing you wrote a whole spoiler episode where Luz kisses a prince.

That's so interesting... too bad the conflict in this episode means absolutely nothing and will not be relevant later on! Like, at all!

Hunter trying to homewreck Lumity and Amity feeling insecure about her relationship with Luz means absolutely nothing - not in this episode, or to the story as a whole. There are no potential consequences for Hunter and/or Lumity - Luz doesn't even know her girlfriend is feeling insecure over their relationship. It's just there to remind you that Amity will only ever be Luz's awesome girlfriend and nothing more.

Basically the Lumity "drama" is there to distract you from this episodes nonsensical plot.

Oh right, and the other reason why I love EL is because they had to write Luz out of the episode. Luz literally couldn't be there, because: 1. Luz would have made sure Hunter couldn't take any titan blood back to Belos. She destroyed the door at the end of season 1, once she figures out Belos rebuilt the door, she's gonna name sure that Titan Blood never gets back to him. So they had to lobotomize Luz via magical disease.

2. They didn't want to decide if Hunter would win or lose in this fight, because they didn't want to deal with the consequences of this choice. They wanted Yesterday's Lie and Hollow Mind to happen - so they're gonna do it in a way that is easy for them to write. If Luz was at EL, it is entirely possible for Hunter to lose this fight without it feeling forced, because he values her opinion of him. That's... literally why he bulks and tells her his name in Hunting Palismen after Luz shows the slightest bit of disappointment in him. So, the writing team decided to make their lives easy by writing Luz out of Eclipse Lake.

In conclusion, while this episode is annoying and braindead THAT'S the reason why I think it's very funny and enjoyable. I am particularly fond of the way Eclipse Lake tries to dress itself up as a Lumity episode in an attempt to distract you from its contrived plot.

[waywardsunlight]

TW Child abuse/manipulation general Belos shenanigans. No spoilers past 3x01, please don’t add spoilers for 3x02 to this post.

Sometimes I think about how Belos targets kids and why, because he knows that kids are still developing and don’t always understand right from wrong, and also it seems like he just likes being around kids more because he feels like he can control them. He’s very aware of what’ll upset Luz, what’ll make her mad, and what to say to her to get what he wants. He’s even more in tune with Hunter, he kind of trains Hunter on certain words like “replacement” that set him off. Hunter’s backstory that he gives in Hunting Palismen is probably almost word for word what Belos taught him to say (he always highlights how Belos gives him the staff which would be important to him as a half-witch but Belos also highlights that himself which feels... interesting, as well as the fact that it sounds rehearsed a bit, because Hunter trails off and then he remembers where to go next with “And then Belos found me”), and Belos definitely taught Hunter to respond to physical violence specifically from him with the freeze reaction which is fucking awful (ex. Eclipse Lake, Hunting Palismen- Belos makes a sudden movement and in both of these Hunter goes silent and still, and then in King’s Tide, Hunter freezes up and goes silent when Belos addresses him). Finally, the Collector he has less control over but it kind of seems like the Collector looks up to him and Belos uses that against him. The Collector gave Belos secret magic, and helped him create the Grimwalkers, in exchange in a lot of ways for Belos’ friendship. Belos and the Collector even pinky swore that Belos would let him out, and Belos abuses that and uses his position of having something the Collector wants to force him to help him. 

I don’t have anything to say about Darius because we haven’t seen them interact directly or alone and we don’t know much about their relationship other than their vague past when Darius was likely a minor so. Yeah. Probably won’t get elaboration on that at this point but this is a History.