#flora d'esplora

[misccy27]

Since everyone is talking about Belos' past anyway with the Hollow Mind portraits, I thought I might as well share my ideas/receipts about how Belos concealed his past when presenting himself as Emperor.

Like he's been a public figure in the Boiling Isles for a long time. So I was wondering how much others knew or suspected about the truth. Here's what I've come up with:

1. There are traces of Philip still around.

S2E4 Gwendolyn tells Luz, “Humans are rare. My great-grandmother told me about a human who once lived here. But one day he just vanished. Rumor has it he left something in the library.” 

S2E5 Luz finds an article in the library that tells her: “Hundreds of years ago, there was a human named Philip Wittebane living in Bonesborough. And he donated his diary to this library.”

The diary is so old that it’s kept in the Forbidden Stacks, only accessible by library staff members. It seems unlikely that many people have read it. But even if they did, there doesn’t seem to be anything really connecting it to Belos. Because:

2. Others think Belos is a witch

S1E18 Willow says, “the Emperor is the most skilled witch that's ever lived.”

S1E19 King says, “a mysterious witch appeared who declared that he, and he alone, could speak to the island.”

S1E19 King also says, "He's the Emperor! He's the most powerful witch alive!"

S1E19 Lilith says, "Being in the Emperor's Coven was my dream. I wanted to work alongside the most powerful witch on the Isles and make the world a better place."

I don't remember anything contradicting this. There are demons on the BI that look pretty similar to witches, and demons (like Hooty) can be immortal ig, so it matters to me that Belos was specifically presenting himself as a witch.

That said, the lifespan of witches is never officially confirmed afaik (and I do hate that thanks). Bump gets that throwaway line about 300 years until retirement or whatever. But since we are shipping witches and humans, they have to have similar lifespans. You cannot convince me otherwise lol.

So that makes it even more implausible that the human that showed up and vanished centuries ago is at all related to Belos, the ~most powerful~ witch on the Boiling Isles.

The fact that the Emperor also has a 16 year old nephew lends further credence to the idea that he's a normal witch, aging normally, with normal (if mysterious) family ties.

3. Belos’ appearance

S1E19 The Unauthorized Boiling Isles History reads, “Before he ascended to the throne, Emperor Belos gained prominence as a crusader for unity during the Savage Ages.”

S2E16 We get to see Belos during this crusade period. He definitely already looks old:

We also know that Belos has been Emperor for ~50 years:

S1E17 a Hexside teacher says, “Over 50 years ago, Emperor Belos appointed a head witch to each coven.” [Bonus fun: this means Terra could be the first head of the plant coven]

S1E18 Kikimora says, “Up until 50 years ago, witches and demons practiced wild magic during what we called the Savage Ages [...] until our great Emperor ascended to the throne, and taught witches how to use magic properly.”

So that's 50 years on top of his age when he was crusading. Hasn’t anybody noticed that Belos is unreasonably old for a witch yet? (And if so, what did they think he was?) 

I think Belos could have handled this discrepancy by carefully planning how he travels around the island and changing his name as he goes; standard secret immortality stuff. This would also serve the double benefit of making it seem like he has a broader base of support from the start, if there’s the appearance of several crusaders going around spreading the ~good word~. 

At some point, though, he did start covering his tracks. By present day (s1), Belos’ Emperor outfit makes his age much more ambiguous:

This is also how he appears in all the official, state-sanctioned portrayals of the Emperor that I remember seeing. Examples:

Which brings me to my main point:

4. History is written by Belos

Lilith is a historian and the former head of the Emperor's Coven. She didn't seem to know any truths about Belos' past. Hunter had access to and was actively reading restricted books about wild magic from the Savage Ages. We get no hint that he came across anything, either.

But they also weren't looking. So let's say you're highly suspicious of Belos and actively digging into his past. How much could you find out about him? We already have the official narrative: Belos ended the Savage Ages and united witchkind 50 years ago. So what about the unofficial narrative?

This brings us back to The Unauthorized Boiling Isles History from S1E19. This is a book owned by Eda, the most infamous wild witch on the Boiling Isles. Here's King's full narration from this scene:  

A mysterious witch appeared who declared that he, and he alone, could speak to the island. He said that we were using magic all wrong. His teachings took hold, his strength grew, and he became... Emperor Belos. Belos said that mixing magic was wrong, that only he had that right. So he created the coven system. And there, our knowledge was restricted, and our potential sealed away. Those who resist are called wild witches, and they face harsh punishment. Emperor Belos has since retreated into his castle. There are whispers that say he's planning something big. 

King's narration is different from the text on the page. Here's the page on Belos:

“He rules by fear and an iron fist, and his past remains largely unknown.” 

So it sounds like Belos has indeed done a very good job of establishing and maintaining information control. He has erased his past so thoroughly that even an unauthorized history book offers no real rumors or speculation. Both inside the castle and in pockets of dissent, we find no trace of the truth of Belos' past. It is believable to me that even highly-ranked coven officials who are suspicious of Belos and actively looking for information about his past from inside the castle still wouldn't be able to find anything at this point.

With that said: there are probably rumors. There probably are witches who remember Belos from his crusades and grew suspicious. They probably did try to spread the word and warn others.  

At the same time, I’m sure that there are plenty of witches saying plenty of things about Belos. Belos is the most influential and powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, after all. So looking at it from the perspective of someone trying to piece together the truth:

How plausible does it sound that the witch ruling the Boiling Isles is actually a human? How plausible does it sound that he’s actually 400+ years old? How do either or both of those rumors weigh up against all of the other scraps of information and official propaganda and baseless conspiracy theories that you’re also coming across?

How much are either of these rumors worth considering if your primary concern is to, say, try to figure out what’s actually going to happen on the Day of Unity?

(At what point do you decide to just go straight to the source?)

[mxadrian779]

OH

MY

GOD

IT JUST CLICKED

FLORA D'ESPLORA -> DORA THE EXPLORER

I've spent the last ten minutes trying to figure out why Luz "has questions about that name"

[yellow1sh]

Some random toh theory I have

So uhm... this is going to be very random but... I was watching toh and I saw something that made me start to cackle. Some of you might have already known this (because technically it's canonical) but I want to go a bit more into how I think she got to the Boiling Isles.

So. Examine these two very closely. Notice how they look very similar. That's because they are! These two are the same person and you can't convince me otherwise.

The person in the first picture is a witch who was Lilith Clawthorne's mentor when Lilith was still apart of the coven. You can see her in S2 E12, Elsewhere and Elsewhen, at the beginning for Lilith's little party/get together. She was the one with that pigeon griffin thingy? If you didn't remember her name, it was Flora D'esplora. Who does this remind you of? Dora the Explorer.

My theory is that Dora stumbled across the portal door after Eda came to the human world or something when she was exploring. Boots wasn't there or was behind so when Dora got stuck in the demon realm so Dora got a custom whip thingy to look a bit like boots (on her belt in the picture). She changed her name to Flora D'esplora so she could have a new start and entere herself into some magic school where she somehow learned magic.

That was my theory. If you already knew about thing, congrats. You now know about my stupid theory on how she got to the Boiling Isles. If you didn't catch onto the character that looks and sounds like Dora, I hope this made you laugh a bit. Anyways... have a great rest of your day/night. Byee~

[aquaaquila]

It's Flora D'Esplora and she's evil adult Dora helping Belos willingly.

... flora the explorer.

[sepublic]

Elsewhere and Elsewhen!

            …

         PHILIP IS BELOS PHILIP IS BELOS PHILIP IS BELOS-

         Why am I gasping?! I already knew that!

         Seriously though… Confirmation that Philip was ALWAYS like that and a messed-up narrator! He happily ‘sacrificed’ Blue Fang (AKA used him as a distraction/guinea pig) and then wrote himself as some poor sad hero, NO WONDER Belos left the diary there! He wanted to make his past self LOOK good!

         Also obsessed with the idea that Belos holds a grudge against Lilith because she broke his nose… And even after CENTURIES of dark magic, his nose is STILL broken! Bruh I fucking yelled for Lilith, GOOD FOR HER SHE PUNCHED HER ABUSER! Because let’s be real even if Belos didn’t recognize her as ‘Dirtrude’ he’d still treat her like he did Kikimora. The world is healing.

         BUT YEAH, Belos is confirmed to have gotten messed up because he carved glyphs into his body?! MY THEORY WAS RIGHT, Belos drew glyphs on his body and siphoned magic from himself, because he was JEALOUS of witches and their bile sacs, and refused to consider that he could just use glyphs! He was a puritan, a white colonizer after all… A part of it COULD be chalked up to his background and how witches prefer bile sacs, but it seems a lot of this really is this bastard’s fault.

         Also there’s an allusion to his brother, who is gone; May or may not have been ‘sacrificed’ at Eclipse Lake. Either way, I’m starting to think Belos doesn’t actually care for Hunter… Or it will turn out that even after all of this, HE STILL DOES. Which, the show foreshadows that Belos was working on the Day of Unity from the start, as Philip; And that he had to wait CENTURIES for the stars to align, hence why he didn’t act sooner! Just as I guessed… Also we know the Collector is a HE, and that he lives in the Titan’s skull?!

         Lilith said the skull was ‘sacred ground’, but how do we know Belos didn’t essentially trap the Collector in his own fortress, for when he can finally seize his power in the Day of Unity?! The Collector must also be known as such because he can collect things from the ages and even other worlds… Speaking of which, we saw the Stonesleeper! We’ve seen Hunter unconscious and he didn’t petrify, but uh… I have to wonder if its self-petrification has any connection to how Belos petrifies witches?! Also the Hecktaceous Era, nice; Some look at the corpse of the Titan when it was still warm and volcanic! Makes me wonder if this will connect to King’s island and his people, if they’re evolved from Stonesleepers…! Luz, give King a scratch behind his ear(?), see how he reacts!

         Also, as others guessed; THIS is what Belos meant when he said he can’t wait to meet Luz! He remembers how he met her for the first time… And he doesn’t want to break the time continuum because it’s a stable loop! But now that Luz has already done her part in her past, she’s infinitely less necessary… Obviously Belos still spares her because he doesn’t want bad publicity, but he no longer has to worry about preserving time. Which, I like how the show handled it, by making time portals extremely arbitrary and outright invisible, and difficult to detect without a special scanner; Explains why there aren’t more incidents! And it’s the result of coagulated Titan’s blood, so that stuff clearly has Space-Time properties.

         But yeah Philip stole a LOT of Palismen, and he’s also following up on that cave monster imagery I brought up since Season 1! What if the Collector cursed Philip with a mud monster, as retaliation and an attempt to humble him… But Philip refused to learn his lesson? That seems to be what the show is going for; Some Beauty and the Beast where he was attempted to be humbled. Or he opened one of the Collector’s scrolls trying to seize its power, and accidentally did it to himself; Freaking white man!

         LILITH! I love how Lilith has healed enough that she can pick up on Philip’s red flags as just that, as something that’s not super-great… And just THE FACT that she recognizes him but doesn’t know it?! Also turns out Flora D’esplora DOES show up, and she uh… Has interesting vibes… But yeah, given her triangle, I have to suspect Belos deliberately sent Flora to make Lilith feel insecure again and regress, under the hopes of luring her back to his side for approval; Or at least setting up Lilith to do so, if he ever needs her. And/or he’s still salty. What a bitch.

         I… Honestly feel so bad for Lilith that she was haunted and mistreated over this fact. You think Belos recognized her as a kid?! You think there was a moment when it dawned on him!? You think him forcing Lilith to do menial tasks was a reflection of his hatred of her?! THAT FUCKER… He ruined and tore down a woman’s mental health out of saltiness, and she only punched him because of what HE did to Luz and Lilith! Also Luz calling Lilith a cool aunt UNIRONICALLY, indulging in balusters with her! CALLING HER AUNTIE LILITH-

         (Also Luz just embracing being a Crab Maiden. There’s that creepy weird kid energy I love her.)

         We got to see Lilith’s palisman animated, but not get its name! Guess we really gotta go for Artemisia for now… And Dell! DELL, poor Dell; The Owl Beast didn’t just take out his left eye, it ravaged his entire left side and disabled it, ruining his career! No wonder Eda feels so much guilt… And it must’ve been BAD if even after all these years, healing magic can’t fix it! But his palisman… And Dell giving Eda some CLOSURE, an old man telling his kid to move on and plant seeds for the future, something she’s done for Luz; The palistrom seed, working with the Bat Queen, who still owes Eda a favor but lbr she’d do it even if there wasn’t a favor owed!

         Just… The THEMES, moving on from the past, being haunted by it; Belos is haunted by it AND his future! While Eda actually moves on and forgives herself… GOD I love this show, this is like Separate Tides where the A and B plot’s themes so impeccably fit together! Also, Steve; Steve is here and while I bet he’s passing it off as keeping an eye on Lilith and the gang to keep them from causing trouble, pretty sure he just admires Lily. Hope he doesn’t simp tho, she’s aro; But given how he’s gonna appear again, his attraction to Lilith might come up, which might invoke Lilith revealing that she’s aro in the show!

         Just… WHAT an episode! Philip having a beard was clearly a stylistic choice to obscure his features, but now it’s undeniable and I certainly wasn’t fooled! Guess he’s not a blonde, his hair is just a REALLY bleached brown, as someone guessed earlier; Because of the curse and all! Even so his hair isn’t even WHITE, which just goes to show how Belos has kept himself alive at a cost… Also poor Red and Green Fang, they were totally right to hate that colonizer. Can’t blame Luz for reading the situation wrong, she’s so empathetic… Also, I have to wonder if even after everything, Belos is still fond of her, or at least sees himself in her, hopes to convert Luz?

         Also… Philip saying it’s like the land DIDN’T want him to discover magic. What if the Collector is the Titan’s consciousness, or its son? Regardless, we basically have proof that THE TITAN HATES BELOS, and almost out of a petty revenge and necessity, he’s twisting its words around! He’s essentially held its heart hostage, likely; Preventing the Titan from lashing out and punishing him, because Belos is nuts enough to take it down with him if necessary! Meanwhile the Titan loves Luz, or at least isn’t trying to HIDE anything from her… Which kinda confirms that it shows glyphs to people who really want and need to look for them, for their own sake!

        I feel bad for Philip’s brother… Who might still be a Clawthorne ancestor, we don’t know! Also yeah, confirmation that Philip really did cut up his ears, what the hell. I’m not surprised but also I am; Why am I gasping, I already knew that? Also Philip’s bruise was more a BRUISE, but with how red it looked… We getting some blood in this show? Either way, LEGENDARY episode, impeccable themes, and the humor is top-notch! Thank you TOH crew.

[sorryiwasasleep]

Maybe this was obvious and I didn’t notice, but I’m rewatching Elsewhere and Elsewhen and it’s all a loop manipulated by Phillip/Belos. Lilith says it herself. 

“It’s almost as if the Emperor wanted Flora to tick me off” 

The only reason Luz looks for the time pools is because her portal door was a “failure”, a thing he KNOWS happened if Kikimora was listening AT ALL when they were with her during the Coven Day parade, because you know she’s the type to share that info in trying to make that promotion real. The only way to FIND the time pools is Lilith’s device, a device that needs more power than “I could ever give it”. A device that lived on her desk in the Emperors Coven, one she just so happened to get back when Luz convientely has titan blood on hand to amplify it. 

Edit: OKAY i had this drafted because I never finished the thought but coming back to it after ‘Thanks to Them’ because Luz is carrying SO much guilt for what happens, but besides the obvious manipulation from Phillip, in the larger scheme it was STILL just her being manipulated by Belos in a weird loop because time magic! Phillip says it, that they were “destined to meet”, which… they were because he as Belos set in motion a loop in time through which they meet.

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

I wonder how long it’ll take Luz or Lilith to connect the dots

[sergeantsporks]

Okay, can we talk about the existence of Flora D’esplora or however you spell her name? She mentored Lilith, and Lilith was head of some history thingamabob in the emperor’s coven.

Now, what the history bit of the emperor’s coven seems to be doing right now is finding old stuff, preserving ancient ruins/artifacts for future posterity. But why would specifically the emperor’s coven need a history department? Isn’t that something that you could put separately? Sure, sure, government funded History excavations and stuff, the Smithsonian, but a branch of specifically the military that deals with history?

Phillip/Belos has a penchant for rewriting history to make himself look good.

I’m wondering if maybe that particular branch of the coven wasn’t always as benign as it seems to be now.

[actuallysyrie]

Why is it I'm only realizing now that they added Dora the Explorer to The Owl House!??

She even has boots as her palisman/whip thingy

[aroacemisha]

Lesbian flag color picked from Flora.

[camthewizard]

Faces of The Owl House, Episode 31, Elsewhere and Elsewhen

[evilkitten3]

idk who flora is but i pity that pigeon griffon thing

[kit-shipper]

Random Flora & Lilith edit

[favesgrave]

do you guys remember that time dora the explorer was in the owl house

[sepublic]

Flora D’esplora is such a wonderful character to me. She’s clearly here for multiple purposes and concisely ties together and carries them out well, in a way that feels natural and organic, like she’s an actual character and not JUST a plot device. Which is why I can only imagine how the planning for Flora in the writer’s room went;

“Okay, so we have this character who is sent by Belos to aggravate Lilith, make her feel insecure. This is an abuse tactic to reopen old wounds and make Lilith desperate for validation again, which motivates her throughout the episode as a meaningful discussion on how difficult it can be to unlearn abuse, and provides personal incentive for Lily to go on a time loop adventure as part of a need to impress others with her exhibit. But it also sets up Lilith to be wary of Philip AKA Belos’ tactics. Likewise, this new character isn’t just Lilith’s old self and bad habits, her exploration is in contrast to Lilith’s desk job. When Hunter and even Kikimora can go out into the field, this implies that Belos really does have something out for Lilith in particular, which sets up the reveal that he remembers and holds a grudge over his broken nose. So this new character reiterates this setup at the beginning of the episode, so we can later remember it. Likewise, Lilith getting to ride a Stonesleeper at the end shows how she can still be an adventurer like the new character, who rides a gryphon, while still being herself; Befriending the Stonesleeper instead of forcing it, as well as later making room for her own interests without trying to make them appealing to others. To wrap it all up, viewers will realize how this character isn’t just a vessel for Belos’ abuse, but also a vessel for his plans as well; He sends the new character with boxes of Lilith’s old stuff, including the material she needs to detect the time pools and set up her end of the time loop. So the new character also gives another side to Belos’ layered plans and actions.”

“Perfect!”

“Now let’s also make this character a Dora the Explorer reference.”

“Of course!”

This is reaching Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure levels of inexplicable yet weirdly compelling writing, where this character with a bunch of thematic and plot-related relevance is also a blatant reference to a piece of children’s media. Yes, I am referring to Donatello Versace, the Holes Backstory dude. Which, the conflict with THAT antagonist had our protagonists journey through and interact with the dangerous past, so Flora is spiritually a Jojo character I guess.

[flastar13]