#galderstone

[childlikegoblinqueen]

SCOM NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW:

SPONSORED BY EVOLDO SOCIAL: A NEW SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY DEDICATED TO THE TRUTH ABOUT THE COVEN SYSTEM!

TTGH – NEWS NETWORK  – THE OFFICIAL NEWS OUTLET OF CONSUL CANDIDATE TIBBLES GRIMM HAMMER.  

CONSUL CANDIDATE GRIMM HAMMER TAKES THE STAGE. CALLS FOR BOILING ILES CITIZENS TO REJECT THE APPEAL OF THOSE WHO SUPPORT SIGIL REMOVAL. CALLS GRIMWALKERS A VERMIN SPECIES. MISSING BASILISKS SAME. 

[jabbers-wild-world]

@lilmcttens | continued from here!

“Yeah… you did.” He sighed, and he almost appeared as if he was still living, still standing right there. Except that he was translucent.. “It bought me some time, I guess… So.. Thank you, for that at least.” He paused, staring sadly for a moment or two at his gloved hands. He was so lost, so miserable and.. and broken. There were still bloodstains marking his spectral form. At his throat, down his chest.. He almost seemed like he was still bleeding even now, especially from the thin line across his throat, but his blood never touched the floor, never left a mark anywhere but on him.

“I… I just wanted to say.. that I’m sorry.” When he finally spoke again, it was like he was struggling with the words, as though it was growing more and more difficult for him to breathe, but.. ghosts didn’t breathe.. This.. this was just an after-effect of his brutal, miserable death. “I was.. living a lie without even.. without even knowing it…” Another pause, and a shudder wracked through him. For a moment, he didn’t seem aware of her or.. much of anything, his eyes going blank, his posture sagging a bit as it seemed he was caught in a wave of blinding pain, and then…

“I’m… sorry..” He murmured, dragging himself back to awareness again. “Tell Luz… that I.. I don’t.. blame her… It- it’s.. n-not her fault.. I—” He was dazed and distant again, another shudder of pain.. “Please.. tell her… I’m s-sorry..”

[ashanimus]

Yep! The placement is a perfect stab to the heart or even “rip your heart out” area! Very fun.

Really had a hard of a time getting a good screenshot where you can see the slashes on Hunters outfit

But man Belos really has a way of doing things when it comes to killing apparently

And it’s interesting that this implies that Hunter who most looks like Caleb. Belos tried to kill in a similar manner (minus dagger) to he killed Caleb

[nerdykorgi]

GRIMWALKER BIOLOGY & ANATOMY STUDIES [pt 1 / ?? ]

(aka, my ideas and thoughts on how these bad but sad boys work!)

with pictures :D !

ok for starters! I tried my best to make real life connections with actual biological stuff and yeah but there are some things ima have to bullshit lol

i hope yall like rambling

[ ^ Basic ideas ]

Lets talk about anatomy!

From what i can tell from the grim walker ingredient book they have some pretty ... interesting ingredients...

GALDORSTONE:

Heart and Power apparently. What i can make of this is that the Galderstone not only powers and animates the non-organic materials but acts as a circulatory system, flowing blood and nutrients to keep the body stable by creating magical pulses of pressure that makes the blood flow. Blood is kind of ideal for homeostasis and living and om pretty sure we've seen hunter bleed at least once... Perhaps the Galderston can create an artificial vascular system to carry oxygen, magic, and nutrients throughout the growing body instead of just making veins from scratch. I want to say the Galderstone can generate energy for the grimwalker but that would mean they wouldn't need to eat, and I don't think that's true. I think its main purpose is just activate the magic materials and is like the generator to a car, keeping it running. If the Galderstone were to break or fail, the grimwalker probably come unglued and fall apart to its components (which would be pretty horrifying)

ORTET BONE:

Very key component! The ortet bone kind of helps form the blueprint for the species of the grimwalker, as well as supplying blood, a skeletal system, and components of DNA. The most basic definition of the word ORTET is as follows: the original plant from which the members of a clone have descended. Fun fact: since were using cloning terms, Hunter is to Caleb as Ramet is to Ortet (Ramet is an individual clone) I did research for cloning and as it turns out you kinda need a complete genome for cloning but for bullshitting reasons (which will be explained) we can clone with incomplete DNA and make synthetic dna from scratch! I hypothesis that the reason grims can look different from the ortet instead of just straight carbon copies is due to the bone that is used and how much of i there is. Like example a grimwalker made using just a toe phalange is going to look A LOT less like the ortet compared to a grimwalker made from something like the cranium and bigger bones and such. Basically smaller bones dont carry as much dna info and leads for room to fill in the blanks. Sadly this means alot of Grimwalkers had A LOT of health problems (this can range anywhere from immune system problems to liver failure which is quiet typical in clones, that and it is often that clones appear different from the ortet due to enviromental factors and influences)

[ As the image above shows, subject #103 has a very close resemblance to the ortet due to the bones that are used ] There are pros and cons to using bones! Pros being that they can hold DNA for much longer than tissue, but the thing is bones can degrade really easy if not preserved, and i don't think belos had a bottle of hydrogen peroxide laying around that he could dunk Caleb in, so let's just assume he made sure his brother's corpse was well cleaned and kept. Biggest con is the human body only has so many bones (about 206) I believe that the reason Grimwalker can generate organs is by using the ortet and making the stem cells created from bone marrow. Stem cells are very important because they can turn into different types of cells like blood and tissue cells as well as repair tissue. I believe the process of growing grimwalkers is kind of like "Self-renewal" the process in which stem cells divide and make more of the body

STONESLEEPER LUNGS:

Im just gonna assume stone sleeper had very small lungs because aint no way those t rex lungs fit in a teenage boy. I originally thought The reason that Grimwalkers can stay underground for so long is because the lungs, similar to how a stonesleeper hibernates for centuries (kind of like how wood frogs can basically cryo-hibernate) by petrifying but a grimwalker IS growing and therefore needs resources to grow, like how a baby does in the womb. So it has to be actively getting said resources so it cant be petrified. I now think the reason that grimwalkers have these lungs is because theyre easily compatible to the galderstone, which needs oxygen for the blood and that they can be easily harvested and stored in stone form. But that does give room for cool adaptations like self-petrification! (which i will get into next time :D )

PALISTROM WOOD:

Ok its says that the wood is used for keratin, which is a fiberous protein which can make all kinds of things like scales, hair, nails, feathers, horns, claws, hooves, and skin! And since its also a plant means it can grow 4 times as fast as normal keratin can! This explains why hunters hair grew so ridiculously fast in season 3, was because his hair can produce its own carbohydrates and nutrients on its own... This means his skin and surface wounds can heal quite fast! (down side is it might give him something similar to PSS (Peeling Skin Syndrome ) ...) I think Palisman is very important becasue of several reason! 1 Like palisman, it can "animate" if you will, more or less help pull off the illusion that he is alive. 2 Like mentioned before, Grimwalkers need nutrients to grow and I believe the palistrom wood aids in that! Using a process called cellular diffusion, the grimwalker can take in nutrients from the ground around them (which i theorize to be highly fertilized) through THEIR SKIN! and into the veins and flesh of the grims 3 I believe that in the process of forming, the galderstone "activates" the palistrom wood, forming into skin or hair but this process of rapid growth leaves the skin all undone and fragile because a proper cutaneous barrier was not formed yet (which is useful for being malleable. This is why Hunter's ears are so 1 .god blessed big because they are fake and molded to look like that. Its also why The grimwalker Belos possessed fell apart so easily, like he said "It wasnt ready")

SELKIEDOMUS SCALES:

This one kind of confused me because... well why do we need the seal flesh when the ortet can just regenerate it?? I think its kind of like the stuffing if you will, it also speeds up the process of producing flesh by a lot! Especially if you want to make grown grimwalkers! Im thinking that Grimwalkers don't have a set "age" theyre just as big as however many materials they are given to work with. Even though the book says they can start as babies, if you look closely there is a check mark towards the more adolescent figure, so im thinking that they are not ready to be unearthed until they reach a certain growth ima guess around the age of over 10-ish?? We don't know how young Hunter was pulled out of the floor but it seems like he was fairly young, or atleast younger. This means while Hunter appears to be 16, he might have only been living for around 5 years or so.

Now typically normal seals have a lot of blubber which is a thick layer of fat, also called adipose tissue, directly under the skin of a marine mammals. Its used for insulation. The thing is tho, it says Selkiedomus Scales, not flesh... Dont worry there are mammals that have scales like Pangolins but i dont know if these scales are like thick plated or small and stretchy. Magic bullshitting time, Im goin to assume Selkiedomus scales refers to a layer of scale-like flesh that protect the creature from boiling but is also highly malleable and easy to work with. Maybe the reason they can withstand such heat is due to unsaturated bonds of butadiene molecules mixed into the blubber that are highly heat resistant Selkie domus flesh is molded and into the relative shape of desired body and using the DNA of the ortet the flesh is reshaped and reused into the desired muscles shapes. The vascular system created by the galderstone spreads throughout the flesh and binds with it. healing together and becoming flesh, kind of like a speed up version of skin graft maturation! This is useful for growing them quickly because they don't have to grow an entire adult body from scratch so this speed up the process by eeeerrm 20 years or so lol

Thats only the basics for now, sooner or later i shall get into the more fun stuff, like adaptaions of Grim walker, the growing process, ad more!

Hope you guys enjoyed my ideas, if i got anything incorrect let me know, my research isnt exremly searched through.

last question ill leave you all with, it kind of stumped me while i was working...

i have a theory but i wanna know your thoughts...

(i worked hard on all this btw, i really hope people read it lol /lh.)

[thousand-winters]

One of the most unsettling things about Belos making grimwalkers over and over and over again, aside from the obvious, is what he had to do with the materials.

The ortet bones? Well, I guess he could have plenty from Caleb's skeleton or even from the dead grimwalkers if he ever had to get to that point.

The selkidomus scales? Depending on the quantity he needed, even killing one selkidomus would last him for a while if he preserved the scales really well, though it also seems like they're not all that common by the time the story takes place, so there are chances he hunted them too much and put the species at risk.

Palistrom wood? Now that one was definitely scarce at this point, but of course it seems like he exploited that resource over and over and over too, either in the form of consuming palismen or using it for the grimwalkers.

The galderstones? Potentially he could have found a bunch of those, though we do know he was probably running out of them or no longer had any by the time of the story since Adrian does mention galderstones would make a good gift for the emperor, implying it might be known that Belos wants galderstones.

But the stonesleeper lungs...

There weren't even many anymore in the Deadwardian era, absolutely not nearly enough for the sheer amount of grimwalkers he made and killed.

So there are two options there. An elaborate explanation relating to how the EC was able to revive basilisks again (and how it seemed for some reason on that one HM memory portrait that Flora, aka Beastkeeper, had some huge relevance to Belos), which could have made it possible for Belos to recreate the stonesleepers exclusively to use them as resources, since to people like Lilith they were all but extinct.

Or...

He just. Pulls out the lungs out of each grimwalker he kills. Which is a way more horrifying possibility, but what else could he do...

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

After I did that comic with Lily and Grime, I had this idea of Azura learning a similar lesson (and I didn't realize that they're both learning these at the same age until I was half way through page 2). With Azura being half-human and her magic being weaker, I remembered the galderstones and she'd def want to get one...except that Gus and Matt would try and stop her. I could see Gus being a great uncle to Azura.

It was hard to think of an older design for Gus and Matt when their canon timeskip (17-18 y/o) was already good. So just changed a few things changed but it's mostly the same.

...now to work on the last page of the Lumity proposal comic

[rfswitchart]

The Physiology of Grimwalkers

So @angelcloves somewhat inspired this (though, I've wanted to say this for a while...) A lot of people in the fandom seem to think that, when a Grimwalker is made, the parts he is made with are part of him in a literal sense. You know, 'he's made of palistrom wood,' or 'he has a galderstone heart,' etc.

Now, that's a cute theory and all, but I don't believe that's true. But, in order for me to talk about that, we need to talk about a particular type of magic that most of you might not be aware of or understand. However, it is relevant because it's clear that this school of magic is heavily involved with Grimwalkers, and that is...

NECROMANCY!!!!

Necromancy is the practice of magic to communicate with and summon the dead. In the case of Hunter and the Golden Guards, this is a ritual spell involving many parts of (presumably dead) creatures to make a copy of a singular person. How this would usually work for spells like this would be that the parts themselves transmutate (the magic of changing one thing into another. Think of Full Metal Alchemist or Caleb Widogast from Critical Role. The parts themselves are not Hunter's body parts, they morph and twist into flesh and blood organs. He doesn't have a Galderstone in his chest, he has a heart, those are witch/human lungs, not stonesleeper's. His HAIR (not skin or flesh) was palistrom wood morphed into his hair and fingernails, and so on. In fact, that's how those parts probably form under gestation while the Grimwalker is in the ground. Now, I am not saying this to detract from your headcanons. If you want to make Hunter have a Galderstone heart because you're writing a 100+ chapter fanfic and are making it narratively interesting, by all means. I, however, will stick with this as, to me, it makes more sense as someone who studies these things... Wait, no, I mean... I'm not using an ancient spellbook to raise the dead from several nearby graveyards. I've never even heard of necromancy before... *nervous laugh*

[catboymoments]

silly idea but what if whenever one of Hunter's friends is somehow attached to him (holding hands, hugging, piggyback ride etc) they're able to do more powerful spells. bc galderstone

THATS CUTE

[bobbydagen24]

Mattholomule appreciation post.

I love little Matt so I wanted to do a post giving him the love he deserves 😂😂😂😂

I love this line lol

anyway little Matty does seem like a bit of a one dimensional jerk at first even tho I'd argue he wasn't strictly in the wrong in his first major episode

as Gus was the one lying to Luz regarding her no longer being banned at the school technically Matt wasn't wrong to report them both

And Gus was kinda Jerky for getting Matt in trouble and thus thrown in detention where he nearly died so point is they both were in the wrong since Matt was lying in order to become president of the club but Gus was more in the wrong imo.

Anyway in "" Through the looking glass ruins "" we do find out his old school was a pretty harsh place where you were either the bully or the bullied and in his former group of "" Friends "" he was the stooge

which somewhat explains why he went to Hexside with a more cynical attitude

and when he wanted the president of the human appreciation society position he tried to take it via Dishonest means like how his old friends used to tell him

"" you can have anything you want, if your strong enough to take it ""

but He shows in the end of this episode he does appreciate Gus for who he is in his own way and offers to help with construction of the defences of the ruins where the Galderstones are kept

so Matt can be nice on occasion without any sort of ulterior motive.

Also I just love how in "" For the future "" he's so cringe at times to everyone around him but Matt literally just doesn't care lol

He's so unapologetic about it 😂😂 plus even Gus himself says in the episode that Matt does actually make a pretty good leader with his well thought out ideas for how to run the survivors group at Hexside so Matty is actually pretty smart.

and also another reason to love Matt is this, which was actually his first appearance in the show

Big heads are a massive cuteness trigger for me so this is perfect 😭😭😭😭 also keep in mind that if Gus and Matt did get together and ended up getting married and Gus took his surname

Then Gus's name would be their ship name ( Gus Tholomule ) so that's another win

like how many other ships can you say that about huh, lol the show needs another season just so this can happen 😆😆😆😆

Sooo yeah bottom line I love little Matt he's dramatic he's snarky he's devious and he's underneath a nice dude who is fairly smart ( except for the whole big head thing lol ) and I'm a Gustholomule shipper

Since they both are Dramatic and have an interest in Human Realm things and can probably relate over having had fake friends who just used them for stuff

So yeah that concludes my short Matt appreciation post to end things look at his little devilish face its so cute 😂😂

[secretly-of-course]

The Emperor's Right Hand Man

[Image ID: two digital illustrations, the first of witch depicts the recipe for a grimwalker. Listed from top to bottom is "Galderstone" drawn next to a blue crystal, "Palistrom Wood" drawn next to a log of blue wood, "Stonesleeper Lungs" drawn with a pair of stone lungs, "Selkidomus Scales," drawn with a section of purple fish scales, and "Bone of Ortet" drawn with the skeleton of a human left hand. The second illustration shows Belos from the waist up clutching the hand skeleton in his fist and saying, "How amusing, Caleb. Your left hand will become my right." Both images have dark backgrounds.]

More of my thoughts on this theory beneath the cut! (Spoilers for Thanks to Them)

Okay so we all know Hunter is a grimwalker made from one of Caleb's bones, but I'm convinced it was his left hand specifically.

Like much of the fandom throughout season 2, I was intrigued by Hunter's gloves and his seemingly increased sensitivity regarding his hands. Like most people, I believed he had some scars there, or heck at least eczema, and couldn't wait for the show to finally reveal the mystery of Hunter's hands.

But then Disney Channel released the Monstober promo featuring this clip from Thanks to Them.

[image ID: A screenshot of Luz and Hunter staring straight ahead while Gus looks very excited. Hunter is noticeably not wearing gloves as he holds a flip-phone like object and his hands have no visible scars.]

And I just went!!! what the heck!!! all that build up for nothing!? His hands were just so casually revealed like that? The episode wasn't even out yet and I was already going out of my mind trying to figure out what was going on there.

And then I got to Chapter 16 of Mr_Spinner's incredible fic Strength in Body and Mind and it all started to make sense. I won't spoil too much of the story for those who haven't read it yet, but a part of the plot involves Belos making a grimwalker out of Hunter's wisdom fangs, and this grimwalker often experiences pain in his teeth because of that. Hunter's hand(s) could very likely cause him pain for the exact same reason. Then couple that with the fact that as the Golden Guard, Hunter is often referred to as "The Emperor's Right Hand Man." No matter which hand was used, Belos would think that was hilarious, this is the same guy who came up with the name "Hunter" for a witch hunter's grimwalker.

So why the left hand specifically? Well, first in Hollow Mind it's Hunter's left hand that starts to tremble when the bird palisman disintegrates

[image ID: Two screenshots from Hollow Mind. The first shows Hunter's left hand holding a bird palisman as it smokes and turns to ash. The second is a moment after, showing Hunter's left hand is now empty and he is holding it with his right hand to stop it from shaking.]

and in Labyrinth Runners, it's his left hand again that hurts when Gus high-fives him (and no offense to Gus but that was not a very forceful high five).

[image ID: a screenshot from Labyrinth Runners. Gus has just high-fived Hunter and Hunter is recoiling and wincing in pain.]

BUT THEN Thanks to Them aired and I got the most compelling evidence of all.

As a semi-tangent, I'd like to point out first that Belos enters Hunter's bloodstream through the cut on his right hand. This of course is coincidence that Hunter hurt himself there, but it once again underlines the "Right Hand Man" title. This is relevant as the right hand is the only part of his body that Hunter is later not able to regain control over from his possession, which makes sense.

But the part that he first regains control over is his left hand.

[image ID: two screenshots from Thanks to Them showing Possessed Hunter. In the first, Hunter is using his left arm to restrain his right arm that Belos is using to harm Flapjack. In the second, Hunter punches himself in the face using his left hand.]

How interesting would it be if out of all the parts in Hunter's body, the part he was first able to take back from Belos was the part donated to him from Caleb? The only part of him arguably not made by Belos? I think it would be very cool.

Please note that Belos himself is left handed, so if he is having to use his non-dominant right hand here that implies there has to be some serious resistance from the left. It is also the left hand that Hunter uses to throw the Titan's blood in the water, which makes sense given everything I've speculated so far.

Now, there are a couple counter arguments to this theory, the greater of the two being the fact that a hand is made of 27 individual bones. Why wouldn't Belos make 27 grimwalkers then? I propose that they are each too tiny. I mean come on. How could a teeny metacarpal carry the same weight as a femur or a rib? I think it would also be interesting if being made from many small bones instead of one large bone could have contributed to Hunter looking "the most like" Caleb.

The other less substantial argument is that it's actually Hunter's right hand that hurts after Willow shakes his hand in Any Sport In A Storm. To that I would argue Willow is strong. Like, really strong. She shook his hand so vigorously that his entire body was jerking around. I think that would hurt under any circumstances, plus Hunter seems to recover from this quicker than the above mentioned instances.

So what do you all think? I'd love to hear more people's thoughts and theories!

[childlikegoblinqueen]

Pre-Belos Grimwalker Tale Exclusive!

I'm going to post this on AO3 eventually, but this is in response to an ask about eventually exploring the Evoldo's rise to power and the Kingdom of Lovoed/Nommeking where Osran's spirit servant was first sacrificed.

I'm not going to tell anymore of their story (yet), but I wanted to leave this here:

TW: suggestive language, mentions of enslavement and violence, blood, and abuse.

This is a bit more mature than some other stuff, so I am putting it below the veil.

Off to work on Blight of the Living Dead AND some more post SCOM projects.

Root of Evil

The young man took note of his reflection in the mirror outside the old clothing vendor. 

Pale skin. Pale hair. His horns curved back on either side of his head. He looked right. He looked left. Everyone always said they were his finest feature, the way they accented his pointed ears perfectly. 

He drew a spell circle weaving small braids on either side, and with them, tiny springs of lilac flowers and ivy. 

Adjusting his tunic just so, he flicked his tail in satisfaction, and checked the clasp on the green gem he wore dangling from his left ear. The color matched his eyes perfectly.

“I see you are already a witch of taste, sir gardener,” the merchant chuckled, “but I am certain a gentlewitch of your standing would not be wearing your work uniform during the evenings you have not come from work.”

“Ah. You would be surprised,” the young man cleared his throat, “King Alder has made sure that his royal gardeners are held in high regard for our work displaying all the beauty the of the Titan’s flora.”

“Hmmm. My own husband is enamored with the field of firecracker crocuses this time of year.” he nodded.

“Ah!” The young man’s eyes lit up, “That was my first assignment when I got this job! Those fields were pretty enough when I arrived at my post, but the real work in making them that lovely was recognizing where the weeds had set into the flesh beneath the soil.”

“And how would one figure that out?” The shopkeeper scratched his chin.

“Well!” the young man clapped his hands together, “where I was born, my parents taught me how to recognize rash weeds on the Titan’s skin. If you scratch them at just the right place you can relieve all of them and your plants – crocuses especially will give bigger fireballs in the sunset.”

“And this is why the king hires real witches to do this work. To pull up the weeds by the roots that is.” the shopkeeper snapped his fingers, “CLAVI!”

A thin boy, no older than 15 padded out of the shop with a snake measure. 

“Take this gentlewitch’s measurements for one of the new suits.” The shopkeeper ordered. The boy, Clavi worked quickly. Thin cracked hands measured the young man’s chest and lithe shoulders and the space between the middle of his shoulders and his neck. 

Without another word, he disappeared back into the shop to return with a fine deep teal jacket woven with some of the favorite symbols of Lovoed. Stars and swords and snapping snapdragons. A stonesleeper in a muzzle. A basilisk. And galderstones, of course. 

“It’s lovely, truly.” The young man ran a finger over the fabric. He knew he would best save his snails for a day when the rain boiled at its worse, but he’d received a bonus for his last weeks’ work and sent it all to his parents and what harm would it do him to look nice? 

Clavi, smiled slightly from beneath his dark hair. As if he was pleased that the young man admired this garment so much. 

“Did you make this?” he asked the boy. 

“Of course he didn’t!” The merchant stepped in. “I wouldn’t allow its hands on anything in this shop…” he eyed Clavi’s actual hands. Chapped and shaking. Touching the lapel to make sure it sat smooth over the young man’s chest. 

“I mean, to make the item!” The merchant swatted the boy. His ears flicked and he quickly retracted his hands. “The clothing at this shop is 100% made by real witches.” 

“Hmmmm. Is that right?” The young man said steadily. “Real, witches you say?”

Clavi’s shoulders drooped slightly. 

“Oh. don’t expect an answer from him.” The shopkeep laughed. “He had a nasty habit of speaking out of turn when we bought him, so we cut out his tongue.” he leaned in. “Clavi. You and your breed do not sew the items we sell here, do you?”

Clavi raised his tired red eyes to meet the young man’s. Slowly, the boy shook his head. 

“I think that tells me all I need.” The young man slipped out of the jacket. “I thought this was grift avenue! I have to spend my wages carefully, I won’t have any part of my leisure wardrobe be made in a sweatshop full of grimwalker werms.”

“I already told you,” the merchant growled. “that my wares are made by REAL witches. When you say this, what you are truly saying is that there is no fine spider silk from my shop that you would find yourself better dressed in?”

“If you prefer!” The young man snorted. He slid his green eyes over Clavi’s thin body, “but you and I know the truth? Eh?”

“Full of yourself, are you?” The merchant hissed, “you are still just a gardener, you know? Don’t act because you play around in the dirt on the Titan that you are some sort of actual noble! We honest witches are all here to make an honest living! I’ll have you know that Clavi’s ortet was a fine boy with the best embroidery skills and when he was lost in the war, we went through three more attempts to make sure we grew at least one that was up to scratch!”

“You’ll have no luck with this one!” A high pitched voice chuckled. The current head gardener clapped the young man on his shoulder. “His tastes are far beyond what a tourist trap like this could possibly offer!”

The merchant scowled at the newcomers. A band of three more witches, all dressed in the finery that indicated they worked as royal groundskeepers. “Very well, mistress.” he told her. “I suppose none of you – just three steps above scullery maids – would want to wear anything tasteful on your way to the whorehouses full of grimwalker werms?” 

“Ah!” The head gardener laughed. Her three eyes turned up, closed. “You know you may be right there!” she shared a smile with the others, “but our boy here has much more discerning taste than the rest of us!”

“Right.” Chuckled another gardener, “He wouldn‘t lower himself to partake in the fruits of the red eye district.”

“That’s enough.” The young man grumbled.

“Too bad,” the merchant smirked, “You’ll find they are quite compliant to whatever you want. And if not? Well if you pay the house enough, they will make sure the grims comply.”

The young man rolled his green eyes. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I will duck out on tonight’s festivities,” he told the head gardener. “You’re giving me a headache.”

“Ha!” one of the gardeners chuckled. “You’ll find clothing isn’t the only thing that this one has a discerning taste in.”

“That’s none of your concern,” the young man smirked. “I’ll take my leave, if its all the same to you, mistress.”

“It’s your evening off!” chuckled another gardener, “You don’t have to ask!”

“Already have plans without your coworkers, sir snob?” the merchant taunted. “I suppose he has some silly paramour who is enamored with his station in the castle?” 

“He’s enamored with some noble. It’s obvious.” The head gardener chuckled, “we just haven’t figured out who he’s playing with just yet. Now.” she turned to the merchant. “I would LOVE to see what you have for a night of leisure. I’ve not spent my snails on a new bodice and set of silk trousers since last the wailing star passed by.”

____________________

The whistling sound wove its way through the air. The young man waited for the answer. It led him to the walls of the old locked garden with ribbons of red. 

When he finally arrived, he drew three spell circles. One to summon stairs up to the top of the walls, one to rebraid his hair around his horns, and another to grow a bouquet of flowers. 

“Cliche isn’t it?” the witch asked as he stepped over the garden wall, stairs crumbling into the ground behind him. “A royal gardener, wooing a princess?”

She smirked and tossed her tight black curls over her dark shoulder. 

“No more cliche than a princess who is in love with her royal gardener,” the young man chuckled. 

“Hmmmm.” she hummed playfully, “who said I’m in love with you?”

The young man felt his entire armor melt immediately. He let his shoulders fall and his tail twitched with interest. “Guess I’ve got to give these flowers to some other witch then?”

“Oh please!” she rolled her eyes, “come on over here.”

They sat for a while, Shoulder to shoulder, saying very little. Watching the stars reflect over the top of the knee high above. 

“Why did you want to meet here?” he asked quietly, “Instead of in town? Or you know… uhhh.?”

“In my room?” the princess’ smile grew playful. “My father is entertaining guests. Traveling oracles from the left palm I think.”

“Your father. King Alder, is entertaining foreigners?” he mocked a choke, “That would imply that he agrees to admit that there's parts of the Titan that do NOT belong to him.” he narrowed his eyes, “What’s his game, Thistle?”

“No clue.” the princess sighed, “But he’s been looking for a royal oracle for years. He must be pretty desperate since this one set up shop in the middle of town. My brother seems pretty taken with the older of the two though.” 

“Your father would never marry off his prize possession to a traveling oracle.” the young man shook his head, “not unless they could bring him a pretty hefty prize.”

“True.” Thistle laughed, “But they can have fun without a marriage contract. Unlike a spare, like myself, The Titan has plans and Calix is meant for great things. I am but a pawn to be married off to some minor cousin of a noblewitch to increase the king’s reserve of galdorstones!”

The young man’s chest went heavy. 

“I didn’t mean…” Thistle shook her head. “I had to fake a headache to get out of the banquet tonight. Calix is all MOONEYED over the older guest like he wants to have a very particular kind of Midnight Conjuring with him.”

“That’s a terrible joke, Thistle.” The young man laughed. 

“Like you haven’t thought of that one for us” Thistle shook her head. Their gazes met. “Anyway, the younger brother gives me the literal creeps. It’s like he’s using his sight to see what’s beneath my skirts.”

“So don’t wear skirts?” The young man raised a brow suggestively. 

“Oh shut up!” Thistle threw her head back. “You know I prefer my market slacks anyway!”

“So.” The young man cleared his throat, “Before the merchant oracle sweeps you off your feet for a cliche tryst, do you think I might be allowed a kiss goodbye?”

“Oh, please.” Thistle smiled. She slipped her hands over his chest, “You know the only ‘cliche tryst��� I’m interested in is ours.”

The young man leaned in. The heat of their lips nearly pressed together, when he felt a weight on his left ear. 

“You know I won’t kiss you,” the princess said, “unless I can look at you as you actually are.” 

The young man nodded slowly. He let her release the concealment stone. 

“Thistle –” he whispered. He could see his bright magenta eyes reflected in her dark gaze. 

She smiled and closed the space with a kiss.

[asherisawkward]

Are there any headcanons that make Belos worse than he is on the show that you enjoy?

I headcanon that he went back and killed the Fang brothers after he got the Collector’s disk because they tried to burn his journal.

He overworks and keeps the scouts in poor conditions so they’ll be too exhausted and stressed to plan a revolt of any time.

There is an eighty percent chance that Coven Head Scooter Crane was murdered by other Coven Heads, Raine, or Philip himself. Regardless of this, Philip doesn’t care and actively encouraged infighting and competition between the Coven Heads, so they won’t notice what he’s planning.

Philip tormented Lilith in the Emperor’s Coven by giving her nearly impossible tasks and threatening to kick her from the coven if she failed before letting her stay if she did under the guise of mercy, but it’s really just so he can torment her more. This is because she broke his nose in the Deadwardian Era.

Philip is intentionally creating a Palistrom tree shortage so that witches are unable to make Palismen, which would make it easier to fight him.

To make Grimwalkers, Philip hunts baby Selkidomus instead of adult ones, because he doesn’t know how long scales keep before they go brittle, and he doesn’t want a lot of resources wasted. Baby Selkidomus are just sized better for his needs.

When the Grimwalkers find out about the truth, Philip often “attempts” to kill them but fails intentionally to see how they react. He doesn’t even realize he’s doing it, but he’s pushing them to leave so he has a reason to kill that one and start again fresh.

Philip and the Collector had bingo cards for the way that the former kills the Grimwalkers. The latter of the pair has more bingos.

Philip re-uses Galderstones whenever he can’t find more of them for new Grimwalkers.

He was probably forced to cannibalize his brother’s corpse some time during his years living in a cave. It was a very low point for him.

[iamchaos1234]

Why not? Hunter headcanons, let's go! (TW mentions of blood, gore, death, bullying, etc)(holy shit that's a lot-)

Since he is a grimwalker that has a few affects on him. In the dark his eyes glow faintly blue, which he hates since it reminds him of Belos.

Another affect of being a grimwalker, since one of the ingredients to create one is Stonesleeper, Hunter's ears are very sensitive and ticklish. Willow loves to scratch him behind the ears, and it helps him sleep

Last grimwalker thing I'll address right now, his hair grows much faster than most. His canines are also a bit more prominent and large, causing a bit of a fanged look

He couldn't die, per se, unless the galderstone was directly damaged or all energy was drained from it too fast, such as using very powerful spells or bleeding so much it spent all its energy and had no time to recover

Hunter got hardly any sleep back as the golden guard as his only time with no duties was after hours, which was a very small time frame at night. And often times instead of sleeping he would research how to help Belos's curse, so at most he normally got 2-4 hours.

In addition, even after he ran away from the emperors coven and even in the human realm, he felt guilty for sleeping more than he used to, thinking of it as a waste of precious time.

He sleeps way better when with Willow or Luz

Hunter, after the events of Watching and Dreaming, went back to the human realm with Luz. He needed time to recover from everything, and went with Luz to help with repairs. After a couple years he returned back fully, staying with Darius. He considers himself both a Noceda and a Deamonne

He 100% got obsessed with video games in the human realm. His favorites were Zelda, especially BOTW and TOTK. He also loves animal crossing and pokemon sword. His favorite pokemon is Zacian.

Hunter hates eating in front of others. He has extreme food guilt and starves himself temporarily as a punishment to himself if he makes a mistake. This stems from the fact Belos would cut off his food if he messed up, as well as water.

When he upsets others he will often hide in the basement in a closet. Hunter feels removing himself is the best solution to most problems. Gus is the only one who really knows this, though Luz finds out later.

Panic attacks got more common after Hollow Mind, though he did have a few before then. Every time he would lock his door and curl up in a corner. He didn't want to show weakness.

After Hollow Mind he would have very strong reactions to certain triggers, and it only got worse as things continued. His eyes glowing was one of them, as well as when his hair got too long. Emperors guards also made him panic, worried they would take him back. Even Belos's name would make him start hyperventilating.

The scar across his cheek is from Belos, who got mad at him when he snapped at Belos from concern about the curse. He blamed himself fully.

The nick on his ear however, is from a particularly brutal training session. His ear was sliced almost in half, and it bled a lot but he kept fighting. He won.

Hunter has so many scars its hard to count. Some from Golden Guard training, which was vigorous and brutal. Others from taking hits for his friends in the final battles. There is one scar on his upper arm he got from tripping down a flight of stairs in the emperors palace. He isn't proud of that.

He feels guilty for letting Luz get a scar. He doesn't want anyone else to have to live with it like he does. He has a hard time not tearing up when he sees it.

Hunter went to school with Luz at her human school for the years he lived with her, saying he was a brother who had been in a boarding school before. He was very protective of Luz but ended up being a target for bullying as well.

Despite look tough to others he is very sensitive. He would sometimes come home with tears in his eyes from those bullies. Luz beat the shit out of them the very next day. Eventually they just stopped since Luz started fighting back

Hunter hates crying. He only really cries in front of Luz, but anyone else he finds it incredibly stupid and embarrassing. It's just a weakness he should hide is what he thinks. So he normally does. He had to back as the golden guard, so why not now?

Multiple times when training he almost died. One time his stomach got ripped open by a slitherbeast during the venture up the knee. That scar in particular he avoids looking at

Hunter is very strongly bonded with Luz. They act very much like true siblings, often annoying each other on purpose and wrestling, but both know when to stop and both are very comforting and protective of the other.

His connection with Vee is a bit less strong, but he did punch a bully hard enough to knock out a few teeth when they were messing with her. So that's something.

Hunter apologizes to Vee almost constantly for being one of the people to imprison her. He offers to have her punish him, which absolutely horrified her. They are chill now, and like to binge watch shows together

He 100% has a fursona which he is very proud of. Hunter would never admit it but he considers himself a furry. It's one of his ways to express himself, and Luz is very supportive of this, helping him design the fursona

At human school Hunter managed to get placed in the same grade as Luz, but he was older than everyone in the classes. He struggled a lot in math, but loved ELA and science. They took him out of class during social studies after he had a severe panic attack during class when the topic reminded him of the whole disaster with Belos

Hunter likes to draw in his free time, at first heavily picked up from Luz. But he eventually gained his own art style, which was a bit more sharp and edgy

He loves musicals and will always stay up to watch them even if everyone else already fell asleep.

Hunter likes rock music, but also enjoys most pop songs. He loves to dance along with Willow to love songs. He hates country music with a passion.

He considers Gus his closest friend. The two absolutely love having sleepovers in which they binge cosmic frontier and share about what's going on in the different dimensions.

Willow ends up asking Hunter out the day he moves back to the boiling isles. He ended up running away, feeling like he was being taunted and that it was some sort of illusion. Willow goes to find him, and he ends up accepting.

It takes him time to get used to dating Willow, but he is very affectionate. Willow loves picking him up.

As a younger kid, Belos was a bit more nice to him and would sometimes play around with him. This was purely to gain his trust, but Hunter still wonders if he ever really cared.

In his time during the human realm after everything he visits Darius like, every other day. They become very close

Hunter definitely has a sweet tooth

My hand hurts but that's all for now lol. Wanna here more headcanons for TOH? Tell me who you want next in the comments, thanks for reading!

[drachenfalter]

I'm really late to point this out, but to all the "Hunter is a Plant" people, friendly reminder that Palistrom wood is not the only ingredient used when creating a Grimwalker!

In fact, we know it's not even the main ingredient, because the book tells us the purpose pretty explicitly.

"Grimwalker:

Galderstone (Heart & Power)

Palistrom wood (keratin)

Stonesleeper lungs

Selkidomus skin

Bone of Ortet"

Keratin is the stuff hair and fingernails are made out of.

Hunter isn't a plant. Only his hair and nails are plant-based.

[trevorendeavors]

Currently thinking about all the side character friendships we never got to fully explore in TOH

Amity & Tinella Nosa

These two have definitely conversed off screen. I wonder what they talk about. Maybe they met at the library, since Nosa is shown to be a lover of books (or at least John DePlume in S1E11). It would also make sense that they’d befriend each other at the library since Amity is shown to have a softer side there (it’s her safe space).

Maybe Nosa asked her for help researching her theories and they started a conversation from there. Whatever the case, Amity is close enough to her that she feels comfortable confiding about her nerves around Luz.

(Second screenshot from 10:09 of the TOH/Amphibia crossover MAP.)

That’s one friendship I think about sometimes. The other one is…

Gus & King

The show has hinted that these two have interacted offscreen. Most notably I think of the voice mail from S2E5.

I think these two bond over being the baby of most friend groups. Also interest in human things, maybe. Imagine if King brought Gus some stuff from Owlbert’s human junk runs.

Last but not least,

Steve & Lilith

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Steve was possibly Lilith’s only friend inside the coven.

We never see Lilith interacting amicably with any other member in the coven. Aside from Lilith’s family, Hooty, and Flora Desplora (who was deliberately sent there to piss Lilith off) no one else attends her job party.

I also find Steve as a character interesting. Just about everyone who enters the Emperor’s coven seems to lose a part of their soul in the work. Hunter, having been raised there, developed a warped sense of friendship in which backstabbing is normal and expected. Lilith, in pursuit of the EC, cursed her sister, her best friend.

Yet somehow, for reasons never truly explained in the show, Steve never seems to lose his spark. He remains just that normal helpful guy that somehow, no one has problems with. Both Hunter and Lilith get along well with him.

I seriously wonder how that happened.

Also it’s confirmed that Steve Tholomule and Matt Tholomule (can’t believe that’s their last name) are half brothers. In the show, it’s said that once you join the coven, you abandon your friends and family forever. And yet, in S2E5, it’s implied that Matt got the map to the Galderstones from Steve in exchange for 35 nuggies. I so wish we got more screen time for Steve. I wanna know more about this dude, I wanna go out for coffee and talk about life with this guy. Just seems so chill.

Which underrated friendship would y’all like to have seen more of?

[marketable-puckshie]

Necromancing? With THAT Bile Sac?

TWs: Platonic Yandere Implied, Necromancy, Self Loathing, Corpses, Characters With Prejudices Who Learn to Overcome Them, Implied Belos Lives AU.

Notes: In which I post about my self insert forcing that old man to unlearn prejudice...eventually. For context, Puck is half human themselves, and at this point I'd put this around mid S2 of the show so they've had time to work on their self loathing and prejudices. Belos is...very forthcoming with his plans once he learns that Puck is willing to let things play out due to loyalty and a certainty that he's going to fail. Puck has bile sac issues due to being half human and specific biological aspects of his mom's demon species.

True necromancy, reviving the dead especially, but anything involving the physical undead or the use of corpses is illegal on the Isles, one of Belos' first laws along with the legal implementation of the Coven System. It was already made widely unacceptable by him, citing that "the Titan wills that corpses be left to rest", but of course he knew that Oracle Magic was still needed and sequestered the use of spirits as something along those lines, seeing that there was only so much he could make publicly unnaccepted.

The research of true necromancy for investigative purposes is strictly regulated, relegated only to high ranking members of his coven, and requires special permissions from Belos himself. Performing it, regardless of your access to the topic, is still prohibited, and doing so guarantees you a cell in the Conformitorium. Sure, maybe making Grimwalkers is breaking his own law, but that's different! What the public doesn't know won't hurt them.

...at some point, Puck realizes that Belos is likely to fail. It relieves them, but it feels...anticlimactic, for him to die full of hate. No true resolution for him while he forces them to work through their prejudices against his kind and their own half blooded nature. How is that fair? Maybe it's a sick sense of responsibility towards him, maybe it's the blood relation however thin it is, but something about that irks him. Makes his skin crawl. Has Belos even been given the chance to walk a mile in a witch's shoes? Puck lives on both sides of the coin and suffers for it, physically and socially- but he knows it can't be much better to be a human raised like Belos, er, Philip was and stuck among witches and demons who are too airheaded to truly ask if there's something to address about him.

By Titan, did he even have a friend before them? Well, calling themselves his 'friend' is a strong term, but he at least acts like it? He thinks (still so unsure of where they stand when he'd tear the Isles apart if something happened to them). What would a friend do...? The answer is simple, obviously, and it's the same thing Belos has been doing ever since Puck gave the other human a chance: help him change. Help him deal with the hate in his heart. How does one even do that...?

And that, they suppose, brings them to the necromancy research chamber. Of course the guards believed him when he said Belos gave them permission, given their closeness- and even if they didn't, it's not like they'd stop them. Puck doesn't have the bile sac for any of these spells. Sif, the little dog Palisman that's only alive because he's a Titan damned disability aid, wouldn't be able to save them without help, and then they'd be in trouble- so really, it's almost guaranteed that they'd never actually try these spells that a normal witch would need a Galderstone for. You'd be crazy to think they'd come here hoping to learn how to make a vessel from scratch, or to move a soul into a new body. They don't realize that Puck is there for exactly those reasons when they close the doors behind him.

"If Philip thinks he's gonna just die when he fails his little witch hunt, then he's got another thing coming. Lets get to work, Sif- we still have to get together a restock list later, so let's not take too long."

The little thing wags his tail and yips, hopping off their shoulder to start sniffing out what they need to look at. Sure, the magic needed to do something like this might land them in the Healing Coven's hands, but it'll be worth it, he thinks.

'Anything to help him the way he's helped me.'