#he spend so long hiding the glyphs from philip

[justarandomart]

Thinking about how the Titan still gave Luz the light glyph even if he knew that she would also give it to Philip in the past

[asherisawkward]

Update to the Relapse AU

In this AU, Caleb drags Philip to a lake for them to relax and have some fun, but they end up falling into the Boiling Isles and meeting Evelyn. Initially, both of the brothers are suspicious and on guard around her, but Caleb starts opening up to Evelyn, and they become friends.

They don’t know quite where there portal back is, so they live together for a little while. Philip is begrudging tolerates Evelyn while they search for a way home. As they spend time together, Caleb and Evelyn start to bond and develop crushes, but the former refuses to move further until Philip is okay with witches to prevent any feelings of betrayal. It takes a lot of effort, but they figure out foods that humans can eat and keep those in stock.

Philip is being the slowest pot to ever boil, but he’s warming up one micro-degree at a time. Then he gets the common mold. I headcanon Philip as the type of child to get the flu every year and almost die each time he gets it. And when Philip gets something his body isn’t used to handling, it goes really badly. Evelyn tends to him while he’s sick due to her resistance to the illness, and Caleb finally locates the portal home. After consultation, the three of them decide that they will wait until Philip is better to go home so nobody gets sick in Gravesfield.

Caleb packs and prepares obsessively, fine tuning a story of how they got lost in the woods and came across a cottage belonging to a woman who rescued them. Evelyn sees that Philip isn’t better and, without talking to Caleb, administers the medicine given to witches and demons that get the Common Mold. In this AU, Hemlock is commonly used in healing potions. Philip gets drastically worse, and Evelyn calls Caleb in.

After a lot of probing about the ingredients, Evelyn tells Caleb everything in the potion, and Caleb sees red. He believes that after all the time they’ve spent in the demon realm and the difficulties they’ve had with finding things they can eat, Evelyn should have NEVER presumed to give anything to Philip without checking with him first. As such, he mischaracterizes her negligence as intentional harm.

This perceived attack on his baby brother has him going back into full witch hunter mode, and he carries Philip to the natural portal and runs back to Gravesfield to get a doctor. He doesn’t realize that he’s carrying a corpse by the time he arrives until the doctor says there’s nothing he can do. With that, Caleb explains the whole story, buries his brother, and sets off to the Boiling Isles to get revenge.

Due to his view that Philip was a victim of witchcraft, he harbors no ill intentions for the situation and refuses to defile his baby brother’s body with witchcraft. Caleb has no such reservations about his own humanity. It’s a quest for vengeance, and he isn’t hiding from that fact.

Over time, he starts manipulating the people he comes across and behaving as he did with Evelyn. This prevents a trail of bodies being led back to him. Caleb has no interest in going back to Gravesfield, instead focusing solely on finding the Collector for access to magic.

He mutilates his body with Wild Magic by replacing parts of his body with various elements of magic—including ingesting Titan’s Blood and surgically implanting a Galderstone inside of himself. This results in a curse of his own, but there are no sentient voices, as he never consumes Palismen. Caleb amasses power and creates a cult by claiming he’s essentially Titan Jesus. The glyphs and Titan’s Blood in his veins are proof, and it gives him a way to explain his unusually long lifespan to the populace.

Meanwhile, he’s fond of the Collector, who reminds him of Philip as a child, and spends a lot more time interacting with him as a form of projection onto them and regression to ease his grief.

Collector (affectionately nicknamed ‘Collie’) begins noticing this and creates an empty shell of Philip’s childhood self, represented as Mindscape Belos. There’s no intelligence behind it, and it’s not even truly sentient, but Caleb latches onto it obsessively, though he doesn’t reveal him to the public.

By this point, Luz is arriving to the Boiling Isles, and Caleb becomes focused on getting her away from witches and demons so she won’t be hurt. As such, he makes a proclamation that all humans found are to be brought to him, and adds another excuse to criminalize Eda (also using Sigils like Belos). This means that Luz and Eda would have to play it very carefully.

There is, of course, lingering resentment towards the Clawthorne sisters do to their relation to Evelyn. He never caught her, so Caleb frequently stresses or torments Lilith as displaced vengeance and makes Eda almost unable to go out in public.

[waywardsunlight]

Second headcanon. This one got really long. Sorry not sorry.

Luz finding glyphs so easily while Belos took forever isn't because Monarch (King's dad) liked Luz or didn't like Belos.

It's because Luz actually likes the system, and Monarch has no power outside the In-Between.

Think about it:

Belos is a witch hunter who's been stuck in a world he hates, full of people he hates, and suffused by a system (magic) that he hates. He hates the Demon Realm so much that he spends the better part of 400 years plotting and enacting a genocide. That's dedication.

This guy would not want to go looking for magic, and he would most assuredly not enjoy using magic in any capacity. In Watching and Dreaming, he literally calls the Demon Realm "this perdition". You know, Hell.

Belos spent literal centuries becoming a mass murderer. This is not a sign of a happy person who likes where he is, and he's not going to devote his energy to figuring out a system he hates that much.

In contrast, Luz shows up and is so immediately enthralled that she asks to become a witch's apprentice the FIRST DAY she spends in the Boiling Isles. DAY 1.

This girl up and decides to drop her entire life back home to learn magic (from a wanted criminal no less!!), and we see her study it obsessively throughout the show. Luz thinks magic is a delight.

Luz doesn't need to be shown the glyphs because her passion for merely existing in the Demon Realm is more than enough to let her find the glyphs and figure out the magic system.

Additional evidence: in Any Sport in a Storm, Luz says part of the reason she loves the Good Witch Azura books is because of the "convoluted magic system"; in Thanks to Them in one of her video diary entries, she says she "can read and write Witch Tongue in five different dialects". This is a girl who loves magic as much as anyone can love a thing.

I also feel like it cheapens both Luz's and Belos' characters and arcs if Monarch was actively trying to help or hinder either of them. The show goes out of its way to shit on the Chosen One trope, and Luz getting active help from a god during the entire show would feel very Chosen One-y. Similarly, it's very in character for Belos to blame an external force (The Titan hiding glyphs from him) for Belos' personal failings (his inability to find glyphs) because Belos is a raging narcissist. Don't take that away from him!

Finally, we saw from Yesterday's Lie that the most you seem to be able to do from the In-Between is talk through reflections. If Monarch were able to do more than that, why would he not have? He's been dead for probably millions of years, because life had to evolve the ability to use magic while living on his body (Young Blood, Old Souls). There was plenty of time for him to try to do more if he were able to. He even says in Watching and Dreaming that he's "been stuck here for quite some time, but at least I can keep an eye on my child...". That doesn't sound like something you'd say if you had any influence over the physical world.

Clearly, yes, he could do more in that he gave Luz his powers and resurrected her, but that also killed him, so it was a single-use-only kind of move.

I think this covers it.

Yeah! I saw this art possibly from the show/cut materials of Philip chopping down plants to find the plant glyph (I haven't seen this in ages, I don't remember where it came from/ I can't verify it so I might guess it's fanart), where you realize that bc Philip's coming at this from a colonial approach and seeing everything as a threat to his way of life unless he can study it and Luz coming at this with awe and a love of a world she's in, it makes a lot of sense that it's easier for her to find glyphs.

I think it's the whole 'Slitherbeast doesn't attack unless you hurt it' thing, that's also true for the Selkidominus and the people of the Boiling Isles. They're all existing on the island and are welcoming to outsiders but when Philip starts chopping down plants and hurting people, the island and the people respond to that negatively and make it harder for him to find the glyphs.

[mythicandco]

How about some bonding time between Edward and Hunter cause Hunter needs a good father 🥺

He'd been staying at the Owl House for about three days now. Hunter had gone back to the castle before anyone realized he was gone, given himself a proper excuse to stay out longer, and then flown back.

Simple as that.

Except it wasn't simple, because there were a pair of humans from three hundred years ago staying at the Owl House, and one of them was his uncle and would eventually become emperor of the Boiling Isles.

He would never admit it, but spending time around people who didn't look down on him or like him any less when he failed was... almost nice. He wasn't going to leave the Emperor's Coven or anything like that, but it was strange being around someone who didn't care if he messed up sometimes.

Hunter remembered when he'd accidentally added the wrong spice to one of Eda's stews and had immediately expected a firm scolding, but instead what he got was a pat on the head, a laugh, and Eda saying "Actually, that'll probably only make it taste better. Thanks, kid."

He'd stood there for nearly ten minutes after the interaction, not knowing how to respond.

Funnily enough, the soup actually did taste a lot better with the "wrong" spice in it.

On the second day, Philip had decided it was a wonderful idea to probe him for information about wild magic. He'd talked on and on about theories and glyph combos and Hunter hadn't been able to stop himself from looking at the man's face and thinking This is a test and if I tell him anything he'll know I've been looking at forbidden magic and punish me again but if I just stand here he'll get mad at me for not answering so what am I supposed to do-

And then, out of nowhere, Edward had walked into the room, taken one look at the proceedings, and calmly told Philip to go and pester Luz or King instead.

And, crazily enough, he'd listened. Edward gave the kid a smile that didn't look patronizing, or hiding anger, or anything. Just a smile, with no thought behind it except a simple and random act of kindness.

The moment the door had closed and Hunter was left alone with Rascal, he'd started crying. Later, at dinner, Edward had noticed his puffy eyes and red cheeks and asked if he wanted to talk about it. When Hunter said "no", he paused, then nodded. He didn’t ask about it any more all dinner. 

It was surreal.

After dinner Edward came into Hunter's room and asked if he felt any better. The boy started crying again and this time even talked (just a little bit), mainly about Rascal and the implications of time travel and how confusing everything was, and afterwards he'd admitted that yes, he felt a little bit better.

The third day found Hunter sitting on the couch next to a happily-chatting pair of humans. Luz and Philip had almost immediately struck a friendship despite the obvious implications, and currently Hunter was fairly certain they were talking about palismen. He'd started tuning them about about twelve minutes ago.

He heard a familiar flutter of wings and a pair of tiny, wooden bird feet land on his head, and looked up at the cardinal palisman.

"You're looking pretty miserable." Hunter sighed.

"No, just tired."

"You're tired a lot," the bird replied. "Edward has trouble sleeping sometimes, too, but not enough to get bags under his eyes. Noticeable ones, at least." They chirped something unintelligible for a few moments before Hunter put two and two together.

"You're not Rascal? Or, I mean - you're Edward's palisman?"

In response, the wooden cardinal hopped down into the boy's lap. There was no scar over their eye. "He was wondering if you wanted to talk again. About - and this is the exact word he used - 'whatever'."

Hunter stood up and headed outside, where Edward was drawing something in the dirt.

"Glyphs?" Hunter asked, curiosity and worry warring for space inside his head. Red flapped past him and landed on Edward's shoulder.

"No," the human replied, stepping back. "Just art." He'd drawn a (rather lopsided-looking) picture of a bird with the end of a long stick, which he now held out to Hunter. "You're a much better artist than I am. Want to take a shot at it?"

Hunter hesitated, gripping the long piece of wood. After a few moments the tension in his shoulders released. Looking at an older version of himself was, somehow, easier than looking at a younger version of Belos. "Sure," he responded.

The worst that he could do was mess up.

[musicals-n-cartoons]

Elsewhere and Elsewhen Reaction

You know what could be fun? If I give my reaction to the newest Owl House episode. I meant to do the last one actually, but I procrastinated. Oh well. On to the show!

Pre-episode thoughts

It's definitely a time travel episode. Or at least a "going to a representation of the past" episode, which is really the same thing. It's not like anyone cared about the Assassin's Creed metaplot.

Episode thoughts

Nice to see Luz hitting the books, I love how studious she is.

Ooh, a party! Is it Lilith's birthday? Oh, it's to celebrate her new job at the museum. Neat! And is that Steve hanging out there? I guess Hooty wants someone from her old workplace, but damn.

So Lilith got a former mentor now, ooh!

No theme song? We're getting a long one this week.

Luz wishes that she can go back in time to ask Philip how to build a portal, and then realizes the obvious.

So, no time magic, but there is an urban legend that "time pools" can do the trick. Eda and Lilith use to look for them when they were kids. Adorable!

So Luz is straight-up calling Lilith her aunt now. Damned, Luz is basically having "divorced parents fighting for custody" energy without her two moms ever needing to be married.

So a device that needs a lot more power than Lilith had, where would Luz get something like that... of course, the Titan's blood! But Luz, you only got so much. Are you sure you want to spend it?

Ha, Luz's getting tired after pulling an all-nighter, while Lilith remains super excited. I feel ya Luz.

Aww, Babysbrough! That's so cute! And Luz impersonates a... "crab maiden"?

Oldest barnacles on her head? How many barnacles did Lilith put on her head before?

Man, the Deadwardian Era is shockingly civilized. Did something happen between now and Belos' reign? Cause it is not looking so savage now.

Eda, meanwhile, is trying to avoid meeting her father. She tries to sneak off disguised as Lilith (not that anyone was buying it), only to get caught by her father. Who's sweet enough to just let her go if she wants to.

There are inside the Skull! Turns out it is sacred ground?

Ooo, Lilith is picking bad vibes from Philip. Philip is Belos confirm?

Yup, he turned out to be evil, what a surprise.

Luz tames a dino!

A confrontation with Philip, but he refuses to give any information up. And it turns out the Collector got nothing to do with the portal? Luz got a cute way of peacing out.

At least Lilith gets to study Deadwellin balusters from a practitioner.

Eda is talking with her father finally! And damn, Eda destroyed Dell's ability to do his job. His hands are trembling! I can see where you are coming from Eda, but he already wants to meet you, and avoiding him for 20 years is kind of hurting him even more, so...

Ah, he's working to restore the population of an endangered specie, Dell's a man after my own heart.

Gasp, Philip is Belos! The theorists were right! So, the liquid body was caused by glyphs on his skin, huh? I wonder what purpose they served, and how palismens were able to stop him from dying. And what does he need the collector for? The collector got a lot of moon symbolism, so they're probably connected to the whole moon thing coming in a month.

Neat trick, having Belos voice overlapping with Philip's one.

Reaction to other reactions

lol at everybody saying that Philip/Belos is basically just an English colonizer. I mean, he really is. That's basically canon.

15,000 recent notes, with the 2nd trending tag. A comically large amount of notes.

OMG FLORA D'ESPLORA WAS DORA THE EXPLORER HOW DID I MISS THAT. That's amazing.

I like the theory that the reason that Philip took much longer than Luz to learn the glyphs is that the Boiling Isles judged him unworthy and was literally hiding it from him.

The dino Luz befriends is a stonesleeper, the same creature whose lung was needed for the grimwalker recipe.

Why are some people saying that Lilith is what made Philip hate witches? People don't become bigots just because someone punched them.

I worried about the moon symbolism that Amity is wearing. What connection does the Collector have with her?

Prediction for future episodes

The next one is... another sports episode? And the description doesn't mention Luz or Eda. Judging from the promo, I am going to guess that Hunter's mission is going to crash into Willow's story and that Luz is going to have a b-plot with Eda.