#it would explain the different palisman

[veroinfaciem]

Dead Cells x The Owl House! (spoilers in the AU LORE and tags)

Ok, so I'm pretty into The Owl House now (hyperfixation you say? pftttt nooooooooo, no no no) and I was thinking like - how would Beheaded look like in TOH universe? What could be his story? And then BAM!!! I was smacked in the head by inspiration! (and let me tell you, I was starving for some)

It turns out he still would be a weirdo but it kind of fits the narrative so it's a win! :D

Enjoy!

Golden Buddies

[jess-the-vampire]

Professor Caduceia and Snakely

Checked out the storyboard for the deleted s1 episode "Homesick"

You can read it here : https://t.co/WpZJFWbR48

I just loved these cut villains, one whose design def seemed like it was given to raine when they got cut. (I wonder if the color palette was similar, but we don't have a reference to that so idk)

Thoughts on the cut episode below:

An episode where king and owlbert of all characters bond is kinda neat, especially since it provides owlbert himself a bit more character here.

The opening is def far different from any of the final ones we ever see in the series, in fact it feels like it should be taking place during the episode but it can't be given we see hooty from being sick to not being sick in pretty chronological order?

A focus on the healing coven was nice to see, especially since we never got that in the show itself, and get some idea of their powerset and what they do magic wise.

So Manny was an ambulance driver, and Camila was a nurse in this. People originally assumed camila was a nurse when the show started, and it makes me wonder if that was changed between seasons at some point cause clearly the crew decided to change her profession and it's unclear why.

you can use your palisman as a communicator? and an umbrella? I do think it's so weird that even at the very end of the show, they establish brand new rules for palisman. Like them being able to shapeshift into objects is straight up not explained and just sorta....happens in the show, like i feel like hunter would have no issue hiding flap if this is a thing. (It also kinda makes stringbean's ability slightly less unique) Like this is displayed in these boards, but they kept it even in the show itself, and i think palisman might need a proper rulebook.

On that same note, owlbert uses magic in this board, like we kinda knew palisman could do some magic without a witch, but this is the only time we've seen one use it to fight another witch that wasn't the batqueen. Like owlbert tries to full on blast people in this. I don't know if removing this episode makes this ability less canon in the world itself since they still can do magic in the show, it's just worth noting that palisman, according to this board, CAN fight back, even if they're not incredibly strong it seems. Certainly the kinda thing that makes you think on other episodes tbh.

This episode also brings up the idea that eda actually CAN and DOES bring human food to the BI, which never happens in the show, in fact luz implies she gets to eat very little options there, so this idea seems no longer canon?

The demon hunters at one point don't even seem to recognize owlbert as a palisman, which does not entirely make sense given they seem to be mostly common to the townsfolk, so I'm kinda glad for that plot hole being gone.

Caduceia makes it out like the emperor's coven forced her to teach? and she thought handing over a house demon to belos would get her out of teaching as if it were some kinda punishment or job she was made to do? I have questions

side note, house demons are called rare in this, like they're not common, not sure if this still applies in the final show, but yeah.

there's some very sweet moments in this with luz and eda especially, but also some funny moments, and some jokes that land a little less....i don't think we needed Caduceia to be kissing her snake like that from that angle, even if it was meant to be a little uncomfortable.

one reason i think this episode did get cut? we got a glyph in this

a healing glyph, which has some ties to water based on it's symbol

i'm guessing since they kept the main glyphs element based, a healing glyph would of stuck out and been a bit weird. Like it just heals people, it doesn't produce water despite looking close to the alchemy symbol for water, and well....we already got ice so this would be redundent.

so yeah, this episode introduced a new glyph that saved them in the end so it would of come back in future episodes, but to keep it simple that would mean cutting the entire episode as a whole just to keep the four.

Since they enjoyed Caduceia's design so much, they must've repurposed it for raine somewhere down the line.

very fun insight into a scrapped episode.

[tartsinarat]

He’s just a lil creature

Unlike Belos’s cursed form, Pip actually has two versions. The one drawn here is when he has enough magic stored inside, is a Frankenstein-ed up mess between a basilisk and whatever Belos’s curse in canon is meant to be but because curses in general aren’t explained in explicit detail (especially belos’s one) I thought it would be neat to attempt to give it a cool headcanon

so my idea of what creature these two got stuffed with is something that’s nicknamed a “false Titan” which are a long extinct species of demon? (They might be a sub category of titan though I’m not too sure yet :/) that evolved to mimic titans in order to better hunt their children as well as hunt smaller species of titan that don’t grow to be giants, these guys ended up getting killed off in the war between archivists and titans because the archivists couldn’t tell the difference between the two species but one archivist eventually did and captured one of them for safe keeping/ preserving.

Evelyn was a seller of all kinds of dangerous magical artefacts and human items, she mostly used her business as fun hobby as well to help Caleb with starting their carving business that they wanted to do together because Evelyn running around exploring dangerous ruins wasn’t a good idea because they obviously were planning on starting a family together. Uh that kind of failed spectacularly ngl when the whole fight between Caleb and Philip started so Evelyn in revenge literally grabbed every curse she had in storage and just murked Philip with them after seeing Caleb dead, one of the curses just so happened to be the “false titan” which Philip wasn’t able to remove.

So The reason why Belos snacks on palisman is because they’re grown from using titan magic as well as they have healing properties so like how Eda eats voles, Belos is addicted to eating titan magic because of the curse, also by having the glyphs carved into his arms he fucked himself over even more because the glyphs need to have magic/ energy to function but that then causes the curse to get more agitated and causes the slime/rotting

Obviously Pip ended up getting cursed too because it got passed onto him but due to him being a weird amalgamation of grimwalker parts and basilisk, Pip isnt really interested in eating titan magic and can eat most magic just fine, so King or palisman aren’t in danger around him… but he is carnivorous and has to actually eat the creature to drain the magic rather than just inhaling it Kirby style like how basilisks do

A fun fact about that is that Luz just assumed that Pip just casually eating raw meat was just a witch thing until she learned more about witch diets/ foods and was somewhat horrified and intrigued by what the fuck is up with Pip even more. It’s even funnier when they all eventually go the human realm and Pip is just like this with a piece of raw meat or something

and Luz got so desensitised to Pip and his horrifying habits that she completely forgot to give a heads up to Camila, who at that time just assumed that Pip was just a normal human that was brought into the boiling isles or something and so she was completely taken off guard that out of the gang Pip is the least human/ knowledgeable in acting as a human, she’s mostly fine with it afterwards and only sets a few rules like making sure to not leave blood everywhere but she does almost have a heart attack seeing Pip’s cursed form just napping on the sofa like a weird giant cat

a wild GH masterpost link has appeared!

[lazydaisyhuntlow]

TOH Meta: Hexside analysis (size, schedule, clubs, staff roster)

We spend a lot of time at Hexside School of Magic and Demonics throughout the course of the series, but some things are never really explained. For my own reference, I'm compiling as much canon information here as I can about Hexside and the people who work there (plus a couple headcanons).

1. How many students attend Hexside?

In the show, most track-specific class sizes range from 3-4 students. For example, this Abominations 101 class from season one has 4 students, with seating space for 12 max.

However, I have reason to believe that this is not all the Abominations students! There are probably other classes for advanced students that meet later in the day (more on that in the Scheduling section below).

Let's say there's a (generous) average of 8-12 students per track. Multiply that by 9 tracks and we get 72-108 students, plus 8 in the baby class, for a total of about 80-116 students total.

The all-school assembly in Labyrinth Runners seems about that size.

Yep, around 100 students. Hexside is quite small! I wonder if St. Epiderm and Glandus are similarly sized?

2. What is the schedule like?

Upon Luz' arrival, Bump gives her a schedule for the day with 6 different potions classes. I know this is meant to be a joke but I'm accepting that Hexside has a 6-block schedule where classes gradually increase in difficulty (hopefully with a lunch break somewhere!!) and that electives (club meetings, free periods, or any non-track-specific class like history/math/PE) are less frequent.

Gus mentions 'moving up a few grades', but since it's essentially a tiny K-12 school and the options at Luz' entrance exam are A) the baby class or B) the not-baby class... I think it's more likely the students are separated by level/ability, not strictly by age.

My headcanon is that the morning (periods 1-3) is for the beginner-level track classes. During this time, older students go to their electives like PE, history, math, language, independent study, or maybe apprenticeships. In the afternoon (periods 4-6), they switch: track professors do advanced classes with the older students, while the younger ones go to their electives. But even if this is not the case, with such small classes, it would be easy to differentiate to multiple levels and give each student lots of one-on-one attention.

3. What clubs are there?

From the club fair in Any Sport in a Storm, we know that Hexside has a lot of student clubs, including:

Grudgby, Flyer Derby, The Good Witch Azura book club, Swimming, Hexas Hold'em, Screech and Debate, Fear Book, Drama, Gardening, Arts & Witchcrafts, Skullpting, Casket Weaving, Brews n' Stews, Inner Demons, Scrying Committee, and Psychics.

There is a school newspaper called the Hexside Free Press. Gus is a member.

Gus is also the president of the Human Appreciation Society (not to be confused with the roleplaying Human Fantasy Club down the hall).

4. Who are the teachers?

Principal Hieronymus Bump

Attended Hexside as an abominations student (and played flyer derby!), joined the abominations coven, and came back to work as a teacher. Firm, fair, open-minded, will defend his students from threats. Retires during the timeskip.

Professor Hermonculus - Abominations Track

Critical, strict, petty. Punishes his students with extra homework. Holds a grudge against Willow for changing to the plant track. Sends Amity to the principal's office. Plays flyer derby.

His palisman is an abomination-goo cat-bat thing. Also, he appears to have recruited a literal kindergartener to play this deadly contact sport? Nice.

Unnamed purple triclops demon - Illusions Track

Stylish, caring, protective of her students -- in Labyrinth Runners her priority was to get Gus away from the Coven Scouts, and she was willing to trade Hunter back to Belos to accomplish that goal (though she probably didn't know or care what would happen to him). Seems to do a lot of assessments; encourages creativity and humor in her students. She becomes the new principal after Bump's retirement. My headcanon name: Professor Houdine

Unnamed spider demon - kindergarten/baby class

Super cute and appears to be a genuinely good teacher! Field trips, story time, plushies all over the classroom. I hope she was okay after the day of unity because the kindergarteners descended into madness without her. My headcanon name: Cera Fangston

Unnamed parrot (?) demon - Potions Track

Put a pun ("Let's mix it up!") and little doodles of potions flasks on her board, which I appreciate. Spends a lot of time with Boscha and appears to do nothing about her bullying other students, which I do not appreciate. My headcanon name: Professor Sinder

Unnamed bicorn - Oracle Track

Serious, mysterious, detail-oriented. Cool aesthetic, but... let's be honest. That is WAY too many chalkboards. I can see why she has to keep her crystal balls in the hallway! Also, the oracle track's whole thing is ghosts, but I guess she ignored the decades-old ghost infestation in the girls' changing room and left it for other people to clean up?

Yeah. So she's either not very powerful or not very considerate of her colleagues. Maybe she's the one who keeps eating all the donuts in the staff room. My headcanon name: Professor Claire Lydgate

Unnamed snake (?) demon - History, math (?)

He doesn't like chatting in his classroom, but he LOVES grudgby! He teaches History and something about the Heximal System, so that's possibly a lower-level math class? His classes appear to be larger and include students from many different tracks.

My headcanon name: Professor Ladon

Unnamed gray demon - detention track (temporary)

Sarcastic, uses his scroll a lot, punishes students with cleaning the classroom, can sleep through anything. Was only supposed to be in charge of detention track temporarily while the detention pit was being repaired, but he stuck around in the background til the end of season 2 so I guess they found something for him to do. Maybe he's a substitute? Also a contender for the donut thief. My headcanon name: Mr. Eyevan Urgus

Unnamed blue demon with wig - Bard Track (?)

This guy appears in the background in Labyrinth Runners. I'm guessing he's the bard professor because... uhh... his robe is red (the Bard coven color) and the powdered wig reminds me of Mozart. I know that's kind of a stretch, but the only other thing we know about the Bard professor is that they leave during the timeskip so Skara can take over, so it's possible! My headcanon name: Professor Presto

Miss Jenkinmeyer (no image) - possibly a staff member while Eda was attending Hexside. There was an incident involving her teeth which wound up in Eda's permanent file.

Hexside Guards (temporary security guards) - can literally smell trouble. They were supposed to be protecting students, but they ended up throwing a lot of people into the detention pit.

That brings us to the end of all the canon staff members. Who is missing? We have no information on professors for the Healing, Plant, Beastkeeping, and Construction tracks, plus the cafeteria staff.

I don't know if it's fair to make the snake-demon guy handle all the electives for every single student, so let's give him some help. One more electives teacher for "Spelling" (possibly language arts?). Heck, I'll throw in astronomy as well because the movements of celestial bodies appear to be very important for casting powerful spells in the show.

Also... Hexside has a drama program and a championship sports program, both with VERY nice facilities.

They definitely need teachers to oversee those. Maybe the Bard and Illusions professors team up for drama, and the PE teacher is also the Grudgby coach?

I have ideas for OCs for all those positions, but maybe I'll make that a separate post so this one can be mostly canon.

5. What about the building itself?

There's a lot going on! Aside from all the classrooms, they have a cafeteria, a detention pit with tunnels under the school, a gym, an auditorium, an outdoor athletics field, Grom's prison under the gym, and this cool round atrium near the entrance.

There are multiple floors, but I don't remember seeing stairs anywhere except for the seating in the gym.

The abominations students have to wheel their homework everywhere anyway, so maybe there are no stairs and it's all spiraling ramps?

Yay for wheelbarrow accessibility!

Lastly, Eda's Secret Room of Shortcuts. It's one of the coolest concepts in the whole show, I wish we got to see it more.

To anyone who made it this far, thank you for reading! Let me know if I should add anything :)

[numericalbridge]

Another thing that gets me about the fandom's reaction to Darius is that, ok, even if you think there should've been a scene of him directly apologizing to Hunter, considering the age of the target audience... why is Darius specifically singled out and condemed for the absence of such a scene when there is a pattern in the show of the characters displaying 'worse' behavior in the beginning and then switching to a milder characterization without the narrative focusing on the change?

Amity making her abomination draw on Willow's forehead when they are all alone, s1 Lilith looking down on others and her weird comments about humans, Bump's characterization switch before and after Hunting Palisman, Alador playing with Bump's palisman (that helps him see!!!) while his daughter's friends are getting expelled, Collector seemingly acting gleefuly over others suffering in s2? Even many of Eda's interactions with King who is meant to be 8 old. And some of these you can interpret as intentional absense of the full info at the beginning and some of the switches might be excused with character development happening off screen (i even began to understand Bump's characterization switch better on the rewatch)... still in my opinion there is a certain writing awkwardness in many of these cases, and i find this pattern to be one of the flaws of the show.

Yet all these are often excused or even barely aknowledged by the fandom, and when not excused then are seen as flaws in the writing, but not the end of the world for those characters.

And, ok, i admit, i don't actually think Darius really falls into that pattern, i think his behavior is much more consistent than the examples above and more easily explained, if you think about his character for a moment and pay attention to his scenes instead of condeming him outright. I think his relationship with Hunter is a very straighforward case of the 'adult is mean to a child before getting attached' that is played out again and again in media, often with the adults being meaner and for a longer time towards even younger kids. And that trope should be examined critically too, sure, but why is the Black character condemed for it like this, but not all the white characters across all those other shows and books and games and comics? Although i do think there should've been a moment of Darius apologizing to Hunter or talking to someone else about his thought process, but i would want it more for Darius's own character, not because i think he did something so irredeemable.

So why is then Darius's case so different for the toh fandom specifically? If you (general you) also see all those other cases above as flawed writing, then why is only Darius so widely condemned as a person instead of looking at his writing from the same perspective? Especially since ASIAS had not even allowed Willow - a major character - to have a conclusion for her part of the story. Maybe a better point of discussion would be why toh's characters of color get less time dedicated to them and their development than white characters of the same narrative importance. Why did Alador get 2 episodes where he could verbalize his thoughts, why did Gwen get the resolution in one episode that still had some focus on her thought process and realization of her mistakes?

And if you don't see all those other cases as a writing flaw at all and think it is natural for all those other characters to have offscreen development or excuse everything - even the sidelining of Gus and Willow - with the shortening, then why is Darius viewed differently and why does he have to self-flagellate for his mistakes on screen or otherwise he is a considered a bad person in-universe and a bad character unworthy of positive attention?

Why was Camila also widely hated before s3 and had to 'prove' herself in the fandom's eyes by taking care of the white child and being a fellow pop-culture nerd all the while Eda had threatened an elementary schooler with physical violence over stealing her elixir and still was considered the best? How did the super fans manage to examine all those memory portraits and figure out the story for Caleb and Evelyn or invent a sob story for Graye after one episode, but the oddities with Darius's supposed villainy in ER or even his openly upset expressions during the Blimp scene in ASIAS didn't even register for them?

[enfphunter]

CW FOR GORE/DISTURBING IMAGERY

THE BELOS CANNIBALISM THEORY

this is realllyyy dark, but i have a headcanon where belos eats his grimwalkers, not all of them, but some of them. obviously i wasn't going to draw straightforward cannibalism so i made it a bit more symbolic in this drawing, you can probably infer whats happening w/o needing to explain anything soooo

there isn't too much of a reason for this headcanon or theory, but i guess you could say it's because of the probable lack of grimwalker bodies in belos's "pit of failures" (theres thousands at least and it seems more like hundreds in the pit), there also isn't very much human-friendly food in the boiling isles so belos would have to resort to things such as palisman, and then grimwalkers, secretly, lastly, i think it just makes sense with his sadistic personality, and feeling the need to torture those he hates as much as he possibly can.

PS: DON"T ATTACK ME BECAUSE OF THE FACT GRIMWALKERS DONT HAVE THEM SAME ANATOMY AS HUMANS, I KNOW THAT. The Owl House only ever confirmed the ingredients of: Galdorstone (heart), Selkidomus scales (skin layers/extra protection), Palistrom Wood (keratin), Stonesleeper lungs, and Bones of Ortet (Caleb's bones), which is exactly why I drew some of the digestive track, because I'm assuming grimwalkers have it ?? It would be pretty impossible to live without at least one of them so yk

The grimwalkers in the series are also human based, with human function, only with the appearance of a witch and some extra differences you can't really notice most of the time, it would make sense that human-based grimwalkers share at least SOME human organs :p

[kindestegg]

Analyzing all the differences in the storyboards posted by Yasmin Khudari and the final product! - Part 1: No Collector Edition

Hello everyone!! Today I bring you a different kind of meta post than usual... I'm sure some of you are already aware that Yasmin Khudari who worked on The Owl House has posted quite a lot of storyboards for episodes in season 2B and For the Future as well. I will reblog this post with the link to her site later (as if I believe correctly the issue with posts with external links on them getting shadowbanned still is not fixed).

But for now! Under the cut, I will point out every difference between the storyboards and the final cut and what this could mean! There's a lot of exciting stuff to go through, so much so in fact that I will have to cut this post in half to showcase the Collector related storyboards elsewhere because there is just! So much ground to cover! And the 30 image limit would burst!!! (I know this because I've literally tried.)

(A small side note... I have elected to sometimes to not show picture evidence of things changing because we do have a 30 images limit here and I want to hopefully talk about all the changes!)

Starting with Season 2 Episode 12, Elsewhere and Elsewhen, we have this cute little scene of Lilith cutting some branches out of the way while Luz follows her and does a little twirl. I imagine this was just cut because it wasn't very necessary, but it is cute as hell.

In the final episode, they cut directly to the scene where Lilith is looking at her book showing the Pools of Time entry.

Another subtle difference likely cut for time, Lilith originally would sniff the seaweed brought by her palisman that ended up on Luz's head. In the final episode, this little action is absent.

Something that was not cut but rather added this time! In the storyboards, Lilith only goes "Eh?" when she thinks she failed in finding the time pools, whereas in the final episode, she goes into her whole spiel about how she "triple checked all her calculations, her equipment is first rate". It's possible that while the moments seen before were cut, this was added instead.

There is also another slight divergence in dialogue. In the final episode, Lilith's monologue goes: "Maybe the blood was too dry? Is it not algae blooming season?" Whereas here Lilith wonders if the map was outdated or if the oak was a bit more of a pine before wondering if it's not algae blooming season.

And finally, there is a moment that was also cut from the finale episode where Luz is wowed by the discovery of the prehistoric Boiling Isles, but finds out she can't breathe in there. This would explain why in the final episode she is heard coughing before pulling her head back out.

I do think it's a shame this was cut as it would better explain why she was coughing and would be a neat little nod to the fact the air would have been different in that era of time.

Next, we have another set of boards for Elsewhere and Elsewhen, this time showcasing Luz and Lilith traveling with Philip to the head. I'm excited to get to this one because this has some juicy changes I want to discuss.

And our first change already shows exactly what I mean: there is no mention of The Collector in these boards. Instead, both Luz and Philip are seeking something called "The Song of Stars".

And equally, Luz doesn't refer to it as a "he" who can tell them how to clear the mist, but rather just something that can grant them power.

Is it possible that at the point in time these boards were getting done, the Collector was not yet meant to be a character? Maybe the Song of Stars was rather some kind of powerful spell, something that would grant Philip a power similar to the draining spell.

Smaller detail but just something I thought was cute: In the original boards, Luz did not say "snap snap snap" out loud, so I'm glad that was added in the final cut. It's cute!

But you know what did not make the cut? Philip being a suck up to flatter Luz and Luz being absolutely adorable about it. He calls her crab language "beautiful" and says both her and Lilith are very brave and that they're like warrior princesses, which sure makes Luz happy. Oh, if only her happiness could've lasted.

A blush and happy tears!! My god girl!! I am so sorry your idol turned out to be a douche! You deserved to have kept that happiness!!!

I do have some theories as to why this was cut. Could have been reworked for time, or could have been that they didn't think people may get the reference (this reads like a Xena Warrior Princess one to me at least), or even that it might seem odd for him to have that concept...

I do think the blush here is interesting, we have seen characters in the show blush in contexts that aren't romantic such as when they are embarrassed, looking up to someone or think something is cute. So this isn't too odd, Luz is meeting what at the current time is a big idol for her and he is saying very nice things to her, which would understandably get a strong reaction.

Minor change: Luz goes "what!" in the original storyboards before asking if Philip uses glyphs too. Again, very minor change, but! Cute!!!

Interesting change here: In the original boards, Philip does not comment that it took years for him to find the glyphs and that it was almost as if the world wanted to hide them from him.

Instead, he comments he "didn't realize there was one for light as well".

This is REALLY interesting to me, because it also makes me wonder if the subtle theme of it being ambiguous whether the Titan's consciousness lingered and somehow hid the glyphs from Philip or if he was just that disrespectful and stubborn towards the B.I culture and wildlife that the only way he could rationalize his hardship was through the world being against him... was way less present in an earlier draft of the story.

He also does not comment "a warrior and a scholar, truly impressive" at Luz after she tells him she also found a glyph in a snowflake, just being quiet instead. I think that part may have been added to make more thematic sense with Lilith having a small quiet moment of looking weirded out by Philip's flattery right after.

Another minor detail: Luz also blushes in this storyboard when gushing over teaching Philip the light glyph, but this is absent in the final cut. I wonder if this was done so people wouldn't get the wrong idea, or, rather, if "my idol is so cool" gushing would be considered to be something that wouldn't be worth blushing over.

Another instance of The Collector being replaced by The Song of Stars. I find it funny in a silly way that it's in all caps, makes me think of how RPG games will write important key items or boss characters in all caps.

And that's all for the differences in this episode! But before we move onto the next, I wanted to talk a bit more about the Song of Stars because this all just... fascinates me? Coupled with that one storyboard we have seen from The Owl Beast nightmare that showed what seemed to be three figures instead of one, I wonder if back then they were toying with the idea of the celestial magic opposing earthly magic from the titans and the collectors as a species being the reason why titans are gone, but they didn't think to actually have a collector as a character back then, only have them as some distant threat and adding to the lore. The song of stars could have been some kind of powerful spell or weapon left by then way back when, perhaps even what killed the titans.

Maybe we will know once the series ends and we can ask all about the cut storylines that ended up being discarded in favor of the current one. I certainly want to know!

For, Them's The Breaks, Kid, now, we have one minor dialogue change. Eda adds a "honestly", when she says she thought there'd be more (to her misdeeds). Maybe they took it out because she WASN'T being honest? LMAO.

This is an interesting cut line: In the storyboards, before saying she'll be separated from Lilith, Eda says her parents "will kill her". While we know this is classic Eda hyperbole, I think this is interesting because to me it may have been cut due to the fact that this could be seen as odd when her parents have been shown previously to be pretty understanding... or maybe there is more to the Clawthornes than we think of.

I'm definitely not saying Dell and Gwen would be abusive, fucking hell no, but Gwendolyn has at the very least been pretty overbearing on Eda at times, and has made Lilith feel left out, presumably even before the curse if Lilith's desperation to stand out above Eda is anything to go by. Maybe, even without meaning to, Eda and Lilith's parents were pretty strict about getting them a good enough education and nudging them to join the Emperor's Coven. I mean... where do you wonder their aspiration to it came from?

Or, again, I'm just looking too much into this and this line was cut precisely because this wouldn't reflect Dell and Gwen well.

Small detail, in the storyboards, Eda said "I'll do anything to make up for this" instead of just "I'll do anything". I think it's possible they cut this because it made more sense to imply she'd do anything to stay rather than "make up for" things she wasn't truly sorry for.

More small details! Faust doesn't say "no child is beyond redemption", but rather "no one". This is interesting to me because it would imply Bump's life philosophy extends to adults as well, and in my opinion nods to the goodness in his heart.

Also! In the storyboards Eda doesn't laugh nervously, just raises her hand at Bump.

"IFWOT" also used to not have its name be said in the storyboards when Faust explained it to Eda and Bump, instead he simply called it a "special training program for gifted students of the Isles". I think this was more of a change to let us know of the name really, and it's possible they didn't have the name when it was boarded.

And finally, Faust was I guess supposed to laugh offscreen when he walked away, but this is absent from the final episode. I guess they either thought he might not be the type or they just forgot to add it, after all it would require someone to remember to record the line and add an offscreen sound effect.

Another set of boards for the same episode also shows Lilith and Eda in their studying together.

For starters, instead of Lilith saying "Trials for the Emperor's Coven are just around the corner", she says "The Emperor's Coven will be here *any* day" in the storyboards, which to be fair isn't a big difference, specially since the storyboards afterwards continue the same way with Eda pointing out seven months isn't any day/just around the corner.

Also something interesting, when giving Eda her question, Lilith specifies a potency the Leadfoot potion would have. Does this imply that potions can be mixed with varying potency, making some purposefully weaker or purposefully stronger? Maybe as a way to create balance?

Also it is barely a real difference, but I thought it'd be criminal to not let you all know Lilith is described to be "slightly envious" in the storyboards when stating that Eda is correct lol

She also had EEE on her dialogue before saying "imagine us both getting" on the storyboards which I'm sad didn't make it in!

Also there was no dialogue for Lilith pointing to the clock in the original storyboards! I'm guessing they added "look we're gonna be late" as a way to clarify what pointing anxiously at a clock meant lol

The storyboards then cut to way later in the episode, with Raine having transferred to Hexside and Eda meeting them in the cafeteria. Another slight dialogue change is Raine used to simply say their parents were surprisingly cool about it, rather than they hated the cold on the knee like they do in the final product.

It is very faint, but there is also a cut frame of Eda blushing at Raine while smiling here. Very cute!

Raine also used to take a sip while saying "give me the rundown of this place" while cutting that sentence in the middle and going "blegh" because of the taste, rather than in the final cut where they say the full sentence and then take a sip.

I think this may have been cut simply because it made the pacing of the dialogue way too awkward.

And finally, Raine used to laugh at Eda commenting on how much she liked the apple blood, which I think is just cute.

Next up, Labyrinth Runners! We have three different sets of storyboards for this one to get through!

First of all! After Bump takes a fighting stance, the coven scouts look at each other and shrug, which was cut in the final version. Guess they'd usually not think much of Bump huh...

Another set of storyboards shows us a pretty different look at the scene where Adrian has Gus held inside the gym: First of all, for some reason this set of boards is missing all of Adrian's dialogue, which makes it hard for us to infer just how much changed about that from the storyboards to the final cut, but we can see a glimpse of a different storyline with Gus' one line in all this:

"I'll never join your coven"... does that mean, originally, Adrian would try to force Gus to join the illusion coven, and Gus was resisting because he probably figured out by now getting coven sigils is bad news? But then again, I can imagine this was cut and quickly reworked into something a little less convoluted and more straightforward: Gus wouldn't know yet just how bad joining a coven is and about the draining spell, and Gus DOES specialize in illusion, so it could look odd that he is resisting this much.

There's another set of boards of when Hunter wakes up at the infirmary, and sadly this one is also missing dialogue. But we can still infer some differences!

First of all, after Skara tells him it's not an illusion and he is in the healing homeroom, Hunter opens his mouth briefly, maybe speaking words of relief or just sighing in relief really.

Also minor thing: it's a bit hard to tell with how these storyboards are with missing chunks, but it seems like Willow would have walked up to Hunter to defend him without him having to have brought up Gus' breathing exercise.

And for the last board in this, uhm, I don't... think this was meant to make it into the final cut but. LOL. LMAO.

Moving onto King's Tide!

Originally, we would've seen Luz use her safe fall spell when dodging Belos' attacks!

Also, instead of saying that it took him years to figure that (combining glyphs) out, Belos instead says it took him years to "harness their strength"... and he does NOT say anything about it being almost as if the titan was hiding it from him. Hmmm. Perhaps, more fuel to the fire of the theory that back then, there was no subtle implication of either the titan's consciousness lingering or Belos attributing his own disdain and lack of care to the titan?

This also curiously alters the next bit of dialogue: he still says "though you're still decades away from beating me", just earlier. And soon after, he says "that was almost impressiv-" getting cut out when Luz sends fire out at him. Not gonna lie, I almost wish this was kept because I like the idea of Belos getting cocky and immediately getting blasted, unable to finish his sentence. But oh well!

Speaking of dialogue differences!

Here, Philip says "And I'm giving you a chance to be saved, Luz. To go home!" instead of "And despite our differences, I want to help you, Luz. I can send you home." I consider this more or less the same, really, but it is an interesting change. He leans more on the saving aspect here.

And there is a pretty big cut scene also with how Luz responds to "I don't want to see another human life destroyed by this place".

Here, she snaps that he's the one destroying things, and wonders what it is all for, and then asks "what do you think they DID to you?"

Only after this, in the storyboards, does she go on to her "you're such a hypocrite" lines.

To me, this is a bit of a shame for having been cut out, because I feel like it brings up a good point about how Philip self justifies his wrongdoings by believing that the Boiling Isles residents are all inherently bad by the way they simply are, and that this divergence he cannot understand could somehow justify the drastic violent measures he takes.

I think it could have been this was cut for time, or maybe the crew thought this addition would be a bit confusing for some audiences to understand the implications it is trying to set up. It IS indicative of a bigger exploration of Philip's psyche after all.

Another incredibly interesting change: in the storyboards, Luz used to not have the petrification spell continue crawling up her, and is able to shake it off okay. I imagine they changed this to maybe make the situation look more dire and up the stakes a little, otherwise the scene might be too stale and anticlimactic with just Luz being able to keep talking and not having time ticking down on her life.

She also shuffles to her feet and is able to stand up while facing him, while in the final episode she can't get up due to the petrification spell still crawling up on her. Not gonna lie, I almost wish we did get this one, because the way she controls the situation with Philip here kind of feels more satisfying like this, while in the final product, you're busy going "shit shit shit LUZ OH NO".

She also used to cry a lot more on the boards when begging for the deal... I wonder if they added the petrification continuing really to just hammer home the desperation and make her crying have a "reason", though uh... hot take, I think she has reason enough to cry considering the Draining Spell threatening to kill everyone.

Also! Belos used to "chuckle" as the boards call for it when he was about to shake Luz's hand, but he doesn't do so in the final cut.

And finally for this batch: there's a small cut moment of Belos saying "you" with pained effort at Luz after she fucking booms him and gets the sigil on him, and she fucking STARES back with the most ominous badass look. I'm kind of sad that didn't make it in. Yeah it's minor but I like every time it's very clear Luz is being a thorn on his side and he is actually really fucking bothered by it actually.

Next batch of storyboards for this ep shows the fight with Belos on the bridge! First difference I can think of is that Luz was supposed to say "Philip" very quietly before getting jumpscared by him showing up behind her. It may have been cut similarly just because of them not getting audio for it or something or it not being necessary.

Bigger dialogue change: Instead of saying "we don't belong here", Belos says "I wanted to save you", which adds more fuel to the fire that they used to put a lot more emphasis on Philip's psychology of seeing himself as the one who gets to decide who is saved and seeing himself as a savior and martyr, and also someone done wrong by the demon realm.

I can't really know for sure why this was reworked and why more emphasis was put on rather Philip seeking to relate to Luz in their humanity. A lot of these boards seem to put even more emphasis on them as foils, standing up as equals against each other, and I do kind of lament we lost that? I mean, don't get me wrong, I can totally see that STILL lingers in the final product, but it feels way stronger in these.

By the way, if you're wondering, Luz does not say "I'm nothing like you" here either, it just cuts right onto Willow grabbing Belos with vines.

Also! When the gang shows up, they used to have no dialogue about how they're here to help and all, just cutting to Luz saying "you guys!!" (in the final product, she says "You guys are literally the coolest"). I do like the final product more, it's cute and adds more I think.

This one deserves to get shown: there's a cut little moment after Amity covers Luz where they look at each other and blush and it is! So cute! Why did it not make it in!! WHAT! Just because it "isn't the time to be gay"? Bullshit! Yuri time is all the time!

But for something that wasn't in the boards but made it in! Hunter protecting Willow was added in the final product!

And that is it for King's Tide... and so I ask that you tune in next time for when I analyze the For the Future boards!! I am VERY excited to get through those, specially because even between the roughs and cleans for a scene, there's so many little differences!!! And I want to talk about it ALL!!

[mdhwrites]

Would you consider explaining here, in your opinion, the decline of the Emperor's Coven as an antagonistic force or even broadly as a concept within TOH's world? And - if you don't mind me asking - do you think it had that much of an adverse effect on the series?

So I'm going to break this up into two sections to answer the two questions here. The first is going to be their decline and then why that had an actually pretty big adverse effect though not one you'll immediately feel. I'll do bold text and what not to help clarify in case you want to go to each.

The Decline of the Emperor's Coven

So it is important to recognize that there is a decline at all because it is important, regardless of how quickly it happens. The first time we see an EC guard is during the Covention demonstration in episode 5. Before then, we only have the bumbling guards of the Conformatorium as the protectors of the Isles. They have all magics, Lilith beats Eda in a witch's duel implying that she is even stronger than her, bare minimum due to not having the curse, and in general is treated with reverence. They fill out an entire stadium of people wanting to join them. Amity's biggest motivation and desire for the future is to join them. They're a BIG deal and implied to be real threats. Enough so that Eda will actually hide from them unlike in episode 1 where the regular guards made her not worry about needing a disguise of any sort. She isn't reckless with the guard but they are definitely less than the EC, even if not absolutely stated.

But... The decline starts almost immediately as the next time we see them is episode 8, Upon a Swap. Not only do they struggle with keeping Luz entirely under control while in Eda's body but they have a humiliating loss at the end of the episode when Eda swaps everyone's bodies around. I believe we still see some Conformatorium guards, something that effectively stops by S2 but this is the origin of Steve. Still, they lost Luz from other madness going on and the joke at the end is followed up by Lilith's resolve. It could be brushed off.

Unfortunately they don't really ever get another big moment. They turn into the name drop for turning in Eda but otherwise, until Agony of a Witch, we don't see any EC members besides Lilith. Unfortunately, Lilith just lets Eda go once, loses a Grugby match a different time and that's it for TEN. EPISODES. Mostly just jokes as Lilith refuses to actually do her job.

Until in Agony of a Witch, Lilith and an entire squad of scouts are beaten... By Hooty. As a joke. Yes, at the end of the episode, Lilith gets a big fight against Eda but this isn't an even fight like before. They use all the same spells they did in the previous fight but Lilith has to cheat in order to not be immediately obliterated by the power gap between her and Eda. It's not an intelligence thing either as Eda isn't using tactics besides BLOW THE FUCK UP ALREADY. Lilith has to be saved effectively by the timer running out on Eda's magic because she never had a chance. Even if she's acting high and mighty... It still leaves a worse impression for how good her magic and her ability to fight are and she is the COVEN HEAD.

Hunter does not fix this in S2 either. His accomplishments are: Bullies a couple people without magic.

Steals defenseless palisman before losing them.

Beats up Kikimora while she's under sleeping drugs.

Kind of a step down from Lilith getting to claim to have beaten the most powerful wild witch in the Isles, isn't it? On the influence on the Isles side, we don't get a lot but Amity forsakes them kind of just because. No argument or debate about this still being her world and her needing proof that Belos and the EC are evil or can't be changed from the inside. No, she's just now a wild witch because her girlfriend is because otherwise we don't get a reason. Worse, Sport in a Storm... exists? An episode where multiclassing students have less than zero interest in joining the Emperor's Coven despite that being the only way for them to legally practice the type of magic they want. Also, just by concept, it requires that people are so disinterested in the EC that they now have to actually try to recruit people versus 20 years ago when people would curse each other just for a chance into the limited positions available.

Hell, by the end, it seems like most EC guards are honestly one bad day away from quitting, with no repercussions, because of Steve and the guard Dana voices who goes to the cute cat coven which isn't even one of the big nine.

Also means that the cute coven joke, which happened three episodes before The Day of Unity where everyone needed specifically one of then sigils (though why EC coven members were affected without a representative in the ritual is unknown) had to go past Dana so many times she VOICED IT.

Sorry, got off track. On the power side, we only had Lilith before Hunter and Hunter doesn't have magic so the members have to keep up the slack. They are then immediately replaced with Abomatons and the Abomatons lose to... Everyone. They are literally never a credible threat except to Luz who had the worst chances of beating one when that came up because she already been worn down by the rest of the demonstration. Otherwise, the only moments the scouts or the abomatons are treated as real threats are when the Emerald Entrails are captured because they don't actually have a reason to fight them and cause problems for the school and when Amity tries to pretend Willow should be worried about them. Not all of them, only Willow and it's pointedly to make sure the audience knows that Amity is an idiot when it comes to Willow. That she is blatantly wrong about how much of a threat these guys are. That's still worse somehow than in Once Upon a Swap where they at least recognized these people could kick their asses without a distraction of some sort.

But that's how it falls. With how few times it shows up though, it raises a question:

2. Why Does the EC's Fall from Grace Matter?

It's actually pretty reasonable to wonder about this. Besides Hunter, they don't get a lot of appearances so why does it matter that they're inconsistent? Well... For one big reason:

They our only sign of Belos being a bad ruler. Of him being a dictator. Of him... At all. They exert his force more than even Hunter does because Hunter is constantly questioning him and not doing his job. For a villain like Belos, who is effectively not in the series for 90% of it since he doesn't take an active role until the Hollow Mind effectively, before then it's always just sweet words to people that are all lies, THAT'S A PROBLEM.

If we can't take his coven seriously... Why should take him seriously? Worse yet, why should we take Luz's opinion of him seriously? When she yells about him lying to people and she claims he's hurting people, you're left asking how? The guards are bumbling fools without direction or ability. Most of them, Hunter included, are just one push away from not doing their job. That's not what happens with a dictator and it's not what you should be thinking abut when EC members become the primary threat to our protagonists.

Instead, the show has no tension for its second half except against Belos effectively. Whenever EC members are around, victory or loss is just entirely plot dependent and we know that. That's how Willow can effortlessly bury a person and their abomaton and then they just... show up, covered in vines once we're actually pretending these people are threats. It's why they during the entirety of Labyrinth Runners, its only Gus and Hunter we're following because their lack of magic makes them able to be threatened while Amity and Willow getting in each other's way is the far larger threat than the trained soldiers. An abomaton and captain of the guard is just one not that fancy combo move away from being beaten because they're that little of a threat.

For an adventure show, that's just explicitly bad. From a thematic standpoint, it actually gets worse the more times WILLOW specifically beats them. After all, Willow is the poster child of the regime. She practiced the wrong type of magic at first before finding the one that the Titan blessed her to be able to be a master of. The more times she specifically beats the EC handedly, despite them using multiple magic types like Luz and Eda preach you should be able to... It makes you question if Belos isn't right. The evidence amongst the main characters, Gus included, is that he is and them conquering his forces better than Luz, Eda, Lilith, Barkus, Jerbo or Viney just reinforces that they're better.

Even Amity, who still only practices one type of magic, eventually beats the poster boy of the Emperor's Coven, something Luz never does in a fair fight. So is Belos wrong in thinking witches should only be using one coven?

Yes, him lying makes that the case but the show supports his arguments far more while also discrediting him as some grand tyrant who is a force that needs to be opposed. Hell, Terra tried to poison kids and its his guards, and his laws, that protect Eda and Raine during Them's the Breaks because why not? The EC scouts don't like doing evil. Steve and the cute cat coven members make that clear.

It discredits the final villain and ruins the themes while also just making the show worse at its genre. So yeah, it's a real problem... But only a problem if you think about it. If you care about the worldbuilding. Otherwise, the lack of stakes is the main one that will dig at the back of your brain because you'll want to be invested in what's happening but everytime a fight scene breaks out, it's nothing. Because you know the result.

And as Belos' only manifestation for absolutely the first season and arguably the second... That should be the last thing you feel when one a squad of these guys steps up.

======+++++======

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

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

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[regular-gnome]

HELLO im 14 ,love your work and i would love to hear your thoughts

1 how do titana fly ,like we know from papa titan that at least SOME titans have wings , but like ,ther the size of small countries ,and their wings have HOLES in them ,maybe bc of their blood some of their mass exist outside the universe or in a pocket dimension ,thus making them much lighter then they should be , or maybe they just use levitation magic to levitate and they use their wings for steering ,

2. who was the bat queens owner? she can't be the titans palisman right ,even with hoe big she is she still gets dwarfed by the titan at full scale .

3. is the owl beast related to hooty ,

Hi! For the first question, there are a few options to consider. We doon't really know whether titans were capable of flight using their wings or not really. Titans vary greatly in appearance based on the skulls and body structures we've seen so it's maybe their wings had different purposes, could be more like different birds types kind of deal. Some titans may have used their wings for flight, while others might have used them for swimming or as a form of balance. They are massive and hold upright posture so they might be very useful for this. Their niche in the ecosystem could have changed over time, something like comodo dragons do, young live and feed diffrently than the older ones, something that can be taken to an extreme with titans and their wings might have adapted to it. Another thing appearance of holes in their wings could be a result of their tissue structure rather than actual holes. If you're interested in speculative biology approach and how titans might function @velvetwyrmz is creating beastiary that goes into it. We use pretty diffrent worldbuilding but its a cool project that goes into titan physiology

For palismen, I think they have origins tied to titans. Palistrom growing by absorbing titan magic, takes on the form of a creature using that magic after being carved. This could explain why palistrom growth is slow and why plant covens can't force it. Palismen accompany younger titans as they grow in power, serving to protect and give their magic before the titan is poweful enough to protect themself serving more as companions after they outgrow their usefulness. This tradition could have been adapted by witches on a smaller scale. It also explains why palismen live much longer than witches—they weren't meant to accommodate such short lifespans. I think this was implied by Bat Queen when she mentioned being on a grand staff belonging to a giant

Not really, but I think they are both types of demons that originate from the titan. Hooty or house demons in general, were the ones that formed in titans' wounds, while owl beasts are demons that evolved from decomposing bodies, both looking owlish could be atributed to convergent evolution

[huecycles]

i never really talk about the owl house but i've always been following and watching the episodes + enjoying all the gorgeous fanart casually.

this scene right here, though. it simply TOOK ME OUT.

it's so fucking powerful and made me tear up as well because i relate to it so much as someone who faces a LOT of struggles due to being neurodivergent and is now in the middle of getting tested for autism/adhd (after chasing it for so long since healthcare here sucks). i always felt like i was never understood by people around me, and so it meant there was something wrong with ME and not with others just not being patient enough to hear me out.

it also gets exhausting to talk about it, because your brain just works... differently and some of the things you think, feel or do may come across as "unusual", so you can't always express it well with words. it doesn't help either if you're in a place where people are used to not take you seriously, for whatever reason that may be. so it hurts. it hurts not being able to explain what's going on with your head and exactly why you're "like that". sometimes you just are. and that is ok. it should be ok. and people have to recognize and understand that we shouldn't have to change who we are to appeal to normalcy, and that we have our own limits and struggles. things that a neurotypical person does easily can be hell for me to do, for example.

i still have to watch the owl house in full, right from season 1 etc. but to see camila, as a mom, speak so openly to luz who is her kid and very similar to her in many ways, outright admit her mistake in wanting to protect luz by trying to avoid other people seeing her unusual interests and ways of expressing herself as something shameful (like we've seen in other scenes where she was always protective of her daughter and actively defending her from mean comments), and support her in such an honest and loving way... it breaks me. i wish i had that.

that line from luz resonated with me in a way that i am sure i would have a million words to describe, but would only get lost along the way. the feeling of wanting to be understood is something so powerful, and it makes total sense for it to be the thing that makes luz' palisman hatch.

[that-ari-blogger]

The Importance of History (Them's The Breaks, Kid)

Darkness. Silence. Anticipation.

A camera whirs to life, showing a figure looking directly out. They are quiet, dressed in old clothes and covered in signs of fatigue. Their hair is a mess, their glasses are dirty. They look scared, wary, guilty. Vulnerable.

They clear their throat a few times, raising a glass of water to their lips and taking a careful sip. They look up at the camera with blood shot eyes. One slow breath, and then…

“Hey guys, Ari here. I made a mistake. I left out an episode of the show, and I wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

Ok, the bit is stale already. This is a post about context.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD (The Owl House)

Let’s start with some framing. It’s something I missed out on in an earlier post, but the origins of the Boiling Isles are old as all hell.

The earliest we see in this series is about fifty to sixty years before Luz arrived, that being the Deadwardian era, and Them’s the Breaks, Kid shows us twenty-ish years in the past again.

But hear me out here. Eda mentions old witches who used to use glyph magic. This would have happened a while ago, to the point where it is only recorded in history books and people have forgotten about it before Phillip rocked up, and it's not the type of thing anyone has been able to replicate.

Then there is the wrinkle set by the Bat Queen. She is a palisman for a giant, too small for the titan, but far too big for a human sized person, which implies that there were once giants roaming the Boiling Isles, and they have had time to go extinct and also be forgotten, along with all evidence of their existence.

Even if they just up and went somewhere else for some reason, they would have left behind ruins of stuff they had made, and that has had time to disappear entirely.

Going back even further, we technically got a glimpse of a prehistoric Boiling Isles in Elsewhere and Elsewhen as well, that was the setup for the Stonesleeper.

This is standard history. Our world has ages and empires that have been lost to time, as well as a fair few eras of prehistory. What makes the Boiling Isles different, is that all of this took place on the carcass of a dead titan.

Where did the titans come from? How old could they get? Was this one killed unnaturally? Are there any others? How did the Titans evolve? What is the history of this world?

We will never know, but it does act as a jumping off point for my favourite part of history, that being the futility of conspiracy theories.

For the record, I am referring here to theories about history that have been proven untrue. The type that looks at something and decide it had to be some ancient, unknowable monster because it is too impressive.

The thing I like about this is the fact that you can look into these places and see that there absolutely was an eldritch being responsible for these feats, and its name was humanity.

I think the theories about aliens take away from the human achievements and their scale in the face of history. Here’s a building that is designed to light up perfectly at sunrise once every year. What could possibly have done that? A human being, that’s what.

We are the things that go bump in the space between pages of history. We are the monster that keeps us up at night. We are the centres of our own mysteries.

Taking away agency from history infantilises ancient people and has iffy connotations when you take a look at who gets that agency removed from them. Human history is impressive, and even more so when you realise how small we are as individuals in comparison to it.

Why do I bring this up?

It's something interesting I found. An element of history that reflects our own in a weird way that isn’t really a reflection at all. It’s a what if.

But also, it provides context. Not all of it is important, but history does rhyme with itself, and it’s nice to know what’s happened before so you can make moves for the future. If a domino chain leads a war, and you spot someone setting up a suspiciously similar line, you can step in.

This can be used in a much smaller scale, as a person’s history can explain their own actions, and lead you to predict their future or better understand their present. In this case, it gives more of a meaning to Eda and Raine’s relationship.

Eda opens by asking Lilith about history. There's a theme being set up here.

But that works both ways. Just as the audience is gaining information on the past, it knows where these stories are heading. You know that Eda and Lilith’s relationship is going to fall apart, and the episode reminds you of that by introducing them halfway through preparing for those fateful tryouts.

It also introduces Bump as an awkward subordinate, nowhere near the confidence of his present or even former self. This is the man who, as a student, took Hexide by force. But now he’s anxious and afraid.

The knowledge of what he will become makes this incarnation of the character funnier, but it also makes the moment when he stands up to Terra cathartic, and even more of a breaking point. He comes so close to being the Bump we know and love but fluffs it at the last moment.

However, it also reflects on how the education system in the Boiling Isles works.

We’ll start with Faust, because he’s the easiest to point at. He’s a teacher who cares about his reputation more than anything else. He doesn’t have the students’ best interests at all, and values only the appearance of perfection.

He expels the prize pupil, and it's glossed over because that doesn’t matter to him. To him, aesthetics are everything.

Exhibit A, he has a portrait of himself over his desk, holding a book of rules that he made up. He’s power hungry, which works with the name. Faust. After the scoundrel who made a deal with the devil.

However, it is Terra who interests me, because she is a cartoonishly evil villain for whom this episode acts as a second introduction. We meet each character in this series twice, once as a superficial trope, and once with more depth, and here is no different. Terra is a menace with a code. She values strength, and if you prove yourself, she will protect you.

But she is also indoctrinating children.

I’ve expressed my distaste for buzz word analysis before, so here’s what I mean.

The game in which kids are associated with either wild witches or covens is a method of teaching. It tells these kids that coven witches get to feel powerful, and that they are the natural enemy of wild witches. It teaches them that there is no way for wild witches to win, so there is no point. It teaches them that the emperor’s way of life is the only way of life.

But hold on a sec, because we can see clearly the writing on the wall here. The kids can’t, but we see this as teaching falsities. Isn’t there someone to sort that out and ensure the truth? Yes. In some places, that’s the government, but that only works if the checks and balances apply to everyone. If you have someone for whom rules do not mean anything, the whole system falls apart.

I don’t just mean Terra by this; I mean the person to whom she is subordinate. Belos has established that he can do whatever he wants, and the people closest to him have taken that as an excuse to gain the same type of power.

I think it’s notable that Belos didn’t rise on his own, he found people to support him. People who believed in him. He created a system of oppression, and learning from our history for a moment here, that doesn’t ever happen because of just one person.

I brought up the history of the Isles to point out just how much we don't know, and that nobody knows about.

History can be destroyed, or taken, or hidden. It can be obstructed behind paywalls and museum windows, and that can destroy cultures, but it can also cover up things that need to be remembered. Don’t put the facts on a pedestal, put them in context and learn from them.

Belos is a character fundamentally centred around keeping people in the dark, away from the knowledge of his own misdeeds. So, he has made learning about anything except what he thinks the world should be almost impossible.

We don't know about the Titan, or the Giants, or anyone besides Belos. I suspect that was very much intentional and a group of people have been trying extremely hard to make it so.

Final Thoughts

I’m posting these out of order because I genuinely thought his episode came after Hollow Mind for some reason. I don’t know why. But I will be putting it in the playlist in the actual order of the series. So, to those reading later, now you understand the introduction.

I’ve been thinking about the age of the Isles and its history as part of my season three hypothetical. I had the idea of the collector’s shaking up of the geography revealing things that were hidden by Belos, or destroyed, or maybe even older. I really want to lean into the “we are living on a dead god” aspect of the series. Maybe the characters don’t bring any of this up, but the audience can see things and clue in to the timeline of the isles. I think that would be fun.

Next post is Hollow Mind, and that post is already up. So, check that out if you want to, and stick around if my musings interest you.

Previous - Next

[crimeronan]

I love political and tactical fantasy shenanigans so I'm very 👀 over that appearing in the princess luz au in some way. There's so much you can play around with, like the public opinion, who gets supplies for not just the castle but the civilians, or runs this or that, and how the different coven's are run (i read a v neat theory that the abomination coven has more opportunities because of Darius, for example), any new covenhead will have to untangle the mess and horrors of their predecessor, and bringing in new people to run a section or help support a coven that's surprise surprise being held together by string and luck because the previous head was incompetent or didn't care enough. Or both.

Like the plant coven's plantations that are mentioned once in Hunting Palismen that guard the remaining palistrom trees. That'll need to be dealt with so more witches can recieve palismen, and then they'll need someone to carve them(possible lead in to Hunter getting intrested in palisman carving? ovo CLAWTHORNE CLAN APPEARANCE MAYBE??). Not to mention the overhaul of the education system, of which TERRA is apparently in charge of, which explains a lot, actually. How many buildings on TBI aren't built to sustain the boiling rain and rely on magic or pure luck to stay standing because the construction coven either didn't bother to do their jobs or they simply couldn't because they didn't have the resources and time, so those who have the most money get priority?

Not to mention taking care of monsters! The empress coven can't be too different from the emperor's coven yet, so they're not very efficient(because they're a cult and that's how they function) and someone has to address that and Lilith is too used to the system to recognise the problems by herself. Maybe Luz makes it law that all coven's now must have a head coven and a vice head of sort, so all the power and decision making doesn't rest with only one person?

Sorry, I'm rambling, I just love this kind of stuff, I go a little insane over it. Adding on all the characters being very stupid or very crazy or both makes for a funny time.

YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!! THIS IS ALL SO GOOOOD these thoughts are all so good. at first i didn't want to plot a big long story about what exactly luz does to solve some of these issues, bc watching and dreaming addressed everything so well... but the circumstances of this AU have changed enough that i'm getting invested anyway. like. how DO you dismantle an empire when you also have to pretend that that empire is normal and fine and that your fragile allyships with power-hungry coven heads are fine and that your so-called "divinity" isn't based on the bullshit lie of a genocidal colonizer. HOO BOY.

i love love love political worldbuilding fic that explores things like infrastructure and different political dynamics and schisms in fantasy worlds, that was ALSO one of my fave things when i would write homestuck ancestor fic. plotting out what a galactic war might look like and how resources were distributed and how empire weaponry could be commandeered and how propaganda on both sides would function.... MMM. my bread and butter

i think the thing i've put the Most thought into toh-wise is the abomination coven, simply because i am a darius girlie and think about darius All The Time. like i think that the abomination coven has opportunities because there's a lot of capitalist stuff going on, because darius has taken a very libertarian-seeming hands-off approach to running his coven. but you can't apply 1-to-1 real world politics to it because actually, darius """small government""" deamonne is letting people get away with having fake abomination coven sigils and repeatedly break the law and game the empire's systems... all under the guise of "i don't know anything about that. i'm just lazy"

i had Extensive palistrom tree lore (and tragedy) planned in the darius & prev gg fic i outlined, i don't know if i'll ever write it in full but MMM the palistrom trees and the bat queen are on my mind Constantly. also tucking these construction coven thoughts into my back pocket for later use because i hadn't thought much about the infrastructure of the isles' buildings but you're RIGHT. living in portland oregon there's CONSTANT vicious local debate about rebuilding our bridges and older buildings and coastal evacuation plans for when cascadia ruptures, bc most of that wasn't built with a 9.0 earthquake in mind. could definitely pull from. All Of That. LOL

[tartsinarat]

I kinda got sidetracked whilst designing nimbus’s outfit for the battle of the bands… so here’s this meme that’s canon to the au and took me longer than I would like to admit,

*UNHOLY SCREECHES*

Peep that Amity design for the au because I’m so proud of it

but anyways I mentioned in one post that Pip ended up inheriting Belos’s curse but it’s not as powerful so he doesn’t fully become whatever slimy deer creature belos’s cursed form is (at this point in the au, it does get that worse later on though :/) and so currently even though Pip’s not in control of himself it’s only mildly inconvenient for the people around to deal with rather than dangerous because he mostly just steals magic objects to drain the magic out of as a snacc, sleeps and leaves slime everywhere (tbh just imagine him as if he’s a weird slimey cat) and if he does get aggressive he’s extremely easy to pick up.

the meme is basically what I imagine happened when luz and amity found out about it because its really funny to imagine that these two were planning a ‘platonic’ study date (this was before they started dating but when the both started getting feelings for each other) and just unexpectedly walking into this chaos

Also just realised I’ve completely forgotten to explain why Pip drains magic, it’s because he’s got pieces of basilisk in him as Belos when making him was attempting to figure out how to solve the whole having to drain palisman problem when they’re basically going extinct so he doesn’t have that problem when he eventually takes over Pip’s body and Belos landed on using Basilisk parts because of their magic draining properties which could be used to supply magic directly to the glyphs on their arms as my head canon of one part of Belos’s curse is that by getting soothed by eating palisman’s thing is because the glyphs on his arms are constantly using him as a power source because he doesn’t have a bile sac which is why he’s constantly rotting, the other part is that his cursed form was much less slimy because it was originally caused by Evelyn after the Caleb ordeal and became that way because of the glyphs.

Because of that Pip kinda has two different curse forms where one is the slimey rotting one which happens when he doesn’t have enough magic stored and when he does have some magic stored, his other form actually has fluff and looks more like a fucked up deer with a hint of titan on crack

I ran out of ideas ngl for the silly GH au masterpost jokes at the end of my GH posts

[keithbutgay]

i have so so many questions about hollow mind :OOO

wait so the original intention of the sigils was to straight up just kill them? that seems. unnecessarily elaborate considering the golden guard destroyed their city just fine ;—;

i mean. he needs the palismans right but when he broke one off its staff none of the green stuff came out?

also im guessing at least one of the old golden guards was darius considering luz made a comment about him being sad and i guess hes working with raine now?? maybe???

im guessing the evil belos is the green stuff like. corrupting him or something?? like how the curse is a separate entity in edas head??? it is like. blue tho which is interesting cus the palisman magic is green and his glyph magic is yellow and his general designs are yellow and brown

wait also also we still dont know who made the door if belos didnt like. go back through it?? idk i assume thats like actually a thing thats gonna be answered

is the collector the titan? because they seem to like the coven idea? and theyre kinda the one leading belos i think? at least in this memory

sorry i dont like. have a brain :PP

(this feels kinda hollow knight to me but idk why :P)

so there's a lot i want to say but unfortunately a lot of the answers to your questions are spoilers--- i will try to answer as much as i can though :PP

the intention of the sigils was never to kill them! it was for a different reason that probably would have ended in their death, however. but like. all of those people did die anyway. they just. froze to death. instead of being killed by the sigils.

there's no good explanation for that one unfortunately... i have no idea why the palisman soul didn't come out when he broke it off. my guess is that it's either just like an oversight or that since the soul was already manifested in the palisman soul creature in his mind, it didn't show up in his memories

darius was never a golden guard, however one of the previous golden guards was his mentor. i can talk more about the golden guards once you've finished the episode and i have a lot to say about that so if you want to hear um i guess just let me know there's a lot lot lot of secrets and little things hidden in hollow mind that are so interesting and it's so good to pick apart and all of the pictures are like foreshadowing and interesting little things and just. it's such a good episode---

so the green stuff is actually never explained, but in my mind it's palistrom wood. because he took the souls of so many palismen to keep himself alive, he is slowly being corrupted by the false magic and the inhumanity of it all, and the scar on his face looks like rotten palistrom wood. but the entity overall is made up of all the souls of the palismen he's killed to keep himself alive, cause they're like trapped inside of him since he just kinda like snorted their souls

so i actually don't remember if that's a thing that's explained that well later in the show because like the series got cut short and also i don't remember as much of the later episodes as i'd like but i can talk more about that once you finish the show i'm so sorry--- but no belos did not make the portal

the collector is not the titan! he's just such a silly little guy and i love them so so so so much and i feel bad cause i literally never draw them--- (also he canonically uses he/they pronouns!!! which is amazing i love them so much um don't look them up though because spoilers)

[gracefireheart]

Thinking about that QSMP x tOH [the Owl House] AU I posted once about a while ago but got more thoughts about now aaaaaaaa--

Basically, some of my thoughts are still the same as my previous post about it (Phil being a Wild witch and being cursed with the same thing Eda and Lilith has, and Wilbur being a Bard witch). But some of my thoughts (most notably whether the eggs would be Titan kids or orphaned witches, and what coven Missa would be in) I feel like I've finally been able to choose what would fit for this AU.

First off; I can't help but see the eggs as Titan kids in this AU now. All of them with different looking skulls, different fur colors and eye colors that match them, different accessories their [adoptive] parents made for them, etc. etc. As for what happened to their Titan parent, uhhhhh--

Second off; I decided it would be very fun if Missa was a Bard witch that's [secretly] a Potions witch as well. Like I mentioned in the previous post, it would just be so cute that- after a while of Missa and Phil taking care of Chayanne (and later on Tallulah) together- Phil tells Missa at some point about his curse, which leads to Missa making it his mission to create as many elixirs for Phil as he can (which could lead to him running out of certain ingredients to make said elixir, so he would go and search for those ingredients he's missing). And ofc, he's a Bard witch 'cause he do be playing that music 💃

Now onto some new things I wanted to add, which was what the other islanders' coven(s)- and maybe Palisman- are!

For Fit, I can't help but see him as a Construction witch that could secretly be a Wild witch.

Tubbo's definitely an Abomination witch, trying to create all sorts of shit with his magic.

Pierre I can also see as an Abomination witch, but I could also see him trying either some Construction, Beast Keeping, or maybe even Potions magic.

Foolish is both a Healing witch and a Construction witch, but hides his Healing magic whenever he's around the Federation. (Palisman is some sort of [golden] shark creature)

Etoiles would either be a Plant witch or a Wild witch. Or just a Wild witch that prioritizes Plant magic.

Antione could be an Oracle witch that was secretly a Wild witch, or maybe he could be something like the Collector that just pretends to be an Oracle/Wild witch.

To me, Jaiden feels like an Illusion witch 'cause of her gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss ways B) (Ofc her Palisman would be Ari (or some sort of bird version of a cerberus, but it's two heads instead of three, and it's both Ari and Tofu))

I can't explain it, but my mind can't help but see Cellbit and Bagi as Abomination witches.

Bad is definitely an Oracle witch and no one can convince me otherwise.

Charlie [Slimecicle] definitely mains Abomination magic, but also uses Bard magic here and there. (Palisman is obviously some sort of slime creature)

Baghera I'm a little unsure about, but I could see her as both a Bard witch, and either a Beast Keeping or a Plant witch. (Palisman is a mix of a duck and a goldfish)

IronMouse would be a Bard witch that is also either an Oracle witch or [secretly] a Wild witch. (Palisman is some sort of demonic bat creature that's maybe mixed with a mouse)

Tina being a Plant witch that also is secretly an Oracle witch, yes yes :]

Pac I'm also a lil' unsure about, but I could see him as either a Potions witch, a Healing witch, or maybe even a Plant witch.

Pol being an Illusion witch that uses his magnificent Illusion magic for his movies/videos <3

Roier as a Beast Keeping witch with a giant spider as his pet, or as a Plant witch that uses his Plant magic vines to swing around from place to place. (Palisman either some sort of spider, or rat, or a mix of both)

Quackity- again- I'm a bit unsure about, but I could see him as either a Bard witch or an Illusion witch. (Palisman is some sort of duck creature)

Mike I'm- once again- unsure about, but I could see him as a Potions witch, a Construction witch, or maybe an Abomination witch.

And that's about it for the islanders I have at least somewhat of an idea for what Witch coven they would be in (+ their Palisman). Though I'm open to hear y'all's opinions on most of these character's coven(s) and/or palisman- especially those I wasn't able to give a coven/palisman to- considering idk every QSMP streamer's character to heart óvò

[thelegendofstella]

That could be a possibility! I was just discussing something similar to that with my friend lol, especially since shapeshifting palismen are now canon thanks to Stringbean. Though I would think that the palisman would have to be carved with the intent of shapeshifting to accommodate that, as is the case with Stringbean—every other palisman we've seen so far hasn't been change to change its shape after having been carved and awakened. Then again, we don't have a plural character in the show to actually try and confirm anything with, so maybe palismen can do something like that when carved by or just simply bonded to a plural person by default. A lot of magic in the Boiling Isles relies heavily on intent, after all, and intent is very wibbly wobbly when it comes down to it

I wonder how palismen deal with people who are plurals/systems/etc. Would the palisman bond with just one member of the system, or all of them? Do pluralities get to have multiple palismen at a time if they want, or is that physically/magically impossible? Palismen seem to be only able to bond with one person at a time (or maybe it’s just a preference), but is that a physical person or a soul person? How much of a “person” does someone need to be in order to properly form a bond with a palisman, anyway?