#it’s not really in her nature to do that to someone but Eda would be proud of it

[sepublic]

Shoutout to my obscure faves, the Demon Hunters; I like how they're objectively pretty terrible people, attempting to steal someone's home and kill their house demon and kids for it.

But at the same time, Eye Patch is seen rooting for Eda's escape from the petrification ceremony because solidarity, and is later chill with the protagonists during the Bonesborough Brawl.

The BATTs rescue Good Hair from the covenscouts (because solidarity), which is obviously framed as a good thing. Good Hair joining a coven anyway out of fear, and her near-death from the draining ritual, a bad thing. Prim became a friend to Eda at some point and her joining a coven was also tragic.

My point being: They don't have to be perfect victims to not deserve genocide, the demon hunters don't deserve to be persecuted for unjust reasons. The people of the isles as a whole don't have to be morally perfect to not deserve genocide; Lilith did some terrible things but her abuse in the coven was unjust, as another example. As an individual, Adegast was a jerk who had it coming by people he actually wronged, and acted independently of the coven; But to judge an entire group for that is inherently absurd.

This is also why I love Boscha having her moment in For the Future, because unlike other characters, we've seen her be pretty awful, fully of her own volition and enjoyment without anyone really forcing her to, even advising against it in Amity's case. We know Boscha had no excuse for the stuff she did prior to meeting Kikimora; And indeed, she still managed to become leader of Hexside before that, and one could say her listening to Kiki's tyranny was kind of the natural evolution of Boscha's own bullying and obsession with domination.

But not being a perfect victim doesn't change the fact that she IS a victim in this situation, she's a minor with no other adults to rely on, being manipulated by an adult who is fully okay with murdering kids and has learned abuse from the best. And I think that's a good lesson for kids watching who DID do some bad things and might regret it, or question if they 'deserve' to get better because of that; But they want to, so they can and should!

This and the Demon Hunters means that for whatever conflict people might have, they definitely have a vested interest in protecting one another from a bigoted state, even if not from each other haha. There's not really a scene where an antagonist gets their comeuppance by being arrested, because if they were already targeted by the state for unjust reasons, then this would just validate its tyranny. Fittingly, the prison we see in Latissa is replaced by a hospital, which encapsulates the shift from retributive to restorative justice here.

[mr-damian-s-power]

Why is Eda such a bad teacher?

How does it benefit the show for her to be bad at teaching? Well, I DO know why, because it desperately needed idiotic teen drama. But, for things that happen later on, I think Eda being a bad teacher is detrimental to the 'found family' aspect of the show.

Now, what makes her a bad mentor ? She's extremely lazy and often seems reluctant to teach Luz anything about magic. Most of the time, Luz either has to bribe Eda, blackmail her, or just go off and do something herself. Sure, the 'reluctant mentor' is a common trope, but they normally change in the story. I don't think Eda stops being a lazy teacher. I don't really blame Luz for wanting to go to Hexside considering Eda is gonna be so stubborn about teaching.

Here's the thing, I think that Eda eventually calling Luz and Co. her 'kids' feels unearned. Normally, I love these types of things! Someone calling a person they're not related to their family. But in Eda's case, she hasn't really earned that. Her unwillingness to teach Luz kinda drove her away, and now she's at the school Eda badmouths.

Secondly, there's the weird decision to have Eda open a school in the epilogue. Why? Why would she do that? She could barely teach ONE kid! Once again, it feels unearned. This is added onto my issue with the fact that it feels like the only reason Eda is a Wild Witch is so she can be lazy and doesn't have to get a proper job. She doesn't show much interest in magic or what she could do with it since she's not tied down by Coven rules, at least as far as I could see.

Here's my solution to this, and a little something extra:

-

In this hypothetical rewrite, Eda is very passionate about learning multiple types of magic, and so becomes a Wild Witch because she refused to simply pick one. One day, Luz shows up and begs to be her apprentice. Eda is still her grumpy and snarky self, so says no at first. Luz shows that she's not going to take no for an answer and is adamant she wants to learn magic. Eda chooses to humour her, reasoning the Human will give up in a few day's time.

But, a few days pass, and Luz is no less enthusiastic about learning magic than she was on day one. She's not just a kid way in over her head, she's genuinely determined to learn magic. Here's where we see that Eda is a very good teacher. She's more than willing to teach an eager young mind about magic, even if that kid can't naturally do magic. She'll still pass all of her knowledge onto Luz and teach her in areas that she can learn, such as potions.

Here's where another idea comes in. Owl House loves to think that it's very clever with 'subverting fantasy tropes', so here's one they should have done; Hexside is boring! The magical school is basic, rudimentary, formulaic and by-the-numbers. Eda badmouthing it makes more sense this time around, as it has an environment that restricts free thinking and creativity. Luz, in her naivete, is ecstatic about the chance to go there.

"Hexside? Pfft! Why would you wanna go to stuffy old Hexside? They don't teach ya THIS at that gilded prison!"

"It's a magic school, Eda! Think of all the things I could learn! Maybe they'll have a way Humans can do real magic!"

"Kid, Hexside is where creativity goes to die!"

"Come on, it can't be THAT bad!"

"Hmph, you think? Alright then, go there for one day and come back to me to see how it was!"

The next day, Luz sneaks into Hexside to see what it's like. There, she is bored to tears! The whole day is just reading through old textbooks, with little to no actual magic performing. When she asks about more exciting methods, her ideas are laughed at. While there, she can meet friends in Willow and Gus, who are just as sad in being restricted in their magic abilities. They want to expand their knowledge, but the curriculum just won't allow it. Later that day, Luz walks back to the Owl House with her head low.

"So, how was Hexside?" Eda asks smugly, to which Luz just sighs and sits down beside her, resting her chin on her hands. Eda's smile slowly vanishes as she realises that the events of today have very clearly upset the Human. "Not everything it was cracked up to be?" She asks, taking on a more sympathetic tone.

Luz tells how it was so boring and uneventful. Nothing like what she'd read a magic school could be like. Eda's only response is to shrug and say, "That's Hexside! The joy graveyard! Just stick by me, kid, I'll get you through this!" In this story, Eda is the 'fun teacher', who's exciting lessons contrast with the mundanity of Hexside.

The next time she has a lesson, Luz invites her new friends. Once again, Eda isn't sure about them, until they too prove that they truly do wish to learn more. This should have been Eda's character! She takes learning magic very seriously and won't stand for people who aren't 100% onboard.

As they have more lessons and the kids bond with their teacher, Eda's heart is melted by her new students and their antics. They bring her out of her shell, to the point where she stops referring to them as simply 'kids' and starts calling them 'my kids'. Their found family is far more organic!

Then, since Eda is so invested in educating young minds to her best abilities, this makes it all the more satisfying and earned when she opens a school once Belos has been defeated. She showed an interest in teaching, and got her dream job!

-

Thoughts?

[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?

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 5, Poll 3

Please be civil in the notes. We will block people if we feel it is necessary. A character being canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included. This is not a competition of who is better representation.

Check out the other polls in this round here.

Ianthe Tridentarius-The Locked Tomb

Qualifications:

she's a lesbian and one of her arms has been cut off twice. As in, it was cut off once, a replacement one was stuck, but she didn't like it so it didn't work properly and she tried to cut it off. as a favour, someone else cut off that arm and grew her a new one which is just bones. it doesn't have the same strength of her old arm because it doesn't have any meat on it

amputee lesbian

canon WLW/lesbian (in love with Harrowhark) and loses her hand at the end of book one. In book two, she gets a fancy bone-prosthetic.

Propaganda:

she's had her right arm cut off twice. after the first time she was given a replacement, which she hated and didn't work right. she tried to cut it off, failed, so her crush grew her a new one out of her own bones in the closest thing we've had to a sex scene so far in the series. she had the bones gilded. she's such a lesbian for this woman, absolutely obsessed. "ohhh do up the back of my sexy evening dress for me ;)", and her crush just does it from a distance with bone arms because she's also a weird lesbian. Ianthe's competition for her crush's affections are two corpses and she's losing to both of them

she’s evil lesbian with a golden bone arm

If you like morally corrupt girlbosses, she's your gal! Ianthe is very powerful, ambitious and determined- unfortuantely she's also a bit unhinged and happy to side with god, who in this universe is a war criminal. Ianthe gets her power and influence at the cost of others, but her popularity in the fandom proves we love awful women and will defend them until the end of days even if they're objectively terrible people.

Anything Else?:

Ianthe is such a shit and I love her for that. a quote from the author: "I don't think Ianthe is nice to anyone, if she is I'll go back and fix it" (Submitter 1)

Eda Clawthorne-The Owl House

Qualifications:

She has a magical chronic disorder which has flare-ups, is mitigated by taking medication (potions), and has similar side effects to many real disorders such as fatigue, greying hair, and physical impairment (drains magic, a natural ability of *most witches). Unlike in other stories however, her condition is NOT ever completely cured. It does evolve and become more manageable over the course of the story, but she still experiences symptoms from it. Eda also loses one of her arms later in the story. She does get a replacement hook, but it is never shown whether she has a functional prosthetic or not. Most likely, she only has one fully functioning arm after this. As for being queer, she is in a relationship with a nonbinary person and is all but confirmed bisexual (has a secret box with the bi flag on it seriously why else would she have this). Also the owl house has a Lot of queer characters in it and I mean. just look at her. I would be surprised if she wasn't queer somehow.

Bisexual, and has a curse that affects her day to day life

Bi & lost arm and has a chronic illness metaphorically

Propaganda:

Has canonically dated both men and a non-binary person. Her curse affects her ability to use magic (and at one point outright stops it), which is very important in witch life. Said curse also causes her body parts to fall off sometimes. Many have said her curse is like a metaphor for depression but really it's more like a magic version of a physical disability (although I wouldn't be surprised if she actually also had depression).

Uuuuh she’s great and stuff idk I can’t propaganda well sorry

[the-boiling-bisles]

I haven't really had the chance to organize my thoughts and predictions on the finale yet, so I guess I'll just dump them here lmao

I'm still holding out for Eda to use Bat Queen's whistle in the finale, don't know what she would do, but I do think that it would most likely lead to a sacrifice of some sort (or maybe belos eats her and grows to full power again wouldn't that be wild)

I feel like I'm in the minority of people who don't think Luz will permanently move to the demon realm, I feel like it would be easier on Camila (and Vee too let's be honest), if there was just an open portal she could go through at any time. At the very least it's pretty obvious that the portal between the worlds will close forever afterwards, evidently from how much Luz has grown there compared to Earth

Huntlow is definitely of importance to the Belos plotline, they would've just cut it for time if it wasn't. Hunter and Willow are 100% foils to Caleb and Evelyn, and my guess when the gang is confronted by him, he'll see the two protecting each other and have flashbacks to when he killed his brother. My biggest hope for this would be a fully animated flashback, but I guess we'll just have to see

It's pretty evident that Hunter will continue the line of palismen carving, and with the seed Dell gave to Eda, I would almost say that that alludes to a future with Willow where she grows the trees and he carves the wood (definitely reading too much into it lol)

Something I don't think a lot of people have talked about is who will run the isles when Belos is dealt with? Or rather how it will be run. It would make the most sense for one of the CATS to do it (Eda, Raine, and Darius all come to mind first). Oddly specific, but in that context I could see a scene where upon everybody finding out he's a titan, they say that he should be the leader of the BI, but he insists that he isn't fit for the job or something of the likes

I think with the build up to Stringbean, there will be a big fight against Belos in the next episode, considering how well he fought in Hunter's body, who had no natural magic at the time, I think as Raine he'll be even harder to beat. A fight like that alone has me curious as to whether they'll survive or not, but considering the amount of angst between them and Eda I don't think it'll get worse (I am definitely wrong about that). There will definitely be a scene where Eda thinks they're dead though, she'll hold them in their arms and cry or whatever and then they'll have some funny quip, then they'll finally kiss

Part of me feels that Luz will have a last minute moment of doubt when deciding whether or not she'll return to the demon realm at all, which will lead to Camila mentioning the videos that Luz sent her back in S2, I still think they're going to be plot relevant, and will probably be in the last 5 or so minutes of the episode

And that brings me to something mentioned by in a post hoot on Cissy's instagram a little while ago. One of the people there asked someone if they had seen the last four minutes of the episode, and when they said no the other had a clear reaction. The last four minutes will most likely be a time skip, wedding, or maybe some sort of memorial thing for a character who died. I would be willing to bet that those last four minutes were what Sarah was talking about when she said it was the hardest she ever cried.

Sorry this was so long lmao I just wanted to get my thoughts out

[ppeasants]

i feel like i haven't really brought up Willow in my Time Hollow AU that often, and I've been thinking about it more recently. She's such an interesting character to explore.

In my head, she just feels like she slots in really well, as a friend to both Luz and Hunter before they got trapped in Belos' mind, and that carrying over to being a close friend to both of them, once they were free just felt natural. and I guess with how right it felt there wasn't really a need to elaborate on why they might be close.

But thinking about it, that 'natural connection' to both of them, might be exactly why Willow is such an interesting character in this AU.

Compared to everyone else, it feels like nobody really has a good connection to both Luz and Hunter, at least early on.

Amity is obviously extremely close to Luz, but she doesn't have any reason to like Hunter - the only emotion that isn't inherently negative, like anger or mistrust or hatred, is pity. And after they escape, she turns those emotions into care and worry for Luz, and mistrust and fear for Hunter, with how close the two have gotten.

Darius is very close to Hunter, and he cares deeply for him, especially after ASIAS, but he doesn't really know Luz, other than whatever rumours he would've heard around the castle, or from Raine. And that translates to after Hollow Mind, as well. Almost all of his care and worry is directed at Hunter, and his concern for Luz is only up to the point where he isn't an asshole and hopes she's okay, as well as glad that Hunter has someone to turn to.

The other coven heads feel pretty similarly. Eberwolf cares mostly for Hunter, and while Raine is closer to Luz through Eda, they were purposefully keeping themselves isolated from Eda, so they aren't as close to Luz and they want to be, aside from caring about Luz's connection to Eda.

Gus does know Hunter from ASIAS, and is more willing to trust him, but he's not close like Willow is. He probably hears from her about him, and doesn't hate him, but he still can't fully trust him. And Luz is one his his best friends. Compared to that, it's very hard for him to trust Hunter. (at least at first)

Even Eda, who quickly comes to care for Hunter like one of her own, isn't like that at first. Her parental instincts take over pretty fast, but until they do, and until she recognizes it, she's mostly just worried over Luz and King, and their safety with a new houseguest she can't really trust yet.

But Willow is different.

Sure, Luz is also one of her best friends, and she's only known Hunter for a weeks - she knows he's dangerous, and untrustworthy - but she can't help but care for him too. They're been messaging more and more, and they've gotten pretty close. And she knows that she's probably one of Hunter's only friends. And her sense of duty, of captainship, means she can't abandon him.

But that doesn't mean she can abandon Luz. Luz is the person who gave her back her confidence, her joy in magic, and her life. She paved the way for her joint the plant track, to play grudgby, and later flyer derby. But most of all, she was her friend, when no one else but Gus would be.

So when she heard that both of then were trapped in Belos' mind, she was immensely scared for both of them.

Not like the coven heads, who were mostly worried for Hunter. Not like Gus and Eda, who were scared for Luz. Not like Amity, who was wondering if Hunter would've hurt Luz. She was hoping they were both okay.

And that's what brings her even closer to both of them, right away. She cares for both of them, and when she sees how traumatized both of them are, she vows to make sure they're both okay.

And that's where it gets really interesting.

Because the coven heads are making sure that Hunter is okay. And while they're glad he had Luz, they're still concerned with how close the two have gotten. Amity and Gus, in the same way, want to make sure Luz is okay.

Darius especially wants to be there for Hunter, but when he sees how close he is with Luz, he gets especially concerned about what happened, and why they're so close.

Amity, too, wonders how Luz has gotten so close with Hunter. Concerned about what happened in there to get them close. Jealous about how close they are.

But Willow can't bring herself to care about all that. She's just glad they're alive, and now she's focusing on how she can be there for them. And that's why she's able to connect to them so well. She cares for both of them so much, and she just wants to see them be okay.

And that's why it's so interesting.

She gets closer to them than anyone else, faster than anyone else. The coven heads are worried about how close she gets with Hunter. Gus worries about her even getting close with the Golden Guard. Amity is jealous of how much Luz accepts her into their circle with Hunter.

And all those conflicting emotions creates a lot of interesting dynamics between everyone.

All because Willow cares about both of them.

(eventually, as time passes, the coven heads start to care about Luz. Gus finds another best friend in Hunter. Eda adopts yet another kid. even Amity can't deny how close they are)

But for now, it's Willow. All because she's herself.

And that's why it's so interesting.

Because almost everything else changes. But Willow stays the same.

[crimeronan]

Hey consider Luz, in an utter panic, threatening Cutburn with petrification if she does anything wrong to Hunter while treating him. And possibly making that interaction clear to Darius when he starts demanding answers from her.

I still don't think she'd go so far as to actually do it even if Cutburn experimented on Hunter (only because it would ruin everything she's been trying to do in destroying Belos' empire), but 1. She'd genuinely consider it 2. Her retaliation WOULD probably be closer to the level of cruelty she thinks she's deep down capable of than anything else she's ever done in her entire life. She would make Cutburn REGRET it.

And! Even with Cutburn on the level, imagine Luz having a breakdown at some point talking to Eda about the whole situation, admitting how she threatened Cutburn with petrification and she Totally Meant It and she's a tyrant just as bad as her father if not WORSE because she can't even COMMIT to an ideal no matter how broken and evil she'd discard everything she's worked for if someone hurt Hunter—

And I think the admission of genuinely threatening someone with petrification (no matter how much that someone deserves it) and nearly following through might be the only thing that could make Eda unsure about Luz at this point however briefly (not because Eda's a bleeding heart but because that specifically more than any other form of punishment is a major symbol of Belos' reign).

I suspect that doubt would get pushed aside pretty quickly by "daughter panicking :(((" because Luz didn't follow through with it and also she's crazy and needs absolution and comfort from a wild witch or (at least in Eda's mind) she might genuinely consider suicide but I think it would be there.

And Eda having to pull her out of this specific spiral would make Luz's guilt complex EVEN worse EVEN faster.

WHEE i do love any excuse for luz to be vicious and scary. sorry baby girl i know it's not in your nature at all but that's why it compels me. darius being like "WHAT are you letting cutburn do to him" and luz being like "she's fixing him. if she does anything else i am Going To Destroy Her." and darius being like .....hm. you actually mean that, don't you. well. i'm still going to demand to see him but. carry on.

as for eda.... YEAH these thoughts are so good. i think any doubts eda had wouldn't last too long because like, this is a teenage girl, of course she's going to reach for a familiar threat to protect herself... eda doesn't doubt that luz truly does want an end to the empire. any pause in her would just be "can a kid really be trusted with this much power, even with the best of intentions."

but she'd want to calm luz down more than anything. eda care her :(

[secretly-of-course]

So I have an idea for a TOH soulmate AU premise but no idea for a plot. I was telling @theres-got-to-be-more about it a bit ago and I decided I'm just gonna post my ideas for it anyway. If anyone takes inspiration from this you have my blessing to do whatever you want with it, just tag me so I can see it!

✨ and if you are picky about soulmate aus like me, rest assured this one is aro and poly friendly! ✨

So the idea is that a side effect of sigil magic is getting a sigil causes your soulmate to get a (non-functioning) matching sigil on their opposite arm. For example, Gilbert Park would have a non-functioning abomination sigil in addition to his own functioning construction sigil since Harvey is in the abomination coven, and vice versa.

Some people have multiple soulmates, while some have none at all. A person like Lilith who has no soulmate would also be indistinguishable from a person like Raine whose soulmate is a wild witch. The nature of these soul sigils means there's a good chance someone who you match sigils with could be your soulmate, but it's not perfect so there's still a chance you may match by coincidence.

--

Anyway.

5 year old Willow excitedly showing her dads her new Emperor's Coven soul sigil that just appeared on her wrist, only for then to freak out because what the heck how old is their daughter's soulmate!? SHE'S ONLY A CHILD!

But Willow's excitement quickly turns to sadness when she realizes she'll never get to be with her soulmate. Heck, she might not even get to meet them. Emperor's Coven members aren't allowed to have relationships, and especially are not allowed to bond with their soulmates. They won't even let anyone join who has already met their soulmate. And it'll be years before Willow joins a coven herself and her soulmate even learns she exists. She shares her woes with Amity while they are still friends, who sympathizes. Later on though, Boscha finds out about Willow's soul sigil and it becomes yet another reason to bully her over--because OF COURSE Willow's soulmate is someone she has no chance with! Who would ever want to be stuck with Half-A-Witch Willow, right? And for a long time, Willow believes her. That she's just fundamentally unworthy of that kind of love. Sure there's a chance she could have multiple soulmates who haven't joined covens yet either, but would they really love Half-A-Witch either?

Then ASIAS happens and boy. Things start making sense now.

--

Teenaged Katya being soooooo excited for her soul sigil to appear. She loves Love! She can't wait to find out what coven her soulmate will be in! But when one day she finally feels her arm tingle and excitedly peels back her sleeve to look at it, she is devastated to see the Emperor's Coven mark. She already hates the EC! And now you're telling her her freaking soulmate is one of them!? And on top of all that the knowledge that she'll never get to be with them is heartbreaking. She hopes she has another soulmate somewhere out there, but somehow knows she won't be that lucky.

Meanwhile when Steve joined the coven with no soul mark, he hoped to the Titan it would stay that way. He couldn't bear it knowing someone out there was waiting to meet him and they never would. It would be much easier if he just didn't have a soulmate at all, like Lilith. Two years after joining the EC a bard soul mark appears on his wrist and his heart sinks. He did have a soulmate after all, and they'd known about him for two years now. He feels guilty about causing this person pain even though he has no idea who they are.

Then OTWAT happens and the CATs get some new recruits a couple days before the Day of Unity and one of them happens to be an ex-EC scout and maybe things aren't so hopeless after all...

--

Twenty-something year old Eda days after having broken up with Raine wakes up to a bard coven soul sigil on her wrist. She covers it with long sleeves or bracelets, not wanting to be reminded. She's not going to tell Raine, or anyone else for that matter. She's not planning to join a coven anyway, so they'll never know.

Raine goes most of their life without a soul mark. Most people would just assume they don't have a soulmate, but they can't help but wonder if they do. After all, wild witches don't leave marks on their soulmates...

Then COTH happens and Eda is branded with the bard coven sigil. Raine gasps as a soul mark appears on their wrist too. Sure, they'd had a suspicion, but this confirms it now. Eda is their soulmate, and she always has been. And then they're met with the sinking feeling that Eda has known they were soulmates this entire time and kept it to herself for years. Ouch.

--

Lumity and Gustholomule never join covens since the abolishment of Belos's system, so they never know for sure if they are soulmates, but it's kind of better this way. Not knowing for sure of you are meant to be together, but choosing to be together anyway. Now that's love.

[calypsolemon]

if i did have one Actual Criticism of ToH (I actually have a few I just am trying to avoid sounding negative about the show bc overall I very much enjoyed it and think its good) it would be that I do think the reasoning Papa Titan gives Luz for why Belos's actions and her own do not come from the same place is... a little off the mark.

Mainly because I think there's not too many ways in which you could say Belos's choices aren't genuine to him. Oh, the reasoning he gives other people of course are a bunch of lies and bullshit, and he even lies to himself, but the root cause of his delusions lies in the puritanistic upbringing he was exposed to from a young age. An upbringing which very much convinces people that control and subjugation of others are necessary to protect their mortal souls from the damnation of hell.

For this reason, "genuine-ness" reads a bit too much of a handwavy abstraction of Luz's actual concern to me. Belos's existence has made her painfully aware that it is really easy to rationalize massively harmful actions to yourself if you believe it is in service of protecting someone else. This doesn't mean that Luz actually has hurt anyone, or that she needed to be as harshly punishing of herself as she was (in fact I would say her desire for self-punishment is a reflection of Belos's puritan values weighing on her), but rather that I think it doesn't really solve her conundrum to simply tell her "well, Belos is kind of a big fat liar who is trying to control people, but don't worry, you're Not That."

What I really wish he had said, and what I do think the series implies in other ways but maybe could have been served to have said openly in that moment, is that Luz is not the same because she is capable of self reflection. In all the times Luz has ever lied to someone, or attempted to change someone or something else to fit her idea of them (think attempting to cure Eda, playing along with King about him being the king of demons, Witches before Wizards, etc) she has ultimately realized it was wrong, and allowed herself to embrace the way things naturally are. In fact, she more often feels like she should be trying to change herself in response to ppl expecting her to fit into social norms. When her environment feels too stifling for her, she finds a different one. She doesn't attempt to fit everything around her into a mold that perfectly suits her, nor does she attempt to destroy everything which doesn't agree with her.

Luz stresses over being just like Belos because she has been raised to, if anything, be too self reflective, and feel like an awful person for not being able to conform to norms that don't naturally fit her. What she needs to be told is that it's admirable, that she tries so hard, and it's a good thing that she is able to see where she maybe needs to change herself at times, but she needs to allow herself the same grace she gives others. She needs to be told that nothing good comes from keeping yourself from happiness. That wanting acceptance and love from others is not the same as attempting to control them.

Buuuut I know they only had like 3 minutes to convey what's going on so I get why they phrased it the way they did. What Luz really needed was a 7 hour long therapy session with daddy titan which. I'm not even sure would have been entirely on point bc the Titan himself probably has some issues he needs to work through. But that's another post

[sepublic]

Say what you will about Hunter fans’ white favoritism and double standards, but at least they seem to like the show. Wittebane fans are on a whole different level of white favoritism and fandom misogyny compared to them, because they’re genuinely obsessed with the idea of an all-white cast, centered around two guys, in their racist colony; Eda’s there too, but without any of the depth, she’s only there to be a Girlboss, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl to the cardboard cutout. And it’s to the point where for many of them, it’s all they’ll talk about, instead of the actual source material, its colorful cast and worldbuilding, or onscreen stories.

I know misogyny and racism is in this fandom because people find it easier and more fun to make shit up for a cardboard cutout who makes about as much noise as one over like, Willow Park. It’s fun to speculate on parallels, but when canon contrasts Camila’s heartbreak over creating a hostile environment for her child, versus Philip’s racist hatred and murder of Caleb for having a mixed child? It’s obvious that people would rather rewrite Belos until he’s OOC and the exact opposite of everything he stands for, so they don’t have to talk about Camila Noceda. Because the only way they can truly enjoy this moment is under the veneer of that white guy and him alone.

Like jeez if you want two family members trying to survive after moving to Gravesfield, one repressing themselves and afraid they’re pushing away the other who can’t do that? If you want two siblings with a tragic fallout, where one of them stays with the status quo while missing the other, despite hurting them so badly? Or a child who cares so deeply, but that isn’t enough and that love can be cruel? Just enjoy the Nocedas, the Clawthorne sisters, the Collector.

Cavelyn? That's just Raeda, which even has a tragic element and is actually fleshed out. Raine has an actual personality unlike Blandest White Boy Caleb, and I've already compared Eda to Evelyn. If you want it tragic, there’s Bad End AUs, and I’ve seen Wittebane fans make plenty of Good End AUs so obviously there’s a double standard there. If you want an old hag to thirst over, oh hey look it’s Eda! If you want someone conventionally attractive, what about Darius?

Anything you want those white boys to be, some other characters with way more focus and screen time do it, and much better. The only thing Belos does better than everyone else is represent colonialism, racism, genocide, and evangelical delusions… But y’all don’t want to talk about that now do you? Maybe instead of making OTGW crossovers just talk about OTGW, y’all have plenty of media centered on white guys so why do you need to change TOH to be like that? It’s not suspect that y’all find Wittebanes compelling, it’s suspect that you find them more compelling over characters who actually display these traits as their focus.

Praising Belos’ character for traits that others actually display is just like Philip taking credit for others’ work, it’s funny how Belos fans say you can enjoy him critically but they don’t actually do that. They just go with this very basic Genocide Bad take but still subscribe to the same core sentiment as him; That colonial white guys are just naturally better and more interesting, and they deserve to take the spotlight away from women and/or PoC.

Belos talks hot shit about how Caleb betrayed him and while some don’t believe that’s the case, they still roll with the claim that the heartbroken feeling of being betrayed is primarily why Belos did all this, when really he did it because he was selfish and wanted to be a monster slaying hero, and his games prior to Evelyn’s arrival support this.

He was gonna do it with or without Caleb’s support, there’s just no winning for Caleb because either he would’ve continued being a witch hunter and it’s his fault for setting that example, or he abandoned poor Philip and Philip had no choice but to feel that way… As if racism isn’t the reason why he insists he can’t follow where Caleb is going, ergo Caleb is leaving him. Poor guy is simultaneously overrated and demonized by the same people for being a child who can’t override his racist brother’s free will.

I think it boils down to this: Despite already having Hunter, it’s not enough because Hunter’s relationships are all PoC or at least a white girl. But those Wittebanes, they’re white guys whose most important dynamic is another white guy, each other! And they’re adults so you can sexualize and ship yourself with them. And don’t even get me started on the Grimwalker OCs, the literally copy-pasted white guys!

[sergeantsporks]

Now i am wondering about the free will and moral compass of the palisman (obviously overthinking a cartoon here for fun, lol) - if, for example, someone like adult Terra decided to carve themselves a palisman would the palisman be born equally ruthless and cruel (kinda born evil trope which is not great), or more likely would the palisman represent more neutral or positive desires of the witch - but then they are basically born to be stuck with someone like Terra, unless the palisman can just leave their witch? But then where is the line, can palisman just have a different moral compass from their witches even if their desires awakened/bonded them initially?

Hmmmmmm not sure. On the one hand, I think the palisman will reflect, to some extent, the wish of their witch. So if their witch's wish is like.... to take over the isles or something, it will help with that goal, and it will act accordingly. We see Lilith's palisman help her trying to catch Eda, even if that's a bad thing, and Flapjack helps Hunter fight Amity, even though it's clear that's not what Flapjack was hoping for. Palisman seem to be willing to help their witch out, even if what their witch wants isn't necessarily the most morally correct thing.

But at the same time, I wonder if palisman might come a little closer to what the witch in question NEEDS rather than WANTS, you know? Like, Hunter didn't WANT a palisman, but Flapjack stuck around because 1) he wanted to choose his own future and 2) despite what Hunter WANTED, Flapjack was there to be what he NEEDED. And a palisman won't bond with you until it gets at the heart of what it is you really, really want.

Luz thought she wanted to be a witch, she thought she wanted to learn magic, but all of that was surface-level desire. She did WANT those things, but that wasn't the thing she wanted the most. Like a lot of weird kids who identified with fantastical stories, she really wanted/needed to be understood. So I think maybe even if Terra carved a palisman and was like "I want to rule the isles," that palisman wouldn't wake up for that wish. It would wake up for whatever deeper wish is lying underneath all that (I'm not going to try and figure out what that might be, but you get the point).

All that being said, palisman DO have their own personalities. And we saw Owlbert run away when he got hurt, so we know that palisman don't have to stay with a witch once they wake up for them. So I'm guessing that palisman get woken up by their witch's desire, and that does factor into their personality, but they can develop their own moral code as they go through life, just like anyone else. And if they decide their moral code is just too different from what their witch is doing, then they can bounce if they want. They might not necessarily DO that (see aforementioned Flapjack example), but they have the option if they want to. So there's some free will in there. I think palisman are a mix of nature and nurture, you know? Like humans, it's a bit of both, with "nature" being the wish that brought you to life and "nurture" being how you learn and live afterwards.

[mdhwrites]

I just read your post on King and Eda, and I TOTALLY agree with you.

If you were in charge of the Owl House, how would you rewrite the two of them? (no pressure to answer if you don't feel like it.)

Forgot to mention this: This is with the kindness of hindsight. It is always easier to critique than it is to create. Especially with how little I plan my stories when I start them, it's arguable if I'd actually make something as cohesive as what I'm going to pitch here. This is why I rarely claim to actually be able to write something better.

So normally my response to this sort of ask is "You can't change the element without losing the spirit of the show" but that's actually not true with just changing Eda and King. There's a foundation there for something really good stemming from the concepts of the two of them but TOH actively avoids doing anything with them. Like I said... They're just kind of bad characters in execution because Eda doesn't have any interest in her own craft or her world while King is a contradictory, one note comic relief character for S1 and then a plot point more than a character in S2/3 that entirely hinges on his heritage. This is part of why King suddenly is the wisest fucking 8 year old to ever exist.

So what would I change? First, I would make them a real family from go. Not by blood but by connection. Acknowledge earlier that Eda adopted King when he was alone and scared. She actually cares about him but struggles to show it because she's been really hurt by family as well and just by life in general so she has these boundaries even with those she's close with. This makes Luz's arc of turning her more motherly feel more natural because Eda isn't just randomly becoming a better person and retconned as having always been sweet but instead her relationship with King highlights what her eventual fate will be as Mama Eda and allows her inner kindness to show earlier.

For King: Write him as a fucking eight year old. Now, I actually have to get into the other big change in order to discuss more of the changes I would make with him but he should never have been equally as world weary as Eda. It constantly put his age into question in S1 and it made how much he actually cared about his heritage feel out of step with the lessons Eda would have taught him to make him such a jaded ass in the first half of S1. It also means that his character is more inline with his character episodes instead of feeling like they're out of character. The true big change though is... Have them reflect twin sides of the Isles. Make Eda love magic, and thus show Luz the grandeur of the Isles (you can even keep the "No Chosen One" thing for this because she genuinely thinks ALL magic is special and wants to impart that on Luz if Luz really wants to be her pupil). It makes it so that she is actually motivated to teach Luz and to experiment with magic. It turns her character more towards someone who is always experimenting with magic and the curse was instead not just something that made them not be able to steal as effectively but a genuine tragedy for her. But because she acts tough and is forty and flirty, she doesn't show it except in really vulnerable moments. Again, this allows Eda and Luz to have a better relationship and keeps her character more consistent between the two seasons while still allowing character growth/an arc that feels justifiable versus what we got.

Meanwhile... King is a fucking 8 year old orphan who's mom has to constantly leave the house to feed them and Hooty is his only protection. He has no strength, he has no magic, he has no friends, he has NOTHING. So make him wanting to be a ruler explicitly a fantasy. Not just biologically encoded into him (which is a WEIRD fucking plot point to begin with) but something that comes from his surroundings. He wants to be a king and have minions because kings are safe and have subjects who adore them. It makes it so that you can have the ruling jokes while also letting King be a character. This also makes him latching onto Luz feel more natural. He is desperate for safety and others and Luz is not only willing to give him the time of day unlike most, but is also mostly safe. He doesn't have to worry about how much more powerful she is than him as they're getting close so he feels like a friend of hers rather than her vassal. This admittedly would need changes to how Luz treats King but, well... That kind of has to do with what both of these changes really are: Take the narrative goals TOH had for these characters... And use them to make real characters. This is a general problem of TOH that Eda and King suffer especially from. They're not real characters. They're just creations meant to serve specific goals and those goals are more important to the writers than the characters. Which begs the question of "If the writers don't care about the MAIN CAST as people... Why should the audience?" And that's something that I as a writer fear a lot personally. I consider characters to be the end and beginning of a story but they do still have to work for the story and finding that balance is a very real struggle. I do not promote Inspiration ID Vol. 1 because the main character in that series is shit. And he's shit because he is just my obsession with a porn trope I disliked and led to the creation of that book. And a lot of TOH shares that motivation so of course the characters are going to tear down the world they're in more than they're going to lift it up.

And when talking about main pillars of your story... The ground is going to cave in eventually.

=========

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.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[princess-of-the-corner]

There is something I've been thinking about regarding the Angel Luz and VIP Luz AUs.

Luz has powerful healing abilities in both of these AUs, and I was wondering if she should use them to heal Dell Clawthorne's injuries.

Not his missing eye, because I do think there is a limit to regrowing missing body parts, but his damaged hand.

I'm a bit hesitant because there is something about curing disabled characters.

I know I'm being hypocritical because I have no problem with Luz using her healing powers on Eda, though, in the Owl Lady's case, it won't cure her curse but heal the toll it has taken on her body.

Honestly when it comes to using Healing Magic like this, I have it three ways:

1.) Healing Magic /heals/, not reverses damage. It just speeds up the body's natural processes. Even the sort of 'this character has a grave injury, fix them with Magic' thing will result in scars and complications. So in this case, Luz can't heal Dell because he's already 'healed' as much as his body naturally would do.

2.) Healing Magic does help, but it will not instantly fix damage. Instead it's like physical therapy. Multiple sessions over time will slowly fix the injury more and more. In this case Dell would regain a bit more mobility with his hand. Though unlikely to ever fully fix this, even with sessions over months or years.

3.) Healing is kind of a catch-all and will work to just fix how the user knows. Usually this would mean that you can't fix major injuries like Dell's. However, someone who is a doctor who studies exactly how to fix the body and also has healing Magic would be able to go in manually with the Magic and heal in an almost sugical-like manner. This one doesn't really apply here, as Luz isn't a surgeon. But it's on the table.

[random-dragon-exe]

Ok but like, an AU where the hexsquad stays in the Boiling Isles and the Covenheads recover quickly, then go through the portal and into the human realm to escape the collector.

(For the sake of the AU to work, Eda was the one clever enough to remember her curse and she cut off her arm herself, then the Covenheads recovery was quicker and try to find a way to escape by going to higher ground. Terra and Adrian see the Portal and make a run for it and the others follow suit. Raine follows to say that they don't want to leave Eda and the others but Darius drags them with him to get to safety. Terra and Mason get greedy and knock the Hexsquad away from the portal. Luz and the others try to catch up but it's too late as the portal closes and ends.)

Think about it. It'll be played seriously as they try to find a way back. Of course, there'd also be some humor too about them being stuck in a different world.

Raine and Darius would share the single braincell trying to hold everyone together. Raine is the one who suggests that they lay low while trying to find a way back.

Then Raine gets the idea that they need to not only hide their ears, but also need to blend in with regular human clothes. (So naturally, they have to resort to stealing clothes ATLA style.)

They'll also have to do some small accommodations for Vitimir's legs, Hettie's horns (if they're horns it could be a headpiece we don't know) Terra's hair, Osran's extra hands, and Adrian has to just hide his tail with an illusion.

They also pass off Eberwolf as a type of feral wolf they keep as a pet.

They keep shelter at the portal house and Mason is the one to repair it up a bit to make it more livable. (Albeit, with Terra's floral but deadly touches as decoration/security)

Of course they don't get along, but they do their best to put it aside in order to find a way home and stop Belos. (Terra and the Covenheads that were previously loyal to Belos now just want to get some revenge for being manipulated the entire time.)

In terms of food, they resort to stealing food from markets via illusions and sneaking around since they have no idea how human currency works.

About the Rebus, Mason finds it while remodeling the interior one day, coincidentally around Halloween-time. (since it's Halloween they don't need to hide their ears and one tail, people will think it's a costume.)

They try to decipher the rebus but to no avail, so they have to resort to asking someone and of course they run into Masha and they help.

Darius notices the golden guard symbol again and Raine notices the statues of the Whittebane Brothers where one looks like Belos.

For a small break they decide to sit down and watch Masha's retelling of the "Brothers Whittebane". During the ride, Darius notices the bird that looks an awful lot like Hunter’s palisman.

It isn't until after that one by one they piece together that Belos came from the Human realm and was one of the brothers on the statue. (They don't know what happened to the other brother though.)

Then Darius notices something in the woods and goes after it. The others follow and see Belos possessed Darius and they fight him and manage to get him out of his body.

The try to fight him again to defeat him but it doesn't work. Darius is severely hurt so she stays back to heal him. (This time, while they're fighting Adrian manages to look inside Belos’s mind via a similar spell that doesn't need an amplifier.)

Belos manages to escape through the portal, and with Darius healed within time, they quickly go in through the portal.

I really liked this sudden idea I just had to share.

Also yes Darius is the equivalent to Hunter here because of his connection to the previous golden guard.

And Adrian is the equivalent to Gus in this scenario (in his own twisted way) because he has the magic to look into a person’s memories. (Then it'll come up as he pieces it together that Belos killed his brother and made him into a grimwalker.)

Then Darius has to face the fact that Hunter is a grimwalker as well as the previous Golden Guard.

What can I say except that I live for parallels?

I may do a part 2 of this for how the rest goes, who knows.

[edalynn]

I actually LOVE Evelyn and Caleb comparisons in Hunter ships, but they have to be well written and natural. It would be one thing if h/l shippers were like, writing fics where they actually built up to a situation where a comparison between Evelyn and Willow made sense, but it seems like they’d rather just pretend “uh Willow and Evelyn are so similar because uh… they’re both witches, and also girls?”

Oh, yeah, you're preaching to the choir here. I absolutely ADORE Caleb and Evelyn comparisons for Hunter ships, especially because Cat and Hunter are MAJOR comparisons to their predecessors with Hunter being Caleb's Grimwalker (obv), but technically still sort of a witch while Cat is a Clawthorne (by adoption like Luz), but is technically still sort of a human. Add in the flavor text that Philip idolizes her to the point of almost making her out to be Saint-like due to the fact that she's a hunter and is "ridding the human realm of demons and witches and evils" just like he tried to do back in his time & is doing presently in the Boiling Isles, only for him to find out she's Just Like Evelyn, still a wild witch a la Luz, and has stolen his "brother" away yet again. It's just like Belos' life is a series of going "Oh God dammit, not again how does this keep happening" lmao. But that is a good comparison. I would even go so far as to say Hunter and Luz (platonically, I Do Not Ship like that) are a really good Evelyn and Caleb comparison for the exact same reason (minus the flavor text lmao).

But my own life aside, that is literally what they're doing. I once saw someone say a H/l tried to make a Willow & Evelyn comparison based on Willow's Halloween costume & the fact that in Masha's story the cut-out of Evelyn has a demon tail and classic witch outfit despite that being a nasty and untrue caricature of her in the first place, meant to look insulting to Evelyn lmfao. The most they've got is being witches and girls. I know we don't know anything really about Evelyn's personality other than being in love with Caleb and being a wild witch, but I'd wager to say she was probably a lot like Eda considering that's what the half a second shot of her design most resembled & the fact that Belos hunted Eda down so hard and disposed of Lilith once he'd gotten her & had her set to be petrified. It's almost like he wanted her dead just based on the fact that she reminded him of Evelyn.

[wingsyliveblogs]

Some miscellaneous observations from rewatching Episode 3 with added context from Episode 15: 

(cut for length)

It’s quite interesting to consider what Amity herself might be thinking during her introduction scene; one thing that’s especially notable is the fact she knows exactly how to find Willow out in the middle of absolutely nowhere, yet still claims that her running into Willow was a complete accident (with accompanying insults). 

It might be that she followed Willow to this area, or just that she knows Willow’s habits well enough to tell that she’d be here, but either way, it certainly lends credence to the idea that she was making some sort of attempt to encourage Willow without actually being nice to her. Sadly, that’s not exactly how one generally encourages someone...

It definitely also feels as if she’s trying to imitate Boscha in this scene, but... poorly. She’s way more awkward about it than the real deal, that’s for sure!

I swear, that top student badge is going to haunt me. Will it ever come up again??? I must know

Willow is so excited when she realises Luz is a human... does that come from her being friends with Gus, or do people in the Boiling Isles just naturally find humans fascinating even when they’re not outright obsessed with them..? 

I wonder if Amity thrives in the abomination track under such a difficult teacher because she's used to meeting the expectations of strict and unforgiving authority figures thanks to her parents? By contrast Willow, whose parents seem fairly normal in the love and support department, is struggling a lot - even considering the fact that plants are her specialty and she doesn’t really do well in other fields, I imagine she wouldn’t necessarily fail every assignment if she had a more forgiving teacher. 

On a similar note, Amity's anger towards Willow (and later Luz) for cheating might very well come from experience with her siblings? If they’re in the habit of skipping school, I would not be surprised to learn that they cheat on schoolwork at times as well. As Eda has proven, a skilled witch can get away with a lot, even as a student!

You know, I don’t think I consciously registered before that the weather vane has a little carving of Owlbert on the top of it. Very cute! 

...also it’s visible in the OP in every single episode, so I really should pay more attention

In hindsight, I would not be at all surprised if Amity waited on purpose for the perfect moment to jump on the table for peak dramatic effect, since she specifically waits until Willow expresses concern that Amity might see Luz eating food before taking action.

I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS MANY COVEN BANNERS SHOWED UP IN THIS EPISODE AND I DIDN’T NOTICE except I can because I wouldn’t have any indication that they actually meant anything until Episode 5. No problems here! 

...this morning, Luz. Eda told you that this morning.

You know, I wonder if Luz questions what Eda says about magic's unpredictability being beautiful because she also called the trash slug “breathtaking” shortly before that...