#luz has trauma

[crimeronan]

another Vital AU hunter-and-camila thought from this morning was a thought of, like. camila very very very gently and carefully explaining that she'd like luz to get a basic physical done by a doctor in the human realm, because luz has not been seen by a human doctor since she was four and is overdue for ten million vaccines and desperately needs bloodwork to check her vitamin and thyroid levels, etc, etc, etc, and hunter is like. visibly freaked out and upset by this. bc he is SO afraid of strangers hurting luz.

anyway. that's all pretty much expected, on account of The Horrors.

what got me in my feelings was the thought of camila telling hunter that she has a lot of the same worries, and that she Knows not all human healers have good intentions, and that she Promises she'll take that into account when finding one for luz. because she does not want luz to get hurt.

hunter, naturally, is like "how.... do you know that....?" and camila is like ay dios mio. HOW do i explain medical racism or the united states..... to a boy.... with no concept of racism or the united states.....

[pageofheartdj]

It's so interesting to think what Raine and Collector's relationship will start with when they become a family. Because of a more unique baggage they have about each other.

I hc no one was conscious as a doll, since it's supposed to be preserving them(except Hooty somewhat, because of his titan connection). But when Belos possessed Raine's body, it 'awoken' them, since they could later fight back and push him out. So they were present, a silent viewer through the body that is supposed to be theirs. But it's wooden now and there is another driver. A malicious driver. They know it was the Collector who put everyone in this situation in the first place. But they got to see first hand that they are really nothing else but a kid. An insecure and lonely and hurt kid. And they were being taken advantage of. Raine is a bleeding heart, so even after everything they can't not sympathise with them, and hate how Belos plays them. So even though they had a more different experience as a doll from everyone else to be wary of him in the beginning, they also are more inclined to not be blinded by fear to offer that child unconditional love and support.

And Collector as well, would have complicated feelings about Raine. Because Raine is super nice and fun and have a cute foxy friend and play pretty music. But also in any random moment they remember Philip. They remember it was like then, when he thought the doll was his friend. That nice attitude suddenly puts him on edge even though logically he knows Philip is not there anymore.

And from time to time 'Ray-Ray' slips in, that makes both freeze. A reminder for both, of Raine being trapped and controlled, of Collector being lied to and now guilty. But it would be nice if Raine will accept it if Collector does. The experience is in the past now and Collector can trust Raine fully now. So they work together to get rid of Ray-Ray's bad connotations.

[pespillo]

What happened to Luz and Eda in your Acolyte au? Has Hunter ever met King?

Hunter has met king but they never really had a one on one conversation, because King pretends he doesnt talk (distrusts everyone) , King terrorizes Hunter every now and then by whispering things and then pretending he didnt say anything, just to make Hunter feel crazy, their relationship is terrible because Belos actively pits em against each other.

Eda and Luz have remained largely the same, tho i would believe Eda is more closed on herself , then again without any excuse to always remain at the owl house taking care of King she does end up inevitably going out more trying to get into fruitless relationships to get over Raine (doesnt rlly work of course, i think they would end up meeting again a bit earlier), i think it would be funny if King still ends up snooping around her diary when he gets stuck at the Owl House n sees she had a fling with the head of the bard coven , he absolutely tries using this information in the future.

[awakefor48hours]

I really can't stand people who use trauma as reason as to not ship a character with someone else. People with trauma are allowed to have a relationship.

[theprinceandthewitch]

TFW you get the biggest Huntlow jumpscare of your life while looking for art in a different fanbase 😭

[hikaaa-bi]

i knew this looked familiar

[miqotepotatoe]

Marcy Wu 🤝 Cole Brookstone

Fear being alone, abandoned and hated by their friends

Luz Noceda 🤝 Cole Brookstone

Parent they were close with died when they were young, said death caused their relationship with their remaining parent to be strained, ran away

In this essay, I will-

[darkmoonravewolf]

I know I'm in the minority but it's still wild to me that people think Luz will swear.

I think she'll be the person who doesn't like to cuss but doesn't care if others do. She has her own "weird" way of doing it! She started it as a way to scoot around the whole "children shouldn't cuss" rule Camila has but she quickly ended up liking it more than actual cuss words.

It's so rare to hear Luz say a swear that the first time someone heard her cuss was when they were 17 and all the teens were hanging out listening to the blight siblings complain about Odalia. Luz casually goes "yea she was a bitch." And everyone's head snaps towards her like :0

And then she didn't say another cuss word for 12 more years so they all thought they imagined it

[glupblorbo]

logging onto tumblr to show y'all my new brainrot aka the "luz-and-hunter-go-on-a-road-trip-summer-after-their-senior-year-and-also-there's-mormon!belos" modern au and i say new as if this hasn't been rotting in my brain since the second i watched toh a fuckin year ago and was like "hey i relate to that nerd hunter a lil too much"

i'm finally only writing this now bc i got "college/academia" and "road trip" for 2/3 of my AU Roulette prompts and a couple things clicked into place after talking to a friend and BOOM. hunter gets more trauma :)

anyway. this fic has me by the throat and im unpacking a lot of shit so heed the tags on it lmfao but. im having SO much fun writing it too who knew therapy could be fun?

Summary is as follows:

Hunter Wittebane is well-versed in navigating the choppy waters of his uncle’s unsustainable emotions after 13 years—and now, he just has a few weeks left before he’ll be across the country at college and will only ever have to see his uncle twice a year. Except somehow, the thought of college is almost as terrifying as the thought of staying in the Deep South the rest of his life, closeted and giving much more than ten percent of himself each week. Thankfully, Luz suggests a few days on the road to help.

and yes it'll be part of a series bc i have SO MUCH LORE for this au lmfao

Snippet from the next third chapter below the cut (and a warning for mentioned abuse):

Luz shakes her head in frustration, cursing under her breath again, and he laughs. Half of this is all just a show for him; he’s well aware Luz can tell he’s still on edge about the trip in general and is doing her best to mitigate further stress for him. It’s the first time he’s been away from Uncle for so long—well, the first time he’s been away period, really—that wasn’t related to a church thing, and while church things make him freak out even more, he at least knows what to expect with them, and knows Uncle will be kinder in the aftermath, even if only for a day or so.

He has no clue how his uncle will react upon their return from this trip. And Hunter is all too familiar with what can happen—what will happen—if his uncle finds out the truth.

“Hey, you good?”

Luz is looking at him the way she always does when he shows up at Amity’s parking spot with a ziploc full of makeup and begs the both of them to help him figure out how he’s supposed to hide an hour-fresh bruise on his jaw when there’s five minutes until the bell. He’s never much liked that look.

“I’m fine,” he manages, rolling his shoulders back and trying to look relaxed.

[crimeronan]

thinking more about potential amnesiac hunter timelines. unless i did a Lot of plot finagling, i don't imagine it would be a very long-lived scenario: belos gets killed with hammers, luz flings herself on raine immediately, raine and darius pull her into hunter's mindscape to help, etc.

so the two main thoughts are:

1) how Unbelievably Disorienting this would be from hunter's perspective. purging his memories of luz would fuck him up So Bad that i'm having to think more of what he Does remember than what he doesn't.

he can recognize raine and darius. he knows belos is the emperor. he remembers having been hurt by belos and he knows there was a reason he wasn't fighting back but he can't remember what it was. a seemingly-angry emperor drags him into a room with a girl he's never seen before and within thirty seconds she's crying and begging hunter to talk to her. he has a Wild headache and he doesn't like seeing her upset. he does his best to convey this but it's hard to parse words into sentences.

then she kills belos with hammers in front of him.

like. good god.

2) we've had "everyone traipses through luz's mindscape uncovering new depths of horror".... but what about "luz raine and darius traipse through hunter's mindscape learning literally every single thing he never wanted any of them to know"??

[willumity2020]

I initially thought of Amity as a mean rich girl who bullies everyone, including Willow; however, as the series went on, I didn't see her as such, and after watching episodes beginning with "Lost in Language" and ending with "Understanding Willow", it all made WAY TOO MUCH sense on who she REALLY is and WHY she behaved the way she did:

Amity has a complex trauma (C-PTSD) from her upbringing; she was emotionally abused by Odalia, emotionally neglected by Alador who enables Odalia's abusive behavior, and even teased and pushed away by Emira and Edric. Because of that, Amity was raised as a miserable loner with no love or respect, and under Odalia's influence, she had been living a lie and putting on an act and façade (such as being bully to everyone, faking her desire of joining the coven which was forced upon by Odalia, associating with Boscha and her gang which was also forced upon by Odalia, etc).

Both "Lost in Language" and "Understanding Willow" made crystal clear without a shadow of a doubt that Amity was NEVER a bully she appeared to be; her selfish and harsh behavior was simply a reaction to how she was treated as a child, as well as her coping with not only her childhood trauma she had endured in years, but also her loneliness and misery as a result of Odalia forcing her to end her friendship with Willow. She never wanted to hurt Willow and was forced to do so; she was just pretending to dislike Willow and acting as a bully to protect her from Odalia and that's all. Compared with her favorite children's book character Odiban; Amity never had real friends and her friendship with Willow was forcefully cut off by Odalia, who bullied her into associating with Boscha, who was a real bully. She never considered Boscha and her gang as her real friends and never called them "her friends" at all. Odalia compelled Amity to get green hair because she wanted her children to be "color coordinated", despite the fact that Amity inherited her father Alador's hair color. All she wanted was love, respect, and a real friends who she can laugh with and grow together with, but they keep being taken away.

And here's more, Amity never wanted to join the Emperor's Coven; her seeming excitement to join it was, IN FACT, forced upon her by Odalia. Amity also hoped that if she will have to participate in something she dislikes, she might as well try to get something out of it for herself such as love and respect from her family and the others. Amity was expecting for a better future since, according to her sister Emira, the former wasn't happy in the past and it wasn't denied by Amity who was looking for a future that would make her happy, which ironically wouldn't have happened at all.

But when Luz came around (despite taking some time), Amity finally began to come out of the shell that Odalia forced her in and Amity became a better person for it.

And besides that, Amity DID deserve to be mean to Luz from the beginning, even if she wasn't ACTUALLY bullying her; she was just VERY ANGRY at her for helping Willow in cheating in school. As for King, she was only mean to him by association because he knew Luz.

Despite rekindling their friendship in Wing it Like Witches, in Follies at the Coven Day Parade, when Amity said "I'm glad we can be like this again", Willow stopped smiling, now knowing that what she and Amity had before isn't the same as it was and she feels like it won't ever be that way again, even though she'd like it to be, but they are at the very least back to being friends again.

Redemption

@danaterrace

[pincushionx]

Blood warning!

.

.

.

I see lots of fanfics that talk about the Grimwalker stories and myths as Grimwalkers being these predators that hunt witches and are these monster that feed off of flesh, but all of these are usually false and like I said just myths.

So what if that wasn’t the case? What if Grimwalkers were the flesh craving beasts everyone thinks they are. Aka me giving Hunter the Tokyo Ghoul treatment (kinda)

This image takes place during Thanks to Them, he’s hunting and consuming animals to sustain himself but they can only do so much. He keeps it a secret because he’s ashamed, scared and full of self loathing. Unfortunately you can only sneak out and wash your clothes so frequently until you get caught.

…

The craving flesh started around the time Hunter started hitting his second stage of puberty, so around 12 to 13 years old. It started off as spouts of aggression, weight loss and odd carvings that he suppressed until he eventually snapped and attacked a scout. Once he consumed flesh, there was no going back.

This happened with a few Grimwalkers, typically one made around pubescent years due to this being a natural development. Grimwalkers who are made as adults don’t get this since get miss that developmental period. A reason why Belos made Grimwalkers strictly adults for hundreds of years before trying out a new experiment.

When Belos made Hunter, he was aware of this and rather than kill Hunter off or just make an adult Grimwalker, he decided he can benefit from a “monster” needing a source of food.

Hence, Hunter picking up a reputation for being “feral.” Belos supplies Hunter with blood and flesh but not enough to satisfy him, just the minimum to keep him alive. This is to keep Hunter at a state where he’s willing to do more work to earn more food but unfortunately this just results in cases of Hunter going “too far” aka mauling different beings (witches, beasts, demons, ect) during missions on the accounts he’s literally starving and being triggered in fights.

He can eat normal food but his sense of taste is bit dull and doesn’t give him the nutrition he needs. He can eat and eat and it will do nothing. He learns to satisfy himself through eating animals he hunts during missions. When he gets to the human realm he eats his food with an overwhelming amount of seasoning just to taste it.

He also has a very strong jaw and sharp teeth, like hyena type stuff.

(Imagine a scenario he pauses a mission mid way to go hunt some voles and eat them raw and the scouts just standing there like-)

After Hollow mind Hunter struggles because now he’s has little source of witch or demon flesh (he raids the healing classes for blood and kitchen for uncooked meat)

So during thanks to them he’s forced to live with three witches, a basilisk, two humans who are somewhat similar to witches and oh boy he struggles. His friends are concerned. Camila notices Hunter eats a lot but still looks like he isn’t gaining weight, Gus notices that he sneaks out, Vee smells something wrong with him, Luz sees how on edge he is, Amity catches on to his burst of aggression (caused by hunger and stress) and Willow notices he avoids them.

They all already knows something is off with him (heightened senses, unusual teeth and jaw strength, glowing eyes, unusually tight and powerful muscles despite how gaunt he is) but only Luz knows he’s a grimwalker but hasn’t quite put the peices that’s he’s a unnatural, natural predator to witches and demons. The witches, Vee and even the humans feel a slight primal fear around Hunter but they can’t quite put the reason why, he puts them on edge even if they love him but something’s off.

Despite the fact that all of them are willing to give him blood, even some flesh if they could, the boy just refuses, since he sees himself as a literal monster that needs to be locked up.

This is me giving Hunter Grimwalker trauma x100. Anywho this is my late Halloween post aka my billionth AU idea. This was inspired by Tokyo Ghoul, Ginger snaps(2000) and the fic [redacted] Hunter by ApaMonkey on ao3! Yall should read it!

I have a weakness for flesh craving characters who aren’t villains but they aren’t so common so of course I had to project that love to my own skrunkly!

[sepublic]

I cannot imagine being Camila Noceda because so much of her arc starts around her being scared for her child, wanting her to do well and succeed and being afraid she’ll get hurt. And then right under her nose, her daughter has disappeared on some adventure in another world but at least she seems fine, right?

But you still let yourself break and you end up saying things you might regret. And then it’s only when you begin to worry about her that she comes back and she is scarred. She’s hurt. There’s a cut on her eyebrow and you realize it will never heal. It always reminds you of how you weren’t there for her, you couldn’t protect your daughter from those who hurt her, and if you’d been enough for Luz then maybe she wouldn’t have needed to come to the isles to begin with and be injured. You see how she’s begun to loathe and hate herself, because of things and people entirely outside of her control, and you couldn’t have been there to comfort her when she needed it. So now it’s built up for Luz into this horrific trauma that she hasn’t even yet begun to unpack.

Camila is stronger than everyone because if I’d seen my kid come back like that, I’d have broken apart asking what happened, are you okay, etc. But instead she remains strong because she can see that Luz and her kids are scared and they really need an adult who can be strong for them. Camila probably thought about what happened in Yesterday’s Lie afterwards, and come to regret her outburst; She must’ve guessed how it hurt Luz and made her feel terrible and alas she was right! So she vowed not to make that same mistake again and be even stronger next time, and she was!!!

But man that must’ve been so scary and helpless and painful, seeing what happened under your watch. Being unable to provide a fix in getting her back home, so of course Camila goes along to the Demon Realm once she gets that opportunity, because this all started because she wasn’t there for her daughter when she needed her most. Of course she supports her in coming out, as well as in staying in the isles; She won't blame Eda for giving Luz what she wanted and needed, as Eda herself couldn't be a hypocrite by telling Luz to stay with her mom. Camila won’t let Luz face this stuff alone like last time, not when she knows and Luz feels better about trusting her (or had to, anyway) and it’s what saves Luz!!! Because when Luz relapses after failing against Kikimora, it’s Camila who’s there to pick her back up and tell her everything she needs, which leads to Luz’s palisman String Bean finally emerging!!!

But then Luz dies and just. That scar must’ve reminded Camila that she wasn’t there to protect her daughter from anyone that might hurt her. And despite helping a little against Kikimora, it still happened again. Permanently. Man I wish Camila had a “GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH” moment to get back at Belos for all she did her to child. But Camila had to keep going because after Yesterday’s Lie, she knew she still had other kids to look after. She was strong for Vee during Yesterday’s Lie, only to let herself drop right afterwards in front of Luz. But not again. No time for self pity, you just have to move on after a death and keep living, just as you did with Manny. And in the end, Luz IS all right, and she’s better than she’s ever been and there’s some huge relief.

Just augh Camila Noceda. Luz went on an isekai adventure, but maybe so did her mother? And I don’t mean with the Boiling Isles, I mean with the U.S. Camila might have been an immigrant, and not just the child/descendant of one. And even if she wasn’t, she still moved to Gravesfield. So in general so much of her life has been about going to another world and trying to survive and feel comfortable in it. As it was for Luz, too; But they survived along the way and found what fellow “weirdoes” they could, with Camila meeting Manny, who could’ve also related to her as a fellow Dominican American. And now she’s found others who can relate to Camila in other ways, as Manny also related to her as a huge nerd.

[candyskiez]

so, you've heard shows be recommended because they had gay characters. you don't really know what they're actually about though, and don't know if they'd be something you'd be into and are worried about spoilers. here's spoiler free plot summaries of em!

The Owl House

The Owl House starts out as a typical teenage girl goes into a fantasy realm story, but with a twist. Actions have consequences. The protagonist is a girl named Luz Noceda, who was being sent to a camp to make her behave normally by her mother after causing too much trouble at school. She ends up finding a place she's always dreamed of: a fantasy world. A world where everyone's so much weirder than she is. And she thinks, maybe if I don't belong out there, maybe people will like me here. Maybe I can be special here.

It's a story about found family, propaganda, erased history, living with disability, religious trauma, and neurodivergence. It's fundamentally a show about people who's brains work differently finding each other and making a family that treats them right. Definitely my favorite of the ones on this list. It's about people who've been oppressed being pissed about it and about finding yourself again after giving up on everyone around you for so long. It's basically a show about being a minority and trying to be understood and to understand yourself in the process. It's about growing up neurodivergent and how isolating it feels and figuring yourself out. It's about repairing broken relationships and parents who fuck up. And it's just. Such a love letter to anyone who was the weird kid in school. It's sad and heartbreaking and also so hopeful, and it's wonderful.

Content warnings: Abuse, Death, Grief, Animal Death, Suicidal thoughts, Vague suicide attempts, Depression, blink and you'll miss it s/h, body horror, religious trauma

She Ra and the Princesses Of Power

Adora was raised in the Horde since she was a baby, being fed propaganda about how cruel the princesses were. After learning how the horde actually was, though, she defects. But there's one problem. Her best friend, Catra, stays behind. Adora finds a sword that can transform her into She Ra, and might be the key to figuring out who she really is, while Catra takes her place as force captain.

It's a story about abuse, at the end of the day. Adora and Catra were stuck in a golden child and scapegoat dynamic, despite how much they care about each other. This leads to them knowing everything about each other but not understanding it. There's a fundamental disconnect between them, because both of their traumas are completely different. They have complete misconceptions about each other. Even in their initial split, they both have completely different perceptions of what's going on and why the other is upset. It's not a story about magic princesses, it's about the cycle of abuse and what makes it so complicated. Does it have flaws? Yeah. But ultimately I really really enjoy it, and when it does something right it does something RIGHT. Get through season one, it starts kids show-y but it gets very good during later s1.

Content warnings: Abuse (obviously), body horror, gaslighting (and I mean actual gaslighting, not what the Internet thinks gaslighting is), suicide, depression, flashing lights and eyestrain during the finale

Steven Universe

Steven Universe is a sins of the father story. Steven is the son of the leader of the rebel group The Crystal Gems, who's name was Rose Quartz. He navigates the confusion of being half gem and half human, as well as trying to figure out the mess of the rebellion and what his mother left behind. He's constantly in her shadow, for better or for worse.

It's a story about grief. How it impacts relationships, how it taints history, how it impacts family. It has some definite flaws, but ultimately it's about very flawed people who have lost so many people in their life trying to cope with it. Trying to handle what they lost and trying to adjust to life without them. It's about how expectations fuck a kid up and about agency and just a show about complicated relationships in general, at the end of the day. Also, it has some FANTASTIC music.

Content warnings: Grief, Abuse, body horror, very creepy people I don't know how to tag, heavy allegories for homophobia

Nimona

Nimona is a story about a guy who gets framed for murder. His name is Ballister Boldheart, a commoner who hoped to become a knight. It seemed everyone was waiting to watch him fail, so it was no surprise when he was the immediate target. Heavily injured and away from the man he loves, he's left alone trying to figure out a way to prove his innocence- until a strange kid comes into his life. This kids name is Nimona, and while he is intent on proving his innocence, she gave up on being anything but a villain a long time ago.

It's about deconstructing the model minority myth, trans rage, propaganda, and with a healthy dose of "FUCK the police".

Content warnings: Heavy injury, on screen suicide attempt, flashing lights

feel free to add more shows! just remember to keep the summaries as spoiler free as you can and add content warnings!

[mayandjuly1811]

I DISLIKE HUNTER'S FAVORITISM

Lilith is so based for this. Hunter gets special treatment from not only in the Emperor's coven but also in the entire show, crew and fandom.

The crew also loves the idea of giving him more trauma and focus. During livestreams and talk shows, there are always questions about him, even more than King - one of the main characters.

In the show, many point out that the first letters of the episodes in which he appears with the Hexsquad is an acronym for H-E-A-L (Hunting Palismen, Eclipse Lake, Any Sports in A Storm, Labyrinth Runner). It means the Hexsquad, even Luz, the main character, is a plot device for his arc. I also knew that Hunter was written to stay at the Owl House after the whole event of Hollow Mind. Imagine him staying with the main characters of the show, having them comforting him, center around him. It will be the same with how the Hexsquad is written to be centered around him as his support system again, specifically Gus and Willow. Undoubtedly, the show intended to make him one of the main characters so obviously that it isn't subtle anymore.

- Luz: the main character of the show. In season 2B, Hunter replaces Luz as their new best friend in the trio. Like seriously? Even though Luz is dating Amity, she can still have spare time for her friends. But the writers don't care, so Hunter will have more time with Willow and Gus. It paints Luz in a bad light as someone who throws her friendship away once she finds love. It's OOC of Luz. Never thought a main character could get such bad writing treatment.

The nightmare sequence is also unreasonable. While others’ resentment towards Luz sounds more logical, Hunter's isn't, at least to me. I don't get why the writers wrote Luz thinking Hunter get mad of her like this “I lost him helping you.” Who helps who actually? He came to Luz's place first. He was the one asking Luz for help and not the other way around. He literally ran away first and intended to face Belos alone despite Luz's calling. Even though Luz is self-blaming, her interaction in the nightmare sequence with Hunter makes no sense.

- Next is Amity: I was expecting Amity to have more screen time with Willow, since I'm not satisfied with how their friendship is written. But alas, if Luz, the main character, doesn't even have any episodes ever since Hunter appears, how could Amity - a side character - can?

The writing flaw is obvious in her rekindled friendship with Willow. The way Amity views Willow's strength is negatively retconned. In Understanding Willow, she says that she didn't think of Willow as weak. In the next episode, she even cooperates with Willow and Luz to compete against Boscha. Grudgeby is a dangerous sport, and Boscha is a tough competitor who has won several cups. Obviously, Willow proves her strength there, shows her magic and even scores the last goal. Amity sees it all. In season 1, it's going in the right direction, Amity acknowledges that Willow isn't weak and even cooperates with her. She never tries to stop Willow from competing with the excuse of thinking her weak. But in Labyrinth Runner, she gets done dirty so bad. The writers intend to show that she's overprotective of Willow and wants to protect her, but by what way? Trying to make up for the times when she can't stand up for Willow in the past? No, by underestimating her. This makes no sense compared to how she's written in season 1. This scene, when Amity says that the guards are tough, and not anyone can stand up to them, her lines can be added up like “Willow, you just got kidnapped by them and I'm worried about you. I faced the Scouts before, and they were quite tough, so I got thrown down the pit by one.” It would be better than writing her as underestimating Willow's strength! Oh and I hate the irritating scene “Good luck, Willow”. They could have just written Amity asking Willow if she was okay.

Why Amity is retconned like that? I strongly believe that Amity is flanderized as someone who underestimates Willow's strength to uplift Hunter, who admires and appreciates her strength despite only meeting her once. I already saw “Willow forgives Hunter faster because he sees her as strong while Amity sees her as a weakling.”

- Willow: Any Sports in a storm is supposed to be a Willow's episode but it's a Hunter's one apparently. Willow is written to be hard-working, determined and strong from the start of the episode with her dream of being the first Flyer Derby captain. But it gets overshadowed by Hunter's new friendship and interaction with the group. From the middle till the end, there's barely any scenes of Willow being recognized as a good captain. There's no scene at least like other teammates praising her for her leadership and planning. And there's no scene of her interpersonal emotions like “I did it” or her fathers being proud of her. She wishes to be good at Flyer Derby and follow in her fathers’ footsteps. It's never mentioned again. It's not about her, it's only about developing Hunter and the ship tease Huntlow. Instead of writing how her newfound confidence and captain leadership are recognized, her old wound “half-a-witch” is brought up to develop Hunter and Huntlow, even though it's not the SAME thing Hunter and Willow have in common!! Hunter gets the spotlight in the Flyer Derby team, from praising, encouragement to the photo taking. He's the centre in the photo, just like how everyone is focused on his slow typing at the end of the episode.

Willow is also retconned as a forced girlboss stereotype from dragging Hunter when they first met to being insensitive of his trauma. Like why did she get done so dirty? Especially in Thanks to Them, Willow comforts Vee quite well. She said Vee didn't have to go to the museum if she was still afraid. But it's not the same in For the Future when she tries to comfort Hunter by bringing a Flapjack's photo right after he lost his palisman.

- Last but not least, Gus. Labyrinth Runner is a Gus episode that gets overshadowed. The breathing technique is something special in Gus and Willow's friendship. But it's used to develop Hunter again. It's used to develop his and Gus's friendship, and his relationship with Willow.

Gus, who has been friends with Willow for years, can't recognize the real Willow while Hunter can. It's reasonable if Willow gets scared of Hunter. Also, that he thinks Willow doesn't get scared of him isn't entirely convincing to me. Even though Willow isn't utterly scared, she would at least be wary of him. He kidnapped her and others, locked them up, took their Palismen and took them away from their families. He saved them at the end, but what they've been through was very traumatizing. Willow is insecure about her strength. Not to mention it doesn't make any sense when Hunter sees how Willow doubts her strength and calls herself half-a-witch. He stirs up her insecurity and how can he think she isn't afraid of him? Yet in Labyrinth Runner, he is written to be more understanding of her strength more than Gus?

If Hunter knows that the illusion isn't Willow, Gus should have known as well. Gus is the master of illusion, and he can't even recognize an illusionist? Also, his best friend? They could have written that Gus recognizes Willow through the breathing technique, which is the only thing they knew to solidify their friendship more.

In Labyrinth Runner, both Amity and Gus are done dirty in this episode in order to make Hunter outshine them. And most of all, Huntlow. Hunter is written to be more understanding and appreciating Willow's strength more than Gus and Amity, so Huntlow would be more convincing.

- Season 3 has only three episodes but more than half of the screen time is about Hunter, playing the main character role just like Luz. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks Hunter's possessed scene and killing Flapjack are unnecessary. How does it benefit his character and the plot? Hunter can still defy and fight Belos without being possessed. The only effect from this is his ability to do magic and going through more trauma. According to what the crew says, they like to give him trauma. It makes me think that they're too focused on him and make him have more screen time and attention than others.

- The writer gives him too much trauma yet they can't handle it right. Hence, they shouldn't have added that in the show, especially in a cancelled one. In For the Future, Hunter has to shove his grief down to comfort Willow. Gus is sidelined like usual in favor of Hunter and Huntlow. He knows about Hunter's secret, what Belos did and it traumatizes him a lot, but his feelings are never mentioned during season 3. Oh great, it's only brought up again when it has something to do with Hunter.

- Why can only Hunter reach out to Willow when she has a breakdown? Why is Gus trapped and further away from her? And if I thought it can't get any worse, Willow only says thank you to Hunter then holds his pinky. What about Gus? He tried to comfort her too. Willow first met Gus when he was having a mental breakdown, she comforted him and understood him. That's the start of their friendship. It will be much more meaningful when Gus plays a more important part in helping Willow by the same breathing technique she taught him. Even though Willow and Gus usually stay together, their friendship is written on such a surface-level despite having a lot of potential.

- Willow and Gus are considered as the most powerful characters in the group. But the writers say “no, let Hunter shine”. First minute, both Willow and Gus are confident that they can take down Kikimora, but later, Hunter has to come to the rescue. Like, I'm not saying Hunter can't save her or Willow is weak but it doesn't fit right in this moment. Willow has just got her comfort and confidence back, yet she doesn't get to have the moments to show her strength and power. Give me Willow and Gus’s power combo that defeats Kikimora satisfyingly, not just boasting about their power, but failing and then getting rescued by Hunter. It feels like their power is nerfed out so Hunter has a chance to show off his new power (even though he's already done that).

- Lastly, Flapjack tattoo, another sign of Hunter favoritism to me, so feel free to agree to disagree about this. Tattoo is one of the most noticeable traits on one's body.

It's ingrained on the skin and noticeable on the characters’ designs. How on earth everyone else has to have the tattoo of his Palisman? I get that they want to respect Flapjack, but this seems like Hunter has main character favoritism in the show. The group doesn't even bond with Flapjack that much. They can show respect for the Palisman in other ways, making a carving, album and so on. If they tattooed it, it's mostly because of Hunter. I still prefer Luz to have flowery tattoos or something else related to her father. And I prefer others having their tattoos of their own Palismen rather than Hunter's.

- Not only the Hexsquad but another side character also suffers from this, Alador. In Clouds on the Horizon, Alador shows his clear doubt towards Hunter. It makes perfectly sense because he was the Emperor's right-hand man, everyone is doubtful of him, including people at Hexside. They even intend to send him back to the coven. But when Alador doubts him, instead of explaining himself like he has with the Hexside teachers and students, he chooses to criticize Alador. "At least I didn't build him an army." That's a weak counterback. Did Hunter forget that he was the one coming to the Blight factory and inform that Belos wants the Abomatons exclusively?Belos is the most powerful person on the Isles, so both Odalia and Alador can't defy him and can only build the Abomatons only for him. They can't sell their invention to others anymore. It's hypocritical of Hunter to say that to Alador when he was in the same position like them, unable to defy Belos's power and demand. Instead of saying that "I'm leaving Belos" "I'm not going back to him." "I realized he wasn't like how he actually is" to counter Alador's doubt, Hunter criticizes Alador for also helping Belos with such a weak counterpoint. People only attack others personally when they run out of excuses in an argument. The writing of their interaction makes no sense, and intends to make Hunter the victim and Alador the bad guy. Unfortunately, I only saw how hypocritical Hunter is.

In short, the favoritism in Hunter's writing did damage to other characters' writing, including Luz, the main character. He is written as the most sympathetic character, while some characters are nerfed and OOC to make him outshine them. If the show is written like that, no wonder the fandom centres around him too much and put other characters down in favour of him.