#the owl house reacts to series

[cy-cyborg]

How The Owl House did amputee representation right before Eda ever lost her arm - Disability in Media

[ID: A screenshot of Eda from The Owl House, an old woman with pale skin, very large, grey hair and pointed ears in a red dress. Beside the screenshot on a dark pink background is text that reads "Disability in media, How the Owl House got amputee representation right before eda ever lost her arm." /End ID]

Dana Terrace's The Owl House has some of the best disability rep I’ve seen on a Disney channel show in a long time, with Eda, the main character’s mentor, being one of many stand-out examples.

Plenty of people have discussed how Eda’s curse and the loss of her magic can work as an allegory for disability and how refreshing it is to see a story (especially one aimed at a younger audience) who’s focus is not on her “overcoming” it, but learning to accept it as a part of her and go from there. Eda’s story tackles a lot of subjects that are often mishandled in other examples of disability representation, from the subject of parents who refuse to accept, to glass siblings and much, much more, The Owl House handles all these topics beautifully.

But one thing that dawned on me during my most recent re-watch of The Owl House is how well Eda (and later Lilith) worked as amputee representation, long before Eda actually lost her arm.

One of the side effects of Eda and Lilith’s curse is that sometimes their body parts, mainly their limbs, can fall off. It doesn’t hurt them, and Eda is seen removing them intentionally at multiple times in the series, but they can always be reattached.

[ID: an image of Eda holding her sister Lilith's hand. Lilith is a pale woman with long, black hair, wearing grey clothes. She is looking at her other arm suprised, as her hand is missing. Luz, a Latina girl with short brown hair and a purple hoodie is looking on, smiling. /End ID]

While most likely unintentional, the way the show depicts this with Eda in particular is exactly what I wish more people would do with their prosthetic-using amputee characters.

Eda detaches her limbs, especially her legs, when they’re inconvenient or when she’s relaxing.

[ID: an image of Eda laying on the couch in a bathrobe, her hair in a towel. She has taken her legs off, throwing them to the other side of the seat. /End ID]

The fact that this is mostly played for laughs is actually a good thing in my opinion (though obviously, the show’s overall tone is part of that), as it shows the audience who are mostly children and teens, that in a world of weird and downright scary (from the perspective of the characters) things, this isn't one of them. It’s just a thing she and Lilith can do, and it can even be funny.

[ID: An image of Luz and Eda dressed as pirates. Eda is sitting on the ground, her legs detached and off screen somewhere. /End ID]

It does startle Luz and Lilith on a few occasions, but that’s more because they didn’t know the curse could do that, but once they’re introduced to it, it’s never really brought up as a big deal again.

I’d love to see more amputee characters who do this with their prosthetics. So often media is almost afraid to have amputees take their prosthetics off on camera or on the page. For some folks, our prosthetics are like a part of our bodies, but that doesn’t mean we never take them off. Show your leg amputee flop on the couch and throw their legs across the room. Have them go without on occasion, not because they have to, but because they just don’t feel like putting them on.

Likewise, the owl house creators never shy away from showing Eda when her limbs aren’t all attached. A lot of media, and kid’s shows in particular, will avoid having an amputee character’s stump visible if they ever do take their prosthetics off - treating that part of the character’s body the same way they treat gore or nudity. I’ve talked before how this actually does have a real impact on how kids in particular react to amputees - I’ve legitimately had kids I worked with cry when I took my prosthetics off, then immediately calm down when they see there’s nothing "scary" under my socks. As much as I love How To Train Your Dragon, it’s very guilty of this. Hiccup looses his leg at the end of the first movie, and wakes up with his prosthetic already attached. The Netflix series has a few instances where he has his prosthetic off, but the camera almost always avoids showing it until he can cover it up again, or is super zoomed-out so you wouldn’t be able to “see anything”. To their credit, they do get better with this in the last movie (though it's still always covered), but for the majority of the series, they are very reluctant to have any shots where hiccup’s leg is in view without the prosthetic (unless they’re very far away).

[ID: a screenshot of Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon 3, a white man with short brown hair, and one leg missing, wearing armour made of black dragon scales and no prosthetic. He is holding onto toothless's head, a black dragon. /End ID]

Ironically, Eda does (permanently) loose an arm at the end of season 2, but I don’t really have much to say about her as amputee representation on that front, since she’s absent for a lot of Season 3, and when we do see her again, everything is so hectic, the story doesn’t really have any time to focus on her missing limb (which is reasonable). I will say, I do appreciate that they kept the amputation when she's in her owl-beast form in the finale, but there's honestly not much more to say about it. We do see her again in the epilogue after she’s had some time to settle into the amputation, wearing a hook prosthetic, but it’s, once again, too quick to really say anything from a representation standpoint. There's a few little nit-picky things I could bring up, like the fact they seemed to change the type on amputation she had (when she looses it, we see the split was very close to the elbow, but in the epilogue she has most of her forearm again) but those read to me more like animation mistakes or an odd prosthetic/clothing designs rather than a representation issue - and as someone who's worked in animation, given the stress the team was under for the finale, I'm not really worried about it. Like I said, it's more nit-picky than anything.

[ID: A screenshot of Eda, her hair tied back and wearing a red robe and a hook for her right hand. /End ID]

Despite all that though, I still think Eda is still good amputee representation, but mostly because of how they depict her curse’s side effects rather than her actual amputation. She’s honestly one of the only characters that I think you could refer to as “amputee coded” (outside of maybe Teen Titan’s Cyborg), and I genuinely wish more creators would treat their actual amputee characters the same way the Owl House treats Eda in that regard.

[mysticgalaxiez]

REMINDER!

a Youtuber named danny motta posted a video of him reacting to dead boy detectives , please watch/share and support the video

(and if you don’t want to watch it just leave it on in the background and do something else)

right now his dbda video has the lowest views compared to the other shows he posts if we want him to react to the whole series

those views HAVE to get higher also make sure to show love on his community posts (he made 2 talking about dead boy detectives!)

[thebestofoneshots]

Gilded Constellations | (wolfstar x reader)

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 8.2 K Warnings: none Prompt: The Marauders x Vixen parank is finally about to happen.. How will the students react to a school flooded with frogs? This IS a Wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it. Proofread by lovely @aremuslupinsimp

Chapter 62: Born to be Wild

Wednesday 12th, 1977 - 08:20 AM

“So? You think she’s too hurt?” you asked as you leaned over the Slytherin table. 

“You said she crashed on the floor and rolled a couple of times, yeah?” Solacis asked. He was the one person you knew had a lot of knowledge of owls, so you had gone to him as soon as he appeared at the door. 

“Yeah, she was trying to crash onto me, but I got out of the way.” 

“And she bit you?” 

“But that’s been taken care of,” you said reassuringly. “I’m worried about her, though. She was stunned. I don’t think James used much strength but–” 

“But she’s way smaller than a human,” Solacis nodded. Nieve was still asleep, but she stirred as Solacis extended her wing to check on her. His delicate pale hands were softly touching her feathers when Nox and Regulus arrived at the table. 

“Hey, Vix,” Nox said. He’d heard Prongs calling you that one day and it had stuck. 

Reggie said your name quietly with a nod and sat down beside you. You hadn’t had a proper talk since that day, and something told him that then wouldn’t be a good moment to do it either. “How are you?” 

“Good,” you replied with a genuine smile, he could tell. “You?” 

He smiled, although it seemed like it was hard for him to do it, “Yeah, that too.” 

Nox and Solacis were talking about the owl while you looked at him with a bit of a frown. He cleared his throat and handed you a piece of bread. You knew he was trying to divert the attention from it, he probably couldn’t talk about it there. “I’ll see you later about that homework, yeah?” 

“What homework?” Nox asked, clearly worried he’d forgotten his own.

“Reggie’s gonna help me with something,” you excused and then turned to Solacis. “Is she okay?” 

“She’ll be all right,” he reassured you. “Mix some Boswelia and Chamomile with her food, and keep an eye on her. She’ll be like new in a few days. I think she just took a bad hit, but she won’t be able to fly for a while. So if you need to take a message somewhere I suggest you use your other owl.” 

“Right, will do,” you said with a smile. “Thanks, Sol, I owe you one.” 

“You can pay back by not being so savage next time we play quidditch.” 

“Oh, no, you’d have to pick something else,” you added with a smirk and a wink. 

“Indeed, you have to practise more, Solacis, not get your opponents to go easier on you,” Dorcas said as she sat right in front of them. “Nice to see you, Luv.” 

“Same,” you smiled as you stood. “I better get to my table before I’m called a house traitor.” 

“I think you should just change your robes to green and join us.” 

“I could make room for you in my chambers,” Dorcas offered with a smirk. 

“And have to share a common room with Snivellus? No, thank you!” you joked. Dorcas cackled while the others laughed, even if a little more discreetly. Severus, who wasn’t that far off, threw you an angry look, which you noticed out of the corner of your eye. Even Barty was concealing a smile as Evan told Severus something related to their homework. You smiled and picked Nieve from their table carefully. “Thanks again,” you told Solacis with a smile and walked back to your table with the owl in your hands. 

“How did it go?” Remus asked.

“Great, I know what plants I should feed her… Mind coming with me to the herbology classroom later?” 

“Sure,” he retorted with a smile. “Perhaps after the thing.” 

“What thing?” Asked Marlene as she leaned towards you. 

“Oh, just a thing,” you retorted, making it sound as casual as possible. “Nothing to worry about.” 

“Don’t tell me you’ve gotten yourself involved in another Marauder’s prank? Last time we lost James and Sirius in the game, and we’re playing Slytherin again, we’ll need James! Regulus has been practising since you beat him to the snitch.” 

“I’d never do such a thing,” you said as you looked at Remus, complicity dancing in both gazes. “Quidditch comes first, pranks come later,” you added resolutely.  

“Aye!” James said as he took a bite from his toast. Lily, who was sitting beside him, rolled her eyes and handed him a napkin since he’d gotten crumbs all over his face. 

Breakfast came and went without much more eventualities. Peter didn’t wake up in time but you saved some food for him and handed it over when he caught up with you on your way to charms after you went back to your room to leave Nieve in a small heap of pillows. 

“Thanks, Vixen,” he said as he took out the sandwich from its napkin. “And it’s roast beef with brown sauce!” He said after he gave it a bite. “Brilliant!” 

“No problem,” you said with a simple shrug. 

By the time you arrived at your classroom, the five of you were beaming with the excitement of the imminent prank. Peter had gobbled the last half of his sandwich just before walking inside the classroom. 

“That can’t be good for your health mate,” James said with a frown as he pointed at Peter.

The latter cleared his throat before retorting “Shut up, Prongs!”

“Just looking out for you,” James said as he raised his hands in surrender. “I think you’re going back to nervous eating. You know your mum told me that–” 

“James!” he complained now, motioning to the fact that there were plenty of people around. James didn’t know why it was such an issue for Peter to talk about it but didn’t press further. Peter, on the other hand, hated the idea of talking about his food issues in front of people, especially in front of Sirius and Remus who seemed to be so fit without putting any effort into it –according to him.  Sirius literally did quidditch every morning with you and James. And while Remus didn’t do anything special, he did do a freaking intense amount of exercise whenever he was a wolf, not to mention he often took walks around the school when he wanted to be alone. 

“Sorry, sorry,” James retorted. “We’ll talk about it later.” 

Peter tried not to roll his eyes as he rushed inside the classroom. 

Professor Flitwick was already inside the classroom, standing at his little podium like he often would during classes, you smiled and nodded his way as you walked inside along with the boys. As you were walking to sit next to Remus (as you usually did on Charms), Lily pulled you from her spot near the front and had you sit beside her. 

“You’re not going anywhere,” she told you as you fell onto the chair. Remus threw you a questioning look and you shrugged in response. When Sirius realised Remus wouldn’t be sitting with you, he went straight to take your normal spot and sent you a daring sort of gaze, as if to show off the fact that he was sitting next to Rem instead of you. 

“Are you even listening to me?” Lily asked as she shook you by the shoulder.

“Yes, sorry,” you replied as you turned to her, “you said we had to hand in an essay today but you totally forgot about it.” 

“And you forgot it too, you dumbass, I’ve checked your notes,” she said as she pointed at the pile of papers you had now left on the table, including a few scrolls and a notebook, the essay was nowhere in sight. 

“I didn’t forget,” you said with a smile. 

“Well it’s not here either,” she said as she moved your papers around again. 

“No, I just didn’t do it.” 

“You what?” she asked in shock. You had been in study club since the start, and you had always handed in your homework on time. In fact, she thought you were as dedicated as her, if perhaps a little more relaxed. 

You smirked. “You really shouldn’t worry so much. For one, I’m sure Flitwick would forgive and forget if one of his favourite students forgot to bring their homework. Two, I have the feeling everyone’s gonna forget about the homework in a few minutes.” 

“Oh no, the toads,” she whispered, the grip on her wand tightened. “You know, I blame you for forgetting it, I spent all of last night looking up spells in case of an emergency.” 

“Oh, that’s so not on me,” you retorted with a smile. 

“Welcome, welcome,” Flitwick said, voice slightly louder than it had been previously. “I hope you all had an excellent Christmas break…” 

You tried not to think too much of your Christmas break, although there had definitely been some a few –although very few– things that you would have considered excellent from the tumultuous time the past few weeks had been for you. 

“… today we’re going to be looking at complex charms combinations. Does anybody know what charm combining consists of?” 

Lily and Remus raised their hands. You would have raised yours as well but decided to let either of them answer instead. 

“Miss Evans,” Flitwick said as he pointed at her with his wand. 

“Combining spells consists of taking the main properties of two or more spells and weaving them together to create a new spell that either does both things or something slightly different.” 

“And what’s a good example?” 

Lily frowned and licked her lips as she thought of an answer, and then she smiled. “Lumus Solem,” she said. “It combined the brightness of Lumus with the heat and rays of the sun. If done without care it can be extremely dangerous due to radiation.” 

Flitwick smiled, seemingly satisfied at her answer. “Precisely–” he started but got interrupted by a boy who raised her hand and spoke before being indicated. 

“Can Lumus really be dangerous?” he asked. 

“Certain variations of the spell definitely can. A potent enough Lumos could blind you either temporarily or permanently. Lumos Solem, has been used as a torture device in the past as well. Long exposure has been known not only to cause severe dehydration but even grade 3 sunburns–” 

Flitwick was interrupted yet again, this time by a girl’s shriek You turned to the source of the scream with the most surprised face you could pull off. 

“What’s with this fuss?” he asked in a rather stern tone. Flitwick didn’t get angry very often, but he’d gotten interrupted twice already and he really didn’t appreciate being interrupted.

“Toads, Professor,” replied the same boy from before. 

“Excuse me?” 

“There are many of them,” added another girl who was moving her feet out of the way. The students in the back had were already getting on their seats. 

“Please sit down,” the small professor said as he shook his head in exasperation. From his position, he couldn’t quite see the tsunami of toads that was about to reach him. Besides, he quite liked toads, after all, he was planning to reopen the Frog Choir that had been lost after 1959 when Professor Marcus Bonnknott passed away. 

Filius had only heard them play a few times during his first and second years in Hogwarts, and he was very upset when the choir died along with Marcus, who he thought was fascinating. It was in fact, because of said professor that he had gotten himself into music after graduating and before being offered the Charms Teacher position by Dombuldore in the early 70s. 

But neither of the students seemed to listen, which obviously exasperated him and forced him to walk down from his podium only to see a small toad jumping his way. He leaned down and picked it up carefully. “Is this little guy the one causing you to leave your seats so hastily?” 

“No, Professor,” said Imgoen as she shook her head. “It’s the amount of them.” 

By then both you and Lily had gotten over your seats and were currently sitting on the table. What could only be described as a herd of toads was approaching the front of the room. The stone floor of the classroom turned green and brown as the toads jumped around, trying to find some space within the now swampy water running from the end of the classroom. 

Lily threw you a look and you just shrugged as you straightened up and looked at the mess you’d created along with the boys. 

“Oh Dear, quite a catastrophe, I see,” said Flitwick as he took his wand out and waved it in the air. With a swish and a flick, about a hundred toads were lifted from the ground and started floating above everyone.

“Ugh… that’s gross,” said a Hufflepuff boy as he nudged one of the toads further from his face using his wand. 

“Please refrain from touching the animals,” Flitwick said as he threw the boy a stern look. 

Another girl had picked a salt shaker from her bag and was diligently throwing it around her. 

“What do you think you’re doing, Miss Griffith?” 

“Salt will make them squirm, I’m keeping them away from me,” she said urgently as she continued, even if none of the frogs seemed to mind. 

“That’s with slugs, you dumbass,” retorted Tom with a cackle. He’d been sitting next to her because after Lily pulled you to sit beside her, the normal sit arrangement had been skewed and his place –next to Beth– had been taken by Marlene. 

“Shut up,” the girl said as she continued throwing salt. 

Peter was laughing as he stared until a toad got on his feet and he shook it off with a short scream as he also got on top of the table.

James, Sirius and Remus were definitely enjoying the absolute chaos as they all stood at their desks, they didn’t even bother to sit on them and looked riddicolously tall in comparison to Flitwick which just made the whole scene all the more amusing.

“Please, calm down,” Flitwick said, as he managed to lift a few more toads into the air. All of them with their small legs extended and looking as confused as you’d imagine a flying toad would. And then another swamp bomb fell to the floor, the water level increased and tons of toads started appearing. “Goodness,” he said as another bomb fell from the other side of the classroom. 

Lily had her wand up in the air as she stared at the toads with a “ready to attack” sort of gaze and you suppressed a smile as some other students were already using protection spells around themselves and keeping them up as the toads walked past the feet of the chairs and table. 

“All right, perhaps we should exit the classroom instead,” he said as he tried to lift some of the toads that had just appeared along with the others. “Please form a careful line and–” 

It was useless, the moment he said they could leave, most students bolted towards the exit like runaway horses, pushing each other while trying to keep themselves as far away as possible from the toads, which was pretty much impossible, since they were all over the floor, not to mention everyone’s pants and socks were now pretty wet with murky water. 

Lily sighed and took out her wand. “Bufonem repelleare,” she said and waved her wand around her shoes, as she placed her feet on the murky water, the toads seemed to form a circle around her, as if avoiding her entirely. 

Beth gasped as she pointed at her, “Lily, come and save me!” She said as she pointed at her feet, which got some other students staring quite impressed at her. 

“Masterful use of spell combination, Miss Evans,” said Flitwick as he pointed at her and continued to move the toads as far away from the students as it was possible for him to do. 

“You’re coming?” Lily asked as she offered you her hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got an escape my plan for myself prepared,” you told her with a wink, and as she walked towards Beth you finally got on the table. Your seat was rather close to the windows, and the door was on the other side, which meant you had quite a walk to make before exiting the toadtrap you had created; but you weren’t looking forward to getting your feet wet, let alone your socks, which Lily had taken in as a necessary evil. 

You stood on the chair and then on your table, and from there, you jumped to the table in front of it, the students there were already outside of the classroom, and then you jumped towards the table next to it. The boys, upon seeing what you did, were now imitating you. And they were much faster since they had longer legs. 

By the time you got to the third row of seats, Remus was standing on the desk right in front of yours and Sirius was right next to it. You raised your eyebrows at the boy in front of you and he smiled, placing one hand behind his back and extending the other towards you, “Allow me, my lady,” he said in the noblest of tones. 

You chuckled under your breath as you diverted your gaze to hide the smile you just couldn’t keep away from your lips at this point. He really had read an excessive amount of romance books. 

“Kind Sir,” you said as you took his hand, not because you needed his hand to cross to the other side, but because you wanted to hold his hand. It was a simple gesture and helped you stand right next to him. 

“Oh Moony, you’ll make me jealous,” Sirius teased. “How come she’s getting preferential treatment?” 

It was the smirk on Sirius’ lips that told the both of you that he was just teasing. “It’s all right Puppy, I’ll help you to the other side.” You extended your hand towards him and he used it to jump onto the same table in which the two of you were standing. Now the three of you were stupidly close to each other, not that either of you cared. 

There was a short exchange of glances between the three before Moony jumped to the next table and you followed shortly afterwards. But by the time you extended your hand for Sirius, you felt the table tremble underneath you, even if it was just for a second. You looked around, the feet to try and spot if there was something that was causing it, perhaps a toad that got stuck or something of the sort, but there seemed to be nothing happening down there. Sirius took your hand and jumped towards the two of you, but the second he landed next to you one of the legs gave out, and the three of you plummeted to the floor.

While the toads managed to escape being crushed by any of you three, you did not get away without being completely soaked in the swampy water.  

You groaned, the water hadn’t done much to cushion the fall, and you and Sirius had been the ones to cushion most of it for Remus. 

“Should have come with me,” Lily said as she shook her head and walked towards the door. While you were sore, you still had enough energy to lean your head towards her and pull out your tongue. She shook her head, clearly amused. “Suit yourself.” 

You huffed and then let yourself rest back in the water. What does it matter at this point, it’s already soaked, you thought. A toad jumped closer to you and Sirius scared it away before it reached your fave.

“Sorry,” Remus muttered as he tried to get up since he’d fallen on top of both of you but his hand slipped and he ended up falling over the two again. 

Sirius groaned and you let out a low “uff!”

“Sorry again,” Remus said hurriedly, trying not to think too much of how nice it felt to be that close to you, given the conditions around.  Those being the fact that half of your heads were submerged in murky water and that the frogs now seemed to want to approach you.

“It’s all right, try slower this time,” you told him, offering your hand for some stability, when he finally got up from the floor he realised that most students –and the teacher– had already found a way out of the mess. Once he was up, he helped the both of you stand. 

“They left us?” Sirius asked with a gasp. “We fell, and they left us!” 

“Vixen stuck her tongue out at Lily,” Remus pointed out. “She would have probably waited.” 

“Never mind Evans, It’s Prongs that offends me,” he added with a huff that made you chuckle. 

What neither of you knew was that he had made that table fall and that he had left the three of you at your own luck in retaliation for the bomb that he had left in his pocket and that you had knowingly not warned him about.  But he also thought the three of you could benefit from some time alone, so he was both, taking his revenge, and playing cupid. 

You leaned your arm up towards you, smelled the sleeve of your sweater, and made a slightly disgusted face. “We stink now,” you said as you pulled it as far away from your face as possible. “How about you throw some relashio my way?” 

Remus extended his wand towards you but Sirius was quicker and stopped him, “I’ve got a way better idea than that.” 

“Sirius we’re not swimming on the black lake, I know you’ve wanted to do that all year, but it’s literally snowing out there, it’s a terrible idea.”

“Not that!” Sirius said as he shoved Remus. “It’s a great idea, I promise,” he added with his signature smirk and stepped forward, taking the lead. “Follow me, pretty things.” 

“Did he just–” Remus said as he pointed at Sirius and turned to you.

“Yup,” you said with a nod. “You better get used to it,” you added before nodding your head to the side, inviting him to follow behind Sirius who was already near the door. At least the toads were kind enough to jump out of the way as you walked towards it. 

The hall wasn’t much better either, some classrooms were still figuring their way out and their doors were crammed with people trying to leave, the stone was coated in a rather thin layer of water that only got more and more filled by the minute and everyone was trying to find somewhere safe. 

“What is going on?” Someone shouted, tone laced with desperation as he had to turn to the side when he spotted another tramp of toads coming from the hallway he intended to take. 

While in the world, “all roads lead to Rome” in Hogwarts, “all roads lead to the Great Hall” and you were counting on that to get most students in there, all for the sake of ending the prank with a cherry on top. But some students were already using their brooms and the windows to get out of the buildings and that would ruin the plan. 

“Your idea’ll have to wait,” you told Sirius as you stepped forward. Thankfully just the right person was in sight. “Alex!” You said. “Alex Wood!” 

The Hufflepuff head boy, who was riding his broom flew towards you, “Yeah?” 

“They said we should go to the Great Hall,” you said. “That’s where all the students are going.” 

It was luck, and perhaps your good student reputation, that made Alex nod almost instantly. “I’ll spread the word, thanks!” he added and took off, shouting to everyone on his way to walk towards the Great Hall.

You smiled as you saw him leave towards one side of the hall and you turned to the other, “We have to go to the Great Hall!” you shouted towards everyone and none in particular, “spread the word!” 

The three of you continued walking towards the new direction and kept telling people they had to go, and since people recognized Remus as a Prefect, it was much easier to get them to follow the direction. By the time you reached the Great Hall, there were already other prefects helping everyone walk inside in a much more ordered manner than when they had left their classrooms. Students were walking towards their seats at the table, and the older students were using Lily’s spell to keep the frogs away from the door as everyone tried to walk inside. 

You smiled, looking quite satisfied at the result of your little ruse, and also got in line, but this time Sirius pulled you out of the way. “Follow me, I know a better spot to enjoy the show,” he said with a smile. Remus probably already knew of said spot since he walked next to Sirius as if he too knew the way.

You followed the two of them down a set of stairs –spotting the kitchen entrance– and then a little further inside, where there was a rather large statue of a dragon who moved as if he were breathing. Sirius got up on the small pedestal where the dragon lay and Remus was behind him shortly after, yet again extending his hand for you to follow. You took his hand at once and he pulled you up with ease, not letting go of it even as you were fully there and giving you a reassuring squeeze as Sirius got even closer to the dragon. He crouched and walked inside the crevice left between the tail of the dragon and his head. 

This time around you followed right after him and Remus was close behind. The statue wasn’t really designed to be walked behind, or at least it hadn’t been placed to be walked around, and therefore the spot behind it was slightly darker and a bit colder than the rest of the castle, as if the heating spells didn’t quite reach that spot. 

Then Sirius walked towards a torch holder and pulled on it, a small passage opened underneath the spot where the dragon lay. You smiled and walked down the set of stairs alongside both boys. It was a small room, perhaps something like a broom closet, or a secret hideout for a treasure, but there was nothing inside other than a window that looked remarkably similar to the ones in the great hall but much smaller. 

Sirius approached the window and fumbled with the latch for a few seconds before he managed to flip it open. The bitter cold flew in alongside a few snowflakes and Sirius climbed outside. Remus followed, sitting by the seal, his feet propped to the outside. But just before he jumped he turned to look at you.

You were looking at him from your spot, seeming somewhat hesitant of stepping out. He was about to speak, but Sirius beat him to it, pushing his head under Remus’ arm and leaning it near his ribs with a teasing grin. “You’re not scared, are you, Starshine?” 

“Of course not!” you retorted. “ Just waiting for you boys to open up some space.” Sirius laughed while Remus jumped outside, you got on the seal seconds after. 

Sirius smirked as he turned to Remus, who was wiping some snow from the back of his pants and shaking his head in disapproval, although he was still smiling. Once the three of you were outside, with the bitter cold making your wet clothes all the more uncomfortable, you figured out exactly where you’d be enjoying the spectacle from. 

“You have to be kidding,” you said as you spotted the large windows of the great hall over a few feet of rock.  “Is that where you were on the first day of the year?” you asked as you pointed towards some of the windows.

Sirius nodded in return, “Pretty cool, yeah?” 

“You’re all deranged!” you retorted with an amused smile and walked through the snow and towards one of the windows. The end of the cliff wasn’t so stiff that it would be easy to fall, but if anyone did fall, then it would be nasty.

“Not more than you, Luv,” retorted Remus who was behind you in seconds. 

Sirius had a small, rather proud smirk on his lips as he watched the two of you speed towards the window. “Watch your step, it can be slippery,” he warned. 

“Who's the scared one now?” you asked as you turned to him with a teasing smirk, your hair flowing behind you while some bits of snow from the side of the rocks fell over it.

Once you reached the spot under the window you looked up. It was rather tall. At least a few feet above your head. Sure Sirius and Remus could reach the top by extending their hands, but your fingers barely reached the edge. Narutally, you started jumping to try and get your hands on the seal. Remus caught up with you a few seconds later. “Thought you were a fox, not a rabbit.” 

You huffed, narrowing his eyes at him and turning back to the rocks. There was snow covering them, and you didn’t have your gloves around. Didn’t matter though, you tried to get a hold of one of the rocky edges to climb your way up, but they were stupidly slippery and you ended up slipping towards Sirius who caught you with ease and looked down on your pouty face with a wide smile. 

“Are you done trying to do it by yourself?” he asked. You gave him a mouth twist in return. “Nous sommes une équipe, Starshine, don’t be afraid to ask for help.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead and pushed you to stand straight again. 

You grumbled something intelligible as Sirius climbed his way up using a rather specific rock that they had charmed and that was slightly worn out as support, and once he was up he extended his hand while Remus linked both of his and extended them for you to use as a step on the way up. You hesitated, turning your gaze to the side before placing your foot between Rem’s hands, who pushed upwards and allowed you to reach Sirius’. 

Once your elbows were on the bitter-cold stone of the seal, you managed to push yourself up the rest of the way. Rem used the same rock Sirius had to climb  and in between you and Sirius pulled him the rest of the way up. Not that he needed the help, he would have done fine without it, but neither you nor Sirius would waste a chance to hold him close.

“Shouldn’t we use a disillusionment charm?” you asked as you leaned over the windows to see what was inside. “Shit it’s cold,” you added as you shivered. You’d taken your cloak off at the little room under the dragon but your pants and thick sweater were still pretty wet.

“Nah, they can’t see us,” Sirius said as Remus stood closer to you. He was the least wet of the three, coincidentally, his body heat was always warmer due to his furry little problem. “There are special charms on the windows so that the weather outside matches the one in the enchanted ceiling,” he waved through the window, “we’re virtually invisible.” 

“Neat,” you said as you leaned your head on the window again, most students were now taking their seats. Professor McGonagall was helping some of the students accommodate their tables. Spellman was making sure all the Ravenclaws were all right alongside Flitwick who had been a Ravenclaw when he was a student, and Seraphina was making the Hufflepuffs do the same while forcing them into a neat line and counting through them. 

“Where’s Dumbledore?” you asked with a frown. 

“He is overseeing some plans with the order,” Sirius said. “Moody visited the Potters when we were about to leave for Kingscross. He said there was some urgent ‘Order’ business they had to oversee.” 

“Order? Do you mean The Order of the Phoenix?” 

“The what?” 

“Ugh… never mind I’ll tell you about it later,” you said as you shrugged it off and pointed towards the Great Hall. Slughorn had walked towards the podium and seemed about ready to say something. “I think it’s about to happen,” you said. 

Remus looked at you with a frown, still wondering what that was about before he too turned to look at the window. Slughorn seemed to be calming the students down, by giving some sort of speech. And then a screech so loud, that even the three of you heard, broke through his words. 

“Oh, it is happening,” Sirius said, as he too stepped a little closer. Both boys were now practically glued to you and the window, which was at least helping the cold subdue, even if you still felt like the bottom of your clothes, where gravity had accumulated the water, was slowly freezing as well. Not to mention your back felt a little more cold than it should have. But then again, what was a little cold? You’d had much, much worse. 

The girl jumped backwards as she screamed and fell on the floor as a bunch of toads started appearing from under her table. You saw Lily’s mane look around and fixate her gaze on James, she was clearly expecting the classroom and the rest of the hallway mess to be the end of it.

You chuckled as the toads from her table avoided her and jumped in all sorts of directions and towards the rest of the people. The funniest part was, that the toads were also shunning the entrance because they had used the toad-repelling charm all over it, so the more swamp bombs that exploded, the more frogs without anywhere else to go appeared.

McGonagall pressed her wand to her throat before speaking, loud, clear and in that same tone she used in class that was equally unwinding and terrifying. “Prefects, have your houses form a neat line and walk towards the courtyard. I believe it’s the only spot in the entire school not infested by toads at the present moment.” 

You chuckled, and it wasn’t only after your laughter subdued that you noticed that were not only shivering because of the laughs, but also because of the cold. You sneezed.

“Bless you,” Said Remus almost automatically, and then pressed his hands to your face. “You’re freezing! Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“I said it was cold!” you argued with a shrug and then crossed your arms over yourself. 

“But you said it as a casual comment, not as ‘I’m freezing, let’s use a warming spell’ kind of way,” Sirius retorted.

You hummed in response. “Next time, I’ll make sure to sound extra dramatic when complaining about the cold,” you said sarcastically.

“Yeah, you better,” Sirius said as he jumped down from the little window bannister and nodded for you to do the same. 

It was slightly awkward as you got down, but Sirius was there as you landed and he gave you a thumbs up as you wiped some of the snow that had gotten stuck in front of your trousers. Remus was down shortly after and the three of you walked inside the little room. 

Sirius closed the window as soon as you were inside while Remus started with a simple warming spell. He leaned close to you, his wand slowly spreading heat on your back, causing the already-frozen bits of clothes to melt. 

“Wait, it’s too hot,” you said, taking your sweater off almost in a second. You had a simple turtle neck shirt underneath, and while it wasn’t freezing anymore, it was still pretty wet. 

“I mean you can continue taking your clothes off here, or we can go to that place I’ve been telling you about,” Sirius said with a smirk and both of you turned to him with a frown. 

“Where exactly do you want us to go?” Remus asked.

“You’ll see when I take you,” he retorted as he tilted his head. “I think by now most students will be in the courtyard, what do you say?” 

Remus swallowed, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” 

“All my ideas are great,” he retorted, “Right, Starshine?”

“Some have certainly been,” you retorted. “Besides at this point, anything that gets me off this stinkyness is good.” 

Sirius’ smile widened and he gave you a wink before climbing up the stairs and both you and Remus followed closely behind him. 

It had been a few minutes of you scurrying around the castle while trying to avoid being seen by any lost student, and the toads that were now all over the halls, jumping around freely. 

Remus, who finally recognized the way you were taking gasped, “Sirius are we going to the–”

“Yes, don’t spoil it.” 

Sirius had purposefully taken a tricky way there so neither of you realized where it was you were heading but Remus had figured it out anyway. You had a vague idea of where that might be but you weren’t sure, and you had never been there either, so even if it was where you thought it would be it was still a surprise. 

You looked over a corner you were about to cross and instantly pulled back, grabbing onto Sirius’ shirt to stop him from stepping any further. You placed your hand over your lips and nodded. He looked at you with a frown, and you pointed at the corner. 

Sr. Pendragon’s ghost was there, up in his horse and patrolling like the hallway was his own, even when his horse seemed to be much more entertained by the toads. He was comically jumping around while trying to avoid them (it didn’t seem to matter that being a ghost, he couldn’t touch them).

Sirius nodded as soon as he spotted him and took out his wand, but Moony beat the both of you by sending a spell towards one of the portraits on the other side of the hallway. The old man in the portrait started shouting silly complaints and screaming something about the toads attacking him. 

“To the rescue!” Said Sir. Pendragon as he pulled on his horse’s reins to force him to move. Said horse was not cooperating, and it was while he was distracted by them that you cast a disillusionment charm over the three of you and continued to follow Sirius through the halls. 

Skipping through the toads was much harder with the disillusionment charm because they wouldn’t immediately jump out of the way as they spotted you, but it wasn’t impossible. They seemed to have a sort of sixth sense to not be squashed, even if it took a little longer for it to kick off than sight. 

It was when you spotted the large frog in the corner of Ricchie’s “make-out room” that you figured out where Sirius was taking you as well. “How are you planning to get in?” You whispered as you pointed towards the door.

“Easy, we have our own Perfect, he knows the passwords,” Sirius said with a smirk. 

Remus tried not to roll his eyes as the three of you approached the doors, he cleared his throat before leaning into one of the corners of the door. “Whispering Woods,” he said, low so nobody beside you would hear, and the doors split open right in front of the three of you.

You didn’t waste time before walking inside, since you didn’t want to risk anyone noticing the three of you were sneaking into the “only prefects�� bathroom, even with the disillusionment charm. You were still looking at the hall as you rushed to the door to shut right ahead of you. Some magic doors were faster if you gave them a little push, which was always a good trick when you were sneaking around. 

Once you made sure they were shut you sighed and turned around, only to gasp in shock. It’s not that you hadn’t heard about the Prefect’s Bathroom being grand and elegant, but you were expecting spacious shower stands and perhaps even a nice toilet, not a bathtub the size of a pool.

“I know, right?” Sirius said with a smile and started walking towards the tub, flicking his wand to dissolve the disillusionment charm and opening the faucet in the side. Colourful water started streaming out of the centre, filling the pool with bubbly water. A stained glass mermaid was combing her hair just behind the tub, and she had a sort of mischievous smile going on as she spotted Sirius. 

“I’m going to start thinking you have a water kink or something,” you joked as you followed him, your eyes getting lost on the mermaid before turning back to him. She didn’t look exactly like the mermaids at Lupin’s Cottage, which made you think she probably was from a different species. 

Her nose was slightly longer, and she was looking at the three of you in a sweet, and yet sort of like ‘I’d want to eat you’ glance. 

“Don’t worry about her, she can’t even talk,” Remus when he noticed your staring. 

“Yeah?” you asked with a frown. “Why?” 

“Mermaid portraits can be very temperamental, that’s why wizards rarely use the special brushes that make them talk,” Sirius explained as he threw a wink her way. You’d swear she blushed after that.

“Did you ever read ‘Siren’?” Remus asked, and you shook your head in response. “It’s about an artist that really wanted to paint a mermaid,” he explained. “And he did it, exceptionally well, so well that the portrait even had some of those enchanting abilities mermaids have. He talked to her every single day, she convinced him to put her in the bathroom since she would feel closer to home, and he would see her every single time he bathed.” 

“Yeah?” Sirius asked with a smile as he continued to play with the faucets. Now there was a small fish statue blowing soap bubbles all over the place. “Sounds awkward…” 

“It was,” Remus confirmed. “But she was clever and knew how to make him feel at ease. More time passed and they grew used to each other, until that wasn’t enough for her either, she ended up convincing him to drown in his tub so he could be with her.” 

“Damn,” you said as you looked back up at the mermaid. She was still giving you that same curious look. “I can definitely see it happening, though…” 

“A man falling for the portrait of a beautiful mermaid?” Sirius asked, clearly amused.

“A portrait being more powerful than they originally thought,” you said, not keeping your eyes away from the stained glass window. “Enchanted items can be as delightful as deceitful. There are plenty of stories of wizards who’ve gone mad over a portrait.” 

“I think the water is ready,” Sirius said as he dipped his hand in the marbled pool.

“Yeah?” You asked as you leaned closer to it, leaning over and also digging your hand in the water. 

“Mhm,” he nodded and then turned to Remus with a sort of mischievous look in his eyes. The way they shone told Remus enough about his plan for him to know what a terrific idea it was. “Pourquoi ne l’essaies-tu pas, Étoile?” 

You didn’t even have enough time to turn around and ask what he was going on about when he picked you up from the floor and threw you into the water, the splashing from your fall was enough to leave the two of them wet and filled with bubbles. 

By the time you resurfaced –not that it was very deep– both boys were shaking with laughter, their voices echoing through the bathroom in such a compelling way that you couldn’t even stay mad at them for it. That didn’t mean you wouldn’t retaliate. You looked at them both with a sort of saddened pout that had Remus lose his laughter as fast as he’d found it.

“I think I sprained my hand as I fell,” you said as you took your hand out of the water, “It’s swelling and all…” 

“What? That fast?” Remus said as he approached you. 

Sirius seemed concerned at first, at least until he saw the faintest shadow of a smirk as Remus approached the edge of the tub. You threw him a look, simple, almost too fast, but he instantly knew what he had to do. 

“Perhaps it’s because it’s the hand I sprained at the Leaky Cauldron…” you added and extended it towards him. He was now so close, half of his body was over the water. He had your hand in his, yours was limp and his were careful, feather-like touches to make sure he wouldn’t hurt you further. He moved it to one side and then to the other, carefully. 

“Does it hurt?” 

“Slightly,” you retorted. It wasn’t a lie, your hand was still kind of sore. Perhaps it had been a worse hit than you thought originally.

Remus shrugged, “It doesn’t look all that swollen to me, Little Witch, but it could get worse. Perhaps we should call it and go to Pomfrey instead–” 

“You don’t see it?” You asked nonchalantly and threw a look at Sirius. Remus was about to respond, “Maybe if you look closer,” you added before pulling your other hand out of the water and gripping onto his arms as firmly as you could, pulling him towards you. 

Alone, you wouldn’t have done shit to move him unless he had been genuinely distracted, but with Sirius’ help, who threw him off balance with a light kick on the back of his knee and a push, it was as easy as it had been for Sirius to lift you up and throw you into the pool. When Remus resurfaced from the water he was so shocked that he’d been manhandled that he ended up being more confused than anything. 

“How the– you didn’t even hurt your hand, did you?” 

“It’s still sore, but no,” you said with a shrug and a smile. You then stepped a little closer, you’d never seen Remus’ hair wet, at least not fully wet, only fluffed out of the shower, it was way longer than you assumed, it reached almost all the way to his nose. You swam closer to him in an instant and pushed it off his face. It’s something perhaps you would have done even back when you were just friends –you had always been that close to him– but it was because you weren’t just friends anymore that he felt his heart hammer on his chest as you approached. He could kiss you if he wanted to, would you want it to? 

And then you gave him a look. He knew that look so well. You placed both hands on his neck after you stopped playing with his hair and then you raised your eyebrows. He gave you the basic “Are you sure?” Remus Lupin look. You just raised your eyebrows again in return. 

“Hey, Pups,” you said casually, “do you mind passing me my wand? I think I dropped it when you threw me into the water…” That last bit was slightly accusatory, to add up to that guilt and have him lose some of the weariness. 

Sirius picked your wand from the floor and squinted his eyes at you as if deciding just how close he could get without getting pulled into the water by his favourite little fae, although you looked more like a tempting siren than a sprite in that particular moment. 

“What?” You asked with a simple smile. 

“You’re not going to pull me into the water, are you?” 

“Of course not, I just need my wand,” you said with a smile, gently squeezing Remus’ wrist from under the water. 

“What for?” 

“Girl stuff,” you retorted. 

“You can’t just say girl stuff whenever you want to avoid my questions.” 

“But what if it really is girl stuff?” Remus intervened as he eyed Sirius. 

“I won’t throw you into the water, swear,” you added, hands held up in surrender. “Just hand me my wand, you can stay out and watch while Remus and I make out or whatever.” 

“What?!” Sirius asked confused, amused, and a little too keen on the idea, which was ridiculous. But damn, didn’t the both of you look stunning when you were kissing each other? 

“What?” you said as you approached. “Come on, hand it over,” you said as you opened your mouth for him to place your wand in between your lips. Sirius was hesitant as he approached you, but eventually, he was close enough. And when he did, Remus, who had been casually leaning his back on the side stood up and pulled him into the water as you moved out of the way.

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

TAGLIST: @rayrlupin @callmelovergirl l @warcelia @ireneop @endversewinchester @moonyunebi @smuttysluttybitch @mazzymoons @drugs-for-memes @sofiacblair @vmpir3lvr @remuslupinisbae @rabluver @willgrahamisalesbi4n @thatobsessedreader @itskailey24 @hell0-kittie @belovedmoony @blacksgarden @loving-and-dreaming @cassie-love20 @starchaser-lily @zucchini-queenie @springflwer07 @sseleniaa @cometsghost @orkwardx0 @imdoingbetternow  @sbrewer21 @remuslupinsbae @maxinehufflepuffprincess @wifiatthetrainstation @unstablereader @msblacklupin @oliversaurus @jaylienpotter @remussbitch @hermionelove @izuoyarmin @themarauderswife7 @keira-kaz2y5 @lampthemacarenagod @bugg06 @a-n-1-m-3-f-r-3-4-k @darlingeels @kissmeunicornbaobei @xluansstuff @boo8008 @angelmixer @voteforintensedreams @allons-y-molly @aremuslupinsimp @imaginexred @writingshae @nyanwyn @poetrypirate @crazyhorseforgot @saturnhas82moons @ryeyeyer @mothraantics @maqqiekwon @desikudisworld @pastelorangeskies @barking4you @profoundpidgeon @nagareboshi-chiyo

Leave a comment telling me if you wanna be tagged on Gilded Constellations

Want to support me? Like and reblog this post (reblogs are extra nice since they help me get my work to more people), also guys, I absolutely love reading your comments, so do throw them my way if you have any!

Read more Marauders Fiction

[sanmei]

The Hexside Skittle Squad!

Might as well post it here too! Thrilled to have received this art I commissioned from @gibbledygoo in honor of the Skittle Squad: Morgan Terry, Not-So-Average-Fangirl aka Elijah, and Wee Scottish Reacts aka Mosco! These lovely people helped stoke my passion for the Owl House, leading me to finally take the plunge and come out of retirement to start writing my first fanfic since 2003! As thanks, I'll be including their Hexside counterparts in a cameo in the upcoming chapter 19 of the fic in hopes of sending some new faces to their channels to repay the many hours of entertainment and inspiration I've gotten from their reactions and analyses of this series and many more! A link roundup: Gib Morgan Terry Not-So-Average-Fangirl

Wee Lass Reacts The fic in question: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55091485/

[xjulixred45x]

HI I ABSOLUTELY LOVED UR COLLECTOR HEADCANONS. He’s such a sweetheart heart inside but is spoiled just overlooked. Could you do jealous head-canons on how he’d react if other person or perhaps creature that was taking up his mother figures time. (If you can you can add hunter as well)

Hi, My Requests are Closed bc of My mental health(long story short, i have a breakdown and kind of burn out, i'm better now, but still) but you're LUCKY that i have a Soft spot for The Owl House 😭

I'm not doing Headcanons thoug.

I feel that if The Collector felt that his mother/father figure was not paying enough attention to him he would simply say it, he is a VERY direct child and he really has no shame, so if he feels that you are doing something wrong, he will tell you without much effort. touch (unless you teach him what touch is).

He doesn't really get angry with his mother/father figure in those types of cases, as long as he gives him pampering and attention everything is fine👍✨

Now, if it were a person who distracted attention from him, we must take into account which Collector we are talking about.

the Collector during the series would probably turn him into a puppet and take his mother/father figure away to play, without really feeling sorry because he feels that person deserves it for "wanting to steal his baba"

If their father/mother figure asks them VERY VERY well, they will remove the spell, but not without pouting.

The Collector matures a little after the series, but he is more discouraged than anything else, he acts more like a child waiting for his parents to stop talking to his friends on the phone. although as soon as they stop talking to that person, he becomes especially clingy with them and seeks reassurance that they love him.

not jealous per se, but he's definitely a little afraid of his mother/father figure moving away from him.

Hunter is a similar case, we need to know which version we are referring to.

Hunter Goldguard definitely uses his position to his advantage to take the "attention thief" away from his mother/father figure and then takes them away for "matters of utmost importance" which is just him ranting about that person and how insufferable they are.

Hunter doesn't really intervene when his mother/father figure is distracted by something, because he doesn't want to upset them (thanks Belos). but when it's a person it's a different story, and it's always jealousy/anger directed towards that person, not their mother/father figure.

"Normal" Hunter is more than anything a little capricious with the attention of his mother/father figure, saying certain comments that show his discontent, but not really hostile. Similarly to Collie, he will wait for his mother/father figure to finish speaking, but angrier.

Then (ask pretty please) he will demand that the mother/father figure teach him something new to make up for the lost time (if they want).

Hunter at the end of the series would not really feel jealous that the attention is not on him, maybe he will try to enter the conversation and such, try to socialize as his mother/father figure wants✨

They are just spoiled but loving kids✨❣️

[that-ari-blogger]

A Parody Of A Parody (Any Sport In A Storm)

One of the foundational parts of The Owl House is that someone looked at a magical otherworld story and thought “what would I do in that situation?”.

As a result, you get Luz, someone who is creative to the point of breaking the plot, who understands the mechanics of stories so well that she can call things out before they happen. Someone for whom the realisation that its ok to be unique and stray from the path comes easily. Luz doesn’t resist the story at all, she embraces it with open arms.

She is, in that way, a parody of certain other characters, most specifically Monkey D Luffy. She actively seeks adventure because it’s fun to her rather being obligated by revenge or duty or a desire to protect those she cares about. She has that range, but it’s not her core motivation. She’s heroic, but she’s not coming at it from a particularly stand out motivation. She’s just kind, and that leads her to being the hero.

So, what happens if we reshuffle our hands and play with something new. What if we had someone else go on the same journey as Luz, in their own way? Someone else parodying her.

Then you get Hunter, and Any Sport In A Storm.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD (The Owl House, One Piece, Lord Of The Rings)

Monkey D Luffy is a good person naturally. That’s why he will topple governments and fight gods. But fundamentally, his motivation is selfish. He wants to be happy and free. I’m not saying that’s villainous; I’m saying its amoral. You apply it in context.

Case and point, a key villain of the story, Blackbeard, has the exact same motivation. The difference being that Blackbeard has no care for anyone’s life except his own, and Luffy cares deeply about everyone else; his personal happiness cannot coexist with letting people get hurt. The character is kind, the motivation is not. Kindness is a characteristic not a goal.

Luffy’s and Blackbeard’s motivations both lead them to Impel Down, but Blackbeard’s character caused the Ace’s death, while Luffy’s made Ace’s life meaningful. Motivation is a big part of who a person is, but it’s far from the whole picture.

It’s almost as if people are inherently complex. I wonder if that’s important to the series’ theming.

"You're very good at doing exactly what you're told" accompanying a symmetrical shot with Hunter in front of an empty throne room that is too big for him to fill. I wonder if there's any symbolism there.

Hunter is not Blackbeard. He’s not a villain, most importantly. This is why he doesn’t actually get redeemed, he just switches sides, but that’s an argument for another day. He’s also doesn’t share a motivation with Luz.

Except he does, except he doesn’t. It’s complicated, and this gets granular.

Ok, the symbolism behind this. Hunter doesn't have the practical skills required for anything beyond following orders. He can read and learn, but that came from his need to read instructions. When it comes to putting something together, he will try, but he is in way over his head. This is part of the episode's setup, establishing the conflict to come. Here, that is being reshuffled. Hunter can do heroic stuff, it's the mundanity that's a problem for him.

Luz seeks to be accepted; Hunter wants to fit in. These are both facets of a desire for belonging, but their differences are more important. You could argue that they are effectively the same, but that restricts everyone into about three categories, those seeking belonging, safety, or comfort. The Owl House is fundamentally opposed to categorisation in this way, and the point of these two protagonists is that the two things are not equivalent.

This episode highlights that, showing how two similar characters react in wildly different ways.

It's not important, but the fact that the Crow Phone line is like torn paper makes me smile. It's a medieval aesthetic take on a modern visual.

Most notably is in their personalities. Because while their aims are similar, these two characters are opposites. Hunter isn’t curious, he’s wary. Hunter is constantly strategizing, paranoid that something might hurt him, Luz has zero impulse control at the best of times. Also, Hunter actively resists the plot at every turn.

The brave new world in this case is the opposite of Luz’s in a way. Where Luz went from mundanity to adventure, Hunter has gone from questing for the emperor to school drama.

The lessons here become the same as those that Luz learns day one. It’s ok to be different. Hunter just has a hard time learning that because he isn’t willing to look past what he thinks he already knows yet. He has blind spots, and he isn’t willing to examine them.

A good example of this is the contrast between the details that terrify our protagonists. I can’t exactly point at “everything”, so something specific. Luz freaks out when Eda loses her head the first time, Hunter barely flinches at Bellos’ transformation. Instead, Hunter is terrified by someone saying that they want to change the system.

The question then becomes: how do you get someone this resistant to change to undergo character development? Incongruity. Make his motivation clash with his blind spot and force him to operate in that unknown territory.

Hunter gets told to recruit the best and brightest, and to do that, he has to get unconventional. He has to learn that greatness comes in many forms, and if there was that useful piece of information to be found, what else could be hidden in places he has avoided looking?

At the moment, we’re setting up for bigger things down the road, and to do that, we need to get Hunter ready to accept some big changes.

So, we bring him into direct conflict with an authority figure, twice. We give him a support group that encourages him to think differently. We give him a way of using his skills that isn’t as a tool.

But more importantly, we mess with his idea of what people do and don't deserve.

"Where I come from, even chances have to be earned."

That's a pretty fundamental part of Hunter's character. He says the word "earn" so many times in this episode alone that it becomes a mantra. He believes you have to work to receive basic human decency. Willow shows him that that's not the case, and that he can chose to open himself up, if he wants. The emperor's way is not the only way.

He doesn’t pick any of these options yet, but we’re widening the scope of his character, letting him know that those other options are available. We’re setting up a Chekhov’s gun in the form of the power of friendship.

On the note of skills, has anyone else noticed that if it wasn’t for Willow, Hunter would unquestionably be the team powerhouse? Like, Luz is creative, she can take down stronger foes than herself through tricks and clever uses of magic. She’s not overtly powerful, she’s clever. Gus is similarly an illusionist; he can’t directly stand against anyone. Hunter, without magic, and with a new staff that he doesn’t understand, can hold Amity to a standstill.

Eclipse Lake was, so far, Hunter’s worst day, and he was still a physical and tactical threat. Which is why he’s not the main character.

The Owl House is heavily inspired by One Piece, but it throws in references to a ton of different anime, mostly shonen, and part of that is the power system. A core tenet of shonen is that raw power isn’t everything, and clever tactics can often lead to a victory despite that. Luz is the underdog, outclassed in raw magical talent, and yet she succeeds with tactics. Hunter is outclassed in natural magic, yes, but he punches far above his weight class with martial talent to make up for it. He’s a knight, an epic fantasy archetype.

Luz, with her grand dealings and evil emperor shenaniganry, is a shonen protagonist in an epic fantasy story. Hunter, with his discovery of the power of friendship and school drama, is an epic fantasy protagonist superimposed into a shonen story.

But epic fantasy is built on a dynamic with power in a different, hierarchical way. Lord Of The Rings has a reputation for a view on monarchy that I don’t think it actually features.

Tolkien definitely had some ideas that later audiences will find iffy, but his view on leadership was pretty iron clad. A king in Lord Of The Rings is a servant of the people, and those who use the people to serve them are portrayed as villainous. The people come first.

Even Aragorn’s destiny as the one true king isn’t characterised as accepting power, it’s accepting a duty to protect. In Lord Of The Rings, there is an idea of the good king, and he doesn’t have wealth or a kingdom. He has a sword.

Which, yeah, Tolkien was a soldier in WWI. And a soldier believing that a leader’s duty is to protect those under him isn’t that hard to believe.

Later authors have focused on the idea of real-world monarchy being inherently unjust, which I can’t say I disagree with, but the aesthetics of Tolkien have remained in epic fantasy. Knights loyal to kings, etc.

Which brings us to Bellos, and we see The Owl House’s view on unwavering loyalty. This is a series about understanding and engaging with the world around you. Hunter is loyal uncritically, which puts him as an antagonist in the series so far.

We’ll see how that goes for him.

Final Thoughts

The side plot of this episode isn’t really plot relevant. It’s another dead end. But its thematically quite interesting.

Luz and Amity go seeking someone who has paved their way before them and find out that it was a lie. They’ll have to make it up as they go, just like everyone else. But they take comfort in doing that together. They write their own stories.

But also, the Hexside crew other than the main five got a ton of characterisation here. Bosha got moved past, and Viney and Scara are finally in the same place at the same time, which means shipping.

I have speculations about a possible season three, and what I would like to see explored, and part of that would be a spiral from Bosha while Skarney becomes an actual thing. I think those three would make a phenomenal trio to base that series around while the actual protagonists are in the human realm. It would be about what happens when the characters with actual plot armour aren’t here, and the story needs to progress anyway. Essentially, the first scene in For The Future expanded. Throw in Mattholomule and the Blight Twins, and you have a story begging to go haywire.

Nex time, I’ll be covering Reaching Out, my favourite episode of television full stop. So, stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[daystarvoyage]

Hello owl fans, I wanted to give my critical breakdown on When I first watched Owl House, now rewatching it, looking back at a well known character in

This very 3 part topic focusing on

Everyone's fan favorite Amity who I like to call

(Little Miss Self Insert) Amity analysis & why she’s popular

Literally the same (Real) hair color as the creator

DISCLAIMER THIS IS NOT AN ATTACK ON THE CREATOR But a Critic that could benefit the show & educate viewers, POC, BIPOC (Bi meaning black indigenous, Person of color) REP,

(don't Hate appreciate), if ya can't Face different opinions or anyone with an open mind who can critic just being nasty/policing people, There's the Portal Door to outer space.

Ok aight Lets start to this 3 PART topic post

I indeed love my run of Amity as a character because she made an impactful LGBTQ show great, along with her endeavor on how she developed as a character. ( Also Green Hair AMity is Better.) because she had great drive melding her into the person she is, having to face her parents, falling in loving with luz.

Due to the high demand being a lgbt character at times, (even though we been starved and wanting more rep) has at times repercussions and flaws,if the writing, narrative & pacing is compromised in the show which shown after rewatching the series ANOTHER TOPIC.

I'm fully aware that she's a well-known fan favorite character ever since the show's green light along the panel interview with Dana Terrace hyped her up during the debut panel of the other shark cartoon she worked on, DOWN BELOW

After Rewatching the show I felt there was more to her then just being luz girlfriend,

(like other characters to never get there titular moments at time like the Hexside students.)

and how she was written in a one-sided straight forward manner which people overlook cause we had proud lgbt content to gush over, googling, blushing eyes and the creator saying no romance in the series yet we have a two girls hogging peoples potential and spotlight?!

which contributed to her name trending more & talked about compared to our main POC character (which I find weird & Staggering at times.)

Theres proof from a Good post on here THATS IMPORTANT BELOW

Now we got that outta the way 3 major reasons LETS GO

The Favoritism

I feel the favoritism in fandom really says about how the show reacts TO OUR favorite characters, yes a world and great characters can be executed in titular episodes or moment you can let them see shine,

but diving into the season 1 of the show had its Rocky start till they started the real action in season 2 not to mention the kiss scene which put everyone on good edge however hogged (a titular poc spotlight.)

There's proof on how poc people in real life are depicted in media as something negative and gross yet caucisian people are giving everything handed to them in a silver spoon.

so here's a article ill bring up cause these types of behavior says in how poc see ourselves

Heck thats how we got that lumity controversial pic

(IF YA KNOW YA KNOW)

ill pull up with article on black media effects real life

I truly did feel the intent on the show at times was made selfishly at times,

Which there's a link about a unique article that sheds some light on this situation on how it treated Amity and why she was made into a self inset character. Showing relationship run throughout the show.

you can be able to write a good cartoon series and make an impact on fans, spilling your life on the show you care being in there shoes,

However don't let it sacrificed the many aspects excusing plots, and narrative with tonal whiplash & poor characterization.

Hope Your here with me now lets get on to

Shipping discourse

these girls took over the whole world by storm, to the point the fandom only cares about these girls, nothing beyond,

(social media numbers don’t lie on searched characters and many aspects on the owl house.)

if not them but solely for Amity herself. which I felt really was a selfish writing move. Cause I really did love the character until she was written good however shoehorned to being a hollow shel of herself and discourse did no favors.

It irks me to no end cause we have a prominent poc character said previously, who gets not talked about a yet amity is the one y’all favor to? At the point y’all really don’t show y’all don’t care about black, Poc, or BIPOC and there contributions to media.

it pains me to see a show like this has been nothing but a whole show of contradictions and ill-pacing,

And i know why we stand with the ship or any sexuality reveal with any character to gain a following or popularity for that matter is this a good term of how we gotten lgbt media uprising

(which I understand we crave years ago. )

PERFORMATIVE SEXUALITY (Article & Term HERE .)

Not to mention the celebrity worship yall put onto amity herself which is responsible for it

Where gonna make this quick so last session and hoep you have a good one afterwards thanks

The Colorism Issue (Glad fans are speaking out)

Its just facts that we see white or white-passing as something to be congratulated and praised for compared to what poc go through cause we POCs & myself have to work tens time harder for what we want, (one issue for another session is?)

WHY IS THE NOCEDA FAMILY HAVE DIFFERENT SKINTONES?!

FIX IT Titan

For media especially Disney has treated Poc if not BIPOC IN live action if not animation to an extent is degrading, you have kids on jessie acting any way without severe repercussions such as how they Treat BIpoc Characters with utmost disrespect. Which is shown throughout our favorite shows. (also shows how the show loves it kids cause it suffers no consequences.)

Now May wonder why i put in Princess & The Frog

We do see great chemistry to the show and movie example

The similar girl dynamic that will be is Tianna and charlotte

There relationship is done better, I do feel there was little bit of colorism played into this and alas not to mention tiana poc friends characters being black but non existing, however I do feel to a agree they really stretched on how we should have diversity in a negative way which I’ll get into in a sec.

Its at this point charlotte is the sweet spoiled girl and felt amity was favored cause of how she was written that way, they tried to make her favorable because you guess or see she’s WHITE.

Which shows not only poc characters are secondary in animation or forms of media, also how Luz is written in a white space, but with amity

She was gonna be depicted as a favorable one cause of how she was written LIKE CHARLOTTE

(To the point people started seeing charlotte as the main character form princess & the frog.)

Having the cultural representation & also inconsistent characterization shine to the point where we could’ve had great characters shown and debut yet

Have two girls take over the show as a whole really?!

oh reminder the diversity happen yet being sacrificed for a shoehorned lgbt content and activism to the degree it over whlems the show with

amity being a type of reverse mammy to make her look better for luz to counter her spicy latina ways, like a unruly tomboy to kiss the white favored girls booty, knowing full well the fandom will police anyone saying otherwise.

The article I’ll show about gearing our diverse audiences which I feel Disney needs to do a lot better on cultural representation, and harmful stereotypes as this.

ARTICLE ON HOW STEREOTYPES CAN BE IN MEDIA

Hoping I said it well, since there's so much to add to this however hope we can be reasonable on the comment section, so hoping we can have a civil discuss on about this topic thanks for reading this far you have a goodnight and great day where you are

with love kyoko cane

[p5x-theories]

What We Know About the Protagonist

(last updated 8/9/24!)

The protagonist, codename Wonder, is a resident of Zoshigaya in Tokyo, and a second-year student at Kokatsu Academy in class 2C. He lives with his parents, however they are traveling abroad at the start of the game (though he still receives occasional texts from his mother).

The codename "Wonder" is invented by Ruferu, who connects it to how strange and mysterious aspects of him are-- a wonder, in other words.

Most of his personality is up to the player, as the series-typical "silent" protagonist, but one thing that seems to be set is that he doesn't know what he wants. The game opens with him being unsure what to put on a form about his plans after high school, eventually turning it in blank.

More generally, he doesn't quite have Joker's typical calm and unfazeable exterior, though his expressions tend to be more "blank" or neutral. He does show emotion outwardly sometimes: he grins during his Persona awakening, smiles widely at Ruferu after their first change of heart operation is a success, and visibly panics when pushed too far in athletics.

His voice actor is Koki Uchiyama.

The game starts with Wonder having what seems to be a dream, which follows the start of Persona 5's casino intro with Joker escaping, except Joker "glitches" into Wonder at one point. After Joker takes out the Moloch shadow that attacks him, however, Joker's attacked by someone else, who appears to be Wonder in a white mask. They fight, and Wonder wins, the dream ending with him shooting Joker with a smile.

Wonder jolts awake and goes to school, though throughout the day the player is prompted with choices to help someone or speak up about something, which Wonder seems to be prevented from acting on, as a vague feeling of apathy comes over him every time. On his way back home, he's the only person to react when a woman jumps off the roof of a building near the train station.

This inspires Ruferu to attempt to recruit him, during which Wonder is rushed by a person who rode a bike into the subway train car they were both sitting in. Wonder accidentally opens the MetaNav on his phone right before the bike hits him, and finds himself in Mementos with a strange owl. This leads to his Persona awakening (48:12 - 52:56 in this video) as they try to get out, and his recruitment by the owl (who introduces himself as Ruferu) as a phantom thief and "business partner".

Ruferu begins to follow Wonder around, and eventually lives with him at his house, as they pursue their first target, Takeyuki Kiuchi. Wonder has a strange vision at one point of Kiuchi pushing a woman and her stroller down the stairs, which goes unexplained. After Motoha Arai joins the team, they steal Kiuchi's Treasure and he has a change of heart, but as Kiuchi is arrested, this prompts another vision for Wonder of Kiuchi cackling and shouting about how he killed someone, even as the real Kiuchi is going quietly. Motoha and the protagonist decide to continue being thieves to help more people.

In the second arc, similarly, prior the the "Flavor Fight" between their second target, Hiromu Miyazawa, and their soon-to-be teammate, Shun Kanou, Wonder gets a vision of Miyazawa winning the fight, with Shun becoming a confirmed phantom, and Shun's mentor dying of a heart attack. This vision gives him the information they need to help Shun in the Flavor Fight, ultimately to the point that he wins it, though Miyazawa denies it.

When the Phantom Thieves later talk about making a logo for themselves, and Wonder gets saddled with the job, he has a vision of a girl drawing that gives him an idea for what the logo should look like.

After Miyazawa's Treasure is stolen, Wonder has yet another vision where Motoha and Shun vanish before his eyes, with Shun yelling at him to stop while Motoha says she doesn't want to forget him. After this, Wonder wonders if he's forgotten something.

Wonder's role seems to loosely parallel Joker's in the original P5. In the P5 Collab, characters repeatedly comment on a similarity between him and Joker, both in their roles as team leaders, and also in their overall demeanor.

Wonder's Persona Jánošík (based on a Slovak highwayman described as being similar to Robin Hood) is categorized as a Gun type, and resists Bless while being weak to Wind and Electric.

Janosik is a Resist Persona, meaning he's good at targeting single enemies, and his trait boosts his own attack power and "targets" a random enemy, increasing the damage they take. His gun attack skill hits one enemy and can reduce their defense, while his bless attack skill hits all enemies and also heals the weakest teammate + boosts their attack.

In addition to this, the protagonist is a wildcard, able to recruit shadows as new Personas, and access the Velvet Room to strengthen and fuse them. His Velvet Room is an underwater construction site, and the location within it where he meets Igor appears to be a tunnel in-progress, with a circular table in the middle that he and Igor sit on either side of. His attendant is Merope.

In combat, his melee weapon is a knife, and his ranged weapon is a handgun. He has two versions of his Highlight, based on what Persona he has equipped: his attack animation is viewable in this video (3:41 - 3:54), and his support animation is viewable in the same video (3:32 - 3:40).

While there are no separate Wonder units, Wonder did have a Summer outfit added in the summer event, which the player can purchase in Marthym's store with real money. The differences that come with this outfit are purely cosmetic, and are compiled in this video.

[ordinaryschmuck]

I saw a post about how Carmen Santiego has great character designs and diversity through race and body types. I considered it a good post and one that makes a good point...And then below it was a reblog about how a person went "If Carmen Santiego can have a diverse cast of HUMANS, then what the hell is up with Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss?"

First of all...What the hell do either of those two things have in common? They sure are animated shows, I'll give you that. Except that one's a children's animated spy thriller and the other two are adult musical comedy dramas in Hell. Stylistically and tonally, neither of them have anything to do with each other and you just randomly made a point because...you hate Hazbin and Helluva? Cool. Congratulations. Now get a new personality and just fucking watch something else if these two shows made your hatred this obsessed when you randomly attack a show through a post that has NOTHING to do with it. The OP wasn't attacking Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss. Unless they constantly attack it and they made that post to prove a previous point, something that does NOT come across in that original post, there's no reason to go "Hey, why didn't these completely different shows with their own styles take notes of this kids show with ITS unique style?"

And here's the thing: I like Carmen Santiego. I like the way that it looks, and I think its style really is unique compared to other animated series that have come out around the same time. And I do agree that it has a great diverse cast that shows off a lot of body diversity where every single character looks unique in their own way. But here's the thing: I would not go out of my way to attack other shows, to the point where I'd hijack someone else's post to say, "Yeah, this show is WAY better than this other one I hate." And if I had in the past...I'm sorry. I really am sorry. I hate that I acted that way and I will try to do better. Because that's what I do with media criticism or talking about stuff I don't like. I try to act BETTER than I have in the past because that's not how you talk about media. Whether you like it or hate it, it's never a good thing to talk about something you hate when the discussion is about something someone else loves. Sometimes it makes sense, as there are often two products that are similar to each other. Like Marve/DC, Star Wars/Star Trek, and The Owl House/Amphibia. Those are media where there's a lot to compare and contrast, with people being unaware that the main reason why they like the other basically boils down to personal preferences when it comes to consuming media. But with Hazbin/Helluva and Carmen Santiego, there's really NOTHING to compare and you're just going out of your way to talk about something you hate when it's not relevant to the conversation. It's like people who hyped up Puss in Boots: The Last Wish just to shit on Velma. Yeah, The Last Wish is a thousand times better than Velma, but there's nothing similar about both products that make the discussion worth it. You're just using something you love as a weapon towards something you hate.

I get it, people like some things and hate others. It's how we're wired as human beings and I can't stop that. Nor do I think I CAN stop it. But just feel like this is making media discussion worse when all we can think of to do when discussing something we love and bringing in something we hate into the conversation. It's not necessary, and you're feeding the creators that thing you hate by still talking about it. You want to know the best possible way to react to "objectively bad" media? Stop talking about it. Stop watching it. STOP ENGAGING.

If you don't fucking like it, stop consuming this piece of media and go watch something you enjoy instead. Give THAT your time. Show how THAT does everything right and sing its praises. Raise up this one thing that you believe is "objectively good" so it can effectively overshadow this thing you consider "objectively bad." There's a way to discuss media without shitting on something you don't like.

[weebssecretattic]

Hey there winnions, if you guys like reaction videos, may I suggest you check out Danny Motta on YouTube? Danny does reaction commentary and he's one of my favorite reaction YouTubers and Danny said he'll react to epic when he reaches 1M subs, so check out his channel and if you like his content, consider subing so we can get the epic reaction soon ฅ⁠^⁠•⁠ﻌ⁠•⁠^⁠ฅ

THIS is where he says he'll react to epic, it's a short.

He used to do mainly anime in the past so he has a lot of anime reactions (spyxfamily, banana fish, assassination classroom, black clover, beasters, chainsaw man, bunguo stray dogs, heaven official's blessings, buddy daddies, black Butler, Fullmetal alchemist brotherhood, link click, madoka magica etc.) recently he's started branching out so he also has series like owl house, helluva boss, hazbin hotel, good omens etc. so if any of these peak your interest, check him out!

[lollytea]

How do you think Hunter would react to learning Luz's weird dog pal/little brother is the author of his favourite book series?

He learns about it while they're having a little community Get Together at the owl house. Luz and King are reminiscing and lightheartedly bickering about their time working on the book together. Everyone is laughing so Hunter forces a laugh too, to hide the fact that he's completely lost. And then King drops the bomb with "Look....we have to admit....I wrote a good FUCKING book. (King is going through a phase where he says FUCK a lot) Ruler's Reach was a smash hit."

Hunter freezes, this weight of information hitting him like a sledgehammer. He suddenly does not know how to exist in a normal way.

"Excuse me," He says, leaving the table and not returning.

Luz has to go looking for him. She finds him hiding in a broom closet.

"I can't go out there," He says, panicked, as Luz enters the closet with him. "What if he doesn't like my outfit? What if he notices that I've got pimples on my jaw?"

"Who??"

"The author of Ruler's Reach, Luz!!"

"......King?" She blurts out, incredulous. "You're worried about what King thinks?? King is nine. You also didn't care much about what he thought an hour ago when you pummeled him at Mario Kart."

Hunter's eyes widen in horror. "Oh my Titan..." He says breathlessly, gripping fistfuls of his hair. "I beat the author of Ruler's Reach at Mario Kart and then mocked him...."

"Ehhhh," Luz shrugs. "I wouldn't say you mocked him. You teased him a little but you were pretty sweet about it. I mean if we're actually gonna talk about times when you REALLY treated him badly, you did call him a rat, throw him in a cage and threatened to drown him. But that's just--wait, Hunter, don't overthink it--"

"OH MY TITAN!!!"

[duusheen]

oc deep dive with hope pollock! 😤 thank you for the tag @theosconfessions and @bloomingkyras <3

What uncommon/common fear do they have? Being alone, I guess. Hope has this romantic and idealized view of love because her parents have been together for so long that she grew up with it and she's like "wow, I want that too", so that's why she stayed with Danny all this time (because let's face it, everyone could see it except her)

Do they have any pet peeves? The lack of commitment. She simply detests people who are not capable of committing to their loved ones. In part, I guess it's because she is too compliant. She gives her all without expecting anything in return and sometimes people take advantage of her

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom? Lots and lots of cat toys, her clothes on the floor and chairs (that's my messy girl) and probably a cat sleeping on top of the clothes.

What do they notice first in a person? She usually judges people by the way they treat others, especially girls 👀

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance? Meh, 4. She is the first daughter of a teen couple and the ultimate daddy's girl. Jay and Miracle practically wrapped her in bubble wrap for her entire life. Hope was protected by her parents much more than her sisters, and her tolerance for anything that hurts her is really low

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure? I'd say she would fight? but seeing that she found Danny with his lover and ran straight to her parents' house… lol. She's definitely the kind of girl who would disappear without even leaving a note. "I don't like this bye" kinda girl.

Do they come from a big family/are they a family person? It depends on what is considered a "big family". She has three sisters, but her grandpa had 6 children, so you could say almost lol. That said, she is a family girl. If it were up to her, she would build a house on her parents' ranch and live there until she's old and gray.

What animal represents them best? A penguin? 😂🐧

What is a smell that they dislike? The smell of the disinfectant they use at the vet to clean the floors 🤢

Have they broken any bones? Never. I don't think she even scraped her knee as a child 🙄

How would a stranger likely describe them? I guess shy. But if the person in front of her shows up with an animal, Hope immediately becomes all chatty and excited. Nothing like a pet to break the ice (honestly me)

Are they a night owl or a morning bird? morning bird. Her routine starts every day at 6:00 a.m.

What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love? She likes the deep taste of black coffee, and hates anything bitter.

Do they have any hobbies? Whenever she has a free moment, she likes to sit down and browse the Simflix catalog because her favorite thing is to sit and watch series.

Boom, surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises? She would smile, pretend she's grateful for a total of five minutes and then hide in the bathroom to mentally prepare herself to be the center of attention until the party ends. After that, she'd probably relax and be okay.

Do they like to wear jewelry? She has her grandma Daphne's silver rings. She never goes anywhere without them; they're her lucky charm :')

Do they have neat or messy handwriting? Her handwriting was pretty neat in school, but now it's just a mess.

What are two emotions they feel the most? Inadequate and tired, as if she's trying to catch up with everyone's expectations.

Do they have a favorite fabric? Leather 😳. Not for anything special, but because it's the fabric where cat hair sticks the least.

What kind of accent do they have? She grew up on a ranch in Chestnut Ridge, so I like to think she has the sexiest country accent 😌

i tag: @aurorangen @theosconfessions (gimme some blake info please i miss him 👀) @ktysh @cupidszone @akitasimblr @awkwardwhims @aliengirl but feel free to ignore 😁💖

[tyrantisterror]

Can you give some advice on how to write scary/dark fantasy media for a younger audience, like Gravity Falls, Coraline, The Owl House and Trollhunters (to some extent) etc? How to balance scary and silly elements so it doesn't get too frightening but still keep an eerie atmosphere, and make the story feel like a folktale/have folk-tale-like elements.

I haven't written anything with children/young adults specifically in mind, so I don't know whether I can really be considered an expert in this subject, but I'll try my best.

So, the examples you listed all work in part because they don't talk down to their audience. They accept the idea that children/adolescents/young adults are still, you know, people, people who understand that there are things to be afraid of in this world and that it's not all sunshine lollipops and rainbows. Kids, even little kids, know the world can be violent and dangerous, even if they don't fully understand how harsh those dangers can be. 3 year olds will draw pictures of lions with red scribbles around their mouths to show they've been eating meat from their prey - kids know the world is dark.

The purpose of horror media is to allow us to explore the things that make us afraid in a safe, fictional context - to get the experience of confronting what lurks in the shadows without actually risking getting eaten by it. And it serves that function for kids as much as adults - kids LOVE a good scary story.

So good scary kids' media isn't really different in overall content than good scary adult media. The stakes have to be real, the characters have to react with real fear, et cetera. The difference is really just in how severe you make it.

Like, Gravity Falls had zombies, child-eating monsters, etc., but it didn't have, like, scenes of zombies tearing people open ala Day of the Dead, or cracking open skulls to eat the brains like in Return of the Living Dead. The Owl House has some pretty intense body horror, especially with Emperor Belos, but it's abstracted enough not to be too visceral, too real, too traumatizing for children. It's all about pulling your punch just enough to keep from actually showing children something they're not prepared for, but not so much that they don't flinch in response to it anymore.

Artists complain, mostly rightfully, about how corporations force censorship on them, especially when they're working in kids' media, but it's noticeable that often that censorship creates something exquisitely creative. Batman the Animated Series was barred from showing the Joker kill people, so instead he hits them with a nonlethal gas that leaves them with a horrible rictus grin - a nightmarish and unique image that still scared the piss out of many a kid, while never crossing that line into the inappropriately grotesque.

So I guess the rule of thumb is to write your story like you would any other scary story, but whenever you hit upon the normal scary payoff, think of how you could do something technically less gruesome yet more creatively awful. How can you take a normal horror scenario and replace "death" with, well, something like the Joker gas?

[mdhwrites]

thoughts on Lilith Clawthorne? Her redemption or her time a villain etc?

So I actually haven't of just Lilith and this is going to be fun for me because if you talk about Lilith, you have to split her into two halves. S1 and everything beyond. This division is not about villain versus protagonist though. Her narrative role does change into that but the thing is that those are secondary roles to her main roles.

Namely, that of a straight man vs comic relief.

In comedy, the straight man is given the veneer of seriousness for the sake of having someone who will react to the jokes in a way that helps elevate them where a laugh wouldn't. This is your stick in the mud who hates sarcasm or puns or stuff like that. They see the absurdity happening and clap back. People like Red from that 70's show, or Doctor Cox from Scrubs, are straight men who help play on jokes through contrast. This isn't even that they cannot be funny themselves but that usually their humor is more rooted in a grounded sense, such as Doctor Cox ranting at someone after they've been stupid because they've been stupid, rather than the absurdity the other characters revel in.

For The Owl House, especially Eda's sister, this was a masterstroke. One of the biggest issues TOH has with its comedy is actually a lack of reaction to them. Few people laugh along and almost no one will ever get upset, not unless they themselves are the butt of the joke. My favorite jokes in TOH are essentially all rooted in someone actually killing what you'd expect, such as Gus saying he gets it when Luz says no offense to him for saying Willow is stronger or the monster hunter who has always dreamt of pushing children off giving a deadpan "I was a weird kid." But no one in the series really has it as a dedicated role besides Lilith.

The only problem, and this is a core issue with her character, is that she's actually not a very good straight man. She never has barbs to throw back or moments of actually winning against the others comedically. Yes, we like seeing the straight man suffer, which Lilith does, but we love just as much when he can actually fight back. Lilith never fights back, not with comedy. She'll shout and throw a tantrum but honestly, she gets so frustrated that it isn't even a comedic reaction like a straight man should have. She never has that normal groan, roll your eyes and then bring your paper up as you put a wall between you and stupid. Instead she gets loud and meets Eda every time on her level which is NOT THE POINT.

Otherwise, how is she as a villain? Well, she only has the VENEER of seriousness, like I said before for this role. She is knocked down in almost all encounters with her and made into a fool in some way. In some way made out to be honestly kind of bad at her job which she shouldn't be. She's the only witch on the Isles who can compete with Eda, the literal only representative of the EC proper before the S1 finale and the best member of the EC. If she's a joke, what are we supposed to think of the main villain faction as a whole? It's like if instead of Zuko in S1 of Avatar, it was Azula who was the bumbling fool, constantly failing to catch Aang, sometimes in comedic ways.

The saving grace for her though is three things: A lack of screentime and paced out far enough from each other mostly that it's easy to respect her title and forget how much often she gets punk, the fact that usually it is some sort of trick that beats her, even if it makes her look foolish and finally her relationship with Eda. Mind you, that last one is actually really shallow. There's nothing really here besides the fact that they care about each other but are on different sides. We actually never get an exploration of why they're on different sides, minus the curse obviously but that's hardly personally driven, that was inflicted on one of them by the other, how they've dealt with this divide, how they actually see each other even, etc. like that. Most of their adventures honestly portray them as not even giving a shit about the core conflict between each other because they're more than happy to goof around, bend the rules, BOTH OF THEM, and just act like they're teenagers to be frank. It's shallow but it's effective enough to make you want to see them getting along.

Then I will admit she gets a good finish and an act of redemption that feels entirely correct for the fact that Lilith really wasn't much of a villain ever but had committed a grievous mistake upon someone else. A good finish to a character who was entirely unremarkable besides a kick ass design. That's S1.

You all remember that I said TOH had a problem of having NO OTHER STRAIGHT MEN OUTSIDE OF LILITH?

Okay, I defined Straight Man, let's talk about comic relief. Now, we actually need to acknowledge, thanks to a bit of lingering strength to Lilith's writing, that comic relief is not actually a character trait. Comic relief itself is a writing tool. It is just anytime comedy is used to help ease tension. That's what it's relieving. Much of the time, there will be one character who is better at this than others. Sokka is the comic relief of Avatar much of the time. However... He's not a comic relief character because his existence is not the joke.

That inherent fact is the reason why 'Comic Relief Character' is purely negative. By the mandate of the label, all they are is a joke. They are entirely 2 dimensional and exist only to insert comedy when comedy is decided as being necessary. Now you might go "Wait, isn't the Straight Man all about comedy?" but hear me out. The veneer of seriousness means that a good straightman gives as good as he gets. When he rolls his eyes, the joke isn't rolling his eyes. The joke is whatever came before and the gesture amplifies it. Meanwhile, when King has a tantrum about not being taken seriously, the tantrum is the joke. We're supposed to laugh at King, not laugh with him. S1 King, S1 Gus, HOOTY, all of these characters in TOH function like this to the point where when they do have focused episodes, they feel out of character because to try and give them something more to do, they inherently have to get rid of the one core trait you laugh at and that's their entire identity. This is why Gus and King become drastically less fun, and honestly less interesting, when the shift is attempted with them, and stuff like King caring about Luz going or not comes out of nowhere, just like Gus' anxieties do. These characters are so much dedicated to their comedy that even trying to play on shifting perspective of it rings hollow unless you're REALLY good at it.

SO. What about Lilith? Well, through Affearances, she's actually pretty good because is comic relief, not a comic relief character. We see elements of it brewing, the fact that she is definitely being taken less seriously, the fact that she just is less serious and the fact that while we have in the past pitied Eda for her helplessness due to lack of magic, we're meant to laugh at Lilith. Following through on the finale though is seriousness enough and gives her enough genuine personal motivation that while many scenes are played for laughs, she still feels distinctly Lilith.

The second Coll Aunt Lilith shows up, old Lilith is dead and buried. All there is now is the comic relief character. We laugh at her version of nerdy, while Luz is accepted. She is now all about history, a trait she barely had before now, and is for the most part entirely oblivious to anything going on around her because she's just a comic archeologist now. She has barely two brain cells to rub together, questions nothing and even her trauma, her losing EVERYTHING, in a manner very similar to Hunter but way more effective because she actually had something to lose at the time unlike Mister "My Uncle is gonna kill me anyways, may as well turn good," is treated as a joke. Maybe the most offensive line, just singular line, to any of the core themes and things TOH technically claims to care about, is "I'm realizing I was bad at my job." The fact that we are meant to laugh at that, laugh at the ONE accomplishment Lilith has ever had in life and sacrificed so much for, and so sacrificing it made S1's finale powerful... Fuck you.

And you might go "Well, she became comic relief because King and Gus, as I said before, stopped. So they were the straight men, right? Or Hunter?" No. They aren't. Because they don't react to jokes like Lilith did. So much of the sparse humor in S2 and 3 is just joke and then crickets. Worse yet is that the comedy isn't fast enough to make the dead reaction to jokes actually work. It's why the like ONE good joke I can think of in S3 is Amity yes anding Luz talking about who might want to eat Stringbean because SOMEONE reacted to the fucking joke. Otherwise, the lost comic relief relief characters (and honestly, Hunter is so pitifully framed that it's hard to take him seriously and he almost comes across as primarily comic relief too, especially after his second appearance) are just boring now.

The degradation of Lilith is emblematic of so much that is wrong with TOH as a piece of entertainment. That is an important element to remember after all. We talk about fucked up themes, arcs, etc. in the show but as a kid's product that IS a comedy, how well it entertains is an important question. How well does it make you laugh, stay engaged and be entertained?

And well, by the end, the greatest joke of all is simply the show itself. See you next tale.

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

Btw, I think there's something to be said that Luz actually acts as a straight man but uh... You might have noticed that I mostly listed assholes. Luz gives us, by far, WAY more than anyone gives her, negative reactions to other people being themselves. She does most of the subversive humor, she doesn't like Hooty, her most expressive faces are almost always someone expressing themselves and her being against it or thinking they're stupid. For a show that wants to preach 'be yourself' and 'self expression is king' having your main character be a judgemental bitch about these elements is a... Choice. It also makes her poorly suited to be a straight man because instead of elevating a joke, it just comes across as mean spirited or hypocritical.

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

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

A Twitter you can follow too

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

[crimeronan]

i was about to send an ask like "hahaha half of the alt timelines for pl au are mostly just "what if More Grimwalkers" next one is camila walker. idfk" but.. im thinking about camila walker now.

au where belos got luz when she was a few years older and therefore she missed her mom and wanted to go home Extremely Bad. and belos somehow gets his way into the human realm and finds camila.

and he explains how luz was Chosen to be in the isles, and how she cant come home BUT camila can come with him. and uh camila Reacts Appropriately. by trying to Kill Him.

but belos was prepared for this. so he knocks her out. and she wakes up without a pinky finger on one hand, in her own bed.

and a few weeks later, he reintroduces Camila to luz. and even if luz is old enough to remember her mom, she isnt old enough to do the mental leaps it would take to realize whats wrong. shes still a kid.

so. belos tells the world the isles has brought them two humans.

(i know this makes me Part Of The Problem of all the more grimwalkers aus. but SSSHHH)

FJSJDJD. justice was just saying this as she drove me home, actually. "everyone keeps coming up with new grimwalker horror that i didn't even know was a possibility with grimwalker horror. because i'd never seen it done before"

this actually isn't the first time a grimwalker camila timeline has been posited. it IS a lot better than the one from a few months back, though. iirc that one was about camila fighting her way into the isles much Much sooner, but refusing to cooperate with belos, & belos straight-up killing her. and then creating a grimwalker of her for luz, who is Distraught.

love thinking about this. love camila Not Being Fucking Dead for it. and now if i can diverge a little....

i think Most of my owl house followers now have never read the dreamer trilogy by maggie stiefvater, which is my next biggest fandom by far. & also remains my favorite bookseries ever (despite some mild disappointment with certain arcs in the final book).

one of the main characters in that series had parents whose relationship was.... Not Very Functional. to put it mildly. and his mom eventually divorced his dad & abandoned the family. and his dad's response to this was to create a sweet, gentle, even-tempered stepford smiler clone of his bitch wife. with no agency. and have her raise his kids.

the problem is that this MC, alone of all of his siblings, remembers his real mom.

and knows that the mom who raised him was Wrong (TM).

and has been quite literally gaslit about this and told that he's an insane psycho cunt for his Entire Life.

also another one of the main characters (hennessy, of my blog description fame) has been essentially creating and sustaining and murdering grimwalkers of herself since she was ten. she & the main clone of herself are both main POV characters who have a Viciously codependent/messy relationship and battle for dominance over their shared identity.

so like. if anyone here has been Very Into all the grimwalker horror in this AU, and/or into all the psychological horror of luz and hunter's relationship, and would like to read some original fiction that features All Of That Shit..... WOW do i have a bookseries you'll enjoy.

[that-ari-blogger]

Unconventional (Happy Day In Hell)

When I set out to write this series, I was initially prepared to analyse Hazbin Hotel episode by episode, in the same way as my coverage of The Owl House and She-Ra, but I don’t think that does the musical justice at all.

The story is compressed to a boiling point, and each episode has so much happening in it that the posts would invariably be split in two anyway under the weight of stuff to talk about.

So instead, I will be discussing the songs themselves, and how they push the story forward. This series is dense, and I will try to cover all of the plotlines I can, but I am limiting the analysis to those songs, for the most part, there are a few individual scenes that need dwelling upon.

So, with that in mind, let’s look at Happy Day in Hell and how it positions the story as a satire of and the antithesis for everything Disney.

Let me explain.

CONTENT WARNING: This is the start of a series on Hazbin Hotel. There will be discussion of almost everything that happens in that musical, so I highly recommend you check out the content warnings that apply to the show. For now, put simply, there will be foul language, as well as discussion of sex, violence, and abuse. Please heed the warnings.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (Hazbin Hotel, Moana, Wicked, Beauty and the Beast)

Happy Day In Hell is the “I want” song of the series. Think of How Far I’ll Go, from Moana, but let’s take apart the differences there.

Moana wants to explore the world and make her home better by going out and seeking new horizons. Her story is a solo one, about personal betterment and connection to her past through her self. Charlie wants to make her home better by staying here and better people’s lives in a more tangible way.

As such, How Far I’ll Go positions Moana as a misfit in a perfect place.

“I know everybody on this island seems so happy on this island Everything is by design I know everybody on this island has a role on this island So maybe I can roll with mine”

Moana’s otherness comes from her internal struggle. She wants to indulge in her curiosity. Everyone thinks she is one of them, but she can’t square the role with her own desires.

Meanwhile, Charlie is convinced that everyone shares her mindset. She loves her home and thinks that she can make it better to live in with everyone else’s help. The problem is, she’s not positioned as right in this song. Everyone thinks she is crazy, and she is literally singing about hell.

“There's a warm, fuzzy feelin' that wafts through the air Every street so revealing, it's hard not to stare It's a realm so appealing, it beats anywhere If you don't mind the smell It's a happy day in hell”

So, Charlie’s home is an acquired taste, but she is attached to it, and she sings about how it makes her feel. Contrast what she is saying with her experience.

Charlie walks through what could well be an active warzone. The smell she mentions is that of a corpse. But Charlie is oblivious, right?

Well, not entirely. Charlie is aware of everything going on and reacts with horror to horrifying things and with discomfort to less horrifying things.

Which brings me to my thesis for the musical.

Hazbin Hotel is about redemption, sure, but its also about disentangling naivety from hope. The Charlie who sings this song is singing about a place that doesn’t exist. Hell isn’t what she thinks it is. Her hope is naïve, at this point.

Except, that isn't entirely correct, it's kinda true, but there's more going on here. Hold this thought.

"I can hear all their stories, the lost and displaced and I know that they're more of an aquired taste If I open the door and I give them a place at my Hazbin Hotel"

Charlie does see Hell for what it is, but she focuses in on the idea that everyone has a reason for doing what they're doing, and that anyone can be better. She's an optimist.

The point of the series is Charlie coming to terms with what Hell actually is and redeeming sinners doesn’t mean making them more like Heaven, instead it means making Hell better for what it is. She becomes wiser over the course of the story, but that hope never fades.

The song actually presents a reason for this blind spot, heaven’s genocide.

The song implies that the reason Charlie’s motivation is “make Hell more like Heaven” is the fear of retribution. The song sets up the stakes really well for what happens should Charlie fail. The series may be a comedy, but it treats topics like genocide with the seriousness that they need.

Which leads me to my point about this song. The song is entirely setup. The series’ main flaw is its limited runtime, which messes with the pacing something savage and is categorically not the writers’ fault. I blame the Amazon execs who quantified art into a monetary scale, and whichever bastard decided on the eight-episode season that is also wreaking havoc with Doctor Who at the moment. But the effect is there.

Every medium has its benefits. But I challenge you to pull this shot off in live action.

So, Happy Day In Hell does a lot to negate this by setting up the themes and plot points that the series will specialise in. Notably, the clash of Charlie’s dream of bettering people’s lives against the threat of invasion, as well as the pseudo-biblical imagery.

This is reflected in the music itself. Most obviously, the song changes tempo several times to foreshadow the rollercoaster pacing, but in a more subtle way, the melody holds up the idea of hope.

I want to prefix this by saying that musical notation is not really my specialty. Part of why this blog exists is as a way for me to teach myself these, so bear with me on this. If you know better than me, please correct me in the replies.

As Charlie opens the song, her part emphasises key words to ground itself at the start of each bar. Those being “do”, “know”, the first syllable of “Heaven”, and “plans”. The notes on these remain stable on a repeated C as she reassures herself with what she knows, before her high reaching dreams are represented by the A on “Heaven”, and she roots herself back down with the B for “plans” and she prepares to keep dreaming. It’s a stable loop that allows for optimism as it rises and will repeat itself until something changes.

Speaking of which, the second phrase is the same exact progression, with the exception that it resolves to G instead as Charlie starts to gain momentum. This is also represented by the note length, with the final note being much slower and pensive than the rest of the phrase, until Charlie is finally in the moment and off on her journey.

And we have our first tempo change, rising in pace to match Charlie’s ambition and accompany the crowd singing along, and this is the most Disney part of the song.

The chorus, in reference to those who aren’t the main characters, exists in songs like this to tell the audience what the general consensus is. For example, in Wicked, the chorus reacts with joy to the death of the Wicked Witch, and so the audience can generally assume that the rest of Oz is pretty happy as well.

Disney loves having chorus members sing along to set the scene for their stories, be it Beauty and the Beast’s villagers singing about Belle in a song named after her, or Where You Are from Moana.

The difference here, is the denizens of Hell are talking about how awful their lives are, and how they are accustomed to violence and death. It’s a subversion.

You may notice that the scene setting song and the "I want" song are usually distinct numbers, but Hazbin Hotel doesn’t have time for that. Like I said, this musical is dense.

Before I finish up, I want to mention one word that changes Charlie’s entire character for me. “Fuck”. More specifically:

“Today is gonna be a fuckin’ happy day in hell”.

I am not usually one for cursing in writing. I usually deem it as wasted space that could have been better achieved through cinematography or acting or just any other word. This is honestly rather hypocritical of me, considering my own vernacular.

But, I don’t see that problem here. Here, the word accentuates Charlie’s perseverance and the intensity of her dream. The song’s name stops going from a hope and becomes a threat. Charlie doesn’t think that Hell will get better, she is going to make it better.

This one-word changes Charlie from naïve to relentless, and it reframes what hope is about. Because fundamentally, Charlie is hopeful. She has no reason to believe her dream will work, that’s why she needs hope, and that’s what she needs to inspire in others.

Philosophy is often attributed to great works, but the quote that best exemplifies Charlie comes from the least likely of places, X (the website formerly known as Twitter), and a user called Crowsfault:

"People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider’s webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises for another go."

Final Thoughts

To those for whom this is my first post, helo. I'm Ari, I do analysis about things I like and things I don't from a storytelling standpoint. These are my opinions, and I am not to be taken as an authority on anything.

I love Hazbin Hotel so much, despite its many flaws. This series isn’t for everyone, but it is something I enjoyed, and something I want to talk about.

And there is something to that. Every piece of media has an audience, and Hazbin Hotel feels like it was written directly for tumblr. It critiques the internet as a whole, and its propensity to see things as black and white. Lets be clear, the first redeemed sinner was Sir Pentious, a character who began his story as a villain. But the show is also catered to an audience that will take it apart, and to me at least, Tumblr is the place where people do that.

Even the design and art style are Tumblr coded.

This is why I find LavenderTowne’s redesigns so interesting. They are an exploration of what might happen if the show was written for a slightly different audience with different expectations and standards, and I will be talking about the second of those videos in a post coming soon.

Next week, however, I will be covering Hell Is Forever and the introduction of Heaven. So stick around if that interests you.

Next