#this can be seen in hunting palismen

[pincushionx]

I love how Hunters eyes are naturally a bit droopy

​Droopy eyed Hunter supremacy

I headcanon that he squints his eyes to make himself appear more serious. However when neutral or not over thinking on how he presents himself, his eyes droop. He got those sleepy eyes, even after he finally rests lol. It makes him look a bit softer idk. I think he either has a resting bitch face or that

Edit: I fixed the art. Also glad y’all liked this post :)

[watery-melon-baller]

fun fact im an ao3 god. i can navigate shit so easy. have a fic you read a few years ago but dont remember much except for like the basic plot? im your fucking GAL.

[sepublic]

I like how Titan Luz’s design parallels/foils Belos, as she herself does; We have horns, we have a skeletal motif. The pronounced knuckles and segmented fingers. A brim splitting off at the waist, pants that are cut off by ‘boots’ with diamond-shaped knee pads. The rim of the cape consists of triangles. A circular symbol on the chest, and black eyes with glowing rings. Gold as a motif, a staff with an orb at the center. And of course the obvious opposite, one look being angelic and white and holy, while the other is demonic and black and witchy.

Furthermore!

I can’t help but see similarities in Titan Luz’s design, and Maleficent’s… Black and purple, the flowy points at the ends. The shape of the horns, with a little beloved animal sidekick on her shoulder constantly! And an orb staff. Conversely, Belos’ outfit beneath the robes reminds me of Prince Phillip’s… Yeah, that’s his name! They’re even both brunettes, which is emphasized in Philip’s final moments.

Belos’ Emperor appearance also has horns, the cape with the points, and an orb staff; He’s like a twisted reflection of Maleficent, a ‘holy’ one. And like Maleficent, he becomes a draconic monster blocking off a castle from our protagonists, who initially face them off at the drawbridge leading to said castle!

So there’s a fun interplay in Sleeping Beauty as a Disney classic that was its first take on the knight vs the evil witch who turns into a dragon… TOH taking that, flipping it on its head; Philip (One L) thinking he’s a holy, monster slaying hero saving a blonde human from a witch, only to be more alike the villain in terms of being the aggressor, the actual threat. The castle is his, but it’s also a wicked lair like Maleficent’s.

Conversely Luz represents Maleficent in terms of the aesthetics and witchcraft and how in a meta sense, these are things demonized by Puritan witch trials, which would later inform the U.S.’s cultural zeitgeist during the years Sleeping Beauty was made; There’s a brief scene in which Maleficent’s ~evil~ followers can be seen dancing around a fire, in reference to a famous painting about paganism that TOH also referenced;

It’s all like a strange mirror, flipped in some regards, and played straight in others. The witch is the hero, the brunette white man is the monster, the dragon is technically the Titan, whose power and appearance Philip is stealing; And the Titan is benevolent, the actual dragon who helps Luz become this demonic creature in a triumphant moment. The battle ends not with a dragon impersonated, but with the white man facing his comeuppance. It’s a massive cheeky riff on Sleeping Beauty, one of the earliest, quintessential Disney tales. Which reminds me of Hunting Palismen’s subversion gag about the “True love’s kiss waking up sleeping royalty,” which was one of the earliest ideas when making the show; What a way to foreshadow the show’s trajectory!

[findmeinthefallair]

*going bonkers about this*

Ok, my two faves (and by extension, also the grimwalkers because this is to do with Evelyn and Caleb). Look at how in the second and final specials, Eda and Hunter's hairstyles resemble Evelyn and Caleb's more than ever before.

But Dana said Eda doesn't find out she's related to Evelyn. While Hunter knows he's a copy of "an old friend" of Belos, who accompanied Belos to hunt witches, he doesn't know about the individual called Caleb. However! Remember that Gus showed Hunter a photo of the Caleb statue in For the Future:

and it was up to Hunter to decide whether or not he wanted to investigate any further or not. After Watching and Dreaming, I really wondered what his decision was.

Gus hadn't seen images of Evelyn when he caught glimpses of Belos's mind in King's Tide, as far as I can tell. The most info would've been what the kids heard during the Halloween hayride ("Her name...was Evelyn!") but that was a tale, not concrete evidence.

And the mystery in all this: the fact that they were so close yet so far because Belos knew and didn't tell anyone...and we in the audience can't let them know...is spooky af and I'm totally on board with it.

It's also remarkably interesting that a major turning point in Eda and Hunter's arcs was self-forgiveness, after accepting help and forgiveness from others, and Dell and palismen are connected to this.

They started out on opposite sides:

with Hunter eventually running away from the Emperor's Coven.

Eda rebelled and was ostracized by society for being a wild witch, till she was allowed to set up a structure for the new Wild Magic University as its Headmaster. Hunter conformed to the structure of Belos's regime until he rebelled and found freedom to create and become a palisman carver.

They had really minimal interactions with one another but the way in which they are tied to Philip, Caleb and Evelyn...just wow.

[craftingcreatures]

So this post said it way more eloquently and comprehensively than I ever could, but I've been mulling it over for a while and I wanna talk about it anyway.

I've been watching the Owl House lately and honestly I'm kinda in love with the way the show handles redemption. I see so many people in the fandom complaining about how the multiple villain redemption arcs are unearned, or that they get forgiven too easily, but like... isn't that the whole point? Redemption isn't earned, it's given. And I love the characters in the Owl House because they are brilliant examples of this principle.

Take Lilith, for example - she cursed her sister out of petty jealousy and in doing so subjected her to a life of ostracization, broken relationships, and suffering. Multiple people got seriously hurt because of Lilith's choice, most notably her own father. And instead of owning up to her mistakes she kept her involvement secret for decades, pledging loyalty to an oppressive dictator and climbing the ranks of the dictator's private army/police force in pursuit of her own ambition. Instead of confronting her own mistakes, she tried to cover them up. She attempted to absolve herself of guilt by quietly removing the consequences of her own choices (convincing Belos to remove the curse) without compromising her own goals. And she continued to hurt people in pursuit of this goal (leading multiple coven scouts to their deaths at the hands of an eldritch nightmare demon bird worm, using Luz as a human shield while attempting to subdue Eda). So when she eventually does confront her own guilt and turns a 180 on her character, a lot of people can't quite comprehend just how quickly Eda and Luz accept her, as if forgiveness was a foregone conclusion. In fact I don't think the word "forgive" was even mentioned.

Pretty much the same thing could be said for Amity, or Hunter, or the Collector. (There are a lot of redeemed villains in this show and I absolutely love it; redemptions are definitely my favourite trope in media.) The moment a villain confronts their villainy and chooses to change their behaviour, the protagonists welcome them with open arms. Often the protagonists begin reaching out to them even before they start to show signs of remorse, like with Luz and Amity in Lost in Language, or Luz and Hunter in Hunting Palismen and Hollow Mind, or Amity and Hunter in Eclipse Lake, or Amity and Luz in Reaching Out. As I said before, forgiveness is a foregone conclusion; the only thing preventing it is the villain's genuine decision to stop being a villain (which is neatly illustrated by the season 3 finale; Luz tells the Collector that he "did good" when he tries to extend forgiveness to an unrepentant Belos, and when Belos later feigns innocence Luz and the others see right through him. Belos' repentance wasn't genuine, and so couldn't be met with forgiveness).

A kind of inversion of this principle can be seen in Luz' character arc in season 2b and season 3. Luz blames herself for Belos' meeting the Collector, leading to Belos learning the draining spell and later the Collector's awesome and uncontrolled power being unleashed on the Boiling Isles while Luz and her friends are trapped in the human realm. From Luz' point of view, she is directly responsible for the rise of a despot and the probable deaths of almost everyone she loves. And she hates herself for it. In Thanks to Them she has an outburst where she basically wishes she'd never been born. One of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire show, for me, was when Luz asked her mother "why aren't you mad at me?". She clearly expects the people around her to reject her, to hate her, to treat her with the performative expectations that she explicitly doesn't expect from the antagonists in the show, even the ones who have acted far worse than she has (see Lilith, above), and she can't understand why they don't. Luz thinks she doesn't deserve forgiveness, when she has freely offered forgiveness to everyone she's ever met regardless of whether they deserved it. And once again The Owl House displays the theme of redemption by all the people around her working to reach out to her, to give her a redemption that Luz doesn't think she's earned. Once again, redemption is given, not worked for.

Look, I make no secret of the fact that I'm a Christian on this blog. And I understand that the overlap between "people who are Christians" and "people who watch The Owl House" is probably very small. But I just can't help but see something so profoundly beautiful in this show, so profoundly Christian, because this repeated motif of freely offered redemption to anyone who wants it is a perfect illustration of one of Christianity's core tenets. Redemption is not earned - it is given. The offer of total forgiveness and reconciliation is already extended, even to the worst offenders, even before the offender acknowledges their offense. There's nothing I can do to earn it; no self-flagellation needed to prove that I'm in earnest, no great deed I have to do to convince God that I'm worthy of forgiveness. The forgiveness is already there, waiting.

Kinda makes you think, doesn't it? The Owl House is a show about witchcraft, with very prominent and positively depicted LGBT+ relationships, and with a primary antagonist who is heavily implied to be a conservative Christian. It would be hard to have a piece of media that more explicitly rejects the normal cultural values of North American conservative Christianity. And yet this show displays a better understanding and celebration of Christian redemptive ethics than a significant proportion of actual Christians. I'm sure a lot of people would clutch their pearls and call it anti-Christian propaganda, but at its heart the Owl House is built on the fundamental Christian value of radical love.

I dunno. I just really like the Owl House.

[nerves-nebula]

Really thinking about your owl house au stuff, because I loved how u wrote Hunter to have such a complicated relationship with Belos. Well nebulously it wasn’t anymore complicated than canon but the way your Hunter would have gone back to Belos in spite of everything is very real to me. It’s my favourite owl house au to roll around in my brain honestly, and it’s really weird to think about, because it requires the characters to be smarter if they wanted to help Hunter. It’s a Disney show, these guys aren’t built to recognize the complexity. If Hunter goes back to Belos, it would be, ‘You can’t help him if he doesn’t wanna be helped’ and ‘If he were a good person he’d make good choices’. It kind of breaks my immersion to have them be smart about it and go ‘y’all are seeing this right? It’s so fucked up actually. This is not healthy, this guy needs help immediately my God-‘. I don’t really have a point I just think about this a lot and appreciate your older art.

; _ ;

thankkksss i wrote it while moving out for collegeeee and it was fun but to be entirely honest i hate the way my fanart looks, especially of the owl house. i drew him the best i could but there's something about making fanart of characters that makes me just hate my interpretation of them. it feels so clunky and shitty compared to the way everyone else draws them. sorry for abandoning it but im glad y'all still like it.

i think Luz is a pretty smart girl tbh, she was kinda friendly with hunter and recognized him as Not a Terrible person before they were ever really like. friends or something. she was TRYING to befriend him cuz she could tell it was possible. i think if hunter went back to belos she'd feel hurt and betrayed but also sad for him, the same way she did in hunting palismen. cuz hes sad. hes a sad but bad boy who feels obligated to take care of his poor sick uncle.

but there is a sort of truth to the whole ‘You can’t help him if he doesn’t wanna be helped’ thing. i mean, they CANT. they can help him when he comes to them and begs for it, they can help him when he accepts the help, but otherwise pushing it would just further isolate him and make him feel like he cant talk about this kinda stuff to you.

i based that on advice i'd seen about how to help your friend who's being abused. if you rage that they should break up or run away every time they talk about their partner hurting them, then they're gonna stop opening up to you. it sucks but sometimes the best u can do is offer to support them and show up for them and be there if they ever need to take you up on it.

uhhhhhh. what was i saying. anyway. thanks!

[sassytheturtle]

Thinking about how we’ve never once seen Hunter fighting at full strength and power in toh.

You need to remember this dude has been trained his entire life to serve as an elite soldier under the emperor. Belos wouldn’t have made him his right hand man and eventual coven head after Lilith left if he wasn’t capable of handling himself, anyone who might seek to harm the emperor or anyone else of importance, dangerous monsters and demons, and capturing powerful wild witches.

I mean, think about all the specifics of his job and training that he’s mentioned. He had to have been really freaking tough and talented to have been able to make it through all that.

And we never once get to see what he’s truly capable of.

In Seperate Tides, Hunter doesn’t see Luz or Eda as any sort of threat. He knows they’re both powerless. He’s clearly relaxed and toying with them. He’s confident that he has the upper hand and isn’t worrying about having to handle a couple of troublesome criminals.

Hunting Palismen takes place late at night. He was expecting this to be a quick and easy in and out mission. It’s understandable that he would be tired this late. And again, you have to remember that he still doesn’t view Luz as any sort of threat. He’s annoyed by her and gets caught off guard because he wasn’t expecting her to be any sort of challenge to handle.

Plus he was just in a crash and doesn’t even have his staff the majority of the episode, but is still able to easily keep up with Luz. And he willingly goes along with her afterwards so that he can get the palismen quicker and then dispose of Luz.

By the time he fights Kiki, he’s been running around all night and clearly just wants this mission to be over with. Kiki has been shown to be a pretty powerful person fighting wise, and even though she’s barely conscious, Hunter bests her fairly quickly. It wasn’t something that was really that hard for him.

Then comes to Eclipse Lake. By the time he and Amity fight, he’s exhausted, just had a mental breakdown, and fighting on an unfamiliar staff. Mental breakdowns like this leave people feeling super drained and burnt out, but he still gives Amity a pretty good run for her money.

I believe he would have easily won if not for the events in the episode leading up to the fight. I mean, he was literally just involved in a mine cart chase before he got to the lake.

In Any Sport in a Storm, other characters clearly point out the fact that he’s very talented at what he does. But he doesn’t exert full effort. He’s trying to recruit teens and play a sport.

In Labyrinth Runners, he’s dealing with the impacts and trauma from Hollow Mind. This dude has just learned that everything he thought he ever knew was a complete lie. He knows the man he once saw as his uncle wants him dead. He’s terrified. All he ever had to do before was follow orders, but now it’s up to him to make decisions and he has no idea what to do, where to go, or who to turn to. All he knows is that he has to stay as far away from Belos as possible.

All of this is clearly mentally and physically draining him. But even at this weak point, he’s able to push through and get to Gus when several other scouts and a literal coven head could not.

Again in Clouds On the Horizon, he’s still terrified and dealing with everything that happened. He’s still not in a good head space.

In King’s Tide, he’s been in yet another crash and is being effected by the draining spell. But he’s still able to push through and fight Belos, holding up fairly well, when everyone else with a sigil can barely even move.

It wasn’t even him fighting in Thanks to Them. That was just Belos using his body. But still, an argument can be made. He’s able to push through Belos’s possession after being rusty on fighting and all of his training for literal months. Belos was clearly trying to hurt Hunter when possessing him and didn’t care whether he lived or died. Hunter pushes through in minutes.

When Belos possessed Raine, he didn’t want to hurt them. He needed a body and to sustain Raine as long as he could. Raine has been trapped as a puppet, but they haven’t been conscious for months. If they were freed from puppet form, then they’d still be as used to fighting as before they were enslaved into a dreamless sleep.

Belos even comments on how powerful Raine is, but it still takes them a lot longer to push through his control than Hunter did. They did also have to push through Collector’s, but there’s still a point to be made.

In For the Future, again Hunter is still rusty, in painful grief, having to deal with all of his worst traumas coming back, and now has no magic at all. He figures out he’s able to use it later on, but it’s only ever that one spell.

This brings me back to my main point. In all of these instances, Hunter has either been tired, burnt out, in mental distress, just previously dealing with another physically taxing event, not really trying or having to use effort, rusty from lack of practice, using unfamiliar magic, or a combination of those. I believe that if we ever got to see him fight in his prime—with a staff and magic that he was used to, in a mostly stable emotional state, physically rested or not just previously having to deal with another taxing event, and with all of his training in tact and not out of practice—then we would see just how powerful and terrifying of a foe he could have really been.

[that-ari-blogger]

Spoilers Ahead (Hunting Palismen)

Usually, when I write these introductions, I can be vague with the story enclosed within. I can ask questions that I will try to answer in the post itself, and I can hint at the plot of the episode.

This episode, however, changes the trajectory of the story in a way so significant that I can’t be vague about, and this starts at exactly one minute into the episode, before even the title sequence.

So, join me, for a jaunty trip into an episode that might be a deep psychological meditation, or a character introduction, or maybe its just a silly fanfic for a FromSoftware game. If you don’t know which of these is true, you have been warned.

SPOILERS AHEAD (The Owl House, Bloodborne)

I’m going to start with Kikimora and her dragon, because I know why you are reading this post, and I’m enjoying making you wait.

Princess is a phenomenal dragon design, and it works as an extension for Kikimora. The creature is entirely made up of hands and fingers, which is creepy as hell, but it also carries the symbolism over from that.

Hands are, for the most part, how people interact with the world. They are how we manipulate things. For example, this blog is being typed onto a keyboard by utilising my own hands. However, hands are often used for self-expression, some of the oldest symbols of expression are handprints on cave walls.

So, Princess is an extension of Kikimora’s agency. Princess is an extension of Kikimora’s will.

Kikimora also features a hand in her design, replacing her hair. And considering how she acts in relation to Belos, that chain says a lot about her character. Kikimora lords over people below her, but she is really just as much of a pawn as they are.

A Kikimora is actually a creature from Slavic folklore, and can be associated with a few things, including sleep paralysis. That’s not especially relevant to this episode or post but keep it in mind as you watch the show. It’s neat how writers adapt folklore to suit their stories.

Anyway, The Owl House has a theme of anatomy, it is literally set on the corpse of a massive, kinda dead creature, and places aren’t so much named after body parts as actually are those body parts.

So, what gives?

Here is my reading: The show is about identity. It is a bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story about a teenager trying to work out who she is. So, the anatomical metaphor becomes set dressing explicitly intended to remind you of this struggle. Every place Luz visits is part of a person, every experience is part of her, and makes up who she is.

Speaking of identity, the palismen. I am running out of ways to say that this show is dissecting Luz’s entire deal, but it is, and here we see the nuance of that start to creep in. Luz wants to become a witch, which is a great thing to want, but this episode begins to ask what that actually looks like.

If you are following my blog, you might have seen some of my posts on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Don’t worry, you don’t need to have read any of them for this to make sense). In those posts, I bring up the gulf between intellectual and emotional understanding.

Luz is kinda the opposite of a few characters in She-Ra. Where they can make statements and plans on things based on information but are then emotionally unprepared to act on those plans, Luz has emotionally accepted her story and her goal, but she can’t articulate it.

The question of why Luz wants to be a witch has been answered already. It was answered before the first credits rolled. Luz wants to find acceptance. She doesn’t want to change to fit people’s expectations, she wants people to understand her and embrace her for who she is. Being a witch will enable her to do that.

The reason she can’t choose a palisman, is because there is no way that she can verbalise this emotion at this point in her story. She still has a long way to go.

But, from a writing point of view, what if you want to speed up character development a little bit? What if you suddenly have a time limit on your story set by arbitrary higher ups who don’t actually understand storytelling at all and just want to make money off of it? How do you solve that problem?

The best catalyst for character development is a good antithesis foil, an equal opposite to your chosen character, who can challenge their worldview from a place of similarity and encourage growth naturally through healthy friendship or rivalry.

Which brings me to the Golden Guard, who really focuses in on the “equal” part of that. This entire episode exists to position him and Luz on equal footing in everything. Their status by themselves is empty, their magical ability is so-so, they both project confidence despite actually having very little, and they are both massive nerds.

Their age is even similar, that’s the point of the reveal. It’s the “we’re not so different, you and I” trope done really well.

But, as I’ve mentioned before, the point of a mirror foil is to have two character be really similar, so that their differences stand out by contrast, and there are some significant differences.

The most important similarity, however, is that they both need to be understood through their relationships with others, and that is where the bulk of their opposition lies.

Where the Golden Guard acts as an equal to Luz, Belos acts as an equal to Eda. He is a parental figure, and he features a transformation. This puts the two in the same category, but unlike the two’s protégé, they have nothing more in common.

Belos’ transformation gets revealed exactly one minute into this episode. The introduction of the story lays out his plan, his subordinates, everything, and then it shows us this. And, I am going to go off topic again to link the series to a different FromSoftware game, Bloodborne.

Bloodborne, aside from being objectively one of the greatest games ever made, is a story with many meanings, with one throughline being the horror inherent in abuse of power and in the xenophobia required to keep that power in place. It deals with religious trauma derived from those abusers changing their religious doctrines away from their roots and into a form that will suit their own selfish desires. If you hadn’t noticed, those are all things that The Owl House deals with through the character of Belos.

I want to stress quickly that the two stories are most definitely not the same. Bloodborne goes into some territory that The Owl House stays very much clear of, and while I heartily recommend it, I also recommend reading the content warnings first.

Belos actually links directly to the character of Vicar Amelia in design and in story. Vicar Amelia is a symbol of the Healing Church’s blindness and hypocrisy. She praises the source of the current disaster that the game focuses on, and then she transforms into a chimeric, bestial creature before an altar, at which point she attacks the player.

Belos, meanwhile, gives a sermon to glorify a spell that will allegedly bring about salvation in the most overtly sinister way possible, then he retreats to the altar of himself, and turns into a chimeric, bestial creature.

Which is something that undercuts his advice to The Golden Guard.

“Please, be careful, our family is gone because of wild magic. I can’t let the same thing happen to you.”

If Belos was telling the truth here, it would have complicated the story. Suddenly, freedom comes at a cost to other people. And the weird thing is, he isn’t actually lying, he’s just not telling the entire truth. That’s some setup that will be paid off in a later episode.

The audience, however, is inclined to disbelieve Belos when he says this, because a) he’s just been explicitly shown off as a cult leader, and those are usually not the most trustworthy of people, and b) he’s the villain of the series who has spent an entire season up to this point lying to Lilith, the man has a history.

At the end of the episode, when the Golden Guard reveals his failure, he is met with threats, and a sob story.

“These outbursts are painful, and so is watching you fail.”

Yes, these threats are hurting you, but look what they’re doing to me. Look at how you are hurting me. Feel guilty.

Also, maybe Belos hasn’t been so accurate in the past as to only damage the Golden Guard's hair. Maybe some of those scars didn’t come from battle.

What this means for the Golden Guard is that he has a manipulative parental figure, in contrast to Luz’s parental figure who, let’s be honest, can’t strategize for toffee.

Look how happy he is, he's got a hobby. It's cute.

“I’ve never seen glyphs before, but it seems very similar to the elemental magic practiced in the savage ages.”

You wanna say that again, buddy? That’s a lore drop and a half and you just brush it off like it’s nothing?

The Golden Guard now exists in relation to Luz, and he will gain connections as the series progresses, each deepening his characterisation.

That’s an intentional thing on behalf of Belos, by the way, the fact that The Golden Guard is isolated. It means that he is barely more than a henchman, a tool. The Golden Guard won’t question Belos’ orders because why would he? He’s got no reason to doubt that Belos is telling the truth.

But the day out with Luz reveals that the Golden Guard is his own person, in a way that he isn’t allowed to be with Belos. When he spoke about wild magic in the introduction, he was glared down, but now he stops himself.

“You’re not my friend. Your just the Golden Guard.” “My name is Hunter.”

Luz’s greatest strength is her ability to act as a catalyst for change in others, and Hunter is the perfect example of that.

This conversation relates to that theme of identity in a really weird way, because in a series about the freedom to express yourself in whatever way you see fit, the greatest insult Luz can think of is “you are nothing more than a label”.

Hunter's signature move involves teleporting behind someone, and we've actually seen this before. The only other people to use this, were Eda and Lilith, when they fought each other. There's a connection there.

But she is proven wrong about that. Hunter extends his name like an offer of apology, he still plans on taking the palismen, but he owes Luz something. So, he concedes that she is right, he is more than a label, that more just includes being her antagonist.

Although, looking at this name, is he? Is he more than a label? Hunter is a name, sure, but its also a job. Hunter is Belos’ guard dog, his attack hound. In this mission, he was sent out to hunt palismen. There is nuance to this character, but it’s a lot deeper under the surface than even he thinks.

There is one thing that I need to bring up, and its something I talked about in my discussion of the season opener. But Hunter is cool.

I love how easily he switches from terrified of Belos to calm and Machiavellian with Kikimora. Everything about him is an act. I wonder whether that will come up again.

Like, this isn’t something that is measurable, or definable. But Hunter is cool. He’s badass, he’s smart, he’s calm (most of the time). I've been joking about his edgy ass aesthetic with the "I'm Batman" thing, but there's a point to it. He’s cool.

But he’s also neurodivergent. Like, that’s kinda a given for most of the characters in this story, but Hunter falls under the bracket too.

The reason I bring this up is that, usually in storytelling, neurodivergence is one of the factors that goes against the coolness factor. But Hunter doesn’t show off that duality at all, he manages to be both, and I would argue that he never ceases to be either in the entirety of the show.

Freedom of expression, the way he decides. Just something to think about.

But, I started this post by talking about how Luz needed a foil, and Hunter acts as one in a quiet way. He pressures her into taking her time to think, and plan. He shows her that she doesn’t actually know what she wants in the long term, and so her final resolution at the end of the episode is to wait until she understands.

"At least you have your future figured out now." "At least you can figure out your own."

Part of growing up is maturing at your own pace and taking things one step at a time. When you’re ready, then you can act.

Final Thoughts

Hunter is my precious boi, and that’s not an uncommon opinion in the Owl House fandom.

The kid is obviously drawing inspiration from Zuko, in his everything, but to say that they are the same character is a disservice to both. Zuko’s story revolves around personal honour, while Hunter’s exists as a vehicle to talk about freedom.

Hunter is also braver than Zuko, precisely because he is scared all of the time. Zuko runs on adrenaline and anger, for the most part, and it usually doesn’t appear that fear factors into his plans at all. Hunter is, at all times, bone numbingly terrified of failure, or rejection, and even himself, but he powers through anyway. That’s real courage.

Also, Hunter doesn't get redeemed. Zuko does some truly villainous things, so he needs to attune. Hunter doesn't really do much wrong. He's just kinda a jerk in his first episode, and quietly intimidating in the rest of the series, that ain't a crime. Hunter doesn't need redemption, he needs a hug and a bowl of soup.

Next week, I’ll be taking a look at Eda’s Requiem, which, I’m fine. I got this. No crying. Stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[blondebibliophiliac]

The Owl House Notes

I have watched TOH several times over the past year and a half, and I will never get over it. All the character development, the little pop culture references, the world development. Ugh. It's amazing. So here are some notes.

we all know that the Clawthorne family is the family that Evelyn, the witch that Philip and Caleb met, is from. I feel that it's only right that Hunter is an honorary Clawthorne, too. He's literally a clone of Caleb. Obviously the Clawthornes are the descendants of Evelyn and Caleb's relationship. So I feel it's only right. I know we've all accepted Darius as Hunter's dad/dad-figure, but it would be cool if he was included in the Clawthorne family, too.

I think it's pretty obvious by now that I love the found-family trope. As someone that had family problems growing up, I value the bonds that end up being stronger than familial bonds. Now, Luz basically has 2 moms plus a bonus parent (Raine) and 3 siblings (King, Hunter, and Vee), and I love that. If you haven't seen fanart of all of them, you're missing out. It's just amazing.

Speaking of their relationships, I love to see how they accept and even request physical affection. In the beginning, Eda and King are confused and almost repulsed by Luz's hugs. King quickly becomes more accepting of these hugs, even getting angry when Amity gets a hug from Luz before him, calling her a "swindler and a thief". But in the last episode, Eda runs to King and Luz to give them hugs and kisses before they play the Collector's "games". I wonder if physical affection was prevelant in the Boiling Isles because in the second episode Eda asks "What is this" when hugged by Luz. I think it is because Willow and Gus hug Luz when they show up to the Owl House. I think Eda just isn't used to physical affection, or maybe she isn't used to it from strangers.

Here's another thing I'm wondering. The Bat Queen states that she doesn't remember the witch that held her staff, but that she was the staff for a giant. You know who was giant? Papa Titan. What if her witch was Papa Titan? It would make sense, because he's been dead for hundreds of years, and the mind loses memories after so long. Also, she takes care of all the other palismen that were lost, including Flapjack, whose witch was Evelyn. If we can assume that the events of TOH take place in the late 2010's/early 2020s, then the age of these palismen makes sense. Anyway, I think that The Bat Queen could've been Papa Titan's palisman because there are no other signs of giant beings on the Boiling Isles or in the Demon Realm.

At some point, we catch a glimpse of the "recipe" for creating clones. If you didn't catch it, here it is: Galdorstone, Palistrom Wood, Stonesleeper Lungs, Bone of Ortet, and Selkidomus scales. This would partly explain why there's a shortage of Palistrom Wood, why the Galdorstones are so rare and so well hidden, and why Belos instructed Hunter to hunt down the Selkidomus in season 2. It also explains why the clone he attempted to possess in the final episode didn't work out. He likely didn't have all of those materials or didn't have enough to make a fully formed clone. When he initially tried to take over one of the clones, I was worried that there would be two Hunters walking around and that Belos would try to impersonate Hunter, which would have derailed all of their plans. The Bone of Ortet, by the way, is basically just a bone of the one you wish to clone.

I wish there could've been a longer season 3. Although I love the 3 episodes we were given, and I think they're perfect, I wish it could've been drawn out. I would've loved to see the gang in the human world more, to see the rebuilding process of the Isles, see them do a field trip to the human realm from the university. But, I'll take what we were given.

I love the random pop culture references we get. During "Eclipse Lake" we get a Dragon Ball reference and I found that extremely hilarious. In "For the Future", Caleb says "It's not like a swarm of ghosts will inexplicably appear if you say his name...I think", which gives us the second Harry Potter reference of the show (the first one appearing in the first episode where Luz is trying to fly on Owlbert and says "expecto"). It's just great. I love to see it.

I always have more thoughts about the show when I watch it. I need to start adding them more often.

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID: a series of digital doodles and sketches based on the owl house, featuring either Willow or Hunter. The first image is a coloured sketch of Willow in her flyer derby uniform flying casually through the sky on her staff. Hunter can be seen in the background, and is labeled "lover boy" with a thought bubble indicating he's thinking about willows arms. The sketch is coloured and shaded and the palette is a mix of a sunset and the pansexual flag.

The next image is a doodle of Willow in I Was A Teenage Abomination next to Willow in Any Sport in a Storm. The younger willow is shorter and stands shyly while the older Willow is taller and more confident, winking at her younger self. Orange hearts are drawn around them. The doodle is coloured and shaded.

The next image is a simple black and white doodle of Willow, Hunter, Amity and Luz in their designs from thanks to them, based on the three weed smoking girlfriends meme. In the foreground willow says "my three (sort of) (ex) girlfriends. And yes, they smoke weed" while in the background, Luz coughs smoking a blunt, hunter looks on stoned while holding a bong, and amity looks uncomfortable holding a blunt.

The final doodle is a drawing of Hunter in hunting palismen next to Hunter in for the future. Both are in profile facing towards each other with the younger Hunter on the left and current Hunter on the right. Younger Hunter has slightly greyer skin, deeper eye bags and an unhappy expression, while current Hunter has brighter skin and a sad, fond expression. The doodle is coloured and labeled "HE WANTS TO BE NICE SO BAD!!!" Multiple times across the canvas. End ID]

Monthly doodle dump lmao. Yes I'm still gonna post the FTF reqs, it probably won't be until after exams are done, whoopsy. The theme of this doodle dump is "I love willow park and her boygirlfriend so fucking much"

[waywardsunlight]

TW Child abuse/manipulation general Belos shenanigans. No spoilers past 3x01, please don’t add spoilers for 3x02 to this post.

Sometimes I think about how Belos targets kids and why, because he knows that kids are still developing and don’t always understand right from wrong, and also it seems like he just likes being around kids more because he feels like he can control them. He’s very aware of what’ll upset Luz, what’ll make her mad, and what to say to her to get what he wants. He’s even more in tune with Hunter, he kind of trains Hunter on certain words like “replacement” that set him off. Hunter’s backstory that he gives in Hunting Palismen is probably almost word for word what Belos taught him to say (he always highlights how Belos gives him the staff which would be important to him as a half-witch but Belos also highlights that himself which feels... interesting, as well as the fact that it sounds rehearsed a bit, because Hunter trails off and then he remembers where to go next with “And then Belos found me”), and Belos definitely taught Hunter to respond to physical violence specifically from him with the freeze reaction which is fucking awful (ex. Eclipse Lake, Hunting Palismen- Belos makes a sudden movement and in both of these Hunter goes silent and still, and then in King’s Tide, Hunter freezes up and goes silent when Belos addresses him). Finally, the Collector he has less control over but it kind of seems like the Collector looks up to him and Belos uses that against him. The Collector gave Belos secret magic, and helped him create the Grimwalkers, in exchange in a lot of ways for Belos’ friendship. Belos and the Collector even pinky swore that Belos would let him out, and Belos abuses that and uses his position of having something the Collector wants to force him to help him. 

I don’t have anything to say about Darius because we haven’t seen them interact directly or alone and we don’t know much about their relationship other than their vague past when Darius was likely a minor so. Yeah. Probably won’t get elaboration on that at this point but this is a History.

[leeningt0werofpizza]

My Hottest Owl House Take Is That The Whole Show Would Be Objectively Better If Hunter Were Black.

Bear with me:

The Owl House is at its absolute least fun when Hunter is onscreen because from the moment that mask comes off, he’s a passive character. You can see it in his first scene with Luz in Hunting Palismen; she’s asking him all kinds of questions, giving all kinds of material with which he could engage and have fun banter with her like he’d done previously, but instead he just grumbles. Luz is over here being her deliciously funny self and her scene partner is giving her NOTHING. I feel like I’m back in High-School Improv doing a scene with that kid who simply cannot Yes And. I feel like Chappell Roan yelling at the VIP section:

He’s not fun.

Hunter’s only appeal in the story is your curiosity about what the fuck his deal is. And when you find out, there’s nothing else for him to do but discover new hobbies like flyer derby and Star Trek. Now, this would be great if the story were about him and these new hobbies were ever going to amount to anything, but... it’s not… and they won’t…. So Hunter ends up contributing nothing to the story, or the other characters, in fact, he takes away screen time from more developed, more enjoyable characters (of color) and leaches off of their likability.

It’s like there’s a different show with a completely different protagonist trying to staple itself to The Owl House. The problem is, a big portion of the fandom wants that show. Prefers it, even. There are whole essays giving Hunter all kinds of characterization that isn’t in the show. There are entire rewrites out there that remove Luz as the main character and replace her with Hunter, giving him all of her development.

WHY??

Because he’s a white boy.

And fandom loves their white boys.

Look, there are a million characters just like Hunter. Just as underdeveloped, just as pointless, and just as Not Fun. But of those characters, the non-white ones are always derided for these traits, while the white ones become fan favorites despite them. It’s a trend we’ve seen for years and The Owl House fandom is no exception to it: If a character, especially a male character, is white, and happens to be poorly written, underdeveloped, or just unimportant to their story, the fandom will rewrite them to not be that way and pretend their rewrites are the cannon thing, and that therefore that character is actually great. Fandom does not do this for non-white characters.

Because of this, white characters never need to have as much put into them to justify the screen time they get. If Gus were as frequently present and yet grossly underutilized as Hunter is, I guarantee you the fandom would not love him the same way. They would rightfully be saying “why is Gus here if he’s not contributing to the story?”

This is why The Owl House would be an overall better show if Hunter were black. Because all those scenes where he’s taking up screen time without contributing to any other characters wouldn’t be there. He would be onscreen a lot less, giving other characters more time to shine, and when he IS onscreen there would always be a reason. Like showcasing how much of an abusive dick Belos is, supporting Willow in her flyer-derby plot, or just being active and entertaining as a character, because as a black character, he would HAVE to be all those things to justify existing.

(Of course, this problem would also be fixed by creators and audiences just holding white characters to the same standards of quality we hold characters of color to, but now I’m just talkin’ crazy.)

Actually, I can prove this thesis, because it’s demonstrated in the show. There are exactly two scenes where Hunter’s interactions with the other main characters are actually fun: His debut in Separate Tides, and his scene with Luz on the airship in Hunting Palismen.

Y’know what these two scenes also are?? His only interactions with other main characters that take place before Hunter is revealed to be white.

Whiteness in storytelling is often seen and utilized as a replacement for characterization, which is why audiences tend to notice a lot more when a non-white character lacks that characterization than when a white character does. Because of this, whiteness becomes a crutch in character design. And we’ve seen it evident that Hunter would’ve been a much more enjoyable, less invasive character without that crutch.

Moral of the story kids is to always ask yourself: “Are They Really a Good Character, Or Are They Just a White Boy?” And you can do this.. by making them black and seeing if they’re still your fave!

Anyway that’s my spiel and I am correct 🫶

[tentacledsnakelover]

Crazy Theory: Flapjack might have been Philip’s Palisman

So this is a theory I haven’t seen anyone really talk about, but I wanted to throw it out there because it felt like a cool idea. We saw in Thanks To Them that it was implied Flapjack was either originally Evelyn’s palisman, and he either became attached to Caleb, or Evelyn made/taught Caleb how to carve Flapjack. These two theories are the most common, but here is my personal headcanon/theory: What if Caleb made Flapjack for Philip.

We already saw Caleb made Philip his iconic prong-horned mask (Funfact: Pronghorns are a type of animal that are the closest living relative of giraffes, so Philip basically has a giraffe mask) to help his brother adjust to their new life style as witch hunters in colonial Gravesfield, so it doesn’t feel too far fetched that Caleb might gift his brother a way to use magic to adjust to life in the Demon Realm. With magic, they wouldn’t need to worry about going hungry, or getting sick, they could use magic to live in comfort for the rest of their lives.

But for Philip, the childhood of being taught witches are traitors to mankind, and demons are creatures of Satan, has him convinced otherwise, that his brother is under Evelyn’s spell, and she is using his brother to try and tempt him to sin. So maybe Philip tolerates Flapjack, but doesn’t use him (Out of fear Evelyn finds out through Flap that he is plotting to get rid of her) and does what Hunter did, and tries to at least distance himself from the bird.

Eventually, things come to a head. Something happens between the brothers, perhaps Philip tries to kill Evelyn, believing this will break her ‘spell’ over Caleb, but Caleb, in an attempt to save her, and stop his brother from something irreversible, gets killed. And perhaps he couldn’t save Caleb because maybe only Palismen can resurrect someone they are bonded too, and people like Philip, who try to absorb the life force of a palismen they aren’t bonded too (by force or not) suffer consequences.

We saw in Eclipse Lake Flapjack is extremely loyal, and is willing to stick to Hunter’s side even when he puts Amity at risk of the Emperor’s Coven. Perhaps Flapjack thought his duty was to be loyal to Philip, no matter his deeds, and turned a blind eye. But when he realized his inaction got someone killed, he felt guilty and left Philip, but during the events of Hunting Palismen, he met Hunter and saw how similar he was to Philip, in that they would both do anything for their loved ones. This, along with a sense of guilt probably spurred by the fact that he couldn’t originally save Caleb, but could save Hunter, from meeting a similar fate.

[sepublic]

Hunter is NOT Luz’s brother, he’s not a Noceda, he’s not even that important to her compared to many other relationships Luz has and vice-versa. Like genuinely, go rewatch the show with this consideration in mind, cleanse the fanon for a fresh slate.

People just latched onto them as siblings because they found their Hunting Palismen dynamic funny, but also because they wanted to ward off Lunter. And they couldn’t articulate their dislike for Lunter as stemming from Luz’s longstanding dynamic with another female character being immediately replaced by fans for some white boy who just showed up, so they said they’re actually more siblings. It wasn’t an issue of biphobia it’s just people being tired of fandom thinking everything would be better if a woman was replaced by a guy. It’s the same reason Huntric also sucks because people replace a female character with some dude, it has nothing to do with bi/homophobia.

And FTR I hate Lunter, for the same reason I now hate the Luz & Hunter as Siblings take; It’s the fandom’s obsession with making Hunter more important than he actually is, to the point of replacing Luz’s actual important relationships with him. And hell even replacing Luz herself in her dynamics with her loved ones, because people portray Hunter as more Camila’s child than Luz when Darius is right there.

This fandom has a massive White Favoritism problem with Hunter, and he’s not even a female character he’s another White Boy, the most bland and milquetoast choice to raise as the fandom darling. He’s not THAT interesting and while him and Luz have their parallels and shared trauma and are still friends, what about Hunter and Gus? Or Luz and King, the latter explicitly calls Luz his sister but Hunter sure as hell didn’t! What about explicit on-screen dynamics huh???

ISTFG this fandom is overrun by Hunter content everywhere, he drowns out everyone except the literal main character and even she struggles sometimes! It’s because he’s a White Boy, that’s it. It’s not illegal to like Hunter, but you need to actually appreciate and engage with other characters accordingly instead of acting like that’s illegal. Hunter does the bare minimum and is lauded meanwhile everyone else goes above and beyond and is still overlooked for him.

Stop inserting him into everything we do not need Luz and Hunter angst we can just settle for Luz angst. She has other relationships and priorities you know and there’s so much more to this show than Hunter suffering. Sometimes you’ll even take Luz’s canon angst and give it to Hunter even! And try to make him more of a main character by inserting him into everything but he’s a side character.

So yes, your AU where Hunter is the main protagonist is racist. Especially if it doesn’t even explore Darius as his mentor, and has Eda take his place despite her barely interacting with him. And constantly praising Hunter for being a weird passionate nerd gets aggravating when Luz does the exact same thing but with greater emphasis, but gets ignored in favor of Hunter as she’s relegated to just Lumity.

And all of her additional depth and angst is just ignored for Hunter’s instead, sometimes they’ll even make up angst for him when other characters actually have it; I’ve seen popular fanart of a Luz moment where Hunter is in her place. Because fandom will sooner micro-analyze Hunter’s hands for nothing, than Luz going on a suicidal rant.

They’ll cradle Hunter’s trauma and suffering in their hands as a sacred and delicate subject, gnash at Darius for not being nice; But then sweep over Luz’s trauma and not realize how much certain things affected her, and why it’s fucked up to just ignore that in favor of bad AUs where Luz is a friend to Belos, who prompted a lot of her suicidal depression and scarred her face too.

They’ll insist Hunter should’ve been a bigger part of the finale and that Luz’s nightmare should’ve been her guilt for hurting him, as if it wasn’t already about Flapjack’s death and just her guilt towards ALL of her friends. So you know what, in addition to Hunter not even needing to kill Belos, I’m glad he wasn’t in that final battle and that the show reminded fandom who the actual main characters are (Luz, Eda, and King), which obviously pissed off a lotta people. Because it’s not like Hunter didn’t have major focus in the last two specials and S2B!!!!!!

[ortetbones]

Hello, Lunter fandom! For the anniversary of Hunting Palismen, I’ve written a Hunting Palismen Lunter fic. A little under 2k words, third-person Luz POV. Contains some bickering, a touch-starved Hunter, Luz developing (and being in denial about) a crush, and lots and lots of fluff!

“Too slow,” Luz crowed, cackling as she ran from him, her witch’s wool cloak streaming behind her. The Golden Guard groaned in annoyance and followed after. “Let’s get this over with,” he grumbled.

She hadn’t gone far. She’d spied nearby a crumbling wall that contained an almost perfectly circular hole. She ran through the mist spell in her mind again, trying to picture how the glyphs would connect both with each other and the structure of the wall. Yes, this just might work. 

She turned to the Golden Guard, who was hovering behind her impatiently. “Okay, I’ve got a plan,” she said. “There’s a marketplace down there, right? Think you could go get me some sleeping nettles while I start preparing things here?”

He scoffed. “Do you think I’m stupid, human? Sure, you can stay here, unattended with the palismen, and in the meantime I’ll go provide you with means of drugging me.”

“It’s not for you, it’s--”

“Well, I’m afraid it wouldn’t work, anyway,” he said, puffing out his chest a bit. “I am on high alert at all times, and could not possibly be put to sleep that easily.”

Luz glanced at the noticeable dark circles beneath his sunken eyes. “You know, I seriously believe that.”

She sighed. “Well, someone’s gotta be here keeping an eye on Kikimora. Why don’t you wait here, and I’ll go get the supplies, okay?” And I guess I’ll just have to draw out the glyphs when I get back.

He frowned at her, but gave a curt nod and turned back to where the little red demon was currently in a heated argument with the Emperor’s Coven scouts.

Luz turned to leave as well, but stopped and looked back when she heard the boy let out a small huff.

She was met with an interesting sight. The Golden Guard currently had one arm over his shoulder, his gloved fingers scrambling awkwardly as he tried to maneuver his hand beneath his armor. She watched in mild amusement as he tried again with the other arm in what was clearly a losing battle.

“You got a little problem there, Golden Guard?” she asked innocently, unable to keep the smirk from showing in her voice.

He whipped around to face her. “No,” he spat defensively. His nose was scrunched up, openly betraying his discomfort, as though he was used to relying heavily on his mask to conceal his emotions. “Not that that’s any of your business, anywa--Why are you laughing?!”

Luz snorted, catching her breath. “Sorry, just didn’t really expect one little itch could bring the Emperor’s right-hand man to his knees.” She started snickering again.

His cheeks flushed angrily. “Shut up,” he muttered. “You’re making it worse. Just leave me alone.” His large elf ears had flattened and turned downward, one of them twitching slightly. Luz hadn’t seen any other witches’ ears move like that before.

She watched his arm automatically start to reach for his back again and rolled her eyes. “Dude, just take off your armor already. I’m getting secondhand embarrassment.”

“You seem to misunderstand the point of armor, human,” he said through gritted teeth. “Though to be fair, I suppose you’d probably prefer I expose myself to enemy attack.” He straightened up, clearing his throat. “Well, I for one have more important things to deal with right now. And shouldn’t you be off collecting your supplies, anyway?”

His ear twitched again.

Luz sighed. “Just c’mere. I’ll get it for you.”

The boy froze. “W-What? You seriously think I would just let you...As if you’d actually be trying to help me--”

“Look,” she said, interrupting his indignant sputtering. “You said it yourself. I’m too nice to do anything to hurt you. You’re safe with me. And for the record, I am not”--she added forcefully--“doing this to help you. But we’re gonna have to fly on your staff if we want to keep up with Kikimora’s dragon, and I’d rather not have a distracted driver. That’s all.”

“Fine.”

It was Luz’s turn to be taken off guard. “What?”

He was beet red, his fists clenched and eyes fixed firmly on the ground. “F-For the sake of the mission...I-I will accept your assistance, human.”

Luz kneeled on the ground and patted her lap, motioning for him to lie with his chest resting on her legs. He did as instructed, though he held himself up awkwardly, essentially just doing a plank in front of her, clearly trying to avoid touching her as much as possible.

With her left hand, Luz lifted up the boy’s armor from his back as best she could. She then slipped her right hand underneath, though in reality she could fit only a few fingers, and began to gently scratch the areas she could reach.

The boy tensed and gasped softly under his breath. A smirk made its way onto Luz’s face again and she applied a bit more pressure with her nails. “D’aww, is that the spot, big guy?” she cooed teasingly. 

She was expecting him to get flustered again. That she would see his face flush and hear more of his sputtered protests. Or maybe he’d even have an actual comeback this time.

“Oh, Titan,” the boy whimpered, his arms buckling as he collapsed face first into her lap.

She was not expecting that.

Luz felt her cheeks grow oddly warm. She looked down in wonder at the boy, who had completely relaxed in her embrace, his eyelids fluttering closed. She resumed gently running her nails across his back, and he hummed softly at her touch.

They remained like that for a while, until suddenly he let out another huff and started squirming uncomfortably. “Lower?” he mumbled into her lap.

Luz jumped slightly, snapping herself out of her daze. What had gotten into her? She cleared her throat. “Welp, you’re outta luck there, buddy. That’s as far as I can reach with your armor on.”

She barely had time to register what was happening before the boy had sat up, practically tearing his armor off himself in his haste and tossing it aside. He then nestled back down into her lap, letting his entire weight sink into her again. “How about now?”

She gaped at him, dumbfounded. What had happened to the proud Golden Guard that struggled to accept even the slightest bit of help? The corners of her mouth twitched, and she inhaled, ready to snark him again. To call attention to the fact that he had just doffed the armor he had made such a fuss about keeping on. To point out that he could easily reach his back by himself now.

But as she gazed down at him, for some reason, she just didn’t have it in her to make fun of him. She obliged him, scratching her nails across the parts of his back that had been covered by the armor. He immediately melted into her touch again, letting out a sigh of contentment.

His itch was surely gone by now, and they were running short on time if they wanted to stop Kikimora. Not to mention that Luz was more than a little mad at herself for getting so distracted like this. If she had just left him here to deal with his problems himself, she probably could’ve had the entire spell ready by now. Man, she really needed to work on her weakness for princes. Even if this one was, objectively speaking, kind of cute, she supposed, she didn’t know what had possessed her to...

She was pulled from her thoughts by a sudden vibration she felt coming from his chest, that was soon accompanied by a low trilling in his throat. 

Now this was just unfair. The Golden Guard could purr? She had never heard Eda or any of her friends from Hexside purr! No one could have warned her that witches possessed such an irresistibly adorable trait before she was forced to face it coming from her mortal enemy?

Luz couldn’t help herself. Barely stifling a squeal of delight, she continued running her nails across his back and began gently carding her other hand through his (notably soft) hair. The boy’s purring was soon joined by another noise, a slight whistling sound that seemed to accompany each exhale. Curious, Luz tilted her head to get a better look at his face.

The Emperor’s right-hand man had fallen asleep in her lap.

His scarred and battered face looked remarkably serene, his lips parted slightly. She realized the whistling sound was the result of his gentle snores passing through the gap between his front teeth.

Her gaze lingered on his lips for a moment, as it had earlier when she’d first laid eyes on his unmasked face. As if on instinct, she let her hands come to a stop for a moment as she slowly leaned in closer, her lips mere inches from his.

The instant her touch stilled, the boy jolted awake, jumping and nearly bonking heads with Luz. He stared at her for a moment, confusion evident on his face, before a deep scarlet color spread across his cheeks and all the way to the tips of his ears. He scrambled off of her and rushed to put his armor back on, his fingers fumbling with it clumsily.

“I...I...This...This never happened,” he stammered. “And...And you will not speak of this to anyone, or else I’ll...or else. Are we clear?” His voice was shaking so badly Luz almost felt guilty. Though that also might have been the fact that she had almost tried to kiss him. “We’re clear,” she replied, giving him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

He fidgeted awkwardly with his hands. “I-I’ll go get those sleeping nettles,” he said, stumbling to his feet. He paused a moment and met her gaze again. “Um...thanks,” he said, his tone sincere and gentle, reminiscent not of the Golden Guard but of the boy she’d held cradled in her lap.

Luz nodded and watched him walk away, his blush still slightly visible on the backs of his ears. A smile bloomed on her face in amusement at the whole situation. Though at the same time, something inside of her couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed, and she wondered, maybe if things were different...

She pushed her thoughts aside and got to work on her glyphs.

[thisisdes]

Things and little details from WAD that I really like and find cute, part 1

1 Stringbean photo and her corner in Luz's room

2 Bee having the exchange program logo in her shirt

3 Luz, Willow, Hunter and Gus having patched that represent themselves or others characters

Luz have potion (Eda), music (Raine), and abomination (Amity) patches. Also a four one that I'm not quite sure what it is, but that represent king most likely.

To me, the emerald entrails logo in Willow's chest is a patch, so it represent her. On the other side, Hunter have abomination (Darius), Emerald Entrails (Willow) and the mirror/illusion earring (Gus).

Gus, just like Willow, have patches that represent him: the titan skull that all the teachers wear and planet earth making allusion to the human realm.

4 Alastor having a representation of his kids on his belt

The gems for Emira (green) and Edric (blue), and the moon for Amity.

5 The hospital where they are taking out the coven's sigils is the same place where Hunter went with Luz in Hunting palismen

There are probably more details that I haven't seen, others that people probably already pointed out, and others that will be in part 2. See ya💙

Oh! Also, if you found some details that want to share please put it down so everyone can see them too!!