#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!

[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.

[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 🫶

[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"

[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.

[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.

[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!!

[hexside-dropout]

Watching and Dreaming promo theory - spoilers from the promo ahead!

I’ve seen a couple people talking about this part of the promo, specifically the outfit changes, so I wanted to offer my ideas on why each outfit was picked.

I’m operating under the assumption that this part is Luz being somehow trapped in her worst nightmares, so everything we see is created by her subconscious. So why not keep her friends in their most recent clothes? Why put them in these outfits? The common theme I’ve discovered is they’re associated with acts of vulnerability her friends have shown to her throughout the series.

Note: I’m saving Gus’s for last because it’s an outlier.

First off we have Amity. She’s worn this outfit multiple times throughout the second season, but most notably during the scene where she and Luz became a couple and the scene where they had their first kiss. In those two scenes, Amity put herself out there and shared her feelings, even though rejection was her worst fear (which we saw in Grom).

Next up is Willow. She’s just wearing her school uniform, so I had to do a bit of thinking as to why it’s significant. Then I remembered she was wearing that uniform during the entirety of Understanding Willow. If any episode displays vulnerability, it’s that one. Luz literally went inside Willow’s mind to look at the memories she was trying to hide.

Promo-Hunter is wearing the same thing he wore in Hunting Palismen. There’s a scene in that episode that I think is a crucial point in his character development. For a moment, he lowers his staff (and his guard) to tell Luz his real name. For someone so cautious and mistrusting, that was a pretty big deal. Luz knew that at the time as well, which is why I think Hunter is wearing that outfit again in her nightmare scenario.

As I mentioned earlier, Gus is a bit of an outlier. He’s wearing the same suit he wore at Grom, but as far as I can remember, he didn’t even interact with Luz while wearing that outfit. It’s possible he wore it in another episode that I’m forgetting, but as of right now it’s a mystery.

All this begs the question: why is the vulnerability of Luz’s friends what her subconscious is fixating on? Once again, if this is in fact a nightmare she’s trapped in, this image would be tied to a fear of hers. Over and over again during the third season, she’s mentioned how she feels like everything bad that has happened to her friends is her fault. Now when you refer back to the image from the promo, you can see it with a bit more clarity. All her closest friends, at a moment where they were most vulnerable, are being pulled up into the sky. Just like she’s feared, she’s failing to protect them when they need it most.

Of course, all this is speculation. The entire base of my argument- that the image takes place in a nightmare scenario within Luz’s mind- is just a theory in itself. I’ll have to wait for the episode to come out to find out if any of this is true. But until then, I hope this was an entertaining read!

[sepublic]

I dig how after showing the Boiling Isles Titan’s full appearance with the wings and tail, the show addressed right afterwards why we’ve never seen them by revealing these limbs are visible; Just not from the angles we’ve seen up until this point. It helps that these limbs are partially submerged, just like the Titan’s right foot; The latter of which we’ve known about since her first reveal.

It’s a clever case where information that the characters are aware of isn’t revealed to the audience until later for the sake of a twist. Sometimes the twist is something the characters also knew about, or they find out alongside us; But because the audience has the power of speculation and knowing the narrative, it’s easier for them to make connections that wouldn’t be applied so easily in-universe.

So everyone knows about the wings and tail, even Luz has known since the second episode. It’s worth noting that Titans having wings, and that King also will, wasn’t revealed until the same episode where we learn King is a Titan; So the only limb to account for in speculation and foreshadowing was the tail, since King being a Titan was planned since the beginning. Makes me wonder if the wings were also intended, or added later on during the design process, using the same Watsonian justifications for their inclusion; Wings on the Titan could’ve helped to seemingly differentiate King, and act as a red herring!

Hunting Palismen originally had a different version of the Day of Unity vision shown, where the Titan gets up and uses her power to unite the realms; The wings and tail are noticeably absent. From a Doylist perspective, the writers must’ve left out the tail to avoid another connection to King (to make the reveal not too obvious), and the Watsonian explanation is that the Titan’s tail —and wings— were too decayed, heavy, and unnecessary to reanimate. But that’s only necessary in a world where this scene was left in.

But yeah, the Titan’s wingtip and tail are perfectly viable, canon-compliant locations to explore in fanon. Similarly, we see actual landmasses and not just Titan corpses beyond the isles, and not too far from it either! This tracks with the lore hinted at in the S1 finale, minus the landmasses; That bit is new. We know the Titan Trappers weren’t known because they existed on the other side of the planet, beyond Boiling Isles explorers’ reach; Although the Trappers seem better at seafaring, and found the isles first before opting to keep their existence a secret.

But between just Titan Trapper Island and the Boiling Isles, there’s still plenty of viable space to live… Or theoretically viable, because the land might be too barren to support life, or be worth fostering via magical terraforming.

But as we must remember, the Archivists’ response to worlds saying No was to clean the planet and scorch the air… So the Demon Realm could’ve once been much more abundant, its landmasses supporting whole civilizations, before the Archivists rolled around.

I AM curious about where the Swampy Toes are… But given how long it’s been and the disconnected nature of these old bones, maybe they’re just off-screen, the landmass of the Titan’s left foot shifting away over time like tectonic plates. We can see bits of the right wing as islands, and the tail in this shot too!

[pageofheartdj]

I wanted to elaborate on that one post but decided it is too big so Imma post it separately xD

Remember the abysmal reaction to Hunting Palismen and because Hunter licked Luz's hand he is officially her brother and therefore is incest. And if you don't see them as siblings then it's still incest you are just fucked for not seeing OBVIOUS sibling vibes.

Well now almost the exact opposite is happening with King and Collector. Minus the harassment, guess they aren't as popular as lumity. thankfully

Before Collector and King got more screentime I've seen mostly displeasure towards the ship and how they are too young.(even though kids can have kid crushes but what do I want from fandom moralisers)

And after getting all the interactions and showing Collector bonding with Owl fam... suddenly people can't see them as siblings. And they are shipping them. You can throw your hands how it's qpr/soulmate/its own thing all you want, in it's core it's shipping. Putting two characters(or more) together in not familial and not platonic relationship, because what they have is separate and special. and its a you problem if you think that shipping is all about sex and not actually exploring qpr and everything else.

Ah the moralisation that works only on ships you don't like.

In this case fandom. Fandom decided with no actual proof that Hunter and Luz are siblings and started aggressively pushing on it(because if you don't shout in people's face how they are siblings, others won't know, which is pretty telling on the legitness).

But when two characters received way more possible 'family' material but the fandom is more interested in shipping them, then suddenly 'every interpretation matters'.

[misccy27]

Follow up to this post. The other main thing that gets me about Hunting Palisman is the ending. And there are multiple aspects to this scene that have potential long-term implications for Hunter.

So towards the end of the episode, Luz and Hunter's truce ends and he tries to take the palismen from her. She calls him out (good on her) and he hesitates (good on him).

Then we see the fallout for Hunter. Belos berates him for doing the right thing. We learn that whatever good impulses Hunter has at this point is in spite of Belos directly undermining his morality. 

(This matters because Hunter does exhibit problematic behaviors even after Hollow Mind "unbrainwashes" him. It doesn’t make him a bad person. It is a perfectly reasonable thing to expect considering Hunter has years of experience being reinforced for doing bad and punished for doing good. The fact that he wants to do good means that he will learn better. But it makes sense for it to be a bit of a process.)

So Belos berates him. He digs in on Hunter "owing" Belos for giving him a life ("Is this the thanks I get for taking you in?"). Hunter wants to help. “If you told me how wild magic did this to you, I might be able to find a—”

This is the first of I believe 3 times we see Hunter not defend himself against an authority figure physically threatening him. I know that’s been discussed. So the other aspect to this is that the thing that actually gets Belos to lash out is Hunter demonstrating a capacity for independent thought.

At the beginning of the episode, Hunter mentions reading about wild magic. He catches himself when he sees the look on Belos’ face, and he apologizes. Here, Hunter is actively seeking information about Belos’ past, which I believe is what sets Belos off. But in both instances, Belos' reaction shuts Hunter down. So Hunter has a tendency towards blind obedience and loyalty that we see from his first episode, where he’s “just following orders”, and lasts through most of Hollow Mind. But by the end of Hunting Palismen, Hunter is still looking for information to help Belos. He does remain inquisitive, at least about certain topics, which is a positive trait that can be fostered post-canon.

So what happens next plays out pretty quick, but it's terrible in multiple ways.

First, Hunter says, “My apologies. I spoke out of turn. It won't happen again.” Belos says:

This is a big one. Because, to be clear, the sequence of events is: Hunter says something Belos doesn't want to hear. Belos responds by nearly striking Hunter. Hunter apologizes for provoking Belos. Belos' response is that these outbursts hurt him.

This is a classic tactic seen in psychological abuse. It’s part of DARVO: reverse victim and offender. The way Hunter responds suggests this is a pattern; he already "knows" what he did "wrong". Belos reinforces this thinking: it isn't just that Belos did nothing wrong here. No, Hunter is the one hurting Belos. If Hunter would just keep his mouth shut and do what he’s told, he wouldn’t be putting his Uncle through these painful outbursts.

So that's terrible. And Belos immediately follows it up by reinforcing Hunter’s desperate need to prove himself (which is what drives Hunter's plot in the next episode he's in):

We switch perspectives for Belos' final line: “I know you can do better, Hunter.” Hunter looks like this:

He smiles. If you're curious, he starts smiling specifically when Belos says “better.” He smiles because his Uncle still has faith in him despite his "failure" (which was, again, not bringing Belos more palismen). 

And this all happens so incredibly fast. I checked the timestamps: there is 14 seconds between Belos' "outburst" and Hunter smiling at the thought of "doing better".

So that's when Hunter leaves the throne room. He talks to Kikimora. He doesn’t act the way a lot of people think an abused child “should” act. He isn’t crying or cowering or seeking help, because he doesn’t think he needs help. Instead, he’s been reinvigorated. He is mission-oriented, freshly driven to help Belos. And that's another thing that might come up post-canon, with him adjusting to being a normal kid. Because the way things play out, there's barely been a moment where Hunter isn't on a mission. 

(The episode ends with a palisman landing in Hunter's lap. And Hunter, despite everything, chooses not to hand Flapjack over.)