no because how do you even react when you find out the little creature you’ve been beefing with for months is of the species you’ve been taught to worship your whole life….. like that’s so funny.
(also i need them to bond. mutual identity issues go brr)
I find this scene so hilariously ironic because literally the guy behind her is the reason her parents sold their abomitrons to the emperor, and she doesn’t even know it.
Bro for real! He’s so different from what he was like in the beginning of season 2, it makes me kinda sad. Please show, make him menacing and smug and cocky and powerful again. He’s already strong, but make him OP and scary again, please show. I miss him so much. I love seeing him traumatized and all, but make him a terrifying traumatized child soldier please and thankyou
Okay, but like… I haven’t seen anyone else talk about it, but I NEED to talk about this, so excuse my ranting!
Hunter and Philip’s reunion was horrible and terrifying and I hated it, but also LOVED it. For one thing, wefinallygot a Wittebro name reveal and confirmation that Flapjack was his palisman!!
But the thing I really want to talk about right now is Hunter.
As Philip makes one last ditch attempt to gain control over Hunter again, the poor kid is terrified.
Then, after the Collector Splats™ Philip, he is completely mortifiedover what he just saw. Because while it is true that Philip has done nothing but abuse and manipulate Hunter all his life, he was still the one that raised him. He was still the one that Hunter loved, praised, and believed in for all those years. He was still family, in some sick, twisted way.
And then, when all the kids are running toward the Portal, Hunter is the only one to hesitate. Because making it to the Portal means stepping over what (he believes to be) Philip’s deceased remains. After everything that Philip has done to him, the other Golden Guards, and even his own brother–the one Hunter was made after– he can’t bring himself to disrespect Philip’s remains in such a way.
It’s only after Gus and Willow stop and urge him on does he begin to move again.
And even still, he has his eyes tightly shut, as if refusing to look down.
I don’t really have the words to describe how this all makes me feel, but damn… It just really speaks volumes about how much of a better person Hunter–and by extension Caleb– is than Philip. How much kinder, considerate, and caring they both are. It honestly breaks my heart.
Hunter and Eda both have the same catchphrase. The iconic “Byeee!” catchphrase. Both have said it more then once.
Same fighting style:
Eda and Hunter have the same fighting style. They both attack their opponent from behind!
Birds are generally a Clawthorne thing:
According to Dana, birds are generally a Clawthorne thing. This is shown by how only members of the Clawthorne family have bird themed Palismans. Hunter has a bird themed palisman.
Hunter’s owl mask:
Like a just said, according to Dana, only birds are associated with the Clawthorne family. Hunter not only has a bird themed palisman, he also has a bird themed mask. He wears an owl mask when he’s the golden guard, and owls are birds. Owls are Eda’s thing, even her curse is an owl. Hunter’s owl mask could hint that he has a connection to the Clawthorne Family.
The portal door:
The portal door of Philip/Belos was buried closely at the Clawthorne family home. Could the brother of philip/Belos have buried it there later on, after he married into the Clawthorne family? Its not a coincidence that it was buried so closely to the Clawthorne family home.
Gwendolyn’s great-grandmother:
Gwendolyn’s great-grandmother had once known about a human living in the demon realm. If she had known him personally, is unknown. I believe the human Gwendolyn was talking about is Philip’s brother, and not Philip himself. Perhaps Gwendolyn thought that the diary belonged to the brother, and not Philip. Miss information could have been spread throughout the years. But this could potentially hint that Philip’s brother married into the Clawthorne family. Why are the Clawthornes not aware of a human who married into their family? Perhaps this got forgotten over time, nobody knows their ancestors names nor lives. Neither do I!
Potion track:
Both Hunter, Lilith and Eda were in the potion track at Hexside!
The cardinal palismans:
What strikes me the most, is that both Hunter and Dell have a cardinal as their Palisman. With Dell and Hunter having the same Palisman, could that mean that Hunter is not only a Clawthorne, but that he’s going to be Dell’s next successor in line to carve palismans? Is Hunter going to take over the Clawthorne trait of making Palismans? Palismans are also made of wild magic.
Think about it, Hunter is such a nerd when it comes down to wild magic. This kid knows everything about it! Wild magic is what he’s interested in. And Hunter said so himself that he feels like he doesn’t have a purpose, because he can’t do magic. So carving palismans is going to give him a purpose because he loves wild magic. And what better way for a redemption arc is to repair, and bring back everything your uncle has destroyed throughout the decades?
May I also add that Flapjack and Hunter has a scar on their eye just like Dell?
My personal thoughts:
Okay, but how can Hunter be a Clawthorne descended? Well, what if Hunter’s father, the brother of Philip/Belos married into the Clawthorne family? Let’s call him William, because that’s how the fandom addresses him.
Philip has such a huge bigotry towards witches, as shown in “Elsewhere and Elsewhen”. So it seems highly unlikely to me for him to marry a witch and settle down. But what if his brother did? What if William, after arriving in the demon realm, simply couldn’t hold on any longer to his Puritan faith. And unlike Philip, began to see witches as equal. He began to appreciate the Demon Realm, and wild magic. In fact, he may have been such a nerd about wild magic as much as Hunter is. Judging by the wish Flapjack was carved, William may have been a free spirited person. I imagine him to be a lot like Hunter. I can see that this all could have caused a potential rift between the two Wittebane brothers after arriving into the Demon Realm.
So this is how I believe it went down. William fell in love and settled down with a Clawthorne witch. William later carved Flapjack, and named him after his most favorite food because he is such a dork. We know that in Hollow Mind, we’ll meet child Philip and be wears a mask carved out of wood. I won’t be surprised if William was the one who made the mask for his brother. Children in the New World had to do a lot of hard labor. William most likely had worked a lot with wood, like carving furniture or chopping trees while growing up. This, and him carving Philip’s wooden mask is probably the reason why he was able to carve Flapjack, and why it’s such a peace of cake for him. Most witches and demons don’t possess the knowledge and the skill to carve Palismans.
This makes me wonder, was William the one who started the Clawthorne tradition of making Palismans, which later got passed down through generations? If that’s the case, then Hunter taking over the tradition makes even more sense now. Like I said before, How amazing would it be if he continues the tradition his father has started? And fix everything his Uncle has destroyed? William made Palismans, Philip destroyed it. And Hunter rebuilds it.
Moving on, William starts the Clawthorne tradition of carving palismans, and teaches it to his parents in law or potential brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews in law etc. He was a great palisman maker like Dell was, and lots people will come to him for a Palisman.
William later gets a child of his own with said Clawthorne descended, and that child is Hunter. Why I believe that? Well, lots of people think that Hunter is the Grimwalker of Philips’s brother. Even though Hunter doesn’t have the ability to do magic (like his dad), what he does have is witches ears. If Hunter were to be a Grimwalker of Philip’s brother, wouldn’t he have had human ears instead of witches ears?
I like to imagine William was a brunette, just like Philip. With Hunter having most of the facial features of his dad, like the nose etc and the lack of magic. And the blonde hair, eye colour and witches ears of the Clawthorne descended. But then something happened to the family, William and Clawthorne descended died, but so does Hunter. An incident with wild magic like Belos said? But Belos later on managed to make a Grimwalker out of the bones of his dead nephew, and took Hunter in to raise him as his own?
If that’s true, then Hunter calling Belos his uncle makes so much sense if he really is cloned after William’s son. Not just that, but Belos saying he took Hunter in after an incident involving wild magic that took the life of their family is true, and he was not lying except for the Grimwalker part. William could even be the Owl Beast himself. Belos seemed to have a connection to the Collecter, who turned the Owl Beast into a curse. Not forget to mention the secret code message in season 1, which mentions about a curse of mud and feathers and a betrayal by blood. Maybe William, as the Owl Beast accidentally killed his wife and son. Maybe I will make a theory about this someday?
If Hunter is cloned after William’s son and brought back to live, why would Belos make a Grimwalker of his dead nephew? Well, Hunter both has witches dna (Clawthorne) and human dna (Wittebane). He is the link between the human realm, and the demon realm. So perhaps that’s why he is needed for the day of Unity?
And yes, I could be wrong, and maybe Hunter is the Grimwalker of William, and not of William’s son. Technically, he still is William’s son if he is cloned after him. But it won’t make him exactly a Clawthorne, because he has no Clawthorne dna inside of him. But of course, it will make him a Clawthorne if he gets adopted later on. And Perhaps, there could be a reason for Hunter to have witches ears, we don’t know exactly what a grimwalker is and how it is made. I mean, who knows. But it’s still odd to me that Hunter has witches ears if he’s the clone of William, and not human ears. So Hunter being cloned after William’s son makes more sense to me I think? And that he’s Eda and Lilith’s distant cousin or something?
Anyways, I’m going to pray that Hunter will become Dell’s next successor and learn the palisman making trait. I need some Hunter and Dell bonding time for my soul.
1: Huntlow! (Like let Hunter blush at the mention of Willow or something. Please Dana, gimme the crumbs.)
2: The Wittebane brother reveal.
3: The Wittebane brother name reveal, and it being Caleb.
4: Flapjack being alive. (Let the bird live!)
5: Collector lore!
6: Hunter and Luz finding out Belos is Philip.
7: Hunter discovers he’s a Grimwalker. (Sorry, Hunter.)
8: Lots of Belos and brother lore on earth and demon realm. I want to see their dynamic and backstory!
9: Hunter backstory (baby hunter?).
10: Some information on the Day of Unity and Hunter’s role in it.
11: Confirmed Wittebane and Clawthorne connection.
12: Hunter not leaving the Emperors Coven, but questioning its motifs. His trust in Belos is gone. (Just him being a step closer to his redemption arc.)
13: Wittebane brother not being a jerk, I want him to be nice and be an absolute dork.
14: Belos and Hunter confrontation! (Belos is going to remember everything what happened, like Willow did)
15: What happened to the Wittebane brother.
16: Some information on Belos’ curse.
17: Inner child Belos associating Hunter as his brother, and calling him brother. Being extra clingy to him.
18: Hunter wearing the sigil of the Golden Guard, Luz noticing that it is the Gravesfield symbol.
I know I made a theory about this before. But I wanted to make a new, and more detailed theory about it. Some of the topics will come up again.
I’m going to do my best to explain everything as best I can!
First we have to look at the secret code message from season 1.
“Two witches torn apart
Now alone
Two hearts of stone
A curse of feathers and mud
A betrayal of blood”
The message talks about two people and two curses, one of mud and one of feathers. Then the message mentions a betrayal by blood.
I suspect that the two persons mentioned in the message are cursed. These two persons are presumably related, since blood can be another word for blood relative. One of the two could presumably have betrayed the other, and that resulted in both being cursed.
But who would this secret code message be about? Well, at first I thought it would be about the Clawthorne sisters. Eda and Lilith are blood relatives, and Lilith betrayed her sister by giving her the curse of feathers. But when you think about it more deeply… What about the curse of mud? Something clearly doesn’t add up.
And then “Yesterdays Lie” came out. This episode confirmed that Philip Wittebane had a brother, and that he was in the demon realm with him.
“Elsewhere and Elsewhen” confirmed that Emperor Belos is none other than Philip Wittebane, something that the fandom had been speculating for a long time.
“Eclipse Lake,” the episode that came out before “Yesterdays Lie” and “Elsewhere and Elsewhen,” also further confirmed that Emperor Belos is apparently cursed. And what strikes me, his curse is also very similar to that of mud.
To put it briefly. Emperor Belos, aka Philip Wittebane has a blood relative, a brother that is. And he has a curse that is very similar to that of mud.
That’s when I realized, if Belos is the person in the message who has the curse of mud. What happened to his brother? Why is he gone? Could Belos’ brother, his blood relative, be the person in the message who has the curse of feathers?
If you’ve seen any of my posts on tumblr and “Any Sport in a Storm,” you know why I call the brother Caleb.
Someone on Tumblr pointed out that when Eda was fully transformed into the owl beast in “Young Blood, Old Souls,” the owl beast was destroying a banner with Belos’ face on it. This is not Eda, this is the owl beast. The owl beast has taken over Eda’s consciousness. Belos had to cast a spell on the owl beast, so Eda could regained her consciousness, and he could speak to her. Because the owl beast, and not Eda, was destroying the banner with Belos’ face on it, it felt like the owl beast was holding some kind of grudge against Belos. As if the owl beast actually recognized Belos. If the owl beast is really Caleb, this makes everything so clear.
But who could be responsible for both brothers being cursed?
In “Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door,” we found out a little more about the owl beast and his past. We found out that the owl beast is a being with feelings and thoughts of its own, and that it is suffering as much under the curse as Eda.
Not only that, the owl beast also has a past. The owl beast first roamed free, until it was captured by the collector, attached to a curse parchment, and thus became a curse.
Why is the past of the owl beast being shown if the owl beast is not important? No, there is more to the owl beast than simply being the curse of Eda. It is very clear that the owl beast is very important, otherwise the owl beast’s past would not be shown. If Caleb was to be the owl beast, is in my opinion very important though.
The owl beast obviously has some sort of connection and history with the collector. And you know who also has a connection and history with the collector? Exactly, Belos! The collector has a connection and history with both the owl beast and Belos.
i believe the collector is responsibly for both brothers being cursed. Caleb became the owl beast because of the collector, and eventually became a curse. If Belos knows the collector and has a connection to them, then Caleb must have known the collector too, right?
The secret code message talks about a betrayal of blood. These are the options what I think it could mean.
1. Blood probably means blood relative. I believe Philip made a pact with the collector. Why? Maybe he wanted revenge on Caleb. But the collector tricked him, and because of this, both brothers became cursed. Philip technically betrayed Caleb then, because he is the reason they both got cursed.
2. Maybe it’s not about a betrayal by a blood relative at all, but some kind of blood pact Belos made with the collector. Or maybe both brothers made a blood pact? But the collector tricked Philip or both brothers, and because of this the brothers became cursed. A betrayal by blood.
There are so many possible scenarios what could have happened.
I can already see you thinking. “Then what about Hunter? Then how can he be a Grimwalker from Caleb if he is supposed to be the owl beast? You have to have a bone from the person you would like to clone, so Caleb would have to be dead for this, right? And the owl beast is alive.”
Well, maybe there is a logical explanation for that. Here are three options that I can think of.
1. Maybe Belos had managed to get a bone from Caleb before he got the curse of feathers? You can lose a finger or something, and still live. Whether you can live with one less bone without amputation, I don’t know. You can also do many things with magic, anything is possible in the demon realm.
2. We don’t really know everything about the curse of feathers either. We don’t know what it is, how it happened, and how the curse goes into effect. So it’s possible for Belos to still be able to get a bone from Caleb.
3. There is a lot of evidence that there is some kind of connection going on between the Wittebanes and the Clawthornes, and because of this Hunter could be a descendant of the Clawthorne family. Caleb might have been married to a Clawthorne, and together they might have had a son. And that son might be Hunter. Hunter could be the Grimwalker of Caleb’s dead son. That explains why Hunter has witch’s ears. If Hunter were a Grimwalker of Caleb, shouldn’t he have human ears? But how could Caleb’s son have died? Caleb, as the owl beast, might have accidentally killed Belos’ sister-in-law and cousin. Belos says his family is gone because of wild magic, is that what he meant? Hunter said that Belos had found him after an accident with his family by wild magic, and took him in. Maybe Belos had found Hunter’s dead body after Caleb, as the owl beast, killed their family. Took one of his bones, made a Grimwalker, and took him in. If so, then what Hunter said is kind of true.
Speaking of a possible connection between the Wittebanes and the Clawthornes. We know that Caleb was the original owner of Flapjack, right? Dana said that birds are generally a Clawthorne thing. If Caleb were the owl beast, that’s further proof that he married into the Clawthorne family and the connection between the two families. Owls are birds!
“But if Caleb is the owl beast, why didn’t Belos recognized his brother in: Young Blood, Old Souls?” Maybe Belos wasn’t aware of what exactly happened to his brother. Who knows, maybe he only knows that the collector is the reason Caleb is gone.
What struck me, isn’t it strange that Hunter, who is an exact copy of Caleb, is the only one who wears an owl mask when he is the golden guard? Could that be a nod to Caleb being the owl beast?
I wonder why Belos summoned the collector in “Elsewhere and Elsewhen?” Could he have made a second pact with the collector? Could the pact involve his brother? The collector apparently likes to collect unique and rare things. Whether Hunter is a Grimwalker from Caleb or Caleb’s son, he is actually unique and rare. In exchange for Hunter, Belos gets from the collector his brother back, cured of his curse and an extended life so he can bring out the day of unity. Wild witches have taken something precious from him, his brother. So with the day of unity he takes something precious from the witches, their magic. The perfect revenge, right? Plus he’ll be back home with his brother by his side. Okay, perhaps this sounds a little ridiculous. It’s high likely that this probably isn’t Belos’ goal, but who knows
Okay, but the fact that we might have another huntlow interaction in Hollow Mind.
Hear me out!
If you look at Hunter’s feet, there’s a spellcircle. He is purposely doing the spell to go inside Belos’ mind. His staff is activated. It’s definitely from “Hollow Mind”. Obviously, it’s the same spellcircle when Luz and Amity went into Willow’s mind in “Understanding Willow”.
But it makes me wonder, did someone told him about it? How did Hunter know about the spell? Sure, he could’ve read it in a book or something. But what if that isn’t the case? What if someone told him about it?
Luz and Amity surely wouldn’t have told him, even though they are aware of the spell’s excistence. But as for right now, their relationship with Hunter is not so great at the moment. Gus however, also knows about the spell. He and Hunter are friends. They follow each other on Penstagram, so Gus could’ve easily told Hunter about the spell. But I feel like Gus has not enough knowledge about it. He never went in someone’s mind, and nobody went into his. He has no experience.
There is one person left who could’ve most likely have told Hunter about the spell, and that’s Willow. in “Understanding Willow”, Amity and Luz went into Willow’s mind. Willow has enough knowledge and experience, as much as Amity and Luz does.
There was immediately chemistry between Willow and Hunter since they first met. They understand and relate to each other. Hunter and Willow also follow each other on Penstagram, so Willow easily could’ve told Hunter about the spell through text or video calling.
So yeah, there’s a chance that they’re gonna interact again in “Hollow Mind”. I wouldn’t be surprised if the episode starts with Hunter and Willow video calling each other, and that’s when Willow tells him about the spell.
I wonder what Hunter’s and Willow’s relationship is going to be in like “Hollow Mind”. They must’ve texted and video called a lot during that time. Could it be that they’ve developed a crush on each other off screen by now? Or would their relationship just be platonic and it stays that way?
How funny would it be if Willow text Hunter when he and Luz are in Belos’ mind, and Luz immediately knows what’s up and starts to tease Hunter like siblings do. I would love to see it.
