Okay but so far, the easiest way to stop the Day of Unity is for either Raine, Darius (or Eber), or all three to just not show up.
Keep up the ruse until 2 days prior. Make a break for it. Do not return until after the Eclipse. What are they gonna do, find a replacement Coven Head? Hunting down 1/3 of the Coven Heads would also be an enormous strain on resources leading up to/on the DoU.
In FMAB it turned out Father procrastinated so long on the sacrifices partly because it didn’t really matter who they were as long as they could perform alchemy, it didn’t even matter if they had been through the Gate or not, he just forced them through it anyway. The same does not apply to Belos, as far as we know.
So unless Belos can teleport them from anywhere to the ritual location (which is not that unlikely), the best thing the rebellion can do is… not show up.
Obsessed with the fact that Darius had one positive interaction with the Golden Guard and immediately decided that actually, the whole operation sucks, he’s rebelling now.
Even if that’s not what happened, there is no explanation that is not outrageously funny here:
Darius was always a rebell? So Eda and Raine tried to kill the (only, haha, unless) guy that was actually on their side all along, causing growing confusion on all sides.
Darius deflected after Raine was captured, thinking the mind control to be tasteless? Cool, villain with surprisingly high and yet bonkers standards. “I can excuse draining all witches of magic to merge the realms but I draw the line at petty mind control.”
Darius noticed Raine broke the mind control, and is just keeping an eye on them in his own way, meaning he will turn coat/reveal his true colours on the Day of Unity again? Our lad is rocking the heck out of those heel face heel turns, freaking superb.
If Darius (and by extension probably Eberwolf) is truly rebelling now: How many Coven Heads will actually show up for the Day of Unity? Between Wrath and some others already doubting the Agenda, Hunter’s crisis of faith and a whooping 1/3 of the Coven Heads (that we know of!) opposing the Emperor outright, does Belos even have anyone left? Especially by the end?
Sad brit Philip will go down how he lived: with absolutely no one on his side, cursing the nature of witches out for their betrayel, completely ignorant to the fact that he was totally planning on betraying them all first.
Yes, TOH fanartist are fire, and all the art produced in the wake of Hollow Mind has been absolutely exceptional. But I need to give a special shout out to all the fanartists who drew angsty art of Hunter encountering the Golden Guard graveyard and tagging it with captions like “Family Reunion!” or “Uncle says it’s my turn as the Golden Guard” and other funky little jokes. How does it feel to be the funniest people on earth.
Transcript from the pages of “The unauthorized Boiling Isles’ history”:
“The Boiling Isles, named after the raging hot water of the Boiling Sea, are composed of the bones of a fallen Titan. Throughout the ages, other monumental bones have been sighted in the Boiling Sea, raising the possibility that many such creatures stalked the Demon Realm in eons past. But, as yet, the Titan of the Boiling Isles remains the only complete skeleton known. Where did the Titan come from? How did they perish? I hope one day we can uncover these mysteries…
Before he ascended to the throne, Emperor Belos gained prominence as a crusader for unity during the Savage Ages. He believes that chaos comes from "wild [redacted] bring peace by controlling such magic [redacted].
He rules by fear and an iron fist, and his past remains largely unknown. Nevertheless, the Savage Ages caused such devastation that many people have proved willing to follow him.”
The worst part is realizing that Hunter missed the revealation that Luz helped Belos, missed “He’s a better version of an old friend”, missed the fact that Belos is a human witch hunter. The boy has been through the major revealation trauma of finding out Belos murdered all the previous Guards (for fun), but Belos’ last words were utter nonsense to him. Hunter isn’t even done having all the worst revealations.
I cannot get over how we’ve been theorizing for years what Belos’ endgame could be, what his motivations are, plotting and thinking that maybe “he wants to go home”, “maybe he just misses his brother”, “something dramatic MUST have happened for him to be this way” and it turns out that no.
He’s just racist. No, he just really likes killing people.
We kept waiting for the “cool motive, still murder” but it really is just murder. No thoughts, head empty.
And it works so well.
I don’t know how to explain to my friends that “the bad guy is actually, really just that evil” is one of my favourite reveals of the show.
welp, guess we know Hunter’s connection to the Clawthorne’s now. I do like that the Wittebrother was apparently the Clawthorne patriarch
Darius, Raine and Eber have my whole heart in this one
I cannot believe I called Belos’ endgame on twitter. I could not be more happy, there is nothing misunderstood about that ass and I highkey love it
That being said, absolutely delightful how Belos noticed someone invaded his mind and instead of going “Oh welp, I should get them out” he takes the opportunity to play mindgames andmonologue.
I know it wasn’t exactly implied but I’d kinda dig if the collector wasn’t literally trapped under the Titan but in the inbetween realm. Since the method of interaction was similar to Luz’s while she was in there
Philip really went “I’ll call you witch hunter. Hunter for short” what a nerd
“How can people believe that” sure is politically relevant in this day and age huh ;;;
How did Hunter escape the whole getting sucked into the floor thing?? Sure, with the glyphs, but like, how
I am still torn on how I feel about the grimwalker thing, but I do like that they apparently just exist for the lulz. No grand purpose even in the ritual, just a bunch of dolls. Safes the themes vv
I will stay mad at the fact that Hunter isn’t just a good ol’ regular powerless witch though. Simply because I would have prefered that.
I appreciate how much the Owl House deconstructs the Chosen One narratives.
(This isn’t profound analysis or anything, most of it is plain text in the show, but I do love that it’s there and how it’s handled!)
From the beginning, Luz enters her fantasy journey with a set of ideas in mind on how it’s supposed to go, specifically that she would very much like a “predeterminded path of greatness!”. She’s into other tropes as well, but the “predeterminded path” one is so thematically relevant to her journey, they immediately address it in the second episode. Eda tells her plainly that anyone who tries to sell her an “easy answer” is probably looking to scam her, and Luz decides to figure out her own path.
But that’s not by far how it ends, because the show proceeds to remind us of this with every further decision Luz makes. Luz doesn’t just go to Magic School because all Fantasy protagonistsTM do, she evaluates her choices. She goes to school and forms her own opinions. She doesn’t just listen to everything her Magical Mentor tells her to do, she explores and experiments and makes her own choices, even ones her mentor actively disagrees with at first. It’s not that Luz simply does what she wants, it’s that Luz learns to take her time, evaluates her options and listening to her surroundings. She makes headway with Amity not when she tries to force some sort of Rivals to Lovers plot, but when she sits down to listen to her. She finds the glyphs because she observes her environment. At every term, Luz is forging her own path.
And that’s not always easy! One of her biggest flaws remains that she tends to impulsively rely on these ideas on how “things are supposed to go” and that she doesn’t necessarily think things through. Heck, she still doesn’t have a clear path forward - that’s the beauty of it, but it’s also scary! She has no idea where this road will lead her, she doesn’t know how to reconcile conflicting motivations, she doesn’t even know what her biggest wish “Learn magic and become a witch” really means for her. It makes her anxious and so indecisive she gets kidnapped for her trouble.
But Hunting Palismen spells the “ending” out the clearest. It’s okay to struggle, it’s okay to take your time to figure out what you really want. Stay aware of your surroundings, keep an open mind* and you’ll find a path. Is it perfect? Is it easy? No, but it’s your own, to the best of your ability.
*Or: why Philip is an amazing villain, but this post isn’t about him.
And also: Enter Hunter. Hunter is, for all intents and purposes, the epitome of the Chosen One. He was a powerless nobody** until someone found him, saw his “potential”, gave him powers and a purpose. A set of goals and beliefs to follow without question. Hunter’s life is “easy” in this regard, he has a predeterminded path, and as long as he sticks to it, everything will end well for him.
And that of course, immediately shows the shortcomings of the “predeterminded path of greatness”. Hunter doesn’t get a say. It doesn’t matter whether that’s actually something he wants, or enjoys, he has a mission. It doesn’t matter if he’ll make it out alive at the end, he has a goal. For all we know, he has sacrificed everything for this Chosen One fantasy***: friends, family, free time, personal goals etc.
And that’s not even to mention how even the slightest deviation from the set path will be punished.
**as far as we were told and know anyway, that’s why I’m writing this before Hollow Mind, but it’s also why I don’t really like the “Hunter is a grimwalker” theory much, it ruins the theme
***and Belos’ approval, but since Hunter perceives his own right to exist only within the context of the path laid out by Belos for him, that’s potato-patato
Anyway, I love, love how the Owl House handles the themes around the Chosen One narratives, and I cannot wait to get more intel on Philip to throw him into the list of clever parallels as a self-identifying isekai-hero/outside white knight saviour.
And I also cannot wait to see how the Power of Friendship, one (1) good experience and the most patient little menace of a bird end up saving the Chosen One from his great destiny, while our plucky protagonist finally figures out her own.
Good on the show to make fun of Belos via episode title, now that we know they’ll enter his mind. No thoughts, brain empty. Imagine someone writes a book about someone else entering your brain and the title is “Into the VOID”.
I’d like to be able to call Philip an idiot for putting Glyphs, which consume the thing they’ve been drawn on, onto his own body, but I have to admit, that had I been him I would’ve either:
A) Have gotten Curious and drawn them on myself to see what would happen
B) Wanted to know if putting Glyphs on myself would give me magic, and would have done it despite all of the obvious risks (I know it’s stupid but It’s for science and maybe the slightest bit of curiosity)
or
C) Absentmindedly doodling on my arm, deciding to draw a glyph. Which is quite possibly the dumbest way to get yourself cursed
So let me get this straight. Belos thought he could turn THIS man. THIS RAY OF SUNSHINE OF A BROTHER RIGHT HERE into an evil servant and then just straight up cloned him 16 times because his manipulations never worked and his clones ALWAYS betrayed him and yet he kEPT GOING???
Wow. Real big brain moment there Belos, I’m sure the 17th TIME IS THE CHARM OH WAIT
(Also here is the initial sketch from my patreon which u should really check out if u want to see more of my fanart right now hfhjgdfg)
Kikimora heard Emperor Belos speaking about his plans for the day of unity with The Collector. To the point that she knew EXACTLY what The Collector was.
Kikimora witnessed first hand Belos discarding children that were hyper loyal to him and replacing them without batting an eye. To the point that she knew where their remains were.
Kikimora knew that the Coven Sigils could be used AGAINST those that had them. To the point that she could wield that magic.
AND KNOWING ALL OF THIS THE BITCH DECIDED TO REMAIN LOYAL????????
TO THE POINT THAT WHEN BELOS TOLD HER TO FIND A HOLE TO ROT IN SHE DID EXACTLY THAT??!?
Holy shit, I know I should feel bad cause Im sure there are underlying reasons for desiring praisal so bad.
But you cannot fucking tell me that a part of it also wasn’t the benefits that came from being part of the oppresors circle perpetuating the cycle of oppression.
Kikimora had more information on Belos than anyone else on the Isles, shit, she might have even figured out that his name was Phillip and he was a human but she was too fucking happy running The Emperors Coven to give two shits.
She got comfortable placing the boot on everyones neck that forgot she also had one on hers.
Something I’ve been trying to figure out - if she knew about this pit with all the Golden Guards remains, if she knew how he discarded the “failures”, how could she WANT to be a Golden Guard?
Maybe she believed that she couldn’t fail, not like all the other Golden Guards and Hunter had.
Maybe the one thing she didn’t know, was that the golden guards and Hunter are grimwalkers of Belos’ dead brother and she simply thought that they were recruited people.
Recruits, who outshone her by being the golden guards.
Also keep in mind that shes been watching for so long. Shes been watching each of these children fail over and over again, so shes probabbly taken note of what their failures were and learned about them.
But again, he forgets that at the end of the day it doesnt matter. Your proximity to the oppresor will not save you when push comes to shove.
While the Hexside students were all ganging up on Belos to take him down, I can’t help but notice that Hunter doesn’t make any attempts to get any hits on Belos, and instead helps with defence and or hangs back while the others dish out some damage…
Normally he wouldn’t shy away from a fight but it’s pretty obvious from this fighting scene alone that he’s not ready to fight back yet.
That being said, this just makes Belos’s manipulation all the more disgusting here…
“Why are you hurting me?” he asks, looming over Hunter.
Meanwhile, it’s almost ironic how technically Hunter hasn’t done anything at all in this scene that has dealt any damage to Belos.
So I’ve seen people talking about how Luz could potentially join the emperor’s coven wanting the use the day of unity so she wouldn’t have to chose a world to live in. But I really don’t think she would, maybe when she first got to the Isles when she didn’t think things through that well but after everything I don’t think she would go that way, Belos would definitely offer and she’d consider it for a second imagining the perfect world where she could have everything. But in the end she would refuse knowing something like that would only cause chaos and pain. Also if Witterbane theory is true it could lead to a heart stopping moment where Belos replies “You remind me so much of him.”
OR
Luz does join the coven but does it to betray Belos, leaving Amity a message on the little Tamagotchi thing to let everyone know her plans also serving as a cool Eclipse Lake call back.
Philip Wittebane’s brother is the Owl Beast theory
So I was trying to sleep at night, and suddenly something occured to me. Somehow, I wanted to put all my thoughts that I had in a post. So what if the owl beast, Eda’s curse — is actually Philip Wittebane’s brother? I’ll call him William, because that’s how this fandom calls him.
A might delete this later? I also apologize for possible grammar mistakes, I’m not a native English speaker.
Do you guys remember the 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”
“A Curse Of Feathers And Mud”! “A Betrayal Of Blood” Okay, at first I thought it was about the Clawthorne sisters. With Eda having the curse of feathers — and blood is her having a kinsman, a sister who betrayed her by cursing her. But then in “Hunting Palisman”, we saw that Emperor Belos, like Eda — is also cursed. His curse is extremely similar to that of mud.
Not only that, he has a kinsman too, a brother. Why else would Hunter call Belos uncle? What if it isn’t about the Clawthorne sisters, but about the Wittebane brothers? With Belos being Philip, having de curse of mud — and William having the curse of feathers?
We don’t really know very much about the owl beast. All we know is that the owl beast was once a living being who roamed free in the demon realm — for God knows how long, before it was captured by the collector — and turned into a curse. It ended up at the night market after being lost at sea for a long time, until Lilith found it.
Although the backstory of the owl beast is pretty sad, it’s strange that it first had a normal life before it was turned into a curse. It’s just weird that it even has a backstory in the first place! Somehow, It feels like the owl beast is important besides just being Eda’s curse — and that we were going to learn more about its previous life.
William Wittebane being the owl beast sounds pretty important to me. It could also explain the backstory of the collector — and to who she is as a whole. We’re definitely not done with the backstory of the owl beast — and the collecter, there is more to it.
What’s interesting to me is that William’s palisman was Lil’ Rascal. And yes, Lil’ Rascal was William’s palisman, not Philip’s! If you look at the picture of the Wittebane brothers from Hopkins’ book, Philip’s coat is unbuttoned up — and he’s wearing a belt, just like his statue! William however, you can see that Rascal is on his shoulder. Which means Rascal was his palisman. William’s coat is always buttoned up — and he does not wear a belt, just like his statue! Etc…
William’s Palisman represents the desire for freedom! The desire to be outside, exploring the world and the desire for knowledge. But also the desire to escape control — and to be free of any responsibilities! That’s why Rascal is Hunter’s palisman in the first place, but also because he and William looked identical — not just personality wise!
So what makes it so interesting that Lil’ Rascal is William’s Palisman? Why am I mentioning all this? Well, If the owl beast is indeed William, it’s pretty sad for such a free spirited person like him to be imprisoned for centuries — while he has always longed for freedom. I’m sure it must be terrible for him to be imprisoned like that. I don’t know, I felt like it was something I should mention. Dana also said that birds are a Clawthorne thing. Could Rascal symbolize William’s connection to Eda as her curse?
But why didn’t Belos recognized his brother when he met Eda in the finale of season 1? I don’t really know, perhaps there is a logical explanation for this.
The only counter argument is that William could not be the owl beast — is if Hunter is a grimwalker, cloned after William. You need a bone of ortet to clone someone, so William must be dead for that. Maybe you just need a piece of dna — like a strand of hair for example? Perhaps there is a logical explanation for this too?
We don’t really know much about the Wittebane brothers and their past, nor about grimwalkers. So this theory about William being the owl beast is still on the table, for now at least.
If this theory is true, I can’t help but wonder, how did these two brothers got cursed? Only time will tell.
Conclusion: William somehow transformed into the owl beast, got later transformed into a curse by the collector — and now lives inside Eda.
no because i just. can’t get over belos wearing his dumb fucking pilgrim outfit and insisting on being called “witch hunter general” like. idk just how… childish it all is. how he’s so wrapped up in this game of hero he’s created for himself that he doesn’t have an ounce of self awareness. he’s created this idea of himself in his mind of the destroyer of evil, the savior of the human realm, and he has to believe in it because if he doesn’t then all of the sins he’s committed will drive him mad (this holds even more weight now knowing that him killing his brother and creating the grimwalkers stand out as his worst memories). just. he is so so completely detached from any semblance of reality, completely unable to self reflect, to see not only how horrible but how ridiculousthis all is. how he’s doing this for nothing. he’s just an old man that time has moved past who is so deep into the sunk cost fallacy that his only way of moving forward is further deluding himself. just. thinking.
ALT
