History Fridge / TheOwlHouse

* Amity’s fluster and blushing around Luz mostly happens whenever she notices or thinks about Luz getting too close to her (running up to her, inviting her to play sports, carrying her). Physical contact with Luz may remind her of their dance in the previous episode and the confusing and conflicting feelings about it. She is still able to look at her and carry on a conversation with her from a short distance.

* Amity’s clear nervousness around Luz could be loosely misconstrued by Luz as out of annoyance, surprise or tiredness:
** Her awkward greeting could be explained as her mind slipping up due to tiredness or stress.
** Her refusal to join the grudgby match could be seen as fear on facing Boscha or embarrassment at her “cute uniforms”.
** Her freaking out when she gets too close to Luz could be interpreted as simple shock at seeing Luz’s face close to her
** Her blushing and stammering when Luz carries her could have been seen as being embarrassed about being picked up like a child.

* Lilith's jealousy is more understandable when you consider that Eda was both a serial troublemaker as a child and is openly [[UngratefulBastard rude and dismissive towards their mother]], yet is still favored and doted on. Even worse, the reason Gwen pays so much attention to Eda is because of her curse. It's similar to any parents worried about their kids getting a chronic, dangerous disease ... and this was caused by Lilith herself, making the situation even more frustrating.

* Due to the vague hints that ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' takes place in the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}, it demonstrates that things for the Boiling Isles and the Demon Realm as a whole could have ended up much worse then it did in canon. If the ancient Amphibians never lost the Calamity Box, they would have used it to [[MultiversalConqueror conquer other worlds]] until they had discovered the Demon Realm. From the perspective of the Witches, they would have seen the Amphibians as a threat due to their forces destroying the Demon Realm. And the fact that the Witches have their own methods of dimensional travel, this would have led to a war between Amphibia and the Demon Realm. Considering how the war between the Titans and the Collectors led to both sides [[MutualKill annihilating each other]], the same thing could very likely happen to the [[HistoryRepeats Amphibians and Witches]].

** Building on Amity not wanting to be like her father, she doesn't want brown hair because her [[HenPeckedHusband father]] enables his wife to abuse his children, something Odalia's been doing for years. After all, Amity had brown hair as a kid when she allowed her mother to have her way, by breaking up her friendship with Willow. So of course, Amity doesn't want her natural hair color because she doesn't want to allow her mother to step all over her anymore.

* Eda's old boast of being the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles. At first what seemed to be a bit of an arrogant boast was proved where she could match and overpower Lilith, the head of the Emperor's Coven, even with the curse. Then in Season 2 we find out that there was never anyone could compete with her for that title because the Emperor is no witch.
* The children in Luz's age group seem to be fairly open to going against the Coven system with little push. The Dual Tracks spread like wildfire after all, and in season 2 it doesn't take a ton to get them fighting back against the covens. Beyond being harassed and knowing Luz and stuff, the simple fact is that they are a generation fairly removed for why Belos took power in the first place. The generation that was rather old, like Bump or Gwen, lived through the very conditions that let Belos take power in the first place. They saw him at the time as a necessary evil to end the Savage Ages, as true as that was or not. Then the next generation, like Eda, Odalia, Raine, Darius, etc., were raised by said generation with that fresh in their minds. Those kids didn't see it directly, but the stories were fresh and the lessons frequent. But the generation they raised, like Amity, Willow, Skara, and Viney, don't have as direct of a connection to the Savage Ages. Their parents only can retell reasons they were told, which are just less powerful than personal accounts. Add in general teenage rebellion and Luz's influence, and they just don't have the same ties to the reasons that the covens existed. They were fine with them without Luz and Eda sure, but not as much as even kid Eda did (who seems to have needed personal experience to become as jaded against them as she is at the present).

* Fitting in with Philip/Belos being a bible-thumping holier-than-thou Puritan, his whole situation could easily be likened to the [[BiblicalBadGuy Curse of Cain.]] For those who don't know about that: in exchange for killing his innocent brother, God cursed Cain to forever walk the earth unable to die while bearing some kind of mark or flaw in appearance that instantly identified him as guilty and wicked. When you put it like that, it sounds basically identical to Philip's situation.

* In Season One, Belos seems like he's more than earned the role of most powerful witch-- after all, he delivers a CurbStompBattle without any displayed motions, leaving it seeming like he can cast spells at will due to sheer power. Season Two shows that he actually has all the glyphs he needs carved into his skin at all times, and exploits a staff when not using them-- he's powerful, but he's ''cheating''. This sort of facade is perfectly on brand for Belos, who as Season Two shows in that very same episode, was initially a swindling zealot using parlor tricks to fake magic. No matter the time or how strong he is, Belos is nothing but a simple con artist!

* In terms of typical witch names, the name Willow is so common it's almost stereotypical, and the pilot shows that she was intentionally renamed this. Consider Willow's two most prominent relationships in the show - Amity and Hunter; both endured abusive upbringings and were directly taught that their worth was tied to their usefulness, and both took it out of those around them. After all of this, Willow ended up playing a huge role in both redemption arcs. In nature, certain trees are very good at purifying polluted soil by absorbing the toxins, essentially healing the ground they stand on. Willow trees are particularly helpful towered this end.

* Why does Eda like the glasses more than the ridiculously valuable stuff? SHE RUNS A CURIO SHOP. She needs stuff that's easy to sell--QUICKLY. She doesn't have a permanent storefront, therefore anything that isn't sold she'd have to lug back to the house at the end of the day...on just a ''staff''. Not to mention that the things she throws away - a smartphone, a golden chalice, and a diamond ring - either already exists on the Boiling Isles, and therefore isn't all that interesting, or easy to dismiss as worthless if you don't know what they are. She could get a chalice or a diamond ring at the nearest jeweler, and a smartphone just looks like a small mirror if you don't know how to turn it on.
* The reason Luz can't lift the lever to open prisoners' cells isn't because of her "weak nerd arms", but rather because the hulking, muscular Warden Wrath simply designed them to be to heavy for anyone but him to operate. He is the only one shown operating the levers by himself and it is only the combined effort of Luz, Eda and momentum from riding Owlbert that enables anyone else to open the cells. Additionally, the levers are directly outside the cells, so it makes sense that they would be designed to keep prisoners from easily opening their own cells.

* An early hint that Amity is more than a simple bully can be seen when she’s in class with Willow. Professor Abominable warns that if the next Abomination was a failure, everyone would get double homework for a month. Amity flashes a brief, smug look to Willow. And for a moment the viewer is expecting Amity to volunteer Willow to go next with the intention of humiliating her in front of the class, since Amity already knows that Willow's abomination is a failure. Yet instead, Amity volunteers to go herself, which would actually save the rest of the class punishment. So, unlike a typical bully, simply tormenting Willow and other students isn’t really Amity’s first priority. She simply wants any excuse to show off her hard work and talent, regardless if she is helping or hurting others.

* Eda's tendency to [[HammerspaceHair hide things in her]] ''[[HammerspaceHair already]]'' [[HammerspaceHair thick mane]] probably makes it even ''[[UnkemptBeauty harder]]'' [[UnkemptBeauty to brush]].

* Why is Boscha so unfazed by a talking house, but freaks out at one that stands up? Simple look at just how many things, like doorknobs and cabinets, are alive. We've even seen buildings with limbs eat flying monsters from afar a few times. Sentient or living homes are probably not uncommon, but one that could probably chase her down and eat her on legs is rather unusual, and frightening, to Boscha.

* The reason that Luz ended up cleaning Hooty at the end of the episode isn't just because she was slow on the ''not it'' uptake: her life is the easiest. Eda's life being the hardest isn't hard to see with the police pursuit and all, but King is who proves the point with both his body and his taking of Luz's life. King doesn't have the active pursuit that Eda does, but the situation with the vampire ladies is something that very much could happen to King on his own. Meanwhile, King's conflict with Boscha and her gang isn't something Luz would have to deal with (because she doesn't try to be their friend or hang out with them) and it was simply bad luck that it went badly (the bridge repairs causing King to break their hangout). Had King simply avoided the teens while disguised as Luz, nothing bad would have happened to him, or if he had managed to avoid the hole. Similarly, King as Luz would seemingly get away with everything he had done bar angering the teens, while Luz as Eda attracted the guards.
** Alternatively, King and Eda might have left Luz to dry out after she abandoned them, leaving them to babysit the bat babies in the previous episode. They did ask for her help in the previous episode after it turned out to be a handful, and they managed to get back at her by assigning it to her.

* Guz comments that humans 'can run', and this is in reference to Luz and her 'nerd limbs'. While perhaps an indictment against himself and Willow (to a lesser extent) humans ''are'' actually very good long-distance runners. Humans are hairless and sweat as an adaption to chase prey down until it drops. It isn't a case of 'dorsal fins' as it is a case of human evolution giving Luz a benefit over the magic bile that witches evolved.

* Eda and Lilith's reactions to being scammed make sense, given their stations. Eda has spent her life on the run from the law and has had to deal with all manner of scammers, like Adeghast and Tibbles, [[SeenItAll so to encounter another scammer would be a relatively regular occurrence for her.]] Not to mention, she got an extra map from the scammer after Lilith left, so it wouldn't be that shocking to her. Lilith, on the other hand, is a rather prominent figure as a coven head, and likely would spend time dealing with more legitimate individuals, and scammers would naturally be wary of her. What's more, the fact that she was accompanied by Emperor's guards should have made it obvious she wasn't someone to be trifled with. So it would naturally come as shocking to her that [[TooDumbToLive someone would be even dumb enough to try to scam her.]]

* Bump choosing the Potions track for Luz may not have been as random as it looks. Potions would be the one track that Luz would likely be able to reliably learn. Even if she hadn't discovered runes, as there doesn't seem to be any call for inherent magical abilities to craft potions, given Luz does get some results when she joins the class.
** He also notably skipped over the Abominations track when 'randomly' selecting one. Beyond what happened ''last time'' involving Luz and the class track, it is also seemingly very hard to actually master if your name isn't Amity Blight. No reason to even entertain her in that one at the time.

* Principal Bump's insistence on his students learning only one kind of magic for the sake of "focus" in his classes. Any student, even geniuses, can tell you that taking on too many subjects at once is a one-way ticket to burnout, most likely resulting in you not properly learning the subjects and flunking all of them. Eda and Luz wanted to study all forms of magic available, in the which there are ''nine'' in total. Limiting it to just one can help with better learning. After the events of the episode, Bump even allowed the detention students who were planning on studying only two types of magic back into the campus, as it is a smaller workload compared to Luz.

* Amity's grievances with her siblings get a new dimension here. Amity was forced to end her friendship with Willow because it was socially preferable to her parents. The twins, meanwhile, get up to all sorts of chaos their parents would likely frown upon and get them in big trouble if they were found out. Amity got stuck with a SadisticChoice for trying to do something good, while Edric and Emira frequently face no consequences for far worse behavior.

* Of course, Amity couldn't control the fire spell she used on Willow's memory photos. Adventures in the Elements showed us that she required a training wand to cast fire, and even then it was a giant blast of fire rather than a small controllable flame. It's also fire. Fire tends to spread.

* It could be that Alador was more active and engaged with his family while Amity was still a young child, and believed the same things his wife did. As he got older, and his marriage deteriorated (what with Odalia treating him more like an abomination building machine than a husband), he could have just mentally checked out and stopped being as much of a presence in his children's lives.

* It seems to be such that the Boiling Isles' citizens and societal structure generally operate on a [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinist]] mindset. It's pretty clear that the teachers at Hexside don't care too much for the students' well-being, with teachers celebrating a kid fight, a teacher offering himself for target practice, and even Principal Bump shrugging off the possibility of Boscha committing murder. What's more, the citizens really look up to Boscha as the Hexside Banshees' grudgby captain, in spite of her [[AlphaBitch attitude]], [[KickTheDog with a mother even disparaging her child for lacking Boscha's skill.]] Coupled with the fact that elites such as Amity's parents exist to force ties with other elitist families through their children, with apparently weak-willed parents such as Boscha's, it's not much of a wonder Boscha turned out the way she did.

* It may seem shocking to somehow quickly Amity changes from TheStoic to NoSocialSkills around [[LoveInterest Luz.]] However, considering her backstory, it makes a lot of sense. From what we've seen of her parents, they seem to be controlling, manipulative people. As such, it wouldn't be out of character for them to tell their daughter to ignore or even suppress her emotions, specifically, "Emotions make you weak. Never show them. Otherwise, you won't succeed." The result is that Amity would've grown up without a proper understanding of how to handle/express her emotions properly. And she would likely repress everything she feels to appease her parents [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 (conceal, don't feel)]] and became the person we saw in "I Was a Teenage Abomination."

* Luz's line when Amity leaves as mentioned above is: "Well, she's out," which could be a reference to the term being in our out of the closet. In regard to a person expressing or hiding aspects of life such as homosexuality. Since this is following the reveal that Amity has romantic feelings for Luz, meaning that Amity is out of the closet to the audience.

* Luz's thinks the reason The Emperor wants to capture Eda so bad is because he has the hots for her. Of course, she would think that, considering that's the reason Warden Wrath tried to capture Eda in the first episode.

* Why is Belos an emperor and not a king? Because the Boiling Isles was never and is not a kingdom. He created an empire, of which he is now solely ruler of. In addition, Belos is the one who created the coven system of dividing types of magic. By calling himself an Emperor, he emphasizes his rulership over ''all'' kinds of magic.

* Petrification being the worst sentence given to criminals seems rather underwhelming at first, if you don't count the fact that it is [[NoSavingThrow irreversible.]] What about hanging, beheading, burning at the stake, and other punishments that are much more terrifying and deadly? Kids' show aside, as Eda's little beheading incident back in "A Lying Witch And A Warden" has shown, it is clear that a proficient enough witch can essentially shrug off stuff that would have normally killed any average being with their magic. By turning them into statues, they are essentially frozen in time and unable to free themselves.

** The fact that the crowd almost immediately begins supporting Eda after three shaky testimonials ("She broke me out of jail" despite not knowing ''what'' that witch was jailed for, "She kept me in business" because she's sick and has no alternative, and "She restored my faith in teaching" by being such an ''awful'' student that no one could be worse), lends credence to this theory. The only people we've really seen speaking in favor of the Coven system have been Lilith (who benefits greatly from it by virtue of being on top) and Gus and Willow (who A. are on tracks that perfectly match their aptitudes and personalities and B. lack the life experience to realize that being the status quo doesn't necessarily mean a system is the best option). Sure, everyone at the Covention seemed enthusiastic, but they were also getting free stuff, and we only see one person actually join a coven (and that's not exactly glee on his face as his magic is bound). Those who support the system probably view it as a necessary evil, and when they're forced to confront an injustice, EveryoneHasStandards kicks in.

** It's also shown to be a [[FatalFlaw consistent flaw]] of Philip's that once he has successfully manipulated others into achieving a goal he wants in the short-term, then he'll renege on his side of the deal shamelessly, and has a tendency to [[EvilGloating smugly rub this in his victim's face as he does]], even if these course of actions later cause him greater grief down the line, so once he has Eda and the means to secure the portal door through leveraging her life against Luz, he falls back into his old habit again with Lilith.
* The only deal that [[IGaveMyWord Belos actually holds up]] is with Luz, and it's ironically the one deal that Belos is betrayed rather than the other way around. Even though Luz destroys the Portal Door after the trade-off, Belos still lets her go and save Eda. [[RewatchBonus In hindsight]], this makes sense because he's really human and only respects humans and thus, of course, he would uphold his end of the deal for Luz despite having ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. It also foreshadows a critical personality flaw: being too trusting of humans just because they're humans. Luz exploits that and has remained the only person to have ever conned Belos ''twice''.

* In this episode, Amity crushes up the necklace her mother used to control her. In the future episodes, Amity wears a necklace with a crescent moon- a very similar one to the one that was in the sky during Luz's and hers dance during grom. It might be a small symbol of Amity slipping away from the opressive grip of her mother and embracing the positive influence of her friends (especially Luz).

* On the surface, it seems like Luz [[InSpiteOfANail didn't really help Gwen]] outside enabling her using "remedies" on Eda. It wasn't Luz who stopped Eda or Lilith in their bird-beast forms, that fell to Gwen. Then one realizes: Luz ''did'' help Gwen ''because'' she enabled her remedies. If Luz hadn't helped Gwen pull off her remedies, Eda wouldn't have eventually become an owl-beast, and Gwen wouldn't have first-hand seen the error of her so-called remedies. Failing to cure Eda with the remedies was [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption the only way]] to get Gwen to see they didn't work, ''period''. So in the grand scheme of things, it's because of Luz helping that Gwen was able to free herself from Wartlop's lies and start helping her daughters for real. She's not wrong to say [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe Luz did her a big favor]].

* If Eda's body parts falling apart every now and again is a part of her curse, why didn't she say that from the start (like in "A lying Witch and the Warden")? For one, we wouldn't have the [[JustEatGilligan mystery of Eda having a curse]] to begin with. Second, as mentioned above, Eda was worried about ousting herself to Luz (or anyone for that matter) and therefore lied about it being what happens to ''all'' witches when they get older.

** It is her first time dealing with the transformation, compared to Eda (who is around two years younger than Lilith, by the way) who has been dealt with it multiple times.
* Lilith's jealousy is more understandable when you consider that Eda was both a serial troublemaker as a child and is openly [[UngratefulBastard rude and dismissive towards their mother]], yet is still favored and doted on. Even worse, the reason Gwen pays so much attention to Eda is because of her curse. Similar to any parents worried about their kids getting a chronic, dangerous disease ... and this was caused by Lilith herself, making the situation even more frustrating.
* Why Eda didn't control her inner beast so well before, despite being cursed for years? Because this time she was aided by Gwen who, besides the usual mother-daughter bonding, is also part of the [[TheBeastMaster Beast Coven]]. She wasn't just communicating and encouraging Eda (and later Lilith), but also calming a feral beast, something she's obviously skilled at. Being stressed makes the curse worse, and Gwen calming her down helped Eda tame the embodiment of her curse. A little FridgeSadness here since it also means that, if Gwen had accepted Eda's curse and helped to deal with it instead of going to extreme and ultimately useless measures, she'd have been able to use her actual talents to help her daughter, all these thirty years.

* Gwen's gag where she reveals herself with a "probably me!" to answer Luz's question about who Eda was avoiding is funny, but it's also a nice bit of foreshadowing for Gwen finally coming to her senses and realizing she was causing more harm than good - Gwen already knows that Eda has been alienated due to her [[MyBelovedSmother insistent]] attempts to cure the curse, and while she laughs it off, she knows it's largely on her. Gwen was ''already'' willing to acknowledge she wasn't the best parent and admit to fault, hence why she was willing to listen when faced with how she was cheated, meaning she already was resistant to the SunkCostFallacy many con men use to keep someone they've scammed on the hook.

** Building on Amity not wanting to be like her father, she doesn't want brown hair because her father [[HenPeckedHusband enables his wife to abuse his children]], something Amity's been doing for years. After all, Amity had brown hair as a kid when she allowed her mother to have her way, by breaking up her friendship with Willow. So of course, Amity doesn't want her natural hair color because she doesn't want to allow her mother to step all over her anymore.

* Lil Rascal becoming Hunter's palisman is actually foreshadowed by his old staff. The top is red, and has a wing design--his new palisman, which traditionally sits atop a witch's staff, is a little red bird.
* Each student receives a palisman that has the form of an animal with attributes matching to the person they pair to. Willow pairs with a bee palisman, marking her as a caretaker of plants and a formidable protector. Gus is paired with a chameleon, known for disguising themselves with camouflage, like the deceptive nature of an illusionist. Boscha is paired with a crab palisman, which have claws with a powerful clamping force and a hard shell. For Luz to receive a bird palisman would suggest that what she desires is freedom, something that is expressed by Lil Rascal's early attempts to escape the palisman holding stump. It is when Hunter says he'd like to be able to figure out his own future, a concrete desire matching to what Lil Rascal desires, that the palisman starts brushing up to him. As such, Hunter is a more appropriate choice than Luz as Lil Rascal's holder, as Luz does not desire freedom, as she essentially already has it, having the chance to live her dream to become a witch.

* Blight Industries is a subsidiary of the Abomination Coven, so that means Alador answers to Darius, and knowing that he doesn’t think highly of them, Darius would’ve vetoed the Abomi-ton Project. But because the Abomi-tons are being manufactured by royal order, Darius has no say in the matter.

* The Owl Beast seemingly being from a different Titan would certainly explain why the curse was so hard to try and cure, it would literally be unlike anything ever seen before in the Isles.
* Amity seems surprisingly forgiving over the fact that Hooty literally kidnapped her from her own home. Though, consider it from her perspective. The first thing she says after Luz frees her from the pellet is that Hooty took her (or, maybe she realized it just that moment). She has already known him as a friend/House Demon of Luz, so it's unlikely she would be all that frightened or disturbed of him, especially when you consider that she has given him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown in the past. At most, Amity was likely grossed out/annoyed. Aside from that, his scheme ultimately ends with her getting together with her crush, a topic she has been dreading so badly to confront that she skipped school so she would be in a good mood to forgive a Hooty playing TheMatchmaker. There’s also the fact that, the first time they met, Amity in a very bad mood that day due to the stress of having to defeat a monster that feeds off your fears and brings them to life. Amity getting mad at Hooty and thrashing him really had nothing to do with him.

* When you think about it, it makes perfect sense that Amity would have blurted out the request for a RelationshipUpgrade before Luz. After all, Amity has been crushing on Luz for a lot longer than Luz has been crushing on her. That being said, giving her long-awaited chance, so Luz can do it, was a major sacrifice on Amity's part.

* If the implications that Hunter is a Grimwalker are accurate, then it makes perfect sense that he can understand Li'l Rascal, Grimwalkers are partially made from Palistrom wood, just like Palismen are.

* Later episodes reveal that Hunter's threat towards Amity regarding Luz were actually completely toothless, albeit he wouldn't have known that. Belos needed Luz alive and unimpeded in order for her to complete the StableTimeLoop that gave his past self both the light glyph and the Collector's mirror, there's also the fact that he probably already knew she had the key since she originally had the portal door it went to but didn't go after her for the above reason. If anything, Amity giving Hunter the key saved ''his'' life, since Belos probably would have killed Hunter for disobeying him and not having anything to show for it.

* Fridge-Heartwarming: Luz and Vee are each other's [[{{Foil}} foils]], one being a human of normal origins who wanted to be [[IJustWantToBeSpecial a witch (with a special destiny on the side)]], while the other is a basilisk brought back from extinction whose known nothing but [[TheLabRat experimentation]] and [[IJustWantToBeNormal longed for normality]]. Luz has been pursuing her dream of being a witch on the Boiling Isles, while Vee has appreciated living in Luz's shoes for all that time. ''But'' there's also a dichotomy between whom each one developed [[ParentalSubstitute a mother-daughter bond]] with, Eda and Camila. Both women became the first people in their respective adopted daughters' lives who gave them the kind of treatment they always wanted. Although Camila does earnestly like Luz's creativity, Eda guided Luz on her journey and always encouraged the girl to confidently accept her own weirdness. After being nothing but a guinea pig in the Emperor's coven, Camila has provided Vee the normality and love she was deprived of (and even accepted her after learning she was a basilisk), allowing the poor young basilisk to have a peaceful life.

* Why is Vee able to make friends at the correction camp? The camp comprises other weirdos like Luz, as they were sent there for correction as well. Her attempts to emulate human behavior just endeared her to [[BirdsOfAFeather her fellow campers]].

* When Masha refers to the Reality Check camp as "prison", Vee claims it "wasn't ''that'' bad". Vee had just arrived in a world she knew nothing about, so a crash course in how to fit in to human society was exactly what she needed. It also meant she wouldn't attract attention for any strange things she did or said, since all of the campers were sent there because of their non-conforming behavior. It's easy to see why she'd have a much more favorable view of the camp.

* Amity got her hands on what appears to be a Dominican cookbook from Gus. Amity remembered her blunder giving Luz a Fairy Pie, and would want to show her she cares by learning to cook not only something Luz can actually digest, but something more close to her heritage. Learning Spanish was just a bonus for Amity, and now she can doubly impress Luz.

* Tibbles is actually responsible for his own failure with the ''Azura'' scam. Time and time again, it is shown that witches are interested in the human world, even if they don't understand it and think humans spit venom and shed their skins. If he had been legit up front and advertised the books as 'having come from the human realm', or 'written by a real human', he'd have sold them on sheer novelty. But because he altered the writer to seem to be a witch, he squandered hundreds if not thousands of potential sales. Contrast that to Eda who, even if she either is completely unaware about human exacts or plays it up for effect, proudly advertises human trinkets and makes money on them.

* Eda praising Edric for how he goofed up the recipe makes more sense when you think back to "Escaping Expulsion" and remember how she tried experimenting with glyphs. That approach was likely how she always did things when it came to studying magic, so of course she's not going to be upset when someone tries experimenting with magic; she's done exactly the same thing, and it may have been how she became such a gifted witch in the first place.

** It makes sense for the Blights children to have their main types of magic. Edric and Emira are Illusionists, perfect for marketing the family and covering up flaws. Amity is in charge Abominations, in case Alador can't fulfill his duties. But notice how the only Oracle of the family is the most narcissistic parent of the two.
* Vee is shown in her true form when we cut to Camila at the end of the episode. She wouldn't need to maintain her disguise around Camila anymore, but there's also likely the pragmatic reason for her doing so. Vee's shapeshifting abilities require magic to function, and magic is in limited supply in the human realm. So she likely now conserves her magic by not shapeshifting when in the house with Camila now that she know who Vee really is.

* The episode offers a glance into the school setting that Eda and Lilith were in, and between how much pressure that Lilith was putting herself under and Faust's general attitude, it isn't hard to see how Lilith snapped. She was already pushing herself hard, and she had seven months to go before the try-out. No wonder she eventually snapped so badly she thought a curse was a better solution than talking to Eda, she had, at minimum, ''months'' of stress, quite possibly ''years'', and eventually it got to her.

* In "I Was a Teenage Abomination," Willow said ''she wasn't even supposed to be doing plant magic'', despite being an obvious prodigy in the field and inept at every other kind of magic. After what Gilbert and Harvey went through during the IFWOT while Terra was supervisor, it's no wonder they disliked plant magic, or they might have been trying to keep Willow away from Terra.

* Philip/Belos being a witch hunter from the 17th century explains everything about his actions. In his eyes, he discovers real aka pagan magic in a different world, which considers them as an affront to God while validating all that he had believed in prior. He no doubt thinks that he is being a hero killing all these witches since he doesn't even have to fabricate proof unlike in the human world.

* Likewise, the background paintings in Belos' mindscape reveal that Philip had a similar relationship with his brother as Lilith had with Eda: They were close as children, shared a childhood dream (joining the Emperor's Coven for Lilith and Eda; becoming witch hunters for Philip and his brother), then later grew to resent and betrayed their sibling. However, while Lilith didn't mean to permanently curse Eda, rightly blamed herself, and dedicated her life to fixing her mistake, we see from the hidden dagger in Belos' mindscape portrait that he ''did'' mean to kill his brother, blames said brother for his own murder ("it hurts every time he chooses to betray me"), and is not trying to fix his mistake by bringing his brother back via a Grimwalker, but openly tries to make a "better version" of his brother (read: more blindly obedient), and kills and discards any Grimwalkers who "betray" him too.
* Relatedly, there's a deeper level of {{Irony}} present in Belos [[IronicEcho unknowingly echoing]] Luz' statement that you 'can't reason with crazy'. Philip and his brother were born during the 1600s. Over the years he extended his lifespan with Palismen, once he figured out the trick to making Grimwalkers, Belos then went on to repeatedly resurrect his brother's image through these beings in a twisted attempt to create a brother who would be willing to join his [[FinalSolution genocidal plans]] for the isles, only for every single one of them to eventually turn against him due to [[CopiedTheMoralsToo his brother's good nature shining through]]. At least 16 masks of the past guards can be seen in Belos' mindscape, and it's unclear if that's all of them. When Hunter brokenly begs him for an explanation for his actions against their 'family' he immediately dismisses the boy as another failure and tries to instantly kill him, clearly intended to repeat the process again and get a more compliant 'brother', ignoring the obvious truth that his attempts will end in failure because of [[TheSociopath his own nature]] clashing against his sibling's. For centuries, Philip/Belos has been repeating the same actions again and again and expecting a different result every time, which is precisely how [[VideoGame/FarCry3 Vaas]] defines insanity.
* A few fans have found it odd that, despite the rather non-subtle allegories that the coven system represents and being lead by a puritan, there's no actual sexism, homophobia or other forms of bigotry. Considering Belos intends to kill all the witches and considers them evil by default, it's possible it's simply splitting hairs as far as he's concerned since they're going to get their "punishment" anyway. Plus, he likely has no existing avenue to drum off fear of race, gender, or sexuality while the fear required for mass control was there to use. Stoking the above fears would be harder work for little gain.
* Belos/Philip's facial affliction is symbolic of his entire character. It resembles (and is implied to actually be) a band of rot running across his head, symbolizing how his mind is 'rotted' from within by his insane beliefs about witches and how they are inherently evil, a view that has warped everything about him into a twisted version of the man he once was, and has cost him both the only relationship he ever really seemed to care about and his physical health, his body decaying from the methods he took to extend his lifespan to ensure he personally would rid the Boiling Isles of Magic-users. Every relationship he is depicting as having with others is shown to be ultimately unhealthy and manipulative, and it is inadvisable to continue accosting with him for you own well-being, least he use you as a tool in his plans and then dispose of you once you're done. His rule over the Isles has resulted in them becoming much more unfriendly and aggressive than they were before he took over, oppressing free will and expression and giving Luz much grief during her earlier times as Eda's apprentice. Mentally, physically and symbolically, Philip is a rotten man who spreads that rot and ill-being to everything he touches.
** There's another angle to Philip's 'rot' affliction. His elderly and withered appearance, combined with the Rot running across his face, put one in mind of an old tree with a visible showing of its inner decay upon its surface. In contrast to Willow's mindscape of lush green and young trees bursting with life and vitality, his mindscape is shown to be covered in dead, rotted and barren trees, twisted and lifeless. Given his Brother was heavily associated with wood, apparently being a woodcarver by trade and making a young Philip the childhood toy mask he would later use as the inspiration for his 'Emperor Belos' mask, this symbolizes Philip as being a 'dead' tree, one that should have passed on long ago, but physically survived and allowed death and decay to build within it until it finally started showing on the surface, much Like Philip still holds fast to his outdated beliefs about witches despite all the evidence that he's wrong. In real life, the best thing to do about such a tree is to cut it down and allow new life to grow where it once was, all fresh and healthy, rather than allow it to remain and potentially spread its decay to the surrounding trees. Philip has remained standing for too long and has actively [[TheCorrupter warped]] the people of the isles into becoming much less friendly and welcoming than they once were, with his ultimate aim being the complete devastation of their species. In order to save the Boiling Isles, Philip and his rotten, twisted beliefs must be cut down and purged completely, before they can start to rebuild and let new beliefs and ways of using magic grow, to become better after his poisonous presence is removed.
** To continue the dying tree analogy, dead and rotted trees are vulnerable to fire. Fire burns away sick and dead trees to let fresh growth occur in the forest. Fire itself is something that spreads quickly and is known for being chaotic, and while it does cause short term destruction for a natural environment, it is important for long term sustainability. The fire in this scenario is Luz: Luz does create short term problems, but those problems allow for long term solutions. Luz's initially an annoying means to an end for Eda, but Eda gets a huge boost to her life and relationships via ChildrenRaiseYou. Luz's antics do get Willow in trouble, but without Luz Willow would still be the 'half-a-witch' struggling in a tract she hates, and she'd never become the popular, skilled witch she is before Season One ends. Luz's cost Amity her star and got her embarrassed in front of the Emperor's Coven due to Lilith, but without Luz Amity would still be in an unhealthy and unhappy place, still be estranged from Willow, and otherwise be barely better than Boscha. Luz's antics with Eda give Lilith no end of grief, but without Luz Lilith would have never had the means of reconciling with her parents or Eda, let alone returning to her true self. This list can go on and on, but Luz is the spark that creates the fire that people need, and that is particularly dreaded by the dead and rotten trees that Belos represents.

** Back to the aged, rotting, disease spreading concept of Belos as a rotten piece of wood, one should take note of the (seemingly) worse of the Coven Heads. Terra Snapdragon is perhaps the most wicked witch in all the Boiling Isles. She's the one Coven Head we know for sure is not on team 'Day of Unity is Bad' as of this episode. She tortures flies and children, and spreads the worst aspects of Belos's rule. She's also the ''old'' and ''rotten'' head of the Plant Coven.
* Hooty's new defenses are a quite an upgrade to what we've seen before--usually, it's just Hooty who takes care of everything, and magical defenses were usually done by Eda, back when she could still cast magic. If you remember back in "Eclipse Lake," Amity wanted to beef up the house's defenses, and these new additions (metal shutters, barbed posts) were added/created at Amity's suggestion.

* The most obvious clue to Kid Belos faking sympathy and tears is his mask. This mask hides his facial expressions that would otherwise clue in his true intentions. Additionally, the mask helps hide any genuine fears and sadness from others (i.e. witches), representing Belos' inability to understand why these vulnerable emotions are healthy to express outwards. It also symbolizes Belos' absolute refusal to elaborate his FreudianExcuse (namely about his brother) to Luz, since he wants Luz see him as a strong and noble hero saving humanity for a selfless purpose. Anything regarding his personal trauma of feeling abandoned by Caleb would be seen as being weak and sinful in Belos' eyes despite the series showing how opening up to your insecurities is better in the long run. It's a reminder that FreudianExcuseDenial doesn't make you morally superior than [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse someone who is using the excuse to do evil]].

* Fridge Heartwarming, but one of King's character arcs throughout the series is him getting attached to his FoundFamily in Eda and Luz, despite yearning to know more about his origins and aware that eventually Luz will return to the human realm and leave him behind. With the reveal that he's a Titan, whose powers over dimensional displacement are so strong that a sample of Titan blood was the main power source of the portal key, it's clear that King, once he masters his natural abilities, will always have the power to visit or find Luz and Eda no matter the distance between them, using his power to help keep him family together.

* A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UjJCY65V8c&lc=Ugwi4FpfXTzP3SxTpix4AaABAg viewer]] notes that it makes sense that it is Hunter and not Luz that blows the lid regarding the Day of Unity to the local residents, or at least to Hexside. Nobody, beyond Luz's closest friends, would ever believe Luz if she were to tell people about the Day of Unity because, come on, it's Luz the Human. It's not even the weirdest/most insane thing she ever said. But Hunter, the Golden Guard, Emperor’s right-hand man, a man from the inside, telling everyone the Day of Unity is bad, many people will take him seriously, because he's used to always being so serious about everything. Losing Hunter may be worse for Belos than having Luz and Eda against him.

* Of course, the Captain’s Abomaton fell quite easily at the hands of Willow and Amity. Amity got herself acquainted to the latest one in “Reaching Out”, and she’d know all its weaknesses.
* When it comes time to brand the students with sigils, Edric is pick to be first. Edric is in 3 different tracks, more than any other student other than Luz, who is absent.

* Hunter is surprisingly quick to take on - and seems to be a natural at - the rule of an older brother. He develops a BigBrotherInstinct toward Gus in this episode, being determined to protect and take care of him. Even before his switch, "Hollow Mind" heavily implies that Caleb's good nature could not be erased, as every grimwalker made in his likeness, culminating in Hunter, has betrayed Belos for the good of witchkind. This isn't just a part of Hunter's HeelFaceTurn; it's Caleb's BigBrotherInstinct shining through.

[[AC: O Titan, Where art thou?]]

* Luz and Amity's BigDamnKiss takes on another aspect with the setting. Luz makes her way to Amity's balcony window, growing a lot of vines to reach it with the plant glyph, and makes her way in with the setting sun and newly-grown flora making her look like a 'fairy-tale prince' come to rescue the princess. Not only does this show how Luz is ''finally'' living the life of fantasy she always imagined about in school, but it also harkens back to Luz's failed tryouts for the school play in "A Lying Witch and a Warden."..as 'Romeo and Juliet', another famous romance with a balcony scene.
* Ever notice a pattern to King lately? Every time he talks to someone who is thinking about their life choices, they tend to convert sides? He's talked to both Steve and Alador, and they ended up reforming because King took the time to listen to them and talk with them. This might imply that if his destiny is to be a leader like he always wanted, perhaps King is [[CharacterDevelopment learning to listen to his people]] [[CharacterDevelopment like a true king]].

* Luz's last desperate attempt to save herself from petrification plays on Philip's lack of knowledge of the modern day. Not only does Philip see a sort of kinship with the only other human, saying that the Boiling Isles corrupted her too, another implication towards his brother, but for as long as he has been gone, he probably knows he's been forgotten and assumes that everyone he has known is dead and others probably assumed he had died himself. His misguided belief that he would finally return to a thankful people for eliminating the threat of witches would be dashed if they didn't know who he was. Thus sparing Luz so that she would be his advocate.

* Somewhat fridge Heartwarming/hilarious. A recurring theme throughout season 2 was how Eda had taken in two wayward children for what she claimed was her own selfish reasons, and over time wound up unintentionally adopting them both. King eventually takes Eda's family name and legally gets adopted as her son, and Luz and Eda's student-teacher bond eventually transformed into a near-parental one, especially once Eda loses her magic and has to put extra effort into caring for Luz. Multiple characters eventually come to refer to Luz as 'Eda's kid' and they do everything short of actually calling each other 'mom and daughter' to confirm that Eda is now Luz's second mom. Once she and her friends wind up trapped in the human world, Luz turns up at Camila's house with Willow (who has two dads), Gus (whose mother has never been seen or mentioned), Amity (who has [[AbusiveParents Odalia]] as a mother and who she recently disowned), and Hunter (who has Belos as a parental figure which ... enough said). Add in Vee living at her house and Camila has now wound up having to fulfill the role of a positive parental mother figure to ''five'' kids at once in addition to Luz.
* Vee's shapeshifting problems were reliant on her having a source of magic to drain from in order to maintain her human disguise as 'Luz', and whilst they were able to find some Hexas Holdem cards to sustain her for a while, those were limited, especially with the portal being under Philip's control and access to other magical items being cut off, so Vee's ability to maintain a human disguise always had a time limit to it. Vee is even shown around Camila's house in her natural form, showing that she's trying to conserve her magic transformations' ability by only using it where necessary. However, with Luz having brought her naturally magically gifted friends along with her to Earth by accident/desperation to evade the Collector, she's now provided Vee with a source of magic that can potentially be renewed depending on how the kids generate it through their bile sacs, and which can help Vee get over her trauma over taking it from living things in Philip's experiments by [[VegetarianVampire giving her permission to drain some of their magic]].
* There's a bit of subtle symbolism present in Philip's facial scar 'expanding' into the full-body rot monster he is underneath. He demonstrates the ability to 'shrink' it back to a normal-looking scar with focus and effort once planning to return to the human realm, implying that he always had the ability to do so beforehand, but never bothered to do so until he wanted to appear 'normal' again. The scar tends to expand when he's stressed or angry, as shown by it slightly growing when Luz almost hits him with a fireball spell, which he's hinted to have a fear or complex about, and it fully expands back into its normal diagonal appearance when Luz calls out Philip on how he's 'barely human' himself, which is shown to be a massive BerserkButton for him when interacting with the Collector. Him devolving into his full monstrous BlobMonster appearance once Luz brands him doesn't seem to be just because it's draining the magic that helps keep control of his condition, but also because of his sheer ''rage'' towards Luz for the ''audacity'' of branding him and trying to force him to stop the spell, with the hints that he's in a spiteful denial of his own mortality and refusal to stop the draining spell even if he could. Whilst he manages to regain enough control over himself to try a ShapeshifterGuiltTrip on Hunter, the sight of Flapjack in his hands sends him into an instantaneous rage that causes the scar to violently grow again almost in response to his anger. This seems strange until you remember the circumstances that caused him to gain the scar and his facial affliction with it - he was consumed with spiteful anger towards 'witches' like Lilith for her 'barbaric' attack upon him and internalising that towards moving forward with his plans to enact a FinalSolution upon the Boiling Isles when he consumed a Palisman that infected the raw wound with magic. The scar therefore became 'linked' to his emotional state and tends to grow and expand as a symbolic reflection of Philip's inner anger or negativity towards others, which by the present day has transformed him into a monster underneath the thin 'mask' he puts on to hide his true monstrous nature. This puts another spin on the scar being at such a large and unnatural state as Belos' 'default' look- he's ''[[TranquilFury always]]'' angry or annoyed by being in the Boiling Isles for so long and dealing with beings he has no desire to interact with beyond killing them, and thus the scar is always unnaturally large and exposed.

* In hindsight, King blasting Luz to the Human world is the smarter move instead of having her stay behind. He is already getting pulled towards the Collector while Luz is futilely pulling herself apart, playing tug-o-war with a cosmic child and a collapsing portal. If she stayed, Luz will be at the mercy of the Collector like the rest of the Boiling Isles (that is if she doesn't get crushed by the rubble afterwards) while her friends will be left with no guide to the human world, ensuring that they will find themselves in trouble with government agents of an Earth that just got recently invaded by frog aliens without knowing what to do to blend in.
* The Collector's mannerisms are subtly different between his two 'playmates', being a bit more lenient and restrained around King when he's about to 'play Tag' with Luz and her fiends vs his incredibly violent ending of Philip when he 'tagged' him. Given his childlike nature and AmbiguousInnocence, it's implied that he picks up the mannerisms of those whom he interacts with when enacting his games, and since Philip was a genuine {{Sadist}} who took pleasure from hurting others and doubtlessly enlisted the Collector's help in his FinalSolution plan by framing it as a massive 'game' he wanted to play with everybody, the Collector ends up emulating that, acting more violent and murderous as a reflection of Philip's own nature being copied in an attempt to get along with his playmate. This makes Philip's LudicrousGibs fate at his hands another dose of LaserGuidedKarma, with his own mannerisms and actions coming back to haunt him at the worst possible time.

* There's been a subtle theme of loss, or 'letting go' throughout the show, which is linked to change and the individuals growing into stronger people from allowing themselves to move on. Throughout season 2, this has increased to numerous people making different sacrifices or letting go of things that they hold dear. Luz gradually leans to let go of her childish perceptions about the fantasy world she's in and see it for what it truly is, learning the Glyph magic as a result because she can see the hidden wonders of the world around her. Eda knowingly sacrifices her magic and succumbs to her curse to save Luz from Lilith, and Lilith likewise sacrifices her own magical powers to restore Eda to a humanoid form, as well as the position of power she'd held in the Emperor's coven that she cursed Eda to get. King lets go of his childish delusions of being the 'king of demons', and learns to see himself as he truly is, and appreciate himself as a normal kid with a simple life, before discovering his grand nature as the last remaining Titan. Amity lets go of her AlphaBitch nature and pretentious of being 'perfect', as well as her desire to join the emperor's coven, becoming Luz's girlfriend and regaining her friendship with Willow as a result. In "Eclipse Lake" she lets go of the portal key to protect Luz, but learns about a source of titan's blood she can use to go home. Hunter gradually starts to let go of his deep-rooted beliefs about Belos loving him and realising that he's just a disposable pawn amongst many to him, ultimately gaining Flapjack, alongside the ability to cast natural magic without Belos' {{Magitek}} staff, gaining friends amongst Hexside, and eventually managing to survive with his life whereas all other Golden guards died after learning the truth about Belos.
** Belos himself, however, thematically runs counter to this, making ''others'' commit the sacrifices and take the losses on his behalf as he reaps the rewards without reprisal, always 'taking' and never 'giving' of himself. He sacrificed numerous denizens of the demon realm throughout his expeditions, the Grimwalkers he created multiple times required taking several ingredients from various locations or beings who were non-violent towards others, he took Luz's knowledge of the missing fourth Light Glyph he needed and repaid her by leaving her for dead and abusing the full magic system for his own twisted and selfish purposes over the years, using his various magical abilities to harm others for his own gains, particularly the Grimwalkers. Rather than accept he was wrong about the Boiling isles being a place of evil he instead held tightly onto his FantasticRacism and prejudice against the inhabitants, 'sacrificing' Caleb to prove that his own perceptions of the Isles were the truth, and that his brother was the one who made the wrong choice, and being willing to do the same to Luz when she also disagrees with him. Any deals he makes, he never upholds his end of the bargain when the other person successfully does, allowing them to make the effort and sacrifice their 'deal' demanded whilst he loses nothing personally. He regularly takes Palismen from the denizens and 'sacrifices' them to sustain his lifespan, and plans on [[FinalSolution killing them all]] on the Day of Unity through the Draining Spell, afterwards returning to Earth to [[WrittenByTheWinners paint the demon realm as a place of monsters and evil witches that he protected humanity from]], exacting to gain glory and praise for it, 'sacrificing' them all on the altar of his ambitions.
** It is fitting, therefore, that it is [[AllTakeAndNoGive this exact attitude]] that ultimately does him in and undoes everything he's been working for centuries. When the Draining Spell is active, he has basically won and has nothing forcing him to remain in the demon realm anymore, but he delays leaving because he cannot let go of his obsession with being correct about the demon realm being somewhere humans don't belong, trying to [[MyWayOrTheHighway force Luz to accept his way of thinking or kill her himself]] as another 'sacrifice' to his beliefs about the isles being inherently evil. Luz points out to him that [[CassandraTruth nobody will actually believe his stories about the demon realm]] without physical proof or somebody to support his claims, and rather to accept that as a natural consequence of the time he spent setting up the draining spell and choose to live as a self-believed HumbleHero upon Earth, Philip instead chooses to accept Luz's offer to gain the fame and glory he wants for his efforts, holding tightly onto his belief that he 'deserves' to be rewarded for his efforts, which allows Luz to brand him. In his monstrous true form, Philip can form blades from his body, but it never occurs to him to sever the piece of his body that's branded to escape the spell's effect, whereas Raine is able to protect Eda from the spell by sacrificing just her arm to it. Rather than honor his agreements or goodwill with the Collector or Kikimora, he's downright gleeful at the opportunity to burn his bridges with them for good, out of his belief that they sincerely deserve to be left to rot because of their nature as magical non-human beings, which leaves him alone and without aid when they each individually get their opportunity for payback against him, and ultimately results in the draining spell being halted at the behest of somebody who ''did'' a genuine sacrifice for the Collector. Philip's plans going astray at the 11th hour was simply due to his karma catching up to him all at once from never sacrificing or giving of himself over the centuries he'd remained in the demon realm.
* Philip's bold-faced lie about Hunter 'hurting him' despite Hunter being the only one not actually ''attacking'' him in the fight not only proves that his abuse of the boy had nothing to do with Hunter's own actions, it serves to illustrate another reason why Philip made the Grimwalkers. Philip puts noticeable effort into trying to emotionally compromise Hunter when he's losing control of the fight and himself, putting on the 'mask' of the kindly elder to manipulate him despite the obvious falseness of his claims. Given his ControlFreak nature, it's implied that Philip gained a sense of comfort and stability from controlling, tricking and sometimes [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou venting his ire]] in private against the obedient servants that he made the Grimwalkers to be, effectively using them as living stress toys to vent his more negative emotions in a controlled manner, just like the ones Bump gave Eda to use in "Them's the Breaks, Kid." Losing control over his plans, his body, and the fight against a bunch of inferior children, not to mention just being forced to experience his worst memories thanks to Gus, made Philip emotionally volatile and desperate for any form of stability or control he could salvage from the situation, leading to him focusing on Hunter again, just like he's implied to have done before when otherwise angered or annoyed and needing to 'vent'. The BlatantLies also make slightly more sense when you hear them and realise he might have been referring to ''Caleb'' instead of Hunter, due to Gus's spell forcing his brother into the forefront of his mind and Philip's obsession with seeing a Grimwalker become the 'better version' of his brother he so desired. "Why are you hurting me?" (By siding with the witches again over your own brother). "I only wanted to help you" (see things the way they're ''meant'' to be and [[IRejectYourReality not as they really are]], with it being greatly implied that the sibling's falling-out was due to Caleb rejecting Philip's 'help' the first time). Seeing Flapjack, the Palisman that his brother carved to show his acceptance of the Boiling Isles' magic and the people there, so enrages Philip because Flapjack's the living symbol of what his brother 'chose' to become in the end, and the version of Caleb that Philip was so repulsed by, he killed him and still carries the grudge against his brother to the present day, not the version of Caleb that Philip [[LovingAShadow imagined he was in their childhood]], and whom he is obsessed with recreating.
* Philip makes a point to needlessly mock both Kimimora and the Collector with his manipulations of them both, once he feels they've finally served their purpose to him, and he's free to cut ties with them, without decisively ending their potential to upset his goals with his own hands, like killing Kikimora or shattering the Collector's disk. This seems like a noticeable oversight for such a shrewd manipulator, no matter how much he may believe there's nothing they can do to stop him at this point, but it makes sense when paired with his actions beforehand. Philip shows in "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" and Hollow Mind" that he just ''can't'' resist letting the witches and denizens of the Demon realm know of his true nature and feelings towards them when the opportunity arises, especially as he's planning to dispose them shortly afterwards, [[EvilGloating rubbing it in their faces that he used them without remorse and has nothing but naked distain for their mere existence]]. This pairs alongside his GloryHound motivations for returning to earth and being lauded for committing genocide against witches - Philip ''wants'' to let others who he is and what he's done, he ''wants'' to be recognised for his real nature, and secretly chafes under needing to constantly disguise and obscure his real self under the false identity of 'Belos' after learning his lesson from 'Philip' becoming HatedByAll too soon for him to enact the Draining Spell under that identity. Like a child wanting to be praised for doing a good deed or proving cleverer than others, Philip doesn't just want to succeed at his goals, he wants others to ''understand'' that he's succeeded, that he was better than them and there's nothing they can do about it, leaving both Kikimora and the Collector behind to rot in that knowledge out of his own smug satisfaction from achieving victory at last. This is another example of his PsychopathicManchild nature hidden underneath his claims of being an enlightened elder, that Philip is a sore winner who ''has'' to [[UnsportsmanlikeGloating show off his victory to anyone who'll listen]], and thus it becomes a FatalFlaw that leads to Luz outwitting him, and Kikimora and the Collector each contributing to undoing the Draining Spell, and rendering his guaranteed victory for naught.
* The only person whom Belos doesn't immediately throw away like trash is Luz. In fact, he genuinely does want Luz to return to the Human Realm. It actually highlights why he always breaks his promises with magical beings. He views humans superior and thus worthy of treating them as equals whereas every magical being is evil, and therefore it's okay to backstab them because they deserve it. This is why he falls for Luz's trickery ''twice'' and why he is willing to spare her life even after the StableTimeLoop was completed. This even goes as far as his justification to petrify Luz after she calls him inhuman. He doesn't blame her for pressing his BerserkButton, he blames the Boiling Isles inhabitants for "corrupting" her mind. It's a NeverMyFault mentality on a species scale. Additionally, despite Philip overpowering Luz and having her in his strong grasp, he never forcibly takes her through the door. Instead, he gives her a choice and genuinely pleads to Luz to head home and forget the Boiling Isles, stating he doesn't want to see another human life destroyed. When Luz refuses, Philip simply decides to kill her through petrification out of "mercy" rather than force her through the door. It makes sense because Philip is obsessed with being right and forcing her to return to the Human Realm would not prove his views to be correct. He has to give the freedom of choice to Luz to validate it, and it's heavily implied he did the same with Golden Guards, since his first action when they rebel against him is killing them rather than forcibly brainwashing them.
* Philip's ironic role in the story as being analogous to the WickedWitch archetype he so hates and actively works towards wiping out, given another angle to Luz using the sigil against him. In the classic grim fairy tales, the KidHero of the stories would often be physically weak and unable to protect themselves from the direct threat of the monsters they faced, but in exchange, they would have [[GuileHero great smarts and adaptability]] to their plight as well as great courage, able to recognise their weaknesses and shortcomings and working within those to leverage their strengths against their enemy's own flaws and shortcomings, and often turned the tables on them by using their opponent's own tactics or methods against them in a fatal manner. In 'Hansel and Gretal', The witch aimed to eat Hansel by fattening him up first, but he used her poor eyesight against her, offering a chicken bone instead of his own finger to make her think he was still too scrawny to eat. Similarly, Luz using Philip's own GloryHound nature and desire for recognition and respect for his deeds against him, leveraging his ignorance of the modern world to convince him to stop petrifying her, faking her submission to him by calling him '[[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious Philip]]' which she'd refused to do so before to help distance herself from the accidental help she'd given the would-be genocidal dictator. Philip has all but won by that point, but his own character flaws lead him to undo the petrification and even condescend to Luz's gesture of a handshake to seal their deal out of smug satisfaction in his utter victory, giving her the opportunity to brand him despite his immense power, much like the witch could have eaten Hansel at any point, but refused to do so until he was a good meal. Likewise, the witch attempts to trick Gretel into the Oven so she can cook her, only for her to pretend to be to stupid to understand what she means until the witch physically demonstrates by crawling into the oven herself, allowing Gretel to burn her instead. Luz uses Philip's preferred method of '[[DealWithTheDevil making a deal]]' with him despite never intended to honour her side of it against him, branding him with the sigil of his own coven that he avoided getting unlike every other witch who followed him and resulting in the Draining Spell starting to kill him as well. The situation even [[HistoryRepeats parallels Philip's own betrayal of Caleb]], making it clear that Luz is using Philip's own methods and actions against him in one move to give him his due comeuppance. However, because the Boiling Isles does ''not'' follow typical story narratives, Philip is still able to move despite Luz outwitting him and weakening him, whereas Hansel and Gretel's trickery of the witch spelled their victory the instant they succeeded, and would have killed Luz and her friends if not for the interference of the Collector.

* Belos wearing his old colonial clothes is not a symbolism of how he never changed despite living in the Boiling Isles for 400 years. Rather, it symbolizes his denial that he has been permanently changed by the place, whether he likes it or not. Belos believes that Titan is somewhat alive, despite knowing the Titan is dead, and he's been lying to the masses about hearing the Titan's will. His human glamour fails him when Luz calls him "barely human" and despite looking like a young, clean-shaven Philip Wittebane when he first entered the Boiling Isles, his wrinkles and dull hair signify his age. Thus, it is fitting that when Belos finally returns back to the Human Realm, he's reduced to a small magic goop on the floor, with the implication that he will remain stuck in his monster form permanently and be forced to face cold truth that he has changed ... and for the worse.

* With the reveal that Amity's EmbarrassingNickname came from Alador making abomination mittens for her whenever she got cold as a child, it makes sense that she'd come to favor making {{Power Fist}}s of the stuff as an attack as she got older since she'd subconsciously consider having her hands covered with the stuff as comforting.

* An in-universe fridge-heartwarming: In school, Luz remarks that the hero of the book they're discussing [[PsychologicalProjection has caused so many problems and should never have been involved in the story]]. In turn, the teacher points out that despite Luz's claims, the good that the hero did in the book actually ''outweighs'' the mistakes he's done. In the grand scheme of things, Luz's good deeds also outweigh her mistake, like how she mended the Clawthorne sisters' relationship, helped King learn the truth, lead Amity to defy her mother's abuse and make all of the above better, happier people with more fulfilling lives, and beyond that the simple fact that the Hexsquad is still alive and thus able to fight back against Belos and the Collector is all due to Luz's efforts. This could be the show's way of foreshadowing what she ultimately learns.

** When meeting Vee, Camila offers to drive "Luz" to camp, promising her "full control of the playlist," as well as mentioning that she got the day off from work, contradicting her earlier assertion that she had to go - it's a clear sign that Camila wanted to make the transition into camp smooth and possibly delay her daughter's journey to "normality."

** What's more, witch hunts is the type of thing that encourages people to blame every small inconvenience ''[[TheScapegoat on]]'' witches. Cow isn't giving enough milk? Witches. Crops are dying during a drought? Witches. Leaky roof? Witches! It's no wonder Philip never owns up to anything, even when the fault is clearly his own.

* Despite being exorcised out of Hunter, Belos manages to regain his monstrous form and could [[CurbstompBattle easily crush]] the Hexsquad (even with Vee ready to drain his magic) like he did in "King's Tide." But why did he decide to instead use the Titan's blood to open the portal and go to the Demon Realm. It's because of Luz's ArmorPiercingResponse to his accusation of Hunter stabbing him in the back. He stabbed Hunter/Caleb first, and thus is the true traitor and villain. Belos doesn't respond immediately to Luz's words, and just goes for the portal. Before he departs, he says to Luz that he's doing it for the good of their souls and that they'll be thanking him later. He wants to prove to Luz that he's somehow still the true hero. [[FatalFlaw He still needs human vindication to justify all his actions first]], and this ironically saved the Hexsquad and Hunter.

** The second episode "Witches Before Wizards" has Luz dealing with puppets, and voicing her hopes of being understood despite her oddball tendencies. The penultimate episode is about all of Bones Burrow being turned into puppets, and Luz's wish of being understood finally being realized.
** The first episode "A Lying Witch and a Warden" began with Luz dreaming she could be like the good witch Azura and freeing the misfit witches from imprisonment. The synopsis of the final episode is implied to be a BookEnds of just that: Luz accomplishing her dream of becoming like Azura, and freeing the Boiling Isles from [[AndIMustScream their collective prison]].

* It would make sense that Amity would be the one to have Camila ride with her; she want to keep making a good impression on her girlfriend's mother and potential future ''mother-in-law''.

* Outside of the obvious, why wouldn't Belos possess Odalia instead of Raine if he's been rendered beyond desperate by his circumstances? Because he's still smart enough to know they're the better choice: Raine's Eda's ex so there's at least one person who'd hesitate to attack him, compared to everyone jumping to beat him if he took over Odalia. Furthermore, Raine's currently in a puppet state provided by the Collector, which is implied to be keeping them stable, while Odalia has no such protection to the Burnout should Belos take her over instead.
* Why is Boscha desperate enough to get Amity back to her side to plead for it, when no prior episode showed her ever caring about it? Because she's literally the only person she has left: Cat and Amelia were turned into puppets and taken away, as have most of the adults, and while Skara's around, the two don't really interact in the whole episode. Given how she was arranged to be Amity's friend in the past, becoming friends again is her last chance to regain some of the normalcy and comfort she had before The Owl House-geddon.
* It seems like nearly every adult in the Boiling Isles was already captured by the Collector by the time Luz and the others arrived while the only survivors (ones not explicitly spared by the Collector) are kids and teens. Given that nearly every adult had a coven sigil, they would have still been dazed and confused after the Collector began their assault even if they weren't present for the Day of Unity and not been able to run while the kids were already on edge from seeing their families suddenly fall ill and be prepared to run and hide.

* The Collector said early on that he'd accept no substitutions over the real Eda. Who does Belos choose to possess? [[StealthPun Not Eda, but]] [[OldFlame the next best thing.]]

** Caleb's expression is cold and full disgust, in contrast to the warm and always loving Caleb in Belos' memory portraits. While it may be possible that Caleb's spirit is disgusted with his brother's actions, it's still jarring to see a warm-hearted person be this cold and unforgiving to his little brother. But this Caleb is perfect as a manifestation of Belos' fears. An elder brother that looks at him like trash. An elder brother that is ready to punish his younger brother with a belt. This is how Belos envisions Caleb to be if he was alive, reflecting how his abusive and manipulative tactics on Hunter have actually made it more difficult for [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Belos to even know what true happiness and sadness are]]. And if that's not enough, [[ReflectionlessUselessEyes Caleb's eyes lack light reflection]], bearing more resemblance to Belos' icy cold eyes of present day, the same eyes that Hunter fears displeasing.
* King wears a bandage over the crack on his skull throughout the episode, even though it's been months since he got the injury, which is still visible. In real life, bones don't heal in the same way as other tissue: instead of scarring, they remodel themselves, which is a slow process that can continue for years. Regardless of if it works the same way for King, it makes sense that it'd take much longer to heal than the cut on Luz's eyebrow.

* Luz choosing to remain silent as Belos lies dying in front of her makes sense when you realize that, back in "Enchanting Grom Fright," one the things she realized from facing "online jerks who want to debate" is that people like those don't come from a place of intellectual honesty, and that debating them would be pointless. Belos is simply someone who falls into that category, is dying, and beneath her. On top of that, saying anything to him or listening to anything he says would just be wasting the effort of one's breath and would put even more strain on her ears when he inevitably tries to retort.

* Belos' role as Luz's {{Foil}} continues even unto the final confrontation and their respective powerups. Belos consumes and controls the body of the Titan to become a massive, mostly-physical threat, referencing how he's stolen and corrupted every source of power he's gained to harm others for his own sake, attacking alone as an omnipresent mass. Luz meanwhile, meets the soul of the Titan, which is 'where the magic happens', and is given the choice to gain his immense remaining magical powers to become the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, fighting alongside her FoundFamily in combination with their unique skills to defeat him. Luz is ultimately left bereft of both her immense strength and the Glyph magic in the aftermath, but she can move forward and find purpose without either thanks to the support of her friends and family on both sides of the portal. Belos has lied, manipulated and killed anybody who would support him on either side, and has ''nothing'' without the purpose of hunting witches, clinging to his hatred of them even to his last breaths, and is thus left weakened and collapsing into pieces even without the heroes having to directly attack him, unable to continue on without being able to parasitically drain 'support' from others who would give it to him.

** The first major on the list is "Ancient Glyphs and Combos." While, yes, the glyphs no longer would work, Luz is the one who rediscovered the system in the first place - while she might not know the fully ''history'' of glyph magic, she most certainly knows how to draw them and most likely also knows the combos. And, should she need further assistance, she can just consult King.

*** Not to mention Stringbean is a living source of magic meaning like Eda and Owlebert Luz can use staff magic as normal.

** "''I have no future now. None of us do!''" As evidenced by the [[DistantFinale epilogue]], Willow comes out the experience with ''far'' better outcome than if she remained a poor bullied kid slated to die in "The Day of Unity" genocide. Not only is she alive to tell the tale, but she's grown into the self-confident captain of the Emerald Entrails, and [[MaybeEverAfter Hunter's potential, loving girlfriend]]. And as for no one having a future, ''[[WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue everyone does]]''!

* Amity got her hands on what appears to be a Dominican cookbook from Gus. Amity remembered her blunder giving Luz a Fairy Pie, and would want to show her she cares by learning to cook not only something Luz can actually digest, but something more close to her heritage. Learning Spanish was just a bonus for Amity, and now she can double impress Luz.

** In a Heartwarming angle about this same thought, The Titan's message for Luz to pass on is a brief "I loaf you." A simple, earnest message that tells King not just that his father always loved him, but never stopped looking out for him and admiring his interests..

* In terms of typical witch names, the name Willow is so common it's almost stereotypical, and the pilot shows that she was intentionally renamed this. Consider Willow's two most prominent relationships in the show - Amity and Hunter; both endured abusive upbringings and were directly taught that their worth was tied to their usefulness, and both took it out of those around them. In nature, certain trees are very good at purifying polluted soil by absorbing the toxins, essentially healing the ground they stand on. Willow trees are particularly helpful towered this end.

* On the surface, it seems like Luz [[InSpiteOfANail didn't really help Gwen]] outside enabling her using "remedies" on Eda. It wasn't Luz who stopped Eda or Lilith in their bird-beast forms, that fell to Gwen. Then one realizes: Luz ''did'' help Gwen ''because'' she enabled her remedies. If Luz hadn't helped Gwen pull off her remedies, Eda wouldn't have eventually become an owl-beast, and Gwen wouldn't have first-hand seen the error of her so-called remedies. Failing to cure Eda with the remedies was [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption the only way]] to get Gwen to see they didn't work, ''period''. So in the grand scheme of things, it's because of [[ForWantOfANail Luz helping]] that Gwen was able to free herself from Wartlop's lies and start helping her daughters for real. She's not wrong to say [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe Luz did her a big favor]].

** Additionally, Hunter's yellow shirt immediately draws parallels with Captain Kirk. During the final battle, he strips down to a black shirt, attempts a HeroicSacrifice and is ultimately revived via a blood-based AppliedPhlebotinum. [[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness Where have we seen that before?]]

* You could argue that ''this'' is the episode where Amity develops feelings for Luz. Why? It's the first one where Luz tries to make a peace offering to Amity in her happy place - the library - and goes out of her way to rescue her when Otabin nearly sews Amity into his book. Amity eventually realizes that she's being unnecessarily defensive, and is forced to contemplate her actions when Luz lends her book five of ''Azura''. Sometimes a little kindness goes a long way.

** If you're familiar with the [[http://www.creationtheory.org/Essays/Phrases.xhtml Fundie Phrase Dictionary]], Belos' ObliviouslyEvil tendencies--and his reaction to Luz calling him evil--take on a whole new dimension, as the "fundie" definitions of good and evil are obedience and disobedience to God respectively. If this is his mindset, it creates a toxic mix of BlackAndWhiteInsanity and CircularReasoning that preempts any HeelRealization or attempts to reason with him; in his mind, he is obeying God by murdering witches because witches inherently disobey God.

** If you're familiar with the [[http://www.creationtheory.org/Essays/Phrases.xhtml Fundie Phrase Dictionary]], Belos' ObliviouslyEvil tendencies--and his reaction to Luz calling him evil--take on a whole new dimension, as the "fundie" definitions of good and evil are obedience and disobedience to God respectively. This creates a toxic mix of BlackAndWhiteInsanity and CircularReasoning that preempts any HeelRealization or attempts to reason with him; in his mind, he is obeying God by murdering witches because witches inherently disobey God.

** If you're familiar with the [[http://www.creationtheory.org/Essays/Phrases.xhtml Fundie Phrase Dictionary]], Belos' ObliviouslyEvil tendencies--and his reaction to Luz calling him evil--take on a whole new dimension, as the "fundie" definitions of good and evil are obedience and disobedience to God respectively. The result of this is a toxic mix of BlackAndWhiteInsanity and CircularReasoning that preempts any HeelRealization or attempts to reason with him; in his mind, he is obeying God by murdering witches because witches inherently disobey God.

* Doubles as Fridge Heartwarming. During the montage, Amity draws the twins in two different colors, purple for Emira and green for Edric. As many fans have pointed out, this shows Amity sees them as two unique individuals rather than a set of two.[[note]]This is also seen in previous episodes where she tends to call them "Ed and Em" rather than "the twins"[[/note]] When compared to their mother, who seems to exclusively call them "the twins," it's refreshing to see, especially when "Enchanting Grom Fright" revealed that Emira's worst fear is being stuck with Edric forever.

* The little "Weh!" noise King [[VerbalTic regularly made]] throughout the series could very well have been an early indicator of the [[MakeMeWannaShout ability]] King developed in this episode.