The Owl House

The titular location of the show, it houses the main characters of The Owl House. Located in the outskirts of Bonesborough near a cliff, the house itself stands in front of a tower that was owned by Dell Clawthorne.

Character-Specific Pages

Luz Noceda (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

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General

Adopted to the House: The only character who lives in the Owl House who isn't a surefire example of this trope is Hooty, due to his unclear backstory. Eda came to the Owl House, and began restoring it while she was on the run from the Emperor's Coven, due to it having been an old home of her father's, and she knew it could be a safe haven. When Eda met King at the Island his father had safely left him at, she ended up bringing him with her when she was attacked by Jean-Luc, and allowed him to room with her when she found out he was a person without a home. Luz ended up staying at the Owl House so she wouldn't have to attend "Reality Check" Summer Camp, and got to learn Magic as a result. The biggest example of this is Lilith due to her joining the household after she turned against the Emperor's Coven, and was left with no Magic, and no place to stay.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Every member of the Owl House has this. They can be somewhat dysfunctional and lapse into bickering, but when the chips are down they show off their struts. Case in point that Luz, who had no magic in the first three episodes, managed to stage a riot against the Warden; we also see that Hooty can curbstomp anyone registered as a threat to Eda; King can also hold his own against cops and jealous wizard rivals; Eda herself seems like she doesn't need to put much effort into beating anyone who's a threat.
Family of Choice: Eda's estranged from her actual family, King doesn't have any family that we know of, Hooty is a security system, and Luz is spending the summer away from her mother, and seems to want to stay in the Boiling Isles. Yet they have each other's backs. In the first season finale, King says that Eda is his family, which is why he's going with Luz to rescue her. Eda even refers to Luz as her kid at several points, and King gets his name officially changed to King Clawthorne to signify it.
Like Brother and Sister: Luz and King quickly become very close and many of their interactions resembling a girl and her Annoying Younger Sibling, or of twins who make their mother's life hell, with Eda playing the role of the mother.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Owl House residents happen to be an outlaw witch and her naïve human apprentice, a boisterous canine-like creature with delusions of grandeur, a house demon with poor social etiquette, and a traitor who happens to be the outlaw's sister.

Eda Clawthorne

Edalyn "Eda" Clawthorne, the Owl Lady

Voiced by: Wendie Malick (adult), Abigail Zoe Lewis (child), Natalie Palamides (pre-teen), Dee Bradley Baker (cursed form)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eda.png

"Luz, you always go overboard and I end up bailing you out. Now, what's the fun in watching a kid get eaten by a monster if it's my kid?"

^{Click here to see her in Season 2}

^{Click here to see Owl Beast Eda (Spoilers)}

^{Click here to see Harpy Eda (Spoilers)}

^{Click here to see her as of "For the Future"}

"I'm Eda, the Owl Lady. The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles."

A notorious outlaw with a multitude of tricks up her sleeve. She becomes Luz's mentor as she trains under her to improve her magic capabilities.

Accidental Kidnapping: In "Echoes of the Past", we learn that Eda found a young King (who she didn't realize at the time was sapient) in the temple on the island, and when Jean-Luc appeared grabbed him and ran. She didn't find out until eight years later that the construct was King's guardian, and thus wasn't a danger to him.
Accidental Misnaming: A Running Gag in Season 2 depicts her calling Gus "Goops".
The Adjectival Man: She is known throughout the Boiling Isles as "the Owl Lady."
The Ace: She's called "the Most Powerful Witch in the Boiling Isles" many times, has great magic skills, a cool, relaxed attitude, and many admirers.
Aesop Amnesia: At the end of "The Intruder", Eda opens up to King and Luz about her curse after attacking them throughout the episode. However, flash forward to "Escape of the Palisman", Eda learns that her curse is worsening but keeps it to herself. They only learn about it in "Agony of a Witch", when she suddenly transforms during the day and is dangerously close of permanently succumbing to it. Of course, she probably doesn't want them to worry too bad.
The Alcoholic: Strongly implied with apple blood, though it's apparently a stimulant, unlike traditional alcohol. In "Keeping Up A-fear-ances", the signs Luz and Gwen put up as bait describe it as a potent fermented beverage, and Gwen mentions that Eda's curse isn't her only problem.
Alternate Identity Amnesia: She is unable to remember what her owl form does when it takes over.
Always Someone Better: Turns out she is this to her sister Lilith, which takes a dramatic turn as this caused Lilith to curse Eda out of fear she would rob her of her dream to join the Emperor's Coven.
Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Shows some shades of these when she's tutoring Luz in "Adventure in Elements" even treating her like a child.
Animal Motifs: Owls. Her moniker is "The Owl Lady", she has yellow, owl-like eyes, has a staff that ends in an owl figurine, and then there's the eponymous house she lives in. Although it turns out the reason she's called "The Owl Lady" is because she's cursed to become an owl-like monster if she doesn't drink a special elixir on a daily basis. Judging from the "Hoot" graffiti she left at Hexside, she had an interest in owls even before becoming cursed.
Animal Stereotypes: Some of her behavior seems informed by her "Owl Lady" title and her Owl Beast curse. She doesn't handle mornings well, sleeps in a nest, and is easily distracted by shiny objects.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Mostly annoyed Lilith in her encounters and is the youngest sibling.
Anti-Education Mama: Luz wants to go to Hexside in order to learn how to do magic, but Eda (who takes care of Luz during her stay in the Boiling Isles) doesn't want Luz to do so at first — this is because Eda quit school, and strongly favors Wild Magic over the school system's method of teaching students how to do "proper" magic. However, Eda eventually allows Luz to make the decision to go to Hexside.
Anti-Hero: Though essentially well-meaning and undeniably a helpful figure, she's a deeply flawed character and nowhere near squeaky-clean morally.
An Arm and a Leg: Eda demonstrates the ability to detach her body parts and have them move about independently of herself, which she sometimes does for fun, and which also extends to her head on one occasion. "Keeping Up A-fear-ances" confirms it's a side-effect of her curse when Lilith too finds out her left hand is detached and Eda casually screws it back on. In "King's Tide", Raine rips off her right hand just below the elbow to save her from the curse's effect on the draining spell. The arm promptly disintegrates, meaning that she's lost it forever.
Apathetic Teacher: While she does agree to teach Luz magic, Eda tends to not be very motivated into giving out actual lessons. Most of what Luz learns from her is by total accident. In some fairness, up until Luz learned the light spell, Eda didn't think humans could learn magic^note. It also doesn't help that Luz's way of doing magic is so different from a normal witch that Eda had to study wild magic herself before she could teach Luz anything. In fact, she knows so little about Luz's style of magic that she has to take lessons from her upon losing her magic.
Appropriated Appellation: People call her "The Owl Lady" due to being cursed into changing into a savage owl-like demon, but she wears the name with pride.
The Archmage: Eda is regularly considered the most powerful witch around, and unlike most of them doesn't restrict herself to one school. This is even further cemented later in the first season, where it’s shown that even with her being weakened by the curse, she’s still much stronger than Lilith.
At Least I Admit It: In "Covention", Eda and Lilith both cheat on their students' behalf in their witches' duel. However, Eda is completely honest with Luz about what she's planning, while Lilith places a power glyph on Amity's neck without her knowledge. When the truth is revealed, Eda cheerfully and unashamedly gloats about how Lilith has stooped to her level.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: In "The Intruder", she gets distracted by a pen with a light-up fake gem on top. Luz later offers this pen to Eda so Luz can learn a magic spell. King later shows it to Eda's cursed form in order to lure her into Luz's trap.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: "Sense and Insensitivity" shows that despite being on opposite sides of the law, Eda and her sister still care about each other. When Lilith is in danger, Eda saves her because she is The Only One Allowed to Defeat You. Later, Lilith expresses her wish for Eda to join the Emperor's Coven willingly rather than Lilith having to capture her and let her go at the end of the episode. She even betrays Belos and transfers half of Eda's curse into herself to make amends for all the wrong she's done, including being responsible for the curse in the first place.
Badass Boast: Gives some of these from time to time.
- "A Lying Witch and a Warden" - When she reveals herself as a witch to Luz:
  Eda: Oh, dear child, I'm not like you. I'm Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles.
- "Agony of a Witch": She gives a couple notable ones to her sister Lilith during their re-match.
  Eda: You've always looked down on me because I'm wild, but fortunately, that just made me work harder than you.
  Lilith: It's sad to see you slowing down, sister. Tell me, is it the curse?
  Eda: Maybe it is the curse. But then how pathetic are you, that you can't best me at my worst?!
Badass Teacher: Becomes Luz's mentor and calls herself (and is called by Wrath) the most Powerful Witch in the Boiling Isles.
Became Their Own Antithesis: A far more positive example than most; she starts out as a criminal who holds contempt for authority and institutions, including magic school. The series finale ends with her becoming the Headmaster of her own Wizarding School, albeit a school for Wild Magic.
Berserk Button: Never call her "motherly", and never mess with Luz.
Big Little Sister: Eda looks like she's about 20 years older than Lilith, but is, in fact, a few years younger than her. Heavily implied to be because of the curse.
Big Sister Instinct: Inverted, given that she's the younger sibling. One of the incidents in her permanent record mentions how she once released an army of abominations on the school after someone stole Lilith's lunch money. And despite their animosity, she rescues her from a giant spider monster without a second thought in "Sense and Insensitivity".
Eda: Stow it! Oh, we might fight but you're still my sister.
Bishōnen Line: After accepting the Owl Beast as a part of her, Eda's monstrous cursed form becomes a more humanized harpy she has full control over.
Black Eyes of Evil: Her eyes turn pitch black when in her cursed form, though they turn back to normal if her consciousness reasserts itself. This is fully subverted in her harpy form; her eyes have black sclera, but she is fully in control of herself.
The Blind Leading the Blind: While she's a very powerful and experienced witch, Eda has almost no idea of how to teach Luz due to the latter being a human and thus physically unable of doing magic like other witches. So, in "Adventures in the Elements", her best idea was teaching Luz to get in tune with the isles so she's able to learn magic like the wild witches of the past.
Brilliant, but Lazy: She is considered the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles and is a Master of All forms of magic. She decided to drop out of Hexside and become an outlaw because she can't stand the thought of being anyone else's goon and is against the Coven System's regulation on magic. She spends her life dumpster diving, conning demons, committing petty theft, and avoiding the authorities, even admitting to Luz that she wasted her potential before meeting her. If she ever played the system instead of rebelling against it or decided to use it constructively, Eda would have succeeded in life in any number of ways, joining the Emperor's Coven being one of many possible outcomes. Indeed, if Eda hadn't dropped out of her duel with Lilith because she knew that her sister wanted the one spot in the Emperor's Coven, Lilith considered her victory pretty much assured, which is why Lilith cursed her.
Broken Ace: She was cursed as a kid into turning into an Owl Beast if she doesn't take her elixir and has an estranged relationship with her sister. Also, while she is incredibly powerful, her deep-seated personal flaws mean that she frequently ends up out-of-commission.
Brought Down to Normal: At the end of Season 1, she loses the ability to do magic but in Season 2 she along with Lilith begins to learn Luz's Geometric Magic.
Bullying a Dragon: In both her normal form and Owl Beast cursed identity, people really don't get the memo that if they left Eda alone, she would return the favor. Instead, they try to murder, swindle, or arrest her, and she responds with a Curb-Stomp Battle and sometimes killing them. The Warden steals King's paper crown and crushes it when Eda, King, and Luz bust into the Conformatorium to retrieve it, which leads to Eda Blowing a Raspberry and shooting his own fire at him. It ends up in its logical conclusion when Lilith forces Eda to succumb to her Owl Beast form, only to get trapped in a cage with said beast. Eda goes Mama Bear on Lilith and would have mauled her for trying to kill Luz if not for King explaining that Lilith decided to rescue her.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's eccentric, to say the least. Also very lazy, and prone to mishaps, and she employs very unconventional and sometimes downright ridiculous-looking methods (such as identifying types of snow by taste). It nonetheless led her to the very top when it comes to magic, and she can be a good teacher if she puts some effort into it.
Byronic Heroine: She's a beautiful, charismatic, and extremely powerful witch who's an outcast for being cursed into turning into an Owl Beast and an outlaw mainly for rejecting the Isles' coven system, believing that magic is supposed to be wild and free.
Cain and Abel: Her dynamic with her sister Lilith throughout Season 1, although which one is Cain and which one is Abel would depend on whom you ask. She goes on the Abel side, when it's revealed that her own sister was the one who cursed her in the first place. Dropped fully in Season 2 as Eda has more or less forgiven Lilith.
Calling Your Attacks: She shouts "spicy-toss" whenever she throws a fireball.
The Caretaker: Becomes this to Luz during her stay at the Boiling Isles.
Cast from Sanity: Eda was cursed to turn into a mindless Owl Beast. It turns out her transformations are becoming more frequent with the more magic she uses and will eventually become permanent. She gets better but loses the ability to do magic.
Casting Gag: Eda's curse has rendered her appearing older than her actual age; conversely, her voice actress, Wendie Malick, is renowned for appearing younger than her age.
Casting a Shadow: During her second duel with Lilith, she conjures shadow apparitions of Hooty to restrain her sister.
Character Development: Living with King and being a mentor figure to Luz has slowly but surely made Eda a warmer, more caring, and responsible individual, a fact she outright admits to herself in the Cold Open of "Eda's Requiem".
Childish Tooth Gap: Had one of those as a kid.
Children Raise You: As the series progresses, taking care of Luz begins to have an effect on her. By the time of the second season, she is shown taking more of a parental role and more aware of her role as Luz's guardian.
Collector of the Strange: Collects human junk to sell at her stand.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Pictures from her school days show her wearing the yellow uniform of a Potions student before she left Hexside. In the present, she uses these teachings to create homemade elixirs to sell, making up some of her regular income.
Combat Pragmatist: She's not above faking weakness to get a leg-up on her opponents, as she does with Lilith when Lilith manages to surprise her.
Combat Stilettos: Is a powerful sorceress who can kick all kinds of ass while rocking a pair of high-heeled red (black in season 2) boots.
Compressed Vice: She is shown to be addicted to Hexes Hold'em during "Hooty's Moving Hassle" to the point that she doesn't even realize she's playing it at one point, and it gets her into trouble when she attempts to play it against a conman. She's never seen playing it again after the episode. Somewhat justified, as it was later revealed that she dumped all her Hexes Hold'em cards in the Human Realm after this episode to stop herself from from obsessively playing it.
Cool Old Lady: She definitely has both the looks and personality down pat, being a grey-haired Lovable Rogue who (accurately) boasts about being the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, but in reality, she's only in her mid-40s and just looks old because her curse causes her to prematurely age.
Cool People Rebel Against Authority: She is a magic school dropout and multi-offender to the laws of the Boiling Isles, yet she is acknowledged as being one of the most powerful beings there.
Cop/Criminal Family: Eda is mostly wanted for rebelling against the coven system, while her sister is the leader of the coven and tasked with enforcing it.
Cowardice Callout: She calls Lilith a coward when she uses Luz as a Human Shield to force Eda to avoid accidentally striking her during the witch's duel at the end of Season 1.
Crazy-Prepared: In "Keeping Up A-fear-ances", she reveals that she's hidden bottles of elixir all over the Owl House, so that if either she or Lilith feel the curse flaring up, they can treat it quickly no matter where in the house it happens.
Crush Blush: Despite being several decades older than her protege, Eda is seemingly just as awkward around Raine as Luz is around Amity.
Cursed with Awesome:
- Even before she came to terms with her curse, she never seemed to mind its side effect of limb detachment.
  It's actually fun once in a while!
- Her curse ends up turning into this once she makes peace with the Owl Beast, allowing her to take on a new form known as "Harpy Eda," a controlled version of the curse granting her strength and flight as well as retaining a mostly humanoid shape. However, she still needs to "cooperate" with the Owl Beast, such as agreeing to eat a bunch of small animals because it craved them in return for giving her control for the time.
Cute Little Fangs: Eda has one protruding gold fang. "Keeping Up A-fear-ances" reveals that it's a prosthetic. The actual tooth below it is chipped and broken in half
Cute Monster Girl: Her harpy form retains much of her human appearance, with the addition of a lot of feathers, some wings, and talons for feet. She and Luz agree she still looks pretty good in spite of those monstrous traits.
Cynicism Catalyst: While she was mischievous as a kid, given her track record at Hexside, she was still very sweet and protective of Lilith, and willing to put in the effort to learn magic the traditional way. Then she was cursed (thanks to Lilith) and transformed into a monster on the day of their duel just after she forfeited to let her sister have the spot in the Emperor's Coven. The spectators insulted her and tossed rocks at her, causing her monster form to run off on the verge of tears. As a result, Eda was forced to drop out of Hexside and become an outcast.
Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Her curse causes most of her spells to simply fail or quickly run out of energy. However, when she tries to cast bard spells her curse causes everything around her to gradually turn to ash, including her own body. She and Raine very nearly kill two coven heads using this quirk, and they only stop because Raine realizes that Eda has a family to return to.
Dark and Troubled Past: She was cursed as a child and doesn't know who did it. It turned out that her own sister cursed her in her sleep.
Dark Is Not Evil: Her harpy form has the appearance of a creature of the dark, and her powers emit a black aura, but she is still a heroic individual fighting the tyranny of the Coven System.
Dark Secret: The episode "The Intruder" reveals that she was cursed as a kid into transforming into a monstrous gigantic owl unless she takes her daily elixir, something that not even King, her oldest companion knew about. She later hides from Luz and King that her curse is getting even worse, to the point that she can transform in the middle of the day, and one elixir is not enough to turn her back to normal.
Delinquents: Was one of these during her time at Hexside.
Deadpan Snarker: Is quite sassy, especially towards Luz, King, authorities and enemies in general.
Defrosting Ice Queen: At first, she's gruff with people she doesn't know, and has a Vitriolic Best Buds attitude with Hooty and King. (It's understandable when we learn she was cursed as a child, which ruined her life. She also coerces Luz into rescuing King's paper crown but sends her to safety when the Warden corners the trio. Taking care of Luz has mellowed Eda so that she's kind even to people outside of the Owl House family like Gus and Willow, and willing to face Principal Bump so her apprentice can get a proper education. By the season finale, she tells Luz that her almost dying and suffering is worth it because Luz is in her life and she saves Lilith from certain execution as a traitor.
Demon of Human Origin: Or at least of Witch origin—her curse transforms her into a feral demon called the Owl Beast unless she suppresses it with a special elixir.
De-power: After she uses up her magic fighting Lilith she is locked in her cursed form and unable to use her magic. Lilith is able to revert her form by splitting the curse between them, but they are both left severely weakened and unable to use their magic as a result. Season 2 shows that she can use some magic, but it's very weak and unreliable as shown when she attempts to levitate a jug and causes it to explode instead. On the upside, the elixirs are effective again.
Deuteragonist: The second main focal character after Luz.
Didn't Think This Through: Accepts to teach Luz magic despite not even being sure that humans can do magic in the first place. Luckily for Luz, she learns that she can do magic by drawing glyphs.
Discard and Draw: After she succumbs to and recovers from her curse during the finale of season one, Eda loses access to her natural magic and, in turn, her title as the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles even while weakened. During season two, she starts learning how to use glyph magic from Luz, she comes to an agreement with the owl beast and gets the Lightning Bruiser powers of her new Harpy form, and she learns that she's still able to use Bard magic - though she's only able to create a Walking Wasteland effect with it.
Dishing Out Dirt: During her first duel with Lilith, she creates a giant earth replica of Hooty to attack Lilith, then further spawns smaller copies from its mass as Lilith tries to evade them.
Disney Death: A non-lethal variation. In "Agony of a Witch", Eda succumbs to her curse in order to save Luz by using all of her magic left, and once she turns into the Owl Beast, no traces of her personality seem to be left. However, Emperor Belos restores her mind by the next episode, though she is still in her Owl Beast form and Belos didn't have the best interests in mind.
Distracted by My Own Sexy:
- In the episode "Enchanting Grom Fright", when training Luz for her fight against Grom, Edric and Emira conjure the illusion of a giant Eda that treats Luz like a baby. Drawn out by the resulting screaming, the real Eda is quite impressed with herself before realizing that something's going on.
  Eda: Is that supposed to be me? [chuckles] Dang, I look great!
- In "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", Eda learns to cooperate with her curse and gains a harpy-like Super Mode. After seeing her new form in a mirror, Eda immediately starts posing and admiring herself.
Does Not Like Spam: Eda reveals in "Adventures in the Elements" that she dislikes garlic, and is implied to be allergic to it.
Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- When she talks about curses in "The Intruder", she refers to them as if they were a disease, specifically treatable but incurable diseases.
  Eda: No one likes having a curse, but if you take the right steps, it's manageable.
- After returning to normal from her cursed form, her state afterward is framed as if she's got a hangover. This includes her having memory loss, a bad headache, and a mouth that "tastes like roadkill".
Drama-Preserving Handicap: Her curse suppresses her powers, which means that several episodes can derive their tension from Eda having a relapse of it and therefore not being able to magic the problem away. Her magic also seems to be reliant to some degree on her staff, meaning that losing it can knock her out of a fight.
Dramatically Missing the Point: Throughout "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", Eda keeps blaming the Owl Beast for every bad thing that happened in her life, despite the fact that she chose to run away from home after an accident involving her family out of shame and guilt, she chose to not get close to anyone, even if those people were trying to help her, and she chose to lose her magic to save Luz on her own accord. Bottom line: it was her all along.
Dramatic Irony: At the end she's one of several people who finish off Belos by stomping him into paste, and is greatly hinted to actually be descended from the union between Caleb and Evelyn, but neither of them seems to know this.
Drink-Based Characterization: Eda's favorite drink is Apple Blood, and it's depicted as a cross between an alcoholic beverage and a pick-me up. Luz notes that having three cups in a single day apparently drove her to the roof and made it hard for Luz and the others to get her down, and Eda's love for the beverage is such that she braves several dangers all for the chance at having some. Her mother Gwendolyn, seeing her daughter's willingness to brave harm for the beverage, concludes that being cursed is not Eda's only issue.
Duality Motif: After Lilith saves her from being completely consumed by the Owl Beast whilst Eda's innate magic remains permanently drained, Eda's left eye turns permanently gray (looking similar to the Owl Beast's monochrome palette).
Dude Magnet: King implies guys like Warden Wrath falling for Eda is a recurring problem, which she tacitly admits at the end of the first episode with, "Anyway let's bounce before any more monsters fall in love with me." She also comments that The Owl House is where she gets away from "ex-boyfriends".
Elemental Powers: Eda has cast spells controlling many different elements, most often fire, but also wind, lightning, earth, and likely more.
Empty Nest: Eda suffers from a premature form of this throughout "Eda's Requiem". Knowing that Luz will eventually return to the human realm and King is off searching for his birth family, makes her fear they won't need her anymore and that she will be left all alone. It's implied this is what made her go ahead with Raine's suicide attack. Luckily, Raine pulls her out of it once they learn she has a family, and by the end, she finds out that King planned on changing his name and having himself legally recognized as a Clawthorne.
Enemy Within: Eda's curse is personified in her mind as a massive Owl Beast with a barn owl-like face, which takes over her body every time her curse fully transforms her. In "Keeping Up A-fear-ances" Eda confronts it instead of running away, shrinking her inner demon down to a baby version of itself and regaining control of her body.
Et Tu, Brute?: She has this reaction upon finding out that Lilith was the one who cursed her.
Everyone Has Standards: Played for Laughs. Though Eda considers herself a "weirdo" and welcomes other outcasts, even she thinks giraffes deserve to be banished for their weirdness.
Exhausted Eye Bags: In "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", as a result of the events of the previous episode (Raine being captured), she's got massive ones because she's so obsessed with being stronger, even pinning her eyes open with clothespins.
Expy: Eda's hairstyle, as well as her personality, are reminiscent of that of Ryoko Hakubi.
- It's a nobody's secret that she's practically a Distaff Counterpart to Stan Pines. (It's actually been hinted that she got married to him in Vegas and then left him after an incident involving the cops.)
Fairy Tale Motif: Eda's famed exceptional power, penchant for fire magic, solitary living space, seemingly advanced age, and a small collection of magical servants might bring to mind Baba Yaga, a powerful witch of Slavic folklore. When her house comes to life and walks on a pair of bird legs, the comparison is even more appropriate, as Baba Yaga's hut famously walks on a pair of chicken legs. In "Echoes Of The Past", it's also shown that she has a bathtub with a propeller that she can use to fly around whenever she doesn't have her staff, likely in reference to Baba Yaga similarly using her mortar and pestle as a means to fly.
Fatal Flaw:
- Shame. As a child, she was cursed to turn into an Owl Beast. She transformed for the first time in front of her classmates, who mocked her relentlessly and chased her out of school. Then, at her father's going away party some firecrackers triggered her curse, causing the Owl Beast to rampage and tear out her father's eye. Ever since then, she has been terrified of letting anyone find out about the curse, even including people who could potentially help her. This was the main cause behind her and Raine's breakup, since she insisted on lying and trying to conceal the curse from Raine. She even kept the curse a secret from King for eight years. Finally accepting help from King and Luz is what allows her to gradually start getting more control over the curse, and accepting the curse as a part of herself enables her to tame it outright.
- Defiance. Eda has a near-pathological anti-authoritarian streak on the best of days, something that decades of dealing with a corrupt governing system has only worsened. She will never consider the legal or appropriate way of doing things first and rarely bother with such at all, instead choosing to break rules and cause havoc simply because she sees it as easier regardless of whether the consequences would outweigh the reward. This really winds up biting her in Season 2 because she no longer has the power to repel anyone she winds up crossing with her antics.
Fate Worse than Death: She considers being permanently turned into a mindless Owl Beast as such.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Her dress is longer on the left.
Femme Fatalons: Has claw-like golden nails.
Fiery Redhead: When she was younger, her hair was bright red and she caused a lot of trouble at Hexside. She also tends to use a lot of magical fire in her spells for good measure.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She's the foolish sibling to her sister Lilith's responsible, believing that magic thrives best when it's untamed rather than kept in a controlled environment. On the other hand, Lilith is diligently enforcing a world order that Eda justifiably sees as unfair. It's also suggested that while Lilith was the more professional student, Eda was the one who worked harder and perfected her magic.
Forced Transformation: Her curse ultimately amounts to this. As large and fierce as the Owl Beast may be, an animal with neither mind nor magic is far more helpless than what Eda started out as.
Formerly Friendly Family: Eda and her sister Lilith used to be tight as thieves, but after Lilith joined the Emperor's Coven, they haven't been on speaking terms for years. Eda admits it wasn't until Luz came along that she and Lilith started talking to each other again.
Freudian Excuse:
- It's implied that she is a thief with no respect for the law because of her disillusionment with the magical system, dropping out of Hexside, and being estranged from her sister. Refusing to join a coven means that the cops are on her case anyway, and humans throw a lot of stuff away, so why not sell it to pay for the bills? From what we see in "Young Blood, Old Souls", people's initial reactions to her cursed form would play a large part in both keeping it from Luz and King, and her disillusionment with the system.
- "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" reveals that, as a teen, she accidentally injured her father after transforming into the Owl Beast, resulting in her pushing others away (such as Raine) out of fear of hurting them as well.
Friend to All Children: Eda claims to not be maternal, but she shows a surprising amount of tenderness towards children. She is forlorn (with King) when the Bat Queen's children are picked up despite initially only caring about the money. Unlike most Boiling Isles residents, Eda doesn't hurt children. She's also shown to be very protective of the young ones in her care (i.e., King, Luz). And she first met King when the latter was a toddler, instantly protected him from a seemingly dangerous creature, and took him in.
Furry Reminder:
- Even outside of her more monstrous forms, she's shown to have an affinity for eating small rodents and other creatures, sometimes whole.
- She also sleeps in a nest in the Owl House, whereas the other residents have beds.
Fusion Dance: Type B. Making peace with the Owl Beast and accepting it as a part of herself allows her to become "Harpy Eda", a bipedal form with the Owl Beast's physical strength and Eda's intelligence.
The Gambler: Eda has a serious obsession with playing 'Hexus Holdem' to the point she started playing a game with her elixir dealer without even realizing it.
King: Yeah, busy playing Hexus Holdem. She's obsessed with it!
Eda: I am not obsessed!
King: You're playing it right now!
(Beat as Eda notices she started playing a game)
Eda: ... am I winning?
Glass Cannon: She's a powerful witch and easily the best fighter of the main three but it doesn't take much for her to get worn down and she gets blasted into a wall twice during her duel with Lilith. Downplayed in that she could survive being decapitated, and anything sliced off seems to be able to pop back on.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Gets these when she truly gets serious during her second duel with Lilith. And again when she enters her monstrous Owl Beast transformation due to grief and rage as a result of Luz's Disney Death, though this time they're red.
Gold-Colored Superiority: Has golden eyes, earrings (and a tooth) to go with her magic's golden aura, befitting someone who can reasonably claim to be "the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles", with the possible exception of Belos.
Good Is Not Soft: Eda is much more principled than some of her rivals, but isn't afraid to savagely beat or outright murder people who attack her or her friends.
Hair Of Holding: Eda frequently inserts and removes items from her hair. It apparently runs in the family because her mother does the same thing. Luz wants to be able to do the same one day.
Hairstyle Inertia: Subverted. Her hair looks almost the same as it did during her school years save for the fact that she's gone gray, but other flashbacks show that she actually has changed her hairstyle several times during the interim (a ponytail when she was dating Raine and a shorter cut similar to her mother's when she first met King).
Hammerspace Hair: She keeps a large number of items in her hair, from educational scrolls to items she has stolen off rubes.
Handicapped Badass: The curse she was inflicted with slows her down and limits her use of magic but she's still the most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles.
Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted. She might seem like a Brilliant, but Lazy slacker, but the only reason she's a better witch than Lilith is because she worked that much harder, something both sisters acknowledge in the season one two-part finale.
Eda: You always looked down on me because I'm wild. But fortunately, that just made me work harder than you!
Harping on About Harpies: As a result of bonding with the inner Owl Beast while in a deep dream state, Eda gains the ability to transform into a half-woman half-bird harpy form.
Hartman Hips: Her red dress gives her some wide hips.
Have I Mentioned I Am Sexually Active Today?: Both she and King make multiple mentions of her many ex-boyfriends, but the only time we ever see her in a relationship is when she was dating Raine (and that ended when the two were in their twenties). This was actually enforced on the creators, since Disney didn't feel comfortable portraying a Dirty Old Woman in a show meant for kids.
Hereditary Hairstyle: During the flashback to when she first met King, her hairstyle was a slightly wilder version of her mother's.
Heroic Sacrifice:
- She allows the curse to take over her completely in order to save Luz from Lilith.
- She also goes through a non-fatal version of this by choosing to be branded in order to sabotage the Draining Spell, which will restrict her from using wild magic, although it's downplayed since, as she says, the curse isn't going anywhere any time soon, meaning she won't have wild magic to miss.
Hero of Another Story: She and King find a log of palistrom wood for Luz to create her own palisman. No details are given other than that they apparently robbed a gardening club and had to fight their way out.
Hidden Depths:
- "Lost in Language" exposes that for all of her stated disdain for soft, maternal behavior, she actually makes a highly effective and nurturing babysitter.
- In "Understanding Willow", she puts on an impromptu concert for Gus, ringing several bells in an impressive harmony. "Eda's Requiem" would follow up on this by establishing experience with Bard magic on a lute.
Hiding the Handicap: Eda had several bad experiences regarding her curse when she was younger, so she kept it hidden from both Luz and King right up until it nearly got them killed by the Owl Beast. And even after that point, she continued to hide the fact that her condition was worsening over the course of the first season.
High-School Sweethearts: She and Raine became fast friends when they first met in their teens and were dating by the time they were in their twenties (though it's unclear how old they were when their romance started). While Raine sadly broke things off at this point, years prior to the series' start (because Eda pushed them away out of fear of her curse), when they reunite, it's very clear Eda still has strong feelings for them.
Homemade Inventions: In the first episode of Season 2 she has a motorboat with a bathtub for a boat hull, likely to compensate for having lost her ability to cast regular magic spells in the Season 1 finale (she uses it in the third episode, too, because Luz took Owlbert).
Honest John's Dealership: She sells various things filched from the human world that she has no idea what they do - just that she can attach a good story to potential customers about.
Honor Before Reason: In "Sense and Insensitivity", Lilith urges Eda to join the Emperor's Coven, reasoning that he may have a way to remove her curse. Eda declines the offer, stating that she doesn't want to owe the Emperor anything.
Hook Hand: Eda loses her right hand during the Day of Unity, which she replaces with a hook by the time of the epilogue. Given the fact that background characters are shown with more articulate prosthetics (and Eda's personality in general), it's likely that she deliberately chose the hook over an actual hand so she could look like a pirate.
Hot Witch: Despite looking older than she is, which is her mid-to-late forties, she's far from the stereotypical hag. Even Luz thinks so. Her monster form, however... The Older Than They Look comes in with her curse having a cosmetic effect even on her non-monster form. She may have lost her Fiery Redhead look due to this rather than age. Her older sister's comparatively youthful appearance supports this. Ultimately confirmed in "Sense and Insensitivity", where Eda and Lilith acknowledge the effect the curse is having on Eda's looks.
How Do I Shot Web?: In "Eclipse Lake", Eda spends most of the episode trying and failing to transform into her "Harpy Eda" form on command, only succeeding when she makes a deal with the Owl Beast... But afterward, she's unable to figure out how to turn herself back to normal.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: In Season 2, the loss of her magic causes her to go from being a feared criminal and the most powerful witch on the Isles to a weak, powerless joke that nobody takes seriously.
Hulking Out: Eda's Owl Beast transformation is exacerbated when she's stressed or angry—as her mother and Luz discover when they try to force the curse out of her. When Luz temporarily dies in the Season 3 finale, Eda undergoes a rage-induced Owl Beast transformation double the size of her usual form, with extra tusk-like teeth, three pairs of wings, and red Glowing Eyes of Doom, with a similar glow emitting from her mouth.
I Hate Past Me: In "Knock, Knock, Knocking on Hooty's Door". When she dreams of the day Raine Whispers broke up with her, she yells at the memory of her past self, admonishing her for pushing Raine away.
I Should Have Been Better: Due to having lost Raine in a Heroic Sacrifice during the prior episode (something she could have probably prevented with ease if she still had her magic), Eda becomes obsessed with regaining her strength as fast as possible in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" to the point that she's keeping her eyes pried open with clothespins to stave off sleep.
Identical Grandson: "Thanks to Them" drops the implication that she may be one to the witch that Caleb had fallen in love with, her implied ancestor, complete with a similar name—"Evelyn"—and a similar appearance (i.e. spiky red hair, torn dress fashion sense, etc.). Dana confirms it to be true in the final Post-Hoot.
Ignored Epiphany: Downplayed in "Eclipse Lake". Despite making a truce with it in the previous episode, Eda is so used to treating the Owl Beast like a mindless, wild animal that she doesn't consider just asking it to let her transform into Harpy Eda until King suggests it.
Incompletely Trained: Implied. Having dropped out of Hexside, her total magical knowledge is hinted to be rather limited in spite of her status as The Archmage. This is most clearly seen in the fact that she is seemingly unable to brew elixirs for herself despite having studied potions as a student and knowing the full ingredients list. By contrast, Lilith (who did graduate) was able to recreate it from scratch after about a month of trial and error in less-than-ideal circumstances.
Inelegant Blubbering: In "Eda's Requiem". After King reveals that he wants to have his name legally changed to Clawthorne, Eda breaks down crying, which in turn causes Luz to break down crying herself. While we don't get to see it, we can clearly hear Eda snorting and Luz sniffling, indicating both of them are crying rather snottily.
Involuntary Shapeshifting: Her curse makes her transform into a huge owl-like monster, but she takes an elixir to help with it. In "Agony of a Witch", Eda uses too much of her magic, resulting in a Shapeshifter Mode Lock where she appears to be stuck as the Owl Beast.
Ironic Name: Edalyn means "Gifted by God", but she is actually suffering from a curse. Also, it's far too girly and modern for the realm's most powerful sorceress.
Irony:
- Eda is a proud magic school dropout with a dislike for standard education, and she goes on to be the headmaster of a college by the time of the epilogue.
- Eda claims she lacks parental instinct but proves to be a dutiful parental figure to both King and Luz and even a Friend to All Children.
It's All My Fault: Eda was so guilt-ridden over accidentally maiming her father with her Owl Beast form, which ended his career as a palisman maker, that she actively avoided him for over twenty years—even though her father doesn't blame her at all and just wants her to move on from it, she steadfastly believes that she isn't deserving of his forgiveness.
Jekyll & Hyde: The dynamic between Eda and the Owl Beast. Eda is a mild-mannered, friendly—if gruff and rough around the edges—witch, but the Owl Beast is a vicious, animalistic entity trapped within Eda, and seems to draw from Eda's darker side.
Jerkass Has a Point:
- Luz is forced to concede that Eda is right that the Boiling Isles isn't full of chosen one destiny quests. Eda reassures her that it means Luz can make her own destiny and greatness.
- Eda is not nice towards her sister, but you can't blame her for arguing against the established system because it's unfair that only a select number of witches are allowed to be powerful, depending on the coven that they joined. Plus, Eda only uses her power to steal human junk to sell and hide from ex-boyfriends. It says something when Luz starts to see the downside of covens, and even Amity gets disillusioned.
- Eda happily mocks Lilith for helping Amity cheat, despite cheating herself. Unlike her sister, Eda doesn't make excuses and owns the fact that she cheats like crazy.
  Eda: Welcome to my level!
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Eda is a rebellious, brash Anti-Hero who is also friendly and loyal to her friends.
Kleptomaniac Hero: Before Luz is forced to destroy the Portal Door, Eda's foremost source of income was in selling Human Knick Knacks she has stolen from garbages in the Human Realm, and looted from deceased Trash Slugs. She also keeps a very large quantity of stolen items within her huge mane, as seen in "Covention". After Luz destroys the Door, Eda is perfectly happy to loot ships belonging to the Emperor's Coven. When Luz is left lamenting that she didn't bond with a Palisman in "Hunting Palismen", Eda reveals that she and King robbed the Bonesborough Botanical Garden to get her adopted daughter some Palistrom Wood to carve into her own Palisman.
The Last DJ: Deconstructed; Eda prides herself on rebelling against the Isle's unfair Coven System and refuses to align herself with any coven, but doing so has left her as a fugitive living on the fringes of society, and she has to sell human junk just to scrape by.
Let's Get Dangerous!: Eda goes into most fights only half-trying and constantly has a playful attitude even against evenly matched enemies. But when Lilith holds Luz hostage in "Agony of a Witch" to lure Eda to her, she actually cuts loose. Lilith only survives the ensuing fight by using Luz as a Human Shield to prevent Eda from landing attacks and even then it's clear Eda would have gotten around the problem through sheer power, speed, and skill. Lilith is the leader of the Emperor's Coven, made up of the best and brightest in the Boiling Isles, and Eda could have turned her to ash years ago if she felt like it.
Life-or-Limb Decision: In "King's Tide", after Eda's been branded with a Coven sigil and the Draining Spell's been activated, Eda's curse threatens to kill her quicker than everyone else, so Raine cuts off the arm with Eda's sigil on it rather than let the spell kill her.
Little Bit Beastly: She has a sharp fang, yellow eyes, claws, and an irrational fondness for shiny objects because of her curse.
Little Sister Instinct: She's the younger sister and is shown to be very protective of Lilith, such as summoning a group of Abominations to recover Lilith's stolen lunch money when they were at Hexside and rescuing her from a crab-spider in "Sense and Insensitivity".
Locked into Strangeness: Gains a white streak in her hair after Lilith transfers half of the effects of The curse to her.
Losing Your Head: Along with having her hand detach from her arm, she has gotten her head chopped off, with her only reacting with mild discomfort and annoyance.
Lovable Rogue: She regularly steals things from the human world to sell, and has no trouble using underhanded tactics to get ahead. But she is still a caring and friendly person.
Magic Pants: Whenever Eda turns back from her cursed form to normal form, her dress and boots remain completely intact.
Magic Staff: Eda often uses a wooden staff for her magic. She can even ride it like she would a broom. The owl on the tip is a "palisman" named Owlbert, an animated owl familiar that she often sends to fetch items from the human world for her.
Major Injury Underreaction: After she gets her head chopped off, all she can do is say "Ow" and get annoyed at how that happens sometimes.
Make Them Rot: Her curse interacting with Bard coven magic causes this effect on anything it touches, including living beings and herself.
Mama Bear: King and Luz are under her protection. If you threaten them, she goes on the warpath, as the Warden found out the hard way. This also extends to Luz's friends Gus and Willow when they're in trouble. This ultimately leads to her succumbing completely to her curse in "Agony of a Witch"; she expends all of her magic saving Luz from her sister.
Mark of the Supernatural: At the end of the first season her left eye turns grey as a result of Lilith sharing the effects of Eda's curse with her.
Maybe Ever After: The epilogue implies that she and Raine may have rekindled their romance. The two are shown to be affectionate during the Collector's fireworks show and even appear to have swapped earrings, but nothing definitive is stated.
- Word of God also plays on this, stating that while Eda and Raine aren't married Raine had moved into the Owl House during the time skip.
Meaningful Name:
- Eda is a diminutive of Edith (though her actual full name is Edalyn) which turned is derived from Eadgyð, meaning wealth or war. With her use of fire in magical combat, this fits her status as a Dark Action Girl. In addition, her thick, silver mane and gold jewelry give her a regal appearance.
- In Old Norse, and subsequently, Old English languages, Eda means "Strife for wealth". As a character, Eda is a trickster thief who is concerned with money.
The Mentor: While her ability to teach actual lessons is questionable at best, she does prove to be very apt at helping her mentee Luz grow and discover herself, while also helping her overcome her insecurities and faults. This also sometimes extends to other children as well, being a cool grown-up who offers encouragement and praise when they need it.
Monster Threat Expiration: In her cursed form's first appearance, it is an overwhelming threat that Luz and King can only temporarily slow down and it takes very careful planning to overpower it. In its second appearance, it acts more like an unruly pet and is easily captured by Bonesborough's animal control. Downplayed in that she was only partially transformed during that episode and the curse itself is getting harder to control. The threat moves from the cursed form itself to the danger that Eda might get overtaken by it and not be able to turn back. When Lilith succumbs to her half of the curse, her Raven Beast is both bigger and stronger than Eda's Owl Beast form.
Ms. Fanservice: A Hot Witch who still looks good even as the Owl Beast and whose outfits leave very little to the imagination.
Ms. Vice Girl: She's a knee-jerk contrarian to educational and government institutions of any kind, she has a very high opinion of herself and her power, she's Brilliant, but Lazy, she's a Con Artist, and she can be talked into doing a number of things if money's involved. That said, the institutions she rebels against are transparently corrupt, her ego can be backed up, the demons she cons can be just as corrupt (if not more so) as she is, her need to keep herself funded is completely understandable since her need for an elixir she can't make herself keeps her from devolving into a mindless owl-monster and beneath it all, she's a Mama Bear who is willing to unleash her full power if Luz and King are in real danger.
Mundane Utility: Eda has access to a one-of-a-kind portal between the Human and Demon Realms. She uses it to steal human junk to sell on the street and hide from the law in a pinch. This becomes important in the season one finale, as Eda's possession of such a powerful artifact is the real reason Eda is wanted by the Emperor's Coven.
My God, What Have I Done?: While she doesn't express it obliquely, she's horrified on realizing her owl form nearly killed King and Luz. A similar event happened when she was younger when she accidentally sliced her father's eye when she was in her Owl Beast form.
My Greatest Failure: Eda's dream in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" shows two: her curse not only caused her to injure her father but her secretiveness and deflection about it caused Raine Whispers to break up with her. Eda admonishes the representation of her past self for letting Raine leave, with Eda screaming "let them help!" at her past self, to no avail. In "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" it's shown that she's so utterly ashamed of her attack on her father, especially since it resulted in him being incapable of crafting Palismen, that she has actively avoided seeing him for the past 20 years.
Mysterious Past: A number of things have been hinted to happen in her past; her sister has become the most powerful witch around, and she was mysteriously cursed by an unknown being. This is lampshaded in the "Covention" episode, by Luz. In "Once Upon a Swap", Lilith revealed Eda wanted to join the Emperor's Coven when she and her sister were kids, but something changed her opinion on covens and now she refuses to join any of them. "Young Blood, Old Souls" reveals that she forfeited a duel between her and her sister for an open Emperor's Coven spot because she knew how much Lilith wanted it, only to get cursed by Lilith the night prior, who knew she couldn't have defeated Eda if she was at all serious in the fight.
Mythical Motifs:
- Bears similarities to La Lechuza, a Mexican folklore about a creature that is a woman by day and owl by night.
- She eventually becomes associated with harpies because of Harpy Eda after reconciling with the curse.
Never My Fault: Played with during "Knock, Knock, Knocking on Hooty's Door". While her trip down memory lane does force her to confront how she pushed everyone close to her away, and she admonishes her past self for pushing away everyone close to her, she falls just short of self-realization by blaming all of her problems on the curse instead of acknowledging that how she dealt with the curse was just as much the problem.
Nice Mean And In Between: The in-between (a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who is also the most world-weary) to Luz's nice (compassionate, kind, and caring) and King's mean (the most arrogant and violent loving).
Nice to the Waiter: Eda's Character Development is slowly realizing she can't treat Luz like a typical apprentice—assign her to do chores and all—and should actually teach her.
The Nicknamer: While she doesn't do it for everyone, Eda has a habit of assigning people nicknames like her sister Lilith (Lily), Gus (Goops), Amity (Boots), and Hunter (Blondie).
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Eda's character design and Malick's voice work both subtly but definitely channel Phyllis Diller.
Not a Morning Person: Does not enjoy mornings very much. On Luz's first morning in the Boiling Isles, Eda had some initial trouble remembering who Luz was despite the crazy adventure they'd had together the previous day.
Not Evil, Just Misunderstood:
- Her bizarrely Aztec-inspired wanted poster makes her seem almost bloodthirsty, but her actual crimes are mostly fraud-related, and she's willing to protect a teenager she's known for only ten minutes. In "Young Blood, Old Souls", Willow and Gus pointing this out to the crowd for Eda being Taken for Granite causes them to cheer as she flies away with Luz, King, and Lilith.
- "Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Hooty's Door" reveals that the Owl Beast is simply a scared and confused animal that is trapped in Eda's body by the curse. Eda shifting into her beast form is just the Owl Beast trying to escape. When Eda stops trying to fight the Owl Beast and offers it a truce, she is able to assume a hybrid form that allows the Owl Beast to run wild without losing consciousness.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Eda is short for "Edalyn", but only her sister calls her that. (By contrast, Eda's the only one who calls Lilith "Lily".)
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Saves Lilith in "Sense and Insensitivity" and tells her afterward that she is the only one allowed to take Lilith down.
Only Sane Woman: She's the only witch we knew who called out the Emperor's coven system for being unfair in limiting magic users to one specialized skill, with only a select few getting the freedom to use all of them. Unfortunately, this view also makes her a wanted criminal since she refuses to join a coven.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Luz being put in danger makes Eda go all out. No jokes, no taunts, not even her usual laid-back and playful expression. She puts her all into it. When Lilith reveals she cursed her, Eda promptly snaps.
- Normally, she will let Lilith go in peace despite mocking her and taking cheap shots during their encounters. As Eda puts it, Lilith is her sister and neither sibling wants the other dead. In "Young Blood, Old Souls", she sheds this when her mind returns to her Owl Beast form. When they're trapped in a cage awaiting execution, Eda turns on her and prepares to maul Lilith for hurting Luz and cursing Eda in the first place. It's only because of King interfering that Eda doesn't go further than glaring at Lilith.
- She seriously dislikes anyone who works for the emperor, typically going out of her way to mock them and easily beats up mooks who come after her without care. However, upon witnessing Hunter have a panic attack after returning from Belos' mindscape, despite him being The Dragon for the emperor, Eda shows concern and tries to help him calm down before he flees.
- When Luz reveals Belos' true plans, Eda is so horrified and rattled that she, she acts like a responsible, mature adult and tries to make sure both Luz and King book it and escape as far away as possible. This, more than anything, makes the viewers realize shit just got real.
Our Werebeasts Are Different: Because of a curse placed on her, Eda changes to an owl-like monster if she doesn't drink a special elixir every day. Even when she does, it causes her to have several owl-like traits.
The Owl-Knowing One: A very knowledgeable magic user heavily associated with owls. She even once claimed that was where the moniker "The Owl Lady" comes from, though that turns out to be a lie since it really comes from her monstrous form.
Parental Substitute: Luz has come to consider Eda the closest to a parental figure on the Isles. The feeling is mutual. She's this for King as well, having found him as a baby and taken him in.
Partial Transformation: By the time of "Reaching Out", she's become skilled enough in using her harpy form to freely alter individual parts of her body, which she demonstrates by threatening Warden Wrath with her talons.
Playing with Fire: Eda seems to prefer fire magic in combat, with other types of magic used as support.
Pre-Sacrifice Final Goodbye: Before she succumbs to her curse at the end of "Agony of a Witch":
Eda: "Alright kid, listen to me. I'm going away and I don't know if I can bounce back this time. Watch over King, remember to feed Hooty... And Luz... Thank you... for being in my life."
Primary-Color Champion: She wears a red dress; her eyes, nails, and single fang are all gold colored; and she has pale, white skin.
Properly Paranoid: Eda is unwilling to join the Emperor's Coven because she refuses to serve a tyrant, and she can't believe her own sister is licking his boots. Turns out she was right not to trust Emperor Belos, as Lilith finds out the hard way he lied and isn't going to fulfill his promise to remove Eda's curse. It later turns out that if anything, she didn't mistrust him ENOUGH.
Proud Beauty: She's well-aware of her beauty and quite proud of it. In "Hooty's Moving Hassle" she even calls her monstrous Owl Beast form "fierce".
Quirky Girl, Quirky Tux: Wears one to chaperone grom.
Rapid Aging: Her curse has the side effect of accelerating her aging. 30 years have passed, and she looks like she aged about twice that amount, making her look much older than her sister when she's actually the younger of the two.
Rebellious Spirit: She refuses to join a coven and have her magic restricted, constantly defies authority, was a troublemaker as a kid, and during her time at Hexside, she created a room full of secret passages to study more than one type of magic.
Red Baron:
- She is widely known as "The Owl Lady".
- The delinquent track kids (unknowingly) call her "Lord Calamity" for creating the Short-Cut Room.
Red Is Heroic: Eda wears a red dress and is one of the three main heroes.
The Red Mage: Most witches belong to covens that restrict them to a certain type of magic, but Eda has refused to join one and has learned a wide variety of spells. Unfortunately, this is illegal in her world, so that, along with numerous counts of petty theft, has made her a criminal.
Red String of Fate: Non-romantic example, but in the mindscape in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" Eda and the Owl Beast are tied together by a red string.
Rhymes on a Dime: Whenever she's mocking her sister Lilith, she tends to start rhyming. It seems to annoy her.
The Runaway: A Flashback in "Keeping Up A-fear-ances" reveals that Eda ran away from home after hearing her mother tell a healer to "cut" her curse out of her.
Sapient Eat Sapient: She nonchalantly eats Adegast after he's shrunk down to a harmless size, she eats the Snaggleback in her Owl Beast form (later regurgitating him mostly unharmed), tries to eat Luz and King while in her Owl Beast form, and her nest is littered with the skeletons of creatures she's presumably eaten as well.
School Is for Losers: Is a proud magic school dropout who sneers at traditional education and is horrified when she finds out that Luz smuggled herself into Hexside to attend its classes, complete with a Skyward Scream. However, she's a justified and sympathetic example—Hexside's one-track system is shown be stifling for students who are pushed onto a track they have no aptitude for (like Willow) or those who want to learn more than one type of magic (like the delinquent track kids, Luz and Eda herself) and force the kids into conformity by making them chose one single coven, severely limiting their magic and freedom. However, Eda puts her own hang-ups aside to enroll Luz at Hexside after realizing it would be the best for her and trusting her enough to not fall prey to its "one-witch, one-coven" mentality.
Screw the Rules, They're Not Real!: The Boiling Isles coven system forces people to join one particular coven which prevents them from using any form of magic outside of it. The only exception to this is the Emperor's Coven, but they have very strict recruitment requirements and are effectively the Emperor's Secret Police. Eda simply never joined a coven, as this allows her to use any form of magic. Eda is right though—The Coven System really serves no purpose other than as a means of control, and a means to a more sinister end for the Emperor.
Seen It All: To Eda, her hands getting detached when she gets off her staff is pretty normal.
Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Suffers this in "Young Blood, Old Souls" and "Eclipse Lake". In the former, as a result of being overtaken by the curse, she's trapped in her Owl Beast form until Lilith takes on part of the curse. The latter ends with her stuck as Harpy Eda (ironically after spending most of the episode unsuccessfully trying to transform into that form), though, fortunately, an elixir is enough to restore her to normal.
Shaping Your Attacks: During both of her duels with Lilith, she uses spells that are shaped like Hooty (made out of stone in the former and shadows in the latter).
Shipper on Deck: In "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" not only is she fully supportive of Luz asking Amity out, she outright urged Luz to brave her doubts and just do it.
Sibling Rivalry: Even besides being a magic authority and renegade, respectively, Lilith and Eda trade petty barbs and make constant attempts to one-up each other.
Significant Wardrobe Shift: She dons a new outfit in "Keeping Up A-fear-ances".
Silver Vixen:
- In "The Intruder", Luz describes Eda as being "surprisingly foxy for her age".
- Many episodes later, Luz is also very appreciative of her new harpy-like look.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: A queer example. Eda is a rule-breaking, rambunctious witch with a penchant for destruction and attracts a number of men, even mentioning ex-boyfriends. So, who is she most romantically interested in? Her childhood (and nonbinary) best friend, Raine Whispers - The very same brave, kind witch who never discouraged Eda's wild nature and was a loving romantic partner when the duo were a couple. And even after the break-up, Eda still holds a strong amount of love for Raine (and vice-versa).
Sleeves Are for Wimps: Wears a sleeveless dress.
Small Name, Big Ego: In Season 2, she initially struggles to do magic with glyphs because she stubbornly insists that she's still the badass witch she used to be, despite the loss of her powers, and refuses to accept that it's not something she can learn easily, which causes her to recklessly experiment with glyphs (often to dangerous results) rather than trying to master the basics first like Lilith.
So Proud of You:
- In "I Was a Teenage Abomination", she is deeply proud that Luz managed to get herself banned from magic school after just one afternoon.
That's my girl! ... Ah, baby's first "Wanted!" Poster.
- In "Agony of a Witch", the cape she makes Luz has an added label saying how proud she is to be Luz's mentor.
Split-Personality Merge: In "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", Eda makes peace with the Owl Beast, accepting that they're stuck with each other, which gives Eda the ability to transform into a Harpy, a tamer form of her curse.
Statuesque Stunner: According to "Once Upon a Swap," she's over six feet tall in heels and is considered very attractive In-Universe. She becomes even taller as Harpy Eda.
Stepford Smiler: While they were dating, Eda kept lying about the effects of the curse to Raine, insisting that everything was fine, even though Raine could plainly tell that it wasn't. Her refusal to let them help her led to Raine breaking up with her—and even when the stress of the breakup caused the curse to flare up, Eda still insisted that nothing was wrong.
Sticky Fingers: If the items Eda sells at her "Human Collectables" stall aren't outright trash, they're probably stolen.
Eda: Do you think all my wanted posters are for petty theft?
[Random items fall out of her hair]
Eda: Partly.
Strong Family Resemblance: Eda and Lilith share the same pale skin, narrow chins, and pointed ears.
Super Mode: "Harpy Eda," the result of Eda making peace with the Owl Beast, has her as an only slightly avian, bipedal owl creature with the strength and wings of her cursed form—letting her fly without needing Owlbert—but none of the creature's feral mindlessness. She also, rightly, thinks it looks darn good on her.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: She has golden eyes, fitting for a witch.
Super-Strength: Not often shown, but she can casually smack a brick wall hard enough to leave cracks in it.
Taking You with Me: Bard magic serves as vector for her curse to rot things and people around her (especially if they're highly magic in nature such as Darius' abomination form and Eberwolf's summoned mount), so she tried to use it together with Raine as a means to assassinate two coven heads (Eberwolf and Darius), even though it would've killed her and Raine, too.
Technician vs. Performer: The performer compared to Lilith's technician. Eda has a personal contempt for academic learning and figured out much of her magic by going out into nature and trying everything that came to mind so she could discover what worked for her. This gave her an advantage in Season 1 because she has more raw power, and her intuitive style is less predictable. Being the performer has disadvantages early in Season 2, however, because while she comes up with the idea to combine glyphs to create new effects, she doesn't bother to learn the basic principles first. Her approach to experimenting is to simply throw everything at the wall to see what sticks, which nearly leads to tragedy when one of her attempts goes out of control.
Teen Genius: She's implied to have been one during her Hexside years by virtue of the fact that the various spells she cast on the school (like sentient graffiti or a Pocket Dimension full of Portal Doors) are still fully functional thirty years after the fact.
Thinking Up Portals: Uses portals wisely during her fight with Warden Wrath to redirect his fire breath.
Throw Down the Bomblet: In Season 2, Eda can't use magic like she used to, so she primarily uses potions that function like grenades.
Throwing Off the Disability: Heavily downplayed. Making peace with the Owl Beast doesn't make her curse go away (she still can't use magic and has to regularly take her elixir), but it does significantly improve her quality of life and reduces the risk of transforming during only the most stressful situations. Eda even points out in "Clouds on the Horizon" that she's fully aware that she's always going to have the curse, and nothing is going to change that.
Tomboyish Voice: Had a somewhat raspy and low voice as a teenager.
Trademark Favorite Food: She will go to lengths to get her hands on Apple Blood.
Transformation of the Possessed: It's revealed that her curse is the result of her being forcibly possessed by a demon called the Owl Beast, which takes over her body and rampages when she overuses her magic or gets angry. In Season 2 she's able to work out a truce with the Owl Beast that lets her undergo a controlled transformation into a form called Harpy Eda.
Uneven Hybrid: It's implied in series (and confirmed in the final Post Hoot) that Caleb Wittebane was an ancestor of the Clawthorne family, therefore making her, her sister Lilith, and their father Dell all part human (by a very small percentage), given that Caleb died around 300 years before either of the sisters were born.
Unkempt Beauty: Downplayed, as her hair only looks slightly unbrushed.
Unscrupulous Hero: She steals junk from the human world's garbage cans to sell at her shop, can be quite brusque, and practically blackmailed Luz into helping her at first. Eda is also brave, reasonable, and honorable if she likes you.
Unstoppable Rage: Eda completely loses it in "Watching and Dreaming" after watching Luz die. She even warns the Collector to stay away just before she snaps because she isn't sure if she'll be able to control herself in the ensuing rampage.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: While she was a prankster and sometimes didn't have control over her magic, Eda in flashbacks showed a Big Sister Instinct despite Lilith being the older sibling and interested in studying various tracks. That changed after Lilith cursing her forced her to leave Hexside, and she became the crusty lady we see today.
Vague Age: It's hard to tell how old Eda actually is. Luz seems to think she's getting on in years, but her sister (whom she's close enough in age to have gone to school with) appears to be in no more than her forties, not to mention it's implied that her curse may be having an effect on her appearance. Eda herself made it sound like she was dying! She has a "30 & Flirty" mug and says she's been cursed for longer than the fourteen-year-old Luz has been alive, so she could still be in her thirties. "Wing It Like Witches" reveals she is actually younger than Lilith. Word of God eventually confirmed that Eda is in her mid-to-late forties and is only a couple of years younger than the similarly-aged Lilith; she only looks significantly older due to her curse. Further shown in the first episode of Season 2 when Eda mentions she has been cursed for 30 years, which added to her high school age at the time of being cursed would put her between 46 to 48 years old.
Vain Sorceress: A rare non-villainous example. She's the most powerful witch in the Isles, is still very "foxy" despite her advanced age, and she is very well aware, if not proud, of both of those facts.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With King, they constantly snark and squabble at each other while still caring about each other's well-being.
Voice of the Legion: Eda's voice in her new harpy form is rather echoey.
Weaksauce Weakness: It turns out that while in her normal form, she's formidable and her owl form is eerily competent, she can't use magic if on the cusp of transformation and sprouting feathers.
Womanchild: Besides her Annoying Younger Sibling tendencies towards Lilith, Eda often acts like a troublemaking teenager, something that Principal Bumps lampshades when he forces her to clean up her former messes in exchange for enrolling Luz into Hexside.
Eda: [grunts] I don't wanna do this!
Bump: There's the whiny rebel teen I remember.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: She reassures Luz that she won't skin the child or eat her while claiming Luz is too valuable a customer to kill. When the chips are down in the series premiere, she cites the Warden threatening Luz as a reason for not wanting to date him and sends the girl away from the battle. And while a lot of her reckless antics can end up potentially endangering children (ex: her randomly placed Spikes of Doom trap in "Covention" could have gone badly if Amity had stepped on it), it's never the intention. On the other hand, her cursed form has no issues whatsoever trying to hurt King and Luz, though that's more the curse form's animal mind than any real malicious intent.
Workaholic: In "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", as a result of what happened in the previous episode, she's become determined to get stronger to the point that she's neglecting her health.
Wowing Cthulhu: The Titan admits to being a "big fan" of hers in "Watching and Dreaming," and asks Luz to give her their regard. Admittedly, a large part of this probably has to do with her being their son's adoptive mother.
Wrong Context Magic: The reason why there is no known cure for Eda's curse? It's nothing like anything the Healing, Potion, and Beastkeeping Covens have ever seen. Not only does the Owl Beast come from a completely different Titan corpse, but the spell was crafted by one of the Archivists and is thus far more powerful than any witch or demon could ever hope to match.
Younger Than They Look: It's implied in "Sense and Insensitivity" that she might not actually be as old as she looks due to her curse, which would explain why she and Lilith were in school together despite Lilith looking much younger. Later confirmed in "Wing It Like Witches" where it's shown that Lilith is the older sister, and it's outright stated that Eda's hair is grey because of the curse. Word of God has said that she is in her forties.
Your Days Are Numbered: In "Escape of the Palisman", it is revealed that the elixir is not working like it used to, leaving Eda vulnerable to her curse. She eventually succumbs to it at the end of "Agony of a Witch," though she later recovers, thanks to Lilith taking half of the curse into herself.

King Clawthorne

Voiced by: Alex Hirsch, Dana Terrace (child, "Squeak of Rage")

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/king___profile.png

"Now I am king and queen! Best of both things!"

^{Click here to see him in the epilogue}

"Soon, Mr. Ducky, we shall drink the fear of those who mocked us."

A tiny, high-strung furry monster who is Eda's ward. Despite his diminutive stature, he thinks very highly of himself and tends to blow up when under pressure, but he typically means well.

Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: His only clothing is the collar around his neck, though he will sometimes wear a hat or other articles of clothing depending on the situation. The most clothes he's worn at once are the Archivist robes provided by the Collector in "For the Future".
Accidental Kidnapping: As revealed in "Echoes of the Past", Eda initially assumed King was a stray animal living in the ruins and took him with her to protect him from a monster. She didn't realized he was sapient until afterwards—and it'd be eight years before she learned that the "monster" was actually King's protector.
Acquired Situational Narcissism: While King has Delusions of Grandeur at the best of times, in "Sense and Insensitivity" becoming a best-selling author makes him even more arrogant than usual.
Adoptive Name Change: At the end of "Eda's Requiem", he has his name legally changed to King Clawthorne by having Eda sign his adoption papers.
All Animals Are Dogs: He may be canine-based and may have dog-like tendencies, but he does have some cat like tendencies too, like playing with yarn and has an affinity towards cats, and has the cat’s stereotype of being lazy.
The Alleged Expert: Regarding demons. While some demons are genuinely scary and intimidating dangers Luz needs to be careful around, King is not one of them and neither is the Snaggleback he was trying to teach her about.
Ambiguously Evil: He hasn't actually done anything evil on-camera, but he alludes to having an army of demons take over the world and surround it in permanent darkness. Eda is unfazed since King rants about this all the time. Since it's later revealed that she found him as a baby and he's hardly more than a child, it becomes clear that while he might rant about ambitions he's not really one to execute them.
Ambiguously Related: "Edge of the World" and "O Titan, Where Art Thou" strongly implied that he may be the descendant of the Titan whose corpse forms the Boiling Isles, but there was no proof then. "King's Tide" finally confirmed the connection, with the Collector revealing that he's not just a descendant, but the son of the Boiling Isles Titan.
Ambiguous Gender Identity: King is exclusively referred to with masculine pronouns, but his "father" identifies as bigender. Since they are the only two titans we see in the series, it's impossible to tell if he would be considered cis male or transgender by the standards of their species. Another possibility is that Titans are intersex and merely adopt a gender identity while being capable of breeding asexually.
Ambiguous Situation: Season 1 makes it unclear if King was actually King of the demons or just delusional. There are obvious hints to the latter, with him thinking a paper Burger Queen Crown gave him powers and talking to stuffed animals. On the other hand, his knowledge of demons is very detailed and more useful in a real emergency than it appears at first. Plus, there is the question of how he came to meet Eda and why he's hanging out with the most wanted criminal in the Boiling Isles. Dana Terrace's provocative non-answers to questions about him during a Reddit AMA only muddle things further. Season 2 reveals that he wasn't actually a king. Eda found him as a baby and took him in. She called him 'a king among his subjects' and that was his first word - 'king'. This led him to believe that he's actually a king, and Eda kept egging him on through the years to prevent him from learning the truth. That said, he may have actually been the child of some kind of powerful demon. "Knock, Knock, Knockin on Hooty's Door" brings into question if King is actually a demon, the episode fully explains what demons are and where they came from. King ends up not fitting into any of the demon types; "Edge of the World" reveals that he's actually a baby Titan.
Ambiguous Species: King's species is unstated for all of season 1 and most of season 2, with most people assuming he's some kind of demon. "Knock, Knock Knocking on Hooty's Door" has Hooty put him through a series of tests, and comes to the conclusion that whatever King is, he does not fit into any of the established types of demons. "Edge of the World" ultimately reveals that King is a baby Titan, the last one left in the entire Demon Realm.
Angel Unaware: In "Edge of the World", he's revealed not to be any kind of demon, but a child Titan. No one saw that coming. Not even himself.
Answers to the Name of God: Since finding out he's the last living Titan, he has started to react to people asking "the Titan" for courage or luck with his personal encouragement or acknowledgement, though quietly and uncertainly.
Anti-Magic: As it turns out, King's Titan magics serve as this to the magics of the Collector and all of the other members of the Collector's species. This property is what allowed King's Father to seal the Collector away, and is also the reason for the Collectors plural deciding to wipe out the Titans as they feared the Titans would interfere in their collecting. The episode also shows King drafting possible ways in which his magic could be used to stop the Collector as a result of this.
Authority in Name Only: His claim to having ever been respected as "King of Demons" is rather questionable. As of Season 2, it's evident that he may actually be some form of demonic royalty, but if he is, the royalty in question seems to be long gone. "Edge of the World" reveals that he's a baby Titan, which while not "royalty" are still the most powerful creatures known to the Demon Realm and the one making up the Islands is treated like a god by some witches.
Awesome, but Impractical: Claims his throne as the King of Demons was made from the teeth of his enemies, which made it very uncomfortable to sit in.
Awful Truth:
- When he realizes his self-proclaimed kinghood was all just a delusion after all, he completely breaks down.
- Worse, down the line he learns that he really is the Last of His Kind... As he is a baby Titan and all others are dead, his family included. And to boot he's the key to summoning the Collector who threatens the entirety of the Demon Realm.
Badass Adorable: He's as adorable as he is good at fighting enemies... sometimes. His small size can get in the way.
Badass Teacher: In "The Intruder," he proves that his demon lore, however outdated it is, proves useful when handling a real emergency. Luz comes to appreciate his lessons and schedules them regularly with him.
Barrier Warrior: King develops the ability to project shields made of glyphs in the finale, after he witnesses Luz getting killed by Belos, and is consumed with rage.
Be Careful What You Wish For: In "O Titan, Where Art Thou" he lampshades that Lilith's sycophantic behavior after discovering that King is a Titan is what he thought that he always wanted, but thanks to his Character Development he just wants her to Stop Worshipping Me.
Berserker Tears: The final episode has him going absolutely feral while breaking down in tears after Luz temporarily dies.
Beware the Silly Ones: He's a tiny, adorable, childish, silly little creature that no-one takes seriously. He's also a titan who will one day become the most powerful being in the Boiling Isles, and even in his current state he's still more than capable of becoming genuinely dangerous if really pushed.
Big Brother Instinct: Inverted. King is very protective of Luz, particularly later in the show. With the two most notable examples being him performing a Heroic Sacrifice to save her in King's Tide and going into a rage-induced Super Mode with Glowing Eyes of Doom when Luz has a Disney Death at the hands of Belos in "Watching and Dreaming".
Big Eater: Has a thing for snacks, particularly scones. A bit subversive, perhaps, since you'd think he'd prefer tuna and catnip.
Big Shadow, Little Creature: How King's introduced. His shadow makes him look more monstrous than he actually is but when King enters the room, he looks like he just got out of the bath.
Big Sister Worship: It doesn't take long for King to attach himself to Luz whom he looks up to, to the point that he gets jealous when she's paying attention to her friends instead of him although he does get better about it.
Bizarre Alien Biology: According to Dana Terrace's artwork, underneath his skull is his eyes, tongue... and that's it. He has no other organs in his head whatsoever, not even a brain. "Echoes of the Past" seems to imply that his memory storage organs are in his horns.
Blessed with Suck: Sort of. "Once Upon A Swap" reveals that while being a Ridiculously Cute Critter who evokes Cuteness Proximity in almost everyone who sees him has its perks, it also makes him feel small, helpless, and patronized all the time. It takes less than half an episode for Eda to realize being cute isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Eda: Jeez, I thought I liked being babied, but I feel so small and helpless, like some sort of baby.
Bratty Half-Pint: At the start of the series, King has a large ego and sense of his own self-importance, and often acts in selfish, impulsive, and bratty ways that unintentionally get himself and others into trouble. This is largely dropped after "Echoes of the Past", with him becoming much more empathetic and mature after learning that he's not actually royalty.
Calling Parents by Their Name: He continues to call Eda by her name even after his adoption in "Eda's Requiem", presumably out of habit since that's already what he's been calling her his entire life. In fact, he and Eda are never directly referred to as mother and son by anyone even though his relation to the other members of the Clawthorne family is addressed.
Cartoon Creature: He seems to have characteristics of cats, dogs, and foxes.
Casual Danger Dialogue: He tells Luz not to worry about him and Eda fighting the Warden; as the latter unleashes fire attacks, King says that her last "boyfriend" was worse.
Character Development:
- After discovering his true origins in "Echoes of the Past", he mostly dispenses with the overwhelming ego which came from believing he was the king of demons. He has also developed a need to find out more about himself, and struggles with the fact that his father was absent his whole life. After learning that he's a Titan in "Edge of the World", he lampshades when talking to Steve about how he would have loved to have someone worshipping him like Lilith is now, but his growth as a person means that she's just unnerving him. He also gets a lot nicer.
- Over the course of the series, he goes from being somewhat selfish and childish at times to becoming an emphatic listener and often giving good advice. He convinces Eda to simply talk to the Owl Beast since she once considered him a beast once before realising that he was sapient. In "Clouds on the Horizon", he listens to Alador's complaints about work and regrets and is thus able to tell him the truth about the Day of Unity. He also understands the Collector's loneliness and tries to think of a method to resolve the conflict for good.
Chekhov's Gun: The marking that King finds in the temple he was born in which he scratches onto his collar. He initially thinks that it might be his name but the season 2 finale reveals that it is actually a symbol used to keep King hidden from the Collector, explaining why he couldn't see King through their Psychic Bond.
Childhood Brain Damage: His guardian Jean-Luc accidentally chipped off his horn while trying to stop Eda from taking him away. This resulted in King losing his earlier memories and made him more susceptible to believing that Eda's stories about him being an actual king were true.
Commonality Connection: "For the Future" sees King finding a great deal of himself within his friend/captor the Collector, in particular how the latter is an entity who just wants to have some friends in their life after spending untold aeons all alone, mirroring King's own craving of affection from those close to him.
Crazy Jealous Guy: A rare platonic example, but as seen in "Really Small Problems", and "Eclipse Lake", he's this towards Luz. He gets so upset that Luz is hanging out with Willow and Gus that he (accidentally) shrinks them so he can hang out with Luz instead, and as seen in "Eclipse Lake" he got upset when Luz hugged her new girlfriend first instead of him.
King: I'm never letting you go! You're never returning to the human realm!
Luz: He doesn't mean that...
King: Yes I do!
Cuteness Proximity: When Luz first meets him, her first reaction is to squee, glomp him and nuzzle him affectionately while calling him a "widdle guy". Eda even says "who could say no to this cute face?" Eda uses this as an excuse not to bring King along when she is training Luz in "Adventures in the Elements", pointing out that Luz will most likely lose focus the second King does something "adorable". He also just evokes this in pretty much everyone who sees him, as "Once Upon A Swap" demonstrates. Even Alpha Bitch Boscha is unable to resist his cuteness.
Dark Is Not Evil: He is a black demon with a skull for a face, while he claims to be an inversion, most of his actions lean more to the side of good and he cares more about the lives of his friends. He is revealed to be a titan, which makes him related to the monster corpses littering the world from which the demons spawned. Yet this only solidifies that he and his species are not evil, merely branded as such by crazy cultists. His dad being a chill guy also solidifies this fact.
Deathbringer the Adorable: The self-proclaimed king of demons is an adorable dog-like creature complete with a collar and a collection of stuffed toys.
Disappeared Dad: "Echoes of the Past" reveals that he wasn't a king of anything, though he vaguely remembers someone calling him "son" in a roaring language and deduces it must have been his father, who mysteriously disappeared before King hatched from his egg. Between "Edge of the World", "O Titan Where Art Thou?" and "King's Tide" it is revealed that his father is none other than the Boiling Isles' Titan and he seemingly died sealing away the Collector to protect his son.
Entitled Bastard: He used to often expect people to bow down to him the moment they see him.
- In "Sense and Insensitivity", he fully believed Luz would help him write another novel, even after killing off her character, and insulting her contributions.
- In "Understanding Willow", he outright states that he "deserves" attention.
Establishing Character Moment: His Big Shadow, Little Creature routine in the first episode, showing how he thinks he's a truly terrifying monster when he's really an adorable creature with dreams of grandeur.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": King isn't his actual name, which remains unstated. Subverted in "Echoes of the Past" which reveals his name really ''is'' King, which Eda gave him after jokingly referring to him as "a king among his people".
Everyone Has Standards: In "For the Future" he is visibly disturbed by the cavalier manner with which the Collector treats all of the polymorphed inhabitants of the Boiling Isles considering he has lived amongst them as people. Likewise he also recognizes that the Collector is just a lonely kid looking for some friends and genuinely doesn't mean any harm, hence his conflict in regards to how to best take the Collector down in such a way as to ensure they won't be a threat to the Demon Realm ever again.
Expy: He is physically based on a Cubone.
Fatal Flaw: Impulse. Due to being a child, King has zero impulse control whenever he gets excited about something. No matter how dangerous or stupid the idea, he will go through with it until someone needs to bail him out.
Friendless Background: In "The Intruder", King mentions that he doesn't have many friends and that no one really pays any attention to him. This was his main motivation for trying to teach Luz about demons: he believed that if he did, someone would finally care about creatures like him. Later episodes imply that part of King's difficulty in making friends is because most people ignore and dismiss him, with even Willow and Gus doing so initially.
Furry Reminder: He'll show various dog-like habits and behaviors.
- He curls up into a ball when sleeps.
- He scratches behind his ear with his legs.
- He runs on all fours when panicked or in a hurry.
- He has few qualms on eating food out of the garbage.
- He'll grab things with his mouth and have to be chased around to drop it.
- He relies on his sense of smell for tracking.
- He can have fleas.
Genocide Survivor: King is the last known living Titan, a species that was hunted to extinction by fanatical worshippers of the Collector.
Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: "Echoes of the Past" reveals King is at least eight years old and comes from a species that seems to grow to a gigantic size. "Edge of the World" reveals that he's a baby Titan, meaning that a fully grown Titan next to a baby Titan is hundreds if not thousands of times bigger.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: King gets glowing purple eyes when he enters his monstrous transformation due to grief and rage as a result of Luz's Disney Death.
God Was My Copilot: Or in Luz and Eda's case, my foster brother/adopted son is an infant titan (and is also the son of the Titan). Then again, King was just as in the dark about his true identity as they were.
Goo-Goo-Godlike: As the Titan that makes up the Boiling Isles is considered a deity to the people on it, he could be considered an infant god. Downplayed in that his power isn't exactly as high as that of a fully grown Titan, at least not yet.
Gratuitous French: For some reason he likes to name his things after French namesakes. His stuffed bunny is named "Francois", and his Flesh Golem bodyguard is named "Jean-Luc".
Happily Adopted: "Eda's Requiem" has him proudly declare that he is legally getting his name changed to "King Clawthorne" and that all he needs is Eda signing the paperwork to make it official. Eda and Luz burst into tears of joy because of this. "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" also shows that both of Eda's parents consider him to be their grandson.
Harmless Villain: King sees himself as an Evil Overlord with a sadistic streak a mile wide, but compared to the many demons and witches that inhabit the Boiling Isles, King falls somewhere at the bottom of the food chain. The fact that he has no strengths or powers of his own (allegedly) and he's too adorable to take seriously doesn't help. As "Edge of the World' reveals, he may be a child but King is also the last living Titan, which is said to be one of the most powerful creatures in Demon Realm.
Hell Hound: Averted, as despite being a dog-like demon, he's small and cute rather than large and terrifying. He's either a puppy of a larger breed or a Chihuahua, Pomeranian, or other long-haired small breed. "Echoes of the Past" implies that it's the former, and "Edge of the World" confirms by revealing King as a juvenile Titan. He most closely resembles the Black Shuck of British mythology.
Hero of Another Story: He and Eda find a log of palistrom wood for Luz to create her own Palisman. No details are given other than that they apparently robbed a gardening club and had to fight their way out.
Heroic Sacrifice: In the season 2 finale "King's Tide", King makes a Deal with the Devil with the Collector to release him in order to stop the Day of Unity so that he, and the rest of the Boiling Isles, can be his new "playmates". He then performs another one at the end of the episode by forcing Luz through the portal door in order to transport her safely to the Human Realm so she won't be trapped by the Collector in the Boiling Isles.
Hidden Depths: He can operate a parade float as seen in "Follies At the Coven Day Parade".
His Name Really Is "Barkeep": "Echoes of the Past" reveals his name really is King. Eda picked it after joking that he was "a king among his people".
Hulking Out: In the Season 3 finale, King undergoes a rage and grief-induced transformation when Luz is temporarily killed by Belos. He grows to about double his normal size, his skull sprouts extra teeth that lengthen into fangs, and his eyes glow a bluish purple with the inside of his mouth matching. He still has enough control to shield the Collector from Belos' attempt to kill him too, but beyond that is only capable of snarling and roaring.
I Just Want to Be Loved: In "The Intruder", he admits that he's insecure at heart and wishes that others could take him seriously. This is why he tries to be a second teacher to Luz, telling her about demons.
The Imp: He's a mischievous little creature and in "The Intruder" he takes great pleasure from bapping an unconscious Eda.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: He makes himself out to be a big deal, but deep down is well aware of how small and powerless he is. His desire to feel like he's needed is most notable in "The Intruder" and "Really Small Problems", where he fears Luz will one day no longer want to be around him.
Interspecies Adoption: While it was already clear at the time of his adoption in "Eda's Requiem" that he and Eda weren't the same species, "Edge of the World" confirms it with the reveal that he's a Titan.
Instant Runes: As a Titan, King will eventually have the power to simply conjure glyphs at will. However, he's presently too young to do so intentionally, only once creating a glyph barrier when he was driven by rage. He must rely on manually drawing glyphs for now..
Ironic Fear: He loves attention and adoration, yet "Enchanting Grom Fright" shows him suffering from stage fright.
Jerkass Has a Point: Eda really hates it when his concerns about Luz going to find another teacher if she kept dragging the human into garbage worm corpses proved valid. What's more, Luz comes to agree that his demon lore actually helped in a dangerous situation.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He can be very self-centered and is constantly ordering others around, but it's abundantly clear he loves Luz and considers her and Eda his family. The jerk part is even mostly dropped later.
Last of His Kind: "Edge of the World" reveals that King is a baby Titan and is the only Titan to still be alive, with all others being dead. To boot his "species" he met in the episode were just witch cultists in disguise pretending to be a whole different race. The introduction of King's father as a spirit and his subsequent claim of being both "king and queen, best of both things", implies that Titans can reproduce asexually, so it's entirely possible King by himself could proginate a new generation of Titans after reaching maturity.
Lazy Bum: King hates doing hard work and is often sleeping. Eda even lampshades it after she casts a sleep spell on Willow in "Understanding Willow", King goes to sleep as well, with Eda snarking that she didn't cast it on him.
Let's Get Dangerous!: In "The Intruder", when he realizes that Eda is the Owl monster, he takes charge and instructs Luz in how to take down a demon by weaponizing its weaknesses. They then set a trap for Eda to be blinded by Luz's light spells so as to give her back-up elixir.
Like a Son to Me: Eda treats him like a second child to Luz. Justified as she's the one who raised him from infancy.
Like Brother and Sister: With Luz, he acts like an Annoying Younger Sibling towards her while having great admiration for her and both "Edge of the World" and "King's Tide" have him directly refer to her as his sister, with the latter incident only occurring because he chose to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to save her.
Long-Lived: It's strongly implied, though never directly stated, that King's species lives for a very long time. King's father is the titan of the Boiling Isles, meaning that he was incubating in his egg for thousands of years. Additionally, King is tiny by comparison and seems to grow very slowly - even in the Distant Finale, he's only slightly bigger and still small enough to ride on Luz's shoulder.
Magikarp Power: King may be weak and powerless now, but the reveal that he is a titan means that when he grows up he will be one of the most powerful beings in the universe. In the series finale, the Collector outright says that a fully grown Titan is stronger even than his species and implies it's the reason the Archivists tried to eradicate the species.
Man of Kryptonite: "For The Future" reveals that Titan magic is able to cancel out the magic of the Collectors, meaning that, although King is young and small, he's also the only person who can't be directly affected by the Collector's magic.
Miles Gloriosus: King often acts tough and proclaims himself the King of Demons, and even when he's in Luz's body, he does manage to challenge Boscha quite some time. Ultimately, he can't defend himself when Boscha and her gang chase him, and ends up running like a coward.
Missing Mom: While the identity of his father is a major plot point throughout the series, there is no mention at all of his biological mother, as Eda already takes such a role in the form of adoption. Justified, as the final episode reveals that Titans can apparently reproduce asexually.
Mistaken Identity: King gets mistaken for a teacher in "The First Day" and almost immediately enjoys the authority it gives him though he seems to like the actual educating part too.
Momma's Boy: Even before his adoption King has been this to Eda. Eda practically raised him and King just enjoys the attention he gets being babied by her.
My Instincts Are Showing: King’s dog-like behavior does manifest quite frequently.
The Napoleon: He can be awfully temperamental at times when not in a good mood.
Nice Mean And In Between: The mean (the most violent loving and arrogant) to Luz's nice (compassionate, kind, and caring) and Eda's in-between (not a Nice Girl like Luz but way less obnoxious than King).
No Infantile Amnesia: "Echoes of the Past" reveals that he can remember events from before he hatched, namely a roar calling him "son", though it required him to briefly put his broken horn back on his head.
Now, Let Me Carry You: In the climax of season 2, Luz and her friends try to keep him out of the worst of the fighting to protect him, and he's clearly frustrated about not being able to be more of a help. In "King's Tide", he finally manages to contribute by freeing the Collector and getting them to stop the Draining Spell, saying that he's glad that he could protect Luz before knocking her and her friends through the portal.
Our Demons Are Different: He's assumed to be a demon for most of the show, but "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" reveals that he doesn't fit cleanly into any of the recorded categories of demon. Either he's a completely unknown species... or he's not a demon at all. He's actually a Titan, which is the Monster Progenitor species of the demons of the Demon Realm.
Our Titans Are Different: "Edge of the World" reveals that King is actually a baby Titan, seemingly the last.
Performance Anxiety: In "Enchanting Grom Fright", Gus invites him to co-emcee Luz's fight against Grom. King becomes unnerved shortly before taking the stage, flubbing his announcements and making bad jokes. It takes some encouragement from Gus to get him to regain his confidence.
Ping Pong Naïveté: How childish King is in his awareness of certain things or not seems to vary depending on Rule of Funny.
Psychic Link: Following "Edge of the World" King seems to have formed one with the Collector due to the Titan Trappers trying to ritually sacrifice him to the Collector. King sees the Collector's prison in the In Between Realm while dreaming and hears them talking. During a later moment of solitude, King later hears the Collector's thoughts. In both cases, the Collector isn't aware of King's presence, only realizing he's nearby in the In Between Realm when King calls out to them.
Puberty Superpower: It's implied in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" that his Super-Scream abilities are the result of his species' version of puberty, given it happens in the same episode where his voice starts cracking.
Pungeon Master: An activity he likes doing with Luz from time to time in the form of a comedy hour. Much to Eda's annoyance, he and Luz somehow get an hour's worth of material from bread puns. Turns out the Boiling Isles Titan i.e. his father, likes a good bread pun too.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Luz, Boscha, and several other characters seem to think so.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: He's absolutely convinced he's the king of demons, but nobody believes him and his given origins are entirely his own made up justifications. However, he is still technically the highest ranking demon in the entire Demon Realm, as he's the last surviving Titan.
Sentient Cosmic Force: The Distant Finale reveals that, like his parent, King is able to serve as a source of power for his very own set of glyphs, seemingly without any ill effects, and location is inconsequential which means he can take his magic anywhere he goes.
Scars Are Forever: After he gets his second horn back, a visible outline is shown around the area where it snapped off his head. Additionally in "King's Tide", he gets a large crack on his skull when the airship carrying him and the Hexsquad to the Titan's Head crashes and the injury is evidently still there months later given the bandage he has over the spot where his skull cracked in "For the Future". However, by the time of the epilogue of "Watching and Dreaming", several years later, the crack appears to have mostly healed - though still visible, it is significantly smaller and fainter, and he's wearing a green star-shaped bandage over it.
Screams Like a Little Girl: Has a very high-pitched "squeak of rage".
Eda: He's like a little tea kettle.
Sealed Evil in a Teddy Bear: Possibly. He claims to have been an all-powerful king of demons once (hence his current name). It's... debatable whether or not he's telling the truth or just having one of his usual delusions of grandeur. Turns out he was never "shrunk", King is small because he's the infant form of the most powerful creature in the Demon Realm – a Titan.
Security Blanket: He's very fond of his stuffed rabbit toy Francois and in "Adventures in the Elements", he's the only toy that King doesn't animate because he's "already perfect". Nobody else is even allowed to hold Francois except for Luz. At the end of the series, he gives Francois to the Collector before the latter's journey to the stars.
Shoulder Teammate: King can frequently be seen riding Luz's shoulder, and occasionally will climb to another character's shoulder as well. With Eda, he tends to hide inside of her hair instead.
Skull for a Head: That dog-like skull on his head isn't a helmet, it's part of King's head. "Echoes of the Past" reveals he's had it since birth. As a joke, Dana Terrace even drew King "taking off" the skull—which means losing everything above his jaw but his tongue and eyeballs.
Sleep Cute: Curls up with Luz for her first night on the isles, and being himself is adorable when he does it.
Small Name, Big Ego: Has been described as someone with an inflated sense of their own importance.
Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: He is first Eda's, then Luz's small, cute animal-like companion whose dialogue consists largely of sarcastic quips.
So Beautiful, It's a Curse: More of so cute it's a curse. "Once Upon a Swap" shows King hates being liked and infantilized by anyone who approaches him this way all the time.
Spanner in the Works: For the Day of Unity. The fact that he's a Titan means he can release the Collector himself, something Belos would have put a stop to if he'd known King's true nature. Once the Collector is free, that pretty much ends Belos's plans for the Day of Unity, despite that it was going off without a hitch.
Spoiled Brat: Downplayed and played for laughs but King feels entitled to a lot of things due to his believed status as the King of Demons. This is best shown when he uses Eda's Owl Beast form to conquer a playground or when he told Luz to beat up the Prize guy so he can have the friendship bracelet. By the end of the series, this trait has nearly evaporated.
Stop Worshipping Me: In "O Titan, Where Art Thou", thanks to his Character Development, he gets increasingly unnerved by Lilith worshipping him once she finds out that he's a Titan.
Super-Scream: In "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", King unlocks the ability to cause shockwaves with his screams.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: He is in possession of these, much like Eda, though in King's case, its actually the sclera that is golden, and not the irises which are purple.
Sweet Tooth: Tends to enjoy sweet food, especially pastries as shown in "Witches Before Wizards" and "Covention".
Sympathy for the Devil: This is how King feels about The Collector. After he spent some time with them in the third season, King started to understand them a bit better. He knows that they have the mindset of a child, and that they seem to be misguided. When the show is nearing the climax, King wants to save The Collector. It works.
Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed. He’s far from actually being evil, but he has quite a few fantasies of being a feared tyrant and is the one most inclined to suggest violence as a solution. This changes after King learns that he wasn't a feared tyrant at any point, though he is still more than happy to get into the same kind of mischief that Eda has taken him on in the past.
Took a Level in Kindness: While King's love for Luz and Eda is apparent from the start, he begins the series egotistical, entitled, and insensitive, wanting to command power, respect, and fear. Throughout Season 1, he slowly becomes nicer and less selfish, but "Echoes of the Past" near the beginning of Season 2 is what really marks a major change in his character when he discovers that he never was the King of demons in the first place. He still enjoys mischief and chaos, but overall King is much more considerate and humble in Season 2. In "O Titan, Where Art Thou?", King says outright that he doesn't want to be seen as a "big scary monster" anymore, abandoning his grand ambitions in favor of just wanting his family.
To Serve Man: He immediately prepares to eat a baby upon seeing one, and occasionally thinks about eating Luz even after having lived with her for months.
Traumatic Superpower Awakening: King's anguished outburst about his father abandoning him and his lack of clarity on what kind of demon he is, triggers his shockwave shouting abilities.
Tritagonist: The third main character, after Luz and Eda.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Played for Laughs. While his age was kept vague throughout the first season, he introduces himself as the "King of Demons" who ruled over demon-kind with an iron fist, displaying sadistic, power-hungry tendencies. Given his size and actual age, it just came across as cute and hilarious. After learning the truth, he lightens up and acts more like an Adorably Precocious Child.
Ungrateful Bastard: When Amity steps on King's cupcake, Luz challenges her to a witch's duel with the terms that she apologize to him if she loses. King vehemently encourages her on this decision, even though if Luz loses she'll never be able to learn magic. Afterward, when Luz asks King if she can win this, he nonchalantly says "No" and then goes to seek more "offerings", leaving a terrified Luz behind. Although to his credit, he does later insist upon people cheering for Luz when the duel finally happens.
Unstoppable Rage: When Luz has a Disney Death in "Watching and Dreaming", King loses it.
Vague Age: Does King merely act childish because of his role as a cute animal/comic relief character? Or is he actually as young as his behavior would imply? When asked about it in an AMA, Dana Terrace said his age is "???????". Eda found him eight years ago, and he appeared to be an infant at the time, making it likely he's even younger than Luz, though the age of the ruins where his egg was found, and his awareness in said egg, along with the unknown amount of time he spent alone in the ruins, muddles things a bit.
Ventriloquist Animal: He somehow talks without ever moving his mouth, even though we see he does have a mouth that can open and close.
Verbal Tic: Often makes little "weh!" noises (and the same noise but louder when he uses his powers). As it turns out, this is apparently characteristic of Titans.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Eda, with them constantly snarking and squabbling at each other while still caring about each other's well-being.
Vomit Discretion Shot: When Luz was being faster than anyone else in the Gland Prix, King, who rode on Owlbert's staff in front of Luz, had to throw up, making them crash and lose the race, but we only heard, not saw, him puking.
Whale Egg: "Echoes of the Past" reveals that he came from an egg, despite his canine-like appearance.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Played for Drama. Eda always insists that King is her roommate; while she may tease him about calling him embarrassing nicknames suited for puppies, she treats him like a person. The antagonists of the show, including Amity during her Alpha Bitch phase, condescendingly call King, Eda's "pet"; at one point he's even called a dog by Adegast. Luz in time adopts Eda's attitude and calls King one of her friends while taking demon lessons from him. "Echoes of the Past" reveals Eda herself didn't even realize King was intelligent at first, despite some of the exotic demons she's seen. The reason she got his collar was because that was what you did with pets.
Your Size May Vary: King is consistently depicted as smaller than just about everyone else, but just how small he is varies a lot from one scene to the next. At his smallest, his entire body is smaller than Luz's head, while at his largest he comes about halfway up her torso. There's less variation after Season 1, with him generally ranging between knee-height and waist-height compared to Luz, but still no consistency.

Hooty

Voiced by: Alex Hirsch

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_fd6ec5145bad34ba1751ad54a63f32e4_1df9bd5c_640.jpg

"Maybe I can help! I'm pretty good at getting stuck inside people's heads!"

^{Click here to see Porta-Hooty}

"I will be haunted by my actions forever. Hoot-hoot!"

The eponymous Owl House himself - a sentient house demon Eda uses as a mobile home and living security system. Despite providing our protagonists with a place to live, he has a very off-putting personality and often gets little respect from them or anyone.

To hear him narrate his tropes in his own words, check out his self-demonstrating page.

Adorable Abomination: Downplayed, but as cutesy as his owl-carving face and Mickey Mouse-esque voice may be, the show rather often shows him in a terrifying light, being able to take off his own skin to wash it leaving himself nothing but a spine and a skull, having a second face inside of his mouth throat and he can detatch himself from the Owl House in a manner that, while not shown, is horrific to watch and nearly made Luz throw up, leaving bare, pulsating organs and veins where he once was on the door. And he may or may not be connected to the Titan itself, if the Titan's soul having a miniature Hooty in his eye socket is any indication.
Affectionate Nickname: Lilith starts calling him "Hootsifer" after they become friends in "Separate Tides".
Ambiguous Innocence: Hooty is typically upbeat and cheerful, but there are indications it's a mask. As described under Beware the Silly Ones, he's a very effective security system, overpowering trespassers with ease while making friendly remarks that would seem like obliviousness if he wasn't completely thrashing them. He's also said he was scarred by his destroying King's boot camp of stuffed animals while still smiling like always.
Ambiguous Situation: When Luz is temporarily killed and meets the lingering spirit of the Titan himself in the void between worlds, he's revealed to be missing his right eye, which instead has a strange stalk-like figure of Hooty sticking out of it, visually evoking the imagery of a worm crawling out of a corpse's eye socket. It's not commented on by either him or Luz, but he does make a reference to "keeping an eye" on his son, and it's left unclear if Hooty has any connection to the Titan himself, explaining his otherwise-odd abilities.
Ambiguous Species: Played for Laughs. No one in the Boiling Isles is entirely sure what Hooty is, if he's a bird, an owl, a worm or a tube. Averted by the show itself, as the episode "Knock, Knock, Knocking on Hooty's Door" has Hooty himself state that he's a bug demon, later clarified as a tapeworm inside of the Titan's corpse.
Amusing Injuries: He gets injured quite a lot, and it's always Played for Laughs. Eda pokes him in the eyes when he asks her for a password; Luz karate chops him in the head when he wishes her a good morning; Eda punches one of the House's walls when he asks her to solve a riddle, which apparently hurts him, as he yelps in pain when she does so; Amity brutalizes him offscreen, leaving him with an eyepatch.
Angel Unaware: If he really is connected to the Titan itself somehow then he doesn't appear to know about it.
Animal Species Accent: Hooty well, hoots when he talks.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Hooty gets distracted mid-sentence a lot, usually by a buzzing fly.
Badass Adorable: Despite his annoying habits and low intelligence, Hooty is a savant in defending the household.
Beware the Silly Ones: Managed to subdue Lilith even as his goofy self, and in the following episode we see him effortlessly defeat both Lilith and a group of the Emperor’s soldiers.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: In "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", it is revealed that he is classified as a Bug Demon due to his worm-like physiology. After the finale, it would be stated that he's a tapeworm.
Body Horror: The show seems to delight in making his biology more and more horrifying with each passing episode.
- In "Echoes of the Past", Hooty reveals he can make a portable backpack of himself in case he wants to join on any adventures. The way he demonstrates this is, going by Luz, King, and Lilith's faces, NOT pretty at all. The only outcome we do see is veins and pulsing organs on the hole in the door as Lilith cringes hard, King has tears in his eyes and Luz tries not to throw up.
- He can remove his skin and function as just his skeleton with no ill effects.
- His throat is lined with teeth and has a second face at the end of it.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's very goofy and somewhat vacant minded but as we see in "Agony of a Witch", he's very good at his job as a living security system.
Butt-Monkey: He gets poked in the eyes, punched in the wall several times, and knocked down by a mysterious intruder. The house never gets a break, even from the people he's protecting. Even on a personal level, he gets no respect from others, especially King.
- This slowly changes over the course of season 2. While he's still treated with some disdain, Hooty's increased helpfulness earns him some affection from the group. Most drastically, once she's expelled from the Emperor's coven, he quickly makes strong friends with Lilith and often teams up with her in his porta-Hooty form.
Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: In the Owl Pellets short "Art Lessons with Luz", Hooty thinks Luz's drawing of him is a rival house demon invading his territory and rips it to shreds. Afterwards, he thinks Luz's life-sized drawings of herself and King are the real deal and talks to them for hours on end without any reply. He usually won't make this mistake if he actually sees the art of him being made, such as when Lilith made an ice sculpture of him in "Escaping Expulsion" and he was impressed.
Character Catchphrase:
- "Hoot! Hoot!"
- Says "sheesh" a lot when annoyed.
Characterization Marches On: In the first half of Season 1, he was prone to getting annoyed when things went badly for him, but later in the show he rarely gets angry and is more loopy and oblivious to misfortune.
Comedic Sociopathy: In "The Intruder", he encourages Luz to run out into the boiling rain, claiming that it will be "funny".
Crazy Enough to Work: In "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", his crazy schemes to help Luz, Eda and King's problems, causes a chain of events that lead to King using a Super-Scream power that can blow everything in its crossfire, Eda making a truce with the Owl Beast and gaining a Super Mode called "Harpy Eda", and Luz and Amity finally becoming an Official Couple. It's subverted, however, in that only the Relationship Upgrade between Luz and Amity was the intended result. He's made to promise to never attempt to help them ever again as a result.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He may be an annoying doof with no concept of personal space, but he's still a House Demon and perfectly capable of protecting himself, the house and those who live in it. In the first few minutes of "Agony of a Witch", he single-handedly defeats an entire squad of the Emperor's Coven and Lilith to boot. Though the latter was pure luck... probably.
Damned By a Fool's Praise: If Hooty thinks it's a good idea, the other characters will instantly think it's a bad one. Of note, when Eda agonizes over whether or not to let Luz enroll in Hexside, Hooty mentions that Eda taught him everything he knows, and he turned out fine. Eda immediately goes to talk to Principal Bump.
A Day in the Limelight: "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" is this for him, naturally. His attempts at helping the other members of the main cast end up unlocking King's Super-Scream ability, making Eda discover her Harpy form, and give Luz and Amity a Relationship Upgrade.
Declaration of Protection: In "Edge of the World":
Hooty: I would protect these silly children with my life!
Dem Bones: In "Follies at the Coven Day Parade", it turns out that he can remove his skin (apparently to wash it) and leave himself as an owl skull at the end of a very long spine, apparently without any detrimental effects.
Desperately Craves Affection: Played for Laughs. Hooty is so bored from keeping watch all the time that he is desperate for any kind of company, and instantly smothers anyone who pays him half a mind with all the boring details of his every thought and moment. This just causes them to get irritated and want nothing to do with him.
Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first episode, Hooty lets people in and out of the Owl House by stretching his mouth to fill up the entire doorframe, like he was eating them/spitting them back out (complete with him belching after closing back up). This isn't carried over to the rest of the series and Hooty just functions like a regular door from then on out. Likewise, Hooty is a lot more irritable than his later established overly-cheerful self.
Equippable Ally: Hooty can detach himself into a portable form, and he can be used as a grenade launcher and a helicopter.
Eye Scream:
- Eda pokes his eyes when he tries to pull an Open Sesame on her.
- He ends up with an eyepatch after Amity beats him up in "Enchanting Grom Fright".
Fast Tunneling: He can burrow through the ground a few dozen meters and emerge within seconds, letting him get the drop on potential intruders. While his length is limitless, he can only do this between two places on the same continent or island.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Eda, King, and even Luz mostly ignore him and get very irritated with him whenever he speaks. Similarly, Willow and Gus are freaked out by having to spend more than a minute in his presence, and Amity attacks him for having No Sense of Personal Space. In "Separate Tides", he earns Lilith's genuine friendship after saving her from some fire bees.
Genius Ditz: Hooty is still a childish, klutzy, and unobservant owl demon, but he shows a staggering number of useful skills in "Knock, Knock, Knockin on Hooty's Door" from baking, construction, and rivaling King in terms of demonic knowledge.
Genius Loci: He's a living house, albeit with a limited range of movement. Luz even notes that the walls breathe.
Glowing Eyes of Doom:
- When under the spell of the Moonlight Conjuring, Hooty's eyes get a pale blue glow in them.
- "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" also establishes that he can make his eyes glow an ominous yellow at will.
A God Am I: Played for Laughs in "Follies at the Coven Day Parade." When Hooty is in a Belos float, he distracts the guards by shouting about how great he is.
I am your God!
Heli-Critter: Hoot can spin his neck fast enough to support a person wearing him like a backpack.
Hidden Depths:
- Hooty has genuine demon knowledge that not even King knew. For instance, he introduces the three demon types and deeper information about each, such as bug-types instinctually using dance to communicate.
- Hooty can bake, such as cookies and a crumble that tasted good even though it didn't come out correctly.
- Despite his ditzy demeanor, Hooty has a surprisingly sophisticated vocabulary and unironically uses words like "malaise", "odious", and "dulcet".
Idiot Savant: He makes an effective deterrent for intruders and threats to the Owl House and its occupants, but he's a total gonk in every other category, either being too stupid or too annoying for everyone else to tolerate.
I Just Want to Have Friends: He's ecstatic to have someone to talk to and he really wants to go on adventures.
Innocently Insensitive: Hooty sincerely tries to be friendly, but his overbearing enthusiasm is incredibly obnoxious.
Instant Waking Skills: What makes him a state-of-the-art security system? He is NOT a heavy sleeper. Even while asleep, he can sense a potential threat within a few hundred feet, and he will wake up and take immediate action.
Large Ham: Has his moments like the hammy way he complains about being cold when knocked down in "The Intruder".
Moving Buildings: Like the home of the Baba Yaga, Hooty can sprout legs and walk around, though apparently only when assisted by a witch. It's implied Eda does this whenever she needs to hide from the law.
My Instincts Are Showing: In the "Art Lessons with Luz" short, he flips out at a simple outline Luz drew of him, believing it to be another owl and treating it as a threat to his territory. If he sees a bug, he will eat it.
Mysterious Past: His history prior to the start of the series is something of an enigma. We know his first words, we know he has dating experience, and we have a very loose time frame of when he first came to reside in the front door of the Owl House (being at some point between Dell abandoning the tower and Eda taking in King), but beyond that everything is a giant question mark.
Nice Guy: Incredibly annoying with his off-putting personality, but he's still welcoming and always willing to help.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Hooty receives a letter intended for King to read regarding his family. However, he gets distracted by a bug and accidentally eats it. Much later, he vomits it up with greeting Lilith after she shows up to help out since Luz's trip in Belos' mind. This results in him, Luz and King visiting the Titan Trappers, inadvertently leaving Lilith and Eda defenseless while the Emperor's Coven comes to arrest them for Luz seeing the emperor's secrets.
Nigh-Invulnerability: Hooty can feel pain and gets visible wounds, but his tube-body is extremely resistant to any sort of lasting damage. He can take firebolts and continue fighting with only superficial scorchmarks, and can take entire cliffsides collapsing on him with no ill effects.
No Indoor Voice: Ironically enough for a house. He's practically screaming his words most to the time, much to the annoyance of all those around him.
No Sense of Personal Space: As shown in "Enchanting Grom Fright," Hooty sometimes gets way up close to people he's talking to, and he tends to invade a lot of people’s privacy. It earns him a pummeling from Amity.
Odd Friendship: At the end of the season 2 premiere, he and Lilith become best friends despite their clashing personalities.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
- Captured Lilith offscreen.
- He somehow managed to kidnap Amity and create a fully functional Tunnel of Love complete with large, working animatronic puppets and quotes that Luz had said on signs all within the span of about 5 minutes.
One-Man Army: As a house demon, he's unparalleled in defending the home, though he does have his limit.
Open Sesame: Tries to make Eda give the password when she arrives with Luz, but instead gets poked in the eyes.
Our Demons Are Different: Extremely so. "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" reveals that he qualifies as a "Bug"-type demon (making Lilith's remark about him being "a weird bird-worm" even more accurate and hurtful), although he predominantly exhibits instinctive behavior like an owl or raptor bird, and seems to use the house as a living shell that he can detach from — although it's not pretty, and he needs another house-like object to bond with.
Mix-and-Match Critters: He's mostly owl-like in appearance, as one would expect, but he falls under the kingdom of bug demons, being a tapeworm.
Pen Pals: At the end of "Keeping Up A-fear-ances" Lilith leaves the Owl House, but promises to write Hooty. The Owl house is devastated as he can't write to her. As of "Knock, Knock, Knocking on Hooty’s Door" Hooty has found a solution: simply pecking at the keys on a typewriter.
The Pig-Pen: In "Once Upon A Swap", it's revealed that he likes to roll around in the mud specifically to make cleaning day more of a chore.
Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: In "Echoes of the Past", he delivers this line before launching explosive potions as grenades:
[normal voice] Special delivery! [deep voice] PAIN!
Protectorate: Hooty takes his role as the Owl House's security system very seriously. The only times he's shown sobering up and dropping his Cloud Cuckoolander commentary is when his inhabitants, particularily Luz and King, are in danger.
Really 700 Years Old: Amity mentions that house demons tend to go a bit nuts after a couple thousand years, implying that Hooty may be far older than he appears.
Rubber Man: His face on the door can stretch far enough to reach anywhere in the house or hundreds of feet away from it.
Sanity Ball: Hooty is usually a Cloud Cuckoo Lander, but in "Edge of the World", he is the only one who expresses concern about letting King be alone with a bunch of strangers. His concern is proven to be well-founded, as the Titan Trappers are actually hunters of King's kind.
Sapient House: Hooty isn't just the face at the door, but the entire physical building, and is able to slightly move other parts, like shutters and the weather vane. The walls even breathe. Bang a wall, and he will feel it. In "Hooty's Moving Hassle", a botched conjuring spell causes him to grow legs and allows him to run around, directed by Luz, Willow, and Gus. "Echoes of the Past" has him remove his head, but expose his guts inside.
Secondary Character Title: Doubles as The Place. Hooty is the titular Owl House but he isn't the main focus, that's Luz. Even within the household, Eda and King serve as the show's deuteragonists not him. That said, he's still an integral character who moves several story beats along and helps in other characters' development, most notably "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door."
Senseless Sacrifice: He ends up Taking the Bullet for Lilith and getting turned into a puppet by the Collector in "For the Future", only for Lilith to get transformed as well mere seconds later.
Shoo Out the Clowns:
- He is only shown in the background during "Young Blood, Old Souls", the extremely tense and dramatic season one finale.
- He only shows up in a few cameos in Season 3, and only once having a speaking role in "For the Future".
Shipper on Deck: As shown in "Knock Knock Knocking on Hooty's Door", Hooty is a huge supporter of Luz and Amity, to the point where he is willing to kidnap the latter so he can set them up on a makeshift Tunnel of Love.
Shown Their Work: Hooty's intelligence is akin to that of real-life owls; contrary to popular belief, most species of owls aren't particularly intelligent by bird standards, and they're known to make life-threatening mistakes while hunting prey.
Stomach of Holding: Hooty can vomit up the mail, Luz's school books, and anything else he might swallow even though he's just a stretchable head attached to a door. Weaponized in "Echoes of the Past" when he swallows a batch of explosive potions, acting as an improvised grenade launcher.
Super-Senses: Even if he's asleep, Hooty can instantly sense trespassers if they get too close to the house.
Supreme Chef: Apparently he's a pretty good baker. While his crumble may end up looking more like a cake, Tiny Nose still thinks it tastes great, and even Eda admits that his cookies are delicious.
Taking the Bullet: Because of his Nigh-Invulnerability, Hooty often puts himself between his friends and incoming fire, such as in "Edge of the World", where he uses his body to catch the firebolts thrown by the titan trappers to protect Luz and King. He also ends up being the first victim of the Collector's puppet magic in "For the Future" while protecting Lilith.
Throw the Dog a Bone:
- Gus decides to interview him in "Understanding Willow", though Gus quickly regrets it and gives up on trying.
- He develops a genuine friendship, Affectionate Nicknames included, with Lilith in "Separate Tides".
- The episode "Knock, Knock, Knockin on Hooty's Door" is probably the best example yet as, by the end, his various Zany Schemes end up helping his friends overcome some trauma (Eda), gain a new power (King and Eda again) or become a couple (Luz and Amity) and, while he promises not to interfere again, he's ultimately satisfied that he helped his friends and gains some new confidence in himself.
Unwise Owl: Hooty is about as far from The Owl-Knowing One as you can get (being a ditzy Cloudcuckoolander), though he does have a few moments of brilliance.
Use Your Head: Being little more than a head attached to a tube, Hooty's main form of attack is to simply headbutt anything that poses a threat, which is a surprisingly effective attack given how quickly he can stretch himself.
Verbal Tic: "Hoot-hoot!"
Volumetric Mouth: Hooty can open his beak to span the entirety of the Owl House's doorframe, which he also uses in an attempt to trap Lilith during her Grudgby game with Eda and swallow King whole.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" sees Hooty interfering with his housemates' lives in an attempt to help them, putting King through a class on demons, roofying Eda so she can deal with her curse directly, and dragging Luz and Amity into a Tunnel of Love in the basement to push them to confess their feelings. It all ultimately works out for the better, but he's still made to promise not to interfere with their lives again.

Owlbert

"Oh, he's my palisman and we're bonded for life. I'd annihilate anyone who'd hurt him."

Eda's palisman; a small, wooden owl that turns into the head of Eda's staff.

For tropes about Owlbert, see this page.

Luz's Palisman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/luz_egg.PNG

"I got to decide what my future looked like when I chose to be a witch, and I want them to have that option too. Until then, I'm willing to wait."

A palisman which was carved into the shape of an egg by Luz (with Eda's help) so that it could choose what it wants to be.

For tropes about Luz's Palisman, see this page.

Characters / The Owl House - The Owl House

The Owl House

Character-Specific Pages

Edalyn "Eda" Clawthorne, the Owl Lady

Voiced by: Wendie Malick (adult), Abigail Zoe Lewis (child), Natalie Palamides (pre-teen), Dee Bradley Baker (cursed form)

King Clawthorne

Voiced by: Alex Hirsch, Dana Terrace (child, "Squeak of Rage")

Hooty

Voiced by: Alex Hirsch

Owlbert

Alternative Title(s): The Owl House Eda Clawthorne

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Characters / The Owl House - The Owl House

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The Owl House

Character-Specific Pages

Edalyn "Eda" Clawthorne, the Owl Lady

Voiced by: Wendie Malick (adult), Abigail Zoe Lewis (child), Natalie Palamides (pre-teen), Dee Bradley Baker (cursed form)

King Clawthorne

Voiced by: Alex Hirsch, Dana Terrace (child, "Squeak of Rage")

Hooty

Voiced by: Alex Hirsch

Owlbert

Alternative Title(s): The Owl House Eda Clawthorne

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