Misplaced Cardinal
is a The Owl House AU story where Hunter ends up on Earth as an infant and is adopted by the Nocedas, only to eventually journey back to the Isles alongside Luz. Now Hunter must try to keep his sister safe, while Darius tries to protect him from Belos and his dark designs.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Despite taking place during the show's first seasons characters like Darius, Flapjack, Belos, Raine, Collector, Jacob Hopkins, Vee, and Kikimora get to show up a lot earlier. With the show's canonical episode "Really Small Problems" happening after their debuts.
- Adaptational Heroism: Thanks to Silas sending him to safety on Earth, Hunter never becomes the Golden Guard and is on Luz's side from the start.
- Adaptational Villainy: Jacob Hopkin’s was already a piece of work in the canon, willing to dissect others to benefit his channel. Unfortunately thanks to Hunter’s pointed ears and magenta eyes he goes after the boy. Outright trying to buy the boy in the past and not even hesitating to try and dissect the boy the moment he sees him do anything like witchcraft. Not that Camila is letting him do any of that under her watch.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In this story, thanks to being raised by Camila and her husband, he and Luz are much closer at the start, and he doesn't even know who Belos, his "uncle", is when he returns to the Isles.
- Amazon Chaser: Luz admits Hunter loves people able to bench-press him to reassure an insecure Willow, pointing the boy has definitely noticed the plant witch after her giant vine dangled him in the air.
- Big Brother Instinct: One of Hunter's defining character traits is his protectiveness over those younger than him. He is willing to drop everything to assist Luz with something. Leaves Boscha in the dust after she yells at King to be quiet. And he promises to protect Vee from harm.
- Demoted to Extra: Thanks to the fanfiction focusing on Hunter, Luz becomes more of a Supporting Protagonist spending her time offscreen doing season one plot points.
- Entertainingly Wrong: The Coven Heads think the Emperor is interested in Hunter because they suspect the boy from being the Golden Guard's child, and since Belos claims the Golden Guard was his nephew, that would make Hunter his one and rightful heir.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Downplayed with Luz as she does love her brother but at the same time, she cannot help noticing he fits much more the criteria of a Protagonist Character than her — being a lost child from inhuman birth lovingly fostered by humans and now learning his true magic roots.
- Happily Adopted: Hunter knows that he's adopted, and clearly deeply loves Camila and Luz.
- Mama Bear: Camila Noceda is quite unhappy with Jacob Hopkins harassing her son with the blatantly stated goal to vivisect him and makes her opinion on the matter very blunt. With a baseball bat.
- Moses in the Bulrushes: After Silas sends Hunter to Earth in a basket, Camila and her husband find him in the woods.
- Papa Wolf: Darius becomes this for Hunter willing to deal with Eda if it means the boy has a safe place to live from Belos and even outright threatens Kikimora after she hints that she may know of Hunter's existence.
- Silas also seemed to be one since he sent the infant Hunter to Earth, to keep him from Belo's reach and likely knew the consequences of doing so.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: The Emperor spent years seeking for Hunter after Silas hid the boy in the human realm. When the Collector points Belos could merely create another Grimwalker, the Emperor confesses he just cannot do that because Silas has destroyed the remaining bones of Caleb's skeleton, so Hunter is the last Grimwalker ever and impossible to replace.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Downplayed since Hunter is actually a clone but upon seeing him the first time both Darius and Lillith call him Silas; who Darius thinks was Hunter's father.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Hunter is aware that he was adopted, and that his pointed ears are unusual, but him actually being a Witch isn't something he ever anticipated.
