Cover art for the fanfic.
Unfamiliar and Hostile
is a The Owl House fanfic written by CrustySoap.Like in canon, Luz is a human who accidentally discovers the Boiling Isles and is taken in by Eda the Owl Lady. The only difference is that Luz comes from a tribe of caveman, so the Boiling Isles is an even more confusing place to someone like her.
On July 26th, 2023, the author announced they were discontinuing this fic, however, they were able to write an epilogue to tie up any loose ends.
Unfamiliar and Hostile contains examples of:
- Achievements in Ignorance: This is how Luz and Eda discover the plant glyph. When Luz is teaching Eda how to draw as a way for the two to bond, Luz makes a few tweaks to Eda’s crude drawing◊, creating a little sapling in the process.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
- Luz already had a tougher life than in canon prior to coming to the Boiling Isles, but things only got worse for her when she was molested by Emperor Belos and developed body dysmorphia as a result and then she had some of her memories burnt by Amity.
- As a result of her curse, Eda suffered from a miscarriage, which was implied to have been the cause of her earlier breakup with Raine in this fic.
- Lilith was sexually abused by Belos multiple times in the past.
- Adaptational Backstory Change:
- Luz still stumbles into the Demon Realm thanks to Eda’s portal, but here, she’s a cave person running from a hyena. While Eda chooses to bring Luz back home later, they learn Luz’s tribe has already left, so Eda takes Luz in as her daughter.
- Vee starts off as Luz's twin sister back in the Human Realm, but after obtaining some of Luz's hair, Belos uses to create a clone of Luz with the same name and memories as Vee.
- Adaptational Dumbass: Due to being a cavewoman, Luz isn’t nearly as smart as she is in canon. It’s Zig-Zagged because Luz is still a very quick learner, not only managing to speak the common tongue used by the residents of the Boiling Isles, but she’s even able to understand the pronouns Raine uses.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Raine reunites with Eda in Chapter 12, which takes place right after the events of “Covention”.
- Eda gains her harpy form before the events of Season 2.
- Hunter appears before the events of “Separate Tides”.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Thanks to her primal instincts, Luz is more prone to violence than in canon.
- Lilith is much more dismissive to Luz than she was during their first interaction.
- Adaptational Late Appearance:
- Principal Bump, Willow, Gus, and Amity don’t officially appear until Luz enrolls in Hexside, which was after the events of "Covention".
- Luz doesn’t start discovering the glyphs until after she becomes a student at Hexside. The plant glyph also ends up being the last glyph she discovers.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- Eda takes on a motherly role to Luz earlier than she does in canon. By Chapter 17, Eda essentially adopts Luz and gives her the family name.
- Eda and Raine start dating again in this fic.
- We learn that Vee was originally Luz's twin sister.
- Adaptational Species Change: The original Vee was a human in this fic as opposed to being a basilisk cloned by Belos.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: As a result of being a human clone spliced with witch DNA instead of a basilisk, in this fic, Vee is able to do magic.
- Adaptational Villainy: Emperor Belos was already a despicable man in canon, but in this fic, he sexually abuses Lilith and Hunter regularly, and when he first meets Luz, he molests her.
- Affectionate Nickname: After they start dating, Amity occasionally calls Luz “Loola”, which means “love” in Luz’s language.
- Amazon Chaser: One of Luz’s qualities Amity is attracted to is her incredible strength.
- Ascended Extra: Raine and Lilith become more prominent characters who eventually start living in the Owl House.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Apparently, witches have lighter bone density than humans do, although from Eda’s perspective, Luz’s thicker bone density is this trope.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Luz wets herself at the sight of the Slitherbeast. Thankfully, Eda carries an extra pair of underwear in her hair.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Hunter is under the assumption that Belos loves him dearly, even when his uncle sexually assaults him.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Lilith’s Palismen is killed by Belos.
- One of Luz’s memories reveals that her twin sister Vee was killed by an enemy tribe.
- Decomposite Character: Vee is split into three separate characters in this fic: She takes on the role of Luz's sister back in the Human Realm, a clone of the former who managed to escape Belos, and the escaped basilisk with the label of "Number 5".
- Empowered Badass Normal: Luz was already tough enough to beat Boscha in a witches duel without using any magic, but then she starts to discover the glyphs.
- Enemy Mine: This is how Eda unlocks her harpy form, by reaching a truce with the Owl Beast after she and Luz are captured.
- Exact Words: When Luz challenges Boscha to a witches duel after the latter finds out she’s a human, she says that if she wins, Boscha will “keep her mouth shut”. When Boscha loses the duel and tries to go back on her word by telling everyone that Luz is really a human, the everlasting oath physically prevents her from saying anything along the lines of that.
- First Period Panic: Luz experiences her first “moontime” in Chapter 15.
- Gilligan Cut: Chapters 22 and 23 feature one after Luz makes an everlasting oath with Boscha.Luz: (At the end of Chapter 22) That’s probably fine.Eda: (At the start of Chapter 23) This is most certainly not fine!
- Grief-Induced Split: A flashback reveals that Eda and Raine broke up after the Tragic Stillbirth of their child. Ultimately subverted in that they reunite.
- Interrupted Intimacy: The first lovemaking session between Eda and Raine since they got back together is interrupted by Luz coming to tell them that she brought Mr. Anderson back to the Owl House as a prisoner.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Several characters initially refer to Luz as “It”, only to be corrected by Eda.Bump: It’s none of my business as to how you obtained it, but—Eda: Her.Bump: Excuse me?Eda: Luz is not an animal. She’s a person, and has all the mental prowess of any witch. Please, she’s already experienced enough speciesism as it is. I promise you, she’s more capable than you think.
- Like a Duck Takes to Water: Luz adusts to life in the Boiling Isles surprisingly quickly. She even manages to understand the concept of Raine's pronouns after Eda explains it to her a single time.
- Literal-Minded: Luz can be like this at times thanks to not being familiar with phrasing.Luz: Edaaaaaaa. Luz wants to explore!Eda: Luz, ask me one more time and I’m sending you to your room.Luz: If you send Luz to her room, can you come too so Luz can ask you there?
- Loophole Abuse: Because the portal door only works when a Clawthorne is using it, Belos uses his authority to legally make Luz Eda’s daughter instead of letting Eda go so she can open the door for him.
- Mama Bear: Eda is this for Luz.
- The Mole: Mr. Anderson is one for the Emperor’s Coven.
- Named by the Adaptation: In "Discovering Identities", it's revealed that Lilith and Raine's Palismen are called Midnight and Copper respectively.
- Our Gods Are Different: Luz believes in the existence of several human gods, like Ubris, Chief of Gods, Aza, God of Dreams, Phemera, God of Game, and Cymris, Goddess of Rain. She also views the things that have happened to her as being connected to the gods, like how Eda was a gift to Luz from Ubris.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: During his first interaction with Luz, Belos molests her while criticizing her body. When Luz struggles to answer one of his questions, Belos asks if she’s “retarded” for not answering fast enough.
- Racist Grandma: Eda mentions that at the last family reunion she went to, her grandma wouldn’t stop talking about the “good old days” when demons had to ride in the back of airships.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Belos was shown to sexually abuse Lilith multiple times while she was under his employ.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Luz discovers the light glyph, she assumes that one of her gods sent her a message. She’s not wrong to believe that a god helped her discover the light glyph, but she didn’t consider the Titan playing a role in it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Played for Drama. After a chain of traumatizing experiences trying to repair Luz’s memories, when Amity and Willow see the label of Luz’s memory of being molested by Emperor Belos, they ask if Inner Luz can try to fix it while they leave. Both of them feel incredibly guilty afterwards.
- Smarter Than You Look: Luz is a very quick learner, and several characters are surprised by how easy it is for her to understand the culture in the Demon Realm.
- Team Member in the Adaptation: Alador, Gilbert, Harvey, and Darius all join the CATs in this fic.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While Amity and Willow go into Luz’s mind, they bicker a little, and Willow learning that Amity burned one of her memories doesn’t help things.
- Third-Person Person: This is how Luz talks normally. While Luz is capable of using proper pronouns, she typically sounds very stilted when doing so.
- Tragic Stillbirth: Eda attempted to have a baby with Raine in the past, but because of her curse, her body rejected the fetus. A flashback heavily implies that this was what caused her and Raine to break up before they reunited.
- Unwanted False Faith: Luz initially believes that Eda is a god when they first meet, mostly due to the fact that in her culture, drawing is usually something the gods must give someone permission to do.
- Wham Line: During an argument between the Clawthorne sisters at a family reunion, Lilith accidentally blurts out something Luz wasn’t aware of.Lilith: Well, newsflash, Eda: That human can never replace anything! And certainly not the child you’ve buried 6 feet under!
- What If?: What if Luz was a cavewoman when she discovered the Boiling Isles?
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: As a result of her previous encounter with them that led to her ending up in the Boiling Isles, Luz has a fear of hyenas. Of course, the problem is when she first goes to Hexside, one of her teachers resembles a hyena.
