The Owl House / Fridge

As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Fridge Brilliance

General

Doubles as Fridge Horror: Luz's low opinion of, and willingness to confront/call out, adult authority figures stems from how she has been treated by them her entire life. Growing up, Luz was outright condemned by others' parents. She was ostracized and bullied by her peers and none of the authority figures in her life did anything about it. She kept acting out for attention and was either ignored or treated with contempt by people who should have been able to see why she misbehaves, or at least ask the question. Everyone's solution seems to be to ship her off to camp rather than do anything themselves. The poor girl was practically screaming for help her whole life just to be ignored, ridiculed and sent away by everyone who was supposed to have helped her. When Adults Are Useless to such a severe degree for your entire life, how much respect would you have for them?
- You will also notice that she does show a good deal of respect and reverence to those who are actually interested in her well-being (Camila, Eda, etc.) And even then, when she feels that they are treating her like the other adults in her life, she shows no hesitation to confront authority figures she otherwise holds in high regard. As she does with Eda in "Oh Titan Where Art Thou?."
Luz on the Boiling Isles has blossomed considerably, going from a social outcast to having a circle of friends that continues to expand and gaining new skills. Why? The Boiling Isles gave her the reality check she did actually need, but without crushing her creativity. It's fantastic and beautiful but also doesn't pull its punches in the slightest, forcing Luz to adapt to what is, using her creativity rather than struggling toward a sugar-coated fantasy. Her mom and teachers were right, as it turns out, but going about getting Luz on track in the wrong way.
You could argue that Luz saved Eda's life by bargaining to stay in the Boiling Isles. In addition to the obvious - staging a riot to rescue the witch and King from the Warden - she also gave Eda a reason to shape up. Eda goes to Bump to bargain for Luz to attend Hexside as the first human student, and facing all her delinquent crimes, she opens up to King and Luz about her curse, which motivates Luz to find a cure, and befriends Gus and Willow when they hang around her apprentice. Even though Lilith used Luz as a Human Shield to capture Eda, Eda's curse was getting worse and Lilith would have caught her eventually. The way it went, Eda was slated for execution; Luz fighting the Emperor and Gus and Willow inciting a protest against Eda's petrifying turns the tide and spares her. No wonder Eda said to Luz that You Are Worth Hell.
Luz being able to correctly draw the glyphs she sees makes sense given how she's shown to be a talented artist. Even more brilliant, Word of God is that one of Luz's artistic inspirations is Hiromu Arakawa. No wonder she's so good at drawing glyphs!
- And the Fullmetal Alchemist connections run deeper than that. For centuries, the Big Bad has been setting the country up for a massive ritual - all of the state's institutions, including its highest leader, are designed to facilitate this ritual; it's the only reason it exists in the first place. Said ritual will kill off every mortal in the realm. Most are kept in the dark about this; those that have to know for the plan to work are told the lie that not only are they going to survive, but will be given a great reward afterward.
A minor but interesting parallel between sisters: Eda goes by her nickname, while Lilith goes by her full name. Lilith calls Eda her full name (which she hates), and Eda calls Lilith by her nickname (which she hates).
The Blight twins being illusionists makes perfect sense in a Stealth Pun kind of way. The symbol for the Illusion Coven is a mirror, and as twins, Edric and Emira look near-identical. An identical image is often called a mirror image. Not only that, but a mirrored image is one that's exactly the same, but flipped - Edric's sister is him but the opposite gender, Emira's brother is her but the opposite gender. Their moles are also on opposite sides of the face. Mundane illusionists often rely on identical twins, or at least body doubles, to make quick switcharoos to fool their audiences into thinking they can move at impossible speeds or even be in two places at once.
Literally everything about King makes more sense when "Echoes of the Past" reveals he's a child. Of course he throws tantrums when things don't go his way and gets emotionally attached to toys and acts out when he feels ignored or forgotten. Kids are prone to do that sort of thing.
Early on, Eda mentions that witches gain their palismen after completing their education. But why are they all kept on a staff? Because it lets them draw larger spell circles with less effort! A large wooden staff allows witches to form a far larger spell circle than they could with their hands simply by spinning them. And keeping that level of power restricted to fully fledged witches ensures novices won't cause any accidents by using more power than they can handle.
It's somewhat strange that witches and demons in another dimension can end up having completely normal sounding human names like Amity, Gus, or Darius. But Earth and the Boiling Isles have been bleeding into one another for centuries, with even living people entering the other world. It would stand to reason that the two place would influence each other in some way. It's entirely possible that some names in the Boiling Isles originated from Earth (for example, a witch naming their child after a human friend they made) or even the other way around.
Eda's old boast of being the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles. At first what seemed to be a bit of an arrogant boast was proved where she could match and overpower Lilith, the head of the Emperor's Coven, even with the curse. Then in Season 2 we find out that there was never anyone who could compete with her for that title because the Emperor is no witch.
The children in Luz's age group seem to be fairly open to going against the Coven system with little push. The Dual Tracks spread like wildfire after all, and in season 2 it doesn't take a ton to get them fighting back against the covens. Beyond being harassed and knowing Luz and stuff, the simple fact is that they are a generation fairly removed from why Belos took power in the first place. The generation that was rather old, like Bump or Gwen, lived through the very conditions that let Belos take power in the first place. They saw him at the time as a necessary evil to end the Savage Ages, as true as that was or not. Then the next generation, like Eda, Odalia, Raine, Darius, etc., were raised by said generation with that fresh in their minds. Those kids didn't see it directly, but the stories were fresh and the lessons frequent. But the generation they raised, like Amity, Willow, Skara, and Viney, don't have as direct of a connection to the Savage Ages. Their parents only can retell reasons they were told, which are just less powerful than personal accounts. Add in general teenage rebellion and Luz's influence, and they just don't have the same ties to the reasons that the covens existed. They were fine with them without Luz and Eda sure, but not as much as even kid Eda did (who seems to have needed personal experience to become as jaded against them as she is at the present).
It makes sense that people on the isles are tolerant to homosexuality, bisexuality, non-binary people, etc. since they don't have the same religions humans have. Most gender and sexuality phobias stemmed from religious values, historical/cultural values which were most likely stemmed from religious ancestors even if the family is no longer religious. And internalized gender and sexuality phobias which are usually caused by negative societal views such as the two previously mentioned, stemming it to religion too. It also helps that they don't seem to be focused on maintaining bloodlines and/or having grandchildren, which is another major reason for sexuality phobia, in part because it appears they are able to perform Homosexual Reproduction.
Each of the Coven Heads has a trait that makes their role ironic.
- Lilith, Head of the Emperor's Coven, loses her magic and turns against the Emperor. The Golden Guard, who steps in to take on her role, is an Un-Sorcerer.
- Raine Whispers, Head of the Bard Coven, has Performance Anxiety.
- Darius, Head of the Abomination Coven, is a Neat Freak.
- Eberwolf, Head of the Beastkeeping Coven, is a Beast Man themselves and one that is rather small and cute rather than large and fearsome as one would expect.
- Terra Snapdragon, Head of the Plant Coven, is a Wicked Witch.
- Adrian Graye, Head of the Illusion Coven, is a Prima Donna Director.
Fitting in with Philip/Belos being a bible-thumping holier-than-thou Puritan, his whole situation could easily be likened to the Curse of Cain. For those who don't know about that: as punishment for killing his innocent brother, God cursed Cain to forever walk the earth unable to die while bearing some kind of mark or flaw in appearance that instantly identified him as guilty and wicked. When you put it like that, it sounds basically identical to Philip's situation.
On a similar note, Philip, the witch-hating Puritan, is ironically a close match to the antichrist. While modern pop-culture typically depicts the antichrist as being the son of the devil and an Evil Counterpart to Jesus, their actual portrayal in the Book of Revelation instead has them be a false prophet who spreads lies about the word of God in order to take advantage of the masses for their own goals. Which is exactly what Philip/Belos has done with his claims that his actions are the "will of the Titan" when his real plan is genocide. Not only that, but he forces everyone to wear Coven sigils that will spell their doom on the Day of Unity, similar to the Mark of the Beast that signifies the damned.
With Amphibia confirmed to share a world with The Owl House, it does imply a few things about Luz's early character. On top of the possibility that Professor P, the writer whose book told Marcy about the Calamity Box, might have been known to Luz to fuel her craziness. If she had heard rumors about frog people in Los Angeles, or even the invasion, it might have fueled her curiosity and imagination further. Luz's fantasies are more real, if fantasy itself is real after all. And especially if the invasion did happen prior to the first episode^note, it adds a new reason for Principal Hal and Camila's worry about such things.
In "Eclipse Lake," when Flapjack dissipated Amity's attack on Hunter, it noticeably deflected into the same colored magic that is later shown to be unique to Titans. This seems odd until you remember that Flapjack is a very old Palisman, and Palismen are carved from Palistrom wood, special trees on the island that grow specifically from the flesh of the dead Titan, and are implied to be located in areas where the Titan's magical veins once were, drawing sustenance and nutrients from the Titan's magic as they grow. All Palismen technically have indirect access to Titan magic, which explains why they can hold a magical charge and cast spells somewhat on their own, or if their owners are incapacitated. This also gives another dimension to Philip's mutations over centuries of consuming their essence - he's been indirectly feasting on the flesh of the dead Titan through them, much like Witches from his puritanical era were believed to consume the flesh of the innocent to fuel their dark magics, explaining how Philip's body turned into such an unnatural state and why he can still use these abilities even after his access to the 'gift of the Isles' is severed.
Luz clearly considers herself an adoptive child of the Isles, with The Reveal that her adoptive brother King is the son of the Boiling Isles Titan, this has been fulfilled rather literally.
Intentional or not, Hunter's episodes where he first meets his future friends spell out "HEAL" in order. Rather fitting given his situation.
- Hunting Palismen - Luz
- Eclipse Lake - Amity
- Any Sport in a Storm - Willow
- Labyrinth runners - Gus
In Season One, Belos seems like he's more than earned the role of most powerful witch— after all, he delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle without any displayed motions, leaving it seeming that he can cast spells at will due to sheer power. Season Two shows that he actually has all the glyphs he needs carved into his skin at all times, and exploits a staff when not using them— he's powerful, but he's cheating. This sort of facade is perfectly on brand for Belos, who as Season Two shows in that very same episode, was initially a swindling zealot using parlor tricks to fake magic. No matter the time or how strong he is, Belos is nothing but a simple con artist!
Luz is noted elsewhere to be a bit of a Kiddie Kid by having several interests and hobbies that 14-year-olds have typically outgrown and behaving in a manner one would expect of a younger child. This is actually one of the few times where this trope can be justified; not only is she neurodivergent, but add in the lack of social development from her Friendless Background and the trauma of losing her father at a very young age and it would be more surprising if she didn't have some issues that stunted her emotional/psychological development.
Reality Check Summer Camp just has a branding problem. It's noted that all of the actual information we are given about the camp points to it being a typical summer camp designed to get a bunch of "weirdos" together to make friends and teach them valuable life skills like balancing a checkbook and what mortgages are. Their name and terrible brochure, however, paint it as a soul-crushing experience that does not reflect its reality. This also ties into a main theme about how everything is not what it seems on the cover.
- Masha apparently didn't like the camp much, literally calling it "prison". Vee's take was more positive because the camp gave her a badly needed crash course on how to fit into human society.
Interesting thing about Azura's wardrobe: what's her color scheme? White blouse with a touch of indigo, and dark grey skirt. And what does Luz wear in episode 1? White hoodie with an indigo upper half, and dark grey jean shorts. They're the same color scheme! Looks like Luz was emulating her hero long before she decided to be a witch.
Luz realizes quickly that she's Wrong Genre Savvy in a fairy world, and still manages to rise to every challenge. Why? Because fantasy novels are about underdogs rising to the occasion and facing impossible odds. Luz just has a more creative way of doing that.
Luz's last name - Noceda, which looks like "no ceda," means "S/He won't yield" (or just "Don't give up" if used as a command) in her native Spanish. Fitting for a girl as adventurous and headstrong as Luz.
- It also sounds similar to "noche (night)," befitting the series' horror theme and providing big irony for her struggles to keep her "light" going.
The basic four glyphs that Luz learns are, in a way, a mirror of the four elements we have on Earth: Fire is self-explanatory, ice is water but frozen, plants grow in the earth and shape it through their roots (and the earth influences how plants grow), and light is somewhat intangible like air, not to mention that the glyph often manifests as a floating ball of light. The Boiling Isles are more similar to Earth than it would seem.
- The light glyph being one of the "classical" four elements on the isles seems odd, especially since the others have a correlation to fire, water, and earth, but make sense when they are all lined up together, showing what the true gift of magic the Titan gave to the Boiling Isles was.
  - Light
  - Ice
  - Fire
  - Earth
It makes perfect sense that Luz and Lilith would be particularly adept at glyph magic when it is explicitly compared to a language.
- Luz is bilingual (English/Spanish), so she has an inherit proficiency in processing information and thinking in more than one language as well as translating thoughts and concepts from one to the other while the Boiling Isles (and the Demon Realm in general) appear to be mono-linguistic in the present.
- Lilith is a serious history nerd/scholar and a big part of historical studies often include languages, how they evolve, how they relate to other languages, and how modern languages trace their origins to historical ones, so while she may not actually speak any other language, she likely has an in-depth understanding of how they are constructed and how they fit together. This is especially fitting as she's the one who discovers that glyphs can be combined in the first place.
Luz is actually very naturally athletic and not the weak nerd that she and the fandom believe her to be at the beginning of the series.
- Luz blaming her "weak nerd arms" for being unable to open the cells in the first episode is because of her mindset at the start of the series. She has very low self esteem and readily blames herself when anything goes wrong so it makes sense that she would immediately assume there was something wrong with her and never even consider that there may be another reason for it.
- There are several attempts on behalf of the fandom to reconcile this with her early displays of strength and athleticism when the timeline is too short to explain away as simply starting to exercise after she arrived in the demon realm. The answer is simply that Luz is naturally very physically capable but she does not even know this herself. Her hobbies and interests never required any particular physical effort, she never had any friends that could have drawn it out of her and her self esteem issues let her believe the worst about her physicality. Several examples can be found from early episodes. She is shown to handle herself quite well against the threats she faces before she learns any magic in episodes like The Intruder. She has no problem physically keeping up with Amity in "Lost in Language", with Amity later established as athletic enough to be captain of the grudgeby team. In "Escape of the Palisman", she performs a perfect split on what is implied to be her first ever attempt to do one and is shown to be able to out run Gus and the very athletic Willow. Her dance with Amity in "Enchanting Grom Fright" is very coordinated and well executed despite there being no evidence of any rehearsal. The list goes on.
In terms of typical witch names, the name Willow is so common it's almost stereotypical, and the pilot shows that she was intentionally renamed this. Consider Willow's two most prominent relationships in the show - Amity and Hunter; both endured abusive upbringings and were directly taught that their worth was tied to their usefulness, and both took it out of those around them. After all of this, Willow ended up playing a huge role in both redemption arcs. In nature, certain trees are very good at purifying polluted soil by absorbing the toxins, essentially healing the ground they stand on. Willow trees are particularly helpful toward this end.

Season 1

A Lying Witch And A Warden

The first sign that Eda isn't so bad is when she saves Luz from the Warden's guard. While she claims it was so Luz could help them retrieve King's crown, she also reassures Luz that the latter isn't going to fall from the magic staff. She was doing the distracting during the heist so that the guards wouldn't hurt Luz or King, as we see when the guards do corner them. Everyone Has Standards, much?
Of course, Luz's jacket has a cat-themed hoodie. Cats are most associated with witches as the latter's familiars. For the same reason, King is also feline-like.
Warden Wrath’s plague doctor mask. He’s trying to "cure" a "plague" of individuality.
Why does Eda like the glasses more than the ridiculously valuable stuff? SHE RUNS A CURIO SHOP. She needs stuff that's easy to sell—QUICKLY. She doesn't have a permanent storefront, therefore anything that isn't sold she'd have to lug back to the house at the end of the day...on just a staff. Not to mention that the things she throws away - a smartphone, a golden chalice, and a diamond ring - either already exists on the Boiling Isles, and therefore isn't all that interesting, or are easy to dismiss as worthless if you don't know what they are. She could get a chalice or a diamond ring at the nearest jeweler, and a smartphone just looks like a small mirror if you don't know how to turn it on.
The reason Luz can't lift the lever to open prisoners' cells isn't because of her "weak nerd arms", but rather because the hulking, muscular Warden Wrath simply designed them to be too heavy for anyone but him to operate. He is the only one shown operating the levers by himself and it is only the combined effort of Luz, Eda and momentum from riding Owlbert that enables anyone else to open the cells. Additionally, the levers are directly outside the cells, so it makes sense that they would be designed to keep prisoners from easily opening their own cells.

Witches Before Wizards

Of course the Bones of The Isles are very stinky and slimy. It's a corpse!
Nevareth's name sounds like the word "Never." Because he never existed, and Luz was never The Chosen One.
Nevareth binding Luz's arms, wrists, and fingers may seem like a case of There Is No Kill Like Overkill. But in a world where the inhabitants can cast spells by drawing circles in the air with their fingers, these are pretty practical precautions.
When Luz decides to accept the quest, she escapes the Owl House by climbing out the window, quite literally crossing the threshold.

I Was A Teenage Abomination

An early hint that Amity is more than a simple bully can be seen when she’s in class with Willow. Professor Hermonculus warned that if the next Abomination was a failure, everyone would get double homework for a month. Amity flashes a brief, smug look to Willow. And for a moment the viewer is expecting Amity to volunteer Willow to go next with the intention of humiliating her in front of the class, since Amity already knows that Willow's abomination is a failure. Yet instead, Amity volunteers to go herself, which would actually save the rest of the class punishment. So, unlike a typical bully, simply tormenting Willow and other students isn’t really Amity’s first priority. She simply wants any excuse to show off her hard work and talent, regardless if she is helping or hurting others.
Willow may not have been the only student whose parent had forced them into the Abominations course: struggling grades seem to be a problem with many whose name isn't Amity Blight if the teacher's reaction is any indication. It's not stated, but it isn't just Willow's parents here.

The Intruder

Why is the Snaggleback hiding in the Owl House from the rain, despite his shell supposedly being tough enough to withstand it? Because his shell is cracked!
In "Witches Before Wizards," Eda's not a morning person. It makes more sense once it's revealed she's cursed into an owl form. Owls are nocturnal birds, after all! It's also why the light was successful in making her unconscious.
Also, Eda swallowing her enemy in "Witches Before Wizards" makes more sense now that we know that she's an owl-monster, especially since she does the same to the Snaggleback.
Boiling Isles. Boiling Sea. Boiling Rain.

Covention

Eda's tendency to hide things in her already'' thick mane probably makes it even harder'' to brush.
Because Eda's main crime is not joining a coven, rather an actually violent offense, the wanted posters' Mesoamerican design seems like a deliberate attempt to demonize her. The fireball in her claws, her mouth opened in a snarl, and the sharp-angled side profile bring to mind a Mayan death goddess!
Eda was ready with a plan for helping Luz cheat, and quickly managed to cover the dueling arena with deadly booby traps. Sure, it's in character, but it also makes more sense after we learn about grudgby—a game where the field is covered in deadly booby traps—and that Eda loved to play it when she was younger.
Eda mentions a Rhyming Coven—while just a quick gag initially, the season finale reveals that yes, rhyming spells exist as viable magic.
During Lilith and Eda's battle in the finale, Eda plays to Lilith's sisterly sympathy by claiming her curse has made her weak and frail. Lilith immediately backs down and shows remorse. Was it just sisterly love coming to save the day? Or Lilith's shame and regret over being the reason Eda was cursed in the first place?

Hooty's Moving Hassle

Willow's initial suggestion that she, Gus and Luz were controlling the Owl House through The Power of Friendship may not be so far off the mark. The end of the episode shows that Amity and her friends (who number five to the other group's three) were unable to move a small stuffed toy, despite their best efforts. Compared to Luz and her friends who managed to animate an entire house completely by accident. While Luz, Gus, and Willow are True Companions, Amity's Girl Posse are implied to only be hanging out with her in order to ride her coattails, meaning their friendship is superficial at best.
Why is Boscha so unfazed by a talking house, but freaks out at one that stands up? Simple look at just how many things, like doorknobs and cabinets, are alive. We've even seen buildings with limbs eat flying monsters from afar a few times. Sentient or living homes are probably not uncommon, but one that could probably chase her down on legs and eat her is rather unusual and frightening to Boscha.

Lost in Translation

It’s revealed that Amity is a fan of The Good Witch Azura books. It’s probably not a coincidence that Amity’s hair is the same shade of green as Azura’s. It is revealed later that her mother makes Amity dye her hair to match her sibling's natural green colors and to have them all be 'color coordinated', but perhaps Amity could choose the exact shade of green.
Back in "Witches Before Wizards," Luz questions what type of The Chosen One she wants to be: either be like Azura or "a bad girl chosen one with black nail polish and a mysteriously withdrawn attitude" before having her book puppet, "I act like I don't care, but I secretly do." This is another parallel: Luz is doing her best to act like the former, kind, caring and compassionate. Whereas Amity is the latter, but secretly wants to be just like Azura (given that her diary has her dressed up like the Good Witch and all).
Otabin, the pink bunny-like character from Amity's book, is a mirror to Amity herself: He's a lonely person who just wants friends but was warped into a cruel monster by someone else (Amity's siblings, in fact). It's telling that Amity softens up on Luz after saving Otabin and forgiving him.
Another thing to note: Otabin is shown with a needle. Needles are used for sewing or mending. In a way, Amity secretly wants to mend her friendship with Willow or, seeing as sewing is about getting multiple pieces of cloth together, she really wants to make friends deep down.
The Otabin book being sewn into the monster's chest isn't just extra horror. It's for preventing the easy solution of getting rid of him by closing the book.
Fridge humor: "Mittens" is A-mit-y's Embarrassing Nickname by her siblings.
You could argue that this is the episode where Amity develops feelings for Luz. Why? It's the first one where Luz tries to make a peace offering to Amity in her happy place - the library - and goes out of her way to rescue her when Otabin nearly sews Amity into his book. Amity eventually realizes that she's being unnecessarily "defensive", and is forced to contemplate her actions when Luz lends her book five of Azura. Sometimes a little kindness goes a long way.
While the drawings that Emira and Edric add to the books aren't exactly high quality, they're at least well-drawn for what they are, and considering how fast they draw them. It makes sense when you remember they're in the illusion track at Hexside, which is a type of magic based around creativity and imagination. It fits that people in that track would probably be very gifted when it comes to visual art forms.

Once Upon A Swap

It's possible that the "Freaky Friday" Flip spell is less about swapping bodies and more changing the people it's used on into physical replicas of each other. It would certainly explain the Morphic Resonance we see among the trio, why Voices Are Mental is in effect (besides making it easy for the audience, of course), and why, at the end, Luz, Eda, and King were all wearing the clothing they had put on during their time swapped despite being back in their normal bodies. It would also explain why it's referred to as a "body swap" rather than a "mind swap" like most cartoons call it.
When the trio switch bodies, their prominent body part they have after said switch are the eyes. After all, eyes are the window to the soul.
When in Eda's body/turned into Eda, Luz is notably younger looking. She looks a lot more like Lilith than Eda usually does. Luz also likely doesn't actually have the curse, aging her rapidly. She looks like a curse-less Eda, bar perhaps the hair color.
Given that she is revealed to have cursed Eda, you could say that Lilith turning into a dog was ... a meta way to hint at the kind of sister she was. In-Universe, Eda was probably aiming for a different stealth insult. Perhaps 'you are the Emperor's dog'. It was probably the funniest body to swap her sister into. Plus, it was probably safer than giving her body's powerful magic to, say, Boscha would be dangerous. The dog was not going to be able to properly use magic against them.
The reason that Luz ended up cleaning Hooty at the end of the episode isn't just because she was slow on the not it uptake: her life is the easiest. Eda's life being the hardest isn't hard to see with the police pursuit and all, but King proves the point with both his body and his taking of Luz's life. King doesn't have the active pursuit that Eda does, but the situation with the vampire ladies is something that very much could happen to King on his own. Meanwhile, King's conflict with Boscha and her gang isn't something Luz would have to deal with (because she doesn't try to be their friend or hang out with them) and it was simply bad luck that it went badly (the bridge repairs causing King to break their hangout). Had King simply avoided the teens or managed to avoid the hole while disguised as Luz, nothing bad would have happened to him. Similarly, King as Luz would seemingly get away with everything he had done bar angering the teens, while Luz as Eda attracted the guards.
- Alternatively, King and Eda might have left Luz out to dry after she abandoned themand left them to babysit the bat babies in the previous episode. They did ask for her help in the previous episode after it turned out to be a handful, and they managed to get back at her by assigning it to her.
King proves himself unable to handle the complexities of being a teenager and their social structure, which makes sense when you remember that, back in "The Intruder," he revealed one weakness of demons is passive-aggressive remarks. Poor guy wouldn't stand a chance in your average high school!

Something Ventured, Someone Framed

Eda being in the Potions track at Hexside would explain why her main business is selling potions. She's plying the skills she has the most training and education in. Her dropping out would also explain why she's dependent on buying the elixir she needs to control her curse instead of making her own. The curse is implied to be fairly potent and while Eda can craft quality products, she may simply lack the knowledge or skill to make something that can help her cope with the curse because she was never taught how.

Escape of the Palisman

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

Sense and Insensitivity

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

Adventures in the Elements

Between him and Emira, Edric seems to be closer to Amity, putting his hand on her shoulder various times throughout the episode and ruffling her hair at the end. And while she either ignores or gets annoyed by his shows of affection, Amity seems content enough that she lets them slide, while she roughly shoves Emira away when she hugs her. Due to Edric being somewhat weird and dim and Amity admitting she loves Luz in part because "she can be so stupid" in "Wing it Like Witches," she could platonically love her brother for similar reasons.
Amity mentions the twins have top scores in exams she wants to beat. One might ponder how the twins, infamous for skipping classes, have scores that would require Amity to push herself to surpass. The answer may lie in three episodes prior with Gus, who used duplicates of himself to take notes for him. The twins are in the same track and probably can make not just duplicates, but ones that aren't as rebellious as the talented but young Gus. It also makes sense of Amity needing to tell about them missing classes because it is quite possible only Amity picks up (or quite possibly picks up and cares) that they are doing that.

The First Day

Bump choosing the Potions track for Luz may not have been as random as it looks. Potions would be the one track that Luz would likely be able to reliably learn even if she hadn't discovered runes. There doesn't seem to be any call for inherent magical abilities to craft potions. Luz does get some results when she joins the class and Lilith is still able to make even very challenging potions after losing her magic.
- He also notably skipped over the Abominations track when 'randomly' selecting one. Beyond what happened last time involving Luz and the class track, it is also seemingly very hard to actually master if your name isn't Amity Blight. No reason to even entertain that one at the time.
- Similarly, Bump allowing Luz to study all tracks may have been more than gratitude. None of the tracks seem to include any spells that cover Elemental Powers, which seems to be all the Wild Magic Luz can call on is able to do. Also, said powers are used by Eda (who is shown in this episode to have wanted to study all types of magic) and Lilith (who as part of the Emperor's Coven is allowed to use all types of magic). They likely learned these types of spells as a result of a less confining curriculum, so letting Luz learn a bit of everything to develop her magic would make sense.
That Eda wanted to study all types of magic as a student would explain her grievances with the Coven system rather well. Her disdain for being limited could be explained by her desire to learn all she could about magic, and having society tell her she was wrong for wanting such a thing would certainly put her off from such a system. Wanting to join the Emperor's Coven also makes sense, as it would be the one accepted way for her to be the red mage she wanted to be.
- Eda's desire to study all types of magic also explains why she built the Room of Shortcuts. If she wanted to study and not get caught, then a way to discretely look in on lessons would be essential.
- Eda's wish to be a red mage would also explain why she can't brew her own elixirs to help manage her curse. Being in the Potions track did clearly teach her enough to create quality potions, but if she was interested in other tracks, she may not have been giving her total focus to potions in favor of learning as much as she could about everything. It's also likely that Eda got thrown in the Detention Track at some point, which forbids learning any magic at all. This would have stalled any learning she could have done, in Potions or any other track.
- Eda would've had to be a very gifted witch even while she was in school to build the Room of Shortcuts, and her desire to peep in on other lessons emphasizes the "Brilliant" in Brilliant, but Lazy. Later episodes confirm that even before she became "the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles," she was extremely skilled for her age. This might explain why Bump never expelled her from Hexside despite all the trouble she caused. He could see that, troublemaker or not, he had a real prodigy on his hands. Especially since prodigies in this world are likely to join the Emperor's Coven. Had she not dropped out (and been cursed), Eda likely would've soared to great heights, and this was probably obvious from an early age. Of course you don't kick someone like that out of your school!
The loss of the Choosey Hat is actually very serious. While it is played for dark comedy without a judge of a student's best track by something like the hat, the choices are left to others. Others like Willow's parents, and possibly other parents, who see a choice of a track for what is more prestigious or better opportunity than what their child actually fits in the best. If the Choosey Hat did not try to eat people, Willow would not have been in the situation we first met her in.
Of course Viney, who is dual tacking in Healing and Beast-Keeping, is friends with Jerbo and Barcus specifically. Both are in some way related to beasts, Jerbo's name is derived from the word jerboa, which is a small rodent, and Barcus is well, a dog.
Of course Luz resonates with the Detention students, beyond the obvious. Viney wants to study Healing and Beastkeeping. As in, become a specialist in healing animals. What job does Luz's mother do again? Veterinarian. A specialist in healing animals.
Principal Bump's insistence on his students learning only one kind of magic for the sake of "focus" in his classes. Any student, even geniuses, can tell you that taking on too many subjects at once is a one-way ticket to burnout, most likely resulting in you not properly learning the subjects and flunking all of them. Eda and Luz wanted to study all nine forms of magic available. Limiting it to just one can help with better learning. After the events of the episode, Bump even allowed the detention students who were planning on studying only two types of magic back into the campus, as it is a smaller workload compared to Luz.

Really Small Problems

Tibbles deciding to squash Luz and friends might not be a randomly thought out revenge scheme. After all, squashed was what happened to his stand and nearly to him, so he may have deliberately sought to toss in that irony.

Understanding Willow

Luz bringing Amity into Willow's mind is actually a rather good idea. Amity is one of the best students at Hexside and is possibly being scouted by the Emperor's Coven if her journal entries are any indication. She is honestly the best choice at the moment to solve the problem.
Amity's grievances with her siblings get a new dimension here. Amity was forced to end her friendship with Willow because it was socially preferable to her parents. The twins, meanwhile, get up to all sorts of chaos their parents would likely frown upon and which would get them in big trouble if they were found out. Amity got stuck with a Sadistic Choice for trying to do something good, while Edric and Emira frequently face no consequences for far worse behavior.
Eda's disgust with Amity is perfectly in line with her belief system. Eda believes in magic being free and unbound by engineered rules, but Amity's carelessness would just serve as further proof for why structure and regulation would be needed. Eda hates what she's done, not only because it weakens Eda's own arguments against the system. But also because Eda is genuinely driven by a desire to know and understand magic, which doesn't include messing around with volatile magic recklessly as Amity did.
Of course, Amity couldn't control the fire spell she used on Willow's memory photos. Adventures in the Elements showed us that she required a training wand to cast fire, and even then it was a giant blast of fire rather than a small controllable flame. It's also fire. Fire tends to spread, and even in the Human Realm some types of film are extremely flammable.
Amity’s parents, in their first appearance here, come off rather differently than they do later, with Alador seeming much more present and engaged than his later space cadet manner. Just Characterization Marches On? Maybe. But also this isn’t an objective flashback, it’s Amity’s memory of the event— her parents did something dreadful to her, and they were both part of doing it, so of course she remembers them both as active and intimidating.
It could be that Alador was more active and engaged with his family while Amity was still a young child, and believed the same things his wife did. As he got older, and his marriage deteriorated (what with Odalia treating him more like an abomination building machine than a husband), he could have just mentally checked out and stopped being as much of a presence in his children's lives. It's also established that Odalia pushed him into becoming a workaholic, leaving him with little time to spend with his kids.

Enchanting Grom Fright

Amity doesn't ask Luz out when she has the chance, or even let her keep the note. Why? Several reasons: one is that she was waiting for the perfect time and kept putting it off, and it would pale to the invitation that Skara received. Second is that the point became null when Luz offered to take Amity's place as Grom Queen. Immediately, Amity felt too guilty to ask Luz out for fear of putting an additional burden on her and decided to ask her siblings to help prepare Luz. It takes Luz inviting Amity to dance for Amity to realize she doesn't need the note to have a good time with her.
Luz’s Grom outfit makes total sense after Dana Terrace revealed on Twitter she is bisexual. She wears both male and female dresses (in this case, a tuxedo, and a tutu), and their main color are purple and pink, that almost look like the bisexual flag (except blue).
- The exclusion of blue may be due to the fact that, even if she is bisexual, she’s mostly attracted by female characters.
When the monster is defeated, a Wisteria Tree appears right before Amity and Luz. Wisteria Trees represent love, youth, and protection.
Amity developing feelings for Luz, while a much-awaited and beloved event, is seen by a few as perhaps slightly rushed and/or out of left field. However, there is a logical train of thought that Amity would follow that would lead her down that path to falling in love with Luz. The full explanation can be found on the Analysis page.
The specific way Grometheus tears Amity's note might be a case of Conveniently Interrupted Document, but it also accurately reflects/symbolizes Amity's fear: It's not just that Amity fears getting rejected in general, she is afraid of getting rejected by Luz specifically.
- It’s worth noting Grometheus took on clear, definitive forms in Luz’s fears, but the form it takes for Amity only ambiguously resembles Luz. Why? Amity isn’t sure how or what she thinks about Luz yet, and this likely is how she pictures Luz, since she hasn’t really gotten to know her. As for Luz, she sees her mother exactly as she is, because her mother has been with her all her life.
  - Alternatively, it could be that Grom managed to get a clear reading from Luz's mind, as it directly connected to Luz's forehead with its tentacle. While it only got a partial read from Amity, as it was grabbing her by the waist when reading her mind.
  - Another possible explanation might be that this is how everyone other than the person Grom mimics the fear of sees it, and only those who it is taking the worst fear of can see it clearly instead of seeing outlines. The only time the audience meaningfully reacts to the forms Grom takes is when they look at Eda after it vaguely mimics her. The crowd at Grom might have just been seeing vaguely shaped blobs, and we could have just been seeing things from Luz's perspective.
  - Also worth noting, when Grom started taking Eda's shape before switching to Luz's mom, it was also an indistinct silhouette. Still identifiable, but not as detailed as its other forms. There might be an issue with transforming into someone who's present. Which sort of makes sense. Because if Eda learned Luz's fear was of disappointing Eda or if Luz learned Amity's fear was of rejection by Luz, they'd be able to address the root cause of the fear, and Grom wouldn't be able to weaponize it anymore (even if Eda said, "I am disappointed in you," Luz would no longer fear it happening, she'd just have to deal with it). Also, if you can see the real Eda off to the side while a fake Eda is saying mean things, it's easier to remind yourself that this isn't real, which would again make it easier to manage your fear. Keeping an indistinct form while the person it's imitating is present allows Grom to keep the fear real and distinct enough in its target's mind without forcing it to directly confront and overcome that fear.
Principal Bump turning Grom Night into a celebration is stated to be because he's that optimistic about the kids beating it. But it might also serve a secondary purpose as a form a reassurance, by making it into a lighthearted spectacle it prevents the school from panicking and eases the nerves of the student going in to fight. It also reminds the Queen or King You Are Not Alone. Your friends are there, watching and supporting you.
Combined with Fridge Sadness, Grom taking the form of Owlbeast Eda was certainly frightening for Luz ... but who else was there? Eda. You'd be hard-pressed to find something Eda is genuinely afraid of, and it's not even clear if Grom noticed her presence. But if it did ... watching her cursed, monstrous self try to kill Luz while all her protégé can do is back away in terror? Yeah, if anything could frighten Eda, it's that.
Edric and Emira would actually have been perfect to defeat Grom. They know their worst fears and can work as a team, as we saw in previous episodes. It was never considered because there's only been one Grom Queen or King, and tradition is hard to break.
Fridge Heartwarming: Eda and King share a high five when the two are preparing for the former's chaperone role at Grom. It's treated as completely natural, though the gesture has been previously established to not be native to the Demon Realm. This shows that Luz's Found Family is casually embracing the human concepts she brings into their everyday life.
Some fans have laughed about how Grom is defeated by an abomination and a single plant glyph- hardly a powerful spell. However, perhaps there's some lesson about how our fears seem much scarier before we actually confront them?

Wing it Like Witches

It seems that the Boiling Isles' citizens and societal structure generally operate on a Social Darwinist mindset. It's pretty clear that the teachers at Hexside don't care too much for the students' well-being, with teachers celebrating a kid fight, a teacher offering himself for target practice, and even Principal Bump shrugging off the possibility of Boscha committing murder. What's more, the citizens really look up to Boscha as the Hexside Banshees' grudgby captain, in spite of her attitude, with a mother even disparaging her child for lacking Boscha's skill. Coupled with the fact that elites such as Amity's parents exist to force ties with other elitist families through their children, with apparently weak-willed parents such as Boscha's, it's not much of a wonder Boscha turned out the way she did.
- Coupled with the fact that the Emperor's Coven and the coven system seem to encourage strength and the prevalence of scammers who often kill their victims whom the system do nothing about, and that the system puts a higher priority on its structure, forcing witches into covens than on justice, it's hardly a wonder Eda became disillusioned with the coven system.
- It would also suggest why Luz and Willow managed to win over Boscha's teammates and the students who typically swoon over Boscha. With the prevalence of Social Darwinists, a little genuine kindness (like the compliment Luz gave to the plant girl, and the flower decorations and plant souvenirs Willow gave out during Grom and this episode) can go a long way. As discussed in the Analysis page and prior fridge bullets, this likely contributed to Amity's crush on Luz.
It may seem shocking to some how quickly Amity changes from The Stoic to No Social Skills around Luz. However, considering her backstory, it makes a lot of sense. From what we've seen of her parents, they seem to be controlling, manipulative people. As such, it wouldn't be out of character for them to tell their daughter to ignore or even suppress her emotions, specifically, "Emotions make you weak. Never show them. Otherwise, you won't succeed." The result is that Amity would've grown up without a proper understanding of how to handle/express her emotions properly. And she would likely repress everything she feels to appease her parents (conceal, don't feel) and became the person we saw in "I Was a Teenage Abomination."
- Cue the human girl showing up. A girl who sticks by Amity's side and shows her compassion and kindness regardless of how she is treated, even saving her life. Luz helped Amity fix her mistakes and taught her that it's okay to feel, to not let yourself be defined by others. Once the crush kicks in, she won't know how to handle her newfound emotions, not only because she's a teen, but because she can't rely on anyone to help her through her emotions. She can't go to her parents, for they will criticize her. Not her siblings, for they will tease her for it. Not her "friends," for they will mock and harass her. And most definitely not the girl who taught her compassion, for obvious reasons. The result is that she has no way to vent her emotions (except her diary), but that can't give her the answers she needs to process her emotions. Cue the gay panic.
  - Additionally, Amity had less reason to believe that Luz would want to be her date for Grom (thinking that she probably didn't feel the same way), so she was likely to have more restrained emotions. Then her crush outright OFFERS it, and the possibility opens up to her, with the hope that something might be there both ways terrifying her.
Amity's reaction to being invited onto a team with Luz produces an ... interesting reaction, to say the least. While part of it is guilt with what happened in her last grudgby game, and another is the chance to be with her crush Luz, there is possibly a third cause. "Understanding Willow" established that Amity and Willow had been reading young adult romance novels, even when they were little girls. It's possible that one of them had a similar plot and/or description to those of the episode, prompting her embarrassment.
Amity’s fluster and blushing around Luz mostly happens whenever she notices or thinks about Luz getting too close to her (running up to her, inviting her to play sports, carrying her). Physical contact with Luz may remind her of their dance in the previous episode and the confusing and conflicting feelings about it. She is still able to look at her and carry on a conversation with her from a short distance without becoming a mess.
- The circumstances also leave some room for Luz loosely misconstruing Amity's obvious crushing as stress.
- Alternatively, Luz does notice Amity's nervousness, but assumes she is straight and/or not interested in her and is just embarrassed and confused after they did their dance.
- Or Luz may notice Amity's crush on her, but pushes it aside due to not wanting to confront her own feelings for Amity or embarrass Amity by asking her about it.
Luz's line when Amity leaves as mentioned above is: "Well, she's out," which could be a reference to the term being in or out of the closet in regard to a person expressing or hiding aspects of life such as homosexuality. Since this is following the reveal that Amity has romantic feelings for Luz, meaning that Amity is out of the closet to the audience.
Eda and Lilith play a "clean" grudgby match, and the rule is "no magic," yet Hooty keeps interfering all the time, apparently oppressing both sides. It makes sense, however, when you remember they aren't playing on an official grudgby field, but on an open ground in front of the Owl House. Hooty represents the field's obstacles professional players have to deal with, so the challenge remain the same.
At the beginning of the series, Luz curses her 'weak nerd arms' for not being able to pull down a lever, but in this episode, she picks up Amity (a girl of similar height to herself) with no apparent issue. So what happened to her 'weak nerd arms'? Simple, all the jobs Eda has been giving her - as well as living in the Boiling Isles for an extended period of time - would have resulted in Luz getting more of a workout than she would normally, so it'd be inevitable that she'd get stronger.

Agony of a Witch

Amity, when shown sitting on her bed recovering from her leg injury, tells an Emperor's Coven poster with Lilith on it to "shut up." This may seem uncharacteristic of her, and one could chalk it up to her being upset that she can't go on the field trip. Though another factor may be that Lilith used her to cheat in her duel with Luz, and Amity became disillusioned with her as a result, especially after comparing her with the kind of person Luz is. Not to mention, Lilith's relationship with Amity might actually be pretty distant, considering that she didn't seem to have any positive relationships with anyone aside from perhaps teachers prior to Luz's arrival. And Lilith may have performed minor Pet the Dog moments that happened to mean a lot to Amity, but ended up paling in comparison with Luz's behavior.
Lilith's line at the end of "Covention" about Eda's days being numbered was initially believed to refer to how long it would be until she was caught. But it makes a lot more sense with the reveal that Lilith herself was the one who cursed her, and knew all along that it would eventually change her permanently.
Luz thinks the reason The Emperor wants to capture Eda so bad is because he has the hots for her. Of course, she would think that, considering that's the reason Warden Wrath tried to capture Eda in the first episode.
To anyone wondering how the guard Willow high-fived didn't immediately raise the alarm on seeing what looked like three children hiding under a long cloak: centaurs are a thing in the Boiling Isles (as seen in "Witches before Wizards") so the guard probably thought it was just a centaur member of the Coven.
Why is Lilith so insistent on having Belos heal Eda? With drinking elixirs which is clearly less effective with each passing day and the Healing Hat not being effective enough, according to her, there wasn't any other solution available. Even if she left Eda alone, Eda would have succumbed fully in due time. The next episode even proves this idea, showing that a half-hearted zap to the head from him can restore Eda's personality. Not to mention that if the Healing Hat really worked, Lilith would have already used it on Eda. Her dismissal of the Healing Hat implies that she must have tried and failed before with it.
Early on in the season, it's revealed a witch gets their magic from a bile sac attached to their heart. If you pause the shot where you first see the heart of the Boiling Isles, the heart itself is actually to the right of the thing that's beating, largely obscured behind pipes, and it's not the thing we see beating. What Belos' throne, and Belos himself, is connected to is the titan's magic bile sac.

Young Blood, Old Souls

Why is Belos an emperor and not a king? Because the Boiling Isles was never a kingdom. He created an empire, of which he is now solely ruler of. In addition, Belos is the one who created the coven system of dividing types of magic. By calling himself an Emperor, he emphasizes his rulership over all kinds of magic.
The way Lilith tells Eda, "It's for your own good," it sparks a thought: Lilith is the witch parallel of Luz's mother. Both are well-meaning towards their respective loved one (Eda/Luz), but at the same time, they're going about it all wrong by essentially trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Could the curse have lasted longer than the day that Lilith thought it would because she put too much power into it? Eda may be more powerful than her, but we've seen that Lilith is no slouch herself. She could have easily overloaded the spell trying to make sure that it worked and accidentally rendered it permanent.
Eda's cursed form, even when Eda's not in control of it, is less hostile here, including in the flashback to when she originally transformed, and she even sticks her tongue out at Lilith. While our initial impression was that it was a ferocious monster, this (and how King was able to control her partially-cursed state previously) hints that it's less of a ferocious, bloodthirsty monster and more filtering Eda's personality through a wild animal's mindset. Something that backs this up and explains why Eda was so ferocious in episode 4 is that before Eda transformed, she was sleepy, and she likely didn't get much rest before she transformed. And when you're sleepy, you're cranky, irritable, and angry. So Cursed Eda was just frustrated from a lack of sleep!
How come Eda and Lilith were both able to try for a place in the Emperor's Coven despite their difference in age? Well, Eda was probably good enough at magic to get skipped ahead to the same group as Lilith, just like Gus was skipped to the same group as Willow, and the same Illusion class as Amity's older siblings.
Petrification being the worst sentence given to criminals seems rather underwhelming at first, if you don't count the fact that it is irreversible. What about hanging, beheading, burning at the stake, and other punishments that are much more terrifying and deadly? Kids' show aside, as Eda's little beheading incident back in "A Lying Witch And A Warden" has shown, it is clear that a proficient enough witch can essentially shrug off stuff that would kill any average being with their magic. By turning them into statues, they are essentially frozen in time and unable to free themselves.
The Summon Magic Belos used against Luz is probably related to Abomination magic, or perhaps a mix of Abomination Magic and another Coven's magic.
Lilith seems more submissive and reverent to Emperor Belos in this episode, addressing him as "My Lord" and bowing to him with her hands clasped, in contrast to her more reserved demeanor in "Agony of a Witch." Her uncharacteristically docile behavior is likely due to her knowing that Belos could very well renege on that deal and hurt and kill Eda if either Lilith or Eda anger or offend him (which he does anyway).
Despite orders from the Emperor and the massive bounty, no one seems to really want to capture Eda. Even when they do have her in custody, they're more likely to blackmail Eda as opposed to give her up. Considering the power the Emperor and his coven can leverage, this is unusual. But recall that the Emperor has only been in power for 50 years, and the last petrification was 30 years ago. It's very likely there are adults who remember what life was like before the Emperor, or who had close family members that are now petrified. They may even resent the Emperor and his coven. It's possible their refusal to give up Eda so easily may be a form of passive resistance, to undermine the Emperor's rule without actually resisting.
- Principal Bump refuses to turn Eda or Luz in, citing that he's not going to ruin their lives to follow the law. It could be another reason: he saw Eda's potential as a student and respected her power if not her mischievous streak. Just because Eda was immature and destructive doesn't mean she deserves the Emperor's wrath.
  - In "Escaping Expulsion" Bump admits that he actually finds the chaos Luz and her friends stir up entertaining, because ordinary life at Hexside leaves him hopelessly bored. It's possible he had similar feelings about Eda and only complained so much because her antics were so far over the top.
- The fact that the crowd almost immediately begins supporting Eda after three shaky testimonials ("She broke me out of jail" despite not knowing what that witch was jailed for, "She kept me in business" because she's sick and has no alternative, and "She restored my faith in teaching" by being such an awful student that no one could be worse), lends credence to this theory. The only people we've really seen speaking in favor of the Coven system have been Lilith (who benefits greatly from it by virtue of being on top) and Gus and Willow (who A. are on tracks that perfectly match their aptitudes and personalities and B. lack the life experience to realize that being the status quo doesn't necessarily mean a system is the best option). Sure, everyone at the Covention seemed enthusiastic, but they were also getting free stuff, and we only see one person actually join a coven (and that's not exactly glee on his face as his magic is bound). Those who support the system probably view it as a necessary evil, and when they're forced to confront an injustice, Everyone Has Standards kicks in.
  - The crowds in "Follies at the Coven Day Parade" loudly cheer for Belos, but it's possible their enthusiasm isn't all that sincere. Under a repressive, authoritarian regime it's only prudent to show eager support in public.
The curse only had one benefit that we can see: it showed Eda that the coven system was fundamentally broken, and her career choice didn't restrict her powers to one specialty. This also broke the Emperor's pedestal for her. Even if she didn't join the Emperor's coven, she had her pick of the others with her powers, and Lilith ensured she would never enter the others. So Eda found out that witches are arbitrary beings, and that the Emperor ostracizes those who, through no fault of their own, are weirdos. This had the added benefit of her stealing human junk, which led to Luz entering the Boiling Isles.
In hindsight, Lilith trying to brand Luz-in-Eda's body was a red flag that she doesn't listen to reason. Her obsessive quest to get Eda "cured" blinds her to the signs in front of her that things aren't as they seem. As we see in "Agony of A Witch," her taking Luz hostage would have gotten Eda captured earlier. But Lilith is so determined to fix her mistake and act like that will solve Eda's problems that she becomes irrational.
Willow, a witch specializing in Plant Magic, plants the metaphorical seeds of rebellion by publicly speaking out against Emperor Belos and inspiring others to do the same.
Belos' decision to renege on his deal with Lilith seems stupid at first, considering that it was obviously something that Lilith dearly wanted and Belos seemed to think she would still follow him blindly. But after thinking about it, it could be argued that Belos' actions were part of a plan:
- Firstly, Eda had no intention of joining Belos' Coven, even if he did heal her. And as her performance against Lilith in the previous episode demonstrated, she's capable of defeating Lilith even with the curse crippling her magic (the only reason she lost was because she was spending a lot of energy protecting Luz). Therefore, if Belos healed her, he'd have restored a dangerous opponent to her full strength. While this would have guaranteed Lilith's loyalty, she's no match for Eda, meaning that Belos would have lost more than he would have gained.
- Secondly, Belos had just mentioned that he was going to find Luz to get the portal. By leaving Lilith to her own devices rather than keeping her by his side, it could have seemed to Lilith like he was dangling another chance at saving her sister in front of her. If she captured, then Belos would have leverage over Eda so if he did choose to heal her, she'd be forced to serve him to protect Luz.
- It's also shown to be a consistent flaw of Philip's that once he has successfully manipulated others into achieving a goal he wants in the short-term, then he'll renege on his side of the deal shamelessly, and has a tendency to smugly rub this in his victim's face as he does, even if this course of action later causes him greater grief down the line. Once he has Eda and the means to secure the portal door through leveraging her life against Luz, he falls back into his old habit again with Lilith.
The only deal that Belos actually holds up is with Luz, and it's ironically the one deal where Belos is betrayed rather than the other way around. Even though Luz destroys the Portal Door after the trade-off, Belos still lets her go and save Eda. In hindsight, this makes sense because he's really human and only respects humans and thus, of course, he would uphold his end of the deal for Luz despite having Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. It also foreshadows a critical personality flaw: being too trusting of humans just because they're humans. Luz exploits that and has remained the only person to have ever conned Belos twice.

Season 2

Separate Tides

Why are Eda and Luz paid so little despite the values on the wanted posters? Paying criminals by itself is already illegal. Not to mention, with the loss of their magic, the sisters can't command any form of respect from the residents anymore, making them washed up has-beens. This is more or less confirmed in "Hollow Mind," where it's stated that it's illegal to help covenless witches in any way, including engaging in business.
Luz having trouble digesting a lot of the food on the Isles would no doubt be made worse by the fact that she's been mentioned before to be lactose intolerant.
Lilith switches costumes from her dramatic Lady of Black Magic outfit to a graphic tee with a low battery symbol. Her raw magical power, similarly, is out of juice.
The Emperor's new lackey is pretty lackadaisical about fulfilling the bounty, while explaining that it was a trap for the Owl Lady and her apprentice. He lets Eda, Luz, and King go after Eda and Luz stage a fight so that it looks like they killed the selkiedamas, not even bothering to check. Then we learn that Belos has succeeded in repairing the door and only needs the key ... as well as Luz, possibly, given he says that he'll be coming for her. The bounty was a ruse to buy the Emperor time to continue his plans with little interference!
Belos increasing his presence in Bonesborough could be more than just simple ego. He saw in Young Blood, Old Souls, that the town is more than capable of disagreeing with him. It's possible that he wants to keep his presence and power in the minds of the town to prevent any more extreme measure of uprising.
Comparisons have been made between both Eda and the Golden Guard's OTT "byees" after a threatening message. But the key difference between them is that Eda (somewhat) reassured Luz with a cheerful "no pressure" before leaving, whereas the Golden Guard just left.

Escaping Expulsion

The testing on live targets is cruel, but the Blights no doubt want to prove that they aren't Snake Oil Salesman selling Paper Tigers.
Of course, Belos would buy out the Blights' entire stock. The last thing he needs is an army that he doesn't control in the hands of the residents.
Interestingly, Hooty doesn’t act territorial towards Lilith’s ice sculpture of him like he did towards Luz’s drawing of him in “Art Lessons With Luz”. That’s because he saw Lilith make the ice sculpture, so he knows it’s not a real owl.
Why is Principal Bump willing to defy the emperor by sheltering Luz and allowing students to study multiple types of magic, but then folds immediately against the Blights? He's a member of the Abominations Coven! This means that not only was he facing the PCA, he was also probably dealing with additional pressure within his own coven due to Alador's high rank in the same coven.
The glyph combo that Lilith creates seems to be based on the water vapour cycle. First the water is heated (the Fire Glyph), next the water is cooled, (Ice Glyph), then it forms as a cloud in the upper atmosphere (the Light glyph can represent sky or the sun), and finally the atmosphere cools again (the second Ice Glyph), thus forming as snow.
Amity declares to the Abomi-ton 2.0 to "Stay away from my Luz." While obviously taken as a romantic gesture, a second not-so-mutually exclusive interpretation is "Stay away from my light," as Luz is Spanish for "light." To Amity Blight, she had a light aka Luz to guide her out of the hell she has been living in for years.
This episode reveals Principal Bump secretly likes all the trouble Luz, Gus, and Willow cause, since it livens things up around the school. This helps explain why he didn't expel Eda, despite her being, by any objective metric, a nightmare as a teenager. There was probably never a dull day while she was at Hexside!
Luz first seems to develop her own feelings for Amity after Amity saves her from the Abomiton 2.0. Combined with Luz's reaction to Nevareth's question "Do you think love can bloom on the battlefield?," it seems Luz has a very specific type.
- Even if she already had feelings for Amity, her self-esteem issues doubtless convinced her that Amity was hopelessly out of her league. The suggestion that Amity might be attracted to her is the only thing that would let her even consider the idea.
Alador's comment that Amity could become a coven head someday is more than just a random comparison. Darius, the current head of the Abomination Coven, is a specialist in abomination-based shapeshifting and fusion. Amity excels at controlling abominations. Given enough training and the right motivation, she could toss Darius around like a rag doll someday.
Eda struggling to learn glyphs while Lilith takes to it better makes sense when you consider that Eda was always more naturally gifted at magic. A very common problem for gifted students is that they flounder the second they come across a subject they're not immediately good at, both because they're not used to struggling, much less failing, and because they never learned how to study—after all, they never had to until now. Eda probably barely had to study or practice at all to get by in school, while Lilith had to work extremely hard to even keep pace with her. So when they're confronted with a new challenge that they don't know how to handle, Lilith already knows how to buckle down and work at it, while Eda gets frustrated and tries to do things the way she always has, because that's always worked for her before.
In this episode, Amity crushes the necklace her mother used to control her. In the future episodes, Amity wears a necklace with a crescent moon- a very similar one to the one that was in the sky during Luz's and hers dance during Grom. It might be a small symbol of Amity slipping away from the oppressive grip of her mother and embracing the positive influence of her friends (especially Luz).

Echoes of the Past

Why does "Jean-Luc" go dormant outside the tower? Whatever powers it is inside, so it simply doesn't have any energy when outside. Alternatively, it was under orders to keep King inside and restricted from leaving.
Why was the upper room blocked off? Jean-Luc was trying to hide King's origins from him.
King does have an army, they're just dormant.
Crossing over with Fridge Horror, but Jean-Luc's power as a glorified nanny seems to be because he was a combat construct repurposed to watch over King. But what kind of scenario would result in that being the best option?
Why did King not start talking until some time after Eda "rescued" him? Because he was raised by a silent guardian, alone in a ruin. While he knew how to do little eeps, squeaks and grunts, he didn't learn how to form words until Eda taught him how.
When Eda realizes King is returning to the island, why is she unbothered by Owlbert being missing and goes straight to the bathtub with a propeller in the woodshed? If her "Not again!" reaction is any indication, this isn't the first time King has used Owlbert to return to the island without her, and Eda had to make the flying bathtub to go there before. His return visits were also probably frequent enough that she needs to keep the flying bathtub on standby.
Notably, King's recollection of his reign is depicted by a glorious mural. When King momentarily gets his memories back, it's depicted as it happened. This is meant to establish that King's memories of being a ruler with an army and feasts aren't real. Notably, the memory of falling shifts back to the regular animation style, hinting that that memory is real.
In the flashback, Jean-Luc creates and fires off an arrow that goes through the barrier and ends up hitting King. In the present day, it doesn't try the arrow again, even when the group are standing just outside. It wasn't going to risk a repeat of hitting King.

Keeping up A-fear-ances

Gwen's willingness to "cut out" her daughter's curse may have been why Eda never told Luz or even King the nature of her potion, up until the events of "The Intruder." She was worried they would view her the way her mother did.
The fact that human junk sometimes ends up in the Isles on its own explains why no one really batted an eye at Eda selling human stuff at her stall. It happening in reverse would also explain why the Isles could have inspired the human myths and legends Eda mentioned in the first episode. It also explains how Gus could find human objects for the HAS meetings, since he couldn't have access to the portal and didn't know Eda before meeting Luz.
On the surface, it seems like Luz didn't really help Gwen outside enabling her using "remedies" on Eda. It wasn't Luz who stopped Eda or Lilith in their bird-beast forms, that fell to Gwen. Then one realizes: Luz did help Gwen because she enabled her remedies. If Luz hadn't helped Gwen pull off her remedies, Eda wouldn't have eventually become an owl-beast, and Gwen wouldn't have seen the error of her so-called remedies first-hand. Failing to cure Eda with the remedies was the only way to get Gwen to see they didn't work, period. So in the grand scheme of things, it's because of Luz helping that Gwen was able to free herself from Wartlop's lies and start helping her daughters for real. She's not wrong to say Luz did her a big favor.
At first, Luz offering Morton the potion merchant payment in realistic drawings seems to be a Continuity Snarl, since they got selkigris and therefore have not needed to be cheap. However, one realizes Luz is trying to be frugal and use their new-found wealth as sparingly as possible. Even under dire situations, they don't want to eat up their savings so quickly.
- It's also possible that Luz just didn't have any money one her, and didn't want to take the time to run back to the Owl House to get some.
If Eda's body parts falling apart every now and again is a part of her curse, why didn't she say that from the start (like in "A lying Witch and the Warden")? For one, we wouldn't have the mystery of Eda having a curse to begin with. Second, as mentioned above, Eda was worried about outing herself to Luz (or anyone for that matter) and therefore lied about it being what happens to all witches when they get older.
When one thinks about it, Gwen and Lilith indeed have something in common: they both went about the wrong way trying to 'heal' Eda of her curse. Driven by guilt, Lilith joined the Emperor's coven in hopes Emperor Belos would use his magic to heal Eda. Driven by desperation, Gwen turned to Wartlop, hoping his remedies would help remove the curse. Ultimately, both Clawthornes were deeply disappointed by the outcome (respectively, Belos refused to help, and Wartlop was a fraud.) It also gives the sense that both Lilith and Gwen can simultaneously make the character growth from relying on shady means to remove Eda's curse, and instead learn to rely on themselves(/each other) to fix their problems.
Lilith's beast form being a raven. In real life, ravens and owls are enemies.
Why didn't the Light Glyph work on Lilith's cursed form? Ravens are active during the day more than owls, so they're better adapted to sunlight.
Why is Lilith's Raven beast form noticeably bigger? Several reasons:
- When she shared the curse, she likely subconsciously transferred more of it to herself out of guilt.
- This form came when she learned that her sister has annual visits from her mother while she was given zero attention for 30 years, so she had more stress than Eda when she turned. Since stress triggers the curse, it is possible that it amplifies it as well.
- It is her first time dealing with the transformation, compared to Eda (who is around two years younger than Lilith, by the way) who has dealt with it multiple times.
Lilith's jealousy is more understandable when you consider that Eda was both a serial troublemaker as a child and is openly rude and dismissive towards their mother to the point of calling her "Gwen" instead of "Mom", yet is still favored and doted on. Even worse, the reason Gwen pays so much attention to Eda is because of her curse. It's similar to any parents worried about their kids getting a chronic, dangerous disease ... and this was caused by Lilith herself, making the situation even more frustrating.
Why didn't Eda control her inner beast so well before, despite being cursed for years? Because this time she was aided by Gwen who, besides the usual mother-daughter bonding, is also part of the Beast Coven. She wasn't just communicating and encouraging Eda (and later Lilith), but also calming a feral beast, something she's obviously skilled at. Being stressed makes the curse worse, and Gwen calming her down helped Eda tame the embodiment of her curse. A little Fridge Sadness here since it also means that, if Gwen had accepted Eda's curse and helped to deal with it instead of going to extreme and ultimately useless measures, she'd have been able to use her actual talents to help her daughter, all these thirty years.
Way back when we first saw Eda's curse in action in "The Intruder," Luz was having a bit of fun doing a David Attenborough impression over King. It originally seemed to be a random joke, but as we see here Camila is fond of animal documentaries, even if they do make her cry. Luz is probably quite familiar with Attenborough's style through sheer osmosis from Camila's fondness.
Gwen's gag where she reveals herself with a "probably me!" to answer Luz's question about who Eda was avoiding is funny, but it's also a nice bit of foreshadowing for Gwen finally coming to her senses and realizing she was causing more harm than good - Gwen already knows that Eda has been alienated due to her insistent attempts to cure the curse, and while she laughs it off, she knows it's largely on her. Gwen was already willing to acknowledge she wasn't the best parent and admit to fault, hence she was willing to listen when faced with how she was cheated. She was already resistant to the Sunk Cost Fallacy many con men use to keep someone they've scammed on the hook.

Through the Looking Glass Ruins

The reveal that Glandus High operates on a 'rule by the strong' ideology adds some clarity to why the Greater Basilisk went there before Hexside (aside from the time of the Inspection). It would be easy for to find the strongest Witches to drain first because of who looked the most popular.
Luz's dejection and guilt as well as her assumption that Amity would be mad at her for getting her fired from the Library is understandable when you realize Amity puts great stock in her reputation, among other things that mean a great deal to her, and Luz herself knows how Amity is in those circumstances. In Season 1, Amity was furious at Luz for threatening her position as top student, and she wasn't happy that Luz threatened her future in the Emperor's Coven. Amity's job at the Library is very important to her, so why would Luz believe this time should be different?
- It's also pretty clear that Amity liked working at the library. Before meeting Luz, it was possibly the only part of her life she actually enjoyed. Luz knew this, since she'd seen the usually icy Amity actually smiling and laughing while reading to the young children.
Why did Amity choose purple as her new hair color? Besides the association with nobility, as befitting the Blights, and corresponding to her chosen magical field of Abominations, it's also a color often seen in relation to a certain human that she likes...
- Not to mention, she'd naturally want to get rid of the green that represents her mother, but returning to her natural brown would still be reminiscent of her also-toxic father: by picking a color unconnected to either of her parents, it makes it a much stronger showing of independence and individuality!
- Building on Amity not wanting to be like her father, she doesn't want brown hair because Alador enables his wife to abuse his children, something Odalia's been doing for years. After all, Amity had brown hair as a kid when she allowed her mother to have her way, by breaking up her friendship with Willow. So of course, Amity doesn't want her natural hair color because she doesn't want to allow her mother to step all over her anymore.
- Notably, Amity no longer wears her hair up after she dyes it a different color. This shows that she's freeing herself from her parents' influences.
Amity kissing Luz on the cheek is witnessed by the Echo Mouse. Is it a subtle way of saying that Disney supports the relationship?
- Nope
The name of the Looking Glass Ruins in itself foreshadows that it's an illusionist location. Looking glass is another term for a mirror. And what's another term for illusions? Smoke and mirrors. In addition, the symbol of the Illusion Coven is a handheld mirror.
While Gus tries to look cool using Luz's glyphs, it dawns on one: ironically enough, he's using the glyphs to help set up the illusion that Gus can use spells other than illusionist ones. In a way, this foreshadows not only how being an illusionist is Gus's strong point, but how he'll easily trick Angmar, Gavin and Bria with the very illusions magic they looked down upon.
It seems like a Series Continuity Error that illusion magic here is stated to be purely immaterial when it has been shown to create physical structures before, especially when Gus has been seen to do so. It makes more sense when the times Gus has created physical illusions have typically backfired or been thwarted ("Something Ventured, Someone Framed" had his solid illusion double acting up in class, his enhancement to Willow's plant getting ruined by the Basilisk in "The First Day"). Given his poor mood at the moment, he's likely internalized his failings from those times and fully believes that illusion magic honestly is good for nothing but tricks.
- Also remember that Gus is a Grade Skipper. Physical illusions may well be an advanced skill to learn, so it's entirely possible that Gus could learn it, but mastering it to a useful level might be outside his abilities at the moment. Genuine skill can only take someone so far, and Gus may well have hit his ceiling, so he has to take some time to refine his power to make it more useful. And given his insecurities at the moment, he's probably focusing on how he can't make illusions useful enough for what he needs.
Given what they are ultimately revealed to be, it's highly likely that the Glandus students stepped up to stop the rampaging Slitherbeast not because it was the right thing to do, but so they could show off their magical abilities in front of a crowd.
When you look closely frame-by-frame after Amity kissed Luz, you would notice that Luz actually looked down after her Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises moment when it cuts back to the two of them. That's why Amity was blushing. The possibility of Luz returning the kiss, on the lips no less, made her panic. Explained here.

Hunting Palisman

Belos being negatively affected by Wild Magic not only furthers his role as an Evil Counterpart to Eda, but his obsession with a particular method of handling it when there might be better ways draws a parallel with Gwendolyn.
Despite supposedly being made up of the very best witches around, the Emperor's Coven is shown to be laughably incompetent at their jobs. This can be explained by Kikimora actively sabotaging and attempting to murder the Golden Guard to get the credit for collecting the Palisman. If this kind of behavior is common throughout the Coven, then the Witches who are actually good at their jobs will be taken out by the ones who are better at backstabbing.
- It's likely that the "best and brightest" description is mostly propaganda. The real criteria for recruitment and especially promotion is loyalty and blind obedience to the emperor. It's also likely that Belos subtly encourages rivalry within the coven. If the members are constantly competing against each other there's little chance that they might get any ideas about teaming up to challenge him.
Besides having trouble dealing with her feelings for Luz after kissing her, Amity's currently reevaluating basically her entire life, so her being absent keeps her from having the same issue bonding with a palisman that Luz had.
Flapjack becoming Hunter's palisman is actually foreshadowed by his old staff. The top is red, and has a wing design—his new palisman, which traditionally sits atop a witch's staff, is a little red bird.
Each student receives a palisman that has the form of an animal with attributes matching to the person they pair to. Willow pairs with a bee palisman, marking her as a caretaker of plants and a formidable protector. Gus is paired with a chameleon, known for disguising themselves with camouflage, like the deceptive nature of an illusionist. Boscha is paired with a crab palisman, which have claws with a powerful clamping force and a hard shell. For Luz to receive a bird palisman would suggest that what she desires is freedom, something that is expressed by Flapjack's early attempts to escape the palisman holding stump. It is when Hunter says he'd like to be able to figure out his own future, a concrete desire matching to what Flapjack desires, that the palisman starts brushing up to him. As such, Hunter is a more appropriate choice than Luz as Flapjack's holder. Luz does not desire freedom, as she essentially already has it, having the chance to live her dream to become a witch.
In “Separate Tides” Lilith complained about Hunter getting special treatment. Now we know why—he’s the Emperor’s nephew.

Eda's Requiem

With the reveal that Belos needs the magic of almost every witch in the Boiling Isles for his plan, his decision to pardon the now-powerless Eda makes a lot more sense, as she's no longer useful to him.
Blight Industries is a subsidiary of the Abomination Coven, so that means Alador answers to Darius. Knowing that he doesn’t think highly of them, Darius would’ve vetoed the Abomiton Project. But because the Abomitons are being manufactured by royal order, Darius has no say in the matter.
An early hint that the last raid is a trap is that it's in such a remote location, while the rest were in town. After all, it's easier to track down fugitives in a city than in the woods.
Why did Darius and Eberwolf end up being the Coven heads to hunt down B.A.T.T.? As we can see, the former's Abominations skills would allow them to easily restrain the rebels and transport them to the Conformatorium. While the latter's tracking skills would allow the duo to easily track down any that the initial sweep missed.
Why is Darius such a Neat Freak, despite his body already being made of abomination goo? His status as The Dandy aside, He's probably worried about stuff getting stuck, mixed, or absorbed into his body.

Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door

The Owl Beast seemingly being from a different Titan would certainly explain why the curse was so hard to try and cure. It would literally be unlike anything ever seen before in the Isles.
Amity seems surprisingly forgiving over the fact that Hooty literally kidnapped her from her own home. but consider it from her perspective. The first thing she says after Luz frees her from the pellet is that Hooty took her (or, maybe she realized it just that moment). She has already known him as a friend/House Demon of Luz, so it's unlikely she would be all that frightened or disturbed of him, especially when you consider that she has given him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown in the past. At most, Amity was likely grossed out/annoyed. Aside from that, his scheme ultimately ends with her getting together with her crush, a topic she has been dreading so badly that she skipped school to avoid Luz. Once that suceeds, she would be in a good enough mood to forgive a Hooty playing The Matchmaker. There’s also the fact that, the first time they met, Amity was in a very bad mood due to the stress of having to defeat a monster that feeds off your fears and brings them to life. Amity getting mad at Hooty and thrashing him really had nothing to do with him.
Why is Luz so obsessed with the idea of needing a Grand Romantic Gesture to convince Amity to go out with her? Besides the idea of Amity being "classy," Luz has likely seen a lot of shows and books that sold her on the idea. The Irony is that Luz already made a Grand Romantic Gesture when she went through whatever trials to get Amity's job at the library back.
Amity being emotionally crushed when Luz is destroying the Tunnel of Love is because her greatest fear is being rejected by Luz. The latter destroying the ride meant for the duo is indirectly telling Amity that the girl she loved doesn't feel the same way and is in fact disgusted at the idea of dating her. This makes it much worse than a simple rejection.
In a surrogate Like Father, Like Son way, Luz almost repeated history. Eda lost her relationship with Raine because she didn't trust them with her curse, pushed them away, and even tried to hide how badly their breaking up affected her. Luz almost lost her chance with Amity because she was too focused on trying to look cool, destroyed Hooty's tunnel of love for being "too cheesy," and hurt Amity's feelings in the process. Eda's encouragement is her way of helping Luz avoid her mistake of pushing people away.
When Hooty gets both Luz and Amity in the Owl House basement, the Calamity Box can be spotted on a shelf.
Why is Luz just now obsessing over asking Amity out? Because in the two episodes between this one and "Through the Looking Glass Ruins," she'd had some other important things to focus on. Now that there's nothing else for her to immediately consider (and she hasn’t gone anywhere with the Echo Mouse), Amity is taking center stage in her list of priorities.
The little "Weh!" noise King regularly made throughout the series could very well have been an early indicator of the Make Some Noise ability King developed in this episode.
When you think about it, it makes perfect sense that Amity would have blurted out the request for a Relationship Upgrade before Luz. After all, Amity has been crushing on Luz for a lot longer than Luz has been crushing on her. That being said, giving up her long-awaited chance, so Luz can do it, was a major sacrifice on Amity's part.
At first glance, the Flashback in "Keeping Up A-fear-ances" where Gwen urged a Healer to "cut" the curse out of Eda may have seemed a little extreme. But after this episode shows that the Owl Beast attacked Gwen's husband and badly damaged his eye, it makes sense that Gwen would want the curse dealt with as quickly and severely as possible.

Eclipse Lake

Amity suddenly having a palisman of her own seemingly came out of nowhere, but remember the Blights are wealthy and well-connected. They're probably one of the few people who can get access to pure palistrom wood, which can be a reason why they didn't mind Amity missing Palisman Day.
- Further supported in "For The Future" where Amity said Ghost was handed to her.
Why is Luz able to come down with the common mold despite an earlier episode establishing that she has trouble digesting a lot of native Isles food? Fungi are less specialized to specific species than viruses are.
If the theories that Hunter is a Grimwalker are accurate, then it makes perfect sense that he can understand Flapjack. Grimwalkers are partially made from Palistrom wood, just like Palismen are.
Of course the veins of the Titan reflect magic, with how magical Titan's blood is, they would need to be that magically reflective to keep the blood in them!
Eda's deal with the Owl Beast was to eat a bunch of voles, presumably for its own nourishment. In a season one episode, Owl Eda was eating many odd things, like a slide or a plank of wood. The Owl Beast was probably starving, of course he wanted something his species would actually eat.
Later episodes reveal that Hunter's threat towards Amity regarding Luz were actually completely toothless, albeit he wouldn't have known that. Belos needed Luz alive and unimpeded in order for her to complete the Stable Time Loop that gave his past self both the light glyph and the Collector's mirror. There's also the fact that he probably already knew she had the key since she originally had the portal door it went to but didn't go after her for the above reason. If anything, Amity giving Hunter the key saved his life, since Belos probably would have killed Hunter for disobeying him and not having anything to show for it.
It makes sense that Amity's Palisman is a cat. Anyone who's owned cats know that while they often have a reputation for being aloof, once you get to know an individual cat they will often become quite affectionate and loving; just like Amity!

Yesterday's Lie

Why is Vee so much smaller and cuter than the basilisk seen in "The First Day"? Besides making her more sympathetic to the audience, she's probably a lot younger, since the basilisks with lower numbers seen seem to get progressively larger the lower the number is, implying that they were created one at a time rather than all at once. Another alternative is that she's a different subspecies, given that the one taking the form of the Inspector was a "Greater" basilisk.
Given what we learn about basilisks here, the actions of the one seen in "The First Day" may have been Revenge against Belos and the Coven system, attacking young witches before they could join the coven ranks.
Fridge-Heartwarming: Luz and Vee are each other's foils, one being a human of normal origins who wanted to be a witch (with a special destiny on the side), while the other is a basilisk brought back from extinction whose known nothing but experimentation and longed for normality. Luz has been pursuing her dream of being a witch on the Boiling Isles, while Vee has appreciated living in Luz's shoes for all that time. But there's also a dichotomy between whom each one developed a mother-daughter bond with, Eda and Camila. Both women became the first people in their respective adopted daughters' lives who gave them the kind of treatment they always wanted. Although Camila does earnestly like Luz's creativity, Eda guided Luz on her journey and always encouraged the girl to confidently accept her own weirdness. After being nothing but a guinea pig in the Emperor's coven, Vee was provided the normality and love she was deprived of (and even accepted her after learning she was a basilisk) by Camila, allowing the poor young basilisk to have a peaceful life.
Camila Noceda drove away her daughter figuratively (being trapped in the Boiling Isles) and literally (sending Luz to camp herself).
Why is Vee able to make friends at the correction camp? The camp is comprised of other weirdos like Luz, as they were sent there for correction as well. Her attempts to emulate human behavior just endeared her to her fellow campers.
Luz made a promise to stay in the human world. She didn't promise to keep away from the Boiling Isles. Plus, the others can still visit her and once Camila finds out the full context, she may be more forgiving that Luz gave up her chance to go home to protect her from Belos.
Camila being a veterinarian explains why animal documentaries make her cry (as revealed in "Keeping Up A-fear-ances"). Many animal documentaries feature animals getting injured or killed, and seeing such a sight would obviously sadden a vet.
The cubes in the In-Between realm allow Luz to enter reflective surfaces near the person whose name she calls out. When she first sees her doppelgänger, she yells out several panicked epithets trying to 'follow' her ('Luz Noceda 2.0' etc.). When those fail to produce a result, she takes a deep breath and counts to five to calm herself—at which point, the cube triggers—because Vee's 'real' name is 'Number Five'. It's also why the first cube Luz peers into connects to one of the Owl House's windows, specifically facing outwards; she called Eda, King, and Hooty's names, so the cube showed her all of them.
Vee for all intents and purposes is a refugee; she fled to another place to avoid horrible oppression and torture. Given Camila's kind heart and hatred of those who abuse animals or children - and Vee is somewhere in between as a sapient guinea pig— no wonder that when she and Luz hear the full story, they say they're adopting Vee as their own.
Vee when shortened is V, which is the Roman numeral for five.
Once Camila got a good look at Vee's true form, it doesn't take her long to realize that it isn't a costume. Given that she's revealed to be a vet, she'd know genuine reptile skin and features when she sees it.
When Masha refers to the Reality Check camp as "prison", Vee claims it "wasn't that bad". Vee had just arrived in a world she knew nothing about, so a crash course in how to fit into human society was exactly what she needed. It also meant she wouldn't attract attention for any strange things she did or said, since all of the campers were sent there because of their non-conforming behavior. It's easy to see why she'd have a much more favorable view of the camp.

Follies At The Coven Day Parade

Amity got her hands on what appears to be a Dominican cookbook from Gus. Amity remembered her blunder giving Luz a Fairy Pie, and would want to show her she cares by learning to cook not only something Luz can actually digest, but something closer to her heritage. Learning Spanish was just a bonus for Amity, and now she can doubly impress Luz.
When Raine is prompted to drink the potion that Terra claimed were for their headaches, they can be seen blowing on it first. If you listen very closely, you can hear a faint whistle sound at the same time. That's because they are casting the spell that modifies the potion so it won't affect them just like they are later shown to do at the end of "Them's the Breaks, Kid."

Elsewhere and Elsewhen

Is Belos aware of the time loop? Did he have Terra stop Kikimora from harming Luz because he recognized her, and needed to make sure that she'd go back in time and meet his past self? Did he send Flora to see Lilith to goad her into helping Luz seek the time pools?
- Belos being aware of the time loop would actually explain some of his actions in season 1. Admitting to Lilith that he never planned on curing Eda and then giving her Owlbert initially seemed to be a dumb decision, but now come across as actions to ensure Lilith's Heel–Face Turn. Belos doesn't seem particularly surprised or angry that Lilith turned on him, hinting that he was expecting it. This would also explain why Lilith's Palisman was spared, despite Belos collecting every one of them for consumption whenever a new recruit joins his coven. He figured that it played a part in her defection.
- It also offers a good explanation as to why Belos doesn't go bother Luz when at Hexside when he must surely know she goes there. If he needed to do anything about Eda he could easily grab her or lean on the school. However, he doesn't just need Luz free and able to go back to the past to complete the loop, he needs her to know the Light Glyph. If she doesn't know it, she can't teach him it. He also has no idea when she learns it, and where else to make sure someone can learn something but a school? Especially as Luz did in fact learn at least half her Glyphs because of Hexside (she was trying to make sure she had two spells when she found the Ice Glyph, and it was because of a Grudgby match that she discovered the Fire Glyph. Add in the Plant Glyph that she discovered after enrolling Hexside, and it might even got to three quarters), so he had to learn her be until he is both sure she knows the Light spell and has traveled back in time. If he or anyone else screws it up, Belos creates a time paradox and possibly a Time Crash.
The Bonesborough of the past seems to be a more prosperous place than the official history of the Isles would claim. This could be put down to Belos' propaganda, except the Unauthorised History of the Boiling Isles (which would presumably be against Belos) also mentions the devastation caused by the Savage Ages. Even when you disregard the fifty years Belos has been in power, the Bonesborough we saw was still hundreds of years in the past. There's plenty of time for living conditions to deteriorate so badly that the vast majority of the population are willing to follow a leader who offers a better way, much like how real life dictatorships work.
- It's likely that Belos himself was sowing seeds of hatred and chaos to turn the Boiling Isles into a Crapsack World precisely so he could seize power.
Lilith tripping on herself is more than just a quick joke. It demonstrates that the time pools use the same concept as the time-turner, in regard that whatever they do when they go back, happens before they even go back. That way, they can interact with the past without changing the future or creating paradoxes.
Philip tells Luz(ura) that he's found three glyphs on his own, Fire, Plant and Ice, but she surprises him with the Light glyph. Luz discovered the plant and ice glyphs in nature, and the fire glyph was left as a scorchmark when Boscha lit a ball on fire. If Philip discovered his glyphs the same way, it makes sense that he hadn't found the Light glyph, since Luz found that one by watching a slowed-down recording of a witch casting a light spell, something Philip would not have access to. The light glyph does exist as a constellation, but identifying a specific symbol in the stars without knowing what to look for is practically impossible. Not only that, but the fire glyph came from a scorch mark, the ice glyph from a snowflake, etc ... you can't exactly look directly into a light-source and see much of anything, either during or afterwards. Luz only could because she recorded a video, and wouldn't have captured the real-life intensity of the light itself.
Fridge-Heartwarming: First time you watch it, Eda's protectiveness of Owlbert just seems to be a case of her being an exceptionally good palisman owner (especially in wake of the dozens of palisman owners who discarded or even forgot their own Palismen). But in hindsight, everything Eda has done to protect or preserve Owlbert was because she and her father carved him together. She's exceptionally protective of him, especially for her usually careless and lackadaisical self, because Owlbert's the only connection to her father she has left. Also provides retroactive fridge brilliance to "Lost in Language" and the reason the Bat Queen would trust Eda with her babies. As Palisman makers, Eda's whole family would be seen as allies to the Bat Queen and the Palisman under her care.
Why is Steve at Lilith's party in the Owl House despite being a scout for the Emperor's Coven? Since he was friends with Lilith, she probably knew that he actually had doubts about his decision to join the Coven. Which was revealed in the next episode, and that he was actually a decent guy who wouldn't betray their friendship, so she felt safe inviting him.
Fridge Humor: What would most likely be the easiest way to get Lenderman off your back? Give him twenty dollars.

Any Sport in a Storm

One of the "perks" of the Emperor's Coven that Hunter mentions is that they "get to sleep in til six a.m!." This means that the norm is to wake up every morning before that time—multiple studies have shown that waking up in the early hours of the morning is actually detrimental to a growing teenage body. No wonder Hunter has constant under-eye shadows, he's probably exhausted from waking up so early every day.
While completely unintentional on Hunter's part, Caleb is actually a very fitting name for his alter ego. The name "Caleb" is likely related to the Hebrew word for dog, "kelev," or the phrase "kal lev," meaning "whole heart"—given Hunter's main character trait is his all-consuming, uncritical loyalty to Belos the name fits him pretty well.
- "Caleb" is also the name of the man Hunter was modeled after.
Hunter's Hexside disguise puts him in yellow, which is the color of the Potions track. Had Hunter actually been enrolled at Hexside, the Potions track would actually fit him the best, as it's the track that seems to need the least amount of inherent magical ability to excel in.
Hunter was largely unfamiliar with where the palismen came from outside an academic context, hence why Steve's comment about Belos collecting people's palismen causes him to have a revelation. He likely had never thought about where their supply of palismen came from, besides Palistrom wood. Hearing that they take away a witch's palisman when they are recruited likely finally connected all the dots in his head.
- Also why Steve seems sad, but not angry, about the loss of palismen. All he likely knows is that Palismen are collected by the emperor, only a few know he needs to consume them to stay alive. Likely, Steve is not one of these people, especially since Kikimora was not made privy to this information, as shown when Hunter dismissed her when Belos' symptoms act up.
- That would also mean Lilith likely didn’t know she’d have to surrender her palisman either, seeing as she was allowed to keep hers. Maybe Steve was recruited later on, and the emperor could have decreed before then that all palisman have to be surrendered upon joining, while only the head of the Emperor’s Coven can retain a palisman. Not only would he need the palisman to survive off of, but it would make sure witches in his coven don’t get powerful enough to overthrow him. If he did have to take Lilith’s staff, he’d just replace it with a Staff of Authority like the one Hunter has.
The fact that the Emperor’s coven seems to operate under a partial conscription system, helps to explain a lot of its unusual qualities.
- It now makes sense why there are so many wild witches on the Boiling Isles. Essentially, a lot of them are likely former students who, when they found out they were going to be forced into the Emperor's coven, ran for it. Not wanting to give up their Palismen and having to serve the Emperor for the rest of their lives, with apparently only one day off a year.
- It’s one of the few covens that has anything resembling an actual uniform. Which makes sense, as the Emperor's coven is essentially both a military and police force and, as well as being a magical Association.
- It explains why Steve seems to flip between fanatical devotion to Belos and being open critical of the system. While near Lilith, who is the head of the coven and may serve as something equivalent to a commissar, he plays the role of the emperor's fanatical supporter. Once she is out of the coven, he can associate with her, without risking consequences. The same goes for Hunter, sharing a history of both going through the same kind of things together and seem to be personal friends, is allowed to be more critical and actually say what he thinks. As with a conscript or penal unit, it may be a matter of survival to keep things from those members of your coven who are likely to report you for insubordination.
- The competence of the Coven Scouts seems to fluctuate wildly, from the powerful leaders like Lilith, Hunter, and Kikimora, to the incompetent grunts that get taken out in droves during fights. Of course, having the low-ranking members be conscripted means that there's a lot less quality control than the difficult tryouts that brought Lilith into the fold, and their lack of true enthusiasm about the job means they don't really put their all into winning.
  - It's also likely that the real criteria for recruitment and promotion is loyalty and blind obedience to the emperor. All the "best and brightest" talk is just propaganda. If some recruits are as competent and powerful as Lilith, that's just a happy conincidence.
Tibbles is actually responsible for his own failure with the Azura scam. Time and time again, it is shown that witches are interested in the human world, even if they don't understand it and think humans spit venom and shed their skins. If he had been legit up front and advertised the books as 'having come from the human realm', or 'written by a real human', he'd have sold them on sheer novelty. But because he altered the writer to seem to be a witch, he squandered hundreds if not thousands of potential sales. Contrast that to Eda who, even if she either is completely ignorant about human artifacts or plays it up for effect, proudly advertises human trinkets and makes money on them.
Willow giving herself a prep talk mirrors Boscha at the beginning of "Wing It Like Witches" the difference being that Willow puts in hard work while Boscha relies on ruthlessness and puts up with being hated as long as she is feared.

Reaching Out

When Edric and Emira loan Amity their glamour charms, Edric is highly reluctant to let his go, even pretending he doesn't have one. Emira on the other hand loans hers out without even blinking. This serves as a bit of foreshadowing that Edric has self-esteem issues, which come out later in the episode.
Since Edric does wear glasses, him forgetting to put them on would certainly explain why he ended up texting a poem to his date’s mom by mistake.
Eda praising Edric for how he goofed up the recipe makes more sense when you think back to "Escaping Expulsion" and remember how she tried experimenting with glyphs. That approach was likely how she always did things when it came to studying magic, so of course she's not going to be upset when someone tries experimenting with magic. She's done exactly the same thing, and it may have been how she became such a gifted witch in the first place.
- Plus, there's the fact that Edric mixed different magics together in making the potion. Eda wouldn't be one to pass up a chance to encourage someone being a Wild Witch, especially with Belos' plans coming due soon.
- King is leery when Edric tries to speed things up with the potion, which makes a lot of sense when you remember what happened to him the last time a witch, a.k.a. Eda, decided to just randomly throw different magic together.
Emira is seen using healing magic on Amity between rounds. Given the reveal that Edric learned some Beastkeeping magic as a hobby and how close she and her brother are, it's not surprising that Emira decided to learn some magic outside of Illusions.
- The types of magic that they learned also reflect their personalities and interests. Edric has shown an interest in the wildlife of the Boiling Isles before, so it's not shocking he would learn the type of magic dealing with animals. Emira is generally more nurturing and emotionally supportive to Amity than Edric is, so it would make sense that she would learn something like healing, which generally is associated with empathy.
- Compared to other multi-magic users, Edric and Emira seem pretty subdued about using more than one type of magic. Edric does mention that his Beastkeeping magic is a hobby, so he's not as invested in it as his Illusion magic. Plus, given who their parents are, the two would know better than to make it obvious that they're bucking the system that governs the Boiling Isles.
- When Amity needs to send the abomiton chaperone away, she does so with a spell that disguises her voice as her father's, an implied illusion spell that she most likely learned from her siblings. It also foreshadows that she doesn't want to join a coven anymore.
- As of "Clouds on The Horizon," Alador is the only Blight not shown to use Illusion magic, as Odalia also uses it when poofing up Luz's wanted poster. It's likely she intentionally steered her elder children towards the Illusion track to make them more like her and less like Alador—for precedence, look at how she forced Amity to dye her brown hair to green.
- It makes sense for the Blights children to have their main types of magic. Edric and Emira are Illusionists, perfect for marketing the family and covering up flaws. Amity is in charge of Abominations, in case Alador can't fulfill his duties. But notice how the only Oracle of the family is the more narcissistic parent of the two.
Vee is shown in her true form when we cut to Camila at the end of the episode. She wouldn't need to maintain her disguise around Camila anymore, but there's also likely the pragmatic reason for her doing so. Vee's shapeshifting abilities require magic to function, and magic is in limited supply in the human realm. She likely now conserves her magic by not shapeshifting when in the house with Camila now that she know who Vee really is.

Them's the Breaks, Kid

The episode offers a glance into the school setting that Eda and Lilith were in, and between how much pressure Lilith was putting herself under and Faust's general attitude, it isn't hard to see how Lilith snapped. She was already pushing herself hard, and she had seven months to go before the try-out. No wonder she eventually snapped so badly she thought a curse was a better solution than talking to Eda. She had, at minimum, months of stress, quite possibly years, and eventually it got to her.
The permanent record that Bump shows Eda when enrolling Luz is notably smaller than Faust's. Given Faust's tendencies, said record was probably filled with pages of complaints about Eda doing things like eating too fast and laughing, which Bump removed. Of course, Eda wasn't without her own legitimate incidents, but the thousands of reported incidents were clearly inflated by Faust. This is also reflected in Eda's tone when she remarks on having "thought there'd be more," both in present day and in the past. Younger Eda was clearly being sassy with Faust, whereas present day Eda was genuinely surprised by how much smaller the pile was.
Eda forfeiting to her sister during their tryout duel for the Emperor's Coven makes new sense after seeing what she went through in H.E.C.K.
- For starters, she saw first hand how the Coven Heads were quick to force the younger generations to turn on each other in order to succeed. And after having almost gone through with that with her new friend Raine, she decided to call it quits so there wouldn't be any hard feelings between her and Lily.
- Additionally, Eda was able to get Terra to forbid Principal Faust from expelling her, while also "guaranteeing" that she can get away with any of her pranks and mischief. From her perspective, throwing away the chance of joining the Emperor's Coven wouldn't be the end of the world, as she has Evil Perfuma by her side to help her out and find alternative career choices.
In "I Was a Teenage Abomination," Willow said she wasn't even supposed to be doing plant magic, despite being an obvious prodigy in the field and inept at every other kind of magic. After what Gilbert and Harvey went through during the IFWOT while Terra was supervisor, it's no wonder they disliked plant magic. That, or they might have just been trying to keep Willow away from Terra.

Hollow Mind

If Hunter's predecessor betrayed the Emperor as implied, then he likely was destroyed by the Emperor. Darius would have seen his best friend and mentor being killed, then replaced with a kid that he was now supposed to treat as if he was his best friend. When Hunter proves he's more than the emperor's toady and can think for himself, Darius begins to treat him like an actual person and worries about his safety. Likely as he now sees much of his lost friend in Hunter.
Having a dozen or more people filling the same position over literally hundreds of years, with each of them looking the same, is going to raise some eyebrows regardless of how co-operative the population is. Hence, why the Golden Guard also wears a mask.
Belos mentions that Hunter "looked the most like him" (referring to his long dead brother), which indicates that the previous Golden Guards looked somewhat different from Hunter and Philip's brother and even Hunter himself has pointed ears and red eyes, traits that humans don't have. Given that the grimwalker creation was designed with witches in mind, it makes sense that trying to use it to make a human would result in a more flawed copy with some witch features. Why does Hunter look the most like Philip's brother compared to his predecessors? Belos has created multiple grimwalkers of the same person over the years, each time he would of course get better at it, and perfect his way of making them over time.
When Luz and Hunter first arrive in Belos' mind, they find a gallery of memories showing Belos to be a benevolent leader. However, they all look very stylized, similar to Eda's wanted poster or the murals painted in his castle. If you remember "Understanding Willow," Willow's memory gallery looked like a series of photographs. This can be seen as a tell differentiating a Self-Serving Memory from a real one; he literally painted a rosier version of the past.
The trap Inner Belos springs for the Palisman Monster utilizes a series of potions that looks an awful lot like the elixirs Eda uses to keep her curse in check. This draws an uncanny parallel between the Palisman Monster and the Owl Beast, Eda and Belos needing a special form of mental magic (Eda ingesting sleeping nettles, Belos getting Luz and Hunter's help) in order to gain control of their more beastly halves. But whereas Eda learned to live alongside the Owl Beast, having had the curse thrust upon the both of them unwillingly, Belos's condition was self-inflicted, and he seeks to purge himself of the problem entirely, destroying countless innocent palismen in the process.
Said trap is also based on the childhood game Philip played with his brother depicted in the background paintings, wherein he would wear the mask and wield the toy sword to hunt down the 'witch' his brother played as and trap her in the 'binding circle' the rope represented. This also highlights Philip's true nature as a Psychopathic Manchild - he's still playing the childhood games against witches, only now, it's fully real and deadly. It also helps explain why he's so steadfast about terming witches as 'evil' - the witches in the game were just that, pure evil monsters who existed only to be 'slain' by the 'hero' Philip played as, and his refusal to see that they're anything other than that is because he's based his entire worldview on the lessons he learned as an impressionable child about how witches were dangerous creatures who needed to be exterminated to protect humanity from their evil ways.
Philip/Belos being a witch hunter from the 17th century explains everything about his actions. In his eyes, he discovers real aka pagan magic in a different world. He considers witches an affront to God and a validation all that he had believed in prior. He no doubt thinks that he is being a hero killing all these witches since he doesn't even have to fabricate proof unlike in the human world.
- He can even be seen playing a game with his brother in the background paintings hunting the 'witch' he's playing as wearing the carved wooden mask this brother made for him to play with, which would later become the basis for his 'Emperor Belos' mask. This shows how Philip is 'still playing the game', being the 'hero' who hunts the witches down to protect others, only with realistic consequences this time. He can even been seen wearing the childhood mask at one point when consuming a Palisman, showing how he never moved on past his childhood views of witchcraft or simplistic way of seeing the world around him, despite his intelligence and age, which gives another level to his antagonism with Luz. Despite the age gap, Philip is really much less mature than Luz at his core, and never learned the lessons she did about how she's not some 'chosen one' in the isles with a special destiny. Philip sees himself as being destined to destroy the Isles and protect humanity from their 'evil' and has gone to monstrous lengths to achieve that, extending his lifespan through Palismen, so he would eventually one day be the one to destroy the isles and 'be the hero'.
- There is a certain reason why Philip and the Collector get along so well despite being completely different beings. Philip's immaturity and inability to grow past his childhood view of witches as a witch hunter along with his simplistic way of seeing the world around him makes him understand the Collector's way of thinking, meaning they're both just psychopathic children who want to achieve their goals no matter the cost.
- If you're familiar with the Fundie Phrase Dictionary, Belos' Obliviously Evil tendencies—and his reaction to Luz calling him evil—take on a whole new dimension, as the "fundie" definitions of good and evil are obedience and disobedience to God respectively. If this is his mindset, it would have created a toxic mix of Black-and-White Insanity and Circular Reasoning that preempts any Heel Realization or attempts to reason with him; in his mind, he is obeying God by murdering witches because witches inherently disobey God.
Likewise, the background paintings in Belos' mindscape reveal that Philip had a similar relationship with his brother as Lilith had with Eda. They were close as children, shared a childhood dream (joining the Emperor's Coven for Lilith and Eda; becoming witch hunters for Philip and his brother), then later grew to resent and betray their sibling. However, while Lilith didn't mean to permanently curse Eda, rightly blamed herself, and dedicated her life to fixing her mistake, we see from the hidden dagger in Belos' mindscape portrait that he did mean to kill his brother, blames said brother for his own murder ("it hurts every time he chooses to betray me"), and is not trying to fix his mistake by bringing his brother back via a Grimwalker, but openly tries to make a "better version" of his brother (read: more blindly obedient), and kills and discards any Grimwalkers who "betray" him too.
Relatedly, there's a deeper level of Irony present in Belos unknowingly echoing Luz' statement that you 'can't reason with crazy'. Philip and his brother were born during the 1600s. Over the years he extended his lifespan with Palismen. Once he figured out the trick to making Grimwalkers, Belos then went on to repeatedly resurrect his brother's image through these beings in a twisted attempt to create a brother who would be willing to join his genocidal plans for the isles, only for every single one of them to eventually turn against him due to his brother's good nature shining through. At least 16 masks of the past guards can be seen in Belos' mindscape, and it's unclear if that's all of them. When Hunter brokenly begs him for an explanation for his actions against their 'family' he immediately dismisses the boy as another failure and tries to kill him, clearly intending to repeat the process again and get a more compliant 'brother'. He ignores the obvious truth that his attempts will end in failure because of his own nature clashing against his sibling's. For centuries, Philip/Belos has been repeating the same actions again and again and expecting a different result every time, which is precisely how Vaas defines insanity.
A few fans have found it odd that, despite the rather non-subtle allegories that the coven system represents and being lead by a puritan, there's no actual sexism, homophobia or other forms of bigotry. Considering Belos intends to kill all the witches and considers them evil by default, it's possible it's simply splitting hairs as far as he's concerned since they're going to get their "punishment" anyway. Plus, he likely has no existing avenue to drum up fear of race, gender, or sexuality while the fear required for mass control was there to use. Stoking the above fears would be harder work for little gain.
Belos/Philip's facial affliction is symbolic of his entire character. It resembles (and is implied to actually be) a band of rot running across his head, symbolizing how his mind is 'rotted' from within by his insane beliefs about witches and how they are inherently evil, a view that has warped everything about him into a twisted version of the man he once was, and has cost him both the only relationship he ever really seemed to care about and his physical health, his body decaying from the methods he took to extend his lifespan to ensure he personally would rid the Boiling Isles of Magic-users. Every relationship he is depicting as having with others is shown to be ultimately unhealthy and manipulative. It is inadvisable to continue accosting with him for you own well-being, lest he use you as a tool in his plans and then dispose of you once you're done. His rule over the Isles has resulted in them becoming much more unfriendly and aggressive than they were before he took over, oppressing free will and expression and giving Luz much grief during her earlier times as Eda's apprentice. Mentally, physically and symbolically, Philip is a rotten man who spreads that rot and ill-being to everything he touches.
- Most likely Philip spent years sowing seeds of hatred and conflict precisely to turn the Boiling Isles into the kind of Crapsack World that would welcome "Emperor Belos".
- There's another angle to Philip's 'rot' affliction. His elderly and withered appearance, combined with the Rot running across his face, put one in mind of an old tree with a visible display of its inner decay upon its surface. In contrast to Willow's mindscape of lush green and young trees bursting with life and vitality, his mindscape is shown to be covered in dead, rotted and barren trees, twisted and lifeless. Given his Brother was heavily associated with wood, apparently being a woodcarver by trade and making a young Philip the childhood toy mask he would later use as the inspiration for his 'Emperor Belos' mask, this symbolizes Philip as being a 'dead' tree, one that should have passed on long ago, but physically survived and allowed death and decay to build within it until it finally started showing on the surface, much Like Philip still holds fast to his outdated beliefs about witches despite all the evidence that he's wrong. In real life, the best thing to do about such a tree is to cut it down and allow new life to grow where it once was, all fresh and healthy, rather than allow it to remain and potentially spread its decay to the surrounding trees. Philip has remained standing for too long and has actively warped the people of the isles into becoming much less friendly and welcoming than they once were, with his ultimate aim being the complete devastation of their species. In order to save the Boiling Isles, Philip and his rotten, twisted beliefs must be cut down and purged completely, before they can start to rebuild and let new beliefs and ways of using magic grow, to become better after his poisonous presence is removed.
- To continue the dying tree analogy, dead and rotted trees are vulnerable to fire. Fire burns away sick and dead trees to let fresh growth occur in the forest. Fire itself is something that spreads quickly and is known for being chaotic, and while it does cause short term destruction for a natural environment, it is important for long term sustainability. The fire in this scenario is Luz: Luz does create short term problems, but those problems allow for long term solutions. Luz's initially an annoying means to an end for Eda, but Eda gets a huge boost to her life and relationships via Children Raise You. Luz's antics do get Willow in trouble, but without Luz Willow would still be the 'half-a-witch' struggling in a track she hates, and she'd never become the popular, skilled witch she is by the end of Season One. Luz cost Amity her star and got her embarrassed in front of the Emperor's Coven head Lilith, but without Luz Amity would still be in an unhealthy and unhappy place, still be estranged from Willow, and otherwise be barely better than Boscha. Luz's antics with Eda give Lilith no end of grief, but without Luz Lilith would have never had the means of reconciling with her parents or Eda, let alone returning to her true self. This list can go on and on, but Luz is the spark that creates the fire that people need, and that is particularly dreaded by the dead and rotten trees that Belos represents.
- Relating to the 'vulnerable to fire' aspect, looking back through the series, despite his chosen profession, it would have seen that Philip/Belos has a negative connection with fire. He cowers in fear◊ when the witch demonstrates her magic through conjuring a flame. His argument with his brother◊ eventually devolved into a Battle Amongst the Flames that resulted in his death, and Philip being forced to flee for his life◊ from his witch lover attacking him in turn. In his memories of how he staged a False Flag Operation to drum up fear of the 'Wild Witches' he cowers from the surrounding explosions◊, despite his own magical understanding being sufficient to protect himself if necessary and later seems unusually angry with the Golden Guard for 'nearly taking his head off' with the explosions. The Palisman Monster that takes his image in his mindscape is badly damaged and weakened by the fiery explosives◊ the Inner Belos salvages from the self-same memory. Despite his extensive knowledge of Glyph magic, enough to create multiple phenomena such as demonic hands and creatures to attack with, Belos is never seen using the basic fire Glyph to attack, despite it being the most combat-effective of the four basic glyphs. He secures the portal from Luz, but suffers a major setback to his plans by her burning the portal with the flame glyph◊. When she and Hunter flee from the Inner Belos and burn their way past his attack with a flame Glyph to exit his mindscape, though brief, it seems like Belos flinches from the unexpected attack and actually seems hurt by it, giving them pair of them precious seconds to escape, despite Belos technically having absolute control over the surroundings meaning he should have been able to stop them with a thought, meaning he was severely distracted by the attack. Later on in "King's Tide" he noticeably has a slight slip in composure when Luz nearly blasts him from behind with a fireball spell, motivating him to put away his Magitek staff and subdue her with his Blob Monster powers physically to stop her attacking him, despite wanting to cling to his pretentious of still being human, and the facial scar that is linked to his emotional state has a slight break in the Glamour he cast upon himself to make his face appear normal, showing that he really didn't like her doing that. All together, it would seem that the Witch Hunter has a weakness to fire.
- Back to the aged, rotting, disease spreading concept of Belos as a rotten piece of wood, one should take note of the (seemingly) worst of the Coven Heads. Terra Snapdragon is perhaps the most wicked witch in all the Boiling Isles. She's the one Coven Head we know for sure is not on team 'Day of Unity is Bad' as of this episode. She tortures flies and children, and spreads the worst aspects of Belos's rule. She's also the old and rotten head of the Plant Coven.
Hooty's new defenses are a quite an upgrade to what we've seen before—usually, it's just Hooty who takes care of everything, and magical defenses were usually done by Eda back when she could still cast magic. If you remember back in "Eclipse Lake," Amity wanted to beef up the house's defenses, and these new additions (metal shutters, barbed posts) were added/created at Amity's suggestion.
More Fridge Heartwarming, but the implication that Philip's brother may have gotten a witch pregnant when combined with the implication from the previous episode that Boscha is the result of Homosexual Reproduction suggests that Luz and Amity may someday be able to have actual biological kids together.
- Somewhat relatedly, it's implied via the outline and distinctive hairstyle of the Witch Philip's brother fell in love with that she was a Clawthorne, and the family line are his direct descendants. Though it's pointedly made hard to confirm, with his eyes in Belos/Philip's mindscape either being obscured or put too far away to make out their color, it's implied from his white hair since childhood that Philip's brother might have been a albino. One unique trait of the Clawthorne sisters is that their skin seems to be naturally paler than the rest of the surrounding witches, with Gwendolyn having a slightly pale coloration and Dell having normal-ish skin color, and both Eda and Lilith have pale features even as kids. If they are his direct family line, then they could have inherited his albinism via recessive genetics, with their normal hair color and eyes differing from the traditional signs of albinism as a result of them being Half-Human Hybrid descendants.
- Likewise, it would explain why both Eda and Hunter share the distinct way of saying "BY-E-E-E-E-E!" It isn't just two people who have a like-minded farewell, but two distant relatives sharing the same quirk.
- In further support, Evelyn carved Flapjack for Caleb. Carving palismen is something of a Clawthorne family business. It's also notable that all four modern day Clawthornes have bird-themed palismen.
Of course, Darius couldn't just teleport the concoction into the Owl House. Even if it wasn't magically shielded, Darius' abomination teleportation makes a noticeable noise.
Of course Kid Belos wouldn't be the manifestation of his guilt as Luz speculated. Belos is proud of being human and if Luz and Hunter had seen the real portraits in the background depicting Philip's childhood, they would realize that being a human child playing games is where Belos felt most happy. If Belos did have guilt or regret, it would have manifested in the form of the monster underneath, representing the undeniable truth that Belos is no longer human anymore.
The most obvious clue to Kid Belos faking sympathy and tears is his mask. This mask hides his facial expressions that would otherwise clue in his true intentions. Additionally, the mask helps hide any genuine fears and sadness from others (i.e. witches), representing Belos' inability to understand why these vulnerable emotions are healthy to express outwards. It also symbolizes Belos' absolute refusal to elaborate his Freudian Excuse (namely about his brother) to Luz, since he wants Luz see him as a strong and noble hero saving humanity for a selfless purpose. Anything regarding his personal trauma of feeling abandoned by Caleb would be seen as being weak and sinful in Belos' eyes despite the series showing how opening up to your insecurities is better in the long run. It's a reminder that Freudian Excuse Denial doesn't make you morally superior to someone who is using the excuse to do evil.

Edge of the World

'King' believed he was royalty throughout most of the series due to his delusional memories of childhood getting mixed up with Eda's stories. However, in this episode, he discovers that he's possibly the last remaining titan in existence - and in additional to now being able to to supply Luz all the Titan's blood she needs, it was shown previously that Titan's blood is blue. What's another term for royalty or those from nobility? Blue-blooded. In addition, any time we've seen King with his mouth open, we've been shown that his tongue and the inside of his mouth are a bluish color. With hindsight, we've also known all along that King literally has blue blood!
"Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" had Hooty continually trying to improve the lives and solve the problems of Eda, Luz and King, only to apparently screw it up and move onto the next issue in dejection of his 'failure', except said screw-up actually resulted in a beneficial outcome for the Owl House inhabitants. Then at the end of the episode, he apparently blew his streak by swallowing the letter king's 'dad' had sent him accidentally ... only for this episode to reveal that he'd done the same thing again. By delaying King finding the letter, he prevented him from going towards the genocidal Titan Trappers until after Luz had been into Belos' mind and found out about the Collector, as well as becoming less immediately trusting of strangers thanks to discovering the Awful Truth from Philip. Thanks to that, she was able to find out the truth behind the Titan Trappers' manipulative scheme in time to save King from them, as well as providing the kids a decent location/reason to be out of the way when the Emperor's Coven came to the Owl House.
Also, when it was time to take a blood sample, it conveniently cuts away instead of seeing it in action. The show is hiding the deed done to prevent the viewers from connecting the dots at the next episode, which is "Eclipse Lake," which reveals what Titan blood looks like. In addition, Hooty said that the blood tests were inconclusive and that they didn't actually know what he is, let alone what kind of demon he could've been. Well, of course they didn't. Because not only was he not a kind of demon at all, but he was also of a species that probably had minimal information known about them, at best. There was never going to be any way they could have figured it out then.
The murals where King was born actually foreshadowed King's identity, the existence of the Trappers along with the Collector. Read here.
Bill explains that Titans are so proud that even their young act like tiny monarchs. The thing is, although King had this tendency in the beginning of the series, that tendency didn't come naturally to him: it was a product of Eda filling his head with stories of how Kings are supposed to act. In a way, Eda was unwittingly a true Titan parent to King.
Fridge Heartwarming, but one of King's character arcs throughout the series is him getting attached to his Found Family in Eda and Luz, despite yearning to know more about his origins and awareness that eventually Luz will return to the human realm and leave him behind. With the reveal that he's a Titan, whose powers over dimensional displacement are so strong that a sample of Titan blood was the main power source of the portal key, it's clear that King, once he masters his natural abilities, will always have the power to visit or find Luz and Eda no matter the distance between them, using his power to help keep histhe family together.
Ever notice that ever since "Echoes of the Past," King's characterization has considerably changed from wanting to regain his "rightful" throne as the Demon King, to simply "playing catch" and spending time with his 'father'. This actually reflects a kind of Character Development on King's part. The series started with him being Eda's normal kid and wanting to be something big and important, and the recent episode has him being being part of something bigger and important while yearning for the stable home life of friends and family.
Throughout the first half of the show, King has always been asserting his identity as the king of demons, until "Echoes of the Past," when we learn this was all a lie he believed. Though in the future, these claims may not be so untrue. The people of the Boiling Isles worship The Titan, and even follow Belos in no small part because he claims to speak with it. With King being the Titan's direct descendant, he may have some claim to the throne.
The reveal that King is a Titan actually gives some credence to the fan theory that the Bat Queen originally belonged to the Titan, often disputed by the disproportionate size of the Titan's corpse compared to the Bat Queen and the theoretical size of the staff she would've sat on. Given the vast size difference between adult and baby Titans, it could be just as likely that if the Bat Queen was the Titan's palisman as theorized, she would've belonged to him at a relatively younger age than what he died at.

Labyrinth Runners

Why did Gus bond with Willow so quickly? Besides giving him genuine aid through sharing the breathing technique, since she's in a different track there's no way for him to do her work for her, the main issue he was dealing with in his so-called "friends."
It makes sense that Gus and Hunter bond in this episode. Gus' hidden self-esteem issues are the perfect parallel to Hunter's recent revelations about his true nature and Belos' true plans.
A viewer notes that it makes sense that it is Hunter and not Luz that blows the lid regarding the Day of Unity to the local residents, or at least to Hexside. Nobody, beyond Luz's closest friends, would ever believe Luz if she were to tell people about the Day of Unity because, come on, it's Luz the Human. It's not even the weirdest/most insane thing she ever said. But Hunter, the Golden Guard, the Emperor’s right-hand man, a man from the inside, telling everyone the Day of Unity is bad, many people will take him seriously, because he's used to always being so serious about everything. Losing Hunter may be worse for Belos than having Luz and Eda against him.
- There’s also the matter of who can back whom up. While Luz could try and tell the school what she saw in the Emporer’s mind, she’d likely try to finish with, “And Hunter, the Golden Guard, can back me up on this, because he was there, too.” No one (aside from MAYBE the Emerald Entrails) would be willing to buy that due to seeing the Golden Guard as Belos’s right-hand man. However, Hunter has just SHOWN that he has defected from Belos and is going to try to stop his plan, so he can tell everyone that he was in Belos’s mind, and end it with, “Luz was there, too, she can vouch for me.” The combination of seeing Hunter help them and Luz being someone they’re familiar with (many students being her friends or having mutual friends with her) will allow Hunter telling them the truth about Belos to hold more weight.
This episode shows why Hunter didn't seek refuge with either Darius or Willow as previously speculated, crashing instead at Hexside all by himself with only Flapjack. The only other person that can vouch for him with the students is away, and he would've thought that Darius, Eberwolf and Raine were sent to capture him.
Of course, the Captain’s Abomaton fell quite easily at the hands of Willow and Amity. Amity got herself acquainted with the latest one in “Reaching Out”, and she’d know all its weaknesses.
When it comes time to brand the students with sigils, Edric is picked first. Edric is in 3 different tracks, more than any other student other than the absent Luz.
It makes sense that Hunter would see through the fake submissive Willow, despite knowing her for a shorter period than the others. He only saw the tough side of her when she wrangled him into the flyer derby team, while Gus and Amity only saw the soft side of her despite knowing her for much longer. This in turn brings attention to the B-plot regarding Amity and Willow, where Amity isn't aware of Willow's other side.
- Not to mention his argument, "There's no way she'd be afraid of me". Hunter knows that the real Willow could have easily pinned him down with her vines if she considered him a threat, instead of simply shaking in fear.
While Amity is stoic and runs her mouth around Luz, Hunter runs his mouth and could barely speak around Willow. Explained here.
You'd have to wonder why the Blight parents didn't say anything about this ordeal, since they're the Parent-Creature Association whom Bump is subordinate to. Well, commissioning Odalia and Alador for their Abomatons has also allowed the Emperor's Coven to take back control of Hexside as they had back when Eda was a student, meaning they no longer have independent authority over the academy.
Now that Bump has released any restraints on single track courses, many students have recently converted to multi-track studies, which makes sense. Many kids at that age have no idea if the track/coven they want to go into is the right one, so picking the ones they enjoy is the best way to go about it. Sure, it means extra work, but if they don't succeed in one track, then they acknowledge that it's not for them and move on to their other tracks. Best example is actually with Willow, who was coerced into joining the Abominations track, only for Bump to switch her over to the Plant track since he found that she has more potential as a Plant witch.
Hunter is surprisingly quick to take on - and seems to be a natural at - the role of an older brother. He develops a Big Brother Instinct toward Gus in this episode, being determined to protect and take care of him. Even before his switch, "Hollow Mind" heavily implies that Caleb's good nature could not be erased, as every grimwalker made in his likeness, culminating in Hunter, has betrayed Belos for the good of witchkind. This isn't just a part of Hunter's Heel–Face Turn; it's Caleb's Big Brother Instinct shining through.
The Coven Scouts and Graye aren't out to arrest Hunter, just take him back to the Emperor's Coven. Graye calls Hunter a "runaway," and the Coven Scouts tell him Belos has been worried sick. If Belos had told his army that Hunter was a traitor that should be killed on sight, that would've aroused suspicion, risked defection from people who draw the line at killing teenagers, and sent the message to Hunter that he's really not welcome anymore. Telling people that Hunter merely ran away would arouse less suspicion ("Why did the Emperor's right-hand man run away?" is a less sensitive question than "Why does the Emperor want his right-hand man dead all of a sudden?"), it would make the Coven Scouts believe that they were doing Hunter a favor by returning him to Belos, and, had Hunter been less stable or more willing to believe the lies, it could have given him enough false hope to return to the Emperor's Coven willingly.

O Titan, Where Art Thou?

It makes perfect sense that King would approve of Luz letting Eda and Lilith in on the big reveal in "Edge of the World," and not just because Eda raised him as long as he can remember, so he trusts her. Back in "Echoes of the Past," King made Eda promise not to keep any more secrets from him, so he likely knew that keeping a secret from her would be hypocritical of him.
Steve and King. Sound familiar? This makes an apropos pun, as the Boiling Isles with all its nightmarish and surreal creatures and inhabitants would fit perfectly in Mr. King's multiverse.
Overlapping with Fridge Horror: The reason Luz is so emotional that she would start screaming and fighting is because her mother figure is sending her away again.

Clouds on the Horizon

Luz and Amity's Big Damn Kiss takes on another aspect with the setting. Luz makes her way to Amity's balcony window, growing a lot of vines to reach it with the plant glyph, and makes her way in with the setting sun and newly-grown flora making her look like a 'fairy-tale prince' come to rescue the princess. Not only does this show how Luz is finally living the life of fantasy she always imagined in school, it also harkens back to Luz's failed tryouts for the school play in "A Lying Witch and a Warden" as Juliet, another famous romance with a balcony scene.
Ever notice a pattern to King lately? Every time he talks to someone who is thinking about their life choices, they tend to switch sides? He's talked to both Steve and Alador, and they ended up reforming because King took the time to listen to them and talk with them. This might imply that if his destiny is to be a leader like he always wanted, perhaps King is learning to listen to his people like a true king.
Odalia specializes in Oracle magic, but when she pulls up Luz's wanted poster, it's with blue Illusion magic ... meaning she hasn't been branded with a coven sigil. This gives new depth to her betrayal and delusions about her life post-Unity—without a sigil, the Emperor can't touch her, metaphorically speaking.
Similar to the earlier bit about David Attenborough, Luz going 'Crickey' makes sense: her mom loves animal documentaries and animals and Crocodile Hunter is a well known series. Heck, given how much Luz is connected to snakes thematically and scary stuff in general, she might actually rather like series like Crocodile Hunter and River Monsters in particular.
Of course, Alador would believe a coven scout (actually King in disguise) about the Day of Unity. If Amity told him, he'd find it hard to believe, but if someone from the Emperor's Coven told him, he'd accept it without any hesitation.
As frightening as it is, Luz's plan to switch places with Hunter is actually fairly brilliant. If she had decided to just stay and fight, chances are Kikimora and Odalia would have ganged up on the group as Kikimora would have had no reason to flee early, which would at best waste time and at worst get everyone captured. Another option would have been to just have Hunter get captured to warn Eda, but given that Belos is dead set on killing him and the boy has had panic attacks at the mere thought of returning to Belos, that would be incredibly risky. Thus, on a practical level Luz's plan is the best, as it wastes the least amount of time, and has someone without the same history Hunter has with Belos executing it. Furthermore, Luz is someone Eda definitely trusts and can work with, while Eda and Hunter haven't really known each other as allies, which could be detrimental in such a critical time. Lastly, Luz is also ensuring Hunter isn't forced to confront the man who abused him.
Alador not being given a break for 5 years on top of the true nature of his relationship with Odalia explains why he never talked to his children in recent years.
The C.A.T.T's having a hissing noise for a Battle Cry qualifies to those who are familiar with feline vocalizations. It's commonly believed that cats hiss out of aggression and anger, which isn't entirely true. The specifics will vary with the individual cat's temper, but generally speaking, aggressive cats will growl and take swipes at the object of their aggravation. Hissing is a warning by a cat for someone or something to leave them alone, or they'll start growling. The C.A.T.TS aren't an aggressive bunch, they're just getting their buttons pushed too much.

King's Tide

Raine rather aggressively tells Eda to not say "don't worry" before she assumes her position in replacing them. Remember, Eda telling Raine not to worry about her is the reason they broke up with her; Raine's telling Eda to never say that again because they're afraid that if she keeps saying it, they will lose her again.
Hunter has a Coven sigil, and is thus affected by the Draining Spell. However, even when every other witch, including the Coven Heads, is rendered catatonic by the spell, Hunter is able to continue on without a problem for a while, and despite being noticeably weakened by the end of the fight and unable to stand by himself, he's never knocked out like the rest of the population. This makes sense, considering Hunter doesn't have magic of his own, so what little magic the Draining Spell could remove from him wouldn't really matter to his ability to function.
Conversely, Philip/Belos, despite being a 'natural' human, is impacted the exact same way as the rest of the witches, resulting in him being unable to use his Magitek from the pain, and his life being presented as being in legitimate danger from the draining spell. This is because Philip's consumption of Palisman magic has permanently transformed him into something other than human, despite his delusions, meaning that ironically, the reincarnation of the brother who embraced the magic of the Boiling Isles now counts as more 'human' than the brother who spurned it and devoted his life to destroying it for humanity.
Philip's glamour concealing his band of rot failing right as Luz calls him out on his hypocrisy and inhumanity despite his claims is no coincidence.
Why does Philip consider "Witch Hunter General" to be his very specific title upon return to the Human Realm? It aligns with other governmental (and clerical) positions that had been invented by the early 1600s: Postmaster General, Vicar General, Surgeon General, Attorney General and Colonel General among many others. Philip fantasizes about still having a specific function in modern human society, on top of being celebrated by it.
Luz's last desperate attempt to save herself from petrification plays on Philip's lack of knowledge of the modern day. Not only does Philip see a sort of kinship with the only other human, saying that the Boiling Isles corrupted her too, another implication towards his brother, but for as long as he has been gone, he probably knows he's been forgotten and assumes that everyone he has known is dead and others probably assumed he had died himself. His misguided belief that he would finally return to a thankful people for eliminating the threat of witches would be dashed if they didn't know who he was. Thus he spares Luz so that she could be his advocate.
The Collector's childish attitude serves as a parallel to Luz prior to her Character Development, like Belos and Jacob did. He's also parallel to Eda herself before she went through Character Development as a mother figure. Both are incredibly powerful magic-users (to say the least in the Collector's case) and share a penchant for wild magic.
Camila has an article about Anne Boonchuy on her tablet. A cute reference and confirmation of a Shared Universe aside, it's not surprising that Camila would be interested in an article about a girl being trapped in another world, considering the situation her child is in. Since the article specifically mentions a "frog world," it also means the episode takes place sometime after Amphibia's finale, and Anne has safely returned to the human realm.
Belos/Philip states that he wants to be called a "Witch Hunter General," which to anyone who has a knowledge of Witch Hunting history knows fits Belos perfectly. For starters, Witch Hunter General is an actual title that someone can have. It’s also not a title that any organization actually used. Not the Inquisition, Salem Witch Hunters, anyone. That’s because the last Witch Hunter General (Matthew Hopkins, who took on the slightly different label of “Witchfinder General” in 1644) made the title up and bestowed it on himself. Much like how Belos/Philip made up and bestowed the title of Emperor on himself. Considering how Hopkins's witch-hunting strategies largely motivated the witch hunts of 1600s New England, it's likely that Hopkins directly inspired a young Philip Wittebane.
Kikimora admits to having eavesdropped on Belos to the point of knowing about the Collector. This means she knew about what the Day of Unity was all along ... and still went with it. Any other character would have this as proof of complete despicability, but she's so consistently portrayed as pathetic in her status clout that this is hilarious. The fact that Kikimora knew all along what the Day of Unity really was actually adds further depth to her constantly frantic obsession with proving herself to Belos. In her mind, if she can prove she is worthy, maybe he will see fit to spare her from the purge.
Somewhat fridge Heartwarming/hilarious. A recurring theme throughout season 2 was how Eda had taken in two wayward children for what she claimed was her own selfish reasons, and over time wound up unintentionally adopting them both. King eventually takes Eda's family name and legally gets adopted as her son. Luz and Eda's student-teacher bond eventually transforms into a near-parental one, especially once Eda loses her magic and has to put extra effort into caring for Luz. Multiple characters eventually come to refer to Luz as 'Eda's kid' and they do everything short of actually calling each other 'mom and daughter' to confirm that Eda is now Luz's second mom. Once she and her friends wind up trapped in the human world, Luz turns up at Camila's house with Willow (who has two dads), Gus (whose mother has never been seen or mentioned), Amity (who has Odalia as the mother she recently disowned), and Hunter (who has Belos as a parental figure which ... enough said). Add in Vee living at her house and Camila has now wound up having to fulfill the role of a positive parental mother figure to five kids at once in addition to Luz.
Vee's shapeshifting abilities were reliant on her having a source of magic to drain from in order to maintain her human disguise as 'Luz'. Whilst they were able to find some Hexas Holdem cards to sustain her for a while, those were limited. With the portal being under Philip's control and access to other magical items being cut off, Vee's ability to maintain a human disguise always had a time limit to it. Vee is even shown around Camila's house in her natural form, showing that she's trying to conserve her magic transformations' ability by only using it where necessary. However, with Luz having brought her naturally magically gifted friends along with her to Earth by accident/desperation to evade the Collector, she's now provided Vee with a source of magic that can potentially be renewed depending on how the kids generate it through their bile sacs. This can help Vee get over her trauma over taking it from living things in Philip's experiments by giving her permission to drain some of their magic.
- Or they could enchant items for her to feed on, something she'd likely be more comfortable with.
There's a bit of subtle symbolism present in Philip's facial scar 'expanding' into the full-body rot monster he is underneath. He demonstrates the ability to 'shrink' it back to a normal-looking scar with focus and effort once planning to return to the human realm, implying that he always had the ability to do so beforehand, but never bothered to do so until he wanted to appear 'normal' again. The scar tends to expand when he's stressed or angry, as shown by it slightly growing when Luz almost hits him with a fireball spell, which he's hinted to have a fear or complex about. It fully expands back to its normal diagonal appearance when Luz calls out Philip on how he's 'barely human' himself, which is shown to be a massive Berserk Button for him when interacting with the Collector. Him devolving into his full monstrous Blob Monster appearance once Luz brands him doesn't seem to be just because it's draining the magic that helps keep control of his condition, but also because of his sheer rage towards Luz for the audacity of branding him and trying to force him to stop the spell, with the hints that he's in a spiteful denial of his own mortality and refusal to stop the draining spell even if he could. Whilst he manages to regain enough control over himself to try a Shapeshifter Guilt Trip on Hunter, the sight of Flapjack in his hands sends him into an instantaneous rage that causes the scar to violently grow again almost in response to his anger. This seems strange until you remember the circumstances that caused him to gain the scar and his facial affliction with it - he was consumed with spiteful anger towards 'witches' like Lilith for her 'barbaric' attack upon him and internalising that towards moving forward with his plans to enact a Final Solution upon the Boiling Isles when he consumed a Palisman that infected the raw wound with magic. The scar therefore became 'linked' to his emotional state and tends to grow and expand as a symbolic reflection of Philip's inner anger or negativity towards others, which by the present day has transformed him into a monster underneath the thin 'mask' he puts on to hide his true monstrous nature. This puts another spin on the scar being at such a large and unnatural state as Belos' 'default' look- he's always angry or annoyed by being in the Boiling Isles for so long and dealing with beings he has no desire to interact with beyond killing them, and thus the scar is always unnaturally large and exposed.
Why does Amity go through the effort of making herself prim and proper before Camila, while the others remained disheveled? She wants to make a good first impression on her future mother-in-law. That was probably the only good thing her upbringing under Odalia taught her.
In hindsight, King blasting Luz to the Human world is the smarter move instead of having her stay behind. He is already getting pulled towards the Collector while Luz is futilely pulling herself apart, playing tug-o-war with a cosmic child and a collapsing portal. If she stayed, Luz would be at the mercy of the Collector like the rest of the Boiling Isles (that is if she doesn't get crushed by the rubble afterwards) while her friends will be left with no guide to the human world. That would ensure that they would find themselves in trouble with government agents of an Earth that got recently invaded by frog aliens without knowing what to do to blend in.
The Collector's mannerisms are subtly different between his two 'playmates', being a bit more lenient and restrained around King when he's about to 'play Tag' with Luz and her fiends vs his incredibly violent ending of Philip when he 'tagged' him. Given his childlike nature and Ambiguous Innocence, it's implied that he picks up the mannerisms of those whom he interacts with when enacting his games. Since Philip was a genuine Sadist who took pleasure from hurting others and doubtlessly enlisted the Collector's help in his Final Solution plan by framing it as a massive 'game' he wanted to play with everybody, the Collector ends up emulating that. He's more violent and murderous as a reflection of Philip's own nature being copied in an attempt to get along with his playmate. This makes Philip's Ludicrous Gibs fate at his hands another dose of Laser-Guided Karma, with his own mannerisms and actions coming back to haunt him at the worst possible time.
- On a similar note, there seems to be a bit of a shift in the Collector's personality after they are freed. In their imprisoned shadow form, they're very wacky, animated, and darkly whimsical in their interactions with both Philip and King, but after the latter sets him free, the Collector becomes much calmer yet more overtly childish in their demeanor. A partial reason is likely the Collector suffering from some kind of sensory deprivation in their prison and needing to express themselves in a more over-the-top manor but also as a way of keeping people's attention in the hopes that they don't abandon him, when he's now longer trapped he can let his true personality shine through.
There's been a subtle theme of loss, or 'letting go' throughout the show, which is linked to change and the individuals growing into stronger people from allowing themselves to move on. Throughout season 2, this has increased to numerous people making different sacrifices or letting go of things that they hold dear. Luz gradually leans to let go of her childish perceptions about the fantasy world she's in and see it for what it truly is, learning the Glyph magic as a result because she can see the hidden wonders of the world around her. Eda knowingly sacrifices her magic and succumbs to her curse to save Luz from Lilith, and Lilith likewise sacrifices her own magical powers, as well as the position of power she'd held in the Emperor's coven that she cursed Eda to get, to restore Eda to a humanoid form. King lets go of his childish delusions of being the 'king of demons', and learns to see himself as he truly is, and appreciate himself as a normal kid with a simple life, before discovering his grand nature as the last remaining Titan. Amity lets go of her Alpha Bitch nature and pretentions of being 'perfect', as well as her desire to join the emperor's coven, becoming Luz's girlfriend and regaining her friendship with Willow as a result. In "Eclipse Lake" she lets go of the portal key to protect Luz, but learns about a source of titan's blood she can use to go home. Hunter gradually starts to let go of his deep-rooted beliefs about Belos loving him and realising that he's just a disposable pawn amongst many to him, ultimately gaining Flapjack, the ability to cast natural magic without Belos' Magitek staff, friends at Hexside, and eventually managing to survive with his life whereas all other Golden guards died after learning the truth about Belos.
- Belos himself, however, thematically runs counter to this, making others commit the sacrifices and take the losses on his behalf as he reaps the rewards without reprisal, always 'taking' and never 'giving' of himself. He sacrificed numerous denizens of the demon realm throughout his expeditions and the Grimwalkers he created multiple times required taking several ingredients from various locations or beings who were non-violent towards others. He took Luz's knowledge of the missing fourth Light Glyph he needed and repaid her by leaving her to die. He abused the full magic system for his own twisted and selfish purposes over the years, using his various magical abilities to harm others for his own gains, particularly the Grimwalkers. Rather than accept he was wrong about the Boiling isles being a place of evil he instead held tightly onto his Fantastic Racism and prejudice against the inhabitants, 'sacrificing' Caleb to prove that his own perceptions of the Isles were the truth, and that his brother was the one who made the wrong choice. He was willing to do the same to Luz when she also disagreed with him. Any deals he makes, he never upholds his end of the bargain when the other person successfully does, allowing them to make the effort and sacrifice their 'deal' demanded whilst he loses nothing personally. He regularly takes Palismen from the denizens and 'sacrifices' them to sustain his lifespan, and plans on killing them all on the Day of Unity through the Draining Spell, afterwards returning to Earth to paint the demon realm as a place of monsters and evil witches that he protected humanity from, expecting to gain glory and praise for it, 'sacrificing' them all on the altar of his ambitions.
- It is fitting, therefore, that it is this exact attitude that ultimately does him in and undoes everything he's been working for centuries. When the Draining Spell is active, he has basically won and has nothing forcing him to remain in the demon realm anymore, but he delays leaving because he cannot let go of his obsession with being correct about the demon realm being somewhere humans don't belong, trying to force Luz to accept his way of thinking or kill her himself as another 'sacrifice' to his beliefs about the isles being inherently evil. Luz points out to him that nobody will actually believe his stories about the demon realm without physical proof or somebody to support his claims, and rather than accept that as a natural consequence of the time he spent setting up the draining spell and choose to live as a self-believed Humble Hero upon Earth, Philip instead chooses to accept Luz's offer to gain the fame and glory he wants for his efforts, holding tightly onto his belief that he 'deserves' to be rewarded for his efforts, which allows Luz to brand him. In his monstrous true form, Philip can form blades from his body, but it never occurs to him to sever the piece of his body that's branded to escape the spell's effect, whereas Raine is able to protect Eda from the spell by sacrificing just her arm to it. Rather than honor his agreements or goodwill with the Collector or Kikimora, he's downright gleeful at the opportunity to burn his bridges with them for good, out of his belief that they sincerely deserve to be left to rot because of their nature as magical non-human beings. This leaves him alone and without aid when they each individually get their opportunity for payback against him, and ultimately results in the draining spell being halted at the behest of somebody who did a genuine sacrifice for the Collector. Philip's plans going astray at the 11th hour was simply due to his karma catching up to him all at once from never sacrificing or giving of himself over the centuries he'd remained in the demon realm.
Philip's bald-faced lie about Hunter 'hurting him' despite Hunter being the only one not actually attacking him in the fight not only proves that his abuse of the boy had nothing to do with Hunter's own actions. It serves to illustrate another reason why Philip made the Grimwalkers. Philip puts noticeable effort into trying to emotionally compromise Hunter when he's losing control of the fight and himself, putting on the 'mask' of the kindly elder to manipulate him despite the obvious falseness of his claims. Given his Control Freak nature, it's implied that Philip gained a sense of comfort and stability from controlling, tricking and sometimes venting his ire in private against the obedient servants that he made the Grimwalkers to be, effectively using them as living stress toys to vent his more negative emotions in a controlled manner just like the ones Bump gave Eda to use in "Them's the Breaks, Kid." Losing control over his plans, his body, and the fight against a bunch of inferior children, not to mention just being forced to experience his worst memories thanks to Gus, made Philip emotionally volatile and desperate for any form of stability or control he could salvage from the situation, leading to him focusing on Hunter again, just like he's implied to have done before when otherwise angered or annoyed and needing to 'vent'. The Blatant Lies also make slightly more sense when you hear them and realise he might have been referring to Caleb instead of Hunter, due to Gus's spell forcing his brother into the forefront of his mind and Philip's obsession with seeing a Grimwalker become the 'better version' of his brother he so desired. "Why are you hurting me?" (By siding with the witches again over your own brother). "I only wanted to help you" (see things the way they're meant to be and not as they really are, with it being greatly implied that the sibling's falling-out was due to Caleb rejecting Philip's 'help' the first time). Seeing Flapjack, the Palisman that his brother carved to show his acceptance of the Boiling Isles' magic and the people there, so enrages Philip because Flapjack's the living symbol of what his brother 'chose' to become in the end, and the version of Caleb that Philip was so repulsed by. He killed him and still carries the grudge against his brother to the present day, not the version of Caleb that Philip imagined he was in their childhood, and whom he is obsessed with recreating.
Philip makes a point to needlessly mock both Kimimora and the Collector with his manipulations of them both, once he feels they've finally served their purpose to him, and he's free to cut ties with them, without decisively ending their potential to upset his goals with his own hands, like killing Kikimora or shattering the Collector's disk. This seems like a noticeable oversight for such a shrewd manipulator, no matter how much he may believe there's nothing they can do to stop him at this point, but it makes sense when paired with his actions beforehand. Philip shows in "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" and "Hollow Mind" that he just can't resist letting the witches and denizens of the Demon realm know of his true nature and feelings towards them when the opportunity arises, especially as he's planning to dispose of them shortly afterwards, rubbing it in their faces that he used them without remorse and has nothing but naked distain for their mere existence. This pairs alongside his Glory Hound motivations for returning to earth and being lauded for committing genocide against witches - Philip wants to let others know who he is and what he's done, he wants to be recognised for his real nature, and secretly chafes under needing to constantly disguise and obscure his real self under the false identity of 'Belos' after learning his lesson from 'Philip' becoming Hated by All too soon for him to enact the Draining Spell under that identity. Like a child wanting to be praised for doing a good deed or proving cleverer than others, Philip doesn't just want to succeed at his goals, he wants others to understand that he's succeeded, that he was better than them and there's nothing they can do about it, leaving both Kikimora and the Collector behind to rot in that knowledge out of his own smug satisfaction from achieving victory at last. This is another example of his Psychopathic Manchild nature hidden underneath his claims of being an enlightened elder, that Philip is a sore winner who has to show off his victory to anyone who'll listen, and thus it becomes a Fatal Flaw that leads to Luz outwitting him, and Kikimora and the Collector each contributing to undoing the Draining Spell, and rendering his guaranteed victory for naught.
The only person whom Belos doesn't immediately throw away like trash is Luz. In fact, he genuinely does want Luz to return to the Human Realm. It actually highlights why he always breaks his promises with magical beings. He views humans as superior and thus worthy of treating them as equals. Every magical being is evil, and therefore it's okay to backstab them because they deserve it. This is why he falls for Luz's trickery twice and why he is willing to spare her life even after the Stable Time Loop was completed. This even goes as far as his justification to petrify Luz after she calls him inhuman. He doesn't blame her for pressing his Berserk Button, he blames the Boiling Isles inhabitants for "corrupting" her mind. It's a Never My Fault mentality on a species scale. Additionally, despite Philip overpowering Luz and having her in his strong grasp, he never forcibly takes her through the door. Instead, he gives her a choice and genuinely pleads to Luz to head home and forget the Boiling Isles, stating he doesn't want to see another human life destroyed. When Luz refuses, Philip simply decides to kill her through petrification out of "mercy" rather than force her through the door. It makes sense because Philip is obsessed with being right and forcing her to return to the Human Realm would not prove his views to be correct. He has to give the freedom of choice to Luz to validate it, and it's heavily implied he did the same with Golden Guards, since his first action when they rebel against him is killing them rather than forcibly brainwashing them.
Philip's ironic role in the story as being analogous to the Wicked Witch archetype he so hates and actively works towards wiping out, gives another angle to Luz using the sigil against him. In the classic Grimm fairy tales, the Kid Hero of the stories would often be physically weak and unable to protect themselves from the direct threat of the monsters they faced, but in exchange, they would have great smarts and adaptability to their plight as well as great courage. They were able to recognise their weaknesses and shortcomings and work within those to leverage their strengths against their enemy's own flaws and shortcomings, and often turned the tables on them by using their opponent's own tactics or methods against them in a fatal manner. In 'Hansel and Gretal', The witch aimed to eat Hansel by fattening him up first, but he used her poor eyesight against her, offering a chicken bone instead of his own finger to make her think he was still too scrawny to eat. Similarly, Luz used Philip's own Glory Hound nature and desire for recognition and respect for his deeds against him, leveraging his ignorance of the modern world to convince him to stop petrifying her, faking her submission to him by calling him 'Philip' which she'd refused to do so before to help distance herself from the accidental help she'd given the would-be genocidal dictator. Philip has all but won by that point, but his own character flaws lead him to undo the petrification and even condescend to Luz's gesture of a handshake to seal their deal out of smug satisfaction in his utter victory, giving her the opportunity to brand him despite his immense power, much like the witch could have eaten Hansel at any point, but refused to do so until he was a good meal. Likewise, the witch attempts to trick Gretel into the Oven so she can cook her, only for her to pretend to be too stupid to understand what she means until the witch physically demonstrates by crawling into the oven herself, allowing Gretel to burn her instead. Luz uses Philip's preferred method of 'making a deal' she never intended to honour against him, branding him with the sigil of his own coven that he avoided getting unlike every other witch who followed him and resulting in the Draining Spell starting to kill him as well. The situation even parallels Philip's own betrayal of Caleb, making it clear that Luz is using Philip's own methods and actions against him in one move to give him his due comeuppance. However, because the Boiling Isles does not follow typical story narratives, Philip is still able to move despite Luz outwitting him and weakening him, whereas Hansel and Gretel's trickery of the witch spelled their victory the instant they succeeded, and would have killed Luz and her friends if not for the interference of the Collector.
In the previous episode, Odalia tears the wanted poster of Luz in half. Note where the tears end up.
Though Philip has a problem with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, he does have good reasons to betray the Collector the way he did. After the Draining Spell is initiated, the Collector states they can't wait to play new games with Philip once he freed them. And given how desperate the Collector is to get friends, to the point of dragging King away from Luz, so they can play, they would never let Philip go, not even for a visit to the Human Realm. And given that the Draining Spell would kill everyone on the Boiling Isles, Philip would be trapped on a dead world alone with a Mad God forever, forced to play games with a spoiled child who has no sense of morality.
Belos wearing his old colonial clothes is not a symbol of how he never changed despite living in the Boiling Isles for 400 years. Rather, it symbolizes his denial that he has been permanently changed by the place, whether he likes it or not. Belos believes that Titan is somewhat alive, despite knowing the Titan is dead, and he's been lying to the masses about hearing the Titan's will. His human glamour fails him when Luz calls him "barely human" and despite looking like a young, clean-shaven Philip Wittebane when he first entered the Boiling Isles, his wrinkles and dull hair signify his age. Thus, it is fitting that when Belos finally returns back to the Human Realm, he's reduced to a small puddle of magic goop on the floor, with the implication that he will remain stuck in his monster form permanently and be forced to face cold truth that he has changed ... and for the worse.
What the worst memory of Belos reveals about his character:
- Why does Belos seem to suffer in agony upon reliving the memory of him murdering his brother Caleb and then "reviving" him as a Grimwalker when in "Hollow Mind," he seems to enjoy killing Grimwalkers (all of whom are made in Caleb's image)? The answer lies with the name Hunter. As Dana mentions in an interview, the name Hunter is intentionally a sick joke on Belos's part and the Grimwalkers are so removed from Caleb that they're nothing more than toys to him. In "Hollow Mind" itself, Belos never actually states that Hunter is a clone of his brother, even pausing for a moment before saying to Luz that Hunter is "a better version of an old friend." The name Hunter and conscious avoidance of Caleb are dehumanization tactics used by Belos to make it easier to kill his Grimwalkers when they inevitably "betray" him. As long as he doesn't see them as Caleb, it won't hurt him as much as his actual memory.
- Additionally, the fact that Belos is suffering from this memory at all makes perfect sense when you look at all his memory portraits featuring Caleb. Caleb's eyes are all scratched out except on the fateful day the two brothers reunited on the Boiling Isles. "For the Future" makes it clear that Belos will attack Caleb's image in rage whenever he's reminded of his brother's 'betrayal' and death. So why are the portraits of the murder showing Caleb's eyes intact? Inner Belos never visited them. He wanted that memory buried and forgotten. The other memory portraits have Caleb's eyes scratched out because they used to be happy memories Philip had but have now been tainted by Caleb's presence, which will always lead him back to that fateful murder. By having the memory deeply buried, Belos is able to maintain almost complete control over himself until Gus' spell forcibly brought that buried memory up to the forefront of Belos' mind, shattering his controlled foundation and leaving him mentally unstable as raw guilt and grief flow back into him like a flood from a broken dam.
With the reveal that Amity's Embarrassing Nickname came from Alador making abomination mittens for her whenever she got cold as a child, it makes sense that she'd come to favor making Power Fists of the stuff as an attack as she got older. She'd subconsciously consider having her hands covered with the stuff as comforting.

Season 3

Thanks To Them

Hunter's Halloween costume design hews close to Seven Of Nine's design (specifically her headwear / eyepiece prior to her disconnection from the Borg hive-mind). Not only does this represent Hunter's status as someone who has just broken out of a collective and is still figuring out what they want to do, it serves as a warning sign that said freedom will be relatively short-lived.
- Additionally, Hunter's yellow shirt immediately draws parallels with Captain Kirk. During the final battle, he strips down to a black shirt, performs a Heroic Sacrifice and is ultimately revived via Applied Phlebotinum. Where have we seen that before?
- Even more specifically, Hunter dresses up as Chief O'Bailey - a clear reference to Miles O'Brien. Given Hunter's Woobie status and the "O'Brien Must Suffer" episodes present in DS9, it serves as a kind of meta joke as well as a sign that Hunter would once again be put through the wringer.
Vee being able to speak Spanish better than any of the Hexsquad is not surprising. Not only has she been living with Camila for months as a shape-shifter, she is probably used to copying other voices, so would be good at picking up a new language.
An in-universe fridge-heartwarming: In school, Luz remarks that the hero of the book they're discussing has caused so many problems and should never have been involved in the story. In turn, the teacher points out that despite Luz's claims, the good that the hero did in the book actually outweighs the mistakes he's done. In the grand scheme of things, Luz's good deeds also outweigh her mistakes, like how she mended the Clawthorne sisters' relationship, helped King learn the truth, lead Amity to defy her mother's abuse and make all of the above better, happier people with more fulfilling lives. Beyond that, the simple fact that the Hexsquad is still alive and thus able to fight back against Belos and the Collector is all due to Luz's efforts. This could be the show's way of foreshadowing what she ultimately learns.
Ever notice how symbolic Camila's hairstyles are throughout the series? Let's take a look at them through exact chronological order. When she was a younger mother in the flashback, her hair is short but curly, symbolizing her true supportive self. In the flashback with the "Romeo and Juliet" try-out, her hair was short but also straightened, signifying that while she's still supportive of Luz, the pressure of other people judging her was getting to her. And by the time Luz's principal pressured her to send Luz to Reality Check Camp, it's straight and long, as though reflecting that she's given in and (if reluctantly) conformed to the idea of making Luz normal. But by the events of "Yesterday's Lie," her hair is straight yet short, as indicating her regrets in making her daughter perfectly normal. And in the current episode, it's resumed its short and curly style, as though marking how she's decided to support her daughter's choice to be a witch on the Boiling Isles; especially since the Hexsquad have indirectly influenced her to see her daughter was happier on the Isles.
In hindsight, it's incredibly obvious that Camila was coerced to send Luz to Reality Check Summer Camp:
- In her introduction, Camila shows hesitance at describing how "fun" normal camp would be. Her specific description of the camp is also phrased like something Luz would say:
You'll be so busy balancing checkbooks and learning to ... appreciate public radio, the time will fly by!
- When meeting Vee, Camila offers to drive "Luz" to camp, promising her "full control of the playlist," as well as mentioning that she got the day off from work, contradicting her earlier assertion that she had to go. It's a clear sign that Camila wanted to make the transition into camp smooth and possibly delay her daughter's journey to "normality."
- When Vee (disguised as Luz) was getting rid of Luz's old belongings to get a "fresh start," Camila showed surprise (and even regret) at seeing her "kid" acclimated to normality so quickly.
The fact Philip Wittebane grew up during witch hunts says a lot about why he has a Never My Fault attitude. Think about it: witch hunts are about finding somebody else to blame except yourself. Gravesfield's witch-hunting culture taught Philip from the time he was a small boy that if he wanted to live another day, he had to point fingers at everybody else.
- What's more, witch hunts are the type of thing that encourages people to blame every small inconvenience on witches. Cow isn't giving enough milk? Witches. Crops are dying during a drought? Witches. Leaky roof? Witches! It's no wonder Philip never owns up to anything, even when the fault is clearly his own.
Of course, neither Hunter nor Belos can swim. The main body of water they lived near for most of their lives would burn them alive (also Belos is from the 17th century, swimming didn't become a common skill until the 19th). Amity naturally has an innertube in the picture of her and Luz jumping off a dock to go swimming for the same reason.
The games Luz plays on her laptop tie into the plot and themes of the show along with the similarities of their main characters.
- Moonfarm Valley is a bi protagonist in a new land. Luz enters the Boiling Isles.
- Holler Knight has the cast out knights in antler masks and the main villain is a godlike being that is fought in its mind. Luz and Hunter undergo the events of "Hollow Mind," where the two learn about the truth of Belos along with the Grimwalkers.
- Hades is about a bi protagonist who wants to escape a hellish realm to reunite with his mom, reflecting Luz's drive to return home. It also has a very likable but powerful dog. King and Cerberus. There's also the fact that while the Underworld and the Boiling Isles are horrific places in appearance, their inhabitants, while having a more accepting attitude on the macabre, aren't bad once you get to know them.
Luz's obsession with the Good Witch Azura series stems from the fact that the book she has is her father's parting gift. This also explains the books' lower age range when it was revealed, as it was given to her at that very age.
The reason Amity and Willow freak out at the alarm clock is because it sounds similar to the Abomaton 2.0s.
Another possible reason why Hunter brushed aside touching the goo might be due to Philip already influencing him subconsciously. The possession has already began long before Halloween.
Belos's Demonic Possession of Hunter is the logical endgame for a better version of Caleb Wittebane. Caleb abandoned witch hunting (and in Belos's mind, his little brother) for a witch and the previous Grimwalkers were killed for the slightest deviation of loyalty to Belos. As long as they have independent thinking and autonomy, Belos will never be satisfied with the results. This is why he's thanks Luz for saving Hunter. He now realizes the solution to the Grimwalker's autonomy problem is simply taking over their body and directly puppeteering them. And by being physically part of Hunter, Belos has ensured that "Caleb" will never leave his side as a witch hunter. He is completely oblivious to the fact that Hunter does not want him and that he never actually created his perfect Caleb, only Philip inhabiting Caleb's cloned body. His delusions leaves him unprepared for Hunter to resist his control, causing the insane witch hunter to become truly shocked and angry when "Caleb" suddenly "stabbed [him] in the back."
Willow being the one to cut Hunter's hair makes the most sense of anyone else in the house; she'd know at least the basics from trimming her plants back home!
Despite being exorcised out of Hunter, Belos manages to regain his monstrous form and could easily crush the Hexsquad (even with Vee ready to drain his magic) like he did in "King's Tide." But why did he decide to instead use the Titan's blood to open the portal and go to the Demon Realm? It's because of Luz's Armor-Piercing Response to his accusation of Hunter stabbing him in the back. He stabbed Hunter/Caleb first, and thus is the true traitor and villain. Belos doesn't respond immediately to Luz's words, and just goes for the portal. Before he departs, he says to Luz that he's doing it for the good of their souls and that they'll be thanking him later. He wants to prove to Luz that he's somehow still the true hero. He still needs human vindication to justify all his actions first, and this ironically saved the Hexsquad and Hunter.
- This dependance on external vindication summarises and defines Belos/Philip's entire character. He has demonstrated an uncanny knack for understanding people and social mores, and how to manipulate those to better suit his needs, even amongst a species he absolutely despises, but has never once actually used this ability to make himself happy doing so. He conformed to the anti-witch views of Gravesfield with unbending rigidity, but refuses to apply this same conformity and acceptance to anything else, refusing to engage with the Demon realm despite it being the world his brother found happiness in and desired to make a home in, wanting to tear it all down out of blind rejection. And once he actually did return home, he found that the values to which he'd upheld so religiously had changed and faded away, underscoring the pointlessness of trying to change oneself to suit the standards of others, much like Luz being forced to conform to 'normality' by the perceptions of others only made her unhappy. He spent decades using and discarding people in the course of his rise to power to setting up his plans for the Day of Unity, and fittingly, his showcased ability throughout this episode takes that to a literal extreme, possessing hosts to use their power and resources for himself until they have nothing left to give him and become discarded piles of bones. Metaphorically, and now literally, Philip has devolved into a parasite that needs to feed upon others to exist, unable to adapt to the changed reality around him and desperately trying to make a place for himself in a world that understandably rejects such a poisonous man, to the point of discarding everything he's striven for ^note the second Luz reminds him of his utter failure of an existence, desiring to prove that everything he's done and become isn't All for Nothing.
Luz picked up some of her quirks from her late father, and Camila is revealed to be a sci-fi nerd. No wonder she turned out the way she is. Additionally, it's revealed that Camila was bullied in high-school, presumably due to her own quirks. Her husband Manny may very well have been just as much a geek as she was and and outcast, too. In other words, they're weirdos who stuck together.
- Camila likely finds Luz's quirky behavior endearing instead of exasperating because it brings back happy memories of her late husband.
Hunter's Star Trek-esque costume design has a noticeable bit of wooly fluff sticking out the left shoulder from his self-stiching attempt. When Belos possesses Hunter, the first thing he does is to intentionally try to model Hunter's appearance back into his intended look for the boy, undoing Hunter's Important Haircut and pulling down the top to tie it around his waist, exposing the majestic wolves t-shirt underneath. Belos is a wolf in sheep's clothing
Belos infects Hunter through infusing his essence through a cut on his body, akin to how Philip himself got his distinctive facial scar infected with raw Palisman essence, gradually leading to it becoming for focal point for his Glamour Failure. Whereas Philip's body decayed in a reflection of his warped mind, Hunter's body remained mostly intact and resisted the transformation, rejecting the warped vision of who Belos wanted to twist him into in favour of who he wanted to become. Though Hunter's essence was drained by Belos to resurrect his physical form once more, Flapjack sacrificed himself to restore him to who he used to be, and perhaps even closer to a human being than he was before. Belos/Philip meanwhile, has apparently forever lost his human self through his own actions, because he has nobody on his side who will help him in his self-destructive choices and actions, resulting in him becoming the only truly monstrous being in the show.
Doubles as Fridge Heartwarming. During the montage, Amity draws the twins in two different colors, purple for Emira and green for Edric. As many fans have pointed out, this shows Amity sees them as two unique individuals rather than a set of two.^note When compared to their mother, who seems to exclusively call them "the twins," it's refreshing to see, especially when "Enchanting Grom Fright" revealed that Emira's worst fear is being stuck with Edric forever.

For the Future

Why was the Collector so hostile to Lilith in the beginning? She calls King her nephew...which is what Belos called Hunter when he was still Emperor. As far as the Collector knew, Lilith was looking to hurt King, because that's what witches do to their nephews based on Belos' treatment of Hunter.
Why was Lilith able to reconstruct the anti-curse potion? Lilith probably did a bit of her own research on Eda's curse, considering that Gwendolyn was looking for cures in less-than-reputable places.
The final three episodes of the series seem to mirror the first three episodes of the series in their own ways.
- The third episode "I Was a Teenage Abomination" is about Luz making friends at Hexside and fighting off the abominations of someone (Amity) obsessed with their goals. The antepenultimate episode is about Luz cementing her bond with her friends, and fighting off the abomination-esque Belos who is obsessed with his goal of eradicating witches.
- The second episode "Witches Before Wizards" has Luz dealing with puppets, and voicing her hopes of being understood despite her oddball tendencies. The penultimate episode is about all of Bonesborough being turned into puppets, and Luz's wish of being understood finally being realized.
- The first episode "A Lying Witch and a Warden" began with Luz dreaming she could be like the good witch Azura and freeing the misfit witches from imprisonment. The synopsis of the final episode is implied to be a Book Ends of just that. Luz accomplishes her dream of becoming like Azura, and frees the Boiling Isles from their collective prison.
Amity admits that she had trouble bonding with Ghost because her goals were not what she really wanted (the freedom to choose her own future). Among those goals was to be the greatest witch. This is brilliant, as "Hunting Palisman" takes place before "Reaching Out." Before (even once Luz reformed her), Amity's wanted to be strong and magically adept. But by the events of "Reaching Out," she's made it clear to Alador that the only reason she wanted to be a powerful witch was because Odalia asked it of her. Well no wonder: Ghost must've helped Amity realize joining the Emperor's coven was just Odalia's vicarious dream, and she herself wanted something else out of life.
- Additionally with that in mind, it makes even more sense that Amity's Palisman is a cat. What are cats best known for? Their independent nature.
It would make sense that Amity would be the one to have Camila ride with her; she wanted to keep making a good impression on her girlfriend's mother and potential future mother-in-law.
How did Lilith’s tear wake up Hooty trapped in puppet form? Lilith has a version of Eda’s Owl Beast curse, which Eda received from the scroll that trapped the Owl Beast. That scroll was created by a Collector, and Eda and Lilith use their potion to lessen its effects. Since Lilith has been taking the potion, her tear may contain its essence mixed in, and it works on Hooty because it was made to resist a form of Collector magic. Noticeably, the tear that wakes Hooty comes from Lilith’s gray eye, the one affected by the curse.
It's only natural that Luz's Palisman doesn't stick to a single form. After all, she was the first Hexside student of her generation to want/be allowed to take every type of magic track at once, and Palismen are shown to bond with witches based on shared goals. The girl who wanted to be every kind of witch created a Palisman that is every kind of creature.
Camila tells Willow it's okay to be scared and that holding it all in is not good, which is exemplified by Willow insisting everything is alright while her plant magic is leaking underneath her feet. Just moments ago, Belos is shown leaking goo with every footstep and seeing an unforgiving Caleb (with a dagger above his head) staring right at him. Belos' situation is what happens when guilt and fears are suppressed for far too long.
King probably learned that his magic could counter the Collector’s after reversing Lilith’s Puppet Permutation offscreen.
It’s implied that the puppets still possess awareness of what’s happening to them, but that their consciousness is heavily and actively suppressed. It only makes sense, then, that Belos would possess Raine instead of Odalia, given that there was no active danger in his host fighting back.
What Luz really wants is to be understood. Considering that her previous goal was to become a witch in a land of magic, what she really was missing is why she wanted to become a witch in the first place. In other words, she wants to fit in so that she can be understood by others.
- Willow and Gus foreshadowed how to bond with a palisman. Her goal was at the heart of what she wanted most, to protect her friends and loved ones. That can't be anymore broad a goal. And while his dad wanted it of him to be a reporter, Gus voiced that he'd be happier going with his gut and being an ambassador.
- And it can easily be interpreted that, even before he voiced it to Belos, Hunter was chosen by Flapjack because he already knew what he really wanted: to be a normal kid and study wild magic.
Outside of the obvious, why wouldn't Belos possess Odalia instead of Raine if he's been rendered beyond desperate by his circumstances? Because he's still smart enough to know they're the better choice. Raine is Eda's ex so there's at least one person who'd hesitate to attack him, compared to everyone jumping to beat him if he took over Odalia. Furthermore, Raine's currently in a puppet state provided by the Collector, which is implied to be keeping them stable, while Odalia has no such protection to the Burnout should Belos take her over instead.
Why is Boscha desperate enough to get Amity back to her side to plead for it, when no prior episode showed her ever caring about it? Because she's literally the only person she has left: Cat and Amelia were turned into puppets and taken away, as were most of the adults, and while Skara's around, the two don't really interact in the whole episode. Given how she was arranged to be Amity's friend in the past, becoming friends again is her last chance to regain some of the normalcy and comfort she had before The Owl House-geddon.
It seems like nearly every adult in the Boiling Isles was already captured by the Collector by the time Luz and the others arrived while the only survivors (ones not explicitly spared by the Collector) are kids and teens. Given that nearly every adult had a coven sigil, they would have still been dazed and confused after the Collector began their assault even if they weren't present for the Day of Unity. They would not have been able to run while the kids were already on edge from seeing their families suddenly fall ill and thus prepared to run and hide.
Kikimora's 'Miki' disguise is not that hard to see through, but there's a reason Luz doesn't immediately twig it's her: the disguise covers everything we've seen of Kikimora before except her mouth, the one part of Kikimora's face that was always covered. Of course Luz couldn't recognize something she'd never seen before.
The Collector said early on that he'd accept no substitutes over the real Eda. Who does Belos choose to possess? Not Eda, but the next best thing.
While it is possible that Caleb and the Grimwalkers are actual ghosts, there are several details that points to hallucinations created from Belos' subconscious:
- The ghosts don't move. At best, Caleb moves his head down and can close his eyes. But if the spirit that Luz saw at the beginning of the episode is any indication, ghosts and spirits should have more autonomy in their movement, independent of Belos' mind. But the ghosts only appear whenever Belos stops moving to catch his breath, meaning they are linked to Belos' declining sanity.
- Caleb's hair has a ponytail. But according to the memories in Belos' mind, he had it cut when he reunited with Philip in the Boiling Isles (and subsequently got killed shortly afterwards). Since the ponytail is a symbolic representation of Caleb's old profession as a Witch Hunter (with the ponytail absence representing his willingness to change his perspective), it doesn't make sense for Caleb to have this hairstyle unless it's the version of the brother that Belos wants back.
- Only Caleb and the Grimwalkers appear before Belos. Belos has killed countless witches and demons in addition to Caleb and the Grimwalkers, whether it be by tricking them to be a sacrifice, causing causalities from his False Flag Operations, using test subjects for the Draining Spell, and petrifying wild witches as an execution method. Yet, it's only Caleb and the Grimwalkers that appear to silently judge Belos. This wouldn't make sense unless it comes from Belos' subconscious because Caleb and the Grimwalkers are the only people that Belos would feel guilty about; in contrast, he kills witches and demons without missing a beat and sleeps well at night.
- Caleb's expression is cold and full of disgust, in contrast to the warm and always loving Caleb in Belos' memory portraits. While it may be possible that Caleb's spirit is disgusted with his brother's actions, it's still jarring to see a warm-hearted person be this cold and unforgiving to his little brother. But this Caleb is perfect as a manifestation of Belos' fears. An elder brother that looks at him like trash. An elder brother that is ready to punish his younger brother with a belt. This is how Belos envisions Caleb to be if he was alive, reflecting how his abusive and manipulative tactics on Hunter have actually made it more difficult for Belos to even know what true happiness and sadness are. And if that's not enough, Caleb's eyes lack light reflection, bearing more resemblance to Belos' icy cold eyes of present day, the same eyes that Hunter fears displeasing.
King wears a bandage over the crack on his skull throughout the episode, even though it's been months since he got the injury, which is still visible. In real life, bones don't heal in the same way as other tissue: instead of scarring, they remodel themselves, which is a slow process that can continue for years. Regardless of whether it works the same way for King, it makes sense that it'd take much longer to heal than the cut on Luz's eyebrow.

Watching and Dreaming

Amity was most likely the first to break out of her puppeted state because, being an abused child herself, she likely doesn’t want to continue the cycle and be a victim again or let anyone else be a victim –– especially not when the victim is her girlfriend.
- Seems a bit odd that the puppet spell can be broken just by using a tiny light glyph...except Titan magic cancels out Collector magic.
When Belos possesses the Titan's heart, he positions himself in a Crucified Hero Shot, as befitting his Holier Than Thou attitude. The fact that Luz, who he kills, is revived by a genuinely benevolent god-like figure makes it clear that she's more Christ-like than he'll ever be, adding another layer of humiliation to his defeat.
The Collector likens mortals dying to a toy breaking, and has no qualms about it until he can't bring Luz back. Remember, his main connection to the mortal realm was Belos for the longest time. Belos, who had no close friends or loved ones save for the Grimwalkers, and who kept killing them off with no remorse. When your only glimpse into the mortal realm is someone who keeps "breaking his toys" and immediately replacing them, it's no wonder the Collector didn't think mortals cared about dying.
Luz's defeat of Belos is extra karmic due to how the latter thought of himself as someone divine and lied about being blessed with the Titan's gift/knowledge. Not only does Luz actually meet the Titan, she's also given his advice on Belos and Titan powers in order to defeat the madman.
Luz realizing that she should have thanked Eda and King after she dies adds up when one thinks about what happened when Eda was taken from her in "Agony of a Witch" and when King was taken from her in "King's Tide." Both thanked her for being a presence in their lives, something she failed to do in that moment.
Luz's Titan form was foreshadowed all the way back in season 1, when the body swap spell put King—a Titan—in Luz's body.
Luz choosing to remain silent as Belos lies dying in front of her makes sense when you realize that, back in "Enchanting Grom Fright," one of the things she realized from facing "online jerks who want to debate" is that people like those don't come from a place of intellectual honesty, and that debating them would be pointless. Belos is simply someone who falls into that category, is dying, and beneath her. On top of that, saying anything to him or listening to anything he says would just be wasting the effort of one's breath and would put even more strain on her ears when he inevitably tries to retort.
- On a slightly more humorous note, Luz had already flubbed her "cool one-liner" chance when she was first resurrected. Belos was clearly very close to dying at this point, so anything Luz said would have to be a pretty epic Pre-Mortem One-Liner. No sense chancing another flub.
- Also, there's an old saying: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Luz giving Belos nothing but silence speaks volumes of how much wiser she is than Belos, who keeps running his mouth with Blatant Lies.
Whilst it would have been appropriate for Hunter to have directly helped end Belos once and for all, there's still a poetic element to his absence in this front. Last time he directly interacted with Belos, he told the monster/man that he no longer wanted anything to do with him, cutting all emotional and dependent ties with him once and for all. In doing so, Hunter no longer needs closure in anything like Belos' death, because Belos is someone he truly doesn't care about anymore, remaining part of the effort to stop him simply because it's the right thing to do. In fact, Hunter's actions in the finale are perhaps the ultimate "Screw you!" to Belos, as he helps rescue and safeguard the puppetfied citizens of the Boiling Isles, whom Belos was dead set on wiping out, and going against the purpose Belos made him for in the first place.
- Also, this was probably a safer place for Hunter to be at, we know in his weakened state he made a jump towards Hunter in an attempt at taking him over, whose to say he wouldn't try it again.
- What's more, he does accomplish what he promised Belos he'd do: make sure he can't hurt anyone else ever again. Even if it's indirectly, he and his friends made certain the puppet citizens were all safe when Belos's actions nearly cause the Archive to fall.
The lore of Wittebane brothers being absent in this episode seems jarring after getting major spotlight in the last two episodes as well as "Hollow Mind" memory portraits being released almost a week prior to the big finale. But in hindsight, it makes Dramatic Irony sense. The memory portraits reveal that Belos was actually similar to Luz and the Collector, being a young child who like to play games and dream about being a hero... before a traumatic event involving a loved one suddenly disappearing from their life. As we see with the Collector, Luz is able to relate and redeem him upon hearing his confessions, backstory, and insecurities. While it's far more difficult for Belos due to how many bridges he has already burned with Luz, he too could have been redeemed by her if he had opened up his insecurities and regrets as depicted in his real memory portraits. He had it right there, the means to be redeemed, and he blew it for a Holier Than Thou perfection that is adventurer Philip Wittebane (no broken nose) whose actions are either For the Greater Good... or forcibly done under an evil curse.
Taking a close look at King's new light glyph, we can see that it has two little protrusions at the top. While the obvious guess would be that they represent King's horns, they also resemble the cat ears from Luz's hoodie.
- That would explain why Luz couldn't use her glyphs even if she was near King in the Human Realm—his magic language is different from his father's.
  - Also, King had only just started manifesting his powers and wasn't very strong yet. He had to draw a huge glyph just to create a tiny light. He wouldn't have been able to do even that at the time of "Young Blood, Old Souls".
King's father tells Luz he's been watching King and the way he's interacted with people around him. It's also been established Luz saw glyphs because the Titan wanted her to see them, when he denied this to people like Belos. When does Luz learn her first glyph, the light glyph? When she and King are in danger, and the same day she earlier gave King the gift of the light up pen. King's father was giving Luz the guiding push towards solving the problem in thanks and to help protect King. Showing Luz the ice glyph as well could have been gratitude by him as well as a push for her to learn more about the glyphs.
- In a Heartwarming angle about this same thought, The Titan's message for Luz to pass on is a brief "I loaf you." A simple, earnest message that tells King not just that his father always loved him, but never stopped looking out for him and admiring his interests.
Belos's visage in the In Between Realm when he fully possesses King's dad resembles a skeletal Satan far more than King's dad himself. Not only that, but the sludge around the palace forms a draconic shape, which is a form Satan takes in the Book of Revelation. The ultimate conclusion to Philip's unbelievable hypocrisy and how he's far more vile than any witch or demon he claims he's saving humanity from. Also ties into Luz's Messianic Archetype status.
Belos' role as Luz's Foil continues even unto the final confrontation and their respective powerups. Belos consumes and controls the body of the Titan to become a massive, mostly-physical threat, referencing how he's stolen and corrupted every source of power he's gained to harm others for his own sake, attacking alone as an omnipresent mass. Luz meanwhile, meets the soul of the Titan, which is 'where the magic happens', and is given the choice to gain his immense remaining magical powers to become the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, fighting alongside her Found Family in combination with their unique skills to defeat him. Luz is ultimately left bereft of both her immense strength and the Glyph magic in the aftermath, but she can move forward and find purpose without either thanks to the support of her friends and family on both sides of the portal. Belos has lied, manipulated and killed anybody who would support him on either side, and has nothing without the purpose of hunting witches, clinging to his hatred of them even to his last breaths. He is thus left weakened and collapsing into pieces even without the heroes having to directly attack him, unable to continue on without being able to parasitically drain 'support' from others who would give it to him.
During the scene where Luz shows her mom that she's planning to major in everything at the new University of Wild Magic, Camlia questions how she going to do that without the glyphs, to which Luz Hand Waves it by saying she and Springbean found a way. However, if one looks closer at the classes, one can see that they can all be done without glyphs. To wit:
- The first major on the list is "Ancient Glyphs and Combos." While, yes, the glyphs no longer would work, Luz is the one who rediscovered the system in the first place - while she might not know the full history of glyph magic, she most certainly knows how to draw them and most likely also knows the combos. And, should she need further assistance, she can just consult King.
- The second one appears to be "Boiling Isles History." Since magic isn't required for a history study, Luz could take this class perfectly fine.
- Next on the list is "Boiling Biology." Considering that it's implied in the show that there is healing different from Healing Magic, such as things like actual surgery, Luz could once again manage this like a human would. Not to mention, textbooks are a thing and Luz could simply use those for reference.
- Fourth is something called "Theumaturgy," which is very similar to the word Thaumaturgy meaning the performing of miracles. Luz has shown throughout the show that she certainly knows how to make miracles happen.
- Following that is "Abomination Engineering." From what we saw of Alador's work, it was mainly using Abominations as shells so to speak, with actual mechanical parts much like machinery in the human realm. As long as someone provides the Abominations for her, like, for example, her Abomination using girlfriend, Luz could handle the rest.
- The final specific major listed is "Curses 101." It was shown in "Young Blood, Old Souls" that curses are used via scrolls and simply have to be read to be cast. Not to mention, considering her time with Eda and Lilith, Luz also has hands on experience with curses, or at the very least, dealing with them.
  - Not to mention Stringbean is a living source of magic meaning like Eda and Owlbert Luz can use staff magic as normal.
While the fact that "Ancient Glyphs and Combos" being a major at the University would be A Degree in Useless, the fact that King is noted be getting strong enough for his own glyphs to emerge, which Eda would likely have known when designing the courses, due to being his adoptive mother. So she likely put it in knowing that Luz would choose it, and that her previous knowledge of glyphs would prove useful.
Every cruel thing the collected Hexsquad says to Luz in her nightmare is ultimately averted throughout the episode in one form or another.
- "You've been the real villain this whole time." Not according to the Titan she isn't. He's the one who reassures her that despite Belos's comparisons to her, the differences outweigh the similarities. And it's thanks to the Titan she's able to remember that the 'real villain' is none other than Belos, not herself.
- "I have no future now. None of us do!" As evidenced by the epilogue, Willow comes out of the experience with a far better outcome than if she remained a poor bullied kid slated to die in "The Day of Unity" genocide. Not only is she alive to tell the tale, but she's grown into the self-confident captain of the Emerald Entrails, and Hunter's potential, loving girlfriend. And as for no one having a future, everyone does!
- "I'll never see my dad again." The episode ends with Gus reuniting with his father once more, and in illusion magic fashion no less.
- Hunter's dialogue comes down to accusing Luz of still having a palisman while he's deprived of one. It's meant to frame Luz's guilt that she still has much to be thankful for, while Hunter's gotten the short end of the stick in the long run. However, the epilogue shows that Hunter eventually got a new palisman, a blue jay named Waffles. This is a testament that although he'll always miss Flapjack, Hunter was able to move on with his life and "have it all" too.
In a story where witches are major characters, it's poetic that Belos is finally starts dying for real by melting in the rain. You know, like the evil Witch of the West, as befitting the only actual Evil Sorcerer present.
When Eda, King, and Raine curbstomp King Belos to death, King is briefly grossed out afterwards because he got some of Belos's goop stuck on his feet. Given that King is essentially the Titan's successor, this could have very well been Belos's last-ditch attempt at life by clinging onto what was going to be the next-most powerful thing after the original Titan.
Amity being the first to befriend the Collector after the heroes win makes sense for a number of reasons:
- She was the first to break out of their control earlier in the episode. And now she's the first to befriend them.
- Amity is well-known to be fond of children and the Collector being a child makes it easier for her to befriend them.
- They both have a moon motif on their clothing - Amity's crescent-shaped necklace and The Collector's whole moon-styled clothes.
- Like the Collector, Amity understands what it's like to be under the control and manipulations of an abusive adult figure.
The last tack Belos takes attempting to get Luz to spare him is that she'd be "just as evil" as "those witches." He's right; Luz is no better than Eda, Raine, and King when they deliver the Coup de Grâce... which is hardly anywhere close to the kind of evil Belos personifies.
Luz refusing to listen to Belos' lame excuse about being the victim of a curse is a good sign of her Character Development: in season 1, she was a naive girl who believed the Boiling Isles worked like a fantasy novel. She would believe Belos' claims of innocence and happily give him another chance. But Luz knows better now, accepting there are people too horrible to change, and that Belos made his terrible choices of his own free will.
While unfortunately tragic due to the poor timing of being taught love and forgiveness, Luz actually saved the Collector's life when context is taken into account. Belos possessed the Titan to use it as his trump card against the Collector on top of killing all witches due to finding out about what Titan magic does. If the Collector tried to fight him for real, it would've ended with the little child blasted to nothingness and no one powerful enough to hold up the collapsing Archive, effectively killing everyone.

Fridge Horror