Chapter 38: The Reveal
Art by Crash X Fusion: At last, so many secrets are brought to light.
Everything is revealed about Luz's condition and everyone who's wronged her must decide what to do in order to save her and Eda.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- An Aesop: In-Universe, Ms. Traveler refuses to take part in rescuing Eda and Luz because she learned a long time ago that helping mortals ruins the opportunities for them to learn how to become the best versions of themselves.
- Anything but That!: Once Anu Bist suggests recruiting Lilith for the rescue, King, Amity and Puck unanimously refuse.
- The Atoner: Ms. Traveler adds that she came to Hexside to help the kids without getting involved in their affairs and making things worse like she had in the past.
- Batman Gambit: Emperor Belos has Kikimora publicly announce the Clawthorne's execution by petrification, using them as bait for Puck so he can end the Fae's life for good.
- Being Evil Sucks: Boscha finally realizes she's the villain and a hypocrite when she sees the broadcast about Luz and Eda being sentenced and that Nicole encouraged her to be a bitch like her.
- Blatant Lies: When asked by Felicity Fox for Lilith's opinion on Eda's sentencing, Kikimora says Lilith has taken a leave of absence after "voluntarily" stepping down from her position.
- Broken Tears: Amity leaks these the second she sees the announcement of Luz and Eda's petrification and they get worse as she breaks down in her room, only stopping when Puck calms her down.
- The Cameo:
- Raine is shown watching the broadcast on Eda and Luz, with Katya being seen a moment later.
- Edric and Emira are shown to have watched the announcement along with Odalia and Amity. While Ed stays silent, Em has one line.
- Steve briefly appears, having called Belos to rat out Kikimora for taking action against the Blights.
- Lilith is briefly seen along with a figure who seems to be reviving her.
- Call-Back: Gus mentions Dipper's theory about giraffes becoming docile in the human realm being a result of their biology adapting to their new environment, leading to Viney making the same conclusion about Luz.
- Calling the Old Man Out:
- Boscha chews out her mother for ruining her social life because of her grudge against Eda. Naturally, Nicole brushes this off.
- Hunter attempts to do this to Belos after he orders the Clawthornes be petrified before Belos explains his reasons.
- Canon Character All Along: Puck and Ms. Traveler reveal themselves to be Peter Pan and Mary Poppins in the flesh.
- Continuity Nod: The "Peter Pan" book that Amity got from the Human world is seen again.
- Cry into Chest: The moment Amity sees Puck in her room, she wraps her arms around him and begins crying into his shoulder while he lets her.
- Darkest Hour: Eda learns of Lilith's death and she and Luz are ordered to be petrified much to everyone's shock (except Nicole, of course.)
- Deal with the Devil: Belos democratically offers to help Luz master her cambion form as long as she joins forces with him. She obviously refuses.
- Defiant to the End: See the previous section? Luz refuses to work with Belos. In response, he orders she be petrified alongside her mother.
- Despair Event Horizon: Seeing the announcement of the petrification ceremony doesn't help Amity with her current issues: she already lost her relationship, but losing Luz altogether is too much for her to bear to the point that she screams nothing matters now.
- Easily Forgiven: King tells Amity that since Eda knew she wasn't to blame for what happened with Lilith and Luz, he'll work with her in freeing his family from imprisonment.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Emperor Belos of all people is disappointed that Lilith used Amity the way she did. Of course, he's no better.
- Despite her grudge against Luz being the same as her mother's against Eda, there's one key distinction that defines Boscha as being different from Nicole: she refuses to watch Luz die.
- Everyone Has Standards: Luz may have hated Lilith for everything she did, but even then she still didn't want her dead.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Puck picks up Amity's "Peter Pan" book just before he shows her he is Peter.
- Forced into Evil: Boscha realizes too late that everything her mother taught her has led to her becoming someone none of her former friends want anything to do with.
- Foreshadowing:
- That spell Belos blasts Luz with to "calm her down?" Yeah it turns out to be vital to his plansnote .
- Raine chooses to take action in helping Eda and Luz and sends a message to Katya, who leaves her father to help them.
- Freak Out: After watching the broadcast of Luz and Eda's execution, a horrified Amity begins destroying her room, only stopping when Puck shows up.
- The Ghost: Dipper is mentioned by Gus, while Calypso is mentioned talking to Odalia.
- Groin Attack: Before being brought before Belos, Luz attempts to escape, kicking two guards in the crotch only to be recaptured.
- Heel Realization: Boscha realizes her actions helped lead to Luz and Eda's capture and listening to her mother obliterated her social life.
- Heroic Vow: Before leaving Blight Manor, Puck has Amity promise him that she'll learn from her mistakes and keep moving forward.
- Hypocrite: Belos calls out Lilith for using Amity to spy on Luz, completely ignoring the fact that he's been using Hunter for the exact same reason.
- Inner Thoughts, Outsider Puzzlement: As it turns out, when Puck's shadow speaks to him, only he can hear them. King sees Puck talking to himself, but Hooty doesn't think it's strange.
- In Spite of a Nail: Belos claims the portal to the human realm, Eda is still ordered to be petrified and King vows to help rescue her while Willow and Gus attempt to find their own way to help.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Upon being told Luz is a cambion, Eda states there's no proof that they exist as she's never seen one. Cue Belos taking off his glove to show them the scales covering his entire hand.
- Internal Reveal:
- Eda learns about Lilith's death, how she cursed her, and along with Gus, about Luz's transformations.
- Luz, Eda and Hunter discover Belos is actually a human.
- Luz's existence is publicly revealed to the rest of the Isles.
- It Is Not Your Time: Whoever's reviving Lilith says neither he nor the living are done with her yet.
- It's All About Me: Boscha accuses Nicole of this in regards to upholding the Hieron family name through petty revenge.
- Meaningful Name: The chapter's title comes from the many major character revelations up to this point, namely the truth behind Luz's condition.
- Misfit Mobilization Moment: King and Puck decide to team up to save Luz and Eda, with Puck recruiting Amity while Anu Bist joins and nominates Lilith in aiding them.
- Multi-Part Episode: This is the first part of Book 1's finale.
- My Way or the Highway: The Emperor gives Luz one choice: ally with him or suffer. She naturally refuses and he orders her death, which she doesn't realize is a Batman Gambit to draw Puck in.
- "Not So Different" Remark: When everyone refuses to ask Lilith for help, Anu Bist says that they all made mistakes, not just her, which ultimately got Luz and Eda in this mess.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Emperor Belos offers to teach Luz how to utilize her abilities as long as she aligns with him.
- Point of Divergence: To the beginning of "Young Blood, Old Souls":
- Luz is ordered to be petrified alongside Eda for refusing to join a coven. However, Belos is only using them as bait to lure in someone he plans to actually kill. And along with King, Amity plans to free them with Raine taking the same initiative.
- Luz, Hunter, and Eda all learn Belos used to be human instead of taking until "Hollow Mind" and "Edge of the World" respectively to connect the dots. The former and the latter also see Belos without his mask, which didn't happen until "Follies at the Coven Day Parade".
- Precision F-Strike: Luz gives one to Belos after he makes his offer to join him.
- Real After All: Look a few sections down to know about Puck and Ms. Traveler.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After the Emperor tells Luz that many witches benefit from the coven system, Luz goes into a long, detailed tangent about how he thinks it's the only way to do magic, he enforces a "survival of the fittest" ideology while stomping out individuality in favor of conformity and that the entirety of it all is because he's a massive Control Freak who wants to stop witches from using different types of magic. He just laughs it off and says she's full of surprises.
- The Reveal: It's the chapter title for a reason.
- Luz and Emperor Belos are revealed to be cambions (humans infused with magic), having evolved from their time in the Boiling Isles.
- It's also revealed that Luz's bracelet really isn't a Power Nullifier, just a placebo to help her subconsciously keep her transformation under control.
- Luz stole the portal key when she ran off and threw it into a lake in the Forest of Fear during a fit of rage.
- Puck was the Peter Pan, he discovered and lived in Neverland after being banished from the fae homeworld Avalon by Oberon, and his promise was to Wendy Darling. And the reason he kept calling Amity "Pixie Dust" was because she reminded him of Tinker Bell.
- Ms. Traveler is also the real Mary Poppins, and became a guidance counselor to make up for her past mistakes.
- Puck's shadow can only be heard by Puck: to everyone else, he's talking to himself.
- Vanz Ator is the one who freed Anu Bist from his lamp. In turn, Anu is the one who had Vanz give Luz the bracelet.
- Luz and Emperor Belos are revealed to be cambions (humans infused with magic), having evolved from their time in the Boiling Isles.
- Shout-Out:
- The promise Puck has Amity make has her agree to "keep moving forward".
- The conversation between Vanz Ator and Anu Bist regarding freeing the jackal is just like the one between Aladdin and Genie. It also ends with Anu Bist being freed from his lamp just like Genie was.
- Spanner in the Works: Neither Eda nor Belos expected Luz to steal and throw away the portal key, ruining Eda's chance to send her to the human realm and stalling Belos' plans since he can't open the portal without it.
- The Stool Pigeon: Steve, who was part of Kikimora's squad that attempted to interrogate Amity, rats Kiki out to the Emperor for taking action against the Blights, thus defying his orders.
- Take That!: Puck makes a dig at both the stereotypical Native Americans of Neverland and how messed up it was for him to cut off Captain Hook's hand and feed it to the crocodile.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: As Belos reveals to Luz the nature of her condition, Viney, Gus, and Willow have a similar discussion about Luz evolving.
- Undying Loyalty: Although Lilith is MIA, Steve continues to look over the Blights for her.
- The Un-Reveal: Belos offers to show Luz what really happened the night Camila died but she refuses, wanting to find out for herself.
- Unseen No More: After a mention in "Grom: The Musical (Part 2)", Perry's co-worker Felicity Fox appears interviewing Kikimora about Eda's capture.
- Villain Respect: After Luz gives her "Reason You Suck" Speech, Belos commemorates her for her spirit, calling her a special child.
- The Voiceless: Edric only has a non-speaking cameo.
- We Can Rule Together: Belos tells Luz that being human makes them the same and offers her the chance to join his coven, master her cambion form and protect the Isles. Her refusal leads to him ordering her and Eda's petrification.
- Wham Episode: Luz's transformations are explained by Belos who underwent the same thing, Belos claims the portal only to learn Luz lost the key which results in her and Eda being sentenced to petrification, Puck and Julia's backstories are revealed, Puck banishes his shadow for keeping his past secret, Lilith is found by a stranger who begins healing her and Raine plans a rescue attempt with Amity, King, Puck and Anu teaming up to do the same while finding Lilith to complete their team.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Once again, Emira adresses Amity by her name instead of by "Mittens" after watching the announcement for the petrification ceremony.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Belos is not pleased to hear that Luz threw the portal key away in the Forest of Fear.
