http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/LuzClawthorneInterludeWhatIfEdaFoundEmily

Interlude: What If... Eda found Emily?

The Guardian decides to show two timelines: one where Eda adopted Emily after she was cursed, and another where things in Gravity Falls are far more abnormal...

Tropes that appear in this Chapter:

Adaptation Deviation:
- For the Emily AU; because Eda takes in Emily, the illusionist grows up in the Owl House as part of Luz's family. At some point, Emily was enrolled into Hexside, learned the Drakescales were her cousins sooner, and stopped Luz from developing her rivalry with Boscha. Plus Glandus High keeps their Illusion track, of which Batters is a member of instead of the Bard track.
- For the Reverse Falls universe; Archibald Corduroy succeeded in leading a revolt against Nathaniel Northwest for breaking his word, and after Nathaniel mysteriously disappeared and his family left Gravity Falls, Northwest Manor was left abandoned for over a century until McGucket bought the place.
Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Being taken in by Eda leads to Emily becoming a Clawthorne, making her Luz and King's sister, Lilith's niece and a cousin to the rest of the Clawthorne clan, including the Drakescales. This also leads to Luz knowing Cross and Zee are her cousins sooner, and Emily being friends with Willow, Gus, and the Blight siblings. Naturally, this means Emily and Zee's relationship is familial rather than implied-romantic.
Adaptational Early Appearance: Emily, Nina, the Drakescale siblings, the Glandus top students (excluding Bangles), Dusty, Danny, Sarah, Teri, Batters, Fan, Kevin Shrubs, and Meg all debut during the events of "Covention" instead of in Book 2.
Adaptational Explanation: The reason why flying brooms are being manufactured in the Boiling Isles, according to the Emily AU, are to replace witch's staffs due the palisman/palistrom shortages.
Adaptational Jerkass: Numerous characters in the Reverse Falls timeline, with Thompson being a bully, Candy and Grenda being more standoff-ish with Candy insulting Pacifica with every sentence, and Bud and his wife being abusive to Gideon and forcing him to work in their tourist trap while threatening him to stop undermining McGucket, who serves as a benefactor to the Museum of Mystery.
Adoptive Name Change: Becoming Eda's daughter leads to Emily Tricks being known to everyone as Emily T. Clawthorne.
All for Nothing: Nina only went to the Covention because she thought Donna would be there. She eventually discovers that Donna's at the beach with her mothers and says she and her gang should've gone there instead.
Alternate Self: Everyone in this chapter qualifies due to being variants of the main timeline's characters, but special mention goes to the human Amity Blight in the Reverse Falls universe, who's friends with Pacifica.
Ambiguous Situation: With the way that the Emily AU ended, does it imply that Maleficent is the woman observing her in "Coming Off a Little Shystream"?
Ascended Extra: Deuce, the Doppelgänger of Soos who works at the Tent of Telepathy in Gravity Falls, gets to speak when talking with Robert Valentino.
The Berserker: Likely as a result of her pent up anger towards Eda, Emily gives Nina an aggressive beating and would've likely killed her had Eda not come in time.
Bloodier and Gorier: Emily has always lost control to the point of spilling blood in the main LCU timeline, but her counterpart here resorts to using her bare hands over a long period of time to do so, whereas our Emily only used daggers for a quick death.
Bully Hunter: Emily initially comes across as this since she saves Kevin and Dusty from Nina's wrath, but the outcome of their duel heavily implies she wanted to end Nina from the start.
The Cameo:
- Meg is seen manning the stand for the Artist Coven.
- Danny is shown trying to get people to sign up for the Witch Scouts only for Fan to mess with his sign.
- Teri appears working at a stand promoting his father's company.
- Blind Ivan appears as McGucket's butler serving him a drink.
Crossover: The second half of the chapter branches into the LCU's take of the Reverse Falls AU.
Crush Blush: Luz has one when she sees Amity squeeing, which prompts some teasing from Emily.
Curb-Stomp Battle: At first the duel between Emily and Nina is one-sided due to Nina using her enhancements to mess with Emily and prolong her suffering. However, Emily planned on it and uses her glyph combos to turn the tide; this doesn't satisfy Emily, and she proceeds to brutally pound Nina until she's covered in the werecat's blood, which is when Eda arrives and separates them.
A Day in the Limelight:
- The Emily Clawthorne AU shows how Emily would have to adjust to being raised under the Owl Lady and keeping Luz out of trouble.
- The LCU Reverse Falls AU shows Pacifica teaming up with Gideon Pines and trying to uncover the "Northwest curse" that's been plaguing Gravity Falls for years.
Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: After King gets hit with a Covention poster, Eda notes that schools are closed when one is held. This causes her to figure out why Emily was so eager to leave the house: because she was going to the Covention and bringing Luz with her.
Failed a Spot Check: Emily's so determined to make connections with Lilith, she completely fails to see that her shadow doesn't match her.
Five-Second Foreshadowing: "Lilith" requests Emily to refer to her as her fairy godmother, before we see her shadow revealing that it was Maleficent in disguise.
Foreshadowing: Before they go see the Gleeful twins' show, Gideon warns Pacifica not to trust the siblings when they meet afterward and goes on to explain how he doesn't trust anybody in Gravity Falls, including them. At the end of the chapter, Gideon himself shows signs of not being trustworthy and taking advantage of Pacifica.
The Gadfly:
- Emily is fully aware that Luz has a crush on Amity and teases her about it by forcing Luz to spend time with her and asking if she thinks the youngest Blight is cute.
- Lampshaded when Emily remarks that Zee would tease Cross endlessly if her theory that he had a secret girlfriend and was always sneaking off to meet her was correct, which Zee shamelessly confirms.
The Ghost:
- Willow mentions the detention trackers and the Banshees were in attendance at the Covention: only Cat physically appears.
- Donna is mentioned to have been on a family beach trip the day of the Covention.
Halfway Plot Switch: The first half shows an AU where Emily is raised by Eda, while the second half shows an AU where everyone in Gravity Falls is the opposite.
Hidden Depths: While an Alternate Timeline, Danny is shown to be a member of the Witch Scouts.
Horrible Judge of Character: Pacifica, but it's justified. Gideon warns her to not trust anyone in Gravity Falls because she doesn't know how things work there, but she naturally trusts him. It's later implied that Gideon is manipulating Pacifica himself for his own purposes.
Hulking Out: Tinella Nosa undergoes such a transformation after taking one of Sarah's potions and proceeds to rampage through the hall.
If Only You Knew: Zee calls Luz lucky that she'll not have to worry about being branded with a sigil should she join a coven, not looking forward to it herself. Remember what Prime LCU Zee went through when it did?
In Spite of a Nail:
- For the alternate Emily timeline;
  - Luz still ends up being tutored by Amity and developing feelings for her sooner, not to mention being forced to go to the Covention.
  - Cross still ends up becoming the Golden Guard working under Adrian Graye's thumb. The Golden Guard also becomes a spy, but not for Belos.
  - Like in the "Lilith raised Luz" timeline, Nina has risen to become the Queen of Glandus High.
  - Glinda is implied to have feelings for Emily even though they don't go to the same school.
- For the Reverse Falls timeline;
  - A child of the Pines family gets access to Journal #3 while a Gleeful has acquired Journal #2.
  - The events of the first three Gravity Falls episodes have already occurred.
  - Pacifica still seems to have become close with Amity.
  - Stan is still working on something hidden behind an object in his home.
Last-Second Word Swap: Pacifica nearly says her actual last name when introducing herself to the Gleeful twin, and switches to "Southeast" when Gideon catches her in time. This doesn't make a difference as the twins figure out who she is later.
The Mole: Adrian has Cross working as the Golden Guard and spying on Emily, and it's clear this has been going on for a while if Cross' conflicted expression at telling the head witch things about his cousin gives anything away.
Morality Pet: Emily acts as such for Luz, keeping her out of trouble and trying to guide her towards finding her own future instead of emulating Eda.
Mythology Gag: When Pacifica meets the Gleeful twins, she introduces herself as "Pacifica Southeast", her usual name in the Reverse Falls series.
One-Steve Limit:
- Highlighted with Emily and Emira calling each other "Em" when they meet up.
- After Gideon mentions that one of Sheriff Dan's sons is named Kevin, Gretel points to her brother and says that his name is Kevin as well.
Only Sane Woman: It's clear Emily sees herself as the most responsible person in the Owl House, disapproving of Eda's parenting style and supporting Luz being a hellraiser while attempting to coerce Luz into joining a coven so she can have a better future than she could being like their mother.
Perverted Sniffing: In her intimidation tactics towards Emily, Nina says she could smell her out among her illusion doubles. Emily makes this backfire by saying how creepy that is, ticking Nina off even more.
Point of Divergence: Before Terra could find Emily and indoctrinate her into the Tarot Guild, Eda finds her in her abandoned home and adopts her. As a result, Emily grows up to be Luz's big sister and Hexside's top illusion student.
The Resenter: While Emily is grateful towards Eda for taking responsibility for cursing her and raising her, she grew up holding some hatred over the Owl Lady for cursing her to begin with. She blames Eda for her parents abandoning her, having no idea of the true reason why: it gets to the point that she tells Eda she's not her real mother before running off.
Running Gag: Emily using illusions to give her family the slip, and their complaining that she keeps doing so once it disappears.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Tiny Nose turns into Big Nose and proceeds to start rampaging through the covention center, Sarah slinks off to avoid being implemented in the destruction.
Ship Tease: Stella greets Emily when she confronts Nina and shows concern for her after she challenges the werecat to a witch's duel.
Shout-Out:
- When Tiny Nose drinks one of Sarah's potions, she proceeds to turn big and green with a desire to smash things.
- To give Eda and Emily enough time to escape, Luz distracts Lilith by asking if she's ever heard of Sam-I-Am.
- Among the visitors to the Museum of Mystery are the Grant-Gomez family, Pepper Ann, Lunella Lafayette, and Steve Barkin.
Signs of Disrepair: Fan alters the sign of the Witch Scouts stand Danny's working at so it says "Snitch Scouts". Luz is naturally amused by this.
What Were You Thinking?: After stopping Emily from beating Nina to death, Eda takes Emily outside and lectures her for bringing Luz to the Covention. This sparks a heated argument about Eda's parenting and Luz wanting to be like her.
You're Not My Mother: Hitting her breaking point when Eda says she has a right as her mother to lecture her, Emily yells that she's not her real mother before disappearing, causing Eda to figure out she was chewing out an illusion.