LC's Sidetrack: Grim Grinning Ghosts
Art by Crash X Fusion: With so many ghosts, they're never alone in the dark.
Luz, Eda and King once went to a haunting party, while someone tells a tale...
Tropes that appear in this chapter:
- Accidental Misnaming: Eda mispronounces Jean Lafitte as "Lafayette". Later Luz calls the butler "Alfred", which was just her being Luz as the Clawthornes didn't bother to learn his name.
- Bait-and-Switch: Last we saw Grimhilde and Sunny, it looked like the Evil Queen was planning to kill her. But it turns out she just came by to have a chat with Sunny after Dr. Facilier told her to seek closure on her past.
- The Bus Came Back: After 61 chapters (68 with the extra content, and over a year of waiting), we finally, finally, see Vanz Ator again and learn of his fate.
- Call-Back: Vanz Ator's fate following Grimhilde having Bloody Mary attack him in "The Ballad of Eda, Part 2" is disclosed at last.
- Call-Forward: The guide who directs the Clawthornes to Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is dressed as Alastor.
- The Cameo:
- Hooty welcomes Luz, Eda, and King home after they spent all night partying in the Mansion.
- Celine has a brief role when she summons Shorty for some reason and he recounts how he met the Clawthornes.
- Scabrina makes a silent cameo as Grimhilde talks with Sunny, who's still watching her.
- Character Development: Grimhilde hated Sunny just for resembling Snow White and being so alike personality-wise; now she sees that Sunny is her own person and not a reincarnation of her former stepdaughter. Grimhilde also sees that her desire for revenge against her enemies after being trapped in the Magic Mirror for centuries, doomed to answer people's questions and grant their wishes, was simply her need to be in control again and she merely wants to move on from it now.
- Composite Character: Amicus Arcane is just the librarian of the Haunted Mansion in its Tales book series, but in the LCU he serves as the Ghost Host.
- Crossover: With The Haunted Mansion and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- Cute Monster Girl: Jan, a teenage ghost girl, is considered cute by 12-year-old Luz.
- A Day in the Limelight: Grimhilde has some Character Focus for the second half of the chapter as we see her backstory and perspective on the events of her life during her reign as the Evil Queen and attempts to kill Snow White.
- Embarrassing Animal Suit: Implied. To fit with the motif of the Clawthorne's pirate costumes, King is forced to dress as a parrot while they're on Earth.
- Eye Scream: Grimhilde sics a murder of crows on the village girls who picked on her so they peck out the girls' eyes, rendering them blind.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Maleficent had caused Grimhilde's rise in becoming the Evil Queen by impersonating a fairy godmother and giving her a spellbook so she could use magic to get everything she wanted in life.
- Green-Eyed Monster: As a young maiden, Grimhilde attracted the men in the village she lived near and the jealous local girls bullied her as a result.
- Halfway Plot Switch: After Shorty finished telling his story to Celine, the sidetrack switches to Grimhilde telling Sunny and Scabrina her life story.
- Halloween Episode: Set on Halloween 2010, the Clawthornes spend this Halloween in New Orleans, Louisiana exploring its haunts and wind up on a tour through the Haunted Mansion.
- Hidden Depths: While dancing with Jan, Luz mentions she trained in street dancing so she could learn Capoeira.
- How We Got Here: The first half of the sidetrack has Shorty telling Celine the story of how he met the Clawthornes two years ago. When he's done, things shift gears to show how Grimhilde grew to become the Evil Queen.
- Internal Reveal: Grimhilde tells Sunny and Scabrina about her past and warns Sunny that Terra isn't trustworthy, but doesn't explain why.
- Lampshade Hanging: After Shorty finished recollecting his story, Celine asks how he knew about all the stuff the Clawthornes went through if he wasn't present for it. When Shorty tries to answer, he repeats her question as confused as she is.
- Mythology Gag: Eda's pirate costume is the ship-robber getup she uses in "Separate Tides".
- Noodle Incident: There's four in a row for the Clawthornes;
- Eda traded goods with mermaids from the Mississippi River in the past.
- The last time Eda got drunk in the Human Realm, she committed a hit & run while flying her staff.
- Luz apparently smuggled a barrel of maple syrup across the Canadian border to make a quick buck.
- The Clawthornes once committed a dine & dash, but not much else is given.
- One-Steve Limit: Gus of the Hitchhiker's Ghosts slightly defies this when Luz tells him about her friend of the same name, so he asks to be called "Shorty".
- Out of Focus: Like in "Party at the Bones Yard", the rest of the main cast is absent since Luz, Eda, and King are on Earth celebrating Halloween, with Hooty only making a cameo when they return home.
- The Reveal:
- Maleficent impersonated a fairy godmother and orchestrated Grimhilde's rise to royalty and the events which led to her death and entrapment in the magic mirror while Snow White got her happy ending.
- Bloody Mary approached Grimhilde to make a deal which led to them trapping Vanz Ator in the magic mirror and freeing the Evil Queen.
- Shout-Out:
- The Clawthornes dress as pirates with King dressed up like a parrot, and the MoringMark comic "Nap"
note showed the same thing, only with Raine instead of Luz. - Luz's pirate costume is a mashup of Monkey D. Luffy, Cap'n Crunch, and Captain Harlock.
- Since the Clawthornes were in New Orleans this Halloween past, Tiana's Palace is given a mention.
- Luz calls Charles, the butler of the Haunted Mansion, "Alfred".
- The Clawthornes dress as pirates with King dressed up like a parrot, and the MoringMark comic "Nap"
- Vagueness Is Coming: Sunny is left worryingly wondering what Grimhilde means by how Terra can't be trusted and she should leave the Isles with her family soon.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Twofold. The first was told by Shorty, the other told by Grimhilde.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The Haunted Mansion makes an appearance with the chapter using the prologue of the 2023 movie starting things off, the Clawthornes spending Halloween there, and characters from the ride showing up.
- Wham Line: Grimhilde's godmother calls the raven "Diablo", revealing herself to be Maleficent.
