Chapter 142: The Day of Unity
As everyone recovers from a devastating loss, the Day of Unity is about to happen...
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Adaptation Deviation: To "King's Tide" and "Watching and Dreaming"; The Draining Spell has been disrupted for real, Willow got branded so she'd be used for said spell, and King gets to meet Papa Titan, who dies which likely prevents the possibility of Luz ever meeting him.
- All for Nothing:
- The reason Belos had Firebees burn down Torsa Villa is to keep the werecats from uprising, and they end up revolting against the loyalists.
- The only reason Alador replaced Darius as Abomination coven head was to protect Amity from Belos, but thanks to Ulrich's actions all that effort went to waste. As such, he spends the entire battle against the coven heads making his anger to the constructionist clear.
- And I Must Scream: Luz spends the entire chapter running for her life from the Horned King within her mind, which shows the Boiling Isles as a barren, decaying wasteland where figments of her enemies (Emily as the Glandus Queen, Demon-Puck, Trini, and Terra) and the recently-killed Amity harangue her for causing their misery. Eventually, Luz stands up to all of them before facing down the Horned King, which is when she unlocks her Titan form thanks to The Power of Love.
- Artificial Limbs: To get by in battle after losing her hand to Lupe, Donna has a new one made of abomination matter put on her wrist. Naturally, it's taking her some getting used to.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite the potential drama Maya stirred up when Luz met Barbara and unintentionally antagonized her, the dhampir still appears among Luz's loved ones when she stands up to the Horned King, showing that Luz truly has no hard feelings towards her other cousin.
- Back from the Dead: Thanks to Puck's ritual and the assistance of Papa Titan, Amity is reborn as a full Fae, bringing King back to the mortal realm with her.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Subverted. Emily and Willow dupe Beluz into thinking Emily was dedicated to the covens to lure him into a false sense of confidence so he wouldn't see Emily's betrayal coming. This disrupts the Draining Spell and gives the girls time to reach the Head and free Hunter and Eclipsa from their shackles.
- Batman Gambit: Unable to attack Osran so long as he's got salt on him and standing in a circle made of the stuff, Ester curses him so that all the pain he inflicted on people, especially Zee, will affect him once he steps out of the circle. Needless to say, Osran doesn't admit he's nervous, but knows that he's trapped.
- Berserk Button: Osran presses Alador's Papa Wolf instinct by insulting Amity and saying she deserved to die for being a fae. Alador proceeds to take his own abomination form to overpower them.Vitimir: You just had to piss him off, didn't you, Osran?!
- Big Damn Reunion: In an unexpected and unforeseen twist, Cana reunites with Bela before the Day of Unity occurs, relieved that her sister is still alive. Though taken off guard, Bela returns the hug her twin gives her.
- Big "WHAT?!":
- Beluz when he sees that Emily played him for a sucker.
- Vitimir when Alador knocks out Osran in order to stop him from draining magic.
- Broken Pedestal: Belos becomes a hated man in the eyes of Eclipsa, who's appalled by how he just killed Amity after promising her he wouldn't harm her. Eclipsa comes to see that Belos makes nothing but hollow promises and figures if he's still searching for Meteora, it's likely to kill her for being a fae, too.
- The Bus Came Back:
- After returning to Neverland at the end of "Resolutions", Puck comes back to the Isles per Kitsuni's request to help the Bad Girl Coven revive Amity.
- Perfect Gell, Hermit J. Frog, and Driva Naga are all seen again since "Brawl Night, Part 2" and "Helluva Dad", fighting against the loyalists.
- Other fighters are Ray and Silent G, and they both haven't been seen since "See the Blight".
- Nazgul, who hasn't been seen since "The Steve Chapter", returns as one of Henry and Raw's revolutionary members.
- Call-Back:
- As the Draining Spell begins, Beluz says "checkmate" in victorious satisfaction. This reminds us of Belos seeing his plans like a game of chess and taking the king (Luz) after going through the pawns, as he said he would in "Family Group Therapy".
- Baron Samedi's tarot readings for Luz and Amity from "Stranger Danger" finally come true; Luz is nearly consumed by the darkness of her mind caused by the Horned King, but overcomes it and becomes a full Titan, and Amity is reborn as a full Fae after Papa Titan uses his power to help bring her back to life.
- Once again, Osran decides to insult someone's dead relative during a battle and it plays into him starting to lose.
- Connected All Along: Tina's spider palisman, Scruff Webstor, is Judd's former companion, whom he left with the Bat Queen to avoid turning him over to the Emperor's Coven before he became a scout.
- Continuity Cameo: Standing alongside Luz's loved ones are the Longs, Randy, Anne, Sprig, Marcy, Blitz, Loona, Moxxie, and the Echo Creek trio.
- Continuity Cavalcade:
- Boscha reminds her remaining friends of Lumity's heroics from Pleasure Island, to rescuing Gus from Emily, to Luz stopping her from committing suicide, to rescuing their brothers from the Underworld, and stopping Terra and the Inner Demon from destroying the Isles.
- When Papa Titan reminds Amity of how she inspired her family to be better, her talks with each member of her family are seen in memories.
- Continuity Nod:
- Hunter calls out Belos for breaking his promises, specifically towards protecting the Torso Villa for William. This leads to Belos admitting he sent Firebees to burn the reserve down.
- To bring Amity back to life, Puck, the Clawthorne sisters, the Blights, and the BGC bury her at the Grom tree due to its significance to her.
- Beluz remembers Abel's advice following Terra's betrayal when he remembers that Abel recommended Emily to replace Adrian.
- Crazy-Prepared: Belos, aware that Calypso escaped from the Healing Coven, had Sunny captured so she would replace the now vampiric ex-head witch in the Draining Spell. Additionally, he prevented the rebellion from storming the Head to disrupt the spell's activation by activating the force field functions of the abomitons, which prevent an attack from underground as well.
- Cry into Chest: Sort of. When Lindsay starts crying over Amity and King's deaths, she buries her face into Cross' shoulder.
- Darkest Hour: Amity and King are dead and Luz is now fused with Belos, robbing everyone of hope that the Day of Unity can be stopped. With Willow branded, Sunny being used in place of Calypso, and Belos having successfully created a new portal key using the titan blood he got from King, he now has everything he needs to pull off his plans and unleash the Horned King on humanity.
- Didn't Think This Through: Osran clearly didn't learn from his battle with Zee. He makes the mistake of telling Alador to his face that Amity deserved to die at Belos' hands for being a fae, but that just pisses Alador off enough to use his own abomination exoskeleton form against the loyalist coven heads. Vitimir even calls the oracle head out for holding the Idiot Ball.
- Dirty Coward: Apple, given that she retreated to Hell until the Day of Unity had passed.
- Disney Death: While Beocrow and Hikari are officially declared dead, Amity and King's souls are pulled into the In Between by Papa Titan and sent back to their bodies.
- Duality Motif: When Amity's reborn as a full fae, she has different colored eyes. Her left eye remains pink, but her right regains its original gold color.
- Evil Costume Switch: With Luz under his control, Belos dresses her up in his emperor robes to make the transition complete.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: While giving Emily a Disappointed in You speech over her betrayal, Belos suddenly remembers that Abel was the one who suggested that she replace her father for the Draining Spell. This makes Belos realize that his mentor has betrayed him.
- Face Death with Dignity: As the eclipse draws near, Boils casually begins smoking before switching to drinking when Faust complains, telling his gang it's been an honor to fight with them as they also accept their deaths.
- Fighting Your Friend: Because Belos has Luz under his control, Willow has to face her best friend alongside Emily after the illusionist sabotages the Day of Unity.
- Fist of Rage: After Belos confirms that he enlisted Firebees to burn down the Torso Villa, we get a shot of Emily clenching both of her fists in silent fury. It really shows how hard she had to hold back before she blew her plan.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: There were clear hints that the Draining Spell hadn't been fully activated. Every time someone was affected by it, they were either oracles, healers, potionists, or constructionists. Anyone branded with the sigils of the other five covens were shown beginning to feel the effects, but the scene changed without showing them collapsing.
- Foreshadowing: Before the Draining Spell is activated, Willow sarcastically states that she at least has someone to rely on while glaring at Emily. It turns out that she meant it, and was acting.
- Groin Attack: Using her threading needle, Tabrella brings down several loyalists by directing her needle through their kneecaps and their crotches.
- Guile Hero
- Heroic BSoD: Luz's possession and Amity & King's deaths take a heavy toll on all of their loved ones, with Eda and Emira crying nonstop and Eda blaming herself for the latter two's deaths. When Puck shows up saying that Amity can be saved, they all jump at the chance to pull it off.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Maya manages to save Luz from the Horned King, but it comes at the cost of having her soul absorbed by it herself. Despite this, Maya is glad to have done it since Luz has already done enough for her.
- In Spite of a Nail: Someone meets Papa Titan in the In Between Realm and is returned to the world of the living by him, and Luz gains her canon Titan form, with a few new mods. Oh, and Vitimir's hat is still ruined, but he takes it much more seriously this time.
- Internal Reveal:
- The heroes at St. Epiderm discover that Belos killed Amity and King along with possessing Luz.
- Belos learns that Gus and Camila are in the Human Realm.
- Hunter gets Belos to admit to Emily and Eclipsa that he orchestrated the destruction of the Torso Villa to prevent an uprising from the werecats.
- Puck officially meets the members of the Bad Girl Coven he traumatized in addition to the others, Odalia, Geist, Star, and Tom for the first time.
- I Shall Taunt You: Since Emily ruined his plans, Belos goes to end her life, but she spends the entire battle spouting insults at him as she uses her new powers (which he hadn't seen until now) in unison with Willow's magic to evade him.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Once Hunter and Eclipsa are freed and Beluz arrives at the Head for revenge, Emily tells the former prisoners to escape while she and Willow hold the emperor off. When Hunter tries to argue, Emily points out he's down an arm and a Flapjack and that Eclipsa's basically useless (which she assumes, but Eclipsa admits is true), so the two head off.
- Later during said fight, Emily keeps telling Willow not to hold her punches against Beluz as Belos is who they're fighting, not Luz. Just as they have them on the ropes, Belos exploits Willow's bond with Luz by telling her she'd be harming her best friend rather than him. When Willow hesitates, Belos strikes only for Emily to get her out of the way (and brag about being right).
- Kneel Before Zod: When Beluz asks for the coven heads to bow to them, Napoli refuses but Belos forces him to do anyway so along with Willow, Alador, and Sunny. The other heads and Emily do so on their own, with Emily briefly hesitating.
- Killed Off for Real:
- Maya sacrifices herself for Luz to keep the Horned King from devouring her soul.
- When Malphas learns of Amity's death from Gavin, he proceeds to kill all the normal and S.C.O.R.N. scouts who approach the library in vengeance.
- The Leader: A group of leaders have been chosen to command specific groups in addition to the CAT's. They consist of Raine, Everwolf, Bunker (acting as Eber's translator), Beck, Samwitch, Damien, Drayden, and Staggertarious.
- Losing the Team Spirit: Losing Luz, Amity, and King has a devastating effect on the heroes, to the point they nearly give up and accept that Belos beat them until Boscha starts saying otherwise.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The sight of the moon getting into position for the eclipse causes all the revolutionaries across the Isles to panic and fear they've run out of time to stop Belos from activating the Draining Spell.
- Metaphorically True: When telling the loyalist leaders why he possessed Luz, Belos tells them that Luz's body was altered from growing up in the Isles, then proceeds to give them some spiel about the Titan telling him to possess Luz in order to free her of the pain she accumulated in her life.
- Mythology Gag: When the Horned King is showing Luz his history, there's a scene of him on a skeletal horse serving as a general for Chernabog. This makes him resemble the Horned King as he appears in The Chronicles of Prydain series, upon which The Black Cauldron was based.
- Near-Death Experience: King and Amity go through this following Belos' killing them. The trauma of seeing Luz stab her nearly causes Amity to descend into the waters of the In Between, until King and Papa Titan tell her that Luz's actions were not her own. After speaking for a while, Papa Titan sends them both back to the living world to do their part in stopping Belos.
- Not Afraid of You Anymore: Mixed with the beginnings of The Dog Bites Back. All season, Luz and Maya have been terrified of facing the Horned King again ever since their first encounter. While trapped with him in Luz's mind, Maya gives her life to save Luz from the dark entity. As for Luz, she resists all of the Horned King's attempts to break her by defeating the shadows of her past and the fact that she had a unwilling hand in Amity's death as her love for everyone she cares about dead or alive keeps the Horned King at bay, allowing her to unlock her Titan form.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Disgusted and angry with Ulrich for his actions causing his daughter's death, Alador denounces the construction head as being no better than Terra. After a brief pause, Ulrich agrees before fighting back harder.
- Now You Tell Me: While getting everything ready for Amity's revival, Puck mentions that the ritual will work and either bring Amity back fully, bring her back but without her memories due to the trauma of her death, or she'll go insane. Boscha snaps and lambasts him for not bringing it up before they buried Amity's body.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Amity's rebirth makes her hair longer, along with giving her green highlights and brown bangs.
- The Power of Acting: Emily manages to pull off lying to Belos and pretending she's loyal to his cause so he'll never expect her treachery. Willow pretends to act like Emily hasn't seen sense, but isn't complimented for her acting afterward.
- The Power of Love: Two cases regarding both halves of Lumity.
- During his pep talk to Amity, Papa Titan lampshades the corny truth behind Abra creating Adam because he wanted his son back, an act he performed out of love. Just as Abra helped others, Amity brought out the best in her family after learning from her mistakes.
- The Horned King tries to break Luz's spirit by reminding her of her mistakes, taking Maya's soul, and telling her that she's all alone and there's no one left to save her, all to add her to its list of victims. But Luz doesn't fold; her bonds with her family, friends, and allies protect her from its power, as it feeds off hate, but the love she has repells it.
- Raised Hand of Survival: Amity's hand pops out of the ground as she comes back to life, right before her full fae appearance is revealed.
- The Reveal:
- Cross and Emily went ahead with freeing Jacob from his cell, but he disappeared.
- The coven heads were brought to the Titan's Skull, including Willow (who was branded with the plant sigil soon after she was moved), Hunter, Eclipsa, and Sunny (whom Belos captured to replace Calypso in case she got away.)
- Scruff Webstor used to belong to Judd, whom left him under the Bat Queen's custody when he joined the Emperor's Coven. When Judd escaped from prison and split off from the BAT's, he went to get Scruff back only to learn that Tina adopted him.
- Emily's plan was to slip herself, Willow, Alador, Sunny, and Napoli away and replace them with illusions just as the eclipse began.
- The Horned King was a general of Chernabog's army, and was sealed into the Titan's bones by someone who wielded Donna's keyblade. That is why Belos had Donna captured: if the Draining Spell failed, he'd just use her to free the Horned King.
- Papa Titan spoke to Abra at the Knee after the Lost Generation incident; he taught Abra how to make abominations and how to give them a soul.
- Papa Titan attempted to contact Amity during her training at the Knee, which is how Phil became sentient. Papa Titan also reveals Phil isn't gone.
- Rousing Speech: The Bad Girl Coven feels like the heroes have lost now that Luz and Amity are gone, but Boscha refuses to accept the hand Belos has forced on them. She builds everyone's confidence back up by reminding them of all the times Luz and Amity put their lives on the line for the people they care about, and now it's time they did the same by finding a way to bring Amity back and saving Luz from Belos.
- Security Cling: As the eclipse begins and Zee shows fear from losing her magic, Drayden pulls her into a hug as he and Cross do their best to comfort her.
- Sequel Hook:
- If Kitsuni's getting help, then maybe the Order will finally be taking action and dealing with a real threat.
- Belos can still free the Horned King using Donna's keyblade, and she's heading to the head right now still thinking the Draining Spell is underway...
- Shout-Out:
- The Horned King's speech to Luz references the Lich's speeches to Finn and the King of Ooo.
- Tabrella channels Yondu by whistling to direct a needle the same way he uses his arrow.
- During Willow and Emily's battle with Beluz, the illusionist states "here lies Belos' hopes and dreams".
- Luz blocks off the Horned King from attacking her using a projection of all her loved ones, just as Peter did against Venom and Sora did against Xigbar.
- Spanner in the Works: Emily and Abel, big time. Emily relied on Belos' obsession with Luz and her family, combined with his assumption that her kissing up to Adrian meant he had her loyalty as well, to enact her plan to sabotage the Draining Spell at the last minute. Abel, on the other hand, recommended Emily as Adrian's replacement the first place, making him the true saboteur of the Day of Unity...for...some reason.
- That Woman Is Dead: In order to be reborn as a full fae, Amity has to give up the Goodfellow name and retake her family name. At first she hesitates believing she's unworthy of the Blight name after taking her family for granted, but Papa Titan telling her that she's the first worthy member of Abra's descendants since Abra himself for using her gifts to help the Isles just as he did and making amends with her family convinces her to do so.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Seeing Amity and King's lifeless bodies and learning that Luz has been lost causes Cross to give off one, not even registering Lindsay crying into his shoulder.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Having lost her own son not even a few hours before Eda lost hers, Denise comforts Eda the next day.
- Time Skip: After the escaped rebel scouts and Wrath are saved by the revolutionaries, a flash forward takes us to the next day, the one everyone's been dreading: the Day of Unity.
- Too Clever by Half: Belos had been so focused on the Clawthornes that he never suspected anything would go wrong because of one of the coven heads. Emily takes advantage of his tunnel vision and belief that she's loyal to him before disappearing at the last second and taking Willow and the other good heads with her.
- Undying Loyalty: The loyalists remain on Belos' side even after learning what his plans are. Leonte is the most obvious example: despite his guilt over Hikari and questioning why Belos would use the Draining Spell, all Beluz has to say is that he has the Isles' best interests in mind, and he knows Leonte will continue to follow him like a dog.
- The Un-Reveal:
- Why did Abel let Kitsuni go? Matter of fact, where the hell is Abel, anyway?
- Did Jacob succumb to his injuries, is he back in the wilderness, or is he hiding out?
- While most of the coven heads are hiding out at the Skull with Belos' prisoners, Adrian isn't.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee
- We Need a Distraction: An unintentional example. While Beluz is dealing with Willow and Emily, Alador, Napoli, and Sunny took advantage of his absence and attack the other coven heads.
- Wham Shot:
- Everyone collapses from the effects of the Draining Spell, causing the heroes to feel they've lost...until Emira sees that Geist isn't losing his magic.
- Soon after, Beluz checks on the coven heads's sigils...only to find that Emily's an illusion, and Willow, Alador, Napoli, and Sunny disappear just as instantly.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- Kitsuni and Abel are almost completely absent, the former likely getting the Order based on Puck's statement, and the latter appearing in the throne room before vanishing when the Day of Unity actually starts, Belos putting it together that his mentor duped him.
- While Jacob was set free, he was in no shape to get far, so Kikimora assumes he's dead. There's no evidence saying he did, but Beluz doesn't care since he's served his purpose.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Belos plans out everything so accordingly that even if something changes, he adjusts it instantly. Emily anticipates this and waits until the very last moment to sabotage the Draining Spell by teleporting herself, Willow, Alador, Napoli, and Sunny out of their positions once the moon's in place so that Beluz can't adjust things if the eclipse is already active.
