Chapter 55: Deserve Nothing
Art by Crash X Fusion: ♪ I don't know what stressed me first, or how the pressure was fed, but I know just what it feels like to have a voice in the back of my head...♪
After Luz discovers a horrifying ability and gets captured in Latissa, Hunter helps Amity rescue her while trying to hiding the mission he's on.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Manny Noceda, Camila's deceased husband and Luz's father, debuts during the events of "Hunting Palisman" instead of a photo cameo in present day in "Yesterday's Lie", albeit in a dream set in the past and unnamed at this point.
- Adaptational Explanation: Skara attends Palisman Adoption Day in canon, but her cricket palisman isn't seen among the Bat Queen's group and no explanation is given on how she obtained it. Here, she attends the event to see her friends and girlfriend receive theirs, but her father bought her a log of palistrom wood so she can carve it together with him.
- Adaptational Karma: Kikimora didn't suffer much for her actions in canon-"Hunting Palismen", but here Luz stomps on her for indirectly causing Maya's death and her association to it.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: "Any Sport in a Storm" shows that Darius doesn't think highly of Hunter since he doesn't have a life outside of the castle. But since Hunter already has (given what happens later, had) a social life here, he's much more respectful towards him, even showing concern over his mental health.
- And This Is for...: Amity slaps Hunter hard for lying to Edric about who he is, then punches him in the gut for trying to kill Lilith.
- Answer Cut: When Amity questions who would go fishing at night, we're treated to a scene where Dr. Bride is fighting against a bipedal flounder demon.
- Bitch Slap: As mentioned above, Amity slaps Hunter hard for deceiving Edric.
- Bittersweet Ending: Everything listed under Downer Ending serves as the "Bitter" half. For the "Sweet" half, Boscha gets a palisman despite being in the detention track, Luz performs her first spell circle and the Rusty Smidge in the Owl House gets destroyed.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: See Take That! below.
- Broken Tears:
- Hunter sheds these after Luz ends their friendship and leaves with Amity and the palismen nest.
- Luz dissolves into an crying mess in Amity's arms after realizing she can never have a palisman after what she did to Maya.
- The chapter ends on Ludo crying from everything he's lost because of the winged creatures.
- The Bus Came Back: Craig returns after being kicked out of the Emperor's Coven by Lilith in "Changes". However,
Word of God reveals he's actually made a few other appearances before now. - Call-Back:
- Hunter brings up talking to Lilith about the previous Golden Guard while talking with Darius; as it turns out, he was asking questions about the kind of person his father was.
- Edric mentions how Alador began burying himself in his work more than usual, a nod to his trying to cure his siblings as seen in "A Surprising Visitor".
- Luz brings up how she thought Frewin was a real demon, which she asked Principal Bump when she enrolled in Hexside.
- Boscha ends up recreating the "do you trust me?" scene with Tom as Luz did with Amity in "Good from the Bad".
- Hunter brings up keeping Skara safe after her rampage in her lycan state.
- Calling the Old Woman Out: King brings up how Eda's been getting her elixers from Morton for years and has never actually talked to him outside of that.
- The Cameo:
- Raine appears at the meeting between Belos and the Coven Heads. Before the meeting and his talk with Hunter, Darius is seen speaking to the heads of the Potions and Illusion covens.
- Geist greets Hunter when he goes to see Edric.
- Nina and Tito appear with a group of Glandus students at Latissa. Bria is also seen on a "Missing" poster.
- Dr. Bride appears in a cutaway after Amity learns that she is not at her clinic.
- Manny makes his debut in Camila's nightmare sequence.
- Near the end, Webstor makes one pointing Hunter towards his cackling neighboring prisoner.
- Captain Crash: Due to a lack of sleep from a bad dream, Eda arrives late to Palisman Adoption Day in a crash-landing onto the grudgby field.
- Cassandra Truth: Hunter confesses that he wants to help Luz with her cambion form and that Belos is trying to save the Boiling Isles from disaster, but since he admitted he's the Golden Guard, she no longer believes anything he says is true.
- Catapult Nightmare: Eda has a nightmare of when she was mugged as a teenager and saved, shooting out of her nest when she dreams of her savior with their arm torn off and half their face gone.
- Children Forced to Kill: Luz can only watch helplessly as her body acts on its own, following the voice's order to devour Maya's essence.
- Continuity Nod:
- Eda reminds Lilith that all of Hexside is wary of her ever since everyone there learned of her deal with Amity in "Everything's Gone Wrong".
- Luz meeting the Bat Queen about 5-6 years ago, a fact mentioned in "Mischief Gathering", is brought up again.
- We're reminded of Amelia joining the Human Appreciation Society two chapters ago.
- Luz hangs a lampshade on the Harwitches and their Animal Theme Naming again.
- Luz keeps bringing up Hunter murdering Lilith when she faces him on the airship, later reminding him that he captured her to get Eda along with the petrification ceremony.
- Luz uses the "drill wing" technique from "The Book of King" in her fight against Hunter.
- Cooldown Hug: With Luz having her Heroic BSoD, Amity decides to skip school alongside her so she can comfort Luz and holds her this way.
- Cuteness Proximity: Boscha can't help but call Hogarth cute when she accepts him as her palisman, booping him on his snout.
- A Day in the Limelight: Hunter seizes the role of the main character for the first time.
- Death by Adaptation: Maya, Boscha's palisman in canon, is accidentally damaged when Kikimora's dragon makes the Golden Guard's ship crash, then is unintentionally killed by Luz.
- Despair Event Horizon: Luz is basically toeing the edge of this now that she's discovered her latest ability has some unwanted consequences.
- Didn't Think This Through: Seeing Eda frazzled after her nightmare Lilith offers to take Eda's place at Palisman Adoption Day. Eda's quick to remind her that all of Hexside hasn't forgotten what she did to Amity.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: As Luz points out, it doesn't look good on Belos and Hunter that they bugged her home to listen in on her family since they've been spying on two 14-year-old girls, too.Luz: (shouting) Are you listening, Hunter? Belos? So you've been spying on all of us this whole time!? You're both creeps for spying on minors, you know that?!
- Downer Ending: Luz unwillingly feeding on Maya's magical essence both strains her friendship with the Bat Queen and scares her into believing she can't have a palisman, the Owl House residents learning of Hunter's deceit causes them to cut ties with him and realize Belos has been aware of all their exploits and activities since the petrification ceremony, and Boscha is to be transfered to Glandus High because Craig convinced Nicole to have her switch schools. Everything under Bittersweet Ending isn't enough to give the morale in this chapter a boost.
- Do You Trust Me?: Said by Boscha when she asks Tom to join her on the inagural flight of her new staff.
- Dream Intro: The chapter begins on Hunter in the middle of a nightmare, one where everyone has been killed by the winged creature Ludo saw and is about to be struck dead by it.
- Elemental Armor: Since she doesn't have a staff, Amity gets around by using a suit of abomination sludge with goo webs to travel.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: The palismen avoid Luz because they sense something odd about her, even acting hostile despite having known her for at least 6 years.
- Evil Sounds Deep: The Voice in Luz's head telling her to devour the Palisman's essence is very deep-sounding.
- Fainting: Luz's reaction after draining Maya's essence.
- Flashback Nightmare: Eda's nightmare at the beginning seems to have shades of this.
- Fighting Your Friend: While Luz ends their friendship, Hunter sees their duel over the palismen nest as this.
- Foreshadowing:
- Eda becomes nervous when the Bat Queen mentions her father.
- During the adoption event, the palismen back away from Luz and it isn't until later that she sees why for herself.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Once he's presented the opportunity to fulfill his mission, Hunter restrains Amity and tells Luz he'll be taking the palismen for Belos, giving up his Secret Identity to them.
- The Ghost:
- Emira is mentioned by Edric during Hunter's visit.
- Dell Clawthorne is mentioned twice, first by the Bat Queen and then in a flashback with the previous Golden Guard.
- Hunter mentions that his mother was a witch named Vina.
- Alador and Odalia are mentioned by Edric and Amity.
- Given Name Reveal:
- Lilith's Palisman is named Edgar while Simon's squirrel palisman is named Flint.
- Tito's last name is said to be Jackwitch.
- Glory Hound: Not only does Kikimora still try to kill Hunter and take credit for his mission, she also decides to take Luz prisoner to inform Belos of her new ability. That sets her up for a heaping dose of karma later on.
- Glowing Eyes: Luz's eyes glow green when she hears The Voice and kills Maya and Amity's abomi-suit has glowing purple eyes.
- Hearing Voices: Luz hears a deep voice that tells her to devour Maya's essence, and she finds her body unable to resist.
- Heroic BSoD: Luz starts one when she's unable to fix Maya or stop herself from eating her essence, then it spirals further when she learns Hunter's the Golden Guard and has been keeping tabs on her family for the Emperor and after the Bat Queen confronts her about Maya, she gives up the palistrom log Eda, King and Lilith stole for her to the BQ saying it should go to someone who deserves it. The final scene in the Owl House shows Luz breaking down crying in Amity's arms over the whole ordeal.
- Hidden Depths:
- Amelia has an interest in law and hopes to overhaul the Boiling Isles' justice system.
- King reveals that Morton works at the Bonesborough Garden Club.
- In Spite of a Nail: Belos shares his plans for the Day of Unity to the coven heads, Willow, Gus, Viney, Puffer and Boscha receive their own palisman, Luz trying to return the cardinal palisman results in her encountering the Golden Guard as he steals the nest containing the others with Kikimora trying to get the latter killed, Amity uses the sleeping nettles to stop Kiki, Hunter's dual identity is revealed and he aids in recovering the palismen which Luz recovers and Eda and King steal a block of palistrom wood so Luz can carve her own (a shame that one doesn't stick.)
- Internal Reveal: Hunter reveals he's the Golden Guard to Luz and Amity and that the Emperor's his uncle, which they inform the rest of the Owl House residents about. And because Camila finds the Rusty Smidge, they realize Belos has been keeping tabs on them and the Blights, plus he's aware of Raine's treason.
- The Emperor reveals the drone to the Coven Heads.
- Edric tells Hunter about Amity taking up Puck's name. Hunter later sees Amity's new hairstyle and her tattoo for himself and he tells her about his parents.
- Irony: Cat and Simon's chosen palismen are rather jarring: Cat gets a mouse and Simon, who values strength, gets a squirrel, which are linked to wisdom, mischief and playfulness.
- It Was a Gift: Ben and Bronze Saltstar received their palismen from a carver who gave them food and repaid him by freeing his village from bandits. When Bronze died, Ben kept his palisman, Hograth, who was passed down to his son, who passed him down to Athena, and she passes him down to Boscha.
- Kick the Dog: Luz was already devastated after the night's events, but then the Bat Queen shows up and declares she'll never be worthy of having a palisman after killing one.
- Killed Off for Real:
- As previously stated, Maya is the only casualty in the airship crash when Luz somehow kills her.
- In Hunter's dream at the beginning, everyone he knew was killed by the winged creatures; Edric, Luz, her friends and classmates and all the Coven Heads.
- Lampshade Hanging: Another one is hung regarding the Animal Theme Naming the Harwitch family has going.Luz: Why are you named Cat?
Cat: (shrugs) Because my brother was named Dog.
(Luz is left more confused.) - Laser-Guided Karma:
- For causing the airship crash meant to kill Hunter, resulting in Luz causing Maya's death, and trying to bring Luz to the Emperor, Kikimora gets her face kicked in by Luz, who angrily stomps on her several times until she coughs up blood.
- Although she stops Luz from killing Hunter, Amity slaps him and punches him in the stomach for deceiving Edric and almost killing Lilith.
- Luminescent Blush:
- Skara has one when Willow voices her hopes that she carves a cute palisman.
- Boscha gets one after Tom ends up wrapping his arms around her waist when she takes him flying on her staff.
- Meaningful Name: The chapter's title ultimately chalks up how Luz feels she doesn't deserve a palisman if she now has the urge to feed on them, no longer feeling worthy of having one.
- Megaton Punch: Luz manages to pack one so powerful it not only sends Hunter flying, it destroys his staff.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Luz says the secong half after draining Maya of her essence before blacking out.
- Mythology Gag: Lilith being allowed to keep her palisman after joining the Emperor's Coven came from this Moringmark comic
. - Named by the Adaptation: Lilith's raven Palisman is named Edgar here.
- The Nicknamer: Eda creates two nicknames for Ms. Traveler "Julisianna" and "Juliana".
- Nightmare Sequence: Three. First Hunter's is shown with him running from the winged beasts that killed everyone and destroyed the Boiling Isles before killing him; then Eda dreams of her mugging and sees her savior with severe injuries; and finally Camila dreams of her husband's death before reliving her own.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Luz leaves Kikimora a blood-covered mess in vengance after Amity and Hunter bring the hand dragon down.
- Obviously Not Fine:
- Hunter and Eda both shake off their bad dreams as nothing to be concerned about, but Darius and Julia aren't convinced (though dropping it nonetheless).
- Although Luz puts on a brave face, Eda knows she's devastated about not getting a palisman since she's wanted one for so long.
- Oh, Crap!: Hunter's reaction Amity being in Latissa and Luz destroying his staff, Eda's to figuring out that Belos knows about Raine being a double agent.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Upon seeing the Golden Guard again, Luz keeps bringing up his attempt on Lilith's life. After killing Maya, she's now in the same boat.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Hunter saying he's doing everything Belos tells him for Luz's own good pretty much buries their friendship.
- Pet the Dog:
- Darius is willing to talk to Hunter about his father and shows concern for his mental health.
- Because her daughter missed out on Palisman Adoption Day, Athena gives Boscha her old Palisman.
- The previous Golden Guard was willing to let Lilith keep her Palisman and speak with Belos about the matter after learning that she carved it with her father, Dell.
- Point of Divergence: To "Hunting Palismen": Amity, Amelia and Cat attends Palismen Adoption Day (although the former takes Luz's place in being unable to bond with one since she doesn't know what she wants for her future), Luz's reason for being unable to bond with one is because they sense something odd about her, Boscha (who's still in the detention track) doesn't bond with Maya the crab so Athena gives her her boar palisman, Hogarth, Luz gets kidnapped by Kikimora after she attacks Hunter causing Amity to try and rescue Luz and the palismen with him, Luz destroys Hunter's artificial staff, the cardinal palisman doesn't fly off to join Hunter and because Luz accidentally absorbs Maya's essence, she gives the log of palistrom wood Eda, King and Lilith stole for her to carve her palisman with to the Bat Queen, saying she isn't ready to have her own, if at all. Edric and Emira using concealment stones and the "Ed Ricochet 11" are brought up earlier, too.
- Poor Communication Kills: It never occurs to Hunter to tell Luz and Amity about the visions he saw of the future; if he had, maybe they would've at least given him a chance to explain his motives for doing what he's done.
- Psycho Knife Nut: An aversion. Amity draws an abomi-knife to defend herself from a stalker but stops her attack when she sees it's Hunter.
- The Reveal:
- Like Eda with Owlbert, Lilith carved her palisman, Edgar, with her father, Dell.
- Hunter believes that his father is the previous Golden Guard, who is implied to be William Wittebane/Clawthorne, and his mother was a witch named Vina. Hunter also inherited the Golden Guard mantle when he was 14, being a coven scout prior.
- Someone saved Eda when she was mugged as a kid, and it's implied that she mauled them as the Owl Beast.
- Amelia's dream is to modernize the Boiling Isles' justice system after reading about those of the Human Realm.
- Camila is able to phase through walls like a ghost, although she has yet to learn of this.
- The man Nicole met in "Escape" and was seen talking to Bria and her friends at the end of "No Dancing Around" is Craig, now allied with Glandus and close to their principal. He also has a tattoo of the Emperor's Coven logo on his face and is an alumni of Glandus.
- Bria has gone missing since we last saw her three chapters ago.
- Luz has fully developed her bile sac, giving her access to innate magic without glyphs.
- Amity reveals that the gemstone the Rusty Smidge had on is the same kind Odalia uses for a security measure at Blight Industries, which is how she realizes its purpose.
- The prisoner Webstor met in "Family Group Therapy" is Ludo Avarius, who has gone insane because the winged mechanical creature Hunter saw in the Weird Sisters' vision is the thing that laid waste to Mewni, wiping out Ludo's family.
- Amity already told Lilith about her tattoo.
- Morton's a member of the Bonesborough Garden Club.
- Hunter strongly implies that if it wasn't for him, the Emperor's Coven would have killed Skara.
- Sanity Slippage: Whatever attacked Mewni and killed Ludo's family affected him severely.
- Sequel Hook:
- Maya's death plus her rejecting the palistrom wood and giving it to the Bat Queen puts Luz's future as a witch in jeopardy due to her doubts that she's too dangerous to have her own palisman now.
- What happened on Mewni gets some light shed on it, but still has yet to be revealed.
- Ship Tease: Boscha blushes when Tom wraps his arms around her waist and she is later flustered when she realizes that they dozed off together.
- Shout-Out:
- Lilith's palisman is named Edgar, a tribute to American writer Edgar Allan Poe and his narrative poem, "The Raven".
- The song Belos sings is "History Has Its Eyes On You" from Hamilton.
- Athena's great-great-grandfather is named Ben who apparently had a palisman named Bill. Bill and Ben, get it?
- Athena, later Boscha's palisman is named Hogarth, the name of the human protagonist in The Iron Giant.
- As previously stated, Boscha and Tom recreate the "Do you trust me?" scene, making this the second time it happens.
- The gag with Dr. Bride having gone fishing seems to have been inspired by the The Fairly OddParents! episode, "Nectar of the Odds".
- Amity utilizes a suit of abomination goo said to be symbiote-like and swings around with webs. And since she admits she got the idea for it from one of Luz's comics, it's safe to assume it was Venom.
- Lilith's palisman is named Edgar, a tribute to American writer Edgar Allan Poe
- Sleep Cute: After their late-night flight, Boscha ends up sleeping while leaning against Tom in her attic. She becomes flustered when she wakes up and sees how they're positioned.
- Spanner in the Works: With Camila's unexpected return, there's no reason for Belos to predict that she'd un8ntentionally be the reason the Clawthornes learn about the Rusty Smidge.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Just as Lilith begins to question how the family could get palistrom wood from the Bonesborough Garden Club, it hits her:Lilith: We're just going to steal it, aren't we?Eda: Yep.King: Duh.Lilith: (sigh) Of course...
- String Theory: The Clawthornes have a stringless conspiracy board in the basement regarding not just Belos, but his connection to Eclipsa as Philip and his journal, the portal door, the Day of Unity and the Inner Demon.
- Take That!: Hooty's latest fourth wall break is a massive slam on Disney for canceling The Owl House.Hooty: One time I dreamt that I was in a place called an animation studio, where I saw a bunch of stressed out slaves drawing and animating, and I saw this one guy on a microphone who sounded like me, but he also sounded like King. And he was with other people who sounded like Eda, Luz, Amity, Lulu… and then I may have met the creator of our universe, who was fighting against an evil corporation that kept screwing over its artists and employees.
- Talk to the Boot: The first thing Luz does when she regains consciousness after Amity and Hunter save her is to kick Kikimora's face in before stomping on her.
- Third-Act Misunderstanding: Everybody at Hexside remains suspicious of Lilith after learning about her deal with Amity. By chapter's end, the entirety of the Owl House loses faith in Hunter because he sold out their privacy to Belos.
- Took a Level in Badass: Not only is Luz getting physically stronger, she casts a spell circle for the first time while fighting Hunter.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Hunter waking up from his nightmare was shown in the trailer for Book 2.
- Uncertain Doom: Apparently Bria has disappeared after being left to suffer at the end of "No Dancing Around".
- The Voice: Luz hears one that demands she devour palisman essence, much to her shock.
- War from Another World: Based off the surveillance drone, Belos comes to the conclusion that someone from the human realm is about to start a war with the inhabitants of the demon realm and declares it as proof that the Day of Unity must succeed.
- We Used to Be Friends: Learning Hunter has been working for Belos leads Luz to end her friendship with him, and devouring Maya's essence strains her friendship with the Bat Queen.
- Wham Episode: William is revealed/claimed to be Hunter's father and the previous Golden Guard, Willow, Gus, Viney, Amelia, Cat, Simon, Puffer and Boscha obtain their palismen while Skara starts carving one, Luz develops the same need to devour palisman essence as Belos and performs magic without a glyph for the first time, the Owl House residents learn Hunter's the Golden Guard and bugged their homes with their bug being destroyed, Craig convinces Nicole to transfer Boscha to Glandus High, Hunter discovers the creature he's been having nightmares about is the same one that attacked Mewni, and Webstor's cellmate is Ludo, who's lost his marbles.
- Wham Shot:
- Luz goes to tell the palismen her dream but they act hostile towards her.
- Luz attempts to help Maya, only to hear a voice and absorb her essence as her eyes glow green, destroying the palisman.
- Just as Hunter has Luz on the ropes, she twirls her finger and creates a spell circle, firing a light beam that destroys the shield her former friend made against her.
- The mystery prisoner isn't shown in shadows and his appearance is described, revealing himself as Ludo.
- Wham Line:
- "DEVOUR!" Said by The Voice as it orders Luz to absorb Maya's essence.
- While telling Amity about his family, Hunter says his father's name was 'William''.
- The man Nicole brings to meet Boscha about switching schools introduces himself as none other than Craig.
