Chapter 65: The Glandus War: Masks Off
Art by Crash X Fusion: Time to stop holding back.
The war continues on and as our heroes fight back, secrets are revealed and Emily becomes desperate to regain control of the situation.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- Cain pushed away and left his family because he wouldn't let them help him overcome the grief of Delara's death, leading to him suffering in silence while following a desperate bid to get stronger alone that led to mass destruction and injury.
- Smee ends up unwillingly getting shot by Capt. Hook, who abandons the fight to get him medical help.
- Nina ends up suffering the most out of the Glandus Top Students, as Emily decides to put her down for suggesting they accept their loss. Besides this, she's had to live her life expected to hide her lycan side so as to not be beaten to death.
- Always Someone Better: Nina believed she had the advantage over Skara since she was not only more skilled in Beast Keeping magic, but her lycan form. Out of pure determination, Skara eventually won against her while vowing to never use her wolf side to hurt other people.
- And I Must Scream: Maya reveals she's been conscious the entire time her soul's been in Luz's mindscape. Now that Maya's taken control, she intends to leave Luz locked away in her own mind.
- Androcles' Lion: The slitherbeast comes with Gwendolyn to put an end to the siege on the Owl House, taking out the labraptors.
- Bait-and-Switch: Cat expected Tito had chalenged her to a witch's duel, only to see he actually chose a dance fight.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Puffer and Lambi arrive to help Prof. Snope and Jerbo take down Goregon, which they do.
- Before Felicia and L.O.W.T.H. succumb to Wesselton's zombie weasel virus, Barcus and Eileen show up with the cure.
- Right as Grease had Willow restrained and orders Cain to smash her head, Kadabe confiscates Cain's hammer. Soon after, Simon arrives to deal with Cain while Kadabe helps Willow take Grease down for good.
- Gwendolyn arrives at the Owl House riding the Slitherbeast as her family is about to be overwhelmed by the labraptors, siccing the Slitherbeast on the creatures and the few remaining pirates to end the siege.
- Gavin, Tom and Athena show up at Hexside just in time to save Hunter from McScream's flytrap.
- Angmar saves Gus from falling to his death with vines after Emily drops him off of Glandus High's roof.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Maya. She completely brushes Emily off as a threat for her illusion powers and as a result, she is manipulated into attacking Amity as Emily and Stella make their escape.
- Broken Tears:
- 8-year-old Emily sheds these when Craig bluntly tells her her parents were petrified for attempting to escape the Boiling Isles.
- Cain, having been unable to accept his mother's death, has never stopped shedding these.
- Call-Back:
- After waking up in her mindscape, Luz questions if her cambion form's gone primal again like it did when she fought Boscha.
- Back in "Prelude to War, Part 3", Amity mentioned Puffer and Lambi mixing their current tracks of magic with their abomination magic for the war. Here, Puffer uses his abomination tank against Goregon while Lambi makes an abomination cast to heal Jerbo's injuries.
- The Cameo:
- With only one scene to her name, Luz is shown trapped in her mindscape courtesy of Maya.
- Dusty is regurgitated by the Grendletroll that ate him after Edric's team brings it down.
- Rocky is seen protecting Levi's sister before he's taken by someone.
- Can't Take Criticism
- The Cavalry: Once Hunter manages to get his hands on a scroll, he calls in a platoon of coven scouts to come to Glandus and arrest the teachers.
- Chekhov's Gun: Luz's animation spell ends up aiding her family in the siege as Lilith uses it to bring several household objects to life as reinforcements.
- Chekhov's Skill: Since Craig doesn't know about Lilith's curse when he cuts off her hands, they're able to move around and draw up a lightning glyph that takes Craig down.
- Continuity Nod:
- Puffer brings up his dream of graduating from Hexside.
- Angmar brings up what happened at the Looking Glass Graveyard after he and Ukla save Gus.
- Maya recognizes Gus to be Emmiline's owner, the palisman's name being mentioned in-universe in the Pride Special.
- Dance Battler: Cat finds herself facing off against Tito this way, with Mozz having to help her out.
- Designated Girl Fight: Skara vs Nina. It ends in Skara's victory.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Adegast was Eaten Alive by Eda in canon; here, she slashes his head open with her harpy claws.
- Dirty Coward: Emily threatens to break her own palisman to keep Maya from defeating her. Maya rightfully points this out.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Stella's revealed to be a Construction tracker, thus she shares their abilities.
- Distant Prologue / Downer Beginning: The chapter begins 9 years ago when Emily met Craig and learned her parents were never coming back. This then results in Craig and the Producer taking her in.
- Easily Forgiven: After Gus thanks Angmar for saving him, he forgives him for what happened at the Looking Glass Graveyard.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Jerbo might think Goregon's a jerk, but he gives him the elixir to cure the effects of his Abomi-Fungus because Jerbo doesn't want to taint his victory with his opponent's death.
- Cain hesitates to kill Willow on Grease's orders and when Simon opens his eyes to the destruction his school has caused during the war, Cain surrenders.
- Face Plant: Tito ends up doing this after Cat numbs most of his body and causing him to slip on the ice she created under him, knocking him out.
- Fantastic Racism: It seems that witches (or at least those in the Emperor's Coven) don't hold lycans in high regard.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: During their fight, Skara points out to Nina that the way lycans are treated doesn't justify her choices.
- Given Name Reveal:
- Emily's parents were named Margo and Hamilskin Tricks.
- 3 palismen have their names revealed: Barcus' is called Rocko, Eileen's is Newton, and Cat's is named Mozzarella, "Mozz" for short.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: Kadabe sides with Hexside due to foreseeing the possibility of them pushing back against Glandus, but disappears after helping Willow beat Grease.
- He Knows Too Much: Emily tries to off Gus in response to him learning that she's an illusionist.
- He's Back!: After getting knocked out, Hooty jumps back into the fight against the pirates and Guild members.
- High-Voltage Death: This seems to be how Craig ultimately goes when Lilith electrocutes him while he's soaked to the bone.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Last chapter, Goregon absorbed Jerbo's Abomi-Fungus to make his abomination form more powerful. As it turns out, doing so has a very negative reaction on the body, weakening him to the point of making him pass out.
- Immediate Sequel: After the Distant Prologue, things pick up on Gus' last line in the previous chapter as Emily recovers from the Mind Rape.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Angry with how the war's turned out and deciding to "cut her losses", Emily stabs Nina with the Sword of Adam and leaves her to die at the end of the chapter.
- Internal Reveal:
- Viney tells Skara about Dr. Bride before the former takes Boscha to her clinic.
- Craig informs Lilith about his being a Tarot Guild member.
- Amity and Maya learn that Emily's an illusionist.
- I Warned You: Jerbo did try to warn Goregon about merging with his Abomi-Fungus being a double-edged sword.
- Karma Houdini: Kadabe may have helped Willow, but she escapes without receiving punishment for taking down Celine and Tyler.
- Laser-Guided Karma: More of Glandus' troops and allies get this;
- The remaining siege forces are killed off (or in Hook and Smee's case, forced to retreat) while Craig is probably electrocuted to death.
- Goregon succumbs to Jerbo's Abomi-Fungus on top of being shown up by Prof. Snope.
- Ruth is frozen within gelatin by Morty.
- The Specter and his emo-teens are each subdued by Eve and the Cerberus sisters.
- Edric leads a team of illusionists and potionists in downing the grendletroll while Mai helps the Baby Class scare off Glandus students.
- Tito suffers a humiliating defeat to Cat and Moss in a witch's duel, being paralyzed and face-planting on an ice patch that knocks him unconscious.
- Barcus and Eileen cure Wesselton's zombie weasels before the demon himself is knocked out by Donna/Wonder Witch.
- Grease gets his arms and legs crushed by Willow, forcing him into retirement.
- Nina is bested by Skara, a fellow lycan whom she underestimated. She's also stabbed just like she did to Boscha in the previous chapter.
- Laughing Mad: Emily sounds off a rather psychotic laugh when she throttles Gus after he finds out the truth about her.
- Literally Shattered Lives: Morty states this to be the fate of a bully he had that his uncle froze with an ice capsule.
- Meaningful Name:
- Eileen's palisman is called Newton: they're both a newt and named after Sir Isaac Newton.
- Cat's mouse palisman is named Mozz, short for Mozzarella, a type of cheese.
- Multi-Part Episode: Part 3 in the "Glandus War".
- My God, What Have I Done?: Hook is horrified when he sees that the bullet he fired at Camila phased through her and hit Smee instead. He regrets it instantly and abandons the siege to get his first mate medical attention.
- Named by the Adaptation: The boy in the Potions track with vertically formed eyes is named Gorgy while the illusionist with the navy-blue afro hair and acne is called Sceldon.
- Never My Fault:
- Craig blames Lilith for firing him from the Emperor's Coven only for her to remind him that he brought it upon himself for letting Boscha maim Luz.
- Eda calls Nicole out on having this mindset as while Eda can admit her mistakes, Nicole blames everyone else for her problems and doesn't humor the thought of Boscha getting hurt while in Glandus during the war after forcing her to transfer.
- Emily blames Stella for making her slap her over trying to stop Emily from throwing Gus off the roof.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: Besides Skara defeating Nina and Barcus beating Wesselton with help from Eileen, the other Glandus Top Students who lost fights lost to supporting characters with Tito, Cain and Ruth losing to Cat, Simon and Morty. Goregon is zigzagged as while Jerbo's Abomi-Fungus did him in, it was thanks to Prof. Snope, Puffer and Lambi that he was finished off.
- Noodle Incident: Witch Rick once used an ice capsule on one of Morty's bullies that shattered him into pieces.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: After Emily throws Gus off the roof, Angmar saves him using some vines to break his fall. Gus walks away from it none the worse for wear.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: At some point after Angmar decided not to fight Luz and Amity, he, Ukla, and Gavin decided to betray Emily, and team up with Athena and Tom.
- Oh, Crap!:
- McScream panics after Athena beheads his plant monster as now Hunter can bring in the Emperor's Coven without further resist.
- Emily is horrified when she sees that the invasion on Hexside has failed, meaning Glandus has basically lost the war.
- Out of Focus: The Order isn't shown in their meeting, so what's happening there is a big, fat question mark.
- Parental Betrayal: It seems to be the case for Emily's parents, as they apparently went on the run and left her behind.
- People Puppets: To help Cat against Tito, Mozz climbs into Cat's hair and taps into her magic to control her body.
- Police Brutality: As a young girl, Nina witnessed her neighbor Mr. Tuggers being beaten to death by coven scouts simply for being out after the regulated curfew.
- Prehensile Hair: Stella can use her hair to restrain someone or embed it with Construction magic to create stone drills.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Eda gives Nicole a massive one for constantly trying to mess with her family yet neglecting her own while always finding faults in Eda but never accepting hers.
- The Reveal:
- Craig was working for the Tarot Guild long before he joined the Emperor's Coven. He and a woman called the Producer found and took in Emily (months after she'd been living on her own) after her parents had been petrified. He also intended to poison Lilith and usurp her as leader of the Emperor's Coven.
- Nicole is the Haitian-masked woman, her power over shadows coming from her deal with the Baron.
- Nina fed Hunter and Flapjack to a locker before she went looking for Boscha.
- Nina knew that Skara and her father were werewolves and had been itching to fight her in her wolf form. Her goal of making life better for lycans stemmed from watching two coven scouts beat her neighbor to death with her parents telling her to accept it.
- Nina's capable of shifting her form into a reptilian mode.
- Nina wants to become Head Witch of the Beast Keeping Coven to accomplish her goal, and she planned on becoming the new Queen of Glandus after Emily graduated.
- Cain wears his helmet to hide the Broken Tears he's consistently cried for years due to never making peace with Delara passing away.
- LOWTH is actually Donna and her friends in disguise and Felicia was acquainted with them.
- Stella used to be in the Construction track.
- Morty knows sign language, so he can understand whatever Ruth says.
- Sanity Slippage: Emily really starts to lose it as she attempts to murder Gus for learning she's an illusionist, hits Stella for trying to stop her, and decides to kill Nina for trying to get her to accept their loss in the war.
- Shock and Awe: Using a lightning glyph, Lilith shocks Craig when he leasts suspects it.
- Shout-Out:
- During Cat and Tito's duel, Mozz controls Cat by pulling her hair as Rémy did with Linguini in Ratatouille.
- In a nod to Alien, Hooty bursts out the chest of a Tarot Guild member.
- Hunter ends up getting chased by a flytrap-esque plant monster owned by McScream. Any Total Drama fan worth their salt knows that it's based off Chris' mutant venus flytrap, Larry.
- While fighting Emily, Maya gives her an altered version the same speech about weakness that Jasper gives Garnet in the Season 1 finale of Steven Universe.
- Spanner in the Works: It turns out, Lilith firing Craig prevented him from poisoning her so he could replace her as Coven Head.
- A Taste of Her Own Medicine: Last chapter, Nina impaled Boscha in the gut with her claws. At the end of this chapter, Emily subjects her to this very treatment by shoving her sword through Nina's stomach.
- True Companions: Angmar, Gavin and Ukla make the decision to betray their school and track down Boscha to make sure she's okay. For Gavin, it means participating in the war to help not just her, but Hunter too.
- Turncoat: Kadabe, as she always knew there was a chance Hexside would overwhelm Glandus' forces and turn the tide of the war in their favor.
- Underestimating Badassery: Maya makes the same mistake as every other Glandus student while facing Emily: she calls illusion magic useless. As such she completely falls for an illusion Emily casts that makes Amity look like her, and Maya attacks Amity which allows Emily and Stella to escape.
- The Un-Reveal: Craig gets electrocuted after getting drenched. Lilith assures Camila he's just sleeping, but nothing's confirmed until the next chapter.
- Wham Episode: All right, a lot to unpack;
- The siege on the Owl House ends in the Clawthorne's victory (though Nicole escapes and Rocky is stolen by an unknown figure);
- The Top Students and most of Glandus' invading force are defeated while Kadabe turns traitor and vanishes;
- Athena, Tom, Gavin, Angmar and Ukla (the latter three also switching sides) arrive at Glandus to help Hunter, save Gus and find Boscha, unaware that Viney took her to Dr. Bride to save her life;
- Skara finds herself facing Ms. Heinous;
- Maya falls for an illusion and begins attacking Amity;
- And Emily impales Nina and leaves her to die while taking Stella and escaping after Hunter calls in a platoon of Coven Scouts as backup.
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Emily blames Stella for making her slap her for resisting.
