Chapter 74: Hexing Out for a Hero
Art by Crash X Fusion: Am I the only one seeing red here?
Back on the Boiling Isles, Luz tries to continue on without her main friends, while Nina and Donna each tend to their own agendas.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- 0% Approval Rating: In contrast to Luz becoming Loved by All at Hexside, Nina is met with booing due to being a former Glandus student, but it's not like she cares.
- Absurdly Powerful Student Council: St. Epiderm has a student council which Donna is a member of. Under Danny's leadership, they focus on issues from dealing with their new students to the lunch menus.
- The Ace: Danny Dilburn, the head of St. Epiderm's student council, mentions that he's the top Oracle of the school. The same goes for Riley Strange of the Illusion track.
- Ambiguous Situation: Though Nina secretly met with Sonya, it is unclear whether Sonya just wanted to see how Nina was doing in her current situation or if she intends to use Nina as her mole at Hexside. It also implies that everything Nina said about being jealous that Luz has so many friends was a lie, which also puts what else she's lying about into question.
- Bait-and-Switch: Luz fully expects Ms. Traveler to protest against her duel with Nina, but she instead gives the go-ahead as there's no other way to get Nina to open up about her problems and it could benefit both girls.
- Berserk Button: Luz and Nina get under each other's skin with Luz calling Nina Emily's lapdog while Nina insults Amity. This leads to Luz issuing a witch's duel to settle things between them.
- Big Eater: Kay bites through a spoon while Luz is feeding her.
- Blackmail: This is how several former Glandus students were able to become students at St. Epiderm.
- The Bus Came Back: Kyle, the student who warned everyone about the Glandus Top Students storming St. Epiderm in "Prelude to War: Part 3", is seen again and is revealed to be a healer along with Donna.
- Call-Back:
- Like in "Witch's Duel or Don't", Luz requests that Viney, Jerbo and Barcus start a betting pool for the witch's duel she's competing in. Learning from last time, they include a pool for a no-win situation.
- Luz mentions when she found a cerberus for Hades, and refers to him as a cheapskate.
- Danny's statement about Willow being a troublemaker is a nod to her protest at the petrification ceremony.
- Nina lets Sonya know what Emily did to her back during the school war in "Masks Off".
- The Cameo: Felicity is briefly seen when Felicia sends her a fake update on Luz.
- Continuity Nod:
- Nina uses the nickname "Luzer", which hasn't been heard since Boscha used it back in "Swap or Not".
- Donna gushes over King when she meets him.
- Crush Blush: Nina has a moment that Sonya notices after asking if the werecat's seen Donna recently.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- Nina plays the role of the antagonist in the A-plot, continuously trying to learn why Luz and Skara are acting secretive.
- St. Epiderm as a whole receives focus in the B-plot, but Donna and Beocrow lead the charge as they try to recruit more people into LOWTH.
- Dreaming of Things to Come
- Extreme Omnivore: When Cross is first seen, he's eating coal.
- Expy: St. Epiderm's student council is based off of several people and creatures:
- Danny is a Composite Character of Tenya Iida and Scott Summers.
- Constructor Andrew Rollers is based off of Armadillomon.
- Illusionist Riley Strange is an expy of Doctor Strange.
- Bard Minerva Witchmore and Beast Keeper Lindsay Shystream are demon variants of Octavia and Fluttershy.
- Plant tracker Beel Zatar is basically a humanoid Beedrill.
- Abomination tracker Peter Bloomhog is inspired by Andy Warhol.
- Fantastic Recruitment Drive: The members of LOWTH look into expanding their group by seeing which students at St. Epiderm would be perfect recruits. Canidates include Roxy Armstrong (a constructor as strong as Tyrone), Sarah Atos (an intelligent potionist), Cross Drakescale (a plant tracker who's a good sport), Kyle (a healer with a good heart), and Riley (Master of the Illusion track). Donna also personally recruits Luz, who declines.
- Friendship Denial
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Once Eda sees how banged up her kid is, she screams "Luz Noceda Clawthorne" at the top of her lungs.
- Generic Graffiti: Skara spray paints the words "false prophet" in capital letters on the statue of Belos in Bonesborough both to anonymously speak out against him and because she feels helpless not being able to help her girlfriend or her friends.
- The Ghost:
- Naturally, Amity, Willow and Gus are mentioned as Luz informs their friends of their being in the Human Realm.
- Beel brings up Emily and McScream being connected to the Tarot Guild.
- Beocrow's mother Denise, brother Felix, and grandfather Brolin are mentioned by him during his visit to the Owl House.
- Luz mentions Jack, Baron Samedi and Hades as death gods she's previously met during her talk with Beocrow.
- Hates Being Nicknamed: Tina shows annoyance with being called "Tiny".
- Hidden Depths:
- Nina is skilled at the drums and her family has several bards among them.
- Donna mentions that she's a gymnast and cheerleader, which is how she has her acrobatic skills.
- I Lied: Nina admits to Sonya that she faked her apology to Luz which calls into question if everything else was a lie too.
- Innocently Insensitive: Danny refuses to follow Hexside's example of mixing magic due to their more troublesome students being sources of controversy, singling out Luz, Amity, Boscha, Willow and Nina specifically. Andrew calls him out on this as two of those girls recently went missing and Boscha was paralyzed.
- Internal Reveal:
- Luz informs her friends about Amity, Willow and Gus being in the Human Realm, but withholds the state she saw Willow in, and also tells Ms. Traveler about it in a counseling session.
- Donna informs her friends about her key's new blade form.
- Nina tells Luz that Emily betrayed her; in turn, Luz shares with Nina the events of the pepper spray incident.
- The Clawthornes meet Donna for the first time with Eda, King and Camila meeting Beocrow.
- Sonya informs Nina that Emily's now Graye's apprentice and Nina tells her about Emily impaling her.
- Karma Houdini: As far as things go, the Graux sisters and possibly the other Glandus students who now attend St. Epiderm were never arrested not to mention they blackmailed the PCA into letting them enroll in the school.
- Loved by All: Given the crowd's cheers before the duel against Nina, Luz is now seen as a hero among Hexside's student body.
- Luminescent Blush:
- Tina has one when Beocrow compliments her for suggesting LOWTH recruit the Shadowy Secret Expozers to their cause.
- Of course, there's Nina's Crush Blush from thinking about Donna.
- Malicious Misnaming: Luz keeps calling Nina "pussy" throughout their duel while Nina calls Luz "Clawdork", "Baby Bird" and one we haven't heard in a while, "Luzer".
- Mix-and-Match Critters: As shown in the Wizard Duel, Nina can transform into an armadillo-porcupine fusion that can shoot her quills as projectiles.
- Morning Routine: The chapter begins on Luz, Nina, and Donna each getting ready for the school day.
- Out of Focus: Things fall back to the Demon Realm, so Amity, Gus, and Willow are left with mentions.
- Pet the Dog: Felicia gives her condolences to Luz about her missing girlfriend and best friends and offers to help her, starting with continuing to supply her mother with fake updates about Luz.
- Present Absence: Due to Two Lines, No Waiting, Amity, Gus and Willow (who didn't appear last chapter) are given a break to show how everyone, especially Luz and Skara, are dealing with their absence.
- Recruit Teenagers with Attitude: LOWTH seeks out new members who are teenagers like them to help end the muggings.
- Refusal of the Call: Luz refuses to join the League of Witches That Helps when asked by Donna and Beocrow because she's got too many problems and wants to find her friends her way. Subverted for Eda, who agrees to aid them anyway she can.
- The Reveal:
- Beocrow mentions that Gwendolyn is his great-aunt.
- Eda told Gilbert and Sullivan that their daughter is alive and stranded in the Human Realm.
- Kitsuni and Jack's prank on Moses in Ancient Egypt got them banned from the Human Realm.
- The Graux sisters got into St. Epiderm after the Glandus war by blackmailing the PCA.
- Donna's friend Kyle is in Healing.
- Some of Nina's family are bards and she herself is skilled on the drums.
- Beck's been hosting self-defense classes to train students to protect themselves against muggers.
- Danny's statement about Boscha being a troublesome upstart implies that her actions at Hexside have become public knowledge.
- Maya's been refusing to talk about what happened with Hunter, remaining silent throughout the chapter.
- Besides her reptilian form, Nina can turn into a armadillo-porcupine hybrid and a naga.
- Donna found her key after sneaking away from a picnic as a child. She had a vision of a woman in red telling her she'll learn to wield it one day.
- Eda had a fling with a tiger werecat when she was younger. She mentions that's it's customary for werecats to kidnap people and Nina offhandedly says that's how her parents met.
- Eda's been helping Camila get caught up on human history since her death, mainly which celebrities died and disasters.
- Eda knows Beocrow's mother Denise, stating he looks nothing like her.
- Beocrow's bonded to the Slitherbeast and dreams of being a death god. He has a younger brother named Felix who's studying abominations and is interested in meeting Luz and Amity.
- There are vampire Clawthornes in the extended Clawthorne family and there's going to be a reunion before the Day of Unity.
- Mel, the girl Edric met while speed-dating, is revealed to be a fae. It's implied that said fae is also the Shapeshifter and the old witch by Kitsuni, who felt a fae's presence while searching for clues at Eclipse Lake.
- Nina knows Sonya, who's responsible for enhancing her body with injections to allow her to transform into different creatures.
- Nina knew Emily was an illusionist and followed her out of instinct. She also doubts she had any real friends while at Glandus, putting her friendship with Tito into question.
- Kikimora's Hand Dragon is now staying in Hexside's Beast Keeping stables.
- Sequel Hook:
- The Emperor's Coven will be coming to St. Epiderm to recruit some of their students after the Coven Day Parade.
- Eda agrees to help LOWTH look for the missing witches and take on the Tarot Guild. The group also plans to recruit Kyle, Cross, Sarah, Riley, Roxy and the SSE.
- Beocrow mentions a family reunion in the near future, which Luz expresses interest in.
- Shout-Out:
- The chapter title is a nod to the Bonnie Tyler song, "Holding Out for a Hero".
- Nina calls Amity "billboard forehead", a combination of both nicknames Sakura Haruno has in the original and English dubs of Naruto.
- The name of the city LOWTH meets in is called "Metropelvis".
- Veronica suggests LOWTH recruits a kid named Teri Oscorne who can supply them with resources from his father's company. It seems that he's the LC version of Harry Osborn.
- Eda's experiences with a tiger werecat is a nod to the 1945 Goofy short, "Tiger Trouble".
-
Word of God state Donna's like a Disney Princess, the melody she sings to the birds in the beginning being based off of Ariel or even Fiona.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Nina shows that she can turn into a humanoid cobra, specifically a naga.
- Student Council President: Danny serves as such for St. Epiderm's student council, and is such a stickler for the rules he fervently shuts down any possibility of the school allowing mixed-magic studies.
- Synchronous Episodes: This chapter overlaps with the next one.
- Take That!: One is made to the Cheap Costume trope, as Luz embarrasses Donna for using her gymnast leotard as part of her superhero costume.
- Tears of Joy: Edric sheds these when he learns that Amity's in the Human Realm, and so does Emira when Ed and Viney give her the news.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Sonya gives Nina apple blood despite her being underage.
- The Unapologetic:
- Nina faked the apology she gave Luz for insulting Amity after their duel to throw off her of her.
- Luz realizes she's still an unintentional upholder of this trope, as she never apologized to Boscha for the pepper spray incident.
- The Un-Reveal:
- How are the Groux sisters blackmailing the PCA?
- What happened to Sarah's father that led to his being on bad terms with the Emperor's Coven?
- Wham Shot: Mel's shadow is seen snickering, revealing that she is Fae.
- What Does She See in Him?: Platonic case. Donna's friends don't understand why she wants Kyle to join their hero group
- Wizard Duel: After being pushed by Nina, Luz challenges her to a witch's duel and the two duke it out to win whatever their opponent requests (Luz merely wants Nina to take back her insult towards Amity.) After going all out, the duel ends in a draw.
- Your Mom: Luz pulls an "I Banged Your Mom" joke on Nina when she asks what she and Skara were talking about before class.
