Chapter 79: The Long, the Witch, and the Ninja
In New York City, Willow and her new friends find a lead in getting Willow back home.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Thanks to Eda, Jonathan learns Susan and her family are dragons but doesn't forget it, which allows them to have a life together with Jonathan knowing his children are part dragon and magical guardians.
- Adaptational Explanation: The reason we never saw Rose's twin sister in the present day was because the Huntsclan had her placed in a foster system, and erased their birth family's memories of her.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In her only appearancenote , Rose's sister had the same baby blue eyes and blonde hair as her twin and their mother. Here, Violet has honey blonde hair and heterochromatic blue eyes (one baby blue, one dark blue).
- Big Applesauce: The A-plot of the chapter is set within New York City, on account of Willow's group traveling here at Gus's suggestion to find a supernatural way for her to return home back in "Escape from Gatesfield". As it turns out, the Ninja/Randy Cunningham had been brought to the Big Apple by Jake to discuss how to deal with Jenny Porter after she caused trouble in Norrisville.
- Brick Joke: The previous chapter ended with Eda preparing to tell Raine about her adventures in New York City. This chapter ends with the revelation that the entire Flashback B-Plot was that very story.
- The Bus Came Back: It's only as a projection and she's appeared in several flashbacks between these points, but Jenny Porter is physically seen in present day for the first time since it was revealed that she was in the Human Realm in "Maternal Aspiration", 52 chapters ago.
- Call-Forward: Kara has a vision revealing Willow will make it to Gravity Falls and reunite with Amity and Gus, and they'll return home once Luz completes her portal door in time for Willow and Skara to form their flyer derby team.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Eda lays into Lao Shi for trying to leave Jonathan to be tortured by the Huntsclan and force Susan to move on. After they save him, he admits he was wrong after seeing Jonathan's loyalty to his daughter.
- The Cameo:
- Professor Rotwood is seen attempting to take a picture of Jake and Haley in dragon form while fighting the second winged creature and fails.
- Howard Weinerman has a vocal cameo when he calls Randy for an update on when his business in New York will conclude.
- Robert Philip is seen at the end of the Human Realm section of the chapter when Giselle and Morgan return home.
- Crossover: With American Dragon: Jake Long, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, and Enchanted.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- After 7 chapters, we finally check back in on Willow, Nora and the Gatesfield teens as they explore New York City for a way to return Willow home.
- The B-plot is dedicated to exploring Eda's friendship with Susan Long in 1986, where she helped her get together with her boyfriend Johnathan.
- Distant Prologue: The chapter opens a day after the Owl Beast left Gatesfield in 1982, was captured by the Huntsclan and rescued by Lao Shi, and Eda was brought to Canal Street Electronics and tended to by Fu Dog.
- Dragon Rider: Willow, as Haley (in her dragon form) gives her a ride to the roof Jake and Randy are fighting the winged mechanical creature on.
- Expy: Generalissimo the Sage is based off of Stan Lee, even saying "Excelsior!"
- Flashback B-Plot: A good part of the chapter is spent showing what Eda was up to during the 1980s after she fled from Gatesfield.
- Flashback Cut: After Clara expresses disbelief that her mother is a witch hunter, the chapter shifts back to a segment the Flashback B-Plot, ending with a revelation that Abigail was once a Huntsgirl.
- Floral Theme Naming: Occurs with Willow, Rose, and Violet.
- Foreshadowing: While discussing the dragons of the world, Jake mentions there's a dragon of Atlantis.
- From Bad to Worse: As Clara denies Willow's accusation of her mother being a witch hunter, Gus points out the influence the Gates family has on Gatesfield along with the fact that they run Department A making them look suspicious. Masha and Nora call him out for fanning the flames between them when he and Clara start to get into it.
- The Ghost:
- Willow mentions Luz and Clara is quick to piece together she's talking about the Nocedas as that's the name Camila gave her daughter.
- Amity is brought up when Willow briefly mistakes Rose for her due to their similar sounding voices.
- Gus P. and Perry are mentioned when Willow's telling everybody about Jenny's crimes against her family.
- Randy mentions his enemies Hannibal McFist, the Sorcerer, and the Sorceress when listing off his adventures to the visiting teens.
- Theresa Fowler is mentioned, Howard having told her Randy was at Polka Camp for the summer.
- A Hero to His Hometown: The Ninja. Randy is proud to be the latest bearer of the title but discovers that the Ninja is only well-known in Norrisville, Oklahoma, the Gatesfield teens telling him they've never heard of the Ninja.
- Hypocrite: Eda acknowledges herself as one for getting Susan to face her fears of opening up to Jonathan but couldn't do the same with Raine.
- If Only You Knew: Clara refuses to believe that her mother was associated with the Huntsclan, but a flashback immediately proves she was.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite Jonathan knowing that his family are dragons from the beginning of the series, it seems like the rest of the events of ADJL played out like they originally did. It also seems the events of Randy Cunningham happened the same way.
- Internal Reveal:
- Willow encounters the winged mechanical creatures for the first time.
- Willow discovers that Jenny Porter's been in the Human Realm for the last 5 years after hearing that Randy faced off against her twice.
- Willow learns that Clara's mom is Abigail and they're part of the Gates family. In turn, Clara learns from her that Luz is alive and Camila's Back from the Dead.
- Jerkass Ball: Gus picks it up when he notes how the Gates family has so much influence over the kids' hometown and how Abigail could be hiding her past as a witch hunter from Clara, which aggravates her more following Willow's accusations.
- Kid Hero All Grown-Up: All of Team Dragon has grown up, everyone but the teenage Haley now being young adults but still serving as active heroes in the magical community.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- The Gatesfield group is completely bamboozled that Giselle and Willow performed a musical number: Gus chalks it up to the fact that NYC is home to Broadway and theater kids.
- Clara notes the Floral Theme Naming between Willow, Rose and Violet.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- Rudo compares Jake being a magic superhero to Juniper Lee, an In-Universe nod to both series being Dueling Shows.
- Two voice actresses are given a nod: Willow mistakes Rose for Amity after hearing her voice (both girls are voiced by Mae Whitman) and Jake mentions that Jonathan thinks Eda sounds like his sister/Jake and Haley's aunt Patchouli (both women being voiced by Wendie Malick.)
- Violet notes that Jake and Rose finding her and her reunion with her family is "worthy of a TV special".
- Mage in Manhattan: Two winged mechanical creatures arrive in New York to attack Jake and Randy, with the second one going after Willow the moment she confronts it.
- Mythology Gag:
- Willow's new outfit is the same one she wears in Moringmark's pre-"King's Tide" Earth comics starting from "Blending In
", though the hoodie is a jacket and she wears black pants instead of athletic shorts as seen in this strip. - The Longs, the members of Team Dragon, and the Oracle twins are designed and wear modified clothing based on their appearances from Season 2 of ADJL. Likewise, Haley's full dragon form now has her purple scales from Season 1 and Violet's outfit is the same one Rose wore at the end of "Homecoming".
- Jonathan knowing that his family is filled with dragons refers to how he had originally been meant to know the truth from the very beginning of ADJL.
- Willow's new outfit is the same one she wears in Moringmark's pre-"King's Tide" Earth comics starting from "Blending In
- Named by the Adaptation: Rose's twin sister is named Violet and the Huntsman was named Jeff here.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When the Ninja introduces himself to the Gatesfield group, Giselle and Morgan, Willow (thinking he's a mugger) punches him in the gut and proceeds to beat the crap out of him until Jake stops her.
- Noodle Incident: Eda somehow got herself banned from Susan and Jonathan's high school.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Two for Jenny, who faced Randy as the Ninja and escaped twice.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Willow starts to freak out after she learns who Clara and her mother are due to believing Abigail's a witch hunter.
- When Jake learns about Belos being a human, he is shocked to find out that a human is ruling over a realm of magic.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up:
- The cast of American Dragon: Jake Long are aged up about six years: thus, Haley's 14 like Willow and the Gatesfield teens are while Jake, Trixie, Spud and Rose are 20, along with Violet.
- To a lesser extent, the Philip family from Enchanted become five years older, making Morgan eleven.
- Point of Divergence: For "Hero of the Hourglass"; Eda replaces Jake in telling Jonathan that the Longs are part dragon, thus eliminating the Stable Time Loop that occured from Jake going back in time to tell his father that the magical community exists.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The chapter's title is inspired by The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
- Posthumous Character: The Huntsclan as a whole serves as such because of Rose wiping them all out of existence years ago.
- Prescience Is Predictable
- Resolved Noodle Incident: In the flashbacks, we see Eda's experience with the Huntsclan.
- The Reveal:
- Eda spent four years in NYC after being taken in by Lao Shi, Fu and Susan, becoming friends with Jonathan by extension as "Marilyn". She told Jonathan about the Longs being dragons and revealed she was a witch, the results leading to him accepting Susan's heritage early and the Huntsman's rise. The last time Eda saw Susan and Jonathan was shortly after Jake's birth: by then, she had taken in King.
- Randy fought Jenny when he caught her pickpocketing and she escaped twice. Per the instructions of the Ninjanomicon, he sought advice from Jake on how to deal with her, hence why he's in New York.
- Love Potions are just as illegal in Earth's magical community as they are on the Boiling Isles.
- Luz told Willow and Gus P. about Abigail after she found out about her.
- Department A used to be affiliated with the Huntsclan.
- Abigail was once a Huntsgirl and she crossed paths with Eda in 1986, though Eda had been unaware of who she was since she never saw Abigail unmasked.
- Abigail helped Nora obtain her superintendent job. Nora saw that Abigail wasn't doing well, but didn't do anything to help her.
- Lao-Shi is now part of the Dragon Council.
- Raine's mother was in the Healing Coven.
- Seen It All: After 5 years together, neither Robert nor Morgan are bothered by Giselle's actions or the fact that they met a witch.
- Ship Tease: Masha comforts Clara over her mother by grabbing and squeezing her hand, a gesture Clara accepts and returns.
- Shout-Out:
- The song performed by Giselle, Willow and the Gatesfield party is "Once Upon a Time in New York City" from Oliver & Company.
- The Hunstman's real name is Jeff, a nod to his voice actor, Jeff Bennett.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Willow's now wearing a yellow jacket over a dark green shirt, with black pants and sneakers.
- Time Skip: The flashbacks jump from Eda agreeing to stay with the Luongs to 4 years later when Eda's 18 and visiting Susan while she's in school.
- The Un-Reveal: How is Willow going to get to Gravity Falls?
- Vagueness Is Coming: Sara informs Willow that Belos will have dark plans for both her and Luz, and to beware the beast with one yellow eye.
- Verbal Backspace: When Willow says Jenny is Gus P's mom, Gus G. gives her a confused look, so she has to clarify that she meant "witch Gus, not human Gus".
- Wham Episode: Willow learns who Clara and her family are before telling her that the Nocedas are now residing in the Demon Realm, then faces the winged mechanical creatures which were sent to eliminate Jake and Randy. And after an encounter with the Oracle Twins, Willow becomes horrified to learn that she (along with Luz) is going to be at the center of the Day of Unity.
- Wham Line: Rudo spots someone having moved in front of Willow's party and when he's asked about it, the culprit shouts "SMOKE BOMB!"
