Chapter 87: A Tale of Two Palismen
Art by Crash X Fusion: We didn't know it yet, but we had just met the biggest monster in history.note
Ghost and Flapjack fill the Clawthornes and their new houseguests in on their lives with Philip and William; the Order commences Eclipsa's trial.Tropes that appear in this chapter:
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Continuing from what had been revealed in "To Serve", Philip and Caleb Wittebane weren't brought to the Demon Realm by Evelyn but by an unknown old man who erased their memories.
- Adaptational Explanation: The Owl House never went into how Eda's old portal door was made or who made it. Here, it was Belos—or rather, Philip— who made it with the Titan Blood acquired at Eclipse Lake, and a member of the Clawthorne family buried it where he could never find it.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Belos used the Collector for his plans of genocide on witchkind in The Owl House, but since Philip knew how dangerous the Collector really is here (not to mention knowing he's a Fae), he simply throws the Collector's tablet down the Titan's skull seconds after meeting him.
- Affectionate Nickname: Maya seems to call Ghost "Lazy", which is how she realizes Maya's alive.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- Eclipsa mentions that she left Meteora in the care of a friend before she was crystallized. She doesn't say which friend, however.
- Last we see of Mary Gates, she traveled back to Earth with Gabriel after stealing the portal door. However, she isn't seen with him when he is trying to free the Collector.
- Ghost admits that Abra never gave away how he gave an abomination a soul.
- Eclipsa has an idea on where to stay, and then we cut to Edric, Mel, Cups, and Mugs finding the Eclipse Escape Dungeon closed. Did she take up residence there?
- There's a man— pixie hunt for Acorn going on in Gravity Falls, but there's no explanation why.
- Besides his family, Belos sees ghosts of a young, scarred Marilyn and Delara, hinting that he killed Delara and the young Marilyn is a grimwalker he made.
- Big "WHAT?!": Amity, Willow, Gus and Eve seem to let out a collective one upon learning that Belos is a Clawthorne. Star later gives one upon hearing that Eclipsa came to the Isles before.
- Brain Bleach: Everyone is disturbed by King's description of the thought that Belos had been in love with somebody in the past.King: Yeah, it's hard to picture Belos as a giggling school girl like the ones you read about in Slice of Life mangas.
Gus: I didn't need to... think of it that way.
Hunter: (with an Eye Twitch) Now I can't sleep thanks to that image... - Breather Episode: Downplayed, for while the Clawthornes and the other inhabitants of the Owl House get to relax a bit by listening to a story, they're given a massive backstory revelation behind Belos's motives and his Dark and Troubled Past.
- But Now I Must Go: With their adventure in the Human Realm over, Ghost leaves the Owl House to return to the Bat Queen, leaving Amity without a palisman again because she still doesn't know what she wants for her future.
- Call-Back:
- Lilith recalls when Amity used her magic without drawing spell circles, piecing together that her Fae magic was responsible for it.
- When remembering Flapjack, Gus mentions how he helped him, Hunter and Boscha escape from Glandus' dungeons.
- Continuity Cameo: Delara appears as one of the ghosts haunting Belos when he's alone.
- Create Your Own Villain: Belos was the one who brought Gabriel Gates and the Inner Demon to the Boiling Isles, and the legacies they leave behind would affect both the Human and Demon Realms up to the present.
- Crush Blush
- Dark and Troubled Past: Philip brought the Gates siblings to the Isles and was not only betrayed by them, but lost his family as a result. He spent several years afterward traveling dimensions and ended up becoming influenced by the Horned King, who would convince him to find and free him which came at the destruction of his adopted sister's palisman and his brother's apparent death.
- A Day in the Limelight: The chapter showcases the lives of the Wittebane-turned-Clawthorne brothers, Philip and Caleb/William, through the eyes of Ghost and Flapjack.
- Dead Guy Junior: Played With; William gave his son his former human name after learning of his origins.
- Dénouement Episode: While "Closing the Gates" marked the end of the events set in the Human Realm, this chapter acts as the epilogue and official ending to the "Human Realm" Arc as a whole.
- Dramatic Irony: Belos became so determined to save the Boiling Isles from disaster, he became the reason why Gabriel and his family would even learn about the Demon Realm and seek to destroy it. And as it turns out, he's also indirectly responsible for creating the Inner Demon and later forming an alliance with the very being who granted him his power.
- Everybody Knew Already: Eve had already learned Amity was part-Fae due to reading her aura and seeing Sam moving on their own.
- Expy:
- For the temple guides; Bendy Gabor is a reference to Beni Gabor from The Mummy and by appearance Bendy from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Barracuda and Sapito the Sap are parodies of Barranca and Satipo from Raiders of the Lost Ark, while Monsieur Boots is an obvious parody of Puss in Boots.
- Gray Carnivants are stand-ins for Durant.
- Blood Pumpernickel, who is a parody of Daffy Duck's Scarlet Pumpernickel from the Looney Tunes short, mixed with the Cavalier from Batman: Brave and the Bold.
- Stripoder and Merchalite are parodies of Stinkor and Mer-Man from Masters of the Universe.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: This chapter marks the beginning of a series of Breather Chapters from all the usual chaos the Clawthornes endure and instead showing somebody else's chaos.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Both Belos (unintentionally) and the Horned King (intentionally) were ultimately responsible for the creation of the Inner Demon, as Philip brought him to the Demon Realm and the Horned King instructed him on how to become a god by sacrificing witchlings.
- Haunting the Guilty: Belos finds himself haunted by the spirits of Marilyn, William (with a knife over his head), and surprisingly a young, scarred Marilyn and Delara. He even sees a spirit of Hunter, since he still believes he's dead.
- He Knows Too Much: Lampshaded by Eve after realizing she needs to be careful with keeping everything she's learned about Belos to herself.
- In Spite of a Nail: Eclipsa is put on trail for her crimes, learns the fate of her daughter, and is found innocent and released from custody.
- Internal Reveal:
- Amity, Willow, Gus, Ghost and Eve learn about Belos being Philip with the witchlings learning he was a Clawthorne and Eve learning he was a human. The witchlings also learn about Adam and his connection to Philip.
- Ghost learns that Maya's alive and her soul is now inhabiting Luz's body.
- Willow, Gus and Eve learn that Raine has been found and is staying at the Owl House. Hunter later learns this for himself.
- Star learns from Kitsuni and Hunter that Rhombulus and Ludo survived Mewni's destruction.
- Amity learns that Kitsuni and Sly knew she's now half-Fae and she tells everyone besides Luz and Gus the truth about her deal with Puck causing it. They also meet Sam for the first time.
- Ghost reveals to everybody that Flapjack was William's palisman.
- Eclipsa meets the Order and is informed of Mewni's destruction and the Magic High Commission being defunct.
- Hunter learns that Amity, Willow, and Gus have returned home and meets Star, while Eve meets Hunter and is told of his being the Golden Guard and his betrayals.
- Willow informs her friends about Sara's predictions.
- Star learns that Eclipsa has been to the Isles and tells everybody who she is.
- Luz informs her family of her encounter with the Horned King the night everyone disappeared.
- Kitsuni figures out Eclipsa's daughter is the same Meteora who tried to kill Luz and Amity, and Oberon admits this to the rest of the Order during the trial.
- Everyone learns from Maya and Gus that Hunter's a grimwalker and thus, a clone of William.
- Eda warns Raine about Department A.
- I've Come Too Far: No matter what happened before or how many of his loved ones tried to convince him to stop, Philip just wouldn't give up his mission to prevent the Bad Future his vision from the Weird Sisters entailed. This drive would lead to his molding himself into Emperor Belos in the present day.
- Karmic Death: Gabriel's final fate for murdering several witches including William's wife and son along with their parents, is being thrown down the Titan's Skull by Philip as he begs for mercy.
- Killed Off for Real
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The old man who brought Philip and Caleb to the Demon Realm wiped their memories after he did it so they don't remember their life in the Human Realm.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Gabriel took advantage of Philip's trusting nature in order to set fire to the hometown, shoot his boyfriend dead, steal his portal key, and burn down his family home with his parents, sister-in-law, and his brother's children inside. Philip pays him back in full by dropping him down the Titan's skull, the impact of the fall doing him in.
- No One Should Survive That!: The last Marilyn and Flapjack saw of Philip and William, they were about to be killed in a collapsing temple. While Ghost and Flapjack are still unsure if Sir William is William Clawthorne, they have both learned that Philip managed to survive and live on for over three hundred years before taking on the identity of Emperor Belos.
- Out of Focus: The Clawthornes, Amity, Camila, Willow and Gus all sit back and listen to Ghost and Flapjack as they explain their experiences with the Brothers Wittebane turned Clawthorne.
- Pay Evil unto Evil
- Point of Divergence:
- The box of truth isn't used in Eclipsa's trial and she remains in her crystal for the duration of it.
- Instead of Philip, it was Gabriel who tried to get help from the Collector to exterminate witchkind. And it ended in failure.
- Hunter learns he's a grimwalker and becomes disillusioned of Belos before the events of "Hollow Mind" and undergoes his Important Haircut before "Thanks to Them".
- Ghost leaves Amity's care because Amity still doesn't have a set Goal in Life for herself. This is a massive case of irony as "For the Future" revealed that Amity bonded with Ghost because she admitted this with complete honesty.
- The Reveal:
- Philip and Caleb Wittebane were brought to the Boiling Isles by an old man who wiped their memories. While Caleb was renamed William by Damuel and Jocelyn, Philip keeps his name due to it being sewn on the blanket he brought with him.
- The Inner Demon was the nameless, lanky, middle-aged man in the red coat who was part of the group Philip brought back to the Isles, and he made a deal with the Horned King to gain his immortality.
- Gabriel stole the portal key after burning down old Bonesborough with his fellow witch hunters and shooting Adam dead. Years later, he was responsible for burning down the Clawthorne home and killing many of its ihabitants, which included Damuel, Jocelyn, Caleb (who was impaled before the house was burned down) and his mother/William's wife Evelyn.
- Adam turned out to be an abomination who gained a soul and became a witch. After his death, Abra married a baroness and their children continued the Blight family's lineage, meaning Adam isn't Amity's biological ancestor.
- After traveling back to the Human Realm, Philip learned of his and Caleb's origins. As such, William gave his son his old name.
- Gabriel tried to find The Collector and free him to destroy witchkind, but Philip stopped him and dropped both him and The Collector's mirror down the Titan's skull, with Gabriel being killed by the fall.
- William's cambion form is revealed to have yellow scales.
- Philip's traveling to other realms was to gather allies to help him fight the winged mechanical creatures, which all ended with him gaining no help.
- Philip tried to track down the Horned King in a temple and fought William and Marilyn when they tried to stop him. Philip destroyed Marilyn's cockatrice palisman Winger and William and Philip were believed to be dead.
- Flapjack became Marilyn's palisman and stayed with her until the end of her life. Before then, Marilyn raised William's remaining children and took up drinking after they grew up, Flapjack becoming her Only Friend because she pushed everyone away.
- Marilyn disowned Philip from the Clawthorne family and burned all proof that he and William were part of it. She also buried the portal and tampered with Philip's journal before donating it to Bonesborough Library.
- Another member of the Order is introduced: Kanaloa, the Hawaiian God of the Sea.
- King Shastican made a deal with Oberon to take in Meteora when he decided to get rid of her.
- Eda reveals that there was a former Shadowy Secret Expozers team before the current one, and Vanessa Pierce (known as Vanny when attending Hexside) was a former member. The other four members are Walter Wildes, Stacy Le Fette, Bobby Bones, and their rabbit mascot, Doctor Cuddlebuns. Bobby and Cuddlebuns are both missing.
- Eve mentions that Stacy is Teri's mother, who died shortly after he was born. She was a bard like him.
- Pixies are currently looking for Acorn on Earth.
- Dipper and Mabel are now staying with Soos at his grandmother's house while Abigail, Nora, their children and the other Gatesfield teens are staying at a motel.
- Abigail implies that the story about Manny, Luke and Joseph's deaths while working at Department A is a cover-up.
- It is implied that Belos has something to do with Delara's death.
- Secret-Keeper:
- Now that they know Belos was Philip Clawthorne, Amity, Willow, Gus and Eve need to keep it secret so he doesn't attempt to kill them if the information is leaked.
- After Kitsuni informs her that Rhombulus is alive, Star asks that she doesn't tell him she's in the Demon Realm as she doesn't trust him. Kitsuni agrees to her wishes.
- The rest of the Clawthornes, Willow, and Eve know Amity's half-Fae now, and everyone in the Owl House knows it's essential that stays between them because Belos will come after her the second he learns of it.
- Sequel Hook: Hunter must now accept that he's a grimwalker, Star's wand fragment begins to show ominous glowing, Eclipsa may have moved to the Boiling Isles and Abel might be warning Belos about her, and there's the story behind the younger Marilyn spirit and Belos's connection to Delara.
- Shared Family Quirks: Like Amity and Alador, Adam appears to have had a habit of showing a full face blush when flustered.
- Shout-Out:
- Genie poses as Saul Goodman, a character from the tv series Breaking Bad, and the star of his own spin-off, Better Call Saul.
- The Abomi-Knight theme is inspired by the Flash Gordon theme.
- "Burn Butcher Burn" was a song from the Netflix series "The Witcher."
- Eda's Accidental Misnaming of Eve has her call the goth girl Eevee.
- The original Shadowy Secret Exposers take inspiration from the original Mystery Incorporated.
- Sleep Cute: Because of everything Eda went through in the Human Realm, Raine offers to let her sleep with them in the basement for the night to comfort her. Luz and Amity also eagerly share Luz's bed for the first time in a week and fall asleep on the promise of a future date.
- Sunk Cost Fallacy
- Tragic Keepsake: Angel's jacket becomes even more of one now that the Clawthornes have seen what she's become. Luz considers throwing it out, but Eda tells her to keep it as a memento of who Angel used to be.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The third quarter teaser showed Belos being haunted by the spirits of his family and those he seems to have wronged.
- Unexplained Recovery: While it's revealed that Philip and William survived their supposed deaths, how they did is a mystery.
- The Un-Reveal: It isn't revealed what happened when Philip traveled to Mewni to speak with Eclipsa after Adam's death, what Abigail knows about the Department A explosion in Gatesfield, why Acorn appears to be a fugitive in the pixie community back on Earth, why Delara's spirit appears before Belos or what problem Abel was about to tell him.
- Villains Want Mercy: Being lifted by Philip in his cambion state, Gabriel actually has the gall to beg Philip to spare his life after killing his family and his lover. Naturally, Philip tells him to go to hell before killing him.
- Wham Episode: Ghost and Flapjack inform the Owl House residents of Philip's past, Hunter is told he's a grimwalker and decides to cut his hair with Lilith's help, Eclipsa is found innocent of her past crimes and is implied to have taken shelter in her escape temple, Ghost leaves because Amity hasn't figured out her greatest desire, a pixie-hunt begins for Acorn, Abigail prepares to tell Nora what really happened to Luke, and Abel prepares to give Belos some bad news.
- Wham Line
- Wham Shot
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Mary is mysteriously absent when Gabriel returned to the Demon Realm.
- Whole Episode Flashback
- You Remind Me of X: Even with the knowledge that Maya's alive, Ghost remains uncomfortable and on guard around Luz because she reminds her of Philip.
