Webcomic / Brother's Keeper

Metanoy's eye, Metanoy's nose,
Metanoy doesn't know his fingers from his toes
Listen all you children,
And heed the madman's woes,
If you play with wild magic,
Remember, it explodes!

Brother's Keeper is an Alternate Universe Fancomic of The Owl House by idoodlestuffsometimes, detailing a What If? scenario where Caleb survived getting assaulted by Philip... But at an enormous cost.

A long time ago, Caleb Wittebane was attacked by his brother Philip and abducted while unconscious and on the brink of death, never to see his family again. In the modern day, Emperor Belos champions the cautionary tale of his brother, Lord Metanoy, whose mind was tragically destroyed when the wild magic he was messing with backfired, killing all his children save for one, and driving him to insanity. Of course, the truth is much more sinister than that...

The comic is currently ongoing, and can be found here, along with some supplemental drawings and behind the scenes artwork.

As this is a fan work, all spoilers for The Owl House will be unmarked.

Brother's Keeper provides examples of:

• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: Not by much, but Hunter in this universe has a slightly easier time, indicated by his lack of facial scarring and ear notch. Of course, the reason he's not as bad off as in canon is because Caleb is there to take the brunt of the abuse.
• Ambiguous Situation: In the modern day, Caleb has had his right leg amputated just below the knee, but since Caleb's legs deliberately aren't shown in the first comic, when or how this happened is left unclear. Was this the result of his knife-fight with Philip? Did Philip cut it off to keep him from escaping? Or did he do it just so he could create the Grimwalkers?
• Biblical Motifs: In keeping with Philip's motif as a false prophet using the trappings of Christianity to justify his actions, the title is taken from the Book of Genesis. After Cain kills Abel, God comes to him and asks him where Abel is. Cain answers "Am I my brother's keeper?".
• Cassandra Truth: Invoked and Exploited. Lord Metanoy's story is used as a cautionary tale across the Boiling Isles, of the man who messed with wild magic and tragically went insane. Of course Caleb is not only not insane, but he's also the only one who knows about Belos's plan to wipe out all life on the Isles. To keep up the ruse, Belos feeds him mind-altering drugs and parades him around in public to ensure that nobody will believe him when he starts rambling about the end of the world.
• The Chew Toy: A semi-canonical character named Sad Boy Bob (short for Tragic Youth Robert). Bob is a Grimwalker created in a time where Caleb was trying very hard to pretend he didn't care about the Grimwalkers at all, and the tragedy of his life is often played up for comedy.
• Child by Rape: Discussed, but fortunately averted. A reader of the comic sent in an ask theorizing that, when Hunter inevitably started wondering who his mother was, Belos would have spun a tale about Caleb escaping the castle and someone "taking advantage of his madness." Of course, Hunter is actually a Grimwalker, meaning Caleb is his only biological parent. A supplemental comic details Caleb's reaction to learning that Belos told Hunter that, needless to say he was NOT happy.
  Caleb: (internally) I'm going to KILL him. I'm about to be an ONLY CHILD.
• Control Freak: Philip. His kidnapping and abuse of Caleb is purely motivated by him wanting to control every aspect of his brother's life.
  • The Grimwalkers were created partially as a mode of blackmail — if Caleb disobeyed, he would have to watch his children be brutalized. Though as this comic indicates, this also works the other way around.
  • Caleb's body has been mutilated to keep him from escaping; he no longer has his right leg, and his mobility devices are horribly designed on purpose, meaning he can't even operate his wheelchair by himself. He also has scars on his throat, which, according to invokedWord of God, are meant to symbolize Belos's possessiveness, as they resemble a collar and imply that Belos has at some point grabbed Caleb by the neck.
  • And then of course there's the drugs. Caleb is constantly fed mind-altering drugs, which leave him confused, amnesiac, emotionally vulnerable, and prone to bouts of aggression, manifesting as throwing books and banging on the door. These serve both as a method of keeping him from running away, and of convincing the rest of the world he's incapable of taking care of himself, or telling reality from fantasy.
• Driven to Suicide: According to invokedWord of God, Caleb has attempted suicide multiple times.
  Doodle: The most likely points would probably be after the death of the first grimwalker and whenever it was that he realized he’s surely outlived his wife and their child. Attempts lead to consequences against his sons though, so for Hunter’s sake he hasn’t tried it in a long time and in fact actively avoids things that might tempt him in his weaker or less lucid moments. One of the multiple reasons he doesn’t carve anymore.
• Eye Scream: During the initial assault, Caleb had his left eye torn open, leaving a large, vertical scar. While he has managed to keep the eyeball, he's drawn without an iris or pupil on that side, meaning his left eye is fully blind.
• Gilded Cage: Caleb's room is actually quite nice — he has a large, ornate bed, a massive amount of books, a lot of plants, a setup for making pottery, and a separate dining area with a fireplace, and he receives regular visits from his son, Hunter. Of course that doesn't mean he's not living in a prison cell — there are bars on the windows and door, the room is constantly guarded, and he's never allowed to leave without supervision. invokedWord of God also states that the room is modeled after the relic room, with Caleb as the relic on display.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Pretty much everyone outside of Belos and (possibly) Hunter knows Caleb as "Lord Metanoy". "Metanoy" is derived from the word "metanoia", which refers to someone having a change of heart after spiritual repentance, which is exactly Belos's goal in keeping his brother imprisoned.
  • The two other named Grimwalkers before Hunter have their own meaningful names as well. Obed is short for Obedient, which should be obvious, and Matthias is named after Matthias the Apostle, the disciple who replaced Judas after he betrayed Jesus (implying Belos sees himself as Jesus and Caleb as Judas).
• The Nicknamer: Caleb. While he doesn't have the chance to interact with a lot of people, he tends to give Affectionate Nicknames to the ones closest to him. Philip is "Pip", Hunter is "Fledge" or "Fledgeling", and the two other named Grimwalkers, Obed(ient) and Matthias, are nicknamed "Beedie" and "Matty".
• Obfuscating Insanity: Belos keeps Caleb drugged to make everyone else believe he's too insane to be worth listening to. Although sometimes, Caleb engages in this a little bit as well, just to get in some small victories.
  Belos: Giving Kikimora trouble again, I see.
  Caleb: I don't know what you mean. Any good assistant should know that madmen bite.
• Parents as People: Caleb does love Hunter, no matter the circumstances leading to a Grimwalker's existence. Unfortunately, Belos insists on keeping his brother drugged to the eyeballs, reducing Caleb to an emotionally unstable, confused and memory-addled wreck and impeding his ability to properly parent Hunter who's always walking on eggshells out of fear of triggering the man. Caleb is also painfully aware that Belos will murder Hunter for showing too much free will and has to discourage the boy's attempts to grow independent for Hunter's protection.
• Slipping a Mickey: How Belos keeps Caleb in line. His meals regularly contain mind-altering drugs, which cause aggression, confusion, amnesia, and emotional outbursts. This serves two purposes — the first being to keep Caleb from trying to escape, the second being to keep everyone believing Lord Metanoy is completely insane, meaning nobody will believe Caleb when he tries to warn them about his brother's true intentions, and that anyone who spots him outside the castle will simply bring him back, thinking they're doing the right thing.
  Caleb: Does this have any surprises from Terra today, Pip?
  Belos: Would it make a difference if I told you?
• Trauma Conga Line: And how. From the moment Caleb was ripped away from his family, he's been horribly physically and psychologically abused, lost an eye, lost a leg, watched Philip create multiple surrogate children for him and then slaughter them in horribly gruesome ways, fed him a constant cocktail of drugs to make everyone else believe he's insane, and kept him locked in a single room with barred windows, only allowed out to serve as a propaganda piece. On top of that, he's had to live with the knowledge that he's long outlived his wife Evelyn, and that he never got to meet or be a father to their child.
• The Un-Hug: After learning that there's another human on the Isles, Belos hugs Caleb and assures him that he won't let another human become corrupted. Caleb makes no attempt to hug back, and just hangs limply as Belos lifts him bodily out of his wheelchair^note Which is a violation on its own — most wheelchair users see their wheelchairs as extensions of their bodies, so unless you have explicit permission or it's an emergency, picking someone up out of their wheelchair is as unacceptable as walking up to a random stranger and picking them up off their feet without asking., seemingly frozen in horror.
• Wheelchair Woobie: An In-Universe example, as Belos purposefully plays up Caleb's struggles with mobility to make him look even more helpless. He's always in a wheelchair when he makes public appearances, and said wheelchair is purposefully designed to be unusable by the person actually sitting in it, meaning he's always being pushed by others. According to Word of God, Caleb actually prefers to use crutches, but is not allowed to do so outside of his private quarters.

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