"Can you put your mask on? I'm not gonna cover for you when Belos catches you without it again."
The Tag Team AU is a The Owl House fancomic by Yogurthoops, set in an AU where Luz accidentally sliped into the Demon Realm seven years before canon events. Without a way back home, she was secretly taken in by Emperor Belos and raised alongside Hunter as his younger sibling and second Golden Guard – her human status hidden from everyone but her new uncle and brother. As the siblings grow closer and stronger over the years, they settle on a goal: heal Belos with wild magic, preferably without him finding out until he’s healed.
With Hunter having someone he trusts to bounce his wild magic ideas off of, and with Luz all too ready to abuse her authority for the greater good, things are going to happen a little differently here.
It can be read here
on Tumblr. Sadly, in 2023 the author decided that the comic would be cancelled, citing the slow updates and their own lack of motivation to draw. Instead, the storyline would be told through a series of sometimes illustrated posts describing the plot of each episode.
See also Tag Team Extras for stories on Archive of Our Own set in the same universe.
As this is a fanwork, spoilers for the original work will remain unmarked.
This fancomic provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Belos is a Manipulative Bastard who sees his nephew and niece as tools at best, blatantly favorizes, gets physically abusive at times (while blaming it on his condition), and spends most of his time either playing the pair against each other, or encouraging unhealthy codependence.
- Adaptational Badass: Luz, having grown up in a military organization and trained to be an elite guardsman for the last seven years, is far more physically capable than her canon self, even a match for Hunter.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Luz and Hunter are both notably different due to growing up with each other.
- Hunter, having grown up with a friendly troublemaker as his sister, is far more willing to have fun and goofing off.
- Luz remains mostly the same personality-wise, aside from being a bit more willing to lie and cheat, as well as having more respect for Belos' authority, but Belos' less-than-stellar parenting has left her with a heap of issues that she doesn't have in canon, namely a need to prove herself useful to have worth and an internalized hatred of her humanity, feeling that it makes her weak.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Of course. The premise of the fic means that Luz and Hunter are far closer, considering each other siblings and having a degree of codependency. She also looks up to and respects Belos, and is on friendly terms with (nearly) everyone in the Emperor's Coven. On the flip side, having been raised in the Emperor's Coven means that she has no relationship to Amity, Eda, or anyone else outside the coven.
- Adaptational Villainy: Heavily downplayed. Luz is still an optimistic ray of sunshine who brings out the best in everyone around them, but she is also the head enforcer for a fascist regime and loyal to her uncle, who happens to be a dictator. Whereas canon Luz was horrified at the idea of petrification as capital punishment, TT!Luz thinks nothing of it.
- Affectionate Nickname: Luz refers to Belos as "Tío", Spanish for "Uncle".
- The Beastmaster: Luz, in lieu of a staff like the one her brother wields, commands a massive guildersnake named Backup in battle.
Word of God is that it was a gift from Eberwolf. - Cain and Abel: "Yesterday's Lie" features this twofold, both times staring Luz as Cain.
- As of the end of the episode, Luz remains a completely loyal enforcer of Belos, while Hunter has defected and moved to the Owl House.
- Vee has grown up in the shadow of her disappeared sister. When Luz does return to Earth, she can't help but let some of the resulting resentment show. At the end of the episode, Luz tries to return to the Demon Realm unnoticed, but Vee tries to stop her because it would break Camila's heart, resulting in a fight.
- Cerebus Callback: Fairly early on in the comic's run, the author jokes that, since Luz was young when she was sent to the Demon Realm, her knowledge of human culture would be flawed, and she'd end up making a lot of things up on the fly. Come "Yesterday's Lie", Jacob asks her to say some things about humans to prove she is one, and she comes up blank.
- Characterization Marches On: As a result of Canon Marches On. Initially, Belos in the comic was descriped as having Parental Favoritism towards Hunter, since Hunter was part of his plans while Luz was more tacked on as an experiment. With the revelation that Belos is Philip Wittebane, however, it was changed to Luz being the favorite, since she's the only human he's interracted with in hundreds of years and he projects onto her to a creepy degree, whereas Hunter is just another grimwalker.
- Child Prodigy: Luz and Hunter are fiercly intelligent and capable, despite their young age. Hunter has been groomed for the role of Golden Guard his entire life, while Luz demonstrated remarkable skill in leadership and rallying people to her cause at a young age. Both joined the Emperor's Coven as elite soldiers at age 12 and 14 respectively.
- Defector from Decadence: Hunter fully defects from the Emperor's Coven at the end of season one, alongside Lilith, putting him at odds with his sister who remains loyal.
- Downer Ending: The story's version of "Yesterday's Lie", set immediately after "Young Blood, Old Souls" instead of halfway in season 2, ends with Luz deciding that she'll never fit in the Human Realm, has a fight with Vee, leaves without telling Camila, and returns to Belos, completely loyal to him.
- Dramatic Irony: In "Yesterday's Lie", Luz tells Vee that Eda is dead by petrification, having been given the portal key and left before she could see that Eda was saved.
- The Faceless: In-Universe, Hunter prefers to keep his mask on while on the job, meaning that very few people know what he actually looks like. This becomes a plotpoint when Luz asks him to be her liason with Eda, since Luz' face is well-known and she can't go herself.
- Faux Horrific: Happens when Luz is helping Lilith set up the Covention.Luz: (terrified) Stay back! I'm warning you!Lilith: But I have so many more tasks for you, Golden Guard! Unless you're (dramatic zoom in on her face) Overburdened?
- Gender Flip: Downplayed example. The comic runs with the
Trans Audience Interpretation that Luz is genderqueer, and she goes by She/They pronouns. - History Repeats: At least as Belos sees it, Luz and Hunter mirror himself and Caleb, with Luz being the good and pure one being betrayed by her brother who was seduced by the allure of magic.
- Identical Grandson: Gwendolyn assumes Hunter is Eda's child when first meeting him because the teen startingly looks like her husband Dell. Even after correcting the misunderstanding, the aged witch insists there has to be some kind of relationship and she's not wrong, since Hunter is a clone of the Clawthorne family human ancestor, meaning Dell is an Identical Grandson to Caleb.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: Luz and Hunter aren't twins, but they do look nearly identical when in uniform. The only visual distinction is that Luz is shorter than Hunter.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite Luz having arrived in the Demon Realm years earlier, Vee still ends up adopted by Camila, albeit without impersonating Luz, because Eda asked Camila to take care of her.
- Internalized Categorism: Luz sees humans as weak and powerless, stemming from her uncle constantly teaching her that she's helpless without her brother to protect her.
- In the Hood: Luz always wears her hood in public to hide her human ears.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Luz and Hunter are described as codependent to an unhealthy degree, absolutely terrified of seeing each other hurt, willing to sacrifice themselves for their sibling's safety, and ridden by anxiety when not certain of their sibling's safety. Belos encourages this, seeing it as a way to keep them under control easier.
- Loving a Shadow: Luz wants to return to the human realm, but was seven when she left, meaning that she doesn't really have any clear memories of it. Her goal is more of a coping mechanism, seeking a place where she fits in and someone loves her.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Luz is officially bestowed the Golden Guard's staff in the intermission between season 1 and 2.
- Mythology Gag: Backup the Guildersnake is a reference to the first episode of the show, where Luz had a real snake to represent the gildersnake from an Azura book. And also a pile of "backup snakes".
- Parental Favoritism: Belos greatly favors Luz over Hunter, seeing a lot of himself in her and wanting to "protect" her from the "taint" of the Demon Realm. Compared to Hunter, who is just another grimwalker, Luz is special in Belos' eyes. This largely takes the form of Belos being far more protective and controlling of Luz, whereas Hunter has more personal freedom.
- Poor Communication Kills: Hunter did not tell Luz that he was considering defecting from the Emperor's coven. As a result, Belos is able to use the reveal to convince Luz that Hunter was betraying her.
- Refusal of the Call: Hunter's meeting with Adegast goes much differently than Luz's in canon.Adegast: Ah, hello, hero! You seem to have potential-
Hunter: (slams door shut) Next delivery.
King: Right. - Role Swap AU: Not initially, as Luz merely becomes a Golden Guard alongside Hunter instead of replacing him, but played straighter when Hunter becomes Eda's student later on, taking Luz' role in the original story.
- Serious Business: The Azura Incident. What started as a shipping war between Luz and Steve regarding the Azura books quickly escalated into a full civil war within the Emperor's Coven, crippling the coven for weeks and even threatening Belos' throne. The incident convinced Belos that Luz' incredible ability to get people on her side could be an asset, resulting in her becoming a golden guard.
- She Is the King: Since Luz and Hunter are nearly indistinguishable while wearing uniforms, members of the Emperor's Coven tend to call both of them "Sir". Word of God is that Luz, who is genderqueer, has no issue with it.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Word of God is that Luz and Hunter are both highly intelligent prodigies with a lot of drive to learn, but differ in how they apply their knowledge. Hunter prefers the theoretical and proper, approaching new things with caution and study. Luz prefers the direct approach, experimenting instead of studying.
- Spotting the Thread: After hearing Luz talk about how humans are useless and pathetic because they don't have magic, Gus spots her using a glyph to cast a fire spell. Since Hunter already told him that glyphs don't require internal magic, and therefore glyph users are probably powerless, he connects that dots that Luz can't cast magic naturally.
- Stranger in a Familiar Land: In "Yesterday's Lie", Luz returns to Earth using the portal key Eda gave her, but struggles with adjusting. Vee tries to help her, but Luz still struggles with understanding human social customs and feels like an outsider, not helped by Vee's lingering resentment at having grown up in her lost sister's shadow. The breaking point comes when Luz is kidnapped by Jacob Hopkins who, thinking she's a demon, asks her to prove her humanity by saying things humans would know, which Luz can't. This is the final straw for Luz, and she goes back to the Demon Realm in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye to Camila.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: After finding out Eda is a Wild Witch and could possibility teach her and Hunter Wild Magic and help with Belos's curse, she offers to join Warden Wrath at the Conformatorium.Warden Wrath: Ah! Sir! You want to be my wingman?
Luz: Uh, sure! - Uncanny Valley: In-Universe; Luz lacks a lot of the mannerisms and traits that witches usually use to communicate with (her ears don't express her emotions and she can't make a lot of the noises that witches supplement their language with, to name a few), so she comes across as slightly robotic and otherworldly to most witches.
