Fanfic / The Raven & the Owlet

Lilith made a mistake.

—The first line, giving an apt summation of the story

The Raven & the Owlet is an Alternate Universe Fic based on The Owl House created by Soulfyre on Archive of Our Own.

Eda, instead of succumbing to her curse and turning into the Owl Beast while saving Luz and fighting Lilith, instead dies from depleting all of her magic. Desiring Eda's portal to the Human Realm, Emperor Belos strips Lilith of her Coven Sigil and gives her one month to turn Luz to their side so she gives up the portal.

Of course, Lilith's actions mean the residents of the Owl House don't trust her at all. With everyone and everything against her, the eldest Clawthorne sister begins a journey she doesn't want to take.

The story can be found here. It's part of a "RavenVerse", which includes stories from other characters' perspectives known as Raven Pellets.

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The Raven & the Owlet uses the following tropes:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Not literal student council, but still applies in spirit. Boscha, as captain of the Banshees, has a lot of influence during grudgby season, to the point where she can order teachers around without issue. When she and Luz need some privacy, she simply drags her into a random classroom and tells everyone to scram, which they do.
  Luz: Whoa, your grudgby powers are super impressive. And mildly disturbing.
• Abusive Parents: Odalia is controlling and at times physically abusive of Amity. Her own parents were apparently just as bad, and Lilith is disappointed to learn what she has become.
• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • During "Hunting Palismen", Boscha holds back a laugh at a lot of Hunter and Luz' Like Brother and Sister interractions, and even laughs outright when Luz does her "Too slow" trick on Hunter.
  • She also snickers when Willow and Gus jokingly accuse Luz of abandoning them for fame.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Eda's death and the knowledge that Lilith cursed her deals a large emotional blow to Luz, as she spends the first 11 chapters grieving while having to deal with Lilith injecting herself into her life and trying to replace Eda.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Because she never took on half of Eda's curse, Lilith still has her magic available, and, with Eda gone, is the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles. She later also takes step to improve her raw power under Eda's tutelage.
  • By studying Healing on top of Abomination magic, Amity learns how to use both to create a slime that can keep bodily damage from worsening and soothe any pain, as well as accelerate the body's natural healing.
• Adaptational Deviation: Going by Luz's internal monologue about having never experienced loss like Eda's death before, Manny Noceda died either before Luz was born or very shortly after in this continuity, whereas in the show he died when Luz was about 10.
• Adaptational Explanation: Philip Wittebane had been responsible for Flapjack losing his left eye.
• Adaptational Heroism: Odalia, while still an emotionally and physically Abusive Parent, has a Freudian Excuse in this story, having grown up in an abusive household herself and becoming just like her mother despite her best efforts (though Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse). Her relationship to Alador, while one of business rather than love, also appear to be genuinely friendly, whereas in the show she was similarily abusive to him as she was to her children. At Lilith's prompting, she even has a Heel Realization.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Boscha strikes a weird balance between this and Adaptational Jerkass, as she starts out a much worse Jerkass than in the show, being a lot more aggressive in her bullying of Luz throughout season 2, but has a lot more Character Development than her canon self, and even becomes one of Luz' main love interests.
• Adaptational Sexuality: By the time Lilith was revealed as aromantic and asexual in the show proper, her former relationship with Odalia had already been established. As such, Lilith is demiromantic and asexual in the fic.
• Adaptation Expansion: Since Luz joins the Banshees, the rules of Grudgby are explained in more detail. Lilith explains that magic that conceals or obscures the ball isn't allowed, neither is magic that summons additional teammates (hence why Amity can only summon abomination goop and limbs and not full abominations). Players also can't bring anything magical with them from the outside, so potion witches like Boscha have to rely on what they can brew up on the fly. Finally, Lilith warns Luz that no magic can be used to directly harm an opponent, but she couldn't be blamed if an opponent "accidentally" ran into a damaging spell.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • All of Lilith's relationships are expanded upon and altered due to her initial conceited attitude as the kids start off not trusting her and she doesn't think much of them, but she eventually becomes protective of all of them, especially Luz.
  • Luz and Boscha's relationship starts off with Boscha doubling down on her picking on Luz until they become teammates on the Banshees, after which the triclops starts showing a bit of respect towards the human for her determination. She is also being set up as a Love Interest for Luz.
  • Boscha, Amelia, and Cat were always close in the show but here, the latter two stop being friends with Boscha due to her attitude and even leave the Banshees to distance themselves from her.
• Adapted Out: Aside from "Escaping Expulsion", "Echoes of the Past", and "Hunting Palismen" along with the Lumity scenes from "Knock, Knock, Knockin on Hooty's Door", the entirety of Season 2A is cut or occurs offscreen. It's also been confirmed that the Collector will not appear.
• Aesop Amnesia: When Tibbles offers a way to resurrect Eda, Luz decides to take it on the vain hope that it will work, despite all her friends pointing out how horrible of an idea it is to trust Tibbles. Justified since she's so deep in her grief that she will take any hope, no matter how small and idiotic. True enough, Tibbles was sending them to a death trap, and even hired mercenaries to finish the job just in case. Thankfully, Lilith is not dumb enough to fall for his lies and kills him when he tries.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Starting from Chapter 27, Boscha playfully flicks Luz on the forehead since they've become friends.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Of sorts; Eda often calls Amity "Baby Blight".
  • All of Lilith's nicknames for Luz strike a balance between this and embarrassing, Lilith starting by calling her "sweetie", then alternating between "Light bulb" and "Sunspot".
  • After becoming friends with Boscha, Luz tries to come up with a nickname for her. Eventually, she decides on "Bee".
• All for Nothing:
  • Played for Laughs: In the fourth chapter, Luz and co. find Lilith missing with Hooty stretched through the woods. After following him for a while, they find that he ultimately ends up right back at the Owl House.
  • After repeatedly denying the idea that Emperor Belos won't restore her to her position as Emperor's Coven Head, Lilith eventually discovers that he couldn't even if he wanted to, and that she wasted her adult life following his ideals.
• All-Loving Heroine: As much as Luz hates Lilith and even tries to kill her in revenge for Eda, Luz hates the idea of actually killing her.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents:
  • Lilith is not Luz's parent, but is her primary caretaker, and Luz dreads any moment Amity and Lilith are in the same room because of how much Lilith will tease them about their mutual crush. After embracing her role as Luz' surrogate mother, Lilith also starts making "awful mom jokes". Luz later begs her not to be the kind of parent who has strongly worded talks with the principal over her daughter's education. Lilith doesn't, but she does get hired as Luz' history teacher, which is even worse.
  • Boscha's mother Sylvie smothers her with affection and calls her "Bobo" in public, which turns Boscha into a blushing mess.
• Apology Gift: After coming to see how messed up it was to initiate the betting pool in the Side Bet, all the participants give Luz the whole pot (a sum total of 600 snails) and tell her to spend it on her first date with Amity.
• An Arm and a Leg: Narrowly averted in Chapter 32. When powering the experimental portal with the super glyph, Luz is knocked out and dreams her right arm is cracking apart. When she wakes up, she finds her arm sustained fourth degree burns that damaged it down to the bone. With Sylvie's help, Luz's arm is repaired but she will need physical therapy to have it fully back to normal.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • In Chapter 5 when Eda can't get Lilith to see how selfish she can be, she asks one question with enough sadness to make Lilith tense up:
    If I was cured, would you have ever told me it was you who cursed me?
  • In chapter 13, when Lilith is faced with the reality that she has to chose between the Emperor's Coven and Luz, she starts reasoning that she can convince Luz to swear loyalty to the Emperor. Eda asks how, and if she's going to do what Odalia does. The question causes Lilith to freeze before running away.
  • When Boscha starts picking on Luz again after leaving her alone to grieve over Eda, Luz asks her why she saved her from the rouge abomination Luz made instead of letting her get hurt. Boscha can't answer, so she settles for hitting Luz in the stomach and walks off.
• Armor-Piercing Response:
  • Even before learning that she caused Eda's death, Amity is cold and dismissive to Lilith due to the Convention incident. When she eventually asks why she seems so drained and low on energy, Lilith's response is a single sentence that causes Amity to realize she's completely forgotten to consider that Lilith might be hurting too.
    "My sister is dead."
  • When Lilith questions King about Luz disappearing (in regards to her following Tibbles' lead), he plays dumb; when Lilith asks if he'll stick to that even at the risk of Luz getting hurt, King says "As if you'd care", which actually gets to Lilith.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Lilith takes over the role of Luz's mentor and caretaker now that Eda's gone.
  • Boscha slowly starts becoming more prominent when the series reaches Season 2 as Luz tries to befriend her and get her to become nicer. The author confirms in their notes for Chapter 24 that Boscha will be another Love Interest for Luz and Amity, setting them up to become a polyamorous throuple.
• Badass Adorable: Maya, Boscha's palisman, is an adorable little crab. She also likes to carry a knife and will stab people who try to take her fish plushie, Mr. Bubbles.
• Badass Boast:
  • Lilith gives one to the Demon Hunters when she arrives to stop them from killing Luz, Willow, and Gus on Tibbles' orders.
    "I am Lilith Clawthorne, the most powerful witch alive. These children are under my protection! Anyone who attempts to harm them will spend their last moments begging for death. As for you, if I ever see any of you in Bonesborough, I will paint the town with your blood."
  • She gives another one when facing down the gathered Coven Heads in chapter 17;
    "I am going to leave here with Luz. There are ten of you now, but if you try to stop me, I assure you, there won't be soon."
• Badass Teacher: After being hired as Hexside's new history teacher, Lilith. When Boscha asks about her bounty, Lilith merely leans forward and says that anyone who wants to collect are welcome to try. No one does.
• Batman Gambit: To get into the Owl House without being attacked by Hooty, Lilith brings Amity along to get past him. Amity having a broken leg doesn't hinder it much.
• Beach Episode: Chapter 26 takes place mostly in Bunion Bay, a settlement on the Titan's Foot where a unique magical phenomena makes the water cold enough to swim in. The Banshees have a game there, so Luz, Amity, Boscha, and their respective families travel there and treat it as a miniature vacation. Boscha and Luz spend the day playing pranks at a local high school, getting ice cream, and playing at the beach, and in the evening, Luz and Amity go on a date along the beach promenade.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: When they start fighting over whether to kill him or not, Hunter asks if Luz and Boscha are secretly in love. Then they start talking about each other's appearance, and he tells them to just kiss already and get it over with.
  Luz: Okay, I’ll let you punch him. Once.
• Beta Couple: Emira and Viney get together after Luz encourages Viney to confess her feelings, making them this to Amity, Luz and Boscha.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Her betrayal causes Lilith to realize that Luz won't hesitate to curse when someone pushes her to the brink of her anger. She also scares Gus when she declares vengeance on everyone betting on when she asks Amity out, which she successfully makes good on.
  • Willow can be a force to be reckoned with with her magic if someone underestimates her, and she's as powerful a tease as Lilith is when it comes to romance, repeatedly bringing Luz and Amity's romantic tension.
• Beyond Redemption: Discussed twice.
  • Amity, Willow, pretty much everyone else are of the opinion that Boscha is an unrepentant bully who will never change. Luz, on the other hand, is a firm believer that people can always change, and refuses to give up on seeing the good in her. Given that Boscha is one of Luz's love interests, she is shaping up to be proven right. Lilith later decides to have some faith in Boscha changing after seeing her dedication to her grudgby teammates.
  • None of the Blight siblings believe Odalia is actually capable of becoming a better mother, Amity being convinced the only reason she's trying to is for the chance to get Lilith's attention since she's still not over her. When Odalia comes to the grudgby game in Chapter 24 and expects a compliment for supporting Amity, she tells Luz Odalia barely compliments her and expects them for showing the barest of support. Not even Luz can see Odalia changing, but Lilith still says otherwise.
• Big Damn Kiss: Amity and Luz have their first kiss (and first kiss overall for Luz) in chapter 26, on the beach of Bunion Bay just after they mutually ask each other out. It goes about the same as their first kiss in the show, with even the dialogue being the same.
• Big Damn Heroes: Luz, Willow, and Gus are nearly killed in the Emperor's Arboreum, only to be saved at the very last minute by Lilith showing up, protecting and healing them in a few seconds, and taking out their attackers in a Curb-Stomp Battle. It's one of the first times in the fic Luz is actually happy to see Lilith.
• Big Game:
  • While not particularily big by in-universe standards, Luz's first official grudgby game is built up from chapter 22, when she offers to join Boscha's team and find a third teammate, to chapter 24, where it actually happens. Unusually for this trope, the heroic team loses, but Luz and Amity do succeed in growing closer with Boscha.
  • A more notable game happens four chapters later, being both the first away game that Luz plays, and the first she wins. It also comes immediately after Luz, Boscha, and Amity have a genuine bonding moment, making them a better team than they have been previously.
• Bitch Slap: Amity gives Lilith a very deserving one after hearing about how Lilith stranded Luz back in the Human Realm and stole the portal.
• Black Comedy: Viney is fond of this kind of humor, making a few jokes about wanting to harvest Luz's organs. Luz laughs along with her but is a bit worried that she's not joking.
• Black Magic: Necromancy exists on the boiling isles, but was outlawed by Belos in a rare instance of him making an understandable decree. The repression of Necromancy was even more thorough than that of Wild Magic, as there is now almost no existing resources on the art, and the rare Necromancer who pops up is dealt with before they can learn how to animate more than small animals.
• Bloodier and Gorier: While the strict events in the fic aren't that different from the kind of stuff that happens in the show (aside from Eda's death, of course), it's treated with a lot more seriousness; Being chased by a big monster gives Luz realistic panic attacks, and she suffers life-threatening injuries several times over the course of the fic, each being treated as terrifying for her and everyone around her. Villains do not get away with mere karmic comeuppance but are actually killed, and the fact that everyone on the isles are completely fine with violent murder as a regular part of life is not played for laughs.
• Broken Pedestal: Lilith's faith in Belos slowly crumbles over time as Luz gets her to recognize the man's evil. Eventually, she's willing to betray Belos for Luz' sake. Once he reveals that he couldn't return Lilith to her old position even if he wanted to, all of Lilith's remaining faith in the man crumbles and she completely turns against him.
• Bully Hunter: Heavily subverted. Lilith would love nothing more than to disintegrate Boscha for constantly picking on Luz, but her agreement to not fight in Luz's defense in school prevents her from becoming this.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Edric is eccentric, but he's also very intelligent, he just has poor impulse control and it makes everyone assume he is "the dumb one."
• Butch Lesbian: Lilith is asexual and demiromantic, but her only relationship was with a woman. While she starts off fairly feminine, she takes to wearing a suit after a while and finds herself enjoying the different style.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • King is constantly put down by Lilith when she begins staying at the Owl House, usually being put into a Forced Sleep.
  • Luz becomes a bit of one regarding her crush on Amity; at first due to Lilith's endless teasing, but she later has to deal with Willow's on top of figuring out that several of her friends are betting on when she confesses her feelings.
• Call-Back:
  • At one point, Eda tells Lilith about her training Luz on the Knee; she believes this was when Luz began developing an attraction to Amity, the training being more about Luz impressing the youngest Blight than learning her second spell.
  • In Chapter 11, Eda brings up Luz, Willow and Gus bringing her house to life during the moonlight conjuring.
• Central Theme: Redemption, specifically Love Redeems. Luz expresses a strong belief that everyone, no matter how awful, has the potential to become better and deserves the chance to try. Evident of this, Lilith starts out the fic as, to not put too fine a point on it, a horrible, arrogant, selfish person, but with time and love, especially the maternal love she has for Luz, develops into a caring and protective mother figure for the girl. Both her and Luz's stories also show them reaching a hand out to someone who was an antagonist in the original show, giving them the support and love to become better.
• Cerebus Retcon:
  • In the show, Luz going against Willow's direct wishes during the events of "Understanding Willow" are framed as a comedic Loophole Abuse and her being confronted about it is a punchline. In chapter 18, Willow makes it clear that Luz making decisions for her despite her directly saying she doesn't want it really hurt her and she carries a fair bit of resentment towards her for it.
  • Luz being teased for her crush on Amity is generally one of the more innocent and cute parts of the fic, being rare moments of levity in between the otherwise Darker and Edgier story. Then chapter 3 of "Raven Pellets" reveals that Willow teasing Luz isn't just friendly banter, but rather Willow's way of getting revenge for Luz nearly getting her and Gus killed, as well as one of the few ways she has to distract herself from learning that her fathers' coven sigils might end up killing them. The chapter also reveals that, despite not bringing it up, Willow has not forgiven Luz for the events at the arboretum, and in some ways wishes she had never met her.
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: The fic oscillates heavily between the high tension overarching conflict with a theocratic tyrant who's brainwashing led Lilith to kill her own sister, and the low-stakes interpersonal conflict colouring the characters' daily lives. Even in the latter low-stakes conflicts, Lilith's POV chapters tend to focus on issues like finances, the difficulties of parenting, and her complicated relationship with Odalia, while Luz's POV chapters focus on teenage drama like her first crush or Amazingly Embarrassing Parents.
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject: When Luz calls Lilith "mom" as a joke, they both freeze up and Luz changes the subject to Lilith's outfit, neither of them ready to confront that part of their relationship yet.
• Character Development: Lilith goes through a great deal of this, initially seeing taking care of Luz as only something she very reluctantly has to do on the Emperor's orders, but slowly growing to care about the kid and even treating her as a surrogate daughter. It comes to a head when Lilith does the unthinkable and openly defies the Emperor to protect Luz.
• Chekhov's Gun: Midway through chapter 26, Boscha points out a sea serpent spawn native to the Bunion Bay stealing a bag from a tourist. At the end of the chapter, one steals Luz' shoes and knocks her over just as she was about to ask Amity out.
• Connected All Along: Turns out that Lilith and Odalia were the ones who made Amity's hideout in the library when they were young. She also helped Eda make the room of shortcuts, since the magic in question was a bit too complicated for her alone.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Luz at one point mentions that Lilith has killed five people in her defense; Tibbles and the four snipers in the Arboretum.
  • Petra Arends complains that the Potion coven has been struggling recently because of the fire in the Emperor's Arboretum, as well as the deaths of three prominent potion sellers; Adeghast, Eda, and Tibbles.
• Cooldown Hug:
  • Amity gives one to Luz after stopping her from killing Lilith.
  • Willow gives Luz one when she tries to attack Tibbles.
  • Lilith gives one to Luz as she apologizes for betraying her to steal the portal, and another after Luz breaks down crying because she had to strand herself in the Demon Realm to keep Belos from getting it.
• Crack is Cheaper: Ink is apparently Serious Business on the Boiling Isles. Even as a coven head with the absurdly high pay that came with it, Lilith could not justify buying even a single bottle of ink from the Arends' Special Selection, handmixed by Sylvie Arends (Boscha's mother). She is understandably freaked out when Sylvie gifts her a couple inkwells, though Eda complains that it's just corporate branding gone mad.
• Crush Blush: This is Owl House, so expect a ton of it from Amity towards Luz; it later becomes mutual when Luz figures out her own feelings. There's also the instances towards and from Boscha.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Tibbles' mercenaries are on the receiving end of one when Lilith finds them attacking Luz. Lilith takes them all down in short order before declaring herself the most powerful witch on the boiling isles.
• Curse Cut Short: In chapter 11, Amity calls Lilith a "Bi-" before the phone is taken from her.
• Cuteness Proximity: Luz can't bring herself to be scared of Boscha when Boscha has her palisman, Maya, resting on her head. She also gushes over Willow's palisman Clover but dials it back when she remembers Clover's a bee with a stinger.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the show, the Boiling Isles' Social Darwinist culture is more apparent. Even otherwise heroic figures like post-Character Development, Amity sees nothing wrong with exacting violent revenge, Lilith brutally kills Tibbles, the demon hunters who were okay with killing children even in the show are here shown as more realistically violent, and even Boscha, a 14 year old girl, has no issue with trying to kill the Golden Guard, an elite member of the Emperor's Coven. All the repeated setbacks and failures Luz goes through causes even her to start having such thoughts.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • The Raven Pellets focuses on characters outside of the main cast:
    • Chapter 1 shows the Blight Family trying to figure out the cause behind Odalia withdrawing after Lilith threatened her for trying to kill Luz.
    • Chapter 2 had Gus attempting to get Lilith to take him as a student to strengthen his magic due to feeling useless during the fight in the Emperor's Arboretum.
    • Chapter 3 shows Willow visiting Eda's grave to vent her recent frustrations as Eda listens to her, even though Willow can't hear her whenever Eda speaks to her.
    • Chapter 4, which shows Amity and Boscha watching the grudgby game mentioned in Chapter 28, focuses on Boscha as Petra speaks to her both about her friends leaving her and about her crush on Amity to which Boscha admits she's not going to try breaking her and Luz up.
    • Chapter 5 shows Amity testing her healing abomination on Viney, then shows her writing in her diary about her realizing she's crushing on Boscha yet in love with Luz and wonders if all three of them have a mutual attraction.
  • In the interlude following Chapter 34, we see how exactly Camila learned Vee was impersonating Luz, Masha learning the truth, and the basilisk was captured by Jacob Hopkins.
• Deal with the Devil: Lilith's first deal with Emperor Belos to cure Eda of her curse is nullified with Eda's death. Belos soon strips her of her rank as Coven Head and makes her a new one: she must convince Luz to join forces with him and get her to give him the portal to the Human Realm within a month. It takes 16 chapters for her to figure out Belos wasn't going to keep his word.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Eda dies from using up all of her magic to save Luz from being impaled because Lilith, contrasting her transformation into the Owl Beast.
  • Tibbles is killed by Lilith because he threatened Luz and sent her to obtain a lethal plant.
  • Terra is killed by Lilith and Raine after she tried to kill Luz and her friends.
• Death Glare: In the fifth chapter, two guards arrive to arrest Lilith. Lilith, who's having a bad day, glares at them with enough murderous intent that they immediately elect to leave.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: The Boiling Isles as a whole is a Social Darwinist society where killing in retaliation is not nearly as frowned upon as it is on Earth. Luz finds herself rather disturbed at how even her closest friends don't really have an issue with Lilith committing cold-blooded murder to protect her loved ones.
• Demanding Their Head: Tibbles hires the demon hunters to make sure Luz and her friends don't make it back from their quest alive, literally asking for their heads
• Didn't Think This Through: When she was younger, Petra took over both Bonesborough and Latissa's entire potions industry. Her company ended up supplanting popular local businesses in both towns and damaged her reputation.
• The Disembodied: Eda has perished and her body is buried two days later, but her ghost is hanging around Lilith for some reason neither of them know.
• Distinction Without a Difference: The lead demon hunter claims that they generally don't take Kill & Collect jobs. Luz points out that hunting demons and selling them as food is pretty close to "kill and collect", which he relents.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Luz finds both Boscha and Amity very attractive and has a hard time focusing on anything else whenever they're in any context that shows them off, like when Boscha stretches or in the shower after Grudgby matches.
• The Dog Bites Back:
  • Due to Odalia trying to be more open to her children on Lilith's orders-turned-suggestion, Amity and Emira begin actively fighting against her authority.
  • Luz swore to get revenge on everybody who bet on when she'd ask Amity out by making the Owl House filthier than it's ever been. Seven chapters later, she keeps her word even if she told Hooty not to go through with it.
• Dramatic Irony: When talking about her school days, Lilith mentions that she studied multiple tracks in private because she wanted to join the Emperor's Coven and was willing to do anything for that, before turning somber. Luz notes that it's a mysterious part of her backstory, but doesn't pry, unaware that Lilith is likely thinking about having cursed her sister.
• The Dreaded: Luz's friends are all terrified of Lilith, owing to her being the most powerful witch they know and also having a bad case of short temper that she is not afraid of showing around children. Luz is also scared of her on occasion, but has grown accustomed to her. Subverted among the adults, as only Odalia is (briefly) afraid of her.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Lilith invokes this early on, ignoring Eda's teachings over Luz as real progress in her magic training and all of Luz's accomplishments occuring from her own hard work. That eventually changes when she actually sees just what Luz is capable of after she finds the invisibility glyph.
• Due to the Dead: On the Boiling Isles, most witches are cremated, composted, or eaten by monsters, so burials-by-earth are rare and expensive since they require special protection done by the Construction Coven. Lilith, Luz, and King still bury Eda in the ground, digging the grave themselves before Lilith and Luz under her tutelage inscribe protective runes to prevent grave robbers, scavengers, and necromancers.
• Easily Embarrassed Youngster:
  • Luz, who finds a lot of Lilith's humor and casual displays of affection mortifying. She nearly dies on the spot when Lilith becomes her teacher and gets annoyed when she calls her "Sunspot" in front of Amity and Boscha.
  • Like Luz, Boscha seems to dread when Sylvie uses her Embarrassing Nickname for her in public and mentions that she talks about Luz all the tim.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • Very subverted with Lilith, as everyone makes it clear her cursing Eda and being the cause of her death means they'll keep her at arm's length.
  • Played straight whenever Luz forgives Amity for anything, even before she develops feelings for her.
  • Subverted for Willow, who's unable to forgive Luz for the Phoenix Bloom incident, as she almost got her friends killed clinging to worthless hope. Hooty asks her not to hold it against Luz as she's got enough problems to deal with without her best friend wanting to end their friendship.
  • Played straight when Luz forgives all her friends that made the betting pool, much to Amity's exasperation.
• Embarrassing Nickname:
  • Lilith calls Luz "Sweetie" while at school, playing up their mother/daughter relationship for Luz's embarassment. She later decides it's not unique and continuously uses nicknames based around light, each one embarrassing Luz more than the last.
  • In Chapter 24, Boscha warns Luz to never call her "Bobo" when Luz tries to give her a nickname. As it turns out, her mother Sylvie uses it for her.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Luz is left feeling hurt when she learns Amity had been suspicious of Lilith and kept it a secret from her. Since Amity does feel bad about it, Luz swiftly forgives her.
• Even the Dog Is Ashamed: Not even Morrigan will support Lilith after she betrays Luz's trust, siding with the Owl House residents when she voices her opinion while they think of a plan to fight Belos.
• Everyone Can See It:
  • Amity's crush on Luz was obvious enough, but Eda and Willow knew the feelings were mutual for a while now.
    Willow: Luz. You are one of the most transparently lovestruck idiots I’ve ever known.
    Luz: Is this one of those "everyone saw it but me" moments?
    Willow: (smiles and shakes her head) You’ve been crushing longer than you think.
  • Played for Laughs in chapter 22. Hunter reads Boscha and Luz's bickering as Belligerent Sexual Tension and asks if they're secretly in love. Both girls are horrified at the suggestion.
  • On a platonic level, everyone, including Lilith's parents, can tell that her and Luz have a mother and daughter-like relationship, way before either of them acknowledge it themselves.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Boscha may revel in making Luz miserable, but she chooses to back off while Luz is grieving over Eda (at least until she recovers and then she'll go back on the clock.)
  • Raine punches Lilith in the face as revenge for cursing and killing Eda. They both agree Lilith deserves more than that, but Raine restrains themself because they don't hate her enough to take her away from Luz.
• Everyone Knew Already: It seems that Boscha's mothers never caught on to Amity no longer being friends with her, but it later turns out Petra noticed all the signs.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Lilith refuses to understand or acknowledge whatever connection Eda had with Luz, King, and Hooty, seeing the three of them as annoyances. She eventually breaks out of this and comes to see them as her own Family of Choice.
• Fan Art: Based on chapter 20, by artist Sasha Gaybright.
• Flight of Romance: Though neither participants are romantic (nor are they frankly platonic, at least not yet), "Hunting Palismen" has all the hallmarks of one as Luz rides on Boscha's staff instead of Hunter's. Since Boscha has never flown without her mothers before, Luz helps her by leaning against her back, arms around her, and holding her hands over Boscha's.
• Forced Sleep: It becomes a Running Gag for Lilith to put King to sleep using sleep spells so she doesn't have to put up with his ego. She does it so often however that Eda (who finds it funny) asks if there are long-term effects. Once Lilith officially sides with Luz, she stops doing this.
• Foreshadowing: On the quest to the Emperor's Arboretum, Luz complains about her "noodle-legs" and wants to have strong legs to "strut my stuff". When she joins the Banshees, not only does she get much stronger legs from training, but a big part of being on the team is literally strutting through Hexside after every match.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Luz makes it clear to King after Lilith's betrayal that while Lilith's officially on their side, she hasn't completely forgiven her. Averted when Luz does forgive Lilith before giving Belos the portal, and she means it but they both still remember the damage it did.
• Freudian Excuse: Given some thought, Willow's constant teasing of Luz and Amity seems to serve as Willow's way of getting revenge on Luz for nearly getting them and Gus killed in the arboretum.
• Freudian Slip:
  • When Lilith reminds Luz to not choke on her food, she replies "Yes, mom." While it was intended sarcastically, they both freeze up when they realize what she said before quickly changing the subject.
  • After Amity successfully heals Lilith of the internal injuries she got from Raine, Luz says "That's my girl." The two look away from each other blushing.
  • Lilith accidentally refers to Luz as her daughter in front of Odalia in chapter 25. The same chapter has Luz call Lilith mom for the first time.
  • Luz witnesses an endearing moment between Amity and Boscha in Chapter 32 and mentally expresses joy at "her girls" getting along.
• Friend on the Force: Steve is loyal to Lilith and was against her banishment from the coven. When she needs to track down Luz, she asks Steve to put the coven guards on it as a favor, which he is happy to do, asking nothing in return.
• Fun T-Shirt: In chapter 7, Lilith steals one of Eda's "Bad Girl Coven" shirts to sleep in, but not before changing the drawing of Eda to one of herself, and changes the text to "Good Girl Coven".
• The Gadfly: Lilith has a habit of teasing people about their love lives. She tells Luz, King, and Hooty about Eda's past with Raine Whispers (knowing that Eda can't stop her) and after Luz develops feelings for Amity, she subtly keeps bringing up the idea of dating during her lessons with Amity to fluster Luz. She later sees the latter as an impulse control problem and uses it as a coping mechanism due to the pressure from fulfilling her agreement with Belos.
  • Willow and King soon join in on teasing Luz about her crush on Amity, much to her annoyance. Luz later learns that Amity had been getting teased by Willow and Emira about her own feelings.
  • Much to Lilith's own ire, Dell and Gwendolyn start getting a kick out of referring to Luz as her daughter and thus, their granddaughter which seems to double as cosmic repercussions. Darius gets his own dig in by printing "#1 Aboma-mama" on Lilith's coffee mug knowing she'd be too proud to replace it.
• Gender Flip: Lilith's palisman becomes female as it wasn't revealed to be male until long after the story begun.
• Get Out!: In Chapter 2, Luz gives Amity a subdued one when she supports the Emperor's opinions about why Eda was considered a criminal. She takes it back when Amity refuses to leave and apologizes for what she said.
• Getting the Boot: Restraining Lilith with an abomination after learning she killed Eda, Amity has her creation throw Lilith out of the Owl House.
• Ghostly Chill: Anywhere Eda's spectral body passes through is remarkably cold. She weaponizes it against Terra, pushing her hand through her head to give her a brain freeze and break her concentration.
• Gilligan Cut:
  • Chapter 5 cuts from Lilith confidently declaring that she has the means to provide for the Owl House residents, to the bank there an unfortunate teller has to inform her that her account as been locked.
  • In Chapter 10, the narration declares that Luz and company are truly doomed due to Tempting Fate, to the three of them having a relaxing stroll through the forest.
• Golden Snitch: Deconstructed. As Boscha and Amity explain, the rusty smidge seen in "Wing it Like Witches" is a surefire way to win any game. However, as Luz herself pointed out in that episode, it also invalidates the entire game and is a phenomenally boring way to win. Winning by way of the smidge is therefore considered a last resort, and a lot of the game is about keeping it away from the enemy team rather than trying to catch it yourself.
• Gold Digger: When Lilith has money trouble, Eda jokingly suggests getting back together with Odalia and coast on her generosity.
• Good Parents:
  • Dell is kind and supportive, even after his daughter disappears for years. He listens to Lilith, gives her advice, lets her and Luz have privacy when they need it, and is nothing but doting over his honorary grandchild. Even when Lilith admits that she cursed Eda, he makes it clear that he still loves her and doesn't fault her.
  • Petra and Sylvie, Boscha's moms, are shown to be deeply loving and supportive of her, if a bit embarassing. They are also one of the wealthier families on the Boiling Isles, but prefer to live simply in an apartment, which is undoubtedly a better childhood than Amity's in the Blight manor. Amity admits to being a tad bitter about how Boscha often complains about her mothers for minor things when Odalia is actually abusive.
• Gossipy Hens: Hexside apparently has some very active ones. In chapter 24, Luz accidentally makes it sound like she called Boscha cute. By lunchtime, Penstagram is filled with posts about the two of them dating. The moment Luz is shocked and yells that she isn't dating Boscha, the rumor mill swaps to talking about how they supposedly broke up. Chapter 27 notes that Cat is a well-known gossip, which is why she wasn't involved in the Side Bet.
• Grave-Marking Scene: Lilith and Luz dig a grave for Eda in chapter 4. Because of the natural and unnatural dangers (and the occasional necromancer) of the Boiling Isles, graves have to be specially warded by Construction witches, which makes traditional burials rare and expensive. Lilith, being from the Emperor's Coven, can create the wards herself, and even lets Luz do half of the engraving.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Lilith, given how easily she gets angry when Luz does anything she sees unfit and that she set part of Bonesborough on fire when her assets were frozen by Kikimora. As such, Willow shows Luz her breathing technique so Lilith can use it to control her temper.
• Healing Hands: Both Blight sisters start studying Healing magic: Emira does it to impress Viney and Amity asks Lilith to teach her so she can heal Luz and her other friends during their adventures (though Lilith sees it as a way to impress Luz.) In chapter 24, Amity officially starts multi-tracking in healing.
• Hidden Depths: Boscha is an unrepentant Jerkass who prefers her personal relationships benefitting her above all else. Despite this, she eventually admits to Luz that she genuinely valued and appreciated her friendship with Amity and Skara, and part of the reason she resents Luz is because she's the reason Skara and Amity decided to stop hanging out with her.
• Hope Spot: Tibbles gives Luz the hope that the Phoenix Blossom might be able to resurrect Eda. It cannot, and is in fact extremely dangerous. Tibbles intended for Luz to be killed by mercenaries so he could get the bloom and sell it.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Luz mentally chastises herself whenever she thinks about how attractive Amity and Boscha are. It gets to the point where she has to take precautions to avoid seeing them in a state of undress in the girls' locker room. She also finds herself focusing more on Boscha's legs after seeing them bare and has to look away while they're at the beach and she's in her swimsuit. Surprisingly, Luz catches Boscha checking her out in her swimsuit, glad it's not just her hormones going out of control for a change.
• Hurricane of Euphemisms: Luz goes through a lot of them while trying to describe her feelings for Amity.
  She was smitten. An arrow of love had pierced her heart. She’d taken a blow to the head from the sledgehammer of affection. She drank the sweet nectar of Amity-focused desire.
• If Only You Knew:
  • By Chapter 28, Luz notices that there are times that Willow has been cold towards her. She mainly thinks that it's because of her befriending Boscha, but what she doesn't know that the main reason is actually the Phoenix Bloom quest.
  • In Chapter 29, Luz theorizes during a visit to King's tower that King could possibly be a Titan given all the clues in the tower. Lilith laughs off Luz's theory, but ends up eating her words when she uses King's blood to power her time pool tracker.
• I Lied: Belos tells Lilith that he will reinstate her as Coven Head if she brings him Luz and the portal. Once that happens and he's alone with Luz, he reveals to her that giving Lilith a new coven brand is impossible because her magic would have adapted to make her immune to them, so she's been stuck labeled as a wild witch all this time.
• Incredibly Lame Fun: Like in the show, Lilith is maybe a tad bit too excited about ink. Being gifted a few bottles of Arends' Special Selection and a fine feather quill to use it with has her squealing in delight and rushing to find her best parchment.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite vastly different circumstances;
  • Lilith ends up building an Odd Friendship with Hooty.
  • The Golden Guard replaces Lilith as the leader of the Emperor's Coven.
  • Odalia gets Luz, Willow, and Gus expelled, Luz participates in a Blight Industries weapons expo to revoke it, Odalia tries to get her killed, Amity saves Luz (which leads to Luz's crush on her), stands up to Odalia and forces her to let her friends back into Hexside.
  • Despite Eda's death, Edric starts studying Potions magic on top of mixing magic in Beast Keeping.
  • Lilith eventually turns on the Emperor and Luz still has to destroy the portal to keep Belos from having it, thus stranding herself in the Demon Realm.
  • King takes Luz, Lilith and Hooty to his island and learns the truth about his past, dedicating himself to find out what he is and if his father lives.
  • Gwen concedes that she ignorantly hurt both of her daughters and promises to make more time for Lilith and informs Luz about Titan's Blood being used to travel between realms.
  • The first part of "Hunting Palismen" happens more or less the same, the only difference being that Lilith instead of Eda suggests palisman adoption day to Bump and the Bat Queen, though it's implied to still be Eda's idea. Luz still doesn't get her palisman, and Lilith still resolves to let her carve her own. The rest of the episode follows the same beats, but with the addition of Boscha joining Luz on her adventure.
  • It happens in a different spot, but Luz and Amity ask each other out in the same was as in "Knock-Knock-Knockin' on Hooty's Door", and their first kiss immediately after is followed by the exact same dialogue as in "Clouds on the Horizon". And while the events of "Through the Looking Glass Ruins" don't occur, Amity still dyes her hair lavender.
  • Word of God confirms Gus did still go to the Looking Glass Graveyard and ended up befriending Mattholomule.
  • Despite not visiting Eclipse Lake, Luz and Lilith procure some Titan's Blood in order to use Lilith's time pool tracker so they can meet Philip Wittebane. Philip does still attempt to kill them in the Deadwardian Era, and despite a different situation Lilith ultimately breaks his nose and leaves him scarred.
  • King unlocks his scream power and Luz completes her portal to the Human Realm.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: When Lilith offers an apology gift for a recent offense, Luz declares that she's not the kind of girl who can be bribed like that. This resolution lasts all the way until Lilith dumps a scroll in her lap, and all anger is instantly forgotten as Luz squeals in joy.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Lilith discovers in Chapter 1 that Amity became friends with Luz and developed a crush on her.
  • In Chapter 12, Luz realizes or at least strongly suspects that Lilith and Odalia were together.
  • In Chapter 4 of Raven Pellets, Petra says that she knows Boscha has feelings for Amity and that they stopped being friends. She then realizes that Boscha also has feelings for Luz.
  • Sylvie hints to Lilith in Chapter 33 that Petra told her about her assumtions with Boscha's feelings for Luz and Amity. Observing the girls causes the normally oblivious Lilith to see it for herself.
• I See Dead People: Lilith finds herself interacting with Eda's ghost on a regular basis.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Luz dislikes being called "The Human" since it reduces her to just her species and marks her as an outsider. She's pleasantly surprised when Lilith (following some pressure from both Amity and Eda) starts calling her by her name.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Boscha used to have a crush on Amity, and her increased anger towards Luz is because she won her heart when Amity didn't even consider Boscha a friend. Nevertheless, Boscha encourages Luz to "go for it and get the girl", giving her the confidence she needed to ask Amity out.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Before the Banshees' third game, Boscha tells Amity that while she knows she's a bully, she at least cared about her friends compared to Amity, who only pretended to like the girls Odalia forced her to hang out with and can't even remember any genuine moments of friendship Boscha considered between them. Even worse, Amity didn't even tell them that she was just spending time with them because Odalia forced her, leading them on without actually making any attempt at reciprocating their friendship. Boscha spits it in Amity's face that she just didn't try to make an effort with them, rejecting her apology and reducing Amity to tears.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Seems to be a recurring theme.
  • Lilith spends a large part of the fic being one, being fully supportive of the Emperor's fascist regime, and refusing to accept any blame for her vile actions. However, she is more brainwashed than evil, and even before her Character Development shows small moments of kindness, like comforting Amity on her first flight.
  • Boscha, despite being an overall Jerkass and Barbaric Bully even worse than in the show, does show genuine compassion at a few points. While Luz is grieving Eda, Boscha promises to not bully her until she's better, and she later injures herself saving Luz from a rogue abomination in Potion class. During the events of "Hunting Palismen", Boscha is deeply concerned about the safety of the palismen and at one point seems regretful after making Luz cry. Her Hidden Heart of Gold starts coming out more around the Grudgby match, where she is genuinely encouraging and positive towards Luz.
• Lampshade Hanging: Eda's dead, but her ghost appears to be haunting Lilith and neither of them can figure out why.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • It's a bit scattered, but Lilith does pay for cursing Eda, manipulating Luz and betraying Luz by stealing the portal. First Belos strips her of her rank, then Amity tosses her out of the Owl House while she's weakened from being stripped of her sigil after she uses her to enter it, Kikimora prohibits any perks she would've known about the Emperor's Coven and used, Amity slaps her hard enough to leave a mark, and after learning Belos was going to double-cross her, she's hit by Raine's sonic attack in the battle against the Coven Heads which leaves her with several broken ribs and internal bleeding. Later on, Raine slugs her while visiting Eda's grave.
  • Everyone who participated in the Side Bet except for Lilith and King had to clean up Hooty after Luz got the Owl House covered in filth. Particularly, this serves as a larger dose of karma for Willow, who told Emira about the bet and was the most vocal in teasing Luz about Amity, and Emira, who roped Edric, Viney, Jerbo, Barcus, Skara, Amelia, Eileen, Bo, and Celine into participating and had to be forced into the cleanup by Viney. It's doubled when Amity reveals in the following chapter that Willow and Emira had told her about the bet and wouldn't stop teasing her about not making a move.
  • Terra knocks out Lilith during the Coven Day parade and attempts to kill her along with the Hexsquad for defending her. As a result, Raine attacks her with a lethal blow before Lilith kills her.
• Leg Focus: Luz finds herself becoming even more attracted to Boscha after seeing her bare, well-toned legs while she's stretching.
• Locked Out of the Loop:
  • Upon learning of Amity's infatuation with Luz, Lilith is shocked by how much things changed between them since the covention, which had been the last time she had seen them interacting or even talked to her former student.
  • Apparently, Boscha never told her mothers that she and Amity stopped being friends, and Amity sadly remembers how she hates disappointing them.
• Logical Latecomer: Thanks to Eda and King, Luz often points out how corrupted things in the Boiling Isles are due to Belos' laws, from the propaganda he spreads to how it's so casual to take revenge by any means.
• Loose Lips: Amity eventually admits she knew about Lilith trying to rejoin the Emperor's Coven by accident, to Luz's surprise.
• Lost World: Luz and her friends visit one in chapter 10, filled with believed extinct flora. It's a carefully preserved arboretum rather than an entire hidden world, however.
• Love Epiphany: Prior to the final grudgby game before the playoffs, Luz and Amity both come to see they like Boscha the same way as they do each other. Amity notes she figured out her new crush faster than she did her feelings toward Luz now that she's had perspective on the subject.
• Magnetic Hero: Luz, as always. Lilith is surprised when her normally shy palisman opens up around the girl and she herself eventually becomes drawn in by her personality.
• Mama Bear: Once she starts actually caring for the girl, Lilith will go ballistic on anyone threatening Luz. Even the Emperor is not safe from her wrath. She later threatens Odalia to never harm Luz and her friends or her own children, going as far as to comfort Amity and tell her she'll take her and the twins away from their parents should Odalia not change.
• Manipulative Bitch: Lilith, of course. She only watches after Luz to acquire the portal, keeps her from suspecting anything by going along with her antics, tricks Amity into keeping her secret so she doesn't snoop around, all while maintaining contact with the Emperor's Coven.
• Metaphorically True: To keep Amity from undermining her plans, Lilith admits she's looking after Luz in order to rejoin the Emperor's Coven, but tells her that she wants Luz to join because of her use of glyph magic by wording it in a way that sounds like it benefits her and that Amity, Willow, and Gus could join her due to their magical potential. Amity buys it and agrees to keep it a secret.
• Moment Killer: In praising Amity for healing her following the battle against Belos' forces, Lilith tells her she's definitely "Emperor's Coven material", which kills the good mood the kids are in since they just escaped from the castle after Luz had to destroy the portal. Lilith immediately recognizes her idiotic mistake.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Lilith gets a lot of these.
    • Obviously when Eda dies as a direct result of Lilith's actions, though she tries and fails to justify herself.
    • Later, when trying to teach Luz about the Emperor, Luz' irreverence causes her to lose her temper and strike the desk in front of Luz with her ruler, breaking it. Luz is so terrified that she starts crying, and Lilith is so horrified at what she just did that she runs away.
    • It isn't until after she backstabs Luz to claim the portal that Lilith realizes how much grief she's given the girl since Eda's death. It gets to the point that Luz'd openly swear and tells her to go to hell that Lilith realizes how broken and unloved Luz felt.
  • Luz has a moment of her own in Chapter 11; when Lilith tells her the Phoenix Bloom plant Tibbles sent her to collect doesn't revive the dead but would've actually threatened all life on the Boiling Isles, Luz goes through Heroic BSoD when she realizes she nearly got herself, Willow and Gus killed for no good reason.
    • Luz gets another one in Chapter 18 when she realized that she nearly punched Willow.
• Mythology Gag: Lilith's adventure outfit in Chapter 30 is the same attire she wears in the epilogue of "Watching and Dreaming".
• Named After Somebody Famous: With the exception of Barcus and Jerbo, who's name are a Shout-Out, all of Luz's friends are named after famous people somehow relating to them or their field of study;
  • Celine Galilei, a girl with a crescent moon head, is named after Galileo Galilei, a famous astronomer.
  • Eileen Bartisch, a cyclops, is named after Georg Bartisch, a pioneer in the field of ocular health and eye surgery.
  • Bo Flemming, a healing track student, is named after Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.
  • Skara Ashby, a bard track student, is named after Irving Ashby, a famous American Jazz musician.
  • Amelia Loudon, a plant track student, is named after John Claudius Loudon, a botanist known for coining the term arboretum and improving greenhouse designs.
  • Cat Wright, who's in the healing track, is named after James Wright, an Australian celebrity doctor.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • Lilith's raven palisman is called Morrigan.
  • Dell's yellow cardinal palisman is dubbed Cardin.
  • Boscha's last name is Arends and her mothers are called Petra (the pink-haired triclops) and Sylvie (the bespectacled redhead).
  • Chapter 27 gives last names to most of Luz' Hexside classmates, including Viney McGrath, Jerbo Roberts, Barcus B. Barkin, Celine Galilei, Eileen Bartisch, Bo Flemming, Skara Ashby, Amelia Loudon, and Cat Wright.
    Soulfyre: Did I need to give surnames to everyone? No, and I probably shouldn't have, but I did.
• Necromancer: Necromancy does not appear in the fic, but is mentioned and the author explains that it is a sub-category of Bardic magic on the Boiling Isles, using a drum-beat to simulate a heartbeat. It was outlawed and wiped out under Belos' regime, but the rare traditional burial still uses protective magic to prevent grave robbers.
• Never My Fault: Boscha blames Luz for all of her friends abandoning her, thus destroying her grudgby team and ruining her dream to go pro in the sport. While Luz had been the cause behind Amity leaving her group and indirectly giving Skara confidence in standing up to her, at the end of the day it was Boscha's All Take and No Give attitude towards all of her friends that drove them away.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: As of chapter 24, the Banshees consist of Luz (Nice, a ceaselessly optimistic ray of sunshine), Amity (In-Between, she's trying but she's still slightly elitist and standoffish), and Boscha (Mean, the most aggressive of the three who barely gets along with anyone).
• Noodle Incident: Whatever's the reason Odalia and Petra hate each other.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Everyone in the Owl House (and Amity), especially King, refuses to let up on Lilith for cursing her younger sister and being the cause of her death. They double down on it after she nearly seperates them from Luz.
• One-Steve Limit: When Luz suggests Bo as a nickname for Boscha, Amity points out that there's already a student named Bo in the healing track.
• The One That Got Away:
  • Lilith is this for Odalia, who still loves her.
  • Boscha used to have a crush on Amity, until Amity ditched her and started hanging out with Luz.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • In Chapter 16, Luz has a moment when Belos tells her that Lilith can never be rebranded with a coven sigil and thus, he will let her die.
  • The following chapter, Lilith gets one when she realizes Belos brought all the Coven Heads to the throne room so she can't escape and would kill her on the spot if she tries to.
  • Luz practically goes catatonic when Lilith becomes Hexside's permanent history teacher in Chapter 20.
  • In Chapter 29 Lilith falls into a Thousand-Yard Stare when she learns that Luz's theory about King being a Titan was correct, as this means she's been constantly antagonizing and belittling a member of the most powerful race of demons in the Demon Realm.
• Only One Finds It Fun: Played for Laughs. Luz ends up cheering when Principal Bump announces he's hired a proper history teacher since she was sick of doing nothing but watching videos in that class. Aside from Willow and Gus, Luz knows everyone else will give her hell for that outburst.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Luz makes the mistake of asking Lilith for advice regarding her crush on Boscha. The ensuing conversation makes her consider wether she could survive jumping off Lilith's staff to get away from having this conversation with one of her moms.
• Parental Substitute: While her biological mom is still alive, Luz saw Eda as this. She eventually starts feeling this way about Lilith as well, with Lilith taking care of her and over time growing to care about her as a daughter.
• Perception Filter: The communication hubs maintained by the Emperor's Coven are protected by these, mixes of oracle and illusion magic that makes the normally standout buildings nearly impossible to perceive for someone who doesn't know where they are.
• Pet the Dog: Even though Viney's part of the betting pool regarding Luz confessing to Amity, she admits that she's willing to lose because she wants her friend to do so when she's comfortable enough to go through with it.
• Point of Divergence: Eda's death prevents any of "Young Blood, Old Souls" from happening, including Lilith's original Heel Realization.
  • When King decides to bring Lilith to his island to prove his claim that he's the King of Demons, Eda orders her to drop the issue because he isn't ready to know how she found him. When Luz and Lilith find his horn and he starts remembering his life before Eda found him, they go and end up learning the truth.
  • Dell Clawthorne, Eda and Lilith's father, debuts before his wife Gwendolyn.
  • It takes a month going by and realizing that Belos planned for the Coven Heads to kill her for Lilith to realize that Belos was never going to honor any of the deals he made with her.
  • Luz learns about the purpose of the Day of Unity early, and she discovers how harmful the coven sigils are directly from Belos, informing Lilith, King, Willow, Gus and Amity of the threat they pose to the populace of the Boiling Isles.
  • Willow teaches Luz the breathing technique.
  • When Lilith meets Gwendolyn again, she angrily airs our her grievances towards her mother over her neglect for the past 30 years. Gwen admits she made a mistake never staying connected to Lilith, which makes Lilith regret what she said and allows them to make up.
  • The Selkidomus hunt from "Seperate Tides" occur offscreen without Luz's involvement and the events of "Hunting Palismen" take place before "Through the Looking Glass Ruins".
  • Boscha joins Luz in saving the palismen from Hunter and Kikimora, which turns out to have been coincidental as she was at the grudgby field when Luz came to return Flapjack.
  • Amelia and Cat leave the Banshees grudgby team due to getting sick of Boscha's attitude, something that never occured in canon.
  • Lilith acquires palistrom wood from Dell for Luz to carve her palisman from.
  • During the Coven Day Parade, Luz decided to ignore Kikimora, she and the Hexsquad have a picnic, and Terra dies at Raine and Lilith's hands for trying to kill the kids. Because of her death, the Day of Unity has been delayed until a replacement is found.
  • King is discovered to be a Titan during the events of "Elsewhere and Elsewhen".
  • With the Collector Adapted Out, Philip Wittebane instead seeks to deactivate the defenses around the Titan's heart while being hunted down by Evelyn Clawthorne seeking vengeance for his murdering Caleb. Luz and Lilith's quest to find out how he made a portal becomes a success since Evelyn made a copy of Philip's journal, which she gives to them.
  • Luz and King find a glyph-combo to get Jean-Luc to move again, along with activating two more of him.
  • Since Luz lacks Titan Blood but still has the portal key, she uses that and the super glyph to power the new portal. However, the magical backlash gives her fourth degree burns that nearly cost her her right arm, and it results in both King unlocking his Sonic Scream to stop it and completes the portal, giving Luz access to the Human Realm again.
• Planimal: A cat beast resembling a topiary guards the Emperor's arboretum from thieves trying to steal the rare plants kept in its sanctum.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • The first time she swears in the fic, Luz calls Lilith a bitch after she destroys the phoenix bloom.
  • Luz lets out a storm of "fuck" after a sea serpent spawn interrupts her just as she was about to ask Amity out.
  "Are you fucking kidding me?! I’m trying to impress a girl here and the universe decides to fuck with me like this?! I’m just so fucking sick of everything going wrong all the time! One thing: a night alone with Amity. Is that too much to fucking ask?!"
• Professional Butt-Kisser: Darius had always considered Lilith a sycophant while she worked for Belos and Eda's death served to solidify his opinion. It took witnessing Lilith attacking Belos to protect Luz to change his opinion.
• Properly Paranoid: Luz is naturally wary of everything Lilith's doing for her and it leads her to keeping the portal hidden, moreso after asking Morrigan if Lilith's hiding anything from her and she answers "yes". Her suspicions are proven correct when Lilith takes the portal from her.
• Queer Colors: The beach attire Lilith wears to Bunion Bay in Chapter 26 are black, white, green and light grey, the colors of the demiromantic flag.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lilith lays into her mother in chapter 19, calling her out for having completely neglected her for her entire teen years and adulthood while at the same time showering Eda in unwanted attention, driving her youngest daughter away while leaving her oldest completely alone and feeling that she's unloved and deserves it. She finishes by telling her that at least she has a good example of what not to do when raising Luz.
• Refusal of the Call: Darius asks Lilith to join his rebellion against Belos. Lilith turns him down, since she has a family to take care of and she doesn't want to do anything that could bring harm to her or Luz.
• Relationship Upgrade: Chapter 26 ends with Luz and Amity becoming girlfriends and having their first kiss. On a platonic note, the chapter also features Luz and Boscha becoming friends.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Lampshaded. After forcing Luz back into the Human Realm, knocking out King, Hooty and Owlbert, and stealing the portal, Lilith believes the most likely scenario of vengeance would be King informing Amity, Willow and Gus of what happened with all of them coming after her this way.
• Rousseau Was Right: Discussed in the author's notes after Odalia's Heel Realization. They fully believe that people are good and always have the potential to become better. This is a viewpoint shared by Luz, who strongly believes that everyone can improve and grow as people, regardless of how bad they might seem. Despite everyone's insistence that Boscha is Beyond Redemption, Luz stubbornly insists that there is a Hidden Heart of Gold in there somewhere.
• Rule of Symbolism: Luz remarks that Lilith's preferred spell being a sleep spell fits her, because it allows her to get out of arguments without resolving them, while also not bloodying her hands.
• Running Gag: For the first ten chapters at least, Eda makes occasional vague references to her and Luz' adventures, causing Lilith to question her parenting.
• Secret-Keeper: Amity ends up becoming one regarding Lilith's motives, due to Lilith telling her half-truths so she won't use her family's resources to ruin her. She eventually does reveal it, though.
• Secretly Selfish: Lilith has always been this, first by cursing Eda to get into the Emperor's Coven, then taking care of Luz to get back into the coven only to bond with and ultimately betray her. She comes to realize that she takes away everyone's ability to make choices for themselves.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: In the third chapter, while interrogating Lilith, King and Hooty get into an argument over whether or not Hooty was allowed to eat the cake that they left out in the living room.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Lilith eventually becomes one for Luz and Amity when she realizes Luz's crush has begun taking shape, at first, only teasing Luz about it but she genuinely does hope the best for them.
  • Petra seems to become one for her daughter, Luz and Amity, implying she knows Boscha feels something deeper than friendship with them.
• Ship Tease: Between Luz and Boscha of all people in chapter 22. Luz feels surprisingly safe when Boscha is embracing her, the Golden Guard asks if they are in love after misinterpreting their bickering as Belligerent Sexual Tension, Luz helps Boscha fly on her staff by sitting very close and holding her arms around her, and the chapter ends with Luz resolving to join Boscha's grudgby team. Subverted when the author's notes of the next chapter revealed that the fic will be Luz/Amity/Boscha, making it setup for a future relationship and not mere teasing.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the fourth chapter, Lilith makes breakfast consisting of griffon eggs and a kind of green bacon. Luz thinks that green pork-based product don't go with non-green eggs.
  • Luz says in chapter 16 "Belos, I've come to bargain." No one but her gets it, but she's satisfied with confusing the all-powerful Emperor.
  • Chapter 22 has two nods to MoringMark comics; one reference is to Boscha's friendship with Amity being All Take and No Give, the other is about the though of Luz's palisman possibly being a creeper.
  • Luz states the reason she tries to see the best in people is because she remembers this line from a cartoon: "An enemy is a friend you haven't made yet."
  • Barcus's full name is stated to be "Barcus B. Barkin".
• Shown Their Work: In chapter 20, Luz makes la bandera dominicana, the real life national dish of the Dominican Republic, where her family is from, and she gives Lilith a short history lesson about how the dish is called that because ingredients share a colour with the dominican flag. She also throws in a Bilingual Bonus by calling it la bandera isla hirviendo, "the Boiling Isles flag."
• Show Within a Show: In addition to Good Witch Azura, which Amity and Luz enjoy, there is also the science fiction graphic novel Titan: Beyond the Stars, which Boscha is a fan of. It's set in a future where the Demon Realm is destroyed and the people of the isles convert the Titan's skull to a spaceship to survive. Luz gets hooked quickly once Boscha gifts her the first four volumes.
• Side Bet: In Chapter 18, King reveals he's made one with Hooty banking on how long it'll take Luz to ask Amity out: closest timeframe wins (King says two months, Hooty bets a week (and loses), and Lilith (upon hearing about it) says seven weeks). If King or Lilith win, they get out of cleaning Hooty for a couple of months. Two chapters later, Luz learns that Willow, Gus and Viney are participating and they (and possibly several others) have hundreds of snails pooled on when she does it. In Chapter 27, it ends with everyone giving Luz the snails they pooled on.
• Significant Name Shift: In chapter 26, after a day of genuine bonding and winning their first grudgby game together, Boscha calls Luz by her name instead of just "human" for the first time.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: As Eda gets Lilith to start enjoying being on the other side of the law, Lilith decides to get a new outfit to reflect her change and begins wearing a suit.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: What Hunter assumes Luz and Boscha's relationship is. Both of them deny it, with Luz even pointing out that that kind of relationship would be seriously unhealthy.
• Sleeps in the Nude: Downplayed. Chapter 26 shows that Boscha wears a loose fitting shirt and boyshorts for pajamas; Viney, Emira, and Lilith all say that Boscha essentially sleeps in her underwear.
• Spotting the Thread: Before the Arboretum guardian attacks, Luz notices that it stands out among the other plants since it's a topiary, it isn't equidistant from the other plants, and it isn't protected like they are.
• Struggling Single Mother: Lilith, despite her initial misgivings about being a mother, is Luz' (and by extension King and Hooty's) primary caretaker, with the financial struggles that come with taking care of two children and a Hooty. She gets a lucky break after scamming Odalia out of a big sum, but the concern never really goes away, especially after Luz has to destroy the portal door, losing their primary source of income. Still, Lilith soldiers on, refusing to let Luz find out how rough they have it because she wants the girl to have a normal childhood without worrying about financial difficulties. Things get better after she gets a permanent job as a teacher at Hexside, though she's still poor enough that a single gift of 2000 snails from the Arends is a massive boon.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Luz gets dragged into the secret shortcuts room, the narration insists that she didn't yelp in fear, nor did she curl up on the floor afterward.
• Switching P.O.V.: The pov alternates between Lilith and Luz, with Lilith being the focus of odd-numbered chapters, and Luz in even-numbered chapters.
• Taking the Bullet: Boscha ends up saving Luz from an abomination/potion hybrid that leaves her seriously injured. It leads to Luz flip-flopping about whether or not Boscha is capable of being nice to her.
• Teacher's Pet: Subverted. When Lilith becomes the new history teacher at Hexside, Boscha is worried that she will favor her surrogate daughter. Lilith assures her that there's nothing to worry about. Luz is equally insistent that she not be given any special treatment.
• Tempting Fate: On the way to the Emperor's Arboretum, Luz asks what could happen on a stroll through the dark woods? The narration calls her a fool and declares that now they are now truly doomed.
• That Came Out Wrong: When going to tell Boscha that Amity is joining the grudgby team, Luz asks "where's the cutie?" in reference to Boscha's palisman Maya. Everyone, Boscha included, assumes Luz was calling Boscha a cutie, causing some very shocked stares and a rumour that the two of them are a couple.
• This Means War!: Seeing that all her friends are betting on when she confesses to Amity with King and Lilith, Luz declares that she'll make sure Hooty is so disgustingly filthy that everyone who loses that has to clean him will regret it. While Gus is reasonably un-nerved, Willow says it's Worth It for the hundreds of snails that are pooled in, though she has second thoughts after Luz makes good on her vow.
• Time Skip: Between Chapters 18 & 19, an entire month passes since Luz had to destroy the portal.
• Troll: In the third Raven Pellets chapter, Willow (unknowingly) confesses to Eda that while she knows she shouldn't be making fun of Luz and Amity's mutual attraction, she can't help herself both because of how obvious it is and because she needs some levity with everything that's going on, namely learning the truth about the coven sigils and the harm they could do to her parents.
• Underdogs Never Lose: Averted. Luz, Boscha, and Amity lose their grudgby match in chapter 24, though they get some good points in and Luz' sheer determination manages to impress even Boscha.
• Unequal Rites: It's mentioned that Construction Magic, despite being arguably the most useful kind, is the smallest coven.
• Weak, but Skilled: Lilith, while far from weak, never worked to improve her raw strength in magic, instead delving into the theoretics behind spellcasting. This makes her a very skilled witch with an immense array of magic available to her, but weaker than Eda, who ignored the theory in favor of improving her raw power.
• We Will Meet Again: Played for laughs after Luz confronts Lilith about having become her history teacher, and Willow and Gus drags her to her next class while she yells "This isn't over!"
• What Is This Feeling?: After being attacked by the Planimal in the Emperor's arboretum, Luz thinks of everyone she'd never see again if she died at its claws and feels more pain from the thought of never seeing Amity again than everyone else.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In a shocking twist, Luz calls Amity for her stubborn insistsence that Boscha is Beyond Redemption. As Luz puts it, Amity used to be just as bad as Boscha, and it was only because Luz had faith in her that she grew beyond that, so it's hypocritical of her to claim that Boscha doesn't deserve the same chance.
• You Can See Me?: The Clawthorne sisters are shocked to learn that Owlbert and Morrigan can also see Eda.
• You Monster!: Amity namedrops this on Lilith when she learns she nearly killed Luz.

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