Luz Noceda is a spirited, energetic girl with a vibrant imagination and a cheerful attitude. Through her adventures on the Boiling Isles, she’s really come into her own as she strives to become a witch, make new friends, and follow her dreams so that she can live her best life. There’s been difficulties of course, but one can’t deny that she’s done very well for herself in this strange, sometimes scary new world where she can truly be herself.
Luz Noceda is a quiet, somewhat withdrawn girl who nevertheless has a good heart and an earnest desire to improve herself. Her start at the Reality Check Summer Camp was unfortunately rather rough, but despite the bullying and lack of friends, she’s still managed to adapt very well, earning the adoration of camp counselors and finding happiness in change while still holding on to what makes her herself.
But... wait. That doesn’t make sense. Luz could only choose one of those paths. Surely only one of them could possibly be the truth.
...Right?
Two's a Crowd is a TheOwlHouse fanfic by TheCrusaderKing
, where Luz goes to Reality Check Summer Camp, but something is amiss with her.
The author is of Amphibia fanfic Confessions fame.
The fic can be read on Archive of Our Own here.
On 12/31/23 the author, TheCrusaderKing, posted that the fic is canceled do to losing interest in TheOwlHouse as a show and no longer wanting to write for the fandom.
Due to the nature of this fanfic’s mystery, spoilers have been unmarked, read at your own discretion.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Averted. All the adults, from the camp counselors to Eda, are very competent.
- Amnesiac Hero: Downplayed. ‘Luz’/Lus has trouble recalling pre-camp memories and doesn’t remember how she got to camp. This is explained as ‘Luz’/Lus was created the day camp started (and so doesn’t have any natural memories before camp) while her pre-camp memories where magically downloaded into her from brain scans of the original Luz by Eda.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Chapter 7 abruptly shifts the focus away from Reality Check Summer Camp to the residents of the Owl House. Lampshaded by the chapter title “And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming”.
- Blank Slate: When ‘Luz’/Lus first shows up at Reality Check Summer Camp she is in this state much to the confusion of the camp counselors and the audience. Played for Horror in chapter 4 when ‘Luz’/Lus abruptly returns to this state until the end of the chapter. It’s explained in chapter 5 that this is her natural state of mind when under the artifacts control.
- Born as an Adult: ‘Luz’/Lus was created the day camp started to be the same age as the original Luz.
- Both Sides Have a Point: During the original Luz and ‘Luz’/Lus argument in chapter 9 the POV shifts between the two of them and from their respective perspectives they both have valid points even if ‘Luz’/Lus ultimately has the moral high ground. From the original Luz’s perspective ‘Luz’/Lus is coming out of nowhere saying they have a right to ‘their’ life so it’s understandable that the original Luz would be defensive of the clone trying to live any part of her life. While from ‘Luz’/Lus perspective she is just trying to find a compromise that will let her live, has no intention of taking over the original’s life and the original Luz is being a bit of a hypocrite by making a fuss over it.
- Breather Episode: After the dramatic events of chapter 5, chapter 6 has things calm down a bit before things pick back up at the end.
- Call-Forward:
- In chapter 10 the original Luz remarks that she can’t hate her clone because she can’t imagine hating herself, not yet at least.
- In chapter 10 the original Luz and ‘Luz’/Lus remark how they always wanted a sibling/someone who intimately ‘gets them’, sounds a lot like Luz’s deepest desire in For The Future “to be understood”.
- Capture and Replicate: Averted. What ‘Luz’/Lus thinks happened to the original Luz. Unfortunately for ‘Luz’/Lus the truth is much less malicious.
- Cat Fight: Once the argument the original Luz and ‘Luz’/Lus have in chapter 9 reaches a critical high they quickly start physically fighting each other. The narrative quickly points out that due to them being evenly matched 14-year-olds with no fighting experience it quickly devolves into an aggressive wrestling match.
- Clone Angst: Once ‘Luz’/Lus discovers her nature as a clone she falls into this hard.
- Clones Are People, Too: On a meta level, as ‘Luz’/Lus is the main protagonist the narrative naturally has this perspective. In-universe the camp counselors believe in this while the original Luz and Eda come around to this after clearing up a misunderstanding on what ‘Luz’/Lus is.
- Cloning Gambit: A deconstruction of a typical heroic application of this trope. The original Luz needed to be at two places at once, the Owl House and Reality Check Summer Camp, so Eda, without telling Luz, made a clone of her to fill in for her for the duration of camp. Eda’s plan is then seen played out from the clone’s perspective revealing the consequences of her actions. The clone is created without sentience which the counselors notice but mistake for a coping mechanism. As the clone is made more like the original and spends time with people they develop their own sense of self, branching from the original. Eda is oblivious to this and continues to treat the clone like a tool which results in the clone learning what they are. Following this revelation, the clone suffers mental anguish questioning the nature of their existence and realizing they serve no purpose once summer camp is over. Once they encounter Eda again, they fight back against her influence, calling out what she’s doing as it really is. When the original Luz barges in she responds to the situation by thanking Eda (for trying to solve her summer camp dilemma), unknowingly dismissing all the trauma the clone went through. It’s not until the clone gets the original Luz to see things from their point of view does the original empathize and starts seeing them as a person. With the original now on their side, Eda is forced to reach the same conclusion. Upon arriving back at camp, the clone tells the counselors what’s been going on, rendering Eda’s plan moot as the original will have to face the consequences of skipping out on camp anyway.
- Copied the Morals, Too: Zigzagged. Eda intended for ‘Luz’/Lus to have the original’s morals, but her plan fell apart because she copied them too well. ‘Luz’/Lus developed sentience and broke free of the artifact’s control because she was made too much like the original Luz.
- Does Not Like Magic: Downplayed. While ‘Luz’/Lus doesn’t outright hate magic or those who use it, she associates magic with a lot of negative experiences and thus has little interest in it.
- Duplicate Divergence: Due to being at Reality Check Summer Camp with morally responsible guidance over the summer, ‘Luz’/Lus develops an appreciation for normal/mundane life making her a very different person from the magic enthralled original Luz.
- Expendable Clone: ‘Luz’/Lus was created with the intention of taking the original Luz’s place for the duration of summer camp, to be ‘dispelled’ once it was over so the original Luz could go back to her human realm life. As ‘Luz’/Lus is our main protagonist this is very much Played for Horror.
- First-Episode Twist: The question behind ‘Luz’s’ strange behavior is answered early in the story at chapter 4, that the ‘Luz’ we’ve been following is a clone of the original meant to temporarily take her place at summer camp. Her nature as a clone is pretty much the focus of the rest of the fic.
- Foil:
- The camp counselors are ones to Eda. While they are both older mentor figures to there respected charges, the camp counselors are
lawful and pro-authority while Eda is chaotic and anti-authority. - ‘Luz’/Lus is one to the original Luz.
- ‘Luz’/Lus is technician to the original Luz’s performer when it comes to learning.
- ‘Luz’/Lus is I Just Want to Be Normal to the original Luz’s I Just Want to Be Special.
- The camp counselors are ones to Eda. While they are both older mentor figures to there respected charges, the camp counselors are
- For Want Of A Nail: It’s implied that the divergence from canon happened at the end of episode 1 where Eda decided to take Luz’s summer camp predicament more seriously to thank her for her help.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: A biological example. ‘Luz’/Lus was created without sentience, magically programmed to follow orders and behave like the original Luz (after some fine tuning). However, as time passed and Eda kept making her more like the original she developed a bond with the camp counselors who treated her like a person, caring about her and encouraging her. After some time she developed sentience and her own personality.
- Hero Antagonist: Eda, the original Luz’s heroic mentor, is ‘Luz’/Lus’s abusive creator and the story’s primary antagonist until chapter 10 where she has a heel realization.
- Heroic Willpower: ‘Luz’/Lus manages to overcome the artifact’s influence with sheer willpower.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- The original Luz is still having all her adventures in the Boiling Isle’s despite Eda’s plan.
- ‘Luz’/Lus is sending Camila letters from camp just like Vee did in canon.
- In-Universe Catharsis: ‘Luz’/Lus finally tells the camp counselors the truth of her existence in chapter 12. After giving a little evidence to back her story they fully believe her, telling her she is a person and is safe with them. This does wonders for the girl’s mental state.
- Just a Machine: Eda’s attitude towards ‘Luz’/Lus until chapter 10. Justified as Eda thought she created a non-sentient illusion clone due to mistranslating the artifacts instructions.
- Meaningful Rename: Once ‘Luz’ comes to terms with her nature as a clone she decides to distance herself from the original in anyway she can. One of the first things she does is change her name from Luz to Lus.
- Morally Superior Copy: Zigzagged. Under the tutelage of the camp counselors, ‘Luz’/Lus can come across as this to the original Luz, under the guidance of the heroic but immoral Eda. However, in chapter 8 & 9 when pushed into a corner, ‘Luz’/Lus is willing to take violent action that surprise the original.
- More Insulting than Intended: During the argument the original Luz and ‘Luz’/Lus have in chapter 9, they both make points that press each other’s buttons. ‘Luz’/Lus points out that the original Luz is lying to Camila about being at summer camp which is the original Luz’s biggest fear she had to face the day before during Grom. While the original Luz points out that nothing actually belongs to ‘Luz’/Lus and that she technically hasn’t even physically met Camila which reenforces ‘Luz’/Lus biggest fear that her life is worthless.
- My God, You Are Serious!: The camp counselors react this way when presented with evidence that magic is real and that ‘Luz’/Lus really is a clone.
- Psychic Link: Its established early on that ‘Luz’/Lus has recurring dreams of the Boiling Ilse’s, and later that the original Luz has recurring dreams of Reality Check Summer Camp. Once the two meet and physically touch each other their mental connection grows a lot stronger to the point where they can see each other’s memories and dream share. Chapter 11 reveals they can talk telepathy to each other.
- Read the Freaking Manual: Eda neglected to read most of the manual for the cloning artifact due to it being written in an ancient language and the parts she did read she mistranslated some of it, causing the initial misunderstanding (a non-sapient illusion clone) on what ‘Luz’/Lus actually is (a sapient biological clone).
- Rewatch Bonus: ‘Luz’/Lus behavior in the first three chapters makes much more sense when you know she is a clone of the original Luz created the day camp started.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Steven believes ‘Luz’/Lus strange behavior is being caused by an abusive parent. ‘Luz’/Lus is technically being abused by a parental figure but it’s not Camila.
- Switching P.O.V.: The story mainly shifts the POV between the camp counselors and ‘Luz’/Lus. The story also tends to shift the POV between the parties having a conversation to get everyone’s perspectives.
- After chapter 7 we start getting POV’s from the original Luz and Eda.
- Chapter 8 makes notable use of this trope as a commentor pointed out that the sheer dichotomy between ‘Luz’/Lus perspective(Played for Horror everything is trying to kill you) and the original Luz’s perspective(just another wacky misadventure) make the chapter seem like two different genres.
- The Bully: Joseph and his posse act as this to everyone at camp.
- Tomato in the Mirror: ‘Luz’/Lus suffers a massive one in chapter 5 after discovering she is a clone.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 4; starts off standard and continues to be so until 3/4ths into the chapter where it abruptly undergoes a plot switch when ‘Luz’/Lus unexpectedly returns to her blank slate mind state. After a day of that the ending sequence giving us our first glimpse of Eda and the answer to the fics opening driving question, “what’s going on with Luz?”.
- Wham Line: The last lines of chapter 4 completely changes the tone of the story.She wasn’t the original Luz Noceda.She was a clone.
