Chapter 37: The Forest of Fear
Art by Crash X Fusion: The forest's mists helps him destroy your mind using negative thoughts. The longer you stay, the more you're consumed by fear, regret, and guilt until you're part of it yourself.
Luz ends up going through the Forest of Fear, while trouble blooms for everyone else.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Although she's an Anti-Hero by this point, Liltih getting put on the verge of death is more extreme than what she deserves.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- With the help of his plant abominations, Jerbo saves Puck from the Greater Basilisk's Mana Drain.
- Lilith finds and rescues Luz from the Inner Demon's clutches before she was too far gone.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Luz to the Inner Demon when he brings up Amity's deception being real.
- Body Horror:
- People transform into trees if they can't get out of the Forest of Fear. By the time Lilith comes to help Luz, she's got wooden skin with leaves, roots and vines all over her body.
- Having reached its limit with the Greater Basilisk, Puck's shadow rips her in half... right after it takes Amity's form one last time.
- Broken Pedestal: Thanks to the Hierons, a lot of students have turned on Luz for the stunt they pulled last chapter, Elliot having dropped out of the H.A.S. because he believes the perception that humans are witch burners. In addition to Gus, Pat's also lost all respect for Amity.
- Brutal Honesty: The Inner Demon really lays it on thick to Luz over how Amity betrayed her trust by lying to her.
- Call-Back:
- The repercussions regarding Puck's actions in "Friendship Dynamics", "Raising Human", and "Regretful Decisions" are brought to light.
- Gus remembers visiting Gravity Falls in "Reunion" and "Summerween Fright".
- Luz being cornered by a mob happens again after Grom and in the same way, no less.
- Calling the Old Woman Out: Odalia may not blame Athena for what her wife and daughter did to Amity and Luz, but she points out she never does anything when they do act on their own.
- Luz does this to a couple of illusionary mothers in the Forest of Fear.
- The Cameo:
- Willow and Skara don't appear themselves, but illusions of them show up in the Forest of Fear.
- Ms. Torigore also appears as an illusion in the forest.
- Mattholomule, Tibbles and Piniet are mentioned as Puck's former victims.
- Tiny Nose is questioned by King on Luz's whereabouts while he and Eda are searching for her.
- Anu Bist briefly appears near the end to comment on the ominous turn.
- Cassandra Truth: Attempted, then averted. Steve tries to tell Eda that Luz is in the Forest of Fear but since he mentions Lilith, she blasts him away before he can.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Luz drops several F-bombs as she succumbs deeper to the Forest's effects and after Lilith saves her, she drops several more along with flipping him off.
- Continuity Nod: Amity is shown holding her Azura Vol. 4 at the end of the chapter.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Luz, due to the state she's in, catches Lilith off guard and proceeds to kick her butt, thinking it's the Inner Demon.
- Darkest Hour: Lilith is fatally wounded by the Golden Guard (who captures Luz) and left to die as the fog of the Forest of Fear closes in on her, while Eda is captured after her attempt to rescue her daughter ends with her succumbing to her curse. And from Elliot's reaction to the "human facts", most of the students of Hexside may have turned their backs on Luz.
- Death Glare: From Luz to the Golden Guard after he shoots Lilith dead and again when he captures Eda. Before their fight, Eda also gives him one for muzzling Luz.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Puck ends up admitting he was in the wrong for messing with Mattholomule before he could even try anything to take over the H.A.S..
- Flipping the Bird: Once out of the Forest, Luz flips off both the Inner Demon and the forest itself.
- A Friend in Need: Knowing Gus is angered after Boscha's stunt, Viney, Barcus and the Cerberus sisters check up on him during lunch.
- Genre Savvy: Luz declares herself this given how she's grown up in the Boiling Isles and seen several horror movies, so she isn't completely phased by the Forest.
- Hope Spot: After rescuing Luz from the Forest's fog and the Inner Demon, Lilith hopes to get her to Eda... and then the Golden Guard speaks up.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: The Inner Demon firmly believes this saying while Luz denies it and tries to prove otherwise, he embraced it and became what he is today.
- In Spite of a Nail: Luz still turns on Lilith upon learning the truth behind Eda's curse and is captured by a high ranking coven officer, then used as bait for Eda, who expunges all of her magic trying to rescue her and becomes the Owl Beast.
- Internal Reveal:
- Gus tells Viney, Barcus and the Cerberus sisters about Gravity Falls and the magical beings and happenings within it.
- Luz learns about Lilith being the one who cursed Eda from the Golden Guard.
- Jerbo meets Puck for the first time.
- Killed Off for Real: The Greater Basilisk is blown apart, courtesy of Puck's shadow.
- Killed Offscreen: It's confirmed by Puck that Kikimora killed Piniet using poison in "Raising Human".
- Laser-Guided Karma: It may not be much given the crime, but Nicole gets chewed out by her wife, a bloody nose from Odalia and gets her victory pizza ruined by Steve flying into the delivery guy.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Odalia point blank tells Boscha that what she did to Amity proves she's the spitting image of Nicole.
- Literal-Minded: When Luz calls the Forest an asshole, the Inner Demon points out she's thinking of a different part of the Boiling Isles.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Athena had no idea what Boscha and Nicole had planned, but it doesn't change the fact that it makes her guilty of not doing anything about them.
- Manipulative Bitch: This seems to be what Patti considers Amity based on her use of the phrase "mint-haired minx".
- Master of Illusion: The Forest of Fear itself utilizes illusions of people to help increase their negative thoughts.
- Noodle Incident: Luz has been in a haunted forest before (she claims at least a dozen) and met the Headless Horseman once.
- Oh, Crap!:
- This is Luz's reaction upon observing what the Forest is doing to her.
- Lilith gets a moment when she realizes the Golden Guard knows and is about to divulge her biggest mistake to Luz.
- Only Sane Woman: With how heated things were getting between Odalia and Nicole, Athena steps in to apologize for her wife and daughter's actions.
- Parents as People: Alador is unable to relate to Amity's situation because Odalia is the only person he's ever loved, not to mention he, Odalia and Lilith are the ones who interfered with her life and put her in in her current predicament, promising Amity the former two will help her recover.
- Point of Divergence: To "Agony of a Witch". The field trip to the Emperor's Castle never occurs (omitting the healing hat subplot), the witch's wool cape isn't created, Lilith turns on the EC sooner, the Golden Guard captures Luz to bait Eda and nabs her, too.
- Precision F-Strike: This chapter has the most f-bombs dropped in the whole story, and all of them were from Luz while she was stuck in the Forest of Fear.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Hunter successfully captures Luz and Eda, but not only did he have to kill Lilith to do it, he's also backstabbed his first real friend in the process.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Athena is seriously pissed after she hears what Nicole got Boscha to do (granted, it's mostly because her daughter's grudgby training has now gone to waste) and once Odalia arrives for Nicole's blood, Athena apologizes admitting she was in the dark and tells her wife to do the same.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Impersonating Amity, the Greater Basilisk calls Puck a bad friend and he'll never be able to resist causing trouble because he's a fae.
- Odalia gives Athena one for being Nicole's lapdog since they were students and how if she had actually taken action, things between their daughters wouldn't have turned out the way they did. Odalia adds that she'll make sure the PCA won't allow Nicole to escape from justice.
- An illusion of Amity in the Forest of Fear dumps on Luz for believing she could ever have a life in the demon realm or that the real Amity actually cared about her, calling Luz pathetic.
- The Reveal:
- Jerbo has an older and younger brother, respectively named Roden and Porco.
- The Inner Demon had been at Grom himself when Amity faced the monster. He also states he was actually human once, having lived since the 1600's.
- The Bat Queen wasn't kidding when she said people who end up in the Forest of Fear are lost to it; people turn into trees if they stay there too long.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Eda slowly descends into one as she has to fight several coven scouts and her curse at the same time while trying to find Luz. Once Eda learns she's at the Emperor's castle, she heads straight there and fights Hunter only to fall at his hand and transform into the Owl Beast.
- Sanity Slippage: The longer Luz stays in the Forest of Fear's mists, the more her mental state drops.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Nicole isn't worried about Principal Bump keeping his word on Boscha's punishment since she plans to donate a buttload of money to Hexside to make him revoke it. Athena doubts it'll work this time.
- Sequel Hook: Whatever Viney found in the human anatomy book may have just helped her figure out Luz's condition.
- Shout-Out:
- Upon making his presence known to Luz, the Inner Demon sings "Come Wayward Souls".
- Luz labels Hunter (currently in uniform) as the "Gold Ranger".
- Spanner in the Works: Ultimately, Jerbo's the one who saves Puck from the Greater Basilisk since his family was camping nearby.
- Spotting the Thread: Puck's shadow immediately figures out the Amity Puck was talking to was a fake based on what she was saying. It takes "her" eyes blinking sideways for Puck to get the picture.
- Stunned Silence: Athena goes into this after hearing Odalia tell her she did nothing to stop Nicole and Boscha from pulling their stunt.
- Take That!: At one point, Luz calls the Inner Demon "uglier than Willem Dafoe after waking up from a hangover."
- Talk to the Fist: As punishment for her hand in Amity's suffering, Odalia decks Nicole and breaks her nose.
- Toilet Humor: The Titan's butt is brought up as a place the Inner Demon says isn't worth seeing.
- Unfazed Everyman: Luz tries to play herself off as this towards the Forest's effects, but the Inner Demon says she's just in denial.
- Villainous BSoD: Given how silent she was in this chapter while processing everything, it's implied that Boscha is going through this.
- Wham Episode: Jerbo saves Puck's life from the Greater Basilisk which is killed, Lilith is shot dead and Luz and Eda are captured by the Golden Guard.
- Wham Shot: The book Boscha got from Vanz Ator is shown to have a picture of Eda's portal and its key.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Yep. Just like canon, Luz goes into this after learning Lilith cursed Eda, but worse.
- The Worf Effect: Both Clawthornes sisters are defeated by the Golden Guard in battle. In Eda's case, it was only because she fell to the effects of the curse.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Like Willow last chapter, Alador tells Amity that she's not to blame for hurting the people around her; he takes responsibility for himself and her mother choosing her friends and reminds her Lilith forced her to continue spying on Luz.
- You Monster!: She calls him a bastard, but it's clear this is what Luz really calls the Golden Guard after he defeats Eda.
