Chapter 62: Prelude to War, Part 3
Art by Crash X Fusion: I spy with my giant eye something very interesting.
As Luz shows Camila what she's fighting for in the war, St. Epiderm gets some unexpected visitors while Boscha helps do the right thing.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Ability Mixing: According to Amity, Puffer and Lambi decided to use their abomination magic in unison with their current track's magic; Prof. Snope suggests Lambi use the goo to make casts with her healing magic and Puffer, after seeing a magazine on human auto parts and military artillery, opts to make tanks out of sludge and stone.
- Ancient Artifact: The so-called "Sword of Adam".
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Boscha asks Stella why she's always around Emily, Stella says it's for Emily's sake. When Boscha questions her sake, Stella doesn't answer and walks off looking conflicted.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Tito shows himself to be a hell of a calculations expert, able to see the angles of a cannonball's trajectory and kick it away.
- Batman Gambit: Oberon instructs Ms. Heinous to find a way to kill Luz and Amity during the school war while he makes sure the Order can't interfere with his plan.
- Brain Bleach: Before leaving St. Epiderm, Nina trolls Donna by mentioning how Ralph still gets tongue baths from her mom.
- Berserk Button: Saying Luz will never be a witch in front of Eda really pisses her off.
- Big "WHAT?!": Luz's reaction to hearing that Camila won't allow her to fight in the school war.
- Break Them by Talking: Emily meets Willow and Gus on their way to school to discourage and insult both of them, Willow because she thinks she isn't fit to lead and Gus for being an illusionist. Neither of them listen to her and brush her insults off.
- Brutal Honesty: Several St. Epiderm students are ok with not helping Hexside in the war, only for Tyrone to ask this:Tyrone: If Hexside falls, who do you think Glandus will target next?Tina: (shivers) That... that is a scary thought...
- The Bus Came Back: While she's only mentioned, Lambi is alluded to for the first time since "Summerween Fright".
- Call-Back: Amity reminds Luz of their promise to have each other's backs from "Recovering", which Luz broke when she went to the conformatorium alone.
- Call-Forward: Flyer Derby is mentioned for the first time.
- The Cameo:
- Lilith's only appearance in this chapter is during a flashback showing her meeting Emily a year ago.
- Odalia and Cat are among the guests at Boscha's tenth birthday, the latter getting a silent cameo.
- Witch Morty appears in Potions class during Camila's tour of Hexside.
- Barcus, Tyler, and Celine are all seen in Oracle class during Camila's tour of Hexside.
- Dusty and Viney appear in Luz and Skara's Beast-Keeping class.
- Terra is shown brainwashing Alador and Calypso in the Emperor's castle.
- Childhood Friends: Amber & Derwin grew up at Scooter Crane's Home for Unwanted Witchlings and Demons, and Nina met Donna here.
- Continuity Nod:
- Due to the wounds she sustained from her fight against Emily in the previous chapter, Luz is wearing a patch over her nose and bandages over her arms.
- Luz has not forgotten about the Trauma Train.
- Crossing the Burnt Bridge: In a session with Ms. Traveler, Amity says she's not sure if she'll be able to forgive Boscha for her stunt against her and Luz, but is glad the triclops made the effort to apologize and they at least cleared the air on how their "friendship" was in the past.
- Crush Blush:
- Nina hides her blush from view when she sees Donna again.
- Amelia has one when she admits to Willow that she wants to date Gus.
- Deal with the Devil: Nicole makes one with the Baron: help her get revenge against the Clawthornes and gain power. Past experience has proven to the readers that he finds her soul guilty and is punishing her for her actions.
- Dirty Coward: The only reason Horace switches sides and tells Emily how to cripple Luz is because he knows he can't fight Luz in her cambion state.
- Distant Prologue: The chapter opens on a few years ago back when Delara was alive and on a trip with her family at the Knee.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: In the past, Delara had a dream about the winged creature laying waste to the Boiling Isles. She didn't believe it was just a bad dream.
- Everyone Knew Already: Athena turns out to know about Tom being kept hidden in the Heiron's attic.
- Expy:
- Bailey/Beocrow is an gothic parody of Creator/Brandon Lee as Film/The Crow.
- Veronica Rex is named after and shares aspects with Veronica "Ronnie" Lodge.
- Tina Ryo shares similarities to Phantom Girl from Young Justice: Phantoms and Hinata Hyuga from Naruto.
- Tyrone Ironwood is modeled after a young Mike Tyson.
- Hardy Boils is based off of Billy Butcher from The Boys (2019).
- Face Framed in Shadow: Cain finally removes his helmet but his face isn't seen because he's in a dark room where only his eyes are visible.
- Fed to the Beast: Implied for Hardy Boils, who's thrown into a pit to be eaten by a mystery beast.
- Fury-Fueled Foolishness: Implied. Craig tries to tell Emily that her beatdown on Luz will have unforeseen consequences, but she blows it off.
- Hate Sink: Felicity sinks lower as she refuses to let Felicia ditch the war for the sake of getting footage of the battles, not even caring which school wins. And per Nicole's orders, she has Felicia plant a bug in Ms. Traveler's office to get evidence on her. They both sink lower when they consider framing Weevil for a scandal so Nicole can become the Potions coven head.
- Horrifying the Horror: Ms. Heinous seems to be the one person Nina's afraid of. Considering she's the Beast Keeping teacher, it's easy to see why.
- Hypocrite:
- Craig attempts to lecture Emily for giving into her revenge only for her to remind him he's still trying to get even with Lilith for firing him.
- Emily and Stella have the audacity to mock Gus for being an illusionist who they don't take seriously, and it turns out they're some of the few people who know Glandus has an illusion track whose students they plan to use in the war.
- If Only You Knew: When asked about his dad's "assignment", Gus admits he believes Perry's he's on a top super-secret mission to bust the biggest story in the Isles.
- I Have No Son!: Nicole loudly makes a scene at Boscha's birthday party, rejecting Boris' present that Delara brought from him for Boscha and saying Boris is not part of her family anymore.
- Immediate Sequel: Set on Wednesday, the day after the previous chapter.
- Innocently Insensitive: Camila, who has no knowledge on demons, believes Jane's the Beast Keeping teacher and Prof. Redback is an ordinary gorilla. She apologizes when Jane clarifies their positions.Eda: In her defense, someone was bound to make that mistake eventually.
- Internal Reveal:
- Amity and King meet Mai and learn about the Yokai Realm along with Amity's nickname.
- Willow and Gus meet Emily and Stella for the first time.
- Principal Bump learns about and meets Camila for the first time.
- It Was a Gift: Turns out Angel gave her jacket to Eda before she died. Near the end of the chapter, Eda hands it down to Luz knowing Angel would've wanted her to have it.
- Lampshade Hanging: Amity questions why she's depicted as a cat-faced witch as the Pink-Haired Hellcat.
- Laser-Guided Karma
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Amity classifies the Coachman as a standard "bad guy of the week". Later she describes herself as Luz's Love Interest with Luz as The Hero with Luz saying they're both heroic co-stars, a nod to them being the dual protagonists of the series.
- Literal Surveillance Bug: Boscha plants a Rusty Smidge in McScream's office for Boils to listen in on them while Felicia attempts to do the same to Ms. Traveler's office. They both get caught.
- Like Parent, Like Child: Seeing Luz speak so passionately about protecting her friends, her classmates and her school causes Camila to see the same look of determination in her eyes that her father always sported.
- Literal-Minded: When Luz questions if her relationship with Amity is on the rocks, Amity says they're not any rock.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Most of the students in Glandus don't know about their hidden illusion track.
- Malicious Slander: Nicole, believing she'd be a better choice for a Head Witch than Alador and Calypso, attempts to conspire with Felicity to get Weevil fired from the position as Potions Coven Head so she can take the position. The Baron stops her before they can even come up with any ideas to do so.
- Metaphorically True: To keep Emily from maiming her, Boscha tells Emily that she can't take on Luz in her cambion state since she herself nearly got killed when she fought Luz like that in the semester exams. Emily accepts this but doesn't let Boscha completely off the hook as we learn later on.
- A Minor Kidroduction: As a flashback reveals, Donna and Nina met as kids at Scooter Crane's orphanage for future bards when Nina ran away from home.
- Moment Killer
- Multi-Part Episode: This is the final part of the three-part "Prelude to War" arc.
- Mythology Gag:
- King wears purple overalls that Luz wore as a kid, the same overalls she's seen wearing in a photo as a child in "Yesterday's Lie".
- Luz both playing the lute
and using Bard magic to control lightning were inspired by Moringmarknote .
- Named by the Adaptation: Viney's cousin who attends St. Epiderm is a girl named Tina.
- Never Say That Again: After Camila says Luz isn't a witch, Eda blows up at her telling her to never say that sentence again, particularly in front of Luz.
- Noodle Incident: Stella made at least one attempt to run away from Emily, but she was hunted down by Nina and brought back to her.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Boscha tells Emily that she knows the person she is because it's the person she used to be, using that to try and get her to call off the war.
- Once More, with Clarity: Emily's meeting Lilith and turning down her mentorship is shown.
- Pet the Dog:
- Although Athena knows her daughter's been hiding a boy in their house, she doesn't force out any answers and leaves Tom the breakfast she made for Boscha.
- For all the hard work Luz has been putting in getting ready for the war, Eda lets her talk to Amity by crow phone for 15 minutes.
- The Quisling: Tired of being underestimated by Luz, Horace defects to Glandus High and gives Emily advice on how to hurt Luz where it hurts, saying Hexside can burn.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Boscha gives one to Emily once she sees how similar they are.Boscha: You may fool anyone but you can't fool me. Because you are me. You built yourself up as the strongest and most powerful witch of this school to enforce a stupid survival to the fittest decree, since you're nothing but a control freak who keeps others in line, even your own girlfriend. You blame everyone else, including Luz, for your actions, and because of what? Because years ago you were at the wrong place at the wrong time and your shitty parents left you? Well, that fucking sucks but this won't make it better. This will only result in people getting hurt, including yourself.
- Refusal of the Call: The previous year, Emily was offered an apprenticeship by Lilith which would've helped her get into the Emperor's Coven. Emily refuses not just because she wanted to get into the coven on her own merits, but because she didn't think Lilith would be a good mentor since she was never able to bring Eda into custody.
- The Reveal:
- Delara was the previous head of the Oracle Coven. She had a vision of the mechanical creatures attacking the Boiling Isles a few years ago and once knew Hardy Boils.
- The Boss took in Emily after she was abandoned and pays for the apartment she and Stella live in. Craig was the one who told Lilith about her the previous year.
- Emily was named "Best Flyer Derby Player" in her Sophomore year and intends to join the Emperor's Coven.
- More than a week has passed since Camila arrived at the Owl House at the end of "Breaking Ties".
- Along with Kitsuni and Mai's species, other inhabitants of the Yokai Realm include Tengu, Kappa, Tanukis, and Nekomata. Some Yokai have disguised themselves and work in the human entertainment industry.
- Oberon sent Meteora to the Demon Realm to kill Luz and Amity during the school war while also preventing anyone from the Order from interfering.
- Athena knows Boscha's been hiding Tom in their attic.
- Samwitch is Athena's brother, so Delara was her sister-in-law.
- Yuki, Ukla's friend and a bard, was attacked by Emily when they tried to locate an ancient treasure called the Sword of Adam. Whatever spell Emily used on Yuki affected her badly and led to her being transferred: on Boscha's first day, Ukla had challenged Emily to a witch's duel to get answers and lost, hence her injured state.
- Beck is revealed to be a transgender woman, having been a boy in her youth. She's the Bard track teacher at St. Epiderm.
- Back when Tito left the Jackwitch 5, he had a dormouse for his talent agent who dropped him completely. He's hated the sight of mice ever since.
- Donna, Amber and Derwin were orphans who lived at an orphanage run by Scooter Crane that forced the kids to learn Bard magic. Donna met Nina there 8 years ago when Nina ran away from home.
- Nicole had to use her family's wealth and power to get where she is because she lacked the natural talent her parents had.
- Stella once tried to escape from Emily, but Nina stopped her, and brought her back.
- Craig is using the war to impress the Tarot Guild, a criminal syndicate that existed before Belos' reign and was seemingly all but destroyed when he took over.
- Glandus actually does have an illusion track; most of the students don't even know about it and it's their secret weapon for the war.
- Cain lives in his own apartment in Latissa.
- The actual spirit of Sir William is guiding Darius between life and death, as he tried to help save him from a creature but fears he attracted it to them. Said creature was apparently responsible for creating Grom and the Forest of Fear, showing that it's connected to the Inner Demon.
- St. Epiderm's mascot and team name is the Dragons.
- The Runaway: Stella is giving off more of these vibes since she's living with Emily rather than her own parents.
- Sadistic Choice: Kadabe and the Top Juniors journey to St. Epiderm to warn Headmistress Midday that she'd better make good on not getting involved in the war or else Glandus will make itself a problem for them, Tito saying they could have Nina take Donna away as a start.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Felicity makes tracks after seeing Nicole in pain as she transforms due to taking the Baron's deal.
- Sequel Hook: Skara makes plans for her first date with Willow while Amelia decides to make the first move and ask Gus out.
- Shout-Out:
- "Friends on the Other Side" is performed by the Baron when he makes his deal with Nicole.
- The notes Luz plays on her lute is the start of Linkin Park's "In The End", as she's been listening to their music to help practice channeling her magic.
- Boscha and Emily perform "Nothing Left to Lose", which acts as an Actor Allusion since Emily (who's
voiced by Eden Espinosa) performs Cassandra's lines.
- Signature Scent: Nina manages to track Donna because the shampoo she uses smells like strawberries.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: With his being an official Clawthorne, King decides to start wearing clothes. As such, Eda gives him a pair of overalls that once belonged to Luz to wear.
- The Stool Pigeon: Horace tells Emily to take down Gus as he's one of Luz's closest friends and the one he considers the weakest.
- Taking You with Me: As Boils is sick upon the beast, he drags one of the Tarot Guild members with him.
- Tempting Fate: Per his usual overconfidence, Dusty doesn't heed Jane's warnings about being cautious while beast bonding. He's heard screaming offscreen as a large spider creature roars at him.
- Uncertain Doom: Boils is ordered to be fed to "the Beast" but it isn't clear whether he actually dies after falling through a trap-door.
- The Un-Reveal: The aftermath of Nicole's transformation, the plan for making sure Boscha's parents don't realize she's gone, how Sir William even came into contact with Darius, and what Cain's face really looks like.
- Villainous Friendship: Nicole and Felicity have one, as the former asked the latter to help her expose Ms. Traveler.
- Wham Episode: Camila visits Hexside for the first time, the Boss is revealed to have taken in Emily after she was abandoned and Glandus is working with an organization called the Tarot Guild, Kadabe and the Top Juniors warn Headmistress Midday not to let her school help Hexside in the war, Amelia decides to ask Gus out, Terra begins brainwashing Alador and Calypso, Boscha's caught helping Boils and locked in Glandus' detention dungeon, the top healer replacing Bangles is revealed to be a cow demon named Asi, Ms. Torigore's son, Horace joins Glandus for the sake of finishing off Luz, the Baron tricks Nicole into making a deal with him, the Pied Piper has returned to the Boiling Isles, and Sir William's spirit is trying to help Darius escape the entity that killed Delara (who had visions of the winged creatures) with the Red Death.
- Wham Line: Sir William tells Darius that the thing that's hunting them is responsible for the Red Death and the Forest of Fear!
- What the Hell, Hero?: During their phone call, Amity calls Luz out for her failed prison break attempt as she went against their promise to stick together, and her boneheaded stunt reminded Amity of when she was captured by Hunter. Her venting to Luz about her feelings towards her trying to do the right thing is what gets Luz to see how inconsiderate she had been.
