Chapter 71: The Hunting Witch
Luz goes after Hunter believing he caused Amity's disappearance, unaware of the looming darkness haunting her.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Dell makes his official present day debut between "Eclipse Lake" and "Yesterday's Lie".
- Adaptational Explanation: Kikimora tells Luz in "Clouds on the Horizon" that Belos has eyes everywhere which is how he knew of the heroes' plan to stop the Day of Unity (though it was implied to be because of Terra's suspicions). Here,
it's implied that his access to Luz's mind may be giving him the ability to see through her eyes, thus knowing and experiencing every move she makes. - All for Nothing: Luz's promise not to take Belos head-on in exchange for the safety of the BAT's is this, as he's been petrifying them in secret.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Belos proves himself to be far more of a threat than even Bill Cipher could be in taking control over Luz's mind.
- Ambiguous Situation: If Belos has been setting things up so that he can possess Luz, does that mean he can also force her to absorb palismen essence, or does the Horned King alone influence her?
- Any Last Words?: Belos decides to ask Rick for some before he completes his petrification. What does Rick choose to say? "Lick my balls".
- An Arm and a Leg: Maya gleefully rips off Hunter's right arm while mauling him, only to make a horrible discovery.
- Armor-Piercing Question
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Maya has spent the last week craving the opportunity to make the people responsible for her current predicament suffer in turn. When she attacks Hunter and his injury clues her in to what he really is, she's shocked to see she's caused more harm to him than he has to her.
- Bittersweet Ending: Heavy dose of "bitter" again. Belos kills Rick and his friends via petrification while getting rid of Bill Cipher when he invades Luz's mind, having already done so himself. The Horned King makes his presense known to Luz by trying to forcibly absorb Maya's essence out of her, and both of them are terrified about what they did to Hunter for different reasons. Meanwhile, Gus and Willow are stranded on Earth with Willow getting the worst of it, leaving Luz with no support from her three closest companions. The only good that is seen in this chapter is that Dell will be part of Luz and King's lives after giving his daughters his forgiveness and planning to have Lilith help him plant palistrom seeds to atone for overharvesting the tree supply while in the Emperor's Coven.
- The Bus Came Back:
- After a flashback appearance in "No Big Deal", Bill Cipher returns to cause trouble for Luz only for Belos to give him some.
- Witch Rick, Admiral Barack, Sporky and Squatchy reappear since their appearances in "The Ballad of Eda (Part 2)". Sadly, it's their last appearance as it's too late to save them.
- Call-Back: While not mentioned in the chapter itself,
Word of God reveals that Belos blasting Luz with a spell meant to "calm her down" back in "The Reveal" was how he linked their minds together. It's also what he meant when he told Hunter he only needed to talk to Luz and in time, "everything will fall into place. - The Cameo:
- Hettie only shows up for one scene checking over Belos when he recovers.
- The scout party at the Knee is seen recuperating following their failed mission.
- Gilbert and Sully call Eda to their home to inform her that Willow and Gus's palismen came home without them.
- Gavin and Shiela are briefly seen, the former worrying over Hunter when he doesn't show up as he said he would.
- Cassandra Truth: Hunter begs for Luz to listen when he says he had nothing to do with Amity's disappearance, but Luz is too demoralized over Amity along with furious over Hunter's previous deception that she just dismisses it as more of his lies.
- Continuity Nod: Sully brings up the Clawthorne's habit of entering their home through a window.
- Contrived Coincidence: Dell and Waffles were planting palistrom seeds in the same forest Luz was running from the Horned King in. Once they find her, they take her home.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Luz and Maya, fueled by rage and eager for revenge, utterly maim Hunter when they get their hands on him, despite his attempts to put some distance between them.
- Rick shows off just how powerful he is but sadly, he doesn't land a single hit on Belos before losing his life.
- Deal with the Devil: Desperate and vulnerable after losing Amity and maiming Hunter, Luz agrees to let Bill inside her mind to alter her memories thinking he'll remove all of her emotional pain, but in reality it allows Bill to invade her mind. The deal goes south for Bill when he learns that Belos has already made himself at home within Luz's mind and ends up being attacked by his inner self.
- Defiant to the End: Fighting for his life, Witch Rick makes sure to let Belos know his opinion that Belos is not the supposed savior he believes himself to be.
- Despair Event Horizon:
- Luz just lost her girlfriend and is afraid she may not even be alive. Now she's mauled her Evil Former Friend and her two oldest friends have completely vanished without a trace. Hell, everything she's been through since she got her cambion form stresses her enough to make her accept a deal from Bill and nearly sends her into another panic attack.
- Maya learning that Hunter is a grimwalker has a deep effect on her, as she ends up intentionally hurting him when he was only barely responsible for her demise.
- Did You Actually Believe...?
- Distant Prologue: The chapter opens up in 2006 when Luz was approached by her grandpa Dell but prevented from learning who he is by Eda.
- The Ending Changes Everything: The Reveal that Belos has been planning to possess Luz's body and set up said plans during their first interaction proves how drastic his way of thinking is to prevent the devastation of the Boiling Isles as he's "destined" to.
- Extreme Mêlée Revenge
- Eye Color Change: Luz's eyes glow four different colors in this chapter:
- While attacking Hunter, Luz's eyes glow yellow before switching to Maya's red.
- As the Horned King starts sucking out Maya's soul, her eyes glow the same green as his.
- At the end of the chapter, they glow blue to officially show that Belos is slowly going to possess her in the future.
- Eye Scream: Averted for once. In an act of self-defense, Hunter activates a fire glyph right in Luz's face in order to escape her. Her eyes aren't damaged, but she gets burn marks around them.
- Forgiveness: Dell forgives both of his daughters for the Owl Beast attacking him, telling them both to stop blaming themselves and to put the past behind them.
- From Bad to Worse: It's not enough Luz lost Amity, now she's amputated Hunter, her best friends are trapped in the Human World (one of them unconscious and taken into custody by soldiers working for her witch-hunting godmama) and she isn't even aware that Belos has gotten another edge over her while going back on his word not to harm her friends in the rebellion.
- Game Changer
- The Ghost: Amity is constantly brought up given that her disappearance is the main drive behind Luz's actions.
- Heal It With Fire: To stop Hunter's bleeding, Lilith cauterizes his arm before taking him to Dr. Bride.
- He Knows Too Much: Belos's reason for eliminating Witch Rick: he's far too intelligent and would find a way to stop his plans.
- Heroic Vow: The chapter ultimately ends with Luz vowing to find Amity, Willow and Gus and bring them home.
- Horrifying the Horror: Belos, a centuries-old human/cambion, actually gets a fearful reaction out of Bill, an psychopathic, near-omnipotent, inter-dimensional demon who's commited far more shocking crimes, when his inner self takes on his Transhuman Abomination form.
- Immediate Sequel: Once the Distant Prologue ends, the chapter picks up on Luz storming out of the Owl House to track down Hunter after learning about Amity's fate.
- Internal Reveal:
- Hunter is told of Maya's demise and the aftereffects of Luz having to share her body with Maya's soul.
- Maya discovers that Hunter's a grimwalker.
- Luz realizes that Otabin wasn't a Not-So-Imaginary Friend but the physical form of The Voice.
- Invisible to Normals: It seems the Horned King can only be seen by Luz and Belos, proven when Dell can't see anything when Luz warns him. Hunter and the Inner Demon can also hear him, implying only humans (cambion and even grimwalkers based off of humans) are capable of doing so.
- Killed Off for Real: Belos reveals that he's already petrified Barack, Sporky, and Squatchy. After a brief fight, he petrifies Witch Rick because he's too smart to be left alive.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Hunter's karma dosage is poured on him some more for backstabbing Amity; Luz and Maya give him another No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, but Maya takes it too far when she tears off his arm.
- Misplaced Retribution: Hunter's past lies and hand in Maya's destruction play a factor in the beating she and Luz deal him, but Maya tearing his whole arm off because she's taking advantage of Luz angrily thinking he's responsible for Amity vanishing wasn't deserving.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Maya thoroughly enjoys the near-mauling she and Luz give Hunter until she tears off his arm and realizes that he smells like palismen. The implications causes her to retreat into the mindscape and Luz is horrified when she sees what they've done, getting sick and passing out.
- My Way or the Highway: As always, Belos demonstrates how convinced he is that his goal and methods to save the Boiling Isles are the only way to do it. He's been slowly setting up the precaution of being able to take control of Luz if he isn't able to see his plans through and rids her mind of Bill when he attempts to do some damage. Rick calls him out for having this mindset and for believing that he's The Only One capable of saving a world he's lording over.
- Named by the Adaptation: Dell's yellow cardinal palisman is dubbed "Waffles".
- Oh, Crap!:
- Luz and Maya have different leveled reactions of this when they see they went too far in attacking Hunter.
- Bill, who rarely reacts in horror, screams right before Inner Belos teaches him a lesson.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Maya is completely silent when Luz checks on her after being brought home, refusing to talk aboit the night's events.
- Out-of-Character Alert: If Bill Cipher is freaked out by something, it is not a good thing; whatever Belos did to Bill in the mindscape basically proves Belos truly is a bigger threat.
- Party Scattering: As of now, all of Luz's closest companions are stuck on Earth separated, unaware they're all there with no way to return to the Boiling Isles and neither her nor their families know what happened to them.
- Point of Divergence:
- Eda makes peace with her father Dell before reaching the events of "Elsewhere and Elsewhen". Plus, Luz and King actually get to meet and interact with him, not to mention he reconciles with Lilith for cursing Eda.
- Willow and Gus are stranded in the Human Realm (with Willow going there for the first time) right after the events of "Eclipse Lake".
- Present Absence: For the first time in Book 2, Amity is completely absent during the main storyline. While she's repeatedly mentioned, it's just to show how much her disappearance is affecting Luz and highlight how much of an impact she's had on her overall.
- Rescue Arc: From this point onward, the "Human Realm" arc has officially become this as Luz vows to find her loved ones.
- The Reveal:
- Dell met Luz 6 years ago while she was working at her mother's human junk stand. Eda quickly recognized him and made an excuse to bail before he could properly introduce himself.
- Belos had promised William not to make anymore Grimwalkers after what had happened to someone named Artemis, but he ended up breaking it.
- Belos is capable of invading Luz's mind, and he's powerful enough in the mindscape to mess with Bill. It's the result of blasting her with a spell back when she and Eda were captured and brought before him, linking both of their minds.
- The Voice belongs to someone called the Horned King, and he can be heard by Luz, Belos, the Inner Demon and Hunter all at once. He's the same horned-skull being Belos has an alliance with.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted. Bill attempts to leave Luz crying in her mindscape due to how emotional she's getting over everything but is stopped by her, which leads to him re-proposing his deal to her.
- Ship Tease: Abel implies that Captain Wolffe has feelings for Kikimora, saying he knew how she felt about her was complicated.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Rather than letting Willow and Gus help find Luz, Eda sends them home before she and Lilith go after her. Unfortunately, they never make it to Willow's house.
- Too Dumb to Live: Inverted. Belos kills Rick because he's too smart to live. Had he stayed locked up in the Conformatorium any longer, he would've eventually found a way to escape. When he has Rick brought before him, the edgelord admits he could get out of his handcuffs at any time and he shows his magical prowess off by turning his arms into weapons, thus making him Too Powerful to Live as well.
- Trapped in Another World: Gus and Willow get sent to the Human Realm, with the former finding himself in a desert, and the latter found by two of Abigail's operatives.
- Trauma Conga Line: Everything Luz has been through since first developing her cambion state has been one continuous Kick the Dog cycle for her, and it deals a lot of damage to her psyche.
- Uncertain Doom: Whatever Belos did to Bill has removed him from the picture for the time being.
- Vacuum Mouth: When trying to convince Luz to give up Maya in his Otabin form doesn't work, the Horned King decides to suck Maya's essence out from Luz's body this way.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Rick's fighting skills include turning his arms into swords or rocket launchers and making springs appear on his feet.
- Wham Episode: Luz and Maya injure Hunter to the point of dismembering his arm, Maya learns Hunter's a grimwalker, Willow and Gus are sent to the Human Realm with Willow getting apprehended by Director Gates' men, Belos is revealed to have linked his mind to Luz's to possess her should his body give out before the Day of Unity, and he takes care of Bill while petrifying Witch Rick to keep him from stopping his plans.
- You Are What You Hate: Implied for Maya, as her assault on Hunter and subsequent unearthing of his true species means she's not in the right either if she attacks the closest thing to a palisman than her at the moment.
- You Said You Would Let Them Go: Played With. Upon seeing his friends turned to stone, Rick reminds Belos that he promised Luz he wouldn't harm the BAT's. Belos proudly announces to Rick that what Luz doesn't know won't hurt her and also petrifies him.
Wherever you guys are, I'm gonna find you three...
