Recap / The Owl House S1E19 "Young Blood, Old Souls"

"I don't care what Belos is up to... because today, I'm saving Eda!"

— Luz

Original air date: 8/29/2020

Production code: 120

Luz must attempt the impossible and face the Emperor's Coven alone to save her mentor from their clutches.

Full Recap

In the Owl House, King tells Luz about the history of Emperor Belos and the Boiling Isles. Luz disregards King as she sadly remembers Eda. Luz then comes with a decision of saving Eda and so does King, despite how powerful the Emperor is.

Meanwhile, in the Emperor's Castle, Lilith is trying to detain a beastly Eda from making chaos in the castle when Emperor Belos arrives in the same room. He takes Eda away to another room, stating that Eda must be dealt with instead of healed. He also expresses his desire of capturing "the human girl", as he needs the magic door that leads to the human world. The Emperor gives Lilith the Owl Staff and requests her to destroy it.

In the town, the news reports an announcement from the Emperor's Coven. It shows a press conference with Kikimora, who states that the Coven has adjudicated on the matter of dealing with Eda by petrifying her in stone, which will be done by sunset. Luz gets upset about what Lilith has done to her own sister and comes to the decision of going to the Conformatorium by breaking the rules to be caught by the Coven's guards.

Luz and King successfully are taken to the Conformatorium. They are frightened after seeing some petrified prisoners displayed as statues, and Eda is the upcoming statue. Warden Wrath shows up, but when he's about to lock Luz and King up, Luz's glyph spells immediately blow up and she manages to defeat all the guards, including Warden Wrath. Warden Wrath is afraid and therefore draws Luz a map to Eda's cell room.

Outside, people are waiting for the petrification as they're discussing it. Meanwhile, in the Conformatorium, Kikimora is scolding Warden Wrath for letting Luz and King escape. Lilith appears and takes the responsibility of capturing Luz and King.

Luz makes it to Eda's cell room. She sees Eda being chained. Eda notices Luz, and before she can attack Luz, Luz timely uses the light spell to get her mind back. Eda, who has been given back her consciousness, is frightened of Luz being here - right in the Conformatorium. Luz thoroughly wants to rescue Eda, while Eda tells Luz to leave the Boiling Isles and the Demon Realm as a whole, to protect Luz. Eda takes out the magic key, sets the magic door up, and suggests Luz to return to the human realm for the best. Luz sorrowfully says goodbye to Eda. Eda is then lifted off to be dealt with. Luz attempts to cling to her, but fails. Lilith, with King in hand, arrives. Luz ragefully throws out some glyph papers to attack Lilith. Lilith, although just wanting to talk, is forced to counterattack. They grapple and accidentally go through the door to the human realm. King follows them as well.

They keep fighting in the human realm, until Luz's statement about Lilith being the one who deserves to be petrified. Lilith admits that Luz is right. Luz questions Lilith on why she did all this to Eda and Lilith explains that she and Eda were best friends when they were young. Flashback montage to Eda and Lilith's childhood, Lilith using a spell that makes one share the same pain of the other, as she used it to make both her and Eda be hurt so they could understand each other's pain and create a strong relationship. When they were teenagers, both shared a common ambition of becoming a part of the Emperor's Coven. Unfortunately, only one person could join the Coven, and they had to battle in a Witches' Duel against each other. Lilith knew that Eda outpowered her, so Eda would have easily won the challenge. At night, Lilith went to the Night Market and bought a spell that could take away Eda's power. She entered Eda's room and used the spell she had bought to curse Eda. Lilith thought the curse would only last for a day. When the duel started, Eda refused to battle with her own sister. She stated that the Emperor's Coven was not fit with her. Eda walked away, but then suddenly turned into the Owl Beast. Everyone was surprised and expressed their loathing by throwing rocks at her and calling her a monster. Lilith automatically won the challenge and was selected to be a member of the Coven. She elucidates that she had been trying to force Eda to join the Emperor's Coven to be healed by Emperor Belos, but he had lied to her. Luz is still in doubt, but decides to trust her nevertheless after Lilith gives her the Owl Staff and Owlbert, which are still okay. They return to the Demon Realm together and go to save Eda.

The petrification is ready to get started while Willow and Gus worry as they don't see Luz anywhere. Eda, in a cage, shows up before the crowd. Kikimora, standing next to Eda, pulls a lever that exhibits a statue-like petrifying machine that resembles three women's bodies. The machine prepares a petrifying laser to shoot Eda and turn her into stone.

Luz, Lilith, and King walk along a dark hall. Lilith shows Luz a platform that can lead Luz up straight to Eda's stage. Lilith also promises Luz that she won't let terrible things like this ever happen again. Unexpectedly, roots from underground catch Lilith and King and then hang them upside down. It is revealed to be Emperor Belos's throne room where they're standing on. Emperor Belos captures Luz by the roots and then reveals that he wants to have a talk with Luz.

The roots take Lilith and King to the stage and throw them in the cage, alongside Eda, to be petrified. Eda, in a fit of rage, is about to tear Lilith apart but King stops her. King clarifies that Lilith betrayed the Emperor to save Eda, which cools Eda down. The machine is about to shoot Eda, now with Lilith and King as well. Willow and Gus are concerned about Eda's death, believing that Eda did nothing wrong. Many people support their want of letting Eda go. They all vote for Eda's freedom by saying "Let Eda go!" out loud.

Back in the throne room, Luz attacks Emperor Belos by using the Owl Staff to cast powerful spells. He is able to easily counterattack, and as they continue using magic to attack, the two keep fighting nonstop until Luz is held by the arm roots. Luz uses the ice spell and creates a sharp ice pillar that jabs roughly on the eye of the Emperor's eye, breaking off a small chunk of his mask. Though he compliments her spirit, he cautions her against attempting another sneak attack. Emperor Belos gives out a deal: if Luz wants to save Eda, she must give him the magic door. Despite Emperor Belos's saying that he doesn't want to take over the human world, Luz is still concerned. Finally, Luz, with the desire of saving Eda, gives him the magic door. She is now able to go up straight to Eda's stage. However, she has secretly stuck some fire spell glyph papers on the door and with only a staff's stomp, destroys the magic door immediately. Emperor Belos looks at Luz in fury.

Up on the petrifying stage, when Eda is almost entirely encased in stone, Luz shows up and uses the plant spell to destroy the petrifying machine. She forces Kikimora to unlock the cage who obeys. Luz is jubilant to see Eda. Eda takes Luz, Lilith, and King and flies off the castle, escaping from the guards as people cheer for them delightfully. Emperor Belos appears and informs the crowd that the Titan told him to spare Eda but gives a warning to anyone who hopes to use wild magic, and adds that her curse will strip her of her powers and render her useless.

Eda lands in front of the Owl House. Luz is about to get elixirs for Eda, but Lilith says that the elixirs won't help anything. Lilith approaches Eda and uses the pain-sharing spell as she had once done when they were young. Eda turns back to normal only with one eye being grey and her gem black, and Lilith with one grey eye and a light grey stripe on her hair. Both Eda and Lilith cannot use magic now, but Luz promises to teach them to use magic like she does by drawing glyphs on papers, and that they will teach magic to each other. In her room, Luz records a video for her mom about her adventures and how she beat Emperor Belos - the most powerful witch alive.

Back at the Emperor's Castle, Kikimora, who's upset about Luz, King, Eda, and Lilith, plights to capture them all. Emperor Belos tells her not to worry as the guards will always keep an eye on them. In the meantime, before the Day of Unity, the Emperor's Coven must complete a huge machine that looks similar to a portal, which reveals that the magic door is not completely broken.

*Cue happy credits music*

---

Tropes:

• All for Nothing: Lilith cursing her sister was for nothing. The moment their witch's duel was supposed to start, Eda stepped down and let Lilith join the Emperor's Coven without a fight. All the curse ended up doing was shaming Eda for something that was never her fault to begin with.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Belos corners Luz and demonstrates that she can't overpower him to save Eda, King, and Lilith. Even though she manages to hurt him, he makes it very clear that he will kill her on the spot if she ever does it again. Belos offers to let her rescue them if she gives him the portal. After some hesitation, she agrees, but sticks fire glyphs to the portal so she can destroy it once Belos allows her to leave.
• Back for the Finale: Warden Wrath, the show's very first villain, returns for revenge on Luz. Unfortunately for him, she Took a Level in Badass.
• Background Magic Field: The Isles has magic flowing from the Titan that the Isles formed around, with the life on the Isles evolving to wield its potent energies. Belos ascended to Emperor partially because he claimed that he could communicate with the Titan. Unfortunately, this means that when Luz fights Lilith in the human world, her glyphs don't have enough energy to work while Lilith can still draw on her own internal reserves of magic to cast spells. On the upside, even with her magic drained, Eda can still use glyphs like Luz.
• Badass Cape: Luz wears the witch's cape Eda made for her.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Though Luz burns the portal door, Belos still has its remains and the resources to reassemble it, so his plans are stalled but not stopped.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • When young Eda skins her knee, you'd expect a heartwarming scene where Lilith uses a healing spell on her sister. Nope; she uses a spell for the both of them to share the same pain, albeit reducing/increasing it to half-and-half between both.
  • We were expecting a big fight between a younger Lilith and Eda to determine who would join the coven... but Eda concedes without a fight and lets Lilith take the spot. This turned out to be a bad thing because Lilith cursed her sister the night before to get an edge she didn't need.
• Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: When the crowd speak up in Eda's defense, Principal Bump says she restored his love of teaching... by leaving. Even so, he supports the call to not have Eda petrified.
• Beware the Nice Ones: An angry Luz without powers was bad enough for anyone unlucky enough to cross her. This time, Luz has the magic to back up her threats, much to the Warden and Lilith's confusion.
• Bilingual Bonus: Before Luz gives Belos the portal, she says "Lo siento, Mamá." (I'm sorry, Mom.), which hints at what she's about to do to it. In her vlog to her mother at the end, Luz says, "Deja una luz puesta para mí. Te quiero." (Leave a light on for me. I love you.)
• Bittersweet Ending: Eda is free from the worst parts of her curse thanks to Lilith but Luz had to sacrifice the portal, thus stranding herself in the Boiling Isles for the foreseeable future. Not to mention that Eda is currently incapable of casting spells (at least not without glyphs) and Emperor Belos is still planning "The Day of Unity", reconstructing Eda's portal along with some kind of machine that seems designed to amplify it. Of course, all this means Eda, Lilith, King and Luz are now fugitives, though Belos is in no hurry to capture them at the present moment since he got what he wanted. Luz comes clean to her mother in a vlog, not that she can see it, promising to find a way home and saying she loves her.
• Bookends:
  • Luz's first spell was the Light glyph which she brings up to Eda about how she can learn magic again.
  • The season began with Luz Trapped in Another World, but she had a way back before the episode's end, and stayed afterward voluntarily. By the end of this episode, she's once again stuck on the Boiling Isles.
  • Luz also briefly returns to the human realm, which is the first time she's been back since the first episode.
  • In addition to the previous note, Luz's first adventure on the Boiling Isles was a raid at the conformatorium that included a breakout. This is her last adventure of the season.
• Brought Down to Normal:
  • When Luz tackles Lilith into the human world, her glyphs cease to function because she can't draw on the Titan's magic to fuel them. Lilith, meanwhile, can still use magic because she's drawing on her own supply, meaning Luz is at her mercy.
  • Eda's curse is partially healed, restoring her normal form, but she can't do magic. Luz says they can learn Wild Magic together, instead. Lilith also seems to have been weakened, though it's implied she can still do magic.
• Cain and Abel: Subverted. After she is thrown in the cage with her, Eda attempts to maul Lilith for hurting her and Luz, but King stops her.
• Call-Back:
  • "Us weirdos have to stick together" from "A Lying Witch and the Warden" is said by Luz when trying to rescue Eda.
  • Luz was pinned and brought down to her knees in "Witches Before Wizards," and used as a hostage for Eda. The Emperor tries the same trick on her; this time, Luz is fighting to save Eda and takes the opportunity to hit the Emperor with an ice spike.
• Captured on Purpose: Luz decides to break a rule to get herself and King thrown in the Conformatorium to rescue Eda. It works, despite how comically minor the rule was.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: In hindsight, while Lilith did join the Emperor’s Coven, she was full of regrets, because to do so she cursed Eda the night before their witch duel to get the upper hand, but when the time came, Eda immediately gave up, unwilling to fight her. And of course now that Eda knows, she comes very close to mauling Lilith for the curse and hurting Luz.
• Chekhov's Gun: The cape Eda made for Luz last episode? Time for Luz to use it.
• Childish Tooth Gap: Eda had this as a child.
• Combat Breakdown: During their fight, Luz hits Lilith with an array of glyphs, which stop working when they go back to Earth, and Lilith ends up simply pinning Luz to the ground while Luz pulls her hair with her free hand.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Lilith cursed Eda to get a leg up in their upcoming duel for a spot in the Emperor's Coven. It was All for Nothing because Eda conceded the duel without a fight.
  • Luz does not play fair in any of her fights. She ambushes most of the guards with glyphs before they can mount a defense, and does the same with Lilith on seeing her. A heroic case, since she's doing it to save Eda.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The guy who eats eyeballs from "A Lying Witch and the Warden" and Morton the potion-seller from "Hooty's Moving Hassle" are in the crowd when Willow and Gus rally them to protest Eda's petrification.
  • The cape Luz wears was the one Eda was making for her in the previous episode.
  • The Night Market from "Hooty's Moving Hassle" returns in Lilith's flashback.
• Conveniently Interrupted Document: The Unauthorized Boiling Isles History has the author's name conspicuously singed off. The significance of this isn't known by the end of the episode.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: It takes the Emperor going back on their deal, but Lilith admits that Eda was right that he had no interest in curing her. If she hadn't cursed Eda in the first place, joined the Coven, or believed Belos, her sister wouldn't be sentenced to death.
• Crossing the Burnt Bridge: To save Eda, Lilith has to turn to Luz and King for help. Luz at first isn't interested, since Lilith is the one who captured Eda in the first place and used her as a hostage but is willing to work with Lilith once Lilith explains why she cursed Eda and returns Owlbert. Even during their truce, Luz admits she doesn't like the lady's style. Lilith also becomes a fugitive along with the Owl House residents, which may make living arrangements awkward given her attempting to beat up Hooty.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Luz easily defeats Warden Wrath and forces him to draw her a map to Eda, and pummels the Emperor's Coven goons offscreen.
• Curb Stomp Cushion:
  • Lilith wins the fight against Luz by taking advantage of her being unable to use magic on Earth, but Luz manages to trap her in vines and shoot fire in her face before that. For what it's worth, Lilith is genuinely shocked that Luz is that mad at her.
  • While Luz had no hope of defeating Emperor Belos in single combat, she does manage to damage his mask, which earns a begrudging compliment from Belos.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Principal Bump praises Eda for helping him love teaching again... after she left school.
• Darkest Hour: Eda is now in the clutches of Emperor Belos, and Luz is left heartbroken. Lilith is told that Belos was lying about healing the curse, and Eda is to be petrified permanently.
• Deal with the Devil: Emperor Belos demands the portal to the human world in exchange for sparing Eda. Luz gives him the door... covered in her fire glyphs so that they burn the door up as soon as she's out of range.
• Death Glare: A mutual one between Luz and Belos after the former puts a wrench in the latter's plans by burning the Portal Door.
• Didn't See That Coming: Belos is promptly stunned when he sees a human using glyph magic on the Boiling Isles, without any magic limits.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Eda tells Luz to head through the portal, then burn it on the other end with her fire magic so Belos won't be able to use it. As Luz discovers a few moments later, this would never have worked, because her magic only works on the Boiling Isles.
  • Lilith cursed her younger sister in order to get a spot in the Emperor's Coven, which she would never have been able to win fairly. It's only after Eda forfeits immediately and becomes ostracized by the Boiling Isles because of the curse that Lilith sees the price she had to pay for winning.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Emperor Belos’s claims that he could talk with the Titan and his convincing everyone that they were “using magic wrong” sound a lot like a cult leader.
• The Dog Bites Back: Lilith in the previous episode used Luz as a hostage and forced Eda into her Owlbeast form to capture her. When Lilith ironically wants to rescue Eda from execution and needs Luz's help, they initially react with righteous fury.
  • Luz leaps on Lilith with glyphs and a Badass Boast that she will take her down to avenge Eda. Even though Lilith eventually wins, Luz gets in a few good hits and an apt "The Reason You Suck" Speech about it being her fault that Eda is going to die.
  • Eda is trapped in an Anti-Magic cage, mind intact but body in Owlbeast form. Lilith and King are tossed in with her to be petrified as well. Eda remembers that Lilith tried to kill Luz, and immediately goes Mama Bear. Though King steps in and stops her, it's made clear that Eda could hurt Lilith badly if she wanted.
• Dramatic Wind: When Luz declares her intention to rescue Eda, her cape briefly billows in the wind (despite being indoors at the time).
• Duality Motif: When Eda and Lilith share the curse, both of them now sport a grey eye — Eda's left eye, and Lilith's right eye.
• Empathic Healing: Lilith has a spell that absorbs half the injury or other affliction from the target into herself. She used it share Eda's knee cut when they were children, and absorbs half the owlbeast curse to at least let Eda return to her regular form.
• Enemy Mine: Luz and King have to reluctantly ally with Lilith to save Eda from execution. No one is happy with this arrangement, Luz especially.
• Everyone Has Standards: While everyone's consensus seems to be towards Emperor Belos' absolute authority, public opinion also seems to think that Eda being executed through petrification is too harsh of a sentence, such a method reserved only for the worst criminals.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Belos outright tells Lilith that he won't be healing Eda, not considering that she might betray him to save Eda.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Lilith finds this out the hard way. A curse she thought was temporary became permanent, making her little sister an outcast. Then she allies with the Emperor, the only person on the Boiling Isles who can cure Eda, and bargains with him to save her sister. Belos then reveals he's not interested in curing Eda, and would rather petrify her as a warning to the rest of the Isles.
• Evolving Credits: In the end credits, Eda's left eye is now grey and her chest gem is now black, to reflect the changes that happened in the episode.
• Extremely Protective Child: Luz becomes violent towards anyone keeping her from rescuing Eda. This includes the Warden, Lilith, and even the Emperor. She also destroys the portal door to keep her mother safe from Belos' "Day of Unity".
• Face Death with Dignity:
  • While most of the petrified witches have horrified expressions the witch with the hat is kneeling down with a stoic look as if readying themself for their fate.
  • Eda calmly accepts her petrification, telling Luz that it was worth it because she managed to live a life full of freedom before the EC caught up with her. Her only request to Luz is that she returns to her world safely and destroys the portal, so Belos won't get his hands on it, or on Luz.
• Face Your Fears: Luz finally tells her mother the truth, via a vlog that she hopes will send back to Earth. She says that she's going to find a way home, and says she loves her mom.
• Failed a Spot Check: The fire glyphs Luz leaves on the portal door would have been visible to Belos had he angled the suitcase even slightly when taking it.
• Feed It a Bomb: When Belos summons the giant worm monster to eat Luz, she blows it up from the inside using her fire glyph.
• Felony Misdemeanor: Invoked. Luz and King get themselves into the Conformatorium by stepping on grass in front of a "Do Not Step on the Grass" sign. The guard is so shocked, he immediately takes in Luz and King. Justified as a) the first episode had already established that people could be taken to the Conformatorium for the merest of slights, and b) it's implied Luz was already wanted for being Eda's apprentice, as the Warden wanted revenge.
• Foreshadowing: A flashback has Lilith deciding to "share Eda's pain" when she scraped her knee. This is how Eda is finally lifted from her curse when Lilith takes part of it onto herself.
• For Your Own Good: Lilith uses this excuse when trying to calm Eda in her owlbeast form. It doesn't work.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • Before Eda's and Lilith's duel, you can see two characters in the crowd who very much appear to be younger versions of the Blight parents. You can also see a young Darius sitting in the back in a different shot.
  • In the hall of petrified witches you can see statues of three witches last seen imprisoned in the previous episode as part of the purge of wild witches. Given that Eda's petrification is being reported as the first in 30 years, that means Emperor Belos has been secretly petrifying witches that don't comply with his laws.
  • As Lilith looks down on the crowd of citizens, Piniet and the Snaggleback can be seen. When she turns around, Edric can be spotted, too.
  • Just before Luz makes Belos' worm summon explode, several fire glyphs are clearly visible on its body.
• Get into Jail Free: Luz and King do this by stepping on grass.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: When Luz breaks Emperor Belos' mask with her ice glyph, the eye that is exposed glows a bright blue.
• Gone Horribly Right: Lilith cursed Eda to lose her magic so that Lilith could win their duel to enter the Emperor's Coven. Lilith thought it would only last a day, not knowing it was permanent. She also found out she couldn't remove the curse.
• Great Escape: Luz and King's goal: to break Eda out the Conformatorium before she's permanently petrified. Despite several drawbacks, including having to face off against Belos and destroying the portal, they succeed with Lilith's help.
• Heel Realization: Luz while pinned down gives Lilith a "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how it's her fault Eda is going to be killed and she ought to be the one who should be petrified. Lilith takes a moment and admits that Luz is right.
• Heroic Bystander: Realizing they can't find Luz, Eda is about to die, and no one has enough power to defeat Belos, Willow and Gus take initiative. Gus asks his dad to let Willow have the mic, and Willow rallies the crowd that Eda doesn't deserve petrification.
• Hope Spot:
  • Luz makes it to Eda's cell a few seconds before her scheduled execution. She finds she can't break Eda's chains, however, and Eda tells her it's better for both of them if Luz gets back to Earth and destroys the portal. Luz cries angrily after Eda knocks Luz off the platform so she won't get crushed.
  • Lilith and Luz agree to an Enemy Mine to rescue Eda. They make it to a platform that will take Luz directly to Eda and Lilith plans to free her. Luz then realizes something... where are the guards? The lights come on, revealing Belos was watching them the whole time. He uses magic to capture Lilith and King, putting them in Eda's execution cage, and pins down Luz with magic hands, all the while expressing his disappointment in the Emperor Coven leader's change of heart.
• Hourglass Plot: Normally King is the impulsive one and Luz has to reel him in to solve an episode's problems. The roles get reversed when Luz wants revenge on Lilith and King reminds her saving Eda is more important.
• Hypocritical Humor: When Lilith claims that she won't be falling for any of Eda's childish games, she then almost immediately retaliates with a double Eyelid Pull Taunt.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Lilith took this stance regarding her decision to curse Eda; only one of them could join the Emperor's Coven, and Lilith knew that in a fair fight, Eda would win handily. So Lilith cursed Eda to ensure that she would be the one chosen to join the coven. However, the moment that the duel actually starts, Eda quickly shows that Lilith's choice was All for Nothing.
  Lilith: I made my sacrifice for the Emperor. And it was time to receive my reward.
• I Lied:
  • Belos tells Lilith that he isn't going to heal Eda's curse, despite promising to do so. This prompts a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal from Lilith.
  • Ironically, Luz pulls the same on Belos, giving him the portal for Eda's freedom, but putting a glyph on the thing to act as a time bomb. Surprisingly, Belos holds up his end anyway, probably because the portal wasn't totally destroyed.
• I Should Have Done This Years Ago: Lilith says this when she decides to absorb half of the owlbeast curse and share the burden with Eda.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Eda blows a raspberry in response to Lilith's offer for them both to be in the Emperor's Coven, causing Lilith to declare that she won't fall for Eda's childish games. Then she sticks her tongue out at Eda.
• Immediate Sequel: This episode continues right from where the previous episode left off.
• It's All My Fault:
  • Luz blames herself for the events of the previous episode.
    Luz: Eda is in this situation because of me.
  • Lilith reveals that she cursed Eda for nothing, because Eda forfeited their witch's duel the moment it started. Lilith's guilt has been eating at her ever since.
• It's Personal: Just as Eda's being carried to her execution, Luz can only stare at the ground in Heroic BSoD. Then Lilith comes saying, "At least there's you, human." Luz, with angry tears in her eyes and nothing more to lose, goes on the attack while blaming Lilith for hurting Eda.
• Just Toying with Them: Belos decides to "play" with Luz when she opens with an ice attack, casually sending her running with various attacks and clearly not putting much effort into it. This allows Luz to catch him off-guard with an ice spike, after which he makes it clear he'll do worse if she tries anything again.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Lilith captured Eda in the hopes of curing her. Thing is Lilith cursed her in the first place. So Belos saying he's executing Eda feels like karma. Luz instigates round two of their fight from the previous episode, getting a few blows and choice insults in at Lilith who is shocked that the little apprentice became that strong. Then Lilith betrays the Emperor to save Eda, which turns her into a fugitive. To get Eda back to any semblance of normalcy, she has to share the curse, which weakens her. That means she has to rely on the mercy of the Owl House inhabitants, who only tolerate her for the trouble she's caused.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Luz, who under normal circumstances is pretty calm, has become incensed over Eda's capture. She manages to take out the guards at the Conformatorium, including Warden Wrath, all by herself, and puts up a surprisingly good fight against Lilith (who, admittedly, isn't trying to hurt Luz because she wants to talk). She even cracks Belos's mask with a surprise attack, impressing him. However, he threatens to really hurt her if she tries anything again.
• Locked into Strangeness: After sharing the curse with Eda, Lilith gets a grey streak in her hair and one of her eyes turns grey. Eda also gets a grey eye and a white streak in her hair.
• Magitech: Emperor Belos seems to be planning on amplifying Eda's portal with a special machine after recreating it. His Magic Staff also looks rather mechanical, being made of metal and noticeably lacking a palisman, sporting a crystal orb of some kind instead, and he tries to render Eda Taken for Granite with a machine of some kind.
• Make an Example of Them: Emperor Belos plans to petrify Eda for her crimes, the first time in thirty years it's been done publicly (a Freeze-Frame Bonus indicates he's been doing it on the sly far more often than is known). Willow manages to rally the people into cheering for her release, and Luz helping her escape is used as an excuse to claim the Titan is sparing her but letting her live with her curse.
• Mama Bear: Eda while captured says that if the Emperor does anything to Luz, she will kill him. She nearly mauls Lilith in Owlbeast form for using Luz as a hostage in the previous episode.

• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Lilith pulls a Heel–Face Turn again Emperor Belos because he reveals that he lied about removing Eda's curse. He doesn't care, apart from some mild disappointment.
• Moment of Weakness: Lilith accidentally revealed to her sister Eda during their battle that she was the one who placed the curse on her. After Eda is captured and Emperor Belos goes back on his deal with Lilith to cure the curse, instead planning to have Eda petrified permanently, Lilith teams up with Liz to rescue her, after Luz instigates round two of their fight and nearly strands them on Earth. Lilith reveals to Luz what happened - when they were kids they were close, but Eda was the stronger magic user, so when they were pitted against each other in a witch's duel to see which one of them got to enter the Emperor's Coven, Lilith went to the black market and got a curse that was supposed to weaken her powers for one day. Only for Eda to forfeit the duel and let Lilith win; as Eda left, the curse took effect and Eda transformed into an owl beast and was chased away by the crowd. What makes it worse is that the curse did not last one day but appears to be permanent and is slowly overtaking her until she permanently transforms into a mindless beast. In one moment where she tried to have an advance over her sister, she made her an outcast and permanently cursed her for nothing.
• Mood Whiplash: Following the Sequel Hook as mentioned below, it cuts right to the soothing and happy ending theme. That's right, Luz. You can go on your afternoon strolls again.
• Multi-Part Episode: Connected with its previous episode, "Agony of a Witch".
• My God, What Have I Done?: Lilith learns that Eda was right the whole time, and that Emperor Belos did not have Lilith or Eda's best interests at heart. In a flashback, Lilith realized what a horrible mistake she made when Eda decided to stand down in their witch's duel, thus making the curse Lilith placed on her sister pointless. Not only that, but when Lilith gave Eda the curse, Lilith thought it would only last for one day. Only after Lilith had applied the curse did she find out it was permanent, leading to Eda being ostracized by the Boiling Isles at large. All of this ended up weighing heavily on Lilith's conscience, which is why Belos revealing that he's not going to heal Eda's curse ends up being the last straw for Lilith. She had so desperately convinced herself that this was going to work that she threw everything she had into it, and it backfired. To top it all off, the only person that can help her is out for blood and has no reason to believe her.
• No MacGuffin, No Winner: Subverted. Luz incinerates the portal to the human world to deny it to Belos, but he still has the pieces and is trying to reconstruct it, even after it was burned.
• Never My Fault: Luz spells out to Lilith that she hates the latter for cursing Eda and capturing her, before going on the attack. Lilith says, "What's wrong with you?" as if she didn't hear the List of Transgressions.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Eda doesn't get a chance to talk to Lilith the day before their duel. She reveals the day of that she's forfeiting because she knows the coven means more to her sister. Her curse kicks in soon after, and Lilith chose to stay with the Coven rather than chase after the Owlbeast.
• Non-Malicious Monster: In her first transformation, Eda's cursed form seemed more confused and hurt than anything before people started throwing rocks at her, and her first appearance in the present has her retain enough of her personality to stick her tongue out at Lilith.
• No Saving Throw: King reveals that petrification spells are permanent on the Boiling Isles, since they can't be blocked and can never be reversed if completed.
• No-Sell: The chains restraining Eda absorb Luz's fire magic.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Eda can no longer use her own magic, and Lilith is sharing the curse with her, which means that her magic is most likely weakened. Luz destroys Eda's door, trapping her in the Boiling Isles, and Emperor Belos is shown reconstructing it for his plans.
• Not So Invincible After All: Emperor Belos is hyped as the most powerful witch alive, and his performance in battle backs that up, but Luz manages to crack his mask with an ice spike when he lets his guard down. It's not much, but Luz takes this as proof that he can be beaten.
• Not So Above It All: Eda (in her owl beast form) blows a raspberry at Lilith after the latter traps her in a magic bubble. Lilith scoffs and tells Eda she won't stoop down to her level, before immediately turning back to her and doing an Eyelid Pull Taunt.
• Not Worth Killing: During his fight with Luz, it's pretty clear Belos is mostly just humoring her since she has what he wants, and he really doesn't care if she saves Eda or not. In the end, having more or less gotten what he wanted, Belos allows Eda and everyone to run away, telling the public that Eda's curse is punishment enough. He tells Kikimora that he'll be keeping an eye on them, but intends to leave them alone for now.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: After Lilith boasts that she'll capture Luz, it cuts to the carnage Luz put through the Conformatorium, frozen one guard, entangled two in vines and trapped one via fire.
• Oh, Crap!: Gus and Willow have this reaction when Belos announces Eda's curse will strip her of her powers.
• Oh, My Gods!: Eda punctuates a threat to Belos if he goes after Luz with a "So help me Titan."
• Only Sane Man: King is the one who has to calm Luz down and focus on freeing Eda instead of getting revenge on Lilith. She listens to him, up the point where it seems Eda is gone forever.
• Out-Gambitted: Emperor Belos succeeds in forcing Luz to give him Eda's Portal Door by giving her a Sadistic Choice before sending Luz on her way so that she "can play the hero". Then Luz reveals as she's being sent away that she covered the Portal Door with her fire glyphs, denying Belos access to her world... for the time being.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Luz is normally impulsive when carrying out an idea or distracted. She and King talk out a plan to rescue Eda, with complete seriousness and accounting for potential drawbacks. Luz has never been this focused before.
  • Eda before would refuse to hurt Lilith, since they're sisters. When they're trapped in a cage together, Eda shouts she's tearing Lilith apart, and in her Owlbeast form. It's only because King stops her that she doesn't go through with it.
• Painful Transformation: Eda's first transformation into the Owl Beast doesn’t look like a pleasant experience, as we see her kneeling to the ground in pain, feather sprouting on her body and wings bursting out of her back.
• Platonic Declaration of Love: When Luz reunites with Eda and Eda tells Luz to flee back to Earth through the portal, the two of them proclaim their love for each other, thinking it would be the last time they would see each other.
  Luz: (hugging Eda, crying) I love you, Eda.
  Eda: (Beat) I love you too, kiddo.
• Poke the Poodle: How do Luz and King manage to get themselves arrested? By deliberately stepping on a grassy patch that has a "Do Not Step on Grass" sign on it.
• Poor Communication Kills: If Lilith hadn't run off, desperate to find a way to get an edge over Eda for their duel, Eda could have told her that she was willing to forfeit ahead of time, and Eda would have been able to avoid being cursed. This continues even onto the present with Lilith never revealing that she cursed her sister, which could've meant that a lot of pain, suffering and rivalry could've been avoided.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Belos lets Luz rescue Eda after Luz seemingly gives up the door to him, even after she uses her fire glyphs to destroy it. He tells the crowd Eda's curse is punishment enough. As it turns out, he has the resources to repair the door, so all Luz did was delay his plans. Eda in the meantime is powerless, making her no longer a threat, and Lilith is a traitor with weakened magic. It's in his best interest to have the Token Human on this side of the portal, since Luz may prove to be useful in the future.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Emperor Belos comments "Okay. I'll play" before his "fight" with Luz, showing that he doesn't even consider her to be a threat.
• Punny Name: The reporter of the news (and Gus' dad) is named Perry Porter.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Lilith won the witch's duel between her and Eda to see who'd become part of the Emperor's Coven. But that was because Eda forfeited the duel before Lilith could cast a single spell, and after Lilith had cursed her own sister to become an owl beast. The guilt of this has weighed heavily on Lilith's mind for a while.
• Rabble Rouser: After Gus distracts his dad from the camera, Willow gets on TV to say that Eda doesn't deserve being turned to stone. This eventually inspires the mob to chant for Eda's freedom, especially since they were already uncomfortable with the idea of Eda being inflicted with a punishment that's supposed to be reserved for the worst of the worst.
• Redemption Equals Affliction: After discovering Belos would not cure Eda's curse, Lilith joins her sister's side and finally does "what [she] should have done years ago": absorb half the curse to share the burden.
• Reformed, but Rejected; Justified; Lilith tried to kill Luz in the previous episode to get Eda to surrender. Luz thus is in no mood to go along with Lilith saying, "At least I've found you, human" or hear her out. She brings out the glyphs and starts to fight. It takes Lilith pinning Luz down and admitting she was wrong to make any headway.
• Resist the Beast: Despite being trapped in her Owl Beast form, Eda regains control of herself, first due to Belos using a spell to restore her mind, and then due to Luz.
• The Reveal: The Day of Unity involves the human world in some capacity, as Belos needs Eda's portal to make it work.
• Rewatch Bonus:
  • During the tryouts for the Emperor's Coven, the sign-up sheet is clearly blank. This means the coven scout was being a lying Jerkass when he said only one spot was left: Eda and Lilith never had to fight each other.
  • If you watch this episode after watching Season 2 and 3, Belos' attitude towards Luz serves a foreshadowing to his true identity and motive, cleverly hidden by his Evil Overlord archetype being frequently "misunderstood" by Luz and the audience.
• Revenge Before Reason: Luz wants nothing more than to get revenge on Lilith for what happened to Eda even though King repeatedly tells her not to because saving Eda is more important. It becomes null when Lilith decides to try and save Eda, but she doesn't communicate it well to a grieving Luz. Luz then attacks Lilith with all of her glyphs.
• Sacred Hospitality: Since Lilith did make an effort to save her and allied with Luz, Eda takes Lilith along when the team makes their getaway. Lilith is now part of the Owl House family, as a fellow fugitive.
• Sadistic Choice:
  • Eda tells Luz to head back to Earth and destroy the Portal Key. Luz finds out that her magic doesn't work on Earth, so her choice is either flee to Earth and hope Belos can't find her, or destroy the door on this side and strand herself permanently in the Boiling Isles. Luz chooses the latter.
  • Belos gives Luz a choice: give him the Portal Door and save Eda's life, or refuse to do so and have Eda be Taken for Granite. Luz ends up Taking a Third Option by giving Belos the portal, but destroying it so no one can use it.
• Season Finale: The last episode of the first season.
• Second Chapter Cliffhanger: It ends with Luz handing over Eda's portal to Emperor Belos and destroying it, leaving her stranded in the Demon Realm —and as it later turns out, only hindering his plans since he's able to rebuild the portal). Meanwhile, Eda and Lilith, though now on better terms, have lost their ability to use magic.
• Sequel Hook: The episode, and the season, ends with Belos reconstructing the portal to the human world, with his plans for the Day of Unity delayed but not stopped.
• Shamed by a Mob: With some prodding by Willow, the crowd at Eda's Public Execution start demanding she be spared. Belos ends up saving face by saying her curse, which he claims responsibility for, was enough punishment.
• Shared Unusual Trait: After Lilith takes part of Eda's curse onto herself, both have one normal eye and one gray eye, on opposite sides.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Lilith put the curse on Eda in the past because the two of them were both eligible for a spot in the Emperor's Coven, but they were only accepting one applicant at the time. The successful applicant would be determined through a witch's duel, but Lilith knew Eda was better than her and wanted to join the Emperor's Coven so badly she was willing to cheat by placing a curse on Eda the night before the duel. However, it ends up being pointlessly cruel because Eda willingly forfeits knowing how much Lilith wanted to join the coven, and only later Lilith finds out that the curse was both permanent and irreversible by her. Lilith hounds Eda for years afterwards to join the Emperor's Coven too because she believes that Belos will undo her curse, but even that turns out to be All for Nothing when Belos goes back on his word.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Hooty doesn't appear at all in the episode, and Amity — who has been suffering from a severe case of Love Makes You Dumb — only gets a silent cameo, still bedridden due to her broken leg.
• Shoo the Dog: Eda tells Luz to run to Earth with the Portal Key and destroy it rather than die trying to rescue her. When Luz refuses to let go of the platform where Eda is locked up, Eda shoves her off it so she doesn't get crushed.
• Shout-Out: The portal resembles the titular Star Gate.
• Storybook Opening: The episode opens on King's narrating an illustrated book of the Boiling Isles and how Belos became emperor and established the coven system. He was apparently showing it to Luz, who was too concerned over Eda to pay attention.
• Summon Magic: When fighting Luz, Belos summons up the giant worm monster seen in the Title Sequence.
• Take a Third Option: Luz's answer to the Sadistic Choice detailed above. Luz relents and gives Belos the Portal Door leading to her world. However, unknown to Belos, she covered it up with fire glyphs beforehand and it burns up while in his hand, leaving him with no Portal Door to perform the "Day of Unity" with, but also leaving Luz stranded in the Boiling Isles as a result.
• Taken for Granite: Eda is sentenced to be petrified for her crimes. This is apparently a rare punishment reserved for the worst of criminals, and hasn't been used in decades, since there's no coming back from it. Alternatively, it could mean this is the first public petrification in decades, since the witches we saw in the previous episode are seen as statues in this one.
• Taking the Bullet: Eda shields Lilith and King from the petrification beam with her body. However, Luz manages to stop it before it completely petrifies Eda.
• Taking You with Me: Non-fatal version attempted; Luz shoves Lilith through the Portal Door, landing them and King on Earth. Luz then summons fire glyphs, preparing to burn down the door and Lilith while she's at it. Fortunately, Luz can't use her magic on Earth, and if she had stranded the three of them, there would have been no way to save Eda.
• Talk to the Fist: Lilith wants to parley with Luz. Luz responds, "Talk to the glyph, witch!" and sets magic on her.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Luz only allies with Lilith because she needs help to rescue Eda, and Lilith returned Eda's staff and Owlbert to her. She still is Brutally Honest when saying she doesn't like Lilith's style of fighting dirty and cheating. Lilith concedes the point.
• Took a Level in Badass: Luz is capable of trapping the Warden in ice thanks to her glyphs, leaves a trail of destruction through the Conformatorium, and even manages to briefly restrain Lilith with conjured vines. When she fights Belos, she manages to keep ahead for a time despite him doing things like summoning a giant monster, and even wounds him slightly with an ice spike, which Belos compliments her on.
• Trapped in Another World: Luz booby traps the Portal Door to explode to get a chance to rescue Eda, effectively trapping her in the Boiling Isles until she finds a way back home.
• Underestimating Badassery: Lilith says that capturing Luz again should be a cinch since she did it last episode without even having to lift a finger. Nope; Luz is prepared with dozens of glyphs this time and a roaring temper to boot. And this is just before it cuts to the carnage Luz has unleashed with her glyphs.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Both Eda and Lilith were this, they do have some heartwarming moments like sharing the pain, training together, and played.
• Vagueness Is Coming: Belos doesn't explain what he wants the portal to Earth for. While he claims it's not something as "boorish" as an invasion, it's possible he's lying, given how he also lied about healing Eda's curse.
• Villain Ball: Belos falls into this a few times, like admitting to Lilith that he's not going to heal Eda from her curse, which ends up turning Lilith against him for good, and letting Luz go after she gives him the portal to the human realm without checking to see if she sabotaged it first.
• Villain Takes an Interest: Belos admits that Eda, despite being the most powerful wild witch and outlaw on the Boiling Isles, wasn't important to him... until Luz arrived. While he does want the Portal Door to the Human Realm, he is far more interested in meeting with Luz, probably because she's the first human to enter the Demon Realm in centuries.
• Wham Episode: Emperor Belos has plans for the human world, Eda loses her magic, Luz is stranded in the Boiling Isles when she burns the portal, and Lilith turns against the Emperor.
• Wham Line: A single exchange between Lilith and Emperor Belos after Eda is dragged off by the latter's guards.
  Lilith: (nervously smiles) Taking her to the healing ceremony?
  Emperor Belos: I will not be healing her.
• We Win Because You Didn't: Luz failed to defeat Emperor Belos, and was forced to give him the portal in order to save Eda. But she refused to allow Belos to have the portal to further his own plans.
  Luz: I may have lost, but so have you. (Activates the fire glyphs to destroy the portal)
• What Would X Do?: When Lilith decided to curse Eda before their fight to join the Emperor's Coven, she thought of what Belos would have done in her situation.
• Witch with a Capital "B": During her fight with Lilith, Luz yells "Talk to the glyph, witch!" and the amount of venom in the delivery makes it extremely clear exactly what Luz meant when she said that.
• Would Hurt a Child: During their fight, Belos doesn't hold back when Luz sends glyphs at him, even though he could pin her down with monster arms easily as he does when he stops toying with her. He causes a giant axe to nearly behead her and summons a monster that swallows her whole. If Luz weren't well-versed in magic by now, she'd be dead many times already.
• Written by the Winners: The book King reads from at the beginning, titled The Unauthorized History of the Boiling Isles, seems to be covered in burn marks, implying it was rescued from a Book Burning.
• Wrong Context Magic: Emperor Belos, even disregarding his claims of being able to talk to the Titan, can seemingly use magic without even needing to move, let alone drawing a spell circle or triggering a glyph, as if he's casting through sheer force of will.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Emperor Belos finds out that Eda doesn't want to cooperate with him about surrendering the portal door. Then her apprentice shows up, roaring with magic and mad. Belos bargains with her to get the door in exchange for Eda's life. Even though Luz sabotages the door, Belos has the resources to repair it, so he ends up winning in the end.
• You Are Worth Hell: Platonic example; Eda tells Luz that it's not her fault that Eda got captured, and Eda thinks her petrification is Worth It because she got to meet Luz. Luz doesn't quite agree, doing her best to rescue her mentor.
• You Can't Go Home Again: For the time being, Luz is stuck in the Boiling Isles, as she burned the portal to the human realm after giving it to Emperor Belos. Her ending vlog is hopeful she'll find another way eventually, though.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Whatever Belos’ plans for the Boiling Isles are, he needs Eda’s portal for them. While Luz is able to delay whatever he wants to do with it by use of her fire glyphs, it’s clear that his plans will still proceed.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Belos only wanted Eda because he needs her portal to the human realm. When she refuses to give it up, he sends her off to be petrified and refuses to heal her.
• You Said You Would Let Them Go: Lilith’s reaction when Emperor Belos reveals that he won’t heal Eda.
  Lilith: But you promised me…
  Emperor Belos: Don’t be so naive, Lilith. This is the Titan’s will.
• You Should Have Died Instead: During their fight, Luz tells Lilith that she should have been petrified in place of Eda. Lilith agrees, and Luz finally backs down and listens to her.
• Your Magic's No Good Here: Luz using her glyphs to cast magic only works in the Boiling Isles, because she's drawing on the power of the Titan to cast them. When Luz and Lilith go to the human world, Luz's glyphs don't work, because the Titan isn't there. However, Lilith's magic still works, presumably because she has a bile sac.

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