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probablyhuntersmom · 1 year

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It's me again. The therapist/illustrator who can't stop squeaking and screaming about her beloved son Hunter.

I've been thinking nonstop about him finding the terrible grimwalker graveyard, imagining what would be going through my mind if I were him. Sifting through whatever moments, dialogue and frames that I can find from the existing material, along with references outside of the show, to formulate what an offscreen scene would've been like.. (And seeing if I can find editable and salvageable enough backgrounds so I could perhaps even depict this scene one day)

A soul like him who not only wants to help others, but also acquire knowledge:

heading back here to see the graveyard:

You can't tell me that this wouldn't still be on his mind, and he's even anxious while saying this below, scratching his face a little:

Whether he follows up on this or not, also depends on how he looks back on being shown this:

And is he just going to go cold turkey and totally drop these leads he was pursuing in the episodes before the finale? :

Three things prompted me to finally write this post:

@polyhexian's and @ashanimus's analyses of Hunter's fight scenes in Hunting Palismen and Eclipse Lake (links here and here, they're really cool to read!!), based on their years of experience with martial arts. Reading those was a revelation to me because learning about how high Hunter's skill level is, how in touch with his body he is by default, portrayed so well thanks to the crew...that allows me to make far more educated guesses about his mental health in the early stages of the pre-epilogue gap of about 4 years. Because he is so used to high activity and being on high alert, no thanks to having C-PTSD.

Observing how light and free Hunter's expressions are, and how transformed his demeanor became, in the epilogue sequence. That transformation is an indication to me of the magnitude of grief which had to be transformed within him. To be put back together, in order to be so radiant, generous and self-actualized in the epilogue...imagine how much had to be deconstructed and further broken beforehand. He wouldn't have room to fill his life up with all that amazing newness if the old isn't emptied out first.

This psychoeducational video by my fave author, also a practicing therapist, who specializes in traumatic grief: link. Hearing her address the topic of entering the second year after a bereavement vs. the first year, was interesting. Definitely confirms to me that Hunter wouldn't have carved Waffles until past the 2nd year of navigating his bereavement.

In the years that pass before the epilogue, Hunter will not be able to understand why the efforts he puts into all the rebuilding work, coordinating and leading others, and trying to have fun - only cycle back to him experiencing a mix of a restlessness and emptiness in the deepest layer of his mind. It'll exhaust his energy bit by bit. I bet he's going to generally look as tired as depressed Luz does below, even if he's had an acceptable hours of sleep per night:

That restlessness will be an awful psychological itch that he'll be unable to scratch, caused by losing Flapjack and now also Belos. This is the same as what happened with his anger in For the Future, except Belos was still alive back then. It will be harder to understand and messier to navigate the bereavement this time round. It'll be something gnawing into his soul which I really think only professional help can heal, especially since the show promotes that it's okay to not be okay, and more than okay to seek professional help (Steve and Lilith's conversation in Edge of the World).

He will be trying to claw his way out of that C-PTSD pit, but he'll be aware deep down that he simply cannot reach any emotional high points for long, and something will be blocking his feelings of connection with his loved ones. He won't feel nearly as free and easy the way he used to be in the human realm:

Having a routine like he used to in the Castle, and moving around a lot, was what helped him survive. However, he won't have the awareness that the shift resulting from Belos passing away has been at such a fundamental level: to the point that those old, supposedly tried-and-true methods no longer serve him in any positive way. At least, not until his mental health will be back in better shape.

As he puts in more and more effort to escape that restless emptiness, getting annoyed at himself because he doesn't know what's going on...he'll use up the rest of his strength and eventually crash. That itch won't be solved by going back to overworking tendencies, and like how it is with addiction cycles, he would need some kind of fix for the deep restlessness within. The answer? Productivity to feel useful, which we have seen even in his efforts to fix damaged clothing and well, making stuff in general.

Where the grimwalker graveyard comes in is...once he hears news about its existence, he will stubbornly insist to want to help in investigating it, saying he has already read a bunch of books about them, and can be useful, etc. Worse, if his offer to help to investigate is refused, he will do what he did in Eclipse Lake. Go to the location anyway, to fill that deep void within.

Old habits die hard.

I don't know if he may hear from King (who he'll be seeing fairly often, I think!), The Collector or even Kikimora about it. Since they were the three characters who went all the way down there in King's Tide, and The Collector already knew about these horrors for literal centuries. King and The Collector are also still young kids! Will they have the sensitivity and awareness about breaking this news to Hunter?!

On the other hand, I don't know how the timing will be with Darius, Raine and Eberwolf..Darius will want to get serious about investigating his mentor's disappearance. Once the searching and scouring extends to the location of the Head of the Titan, they will find the evidence staring them in the face. If they want to scour every inch of the Isles, there's also a high chance they'll find the godforsaken grimwalker lab.

Worst of all, Darius would be aware by then of how much Hunter loves to help out in operations like this to be productive. At the same time, Darius's own grief will surface even more, I'm not sure he'll be able to hide that, and Hunter is highly observant. If Darius is trying to hide his own priority of finding closure re: his mentor, I think Hunter will sense that.

Therefore I wonder if this will happen except it's Hunter with Darius:

and then this poor beloved skrunkly son of mine, who so famously said these words at the beginning of his arc:

is probably going to get reckless, and endanger his mental health...not unlike moments like this:

by venturing to the graveyard, whether stealthily or accompanying the grownups, because he'll rationalize it as "getting closure" and once again "being useful". Remember how used he is to moving around so much and being active, combined with growing up isolated so that asking for help can still be a foreign concept to him. He would be anxious about grinding to a halt, and he'd want to be on the move instead.

He may demand to see the graveyard, and holy Titan I'm not sure any dilemma will be as tricky for Camila and Darius to navigate as this one. Because preventing him from seeing something he already knows exists is, in a very twisted way, also an unhelpful form of avoidance. Avoidance is a hallmark criterion for diagnosing both PTSD and C-PTSD.

How far do they go in protecting him from himself? Where do they draw that line? They might reach a compromise where Camila and Darius accompany him there. Once he sees it, it'll hit harder than this:

Letting him see it means his new parents would have to fall with him, in the sense that they follow him to that emotional place: but while he figuratively does not have a safety harness when falling into this deep dark hole, Camila and Darius are equipped with harnesses a.k.a. higher maturity, less of a trauma history, and some tools to help him get better, navigate the trauma, and manage his symptoms.

Camila will have the warmth and sensitivity to catch and meet him as he falls (she interacts with animals in her profession, who don't have the capacity for human language, in a similar way to how serious trauma can't even be put into words at times: it makes you voiceless). Darius's shared past living in the Castle and grieving over his mentor will help Hunter not feel as alone once he has seen these horrors.

And because his heart generally became more open to receiving love and support,

I doubt he'll close himself off almost completely, the way he did in the first two-thirds of For the Future (god, remember these deleted storyboards??):

It wouldn't surprise me if he weeps and panics as soon as he sees the graveyard, and his parents give him maximum support through that breakdown. As complicated as it would be for Camila and Darius to give in to his desire to see the graveyard, a response like this from him - a child seeking attachment with proper timing - is a good sign of growing into healthy attachment with parental figures.

It is an arguably better response than one of the hardest aspects of C-PTSD: where the outpouring of grief only happens after a delay, sometimes a significant delay, at very inconvenient or strange times. Hell...if I were Hunter, I'd probably want Camila and Darius to just hold me close in wordless silence for half an hour until my initial distress and shock passes.

If I use King - a child who is securely attached to Eda, who's definitely had a more stable upbringing - as a control experiment here, he could have the appropriate response immediately in Echoes of the Past and expressed his emotional needs clearly enough:

Whereas this is what Hunter has to now learn, at twice King's age, as he settles in with new parents who take care of him instead of mistreating him the way Belos did. Hell, I can't imagine what kind of Belos punishment awaited him if he cried to demand attachment.

(I need to use more King scenes as a comparison to Hunter's upbringing in my next metas! I realize this can make my explanations clearer)

Anyway, what may happen next after he can't unsee the graveyard is...Hunter will then swing to the other extreme of high activity. I.e. being passive, physically inactive and psychologically crashing into depression, which may translate into habits such as oversleeping (catching up on all that lost sleep...but at what cost?). Supposedly sliding deeper into the C-PTSD pit. A place from which he has to express the desire to seek the forms of help he needs.

Remember that this kid has only known extremes for most of his life. Until he settles in properly with his found family and attends therapy, he has no clear reference point for more balanced approaches in living.

The trauma he went through is a quadruple whammy for a 16-year-old who just survived growing up in a cult. It would be so much. I can't see him not falling into months of deep dark depression, as unfortunate as this sounds.

Grieving over Flapjack, grieving over Belos, over his childhood/upbringing, and now a grisly memory of his predecessors who didn't make it (to add to what he saw in Belos's mindscape). I simply cannot see him handling a load like this without a highly-equipped and sensitive professional, paired with his support network of family, friends and even possibly the wider community at times. Especially now that we've seen him in action during the epilogue.

The epilogue sequence would've had a different feel (and in my opinion, a not-so-good feel) for me if Dana had established that the grimwalker graveyard was still untouched after those 3.5-4 years and if Hunter never found out about it. Something like that is different compared to Dana mentioning in the recent Post-Hoot that in the he does not know about Caleb and Evelyn, or that he is related to the Clawthornes. Mysteries like the Clawthorne heritage can remain an eerie secret that only us in the audience know about, but I wouldn't feel comfy if this were the case for the graveyard as well.

To quote @idlescree's video essay about Hunter's death (link), the show's writers didn't pull any punches when it came to Hunter's development arc. Which means they had to take his story to the "categorically appropriate place for him to overcome" his greatest challenges.

Something tells me that with respect to the grimwalker graveyard and the avoidance theme in C-PTSD recovery, Hunter would've had to put in more work to confront a number of terrifying foes even beyond his Thanks to Them speech. One of which was the graveyard containing the remains of his predecessors.

PS: This is a spontaneous post which branches out from my giant post-finale meta (link) that I pinned to my blog, I suppose.

#toh hunter #the owl house #hunter noceda #camila noceda #hunter deamonne #darius deamonne #toh analysis #grimwalkers #grimwalker graveyard #loz writes a meta

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theprinceandthewitch · 1 year

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Seeing Darius show visible concern for Hunter after hearing he's trapped in Belos' mind makes my brain rot lol. Like I don't get why people think they are just going to drop Darius' and Hunter's future mentor/protégé relationship.

"Darius doesn't care about Hunter because he was mean to him in Any Sport in a Storm" Like yeah of course he was mean to him.

Darius believes Hunter will do whatever Belos says, regardless of how it hurts people. He doesn't think this kid has a shred of kindness in him. He knows Hunter is good at doing exactly what he told to do. Darius is clearly comparing Hunter to his mentor, which is why when Hunter asks him: "I can wear this [the symbol of Hunter's predecessor] proudly now. Right?" Darius responds with: "Can you?"

Unlike Darius, we know Hunter has a good heart. Hunter's introduction episode shows us that despite his loyalty to Belos, he is willing to help out Eda and Luz with their financial situation by letting them keep their Selkiedomus kill. We also see this kindness show itself in Hunting Palismen where he protects Luz from Kikimora's attacks. He even tells Luz his name because he felt bad about disappointing her. But more shockingly - he actually let's her go, despite being fully capable of teleporting to her. He could have also flown to her with the speed he shows us in Separate Tides to catch up to her and restrain her.

Hunter, without realizing it, stood up to Belos in Hunting Palismen. He doesn't go back to steal the palismen, even though he knows where they are and knows Luz would be too exhausted to fight back. He knows Belos needs these palismen to keep his condition manageable, but he doesn't go back to the school to get them nor does he send any scouts to get them. He knows the spell used to protect the palismen is gone and they're are completely defenseless since the Bat Queen is not around to protect them. Yet, he never tries to take them again, because he doesn't want to completely break his connection with Luz. [And as a reward for his kindness, he is given Flapjack. Who is his greatest source of emotional support when Luz isn't around]

Darius has no idea Hunter has gone against Belos' direct order in Hunting Palismen. He has no idea Hunter was willing to risk personal injury from a man he knows is violent and merciless for the protégé of a notorious wild witch. Darius thinks Hunter is Belos' obedient little hunting dog, so of course he's going to dislike him.

He's also part of a resistance movement dedicated to dethroning Belos. This would include removing any "ineligible" heirs to the throne. Again, since Darius is comparing his mentor to Hunter, he believes Hunter isn't worthy to be The Prince of the Boiling Isles. Since Hunter has now proven to Darius he isn't completely devoid of kindness, he has become an eligible heir to the throne.

It's going to take years to heal all the damage Belos' rule has done. I'm not sure if Hunter would propose democracy as a new system of governance, but changing a way an entire civilization is governed is also something that will take years to complete. Even for a civilization as small as The Boiling Isles. Hunter has the set-up to take on this responsibility with Darius guiding him as his mentor [and possibly as his father].

But yeah, even if Darius gives him the opportunity to bail, Hunter is still going to want to help repair the damage his family caused. And ya know... Hunter makes no indication that he loves the human realm so much so that he'll be willing to live there for the rest of his life:

Hunter: "You know what I'd like, Belos? I'd like to leave the Emperor's Coven and never step in that throne room again. I'd like to study wild magic and learn how to carve palismen. I'd like to attend Hexside as a regular student and play flyer derby with my friends. But most of all, I'd like to make sure you never hurt anyone again!"

Do you see any mention of the human realm in the above dialogue? You can also clearly see there are things he wants to do that can't be accomplished in the human realm. Yeah, Hunter LIKES the human realm, but he doesn't love it. He doesn't love it so much to the point where he wants to completely abandon the demon realm. He WANTED to go back, but he was too scared to because people are going to recognize him and seek justice from him. If he goes back, his friends will be put in danger trying to protect him. Hunter's enemies aren't just your run of the mill witches, they are Coven heads and other high ranking members of the coven.

But yeah, I just... don't see them completely dropping this set-up with Darius and Hunter just to have Hunter live a carefree life in the human realm. Firstly, Hunter doesn't even want to stay in the human realm. Secondly, the point of Flapjacks death was to give Hunter the push he needed to return to TBI and take responsibility for the actions of his family. It would be out of character for Hunter to ditch the mess his family caused just to live a carefree life in the human realm.

Hunter is a 16 year old boy, so he technically doesn't have to clean up his adult brother's mess. But he would WANT to clean it up, because whether or not he likes it, he is Belos' brother. He's his family, so he'd want to take responsibility for the suffering his family caused. This is much more in character for Hunter than him ditching the demon realm to go live a "carefree" life in a realm he can't learn wild magic in or play flyer derby in.

And ya know... with the way the human realm is set-up, Hunter would not be able to have a decent future. Unless Hunter finds a way to forge a birth certificate and wears a concealment stone for the rest of his life he cannot participate in human society. Constantly pretending to be human or else people will kill him or send him off to the government like that creepy museum guy almost did to Vee doesn't sound like a very fulfilling way to live. He's going to be constantly stressed out about people finding out what he actually is. This is why this fanbase is fucking braindead for actually believing Hunter would get adopted by Camila lmao.

Not only does he just not WANT to live in the human realm for the rest of his life, he will have no chance at a happy future if he decides to. In the demon realm, even if there are power hungry people who want to hurt him, he still has his friends and Darius. They are always going to have his back no matter what. And while he may not be able to attend Hexside as a regular student and play flyer derby with his friends can still learn wild magic.

So do you see why it makes no fucking sense for Hunter to ditch Darius and his friends to go live in the human realm?

#toh rambles #Darius being the former prince's protégé is so interesting to me #because what exactly did Darius need to accomplish to receive training from a member of the royal family?#How influential is Darius' family?#But yeah people who think Hunter would actually be able to live carefree in the human realm are legitimately braindead

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gh0sti3-sm1l3 · 2 years

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How I think Philip Wittebane and his brother's story goes.

Philip and his brother (who I'm gonna call Caleb) were born in the Salem Witch Trials era. They were taught their whole life before the Boiling Isles that witches are evil.

Caleb is presumably Philip's older brother, and he's also good at carving, since he carved a mask for kid Philip. That same mask is what Inner Belos (kid version) is wearing. (Just a little thing I wanted to point out).

They were either lured to the Demon Realm with the flame from a witch's hand or brought there with full consent. Caleb looked entranced by the flame, while Philip looked a bit hesitant, holding onto the mask Caleb carved for him. Either way, they looked like they went into the Demon Realm pretty young.

If they were young when they went into the Demon Realm, that means they grew up there. I'm guessing that if that's the truth, that means that Caleb either slowly forgot about what they were taught and Philip never did, or he never believed in the Salem Witch Trials in the first place.

Caleb falls in love with a witch and gets them pregnant. He introduces his witch partner to his brother, who hides a knife behind his back. Philip thinks Caleb is a traitor for falling in love with a witch. Philip attacks Caleb with the knife (after the introduction?), Caleb pulling out his own and they fight to the death in a ring of fire. Caleb didn't want to kill his own brother, and that's how Philip won.

Caleb's pregnant partner, distraught by his death, attacks Philip with magic as he runs away from the scene; them actually hitting him as he runs away.

Philip either got cursed by that witch's wild magic (this is what caused is hatred for it) or he got cursed earlier. Remember how Eda got out of her curse because King reminded her of who he was? What if it was like that for Philip and Caleb, and that's why he was hugging him in that one picture from Hollow Mind.

Caleb's partner has the same wild, untamed hair as Eda's, and since they were pregnant, I think she was a Clawthorne; meaning Hunter, Belos, Lilith and Eda are maybe related.

Philip hates witches and wild magic. They're most likely the reason he was cursed. And so he grows up trying to find a way to kill all witches. First, he finds a temporary solution to hold back his curse since he no longer has his brother. Second, he finds out a way to get an incredibly loyal sidekick to stand by him as he does all of this. He finds out what grimwalkers are and creates one for himself.

Going back a bit, this is around the era where Lilith and Luz go back in time; also the time where he finds the Collector. The Collector is most likely connected to him (like the way King got connected to the Collector in EOTW) and he said that the Collector is going to help him. Another theory: Maybe Lilith is the reason he hates witches?

So he was already on the journey to finding out how to create a Grimwalker by Elsewhere and Elsewhen. Maybe the Collector told him? I don't know. He creates a Grimwalker (most likely using the lungs from the Stonesleeper Luz and Lilith rode on) and makes it in his brother's image. This time he's loyal.

And then the story goes on like what we saw in Hollow Mind. Belos changes his name, spreads lies, destroys a village, nearly kills all the villagers (who he's using as TEST SUBJECTS for perfecting the sigils) with the sigils, and so on.

The Day of Unity is going to kill every single witch on the Boiling Isles with a sigil, so he's trying to get every single one of them (since leaving someone alive is a bad idea (Caleb's partner is an example)) as seen in Labyrinth Runners. He does this because he'd "do anything to protect humanity from evil". He thinks he's doing the right thing. His moral compass was destroyed the moment he decided to kill his own brother and eat all those palismen. He doesn't know that the Salem Witch Trials are done. (This absolutely isn't me justifying ANYTHING Belos does. He is a horrible person).

And that's that. For now.

To sum it all up:

Philip and Caleb were born during the Salem Witch Trials. Going into the Boiling Isles, Philip keeps that mentality (that witches are bad) while his brother doesn't. Caleb falls in love with a witch (who is probably a Clawthorne) and Philip considers that treachery and kills him. Caleb's partner attacks and probably curses him as he runs away. Philip hates wild magic and witches because they're the things that got him cursed in the first place and because he grew up during the Salem Witch Trials. The Day of Unity is gonna kill the entire witch race. And here we are.

(Here's all the pictures! Have a good day/night/afternoon!! :D)

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tinyghostotus · 2 years

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You know... I wonder if Belos won’t actually make another grimwalker just yet. Unless he casually has the ingredients laying around, I don’t think he has the time to do so.

For starters, the descriptions for the rest of season 2 were released some time ago and, from the looks of things, the Day of Unity begins once season 2 ends. So that might end up eating most of Belos’ time since he’d most likely want everything to be perfect and ready. Plus, from that note Darius gave Raine, we know that the portal is being moved so that might also have Belos’ attention!

Then there’s the case of the ingredients being, well, pretty hard to get now. Palistrom is to rare that the Emperor’s Coven have to protect it, the Selkidomus swam pretty far away from the Boiling Isles thanks to Eda and Luz, the Stonesleepers are ancient animals that require time travel (or perhaps The Collector if he helped Belos out with that stuff before?), the Galdorstones are located in the Looking Glass Ruins which has had its defences improved thanks to Gus and Mattholomule.

The Bone of Ortet is the only item we don’t know anything about. So unlike the others, minus Palistrom, it’s possible that Belos already has this (unless he requires the previous Golden Guard to use as the Bone of Ortet).

But even if Belos does happen to have the Bone of Ortet, the show has made it clear that the Emperor’s Coven has been tracking down certain ingredients throughout the season. And we’ve never actually seen them obtain it.

Luz and Eda tricked Hunter when it came to the Selkidomus. The Selkidomus then escaped and went somewhere far away.

The Glandus kids mention that they heard the Emperor’s Coven was looking for the Galdorstones. Only the kids managed to find them in the episode. Along with this, Gus and Matt helped hide and protect them further.

Stonesleepers, again, require - so far - time travel. The method (time pools) Luz and Lilith discovered was that of a myth. With how many grimwalkers he has made, it’s possible that Belos also knows that it isn’t a myth yet handing that information to others could be dangerous. Because of this, Stonesleepers may be something only he can obtain (unless he happens to have brought those back to life too and keeps them locked up somewhere).

Palistrom is the only item that is currently in the hands of the Emperor. Yet it’s a rare material now and witches may get suspicious if pieces end up ‘disappearing’ especially since they require it to carve palismen. We also don’t know the measurements of how much is required to create a grimwalker. At the end of the day, Eda and King may have caused problems for Belos by stealing a piece for Luz. And if Luz carves her palismen before the end of season 2, this may just cause further complications if Belos really needed that piece of wood.

There’s the case of the rebellion going on, as well. If Belos has been out of the castle moving the portal, there’s a good chance he may not know about the rebellion. This is especially the case since Terra, someone Belos has used to keep an eye on others, currently (unless she’s acting) believes that Raine has their memories erased.

If Belos doesn’t know about what’s going on, the trio may easily get in the way of him making another grimwalker. Plus they already discovered stuff like what the Day of Unity is actually about... Darius could have found information on grimwalkers at some point (or will find it if he learns about what happened in Hollow Mind).

There’s also the fact that those three aren’t the only ones in Belos’ way. The entire Owl House is and Luz’s friends are also there to cause him issues. And with what happened? I’m pretty sure - even if it’s just Luz who does it - they’d try to stop him from replacing Hunter with another grimwalker.

And then there’s Hunter himself. Though Belos could easily order his scouts to track the kid down so Belos can kill him (Hunter does know Belos’ secrets now), that doesn’t seem to be large choice he has currently. As seen by descriptions, not only are some of his men busy with the Day of Unity, they’re most likely busy going to schools to force kids into covens.

There’s also the fact that there’s evidence that, currently, his own men are torn. Steve admits that he regrets his choices, Wrath mentioned that some are questioning if this ‘new world’ would be inviting to magic kind or not, and then we of course have Coven Heads rebelling. If Belos orders them to track down the Golden Guard - someone who has been nothing but loyal to the Emperor - it could cause scouts to decide to rebel (since quitting doesn’t seem like an easy thing to do).

Plus... can he replace Hunter the way he wants right now? He raised every grimwalker to be a witch hunter. And that book we saw in the episode Eclipse Lake clearly shows a baby. Unless Belos somehow has the ability to speed up the aging process for grimwalkers, Hunter’s replacement will most likely come out a baby. And dealing with an infant is probably something Belos doesn’t want to do right now.

There’s also the question of if Belos is actually able to replace Hunter. Once again, the Day of Unity is practically around the corner. And if he doesn’t have those ingredients yet, a grimwalker being birthed before the Day of Unity arrives is most likely impossible. After the Day of Unity? From what we’ve seen, the Titan (possible possessed by The Collector?) is going to end up in the human world (unless this is a lie by Belos). Belos is not only going to have to deal with the aftermath of that, he’s also going to have to deal with the fact that ingredients are possibly more rare.

The only way Belos will be able to get a grimwalker quickly is if he uses Terra. Terra is shown to not be afraid to harm children. In fact, she’s more than willing to try and kill kids.

She’s also shown to be somewhat (unless it’s also an act) loyal to Belos as well as has that tea which is supposed to erase memories.

Kikimora also currently a factor in everything. She may both want to prove her worth to Belos while also blaming Hunter for everything that’s gone wrong in her life. Kiki has also been shown to be able to use the coven sigils to knock another out.

Though we still don’t know if it’s real or fake, Hunter currently has a coven sigil on him. Kiki and Terra could easily be tasked to hunt the grimwalker down, knock him out, and then use the tea on him so he forgets ever learning the truth. Belos could then keep him around long enough just so he can replace him with another grimwalker. And that grimwalker, unlike Hunter, would be raised in a world where witches are nothing more than some character who appears in his uncle’s heroic stories.

But this also raises yet another question; would Belos honestly go through all of this hassle just to capture Hunter? Because that’s what this situation is for Belos; a hassle.

He mentioned that in Eclipse Lake. He told Hunter, directly to his face, that it would be a hassle to replace him. Again, this is possibly because of the Day of Unity approaching.

Belos doesn’t have time to create yet another nephew. He has bigger things to focus on. A nephew can come later after the Day of Unity (if that is still possible, of course). And hunting down Hunter could just be seen as a distraction; he needs all of his loyal subjects to stay focus on the big event!

Even if he did have the ingredients casually laying around, I think Belos, at this point in time, may view it as a hassle to create another grimwalker when there’s clearly a lot on the Emperor’s plate to begin with.

The only thing Belos may be capable of doing is trying to secretly kill Hunter. Which may result in him waiting for Hunter to come to him. After all, he’s currently fine with Luz knowing the truth; he could brush Hunter off as a threat to his plans easily. After all, nobody - not even some of his scouts at first - is going to believe that a child is the Golden Guard! And Hunter clearly has trauma associated with being a Golden Guard.

All in all, Belos currently has Hunter exactly where he wants him. Hunter can’t do much by himself. And if he does try anything? Belos will simply try to kill him like he killed the other grimwalkers.

It’s also highly likely that Hunter won’t have to worry about seeing a replacement soon, too. Replacing Hunter is a hassle to Belos and the ingredients are getting harder to obtain as the years go by. The Emperor may be reaching the point where he can’t face another failure.

If he can’t face another failure, and if he has too much going on, he may have to wait until after the Day of Unity to replace Hunter. Unless, of course, the Day of Unity also destroys all of his chances to create another grimwalker.

#The Owl House #The Owl House spoilers #Emperor Belos #Hunter #ask to tag #it's almost 4am and I apparently had nothing better to do than write this #I'm really leaning towards Belos not making a grimwalker any time soon #because I feel like he'd honestly see it as a hassle especially with the Day of Unity and rebellion going on #unless... he just happened to have everything in storage already #but that wouldn't make sense because why would he send his men out to collect more ingredients for him?#with the Day of Unity approaching he surly only needs one last grimwalker #because the other grimwalkers 'betrayed' him by seeing what he was doing to innocent witches #after the Day of Unity? There's no witches left to say he's wrong. No evidence means he can just casually lie #I mean there's Luz but Luz is also a child #a child who happens to like stories about witches being good

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rubykgrant · 2 years

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Some fan-theories and potential outcomes for The Owl House below~

-I’ve talked about it before, but I think Flapjack was originally the Palisman of Phillip/Belos’ brother, which is why he’s so attached to Hunter

-Because of how big the Bat Queen is, and the implication that she once perched on the staff of a giant, I think the actual TITAN might have once been her holder. Yes, the left-behind bones everybody on the Boiling Isles lives in, when it was alive, it had a staff with the Bat Queen as the Palisman

-Because of their father’s connection to Plaismen and where Eda found the Door Portal, Eda and Lilith might very well be descendants to the brother Phillip/Belos had, as he evidently settled down with a Witch, and was seen to have some talent with wood-carving (like making Palismen). This makes the line “She’s with her real family now” from Lilith back in season 1 even more important, because Belos might actually be their distant uncle

-Since he remembers Luz, Belos also knew who Lilith was this whole time, and not only never intended to heal Eda, he probably always planned to turn Lilith to stone as well (once she stopped being useful)

-The curse Eda has is “alive” considering how the Owl Beast exists within her and has individual emotions, but has no way to take physical form outside of possessing Eda. Possibly, it might be a vengeful spirit, maybe a creature that had been killed but had it’s “soul” captured

-Witches have a “gland” that lets them perform magic, but Luz has found a way to use Gliyphs in various combinations to create her own magic. None of it works in the human realm, though. Because some Witches look mostly human, while others resemble various demons/fantasy creatures, and we know that there is at least one Portal (potentially more), it could be possible that humans once came back and forth between worlds, having children with magical folks, and so everybody has mixed over the years... but, why would this cause magic to NOT work in the human realm? Perhaps the old witch hunters found ways to block magic, and seeing how Belos seals certain types of magic with the Coven system (even draining people of their powers and life-force), it might be something that can be undone. Belos clearly craves more power, and he won’t give all that up when he returns to the human realm, so he might know how to create magic in both worlds

-The Witch that “kid-napped” the two brothers long ago might have had good intentions, hoping to show the boys that magic isn’t evil... one had a change of heart, but the other only became more cruel

#the owl house #my thoughts #fan theory

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theprinceandthewitch · 1 year

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I don't think i pointed out this particular reason as to why I think Flapjack belonged to Caleb rather than Evelyn on my Lunter list. I'm kind of having A Day so I don't really want to go and check to see if I did lol.

Flapjacks immediate interest in Hunter is very interesting to me. Because it implies Flapjack knew Caleb when he was the same age as Hunter. Again, Hunter is the only Grimwalker who looks the most like Caleb. This is why Flapjack took an immediate liking to Hunter, despite not forming an emotional connection with him yet.

This tells me Flapjack was with Caleb since he was a teenager.

[Another hint towards Flapjack belonging to Caleb is how Flapjack knew there was a rebus under the floorboard of the old house the gang was using as a base of operations.]

Luz's and Hunter's story is playing out very similarly to Evelyn and Caleb's story. Just like Luz and Hunter, Caleb and Evelyn met when they were teenagers. You can see this in one of the paintings in Hollow Mind. It's the 5th one from the left on the top row:

Caleb, just like Hunter, was an orphan taken into an abusive environment and raised to be a certain type of way in order to fit into said abusive environment. The death of his and Philip's enitre family would have been blamed on witchcraft, since Puritans did not understand microorganisms caused the diseases that plagued their colonies.

He's forced to become a witch-hunter in order to fit into his new home. No doubt being in a town with "unsavory practices", WHILE also having to be the caretaker for his brother despite being a child himself, made him miserable. You can also see in Thanks to Them, through his reflection in the mirror, how unhappy Caleb is. He even looks like he's emaciated.

So I think Evelyn carved Flapjack for Caleb, so he can have a the unconditional love of a companion in his current abusive situation. Like how Flapjack was Hunter's source emotional support in his abusive situation. And Evelyn would have carved Flapjack for him not too long after they met.

You can see Caleb is fascinated with the fire spell she casted and even approaches her with his pitchfork lowered and a smile on his face. So while he was indoctrinated to believe magic is evil, he's still not so fearful as to complete shun it. He's very curious about it, but would have still doubted how safe it was. Just like how Hunter, despite being taught wild magic is dangerous and how it destroyed his family, is still not so fearful as to completely shun it.

Hunter is fascinated with wild magic and you can see how excited he was to talk about it with Luz [Hunting Palismen]. But he reigned in his excitement because he didn't want to teach something "dangerous" to Luz:

Hunter: "No. No no no no. This stuff is restricted for a reason. Should forget about it before you're hurt."

Hunter is even willing to use wild magic to help his "uncle" with his condition, despite it being "dangerous".

But yeah, Flapjack is a representation of the thing Hunter and Caleb were taught to fear. But because of Luz and Evelyn, Hunter and Caleb opened their minds to the possibility that the thing they were taught to fear isn't actually evil. Evelyn would have carved Flapjack for Caleb because she believed the companionship of a palisman would permanently change his mind about magic [just like how Flapjack permanently changed Hunter's preconceptions about wild magic]. AND having a companion he could talk to about his problems would have improved the quality of his life overall. Evelyn would have had the skill and the resources to carve a palisman for him even as a teenager.

Clawthorns are famous for being palismen carvers and are taught from a young age how to do it. Eda knew how to carve palismen before she cut connections with her family... and she was 14 at the time. And unlike in Luz's and Hunter's time, palistrom wood was NOT a rare item 400 or so years ago. The only reason why the wood is rare now is because it's overharvested.

This is what I think Flapjack's inclusion in the play during the part where the storyteller says "She dazzled him with magic and visions of a strange yet beautiful place" is supposed to be pointing towards. It's supposed to be pointing towards how Evelyn used Flapjack to "lure" Caleb away to "a world of evil".

One thing that's consistent with the way humans present Evelyn's and Caleb's story is how they demonize Evelyn. SHE lured an innocent man away from his only living family member. There's no way he could have left his brother out of his own free will. There's no way he could have chosen to unlearn harmful indoctrinated beliefs or come to realize his relationship with his brother was toxic. There's no way he could have grown tired of the closeminded and fearful society he was forced to live in. Nope. He was totally bewitched by an Evil Woman and lured away to "a world of evil".

Evelyn's demonization is the usual brand of misogyny you see on a global level. In stories about Evil Women who use their Feminine Wiles to lure helpless men to their doom. It's always the womens fault when men "give into temptation" - a.k.a: men are incapable of taking responsibility for their own actions, it's always woman's fault when men are "led astray".

In "Yesterday's lie Evelyn is presented as a malicious entity with a devils tail, possibly making some kind of deal with the man representing Caleb:

Jacob: In the 1600's this was a peaceful colony until tragedy struck. Two brother's were lured into a realm of evil by a real witch, never to be seen again."

I also need to point out that there is a cardinal sitting on the shoulder of the man representing Caleb in Jacobs book. So this is another hint pointing to Flapjack being Caleb's palisman.

In the play in Thanks To Them, Evelyn is once again vilified by being presented as an evil old woman who lured a man away from the only surviving member of his family.

"She dazzled him with magic and visions of a strange yet beautiful. They used a secret code to travel between worlds. Philip set off to save his brother and bring the witch to justice. But neither were ever seen again."

The play implies she bewitched him using a magical red cardinal. But this isn't true. She didn't "lure" Caleb away using an enchanted cardinal. She carved Flapjack for Caleb so he could have positive companionship in his abusive environment. Flapjack's relationship with Caleb would have played out the same way his relationship with Hunter did. By that I mean Caleb would have eventually came to the realization through Flapjack's companionship that magic wasn't evil.

The way humans depict their story is incorrect because it presents Caleb as a man robbed of his free will by an evil female entity.

Caleb came to the conclusion magic wasn't dangerous through his companionship with Flapjack. He wasn't a helpless man lured to another world by the Feminine Wiles of an evil woman. He visited her world WILLINGLY, because he wanted to see her and engage with a more openminded and less fearful society. He left the human realm behind with Evelyn not because she bewitched him, but because he genuinely loved her and wanted to start a family with her.

Evelyn's and Caleb's relationship is presented like this so that it can be flipped on it's head later with the reveal they were lovers. I mean, people who looked at the background details in Hollow Mind already know they were lovers. But the majority of people who watch TOH aren't going to know this. I honestly think the exact nature of their relationship will be clarified to the majority of people in the second episode of season 3.

But yeah this is why I lean more towards "Flapjack used to belong to Caleb" rather than "Flapjack was Evelyn's".

#toh rambles

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