#IT JUST ENDS UP AS CATRA

[anti-spop]

"you just hate catra bc you hate flawed characters"

well.

i love diane n/guyen (b/ojack)

i love t/ony stark, g/amora and n/ebula, r/ocket and g/root, p/eter quill, pretty much all of the guardians of the g/alaxy (marvel)

i love l/ars barriga, l/apis lazuli, r/ose quartz, and s/teven universe himself (and rlly ALL su characters are flawed)

i love k/atara and z/uko (atla)

and hey! i love GLIMMER! bc she's a flawed character too! but i never see you guys defending her, if anything you hate her precisely bc she's flawed, lol. i bet the same counts for all the other characters i included here.

#you just like catra bc she's a cute cat and/or bc she's 'hot' #like that's literally it #bc you seem like the ppl who hate su for having flawed characters and a nuanced point of view #i post #sorry for writing the names like this bc i don't want this ending up in any search results that could get me hate

[fruitsofhell]

After finishing She-Ra 2018 I'm trying to work on my unified theory for why CatDora bothers me as the endgame ship. Cause as CEO of mentally ill cartoon women, there's something about it that feels a disservice to Catra's psychology and trauma. She is genuinely such an interesting character to watch because they so clearly lay out the abusive dynamic that informs her entire character, but by the kiss, I feel like they lost steam with it.

The biggest thing to me is the simple fact that Adora is basically a trigger for her. Adora's personality as someone who is constantly self-sacrificing and forgiving is something Catra has a deep hatred for because she believes she is worthless and unforgivable, and when people try to help her she feels they're using her to look better while she fails to get better.

The fact that ADORA herself was the one in that original dynamic that traumatized the hell out of her makes me uncomfortable with how Catra eventually just... stops getting set off by things. I just can't imagine how what happened leading up to their kiss would desensitize Catra enough to that trauma response that she'd be in love with her. Like in that same season she was fucking death gripping the table at hearing Adora's name, and in seasons earlier she straight up like dissociated when people brought up her heroics. Not only the unearned healing, but the "I've loved you all along" feels a bit patronizing to her past. That all her emotionality was complicated romantic feelings, and not... having really nasty childhood trauma.

#shut the heck up #she ra #that damn cat #show was good btw #not a masterpiece - it was kinda corny in a bad way sometimes - but was fun #it felt like it wanted to be there and had ideas it was interested in #and i really like catra she is my fave as you can see #mentally ill cartoon women #im actually still getting my little pea brain around it cause her trauma and dynamic with adora is a lot #i like that the show was patient with her i wish it wasnt patient just cause it wanted her to kiss adora #imo she should be with someone else who is willing to stick up for her as adora does but isnt her #isnt the woman who's name and face can send her into self-destructive hysterics #something that is bad and needs ro change but she needs more time for than was given #wheres she-ra future where we recontextualize the casts trauma and show happy endings still need more time? #tag talking #media analysis

[ungodly-amounts-of-godly-trauma]

major bracket round 1 group b

#stanford pines #gravity falls #catra and adora #she ra #tournament poll #screaming and crying how could the randomizer put them up against GRAVITY FALLS #i am she ra to the end. sorry not sorry #but also im not going to break the rules ive set #AUGHHHH PAIN AND SUFFERING #(un)godly trauma #major bracket round 1 #major bracket group b #i HAVE watched and enjoyed gravity falls btw #its just... she ra....

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

how dare someone think that a character is physically cute! don’t they know that if a character does bad things that automatically makes them ugly and no one can ever think they’re cute?

you’re a fucking clown

yeah, i guess the only valid thing to call a person who is plotting murder is "cute". you know, that word you use for sweet innocent things?

on a serious note, i do not think that catra is ugly. or anyone, for that matter. appearances have nothing to do with someone's personality. i just find it odd that people screenshot the exact moment where she is planning to control and traumatize her "friend", and call it cute. i bet y'all didn't find shadow weaver cute when she was abusing catra. or horde prime when he was torturing catra.

#spop #spop critical #spop discourse #anti catradora #spop salt #spop criticism #she ra #anti catra #again this goes to show how fans trivialize everything in this show #like people posting a pic of that moment where catra opens the portal and tries to commit mass genocide with the caption #“when you try to to end the world bc your girlfriend broke up with you” #no its not satire but i wish it was #again villains can be good-looking #i just think its strange to take these kind of monents and turn it into an “aww cute baby” moment

[lucky-clover-gazette]

adora really asked catra why she put up with the horde's abuse even though she was aware of it their entire lives and catra really answered that she didn't care as long as she and adora were in it together

#the way this show hits me honestly opens a door to my own psychology and trauma that i was relieved to close when it ended #i think so much of my negative feelings revolve around the fact that they like. end up happy and okay #that never happened for me #i've just learned how to be alone #bc i never ever want to care enough to be abandoned #ever again #that hasn't changed since 2018 which is sad #where the FUCK is my romantic person who actually likes me and wants me #like catra and adora both happening to be lesbians is so lucky bc when your adolescent best friend is a straight girl #it's a wound that never really heals you just live your life and hope one day #you get lucky

[cansoc]

"I want to be back in the chair, Jim. That chair, that bridge, those…people. Glimmer. Bow. Catra. They’re more like a home than one I’ve ever had.”

Kirk was quiet for a second. “For people like us, Adora, the journey itself…is home.”

“It’s where I belong,” she said after a moment. “Where we all belong, don’t you think?”

He nodded, thinking for a second, then he raised his glass to her in a toast. “To the journey.”

“To the journey.”

Best Friends Squad on the Final Frontier by @crowlls, based on Second Star To The Right by yours truly. Read it! Jim Kirk and Adora are besties! Catra kicks Klingon ass with a Starship! They talk a computer to death! Scorpia gets a gun! (Phaser!)

#star trek #the original series #she ra spop #spop #catradora #she ra #she ra adora #second star to the right #Kirk and Adora are the same person CHANGE MY MIND #glimbow #she ra catra #catra #glimmer #spop bow #this was originally just brainrot but rhen it ended up being 125k words #oh and there's 5 spinoff stories as well #none of this was planned #the concept just has a vice like grip on me

[weedle-testaburger]

it's just dawned on me that i fucking love endings where there is an alternative to just Killing The Bad People because if there's one mentality that's more toxic to humanity than any other, it's the idea that some people are Just Bad and deserve bad things to happen to them, and how people use that belief to justify doing bad things to people in turn. seeing that cycle get broken in media and forcing people to stop doing awful shit rather than just get killed thinking they were right along is way more cathartic and compelling to me

#personal crap #ik it's not always realistic but media doesn't have to be realistic to be good #like sorry but Killing The Bad Guy will never be as creative or compelling to me #as something like what su did about fixing homeworld and steven's trauma #or what spop did with catra and adora's relationship in the end #or what the tv finale of evangelion does with shinji remaking the world after accepting he and the other people in his life matter #or (to go a bit self-indulgent) what the prisoner does with having the finale be about number six joining forces with number two #and other villagers and prisoners of the village to finally break out of it #or... i could name several doctor who stories like that lol #just off the top of my head dalek with rose making the doctor face up to his trauma and trying to make the dalek see it's not worth killing

[cherrymoonvol6]

.

#i finished binging the she-ra show #and it was fine? this is what people are so angry about? #i think catra's redemption was well setup and made sense #and while i still like the catra adora romance i wish there was like... more of it #here are some gripes i have tho #1) glimmer's decision at the end of s4 feels like it has no consequences #like for starters i'm annoyed that the issue ended being incredibly black or white and it zapped out the nuance of the respective decisions #but she's like alright i was completely wrong and after bow forgives her it's like... ok surely more people would have Opinions about this? #but no they don't. missed opportunity #but the problem in shows like these (idk if it's different outside western animation) is that there's no budget to deal with-- #--cities and kingdoms having people. which makes them feel like shells that have little substance beyond being a narrative device #and yes everything in a show/piece of media IS a narrative device but you know. you gotta hide that. that's the beauty of media #but like... there's a universe where glimmer's subjects saw the consequences of her actions and rose against her. that woulda been fun! #2) adora's conflict in the finale of ohhh i have to Fulfill my Destiny(TM) comes so out of nowhere. esp when she had been against the-- #--whole destiny angle for the previous four seasons. suddenly she's burdened with it and it's clear that it's a way to isolate adora #but it's SO sloppily done and there's no buildup to it #and 3) woulda like if they did more with the first ones. there's a lot of potential there and maybe a more natural way of isolate adora #like have her have this crisis of 'there's no one here who can fully understand me' and i thought that was what they'd do with the-- #--cat creature they introduce in S5? but just ends up being catra's magic animal sidekick #idk there was a lot there to investigate. bow's dad could've been a good resource to make that happen too #uhhh that's it mostly? #at the end of the day this kind of western animated shows feel so pandering to kids. very formulaic and simple #tho i do respect that the show followed through the worst outcome in almost every occasion #(that's why catra compells me.... talk about a character who makes the worst decision at every point. she's just like me fr fr) #but yeah it was cute #i also like how bisexual the show felt at all times (except the ending where they were like ok monogamy is the goal but eh) #cute show. fun characters. easy 7/10 #catradora good #not great but eh #no show can give me compelling couples to obsess over (except for skam españa i guess)

[turtle-ly]

Hello! I am asking this because you seem to be the catradora fic connoisseur here on tumblr so.. Do you know of any catradora fics where it's modern au and they are childhood friends then become lovers? (Not childhood friends to estranged friends to lovers just childhood friends to lovers) I would love it if they were long fics (like really long like 100k) but I would be grateful for moderate or short fics too!

when did i become a catradora fic connoisseur lmao. tbh finding one that fits your descript would be Hard bc estranged friends is literally The catradora dynamic, how does one write a 100k fic without it being the case 😌 here are some shorter fics then

When I Can Power Through (and when I need some help from you) by seekingmotivation, adora plays basketball. when she is injured during a game, she and Catra are forced come to terms with their feelings for one another that they've held back all their lives

Country Roads by catthedoodlecatcher, what you asked for, but in 11k of words :)

the Waiting for My Spaceship To Come Back for Me series by n7punk, yes its an alien modern au, adora and catra crash landed on etheria a few year apart, and were raised together in area 51

everyone feel free to suggest more, im making this by searching tags and then picking the ones ive read <3

#she ra #catra #adora #catradora #spop catra #spop adora #fic rec #im gonna state that im not a fic connoisseur in anyway. i just have fav fics and thats the end of it 😌 #idk if you want to focus on the growing up together part. there are some more fics where they are already teenagers #my asks #my footprints #my she ra stuff #spop

[florshedworf]

that’s fucking IT im EXPLODING: catadora.

what is it? what’s up with it? why do some people like it? why do people hate it with a firey passion?

it’s toxic yuri. it’s a interalized homophobic friendship. they’re lovers. they hate eachother. catra fucking hates adora. or does she? adora hates catra. unless? dear fucking god

#worf opens their big mouth #im going insane #ok but for real #while they were apart (when adora was on one side and catra on the other) catra WAS NOT REPRESENTED AS A GOOD PERSON. #NOR WAS ADORA’S AND CATRA’S RELATIONSHIP HEALTHY. #i am SICK and TIRED of people cutting catra hitting adora and being like ‘this couple is abusive!!!1!’ THEY WERENT EVEN TOGETHER YET !!!! #i was going to make a point of how yeah. it was a little rushed at the end #but make up your own opinions on that bc i just remembered the entire fucking mind control arc #it feels like another steven universe situation again. #AND ITS ANOTHER QUEER SHOW GOD FUCKING DAMMIT #im trying to avoid. the conclusion. that this hate train is caused by queerphobia (internalized or not) but i literally can’t avoid it. #anyways :) #im not saying catadora is the ship of the year #its not even my favorite ship #but ooooh this little bonfire has spread too far #HAHDGAGAHGA NOOOO THE TAGS ARE SO LONG #// ASK FOR TAGS #IM SO SORRY

[haemosexuality]

i have finally made a kin list

OH ALSO susie from deltarune too

#not to self diagnose but all of these characters have one thing in common and its that theyre so autistic #except maybe amethyst. idk tbh i never stopped to think ab it #glimmer USED to be here but only when i was younger #also theres prob way more that im forgetting these r just the ones from the top of my head #anyways. heres why i relate to them eleven- socially awkward as fuck ans feels alienated from other ppl #kris-weird ass kid. shitposter. gamer. emo. loves caos. probably bites ppl. weird. weirdo. in every single way theyre just literally me bro #catra- shes been my favorite character and i was so obsessed with her for so long that i projected on her so much she became me on my head #also. anger issues a bit/in love with her best friend who didnt like her the same way and she got angsty ab it (adora did love her but #catra didnt know)/was a bad friend bc of all her shit and had to learn to be a better one and apologize/lesbian/mentally ill #scorpia- was so obsessed with someone that she let that take over her life and destroy her self esteem/said someone was going through a lot #and ended up hurting her bc of their erratic and self destructive behavior/she then stopped talking to said friend bc of the toll being #there for them was taking on her mental health/also socially awkward af+bad at conversations and at boundaries #luz- weird and cringe tho luz is in a more extroverted way while im a MAJOR introvert #oh yeah kris is also quiet and doesnt talk to ppl. thats me #yuri- HYPERFIXATIONS and being socially awkward. not knowing how to talk to ppl at All #amethyst- oh boy. ill just say this: ''Admit it! I'm just an EMBARRASSMENT for you!'' ''you want to pretent like none of this eeeever #happened! you think im just a big mistake!!'' ''I NEVER ASKED FOR IT TO BE THIS WAY... I NEVER ASKED TO BE MADE'' #''go away. im bad and you shouldnt be around me.'' i could be here all day #entrapta- remember when she said ''i just wasnt suited for friendship''. problems with making and maintaining friendships/ppl thinking shes #weird and talkng ab her+treating her like that even tho shes their ''friend''/being generally kind of weird and Different #(shes autistic. thats it thats what i relate to i am the same way bestie) #susie: uuuh ppl all saw her as angry and she kept being bad at things so she just started being angry all the time and stopped trying. same #yk that post that is like susie felt like she was bad all her life so she just embraced it? yeah. also bad at school and she/him lesbian

[nameonthespine]

Catra from she ra for unhinged character bingo? Or just whoever you're currently obsessed with :)

i did catra

and Honestly im not really obsessed with anyone unhinged right now ?? all my obsessions rn are in-universe hinged and/or i am not finished with the game yet

#i am playing bioshock for the first time and MAY END UP loving tenebaum but it is still too early #catra #also just read the new nk jemison book and everyone i like is reasonably hinged #ALSO THANK YOU

[nny11writes]

WiP Wednesday - NGL I kinda love Octavia

Like so many of my wips, this probably will not become anything. But can’t lie, I kinda love “NGL I Kinda Love Octavia”. It’s a modern AU (because of course it is, this is becoming a habit).

Do her and Catra and a fucked up sibling relationship in this one? Yes! Emphasis on fucked up. Also warning for mentions of guns and probably child endangerment. I swear this is not an angsty wip lol. ~

For her fourteenth, Octavia let Catra come to the store’s small range after hours to shoot a gun. And when she got too cocky, gave her a shotgun with enough kick to bruise her up for a few weeks.

On her fifteenth, Catra quizzed her about the military aptitude tests, bragging about her and Adora enlisting together.

On her sixteenth, Octavia took her out to the hill that she’d been using to work out and let her beat the ever loving fuck out of the scrap heap of a car with a sledgehammer. Catra swung it over and over until her arms shook and she finished sobbing.

On her seventeenth, Octavia let Catra hurl eggs from the truck bed directly at Adora’s new family’s house. Squealing away into the night cackling, and returning a few hours later to TP the tree out front.

On her eighteenth, Octavia introduced Catra to one of her army buddies, Cobalt, who had become a recruiter after serving two tours.

When Catra got on the bus for basic, Octavia made sure that she never knew Adora was there begging to talk to her.

Bros before hoes, bitch.

#Octavia #Catra #she ra #spop #wip wednesday #the one where they have a messed up sibling relationship #and also the one where Catra ended Octavia's military career via eye injury #(just a little whoopsie poopsie that Octavia is a little too proud of) #(well proud of in retrospect)

[apaise]

prom night was supposed to be her and haley kicking it at home with pizza and chips. or sneaking into the movies. or pigging out at the food court. literally anything except actually attending prom. so when haley broke the pact out of nowhere, kai exploded, feeling like her best friend had completely betrayed her. it was only afterwards that she slowly realized she had overreacted, and . . . that haley deserved to have fun at prom with her girlfriend. kai apologized, and to prove she was truly sorry, she agreed to go to prom too. nana even picked out a suit that was annoyingly fitting for kai’s taste, so excited for her granddaughter to finally attend a dance. 

with her volleyball team partying around her and even a few grumpy dances with haley, zoe, and ollie . . .  it seemed like kai might survive this night yet. but when she went to grab some punch from the refreshment table, she saw olivia. 

she looked even more beautiful than kai remembered, so happy in the arms of a stranger. laughing, blushing, olivia spun on the dance floor, the speckle of lights painting stars across her face, her hair. this was her perfect night. kai had never seen her look more rapt or radiant, not at any point she had known her.

and kai had absolutely nothing to do with it.

the next part kai only remembers in flashes: her dropping her whole cup into the punch bowl, the bright white lights of the hallways outside, her slamming her arm into the rooftop door as her sprint left echoes in the stairwell. her hands scraping on the rusty rungs on the ladder.

and then she was on the roof. the cold wind cut into her face but it felt good, so much better than being down there and watching olivia fall in love with a girl kai had never seen. she threw off her jacket despite the cold, the cloth catching on shingles before the wind could blow it away. kai hugged her knees to her chest and looked out at the night before her, watching tail lights blink from the distance, the moon shaped like a fingernail above. 

why was she even here? no one wanted her at this dance. not even haley, who would much rather be spending her time with andy rather than someone so angry and tired and coarse all the time. kai couldn’t blame her. she couldn’t bring anyone closer to happiness -- not haley or nana, the people she loved more than anything in this world. if she couldn’t even bring them a sliver of more joy . . . what was she doing here? she should just be alone forever, then no one else would ever have to be hurt like olivia. like lottie. like everyone in her damn life whoever gave her a chance. maybe her mom was right to leave early.

kai presses her head to her knees as she cries, wishing the music from the dance was louder so she wouldn’t have to hear herself. but the music merely throbs in her ears, drowned only by her own shaky breaths.

she’s wondering if she should just leave when suddenly, she hears the clang of something on the ladder. she tries to ignore it, but the sound only grows louder as someone approaches. kai raises her head at last, a wisp of hair stuck to her tearstained cheek.  

at first, kai thinks she’s seen a ghost from the past . . . a memory from a time when she used to squeeze into those dressing rooms that smelled of hairspray and sweetpea perfume, past all the scratchy sequins and feathers. she’d press all the way through the rabble, all the way to the princess whose shaking hand she used to hold. 

it wouldn’t be the first time she dreamed about her. but when kai blinks and digs a fist into her eye, lottie doesn’t disappear afterwards. she’s still standing there on the rooftop in a shimmering gown, the red catching blue from the moonlight.

❝ . . . lottie? ❞ her voice cracks with want and she feels embarrassed by the sound, hoping it was muffled by the noise from below. kai sniffles and rubs her damp face roughly on the sleeve of her jacket, her skin now stung red. pull it together. 

❝ what’re you doing out here? ❞ she asks in pained annoyance as she pulls her arm away, nettled like a cat found with a thorn in her paw. she doesn’t want to be seen like this, weak, cowering, selfish. but she winces to hear her response out loud too, not wanting to be mean to lottie. they haven’t spoken in years, but of course her first words are cruel. 

❝ … it isn’t safe. you should go back inside. ❞ her voice comes a little softer after, kai looking away as she wipes her nose.

( @feveredblurs​ )

#( ik we still have a lot to thread for them but i was feeling it i'm sORRY ) #( SUPER LONG CUZ OF THE SETUP SORRY TOO ) #( smh kai thinking haley broke the pact out of nowhere though girl like have u seen her and andy :/ come on ) #( also HOPE IT'S OKAY I CALLED HALEY HER BEST FRIEND EVEN THOUGH ZOE OLLIE...still the person kai's closest to 🥺 ) #( me just leaning into the catra at this point its inevitable even the suit i ended up choosing in the link is catra vibes lsjdf ) #( I LOOKED AT A LOT OF SUITS TOO ) #feveredblurs #( c: kai )

[candyskiez]

so, you've heard shows be recommended because they had gay characters. you don't really know what they're actually about though, and don't know if they'd be something you'd be into and are worried about spoilers. here's spoiler free plot summaries of em!

The Owl House

The Owl House starts out as a typical teenage girl goes into a fantasy realm story, but with a twist. Actions have consequences. The protagonist is a girl named Luz Noceda, who was being sent to a camp to make her behave normally by her mother after causing too much trouble at school. She ends up finding a place she's always dreamed of: a fantasy world. A world where everyone's so much weirder than she is. And she thinks, maybe if I don't belong out there, maybe people will like me here. Maybe I can be special here.

It's a story about found family, propaganda, erased history, living with disability, religious trauma, and neurodivergence. It's fundamentally a show about people who's brains work differently finding each other and making a family that treats them right. Definitely my favorite of the ones on this list. It's about people who've been oppressed being pissed about it and about finding yourself again after giving up on everyone around you for so long. It's basically a show about being a minority and trying to be understood and to understand yourself in the process. It's about growing up neurodivergent and how isolating it feels and figuring yourself out. It's about repairing broken relationships and parents who fuck up. And it's just. Such a love letter to anyone who was the weird kid in school. It's sad and heartbreaking and also so hopeful, and it's wonderful.

Content warnings: Abuse, Death, Grief, Animal Death, Suicidal thoughts, Vague suicide attempts, Depression, blink and you'll miss it s/h, body horror, religious trauma

She Ra and the Princesses Of Power

Adora was raised in the Horde since she was a baby, being fed propaganda about how cruel the princesses were. After learning how the horde actually was, though, she defects. But there's one problem. Her best friend, Catra, stays behind. Adora finds a sword that can transform her into She Ra, and might be the key to figuring out who she really is, while Catra takes her place as force captain.

It's a story about abuse, at the end of the day. Adora and Catra were stuck in a golden child and scapegoat dynamic, despite how much they care about each other. This leads to them knowing everything about each other but not understanding it. There's a fundamental disconnect between them, because both of their traumas are completely different. They have complete misconceptions about each other. Even in their initial split, they both have completely different perceptions of what's going on and why the other is upset. It's not a story about magic princesses, it's about the cycle of abuse and what makes it so complicated. Does it have flaws? Yeah. But ultimately I really really enjoy it, and when it does something right it does something RIGHT. Get through season one, it starts kids show-y but it gets very good during later s1.

Content warnings: Abuse (obviously), body horror, gaslighting (and I mean actual gaslighting, not what the Internet thinks gaslighting is), suicide, depression, flashing lights and eyestrain during the finale

Steven Universe

Steven Universe is a sins of the father story. Steven is the son of the leader of the rebel group The Crystal Gems, who's name was Rose Quartz. He navigates the confusion of being half gem and half human, as well as trying to figure out the mess of the rebellion and what his mother left behind. He's constantly in her shadow, for better or for worse.

It's a story about grief. How it impacts relationships, how it taints history, how it impacts family. It has some definite flaws, but ultimately it's about very flawed people who have lost so many people in their life trying to cope with it. Trying to handle what they lost and trying to adjust to life without them. It's about how expectations fuck a kid up and about agency and just a show about complicated relationships in general, at the end of the day. Also, it has some FANTASTIC music.

Content warnings: Grief, Abuse, body horror, very creepy people I don't know how to tag, heavy allegories for homophobia

Nimona

Nimona is a story about a guy who gets framed for murder. His name is Ballister Boldheart, a commoner who hoped to become a knight. It seemed everyone was waiting to watch him fail, so it was no surprise when he was the immediate target. Heavily injured and away from the man he loves, he's left alone trying to figure out a way to prove his innocence- until a strange kid comes into his life. This kids name is Nimona, and while he is intent on proving his innocence, she gave up on being anything but a villain a long time ago.

It's about deconstructing the model minority myth, trans rage, propaganda, and with a healthy dose of "FUCK the police".

Content warnings: Heavy injury, on screen suicide attempt, flashing lights

feel free to add more shows! just remember to keep the summaries as spoiler free as you can and add content warnings!

#show recommendations #movie recommendation #the owl house #toh #owl house #steven universe #shera #she ra #spop #nimona #queer #gay #lesbian #bisexual #trans #transgender #queer shows

[kraviolis]

i told y’all. i told y’all i was gonna go crazy over this post made by @gummy-goat-galaxy​

full disclosure i drew literally all of this before looking into the details of the AU so this is 70% my interpretation of his original post but i need to explain my thought process so. here’s the post explaining the details of the actual AU!!! and below is what my brain made up on the spot

ok so belos finds tiny child luz and is like “fuck everyone. this is mine now” and treats her like a goddamn princess. to him, she is a Gift From God to remind him to stay on his Righteous Path. an innocent little girl who is just so bubbly and always tries to see the good in everything, including him. she is a reminder of how Pure and Good humanity is, and seeing as though she’s the literal only human he’s had any contact with besides caleb in 400 fucking years, he is never letting the demon realm corrupt her like it did to him.

she’s basically his Lamb and he the Shepherd, and because he’s so desperate to keep her “““pure”““ he strictly keeps her within the castle and even then not all of the castle is available to her. he keeps her contact with witches to an absolute bare minimum.

he entrusts her protection specifically to hunter, despite the fact he’s only 2 years older. his reasoning is “caleb did a pretty good job raising me so this’ll be fine probably.” when belos himself cannot keep an eye on her, it’s hunter’s job. luz and hunter end up being raised in a sorta similar situation to catra & adora from she-ra but they are actually siblings and not just best friends.

(if u havent seen she-ra, basically its their abusive caretaker creating a golden child + scapegoat dynamic, where one kid can do absolutely no wrong (which doesnt mean they cant still be abused/manipulated!!) while the other kid is blamed for literally everything that goes wrong. the caretaker also regularly pits them against each other to encourage competition & keep the all power in the caretaker’s hands.)

similar to catra & adora, the whole competition thing doesnt really work. luz is just too damn kind and too damn good for hunter to ever resent her, and she’s all he really has. because hunter is the scapegoat, he grows wise to belos’s manipulations WAY sooner. it’s easier to figure out when you’re being mistreated when you literally watch ur guardian treating ur sibling so much better than how they treat u.

unfortunately, because luz cannot help but see the good in absolutely everyone and can be empathetic to a fault, she doesnt realize belos’s game until she ends up sneaking out of the castle. she actually really loves belos and is thankful for him taking her in for a long time. she calls him uncle like hunter, despite belos nudging her towards seeing him as a father bcus he sees her as a pseudo-daughter. (but luz remembers her dad, and has no desire to replace him with someone else no matter how much she cares for belos)

belos does love & adore luz, he would do almost anything to keep her happy and “innocent” and “pure”, but not to the extent that he could still end up redeemed. he still manipulates & subtly emotionally abuses her to keep her in line, but it’s only when she sneaks out and meets eda the owl lady does she start getting clued into this. and once luz learns what belos has done to hunter it’s all fucking over.

hunter loves luz. she is his sister and always will be. but while he’s stuck to belos because of his duties as golden guard, she sees how green the grass is on the other side and doesn’t even hesitate to hop over there. watching her slowly grow more and more distant while she keeps sneaking out to visit with her new friends (eda, king, willow, gus, amity, etc.) is one of the most painful things hunter has had to deal with.

he feels betrayed at first, as if luz is replacing him with other people who arent broken like he is, and when luz actually leaves for good- belos lies to the public and says she was kidnapped- hunter is the one who leads the hunt to find her and bring her back home safely. when they confront each other, luz tries to do her whole dramatic speech about how wrong belos is and how he’s been lying their whole lives, but hunter already knows. the only reason he stayed was for luz, but she couldnt even stay from him? it fuckin hurts man.

they end up on opposite sides for a minute. hunter gains no satisfaction from trying to ruin this new life she’s found for herself but goddamnit, he has a job to do. he cant just defect. and then he defects after watching belos try to kill luz because she’s let herself become corrupted by the witches.

thats about all my brain got for this so far. TL;DR basically just listen to the “first time in forever” and “mother knows best reprise” and “broken crown” by mumford & sons and thats pretty much the gist of it.

#the owl house #hunter toh #hunter #luz noceda #the golden guard #emperor belos #philip wittebane #hunter noceda #toh #toh au #the owl house au #ahhhh i dont wanna use the tag for the original creator's au bcus my interpretation isnt technically her au. but i also dont wanna seem like #im stealing her au or something #but i want a dedicated tag for this au including expansions on my initial thoughts #wahhhh #mine #2023 #also she got no shoes bcus her vibe is sorta like. rose quartz/lapis lazuli from SU and neither of them wear shoes #well lapis does now but #you get it