#gravesfield analysis

[thelegendofstella]

Gravesfield + Gravesfield County probable locations in TOH

So, out of all the Gravesfield speculation I’ve seen so far, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone try to actually parse out its specific location within Connecticut, which is a shame because that window is SURPRISINGLY narrow now that we have certain bits of information about it on our hands. Not only that, but we also know that Gravesfield is part of its own county (”Gravesfield County Zoo,” anyone?), which has a lot of interesting implications as well. At least location-wise it does—I don’t know if it has any lore connections or not, though it’d be interesting to see if it did, at least. Not the point of this post though, so whoever wants to figure that out can have at it. Anyway...

TL;DR: I’m almost 95% sure that Gravesfield is located somewhere in southwestern irl Litchfield County along Route 109, and that its county should surround it and some other cities in mostly the same area. All the evidence I have to support this is below the cut:

The main source I'm drawing from here is this image:

Source: Tweet from John Bailey Owen, posted Oct 14 2022

For those who don’t know, this was a promo image of a fake Gravesfield website homepage screenshot that was posted October 14, 2022, just before Thanks to Them aired. For the most part, it looks like a regular, albeit slightly clunky 2000s-era-looking, website, except for the bits of weirdness/dark humor littered about the text (”Escape Routes,” “The Truth About This Place,” “Sightings,” “if you visit once, you may even wind up staying”) and the hidden text in the bottom corners of the page (which spell out “HELP THEM”). People of course freaked out about this stuff, as is evident in the replies of the original tweet, analyzed all of it to death, blah blah blah, that’s pretty much old news at this point.

There’s also a small calendar on the right side of the page that indicates that the events of the show are possibly happening on some year that the first day of October lands on a Saturday, and when accounting for Luz’s age (14/15) and her modern lingo and stuff, those years could be 2005, 2011, 2016, and 2022. Smartphones like what Luz has in her possession were definitely not around in 2005, and probably not around in 2011, so either 2016 or 2022 are reasonable in-universe years to guess, with it probably leaning more towards 2022 because of the irl show’s creation date.

I could probably make a whole separate post on my thoughts on the date stuff and speculate the hell out of it, honestly, but that isn’t the subject I want to cover in this particular post. No, I’m more interested in what seemingly no one else has picked up on here: the location hints.

The fake screenshot doesn’t explicitly say where Gravesfield is located, obviously, but it does have two pieces of information that narrow down the possibilities significantly when put together.

The first piece of information is this:

Route 109 is an actual route in Connecticut, which spans from New Milford to Thomaston as seen here:

Source: Connecticut Route 109 Wikipedia page, retrieved Feb 1 2023

In order for this route to be relevant to Gravesfield news, the town has to be along this route somewhere, or at least nearby it in some measure (aka it has to legally be within city bounds, which I’ll get into later). Route 109 is located in southern irl Litchfield County, which means that Gravesfield is also located in southern irl Litchfield County somewhere.

That’s pretty good and all, definitely a lot better than just throwing a dart at the map and hoping it lands somewhere decent, but it can be narrowed down even further. The second piece of information we have is this:

This is a real thing too. Regional School District 12 (or the RSD 12) is one of many school districts in Connecticut, and it happens to serve the towns of Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury, all of which are, coincidentally, located in southern irl Litchfield County.

Washington is pretty much right on Route 109, as seen in the map above, so that means that in order for Gravesfield to be both within RSD 12 bounds and nearby Route 109 at the same time, it has to be within irl Washington’s city bounds. I’ve drawn up a diagram of sorts below with this information in mind:

Source: me :D (and google maps)

The speculatory boundary I marked between the Washington and Gravesfield city bounds here is really just one rather simple possibility of how it might be cut up while still accounting for a part of Route 109 being within Gravesfield’s jurisdiction. Again, if the route weren’t part of it, it wouldn’t show up on the city website as a relevant announcement (and if it were part of a county-wide thing, it probably would have stated it as a county announcement or something).

So there you have it: most likely locations for where Gravesfield might be in Connecticut, give or take. I could speculate even further on where exactly within these areas Gravesfield could be placed, with analyzing the smaller roads and all that, but that would honestly just be pure speculation based on personal bias/preference/etc. and not, y’know, anything concrete enough to be a plausible theory, so I’ll just leave it as it is and let individual headcanons do the rest of the work on that front.

But there’s also Gravesfield County to worry about, as shown here:

Source: The Owl House Season 3 Episode 1: “Thanks to Them”

(The fact that this is even a canon background thing in the show is bonkers, because holy shit I can’t imagine what kind of butterfly effect nonsense this must’ve made in-universe compared to irl history, but I digress.)

What this means is that the southern part of irl Litchfield County at minimum is actually Gravesfield County in the TOH universe by default, since it has to include Gravesfield in it, being the town its ultimately named after. And since we’ve already established Gravesfield’s approximate location here, its county could possibly look something like this:

Source: me (and google maps) again

It’s a lot less concrete than the location of Gravesfield itself, obviously, but that’s because I don’t have much else to work with here other than that one screenshot from Thanks to Them and what I’ve theorized about Gravesfield so far. For all I know, the entirety of irl Litchfield County is Gravesfield County, not just a part of it, or maybe Gravesfield County goes even further south than what I’ve depicted and contains parts of the Fairfield and New Haven counties for whatever reason—who knows, really? Whatever it might be, it’s definitely somewhere in western Connecticut, surrounding New Milford, Washington, Route 109, etc., and that’s good enough for me in the interest of sticking to the concrete stuff.

Fun fact: apparently Connecticut doesn’t have county governments nor county seats, so despite the fact that Gravesfield County is named after Gravesfield, the town itself isn’t, like, a grand authority on other places nearby or anything. Each city within the county deals with their own police, fire department, schools, hospitals, etc. (and zoos. Gravesfield is apparently big enough to have a whole-ass zoo in it. Wild.)

The only thing that might break this in some respects is, well, potential butterfly effect shenanigans. It can be argued that because Gravesfield and Gravesfield County exist in the TOH universe, the exact positions of the other counties, towns, etc. could be drastically different from where they are irl, and things like the regional school districts could have totally different boundaries and thus the triangulation I just did using them is pretty much useless, but there’s nothing confirming any of this in Word of God or in the show canon as of today, so I’m fairly confident that we’re working with a world that’s very similar to the irl world Except For Gravesfield. Unless the last special pulls some sort of epilogue nonsense in Gravesfield that completely obliterates my base-line irl world assumptions for this universe, anyway. You never know lmao

So basically, in short: Gravesfield and its eponymous county are most likely located in southern/southwestern irl Litchfield County around Route 109 or thereabouts, and probably replace that particular area as their own governmental entities instead of being part of a different county or something. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk

#the owl house #toh #gravesfield #gravesfield county #i haven't posted on tungle in a hot minute how is everyone doing #to any remaining people still following me: i am v sorry fhjkgYHFGBHDFDF #this is not like any of my previous content rip #i got into TOH back before Thanks to Them came out (which was Scatter's fault. you know what you did you jerk /j) #and i've been obsessed with the lore about Gravesfield and the Wittebane brothers ever since because WOW are they interesting #i. basically started creating a few TOH AUs and was researching tons of stuff about Puritan life and historical Connecticut + other things #and then i basically got hit with this whole thing last night and i HAD to see it to the end. it was VITAL for me #so now i'm posting this all here so that others don't have to go through the same cross-referencing hoops i had to for this #uhhhh okay now for as many other relevant category tags as i can possibly think of #analysis #speculation #toh speculation #toh analysis #gravesfield analysis #gravesfield speculation #my text #i'll probably disappear again after this (because being active here is tiring) but i just had to get this out here man #for all the other lore researchers out there who might need something like this #and also for me. because i actually really really really need it for an AU project of mine #so there you go lmao. time to vanish back into the aether again wheeeee #edit: i am Big Fucking Idiot who doesn't know their directions #i mix up east and west/right and left ALL THE TIME

[darkacademiaarchivist]

idk if anyone has ever pointed this out but i noticed that the golden guard sigil is literally the gravesfield logo / crest...

hunter's cloak and the gravesfield history museum

#belos was like “graphic design is NOT my passion i'll just plagiarize my hometown” #no but something about this makes me sad #idk why but it does #phillip / belos is such a tragic figure (not saying i like him i hate this man BUT his story is so tragic) #the owl house #the owl house analysis #toh #the golden guard #hunter toh #gravesfield #phillip wittebane #caleb wittebane #my post

[sepublic]

"And besides, my powers don't work on King."

"The... dog?"

"Yeah! 'Cause he's a TITAN! You worked in the castle Ray-Ray, you've seen the big 'ol heart, still beating too! Titans are amazing! When they're full grown, they're more powerful than anyone!"

I’m seeing people joke about Belos not knowing the giant heart in his throne room belonged to the Titan, but keep in mind the Collector thought they were talking to Raine, who wasn’t privy to the secrets that Belos was taught. Plus, I don’t think the Collector’s dialogue necessarily indicates Raine didn’t know either, just that they were bringing up Raine’s one frame of reference regarding a Titan to compare to King, and emphasize their powers (Since what prompted this was the Collector complaining about how Titan magic counters his own).

Given his intimate understanding of the isles thanks to the Collector, Belos was probably aware; There isn’t any confirmation he knew, but there isn’t confirmation he didn’t know either. I don’t think it was a coincidence that Belos chose to build his castle right in the center, right around a giant beating heart that might’ve once held Titan’s Blood before he drained it. Possession of a still-living heart that would’ve validated Belos’ claims that the Titan still lived on in some capacity (which is true), and that he was listening to it.

As for why Belos’ first plan wasn’t to possess the heart, keep in mind his curse may not have transformed him to that point yet; We never see him possess anyone until after the Collector splatters Belos, so it’s possible he hadn’t even figured out he could hijack bodies until he had to! Belos invested time into perfecting the sigils and implementing them for the draining spell, we've seen his failed experiments, and this man is the Emperor of Sunk-Cost Fallacy.

Plus, fusing with the isles itself to destroy it seems like a pretty permanent solution that could destroy the portal, or anything he’d use to make another one; And Belos was still insistent on returning home to be hailed as a hero, told he did a good job, etc. It’s only when Belos realizes there isn’t any adulation waiting for him in Gravesfield, discovering this through Hunter’s eyes and ears, that he gives up on home to focus on all he has left; Hatred.

It seems Belos' original plan was to possess the Collector when their guard was down, and use their power to kill everyone; Maybe resuming the draining spell by moving the moon back into place, controlling the puppeted Coven Heads for the ritual, etc. But then the Collector confirmed the Titan as more powerful than them, and practically tailored towards defeating such a powerful kid. And Belos planned to kill the Collector afterwards anyway, so...!

And it tracks he'd go for such a last resort, as it seems Belos is dying, from a number of reasons; He's run out of energy, with Vee contributing; His own curse has worsened; And he probably never fully recovered from being splattered by the Collector. That seemed to have broken something in Belos that he couldn't fix, hence why his body keeps falling apart outside of hosts. I think Belos merely treated the fatal injury the Collector gave him, kind of like how Manny's illness could only be postponed. And there is that analysis speculating Belos’ cursed form’s corruption as an allegory for that very illness...

#the owl house #emperor belos #philip wittebane #boiling isles titan

[kindestegg]

Collector, Hunter and Caleb: On cycles of violence

Baby titans. Flapjack. Evelyn. What do they all have in common?

If you guessed "they were key components in making a character question what they've been told and pursue a new life, kickstarting major events", you're correct!

Hi, I'm Romeo the local Collector obsessed TOH fan!! And I REALLY need to talk about how Collector's backstory parallels Hunter's and Caleb's. Like I REALLY REALLY do.

Just as a quick disclaimer, if you're still feeling lost on Collector's backstory, I made a quick write up of my analysis for it here.

Now, if you're up to speed, we can start talking about the parallels. You see, I feel Collector's backstory is so fascinating because it really solidifies one of the recurring themes of The Owl House: cycles of violence.

Specifically, I want to talk about cycles of violence that aren't easily changed or broken. Societal ones, ones that worm themselves into the very norms of conduct that inform a certain people's behavior.

For Caleb, that was being a witch hunter, something that not only do we know was part of the local culture of Gravesfield back when he and Philip came to it, but that also apparently by Philip's memories, was even something he looked forward to.

I'm not going to get into how this ties into historical, real life witch hunting, because I feel it's hardly appropriate I, as someone who's not that well versed on such history, go into it in a theory post about a Disney cartoon.

But even in this fantasy world, the fact of that matter is that this witch hunting was enacting a system of organized violence. Children were brought up since early on to act out witch hunts, to understand witches were enemies and should be hunted. The othering of witches, the insistence of them as monstrous and inhuman. All this must have led to the witch hunting culture of Gravesfield.

And Caleb and Philip were deep in it.

Now, we know how the story goes. Both brothers go to the demon realm, meet a witch. Caleb gives it all an earnest chance, resolves himself to learn about how witches really are, and humanizes them, even possibly falling in love with a witch, who we now know as Evelyn. Philip despises it all from the start, refuses to ever see the place as anything but damned and monstrous.

From this, Caleb and Philip become symbols of opposing forces: That of change, a break in the status quo, a shining light of questioning why things are and calling for peace VS That of tradition, the desperate want to keep the cycle going, inability to envision anything different than has ever been, to question the old teachings.

Each fought for what they believed in. But Caleb lost and the cycle continued, evolved.

In the real world it is much of the same. Change happens gradually, but even when it does, the cycle does not break easily, it evolves into something else.

Philip's hunt turns to the entirety of the Boiling Isles. He creates the Coven System, to get rid of all witches, yes, but also to keep them easier to control, predictable. He becomes Emperor, and now there is a new system of control, a new cycle of violence.

The Emperor's Coven is suspiciously the only one allowed to use all kinds of magic, a way to assert this authority as well as making recruiting Coven Scouts easier. Witches who do not conform to the system are captured and petrified en masse, the Coven Scouts ensure all witches and demons must fall in line, or else. The parallels to our world and state forces used to control the population is not something that goes unnoticed.

Hunter is part of the Emperor's Coven, too. He's placed as the Golden Guard, the most important symbol of the Emperor's Coven, a substitute for Lilith once she reforms. As such, Hunter too starts out by enforcing a system of violence, just as Caleb did before.

The cycle even more glaringly becomes a cycle now, as Belos literally keeps making grimwalkers and restarting the cycle of the golden guard. Belos enforces the cycle of violence, and hopes this "new Caleb" will do it too, and every time he attempts to break it, Belos breaks him first. In a way, there are two cycles of violence at play: that of which is systemically mantained over the Isles, and that of which Belos mantains over Hunter and every other grimwalker he's made.

Hunter, of course, eventually defects as well. He meets Luz, Flapjack, and then Willow and Gus and when he knows it, he's got a whole lot of people he cares about and that care about him. And he becomes a little less willing to carry out the system of violence he was placed in every day. Until he defects for good.

So the cycle breaks once more, but this time, Belos doesn't catch up to him, at least not yet. In the present, Hunter is still surrounded by friends and a loving mother figure. He was part of breaking the cycle, of at least helping stop the Day of Unity. Change is starting.

So where does Collector fit into all of this? Well I'd first like to address the elephant in the room. For a character whose backstory also involves breaking cycles of violence he sure was aiding in one, by giving Belos the draining spell and encouraging the creation of the coven system. But that's just another aspect of cycles of violence.

Because cycles of violence don't just imply systemic violence or even violence perpetrated through constant abuse. But also, the cyclical nature of violence. The ability that someone who has grown up with violence normalized and has had violence done unto them can then channel that into violence towards others.

Now, before I am misinterpreted, I'd like to make some things clear: One, I am not of the simple opinion that "abused people turn into abusers", that is an ugly myth. Two, I have been a victim of abuse myself, and am a psychology graduate. I feel confident speaking with authority about this subject. Third, there is a difference between the psychological concept of generational trauma and internalized violence and the idea that being abused will turn someone violent.

What I am implying here is that Collector's behavior of dismissing both the violence done unto the grimwalkers, as well as towards the victims of the draining spell is something that he has learned and internalized as normal due to his life experiences.

Recall if you will that Collector is a member of an alien species that has a high disregard for life. In the same breath that they will say they preserve creatures to study them, they will also attempt to destroy all that opposes them. Collector grew up with this violence being seen as normal. He was brought to meet the titan trappers and taught to wear the titan skulls, following in his family's footsteps.

But... just like Caleb and Hunter before them, they saw a different path they could take when it came to the titans. A way to approach them without violence. They gained an interest for titans, just like Hunter with wild magic, just like Caleb with the demon realm.

Once left alone to do so, they approached the titans, specifically young ones, close to their age. They played and maybe even learned some of their favorite games for the first time there.

They also became horribly traumatized.

Both Caleb and Hunter have suffered greatly as a consequence for their defiance. No system of violence lets itself be broken peacefully. Caleb had his life taken, so did all the grimwalkers. Hunter, while having escaped with a good support system, lost Flapjack.

For Collector, that came in the form of having to watch all the remaining titans he had so happily introduced himself to play with get killed off by his own family. We do not know the full logic of how or why his family did this, but we know it was brutal and we know the end result: King's egg alone and Collector in the disc, imprisoned for centuries.

Collector is a child, and if there was still any doubt in any fan's mind of this, For the Future stomped it out for good. Collector was a child when he had to watch his family kill off his new friends. He was a child when King's Father, likely in the middle of these attacks and motivated by it, sealed him away. He remained in stasis for centuries during this imprisonment.

I can only imagine that would really mess up any kid up. And through that, I think we can begin to understand what the mindset was for Collector when he took Philip up on his offer.

I've seen people be surprised by how friendly and childlike Collector acted in this latest episode when compared to his previous appearances in season 2, and I think we need to remember that Collector was in a much different condition back then. He had lost everything he cared about, got stuck in a prison for centuries with no one to talk to and no hope of anyone ever finding him, and when someone did find him, it was Philip fucking Wittebane.

And something I think most of us have already clocked about Philip is that he prefers the people he collaborates with to be vulnerable. Someone he can easily control, usually through their emotions and attachments.

We see this in Elsewhere and Elsewhen with his tendency to praise and lead Lilith and Luz on to get what he wants, knowing they need something out of this and are desperate.

We see this with Lilith, whom he uses the guilt of her sister being cursed to make her follow his every command and not question his rules.

We see this with every grimwalker including Hunter as they're told he was the one who "saved them and took them in".

We see this with Luz and how he leads her thoughts around in Hollow Mind to twist it in how she helped him unwittingly before.

And though his relationship with Kikimora and her schemes is more of an odd one, with him mostly paying her no mind, Follies at the Coven Day Parade at the very least touched on the fact her mental health at the Emperor's Coven is not doing well. She's also desperate for something and being led around by Belos' promises, even if that thing she's desperate for is... power. But er, we love an evil girlboss.

Look, what I'm trying to say is that Philip saw a child that had been horribly traumatized from seeing his friends die and then getting stuck in fantasy perpetual prison for centuries with no enrichment, no one to talk to, just eternal loneliness and sadness and he absolutely took advantage of it.

He used every single part of Collector's broken psyche to his advantage, including possibly withholding his freedom to interact with the outside world through the disc, shutting him up and cutting his vision whenever he might have wanted to.

And Collector, having grown up in an environment that encouraged killing everything in your way if necessary, having nothing else to lose because everything he could have cared about not killing was to his knowledge gone...

Absolutely took him up on the offer. And so, the cycle of violence is mantained, the one who had to witness such violence, unable to stop it, now carries out the same type of violence against others. Out of anger, maybe, but mostly out of desperation. For Collector, there's nothing left to do but do what Belos says, otherwise it's back to loneliness and darkness. And if Belos says "kill every last witch and demon in the Boiling Isles", he'll get that.

Collector's glee in this is not something that can be excused, however. It must be examined through the lens of understanding this is a bad thing, that this is a case study in how children internalize violence and learn to be not only compliant to it, but also even revel in it. He's gone from victim to perpetrator. Not because of any of the abuse or trauma he faced, but because of his environment creating the perfect conditions for it.

But that's when our heroes come in. The cycle of violence did not complete itself. The draining spell was stopped. And the way it was stopped is also incredibly powerful in its symbolism.

Because it was King who went out of his way to contact Collector and who freed him. King, a titan, the last of a species that was at war with the collectors, now extended a hand for our Collector to be free. Despite everything indicating that they should not find each other, should not be together, they came together to stop the Day of Unity.

In the Day of Unity being stopped by the Collector, so another cycle of violence is broken: that of titans and collectors being at odds with each other. In them is represented the hope for the future: two children who are free of the anger their species would hold for one another, now united in their wish for a better future.

When King decides Collector shouldn't be imprisoned again and insists to Lilith and Eda that they let him talk to them peacefully, that's him taking a step to break the cycle of violence. When King says "it didn't work" he's not just talking about the fact Collector could go free. He's talking about the fact imprisoning Collector was a violence done unto him that only brought about more danger and more violence, did not teach him anything, and doing so again could risk worse things to come.

When he says "it's worth a shot if no more people get hurt" he includes everyone in that equation. He includes Collector. And that's breaking the cycle of violence.

In a way, you could say if Belos and Collector's arcs as villains are both about stopping cycles of violence in different ways.

With Belos, he has spiraled down so deeply he has become the cycle itself, eating everything in the way and infecting everything, unable to live on without creating more violence onto others, and so he must be stopped by force if necessary. In this, The Owl House doesn't shy away from the fact that in the real world, sometimes you need to fight back, you cannot resolve everything peacefully, and breaking the cycle will involve hurting someone before they hurt more people.

But with Collector, another side is shown, one that reminds us that we must have nuance, and sometimes, we will be faced with the difficult reality that those doing violence unto others are also people who are hurting, who are lonely, who are sad. Specially children who have grown in environments where violence and prejudice was normalized. Sometimes children will be violent, will be bigoted, will repeat every little horrible thing the adults in their lives taught them. But they're still children. And they still deserve a chance to learn and a chance to grow.

It's about recognizing the difference between a young person who genuinely wants to learn and hasn't had the opportunity to, and someone who is not interested in this. Collector's backstory tells us he does have an interest in being good, he just needs the opportunity.

Collector isn't an easy character to approach like Hunter or Caleb. They do not have the benefit of starting off the narrative dead and buried, leaving the audience to assume mostly good things out of his deviation. Neither do they have Hunter's rebellious teenage bravado that allows him to show his defiance to Belos or his tragic fate of being a grimwalker binding him. They just are an alien child with immense power who tried once to deviate from the norm and then got the worst luck of the entire universe after them, and procceeded to become bitter and angry and absolutely sadistic afterwards.

But there's still good in them. And just like Caleb and Hunter, their efforts to break the cycle of violence they were raised in, as well as the efforts to denounce their fellow collectors will not go unnoticed.

#the owl house #toh analysis #toh theory #toh spoilers #toh collector #hunter toh #caleb wittebane #the collector #did you know i hit image limit with this post. i was gonna add more. #Commander's orders

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

What's yout opinion on these two Owl House analysis posts (sending them in another ask)

Thank you for the links. Just for future reference though, that blog blocked me awhile back for reasons I can only guess at so I had to find another way to read the posts.

My biggest issue with these kinds of analyses is how it really has to ignore how toh executes its themes and rely on historical and political realities and awkwardly tie it to the show.

Belos may be a metaphor for colonization and oppression but good luck finding anything consistent in the show to actually demonstrate that. Belos may have been inspired by fundamentalists conservatives and he may speak like one, but on a societal level, the Boiling Isles is not a good representation of a world run by a religious zealot.

There are no wild witches that are routinely persecuted; Eda is able to walk around openly (save for one episode) with no fear of being arrested, Luz is able to multi-track despite Bump's initial misgivings about the EC potentially withdrawing funding from the school (something that never happens) no one actually treats the Titan like a divine entity despite Belos' reign being founded on that very premise, and the citizens are allowed to openly defy the emperor's potential execution of Eda--despite being the living embodiment of everything the people of the Boiling Isles are taught to fear.

There is one rule in the isles: no wild magic.

Outside of that, witches are free to live as they wish. Joining a coven is seen more like choosing a career path and not something one must do or risk ostracization. Eda doesn't suffer because she's a wild witch. Not really. The narrative focuses more on her curse and how she isolated herself because of that and had to turn to crime to make ends' meet.

Because of this, it's difficult to really discuss Belos as a metaphor for colonization when the islands don't suffer or at least the show doesn't demonstrate why joining a coven is bad outside it being a requirement. So really the theme is freedom of choice rather than "the oppressed must overthrow the oppressor."

It's Belos' status as a Puritan that's doing the heavy-lifting in any kind of post that makes the claim that toh is about colonization. Which is why so many of these posts fall back on meta-analysis and tossing in historical references rather than what actually happens in the show.

As for Luz being an immigrant to the Boiling Isles....I mean I guess? The problem is that Luz never learns to appreciate the BI on its own terms because everything is handed to her; the issue of humans not being able to eat the BI's food is dropped early and the only threats she faces are scammers. A better depiction of a girl-going-to-a-fantasy world-as-an-immigrant metaphor is Amphibia, in which Anne learns the culture and customs of Wartwood and even earns the title of Frog of the Year because of her progress and growth. We never get anything like that with Luz because Bonesborough doesn't have a distinct identity like Wartwood does. We don't get to know recurring side characters outside of Luz's clique at Hexside. Luz doesn't even work as an immigrant in Gravesfield because her problem isn't framed due to her heritage, the focus is on her overenthusiasm for Azura. Camila doesn't struggle fitting in because she's Dominican (and no, letting her hair get curly again is weak because it's literally the only example of her possibly changing herself to fit in). Her struggle is tied to her daughter and the grief they share over Manny's passing. So there's no evidence of the Nocedas having to "submit" to the dominant culture of Gravesfield because we don't know what Gravesfield's culture is. There's no oppression and Vee gets along fine despite coming from another dimension.

Finally, as for Luz's angst over being like Belos--that her anger makes her like him. Yeah no, this is weak. First of all, this is the first time that she expresses concern over being like him due to her anger. In the previous two episodes, the concern was that she "helped" Belos find the Collector and is therefore responsible for his rise and the subsequent centuries of suffering. Then, she's worried about always making mistakes and how that leads to more people being hurt. Next, in her nightmare sequence, she fears her friends secretly hate her because she helped Belos and is the cause of all this suffering so she might as well be him.

But now, her fear is being like him because she wanted the Collector to blast him and that Belos' desire to save humanity is uncomfortably close to her own.

Sorry what?

Luz previously rejected Belos's stated goal of saving humanity in King's Tide when she called him out on his hypocrisy. At every encounter, Luz calls Belos out on his bullshit, why is it now does she seriously consider that his goals are similar to her own?

Oh, so the Titan can alleviate her fears, validate her by calling her a "good witch," and throw out all the recent development of Belos' character and motivations because don't worry, he's not genuine. He's just a Symbol so we can ignore the hints of his backstory making him a more complicated character. (And believe me, Belos' story is just vague enough that you could interpret him in any number of ways).

To conclude, I've noticed a trend in fan posts that develop a conclusion and work backwards from there, taking what they want from the show that fits to support their idea and ignore everything else. It's terrible analysis even if some good points are made.

#long post #the owl house #toh critical #toh criticism #luz noceda #emperor belos #philip wittebane #asks

[asherisawkward]

What did you think of Season 3 and its episodes? Also, do you think fans who weren't satisfied with Belos, Caleb, or Wittewife being ungrateful? I saw on Twitter that people who are upset are because Philip, Caleb, and Wittewife got more compared to other characters. Also that we didn't need to see a flashback because we already know from the Hollow Mind portraits what happened. Finally, what do you think of the Wittewife interpretations? How do you interpret her?

Get ready, because you’re in for a doozy of a rant, because Season Three was full of mixed feelings for me.

Thanks To Them:

I loved TTT because it felt incredibly suspenseful and horrifying to watch Luz and Hunter search for Philip. The exploration of Hunter’s personality and interests are heartwarming, and I can completely relate to him about wolves. It’s also interesting to see the ways Hunter grows and reacts to his Grimwalker situation and the similarities between him and Caleb.

Masha was obviously amazing, and I loved their depiction of the Wittebane Brothers’ Tale. I did notice that the local legend supposedly took place about twenty years before Gravesfield was reported to have been founded on the sign. That may be a sign that their story was incorrect, but who knows.

What really interested me was the implications of the story. Philip was an orphan with very little connection to his parents due to losing them when he was very young. Clearly, he was heavily dependent upon Caleb for his sense of safety and security, as well as his stable point to interact with the world. With Caleb leaving with Evelyn, Philip must have been left traumatized and terrified.

And Caleb…If Evelyn truly wasn’t evil, then he abandoned his brother by choice. It doesn’t really matter if he thought he’d be better off. His brother needed him, and he left.

Evelyn shares less of the blame, in my opinion, because Caleb might not have mentioned that he was an older brother or spoken of Philip. I tend to imagine her as a kind but spirited person who likely made Caleb realize there was more to life than the strict rules of Puritan society. She would likely have been a friend before they became lovers.

With that analysis done, I’ll get back to TTT.

During the possession scene, I was pretty conflicted. The animation was beautiful, and the voice acting was amazing. But I feel like it was needlessly cruel to Hunter to possess him, scar him for life, kill his therapy animal, and re-grow his hair so that he looked like his Ortet when his whole arc was about becoming his own person and learning he is not Caleb. Additionally, I’m mildly bothered by the writers making him want to carve palismen like Caleb when he had already demonstrated interest in sewing.

For The Future:

Philip’s travels were so interesting. It was horrific to watch him slowly fall apart as he desperately searched for a new body, even possessing an unfinished grimwalker to try to do the job. Some story boards and behind the scenes content revealed that Caleb and the Golden Guard ghosts were, in fact, hallucinations.

This was extremely impactful to me because it indicates that Philip had some inkling that what he’s doing is wrong, but he has fallen into the sink cost fallacy: the idea that something can’t be wrong because you invested so much time, energy, and resources into it. To put it simply, his guilt is driving him mad, but he has to continue because he knows there is no redemption for him.

New Hexside was okay. It was mildly annoying due to the change in tone feeling forced and disrupting compared to the extremely serious tone of Philip’s section. It was cool to see the way society had turned out for those who survived. I adore that it was an absolute mess, because it’s incredibly accurate for something run by teenagers.

I disliked the bit with Kikimora because it felt like a retcon of her arc in Kings Tide. She had been so obsessed with pleasing and serving someone in the pursuit of approval and greater power that she forgot she was also in danger from her hero’s plans. To restate it a way I’ve heard, “she was so focused on the boot she had on others’ necks that she didn’t notice the one on her own.” It was very gratifying to see her get retribution against Philip and play a part in saving the Isles. So FTF felt like a backslide to her.

Boscha was an interesting parallel to Philip in feeling abandoned by someone she cared about. So she attempted to force that person to stay. However, she is able to move on and accept that things have changed. It’s what would have happened if Philip had been able to let go, and I like that.

Willow’s breakdown was understandable, but not handled the best, and I dislike that she was “saved” when she doesn’t really like that sort of thing. It would have been better if Hunter and Gus had talked to her and let her slowly unload her feelings instead of being “saved” by Hunter.

I also dislike where their arcs end with them holding pinkies. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Huntlow is adorable and has a lot of potential. I just think that should be dealt with after they are more emotionally stable.

King and the Collector’s story was the least interesting to me, though I think the “new” Collector is adorable. I loved the dynamic they had as a somewhat malicious and irreverent being that will poke and prod at anything for some amusement. It really made him feel like a threat, and I liked that.

The new interpretation revealed by the interactions with King was sweet but less compelling to follow. I would have found it much more interesting for King to help him slowly come to understand human/demon/witch morals and the way what they did was wrong.

Philip’s tricking of the Collector felt like a little bit of a stress, but potentially in character as someone who was desperate to regain the power he had likely lost due to Vee. King’s dialogue for that bit felt kind of forced, but I can excuse it.

Watching and Dreaming:

Oh crud, here’s the real doozy. Watching and Dreaming was the biggest let down for me. It was stunning visually, and the animation was fluid as a whole. It looked amazing, and I was thrilled with the episode the first time I watched it. But the more I thought on it, the more issues I’ve found.

I thought the nightmare sequence was going to be far more significant than it was. I was hoping for a deep analysis on the ways that Luz and Philip mimicked each other in their desire to be the hero, protect the people they care about, and escape the unsatisfactory reality that they had previously lived in.

I thought we would see Eda face and potentially live out some of her greatest fears. Maybe she would accidentally hurt King or Luz. It would have been interesting to see her grapple this during an intense battle that would decide the fate of the Isles! It was disappointing for that to be over in fewer than ten minutes without any of the depth. I don’t really have much to say for King’s nightmare sequence.

On a far more minor note, I disliked Philip’s design during this episode. Yeah, Kaiju Philip was interesting looking, but he doesn’t carry any of the same weight or fear that he used to. The lack of detail and speech from him felt off, because he is a character who puts so much weight into words and manipulation, and we never really get to see him.

I also dislike the way that his color scheme changed. I really liked the dark green and glowing blue thing he had going on. It felt like ooze and rot, like the decay and destruction of a person’s very soul until it’s so twisted it’s no longer human. The lighter green feels sickly, and it gives me the same feeling I get when I touch a grainy eraser. I shudder, and I don’t know why. However, that’s about all on Philip’s design, now to the more major concerns and thoughts.

Luz’s death would have been far more effective if she had died more slowly and if people had noticed she was dead. Without anyone else acknowledging it, I just felt kind of hollow for the whole thing.

I thought that Papa Titan was cool, but I really dislike what he did to the narrative. This fight was set up to be horrific and challenging, that it would take every ounce of the characters’ strength. And King’s parent just kind of took that away.

Additionally, she denied all the buildup that was put into Philip’s character. Philip was set up to be tragic and sympathetic. It implied that anyone could become an extremist and hurt others because they got in too deep, and I related to Philip a lot as a character, as well as Hunter. To see him called just plain evil was disrespectful to the rest of the work put in and everything Wittebro fans hoped to see.

Some people believe that the backstory we got was sufficient for Philip’s character. Respectfully, I disagree. The pictures that were in the background of Hollow Mind were exactly that—background. It implied a tragic character that went off the deep end when he lost the only person he loved.

It suggests that, in a better world, Philip could have moved past his biases and the manipulation he experienced the way Boscha and Caleb did. He could have had a happy ending and been the person that Luz thought he was. By saying he was just evil and ignoring his backstory, Papa Titan and Luz do the exact same thing that Philip does: dehumanize the enemy and say that the group/person should be killed without remorse. It also dehumanizes or hurts those that connect with him due to religious trauma or other reasons.

It feels wrong when only a scene ago, Luz was telling the Collector that things weren’t that simple. But now, they magically are.

Papa Titan also breaks all of the themes that were set up earlier: the idea that you have to choose yourself, that there is no divine being that is going to make you special, and that Luz got where she did because she was open minded and hard working. By making the Titan gift her the runes, it discredits all the hard work she did and supports Philip’s comment that the reason he couldn’t get glyphs easily was because the Titan was making it difficult (as opposed to him being a closed minded individual who couldn’t connect to the Isles).

Luz didn’t really have a choice, and it’s never really addressed the way that the found family theme is ignored as a result of her being chosen. It also implied that all the growth she did over the previous two seasons was pointless, because she was the chosen one.

After that, the tone is distinctly more action based and exciting as opposed to the horrific and stressful encounter I was expecting. It felt like the fight wasn’t being taken seriously by the characters or the writers, and it made it hard to stay invested or take the stakes seriously.

The fight could have been the whistle Hexsquad taking on Philip and supporting each other. Hunter could have helped get people out of the way when they were being attacked. Gus could have distracted Philip and help people escape or even left him open to attack. Willow and Amity could have grappled him and harmed him. Camila could have given it her all with the bat. It could have really pushed the theme of community and connection and the way they impact people.

Finally, I want to talk about one last thing: Philip’s death. I laughed at it the first time I saw it. It was amusing and more than a touch satisfying, but it’s not what Philip deserved.

Philip was a tragic, hurt character who sacrificed his health, his morals, and everything about himself in the pursuit of protecting humanity from witches. He was evil and irredeemable, and I do not want him to be redeemed.

I wanted him to learn that it was all for nothing and that his guilt was justified, that he was fed lies by the people he admired and told what he did was right when it wasn’t. I wanted to see him break down at the knowledge of his actions and their consequences, the sins he committed. Then, I wanted him to die.

In later watching, the scene where Raine, Eda, and King stomp him to death feels cruel. I agree that he needed to die, but Philip couldn’t fight back. It doesn’t feel like something that good guys would do. And Luz just watching them do that felt wrong.

Epilogue:

I liked the epilogue as a whole, except for a bit on Hunter. The thing with him and Willow was cute, but he didn’t cut his hair again, and he went on to carve palisman. I feel as if it violates everything previously set up about him choosing to be himself, and that makes me a bit sad.

In Conclusion:

I think that the people who weee unsatisfied with the Wittebane lore have every right to be. It was the most impactful series of events for the future of the Isles. It was built up for ages and never carried through. Obviously, my opinion would change if there was a series or movie on them.

Evelyn was “spring” to Caleb, as she introduced him the first life and light that allowed him to be who he wanted to be.

Season Three had amazing animation and visual depiction, but it fumbled on the themes it had previously established and some of the character development.

I am so sorry for rambling/ranting so much on this. I hope I haven’t scared or upset you. Have a great day!

#Philip Wittebane #Caleb Wittebane #Evelyn Clawthorne #Season three #The Owl House #TOH #commentary/opinion #some TOH criticism #Gravesfield #Flapjack #Luz Noceda #Eda Clawthorne #King Clawthorne #Hunter Noceda #Kikimora #Boscha #Raine Whispers #rant/ramble

[lampmanliveblogs]

”Geez, I knew you were passionate about books Luz, but I didn’t think your literary analysis would get this intense.” -Blonde kid who I think was a cheerleader that appeared in episode one

I gotta love though how the thing that got a reaction out of the other kids was not the fact that Luz climbed up on the desk, no, it was that she got so heated during her little speech. tHey really do be like ”Oh, she climbed up on the desk? She hasn't done that in a while, has she?  Oh well, as long as she doesn't fall and hit someone.”

Speaking of which, it’s got to be super jarring for all her classmates, seeing her go through her second massive personality shift in the last few months.

Can you tell that I’m stalling? Because I am stalling. Seeing my poor girl being sad is making me sad. And I already knew she wasn't in the best headspace right now, but saying she thinks her friends’ life would be better without her? Jeez Luise.

(say, that’s an interesting shirt she’s wearing)

Old Gravesfield Haunted Hayride, I’m sure that won’t be important later.

”Old Gravesfield is the most haunted place in the state.” That reminds me, I need to do some edits on a fanfic I wrote about a year ago.

So here we have these two enthusiastic people. They’re new to this school, but they’ve heard of Luz. But what’s interesting here is that despite the fact that what they’ve heard was more than likely told to them in a negative light (”Oh, that Luz is such a weirdo! She brought living snakes and fireworks to school once!”) they don’t see it as a bad thing.  The opposite in fact, they’re excited to meet her. They’re drawn to her weirdness, likely because they’re the same way.

What was it Eda said in the very first episode of the show? ”Us weirdos have to stick together.”

Oh, what do we have here? Something that looked like a deer but wasn’t a deer, but a monster? I wonder if there’s anyone we know who might fit a description like th-

GAH! Bloody hell’s bells!

I think I compared Philip’s current form to the symbiotes from Marvel once.Yeah, no, he’s not a symbiote, he’s a parasite alright. He just ate that poor deer, huh? 

Hm… I get the feeling that maybe he didn’t just eat it… but maybe there is some possession involved here too. And in that case, maybe he didn't intend to kill the deer at all, and this is the result of some degeneration due to the possession. Again, I’m just throwing out ideas in the hopes that something will stick, but Philip being able to possess people would make him a very dangerous threat. 

Hngh-nooooooo…

Not gonna lie, Hunter hurting himself on the sewing machine, which is played for laughs, is way more disturbing to me than the decayed deer carcass mere moments ago. See, this is why when I was in school, we had to earn sewing machine licenses. Which, I gotta say, in the long run it was much less useful than my driver’s license, my other driver’s license, and my forklift license.

#the owl house #liveblog #the owl house liveblog #toh s3e1 #thanks to them

[k1-b0kuma]

Complete List of My Works

Currently Writing (Fanfic)

🩸🖤Flesh and Blood🖤🩸 (My Hero Academia)

Are monsters born, or made? Is Toga Himiko a monster, for having natural urges? Is Midoriya Izumi a monster, for needing to eat?

This is the story of two monsters, driven into the shadows of society by circumstances beyond their control. This is the story of how a vampire and a ghoul found solace in one another, and the story of how it was torn away.

👁Midoriya Izuku, The Ceaseless Watcher👁 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Midoriya Izuku is a creepy kid.

He wasn't always like that: for the first decade of his life he was just a regular Quirkless kid. But something happened, and it changed him. Now people are made uneasy by his very gaze, he knows things he shouldn't, and his scores in English are perfect.

For his part, Izuku tries to be friendly, but people are always put off by his eyes. Aside from Hatsume Mei, the dubiously sane inventor, and Nedzu, the principal of the greatest Heroics school in Japan, that is.

Honestly? Izuku just wanted to go into hero analysis. But the Dread Powers very rarely care about the desires of humans.

🧪The Quirk Doctor🧪 (My Hero Academia)

A spate of disappearances, culminating in the death of a Pro Hero, leave Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa and Shouta Aizawa scrambling to keep up as the destruction grows and the bodies pile higher and higher.

Meanwhile, a Quirkless teen works for the Boogieman of the Underworld, using his grim experiments to get revenge on a world that shunned him.

All For One, Destro, The Peerless Thief - the greatest supervillains in history. Midoriya Izuku will stop at nothing to ensure that his own name is among them. Hero society will learn to fear The Quirk Doctor.

💫Portraits Hung in Empty Halls💫 (My Hero Academia)

The suicide of Midoriya Izuku, and the consequences thereof.

💀He Kindly Stopped For Me💀 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Ruminations on death with one who has seen too much of it, too young.

🐍A Serpentine Twist of Fate🐍 (The Owl House)

In one universe, a teenage Luz Noceda would find her way to the Boiling Isles, meeting the Owl Lady Eda, and living in the Owl House.

This is not that universe.

In this universe, Eda Clawthorne, an intelligent but unmotivated student of Gravesfield Middle School, winds up in the Demon Realm after following a strange purple snake through a portal. There, she meets the Snake Lady, Luz Noceda, self-proclaimed most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles, her roommate, King, and the demon inhabiting their house, Hissy. From the Snake House, they find adventure and trouble, all in the name of rebelling against the Emperor Belos and the head of his personal coven, Amity Blight.

🕸Master of Puppets🕸 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

A Web connects heroes, villains, and civilians alike. Midoriya Izuku sits at the centre of it all.

💚Paths That Cross💚 (My Hero Academia)

They say one bad day can change anyone's life. For Midoriya Izumi, this is demonstrably true. In one day she lost both the last remnants of her dreams, and her mother. The one good part of the day was meeting Kan Himito, a handsome young UA student, and the first person in years to show her genuine kindness.

Himito had a rough upbringing as the scion of the Toga family. But with his adopted father behind him, he has stepped into a brighter future as a UA student. That is, until an overly obsessed face from his past turns up when he least expects her to, sending them into a twisting, turning plot.

Caught between hero and villain, will they be able to make it through intact?

💥For the Love of Explosions!💥 (My Hero Academia, Konosuba)

Tremble in awe, mortal, for you stand in the presence of the greatest hero and mage in existence, Midoriya Izumi!

At least, that's how Izumi always introduces herself. But when she arrives at UA with a Quirk that wipes her out for the whole day if she uses it to its fullest extent, she finds that she may be more of a liability than an asset. With Vlad King and the rest of 1-B on her side, can she learn to overcome her self-imposed boundaries, or will she be forced to hang up her staff and eyepatch before she can even start her career?

⏳A Slip in Time for Nine⏳ (My Hero Academia)

UA really was different than Midoriya Izuku thought. There were so many heroes he didn't recognise, the exam was different to what he'd expected, and they didn't even have him down to take the exam!

Fortunately, he felt he passed with flying colours. But when he returns home to find his apartment block is still under construction, Izuku may find that he is in a completely different time entirely!

Will he be able to return to his own time? And after he makes friends with Shirakumo Oboro, Aizawa Shouta and Yamada Hizashi, wiill he even want to?

🐈The Nine Lives of Midoriya Izumi🐈 (My Hero Academia)

Midoriya Izumi is something of an odd child. Unreactive, unbothered by most stimuli, and seemingly constantly calm. But Izumi has a secret. While, on paper, her Quirk, Cat, simply gives her feline trait, it is actually a little more involved than that.

Because Izumi is not a human. She is a cat with a Quirk, one that allows her to turn into a human.

With One for All, Izumi will strive to do the most human thing of all: become a hero!

👑Taking Back The Crown👑 (My Hero Academia)

Midoriya Izuku, born to the greatest villain in history, dubs himself Successor, and intends to reclaim his father's crumbling empire, and no one will stand in his way.

The USJ Incident; a shot heard around the world, one which kickstarts a terrible butterfly effect. The heroes scramble to prevent Successor's ascent to his throne, but will they succeed? Or will All for One's shadow dynasty continue?

Completed Works (Fanfic)

Electric (Camp Buddy)

Three years after their first summer together, Keitaro brings Hunter back to Camp Buddy, with a burning question.

🖤Don't Forget (The Feeling of Blood on Your Face)🖤 (My Hero Academia)

Izuku was a little confused by this training camp - why did they put his hands in this giant block? Why can't he use his Quirk? Why are there guns on him at all times? Still, he's going to try and do his best!

Or

5 times Izuku gets a visitor in Tartarus, and 1 time he remembers why he's there.

🖤Dragging the Skeleton Out of the Closet🖤 (My Hero Academia)

Midoriya Izuku was a strange child, always preferring the feminine over the masculine. Of course, in a society such as this, that type of thing could hardly be encouraged.

Izumi had known who she was for years, and wasn't going to give it up for anyone. Not even her friends.

🖤The Despair of Kyoko Kirigiri🖤 (Danganronpa)

Kyoko Kirigiri has been missing for a month. Now, the Future Foundation has been given a clue to her location. Will Makoto Naegi make it in time?

🖤Youth🖤 (My Hero Academia)

The IzuCrew have been bugging Aizawa-sensei to let them go to the mall for weeks, and finally, he's relented. This going to be a great day!

Mysterium (The Magnus Archives)

Case #9461008

Statement of Anastasia Solovyova, regarding the first and only performance of Alexander Scriabin’s "Mysterium". Original statement given August 10th, 1946. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, The Archivist.

💫🖤Starry, Starry Night🖤💫 (My Hero Academia)

Izuku always loved the night sky.

It loved him too.

Even when the terrible thoughts started to tear their way into his head.

🖤Binary Apotheosis🖤 (My Hero Academia)

Midoriya Izuku is a failure at life. He lives in a crappy apartment, he works at a dead-end job and every time he finds a better opportunity he is turned away because of the big red QUIRKLESS on his documents.

With a life like that, who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to escape, to become like a god?

When You're Just Memory (My Hero Academia)

And I know, I know that I'm wrong That when you're gone, you're gone and I can't bring you home But I want, I want to believe That you'll remember me when you're just memory

Midoriya Izuku has had only his mom for most of his life. He has a lot of memories of her, and she of him.

All For One's Christmas Carol (My Hero Academia)

Christmas. A time of peace, love and hope.

For the Symbol of Evil, however, it was merely an excuse for citizens to celebrate, trying to ignore the looming threat of villains.

However, when the ghost of his dead brother walks into his study, he is taken on a journey that will forever change him.

🖤Go On Back to Bed, My Love (That’s Where Dreams Are Supposed to Be)🖤 (My Hero Academia)

Kyouka loved Izuku with her entire being. He was the perfect man, the sweet to her sour, not to mention built like a Greek statue. She wanted to be intimate with him, to show him just how much he means to her.

Except... she couldn’t. Every time they tried, she just couldn’t.

It wasn’t him. So it must have been her.

What was wrong with her?

The Masochism Tango (My Hero Academia)

Midoriya Izuku was an upstanding hero, a paragon of virtue, the shining beacon of his class.

Toga Himiko was a bloodthirsty, deranged villain, hell bent on carving a path of destruction and murder.

And yet, when they clashed, it was like a beautiful, deadly dance, one that no one else could see, for they would not understand.

🖤Cancer; or, Goodbye🖤 (My Hero Academia)

After a doctor's visit reveals he has months to live, Izuku realises just how many loose ends he has to tie up. This is the story of a dying man, told in a series of conversations held with those closest to his heart.

💀Terminus💀  (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

After the disastrous USJ incident, Detective Tsukauchi has some questions for the strange teenager that seemed to be working with the villains.

💀Be Not Proud💀 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Izuku and Nedzu meet for the first time, and discuss their pasts and their future together.

If You Need Me, I Will Be There (My Hero Academia)

When Himiko hears a knock at the door late one night, she hadn't expected her true love to be behind it, covered in someone else's blood and begging for her help.

But she would do anything for her Izukkun.

Don’t Worry, You and Me Won’t Be Alone No More (My Hero Academia)

Izuku would never have considered himself a lonely person. Sure, the closest person he had to a friend was his mother, and his own childhood friend had turned on him years ago, but he never really felt alone.

Until, that is, he met Toga Himiko, and realised how alone they both were.

Together, they will face adversity, always supporting one another, and come out on top.

False Friend (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

In times of trouble, people will take any help offered to them, even if it's from someone as strange as Izuku. But such bargains very rarely go well, and even if someone such as him has showed you kindness before, it does not mean you should let your guard down around him.

This is a lesson UA does not learn until it is too late.

Awakening (My Hero Academia)

Izuku was rather accident prone. This is a fact known by anyone who has spent more than five minutes around him. It seemed like he couldn't go outside without running into some kind of trouble. So when he comes back after a trip out, having been hit by a Quirk that changed his body, it was rather par for the course.

But ever since it wore off, he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right, and that nothing will be the same again.

Or, Izuku accidentally transes his gender and finds out something interesting about herself

💀Nevermore💀 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

In the wake of the attack on Hosu, Izuku and Nedzu meet to discuss the fallout.

🕸Panopticon🕸 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Midoriya Izuku was many things to many people.

To Nedzu, however, he was a bright, if shy, student, one who he felt a kinship with. And one who fed into his worst instincts.

🕸Isolation🕸 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Shinsou Hitoshi wasn't at UA to make friends.

When he takes Midoriya Izuku's invitation to train for the sports festival, however, that changes slightly.

Perhaps Shinsou has one friend.

🕸How Eri Found Her Friends🕸 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Eri is such a lonely girl. She has never, ever had friends before!

Mr. Midoriya promises to change that, however, with the help of some very special insects.

The Call of the Prismatic Void (The Mechanisms, My Hero Academia)

The Bifrost Incident. Any schoolchild could tell you about it.

80 years ago, the Ratatosk Express set off on its maiden voyage through the swirling rainbow wormhole of the Bifrost, carrying with it the entire nobility of Asgard. It never arrived at its destination.

But now it has returned, and it falls upon Inspector 2nd class Aizawa Shouta to dig into the events surrounding the incident, and uncover the truth. But has he bit off more than he can chew? And when the secrets of the Bifrost are revealed to him, will he be able to cope?

Once and Future King (The Mechanisms, My Hero Academia)

High Noon Over Camelot, and the Midoriya gang rides into town. They claim the town for themselves and, for a while, all is well. But when a wandering preacher man warns them all of their imminent firey destruction, they must journey to find the GRAIL. As trouble brews at home, will Izuku be able to hold his people together? Or will they all fall into the flames?

💫Eyes That Know The Darkness In My Soul💫 (My Hero Academia)

Bakugou Katsuki has a secret. It’s one he’ll take to his grave, one that would destroy him if it ever came out.

After all, no hero would have driven their childhood friend to suicide.

🕸Nocturnal🕸 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Aizawa Shouta never wanted to leave Eri alone. But he was needed elsewhere, and Midoriya Izuku stepped in to help.

But maybe Eri wasn't the only one affected by his presence.

Deceitful Reflections (My Hero Academia)

There is a reflection in Izumi's mirror. It is not her own.

Planned Works (Longfics)

(NB: All descriptions here subject to change)

🎲Placeholder Name: The Gamemaster🎲 (My Hero Academia)

UA’s Class 1-A is kidnapped by a mysterious criminal calling themselves “The Gamemaster”. Not too long after, the first invitations are sent out to the players. Will they be able to rescue the class by playing the Gamemaster’s twisted games?

☣Placeholder Name: The Engineer☣ (My Hero Academia)

Izuku loved Quirks. They were amazing, truly.

He also hated them, hated how they twisted people’s minds and society’s views.

Working with likeminded people, he will rectify that.

🔪Untitled Danganronpa Crossover🔪 (My Hero Academia, Danganronpa)

UA is a beacon of hope to the world, a light for the future attracting the best and brightest of a generation and turning them into the next greatest heroes.

So when its newly accepted Class 1-A awakens in a sealed building with no memory of how they arrived there, that hope will be pushed to its limits. Will it prevail? Or will the world fall to despair?

💻The AI Hero: IZUKU💻 (My Hero Academia)

Whatever Nedzu had expected from the new school year, it was not for a representative of one of the biggest support companies in the world to approach him, requesting that he finish Midoriya Inko’s final project: an AI that she named IZUKU.

Well, this should be interesting.

🌲Placeholder Name: Disgraced Hero AU🌲 (My Hero Academia)

Izuku was the Number One Hero.

Emphasis on the was.

After a series of controversies, he had retired to live a solitary life in the woods. But now a new threat looms, one which his old classmates need his help to defeat. But will they be able to convince him to don the mantle of Deku once more?

💣Placeholder Name: JDzuku💣 (My Hero Academia, Heathers)

UA really was everything Ochako dreamed it would be. Classes were hard, sure, but learning to be a hero was what she had always wanted. And she had even made a friend, Midoriya in Gen Ed!

And not even a suicide could ruin that. But when things escalate, she will find herself forced to choose between her morals, and her budding romance.

💰Placeholder Name: Phantom Thief Izuku💰 (My Hero Academia)

Despite his Quirklessness, Izuku had given his all to get to UA. But it wasn’t good enough.

A chance encounter after a disastrous entrance exam leads Izuku down a rather unexpected, not-entirely-legal path of heroism.

After all, you don’t need a Quirk to be a phantom thief, or a gentle criminal.

🃏Untitled Persona 5 Crossover🃏 (My Hero Academia, Persona 5)

Izuku was Quirkless. Everyone knew it. He knew it, the school knew it, even Boss knew it.

So he couldn’t possibly be the mysterious Phantom Thief of Hearts, could he?

🎉Make Them Laugh🎉 (My Hero Academia)

Fukukado.

When Shouta saw that name on the entrance exam’s examinee list, he nearly tendered his resignation there and then. Unfortunately, he could not and, sure enough, Fukukado Izuku, the green-haired menace, ended up in his class.

This was going to be a long three years.

🔧Placeholder Name: Mechadoriya🔧 (My Hero Academia)

UA’s Support Course students were well known for having... a screw loose, to say the least.

They hadn’t seen the likes of Midoriya Izuku yet.

He would be a hero, even if he had to rely on support gear, such as grappling hooks, capture weapons.... oh, and a 10 foot tall mech.

🗝A Hero’s Heart🗝 (My Hero Academia, Kingdom Hearts)

Izuku was Quirkless. That had been confirmed when he was 4.

And yet, here he was, swinging around a giant key that had just appeared in his hands. That had to be a Quirk, right?

Maybe it was the Quirk of that guy who looked like a mouse?

❤If I Killed Someone For You❤ (My Hero Academia)

Izuku wanted to be a hero. He always had, and he had achieved what seemed to be an impossible goal.

Toga Himiko was a villain. She was the kind of person Izuku was supposed to catch.

And yet... why does being with her make him feel so much better than he does at UA?

👻Placeholder Name: Say My Name👻 (My Hero Academia, Beetlejuice)

Shouto was at the end of his rope. He couldn’t handle another minute of the bastard that called himself his father. Fuyumi and Natsuo tried, but even they couldn’t help. He was ready to end it all.

So who’s this green-haired kid, why is he calling himself a demon, and why does he think he can get rid of Endeavor for good?

🐝Placeholder Name: Woe, Bees Be Upon Ye🐝 (My Hero Academia)

Unbeknownst to everyone, one of Queen Bee’s bees managed to escape the efforts of the Naruhata Vigilantes. Weakened and lost after the fall of the Villain Factory, she stumbles across a small, green-haired child.

She wouldn’t normally take a male host, but sometimes needs must. And besides, perhaps this time, she could play a longer game.

Her hive would rise again.

☠Memento Mortem☠ (My Hero Academia, Return of the Obra Dinn)

Naomasa was a detective. One of the best in Tokyo, in fact. But when a series of mysterious murders stumps him, he has to admit that he can’t solve this one alone.

Fortunately, Midoriya, one of the rookies, has an ideal Quirk for this situation.

🦊Untitled Kitsune Izuku Fic🦊 (My Hero Academia)

(NB: Concept inspired heavily by @deusvervewrites​‘ Tamama No Mom AU)

Izuku was reasonably sure he was going to be the first Yōkai to be a hero. Not that anyone was going to know, of course. His mom had spent enough time teaching him to hide his presence.

Still, he’d know.

🛸Placeholder Name: The Earth’s Hero: Izuku🛸 (My Hero Academia, Doctor Who)

When he was four, Izuku was diagnosed as Quirkless. Unable to see her son so dejected, Inko called up an old friend of hers: a traveller known as the Doctor.

With his brain and his heart, Izuku will become a hero, Quirk or no. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll save the universe along the way.

❔Composite Character❔ (My Hero Academia)

Even in a world as diverse as theirs, Midoriya Izu had a unique Quirk. One that connected them to countless other versions of themselves, spread out across the multiverse. For as long as they could remember, they’d been using it to solve just about any problem. With the help of their other selves, they could become an expert in any science, fighting style and various other random skills.

But just who was Izu themself, besides a mere conduit? 

🔫Untitled Parental Nagant Fic🔫 (My Hero Academia)

Midoriya Izuku lost both his parents in a fire that consumed their home when he was only 5.

Tsutsumi Kaina was a hero, whatever that meant anymore, and was having the worst day of her life. She was ready to do something drastic.

When a chance meeting brings these two people together, a new path opens for both of them. And while Izuku proves that all you need to be a hero is a deadly aim, Kaina will show the world that, perhaps, Lady Nagant still has a part to play in the light.

♥♦♠♣Izuku in Borderland♣♠♦♥ (My Hero Academia, Alice in Borderland)

Midoriya Izuku was having a normal day; chasing hero fights, avoiding his classmates, the usual. As he crossed the Shibuya Crossing, however, his world went dark.

He awoke in a deserted Tokyo, where he will have to play deadly games to survive and, hopefully, return to his normal life.

🕳Placeholder Name: Warpzuku🕳 (My Hero Academia)

Izuku’s Quirk had always been odd. The ability to make objects appear out of thin air was a useful one, even though he’d never quite figured out how it worked.

Once he gets into UA, however, he begins to experiment, and accidentally embarks on a journey across the multiverse, meeting countless versions of himself in his quest to return to his own universe.

🍀Placeholder Name: Faezuku🍀 (My Hero Academia)

As a child, Midoriya Izuku wandered into the forests near his home, and disappeared.

Now, a decade later, he returns on the eve of UA’s entrance exam with a number of new powers, and a very strange idea of social etiquette.

Even an outsider could tell that Izuku wasn’t exactly all-human. But can a half-fae still become a hero?

🌌Placeholder Name: Vastzuku🌌 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Nedzu was widely considered to be one of the smartest beings in Japan. This meant he knew when his paws were tied.

After the unmitigated disaster of the USJ Incident, he realises just how unprepared he and his staff are for dealing with the coming darkness. But how far will he go to protect his school?

Far enough to strike a deal with a centuries-old servant of a primordial god of fear, it seems.

🔥Placeholder Name: Desolationzuku🔥 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Of all the things Nedzu expected to turn up at UA one night, a desperate teenager fleeing from a cult was not one of them. Midoriya Izuku may be... unique, to say the least, but what kind of heroes would they be if they did not help those who asked?

Or, Izuku is born to be the Messiah of the Lightless Flame. He is not on board with this destiny.

🗡Placeholder Name: Slaughterzuku🗡 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

Midoriya Izuku was an angry person.

You wouldn’t be able to tell at first glance; he hid it well, pushing his rage down deep inside of him. But with every taunt, every jeer, every push, his anger grew, and it was getting harder to keep it down.

And when a voice in his head starts telling him exactly what he could do with it, he may not be strong enough to hold himself back.

🐺Placeholder Name: Huntzuku🐺 (My Hero Academia, The Magnus Archives)

For Izuku, inheriting All Might’s Quirk was a dream come true.

Sure, it came with weird dreams and urges, but he could still be a hero, right?

When Izuku’s new Quirk fills him with the urge to hunt, he meets a strange girl, who introduces him to the life of a Hunter. Together, they will defeat nightmares, and run from a society that seems only to want to suppress their desires.

💓Placeholder Name: Cultzuku💓 (My Hero Academia)

When Uravity announced her sudden break from heroics, barely a year after she began, Shouta was suspicious.

Those suspicions increased when she revealed she was to be staying in an isolated forest community.

Upon initial inspection, it was an idyllic haven away from the bustle of modern life. But was there a darker undercurrent, or was Shouta’s suspicions getting too ahead of him? 

🧟Placeholder Name: Zombie Hero Team🧟 (My Hero Academia, Zombie Land Saga)

Despite being Quirkless, 15-year-old Midoriya Izuku had been accepted to UA! In the General Education course, admittedly, but there were ways to get into Heroics from there! This was the first step in his path to being a hero!

And then, on his first day, he was run over by a truck, killing him instantly.

He wakes up nearly a decade later, dazed and confused. He meets Nedzu, Mr. Principal, who explains that he is a zombie, and that he, along with six others, must unite to become the greatest hero team Japan has ever seen!

How hard can it be?

Planned Works (One-Shots)

(NB: All descriptions here subject to change)

I Didn’t Lose It (I Set It Free) (My Hero Academia)

Himiko was tired of being normal. She had pretended her whole life, but now, she wanted to shed the mask. She wanted to be herself.

Lord Knows I’ve Said Awful Things ‘Round This House (My Hero Academia)

To a man such as Sasaki Mirai, the world was rigid, unmoving. The past and future were both set in stone. All that was left was to focus on making the present as good as possible.

When We Find Out What’s Wrong With Me (Could You Tell Me How I’m Right For You?) (My Hero Academia)

Shouta was clearly the worst choice to take care of a child. Hell, he could barely take care of himself. But, Centipeder had insisted that he was the only choice, and he was damned if he failed Eri like the world already had. So, he’d give it his best shot.

How hard could parenting be, anyway?

Social Climb (My Hero Academia)

Momo had been raised in high society. She had known proper etiquette and poise for years, and knew that, one day, she’d inherit the Yaoyorozu empire. She had to make a good impression now. And she was happy with her lot in life. She was.

So why did Izuku make her feel more alive than ever before?

💫The Ragged Men in Ragged Clothes💫 (My Hero Academia)

When Yagi Toshinori was asked if a Quirkless person could be a hero, he was struck by a vision of his own past. He gave the boy the answer he had been told all his life, too lost in his own memories to realise the impact of his words.

When that boy turned up dead that night, he knew exactly the mistake he had made.

💫Perhaps They’ll Listen Now💫 (My Hero Academia)

When she heard the news of her beloved son’s suicide, Inko thought she would shatter. She almost did, but slowly, and surely, she managed to pick up the pieces of herself.

Now, she had a mission: make sure no mother would ever have to feel her pain again.

When You Feel Embarrassed, I’ll Be Your Pride (My Hero Academia)

Izuku had been interested in Quirks ever since he was a kid. He had spent hours analysing them, picking them apart and seeing how they ticked. He’d never expected it to be any more than a hobby.

When he noticed how Kaminari-kun struggled with his own Quirk, however, he couldn’t help but offer his services.

Every Word I Say is Kindling (The Smoke Clears When You’re Around) (My Hero Academia)

Izuku was never an angry person. No, that was Kacchan’s role. He, on the other hand, was the sweet one, the kind one, the one who would always turn the other cheek.

And yet, when he heard what Endeavor put his family through, he felt true rage for the first time.

Je Peux Pas Te Dire Adieu (My Hero Academia)

Kacchan was Izuku’s friend!

It didn’t matter that he hurt him occasionally, or that he belittled him. That was just his way of showing affection, after all.

It was Kacchan and Izuku, to the end!

Planned Works (Original)

The Faust Series

Orphaned as a child and isolated by his peers, Faust only had books to keep him company. One day, he discovered an old book, describing techniques that were the stuff of legend.

Having turned 18, Faust uses his magic to investigate matters of a supernatural and paranormal nature.

Tales From the Cafe Between Worlds

A mysterious door, appearing in out-of-the-way places on countless worlds. It grants entry to a place beyond any individual universe - the Cafe Between Worlds.

Here you will find a collection of stories of the Cafe, its mysterious Owner, and the patrons that come and go as they please.

#writing #ao3 writer #writer #WIPs #mha #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #flesh and blood #ceaseless watcher #the quirk doctor #the magnus archives #tma #camp buddy #danganronpa #heathers #musical #persona #persona 5 #kingdom hearts #beetlejuice #return of the obra dinn #will wood #will wood references #life is strange #original work #original writing #original characters #doctor who #konosuba

[passer-ine]

Some things have been picking at my mind about Philip's journal. It's a bit long.

It's pretty much an analysis.

"My journey through the Demon Realm is far from over. But today I humbly donate my journal to the ages."

"Entry One: May 21...I think. My Name is Philip Wittebane. And I have found myself in a world so horrid, yet so fantastic, few minds could have dreamt it. If only those at home could see what I have, and perhaps they shall. For the more I learn about this realm, the more I am certain I can harness its strange powers to return home. Today, I begin recording my journey home to create a portal back to the Human Realm."

Ok first off, I'm thinking about the "few minds could have ever dreamt it" and how in the 1st episode Luz says the Demon Realm was something like she had only ever seen in her dreams. Just a nice parallel.

"After five years, I had finally found it. A power source so potent it can pierce through realms. Titan's Blood. There are old tales of lakes reflecting green trees and blue skies. The Titan's veins run through the land. And many believe that these wild portals are created when a little of its blood leaks into the water. That is how I came here. So that is the first place I shall look. I will journey back to Eclipse Lake."

Ok so this is the main thing bugging me: he didn't come through a door apparently? Maybe he was lying, yes, but I don't think so. Most of the stuff in the journal is *technically* true, but just really twisted to sound how he wants it to. This is also a weird thing to have lied about. Plus, the portal door is made with titan blood, so it makes sense. Also, I think when Belos tried to get the door from Luz, I think he just called it a portal and not a portal door. Makes me curious of who made that door.

"My journey to Eclipse Lake has been a success, and yet, a tragic failure. The tunnels were filled with a substance known as Fool's Blood. It signifies a decaying vein. I was lucky to get out alive. My companions were not."

My guy you absolutely just killed them.

"After careful analysis during this Deadwardian Era, I believe the current human year is 1660. Or is it '70? The years are flashing by, but it will be worth it. I've gathered all the ingredients, including Titan's Blood. All that's left is to seek out The Collector. And he will tell me what I need to complete my mission. But, first, my companions and I must face..."

He could have pretty easily been one of the first people to live in Gravesfield.

Also, he NEVER says in that entry that he's trying to build a portal. "He will tell me what I need to complete my mission" not "the portal."

The thing that still nags my mind is the titan blood entry. He outright states he came through some other kind of portal, not a door. This implies there's another way into the demon realm.

#toh #toh spoilers #the owl house #philip toh #toh philip #philip whittebane #the owl house philip #toh analysis

[seddm]

Do you have any analysis involving season 3 of the owl house.

Mmmh not really, sorry. When it comes to The Owl House, I'm mostly in for the ride. Clearly I ask myself questions and wonder what could happen, what gets foreshadowed and all that, but I don't dedicate that much brainpower to it. I guess it's safeish to assume Gravesfield is going to be relevant to the Earth side of the plot: Hunter and / or Belos seeing their statues, something connected to Caleb meeting the witch whom apparently brought him to the Demon Realm the first time around, stuff like that.

As for the plot on the Boiling Isles, no idea, really. They have to fight a reality warping god now, I assume it's not going to be just punches and magic, but talking and learning more about his past, King's past, his connection to the Collector and whatnot. Also they're gonna get Eda a cool robot arm. With an Apple Blood dispenser.

#seddm answers #the owl house spoilers

[megadan94]

Now that we know about Luz's Dad's death, that adds meaning to the name "gravesfield".

I thought it was just a spooky name to go in a spooky witch show, but no, it's a place of mourning for Luz and her mother. This show is about her escaping that unhappy environment, so that she can go on to do new things with her life.

It's about escaping grief.

#my post #the owl house #luz noceda #camila noceda #luz's dad #papa noceda #noceda family #gravesfield #toh analysis #toh meta