#what luz and amity's dynamic would be at first | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kraviolis · 1 year

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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.

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mdhwrites · 11 months

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Why Does The Owl House Feel Like Fanfiction?

So there’s a lot that could be used for this but a lot of it can also go back and forth on simply being bad writing. To genuinely feel like fanfiction, you have to make it clear that as an original writer, you’re still leaning on the biggest joy and sin of fanfiction.

You need to show that you still don’t want to do the setup work for your story. You just want the payoffs.

That is the big strength of fanfiction after all. You don’t need to make the characters, introduce the world, etc. like that. You can just get to the juicy stuff without bogging yourself down. Even AUs often don’t have to actually make new designs or establish what a character’s personality is unless it’s directly opposing the source material because the audience will assume they’re the same otherwise. If you doubt me on that, I will start linking you all the comments I’ve gotten of people having to remind themselves that Odalia isn’t pure evil in my own fanfics.

But that also presents a danger when going to original fiction. After all, if you don’t setup the world, characters, etc. like that and just do big payoffs, they’re going to feel increasingly more shallow as they make less and less sense or don’t feel like they’re happening when they should. The seams of your writing will show if you don’t put that effort in.

A perfect example of this is one of the most celebrated things in the show: The Enemies to Lovers arc. To really highlight this, let’s break it down to what it would look like in fanfiction, what it would look like commonly in original fiction and then how TOH did it.

Fanfiction: The enemy relationship is already made. You don’t have to do that unless you’re changing a LOT. So all you need to do is the inciting incident that makes the two see each other in a new light and the romance can spark from there, possibly without even becoming friends because the writer just wants to see the two kiss and that’s fine. I’ve done plenty of Luscha stuff like this.

Original Fiction: HAHAHAHA! Oh god, fuck this trope in original fiction. It takes SO. FUCKING. LONG. I’m not even just talking about my own stuff. Catradora took THREE SEASONS for a reason. My own works took literally dozens of chapters to even get the characters on SPEAKING terms, let alone as friends and even then, needing to figure out what just friendship looked like to them.

This is because Enemies to Lovers DEMANDS a character arc on multiple sides. It’s a very big change from the introductory dynamic... But you also have to explore that first dynamic. You need to set up that they’re genuine enemies, explore it and sell it to the audience. Then you need to start whittling away at the base of the problem between the two, start showing their other sides like you would a villain redemption arc, and THEN you can start moving towards romance after they’ve stopped trying to fight each other or oppose each other, etc. like that. It cannot be understated that this trope is so powerful because it requires just a fuck ton of effort and patience on the writer’s part and while you can make cheats for it, like I did in Eyes Beneath the Water by making two people ex-friends but neither wanted the friendship to end, you cannot half ass it.

The Owl House: Amity is, at best, an enemy of Luz’s for three episodes. Teenage Abomination, Covention and TECHNICALLY Hooty’s Moving Hassle, even if her social media post feels awkward post Covention because... Why she is still antagonizing Luz? It makes Lost in Language somewhat confusing because she sounds like she was just trying to dismiss Luz. Like, she couldn’t get her quite out of her head but she was ready to leave her alone.

But also... Lost in Language is Amity’s next episode. By the end of it, they’re friends. By the end of Adventure in the Elements, they’re DEFINITELY friends. Period. And by the sixth episode Amity has a major role, fifth if you don’t include Hooty’s Moving Hassle, she’s blushing at holding Luz’s hand because that’s Understanding Willow which leads directly into Grom where she wants to ask Luz out.

That is no time, especially since Adventure in the Elements has Luz and Amity in it but it’s not really about the two of them. It’s kind of an all over the place episode frankly where Amity is in it but could have been swapped with anyone else. In fact, it would have made Luz look less awful for stealing from a friend. But they are enemies, strictly enemies, for three episodes at most. They are friends for three episodes at most and for most those, they aren’t exploring their friendship or their relationship in general. The only time Amity’s enemy phase will be referenced will be once by King and Amity doesn’t even react to it. It’s literally everyone else except Luz and Amity who are talking about as a joke.

It’s them lampshading the fact that they, you know... Didn’t actually do the trope. That they speedran Lumity because they like the Enemies to Lovers trope, wanted the payoffs of smiling, blushing Amity and the two getting together like you get with that trope but didn’t put in the work. They minimally setup up Amity before ripping her character apart so as to do what they wanted. They never explored the different phases of the two together, barely really made any sort of real dynamic between them at any point before they’re just the love interest and hero because... That’s what they were actually interested in.

And this is isn’t just with Amity. The Boiling Isles has all of its world building repeatedly kicked in the dick for the sake of whatever the writers want to do. The magic is abused and contradicted all the time because actually working with it would get in the way of what the writer wanted to do. Eda’s criminal background and Hooty’s strength would have made them not able to send King and Luz off to show a big payoff to Momma Eda. Actually having to show the Owl Family get close to each other would have taken too much effort so immediately after the body swap episode, the first time they ever even try to understand each other, they’re already now best friends and King is acting like he already views Luz as his big sister come Really Small Problems, their second major episode together.

And that is fanficky. It setup such a bare bones world and the like just so it could do what it wanted. It tore apart characters and rushed arcs even back in S1 because those elements would have gotten in the way of actually doing the tropes they wanted. They wanted to just get to the good stuff which is probably why most characters, after their trope hits their highlight, become really boring and one note. The writers don’t care anymore because they no longer have a big moment to work towards.

Why do you think so many fanfics are so short? And... That is the really painful part for someone like me. TOH truly was blessed by the shortening because while this whole blog is about how TOH fucked up in its FIRST season as far as Lumity’s base trope goes, they will still tell me to just blame the shortening. To blame Disney meddling with the show. It’s not fanficky because writers are bad or the writing is bad, it’s fanficky because of things that let you just ignore the rest.

And that makes my stomach churn and my eyes water, both as an analyst, and as a writer who keeps getting scared about new ideas because to do them right, means doing them long and I don’t know if my brain will manage to see it to the end so I can get that payoff.

But I’m not willing to just cheat like TOH did, not with my original stuff, even though TOH’s cheats also made it the most popular of Disney’s recent animated shows. Maybe that just makes me a fucking idiot then.

===============

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#TOH Critical #the owl house criticism #amity blight #lumity

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thousand-winters · 2 months

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Remember how Amity accidentally called a teacher mom? Imagine Hunter calling Alador Dad. Dad Darius overhears and is incredulously or jealous. He gets Hunter new gruby uniform cause he's worried Hunter likes Alador more.

It really doesn't help that both of them are abomination users, and frankly? Hunter is used to the one adult who listens to him and guides him gently being Darius, so that kind of mentor-ish attitude Alador is taking with him at the moment while showing him what he's working on (I picture Alador working not only on the sigil removal but on other projects to help overall on the Isles, especially to make up for the damage his creations made + the sort of ableism he was promoting when he and Odalia forbid Amity from being friends with Willow because she couldn't do magic well) threw him off a little.

He didn't even realize Darius had heard that one because he was a little too busy going all red and apologizing frantically to an increasingly confused Alador. He truly doesn't see him as a father figure, he just has a complicated relationship with actual kind adult figures in his life, considering the first one to be kind to him ended up becoming his dad, and then when he was in the Human Realm, he was sort of registering Camila's behaviors with Luz and Vee and the rest of them like "oh, so this is what a parent is supposed to act like" and while of course there's Camila herself, Eda, Raine, and other adults who are actually good and are not his parents, he's still adjusting to the reality of authority figures not acting abusive with their power.

So between that, and the reminders of his sewing lessons with Darius, when Alador picked up something to show him with abominations, the "dad" just sort of slipped out.

Alador is very understanding about the whole thing once he stops being all ??? and Hunter can go back to his normal life just a little more mortified than before, but it's all fine. Or so he assumes, anyway, until he notices that Darius is being increasingly doting and affectionate.

It wouldn't even be that weird; Darius was probably also holding back from being too affectionate at the very beginning because Hunter wasn't used to that kind of familiar dynamic and he got overwhelmed quickly with physical affection, mostly, plus feeling like he had to repay every single gift or thing Darius bought for him. It was progressive, and this almost could pass at that if Darius didn't seem slightly frantic about it.

Now, Darius truly does want what's best for Hunter, and he wouldn't have protested, even if it's not what he would have wanted, if Hunter had preferred to be taken in by another family (provided that they were good people, of course), but at this point, when they're officially a family? And the fact that it's Alador of all people? Please, that man is still trying to repair his mistakes with his own children, he's not well suited to adopt another kid out of nowhere. Darius is aware he might be letting a bit of bitterness slip in there but he's just a little panicky wondering what he did so wrong for Hunter to see Alador as his dad.

Eberwolf would probably be the one to call him out because if anyone knows Darius well, it's gonna be Eberwolf, but if he was absent for whatever reason, it would take a bit longer for the situation to come to a head, though probably not that long. Hunter, ultimately, did learn to read adults fairly well, or at least their emotions, as a survival mechanism, so he would eventually pick up on how Darius seems almost anxious whenever he offers him something these days. Again, it's not that Darius isn't doting usually, but to this extent that seems practically? Yeah, no, something's off.

He's very hesitant to bring it up because he's not the best still at confrontation with adults, let alone his parent since Darius is, in some sense, "above" him in his vision of things, but the question of what's going on might just be enough for Darius' facade of normalcy to just break.

Hunter wouldn't even think it's silly, he knows what he would feel if he heard Darius calling another kid his child, so he doesn't hesitate to explain the logic behind that whole thing, as sheepish as he is to also imply that Darius has enough similarities to Alador for his mind to get all jumbled up.

In the end it's an embarrassing event for everyone involved and they do NOT want to talk about it once they have solved it. They are swearing not to mention it once Eber gets back.

#hunter deamonne #darius deamonne #dadrius #alador blight #the owl house #toh

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alice-jem · 6 months

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Personally I find the chemistry between Luz and Hunter obvious and if the show was created even 5-10 years ago no one would have much of a problem with Hunter and Luz shippers. It would’ve been what everyone expected to be endgame. Sure, I love lumity, it’s a cute sapphic high school romance. But narratively, there’s a case to be made for lunter while lumity is more just to be cute. Plus Luz is bisexual so any argument about erasing her sexuality doesn’t make sense. Plus it’s not like fandom is on the same level as the actual tv show like if a group of people want to imagine Luz and Hunter dating that does absolutely nothing to take away from the canon sapphic romance! I don’t have anywhere I feel like I can express this without getting literalky DOGPILED by Twitter teenagers who think the end all be all of queer liberation is making cartoon teenagers kiss.

I somewhat heard that type of rant that I've been interested to discuss before.. But I think it's better if Hunter has been introduced first than Amity tho. To make Hunter as a Male Lead. Yet the romance plot of TOH didn't go on that route. Because (ugh, another straight couple in Disney)

Unfortunately, everything has been already set by arranging Willow and Hunter as a pair instead Hunter is compatible to be paired with Luz because, Luz is with Amity now and both had feelings for each other before Hunter came. So I can understand what they're trying to defend the sapphic canon ship because THEY NEED LGBTQA+ REP, so if there is a straight couple in their favorite cartoon/show, the fans will gone RIOT and they will forced to make the straight couple to stay friends or platonic then shove it to everyone's throats. But their annoyance of not wanting Luz (who is a CANON BI) had a chance to NON CANONICALLY be together with a GUY who has 10x potential chemistry than Lumity. (I also love Lumity too from enemies to friends to lovers). The thing is, Willow shows to become the heroine for Hunter yet still GoldenLuz/Lunter scenes has more sparks even tho they're jumping to make a side couple (Huntlow) alongside with Raine and Eda (Raeda).

And the biggest and shittiest agenda they've got in the TOH fandom is to make these two characters (Luz and Hunter) as sibling-coded into their dynamic which is a HEADCANON. But FOR THEM IT'S A FACT because of the quarrel, all that banter and starting to helping and protecting each other away from danger/harm. And yet they theorize that when we look at Lunter, it's like there are both young Philip and Caleb.

So the issue of Lunter is because the TOH fandom can easily took it down or banish the ideas and options about Luz and Hunter to become a non-canon ship especially boy x girl ships in general media where the main protagonist is a BISEXUAL/GAY/LESBIAN or part of the LGBT rep. Some of them are a bit oversensitive by the "non-canon" ships might be ruined their canon gay/sapphic ship. Like only you can ship this MC with their same gender and NOTHING ELSE. I tried to keep away from the shipping discourse because the majority wants Lunter to see as siblings, and then they will despise somebody in every fiber of their being who ships Luz and Hunter where they are both BI for each other. Like who are they to have a right to demand a person who just wanna ship without their validation? Toxic TOH fans ain't had a right to accuse somebody because they LIKE a ship that they DON'T like. Yet also the Lunter shippers didn't wish for Lunter to be canon as well. Because they can ship them without a problem canon or not-canon as long as they don't attack nor cause such any harm to others. Yet these antis has so many claims to prove that their ship Lunter is wrong and there's nothing to support of shipping them romantically. So they will non-stop accusing Lunter shippers based on their ship which i migt turned out to become 'problematic' by many.

Luz and her bisexuality is the purest rep where she likes and attracted to guys and girls. Yet when they keep telling to such people that it will erase her sapphic love between her and Amity if Luz is going to be with Hunter in the long run.. That doesn't mean Luz isn't Bisexual anymore. How can these people pushing the hatred towards Lunter where they haven't heard the word "multishipping?" So every shipper has options which good ships to be shipped with this character. They never acknowledged poly ships too so, it's too late to speak up to toxic anti Lunters out there. Stubborn as hell lol. As a Bisexual, people must understand that they cannot ruined their Bisexuality by liking or dating a guy!

#toh #hunter #lunter #toh hunter #luz noceda #luz x hunter #toh luz #the owl house #goldenluz #hunter wittebane #hunter noceda #anti lunter

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sleepingdeath-light · 1 year

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confessing to his long time crush during a sleepover hcs ; hunter

requested by ; anonymous (12/04/23)

fandom(s) ; the owl house

fandom masterlist(s) ; main | hunter only

character(s) ; hunter wittebane

outline ; “Hi! I know this request is a bit much but your writing style is awesome and idk if i could write it myself 😅 could you do a hunter (toh) x reader where they’ve been mutually pining for AGES but they don’t really know the other likes them but everyone else around them knows and is trying to get them together. so one day (maybe when they’re in the human realm, or not!! your choice! :)) the gang (luz, willow, amity, gus, hunter etc) are having a sleepover and they trick hunter and reader into sharing the same bed. SFW and fluffy please 😅😅 maybe a bonus of what the next day would be like if they woke up holding each other ?? AHH SORRY for the big request 😭😭 i hope u have a lovely day!!!”

warning(s) ; none, just fluff!

you’d known each other since he went by the ‘golden guard’ title — back when he was someone entirely different, but even then there was definitely something between you

faint and flickering and indistinct but nonetheless there

then when he went from guard to hunter your relationship evolved from that flickering something to a distinct attraction that you spent more time dancing around than doing much else

the two of you living embodiments of burning laughter-strained cheeks and stuttering smiling lips as you talked circles around your intentions and attractions with everything you had

thinly veiled disappointment at the term ‘friend’ and unshakeable grins at every crumb of physical contact being signs that the two of you missed — yet that blared your feelings clear as crystal to your companions

and, bless them, they tried to let the two of you work it out on your own but after two months of close contact in the human realm they snapped and decided to intervene

they excused the whole thing as a sleepover (coincidentally rescheduling for them all to be over at vee’s partner’s home and camila to be over visiting a friend of hers) — so by the time the two of you were set up in the noceda family’s living room you didn’t have the chance to back out

(and luz had stolen every other spare mattress and hidden them in her locked room, the menace)

initially it was awkward but then you broke the ice by making a joke about them abandoning you and things became easier

conversations were pleasant and easy, like a cool babbling brook on a hot summer’s day

affection was casual and brief, followed by the sort of laughter that only puppy-love can bring

you put on a documentary about wolves and just laid and sat side-by-side — with your head on his shoulder and his arm around your waist

it’s quiet and domestic and perfect but neither of you say anything

and you don’t say anything until well after you’ve fallen asleep in each other’s arms: your head in his chest and his body curled around you

peaceful and warm and domestic as you drift off to the sound of a soft british accent describing the dynamics of a wolf pack

you don’t know who woke up first, but you both end up pretending to sleep for a while in order to revel in the moment but all too soon you’re forced to end your little act when your friends come home

leaping apart dramatically with awkward smiles and averted eyes

laughing in fake coughs into your fists as you pretend not to have enjoyed the night as much as you had

almost getting away with it until luz, mouth working before her mind, asks if you two finally confessed last night

earning her a playful slap upside the head from amity whilst you and hunter stutter and stammer over your words — a thousand non-answers falling from your lips until you just stop, look at each other, smile awkwardly and nod

and his hand reaches out under the cover to shyly hold yours and your squeeze it in return, the two of you smiling like the teenagers you are at your non-confession

and, all of a sudden, the something that you spent so long pretending wasn’t there is suddenly very very clear in what it is

and you couldn’t be more thankful for luz’s big mouth

#sleepingdeath #gender neutral reader #fluff #fluff hcs #toh fluff #the owl house fluff #the owl house x reader #toh x reader #toh hunter x reader #hunter toh x reader #hunter wittebane x reader

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cherrymoonvol6 · 1 year

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maybe it’s a me problem but for the life of me i cannot figure out why people believe willow is supposed to be the evelyn to hunter’s caleb (besides just being his LI), when there’s a point to hunter’s first act of defiance to belos being show in HP, the episode that establishes his dynamic with luz.

and besides, the plot contrivances in both HP and ASIAS make it clear that there are so many more things at play into hunter choosing to help willow and co, whereas in HP the laser focus in hunter and luz make it abundantly clear that he’s choosing this for luz’s sake and her sake alone.

a big difference between hunter’s behavior towards the respective female leads in HP and ASIAS is that in the later hunter is deceiving willow, while in the former hunter and luz are very aware of each other’s real identities. so i guess it’s a little unfair to consider this a failing in the willow/hunter dynamic... is what i would say if HP didn’t make a real point about hunter opening out to luz about his upbringing out of his own volition.

this is way different in ASIAS because willow reaches out to hunter because he seems like a good candidate for her flyer derby team, a sport she’s been passionate about ever since S1:

...but hunter has no interest in flyer derby at all, and instead chooses to play along because he thinks there’s great potential in willow and the rest of the flyer derby members for his own motives.

compare this to HP, where luz and hunter have formed a truce to serve their personal interests at the moment, which leads to the moment where luz’s enthusiasm for learning and conjuring magic overlaps with hunter’s deep interest and knowledge about the subject.

hunter is so excited to share his knowledge about magic that he interrupts luz, finishes her sentence and causes her to look at him in shock. and even when hunter realizes what he’s done and retracts a little, he can’t help but continue to talk about magic with luz and she then shares his excitement, leaning into him and smiling too. this marks the first time they talk to each other in friendly terms: out of their shared passion of magic.

...to the point that he has to stop himself because at that point, the only thing that overtakes his interest in magic is what he perceives as the history of his ancestors.

none of this is found in ASIAS because hunter is decisive about faking his enthusiasm in the beginning.

moreover, this moment leads to luz asking him about what made him join the emperor’s coven. and upon this tiny opening of friendliness between the two of them, hunter chooses to be honest and share about his family’s history and his motives to luz. again, HUGE change from ASIAS in which at no point hunter trusts willow enough to be that vulnerable with her before his talk with steve.

i believe this later encounter with luz rings much more true to caleb and evelyn’s dynamic. we know from belos’ account of the story that evelyn “enticed” caleb with magic to abandon his side, but since we’re meant to question belos’ skewed view, i’d say it’s much more likely that caleb grew to be interested in this magic and that eventually this changed his perception of witches and took evelyn’s side. and this is not what happens with willow in ASIAS: hunter considers her a pawn for his desire to prove himself to belos (he wants to bring her to his side), while HP makes it so hunter and luz have genuine bonding moments before he makes the decision to let her go.

so, second point: every episode that centers around hunter’s dynamic with each one of the hexsquad members features something that i call the Hunter Projection Scene™, which is basically the one point in the episode where hunter makes assumptions or attempts to understand the character in question by comparing them to an aspect he finds on himself. [if you’re interested here’s how i rank them by how effective they are: luz (HP) > amity (EL) > gus (LR) > willow (ASIAS)]

in ASIAS, the Hunter Projection Scene™ happens after hunter leaves the hexside courtyard after his first impression of the flyer derby team.

enough people have talked about how meaningless the half-a-witch comment is so i’ll just say that it’s mega-weird that hunter calls her that to her face after seeing absolutely 0 people refer to her that way, and his only impressions of willow being that she’s really fucking good in her magic track. moreover, i dislike this moment because hunter doesn’t make the decision to come back: he’s just pulled back to the courtyard by willow’s doing. granted that he immediately changes his mind, but still. this moment could’ve been so much better if he had made the choice, just like in HP he makes the conscious choice to let luz go - a natural outcome of him opening up to luz and her returning the favor just a moment later by giving hunter his staff back:

the fact that willow’s action strips hunter from of his agency, while luz gives hunter what she knows is his only source of his magic, also works in favor of HP and their relationship. going back to caleb and evelyn, at this point is abundantly clear that flapjack used to be caleb’s palisman and evelyn either carved it for him or instructed him/gave him the necessary tools to do so. therefore, the moment where luz returns the staff to hunter works as a small scale parallel to evelyn and caleb’s relationship, while luz introducing flapjack to hunter works on the larger scale.

and hey, speaking of the half-a-witch thing, luz gets two Hunter Projection Scenes™! isn’t that neat? the first one deals with the knowledge that both of them can’t cast magic conventionally as other witches in the demon realm can, as well as hunter’s acknowledgment that belos thrusts a magic staff into his apprentice and tells him he’s destined to Great Things - which is the exact opposite situation that eda and luz had going on in early S1. however, i think the second one is more subtle and way more impactful in the development of the episode:

which has its payoff at the end of the episode, when hunter is the one who didn’t think this through. his reluctant truce with the human has lead him to change his perception of luz, to the point that he’s too nice to just “blast her to bits”.

this is also something that i believe rings true for evelyn and caleb. i think it’s safe to say that caleb never pictured doing anything other than witch-hunting: it’s clear from how attached belos is to the idea of his brother “betraying” him upon meeting evelyn - and it’s her influence that caused him to rethink his life choices. luz’s behavior in this episode is the sole catalyst of hunter deciding to disobey the emperor’s orders just to let luz go.

in ASIAS, since willow shares the spotlight with a bunch of other characters that help to steer hunter’s mind, the result is a bit more diluted. so we have gus who says this at the beginning:

then, hunter’s surprise when he realizes the members of the flyer derby team are actually pretty competent at what they do and the camaraderie they form during the game.

(this is what i think the episode mostly succeeds at: giving hunter a chance to experience real teamwork between people at his level, and realizing that he really likes it.)

then we have darius’ disappointment in hunter. as the catalyst of hunter’s actions during the episode, he’s also the one who kickstarts hunter’s doubts.

and finally, steve works as a talking conscience for hunter to realize the mistake he’s made.

it’s only after realizing what belos will do to the palismen that hunter decides to liberate them.

this is an aspect that is so deliberately absent in HP: luz brings up the harm belos will cause to the palismen and hunter’s determination is unchanged.

and it’s understandable why hunter doesn’t really mind that: at that point, he only saw the palismen as something his uncle and mentor needed to feast on to mitigate his pain. after all, it’s only after this confrontation that flapjack decides to become hunter’s palisman. this is correctly accounted for in ASIAS. but you see what the problem is, right? hunter’s guilt about what he did to the derby team (essentially taking away their right to make a choice about their lives - exactly what he tells luz he wanted to have [”at least you can choose your future”]) is not enough to spring him into action. it’s only when the emotional appeal of hunter’s connection to his palisman is brought up that he changes his mind. it’s not for the team’s sake, let alone willow’s.

since HP does not count with this situation, though, hunter’s reason to avoid fighting with luz is...

...her appeal to the connection that forms between them.

it’s luz’s sheer disappointment in him betraying her after she grows to respect his agency that hunter turns visibly afflicted by her words (literally luz implying that he’s not her friend!!!) that causes him to hold off from his intentions of stopping her.

there’s also the fact that the resolution in ASIAS is just so... blegh. like starting from the fact that darius didn’t even have the intentions of delivering the kids to the emperor’s coven to begin with. this smashes any sort of gravity from the initial situation, and while i do like darius’ presence and actions in this episode for the most part, i wish there would’ve been another way to maintain the stakes of the conflict while showing the first signs of darius’ rebellion against the emperor. i also dislike that hunter attempts to free them from darius by telling him, in front of the team, that they’re unfit for the emperor’s coven - even if he also is self-deprecating by saying he’s unfit to be the GG. like wasn’t there another way to make it so it doesn’t sound like he’s insulting the flyer derby team? lol

going back to HP, it’s clear by that point that hunter holds more than some semblance of respect for luz, because not only he refuses to fight her: he chooses to be vulnerable with her once again, sharing his name to luz.

also, he does this as a response to her reducing his persona to the title of “golden guard”. this is the first time hunter goes against the notion that he’s destined to one path only.

and not only that, but as soon as kikimora begins fighting the both of them, he completely takes the heat off luz by going aggro on her.

he makes use of the agency luz lend him (which, i should remind you, makes her significantly more vulnerable to hunter if he decides to attack her) and decides to fight on her side. he could’ve just walked away and let luz deal with her, since their truce is now over, but he chooses to stay by distracting kikimora and even defending luz from her - to the point that luz doesn’t even have to use her magic to make it out of there.

this is something that looses its impact in ASIAS because willow and her flyer derby team are the first ones to fight - and even after hunter arrives to the scuffle, he only steps in after darius defeats the kids and has them cornered. i think it would’ve been way more impactful if, just like it happens in HP, hunter deliberately fought a coven head.

this is something that i love in HP because as luz is flying away, kikimora says this:

if at that point hunter somehow forgot about his official duties and the impact of his choice in that moment, kikimora reminds him of the real stakes: by letting luz go, hunter is purposefully disobeying the orders from the emperor. yet after kikimora yells these words, hunter continues to fight her until she passes out.

(also i love this little smile, after the emperor expresses his full disappointment on what hunter did. like this kid is just so proud of having taken the decision to protect luz and disobey his uncle. what the FUCK)

and this moment is night and day compared to how hunter approaches the conflict during ASIAS: he appeals to the rules of the emperor by implying that he’ll step out of the GG role if necessary. not only this, but he begs willow to go along with his plan. willow and co leave the scene on hunter’s terms. and i think it’s such an interesting parallel that luz leaves hunter having been gifted the knowledge of his real name, while willow’s last remark is sad and out of spite, referring to hunter with his fake name.

again, going back to evelyn and caleb: caleb betrayed phillip in order to be with evelyn. he took her side. this is not what happens in ASIAS: this is what happens in HP. hunter’s just lucky that darius isn’t an uptight asshole.

look. i’ve made it clear in my posts that i’m biased towards lunter, but i’m not even asking you to see the HP scenes in a romantic light. i’m just suggesting that HP pulls off hunter’s first act of defiance against belos in a way that frames luz as the reason why he does it, whereas in ASIAS hunter’s connection with willow is meddled by 1) the presence of three other people that hunter grows to respect in the EE, 2) the effect of darius’ disappointment on him and 3) his newfound connection with flapjack re-framing how he sees belos’ actions towards palismen. and in that case, the parallels to evelyn fit luz way, waaaay better than with willow.

#toh critical #anti huntlow #lunter #maaaan it hurts that the h/ntlow development is so bad because their first meeting is genuinely so cute lol #it makes me smile every time #anyways it's 5 am :) i'm going to bed

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boldlyspeedydreamerreturns · 1 year

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There's something I don't understand. I've been loving Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur since it came out, but there's a small section of the rising fandom that's been comparing Lunela and Casey's relationship to Luz and Amity, which is...odd, because their dynamics are completely different.

First of all, Casey is never portrayed as a bully like Amity originally was. And the relationship wasn't as gradual as Luz and Amity. Lunela and Casey clicked right away and were constantly hyping each other up from the word go. If I had to compare their relationship to anyone, it would probably be Molly and Libby from The Ghost and Molly McGee.

I've actually noticed a lot of people trying to compare Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur to The Owl House, and it's honestly really weird. We know that the show will likely tackle more mature topics as it goes on, but it's not even close to the same tone as The Owl House. Again, I'd compare it more to The Ghost and Molly McGee in terms of tone and even humor.

I believe that Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is going to be something wholly it's own, and I personally can't wait to see what we get going forward. But we need to stop expecting every new show to be the same as the older ones. Give it a chance on it's own. If just the first two episodes are any indication, this is going to be something special.

#moon girl and devil dinosaur #moon girl magic

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asherisawkward · 8 months

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is Raeda the least problematic of the 2 main ships Lumity and Huntlow? What criticism do you have for that?

This is going to be a short response and not like my usual replies to asks because there has been a death in the family today, and I’m not feeling well enough to dedicate the time and energy that I normally would into these.

In short, Raeda is better than Lumity and Huntlow because it has some setup and it doesn’t have the same issues as the other two.

Lumity suffers from Luz’s constant lying or secret keeping, even after she promises Amity that she’ll stop this behavior. It’s thoughtless and doesn’t indicate a lot of respect for one’s partner. Raeda avoids this trap with Raine keeping their lucidity from Eda because they were in a highly dangerous situation where they could end up being captured, tortured, or killed. Any person who knew about them posed a risk to Raine, themselves, and their family. That is a situation where someone is more than justified to keep secrets.

Huntlow has the issue of there being poorly set up. There’s no real chemistry aside from Hunter blushing, and the way that he calls her “Captain” goes from a cute nickname to a reference toward Philip, who was also someone he cared for who was in a position of power over him. Raeda avoids this by having them be exes, meaning that the show doesn’t have to detail them falling in love from the start, but instead shows where they started and the direction of where it grew to. It isn’t them falling for the first time; it’s them getting back into the groove, maybe with a newer dynamic to it. A lot more can be implied or referenced and suggested.

Having said that, there isn’t a lot of new content, development, or “spice” to really get them going again. They don’t get enough focus for them to be as memorable, in my opinion.

I hope this was to your liking. If it isn’t, I’d recommend asking @the-epileptic-toh-blog because she does really amazing analyses of the relationships in the Owl House.

#The Owl House #TOH #Lumity #Huntlow #Raeda #Ask

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bigbeanbear · 2 months

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Okay, so I dedicated my first smut in English to Chaggie:

Charlie Morningstar, the Princess of Hell, is very much a pillow princess. Luckily, Vaggie loves being her service top. However, what happens if Charlie decides to shift their dynamic in bed and tie her tough-looking girlfriend up for her own good?

As the title and summary above suggests, this fanfic is about Charlie help Vaggie relearn the way of trust through bondage. Yes, they have kinky s3x in this, but they also talk about the problem of seeming imbalances in their relationship (in bed and beyond). I believe that they are both switches actually, and I want Charlie to validate Vaggie as an equal partner.

Some trigger warnings other than the consensual kinks: I headcanon that Vaggie suffered from bullying in the angelic army and has mental health issues stemmed from her past traumatic events. There is a graphic scene portraying the physical attack and non-consensual restraints that she endured during an incident in the exorcist days, and another scene of her mental breakdown after the hotel opening.

Note that the first chapter is the fic and the second chapter is some lores I wrote for this fic for your reference (Vaggie's origin, sexuality, gender expression, mental health issues, etc.)

Feel free to leave me any comments on AO3!

Many thanks for the inspiration from the fanart of @barblaz-arts (I just love the design of Vaggie's halter top: x x x x x) and @reicav97 (a quote about making your partner pass out in bed).

Other Easter Eggs:

Angel Dust jokes about Vaggie being the only “straight guy” in the hotel: It’s referred to one of Vivziepop’s youtube streams (1:07:24) and a cast interview by The Hollywood Reporter.

Charlie admires Vaggie’s “gorge’ body”: A homage to a cast interview on youtube where Charlie’s VA Erika compliments Vaggie's VA Stephanie’s "gorge'" (gorgeous) hairstyle on the red carpet of the show premiere.

“she would kill everyone in this hotel and then herself”: A homage to the famous meme of Stephanie in Brooklyn 99: “I've only had Arlo for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.”

“Repeat after me, ‘I’m your equal partner.’”: Inspired by the line “Repeat after me, ‘We can fix this together.’” that Luz says to Amity in the episode Understanding Willow in The Owl House.

#chaggie #vaggie #charlie morningstar #they are equals #that's the point #rainbowmoth #my fanfic #rainbowspear #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel fanfiction #hh fanfic #ao3 fanfic #hazbin hotel charlie #hazbin hotel vaggie #my posts #hh reference #hh interview

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robinreflects · 11 months

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Hi, I want to ask you what are your thoughts on the "mentor/mother figure" tropes that surround Eda and how the show handled them, because to me it fell flat. Sure, Eda does count as a mother figure to Luz and King, and my disinterest in this found family, could be writen off as just that - me being disinterested in them.

I have a small gripe with how the show calls the tropes Eda has in the story itself by the characters naming them, that I get the feeling the writers are telling me how to view Eda and to love her character.

And this more fandom related, but am I the only one who doesn't get the whole "Eda is a Mama Bird" thing? Because outside of Luz and King, the only child she has this mentor/parental dynamic with would be Edred.

She doesn't have many moments with Willow and Gus, even back in season 1. I would say, Willow and Gus have more of that "parent/child" dynamic with Camila.

Eda and Amity do go on a dventure together for the Titans Blood, but nothing about their dynamic screamed "parent & child". The same goes for Hunter, but I will acknowledge that their lack of interactions is because of the cut on season 3.

I know my criticism mostly stems from me not clicking with Eda's character like many fans of the show do, so my view on Eda will differ from theirs.

First off, I totally get not clicking with Eda as a character, even if I liked her. I also know most of my liking of the character actually comes from Wendie Malick's performance, I think she did a splendid job, especially in the more emotional scenes (like the fight scenes in s1 with Lilith). I also knew her as Beatrice Horseman before I watched The Owl House, so seeing her play a good mother figure was very engaging to me.

THAT BEING SAID, the moment when Luz and Eda’s relationship didn't feel as special to me was when the show was trying to portray Eda in a motherly way with any other kid. I don’t mean just the main team, I mean, if there was a child character, they’d find a way for Eda to mother them. I think this started in season 2 when the show already had a decent-sized fanbase and was making their own interpretations and headcanons for Eda. Mainly the one you mentioned, her being a “mama bird”. Multiple (even background) characters call her “Mama Eda”, which seemed like excessive fan service. Many things like that were done in excess or amped up because the show's fans were responding to it well and a lot of those amped-up/excessive moments felt out of character for Eda. She didn’t even want to take care of Luz in the beginning, that alone would be enough for me to believe she wouldn’t be willing to adopt everything that lives and breathes.

Willow and Gus definitely have more of a "parent-child" dynamic with Camila, which I think was very nicely done, same with Hunter. I see him having more of a "mother-son" dynamic with Camilla than Eda. The season 3 being cut short is an argument I see a lot, however, if they managed to create this dynamic between Willow/Gus/Hunter and Camilla within the first episode of season 3, I don't see how them not doing that with Eda can be attributed to the shortening, precisely because they had either 2 or 1 season (Hunter I believe met Eda in season 2) to write this dynamic, unlike with Camilla who only became an interactable character with the main cast in season 3, while Eda was there from the beginning.

The "self-aware", breaking the fourth wall-esque humor you mentioned, is one of my biggest pet peeves with the show. Pointing out tropes in the most fandom way imaginable will never fail to make me cringe. Show, don't tell is one of the most basic, easiest ways to make a story interesting, and somehow, for the sake of "incorrect quotes" type of humor, they keep failing at it. A few quotes that instantly come to mind are the "cool aunt vibe" from Collector and "What are those stupid kids doing? Wait, those are MY stupid kids" said Eda herself. Most of the characters are written very quirky, almost falling into the MPDG territory. Often reducing them to one character trait for the sake of, as I said before cheap jokes.

I also have an issue with Luz and Eda’s narratives, in that the writers can’t seem to decide if Eda is the character Luz relates to or Camila is. Camila’s speech about understanding Luz in season 3 felt very haphazard because we’ve spent 2 seasons of Eda and Luz’s narratives paralleling each other in the points Camilla is bringing up. Being unaccepted, feeling isolated, having no one understand them, being seen as dangerous at times, messing up all the time, and not liking conventionality. These points are a big part of Luz and Eda’s characters and are parallels to each other. Camila’s speech would’ve been so impactful, if it was Eda instead, not only because of the fact their stories parallel each other (and this scene was exactly what their storyline was going towards) but also because of the fact that we know Luz looks up to Eda, seeing her as weirdly perfect, exonerating her at times even. Luz, not seeing Eda for who she really is, realizes they are much more alike after the speech, and that Eda understands her.

Thank you so much for the ask! I love talking about this! So if you want to hear my thoughts on anything else, just shoot me an ask! <3 I also just woke up so this might be a little over the place and I apologize for that.

#i also dont know how to tag so if I cross tag I'm so sorry #please let me know #toh critical #toh criticism #robin reflects asks #robin reflects on toh #the owl house criticism #eda clawthorne #luz noceda

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crimeronan · 8 months

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I'm so curious about how the disaster trio in the princess!luz au first slept in the same bed together. Like how did this occur. Was it on accident or on purpose? What triggered it? Is it because they're all exhausted and the second bed is too far away? Was Luz or Hunter the cause, like injury or sickness and the other two doesn't want to leave and Amity is convinced it's okay to stay? The People(me) Want To Know.

And I can't imagine this scenario in any way without Amity being a flustered, tightly wound mess. Cause like seeing people in their sleepwear about to go to bed is an underrated form of intimacy I think. Plus Luz and Hunter are Weird but they make her feel like the weird one for feeling out of place with how casual they are about this.

GOD this is a good question. and there are So Many Ways that this could go down. my biggest instinct is that the first time it happens is a complete accident, but How that happens could be. so many ways

i'm not gonna count this as Official Canon (TM), just to leave room for if i end up wanting to write a different relationship trajectory

but CURRENTLY the scenario i'm softest for is:

amity is avoiding her roommates in the library, which has become habitual for her bc she barely tolerates them (think her dynamic with boscha back at hexside). it's late. hunter is in the library with luz & upon seeing amity, is very exasperatedly like. you cannot keep sleeping here blight. someone's gonna kill you

after some testy back-and-forth he's like Look. luz is about to go to bed, i'm on duty watching over her, literally just come sleep on the floor. you know luz would not let me murder you while you're sleeping.

(luz, helpfully, in the background: That Is True.)

on some level amity recognizes that this is hunter's tsundere-ass way of saying he's concerned for her wellbeing & also she really Doesn't want to get attacked for falling asleep in public. so she's like Fine. Whatever.

luz invites her to share the bed bc luz has no sense of normal boundaries or weird behavior. amity is like UM UH UM & luz is like OR NOT. SORRY!

amity sleeps for like four hours curled up like a cat on luz's carpet, spending the whole time very pointedly Not looking at luz or thinking about her or thinking about sharing a bed with her, because obviously she doesn't wanna do that, shut up. & then she wakes up n can Tell that hunter is dead tired. like borderline falling over.

so naturally she, in her tsundere-ass way, is like look. i'm not gonna make a habit of this and if you try to make me make a habit of this then i'll kill you. but if you sleep off the rest of your shift, i'll stay up and look after luz. you know i wouldn't let anything happen to her i'm not an idiot.

normally hunter would put up a fight about this but luz is shifting restlessly under her blankets like she's having bad dreams, so he's like.

.......okay.

bc if amity takes over then he can climb into bed with luz and gently nudge her awake and then hold her back to sleep.

which does of course make amity tomato-flustered and very quickly look away from them like. I Do Not Know What To Do With Expressions Of Intimacy Platonic Or Otherwise. I'm Gonna Die Here

i still gotta work out the exact logistics of luz's inner guard but i DO know that there's a small handful of people who are also tasked with guarding her, all under hunter's command. so when one of them shows up at the end of hunter's scheduled shift, amity is like great. i can get some more shut-eye.

i do not want to go back to my roommates. or get stabbed in the library. or sleep on the hard-ass floor. what if i just kinda......

and then she creeps onto the foot of the mattress like "i'm gonna catnap for 15 minutes and then stop committing treason. i know she said i could sleep on the bed but this is definitely still treason somehow"

then. it is not 15 minutes.

in conclusion. theyre stupid.

#replies #and who is that other witch #lumity #horrible mindscape trauma pals #shitty idiot repression gang #it's the eternal rodansey in me but i'm so so SO SO SOOOO soft for like #hunter and amity establishing this wary camaraderie over them both liking (or at least hesitantly trusting) luz #hunter and amity both trusting the other not to hurt them when theyre vulnerable despite their shitty biteyness #bc they both get how high-strung the other is and how hard it is to relax #and luz in the middle just. being the sweetest and liking them both So Much.#WAH. whatever. i'm normal #long post #toh #princess luz au

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mayandjuly1811 · 5 months

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Your opinions on Amillow? I don't like it since it has no chemistry. There's a trend on Tiktok about "She loves a boy, I'm not a boy." I hate seeing Amity being hurt over a girl with boyfriend, especially when Amity is the lesbian representation, and Huntlow is just a side m/f couple. Luz is still a better love interest for Amity. Luz>>>> Willow.

Thanks for the question, this is my opinion

To be honest, I'm not a fan of Amity x Willow either.

Some people say if Amity's parents hadn't stopped the friendship between Amity and Willow, they would be dating. Personally, I'm not sure. Me and my best friend have been friends for about 10 years. We

have many things in common and understand each other's trauma. Her and I are both queer girls but we don't have any romantic feelings for each other. You may meet someone first and spend more time with them, but it doesn't mean you would love them romantically.

Amity and Willow are childhood friends. They have angsty fallout and they both try to reconcile. It has potential, but after they reconcile, what's next? They don't have much in common in terms of families, hobbies, personalities or goals. I can only see that they both like doing hair. They don't have many conversations about each other's thoughts, trauma and insecurities. Their romantic dynamic will be very bland because there's barely a tight bond between them, in my opinion.

Yeah, I agree Luz is more suitable for Amity. She's more strong-willed and resilient, no matter how many times Amity pushes her away, she still tries to approach her and see through her facade. Luz is the first one who never gives up on Amity even though how mean Amity can be. Luz and Amity share the same hobbies, insecurities and understanding in a special way.

P/s to anon: If you don't like to see those content about the ship, it's better to scroll over and ignore it.

#toh #the owl house #ship opinions #anon ask #amity blight #willow park #my opinion

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mdhwrites · 8 months

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If you really don't like Amity having bad parents being a reason why she became antagonistic initially, what do you think would've been a better reason for why she acted the way she did initially? After all, no one is born mean.

So first: Sometimes kids are just mean. Not everyone comes from a broken family or has some sort of trauma that caused them to be an asshole. My twin brother is a narcissistic, abusive dick while my sister is incredibly selfless and caring and SHE is the one who has gone through real abuse and a failed marriage while my brother's biggest whine to make is... Honestly not much. Hell, I don't have some big trauma to explain why I have depression. I just hit adulthood and my brain's reaction to the stresses and changes was to shatter like glass. Humans are complicated like that

BUT to be fair, in a narrative no one needs to be evil just for the sake of evil. It's part of why Belos is boring. Even with Sasha, she's made more interesting by the fact that she doesn't think she's in the wrong for two entire seasons. So what could have been a better reason for Amity to be antagonistic?

Easy: The reason they gave in Covention and then expanded on in Lost in Language. It's actually the Willow stuff, the stuff that is more tied into her parents, that sucks way harder for Amity's character. Amity, early on, is an overachiever who deeply cares about her craft and takes things very seriously. That is just generally opposed to who Luz is in general. The fact that Luz wants to be a witch when there should be no way for that to be possible, made worse by how Luz treats it like something that should be fun. The fact that Luz is constantly messing around while she's working herself into an aneurysm. These are very natural conflicts that could have been explored more by the show but they made a severe mistake.

They made Amity an over the top, practically OOC, villain when she first shows and they show this by having her bully Willow and say this is what she normally does. The problem for Amity is that now she NEEDS an explanation to be such a bitch. It's not something a little understanding can deal with because it's not friction that causes her to be mean or standoffish, it's that she just straight up enjoys torturing this one girl. And mind you: It was still her choice because she only had to stop being friends with Willow. She didn't have to target her for extra bullying as we see is the present status quote.

It's also bad for Luz. Part of why I don't buy that she's some tortured outcast who has been mistreated is because she doesn't blink when it comes to Amity. One moment of cuteness and Luz is immediately going "Let's live out my fantasy and befriend her!" despite Amity being the absolute epitome of the sort of girl who supposedly would have made Luz's life hell back home. By the end of Lost in Language though, their third major episode together, they're effectively friends.

Honestly, with how little of characters Gus and Willow are, mostly serving to let Luz into Hexide and closer to Amity, alongside the fact that Dana herself said she wanted a queer romance as fast as possible... I just wouldn't have given them an antagonistic relationship. Bare minimum, not enemies to lovers (not that the show really tries that hard). Their personalities are enough to make an interesting, classic dynamic without making them hate each other at first.

Honestly, if I were to try to suggest a rewrite: Make it so that Covention is the third episode, Luz forces Eda to take her there because she sees a sign and tortures Eda like in the episode, Gus and Willow don't do anything besides exposition and introduce the concept anyways and then have the episode go the way it was originally but instead of it being because she's comically evil that she steps on King's cupcake, have it be for King's actual personality. She doesn't like the freeloader who she sees as mooching off of things and so stomps his cupcake. Gets across her serious attitude and that she is a pretty severe person. Luz makes her challenge, they have their duel where Luz finds out about Eda's sister and Amity being Lilith's pupil and after their heart to heart (because Luz in S1 had no reason to chase Amity in Covention anyways besides empathy for a crying girl), Luz gets an idea: She's going to befriend Amity and in the process, mend the rift between Lilith and Eda. This gives an actual plot purpose to getting closer to Amity.

Then you don't have the episodes wasted on Gus and Willow, nor the episodes wasted apologizing for Amity's behavior but instead can focus on Luz breaking into Hexide to say Amity. While Amity doesn't like the methods, she appreciates hard and dedication and doing it so as to be nice to her? That... That touches her and she's willing to see what the human does, especially if maybe she can learn some of that glyph magic to supplement her own? Make her a better witch too achieve her own goals?

And as they grow closer, it becomes less transactional. Grom can still happen like it did with Amity expecting Luz to want something for helping but nope! It's just because Luz is nice. And then for the finale, Luz doesn't have to be alone in her heist because while it puts her future in jeopardy, Luz has taught Amity enough about being a good person and doing the right thing that while she'll still want a disguise, she'll come with to try and save Eda's life. An act of early rebellion against what she believed in, the morals taught to her, so as to be able to properly show she's changing to not just blindly accept the EC as the best option. This also allows for the betrayal of Lilith to mean more to Amity if their mentor and student relationship has meant more to the series. Suddenly, her dance with anarchy becomes more fervent because her teacher, the one she saw as the best proof of how great the EC is, was lied to and tricked by the Emperor and now against the coven.

And for S2, if her parents aren't the main pressures on her, if it's just because she's a kid who cares about success, you don't need Escaping Expulsion and can spend half of that episode and the entirety of Looking Glass Ruins exploring Amity trying to figure out rebellion, potentially not wanting to put Luz at risk after she almost died in the S1 finale, but justifying it as her always doing things on her own. They have a big adventure climax against Belos that's also exploring rebel Luz and afterwards, Amity gives Luz a peck on the cheek for always being there. Always helping her figure things out when she'd be too stubborn to see clearly herself. Then go into Knock Knock Knocking with little changed if you want to keep that moment of them getting together the same.

It's not a perfect outline but it's what I came up with while writing this. And if you're thinking this is too much time spent on Amity, you need to remember that she already consumes a third of Luz's time during episodes in S1 and 2. Sure, TOH claims to not be a romance but then the original way it's written is unjustified because Amity already has more time dedicated to her as a pure romance without ANYTHING to do with the plot and barely anything to do with the themes at best.

But I will also admit that this is with hindsight and a more indulgent rewrite than I normally allow myself to. After all, I removed two entire characters for this. Characters that hardly matter to TOH anyways but if I was really trying to keep to it, I wouldn't get rid of them. The deck is stacked in my deck regardless to make it 'better' and that's not fair to the show.

But I hope that my point stands clear that Amity didn't need to be a real villain, even if only for an episode. She could have been a light antagonist, if she even needed to be that. Nothing is really gained by it in the grand scheme of TOH besides the Twitter posts who make shallow claims on her arc by using the angry face in episode 3 versus her smiling with purple hair and going "Can you believe this is the same person?"

And my response every time because of how shallow her villainy is, which makes her arc shallow, is why should I care? Because blaming her parents doesn't make me care.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #amity

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let-us-cultivate-our-garden · 11 months

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Could you elaborate on your comment on Discord? I would specifically like to know why The Owl House is bad at consistency:

This is Dana [Terrace]'s first time as a showrunner (granted [Gravity Falls] was also Alex Hirsche's [sic] first show as well). But all of the writing mistakes we have talked about point to a team that struggled with basic world-building, character dynamics, consistency, etc.

So this one's going to be a two-fer since the questions are similar.

First off, writing in film and television is always a team effort; writers plan, storyboard, revise, edit, and bounce ideas off each other when creating the script. Second, any first time show runner will have difficulties helming their show by virtue of being inexperienced. That's not indicative of them being a bad writer but a novice one.

I don't believe it's helpful to classify anyone as a "good" or "bad" writer based on one piece of work because even a world-famous and world-renowned author can produce a dud. That's just the nature of the creative process.

So when you ask what went wrong in the writing process you really have to know what that specific writing process was. For TOH, I don't know what that was; looking at the list of episodes and the staff responsible, it looks like they pretty much had the same roster of people throughout the run of the show. So any inconsistencies in the plot, character development, etc. cannot be blamed on a changing staff.

If I were to hazard a guess as to why the show is so structurally flawed, I would guess it's due to a lack of discipline. TOH likes to speed run through character arcs to get to the big dramatic moments and not really put in the work to get there. Just look at how quickly Luz and Amity went from rivals to OTP in half a season or how quickly Lilith was forgiven despite being a major antagonist for pretty much all of season 1. They wanted to get to Lumity and Cool Aunt Lilith right away without putting in the work to get there.

And yes, the cancellation did play a role in the show speed running through season 3 HOWEVER the writers also added in the Collector as a secondary antagonist without dealing with Belos first. The result was a character that took a lot of time away from established characters and plot lines and his own subplot resulted in his character being stripped of anything interesting or unique and just another Sad Boy for the audience to coddle.

Again, this is due to lack of discipline and wanting to cram characters and concepts into the show without stopping to think if it is beneficial to the overall story or not.

In the end, what separates a "good" writer from a "bad" one is that good writers will acknowledge their mistakes and fix them while poor ones keep repeating the same mistakes or make even bigger ones.

I hope this answers your question because without knowing how the writers chose to approach their story and why they made the decisions they did, I can only point out the flaws and what that means for the show as a whole.

#asks #the owl house #toh critical #toh criticism

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wingsyliveblogs · 1 year

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Hello once again, everyone! Thanks for being so patient as I’ve repeatedly failed to pull myself together and return to blogging. But no longer, I say! It’s time for Wingsy Live Blogs to live up to their name and do some liveblogging!

So, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is I’m still not entirely sure I’m in the right mental state for liveblogging, because I’ve been struggling with motivation in general... more or less for the better part of a year now. But the good news is I’m trying to return to being active regardless, because I’m starting to worry that if I wait for the “right time” to start blogging again I’m never going to get back to it, and I really want to watch more Owl House! I want to see what happens next, and I want to meet all those characters I’m vaguely aware of but haven’t yet encountered in the show itself!

So, the remainder of this post will mostly be dedicated to the observations I had when I rewatched Episode 7 several months ago and never got around to posting, and I’m going to skip most of my observations on episodes 5, 12 and 15 for the time being, with one exception that’s going to get a post of its own, because it’s actually the one thing that caused me to put my liveblog of Episode 16 on hold, so I think it’s pretty important. Following this post and the next, I’ll be picking Episode 16 back up where I left off.

Without further ado, my observations from rewatching Episode 7:

Now that I’ve seen a little bit of these kids’ parents, I’d be willing to bet that the twins picked up this whole "tough love" thing from them - the mother in particular seems very much like the “it’s for your own good” type. That said, I haven’t yet gotten to observe the entire family dynamic, so I can’t be certain at this point.

Ah, I forgot about this line. Fun!

The most important thing in this scene, though, was obviously the offhanded mention of Azura’s “goth phase"...spur-of-the-moment lie or the actual truth? And more importantly... foreshadowing or innocuous statement..?

You know, I do wonder if Luz's little doodle implying she wanted to impress Amity that she drew in Amity's private diary that she absolutely would look at later did anything to endear her to Amity, perhaps leading her to trust Luz was being genuine?

Actually, now that I’m thinking about that, I’m almost surprised it never got brought up afterwards... or maybe that’s why a drawing of Amity’s ended up in the book that she knew she was going to have to return to Luz..? Hmmm...

Assuming Otabin is a Boiling Isles-only literary figure and that Luz had only just learned he existed, it's really cute that she addresses him as "beloved work of children's fiction" based solely on the knowledge that Amity and a few kids she doesn’t know at all are fond of his story.

Even having rewatched, I’m still unsure how Amity figured out what happened to Otabin?? It's not as if he was targeting Luz from the start - he went after Amity first - so did she just notice what was on the book when seeing him grab Luz, and then maybe assumed that Luz did it or recognised that Luz was in a better position to fix it..?

Considering this line, and then Amity's sad look after Otabin vanishes... I wonder if she’s thinking about someone else she's not still friends with. Probably a stretch, but you never know!

#wingsy liveblogs #wingsy watches owl house #owls ep 7 #had a dream about liveblogging a few days ago #and took it as a sign #(which it very much was in context - some dreams are just like that)#the longer I'm not liveblogging the more time I have to get spoiled #I've already skirted the edge of a whole lot of spoilers over the past few months #to the point where I'm almost too embarrassed to list them out and may choose to instead just note them when they become relevant #I don't think any of them are super big - or at the very least I don't have enough details to be able to discern that #so it's prooooobably fine. probably.

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