Hunter notices Amity is really distressed about that new kid Odalia somehow has, so he eventually suggests kidnapping because Odalia sucks as a parent and why not? Amity is still in her bloodline deduction state of mind so she blurts out that people will then make the awful mistake of assuming Grimwalker Alador is THEIR child, which is the wrong thing to say because for Hunter that's hilarious and even more reason to go kidnap him.

i love the shitpost horror-comedy universe where lumiter just keep acquiring grimwalker babies that look like them. in increasingly stupid & ill-conceived ways. between luzwalker and aladorwalker anyone who knows the three of them is like damn hunter why does the universe let you have unprotected sex with Two girlfriends. while hunter is out here like. ok. i have literally never even Attempted to touch either of these women in my life. and have no idea What The Actual Fuck is going on. however i Will commit to the bit if prompted.

Reading through your Lilith analyses got me thinking. What if the reason she thinks the curse is why Eda didn't join the Emperor's Coven, is because Lilith believes Eda gave up the position for her and would've jumped at another chance to get in to be with her sister? - Pixel Anon

           That’s… EXACTLY my read on the situation, honestly! Lilith has this expectation, almost an entitlement really, for Eda to constantly act with her older sister in mind, that whatever she does is low-key a reflection of her feelings on Lilith and their inseparable sibling bond. And likewise, Lilith has been willfully ignorant of Eda’s criticisms of the Coven System, and she thinks that the only thing keeping Eda from joining the Emperor’s Coven is the ostracization of her curse…

          So coupled with how Eda didn’t have the curse (or at least didn’t know about it) in those initial moments after she gave up her position in the EC… And it’s clear that Lilith assumes that Eda was just trying to be nice. Not that Eda could ever have an actual issue with the Emperor’s Coven in the first place, because clearly that’s what Eda secretly wants, deep down? As Lilith said in Sense and Insensitivity, she expects Eda to eventually join the EC of her own volition, so there’s no point in forcing her to do it sooner rather than later; Because Lilith really thinks that this is what Eda truly wants, deep-down, or at least to be with her older sister again.

          Like I said, Lilith overstates her importance to Eda, ignores that Eda has to look after herself as well (especially with the curse SHE cast), and downplays Eda’s other connections by outright dismissing their existence; And she’s totally the kind of person to see love as a pie to be divided between multiple people, like you’re somehow choosing/prioritizing others, which is why Lilith might, say, feel the need to compete with Luz for that affection, and have a resentment/jealousy towards Luz, for being prioritized more by Eda to the point where she’d give her life for the girl, when to Lilith’s assumption, Eda wouldn’t even join the Emperor’s Coven if Lilith’s life was on the line- Which it was!

          And Lilith believes Eda wouldn’t join for Lilith’s sake, because deep down she knows Eda doesn’t care about the Emperor’s Coven anymore, and believes that Eda is saying that her petty pride against the Coven System, which Lilith refuses to understand, is more important than being with Lilith- As if Eda isn’t tormented by the distance between her and Lilith, it’s just that she can’t ignore the cruelty of Belos, either. Because there’s more to life than just the two of them, other people exist too. And Belos’ toxic ideals and propaganda have no doubt jeopardized relationships just like Eda and Lilith’s… Including Eda and Lilith’s, actually. Lilith needs to remember that Eda didn’t eagerly choose defying the Coven System VS being with her sister… It was an uncomfortable choice, and Lilith no doubt contributed towards making that an ultimatum with HER own decisions, as well.

          There’s that irony of Lilith “I don’t have a problem, YOU have a problem” Clawthorne thinking that SHE was the one being patient with Eda, having to deal with a sister who’s participating in a morally-wrong lifestyle that she has to constantly put up with, in the hopes that Eda will finally have a wake-up call and improve; Rather than the other way around… And no matter how much Lilith wanted to be with Eda, how desperate she was to the point of taking Luz hostage, instead of just abandoning the Emperor’s Coven… It goes to show some skewed priorities, that Lilith HAD to have Eda AND her place in the Emperor’s Coven; Especially since Belos is the kind of person who would probably feed into and encourage Lilith, make her feel more ‘appreciated’ by him and his coven, than Lilith is by Eda, who clearly doesn’t appreciate all of the (unasked-for) effort that Lilith extends out to her.

          Belos’ coven validates lonely people like Lilith, by telling them that they’re more special than others, that they earned that chosen privilege… Which could make Lilith resentful towards Eda, for not saying the same; Given how Eda’s beliefs contradict the assumption that there is a hierarchy, and thus Lilith would be greater than anyone else. And when Eda says that Lilith isn’t better than others, it’s not an indictment of her; Rather, it’s an uplifting of everyone in general. Not that Lilith would be able to realize this, because like I said- She probably sees love as something you must prioritize and divide accordingly, and that extends to glory. It’s a forced ultimatum, where one must be able to choose between two witches, and decide one is objectively better; And Lilith might expect Eda to uplift and encourage her, at the implicit expense of others being beneath Lilith’s level.

           That’s all that Lilith wants, really- It’s validation, being told that she’s good enough, because she doesn’t trust her own opinion of herself enough to do that. And she loved Eda’s validation, because you know that even if Eda didn’t want to contribute to those toxic coven system ideas (and it’s worth noting she DID want to join the Emperor’s Coven for a while, so there was a brief period where Eda likely subscribed to its propaganda)… She was still someone who looked out for her sister, like when Lilith got her lunch money stolen that one time. Eda’s love and validation is different than the kind the Emperor’s Coven provides, and it’s why Lilith craves it so much, NEEDS it, and why she can’t just be content with Belos’ propaganda and her position as Head Enforcer of the Emperor’s Coven. But at the same time, Lilith wants both Eda AND Belos’ approval, without realizing the two are in fact contradictory.

          And considering how long Lilith stuck with the Emperor’s Coven, even after Eda made it clear that Lilith had to choose between the two; Well, I don’t blame Belos for believing that when it came to an ultimatum, Lilith would choose the Emperor’s Coven over Eda. She doesn’t want to lose that sense of belonging there, even if it’s to be with Eda- And likewise Lilith is too afraid to challenge Belos after seeing what he’s capable of, amidst not wanting to admit that her views in life have been wrong this entire time; So instead, she goes with what’s most flattering and reassuring, because clearly Eda is in the wrong and the Emperor’s Coven is right. Even when Lilith works against Belos to free Eda, she’s still operating under the hopes that she can return to being Head Enforcer like nothing happened…

          So it’s no wonder that Belos thinks that if Lilith were forced to choose between him and Eda, it’s always Belos- Because all of Lilith’s actions and choices beforehand supported this belief, and she only ever seemed to care for an idea of Eda that never existed, especially as Lilith saw her as the cursed beast she made her. Because to Lilith, just being with Eda wasn’t enough to make up for losing her place in the Emperor’s Coven, apparently… But alas- Lilith DID prioritize Eda more, in a sense… She just had issues realizing this, amidst the fact that she rightfully asks why she needs to choose between the two, why can’t she have both; Though in this case, she REALLY can’t have both, because Belos and his ideals are antithetical to the idea of ignoring ultimatums when it comes to prioritizing what you want in life. And when Lilith FINALLY is forced to confront an ultimatum between Eda and the Emperor’s Coven, unsurprisingly set up by Belos himself… In the end, Belos miscalculated.

          And to be fair- I think Belos didn’t take into account how Luz’s healthier relationship with Eda showed to Lilith, just how much she was messing up. Let’s be real here, Luz is a TOTAL outlier in every sense of the term, in both an in-universe and narrative scale… Nobody expects her, she just sort of appears and out of nowhere and is inexplicable and surprising- Hard to figure out, despite Luz being so upfront, honest, and wearing her heart on her sleeve, practically begging to display who she fully is without any restrictions! Had Luz never come into play, maybe Lilith really WOULD have chosen the Emperor’s Coven over Eda, when the time for that decision came- And it really recontextualizes and makes you appreciate, what Belos said about not caring for Eda… Because Eda was inconsequential, because Lilith cared more for the Emperor’s Coven than Eda; Until Luz showed up. The girl really DID change everything… And her Light showed Lilith the truth, while Belos’ Light merely blinded Lilith from it.

          It’s ironic- Luz’s arrival sort of threw a wrench into Belos’ plans because she ensured Lilith’s inevitable rebellion… But her arrival ALSO illuminated to Belos the existence of the Portal, which he needs for his Day of Unity. It is worth noting that Eda still had the portal beforehand, and thus Belos could’ve learned of it even without Luz’s arrival… So in a way, one could argue that what Luz has REALLY done has been is do nothing but hinder and be a thorn in Belos’ side. In the end her arrival wasn’t that great of a thing for Belos like he claimed; Eda still had the portal and he might’ve figured it out beforehand. Luz provides no benefit to his sytem, nothing he can make use of- Like Belos insists making use of every witch in the isles by forcing them to join a Coven to pragmatically channel their skills, or how he dismisses the ‘useless’ as inconsequential to him.

          Luz very much provides no genuine use to Belos- And yet unlike so many others, she WILL be very relevant to his life, whether he likes it or not. And really, a lot of people ‘useless’ to Belos were relevant… He just couldn’t tell, until Luz’s illuminating Light has come into play, and shown him just how disgruntled the people of the Boiling Isles are, hence their protest at the Conformatorium. And THAT revelation forces Belos to actually appease the will of the people for once, even if he does have bigger fish to fry and is just saving face. Belos dismissed a LOT of people in the end, and ironically Luz, who he sees as more useful to him than she really is- She’s going to force Belos to take others into account for once. Really, Belos overstating the importance of some at the expense of the rest is what he’s always done, hence him establishing a hierarchy that claims some witches deserve the privilege of magic, more than others; And we again see this reflected in how Lilith plays up how much she means to Eda. And Lilith DID mean a lot to Eda; Just not so much that Eda would have to disregard herself and who she is. Lilith respecting this autonomy and allowing Eda to love her, while still being her own person, is so important for her.

Y’know, something I noticed from covention is that Lilith just threw her cloak on principal bump. This got me thinking, what is their relationship like. I mean, Bump was Lilith’s principal too. I can assume she was on fairly good terms with him due to her not being a trouble maker and being grudeby captain. So that begs the question of why she would throw her cloak at him. Does Lilith now think less of him or something? Come to think of it, what would bump’s reaction be to learning about Eda?

Honestly my first assumption was that it was just… a gag, that Lilith was so caught-up in the whole performance and presentation that she low key forgot about Bump, or expected him to catch the cloak and then he didn’t, but her attention is on the audience so she doesn’t notice! And yeah, I agree with you Anon; The fact that Lilith is the Head of the Emperor’s Coven definitely means Bump is VERY proud and happy for her… or not, more thoughts on that later.

Given that Eda goes to Bump under the impression that he won’t immediately rat her out, she is clearly approaching him from a very vulnerable position of trust when she asks to enroll Luz into Hexside. So we can assume that despite Eda’s troublemaking tendencies, Bump was always someone who was rather patient with her; And that even if he has his messed-up ideas he also cares for his students and is a lot more aware of the Coven System’s corruption, especially since…

…Well, he says he has only three hundred years until retirement. And Bump is an OLD dude, we know he’s aged because we see him as a kid. It’s likely he’s quite a bit older than the Coven System itself, which to him is a young, upstart change… But it’s also a dangerous one, and he’s likely aware of Belos’ genocides.

I feel like his insistence on sticking to the rules comes from both being taught to always defer to authority as a kid, but also a genuine concern for his students that if they disobey, Belos is going to do some horrible things to them… He’s just trying to survive, kind of like Camilia who on her own would probably let Luz be her own person, but because of how society isn’t ready for that, she’s concerned with Luz’s safety through conforming rather than her happiness as an individual.

I think Bump is also like that, and we can see the cracks in his façade of total loyalty to the Emperor’s Coven, because he KNOWS they’re corrupt, he doesn’t quite agree truly, he’s experience a huge portion of his life without them and knows that society can function just fine without Belos’ ideas. Bump is probably a survivorof Belos’ rise to power… Which means that even if he fears the Coven System and abides by it out of necessity, and tries to make it seem that he’s loyal so no doubt and fear is in his students’ hearts…

…He also actively resents Belos for ‘corrupting’ his school and education in general, which is why he’s so eager to make amends for people like Willow, Luz, Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus… Bump KNOWS it’s wrong and has been forced into a position where a bunch of young students are no doubt low-key held hostage, because the Emperor’s Coven is seizing control of funding. He’s a lowkey rebel and is inspired by, impressed with, and proud of Luz and the Detention Kids for doing their own thing, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he also had this kind of fondness towards Eda for sticking it to Belos for so long. Bump DOES seem eager to write a stern letter to the Emperor’s Coven about the Greater Basilisk, and I don’t think it’s just for the power rush of lecturing them, but from a position of real, justifiable spite as well.

Which makes me wonder if Bump is also concerned with the success of conformity he’s had on many of his students… If he’s really helping them, or if he’s just hurting them in the long run. And a part of him is proud of Lilith, to see her so accomplished, but maybe Bump is afraid he’s also contributed to some major brainwashing and can’t even speak out against it… Whereas to Lilith, Bump is just a reliable, beloved principal that she no longer regards as reverently because she’s older now and has ‘surpassed’ him, but there’s likely still plenty of affection as well.

As for Eda, well. Based on what I said earlier, about how he’s clearly delighted about Eda’s maturity and growth as a person to want Luz to at least form her own decisions on the Coven System first-hand… I have to say that Bump would be DEVASTATED. He’d likely wonder if he caused this, especially since Lilith had a hand in her sister’s capture, and if he learns about the betrayal… Well, after renouncing Lilith, I think he’d also feel shame about his participation and encouragement in the Coven System! That even if he did it to keep the kids safe from Belos, OBVIOUSLY it’s caused some strife amongst them, that he failed the Clawthorne kids because their relationship became bad enough for this to happen…

…But at the same time, I can see him retreating on his previous defiance towards Belos, out of fear- Because look what happened to Eda! Bump appreciates Luz’s misguided optimism, but in the end… There’s really nothing that can be done, is there? Speaking of Luz, Willow, and Gus; Bump would probably put the latter two in detention for the entire semester for their stunt at the castle, assuming he knows… At the very least, it’s not out of the question that he noticed he brought back illusions/clones. If Bump found out, he’d have definitely panicked and tried to figure out how to get these kids back without the Emperor’s Coven noticing…

…Only for everything to happen. And now Bump is afraid that through Luz, the Emperor’s Coven will call HIS position into scrutiny, and he’ll be arrested while his school and students are placed under the control and misguidance of a stooge! And he feels shame at his inability to look after his own students and set them on the right path against trouble, and… Let me tell you, this was episode was not fun for ANYONE…!

You think Warden Wrath’s crush on Eda pushed him to tell Luz where she was held?

The more we see of Warden Wrath’s intelligence, the more I’m convinced that he’s Belos’ abomination

-

           Combining both of these asks for convenience and answering the one about Abomination Wrath first, but;

           …I can’t say for sure? A part of me wants to say that Wrath has prioritized his personal interests over Belos’ far too many times and without hesitation… But at the same time, this could just be a ‘curse of free will’ situation where making Wrath so advanced naturally leads to him having his own personality, and thus his own personal desires that he places above Belos’ orders.

           It’s worth noting that the Emperor’s Guards all have blue eyes VERY similar to Belos’… Assuming Belos can’t create witches, it’s not out of the question for him to make fully-breathing, living homunculi to function as his lesser grunts and generic soldiers. We see that Belos’ constructs, including the Intro Worm, aren’t exactly made of mud like most Abominations but seem to have actual organs and whatnot, which would coincide with Wrath seemingly being organic for the most part. On the other hand, Braxas exists and HE looks a lot like Wrath, though I suppose that Belos basing a creation of his off of pre-existing beings, or worse, repurposing body parts from them isn’t out of the question…

           (I have to wonder if Belos had simply… taken the eyes of a poor Emperor’s Guard to replace his own malfunctioning, deteriorating pair.)

           We DO see an Emperor’s Guard cheering when Eda escapes petrification, implying that these guys are capable of also unlearning some toxic mentalities, which could point towards them not being Belos’ creations… Honestly, I can’t say for sure! For now the assumption is that Wrath and the Emperor’s Guards were their own beings, possibly modified to be more conforming like the EC witches (which I’ve also speculated about), but otherwise… I can only consider the possibilities!

           As for Wrath and any feelings for Eda…

           …Probably not. He very quickly changes his tune on Eda once she does a raspberry in his face and goes for murder, not to mention Eda’s dialogue heavily implies that the first episode was also their first actual, proper, face-to-face interaction. It’s pretty clear that Wrath only saw Eda as ‘alluring’ because she was a challenge, a ‘trophy’ for him to conquer and earn, which is GROSS. Not to mention, Belos is overseeing this petrification and is making a big deal of this as a personal order from him…

          And given all of the statues around the Conformatorium, as well as those three recently-petrified witches, Wrath has likely seen a few petrifications up-close and knows EXACTLY what Belos does to those who don’t ‘fit in’. Not to mention, how Belos threatens those who show loyalty to anyone that isn’t the Emperor… It’s Wrath’s life VS anyone else’s, hence why he caves in to Luz’s threats because he doesn’t want to legitimately riskhimself if he isn’t certain of victory. It’s best to be on the Emperor’s good side, in Wrath’s opinion.

           With how the dude puts himself up as big and intimidating, only to immediately cower when things go wrong… Honestly, Wrath gives me the vibes as basically an entitled, spoiled brat from childhood who never had to question things. Like, he was just a natural bully since the beginning, with Wrath having particular IDEAS about how people should function… It seems that Wrath was never taught to handle differences in others at all. Combined with the severity of his punishments for simple things like fanfiction, and…

           It seems like Wrath is someone who like Boscha, doesn’t realize you can dislike a person, but then otherwise just let them exist; It’s a very black-and-white mentality of, “If I dislike this person then I do THIS, if I like this person I do THAT,” there’s no in-between. I can see him having been a kid who would’ve bullied others over things that seemed gross, and without anyone to tell him to stop (and possibly with enabling by the system), Wrath just kept pushing his boundaries, going from hating someone to not wanting to be his friend… To hating them for a one-time incident…

           And without anyone to tell Wrath to stop, he’s defaulted to a childish mentality where if this person makes me uncomfortable, OBVIOUSLY they’re bad and all bad people should be lumped into the same category that is the Conformatorium! He’s never had someone really tell him no, at least nobody meaningful to Wrath and at an important stage in development… So when he IS told no, he reacts very negatively.

          Wrath is probably someone who never had to question his way of thinking whatsoever, but it also means he hasn’t really matured, hence his childish screams and quickness to cave in when Luz, a human, overwhelms him. He’s very much someone who dishes out a lot of damage onto others, but can’t take a hit to save his life; Which all suggests a lot of comfort and privilege that Wrath was raised upon.

          Warden Wrath is basically an overgrown manchild who never really learned to deal with his emotions in a constructive manner, always defaulting to ‘this person who makes me feel bad IS bad and should be hurt!’ and probably had a lot of adults who encouraged and enabled this behavior. He has zero self-reflection and doesn’t really consider people as, well, peoplewith their own lives and such, and Wrath feels entitled to being prioritized, which also means he prioritizes what he wants.

          But when faced with an unexpected situation that challenges his beliefs that he can’t immediately steamroll over effortlessly, Wrath caves in at even the idea of being genuinely hurt for once as retribution for his actions. When Eda defies him, Wrath defaults back to his old ways of thinking, but when Luz does and shatters Wrath’s preconceptions of him as naturally being far stronger than this puny human, he immediately falls apart.

          Wrath at least expected Eda to be strong, it was part of the ‘allure’ to him, but when faced with something that challenges his worldview, Wrath quickly falls apart at the seams and gives into panic, which just goes to show that he’s always someone who’s operated on a position of comfort, taking his power for granted.

          It’s worth noting that as a Warden, Wrath himself probably isn’t hunting people down personally, but merely enforcing his strength upon those who have already been defeated, imprisoned, and stripped of various tools that could help them; That when he beats down on others, he already has an Emperor’s Guard or two holding their arms down so they can’t fight back!

          Obviously Wrath isn’t a total pushover either in terms of strength and likely quelled a few uprisings here or there… But in the end, he doesn’t handle actual adversity well, which hinders Wrath as he definitely has the body-type to take on most challenges. He could easily just suck it up and take the damage, but Wrath is too much of a brat to do that.

         ...I’m not saying Wrath is exactly the kind of person who taunts people and makes fun of them for getting so ‘sensitive’, but when HE is emotionally hurt, he very quickly starts yelling angrily with snot and tears dribbling down his face. But that’s EXACTLY what I’m saying he is.