Aftermath!! Aka part 2

He rolls with the lgbt

The Owl House Series Finale Thoughts, part 1

So, now that I’ve had time to vent and gather my thoughts I can say that The Owl House series finale, was a letdown. 

There were strong elements: the animation, the voice acting, the music, all incredible. I do deeply appreciate the hard work and talent the crew brought in making this show and how many people have felt represented and seen by the show’s inclusivity and themes. I feel that this show will be beloved and remembered for a long time.

However, I feel like the show made critical errors that actually undermined what it set out to do. Before I get into my thoughts, let me explain how I got into this show:

I happened to stumble upon the show because it looked neat and heard that the show creator also worked on Gravity Falls, another show I enjoyed. The first season was fun; bright, clever, and you could tell it wanted to tell a larger story with deep and meaningful themes. Season 2A was also fun and it had begun to depict a darker, more mature world. I didn’t think too much of the show, it was just fun, a typical kids’ cartoon show with good storytelling and memorable characters. Nothing really grabbed me about the show.

Until Hollow Mind.

Long-term fans will remember people being disappointed by the episode because they became attached to Fanon Philip that had appeared during the hiatus and we got something completely different in canon. How did this seemingly sweet young man turn into Emperor Belos? Turns out, he’s just a dick. A huge, murderous dick with a hero complex. 

I wasn’t there for Fanon Philip but what drew me to Belos was that in HM, his apparent backstory was in the literal background of the episode and it sparked my imagination. I joined the fandom because, like many, I wanted to know what Belos’ deal was. Many talented and creative people came up with long and compelling theories about the Wittebane brothers, speculation that was further fueled by the grimwalker reveal and Caleb appearing in Belos’ memories in King’s Tide. That speculation grew and people wrote whole fan fics and drew art depicting the trials and troubles of the Wittebanes. 

I became invested in the Wittebanes because their story was so tragic: two orphan boys who grew up in a cult, essentially forced to participate in witch hunts in an adapt-or-be-hanged situation, only for the elder to actually see the error of his ways and leave his younger brother behind, making him think he had been bewitched and that it was his duty to save him. 

We got more scraps of information in Thanks to Them, the most important being how the brothers only had each other and became witch-hunters to fit in. In For the Future, Caleb’s apparition appears--whether a ghost or hallucination is unknown---above his specter is a bloody knife, Caleb stares accusingly at the wretched, shambling remains of his younger brother. Philip lashes out angrily accusing him that it was his fault and that he “tried to save his soul.” This is a highly interpretive scene, and many thought it implied Belos’ deeply buried guilt and how he always lies to himself to justify his actions. All the while, deep down knowing the truth.

With all that in mind, what did we learn in Watching and Dreaming? What made this young man who ventured out to what he thought was literal hell to rescue his brother? His only family? Only to kill him in a fit of madness and spend literal centuries trying to recreate the brother of his childhood, to erase his original sin, all the while descending into madness and depravity?

Turns out he’s a dick. A huge, murderous dick with a hero complex.

“You assume Belos’ goal comes from a genuine place,” the Titan tells Luz. And seemingly the audience because fans wanted to see this story, this foundation to all of the horror and trauma. To understand how a man becomes evil. 

Well, according to the show, he’s just like that. Luz attempts to reconcile Belos’ goal of saving humanity with her own and wonders if their morality is really so different. Silly human, the Titan says. Your goals and motives are genuine, he’s just delusional and evil. So you can take comfort in the fact that your enemies’ goals are just self-serving, but yours are the real deal. 

Sorry but this is lazy.

You can’t say people are complicated and then turn around and say actually, no some people are just delusional and power-hungry and we’ll leave it at that. It seems that, in the universe of The Owl House, only good people are complicated; Lilith cursed Eda because she was desperate to get into the Emperor’s Coven but then she spends the rest of the time trying to cure her sister. Amity bullied Willow, but only because her parents forced them to no longer be friends, Hunter was the emperor’s right hand man, but only because he’s an abused teenager. Meanwhile, the villains of the show don’t have their motives given such depth, they just act in selfish and petty ways because they just are. 

I wouldn’t be bothered by Philip’s flat characterization if the show did not waste so much time giving us hints and clues that there’s actually more to him. What a twist! The villain you thought had greater complexity is just a Standard Villain, how genius! Such clever writing!

If he’s going to be simply a metaphor and not a real character then don’t tease us with a story that suggests otherwise. Keep your story clean and concise. Don’t dangle a potentially amazing storyline that aligns perfectly with the protagonist’s only to yank it away.

This is a waste of the audience’s time and squashes what could have been a wonderfully twisted and dynamic villain. But the show wasn’t interested. It's much easier and more comforting to just say bad people are just bad and never explore why. You could never become the villain because you’re good; don’t bother worrying that you and the villain have the same goals because his aren’t genuine!

 Remember kids, people are complicated. Unless you’re a villain. 

The Knight/Ghost, Luz, Sidon, and Krobus?

Bingo!

Oh Ghost my little beloved, virtually characterless in the game but have so much fanon lore and head cannons about them, they were the first canonically they/them explicitly no gender character i knew *cough fuck you matpat cough*.

I don't normally like silent character's but Ghost is just so cute and as concept they're fascinating. Through player agency and little bits of lore it is made clear that despite the Pale King's intentions and what has been said about hollowness that they are a thinking feeling character, (i've always believed the hollowness described is a connection and unity with the void that gives them strength rather an emptiness that allow them to contain the Radiance) I just love this silent child looking thing exploring a world and meeting all these new and wonderful people as well as the internal conflict as they learn their purpose and fullfil it.

Bingo again!

Luz my beloved, sorely undervalued by the fandom (there is some serious white favoritism in the fandom, thankfully not so much with the crew as they actually recognise she is the main character and that the story is about her, though they should have done more to emphasize her status as afro and latina). She has one of the more interesting character arcs i've seen of nuerodivergent child engaging in seriously harmful practices and having to get a reality check (I don't what anyone says, she let snakes out, her mum was right to send her to summer camp, a camp V loved, that would have probably benefited Luz had she had gone). She's built her world around her interests to her detriment and has to learn that it has become damaging, that her behaviours are hurting people, and she learns this on the fucking boiling isles of all places. In life or death situations she comes to understand she can't go into her fantasy, that she needs to confront reality and figure out how to thrive in it (a wonderful deconstruction of isekai stories). she's legitimately smart, figuring out the sigils and making complex use of them, her struggle with her mum is compelling, the character contrast between her and belos is fascinating, two people who when confronted with the boiling isles move in very different ways, one changing and growing, the other rooting themselves in place and festering. She's legitimately funny with some of the best lines in the show and her romance with Amity is adorable. It's subtle but i do think the writers go a bit too hard on Luz blaming herself. She's probably the only character who got a perfect amount of screentime in season two.

Oh Sidon, you and Link were some of the first things i learnt about BOTW, a legitimately fun character who deserved infinitely more screentime, a really think a sidon mipha's ghost meet up should have happened. Sidlink is probably one of my favourite ships of all time and one of the main reasons i want more monsterxhuman ships. There is reason him and sidlink have influenced some of my stories.

Krobus, best salesmen, very nice, very neat, probably my favourite Stardew Valley character, the one i always marry after it became possible and his shop is so useful.

So Uhm, elsewhere elsewhen huh.

Toh spoilers!

first of all, STEVE!!!!!!!!!! :d and second of all, FLORA?????

Also, LILITH MY BELOVED MY LIL MEOW MEOW OH MY GOD I LOVE HER SO MUCH, like she's such a cool aunt to Luz and I love her she's super nerdy about history?? Like I love her getting excited and rambling ejdvshsdh

EDA IN THIS SHOT REMINDS ME OF MEDUSA? EJDHSJRIDHDJ also i love the scenes with her and her dad, also I didn't screenshot it, but king calling Dell grandpa!? JDNDGSJSJSJEJWSNS

And ofc, LITTLE BRITISH BOY!!! PHILIP MY BLORBO

Lowkey when I saw him for the first time, i was so confused ekdbdjsjs, like I'm so used to blonde fanon Philip and then you see this bitch???? Like who are you?????? While fanon little silly Philip will forever be in our hearts, I lowkey lovin canon Philip. Like he's such a manipulative bitch and I love him??? Like something about him????

Off topic but everytime I hear his voice now without the tape effects and stuff, he keeps reminding me of James from teotfw (bcs ya know Alex lawther) but still?????

UHMMMMM LITTLE BRITISH BOY??? The entire time I was doubting myself what if I'm wrong about belos being Philip, and then lilith saying how he's familiar, oh my god did I screamed and started running around, AND THEN THAT SCENE WITH PHILIP EATING A PALISMEN??? OH NY TITAN DID I GASPED

LIKE?????? First of all, lilith is such a badass for punching Philip's nose that it literally left a bump???? Like you can still see it in belos to this day the very nose that lilith punched and honestly, I love her for that.

There's a whole lot of stuff I wanna talk with what's up with the picture of wittebro's silhouette??? Like it was so short I didn't have time to screenshot it. Also Luz is a crab maiden now.

In conclusion : I wanna draw Philip's canon design now.

Lilith my beloved

Canon or Fanon? Fanon probably, just because, idk, I just like the way she is in fanon better-

Favorite headcanon? Hmm... Aro allo Lilith my beloved (this may just be me projecting but hush)

Favorite Ship? I don't really ship her with anyone tbh-

Least Favorite ship? I once saw a Lilith x Belos so yeah that-

Date, Hate, or Mate? None of the above but I think she needs a hug-

Something I disagree with the Fandom about them? I can't really think of anything tbh

Rate how much I like them 10/10 9/10 I love her but she needs more screen time