The Owl House: Difference between revisions

Or so it seems… The Boiling Isles may not be quite what she expected of a fantasy world.

 

 

You can watch the first episode [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DViUDJuFPhQ here]. The show was renewed for a second season ahead of the series premiere, which debuted on July 11th, 2020. The second season debuted on June 12th, 2022 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYqzwDPczqs (the new intro seen here)] with news that there will also be a third season, made up of three 45-minute specials.

 

Due to creator [[Dana Terrace]]'s obsession with anime, ''The Owl House'' contains references to many anime works, such as ''[[Little Witch Academia]]''. Fun fact: Terrace is a [https://twitter.com/DanaTerrace/status/1653190525720330241?cxt=HHwWgoDQ-cWBqPEtAAAA fan] of the ''[[Witch Hat Atelier (manga)|Witch Hat Atelier]]'', whose creator Kamome Shirahama is a [https://twitter.com/shirahamakamome/status/1652666306553057280 fan] of ''The Owl House''! If you're looking for something after finishing ''The Owl House'', ''Witch Hat Atelier'' is a good place to start.

 

''The Owl House'' is a [[Spoilered Rotten]] series, so be warned: {{Unmarked Spoilers}}

*** {{spoiler|The episode "Hollow Mind" subverts this Trope completely; Belos is well on his way to becoming one of the most evil villains in Disney history given the scope of his crimes. He is clearly [[A Nazi By Any Other Name]].}}

* [[Amusement Park of Doom]]: The setting of "Really Small Problems". Their attractions include but are not limited to: Bumper Carcasses, the [[Dem Bones|Molar Coaster]], a Scariss Wheel (sort of like a Ferris Wheel that gives you serious nightmares), sentient games that'll try to scam players, vendors selling rotten candy (cotton candy), and a circus act ran by Tibbles who trains tiny mythical creatures to do tricks.

* [[Animalistic Abomination]]: Apparently ''giraffes''. In season 1, Eda tells Luz that giraffes are natives of the Boiling Isles in a manner indicating that she thinks they're so silly, they must have originated elsewhere. Contrast that with season 3, where Amity, Gus, Willow, and Vee - all of them natives of the Boiling Isles themselves visit a zoo in the human world and take a photo of a giraffe, [https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/wiki/Giraffe causing it to show them its true face] and leaving them ''terrified''.

* [[Animal Motifs]]: Owls for Eda, ravens/crows for Lilith, hawks for Mrs. Clawthorne, and deer for Belos.

** Steve convinces {{spoiler|the surviving Emperor's Coven guards to stand down and rebuild a better Boiling Isles. They need little persuasion to take off their masks, looking like a load has been lifted off them.}}

** {{spoiler|The Collector}} is overcome with grief and remorse when he finally understands {{spoiler|what death is after Luz disintegrates saving him from Belos. He tries to apologize to the Boiling Isles residents for his playtime, but they are still scared of him. So he decides to return to the stars to understand life better, though it's shown that he visits regularly. He also helped rebuild the portal to the Boiling Isles so that Luz could visit regularly.}}

* [[Bad Boss]]: Odalia. She twists her youngest daughter's arm to act as a guinea pig for product demonstration, not only making her fight the creature but forcing her [[Throwing the Fight|to lose on purpose]] in order to make it convincing to investors, and when the demonstration starts to tank she has Luz, Willow, and Gus expelled simply to punish Amity for growing a spine. She has her husband work round the clock without ever rolling up her own sleeves to pitch in (in “Clouds on the Horizon”, Alador tells King that Odalia laid off half of his staff and made him and the staff he had left work overtime to meet Belos’ quota, adding that hasn’t had a weekend off in five years), only sees her family as potential staff for Blight Industries, and uses Alador's sympathy towards their kids to cow him into compliance so they won't be brought on as employees under her control.

* [[Bat Out of Hell]]: The Bat Queen is nasty and scary enough, but looking after her nestlings quickly turns Eda into a [[Badly-Battered Babysitter]].

* [[Chekhov's Boomerang]]: The Boiling Isles's acid rain. Eda tosses Luz into the house when it starts pouring during "The Intruder", saying that she saved her from grievous injury. "Watching and Dreaming" shows us why Eda was so scared: {{spoiler|While Titan-Luz is protected from the rain, Philip Wittenbane aka Belos isn't when he's separated from the Titan's heart. He's reduced to a walking skeleton in seconds as he begs Luz for mercy. Eda, Raine and King then deliver the killing blow.}}

* [[Child Prodigy]]: The Golden Guardian has a reputation for this, although Lilith claims he's actually a [[Spoiled Brat]]. Given what is seen of him so far, there is valid arguments for both views.

* [[The Chosen One]]: This trope gets explored a lot in the first and second season, with Luz naming it directly in "Witches Before Wizards".

** ''Azura the Good Witch'' is a chosen one in her book series. Luz admires how Azura has a preordained destiny but always befriends her enemies, or makes them "eat" her magical attacks.

* [[Cursed With Awesome]]: Members of the Detention Tract are troublemakers who are not allowed to learn magic; however, at least three of them know that the classroom has a secret door to a room that allows access everywhere in the school, letting them learn whatever courses they desire when the [[Apathetic Teacher]] who watches them falls asleep. It is later revealed that Eda used to do so after magically building the room. Bump likely gets rid of it later, but after Luz and those students save the day, they're allowed to study multiple courses, possibly even starting a new policy at Hexside.

** In season 2, {{spoiler|Eda manages to alter her curse so that her Cursed Form is a [[Cute Monster Girl]] "Owl Harpy" (as she calls it) far more a benefit than a hindrance.}}

* [[Cute Witch]]: Every female student at Hexside; even Amity has moments once her kinder side surfaces.

* [[Dance Battler]]: In "Enchanting Grom Fight", Amity and Luz defeat the eponymous monster with a duet version.

*** This is later revealed to {{spoiler|be a lie, but it seems Belos is indeed the Dragon-in-Chief to the Collector, although Belos doesn't know that until the Collector is freed and - possibly - [[Devour the Dragon| kills him]].}}

** The Golden Guardian seems to be shaping up to be this in season 2. {{spoiler|He stops being this in "Hollow Mind" when learning that Luz was right that Belos never truly loved him, and that he was a clone that came from a long line that is killed when they go against Belos}}.

* [[Dumbass Has a Point]]: Hooty is great at defending Owl House residents, but not-so-much at problem solving and paying attention. Heck, he spent a whole day talking to a fly when the Owl House family left without him to go to a carnival. In "Edge of the World," when they learn the Titan Trappers {{spoiler|has mistaken King as one of their own tribe and Elder Bill was lying to the Trappers that he was going to share the power of sacrificing the last Titan}}, Hooty aptly asks {{spoiler|if Titans are even evil given Bill casually lied about everything and nearly sacrificed King}}. Luz follows this line of thinking as well, showing how serious it is that Hooty was actually right about something.

* [[Early Teen Hero]]: The fourteen-year-old Luz.

** "Thanks to Them" in the preview clips finally has Camilla hear the full story about why {{spoiler|Luz chose to stay in the Boiling Isles, namely that Belos blackmailed Luz into surrendering the portal door and was trying to wipe every witch out. As Luz tearfully apologizes while looking at a photo of her father, Camilla hugs her and forgives her, promising they will have lots of time to talk now and clear the air. The important thing now is that Luz and her friends are safe. Luz responds yes they're safe, but her friends are not home.}} Indeed, when Camilla sees {{spoiler|Belos possessing Hunter and attacking all the kids under her roof, she is horrified on realizing ''this'' was the [[Big Bad]] that her underage daughter was fighting for months and understood better why Luz chose to stay. When Belos leaves behind a working portal that the teens can use to follow and stop him as well as the Collector, she releases Luz from the promise to stay on Earth, but insists that ''she'' is coming to help save the Boiling Isles.}}

* [[Friendly Enemy]]: In season 1, Lilith honestly believes her quest to arrest and conscript her sister is [[For Your Own Good|For Her Own Good]] and would much rather Eda join the Emperor's Coven by choice rather than have to force her too. Eda, for her point, still cares deeply for Lilith, although [[Unscrupulous Hero|exploiting Lilith's reluctance is not beneath her.]] In season 2, the "enemy" part is more like a sibling rivalry.

* [[Functional Magic]]: Magic on the Boiling Isles combines ''Inherent Gift'' and ''Wild Magic''. Witches and biped demons can cast spells using the magic bile sacs attached to their hearts. They do this by drawing spell circles, which determine the strength of the spell depending on the size. There is also ''Device Magic'', where magic can be cast through Palismen because the creatures have their own source of magic that witches and demons can use if they are bonded to them.

* [[The Gambler]]: Eda seems unwilling to turn down any wager, no matter how trivial or how dangerous, and has a notebook full of the times she's made them with King and won.

* [[Gambling Game]]: While dealing with the stress from {{spoiler|her curse}}, Eda becomes addicted to Hexas Hold 'Em, a witch version of poker. {{spoiler|When she gives up the addiction, Luz helps Vee the Basilisk track down the cards on Earth so she doesn't lose her magic and reveal her true form to anyone}}.

** Abominations are jars of magical slime that can assume vaguely humanoid forms to act as magical servants. Presumably a profitable and lucrative profession for wizards, as Willow's parents insisted she take the class, even though she had no talent in it. Amity also specializes in this school.

** In season 2, Amity's parents are shown combining these creatures with [[Magitech]] technology to create half-machine-half-abomination soldiers. Amity herself starts showing creative ways to use the conjured-up slime, using it to create bindings, cages, a shield, and a sword,

* [[Our Werebeasts Are Different]]: {{spoiler|Eda is called the Owl Lady because she suffers from a curse that causes her to change into a demonic, owl-like beast at night. This was inflicted upon her by a wizard whose identity she doesn't remember, and also doesn't remember why. Eda takes a potion to avoid the transformations, but starting with episode 10, its effect is starting to fail...}}

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: Dottie and Roselle, [[Evil Old Folks| two sweet-looking old ladies]] who run the Kitty Cafe are in fact vampires who kidnap cute creatures and brainwash them with constant babying. Unlike typical vampires, they aren't bothered by sunlight; it's not known what other traditional traits of vampires do or do not apply to them.{{Context|Aren't Dottie and Roselle old witches rather than vampires?}}

* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Demons have two weaknesses that King (a demon himself) relates to Luz, purified water and passive-aggressive comments. "Even demons have inner-demons," he claims.

* [[What Measure Is A Non Human]]: {{spoiler| Poor Hunter combines this with [[Sins of Our Fathers]] when he finds out that he is a Grimwalker, not only questioning whether or not he counts as a person, but whether he has the ''right'' to be counted as one. It gets worse in season 3.}}

* [[Why Did It Have To Be Snakes]]:

** Luz's fears include "jerks online who want to debate", "human souls trapped in cat bodies", and... milk ("I'm lactose intolerant!"). She also fears disapproval from both Eda and her mother.