Everyone gives Sherlock Holmes a hard time about being mean about Watson's writing, but honestly imagine you told your roommate "sure, you can write up an account of my work for the newspaper," thinking it would be like, about the murder, but then he publishes it and it's 90% about you, as a person, and it's a huge hit and now everyone in London knows that you hoard newspapers and do cocoaine when you're depressed. Because I think you'd be little miffed too.

Shazam, a supposedly magic immortal being of unknown origin: kinda pops off ngl

Batman, a father of 6: (narrows eyes in suspicion) yes…indeed it does..

In the mid-2000s there was a brief fad in Australian government messaging where they went out of their way to insult the public as much as possible.

This fad eventually died out after the tourism board attempted the same style of messaging in the UK, causing a minor scandal which led to the head of Tourism Australia, Scott Morrison, getting the sack.

The first time we drove past the “don’t drive like a cock” sign, my mum looked at it was immediately SO confused - after all she’s a good semi-conservative Christian woman. My brother and I knew it right away but for the next half hour she guessed literally EVERY other word for cock (don’t drive like a rooster, chicken, hen, chick, bird, fowl, poultry) trying her goddamned hardest to make the sign make sense until my - at the time - eleven year old brother got fed up and yelled COCK at the top of his lungs from the back seat.

My mum was FURIOUS - we weren’t even allowed to say “heck” - until she realised he’d just been telling her what the sign was, and for the rest of the three hour trip our good semi-conservative Christian mother proceeded to amuse herself by muttering “cock” under her breath and giggling like a teenager every time she did.

We still bring it up every now and then. So that particular advertising campaign has been making my family laugh for over a decade.

This one was always my favourite, though:

Reblogging to make sure this excellent story is seen

slipping through my fingers

Man.

Imagine being Eda here.

You did everything in your power to keep your daughter (who just cracked open your walls) safe and away from the fight. Argued with her about her safety and even helped carve her palisman.

Only for it to be in vain, because she ended up being killed by Belos anyway. And you got a front row seat.

You don’t even know what to do as you watch the light orbs that used to be your kid float away.

At this point, Eda doesn’t give two shits and let’s the owl beast take the reigns.

You can practically hear her grief and agony in “I don’t think I can control myself right now.”

I think my favorite thing about the owl house is that the more fleshed out the world became the more we learned Eda is just. A freak even by their standards. She’s 30 but looks 60. She wears a gold fang. She’s the only one who can remove body limbs. She called her son her roommate for the first 8 years. Incredible. A true disaster.

I love how the Titan isn’t a God; he’s a father who has used his power to try and communicate with the girl who has shown nothing but love and compassion towards his son. She wears the Bad girl coven shirt. There’s a Hooty piece where he’s missing an eye. Her last words to her son are “I loaf you” because she knows he likes bread puns. The Titan has more in common with witches and humans than he does with the immortalized version Belos created.

I love how Belos intentionally turned the Titan into this Godlike figure because he’s a colonizer. White colonizers thrusted their religious beliefs onto the people they deemed lesser. They actively took over entire continents and actively stole from and killed people because of their perceived superiority. Belos thinks he’s better than the witches, and so he actively stole the magic from the Titan, appointed himself it’s ruler, and attempted genocide against the witches of the Boiling Isles.

And I love how Luz saves the day, not because she was a chosen one with some innate power, but because she’d proven to the Titan that she deserved power.

“Almost as if the world wanted to hide them from me.”

“Almost like the Titan himself didn’t want me to have that knowledge.”

Because he didn’t. Because the Titan knew Belos didn’t have good intentions. But she showed the glyphs to Luz. He chose to show his power to Luz because he knew Luz would use it for good, and she did. Unlike Belos, Luz appreciated the culture of the Demon Realm and she learned to love the people of the Boiling Isles, including King, in a matter of months. Belos was there for centuries and yet he never bothered to treat the Boiling Isles with any respect. Why should he earn the Titan’s power when he can’t even respect her or any of the beings she shelters?

I’ve seen a few people (mainly on Twitter), reducing all of this to a “deus ex machina” or, “another cult metaphor”, but it’s so much more than that. It’s about respect. Respect of land and the people who occupy it. It’s about respecting people enough to understand them and their culture without forcing your own beliefs onto them. More than simply being an obvious criticism of the witch trials and the Catholics responsible for them, it’s also a criticism of people who use religion as an excuse to hurt people. Belos used the Titan as a fill-in for his own God and then weaponized her against her own people, while Luz treated her offspring with nothing but love and respect.

Luz won because she loved and looked after the Titan’s son and thus, loved her. Belos lost because he didn’t even bother to learn anything about King, his Dad, or the people he protected.

Edit: A really nice commenter reminded me it was the Puritains and not the Catholics who were responsible for the witch trials. Thank you for that. Message still stands but just keep that in mind.

I genuinely think the bird tube can take him

one fear.

Forgiveness and kindness in the finale of Owl House

One of the things I loved about the finale was showing that forgiveness and kindness are good things, that they can change people for better and that keeping an open hand for somebody to grab on is a beautiful and sometimes very healing thing. That it can change so much to just keep an open heart and try giving people another chance. Try forgiving them.

Like Luz and Eda and King did with Collector. They choose to be kind to them, to reach out and to try showing them a better way even when they didn’t need to. When they had every reason to be mad at him. And it changed everything for the Collector, who was hurt so much by everybody in their life, who didn’t understand the reality of his actions. It made all the difference in the world for him that somebody was willing to listen. To try forgiving and offering kindness even thought they did so much damage to everyone.

But.

They also showed the reality of it. That sometimes it just doesn’t work. Sometimes the person that we turn our kindness and our forgiveness towards isn’t willing to accept it and isn’t willing to work to better themselves. Isn’t willing to look at themselves and realize that what they’re doing is wrong. That they made a mistake. That they hurt others. They aren’t willing to work towards the better future.

Just like Belos.

Belos who refused to change. Belos, who looked at the kid he used and discarded, who was now offering him a hand in forgiveness, offering him kindness he was just taught to give and decided to not give a fuck about it. Who decided to take that kindness and destroy it. Belos, who to the bitter end was unwilling to look at himself and see what sort of person, what sort of monster he became. Belos, who refused the hand reaching out to him again and again.

And thats the beautiful and painful reality of forgiveness and kindness. It doesn’t work every time. Sometimes it backfires, like it did when Collector offered it to Belos. Sometimes it gets you or people you care about hurt. Like it did with Luz. And for it to work the person on the receiving end has to be willing to accept it. To work towards the betterment, towards being a better person, towards not making the same mistakes.

Sometimes when you give a chance to people, they will disappoint you. They will take your kindness and throw it back at your face. But does this mean we shouldn’t offer second chances to people? Does it mean that we shouldn’t forgive or be kind?

No.

Because there is always a chance that it can save people, just like it did with Collector, just like it did with so many characters in the series like Amity, Lilith or even Hunter. Because there is just as many people who will take the hand you offered and it will mean the world to them. It will change everything for them.

And I think thats beautiful.

Eda and King helping Luz use her Titan powers

The trilogy is complete.

I love this scene haha!

TOH Characters as Troubled Birds

Luz:

Eda:

King:

Amity:

Willow:

Gus:

Hunter:

Lilith:

Raine:

Darius:

Eberwolf:

Camila:

The Collector:

Hooty:

Vee:

Bonus- Belos:

I’m still not over that final fight

I love children’s media, I always have and always will. Pretty much all I watch or read is aimed for children or young adults, I just think it’s more fun, more hopeful, and honestly more palatable for my neurodivergent brain. 

But now that I am coming up on 30, I so rarely see characters that represent me as main characters anymore.

I love the protagonists as the kid I used to be, but I have just had to accept any character that represents me will be the mentor that will at best stand aside to let the kid characters flourish, and at worst die to be the inspiration for the kids to keep fighting. Pre-Owl House the only show I could watch with my kids where the mentor remained an active character was The Sarah Jane Adventures, but that had to get canceled because the lead actress actually did die. (RIP Lis Sladen, you absolute champion)

Then we get Eda Motherfucking Clawthorne

The Owl Lady

Iconic chronically ill queen.

Con-artist

Garbage thief

Public enemy number 1

Drinking her morning alcohol from her Thirty and Flirty mug

Giving no fucks about what society thinks of her

She plays the role of a mentor. She sees this lost, lonely kid and takes her in; teaches her, protects her, grows to love her as her own, but that is not the only role she plays. Her life is shaped by Luz and King, but it doesn’t revolve around them. She still has her own stuff going on.

 From reconciling with her mom and sister to joining the BATTs and CATTs and her relationship with Raine, she is just as much of a main character as Luz and even when they are doing different things, Eda’s character growth is given just as much weight as Luz’s.

Even when we don’t see her throughout most of season 3, Luz’s love for her remains one of the driving forces of the story. And when we do see her she hasn’t been sitting idle, she’s still planning, she’s still moving forward, doing her best to save her home.

Then we get the final showdown which is traditionally just between the big bad and the young protagonist, occasionally a team of friends depending on the dynamics of the show, but this fight usually NEVER includes the mentor figure. But in the Owl House, you bet your ass Eda is going to be included. 

Not only is she in the final battle, but she continues to play the role of the mentor, covering Luz’s back, guiding her hand, giving advice and encouragement. And they are having a blast! Both of them have the biggest smiles on their faces because they are just so happy to be alive and together.

Even after they get to the Heart and Luz has to face Belos one-on-one to pull him off, Eda, Raine, and King are there protecting her. They are in this together through and through. Because Eda is just as much of the main character as Luz. This is their story. And as promised in episode one, they stuck together.

THE PROGRESSION OF DARKNESS.

I can’t. I’m scared.