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The Collector's Loneliness

We all know that The Collector wants revenge but he are also desperate to get out of his prison and that is why he sought to sacrifice titans and later allies himself with Belos to kill all the witches but what if he chased the titans because he blames them for his confinement and for leaving him abandoned and at the same time to somehow make a ritual similar to what he did with the owl beast for that they were going to keep him eternal company?

Maybe he just helps Belos not only to be free but also to somehow get the souls of the dead witches from Day of Unity to keep him eternal company?

If he caught beasts like the Owl Beast and used that ritual as a way to create an eternal companion that would always keep him company?

When King has that strange dream where The Collector's prison is, the latter desperately asks him not to go and it sounded quite honest and desperate on his part. The Collector really is like a child: he doesn't know right from wrong so he has no idea how bad his actions are and he doesn't want to be alone so he seeks company, even if it was by force (as he did with the Owl Beast).

It also explains why he persecuted the titans and it's because he blames them for having left him locked up inside the titan's bones (it could be because the titan himself imprisoned him for being a threat or he simply ended up imprisoned by accident) and trust me that spent indefinite years in solitary confinement he would drive anyone crazy.

An example of how harmful extreme isolation can be and how it can negatively affect someone is Aqua from Kingdom Hearts series.

In Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep she in her final fight against Terranort manages to defeat him and her heartless creates a portal that takes them to the Realm of Darkness and Aqua sacrifices herself giving him her keyblade and armor to help him escape.

And although Mickey tries to get her out, he doesn't succeed since she tries to stop a swarm of heartless and is taken by them to a false version of Destiny Islands and is forced to remain in the Realm of Darkness.

but with the hope that one day someone would rescue her and take her back home.

however, so many years of isolation end up taking its toll on her: Ansem, the seeker of darkness (or as I call him the false Ansem) tries to attack the real Ansem but Aqua defends him, which makes the false Ansem attack her and makes her submerged in the sea of the Realm of Darkness

and the darkness that is corrupting Aqua makes all the negative feelings that she has been repressing explode and turn her into Anti-Aqua, the living representation of all the Aqua's negative feelings of frustration, anger for feeling that her friends abandoned her, despair to get out of that world, loneliness for having lost her friends and only having some monsters as company that seek to kill her.

and when Mickey and Riku interacted with her, all Aqua does is lash out in anger at them because she blames them for her imprisonment as she feels that they abandoned her for so many years.

and she was only able to return to normal and leave the Realm of Darkness because there were people who loved her and cared about her.

If Aqua, despite having friends who love her, succumbed to the negative feelings she's been repressing from being 10 years alone and trapped in an isolated place felt frustrated, lonely, desperate and resigned to her eternal confinement and attacks her friends for thinking they abandoned her for years, imagine how The Collector would feel who spent indefinite years isolated in his prison, probably spending MANY MORE YEARS than Aqua in the Realm of Darkness, looking to kill titans because he thinks that they're responsible for his imprisonment also, unlike Aqua, The Collector doesn't have friends and anyone and the only person he thinks is his friend is a person who's probably just using him.

I'm not justifies him, I'm just saying that The Collector probably captured and collected beasts because he wanted to have fun and turn forcibly anyone he meet into his friends in the worst possible way and he didn't care if this ended up hurting them but once he was imprisoned he spent so many years of loneliness and isolation that drove him crazy to the point where he wants to free himself at any cost and is also desperate to have any kind of company in anyway without caring if the others want to be his friends or not.

He may have been bad before his confinement, but what the isolation and loneliness he had while there did was amplify his defects (fear and hatred of loneliness and abandonment, not realizing the impact of his actions), making him even worst what he was before.

Has anyone else noticed that Belos wants Eda petrified right away in jail but specifically wanted Luz to be sent to the castle? Belos could have ordered Luz to be killed but instead he ordered to sent her to the castle also keep in mind that when Raine also requested to be informed if Eda had been caught before doing anything but they don't mention Luz, Raine knew that Eda was in the warehouse, but they didn't knew that Luz was with her and Raine only knew that Luz and King are Eda's children but they didn't know who Luz is and they didn't know that Luz is human and when Darius pulls Luz out of the carriage that was going to take her to the emperor's castle, Raine tells Luz that Eda told them about her so Raine only knew about Luz when Eda told them about her after everyone rescued Luz so the order to bring Luz to the castle was given by Belos.

We know that Belos also wants Hunter because he wants to kill him to create another grimwalker but why would he want Luz? Well, we know that she has already completed the time loop and knows about his past and could have ordered the scouts to kill her apart or petrify her with Eda, but he didn't. We also know that he has a small fixation on her because she is human.

All of this makes my concern for Luz greater than before.

Has anyone else figured out that Odalia believing that helping Belos by giving him abomatons would reward her with prestige and be safe is pretty similar to what Belos did with Lilith and Hunter and what he's doing with Kikimora and (possibly) the Collector?

Belos makes others think that he loves them, that they're special or that they have greater privilege than others as long as they help him with his goals:

- He made Hunter believe that he is special for being his nephew and for having the rank of Golden Guard, so Hunter will always seek to please his uncle and help him in everything he can because Hunter feels that he owes it to him for giving him a future by not having anyone and not being able to do magic naturally.

- He led Lilith to believe that she was talented and intelligent, causing Lilith to desperately seek his approval because she felt ignored by her own family and always felt inferior to her sister Eda and Belos is the first person to recognizing her efforts value as a powerful and important witch.

- He makes Kikimora believe that the more loyal she's to him, the more she will be respected and receive more approval and privileges because Kikimora feels that Belos is the first person who truly respects her.

- Possibly he is making the Collector believe that being his friend he will not lie him or betray him like the rest, making the Collector, despite his doubts for having seen Belos manipulate, control and betray others for years, continue trying to convince himself that Belos will not betray him as he has done with everyone because they're friends and their friendship makes him special to Belos unlike the others.

- And now Belos indirectly makes Odalia believe that if she helps him by giving him abomatons, she and her family will be saved and and they will be rewarded with prestige (like Odalia said “being treated like royalty”) because Odalia believe that if she and her family are loyal to Belos, the most powerful person in the Boiling Islands, they will be rewarded with greatness and prestige and they will also be able to have the security of being able to live comfortably without worrying that they might disappear like the others.

All this shows how really manipulative and dangerous Belos is.

Himiko and Eda: Search for Love, Fear of Rejection

Although they may seem different, Eda and Himiko are very similar and here I will explain why:

They both have the flaw of wanting to live a selfish life that benefits them but this stems from the fact that they have tried to fit into a society but have failed because that society rejects them for not fitting into its ridiculously high and idealized standards.

On the one hand Himiko's parents saw their daughter as a monster only because she used her quirk for the first time when she was 4 years old and despite the fact that they scolded her, they never corrected her because if they had really corrected her they would have explained to Toga why she was sucking blood from a dead bird was wrong but instead she was immediately tagged a freak and told to behave normally, repressing her quirk and her emotions.

Remember that children don't know what is good and what is bad unless someone teaches them and her parents never taught Toga that but rather gave up on her calling her a freak. Then when they took her to her quirk advisor they did the same as her parents: they didn't address the problem properly (teaching Himiko about empathy and how to use her quirk properly) and told her that she be repressed and treat her as a monster.

On the other Eda was cursed by Lilith with the Owl Beast and ended up hurting her father by accident. This caused her mother Gwendolyn to despair of getting a definitive cure for Eda but this made Eda believe that there was something wrong with her and see herself as a freak for hurting her father and for not being like the other witches (they are normal because they don't have a curse like her)

and she ran away from home because she felt rejected.

It's true that Gwendolyn loved her daughter while Toga's parents gave up on their daughter but this doesn't take away from the fact that their actions of wanting her daughters to be normal caused both Toga and Eda to see themselves as monsters and made them both believe that others would see them that way because of their conditions (Toga's quirk and Owl Beast curse).

What makes them different is that Himiko kept repressing herself to fit and be accepted in but she reached her breaking point that led her to attack a boy from her school and hurt others because she has internalized what everyone thought about her (that she's a monster that likes suck people's blood and kill them) while Eda was afraid that something similar would happen to her, so she decides not to tell Raine about her curse which leads to their breakup as a result.

The reason Eda didn't have a breaking point like Toga was the fact that she had people who loved her even though her relationships with them became complicated and problematic (Lilith and Raine) and now she has people who love her despite her condition and they taught her to have empathy for others (Luz and King) while Himiko had no one who loved her or anyone who she can tell about how she felt or about her quirk and although she had friends,

both them and their parents didn't love her but they loved the mask that Toga put on 

until she couldn't take it anymore 

and the few people who really love her as she is, 

she loses them in the worst possible way.

This is so bad that Himiko pretends to be the people she admires and Eda does not relate to anyone because they think that if they reveal things about them, the others will reject them.

And this fear of rejection is worsened by the society in which they're because these societies stigmatize them for their physical conditions since these conditions don't allow them to fit in it, in addition to not seeing them as people but denying their humanity and seeing them and they want to use them as if they were a symbol. Hero Society will never approve of someone like Himiko because her quirk isn't flashy, or pretty, or used for direct combat but is like that of a villain and Curious wanted to use Toga as a symbol for for the cause of her organization but denying her autonomy and humanity while Belos uses Eda's curse as a supposed Titan's punishment for those who don't fit in the Coven System, denying Eda's humanity and branding her a monster. This leads them to be constantly running away and hiding because they know that if they're caught they will be killed because they don't see them as people but as monsters that must be eliminated.

Both also have a strong desire to be loved because while Himiko disguises herself as others just to be like them and feel what they feel and that way no one rejects her, Eda simply gave up that desire in the first place.

Eda begins to improve as a person thanks to the positive support of Luz and King and for this she manages to reconcile with her family and with Raine and I think Toga could improve as Eda if the heroes see Himiko's humanity and give her that positive support so that she can change for the better and this is possible because we saw a hint of this with her relationship with Twice and the League as they saw her humanity.

I can't help but think that what Belos wants to do with Luz or one of the things he wants to do to her is force her to agree with him in the same way that he tried with the other grimwalkers he created. Belos is completely unable to admit that he is wrong that he is determined to find another human who agrees with his ideology and thereby prove that he's in the right.

Something that has to be taken into account is that Odalia belongs to the Oracle Coven (a coven known for making predictions of the future) and it is no coincidence that Odalia is in this coven because she cares more about the future than the present to the point that she forgets that for for a good future to exist, you have to work with the present in a healthy and positive way, because a healthy present guarantees a good future, but a negative and toxic present will only bring a future full of ruin.

This can be seen in how her main concern is her future and that of her children, but in turn she leaves aside the present and forgets how it can affect the future of her children. She wants her children to be the best in everything and to associate with people of high status only so that they have a successful future assured, forgetting how this negatively affects their children (they feel obliged to meet very high expectations that generate stress in addition to interacting with people they really don't like to be with and this causes long-term anger and frustration, bringing them a bitter and negative future). This is also seen in her point of view of Day of Unity where she cares more about the life of privilege she thinks she and her children will have afterwards than what might happen to her and her children during Day of Unity, not realizing that she and her children will probably disappear just like the others.

Odalia doesn't care what happens to Alador nor does she care about the emotional damage she does to her children in the present if ir means that they have a comfortable and bright future.

It's ironic that Odalia, who belongs to the Oracle Coven, is so obsessed with the successful and bright future she wants for herself and her children that she can't see that the present is in danger and that if she doesn't help stop Belos and save the present there will be no future for her, her children or anyone else.

Luz and Mikey: Two Faces of the Same Coin

If there is something that I noticed while watching The Owl House and Tokyo Revengers, it's how similar Luz and Mikey are and here I will explain why:

Both lost their parents (Luz lost her father and Mikey lost both parents) at a young age and it's implied that they're develop a fear of loss from that trauma.

Due to these traumas they prioritize the problems and happiness of others over their own, neglecting and endangering themselves and the reason they do this is to be able to show that they can solve their problems on their own, showing that they're strong and they're not a burden to others.

Because of the fear of loss, Luz and Mikey blame themselves for whatever bad thing happens to their loved ones to the point of punishing themselves (Luz does this trying to fix for what she thinks is her fault, going into dangerous situations without caring if she gets seriously injured and Mikey does this by allows his opponents hit him first even if he ends up being seriously injured) but at the same time they show an aggressive side towards people who hurt their loved ones.

They both have a cheerful personality and always smile

but actually is a facade to hide how they really feel.

This occurs because they have the defect of not opening up to anyone and show vulnerability.

Mikey got worse because of the constant losses he had to endure and on top of the fact that while he sacrifices his own happiness for his loved ones at the same time he feels unworthy of his affection since he believes that he is the cause of their misfortunes and feels that his loved ones are constantly pushing him away, consciously or unconsciously even though he wants to be with them and this same begins to happen to Luz during and after what happened in King's Tide.

Luz and Mikey like magic and gangs because a deceased family member taught them about it (Luz knows and starts to like magic and Azura's books because her father gave her a Azura's book and Mikey likes strength above all because it reminds him of his father because that was how he believed he was and his mother for trying to cheer her up with his victories in the fights he had as a child. gangs and wants to create a new era of gangs because Shinichiro inspired him, wanted Mikey becomes the new Black Dragons leader and taught him how to ride a motorcycle) and they stick to his likes because it makes them feel somehow that their loved ones (Luz's father and Mikey's parents and his older brother Shinichiro) are still alive with them somehow but even the things they like (Luz with fantasy and witches and Mikey with strenght and gangs) and what they want to be or do (Luz wants to be a witch and Mikey wants to be a gang boss and start a new era of gangs) become a coping and escapism mechanism that allows them to create a narrative where they're in control of their lives and don't suffer nor anyone else (Luz acting as if she were the heroine of a story like Azura and Mikey acting as the Invincible gang leader). Luz and Mikey do this to avoid facing their trauma because it's too painful for them.

The reason Luz hasn't had a breaking point before like Mikey is because she has adults who, although they're not perfect and have flaws, love and care for her and guide her (Camila and Eda) and she has a healthy support system (her friends and Amity) whereas Mikey never had any positive attention from adults, the people who approach him only do so because of his strength and charisma (either to use him as a tool or simply follow him out of admiration or fear) and the only positive support he had was his siblings and friends whom he trusted but he have lost them in the worst possible way.

While Luz is a little more peaceful, Mikey is more aggressive and there is a risk that Luz could become like Mikey and decide to distance herself from the others for fear that something bad will happen to them because of her like Mikey does and as well as Mikey's friends gave up on him, Luz feels her mother gave up on her and that Eda and King (the ones who inspired her that weirdos should stick together) gave up on her too and represses what she feels and distances herself from her loved ones because she believes that they too will give up on her. Therefore, Luz and Mikey feel that they're not worthy of being loved because everyone has given up and will give up on them and believe that they only bring problems to their loved ones.

Another thing they have in common is how they're manipulated by the antagonists (Kisaki and Belos) and unknowingly end up helping them get what they want, hurting the loved ones that Luz and Mikey wanted to protect. This only makes the guilt that Luz and Mikey feel be greater than before.

And this guilt is further increased by the fact that they are participants in the events of their respective stories by helping the antagonists directly (Luz teaching Phillip the light glyph and helping him find the collector, Mikey allowing Kisaki to join Tokyo Manji for Toman to have more strength and power and tell Kisaki to do what is necessary to achieve said goal) or indirect (Luz's intervention by traveling to the past when she helped Phillip causes the events that would result in the horrible government of Belos about the Boiling Islands and Day of Unity and Collector's release, Mikey being left in a coma from an accident he had as a child while playing with his toy airplane sparked the events that would cause Shinichiro to kill a traveler from the time to save him from that horrible fate in the original timeline resulting in Mikey having the Dark Impulses which are a karma curse for Shinichiro's actions and Mikey's subconscious desire to never be powerless or weak again so as not to be a burden to anyone (which would end up making Mikey unstable and violent as well as those impulses affecting anyone who is close to him) to the point that both Luz and Mikey consciously or subconsciously they want to die so as not to suffer any more and not to cause any more problems for anyone. They know that Belos and Kisaki would have manipulated someone else in their place to achieve their goals, Luz knows that Collector's release would have happened anyway, and Mikey knows that Shinichiro would have made the same decision if someone else he loves would have helped him. The same thing would have happened to Mikey plus the deaths of Baji, Emma, ​​Izana and Draken would have happened at any time without Luz and Mikey doing anything but they continue to blame themselves as a result of the traumas they have and the situations out of their control that caused and aggravated those traumas in the first place.

A curious detail is (no intentional puns) that while Luz is always represented with light (light glyph),

Mikey is always surrounded by darkness (Dark Impulses).

It seems that despite being different characters from different universes, they're somehow complementary by having similar trauma and coping mechanisms (remember, light and darkness are different but complementary). With the above already mentioned, if we use Jungian terms, Mikey would be Luz's shadow because he represents what she could become if she doesn't receive help in time and he also represents the traumas and the side of herself that Luz wants to hide.

Luz and Mikey have to learn to let others in and allow themselves to ask for their help and be vulnerable and rely on them, just being a kids who needs comfort and love, letting the others do the same for them as Luz and Mikey did before for them.

When Belos said: “YOU did do something good. I thought this one (referring to Hunter) was another lost cause. Because of you (referring to Luz), WE can finish OUR work as witch hunters, starting with them! (referring to Amity, Gus and Willow)” clearly the WE is referring to himself and Caleb but I can't help but think that Belos was also referring to Luz because even though he tried to kill her, at the same time he wants her to be on his side and support him (something we have seen quite a few times and that he has also done to Caleb) because Belos already believed that she was a witch hunter like him because of the fact that she was human and believed that he could help her free herself from the "mental corruption" of the Boiling Islands and the fact that she wants to be useful, help others and always ends up helping him (even though she clearly never knew she was helping him, nor did she want to) only reinforces that belief because Belos understands her since, like Luz, he also wants to help, protect and save others, especially Luz, in his twisted way. He thanks her for always help him and even wants and tries to force her to help her to accept "her destiny" as a witch hunter as a twisted way of thanks and support. And the fact that before he goes to the Boiling Islands tells Luz that whatever he's planning is for the sake of her soul (and probably Camila's soul too) shows how reinforced Belos has this belief.

Something I realized about Belos is how his appearance reflects his personality. His human appearance symbolizes how he sees himself and how he wants others to see him (as someone good, heroic and well-intentioned) and he has tricked everyone into seeing him that way (he even fooled us the audience in season 1 making us believe that he was just a well-intentioned extremist who suffered from "wild magic" and just wanted to return to the Human Realm because he missed his home) while his true appearance symbolizes who he really is (someone evil, manipulative, selfish and sadistic) and how he possesses living beings to later discard when they're no longer useful (representing how he manipulates others to later discard them when they are no longer needed or useful).

So much so that Belos believes that his human appearance is his true appearance when actually his monstrous appearance is his true appearance. He basically transformed himself into a magical monster that simply assumes the appearance of a human because he carved glyphs on his skin and consumed so many palismen, turning him into the kind of monstrous and evil creature that he believes the rest of the inhabitants of the Boiling Islands are.

This shows how even though Belos believed that witches were monsters, actually he was always the monster.

Himiko and Eda: Search for Love, Fear of Rejection

Although they may seem different, Eda and Himiko are very similar and here I will explain why:

They both have the flaw of wanting to live a selfish life that benefits them but this stems from the fact that they have tried to fit into a society but have failed because that society rejects them for not fitting into its ridiculously high and idealized standards.

On the one hand Himiko's parents saw their daughter as a monster only because she used her quirk for the first time when she was 4 years old and despite the fact that they scolded her, they never corrected her because if they had really corrected her they would have explained to Toga why she was sucking blood from a dead bird was wrong but instead she was immediately tagged a freak and told to behave normally, repressing her quirk and her emotions.

Remember that children don't know what is good and what is bad unless someone teaches them and her parents never taught Toga that but rather gave up on her calling her a freak. Then when they took her to her quirk advisor they did the same as her parents: they didn't address the problem properly (teaching Himiko about empathy and how to use her quirk properly) and told her that she be repressed and treat her as a monster.

On the other Eda was cursed by Lilith with the Owl Beast and ended up hurting her father by accident. This caused her mother Gwendolyn to despair of getting a definitive cure for Eda but this made Eda believe that there was something wrong with her and see herself as a freak for hurting her father and for not being like the other witches (they are normal because they don't have a curse like her)

and she ran away from home because she felt rejected.

It's true that Gwendolyn loved her daughter while Toga's parents gave up on their daughter but this doesn't take away from the fact that their actions of wanting her daughters to be normal caused both Toga and Eda to see themselves as monsters and made them both believe that others would see them that way because of their conditions (Toga's quirk and Owl Beast curse).

What makes them different is that Himiko kept repressing herself to fit and be accepted in but she reached her breaking point that led her to attack a boy from her school and hurt others because she has internalized what everyone thought about her (that she's a monster that likes suck people's blood and kill them) while Eda was afraid that something similar would happen to her, so she decides not to tell Raine about her curse which leads to their breakup as a result.

The reason Eda didn't have a breaking point like Toga was the fact that she had people who loved her even though her relationships with them became complicated and problematic (Lilith and Raine) and now she has people who love her despite her condition and they taught her to have empathy for others (Luz and King) while Himiko had no one who loved her or anyone who she can tell about how she felt or about her quirk and although she had friends,

both them and their parents didn't love her but they loved the mask that Toga put on 

until she couldn't take it anymore 

and the few people who really love her as she is, 

she loses them in the worst possible way.

This is so bad that Himiko pretends to be the people she admires and Eda does not relate to anyone because they think that if they reveal things about them, the others will reject them.

And this fear of rejection is worsened by the society in which they're because these societies stigmatize them for their physical conditions since these conditions don't allow them to fit in it, in addition to not seeing them as people but denying their humanity and seeing them and they want to use them as if they were a symbol. Hero Society will never approve of someone like Himiko because her quirk isn't flashy, or pretty, or used for direct combat but is like that of a villain and Curious wanted to use Toga as a symbol for for the cause of her organization but denying her autonomy and humanity while Belos uses Eda's curse as a supposed Titan's punishment for those who don't fit in the Coven System, denying Eda's humanity and branding her a monster. This leads them to be constantly running away and hiding because they know that if they're caught they will be killed because they don't see them as people but as monsters that must be eliminated.

Both also have a strong desire to be loved because while Himiko disguises herself as others just to be like them and feel what they feel and that way no one rejects her, Eda simply gave up that desire in the first place.

Eda begins to improve as a person thanks to the positive support of Luz and King and for this she manages to reconcile with her family and with Raine and I think Toga could improve as Eda if the heroes see Himiko's humanity and give her that positive support so that she can change for the better and this is possible because we saw a hint of this with her relationship with Twice and the League as they saw her humanity.

Emperor Belos and Funny Valentine: The Lie and Toxicity of White Savior Complex

It may seem strange what I'm going to comment but Belos shares some similarities with Funny Valentine from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run in the sense that both are a satire of radicalized white supremacists, genocidal colonizers.

Even if we look at it from a historical point of view, Valentine's ideal (Americans superior to other cultures) is clearly the evolution of Belos's ideals for modern times (pure humans superior to native savages and heretics).

Both were heavily influenced by their upbringing, young Phillip being in an environment of anti-witch frenzy, while young Valentine was told from early on that above all else stands patriotism, that the only pure righteous action one can take is born from the love of one's country and they follow these ideals because a loved one inspired them (Caleb and Valentine's father) to the point that Belos and Valentine see it as a way to bond with said loved one as well as that they both feel that they should live by the ideals or values of their respective loved ones but as time goes by they genuinely believe in these values regardless of what Caleb or Valentine's father genuinely believed in those values so Belos and Valentine never question these values to the point of wanting and seeing themselves as heroes or marthyrs for what they think is a noble cause.

Beneath what appears to be a feeling of wanting to do good for their people lies a distorted feeling of love that they both have and firmly believe is normal and/or good:

Valentine sees his patriotism as an extension of love for family and friends and he becomes a soldier and later the president to protect the United States.

Belos became a witch hunter to fit in in Gravesfield and protect his family and town from witches and aspires to be Witch Hunter General.

This is because Belos and Valentine don't love Caleb and Valentine's father but love the idealized versions of them that they both had in their heads. Belos saw that Caleb left with Evelyn and believed that she manipulated him into abandoning him when clearly Caleb left of his own free will and was happy with her and Valentine never got to know his father, he only knew what others had said about him.

What I'm getting at with this is that at first they both followed their ideals because they believed they were doing something good, but as time went by those ideals were flawed (and most likely Caleb and Valentine's father knew it or at least they suspected it) but Belos and Valentine continued to cling to those ideals to a toxic degree because it gave them power, control, benefits and justification of their nefarious actions to the point of developing a desire for personal satisfaction of being remembered as heroes by showing that they are better than others for being the chosen ones (Valentine wanting to become the best and greatest president of the United States of America and Belos by wanting to become the best and greatest Witch Hunter General). This can be seen by the simple fact that they saw themselves as the chosen ones because they believe that they are the only ones that can save their people (Valentine sees himself as the only one who can take the corpse and bring prosperity and security to his country and Belos is seen as the only one who can protect humans from witches).

Later they both become politicians in order to achieve their goals:

Valentine wanted to use the saint corpse to bring good fortune to the United States at the cost of ruining other countries and total chaos and killing innocents and Belos wanted to protect humanity by committing genocide to the inhabitants of the Boiling Islands, except that Valentine became the president of the country he loved the most and Belos became the Emperor of the place he hated the most.

Belos and Valentine hurt their own citizens or fellow (fellow humans for Belos, fellow americans for Valentine) they claimed to protect and they manipulated everyone in the process thanks to their charisma, everyone admired and respected them to such an extent that they manipulated the protagonist at one point in the story and even manipulated the audience into believing that they are selfless heroes.

Valentine and Belos say they want to make things better for their respective nations but they follow an ideology that hurts the marginalized and don't seek to improve their situation (in Valentine's system black people are still treated as slaves and the natives continue to be massacred and their lands are stolen. The system Belos supports excludes all those who don't fit his impossible standards of virtue like Luz or Caleb).

An important aspect that Belos and Valentine have is that they both support colonialism:

At the time Valentine is president the native american population was being exterminated and Valentine does nothing to stop that. That it's so true that there are some natives like Sandman, who learns the culture of the Americans and signs up for the Steel Ball Run in hopes of winning the prize money to buy his people's land for the white men to leave them in peace.

Before Belos came, the people of the Boiling Islands were more connected with nature, they could use magic freely and they were kinder but when Belos comes and establishes his system, those who did things before Belos came are branded as wild witches and are imprisoned at best or petrified at worst, in addition to the fact that the inhabitants are more discriminatory and unsympathetic than before.

All of the above regarding the idealization of their flawed ideals is that Belos and Valentine refuse to change or at least have a reflection on these ideals because as I said before that gives them power and they justify it by saying that they are doing something good for their people and being the choosen ones to do that. The Owl House and Steel Ball Run waste no time in showing that all this makes Belos and Valentine had a feeling of colonialist white supremacist superiority.

It is most likely that Belos was taught as a young man that the Native Americans are savages and that the only ones who could "fix" said natives were colonists like him. At the time of Steel Ball Run, the Native American population is still being eradicated and their lands stolen, and it is most likely that Valentine has been taught the same thing as Belos regarding the "savage" natives. And even their plans consist of expanding this genocide with other cultures that don't adhere to their ideals of what a human/American should be like.

The aspect of colonialism reaches the point that Belos and Valentine use the corpse of a long-dead person praised by the land they rule (Jesus Christ and the Titan respectively) as part of their plans regarding their nation. They claim that they're chose them to carry out their actions.

When actually that's not true:

Luz and Johnny are selfish, immature and have a lot of traumas, contrary to how Belos and Valentine paint themselves but even so Jesus Christ and the Titan choose to help Luz and Johnny throughout their stories for the simple fact that Luz and Johnny choose to mature and improve as people which makes Luz and Johnny choose to accept the help while Belos and Valentine appropriate the bodies of the Titan and Jesus Christ as if they were their possessions and take the choosen one role by force and at the end of their stories they take literal possession of the Titan and Jesus Christ's bodies.

Also, Valentine and Belos have a disturbing fixation on two 14-year-old girls with similar names who ended up helping them without wanting it (Lucy Steel and Luz Noceda) and the fact that both girls have helped them makes Belos and Valentine see this as a sign that their actions are just and right. The way Belos and Valentine see Luz and Lucy is almost, if not completely, misogynistic as they relegate both girls to roles and treat them as objects that only serve to help Belos and Valentine and feed their delusions of white saviors,even both girls have powers from the aforementioned deities (Ticket to Ride/Love Train and the glyphs) that Valentine and Belos waste no time in appropriating and using them for their nefarious goals (again seeing the factor of forced appropriation by white colonialism).

Another thing that Valentine and Belos share is tha both use clones to achieve their goals (Valentine brings copies of himself and other people from other universes thanks to his stand D4C and Belos creates grimwalkers to help him) but they also use their knowledge/powers in an attempt to find a loved one who inspired them and who they miss dearly (Valentine tried to find an alternate version of his father from another universes but failed and Belos created grimwalkers because he misses Caleb and longs for human contact).

Although Belos and Valentine had presumptions of superiority, in the end they are defeated by Luz and Johnny who obtain greater power (Johnny gaining Tusk Act 4 after Gyro's death, and Luz gaining the Titan's power after her own death) and what they do is beg them to don't kill them.

Belos tries to appeal to the fact that he and Luz are human but she ignores him and let Eda, King and Raine from trampling on him.

Valentine tells his story to Johnny and he wants to believe in Valentine but still suspects the president and when his suspicions turned out to be correct, Johnny kills Valentine.

The failure to accept their deaths with dignity to the point of trying to manipulate the protagonists only shows how hypocritical and cowardly Belos and Valentine are because both believe that sacrifices are necessary and sacrifice others but are unable to admit that their ideals reached toxicity or that their plans are nefarious and that beyond doing it for their people, they did it for the pure personal satisfaction of being the heroes of their stories. Belos could at least try to understand the witches like Caleb and Luz did and could even accept Collector's kindness but he refused, Valentine could make America prosperous in other ways and improve the situation or quality of life of minorities who did need his help such as women, afroamericans or native americans, but Valentine refused.

All this shows that they don't want to help anyone and they just want to be the heroes of their story regardless of who they have to harm to do so. Just as the Titan said:

I want to add something else and it is the fact that Belos not only manipulated and abused but planned to kill Hunter and Collector from the beginning but even though he also manipulated and abused Luz he didn't plan to kill her and even wanted her to agree her side due to the fact that she is human. Hunter had coven sigil so regardless of whether he were loyal to Belos or not he would have died on Day of Unity from the draining spell anyway and Belos throws Collector off the bridge once he is no longer useful, giving to understand that he had planned to kill Collector by making his disk will be destroyed by the impact but with Luz it is a rather peculiar case because unlike what he does with Hunter and Collector, Belos didn't plan to kill Luz because he could kill her before but he didn't and only tries to kill her when he realizes that Luz does not agree with him, this contradiction can be seen after he tried to kill her in "Hollow Mind" for not supporting him but in "King's Tide" he tries to convince her that he wants to help her and offers to take her with him to the Human Realm.

Basically Belos has no qualms when it comes to manipulating, abusing and even killing children once they no longer serve him or rebel against him but he gives Luz several opportunities to join him by implying that he wants human contact so Belos wants to have Luz as if she were his prized possession while Hunter and Collector are disposable items for him, that means, Luz's feelings do not matter to him, nor those of Hunter or those of Collector, but only his own feelings matter to him.

TW Child abuse/manipulation general Belos shenanigans. No spoilers past 3x01, please don’t add spoilers for 3x02 to this post.

Sometimes I think about how Belos targets kids and why, because he knows that kids are still developing and don’t always understand right from wrong, and also it seems like he just likes being around kids more because he feels like he can control them. He’s very aware of what’ll upset Luz, what’ll make her mad, and what to say to her to get what he wants. He’s even more in tune with Hunter, he kind of trains Hunter on certain words like “replacement” that set him off. Hunter’s backstory that he gives in Hunting Palismen is probably almost word for word what Belos taught him to say (he always highlights how Belos gives him the staff which would be important to him as a half-witch but Belos also highlights that himself which feels… interesting, as well as the fact that it sounds rehearsed a bit, because Hunter trails off and then he remembers where to go next with “And then Belos found me”), and Belos definitely taught Hunter to respond to physical violence specifically from him with the freeze reaction which is fucking awful (ex. Eclipse Lake, Hunting Palismen- Belos makes a sudden movement and in both of these Hunter goes silent and still, and then in King’s Tide, Hunter freezes up and goes silent when Belos addresses him). Finally, the Collector he has less control over but it kind of seems like the Collector looks up to him and Belos uses that against him. The Collector gave Belos secret magic, and helped him create the Grimwalkers, in exchange in a lot of ways for Belos’ friendship. Belos and the Collector even pinky swore that Belos would let him out, and Belos abuses that and uses his position of having something the Collector wants to force him to help him. 

I don’t have anything to say about Darius because we haven’t seen them interact directly or alone and we don’t know much about their relationship other than their vague past when Darius was likely a minor so. Yeah. Probably won’t get elaboration on that at this point but this is a History.

Remember when I said in a post that when Flapjack sacrificed himself by fusing with Hunter to save them is similar to the moment when Pochita sacrificed himself by fusing with Denji to save him?

It turned out to be true and now Hunter has the teleportation powers that Flapjack had in the same way that Denji inherited Pochita's chainsaw demon powers.

Now that I think about it, Hunter and Denji are similars because they have a smug and rude face but that's just a facade to hide how lonely and traumatized they are and suffered terrible abuse by people they loved (Belos and Makima) and wanted to please because they felt indebted to them for giving them love and a better life only for said people to reveal that they never cared about Denji and Hunter as people but are with them because they remind them of someone they really love and/or idealize (Caleb and chainsaw demon).

The Collector: Another Victim of Belos' Abuse

We know that Belos is a abuser in every sense of the word and that although he has abused all of the Boiling Islands as a whole, his favorite targets are children, he focuses on children because they are much easier to manipulate and isolate.

Belos has abused children before: we saw it with Hunter and the other grimwalkers,

he wanted to do it with Luz

but what many forget is the fact that Collector is a child and was also abused by Belos.

While Belos may not directly physically abuse Collector, there are many ways to groom, manipulate, and abuse a child that do not involve physical contact at all.

In this post, I mentioned how abandonment and isolation had affected Collector and he was desperate for any kind of company and to be free and Phillip took advantage of that, promising to free him if he taught him magic and the draining spell in return. This made Collector easy prey for Belos as even though he finally had company, Collector was still isolated as the only one he could see and interact with was Belos.

Belos controls everything in his life: who he sees, who he talks to, when he can talk, when he can even experience something about the world.

Also, from the way we saw their interactions, Collector genuinely believed that Belos was his friend, he taught Belos powerful magic and draining spell without hesitation because he believed that Belos wanted to be his friend even when he started to doubt him at the end. Collector still considers Belos his friend and decided to trust him and was willing to keep his promise to help him first while Belos only manipulated him and isolated him, he could barely stand it as he was about to hit him when he told him that the human world had changed or that when Collector complains to Belos for not fulfilling his part and he only covers him with a blanket and throws him off the bridge.

Collector's trust towards Belos is bolstered by the fact that he is the only one Collector has interacted with for 400 YEARS since his imprisonment as Belos keeps him hidden and has not interacted with anyone else to the point that no one knows about his existence, Kikimora only knew that Collector existed because she was eavesdropping on Belos and Luz and Hunter only found out about Collector's existence by seeing Belos' memories but if it hadn't been for those facts neither Kikimora nor Luz nor Hunter would know that Collector exists. This is an abuse tactic in which the abuser keeps the victim isolated so that the latter completely depends and trusts only the former, this isolation tactic was also used by Belos with Hunter and the other grimwalkers.

Many comment on how Collector dismisses grimwalkers as objects that Belos creates to destroy them and how Collector sees the hunting of Titans, the lives of others and the destruction as a game making him look cruel but contrary to what everyone believes, Collector is not cruel out of malice but for this:

What Sundowner means by this is that children do cruel things not out of malice but because they simply have no morality in the beginning so they don't know right from wrong until someone teaches them and if no one teaches a kid that what is right and what is wrong, the kid will simply do horrible things because they believe that it is normal or that they are right and if a kid is surrounded by adults who do bad things and/or teach them to do horrible things as a good thing, the kid will simply imitate them because it's all they know. Basically kids do bad things because in their own innocence they don't know they are doing something bad in the first place.

The Collector is a kid and kids mimic the adults around them. We know that the other collectors preserve life by force and kill anyone who opposes them

and Collector isn't interested in doing the same as the other collectors and he just wanted to play and have friends

but he imitated the other collectors way of acting because they were the only adults he had and therefore they were the only thing he knew. After the war between his kind and the Titans, and by extension his imprisonment which was for an incredibly long time, the only adult in the Collector's life has been Belos, who is a person who has done a LOT of horrible things, so even putting aside the fact that they have unbelievable cosmic powers over reality itself, of COURSE he have no concept of the value or life or the suffering of others, of COURSE he sees people as toys, that's what's been modeled for him by the literal los only adults in his life at all for hundreds of years!

Collector is literally a kid with a lot of power in his hands who was surrounded by adults but all of them did horrible things and none of them bothered to show him that what he was doing was wrong because they didn't care about Collector as a person but only about his power and/or get some benefit out of it, this is clearly isolation, exploitation and neglect and all of these are forms of abuse.

This is even seen with King because despite the fact that, unlike the other collectors, titan trappers and Belos, he only wanted Collector to use his powers to save his friends but that doesn't take away from the fact that he used him and that he didn't care about Collector as person and only released him by his power. All these cases make Collector probably believe that it is normal to hurt others, lie and that friendships are utilitarian and friends always betray each other when in fact friendships aren't forged by the use that people have nor are they something that is forced on others but are forged for the love, respect and trust that exists between people. However, unlike the other collectors, titan trappers and Belos, King recognizes that Collector is still a child and that he is afraid of being alone and wishes to talk to him.

Little by little with the help of King and other people and healthy relationships that Collector builds, Collector will learn to distinguish between good and evil and that not everyone wants him for his power, but rather for who he is, Collector will gradually learn what a true friendship and/or healthy relationship is like, and with this Collector will grow as a person, learning to have a moral and emotional maturity by having people who love him for who he is and not for what he can do.

Something quite curious and that goes very unnoticed is the fact that Kikimora manipulated Boscha because in some way she is reflected in her but by doing that, Kikimora makes Boscha become more toxic, she is hurting Boscha, and therefore, she is hurting the younger version of herself.

It's no coincidence that Kikimora manipulates Boscha because in a certain sense Kikimora IS Boscha: both are terrified that others see them vulnerable and they end up mistreating others as a way to hide their vulnerability so as not to be hurt by anyone and both also have the tendency to idealize to the extreme a person they love, admire or respect (Belos for Kikimora and Amity for Boscha) but they get angry with them for not fitting in with the idealized versions they had and even when they see them again before getting angry with them for not being what they thought, Kikimora and Boscha ask Belos and Amity to give them a chance to prove themselves. The difference is that Boscha realizes her flaws and tries to improve as a person while Kikimora becomes more toxic to the point that she hurts others without realizing that she is hurting herself and isolating herself from any positive relationship with others.

Kikimora is what Boscha would have been if she didn't realize her tendency to hide her vulnerability through mistreatment of others and her tendency to idealize others are quite toxic to herself and others.

This is so true that after King frees Collector and he uses his magic, everyone gathered for the Day of Unity started screaming in terror and Collector thought they were singing.

Obsessed with this video because it implies the Collector doesn’t realize screams necessarily entail suffering and distress... They might not have even realized/considered the draining spell would kill people? Did Belos lie about the details and gaslight this kid into thinking signs of trauma were people expressing themselves happily, all to manipulate this kid into going along with his plans?!

The Collector possibly sees the term ‘nephew’ as a threat due to how they associate it with the fates of each Grimwalker, but man... Food for thought. I gotta ask King about this, what he figured out, if I could. Makes the Collector even more tragic and potentially furthers the theme of neurodivergence and misunderstanding, with the Collector not knowing the nuances of how people communicate and vice-versa.

When Belos said: “YOU did do something good. I thought this one (referring to Hunter) was another lost cause. Because of you (referring to Luz), WE can finish OUR work as witch hunters, starting with them! (referring to Amity, Gus and Willow)” clearly the WE is referring to himself and Caleb but I can't help but think that Belos was also referring to Luz because even though he tried to kill her, at the same time he wants her to be on his side and support him (something we have seen quite a few times and that he has also done to Caleb) because Belos already believed that she was a witch hunter like him because of the fact that she was human and believed that he could help her free herself from the "mental corruption" of the Boiling Islands and the fact that she wants to be useful, help others and always ends up helping him (even though she clearly never knew she was helping him, nor did she want to) only reinforces that belief because Belos understands her since, like Luz, he also wants to help, protect and save others, especially Luz, in his twisted way. He thanks her for always help him and even wants and tries to force her to help her to accept "her destiny" as a witch hunter as a twisted way of thanks and support. And the fact that before he goes to the Boiling Islands tells Luz that whatever he's planning is for the sake of her soul (and probably Camila's soul too) shows how reinforced Belos has this belief.

I've been thinking about what would have happened if Luz had been found first by Belos before Eda and I couldn't help but remember Sonia and Griffith from Berserk.

Luz and Sonia were born with a condition that made them different from other normal people which makes them both think and see things differently from others (Luz has ADHD since birth and Sonia is a birth medium) to the point that they felt they didn't fit in anywhere and that neither did their parents nor did anyone understand them or take what they said seriously:

Luz felt her mother Camila does not understand her because of her strangeness and her way of seeing things due to her ADHD and that the only person who supported her tastes in fantasy, her father Manny who gave her the Good Witch Azura books as a way to support her tastes, is no longer there. It is implied that her classmates bullied her for her love for fantasy and for her ADHD and it is even implied that Luz confessed to someone but that person rejected her for being weird and corny.

Sonia lost her parents due to the Kushan invasion but that gives to understand with some dialogues that she has with Schierke and Irvine, Sonia felt lonely to the point that it can be interpreted that she thought that her parents didn't understand her and saw her as a freak and from the way in which we were introduced to Sonia where other women dismiss her visions as the product of madness from seeing their parents burned to death, it is implied that because of her powers as a medium the other people in her home village believed that she was insane.

This is even seen by the fact that they both feel more comfortable being and talking with monsters or strange beings (Luz with Eda, King and hexsquad and Sonia with Griffith, Irvine, Schierke and the new Band of the Hawk in general) than with normal people:

Sonia is always agressive towards Mule and Charlotte and the human soldiers as if she was hurt in the past by other normal humans so she always has distrust towards other humans and would rather hurt them than let them hurt her first.

Luz was terrified that Vee would talk to other humans and even gave her advice on how to run away from them to avoid being humiliated, as if Luz herself had bad experiences with other humans and would rather run away from other humans than be hurt by them.

Luz and Sonia had to take the conditions with which they were born as something that makes them special as if they were the chosen one as a defense mechanism to face their loneliness and their fear of being seen as freaks and being rejected because of that, and they can even become stubborn and hurtful with others.

Luz and Sonia know what it's like to be alone that they even become friends with two witches (Willow and Schierke) who share similar problems to them:

Willow is a witch who is not good with abominations which causes other classmates to bully her just as it happened to Luz in the Human Realm.

Schierke is a witch that have magic powers what cause her to have conflicts with humans because of it just as it happened to Sonia with the other inhabitants of her home village.

Luz and Sonia were naive and had a great feeling of loneliness to the point that they cling to the first people who treat them well or with respect (Eda and Griffith) because they don't downplay or demonize them as girls with delusions of grandeur or as insane girls but they accept them for who they are, take them and their feelings seriously, and give them a place of belonging.

Luz and Sonia have a strong desire to be understood by others that leads them to believe that they understand those that they accepted them due to the fact that they are special and/or weird like them.

However, the key difference is that Eda doesn't respect Luz at the beginning but when Luz is in danger she doesn't hesitate to go to help her but the most important thing is that Eda teaches her that she cannot wait for others to give her value through a special destiny of chosen one but that she has to give her value to herself.

Eda: "Look, kid, everyone wants to believe they're "chosen". But if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special, we'd die waiting. And that's why you need to choose yourself".

Furthermore, when Luz hurts others to fulfill her fantasies of being the chosen one, as happened with Willow and Amity, both of them call out Luz for hurting them, to which Luz listens and recognizes that she was wrong to project her fantasies on Amity and Willow and begin to understand them better and treat them and their feelings with respect.

But Sonia doesn't have an Eda nor does she have a Willow or an Amity, she instead has Griffith who instead of giving her the firm but caring reality check that Eda does with Luz or call her out and make her see that her projection as the chosen one is hurting others and that she has to learn to understand them and treat them with respect like Willow and Amity told Luz, Griffith really plays into and encourages her main character syndrome and makes her believe that she totally does have a destiny, this is fate, Hawk of the Light himself brought her to him at this time, so on and so forth.

And I'm pretty sure Belos would do to Luz what Griffith did to Sonia if he had the chance. I'm sure he'd love that opportunity, and he could easily play into her chosen one ideas and main character syndrome: Luz would be an honored guest of the Emperor, Belos would give her a nice suite of rooms in the castle, fed regular meals - no finicky experimenting with what cuisine makes her sick, here, the Emperor is well aware of the dietary needs of humans and his larders are stocked with all manner of things she can consume, she has access to his libraries, to all of the information she could ever want and the best tutors on magic, Belos would let Luz learn to use glyphs, he would manipulate her by telling her about the Savage Ages and how dangerous wild magic is and how he brought order to the witchkind. He'd want to form a very close and personal relationship with Luz and for her to trust him completely and for that he would allow her to do things that he would not allow anyone else like have her attending him in his workshop, spending time with him in his personal office, taking dinner with him in his chambers, listening to his stories, he would tell her that he is a human like her.

Luz and Sonia are unshakably happy, caring and naive girls who feel alone because they don't fit in anywhere and nobody wants to understand them. Luz found people who teach her that she cannot run away from reality to feel that they take her seriously because she would be more isolated but those same people understand her and love her for whom she is and they show it to her but Sonia doesn't have the same luck and she is with a monster that despite showing that he enjoys her company is also using her. It's quite scary to think that if Belos had found Luz first than Eda, Luz's situation would be the same as Sonia's and even Luz could behave in the same aggressive way as Sonia.

Do you remember this post where I mentioned how Belos has a feeling of solidarity with Luz for being the first human he has seen for decades, besides that she reinforced this solidarity for him by helping him without realizing it? This plus what we have been shown in the series regarding the fact that he became a witch hunter out of admiration for Caleb and the witch hunters seeing them as heroes and to fit in in Gravesfield plus the fact that Luz wanted others to understand her led me to think that Belos wanted and believed that Luz understood him for being human like him and ironically Luz's wish to be understood was granted in the worst possible way because Belos is the first human who does not see her as a freak but rather he recognizes her as someone smart, as a person and sees her as his equal (a treatment that he does not give to anyone else, not even Hunter) to the point of wanting to have her on his side, to see himself as her savior and protective and being so obsessed with her in general.

Belos somehow sees not only Caleb reflected in Luz but he also sees himself reflected in her as a person who seeks to be understood and to feel that he belongs somewhere so he wants to be understood by her and at the same time in a twisted way, he wants to give Luz that feeling of belonging and be the special person with whom Luz feels understood, protected and loved.

Something I realized about Belos is how his appearance reflects his personality. His human appearance symbolizes how he sees himself and how he wants others to see him (as someone good, heroic and well-intentioned) and he has tricked everyone into seeing him that way (he even fooled us the audience in season 1 making us believe that he was just a well-intentioned extremist who suffered from "wild magic" and just wanted to return to the Human Realm because he missed his home) while his true appearance symbolizes who he really is (someone evil, manipulative, selfish and sadistic) and how he possesses living beings to later discard when they're no longer useful (representing how he manipulates others to later discard them when they are no longer needed or useful).

So much so that Belos believes that his human appearance is his true appearance when actually his monstrous appearance is his true appearance. He basically transformed himself into a magical monster that simply assumes the appearance of a human because he carved glyphs on his skin and consumed so many palismen, turning him into the kind of monstrous and evil creature that he believes the rest of the inhabitants of the Boiling Islands are.

This shows how even though Belos believed that witches were monsters, actually he was always the monster.