A Deep Character Dive Into Amity Blight From The Owl House
I don’t think I’ve been as wrong about the direction a fictional character could take as I was with Amity Blight, and thank heavens for that! Amity Blight, the girl I originally called a “mean alpha bitch,” went from that to one of the best characters in The Owl House. Not to mention, she’s also one-half of one of my all-time favorite ships, Lumity. When I look back on Amity’s journey from mean-spirited girl to loving girlfriend, I can’t help but smile. Then again, it might have to do with the fact that she’s voiced by Mae Whitman, who I grew up knowing as Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
As we end our journey in The Owl House (and I pray to God that Luz and Amity find a way to stay together), I continue my deep character dives into my favorite characters. Next up, we have Amity Blight…AKA the Future Mrs. Amity Noceda. THERE, I SAID IT!!
Amity, the Academia Alpha Bitch, Meets Luz, the Human
When we first met Amity Blight in episode three, my first thoughts were, “She is going to be a recurring problem for Luz.” She had all the hallmarks of the typical alpha bitch: top student in her track at Hexside and not afraid to show it. Treating everyone beneath her with thinly-veiled condescension, like Willow, her former friend with whom she cut all ties. And above all, someone who’s prone to anger and jealousy when her top spot’s threatened.
Unfortunately for her, Amity’s seemingly perfect life comes crashing down when Luz Noceda disguises herself as a school project and sneaks into Hexside. The resulting chaos leaves her beaten and humiliated by Luz and Willow.
Amity’s luck doesn’t get any better. Running into Luz once more at the annual Covention, Amity’s bullying of the Human and King prompts Luz to challenge her to a Witch’s duel. A Witch’s duel that Luz has no chance whatsoever of winning, and if she loses, she’ll have to give up her dreams of becoming a Witch. Despite looking set to win, though, the duel becomes another humiliation for Amity when it’s revealed that both Clawthorne sisters used their respective students to cheat. Poor Amity’s so ashamed she runs off to cry alone, only to be comforted by, of all people, Luz.
At first, Amity considered Luz’s desire to become a Witch a childish whim and mockery of all the hard work Amity had to do. However, seeing Luz willing to put in the hard work despite her handicaps moves Amity a little. It’s not much, but Luz starts to sneak into the young Blight’s heart.
Seeing the Sweet Side Underneath the Sour Attitude.
Despite wanting nothing to do with the likes of Luz, Amity’s frustration grows as the Human refuses to leave her alone, and she doesn’t understand why. She’s so used to everyone having some hidden motive or reason behind their actions that she fails to understand that Luz is just trying to be her friend. It also doesn’t help that Luz befriends her older brother and sister, Edric and Emira, who she considers nothing but troublemakers and a source of stress.
Things come to a head when Amity catches the three inside her secret hideaway in the Bonesborough Library during the night of the Wailing Star, with pages of Amity’s diary strewn all over the floor. Fed up with this, Amity writes Luz off as nothing more than a bully and tells her to leave her alone. Except it was Luz who tried defending Amity and keeping her siblings from posting the diary all over Hexside. Despite this disastrous moment, Luz and Amity are forced to team up to survive a monstrous storybook character created by the twins and brought to life by the Wailing Star.
This episode marks a turning point in Luz and Amity’s relationship. Luz discovers that underneath her alpha bitch attitude, Amity is a genuinely kind person. The only reason she acts as she does is due to the immense pressure put on her by her family, teachers, and herself. It’s something Luz can emphasize due to her social outcast background. It also helps that they share a mutual love of the same book series, the Good Witch Azura. After this, the two decide to start fresh, with Amity realizing she needs to work on being nicer.
Granted, things hit a snag when Luz puts them all in danger while training, but she fixes things.
Seeing How Terrible Her Parents Are
Following these events, Luz and Amity are on better terms with each other, forming an unlikely friendship that only grows once Luz starts attending Hexside. In addition, Ed and Em ease up on their treatment of Amity after learning how their actions almost got her killed. They still tease her, but it’s more light-hearted sibling teasing than malicious intent.
One problem still needs to be addressed, though: Amity’s relationship with Willow. While they were best friends growing up, Amity chose to end their friendship on her birthday, claiming it was because of Willow’s weakness. After that, she started hanging out with fellow Queen Bee’s Boscha and Skara, the former of whom would regularly torment Willow over the years. So, when Amity sees a chance to erase Willow’s memories of her (thanks to Luz), she takes it…only to almost destroy Willow’s mind.
The resulting attempts to fix things see Luz and Amity travel inside Willow’s mind. The latter becomes the target of the Inner Willow, who represents Willow’s repressed rage at Amity and wants to burn her alive. The only way Amity manages to survive is by revealing the whole truth of what happened. Her choice to end their friendship was not of her own free will, but because her parents threatened to ensure Willow would never get into Hexside. So, yeah, Amity’s parents were jerks (at least her Dad gets better.) It doesn’t excuse Amity’s refusal to stand up for Willow against Boscha, but it also proves something important. All her life, Amity’s been suffocated by the pressure of being the daughter of the wealthy and powerful Blight family, unable to do the things that truly make her happy. That is, until Luz came into her life and changed everything.
Amity Falls Head Over Heels for Luz and Standing Up to Her Parents
Calling Luz Noceda the most important person in Amity’s life would be an understatement. Luz is the catalyst for Amity to go from being a cold and condescending girl into the loving and friendly person that she is going into the series finale. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise when “Enchanting Grom Fright” reveals Amity’s fallen head over heels in love with Luz, much to the fans’ absolute joy. #Lumity4Life
Milestones for LGBTQ representation aside, I couldn’t help but love seeing Amity crushing on Luz. In a single season, we went from mean girl to the girl who can’t stop blushing in front of Luz. It was the sweetest, most adorable thing to watch. I would pay money to hear what was going through Amity’s head during the Grom episode! More importantly, her feelings for Luz continued to help her become a better, happier person. Unfortunately, her mother (who is on my list of worst Mom’s ever) couldn’t abide by that.
“Escaping Expulsion” marked another turning point in Amity’s life. Until then, sheobediently did everything her Mother demanded of her, even when she didn’t want to. This abusive parenting prevented her from standing up for Luz, Willow, and Gus when her parents (mostly Odalia) orchestrated their expulsion. However, after learning how Odalia manipulated Luz into being a test dummy for their new weapons, enough was enough. Amity openly defied her horrible mother to save Luz’s life, cementing herself as her own person and not a tool of Odalia. That, and her “Witch in Shining Armor” moment marked when Luz started falling for Amity.
Becoming a Couple and Deciding Who She Wants to Be
From this point onward, Luz and Amity’s feelings for each other continue to grow, with neither girl able to think properly in the other’s presence. And it’s the sweetest thing to watch! More importantly, it shows her growing independence and getting out from under Odalia’s thumb. Case in point, Amity chooses to swap out her green hair forced on her by her mother in favor of a cotton-candy-colored hairdo, symbolizing her growth as her own person. And she kisses Luz on the cheek.
Despite the trials and tribulations of being each other’s first serious love (and hopefully, only,) Luz and Amity ultimately confess their feelings thanks to some help from Hooty. Again, beyond sweet. Despite this, Odalia’s toxic influence remains in Amity’s mind, as she thinks she needs to continually show her value to Luz to matter to her.
As a result, this pushes her to go on a dangerous mission that sees her fighting both the Emperor’s Coven and the equally desperate Golden Guard, AKA Hunter. Unlike Hunter, though, Amity realizes that she doesn’t need to prove herself to Luz to matter to her, with their relationship coming out even stronger than before.
The ship of Lumity continues to grow stronger as the second season progresses, with Luz and Amity frequently going on adventures together. The most important of them, though, is attending the Bonesborough Brawl, where they each help other deal with the issues regarding their fathers. In Luz’s case, Amity manages to be the sympathetic ear when Luz laments not being able to mourn her father’s death with her mother. In Amity’s case, she manages to form a better relationship with her father, Alador. Whereas Odalia’s an outright terrible person, Alador means well, but is so engrossed in his work that he goes along with whatever Odalia says. However, Alador makes it clear that he does care about his daughter. As an aside, I find the fact that Alador refers to Luz as “Edalyn’s Kid,” when learning the two are dating to be sweet.
Reconnecting with Willow, Disowning Odalia, and Stranded on Earth
Amidst all this, another key relationship that Amity starts to repair is the one with her former friend, Willow. Having made peace with the mistakes they made in the past and Amity doing her best to make up for them, the two slowly rebuild the friendship they once had, with Willow serving as Amity’s confidant when she needs to talk about problems with Luz. However, Amity also unintentionally starts to treat Willow the same way she did when they were kids: that is, as someone that needs to be protected. It’s not until driving the Emperor’s Coven out of Hexside that Amity grows to accept that Willow is not the meek Witch she knew, but a powerful badass. Once that happens, though, the two become an unstoppable duo on the battlefield.
In contrast, another relationship that becomes broken beyond repair is the one that Amity has with her mother, Odalia. When Amity and her siblings try to warn their parents of Belos’ true plans, Odalia shuts them inside their mansion and tries to cut off Amity’s attempts to talk with Luz. This doesn’t work, and we get to see Lumity’s first kiss.
However, the straw that breaks the camel’s back comes when Odalia reveals that she was fully aware of Belos’ plans to kill everyone on the Boiling Isles, thinking her family would be spared. Outraged by this, Amity rightfully declares her relationship with Odalia not worth saving with her and her father disowning the woman, completing the steps towards independence that she’s been taking all series long. This victory, though, proves to be short-lived, with the Day of Unity ending with the Collector being freed by King and Amity, Luz, and the others all stranded on Earth with their families trapped on the Boiling Isles.
Settling In With Her New Family and Helping Luz Recover
By the end of the opening montage to “Thanks to Them,” I would argue that Amity’s largely completed her arc as a character on The Owl House. Gone is the arrogant, mean girl facade that Amity felt constantly pressured to put up in favor of a happy, carefree Witch who’s not afraid to live her life the way she wants. That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have her own major moments, though, in the first two specials.
Despite being stranded on Earth with Luz and the others, Amity manages to make the most of her situation while still resolving to return to the Boiling Isles to save her siblings and Dad. Not Odalia, though. She’s dead to her. In the process, she gets to live with her girlfriend and best friend under one roof and seems to enjoy much of what life can be like on Earth. In addition, while it’s not as touched upon due to time constraints, I think it’s safe to say that she finds a far better maternal figure in the form of Camilla Noceda, who happily accepts Amity as her daughter’s girlfriend.
While she isn’t as able to help Luz cope with her ongoing depression as her Mom is, Amity remains a solid rock in Luz’s life during one of her lowest points, giving her advice on how to find out what she truly wants and supporting her decisions. She also manages to convince Boscha to help save the day from Kikimora.
I don’t know what the series finale to The Owl House holds for Amity, but I do know that she and Luz will face it together. That said, I don’t want to see the series end with them separated in their different worlds. Regardless, I think that Amity’s one of the most dynamic character’s I’ve seen in western animation in a while. Her character arc over the series is amazing to look at in hindsight, and it’s fun to see how much she’s grown since we first met her. Whatever happens, I doubt I’ll ever forget Amity Blight.
Seriously, though. If she and Luz can’t stay together, I’m going to be so upset!
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