RJ Writing Ink

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.

The Owl House S3, 2nd Special Review

Everyone, I don’t know how, but I did it. I managed to make it to “For the Future” while avoiding major spoilers. For those who made it through this time, let’s pat ourselves on the back as we, at long last, return to the Boiling Isles for the grand finale to The Owl House. While I don’t think it fully reaches the emotional highs of “Thanks to Them,” this special was still pretty darn good. We see what’s become of the Boiling Isles and its people. We learn more about the Collector and what his motivations are. Most importantly, though, Luz has an emotional epiphany that could help her become the hero that can save her adoptive home. Strap yourselves in, people. I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but no promises.

Not the Boiling Isles We Remember

Following a quick flashback to what happened after Luz went through the portal, we pick up right where “Thanks to Them” left off. Luz, Camilla, and her friends pass through the world between worlds and make it to the Boiling Isles. The witches are all ecstatic to be back home at last (except for Hunter, whose obsessed with making Belos pay), only to find what the Collector’s done while they were gone. Part of the isles are colorful and sparkly, befitting the Collector’s makeover. As for the Collector himself, he’s turned most of the Boiling Isles residents into puppets and is using them to live a distorted version of Luz’s adventures with King and Eda. 

The only ones who’ve managed to avoid the Collector’s playtime thus far are the students at Hexside. They took shelter and avoided the Day of Unity, but the Collector turned the teachers into puppets. As a result, they’ve made a new, makeshift society in Hexside led by…Boscha. Boscha, and a certain, annoying woman whose name I won’t mention here.

This is a post-apocalyptic Boiling Isles, and it’s clear that everyone’s been through a lot. Sadly, we won’t get to explore this premise, thanks to Disney. However, I can already hear the fans creating art, comics, and fanfics telling their versions of what the Hexsidian’s went through in the interim, and I know they’ll be great. The kindergarteners becoming savage warriors is hilarious enough as it is!

The Collector’s Not Evil, Just a Misunderstood, Lonely Kid

I had already put the pieces together for myself some time ago, and I’m sure plenty of others have, but let’s talk about the Collector. We don’t know much about him beyond his reality-warping magic and desire to play and have fun, but this special sheds some light on him. As a result, we have to rethink what we know about the Collector.

Through the Collector’s relationship with King, we learn that he’s just one of many of his kind of the same name. Their whole M.O. is going around the universe, preserving life, so it doesn’t die. It sounds noble, but the story that King tells him makes it anything but. They’d scorch the Earth if said life annoyed them enough, something the Collector doesn’t want to do. In addition, we also learn that the magic of a Titan can counteract the magic of a Collector, making the two sides bitter enemies. From this, we can retroactively attribute most of the more malevolent actions of the Collector to his kind rather than the character himself. 

The Collector’s not truly evil. Despite all his power, he’s just a little kid who doesn’t want to be lonely and wants to have friends. It’s something that King can emphasize with, despite Eda and Lillith (they’re safe, hiding out in the Collector’s home) wanting to lock him up again. However, King’s plans to teach the Collector right from wrong might be over before they start thanks to the manipulations of Belos. 

Yes, Belos is back, but weaker than ever. He’s seeing visions of his dead brother and the previous Grimwalkers haunting him as his body falls apart. However, he ignores the guilt and, being the archetype for the Devil or Anti-Christ he is, manipulates the Collector into thinking King means to betray him. Belos was, and always will be, the big bad of The Owl House and knows how to use people’s fears against them. He’s a jerk.

Luz Finally Gains the Emotional Breakthrough She Needs, as do Hunter and Willow

With the series finale coming up, it’s time for the main characters to complete their emotional arcs, with Hunter, Willow, and Luz drawing center stage. Hunter’s coping with the loss of Flapjack by becoming obsessed with defeating Belos. As for Willow, despite her character growth and confidence, she still has some deep-rooted insecurities that she tries to ignore. Neither’s healthy, and it takes a while for them to learn that it’s okay to be scared. Once they let their insecurities out, they become more badass than ever. 

At the end of it all, though, the main focus is on Luz. While she did regain some confidence at the end of the previous episode, she still sees herself as a failure and screw-up. Thus, she still plans to keep her promise of staying on Earth once everyone’s safe, something that Camilla now regrets making her do. In the episode’s climax, the two finally have a heart-to-heart, with Camilla admitting her shortcomings as a parent. She tried to change Luz so she wouldn’t get bullied like she was. She tried to stifle her creativity when she should’ve done the opposite. This leads to Luz finally realizing her deepest wish: all she wants…is to be understood.

As a result, Luz’s Palisman finally hatches. And it is glorious.

For those who guessed Luz’s Palisman would be a snake, we were half right. It’s a snake-shifter. It’s a snake that can turn into whatever it wants, named Stringbean. It’s perfect, and it symbolizes Luz desire to be whoever she wants. My only regret is that we’ll only get one episode to know Stringbean and see how they and Luz kick ass together.

An Emotional Setup for a Grand Finale

So this is where we leave off at the end of the special. Luz has completed her emotional arc, King has become a calmer person, and Belos pits the Collector against Luz. The series finale should arrive sometime in the spring of this year, and it’s going to be an emotional one to watch. I wish we had a full season to flesh everything out, but I’m grateful for the time we got.

Was this special perfect? No, far from it; it had to cram a lot of stuff into a short amount of time. However, Dana and her team still did an amazing job with what they were given, and that’s enough for me. It might not have reached the highs and lows of “Thanks to Them,” for me, but I still enjoyed myself watching this. I’ll be spending the next few months mentally preparing for the series finale and supporting the show’s staff on social media, so help spread the love for this amazing series. It deserves it, and deserves to be understood.

I Give “For the Future” a 3.5/5

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