RJ Writing Ink

A Deep Dive into Hunter from The Owl House

Most fans of The Owl House will agree with me when I say this: Hunter is a sweet cinnamon bun and must be protected at all costs!

Joking aside, Hunter might be one of the absolute best characters on The Owl House. Played to masterful levels by Zeno Robinson, Hunter started the show as this younger, goofier version of Darth Vader. He was the Emperor’s enforcer, his right-hand man, this man of mystery. However, it took a little while for us to get a look behind the mask to find he was anything but a Vader. Instead, he had more in common with Prince Zuko from the Avatar franchise. He’s this young, inherently compassionate person who devoted his life to trying to please this toxic authority figure he looked up to. Hunter began to learn more about the outside world by meeting Luz and, later, her friends. Thanks to them, he realized that the man he looked up to was, in truth, an abusive monster. So, he ran and would’ve kept running had he not found people who cared about him for who he was. 

Hunter’s story in The Owl House is about someone who’s been the victim of domestic abuse his entire life. It’s a journey that helps him to slowly realize how horrible his life truly is and seeks to escape it with the help of the people that truly love him. More importantly, it’s about said victim finding the strength to overcome said abuse, stand up to the person responsible for it, and come out on the other side a better person than their abuser ever was. This is the story of Hunter, this generation’s Zuko.

Our First Impressions: Like Vader, but Goofier

Introduced in the final moments of the season one finale, the Golden Guard was subject to rampant theories and fan speculation during the seasonal interim. Who was he? What was he like underneath the mask? Was he going to take Lillith’s place as Emperor Belos’ chief enforcer? Would he become Luz’s main rival in the second season? 

Eventually, the season two premiere of The Owl House, “Separate Tides,” rolled around, and we got our first look at the Golden Guard. From Lillith’s own experiences, he was this hotshot young Witch that got special treatment from the Emperor, much to her and many others’ jealousy. Once he gets involved in the plot, serving as the primary threat of the episode, we see his reputation isn’t unwarranted. He’s authoritative, confident, and willing to use underhanded tactics to get his way. Case in point, he blackmails Luz and Eda into doing his dirty work by using King as a hostage. That’s a very Vader move!

At the same time, though, the Golden Guard is quite unlike Vader. He acts like a typical teenager, finding enjoyment in messing with King. He even undercuts how threatening he is with his goofy farewell to the trio.

I knew right away that I would enjoy having the Golden Guard around. However, I didn’t realize how much we’d grow to love him.

Getting a Look Underneath the Mask at the Real Hunter

Besides a brief appearance at the end of “Escaping Expulsion,” Hunter’s next appearance would be in “Hunting Palismen.” That episode would give fans our first glimpse underneath the mask and see who the boy underneath really was.

It starts in the episode’s cold opening as the Golden Guard sees Belos away when his health catches up to him. He looks away from the silhouette of what Belos transforms into, but otherwise, he stays by his side. His concern for Belos, who we learn is his “Uncle,” is genuine. Yet Belos threatens to skewer him when he suggests using wild magic to cure him before ordering him to bring him a new Palismen.

Thankfully, his mission doesn’t succeed, thanks to the wild card that is Luz Noceda and the jealous rival that is Kikimora, the latter of whom tries to kill him. Thankfully, Luz’s compassionate nature prompts her to save him, much to his anger. The remainder of the episode amounts to Hunter going through a conga line of humiliation. He gets slapped by Luz, brushed off by the Emperor’s Coven, forced to reveal his lack of magic to the Human, and then outsmarted by the girl as she escapes with the Palismen. By the end of it, most of the mystique he had as the Golden Guard’s non-existent. 

In exchange, though, we got something better: we got to see a little bit of what Hunter’s like underneath the mask, literally and metaphorically. For starters, he’s not just a teen; he’s young enough to pass for a Hexside student and a very skinny one. In addition, without the mask to hide his face, Hunter’s emotions are free for all to see, and we see someone whos very insecure about being a magicless Witch. Thus, he must constantly prove himself to Belos, his father figure. However, despite obediently following Belos’ commands, Hunter’s curiosity about wild magic shines through, even as he spouts the Emperor’s rhetoric that such things are dangerous. This desire proves strong enough that one of the Palismen, a cardinal named Flapjack, stays with Hunter, much to his confusion.

Forming the First Positive Relationship in His Life

The next time we see Hunter is in the episode “Eclipse Lake.” Following his failure to capture the Palismen, the young man finds himself on thin ice with Emperor Belos. Desperate to retain his Uncle’s approval, he sneaks out behind the Emperor’s back to travel to Eclipse Lake. His goal is to sneak past Kikimora and the Emperor’s Coven, retrieve the vial of Titan’s Blood Belos needs to activate the Clawthorne family’s portal to Earth and win his favor again. It’s a poorly thought-out idea, but Hunter is desperate to prove himself useful. Too bad for him, his plan goes sideways when he’s captured by Amity, Eda, and King, who are there for the same reason he is.

Continuing from his previous outing, this episode takes every chance to humiliate Hunter, forced to follow the Owl House gang as their prisoner, with Eda and King taking the opportunity to dunk on him. Or, in King’s case, bite his head. He and Amity do briefly connect due to their shared beliefs that they have to earn the approval from the ones they care about to matter to them, but unlike Amity, Hunter doesn’t grow out of this.

Then we have the big moment when we see Hunter at one of his lowest points. Eclipse Lake’s dried up, the Titan’s blood is gone, and Hunter knows he can’t return to Belos empty-handed again. So, he starts digging his own grave! At the time, it seemed like an example of black comedy. However, later, we learn how justified Hunter’s fears are, and the joke…isn’t as funny as before.

In the end, Hunter manages to get his hands on the portal key, meaning his quest isn’t a waste. More importantly, though, throughout this experience, Flapjack stuck beside him, supporting him no matter what. The experience helps the two bond, and by the end, Hunter’s formed the first positive relationship in his life. 

More will soon follow.

A Look at the Journey of Willow Park from The Owl House

Who would’ve thought that the shy, timid girl Luz first met would become one of the strongest Witches in her generation? Because that’s what happened with Willow Park on The Owl House, and I love her for it. The first friend her age that Luz made on the Boiling Isles, Willow started the series as an insecure wallflower. Going into the series finale, she’s good enough at plant magic to give Poison Ivy a run for her money. Willow’s one of the show’s most dynamic characters, and it’s been enjoyable getting to see her blossom, pun entirely intended. 

I’m RJ Writing Ink, and we’re continuing my in-depth look back at the most dynamic characters from The Owl House to prepare us for the finale. Today, we’re looking at Willow Park, the girl who went from a wallflower to a mighty tree. 

A Girl With a Lot of Pent-Up Frustration in Her

Introduced in the episode “I Was a Teenage Abomination,” Willow is the first person her age to meet Luz Noceda, the Human girl who aspired to be a Witch. Unfortunately, that first meeting also showed that Willow had a lot of pent-up stress. Bullied and called “Half-a-Witch” by her classmates, including her former best friend, Amity Blight, and stuck studying a type of magic that she had no talent for, Willow tried to bottle all that stress up, only for it to keep leaking out. Thankfully, Luz came into her life.

After meeting and befriending Luz, Willow’s life changes for the better. While their plan to pass Luz off as her Abomination project at Hexside almost leads to Luz getting dissected, the incident allows Willow to let her true talents with plant magic shine. Bump’s so impressed he immediately lets Willow switch tracks, providing her with the environment she needs to hone her skill and gain a new friend in Luz Noceda.

From this moment on, Luz, Willow, and fellow Witch Gus Porter become virtually inseparable, giving each the friendships they’ve been lacking. However, despite being happier with her life, Willow’s still someone plagued by feelings of inferiority. She desperately wants to prove all her naysayers wrong, especially regarding Amity. This ends up getting her and her friends in hot water during the “Hooty’s Moving Hassle” events when they accidentally animate the Owl House itself. Willow’s insistence on showing this off to Amity almost gets the trio killed by Demon Hunters, and Hooty sent to slaughter. They get out of it, but the underlying issues remain unresolved.

Making Amends With Amity and a Fresh Start

Willow’s issues with Amity Blight appear in the episode “Understanding Willow.” When Amity tries to erase Willow’s memories of their friendship, thinking she would be better off that way, it backfires by erasing all of Willow’s memories, potentially damaging her mind. Thus, it falls to Luz and Amity, with help from Eda, to go inside Willow’s mind and restore it before the damage becomes permanent. While things go smoothly at first, they soon run into a problem. A very, very angry problem.

Willow’s inner self manifests itself as an entity that’s wrapped in literal fires of rage. It’s a visual manifestation of how much anger towards Amity the young Witch has been suppressing over the years, essentially blaming her for how miserable her life at Hexside’s been before meeting Luz and Gus. Now Willow’s mind is directing all that emotion onto Amity herself, becoming willing to destroy itself to burn away all traces of Amity, even if that means killing everyone. It’s not until Amity reveals she had no choice but to end their friendship, thanks to her parents blackmailing her, that Willow can let go of all that anger. While they don’t renew their friendship right away, Amity and Willow’s relationship becomes far more positive when compared to what it was before.

Willow loses a lot of emotional baggage thanks to making amends with Amity. Without that to weigh her down, she grows more confident and sure of herself, and her talents truly begin to blossom. Thanks to that and the support of Luz and Gus, Willow goes from being a timid girl into one of the most popular people at Hexside. However, this also draws the ire of mean girl Boscha, who starts bullying her even more, and she shrinks back into her old self. Even more so when Luz challenges Boscha to a Grudgby game over Willow’s protests. Thankfully, even though they lose the game, Willow wins the respect of Boscha’s teammates. Once a failing student, Willow’s become one of Hexside’s finest.

As a side note, Willow’s also one of the first people who pick up on Amity’s crush on Luz. That silent look of judgment says it all: “If this girl hurts Luz, she’s gonna answer to me.”

The Owl House Season 3, 1st Special Review

Trauma is something that nearly everyone has to deal with at least once in their lives. It often comes in the form of a painful experience, leaving deep, long-lasting scars on a person’s psyche. Trauma can take the happiest people and leave them a shell of their former selves, and they may never recover from it. And as The Owl House enters its third and final season, one shortened to three forty-minute specials, it’s clear that the big theme is dealing with the trauma Luz and her friends have gone through. Given how the show’s an animated horror, it seems only fitting that the first special is a Halloween one.

Warning: I will be doing everything I can to avoid spoilers, because I think this special has to be seen to appreciate what Dana and her team have done. Thanks to Disney, they took what little time they had left and gave us a masterpiece.

What Could’ve Been

I already discussed at length the opening 6 minutes to ’Thanks to Them’ last week, but I wanted to add some more thoughts before I talk about the big themes of this special. As I’ve already said, I grew upset learning that Disney shortened the final season of The Owl House to 3 specials. And seeing everything that Luz and the Hexsquad got up to in the montage only reinforced the idea that we got cheated out of an amazing season. Getting to know how the Hexsquad adjusted to life on Earth would’ve been amazing to watch. However, Dana and her team make up for it by packing the first special with plenty of smaller moments that showcase the growth of the cast.

Seeing Hunter geek out over a parody of Star Trek alongside Gus was adorable to watch; those two are brothers, and nothing can convince me otherwise. 

Plus, I loved the Easter egg that the crew out in about the Duolingo bird, referencing the memes of him and Hooty being besties. And the Giraffes. No wonder they got banished.

Camilla Was Never a Bad Mom

Funny moments aside (and there are plenty,) the heart of the special revolves around three people and how their traumas affected each of them.

Firstly, we have Camilla. She’s gotten a lot of hate in the fandom for being called a bad mom. While I knew she could do better, I never saw her as a bad parent. She was a single Mom who truly wanted what was best for Luz, but, as we learn throughout the special, she was influenced by her own negative experiences growing up. She truly wanted Luz to have a better childhood than she did and did appreciate her daughter’s uniqueness. Her worries, though, led her to repeat the cycle of negativity unintentionally and made her daughter feel unwanted on Earth. 

Camilla, it’s not you or Luz that has a problem. It’s everyone else that has a problem!

Hunter Haunted by Spectre of Belos

Then, we have Hunter. His entire life’s been one big, traumatic rollercoaster, thanks to Belos. His “Uncle” lied to him, manipulated him for his ends, and tried to kill him. While he eventually learns how evil Belos truly is and turned against him, it’s clear throughout the special that Belos has a grip on him, even now. What’s worse is that he’s too scared that his newfound family will reject him when they learn of his Grimwalker status, hence why Belos still terrifies him.

And yes, as many of us thought, Belos remains alive, albeit in a state akin to Lord Voldermort after baby Harry bested him. While I won’t say what happens, I will say that there’s a moment where Hunter makes everyone watching so proud. 

Luz: this Mama Was Not Ready for Trauma

Lastly, we have Luz herself and holy Titan. I could write a separate article on how much trauma Luz has endured. The upbeat and optimistic girl who sought to start a new life on the Boiling Isles is almost nonexistent. The guilt over her role in the rise of Belos and what happened to the Boiling Isles, combined with the horrifying events leading up to the Day of Unity, have broken her. At one point, she even contemplates if it had been better had she never existed in the first place. It’s never stated explicitly, but older fans could understand that this is a red flag for suicidal thoughts. They put that in a Disney cartoon!

I truly felt for Luz in this episode. While I never had a childhood as bad as Luz, I was always different, thanks to my ADHD. I had plenty of friends, but I still found it hard at times to relate to other people. Combined with my tendency to act out, it made things difficult for people at times. Thankfully, I did find people who appreciated me for who I was and did have friends.

Luz did so, as well. This whole special was, essentially, a way to remind her that she’s not the screw-up she thinks she is. She changed the lives of so many people on the Boiling Isles for the better, and when the time comes, Luz’s loved ones return the favor. She’s not to blame for the trauma and suffering inflicted by Belos. They tell her that Belos would’ve risen to power without her help. Their unconditional love and support is enough to help Luz get through one of the lowest points in her life, and gain the resolve to return to the Boiling Isles.

The Owl House Firing on All Cylinders

Thus, the special ends with the group finding a way back to the Boiling Isles. While they don’t know what they’ll find there, they’re more determined than ever to stop whatever Belos and the Collector have planned. Unfortunately, we must wait months for the final two specials to air. However, I’m perfectly fine with that.

The Owl House may be coming to a premature ending, but it’s clear Dana intends to end with a bang. If the last two specials are even half as amazing as this was, then it will be well worth the wait. Dana and her team took the best of a terrible situation and gave us an animated masterpiece. This is the sort of thing that I want to see The Owl House do in its final season. Despite being out through the ringer, the show keeps on moving forward with its head held high. I can respect that, Dana!

I Give “Thanks to Them” a 5/5

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