Another amazing video. The parallel to Cain and Abel is something I absolutely missed but is a brilliant bit of writing. One thing about Belos I would like to point out is the connection to real-life witch hunter Matthew Hopkins who lived in England in the early 1600s. He was the son of a Puritan minister and claimed to be the "witchfinder general" (extremely similar to the "witchhunter general" title that Belos wants) and was responsible for more witch executions in England over a three-year span than there had been in the previous hundred. Here's the kicker: in 1647 he published his book "The Discovery of Witches" outlining his witch-hunting methods, and this is believed to have been the spark that started the Connecticut Witch Trials that also started in 1647. Additionally, the name of the Gravesfield Historical Society's museum curator from Yesterday's Lie (who is hinted to be a descendent of the Wittebane family) is Jacob Hopkins.
I love the irony of the first draft of the Owl Hose taking place in Hell, while the Owl House we got is ruled by a man so afraid of the Devil that he becomes him.
Another interesting part of Belos’s character I think is worth mentioning is that he shares Luz’s main character flaw, this being a reliance on fantasy over reality. Just like Luz sees herself as a fantasy hero like Azura earlier during her time in the Demon Realm, Philip Wittebane saw himself as a heroic witch hunter and was never able to see reality through his pride. Luz clung to fantasy seemingly because she felt different from her peers, and it’s possible that Philip as a child was seen as unusual too and abused for it, leading to his conformist views. Belos is the ultimate extreme of Luz’s flaws.
This is an amazing interpretation that makes the theory of "The Collector is a foil to Luz in that he represents uncontrolled unrestrained creativity and it being dangerous" make even more sense
I agree so much! What I also think is great is that while belos doubled down on it and never questioned his beliefs, luz does the opposite and begins to realize the boiling isles is more than some fantasy escapist route. She confronts her fantasies and faces reality. It shows what happens when different paths based on the same premise are taken. They really are narrative foils!
I love Belos as a twisted parody of Luz. Same powers, same place of origin, both were outcasts who entered the Boiling Isles, one who sided with conformity, the other who sided with individuality.
I mean considering that Philip was raised during the time period where abuse was essentially attached to the parenting 101 guide book, he most likely was abused for “bad behavior”
19:55 Another reason the Day of Unity failed is because Belos pridefully cast away Kikimora. He was going to leave the Demon Realm anyway, so if he had just told Kikimora she would be his right hand and told her to go police the Day of Unity, she wouldn't have been there to lead King to The Collector, nor would she have resented Belos enough to betray him.
"Bellos was pissed because the bros before hoes code was broken" Season 3 episode 1: "Sounds like little bro got pissed that big bro got a hot witch gf." You mad lass! It's cannon now!
I feel like Belos wants to "redeem" his brother. It is a very common thing with these abusive religious families to "kill" the real you until you submit to them and earn "redemption" in the eyes of what they perceive to be God. Belos must have a complicated relationship with his brother, at one hand resenting him and torturing him just out of frustration. But on the other hand he loves his brother, and maybe his reason for resurrecting him is to make him right. To save him in some twisted way. In his eyes, he just wants to help him, but in reality he's torturing each resurrection for what the original Caleb has done to him. At least that's how I see it. He seems to feel some kind of genuine distress over what happened in his past, as shown by the scene with Gus showing it to him, but the reason probably isn't because he regrets anything, but because he felt personaly betrayed by his brother. His motivations are entirely selfish, he's self serving, but how he feels about himself contradicts the reality because he believes he's a hero, and the reason he feels hurt is because "he's just so angry his brother turned evil" while in reality he's angry he lost control over him.
This is so interesting. I agree. It also seems like Belos is creating some sort of man-made reincarnation system, where he’s trying to make Caleb “learn a lesson” until he gets it right.
The thing about people with complex’s like Belos have the ability to hate and love the same person with no inner conflict, they can hurt people close to them and still genuinely love them. Belos says constantly things to the effect of “I’m doing this to save people” and he genuinely means it while simultaneously hurting the same people he claims to care about. Because at the end of the day “this is for your own good” Phillip loves Caleb, he killed him because he loved him, cloned him because he loved him and repeats that cycle over and over because he loves him. He wants to have his Brother redeem himself and defeat the witches, he kills each one that goes against that because they’ve been “corrupted”
This is basically what I wanted to say in my comment but explained 908 times better, I think belos is blinded by his complex feelings towards his brother so that’s why he continues making grin walkers
Belos: "I don't want to harm another human." Luc: "I have a girlfriend and was raised with a culturally Catholic family." Belos: "I'm killing you first."
That's really funny but I'm very curious. Which region of Catholicism if Luz is from a Catholic family? And I think Christianity was the prominent religion of America in HIS time. Though one is dirived from from the other they are quite different religions.
@@HestiaVesta Catholicism is a sub-set of Christianity, Christianity isn't just a word for offshoots of Catholicism. But also my analysis of her being culturally Catholic is born from my European point of view. She is from a Spanish descended family whereas he seems to be from an English descended family. As an Irishman I have a lot of historical awareness of the English frowning heavily on Catholics after they randomly decided to stop being Catholic so they could give their Monarch greater dominion over them in life and death.
@@HestiaVesta keeping in mind from where her mom is, she's probably more of a "sometimes forget she's catholic" type, as she's never show to carry things like rosarios or having expressions linked to Catholics here
I like the argument that the Boiling Isles appear like Christian Hell. The name alone implies the sea is uninhabited because of the heat, one of the signs in the book of revelations of the End of Days.
@@skulltrot What you said at 26:13 pretty much sums up his motivation, IMO: "If he ever became aware of how wrong he is, he would then have to face the reality that he murdered his beloved brother over a deleterious aspiration." I think everything he does is because of murdering his brother. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to murder Evelyn but accidentally stabbed Caleb instead when he jumped in between. I wouldn't be surprised if we get this reveal in the final episode. Basically, he stabbed his brother (accidentally or on purpose), and he regretted it so badly, was so shocked, traumatized and heartbroken over it, that the only way to move forward was to double down on his bigotry and delusions. Acknowledging that he was wrong wouldn't bring his brother back, it would only bring Philip unbearable pain and anguish. So he deluded himself, he doubled down and fully became the witch hunter hidden behind a mask. Even witnessing the kindness of real witches first hand would never convince him to change his ways. The pain of having killed his own brother is so strong that nothing in the world could ever make him change his mind because he really did love Caleb that much. The Grimwalkers are an emotionally complex attempt at coping with his grief and denial. He is trying to live out a fantasy of him and Caleb being witch hunting brothers. And every dark action he takes, every murder, lie and scheme only makes it worse, only makes the idea of acknowledging that he was wrong about witches that much more impossible. He had literally backed himself into a corner and the only way forward was to enact the Day of Unity and kill all witches. When he returns to the Demon Realm in Thanks to Them, it is because 1. he saw the modern human realm and it is his worst fear come true: humanity has moved on from this bigotry and Belos' dreams of returning as a hero were shattered. The only thing he has left is to finish his mission, and Luz is the only one who knows of his deeds. He wants to prove her and the rest of the human world wrong about witches, and to finish his mission. In For the Future, he is haunted by visions of Caleb because he knows he was wrong all along but can never bring himself to admit it. Maybe in the last episode we will get a scene where the ghost of Caleb tells Philip that he would have forgiven him for killing him if he had just changed his ways, and we see that it was an accidental stabbing. Something that really shows why Philip/Belos did what he did, and truly breaks him. It would be a fitting end for his character, to crumble as he faces the pain he has been avoiding for so long, at the expense of everyone else, and it would present a message that actually explains his motivations directly beyond bigotry and delusion and fanaticism.
If Luz's bargaining skills didn't stop Belos from petrifying her, he'd probably start creating grimwalkers of her by harvesting her fossilized organs. Because he sees so much of Caleb in her. Even though ironically, Luz is everything Belos should've been, someone who uses her experience as an outcast to preach individuality, instead of destroying all those who defy their society's norms. Someone who wants to live in the Boiling Isles, not someone who wants to watch the place burn.
@@Cj-lk6jp im just thinkin like,, if the day of unity didnt work or happened later or something. luz grimwalker growing up alongside the next caleb grimwalker after hunter, serving Belos together and facing the same realizations that the previous grimwalkers did together. then i imagined the absolute angst of if they and the current cast (now older) met. how DEVASTATING would that be to like,, gus and willow, amity, eda, poor camila if she's there, seeing a grimwalker of Luz who meant so much to them? Hunter, meeting his replacement face-to-face, seeing this abused and completely indoctrinated boy that he once was? it's pain all the way down !!
:00000 holy cow you have this really well thought out and it sounds s o COOOOOL! oh the angst opportunities, this would be SO FUN to read!!! and also heartbreaking, but that’s kinda the point lol. …do you have an ao3, by any chance?
I couldn't help but notice the painting before the knife fight one: Caleb seems to welcome his brother into his home, apparently thinking he has come to make up or be friendly. But Belos is already hiding the knife behind his back. He came to kill. It was not an escalation, it was calculated.
The question there "Was his target Caleb...or the witch?" If he targeted the witch, then the escalation is that he ended up killing his brother instead, who tried to protect her.
@@evanbao93 he was targeting Evelyn, since he is not facing Caleb in the portrait were he seems infuriated Probably Caleb got in the way and Philip ended up killing him instead
The concept of inherent traits for people is important for someone like Belos, meaning bigots who think everyone has a set nature. So maybe he keeps cloning Caleb to reasure himself that it was in his nature to betray him, that killing him was the right thing and that there was nothing else he could've done
I actually think it is actually the opposite. So same take on inherent traits, but from my point of view Belos would have misunderstood this as humans are all inherently good. For him the only thing that could have "corrupted" a human would have been a witch/witchcraft. Therefore he firstly just wanted his brother back, he wants his brother to be the way he was before they met the witch, and he wants to prove that witches can "corrupt" human nature. He would want to prove it to himself that witches are indeed the reason his brother changed and that if Belos had been the one to lead the duo that he could prove that eventually he would have one grimwalker that will not be "corrupted". This reasoning simply comes from Belos natural attraction to studying everything and believeing he is always right. Him bringing back such a big risk of a grimwalker would imply he is flexing on his ability to have "conquered death" as well as proving that his brother would not have been "corrupted" if they did not meet the "wild witches". I say "wild witches" because that is the group of people that he is currently trying to teach Hunter to hate, rather than just witches in general. I say this mostly because he needed to gather followers and going against everyone the first moment he got there would be a bad idea, so focusing on one group and suggesting a "solution" to get people to join his cult was a lot simpler method of recruitment.
@@perro692 Yup, either way I am really just hoping that the third season or the lengthy episodes of the third season will explain to us or show us why Belos did it. Like this is the only thing I am really wondering aside from the mystery on the author of the books Luz and Amity are so into, Luz's palismen, the story of Phillip and Caleb, as well as who made the first portal that traveled between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm.
@@numbernumber25 sadly, i think with the limited time they're gonna focus on wraping up the arcs of the core cast rather than give more to Belos or any other side character, i could see maybe getting some more on him as long as it serves Hunter's arc. It sucks but it is what it is you know, they gotta use their time wisely
@@perro692 That is fair, I guess the most of the story we could get in this final season behind Belos would be from Hunter finding out who Caleb was and why he was made. Hunter would probably go to the museum, visit some historic sites, and piece together about where he came from and what he will do. I mean he basically already figured out that he wants to just live a normal life of a kid growing up, but the last two parts of him that would probably be developed are learning more social cues and finding out his origins.
You’re so right about Belos being a much more dynamic villain because of the grimwalkers. If he was just a product of his time he’d still be a decent villain in contrast to Luz imo, but the story we can piece together using mostly background details so far, makes him so much scarier. Definitely much needed depth for the main villain. Another thing! is when the Collector says he’s starting to think Belos has fun killing the grimwalkers, he doesn’t *immediately* or vehemently deny it! He even smiles first. And ofc great analysis as always!
@@ocelotmadness6287 Yeah, if the draining spell was sucesful, and he was able to go back, I'm sure a cult like religion would form around him, expanding his reign of terror over even more magic realms (if they exist)
If Caleb had a wife and she was potentially pregnant, could that have been the start of the Clawthorne line? We know that Lilith was the rare person allowed to keep her palisman in the emperor’s coven, and that birds are a common theme within the clawthorne family, which could connect Flapjack to them.
Honestly with the release of the first special, and how I could see the second and/or third special going, I think this is the case. While there is debate on Luz's palisman, I think a happy medium is a winged serpent. Not only does it have fascinating implications for Luz given winged serpent imagery in Meso-american as well as Greco-roman cultures, it showcases Luz being a part of two worlds and two families. There is also the (understandable) theories the other kids are having a hard time adapting to food in the human realm, much like Luz was to food in the demon realm. The reason why Eda (and perhaps other Clawthornes) are able to stomach both is because some unique blend of human and demon digestive system they have. Given how....diverse?...demons are, maybe they have some unique quality where they can interbred with any other sapient life. Plus succubi/incubi/cambions are a thing and gained traction in the 1500s, possibly what made Phillip go off the deep end was his ex-Witch Hunter brother having a half-blood child with a Witch. Particularly the very witch that got them trapped in the demon realm in the first place.
Definitely, a small detail we can see in the portraits is that Caleb was a talented carver, he carved Philip's mask. I think this definitely alludes to the fact that him and Evelyn had started a palisman carving business before he was killed, and she kept it going afterwards
Another component of Belos's character which I personally found compelling, was the fact that despite knowing he was evil, I couldn't help but respect him, that even when I know he's wrong, his charisma is still alluring enough for me to like him as a character. I don't know if this is just a me thing, but if it isn't, I find it an interesting object lesson of the allure of authoritarianism; that everyone, even the most liberally minded people given all the facts can still fall prey to this kind of manipulation. Just another aspect of the character I found interesting/terrifying and wanted to mention. An excellent video as always; you seem to have picked up on some interesting ideas that (to my knowledge) haven't been explained quite this well elsewhere; am definitely looking forwards to whatever you have planned next.
Honestly, I feel the same way. I found myself wanting to see the good in Belos because of his perceived sympathy, and because I may see extremes of some of my own flaws in him- it’s kinda scary to think about how easily most of us could grow to be like him
Yeah, one component of Belos' character that I appreciate is just how realistic he is. He's charismatic, manipulative, confident, and comes off as a wise elder figure - someone people who are lost and insecure might seek out. His advice is even what compelled Lilith to curse Eda through his quote "to be great, you have to make sacrifices." On a side note, Lilith's subservience to Belos may be a result of her being neglected by her parents in favor of Eda, and her trying to seek validation through her idol. And for those who remain skeptical of his beliefs, he can coerce by using explosives to simulate wild magic or by scapegoating their problems on wild magic. And to ensure that future generations remail subdued, he can rewrite history and sugarcoat his true motives. These are all tactics and characteristics that are seen in popular figures throughout history, and in present day.
I never saw Belos as being likeable in any way. He always just seemed like a maniac to me even when he was Philip. His charisma just seems like a deliberate effort to mislead others. He's literally hiding behind a mask. However, I also find him to be interesting food for thought, because of how human he really is. The immorality of his specific actions themselves pile up to the sky beyond anything I am capable of doing, and even so, his flaws in general and certain patterns of reasoning out his choices are things that I also have perceived in myself. I guess what I am saying is the scariest thing about Belos is not his power or his lunacy, but that there is a tiny Belos in all of is.
There is something I heard about how psychopaths talk. It is known that most of them are highly charismatic and use this to twist people's perception of them. What I heard was I think in an interview of sorts with someone who deals with psychopaths and other people who deal with psychopaths regularly, and what he said was that at some point in the conversation, the conversation changes. You don't realise it in the moment. It is only when you look back on the recording or the memory that you think "hold on, that's insane. Why did I not question that, how did I not see it?" And it is because of how charismatic and skilled in terms of manipulation they are. And cult leaders are known for also known for being highly charismatic.
@@erickamakeeaina1649 It *arguably* works, since Belos *thinks* they're evil and that might be enough to set that mindset in motion. Basically a moral placebo if you will.
As someone who lived in Connecticut for 5 years, I can confirm that nobody lives there unless it's a plot device for them to be a magic-hating puritan.
It's always so refreshing to see people really delve into the minds and motivations of villains. By contrast, it's dull and unoriginal when people just hate on a villain because 'they're the bad guy' or 'they hurt the protagonist.' Those points are what make them great. Belos has become my new favorite villain in all of animation. I'm glad to see other people care as much about him as I do and really understand how complex he is. He is not fully emotion driven or logic driven, but a combination. He did not have complete agency in choosing this path, but he did partially. He hates Caleb and would kill him again if given the chance, but he loves Caleb and is haunted by murdering him. Belos is the best character in this show. I can't wait to see what happens to him in Season 3!
This is why I hope he’s not dead in Season 3, or reduced to some kind of brainless slime monster attacking Gravesfield- there’s still a lot about him we don’t know, and so much more of his story to be told. The show won’t feel as satisfying by the end if we don’t learn in detail what went down between Philip and Caleb, what their personalities were, and how Caleb grew more compassionate while Philip felt betrayed enough to commit murder. I’m still hoping for a flashback. …or should I say a “Flapjack?” Hahaha I’m sorry
My theory for Philip Wittebane/Emperor Belos' past is that he was seen as "unholy" for being lefthanded, so he was ostracized by everyone except for his elder brother Caleb. He wanted to prove himself by killing all witches, hoping that eliminating his fellow deviants would earn him some approval. To mask his lefthandedness, he learned ambidexterity. Caleb was a much better witch hunter than Philip when they started partaking in real witch hunts, leading to Philip looking up to him. They followed a witch (Gwen's ancestor) to the Boiling Isles, but got separated while there. While Caleb realized that the witch hunts were wrong, Philip never challenged his core beliefs. When it turned out that the very witch that unintentionally brought the Wittebane brothers to her home dimension while doing research on interdimensional travel was now married to Caleb and pregnant with his child, Philip felt betrayed by the one person who would never abandon him. In a fit of rage, Philip stabbed his own brother to death, while Caleb's wife escaped. It's unknown if the child was born before or after their father was murdered by their uncle. Philip turned his attention to his now-widowed sister-in-law, who struck him with a fire spell, knowing of his pyrophobia. My theory on why Philip developed a fear of fire was because he was threatened to be burned at the stake for using "the devil's hand." Out of grief, the Clawthorne ancestor buried the portal that brought her husband and her husband's eventual murderer near her family home, swearing to never allow another human into the Boiling Isles. Eventually, Philip learned of the Collector, and sought out his help. The Collector wasn't interested in ruling, he was interested in games, but his childlike mind and godlike power made him unable to understand the moral ramifications of anything he does. So, Philip portrayed his genocide of the Boiling Isles as a "game" to the Collector, and assuming the identity of Belos to hide the fact that he's an outlaw for his multiple murders, portrayed that to the public as "the right way to do magic." I'm betting that Belos isn't dead, but weakened. And now that he's in the Human Realm, he will be recuperating, allowing the Hexside Squad to capture him, and interrogate him on how he got to the Boiling Isles in the first place. So that the Collector can be defeated, King will portal to Connecticut when it seems like Luz and co. are stranded on Earth forever, and get them to help defeat the Collector. After the Collector is defeated, Belos will steal his power to regenerate and become godlike, causing a duel between him and the whole cast that inevitably results in Belos' death, and a happy ending for most of the cast. As angry as Philip was at his brother for his perceived betrayal, he couldn't hate him enough to completely wipe him off the face of the Earth.
Wow, this is a fantastic theory. It really cleverly ties into the beliefs of Puritan witch hunting, as well as the general implication that Philip/Belos is a dark reflection of Luz. If he too was ostracized and seen, in a sense, as a “weirdo,” that would be some damn good writing, and would more fully explain his desire to prove himself to people who he must know are dead by now. Just like Luz escaped from reality when she ventured to the Boiling Isles by imagining herself a heroic witch like Azura, so too did Philip Wittebane, only he aimed to be a heroic witch *hunter* and never grew beyond those fantasies. It also fleshes out his bond with Caleb, and why his “betrayal” hurt so much.
I think Belos keeps creating the grimwalkers because a part of him wants his brother to stand by his side via his on free will, because if he chooses Belos of his own accord (sort of) that will make him feel justified in his hatred of witches and his belief that the isles poisoned his original brother. Plus, Caleb was his brother, and don’t we all want our family-the people we’ve known our whole lives-to be proud of us, and to stay with us for as long as they can? Don’t we all want to protect our parents and siblings from evil? Even if Belos has a very twisted definition of the word. I also think that he wholeheartedly believes that the intent justifies the means, and that everything will be forgiven in the grand scheme of things- including his use of magic, and the people he hurt/killed.
I feel the reason he continues creating grimwalkers is because he regrets killing his brother and still thinks his brother betrayed him first. He said to the collector that it always hurts the "betrayal" but not killing him. And when Gus shows his worst memories is him killing his brother, maybe subconsciously he knows what he's doing was and is wrong but chooses to be blind because he already killed him
Something that I noticed that fits along with your hypocrisy count, and struck me the moment it happened and no one really seems to be bringing it up: in Follies At The Coven Day Parade, at the end he reveals his face, and explicitly thanks the Boiling Isles. Listen I don't think any of us were expecting this to be entirely genuine after Elsewhere And Elsewhen when he, Phillip/Belos, is revealed to be a near pathological liar, but what strikes me is...WHY. He could have said anything. He didn't even need to reveal his face, but if he did somehow, he definitely didn't need to thank the witches he despises and see as the literal devil. What did he have to gain from doing any of that? Did he just want to thank the people of the Isles for making his dream come true as he murders them all and rids the world of witches? Did he want to show them the face of their own demise before the time came? That seems the most likely answer, but it's still bizarre and I can't help but feel there's more to it then that. Just goes to show how fascinating Belos is as a character/villain.
I think it's that and also a manipulation tactic. He became more vulnerable with them to show his trust in them was mutual to the trust they put into him and his preachings. Kind of as a way to solidify their loyalty. Ofc with the double meaning sinister twist also.
I think the main reason why he said 'Thank you' is because he was thanking them for the parade that they made to celebrate him - It would be weird if he didnt say anything. What was definitely a manipulation tactic though was showing his face, he didnt have to do that but he wanted to cement their trust so he pretended to be vulnerable. Disturbing but very interesting ))
I think it’s also because he was using his own face as evidence for the fact that wild magic was dangerous. Like “In case you weren’t convinced already, see these horrible scars stretching across my face? We better eradicate that wild magic or else this could happen to you to!”
He was making a push at that point to get people to induct their kids into covens younger than they ever did before. He didn't hide his face as a matter of secrecy or modesty; he did it to hide the fact he got all those witches killed as Phillip. Using that sense of false vulnerability secured his relationship with the isles and made one last revolt less likely. Also watching the show I believe that Belos was doing less to gain support by the younger generations. He new they'd all be dead before adulthood. This was just some extra security.
Thanks for the disclaimer. As a Christian myself, I am sadly used to being roped in with those responsible for all sorts of disposable religious related crimes. I don't even consider myself religious; moreso spiritual!
You're so damn correct when you say that belos doesn't need a singular reason for making the grimwalkers, the point of them is that belos despite all of his intelligence and mastery, he still can't accept the fact he killed his brother. He's so maddened by the loss of his brother that he can not accept the fact that Caleb died because he grew into a better man than Belos, and Belos could not, and nor did he want to. He is ultimately unwilling to accept that his brother grew past their puritanical worldview and will always do such in all his incarnations because that would undermine Belos' worldview
One of my favorite Belos moments is when Luz asks "You wanna be Emporer of Witchhunters right?" He responds Witchhunter General. This is the only time someone got under his skin. Even when Luz chipped his mask and turned him into the goop thing he was pissed but still acted ready to fight. I think pride and obsession with status may be his bigger motivation.
Even more noticeable is that Witch Hunter General is such a lowly title compared to more grandiose Emperor of the Witch Hunters. Like Belos lacks the imagination in his bid for recognition.
@@ejsmith7626 Speaking of cracking, there is a more serious moment where Belos's inhuman aura falters for a bit. When Gus subjects Belos to relive his memory of murdering Caleb, Belos doesn't act like a sociopath there. He doesn't enjoy that memory, in fact he hates that memory to the point it causes him pain. And then you notice how Belos always avoids responsibility of killing his brother or just talking about his brother. It's as if that his one true guilt and he's been burying it in his subconscious to not feel the pain of being responsible of killing his only family. I think his downfall would be that memory coming back to haunt him. He's a sociopathic to everything except that one incident. As skulltrot has stated, if he were to ever admit that he was wrong, he would then be forced to confront with the fact that he murdered his brother for petty reasons and thus for nothing. And that might actually kill him.
I also think it be interesting if there was a twist, where with what little essence of belos is left there in the human realm and being in his old home (assumingly) he is only reformed as his child self, and maybe deluded to only seeing things as they where in his past.and then seeing hunter, he mistakes him for his brother, and maybe hunter rights belos's prejudice in some ways from interactions (seeing hunters reaction and even hesitation about this would be very intense), maybe along with his friends, and they tell a different story about witches. Not to say any of this would reveal more of his past, maybe, maybe not, I wouldn't know how it be portrayed. But just a thought.
belos is luz in so many ways. belos is everything luz did wrong and more. there’s probably comments saying this already, but both belos and luz couldn’t let go of a fantasy. eventually, luz did. but if she didn’t, she could’ve become like belos. now, it gets more interesting when you realize the collector also has the almost exact same issue. it a bit different, but they’re trapped in they’re own world, the in between. but he is LITERALLY trapped. they have no choice but to stay unless a titan were to come along. the collector cling onto is childish, chaotic, attention-seeking ways and did not let go. there so many more characters in the owl house who have done similar things to luz, belos, and the collector. for example: king clung onto his “king of demons” back story and didn’t let go until he was completely proven wrong in edge of the world. hunter clung onto thinking he was a good person, that he was helping humanity, basically an exact repeat of belos’s thinking, until he used his brain and realized what was actually going on. lilith always clung onto the closest god like person in sight. she needed someone to be commanding her and didn’t let go of even belos until she found out he lied about the whole reason lilith had stayed loyal to him. hooty was similar to the collector and he kept acting childish and was always craving attention (which he even admitted to in follies at a covens day parade) he clung onto any attention he got and he never really stopped acting like that until maybe after knock knock knockin, but he still resembles an attention seeking child anyway. there are so many more like gwendolyn, eda, amity, willow, gus, and even more! even small characters that only have small appearances show similar traits to belos, like principle faust.
I don't really believe that Belos has the sin of ignorance. Deep down, repressed, I believe he knows what he does is wrong but it's easier to do wrong things and to believe they are right than to have a mental breakdown to realize that what you have been taught isn't right. The first person Belos ever brainwashed was himself, he justified the murder of his brother by his own hands, probably telling himself that "he was swayed by evil," and he was too weak-minded. The tragic part of Belos is that anyone can become him.
I'm sure they'll show it near the ending. I mean, the last 3 episodes are gonna be around 40 minutes long each, I'm sure they'll try to jam alot of important lore in there somehow. It makes sense to me at least 🤷
Mabye he thinks eventually his brother has to agree with him, because if he didn't then it would mean Belos was wrong, and killed his brother. Basically my head cannon is he needs him to be right, even if logically hes not
I just had a a horrifying realization. Belos didn't create the first Grimwalker until after he found the Collector. Those bones we see on his desk with the diagrams, during the time travel episode, IS Caleb. Instead of burying him with respect and only taking what he would have needed. He just displayed his body like an experiment he's working on, Which he horrifically was. That blink and you'll miss it moment reveals a lot about how disjointed his view of reality is and it makes me very uncomfortable.
I'm so glad someone else noticed the Cain and Abel parallel! My mind went there as I watched the show, because I'm pretty familiar with the Bible and Scriptures. According to those resources, Cain is still alive, forced to wander the world until the Second Coming of Christ, but unable to enjoy life. It makes me wonder if that is the fate that awaits Belos too. Can you imagine if Season 3 ends with Belos being trapped in his cursed form, becoming the very thing he swore to destroy? He would live forever as a demon, hiding from the humans he tried to save, who now persecute him the way he and his people did during the witch trials. He would literally become a tale of folklore like bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. That would be such a cool narrative to take!!!!
In fact, building on that, Belos in his cursed form DOES kind of resemble a mythical creature that already exists in folklore. Any ever heard of the wendigo? Belos kind of looks like one himself, so the connection isn't too far out there.
This is a great analysis of Belos' character! This definitely aged well, I dont think any of s3 debunked your theories, only strengthened them! Belos wants so badly to be proved right(eous), and since the original Caleb didnt agree that he was right(eous) in his morals and decisions, he killed him, and made copies over and over to try to prove himself right. When that didnt work, he found Luz, the very presumed-witch from his youth who taught him the light spell and called him an asshole, was actually a human? Well, there's another chance (another Caleb) to either tell him that he's right, or to die and prove Belos right anyway, that the Boiling Isles really does ruin anything it touches. He kills the grimwalkers, tries to kill Luz, attempts genocide, all because he wants control over the one thing he hasn't yet had external validation for - that he's the hero, and everyone else is the villain. Such incredible writing.
I think he wants a form of validation, that’s why he keeps making grimwalkers, cause having someone believe what you believe and do what you do feels like a form of justification, not that he needs some way to justify his actions when he holds onto his prejudices, but to help motivate him as to why he does it, to help him believe it more, it’s the same reason hate groups are so strict with who enters and leaves their small communities, because”any who stands with us with raise us up, and any who is against us will be trampled” type stuff
Wow this was incredible, I binged the first two seasons of the owl house and not gonna lie, Hunter and Belos are my favorite characters so it was so cool to see so much detail
“No one would see him as a hero.” Weeeell there may be one who does, that modern witch hunter guy who ran the historical museum. We don’t know if he skipped town, if he got arrested ( trespassing and kidnapping) , or if he is still there screaming about witches and aliens to whomever will listen. If Belos ever makes it back to the human realm, I can see him freaking out about modern society and in a panic stumbling upon the museum, somewhere that looks old, maybe not his time old, but he goes in, and after the initial shock of seeing his time laid out like a macabre feast, he would go into information absorbing mode. Seeing such interest, the modern witch hunter approaches. Introducing himself. And Belos gives one of his smiles..... I also feel like there could be a blood connection between Belos and the witch hunter. What better motivation then an old family story; where 2 uncles were stolen by witches and never seen again, to go hard into witches exist? I mean who else but family would put up a monument about 2 missing young men who were rumored to have been lured away by witches, something completely nonsensical in the modern age. Yet the statues still were created and put up. And kept up. Ah but time will tell!
I think this is the reason why Dana took away Belos' human form and reduced him to slime when he makes it back to the Human Realm. While Jacob Hopkins would listen to an old man who claims to be from the 17th century and found a world of witches and demons, I don't think he would listen to a sludge monster that mocks the human shape. He'll just see Belos as a demon that he could hunt down and put him on display as proof that he is correct. That's an extra layer of tragic irony. The things that the remain the same are the things that now would target him as a witch/demon/monster to be exterminated. The witch hunter becomes the hunted. Belos would be horrified that after all he has "done" for Human Realm, he is rewarded to be the next witch hunt in question. He'll try to prove that he's human and not monster... but maybe he can't assume human form. Maybe he's stuck as a sludge monster. And Belos would screaming why the whole universe had turned against him after four centuries of "saving" humanity from witches.
@@evanbao93 Or maybe, he sees himself as a he who fights monsters trope, and thus deserves it. While he may half heartedly curse the world he’d just right after probably will embrace his witch identity and will attempt to manipulate people to kill more witches.
12:01 This picture breaks my heart. I never saw this one up close and I'm seeing Caleb's expression for the first time. You can see the hurt and the fear on his face. Moments later he would be struck down by his own brother. What hurts even more is that Caleb genuinely loved his brother. Philip had someone who truly cared for him and he threw it all away,
I think when making the grimwalkers hes trying to find proof that his way is right, that he was right all along and it wasn't him that made the error. If only the goldengaurd is the actual image (in his eyes) of his brother but had a result more attuned to belos's wishes, then belos could say "I was right" and maybe have that ideal of being with the brother he thought he always had
Great video. I do love in depth analysis. I couldn’t help but notice you used Little nightmares ost for the some of the background music. LN1 and and LN2 are my favorite games, I don’t know if you do requests but I would love it if you did an analysis on the game series if you are actually familiar with it. I don’t feel like there’s a lot of in depth analysis on the characters of that game.
I loved how the show ended. Belos/Phillip didn't die a dramatic and tragic martyr's death, but a rather pathetic death, exactly what he deserved. I do wish we had gotten a moment of realization from him that even if he had succeeded, it would have been for nothing.
This was such an incredible video, you honestly deserve a lot more attention than I got from my video talking about Belos. You go into so many deep aspects of his character that I didn't notice that it really makes me question if I'm a good writer/film student or not for not initially recognizing. Belos is just so interesting as an antagonist to me since ever since from the start you could follow that he's been pulling all the strings, messing with everyone he possibly could, and doing everything he can to achieve his goal that through his eyes he believed was the right thing to do.
I definitely wouldn't say that yours it worse. I've watched it and it was a really good break down of how toh handles themes of manipulation through Belos. But thank you so much!!
YES OMG! there was definitely a few things in there that I didn't notice my first time watching the show! Love ur essays and can't wait to for ur next one! :)
Honesty all the tragic irony parts could also be seen as he's sacrificing himself for all of humanity. There is no hypocracy there if you think of it that way. Also the fact that he finds it 'merciful' to put Luz out of her misery due to her mind being 'warped' by the monsters of the boiling iles could very well also explain his views on killing his brother. And bringing him back might be his way to try to give his brother another chance, but when he 'betrays him' and is now of a warped mind, he finds it best to put them out of their misery as well? He could also be reffering to himself as a ruined human life to, though I do find it more likely to be Caleb.
@@skulltrot thank you. Also I'm a new subscriber as of yesterday. Your videos are amazing. I first find your neurodivergent video. Being ADD and Dyslexic I didn't hesitate to watch and learned a lot more about myself I never knew it just blew my mind like paper in a wind tunnel and shared it with family and friends without hesitation. A very long story short your videos are great and I am excited to see what's next.
THIS WAS SINGLE-HANDEDLY ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING AND IN-DEPTH PHILIP ANALYZATION VIDEOS I’VE EVER SEEN. YOU LITERALLY SAID ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING I WOULD’VE SAID BUT PUT IT INTO BETTER WORDS. DEFINITELY A 10/10 EXPERIENCE.
Honestly, the most obvious parallel I can think of is Demona from Gargoyles. Like Belos, she associates a specific race with sin (humans) and has a superiority complex that prevents her from ever acknowledging when she's wrong. Also like Belos, her hypocrisy becomes readily apparent. She believes she is above humans, yet regularly makes deals with them and uses human weapons, like guns. Not to mention, her delusion is so strong that she's willing to kill those of her own race if they challenge her beliefs, even former lovers.
I knew that belos was very twisted but oh my lord this is just too much but my favourite part is that his subconscious purposely lies to itself to protect himself from the fact that he killed his own brother "just for people with glowy tablets to laugh him to scorn" as he would probably but even with his twisted mind he still has human emotions and I say again HUMAN emotions in my opinion and i think hers too the fact that this could albeit not easily happen to me or anybody is the most scary part. Anyways I think that there are three possibilities for belos 1. He realises what he's done and turns into a becomes a better person (but we all know that's definitely not going to happen) 2. He realises becomes more twisted and inhuman and eventually falls to his demise 3. He doesn't realise that he's clearly in the wrong and decides to manipulate humanity thus making this the biggest lie he told to himself So in the end ur done belos, ur done.
I think the most likely possibility is him being driven mad by the inability to turn human again. Without that human form, he can neither trick anyone nor lie to himself that he's a human, let alone a hero. Belos always has that obsession of being referred as a human. He wants Luz to refer to him as Philip. He attacks anyone who dares suggest he isn't human. And he thinks that killing the palismen monster in his mind would cure him, apparently not realizing that it's already too late and he's delaying the inevitable. His humanity is what he cherishes the most, and it's that humanity he uses to gain sympathy from others. Take it from him, and he would have nothing to hide himself from the truth. He would be gazing at his own refection and only see a monster looking back. He will see his old face in historical sites as a reminder of what he has lost. As a monster, he can never join human society lest they form a witch hunting mob against him. And combine with a resurgence of his worst memory in the form of Caleb being murdered by him, I say it would be a destructive tantrum followed by desperate attempts to regain his human form, only to reminded of the truth again and again. And perhaps, he would try to make another Grimwalker again. Just to cling on to the only thing that brings him familiarity and comfort in his childhood days, Caleb. Even though he should already know that bringing back Caleb is impossible.
Belos is honestly IMO the best villain I’ve ever encountered in any fictional media, becuz he’s just way too realistic, he feels like someone who very well could have existed, and who could be existing right now, or could exist in the future. It makes me feel paranoia thinking about how I could become my own “emperor Belos.” He just gives an intense sense of dread, especially once you realize how blind he was to his own tragic story; that if he eventually succeeded in his goal, he would also be losing as well. He’s literally doomed, and doesn’t know it. Seeing him makes me question “what if IM doomed” which is a common thought I have about myself without Belos smashing it into my head. So to sum up my entire tangent, looking at belos is like looking into a twisted mirror of yourself, which is why he’s such a hard hitting villain since he’s like a villain to the audience as well, and not just the characters in the story, if that makes any sense. I’m not the best at explaining my thoughts rn which is why I love videos like these that are so thoughtful and well done. I’m very excited to see what u have for the future lol
21:00 I like to think that Belos kept creating the Grimwalkers so that he could vindicate his goals and mission. It would essentially prove that Caleb’s death was his own fault. “If one of the grim walkers succeeds where the original failed, then it proves that it was *his* fault that I had to kill him.” Or something along those lines.
Maybe he deep down wanted to change his brother. Like a disagreement that ruined a friendship, he thinks “if only I had the right words at the time to redeem you… so we didn’t have to loose our bond”. So he cloned his brother trying to convince it as a proxy so he could have that bond again or at least a close enough version. Maybe he started his own empire cult to give his clones a similar enough upbringing to his brother to recreate a similar enough brotherly personality or he saw it as a way to get revenge on witches for corrupting his brother in the first place so he in a way enslaved them to his will or he started it because he felt powerless after being cast out by the puritans and or that he needed resources for his experiments that a empire can very much supply him. Upon each iteration he learns something new about manipulation (getting his clone to stay to his side just a little bit longer) and after every failed clone’s “betrayal” his heart grows more calloused until he is motivated more by spite then love for a loss bond because after every clones rejection of his ideals a part of him starts questioning his beliefs and that maybe just maybe he was in the wrong and that he killed his brother for no good reason; and that infuriated him. It wouldn’t surprise that he first sought after magic to bring his brother back after his regret and that he got so good at manipulation, not only from his cult upbringing (because he failed to convince his brother long ago), but also by his clone experiments. I think that’s why he keeps the cloning going. What started early on as a desperate way to undue his mistakes, became a way to study manipulation for empowerment, and then got so drunk off that power he twisted the program into a revenge fantasy and self hatred. Because in seeking out this magic, the puritans probably casted him out or worse. And if he never disavowed those puritan beliefs, every day he looks into the mirror, he sees he has became the very thing he sworn to destroy: a devilish witch who is probably going to burn in hell for being to soft to let his brother go and do what was “right” for his cult. That every bad thing and what he became in his life is all his fault (or he could scape goat his brother for what he became and blame and abuse his clones instead). Just my thought
I think your perspective is interesting, because by this logic, his motives for bringing back Caleb this many times would have gradually shifted as it went on. It seems a bit more believeable this way because not very often do people keep doing the same thing for exactly the same reason. People's perceptions change as they encounter new information. At first he may have brought Caleb back out of sentiment, perhaps the next few times out of wanting to fix him. And them after that, who knows? By then he was learning more about being a master manipulator, and changing into a worse person than before. It's likely his motives were shifting to darker paths by then. He very well may have in this process found a new reason to clone Caleb.
@@aiiiia9971 thank you. I thought about it for a wile to unify his motives and explain his strengths but that’s just my interpretation. I’m glad you liked it:)
I felt like that even if Belos wipe out witch kind in the 1600s, people aren't going to believe him & boiling isle was real, sure he might be considered a hero but since no one ever went there /going to a witch world was probably considered a sin too in puritan culture
I've got a theory that I've been brewing, and it looks like a couple of others have the same or similar idea but I'm curious to see what more people think. I also went into as much detail as possible explaining things, hence the wall of text. Here it goes. INCLUDES MINOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 EPISODE 1, SO JUST AN FYI. So, I think the reason that Belos keeps creating these grimwalkers, again and again, is that he wants his brother to "do it right this time." He is reincarnating his brother, shoving the poor dude's soul in these clones that he's made, again and again and again, in a twisted, Belos-style attempt to "save" his brother's soul by having as much control over him as possible and raising him "right" in hopes that this time he won't "fall" to the "evil" of witches and magic. The reason that every clone inevitably, invariably "fails", and that he will never succeed in making a "correct" Caleb clone that never "corrupts", and why they always end up turning their back on him is because he cannot change who Caleb fundamentally is and was. He may not have the memories of his previous incarnations, but just like his original self, he's always going to be on the side of what he learns is good, and when something comes along to show him that he was taught wrong about something (such as being raised to believe that witches/magic are evil) he will always end up updating his views and turn in favor of magic/the witches. In a twisted way, Philip/Belos had some degree of love for Caleb, and cannot bear the thought that he "lost him to the corruption of the witches" and live with the idea of the only person he knew and loved growing up burning in Hell, especially since he's the one who killed him, causing him to turn to a way to bring him back but do his best to make sure that he can't get "corrupted" again. He wanted to "save his soul" and for Caleb to be by his side and help him finish what they both initially sought out to do (before Caleb learned that witches are actually hella chill people and not evil) 400 years ago. It also doubly serves as a way for him to get revenge on, punish, and perhaps torture Caleb for "betraying" him. It is, so far, the most compelling theory that I can come up with as to WHY he keeps doing it despite the grimwalkers being such a weak point, and so unnecessary due to having had no shortage of loyal followers, and WHY the grimwalkers inevitably "fail" no matter what. Maybe they even eventually "wake up" so to speak, and remember to some extent who they are/were, I don't know, I have less basis for that one but I'm going to touch on that here too. Maybe if that's the case, our Hunter is the first one who has truly remained a "clean slate", but Hunter seeing Caleb in the mirror in the new intro makes me think that he might be starting to remember having been Caleb on some level. None of Belos's memories show Caleb as looking nearly so deathly ill, sad, and worn as an adult, and IMO he looks older than we've seen him in all of Belos's memories, so why does he appear as such unless Hunter is remembering something that we haven't learned regarding Caleb's past yet? Or perhaps, since he also appears older (and you can't age past death, obviously), it represents how tired and abused his soul truly is, being denied peace and rest after death, and instead tortured and forced by Philip/Belos to live through hell again and again in the bodies of these clones? It would also explain the name "grimwalker." The creation of a regular clone doesn't need for the original/previous version to be dead, but the "grim" part of the name implies that it's required to make them and that you can't just chop off a living person's finger or whatever and use the bone in it to create a clone. Making a clone of a still-living person with a chopped off finger, animal parts, and inanimate objects would certainly be a thoroughly creepy and weird thing to do, but a far cry from being "grim." Why would the original/previous one need to be dead unless you're transferring the consciousness/soul to the new one? Why does Belos/Philip directly address Hunter as "Caleb" in the last episode? I don't think he's going senile or anything, as he shows no real signs of losing his mental faculties, which is part of what makes him such an effective and terrifying villain. The only hole I can find in this theory is that Hunter has always had to have a sigil, which is a guaranteed death on the day of Unity, but I'm guessing that his original plan was to either bring him back yet again after the witches were all wiped out, or most likely, he was hoping that this incarnation would die "clean" on the Day of Unity and his soul would finally be saved and go to Heaven, but since this incarnation "failed" him yet again and Hunter escaped death at the hands of Belos, meaning he couldn't kill him again and start him over in time for the Day of Unity, he just decided that there's nothing he can do to save his brother's soul, and left him to die one final death as a "sinner," and to burn in Hell with the witches because he was angry, frustrated, fed up, and decided that Hunter/Caleb deserved such a punishment.
Great video, the part of puritanism history was really well done, and the rest of the analysis is very insightful. It's nice to make a deep dive into characters so detached from humanity
A small detail/mini theory: Could it be that the reason that Caleb's eyes were censored/scratched out in Belos' mind was that he knew he could never create a perfect copy of his brother, since Grimwalkers' eyes would always be magenta colored?
My personal interpretation of why he created the grimwalkers is because he misses Caleb. He wants his big brother back, but in his eyes, his brother betrayed him. He says Hunter’s a ‘better version of him’ because that new version of Caleb is easily manipulated and does what he’s told. He does it over and over because he just can’t live without Caleb.
what adds to the whole philip and caleb situation is that caleb is the older brother making caleb more emotionly mature and philip more emotionly vunerable
The fact that it's p possible to switch covens does mean sigils can be removed so I think if Hunter has stayed loyal when Belos teleported away he would have taken Hunter and removed the sigil. Or alternatively take him through the door before he died
i have to disagree here, dude didnt care about hunter or any other if the grimwalkers, he knew hunter would betray him it had happened over and over again with countless grimwalkers. Belos only saw the grimwalkers as this ‘elite’ soldier that was easy manipulated and molded to belos’ beliefs, so no i dont think that under any chance he would have saved hunter, not mattering how loyal he was
@@fishisfishing even if Hunter didn't betray him? Bellos is used to expecting betrayal from them but the fact that he keeps making them betrays the hope that even just 1 won't betray him. True we don't see many of them but the events that caused Caleb and Hunter to be executed were due to factors executive to the Boiling Isles IE falling in love with a witch and accidentally being spirited away into Belos's mind. The fact that he chose to make Hunter younger then the others may indicate they might have also fallen in love with witches. But with no more magic or witches around there's literally no concerns for betrayal in the other realm.
Loved ur analysis of this character, I enjoyed Belo's role in Owl House alot, even though he is a scumbag; its like he had control over the audience as well because we're so captivated by his presence on AND offscreen. ..I did not pay attention to all the crumbs they left for us about his background though😭 completely went over my head but I'm glad I could have it analyzed by you because your videos have such personality which makes it comforting to watch/listen to, very excited for future uploads❤
This is a spectacular video essay! I sure didn't expect to hear homophobia, sexism, and racism concisely and accurately dismantled from a logical standpoint at the 22:00 minute mark. Nice. :)
21:10 i think it's hard for you to analyze why he creates Grimwaker because that idea got corrupted ...the best we can go with is to try to undo the corruption of him saying "a better version"
I always knew belos was a menace but the moment he truly became irredeemable for me is when he refused to play hide and seek with the collector. Absolutely despicable behavior
"He does not feel guilt or at least will not admit to feeling any" reminds me of this theory i have. In hollow mind, we meet two creatures. at first they think one is the inner belos while the other is either his sense of guilt or his innocense or whatever. But later they discover that the kid was the inner belos. That leaves the other creature. Some videos i watched say that it could be the palismen souls he ate, which is fair and could be the case, we don't really know if that's possible at all. But, i do think it is also possible (since strong emotions can manifest) (and fankly a little more interesting) if /this/ is his sense of guilt. His guilt over killing his broter. his guilt over devouring palismen. and his guilt over planning a genocide and killing all the witches. Just like we see with his "fake mind" he lies to himself, convincing himself that he is in the right and ignoring and repressing his sense of guilt. he's been trying to silence it for so long because he is caught up in his believes. "this thing's been a thorn in my sight for years" he says. as if its an annoyance to his plans and just in his way. In the episode itslef he is seen "killing" it. killing his sense of guilt and potentially bannning it to his subconsious which... yeah. He does not feel guit anymore because he's repressed it and refuses to listen to it. in my opinion at least, you can obviously have your own interpretation. Oki lil rant is over. Love your videos theyre really cool. Thank you for taking the time and wish you the best of luck with uni!
Considering that the monster is what Belos really looks like, it seems to be foreshadowing of what his fate will be. And yeah, it makes more sense for his guilt to be lamenting on what he has become. Luz and Hunter didn't know that Belos was human and thus a human child would be something that Belos would be proud of, not ashamed of.
I have, for some reason always liked emperor belos as a character. although a lot of other people hate him, i just can’t bring my self to despise such a cool and complex character! he may even be one of my favorites along with most of the cast lol
in Season Two, the Collector mentions that he "is starting to think [Belos] is only creating those things to destroy them, to which Belos replies: "Of course not." I think it is a repeat punishment to both himself and Caleb that he recreates the worst moment of his life: discovering Caleb "betrayed him" and punishing him for said betrayal. He lets it happen over and over and over in the hopes one day, Caleb will choose him over anything else.
I personally think that the reason Belos keeps creating grimwalkers of Caleb is to "redeem" him. Each time he clones him, its another chance to try and convince him to be Belos's version of a good person and to save him from sin
6:11 girl i cannot lie my friends and i were all shocked CT was even made the human world setting and are glad we have something good to claim besides a haunting.. Edit: i escaped that void and there is literally nothing there, it's a liminal space in and of itself if you find yourself in connecticut run
30:43. i just realized that caleb is laying down dead in the same position the boiling isles titan is in. i think this is a parallel between belos and the collector. both (maybe the collector, we don’t really know how the titan died) killed their closest friend. this could also be a connection to caleb and the titan. the titan becomes a home for witches and demons, most likely them growing from the titan and evolved, and caleb finds a home on titan amongst witches. caleb learns to be his best self from witches and witches learn to be their best self from the titan.
you know, this made me think. What if all the witches on the Boiling Isles are just descendants from humans? It's made pretty clear by the fact that Caleb's partner was pregnant that witches and humans can reproduce with eachother. That shouldn't be possible for two species that evolved completely seperate. It's also made pretty clear that the portal Eda had isn't the only portal between the two realms, as Eclipse Lake existed, and there were implied to be more places. Here's my theory: Originally in the world of the Boiling Isles, it was mainly titans that would roam the lands. As implied in (I think) Eclipse Lake, when titan's blood mixed with the lakes, it would create portals between the human realm and the other world. The first humans to end up there eventually settled down and became titan hunters. Because of that, more and more titans would die, creating more and more portals. This then resulted in the stories of what hell supposedly looks like, and the many other myths and stories passed down through the ages. Like King explained in an early season 1 episode, demons were created from the rotting corpse of the titan. We don't know exactly how long ago the Boiling Isles' titan died, but given the fact that the skull was implied to be completely visible even in Philip's time, it's probably been dead for well over a millennium, and I'd honestly be willing to bet that it's been dead for around two. In that time, humans would come to the Boiling isles every so often, and while some managed to find their way back home, many decided to stay. They evolved while living there, gaining pointy ears, bile sacs, and developing the ability to use magic. Eda and Hunter both implied that Glyph Magic was widely used in the 'savage ages', to quote Hunter. This implies that bile sacs were evolved as an easier way to use magic, not the only way. Hunter could definitely use magic without the help of his staff if he used glyphs, just like how Luz could learn despite not having a bile sac and how Eda and Lilith could learn when the curse took their magic from them. There's a couple species on earth that can interbreed, but most of them can't produce fertile offspring. Examples are horses/donkeys/zebras, lions/tigers/panthers, and I'm sure there's more. Since we'd need Caleb and Mystery Witch's child to be fertile if we want them to be able to be a Clawthorne ancestor, we can assume that witches and humans are a little bit closer than that. At that point a decent middleground-example would be rabbits. There are three types of rabbit that are relevant to this explanation. Domestic rabbits, the European wild rabbit, and the North-American wild rabbit. You see, domestic rabbits have an odd relationship with their wild relatives. Domestic rabbits cannot reproduce with their North-American relatives, but they can with the European ones. They're different types of rabbit, but they're similar enough that reproduction is possible. However, in this case, I think dogs would be the best example. You see, dogs are still closely enough related to wolves that most breeds can reproduce with them, creating wolfdogs ('most' because obviously a Chihuahua can't mount a wolf, and usually when mixing breeds of different sizes the bigger breed will be the mother, to prevent pregnancy complications). Wolfdogs are, in fact, fertile. It's very much possible that say, the Titan Hunters, would not be able to reproduce with modern humans because they're too different, but it's also possible that they would be able to. The species now has a different name, but it's still similar enough that cross-reproduction is possible. Caleb and Mystery Witch are proof that at the very least, humans and witches are related to around the same extent as dogs and wolves are. Well this turned out a lot longer than expected xD
An interesting inspiration for the Collector and Titan(s) story could be Majora's/Skull Kid's from Majora's Mask (depending on how you interpret the past with the Giant and their impish friend).
If we’re applying the Cain and Abel allegory to this, one can see Caleb’s (relatively) happy life in the Isles as the Titan smiling kindly upon him, and Belos’s continued frustration (“Almost like the Titan didn’t want me to have that knowledge,” S2 E21) as the Titan condemning him (a la Genesis 4:11).
One of my biggest fears going forward with the series is that Belos is going to be irrelevant as a threat, that's not exactly a bad thing as Lilith became an irrelevant threat before, but I don't think Belos is going to be redeemed (nor I think that's a good idea) so by not being a threat he's essentially sidecasted or even completely removed. It's not one of my biggest fears because I like him, I despise him, but exactly that depth intrinsic to his character and the discussions it brings that you showed would be such a loss overall to the show Sorry if that's confusing, I'm still watching the video and it's hard listening while trying to make a coherent point lol Also english isn't my first language But that's that I LOVE YOUR VIDS 😭 binge watching them rn
Belos reminds me of Amon from The Legend Of Korra both people loved by everyone both hate and want to get rid of people with powers and have equality both clame to comuntcat with a entity and both of them turn out to be compleat frauds and both of them changed there names and both of them have a brother and both of them have a scar across his face and both of them ware a mask
This video was so well made. I watched your other one about growing up neurodivergent and the way you explain things is so cool to listen to. Keep it up!
I *love* the premise this video strives to achieve... linking Belos to the religious fanaticism of his time. However, while the arguments are largely sound, I do carry one issue with this video. The Presentation. It's *very* obvious you're reading from a script. Painfully so, in fact. When you speak, it doesn't sound natural or fluid at all. I believe that this video would be greatly improved had you taken each individual section of the script and tried express your point in it thoroughly. Shooting as many takes as necessary. Stitching them together if needed.... rather than trying to do everything in one big take. This one big take approach undermines the emotion of what's going on... the script and your delivery of it makes it feel almost as hollow of emotion as Belos himself.
I have no idea what show this is but I'm thankful my interest in deeper thoughts on media and art brought this into my recommendations, this was really good :)
@@basilbat273 I mean yeah I agree it’s the weakest season of the show since a lot of episodes were just filler but some of those filler episodes were important I guess.
What I like about Belos is that he’s not done sympathetically it’s nice to see a villain be a villain and not be redeemed because Belos is a terrible person who is not redeemable
Loved the video, small piece of thumbnail advice though. Text should go on the left side with the character on the right. That way the timestamp won't cover up your hook. Making it look like "Writing a God Com36:40"
This was by far one of the best videos ive seen on TOH. As someone who has always been incredibly uncomfortable by organized religion I really appreciate you bringing these parallels to light. Keep up the good work!
I would love to see a follow up even if its brief about your thoughts on his choice after realizing everything was for nothing to go back and become a literal 'god' to destroy the boiling isles, and down to his last minute he was still trying to be a 'hero' in the narrative.
I must say if you won they wouldn't exactly see him as hero to be honest they'd hang him at the spot for using magic. In other words he worked for nothing
Another amazing video. The parallel to Cain and Abel is something I absolutely missed but is a brilliant bit of writing.
One thing about Belos I would like to point out is the connection to real-life witch hunter Matthew Hopkins who lived in England in the early 1600s. He was the son of a Puritan minister and claimed to be the "witchfinder general" (extremely similar to the "witchhunter general" title that Belos wants) and was responsible for more witch executions in England over a three-year span than there had been in the previous hundred.
Here's the kicker: in 1647 he published his book "The Discovery of Witches" outlining his witch-hunting methods, and this is believed to have been the spark that started the Connecticut Witch Trials that also started in 1647. Additionally, the name of the Gravesfield Historical Society's museum curator from Yesterday's Lie (who is hinted to be a descendent of the Wittebane family) is Jacob Hopkins.
You’re pinned good for you😊🥰👍💯💕💞💖
He Also used very similar spell like rituals to determine if someone was a witch. But of course he justified it by that it was a godly spell.
i've read a hypothisis in TV tropes that Belos could have been in-universe inspired by Hopkins
i didn't get any hints that Jacob is hinted to be a descendent of the Wittebane family
Great video 👌
I love the irony of the first draft of the Owl Hose taking place in Hell, while the Owl House we got is ruled by a man so afraid of the Devil that he becomes him.
You just described the show in the most perfect way possible.
that reminds me of a fan made owl house comic
Yo that’s deep asf
@@Lolo_225 I know right
@@arandomthingintheabyss2062 I think I know what comic you’re talking about
Another interesting part of Belos’s character I think is worth mentioning is that he shares Luz’s main character flaw, this being a reliance on fantasy over reality. Just like Luz sees herself as a fantasy hero like Azura earlier during her time in the Demon Realm, Philip Wittebane saw himself as a heroic witch hunter and was never able to see reality through his pride. Luz clung to fantasy seemingly because she felt different from her peers, and it’s possible that Philip as a child was seen as unusual too and abused for it, leading to his conformist views. Belos is the ultimate extreme of Luz’s flaws.
This is an amazing interpretation that makes the theory of "The Collector is a foil to Luz in that he represents uncontrolled unrestrained creativity and it being dangerous" make even more sense
I agree so much! What I also think is great is that while belos doubled down on it and never questioned his beliefs, luz does the opposite and begins to realize the boiling isles is more than some fantasy escapist route. She confronts her fantasies and faces reality. It shows what happens when different paths based on the same premise are taken. They really are narrative foils!
I love Belos as a twisted parody of Luz. Same powers, same place of origin, both were outcasts who entered the Boiling Isles, one who sided with conformity, the other who sided with individuality.
I mean considering that Philip was raised during the time period where abuse was essentially attached to the parenting 101 guide book, he most likely was abused for “bad behavior”
And that's how you write an Antagonist
19:55 Another reason the Day of Unity failed is because Belos pridefully cast away Kikimora. He was going to leave the Demon Realm anyway, so if he had just told Kikimora she would be his right hand and told her to go police the Day of Unity, she wouldn't have been there to lead King to The Collector, nor would she have resented Belos enough to betray him.
"Bellos was pissed because the bros before hoes code was broken"
Season 3 episode 1: "Sounds like little bro got pissed that big bro got a hot witch gf."
You mad lass! It's cannon now!
More villains should have "couldn't get a date" as the catalyst for being evil.
@@oscarwind4266 Plot twist, Belos’s older brother, Caleb resurrects, and becomes a straw political villain due to this.
Caleb gets GF, Philip did not LOL
@@Hexsmasher2099 phillip has no bitches.
Belos is single and got mad about it
I feel like Belos wants to "redeem" his brother. It is a very common thing with these abusive religious families to "kill" the real you until you submit to them and earn "redemption" in the eyes of what they perceive to be God. Belos must have a complicated relationship with his brother, at one hand resenting him and torturing him just out of frustration. But on the other hand he loves his brother, and maybe his reason for resurrecting him is to make him right. To save him in some twisted way. In his eyes, he just wants to help him, but in reality he's torturing each resurrection for what the original Caleb has done to him. At least that's how I see it. He seems to feel some kind of genuine distress over what happened in his past, as shown by the scene with Gus showing it to him, but the reason probably isn't because he regrets anything, but because he felt personaly betrayed by his brother. His motivations are entirely selfish, he's self serving, but how he feels about himself contradicts the reality because he believes he's a hero, and the reason he feels hurt is because "he's just so angry his brother turned evil" while in reality he's angry he lost control over him.
This is so interesting. I agree. It also seems like Belos is creating some sort of man-made reincarnation system, where he’s trying to make Caleb “learn a lesson” until he gets it right.
Yeah this, this checks out...
The thing about people with complex’s like Belos have the ability to hate and love the same person with no inner conflict, they can hurt people close to them and still genuinely love them. Belos says constantly things to the effect of “I’m doing this to save people” and he genuinely means it while simultaneously hurting the same people he claims to care about. Because at the end of the day “this is for your own good” Phillip loves Caleb, he killed him because he loved him, cloned him because he loved him and repeats that cycle over and over because he loves him. He wants to have his Brother redeem himself and defeat the witches, he kills each one that goes against that because they’ve been “corrupted”
This is basically what I wanted to say in my comment but explained 908 times better, I think belos is blinded by his complex feelings towards his brother so that’s why he continues making grin walkers
Belos: "I don't want to harm another human."
Luc: "I have a girlfriend and was raised with a culturally Catholic family."
Belos: "I'm killing you first."
That's really funny but I'm very curious.
Which region of Catholicism if Luz is from a Catholic family?
And I think Christianity was the prominent religion of America in HIS time. Though one is dirived from from the other they are quite different religions.
@@HestiaVesta Catholicism is a sub-set of Christianity, Christianity isn't just a word for offshoots of Catholicism.
But also my analysis of her being culturally Catholic is born from my European point of view. She is from a Spanish descended family whereas he seems to be from an English descended family.
As an Irishman I have a lot of historical awareness of the English frowning heavily on Catholics after they randomly decided to stop being Catholic so they could give their Monarch greater dominion over them in life and death.
@@Twilord_ she is from Connecticut btw
@@HestiaVesta keeping in mind from where her mom is, she's probably more of a "sometimes forget she's catholic" type, as she's never show to carry things like rosarios or having expressions linked to Catholics here
@@luca_issan9322 that's a fair response
I like the argument that the Boiling Isles appear like Christian Hell. The name alone implies the sea is uninhabited because of the heat, one of the signs in the book of revelations of the End of Days.
I ended up not mentioning it in the video, but the original concept for toh was actually to have it set place in hell which i think is cool
@@skulltrot It's in the "Demon Realm" if that doesn't sound like Hell or Hellish then I don't know what else to say.
Would also explain why it's said that "holy water" hurts demons. Like no, they just can't enter the water because it's literally boiling
@@shawnwarrynn8609 the question for that is “who gave the demon realm its name?” My guess is Phillip.
@@skulltrot What you said at 26:13 pretty much sums up his motivation, IMO:
"If he ever became aware of how wrong he is, he would then have to face the reality that he murdered his beloved brother over a deleterious aspiration."
I think everything he does is because of murdering his brother.
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to murder Evelyn but accidentally stabbed Caleb instead when he jumped in between. I wouldn't be surprised if we get this reveal in the final episode.
Basically, he stabbed his brother (accidentally or on purpose), and he regretted it so badly, was so shocked, traumatized and heartbroken over it, that the only way to move forward was to double down on his bigotry and delusions. Acknowledging that he was wrong wouldn't bring his brother back, it would only bring Philip unbearable pain and anguish. So he deluded himself, he doubled down and fully became the witch hunter hidden behind a mask. Even witnessing the kindness of real witches first hand would never convince him to change his ways. The pain of having killed his own brother is so strong that nothing in the world could ever make him change his mind because he really did love Caleb that much. The Grimwalkers are an emotionally complex attempt at coping with his grief and denial. He is trying to live out a fantasy of him and Caleb being witch hunting brothers.
And every dark action he takes, every murder, lie and scheme only makes it worse, only makes the idea of acknowledging that he was wrong about witches that much more impossible. He had literally backed himself into a corner and the only way forward was to enact the Day of Unity and kill all witches. When he returns to the Demon Realm in Thanks to Them, it is because 1. he saw the modern human realm and it is his worst fear come true: humanity has moved on from this bigotry and Belos' dreams of returning as a hero were shattered. The only thing he has left is to finish his mission, and Luz is the only one who knows of his deeds. He wants to prove her and the rest of the human world wrong about witches, and to finish his mission. In For the Future, he is haunted by visions of Caleb because he knows he was wrong all along but can never bring himself to admit it.
Maybe in the last episode we will get a scene where the ghost of Caleb tells Philip that he would have forgiven him for killing him if he had just changed his ways, and we see that it was an accidental stabbing. Something that really shows why Philip/Belos did what he did, and truly breaks him. It would be a fitting end for his character, to crumble as he faces the pain he has been avoiding for so long, at the expense of everyone else, and it would present a message that actually explains his motivations directly beyond bigotry and delusion and fanaticism.
If Luz's bargaining skills didn't stop Belos from petrifying her, he'd probably start creating grimwalkers of her by harvesting her fossilized organs. Because he sees so much of Caleb in her. Even though ironically, Luz is everything Belos should've been, someone who uses her experience as an outcast to preach individuality, instead of destroying all those who defy their society's norms. Someone who wants to live in the Boiling Isles, not someone who wants to watch the place burn.
Help this comment has spawned an absolute BANGER of a dark au in my head
@@peeblekitty5780 an absolute banger of an au that sounds absolutely awesome and has now sprouted in my head too
@@Cj-lk6jp im just thinkin like,, if the day of unity didnt work or happened later or something. luz grimwalker growing up alongside the next caleb grimwalker after hunter, serving Belos together and facing the same realizations that the previous grimwalkers did together.
then i imagined the absolute angst of if they and the current cast (now older) met. how DEVASTATING would that be to like,, gus and willow, amity, eda, poor camila if she's there, seeing a grimwalker of Luz who meant so much to them? Hunter, meeting his replacement face-to-face, seeing this abused and completely indoctrinated boy that he once was? it's pain all the way down !!
:00000 holy cow you have this really well thought out and it sounds s o COOOOOL! oh the angst opportunities, this would be SO FUN to read!!! and also heartbreaking, but that’s kinda the point lol.
…do you have an ao3, by any chance?
@@Cj-lk6jp pff i do! haven't written anything TOH on there yet tho, idk if i'd be able to do these scenes justice
I couldn't help but notice the painting before the knife fight one: Caleb seems to welcome his brother into his home, apparently thinking he has come to make up or be friendly. But Belos is already hiding the knife behind his back. He came to kill. It was not an escalation, it was calculated.
The question there "Was his target Caleb...or the witch?"
If he targeted the witch, then the escalation is that he ended up killing his brother instead, who tried to protect her.
@@evanbao93 Very true. And planning to kill your bother's pregnant wife would be even more insidious, honestly.
@@evanbao93 given how s3 ep 1 goes, it sounds like he was trying to target Evelyn....but caleb got hurt instead.
@@evanbao93 he was targeting Evelyn, since he is not facing Caleb in the portrait were he seems infuriated
Probably Caleb got in the way and Philip ended up killing him instead
"Mansplain, manipulate, manslaughter's his way to being Emperor of the Boiling Isles" this part got me
The concept of inherent traits for people is important for someone like Belos, meaning bigots who think everyone has a set nature. So maybe he keeps cloning Caleb to reasure himself that it was in his nature to betray him, that killing him was the right thing and that there was nothing else he could've done
I actually think it is actually the opposite. So same take on inherent traits, but from my point of view Belos would have misunderstood this as humans are all inherently good. For him the only thing that could have "corrupted" a human would have been a witch/witchcraft.
Therefore he firstly just wanted his brother back, he wants his brother to be the way he was before they met the witch, and he wants to prove that witches can "corrupt" human nature. He would want to prove it to himself that witches are indeed the reason his brother changed and that if Belos had been the one to lead the duo that he could prove that eventually he would have one grimwalker that will not be "corrupted".
This reasoning simply comes from Belos natural attraction to studying everything and believeing he is always right. Him bringing back such a big risk of a grimwalker would imply he is flexing on his ability to have "conquered death" as well as proving that his brother would not have been "corrupted" if they did not meet the "wild witches".
I say "wild witches" because that is the group of people that he is currently trying to teach Hunter to hate, rather than just witches in general. I say this mostly because he needed to gather followers and going against everyone the first moment he got there would be a bad idea, so focusing on one group and suggesting a "solution" to get people to join his cult was a lot simpler method of recruitment.
@@numbernumber25 that's an interesting reading of it too
@@perro692 Yup, either way I am really just hoping that the third season or the lengthy episodes of the third season will explain to us or show us why Belos did it. Like this is the only thing I am really wondering aside from the mystery on the author of the books Luz and Amity are so into, Luz's palismen, the story of Phillip and Caleb, as well as who made the first portal that traveled between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm.
@@numbernumber25 sadly, i think with the limited time they're gonna focus on wraping up the arcs of the core cast rather than give more to Belos or any other side character, i could see maybe getting some more on him as long as it serves Hunter's arc. It sucks but it is what it is you know, they gotta use their time wisely
@@perro692 That is fair, I guess the most of the story we could get in this final season behind Belos would be from Hunter finding out who Caleb was and why he was made. Hunter would probably go to the museum, visit some historic sites, and piece together about where he came from and what he will do. I mean he basically already figured out that he wants to just live a normal life of a kid growing up, but the last two parts of him that would probably be developed are learning more social cues and finding out his origins.
You’re so right about Belos being a much more dynamic villain because of the grimwalkers. If he was just a product of his time he’d still be a decent villain in contrast to Luz imo, but the story we can piece together using mostly background details so far, makes him so much scarier. Definitely much needed depth for the main villain. Another thing! is when the Collector says he’s starting to think Belos has fun killing the grimwalkers, he doesn’t *immediately* or vehemently deny it! He even smiles first. And ofc great analysis as always!
That smile is terrifying
"Had he finished the day of unity in the 17th century he would've been a hero."
genuinely got chills here
It's such a horrifying thing.
Even today im sure he would have had support. The series takes place in the U.S which has a lot of abrahamic extremists who still believe those things
@ocelot madness, to be fair in the US it’s mainly Christians and less the other abrahamic religions.
@@ocelotmadness6287 Yeah, if the draining spell was sucesful, and he was able to go back, I'm sure a cult like religion would form around him, expanding his reign of terror over even more magic realms (if they exist)
If Caleb had a wife and she was potentially pregnant, could that have been the start of the Clawthorne line? We know that Lilith was the rare person allowed to keep her palisman in the emperor’s coven, and that birds are a common theme within the clawthorne family, which could connect Flapjack to them.
Plus, the Clawthron sisters' dad's palisman looks almost identical to flapjack
Never thought of that!
Honestly with the release of the first special, and how I could see the second and/or third special going, I think this is the case. While there is debate on Luz's palisman, I think a happy medium is a winged serpent. Not only does it have fascinating implications for Luz given winged serpent imagery in Meso-american as well as Greco-roman cultures, it showcases Luz being a part of two worlds and two families.
There is also the (understandable) theories the other kids are having a hard time adapting to food in the human realm, much like Luz was to food in the demon realm. The reason why Eda (and perhaps other Clawthornes) are able to stomach both is because some unique blend of human and demon digestive system they have. Given how....diverse?...demons are, maybe they have some unique quality where they can interbred with any other sapient life. Plus succubi/incubi/cambions are a thing and gained traction in the 1500s, possibly what made Phillip go off the deep end was his ex-Witch Hunter brother having a half-blood child with a Witch. Particularly the very witch that got them trapped in the demon realm in the first place.
Definitely, a small detail we can see in the portraits is that Caleb was a talented carver, he carved Philip's mask. I think this definitely alludes to the fact that him and Evelyn had started a palisman carving business before he was killed, and she kept it going afterwards
Another component of Belos's character which I personally found compelling, was the fact that despite knowing he was evil, I couldn't help but respect him, that even when I know he's wrong, his charisma is still alluring enough for me to like him as a character. I don't know if this is just a me thing, but if it isn't, I find it an interesting object lesson of the allure of authoritarianism; that everyone, even the most liberally minded people given all the facts can still fall prey to this kind of manipulation.
Just another aspect of the character I found interesting/terrifying and wanted to mention.
An excellent video as always; you seem to have picked up on some interesting ideas that (to my knowledge) haven't been explained quite this well elsewhere; am definitely looking forwards to whatever you have planned next.
Honestly, I feel the same way. I found myself wanting to see the good in Belos because of his perceived sympathy, and because I may see extremes of some of my own flaws in him- it’s kinda scary to think about how easily most of us could grow to be like him
Really? Oh...well... I just wanted to break his other leg
Yeah, one component of Belos' character that I appreciate is just how realistic he is. He's charismatic, manipulative, confident, and comes off as a wise elder figure - someone people who are lost and insecure might seek out. His advice is even what compelled Lilith to curse Eda through his quote "to be great, you have to make sacrifices." On a side note, Lilith's subservience to Belos may be a result of her being neglected by her parents in favor of Eda, and her trying to seek validation through her idol. And for those who remain skeptical of his beliefs, he can coerce by using explosives to simulate wild magic or by scapegoating their problems on wild magic. And to ensure that future generations remail subdued, he can rewrite history and sugarcoat his true motives. These are all tactics and characteristics that are seen in popular figures throughout history, and in present day.
I never saw Belos as being likeable in any way. He always just seemed like a maniac to me even when he was Philip. His charisma just seems like a deliberate effort to mislead others. He's literally hiding behind a mask.
However, I also find him to be interesting food for thought, because of how human he really is. The immorality of his specific actions themselves pile up to the sky beyond anything I am capable of doing, and even so, his flaws in general and certain patterns of reasoning out his choices are things that I also have perceived in myself.
I guess what I am saying is the scariest thing about Belos is not his power or his lunacy, but that there is a tiny Belos in all of is.
There is something I heard about how psychopaths talk. It is known that most of them are highly charismatic and use this to twist people's perception of them.
What I heard was I think in an interview of sorts with someone who deals with psychopaths and other people who deal with psychopaths regularly, and what he said was that at some point in the conversation, the conversation changes. You don't realise it in the moment. It is only when you look back on the recording or the memory that you think "hold on, that's insane. Why did I not question that, how did I not see it?"
And it is because of how charismatic and skilled in terms of manipulation they are.
And cult leaders are known for also known for being highly charismatic.
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”
I'm not sure how much that would fit Philip. Sense the 'monsters' in question were not evil
@@erickamakeeaina1649 It *arguably* works, since Belos *thinks* they're evil and that might be enough to set that mindset in motion. Basically a moral placebo if you will.
19:24 "mansplain manipulate manslaughter".
Belos: Your Honor, It isn't manslaughter, I did it on purpose.
As someone who lived in Connecticut for 5 years, I can confirm that nobody lives there unless it's a plot device for them to be a magic-hating puritan.
It's always so refreshing to see people really delve into the minds and motivations of villains. By contrast, it's dull and unoriginal when people just hate on a villain because 'they're the bad guy' or 'they hurt the protagonist.' Those points are what make them great.
Belos has become my new favorite villain in all of animation. I'm glad to see other people care as much about him as I do and really understand how complex he is. He is not fully emotion driven or logic driven, but a combination. He did not have complete agency in choosing this path, but he did partially. He hates Caleb and would kill him again if given the chance, but he loves Caleb and is haunted by murdering him. Belos is the best character in this show.
I can't wait to see what happens to him in Season 3!
This is why I hope he’s not dead in Season 3, or reduced to some kind of brainless slime monster attacking Gravesfield- there’s still a lot about him we don’t know, and so much more of his story to be told. The show won’t feel as satisfying by the end if we don’t learn in detail what went down between Philip and Caleb, what their personalities were, and how Caleb grew more compassionate while Philip felt betrayed enough to commit murder. I’m still hoping for a flashback.
…or should I say a “Flapjack?” Hahaha I’m sorry
My theory for Philip Wittebane/Emperor Belos' past is that he was seen as "unholy" for being lefthanded, so he was ostracized by everyone except for his elder brother Caleb. He wanted to prove himself by killing all witches, hoping that eliminating his fellow deviants would earn him some approval. To mask his lefthandedness, he learned ambidexterity. Caleb was a much better witch hunter than Philip when they started partaking in real witch hunts, leading to Philip looking up to him. They followed a witch (Gwen's ancestor) to the Boiling Isles, but got separated while there. While Caleb realized that the witch hunts were wrong, Philip never challenged his core beliefs. When it turned out that the very witch that unintentionally brought the Wittebane brothers to her home dimension while doing research on interdimensional travel was now married to Caleb and pregnant with his child, Philip felt betrayed by the one person who would never abandon him. In a fit of rage, Philip stabbed his own brother to death, while Caleb's wife escaped. It's unknown if the child was born before or after their father was murdered by their uncle. Philip turned his attention to his now-widowed sister-in-law, who struck him with a fire spell, knowing of his pyrophobia. My theory on why Philip developed a fear of fire was because he was threatened to be burned at the stake for using "the devil's hand."
Out of grief, the Clawthorne ancestor buried the portal that brought her husband and her husband's eventual murderer near her family home, swearing to never allow another human into the Boiling Isles. Eventually, Philip learned of the Collector, and sought out his help. The Collector wasn't interested in ruling, he was interested in games, but his childlike mind and godlike power made him unable to understand the moral ramifications of anything he does. So, Philip portrayed his genocide of the Boiling Isles as a "game" to the Collector, and assuming the identity of Belos to hide the fact that he's an outlaw for his multiple murders, portrayed that to the public as "the right way to do magic." I'm betting that Belos isn't dead, but weakened. And now that he's in the Human Realm, he will be recuperating, allowing the Hexside Squad to capture him, and interrogate him on how he got to the Boiling Isles in the first place. So that the Collector can be defeated, King will portal to Connecticut when it seems like Luz and co. are stranded on Earth forever, and get them to help defeat the Collector. After the Collector is defeated, Belos will steal his power to regenerate and become godlike, causing a duel between him and the whole cast that inevitably results in Belos' death, and a happy ending for most of the cast. As angry as Philip was at his brother for his perceived betrayal, he couldn't hate him enough to completely wipe him off the face of the Earth.
Wow, this is a fantastic theory. It really cleverly ties into the beliefs of Puritan witch hunting, as well as the general implication that Philip/Belos is a dark reflection of Luz. If he too was ostracized and seen, in a sense, as a “weirdo,” that would be some damn good writing, and would more fully explain his desire to prove himself to people who he must know are dead by now. Just like Luz escaped from reality when she ventured to the Boiling Isles by imagining herself a heroic witch like Azura, so too did Philip Wittebane, only he aimed to be a heroic witch *hunter* and never grew beyond those fantasies. It also fleshes out his bond with Caleb, and why his “betrayal” hurt so much.
I think in belos’s mind he was stopping his brother from being corrupted
@@CleverFrenchName Yep, that’s how he saw stabbing his brother. And trying to do the magical equivalent of drowning Luz in formaldehyde.
I think Belos keeps creating the grimwalkers because a part of him wants his brother to stand by his side via his on free will, because if he chooses Belos of his own accord (sort of) that will make him feel justified in his hatred of witches and his belief that the isles poisoned his original brother. Plus, Caleb was his brother, and don’t we all want our family-the people we’ve known our whole lives-to be proud of us, and to stay with us for as long as they can? Don’t we all want to protect our parents and siblings from evil? Even if Belos has a very twisted definition of the word. I also think that he wholeheartedly believes that the intent justifies the means, and that everything will be forgiven in the grand scheme of things- including his use of magic, and the people he hurt/killed.
I feel the reason he continues creating grimwalkers is because he regrets killing his brother and still thinks his brother betrayed him first. He said to the collector that it always hurts the "betrayal" but not killing him. And when Gus shows his worst memories is him killing his brother, maybe subconsciously he knows what he's doing was and is wrong but chooses to be blind because he already killed him
I think Belos kept making Grimwalkers because, yes he’s insane, and he always believes-“this time he’ll see I’m right.”
Something that I noticed that fits along with your hypocrisy count, and struck me the moment it happened and no one really seems to be bringing it up: in Follies At The Coven Day Parade, at the end he reveals his face, and explicitly thanks the Boiling Isles. Listen I don't think any of us were expecting this to be entirely genuine after Elsewhere And Elsewhen when he, Phillip/Belos, is revealed to be a near pathological liar, but what strikes me is...WHY. He could have said anything. He didn't even need to reveal his face, but if he did somehow, he definitely didn't need to thank the witches he despises and see as the literal devil. What did he have to gain from doing any of that? Did he just want to thank the people of the Isles for making his dream come true as he murders them all and rids the world of witches? Did he want to show them the face of their own demise before the time came? That seems the most likely answer, but it's still bizarre and I can't help but feel there's more to it then that. Just goes to show how fascinating Belos is as a character/villain.
I think it's that and also a manipulation tactic. He became more vulnerable with them to show his trust in them was mutual to the trust they put into him and his preachings. Kind of as a way to solidify their loyalty. Ofc with the double meaning sinister twist also.
@@skulltrot Yeah most likely!
I think the main reason why he said 'Thank you' is because he was thanking them for the parade that they made to celebrate him - It would be weird if he didnt say anything. What was definitely a manipulation tactic though was showing his face, he didnt have to do that but he wanted to cement their trust so he pretended to be vulnerable. Disturbing but very interesting ))
I think it’s also because he was using his own face as evidence for the fact that wild magic was dangerous. Like “In case you weren’t convinced already, see these horrible scars stretching across my face? We better eradicate that wild magic or else this could happen to you to!”
He was making a push at that point to get people to induct their kids into covens younger than they ever did before. He didn't hide his face as a matter of secrecy or modesty; he did it to hide the fact he got all those witches killed as Phillip. Using that sense of false vulnerability secured his relationship with the isles and made one last revolt less likely. Also watching the show I believe that Belos was doing less to gain support by the younger generations. He new they'd all be dead before adulthood. This was just some extra security.
Thanks for the disclaimer. As a Christian myself, I am sadly used to being roped in with those responsible for all sorts of disposable religious related crimes. I don't even consider myself religious; moreso spiritual!
You're so damn correct when you say that belos doesn't need a singular reason for making the grimwalkers, the point of them is that belos despite all of his intelligence and mastery, he still can't accept the fact he killed his brother. He's so maddened by the loss of his brother that he can not accept the fact that Caleb died because he grew into a better man than Belos, and Belos could not, and nor did he want to. He is ultimately unwilling to accept that his brother grew past their puritanical worldview and will always do such in all his incarnations because that would undermine Belos' worldview
Honestly out of all the books I've read and tv I've watched, Philly (Belos) has to be one of the best written villains for me.
One of my favorite Belos moments is when Luz asks "You wanna be Emporer of Witchhunters right?"
He responds Witchhunter General.
This is the only time someone got under his skin. Even when Luz chipped his mask and turned him into the goop thing he was pissed but still acted ready to fight. I think pride and obsession with status may be his bigger motivation.
Even more noticeable is that Witch Hunter General is such a lowly title compared to more grandiose Emperor of the Witch Hunters. Like Belos lacks the imagination in his bid for recognition.
@@evanbao93 Agreed. I don't know why but I like it when villains crack like that.
@@ejsmith7626 Speaking of cracking, there is a more serious moment where Belos's inhuman aura falters for a bit. When Gus subjects Belos to relive his memory of murdering Caleb, Belos doesn't act like a sociopath there. He doesn't enjoy that memory, in fact he hates that memory to the point it causes him pain.
And then you notice how Belos always avoids responsibility of killing his brother or just talking about his brother. It's as if that his one true guilt and he's been burying it in his subconscious to not feel the pain of being responsible of killing his only family.
I think his downfall would be that memory coming back to haunt him. He's a sociopathic to everything except that one incident. As skulltrot has stated, if he were to ever admit that he was wrong, he would then be forced to confront with the fact that he murdered his brother for petty reasons and thus for nothing.
And that might actually kill him.
Learning he was a poor homeless orphan before coming to Gravesfield explains so much about his insecurities and desire for status.
I also think it be interesting if there was a twist, where with what little essence of belos is left there in the human realm and being in his old home (assumingly) he is only reformed as his child self, and maybe deluded to only seeing things as they where in his past.and then seeing hunter, he mistakes him for his brother, and maybe hunter rights belos's prejudice in some ways from interactions (seeing hunters reaction and even hesitation about this would be very intense), maybe along with his friends, and they tell a different story about witches. Not to say any of this would reveal more of his past, maybe, maybe not, I wouldn't know how it be portrayed. But just a thought.
that's a really cool concept
belos is luz in so many ways. belos is everything luz did wrong and more. there’s probably comments saying this already, but both belos and luz couldn’t let go of a fantasy. eventually, luz did. but if she didn’t, she could’ve become like belos.
now, it gets more interesting when you realize the collector also has the almost exact same issue. it a bit different, but they’re trapped in they’re own world, the in between. but he is LITERALLY trapped. they have no choice but to stay unless a titan were to come along. the collector cling onto is childish, chaotic, attention-seeking ways and did not let go.
there so many more characters in the owl house who have done similar things to luz, belos, and the collector. for example:
king clung onto his “king of demons” back story and didn’t let go until he was completely proven wrong in edge of the world.
hunter clung onto thinking he was a good person, that he was helping humanity, basically an exact repeat of belos’s thinking, until he used his brain and realized what was actually going on.
lilith always clung onto the closest god like person in sight. she needed someone to be commanding her and didn’t let go of even belos until she found out he lied about the whole reason lilith had stayed loyal to him.
hooty was similar to the collector and he kept acting childish and was always craving attention (which he even admitted to in follies at a covens day parade) he clung onto any attention he got and he never really stopped acting like that until maybe after knock knock knockin, but he still resembles an attention seeking child anyway.
there are so many more like gwendolyn, eda, amity, willow, gus, and even more! even small characters that only have small appearances show similar traits to belos, like principle faust.
I don't really believe that Belos has the sin of ignorance. Deep down, repressed, I believe he knows what he does is wrong but it's easier to do wrong things and to believe they are right than to have a mental breakdown to realize that what you have been taught isn't right. The first person Belos ever brainwashed was himself, he justified the murder of his brother by his own hands, probably telling himself that "he was swayed by evil," and he was too weak-minded.
The tragic part of Belos is that anyone can become him.
this video makes me wish we get a spin off serie so we can see what exactly happen with belos and caleb
I'm sure they'll show it near the ending. I mean, the last 3 episodes are gonna be around 40 minutes long each, I'm sure they'll try to jam alot of important lore in there somehow. It makes sense to me at least 🤷
@@17CatsInATrenchcoat yeah but i just want more owl house content (f^ck disney man)
we might in season 3 45 min 3 eps you try to tell me it'z not a chance of it
I’m coming to this video again, after the finale. This is the best analysis ever
I will watch it everytime
Mabye he thinks eventually his brother has to agree with him, because if he didn't then it would mean Belos was wrong, and killed his brother.
Basically my head cannon is he needs him to be right, even if logically hes not
I just had a a horrifying realization. Belos didn't create the first Grimwalker until after he found the Collector. Those bones we see on his desk with the diagrams, during the time travel episode, IS Caleb. Instead of burying him with respect and only taking what he would have needed. He just displayed his body like an experiment he's working on, Which he horrifically was. That blink and you'll miss it moment reveals a lot about how disjointed his view of reality is and it makes me very uncomfortable.
I'm so glad someone else noticed the Cain and Abel parallel! My mind went there as I watched the show, because I'm pretty familiar with the Bible and Scriptures. According to those resources, Cain is still alive, forced to wander the world until the Second Coming of Christ, but unable to enjoy life. It makes me wonder if that is the fate that awaits Belos too. Can you imagine if Season 3 ends with Belos being trapped in his cursed form, becoming the very thing he swore to destroy? He would live forever as a demon, hiding from the humans he tried to save, who now persecute him the way he and his people did during the witch trials. He would literally become a tale of folklore like bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster.
That would be such a cool narrative to take!!!!
In fact, building on that, Belos in his cursed form DOES kind of resemble a mythical creature that already exists in folklore. Any ever heard of the wendigo? Belos kind of looks like one himself, so the connection isn't too far out there.
@@onionwielder9728 The folklore mention that the Wendigo's weakness is fire. And what is the popular form of executing witches in pop culture?
@@evanbao93 😯 That's right! Wow that works so well!
This is a great analysis of Belos' character! This definitely aged well, I dont think any of s3 debunked your theories, only strengthened them! Belos wants so badly to be proved right(eous), and since the original Caleb didnt agree that he was right(eous) in his morals and decisions, he killed him, and made copies over and over to try to prove himself right. When that didnt work, he found Luz, the very presumed-witch from his youth who taught him the light spell and called him an asshole, was actually a human? Well, there's another chance (another Caleb) to either tell him that he's right, or to die and prove Belos right anyway, that the Boiling Isles really does ruin anything it touches.
He kills the grimwalkers, tries to kill Luz, attempts genocide, all because he wants control over the one thing he hasn't yet had external validation for - that he's the hero, and everyone else is the villain. Such incredible writing.
I think he wants a form of validation, that’s why he keeps making grimwalkers, cause having someone believe what you believe and do what you do feels like a form of justification, not that he needs some way to justify his actions when he holds onto his prejudices, but to help motivate him as to why he does it, to help him believe it more, it’s the same reason hate groups are so strict with who enters and leaves their small communities, because”any who stands with us with raise us up, and any who is against us will be trampled” type stuff
Wow this was incredible, I binged the first two seasons of the owl house and not gonna lie, Hunter and Belos are my favorite characters so it was so cool to see so much detail
“No one would see him as a hero.” Weeeell there may be one who does, that modern witch hunter guy who ran the historical museum. We don’t know if he skipped town, if he got arrested ( trespassing and kidnapping) , or if he is still there screaming about witches and aliens to whomever will listen. If Belos ever makes it back to the human realm, I can see him freaking out about modern society and in a panic stumbling upon the museum, somewhere that looks old, maybe not his time old, but he goes in, and after the initial shock of seeing his time laid out like a macabre feast, he would go into information absorbing mode. Seeing such interest, the modern witch hunter approaches. Introducing himself. And Belos gives one of his smiles.....
I also feel like there could be a blood connection between Belos and the witch hunter. What better motivation then an old family story; where 2 uncles were stolen by witches and never seen again, to go hard into witches exist? I mean who else but family would put up a monument about 2 missing young men who were rumored to have been lured away by witches, something completely nonsensical in the modern age. Yet the statues still were created and put up. And kept up. Ah but time will tell!
I think this is the reason why Dana took away Belos' human form and reduced him to slime when he makes it back to the Human Realm. While Jacob Hopkins would listen to an old man who claims to be from the 17th century and found a world of witches and demons, I don't think he would listen to a sludge monster that mocks the human shape. He'll just see Belos as a demon that he could hunt down and put him on display as proof that he is correct.
That's an extra layer of tragic irony. The things that the remain the same are the things that now would target him as a witch/demon/monster to be exterminated. The witch hunter becomes the hunted. Belos would be horrified that after all he has "done" for Human Realm, he is rewarded to be the next witch hunt in question. He'll try to prove that he's human and not monster... but maybe he can't assume human form. Maybe he's stuck as a sludge monster. And Belos would screaming why the whole universe had turned against him after four centuries of "saving" humanity from witches.
@@evanbao93 Or maybe, he sees himself as a he who fights monsters trope, and thus deserves it. While he may half heartedly curse the world he’d just right after probably will embrace his witch identity and will attempt to manipulate people to kill more witches.
12:01 This picture breaks my heart. I never saw this one up close and I'm seeing Caleb's expression for the first time. You can see the hurt and the fear on his face. Moments later he would be struck down by his own brother. What hurts even more is that Caleb genuinely loved his brother. Philip had someone who truly cared for him and he threw it all away,
I don't care that I'm seeing this barely after two months of it's upload, I am in love with this video
I think when making the grimwalkers hes trying to find proof that his way is right, that he was right all along and it wasn't him that made the error. If only the goldengaurd is the actual image (in his eyes) of his brother but had a result more attuned to belos's wishes, then belos could say "I was right" and maybe have that ideal of being with the brother he thought he always had
belos is one of my favorite characters, not only in TOH but in western cartoons as a whole
Thank you guys so much for 2k subscribers btw! I really appreciate it the support has been insane :D
Great video. I do love in depth analysis. I couldn’t help but notice you used Little nightmares ost for the some of the background music. LN1 and and LN2 are my favorite games, I don’t know if you do requests but I would love it if you did an analysis on the game series if you are actually familiar with it. I don’t feel like there’s a lot of in depth analysis on the characters of that game.
I loved how the show ended. Belos/Phillip didn't die a dramatic and tragic martyr's death, but a rather pathetic death, exactly what he deserved.
I do wish we had gotten a moment of realization from him that even if he had succeeded, it would have been for nothing.
I’ve heard people say that it was a way of not giving Belos any kind of satisfaction as he would’ve wanted to go out in a big and dramatic way
This was such an incredible video, you honestly deserve a lot more attention than I got from my video talking about Belos. You go into so many deep aspects of his character that I didn't notice that it really makes me question if I'm a good writer/film student or not for not initially recognizing. Belos is just so interesting as an antagonist to me since ever since from the start you could follow that he's been pulling all the strings, messing with everyone he possibly could, and doing everything he can to achieve his goal that through his eyes he believed was the right thing to do.
I definitely wouldn't say that yours it worse. I've watched it and it was a really good break down of how toh handles themes of manipulation through Belos. But thank you so much!!
Love how throughout the video that little nightmares music is being played, seems fitting for this video, an amazing dive in video on belos
YES OMG! there was definitely a few things in there that I didn't notice my first time watching the show! Love ur essays and can't wait to for ur next one! :)
“Mansplain, manipulate, manslaughter” lmao
Honesty all the tragic irony parts could also be seen as he's sacrificing himself for all of humanity. There is no hypocracy there if you think of it that way.
Also the fact that he finds it 'merciful' to put Luz out of her misery due to her mind being 'warped' by the monsters of the boiling iles could very well also explain his views on killing his brother. And bringing him back might be his way to try to give his brother another chance, but when he 'betrays him' and is now of a warped mind, he finds it best to put them out of their misery as well?
He could also be reffering to himself as a ruined human life to, though I do find it more likely to be Caleb.
To anyone with an answer what is with Lego Eda?
It's everywhere not just in this video.
it's just a meme that got popular on twitter i honestly could not tell you where it started though
@@skulltrot thank you.
Also I'm a new subscriber as of yesterday. Your videos are amazing. I first find your neurodivergent video. Being ADD and Dyslexic I didn't hesitate to watch and learned a lot more about myself I never knew it just blew my mind like paper in a wind tunnel and shared it with family and friends without hesitation.
A very long story short your videos are great and I am excited to see what's next.
lego eda is love. lego eda is life.
THIS WAS SINGLE-HANDEDLY ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING AND IN-DEPTH PHILIP ANALYZATION VIDEOS I’VE EVER SEEN. YOU LITERALLY SAID ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING I WOULD’VE SAID BUT PUT IT INTO BETTER WORDS. DEFINITELY A 10/10 EXPERIENCE.
Honestly, the most obvious parallel I can think of is Demona from Gargoyles. Like Belos, she associates a specific race with sin (humans) and has a superiority complex that prevents her from ever acknowledging when she's wrong. Also like Belos, her hypocrisy becomes readily apparent. She believes she is above humans, yet regularly makes deals with them and uses human weapons, like guns. Not to mention, her delusion is so strong that she's willing to kill those of her own race if they challenge her beliefs, even former lovers.
I can't even put in words how amazing this review is, how could I not know about your stuff until your nerodivergent video????
I knew that belos was very twisted but oh my lord this is just too much but my favourite part is that his subconscious purposely lies to itself to protect himself from the fact that he killed his own brother "just for people with glowy tablets to laugh him to scorn" as he would probably but even with his twisted mind he still has human emotions and I say again HUMAN emotions in my opinion and i think hers too the fact that this could albeit not easily happen to me or anybody is the most scary part. Anyways I think that there are three possibilities for belos
1. He realises what he's done and turns into a becomes a better person (but we all know that's definitely not going to happen)
2. He realises becomes more twisted and inhuman and eventually falls to his demise
3. He doesn't realise that he's clearly in the wrong and decides to manipulate humanity thus making this the biggest lie he told to himself
So in the end ur done belos, ur done.
I think the most likely possibility is him being driven mad by the inability to turn human again. Without that human form, he can neither trick anyone nor lie to himself that he's a human, let alone a hero. Belos always has that obsession of being referred as a human. He wants Luz to refer to him as Philip. He attacks anyone who dares suggest he isn't human. And he thinks that killing the palismen monster in his mind would cure him, apparently not realizing that it's already too late and he's delaying the inevitable. His humanity is what he cherishes the most, and it's that humanity he uses to gain sympathy from others.
Take it from him, and he would have nothing to hide himself from the truth. He would be gazing at his own refection and only see a monster looking back. He will see his old face in historical sites as a reminder of what he has lost. As a monster, he can never join human society lest they form a witch hunting mob against him. And combine with a resurgence of his worst memory in the form of Caleb being murdered by him, I say it would be a destructive tantrum followed by desperate attempts to regain his human form, only to reminded of the truth again and again.
And perhaps, he would try to make another Grimwalker again. Just to cling on to the only thing that brings him familiarity and comfort in his childhood days, Caleb. Even though he should already know that bringing back Caleb is impossible.
Belos is honestly IMO the best villain I’ve ever encountered in any fictional media, becuz he’s just way too realistic, he feels like someone who very well could have existed, and who could be existing right now, or could exist in the future. It makes me feel paranoia thinking about how I could become my own “emperor Belos.” He just gives an intense sense of dread, especially once you realize how blind he was to his own tragic story; that if he eventually succeeded in his goal, he would also be losing as well. He’s literally doomed, and doesn’t know it. Seeing him makes me question “what if IM doomed” which is a common thought I have about myself without Belos smashing it into my head.
So to sum up my entire tangent, looking at belos is like looking into a twisted mirror of yourself, which is why he’s such a hard hitting villain since he’s like a villain to the audience as well, and not just the characters in the story, if that makes any sense. I’m not the best at explaining my thoughts rn which is why I love videos like these that are so thoughtful and well done. I’m very excited to see what u have for the future lol
Pensuke: oof
See judge frollo
27:13 “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” basically translates to “I don’t know I’m not his babysitter” 😂
21:00
I like to think that Belos kept creating the Grimwalkers so that he could vindicate his goals and mission. It would essentially prove that Caleb’s death was his own fault. “If one of the grim walkers succeeds where the original failed, then it proves that it was *his* fault that I had to kill him.” Or something along those lines.
Maybe he deep down wanted to change his brother. Like a disagreement that ruined a friendship, he thinks “if only I had the right words at the time to redeem you… so we didn’t have to loose our bond”. So he cloned his brother trying to convince it as a proxy so he could have that bond again or at least a close enough version. Maybe he started his own empire cult to give his clones a similar enough upbringing to his brother to recreate a similar enough brotherly personality or he saw it as a way to get revenge on witches for corrupting his brother in the first place so he in a way enslaved them to his will or he started it because he felt powerless after being cast out by the puritans and or that he needed resources for his experiments that a empire can very much supply him. Upon each iteration he learns something new about manipulation (getting his clone to stay to his side just a little bit longer) and after every failed clone’s “betrayal” his heart grows more calloused until he is motivated more by spite then love for a loss bond because after every clones rejection of his ideals a part of him starts questioning his beliefs and that maybe just maybe he was in the wrong and that he killed his brother for no good reason; and that infuriated him. It wouldn’t surprise that he first sought after magic to bring his brother back after his regret and that he got so good at manipulation, not only from his cult upbringing (because he failed to convince his brother long ago), but also by his clone experiments. I think that’s why he keeps the cloning going. What started early on as a desperate way to undue his mistakes, became a way to study manipulation for empowerment, and then got so drunk off that power he twisted the program into a revenge fantasy and self hatred. Because in seeking out this magic, the puritans probably casted him out or worse. And if he never disavowed those puritan beliefs, every day he looks into the mirror, he sees he has became the very thing he sworn to destroy: a devilish witch who is probably going to burn in hell for being to soft to let his brother go and do what was “right” for his cult. That every bad thing and what he became in his life is all his fault (or he could scape goat his brother for what he became and blame and abuse his clones instead).
Just my thought
I think your perspective is interesting, because by this logic, his motives for bringing back Caleb this many times would have gradually shifted as it went on.
It seems a bit more believeable this way because not very often do people keep doing the same thing for exactly the same reason. People's perceptions change as they encounter new information.
At first he may have brought Caleb back out of sentiment, perhaps the next few times out of wanting to fix him. And them after that, who knows? By then he was learning more about being a master manipulator, and changing into a worse person than before. It's likely his motives were shifting to darker paths by then. He very well may have in this process found a new reason to clone Caleb.
@@aiiiia9971 thank you. I thought about it for a wile to unify his motives and explain his strengths but that’s just my interpretation. I’m glad you liked it:)
It's not enough to conquer, he has to be right. He's like Gul Dukat in that way.
“Mansplain, manipulate, manslaughter” 🧑🍳👌 I also love that it was so great you couldn’t help but laugh at your own joke.
this video is utterly fantastic. there aren’t enough words out there to describe how much I LOVE this analysis
I felt like that even if Belos wipe out witch kind in the 1600s, people aren't going to believe him & boiling isle was real, sure he might be considered a hero but since no one ever went there /going to a witch world was probably considered a sin too in puritan culture
I've got a theory that I've been brewing, and it looks like a couple of others have the same or similar idea but I'm curious to see what more people think. I also went into as much detail as possible explaining things, hence the wall of text. Here it goes. INCLUDES MINOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 EPISODE 1, SO JUST AN FYI.
So, I think the reason that Belos keeps creating these grimwalkers, again and again, is that he wants his brother to "do it right this time." He is reincarnating his brother, shoving the poor dude's soul in these clones that he's made, again and again and again, in a twisted, Belos-style attempt to "save" his brother's soul by having as much control over him as possible and raising him "right" in hopes that this time he won't "fall" to the "evil" of witches and magic. The reason that every clone inevitably, invariably "fails", and that he will never succeed in making a "correct" Caleb clone that never "corrupts", and why they always end up turning their back on him is because he cannot change who Caleb fundamentally is and was. He may not have the memories of his previous incarnations, but just like his original self, he's always going to be on the side of what he learns is good, and when something comes along to show him that he was taught wrong about something (such as being raised to believe that witches/magic are evil) he will always end up updating his views and turn in favor of magic/the witches. In a twisted way, Philip/Belos had some degree of love for Caleb, and cannot bear the thought that he "lost him to the corruption of the witches" and live with the idea of the only person he knew and loved growing up burning in Hell, especially since he's the one who killed him, causing him to turn to a way to bring him back but do his best to make sure that he can't get "corrupted" again. He wanted to "save his soul" and for Caleb to be by his side and help him finish what they both initially sought out to do (before Caleb learned that witches are actually hella chill people and not evil) 400 years ago. It also doubly serves as a way for him to get revenge on, punish, and perhaps torture Caleb for "betraying" him. It is, so far, the most compelling theory that I can come up with as to WHY he keeps doing it despite the grimwalkers being such a weak point, and so unnecessary due to having had no shortage of loyal followers, and WHY the grimwalkers inevitably "fail" no matter what. Maybe they even eventually "wake up" so to speak, and remember to some extent who they are/were, I don't know, I have less basis for that one but I'm going to touch on that here too. Maybe if that's the case, our Hunter is the first one who has truly remained a "clean slate", but Hunter seeing Caleb in the mirror in the new intro makes me think that he might be starting to remember having been Caleb on some level. None of Belos's memories show Caleb as looking nearly so deathly ill, sad, and worn as an adult, and IMO he looks older than we've seen him in all of Belos's memories, so why does he appear as such unless Hunter is remembering something that we haven't learned regarding Caleb's past yet? Or perhaps, since he also appears older (and you can't age past death, obviously), it represents how tired and abused his soul truly is, being denied peace and rest after death, and instead tortured and forced by Philip/Belos to live through hell again and again in the bodies of these clones? It would also explain the name "grimwalker." The creation of a regular clone doesn't need for the original/previous version to be dead, but the "grim" part of the name implies that it's required to make them and that you can't just chop off a living person's finger or whatever and use the bone in it to create a clone. Making a clone of a still-living person with a chopped off finger, animal parts, and inanimate objects would certainly be a thoroughly creepy and weird thing to do, but a far cry from being "grim." Why would the original/previous one need to be dead unless you're transferring the consciousness/soul to the new one? Why does Belos/Philip directly address Hunter as "Caleb" in the last episode? I don't think he's going senile or anything, as he shows no real signs of losing his mental faculties, which is part of what makes him such an effective and terrifying villain. The only hole I can find in this theory is that Hunter has always had to have a sigil, which is a guaranteed death on the day of Unity, but I'm guessing that his original plan was to either bring him back yet again after the witches were all wiped out, or most likely, he was hoping that this incarnation would die "clean" on the Day of Unity and his soul would finally be saved and go to Heaven, but since this incarnation "failed" him yet again and Hunter escaped death at the hands of Belos, meaning he couldn't kill him again and start him over in time for the Day of Unity, he just decided that there's nothing he can do to save his brother's soul, and left him to die one final death as a "sinner," and to burn in Hell with the witches because he was angry, frustrated, fed up, and decided that Hunter/Caleb deserved such a punishment.
Great video, the part of puritanism history was really well done, and the rest of the analysis is very insightful. It's nice to make a deep dive into characters so detached from humanity
I have yet to watch the Owl House but this video makes me tempted to start it
YOU SHOULD it's my favorite show currently
watch it rn
@@lemqnshark do it man, that is a threat
@@skulltrot where can i watch it other then disney plus?
God: thy shall not murder
Bleos: murders grim walkers and his own brother 🤣
im so excited for this! all your videos have been amazing and well done and im sure this one will be too :)
22:00 this moment is so good, it’s such a great explanation, so well said.
But Lego Eda killed me.
A small detail/mini theory:
Could it be that the reason that Caleb's eyes were censored/scratched out in Belos' mind was that he knew he could never create a perfect copy of his brother, since Grimwalkers' eyes would always be magenta colored?
My personal interpretation of why he created the grimwalkers is because he misses Caleb. He wants his big brother back, but in his eyes, his brother betrayed him. He says Hunter’s a ‘better version of him’ because that new version of Caleb is easily manipulated and does what he’s told. He does it over and over because he just can’t live without Caleb.
what adds to the whole philip and caleb situation is that caleb is the older brother making caleb more emotionly mature and philip more emotionly vunerable
The fact that it's p possible to switch covens does mean sigils can be removed so I think if Hunter has stayed loyal when Belos teleported away he would have taken Hunter and removed the sigil.
Or alternatively take him through the door before he died
i have to disagree here, dude didnt care about hunter or any other if the grimwalkers, he knew hunter would betray him it had happened over and over again with countless grimwalkers. Belos only saw the grimwalkers as this ‘elite’ soldier that was easy manipulated and molded to belos’ beliefs, so no i dont think that under any chance he would have saved hunter, not mattering how loyal he was
@@fishisfishing even if Hunter didn't betray him?
Bellos is used to expecting betrayal from them but the fact that he keeps making them betrays the hope that even just 1 won't betray him.
True we don't see many of them but the events that caused Caleb and Hunter to be executed were due to factors executive to the Boiling Isles
IE falling in love with a witch and accidentally being spirited away into Belos's mind.
The fact that he chose to make Hunter younger then the others may indicate they might have also fallen in love with witches.
But with no more magic or witches around there's literally no concerns for betrayal in the other realm.
I was wondering about this. If Belos could remove sigils, then wouldn't he just remove the sigil Luz managed to stick on him?
You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Loved ur analysis of this character,
I enjoyed Belo's role in Owl House alot, even though he is a scumbag; its like he had control over the audience as well because we're so captivated by his presence on AND offscreen.
..I did not pay attention to all the crumbs they left for us about his background though😭 completely went over my head but I'm glad I could have it analyzed by you because your videos have such personality which makes it comforting to watch/listen to, very excited for future uploads❤
This is a spectacular video essay! I sure didn't expect to hear homophobia, sexism, and racism concisely and accurately dismantled from a logical standpoint at the 22:00 minute mark. Nice. :)
He's sludge
I got him unstuck from the wall and floor
21:10 i think it's hard for you to analyze why he creates Grimwaker because that idea got corrupted ...the best we can go with is to try to undo the corruption of him saying "a better version"
I always knew belos was a menace but the moment he truly became irredeemable for me is when he refused to play hide and seek with the collector. Absolutely despicable behavior
"He does not feel guilt or at least will not admit to feeling any" reminds me of this theory i have.
In hollow mind, we meet two creatures. at first they think one is the inner belos while the other is either his sense of guilt or his innocense or whatever. But later they discover that the kid was the inner belos.
That leaves the other creature. Some videos i watched say that it could be the palismen souls he ate, which is fair and could be the case, we don't really know if that's possible at all.
But, i do think it is also possible (since strong emotions can manifest) (and fankly a little more interesting) if /this/ is his sense of guilt.
His guilt over killing his broter. his guilt over devouring palismen. and his guilt over planning a genocide and killing all the witches.
Just like we see with his "fake mind" he lies to himself, convincing himself that he is in the right and ignoring and repressing his sense of guilt. he's been trying to silence it for so long because he is caught up in his believes. "this thing's been a thorn in my sight for years" he says. as if its an annoyance to his plans and just in his way.
In the episode itslef he is seen "killing" it. killing his sense of guilt and potentially bannning it to his subconsious which... yeah.
He does not feel guit anymore because he's repressed it and refuses to listen to it. in my opinion at least, you can obviously have your own interpretation.
Oki lil rant is over. Love your videos theyre really cool. Thank you for taking the time and wish you the best of luck with uni!
Considering that the monster is what Belos really looks like, it seems to be foreshadowing of what his fate will be. And yeah, it makes more sense for his guilt to be lamenting on what he has become. Luz and Hunter didn't know that Belos was human and thus a human child would be something that Belos would be proud of, not ashamed of.
I never thought of that, great idea!
I have, for some reason always liked emperor belos as a character. although a lot of other people hate him, i just can’t bring my self to despise such a cool and complex character! he may even be one of my favorites along with most of the cast lol
in Season Two, the Collector mentions that he "is starting to think [Belos] is only creating those things to destroy them, to which Belos replies: "Of course not."
I think it is a repeat punishment to both himself and Caleb that he recreates the worst moment of his life: discovering Caleb "betrayed him" and punishing him for said betrayal. He lets it happen over and over and over in the hopes one day, Caleb will choose him over anything else.
I personally think that the reason Belos keeps creating grimwalkers of Caleb is to "redeem" him. Each time he clones him, its another chance to try and convince him to be Belos's version of a good person and to save him from sin
The scariest thing is, people like Belos are real and do hurt people
6:11 girl i cannot lie my friends and i were all shocked CT was even made the human world setting and are glad we have something good to claim besides a haunting.. Edit: i escaped that void and there is literally nothing there, it's a liminal space in and of itself if you find yourself in connecticut run
30:43. i just realized that caleb is laying down dead in the same position the boiling isles titan is in. i think this is a parallel between belos and the collector. both (maybe the collector, we don’t really know how the titan died) killed their closest friend. this could also be a connection to caleb and the titan. the titan becomes a home for witches and demons, most likely them growing from the titan and evolved, and caleb finds a home on titan amongst witches. caleb learns to be his best self from witches and witches learn to be their best self from the titan.
you know, this made me think. What if all the witches on the Boiling Isles are just descendants from humans? It's made pretty clear by the fact that Caleb's partner was pregnant that witches and humans can reproduce with eachother. That shouldn't be possible for two species that evolved completely seperate.
It's also made pretty clear that the portal Eda had isn't the only portal between the two realms, as Eclipse Lake existed, and there were implied to be more places.
Here's my theory:
Originally in the world of the Boiling Isles, it was mainly titans that would roam the lands. As implied in (I think) Eclipse Lake, when titan's blood mixed with the lakes, it would create portals between the human realm and the other world. The first humans to end up there eventually settled down and became titan hunters. Because of that, more and more titans would die, creating more and more portals. This then resulted in the stories of what hell supposedly looks like, and the many other myths and stories passed down through the ages. Like King explained in an early season 1 episode, demons were created from the rotting corpse of the titan. We don't know exactly how long ago the Boiling Isles' titan died, but given the fact that the skull was implied to be completely visible even in Philip's time, it's probably been dead for well over a millennium, and I'd honestly be willing to bet that it's been dead for around two. In that time, humans would come to the Boiling isles every so often, and while some managed to find their way back home, many decided to stay. They evolved while living there, gaining pointy ears, bile sacs, and developing the ability to use magic. Eda and Hunter both implied that Glyph Magic was widely used in the 'savage ages', to quote Hunter. This implies that bile sacs were evolved as an easier way to use magic, not the only way. Hunter could definitely use magic without the help of his staff if he used glyphs, just like how Luz could learn despite not having a bile sac and how Eda and Lilith could learn when the curse took their magic from them.
There's a couple species on earth that can interbreed, but most of them can't produce fertile offspring. Examples are horses/donkeys/zebras, lions/tigers/panthers, and I'm sure there's more. Since we'd need Caleb and Mystery Witch's child to be fertile if we want them to be able to be a Clawthorne ancestor, we can assume that witches and humans are a little bit closer than that. At that point a decent middleground-example would be rabbits. There are three types of rabbit that are relevant to this explanation. Domestic rabbits, the European wild rabbit, and the North-American wild rabbit. You see, domestic rabbits have an odd relationship with their wild relatives. Domestic rabbits cannot reproduce with their North-American relatives, but they can with the European ones. They're different types of rabbit, but they're similar enough that reproduction is possible.
However, in this case, I think dogs would be the best example. You see, dogs are still closely enough related to wolves that most breeds can reproduce with them, creating wolfdogs ('most' because obviously a Chihuahua can't mount a wolf, and usually when mixing breeds of different sizes the bigger breed will be the mother, to prevent pregnancy complications). Wolfdogs are, in fact, fertile.
It's very much possible that say, the Titan Hunters, would not be able to reproduce with modern humans because they're too different, but it's also possible that they would be able to. The species now has a different name, but it's still similar enough that cross-reproduction is possible. Caleb and Mystery Witch are proof that at the very least, humans and witches are related to around the same extent as dogs and wolves are.
Well this turned out a lot longer than expected xD
@@irishuisman1450 loved every word, it makes so much sense as worldbuilding that, even if some of then don't end being true, it's so interesting 😊
@@violetaconcha2175 thank you :3
An interesting inspiration for the Collector and Titan(s) story could be Majora's/Skull Kid's from Majora's Mask (depending on how you interpret the past with the Giant and their impish friend).
If we’re applying the Cain and Abel allegory to this, one can see Caleb’s (relatively) happy life in the Isles as the Titan smiling kindly upon him, and Belos’s continued frustration (“Almost like the Titan didn’t want me to have that knowledge,” S2 E21) as the Titan condemning him (a la Genesis 4:11).
One of my biggest fears going forward with the series is that Belos is going to be irrelevant as a threat, that's not exactly a bad thing as Lilith became an irrelevant threat before, but I don't think Belos is going to be redeemed (nor I think that's a good idea) so by not being a threat he's essentially sidecasted or even completely removed. It's not one of my biggest fears because I like him, I despise him, but exactly that depth intrinsic to his character and the discussions it brings that you showed would be such a loss overall to the show
Sorry if that's confusing, I'm still watching the video and it's hard listening while trying to make a coherent point lol
Also english isn't my first language
But that's that
I LOVE YOUR VIDS 😭 binge watching them rn
Well the credits clearly indicate that he’s not dead so he’s still a threat
Please make a part 2 to this with the new information from season 3, please
Belos reminds me of Amon from The Legend Of Korra both people loved by everyone both hate and want to get rid of people with powers and have equality both clame to comuntcat with a entity and both of them turn out to be compleat frauds and both of them changed there names and both of them have a brother and both of them have a scar across his face and both of them ware a mask
This video was so well made. I watched your other one about growing up neurodivergent and the way you explain things is so cool to listen to. Keep it up!
I *love* the premise this video strives to achieve... linking Belos to the religious fanaticism of his time. However, while the arguments are largely sound, I do carry one issue with this video.
The Presentation.
It's *very* obvious you're reading from a script. Painfully so, in fact. When you speak, it doesn't sound natural or fluid at all. I believe that this video would be greatly improved had you taken each individual section of the script and tried express your point in it thoroughly. Shooting as many takes as necessary. Stitching them together if needed.... rather than trying to do everything in one big take. This one big take approach undermines the emotion of what's going on... the script and your delivery of it makes it feel almost as hollow of emotion as Belos himself.
I have no idea what show this is but I'm thankful my interest in deeper thoughts on media and art brought this into my recommendations, this was really good :)
It's "the owl house" I'd recommend it if you're a fan of magic and animation though season one is shit
@@basilbat273 season one isnt shit bro what?
@@ddthemage3861 shit was an overstatement and I do see the appeal but it's kinda terrible in my opinion
@@basilbat273 I mean yeah I agree it’s the weakest season of the show since a lot of episodes were just filler but some of those filler episodes were important I guess.
@@basilbat273 but this also proves that the owl house just gets better with each season.
What I like about Belos is that he’s not done sympathetically it’s nice to see a villain be a villain and not be redeemed because Belos is a terrible person who is not redeemable
Loved the video, small piece of thumbnail advice though.
Text should go on the left side with the character on the right. That way the timestamp won't cover up your hook. Making it look like "Writing a God Com36:40"
thank you so much!! I didn't even think about that so thanks for the advice
@@skulltrot No prob, keep up the good work!👍
This was by far one of the best videos ive seen on TOH. As someone who has always been incredibly uncomfortable by organized religion I really appreciate you bringing these parallels to light. Keep up the good work!
I would love to see a follow up even if its brief about your thoughts on his choice after realizing everything was for nothing to go back and become a literal 'god' to destroy the boiling isles, and down to his last minute he was still trying to be a 'hero' in the narrative.
I must say if you won they wouldn't exactly see him as hero to be honest they'd hang him at the spot for using magic. In other words he worked for nothing
i just realised that belos sent hunter to kill a selkidomus, what a coincidens that he sent a grimwalker to kill a selkidomus hmmmmmm
This video gave me chills