Stringbean is a minor character in The Owl House. She is the shape-shifting palisman, or "snake-shifter", that belongs to Luz Noceda.
Appearance[]
In her default form, Stringbean is a snake-like palisman with small, pointed ears with dark pink insides (reminiscent of the ones on Luz's hoodie), fur-like tufts on either side of her neck, small fangs, a dark purple forked tongue, and a lime green spherical rattle/orb on the end of her tail. She has protruding eyes with dark purple irises and lime sclera, her upper back and body are aubergine in color, with a purple stripe running from the back middle of her head and ending in a point near the end of her tail. She has two more purple stripes separating her upper and lower body colors, running from her lower cheeks to the ball on her tail, and her lower body and underbelly are lavender. Her nose and upper snout are white and form a heart shape on her forehead.
In her staff form, the side of her rattle attaches to the staff, which is dark blue in color, and she wraps her lower body around the ball. Her ears also lie back, and her eyes smile. It is unknown what her interlock looks like.
When shapeshifting, she can take numerous forms, such as a bat, scorpion, or dragon, but her colors, stripes, and overall snake-like features seem to stay consistent across forms. When she takes a new form, a glowing starry pattern appears on her chest, which appears pink in the middle and bluer at the edge.
Personality[]
Stringbean is shown to be friendly, getting along with the palismen of Luz's friends and playing with Camila. She is also very loyal to her owner, showing full support for Luz when navigating through the nightmare the Collector has trapped them in and later saving her life in one of his games. She also has a mischievous side, as she playfully bites Luz's ear in one scene.
Background[]
Gifted as palistrom[]
After Luz fails to bond with a palisman like the rest of her Hexside classmates during Palismen Pairing Day, Eda and King break into the Bonesborough Botanical Garden and steal a small log of palistrom wood. After giving it to Luz, she decides to wait to carve her palisman.[1]
Shortly before the Day of Unity, the Emperor's Coven raids the Owl House and confiscates almost all its contents, including the palistrom. As Luz and Eda search the contraband for Francois, they are caught and arrested. However, before they are found, Eda snatches the palistrom, kept in a box marked "Eda's longest toenails". After meeting up with the Covens Against the Throne, Eda gives Luz the palistrom and they start carving, with Luz carving an egg to let her future palisman choose what she wants to be.[2]
Waiting to take form[]
The following day, Eda presents the egg to Luz before trying to stop the Draining Spell, the latter keeping the egg within her backpack.[3] After Luz, Amity, Hunter, Willow, and Gus become stranded in the Human Realm,[4] as the months pass, Luz questions if her egg will ever hatch. During this time, Luz nurtures the egg, providing it warmth and light while waiting for it to take form.[5]
After returning to the Demon Realm and visiting the Owl House, Luz discusses the egg with Amity, who reminds her that, as the Bat Queen had said to them on Palisman Pairing Day, palismen only connect with their owners when they express their deepest wish. Later, whilst being pursued by Kikimora, Camila apologizes to Luz for not sticking up for her when she should have, revealing to her that she too felt ostracized as a child, and didn't want the same to happen to Luz, which caused her to try to protect her by "changing (her) into something she wasn't". This causes Luz to realize that all along, her true deepest wish is to be understood. After admitting this, the egg finally hatches.[6]
Taking form[]
Upon hatching, the egg lets off a massive, starry purple mushroom cloud into the sky, alerting Kikimora to their location, and takes the form of a dark blue staff, with long, vapory smoke plumes swirling around it, and many glowing smoky purple clouds revolving atop it. The staff, levitating above Luz, begins to drift towards her in midair, and she grabs it. Lightning bolt-like shapes begin to travel up the staff from where she holds it. The clouds atop it begin to form into a much rounder shape, and then clear away, revealing a dark purple glowing orb. At this point, Kikimora manages to catch up to them.
Shortly after, Hunter, Willow, and Gus escape the tunnels of the Detention Pit, the staff produces a very large, starry purple blast which goes in their direction, almost hitting them, and burning through the nearby landscape. When Kikimora catches up to the group, the staff hoists Luz up into the air and helps to fly her around and recreate Philip Wittebane's teleportation glyph to transport them onto the Titan's head.
Upon arriving there, the orb begins to glow much brighter. Much like before, it has revolving purple wisps, but this time it has a glowing magenta center and tiny white stars. Luz invites the group to finally meet her palisman, and they speculate on what it will be when it hatches, with Camila guessing a dragon, Hunter guessing a bird, Amity guessing an otter, Willow guessing a bat, and Gus guessing a snake. Luz tells them they're all close, and Stringbean then takes form, first into a bat, then a scorpion, then a dragon, and then finally her true form. Luz describes Stringbean as a "Snake shifter". She plays with the other palismen and greets Camila warmly. Stringbean then comes back to Luz, turning into a staff, and Luz and Amity fawn over her, anticipating how Eda, King, and Hooty will react to her once they are reunited, but half-jokingly express concern that they may all try to eat her.[6]
After the Collector takes Luz's mother and friends and traps her in a nightmare, Stringbean helps her navigate through it. After Luz wakes up, she introduces Stringbean to Eda, King, and Owlbert. The reunion is cut short when The Collector drafts Luz, Eda, and King into playing his games. Stringbean saves Luz from being eaten by The Collector by stinging his tongue, helping her, Eda, and King proceed to the next round. After the games, The Collector reveals his trust issues to Luz, so Stringbean goes with her owner and her companions as they show The Collector places that mean a lot to Luz.
After they realize Belos is possessing the Titan, they rush to the Emperor's Castle. After Luz is disintegrated, Stringbean rests motionless until Luz is resurrected. During the final battle, Luz uses her to draw enlarged spell circles.
In the years after Belos is defeated, Luz has figured out a way to perfect magic with Stringbean. She joins the Nocedas in the Demon Realm for Luz's belated King-ceañera and witnesses the light-show made by the Collecter.
Powers and abilities[]
- Magic: Stringbean possesses magic as a palisman, being able to create a massive and powerful blast of black and violet energy that completely scorched through the Boiling Isles forest.
- Attachment and detachment: Being a palisman, Stringbean is able to form herself into a wooden animal atop a staff.
- Flight: Stringbean is able to fly, both in and out of her staff form, without the use of wings.
- Shapeshifting: As a "snake shifter", Stringbean can change into presumably any animal. As of now, she has been shown shifting into a dragon, snake, bat, scorpion, and part cat. The transformation can also be limited to a specific part of the body, such as when she transformed her tail into a scorpion sting during one of the Collector's games while the rest of her body stayed the same.
Sightings[]
Season 2 | ||||||||||||
The Owl House Main Theme: | Absent | |||||||||||
The Owl House Credits Theme: | Absent | |||||||||||
1. "Separate Tides": | Absent | 11. "Follies at the Coven Day Parade": | Absent | |||||||||
2. "Escaping Expulsion": | Absent | 12. "Elsewhere and Elsewhen": | Absent | |||||||||
3. "Echoes of the Past": | Absent | 13. "Any Sport in a Storm": | Absent | |||||||||
4. "Keeping up A-fear-ances": | Absent | 14. "Reaching Out": | Absent | |||||||||
5. "Through the Looking Glass Ruins": | Absent | 15. "Them's the Breaks, Kid": | Absent | |||||||||
6. "Hunting Palismen": | Absent | 16. "Hollow Mind": | Absent | |||||||||
7. "Eda's Requiem": | Absent | 17. "Edge of the World": | Absent | |||||||||
8. "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door": | Absent | 18. "Labyrinth Runners": | Absent | |||||||||
9. "Eclipse Lake": | Absent | 19. "O Titan, Where Art Thou": | Absent | |||||||||
10. "Yesterday's Lie": | Absent | 20. "Clouds on the Horizon": | Debut | |||||||||
21. "King's Tide": | Appears |
Season 3 | ||||||||||||
The Owl House Main Theme: | Appears | |||||||||||
The Owl House Credits Theme: | Absent | |||||||||||
1. "Thanks to Them": | Appears | 2. "For the Future": | Appears | |||||||||
3. "Watching and Dreaming": | Appears |
Behind the scenes[]
Name and basis[]
Stringbean's snake theme came from a few sources. According to Dana Terrace, Stringbean's design as a snake was partially inspired by the series' logo, where the L in "Owl" and the S in "House", when turned upside-down, form a silhouette resembling a snake-like palisman.[7] Stringbean's design as a snake was also partially inspired by the scene of Luz bringing snakes to school in "A Lying Witch and a Warden"; while the idea she was a snake shifter who could take multiple forms came from writer Zach Marcus working her nature in as a pun on "shapeshifter".[7]
Debut[]
Stringbean first appeared in her egg form in "Clouds on the Horizon". She made her official debut in "For the Future".
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
To view the various designs of Stringbean, click here.
Trivia[]
- The external anatomy of Stringbean throughout "Watching and Dreaming" while on her staff has been inconsistent, notably when she transformed into her dormant form when Luz revived when her staff protruded from her lower body. Directly after, from the view of a dormant Stringbean facing right, she is seen with the staff attached to the ball on her tail, but a few seconds later, Stringbean is shown in front of or on top of her staff. However, her correct form is connected to the staff with her ball and tail coiled around it.
- There is a section of Luz's bedroom labeled 'String Bean's Corner', so her name may be two words.
- In the French dub, the name given to Stringbean is "Asperge", which means "Asparagus".
References[]
- ↑ Dana Terrace (writer) and Bridget Underwood (director) (July 17, 2021). "Hunting Palismen". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 6. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Zach Marcus (writer) and Amelia Lorenz (director) (May 14, 2022). "O Titan, Where Art Thou". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 19. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Emmy Cicierega, Mikki Crisostomo (writers) and Bosook "Bo" Coburn (director) (May 21, 2022). "Clouds on the Horizon". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 20. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Zach Marcus, Dana Terrace (writers) and Bridget Underwood (director) (May 28, 2022). "King's Tide". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 21. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Emmy Cicierega, Mikki Crisostomo, Madeleine Hernandez, Zach Marcus, John Bailey Owen (writers) and Amelia Lorenz, Bosook "Bo" Coburn (directors) (October 15, 2022). "Thanks to Them". The Owl House. Season 3. Episode 1. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mikki Crisostomo, Madeleine Hernandez, Zach Marcus, John Bailey Owen (writers) and Amelia Lorenz, Bridget Underwood (directors) (January 21, 2023). "For the Future". The Owl House. Season 3. Episode 2. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Cissy Jones (April 28, 2023). "The "watching and dreaming" PostHoot with the one and only Dana Terrace! (20:40)". Instagram.