A witch is one of the many species on the Boiling Isles.[1] They constitute a significant portion of the isle's civilization and use different magic under the coven system;[2] however, those who didn't join any coven is a high order criminal offense, potentially resulting in petrification.[3][4]
Background
Witches are humanoid beings, physically identical to humans save for a few morphological differences. Witches have pointed ears, as opposed to the rounded ears of humans. Much like animals, their ears can perk up when they are feeling positive emotions such as excitement and joy, and flatten when they are feeling negative emotions such as embarrassment, fear, or anger. Witches can also naturally cast magic; due to the immense amount of magical power at the disposal of the Titan, witches evolved a sac attached to their hearts that contains magic bile. The sacs function as a source of magic, like batteries to electronic devices but at a biological level for them to draw magical abilities, similar to palismen, and contain different "spell phlegms" that can mix together to make different spells. Thanks to the bile sacs, witches are able to cast spell circles.
However, some witches do not seem to be able to use magic without other magical items such as palismen or glyphs, or in other words do not have a bile sac (or potentially have one that doesn't work): the key example being Hunter. However, in "Hollow Mind" it is revealed that Hunter is a "Grimwalker" created by Emperor Belos.
Some witches have also had variation in other traits, such as the number of eyes.
Witches and humans also share an average lifespan range, though some witches can develop means to prolong their life by magic.[5]
Known witches
- Alador Blight
- Amber
- Amelia
- Amity Blight
- Azura (fictional)
- Bo
- Boscha
- Bria
- Cat
- Darius
- Dell Clawthorne
- Derwin
- Eda Clawthorne
- Edric Blight
- Emira Blight
- Gavin
- Gilbert and Harvey Park
- Gus Porter
- Gwendolyn Clawthorne
- Hecate (fictional)
- Jerbo
- Katya
- Keeper of the Looking Glass Graveyard
- Lilith Clawthorne
- Mattholomule
- Morton
- Odalia Blight
- Perry Porter
- Principal Bump
- Raine Whispers
- Skara
- Steve
- Viney
- Willow Park
Sightings
| Season 1 | ||||||||||||
| The Owl House Main Theme: | Appears | |||||||||||
| The Owl House Credits Theme: | Appears | |||||||||||
| 1. "A Lying Witch and a Warden": | Debut | 10. "Escape of the Palisman": | Appears | |||||||||
| 2. "Witches Before Wizards": | Appears | 11. "Sense and Insensitivity": | Appears | |||||||||
| 3. "I Was a Teenage Abomination": | Appears | 12. "Adventures in the Elements": | Appears | |||||||||
| 4. "The Intruder": | Appears | 13. "The First Day": | Appears | |||||||||
| 5. "Covention": | Appears | 14. "Really Small Problems": | Appears | |||||||||
| 6. "Hooty's Moving Hassle": | Appears | 15. "Understanding Willow": | Appears | |||||||||
| 7. "Lost in Language": | Appears | 16. "Enchanting Grom Fright": | Appears | |||||||||
| 8. "Once Upon a Swap": | Appears | 17. "Wing It Like Witches": | Appears | |||||||||
| 9. "Something Ventured, Someone Framed": | Appears | 18. "Agony of a Witch": | Appears | |||||||||
| 19. "Young Blood, Old Souls": | Appears | |||||||||||
| Season 2 | ||||||||||||
| The Owl House Main Theme: | Appears | |||||||||||
| The Owl House Credits Theme: | Appears | |||||||||||
| 1. "Separate Tides": | Appears | 11. "Follies at the Coven Day Parade": | Appears | |||||||||
| 2. "Escaping Expulsion": | Appears | 12. "Elsewhere and Elsewhen": | Absent | |||||||||
| 3. "Echoes of the Past": | Appears | 13. "Any Sport in a Storm": | Absent | |||||||||
| 4. "Keeping Up A-fear-ances": | Appears | 14. "Reaching Out": | Absent | |||||||||
| 5. "Through the Looking Glass Ruins": | Appears | 15. "Them's the Breaks, Kid": | Absent | |||||||||
| 6. "Hunting Palismen": | Appears | 16. "Hollow Mind": | Absent | |||||||||
| 7. "Eda's Requiem": | Appears | 17. "Edge of the World": | Absent | |||||||||
| 8. "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door": | Appears | 18. "Labyrinth Runners": | Absent | |||||||||
| 9. "Eclipse Lake": | Appears | 19. "O Titan, Where Art Thou": | Absent | |||||||||
| 10. "Yesterday's Lie": | Appears | 20. "Clouds on the Horizon": | Unknown | |||||||||
| 21. "King's Tide": | Unknown | |||||||||||
| Shorts | ||||||||||||
| Owl Pellets | ||||||||||||
| 1. "Welcome to Hexside": | Video | 2. "Eda's Cursed Brush": | Debut | |||||||||
| 3. "Paint Scare!": | Absent | 4. "Art Lessons with Luz": | Mentioned | |||||||||
| 5. "Coven Lovin Soap Opera": | Video | |||||||||||
| Chibi Tiny Tales | ||||||||||||
| 1. "The Bake Off!": | Absent | |||||||||||
Trivia
- In mythology and folklore, a "witch" refers to a human or individual who practices witchcraft. Although modern popular media associate the witch as exclusively female, the term itself is not confined by gender. This is also true in the series, as confirmed by Dana Terrace, where "witch" is a gender-neutral term.[6]
- Among witches, other traditional practitioners of magic include magicians, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards, the latter two, in recent years, are popularly coined as the male equivalents to a witch. In the Owl House universe, while wizards exist, this is more of a title witches can call themselves.[6]
- According to Dana Terrace, scrapped lines allude to the word "warlock" being Boiling Isles' equivalent to the term "edgelord".[6]
- As stated in Terrace's AMA and confirmed in "Keeping Up A-fear-ances", witches of the Boiling Isles incorporate a colored gem into their attire, such as wearing them as a necklace, as a style of fashion. Some can serve as a visual indicator of their physical status, including for witches with a curse.[7]
- Although witches are known for being magic users, some witches, like Hunter, are born completely powerless at a magical level. However, it is later revealed that Hunter is a Grimwalker, which may explain why he has no magical abilities. Because of this revelation, it is not known if powerless witches actually exist.
- Alternatively, it may be that the person he was cloned after was originally human. This is due to his resemblance to a human who was close with Belos.
- Some demons in the biped category like Tinella Nosa have bile sacs as well, like their witch counterparts, that also help them perform magic.
- In "The First Day", Principal Bump comments that humans are "full of liquids," which implies that witches are not.
References
- ā Dana Terrace, Rachel Vine (writers) and Stephen Sandoval (director) (January 10, 2020). "A Lying Witch and a Warden". The Owl House. Season 1. Episode 1. Disney Channel.
- ā Dana Terrace, Rachel Vine, Charley Feldman (writers) and Stu Livingston, Aminder Dhaliwal (directors) (February 7, 2020). "Covention". The Owl House. Season 1. Episode 5. Disney Channel.
- ā John Bailey Owen (writer) and Aminder Dhaliwal (director) (August 22, 2020). "Agony of a Witch". The Owl House. Season 1. Episode 18. Disney Channel.
- ā Dana Terrace, Rachel Vine (writers) and Stephen Sandoval (director) (August 29, 2020). "Young Blood, Old Souls". The Owl House. Season 1. Episode 19. Disney Channel.
- ā Drawing Cartoons to Save Democracy (September 16, 2020). Archived from the original on September 17, 2020.
- ā 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Dana Terrace's AMA". Reddit (September 2, 2020). āOn the Boiling Isles 'witch' is a gender-neutral term. Wizards do exist but it's more of a title you can call yourself if you like. Haha there are some scrapped lines that allude to the term 'warlock' being akin to 'edgelord' in the demon realm.ā
- ā "Dana Terrace's AMA". Reddit (September 2, 2020). āAt first there was no significance, just an in-world fashion choice. It wasn't until we were in production for The Intruder when we decided to use Eda's gem as a visual aid to show when the curse was overtaking her. On the Boiling Isles gems are as common in outfits as necklaces.ā
