| This article is about the episode. For the book, see The Owl House: Witches Before Wizards. |
"Witches Before Wizards" is the second episode of the first season of The Owl House, and the second episode overall.
It premiered on January 17, 2020.
Synopsis
When an ancient wizard gives Luz a map for a mystical quest, she wonders if she is actually a Chosen One.
Plot
Luz, having a nightmare about her arrival on the Boiling Isles, wakes up bright and cheerful, happy to see she is still in the region and the previous day was not a dream. She says good morning to the "terrifying fantasy world", then hugs and kisses King before going to start her day. Hooty scares her in the bathroom, making her accidentally karate chop his head. After finding her Azura book, she is looking forward to her first day as a "witch's apprentice" and finds a closet full of what she assumes to be witch clothes, but are later revealed to really be just bathrobes and dirty traffic cones. She waits for Eda, who had just woken up, eager to get started on learning magic and getting her own staff, but Eda at the moment is focused on having her morning cup of apple blood first. She explains to Luz that becoming a witch takes time and they are awarded their staffs from school. Since Luz is under Eda's teaching, she will be taking a different approach: Luz will have to work for her staff. Eda gives Luz a sack of potions to sell to the locals of Bonesborough. She advises Luz to be careful while she is in town, as Eda has many competitors who would go to great lengths to put her out of business. Luz promises, but accidentally drops the sack, breaking the potion beakers. After giving her another, to make sure Luz does not get lost or eaten, Eda forces King to accompany her after threatening King that he will have to start paying rent if he does not do so, much to his annoyance.
While in town, Luz learns that she is the only human on the Boiling Isles, and starts to believe that there is a special reason for it. However, she learns first hand that there is nothing special about life on the Isles and that everyone lives in despair. Before heading home, they have one more package to deliver, which happens to be at a huge fantasy castle home to a wizard named Adegast. He invites them for tea and scones. King isn't interested in him, and tries to get Luz to leave, since "Wizards are just old people with glitter in their pockets". She finally gets him to care by pointing out there are scones. Luz tells Adegast that she is Eda's apprentice, and starts to express her honest feelings about it. When she first came to the Isles, she thought she was meant for something special, but instead all she does is chores while everyone on the Isles screams at her or tries to eat her. Adegast sympathizes with Luz, and offers her to embark on a noble quest, which she accepts without hesitation. He gives her a map and tells her of a prophecy of a young girl who would claim the Celestial Staff and free the Isles from an ancient evil. A staff that can only be wielded as the "Chosen One".
When Luz returns to the Owl House with the map and what Adegast had predicted, both Eda and King laugh in her face before telling her that she shouldn't trust wizards, that everything he had told her was all nonsense and the map he gave her was a fake. This burns Luz, so Eda and King give her some time alone to process everything. At first, she thinks they were right. However, when she puts the map in the light, words appear reading "The chosen one, the path will only appear to the worthy". This encourages her to believe what Adegast said was true and chooses to head out on this quest. Meanwhile, Eda asks King, who only cares about sleeping more, about Adegast and suspects something sketchy about him. When she goes to check on Luz, she finds her missing. According to Hooty, she went to the forest towards Bonesborough.
While Luz is on her "mythical" quest, seeing enchanted lands and making new mystical friends along the way, Eda and King head back to Adegast's castle, which is now abandoned and in ruins. They even find many copies of the map Luz was given, and all of this gives Eda a bad feeling. They follow Luz's trail to the enchanted lands she passed through, which happened to be all ruined wastelands. They find a puppet who gives them a hint that Luz is walking into a trap, and they want Eda to follow her. Meanwhile, Luz is at the end of her quest and claims the Celestial Staff, fulfilling the assumed prophecy as the Chosen One. Suddenly, everything around her dissolves and a strange tentacle creature appears with the Wizard and all her friends she had made on each tentacle. It turns out the whole thing was an illusion and the creature, the real Adegast, was a demon Puppeteer who specializes in scamming and manipulating people. He also happens to be one of Eda's competitors in the potions' business and has been using Luz to lure her into a trap. Eda and King arrive to her rescue, but quickly get captured while the Puppeteer tempts Luz into staying in her fantasy. She almost gives in, but snaps out of it and frees Eda and King. Together, they defeat Adegast and his puppets with Eda eating the shrunken Puppeteer to ensure he won't bother them again. She also apologizes to King for not listening to him about Adegast being a con artist. After kicking her sword into his head, the Puppeteer shrinks into a small octopus, which Eda promptly eats.
Afterwards, Luz is left confused. She has mixed thoughts of quitting the apprenticeship and is disappointed because the Boiling Isles is not the fantasy world she had always imagined. To cheer her up, Eda takes Luz on a mystery flight on her staff and shows Luz a spectacular view of the bones of the Isles. Eda and King tell Luz that from up close the Isles can be slimy, very stinky and gross, but looking from a different perspective, it is beautiful. Luz asks Eda how she knew that Adegast was lying; all Eda can say is that instead of waiting for a prophecy to make her special, the best thing Luz can do is choose for herself. Eda also promises Luz that she will get her own staff eventually.
Cast
- Sarah-Nicole Robles as Luz Noceda
- Wendie Malick as Eda Clawthorne
- Alex Hirsch as King and Hooty
- Robin Atkin Downes as Adegast and Centaur
- Billy Kametz as Nevareth
Additional voices
- Arin Hanson as Sea Monster, Sword, Chris, and Cat
- Eden Riegel as Princess
Title in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Spanish (Latin America)
|
Brujas antes que magos | Witches Before Wizards | |
 Portuguese (Brazil)
|
Bruxas Contra Feiticeiros | Witches Versus Wizards | |
 Mandarin
|
好女巫與壞巫師 | Good Witch and Bad Wizard | |
 Czech
|
Prolhaní kouzelníci | Lying Wizards | |
 German
|
Die Auserwählte | The Chosen One | |
 Danish
|
Hekse og troldmænd | Witches and wizards | |
 Spanish
|
Donde esté una bruja que se quite un mago | Wherever a Witch Is, a Wizard Can Remove | |
 Finnish
|
Noita vastaan velho | Witch Against the Wizard | |
 French
|
Les Sorcières avant les enchanteurs | Witches Before Enchanters | |
 Indonesian
|
Penyihir Sebelum Penyihir | Witches Before Witches | |
 Hebrew
|
מכשפות לפני קוסמים | Witches Before Wizards | |
 Italian
|
Streghe piuttosto che stregoni | Witches Rather Than Sorcerers | |
 Japanese
|
魔法使いの試練 | Wizard's Trial | |
 Korean
|
마법사와 마녀 | The Wizard and the Witch | |
 Malay
|
Para Perempuan Sihir Sebelum Para Lelaki Sihir | Witches Before Wizards | |
 Dutch
|
De poppenspeler | The Puppeteer | |
 Norwegian
|
Hekser foran trollmenn | Witches in Front of Wizards | |
 Portuguese
|
Bruxas Contra Feiticeiros | Witches Versus Wizards | |
 Polish
|
Wiedźmy przed Czarodziejami | Witches Before Wizards | |
 Russian
|
Ведьмы против волшебников | Witches vs. Wizards | |
 Swedish
|
Hellre häxor än trollkarlar | Witches Rather Than Wizards |
Transcript
| For a full transcript of "Witches Before Wizards", click here. |
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- Viewership: This episode was watched by 0.43 viewers on its premiere.[2]
- This is the first episode to have the episode title at the beginning.
- This is also the first episode to be animated by Rough Draft Korea.
- This is also the first episode that plays the theme song.
- The episode completed production on July 26, 2019.[5]
- One of the items that Eda sells is snake oil, an obvious joke at the fact that she is a "snake oil salesman" (or rather saleswoman).
- Although Luz hadn't met her yet, she unknowingly describes Amity Blight when she says, "Or should I be like a bad girl Chosen One with black nail polish and a mysteriously withdrawn attitude? 'I act like I don't care, but I secretly do.'"
- Eda tells Luz to “never befriend a man in sandals” before Luz leaves for Bonesborough; the first time we see Adegast, he is wearing sandals.
- When Luz and the other puppets were walking into the forest, the second rune code is visible on a tree trunk:
, which translates into "witches". - This is the second and last episode to show Willow sporting the abomination track color on her uniform in the end credits.
Revelations and significant events
- The mug Eda uses to drink her apple blood reads "30 & Flirty" on the side, indicating that Eda is either around thirty years old (or older, depending on when she obtained the mug) or using it ironically.
- The owl atop Eda's staff is named Owlbert.
Continuity
- The episode occurs the day following the events of "A Lying Witch and a Warden".
Allusions
- He-Man - The toy sword Luz has is a reference to the He-Man series. It even says a line similar to He-Man's transformation phrase "By the power of Grayskull".
- Metal Gear Solid - The question Nevareth asks about love blooming on the battlefield is an infamous line said by the character Otacon.
- Harry Potter - Adegast's wizard disguise, with long gray hair and beard, half-moon glasses, and brightly colored robe, bears a striking resemblance to Albus Dumbledore from the aforementioned franchise.
Errors
Luz's lack of eyes.
- When King says "Less talky, more nappy", Eda's hand disappears.
- When Eda and Luz are talking, her eyes disappear in one frame.
- When Luz goes to sleep, the shirt she is wearing is white, but when she wakes up the shirt is gray.
- When Luz is being pushed out of the Owl House, she is holding the bag of potions, despite it never being retrieved after Luz dropped it.
- When Luz rings the doorbell of the wizard's house, the doors open outward. When she and King enter and the scene changes to look back at King and the doorway, the doors are opened inward before they close in the outward direction again.
- When Eda is breaking out of the pink tentacles, she doesn't have her staff. However, when she falls down from their grasp, she is seen holding her staff again, despite the staff having been on the ground.
- When Eda draws the spell circle to unleash a fire spell, instead of the normal circle of glowing yellow light, it is drawn as a solid orange circle.
Edits
Southeast Asia
- The words "dumb" and "you fool" is cut in English.
- The stabbing part is cut.
- "My flawless pecs!" is cut in English.
- "He's just a big, slimy jerk!" is cut in English.
- "Big houses always belong to big whackjobs." was shortened to "Big house?"
Memorable quotes
Videos
References
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Metcalf, Mitch (January 21, 2020). UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Friday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 1.17.2020. Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on May 8, 2020.
- ↑ Disney+ Channel UK [@DCUK_NEWS] (August 9, 2020). "Don't miss out BRAND NEW Show The Owl House starts tomorrow at 9:30pm! Monday to Fridays at 9:30pm" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ "Disney Channel UK HD, Monday, Aug 11, 2020". TV24.co.uk. Retrieved on January 8, 2023.
- ↑ "Witches Before Wizards (2020)". IMDb.