Belos: Christian Puritanism Analysis
CW for discussion of religious doctrine, cult mentality, mention of sexual abuse, and similar topics
Iâve seen several people claim Belos represents a Hitler-esque figure, which I actually disagree with. Belos is clearly a representation of Christian colonialism, and an extremely well written one at that.
While yes, his ultimate goal is genocide of witches and demons, his method of carrying this out is based around manipulating them into oppressing and ultimately killing themselves.
The target of the doctrine he teaches the Isles is wild magic and those who practice it. Notably, this is a behavior and not an innate genetic trait. He controls and punishes particular ways of living, based around the idea that they are sinful.
However, ultimately he wants to kill everyone, wild witch or not. There is no amount of purity enough to satisfy him; witches and demons are inherently sinful creatures to be eradicated, though he holds false promises of a purity that can be reached by the worthy. This keeps the citizens of the demon realm under his control, because they have a hope that they might become pure enough in the Titanâs eyes.
He promises a glorious future for those who obey his doctrine, a future where they are treated like royalty. This future will come to pass after the Day of Unity.
While the future he promises is not an afterlife, it is still strikingly reminiscent of the doctrine of the Rapture.
The Boiling Isles citizens, who have been working to purify their lives and wipe out wild magic, will now face that reward on one glorious day, where Titan will fully cleanse the lands and allow the worthy to ascend to glory.
In Belosâs own words âthe worthy shall inherit a utopia free of wild magic.â
Exactly like the Rapture story, which believes that an unspecified day will occur in which God will finally cleanse the world of sin, cast those who do not accept him into hell, and allow the righteous to ascend to heaven.
Of course, this is used by by churches as a means of control, promising a future reward or punishment to make people bend to their will. Just like Belosâs promise of glory after the Day of Unity is a lie.
The Emperorâs Castle employs a design technique highly reminiscent of medieval decor and many churches, both of which are heavily tied to the Christian religion.
When I first saw his throne room, I was instantly reminded of churches I had been to.
Belosâs language, too, is heavily reminiscent of Christian Puritanism. âThe Titanâs willâ of course is obvious, but thereâs also other shockingly specific language.
âWe are born into chaos. Our lives anger the TitanâŠI have been shown the healing light.â
This concept of literally being born into sin, of people being unworthy and disgusting until they engage in religion in order to purify themselves, is a central tenet of many Christian belief systems.
Honestly, Iâm surprised the show got away with some of this language, because it is VERY thinly veiled.
Palisman represent someoneâs core nature, and Belos, as part of initiation into the inner circles of his cult, steals and consumes them. Very indicative of what religious fanaticism does, although in a much more literal sense than typical.
In the worst of these churches, a person is encouraged to erase all personality and desires apart from engaging with the Lord. Anything outside of this is discouraged or even outright vilified.
Their core nature is âconsumedâ by doctrine, squashed away in favor of an obedient servant to carry out the wishes of the church.
Survivors of these religious cults often have to learn or relearn who they are, because it was all taken from them, any true variance from others discouraged.
Your goals, talents, achievements, are not yours. It is taught that everything is laid out to you by God; when you make an accomplishment, it is not truly you but Godâs doing.
People are nothing but vessels to serve the Lord, just like the Palismen are treated as nothing but more fuel to prolong the prolong the lifespan of Belos, while their owners are placed in garb that entirely erases individuality, rendering them faceless entities to carry out âthe Titanâsâ will.
Even those who donât enter the emperorâs coven are branded in order to limit the paths they can take. Almost everyone on the Isles believes in the Titan as a religious figure, and they head into the Day of Unity with great hope.
Belos has achieved something incredible. He doesnât need to kill witches and demons by force. He has ensnared their minds, so much that they head willingly into his trap, for lack of a less cliche terms, like lambs to the slaughter.
The wild witches are few and far between, and no real threat, only useful for the occasional example of what happens to be sinners. For the rest of the Isles, they welcome what they donât realize is their own doom.
Like a deeply repressed Christian, subjecting themselves to mental anguish, guilt, conversion therapy, and the like, all in the futile hope of achieving a paradise that will never come.
But does Belos himself believe what he is saying?
Elsewhere and Elsewhen is very interesting because we get to see Philip before he has been warped by age and corruption from eating Palisman. I have to give major kudos to the writing and his voice actor, because past Philip literally made my skin crawl.
He has an aura of profound arrogance and self absorption, disguised under a layer of charm, one he employs masterfully to manipulate Luz.
But interestingly, at the end scene, he uses the same terminology of his âwild magic is evilâ lies when all alone. His superficial charm has been dropped, he has nothing to hide, and he rants and screams about âwitches.â
Of course, he is aware of his lies, but interestingly, he does think that he is working for a higher purpose. Not the Titan, obviously, but the words about purity and cleaning the world of sin are all true to him; he genuinely believe that there is an inherent impurity and evil about magic.
All that self righteous rage is real, and not just something he purely invented to manipulate Luz. His motivation is truly to rid the world of the sin of witchcraft for the greater good.
Philipâs backstory is very vague and unfortunately I doubt we will get much more due to the show being cut short, but from what we do know, he and his older brother Caleb were witch hunters who found the demon realm, and Caleb ended up falling in love with a witch.
Philip ends up killing Caleb because of this. In his mind, Caleb has directly tainted himself by entering a relationship with a witch. The very thing Philip has been taught represents sin, Caleb has now chosen to spend his life with.
The person Philip was closest to fell to temptation, and he cannot forgive that.
Philip punishes Caleb by killing him, but he doesnât stop there. He clones his brother time and time again, each time killing him once more, an endless cycle of punishment for Calebâs perceived sin.
Belos is consumed with rage at his brotherâs transgressions, to where even hundreds of years later he cannot let it go. Part of him may be trying to finally get it right, finally make a clone that is obedient and pure. We know this is at least partially his goal, he notes to Hunter that if all the Grimwalkers, Hunter âlooks the most like him.â
But his quest to finally have a pure version of his brother isnât solely that, as we see he takes a pleasure in killing Grimwalkers. He delights in the punishment, of the endless cycle of perceived justice.
While he would say and likely at least partially believes his intentions to be just, the truth is he is consumed with desire for revenge and hatred, not the moral purity he would like to claim.
Yet he still holds onto this concept and image of himself.
Notably, in Hollow Mind it is shown that his mind has several layers, the first of which are the lies he built, and the second the truth of the atrocity of his actions.
Keep in mind, this is his internal mindscape. His internal mindscape literally has an entire layer of lies in it, implying that it is a layer he himself at least partially believes.
In Kingâs Tide, when Luz is brought to his throne room, he definitely doesnât want to kill her. As skilled as Luz is with magic, she is nowhere near being able to defeat Belos. In both battles with Luz, he is merely toying with her, yet he doesnât kill her.
As far as he has fallen in morality, his most basic doctrine, that of saving humanity, would be contradicted by killing Luz.
Luz is the epitome of what he believes he is protecting; she is an innocent human child.
Belos has sacrificed all other morals. He has even rendered HIMSELF impure by consuming Palisman and mutating into a monster. Luz points this out but Belos is quick to dismiss it; he says âcanât reason with crazyâ rather than respond to what she said.
Because he doesnât want to think about it. He is blatantly contradicting his own morality, but his logic is so warped that he truly believes it is necessary for the greater good.
Just think of how many priests have been discovered to be engaging in blatant hypocrisy, whether harmless (secret gay affairs) or diabolical (child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church). These are people who have devoted their lives to a certain moral doctrine, blatantly contradicting it.
And many of them in a very twisted way would think it was justified.
I actually donât think Belos himself fully knows what he is completely lying about and what he truly believes. Heâs manipulated and twisted people for so long, he even does it to himself.
And so, in the end, he rationalizes killing a human child. Mutated into something far more monstrous than most of the Boiling Isles residents, he still proclaims that it is Luz who is corrupted by monsters.
So lost in his obsession with purity and vengeance, he even terrorizes his old human home as a monster in the woods, the very kind of thing he and Caleb used to hunt and destroy.
Luz is the perfect foil to Belos, another human accidentally finding the demon realm, inventing glyph magic like him, yet so entirely different, truly everything he is not.
Sometimes, villains are enhanced by their similarities to the protagonist, but here the superficial similarities only serve to highlight their differences, to great effect.
She is the perfect kind of person to be the protagonist to his antagonist. Her bisexuality and neurodivergence only enhance this.
While Belos isnât shown to actually be queerphobic, the religion he is so clearly based off of very much is, and he is obsessed with the idea of purity, including sexual purity as seen in his anger at Caleb.
The Owl House does a great job exploring themes such as this without directly showing homophobia; queer people are fully free to be themselves in this world, yet still face a doctrine quite similar to the type that would normally oppress us.
TOH has always had queer and neurodivergent liberation as a central theme. Finding the freedom to be yourself, and finding others similar to you, a place where you are respected and celebrated, has been clear from the very first episode.
You donât need direct and literal homophobia to take on the concepts behind it, so there is a simultaneously queer-friendly world and a scathing critique of the real world systems manufacturing this kind of oppression.
Honestly, the fact we have a Disney Channel cartoon about a bisexual neurodivergent Dominican-American girl taking down the embodiment of white Christian colonialism is batshit wild.
Itâs a powerful statement. This show has such well written characters, and not just the protagonists. Itâs created a truly terrifying villain, one with no chance of sympathy or redemption, yet still complex and interesting.
Some hate sink villains end up being cartoonish and ridiculous, but not Belos. The show has achieved its goal in making me crave his downfall, and I will relish in it when it happens.
izzy806
origamiaround
kianamaiart
andulkaphoto
areudirty
stormborns
