From one Fandom to the next. I'm going to write too many words about it and you're getting dragged with me I guess. Profile pic is from the incredibly kind @drekasal
It's Halloween in Hatchetfield. Lex Foster was prepared for just another boring night, taking Hannah out and hitting up every rich house and party in town. What she wasn't prepared for was running into Alice Woodward, and was even more surprised when Hatchetfield's perfect princess agreed to join her for some classic season traditions.
After all, for every treat it's only right to pull some tricks.
When a dumb stunt goes terribly wrong however, the night turns into far more than EITHER of them expected. Willabella Mukwab, the Mudwitch of Witchwoods, has returned to walk the earth for just one night. Stealing Lex's shadow and setting her eyes on her sister, it's up to Alice, Lex and Hannah to stop her and the entities she works with before the sun rises and her evil spreads.
(Ok but what if like... you checked out my Caliwood fic. Lex Foster and Alice Woodward [reluctantly] team up to stop the Lords in Black. :3
Nah. Actually I need more people to talk about Becky Barnes.
She buys toys for the sick children at her job. She works as a nurse. At a hospital for kids. The entire town ignored the clear and obvious signs of physical abuse she was suffering FOR YEARS and did nothing about it. She has no real connections to anyone because her husband beat the shit out of anyone she ever talked to and herself if she tried to form them.
One day, when she finally fought back, he grabbed a fucking KNIFE to put an end to it.
To save her own life, she stabbed her husband in the fucking throat in the middle of the witchwoods and walked out of there alive and free with blood on her hands.
And she went back to work at the same job he forced her to take because the kids there needed her. She went back to living in the same town that still refused to see her for who she was and what she had gone through.
They all believed he left her and instead of pity, assume she did something to drive him off.
Meanwhile she does not regret what she did. In fact, she secretly hopes he died out there in those woods. As alone as he made her feel.
Absolutely insane to me that a character like this exists and that she's so rarely mentioned in this fandom.
What if Willabella Mukwab, known for writing the Black Book itself, known for worshipping the Lords in Black, actually worshipped Webby first?
Wait. Before you scroll past, hear me out. I know I'm of the small minority who absolutely adore Witch in the Web. I can shout all I want about how it's literally the Lang's attempt to give us all the lore and has set up so much of the current day Hatchetfield projects while still being a good, self-contained story with genuinely haunting imagery... but that won't change the fact that a lot of people simply never really clicked with it.
The thing is, right now, I'm on a mission. One where I want to solve the SEVERAL hints we get in this episode. I want to explore what they could mean and sit back and enjoy whether what I found was right or wrong.
That starts here, in Part 2 of what I'm considering: The Webby Analysis. (Part 1 is not required reading for this theory)
I want to explore the possibility that Willabella had a connection to Webby before she turned to the Lords in Black. By taking the hints we receive in Witch in the Web and applying them to the knowledge we have from the rest of the series, I hope to ground this based off almost entirely what we know is canon.
Warning for below the cut: Without much to work with, I had to be extremely thorough with what we do have. As such, I will be combing over every hint we get in this episode in a lot of detail.
TLDR - This bitch long.
When I first started doing research for a Webby analysis, I started on Black Friday, knowing it was her first appearance. I didn't expect to find much, and for the most part, I didn't. However I knew there would be one place I would find something substantial. It wasn't in Witch in the Web and her first actual reveal, but rather after the episode concluded. In the song that played to wrap up the episode and the season itself.
Before I drop you into what I found, I need to set up exactly how I got to the conclusion I did, because when working with Webby at all it's important to note that anything I do will be 'looking too deep' into a lot of very little, likely inconsequential things most people would not and will not bother with. Webby is a character that they purposefully keep under the radar. She's supposed to be mysterious. An unknown.
Anyways, my excuse for any reaching stretches now covered, let's get into this. I have one major point of evidence for my theory and it's really just: Web I Spin For You.
Now. There are some small hints I alluded to in Part 1, but nothing I mentioned there can even remotely back a theory of this size past headcanon territory. So I guess I have to, somehow, dig even deeper than I did there.
To do that, I need a plan. A structure. As such, we'll first take a look at the lyrics themselves, removing them entirely from the characters and world to see what they are trying to say. Then we'll move in to the Spiral. I mean, uh... the Characters. This section will be focused on taking characters that could work for the perspective of the song, seeing who is most likely to fit and going through just what works about them and just what doesn't. Finally, once I've fully presented just why this theory in particular has warranted a total of 3 several hour long discord calls with my friend, I will get to my conclusion. There we will be tying in the girls, why I believe Willabella worshipped Webby before turning to the Lords in Black and I will be apologizing for what will very likely be a very long essay for a very simple concept.
All good? Along for this ride? Agree to the terms and conditions that this theory was born out of love for the 'looking too deep' game and not what I consider to be objective fact in the slightest??
Cool. Let's begin.
Lyric Breakdown
(Hi. Quick note. This song does a lot of small differences with both the lyrics and the vocals. As such I'm going to go in sections and at times it may seem like I'm skipping over parts of the song but I think this is the best way to break it up.)
Why do you haunt me like a ghost?
You're supposed to love me, the most.
Opening verse, it establishes right away that whoever is singing is being haunted by a past relationship with someone they believed cared for them.
Got me in the spell you cast
The iris of your eye is black
Weren't you the one to watch my back
Unlike the witches you summon
Have you noticed that my trust has turned
You may have taught me but now I've learned
Gotta catch you before I'm burned
(In the web I spin for you)
Again we see the idea that whoever is singing has a relationship to someone that has gone sour. Curiously there is a second hint here that whoever it is, they believed they were 'different' to this person. That they were special.
This pre-chorus section is repeated 3 times throughout the song and will change in the way it is presented in all 3 instances.
You used to keep me at your side. (Have you given that up? x3)
I suppose you'd have me empathize.
Verse 2 further reinforces the idea that whoever the singer is, they believe they were scorned. However, for the first time, there seems to be a want for things to return to normal(?), with the echoing question of if they've given up on the relationship too.
Got me in the spell you cast
The iris of your eye is black
You have a tendency to stab my back
Just like the witches you summon.
Have you noticed that my trust has turned
You may have taught me but now I've learned
I'll enjoy it as I watch you squirm
(In the web I spin for you)
In the second iteration of the Pre-Chorus we can see that the relationship has not only gone sour but there is active attempt at a retaliation. No longer do they sing of a caring relationship, or what was supposed to be a caring relationship. Now there is just a bitter resentment and the belief that they were the one who was betrayed and backstabbed.
Importantly, it seems like they believe that their loyalty change will not be noticed. They want to use the person's plans (the web) against them.
What's the point of giving love and trust for
I thought it something that was worth the fight for
And now I wonder what I worked so hard for
I even thought that I could give my life for you
I was the only one that love and cared for
Have you noticed that I have it in for
As I grow older that I have no need for
(The web I spin for you)
So, here at the bridge we get the motivation behind the singers decision. They no longer believe giving love and trust is something that is worth fighting for or working so hard to receive. They have grown older, deciding to cut their ties.
Got you in the spell I cast
The iris of my eye is black
If I'ma trust I'm gonna trust in me
You may have taught me but I'm now learning
All this time I've been untangling
(The web I spin for you)
The final pre-chorus changes in the way it's delivered, but as you can see it is still repeating things from the previous iterations. The singer is now the one 'casting spells', the iris of their eye is now black. With those lines, the singer puts themselves on the same level as the person they were singing about. They've made the decision to trust in themself, to invest in themself now, no longer content with what they have learned but acknowledging they still have even more to discover. They're undoing the work they did while they were under the person they are singing about.
Ok cool! With all of those lines out of the way we have a pretty good idea of what the song is about. We know that the singer feels betrayed by a person they trusted and cared about. We know that they are taking active steps of some sort of retaliation. We are in a good place to start plugging in our characters-
'But Polar!' I hear you cry. (Or maybe I don't, I'm not a cop.) 'You didn't even bring up the chorus!'
Fair point. I also didn't touch the outro.
Why? Because I don't want to, please don't make me. The chorus is a bop and the outro is that same bop interspersed with some differing lyrics. The vocals fade in and out on what is or is not repeating in the background.
If I'm honest, basing a theory like this around a song and only a song sucks. I don't know how much I should be taking seriously at any point. What is there for rhymes and rhythm and what is there for lore? Is any of it? This song does play after an episode. And NMT often has songs that aren't really lore heavy. Actually, the majority of the time they are not relevant to the episode at all.
The problem comes in the fact that the opening song of THIS episode is INSANELY lore important. It is canon to the episode itself. Hannah is actually singing it and tells us later that it was Webby who taught her the lyrics.
To balance both sides and because I am cripplingly afraid of judgement by a community that has either been overwhelmingly nice or completely indifferent to me, we'll cover both the Outro and Chorus and treat the lines within very lightly, both in this lyric breakdown and in the next sections as well.
Starting with the chorus.
The web I spin for you
Gotta take it back, take it back
Gotta take it back, take it back
The web I spin for you
Can you see why I skipped it?
So, yes, the pre-chorus leads right into the chorus (crazy how that works) and I did already apply the relevant line (also in parenthesis). I don't know exactly how to apply 'take it back'. My current interpretation to keep myself sane is that it is just to help the song sound better. We already know the singer is working to undo 'the web'. Could it be for that? Maybe? Is a 4 word sentence that gets repeated extremely relevant to my theory as it stands? No.
Now for the Outro.
If you've listened to this song, you already know that the vocals get layered like crazy in the outro. (Sounds great though). I can't parse out what is or is not relevant based on the layering. I can only list out the new verses that we get and work from there.
I got to buy more time
If I'm to run away
You see I can't unwind
You got me inside my head
With no way out
I'm caught
No doubt that if I drop dead
You'd find me tangled up
In the web I spin for you.
So um. I got nothing. Nothing that doesn't send us on a goose chase of missing information. The singer(?) now needs to run away. To get away. They've been caught. However because of the layering, do we know if it's the same singer? Are we getting a new perspective at this moment? Can we apply other instances of layering to this new perspective? ('Have you given that up?')
Can you see why I skipped it???
It's fine. I'm fine. That's it for the lyrics I am covering. And if I missed any, no... no I didn't. Please.
Now let's start putting together the pieces.
The Spiral
Oh sorry, did I say spiral?
I meant characters...
The Characters
Let's begin. So starting with the singer, let's plug in who should be obvious. All the web speak. We see her in the video singing the song. It's Mariah's vocals after all.
Webby is the singer.
So who is she singing about? Let's see, who do we know that Webby opposes for certain? The Lords in Black.
Ok. Cool. That was easy. Why was this called a spiral again? Let's just check with the lyrics to make sure that combination works with what we know of the characters and their motivations.
The opening verse has Webby lamenting that her brothers are haunting her, that they were supposed to love her 'the most'.
Yep. Sounding about right. You'd expect some sort of love to exist between even eldritch entities, right? I mean, the Lords in Black as we've seen them aren't really even all too friendly with each other, but we know Webby at the very least is capable of love given her relationship with both Hannah and Lex. Something that maybe in the past her brother's might have been able to feel as well.
Webby is caught up in the spell or magic that her brothers can cast. Something about them draws her and others in. Their irises are black though, indicating their true nature. She expected them to have her back, unlike the witches (followers?) they attract.
Well this all is still sounding alright. We might get through this section faster than expected! Lords in Black having irises that are black? Yeah that works really well actually. I like it. Not to mention eldritch beings like that would be in a position to attract or summon people to follow.
Webby used to be at their side, they probably expect that she'd agree with the torment they wanted to inflict in their plans. Moving in to the chorus, yeah, the Lords in Black DO tend to have plans that involve betrayal. Their followers are just as ruthless. Webby would then turn against them, taking their lessons and using that knowledge to work against them. To literally spin a web in which she could watch them squirm.
Golly gee, I might have to change my theory. Web I Spin seems pretty solvable actually. Though... that last line in the Chorus seems a bit odd. I can't quite put a finger on it yet...
What's the point of giving love and trust for
I thought it was something that was worth the fight for
And now I wonder what I worked so hard for
I even thought I could give my life for you
Ohhhhh. Right. There it is.
We see TWO problems arise once we hit the bridge. Both perspectives, both characters we plugged in seem to fall wildly out of character the moment we get to the lines above. To see why this was such a big stop for something I otherwise felt very confident in, let's break down both sides.
Starting with The Lords in Black. The person (people... beings?) being sung about. I'm sorry, the Lords in Black as I understand them, as they are presented in every context, they do not seem the loving type. In the slightest. It was understandable to a point in the opening verse that Webby, at some point in their infinite existence, may have believed her brothers could care about her. Love and trust her. But the bridge ties together the two perspectives with explicit mentions of love and trust and fighting for them, working hard for them.
Imagine the Lords in Black. And then imagine them being full of love and trust. With no sarcasm.
It's not looking so good.
But even then, that's fine so long as Webby's perspective still works. Really, only the singer needs to be able to view them as capable of love and trust. It just makes it easier if BOTH sides can contribute to it being plausible.
We know that Webby is meant to be a figure for good. We know she keeps her kindness and love because it survives until present day and carries over to both Lex and Hannah in spades. It feels as wrong for her to seemingly denounce those beliefs as it does for the Lords in Black to be capable of them. To me, this is the biggest sticking point of the whole song when it comes to keeping Webby consistent with what we know. Which as I pointed out in Part 1, WE DO NOT KNOW ALOT.
What we do know, is that Webby is kind. Webby is the opposite of her brothers. We know she loves and cares about and trusts Hannah and Lex. Even on a power trip, she goes to Hannah to stop her from making a mistake and when that fails, she trusts Lex to save her sister and timelines themselves. (Yellow Jacket had some massive stakes actually.)
With all that being said however, we do know she can turn. It's very easy to see that she does not hold her brother's in a very positive light. She works against them whenever possible. We do know that for whatever reason, she let Willabella live on in the black and white, only just trapping her in the web. Even though she was capable of disintegrating her the entire time??
I said there was a line in the last section that stuck out to me. It's the idea of her finding enjoyment in watching someone squirm. We know Webby will do what she needs to stop her brothers, or as we see here, Willabella. But from what we see of her, she doesn't appear cruel. Despite the spider imagery very prevalent in this song. While there DO exists arguments for these 2 characters to fit into the song as we understand it so far, I hope that you have now seen the holes that I did.
It just doesn't feel exactly right.
Maybe it's not meant to, but there are some other sticking points I have not yet mentioned. I WILL get to them, maybe you've already noticed them, but for now, to see if this scenario (Webby singing about her brothers) is more believable than the other options we have, we first have to consider what other options there could be.
Let's run it back.
Let's keep Webby in place. We see her singing in the video. We know it's Mariah's vocals. There is an abundance of web imagery in the lyrics and video.
Webby is the singer.
The Lords in Black kinda work. I won't deny it. I wish they worked ALOT better than they do but they do work in some ways. But, even as far back as the very first verse, a lot of what makes them work relies on Webby, the singer, assuming they had love for her.
Webby knows her brothers well. Maybe it was a lesson learned, or maybe she would have known the entire time that they only had evil intent. Removing them as being the ones she is singing about... who else can we slot in? Who else has Webby opposed?
Well, she did finally kill Willabella...
Actually, wait. You know, it makes sense for Willabella to feature in this ending song. It's her episode. Before we even take a look at the lyrics, she already works a lot better here than the Lords in Black. Like I said seconds ago, the episode is titled: Witch in the Web.
Web. Webby. Witch. Willabella. The Lords in Black are mentioned and this episode does feature the first appearance of at least Nibbly and Pokey. (Blinky's toy makes its debut in Watcher World, Tinky is described in Time Bastard. Wiggly and his toy have a whole damn musical. Pokey has one too, but he do be just a meteor and blue... shit(?).) However, aside from Wiggly taunting Hannah as an voice inside Holloway's mind, none of these fuckers actually play a role in the episode itself. Webby does. She's gone away and Hannah is left defenseless against the witch without her. And speaking of the witch, she's the big antagonist the entire episode. It makes sense for the capstone song of the episode to feature two characters we see actually matter to the episode.
Alright. Reasoning in place, let's go through the lyrics. Webby is the singer. Willabella is who she is singing about.
First verse. Webby is singing about Willabella haunting her like a ghost. She is lamenting that Willabella should love her but doesn't.
Ok. So. This does still fit. It does still fit well. Willabella is akin to a ghost right now. Before Hannah she was only able to scare a couple of kids in the forest, she was a tall tale. Her book has made its way through the mortal world for a long time though, popping up and 'haunting' Webby with the problems it creates for humans. Humans who Webby wants to protect. As such, Willabella should love Webby. She's the one looking out for her and her kind.
Willabella and the spells she casts, the magic she's capable of has Webby ensnared. The iris of her eye is black however, indicating the betrayal Webby likely already saw, the loyalty to her brothers. But... she's... supposed to watch her back? Willabella has followers? Other witches? In a time when witches were hung? Wait wait-
Wait. Hold on. How are we already running into something that doesn't add up? This should work. By all means, Willabella being a part of the song should fit better than the Lords in Black do. The first part feels right. That's good news. And we know the second part of the pre-chorus does go through some changes. Let's not throw this entire thing away just yet. After all, the Lords in Black didn't fit all too perfectly either.
But... then again. Looking through the rest of the lyrics, there isn't a lot of hope. Like with the Lords in Black, I can make arguments for certain lyrics to work while at the very same time acknowledging that they don't really.
Let's look the very next set of lyrics:
Have you noticed that my trust has turned
You may have taught me but now I've learned.
Gotta catch you before I'm burned.
(In the web I spin for you)
Ok. So like before, we start off strong. If Webby can acknowledge that she sees Willabella's irises are black, it likely means she can see her loyalty to her brothers. This lyric doesn't need anything to make it work. She doesn't trust Willabella. The next line feels wrong. Why would Willabella be teaching Webby? It doesn't make sense. But there is a scenario I could sell you to make it make sense.
Willabella may have been Webby's first interaction with humans on a more personal scale. Especially if she was meaning to catch her before the Black Book was written and her brothers had their hooks into humanity through it.
Haha! There we go. It makes sense, fixes up the lines that don't work. Ties the thing back together. Webby would be 'burned' if that book is written. She knows it has spells to summon her brothers and cause damage in the human world. She learned about humans through Willabella. She also knows through her that they are capable of some dark things-
You used to keep me at your side.
Mm.... ok. I can't quite make this work as well. Every time I tuck something into place, it seems like there are 3 more things I need to explain away. But. I've already dragged you this far into this theory, I should be able to sell you on the hook at the very least-
You know what, fine. I promised you a theory that Willabella used to worship Webby. And that's what I'll do.
With no evidence besides the need for the lyrics to make sense, I'm going to tell you that now this is a scenario in which Willabella knew of, worked with, or worshipped Webby.
There. She's at her side. Fixed.
Retroactively that makes several of the lyrics before work better as well. Despite what I told you not really having a basis in well, anything, now we can already see the lyrics start to work better. Let's finish off the song with that idea in mind. Webby is singing about how Willabella used to trust and love her and now she's seen the turn in her heart and is lamenting it.
Cool? Cool. We can finally put this idea to bed.
I'll enjoy it as I watch you squirm.
Wait-
I even thought that I could give my life for you
Now come on that's just a saying-
As I grow older that I have no need for
I feel like it's fair to ignore some-
No doubt that if I drop dead
…
FINE. You got me. This doesn't work well at all! The problem isn't with Willabella, no no no. We solved that. If Willabella used to worship Webby then the song's story works. Like magic. It may not have anything concrete to really tie it together but it works. It feels right. Or better at least.
It's Webby that doesn't work.
We saw the cracks appear with the Lords in Black scenario. There is a cruelty to the singer, who turns their back on not only the person they are singing about, but kindness and love as a whole. Not to mention... there is a mortality to this song and the singer that I just can't ignore any longer.
As you can see with the rapid-fire lyrics above, there are several lines about dying and death. Not only that but there is a whole line about growing older. The pre-chorus changes in the last section to put the singer on level with the person they are singing about. While I could continue to fudge in Webby to the singers position, it just doesn't fit cleanly.
But... that just... that just doesn't make any sense. We see Webby singing. It's Mariah's vocals. The singer talks about spinning a web-
A web for someone else.
Ok. So. We know that the song works really well if it's about Willabella AND Webby. But Webby just does not fit as the singer. The mortality, the cruelty. It just doesn't feel right given what we have seen from her character.
I think you already know who it does fit. (Or I've done a terrible job of leading you to the answer) But to be certain, let's run through this one last time. Only one small change this time. Same people, different positions.
Willabella is the 'singer'. Webby is the person she is singing about.
Let's find the context for the theory that we had been missing before. The ties that help concrete the fact that I believe Willabella worshipped Webby first.
Willabella laments that Webby seems to haunt her. She believes she is special, different from the others. That this god should love her the most.
Yes. YES. This works! We know Willabella craves validation from who she worships. Hence the loyalty we see to the Lords in Black in this very episode. Like with the scenarios before, we are starting off strong.
Willabella knows Webby is powerful, enchanting. She knows that this eldritch being holds secrets to other dimensions. She's inhuman. However Webby is supposed to watch her back, look out for her.
Imagine you are a girl. Someone with powers you can't explain. We know gifted people existed before Willabella wrote the black book. Hence the fact that the Townsfolk know to sacrifice their own. You stumble upon a god, maybe she visits you, plays with you when your lonely? (Sound familiar? Sound... familial?). She's supposed to love you the most, watch your back.
Willabella's trust is no longer being placed in Webby. She admits that she may have been taught about the world from her, but she's smarter. She knows there is more out there. She stands to be burned unless she can get Webby first.
This is going well. Almost suspiciously so. With the reveal in the episode that Hannah and Lex were descendants of Willabella, we have more context with applying a relationship to Webby. Is it a stretch to say there was a possibility that Webby visited Willabella when she was younger? Just like we know she did for Lex, like we know she's done for Hannah? That she taught her, like we see and hear she did for the Foster sisters? With Willabella as the singer, lines like being burned slide in perfectly in place. No longer do we have to assume how and why the singer might get burned in a metaphorical sense.
After all, most of us know exactly what you do to a witch in the 1800s.
You burn them.
Willabella and Webby were close, close enough that Webby kept her at her side as much as possible. It doesn't seem like that is the case anymore. And as we know by now, that's not enough. In fact in some sense, Willabella believes Webby is the one to betray her.
She wants revenge. Her loyalty has shifted. She'll spin the web for Webby, with the god none the wiser that it's a trap for her.
Here we go. Here is the cruelty that was missing from Webby. Willabella, by the time we catch up to her in modern day, despises Webby. The same way her brothers do. We know she's more than capable of cruelty. The torment she inflicts on Hannah, the townsfolk's children that she killed.
I would talk about the 'stabbing back' of it all but here we have a complete lack of information. I don't even have something I could fill in even temporarily. It is along those same lines that I don't feel confident talking about the 'witches' Webby can apparently summon. But that's ok, because even though I have no context for why or who, it makes more sense for Webby, an eldritch god, to have followers or worshippers or other witches that will follow her rather than Willabella, known outcast and witch herself. It's the same rationale we used when talking about the Lords in Black because Webby is a being on the same level as them.
Willabella believes she was betrayed by someone who preached love and trust. Fighting for it against her brothers. Willabella once thought she could, would fight for it. Give her life for Webby and what she was fighting for.
However, she's not the same girl she was. She knows the way of the world now. Webby's infrequent showing of attention was not enough, not when Willabella believes she was the only one who loved and cared for her.
Finally. Finally the bridge fits. And it fits well. The sticking points of the past all get explained in this scenario where Willabella is our singer and Webby is who she is singing about. Webby exists as the opposite of her brothers, we know she resists their plans. One could say she 'fights' against their influence when she can. Like I said before, it didn't feel right that Webby, who played with Lex and does her best to care for Hannah, would turn her back on kindness and trust. Here she would be the representation of kindness and love that Willabella is turning on. The mortality of the singer finally makes sense now that the singer is mortal. Growing older. The idea of giving up her life is scary because it's all she has.
During the bridge, in the video we see the Lords in Black appear, one after another. As Willabella questions what is worth it fighting for, her back turning on Webby, we see the imagery of the Lords in Black. Immediately after, we see the greatest change in the Pre-Chorus.
Willabella, her loyalty turning to the Lords in Black, is granted heightened powers. She's turned to the Black. Webby may have originally taught her, but the Lords in Black teach her more.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the final and biggest change in the pre-chorus comes after each individual Lord in Black is shown. The evidence behind Willabella's loyalty shift. We know the Lords in Black don't mind granting their powers to those who will worship them. We know that Willabella has to learn a lot about the Black and White because she is the one who writes the Black Book. In the pages we get from Killer Track we can see that yes, there are spells and rituals, but it's also got an index full of information. We see the map that Grace describes in Nerdy Prudes, of the altars.
We also see a detailed illustration of a modern day doorknob.
...
Ok actually let me go off on that real quick.
I'm sure I am the only person in this fandom who would latch on to an image of a DOORKNOB, which stood out to me because why would someone living in the 1800s. In a hut. Draw this.
The first instance of a doorknob was seen in 1878. YES I LOOKED THAT UP. Let's see, when was the town said to have been founded? 1824? Oh, and that's after the Hatchetmen killed Willabella? HMM.
Anyways, doorknob side tangent aside...
Right. The outro.
I said I'd touch on it lightly so you better believe I will. The one main thing I want to use in this theory is the line:
No doubt if I drop dead
You’d find me tangled up
In the web I spin for you
Look. The whole point of Witch in the Web (And Perky's Buds) is to reveal that Willabella's soul was trapped in a web. After she died.
I uh. I don't really need to say more here.
Web I Spin for You works the best when it's Willabella as the singer and Webby as the person she is singing about. Yes. I know it's a hard hurdle to get over when we see Webby singing the song. It drives me crazy too. I often work on these theories with a friend of mine and I have not been successful in convincing them over the hurdle of removing Webby from the perspective of the singer.
And I don't blame them.
There was a reason I ran down the other options as well. Like I said before, The Lords in Black do work. I'm fudging in just as much information for them to work as I do for Willabella. In fact, I really like seeing the song as being about the Lords in Black.
The problem, to me, is that the individual lyrics fit the best when they get applied to Willabella. The mortality, the cruelty. The song being about the two opposing forces we see in the episode itself feels like it fits with how the opening song fit into the episode as well. And speaking of the opening song...
This episode has already shown us that seeing a person sing and the perspective of the song can be two different things.
The Conclusion
Alright. So as I've said, the lyrics of Web I Spin will be my largest source of evidence for my theory, but it's not the only thing that gives this theory legs. I hinted at the deeper ties to the rest of this series this theory has in both the lyric breakdown and occasionally in Part 1. For the sake of tying this essay together though, we'll cover everything else from the episode in detail.
We already know that Webby seems tied to the Fosters because not only does Hannah see her (which is insanely unique in and of itself) but Lex does too. Why wouldn't Willabella be the same? If Hannah is 'just like her' and is her own blood, then it becomes a much smaller stretch to think that Willabella would be same. Able to see Webby where most people don't.
We can even take this idea and run with it further.
Lex and Hannah have powers, yes, but as far as we know they never cast a spell or summoned Webby. Lex literally just believed she was her imaginary friend. However, in almost every instance we see and hear from the Lords in Black they need to be summoned. Hell, Wiggly's plan in Black Friday was to be birthed into our world so he could do what he wanted when he wanted. We know they need to be summoned to help the kids in Nerdy Prudes. We know the Black Book contains the rituals and spells to summon them.
If seeing Webby is a bloodline 'power', it would give further credit to the fact that Willabella would've seen Webby first. Before she stumbled into whatever allowed her to learn about The Lords in Black.
In the last part, I brought focus to the culmination of Willabella's illusion in Hannah's mind. Where, despite every single part of the witch's plan relying on the idea that Hannah forget about Webby entirely, she shows her hand just to bitterly insult the goddess. This is a blunder that makes little sense until you look at the words she uses:
"Who told you that? That nasty little spider you think is your friend? …. Well we've already established that she's a lying little turd."
A couple of things here. Last time I was wondering what purpose the echo was for Pam's words earlier (She's a lying little turd). I believe it's less to intimidate Hannah and more an attempt, in writing, to reinforce that the bloodline is on Pam's side. Not only that but it connects both Hannah and Webby to each other. In Willabella and Pam's eyes, Webby and Hannah are the liars and they never did anything wrong.
(God the writing in this episode is so tight. I love it so much.)
Secondly, the part that always jumps out at me personally is Willabella saying Hannah only thinks Webby is her friend. Again, every single decision Willabella has made until now has been attempting to scare Hannah into backing down and luring her into forgetting that Webby ever existed. But instead of sealing her success, she suddenly affirms to Hannah that Webby's real.
Everything she has shown Hannah up to this moment were events that actually happened. And we know they are true because both the Tree People and Miss Holloway affirm at different points in the episode that these are things that happened. So... if Willabella hasn't needed to lie yet to scare her, why start now? If she tells Hannah that she only thinks Webby is her friend...
Why wouldn't that also just be another instance of Willabella drawing on her own life's experience?
Let's take a look at the beginning of the episode and actually go through a few lyrics from Witch in the Web (the song). Several of the verses are warnings for Hannah, but at the end of the song, we do get reveals to Webby's relation to the witch.
And my golly is it interesting.
The witch in the web is ancient
That means I know her well
Oh. Oh you know her well do you Webby? It's a good rhyme, a small point that could be turned in favor my theory, but it's in the next verse that I find alot more interesting.
She certainly tests my patience
From her black and white cell
I could throw away the keys now
But that's no me, oh no
You see a witch is a witch for a reason
Until you let her go
In the last part, this section drove me crazy (It still does). I brought up several problems I had with it with my biggest problem being:
Why doesn't Webby throw away the key?! If she has the ability to make sure Willabella can never return, why doesn't she? And what does the last lyric even mean? All the other times the pattern has been stated it has been with advice for Hannah:
But a witch is a witch
If you allow her
To have power over you
A witch becomes a coward
When you remember who you are
Then.
A witch is a witch for a reason
Until you let her go.
Hear me out. What if, the reason Webby kept Willabella trapped for so long, without getting rid of her like we know she's capable, like she's admitted she's capable of, is because Webby knows exactly why she's turned into the person she is.
I mean, she does admit to knowing Willabella well. Which could be explained by the fact that Webby's been around a long time. That she's familiar with the witch due to the web she's spun to keep her in place. But think again to the lyrics and the breakdown we just went through.
If my theory is right, and Willabella is singing about her loyalty changing from Webby to the Lords in Black, then yeah Webby would know her well. And since we know that there was love and care in their relationship before, then it would be yet another reason why Webby might have been reluctant to fully abandon the idea that Willabella isn't worth saving.
I sort of have nothing left to really point out as an AHA, but if you've made it this far then you do have my thanks.
I like to joke and josh about this being some sort of mentally taxing drain on my sanity, but it's really not. This is a lot of fun to me. I view the lore of this series as a puzzle with missing pieces. There are gaps that are unsolvable at this time, but with the Glam announcement and the fact that the Langs confirmed that Glam's first draft was done by the time Witch in the Web was starting to be written, I don't think it's improbable that there are hints to what those missing pieces are.
*cough cough*
The theater girls are the fucking Pentagrams and you can NOT tell me otherwise.
*cough cough*
I said it at the top, but I do want to say it again, I'm in this for the looking too deep game. I also find it a little disheartening to tune in to the livestreams and see Matt and Nick's belief that some of the smaller touches of their writing and lore will go unnoticed when compared to the characters and the actors and the visuals themselves. So until the day comes that they give us all the answers, I'll be here, thinking about this fun little world in the back of my head, twisting the pieces we have right now until I get an idea of how this section of the puzzle will end up looking like in the end.
What if Willabella Mukwab, known for writing the Black Book itself, known for worshipping the Lords in Black, actually worshipped Webby first?
Wait. Before you scroll past, hear me out. I know I'm of the small minority who absolutely adore Witch in the Web. I can shout all I want about how it's literally the Lang's attempt to give us all the lore and has set up so much of the current day Hatchetfield projects while still being a good, self-contained story with genuinely haunting imagery... but that won't change the fact that a lot of people simply never really clicked with it.
The thing is, right now, I'm on a mission. One where I want to solve the SEVERAL hints we get in this episode. I want to explore what they could mean and sit back and enjoy whether what I found was right or wrong.
That starts here, in Part 2 of what I'm considering: The Webby Analysis. (Part 1 is not required reading for this theory)
I want to explore the possibility that Willabella had a connection to Webby before she turned to the Lords in Black. By taking the hints we receive in Witch in the Web and applying them to the knowledge we have from the rest of the series, I hope to ground this based off almost entirely what we know is canon.
Warning for below the cut: Without much to work with, I had to be extremely thorough with what we do have. As such, I will be combing over every hint we get in this episode in a lot of detail.
TLDR - This bitch long.
When I first started doing research for a Webby analysis, I started on Black Friday, knowing it was her first appearance. I didn't expect to find much, and for the most part, I didn't. However I knew there would be one place I would find something substantial. It wasn't in Witch in the Web and her first actual reveal, but rather after the episode concluded. In the song that played to wrap up the episode and the season itself.
Before I drop you into what I found, I need to set up exactly how I got to the conclusion I did, because when working with Webby at all it's important to note that anything I do will be 'looking too deep' into a lot of very little, likely inconsequential things most people would not and will not bother with. Webby is a character that they purposefully keep under the radar. She's supposed to be mysterious. An unknown.
Anyways, my excuse for any reaching stretches now covered, let's get into this. I have one major point of evidence for my theory and it's really just: Web I Spin For You.
Now. There are some small hints I alluded to in Part 1, but nothing I mentioned there can even remotely back a theory of this size past headcanon territory. So I guess I have to, somehow, dig even deeper than I did there.
To do that, I need a plan. A structure. As such, we'll first take a look at the lyrics themselves, removing them entirely from the characters and world to see what they are trying to say. Then we'll move in to the Spiral. I mean, uh... the Characters. This section will be focused on taking characters that could work for the perspective of the song, seeing who is most likely to fit and going through just what works about them and just what doesn't. Finally, once I've fully presented just why this theory in particular has warranted a total of 3 several hour long discord calls with my friend, I will get to my conclusion. There we will be tying in the girls, why I believe Willabella worshipped Webby before turning to the Lords in Black and I will be apologizing for what will very likely be a very long essay for a very simple concept.
All good? Along for this ride? Agree to the terms and conditions that this theory was born out of love for the 'looking too deep' game and not what I consider to be objective fact in the slightest??
Cool. Let's begin.
Lyric Breakdown
(Hi. Quick note. This song does a lot of small differences with both the lyrics and the vocals. As such I'm going to go in sections and at times it may seem like I'm skipping over parts of the song but I think this is the best way to break it up.)
Why do you haunt me like a ghost?
You're supposed to love me, the most.
Opening verse, it establishes right away that whoever is singing is being haunted by a past relationship with someone they believed cared for them.
Got me in the spell you cast
The iris of your eye is black
Weren't you the one to watch my back
Unlike the witches you summon
Have you noticed that my trust has turned
You may have taught me but now I've learned
Gotta catch you before I'm burned
(In the web I spin for you)
Again we see the idea that whoever is singing has a relationship to someone that has gone sour. Curiously there is a second hint here that whoever it is, they believed they were 'different' to this person. That they were special.
This pre-chorus section is repeated 3 times throughout the song and will change in the way it is presented in all 3 instances.
You used to keep me at your side. (Have you given that up? x3)
I suppose you'd have me empathize.
Verse 2 further reinforces the idea that whoever the singer is, they believe they were scorned. However, for the first time, there seems to be a want for things to return to normal(?), with the echoing question of if they've given up on the relationship too.
Got me in the spell you cast
The iris of your eye is black
You have a tendency to stab my back
Just like the witches you summon.
Have you noticed that my trust has turned
You may have taught me but now I've learned
I'll enjoy it as I watch you squirm
(In the web I spin for you)
In the second iteration of the Pre-Chorus we can see that the relationship has not only gone sour but there is active attempt at a retaliation. No longer do they sing of a caring relationship, or what was supposed to be a caring relationship. Now there is just a bitter resentment and the belief that they were the one who was betrayed and backstabbed.
Importantly, it seems like they believe that their loyalty change will not be noticed. They want to use the person's plans (the web) against them.
What's the point of giving love and trust for
I thought it something that was worth the fight for
And now I wonder what I worked so hard for
I even thought that I could give my life for you
I was the only one that love and cared for
Have you noticed that I have it in for
As I grow older that I have no need for
(The web I spin for you)
So, here at the bridge we get the motivation behind the singers decision. They no longer believe giving love and trust is something that is worth fighting for or working so hard to receive. They have grown older, deciding to cut their ties.
Got you in the spell I cast
The iris of my eye is black
If I'ma trust I'm gonna trust in me
You may have taught me but I'm now learning
All this time I've been untangling
(The web I spin for you)
The final pre-chorus changes in the way it's delivered, but as you can see it is still repeating things from the previous iterations. The singer is now the one 'casting spells', the iris of their eye is now black. With those lines, the singer puts themselves on the same level as the person they were singing about. They've made the decision to trust in themself, to invest in themself now, no longer content with what they have learned but acknowledging they still have even more to discover. They're undoing the work they did while they were under the person they are singing about.
Ok cool! With all of those lines out of the way we have a pretty good idea of what the song is about. We know that the singer feels betrayed by a person they trusted and cared about. We know that they are taking active steps of some sort of retaliation. We are in a good place to start plugging in our characters-
'But Polar!' I hear you cry. (Or maybe I don't, I'm not a cop.) 'You didn't even bring up the chorus!'
Fair point. I also didn't touch the outro.
Why? Because I don't want to, please don't make me. The chorus is a bop and the outro is that same bop interspersed with some differing lyrics. The vocals fade in and out on what is or is not repeating in the background.
If I'm honest, basing a theory like this around a song and only a song sucks. I don't know how much I should be taking seriously at any point. What is there for rhymes and rhythm and what is there for lore? Is any of it? This song does play after an episode. And NMT often has songs that aren't really lore heavy. Actually, the majority of the time they are not relevant to the episode at all.
The problem comes in the fact that the opening song of THIS episode is INSANELY lore important. It is canon to the episode itself. Hannah is actually singing it and tells us later that it was Webby who taught her the lyrics.
To balance both sides and because I am cripplingly afraid of judgement by a community that has either been overwhelmingly nice or completely indifferent to me, we'll cover both the Outro and Chorus and treat the lines within very lightly, both in this lyric breakdown and in the next sections as well.
Starting with the chorus.
The web I spin for you
Gotta take it back, take it back
Gotta take it back, take it back
The web I spin for you
Can you see why I skipped it?
So, yes, the pre-chorus leads right into the chorus (crazy how that works) and I did already apply the relevant line (also in parenthesis). I don't know exactly how to apply 'take it back'. My current interpretation to keep myself sane is that it is just to help the song sound better. We already know the singer is working to undo 'the web'. Could it be for that? Maybe? Is a 4 word sentence that gets repeated extremely relevant to my theory as it stands? No.
Now for the Outro.
If you've listened to this song, you already know that the vocals get layered like crazy in the outro. (Sounds great though). I can't parse out what is or is not relevant based on the layering. I can only list out the new verses that we get and work from there.
I got to buy more time
If I'm to run away
You see I can't unwind
You got me inside my head
With no way out
I'm caught
No doubt that if I drop dead
You'd find me tangled up
In the web I spin for you.
So um. I got nothing. Nothing that doesn't send us on a goose chase of missing information. The singer(?) now needs to run away. To get away. They've been caught. However because of the layering, do we know if it's the same singer? Are we getting a new perspective at this moment? Can we apply other instances of layering to this new perspective? ('Have you given that up?')
Can you see why I skipped it???
It's fine. I'm fine. That's it for the lyrics I am covering. And if I missed any, no... no I didn't. Please.
Now let's start putting together the pieces.
The Spiral
Oh sorry, did I say spiral?
I meant characters...
The Characters
Let's begin. So starting with the singer, let's plug in who should be obvious. All the web speak. We see her in the video singing the song. It's Mariah's vocals after all.
Webby is the singer.
So who is she singing about? Let's see, who do we know that Webby opposes for certain? The Lords in Black.
Ok. Cool. That was easy. Why was this called a spiral again? Let's just check with the lyrics to make sure that combination works with what we know of the characters and their motivations.
The opening verse has Webby lamenting that her brothers are haunting her, that they were supposed to love her 'the most'.
Yep. Sounding about right. You'd expect some sort of love to exist between even eldritch entities, right? I mean, the Lords in Black as we've seen them aren't really even all too friendly with each other, but we know Webby at the very least is capable of love given her relationship with both Hannah and Lex. Something that maybe in the past her brother's might have been able to feel as well.
Webby is caught up in the spell or magic that her brothers can cast. Something about them draws her and others in. Their irises are black though, indicating their true nature. She expected them to have her back, unlike the witches (followers?) they attract.
Well this all is still sounding alright. We might get through this section faster than expected! Lords in Black having irises that are black? Yeah that works really well actually. I like it. Not to mention eldritch beings like that would be in a position to attract or summon people to follow.
Webby used to be at their side, they probably expect that she'd agree with the torment they wanted to inflict in their plans. Moving in to the chorus, yeah, the Lords in Black DO tend to have plans that involve betrayal. Their followers are just as ruthless. Webby would then turn against them, taking their lessons and using that knowledge to work against them. To literally spin a web in which she could watch them squirm.
Golly gee, I might have to change my theory. Web I Spin seems pretty solvable actually. Though... that last line in the Chorus seems a bit odd. I can't quite put a finger on it yet...
What's the point of giving love and trust for
I thought it was something that was worth the fight for
And now I wonder what I worked so hard for
I even thought I could give my life for you
Ohhhhh. Right. There it is.
We see TWO problems arise once we hit the bridge. Both perspectives, both characters we plugged in seem to fall wildly out of character the moment we get to the lines above. To see why this was such a big stop for something I otherwise felt very confident in, let's break down both sides.
Starting with The Lords in Black. The person (people... beings?) being sung about. I'm sorry, the Lords in Black as I understand them, as they are presented in every context, they do not seem the loving type. In the slightest. It was understandable to a point in the opening verse that Webby, at some point in their infinite existence, may have believed her brothers could care about her. Love and trust her. But the bridge ties together the two perspectives with explicit mentions of love and trust and fighting for them, working hard for them.
Imagine the Lords in Black. And then imagine them being full of love and trust. With no sarcasm.
It's not looking so good.
But even then, that's fine so long as Webby's perspective still works. Really, only the singer needs to be able to view them as capable of love and trust. It just makes it easier if BOTH sides can contribute to it being plausible.
We know that Webby is meant to be a figure for good. We know she keeps her kindness and love because it survives until present day and carries over to both Lex and Hannah in spades. It feels as wrong for her to seemingly denounce those beliefs as it does for the Lords in Black to be capable of them. To me, this is the biggest sticking point of the whole song when it comes to keeping Webby consistent with what we know. Which as I pointed out in Part 1, WE DO NOT KNOW ALOT.
What we do know, is that Webby is kind. Webby is the opposite of her brothers. We know she loves and cares about and trusts Hannah and Lex. Even on a power trip, she goes to Hannah to stop her from making a mistake and when that fails, she trusts Lex to save her sister and timelines themselves. (Yellow Jacket had some massive stakes actually.)
With all that being said however, we do know she can turn. It's very easy to see that she does not hold her brother's in a very positive light. She works against them whenever possible. We do know that for whatever reason, she let Willabella live on in the black and white, only just trapping her in the web. Even though she was capable of disintegrating her the entire time??
I said there was a line in the last section that stuck out to me. It's the idea of her finding enjoyment in watching someone squirm. We know Webby will do what she needs to stop her brothers, or as we see here, Willabella. But from what we see of her, she doesn't appear cruel. Despite the spider imagery very prevalent in this song. While there DO exists arguments for these 2 characters to fit into the song as we understand it so far, I hope that you have now seen the holes that I did.
It just doesn't feel exactly right.
Maybe it's not meant to, but there are some other sticking points I have not yet mentioned. I WILL get to them, maybe you've already noticed them, but for now, to see if this scenario (Webby singing about her brothers) is more believable than the other options we have, we first have to consider what other options there could be.
Let's run it back.
Let's keep Webby in place. We see her singing in the video. We know it's Mariah's vocals. There is an abundance of web imagery in the lyrics and video.
Webby is the singer.
The Lords in Black kinda work. I won't deny it. I wish they worked ALOT better than they do but they do work in some ways. But, even as far back as the very first verse, a lot of what makes them work relies on Webby, the singer, assuming they had love for her.
Webby knows her brothers well. Maybe it was a lesson learned, or maybe she would have known the entire time that they only had evil intent. Removing them as being the ones she is singing about... who else can we slot in? Who else has Webby opposed?
Well, she did finally kill Willabella...
Actually, wait. You know, it makes sense for Willabella to feature in this ending song. It's her episode. Before we even take a look at the lyrics, she already works a lot better here than the Lords in Black. Like I said seconds ago, the episode is titled: Witch in the Web.
Web. Webby. Witch. Willabella. The Lords in Black are mentioned and this episode does feature the first appearance of at least Nibbly and Pokey. (Blinky's toy makes its debut in Watcher World, Tinky is described in Time Bastard. Wiggly and his toy have a whole damn musical. Pokey has one too, but he do be just a meteor and blue... shit(?).) However, aside from Wiggly taunting Hannah as an voice inside Holloway's mind, none of these fuckers actually play a role in the episode itself. Webby does. She's gone away and Hannah is left defenseless against the witch without her. And speaking of the witch, she's the big antagonist the entire episode. It makes sense for the capstone song of the episode to feature two characters we see actually matter to the episode.
Alright. Reasoning in place, let's go through the lyrics. Webby is the singer. Willabella is who she is singing about.
First verse. Webby is singing about Willabella haunting her like a ghost. She is lamenting that Willabella should love her but doesn't.
Ok. So. This does still fit. It does still fit well. Willabella is akin to a ghost right now. Before Hannah she was only able to scare a couple of kids in the forest, she was a tall tale. Her book has made its way through the mortal world for a long time though, popping up and 'haunting' Webby with the problems it creates for humans. Humans who Webby wants to protect. As such, Willabella should love Webby. She's the one looking out for her and her kind.
Willabella and the spells she casts, the magic she's capable of has Webby ensnared. The iris of her eye is black however, indicating the betrayal Webby likely already saw, the loyalty to her brothers. But... she's... supposed to watch her back? Willabella has followers? Other witches? In a time when witches were hung? Wait wait-
Wait. Hold on. How are we already running into something that doesn't add up? This should work. By all means, Willabella being a part of the song should fit better than the Lords in Black do. The first part feels right. That's good news. And we know the second part of the pre-chorus does go through some changes. Let's not throw this entire thing away just yet. After all, the Lords in Black didn't fit all too perfectly either.
But... then again. Looking through the rest of the lyrics, there isn't a lot of hope. Like with the Lords in Black, I can make arguments for certain lyrics to work while at the very same time acknowledging that they don't really.
Let's look the very next set of lyrics:
Have you noticed that my trust has turned
You may have taught me but now I've learned.
Gotta catch you before I'm burned.
(In the web I spin for you)
Ok. So like before, we start off strong. If Webby can acknowledge that she sees Willabella's irises are black, it likely means she can see her loyalty to her brothers. This lyric doesn't need anything to make it work. She doesn't trust Willabella. The next line feels wrong. Why would Willabella be teaching Webby? It doesn't make sense. But there is a scenario I could sell you to make it make sense.
Willabella may have been Webby's first interaction with humans on a more personal scale. Especially if she was meaning to catch her before the Black Book was written and her brothers had their hooks into humanity through it.
Haha! There we go. It makes sense, fixes up the lines that don't work. Ties the thing back together. Webby would be 'burned' if that book is written. She knows it has spells to summon her brothers and cause damage in the human world. She learned about humans through Willabella. She also knows through her that they are capable of some dark things-
You used to keep me at your side.
Mm.... ok. I can't quite make this work as well. Every time I tuck something into place, it seems like there are 3 more things I need to explain away. But. I've already dragged you this far into this theory, I should be able to sell you on the hook at the very least-
You know what, fine. I promised you a theory that Willabella used to worship Webby. And that's what I'll do.
With no evidence besides the need for the lyrics to make sense, I'm going to tell you that now this is a scenario in which Willabella knew of, worked with, or worshipped Webby.
There. She's at her side. Fixed.
Retroactively that makes several of the lyrics before work better as well. Despite what I told you not really having a basis in well, anything, now we can already see the lyrics start to work better. Let's finish off the song with that idea in mind. Webby is singing about how Willabella used to trust and love her and now she's seen the turn in her heart and is lamenting it.
Cool? Cool. We can finally put this idea to bed.
I'll enjoy it as I watch you squirm.
Wait-
I even thought that I could give my life for you
Now come on that's just a saying-
As I grow older that I have no need for
I feel like it's fair to ignore some-
No doubt that if I drop dead
…
FINE. You got me. This doesn't work well at all! The problem isn't with Willabella, no no no. We solved that. If Willabella used to worship Webby then the song's story works. Like magic. It may not have anything concrete to really tie it together but it works. It feels right. Or better at least.
It's Webby that doesn't work.
We saw the cracks appear with the Lords in Black scenario. There is a cruelty to the singer, who turns their back on not only the person they are singing about, but kindness and love as a whole. Not to mention... there is a mortality to this song and the singer that I just can't ignore any longer.
As you can see with the rapid-fire lyrics above, there are several lines about dying and death. Not only that but there is a whole line about growing older. The pre-chorus changes in the last section to put the singer on level with the person they are singing about. While I could continue to fudge in Webby to the singers position, it just doesn't fit cleanly.
But... that just... that just doesn't make any sense. We see Webby singing. It's Mariah's vocals. The singer talks about spinning a web-
A web for someone else.
Ok. So. We know that the song works really well if it's about Willabella AND Webby. But Webby just does not fit as the singer. The mortality, the cruelty. It just doesn't feel right given what we have seen from her character.
I think you already know who it does fit. (Or I've done a terrible job of leading you to the answer) But to be certain, let's run through this one last time. Only one small change this time. Same people, different positions.
Willabella is the 'singer'. Webby is the person she is singing about.
Let's find the context for the theory that we had been missing before. The ties that help concrete the fact that I believe Willabella worshipped Webby first.
Willabella laments that Webby seems to haunt her. She believes she is special, different from the others. That this god should love her the most.
Yes. YES. This works! We know Willabella craves validation from who she worships. Hence the loyalty we see to the Lords in Black in this very episode. Like with the scenarios before, we are starting off strong.
Willabella knows Webby is powerful, enchanting. She knows that this eldritch being holds secrets to other dimensions. She's inhuman. However Webby is supposed to watch her back, look out for her.
Imagine you are a girl. Someone with powers you can't explain. We know gifted people existed before Willabella wrote the black book. Hence the fact that the Townsfolk know to sacrifice their own. You stumble upon a god, maybe she visits you, plays with you when your lonely? (Sound familiar? Sound... familial?). She's supposed to love you the most, watch your back.
Willabella's trust is no longer being placed in Webby. She admits that she may have been taught about the world from her, but she's smarter. She knows there is more out there. She stands to be burned unless she can get Webby first.
This is going well. Almost suspiciously so. With the reveal in the episode that Hannah and Lex were descendants of Willabella, we have more context with applying a relationship to Webby. Is it a stretch to say there was a possibility that Webby visited Willabella when she was younger? Just like we know she did for Lex, like we know she's done for Hannah? That she taught her, like we see and hear she did for the Foster sisters? With Willabella as the singer, lines like being burned slide in perfectly in place. No longer do we have to assume how and why the singer might get burned in a metaphorical sense.
After all, most of us know exactly what you do to a witch in the 1800s.
You burn them.
Willabella and Webby were close, close enough that Webby kept her at her side as much as possible. It doesn't seem like that is the case anymore. And as we know by now, that's not enough. In fact in some sense, Willabella believes Webby is the one to betray her.
She wants revenge. Her loyalty has shifted. She'll spin the web for Webby, with the god none the wiser that it's a trap for her.
Here we go. Here is the cruelty that was missing from Webby. Willabella, by the time we catch up to her in modern day, despises Webby. The same way her brothers do. We know she's more than capable of cruelty. The torment she inflicts on Hannah, the townsfolk's children that she killed.
I would talk about the 'stabbing back' of it all but here we have a complete lack of information. I don't even have something I could fill in even temporarily. It is along those same lines that I don't feel confident talking about the 'witches' Webby can apparently summon. But that's ok, because even though I have no context for why or who, it makes more sense for Webby, an eldritch god, to have followers or worshippers or other witches that will follow her rather than Willabella, known outcast and witch herself. It's the same rationale we used when talking about the Lords in Black because Webby is a being on the same level as them.
Willabella believes she was betrayed by someone who preached love and trust. Fighting for it against her brothers. Willabella once thought she could, would fight for it. Give her life for Webby and what she was fighting for.
However, she's not the same girl she was. She knows the way of the world now. Webby's infrequent showing of attention was not enough, not when Willabella believes she was the only one who loved and cared for her.
Finally. Finally the bridge fits. And it fits well. The sticking points of the past all get explained in this scenario where Willabella is our singer and Webby is who she is singing about. Webby exists as the opposite of her brothers, we know she resists their plans. One could say she 'fights' against their influence when she can. Like I said before, it didn't feel right that Webby, who played with Lex and does her best to care for Hannah, would turn her back on kindness and trust. Here she would be the representation of kindness and love that Willabella is turning on. The mortality of the singer finally makes sense now that the singer is mortal. Growing older. The idea of giving up her life is scary because it's all she has.
During the bridge, in the video we see the Lords in Black appear, one after another. As Willabella questions what is worth it fighting for, her back turning on Webby, we see the imagery of the Lords in Black. Immediately after, we see the greatest change in the Pre-Chorus.
Willabella, her loyalty turning to the Lords in Black, is granted heightened powers. She's turned to the Black. Webby may have originally taught her, but the Lords in Black teach her more.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the final and biggest change in the pre-chorus comes after each individual Lord in Black is shown. The evidence behind Willabella's loyalty shift. We know the Lords in Black don't mind granting their powers to those who will worship them. We know that Willabella has to learn a lot about the Black and White because she is the one who writes the Black Book. In the pages we get from Killer Track we can see that yes, there are spells and rituals, but it's also got an index full of information. We see the map that Grace describes in Nerdy Prudes, of the altars.
We also see a detailed illustration of a modern day doorknob.
...
Ok actually let me go off on that real quick.
I'm sure I am the only person in this fandom who would latch on to an image of a DOORKNOB, which stood out to me because why would someone living in the 1800s. In a hut. Draw this.
The first instance of a doorknob was seen in 1878. YES I LOOKED THAT UP. Let's see, when was the town said to have been founded? 1824? Oh, and that's after the Hatchetmen killed Willabella? HMM.
Anyways, doorknob side tangent aside...
Right. The outro.
I said I'd touch on it lightly so you better believe I will. The one main thing I want to use in this theory is the line:
No doubt if I drop dead
You’d find me tangled up
In the web I spin for you
Look. The whole point of Witch in the Web (And Perky's Buds) is to reveal that Willabella's soul was trapped in a web. After she died.
I uh. I don't really need to say more here.
Web I Spin for You works the best when it's Willabella as the singer and Webby as the person she is singing about. Yes. I know it's a hard hurdle to get over when we see Webby singing the song. It drives me crazy too. I often work on these theories with a friend of mine and I have not been successful in convincing them over the hurdle of removing Webby from the perspective of the singer.
And I don't blame them.
There was a reason I ran down the other options as well. Like I said before, The Lords in Black do work. I'm fudging in just as much information for them to work as I do for Willabella. In fact, I really like seeing the song as being about the Lords in Black.
The problem, to me, is that the individual lyrics fit the best when they get applied to Willabella. The mortality, the cruelty. The song being about the two opposing forces we see in the episode itself feels like it fits with how the opening song fit into the episode as well. And speaking of the opening song...
This episode has already shown us that seeing a person sing and the perspective of the song can be two different things.
The Conclusion
Alright. So as I've said, the lyrics of Web I Spin will be my largest source of evidence for my theory, but it's not the only thing that gives this theory legs. I hinted at the deeper ties to the rest of this series this theory has in both the lyric breakdown and occasionally in Part 1. For the sake of tying this essay together though, we'll cover everything else from the episode in detail.
We already know that Webby seems tied to the Fosters because not only does Hannah see her (which is insanely unique in and of itself) but Lex does too. Why wouldn't Willabella be the same? If Hannah is 'just like her' and is her own blood, then it becomes a much smaller stretch to think that Willabella would be same. Able to see Webby where most people don't.
We can even take this idea and run with it further.
Lex and Hannah have powers, yes, but as far as we know they never cast a spell or summoned Webby. Lex literally just believed she was her imaginary friend. However, in almost every instance we see and hear from the Lords in Black they need to be summoned. Hell, Wiggly's plan in Black Friday was to be birthed into our world so he could do what he wanted when he wanted. We know they need to be summoned to help the kids in Nerdy Prudes. We know the Black Book contains the rituals and spells to summon them.
If seeing Webby is a bloodline 'power', it would give further credit to the fact that Willabella would've seen Webby first. Before she stumbled into whatever allowed her to learn about The Lords in Black.
In the last part, I brought focus to the culmination of Willabella's illusion in Hannah's mind. Where, despite every single part of the witch's plan relying on the idea that Hannah forget about Webby entirely, she shows her hand just to bitterly insult the goddess. This is a blunder that makes little sense until you look at the words she uses:
"Who told you that? That nasty little spider you think is your friend? …. Well we've already established that she's a lying little turd."
A couple of things here. Last time I was wondering what purpose the echo was for Pam's words earlier (She's a lying little turd). I believe it's less to intimidate Hannah and more an attempt, in writing, to reinforce that the bloodline is on Pam's side. Not only that but it connects both Hannah and Webby to each other. In Willabella and Pam's eyes, Webby and Hannah are the liars and they never did anything wrong.
(God the writing in this episode is so tight. I love it so much.)
Secondly, the part that always jumps out at me personally is Willabella saying Hannah only thinks Webby is her friend. Again, every single decision Willabella has made until now has been attempting to scare Hannah into backing down and luring her into forgetting that Webby ever existed. But instead of sealing her success, she suddenly affirms to Hannah that Webby's real.
Everything she has shown Hannah up to this moment were events that actually happened. And we know they are true because both the Tree People and Miss Holloway affirm at different points in the episode that these are things that happened. So... if Willabella hasn't needed to lie yet to scare her, why start now? If she tells Hannah that she only thinks Webby is her friend...
Why wouldn't that also just be another instance of Willabella drawing on her own life's experience?
Let's take a look at the beginning of the episode and actually go through a few lyrics from Witch in the Web (the song). Several of the verses are warnings for Hannah, but at the end of the song, we do get reveals to Webby's relation to the witch.
And my golly is it interesting.
The witch in the web is ancient
That means I know her well
Oh. Oh you know her well do you Webby? It's a good rhyme, a small point that could be turned in favor my theory, but it's in the next verse that I find alot more interesting.
She certainly tests my patience
From her black and white cell
I could throw away the keys now
But that's no me, oh no
You see a witch is a witch for a reason
Until you let her go
In the last part, this section drove me crazy (It still does). I brought up several problems I had with it with my biggest problem being:
Why doesn't Webby throw away the key?! If she has the ability to make sure Willabella can never return, why doesn't she? And what does the last lyric even mean? All the other times the pattern has been stated it has been with advice for Hannah:
But a witch is a witch
If you allow her
To have power over you
A witch becomes a coward
When you remember who you are
Then.
A witch is a witch for a reason
Until you let her go.
Hear me out. What if, the reason Webby kept Willabella trapped for so long, without getting rid of her like we know she's capable, like she's admitted she's capable of, is because Webby knows exactly why she's turned into the person she is.
I mean, she does admit to knowing Willabella well. Which could be explained by the fact that Webby's been around a long time. That she's familiar with the witch due to the web she's spun to keep her in place. But think again to the lyrics and the breakdown we just went through.
If my theory is right, and Willabella is singing about her loyalty changing from Webby to the Lords in Black, then yeah Webby would know her well. And since we know that there was love and care in their relationship before, then it would be yet another reason why Webby might have been reluctant to fully abandon the idea that Willabella isn't worth saving.
I sort of have nothing left to really point out as an AHA, but if you've made it this far then you do have my thanks.
I like to joke and josh about this being some sort of mentally taxing drain on my sanity, but it's really not. This is a lot of fun to me. I view the lore of this series as a puzzle with missing pieces. There are gaps that are unsolvable at this time, but with the Glam announcement and the fact that the Langs confirmed that Glam's first draft was done by the time Witch in the Web was starting to be written, I don't think it's improbable that there are hints to what those missing pieces are.
*cough cough*
The theater girls are the fucking Pentagrams and you can NOT tell me otherwise.
*cough cough*
I said it at the top, but I do want to say it again, I'm in this for the looking too deep game. I also find it a little disheartening to tune in to the livestreams and see Matt and Nick's belief that some of the smaller touches of their writing and lore will go unnoticed when compared to the characters and the actors and the visuals themselves. So until the day comes that they give us all the answers, I'll be here, thinking about this fun little world in the back of my head, twisting the pieces we have right now until I get an idea of how this section of the puzzle will end up looking like in the end.
hello to anyone & everyone interested in my HATCHETFIELD MAP!
i’ve mentioned before that i have a plan for the full video, but it will take a while to do the animatic..
HOWEVER, i’ve realized there’s a good amount of people in MAPs who don’t always want an animatic—they want an idea and then creative freedom for their animation
so here is the majority of Suburbia Overture with my animation ideas/plans over it, and animatics in the parts where I’ve already made them.
(its… very informal as you can see)
ADDITIONALLY,
I have made a discord server, and here is the link to a google form you can fill out to join!!
hi!! I am starting a big project and i need as many people to join as possible!
the animatic for this MAP (multiple animator project) is n
(if you’ve reblogged with interest I already have your name listed and can personally message you!)
I don’t know if people prefer animatics or creative freedom, but I’m going to have a mix of both and whatever sections don’t get chosen I’ll continue working on animatics for :]
thank you to everyone who has shown interest or support!!! i seriously appreciate it and im so excited for this project :D
pretty please consider joining my silly hatchetfield animation project!!! :D
i’ve noticed a severe lack of MAPs (Multiple Animator Projects) for hatchetfield despite the amount of animatics i’ve seen, and realized I probably couldn’t just wait for someone else to start one… so here i am!
(this is NOT an OFFICIAL map call. The song is chosen and parts are planned but the animatic is not finished at all :/)
This post is me begging on my hands and knees PLEASE CONSIDER HELPING / JOINING when its released!!!! i am so so so scared i will spend a crazy amount of time on the animatic and then only like two people will be willing to join :(
by interacting or responding with this you are not obligated to join by any means, but if you’re at least interested enough to want to see the ANIMATIC, please consider showing your support!!
im happy to give more details if anyone actually wants it :]
i love hatchetfield so so much i really want to have a cool animation / animatic that features all sorts of fun hatchetfield details but i just cannot pull this off on my own..
- WitW/Killer Track/Yellow Jacket are all the SAME timeline. (And possibly the original timeline. And likely will connect to Miss Holloween and Orbweaver.)
- Willabella Mukwab worshipped Webby before turning to The Lords in Black. (Part 2 of the Webby Analysis)
Theories/Posts I'd LIKE to Start/Finish By Miss Holloween
- The masterpost of my Hatchetfield theories and analysis that I've promised so many times...
- My friend's theory that really really scares me. (Involving the Foster Sisters, Holloway, and just what might happen in Orbweaver. Very speculative, but it's feeling more and more real after the latest livestream)
- Everything we know about the Black Blade. (A very short list.)
- The Lords in Black and the curious fact of how they seemingly re-emerge every 100 years. (We're talking Willabella, Waylons, Grace.)
(If anyone sees this and remembers me saying I'd do a theory/you're waiting on or wanting my thoughts on something involving Hatchetfield lore or characters, send me an ask. I am both very forgetful and WANT to yap.)
Of course I'm going to Hatchetfield theorize, but I need everyone interested in Starkid at all to go and support Tomb Quest however best you can. Cinderella's Castle was GORGEOUS. I need that level of budget to continue to be given to the talent at Starkid for all their shows. Hatchetfield or otherwise.
But anyways. The lore calls. Specifically, Witch in the Web lore.
I know they already referenced Witch in the Web in regards to the hints for Glam that were revealed...
Except.
The entire time I watched I kept waiting for them to mention the girls in the theater. Or... rather, the thing in the theater.
"Three emaciated forms welded together dragging themselves along with six boney arms. Three hungry mouths cry out eternally."
"What are they?"
"Three girls I couldn't save."
Now we have 2 groups of girls from Holloway's past. We have the Starlets from Glam's original band, and then we have the Pentagrams. The question is, which group do these girls belong to? The Langs have confirmed that they had a draft of Glam done by the time they wrote WitW. So while it's not confirmed fully, I'm pretty confident that these girls are from the upcoming musical.
Just like the references to her music career, just like the fan in the forest.
At first, I was leaning more towards the Theater Thing being the girls involved in the car crash. The Starlets. (After all, we already know some fucked up things can happen during car crashes in Hatchetfield...) Their bodies are absolutely disformed, Holloway literally admits to Hannah that she couldn't save them.
But... Wilbur Cross, back from the dead, he calls out to the girls. Calls out to the monster they've become. But he doesn't just address them, he commands them.
The man looks to the three-mouthed monster.
"What're you waiting for? Go get her."
The thing lunges forward and bolts for Hannah.
Between that, the fact they are in Holloway's nightmare time at all, and the hints we got in the livestream today. We know the Pentagrams were likely messing with the Black Book. The Logo for the musical itself is meant to be THE symbol on the Black Book. Cross had alot of power over Wiggly's domain in Black Friday, so I think it's reasonable to assume he would be able to command other things twisted by the Lords in Black too.
I guess what I'm saying is that, I think we've already actually met the Pentagrams.
And I think we've already learned exactly what happens to them.
It's Halloween in Hatchetfield. Lex Foster was prepared for just another boring night, taking Hannah out and hitting up every rich house and party in town. What she wasn't prepared for was running into Alice Woodward, and was even more surprised when Hatchetfield's perfect princess agreed to join her for some classic season traditions. After all, for every treat it's only right to pull some tricks. When a dumb stunt goes terribly wrong however, the night turns into far more than EITHER of them expected. Willabella Mukwab, the Mudwitch of Witchwoods, has returned to walk the earth for just one night. Stealing Lex's shadow and setting her eyes on her sister, it's up to Alice, Lex and Hannah to stop her and the entities she works with before the sun rises and her evil spreads.
My Hocus Pocus inspired Hatchetfield story is here! Updates are every other Thursday until we get through Alice and Lex’s night from hell!
The Caliwood Agenda continues. Hope you come along for the ride! :3
favorite color: purple!! any kind of purple i love purple
last song: Room To Breathe - Low Hum
reading: so many fanfics. wait im gonna count how many tabs i have open of fics in gonna read lol. 17. my goodness LOL. also the idw comics! im on 46 at the moment! ooo and i need to get my hands on wof book 16..
watching: uhh not really anything (just youtube videos as background noise lol) but i have been wanting to rewatch sonic prime!
tea or coffee: tea, but only herbal, non caffeinated. but honestly? water
Last song: Sea Bottom Seque from Sonic Lost World (I had my Sonic playlist on while drawing hehe). I wanna share my last non-sonic related song too which was Golden Brown - The Stranglers slowed and reverbed
Reading: in my fanfiction era and I have so many tabs open that I don’t even wanna try counting them it’s a diabolical amount😭. In terms of a physical book (which I haven’t touched in like a year cause y’know fanfiction) Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead
Watching: I’ve been doing more reading lately, but I’m usually rewatching stuff if I’m not. And I’m rewatching a lot of shows now that I think about it😭. Let me see there’s Adventure Time, Shameless, mlp friendship is magic, and I’ll add a new show I’m watching too: Invincible season 4 (only seen the first episode so far so no spoilers)
Tea or Coffee: I prefer coffee, but I very rarely ever drink it. Not a huge fan of how it makes me feel. I think it makes me talk a lot (…well more than I already do) with that caffeine
Favourite colour: I really love stormy blues and foresty greens
Last Song: Apotos-Night from the Sonic Unleashed ost, it’s part of my sleepy playlist. Last song not from a game ost was Merry Mephisto by Waitress
Reading: I’ve also been reading a lot of fanfics, currently re-reading tethered at the wrist (Nebrasska) while waiting for updates on other fics. As for physical books I’m currently reading unmasking autism, but it’s been a while since I’ve picked it up
Watching: I tend to watch yt in the background while I’m doing stuff, but last couple things I watched was Ponyo and Totoro
Tea or Coffee: but I love them both! Tea of choice is peppermint or masala tea and coffee of choice is iced mocha. I guess I might lean a little more towards coffee?…. (Shhh don’t tell tea)
This was fun! I kind a lurk more on here and am a bit shy about chatting with people, but I’m always happy when I see a notification from my mutuals, I hope everyone’s well ^^
Currently Craving: Jalapeño Chicken Pockets from Starbucks...
Coffee or Tea: I like both and will drink both, though I lean more towards coffee (that's just cause I basically live next to Starbucks that's more known for coffee-)
@humble-introvert0808 @chaotic-olm @ametalsonic @monkeyqueen2012 @agent-sunshine-the-sonic-fan @weirdocat83 + open tag!
Favorite Color: Blue, if we want to go specific, Cerulean Blue
Last Song: Five Stars by Faceless Strangers
Currently Reading: Ok... so does an umbrella manual for my job count? To be fair, it is really dense, considering I have not yet found how to even turn the damn thing.
For Real Currently Reading: I Think That God Is Dead
(Hatchetfield followers, if you haven't already checked out The_lazy_eye's work, what are you doing??)
Currently Watching: Recently got started with the X-Files, got me cheering for a straight couple for the first time in years smh.
Currently Craving: a vacation, but like... just going camping and only taking my cat and my laptop to write.
Coffee or Tea: Hot chocolate. My caffeine comes from a morning Monster Energy Drink.
No pressure tagging: @thelazyeye @casualegggie @aaaaaaafrogs
Fuck. Fuck. These two won't just leave me be. And neither can this new idea.
Anyways have childhood friends who grew apart, Lex and Alice Caliwood fluff, because I can't just write a normal outline to save my life apparently.
"I uh," Alice started quietly, still staring ahead as Lex looked over to her. "It's just now hitting me that you have a sister. And... she's like... already a whole person and everything."
Lex smiled, her eyes going back at Hannah as her sister laughed. Logically she knew Hannah hadn't been around back when her and Alice would run around together, but it still didn't feel possible. It didn't feel right that there ever existed a time in Lex's life when she didn't have her sister.
But the memories were still there. They were still there with sun-warmed edges, glowing in the September setting sun. Still there with Alice's laugh. The one she used to give so freely.
"Yeah..." A hollow admission.
What more did she want her to say?
"It really has been that long."
Alice's voice was quiet. A whisper. A regret. Lex felt her own eyes begin to burn, blaming it on the wind that was completely nonexistent around them.
"Careful, princess. You and I both know we aren't the same people we were back then." Lex warned lowly, feeling her chest tighten, knowing it didn't stop her from wishing they were.
Alice was quiet, the world was quiet, Hannah talking quietly with Webby in the distance before-
A warm weight crashed into her lap as Lex found herself staring down into warm green eyes, shining just slightly in the glow from the moonlight. There was a small smile on Alice's perfect lips.
"So what?" Alice asked. "What if we just pretend we are? Just for tonight? You were always going on about how great of an actor you'd be."
Almost naturally, Lex's hand lifted to run through Alice's waves, her hair every bit as soft as it was back then. Alice closed her eyes, the smile growing wider. Softer. She let loose a content sigh as Lex could only stare down at her. Stare down at the person she used to call her best friend. Stare down at the stranger she had become. The stranger with familiar eyes. With a familiar voice.
"I've missed you, Lexi." Alice whispered, like not a year had passed between them.
So. The above passage was written literally a day after I had the very vaguest idea for this story. There was no outline. No drafting. No idea for a beginning, middle or end. Soooo...
I thought it would be fun to post where this scene is now.
When I post that I'm rewriting things, this is about the level to which I'm genuinely rewriting scenes.
"I uh," Alice spoke quietly, as if she was afraid to break the silence, "I guess it's just now hitting me that you have a sister."
Lex snorted. "You've been hanging out with her all night."
"I know." The response came quick. "But it's weird. She's like, already a whole person."
"Yeah..." Lex's voice trailed from any answer she could come up with.
Staring at her sister, laughing and playing with Webby the way Lex used to when she was younger put something heavy on her shoulders. Logically she knew Hannah hadn't been around back when her and Alice would run around together, but it didn't feel possible. It didn't feel right that there ever existed a time in Lex's life where she didn't have her sister. The memories were distant, but the night had proven that they were still there. Their edges that Lex would've sworn would always remain jagged and sharp now felt soft. They felt warm, like the afternoon sun on a summer day. Stored with the memory of Alice's laugh, the one she used to give a lot more freely.
"It really has been that long." Alice whispered.
It was in the regret in her voice that Lex finally found her answer from earlier. The question Alice had asked her at the start of the night.
Why did you ask?
"It doesn't feel like it."
Alice turned to look at her, studying her face, searching for what the words were supposed to mean. Whatever she found there must've put her at ease as Lex watched a small smile grow on her face. Watched as the shoulders that were always so tense, dropped. After a moment, a warm weight crashed into her lap as Lex found herself staring down into green eyes, shining in the glow of the moonlight.
Almost naturally, Lex's hand lifted to run through Alice's waves, her hair every bit as soft as it was back then. Those eyes closed, content for the moment in getting lost in the familiar peace. Lex could only stare down at her, any words or tease she may have once had getting stuck in her throat. She stared down at the person she used to call her best friend, stared down at the stranger she had become over the years. The stranger who had familiar eyes, a familiar voice. The one who laid in her lap as if those years had never passed.
"Even though tonight has sucked," Alice admitted softly, her eyes still closed, letting Lex get away with staring at the sight a little longer. "I'm weirdly glad you opened that stupid book."
"Easy for you to say," Lex rolled her eyes. "you're not the one who's gotten beat the hell up."
