A Critical Look at the "Empress Luz" Premise (and what writers might want to keep in mind)
Considering I've spent years thinking, conceptualizing, writing, re-writing, and workshopping Ruler's Reach, I figure I'm rather qualified to address the subject of an "Empress Luz" AU at this point, and how I've seen it play out in fandom writings over the years.
I won't be going over how it's done in Swap AUs here because I think that is a fundamentally flawed premise to begin with. This will be going over the more usual alternative of Luz simply being taken in by Belos rather than Eda when she arrives on the Boiling Isles, of which there are generally two different varieties from what I've seen:
She arrives at the same time she does in canon but in the Emperor's castle instead of the Owl shack for whatever reason.
She arrives when she is much younger and is raised by Belos over the years.
This is gonna be part concept analysis as well as a show and character analysis to sort of express my thoughts on the matter, criteria of what I think can make this concept work (and a lot of stuff that doesn't) and just a general guideline for anyone who might be interested in exploring this sort of premise in their own art or writing.
(Lots of yapping and analysis below)
So first thing's first, the usual trend across Empress Luz AUs is that Luz is turned into a ruthless dictator, effectively just a Belos clone. There may be some differences, like her wanting to wipe out humanity instead of witches for some contrived reason, but the gist is the same. An oppressive tyrant who carries out terrible deeds in the name of staying in power and carrying out whatever nebulous goal the AU writer decided to give her. Does this sort of scenario make sense?
Like, sorry, but there ain't really any other way to put it: Trying to turn Luz as we know her into an actual, proper villain is just not really something that works. Let's first start off with the issue of practicality, and that's the fact that a Luz who starts out basically as her canon self is just gonna have too strong of a moral compass to genuinely fall towards some truly villainous path, especially one that is adjacent to what Belos does.
Now a better shot at making this viable is of course the "she came to the Isles when she was younger" route which would have given Belos several years to indoctrinate her at a more formative age. But even then, I doubt that scenario would be likely to put her on the path to being a genuine villain. Hunter is pretty good proof of this, and that's not even discussing the other grimwalkers, of which a good amount probably betrayed Belos after finding out the true depths of his villainy (Some might have betrayed him for more selfish reasons of course)
If Belos can't get the literal lab-grown copies of his brother that he had 400 years to practice manipulation tactics on and basically has full information control over to ever stick by his side, then I highly doubt he'd ever be able to brainwash Luz to such an extreme extent to follow his ideology. Literally the only way this is viable is if Belos raised Luz all the way from infancy, but at that point you basically would have created a completely new character with nothing that actually makes Luz, well Luz. And even then, I have my doubts he'd be able to pull it off.
And also, the idea of Luz enjoying the idea of being some oppressive dictator? Luz, the same person who grows riddled with guilt over her perceived mistakes and actions to the point of going into a catastrophic depressive spiral to the point she wished she never existed? That Luz? Frankly I think the idea of Luz ever enjoying being in a position similar to Belos would sicken her. The idea of being handed the title of ruler would make her uncomfortable at best and miserable at worst.
The second part is of course the themes of the show. As much as you'll see people try to draw narrative similarities between Luz and Belos, the truth of the matter is that whenever the show addresses Luz and Belos in relation to one another, it's to emphasize how Luz is nothing like Belos. Outside of being humans who use glyph magic (acquired through very different goals and means BTW) and wearing the jacket of someone they considered family for a time, an entire ocean of differences separate one from the other. Any similarities the two are claimed to have is entirely a product of Luz's self-loathing of Belos' obsession and projection rather than actual story-telling devices cluing us in. Luz is told multiple times by multiple characters that she isn't like Belos or as bad as him no matter how much she thinks herself as a villain. The entire point of the nightmare sequence in Watching and Dreaming was this perception Luz had of herself, a perception that isn't rooted in reality.
And finally, I hope we're all on the same page from my previous post on this topic that trying to shove the bisexual neurodivergent afro-latina protagonist that has been wronged by a system of bigotry and oppression so that she can fill the same antagonist role and act like the genocidal white colonizer who's entire deal is creating a system of bigotry and oppression is just not a good look y'all. I get people have the temptation to make the hero follow in the dark footsteps of the villain, but when the hero and villain are so explicitly meant to be based off real people and events, the whole idea just completely falls apart.
So in conclusion, this is the first thing we need to take into account when thinking about an Empress Luz AU: That Luz is a genuinely good person.
However, there is also another aspect to take into account that just because Luz is a good person doesn't mean her being the ruler of the Boiling Isles should be framed as the solution to everyone's problems. Because the show makes it abundantly clear just how cruel and broken the whole system inherently is. The government Belos created was built around the ultimate goal of committing genocide. It doesn't matter if the next person who takes charge is the most kind-hearted person you could ever hope to find, that whole thing.
Cause in TOH, there is no "true heir" set up by the show to replace Belos when this is all said and done, as you will sometimes seen in a lot of these stories. The idea of the "one true ruler", either deemed so by their birthright or by their character, who will topple the dark lord and rule through peace and prosperity. But while TOH does have characters that could fall into either category (like King or Luz), it does not frame it as such. After Belos is defeated, the seemingly "destined" heroes live out normal lives.
There's a reason after defeating Belos, the show implies a much more representative and more democratic council of a government has been established on the Isles at this point, as indicated seemingly by what appears to be Titan skull pendants on Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf in the Epilogue.
So it's pretty clear me that the show is saying "dictatorship = bad" and it's better to just dismantle or heavily reform the whole system into something brand new, representative, and just than just try to put a nice autocrat in place and just hope things go well from there.
So that's the second point that needs to be considered: The entire point of Belos' empire is flawed and must be extinguished one way or another.
The other thing I will sometimes see with Empress Luz AUs is this sort of take to make Luz a "misguided ruler". The idea she means well and wants to do good, but sometimes doesn't know how and causes more harm than good. This is usually the result of something like some leftover indoctrination on Belos' end or perhaps her own guilt, I've seen it done a number of ways. I do think this can work, but in moderation and up to a point. Luz does have a habit in the show (mainly early on) to sometimes grow overconfident with her plans and unintentionally causing issues for others, and sometimes not really thinking her plans through.
However, when other characters point this out, Luz is pretty quick to realize what she did wrong and try to make up for it. So the idea of Luz having this perception that she has a good plan to rule as Empress which leads to some mistakes and issues is something I can see. However, I do not think it's something that would be a running issue, and Luz would realize her faults and how to correct them. Now perhaps an Empress Luz might be less willing to budge than Canon Luz due to either some level of indoctrination or guilt, but nonetheless I don't see this being a longstanding issue. So that leaves us to our third point: That Luz has the awareness to realize the empire is bad, either from the start or something she learns later on
If anything, Hunter fits the bill of a misguided ruler better than Luz could in this scenario. We know he's a good person who genuinely means well, but we see just how in-denial he can be with stuff regarding Belos and the empire's true motives due to the extent of Belos' indoctrination. We see this pretty clearly in Hollow Mind where he is willing to call himself an idiot on a topic he claims he knows a lot about (mindscapes) to keep holding on to the idea that everything Belos does has a good reason behind it, something that only breaks after the reveal of Belos' endgame and how little the Emperor truly thinks of him and "their family". So it'd be a lot harder for him to open his mind to the thought that maybe the way he is governing is flawed until that sort of traumatic revelation is made evident in the story. That being said, I don't think Hunter would be a true villain either though.
So in the end, the crux of the whole premise comes down to these three points reiterated.
Luz is an empathetic, kind, and understanding person who genuinely wants to do good and does do good.
The empire is an inherently bad system that needs to be dismantled eventually, no matter if the person in charge is a genuinely good person.
Luz has the awareness to understand that second point, either something she has from the very start or gains later on in the story.
Even with those "limitations", there's still a lot you can do with this premise that remains faithful to the show while still conveying a personal twist to the story that you wish. Already I can think of a number of different ways you can make an Empress Luz story while sticking to those general principles. Perhaps a scenario where Luz and Hunter are on the same page with running the empire but Luz grows out of this mindset and the two grow at odds with one another? Perhaps a scenario where a jaded Luz closer to her S3 personality decides to take the reigns of the empire by force and dismantle it brutally from the inside as she takes out the regime while simultaneously being an arbiter of good. Or perhaps she has no choice in the matter at all, forced to wear the crown through some external force. The possibilities are many and frankly quite varied!
So...yeah. Dang that was a lot to cover. But those were my general thoughts on the concept as a whole that I've had on my mind for a long while. Now I've managed to actually articulate them into words for others to see. Hopefully this should be some food for thought for any writers or artists who want to do explore this concept and do justice by the show.
I do think there is some merit to this concept from a legitimate perspective rooted in the themes of the show and characters. Because what could be a more explicitly direct way to showcase just how unlike Luz is from Belos than putting her in his position and watch just how radically different she is? Thanks for coming to my midnight-era ted-talk. Hope it was worth the read!
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