can we discuss how freaking smart luz is?? i feel like we don’t give her enough credit for how clever she is.
she figured out glyphs, and how to use them efficiently.
she’s tricked multiple people on multiple occasions, or just outright outsmarted them
this girl is so efficient too, no magic? fire works. no paper? scuff your shoe against the ground, or use leaves. no way out of a not great situation? talk your way out of it.
and OH can i go on about luz talking her way out of stuff?? namely with belos. she was able to hold off his murder attempt long enough to come up with a plan.
on that subject, she knows how to use somebody’s weaknesses, like when she fought eda, know she was weak to light, or with hunter, taking his staff (even if that is just a good move to begin with)
not only that, but she was able to realize that amity wasn’t amity from one book quote, then connect the dots from there
and her skills?? luz is bilingual, learned 3 book dialects, knows how to taxidermy, is good at art, might be able to do cheer stuff, and can keep up with the tracks and takes at hexide, despite starting late. she takes in information so fast it’s insane
in conclusion, luz is a silly goose, but is smart af.
To me, the Owl House fandom feels that it's grown far too focused on lumity ans Amity and misses out on Luz as a character.
So I'm going to do something to fix that. Or at least get more Luz stuff made. I give members of the Fandom here this challenge:
Before the Owl Hosue season 3 premiere (or after, I'm not pickey) reblog this post with a headcanon you have about Luz. But it can't involve Lumity or Amity or shipping of any kind. It has to be about Luz and Luz alone. It can be angsty, happy, funny, I don't care. But it has to be a Luz headcanon.
I decided to rewatch the echo mouse scene in Through the Looking Glass Ruins, and I think we need to appreciate how Luz's day went in that episode...
1: After your mentor's mysterious mother told you a vague fact about the only other known human to live on the Boiling Isles, you start walking to the library to try to find out more about him
2: On the way there, a wild demon gets captured by some random kids. While your friend Gus talks to them, you hold your breath to go invisible for as long as possible because you fear being awkward in social situations, but you have to reappear and interrupt their conversation anyway once you can't hold it any longer and almost pass out
3: You go to spy on your crush. She has her hair down which you've never seen before, then her wild siblings pop out of nowhere to tease you a bit because they totally know about your newfound feelings for her
4: Then your crush suddenly pops up too, and you're awkward around her because of obvious reasons
5: You go with her to the area of the library that literally no one except the giant bird demon is allowed to be inside. You sneak around in there where it's dark, dusty, and swarming with rats and bugs while avoiding being seen by him, or else you won't find the book you need, and your good friend Amity will lose her job that you promised her she would keep
6: You find the diary, but the contents have been eaten by a rat. Your only hope of getting home is now lost, this adventure in the forbidden section of the library was all for nothing
7: You get caught
8: You're having what might be the worst moment in your life as you try to apologise to Amity for involving her with your problems, when she cuts you off so you can't even finish, then says she wishes she didn't do stupid things because of you, all the while you're having a mental breakdown. She leaves shortly after because presumably she doesn't want to be friends or have anything more to do with you after this
9: You decide to get Amity her library job back via any means necessary. Those means turn out to be going through a series of gruelling and dangerous tasks that beat you up about as much as the Abomiton 2.0 did that one time, which almost killed you
10: You have to go to Amity's house and actually talk to her to give the card back, which you end up attempting but extremly nervously because as far as you're concerned, you just broke a promise, ruined her life, and a friendship, so you're fully expecting her to just take the card back and then tell you to get out of her sight and that she never wants to see you again
11: It turns out that she dyed her hair :o This is shocking enough to completly distract you from your apology speech
12: The mouse is apparently a magic mouse that starts playing a movie about the first journal entry by the human guy, giving you fascinating info about his life, and renewed hope that you can actually get home after all
13: Amity seemingly not only accepts your apology but decides to kiss you on the cheek while you're looking at the mouse, which is completly surprising because you had absolutely no idea she felt that way about you, and the thought of that possibility was the furtherest from your mind at that moment because today you literally made her get fired from one of her favourite places
14: You lose control of your limbs for the next 20 minutes, because a) you're immensely tired from Malphas' trials, b) you walked all the way from the Owl House, to the Gus House, to the library, to Blight Manor today, and c) obvious reasons
15: Amity's brother comes out to go on his date and teases you for still sitting there outside their house all this time
seriously, Luz knowing about the crush but giving Amity the space to tell her about her crush on her own time is!!! seriously!! so good!
not only is it like 100% the kind of sweetness we can expect from Luz, it would just be an amazing flip on tropes and a good example of respecting people's boundaries, this is my favorite headcanon so far yall
tw reference to death, reference to past abusive relationships
Luz’s King-ceanera is an event marked with cheer and laughter, with her mother freaking out over the blinking eyeballs floating through the punch and the numerous birthday kisses from Amity.
They party through the night and until the break of day, people coming in and out the doors of the Owl House throughout the event. Some of them end up leaving by the end but most find themselves collapsed in a heap in the living room, snoozing and whispering in hushed tones.
That’s where Luz finds the note.
She feels a sharp point peeking out of her jean pocket and thumbs the worn paper. She pulls it out and finds a folded up white square reading, To Luz.
A hazy memory bubbles to the surface: Amity, laughing with the brunette near the punch bowl, Styrofoam cup in hand, confetti dusted in her lilac hair. Gus passes by them quickly, handing Luz a paper square on his way to the pinata. “For later,” he whispers into her ear before shooting her finger guns and walking off. The girl just shrugged and shoved it into her pocket.
Now, she fingers the scratchy scrawl of Eda’s handwriting before gently unfolding the square, laying the large sheet out in front of her.
Happy birthday, kid! Eda’s handwriting once again. Can’t believe it’s been four years. Seems like just yesterday you were stumbling out of the Human Realm all confused and nearly getting yourself killed ten times over. But, it wasn’t. It wasn’t yesterday. Yesterday I wasn’t some lone, stuffy old witch pushing away the people who loved me out of fear. I wasn’t someone on the run from the law, living everyday like it could be my last- because it could. Living everyday wasting away on the edge of Bonesborough, not caring that there could be no tomorrow. And that’s because of you.
You shoved your way into my life like the world’s most stubborn lunatic and begged me to be your mentor. And for some harebrained reason, I said yes. I took you in and you turned my entire world upside down. You got me to confront my past, my curse, my sister. You nearly destroyed my house several times over with all your shenanigans, and put us all in danger more times than I can count. And now, look what I’m left with: an armful of friends, a rekindled connection with my family, an actual relationship with my house demon, an ex-lover-turned-spouse, a bunch of pesky students, and you, Luz.
You’re the greatest gift I’ve ever received, kid. You taught me how to stop running and face life’s difficulties head on. And I couldn’t think of anything that could come close to meaning as much to you except, well, maybe this. Okay, King’s telling me to hurry it along now, so I’ll leave you with this: happy eighteenth birthday, Luz! Have fun studying your butt off at magic school! No, seriously. Have fun, kid. You’ve more than earned it.
A space, a different font- still scrawled but somewhat neater.
“You are somebody. And I love that somebody very much.” That’s what you told me when I had that identity crisis over not being the King of Demons. I think about it a lot. You couldn’t promise me my stories were true. You couldn’t promise me I was who I thought I was. You promised me that I was still somebody. You promised me that I was still somebody to you. I think the response says a lot about you.
You care so much, Luz. It’s your first instinct. Your first instinct is to reach your hand out to other people, friends, foes, family, regardless of what you feel. You and Hooty helped me get through my hurt on Titan Trapper Island. You pushed aside your own pain to help me get through mine. You spent so many years helping us rebuild the Isles. I wanna be that person for you, at least for today. I wanna be the person who takes care of your worries, and takes care of you for one day, instead of the other way around. This was one of the things I came up with. Lots of birthday kisses, your brother, King.
A familiar writing style. One she recognizes from passed notes during class.
Hey, Luz! Happy birthday, girl! Can’t wait to finally chat without either of us being distracted by schoolwork! <3
Before you stepped through the portal, I was Half a Witch Willow. People looked down on me. Amity didn’t let me breathe in peace. And then you came along, and pretended to be my Abomination. You invited Gus and I to a Moonlight Conjuring when we got overlooked. You defended me against Boscha at the risk of your own safety. And now no one would dare call me Half a Witch.
And it’s not that you changed me, Luz. Fundamentally, I’m still the same person. It’s that you changed my perception of me. You helped me believe in myself, believe I was worth all this trouble, and it made all the difference. A lot more than I can hope to express. Vee told me your name means light in Spanish. And I think it’s accurate. You’re our shining star, Luz. Thank you for all that you’ve done for us.
A different handwriting. The same memory.
Merry birthday, Luz! Or is it “jolly birthday?” I dunno, between this and the class I have to teach, your human traditions are all kinda gettin’ jumbled up in my brain at this point. I’m getting a little sidetracked here.
The thing I love most about you is your silliness.
Your easy sense of humor and inability to not quote Vines and your insistence on dabbing ten times a day long after the custom went out of trend.
You’re silly but you’re also fierce!
You dab and quote Vines and also found an entirely new way to learn magic, took on Belos several times, merged with the Titan, and brought down the Coven System in less than a year!
You’re an icon, girl!
As someone who’s spent his whole life worried people look down on him for being younger, more naive, you remind me that it’s possible to be a powerful witch and embrace my silly at the same time.
Love you, Luz. Happy birthday!
Beautiful cursive, with intricate loops and the i’s dotted with little hearts in a way that made Luz’s heart swell with affection every time she saw them.
Luz,
before you walked into my life, it was a one-way path. I did as I was told, I looked down on the people I was supposed to. My future was with the Emperor’s Coven. I followed my parents orders to a t. That all changed when I met you.
You’ve never been deterred by any box they put you in, and you helped me break through mine. The first time we got along, you apologized for what happened at the Witch’s Duel and then showed me how you did your light glyph. It didn’t seem like it should be a big thing but it was. Because just like that, you had changed a fundamental law of the universe- humans couldn’t do magic. It was just how the world worked. And in two minutes, you completely shattered my worldview. And then you just kept doing it. You can only take one track at Hexside. The Emperor’s Coven is the best and only way to do things. There was no escaping my mother, and what she wanted my life to look like.
When I was with you, I was thinking things I had never thought before, and feeling things I never used to feel. And at first, I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing (good; it was a good thing). But you didn’t just help me change my perspective, you helped the entire Boiling Isles. And before I met you, I never dreamed of a future- one without the Coven system and that accepts people of all magical abilities- doing what I wanted, reconnecting with Willow, having a fairly close relationship with my dads and snagging an amazing girlfriend ;)
I love you, sweetheart. Happy eighteenth birthday, Luz.
Still cursive, but a more relaxed, leisurely, like the writer had stopped worrying so much about perfection over the years.
Luz,
I think a lot about what might have happened to me if you didn’t zap us into Belos’ mind. I would have still been taking orders from him, and then… who knows.
I know you tell me not to get too caught up on it. But it’s true. If you hadn’t stopped me, I would have continued helping Belos destroy the Boiling Isles without question. And then, maybe I’d end up one of those piles of bones he had in the back room of the castle. He’d get rid of me, no regrets, and after all that, I’d still think he cared. Somehow. In some way. I’d still think I meant something to him.
Thank you for taking the first step in pulling me out of that situation. Thank you for understanding and being compassionate when I was swimming in denial with all the signs right there in front of me. Thank you for welcoming me to the team with no qualms when we were rescuing Amity. Thank you for keeping my secret till I was ready to share it with everyone else. Thank you for reeling me into the family like it was no big deal. It was a big deal to me.
Thank you for all those Cosmic Frontier comics you keep bringing back from Mrs. Noceda’s basement, and for introducing me to Warrior Cats, and for helping me get ready for my first date with Willow, and for all those days you spent helping me replant Palistrom Trees all over the Boiling Isles even though you had a test to study for.
Thank you, Luz, for everything you’ve done. For all of us.
Happy eighteenth birthday!
Your friend, Hunter
A loopy, exaggerated font that Luz had grown to love.
Dear Luz,
as I’m writing this, Camila’s at the stove in front of me, cooking chicken, and the smell is wafting around the kitchen and the stars outside the window are twinkling like gems. I used to wonder what they looked like, back when I was still locked up by Belos. I was made there, the castle, and it was all I’d ever known. And then I found your portal.
When I first made it there, I was lost and dazed, with no idea where I was going or what was happening. But Masha found me, and they gave me a sly smile before excitedly pulling their tarot cards out and asking if I wanted to have my future read. And it was the first time someone was actually nice to me, but it wasn’t the last. Tommy from the same cabin as me taught me how to fish, and laughed when I accidentally smacked myself between the eyes with the pole. My friend Meena was really good at telling spooky stories, and she and Masha competed to see whose was scarier one night at the campfire (no one slept a wink that night).
And when I came home, Camila was waiting. She was surprised at how much “Luz” had changed. I wasn’t her daughter, but I tried my best to play the part. And it worked: right up until you came back.
We don’t need to go over the Conspiracy Guy incident, you were there, but the thing that stuck out to me was that Camila was still kind to me afterwards. She still patched me up and made me some hot soup after the whole thing. She still cared. I had lied to her and impersonated her daughter for months. She still cared.
And it wasn’t just her- you cared too.
You had brought her to save me, and when you guys were stuck on Earth, you were there to hold me through my nightmares, and tease me about Masha and help me figure out who I was as a person.
You and everyone else sure, but none of this would have been possible if you hadn’t gone through the portal, Luz. None of this would be possible if you hadn’t found me in the In Between Realm.
You’ve stepped out of your room now, but you’re still far enough that I have time to finish this up. You have that same annoyed look on your face you’ve had throughout exams week. The new neighbor’s dog is barking distantly over the fence, Camila’s drowning it out with 80’s Synth music.
And to summarize: this is a home, Luz. You gave me a home.
Thanks for everything, big sis.
-Vee
No writing. Just text from a typewriter.
My dearest Luz,
thank you for always being there for me, even when I can’t be there for myself! Thank you for all those moments spent patching me up, and including me in your games and scrubbing graffiti off my walls! I hope this birthday’s a good one.
Love, Hooty
A scrawl she recognizes from post-it notes stuck to the fridge and the signature on all those late slips she used to get.
Luz,
before you came into the world, your father and I were in a pretty bad place. And when you were born, we still were. But you were our beacon in the darkness, the thing that really helped us focus on getting out of there. If not for our sake, then for yours. That’s how you got your name.
And I’m blinded by your light, mija, we all are. I’m sorry if it didn’t always seem like I was on your side, but I am. I am and I always will be. Through everything.
You never stop caring about those around you, no matter what. You couldn’t find a place to fit in the Human Realm, so you found your own place. You couldn’t quite conform in the Boiling Isles either, so you made your own place, where everyone belongs. You even got your Mama to stop hiding her old Cosmic Frontier comics in the basement. You make us all feel unique, and special and loved, Luz. You always do what’s right. You burn so bright and I am so proud of the young woman you have become. Manny would be too-
The last few words are rendered indiscernible by Luz’s tears, smudging the ink against the paper, square crumpled up in her shaking hands as she sits on the grass in front of the house, soaking in the first rays of morning light. That’s where Amity finds her, curled up on herself sobbing, and scoops her into her arms, whispering soft affection into her ear with a kiss to the temple.
That’s where Willow finds them, laughing and pulling the two into a ginormous hug, lifting them both off the ground.
That’s where Hunter finds them, woken by Willow’s sudden movement from his side, smiling and joining the group hug.
That’s where Gus finds them, hollering and tackling them all into the dirt, laughing together at the mud staining everyone’s cheeks and the grass winding its way into their hair.
That’s where Eda comes up and musses her hair, and King wiggles his way into her arms, and Hooty wraps himself around her tight, and Vee leans her head against her shoulder, and her mother brings her close to her chest.
