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/ Opinion on huntlow and long ramble about nothing cause theres something wrong w me and i have no one else to share this with /

Disclaimer that if you like the ship thats fine! theyre cute :D this may not be the post for you, but its not super negative or meant to be hate, just my opinion and i like character analysis. i just have to get some stuff off my chest since ive been rewatching the owl house all at once.

All this to prepare to say I kind of never enjoyed huntlow, although ive tried, and im not interested to see if they possibly have a relationship in the upcoming gn. It narratively falls flat, and i see the characters as stronger from seperate growth.

I know a majority of my personal qualms with huntlow are because season 3 was cut short and it didnt have time to develop, but with that being the case, I felt "why hint at it anyway?" If i had never seen the owl house, i wouldve expected a lot more of their relationship with how much its praised. But from a character standpoint, the ship feels sudden and out of character. On paper, they check the boxes to be appealing to me, sweet girl x bad (but sad) boy turns out to be strong girl x anxious guy. But, i believe their individual focus becomes more unbalanced/apparent when you try and place them into a relationship, and even watered down to the tropes they fall into.

Luz is the protagonist throughout the show, and eda, amity, king, hunter, and raine are its major secondary characters. Willow and Gus are Luz' best friends and have their seperate but similar arcs, although subtle.

I would say hunter becomes a deurotagonist in seasons 2 and 3, a majority of the show. Because of this, we see up close his struggles with abuse, lack of familial love, his identity not being his own, being powerless, his sense of growing morality, and even death. To not make this post too long, Im going to brush over him broadly, since that would be retelling the whole show atp.

Leading up to s3 , he clearly is set up for a moral fixing. From his first appearance hunter is shown to be a key player in the story, as arrogant initially, but arguably the most traumatized, and sympathetic. He slowly opens himself up, mostly thanks to flapjack (fly high, the unconditional love of a pet), Luz, his friends ,including willow ofc, but notably: himself. He is shown constantly ruminating over his usefulness, only to find out he is literally a tool made to serve a purpose. Eventually he has no choice than to hide from his murderous uncle. This discovery is major, and forces him to leave the emporors coven. Whats important and makes this change not abrupt is that the set up had always been there: that he was already internally fighting with himself/the truth, and Belos' ideologies.

Wilows struggles are more grounded from her being constantly bullied for years. This gets the most focus in her mind, of course. She does still struggle with it, but instead focuses on wanting to protect others. "Others" mainly being Gus and Luz. She is clearly caring, possibly feeling that this is her role from protecting herself and her only friend for years (gus). But this is just speculation, because her motivation to seemingly protect others kind of outweighs her more relevant issues with self love imo

The two issues often go hand in hand, but this focus on support and even leading seems a little sudden on my rewatch. Im not trying to downplay their importance at all! I relate to willow probably the most of anyone in the show. Willow and Gus have always been important, steadily dropping their support for Luz and offering advice, with Willow being the most level headed of the trio. She is also magically gifted with plant magic and physically protects her friends this way. Despite this, i dont think she had enough development/time to show how much she supported others emotionally MORESO than the rest of the cast.

I think she had a sudden spike in noticable confidence when she started the flyer derby team. Although her confidence was shown to slowly be growing, it was mostly behind the scenes, told but not shown. So while it was logically understood, there was a disconnect in Willows character. This is only more aparent in season 3 where she feels burdened by being an emotional backbone. As I said, her support and reliableness are THERE, but they are not shown/put into action as they are spoken out in dialogue.

That is until hunter comforts her.

This is where i feel the story beats may have focused on hunter x willow instead of hunter & willow. In the instances I mentioned, Hunter is there to 1. experience the world outside of the palace/ gain interest in it and others (willow) or 2. to comfort and save willow.

In my opinion, hunters presence and growth as a main character inadvertently caused willow to get a shift of her own. Rather than their interactions seeming natural, I felt that they ended up driven by forced conflict. Like they were trying to make the two characters say "we are similar."

Which can be great, that is what relationships should be, you relate and grow together. take of the century i know. Instead of the change happening gradually for themselves however, it felt a bit clunky and like it was there with the intention of sparking something (powers/love/friendship) in hunter esp. It comes across as a relationship for the sake of a relationship or predictable. This isnt always a bad thing, but i think it would have been much more interesting and impactful to see gus or Luz appreciate willow for example. Wayyy more amity interactions outside of their shared friendship with Luz would have strengthened her seperate arc to make it feel more whole. And hunter to develop-or imply to develop-more of a circle his age outside and without the main cast before jumping into a relationship as a bandaid or fix-all. Reminder that he's had the least average life and childhood out of the teen cast.

We do miss a lot of time with the cast because of the s3 cut, but I think there could have been more insight into their journeys separately. Toh was a kids show ofc so im not expecting them to detail the complexities of each characters trauma and how long it truly takes to grow around it. Politely, i couldnt think of why the two would be together outside of their similar struggles, which even then was intentional to hint at a relationship. The writters are entitled to their shipping fanservice with the audience of majority teens in mind. But for a show exploring the value of support systems and found family, I think its interesting to think about. I hardly see people mention/ critique it because its so sugary sweet.

Side ramble: i also I wonder what people think about this cause also from what ive seen a lot of people see it as canon as well. Which it kind of is/ also isnt? It sits in a grey area if we want to get technical, where the Dana Terrace ships them, but for whatever reason the two are only implied in the show/up to interpretation (i think?) with her claiming such in a livestream. Correct me if im wrong. I'm only mentioning this because ive seen people comment on artwork, or worse, attack others who do not ship huntlow because they consider it canon or as narratively important as lumity for example. I dont really want to compare them at all, thats not necessarily why the ship doesnt work for me. What im saying is, i feel that the ship is overrepresented as something its not. But this bad behavior/attacking is very much in the minority. It comes with the territory, and you could say this for a billion fandoms ships whatever, but makes me annoyed every time I see a character fanart being reduced to "when x looks at x." Leaves a bad taste in the mouth, ya know. I think it downplays the characters growth as individuals. Not that a ship must be canon to be good at all!!! Many such a case where it is the opposite. I adore some ships some consider boring (my poor beloved sokai) or non-canon (not that huntlow is) or just fun. Im just saying this so i cover my bases, so if you like them thats totally chill and yes they are cute!

Anyway i love these characters with all my heart, so PEACE AND LOVE. But as my favorites they had to be discussed. Ironically, this may be the reason I dont feel it works. Im probably overthinking lol, but i LOVE shipping like 99% of Tumblr so im not a hater, again this is just opinion onion option ombre. Im also aroace spec but i think that perspective is still important in the shipping community out of Tumblr too . SORRY IM RAMBLING. I SAY THIS WITH NOOO HATE I LOVE THEM SOO MUCH LET A FELLA TALK!!!