We finally get a glimpse of Belos’ mind (and, as usual with this show, that is not a metaphor).

We start here, already within the Emperor’s mind. This memory is labeled “Triumph over Wild Magic.”

But Luz isn’t alone in there.

Hunter: Remember what happened at the Night Market?

BTW, as with most mindscapes images are very important here. Ye have been forewarned.

Hunter: I heard whispers of an attempt to invade the Emperor’s mind with wild magic. I decided to take the villains out myself. But just as I was about to stop them…

Why, yes, that DOES look an awful lot like Raine and their Coven Head partners in crime. Also, would there even be a difference if one broke into someone’s mind with officially sanctioned coven magic, or did Hunter just say “wild magic” to make it sound worse?

Hunter: Halt! For crimes against the Emperor, you are under arrest!

Luz: Oh! I remember now! Eda took me and King to the Night Market to repair my witch’s wool cape, but we ran into some trouble.

If you think this is a very roundabout way to explain why Hunter and Luz are in this situation…it isn’t really about that. It’s about establishing their wildly different perspectives, particularly (but not exclusively) regarding Belos.

Anyhow, King and Luz are having fun with their walkie talkies.

Luz: Ten-four Demon King, Luzura here with Echo Delta Alpha, what’s your twenty, over?

King: Oh…Hable más lento, por favor? [Speak slower, please]

Luz: Aw, you remembered your lesson! But that wasn’t Spanish, buddy. I read you loud and clear, over!

Because of course she gave King Spanish lessons! Some Greek lessons would be more helpful for understanding radio lingo, though.

But back to the actual point of their visit.

Prim: This shop is closed, Eda. I’ve decided to finally join a coven. Emperor Belos says wild witches celebrate destruction and…pain.

Eda: I mean, I know I can be abrasive, but-

Prim: He also says that the Titan punishes those who aid wild witches. I can’t have you here.

Luz: Well, what does he know? Belos is a liar. He just wants power. And I’ll bet dollars to donuts that he can’t speak to the Titan!

Eda: Hey, I’ll be fine. You are the one that needs to be careful.

Luz: But people should know who Belos really is!

Eda: And who is he, really? Listen, Belos has been emperor for fifty years. Everyone is used to this. No one’s gonna risk change unless you have proof that he’s up to something. Ah, come on, we’ll figure something out.

And this is one of the reasons why The Owl House is better than Harry Potter: In Harry Potter, Voldemort was just an outside force, but in this show, Belos has successfully developed and ingrained the coven system within the culture of the Boiling Isles, so that it’s hard for anyone to imagine life without it (or him).

Luz: I hate seeing people look at Eda that way. But how can I prove he’s actually evil? It feels so obvious, but no one believes me!

King: No one wants to believe they’ve wasted their life following the wrong person. We just gotta find something big to change their minds.

Then she spots Hunter…

At this point, I’m just wondering what Raine & co were even planning to do with their transport to Belos’ mind, because if any of them showed up in there, it would just alert Belos to their conspiracy…but evidently this turn of events was surprising?

Anyhow, this is what they got.

Hunter: You want to prove that my uncle is evil, and you thought I would help?

Luz: Well, now that I’m in his mind, I can learn the truth for myself. Weird, though…I’ve been in Willow’s mind once, and it had more trees.

Hunter: Makes sense. Mindscapes reflect the individual. I’ve read a lot about this subject.

Hunter gets to talking about Belos, and in so doing, he opens up about his own past, too.

Hunter: You know, unfettered wild magic wiped out our family. Everyone knew too much and got themselves hurt. That’s why Belos took in the survivors, and dedicated his life to making the Coven System! It’s why he’s so well liked. Our sigils protect us from ourselves, and make the Titan happy.

Hunter: Oh! This is when I inherited my staff! You know, I’m the youngest scout to become Golden Guard. I, ah, never found out what happened to the previous one. Huh…why does Darius look so sad here?

Presumably, either the last Golden Guard just died (and that’s why Darius is sad), or he has some idea already what Hunter is in for (or both).

Then Luz spots this little guy. They seem to have taken inspiration from Skull Kid of Majora’s Mask, a character who was possessed by an evil force, but suffice it to say that if it was an intentional reference, it was probably just a red herring.

And at the same time, Hunter sees a familiar silhouette…

Hunter: Emperor! You’re here! We beg for your assistance to return to the physical world, so that I may capture your enemies! And so she can ruin someone else’s day.

Luz (understandably) regards that creepy figure as a threat and attacks it, and then they’re dropped down here.

Luz: We must be in the Emperor’s real mind.

Hunter: What do you mean, “the Emperor’s real mind”? That gallery-

Luz: Was made of all the lies he tells. He’s not who you think he is!

Hunter: We’re probably being punished because you provoked his inner self.

Luz: Well, his inner self had a thousand glowing eyeballs!

Hunter: Oh, no! Eyeballs! You’re so easy to scare.

Hunter does have a point – Luz has been here long enough to know that just because something looks creepy doesn’t mean it’s automatically evil.

But Hunter is creeped out, too, especially when he finds the husk of a bird palisman.

Then they discover that Luz’s walkie talkie still works!

Eda: Hey, Blondie, your friend wants to talk to you.

Hunter: Flapjack! Are you okay? Have they hurt you?

Luz: Give me that!

The bond between Hunter and his palisman Flapjack is still precious, even if he has managed to make other friends by now.

Luz: So Eda, we may kinda sorta be trapped in, ah…the Emperor’s mind?

Eda: How in the world did you- no, we don’t have time for that. Has the Inner Belos spotted you yet?

Luz: Yes, but we were able to get away. With help. Can there be two inner selves?

Eda: No, but I have heard of strong emotions materializing, Just stay safe. If you’re devoured in his mindscape-

Hunter: We’ll be trapped, dragged down to his subconscious forever! Like I told you, I read about this stuff.

Honestly, I kinda relate. I too tend to research things only tangentially related to my life!

Hunter: I’ll be home soon, Flapjack! Stay safe. I love you, over and out.

Eda & King: Awwww!

Luz: It’s you! Kid Belos! Thank you for helping us before. You don’t seem nearly as scary as your Inner Self. If strong emotions can take form, maybe he’s the Emperor’s, I don’t know, sense of guilt?

Hunter: What? Belos has never done anything worthy of feeling guilt. It’s obviously his, uh, sense of innocence. His pure intentions.

Luz: Well, whichever it is, I think he can help us stay safe. And maybe you can show us who Belos really is.

Believe it or not, this person does actually reveal both Belos’ “pure intentions” and the “real” Belos…

Meanwhile at the Owl House…

Hooty: Oh, hey, your buddy’s trapped, too? The angry blond kid? Eda’s smart, but without magic, I’m afraid she can’t do much.

Of course Raine & co follow Eda, and of course they hatch a plan to help her.

And despite Hunter’s protestations, they end up following Kid Belos into one of Belos’ memories.

Citizen: He says he can talk to the Titan.

Citizen: The Titan is dead. How is that possible?

Belos: Fellow citizens, we are born into chaos. Our lives anger the Titan. My own family has been hurt by the darkness of wild magic. I’ve been shown a healing light. It shines in nine hues!

Hunter: See? He’s always been helping people.

And then there’s an attack by “wild witches…”

Belos: You incompetent fool! You nearly took my head off with that blast!

Golden Guard: I’m sorry, lord Belos.

Belos: I’m off to the next town.

Golden Guard: What about the rest of these [explosives]?

Belos: Put on a bigger show.

And wouldn’t you know? This Golden Guard who must have lived at least a hundred years ago has the EXACT SAME VOICE as Hunter.

Luz: Belos was lying! Wild witches weren’t attacking him. How could you help someone like that?

Hunter: That was probably a special technique to get people to listen to his message. It’s…it’s for the greater good.

Not helping your case there, bud.

And then they move on to a different memory, where Belos has convinced a community to adopt his ways.

Belos: I can make your magic pure again, as the Titan intended.

Belos: Welcome to your new covens.

Then ALL OF THEM COLLAPSE.

Golden Guard: They’re…still alive.

Belos: Then we still have some work to do.

Luz: You can’t deny it now. Belos is trying to hurt people!

Hunter: He was just perfecting sigil magic! Besides, maybe he’s remembering things wrong. Who know how mindscapes work?

Luz: I thought you did!

Hunter: Well, maybe I’m an idiot!

He still can’t bear to admit what’s staring him in the face…but then, Luz is in denial about something here, too.

Then this guy shows up again, leading them to take refuge in a more recent memory…

Luz: He’s got the portal? Did you know about this?

Hunter: Of course. I helped rebuild it.

Belos: I can hear you.

Collector: You caught me! To you, who stray so far from home, to me who’s trapped beneath these bones, we’ll play forever, me and you, when you paint the land in nine bright hues!

Belos: What can I do for you, Collector?

Collector: I’m bored! Is the draining spell ready yet? I want to play, and see everything go all [screams].

Belos: You’ll have your fun, on the Day of Unity.

Then Past!Hunter runs into the memory with the portal key…

Belos: Leave. Now.

Collector: Ooh, you were mad! I thought you were gonna go all [yells] on that kid.

Belos: Not as long as he stays on the right path. I say, “The Titan has big plans for you,” and he does what he’s told. Unlike the previous attempts.

Collector: I’m starting to think you make those things just to destroy them. You have fun with it, admit it!

Belos: Of course I don’t, Collector. It hurts every time he chooses to betray me.

So now something has shown Luz and Hunter Belos’ whole plan, but of course that can’t be the end of it.

Luz: Sounds like he wants to wipe out all life in the demon realm, and the sigils help him do that. Hunter, um, listen. You don’t need to return to the castle. You can stay at the Owl House, if you want. I’m sure Eda would be cool with it once we tell her what we…heard.

And there’s this, the (almost literal) skeletons in the closet.

Get away from him! Danger! Danger! Run!

Luz: Are those palismen?

Hunter: We weren’t running from the Inner Belos – he was with us, the whole time!

So it turns out that “Kid Belos” was just Belos, and the threatening figure with the eyes was some sort of amalgamation of all the palismen he consumed, left to haunt his mind. He took Luz and Hunter’s appearance as a way to distract the monster and bind it, all while appearing in a form that neither of them would distrust.

Hunter: What did you do to the other guards? To our family? It wasn’t wild magic, was it?

Belos: What a shame. Out of all the grimwalkers, you looked the most like him.

Hunter: What?

So, evidently “grimwalker” is a term unique to this show, but from the context, it appears that it refers to a clone of a dead person. Specifically, his (older?) brother, who had been scratched out of all the memories…

And of course, now that Hunter knows what his game is, Belos tries to do away with him right then and there.

Belos: I was really expecting him to last longer than the others.

Luz: I’m going to tell everyone about the Day of Unity, that you’ve been lying about the Titan for years!

Belos: Yes, this has gone on longer than I’d have liked, but no one ever said being a witch hunter was easy.

Luz: Witch…hunter? So all this time people have been mindlessly helping a witch hunter?! How could they be tricked so easily?

Belos: I wouldn’t be so judgmental, if were you.

Then he shows her what she didn’t want to face – which she would’ve seen earlier, if she’d actually paid attention to his memories: That he is (or was) Philip.

Luz: No no no! You’re Belos! You’re just Belos!

Philip: Please, do me a kindness, and call me by my real name.

King: Eda, tell me it’s gonna be okay.

You and me both, buddy.

Anyhow, Raine manage to sneak in the potion to retrieve people from a mindscape with some flowers (probably just because Hooty’s such a hopeless romantic).

Belos: It does feel good to hear another human say that name. I had to change it when Philip was run out of too many towns. I told you once before, Luzura, perhaps we were destined to meet.

Luz: And what about Hunter? What’s a grimwalker?

Belos: A better version of an old friend. But, thanks to you, I’ll have to make another one.

Luz: But why? Why go through all this?

Belos: I’ll do anything to save humanity from evil.

Luz: No. You’re evil!

Belos: Can’t reason with crazy.

So basically, Belos was convinced that he had to do a genocide to “save humanity” from a people who never even threatened humanity, just because he didn’t like the way they were living.

And just when Luz has pretty much lost hope, Hunter shows back up to protect her (because he grabbed her jacket, which evidently contained all her glyphs).

And then Eda finally gets them out.

Hunter: He knows. He knows we were in there! I can’t…I can’t go back!

And then he runs off, because while this boy seriously needs a hug, he also barely knows Eda and Luz at this point and has just had his entire existence turned upside down. So basically, I get it if he just wants cuddles with Flapjack.

While it’s no surprise to the audience that Belos would use and abuse his “family members”, Hunter always believed that he was doing good for a good cause (and for a good person). Like every kid who supports the politics of their parents unquestioningly, he was raised to believe he was doing what was best for the world, even if it sometimes seemed counterintuitive. That’s why this twist works – because it forces Hunter to question his very identity. Not because he’s a clone, but because his “family history” isn’t what he thought it was.

King: What the heck happened in there?

Eda: Luz, what did you see?

until next time…