Owl House Spoiler Recap: Hollow Mind
I have thought long and hard about how best to discuss the newest episode of The Owl House “Hollow Mind.” It’s easily the biggest episode of the season if not of the entire show. If I went deep-diving on each point of the episode, I’d probably end up with a 15-page essay. So, I think the best way to cover this episode is to do a good old fashion recap! Because damn, “Hollow Mind” was AMAZING!
But first, I must address something I talked about in a past review. In “Eclipse Lake,” I flat out said that I was not a fan of the ‘Hunter is a clone’ theory. I only mentioned it because it was such a big fan theory.
And I was spectacularly wrong! One of the reveals in “Hollow Mind” was Hunter is, in fact, a clone. Not just any clone but the latest of a long line of cloned Golden Guards. He is more than likely the clone of Phillip Wittebane’s brother or friend we see in the portraits of this episode. Also, a point I missed in “Any Sport in a Storm” was it was Hunter’s palisman, Flapjack, that gave Hunter the nickname “Caleb.” This has led to another fan theory that Caleb is the name of the other Wittebane brother, but it still isn’t confirmed yet.
I’m happy that I was wrong! It’s great to have some answers about Hunter and what a Grimwalker is. Now, let’s get into “Hollow Mind.”
The episode opens with Luz and Hunter waking up in the mindscape of Emperor Belos. The walls are lined with all of Belos’ triumphs during his reign. This includes claiming victory and besting Eda in the season one finale, something which is wrong as Eda got away.
It’s a hallway of lies wrapped up in grandiose golden frames. The propaganda he built an empire on is on full display showing his form of revised history. Hunter is pissed to be stuck in the Emperor’s mindscape prompting a flashback sequence of how the two of them got there.
Hunter was chasing after three cloaked figures who he thought were part of the resistance. And lo and behold, it’s Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf. I’m glad we got a confirmation on Eber being part of the team. I speculated last week that he probably was as he’s almost always with Darius. It’s nice to know for sure!
But Hunter is interrupted by Luz, who explains her side of the story. She was in the Night Market with Eda and King. Luz and King are having a great time playing with two-way radios in the most adorable way possible. Those walkie-talkies become vital to the plot. They are there to see a shop keeper who ends up turning them away. The keeper has fallen into a coven and doesn’t want to associate with wild witches anymore.
It raises one of the most real-world topics of the series so far. The power of misinformation is so strong and can sway good people away from being sensible. When times are hard and there doesn’t seem to be any solutions, it’s easy to fall for a charlatan who sounds like they have all the answers. The Evangelical undertones of Belos’ message are clearly intentional too. You have this false prophet claiming they know the word of the Titan and offer to give the citizens a better life. The entire thing is creepy especially because it happens every single day in our real world.
Belos has been in power for 50 years. He’s been working his machinations for even longer than that. The entire point of “Hollow Mind” is essentially showing how he pulled off his Big Lie. King frames the message best: people don’t want to think they have thrown their entire lives away following the wrong person. It won’t be easy for Luz and Eda to break through people’s fear when they’ve been raised a certain way.
From there, the two stories collide as Luz jumps Hunter, the Coven Heads get away, and Hunter accidentally activates the spell that puts him and Luz into Belos’ mindscape.
One thing that stuck out to me when Hunter confronts the Coven Heads is he pulled out his technological staff to fight them, not Flapjack who we know is with him. The technology staff is similar to the one Belos uses. It makes me wonder if that staff is specifically made to fight Wild Magic. Since Hunter was going after what he thought were wild witches, perhaps that’s the reason he chose to fight with that staff and not Flapjack.
It also creates a series of what-ifs that is the stuff that fanfics are made of. What damage could three Coven Heads do inside of Belos’ mind? Would they have killed him? Raine was already willing to sacrifice themself and their allies to stop the Emperor. Were they seeking the same proof that Luz wanted to help discredit Belos? There is so much to that side of the story we will never know. That would be so, so interesting to find out one day.
Back in the present, Hunter explains to Luz why Belos made the Coven System. If people had too much information, then they would hurt themselves. It’s clearly a lie that Hunter was raised with because Eda was just fine with all of her magic. Hunter’s journey this season is being exposed to knowledge outside of his uncle’s words setting up the plot of the episode. This is Hunter discovering the pitfalls of propaganda and falling for revised history.
“Hollow Mind” reminds me so much of another show I love which is Star Wars Rebels. The episode “The Honorable Ones” essentially followed this same structure. Imperial agent Alexsandr Kallus gets trapped with Rebel fighter Zeb Orrelios, and they have to survive together. Kallus spends the majority of the episode spouting off the Empire’s propaganda only for Zeb to poke holes in it over and over again with logic. By the end, Kallus is left with the truth that the way he was raised was wrong. It starts him on a redemption path where he eventually defects from the Empire and joins the Rebels. I wonder if The Owl House took some inspiration from Star Wars for this episode.
Two figures arrive at the same time in Belos’ mindscape. There is a little child in a mask who is crying in the corner. The other is a monstrous form that takes the shape of the Emperor. The child warns our heroes as the monster swipes at them! Luz whips out her glyphs to fight back, making her and Hunter fall through the walls out of the revised history of Belos and into his true subconscious where his real memories lie.
This is where “Hollow Mind” begins to rely heavily on its visual storytelling to explain the narrative inside the narrative. Throughout the rest of the episode, there are portraits in the background detailing Belos’ true life. The YouTube channel The Roundtable does a really great job breaking down each of these pictures. While details and names are unknown and might be confirmed later, this is the story the portraits seem to be telling:
It’s about Phillip Wittebane and his friend as Belos calls him, though the fan theory is that the person is actually the other Wittebane brother. They grew up together in the human world in the time of the Connecticut Witch Trials. This other person looks almost identical to Hunter. Connecticut is important because that’s the state where Luz’s hometown is.
The friend/brother is also shown to be good at carving, creating the mask that Inner Belos wears in this episode. This also supports another fan theory which is that somehow Eda’s family is connected to this person. Eda’s father was an expert palisman carver and has a similar cardinal palisman to Hunter.
After Phillip and the other man came to the Boiling Isles, the friend/brother entered a relationship with a witch who is not only pregnant but also shares a silhouette similar to Eda’s. Again, this strengthens the theory that the Clawthornes have always somehow been connected. Phillip looks on glaring in anger at them. Phillip then breaks out on his own to explore the Isles only to return with a cursed form. The friend/brother embraces Phillip in his monster form only for Phillip to murder him with a knife. The woman of the friend/brother attacks Phillip with magic making him run away.
After that, the portraits then show Phillip wearing the Emperor Belos mask and consuming palismens, more than likely to elongate his life to the present. The portraits end with Belos self-mutilating his ears to hide his human side ending the origin story.
Again, thank you to The Roundtable for breaking all of this down! I highly suggest checking out their videos, especially this week. They go into way more detail about the pictures. It’s a great watch!
Photo courtesy of The Roundtable
None of this is in the forefront of the episode though. Instead, Luz and Hunter start to traverse the subconscious of Belos’ mind. Right away, Hunter is pushing back against the truth but we see the walls starting to crumble. He’s particularly shaken by the husk of a palisman that resembles Flapjack.
Eda calls them over the very handy walkie-talkie that Luz has on her. Eda says there can’t be two inner selves of a person, but strong inner emotions can take shape in a mindscape. So already, something is fishy with the two Belos characters running around. Eda says she’ll make a return spell for them and wants the kids to stay safe.
The child Belos arrives. Immediately, Luz and Hunter are drawn to trust him. This really showcases one of Luz’s best character traits but also one of her flaws. She is trusting to a fault, wanting to see the best in everyone. It’s repeatedly burned her in the past. It’s also what has allowed her to help characters like Luz and Willow rise to their best potential and kick-started Hunter’s character arc. Luz is the shining protagonist that she is despite the trouble it gets her in. Hunter, on the other hand, is loyal to a fault, something that Darius called out in “Any Sport in a Storm.” While he’s on his path to changing his worldview, the message from King rings true here. Hunter is not ready to admit that his entire life has been a lie. Thus, he’s willing to trust this form of Belos with no questions asked. With the monstrous Belos coming, they dive into one of the memories to stay safe.
Here, we return to the B-Plot with Eda, King, Flapjack, and Hooty trying desperately to figure out how to make a return spell. Only this time, Eda doesn’t have magic anymore. She has to rely on her knowledge and grit to figure it out.
Outside, Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf look onto the now locked down Owl House. The party wants to help but they also can’t reveal their identities. Raine puts a plan into motion because they know how to get past Hooty. In a hilarious bit since no one knows what the heck Hooty is. He’s a secret I hope one day gets revealed to us.
We also get a callback to some setup for the B-Plot. Earlier in “Hollow Mind,” Hunter sees the picture of him being promoted to Golden Guard. He says that Darius looks sad in the painting. It builds on the story from “Any Sport in a Storm” that Darius’ mentor was the previous Golden Guard. This shows that perhaps Darius is aware of this line of clones. Here, when he hears that Hunter is trapped too, Darius becomes protective and wants to rush to the Owl House to help. But Raine stops him, again, because they can’t give up their identities. The Coven Heads then put a plan into motion to help.
The next series of scenes is Hunter and Luz exploring the flashbacks of the Emperor. More importantly for Hunter, we see the past Golden Guards as well. Several things stick out right away. All of the past Golden Guards share Hunter’s voice, each portrayed beautifully and nuanced by Zeno Robinson.
In these memories, Belos preaches his Coven System to the wild witches of the Boiling Isles like a televangelist. Hunter defends his uncle until attacks begin to happen in each one. Though, the truth starts to slowly come out. He watches a past Golden Guard actually prepping the attack showing it was not wild witches but a ruse. Belos is trying to play on people’s fears. He even goes so far as to burn down a town. Hunter witnessed these horrors, even the past coven sigils draining life from witches and Belos leaving people to die in the snow.
I love watching Luz in these scenes. Constantly, she’s turning to Hunter to see his reactions. Luz’s concern is making sure that he’s okay emotionally. She wants him to accept the truth, but she also understands that it will cause Hunter pain. While pushing him, she’s a constant presence to also support him knowing that he’ll need it.
Important to note too, child inner Belos is gathering items in the background while Luz and Hunter are distracted by the memories.
But in one of the most bombshell moments of “Hollow Mind,” we see a flashback in a tree full of stars and moons. Taking place during the events of “Eclipse Lake,” Luz sees that Belos has Eda’s portal door and is rebuilding it.
We also finally get the full introduction of the Collector. And they are a chaotic delight!
Speaking in riddles, they indicate they’re trapped below the Titan’s bones and can be freed on the Day of Unity. They’ve been helping Belos from the shadows to put his plans into motion. They are totally on board with destroying wild magic for reasons still unknown to us.
Since we’ve seen time magic on display this season, I’m wondering if somehow Belos and the Collector knew to target the Owl Beast as we saw in “Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door.” Perhaps they were both aware of the importance of Eda needing to be cursed. Maybe if Dell, Eda’s father, is a descendant of Belos’ friend/brother, Belos needed the Owl Beast to take Dell out of commission. It’s unknown, but there are too many strings of fate floating around for all of this to be coincidental at this point.
The Collector is an amazing character design and Fryda Wolff gives so much energy to them. They are aware of the same draining spell that Raine discovers in “Them’s the Breaks, Kid,” playing an active role to help Belos.
Past Hunter barges in after the events of “Eclipse Lake,” giving the portal key with Titan’s Blood to Belos. The Emperor harshly dismisses the young man. Present-day Hunter then hears the truth that he’s a clone and Belos plans to kill him. The Collector comments that it’s cruel to lead Hunter on. Belos hits all the beats from “Any Sport in a Storm” saying that Hunter does exactly as he’s told. Remember, that episode was a test that Darius put Hunter through to help him break this way of thinking.
And in probably one of the most interesting lines of the episode to me, Belos says “It hurts every time he [being Hunter and the past Grimwalkers] chooses to betray me.” I love this line. Not only does it inform so much about the portraits we saw of Belos’ friend/brother, but it also means there is a bit of a pre-destined plot for Hunter. As a clone, he embodies the moral compass of that friend/brother. He will always reach a point of pushing back against Belos to try and stop him. If the portraits are an indication, the original person chose love and acceptance of this new world. That love is always inside of Hunter from the start. We’ve seen it budding out in episodes like “Any Sport in a Storm.” It’s there, and it will set him on the right path to aiding Luz and Eda.
This is a fast and fun introduction to one of the most mysterious figures of the series. Though, I can’t help but shake the feeling that perhaps the Collector is tricking Belos. They’re far older than Phillip with so much more knowledge. Maybe Phillip fell for a few lies of his own and was blinded by his own hubris…
Back with Hunter, he’s reeling from the knowledge this his life is a lie. Even worse, he and Luz find a wing in Belos’ memories where it shows portraits of the past Golden Guards and how Belos horrifically murdered them for their betrayal.
They don’t have time to process any of this though as kid Belos sets a fire and a trap. It lures out the monster that’s been hunting them the entire time.
But something isn’t right. The little bodies attached to the monster warn Hunter and Luz. They warn them of kid Belos and that he’s the real danger! Kid Belos attacks and traps the monster. He then shifts into Emperor Belos as we know him. It turns out, the monster was the souls of all the palismen Belos consumed over the years trying to stop him. They didn’t want to hurt Luz and Hunter.
They were trying to protect the kids.
Belos destroys the palismen. In another stellar performance from Zeno Robinson, Hunter finally confronts his supposed uncle. He demands the truth about what happened to the other Golden Guards. His voice breaks, saying there was no family destroyed by wild magic and that it was all a lie.
Now exposed, Belos tries to kill Hunter by ripping him deeper into the subconscious of the mindscape to trap him. Luz rushes to protect Hunter, throwing him her jacket to pull him out of the quicksand-like ground. It doesn’t work as Hunter is sucked in with her coat, which is an important moment for the plot because all of Luz’s glyph spells are in the pockets.
Then, all the reveals come out. Emperor Belos confirms that yes, he is Phillip Wittebane and that he is a witch hunter from Earth. His entire plan is to rid this world of all the witches.
This sequence is very straightforward as he shows Luz his memories of meeting her in “Elsewhere and Elsewhen.” I actually don’t mind this sequence at all really going in to make sure the Phillip reveal is clear. It’s important to remember that not all fans are wrapped up in fandom and social media. Also, many fans are younger. This is a hugely important plot point, so they needed it to be as crystal clear as possible. I’m sure some deep-diving fans probably thought this was already known knowledge. But it wasn’t known to everyone. It’s very important in a vital moment like this, Dana Terrace and her team made sure that everyone is on the same page going forward in the narrative.
We take a quick check-in with the B-plot which is a wonderful breather after all the BONKERS REVEALS of the second act. Eda is struggling to make the return spell because she doesn’t have magic.
Then, my shipper hearts GETS TO SCREAM! Because Raine secretly gives to Hooty a bouquet of flowers for Eda. I LOVE THESE TWO, YOU GUYS! In the bouquet, it has the final ingredients to finish the spell. Eda is wary of it, but she’s not in a position to argue. She has to save Luz. I cannot wait to see the reveal when Eda discovers that Raine’s been helping her this entire time.
It’s also important to note that Eda is forced to use the last of Luz’s titan’s blood that Amity got for her in “Eclipse Lake.” It puts them back on square one again to build Luz a portal back home.
From here, “Hollow Mind” quickly comes to a close. Belos attacks Luz but a wall of plants shoots up to defend her. Because he had Luz’s jacket with her glyphs in it, Hunter appears again to fight back. They make a desperate attempt to get away. Luz and Hunter make it back to the walkie-talkie just in time as Eda activates the spell and returns both of the kids back to the safety of the Owl House.
I really hope that Zeno Robinson gets nominated for an Annie Award (the only animation award show that actually matters. Screw the freaking Emmys!). Because his acting as Hunter in this final scene rips your heartstrings out. Hunter breaks down in a panic attack, tearing the Golden Guard cloak from his back. He sprints out of the Owl House in frenzied horror leaving Luz speechless as Eda asks what happened.
With that, the episode comes to a somber close.
“Hollow Mind” might just be my new favorite episode of The Owl House. It has everything that makes this show so freaking great. From the animation and voice acting to the story reveals and introducing the Collector, it’s a masterclass of storytelling. I loved every moment of it!
