One Villainous Scene - "Okay. I'll Play."
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- I forgot to do the thing where I ask people to like, dislike, subscribe, comment, all that stuff. If I die, know the algorithm did it.
One Villainous Scene playlist: • One Villainous Scene
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Dammit alright, one last pinned comment for all the people defending Palpatine: I apologize for not specifying that I'm referring *exclusively* to Episodes 4-6 in my discussion of Star Wars. I've met enough people who hate the prequels it honestly didn't occur to me to specify which films I was talking about, even though I'm a Prequels fan myself. Palpatine is a true villain in the Prequels, even if I personally don't enjoy him as much as a lot of others do.
In the main trilogy, I'm standing my ground: he was a plot device in those films, plain and simple. If you wanna hear me go a bit deeper on this, you can skip to about 15 min. into my follow-up to this video.
I don't get why people hate the prequels either, they are incredibly well done and imo Palpatine becomes if not the best one, one of the best villains ever created in history, by deceiving the protagonist since he first joined the order while also making a perfect plan to not only get rid of the Jedi and become emperor, but to look good in the eyes of the people.
Now, in the original trilogy that is completely true. He wasn't a character by himself, just a plot device, you could even say it was an extension of Vader since it was the only thing that made him scared shitless and the reason of him thinking it was too late for him (and why he needed Luke's help to overcome him).
Thank you for giving proper consideration to The Senate.
Yeah in the OT Palpy is basically not even a character. You're given no reason to care about him. But in the Prequels he is having the most fun out of anyone. And I think that very few people's problems with the prequels have to do with him. Rather it's that everyone else, especially the main characters, all made blatantly stupid and illogical decisions that just made Palpy's job trivial. It's hard to have a satisfying villain takeover when your heroes are practically rolling out the red carpet for him. And I know that part of the point of the Prequels was that the jedi are meant to be portrayed as bad, but there's a difference between writing flawed characters, and writing stupid characters.
When it comes to the OT, we don't see Emperor much because hed had people like Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin as a extension of his authority
Personally I'm critical towards the prequels but I don't hate them. Some of my favorite scenes are from the prequels, particularly thought opera scene.
to be fair, i understand your tired of people defending palpatine, but palpatine was always depicted as a coward. He attacks when people let their guard down, as well as keeps his distance when in a fight. Palpatine is a schemer not a powerhouse. he attacks his enemies in their weakness and exploits everything he can with that weakness to take down his enemies. Vader has power, and scheming. He was alwasy depicted as someone that wanted to overthrow palpatine and take over his spot, but palpatine, being the schemer he is, always had the upperhand, especially when we learn that vader's suit is weak to palpatine's lightning. He intentionally made vader's suit weak to lightning to keep him in line. Thats why Starkiller existed, he was gonna be vader's ace up his sleeve but then palpatine caught on before vader could do anything and threw his plans out the window.
Just a note, when Luz cracks Belos' mask, it is because she was aiming to drive an ice spike through his eye. That's a lethal shot. Luz isn't holding back in any way.
Also the fact that we later see that belos breaking his mask isn’t even a big deal, he breaks it all the time which honestly just seems like an even bigger flex for me
That’s what I like about luz she’s brutally dedicated to her just cause and will kill people in self defense to keep her and her friends/lover alive which is a tad unexpected given that it’s a Disney show and usually the main characters are like massive pacifists in shows like this cough cough avatar
@@land_and_air1250 avatar was Nickelodeon you fucking idiot.
@@land_and_air1250 YESS
"oh he attacked me but killing is wrong" HE'S AN ACTIVE MASSIVE GENOCIDAL NAZI JUST FINISH HIM WTF
@@land_and_air1250That one is Nickelodeon
When Belos let's Luz go I think its also a strategic decision on his part. If he killed Luz it would A) be hard to cover up since she stands out so much and a lot of people know her and B) it gives him the opportunity to make an example of the heroes when he claims its all part of the Titan's plan. Belos is a chilling combination of a politician and a cult leader.
his decision is even more strategic now in hindsight, but i can't really say much without spoiling Season 2b
VERY deliberately strategic
Also, he needs Luz to complete the time loop they're in
@@carlosmedina1281 that is what i was referring to
the line between a grand politician and a cult leader is a rather thin one
When Luz and friends were robbing Emperor Belos and she goes
“who’s gonna know?”
And all we hear is:
“I’ll know.
The sheer TERROR those two lines instilled shows just how strongly rooted the writers made Emperor Belos as someone NOT to cross.
what gave me the biggest "OH SHIT" moment about this scene is that so far in the show the magic system's hard line was that witches had to draw a circle with their finger to cast a spell. and luz had to use a glyph. belos just breaks the magic system like it's nothing and casts a spell without a circle (or a palysman which can also do that).
And now we I now why and now we know why and now we know whyyyyyyyyy
@@animehair05silently88 uhhhh... Why?
@@awildnoviceappears w h y a r e y o u s o a c c e p t i n g o f s p o i l e r s
@@awildnoviceappears either the "tatoo" on his arm or the fact that he snacks on palysmans
@@adampekala5333 yeah, but also he uses artificial magic as well. It's a mixture of him being cursed and that
What I like about Belos is that, unlike similar villains, he hasn't decayed. If anything, he gets WORSE with each subsequent appearance.
With him becoming more and more unhinged similar to the title character in the Shakespeare play Macbeth.
@@zacglover3345Ah. The Scottish Play.
which is funny because hes a pile of sludge
@@zacglover3345there are lots of references to that play
Yea, that realt do it the show justice by each time he shows up or is talked about there's small things you can put together that the show doesn't strait up tell you,
Example, Eda and Lilith are most likely what ever times great grandchildren of belos's brother. And they never Directly day that but they leave small hits
One quibble- that’s not a look of respect, that’s a look you give to a petulant child who’s decided to play keep-away with important work documents. He sees this as a petty stunt, and his reaction is exasperation.
A lot of Belos' actions KNOWING WHAT/WHO he is now... actually succeeds in making him far more sinister.
I think what makes it great is they don't hand hold you other, like you understand he's a Christian Puritan, and it's clear that he used the same brain washing that he wus tricked with to trick others, and that also tells us that he's not ignorant to what he's doing, mabye at first be believed what he wus doing wus right but he can't claim that now
I like the idea that Belos isn’t exactly evil- he’s just efficient. He has a job to do. He’s not spiteful, he doesn’t go out of his way to hurt people and seems to offer genuine respect to people like Luz and Hunter, but he still does all the evil things he does because the fastest way to his goals is almost always directly through other people. It’s like you said, he’s a manager that needs shit done in a limited time, and people are always just obstacles or tools in achieving that shit.
Edit: JESUS FUCK I HAVE SEEN THE NEW EPISODE STOP TELLING ME ABOUT IT. I KNOW ABOUT THE GRIMWALKERS AND THE FRATRICIDE AND ALL THAT SHIT. MY OBSERVATION WASN’T AS ACCURATE AS I FIRST THOUGHT, I GET IT
"he's no spiteful "and then u see the new episode of the owlhouse
(elsewhere elsewhen)
@@seandias8222 aye, that’s a little out of character honestly, but I think there’s a reason for his hatred of witches, especially seeing as in the same episode, modern Belos seems fine with letting Lilith empty out her desk from her old job, as if she’s being fired for mundane reasons that aren’t high treason. I bet wild witches killed his brother, and that’s why he’s got such a vendetta- but that’s just a theory
@@illegalmemedealer3549 he's probably so close to his goals that nothing phases him anymore. Before he had the stress of getting the collector and trying to establish his plan, along with freaking out with the limited supply of palisman to keep his gliph magic tattoos at bay.
Now he's completely in charge and the worst that can happen is Luz or Eda mildly inconvenience him, but he's so close it doesn't matter.
Eda is actively showing "wild" magic to be good? Lilith can have her fun in trying to catch her. If she does well better for us.
Luz destroys the door? Eh, I can fix it easy I made it
Best Bard rebels? Mind erasing tea, no biggie
Luz and the gang have seen my face? Eh, Guess I can show the world anyways. I don't need fear anymore everyone adores me anyways
He's playing 8D chess and he's got all the pieces lined up and as a result he's calm over what essentially is a sure victory for him
@@illegalmemedealer3549 true, i have a feeling his story will be similar to luz's- being out of place in one world but finding a new one -except he wasn't accepted in the new world but luz was ,
also i think he has something to do with vi and her family being captured
@@seandias8222 If by "Vi" you mean "Vee the Basilisk" then I'm pretty sure he ordered the *creation* of Vee and her family for the purpose of learning about draining magic from stuff
This just proves that Lawful Evil is the best kind of Evil.
And luz screams chaotic good. Interesting
@@spaghetti5914 freedom vs order. A common divide between hero’s and villains but one that the Owl house does in a fresh way I think.
This also provides a good demonstration of how Lawful Evil can be no less Evil than Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil.
...Does it count as Lawful Evil if you ARE the law?
@@thatoneotheridiot3361
Well, you're definitely Lawful, because you are the Law, and you make the Law.
As for the Evil portion... Just look no further than Star Was or our own world governments. Corruption can be anywhere. So if he's doing morally wrong things, then yes, it's technically Evil.
Hence, Lawful Evil
Can we talk about Belos's planning and manipulation? Because I feel like nobody's talked about it enough.
When he has Edalyn. When Lilith has successfully delivered to him the person with the door, and Eda refuses to give it to him . . . what does he do? It seems like he just gives up, right? Oh, he'll try and find another way through. Execute Eda, destroy Owlbert. Move on with things . . .
Except he gives Owlbert to Lilith . . . the *last* person he should give it too. Why?
Because he knows *exactly* what Lilith is going to do with him. He knows she's going to go get Luz, and try to rescue Eda. And he knows that Luz is probably going to bring him the key in response. What else would Lilith and Luz do? He plays them like a fiddle, and very nearly gets what he wants.
suchhhh a cool villain
Revolver *Shalashashka* Ocelot: They played us like a damn fiddle!
So that explains why he didn't just consumed Owlbert.
It's because he met met them in the past
Is it just me or do you think he gave eda and lillith more slack cus there more then lickly related?
Let me explain, he wus willing to help Luz escape with him as he seems Luz as human as"good" so we know he's not pure evil.
And the show gives us a lot of clues to make the connection that the witch his brother fell in love with wus likely a ancestors to eda and Lilith.
The curse that Lilith uses, it looks suspiciously like the red lightning belos uses and he's the only one we know who uses it that magic, so mabye he set it up trying to see if he could take eda's magic away to "save" his great what ever it is Niece.
He also worked closely with the harththorn family, and from what we under respects them as there the only ones who travel to the head with belos
"And I'm furiously bisexual" weird flex but okay.
This made me laugh out loud and subscribe. I'm also bisexual, but not furiously though
As an asexual I'm the almost the polar opposite and as such I wonder the feeling
An odd display of hubris, but very well.
I managed the 69th like and it feels nice.
pan but agree
Belos is the ultimate definition of a Magnificent Bastard, in my opinion. He’s if you took the overpowered position (both politically and literally) of Palpatine and the somewhat cold and calculating nature of someone like David Xanatos or Team Flare’s Lysandre and smooshed them into a Colonist from the late 1500’s that ate too much Play-Doh. You’re not just meant to fear him, no. You’re meant to *kneel* to him.
Hiddelston should take some notes on world-conquering from this guy.
who TF is Hiddelston?
I totally agree with the video, and those were my thoughts about Belos as well. I think the most important one is exactly what you said: he doesn't care. People complain about how he didn't go himself to stop Eda, or to take the portal. That's the truth: he has bigger things to do. Eda, Luz, they are all meaningless compared to The Day of Unity. Even tho he praised Luz in season finale, he never gave her a second thought on screen. She is just a girl that surprisingly was able to hit him. Some people in the fandom treat him like, idk, Azula, who can spend her whole day seeking the protagonists
You know what he is like one of the only villains who hadn’t failed or was simply beaten in any way. King Andrias fails to kill Anne in Earth, Bill Cipher did got a bit beaten in two episodes, and many other villains have failed or been beaten. Belos simply have everything planned out, even when it seem his troops have failed he still got what he wants, even in the past he still technically won and got what he needed. He is a great villain and one of the greatest cartoon villains ever made.
Technically Palpatine getting the entire skywalker lineage to die in some way with only his granddaughter alive means he won.
Him and Vandal savage I guess
@@creed8712 I said Disney villain and yes Palpatine was owned by Disney but technically they didn’t created him. And vandal Savage isn’t part of Disney.
There was a Trope I think, Something Gambit, where every conceivable ending still benefits you somehow. Zanatos Gambit I think, based on the Antagonist in Gargoyles.
@@sanscoolson5125 Xanatos from gargoyles is also a Disney villain alot like Belos if not better in my opinion
Xana from code lyoko felt the same to me. While their plans were foiled in nearly every episode, Xana almost always won in the end. Seasons 2 and 3 actually ended with the bad guy objectively winning, with any success the heroes had feeling less like a win and more like managing something from the situation.
While in season 1 it's a draw, the heroes get what they've been fighting for all season, but it's been made nearly pointless by a trick Xana pulls at the last second.
And while the heroes ultimately win in the series finale, it's a slightly bitter sweet ending as ultimately the heroes lose something in order to win.
The "I will know" in s1e18 was so awesome and it made me so invested in him and who he really is. If you don't know what I mean, here it is: Luz grabbed the hat that would "heal" Eda and she tries to escape the castle before anyone notices her and she says "I will take the hat, heal Eda and no one would know I was here" and the hit or whatever that effect was Belos saying I think in Luz's head "I will know", it's so fking awesome and cool from him.
Belos almost sounds impressed Luz tried to attack him, he went like 'I got time to kill'
I liked how you summarized Belos' line at the begining in your own words
You just made me realise the parallels between Belos' "Okay. I'll Play" flick and The Collector's "I'm it - BOOP!"; both Belos and The Collector send their opponent flying with the most simple flick of a finger, showing how powerful they truly are. Not to mention, Belos using the phrase "I'll play" gave us early hints to his connection to The Collector, and how many of his (The Collector's) violent acts were just games to be played. God, I love The Owl House.
"I haven't met anyone who cares about Palpatine"
You clearly haven't met the Prequel fanbase.
As a fan of the prequels, Sith Lord Jar Jar Binks was a storyline we were robbed of.
@@UnholyBasil Unfortunately
@@UnholyBasil
and you havent watched the clone wars either
I was looking for this comment!
So Uncivilized has a really good video called why Palpatine is the G.O.A.T.
*Star Wars fan base
This reminds me of Lord of the Rings- the heroes don't meet Sauron once in the entire series, and yet he's still remembered as one of the most formidable villains in all of literary and cinematic history.
A common writing fallacy is that the antagonist always has to be OBJECTIVELY evil in a certain way. There has to something the villain disagrees with so strongly that they are willing to go out of their way to thwart it. 'The Owl House' proves that this is not the case. Belos is absolutely NOT objectively evil. Can the actions he takes be construed as evil? Yes. But when does a necessity become evil? It is necessary for humans to eat. Do the majority of humans think it evil to slaughter a cow for sustenance? No. Some do, but most don't.
Thus Belos is only SUBjectively evil. His actions are not evil to EVERYONE, only the protagonist. However, his actions are alienating his allies.
Part of what makes Belos such a compelling villain is that we aren't introduced to him AFTER the consequences to his actions have spilled over. We the audience are watching his consequences build up, and are now feeling the tension rise as the series builds up to the boiling point when Belos' world will, inevitably, come crashing down around him due to his obsession. Belos is, undoubtedly, a perfectionist. Admittedly a perfectionist with the patience of a saint, but a perfectionist nonetheless. He has a plan in motion that has contingencies for each and every imperfection he comes across. Yet plans like this are always built atop a house of cards, and all it will take is one push from Luz to bring the whole thing crashing down.
This journey has an uncertain beginning with a clear and obvious end, and the creators of 'The Owl House' are doing an excellent job of filling in the in-between.
"Belos is absolutely NOT objectively evil." Now THIS I Disgress with HEAVILY.
Namely, his Hate for 'Wild Magic', which are Lies, and get people killed/turned to stone. The arguement that Belos is not evil, would be like saying a Slaver, whipping slaves and mistreating them, is perfectly normal and not evil, because the Slaves don't know the concept of Freedom, and don't understand that they are Slaves.
He has literally Enslaved the entire Island and all the Witches inside of it. He destroyed the concept of Wild Magic, took over at their King, and spread lies about 'The Savage Ages'. It would be as if today we were told that in America's 1700s, the Indians were All Canabals, and thus today, right now, we must hunt down and murder every single native american we can find. And you're claiming that is NOT Evil? What the Fuck?
I'd argue this writing fallacy has been disproven for literal decades
Ozymandias from Watchmen was pretty cool. Years long plan with every angle covered.
What I occasionally find amusing to think about is the fallout of removing the most powerful longstanding authority in the land with no clear replacement. Regardless, of how the protagonists feel about the main antagonist, rarely do they ever have a contingency to deal with the power vacuum after their fall. Oft times, since the removal of authority is so sudden and they've taken no measures to deal with infrastructure maintenance in the running of a country/empire/world, it just leads to seriously miserable results if they don't just slap a Happily Ever After ending on it.
Most often a revolution will lead into a power struggle between smaller factions. Maybe not immediately, but inevitably there will be bloodshed unless the new reigning authority can firmly impress upon the people how in control they are. Often they'll be just as bad if not worse than the previous regime.
Take all that and throw Wild Magic into the mix. I'd be surprised if the DON'T just ignore all that mess and just go for the generic happy ending.
Fully agree, starter
8:10 I believe that in his self deluded way, he admired her and wanted to help her return.
9:28 I feel like some parallels could be drawn between Luce finally meeting Belos in person after hearing about him for a long time and Luce _literally_ cracking Belos's mask. Like his reputation seems intentionally crafted, as that of all Mastermind types do, so both seeing him rather then the carefully cultivated public opinion of him and literally chipping away at what's literally keeping people from seeing him feels like it could be intentional if not for how smoothly it being done could mean that it was actually just unintentional.
Edit: never mind I just saw the scene where he first turns around and the eye-lines on one side of his mask drawing attention to the eye-hole itself and the conspicuous absence on the other side drawing attention to the eye itself had to have been intentional.
Luz*
Not Luce
I don’t normally correct people but this is an exception
@@Frostfern94 Fheck.
"Well written, unconcerned villains require their writers to see their existence throughout every conflict"
Palpatine in the prequels and OT is exactly this
Every political scandal and military battle throughout the saga has been orchestrated, in some capacity, by palpatine
Its even in the name "phantom menace"
If the fight itself was 18seconds long that means it was accurate granted that magic exists. it's about the same length of time a sword fight would take. So with the help on DnD and their round management system being 6 seconds per round it makes sense given the actions taken in the fight.
That's actually a really sick observation. Been playing D&D for like 8 years and I never thought of that, that's fucking dope
7:18 When the character only says a simple phrase such as this in the same sort of calm manner, no amount of clenching your butt will prepare you.
I disagree strongly with your take on Palpatine, but the rest, ~chef's kiss~
The first time I saw that scene, it scared me. HE. JUST. DID. NOT. CARE. I also never thought to interpret Belos' glare at Luz as a sign of begrudging respect, though now it seems obvious and I feel kinda dumb lol. This is a more than worthy addition to the "One Villainous Scene" genre of essays!
i love having antagonists with legitimate reasons to send lackeys instead of getting shit done themselves
8:42 I feel like this comes down to a difference between professional drives and personal ones. He started that fight because he wanted to, because she effected him negatively on a personal level, rather then because he needed to and then he ended it because he needed to do other shit. She then left a bad professional impression on him by slowing him down but that's not something that he could act on because professional impressions are trumped by professional prioritization. This still wouldn't have been enough if he he was effected negatively on a personal level, as shown by outright precedent, but she apparently didn't do that. A negative impact on his professional goals without impacting him personally or providing further detriment to his goals leaves him feeling anywhere from neutral to, for a lack of a better word for it, fond toward her.
Have you heard the term word spaghetti, because that somewhat describes what you just wrote.
@@fishHater Luce do bad thing at Character!Belos so he disliked her and thus fought her.
Luce won so Character!Belos stopped disliking her.
Luce did bad thing at Agent!Belos but Agent!Belos doesn't like or dislike anything.
Luce doing bad thing at Agent!Belos was at least intellectually stimulating enough for Character!Belos to like her in the absence of any other opinion of her.
This was enough to give him a good opinion of her because he's highly isolated; anyone else is either a function of his manipulations or a function of his loss of control and in either case normally irritating and draining like a introvert at a party.
Luce managing to avoid being both below his notice or a _task in need of completing/obstacle in need of removing_ means that he's free to have a personal opinion of her which, being a social bring without much socialization, couldn't be anything but positive
@@marcusdaloia2974 please stop.
@@fishHater read it carefully and read each sentence one by one instead of reading it normally, it will make more sense. I'll sum it up though:
Belos probably hasn't had anyone challenge his plans the way Luz did. She challenged him in a way that didn't affect him personally, and so he can't exactly feel negative towards her. He's instead left with a sense of respect towards her and, as above, maybe even fondness for Luz being more formidable than he expected without hurting him or his project too much. Everyone else is either an obstacle he can throw away or a tool he can manipulate. Luz isn't exactly either one and for once, he wasn't able to manipulate or throw her away with ease.
Is this a better explanation?
@@tobenamed610 yes, thank you.
Seeing this video after Hollow Mind aired, I gotta say, damn your analysis of Belos is spot on.
Every new scene we get with Belos makes him even more charismatic and menacing. Love this guy and you describe it perfectly
damn, this was so well written, and broke down both s1 belos and the fight scene specifically so well! Amazing work!
I honestly don't know what to say. Thank you all so much, I'm blown away by the amazing response this video is getting. I'm hard at work on my next video for the channel, but since a lot of people have been asking how I feel about this stuff since the latest episodes aired I intend to make a follow-up to this video about exactly that. Said follow-up should be out Wednesday or Thursday and it will have to be a vlog to save on time, but I thought I'd give you all an update here since so few people follow my Twitter right now. Thanks again so much for all of this, I'm beyond grateful and excited to show you all what I've got in the oven!
P.S. to the Palpatine apologists in the chat: don't worry, I won't leave you twisting in the wind.
Edit: Here's the link to the follow-up if anyone's interested, it's post-Elsewhere and Elsewhen but pre-Them's the Breaks, Kid: th-cam.com/video/79YtKu4XBj0/w-d-xo.html
I’m interested to see how the new knowledge from elsewhere and elsewhen will play into this analysis since it actually does establish a direct connection to Luz and Belos (though presumably neither of them are even aware of said connection)
You should do king Andreas from amphibia
I was not expecting another video of this theme.
Also, I'm from the 90s and my foundational stories were about Free Will and Gnosis from Video Games. I don't care about your persuasion. It's your abilities of analysis that intrigue me.
This was pretty good though! And on my actual channel once I know how to edit I should get it sorted out, my own one of these.
I really liked this video and I'm looking forward to watch more of you in the future
After Elsewhere and Elsewhen, I think that when Luz was delivered the message that said the Emperor can't wait to meet her, I think that was present Belos referring to her meeting him in the past. Present Belos would be able to deduce that it was Luz and Lilith and be able to work backwards from there to determine when in their lives they'd go through the pools and meet past him. I think it was a self-indulgent leak of information that Belos knew Luz wouldn't be able to put together. Luz and Lilith's treatment of Phillip in the past is what largely drove him to his hatred of witches, and present Belos is aware of the irony of their interconnectedness. Belos KNEW in the season 1 finale that Luz and Lilith HAVE to escape, and he knew that he was fighting a version of Luz that hadn't met him in the past yet. Fascinating!
It’s a wind waker ganondorf vibe. Has almost no screen time but still manages to be one of the favorite ideations of the character.
Thank you for highlighting this show I didn't even know it existed
This was stupid...
STUPIDLY GOOD!
I'm glad you participated in this series and this is EXACTLY how I feel about Emperor Belos!
Edit: CONGRATS ON 1K VIEWS! SO PROUD OF YOU!
I love you too, sweetie.
Say 'hi' to my girlfriend, everybody.
Hi!
Hi!
and that was cheesy (this is a joke)
Hello
9:10 Yooo and after episode 15 it makes so much sense, because you know, he recognized her from the past and etc.
2:27 “shutup and take my subscription!” That’s srsly all I needed lmao xD
Your videos are criminally under appreciated
fr
I love the knifing manipulative villains, especially paired with manipulatable extremely powerful villains who they betray and get what’s coming to them.
Love how the collector’s reveal and subsequent ‘deal’ or gimmick for lack of a better word re-contextualizes belos’s dialogue in this scene.
I would say a villain that does not take the heroes seriously would be more intimidating.
Ohhhh this is three years old. Ok makes sense that you didn't know about the whole sigils genocide thing, but surprisingly accurate about order and chaos, it just happens that he sees all witches as chaos
BELOS is Manipulative , collected and Calculated. He is detached from everything that I just think he’s a sociopath/psychopath. That villain is just so well written
So is sociopathy inherently evil? Nope. Unmitigated, uncontrolled it can be though
I don't think Belos is a sociopath or a psychopath. I think we really need to see more from his childhood. But from what we have seen, those few snapshots in the form of paintings you can see Belos was happy, and they he at one time greatly loved his brother. I also noticed in every happy memory, Caleb's eyes are clawed out. Belos doesn't want to remember Caleb positively and he doesn't want to acknowledge that he ever had happy memories. He's been consumed by perceived abandonment and betrayal. I would argue and I certainly could that Belos is BPD coded. And he doesn't have the self awareness to heal nor do I even think he wants to. As Taifuu stated, no personality disorder including sociopathy makes you evil, it's a lack of awareness that can be damaging. But that's what DBT and CBT are for. ;P
That kneecapping line made perfect sense actually! "Don't kneecap the best batter on the team in the last inning of a tie game!" Mwah! Perfection. I love this series by the way, and I hate what Disney have decided to do to season three.
We've seen much more of Belos since S1 and *somehow.* *SOMEHOW.* He still gets more unsettling every time we do.
It’s particularly interesting to me that Belos is also kind of a perfect thematic foil to Luz. From minute one, Luz has been the weird kid, the one expressing herself and being creative. Belos, from the moment he’s first mentioned, is a controlling, manipulative force that wants things to stay ordered, actively punishing those that don’t fit that order. His influence is all over the Isles, from Lilith to Amity to the shady businesspeople to the coven system to the conformatorium, even the general population. It’s only when Luz intervenes that things start looking up for people. Lilith patches things up with her sister, Amity stands up to her parents and makes friends she cares about, the conformatorium prisoners realize their worth, and even Hunter begins to realize Belos doesn’t care about him. It’s amazing how basically everything in the show is an ideological battle between these two, and they’ve only met face to face once!
Spoiler warning
It’s also super cool of the team to make the historical connection as well, with Belos being from the 1600s. Luz and him are basically a battle between old puritan bigotry and modern thinking!
Keep in mind that Belos has undoubtedly abandoned whatever Puritan ideals he once held, considering that he himself is a magic practitioner-a powerful one at that-and he CLEARLY doesn't serve God anymore, if he ever did.
@@christopherbravo1813 no but the thing is he's so certain he's right he can justify it to himself and believe it. part of why he's so dangerous is because he genuinely believes the shit he's spouting until the very end. he genuinely thinks himself the hero. part of the ideological battle between him and luz is luz realizing she was on the path to becoming like him, too wrapped up in their own heads and ignoring the real world around them entirely. luz's big thing is to learn to control her creativity and not let her imagination completely take over her life, but to use it to make the real world a better place. belos on the other hand wraps himself in his head and becomes determined to make the world conform.
@@StonedHunter To be honest I think you put more thought into the Luz/Belos dynamic than the creators themselves did.
@@christopherbravo1813 i don't think so. i think it's something that wasn't able to be built on fully due to Disney cutting the series short
@@StonedHunter I thought the Owl House got exactly as much runtime as was agreed upon.
Luz's actions absically amounted to less than a second of lsot time, barely an annoyance.
But it's an annoyance nonetheless, even if small Luz' actions show a threat to Belos' plans.
And if there's anything a villain absed around order cannot stand, its something that defies it, even if it's small it's still a defiance the villain finds unnacceptable, because they cannot stand ANYTHING not following its ideas of order.
And so Belos lets Luz go as he has better things to do thn bother with some child...but he's not going to jsut leave her alone. Not when she represents a threat to hsi order.
Belos is a character who’s become inclined to just see every action headed his way as an eventuality
I like how this still mainly held up for the second season.
This show is one of my all time favorites and I’ve watched the series 3 times. It deserves more respect than Disney gave it.
So this is Major spoilers for up to the most recent episode, hollow mind, if of course before that you didn't already guess who Belos is.
I think that scene he didn't kill her because he needed her. He knew she was the one that went back and helped him get the collector. He knew that she survived long enough to do that, and he needed to make sure that she had actually done it and confirmed it before he could do anything.
Last thing he wanted to do was to actually put effort in and to have the universe either stop him to prevent a paradox or accidentally cause a paradox himself. And he now has complete confirmation she has gone back in time and helped him, so there is nothing stopping him from actually trying to end her, especially since she unwittingly helped him again catch the palismen souls.
I don't think he has any respect for luz. She was just another tool he needed to use, and now that she is no longer useful she can be discarded like all others he doesn't need.
One of my favorite story moments in this vein is when a villain is already an established force in the world and finally comes to know of/acknowledge that the hero is a notable obstacle to their plans. It is a satisfying moment where the hero has "arrived" on the big stage.
I want to mention after everything that we now know he might want to redo this video
I love Hunter, but I felt like his arc was very rushed.
Then I realized
It was. A full season 3 was cut. This makes me very sad. Especially since they didn’t know until after season 1. Maybe time could have been rationed better.
Imagine a reality where Hunter stays masked and intimidating for half a season, the face reveal and the realization he’s just some kid would hit wayyy harder. And then his slow redemption from there. But nope we were robbed.
Got this video in my recommendations so I decided to click it, wasn't disappointed. The way you described the scene and everything leading to it really stood out to me. After watching for a bit I was like ''at first you had my curiosity but now you have my attention''. Also loved the dance at the end. Great video 👍
If Belos was a true villain and not a man with an extremely thought out plan, he would’ve killed Luz, Eda, King, and everyone else related to them by now, he doesn’t need them anymore, elsewhere elsewhen already happened and if he need Luz he would’ve just killed everyone else, he’s not truly evil he just has goals and he’ll only kill if someone gets in the way of those goals
Welp his goal was to kill all the isle's people
This video helped me with writing my own villain(s), especially the opening just listing examples about how good villains are embedded into every facet of the story. Thanks!
I feel like a lot of credit also needs to be given to his voice actor. He's so good at going between calm and collected to angry and about to explode in mere moments that you are constantly on edge. The way he always keeps his voice soft adds to that effect and makes it hard to ever know what he's truly thinking or feeling. He speaks to just about everyone like they're children, because comparatively they are, and it also shows how sure of himself he is that he doesn't take anyone as a serious threat. Also how he's able to instill so much fear in so few words. He's easily become one of my favorite villains in just about anything.
6:04 “cantrip coven” that’s a dnd reference right there. Can’t believe I never noticed it before
Seeing this now, it occurs to me that this didn’t age well. “Belos is a cold calculateing villain, who expects loyalty, and doesn’t reward it” considering his whole deal later, as we learn more about him, He doesn’t expect loyalty, in fact he specifically expects to be betrayed, and LOVES the idea of killing the traitor. He also doesn’t kill her, because we discover that without her doing SOME TIME TRAVEL, Belos would have gotten killed a long time ago. We also learn that he isn’t trying to establish order, he’s trying to COMMIT A GENOCIDE.
It aged well because that's what he WANTS people to think he's doing. He completely flipped the script; I don't think anyone saw it coming that he was a witch hunter. It's honestly a testament to his manipulation and cruel, calculating plans that he's gotten this far with even US convinced that he has order in mind and a goal that's only subjectively evil, when in reality man's just downright unfuckinghinged
@@d.v.3314 He doesn’t want people to think he expects loyalty, from what he’s shown, he doesn’t care about that at all. He’s aware of the time travel Lilith and Luz undergo, which aids him in becoming the Belos we know. He makes promises to Lilith, which he never intends to keep, he doesn’t ask her for loyalty, he simply tells her what to do, and if she doesn’t do it, she will be reprimanded, but never outright killed because he needs her to defect, and time travel with Luz, in order to make him get what he has already gotten but can’t get if future him kills Lilith before she does it.
Also, this doesn’t age well because it’s PRETTY CLEAR that his motives are not “Establish Order” he does an absolutely horrible job of hiding the fact that he outright HATES the world he is in, while you might not conclude he’s genocidal, you’d conclude he’s definitely not trying to establish order. This video claims that he is afraid of magic, that he is trying to bring order to it out of fear. This is entirely incorrect, as he is instead not afraid of magic, but simply hates it, and all who use it. It also passes over his clear disdain for magic, which shows no signs of fear whatsoever.
Saying he is perhaps fearful of magic, while also showing clips of him interacting with magic in ways which completely shatter this idea, is just lack of insight. He’s a good villain, in that he fooled many people, in his own world, and fooled a few people in this world which bothered to look harder at him, and make content about it. The regular viewer who doesn’t dwell on possibilities, but merely consumes the content, is EXPECTED to not see beyond the surface level. However most people who do dig deep, are quick to notice that not only is he clearly lying about his motives, but that he holds such disdain for magic and magical beings it borders on disgust.
Every interaction he has displays him as a formidable foe, however nuances in the way he behaves, such as where he chooses to place himself in any given interaction with another character, shows that he isn’t just trying to intimidate them, he’s actively bothered by their very presence, even when they come to give him what should be good news. “Lord Belos sir, I’ve captured my sister Eda” you’d expect him to maintain a bit more of a personal connection during such a conversation, his enemy has been captured, by his minion, he should be expressing joy, not thankfulness, but pleasure in the fact that he has succeeded in one of his goals. However, instead, he doesn’t even menace Lilith, until he has to, instead he stays distant, cold and indifferent. This comes off as him simply being a cold and calculated leader, however we learn that he is the exact opposite of that, he’s closer to a raging madman who has the mental capacity to just barely contain his boiling rage.
This gives many scenes a different vibe than they might have had. His animation has always shown him to be moving in a fairly restrictive manner, many people falsely concluded that this was due to his calm demeanour, his almost robotic efficacy, when in reality, that it couldn’t be further from the truth, the reason he moves as he does, reacts as he does, is because he’s holding back violent outbursts, which as he arrives closer to his goals, we see he has had a history of violent, outright sadistic tendencies. We couldn’t have known that when this came out, however his movements, his actions, to some appeared an air of calm, while others were perturbed.
If you’ve ever been in a room, with someone quiet, like a public place, with people all about, you may notice someone who doesn’t really interact with their surroundings, attempting to interact with this person would reveal one of several possibilities, they are awkward and shy perhaps. Or, you see the person who chooses to sit alone, and is actively dissuading others from taking seats near them through simple actions like glaring at them enough for them to decide to not sit near them.
Some people give off a, “vibe” which is inherently violent, like standing close to a container under pressure which is about to burst. They may appear calm, but they they definitely aren’t. Like my stepfather, he usually seemed fairly slow, sluggish, calm, only for him to suddenly fly into a rage and kick me down the stairs. Belos, gives me that feeling, not the feeling like he’s sizing me up, calculating and cold, but the feeling that he’s going to commit an act of extreme violence at any moment. And I was right to feel that way, as we later learn.
I spoke in several circles there but did you eventually understand my point?
In a way hes trying to establish order for the human world. He's a witch hunter.
I loved your comparison of Belos to a company manager.
also, from what I can tell Belos' actions make perfect sense when you look at them from HIS perspective.
Of COURSE he wouldn't reward his lackey for bungling a supposedly simple task for so long, and there's no reason he'd regard a barely-trained wild mage child as anything more than a toddler in need of a thorough spanking. like Basil said, Belos has more important things to do than chase after the heroes personally, and for the most part they barely possess any importance in of themselves.
One thing I often realize from any kind of story-telling medium: There are no evil people, just complicated characters. From the logic of there being no evil people, one could argue that psychopaths are not persons. However, from the logic of there being complicated characters, one could say telling or showing the story of someone's traumatic past, family baggage, or foisted/foretold destinies exemplifies the journey the character takes to achieve their goal, which otherwise serves as the lure which draws in the audience. This is perhaps the reason why Mary Sues and Gary Stus are looked down on heavily.
Think of it like giving Master Chief a face all of a sudden. The creators of Halo never gave him a face in the first place because they designed him so that the players could identify themselves through him. I mean, imagine if you released a television series where you gave the main character from a well known video game a face all of a sudden! Would you imagine the ratings? I bet it would tank so hard-
*WAIT THAT FEKKIN' HAPPENED*
I'm such a huge fan of people taking Owl House seriously as far as its writing goes. Its writing is phenomenal, on par with giants like Winx Club and Avatar the Last Airbender. I'm truly in awe of the writers, and it is hands down my partner's favorite television show.
i think it's very cool how letting them go did have a reason; they needed to do the time portal stuff.
The interpretation of this video changes a Lot after the last chapter . Luz and belos had met more than 300 years ago
fair enough, this has made me rethink my BBEG of my d&d campaign. Should be good when i reveal the golden dragon god has secretly been pulling the strings behind the curtain in order to preserve his immortality.
episode 12 makes this so much better because belos is the one mad at luz now in this scene
Spoilers for season 2
I think one of the reasons he showed some form of respect to Luz is because they're both human. There's also some timeline shenanigans that has to be maintained in order to prevent a paradox.
honestly, the way he can just fling people around like that is kinda like sans, but stronger and able to fight for a very long time . and he has a blue eye.
nice, villains are almost more important than the hero imo they need priority - also you're really funny c:
Belos is literally just a classic christian religious leader. Wild magic is pagan religion. How can someone see the new episode “Follies at the Coven Day Parade” without thinking so
Edit: And, in the new episode, turns out he’s the leader of a death cult, trying to unite all with the titan (basically their god).
Not quite a perfect comparison. Belos hates wild magic because he was cursed by it. It'd be more akin to a say, a Christian priest/pastor hating druidism because a practitioner carved a pentagram into his back.
@@warbacca1017 Except the the priest/pastor would have carved that into his own back in order to protect himself from the practitioner and now suffers because of the carving.
And after Elsewhere and Elsewhen, it's even more clear
Sooo nobody is gonna point out the fact that paganism is not what the christian church views as evil? It in fact is polytheism, the worship of multiple gods which is only seen as evil in christianity because of the concept of idolatry. But ok
@Tin Watchman ‘most forms’ is inaccurate. All forms of Christianity frown upon the idea of idolatry and therefore attempted (and largely succeeded) to weed out anything that they believed was as such in religious culture worldwide. You clearly don’t know the history you speak of. Also the fact that christian idealists don’t distinguish between idolatry and worshiping multiple separate entities is ridiculous, seeing as idolatry by definition and its usage in Christianity means worshipping something in place of God as they (meaning Christians) believe he is equates to blasphemy, whereas “paganism” or more appropriately, polytheism is the worship of multiple separate entities as Gods which is an entirely different thing altogether. Point is they SHOULD d differentiate the two because idolatry is not equal to worshipping multiple deities.
given what we learned from a earlier episode in the reacent season "SPOILERS TERRETORY"
Luz went on a time trip with lilith and they encounterd the "mysterius author" and he shares way to much traits and simularitys with the emperor and luz gets tricked by this author so he gains access to a place he wanted to reatch, meaning during that point and time he could have known Luz had yet not reatched the point where she'd travle back in time to meet him in the past with Lilith.. time travle magic hurts my head to think about.
Thank you for being the only person I've seen in this comment section who actually warns people about spoilers and keeps them buried. Appreciate you
Bro holy crap. I've heard of this show but didn't realize how cool the designs are. Straight up kids shows just keep getting better. Like ever since the brony phenomenon ran it's course I feel like there is a lot more quality cartoons that are being noticed by a lot more people.
Bill Cypher was a great villain because when he was introduced he was relatively unknown when he was introduced, but quickly built into something truly terrifying to the protagonists.
"Okay. I'll play." Best. Badass. Line. Period.
People think writing a villain is just basically making them a jerk to the protagonist. It could work if you're doing one-dimensional, quick stories, but its boring and brings nothing sustainable to the table. I don't even have to watch a whole season on Belos to know he's more complicated than that. Not all people are necessarily evil, and even then they don't consider themselves as such. Say you have a loved one who's sick and dying, but there's a cure. The problem is that the cure is guarded by many people who have their own causes for doing so. Would you go out of your way to obtain that cure for that loved one? There are people that would, and we can't say that makes them evil.
Belos is a man of business; his goals come first. Anyone who is able to keep a tactful mind would take care of more major issues before the petty ones. Belos proves that by literally not caring about jack shit but his own, major goals.
This is why Belos is one of the best villains in cartoon existence. For me, that's pretty hard to achieve, given Azula typically takes the throne on a daily basis as her divine right.
Belos is straight up one of those Elden Ring PCs that figures out an OP mage build
THANK YOU!!! I completely agree with you when you said that they needed to rectify the situation in which there would not be an extended season 3. In my opinion, with all the support the show is getting, they could even make a season FIVE. #OWLHOUSE #TOH #LUZ #AMITY #EDA #KING #BELOS #LUMITY
Damn after watching the entire two seasons, this first fight between Luz and Belos hits differently😳
So close to the end of season 2 and I still think a 3rd season would have been amazing. So much time, love, and support put into a widely accepted and well reviewed show; just seems like a net loss to not keep it going
me last year
“and i am furiously bisexual”
me this year
“and i am furiously lesbian”
So spoilers for season 3 here: We find Wittebane is Belos in season 2 episode 19 which puts alot of this into context. Belos isn't looking to get rid of wild magic because it's chaotic and he doesn't want the door to rule earth. He just wants to finally go home and wild magic is the thing that got him stuck in this place. He loaths witches not because they threaten him but because it's an obstacle to get home.
I think he made the door though and he like
Wants to get rid of magic or something to get revenge on witches in general maybe
Belos just gets more menacing as season 2 goes on. They are definitely setting him up for a no redemption ending. He is everything I wanted White Diamond to be but she fell so short. I love how all of his allies seem like they could be redeemed even just partially while Belos is down right cold and terrifying.
Coming back to this scene after later episodes points to who he realy is. Namely with how Lus basically off easy aftet getting in his way.
Belos even when you find out how pathetic he really is, remains terrifying even then as *everything* went *perfectly* to plan until King Released the Collector. Something he'd have NO way of knowing about, as King, a Titan was from a species meant to be extinct and not even the collector knew about King's whereabouts.
He's the most terrifying example of someone living in the past, and it shows
I never thought I’d see someone so furiously bisexual….
I’m proud of our community
from this video alone this guy seems like a realistic villian. dude is as violent as frieza but is waaay more chilled down in how he acts. it really does seem like out of any of this he still doesnt feel confident despite the efficiency and power of his position. i agree he likley let him/her go to let them get stronger or make more attempts to stop him and grow. Maybe he isnt really the main villan and is preparing for something (or he is and he is looking for powerful apprentices.).
This might have been the video that got me to check out owl house and I can't thank you enough for this amazing journey
Damn that was fast, but yeah I'm really gonna miss this series
Never expected a unlike pluto song, but im glad you added it. Was a fun watch, thanks a lot :)
Btw, I love the detail taht Luz later uncovers the spell to summon the same arms Belos uses in this fight. It's a nice little foreshadowing
The best is when the Villain is not only right, but is actively protecting the hero but this is not obvious until it is revealed at the end.
ive never seen the owl house, but ive heard good things. i wont lie, i think this video is gonna be the tipping point for me. excellent video, ill check out the show. thanks homie
Nice analysis, I love the way you dissected every scene
Using this to help me write villains for DnD, thank you so much for the help!
I'm usually pretty conflicted about villains these days because either they're sympathetic or pure evil. And Belos is neither. I mean yes, he is evil and abusive and homicidal, but not simply for the sake of being evil. He is a villain with complex motives, he is a villain who thinks of himself as a hero and a villain who is a product of his time (which absolutely doesn't excuse his actions, but it does explain them).
A lot of people were disappointed that he's actually a human, but i think that's just even more terrifying. In a fantasy world with demons and witches and magic, Belos is a surprisingly grounded and realistic villain. He is someone who is so caught up on old societal rules and beliefs, and he refuses to think differently. He refuses to even consider the idea that he might be wrong, because he has a god complex. He treats everyone else as either animals that need to be put down, or victims that need rescuing. This is clearly reflected when Luz accuses him of being inhumane, and he simply replies that she is brainwashed by the witches. He is also a product of religious trauma and also an enforcer of it.
I'd argue that even Firelord Ozai isn't that terrifying. Even though we see the consequences of his abuse in Zuko and Azula, Ozai never accomplished anything more than that. A lot of his "achievements" were accomplished by Azula, his 14 year old daughter. Even though he is canonically the strongest firebender, it doesn't really add much to the story until his final battle with Aang, where of course, he loses.
In my opinion, Belos is one of the best villains I've seen in a while and i really hope he'll be present in S3 as well because while i think the Collector has a good character design and everything, i think Belos is a much better villain and character.
Love your analysis, but I find it pretty funny that you say he's "so caught up on old societal rules and beliefs" and yet in the very next sentence say he has a god complex.
the latter is true, by the way, but I'm pretty sure those "old societal rules and beliefs" had a thing or two to say about mortal men who declared themselves to be God.
@@christopherbravo1813 lmao you're right, it sounds hypocritical but it surprisingly coexists within a lot of people. it's usually people who believe themselves to be perfect or holy that set rules for everyone else and refuse to change their mind even when proven wrong.
@@skyhideaway evidently Belos didn't get the memo about "no man is righteous, not one."
Its like fighting a god that represents a ideal.
The thing I love about this scene is how it manages to, in 45 seconds, make Belos seem utterly terrifying and make Luz seem incredibly resourceful. It is hard to write fights that reinforces both the hero and the villain's strength, because normally, someone wins, and the other combatant just looks dumb or unskilled as a result.
For Belos, this fight was about showing off his power and cold, calculating style. He effortlessly tosses Luz around and is in total control of this fight from the moment it begins. It's all Luz can do to react to what he's doing, and even then, you get the sense that he's holding back. By the end, Belos gets what he wants, partially by overwhelming strength, and partially by that cold, surgical precision, using Luz's friends as bargaining chips to force Luz to give up the portal. He's terrifying.
However, they didn't make Belos so powerful that it would only take bad writing to bring him down. Luz holds her own, at least in her way. Sure, magically she's super outmatched, but the panic induced dodging is still a pretty impressive display of magical prowess from our hero. The bigger thing though, is that Luz does get some victories, both by chipping Belos' mask via the ice glyph, and by blowing up the portal. This shows the audience that while Belos is overwhelmingly strong, he's not all knowing. Belos does have blind spots, and while he's capable of reacting pretty quickly to surprises, he's also not invincible.
Somehow, this scene makes us proud of Luz for growing, shows Belos as an unstoppable monster in terms of conventional warfare, and gives us hope that someday, somehow, he could have a blind spot that the heroes can sneak through. The show makes us feel that Luz is both powerful and helpless. It makes us feel that Belos is both unstoppable and vulnerable. And it does all of this without being the slightest bit contradictory.
It's a really, really hard balance to write, and this scene somehow manages it. It's impressive.
Well, looks like I have a new show to watch. Also, love your shirt! I have the same one. ^_^
"and I'm furiously bisexual"
Odd display of hubris but very well