History Recap / TheOwlHouseS2E16HollowMind

** When Luz refuses to believe he's Philip Wittebane, Belos mockingly assumes Philip's form and shows her a flashback of their encounter from Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E12ElsewhereAndElsewhen, revealing he's known who Luz was all along.

** Over the course of the episode, Hunter discovers that Belos doesn't care about him at all, lied to him about their past, and ''killed'' his past incarnations once they outlived their usefulness to him. He's horrified to discover this and after returning to the physical world, rips off his cloak in horror before fleeing into the forest.

** Hunter and all the prior Golden Guards are artificial constructs Belos created, known as Grimwalkers, and he killed all the prior ones once they "betrayed" him. The Grimwalkers also also based on a former companion of his.

* BrokenPedestal: Over the course of the episode, Hunter discovers that Belos doesn't care about him at all, lied to him about their past, and ''killed'' his past incarnations once they outlived their usefulness to him. He's horrified to discover this and after returning to the physical world, rips off his cloak in horror before fleeing into the forest.
* CallBack: Luz sees a portrait that shows [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS1E19YoungBloodOldSouls Belos seemingly triumphing over Eda (as the Owl Beast), Lilith, Luz and King]].

* IHeardThat: In a recent memory, Luz and Hunter are talking to each other when the memory Belos says "I can hear you". The two of them are momentarily startled, thinking that the memory is somehow cognizant of them, but it turns out he was referring to someone hidden within the memory.

* IRejectYourReality: Despite claiming to know a lot about mindscapes, Hunter is initially in denial about how the memories in the initial hallway were false and that Belos is really an evil tyrant and a liar.

* RhymesOnADime: The Collector, although it's more of a preference than strictly. At one point they also bemoan the difficulty in rhyming "unity" and give up.

* YourSoulIsMine: Apparently, when Belos absorbs a Palisman, he's actually ''stealing its soul'', and they all exist inside his mindscape, which is the apparent source of his affliction, or at least why he can control it. The monstrous form.

* ConditionedToAccept: How Eda justifies to Luz how no one has realized how ObviouslyEvil Belos is; he's been Emperor for fifty years, so everyone is used to the way that he runs things by now.

* BaitAndSwitch: At first it seems like the child Belos is the manifestation of Belos's guilt or some other emotion, while the Inner Belos is the monster that's chasing Hunter and Luz throughout his mind, but ''child'' turns out to be the Inner Belos in disguise, while the monstrous one is really the embodiment of the Palisman souls he's consumed, and is apparently trying to rescue them by stopping the Inner Belos.

* BittersweetEnding: Luz and Hunter manage to get out of Belos's mind safely with some new information, but Luz is clearly deeply shaken by TheReveal of who Belos really is, and Hunter, realizing that Belos knows that the two of them were in his mind and that he can't return to the castle, flees from the Owl House in a panic. Even worse, King and Eda apparently needed to use up what's left of Luz's Titan blood to save her and Hunter.

** After discovering that Belos lied to him the whole time about everything and knowing he can’t come back, Hunter has a mental breakdown and runs away horrified by the experiences.

* ConditionedToAceept How Eda justifies to Luz how no one has realized how ObviouslyEvil Belos is; he's been Emperor for fifty years, so everyone is used to the way that he runs things by now.

* InMediaRes: The ColdOpen show us Luz and Hunter already inside Belos’s head. How they got there is explained shortly after.

** Luz finds out that Belos is in the process of rebuilding the portal door, something the audience already saw at the end of season one.

* MoralityPet: Multiple times it's shown Hunter cares very deeply for his palisman Flapjack, telling him "I love you", uncontrollably shaking when the husk of a bird palisman crumbles in his hand, and is visibly horrified when Belos' destroys the soul of a bird palisman in front of him.

* SurprisingRealisticOutcome: When Luz is frustrated at why the witches in Boiling Isles believe in Belos’s propaganda, both Eda and King tell her that she can’t expect people to think otherwise without concrete proofs and she needs to do it in a big way since they have been indoctrinated for a lifetime.

* SurprisingRealisticOutcome: When Luz is frustrated at why the witches in Boiling Isles believe in Belos’s propaganda, both Eda and King tell her that she can’t expect people to think otherwise without concrete proofs and she needs to do it in a big way.

* InternalReveal: Luz finds out that Belos is in the process of rebuilding the portal door, something the audience already saw at the end of season one.

* YourSoulIsMine: Apparently, when Belos absorbs a Palisman, he's actually ''stealing its soul'', and they all exist inside his mindscape, which is the apparent source of his affliction, or at least why he can control it. The monstrous form

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: In Belos' true mindscape, a series of damaged memory images can be seen in numerous background shots that seem to tell a story of Belos as a child and someone who looks a lot like Hunter, they end up in the Demon Realm, the Hunter-like person befriends someone that young adult Belos hates, Belos confronts him with a dagger, and then Belos is seen looking at the dagger [[GoryDiscretionShot with a red splatter on his face]] with a body lying in on the ground.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: In Belos' true mindscape, a series of damaged memory images can be seen in numerous background shots that seem to tell a story of Belos as a child and someone who looks a lot like Hunter, they end up in the Demon Realm, the Hunter person befriends someone that young adult Belos hates, Belos confronts him with a dagger, and then Belos is seen looking at the dagger [[GoryDiscretionShot with a red splatter on his face]].

* BittersweetEnding: Luz and Hunter manage to get of Belos's mind safely with some new information, but Luz is clearly deeply shaken by TheReveal of who Belos really is, and Hunter, realizing that Belos knows that the two of them were in his mind and that he can't return to the castle, flees from the Owl House in a panic. Even worse, King and Eda apparently needed to use up what's left of Luz's Titan blood to save her and Hunter.

** "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" already made it obvious, but this episode explicitly spells it out that Philip and Belos are one and the same. He had to change his name after "Philip" got run out of too many towns. Philip/Belos isn't also a human, but a ''witch hunter''.

* WhamEpisode: Belos reveals to Luz that he's Philip and a witch hunter, Hunter, realizing that Belos knows that they were in his mind, flees from the Owl House in a panic, Eberwolf is apparently working with Darius and Raine against Belos, Belos has some kind of deal with the Collector, who is sealed below the Isles and will get their freedom on the Day of Unity, and the sigils are actively dangerous to anyone who has one. Oh, and Hunter is confirmed to not only be a "Grimwalker", but merely the latest in a long line of them, and he runs away when he realises that he will most likely be killed if he returns to Belos.

* WhamEpisode: Belos reveals to Luz that he's Philip and a witch hunter, Hunter, realizing that Belos knows that they were in his mind, flees from the Owl House in a panic, Eberwolf is apparently working with Darius and Raine against Belos, Belos has some kind of deal with the Collector, who is sealed below the Isles and will get their freedom on the Day of Unity, and the sigils are actively dangerous to anyone who has one. Oh, and Hunter is confirmed to not only be a "Grimwalker", but merely the latest in a long line of them.

* CallBack: Luz sees a portrait that shows [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS1E19YoungBloodOldSouls Belos triumphing over Eda (as the Owl Beast), Lilith, Luz and King]].

* CallBack: Luz sees a portrait that shows [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS1E19YoungBloodOldSouls Belos triumphing over Eda (as Owlbeast), Lillith, Luz and King]].

* CallBack: Luz sees a portrait that shows [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheOwlHouseS1E19YoungBloodOldSouls Belos triumphing over Eda (as Owlbeast), Lillith, Luz and King]].

A magical mishap transports Luz and Hunter into a new — and very twisted and nightmarish — mindscape of a familiar foe.

A magical mishap transports Luz and Hunter into a new—and very twisted and nightmarish—mindscape.