🎶It's been Agatha all along!🎶

The stunning beauty of Belos.

We have been used to see a huge masked emperor almost warlord looking like character. Someone who tossed around our main character Luz, someone who was ready to get Eda petrified and many others because they where not conforming to his rules, a lier who gave false hope to Lilith, a person who was feeding of what we ended up seeing as life long friends the Palismans, he was clearly ill, he has been seen abusing Hunter, we saw him snap and hit a wall several times, we saw him turn into a monster and in pain, threat others, guilt trip Hunter then almost hit him when he tried to reply back.

Yes this is an abuser.

And yet we failed to notice almost none seemed to be done out of pure malace, its just apathy and carelessness to the others, even when it came to Luz he stated "I'll play." and preceded to PLAY with her, all his attacks where on the sides none where a real threat as he could have had impaled her from underneath with ease, even the worm was almost harmless as he himself was showed inside. He stated he is not interested in invading and pinned her down, in the end he left her to go and stated "Go be the hero." he can tell what she is doing is heroic, he knows the difference between BAD and GOOD.

Here is the thing, he does not seem to care anymore.

All to him seems to be just parts of a plan, nothing seems to matter. When we see him emote it's mostly on impulse and fades away as fast.

He seemed as a monster an entity without mercy or emotions if you didn't look much into his behavior and after all that we got the face reveal.

He is not a monster, he is human.

A charming looking elder man, charming to the point his eyes and smile seem welcoming and somewhat warm, his hair down gives a free like vibe to him. He has blue familiar human eyes we see around us not yellow eyes like many of the witches or pink, he has dry lips and wrinkles but even those just make him look softer like a grandfather or a uncle . He looks approachable. Call back to my mushroom post.

A tired charming elder man...

It takes a moment to realise this man has no glow into his eyes.

He always keeps this similar expression.

But then for a single frame when asked about the rain he looks even more nostalgic.

You can see in his look something came to his mind. He answers with pleasure takes a moment to ponder over it then changes the subject and touched Hunters shoulder, from this moment he is back in control, he is already guiding Hunter to the exit.

Another detail is he almost always hides his hands, this usually in body language creates discomfort and is made to hide things, we are used to think they might hide a weapon and feel unsafe, he speaks about the Guards about Kikimora and moves his hand then when it cokes to Hunter he hides his hand, the otheris stillon Hunter but there only to guide him to leave. He might have some empathy or care for Hunter.... But it might not be very much on the surface because all the conversations didn't involve any ounce of true emotion except his moment of nostalgia for the human realm, Hunter is part of his plan, but at the door he has a small shrug while saying good night, Hunter does not need to be usefull... He is usefull in himself as a item he doesn't need to do anything around that to prove himself because to Belos he seems to be just a cog in the machine. His purpose is already settled all he does till the point he will be put to use might be just to fill time atthis point if just staying in the castle is ok.

Here and there you can see a frame where his expressions are entirely different from the vibes he is keeping.

Moments where the choice of eyebrows he has is amazing because he has them similar to arrows hiseasiest expression to portray would be anger and then worry or soft calm.

The size of his ears is always in evidence because of Hunter even the small tear they both have is there to show the contrast in size even more.

I don't believe his nose has a bump as in many shoots the scar seems to be the reason its like that. Speaking of the scar or maybe tree bark its all across his face and going down his neck at this point we can't even tell how much of him is flesh.

Belos is showing mainly apathy.

He has an end game and for it to lie is fine, to turn people into stone is fine, to experiment on creatures is fine, to be cold to a child that is under your care is fine, even to abuse them because they step out of the line you put for them, to throw around another child around is fine. He doesn't kill Luz because it's unnecessary, he seems to do only what is necessary to fulfil his plan.

At this point just from a climps you can tell what ever happens to his surroundings is meaningless to him as long as he gets what he wants. He clearly doesn't want the love of others anymore,one could say this entire situation is not what he wants and he is going to fix it, throw it all away and so what happens here doesn't matter.

Belos has his heart made of stone, he is tired, cold and dead inside,his eyes have no shine. All that keeps him moving is "The titan's will." or what ever his end game might be. Nothing else really matters to him, maybe just his memories of something very distant in the past.

Having that hidden inside a soft looking elder man... Who has on the outside this strong looking entity like character is stunningly beautiful.

But then..... Within all this nuances.... I found this frame.

In this one frame he seems to have a drop of care for Hunter when he got approached, Hunter shoud have insisted on the human realm not ask about Kikimora... Because in that one frame he just looks lonely.

In this moment from my point of view, we have no way of telling if he is entirely bad or good all he is is driven and determined.

What ever he has been put through got him in this state, even the suite in the background is pushing up at the beggining in a sinister way then ends up being soft, nostalgic and warm and after slowly it starts to crack and be distorted in something sinister.

Belos he himself is not entirely there anymore.

To me it makes him so much scarier

Because look at this mans face

He looks like a kind old man, his eyes are tired but slanted outward, his eyebrows are tilted upward and his smile looks genuine. His hair is greying and grown out, and his voice is normal and has a kind tone to it

And then listen to what he says to Hunter

“Would you like to see how it works, Hunter?”

He isn’t angry that Hunter was hiding, he doesn’t even mention it again, he doesn’t tell Hunter that it was ok but he chooses to not comment on it

“Is it true that rain doesn’t boil in the human realm?”

“It is, you know I’ve actually been there before, did I ever tell you that?”

Listening to the way that line was delivered feels so genuine, so soft and kind and real, Hunter’s little shake if his head and the look on his face, he isn’t scared, but he’s fascinated and curious. And belos indulges in this, explaining what the human realm is like to him. It all feels so normal, like a parental figure talking to their kid, and it isn’t threatening or anything

But the thing is, we KNOW that it’s not true. We know what Belos does to Hunter, we know how badly Hunter is affected by Belos’ abuse, (something we see a LOT of in this specific episode). We see what his treatment DOES to anyone close to him, not just Hunter, but also Lilith, and Kikimora. We saw how Lilith was, and we’re seeing how Kikimora is compleatly paranoid, unstable and desperate for approval in the same way Hunter is. Belos has isolated both of them by making them beleive that they’re enemies, when in reality they’re both going through the same abuse.

But this scene makes it so understandable (and to some people, relatable) why his methods work so well. This is a common manipulation tactic that manipulators and abusers use, they pretend to love you, they treat you well, they’re kind to you and give you the things you want, but only sometimes. They use this persona of someone you love and trust as an excuse for the victim to use for them

“Oh, they hurt me, but they love me! We have so much fun together!”

“They did tell me I’m useless, but only because they care about me! They love me so much, I know they do!”

Etc etc, they make you rely on and trust this person you beleive them to be, they make you care about them and want to stay with them for all the good times to make you disregard the bad. And Belos is aware of what he’s doing, he’s cementing it in hunters mind that he needs to work to gain approval, that approval is everything he has, that he CAN be replaced, all to make him desperate for this approval and essentially trapped under his thumb.

“Everyone has a use, Hunter, Kikimora has her intricate little plans, the scouts carry out orders, and you… well… the titan has big plans for you, and it would be such a hassle to find a replacement. So right now you can be useful by staying safe in the castle.”

‘It would be such a hassle to find a replacement’, you aren’t EASILY replaceable, but you ARE replaceable. You are important, but we don’t need YOU. It’s meant to sound like an attempt at reassurance (“you aren’t easy to replace, you are important.”) so that it makes you see them as a good person, but it reestablishes those fears they have instilled in you (“you CAN be replaced, and we don’t need YOU”)

The warning and grip Belos does to Hunter.

When I saw this scene for the first time, I actually didn't see the problem with this. For me, it's clear that the Emperor cares for his nephew if in a twisted way. His "please, be careful" sounds sincere and when he said "I can't let this happen to you" it seems to be a combination of "I'm worried I'm going to lose you too" and "You better not think about that again" which yeah sounds and is authoritarian but the intention of protection is there.

Also that strong grip? Remember that the Clawthorne sisters are more prone to have feathers when they are upset, scared or distressed, so why not Belos? If there was goop/mud in his hand at that instant is because maybe he was worried/distressed that something bad could happen to Hunter and the hard grip is a way of keeping his nephew with him as if studing Wild Magic will take him away right at that moment.

I know many of you are into the "Belos is abusive" train and honestly, I'm into the train as well, but going into the "he doesn't care at all for Hunter" parade is something I refuse to do for the moment, until we have more proof in future episodes.

Also even though it was not depicted on screen we can all guess what they

I don’t know what’s funnier, Shockwave being PUNTED. TWICE. or the fact that the best retort he could come up w was ‘LIAR LYING LIAR’

I wish these two had more interactions but I don’t think Shockwave would have lived through em did you hear his wheezing??so old!! and so skinny!!!

//this is so wonderful.

It's Anakin, what were you expecting...?

Or, the Anakin & Padmé Meme, a tragedy(?) in four parts.

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