I am so so incredibly ashamed that it took me A WHOLE YEAR to actually draw this request 😭 I am deeply sorry for making you wait this long

Had done this yesterday was very hard to decide to post or not but eh WTH I said yessss I added the reference photos. I used to capture his physique while trying to capture. I did him in my own style 🫪🫪🫪🫪🫪🫪🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 #professorratigan #thegreatmousedetectiveratigan #myart

I'm under the weather (thanks seasonal change!) so have a sparkly Skeletor from ages ago

Oooh, so funny 😆

And I really mean terryfingly

A while ago, I said I was compiling stuff for a post. This is that post. I rewatched The Owl House to refresh my memories, and due to this...fixation of mine, all the little details of Philip's brilliance littered throughout the show popped out to me.

I will try to keep my gushing to a minimum and only list out things I've noticed and rationalised, not coloured too much by personal bias. Also will try not to venture into headcanon territory

(I joined the Owl House fandom really, really, really late, so apologies if I end up regurgitating other talked about points, but I just really want to yell about this on my own)

Let's start with something very minimal in terms of everything else I'll list, but spoke out to me greatly

1, He's incredibly perceptive and/or hyper vigilant

Originally I thought, "Oh wow, he knew Luz was lying about her and Lillith's relationship as well?" but then realised it might be because Luz called Lillith by her real name before this line. Which leads me to belive two things!

On top of knowing they were lying about their goal - which okay yeah was an admittedly dumb and obvious lie from Luz- he either 1) knew they lied about who they were to each other from the start (which is crazy, 'cause Luz and Lillith's behaviour does resemble that of an aunt and niece, so most wouldn't have reason to doubt that lillith IS luz' aunt) or 2, upon hearing Luz call out "dirtude" by her real name, immediately rationalised in his head that she isn't Luz' real aunt

Lillith could be a nickname! a home name! a middle name! But no, he figured it out right then and there that Luz lied about both their goal and relationships

again, very small, but to me it shows how quick-thinking Philip is.

2, Next up! The glyphs

holy CRAP is Philip a total master of the glyphs.

(clearer pitctures of the glyphis thanks to the owl house wiki)

Before watching Them's the Breaks, Kid my brother vaguely recollected the fact that Luz figured out petrification. And i was like oh okay, cool! So we watched only to hear--

And the way i sat up in confusion and shock? like what? PHILIP somehow figured out how to make wind, water petrification and beast summoning glyphs? to the point he casually doodles them in his journal? the FUCK? and I'm supposed to be normal about this

(what's scarier is even without Luz giving him the light glyph, he could still form 3/4 of these glyphs)

then there's the lock glyph from for the future

And finally, the magnum opus, his teleportation glyph

. There's an interesting difference betwen Philip's combos and the ones drawn by the other characters

For a while I debated why that could be and it hit me.

It was stated in Escaping Expulsion that you could alter glyphs to do different actions based on what the original caster wants. Well, what if not just the glyphs themselves but how the lines are drawn?

Considering it's very likely the owl houses' glyph system is inspired by Witch Hat Atelier's (COME on people just look at it) It's not too far-fetched to say it might work with the same principles. Philip's glyph activates a spell that sprouts into itself, which is quite peculiar, as Owl house elemental spells, when drawn and not altered, blast upwards/a static direction

Something that could support my point is how his wind glyph vaguely resembles the top of a vortex

This to me shows that Philip understands Glyphs to such a fundamental degree he uses real-life physics to form combinations

(the ice and fire glyphs working as temperature regulation-- perhaps the fire glyphs are meant to melt the ice glyph, while the ice glyph itself is so cold it rapidly cools the produced liquid, thus giving us the rapidly cooling effect that occurs in tornados? The ice is in the centre as well, giving us a low central pressure point.

It's sort of headcanon terriroty here, but there's a later section I'll dive into that makes me think Philip would take account the physics behind everything)

Also, the lock glyph looks like a circuit network, which is neat.

Of course there's the objective ingenuity behind the teleportation glyph. That isn't something one forms by accident or observing nature-- it's something that must have been made from countless attempts, trial and error and, again, a tremendous understanding of the core behind glyph magic (plus a whole dang lot of physics too)

Especially completing such task without the use of the light glyph.

What elevates Philip's brilliance even further is that he was somehow nerfed?

The collector's line in Watching and Dreaming confirms that yes, the titan WAS indeed hiding the glyphs from Philip. He mentions that it took him years to find the three glyphs, and years to figure out glyph combinations, and he still did so. To the point of accomplishing magic to that far of a degree!

Like helllo?!?!?! A teleportation spell!!!

(also very small rant; how is it possible to dimish the efforts of your own main character? In an effort to display how good Lu"z is to the point a DIVINE FIGURE showed her how to use the powers of that world, it reduces the importance of her figuring out herself. Like, rewatching the owl house with what the collecter said in my mind I couldnt help but think, "no no, Luz didn't figure it out ALL by herself, a god showed her that much!!"

Also, by bringing down Luz' efforts it uplifts Philip', because a divine figure had been going out of its way to prevent him from accessing the glyphs and Philip still managed to a high degree

It's such a bizarre writing decision, I wish it was never added.)

Ehem, moving on to the next part.

3, Philip's Mechanical ingenuity

from this official art we know Philip had been the one to make his and Hunter's staffs-- staffs that can harness and use artificial magic.

My brother thinks the artificial magic was taught by the collector, which I can see is most likely, but the staff definitely wasn't. My proof? Another look at Philip's journal

This is so obviously a palisman staff, and in the episode Knock, knock, knockin' on Hooty's Door the Philip we see had small bits of hair, which means this was written several years before Elsewhere and Elsewhen.

I'd like to bring in Philip's boundless inquisition here. Sure, he hates witches, but the bigotry isn't enough to get in the way of how curious he is of everything. To the point of noting down local fauna

Speaking of his staff, what attracted my attention was the realisation that there were earlier versions

Once witnessed someone claim that it was powered by a light glyph which meant he couldn't have built it without Luz and...no. The wire is right there, so it's purely electrical

which wow let's just put aside the fact that he somehow used electricity in, latest, early 1700s

Witnessed another person say it resembled a plasma globe and upon watching Hollow Mind again (how i love that episode) I think it's on purpose

Moving on Let's bring in the big one: The portal

Seeing as how he has a complete understanding of the individual inner-workings of the portal, if almost feels as if he made it? Like the design is almost exact to the one Eda has. The only reason I'm not so sure is cause i know it was confirmed (livestream at least) that the eye belong's to the titan so no idea how Philip could've gotten that Point is, Philip is intelligent enough to not only understand the physics behind interdimensional travelling (and BOY will I get to that later) but to also figure out the ingredients needed to create one of his own. To the point that Luz burning the original door was at worst a time wasting setback, because he built another one anyway

The portal door is a rare, sought-after artefact, especially considering there was not a single other mention or artificial dimensional travelling (We do know there are natural gates, like the water mixed with titan's blood pools and the stone arch in Gravesfield)

What I'm saying is, it's one of a kind. And Philip built one.

And it works! It's his instructions that allowed Luz to see her mother again, his instructions that led to the creation of the mega portal that brought them back home in King's Tide, and his instructions (in this case memorised) that the kids used to attempt to go back home in Thanks to them (Luz says she used Philip's journal in Yesterday's Lie, and hunter mentions helping Belos build the portal)

(Notably, the only artificial portal that worked properly out of the listed examples is the one Belos re-built) (Even more notable, the door instructions were written in his journal pre-collector)

also, the key

Time to chuck in resilience with his other traits.

Upon using the key he barely reacts to it atomizing, which leads me to believe it's not the first (hell, reckon not even the third) time it's happened. I genuinely think there have been multiple attempts before. Despite knowing it needs Titan's blood, that doesn't deter him.

(There's also stubbornness, but that goes for his beliefs rather than his inventions)

4, Philip is a physics god

okay this is where the post delves into unserious territory but don't blame me, blame the show.

Why is it unserious you may ask? This one. single. Page from his diary

I reckon this is what happens when a bunch of art students add physics into their show (i KID i kid)

but seriously, do you know the hysterical implications of this fuckass page? Let's start with listing the many formulae/theorems written down 1) Einstein-Rosen Bridge Geometry (aka General Relativity) (AAKA wormholes) - basically shortcuts that are the closest we have to time/dimension travel

2) Shrödinger's Equation (Quantum Mechanics) - Erwin Schrödinger 1926. Basically; ability to observe the change of atoms

Hydrogen Atomic Wavefunctions - Erwin Schrödinger , 1926 (not to be confused with Hydrogen Atoms physics in general, which is by Neils Bohr)

Spacial Relativity - Albert Einstein, November 1905; basically, nothing can be faster than the speed of light

Lorentz Factor - Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, 1905; basically, speed/movement changes the physical properties of time and objects

(I want to kill myself why did i decide to compile this at midnight)

Philip Wittebane, around 1630(?)-70, understood the concept of interdimensional travel, before Isaac Newton published his paper on the laws of motion (1683)

Which is just so fucking hilarious like. My guy. if he existed in our would history books would HAIL him. he understood revolutionary physics decades to literal centuries before our world's equivalents were born.

ive seen some mention that the collector taught him all this which first, guys be so fucking for real the collector didn't teach Philip THE LORENTZ FACTOR

Anyway, I have proof of this too. Philip hadn't met the collector by then

This is Philip when we saw those pages. A lot different than the full-bearded Philip who found the collector

also, the collector specified he taught Philip powerful magic. It's a stretch to say he taught Philip physics too, otherwise, the dialogue would be "I taught you everything you know," no? Instead of specifying magic.

I call this entire post "the unintentional Belos upscale" because no way in hell were the implications of all of these intentional lol

but yeah, I feel like his intelligence isn't really appreciated enough? That or its conveniently brushed aside and credit is given to luz or the collector or hell even the titan

Since he's so smart it makes some of his actions in the finale....questionable (I did say I won't touch THAT mess. Not saying he shouldve won but. just. hmm.)

If I got anything wrong physics-wise? i just simplified it to the barebones sorry