The history of Emperor Belos from The Owl House.
"Tragic" Childhood[]
| “ | The year is 1613. Two orphaned brothers arrive in Gravesfield. Their names? Philip and Caleb. Caleb did his best to take care of his younger brother. They tried to fit in with this town and its unsavory practices. They became witch-hunters. Local lore suggests that the Brothers Wittebane met a real witch from another world! Her name was Evelyn. And the older brother was spirited away. She dazzled him with magic and visions of strange yet beautiful place. They used a secret code to travel between worlds. Philip set off to save his brother and bring the witch to justice. But neither were ever seen again! Maybe Philip saved Caleb, and they went on to lead peaceful lives. Or maybe he's still chasing his brother, caught in a cycle of horror and strife! | „ |
| ~ Masha telling the local legend of Brothers Wittebane, Philip included. |
Philip and Caleb's childhood.
Both in either the late 1500s or early 1600s, several centuries before the start of the series, Belos started out as Philip Wittebane, a human orphan who was taken care of by his older brother, Caleb. In 1613, the two moved to what would later become Gravesfield, Connecticut, where they became witch hunters to fit in with societal expectations, with the younger Philip being fully indoctrinated and believing witches are inherently evil with no good in them. During one of their hunts, the two brothers came across a real witch named Evelyn, who convinced Caleb to come with her to the Demon Realm. Believing his brother was enchanted and led astray by evil, Philip followed them soon afterwards. After an unknown amount of time, he found Caleb and realized he fell in love with Evelyn and apparently impregnated her. Enraged at this, Philip confronted his brother in a knife fight where he killed him. After learning of this, Evelyn attacked the surviving brother in fury, but he escaped. Despite having the option to go back to the Human Realm, and he even succeeded in creating a fully-functioning portal back there (which he lost to Evelyn's descendants), Philip instead decided to "save" humanity by ending all life on the Demon Realm, refusing to accept his childhood views about witches were wrong.
At some point, Philip carved magic glyphs into his skin, presumably in an attempt to control the magic directly. Unfortunately for Philip, this backfired terribly, with the glyphs' forced combinations causing his body to violently contort and morph when they tried to activate. The only way to alleviate the pain was by absorbing the souls of palismen to survive.
According to the Gravity Falls (which is hinted to share the same multiverse of The Owl House due to their creators particularly having been a couple previously) tie-in The Book of Bill, Philip apparently got into contact with the Euclydia/Nightmare Realm demon known as Bill Cipher around the 20th century, who looked for a means to find a way into Dimension 46 (the Earth), but things between the two ended off rather poorly, as Cipher would later write "CURSE WITTEBANE" if asked about Philip in the website This Is Not A Website Dot ComARG.
Meeting Luz and the Collector[]
Lilith and Luz meet Philip Wittebane in the past.
Throughout his stay in the realm, he learned of a powerful being known as the Collector and would acquire companions during his journey before remorselessly sacrificing them for his advancement. He would then recreate the events in ways to make himself seem more heroic than he was. As revealed in "Elsewhere and Elsewhen", when he met a time-traveling Luz Noceda and Lilith Clawthorne, he tried to sacrifice them only for him to receive a broken nose from an angry Lilith, leaving a permanent scar on his face. This increased Philip's already growing hatred of witches, as he furiously denounced them as barbarians. After making a deal with the Collector (who was trapped in the Titan whose corpse formed the Boiling Isles), Philip created the "Day of Unity" as a cover for eradicating all witches and demons whilst also freeing the Collector. He then made a series of Grimwalkers, clones of the dead Caleb, and appointed them as the "Golden Guard" in an attempt to create a version that would agree with his view on witches and plans to wipe them out. At some point, he was forced to fashion a new identity when negative word-of-mouth caused the name Philip Wittebane to be "run out of too many towns".
Belos as a preacher.
From there, under the identity of Belos, he would go from village to village claiming to speak on behalf of the Titan and inviting the villagers to join covens before imparting them with sigils that temporarily immobilize them (which disappointed Belos, since he wanted them to kill them). In one instance, Belos destroyed a village in a false flag operation presented as an attack by wild magic. He would also routinely kill every Golden Guard who questioned his actions, under the false claim of treason; it's also known he originally gave every Golden Guard a name, before giving up and naming all of them Hunter as a sick joke to himself given his nature as a witch hunter, while claiming to actually be their uncle. At some point, he constructed a palace as a symbol of unity and collected a vast array of magical artifacts he kept there.
Promise with Lilith[]
| “ | Bring the Owl Lady to me by twilight. She'll join the Emperor's Coven and in return, I'll heal her little curse. But, if you fail... you will be stripped of your rank and banished from my coven. You do know what happens to covenless witches, don't you? | „ |
| ~ Emperor Belos threatening Lilith if she fails to capture Eda, while also lying that he will heal her if she does. |
When the prodigious Lilith Clawthorne came along, Belos offered to make her the leader of the Emperor's Coven and help heal her equally prodigious sister Eda from the curse Lilith cast upon her, recognizing her as one of the two people who time-travelled to meet him. In exchange, Lilith was assigned to capture Eda so Belos could induct the rogue witch into a coven. He is first mentioned at the end of "Convention", being referred to as the Emperor previously mentioned as being protected by the Emperor's Coven and who rules over the Boiling Isles. Kikimora mentions the emperor's name to Lilith during a conference and that he has assigned Lilith in the capture of Eda in exchange for curing her curse if she joins his Coven.
Emperor Belos talks to Lilith in current times.
In "Wing It Like Witches", he is mentioned by Lilith when she tells Eda that the Emperor has big plans for her. In "Agony of a Witch", he appears in person as he waits for Lilith to capture Eda and threatens a severe punishment if she fails him again. He also appears when Lilith and Eda are battling each other. In "Young Blood, Old Souls", Emperor Belos demands Eda give him her portal to the Human Realm, which she refuses. He then reveals to have lied to Lilith about promising to cure her sister and is instead sentencing her to be petrified, a punishment usually reserved for the worst criminals.
While it is publicly stated that she would be the first one to receive the sentence in 30 years, there are shots of more witches and demons petrified, meaning that he has done so in secrecy. When Luz and King arrive to rescue Eda alongside a redeemed Lilith, Belos fights against Luz. Despite him being more powerful, Luz succeeds at striking a blow, making a scratch in his mask, to which he states his amusement. He makes it clear that he doesn't have any intention of waging war against humanity since it is too boorish by the Titan's will.
Work on the Portal[]
| “ | You probably think we want to invade the Human Realm. But the Titan's will is not so boorish! You'll understand soon. Tick-tock, human, the Owl Lady doesn't have much time left. | „ |
| ~ Belos forces Luz into giving him the portal. |
Forcing the young girl into making a choice of giving up the key portal or having Eda get transformed into stone, Luz gives him the case containing it, but she also craftily adds fire glyphs to the case, making it into a time bomb that detonates once she is out of range. He glares at Luz menacingly and Luz glares at him back. Unbeknownst to Luz, Emperor Belos still has the broken parts of the portal in order to make a portal dimension, and he sends the current Golden Guard to watch the inhabitants of the Owl House.
Belos revealing that he has already completed the door.
Belos is later seen in the Season 2 premiere, "Separate Tides", where he has placed a bounty on a creature called a selkidomus. He later appears at the end of the episode, where he is seen finishing building the portal as he puts back his mask on, saying "Knock, knock, human", showing he is aware of the spell Lilith gave Luz and Eda. He was later mentioned by the Golden Guard/Hunter at the end of "Escaping Expulsion", when he makes a deal with Alador and Odalia Blight that he will be having all of their Abominations. He is mentioned by Gwendolyn in "Keeping Up A-fear-ances", when she is interacting with her daughter, Eda, explaining that she is aware of the petrification ceremony.
He is seen at the beginning of "Hunting Palismen" when he invites the leaders of the nine covens to view the Day of Unity. He has them place their medallions around a small fire and shows them a fake vision of the Day of Unity, where the Human and Demon Realms merge into one. However, his curse begins to act up and he is escorted into the empty throne room where his curse activates, and he briefly becomes a mud monster. He then takes a palisman from Hunter and inhales its essence to keep the curse at bay. When he asks for more, he's informed that the one he used to be the last from their reserves. Belos then asks Hunter to go get him more palismen, but he fails due to Kikimora's attempt to kill him and Luz interfering when he captures several palismen. His face is finally shown in "Eclipse Lake", when Hunter is having a conversation about the door he tries to open. He also reveals to Hunter that he has been to the Human Realm before and looks forward to seeing it again, foreshadowing his true identity.
Revealing His True Identity[]
| “ | Please. Do me a kindness, and call me by my real name. | „ |
| ~ Belos/Philip tries to force Luz into calling him by his true name. |
Belos shows his face to the public.
In "Follies at the Coven Day Parade", he is mentioned several times, most prominently by Terra Snapdragon, who reveals he's looking forward to meeting Luz. At the end of the parade, he then makes a grand announcement to the public, revealing his false plans for the Day of Unity, creating a utopia free of wild magic. After his speech, he reveals his face to the public for the first time ever, taking off his mask, and thanking them for their support. As he looks like a kindly old man, the crowd immediately supports and cheers for him.
In "Hollow Mind", Luz and Hunter are accidentally trapped in Belos' mind in a botched attack by Raine Whispers, Darius, and Eberwolf. As they inspect his memories under the guidance of his inner form, they are pursued by his beast form, made out of the spirits of the palismen he absorbed. Eventually, Inner Belos captures and harnesses the beast. At this point, Hunter has found out about the fates of his predecessors. Disappointed, Belos reveals him to be a Grimwalker before sinking him into the ground in an attempt to kill him. Turning his attention to Luz, he reveals his true identity as Philip Wittebane and attempts to kill her too, only to be stopped by Hunter as he and Luz escape from his mind, albeit with the latter completely guilt-ridden for unknowingly helping him in the past and the former gravely traumatized after realizing Belos knows Hunter was in his mind and will kill him as soon as he can, meaning he can't go back to his home, causing him to run away into the forest.
Belos reveals his true intentions to Luz inside his mind.
In "Labyrinth Runners", it is revealed that Belos has ordered all student witches be placed in a coven before the Day of Unity. He then sends Adrian Graye Vernworth and some of his guards to brand the students of Hexside, only for the students and facility to fight back and force them to retreat. In the same episode, two coven scouts reveal that Belos is looking for Hunter, under the pretense that he is lost, and the emperor is very worried about him, not knowing that Hunter ran away after discovering the horrifying truth of his "uncle" and his intentions, and that in reality Belos wants to kill him.
By "O Titan, Where Art Thou", he has branded Luz, Eda, King, Hooty and Lilith as wanted criminals and has gone to great lengths to ensure that the Day of Unity is successful, since he is not taking any chances after Luz's trip into his mind. He also plans for Eda to be petrified for good and to have Luz brought to him for as of now unknown purposes.
The Day of Unity[]
In "Clouds on the Horizon", one day before the Day of Unity, Belos and the Collector are seen conversing to each other as they watch the Boiling Isles' inhabitants come to the Titan's skull. Later in the episode, it is revealed that Odalia Blight knows about the Day of Unity's true nature and supports it due to Belos promising that she and her family will be spared and will live aristocratic lives after the Day of Unity (something the emperor has no intention of keeping). By the episode's end, Luz switches places with Hunter and allows Kikimora to capture her as it flies towards the skull, intent on saving Eda from Belos.
Belos begins the Day of Unity.
In the Season 2 finale, "King's Tide", the Day of Unity finally arrives and Belos initiates the Draining Spell, reaping the magic of every coven-branded witch on the Boiling Isles with the intent of killing them. It is revealed by Raine that Belos promised the Coven Heads they would become royalty in his "new world", with only Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf knowing it was a lie. After returning to the area in the Titan's skull where the portal has been moved, Belos removes his cape and puts on the clothes he wore centuries ago as he prepares the portal for one last trip. Not wanting him to reveal his secret powers to others, he then betrays the Collector by dropping his mirror down a pit in the Titan's skull. At that moment, Kikimora brings Luz to Belos, believing she captured Hunter, in hopes of being rewarded for her loyalty, only for Belos to simply tell her to rot away. Luz then engages Belos in combat, only to be easily trounced as he attempts to petrify her after she calls him out for his actions. However, Luz talks her way out of getting killed and tricks him into getting branded with a coven sigil as incentive to end the Draining Spell before it kills him.
However, this backfires as not only does Belos not have the power to stop the spell, but instead transforms into his beast form and goes berserk, rampaging through the skull as he attempts to kill Luz. When he corners her, he tells her they don't belong in the Demon Realm, only for Luz to retort back by stating she is nothing like him. While her friends arrive to help her, they are nonetheless powerless to stop him or the Draining Spell. During the fight, he attempts to manipulate Hunter for the final time by saying he "only wanted to help [Hunter]" only to become enraged after seeing his palisman Flapjack, who previously belonged to Evelyn all those centuries ago. However, Kikimora, whose offer to help Belos was rejected by him, brings King to the pit where the Collector was dropped - where he also hides the corpses of Hunter's predecessors - to help him get revenge on Belos. Due to King being a Titan, he has the power to free the Collector from his mirror. Upon being freed, he stops Belos before he can finish Luz and her friends off and gets revenge on him by sending him flying with one single finger. Belos crashes into the skull's wall, reducing him to nothing more than a splatter of green sludge.
Belos is reduced to a green bloodstain by the Collector.
The Collector then proceeds to undo the Draining Spell, saving everyone with a coven sigil, and reshape the Titan's skull to prepare a game of "Owl House", while the heroes try to escape to Earth through the portal. However, a still-sentient drop of Belos' remains falls on Hunter's shoulder as he prepares to escape and is brought to the Human Realm once Hunter goes through the portal. In the episode's end credits, a small piece of Belos latches onto the door that connected the two realms and closes it.
Return to Earth[]
Belos possessing Hunter's body.
Without a physical body at hand, Belos' goop-like remains start entering the bodies of animals and possessing them, all while consuming their life force and eventually reducing them into skeletons. After a few months have passed since his defeat at the Collector's hands, Belos manages to enter Hunter's body through a cut on his finger and starts slowly influencing him. At the same time, the heroes realize there is Titan's Blood in Gravesfield, and use a rebus to find it. After Luz, Hunter and Flapjack enter the graveyard, Belos gains control of Hunter's body and reveals to Luz that he survived and finds a vial of Titan's Blood. As Luz's friends arrive, Belos reveals to them she helped him meet the Collector before confronting them in a battle.
Belos returns to the Demon Realm.
During the battle, despite being in a weakened body and having fewer abilities, Belos still manages to put up a good fight due to the heroes not wanting to hurt Hunter. At one point, he severely stabs Flapjack to spite not only the heroes, but also the long dead Evelyn, even sarcastically saying goodbye to the former before doing the act. This causes Hunter to fight back and retake control of his body, causing him to throw the vial of Titan's Blood into the nearby lake. Belos dives into the lake to get the vial but ends up drowning. Luz's mother Camila manages to save Hunter, causing Belos to leave his body, returning to his physical form as he uses the Titan's Blood to open a portal to the Demon Realm. He then claims that the heroes will "thank him later" before going through it. After he leaves, Flapjack sacrifices his life to heal Hunter, who was close to death due to the damage caused by Belos, and the heroes - excluding Vee, who stays behind to cover for them - follow the former emperor to the Boiling Isles to stop him from finishing his mission as well as to avenge Flapjack.
Back to the Isles[]
Belos sees a hallucination/ghost of his deceased brother, Caleb.
Despite making it back to Boiling Isles, without palismen to consume in order to sustain himself, Belos' body becomes unstable and has started to melt and fall apart, with the latter starting to see either hallucinations or ghosts of Caleb and previous Golden Guards he created and killed. As Belos manages to make it to his former lair, he possesses a Grimwalker to use as a new body. However, it isn't ready yet, resulting in it melting. Yet, Belos is strong enough to climb to the Collector's archive house and possess the puppetized Raine Whispers. After sneaking to the Collector's bedroom, Belos tries to possess him, but the child quickly wakes up and stops Belos, yet he is able to convince him that "they" were brought to life by his kindness and tells the Collector that King plans to defeat him. The Collector refuses to believe in it at first, but then overhears King's conversation with Eda and Lilith to stop him for good (unaware that the young Titan wants to simply talk sense into him). Later on, the two watch as Luz and her friends celebrate the hatching of Luz's palisman, Stringbean. Now convinced that "Raine" was telling the truth, the Collector announces that it's time "for a new game".
Belos, possessing Raine's puppetized body, manipulates the Collector into clashing with Luz.
The Collector turns both sets of heroes, except for Luz, Eda and King, into puppets, before trapping the trio in illusions based on their worst fears, as Belos recommended. Unfortunately, Luz is able to realize that it is an illusion and breaks free, while also freeing Eda and King. As the Collector angrily laments about his failure, he tells Belos about the Titans, and that the Boiling Isles' Titan is not completely dead, as its heart still beats, which is in the Emperor's Castle. Realizing that he has a new opportunity to destroy the Demon Realm, Belos tells him to play with the heroes himself so he can befriend them. As the Collector flies away, Belos secretly uses one of his flying stars to arrive at his former castle to possess the Titan's heart, and thus the Isles itself.
The Final Battle[]
Belos turns into a dragon-like monster to "cleanse" the Isles himself.
Despite meeting interference from Raine, who breaks free from his control, Belos is successful in possessing the heart. With his new powers, Belos starts possessing the Titan's corpse and covers the Isles in huge amounts of green sludge while he slowly becomes the Isles itself. As Luz, Eda, King and a reformed Collector arrive at his castle, Belos becomes a giant dragon-like monstrosity and attempts to kill the Collector when he offers him friendship, but Luz shields them, thus taking the blast and dying. Enraged and devastated, Eda and King unleash their inner demons on Belos, but he is too strong for them. Before Belos can finish them off, much to everyone's shock, Luz reappears, having been brought back to life by the Titan and now having some of his powers. As a new battle occurs, Luz, Eda, King and Raine are ultimately able to rip Belos from the heart, freeing the Isles and causing all of the sludge to disintegrate into dust, along with his dragon-like form, although the Titan's left arm remains upward after Belos tried to use it to attack the heroes.
Death[]
Belos' last look of horror before being stomped to death by Eda, King, and Raine.
Following his defeat, Belos reverts into Philip Wittebane from the 1600s and tries to manipulate Luz again, claiming that he was cursed all this time, just like Eda, and that he was being forced to do all "those horrible things". Knowing this is just another lie to beg for mercy, Luz just gives him an angry stare as the boiling rain starts to hurt him. As his body is melting and falling apart and seeing that his lies and manipulations won't work anymore, Belos angrily demands that Luz save him, claiming that they, as humans, are better than this, but she does nothing other than coldly watch him melt. Eda, Raine and King then approach him, with the former saying that they, as witches and a Titan, are not. Belos, who has been reduced to a skull, gets one last look of horror before the three of them stomp on his remains and finally kill him, ending his threat on the Boiling Isles for good and avenging the countless people he killed over the centuries, including his brother Caleb and Flapjack.
With Belos finally dead, the Boiling Isles move on from his rule, re-beginning their practice of wild magic with a university dedicated to it being opened where his castle once stood, with Alador finding a way to remove coven sigils, and humankind and witchkind now coexist as the two realms can visit each other thanks to the portal the Collector has created. Four years later, Luz and her friends celebrate her 18th birthday having long forgotten all about Belos and his tyrannical rule, rendering the centuries he spent trying to kill witchkind all in vain.