Emperor Belos

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 Alignment | Lawful Evil

**Emperor Belos** (originally **Philip Wittebane**) is the main antagonist of the Disney animated series *The Owl House*.

## Background

During the 17th century, orphaned brothers Philip and Caleb Wittebane arrived in Gravesfield, Connecticut to become witch hunters, where they met a witch named Evelyn who convinced Caleb to follow her into the Demon Realm. Philip followed them, believing Caleb to have been led astray, and soon discovered that Caleb had fallen in love with Evelyn during his time in the Demon Realm. This drove an enraged Philip to kill his own brother in a knife fight, which in turn lead Evelyn to curse Philip as he fled, forcing him to consume the souls of palismen over the centuries to stay alive. Creating the identity of "Belos" after being "run out of too many towns", he took over the Boiling Isles while using propaganda to ban "wild magic", and establish a system for magic users to use their magic "the right way". This led to him establishing different Covens, where those who do not join are sentenced to irreversible petrification. Belos initially used technology as means to utilize magic while prolonging his life by feeding on palismens, granting him power while using mental effort to retain his human appearance. Belos concealed his ailment by claiming it as a curse produced from wild magic. His endgame goal was to invoke the Day of Unity, a convergence of the human and demon worlds that would purge wild magic through the current Coven heads he selected, although its true purpose was draining all magic from the Boiling Isles, killing every witch and demon in the process and, in his eyes, 'saving humanity from evil'.

Belos convinced Lilith Clawthorne to join the Emperor's Coven by offering to cure her cursed sister Eda, only to go back on his word while forcing Luz Noceda to give him the portal. Though Luz rigged the portal to be destroyed, Belos managed to repair it and eventually acquired a vial of Titan's Blood to power the portal. Belos later purchased an entire army of Abomitons from the Blights to increase his forces for the Day of Unity. At the Coven Day Parade, Belos revealed his face to all the denizens of Bonesborough while having Terra Snapdragon relay a message to Luz that they would meet again soon and he was looking forward to it. Unaware of Belos's previous identity, Luz and Lilith travelled back in time to meet Philip as he found a means to meet the Collector, using them to acquire the relic before Lilith punched him in the face for nearly getting her and Luz killed. Belos later appeared in a child-like form before Luz and his adoptive "nephew" Hunter when they unintentionally entered his mind, using them to subdue all the palismen souls he fed on before revealing that Hunter was a Grimwalker he planned to dispose of for "betrayal." Belos also revealed his true identity as Philip to Luz, having orchestrated events to maintain the bootstrap paradox Luz caused from her time travel that allowed him to acquire knowledge of the Day of Unity from the Collector. Belos' plans came to fruition as he revealed he never intended to free the Collector before Luz stopped him from returning to the human world by slapping him with a sigil in an attempt to force him to cancel the draining spell. However, while affected by the Day of Unity, it only caused Belos to lose control of his body as he mutated into a monstrous palismen creature that nearly kills her and her friends. Belos' body was obliterated when King freed the Collector, who immediately went on to stop the draining spell, ruining centuries of planning. Unbeknownst to everyone, a fragment of Belos landed on Hunter as Luz's group fled the Boiling Isles and ended up in the dilapidated house within the human realm, living off various animals as a parasite and then possessing Hunter before leaving his body to escape back to the Demon Realm.

Still weakening and finding no healthy Grimwalker bodies to inhabit, Belos possessed Raine Whispers’ puppet body and began to manipulate the Collector again. He then possessed the Titan's heart, assuming a massive monstrous form in another attempt to destroy the Boiling Isles, and temporarily killed Luz when she protected the Collector from one of his attacks. Luz was restored after meeting the Titan in the In-Between Realm and receiving his power, which allowed her, Eda and King to engage in a final battle with Belos and rip him out of the heart. Taking the form of his younger self in a final unsuccessful attempt to manipulate Luz, he was melted down by the Boiling Isles' rain, and Eda, King and Raine stamped away at his remains, killing him once and for all.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Artificial magic:** Emperor Belos does not cast spells the way other witches do; he does not need to draw a spell circle. This is due to him using artificial magic as opposed to natural magic.
	+ **Telekinesis**: He frequently uses telekinesis to move objects and people without touching them, signified by his gloves glowing red.
	+ **Flesh Magic**: Similar to Jean-Luc's ability to polymorph, Belos is able to create and command fleshy tendrils to bend and form claws.
	+ **Teleportation**: He is shown to be capable of disappearing by melting into the floor to avoid attacks.
	+ **Earth Magic**: He is able to raise sharp spikes of rock up from the ground.
	+ **Beast Summoning**: Belos was shown to be able to summon and control a large monster during his fight with Luz.
	+ **Mind magic**: When Lilith presented her sister Eda in her cursed Owl Beast form, Belos hit Eda with some kind of spell from his staff which made Eda regain consciousness (but didn't make her transform back into her regular humanoid form).
	+ **Glamour**: Belos can cosmetically alter his appearance, which he did to hide the scar on his face.
	+ **Petrification:** Belos' most dangerous spell is petrification, which he had used to turn one of the old Golden Guards to stone and had nearly done to Luz.
* **Residence omniscience**: Belos is aware of all that happens inside his castle, as he knew Luz, Willow Park, and Gus Porter were trying to steal the Healing Hat.
* **Telepathy:** Luz, Willow, and Gus heard his reprimanding voice when they were in the castle's artifact display. According to Willow and King, Belos can communicate with the Titan, whose carcass makes up the Isles.
* **Form alteration:** As a result of his curse, Belos’ form is melty and unstable, and he must consume Palismen in order for him to hold his humanoid stature and to cast spells. However, he can use his form to his advantage, shapeshifting his limbs for offensive purposes.

## Equipment

* **Staff:** Belos, at some point, constructed a staff that allowed him to wield artificial magic and used it early on in his crusade.

## Alternate Forms

### Monster form

Originally, if Belos went a long enough time without consuming palismen, he would completely lose control of his form, entering a monster-like state. Since then, he has gained control over the loose palismen souls in his mind, enabling to enter this form as he pleases. This form was powerful enough to battle Luz, Amity Blight, Willow, Gus and Hunter all at once, nearly killing them all if not for the Collector turning on him at the last second.

* **Possession**: By transferring his sludge-like essence into another living being, Belos can influence them and induce hallucinations that causes his victim to see and hear him as if he is present. Once enough time has passed, Belos can gain control of the host, as well as cause his twisted features to appear on them. Belos' essence has used animals as temporary hosts; the various carcasses and bones left in the sludge's wake may suggest that the animal is consumed by the essence during the possession. This ability also works with partially organic beings or those who are alive to some extent, being able to possess an incomplete Grimwalker (albeit briefly), Raine Whispers despite the latter being a puppet at the time, and even the heart of the Titan itself.
* **Regeneration**: Belos's viscous body can mend and reform itself from any physical injury he sustains, though he still feels pain from the physical distortions his body undergoes. The full extent of his regeneration is unknown, but after he was violently thrown to a wall by the Collector, a vestige of Belos remained active enough to follow Luz and her friends into the Human Realm. It would go on to possess Hunter and several animals, gaining more energy until Belos regained his physical form once more.

## Feats

### Strength

* Can easily retrain people with flesh tendrils.
* Threw Owl Beast Eda into a wall, cracking it, and retrained her with magic rope.
* Threw Luz with into a statue hard enough to crack it and drop its axe.
* Telekinetically sent Kikimora and her mech back.
* Blocked a fire attack from Luz.
* Destroyed Luz's ice glyph.
* Shook a portal with a blow. (Monster Form)
* Him struggling out of being entangled caused the bridge he's on and nearby pillars to start breaking. (Monster Form)
* Eventually ripped out of his vine restraints. (Monster Form)
* Destroyed a massive ice block and a chuck of a pillar. (Monster Form)
* Breaks out of Amity's sludge whip, cracking a pillar in the process. (Monster Form)

### Speed

* Teleported out of the way of a charging Owl Beast Eda.
* Could keep up with the likes of Luz and Hunter.
* Quickly blocked Luz's fire attack.
* Quickly approached and got behind Luz. (Monster Form)
* Kept up with Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus and Hunter. (Monster Form)
* Should be as fast as Hunter when in his body.

### Durability

* As Philip, took a punch from an angry Lilith that left a scar.
* Tanked Luz's ice spell, which was able to break his mask.
* Got splatted by the Collector, and lived through a droplet.

### Skill

* Second person to ever discover the Demon Realm behind his late brother.
* Killed Caleb in a knife fight.
* Learned of and allied with the Collector.
* Acquired various companions during his journey and remorselessly sacrificed them for his own advancement, recreating the events in ways to make himself seem more heroic than he really was.
* Nearly had a time-travelling Luz and Lilith killed by a Stonesleeper.
* Created a series of Grimwalkers of his brother and appointed them all as the "Golden Guard" while killing any that betrayed him
	+ One of these Grimwalkers would be named Hunter, whom Belos would take under his wing as his adoptive uncle, fabricating a backstory that his family died from the use of wild magic to ensure his loyalty.
* Destroyed a village in a false flag operation presented as an attack by wild magic.
* Lived for centuries by consuming the souls of palismen.
* Had the Basilisk race resurrected to study their ability to drain magic.
* Brought an entire army of Abomatons from the Blights.
* Ended the Savage Ages.
* Became emperor of the entire Boiling Isles.
* Described as the most powerful and skilled witch on the Isles.
* Founded the Coven System.
* Nearly had Eda petrified.
* Easily defeated Luz in their first fight.
* Rebuilt the portal to the human realm.
* Nearly killed Luz and Hunter in his mind.
* Enacted the Day of Unity, with it only failing thanks to the Collector.
* Betrayed the Collector and Kikimora.
* Overpowered Luz again and nearly petrified her.
* In his monster form, nearly killed Luz and her friends.
* Got back to Earth through a sentient drop of his remains after the Collector had obliterated his body with a single finger poke.
* Possessed and fed on several animals over the months he spent in the human realm.
* Briefly possessed Hunter and forced him to fight Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus and Vee in his body.
* Mortally wounded and almost consumed Flapjack.
* Managed to open a new portal and return to the Demon Realm.
* Possessed Raine in their puppet form before trying to possess the Collector.
* Tricked the Collector into thinking King wanted to destroy him.
* Possessed the Titan's heart in an attempt to finally destroy all life on the Isles with his own hands.
	+ This ultimately caused the Titan's death, as he sacrificed his remaining life force to resurrect Luz and temporarily empower her to stop Belos, which also rendered glyphs powerless.
* Successfully (albeit temporarily) killed Luz when she shielded the Collector from his blast.
* Fought a Titan-empowered Luz, Eda and King for the final time.

## Weaknesses

* Extremely narcissistic.
* Holier than thou mentality.
* Has to consume palismen to maintain his humanoid structure.
* Relies on artificial magic.
* Implied to be afraid of the Collector.
* Ultimately failed to carry out the Day of Unity.
* Prone to gloating at inopportune times or betraying others.
* Luz managed to brand him with a Coven sigil to force him to stop the draining spell.
* Was briefly destroyed by the Collector.
* Was almost drained by Vee.
* Dissolved by boiling rain and killed by Eda, King and Raine.

## Fun Facts

* It was theorized that Belos was the same person as Philip Wittebane long before it was confirmed in the later half of Season 2.
* His voice actor Matthew Rhys opined back in 2020 that he doesn't consider Belos as a villain, but just a misunderstood person. However, Belos demonstrates over time how far from misunderstood he is and Rhys' statement may have been just a sarcastic joke, not to mention that he said this three years before the show's conclusion, so maybe he assumed Belos wouldn't become as evil as he did.
	+ It's also possible that the "misunderstanding" Matthew was referring to was Belos's motivations. Before "Hollow Mind", much of the fandom believed Belos was just a power-hungry tyrant attempting to control magic and that his ultimate goal was to merge the Human and Demon Realms together to "purify" wild magic, and that he was actually a well-intentioned extremist. His true motivation, to commit genocide on the Isles via a draining spell, was much worse than the fandom had been led to believe. As such, it could be said that Belos was misunderstood in the sense that he was assumed to be a controlling dictator rather than the genocidal zealot he was revealed to be, which makes him far more monstrous than he was assumed to be in Season 1.

* Belo's name is misspelled as "Bellows" in the closed captioning.
* The word "belos" ironically means "beautiful" in several Iberian and Mediterranean languages, such as Portuguese, Galician, and Corsican.