Barcus

* Apocalypse
* Uniform
* Epilogue

“
You have an aura of lies.
”

—Barcus to Luz, "The First Day"

**Barcus** is a minor character of *The Owl House*. He is a student at Hexside School of Magic and Demonics, originally being part of the detention track alongside Viney and Jerbo. He is officially enrolled in a dual-track which teaches oracle and potions.

## Appearance

### Body

Barcus has the body of a dog with a human-like face. He is covered with chestnut fur with light tan fur on his stomach and neck area. He has dark orange tufts of hair on his head and two ears pointing upward with a small gold hoop earring on his right ear. He has blue eyes and black eyebrows.

In the epilogue of "Watching and Dreaming", Barcus now has another gold hoop earring and his hair is longer and swoops downwards.

### Clothing

Barcus wears square glasses with white tape in the center and a typical Hexside uniform with a gray robe and a darker gray belt and cowl. Originally, his sleeves were gray to represent the detention track.

After getting to choose multiple tracks, Barcus' right and left sleeves become violet and yellow, respectively, to represent the oracle and potions tracks. Before then, he only had the latter color while part of the potions track.

In "For the Future", Barcus still wears his uniform but now wears red-framed sunglasses, two bandages on his right cheek and a sword holstered over his shoulder. He also has an additional bronze earring on his right ear.

In the epilogue of "Watching and Dreaming", Barcus is shown to have become a teacher at Hexside, wearing a similar hat and clothing as the teaching staff.

## Personality

Barcus is usually a friendly and laid-back individual who is deeply loyal to his friends and willing to stand up against injustice. However, if one's aura tells him that someone is untrustworthy, Barcus will refuse to associate with them. Barcus is also easily angered and annoyed.

## Background

### Trying multiple tracks

After trying to get into both the potions and oracle tracks, with his mix of potioneering and fortune telling resulting in the teacher watching himself wither to bones, Barcus is placed in the detention track, along with Jerbo and Viney. However, they stumble across a secret room that gives them access to the entire school. When Luz Noceda is placed in the detention track, the three share their secret room with her. After Barcus, Jerbo, and Viney overhear Willow and Gus say that Luz thinks she is too good for them, an opinion she formed before getting to know them, they shun the human.

When Luz tells them that Hexside is in danger, Jerbo and the others rebuff her at first but reluctantly agree to help. Upon seeing the Greater Basilisk, the four form a plan. They lure it to the auditorium and attack it, with Barcus recreating his aging potion to stun the basilisk. Once the basilisk is subdued, Principal Bump berates them for practicing multiple tracks, but Luz in turn condemns him for not allowing students to practice any type of magic they want. Realizing the error of his ways, Bump lets the detention track students study their desired tracks, and Barcus is placed in the potion and oracle track.

Some time afterwards, when Hunter bothers him and his clubmates at their Hexes Hold'em stand during the club fair, an angry Barcus slaps a banish card on Hunter's face to drive off the teenage boy.

### Resisting a coven

As the Day of Unity approaches, Barcus and the other Hexside students and faculty are surprised when Adrian Graye Vernworth, the head of the Illusion Coven, comes to Hexside. He informs them that the Emperor has decreed all young witches must be placed in a coven before the Day of Unity. Barcus and the other multi-track students are unnerved by the decree, but Adrian claims to side with the students and only wishes to put fake sigils on them. Just before Adrian is about to "brand" Edric, Gus realizes that the brand is real and reveals the truth to the entire school. After seeing multiple Coven Scouts and watching as the Head Illusionist tries to force him into the Abomination Coven, Gus creates a school-wide illusion, allowing Barcus, the students, and the faculty to flee to the healing homeroom.

As the students and staff at Hexside are recuperating, Viney and Skara go to find Gus and Hunter. They find Hunter unconscious and bring him to the healing homeroom. After the former Golden Guard tells the others that Adrian has Gus, the majority of the school doesn't trust him, including Barcus after he reads Hunter's aura, until Willow convinces them otherwise. Barcus joins in the group effort to fight the Emperor's Coven, helping Edric throw explosive potions at various Coven Scouts, but he is taken down by an Abomaton. Once the Emperor's Coven retreats with a vegetative Adrian, Barcus and the rest of the students and staff at Hexside listen as Hunter explains the truth about the Day of Unity.

### Hiding from the Collector

After learning of the Draining Spell, Bump allows the staff and students of Hexside to camp out at the school during the Day of Unity. After the spell is activated, Barcus and the students watch in horror as it affects the adults. After the spell ends, the Collector’s spies come to the school to collect those present. While the majority of the students are safe, the staff and a few students are turned into puppets. In the following months, the school falls into anarchy after Boscha takes control.

A few months later, he, Skara, and Mattholomule scout out Bonesborough and find Luz, her mother, Amity, Gus, Willow, and Hunter and take them back to Hexside. After Amity gets Boscha to change her mind, he and the other students distract Miki, really Kikimora in disguise, as Luz draws a complex glyph combo to teleport to the Titan’s Head.

After Belos is defeated, Barcus welcomes Bump, Cat, and Amelia back to Hexside.

### Epilogue

Four years after Belos is defeated, Barcus becomes a teacher at Hexside. He later attends Luz’s belated quinceañera and watches the light show that the Collector put on.

## Relationships

### Viney

Viney was one of the kids Barcus met while in the detention track. The two later become friends along with Jerbo.

### Jerbo

Jerbo was one of the kids Barcus met while in the detention track. He and Jerbo became friends along with Viney.

### Luz Noceda

Barcus and his friends first met Luz when she was sent to the Detention track for mixing with magic even though she wasn't. Luz then befriended them after she defended him, but he learned that Luz's friends, Gus and Willow were looking to bail out her and mistakenly believed she was too good for them. He later forgave her and helped her stop a Basilisk disguised as an inspector. Thanks to Luz’s intervention, Barcus was finally allowed to practice both Oracle and Potions magic. He remained friends with her.

## Power and abilities

* Barcus brewing a potion.
* Barcus's potion…
* …showing whoever looks into it…
* …how they will decompose.
* Barcus reading Luz's aura.
1/5
* **Magic:** Barcus is capable of certain indirect forms of magic, though it is not known if he is capable of using a spell circle like a witch or biped demon.
	+ **Potion magic:** Barcus knows how to create potions and chemical magic.
	+ **Oracle magic:** Barcus can divine future events and read different fates.
		- **Palm reading:** Barcus can see someone's future by pouring a potion on the hand of his subject. When he sees it, his eyes are covered in purple fire.
		- **Death perception:** Barcus can show someone's natural decay using potions as a medium. By adding an oracle sphere to a potion vat, it shows a person's reflection withering away until only bones remain. This mixes the magic of Oracle and potions.
		- **Aura reading:** Barcus can read the colors of someone's aura that reveals their true intentions. This helps Barcus discern if the person is trustworthy or not.

## Behind the scenes

### Name and basis

Barcus's name is a portmanteau of the word "bark" and the given name "Marcus". He is also named after Zach Marcus, one of the writers of "The First Day".

## Trivia

* Jerbo and Principal Bump can understand him when he speaks.
* When speaking onscreen, subtitles are shown to translate what he says.

## References

1. ↑ Dana Terrace, Rachel Vine, John Bailey Owen, Zach Marcus (writers) and Sage Cotugno (director) (July 25, 2020). "The First Day". *The Owl House*. Season 1. Episode 13. Disney Channel.
2. ↑ John Bailey Owen (writer) and Amelia Lorenz (director) (April 2, 2022). "Any Sport in a Storm". *The Owl House*. Season 2. Episode 13. Disney Channel.
3. ↑ Dana Terrace, Luz Batista (writers) and Bridget Underwood (director) (May 7, 2022). "Labyrinth Runners". *The Owl House*. Season 2. Episode 18. Disney Channel.
4. ↑ Cissy Jones (February 17, 2023). "PostHoot with The Owl House writers (4:37)". *Instagram*.