Luz Noceda

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> I was a nobody back home. But becoming a witch is my chance to be someone.
>
> Luz commenting on her desire to become a witch, The Intruder

**Luz Noceda** is the main protagonist of the animated series *The Owl House*. She is a human girl who finds herself transported to another world and learns to be a witch under the tutelage of Eda Clawthorne.

## Background

Luz is a self-assured 14-year-old human girl from Connecticut, who accidentally stumbles upon a portal that transports her to the Boiling Isles.

Upon arrival, Luz decides to make her dream of becoming a witch come a reality, after she befriends a witch named Eda and becomes her apprentice. This proves to be difficult due to Luz's lack of magical abilities, as well as the local town's demons being very prejudiced towards humans which forces her to hide her real identity.

### Personality

Luz is a very excitable young girl. With a high fascination for all things fantasy and a knack for adventure, Luz is very outgoing and willing to hop into anything thrown her way. She sometimes has trouble looking before she leaps, but always manages to somehow land on her feet. In "A Lying Witch and a Warden", Luz describes herself as someone who enjoys "editing anime clips to music and reading fantasy books with convoluted backstories" while in "The First Day", her aura is described as "strong and silly like a baby's laughter". Another important aspect of her personality is that she cares deeply for people and her determination to protect them is what drives her to her goals.

### Physical appearance

Luz is a Dominican-American fourteen-year-old girl with tan skin, short, dark brown hair, and hazel-brown eyes. Her clothing consists of a pair of black earrings, a white-and-violet hoodie with cat ears attached to the hood, jean-shorts, dark gray leggings, and a pair of white slip-on shoes. Her nightwear consists of a light gray sleeveless top, purple shorts with an amber trim, moon and star, and white-and-indigo socks. When attending Hexside School of Magic and Demonics, she wears the standard uniform, but with multi-colored sleeves and leggings as she is studying all the tracks in the school.

Later on, Luz starts wearing Eda's old grudgby jacket, lighter brown pants and dark brown boots and has put her hair into a ponytail. In King's Tide, Luz gets a scar on her left eyebrow, while battling Belos.

Between the pilot and the actual series, Luz initially wore an indigo and white striped t-shirt and black capri pants.

### Powers and abilities

* **Magic:** Since Luz lacks any natural magical abilities and has no magic sac attached to her heart, she had to learn magic a different way. In "The Intruder", she learns that when casting the Spell Circle there is a glyph pattern that needs to be included. By drawing a specific glyph within the circle and giving it a tap, she can cast spells. After Eda and Lilith discover that combining glyphs can cast new spells, Luz started experimenting with different combos, expanding her magic.
	+ **Light spell:** Creates an illuminating orb of light and is the first spell Luz learns. To cast this spell, she needs to draw a large triangle in the spell circle with a smaller triangle and circle on top. Down the middle a long line with two smaller lines across, side by side in the triangle.
	+ **Ice spell:** Conjures ice. To cast this spell, Luz needs to draw a diamond with a line down the center, sat on another line across the bottom of the spell circle. A curved line must be drawn across the diamond and sometimes a smaller diamond is included at the bottom.
	+ **Plant spell:** At some point in "Enchanting Grom Fright", Luz learns how to create plants. To cast this spell, Luz must draw a plant like glyph.
	+ **Fire spell:** Conjures fire by drawing a larger circle at the bottom of the spell circle with a dot in the center. On top, Luz must draw a smaller circle with a curved triangle on top. Another curved triangle is also included on top of the bigger circle which goes over the smaller circle. Luz first learnt this spell during a Grudgby match against Boscha.
	+ **Invisibility:** Inspired from Lilith's history books, Luz came up with a glyph combination that turns her invisible. However, this spell only lasts as long as she holds her breath.
	+ **Mist/Sleeping spell:** By combining the fire and ice, Luz can conjure up a mist. Also by including pollen from sleeping nettle flowers within the combination, she can create sleep-induced smoke.
	+ **Hover Spell:** A glyph combination that creates a blue light around a person that makes them hover over the ground slightly. It doesn't appear to last long.
	+ **Wind Spell:** Using a glyph combination, Luz can summon a small tornado.
	+ **Water Fountain Spell:** Using a glyph combo, Luz can summon a small fountain of water.
	+ **Petrification Spell:** Using a glyph combo, Luz can turn objects into stone.
	+ **Monster Arm Spell:** Using a glyph combo, Luz can summon a monster arm that will attack anyone near it.

## Role in the series

### Backstory

Prior to the start of the series, Luz's father passed away when she was very young. When he was alive, he used to give her and her mother flowers on their birthdays. After he passed away, they started picking flowers for each other on the anniversary of his death. Then they would visit his grave, and spend the day together.

### Season One

Luz Noceda begins the series at home, displaying her "weird" behavior at school when her presentation ends in disaster. At the insistence of her school principal and the support of her mother Camila, Luz must attend "Reality Check Summer Camp" where she is to "think inside the box" for her own sake. Luz seemingly complies when her mother points out that she does not have any friends and responds by throwing away her copy of *The Good Witch Azura* into the trash bin, but when her mother leaves for work, Luz goes looking for it and finds a small owl carrying a bag of garbage with her book among the items in it. Luz chases it into a rickety house and suddenly finds herself transported to another world called the Boiling Isles, specifically into a town called Bonesborough. Luz immediately runs into Eda Clawthorne, otherwise known as the Owl Lady, who claims to be "the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles". However, she is also the most infamous and is constantly evading the law. Luz gets taken under her wing and is taken to her home, the Owl House, where she also meets the diminutive King and the obnoxiously surreal Hooty. Empathizing with the fact that they consider themselves "weirdos", as well as realizing how unfulfilling her life at summer camp will be, Luz asks to stay so that she can learn to be a witch.

 File:The Owl House 20.png
From the get go, Luz is hit with two harsh realities about the Boiling Isles: she is not that special and she is incapable of performing magic on her own as she lacks "a sac of magic bile attached to [her] heart". She quickly discovers that there exists a school called Hexside School of Magic and Demonics and even manages to befriend two students there; an abominations student, later plant student, named Willow Park, and an illusion student named Gus Porter. She also runs afoul of the top tier snob Amity Blight. Unfortunately, Luz gets banned from attending after accidentally causing a raucous, which pleases Eda as she dislikes the school. Luz also discovers that Eda had been cursed when she was young, resulting in her transforming into a giant owl beast unless she takes an elixir daily. While trying to quell Eda in her beast form, Luz finds out that she can draw symbols that create magic, allowing her to learn the craft efficiently. This revelation, combined with learning about her personal issues, softens the animosity between her and Amity. Luz also dedicates herself to trying to find a way to cure Eda of her curse once she learns that the elixir is slowly starting to lose its effect on Eda. She also meets her sister Lilith Clawthorne, a member of the Emperor's Coven who has been trying to capture Eda, and becomes curious about Eda's background.

Luz's relationship with Willow and Amity becomes more complex when she learns that they used to be good friends. This results in Luz trying to reach out to Amity. After a rough adventure with her, Luz and Amity come to an understanding and become warmer, as well as bond over their shared love of *The Good Witch Azura* books. Later, they team up to help Willow restore her memories after Amity nearly destroys them. Through the actions of Gus and a slightly repentant Eda, Luz ends up getting accepted into Hexside, but is dismayed to learn that she can only learn from one track. After saving the school from a Greater Basilisk and teaming up with the students of the detention track, for merely trying to learn more than one type of magic, Luz manages to convince Principal Bump to have her take every track, much to her enjoyment. She is humored at the fact that Eda also wanted to learn from all the tracks when she was attending. Luz and her friends become closer now that she begins to attend Hexside to the point that Amity slowly begins to gain a crush on her, something Luz is completely oblivious to. She even begins to challenge the new mean girl Boscha when she refuses to let up on picking on Willow, who had begun to display newfound confidence.

 File:Young Blood, Old Souls (73).png
Things come to a head when Luz decides to cure Eda from her curse once and for all. She attends a field trip to the Emperor's Coven and begins searching for the Healing Hat, an old relic that supposedly can cure anything. With the help of Willow and Gus, she locates the item, but is caught by Lilith who destroys it and uses Luz as bait to lure Eda. During the fight, Lilith reveals that she was the one who cursed Eda and she gives into her curse. Luz is forced to return to the Owl House. With King's help, Luz resolves to rescue Eda and defeat Lilith. To her surprise, Lilith has had a change of heart when she reveals that Emperor Belos plans to kill Eda rather than cure her, as she had initially hoped. Luz takes on Belos herself and destroys the portal that was used to bring her to the Boiling Isles, thus destroying her "true way" home. Luz rescues Eda, along with King and Lilith and they return home to the Owl House. Lilith uses her magic to share the curse between herself and Eda, resulting in both of their magic diminishing. Luz, having mastered her take on magic, now takes it upon herself to help the sisters relearn their abilities. Despite having lost her way back home and having her mentor lose her powers, Luz is confident that things will work out for her.

### Season Two

Luz comes to the realization that she, Eda and King are in dire straights; forcing her to get a job. During this time, she meets Hunter, also known as the Golden Guard, who takes his job seriously and answers directly to Emperor Belos. Luz soon manages to secure golden selkigris, which is worth a fortune. She is further forced to try and teach Eda and Lilith how to use glyphs, but she gives up shortly afterwards as she is unsure how she can properly teach them. Luz begins to hang out with Amity more often and finds a journal written by Philip Wittebane who has the answers she needs to return home. The journal is eaten by an Echo Mouse, which Luz manages to capture and keeps as a pet so as to continue learning about Philip. Her closeness with Amity culminates in Hooty forcing her to finally confront her feelings and they become a couple. Luz once again encounters Hunter and begins to sympathize with him, though he in turn is reluctant to consider her a friend due to their opposing beliefs.

 File:Yesterday's Lie (144).jpg
Thanks to her friends, Luz manages to create a primitive version of a portal back home. While she cannot directly return, she finds herself in a chamber that allows her to peer into other worlds or other areas of the Boiling Isles. She manages to locate home, but discovers, to her shock, that her mother Camila is with a girl that looks exactly like her. She confronts her, via reflective surfaces, and finds out that the girl is actually a shapeshifting basilisk named Vee. Vee is slowly reverting to her old appearance and needs to devour magic in order to remain human and Luz decides to help her. When she gets captured by a conspiracy theorist, Luz is forced to contact her mother and reveals everything to her. Camila rescues Vee and Luz allows her to stay with her mother after learning that she escaped abuse back on the Boiling Isles. However, Camila is mortified to learn that Luz may have left because of their poor relationship and she is forced to solemnly promise that when she gets back that she stay for good; something she cannot bring herself to tell King and Eda about.

Luz continues to remain distracted from her promise until Amity forces her to confess to everyone what happened with her and her mother. She joins up with Lilith to learn more about Philip when the two discover puddles that allow them to time travel. They meet Philip in person, but he turns out to be something of a conman who evidently tries to kill them. They outwit and punch him in the face; inadvertently making him hate all witches and not realizing that he will eventually become Belos. While trying to get Hunter, he and Luz accidentally get transported into Belos' mind. Luz is horrified to learn that he and Philip are one and the same and the event also traumatizes Hunter whose image of his "uncle" is shattered and leaves him running away and hiding for fear of being killed. Luz herself feels guilty as she realizes that all the events that have transpired were indirectly caused by her.

 File:King's Tide (195).jpg
Luz eventually decides to help King find his people, only to learn that he is the child of the Titan that makes up the Boiling Isles. She prepares to help the resistance, known as the CATs (Covens Against the Throne), to stop Belos and the Day of Unity once and for all. Luz reunites with her friends Amity, Willow, Gus and a repentant Hunter who had befriended them while she was away, and together try and stop Amity's mother from participating in the Day of Unity. Luz, posing as Hunter, is captured by Kikimora and taken directly to Belos to fight him. During this time, Eda is at the ritual while King releases a being called the Collector who stops the Day of Unity, but takes total control of the Isles. Belos is obliterated, though part of him is still alive, and Luz is forced back to the human realm with her friends where she is reunited with her mother.

## Trivia

* Luz is of Hispanic descent.
* Her name means "light" in both Spanish and Portuguese.
	+ It is also pronounced as "/luːz/ *LOOZ*".
	+ "Noceda" sounds like "no ceda (pronounced /ˈnəʊsɛɪdə/ *NOH-say-də*)" or "no cede (pronounced /ˈnəʊseɪdɛ/ *NOH-say-deh*)", which is Spanish for "doesn't give in", which describes her feisty, determined spirit.
	+ Together her name could simplistically mean "a light that does not go out".
	+ In Spanish, her full name translates "Nutty Light".
	+ Noceda also means “night” in which can go in contrast to her first name meaning light, as well as fitting into the Owl House’s horror theme.
* Luz is named after Dana Terrace's friend, Luz Batista, who works as a story artist and consultant for the show.
* In "A Lying Witch and a Warden", Luz states that she likes to edit anime clips to music. This implies that she is an Template:WikipediaLink, a person who is obsessed with Japanese culture, particularly anime.
* Luz is fluent in both English and Spanish.
* Dana Terrace has confirmed on Reddit that Luz is bisexual.
	+ Luz is the first Disney LGBT protagonist, with previous Disney LGBT characters being side characters.
* If the show is set in the year it premiered (2020), and Luz is 14, it would place her being born in 2006, possibly even 2005.
* Much of Luz's character and backstory is kind of based off of her creator, Dana Terrace. Both Luz and Dana are bisexual, and both their fathers passed away when they were very young.
	+ Dana Terrace has also mentioned that she likes to tell her own story through Luz.
* When asked during a Tumblr AMA if Luz has ADHD, Dana Terrace stated that she didn't write Luz specifically with ADHD in mind, but based her off of the observations Terrace made of her friends and herself from high school. Later on in an interview with YouTuber Rebecca Rose, Terrace added on that she did think of Luz as neurodivergent when first writing her character and canonized her as having ADHD.

## External links

* Luz Noceda on The Owl House Wiki

Template:The Owl House

es:Luz Noceda
pt-br:Luz Noceda
ru:Луз Носеда

1. ↑ DTVA News Post (October 4, 2019).
2. ↑ Dana Terrace's Reddit
3. ↑ Interview With Dana Terrace and Matt Braly (April 8th, 2021).