Hunter

* Costume
* Earth
* Resistance
* Unmasked
* Debut
* Epilogue

* Noceda residence, Gravesfield, Connecticut, USA, Human Realm (temporarily; formerly)

## Relationships

### Family

* Emperor Belos (creator/adoptive uncle)
* Past Golden Guards (clone predecessors)
* Caleb Wittebane
* Zandric (brother)

### Friends

* Luz Noceda
* Willow Park
* Gus Porter
* Amity Blight
* Andreas Whitelock
* Zandric
* Ezra
* Xane
* King
* Camila Noceda
* Vee
* The Collector
* Viney
* Skara
* Darius Deamonne
* Eberwolf
* Principal Bump
* Edric Blight
* Alador Blight
* Matt Tholomule
* Dell Clawthorne

### Minions

* Coven Scouts (formerly)
* Steve (formerly)

### Romantic Interests

* Willow Park (former love interest)
* Luz Noceda (girlfriend)

### Enemies

* Kikimora
* Captain Crossbones
* Daegon
* Eda Clawthorne (formerly)
* King (formerly)
* Lilith Clawthorne (formerly)
* Amity Blight (formerly)
* Adrian Graye Vernworth
* Odalia Blight

### Palismans

* Flapjack (palisman; deceased)
* Waffles (palisman; currently)

## Other

### First Appearance

* "Agony of a Witch" (cameo)
* "Separate Tides" (official)

### Last Appearance

* "Watching and Dreaming"

“
I'd like to leave the Emperor's Coven and never step foot that throne room again. I'd like to study wild magic and learn how to carve palismen. I'd like to attend Hexside as a regular student and play flyer derby with my friends. But most of all, I'd like to make sure you never hurt anyone again!
”

—Hunter to Belos

**Hunter**, formerly known as the **Golden Guard**, is a major character in *The Owl House*, initially depicted as an antagonist. He was the right-hand man of Emperor Belos and the former head of the Emperor's Coven. Hunter was presumed to be the nephew of Belos and as such, he was dedicated to his cause of ending all wild magic in the realm, but in reality, he is the latest version of the Golden Guard clones created by Belos to serve him faithfully in his mad quest.

After becoming the head of the Emperor's Coven, the Golden Guard acts as the main enforcer for Emperor Belos and antagonist to the residents of the Owl House. However, a chance encounter with Luz Noceda and the meeting of a mysterious palisman named Flapjack, who chooses Hunter as his partner, gives Hunter a new perspective to life outside the Emperor's Coven. This soon culminates with Hunter learning the truth of his origins. Upon this discovery, and realizing he can never go back, Hunter abandons Belos and the Emperor's Coven altogether. Following his desertion, Hunter relocated to Hexside School of Magic and Demonics in order to hide from the emperor's reach. There, he found acquaintances in Hexside's students, and after coming to terms with his identity, Hunter made it his goal to help them stand against Belos' plan to wipe out the Demon Realm.

Following the Day of Unity, Hunter and his friends were stranded in the Human Realm and spent the months working away to return to the Demon Realm. Unbeknownst to him and everyone else, a remnant of Belos returned to possess Hunter, who nearly killed Flapjack in the process. However, this gave Hunter the courage to stand up against his uncle, but suffered heavy injuries from the possession. Flapjack sacrificed himself to revive Hunter. Vowing to honor Flapjack, Hunter accompanied his friends to the Demon Realm to save everyone trapped by the Collector. After the group escapes capture by the Collector, Hunter helps evacuate the trapped residents from the Boiling Isles' destruction. Following the defeat and death of Belos, Hunter chooses to stay in the Boiling Isles to help rebuild it back to its natural self.

Four years later, Hunter becomes an accomplished palisman carver bonded to a blue jay palisman named Waffles. He remains close to his friends and Flapjack, whom he builds a memorial for to remember his late palisman.

## Appearance

### Body

Hunter, like many of the Golden Guards before him, was created with the likeness of Belos' late older brother, Caleb Wittebane. He is a humanoid boy sharing the physical traits of a witch such as pointed ears. He has a fair complexion, a slightly hooked nose, dark magenta eyes, thick black eyebrows, a gap between his front teeth, bags under his eyes, and ash-blond hair that is shaved below the top, with a long, jagged forelock. He has a notch on his left ear and scars on his right cheek, upper left arm, two on his right kneecap, forming an X-mark, and one on his left calf. He additionally has a sigil of the Emperor's Coven branded onto his right wrist. He is described as scrawny by Amity in "Eclipse Lake", although he has a larger build compared to characters like Luz.

He is described as looking sickly by Emira in "Labyrinth Runners", though this may have been due to his living conditions at the time.

While staying in the Human Realm, Hunter had his hair and forelock trimmed by Willow, giving him short bangs. When Belos possessed him, parts of Hunter's skin, left ear, and face became basil-green that spread to his arms, turning them into the ones of Belos' corrupted form while also gaining the blue eyes and antler-like horns of the latter. His hair also grew longer, which restored his forelock bang. After being healed from Flapjack's sacrifice, Hunter received tissue scarring in the areas Belos corrupted and his eyes became brown.

In the epilogue of "Watching and Dreaming", Hunter's hair has grown out slightly further, and he no longer has bags under his eyes. Additionally, a red tattoo of a cardinal covers the place on his right arm where his coven sigil had previously been, to symbolize the loss of Flapjack.

### Clothing

During his time in the emperor's court, Hunter wore an ivory-colored hooded cloak with a golden triangle clasp, like other members of the Emperor's Coven. Under the cloak was a golden-yellow tunic with darker sleeves and a dark brown belt, black leggings, dark brown gloves, and boots. He wore a golden pauldron on his left shoulder and a pointed two-faceted mask with a thin eye-slot across it. Underneath his tunic, he had a blueish-gray shirt and golden chest armor with brown straps.

In "Eclipse Lake", he disguised himself in a standard Coven Scout uniform during his excursion to the Knee.

In "Any Sport in a Storm", Hunter disguises himself as a Hexside student, donning a Hexside school uniform consisting of a gray tunic with a dark gray belt, cowl, and boots. His sleeves and leggings of his uniform are colored yellow to suggest he is affiliated with the potions track. Part of his Golden Guard tunic can be seen hidden underneath his uniform, seen notably at the collar. Hunter also wore red socks with bird-like designs on them.

While hiding from the Emperor's Coven in "Labyrinth Runners", Hunter gets rid of his tunic and dons the shirts of his sports uniform again, albeit tattered and dirty, alongside a dark blue cloak with red patches.

After joining with the resistance in "Clouds on the Horizon", Hunter wears a pale rose-colored undershirt covered by a collared light brown shirt bearing a cross-stitch in the center, as well as a brown belt bag. He keeps the same gloves, leggings, and boots from his Golden Guard uniform.

Over the course of his stay in the Human Realm, Hunter typically wore a variety of short-sleeved button-down shirts, khaki shorts, no show socks and white crocs. By late October, he would constantly wear a yellow sweater with a left breast pocket but alternated his pants, which would either be blue jeans with a blue patch and red patch on the right and left knees, respectively, or blue pajama pants with a watermelon pattern. He either used white or purple socks and for footwear, red sneakers and the crocs.

During the Haunted Hayride, Hunter dressed as "Chief O'Bailey" from *Cosmic Frontier*, with the costume costume consisting of a black and yellow long-sleeved shirt with a planet symbol on it, a utility belt, black pants with cuffs and yellow edges, white socks, black and dark yellow shoes, and a robotic eye attachment. However, after being possessed by Belos and returning to the Demon Realm, he discards the robotic eye and removes the shirt, tying it around his waist, revealing a custom-made black wolf t-shirt underneath it.

In the epilogue to "Watching and Dreaming", Hunter wears a dark blue collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up, gray pants, an orange apron, and red sneakers with yellow lighting patterns across them. The apron features two pockets, one smaller on the torso and one larger at the waist, along with multiple sewn-on patches; a purple patch with the abomination symbol, a light blue patch with the illusionist symbol, and a yellow patch with the logo of the Emerald Entrails.

## Personality

During his time as the Golden Guard, Hunter acted authoritative and confident in the persona, while praising the cause of Emperer Belos. He was, however, more laid-back and easygoing than Emperor Belos, sometimes comedic and snarky in his dialogue. Despite his high-ranking position and upper-class status, he never takes advantage of his power for personal gain, only using his authority when ordered by Emperor Belos himself. He showed respect towards Belos, yet quite a bit of hubris and egotism towards anyone else. Lilith described Hunter as a brat who was well renowned within the Emperor's Coven and would always receive special treatment for being a "genius teen prodigy", although she may have been exaggerating to an extent out of jealousy.

He was, however, an opportunist who was willing to use blackmail or extortion to manipulate others, offering to let Eda and Luz go in exchange for slaying the Selkidomus, and then threatening to kill King when they refuse to do so. Whether this is due to pragmatism or simply laziness is hard to say, but having said that, he does give Luz a sword and does indeed let them go after he believes the job is done. Seeing as it was *not* done (and Eda is well-known as a con artist) might suggest some naivety on his part. After seeing the portal key around Amity's neck, he attempted to steal it from her and threatened both her and Luz when the two were caught in a deadlock. Despite this, he was genuinely appreciative when Amity complied, showing that it was done out of desperation rather than malice.

Despite his laid-back persona, Hunter is easily annoyed when things don't go his way, as seen with his interactions with Luz. He also seems to have a fascination with wild magic, despite Belos telling him not to, and is seen nerding out over it with Luz. He also seems to have a soft side, as he was sickened by the apparent slaying of the Selkidomus, as well as being visibly affected by Luz's words when he tried to double-cross her. His softer side grows more prominent later on when he is bonded to his new palisman, not only starting genuinely care for his, but all other palismen who suffer.

He was very loyal to Belos at first, even worrying about the condition of his "uncle" whenever Belos transformed. He occasionally offered alternatives to help Emperor Belos with wild magic, but also fearing his reaction to the mere mention of it. However, his loyalty was not absolute; he continually wondered why Emperor Belos had such a strong hatred for wild magic, however, he was discouraged or even threatened by Belos when he ever brought up the thought. In addition, Hunter did not want to hand over Flapjack to Emperor Belos after the bird chose him as a partner.

Even though he was committed to Belos and his supposed purpose as the Golden Guard, Hunter appears to be very insecure about himself. Ever since his failed mission to find palismen for Belos, Hunter showed signs of anxiety towards the idea that Belos would replace him and was desperate to get back in his good graces. When he failed to find any more Titan's Blood, Hunter began to suffer a mental breakdown and chose to lie in a grave rather than return empty-handed, showing that deep down, he fears Belos and the idea of what he'd do to him if he were to fail a second time. His beliefs would be completely shattered after learning the truth of the Golden Guard lineage, and that the life he was raised in was all a lie, which sent Hunter into a period of trauma and depression.

## Abilities

### **Skillset**

* **Agility:** Although not an expert, Hunter has shown some degree of agility and parkour skills. Hunter likely possesses these skills so that he doesn't have to overly rely on his artificial magic.
* **Combat:** Hunter displays some degree of physical fighting skills, using his staff and agility to evade and parry attacks as well as to land physical strikes on his opponents. Much like his parkour and agility, he likely has these skills, so he doesn't have to overly rely on his artificial magic.
* **Sewing:** After becoming stranded in the Human Realm, Hunter learns to sew after Camila teaches him how to use a sewing machine.
* **Carving:** After Belos is defeated, he learns how to carve palismen. Within a few years he has mastered the skill.

### **Unique Abilities**

* **Palisman magic:** Hunter, while initially lacking magic of his own, initially harnessed magic generated by his palisman staff due to the natural magic all palismen possess. With it, he was able to recreate the magic spells he used before with his artificial staff, such as teleportation, energy blasts, and earth magic. Although, as he was inexperienced at it, they lacked the same power as they do with artificial magic. However, he was able to wield this power well enough when he faced off against Amity until they came to a stand-off. His staff was also shown to block energy attacks such as King's sonic screech. As of "Thanks to Them", Hunter lost his staff following his palisman's passing; however, due to this sacrifice, he inherited some of Flapjack's magic and gains the former's abilities, such as teleportation.
	+ **Palisman communication:** Hunter was able to communicate with and understand his palisman.
	+ **Teleportation:** Originally an ability granted to him through his staffs, Hunter can teleport himself from one place to another in the blink of an eye. He frequently uses this ability to evade enemy attacks and move in high-speed dashes.
* **Glyph magic:** When in Belos's mind, Hunter utilizes plant and ice glyphs to defend Luz from Belos. Later on uses it at the archives to save the Boiling isles.
* **Flight:** Hunter can use his staff to fly. He is extremely skilled at flying, his skill impressing Willow when she was looking for team members for the Emerald Entrails.

### **Former Abilities**

* **Artificial magic:** Initially, Hunter relied on artificial magic. However, he is still considered a prodigy in this regard whom Emperor Belos, the most powerful magic user alive and a fellow artificial magic user, gave special treatment because of his status. Like Emperor Belos, he could not use spell circles, and instead used his artificial staff to do magic, as he was powerless without it.
	+ **Telekinesis:** He was able to use his artificial magic to telekinetically move objects and individuals without touching them.
	+ **Creation magic:** He could create a sword out of thin air, which seems to be made of flesh. He is also able to create rope that he can use to tie someone up, and summon a giant fist from the ground that he used to knock Amity off her staff during their fight.
	+ **Energy blasts:** Hunter was able to shoot blasts of magical energy from his staff.
	+ **Water magic:** He could travel underwater via shaping a section of the water into a giant arm.
	+ **Earth magic:** Hunter was able to control sand and dirt with his magic during his fight with Eda and Luz. He also was able to create a small earthquake during his fight with Amity.

## Gallery

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*To view the various designs of **Hunter**, click **here**.*

## Trivia

* Hunter was first teased in a charity Twitch stream hosted by Dana Terrace as part of a request to draw half of a Season 2 character.
* In his appearances until "Hunting Palismen", he was credited as the "Golden Guard".
* Hunter's room contains plush toys that resemble characters from different shows his voice actor is in.
	+ One of his plush toys is Sprig Plantar from *Amphibia*.
		- Zeno Robinson also voices a young King Andrias and some additional voices in the show.
	+ Hunter also owns a figurine of Remy Remington from *Big City Greens*, another character voiced by Zeno Robinson.
* Hunter has whistled the main theme, thus breaking the fourth wall.
* In the credits theme of the second season and in some storyboards, Hunter is depicted with two pauldrons instead of one. The change in design may have been to accommodate Flapjack perching on his shoulder.
* According to an audio recorded by Zeno Robinson in character as Hunter during the "Be Gay Do Witchcraft Charity Drawathon" charity stream, Hunter does not know what flapjacks or pancakes are.
* It is shown in "Any Sport in a Storm" that Hunter is terrible at sewing. In "Thanks to Them", he has greatly improved as he learned to use Camila's sewing machine and made a perfectly stiched wolf shirt.
* According to Willow in "Any Sport in a Storm", Hunter is a slow typer.
* In "Hunting Palismen", Hunter's mask was depicted as a full helmet when held by Kikimora. Whether this was a design error or means that he owns multiple versions of his mask is unknown.
* Hunter states in "Any Sport in a Storm" that he has never actually spoken to kids his age prior to the episode.
* It is shown in "Reaching Out" that Hunter struggles with texting, inconsistently using upper and lower case, randomly using dots and commas, as well as accidentally sending an image to the wrong person.
* Hunter's Penstagram username is **RULERZREACHF4N**.
	+ This also shows that he is a fan of King's book, *Ruler's Reach*.
* According to Belos in "Hollow Mind", Hunter is the Golden Guard who most closely resembled Caleb, the person the Guards are created to resemble.
* According to Dana Terrace, Hunter is bisexual.

## References

1. ↑ Drawing Cartoons to Save Democracy (September 16, 2020). Archived from the original on September 17, 2020.
2. ↑ "Be Gay Do Witchcraft Charity Drawathon" Twitch Stream (2:28:02) (March 13, 2022). Archived from the original on March 13, 2022.
3. ↑ Cissy Jones (April 28, 2023). The "watching and dreaming" PostHoot with the one and only Dana Terrace! (35:28).