Luz Noceda

**Luz Noceda** is the main protagonist of *The Owl House*. She is an eager, teenage Afro-Latina human who accidentally stumbles upon a portal to the Boiling Isles. In order to prove herself as a witch, Luz begins learning magic under Eda's guidance, despite not having any inherent magical abilities of her own.

In Summer's Adventure Series, she is a supporting protagonist, and is the Dark Purple Toon Ranger in the Recruit Toon Ranger crew.

## Personality

Luz is a kind-hearted, outgoing, eccentric, and exceedingly geeky girl, who possesses a strong love of fantasy and adventure. She is an extremely optimistic person who always attempts to see the best in others, even in past enemies. She is eager to find her place in the world and be accepted for who she feels she truly is. She is clever, creative, and a quick thinker, capable of coming up with solutions to problems on the fly, but if she has too much on her mind, she can be oblivious to things like, initially, Amity's crush on her. Luz has also been shown to utter small phrases in Spanish when experiencing certain bouts of emotion.

Luz is determined to be who she wants to be regardless of the opposition she receives. However, her remarkably headstrong personality has also landed her in trouble on a number of occasions. As noted by Hunter in "Hunting Palismen", Luz has a tendency to rush into dangerous situations without always thinking things through. This is translated in the Boiling Isles by way of occasionally disobeying Eda and getting into trouble. Despite this, Luz is intelligent and surprisingly introspective when she allows herself the room to breathe.

Multiple times Luz has shown herself to be exceptionally brave and heroic, risking her life on a number of occasions to protect others, especially those she loves. She does not tolerate when others take advantage of their positions in life, regularly standing up for herself, those who cannot do so themselves or inspiring them to as seen against the likes of Boscha at school and Belos' oppressive rule on the Isles. In addition, when provoked enough, Luz is capable of great rage and being quite formidable as an opponent. This was seen during Eda's attempted execution at the Conformatorium, where Luz entered a state of despair-induced aggression capable of not only appearing to empower her magic, but even striking fear into veteran members of the Emperor's Coven such as Warden Wrath and Eda's sister Lilith Clawthorne and earning the praise of Emperor Belos himself.

However, behind much of her optimism and creativity, Luz possesses deep insecurities due to the years of ostracism she endured in the Human Realm prior to arriving in the Boiling Isles. Because of her eccentric interests and neurodivergent behavior, she is seen as an outcast on Earth and difficult to engage with by her peers, school staff and, initially, her own mother, leading to her to not only suffer an utterly friendless childhood in Gravesfield but also frequent resentment and open ridicule from other children and their parents. This constant rejection from her peers, along with her inability to make friends, has resulted in Luz developing underlying self-esteem issues which will occasionally manifest. This has also left Luz afraid of basic interactions with most other humans, especially those her age, as was demonstrated when she initially assumed Vee's companions from camp to be bullies that would pick on her, before being left dumbfounded when it was revealed that they were her friends. In "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", it was implied that Luz also was bullied by other kids for her inability to fit in, which possibly served to reinforce her fear of other teens.

In addition, another factor that weighs heavily on Luz's mind is the loss of her father, Manny, whom she still grieves for, even years after his passing. It's also been implied on occasion that much of Luz's creativity, eccentricity, optimism, and love of fantasy, especially her fondness for the Azura franchise, which was the final gift her father gave her, are a means of coping with his loss.

Arguably, Luz's devotion to her loved ones also serves as her greatest weakness, as she is constantly placing their burdens on her shoulders and blaming herself whenever she believes that her actions have hurt them. This was seen when she blamed herself intensely for both Eda's capture by Lilith and later the loss of her magic, despite Eda's reassurances that neither were her fault. This sense of guilt would traumatically increase, however, after discovering the truth about Belos' identity and the role she inadvertently played in his rise to power, finding the Collector, and nearly wiping out all of witch and demon-kind on the Day of Unity. Following this, Luz's optimism was increasingly worn down by the traumas she endured and the constant blame she placed on herself for them, causing her to become a much more hardened and serious person who was determined to end Belos' evil even at the cost of her own life.

By the time of "Thanks to Them", after months of being trapped with her friends in the Human Realm, Luz became little more than a shell of her former self, with both her mental and emotional health degrading to worrisome extents, showing multiple signs of depression. By this point, Luz's earlier insecurities and low self-esteem transformed into an intense, unhealthy sense of self-loathing, believing herself to be responsible for all of her friends' and family's suffering, to the point of furiously cursing her very existence. Because of this, the traumas she endured, and the repeated failures in returning to the Isles, all of her previous optimism and cheerfulness had faded, leaving her near constantly miserable and sullen, with her mood only lightening up to save face in front of her friends and not burden them with her own problems. In addition, Luz also blamed herself for nearly every mistake or hindrance that she and her friends came across, even when they weren't her fault. This eventually spurned her into deciding to permanently remain in the Human Realm once Belos and the Collector were finally defeated, being convinced that being out of her friends' lives is the best way to protect them from her own flaws, despite both her friends' reassurances and the obvious heartbreak such a choice would bring her.

However, in "For the Future", Luz's personality began to heal following a heart-to-heart talk with her mother, in which Camila apologized to Luz for attempting to change Luz into someone she wasn't and voiced her acceptance for who Luz truly is. This not only helped bring Luz closure, but also helped her realize her heart's deepest desire: to be understood. It was through this revelation that Luz was finally able to animate and bond with her beloved palisman, Stringbean, which proved to be a major catalyst in healing Luz's damaged mental and emotional states.

Following her palisman's birth, Luz managed to regain some of her previous spirit, being noticeably more happy, playful and confident in herself once again, which continued to grow following her heartfelt reunion with King and Eda after enduring months of separation from them. In addition, Luz also retained her sense of compassion and empathetic nature, as shown when, despite all the harm the Collector had caused to both the Isles and her loved ones, she sympathized with his yearning for companionship, offering him a chance at redemption and teaching him how to establish genuine friendships with others, being very patient with him. This selfless nature was further exemplified when Luz sacrificed herself to protect the Collector from Belos' attack, highlighting how she is willing to lay down her own life to protect others without hesitation, and assuring the Collector they did nothing wrong, not wanting the child to blame himself for failing to redeem Belos.

After meeting and receiving wisdom from the Titan in the In Between Realm, Luz would finally make peace with her previous mistakes and was finally able to let go of her guilt over accidentally helping Belos in the past. Finally freed from these emotions, her previously eccentric and optimistic personality shown through once again, which proved essential in allowing her to master the Titan's powers and defeat Belos for good. However, after the final battle with Belos, Luz demonstrated a darker side when she confronted him for the final time, during which she showed little emotion towards the witch hunter while summoning boiling rain to painfully melt away his body, before allowing Eda, King, and Raine to finish him off for good. This demonstrated that as compassionate and forgiving as Luz can be, even she is willing to kill enemies that she deems beyond redemption.