Principal Hieronymus Bump is a recurring character in The Owl House. He is the principal of Hexside School of Magic and Demonics. While he tends to be rather jerkish and arrogant, Bump is at heart a good man who can be surprisingly humble and is rather nice to those around him.
He is voiced by Bumper Robinson.
Personality[]
As a teacher and principal of his school, Bump is obsessed with the progress and well-being of students. He showed great interest in the achievements of his students and pushed them to progress in their field of knowledge. For example, he recognized Willow's penchant for plant magic and, as such, transferred her to the track "Magic Plants". Besides being a good judge of character, Bump has also demonstrated a strict disciplinary and defensive side of his character. Detention in Hexside involves brainwashing students to make them more pleasant, and the director of Bump uses powerful magic to close the school in case of an intruder. But, despite these aggressive character traits, he does not cease to possess a certain level of intelligence. He listens to his students when they doubt or suspect something unusual, or if they confess to any wrongdoing. In the last part, Bump accepts an apology on the condition that the said student compensates for his past actions, for example, if former Hexside student Eda Clawthorne leaves after all her previous jokes, or if Gus resigns from his position at the Human Studies Association.
Bump's approach to teaching can often be somewhat contradictory. While he is strict and adamant about following the rules, insisting that Luz choose a track, his method of choosing a track for her is rather unorthodox: he points to banners with their image. After the events in "On the first day" he decided to rethink the rules and let the students practice different tracks.
Appearance[]
Principal Bump is an elderly man, presumably because of the wrinkles surrounding his upper lip. His skin is light beige, he has long gray nails, long black hair and brown eyes, with his left one sewn shut presumably due to an injury. He wears his palisman Frewin over his head like a hat and prosthetic eyes, giving him the appearance of having blue eyes with yellow sclerae. Bump wears traditional academic clothing consisting of a long black tunic with a gold yoke and a black cape, with gold edging of the sleeves and the hem of the cape plus a blue stole.
When he was a student, Bump's hair was much shorter and he wore the Hexside school uniform. As Vice-Principal around 30 or so years ago, he wore the same attire he wears today but his hair poked out slightly from under Frewin and he was slightly thinner and less wrinkly. After retiring, Bump wears a sun hat, a yellow floral shirt, muddy brown pants and an apron, as well as a blue glove and boots
Biography[]
Background[]
As a student, Bump was one of the first students of Hexside and apparently led it into victorious battle against a rival school, defeating it and building Hexside's current campus over the rival's wreckage. In his time there Bump would play Flyer Derby with his future colleague Professor Hermonculus, with the two apparently winning competitions together. After graduating Bump would work as Vice-Principal under the draconic Principal Faust, whose unforgiving philosophy clashed with Bump's belief in redeeming students. As such, when Faust tasks Eda, a particularly problematic student at Hexside, with winning a ribbon at IFWOT to escape expulsion, he forces Bump along to prove his philosophy or be fired as well. Through her cooperation with another student Raine, Eda manages to impress the Coven Head Terra who, while not handing out ribbons to any, would convince Faust to let Bump and Eda remain in their positions.
At some point in time, Faust would give up his position, likely being fired for nonsensically expelling too many students, leaving Bump to take up his role as Principal of Hexside. He was also responsible for imprisoning the Choosy Hat for attempting to eat students, and creating the Grom tradition to lift spirits when the monster inevitably had to be fought.
The Owl House[]
Season 1[]
Bump debuts in "I was a Teenage Abomination", where he's called in to inspect Willow's "abomination" by Amity. Knowing that Luz would die if she was cut open, Gus distracts Bump and Amity by spilling abomination fluid all over the place, allowing her and Willow to flee. However, Bump begins locking down the school and pits abominations after the duo so Willow, using a seed Luz kept in her pocket, summons huge vines that restrain Bump and stop the abominations, letting Luz escape. Later on, Willow reveals that while Luz is banned from Hexside for her shenanigans, Bump was so impressed by Willow's magic he let her transfer to the plant track, though Amity's still trying to get credit for calling Willow out.
Bump makes a brief cameo in "Covention", in which he proclaims joining the Emperor's Coven to be the pinnacle of magical achievement. When Mattholomule inflates his head to impress him, Bump is embarrassed and comments he's failed Matt as an educator.
Later on in "Something Ventured, Something Framed", Eda meets up with Bump as she recognises her limits as an instructor and wants Luz to learn magic at Hexside. Bump agrees, so long as Eda cleans up the messes she made as a student, which she reluctantly agrees to do so. However, after Eda cleans the mess and Bump begins filling in the paperwork, Luz, who'd snuck into the school thanks to Gus, busts out of the detention room along with him and Matt, wrecking it. Bump is infuriated and immediately bans Eda and Luz from the premises, but Gus, having lied Luz into helping him, asks to take her punishment in her place. Bump accepts and removes Gus from his position as the HAS's president, giving the role to Mattholomule instead.
Bump is in charge of overseeing Luz's entrance exam into Hexside during "The First Day", where she demonstrates her glyph spells to him. While she does slightly mess up, Bump passes her and lets Luz into the school. Later on, Luz meets Principal Bump, hoping to show him her plan for a multi-track study schedule but he informs her that students, under the Emperor's law, are only allowed to take one track at a time and thus, sends Luz into the Potions track. However, Luz later picks up a crystal ball and summons a spirit, causing Bump to send her to the Detention track as a punishment for mixing magic and to keep her away from the arriving inspector. Unfortunately, when Bump and Amity put on a display, the inspector reveals herself to be a basilisk in disguise and sucks up the two's magic before rampaging through the school. Luz and the other Detention students defeat the basilisk, returning magic to everybody but Bump is angry at them for mixing magic again. Luz stands up for them, stating that the students saved Hexside by using different magic and thus, Bump admits his mistake and allows the attendance of multiple tracks, with Luz attending all of them. He also reveals that the mysterious "Lord Calamity" who the Detention students admire was actually the alias of a younger Eda. While writing a report to the Emperor's Coven on the basilisk, Bump chases King out of Hexside after he poses as a teacher.
Principal Bump appears in "Enchanting Grom Fright", where he acts as announcer for Luz's duel with the monster, and later witnesses its defeat. He briefly appears in "Wing It Like Witches", as when Luz angrily remarks that Boscha could get away even with murder after she and her friends are bullied, Bump notes that while he doesn't approve, he's happy Boscha is trying new things, proving Luz's point. Bump also attends Eda's execution in "Young Blood, Old Souls", protesting with the crowd against the Owl Lady's petrification as she helped him love teaching again (though only after she left).
Season 2[]
Bump appears in "Escaping Expulsion", where his office is invaded by Odalia and Alador Blight, who demand of him to expel Luz, Gus and Willow thanks to their friendships with Amity distracting her from promoting Blight Industries' products. Thanks to the Blight family's influence, Bump is forced to expel the trio and reluctantly fends them off during their attempts to break back into Hexside. Fortunately, after Luz strikes a deal with Odalia to help her promote some of their weapons, the Blight parents agree to let the trio back into Hexside.
Trivia[]
- Bump is a lot more reasonable than his predecessor Faustus; having cut down a LOT on Eda's personal record. Only her real malicious pranks were kept.
Gallery[]
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