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“ | I get it now. You just need kindness and forgiveness, huh? | „ |
~ The Collector attempting to redeem Emperor Belos. |
“ | I don't want anyone else to go away! I don't want anyone else to go missing! I'm sorry for everything! [notices he's crying] What is this stuff? W-W-Why won't it stop? | „ |
~ The Collector expressing remorse for his crimes following Luz Noceda's temporary death. |
“ | Come on. You can at least do this! | „ |
~ The Collector deciding to save everyone in the Archives. |
The Collector is the former secondary antagonist of the 2020 Disney Channel animated series The Owl House.
He is the younger brother of the Archivists and a member of a race of cosmic beings who was banished to the Demon Realm and trapped inside a tablet by The Titan, remaining in their for millenia until the Titan's son King Clawthorne freed him.
While he started out villainous, even helping Emperor Belos in his genocidal plans, he ultimately turns out to just be a lonely child that was manipulated and didn't know the consequences of his actions, and would redeem himself after befriending the heroes.
He is voiced by Fryda Wolff, who also voiced Penny Crygor in WarioWare Gold.
Appearance[]
As a shadow, he appears as a two-dimensional being with a half-split design; again, with one side black with three sun symbols, and the other grey with three crescent moon symbols. He also has a half-moon face pattern, and his head is shaped like a cowl. This form is projected by a dark, circular mirror with a crescent moon symbol upon it.
Upon regaining his physical form, the Collector appears as a yellow-skinned boy with a patch of blue skin on both his left leg and the left side of his face (the latter, which includes freckles, simulating a crescent moon), as well as white hair and eyes with yellow sclera and orange irises. He wears pajama-esque clothing, consisting of a dark nightcap with purple rims and starry dots and a baggy white-and-navy onesie with split accents; his right light sleeve is patterned with dark suns, while his left dark sleeve is patterned with blue moons. He also wears dark slippers with white buds and a yellow necklace with a white tag of a black smiling crescent moon attached to it.
Personality[]
At first glance, The Collector appears to be a malevolent and sadistic entity who enjoys the very idea of chaos. He also seems to be okay with helping Belos out with his plans. However, it's later revealed that this is due to his poor understanding of death and morality. In actuality, he is a lonely child who just wants a genuine connection with someone after being manipulated his entire life. He's shown to be friendly to pretty much everyone he meets, and loves keeping promises and hates it when people lie.
Unlike the rest of his species, The Collector has no desire to harm anybody, and while he does imprison people and turn them into puppets, it’s only to play games. Even while under the impression that he can bring back any person as easily as fixing toys, he still goes out of his way to make sure that the people he turns into puppets get stored away safely in the Archives house after he’s done playing with them. While he did endanger the lives of Luz, Eda and King through a series of deadly games, it was never to purposely harm them, naïvely believing they were having fun. Instead of retaliating against them when the trio start beating and humiliating him during each round, The Collector chose to sulk in a corner instead, further demonstrating how he never wished any harm upon anybody, not even people he’s upset with. While he didn’t like Luz much at first, in his desire for friends and hearing a lot about her from King, he was willing to befriend her as well and even opened up to her when she approached him, immediately venting with her and showing a desperation in wanting someone to understand what he’s been through.
Once the trio started to teach The Collector about friendship and what each of them have been through, the child took the lessons about kindness and forgiveness by heart, willing to make friends the right way this time. However, The Collector showed his naivety further when he tried what he learned on Belos, innocently assuming it was that easy and that kindness and forgiveness could be applied to anyone regardless of their actions. Once Luz died and was unable to bring her back, The Collector, devastated and crying, finally understood the meaning and fragility of mortal life and all the harm he has caused to the Boiling Isles residents, redeeming himself by keeping the Archives afloat while Luz, who was revived by the dying Titan, along with Eda and King, dealt with Belos. Once the former emperor was defeated at last, The Collector started to transform the residents back to normal, having a new outlook of life and willing to do some growth and soul searching by leaving for the stars but visiting his new friends from time to time, even gifting a new portal door for Luz for her to travel back and forth between the human and demon realms whenever she likes and providing a great spectacle of light for her belated quinceañera to show gratitude for everything she’s done.
History[]
Origin and Imprisonment[]
The Collector hails from a race of celestial beings which seeks to archive and catalogue all life in the Demon Realm. He was the younger brother of a group known as the Archivists, and his childlike interests stood out from his siblings. One day, the Archivists told him that they will play hide and seek, and that he needs to visit a magical race known as the Titans to see if they will join. The Collector quickly befriended all of them, especially the younger ones, but his fun was interrupted when the Archivists became scared of the Titans' power. They started a war against the Titans and won, with there being only one Titan left, who, mistakenly blamed the Collector and, not wanting him to hurt his still-unborn son, used his powers to seal him away in the In-Between Realm for various millions of years.
The Titan's body died while his spirit still remained trapped with the Collector in the In-Between Realm while life began to evolve on his corpse, which became known as the Boiling Isles. An ancient tribe of witches known as Titan Trappers would come to worship another Collector known as "the Grand Huntsman", who participated in the Titan genocide. Their leader, Bill, somehow found out the Collector is trapped inside the In-Between Realm and mistook him for the Huntsman. He then revealed to his followers that the "Huntsman" wants them to find the last Titan, "the Lost Son of the Boiling Isles", as only a Titan could free the Collector from his imprisonment; it's unknown if this claim is true or not due to the amount of lies Bill has been telling. However, the Collector himself claims he knew the Trappers and they weren't always "weird", so it's ambiguous as to what exactly went down.
A moon-emblazoned mirror, the key to freeing the Collector from his prison, was kept in the Titan's skull, guarded by a beast named the Stonesleeper.
Scheming With Belos[]
Eventually, in the Boiling Isles' Deadwardian Era, a human known as Philip Wittebane went on an expedition to the Titan's skull where he evaded the Stonesleeper and obtained the Collector's mirror. After activating it and conjuring the Collector's spirit, Philip learned about a "Draining Spell" that could fatally reap the magic of witches. Over the centuries they spend together, the Collector has been slowly training Philip and giving him "magic stronger then anybody's". Upon becoming the Isles' emperor and changing his identity to Belos, Philip plotted the "Day of Unity", a ploy to assemble every witch on the Isles and kill every single one of them with the Draining Spell, after which he would fulfil his end of the deal using Titan's Blood to free the Collector.
Centuries later in the present, Eda's apprentice, Luz Noceda, and Philip/Belos' grimwalker subordinate, Hunter, temporarily find themselves in the emperor's mind in the episode, "Hollow Mind", where they discover of the Collector's existence and allegiance with Belos. After escaping, Luz, King, and Hooty travel to Titan Trapper Island in "Edge of the World" for help against Belos, only to discover both King's Titan lineage and that the trappers worship the Collector. The trio swiftly escape the island, but not before King makes a psychic connection with the Collector in a botched ritual sacrifice by the Trappers.
Awaiting Freedom[]
In "O Titan, Where Art Thou", King enters the In-Between Realm in his dreams, where he finds the Collector imprisoned inside an orb. The Collector goes into an insane rambling on how he's almost free and how he won't be alone anymore. When King calls out to the entity, the Collector's silhouette appears on the orb, where he notices King. King backs up only for the Collector to begin panicking and begging him not to leave, knowing he'll wake up soon, but King wakes up anyways.
In "Clouds on the Horizon", the Collector accompanies Belos as the latter sets up the functioning Portal Door in the Titan's skull, exactly where he found the Collector centuries ago. The Collector sadistically asks Belos if he's nervous to return home, bringing up the facts that the Human Realm must've changed drastically over the four centuries he's been gone, and that Philip himself has changed in the measures taken to extend his lifespan. Angered, Belos tries to attack the Collector by morphing his arm but misses.
The Collector rejoices at the fact he will soon be free from his prison, stating there are "so many games" he wants to play once liberated. He adds that, if he and Belos require a third player, another Grimwalker could be made; Belos rejects this idea, saying he will only make another once Hunter is dealt with. The Collector then painfully begs Belos to release him early, whining that the human did promise. Belos also rejects this, saying that the Draining Spell must first work, which the Collector himself promised in the bargain. The entity grumpily remarks that Belos should have more faith in pinky swears. The Emperor then says their partner's patience will be rewarded, as the Day of Unity is merely 24 hours away. The Collector watches with Belos as witches from all over the Isles approach the Titan's head, grinning widely.
Starting a New Game[]
Later, King once more hears the Collector's thoughts; he is talking to himself and expressing doubt that Belos will uphold his end of the bargain. The Collector desperately tries to convince himself that the Emperor is his friend, but notes that the two of them have spent centuries "playing [Belos'] game", and angrily states he wants to play a new game. In "King's Tide", the Day of Unity finally comes, and the Collector is excited by the prospect of freedom.
However, Belos reveals that he won't be releasing him, both because he's only using the Titan's Blood from the key to activate the Portal and because he doesn't want anyone else learning about their powerful spells, and instead drops his mirror down a pit in the Titan's skull. Later in the episode, while Luz and her allies battle Belos, an equally betrayed Kikimora brings King down to the pit. There, he makes a deal with the Collector, who recognized King as the Titan's son, to free them and play a game of "Owl House" in exchange for ending Belos' Draining Spell. King uses his Titan powers to break the Collector's mirror, allowing him to escape it and regain his physical form before he stops Belos from killing Luz and instead splatters his body against the skull's wall.
Right afterwards, he honors his end of the deal and ends the Day of Unity by moving the eclipsing moon out of the sun's way. However, the Collector decides that to play Owl House, he and his "playmates" are "gonna need an Owl House" and begins to use his powers to break the skull to pieces. While Luz and company escape to the Human Realm through the Portal as it explodes, King is pulled back to the Collector to play with him.
Reign of Chaos[]
After the Collector pulls King back, he creates the Archive House, a place for him and King to live. King explains "The Owl House" to the Collector, saying it's kind of like playing pretend. He starts turning people into puppets, much to King's dismay, in order to help with the game, and creates spies to help with this. He also captures Eda, and stores her in a room guarded by puppets, under the impression that she's in her Owl Beast form and can't change back, despite this not being the case.
The Collector starts playing with King and his puppets, acting out scenes that very loosely depict events in the show. Luz describes it as "a twisted version of her life". At one point in time, Terra Snapdragon played Eda, but later got turned into a puppet due to not doing a good enough job. King tries to get him to stop, but he refuses and they head back to the Archive House where he has Odalia Blight put away the puppets and serve Eda pizza bagels.
After this the two head to bed where King tries to reason with the Collector about not endangering people's lives with dangerous games. However, the Collector has no sympathy for how fragile a mortal's life is, then asks King to tell him a bedtime story, which is in fact his kind's creed, but he botched part of the text to add that "playing" is better than what his family were doing, and that they "stink".
Meanwhile, Belos, after absorbing one of his unfinished grimwalkers, jumps to a window of the Collector's castle and possesses the Raine Whispers puppet. He then sneaks into the Collector's room and tries to possess him, but he is quickly restrained when the Collector wakes up by his presence. Belos convinces him that he was magically brought to life and has come to warn him that King is plotting against him. The Collector doesn't believe him at first, until he eavesdrop on King's conversation with Eda and Lilith, coming up with a plan to stop him once and for all, but failing to see that King wants to try talking him down instead of sealing him away again. Belos even tells the Collector that Luz has returned and is also plotting to destroy him.
While Luz and her friends are celebrating for her new palisman, the Collector is observing them from above with Belos (still posing as Raine) by his side. Convinced and manipulated by his words that Luz has come to defeat them, the Collector has decided it is time to play "a new game" and angrily snaps his fingers.
Confrontation and Redemption[]
The Collector captures Hunter, Camila, Willow, Gus, and Amity, turning them and Lilith into puppets and traps Luz, Eda, and King in nightmares to teach them a ‘lesson’ through Puppet Raine’s suggestion. When Luz manages to free herself and frees Eda and King, he becomes upset. As he watches them reunite, he vents to “Raine” that the plan is not working. He innocently reveals to the possessed puppet that King is a titan and that the Boiling Isles titan is still alive. “Raine” convinces him to play with the three of them and The Collector takes the advice.
The Collector appears before Luz, Eda and King and forces them to play his favorite games, unknowingly endangering their lives. After being beaten in each of them, he starts to cry, unable to understand why his new playmates are hurting him. He reveals to Luz how he was imprisoned in the first place and reveals that every friend he had has lied to and betrayed him, even his own siblings the Archivists. In an attempt to get him to see the error of his ways, Luz, Eda, and King takes him on a tour of places that helped them bond and teach him how great kindness and forgiveness can be. At the Knee, their tour comes to an abrupt end when the Collector hears breathing in the distance and the group realizes Belos has possessed the titan.
When they heads where the possessed Titan is, the Collector tries Luz’s lesson about kindness and forgiveness on Belos, but when he attacks the child, Luz intercepts the blast, disintegrating and dying in front of him. The Collector is left confused and unable to understand what happened, and tries to bring her back with a snap of his fingers. It doesn’t work, and he can only watch helplessly as Eda and King turn feral and start attacking Belos in grief and anger.
Slowly realizing how death works for mortals, a remorseful Collector begs Eda and King to run away, not wanting anyone else to die and apologizing for everything, shedding tears for the first time in his life and not understanding what they are. Before Belos can finish them off, Luz returns as a human-Titan hybrid courtesy of King’s father, and gets them all out of harm’s way. Realizing that the Archives are about to fall from the Titan’s skull, the Collector volunteers to keep it afloat, managing to do so despite being hit by part of Belos’s blast and weakened.
Once Belos is finally defeated, an exhausted Collector floats back to the Archives, at first afraid that the Hexsquad will punish him and delighted when Amity helps him up. Afterwards, they all watch as Belos’s infection vanishes, and with the former emperor’s threat finally be over, the Collector starts to turn everyone in the Archives back to normal.
With a new outlook on life, the Collector chooses to return to the stars for some growing and soul searching, and is deeply touched when King gifts him his precious plus Francois and a hug, finally considering him a real friend. Before departing, the Collector gifts Luz a portal door so she can come and go between the Human and Demon realms whenever she likes, and they both pinky swear to keep doing their best.
Despite living in the stars, it’s heavily implied that the Collector is a frequent visitor of the Boiling Isles, and four years later when passing by, he gifts Luz a beautiful display of shooting stars for her belated quinceañera to compensate for all the birthdays she missed fixing the isles.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Collector goes by both masculine and neutral pronouns.
- The Collector has numerous parallels to Caleb Wittebane. Both were members of a larger group (Collectors for the Collector, witch hunters for Caleb) who abandoned their practices after entering the Demon Realm and befriending members of a species they are supposed to hurt (Titans for the Collector, Evelyn to Caleb). Unfortunately, they were followed by their siblings (The Archivists and Belos/Philip), who then proceeded to hurt them (The Archivists abandoned the Collector to his fate, Belos killed Caleb) before going on a genocidal crusade against their friends out of fear, despite hiding it with claims of good intentions (The Archivists "preserving life so it never fades", Belos "saving humanity from evil"). The difference is, Caleb died while the Collector lived and managed to atone for his siblings' misdeeds.
- The Collector’s lack of knowledge of the fragility of mortal life and how death is actually permanent is likely a result of living with Belos for centuries. Since he killed and remade Grimwalkers very often, it’s easy to assume The Collector believed Belos was simply fixing the same ‘toy’ over and over again, remaining unaware that each Grimwalker was a different person. Not helped by the fact that each Grimwalker greatly resembled each other, thus making the Collector assume he could bring back people the same way as fixing any broken toy as he told Luz before the games.
External Links[]
- The Collector on the Villains Wiki
- The Collector on the Disney Wiki
- The Collector on the The Owl House Wiki
- The Collector on the Pure Good Wiki
- The Collector on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki
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