OKAY so I saw a post about making an Undertale Christmas Party type thing with a bunch of Bills (courtesy of @foundfamilyeric), so I decided to join+make a bit of an informational post on my witch Bill!
And so, I present to you...
Bill on the Boiling Isles AU summary
Now, for those of you who don't know what The Owl House is, let me give a bit of a small explanation:
The Owl House is a show about a teenage girl named Luz Noceda. Attached below is a picture of Luz Noceda:
Luz Noceda is a strange (likely neurodivergent) teenage girl who doesn't really fit in with her peers. She's a lot like Mabel, in a way—fun, emotional, a bit impulsive, very imaginitive. She's also pretty smart, as well as obsessed with magic.
Anyways, Luz finds herself in the demon realm, which is where witches live. Witches, of course, can produce magic. They do this by drawing circles in the air. This specific place in the demon realm the girl ends up is known as The Boiling Isles, which is run by Emperor Belos, a tyrant who insists on witches joining covens and only using said coven's magic for the rest of their life. However, there's one witch who's very adamant on NOT following this stupid rule, and that is Eda Clawthorne, also known as "The Owl Lady." Below is an image of Eda:
Because Eda refuses to follow Belos' system, she's a wanted criminal—however, she's a really powerful witch, too, due to her ability to use ALL magic. She makes a living selling human things to other witches (also in season 1 episode 2 it's mentioned that she sells potions, but I can't remember if that ever comes up again, so I'm not counting that). There's also a popular theory that she's Stan's ex-wife, Marilyn, who stole all of his winnings in Vegas.
Now, another important character is King. Attached below is a picture of King:
He's a silly little guy. Literally no one knows what he is other than a silly little guy. He swears he used to be the King of Demons (hence the name "King") and someone ended up being changed into this silly little guy. Whatever the case, he's a silly little guy who believes he's meant to be some tyrant overlord.
Another thing to mention: notice how Eda's staff has an owl at the top of it? That owl is Eda's palisman, Owlbert. A palisman is a statuette that's carved from a magical tree that bonds with their owner via strong emotional conviction. At times, the palisman will be in staff form, sitting motionless at the top, but other times, the palisman may be off the staff, acting as a familiar or helper for its owner. They can even telepathically speak with their owner. Attached below is an image of Owlbert off of the staff:
Anyways, with that out of the way, time to get into...
The Condensed AU Summary
So, Bill has been in the Theraprism for quite some time now, so the Axolotl talks to him to check out what's the problem. Bill, being Bill, is obviously like "therapy is stupid and I want to have my powers back and leave this place because this SUCKS." And so the axolotl is like "but you haven't made any progress." Bill, again, being Bill, says something along the lines of "well this is stupid and obviously not working. Just give me my powers and let me leave." And the axolotl thinks for a moment before telling him "okay, but you'll have to face your greatest enemy if you do this." And Bill is all sarcastic and replies, "What? Are you going to send me to work at the Mystery Shack? Because I've read all those fanfictions about me, and it's both cliche and dumb" (obviously no hate to those who DO write fanfics like that, I just think it'd be a funny fourth wall break moment). The axolotl says something along the lines of "not exactly, talk to the Owl Lady" before Bill is given his new physical form and dropped into the middle of a forest.
Bill immediately notices that his form is human-ish, but he doesn't realize WHERE he is yet. When he finds the town of Bonesborough, though, he realizes that this is the Boiling Isles and that he helped a loser witch hunter human named Philip Wittebane (who he now hates for reasons Bill refuses to explain) build a portal to help him get back to Earth. However, because of his transformation, he doesn't remember where the portal is or how to build it. That's when he notices a stand selling human stuff, and. when he looks closer, it's actually real. He talks to the lady selling them and asks where she got all of this stuff. Obviously, the lady tells him they're from the human realm, and Bill asks if she has a portal. She dodges the question.
This goes on for quite some time until a guard tries to arrest both the lady AND Bill (apparently, talking to a criminal means you're fraternizing with them). Bill, still thinking he's a human, tries to physically fight the guards, but obviously, this doesn't work. The lady, seeing how Bill is trying to fight off the guards, decides to step in and help him, and long story short, she ends up taking him back to the Owl House to lay low for a bit. The lady introduces herself as Eda the Owl Lady asks him why he didn't use magic, and Bill's like "because I'm a human?" And Eda's like "you literally have pointy ears, you're a witch." That's when Bill finally notices that he IS a witch, and thus DOES have powers. The Axolotl gave him what he wanted—he gave Bill powers and let him leave.
Except, Bill doesn't know how to use these powers. How's he supposed to have fun with his magical abilities if he can't use them? Eda asks him if he's learned how to use his magic. Bill's like "obviously I have, I'm an adult witch, obviously I know magic." Eda's all skeptical and asks him to cast a spell. Bill refuses, giving the excuse of his magic being too strong and it would probably kill Eda in an instant. Eda keeps pressing and Bill (feeling extremely insecure and vulnerable) explodes and tells her that yes, okay, he doesn't know how to use his powers YET, but he's fine, he can learn to do magic on his own, and that he doesn't need any help before leaving the Owl House.
Bill lives on the streets for a while, trying to learn magic as best he can while evading the emperor's guards. Him and Eda cross paths sometimes, Bill always making a point to tell her that he's doing GREAT on his own (he really isn't), but after almost being caught by the emperor's guards multiple times, he decides to FINALLY swallow his pride and go to Eda for help. When he finally does, Eda acts all smug and goes "oh? I thought you were fine on your own" and Bill's like "well yeah, I am, but if you're offering, I GUESS I'll accept." Eda says that he CAN stay, but if he wants to, he'll have to work for her. Bill's against this at first, but begrudgingly accepts.
So, Bill now lives in the Owl House and works for Eda, but he still insists on figuring out magic on his own. He actually grows quite close with King—he basically considers him a Junior Henchmaniac because of his drive for conquering kingdoms. Anyways, Bill keeps trying to figure out magic on his own, but is kind of struggling. Eda sometimes gives him some pointers, but Bill's like "I don't need your help!" After a while, however, Bill decides to actually try and TAKE the advice, and sure enough, the spell works. This causes Bill to trust Eda slightly more, and over time, he learns how to harness his magic pretty well.Still, he doesn't FULLY trust Eda—besides, he can still figure things out on his own.
Eventually, Eda decides that Bill's learned enough magic and is now ready to carve his own palisman. As a final test, she takes Bill on a heist, having Bill use the magic he's learned to steal the wood from the Boneborough garden club. He passes, and Eda teaches him how to carve. Bill decides to carve an axolotl (I have no reason for this other than it's funny), and when it's done, Eda tells Bill that in order for the palisman to wake up, he needs to tell it what he wants. Bill, being Bill, is like "I want to take over Earth and start the apocalypse and also get revenge on the Pines family for basically forcing me into therapy." Despite how driven he feels, the palisman doesn't wake up. Eda is super confused and slightly concerned, while Bill is frustrated. That's his end goal, and he feels so strongly about it, so why won't the damn this just WAKE UP?
Anyways, Bill is really moody for a while, trying to get his palisman to become animate or change into its staff form. This is WAY worse than the theraprism. He's come so far, and it's been for NOTHING? Bill's convinced that there's NOTHING that could make this any better.
I won't give too many spoilers, but season 1 of The Owl House happens. Bill gets character development. He learns to trust Eda more. At some point, Luz manages to break down his walls slightly (she's really good at that). Eventually, some time during either late season 1 or early season 2, Bill's kind of venting to his little axolotl palisman, and at some point, he says something along the lines of "I guess I've been alone for so long that I've forgotten how it feels to have a family. I... actually like this. I don't want to lose it again."
That's when it happens. In a flash of vibrant blue light, the axolotl statuette comes to life. The axolotl introduces themself as Frillson, but Bill doesn't reply. He's in complete shock. Bill realizes 3 things in that moment:
1. He actually admitted to seeing Luz, Eda, and King as family
2. This whole time, his string, emotional conviction was not AT ALL related to Weirdmaggedon or his hate for the Pines—it was because he didn't want to be alone
3. The axolotl statuette he was just vulnerable with could hear him the whole time.
Anyways, seasons 2 and 3 happen, and Bill gets even MORE character development, and by the end, even though he's still a snarky, sarcastic jerk at times, he's also a bit more open, compassionate, and vulnerable than original Bill.
Attached below is an image of Bill in this AU:
Attached below is an image of Frillson when off the staff:
Now, with THAT out of the way, here's a few...
Bill tidbits
-Bill's witch form is short (only 5'3"), and he's kind of (extremely) insecure about it.
-Despite being really adept with his new magic, he's still not as powerful as he used to be. He's also pretty insecure about this.
-Despite the fact that Bill can no longer read minds, Frillson can read minds and tell Bill what people are thinking.
-When off the staff, Frillson will typically hide under Bill's hat.
-Bill keeps a lot of important things under his hat. This includes a picture of him, Luz, Eda, and King took together.
-Despite the fact that Eda and Bill are NOT romantically involved, King sees Bill as a father figure.
-Bill has accidentally called Luz "shooting star" on multiple occasions.
-Bill found pictures of Eda and Stan's Vegas wedding and he flipped out. Ever since then, he's been getting on her about her "horrible taste in men".
-If someone brings up the name "Philip Wittebane" around Bill, they should be prepared for him to go on a rage-filled tirade, talking about he's a "pathetic loser witch hunter who wasn't even that cool, and even though he thought he was smart, he wasn't, he was just jealous that his brother got a hot witch girlfriend and he didn't." He hates Philip Wittebane just as much, if not more, than Stan.
-Bill will never bring up WHY he feels such a strong hatred for Philip Wittebane. He always just says "personal reasons."
And now, for Christmas party reasons, attached below is a concept for Bill's sweater:
