Q&A Part Deux. Both questions from both FF and AO3 will be answered.

From Crosshot:

Is Laura connected to the Ottertons or Sam in any way?

It was not our intention for Laura to be connected to the Otterons or Sam. We wanted her to live in the world of Zootopia, but we didn't want her to be related to any of the characters from the first movie. She is just another otter that inhabits that world.

Is there any content that you guys had to exclude from Book 1, stuff that you may have ended up including in Book 2?

One idea we had was the song "Kiss the Girl" being used for Willow and Skara in Book One, specifically during their day at the carnival in "Regretful Decisions". We weren't able to naturally include it though. Another idea we had was a gag where Belos decides at the end of Book One that the Emperor's Coven needs a new Head Witch and he randomly designs to designate Steve as Lilith's replacement, with Steve celebrating a "promotion for Steve". This didn't come to pass and it was ultimately for the best, since Steve is a character that got better over time thanks to the actual show giving us more material to work with, which ultimately led to Steve getting his own focused chapter.

What was the inspiration and overall plan for Luz's alternate form when you first conceived it, or Amity ending up as half-Fae, and have they changed after the series finale came out?

According to JP, the idea of Luz becoming more lizard and bat-like comes from how she has an interest in reptiles like snakes, and how there are so many bat references around the show. Some of the inspirations for Luz's alternate form are Ulquiorra Cider's Resurrección form and Devilman.

I would say that our plans for Luz's alternate form after Book One have remained fairly the same, with the only major changes being Maya sharing Luz's body and what Luz's alternate form actually is, but we are still heading in the same direction for that story that we were heading in at the end of Book One. We also had a pretty good idea of the direction Amity being part-Fae would go in by the end of Book One and we are still going in that direction. I don't remember the exact inspiration for Amity ending up part-Fae, but I think it did happen as a result of us developing the character of Puck and what was going to happen to him.

And speaking of Puck, when he 'died' at the end of Book One, we already knew he was going to come back and be possessed by the Inner Demon. That was something we planned in advance and ended up sticking to, despite everything else that changed in the fic. And while a lot has changed as we wrote Luz Clawthorne and we are very flexible as writers (we have to be as a result of the show having not finished airing while we were writing the fic), there is also a lot that was and is still set in stone.

The OC contest: it was your way of expanding beyond Bonesborough, Latissa, Gravity Falls and Gatesfield even further and build some lore during the Human Realm arc, wasn't it?

Actually, it wasn't. Me and JP just thought it would be a fun way to get the readers involved in the story and engage with them, since we do like engaging with our audience and potentially including your characters in the story was meant to be a treat for all of you after supporting and reading the story for so long.

For my curiosity's sake, what was your plan for Cross before you made him a part of Emily's character arc?

Honestly, we… actually didn't have a plan for Cross beyond him being a background character attending St. Epiderm. Only when you brought up his absence during the Coven Day parade did we have the idea to use him as a red herring for the new Golden Guard plot and that eventually led to him becoming a part of Emily's character arc, which actually drastically changed our plans for Emily as well. Like if it weren't for Cross, she would have not been a part of the Underworld arc and would still be stuck as Adrian's apprentice and the new Golden Guard. By making him a part of Emily's arc, it did help give him a place in a story with such a large cast, but it also ended up giving Emily more prominence.

Is the Morpheus a completely separate character from the one in Hercules, a composite character, or the actual god?

He is the actual god. While he has a different design from Morpheus as he appears in the animated series, the gods are shape-shifters who can take on different forms. One example of this within the Hercules franchise is Cupid/Eros, who has a different design in both the animated series and the movie. Eris is also another example of this, since in "Mischief Gathering" she has a different design from her reappearance in "Resolutions". So yes, Morpheus is the same character from the one in Hercules.

Was the Tarot Guild inspired by FOWL, considering that scene they had?

The scene was a reference to FOWL, but the Tarot Guild itself was not inspired by FOWL. The Tarot Guild has actually changed a lot as the fic progressed, since as we've mentioned before Terra Snapdragon wasn't always the true leader of the Guild and once we did decide to make Terra the Guild's true leader, the Guild itself suddenly became more important. One idea we actually considered was having Eda take over the Guild and rename it the Court of Owls, but we ultimately decided against that because of how the Guild was a trafficking ring that targeted children, which was why so many Tarot Guild members got such brutal deaths in "Understanding Hunter", since me and JP realized that given how vile the Tarot Guild is, we didn't need to hold back in their karmic comeuppance and could go as hard as we could.

And how much did Boscha tell the Saltstars about her adventure?

Probably everything except for her personal nightmare.

From Blue Tagg:

Is the Baron a good guy, or a bad guy? Or in-between?

I would actually call the Baron a good guy, just probably not a conventional one. JP was the one who actually wanted to use the Baron and to get an idea of what his role in the story could be I did some research about Baron Samedi as well as his other incarnations and aspects, specifically Baron Kriminel. Samedi is a spirit of resurrection while Kriminel is a spirit of justice. For this story, both of those roles were combined.

While the Baron is also based on Facilier's Friends on the Other Side (he's actually the head that devoured Facilier) from The Princess and the Frog, another inspiration for the Baron's handling was a theory I read from TV Tropes about the Friends, that they are not legitimately evil and that they are actually orchestrating a scheme for the benefit of the heroes. In vodou religion, some of the loa are known for helping the hard-working underdogs of society against the "fat cats", which is what the Friends were doing when they helped Facilier take advantage of Naveen, Charlotte, and Big Daddy. But when Facilier got greedy, desiring to become a fat cat himself, and started picking on Tiana, it became a whole different story. Though they smiled when Facilier offered them all the souls in New Orleans, the theory is that they were actually smiling because they knew Facilier wouldn't be able to keep his promise, which gave them the excuse to damn him, not listening to Facilier's attempts to placate them and completely ignoring Tiana. Luz Clawthorne ultimately went with this interpretation of the movie, which was confirmed during Julia Traveler's conversation with the Baron in "Escape". This I think made the Friends more accurate to the loa from vodou and I think it made them more defined as well rather than just being a vague evil, since sometimes I see the Friends being equated with the Devil rather than the Hatian religion they're inspired by.

Though speaking of the Devil, I will admit he was one of the inspirations for the Baron. Specifically, the version of the Devil from the horror anthology series Tales from the Hood. In fact, the scene where the Baron helps the spirits of the Coachman's victims get their revenge before going to a better place in inspired by a scene from one of the Tales from the Hood movies where the Devil helps the spirits of dead children get revenge on their killer before they ascend to Heaven, something that he actually has no problem with despite those souls being out of his reach. In that film, it is the souls of evil, guilty, and corrupt people that he is interested in and works to obtain.

In fact, the Baron never actually wanted Lilith's soul, her soul is merely a means to get what he actually wants, similar to how in this universe it was Facilier's soul he truly wanted in the end, not the souls of all of New Orleans. While the Baron's methods are questionable, I would still call the Baron a good guy because of his end goal and his motives, which is to get justice for those who were previously denied it.

Would the Gatesfield teens, Abigail, and Nora ever get a chance to see the demon realm? Has Dipper ever been to the Demon realm before, and would he get a chance?

Dipper has never been to the Demon Realm. I will say that he and the human characters will eventually get a chance to see the Demon Realm, but not in Book Two. Right now the Isles is still too dangerous of a place for Eda and Luz to bring humans to the Isles.

From Franco Almiron

Was it always planned to make the reveal of Luz not being a Cambion since the first book?

No. What changed was the creation of Trini, who is a more traditional cambion compared to Luz. While planning the final confrontation between Luz and Trini, I realized that Trini was right. Luz is not a true cambion and 'cambion' was just a blanket term. So I asked myself what Luz really was and we decided to expand on that idea of Luz not being a true cambion, realizing that we could do more with that.

From Shuffollower

Would you compare Luz to Harry Potter in the sense that a piece of their mortal enemy's soul exists within them?

No. I wouldn't compare Luz to Harry Potter at all. It's not like that is a unique concept owned by Harry Potter anyway.

We know the connection with Trini, Blazer, and Serpentina, but how did Mel meet/recruit the other half of her gang?

Mel freed D-Josh, met Trini and Blazer in Hell, and met Eustace through Serpentina, who is her cousin (from her uncle's side of the family and you probably guess which uncle). She met Jackson thanks to the alliance between the Underworld and Wonderland, with that alliance actually being made because Hades and Persephone felt like Mel needed friends and they hoped that she would get along with Jackson. And as part of that alliance, Hades restored Jafar to flesh and sent him to join the court of the Hearts royal family.

Has Belos ever used the Horned King to spy on his enemies in the past, and if he did, does he still do that?

Probably not.

I know you designed Zee and Clair so given the orange hair, I have to ask: did you make Clair a Clawthorne?

No… not intentionally at least.

And off the top of my head after seeing Blue Tagg's questions: what would you say would be the best palisman for each Gatesfield teen, based on their personalities and backgrounds?

Clara would have a corgi Palisman, since she'd be a dog person. Masha would have a Pikachi Palisman with a black mark on its tail to mess with people. Gus Gordon would have a weasel Palisman in reference to his favorite band. Dana would have a Heracross Palisman and Rudo would have a lemur Palisman.

Is Faust part of the Emperor's Coven?

No, but he does whatever the Emperor's Coven says.

From xndelongchamps:

Is Adrian Emily's father?

I'll just go ahead and confirm that yes, Adrian Graye is the biological father of Emily Tricks.

From ultimate-drax:

Well, uh … any chance of seeing Kim and Ron? I've been very interested in what those two went onto do after the series finale.

Eventually. Me and JP have talked about including Kim in Luz Clawthorne at some point, but she is probably going to be saved for Book Three.

From RJWritingInk:

The Luz Clawthorne series started out as an Owl House AU, but it's all but become something akin to the MCU, but with the majority of Disney works involved. And non-Disney works. Did you always plan to add all these additional characters, settings, and IP's, or did you include them as the story went along?

It wasn't always the plan and really it was Reunion Falls that opened the door to having Luz Clawthorne take place in a larger universe. We decided to have a crossover between Luz Clawthorne and Reunion Falls because of how similar both of those AUs were and the popularity of those crossovers definitely encouraged us to include more Disney works in later chapters.

What motivated you to write this, anyway? And is there anything you'd change if you could go back and start over now that you know the end of the show?

Buck: Honestly… there's not much I would change if I could go back and start over. Obviously, if Luz Clawthorne was written now it would be written very differently. Luz Clawthorne was very much a time capsule of the state of the fandom when it was written, aka before Huntlow really took off. But that is part of what made writing Luz Clawthorne a fun journey and I wouldn't want to go back and make it more canon-accurate, because I feel like that would take away from its uniqueness. Really the only thing I would go back and change if I could is probably introduce Hunter earlier in order to better establish his friendship with Luz, Gus, and Willow. The reason that "The Gold Hexperience" began with flashbacks showing more of Hunter's friendship with Gus and Willow was to make up for the lack of interactions between them earlier in the fic.

JP: I just have a more complex schedule compared to what I've had in the past. Like I now work in morning shifts four days a week, run on energy drinks(which I shouldn't), and learn what the most I can write a scenes for the day at a pace. There's not much I can change since canon material gives us a lot more to work on, as well as our love of all what we can reference the horror and superhero stuff. I don't think we both need to change much.

Buck, how did you go from fan to beta reader to co-author? That must be an interesting story!

Well, me and JP had already been friends for several years when he started writing Luz Clawthorne. He actually showed me the prologue before he published it and even in the early chapters I did contribute some ideas, including Lilith making Amity spy on the Owl House inhabitants for her. I became the fic's editor when I offered to fix up the past and present tense for JP and from there I became even more involved in the writing process, especially since from that point the fic started including characters that I had created like Vanz Ator and Puck. So honestly, it's not that interesting of a story. We were already friends, I offered to help him out, and we started working together.

You're still nowhere close to Hollow Mind, you say? Do you ever get concerned that you might be making your story so big it loses sight of what it started out as?

Well, we still know when Hollow Mind is going to happen. There is just a bunch of other stuff that needs to happen before we get to that point. Like in-universe, Hollow Mind is a week (maybe a little bit more) away. We always know where the story is heading and we never lose sight of that, but we are taking our time to reach Hollow Mind because once we reach it, Belos and the Day of Unity will be put at the forefront.

And truth be told, Luz Clawthorne is already so much more than it started out as… but that's okay, since developing Luz Clawthorne and sharing it with other people has become so much more special as a result in my opinion.

You've come to include a lot of OCs in this story; too many to keep track of at times. How do you two remember who's who and what they're doing? Do you have character sheets for them to keep track as you add more to their stories?

Honestly, we just have good memories when it comes to this. I am especially weird because I have a hard time remembering names and people in real life, but when it comes to names and characters in fiction I have an encyclopedic knowledge of them. My brain has unusual properties, I guess.

Do you find it fun to expand the story from being an Owl House AU to basically a shared Disney universe, or is it challenging at times?

Honestly, it's not challenging at all. It's been fairly easy and, more importantly, it's been very fun. That's the main reason we do it, because we enjoy it as writers and we think that our readers will enjoy it as well.

You guys out out chapters on a regular basis. Do you often write everything out in advance, or work chapter by chapter?

We actually work chapter by chapter. A lot is planned in advance and we often have a good idea of what happens in a chapter, but we do get new ideas as we write the chapter.

Favorite OC to write and why?

Buck: I think I have five favorite OCs. Obviously my top two are Nina Fangs and Donna Masterskull, who ended up becoming part of the main cast because of how much fun they are to write. Their development throughout the fic has been really interesting, since they really were originally intended to be minor characters. JP created Nina when he came up with the idea for the Glandus arc and Nina quickly became one of my favorite Glandus characters, especially since she was a reference to Catra from She-Ra. Introducing Donna was my suggestion, since I wanted to give Nina a crush as a reference to Adora from She-Ra and I wanted to humanize Nina a bit more. And Donna was originally just going to be just that: Nina's crush. But by the end of the Glandus arc, both Donna and Nina had become such interesting characters that we wanted to do more with them. Nina and Donna definitely stand out because they are the first and so far only original characters to join the main cast. And despite being inspired by Catra and Adora, I feel like you don't have to be She-Ra fans to appreciate them because they have even evolved beyond being just references to She-Ra due to having plenty of unique characterization of their own.

My other three favorite OCs are Calypso, Abigail, and Emily. Calypso and Abigail are other examples of minor characters who have gotten more fleshed out roles. Calypso was just the perpetually drunk mother of Skara in Book One, though she did have her moments of ration. Book Two gave Calypso more prominence and gradually we developed her backstory as a former bounty hunter who ended up marrying a werewolf. Calypso ended up being a really interesting character, which is why we chose to spotlight her for our second Christmas special. And while Abigail was originally just going to be a red herring, she ended up becoming a great character in her own right who subverted reader expectations and ended up having some really interesting connections to some of the main characters. And I really like Emily because she is a broken mess. She was a fantastic antagonist to write for during the Glandus arc, but it's also been interesting to take this character that the readers hate for what she did to the heroes and put her in a less actively antagonistic role like she has been in since "The Gold Hexperience" and make her more pitiful. Emily is interesting because we've already seen her at her absolute worst and despite that it may not be too late for her… but it's also clear that she still has a long way to go and she still has a lot of issues to work through.

Also, honorable mention to Eve because I just think she's a really funny character, especially how she ended up getting involved in the Human Realm arc because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

JP: I'll go with my own top faves, not a competition but go with top seven: Nina Fangs, Donna Masterskull, Lindsay Shystream, Calypso Brooke, Kitsuni, Eve Slipknot, and Felicia Fox.

Nina Fangs. I grew into liking in writing Nina as a rival-type of character that she and Luz has going on between them. I'd compare them to Thor and Hulk if they were delinquent school girls that gives them glare offs. I would say that Nina is like, a water down version of Catra from the 2018 She-Ra series, as it gives up the benefits in writing a unique original character that comes from a tragedy. I would say that she's more compared to Rocket Raccoon, Vegeta, and Helga Pataki. And if I hear another Zuko comparison again, I'm gonna metaphorically clock someone's cookies. I also like how she works well with characters that are the opposite of her, giving her a dynamic. Like Skara for example, she and Skara would have like a relationship similar to Will and Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

She's pretty much kinda like the Beast to Donna's Belle, who I also like really well. The idea of Donna who is based off of Adora, as Buck suggests. So helping out with the design is neat and an interesting fact when Buck suggests that Donna would have been saved by a bird creature as a baby, the Owl Beast came to mind, which is how we went with the idea of Eda being the one to have saved Donna, and that the two eventually would share a bond once Donna realizes what really happened to her birth parents.

Lindsay Shystream who is based off of Fluttershy, who is my favorite pony from MLP:FiM, as Lindsay pretty much on accident becomes a damsel when we came up with the Grim Goblin. Then we develop her a lot more and she's pretty much like represents the idea of a hero not giving up. Her joining LOWTH would also take an interesting turn, as it got me to realized how Lindsay is more optimistic compared to Donna's practicality. I like Calypso the same reasons Buck does, like she ends up becoming more than a minor character as the story went on, she grew into a much more complex as we've came up with a lot about her background especially her sidetrack. Kitsuni is also a fun character to write about, as she's secretive but serviceable for the protagonists. Eve is also a fun character to write about, as making her the leader of the SSE is like something I like about from one of the Scooby Doo movies where it inspired me to write my own Scooby-Doo AU currently in development about if Daphne was the leader of Mystery Inc. Felicia Fox is also a fun character to write, as the more we've written about her, the more she's both complex in a funny yet sad about her. I like that she's written as Luz's information broker, along with being just the mixture of Louie Duck and Emperor Buggy the Clown from One Piece.

What things do you regret including in the story? Anything you'd change?

Buck: Personally, I have no serious regrets. Working on Luz Clawthorne has been a journey and one that I'm proud of.

JP: Yeah, writing this story is fun to do and working on one story is better than working multiples at the same time(speaking through experience).

JP, Buck, do you two ever see yourselves as professional writers? Because you certainly have the potential to be. It's good to think about what you'll do after the Luz Clawthorne Series ends.

BuckJohnson: I do actually have aspirations to become a professional writer and I have several projects I would like to get to eventually. But for now, Luz Clawthorne is my priority.

JP: As for me, I have grown up watching cartoons and movies a lot that I want to become a film writer for both film and animation. I've grown in wanting to be a story teller, had a lot of ideas and wanted to make my own short film. Ultimately, due to real life stuff going on, I couldn't get around it. But writing Luz Clawthorne has been great for experience in learning how to improve as a writer.

From Guest

1). Will we get to finally solve the mystery Bria's current whereabouts? She hasn't been seen for a long time and I couldn't wait to see her reunited with her friends.

In the current arc, yes.

2). Will we be able to revisit the characters and events regarding Amphibia? I am curious to know what Anne and her friends have been up to since the last scene of the Book of Marcy Wu and the threat Andrias Leviathan poses.

At some point, yes.

From Matteso585(AO3 questions):

1) Are you worried that you're running out of elements from "Season 3" to use for Book 3? And sorry if this is a spoiler question.

1) Why would we be worried? We were planning Book Three long before we even got season three. Not to mention we haven't even gotten to the Collector yet.

2) Has it occurred to Luz, the Clawthornes, or any of her friends that the Exorcists are specifically targeting magic users and magical creatures?

I mean, they see the victims of the Exorcists as people first and magical creatures second. Maybe it occurred to them, but it's not as important to them as the genocide of innocent people.

3) Has Bo told Eileen about what the Inner Demon revealed to her in "How to Save a Life"?

No.

4) If the Luz Clawthorne series were a video game, what genre would you see it as?

Probably an open world RPG.

From wrld(AO3):

So I want to ask does Belos love Hunter? cause in canon we see him not really care about hunter all that much but here he seems to care about him far more, also hope we see some hunter and Eclipsa interactions

Obviously Yes.

All review questions will be answered in the upcoming chapter. Thank you for reading Luz Clawthorne, and we hope to give you something interesting for what we have in store in the next chapter.