| This article is about the character that appears in the series. For the race, see Collectors. |
The Collector is a former antagonist of The Owl House, acting as the secondary antagonist of the second season and one of two central antagonists of the third season. A mysterious, god-like entity known as a "collector", he[note 1] was originally trapped inside the In Between Realm where he spent centuries awaiting his release. When assistance arrived in the form of Emperor Belos, the Collector helped the emperor with the Day of Unity in exchange for his freedom. Once the event proceeded as planned, Belos went back on his word and abandoned the Collector in his prison, only to be freed from it later by King. Upon his release, the Collector defeated Belos, and took over the Boiling Isles, turning it into his personal playground, with King as his bound companion.
During his takeover, the Collector resided in the Archive House with King, together partaking in a game with the transformed citizens acting out the adventures of King's life. After Luz helps him understand his wrongdoings, he helps protect the citizens during Belos' attack and helps bring the Boiling Isles back to usual, including reversing the effects of the Puppet Spell on citizens of the Boiling Isles. He chooses to return to his home among the stars for introspection, occasionally returning to the Isles to visit his new friends.
Appearance
Body
The Collector is a short humanoid being with child-like features. He has tan-yellow skin, bushy white hair and eyebrows, an upward-pointing nose, and a large pale blue blotch that eclipses the left side of his face, giving the right side the appearance of a crescent moon shape. The Collector's eyes are yellow and have narrow pupils with scarlet irises. His left leg also appears to be pale blue.
When the Collector plays his games with King, Eda, and Luz, he briefly takes the form of a Pac-Man-like creature with a rounded head and a wide, toothy maw. In this form, he still wears a nightcap over his hair.
Clothing
The Collector wears full-body clothing resembling robes or pajamas with an oversized collar and sleeves. His clothes are split between dark blue on the right and periwinkle-gray on the left. The sleeves have these colors switched, with the right sleeve being periwinkle with blue suns and the left sleeve being blue with periwinkle crescent moons, as well as a magenta border on the rims of the cuffs. He wears a dark purple nightcap with magenta trim and a light star-esque spotted pattern. He wears dark blue shoes with light gray pom-poms on them. Additionally, he wears a light pink pendant with a purple crescent moon face around his neck.
Additional features
The Collector has three small, dark blue stars on his left cheek. On some occasions, usually, if he is using magic whilst experiencing strong emotions, such as anger or excitement, his eyes emit a bright glow.
Personality
The Collector is depicted as a childish and mercurial entity. He is motivated by simple desires, wanting to have fun and play games with others, which he shows in his interactions with Belos, but much like a child, he gets quite emotional and impatient when his wants are not met. He partakes in theatrics often, speaking riddles and rhymes, although he will quickly give up on harder words. Despite his childlike attitude, the Collector has proven to be cruel and heartless when crossed. With a temperamental nature and great power at his fingertips, the Collector is a dangerous and unpredictable force that will not hesitate to punish those who upset him and terrify others into obeying his demands.
Initially, the Collector was nonchalant about the world around him, as he used his powers freely to manipulate reality to suit his needs. This casual indifference caused him to see others as toys for his amusement, such as viewing the catastrophic events the Day of Unity would unfold as a fun activity or casually killing Belos by likening his payback for Belos' double-cross as a game of tag. Despite his god-like power, the Collector understood little about mortals, failing to grasp that his warped perception of fun has dire consequences and thinks little of the lives of others. When King tried to show him how harmful turning people into puppets was at one point, the Collector innocently reasoned everything was still a game of pretend, dismissing the people as little more than part of his game. It was also revealed later on that the Collector did not know the fragility of mortal life or what death means to them, showing that everything he did in the Boiling Isles was never under malicious intent and always been under the impression he could just bring people back as easily as fixing a broken toy.
Despite all his flaws, the Collector has an honorable side, as he offers the heroes a head start in the game of tag keeps his word, and stops the Draining Spell after King freed him from his prison. The Collector also values what King has to say, and King seems to be the only being he listens to. He also displays some affability with Odalia Blight, whom he sees as a maternal figure, despite making her his servant to his whims.
Due to his childlike nature, he is quite naïve to the point he will take someone's word that they are telling the truth, a trait that has been exploited by others in getting the Collector to help them. As a result of being taken advantage of, the Collector loathes deception, especially when the person turns back on their promise. Despite their overwhelming powers, when Luz, Eda, and King beat him in all the games, the Collector goes to a corner to sulk instead of retaliating, and opens up to Luz when she approaches him. He tells her how disheartened he is that everyone lies to him and manipulates him, even his siblings. The Collector confessed how he just wants to make friends, even if it is just pretend.
For all his callousness, the Collector is not inherently malicious. At heart, he is just lonely and only wishes to make friends. However, having spent a long time imprisoned to be sought after for his magical power, the Collector fears being alone and is wary that people will use him and leave him. A passage in the Collector's storybook further implies that, due to the Collector wanting to use his powers for his amusement, he viewed his race's observance and vindictive ways with disinterest. Coupled with his wish to be friends with King and make him happy, it is shown that the Collector yearns to have a companion like him who understands him. However, he is alien to how friendships work, at one point he asked if they were formed by forcing someone others to be with them. Another consequence of this desire for companionship is the Collector getting bitter and resentful when those he befriends express strong attachments with other people. This is displayed by his feeling envious of King's friendship with Luz. He initially believes that King is his friend and would never turn against him, but after Belos, comes to believe King is planning to stop him, and becomes vengeful of King's double-cross and decides to trap Luz, Eda, and King into nightmares to teach them a lesson.
Yet even his envy does not seem to supersede his interests; after they break free, the Collector still desires to befriend them, going against Belos' suggestion of wiping them out, showing that despite any animosity he might have against people who might betray them or feel jealous of, the Collector would rather befriend people than destroy them. He wants friendship so much that he’s willing to befriend even Luz, despite being manipulated into thinking she’s there to stop him and take King away. Upon a new suggestion, the Collector goes to play with her, Eda, and King, wanting to show them how much fun he can be and blissfully unaware of how dangerous and potentially deadly his games are. He's unable to understand why his new playmates are hurting him when they start to defend themselves from the mortal games. It doesn't take long for the disheartened Collector to open up to Luz as soon as she approaches him, showing his desperation in wanting someone to understand what he’s been through. When she, along with Eda and King, shows him how they became friends and takes him on a trip around the isles recalling their adventures, the Collector starts to open up more and bonds with them, starting to see a new dimension to friendship he never realized before.
After this, the Collector makes an honest effort to be kind to people, once Luz shows him how she befriended people like Amity and Lilith through kindness and forgiveness and not through forcing them like he initially thought. However, the Collector took the lesson too much by heart and tried to do the same to Belos, naively assuming anyone could be forgiven. He could only act in shock and confusion when he saw Belos still tried to kill him, and when Luz took a blast meant for him and died in his hands, the devastated Collector finally understood what death meant when he was unable to bring her back, now fully aware of the destruction and misery he has caused. The revelation sees a change in the Collector, as he cries at the fact he hurt many people so carelessly that he shows sadness and empathy for the first time and is devastated for indirectly causing Luz’s death. Furthermore, he reacts in befuddlement to what tears are after his eyes begin producing them, completely at a loss of words for what the feelings mean, never feeling that kind of grief before.
Following the revival of Luz, the Collector expresses a wish to save others to make up for his misdeeds. He volunteers to save everyone still left at the Archives while Luz, Eda, and King deal with Belos, and after he's defeated, an exhausted Collector is afraid Luz's friends will punish him and cowers, but is delighted when Amity helps him up.
After the Boiling Isles is saved, the Collector turns everyone back to normal and decides to return to the stars to reflect and grow up on his own, signifying his adopting a more responsible mindset. With a new appreciation of life, he also becomes open to forming real bonds with the people around him. He is deeply touched when King gifts him Francois before departing and gifts Luz a portal door so she can come and go between the Human and Demon realms as many times as she wants. Despite living in the stars now, the Collector visits his new friends from time to time, putting up a spectacular display of shooting stars for Luz as a birthday present in gratitude for everything she’s done.
Background
Origin and imprisonment
The Collector hails from a race of celestial beings who seek to archive and catalog all life in the Demon Realm. Although little is known about his nature, it is shown that the Collector's child-like interests stood out from other collectors, whose ways he held in disdain and went as far as to omit them in a Collector guidebook. At an unknown point in time, the collectors encountered another magical race, the titans. Fearing the titans' power, a group of the Collector's siblings, known as the Archivists, sent the Collector down to the Demon Realm under the impression that he would be playing with the titans. Upon arriving in the world, the Titans welcomed the Collector and quickly bonded with him, and he took a liking to their kids because of how cute they were. Unbeknownst to the Collector however, the Archivists slowly took out all the other titans, which left the only remaining titan furious at the Collector, believing he was the one responsible.
Afterwards, the Collector was imprisoned inside the In-Between Realm by the last Titan, to keep the Collector from getting to his son, King. An ancient tribe of witches known as Titan Trappers would come to worship the Collector as the "Grand Huntsman" and slayer of the titans. Their leader, Bill, claimed to be working with or for the Collector and further proclaimed the Collector wants them to find the last of the titans, as only it has the power to free the Collector from his prison.[2]
Scheming with Belos
The Collector as he appears in one of Philip's journal entries.
During the 1660s, a human named Philip Wittebane sought the Collector, as he was said to have the information, he needed to construct a portal back to the Human Realm following his incidental transfer to the Demon Realm. To do this, he needed to acquire the Collector's tablet found in the ruins of the Titan's skull, except that it was guarded by a Stonesleeper. After a couple of times, including attempting to make Luz Noceda and Lilith Clawthorne sacrifice to the beast, Philip retrieves the mirror, although he is wounded by the infuriated duo. Philip later activates the mirror, which emits an animated symbol of the Collector, allowing Philip to communicate with the Collector.[3]
The Collector is contacted by Philip.
Philip made a bargain with the Collector: in exchange for Philip freeing the Collector from his prison, the Collector will help Philip with his goal of eradicating the inhabitants of the Boiling Isles. The Collector would appear to Philip in the form of a shadow so long as the tablet was intact and taught Philip all he knew about magic, which Philip would eventually master. As time goes on, Philip adopts the image of Emperor Belos, and together with the Collector, they concoct their complex plot of draining all life on the Boiling Isles on the Day of Unity.[4][5]
The Collector talks with Belos in one of Belos' memories.
In the present day, the Collector pays a visit to Belos to check on his progress with the Draining Spell. Belos assures the Collector the Day of Unity will come, right before Hunter arrives to deliver Belos the Portal Key after his solo mission at Eclipse Lake. Belos coldly dismisses the boy but takes the key. After Hunter leaves, the Collector comes out from hiding and jokes with Belos about his doubts about Hunter's loyalty, eventually questioning Belos if the false purpose he gives Hunter is another way of tormenting the boy as he has with previous grimwalkers. Belos disagrees with the Collector and states that it hurts him every time the clones turn against him.[4]
Awaiting freedom
The Collector in his prison in the In Between Realm.
Not long after, King begins to form a psychic connection with the Collector after the Titan Trappers perform a ritual with him on a second, albeit shattered, tablet belonging to the Collector.[6] King enters the In Between Realm in his dreams where he finds the Collector imprisoned inside an orb. The Collector goes into an insane ramble 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, but King wakes up anyway.[7]
The Collector meets with Belos in his chamber.
Later, the Collector accompanies Belos as the latter sets up the functioning Portal Door in the Titan's skull, exactly where he found the Collector's tablet centuries ago. The Collector sadistically asks Belos if he's nervous about returning home, bringing up the fact that the Human Realm must've changed drastically and that Philip himself is barely human anymore because of how he extended his lifespan. Angered, Belos tries to attack the Collector by morphing his arm but misses.[8]
The Collector begs Belos for his freedom.
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 reassures the Collector that his patience will be rewarded, stating that the Day of Unity is about to begin. The Collector watches with Belos as witches from all over the Isles approach the Titan's head, grinning widely.[8]
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.[8]
Starting a new game
The Collector is betrayed by Belos.
As the Day of Unity begins, the Collector feels excited to gain freedom once more but 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, while Luz and her allies battle Belos in his monster form, an equally betrayed Kikimora leads King down to the pit. There, he makes a deal with the Collector 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.[5]
The Collector's physical form is finally revealed.
Now free, the Collector manages to stop Belos' attack on Luz and her friends, stating he wants to play a game of tag with Belos. The Collector pulls Belos closer to him, stating he is "it" before launching the tyrant into the wall above the door to Belos' chamber, seemingly killing the Emperor. Noticing Luz and her friends, the Collector asks if they need a head start, though he is stopped by King, who reminds him that they need a lot more players if they want to play Owl House. The Collector walks over to the exterior balcony, using his powers to enhance his vision, and spots the dying inhabitants of the Boiling Isles at the site of the Draining Spell. Using his powers, the Collector uses his finger to move the overhead moon out of its position, ending the eclipse and stopping the spell.[5]
The Collector prepares to play The Owl House with King.
With everything nearly ready, the Collector states that if they are going to play Owl House, they would need one before using his powers to rip apart the Titan's skull, forming a spiraling mass of debris around him. While he does this, Luz and her friends flee to the portal to the Human Realm, though the Collector stops King from escaping, reminding him that he promised to play with him. Nonetheless, King manages to ensure Luz and the others escape through the portal before it is destroyed and he is pulled back towards the Collector.[5]
Playing with King
The Collector rejoicing his freedom.
After the Collector pulls King back, he creates the Archive House from the Titan's skull, a place for him and King to live. King explains the "Owl House" game to the Collector, saying it's kind of like playing pretend. He starts turning people into puppets, much to King's dismay, to help with the game and creates spies to help with this. He captures Eda, and stores her in a room guarded by puppets, under the impression that she's in Owl Beast form and can't change back, despite this not being the case.
The Collector playing "The Owl House" with King.
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. He and King then return to his room which appears to resemble a pocket-universe with stars and nebulas. They then float up to their beds, which are placed on a planet-like structure that is also floating in the middle of the room. He then suggests to King that they play a game of "Capture the Flag" with everyone on the Isles and put the losers on the moon.
The Collector listening to King reading a story.
King is nervous about the idea, pointing out that people might have trouble breathing on the moon. The Collector dismisses this concern, saying they can hold their breath. The Collector then claps, causing a large storybook made from stone slabs to fall from above and land in front of King. He asks King to read him a story, and King obliges, pushing the stack of stone slabs to fall backward and wrap around the planet structure in front of him, and opens the book to read. King reads the first paragraph and looks at the second one, but the Collector hurriedly asks him to not read the next part and skip to where he "fixed it"; i.e. scratched it out and wrote a new one.
When King eventually turns off the lamp, the Collector asks King if he could sleep with Francois, but King is hesitant, as he only lets one other person hold him. The Collector realizes whom he refers to and exhibits brief envy toward the human girl, before asking King if Francois could at least be left on the nightstand to watch over him, as he doesn't like being alone. King obliges, and the Collector is satisfied and goes to sleep.
The Collector, unknowingly being manipulated by Belos as he possesses Raine, spying on Luz and her companions.
However, the Collector wakes up soon after to find Raine Whispers, whom he turned into a puppet, moving on their own. However, unbeknownst to him, Raine has not broken their spell, but rather Emperor Belos is possessing them. Under Raine's guise, Belos tells the Collector that they hadn't broken his spell, but had been brought to life from the power of the Collector's love and care, and was coming with a message that King is planning to betray him. The Collector initially finds this notion laughable, stating that King is his best friend and would never plot against him.
When Puppet Raine insists otherwise, however, he spies on King to affirm and sees him planning something with Eda and Lilith, soon realizing the Clawthorne sisters want to imprison him again. At first, he sees King reject the idea of imprisonment, and regains his prior confidence, until he hears King aspire for a more "permanent solution". Unaware that King is referring to redeeming him, the Collector believes King is in favor of his imprisonment. Dejected by what he has seen, Puppet Raine informs him that Luz and her companions have also returned, and shows him the group. Upon seeing this, the Collector decides to play a "new game".[9]
Making new friends
The Collector telling Puppet Raine of the immense power Titans possess.
The Collector takes Hunter, Camila, Willow, Gus, and Amity away, turning them and Lilith into puppets, and traps Luz, Eda, and King in nightmares. Luz manages to free herself and shortly after frees Eda and King as well. As he watches them reunite, he vents to Puppet Raine that their plan is not working. He reveals that King is a titan and that the Boiling Isles titan is still alive. After this, Puppet Raine convinces him to play with the three and the Collector does so.
Luz helping the Collector to open up.
The Collector forces Luz, Eda, and King to play his favorite games, unknowingly endangering their lives, but becomes frustrated when he is beaten in all of them. Upset, he starts to cry and reveals to Luz how he was imprisoned and reveals that all of his previous friends have lied to and betrayed him. In an attempt to get him to see the error of his ways, Luz, Eda, and King take him on a tour of places that helped them bond. First, the group goes to The Owl House, and they explain how they grew close. After this, while at the Hexside Grudgby field, the Collector sees students hiding behind the bleachers and tries to befriend them, but they run away in fear. At the Knee, their message to the Collector starts to sink in when he hears breathing in the distance and the group realizes Belos has possessed the Titan.
The Collector watching Luz deteriorate.
They rush to the Emperor's Castle and, using Luz's words, the Collector tries to defeat Belos by befriending him. However, it fails and Belos tries to kill him. Luz intercepts the attack and dies. Unaware of the concept of death, the Collector tries to bring Luz back and is surprised when he cannot. He watches as Eda and King fly into a fit of rage and attack Belos. He tries to stop them and starts to cry. However, Luz returns in a human-titan hybrid form, and the four take on Belos.
The Collector keeping the Archives from falling.
As the Archive House is about to fall, the Collector rushes over to save it, being hit by Belos' infection. He manages to hold it up as Luz's companions, who fixed themselves, save the puppets. After Belos is defeated, he falls to the ground and the infection clears and the others come over to him. At first, the Collector cowers, but Amity holds out her hand and he tearfully takes it. The six watch the infection vanish from the Titan. Shortly afterward, he returns everyone to normal.
The Collector brings Lilith, Amity, and Camila to the Owl House and returns Hooty to normal in front of Lilith. He decides to return to the stars to do some soul searching and King gives him Francois as a parting gift.
Epilogue
Four years later, the Collector comes back to the Boiling Isles to provide a light show for Luz's quinceañera. All of the attendees of the party bid him farewell when he leaves.[10]
Relationships
Philip Wittebane
The Collector asking Belos to set him free as the Draining Spell has been launched successfully.
After Philip obtained the Collector's tablet, he made a deal with the Collector: If he helps Philip eliminate all life in the Demon Realm, then Philip will set him free. He showed him the Draining Spell, a spell that allows him to do just that. The Collector occasionally talked to him in secret. After years of scheming with him, Belos betrayed the Collector, using the Titan's Blood to return home instead of freeing him. Belos threw the tablet into the same pit where the Golden Guard corpses were stored. Although saying he’s not angry at Belos for dropping them in the pit after being released, the Collector nonetheless splatters him against a wall when playing a game of tag.
Months later, Belos reunites with the Collector, disguised as the Puppet of Raine, to tell him that King is going to betray him.[9] Even though he takes Belos' suggestion of trapping Luz, Eda, and King into nightmares as punishment, the Collector goes against the idea of wiping them out, telling him he would rather be friends, revealing in the process how King is a titan and the truth behind the giant heart back at Belos' throne room. He does, however, take Puppet Raine's idea of playing with the trio.
When encountering Belos again, now possessing the Titan, the Collector tries Luz's lesson about kindness and forgiveness on Belos, only to backfire when he takes the opportunity to try blasting him when the Collector’s back is turned. When Luz saves the Collector and intercepts the blast, dying in the process, the Collector is left devastated, learning the hard way that some people just can't be redeemed. When Luz is revived and saves them, the Collector leaves her, Eda, and King to deal with Belos while he goes to save everyone from the Archives, finally cutting all ties with the man he helped for so many years almost destroy the entire Boiling Isles.
King
The Collector and King in their bedroom.
Before his imprisonment, the Collector had hoped to meet King to "play" with him. When he does meet the young titan who offered to free him in exchange for stopping the Draining Spell, he doesn't hesitate to instruct King on how to free him so long as he upholds his end of the deal.[5] Months later, the Collector brushes off each of King's concerns for how his games affect the people of the Isles but still cherishes their friendship. When Belos manipulates him into believing King is conspiring to betray him (unaware that King simply wants to talk him down), the Collector prepares a new game to deal with King. [9]
King hugging the Collector after gifting him Francois, now considering him a real friend.
When Luz helps him and Eda escape the nightmare he has trapped them in, the Collector is worried King might hate him for it. He tries to make amends by playing with him and his friends, but after being beaten in all the games and explaining to Luz how everyone lied to him, including King, he claims that he doesn't care if King never considered him a friend, only caring that he found the last titan and that he's his friend now, even if it's just through pretending. After venturing through the islands and demonstrating to the Collector how King, Eda, and Luz became friends, King realizes he was right all along and that the Collector is just a powerful yet misunderstood kid who only wanted friends and someone who would understand him.
Once Luz saves the Collector from Belos' blast, King protects him when attacked again. After Luz revives and Belos is defeated, King gifts the Collector his precious Francois to keep him company in space and hugs him, telling him that he hopes to see him again someday and finally considering him a real friend. Even after some years have passed, the two of them are still best friends, as shown through King's star sticker, which is implied to be a gift from the Collector himself.
The Titan
The Collector briefly taking on the visage of the Titan.
The Collector has some enmity towards the father of King for sealing him in the In Between Realm and hiding King away on a deserted island covered in his son, citing him as King's "dumb pops".[5] King's dad confessed to Luz that he did wrong imprisoning the Collector, who had nothing to do with the Titans' extermination and was used by his siblings, although it is unknown if Luz told him about this revelation afterward.
Luz Noceda
The Collector looking back at Luz and her friends after saving them from Belos.
At first, the Collector doesn't seem to think much of Luz, just as he does with any other mortal character. While he saves her and the Hexsquad from Belos and seems willing to give them a head start in a game of tag, Luz still fears him. However, two months after the Day of Unity, he knows much about her and her adventures through King, showing annoyance that he only allows Luz to hold Francois and mild anger when Belos informs him she's returned to the Demon Realm to stop him. These would imply that the Collector is jealous of Luz's relationship with King.[9]
Despite his jealousy and Puppet Raine's claim that Luz has come to defeat him and take King away, the Collector still shows a desire to befriend her, submitting her, Eda, and King through a series of dangerous games in hopes that they would want to be his friend. But when that doesn't work and he is beaten in all of his games, the Collector goes to sulk in a corner, opening up to Luz almost immediately when she approaches him, telling her their story and venting with her. Feeling bad for the Collector, Luz demonstrates how she, Eda, and King were misunderstood as well and how they didn't fit in either, showing the child several places of the Boiling Isles that helped them improve their friendship and how kindness and forgiveness help a long way. The Collector listens to Luz and takes her lesson by heart, showing a desire to improve his ways and make real friends.
The Collector bonding with Luz.
The Collector innocently tries this method of forgiveness on Belos, proudly turning to Luz to show her how much he’s learned, but with his guard lowered, Belos takes this chance to try blasting him, prompting Luz to save him. Luz realizes she has been hit and becomes covered in the possessed Titan’s moss, causing her to die. The Collector is left confused as to what happened and tries to bring her back, but is left devastated and in tears for the first time in his life when he realizes his magic can't bring her back. A remorseful Collector, having grown fond of Luz in the short time he has known her, finally understands what death means to mortals and is terrified at the fact that he indirectly caused her death and that he might lose Eda and King too.
When Luz is miraculously revived and comes back to save them, while the Collector doesn't understand how at first, is nonetheless happy that she’s back, subconsciously clinging to her when she saves them from Belos. When the Archives start to collapse, the Collector helps everyone inside while Luz defeats Belos with the help of Eda and King. Once the villain is defeated and the Collector returns every puppet to normal, he and Luz pinky swear to both keep doing their best and afterward gift her a new portal door so she can come and go between realms whenever she wants. When Luz returns to the Boiling Isles for her birthday four years later, the Collector gifts her with a shooting star show, grateful for everything she's done.
Eda Clawthorne
The Collector noticing how much King cares for Eda.
The Collector sees Eda as a laid-back mentor figure, referring to her as a "cool aunt". He knows most about Eda from King, so his prior perceptions of her likely come from him. The Collector, after realizing Terra Snapdragon didn't make for a good substitute in their reenactments of King's life, wishes to play directly with Eda in his games.[9] After the Collector fails at an attempt to redeem Belos, he asks Eda where Luz went after she's killed by a blast meant for him, only for Eda to gently push him aside, telling him she's not sure she can control herself. The Collector can only watch helplessly as Eda transforms in front of him and she, along with King, tries to destroy Belos in grief and anger. Finally understanding how death works, the Collector begs Eda and King to escape, trying to remove some of Belos' mold from Eda and not wanting to lose her and King too.
Odalia Blight
The Collector telling Odalia that they should prepare Pizza Bagels for Eda.
At some point after the events of the Draining Spell, the Collector ended up recruiting Odalia so she could help him with managing the Archives. Although Odalia thought she could convince the Collector to change the Boiling Isles into something that could benefit her, he instead gives her the position of being a housekeeper and does not care about her suggested ambitions for the Isles. The Collector refers to her as "Mamadalia", indicating he might see her as a kind of mother figure. It is unknown what occurred between them after the defeat of Belos, but it can be assumed that the Collector cut all ties with Odalia.
Amity Blight
The Collector speaking with Amity at the Owl House.
Like with Luz, the Collector doesn’t think much of Amity at first, saving them from Belos with ambiguous intent and only seeing her as another potential playmate shortly after his release. In "Watching and Dreaming", the Collector is befriended by Amity after she gives him a hand when he collapses from exhaustion after struggling to keep the Archives afloat for so long. At first, the Collector is afraid that the group will dislike him for everything he has done, but tearfully takes Amity’s hand when she helps him get up. When everyone reunites at the Owl House after the defeat of Belos, the Collector and Amity are seen happily talking with each other.
Powers and abilities
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- Magic: The Collector has demonstrated incredible magic potency. His aptitude for magic allows him to perform various feats, among the most notable was forming the powerful Draining Spell and stopping it by moving the moon itself. He holds arcane knowledge of magic, the same knowledge he mentored Philip on and thus allowed him to become the most powerful practitioner on the Boiling Isles, highlighting the Collector's level of skill.
- Shadow control: The Collector is shown to be able to manipulate shadows. He used this to project himself through living shadows from his tablet.[4]
- Levitation: The Collector can float around and fly as he pleases. He can also levitate other objects, lift and rearrange them into new structures, or move them at a high velocity that the object makes a powerful impact upon collision, as he did with Belos. Furthermore, with additional people, he can create a star-shaped platform for them to ride on.
- Supernatural strength & durability: The Collector is deceptively strong and durable, shown to be able to hold back heavy weights and objects much larger than him, which he demonstrated when he stopped Belos' transformed blade arm mid-strike by catching it between his fingers without taking any damage or even any visible strain. He also prevented the Archive House from falling by holding it up for a period of time during the battle against Belos.
- Matter manipulation: He can reshape the surroundings to his liking, as shown when he began ripping apart the Titan's skull to form the Archive House.
- Transmogrification: The Collector can create small blue-yellow crescent moon-shaped projectiles that transform the ones hit in the forehead into wooden and plastic puppets. He can enchant these puppets to act under his commands or control them directly.
- Energy blasts: The Collector can project bursts of sparkling energy capable of destroying Belos' tendrils.
- Star meteorites: The Collector is shown to create small multicolored fallen stars that fall on a large scale, resulting in small explosions.
- Reality warping: He can spread large amounts of sparkling waves that bend The Boiling Isles into a child-like landscape.
- Teleportation: The Collector can teleport objects and people through his waves of sparkles, such as his puppets.
- Clairvoyance: The Collector can enhance his own eyes to view great distances or cover his eyes with his nightcap to observe other places outside his field of view.
- Creation magic: The Collector can create any objects out of thin air, such as several star-shaped creatures that follow his orders and a big floating blue star to serve as a vehicle for King and himself. He can also create entire rooms depending on what game they’re playing.
- Sizeshifting: When playing games, the Collector can change his size to gigantic, whether he’s just an enlarged head or the entire body.
- Shapeshifting: The Collector can change his shape as he wishes.
- Star Manipulation: When explaining his past, the Collector controlled the stars, forming constellations to create pictures to better show the story they are telling. He was also shown to create and control shooting stars from the sky.
- Quick perception: The Collector can quickly react to a stimulus near him, such as keeping Belos at bay while thinking he was Raine in "For the Future", immediately doing so when waking up from his sleep.
Weaknesses
- Archivists: As implied by the Collector when he tried to revive Luz after Belos seemingly killed her, the Archivists, who are the Collector's older siblings, can negate and perhaps even overpower his magic.
- Titan Magic: According to Lilith, titan magic can cancel out the Collector's magic. This was seen when Belos took control of the Titan and blasted the Collector, weakening his magic.
Sightings
| Season 2 | ||||||||||||
| The Owl House Main Theme: | Absent | |||||||||||
| The Owl House Credits Theme: | Absent | |||||||||||
| 1. "Separate Tides": | Absent | 11. "Follies at the Coven Day Parade": | Absent | |||||||||
| 2. "Escaping Expulsion": | Absent | 12. "Elsewhere and Elsewhen": | Pictured | |||||||||
| 3. "Echoes of the Past": | Absent | 13. "Any Sport in a Storm": | Absent | |||||||||
| 4. "Keeping up A-fear-ances": | Absent | 14. "Reaching Out": | Absent | |||||||||
| 5. "Through the Looking Glass Ruins": | Absent | 15. "Them's the Breaks, Kid": | Absent | |||||||||
| 6. "Hunting Palismen": | Absent | 16. "Hollow Mind": | Flashback | |||||||||
| 7. "Eda's Requiem": | Absent | 17. "Edge of the World": | Flashback | |||||||||
| 8. "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door": | Imagined | 18. "Labyrinth Runners": | Absent | |||||||||
| 9. "Eclipse Lake": | Absent | 19. "O Titan, Where Art Thou": | Debut | |||||||||
| 10. "Yesterday's Lie": | Absent | 20. "Clouds on the Horizon": | Appears | |||||||||
| 21. "King's Tide": | Appears | |||||||||||
| Season 3 | ||||||||||||
| The Owl House Main Theme: | Appears | |||||||||||
| The Owl House Credits Theme: | Appears | |||||||||||
| 1. "Thanks to Them": | Mentioned | 2. "For the Future": | Appears | |||||||||
| 3. "Watching and Dreaming": | Appears | |||||||||||
Behind the scenes
Early development
The Collector was initially developed by Dana Terrace and John Bailey Owen from a folder collection of images they kept for show references that formed into a conceptual character to potentially appear in the show at some point. After the series received a premature ending after three seasons, they decided to introduce the Collector before the second season finale.[11][12]
Name and basis
The Collector's design was inspired by the works of Remedios Varo, a surrealist painter known for her astrological imagery.[13] Other inspirations for his aesthetic included puppets and clown dolls with star motifs,[11][12] which is shown in his ability to turn people into puppets.
Voice
The Collector is voiced by Fryda Wolff.
Debut
The Collector debuted in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" as a figment in the Owl Beast's memories. He was properly introduced in a flashback during "Hollow Mind".
Foreign voice actors
| Language version | Actors | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 Spanish (Latin America)
|
Lorena Muñoz | |
 Portuguese (Brazil)
|
Thiago Longo | |
 German
|
Daniel Schlauch | |
 Spanish
|
Elena Palacios | |
 Indonesian
|
Dina Amalina | |
 Hebrew
|
Amit Matlon (עמית מטלון) | |
 Italian
|
Lorenzo D'Agata | |
 Japanese
|
Keiko Nemoto (根本圭子) | She is also the voice actress for Gwendolyn in Japanese. |
 Polish
|
Magdalena Herman-Urbańska (Season 2)
Maksymilian Michasiów (Season 3) |
|
 Portuguese
|
Cristina Cavalinhos | |
 Romanian
|
Luca-Tudor Fumuru |
Quotes
 |
| Click here to see The Collector's quotes. |
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
To view the various designs of The Collector, click here.
Trivia
The Collector's bust in the charity stream
- He was first teased in the "Be Gay, Do Witchcraft" charity Twitch stream hosted by Dana Terrace as part of a request to draw half of a Season 2 character.[14]
- The Collector was listed in the credits for "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", but went unnamed in the episode itself. It was not until "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" that his name was mentioned.
- In all of his appearances, the Collector is credited as "The Collector". However, with the reveal that the term "collector" is also the name of his species, it is possible the preface "the" may be intended to distinguish the character from other collectors, or that all collectors may share this title.
- It is later revealed in "Watching and Dreaming" that his siblings are called "The Archivists".
- In "Separate Tides", it is revealed that Eda has been cursed for about thirty years, meaning that the Owl Beast was turned into the scroll more than or about thirty years ago. However, as the Collector, and extension of the rest of his kind, was present in the Demon Realm long before this, the Owl Beast has likely turned into the scroll more than three hundred and fifty years ago before the Collector was imprisoned and the other collectors vanished.
- Notably, the "collector" that imprisoned the Owl Beast seems different from the one later seen, appearing extremely tall with a crescent moon on their face, and a sadistic personality. This may imply that despite being credited with the same name and voice actor, the collector who transformed the Owl Beast is another individual, given the two appear different from each other.
- His prison orb resembles a Beast Ball, a type of Poké Ball from the Pokémon franchise introduced in Generation 7. According to Dana Terrace, the resemblance was a coincidence.[15]
- It is implied in "For the Future" that after the isles were taken over by the Collector, the nature in it started being affected by his powers in someway making plants and creatures similar to him such as day/night themed butterfly seen in the episode.
- According to Dana Terrace, the Collector uses he/him and they/them pronouns.[1] This is shown by Philip and King referring to the Collector with masculine pronouns, and Luz using gender-neutral pronouns.
- King also uses gender-neutral pronouns for the Collector at one point in the last episode, and Luz conversely switches to using masculine pronouns in the end narration.
Notes
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Terrace, Dana (April 23, 2022). Terrace on the Collector's pronouns (Tweet). Twitter. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. "He/him/they/them"
- ↑ Mikki Crisostomo (writer) and Bridget Underwood (director) (June 26, 2021). "Echoes of the Past". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 3. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Zach Marcus (writer) and Bridget Underwood (director) (March 26, 2022). "Elsewhere and Elsewhen". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 12. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Madeleine Hernandez, John Bailey Owen (writers) and Amelia Lorenz (director) (April 23, 2022). "Hollow Mind". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 16. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Zach Marcus, Dana Terrace (writers) and Bridget Underwood (director) (May 28, 2022). "King's Tide". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 21. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Mikki Crisostomo (writer) and Bo Coburn (director) (April 30, 2022). "Edge of the World". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 17. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Zach Marcus (writer) and Amelia Lorenz (director) (May 14, 2022). "O Titan, Where Art Thou". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 19. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Emmy Cicierega, Mikki Crisostomo (writers) and Bosook "Bo" Coburn (director) (May 21, 2022). "Clouds on the Horizon". The Owl House. Season 2. Episode 20. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Mikki Crisostomo, Madeleine Hernandez, Zach Marcus, John Bailey Owen (writers) and Amelia Lorenz, Bridget Underwood (directors) (January 21, 2023). "For the Future". The Owl House. Season 3. Episode 2. Disney Channel.
- ↑ Dana Terrace, John Bailey Owen (writers) and Bosook "Bo" Coburn, Bridget Underwood (directors) (April 8, 2023). "Watching and Dreaming". The Owl House. Season 3. Episode 3. Disney Channel.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Cissy Jones (June 6, 2022). "PostHoot Season 2 Finale (6:40)" (Video). Instagram.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Cissy Jones (April 28, 2023). "The "watching and dreaming" PostHoot with the one and only Dana Terrace! (51:50)". Instagram.
- ↑ Terrace, Dana (April 23, 2022). The Collector's influences (Tweet). Twitter. Archived from the original on April 23, 2022. "Varo is one of the shows biggest influences, I'm glad you caught that. :)"
- ↑ Be Gay Do Witchcraft Charity Drawathon!" Dana Terrace's charity stream (38:39) (March 13, 2022). Archived from the original on September 17, 2020.
- ↑ Cissy Jones (June 4, 2022). "PostHoot Season 2 Finale (26:00)". Instagram.