The Boiling Isles is the central setting of the Disney animated series, The Owl House. It is an archipelago located in the Boiling Seas of the Demon Realm, made from the carcass of a long-dead Titan. It is home to a large population of witches and various kinds of demons.
History[]
Prehistory[]
Eons ago, a great Titan that roamed the primordial Demon Realm perished and fell in what would become known as the Boiling Sea. The ancient magic at the Titan's disposal was so immense that the life which evolved from the Titan's remains was imbued with magic as well. As civilization flourished upon the Titan's carcass, its inhabitants came to revere the Titan as the progenitor of their magic.
During the prehistoric era known as the "Hecktaceous Period", the Boiling Isles were savage, primordial lands inhabited by creatures known as Stonesleepers. This period can be likened to the Hadean era of Earth when the land was young and volatile, with volcanoes and lava flows littering the continents of the time.
The Savage Ages[]
According to historians of the modern age, the Savage Ages were a time of great strife and unrest on the Boiling Isles where witches experimented with different forms of magic with reckless abandon. In truth, however, this period was actually a bright and prosperous time for the Isles, but details regarding the society of the age have either been lost to time or purposefully suppressed in order to fit Emperor Belos' narrative to the population regarding the dangers of wild magic.
During the Deadwardian era (roughly during the 1600s in Earth time), a human called Phillip Wittebane had come to the Demon Realm. Taking up residence in the town of Bonesborough, he sought to establish a permanent bridge between the Demon Realm and his own realm. The specifics of his quest were documented in his diary, which was later donated to the archives of the Bonesborough Library. Though the human had supposedly disappeared and eventually passed away, he had actually changed his identity, renaming himself "Belos" and using the magic from palismen to prolong his life.
Over the centuries, Belos travelled the Boiling Isles, preaching to the people that wild magic was dangerous and claiming that he was an emissary of the Titan, sent to inform the population that they had been wielding their magic incorrectly. Through lies and fearmongering, Belos would convince the people of the Isles to practice magic the "proper" way by means of a coven system, in which members of a particular coven could only perform magic related to that specific coven.
Imperial Age[]
Fifty years before the events of the series, Belos rose to prominence as ruler of the Boiling Isles, declaring them an empire and bringing the Savage Ages to a close. As Emperor, he outlawed wild magic and instigated the Coven System as law. By the Emperor's charter, all witches of age were to join one of nine covens and those who did not would be branded as criminals, facing the risk of imprisonment or worse. While Belos claimed that the Coven System was to regulate magic in accordance to the Titan's will and ensure unity and prosperity for the Isles, the truth was far more insidious. Belos claimed that he wished to merge both the Human and Demon Realms into one and create a utopia, but in reality, the coven sigils he had created served as part of an elaborate Draining Spell which Belos planned to use to wipe out all life in the Demon Realm.
Post-Imperial Age[]
Following the Day of Unity, the day when Belos enacted his failed plan to wipe out the population of the Boiling Isles, Belos had disappeared and the Boiling Isles were briefly ruled by the childish, godlike being known as the Collector. For several months, the Collector used the Isles as his personal playground, causing great damage to the landscape and turning the inhabitants into puppets for he and the young Titan King to play with. A small number of inhabitants managed to evade the Collector and meted out a meagre living for themselves while remaining in hiding.
Four months after the Day of Unity, Belos returned and attempted to destroy the Boiling Isles by merging with the Titan's heart, thus gaining its vast power. His rampage was brought to an end by the human girl Luz Noceda, who had inherited Titan magic from the spirit of the Titan itself after meeting him in the In Between Realm. With the aid of Eda Clawthorne and King, Luz destroyed Belos and brought his tyrannical regime to an end.
In the years since Belos' defeat, the Boiling Isles has returned to a state of prosperity. The damage done by both Belos and the Collector has been repaired thanks to the Collector himself, who has since returned to the stars from whence he came. The Coven System installed by Belos has been abolished, with all branded witches having their coven sigils removed thanks to a de-branding method developed by Alador Blight of Blight Industries. Most notably, practice of wild magic is once more encouraged, with a new educational system being installed by Eda Clawthorne, who acts as Headmaster of the new University of Wild Magic. A new portal link has also been established between the Demon and Human Realms, allowing people to cross between the two worlds freely.
Society[]
Civilization on the Boiling Isles is remarkably similar to human society. The people of the Isles boast many common societal conventions, such as the employment of language, writing, and commerce; an established economical unit, the snail; and a ruling authoritative body, presided over by a head of state. Human conventions, such as electricity and technology, while not unknown on the Isles, are rarely utilized, although supernatural analogs of technology, such as crow phones, crystal balls, and Scrolls, exist for communication.
Certainly, the most significant distinction between the culture of the Isles and that of Earth is the permeation and acceptance of magic. The ability to wield magic is considered a tremendous gift from the Titan itself, and to misuse it is culturally taboo. By the laws of the land, magic is misused when different "types" of it are blended. To avoid this, it is customary for witches to assign themselves to a coven once they come of age. This ordinance is a relatively new convention, being extant a mere fifty years prior to the arrival of Luz Noceda. During the Savage Ages, witches and demons were free to practice wild magic and blended practices to their pleasure. In most cases, witches must seal away aspects of their magic which are unrelated to their chosen coven; for example, a witch joining the Illusion Coven would have their other magic forcefully curtailed by the coven sigil they are branded with, so they cannot perform construction magic, plant magic, etc.. Unrestrained magic is still practiced by the Emperor's Coven legally, and illegally by wild witches, such as Eda Clawthorne, who refuse to join a coven. School-age witches choose tracks to best prepare themselves for the covens they'll eventually join; thanks to Luz's influence, Hexside allows students to study multiple tracks at once.
Geography[]
The Boiling Isles are unique in that no other landmass in the Demon Realm came into being by forming over the skeletal remains of a Titan. The Titan is humanoid, so many of the Isles' locations are named after different locations of its body, such as the Knee, the tallest peak of the Isles which is actually the Titan's raised kneecap. Other such areas include the Forearm Forest, home to the Looking Glass Ruins; the "Swampy Toes"; the "Cuticle Valley"; etc. Despite the immensity of the Titan's body, the Isles can be traversed in a relatively short amount of time, especially by air. Many areas on the Isles are pregnant with the Titan's natural magic, which has survived for ages.
The natural scenery of the Isles is equally fantastical and macabre; it boasts plagues rather than a typical weather pattern and veritable swaths of magnificent, if incredibly dangerous, fauna and megafauna.
Points of interest[]
- The Head - The skull of the Titan is regarded as holy ground by many of the Isles' inhabitants. It was here that Emperor Belos attempted to perform the Draining Spell on the Day of Unity that would allow him to destroy all life on the Isles.
- Emperor's Castle - Emperor Belos' base of operations, built over the still-beating heart of the Titan.
- Bonesborough - The largest town on the Isles, wherein many structures are the repurposed remains of monstrous creatures.
- Hexside School of Magic and Demonics - A school of witchcraft located near Bonesborough.
- Bonesborough Library - An immense literary and cultural hub of the city. It houses historical records going back centuries.
- Night Market - A black market which gathers under the cover of darkness to deal in dangerous and illegal substances.
- Blight Manor - Residence of the prestigious Blight family.
- Grimgrubs's - The town's local pub which sells alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, complete with mounted trophies of various creatures.
- The Owl House - Residence of Eda Clawthorne, Hooty, King and Luz Noceda.
- Blight Industries - A company owned by the Blight family that provides a variety of abomination-based accessories for home security and specializes in weaponry. It is a subsidiary of the Abomination Coven.
- Latissa - The second-largest town on the Boiling Isles.
- Conformatorium - A heavily-guarded prison. It was built to hold dissident witches, demons, and oddballs who are considered too weird, even by the Boiling Isles' standards.
- The Knee - The highest peak of the Isles, this is a snowy, cold region where the natural magical energy of the Boiling Isles is very strong.
- Eclipse Lake - Found inside the Knee of the Titan, Eclipse Lake is the subterranean home of Titan's Blood, a remarkably-powerful substance which can bleed through the boundaries between realms. Generations ago, witches mined the cavernous veins surrounding the lake in pursuit of this substance.
- Looking Glass Ruins - An ancient illusionist graveyard and the location of the Galdorstones.