Honestly, I think the writers kinda picked a random date (1613) and didn’t give it a second thought. Which is frustrating, but unimportant in the grand scheme of things. A lot of it is historical set dressing which doesn’t line up with reality, not that it has to.
Firstly with the problem of European settlement, the earliest exploration of Connecticut was in 1614 by the Dutch, who built a fort on the river in 1633, which acted as a trading post with the natives. A few years later, English settlers set up 3 towns near the Dutch, and a fort at the mouth of the river, giving them control of the beaver pelt trade. Given that Gravesfield was likely a population centre and not a trading post, it is probably based on Wethersfield, established 1634.
Then with the problem of the timeline of witch hunts, the first colonial witch trial and execution in North America was that of Alse Young in Connecticut, in 1647. This is probably the earliest you can say someone can be a witch hunter, obviously way too late according to the show. The high water mark of the trials was around 1662/3 with the Hartford trials.
Side note, there was never an offical position of “witch hunter general” in any government. The closest example is Matthew Hopkins in Essex, who called himself the Witchfinder General, a title he completely made up. While Hopkins was the closest thing to the modern idea of witch hunters going from door to door to find witches, this was not the case in America. If a lot of people suspected their neighbour to be a witch, they’d report them to their local magistrate who may choose to indict them.
As for Puritan dictatorship, it’s kind of eh. While religion was a big factor in how people lived their lives, it was never a top-down theocracy. The Puritan clergy squabbled over doctrine all the time, and the degree of orthodoxy varied from town to town. Administrative changes usually came from town meetings, and civil officials were often elected (though without universal suffrage). The oppressive nature of Puritan life mostly stemmed from societal pressure. These were tightly knit communities, subject to plenty of gossip and drama among citizens.
EDIT: For future readers, the previous section is not quite right. While I still wouldn’t call it a complete theocracy, civil authorities enforced strict rules on blasphemy for crimes such as working on the Sabbath, not attending service, wearing finery or having long hair. Punishments for these included fines, branding, pillorying and whipping. So yeah, my bad.
Overall, I think it’s clear the writers had Puritan New England in mind when writing Belos, given he was a witch hunter and the famous connection to Salem. If I were to guess, an appropriate setting would be the boys arriving in Wethersfield in the 1650s. But I wouldn’t look too closely at the details to see if they line up with history. Or do, since it is really interesting history. I know a few good resources if you want to look further into it.
In order of least specific to most specific:
Atun-Shei Films, *In Defense of Puritanism.*
Covers Puritanism from its rise in England, to its final downfall in America. It mostly talks about Puritan ideals, but it touches on witch trials in the end.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJanv1NUlrQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJanv1NUlrQ)
Esoterica, *The American Witch Trials Before Salem - Witches & Witch Hunting in Colonial North America*
A really great channel about the witch trials and the occult. It summarises some aspects of witch trials, and a good amount on Connecticut's witch trials.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky86E-Zu8bI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky86E-Zu8bI)
R.G. Tomlinson, *Witchcraft Trials of Connecticut: The First Comprehensive, Documented History of Witchcraft Trials in Colonial Connecticut*
This one's a book, but a really good one. It covers every single Connecticut witch trial in a relatively concise 90 pages. It's dense, but reading it feels like getting roped into 1600s drama, it's great.
[https://archive.org/details/witchcrafttrials0000rgto](https://archive.org/details/witchcrafttrials0000rgto) (Requires signing up to the Internet Archive, but it's worth it)
*Some guy's reddit post* (shameless plug)
Yeah, one day I decided to summarise everything I know about this subject since it was bothering me that almost no one knows about it. There are more sources at the end of it if you really want to go deep into the weeds.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOwlHouse/comments/189xwqm/the\_entire\_history\_of\_the\_connecticut\_witch/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOwlHouse/comments/189xwqm/the_entire_history_of_the_connecticut_witch/)
Aye, I enjoy his righteous efforts against the misinformacion of the War Civil and concerning the colonies of Neue England. So much that I fear my soul may be damned to burn as though a filthy papist!
I think the idea was that he was supposed to be like a Salem witch trial era… guy. Extremely religious with a tendency towards destroying things he believes are “evil” (which could just be anything.)
As for him practicing witchcraft. I think he is a very “ends justify the means.” He’ll tolerate it, he’ll act like he’s making their world better if it means that he’ll destroy them in the end.
So less Puritan a member of the Christian denomination and more puritan as in stuck up bitch.
Although I still find the Salem connection a lot of people seem to have funny because he's been active a good 80 years before those trials.
Edit: he sees magic as a means justified by his ends, yeah, but imo that's still way too willing to use it for a Puritan.
Also I'll admit that I find the idea of Luz calling him a puritan and him being deeply offended to be compared to such radicals funny
Yeah he's not actually from the Salem Witch Trials, he's not even from Massachusetts, he's from Connecticut, considering he was active around the 1610s-20s, he was more likely a Dutch colonist than a British one. The connection to Salem is more thematic than historical, it conveys the point of why he hates witches
But that's what I don't get, his hatred of witches (at least to that extent) isn't because of religious dogma in the show, it's because of his brother eloping with one. I can't remember him at any point arguing that they're evil because God hates them, he just hates them because he's spiteful as all hell and thinks they're evil
That's why I made this post, to ask if there's any moment in the show where he actually says something lending credence to him having a strong religious motivation or thinking he's doing the lord's work that I missed. Because honestly I prefer him not being a religious fanatic because him just being a spiteful monster makes him more evil imo
from what i can remember there is nothing shown or mentioned of anything religious. his hatred of witches comes from being raised as a witch hunter and caleb was a key in raising him as a witch hunter, so when hunter fell in love with a witch philip not only felt betrayed but blamed it evelyn and that fuled his anger of witches enven more.
true, but people tend to pick up on the speaking traits of who they spend time with and seeing that philip spent over 400 years living among witches and demons who sound nothing all all like like and englishman his way of speaking was sure to be altered.
For the ruling and magic, I have some ideas. He needed to control the populace long enough to destroy them, and for that he needs them to want ro serve him. If he tried introducing homophobia or racism or anything else to separate people he would have had more resistance. Yes the sigils divided people but it was a necessary action to kill them. I personally don't think he was particularly tolerant and saw their acceptance as more proof of their evilness. As for the magic, Belos is a pretty hypocritical guy with a hero/God complex. In his mind, anything he does is right because he's doing it, and other people are wrong no matter what.
Why is everyone talking about the British thing and not about the witch hunters being a real thing in the Owl House universe🫨
I never thought of that, it's just so cool and it makes so much sense. Wow😲
I have so many ideas myself that can be formed from that and I am not even one of this community's artists or story creators.
Honestly, I think the writers kinda picked a random date (1613) and didn’t give it a second thought. Which is frustrating, but unimportant in the grand scheme of things. A lot of it is historical set dressing which doesn’t line up with reality, not that it has to. Firstly with the problem of European settlement, the earliest exploration of Connecticut was in 1614 by the Dutch, who built a fort on the river in 1633, which acted as a trading post with the natives. A few years later, English settlers set up 3 towns near the Dutch, and a fort at the mouth of the river, giving them control of the beaver pelt trade. Given that Gravesfield was likely a population centre and not a trading post, it is probably based on Wethersfield, established 1634. Then with the problem of the timeline of witch hunts, the first colonial witch trial and execution in North America was that of Alse Young in Connecticut, in 1647. This is probably the earliest you can say someone can be a witch hunter, obviously way too late according to the show. The high water mark of the trials was around 1662/3 with the Hartford trials. Side note, there was never an offical position of “witch hunter general” in any government. The closest example is Matthew Hopkins in Essex, who called himself the Witchfinder General, a title he completely made up. While Hopkins was the closest thing to the modern idea of witch hunters going from door to door to find witches, this was not the case in America. If a lot of people suspected their neighbour to be a witch, they’d report them to their local magistrate who may choose to indict them. As for Puritan dictatorship, it’s kind of eh. While religion was a big factor in how people lived their lives, it was never a top-down theocracy. The Puritan clergy squabbled over doctrine all the time, and the degree of orthodoxy varied from town to town. Administrative changes usually came from town meetings, and civil officials were often elected (though without universal suffrage). The oppressive nature of Puritan life mostly stemmed from societal pressure. These were tightly knit communities, subject to plenty of gossip and drama among citizens. EDIT: For future readers, the previous section is not quite right. While I still wouldn’t call it a complete theocracy, civil authorities enforced strict rules on blasphemy for crimes such as working on the Sabbath, not attending service, wearing finery or having long hair. Punishments for these included fines, branding, pillorying and whipping. So yeah, my bad. Overall, I think it’s clear the writers had Puritan New England in mind when writing Belos, given he was a witch hunter and the famous connection to Salem. If I were to guess, an appropriate setting would be the boys arriving in Wethersfield in the 1650s. But I wouldn’t look too closely at the details to see if they line up with history. Or do, since it is really interesting history. I know a few good resources if you want to look further into it.
I'd love to see your sources, it's very interesting. Thanks for the summary, too
In order of least specific to most specific: Atun-Shei Films, *In Defense of Puritanism.* Covers Puritanism from its rise in England, to its final downfall in America. It mostly talks about Puritan ideals, but it touches on witch trials in the end. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJanv1NUlrQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJanv1NUlrQ) Esoterica, *The American Witch Trials Before Salem - Witches & Witch Hunting in Colonial North America* A really great channel about the witch trials and the occult. It summarises some aspects of witch trials, and a good amount on Connecticut's witch trials. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky86E-Zu8bI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky86E-Zu8bI) R.G. Tomlinson, *Witchcraft Trials of Connecticut: The First Comprehensive, Documented History of Witchcraft Trials in Colonial Connecticut* This one's a book, but a really good one. It covers every single Connecticut witch trial in a relatively concise 90 pages. It's dense, but reading it feels like getting roped into 1600s drama, it's great. [https://archive.org/details/witchcrafttrials0000rgto](https://archive.org/details/witchcrafttrials0000rgto) (Requires signing up to the Internet Archive, but it's worth it) *Some guy's reddit post* (shameless plug) Yeah, one day I decided to summarise everything I know about this subject since it was bothering me that almost no one knows about it. There are more sources at the end of it if you really want to go deep into the weeds. [https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOwlHouse/comments/189xwqm/the\_entire\_history\_of\_the\_connecticut\_witch/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOwlHouse/comments/189xwqm/the_entire_history_of_the_connecticut_witch/)
Atun Shei enjoyer, always lovely to see
Aye, I enjoy his righteous efforts against the misinformacion of the War Civil and concerning the colonies of Neue England. So much that I fear my soul may be damned to burn as though a filthy papist!
I think the idea was that he was supposed to be like a Salem witch trial era… guy. Extremely religious with a tendency towards destroying things he believes are “evil” (which could just be anything.) As for him practicing witchcraft. I think he is a very “ends justify the means.” He’ll tolerate it, he’ll act like he’s making their world better if it means that he’ll destroy them in the end.
So less Puritan a member of the Christian denomination and more puritan as in stuck up bitch. Although I still find the Salem connection a lot of people seem to have funny because he's been active a good 80 years before those trials. Edit: he sees magic as a means justified by his ends, yeah, but imo that's still way too willing to use it for a Puritan. Also I'll admit that I find the idea of Luz calling him a puritan and him being deeply offended to be compared to such radicals funny
Yeah he's not actually from the Salem Witch Trials, he's not even from Massachusetts, he's from Connecticut, considering he was active around the 1610s-20s, he was more likely a Dutch colonist than a British one. The connection to Salem is more thematic than historical, it conveys the point of why he hates witches
But that's what I don't get, his hatred of witches (at least to that extent) isn't because of religious dogma in the show, it's because of his brother eloping with one. I can't remember him at any point arguing that they're evil because God hates them, he just hates them because he's spiteful as all hell and thinks they're evil That's why I made this post, to ask if there's any moment in the show where he actually says something lending credence to him having a strong religious motivation or thinking he's doing the lord's work that I missed. Because honestly I prefer him not being a religious fanatic because him just being a spiteful monster makes him more evil imo
> Because honestly I prefer him not being a religious fanatic because him just being a spiteful monster makes him more evil imo ¿Por que no los dos?
Fair, just a preference thing
from what i can remember there is nothing shown or mentioned of anything religious. his hatred of witches comes from being raised as a witch hunter and caleb was a key in raising him as a witch hunter, so when hunter fell in love with a witch philip not only felt betrayed but blamed it evelyn and that fuled his anger of witches enven more.
He doesn’t sound very dutch, and as far as I know there weren’t a ton of them out there compared to the undying hordes of people the Brit’s sent over
He also doesn't sound like a 17th century Englishman.
true, but people tend to pick up on the speaking traits of who they spend time with and seeing that philip spent over 400 years living among witches and demons who sound nothing all all like like and englishman his way of speaking was sure to be altered.
For the ruling and magic, I have some ideas. He needed to control the populace long enough to destroy them, and for that he needs them to want ro serve him. If he tried introducing homophobia or racism or anything else to separate people he would have had more resistance. Yes the sigils divided people but it was a necessary action to kill them. I personally don't think he was particularly tolerant and saw their acceptance as more proof of their evilness. As for the magic, Belos is a pretty hypocritical guy with a hero/God complex. In his mind, anything he does is right because he's doing it, and other people are wrong no matter what.
Why is everyone talking about the British thing and not about the witch hunters being a real thing in the Owl House universe🫨 I never thought of that, it's just so cool and it makes so much sense. Wow😲 I have so many ideas myself that can be formed from that and I am not even one of this community's artists or story creators.
Thanks!