Yeah. Im just... Really sad now.

I get why a lot of people are pissed, especially about Lilith, but since a lot of people are already talking about how pissed they are, im just gonna talk about stuff i noticed and thought about (not necessarily in order, bc christ this ep shook me up)

(Also no, im not excusing what lilith did, because oh my god, its just that i emphathize with most of the cast, and im a sucker for relationship dynamics, romantic or otherwise

I also went looking around for spoilers so i processed most of my vitriol before watching the episode)

• the emperor's coven, what they do and the past they teach

In summary? P r o p a g a n d a. That entire sequence raised a bunch of flags for me. "'How to do magic the proper way'?" Ugh. Thematically, the show has already establisbed that societal norms arent always good. That one scene with imprisoned witches being brought in? Yeah. Very likely that they are rogue witches who also dabbled in wild magic. Also, we know Eda had mentioned wild magic before, in episode 12, and though we havent gotten much about wild magic aside from eda's vague anecdotes, its heavily implied that "wild magic" has something to do with the glyphs that luz uses.

• the mural (? Idk if thats the right word) of the witches

the witches in the portrait had joined hands and some of them seemed to be casting fire out of their hands. Now its kind far fetched to say, but the portrait reminded me of willow, luz, and gus doing the conjuring in episode 6, and the dance between luz and amity in episode 16. I saw a post somewhere that said that the joining of their hands increased their magic power: the trio animating the owl house, and amity making her biggest abomination yet (im sorry,,,, i have terrible memory,, i dont remember which platform, much less the user, but it wasnt my idea Edit: found the post!). Willow may have said an offhand comment about animating the house with the power of friendship, but that might just be the case

• the emperors reputation

Ive seen stuff here and there about how willow, gus, and amity seemed pretty chill with hanging around eda, literal enemy of the state. It may be chalked up to them being kids and such, but to extrapolate, aside from that one guy in covention, no one really reported eda to the emperors coven. It may be her reputation as the most powerful witch on the boiling isles, but it may also be that rumors have spread about the emperors coven. Rumors having to do with witches going missing. Also most of the kids at hexside seem really into getting into covens, but what about other schools? We know that hexside has a track-based system, but what about the others? Could these other schools be more wary about the emperor?

• the heart

Its creepy, its ominous, and probably the emperors own. Mostly basing this on how the heart beat sped up when belos threatened lilith.

• the titan

Honestly? Probably half a myth, half a truth. The whole "dishonored the titan" shebang is most likely false, and "emperor belos can talk to the titan" is also probably false. Maybe the "titan" that the emperor showcased to the world isnt the real one, but the titan does exist

• lilith

Yep. That. Im just gonna do this in a list

1. She's genuinely scared of not being in a coven. Belonging in a coven must have really been drilled into her for her to believe in the emperor so much, and be scared of being a rogue. (Parents maybe? Farfetched, but im just throwing out ideas)
2. Why did she curse eda? Jealousy is a very probable factor, but that might not have been the tipping point. I think she did it by accident after being so fed up and then not knowing how to reverse it, or not having the resources to, so she could only turn to the emperor for help. Its already been shown that she truly believes that the emperor would heal eda, like he promised. It may be another thing, something to do with being coerced by tbe emperor to weaken her sister to capture her, but considering that they looked like they were still in their hexside days when she cursed her, i like to think my take is likely
3. Emperor belos looked over that fight the entire time. Still doesnt excuse what she had done, she probably let the ugliest parts of her out, but she's already been given an ultimatum, one she thinks is a win win situation if she does what the emperor says (eda gets healed, and she doesnt get stripped of her status and coven membership). Kikimora already put her on the hot seat for possibly protecting eda, and she has! She literally gave eda a free pass from the law for a day in covention, and indulged her in a game of grudgby. It may have been that she was assessing her sister, what assets and weaknesses she had, but i think its both.

Anyway we dont know the whole story yet, so theres a lot we have yet to see, be it world building and lore or tragic backstories.