The Wittebanes And The Smart And Subtle Hints To Their Dynamic

The Wittebanes and the Smart and Subtle Hints to their Dynamic

while the nature of the brother’s personalities is still up for interpretation i actually think a lot of the reasons people lean towards philip being the oddball and his brother being a more strict individual is not just based on what we do know currently about philip

but it’s also their designs that give off that impression and i wanna talk about it and why people expect their dynamic to be a certain way currently, let’s just start with the designs (Because it’s fair to assume this is exactly how they’ll look when animated).

Because their statues are a good way to tell us a lot about them without words, because of how they’re dressed and positioned:

Philip has his long hair (that’s actually considered unconventual for the time period and place he would’ve lived in), his coat is unbuttoned which expresses he has a more free personality and cares far less about his appearance and looking proper, and his statue and pose kinda squeezes him in. He kinda looks like he doesn’t wanna be there and the way he’s positioned behind his brother sorta makes him seem like his weird sidekick despite these statues being dedicated towards both brothers for some reason or another.

His brother on the other hand, fixed hair, buttoned up coat, dude looks like he’s trying to impress someone and look some form of dignified. He gets to be up front and in some form of heroic pose which makes him seem far more like the leader among the two of them.

It’s entirely possible these could be incorrect observations of their characters based on these statues (I mean, art can overexaggerate a lot), but the best kinda character design is the kind that can give you some understanding of a character based on appearance alone. How a character dresses and their poses can say a lot about them and this does do that.

You have one brother taking the spotlight and the other sinking into the back.

And honestly, i think it’s also because of how toh does sibling relationships that leads people to think of their dynamic as being a certain way.

Toh sibling relationships are typically “Gremlin/ the one who had to deal with the gremlin”. One’s usually more goofy and laid back and the other is usually the one to counter it, like eda/lilith, amity/ the twins, and arguably for some people….hunter/luz.

if you’re looking at these two with that in mind, philip’s more likely to be the “Gremlin” of that dynamic based on the stuff mentioned above. Being the more free spirited of the two based on his design.

Works better thematically too as belos (with the philip/belos theory in mind), has a lot of comparisons to eda, having a downfall with their sibling, being cursed, training their own magicless witch.

But also with luz, as philip being an oddball could parallel with luz’s failed attempts as fitting in on earth before she went to the isles. It’s just in his case him being an oddball would be met with far harsher treatment back on earth in his time period.

It would make belos almost a tragic mix of luz and eda, and the show loves it’s parallels and foils between characters.(And both are the “Gremlins” of their sibling dynamics)

I think the only big difference that’s super interesting, is unlike eda, it comes off like Philip’s brother was the more beloved of the two because of how his statue is presented and probably because he fit in and Philip did not. So while the brother will arguably become Lilith’s parallel in some form or another, there are differences and philip’s the more likely of the two to hold envy of his sibling’s success.

These are all observational and could be wrong down the line, but the main takeaway is the reason i think the fandom came to a lot of these conclusions about these characters even before they get to do more onscreen…..is due to smart design, how it handles siblings, and it’s love of parallels and foils within it’s cast.

So if this all turns out to be correct observations of their personalities, then the show did a great job implying it before they even got to be onscreen.