The Emperor's Right Hand Man

The Emperor's Right Hand Man

[Image ID: two digital illustrations, the first of witch depicts the recipe for a grimwalker. Listed from top to bottom is "Galderstone" drawn next to a blue crystal, "Palistrom Wood" drawn next to a log of blue wood, "Stonesleeper Lungs" drawn with a pair of stone lungs, "Selkidomus Scales," drawn with a section of purple fish scales, and "Bone of Ortet" drawn with the skeleton of a human left hand. The second illustration shows Belos from the waist up clutching the hand skeleton in his fist and saying, "How amusing, Caleb. Your left hand will become my right." Both images have dark backgrounds.]

More of my thoughts on this theory beneath the cut! (Spoilers for Thanks to Them)

Okay so we all know Hunter is a grimwalker made from one of Caleb's bones, but I'm convinced it was his left hand specifically.

Like much of the fandom throughout season 2, I was intrigued by Hunter's gloves and his seemingly increased sensitivity regarding his hands. Like most people, I believed he had some scars there, or heck at least eczema, and couldn't wait for the show to finally reveal the mystery of Hunter's hands.

But then Disney Channel released the Monstober promo featuring this clip from Thanks to Them.

[image ID: A screenshot of Luz and Hunter staring straight ahead while Gus looks very excited. Hunter is noticeably not wearing gloves as he holds a flip-phone like object and his hands have no visible scars.]

And I just went!!! what the heck!!! all that build up for nothing!? His hands were just so casually revealed like that? The episode wasn't even out yet and I was already going out of my mind trying to figure out what was going on there.

And then I got to Chapter 16 of Mr_Spinner's incredible fic Strength in Body and Mind and it all started to make sense. I won't spoil too much of the story for those who haven't read it yet, but a part of the plot involves Belos making a grimwalker out of Hunter's wisdom fangs, and this grimwalker often experiences pain in his teeth because of that. Hunter's hand(s) could very likely cause him pain for the exact same reason. Then couple that with the fact that as the Golden Guard, Hunter is often referred to as "The Emperor's Right Hand Man." No matter which hand was used, Belos would think that was hilarious, this is the same guy who came up with the name "Hunter" for a witch hunter's grimwalker.

So why the left hand specifically? Well, first in Hollow Mind it's Hunter's left hand that starts to tremble when the bird palisman disintegrates

[image ID: Two screenshots from Hollow Mind. The first shows Hunter's left hand holding a bird palisman as it smokes and turns to ash. The second is a moment after, showing Hunter's left hand is now empty and he is holding it with his right hand to stop it from shaking.]

and in Labyrinth Runners, it's his left hand again that hurts when Gus high-fives him (and no offense to Gus but that was not a very forceful high five).

[image ID: a screenshot from Labyrinth Runners. Gus has just high-fived Hunter and Hunter is recoiling and wincing in pain.]

BUT THEN Thanks to Them aired and I got the most compelling evidence of all.

As a semi-tangent, I'd like to point out first that Belos enters Hunter's bloodstream through the cut on his right hand. This of course is coincidence that Hunter hurt himself there, but it once again underlines the "Right Hand Man" title. This is relevant as the right hand is the only part of his body that Hunter is later not able to regain control over from his possession, which makes sense.

But the part that he first regains control over is his left hand.

[image ID: two screenshots from Thanks to Them showing Possessed Hunter. In the first, Hunter is using his left arm to restrain his right arm that Belos is using to harm Flapjack. In the second, Hunter punches himself in the face using his left hand.]

How interesting would it be if out of all the parts in Hunter's body, the part he was first able to take back from Belos was the part donated to him from Caleb? The only part of him arguably not made by Belos? I think it would be very cool.

Please note that Belos himself is left handed, so if he is having to use his non-dominant right hand here that implies there has to be some serious resistance from the left. It is also the left hand that Hunter uses to throw the Titan's blood in the water, which makes sense given everything I've speculated so far.

Now, there are a couple counter arguments to this theory, the greater of the two being the fact that a hand is made of 27 individual bones. Why wouldn't Belos make 27 grimwalkers then? I propose that they are each too tiny. I mean come on. How could a teeny metacarpal carry the same weight as a femur or a rib? I think it would also be interesting if being made from many small bones instead of one large bone could have contributed to Hunter looking "the most like" Caleb.

The other less substantial argument is that it's actually Hunter's right hand that hurts after Willow shakes his hand in Any Sport In A Storm. To that I would argue Willow is strong. Like, really strong. She shook his hand so vigorously that his entire body was jerking around. I think that would hurt under any circumstances, plus Hunter seems to recover from this quicker than the above mentioned instances.

So what do you all think? I'd love to hear more people's thoughts and theories!