Webtoon Recap: Hooky, Ch 76

Hoo boy this was an emotionally packed chapter! Is it just me or has Hooky been getting darker and darker ever since the hiatus? It’s almost as though the original happy-go-lucky spirit of Hooky is gone, which makes me a bit sad as that was what drew me into Hooky in the first place. But it also makes sense, because in each of their own ways the children of Hooky have grown up and gotten a taste of reality. What remains now is for them to realize that life sucks, but they can power through it come out the other end, and that they are all more than capable of paving their own path through life, however difficult it may be. 😉

Anyhow, this chapter was all about Damien and his past. We learn that after the attempted witch-burning of his mom, nothing was ever quite the same. Angela appears to have had her spirit (and possibly her mind) utterly broken, sitting around in a dark depressive gloom obsessing over revenge. Poor Angela. Hans, at least, had some inkling of how dangerous people could be, but Angela didn’t believe it was possible until it happened. And she’s pregnant, to boot! Getting half burnt to death + postpartum depression? NOT a good combination.

The king, while appearing to be the savior of the family, is shunned by Hans. Apparently he was the one who started all the witch burning in the first place. I can’t remember, but I think this is new information. In any case, this just smells of backstory. I’m guessing His Majesty had his life saved by a witch or wizard and realized they weren’t all bad after all.

We see a desperate Hans begging Angela to talk to him, and Angela in turn asking him to take revenge. Then Damien walks in on him doing the unthinkable – he kills two villagers. Poor Damien, too young to take in all this horror, decides to flee the house.

First things first, who are those villagers? Could they possibly be Nico’s parents? Either way, we now know why Damien thinks the Wytte family is awful.

Meanwhile, the lines of good and evil are becoming increasingly blended. Damien, whom the twins had once described as scary, turns out to be a goodhearted kid wracked by guilt over what happened to his mother and who is absolutely not OK with killing people. The Wyttes clearly once intended to live a normal life amongst the non-magical, and while both the villagers and Hans have (or intended to) commit the terrible sins of murder, neither side appears truly evil. Hans, driven to desperation by his wife’s condition, doesn’t look at all comfortable with the hostages he took, and it’s hard to be mad at Angela when she was (partially) burnt alive. On the other hand, our sweet innocent protagonists have discovered their inner dark sides, and Pendragon’s prophecy has yet to come true.

Dani’s plotline so far has been eerily similar to her mother. Both were lively and innocent prior to their “incidents”, both were almost burned at the stake (Dani wasn’t actually burnt but then saw her friend die before her eyes), and both of them are having trouble coping with the emotional reality and aftermath of what happened. It makes me wonder if Dani’s unstable magic wasn’t inherited from her mother to begin with. Honestly, Dani has the potential to be even scarier than her mom – she’s like Angela but with all of her mental faculties intact, which means she will be capable of things that Angela can’t do, such as fooling her friends into thinking that she’s fine, and then betraying them at a critical moment later. (DUN DUN DUN!!) We’ll see.

The chapter also had its fuzzy moments. Young Damien is just about the cutest thing on earth, trumped only by toddler Dani and Dorian, and Angela reassuring Damien that she loves him and he’s done nothing wrong was oddly touching. And the Damien/William ship appears to be sailing out into the far far sea. I suspect the kid in Damien’s flashback about how he escaped the house might just be baby William.

Next week, will we find out what Damien wants with Pendragon? Perhaps he wants to inquire about either the prophecy or the whereabouts of William, since Damien does live at the castle and likely knows about Pendragon’s clairvoyance. Perhaps Pendragon will even see the main cast, through his crystal ball. In any case, Damien and his younger siblings now share the same goal of finding Prince William, so they are bound to cross paths sooner or later.