The Dark Souls Reference You Missed In Owl House

Generally speaking, cartoons for young people should be inviting and friendly. That is why it's a surprise that the makers of "The Owl House," a Disney Channel animated series about a young girl who finds herself in an alternate dimension, seem to love a video game that is anything but. 

"Dark Souls" is a series of third-person action JRPGs developed by Japanese game company FromSoftware. The games are set in a grimdark fantasy world where fire and darkness battle for dominion over various lands, and players are repeatedly sliced, stabbed, skewered, crushed, chewed, combusted, and ground into a fine red paste by some of the most intimidating enemies in gaming history. It's also one of the few game franchises that Disney decided to pay homage to in "The Owl House."

So, how exactly did "The Owl House" pay homage to "Dark Souls?" Well, the reference itself is small, so small that you probably missed it. Thankfully, though, a few eagle-eyed fans on Reddit singled it out for the rest of us.

The "Dark Souls" reference in question appears in Season 1, Episode 10, titled "Escape of the Palisman." During one scene in the episode, a number of wanted posters are seen taped to the wall in the background. Some of these wanted posters don't mean anything. One, however, clearly depicts the Darkmoon Knightess, who the player meets directly after arriving at Anor Londo in the first "Dark Souls." The poster itself is torn so that the name is obscured, but the latter half of the word "Darkmoon" can be made out, and the design of the helmet is almost exactly the same as that of the Darkmoon Knightess. This reference was pointed out by Redditor u/Stella_Stardust_, who said they discovered the homage while rewatching episodes of the series. 

Granted, this isn't a particularly large reference, but that seems almost appropriate where "Dark Souls" is concerned. The series may wear its difficulty on its sleeve, but it generally hides the details of its story in the background so that the player has to piece them together themselves. So, it seems that in both "The Owl House" and "Dark Souls," the creators make an effort to make sure nothing is too on the nose.