Witch Hat Qiflings Each Represent a Pro-Brimmed Argument
Disclaimer: This isn't an argument for or against brimmed/pointed caps. I believe they're two extremes and in my experience, any extreme has problems.
***Manga Panel and minor spoilers ahead***
Obviously, the manga has a gajilion Coco Brimmed Cap hints/parallels. She has an inate love for magic and both sides are trying to get them to choose their path and advocate against the other. Even though she's obviously aligned with the Pointed Caps, her whole story is still centered around that conflict. (There will be more on Coco in Agott's section.)
But then I saw this panel:
And, lowkey, the shape of the ribbons, had they just been a little higher, would look like a Brim around her hat, right? (Maybe I’m reaching, idk, but it reminded me of Ininia's hat.) Either way, it got me to thinking. Richeh’s whole motivation is anti-control. She doesn’t want to be forced into a box, always masking her true self until she loses sight of who she really is. It’s her worst nightmare.
What is Pointed Cap Society if not a box? A rather rigid box that you’re forced to confine yourself to or risk the memory nabbing grabby hands that literally make you forget who you are. The Brimmed Caps whole thing is largely a rebellion against this control.
After that I started thinking about the other two girls.
As of right now, we know the least about Tetia's orgins, and I'll be interested to see if/how her backstory plays into this, but we do know that her main motivation is to make people happy. This is reflected in everything she does, from the spells she invents to the way she wears her hair.
At first, she believes that Forbidden magic only ever hurts and Orthodox magiconly ever helps, but as the story progresses she's forced to ackowledge that it's not so cut and dry. In the Silver Eve arc, she starts to see all the ways the Pointed Caps limit her ability to make people happy. By the end of it, she very nearly gets in trouble for arguing against the healing ban TO the Knights Morales.
Last but not least, Agott.
Agott is, in a lot of ways, a foil to Coco
Coco was born an outsider. She was introduced to magic by a Brimmed cap and is in someway the child of Forbidden Magic. Their “Child of Hope”. Despite Pointed Cap society being set up specifically to keep outsiders out, Coco was given sanctuary there thanks to Qifrey. If things had been just a little different, it might have been Iguin who picked her up after the accident.
Agott is a direct decendent of one of the original Pointed Hat witches. She’s practically the poster child for Orthodox Magic, but was still rejected as being “not good enough.” Agott has repeatedly had the world of Brimmed Caps thrust upon her, despite being born into a position that would have kept her fairly separate from them.
The eyeball motif used to depict Agott’s trauma is also interesting. As far as I can remember, (and if I’m wrong, please let me know), the only other times we see this swirly/creepy eyeball motif is in relation to the Brimmed Caps. (Iguin/Sasaran’s outfits, the smoke surround Euini was made of swirly eyes) Part of me wonders if that’s purposeful symbolism.
To elaborate, Coco clings to PC rules because BC manipulation led to her mother being hurt by Forbidden Magic. Her main motivation is to save her mom. Agott chafes against the rules after being rejected by the PCs, (her mother among them). Her main motivation is to prover herself to her mom. Could that eyeball-esque flashback be the moment that drives Agott towards unorthodoxy in the same way that Iguin's negligence drove Coco away from it?
Although Agott has never done anything explicitly unorthodox, she yearns for power and strength and grows frustrated every time she's held back by the confines of time, her age, etc, even going so far as to notably fudge the rules and cast her beacon spell in front of outsiders before her second test. She frequently mentions being dissastisfied with her current self and wanting to become greater, stronger, and more capable.
Sasaran noticed and spoke on this during their confrontation: "...the [Pointed Caps] of today are feeble, too afraid to grasp at true power. Thanks to them, you languish in the confines of their petty constricting rules." (And honestly, that whole interaction was so creepy and could be paralleled with Coco and Easthies' first meeting. Restraining a little kid and forcing your will upon them is NOT a good look. Also, funnily enough both attempts were thwarted by anti-control Richeh.)
Anyway, just some of my observations. As always, Shirahama is a genius and I am so excited to see where the story goes.
