Agott Character Study:
Agott was born into House Arklaum, daughter of Adina, an esteemed Librarian at the Tower of Tomes. She grew up in the Great Hall where she was constantly judged and criticized. She became acutely aware of all the gossip around her and knows all her faults and shortcomings. Agott was average and mediocre. She always yearned for her mother’s approval and wanted the coveted role as her mother’s apprentice. For her formal debut, she worked extra hard to create a spell of her own. Instead of finally proving herself, she was accused of plagiarism. She was so scared that she kept silent and did not defend herself. This made her look guilty. She left the Great Hall and became Qifrey’s first apprentice.
By the time Coco meets her, Agott is reclusive and hard working. Agott does not spend time with the other apprentices, instead stays in her room studying. She is eager to develop her skills as a witch and grow up quickly. Her main motivation is to prove herself as a skilled witch to her mother. She also has a tendency to assume the worst intentions from people. She can be competitive and often jealous of others. She viewed Coco as unworthy of becoming a witch so she pushed Coco to take the first test so she’ll get kicked out. She likely also sees some part of herself reflected in Coco. This bothers Agott because Agott doesn’t especially like herself. She doesn’t instinctively rely on others around her, unlike Coco. She is often so concerned with herself that she doesn’t consider other people around her. All that said, Agott does have a softer side and cares about those around her. She has immense trust in Master Qifrey. Although she has no trouble challenging their judgement on several instances, she does listen to both Qifrey and Olruggio and respect their decisions.
“Please talk to me about Agott” oh oh this is my chance!!
Agott was quite young during her time at her house and from body language we can infer she was bit of a shy kid. I don’t think she was ridiculed daily and probably even had a decent support system, enough for her to develop the pridefulness of house Arklaum. However, that bubble bursts when she first presents her skills. She was taught “the house Arklaum is great and so by proxy you are great” that gets contradicted at her debut- “you are not great enough for house Arklaum.”
She does not defend herself because she believes her role as an Arklaum is enough for people to believe her over a baseless accusation (and/or to look proper) but it wasn’t. This also leads me to believe whoever accused her had higher/similar prestige.
I don’t think saying she assumes the worst in people is quite accurate, I think she’s just used to the communication style of the great hall/high class society. She grew up where everything people say and do has a second meaning behind it, an anterior motive. High class is full of social battlefields and children are taught to look for/navigate them. But at the atelier there’s none of that! It’s all unconditional support and I think it’s just taking her time to get used to that
Agott is very cut-throat. “I don’t like people who can’t keep up with me” because the best way to improve yourself is to be surrounded by peers who are equal or better than you are. People who have something to teach you. Agott also mentions later “I didn’t think Coco would have things to teach me”. Everything in her life is meant to help her with her goal, including friends. Again it’s that habit of high/witch society where everything needs to have a USE.
To wrap it all off Agott is proper and responsible! She clearly cares for all her friends, which we see even early on. She’s attentive to Richeh and Tetia and takes the lead because she knows she’s more experienced than the other two. She just had a grudge against Coco at that moment lol
SIGHHHHH I love Agott she’s my daughter
Oooooo yes! I love how your analysis is grounded in class society, completely slipped my mind tbh. That makes it even more tragic if Agott did have mentors and did have a support system yet they all still failed her. Maybe whoever accused her was really high up and no one could really say anything. Still all the more tragic. However, assuming this is true it DOES put more emphasis on her truth in Qifrey and Olruggio.
Also maybe it's perhaps inaccurate to say she assumes the worst in people, but she does become angry and reactive in certain situations, especially if she feels someone is going against her. I cannot remember both times off the top of my head but she definitely pushed Coco into a wall after Coco learned about her past, then did it again to another person at another time (again I forgot when).
I did notice (tho I didn't mention) that Agott is the clear leader among the girls. Esp in crisis situations like the Dragon Labrynth, she is the one calling the shots and directing them all on what to do. She has been Qifrey's apprentice the longest and is the most skilled of them all.
YESSS I feel as tho I’ve found a fellow wayward soul. I have so much more thoughts on her I could talk all day long and I completely agree with you!! Agott can be very short tempered and lash out especially when she’s faced with things she can’t understand. A lot of the things I talked about in the last repost was about her nurture but this is more due to her nature.
It’s hard to completely leave out nurture though, especially in children, so you’ll see me mentioning her upbringing a couple times.
On day to day bases Agott is very proper. I watched the anime first before I read the manga and her response to getting hit with the water spell left a strong impression on me. It’s not something you usually see with the “bratty” trope I thought the story was going for.
I want to bring up two instances, one where Coco returned Agott’s sylph shoes and the other where she pushed Coco against the wall.
With the sylph shoes- “so am I the only one who’s been bothered this whole time?” Agott’s a thinker, she thinks a lot. When Coco came back from the test successfully she was ready for a fight but Coco gave her the flower instead. Then she never blamed her for anything and is always kind and doing her best to get along.
So what conclusion goes Agott draw? Oh she’s playing the long game. Shes planning something and I can’t figure it out. I don’t think she believed this whole heartedly but it’s what made the most sense. Agott lost the social battle that day and any of her former peers would have pounced on that opportunity to get one above her.
But Coco isn’t from the great hall. She’s kind and doesn’t expect anything in return. So Agott drives herself crazy looking for something that isn’t there
Second instance is when Agott pushes Coco against the wall. Like the first example she’s once again facing something she can’t understand. Being accused and rejected by her family scarred her really bad. It ruined her life. She lost her family, her home, any potential friends, and everything she ever knew. Because of this one thing. So of course a child’s mind concludes that she must have looked guilty beyond a doubt.
I’m not wording this last part well but to Agott plagiarism was life-shatteringly bad. It’s this HUGE thing that was enough to turn everyone in her life against her.
But Coco just believes her. So casually. She saw the boulder that is the accusation against her and waved it away like a leaf in the wind. Just like that.
If Coco, someone who she’s been mean to from the beginning, someone who has all the right to hate and mistrust her, could believe her so easily, why couldn’t her family? Why couldn’t the people who raised her believe in her too?
And that stings. That hurts. There must be something she’s missing, because it can’t be that easy. So it’s a lot of big feelings! And she lashes out
A big part of this is also just that she’s a kid! Children will have a hard time regulating their emotions. But we also know Agott tends to be extra short-tempered hehe
