I’ve seen a lot of What Happened To Qifrey Exactly/What Were The Brims Doing theories in my cruising the tags, but I haven’t seen anything of length that matches up with my personal read, so I figured I’d get it down.
(This is not to suggest that I think this read is somehow unique to me. I find it to be a very straightforward one and I’ve seen people gesture at it, so I cannot imagine it would be, but I want to organize my thoughts.)
Spoilers for all of the manga up to Ch. 97
SO, the new forbidden spell that the brim hats were trying to perfect in Thristas was healing magic.
They were in a forest of dead silverwood trees, trees that purportedly died because someone tried to resurrect the dead, attempting to find a way to utilize the single positive side effect of the silverwood parasite—healing its host.
So whoever was in charge of this little experiment was aware of the nature of how silverwood trees propagate. Maybe it was even a (re)discovery they made themselves. (Beldaruit notes that silverwood trees are said to be able to grow anywhere they can find comfort, but it’s unclear if he knows that they accomplish this parasitically through a host. It might be a bit of information lost on the day of the Pact.) And so they began trying to figure out a way to get a silverwood to take root in a human. Who can say how many people they tried it with, but Qifrey says, presumably based on the notes he read at the Tower of Tomes, that it’s rare, which implies multiple certainly.
I imagine Qifrey was an outsider both because it would make sense logistically (why abduct a witch child and get the pointed caps on your back when you could just take a child from outsiders who can’t conceivably do anything about it; also I imagine there are a lot more children falling through the cracks than there would be in witch society) and also thematically (draws another clear parallel between him and Coco). I am also certain that he was blind. Either due to a congenital condition or some kind of acute injury. (In the most fucked up version of this, they blinded him themselves.)
So the brim or brims abducted him, fed him a seed, and lo and behold, it did take root and heal his eyes. But it also, eventually, consumed him, as parasites are wont to do. So they reset him, wiped his mind completely, and tried again. The key part here is that him turning into the tree is a fail state. The purpose is for the parasite to heal, perhaps to eventually enhance but we’ll get to that, not to actually make a tree. So they keep doing this over and over and over and over again. (Considering their potential methodology here absolutely fascinates—and sickens!—me because they would have needed to be doing things to test the limits of both his comfort and discomfort to see what would make the tree grow.) Eventually perhaps they decide that this host is a wash and it’s time to iterate.
Qifrey says that his (right) eye was the only thing to sprout during the experiments. Now, he can’t mean that it was the only thing to tree-out because obviously it’s long gone, but Qifrey still has the parasite and the roots will still start rustling if Olly smiles at him too much. As such, I can only assume he means that quite literally: the sprouts that grew from his eye were the only ones that could propagate.
So they snatched his eye out so that they could get more seeds to continue their experiments, wiped his mind one last time, and discarded the rest of him.
Then approximately 20 years on, we are introduced to Ininia (and Restys) when they encounter Custas. They infect him with a silverwood seed, which heals his legs, but in the intervening decades they seem to have advanced quite a bit because Custas (and Ininia), in addition to being healed, are also both able to grow branches and control them at will, providing them with enhanced physical abilities. The seeds have advanced so much in fact that Restys and Ininia think they're ready for primetime. So they plot to deliver them to Deanreldy, both the greatest doctor in the realm and a king highly covetous of magic. And probably of especial note to Restys and Ininia, descending from a great house of healingcraft! They want healing magic to come back and they want it to come back in a big way. But alas, Custas takes root proving that the seeds are not, in fact, ready and Restys immediately scuttles the plan. Back to the drawing board.
Now, I don’t think Restys, personally, was the one who experimented on Qifrey because they simply just don’t look old enough (though I supposed with forbidden magic, who knows?). So perhaps an as-yet-unseen master or forebear of theirs. They notably do also have white hair. So they too might be a host who has taken root before. Interestingly, Ininia’s blond hair suggests that she has never taken root. So perhaps she was the most recent host before Custas and the reason why they thought the seeds were ready.
MISCELLANEOUS ADDITIONAL RELATED THOUGHTS
There's definitely something to be said for the fact that all the confirmed silverwood hosts definitely were (or very plausibly were) permanently disabled without the use of some part of their body. Custas's legs, Qifrey's eyes, and, presumably, Ininia's hands. Haven't collected my thoughts on this entirely yet, but. INTERESTING.
As regards delivering the seeds to Deanreldy, we know that the castle has an anti-magic spell, but does that extend to something like the silverwood seeds? I’m going to guess, no, and that’s because with all the focus on why Eoleo has a brushbuddy in a castle without magic, I am going to place my bet that there is a silverwood tree somewhere in that there castle, and they don’t know what they have right under their noses.
I don’t think Iguin has anything to with the silverwood stuff. Or, yeah I’ll say it, Qifrey’s whole deal at all, in general. I could make a whole other post about it (and maybe I will!), but there’s no reason to introduce not one, but TWO, new brimhat characters to carry the silverwood plot once it’s time to start doing the reveals if Iguin is involved. They’re already there! It drastically heightens the tension, in fact, with Iguin as a known malevolent factor fixated on Coco, if they were Ininia’s master who shows up at the end and they’re the one who Custas goes off with! Instead, we get Restys with their own plans and motivations, who is obviously an associate of Iguin’s but isn’t really implied to be a subordinate. (Brims seem to have a pretty flat command structure, in fact.) Because, imo, Iguin has nothing to do with this whole plotline.
I’ve seen a lot of other theories about the experiment on Qifrey having been intended to create megacharged silverwood trees or silverwood/human hybrids who would be inherently magical. They do not make sense to me! I mean obviously I’ve already outlined why I think it’s genuinely an attempt to resurrect (ba-dum-tish) healing magic, but also: a) if they just wanted to make silverwood trees out of people then taking root wouldn’t be a fail state as has been established it clearly is, b) human blood is already established to supercharge spells so it would be a net neutral development—nothing gained. And in the case of a human/tree hybrid who can use their own blood to cast, frankly, generally less convenient. Sure it might come in handy in a total emergency where there is literally no other ink available, but seems like a lot of trouble to go to for just that eventuality. I suppose you could posit that being a human/tree hybrid would inherently grant special casting powers, but it’s pretty central to the sensibility and themes of the entire narrative that magic is cast by creating seals and anyone can do it just the same given tools and practice, so I don’t see any way of getting around that ever being introduced.
That however is not to say that I think the connection between human blood and magic and humans and silverwood trees is not narratively significant. I think it definitely is. We have two separate fables/creation myths about personified silverwood trees! I frankly am halfway to assuming that when we find out where silverwood trees originally came from it’ll be revealed that they were ALL people.
The most beautiful spell ✨ My Witch Hat Atelier illustration for Crunchyroll!
I've always been in love with the beautiful artwork of WHA, and Kamome Shirahama's masterful line work has been a huge inspiration for me! I did my best to recapture the grandeur and magic in this piece. Super excited for the finale next week!!
I made a jokey post about how Qifrey keeps collecting abused apprentices and they keep healing, which is paradoxically bad for him. But all jokes aside, I think it demonstrates how Witch Hat Atelier presents hope as a theme.
The series makes no secret about presenting itself as about "hope and despair". But the two sides of that coin are absolutely *not* balanced. Ininia, when confronted by Coco, says she never expected the silverwood in Custas to sprout. Why would it? He grew up poor and alone, he got seriously injured and lost the use of his legs, he can't get consistent mobility aids, the witches he considered his friends lied to him, his father died, and kept dying in front of him, over and over, every day. Custas has every reason to be miserable forever! And yet, all it took was a brief moment in Dagda's arms for him to feel safe.
(As a note, Ininia seems to treat this as a weakness in Custas. It makes me wonder if her character arc will be exploring the kind of person who, after trauma, over-identifies with their pain to the point of rejecting any hope for growth or recovery as pointless and naive. But that's something for another day).
We can see this in other characters as well. Coco has an extremely traumatic first interaction with magic. And yet, it doesn't stop her from feeling wonder and joy at even the simplest, most mundane spells. Richeh says she hates adults who treat kids as things rather than people- which means she does feel treated like a person at the atelier. We can (and should) criticize the Knights Moralis as a police system. But for Luluci, they turned an experience of being groomed and abused into an experience of being believed, taken seriously, and protected.
This theme is also Qifrey's entire arc and character struggle. The fact that the Brimhat's initial experiment involved wiping him repeatedly is technically evidence that, even back then, he kept finding moments of peace. One hug from Olruggio was enough to help when he was at the point of drowning himself. He has any number of things to keep him stressed (his lost memories, his crimes, his guilt over Olruggio and others, his students, trying to protect other/future victims) and it keeps not being enough. He is actively trying to hold on to bitterness and vengeance as motivators, and they keep slipping away like sand, because despite everything, he's built a good life.
With Hat Atelier does not say that hope or healing is easy. I would hesitate to suggest it even says these things are inevitable. But it does assert that hope, healing, peace and growth are both powerful and persistent. Like weeds, they will grow through the smallest possible crack. Despair looks big and complicated and all-encompassing and nevertheless can be pushed back by the smallest, simplest, weakest token of kindness. It's not even a close fight.
The first shots of Beldaruit in the anime finally gave me the push I needed to write this post about his condition. It's something I'd been putting off for a long time.
(TW: This post contains medical illustrations and X-ray images showing examples of the condition. Nothing too graphic, but anyway.)
Officially, in the manga it hasn't been stated that Beldaruit has a medical condition, or that he was ever paralyzed. But then Chapter 81 gave us this page...
...and everything fell into place!
«My bones have been brittle from the day I was born»
Yes, this is a real medical condition.
Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), also known as Brittle bone disease, Lobstein syndrome, fragilitas ossium or Vrolik disease.
● ICD-11: LD24.K0 ICD-10: Q78.0
«Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) literally means “imperfectly formed bones”, and is a rare and complex genetic disorder that is often characterized by bones that break easily. The vast majority of OI is caused by variations (mutations) in genes that affect the structure of type I collagen or genes whose proteins interact directly with type I collagen.»
In other words, a person with this condition is born with bones so fragile that their legs can break under their own body weight, and even lifting an object can result in a broken arm.
This would explain why Beldaruit is confined to the chair and prefers to travel around the Great Hall through smoke illusions. If he tried to stand on his own feet, his legs would most likely break under his own weight.
We only see Beldaruit lying in bed, where he has already developed pressure sores and ulcers. (I absolutely love the level of details in this manga and how seriously Kamome Shirahama approaches depicting different medical conditions.)
Also, notice how gentle all of his movements are. He doesn't even fully close his fingers around the rope, and the way he holds his pen is so delicate:
Symptoms found in various types of OI include:
whites of the eye (sclerae) that are blue instead
short stature
loose joints
hearing loss
breathing problems
problems with the teeth (dentinogenesis imperfecta)
Potentially life-threatening complications, all of which become more common in more severe OI, include: tearing (dissection) of the major arteries, such as the aorta; pulmonary valve insufficiency secondary to distortion of the ribcage;and basilar invagination.
More information
There are several types of osteogenesis imperfecta, ranging from mild to severe. I'll only talk about Type I, because I believe that's the one Beldaruit has. His body shows no obvious skeletal deformities, and he's quite tall, both of which are consistent with the mildest form of the condition.
You can read about the other types here
"Type I OI: people with Type I OI, the mildest and most common form, may have only a handful of fractures or as many as several dozen fractures in a lifetime. They may have few obvious signs of the disorder. In Type I, there usually is little to no bone deformity. Height is less affected than in other types of OI, and many people with Type I are often similar in height to other family members. Muscle weakness, joint laxity, and flat feet are common. Dislocations and sprains may occur, as well as fractures. Life expectancy appears to be average."
Works featuring characters with the same condition:
Tetia's interactions with Eoleo really have me thinking about the potential parallels that Tetia has with Olruggio.
Olruggio and Tetia: Two witches who are keen to help people whenever they can. Olruggio is a well-known witch and inventor who specialises in fire magic. His magical inventions are there to make life easier for others as well as allow access to basic necessities such as warmth and light. On the other hand, Tetia is a young apprentice witch who had only recently made her debut with magical inventions. Her inventions utilise and specialise in earth magic. Her instent staff and serpent's bed of sand are both things that utilise earth (sand and dirt). Tetia's invention also exists to make life easier for the common folk by allowing them access to shelter and comfort.
Both Tetia and Olruggio's inventions are distributed to those who need them as they help civillians using their inventions. Their inventions are also found to be incredibly useful during the Silver Eve festival: olruggio's invention is used to defeat the curtain leech, and Tetia's invention is used as temporary shelter for those escaping the chaos.
Olruggio and Tetia are two kind and compassionate characters. It is their desire to help people to the best of their abilities, which makes them critical of the witches code. Olruggio and Tetia consider breaking the witches code in some way, shape, or form to be able to better help people. This is mainly focused on helping people by allowing them access to knowledge. Why should people be prohibited from life changing knowledge that can benefit them? Is a question that both of these characters ask and can't find it in themselves to justify such a thing.
What further connects these two as strong parallels is their relationship with monarchs as witches. Witches are taught to be secretive and keep their distance from monarchs. Monarchs and witches are unable to stand side by side as it is against the witches' code to function in the times of the old prior to the formation of the pact. This is due to the tragedy that is associated with many witch and monarch stories, with the monarchs ending up dead and wars being created. Olruggio and Tetia are both put in positions where the monarchs propose a cooperation deal, a chance to go back to the old ways. Both experess wariness at this proposition with Olruggio successfully declining the offer while Tetia seems to be interwoven in a complicated relationship with Eoleo. Olruggio's beliefs about witches and monarchs are made clear that he disagrees with the alliance due to its historical consequences. However, Tetia finds herself questioning and critiquing this rule. Why can't witches be friends with monarchs? There surely isn't anything wrong with such a thing, is there? Tetia is still naive to the diplomatic workings of witches and monarchs, unlike olruggio.
It's also interesting to notice that Olruggio and Tetia both catch the eyes of a monarch in Ezrest. We see King Ezrest watching Olruggio's silver Eve performance in chapter 61. We see Tetia catch the eye of Prince Eoleo, who she chooses to hide from the Palace guards during the Silver Eve festival.
Tetia and Olruggio's characters also focus on the concept of transformation. It's ironic that the importance of appearance and clothing is brought up in reference to their characters and specifically when it comes to the Silver Eve arc as a way to differentiate themselves from outsiders and other witches. Olruggio and Tetia believe and use items like masks and clothes as a way to 'transform' into different people and to be viewed differently as a result. Olruggio utilises the cosmetics mask to make himself look presentable to his clients who would like to meet him and require some of his magic while Tetia switches cloaks with Eoleo and is deemed to look like royalty.
Both of these characters are shown to aid both monarchs and civillains. Their work and training (in Tetia's case) is built up to complete their duties as witches, which is to make everyone happy at the end of the day. Tetia loves hearing people thank her and wants to be a witch who is able to see and hear people's content at her work while Olruggio is a witch who has managed to achieve such a thing. Tetia would like to be known internationally while Olruggio has built a strong, seemingly international reputation about himself as the light witch.
Tetia's current optimistic and outgoing demeanour can be said to be very similar to young Olruggio. Both characters hear the gossip surrounding Coco and Qifrey and are ironically the first peer to approach them in the great hall and the atelier.
imagining witch hat atelier as a story that orufrey tell coco :) btw this was started when i had like heat exhaustion so it's extra bad n scrappy. i don't care.
30 IMAGES IS THE LIMIT?! Erm....well there was one more but it's fine.
I have a major theory that explains why every action taken by the Knights Moralis actually makes sense, and why this is all one massive Chekhov's gun that has been set up since the very beginning of the manga.
Kamome Shirahama is known for building the world of Witch Hat Atelier down to the patterns carved into furniture. She planted the Silver Tree plotline ten years ago. But why would she write the Knights Moralis so poorly? In the manga they are portraited as very evil antagonists whose only purpose is to stand in the way of children trying to do good.
(English is my second language, so I'm sorry for my mistakes)
Everything they do starts to make sense if we assume that there is some kind of Force / Entity / Powerful Magic above humans and witches. It either intimidates and controls the world, or at times shows it favor.
However, the only people who know about it are the two sages and Vinanna's successor (and probably the king as well).
Lagrah had only just assumed his position. It was literally his first day on the job, so nobody had time to tell him.
Now, let's take a look:
Chapter 57 ^
It's the first chapter in which the Knights Moralis are the focus of the story. Almost immediately Easthies nearly lets it slip that they are not the ones to make the final decisions.
But there is no authority above the knights in Zozah.
If not you, then who?
Chapter 75 ^
The next time we hear about this is three years later.
This is the chapter where Coco tries to convince everyone to use the Time Reversal spell against the leech. Vinanna doesn't like the idea. She is surprised that Beldaruit, of all people, approved it. He should have understood the consequences of using the forbidden magic.
Then Vinanna says a coded phrase that only the two of them know. As the second sage, Beldaruit immediately understands what she is referring to. Neither Coco nor we, the readers, do.
This is the first mention of the "Anomaly" (I'll call it like that, based on Chapter 97).
To witness this Anomaly either means to receive permission to use forbidden magic (keep this point in mind, it will be important when we get to Easthies), or, conversely, to be reminded of the consequences of doing so.
Vinanna chooses the first version.
Chapter 80^
When this chapter came out, we started thinking (well, I did) that Easthies had some deep trauma related to forbidden magic.
We thought that it was PTSD. That he snapped, attacked people and even his superiors while being confused. And that once we we had learned about his past, we would have cried, forgiven and loved him.
NO.
Remember that Easthies is the only person present, aside from Beldaruit and Vinanna, who knows about this Force/Anomaly in the sky. And what It will do to them, if people start using forbidden magic on a large scale.
He was so terrified that he immediately rushed to erase the memories of everyone involved as soon as he heard the plan. At the same time, he wasn't erasing all of their memories. Only connected to that day's forbidden magic.
And as we learned from chapter 97, he did it with a clear mind, fully aware of his actions.
To him, it is better to let the leech devour the city than to allow whatever is above them to happen.
"What is it that burdens you?" Lulucy asks.
And behind Easthies we see a serious and tired Beldaruit, who, like Easthies, carries the burden of knowing what hangs above them.
The question is addressed to both of them.
Chapter 79 ^
Why did I ask you to remember what I said about Vinanna earlier?
Vinanna had seen the Anomaly and knew that the permission to use the forbidden magic had been given that night.
But she didn't have time to tell Easthies.
In fact, she was trying to tell him right in the chapter. We just didn't realize what she was trying to say at the time.
Easthies decided that his captain had lost her mind. That he was the only sane person left who could still save everyone. And so he attacked Vinanna without even listening to her.
And that's the only thing he was condemned for. Otherwise, he wouldn't have faced any consequences for his rampage.
Attacked civilians and erased people's memories?
Pfff fair
Vinanna completely understands his actions and would have done exactly the same thing herself, if the Anomaly in the sky hadn't given her permission to break the law.
That's how terrifying this thing hanging above them is.
The Scales ^
Throughout the entire manga we're constantly reminded how important the balance between humans and witches is. Otherwise, something terrible will happen. But we're never told exactly what.
(The Anomaly in the sky will punish them. That's what.)
Beldaruit's entire arc with King Deanreldy revolves around this.
Beldaruit knows what consequences the Anomaly will bring, if that balance is lost, and he does everything he can to oppose the king.
The manga tells us that after the Silver Night the scales tipped in favor of the witches because they were the ones who saved everyone.
And that was before...
Chapter 88 ^
THE KING KNELT BEFORE THE WITCHES.
Lagrah doesn't understand what's happening. Beldaruit, on the other hand, is absolutely horrified.
He wasn't this frightened even when the entire city was being devoured by the Leech.
The balance has been completely destroyed.
He's the only person currently conscious who understands the consequences and can see the guillotine hanging above them.
(Vinanna is unconscious, Easthies has been knocked out with sleeping powder, and Lagrah is a newby.)
It's unknown whether the King knew about this Force above them. What kind of power does something have to possess to terrify even a Sage?
Chapter 97 ^
Vinanna finally speaks about the Anomaly directly and says that it absolutely cannot be ignored.
The Sages have their secrets. So does Vinanna, and she will share them only with her future successor.
Easthies is depressed, sitting alone in his quarters.
No position. No support. No understanding. But even so, he doesn't regret his actions. And he is still prepared to erase the memories of an entire city, if that's what it takes to save the world from whatever is threatening it.
WHAT is it?
He's not a fanatic. He simply knows too much and can't tell anyone else. (Even if you take away his pudding.)
Conclusion:
We have some kind of Anomaly that terrifies the Sages, and the Sages, in turn, terrify everyone else in an attempt to save the world.
But we can only piece this together through the clues scattered throughout the story.
So if erasing the memories of an entire city is safer than leaving things as they are, then erasing the memories of a twelve-year-old girl at the very first sign of forbidden magic is even more justified.
The world is falling apart.
The Knights are trying to keep it from plunging into the abyss.
The Brimhats are swinging the scales around.
The Anomaly officially exists.
And it turns out I wasn't losing my mind for the last fifty chapters.
Thank you all for coming to my TED Talk.
And thanks to Commander Effie for helping me with English ^^
I plan on making these into standees and so the backs of these have different designs that are spoilers for the manga! If you’re an anime only so far, don’t click!
Chapter 40 and 88 Spoilers ⚠️
On the fence still about whether to do these for the backs or keep their originals heh
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