I've spoken before on here about Coco and Qifrey's dynamic, but a fascinating part of their dynamic which I think is underappreciated is the way their relationship — and the way others view their dynamic — really speaks to childhood trauma, and the way people tend to view those who have suffered intense trauma (particularly during childhood).
"Hurt people hurt people" is a relatively well known stigmatizing phrase which states that those who suffered some form of abuse or trauma are much more likely to enact that same trauma upon others. "The cycle of abuse" is a misused term which people tend to use in order to state the same thing. Traumatized people are inherently dangerous, and traumatized people *will* end up harming others — particularly children.
These are common stigmas that surround survivors, and they're stigmas we can see reflected in WHA when characters like Olruggio and Beldaruit show concern over Qifrey's relationship with Coco.
What makes their dynamic so special is the fact that, in all honesty, Qifrey is the best person to take care of Coco considering that he's the only person who can truly understand what she's going through.
WHA takes these common sentiments and disproves them. Qifrey's trauma doesn't make him a danger to Coco — his trauma is what allows him to connect with her, and provide her the comfort she truly needs during such a difficult period of her life.
Despite the concerns of those around them, Qifrey's experience with severe childhood trauma surrounding the Brimhats is exactly what has allowed him to help Coco time and time again
It's such a compassionate view of a group of people that are normally dismissed as being inherently dangerous, and I think that's a really important dynamic to have in this series.
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