i'll see your "olruggio has confessed a hundred times in a hundred ways but qifrey always takes root soon after so he doesn't remember any of them so qifrey must carry the knowledge of their reciprocal affection alone"
and raise you
olruggio has never confessed, not even once. he bites the words back every time and qifrey genuinely believes that olruggio doesn't feel that way about him because if he did surely he would've said something by now, it's just that he's such a kind gentle soul, that he would do all this, go this far, and qifrey is taking advantage, selfish and awful, hurting olly over and over and harboring these obviously predatory and unwelcome feelings for him on top of it.
The reason why Witch Hat Atelier’s social commentary on disability is so efficacious is its nuanced approach; rather than simply presenting a disabled character as a token, the narrative explores how progress—symbolized through magic—can be limited by the narrow perspective of those who are directly responsible for it.
In raising the question of whether magic is inherently good or bad, the story offers multiple analogies—a knife, a fire, medicinal herbs—all of which underscore the dual potential for harm and healing. Magic, as depicted in the series, functions as a neutral tool that reflects the intentions of its users. When progress is shaped by the dominant majority, it often fails to account for, or even marginalize, those who exist outside normative structures.
Take Coustas here: as the boy born into poverty and left to navigate life with a disability, he is the culmination of the series’ most poignant thematic concerns. Everything about his narrative arc is treated with a notable degree of care and complexity, serving as critique of how systemic neglect and social bias shape one’s individual experience.
Magic in WHA is not only captivating in its visual appeal but is also deeply woven into the fabric of the narrative. It’s at once a source of wonder and a tool through which power and oppression can be exercised. Coco functions as both the main character and as a narrative foil to Coustas precisely because they share the common experience of the outsider.
sometimes i wonder what olruggio really thinks in regards to qifrey becoming a teacher. i wonder how that conversation went when qifrey told him for the first time because olruggio... doesn't exactly go easy on qifrey in regards to teaching the kids. not that olruggio thinks qifrey is a poor teacher by any means, i don't think olruggio thinks that. he says as much in chapter 40. it's more that i think olly kind of oversteps at times in regards to qifrey teaching the kids and i wonder what motivates that.
some examples i've been thinking about
defying what qifrey wants by taking agott with him to help at the river.
he doesn't even give qifrey a chance to explain coco's situation and why he was taking her on as an apprentice. olruggio rejects it almost immediately. he's not trusting qifrey's judgement.
openly expresses frustration with qifrey's teaching in front of one of his students.
he tries to get qifrey to swear he'll continue to be a good mentor to the kids
he's angry enough to get physical with a wounded qifrey when qifrey impulsively goes to chase after the brims.
he also has nothing to say when beldaruit makes this statement about qifrey
he openly questions where qifrey's priorities are at by suggesting the girls' safety might be important to him so he can get what he wants with the brims. this one is actually dark af.
olruggio spent a lot of time teaching qifrey when they were kids so i wonder if that's just their dynamic where olly will insert his opinions and will on the situation bc that's what he's always done, but i think it's interesting because qifrey would have a right to be angry at a few of these.
sometimes i wonder what olruggio really thinks in regards to qifrey becoming a teacher. i wonder how that conversation went when qifrey told him for the first time because olruggio... doesn't exactly go easy on qifrey in regards to teaching the kids. not that olruggio thinks qifrey is a poor teacher by any means, i don't think olruggio thinks that. he says as much in chapter 40. it's more that i think olly kind of oversteps at times in regards to qifrey teaching the kids and i wonder what motivates that.
some examples i've been thinking about
defying what qifrey wants by taking agott with him to help at the river.
he doesn't even give qifrey a chance to explain coco's situation and why he was taking her on as an apprentice. olruggio rejects it almost immediately. he's not trusting qifrey's judgement.
openly expresses frustration with qifrey's teaching in front of one of his students.
he tries to get qifrey to swear he'll continue to be a good mentor to the kids
he's angry enough to get physical with a wounded qifrey when qifrey impulsively goes to chase after the brims.
he also has nothing to say when beldaruit makes this statement about qifrey
he openly questions where qifrey's priorities are at by suggesting the girls' safety might be important to him so he can get what he wants with the brims. this one is actually dark af.
olruggio spent a lot of time teaching qifrey when they were kids so i wonder if that's just their dynamic where olly will insert his opinions and will on the situation bc that's what he's always done, but i think it's interesting because qifrey would have a right to be angry at a few of these.
One example just isn’t enough to make any real extrapolations about how often Qifrey jumps the gun and memory wipes Olly without consent, but it’s hard not to wonder anyway. Especially since we get Qifrey’s claim that Olly always offered him that path back himself only after we’ve seen a memory wipe that contradicts it.
I’d be tempted to think Qifrey is trying to whitewash his behavior, but… that’s not really a problem we’ve seen Qifrey demonstrate in any other context. If anything, he blames himself too heavily for their arrangement - despite it starting explicitly against his wishes - in order to fully absolve Olly of any wrongdoing instead. And he lies a bunch, but this was all entirely in his own head. Plus he counts on feeling guilty and anguished to live, so trying to make himself feel better about what he’s doing is counterproductive.
If anything, you’d think he’d lean into that, right? Escalating his behavior like that should make it even easier to demonize himself, to paint himself as a parasitic monster and Olly as his blameless victim. But he doesn’t. When he’s bemoaning their situation to himself, he doesn’t even mention that the most recent memory wipe was done without Olly’s permission or understanding. Was it genuinely such an outlier that he doesn’t consider part of his usual methods? Has his perspective on what counts as permission warped over the years of doing this, especially since he’s taken full responsibility for it even though it all started without his own consent? Or is it that he hates what he has to do to live so much, it feels equally monstrous whether he technically has permission or not?
Since it’s impossible to come to any conclusions at this point, that does imply to me that we are far from done with exploring Qifrey and Olly’s past/relationship. We already spent a whole arc on Qifrey’s perspective, so it would make the most sense for our knowledge to be rounded out with Olly’s perspective… but we can’t get that until his memories are restored somehow. :’) So we’re still stuck for the foreseeable future.
My mind keeps spinning over something and I’m trying to work it out here, so please excuse me if I sound like I’m rambling lmao
(WHA spoilers!!)
But it’s interesting that Olly- the sky’s kindest most radiant star- was the one that came up with the idea to erase his own memories. He was panicked and his best friend was dying in front of him, so I’m not sitting here criticizing him for not thinking of a better solution! I just think that this decision honestly adds a lot to his character.
Olly is almost completely, selflessly kind. He’s a people pleaser at heart- he finds fulfillment in doing things for and helping the people around him. And from what we read of his backstory in the 90+ chapters, he was a gifted child with a large amount of expectations on his shoulders, from others, yes, but especially himself.
Olly operates in a way that makes it seem like he owes it to the world to serve the people in it. He is absolutely kind and hard working and giving to his core.
Which is why I find his reaction in 92-93 so intriguing. If it were anyone else, I would assume this was a kid making a rash and impulsive decision without regarding the long reaching consequences for his friend. But we’re explicitly told that Olly knows that Qifrey is the one that’s “in for it”. He describes the guilt and anxiety and fear that Qifrey will experience on his own with no hesitancy.
And ultimately this is a selfish choice. I don’t mean that in a negative or judgmental way. But this is the first and only (as far as I can remember) self-centered action we’ve seen Olly take-and I love the implications here.
Qifrey wanted to die rather than hurt Olly. He wanted to live, but not at the cost of causing Olly the same trauma he had lived through. And Olly knew. He was there for Qifreys relentless journey to reclaim his memories. He saw exactly how haunted and traumatized his friend was by it. He knew that erasing Olly’s memories would cause Qifrey irreparable harm. And he demanded it of him anyway.
Olly erasing his own memories, Qifrey restrained by the tree and unable to stop him, was a purely selfish decision. -You can’t die because I need you. You have to live like this because I want you by my side til we’re old and gray. You have to bear this alone and you have to promise you won’t give up.- and he trusted Qifrey to fulfill this promise and these needs even knowing the hurt Qifrey would feel.
Olly has spent his whole life, even after the memory erasure spell, prioritizing the needs and wants of other people. But Qifrey is the one and only person he allows himself to be selfish with. And what’s greater than a love like that? One that allows you to set down the burden of kindness and knowing that person will support you through your own needs anyways.
Olly may be Qifreys guiding light, but Qifrey is his home. Where he doesn’t have to be selfless and prioritize everyone else around him. Where he can freely ask for his needs, no matter how inconvenient they might seem, and know that Qifrey will do what he can to help him. There’s a level of deep and long reaching trust there that I can barely wrap my head around.
And Qifrey is fulfilling it! He knows how much Olly is trusting him to take care of, and he’s doing it for him to the best of his ability. He’s keeping a promise only he remembers because he’d seriously never allow himself to break the trust that Olly has given him, even when it’s this painful. And Olly, at that young age, knew that. They know and trust each other so much oh my god.
I hc that after finding out his secret Coco would do anything she can to not let Qifrey feel safe and comfortable at the atelier out of worry by inconveniencing him in minor childish ways. Stuff like leaving small angular objects on the couch. Adding too much salt to his food. Soaking him wet with a bad water spell once in a while. Oru and the other girls would think they got into an argument but Qifrey would be strangely emotional instead of annoyed every time.
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