The boy who came from Slistas: in which I theorise that Qifrey is a tree
So I have read Witch Hat Atelier, I have connected way too many dots, and I have concluded that Qifrey is a silver tree who was turned human and experimented upon to allow the Brimhats to perform blood magic. And he is a little freaked out about the whole situation.
Please come dive down that rabbit hole with me (detailed spoilers up to Chapter 40 under the cut):
There are indications early on that silver trees have ties to blood magic. Silver trees are described as very human-like, and possibly sentient: the magical ink taken from their sap is described as the tree’s “very blood”, a legend claims that a silver tree fell in love with a witch, and Beldarut claims that these trees, like humans, choose where they live and are capable of some form of self-determination. According to the shopkeeper Nornoa, it’s a mystery why these trees are so different from others, and integral to drawing magic. A side theory here could be that silver trees started out as humans, and that the act of drawing the sap of silver trees to get magic ink began as some manner of blood sacrifice. Which brings me to my next point:
Iguin the Brimhat is a blood magic user, and this plays a role in his overarching scheme. We know that he wants Coco to embrace forbidden magic to disrupt the statu quo established by witch society, but it seems to be only one facet of his plan. Early in the story, he is shown pouring his own blood into Coco’s inkwell, giving her the enhanced magic that leads her to alter a whole landscape. What’s a bit puzzling here is that the ink is described as “blue-tinged” by Nornoa when he examines it, and he says it is mixed with a lot of different components. So, presumably, blood alone isn’t enough to make magic happen, but it can be used as a magical enhancer. Or, at least, Iguin’s blood can: whether he achieved this by experimenting on himself, or whether any blood can work as enhancer when mixed with the right ingredients, hasn’t yet been explored. In any case, this resonates well with the mythos of the near-sentient silver tree and its magic-giving blood. Iguin has this troubling line while drawing out his blood “How long can you hide the fact that magic is just a lie?”, which points to the idea that there’s a secret about the origin of magic that witch society either forgot, or chose to cover up.
Which brings me to our favourite overzealous secret-bearer, Qifrey, and his possible links with Iguin’s plot. Iguin is our primary suspect for stealing Qifrey’s eye: he seems familiar with him from the beginning of the story (“I’ll teach you everything that Qifrey won’t”), and they are natural foils in the narrative, being rival teachers to Coco. There is also the theme of the eye, which Iguin uses both as his mask and as his namesake “Lidless Eye, Sight of the world”. Until the story gives us further elements, it is natural to assume that Iguin’s plan, the experimentations done on Qifrey, and the plot Qifrey feels duty-bound to stop, are all parts of the same whole. Qifrey’s urgency to stop this plan “before anyone finds out” mirrors Iguin’s earlier line “how long can you hide that magic is a lie”.
Qifrey was experimented on with “a new type of magic”. The forbidden magic we have seen so far had a lot to do with human transformation, and particularly with turning humans into animals or objects (the petrification of Coco’s mother, Sasaran’s accidental hybridization with his own cat, Eunie’s transformation into a scaled wolf, the gilded people of Romonon…). The natural opposite of that magic would be one that gives human shape to an animal, an object - or a silver tree, so that a new type of magic ink can be harvested from it. Having his eye plucked out would then work as a grim parallel to the way witches gain magic by cutting out branches from silver trees. It may even be because of that stolen eye that Iguin is able to perform blood magic. Also note that Slistas, the forest of shadows in which Qifrey was found, started out as a forest of silver trees until a necromancer used it as experimental ground to bring the dead back to life. You could imagine that a few silver trees would have survived the corruption of the forest, and could have been used for the Brimhats’ experiments.
There’s some more shared symbolism between Qifrey and silver trees, starting with their color schemes. The role of silver trees as givers of magic matches Qifrey’s role in the narrative as the one who introduces Coco to the magical world. There’s the comparison drawn by Beldarut between Qifrey seeking a home and a silver tree choosing a place to take root (Qifrey is clearly most comfortable when surrounded in nature and loves nothing more than frolicking in the countryside, if that counts as a proof).
I also found it interesting that in chapter 40, when Qifrey reveals that he has been a test subject for a new type of forbidden magic, the panels then alternate between Olruggio’s shocked reaction and shots of what looks like an unfurling silver tree.
From a wider story perspective, Qifrey’s backstory would be an interesting twist in Coco’s journeys and struggles, which center on the ethics of magic. If Qifrey owes his current human life to forbidden magic, is he de facto illegal according to the rules of witch society? Plus that sort of reveal would be a shocking enough revelation to explain Qifrey’s desperation and rashness, while still retaining the whimsical atmosphere of the manga (Coco! Your professor is actually a magic tree person! Please make sure he gets good soil and plenty of natural light).
Aaaaand that’s my deep-dive pet theory! Thank you so much for reading, and I’d love to see some of your speculations on the manga as well!
