rewatching amphibia because what else is one supposed to do in this GODAWFUL HEAT WAVE, got to anne-sterminator and remembered this thing i guess i never posted here. the lore drop she had to dump on her parents after that episode must’ve been INSANE
Imagine if the RHATO amnesia plot line was treated like what it is: Jason committing what is effectively a form of suicide because Bruce triggered him and won't let him move on from his trauma.
Jason tried to move on, Jason tries to move on, and EVERY time he gets dragged back into it by the Bats. Damian putting a crowbar in his bed and attacking him. Making jokes about Jason's death. Bruce forcing Jason back to the place where he died. Dick abandoning him in an exploding building. The existence of the memorial case.
Jason said that getting rid of it all was the only way for him to find the strength to continue to live. He wanted to die, and his only alternative was a different flavor of death.
Don’t have to answer right away but i want to check in on how you feel about Qifrey as a character. Chapter 40 is the make or break moment for a lot of people on hi and i want to hear your raw thoughts before you continue.
woooooof ok yeah so ive been thinking on this ask and im home now to write out my thoughts, and i have... a lot of them i think.
Like, one thought that I have is that I really am questioning the narrative I've seen so far. Qifrey is obviously willing to wipe more than one person's mind, because he did it to the shopkeep too, and to do it multiple times, like what's going on with Olly because he said "you'll forgive me again", meaning... it's happened before. And I think that even means Olly's realized it's happened before, in some instances. So... if Qifrey is willing to do this at any threat to his search, then who else has he wiped? How often? I don't think he's ever touched Coco's mind, but I do kinda wonder about the other girls. I wonder about the other witches who might be close to him. Probably not his own teacher, but honestly maybe yeah. So... I guess I'm wondering if we have a reliable narrator, or if we'll realize later on that were more instances of this and gaps in what we were allowed to see and remember.
So, I guess that means I don't trust Qifrey. Except, I don't think that's true. I fully do trust him to want to be that good teacher for the girls, and to want to protect them, and to help others with magic, and.... to seek revenge on the brimhats. Like... obviously, he's all in on that. I think Olly and Grandpa Belly's concerns for where that priority falls with Coco and the girls were fair, but I'm not too too worried about him losing it... unless like, one of the other girls was hurt directly by a brimhat and then he might lose it and do something crazy instead of protecting the other three. But i mean... i'd be fine with that. And... whether or not I trust him, i do like him. he really is such a good teacher, to the detriment of other parts of his life, and he's a good dad. I'm not kidding when i call him the papa.
I suppose there's some... i'm a bit concerned with the line i'm being fed about his revenge on the brimhats. Because, apparently, he put it all behind him when he came back from the tower and realized the only way to get more answers would cost him everything he had then, and he wasn't willing to do that. Thats... what Olly and Grandpa say, anyway. And Qifrey agrees with them, and says the change is because now the brimhats are a threat to his future and his girls, and that's why he's taken it up again. Except Qifrey is a liar. Because he's apparently done this to Olly before, and just, the vibe of the scene? the hidden seal in the hat? I don't think this is something he started doing only when Coco arrived. Plus, when he first went back for Coco and the magic book, he was worried about the possibility of a brimhat, yes, but had no reason to suspect it was a threat to him or his atelier, and he didn't have proof yet. And he agreed to take Coco on as a lead, though i suspect he knew he'd kind of inevitably become even more fond of her. So... I don't think i'm being told the truth here, about that. I think he's been looking for revenge longer. Maybe this is just the first time there's been any leads to make it obvious to his old teacher, when he lives far away, while Olly is up close and personal and so has caught on before. So, I am curious as to what the truth actually is there. and i'm sure it'll take another forty chapters at best to come out....
I am very curious as to what kind of "new" magic the brimhats were trying to make by. um. experimenting. and then leaving a child half drowned in a coffin. definitely not anything good. it's got to have something to do with the tree he was under what with the weird cutaway to Beldariut (and, honestly, the vibes of some art ive seen on my dash and i am NOT going back through to look at it with new context but oughhh i am Wondering), and in the last couple hours i have considered many, many options:
he was like, a sacrifice made to the tree? since there's the legend about a silverwood tree falling in love with a witch and giving her gifts, did they want... new magic gifts?? and think?? lets check the exchange rate for one human child??
tree was like, his mom? half tree half witch? is he a dryad? he was born out of a weird spell thing the brimhats were trying and i guess that makes beldariut his midwife idk
he's like, enchanted out of the tree he was found under? like apparently you cast a spell on the chair and it mimics goat legs. you could do the same but mimicking a human form, surely? this does give us possibly a really funny loophole for tetia, in that if he's an enchanted tree he's not a human so technically it's not forbidden to cast magic on him.
he's... like an anti-silverwood tree? he's not actually a tree he's a person but there's some kind of magic in him that means Beldariut is worried he'd destroy the peaceful home, like, the opposite of the tree? goldwood person? idk. wait that could be a connection to the gold statues people tho so maybe. anyway this means he could have different magic 'gifts' and effects inside of him since they were trying something new
the tree is a red herring. also, the brimhats didn't steal his right eye in order to cast magic on it... a brimhat ripped out their own left eye and did an enchantment (possibly still with the tree actually) around it and created him. so, he's the missing eye. Something will happen when (i mean, hopefully 'if', but. probably 'when.') he fully goes blind in that eye.
But anyway with all these horrible possibilities still abounding, plus whatever Qifrey did find on the scraps in the tower... i don't fault him at all for his revenge thing. do i trust him to tell the truth? absolutely not. do i trust him to do the right thing by the girls and for taking down the brimhats? absolutely yes. Am I worried about how far he's going to go? yes, mostly because of what it could do to him. Do I think there's anyone better for it? Well maybe Olly but. clearly not an option. I'd rather have Qifrey and his dubious methods than the knights. at least he's good at investigating. i've wanted to make a batman reference or joke this entire post and didn't so i think that deserves applause. do i think possibly in the future someone else will have a better and more moral way of going about this than Qifrey does? um, yes, and probably it'll be the girls but *shrugs*
ok. gonna see if i can open a chapter of kitchen now without suddenly being unable to see the screen due to blurry vision ah hahhhhhhhh T-T
