witch of life?
The Witch of Life
As we close in, I get a little more melancholic about it.
Witch - one who manipulates their aspect or manipulates with their aspect.
Life - control over literal life and natural energy.
The Witch of Life is one who manipulates Life or manipulates with Life.
The opposite of a Witch of Life is a Seer of Doom.
For Witches, something that they often struggle with is the fact that not everyone needs what they can give of their aspect. Witches are a whole lot of a deal separated from their aspect, and as such, struggle to grasp the concept of it. The way it was explained to me once is that Witches struggle with the constant loom of their opposite aspect over their head, in some way. For a Witch of Life, that can be interpreted as having Doom over their head, in some way. Threats of death, of a chokehold on rules, or something else involving the aspect of Doom.
Witches are powerful. They have a shit ton of potential energy, and all of the means to use it. Yet their aspect haunts them, and affects them in several different ways. For a Witch of Space like Jade, she was able to do whatever she wanted, but she was all alone, because she was presented with literal space between her and her friends. For a Witch of Life, i.e. Feferi, has a a lot hanging over her head at once. She had a big chance of dying, especially since she would inevitably have to fight the Condesce. For a different Witch of Life, their vice would absolutely be different, yet it would be same in some way. Life hangs over them, and Doom hangs over them.
Witches often struggle with understanding when other people need their aspect. For a Witch of Life, this might manifest in the form of that they don't know when their help isn't needed. Life players have a running leitmotif of being helpers and caretakers, and a Witch of Life might not always understand that sometimes, their help isn't wanted, and whoever it is will be fine on their own, no metaphorical training wheels needed.
Witches manipulate their aspect, and as such, a Witch of Life manipulates Life. Now this can mean it literally, but it can also mean that they manipulate their environment or change it to their whims. Perhaps they bend the rules their guardian has set in place and gone a little out of bounds, just as a test. They might be quite good at manipulation of rules to get to what they want.
Life players are often shoved quite awkwardly into positions of power, where even if they enjoy it, they try and do something about it. For a Witch of Life, they'd be the kind to rebel against all that said position stands for, even if it means breaking down fundamental values about whatever that is. Another interpretation of Life is that it can be about breaking/bending/adjusting rules to better suit how they want it.
And Witches are a master at this. As a manipulation class, they bend and break the rules of their aspect, and so I see a Witch of Life bending and breaking and challenging the rules of Life. They stand up to their predetermined destiny and they say "but what if I did this instead?" They're always curious, always trying to figure out more about the world around them and trying to fit it into their own personal ecosystem.
But one thing that they definitely struggle with is being able to relate to other people. For as much as a Life player might be a caretaker, they also fully have they ability to suck at that. A Witch of Life would struggle on how to come across to someone as trying to help, and their idea of help might actually end up hurting someone else.
They struggle with fighting against things that aren't actually there. A Witch of Life finds it easy to fight back against a real thing, it gives them material to work with, yet they still find it an issue to fight back against hypotheticals. Their life is perpetuated by big if questions, and if they're focusing on it, the Witch of Life protests against it, even though these big if questions might not even become true.
They're always trying to understand, even if it is a bit misguided. The Witch of Life is one who might initially struggle to understand the hard times of their friends, but they try. They want to be there for their friends, and so they try pretty hard to get to it. They are hella good listeners, but they might suck at giving advice, because they don't know /might not have a good grasp on where to give advice that applies to them rather than what applies to who they're talking to.
Life players are usually pretty adamant on the 'I know best' logic of thinking. For a Witch of Life, this might be amplified. They might put a pretty solid hold on the fact that they think they know best, and getting an opinion in that rivals them would seem to be an intimidating feat, something that almost seems impossible. They'd disagree with something if it rivals what they think they know the best about, and getting over that is something they struggle with.
Life players, and definitely Witches, can be hella stubborn. For a Witch of Life, they're stubborn to the bone. This is not a bad thing, especially because it means they have very solid ground in what they stand for and believe in, but it can be a bad thing if they close themselves off from any criticism. They have trouble getting their head out of the clouds, to see the potential reality of the world they're in, that not all of their ideals will work.
So that begs the question. What can a Witch of Life do?
Well from what we know in canon, Witches are very good with their aspects. Unfortunately, the canon Witch of Life, Feferi Peixes, sort of fades into the background and appears a few times after her death.
What we do know from her though, is a few interesting things:
Witches of Life are able to manipulate Life on several scales. For example, the dreambubbles. That's something a Witch of Life in a different session could theoretically reproduce.
They have very good healing/revival powers. Feferi heals WV, from basically death.
Speculation:
A Witch of Life would be able to manipulate the lives of others. For example, I think that the Witch of Life would be able to change the lives of people they don't like. Metaphorically, they could use their status or abilities in the social world to knock someone down a peg... but that's less of a 'Witch of Life' power. I think that they'd be able to manipulate the lives of their enemies to literally just murder them.
They bend and break the rules... of reality. I think that they'd be able to manipulate the rules of Life to sort of heal people. Something that would completely obliterate someone becomes a harmless 'tis but a scratch' because of their ability to bend the rules.
They decide who lives and by extension who dies. I think that a Witch of Life would be able to manipulate someone's ability to live. If they really want you around, you stay around.