low key feel bad for whatever master took on baby olruggio. like have fun here's an adultified 7-year-old who has already been traumatized by death and monsters and gets nightmares about it. he has a problem with authority, doesn't trust adults, has no problem lying to said adults, probably hates his dad, is codependent with the wise of teaching's apprentice who looks like he bites and hey he also sneaks out into the wilderness regularly with said apprentice. and oh! he's a prodigy who probably thinks he knows more than you. good luck!
That reaction post I said I would do about the Treefrey aftermath
Here is the long-overdue follow-up to my « The boy who came from Slistas » post. Spoilers below up to chapter 93 of Witch Hat Atelier.
For context, I wrote that previous post in 2020, a few months after chapter 40 of Witch Hat Atelier came out. The post was among the early ones to comment on the parallels between Qifrey and silverwood trees, and to draw a semi-detailed story theory from it. One early commenter coined the term « Treefrey » (I don’t remember their username and can’t find them in my comments or tags, sorry for not crediting them!), and the post spread through the fandom as the Treefrey theory.
After the silverwood tree parasitism entered the plot in chapter 85, five years later, the post lit up again. On the one hand, I received a lot of uplifting and hilarious notes: thank you so much for those! I’ve never had a theory blow up and become a fandom artefact before, so that post was very fun to monitor. On the other hand, most of you have been over-generous about my deduction skills: I was wrong on a lot of counts.
So here is a status report on the Treefrey theory as of chapter 93:
Short status report: I speculated that Qifrey is a tree that was turned into a human, but it looks like he is a human who is cursed to turn into a tree. Rookie mistake.
Long status report: My initial theory went something like this:
(1) Silverwood trees are a non-human sentient species that went nearly extinct after necromancy experiments wrecked their forest in Slistas, so communication between them and witches, and knowledge of their sentience, have been lost;
(2) Qifrey was born, or more accurately sprouted, as a silverwood sapling, but was turned human by the Brimhats using a new form of forbidden magic;
(3) The Brimhats took his eye to gain the ability to make magic out of their own blood (to bypass the scarcity of magic ink, since most of the remaining silverwood trees seem to be under the surveillance of the Pointed Hats). Having access to Qifrey’s eye would explain why Iguin can use his own blood as a super-ink that enhances the power of simple spells in chapter 12;
(4) Qifrey fears that those experiments blur the line between magic and humans, and threaten the world order created by the Pointed Hats. This world order is based on the sanctity of the human body (no spell should be performed on a human under any circumstance, except for memory erasure). To enforce it, the Great Hall keeps tight control of who knows the secret of magic, who uses magic, and how. Qifrey believes that losing this world order would lead to chaos and war, so he wants to destroy his stolen eye and the research that led to his transformation from tree to human.
(5) Qifrey keeps his mission secret from the Great Hall and Olruggio in particular because his very existence is forbidden according to the laws of the Pointed Hats: he expects his own community to treat him as a monster and a criminal if they find out, and that anyone who sides with him will be punished as well.
As of chapter 93 (2026), we can sort out where I went right and wrong on those different points:
(1) Silverwood trees are a fully sentient species: inconclusive. Their parasitism reacts to animal and human emotions, but this seems instinctive, like reacting to chemical signatures in their host (waiting until the host is at peace as a signature of a safe environment to grow). We got more bits of legends in chapter 47 about humanoid silverwood trees gifting magic to humans, but there’s no confirmation that this goes beyond mere legend yet.
(2) Qifrey was born as a tree then turned human: wrong. I got this one backwards! I am not sure how planting a seed inside of Qifrey counted as « a new form of forbidden magic », since infecting a host seems to be the normal behaviour of silverwood trees. Thoughts welcome on this.
(3) Qifrey’s eye was stolen to produce a new kind of magical ink: mostly wrong. Iguin had no need of Qifrey’s eye to use his own blood as ink, since human blood is shown to naturally react with magical ink and lead to « wild and unexpected magic » in chapter 63. I have to assume this requires a lot of blood, otherwise magic would go berserk whenever a witch gets a nosebleed or a paper cut… As for why the Brimhats needed his eye: in chapter 93 we learn that Qifrey’s right eye sprouted and turned full silverwood. Qifrey speculates that this might have helped the Brimhats overcome the silverwood trees’ lack of compatibility with anxiety-prone human hosts. Maybe seeds produced by Qifrey’s right eye are more tolerant to humans, and have been used on Custas and others?
(4) Qifrey wants to stop the Brimhats’ plans because he wants to preserve the divide between magic and humans: correct-ish? He mostly wants to stop these guys from doing insanely cruel experiments on kids. But he does also seem worried about the new compatibilities between silverwood trees and humans that these experiments may have provoked.
(5) Qifrey is keeping his secrets because his existence is a crime according to the laws of Witch society: mostly wrong. He isn’t about to boast to the Knights Moralis about his skull terrarium situation, but his main worry is the parasitic silverwood that will kill him the moment he lets himself be at peace. Him erasing Olruggio’s memory is a convoluted strategy dating back to their teenage years to keep Qifrey stressed and miserable, because sharing his burden with his friend would provide lethal levels of comfort.
As for my thoughts on the latest chapters and the silverwood parasitism (and I do have to admit that the Silver festival arc went on for so long that I grew exhausted and tuned out chunks of it, so I might have missed details). An evil curse that will kill you if you find happiness works well as a metaphor for post traumatic stress disorder: it shows the hypervigilance that can sabotage a person after they have escaped a violent situation, found safety, and are trying to rebuild their life.
My main issue with Qifrey’s silverwood parasitism, as presented in the flashback, is that it weakens the conflict between Qifrey and the Great Hall / Knights Moralis / Representatives of Witch society’s system of power (including Beldaruit and Olruggio!). I was so interested in this conflict: Qifrey is trying to be loyal to a society that saved his life and nurtured him, but this same society also denied him justice, tormented him by forcing him to live underwater, keeps threatening to take his job, kids and memories away from him, and ultimately cannot see him as human. Sometimes his rage against the Brimhats feels almost like denial, like redirecting his resentment away from the Great Hall and towards an easier outlet. Many of the non-witch characters, especially Custas, have similar conflicts of feeling indebted but also resentful towards the Pointed Hats. I would have loved for them to confront Qifrey on those feelings. Maybe this will play a role later. But the flashback seemed to take away a lot of Qifrey’s anger and agency?
Also, I did love the idea of Qifrey not being human: silly little alien tree man, his existence breaks every cardinal law in his adopted home, getting obsessed with human things like cooking. « At first I thought that having to find, prepare, masticate and digest food was a very inefficient substitute to photosynthesis, but then I found out about picnics!!! *_* »
Anyhow, I hope this was of interest for those of you who followed the original post. Have fun speculating!
okay witch hat gang are we ready to discuss my qifrey DID headcanon (manga spoilers below)
qifrey as a system. lapses in memory from the trauma he doesn’t remember before he was left in the ground and then later lapses from dissociation and splitting. maybe DID first presenting being fuzzy and unclear when one of his alters takes the brunt of the tower of tomes memory with olruggio as kids. caused by qif being unable to bear causing olly to suffer alone so a protector splits off & is the one who ends up taking the task of olly’s promise every time he uncovers their secret. so qif AND olly end up having memory problems surrounding the promise but for quite different reasons.
caretaker qif who fronts/cofronts to cook w olly in kitchen & do more parenting with the girls as qifrey canonically didn’t care for cooking. one who enjoys embodying the mentor role to ease the guilt off the host qif that he feels for taking on the apprentices specifically to help his condition. the caretaker can embody this role fully and doesn’t have that same level of guilt when interacting with their family, and is also the one who most often cares for their little. he embodies the mentor that he needed as a child and takes heavily after beldaruit! veryyy silly and playful. most often seen in witch hat kitchen.
host qif is also playful to an extent but always has an air of sadness and responsibility undercurrenting this that caretaker does not remember. not many people can see the subtle differences between host and caretaker but i bet olly can pick up on them, and probably over time comes to know all of the alters, even if there is a time when qif doesn’t exactly know or share that he has DID.
host is also the most okay at being “social” around not-family. can manage to keep a disarming smile on in conversations just like olly taught them.
protector/prosecutor as the qifrey who comes out to do the “difficult” tasks that he can’t bear thinking about, who is quick with tongue and threat and constantly makes sure the system is prepared with battle spells and fallback plans. the one who is most often drawn with those heavy black brushstrokes in the manga. this alter is lightning fast and not personable, caretaker usually has to come out to prevent the girls from seeing anything unusual during a conflict, or host comes back out to lie and do damage control.
a little in his system who he has to protect very veeery tightly within them because if the little ever fronts they want to run straight to olruggio and seek comfort from him. little is shy and sassy, sees wonder and magic in the world, and these feelings bubble out when qif is around his apprentices, is constantly seeking “freedom” from something unknown but also comfort. unclear if this is the original kid or if there’s another one. doesn’t have a name because none remember their name before the tree situation, and it feels weird to give them one beyond “the kid.” NOT actually the main host when first becoming friends with olruggio, that was a different qif who ended up splitting into others. kid has mostly been hidden as long as any alter remembers.
one note: i am not a system, so if there’s anything i need to correct please let me know— and feel free to add on to the post with your own takes and headcanons as well! i have a lot of thoughts
Free my girl she's done nothing wrong ever in her entire life
I am so serious look at her she's just a baby
GET HIS ASS RICHEH. This is the first time Easthies loses to a child and it will not be the last <3
If sweet little Tetia called me mean to my face I think I'd cry, genuinely. Also oh god these kids love putting themselves in harm's way to protect each other. Literally shielding them. Also, the timing here - that the girls got there first, but roughly at the same time - suggests that both Qifrey and Olly headed off after the signal at the same time, but somehow Richeh and Tetia outpaced them. Maybe Qifrey and Olly slowed down when they saw the Knights, and the girls simply did not.
It's almost time for Richeh's arc! So we get a glimpse into her worldview (based and correct as fuck, and also arguably a central thesis to this whole story) to establish that there might be Something Going On there.
You know, I talk big game about Arkco, but Tetia is making a good showing for herself. Two little rays of sunshine and sweetness, truly
And here we get the Knights Moralis' foundational philosophy laid out clearly: the world and its contents are black or white, permitted or forbidden, and if you stray from the path there is no kind correction available. Because people cannot be trusted to handle nuance, absolutes are the only safe way to proceed. Maintenance of the power structures and existing rules is more important than anything else, including individual or collective wellbeing and agency. Also, scale imagery - not just tipped, but with its foundations broken. And damn if Easthies' pennant doesn't look a bit like a scythe here. In conclusion: ominous fucker.
You can see so clearly that these two have history, and that Easthies is being set up as a direct foil to Qifrey. They're both proteges of the Wise Ones, both used to using memory magic, and... that's it. Literally everything else about them is about as opposite as it can get. But it's hard to even say this is an order and chaos dichotomy, because it's really just like. Order and Common Fucking Sense. And the absolute lack of respect on both sides is really funny.
Hello little bitty lore drop!
I am simply going to point at chapter 40 and say nothing here. Because the hypocrisy and irony is just. Agonizing.
Easthies asking whether the brimcaps could have taught Coco something while he wasn't looking really strikes a chord in Qifrey - he was already concerned about what might have happened while she was missing in the dragon maze, and the idea of Iguin doing something to Coco that led to this isn't a new one for him. He doesn't even have a rebuttal here. It's a good thing Olly breaks in when he does, being the very good witch that he is.
This is something Qifrey does in Romonon as well, letting his stubborn desire to argue with Easthies/chase after the brimcaps override the more important priority at hand - and it's the exact same thing we saw Agott doing, so fixated on proving herself that she overlooked the reality of the situation. Having those outside reminders that there are more important things at stake than their own ambitions is very necessary to both of them. Agott is a lot like Olly, but she sure does take after her master.
Hey Luluci it's fucked up that you're using his kid's life and access to medical care as leverage here. Surely these three won't be interacting again later.
This time, Coco's drawing with a different pen (one of Qifrey's, perhaps?) but more importantly, a different ink. We know hers got left behind somewhere in the sandbank when she lost her cap, and it's a damn good thing it did.
United front of 'back off from interrogating our students'. See, this is why I don't think Olly would have gone through with turning Coco in to the Knights. He can't hide his own dislike for them, either.
Hello Sasaran foreshadowing! Also. Height differential as a power dynamic once again. He's not even trying not to scare her, and every time he's been close to Coco, he has been towering over her, keeping her below him.
And then once things calm down, Qifrey apologizes for leaving the girls alone!! Which he's right to do, he shouldn't have left them unsupervised in this situation, even if it seemed calm. Easthies stiffly refuses to even entertain the idea that he might have been wrong to accuse a child of forbidden magic, and Qifrey openly apologizes to his students the second he has the chance. Because one of them is a good teacher and a reasonable person. I am, frankly, terrified to see what Easthies' new, shitty apprentice will turn into under that man's tutelage.
And when Qifrey talks to them, it's not an aimless scolding, it's a very clear explanation of the consequences (something which he himself has thought about for a long time) - not just for the girls, but for the other people around them. They're smart kids, they just lack that experience and understanding of the real-world consequences of their actions, and Qifrey is trying his best to impart that here. He treats them like they can be trusted to be responsible. Like they're people, not things (thank you, Richeh!)
And part of that responsibility comes with extra privileges, too - like Agott taking the second test! Look at her little face, she's so excited!
We've had multiple instances over the past few chapters of Agott being separate from the others, whether by physicality or by framing. But now she's right in the middle of them, after working side by side with Coco to fix a problem and then defending Coco to the Knights Moralis. Yeah, I think she'll be just fine for a bit. (Also I would kill for a speech-bubble-free version of that leftmost panel. The two of them side by side with the girls in the background is something that can be so personal)
Hey man so are you familiar with the concept of ecological restoration. I think it might be an important thing to integrate into your approach to life. Not every consequence is unchangeably dire actually.
Oh, Qifrey. And you were doing so well, not doing stupid things to chase after the brimcaps.
Hello again, Iguin! Fun little inversion of that initial phrasing they gave to Coco. Not just the Pointed Caps as a source of lies, but magic itself. I wonder how grand their plan for Coco truly is - if they want to dismantle something even larger than witch society as it currently exists. And of course, using their blood as an additive to the ink to make it much more volatile. Ink is already made from a kind of blood, so I wonder what kind of reaction is happening there to alter its properties. Can we get a magical chemistry spinoff as well as Kitchen?
Oh, I can’t believe I only just realized the implications of in-universe transphobia for Witch Hat Atelier. Kinda wild I’m only just now thinking about it. I know a lotta folks headcanon Tetia as trans (which, also wild I hadn’t thought of that until I saw people say it, but I fully agree), and we’ve some of the existing homophobia against Atwert and Galga. But It occurred to me about how: 1. Witches are disallowed medical practice, and 2. Changing one’s body is considered like, the highest sin in witch culture. Now, usually that’s assuming the change is caused by magic, and goes as far as to include even drawing on oneself, and has the inherent association with forbidden magic, just as healing does. Witches cannot heal themselves, even in cases of physical disabilities or amputations, and they cannot change their bodies in any way involving magic, limited only by what capabilities of normal doctors. And I bet that applies to transgender witches, too. Gender affirming care would be out of the question because I’m sure hormone therapy and the specific surgeries of today wouldn’t be possible by doctors in this universe. At most I could potentially see breast removal surgery, but it would be nothing like today’s, and would also probably be for patients with cancer, and not accessible elsewise.
And that’s presuming cancer, specifically breast cancer, is a known, diagnosable, and treatable ailment in WHA. But forget hrt, or implants, or bottom surgery of any kind. Obviously, magically changing one’s body to transition would get you kicked out of Witch Society and straight into the Brimhats. New headcanon: a good portion of the brimhats are transgender, and that was a major reason they initially used forbidden magic!
!Spoilers for both Witch Hat Atelier and The Owl House!
I feel the similarities between Eda and Qifrey aren't talked about that much.
I've seen a ton of people point out the similarities between Witch Hat and the Owl House - how the magic system nearly identical, how both Coco and Luz are "outsiders" in a new world, I could go on. Many have also pointed out that Dana and Shirahama know each other and that Dana is a fan of Witch Hat (dunno if that's entirely true, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say).
However, whenever I stumble on these types of comments or thoughts, I can't help but think about just how similar Qifrey and Eda are.
I pointed it out before but both Qifrey and Eda were cursed at a young age - Qifrey with the Silverwood and Eda with the Owl Beast - and both grew up to take on an apprentice who didn't "belong" in their world - Coco being an outsider and Luz coming from an entirely different realm.
Both of them pushed away their loved ones away because their curse either couldn't let them love their loved ones or made them feel they couldn't. With Qifrey, he physically can't let himself love Olruggio or the girls despite how much he wants to. Eda feels like she'd be rejected and hated because of her curse, not because she can't.
No matter how hard or how long they've searched, there is no definitive "cure" for their curse. Eda managed to turn the Owlbeast curse into something she can manage and accept but it's not gone. Lilith's spell only split the curse between them, not actually fix it. Poor Qifrey doesn't get that luxury and just has to endure the pain of the Silverwood.
Now, bringing Coco and Luz back into the picture.
Both them were outsiders and were eventually taken in by their respective masters to learn magic because that was the only way they could survive. In Coco's case, that was keeping her memories intact so she could figure out a way to save her mom, and for Luz, that was keeping her personality and herself intact rather than going to that summer camp that her mom wanted her to go to. Coco and Luz were both at risk of losing the core traits that made them them.
Fast forward a bit in both universes, and Coco learns that Qifrey is a Silverwood host. Luz accidentally takes Eda's elixir and later finds out that she was cursed with the Owlbeast. Both girls carry the burden of their master's curse, forced to keep it a secret (Luz technically didn't have to, but no one really knows about the true nature of the curse except for a select few).
Raine and Olruggio were pushed away because Eda and Qifrey believed that keeping them close by wasn't an option with their curse. Qifrey cannot, no matter how much he wants to, let Olruggio know about the curse and is forced to keep erasing his memories in order to keep just far enough away that the Silverwood wouldn't sprout. Eda pushed Raine away because she believed that once they knew about her curse, they wouldn't want to be with them anymore.
Qifrey and Eda were both forced to deal with their curse because someone else used them to gain more power (Lilith wanting Eda to fail coven tryouts and the Brimmed Caps experimenting on Qifrey to try and prove something about the Silverwood, maybe even potentially weaponize it).
Today, I conclude that the way Qifrey stands in doorways is the strongest proof we’ve had so far that Qifrey is, in fact, not human, but an artificial being born of forbidden magic. Or, as the witch society seems to name them, a “demon”.
Lots of images and spoilers up to chapter 69 under the cut!
On the outside looking in
Let’s start by saying that in this chapter, Qifrey is back to his old habit of looking as suspicious as humanely possible. The first page is the only one where we briefly see his eye, with a look I want to describe as sorrowful, bitter and knowing. For the rest of the scene his face will stay partially hidden, and he never looks full on at the castle guard he is speaking to. His demeanor is distant, in contrast to the guard’s confusion and panic. In fact, it is a little funny how dodgy he is acting, given that he does nothing but noble deeds this entire chapter – bringing an escaped criminal back into custody, taking his apprentice to safety, safeguarding the medical tower against further attacks with a layer of salt.
So far, this looks like Qifrey’s classic brand of guilt-ridden self-sabotage, but the framing of the scene provides extra context. The threshold to Ezrest’s castle acts as a physical barrier separating Qifrey from the other man. During those three pages, they are both often shown framed by that doorway: the guard safe within the walls, contrasting Qifrey the outsider. The first page has a gust of wind pushing his robes around him, like an invisible force keeping him back. And we do know, because Qifrey emphasises this again for us, that this castle does indeed possess a natural repulsive force that keeps out monsters.
We are told in chapter 47 that, not only drawing magic within Ezrest castle won’t function, but that the castle’s walls repels all magical artefacts. It is because of that property that, when Coco notices that the leeches have not approached the castles’ walls, Qifrey immediately concludes that their current monstrous form is the result of a magical experiment.
Of course, “demons” are not the only beings who would be unable to enter the castle: any active spell should be repelled, meaning that Olruggio, for instance, can’t enter with his beautifying mask. Coco, with the bracelet stuck around her wrist, technically shouldn’t be able to enter at all, and the same goes for the characters with active magic drawn directy on their skin, like Coustas, Dagda and Eunie. In fact, even if he were perfectly human, it would be only natural for Qifrey to not step inside, since he couldn’t go in without taking off his glasses, which contain spells both to hide his scar and to protect him from harsh light.
And yet. I can’t help but see a very pointed parallel between Qifrey’s confidence that the castle will repel monsters, and the way the castle’s entrance seems to subtly repel him. In particular because it adds on to a long series of scenes featuring Qifrey’s anxieties around unnatural, magically created beings. This is at least the third time Qifrey brings up the creation of monsters in the days before the pact, which he calls “terrifying” and “a disgusting form of magic”. If the illustrations for those scenes are a glimpse into his mind, then it’s a mind full of nightmares. During their fight, the rogue Sage Engendil also lampshades how curiously familiar Qifrey seems to be with demons. Qifrey furthermore muses that he knows demons haven’t gone extinct, and in fact are still being created by witches to this day.
The demon in human skin
In short, my opinion is that chapters 68 and 69 together strongly hint at us that Qifrey is, or perceives himself as a demon. Now the question is: what new information would this reveal give us about him, his quest, and the way he has behaved so far?
First, we need to try and actually define what does and doesn’t count as a demon in that universe. Qifrey’s first halting description is “a monster, created with magic and by the hands of a witch”. A distinction is also made between magically altered animals that have adapted to their ecosystems and are useful or at least harmless to humans, and ferocious, uncontrollable beasts. So a demon is a new lifeform, artificially created through magic, that is inherently dangerous. The petty criminal from chapter 49 that got turned into a mindless and violent mass of giant leeches ticks all those boxes. Going by that logic, Coustas and Eunie wouldn’t fall into that category despite not being able to enter the Ezrest castle: modifying some of your body parts, or being turned into an existing animal wouldn’t count. Even Sasaran from the second test doesn’t seem to count as a demon: despite being hybridized with an animal, his consciousness hasn’t been affected and so he can’t be described as an “uncontrollable beast”, just a very heavily modified human.
One other interesting tidbit: “demon” is actually name dropped in chapter 59, a while before Qifrey’s fight with Engendil, when Beldaruit muses that a king who could use magic to gain power over life and death would become a “demon king”, someone capable of creating new lifeforms at will. This ties in the concept of demons to the other themes of the recent volumes, the dilemna of healing magic and resurection magic. What this could imply is that bringing someone back from certain death through magic carries the risk of altering them to the point where they would basically become a new lifeform, which has worrying implications for Dagda.
Going back to Qifrey though, there are three things we know for sure about him: 1) he has been experimented on with a type of magic never attempted before; 2) he looks and acts perfectly human, and 3) despite this, he is convinced that this new magic is dangerous, and must not only be destroyed but also kept secret at all costs. Finally, we know that those experiments left no visible trace on his body, because the Knights Moralis would have inspected him when they rescued him from the Brimhats (and would have soundly kicked him out of the Great Hall had they found anything). Barring other special characteristics we might not know about, what makes him unique as a demon is that he is undistinguishable from a normal human.
And that’s already more than enough to explain why he is freaking out so much.
What I like about this demon framework is that it can apply to several of the existing theories around Qifrey’s origin: whether he is a rescucitated corpse from Slistas, a silvertree turned human (I am still firmly standing behind that one), or a homonculus created from nothing by the Brimhats. In all three cases, whatever weird symptoms or powers he might have as a result of his creation, the very fact that he cannot be told apart from a human is what makes him truly dangerous. Because it shakes the very foundation of magical society.
We remember the central law of the Pointed Hats: the integrity of the human body is sacred, and therefore magic cast on the human body is taboo. A demon with a human appearance is a mockery of that principle, and a walking dilemna for the Pointed Hats. Demons used to be killed by heroes, and forbidden magical artefacts must be destroyed, but what do you do when that magical artefact is a living, breathing person?
(Speaking of, I have been wondering for a while what the Knights Moralis even do with people who have had spells tattooed on them, and especially those whose bodies have been altered. They can’t let them wander around, even with their memories gone, their very appearance would give the secret away. Do they keep them hidden in some prison or on an island, like the brainwashed witches? Asking for Eunie and Coustas, I’m worried about these kids)
From that perspective, Qifrey’s secrecy makes complete sense. The existence of demons with human faces not only raises all kinds of existential questions, but in the short term it risks making witch society even more repressive than it currently is. The Knights Moralis are already merciless to anyone seen with a tattooed spell or other evidence of having been involved with forbidden magic. Can you imagine how paranoid they would become if they literally couldn’t tell apart a demon from a human? Anyone could be a demon, pretty much.
In particular, this scenario explains why Qifrey is keeping the truth from those who might be tempted to help or protect him. After all, where would it leave Olruggio if he sided with a demon against his own society? Where would it leave Qifrey, if the only solution to erase that dangerous new magic were to destroy himself, but Olruggio wouldn’t let him? It also gives context to his line in chapter 40 “You want me to stay as Professor Qifrey? I would also like that, if it were possible”, and his description of his life at the atelier as something almost like a dream. Professor Qifrey doesn’t exist, and he has no right to live that peaceful life.
Anger and hope
A final bit of character musing I want to add to this: this theory of Qifrey as a demon, and the way he wrestles with that knowledge, also sheds some light on his more erratic actions and mood swings so far. What makes his motivations difficult to follow is that he always seems tugged between two extremes: destructive anger and fervent hope. Both are actually coping strategies that he tries to use to protect himself against paralysing guilt.
His anger at the Brimhats allows him to redirect his self-disgust towards those who made him. The true demons are those who willingly create monsters, he tells Engendil during their fight. These moments where he faces the Brimhats bring out a very different side of him, one that is confident, indignant and spiteful. Then, rather than being blinded by anger into chasing senseless revenge, he is calling on that anger to steel his resolve. He is using that indignation as a motivator to right a wrong done against both himself and witch society as a whole, even if he has to destroy himself in order to do so.
On the other hand, he seems to hold onto some hope that he might, somehow, erase the magic that created him but still miraculously keep himself alive. That is the side of him that fervently believes in the miracles of magic and in the power of creativity, inspired in him by Beldaruit, and passed along to Coco. His stance seems to be that he needs to dive into the ugly core of those experiments, and that maybe, just maybe, a way to save himself will occur to him just in the nick of time. It’s an interesting coincidence, by the way, that he is staring down the maws of water-dwelling demons while having those thoughts.
And on that note, hold on to indignation and hope when the going gets tough (but don’t brainwash your friends), and thank you for reading!
Do you think that main brimhat is also a tree? I believe iguin was their name?
Hello! Thanks a lot for the question and sorry I took a while to reply!
In all honesty I have no idea who or what he is XD. We’ve seen very little of Iguin so far, and not since volume 5. I do have a bunch of headcanons about him, so here are some speculations in no particular order:
-I quite like the theory that he is a twin brother / clone to Qifrey (which paired with the Treefrey theory would make him another silvertree turned human), but I’m not really seeing it in the panels? Iguin seems to be a bit shorter and sturdier than Qifrey, with pudgier hands. Could be due to his bulky clothes and tendency to crouch like a gremlin though.
-Unless his ENTIRE EYE MOTIF turns out to be a red herring, I’m pretty sure he’s got Qifrey’s missing eye. He is also the only Brimhat we’ve seen using his own blood as ink so far, which could be due to experimenting on silvertrees to enhance himself. Or he could be a modified tree, too.
-Either way, my hunch is that he suffers from side effects because of that magical blood. We do know that woodcruor, before it’s converted into ink, is a poison to both silvertrees and people. Iguin says that his hands are “stained with poison” at one point, and he seems to be weirdly insensitive to pain (like when he crushes an inkwell in his bare hand just to mess with Qifrey), which makes me think that the modified woodcruor in his system is causing some nerve damage or something.
-ACTUALLY I am kind of changing my mind as I am writing this: Iguin being a silvertree would be bloody fascinating. Like, since silvertrees are sentient, what if some of them (turned bitter and extreme in the miasma of Slistas) are massively pissed off at the Pointed Hat society and the way they hoarded the secret of magic, and want to upend the current world order? What if his angle is that Coco is a child of hope to SILVERTREES, not to the Brimhats? That would give him more legitimacy when he claims to teach Coco the true nature of magic – he IS, arguably, the true nature of magic, full of horror and wonder.
Haha thanks, I have a really cool new headcanon now!
