This theory might be hot garbage because I’m as high as a kite rn, but I’m about to spit absolute facts:
What if witches are connected to palismen because paslistrom wood comes from trees that grow over witches’ graves. But like the tree takes hundreds of years to mature before they can be made into palismen. And palismen form a bond to the witches from their own bloodline, meaning the grave the tree was planted on.
Also there’s a theory I heard that the abandoned cemetery in Gravesfield was once a witch cemetery where witches from the demon realm would bury their dead. So what if they were cut off from the human realm at some point and lost the palistrom trees left in Gravesfield and that mixed with the over-harvesting of palistrom trees is why the wood is so rare and not as many witches have palismen— as well as Belos consuming them.
Witch speaking of (lol), is what made Belos as well as Hunter (who is MADE of palistrom wood) into partial witches. Belos consumes palismen souls and Hunter is made of palistrom wood (that grow from trees planted above witches’ graves). Belos is shown even as a young man in the Deadwardian Boiling Isles consuming palismen seemingly not long after killing his brother and presumably being cursed by Evelyn and trapped in the demon realm. Also at this time he has no connection to magic and also his ears are round like a human’s. But in the present day, Belos has pointed ears— maybe a sign of consuming palismen souls. Hunter—despite being a “clone” of Caleb who was 100% human as far as we know— has pointed ears like a witch despite having no innate magic. Pointed ears are shown to be a witch genetic much like having a bile sack that produces magic.
In conclusion, palismen are the souls of dead witches given a second life. This explains why they are their own magic source and why they bond with witches rather than being an independent entity like non-witch demons who are native to the demon realm, unlike witches who may have evolved from humans. But I digress 💅🏻✨
