#qifrey alter

[witch-in-an-atelier]

Introduction!

Good evening! My name is Qifrey, and I am an alter, specifically a introject of, well, Qifrey from Witch Hat Atelier, in a system! I've made this blog solely to ramble on about things and find sourcemates,, mostly sourcemates as I am very desperate to find someone I know and can talk to. But! Untill then! This blog shall be rambles and reblogs galore! :D

[atlasacademycollective]

Little update! We've rebranded a little! We used to be the Beacon Collective, but now we have changed our name to the Atlas Academy Collective!

-Qifrey [He/They] [����]

[iukasylvie]

Unpopular opinion about Witch Hat Atelier

Chapter 49 of Witch Hat Atelier is the most pointless chapter I've ever read in manga. It contradicts not only the rest of the series but also itself just to present the message about the harm of sexual abuse in an extremely shallow manner.

For starters, the whole chapter is devoted to the Knights Moralis pursuing a peeping tom and it's on the very last page that the glyph on Dagda's body—the only thing from this chapter that has a real impact on the story—is revealed. The way Shirahama handled it shocked me given how she previously explored the psyches of Agott, Tartah, Richeh, and Eunie. By contrast, it's impossible to erase the Kamoshida arc of Persona 5 because it, along with the prologue, firmly establishes the core theme of the game—corrupt adults who abuse youth—and inspires the main characters to team up with each other as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

Throughout this chapter, Easthies shows kindness and understanding to Luluci as a victim of sexual abuse, even going on and on about the plight of the victim—both in her backstory and when they pursue the peeping tom. He punished her teacher on the spot for taking the side of the nobleman who abused her and her fellow apprentice, Ellien, and turning her in to the Knights Moralis to erase her memories just so he could silence her. He refuses to listen to the excuses the peeping tom makes, including the latter's appeal to their "natural urges as men".

However, Easthies never bothered to pursue the nobleman who started the whole mess in the first place. Ellien was mysteriously absent when her teacher turned Luluci in after Luluci attempted to defend her from the nobleman. It's noteworthy that Luluci used offensive magic—which is forbidden by law—against the nobleman to do so, destroying a non-negligible portion of the castle where their teacher had sent them to work. Luluci stands out in the entire series for being disproportionately privileged by the Knights Moralis; not even Agott enjoys their mercy and understanding even though she hails from the prestigious house of Arkrome.

Throughout the series, the Knights Moralis are infamous for ruthlessly enforcing the law of magic and jumping to conclusions just so they could find someone to punish:

Qifrey refuses to turn Coco in after she unknowingly uses a forbidden spell that turns her house into stone along with her mother. Later chapters validate his reasoning that the Knights Moralis would just erase her memories.

During the river incident, Easthies aggressively accuses Coco and Agott of intentionally altering the landscape and threatens to erase their memories instead of listening to them. Not only is it impossible for Coco to do such a stunt without the intervention of the Brimmed Cap Iguin as she's only recently begun studying magic, but also Agott has done nothing but send the mirage of a bird flying in the sky to call the adults for help.

During the second test, Qifrey asserts that not even victims of forbidden magic are spared from the wrath of the Knights Moralis, hence Agott's anger at the Brimmed Cap Sasaran when he nearly carves a glyph on her body while restraining her and Eunie's decision to hide with Alaira after Sasaran turns him into a scaled wolf against his will.

In Qifrey's backstory, the Knights Moralis considered erasing his memories even though the Brimmed Caps had already done it to cover up their crimes after they kidnapped him, took his eye, experimented on him, and buried him alive.

Galga brands Dagda as a Brimmed Cap for the glyph on his body even though Dagda has no idea what it is, later doing the same to Coco and Tartah when the kids try to defend him.

All of this is just a symptom of the cruel rigidity prevalent throughout witch society:

Agott treats Coco with disdain for being an outsider and therefore without the basic knowledge of magic and witch society. Agott tricks Coco into taking a difficult test against the wishes of their teacher in hopes that she would give up and fail.

It's revealed that Agott's prestigious family cast her out of home because she didn't live up to their high standards, explaining where her behavior came from.

Tartah has been told from a young age that he can never be a full-fledged witch because of his color blindness. Qifrey empathizes with his situation, saying that "refusal to accommodate differences is not an admirable quality of witch society." This foreshadows the reveal that Qifrey lost an eye as a child and he's losing the sight of his remaining eye nowadays, which he keeps a secret even from his best friend and apprentices due to the mistreatment he faced in the past.

Richeh and Riliphin's previous teacher punished her for her creativity so much that she came to hate the idea of growing up.

Eunie suffers not only from social and performance anxiety but also from verbal abuse at the hands of his teacher, Kukrow, eroding his self-confidence. Kukrow has the audacity to even ask Qifrey if he could exchange Eunie for Agott when Eunie is right there.

Those who took Qifrey in refused to give him a space appropriate for a child who had been traumatized to the point of near death—they sent him to a room empty of furniture and made him live under the ocean despite his trauma-induced fear of water—and to investigate his past and the Brimmed Caps who victimized him. Even his own teacher, Beldaruit, views him as dangerous due to contact with forbidden magic—one that was inflicted on him instead of something he committed out of his own will—and a subsequent desire to pursue the Brimmed Caps without considering how their neglect caused him to distrust them and refuse to seek help from anyone in the first place.

All of Chapter 49 raises as many questions as the official story of Pink Diamond's assassination did to Defense Zircon in "The Trial" from Steven Universe.

Defense Zircon: Ugh! Who am I kidding? This is pointless! We've all heard the rumors about the demise of Pink Diamond, but I can't believe these files- scrolls through the floating panels Shattered by one of her own soldiers- Ugh! In front of her entire entourage!?

Defense Zircon: Now, as the records show, Pink Diamond was shattered just outside a palanquin much like this. steps onto the palanquin Witnesses say Pink had just stepped out and had only taken a few steps forward when Rose attacked her from the front! [...] Defense Zircon: But the question no one seems to be asking is, "how"? Blue Diamond: I've been asking that question. Defense Zircon: A-A-A-And right you are to ask, my Diamond! B-Because at that time that Pink was shattered, Rose Quartz had been a recognized threat for several hundred years. There were no Rose Quartz soldiers in her entourage and none in her guard. So how did a Rose Quartz, with no business being anywhere near Pink Diamond, get so close in the first place? Where were Pink Diamond's attendants? Her Agates, Her Sapphires? And where was her Pearl? Yellow Diamond: They were with her, of course! They saw the whole thing! Defense Zircon: But none of them saw Rose Quartz approach? Wouldn't her Sapphires have seen Rose Quartz coming? Wouldn't her Agates have tried to fight her off? [...] Yellow Diamond: She must have slipped past them! Defense Zircon: Even if she did, wouldn't her Pearl have cried out an alarm, "Watch out, My Diamond!"

If Easthies could somehow tell Luluci was in genuine distress, why does he refuse to consider that it's logically impossible for Coco, who's only recently become an apprentice, to cast a forbidden spell as great as altering the landscape during the river incident? Why does Luluci receive so much kindness and understanding from the Knights Moralis? Why was Luluci's teacher punished even though the other abusive adult figures listed above have gotten away with mistreating youth like he did? Where was Ellien when her teacher turned Luluci in? Why did Easthies not punish the nobleman too even though he's supposed to hate sexual abuse? Why is Qifrey the one who has been working the hardest to investigate the Brimmed Caps, not the Knights Moralis even though they are supposed to enforce the law of magic?

Speaking of authority figures, I absolutely adore Atelia from Tweeny Witches. Despite her intimidating first impression and strict adherence to tradition and order as one of the highest authorities in the Witch Realm, this obscure anime goes out of its way to show glimpses of her humanity at multiple points even before the warlocks begin invading and her tragic past is revealed. The series is one of the most consistent pieces of media I've ever seen in general alongside the Moribito series and The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi and Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa.

[olruggioofthetorch]

If I were Olruggio and I found out about the hat trick, I'd alter the seal right in front of Qifrey to make it so it kills me the next time he uses it. I think it'd be romantic.

[thesomewhatliterateaxolotl]

3 7 and 13 for the salty ask list <3

HII Sigma!! :D

3. i believe so yeah >:3

7. high school AUs and modern AUs! used to like em as a teen, but no longer :] they bore me personally. honestly a lot of tropes that i used to like no longer interest me! they were fun for a time and now my taste has changed

13. I STRUGGLED this was so hard to choose :') i'm in witch hat atelier mode rn so...hm. coco's depth is, in my opinion, underappreciated. this fandom is better about not sidelining all the girls, but still, when you compare the number of character studies that have been written for her vs the men, there's a noticeable difference.

there's just a lot to explore with coco's character...not only the loss of her mother (which uhh *is* kind of a major thing!) but also her future. her grappling with the fact that, as a witch, she has to lie. then there's her relationships with qifrey and the atelier and coustas and tartah and i could go on. the fact that in the end she will have to make a choice to save her mother. girl also literally has a rebel goth alter ego okay I'll shut up now but you get my point <3

[ask game]

[oofuri2003]

the duplicitous twinkbeast post forever altered the way I think abt qifrey

[princess-of-purple-prose]

[ID copied from alt: digital drawing of qifrey and olruggio from witch hat atelier drawn as the buzzfeed unsolved ‘connected the dots’ meme, where olruggio takes Shane Madej’s role, and Qifrey takes Ryan Bergara’s. The Ryan’s pose is altered, so qifrey is standing and leaning towards olruggio while placing his hat over olruggio’s head, in the process of erasing his memory. the drawing is colored in greyscale. At the bottom there are three lines of text, two in yellow and one in blue. The yellow represents Olruggio speaking, and the blue Qifrey. The text reads: “I’ve connected the two dots.” “you didn’t connect shit.” “I’ve conn—.” The cut off dialogue is altered from the original text, which represents olruggio’s memory getting erased. End ID]

he connected the dots

[smartie-ya]

random Witch Hat Atelier thoughts

I gotta say I’m really surprised and impressed by some of the themes tackled in Witch Hat Atelier. 

First of all there is the theme of disability. We have Tartah with his colorblindness, Qifrey who’s at risk of losing his eyesight and Custas who requires a sealchair (btw I love this word) to get around after a leg-injury.

On one hand this theme repeatedly confronts you with the question of whether the self-imposed principles on how to use magic are justified (e.g. that it’s forbidden to cast spells on the human body), making you doubt the present world order and sympathize with the brimmed caps.

Yet on the other hand the manga also offers an alternative to simply healing a person’s disability by showing tools and methods that the affected people can use to still retain their independence.

Another very interesting aspect to me is the topic of class/privilege. 

Early on we find out that casting magic is a skill that any person could learn, without any need for an innate power, yet this fact is hidden from the majority of the population for the sake of “preserving peace”. That’s the reason we are given, similar to how certain limits are imposed on the use of magic. Yet when we get to Custas’ backstory we learn that poverty and slums are very much still a problem that exists in this world despite magic. By monopolizing the use of magic witches get to live comfortable lives, for example by taking on commissions for well-paying clients and selling magic contraptions. I really hate to bring up H*rry P*tter in this context but in the world of Witch Hat Atelier keeping magic secret seems even more unjustified, since there is not even an objectifiable difference between witches and non-witches aside from education and the luck of being born into a family that’s already in the know. Adding insult to injury, the spell to erase another’s memories is the one body/mind-altering spell that ISN’T banned as it’s needed to preserve the secret, which makes the entire system feel even more self-serving to me personally. 

I’m curious as to how this conflict will be addressed along the way and I hope that by the end of the story we won’t just stick to the status quo - at least I would find this to be a very disappointing resolution. 

[meringuejellyfish]

i had a dream about like hypothetical wha anime but my dream was kind of disappointing ngl not a good adaptation

[larnax]

whitch hat atelier :)

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): qifrey (rdj he has mental illness) + agathe

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): euinis shadow form specifically it makes me want to pick him and shake him

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): mr nornoa is fun :)

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): coustas!!

poor little meow meow: dagda

(“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): couldnt think of a good one soooo qifrey again ^_^

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): mm. iguin.?

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): euinis lame teacher

[conjuringink]

He's unsettled. Whatever happened here feels not unlike forbidden magic. Of course, memory alteration was an existing punishment—but that was to wipe any information that was not meant to be known, rather than forcing people to recall traumatic experiences.

And... he's used it to his own advantage. It never felt pleasant to do. Even his own justifications felt flimsy, in the end.

So the nonchalance in which this man inflicts distress and then acts like it was nothing, that it was beneficial...

"The ends justify the means, then." Qifrey glances at the trio again, none of which seem to be focused on the conversation between the two men before them. He's being a bit hypocritical, he knows this. "To you, there was no better way?"

The weeping woman, while having calmed somewhat, seems rather unsteady on her feet. Probably exhaustion and dizziness from all that crying. She tips forward and Qifrey moves quickly to catch her in one arm.

"What kind of magic is this?" He asks as he helps set the woman back upright.

「✧」 Even though he's being ignored, at least he isn't being insulted. Eventually the man deigns to spare some time for him, an offering that Aurelius gladly takes even as another accusation flies his way.

Everyone wanted to judge him.

"I don't know."

"Perhaps for love?"

His eyes drift to the weeping woman whose sobs have quieted down. It was incredible how a random act of kindness could turn the tides, even from a complete stranger. No wonder humans liked to live in groups...

"If you liked my reason enough, I'm sure you'd agree with my methods, so why don't we leave it at that?" Ah, but he didn't look like he would.

"They are getting compensation," he goes on, "and they'll go home after this, feeling a sense of peace they've never felt before. It's only a little bit of pain before the happy ending, so why object before the story's even done?"

[witch-in-an-atelier]

I was,, not expecting people to actually find my blog within the day that I made it, so waking up to quite a few notifications was a pleasant surprise! Though, because people are finding my blog, I do want to reinstate that my blog is not a roleplay blog! I am a alter in a DID system looking for sourcemates to talk to,, though I will not force you to unfollow me if you are not a system or you yourself are a roleplay blog, of course!

But on that topic, if you are a sourcemate, please do feel free to dm me! And even if you are not a sourcemate and simply like my source, I wouldn't mind chatting! I adore talking to sourcemates and talking to people about Witch Hat Atelier! I believe I may just like making friends haha,,

[wha-archive]

Shirahama’s posted her Halloween art for this year - Coco in an altered version of her Brimhat design. (Up in the archive!)

Some super cute details: Olruggio and Qifrey Jack O’ Lanterns; Brushbug with wings and a bow tie; and using her hat as a trick-or-treat bucket!

[iukasylvie]

If the Knights Moralis took investigation seriously, Easthies wouldn't have been content with looking at Coco's notebook of spells.

If he thought it should be impossible for her to cast a spell as massive as altering the landscape, he'd have asked Coco what happened first instead of arresting not only her but also Agott.

If he truly cared about victims of sexual abuse and the peace between witches and Unknowings, he wouldn't have overlooked Ellien and the nobleman who abused her and Luluci.

If the Knights Moralis truly cared about victims of forbidden magic, they would have offered mercy to people like Qifrey, Coco, Eunie, and Dagda—the mercy they reserved for Luluci.

[labarch]

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!

[aprentis]

@mightatlas​​:     the high priestess and the magician !     /  tarot headcanons.

the high priestess  :  how does your muse make decisions ? do they trust their instinct or would they rather trust their heart / their logic ?

believe it or not, despite how emotionally driven coco is, a lot of her decision making has basis in logic.  she’s the kind of person to rely heavily on the things she already knows to problem-solve.  her status gives her the unique ability to come up with ideas that her peers might not, but they’re still based in what she’s learned (like using her funky watershot seal to alter the skysoaring seal the way she does, among other things.)  that being said, her logic isn’t necessarily universal.  what makes sense to her might take others by surprise.

as far as instinct is concerned, coco’s rather naive and quite sheltered.  so she’s very open, and maybe a bit too trusting, but that’s because she’s never really had to be otherwise.  she’s much warier now, mind you, but not too much has changed in this regard.

the magician  :  how does your muse feel about fate ? do they believe they can change their own destiny ?

coco’s met people kustas that believe strongly in fate, and the circumstances in which she was granted the chance to learn magic do read as rather fateful encounters.  however, now she knows the brimcaps intend to use her to bring rise to forbidden magic (which, to their credit, kind of worked...  initially at least,) she’s not about to give in to that.  she has a lot of solid moments where she openly defies whatever they have planned for her.  she goes as far to tell iguin off and says that whatever she chooses to draw will ultimately be her choice, no amount of pressure from outside forces will force her to draw what she refuses to.  this, alongside the choice she was given in vol. 7 (to go one way to flee to safety, or the other to go to the tower.)  her choosing to go straight ahead and rescue qifrey so they can flee together is kinda her way of declaring she’ll forge her own path forward.

although it’s not just the brimcaps that seem to value her.  easthies seems particularly suspicious about her, and even someone like beldaruit has no trouble insinuating she is something special + worth protecting.  also, though she is none the wiser to it currently, qifrey is also using her too :/

she understands she’s unique (so much it hurts cries over chapter 45) but hello!!  she’s just a kid!!  thankfully, she has a good heart and strong morals so hopefully she holds out against all the things that are testing her, because goodness are they testing her...