Foolish Alien

I admit, it's still a little early on in Coco's story to be theorising if she’ll take up an element specialty similar to her masters, but with the anime coming up I think it’s best to just get this theory out there. Besides I think I have strong reasons to believe this point! And how awesome would it be if I were right?

(Fair warning, this is a pretty undeveloped theory, I’m mostly posting it now since I’m worried about not getting it out before the anime comes out, so safe to say I’ll likely follow up at some point with my evidence laid out better than it is here)

Ever since my first read through of WHA, I've always passively had a comment Qifrey made early on in the back of my mind

The idea that Coco's magic will develop to a point she has recognisable traits is really interesting to me, this applies to all the girls really, but most distinctively to Coco and Richeh, who are exceptionally skilled in straight lines and small spells respectively. So throughout reading I've always kept an eye out for things that might hint at what Coco's good at, and I think there's quite a few points that will end up leading her to earth magic in the future!

The most obvious of all points is the start of Coco's story, where the most successful of the spells Coco attempts at casting is petrification. Now, I'm not dense, I know it was by chance, and that the result of that spell had nothing to do with Coco's skills and instead was because of her ingenuity to trace the spell in the storybook so that all her lines were perfect. Regardless it would be really good foreshadowing if the first successful spell she casts ends up being her specialty.

Playing off this point, it was her first time witnessing magic and seeing it do something horrifying instead of mystical. She’s scared, her mother turned to stone, for all Coco knows, probably dead in the state she's in, and a stranger being the only reason she too wasn’t engulfed in the effects of the spell. Her main goal in the manga is to reverse the spell's effects on her mother, and return her to flesh and blood.

If we look at volume 6, we see my second point which relates directly to the first. In a flashback scene between Olruggio and Qifrey (two witches who have prominent elemental specialties, and Cocos mentors) we see Olruggio tell Qifrey to embrace the type of magic he fears, finding a way to turn the element that has hurt him in the past and use it to help others in the future. 

This is a sentiment I feel Coco would resonate with deeply, she lives for helping people with her magic, something Agott noted about her, I think once she gets a solid hang on magic, knowing enough spells to start using it intuitively and spending less time thinking about how to get the effects she wants, she’ll end up defaulting to the earth sigil if the situation allows, something that harmed her mum and choosing to make it something that can help protect others.

A weaker point is that the earth sigil is made up almost entirely of straight lines, the main thing we know Coco does well when drawing spells. I call this point weak, cause the fire sigil is also made of straight lines, and it's simpler to draw in a rush, but the wind and water aren’t, so at the very least, knowing that Coco does best with straight lines, it's highly likely she’ll fall back on earth and fire more often than other spells, playing on her strengths to get stronger and more consistent results in her magic. 

Through the story there’s a significant amount of imagery surrounding Coco being a “loose stone” in witch society, unpredictable and someone who needs to be watched. This can be seen in both dialogue from Easthies and alternative art Shirahama has drawn (which in my opinion remains relevant to the story), 

Coco is almost a wild card when it comes to witches, having not been raised in the same way with the same ideals, she really could go any which way in her future, uncertainty surrounds her with every new person she meets, whether doubting her abilities or her previous status as an “outsider”. I feel she reflects nature itself in this way, unpredictable and wild, emulating mountains or rivers, she could either be sturdy and calm, falling into place and becoming a respectable witch, or she could crumble and burst, possibly causing problems for anyone she’s associated with. This, I believe, is Easthies fear.

Finally, and my favourite point of all, Shirahama describes Coco's hair to be the colour of leaves, that darkens as she matures. This reminds me of the transition of winter to spring, budding new growth after the winter that brings hope for brighter and warmer days. Perfect for the child of hope and the point we’re currently at with the most recent chapter of the manga! (chap.94 as of writing this)

“Its the colour of young leaves, but deepens to a rich green as she matures” - Shirahama

Overall, I don't  recall if we've seen her use the earth sigil much, but she's a new apprentice and hardly knows magic so it’s par for the course as she's exploring her options. Whether she has been using it frequently and it builds up a slow realisation that it's what comes naturally to her, or if she hasn't used it much and when she does she finds she can find more ways to utilise it than any other spell it would be a good narrative, and I think it would really fit her resilient character to fall into using a solid and reliable sigil like earth as her specialty, perhaps even one day becoming the rock that keeps the Atelier together. (COUGH COUGH art bellow.)