Interest-set

Qifrey: Oh Qifrey... this is from 2019, by the way. From all the foreshadowing in early manga to the extra illustrations like this, she had this all planned out from the beginning, I just know it. It's fascinating, because the connotation changes depending on how much you know or don't know about him. When you don't know, the placement of the heart looks as though it is hiding Qifrey's dark side - the gentle persona he wears to mask his desperation and his secrets. But when you do know, the context completely changes here. There is only so much he can offer. His love isn't a front, it's being shackled. Qifrey can't ever fully express nor accept love in the way he wants to. He lives his life as a balancing act, carefully split between the side he can let others see, and the side that he can't. In this way, both the mask interpretation and the shackle interpretation are valid - Qifrey's love and kindness is a convenient mask, and it is also entirely genuine. It's also always wrapped up in the guilt of his "selfish" motives for offering love - how love is always entangled in guilt for him, always filtered through the lens of something that was stolen a long time ago, rendering him unable to see a clear path forward. He's the only one of the group without a flush on his cheeks as well - missing that depth of emotion he must restrain.

Tetia: Look at her with her big smile and big heart! Tetia is facing directly forward and doesn't bother hiding her affection - she loves to be thanked and thank people in turn, and she has no qualms about saying so. I think the massive heart (which is the largest of any of the characters here) looks a bit like a big pillow or something. Tetia offers comfort primarily. She's not the one with the pragmatic solutions, but what she offers is no less important. She offers support and a smile when spirits are failing, she offers a nice comfy bed for comfort and security, she offers her compassion when she notices people are not being treated as people with the respect they deserve. Not only does she do this openly, but it makes her happy to do so. Having said that, her big open heart has me more than a bit worried for her in the upcoming arcs. A big heart like that is easy to guilt...

Olruggio: The attempted nonchalance here kills me, just like it does whenever he tries this: you are fooling no one. Interestingly, even though he's turned to the side, his eye looks directly out at the center, and the heart is not hidden at all. Both direct in intention and avoidant in execution simultaneously; very him. The heart tapping his forehead is good too - he largely expresses himself through magic and contraptions, which are a product of his inventive mind. His love is primarily shown through little things to make life easier based on his observations, or experiential advice he can give. However, if you've seen my other post about this illustration, you'll know that I am also deeply side-eying the heart being tapped directly against his forehead - exactly where one would need to apply a memory-erasing spell, for instance? It was, after all, originally his idea, and undoubtedly also an extreme expression of love. In this way, we can also read into the positioning of his heart as indicative of Olruggio's tendency to sacrifice (his memories, his constant overworking, etc.).

Richeh: What Richeh says is only a fraction of what she's actually feeling and thinking. There is a lot going on in Richeh's head - she's very introspective, and notably, even though on the surface, her desire to remain true to herself at all costs meant that others like Agott interpreted her as selfish, she actually cares a great deal for those who she considers her friends and family. Even her stubborn refusal to change wasn't something solely done for her own sake or out of fear; it was for Riliphin too. The heart over her mouth indicates to me that while she doesn't hide her feelings necessarily, there is a whole lot she doesn't quite say. She's very confident in herself, but perhaps less so in expressing her love to others, especially when at the beginning, she still has issues with trust. Nevertheless, Richeh's heart is positioned over her mouth, and when she decides to express her feelings, she tends to make direct declarations: of support, of protection, of promises, of appreciation. She holds that heart close to her, because that is the way Richeh loves - she wants to keep her people close (the rings!).

Euini: Shy little wolf boy. I love that Euini's heart is the second largest after Tetia. Euini smiles this sort of wobbly smile; he's a little nervous, as always, but it's not a closed off expression, even though his eyes are hidden. His heart is somewhat obscured but it's held tight to his chest and it doesn't exactly look like he's fully trying to hide it per se. Euini just feels more comfortable when he is at least partially hidden, that's all. He holds his heart tightly, because it is big and a bit fragile from having been beaten up too many times before, but it's still big. The very first thing he does all himself is stop Richeh from falling off the path at Romonon. Euini cares a lot, he just has no faith in himself, and even though he's probably still a bit scared of getting hurt, it doesn't actually stop him from trying to be supportive. The little wolf tail in the background standing up straight is cute too - he is excited and paying attention (we all know he's looking at Richeh <3)

for starters: coco definitely has some kind of tree in her right. like she just has to. i feel like that's essentially a given with the information that's been presented so far. the way iguin primarily talks about her is as a Seed of Hope.

per restys, this is also very much Iguin's Thing specifically.

another place we see Seeds and Hope being talked about together in this same way is when qifrey is telling olruggio about the experimentation that was done on him as a trial run for something New

the silverwood branches there paired as imagery with "the great cost which hope declares"... in this same scene we have this really fun eye embedded in roots frame while qifrey talks about getting his eye back

its interesting that he wants to reclaim the eye to destroy it, not to restore his failing vision, because it seems the eye itself is a key component in whatever plan they're actually trying to bring about.

(sidenote: the brimhat lurking in the background of qifrey seems like it could be this one from silver's eve, but qifrey also refers to the witch who took his eye as 'he' several times. might be an instance of references to people needing to be gendered when brought into english, might be just two separate characters.)

but the other place where we we see eye-in-tree imagery along these lines is in coco's brimhat design

the outfit has these very eyelike segments coming together for the belt on the waist and hat, and there's the tree with eyes in the background on the left. the right one gives the dress a pattern that resembles both wood grain and an eye motif as well.

so imo it stands to reason that coco is the final iteration of the experiment they were performing on qifrey. which is awesome. but what exactly Is that? it seems that hosting silverwoods in people is not any sort of endgame but rather a step in the process. so now ill get into Openly Speculating a little bit.

i don't have the screenshot of this line of dialogue on hand and cant' find it in my brief search so forgive me, but there's a moment where qifrey says something approximate to "My right eye was the only thing to sprout during the experiment." we know silverwood is dormant until its host is injured, and then sprouts to restore missing function to the creature.

so i think it's not too huge of a leap to say that removing qifrey's eye was in the service of sprouting some sort of fucked up silverwood eye, and then using that for as the Seed for for whatever they're doing with coco. it would be cool and fucked up and awesome if what became of qifrey's eyeball was actually, like, Implanted in coco somewhere but idk if that's actually feasible or just something i really really want to see. because like. when would that have happened.

BUT but. something i do think we have to consider is that the place where the brimhats are cooking all this shit up not only has Always been the site of experimental forbidden magic research, but specifically a place borne of experimentation with necromancy.

aynway man what the fuck were they doing putting qifrey in that coffin. what was that for. if you're just trying to get rid of a body you don't bury it alive in a coffin. surely this has a specific purpose and is not just because of their child torture hobby.

the silverwood trees of thristas don't seem to be dead in the traditional sense, but they have been blackened. and we know that when silverwood turns black thats a sign that it's able to be reduced into woodcruor, which is the source of witches' ability to do magic. so one thought i have is: what if the brimhats want to grow one of these silverwood inside of somebody?

we also know that ink seems to be significantly more volatile and powerful when mixed with human blood. so what if they want to cultivate a variant of silverwood that is more symbiotic with its host than parasitic to it? with ink mixing with blood within the body, you could basically have people who actually do have innate access to magic without needing a medium to do spellcasting, who would likely produce far more powerful spells than traditional witches by default.

maybe one is lying dormant in coco right now and the brimhats think coercing her into performing forbidden magic will in some way awaken it.

a couple of other less directly related things:

i think this bit from the serpentback caves is noteworthy.

because this line implies that the brimhat qifrey is looking for looks like him, and its the first and only time that even comes up at all, if memory serves. here's a little translation note for this panel from the wiki:

While interrogating Sasaran in Chapter 27, Qifrey reveals that he is on the hunt for a brimhat with "visage like mine" (with "visage" generally interpreted to mean "face"). However, in Japanese, the line is 「僕と同じ目を持つ」 (literally, "with eyes like mine"). Thus, there is some debate over the accuracy of the English translation. However, it should be noted that 同じ目 can also refer to someone who has had similar experiences or hardships (as in 同じ目に遭う). Likewise, "visage" can refer to both literal facial features or a person's general character (born from experience), and its deliberate use in the English translation may be intended to preserve such ambiguity. As such, it's unclear if Qifrey is on the hunt for someone with the same face, the same eyes, or simply a shared history.

"With eyes like mine" is certainly a loaded way to think of this one. One possible read of that is that the witch who took his eye out is now, uh, using it i guess? i could see things going there.

but in general there is also a characteristic quality in the eyes of people who are silverwood hosts, as qifrey explaints at one point.

So he could just have reason to believe one of the brimhats is another silverwood host.

We also know from custas's transformation that white hair comes reaching a certain stage of the transformation process and then being pulled back before it can complete. So that's definitely why Qifrey looks the way he does too.

This is definitely something that could contribute to "a visage like mine" being a way to find people involved with his whole situation.

and one last thing ill point to that has been weighing on my mind:

ohhhhhh boy. spell that removes any trace of a given person. that's certainly the only kind of memory erasing magic the text has mentioned but not explicitly shown yet... we're going to have fun with that surprise tool later on won't we.

can't even begin to guess what this is going to pay off with narratively. but i think it'd be really fun if this is less one that gets Used later on, and more something that gets revealed to have already been used. i want there to be a major character who has just been essentially erased from reality. it would be so jdatecore.