Easthies Backstory Theory
Magic is terrifying. Most of witch hat atelier is seeing our colorful cast of characters trying to reconcile their wonder of magic with the terror it begets. In pointy hat society, the fear of magic is ingrained into their very culture. However, Easthies’s fear seems to run deeper than that.
Why did he join the Knights Moralis? What informed his black and white morality? His unwavering devotion to the Pact?
My theory is that he had once drawn or been tempted to draw forbidden magic in the past.
Hear me out, the Knights Moralis do not need to draw their own spells. It’s the reason why they keep preloaded palm quires, pennants with medallions, and why their cloaks are so short. They don’t have to conceal their hands if they’re not drawing with them.
In a twitter illustration, Shirahama stated that Easthies stopped drawing magic altogether after joining the Knights.
machine TL: sketch: Easthies. Since Easthies joined the Knights Moralis, he stopped drawing magic, so he doesn't really care if his hair falls out and gets in the way. He is serious about the rules, but careless about his personal life.
Easthies is almost the perfect witch pointy hat society demands. He keeps the secret of magic, and his own secrets close to his chest. The fear of magic deeply ingrained in his mind.
But he does not create. He wipes the slate clean. He doesn’t experience the joy of creating art the way that this story hammers in as important to the human condition. He’s fond of magic but his fears of it won out unlike Coco.
Magic exists to make the world vibrant. Speaking of Coco, Easthies has a habit of targeting her. I don’t think this is wholly because of her being an Outsider, after all Easthies is able to set his rivalry with Qifrey aside with the lockscroll saga. So why the fixation on Coco?
With this theory in mind, Coco is a projection of his past self. Easthies is punishing her for his past mistakes, or for giving into temptation.
Throughout Silver Eve, Coco has been convincing the Three Wise to slowly break the Pact, and Easthies is worried that she’s doomed them all. For Easthies, Coco reveals the hypocrisy of witches, espousing the importance of keeping the Pact while seeking excuses to bend it to their will.
Coco may be the seed of discord implanted into Easthies’s society to wear it down, but he is a hypocrite. Why doesn't someone who’s so self-assured in his own beliefs not trust himself to create? Mankind is terrifying, and maybe Easthies is scared of himself.
