Champignon Witch

Episode 4

Can we all agree that Luna has suffered enough sorrow? The first two episodes of Champignon Witch detailed how painful her existence can be as she lived a failed romance with Henri, a boy who nearly died because of it, and now, in episode four, we learn that one of her few friends, the Cat Witch, was killed during the witch hunts. Surely the rest of the black witches could allow her the chance to have someone to care for.

But based on how he acts, I very much doubt if the Fire Magician is fully aware of what Luna's life has been like. (Or if he cares. Maybe the flames burnt up his empathy?) He's remarkably short-sighted in his approach to her concerns – it doesn't matter to him that she overcame the stigma of being a Cursed Youngling or that her work as the Champignon Witch does more than her fair share of filtering evil out of the world. All he seems to care about is that he gets his way, and the way he wants is that the boy who is both Luna's hope for herself and a proxy for the grace others afforded her goes away. Permanently. While this does work with the way fire functions – “burn it all down” is a saying for a reason – it's also striking when taken in context of the first two episodes. Luna goes from heartbroken to besieged, suggesting that no one treats her well except Merino and Minos. Luna doesn't fit in with humans. She doesn't fit in with witches. Is there any place where she can find solace?

The Fire Magician's insistence that the boy be killed is not only ignoring the fact that Luna has no one and no hope of having anyone, but also that she's clearly opposed to people dying. Most of the reason she's sequestered herself is that she fears harming others, and it seems possible that she was able to overcome her previous Cursed Youngling status because of that fear. She had the magic, yes, but more importantly, she didn't want to be The End of All Things. She returned Henri's soul to him and removed his love for her because she wanted him to live. She pulled the poison out of the boy for the same reason. To kill someone because of the mere possibility that they could become bad is contrary to everything we know about Luna so far. She's carrying a lot of sorrow around in her heart, and the Fire Magician wants to add to it, consciously or not.

In fairy tales, it is often desperation that turns people into monsters. The evil fairy in Sleeping Beauty is ignored. The child-eating wife in Sun, Moon, and Talia (an Italian variant of the same) only develops a taste for child flesh because her husband has cheated on her and brought his mistress and children into her home. We already know that Luna is living on the outskirts of acceptability, and that being damned as a “black” witch is how people ostracize her, even though, as is restated this week, black witches perform important purification work. While the Water Witch seems to care for her, and the Bird Magician is at least somewhat interested in her well-being (or at least in keeping the peace), she's mostly alone. When the ghost of your friend comes to help out because no one else will, that's not a good sign that you have support. Is the Fire Magician trying to keep her isolated? To what end? And does he even realize that he's doing it?

At least Luna has won for now. The boy can stay with her, and as a bonus, she gets Claude as well. I'm not worried about her turning into the sort of witch who lives in a gingerbread house, but after what happened with Henri, she deserves some joy. I hope that from here on, we'll see her find it…and that the Cat Witch can keep watching over her from wherever she is.

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