An unnecessary and in-depth analysis of magic colors used in TOH (Part 2):
Part 1 here
Purple:
Darius
Purple is associated with luxury, ambition, independence, mystery, arrogance, and inferiority
Darius is pretty much the embodiment of the color purple based on symbolism. He’s independent, he’s mysterious, he’s arrogant, he likes to live in luxury. He doesn’t act super ambitious but he is a Coven Head so we can assume he is somewhat. And the fact that he’s so competitive with Alador suggests that he may experience feelings of inferiority.
Magenta:
Amity, Alador, Tibbles, Gavin (possibly Kikimora and Malphas)
Magenta is associated with kindness, character, change, harmony, cooperation, and self respect but also impatience, arrogance and volatility.
Note: Kikimora and Malphas are listed as having purple magic on the wiki page, but it looks more magenta to me and I think that magenta makes more sense for them as well.
Impatience, arrogance and volatility are traits that are shared among these characters for the most part, though with Amity they’re mostly presented early in the show. The positive traits, consequently, have a lot of significance for Amity, who has gone through tremendous development and change over the course of the show. She’s become kinder and has learned to respect herself in a way that her parents couldn’t. She’s invited harmony into her life. If the show wasn’t cut short, I think we would have had a similar (smaller-scale) development for Alador and maybe even the other antagonists; at the very least Alador has taken initiative to change and better himself.
White:
Emperors Coven Scouts, Adegast, Detention Monitor, Oracle Teacher
White is associated with purity, innocence, perfection, safety, simplicity, illumination, emptiness, and unfriendliness
This one is interesting. For the Emperor’s Coven, since they are working for Belos, I can see their magic being sort of “sanitized”, void of their own creativity or free will. Similarly, for the teachers, maybe their magic is somewhat restricted when they’re on school grounds. They have to stick to the rules and regulations. For Adegast, maybe the white represents how his true nature/form was “illuminated” in WBW. Note: Jerbo is also listed using white on the wiki page but it actually looks like more of a white green to me, which makes more sense for him.
Yellow:
Eda, Mattholomule, Luz, Raine, Hunter (flapjack)
Yellow is associated with sunlight, positivity, intellect, creativity, and confidence. Some shades of yellow are also linked to magic and diversity. On the other hand, yellow can be a symbol of deceit, depression, or cowardice.
This one is fascinating to me. Yellow being associated with Luz makes perfect sense, her name literally means light and there’s so much symbolism in the show associating her with light. It also fits well for Eda, who is sort of the personification of magic and diversity, as well as sharing other traits with Luz. Eda and Raine are the only couple to share the same magic color and I think that was very much intentional, they are each other’s light. Hunter switching from red magic to yellow with flapjack must have significance as well. He goes from having every aspect of his life controlled by Belos, to finding a sense of autonomy and confidence in himself. Deceit, depression and cowardice are also all themes that recur for these characters throughout the show.
Now for the odd one out: Mattholomule. This is one of the things that got me interested in the colors in the first place. Matt having the same magic color as Luz, Eda and Hunter? Maybe he will have plot relevance in the next episode? Okay, most likely not. But a girl can dream. He’s definitely shown cowardice and deceit before. And he has a loud (overly-confident) personality. Maybe we will get some other hints of how the color fits him in WAD. Also curiously, Matt is one of the characters shown to use a different magic color at some point (more on that below)
Cyan:
Gus, Lilith, Edric, Emira, Adrian Graye, Titan Trappers, Keeper, Reviewnicorn
Cyan is associated with compassion, clarity, calmness, concentration, and communication. It can also signify narcissism, stress, secrecy, boastfulness. It’s also the opposite of red.
Many of the characters using this color are illusionists. At face value, concentration, clarity and communication are all important traits for illusionists to have. But I think for the twins, the color might also represent their connection and ability to see and understand each other. Likewise, Lilith’s color may be a symbol of her bond with Eda; her character development and how she grew to accept and understand her sister.
Adrian is a talented illusionist but his narcissism blinds him when it comes to really seeing and understanding others. The Reviewnicorn I could also see being somewhat boastful or narcissistic. And the Keeper, in addition to being compassionate and a skilled illusionist is definitely keeping some secrets. What about the Titan Trappers though? Is the blue a symbol of their secrecy? What do you guys think?
Finally, Gus. He really is the embodiment of this color as much as Darius is purple. He’s compassionate and understanding. He’s intuitive and able to see a lot of things that others might miss, even without magic. He’s able to get through to people and to see the good in them when others can’t. At the same time he can also be somewhat boastful and narcissistic himself at times. And we see how much he struggles with pressure and secrecy in particular.
Back to Matt for a minute, he’s seen in this image from the FTF credits using what looks to be cyan magic. Maybe it’s an accident or supposed to represent the use of illusion magic, but I like to think that perhaps it represents a connection to Gus. If you guys know of any other examples of characters switching colors, let me know!
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