Theory: The Day of the Pact, the Silverwood Maiden, and the Brimhat Endgame

When Coco confronts Beldaruit about Custas, Beldaruit says something interesting:

"And that, Coco, is a path our kind knows too well. Last we walked it, magic was nearly lost to all. I do this that we might never bear witness to another Day of the Pact."

This line has bothered me since I read it. It's strange, right? If we think the Pact was something the pointy hats got together and chose to do, why do we have one of the Wise talk about it as if it was something that happened to magic? In what way was magic "nearly lost"?

Anyway, here's my explanation: The Pact wasn't amongst witches, it was between witches and Someone Else. Someone judged the witches as failing and imposed the Pact on them.

https://witchhatatelier.telepedia.net/wiki/Silverwood_Tree#/media/File:Silverwood_Tree_Legend02.jpg

Let's look at this legend. To simplify, the Star gave magic to the silverwood maiden. The silverwood maiden then gave magic to the rest of humanity out of goodwill and love.

Initially I thought it might be the Star that caused the pact. The Star who is the true source of magic, perhaps the star came back and was angry at witches for misusing the silverwood maiden's gift. It might still be the star. But then I figured there's something else that would all add up.

Let's suppose the silverwood maiden was actually a human infected with silverwood. Suppose that she gave magic to the world and retired to becoming a tree, happy at a job well done. Suppose that humanity then misused magic and did horrible things. Well, she'd turn back into a person right? And she'd be pretty mad right?

Doesn't that kinda provide a perfect explanation why misusing magic would actually directly lead to the Pact? Why the Pact has to be upheld lest the Day of the Pact happen again, no matter what the pointy hats and the Wise want?

I feel also that this maps to what the Brimhats are doing. How all this experimentation with silverwood fits into the plan. There's a lot of possibilities here - maybe they think they can learn something to keep the Maiden trapped as a tree and thus unable to interfere, thus negating the true enforcement mechanism of the Pact. Maybe they think they can directly re-awaken the Maiden and negotiate or fight her directly. Maybe they think they can re-create her and make someone strong enough to challenge her if the time arises.

As a bonus, this might explain any sort of weirdness with the Pact itself. The Pact itself might not have ultimately been a carefully considered thing, even if later witches tried to elaborate on it and soften it and reason it out. The Pact could have been just a snap judgement from an angry person. Why no medical witches? The most fundamental reason could just be that the immediate bad thing that triggered the Maiden's reawakening was an act of medical magic and She said f*ck you guys specifically.

And this might explain what Coco's actual role is actually supposed to be. They want Coco to be humanity's envoy to the Maiden.