The "gallows" characters

[Emma May Smith]

There are so many examples of [q] where the character looks exactly like the left half of [t], and many like you describe where the left half of a [t] looks like a [q]. There must have been some connection between the two characters in the writer's head. Either the strokes were exactly the same and so he made the mistake unconsciously, or that there was some link between their meaning and the writer became confused as to which one he wanted.

I'm agnostic over whether there is a link between [q] and gallows characters, but would be happy to hear any theories or further insights.

I've wondered about that theory also. You are definitely right that they look similar. I wonder though if we do the same thing when we write our own alphabet: for example the change between [O] and [Q] or between [b,p,g,q] or [v,w] - or even [r,n,m]...

Indeed, and as your examples show we must be wary of drawing too strong a conclusion. It is obvious that many of the characters in the Voynich script do share fundamental strokes, but that simply could be the nature of how it is written. There's nothing linking Q and O in Roman script, yet they share a similar shape because there are only so many ways to draw a circle. And even though pairs like n and m or b and p are phonetically related, the similarity of their shapes is a coincidence.

It's frustrating because we simply don't know what is significant and what is not.