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liridus · 2 days

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The loops, role reversals, and Walpurgisnacht: A PMMM meta

Madoka and Homura seem to consistently take on roles similar to each other. And because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this, I’m going to write it all down. This stemmed primarily from NezumiVA’s video Understanding Madoka Magica- Part 2, especially where they pointed out that with each loop Madoka becomes more docile and the other magical girls tend to die earlier.

Timeline 1

At the beginning of the first timeline, Homura is relatively unconfident. When overwhelmed by others talking to her, Madoka steps in, and converse to what we see in episode 1, Madoka introduces herself as the nurses’ aid, asks to be called “Madoka” and asks if she can call Homura by her given name.

When Homura expresses hesitancy about her given name, Madoka says that it’s a cool name and Homura should become “cool” to match it. Immediately after this, we see a compilation of Homura performing relatively badly in both academics and athletics, both in front of an audience. While in both cases, others mention that she likely needs time to catch up, Homura seems to take this on herself. She also seems to have taken Madoka’s comment about becoming cool to heart, seeing herself as not being able to. Though most of this is likely amplified by the effect of the witch, Homura sees herself as being useless and a burden on others.

After Mami and Madoka save her and explain that they’re magical girls, we see Homura happy, visibly happy, opposed to earlier in the episode.

When Mami and Madoka fight Walpurgisnacht, Homura is the one to call attention to the fact that Mami just died, also here seemingly caring about death more directly than in other loops. As Madoka says that she is the only one left to defeat Walpurgisnacht, Homura pleads with her to run away, saying that no one would blame Madoka for doing so. Madoka persists, saying she is glad that she became a magical girl, eventually dying in the fight.

After Madoka dies, Homura is left with an immense amount of survivor’s guilt, placing emphasis on the fact that Madoka should not have died “Saving someone like her”. Bringing back ideas of her being a burden on others. Thus, as opposed to just saving Madoka, Homura wants to instead become someone who can protect Madoka, someone “cool” like Madoka wanted her to be. And most centrally, someone who would not be a burden, someone who others can rely on; someone who Madoka can rely on so she won’t need to fight alone.

This wish traverses time and continues to rewrite it. Homura finds a moment of gaining control in a moment that seems hopeless, and decides to take responsibility for the new world she wants to create herself, regardless of how long realizing this wish may take.

Through the loops, Homura continues to do what she believes is necessary to protect Madoka: she trains, she becomes less docile, she becomes more hostile to the other magical girls (especially Mami and Sayaka who more directly influence Madoka’s involvement as a magical girl). She becomes colder, and she physically loses aspects of herself (her braids, her glasses) that might stereotypically be associated with weakness, or her old self. Then we arrive at the present loop.

The series loop, loop n.

In the nth loop, Homura begins with taken on the initiative of reaching out to Madoka, who in this timeline is visibly more timid. She also seems to speak with less conviction than she used to in timeline 1. She seems hesitant to approach Homura as she previously had. Homura introduces herself, and initiates Madoka and herself referring to each other with their given names. Homura is notably leading the way this time.

Homura here has restarted their first meeting, however she seems to have taken on a role similar to Madoka back then. Here she issues Madoka her warning, telling her that she does not need to change, ironic considering that Homura’s timeline resetting seems to have affected Madoka’s personality the most.

Just like Homura in loop 1, we find here that Madoka does not see herself as anything special, the idea of becoming a magical girl in itself gives her a sense of joy and a sense of purpose. This is cast aside with Mami’s death. However, Madoka does try to help out in whatever way she can. The feelings of being a burden reach a hight for Madoka when Sayaka (at this point almost a witch), brings up how unhelpful she is despite having an enormous amount of potential (this likely coming from Sayaka’s frustration in not having the same abilities despite putting her all into her fights).

In this timeline, Homura has decided to, like Madoka in timeline 1, take Walpurgisnacht alone. But Madoka decided that she will not let her. With each timeline, Madoka becomes a magical girl later and later, this potentially being the latest in the timeline Madoka has become one. Madoka here decides on a wish to rewrite time, like Homura, and be directly involved, taking a position of control and executing her wish herself. She is also willing to take on this role for however long it might be necessary, similar to what Homura continues to do.

It is interesting to note that in every timeline despite what Homura does, Madoka in the end, due to the cosmic energy now tied with her, ends up becoming more powerful than her, and ultimately due to differences in how involved they want to be with the world, Homura is consistently unable to “save” her from her “fate”. Even when Madoka takes on Homura’s timeline 1 role, Homura is consistently unable to escape from her own role at the end of timeline 1; being helpless.

At this point Homura cannot restart as she usually would, and even if she was able to Madoka has become so powerful that Homura cannot be the one protecting her.

Rebellion

As a witch, Homura here is essentially causing herself misery and despair, perhaps partially due to the incubators containing her, or perhaps due to her self-loathing being so great that she first enacts it on herself.

The labyrinth she traps herself in is ideal where she and the others are safe. Interestingly, Homura here is Homura similar to herself in loop 1. As time passes, even with Homura figuring out the true nature of the world, she is essentially unable to do much able it, taking back her role from loop 1. Before her witch form takes root, there’s a scene with Madoka literally braiding her hair, putting her back into the mindset of this role. We see her consistently fail to save Madoka, consistently being helpless, consistently not being strong enough. Emphasized further by the Nutcracker imagery (Homulilly’s imagery is similar to the Nutcracker in the story of its’ namesake after it’s jaw has been cracker, rendering it useless. Pointed out by NezumiVA (Understanding Madoka Magica- Part 2)).

Rebellion changes things however, as here Homura learns that Madoka does not like her fate at the end of the series (interestingly, Madoka never said she was okay with in in the finale as far as I could find, she mostly just assures Homura that she technically won’t be alone). Homura at this point has tried to fight fate countless times, and each time, despite what she does, Madoka does get involved. Her braid unravels, things are moving away from their usual loop. At this point she realizes that she needs to protect Madoka from herself. She has to fight Madoka.

She pulls Madoka away from the circle, again taking on a role of control and resetting the world to create something that she desires (similar to the end of loop 1). However this time, similar to Madoka at the end of loop n, Homura herself moves outside of the loop, gaining power (likely connecting enough cosmic power to herself via the loops, largely unintentionally, to do so), and considering that Madoka here is now to be not in her God form, Homura finally has more power than her (and even in case of Madoka regaining her powers, she at least has a chance of having equal powers).

Loop n+1

When we reset this time, Madoka and Homura more literally switch roles from loop 1, with Madoka being the transfer student and Homura guiding her. Homura gives back Madoka’s ribbon, perhaps signifying that she will not be taking Madoka’s role in loop 1. Homura has decided that she will do everything necessary to keep Madoka safe, even if that means fighting her. Somewhat unwittingly, Homura also seems to have taken a little more of Madoka’s sacrificial nature here, seeming to have less self-preservation her than in the past, though this could also be due to the influence of her witch state.

Walpurgisnacht

Seeing that in the finale we see Madoka save magical girls before they become witches, I find it interesting that we do not see this for Walpurgisnacht.

From the wiki:

“Its nature is helplessness. It symbolizes the fool who continuously spins in circles. The Witch's mysteries have been handed down through the course of history; its appellation is "Walpurgisnacht." It will continue to rotate aimlessly throughout the world until It completely changes the whole of this age into a drama.”

As many others have pointed out, the chairs that appear randomly, for example in Madoka’s room, and the curtains that at points seem to resemble a stage with curtains and a seated audience.

At the beginning of Rebellion, as @atamascolily has pointed out here, there are several elements that go around in circles. Knowing what we know now about this being Homura’s world, and her time loops, essentially causing her and Madoka to circle and loop around one another, both literally and in terms of roles, and Homura’s primary fear being too helpless to have influence and help Madoka, I think at some point Homura or Homulilly becomes Walpurgisnacht, or the primary witch that triggers the creating of the merge of witches that we now know as Walpurgisnacht. As pointed out by @sayaberry, here, in the trailer for Walpurgisnacht Rising, Homura’s dress becomes similar to Walpurgisnacht’s. The loops also are consistently linked to Walpurgisnacht’s appearance, so she ends up keeping the cycle going. Additionally, it might be that the way that Homura might move away from the helplessness of not being in control, might be in taking total control via creating, essentially the ultimate show.

Also, interestingly, Walpurgisnacht and Madoka’s witch form, Kriemhild Gretchen are said to form two halves of an hourglass; together needing to literally switch places in order to reset time.

#puella magi madoka magica #Madoka Magica #PMMM #Madoka Kaname #Homura Akemi #Madoka Magica Meta #Pmmm meta #Akemi Homura #Kaname Madoka

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terephin · 17 hours

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Howdy! I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower!

Anyways, I'm gonna ramble now. Introduction segment done.

So, Homura right? Homuhomu, Homegirl herself. She's a deeply broken girl.

I'm gonna talk about what I believe to be some of the why's, beyond just the looping itself.

Now, other than Madoka (A topic for an entirely different rant, honestly) and maybe Oriko (I mean, *gestures vaguely* look at the bitch, she's good at her job (Traumatizing Homusexuals)) I'd say a certain girl has hurt Homura more than anyone else.

Who?

Miki Sayaka. (Though you could argue Mami too) Now some might think this has to do with the general fragility of her mental state, but her witching out isn't what I'd say is the focus. It's the distrust.

Sayaka, despite how i usually see it passed over, was in the end one of Homura's first friends (Excluding maybe one or two people from before her surgery, but we haven't seen much implying Homu ever had friends before Madoka picked her up like a stray cat). Sayaka was, and is, someone who's opinion Homura values quite a bit, and her opinion of Homu herself hasn't exactly been good through much of the loops.

And here, I'd like to argue that this is a rather core hurt, part of turning Homura into who and what she is now. That rejection form someone who she knew as among the first to accept her, from one of her first friends.

Imagine, for a moment, the pain each time she was called evil, a monster, by that upbeat girl who was so strong and so brave. The girl that, if you ask me, looking back at Homu with the golfclub, she tried to model herself after.

It really is something I've seen quite a few fics forget, that Homura and Sayaka were friends in the beginning, that in the mind of the broken girl who doomed herself to never grow up they still are. (Sidenote : I've considered writing a snippet of Homura and Sayaka set in the Homurinth, or maybe in that world she made after her apotheosis, have them talk and have Sayaka mention that she came with in part to apologise, for all the hurtful words she'd spoken.)

Miki Sayaka is a brave, headstrong yet fragile girl, one that you can't help but admire, and I believe that Akemi Homura was swept up in that wave too. That, though they've both respectively forgotten and repressed the fact, Sayaka was an idol in the mind of that lost, lonely girl, a Hero amongst those who saved her. And perhaps that, too, is why Homura despises Sayaka's ambition to be such.

#puella magi madoka magica #pmmm #homura akemi #akemi homura #miki sayaka #sayaka miki #pmmm theory #pmmm headcanon #theorising #madoka magica #madoka ramblings

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