History WMG / PuellaMagiMadokaMagica

Or at least has less than good motives. She has half closed, droopy (yet strangely stern) eyes, which since [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi that other anime]] used it with a memorable villain, has become a villainous trope in Anime. Observe her creepy discourse with Homura at the end of episode one, which changes from a strange, almost approving speech about "killing the witch" to a very passive-aggressive threat if Homura didn't leave ''immediately'' ("What I meant was, I'll let you go ''this'' time"). Observe episode 2, which shows that Mami is stealing the [[PlotCoupon Grief Seeds]] from the Witches she kills and then draining them of power... instead of giving it back to the original humans (who may, however, be beyond all help by then). Or worse, she's siphoning her own evil and shoving it into the witches' coupon. Continue to note that she tries to hand Homura the empty(?) Grief Seed, but she refuses to take it, something that ''visibly pisses Mami off'' -- the first time we've seen her openly angry (possibly because it gives the lie to her earlier statement about Homura seeing new magical girls as "competition"). The parallels to some form of drug use are uncanny.

* The reason Mami shoves blackness from her seed into the Grief Seeds she steals is to prevent her from turning into a Witch.

Junko is a hard-hearted businesswoman; when Madoka asks her what she'd wish for if she could have just one thing, she ''immediately'', almost unthinkingly, answers that there are a few people at work she'd like to see put out of the way. This is quite likely the very mindset that allows the creation of Witches - one can hardly doubt that, were she offered a contract, Junko would accept it immediately and, for all we know, throw herself into the battle against Magical Girls with gusto. Anything to get ahead in business.

* This has been confirmed. Each symbol stands for a letter of the alphabet [[spoiler: the texts during the dream sequence in episode 2 are mostly German quotes from {{Faust}}.]]

Or at least has less than good motives. She has half closed, droopy (yet strangely stern) eyes, which since [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi that other anime]] used it with a memorable villain, has become a villainous trope in Anime. Observe her creepy discourse with Homura at the end of episode one, which changes from a strange, almost approving speech about "killing the witch" to a very passive-aggressive threat if Homura didn't leave ''immediately'' ("What I meant was, I'll let you go ''this'' time"). Observe episode 2, which shows that Mami is stealing the [[PlotCoupon Grief Seeds]] from the Witches she kills and then draining them of power... instead of giving it back to the original humans (who may, however, be beyond all help by then). Or worse, she's siphoning her own evil and shoving it into the witches' coupon. Continue to note that she tries to hand Homura the empty(?) Grief Seed, but she refuses to take it -- something that ''visibly pisses Mami off'' (the first time we've seen her openly angry). The parallels to some form of drug use are uncanny.

Junko is a hard-hearted businesswoman. When Madoka asks her what she'd wish for is she could have just one thing, she ''immediately'', almost unthinkingly, answers that there are a few people at work she'd like to see put out of the way. This is quite likely the very mindset that allows the creation of Witches - one can hardly doubt that, were she offered a contract, Junko would accept it immediately and, for all we know, throw herself into the battle against Magical Girls with gusto. Anything to get ahead in business.

According to Kyubey, Witches are born from curses just as Puellae Magi are created from wishes. What's implied here is that the Witches made a negative wish in exchange for power, in the same way that those who become their opponents make positive wishes; both make contracts, it would seem, and quite possibly with the same people. Alternatively, if the magical girls and the Witches are created by two opposing factions, Kyubey himself must have an opposite number.

* Considering that there are numerous quotes of Göthes {{Faust}} in the second episode, this is actually not very far-fetched. Both works are about someone being approached by a cute animal which offers them a wish. The dog in Faust is the devil.

Or at least has less than good motives. She has half closed, droopy (yet strangely stern) eyes, which since [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi that other anime]] used it with a memorable villain, has become a villainous trope in Anime. Observe her creepy discourse with Homura at the end of episode one, which changes from a strange, almost approving speech about "killing the witch" to a death threat if she didn't leave. Immediately. Observe episode 2, which shows that Mami is stealing the Witches she kills' plot coupons and then draining them of power... instead of giving it back to the original humans. Or worse, she's siphoning her own evil and shoving it into the witches' coupon. Continue to note that she tries to hand Homura the empty(?) evil plot coupon, but she refuses to take it -- something that ''visibly pisses Mami off'' (the first time we've seen her openly angry). The parallels to some form of drug use are uncanny.

[[WMG:Magical power is also a person's life force]]
How does one ensure that your magical girls do what you ask them to? Make it so that they need to defeat your enemies to survive. Without grief seeds, a magical girl will eventually run out of power and die. In other words, once you start being magical girl, you must defeat witches or you will die.

* This has been confirmed. The symbols are a substitution cypher for the latin alphabet [[spoiler: the texts during the dream sequence in episode 2 are mostly German quotes from {{Faust}}.]]

[[WMG: The random gibberish '''isn't''' gibberish.]]

* Considering that there are many references to {{Faust}} this is actually not very far-fetched. Both works are about someone being approached by a cute animal which offers them a wish. The dog in Faust turns out to be the devil.

Later, WordOfGod will provide a translation of the random symbols and phrases the various monsters and witches are shouting out. It will turn out to be one of the most important things to understand about the series -- for example: perhaps the monsters in episode 1 were shouting ''warnings'' about Kyubey.

Or at least has less than good motives. She has half closed, droopy (yet strangely stern) eyes, which since [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi that other anime]] used it with a memorable villain, has become a villainous trope in Anime. Observe her creepy discourse with Homura at the end of episode one, which changes from a strange, almost approving speech about "killing the witch" to a death threat if she didn't leave. Immediately. Observe episode 2, which shows that Mami is stealing the Witches she kills' plot coupons and then draining them of power... instead of giving it back to the original humans. Or worse, she's siphoning her own evil and shoving it into the witches' coupon. Continue to note that she tries to hand Homura the empty(?) evil plot coupon, but she refuses to take it -- something that ''visibly pisses Mami off''. The parallels to some form of drug use are uncanny.

Observe in Episode 2, when Homura refuses to do something special with the evil plot coupon after it's been drained/filled, something that Mami says is a good thing, that the Magical Girls are willing to fight each other for... but she refuses to do herself. Are witches merely Magical Girls who absorb too much magic? Is Mami merely trying to get Madoka and Sayaka to embrace magic so she can later kill them for their plot coupons?

Whichever puella deals the finishing blow on the BigBad will be granted her wish. Any other puella magi will die immediately.

To keep Kyubey away from Madoka, or as revenge for his turning her into a Puella Magi, Homura will try to (or succeed in) cursing Kyubey and become a witch.

* Working off of that the entire series is a big deconstruction of the Mahou Shoujo genre with Homura trying to stop others from repeating her mistakes.

[[WMG: Homura is this universe's equivalent to SailorNothing.]]

[[WMG: Akemi's family and/or friends have ''all'' been killed by the BigBad.]]
The BigBad is the kind of villain who [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies goes after the heroes' loved ones]] [[NotVeryPrettyNowIsHe in order to threaten them and/or ruin their will to fight]], and he/she/it probably did so [[ForcedToWatch right in front of her]]. Which is why she's trying to turn Madoka away from the hero's path - becoming a hero puts at risk everyone and everything that you love, and as the audience knows full well, Madoka has a ''lot'' to lose in that area.

The BigBad is the kind of villain who [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies goes after the heroes' loved ones]] [[NotVeryPrettyNowIsHe in order to threaten them and/or ruin their will to fight]], and he/she/it probably did so [[ForcedToWatch right in front of her]]. Which is why she's trying to turn Madoka away from the hero's path - and as the audience knows full well, Madoka has a ''lot'' to lose in that area.

Akemi herself has experienced and is aware of this, which is why she is trying to act against her former allies. She's the true protagonist, painted as the villain by Kyubei and Mami, and Madoka has just been strung in totally unaware of the implications.

* She's built up by Madoka's friends as ''Such a gorgeous career woman''. And, of course, you can knock down just as easily as you build up.

Homura, who attempts to be a Nanoha-style brawler, is the weakest of them; it's all about imagination.

* I raise that from "someone" into "those". As in, her entire family, including her little brother.

[[AC:{{Main/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica}}]]

She's come back to the past, wanting to stop Madoka from going down the same road again. The dream Madoka had demonstrates the time loop aspect. Madoka sees Homura fighting and dying, so becomes a Magical Girl to help, but in the end it loops back around. In this theory, Kyubey and Mami are the villains.