Speculah:Prior Lives of Witches

File:Charlotte as a normal girl.jpg

Artist rendition of Charlotte as normal girl

With witches are fallen magical girls theory proven true, the fan base has moved to speculate the prior lives of the girls and the nature of their wishes prior to their witchification. This page is dedicated to such speculations:

Gertrud

Her rose and mustached minions led one to believe that she may once been a ouji-sama that fell in love and made a wish similar to Sayaka's.

Suleika

She has a "delusional nature." This might mean the magical girl suffered from some sort of mental disorder.

Charlotte

Based on her lair that splices hospital and dessert imagery, the fanbase speculated that Charlotte was a young terminal cancer patient whom contracted with Kyuubey in order to recover. Her desire for cheese can be explained by the fact that many cancer patients cannot ingest dairy.

A number of fans suspect that the title character of the unreleased prequel manga Oriko Magica will become Charlotte. Oriko herself is clearly a young girl, as many speculate Charlotte was, and it seems that she will be associating with Kyoko and Mami. Since Kyoko loves food, and Mami gets killed by Charlotte, Oriko becoming Charlotte would then be ironic. Furthermore, since Homura is stated to appear in Oriko, it's possible that the events of the manga will occur while Homura is still in the hospital. If that is true, then it's also possible that Homura will appear because Oriko herself is in the same hospital, matching the speculation of Charlotte being a cancer patient.

There may actually be some evidence for this. The runes in Episode 3 refer to Mami by name and Homura as "Homuhomu" (which seems to be the origin for Homura's fan nickname). All runes appear to be messages from the witch or her familiars, which then implies that Charlotte actually knew their names.

Elly

Judging from the imagery within her barrier (in particular the silhouette of a girl with twintails within the TV-body of Elly; it must be noted that the witch herself also has twintails) and the statement that the witch is a shut-in, she may have been a recluse who wished for popularity as an idol and eventually broke down under the pressure (of being an idol, a magical girl, or both.) H.N. may thus refer to not just her nickname on the internet, but her handle name as an idol.

Albertine

It's possible that this witch was a very young girl, judging by the crudely-drawn appearance of her familiars. Also, as her nature is ignorance, she may have become a witch because she didn't know she had to recharge her Soul Gem. (While Kyuubey ordinarily tells new magical girls about the use of Grief Seeds to purify Soul Gems, he may have chosen not to tell Albertine due to her not being particularly useful in fighting witches. She may also have expended her Soul Gem before Kyuubey could have her recharge it.)

Gisela

Gisela may have been interested in the natural sciences, or wished for intelligence. She may also have wished for entry into a prestigious university and excelled there ("her body was once dazzling with silver"), only to break down under stress ("her body has rusted") caused by an inability to keep up with the fast-paced life of academia. The fact that she alone is dull in her quickly-moving barrier suggests that no-one reached out to her or tried to help her.

Elsa Maria

Possibly a similar story to Kyouko, or possibly Kyouko's younger sister.

As she seems of a religious bent and her shadow takes humans and animals alike without discrimination, her wish could have been a vaguely-worded one to help others (which the Incubators' plan already does) or to bring salvation to all, and she might have devoted her life as a magical girl to the destruction of the "demonic beings" witches appear to be. (Many Christian demons have unusual forms, so thinking witches as agents of Hell is presumably an easy mistake to make.) Her own transformation into a witch might have been initiated by the reveal that witches are former magical girls, leading Elsa Maria to realize that the witches she had been slaying without question until now were other magical girls instead of servants of the Devil, and consequently fall into despair. If that is the case, her intentions are ironically fulfilled after she is transformed into a witch, as her shadow now liberates any and all. Her praying posture may be as a result of her regret for inadvertently slaying witches: she seeks redemption by constantly praying for their souls as well as the rest of humanity. Her thematic links to the Tree of Knowledge might come from her belief that she made the same mistake as Eve when accepting to become a magical girl, with Kyuubey taking the role of the Serpent.

Interestingly, Kriemhild Gretchen -- the most powerful witch in the series -- is the only other witch known to absorb life with the intent of "saving" it.

Uhrmann

She may have been an dog-lover, or made a wish relating to animals. It is also slightly possible that she actually was a dog with a very primitive wish to be loved, leading Kyuubey to give her magical powers (presumably in an experiment to see if species other than humans could provide emotional output); that her familiars take the form of will-less humans suggests that her powers of thought and imagination are far less than those of the other Witches. The fact that she and her familiars were given family names instead of given names indicates a further level of dehumanization.

Oktavia von Seckendorff

See Sayaka.

Izabel

May have wished to be an artist, based on all the references to Picasso and other artists in her barrier.

This gains more evidence from her official description, which calls her an artist witch, with the nature of vanity. Perhaps she desired to be famous.

Patricia

Up this witch's skirt appears to be some sort of infinite orifice. Given the uniforms, the above fact that witches originate from young girls, take note of the odd position the Witch appears to be in... It is likely Patricia was someone who fell to despair and turned into a Witch because of sexual abuse. The uniforms on clotheslines could symbolize her constantly washing her uniform due to her feeling "dirty".

The official descriptions says she is a "class representative witch." She thus may have wished for the position, but considering the relative ease behind becoming a class representative (all one has to do is volunteer and receive a majority vote), it's more likely that her classroom role simply played a defining role in her life. It's also possible that Patricia was a very controlling person, based off the spider and spider-thread imagery, and the fact that her familiars are entirely controlled by the witch's threads. This in turn suggests that Patricia may have fallen out of popularity or lost the respect of her fellow students, causing her to question her role and fall into despair.

Roberta

The official description for this witch suggests that she lived a life of debauchery, constantly getting drunk and flirting with men. Roberta may have wished for a more beautiful appearance or simply the ability to attract the attention of others -- something which, unfortunately, caused her to attract much unwanted attention from men who didn't value her for much more than her body (as indicated by the Witch's appearance being reduced to a pair of garter-clad legs and lingerie). She thus could have felt as if she was constantly on display, as if in a birdcage.

As the witch was shown in an alternate timeline, it is speculated that this witch was Mami. The reasons for this speculation are as follows: a flower pattern is seen on Roberta's clothing and the floor of her barrier (although the pattern also resembles a gear), she seems to explode into muskets (Mami's weapon) when killed, and of course, the witch has no head. The cage she appears in, as well as the general emptiness of her barrier, would then symbolize Mami's isolation.

The main strike against this theory is that if Mami transformed into a witch in that timeline, she wouldn't have lost her head against Charlotte.

It could be seen as the fact that Mami doesn't have a very solid head on her shoulders, or maybe the witch's head as just hidden from sight behind the cage.

Mami has a very solid head on her shoulders, as indicated by her fortitude and ability to withstand transforming into a witch for several years. Her attempt to kill the other girls in the third timeline, widely interpreted as an act of insanity, could actually be seen as a "solid-headed" decision: in order to prevent the other girls and herself from becoming Witches (and thus a threat to the people she wants to protect), Mami tries to quickly and painlessly end their lives.

The official description of the witch also seems to contradict this theory, suggesting instead a party girl who desired attention from others.

Mami made her magical girl stuff flashy and attention-seeking. I don't think that particular line debunks the theory entirely.

However, we aren't given any reason to believe that Mami was an alcoholic (as the card suggests Roberta was) or received lots of unwanted attention from men.

Kriemhild Gretchen

See Madoka.

Walpurgis Night

Some fans speculate that this is the witch form of Homura. Evidence supporting this theory are mechanical gears on the witch's body, also seen in Homura's shield. This would imply that Homura becoming a witch is a meta-timeline event, thanks to her time travel-related wish. In addition, in episode eight of the series, Homura explains to Kyouko that the witch will be appearing at the town's clock tower.

Others speculate that Walpurgis is the witch-form of a magical girl who defeated a previous Walpurgis. Some go as far to suggest that Walpurgis is of extraterrestrial origin.

Another line of speculation is that Walpurgis is actually a composite being formed from a number of witches fusing into one super-witch. This comes from the fact that Walpurgis Night is, in German folklore and Goethe's Faust, a gathering of witches. According to this theory, the witches are "gathering" into one. If true, Walpurgis technically has no prior existence as a magical girl. It also offers an explanation for the subtle differences between the Walpurgis seen in episode 1 and the other two seen in episode 10; they're formed from different combinations of witches.

Other people have stated that this witch may in fact be Madoka, whose association with Homura led to its bearing similarities.

Also see Speculah:Walpurgis Night.