H.N. Elly
H.N. Elly (H.N. ELLY) is the handle name of Kirsten (KIRSTEN), a witch appearing in Episode 4 of the anime. She reappears in Madoka Magica Portable, The Battle Pentagram, Madoka Magica Mobage and Magia Record. Her familiars, Daniyyel and Jennifer, make a brief reappearance in The Rebellion Story.
Witch Card
ハコの魔女。その性質は憧憬。 筋金入りのひきこもり魔女。 憧れは全てガラスの中に閉じ込める。 閉じ込められた者はその心までも簡単に見透かされてしまうが、考えるより先に殴れば問題ない。
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The box witch with a covetous nature. She is a staunchly reclusive witch. Anything she covets she locks away within glass. The thoughts of her prisoners are laid bare, but one can strike her without thought without problems. | ||||||||||
Minions
ハコの魔女の手下。 その役割は運搬。 この手下がさわった物体はとても運びやすくなってしまう。
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The box witch's minions with the duty of transportation. Anything they touch becomes easy to carry. | ||||||||||
History
Original Anime
Elly makes her appearance in Episode 4. The first traces of her are seen on Hitomi as she has her witches kiss on her neck, it causes her to act strange and speak of a glorious place. She takes Madoka to an abandoned warehouse where numerous people with the same witch kiss have gathered to commit a mass suicide with toxic gas. Madoka manages to stop them just in time but the people turn on her and attack. She runs into a store room but finds herself cornered. As Madoka exclaims that this must be her punishment for going against her word to be a magical girl for Mami, Elly's labyrinth begins to appear around her. Miniature versions of Elly's familiars: Daniyyel and Jennifer appear around her and distort her image. When inside the labyrinth, Elly finally appears and seems to mock Madoka by showing images of the now deceased Mami on her monitor, her familiars do this two with televisions on their heads. The familiars proceed to stretch Madoka's body until they're destroyed by Sayaka, now a magical girl. Sayaka proceeds to defeat Elly with little resistance. The last image on Elly's screen before her death is one of Mami smiling. She falls to the ground with a body inside tumbling amongst a pile of orange goo and her Grief Seed appears.
The Beginning Story
Elly and her labyrinth are more fleshed out in the movie version. There is a more detailed transition to her labyrinth and her humanoid form is seen more clearly. Her witch kiss is also changed to be green and more detailed.
The Rebellion Story
While Elly doesn't make a reappearance in The Rebellion Story, her familiars do. They're seen in Sayaka's orchestra playing instruments as well as once Homulilly is defeated where they're carrying chairs of the unconscious Nakazawa, Hitomi and Kyosuke.
Madoka Magica Portable
Elly and her familiars reappear in Madoka Magica Portable. They appear in Madoka's Route, Sayaka's Route and Kyoko's Route. Elly appears as a boss in the mysterious witch's barrier: fools barrier.
Madogatari
Daniyyel and Jennifer
The witch of boxes' minions. Their duty is to transport. Any objects that these minions touch will become extremely easy to carry. They take great initiative in spreading curses for their witch, and diligently drag humans into the Labyrinth. These minions always act in pairs. Since the Labyrinth is filled with liquid, they have no trouble moving around within it, but in any other location, they can only fly when two of them are paired up. The witch can't move around on her own, so she's carried around by her minions.
Song
| Original text | Translation |
|---|---|
| レッ 「ティ」 レッ 「ティ」 はこべ 「はこべ」 はこべ 「はこべ」 たのしかったね 「うれしかったね」 レッ 「ティ」 レッ 「ティ」 |
Heave! "Ho!" Heave! "Ho!" Carry it! "Carry it!" Carry it! "Carry it!" We had such fun. "We were ever so glad." Heave! "Ho!" Heave! "Ho!" |
- ↑ Some parts of this song are present in episode 4, as backmasked speech
Observations
- Elly in her witch card art seems to be holding her head as if she's in despair
- The seed that Sayaka uses in episode six was probably Elly's
- A picture of a girl in a magical girl-like attire appears in one of Elly's television screens; this is speculated to be her form as a magical girl. At the very end of the series, a motif shot of silhouettes of several magical girls appear; the silhouette of this girl is seen among them, giving credence to this theory
- It may also be the actual witch, hidden (literally) behind a computer screen which would fit in with her reclusive description
- Watching carefully as the monitor smashes will reveal Kirsten's human-like body falling to the ground
- The H.N. in Elly's name can stand for Handle Name, a term for nick name in Japan. This would mean her true name is Kirsten, while she referred to herself as Elly as her other identity on the internet, or maybe while she was still a magic girl
- Elly was the name of Dorothy in the alternate Russian retelling of the Wizard of Oz.
- Elly's name may be a reference to the character Eri Mizutani from THE IDOLM@STER Dearly Stars. Eri was a hikkikomori internet idol that went by the name ELLIE
- Her name may be an allusion to Harlan Ellison, several of whose works bear thematic and/or narrative-structural similarities to Madoka Magica, including The Outer Limits episodes Demon with a Glass Hand and Soldier, A Boy and His Dog, "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman, The City on the Edge of Forever, and IHNMAIMS. The names of Kazumi's limiti esterni ability and a chapter title "A Homura and her dog" in Vol. I of Homura Tamura also reference The Outer Limits.
- Her true name, Kirsten, is a reference to Kirsten Flagstad, a Norwegian opera singer that performed as Marguerite in Faust for over a decade and in several of Richard Wagner's works.
- She is described as being very reclusive, or a hikikomori. A Hikikomori is someone who refuses to leave their (or their parents') house, does not wish to work or go to school, and isolates themselves from others for extended periods.
- When she appears, the phrases "Ich will nicht arbeiten" ("I don't want to work") and "Ich mag keine Narren" ("I don't like fools", likely equating "fools" to humanity as Mephistopheles does in Goethe's Faust) are written in runes. In addition to being references to John Gabriel Borkman and Goethe's Faust respectively, these are likely her justification for her (or her human self's) reclusive nature.
- In modern film and literature, snow globes often symbolize childhood, innocence or so-called "happy days". However, they are also sometimes used, with dark humour, to evoke more gruesome scenes
- In accordance with her wish to box up a memory, Elly examines Madoka's memories and captures them in her monitors. The screens show images of Mami and her death
- Another interpretation of "boxing up a memory" could be that she had a happy memory that she wanted to keep safe
- There is a character in the animation "Gregory Horror Show" called TV-Fish, which looks similar to Elly, and also projects memories
- It appears Elly may have been obsessed with the Internet, and may have been an internet idol due to handle names being commonly used as usernames in Japan
- One could say she was stalked which may have made her fall into despair, due to all the T.V Screens
- The images on Elly's monitor before her death may show the true emotions of the witch. Before being struck by Sayaka her monitor shows an image of Mami crying and before she falls to her death it shows an image of Mami smiling once she defeated Gertrud
- The first image may show Elly's sadness at her death and the second may show she knows it's the end - she's going to die - just like it was the end for Gertrud when Mami smiled like that
- The design of her minions may refer to the idea of one-winged angels as a metaphor of people's need for each other.
Trivia
- The Guidebook and a page of the Production Note indicates Elly's labyrinth 's design is based on a Snowglobe （スノードーム）. It has the line, "I have only one wish. Box up that memory." （私の願いはただひとつ、あの思い出をとじこめて）. It states that when the Witch dies, the lights on the Christmas tree (which is only present in the concept art, not in the final episode) and merry-go-round short out. There's a 'basssh!' sound
- Before Madoka is pulled into her labyrinth, the phrase "I really had fun today, I want to do it again. Next time, I'll bring a bentou" (今日は本当に楽しかったねえ、また行きたいね。今度はお弁当持って行こう), reversed and warped, can be heard. Initially this was believed to be Elly herself speaking, but after the full song from which this phrase was pulled was discovered at the Madogatari event, it is implied that it is instead her Familiars speaking.
- Elly's Grief Seed was not shown directly after the fight in episode four on almost all broadcasts and streamings. But in the same scene on delayed AT-X broadcast at 23 April, her grief seed was added. The version shown later may have been the BD/DVD version
- In The Battle Pentagram, Elly has a palette swap with a black monitor and white wings. Her familiars also have a palette swap of a black body and red eyes and mouth
- In the second pachinko game, it's shown that Elly can "cartoonify" magical girls too, as Sayaka suffers from this after Elly shows her images of Hitomi and Kyousuke together.
Gallery
Memoria Cards
To edit a memoria's details, click on the specific memoria
| Card | Effect | Cooldown | EN Text | JP Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Box Witch Minion. Role: Hauler. Everything it touches becomes light and easy to lift. | ハコの魔女の手下。その役割は運搬。 この手下がさわった物体はとても運びやすくなってしまう。 |
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| Card | Effect | Cooldown | EN Text | JP Text |
External links
- H.N. Elly (Kirsten) card at official website (Japanese)
- Daniyyel & Jennifer card at official website (Japanese)