Winchester
The Mirror Witch (MIRRORS) is a witch whose barrier is a stage in the mobile game Magia Record. The Witch's real name was revealed to be Winchester (WINCHESTER). Her barrier and the copies her Familiars create are the stage for the PvP feature of the mobile game.
According to the Mirrors Story that plays as players delve deeper into the barrier and the event The Flowers’ Lament, the Mirror Witch was once a Magical Girl from Daito Ward named Mikoto Sena. Mikoto was friends with Hanna Sarasa and had the ability of suggestions, essentially hypnotizing others, including Witches and their Familiars, to do her bidding (although this ability had its own limitations). She later became a Witch and Hanna used the hypnosis ability she had copied from Mikoto to influence the Mirror Witch into staying in Kamihama and wreaking havoc on as many people as possible.
A year before the main events of Magia Record, this Witch was responsible for a string of attacks against Magical Girls through its disguised Familiars. Through its fascination with mirrors, the Witch was lured from wandering around Kamihama City to an abandoned house on the city's east side, where it now permanently resides. Mitama Yakumo was chosen as an overseer of the house and the labyrinth within, charged with the duty of keeping the public away and giving explanations and warnings to Magical Girls who wish to enter.
Witch
Main Witch
|
WINCHESTER Winchester (1st form) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch |
|---|---|
| Nature | Seclusion |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Official website: The Mirror Witch is defined by her reclusiveness. In-game description: The Witch of Mirrors. Her nature is Seclusion.
鏡の魔女 その性質は『隠遁』 | |
|
WINCHESTER Winchester (2nd form) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch |
|---|---|
| Nature | Seclusion |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Official website: The Mirror Witch is defined by her reclusiveness. In-game description: The Witch of Mirrors. Her nature is Seclusion.
鏡の魔女 その性質は『隠遁』 | |
|
WINCHESTER Winchester (3rd form) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch |
|---|---|
| Nature | Seclusion |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Official website: The Mirror Witch is defined by her reclusiveness. In-game description: The Witch of Mirrors. Her nature is Seclusion.
鏡の魔女 その性質は『隠遁』 | |
|
WINCHESTER Winchester (Final form) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch |
|---|---|
| Nature | Seclusion |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Official website: The Mirror Witch is defined by her reclusiveness. In-game description: The Witch of Mirrors. Her nature is Seclusion.
鏡の魔女 その性質は『隠遁』 | |
Copy
|
WINCHESTER Winchester (Copy) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch |
|---|---|
| Nature | Seclusion |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Official website: The Mirror Witch is defined by her reclusiveness. In-game description: The Witch of Mirrors. Her nature is Seclusion.
鏡の魔女 その性質は『隠遁』 | |
|
WINCHESTER Winchester (Copy, 2nd form) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch |
|---|---|
| Nature | Seclusion |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Official website: The Mirror Witch is defined by her reclusiveness. In-game description: The Witch of Mirrors. Her nature is Seclusion.
鏡の魔女 その性質は『隠遁』 | |
Sarah Mirabilis W
|
SARAH・MIRABILIS・W Sarah Mirabilis W | |
| Type | Mirror Witch |
|---|---|
| Nature | Seclusion |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
A cowardly Witch who grew from a Familiar, and is who constantly engaged in building her manifold Labyrinth. She spends her days glancing back and forth, constantly on guard against her surroundings, while pondering how she can most efficiently expand her tiny mansion. Over the course of doing so, she obtained eyes that can survey everything there is to see, as well as a twisting spiral shell. Upon sensing the presence of her parent Witch, she actively attempts to grow larger by connecting to the parent’s gigantic mansion, and is constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to do so. She summons Familiars to protect herself when threatened, but she’s terribly discomforted by the gunshots they make when they attack, so she’d honestly prefer it if they stopped using them.
鏡の魔女 その性質は『隠遁』 | |
Familiars
Kirico Keepers
|
KIRICO KEEPERS Kirico Keepers (Bellgirl) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch's Minion (I) |
|---|---|
| Role | Bellgirl |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Minions of the Witch of Mirrors (I). Their role is to be Bellgirls.
鏡屋敷の防犯装罟だが、お屋敷は不審者不遜者大歓迎。危険物条約検疫ノー審査で通してくれるため、その機能は監視というよりもお客様の複製を作るための情報収集という形で生かされている。お客様を見つけるとキスのごあいさつでおもてなしする。 | |
|
KIRICO KEEPERS Kirico Keepers (Guard) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch's Minion (II) |
|---|---|
| Role | Guard |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Minions of the Witch of Mirrors (II). Their role is to guard.
鏡屋敷の防犯装置だが、お屋敷は不審者不遜指大歓迎。お客様に貴賎なし。より遠くにいるお客様の姿も精密に撮影するため望遠レンズを強化したらしい。そのおかげで遠くのお客様にもキスのごあいさつを投射できるようになった。 | |
|
KIRICO KEEPERS Kirico Keepers (Copier) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch's Minion (III) |
|---|---|
| Role | Copier |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Minions of the Witch of Mirrors (III). Their role is to be copiers.
鏡屋敷にいるハウスキーパー達のひとり。お客様をおもてなしするために白身の体の中でゼリー人間を製造できる他、クオリティの高いお客様の複製をつくることも可能。ただし、精巧な複製お客様を作るにはゼリー人間よりもかなり時間がかかってしまう。 | |
|
KIRICO KEEPERS Kirico Keepers (Solicitor) | |
| Type | Mirror Witch's Minion (IV) |
|---|---|
| Role | Solicitor |
| Appearances | Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record |
Minions of the Witch of Mirrors (IV). Their role is to solicit.
結界の外でミラーズ・鏡屋敷への招待状を配って回る手下。魔法少女を見つけると殺傷能力のある招待状を投げつけてくるが、ご招待したい気持ちは本物。ただ、死んでいた方が運びやすくて便利くらいに思っている疑惑はある。 | |
Powers and Abilities
Its Familiars are capable of duplicating not only the physical appearance of a Magical Girl, but their abilities and memories as well. Some Familiars are copied so faithfully that even the copies are not always aware that they are not the original. The Witch, or its labyrinth, also has the ability to entrance Magical Girls who have entered its labyrinth, instilling within them a desire to continue venturing deeper into its endless expanse at the expense of their own safety. Such victims will act and speak strangely, and will exhibit this hypnosis even when outside of the labyrinth.
The Mirror Witch is capable of connecting its barrier with the barrier of its Familiars that have matured into more copies of their master Witch; effectively, a matured Familiar's barrier becomes an extension of a massive shared barrier spanning many different locations at the same time, and there can be multiple instances of the Mirror Witch within that barrier at once. This includes barriers of other Mirror Witches from other universes, as seen in the Chocolatier in Mirror Country event. In Arc 2, the Promised Blood faction use this to their advantage: a copy of the Mirror Witch lives in Kamihama's abandoned prison, and Promised Blood can travel through its barrier into Kamihama without detection.
The Witch's labyrinth is also capable of connecting to the past and future of the timeline it resides in, and other timelines and/or universes entirely, as seen in the The Witches' Paradox Extermination Battle event. Because of this, time paradoxes may also occur via its labyrinth, for which the Mirror Witch acts as a corrective function to resolve: if a paradox were to occur as a result of its connection throughout time, and if a portal that would allow for the timeline to be corrected were to be removed or destroyed, the product of the paradox would be instantly destroyed; for example, an object from the past that is brought to a future, that is then unable to return to the past when the portal is was brought through is destroyed, would be instantly destroyed. Because the Mirror Witch appears to be searching across all of time and space to find a more habitable place to migrate to, this could theoretically result in the destruction of Magia Record's timeline if it were to do so.
Similarly, in the Lyrical Nanoha Magia Clash! event, a Familiar that copied Shizuku Hozumi became much stronger than the original through a magical orb that increased its wielder's strength via the harnessed power of the Mirror Witch, and was thus able to use Shizuku's ability to teleport via connection different places in space to open multiple portals to another universe entirely, one where her native Magical Girl system does not even exist.
In Magia Record
- The Mirror Witch plays a central part in the following events:
- An iteration of this Witch is also used by the Promised Blood faction to infiltrate Kamihama City without detection in Arc 2. It is implied that some of the other factions have also taken advantage of this to quickly return to their hometowns.
- This Witch also appears in the following events:
- Kyoko Sakura's Winter Outfit story
- Madoka-Iroha's personal story
- Meguru Hibiki's personal story
Doppel Description
The Doppel of seclusion. Its form is a mirror. The master of this emotion is angered by how her Doppel disdains reality yet refuses to move, and attempts to take control of it herself. This Doppel drew out a precise and intricate ideal world for itself, but placing a mess of complicated emotions onto that world has rendered it unable to move. There was a time when it tried to project its imagination onto mirrors to weave its ideal world, but the products of its own imagination felt not only bland, but outright shallow. In the end, after continually agonizing and chipping away at its own heart, its form changed into a flat, symmetrical shadow. Sick of the sight of her own Doppel hiding and worrying, its master proposed that they simply tack on the parts that were missing– to find living sacrifices with which to supplant its imagination. The Doppel agrees with its master’s suggestion.
Doppel Description (Rumor ver.)
The Doppel of seclusion. Its form is a mirror. The master of this emotion cannot admit that the person to whom she should convey her feelings is lost. This Doppel, which contains only beautiful memories, is composed of prisms that shine in all directions. In its radiance hides the image of a loved one, but the Doppel herself cannot find her. After much trial and error, she tried to reflect herself in the mirror and look inside, but all that remained was a symmetrical image of herself. The Doppel's impurities that accumulate due to her depressed feelings is heavy, and those who see the prismatic glow that illuminates when emotions overflow and run rampant will have their hearts darkened in an instant.
Etymology
- The name of the familiar-turned-witch, "Sarah・Mirabilis・W", may originate from various sources:
- It is based on "Spira mirabilis" (Latin for "miraculous spiral"), another name for the logarithmic spiral, a self-similar spiral curve that often appears in nature. This alternative name was given to it for its unique mathematical property of being able to retain its shape with each successive curve even as its size increases.
- The shells of several species of ammonites and nautiluses form such spirals, which her design thus resembles.
- Sarah L. Winchester was the owner of the Winchester Mystery House, which she had purposefully designed to be confusing and maze-like in an attempt to stave off vengeful spirits from finding and killing her.
- Sarah Winchester's father in-law was the creator of the Winchester rifle, which was often used during the war. Sarah built the house after a medium told her that the spirits of the victims of the rifle would haunt her, and she had to keep building the house in order to keep them at bay. The witch's familiars use Winchester rifles during one of the witch' attacks, and the description notes she's uncomfortable with it.
- The letter W is often used in Japanese to signify 'double' or 'twice.' In this case, it may refer to the fact that the Witch fought in-game grew from a Familiar and is not the original Witch, or to its laterally symmetrical body.
- The initials of her name are also a reflection of those of her human identity, Sena (S) Mikoto (M).
- It could also originate from Winchester, the Witch the Familiar came from.
- It is based on "Spira mirabilis" (Latin for "miraculous spiral"), another name for the logarithmic spiral, a self-similar spiral curve that often appears in nature. This alternative name was given to it for its unique mathematical property of being able to retain its shape with each successive curve even as its size increases.
- The part of the Familiars' name, "Kirico" appears to be a modification of the Japanese word "kiriko" (切子), meaning "facet" or "face".
- Edo kiriko and Satsuma kiriko are traditional Japanese crafts of cut glass.
Trivia
- Winchester, the witch's real name, was revealed in Arc 2 Chapter 12 (Part 5).
- Originally, only the familiar-turned-witch's name was revealed as Sarah・Mirabilis・W, leading the fandom to believe that was the Mirror Witch's name.
- Combining the two names results in Sarah・Mirabilis・Winchester, a combination of the person "Sarah Winchester" and the feature found in nature "spira mirabilis".
- The sign in her labyrinth reads "Welcome to Mirrors".
- The humanoid figure that appears in one of the Witch's labyrinth backgrounds is a scrapped Familiar. Its concept art shown at the Shaft Art Exhibit reveals that its purpose was to explain how Mirrors worked and that it could speak. This idea was eventually scrapped and the Familiar's role was filled by Mitama Yakumo instead.
- The lower body of her true form resembles the calyx of a chinese lantern plant, which is a symbol of deceit. It is also associated with the Obon festival and it's supposed to guide the souls of the dead back to the afterlife, which may be related to Mikoto persisting as a "ghost" after her death.
- The Japanese text on the back of the memoria "Me x 4", "The Two Copies", "You Are The Only Truth and "Myako-Senpai Radar" are written backwards, hence the backwards English translations.
- For Me x 4, it reads the following when flipped. "Me and me and me and me... In other words, there is four of me here | With all of me gathered here, we'll obviously be hyped up! It's me after all! | Ok then, what else can we do than party! | Also we should go karaoke, all four of us can sing my favourite song!"
- For "The Two Copies", it reads the following when flipped. "'Okey! Rena... Do you know what the most important thing is for a magical girl?' | 'Important thing!? Kaede-chan... Rena don't know...' 'Jeez!... Well I’ll tell you then... It’s fighting spirits, fighting spirits! You have to fire yourself up!' | 'Y-ye! Kaede-chan you’re so cool!'"
- For "You Are The Only Truth", it reads the following when flipped. "Even if the fake impersonates your voice, and talks in your words | I will never be misled nor trust it. | I will find the real you out and bring you back by any means. | Let's go back. To the peaceful world..."
- For "Myako-Senpai Radar", it reads the following when flipped. "'Whoawhoawhoawhoa... whoa! A fish! I can feel a tug!' | 'Woah! Th-this is...?!' | 'Myako-senpai!' | (...Yeah! Todays radar is in great condition!)"
- Despite taking place in Mirrors, the memoria "The Exhibition Will Open Soon! Please Pay Attention!" and "Flowers, Fallen, Never to Return" do not have flipped text.
- Her Doppel sprite in her Rumor unit is a mirror of her normal Doppel sprite. The excess ram's horns appear on top rather than protruding from the bottom. The Doppel's four arms now appear on the top half of the Doppel while the two smoke-like arms now appear on the bottom half.
- Her design resembles to paper cutouts, or more specifically Jianzhi or mirror paper cutting techniques.