Kriemhild Gretchen
Kriemhild Gretchen (KRIEMHILD•GRETCHEN) is the witch form of Madoka Kaname.
Witch Cards
救済の魔女。その性質は慈悲。この星の全ての生命を強制的に吸い上げ彼女の作った新しい天国（結界）へと導いていく。 この魔女を倒したくば世界中の不幸を取り除く以外に方法は無い。もし世界中から悲しみがなくなれば魔女はここが天国であると錯覚するだろう。
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Witch of salvation. Her nature is mercy. She absorbs any life on the planet into her newly created heaven--her barrier. The only way to defeat this witch is to make the world free of misfortune. If there's no grief in this world, she will believe this world is already a heaven. | ||||||||||
絶望の魔女。その性質は強訴。力尽きた全ての魔法少女と叶うことがなかった全ての希望の代弁者。この宇宙を書き換える希望が生まれると同時に絶望の泥より生まれ果てしなき悲鳴をその身に詰めて膨らみ続ける空気人形。魔法少女の因果が回る限り、この魔女は途方もない大きさまで膨らみ続け、やがてはその身体で銀河すらも圧し潰してしまうだろう。
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The Witch of Despair. Her nature is direct petition. The mouthpiece for all the unfulfilled hopes of all spent magical girls. If a hope is born that can rewrite the universe, then at the same time, it is born from the mud of despair. Everlasting wailing fills her body, a continuously swelling, empty doll. At the end of a magical girl’s karma, this witch continues to swell to absurd sizes. And in the end, her body could even destroy the galaxy. | ||||||||||
Minions
救済の魔女の手下。その役割は計量。天国へ昇る者達の心臓をその秤へ乗せ罪の重さを暴き見せる。罪深き者へは魔女からのより深き慈悲が与えられるだろう。
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The Minion of the Witch of Salvation. Their task is measurement. They can expose the impurities of the hearts of those who go to Heaven by weighing the sins place on their scales. The sinful are perhaps granted even more profound mercy from the witch. | ||||||||||
History
Original Anime
Kriemhild Gretchen appears in second and fourth timelines of Episode 10. A different version of her, born from Madoka's extremely powerful wish also appears in Episode 12.
In the second timeline, her formation involves thunderclouds coalescing initially into a giant humanoid and then she seems to form a mountain-like being.
In the fourth timeline, she is shown as a giant creature, actually the size of a mountain. Her name was not shown at all during initial broadcast, but was added in the fourth timeline in a webcast version one week later. According to Kyubey, strength of this incarnation of hers is of such a magnitude that she could obliterate the planet within ten days.
Her appearance in both timelines is essentially identical (if one looks closely at her fourth timeline appearance, they will see the head at the top of the shadow between the outstretched arms), though in the second timeline only her head was really shown at all, with the body still forming.
In episode 12, Madoka's all-powerful witch form appears at the end of the universe, born from all the grief Madoka had shouldered from the magical girls she had saved, due to her supremely hopeful wish. She inhabits a comet-sized grief seed and, unlike the second and fourth timelines versions of Kriemhild, has a fully-shown face (although the left half is either blank or covered in shadow); her head is sun disc-shaped, her open mouth resembles the moon, and her right eye resembles the earth. She is slain by Ultimate Madoka before she can consume the earth.
Magia Record
Anime Japan 2017 card description
The Doppel of Mercy. Her form is that of salvation. This Doppel is a replica of mercy. The owner of these feelings dreams of saving everyone and everything inside the Doppel. This Doppel, which has powers similar to that of a god's, will probably level the earth and reduce it all to dust.
In-Game (Normal version) description
The Doppel of mercy. Its form is salvation. The master of this emotion tries to save all of existence. This Doppel appears as a huge floating Soul Gem. Once it is summoned, it creates an existence within with all things around it are consumed, and then takes control of everything within that existence. After that, it floats higher into the air and a shower of light arrows rains down. While all of this is happening, the master of this emotion sleeps inside the huge Soul Gem.
Haregi version description
The Doppel of mercy. Its form is a New Year’s Tidings. The master of this emotion is filled with aspirations for the new year from inside her Doppel, which gathers all wishes for the year the moment if manifests and bestows them upon its enemy in the form of blessings of mercy. Any and all life that has thrived on this earth over the millennia of its existence are sure to be equally condensed and crushed by the enormity of this fleeting creature's wish.
Madoka-senpai version description
The Doppel of mercy. Its form is expulsion. The master of this emotion is identified as a foreign substance by her Doppel, and is mercilessly ejected from it. Having been separated from the representation of her emotions, only memories linger in its former master’s mind. But as she relishes those memories, they exude a new wave of emotion– and its charmingly quirky voice will surely mow down every enemy that she can see down below.
Swimsuit version description
The Doppel of mercy. Its form is salvation. The master of this emotion is en route to a summer resort, her heart aflutter at the thought of all the rare experiences that one can only enjoy during this brief window. This has affected her Doppel’s appearance as well, but because its master struggles to visualize what the resort will actually be like, the Doppel’s body has transformed into a serving of special fruit ice cream. Everything in the vicinity that this Doppel absorbs will be bathed fairly and evenly in cold syrup and fruit. Though they experience freezing cold as a result, it’s said that enduring the cold will lead to both salvation, and the ability to exalt the glories of any summer one could have. Throughout this, the emotion’s master dreams of eating delicious fruit ice cream as she sleeps.
Madogatari
This exhibition revealed the official description for the Witch of Despair, as well as the design for Kriemhild Gretchen's minions.
Song
Our Young Lady of Solace (我が救いのお嬢さん)
| Original text | Translation |
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※風に紛れ聞こえる妖精のささやき声の巨大な群れ ラゥ ラゥ お嬢さん ラゥ ラゥ お嬢さん ラゥ ロゥ お嬢さん 小鳥のような お嬢さん その魔法 我らが救い |
※Giant crowd of fairy-like whispers, heard faintly in the wind Lau, lau, young lady Lau, lau, young lady Lau, lou, young lady Like a little bird, young lady |
Observations
- In Episode 1, shortly after the runic text reading "Prologue in Heaven", we see the upside-down form of a giant shadow above Walpurgis Night's spell circle (the symbols seen behind Walpurgis Night). Based off her appearance and her desire to create "heaven", it can only be concluded that this shadow is Kriemhild Gretchen
- Kriemhild can only be defeated if the world is rid of all misfortune within the ten days it will take for her to destroy it. This could mean that the only feasible way of defeating her is by having a girl become a magical girl with the wish to rid the world of misfortune (or, alternately, to just kill Kriemhild outright -- which would probably make the new magical girl a witch even more powerful than Kriemhild herself)
- Since she rids the world of misfortune herself in given time that means the witch might just die out once her job is done and all the Incubators would have to do is pick up her huge grief seed afterwards
- It's probable that when Kyubey says Kriemhild will "destroy the planet" he simply means that Kriemhild's barrier will grow to encompass it or that she will wipe out all life on it in favor of her dream world barrier. In the event the latter were the case, Kriemheld could be likened to the biblical Apocalypse. All sinners (misfortune) are destroyed before paradise itself (the witch's barrier) settles on Earth for those still alive
- Kriemhild's Grief Seed has a symbol that resembles a shooting star. Shooting stars are associated with wishes
- In Goethe's Faust, Gretchen, also known as Margarete, was the name of Faust's lover. She dies at the end of Part 1 of Faust, but returns at the end of Part 2 as a Pentinent in heaven. She is allowed to lead Faust's soul into heaven's higher spheres
- Some studies suggest that Faust refers to the girl as Margarete (meaning pearl) at the beginning because of her purity and innocence, and changes to the diminutive Gretchen after their intercourse, to point out her spoiled purity. In the same way, the fact that this witch is named Gretchen, rather than Margarete, could represent the corruption of Madoka's soul
- Kriemhild, also known as Gudrun, is a figure from Norse Mythology. She is an important character in the epic poem Nibelungenlied. Note also that Kriemhild comes from the German words for "mask" and "battle".
- Some have come to believe that the mask shown at the end of the ending credits is actually Kriemhild's face, considering "Kriemhild"'s meaning of "battle mask"
- In the Madoka Magica Online game an accessory named "Faust's Mask" (ファソトマスク) appeared for a limited time. The mask is halved, like Ultimate Kremhild's, and can be equipped to any Magical Girl's face
- Kriemhild Gretchen's appearance as a giant shadow may be based off the phenomenon known as a Brocken spectre. In both German folklore and Goethe's Faust, Walpurgis Night occurred on the Brocken, a mountain peak in Germany. The conditions on the Brocken often cause Brocken spectres, which are magnified shadows of climbers being projected onto mist or clouds. Kriemhild Gretchen appears after the witch known as Walpurgis Night is defeated. If this is true, it's also possible that Kriemhild is not as large as she appears
- Meine Göttin ("My Goddess"), also a poem written by Goethe on 15 September 1780 and sent at once to Charlotte von Stein. It was first published in 1789 in Goethes Schriften. Written in hymnic form, the poem is a panegyric of the poetic imagination
- The last lines of Madogatari song might relate to Faust's prison scene, which is also referenced in the production notes for Walpurgisnacht's appearance in episode 11. In it Margarete, driven mad by grief and guilt after her actions led to the death of her mother, brother and baby, sings of a child who was murdered by their mother and eaten by their father, only to be reborn as a bird.
Trivia
- According to witch animator and designer InuCurry, Walpurgis Night's and Kriemhild Gretchen's silhouettes are supposed to make a pair.
- Puella Magi Production Note further reveals that Kriemhild Gretchen is meant to look like the lower half of a sand timer, while Walpurgis Night looks like the upper half. Interestingly, Homura's shield has also been described as a sand timer.
- In Madoka Magica Portable, in addition to her ribbon, Kriemhild Gretchen's grief seed is shown with black wings in the Kyoko route. It's also shown with black wings for the witch kiss available in the PSP custom themes available with the limited edition version of the game. Art from Inu Curry's special gallery game bonus reveals another depiction of the grief seed and the interior of the Kriemhild Gretchen, otherwise known as the Witch of Salvation.
- Her Doppel form in Magia Record is based off concept art by InuCurry for Madoka Magica Portable. In that game, it was noted to be in the center of the witch and is perhaps her true form.
Gallery
See Gallery:Kriemhild Gretchen
External links
- Kriemhild Gretchen card at official website (Japanese)