Speculah:Kyubey is Evil Theory

This is one of the very first speculations that have appeared, and also one of the most commonly accepted. This theory states that Kyubey isn't as cute and inoffensive as he looks and is supported by the following observations:

File:KyubeyIsEvil.png

Just as planned.

• He seems a bit too pushy towards Madoka and Sayaka, repeatedly demanding that they form a contract with him. The implication is that Kyubey or whoever he works for (the official site describes him as a messenger) has some sort of agenda.
• His expression is a little too wooden, with a cute grin which never quits, even when being shot up by Homura in episode 2. The overall effect is just slightly creepy.
• In the opening dream, his tone of voice and expression remain entirely cheerful, and he takes the opportunity to cheerfully propose a contract while Homura is being brutally murdered in front of their eyes.
• There are ears coming out of his ears.
• Since the girls currently have no magical power, the telepathy they use in Episode two only works because he is constantly reading their minds and knows everything they are thinking.
• When he is shot up by Homura, he does not bleed, instead his white coat appears torn, revealing a red surface underneath.
• In Faust, which is referenced many times in the anime, the devil Mephistopheles appears to Faust as a small cute animal and asks Faust to form a contract with him. In the anime, Kyubey, a small cute animal-like creature, approaches Madoka and asks her to form a contract with him.
• Homura tries to kill him, but does not appear to be an antagonist. She also warns Madoka that she may "lose everything" if she wishes to be something other then herself (i.e. accept Kyubey's contract and become a magical girl). Furthermore, she is also shocked when knowing that Mami has defeated. Not like something one will felt when knowing her rival has been defeated.
• When Kyubey tells Madoka that Homura tried to kill him because she wanted to stop him making more magical girls, Mami's face is shadowed, implying that he may be lying (although she may just feel guilty for having to fight other magical girls).
  • This may also be because she wants the company of other Puella Magi.

However, although it is commonly accepted that Kyubey may be evil, opinions differ as to his agenda.

This theory evolved with episode 2. It is now possible that Kyubey (or whatever entity he is working for) may be interested in Grief Seeds, or the negative energy that they contain. Since fallen magical girls become witches, it is possible that Kyubey creates magical girls so that they supply him with filled seeds.

1. Grant wishes and create magical girls
2. Wait for these magical girls to turn into witches
3. Create more magical girls to fight the witches
4. Collect the negative energy the new magical girls have found and generated.
5. Repeat process
6. ???
7. Profit

File:Kyubey Neutral Evil.jpg

This theory has been made even more likely with episode 6, when we see Kyubey actually "eating" a Grief Seed. By episode 9, this theory was reinforced. However according to Kyubey's explanation usable energy is generated during transitions from human to magical girl, some of that energy is used to fulfil a wish, and from magical girl to witch, which is all released in a huge flash, as seen when Sayaka turns into witch.

In the end of the episode 04, by the way, Kyubey say nothing to Kyoko (a magical girl first appearing at that moment) when she decided to eliminate Sayaka ( has just become a magical girl).

Moreover, since it takes many witches to keep one magical girl supplied, it is possible that the majority of girls which Kyubey contracts with will never successfully collect a grief seed (or collect very few) before becoming prey themselves. This speculah is known as the "Pyramid scheme" or "Ponzi scheme." This could be reinforced by the fact that, before Kyoko died, she was already beginning to have a darkened Soul Gem. Which can be made in 2 ways: either magical girl turns into a witch, either witch spawns multiple familiars who turn into witches later. That's is why Kyoko is very upset about destruction of familiars because they provide "food" for magical girls and she will kill anyone who wastes food.

Another possibility raised by this theory is that the dream shown to Madoka at the beginning of episode one may well be a fake dream, created for the sole purpose of making Madoka want to be a magical girl. That supposes Kyubey can alter people's perception, which is also fairly possible since he's able to communicate by telepathy. This is inconsistent with a few minor notes, though.

File:QB how is my driving.png

There is no evidence that he did it... there is also no evidence that he didnt...

In episode 08, Madoka becomes confused and static flashes over the screen just before she asks Homura if they'd met before. This is consistent with Homura's earlier statement that nobody ever believes her when she reveals things like the true nature of soul gems, but inconsistent with Kyubey's conversation with Madoka in episode 09. It may seem that Kyubey can be responsible for that memory loss, however later it is clear that Kyubey has no knowledge about Homura's origins because he is very interested how does Homura knows exact location at time when Walpurgis will appear and other things. (Note that Homura killed Kyubey in current timeline before he met with Madoka once then his second body survived injury not in any other timeline) Additionally, so far, only Mami shows any disbelief or hard feelings toward Homura when she attempts to explain this matter.

Kyubey could be deploying witches from his stockpile of "eaten" grief seeds to pressure girls into contracts, although this also can be which familiar who turned into grief seed. For example, he might have planted Charlotte's seed at the hospital and supercharged it with grief in an attempt to force Madoka and/or Sayaka to transform to fight her.

However since Kyubey is incapable to feel emotions it is quite likely he is incapable to lie. He actually never told any lie, but also he usually will not tell any information unless he is asked or he expects that it will be useful to achieve his goals. Unfortunately girls also do not ask anything either. Without emotions, Kyubey cannot qualify as good or evil, as he is incapable of feeling satisfaction from his acts and does not have any evil reasons for what he is doing.

• Emotions and lying don't go hand in hand. There's no reason why a completely emotionless being cannot lie, and being unable to feel any guilt from intentionally misleading someone would simply make it easier for them to lie without the others being able to detect it. Nor are emotions or feeling any satisfaction from one's action is required for anyone to be considered good or evil. Regardless of if someone feels remorseful, joyful, or simply nothing at all, they'll still be considered evil when they systematically murder entire worlds. Just they may not consider it evil.

• Urobuchi Gen made some interesting tweets about how he was wondering how people could think Kyubey is suspicious "even though there aren't any scenes with bloodshed yet" this could either be taken as "Kyubey really isn't evil" or "just wait until blood sheds and then see whether he's evil or not" or something.

In episode 11 it points out its intentions and ethics. This does not ever settle if it is evil or not.