Talk:Walpurgis Night In Real Life

Shadow of Memories

From the Homura Residence article: "The exterior view of Homura's residence resembles a scene from Shadow of Memories (Shadow of Destiny for North America). Interestingly it went through several title changes before release, among them The Day and Night of Walpurgisnacht, Days of Walpurgis, and Time Adventure." It would be helpful if this claim is investigated, and more evidence is provided. --Fallacies 19:19, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

Faust

Faust I contains a scene called Walpurgisnachtstraum ( in [ ] equvivalent person in the anime: Mephistopheles [Kyubey] notices that Faust [Madoka] relation to him is getting lose because of Faust´s love to Gretchen(A women Faust got pregnant) [Sayaka]. He tries to get him motivated again by showing him an great, amazing and fantasitc event on the Hexenberg (witch´s mountain). Meanwhile Gretchen snaps and kills her baby [=Sayaka snaps and becomes a witch]. The event is the following: Many witches try to get on the Brocken (a mountain in Germany) where the devil visits them. Faust tries to get on the top because he thinks that there some riddles can be solved. But Mephistopholes convinces him to dance with a witch. Faust stops the dance when a red mouse falls out of the mouth of the witch and a "pretty child" appears that reminds him to Gretchen with a red cord around her neck which reminds to her future execution (for killing the child [for becoming a witch])To distract Faust Mephistopholes leads him to a hill where a play should be shown (i tried to translate the text from the german wikipedia)

Added. I tried to reword it a bit but I'm not a native english speaker and I haven't read Faust either so that wasn't easy. Anyone more knowledgeable feel free to make it more sexy. That being said, I read on Wikipedia that Walpurgisnacht also appears in Faust part. II. Is it relevant? --Homerun-chan 20:55, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

as much as i know the witch Erichtho appears and mixes up the preolympical time, the roman time and the Greek War of Independence (which happend in the time Faust plays). Faust gains new power through this while Mephitsopholes feels irritated and find reletives (other demons)between the antic creatures [may be a hint that other kyubey like creatures will appear if this scene is used in madoka magika

note: since there are Faust 1 & 2, maybe madoka magika will get a second season

Different anon here: I'd like to point out from the translation of Faust Act 1 I read, there is a "half-witch" that says she is unable to fly, and the other witches respond that if she can't fly on that night she can never fly again. Considering that the magical girls can be thought of as "half-witches", I'm wondering if Homura is the parallel to the half-witch, especially if Walpurgis is the prologue dream.

i found the scenes walpurgisnacht and walpurgisnachtstraum in english online. walpurgisnacht: http://www.readcentral.com/chapters/Johann-Wolfgang-Von-Goethe/Faust-Part-1/026 walpurgisnachtstraum: http://www.readcentral.com/chapters/Johann-Wolfgang-Von-Goethe/Faust-Part-1/027

you can try and interpret it

it is kinda a parody on "A Midsummer Night´s Dream" (which is called "ein Sommernachtstraum" in german). i am a native german so it´s also a little hard for me to write a wiki text about this -original anon-

since the walpurigsnacht is also the night which leads into may, the germans have an old tradtion of a dance around the Maibaum (maypole) [wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maypole ) theere are a few variations, but some look rather familiar. there is an old picture from the middle ages http://balladof.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/maypole.gif and an old photo http://cd7.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cd7/website/images/victorian-maypole.jpg -original anon-

Event vs person

Now that it is confirmed that Walpurgisnacht is a witch (or the manifestation of a witch), shouldn't this page be linked from the "Characters" page? Or are we waiting for the witch's appearance on-screen to do so? --Homerun-chan 10:38, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Now that Walpurgis/Walpurga has appeared in the anime (giving us some solid answers to the speculah on this page), should we put up her character page now or when her card comes out next week? Should we at least put up a picture gallery here? Momoism 18:53, 23 April 2011 (UTC)

Moving this page

Shouldn't this page be renamed Walpurgis Night? (i.e. outside of the "Speculah" namespace). It also have official information and real-life events now, so it's not pure speculah anymore... --Homerun-chan 15:29, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

I agree. And I think it has been proposed before, too. --KFYatek 17:02, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Actually a lot of different solutions have been proposed about everywhere. Looks like someone started making a Walpurgis Night page different from this one, too... We really should agree on something before long or it'll become quite a mess ... --Homerun-chan 18:42, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Speaking of which, I propose we continue this discussion there so that two discussion don't take place at the same time. --Homerun-chan 18:44, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Literary & Historical Background

The description of Walpurgis Night's card in Japanese, "舞台装置の魔女", is somehow corresponding to the origination of Deus ex machina. And also it matches the meaning that Walpurgis Night seems to be produced artificially rather than naturally. She also seems to be born to solve the distorted fact caused by puella magi's wish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina The Latin phrase "deus ex machina" comes to English usage from Horace's Ars Poetica, where he instructs poets that they must never resort to a god from the machine to solve their plots. He refers to the conventions of Greek tragedy, where a crane (mekhane) was used to lower actors playing gods onto the stage. The machine referred to in the phrase could be either the crane employed in the task, a calque from the Greek "god from the machine" ("ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός," apò mēkhanḗs theós), or the riser that brought a god up from a trap door. Although this phrase is somewhat diluted in transliteration as earlier in history, the phrase "god from the machine" implies the old use of mechanical manipulation, i.e. to be made with one's hands. So if there were a more generally accurate way of translating deus ex machina into English, it would be "god from our hands" or "god that we make", implying that the device of said god is entirely artificial or conceived by man.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%87%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A8%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9E%E3%82%AD%E3%83%8A エクス・マキーナ（機械による）とは、この場面において神を演じる役者がクレーンのような仕掛けで舞台（オルケストラ）上に登場し、このからくりが「機械仕掛け」と呼ばれたことによる。由来は、「機械仕掛けで登場する神」ないし、舞台装置としての解決に導く神そのものが機械仕掛けであることとも解される。日本語で思いがけない展開を指す「どんでん返し」（歌舞伎において、大道具の背景を倒し、瞬時に場面転換する「強盗返」から来た）あるいは「超展開」とも発想は類似している。井上勇は創元推理文庫のヴァン・ダイン『ベンスン殺人事件』で、「時の氏神」と意訳している。 Homuhentai 16:52, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

The repeated references to theatre and "rotation" suggest a further connection to both the "wheel of fortune" (already one of Oktavia von Seckendorff's motifs) and William Shakespeare's famous "All the world's a stage" monologue from As You Like It:

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." — Jaques (Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166)

Interestingly, Walpurgis's "dress" is Elizabethan in style (despite her medieval headdress), furthering the Shakespeare connection. Momoism 18:14, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

「そいつ」

I've believed that 'it' is exactly a witch named as 'Walpurgisnacht' before I read the section. In Japanese line at least, it is name of witch. --Nox 17:33, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

A New Walpurgis Night

Considering that Walpurgis Night is an old reference from the past, I suspect (and asume) there had been many different versions that emerged throughout history (during the festival?), since the reference is not only about the Witch but also the festival itself. If Walpurgis Night is a creation of the merging of several Witches then could it mean that a new one emerges to replace the old one when it gets defeated in the next Witch festival? With so little information there is no much to go with... --Mutopis 19:26, 30 May 2011 (UTC)