User:HomuraDidNothingWrong

Hi, I'm a Madoka Magica fan. Also... Homura's only crime was being a kid and watching her friends die repeatedly. As such? She did nothing wrong.

A Collection of Frequently Asked Questions & Misconceptions

Is Homura an Orphan / Where are Homura's parents?

While it's widely believed that Homura is an orphan, that isn't strictly the case. When being swarmed by classmates in Episode 1, some localizations have the following dialogue:

 (10:48)  ???   : "Which school did you come from?" 
 (10:49)  Homura: "A Christian school in Tokyo." 

Attendance of a "christian school" does not imply being Catholic or Christian, merely that a number of mission schools in Japan tend to be Catholic and/or Christian.

As to being an orphan or not, there is no observed material as to Homura being an orphan. One could presume that she is based on the absence of her parents in her home, or mention of them, but that isn't a confirmation. The most obvious in-universe cue as to the status of her parents lies in her witch's labyrinth. Homura instead prioritized a classmate she barely interacts with for 10 seconds (that of Nakazawa), and Madoka's parents over her own. If they were alive, they are not close.

In the "You Are Not Alone" Guidebook (pg. 120, Section "THE ROLE PLAYED BY MADOKA'S FAMILY"), Urobuchi is quoted as saying the following:

And contrary to Madoka, there is absolutely no description about the family in Homura's case, and it is because she is a character who is not needed to be taken as a symbol for mahou shoujo. It is not that there is some reason that she must not have a family, but it is because there is no need to depict them so they do not appear. 

As such, saying Homura is an orphan is likely inaccurate; for the purposes of the plot, she never had family.

How Many Loops?

The misconception that Homura has reset the timeline in her quest to save Madoka is largely derived from a 2013 panel interview where when asked, Gen Urobochi answered rather succinctly she went through "approaching 100". That said, that response is a Word Of God (authorial declaration), and can be potentially dismissed or disproven in any later media.

Based purely on textual evidence, we are privy a bare minimum of four loops (Homura's Origin Loop, Her First Attempt, The Main Series Timeline, and the Rewritten World Loop) If one is so bold as to include spinoffs that nestle "between loops", this may increase the total slightly, but doesn't approach the oft parroted total of "approaching 100".

For more information, see Timeline.

The theories below have not been proven yet.
Please keep in mind that they are fanmade theories, and not official material.

Some fans speculate that, based on fourteen strings being visible when "bound to karmic destiny" in their respective chats between Madoka/Homura and Kyubey, but that is merely speculation attempting to draw on what's in the text.

• 
  Homura with fourteen threads of fate.
• 
  Madoka in the same circumstances in Episode 11.

In short? We don't know for sure how many other than "more than four", and "approaching 100" only has a 2013 panel interview and uwasa spread through the 'net to back it up.

Community:Faust Is On Show

This page contains community-made content. As such, it may not otherwise meet editorial or quality standards established elsewhere on the wiki. However, it remains a significant part of the series' history and cultural context and is kept here for archival purposes.

Throughout the original airing of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, as well as spinoff media like Wraith Arc, characters, scenery, and plot all repeatedly allude and make use of constructs, plot devices, and theories from Goethe's Faust. Below is a non-exhaustive comparison of some known, observed points.

Partially adapted from a list made at Community:Madoka Magica and Faust.

Episode 1

The very first scene shown in Madoka Magica makes use of Runes to act as a "titlecard" for the series, consistently in both the show and the Beginnings movie. The runes read "Prolog Im Himmel", or "Prologue In Heaven" when translated from German.

• 
  Prolog Im Himmel Runes, Episode 1

This name is also used as the opening poem to Goethe's Faust, where Mephistopheles and God discuss the terms of their wager with respect to the titular character of Faust.

The theories below have not been proven yet.
Please keep in mind that they are fanmade theories, and not official material.

• Because of the framing of runes being used as an overt curtain rises on the scene, some fans speculate that the entire show we watch is in fact, Walpurgisnacht's show. See further discussion below.

In Gertrud's Labyrinth

When Sayaka and Madoka end up in Gertrud's labyrinth, they're chased by Anthonys as they babble at them. The babbling of the witch's familiars is, in fact, an exerpt from "The Hexeneinmaleins" largely categorized as a "spell".

[Archaic] DU MUßT VERSTEHN! AUS EINS MACH ZEHN UND ZWEI LAß GEHN UND DREI MACH GLEICH Du mußt versteh'n! Aus Eins mach Zehn, Und Zwei laß geh'n, Und Drei mach gleich, [...] So bist du reich. Verlier die Vier! Aus Fünf und Sechs, So sagt die Hex’, Mach Sieben und Acht, So ist’s vollbracht: Und Neun ist Eins, Und Zehn ist keins. Das ist das Hexen-Einmaleins!

This you must ken (understand)! From one make ten, And two let be, Make even three, [...] Then rich you'll be. Skip o'er the four! From five and six, The Witch's tricks, Make seven and eight, 'Tis finished straight; And nine is one, And ten is none, That is the witch's one-times-one!

Episode 2

Gertrud's Barrier (Exterior)

• 
  Goethe's Faust quote in episode two.
• 
  Second half of this quote.

The texts on the abandoned building's entrance in two shots are are quotes from Goethe's Faust.

Original text

Translation

Weh! Weh! Du hast sie zerstört, Die schöne Welt, Mit mächtiger Faust; Sie stürzt, sie zerfällt! Ein Halbgott hat sie zerschlagen! Wir tragen Die Trümmern ins Nichts hinüber, Und klagen Über die verlorne Schöne. Mächtiger Der Erdensöhne, Prächtiger Baue sie wieder, In deinem Busen baue sie auf! Neuen Lebenslauf Beginne, Mit hellem Sinne, Und neue Lieder Tönen darauf!

Woe! woe! Thou hast it destroyed, The beautiful world, With powerful fist: In ruin ’tis hurled, By the blow of a demigod shattered! The scattered Fragments into the Void we carry, Deploring The beauty perished beyond restoring. Mightier For the children of men, Brightlier Build it again, In thine own bosom build it anew! Bid the new career Commence, With clearer sense, And the new songs of cheer Be sung thereto!

The text in this screen references a passage from Faust.

Gertrud's Labyrinth (Interior)

As in episode one, cut out rings containing Faust quotes in German can be seen within Gertrud's barrier. One of these is legible, referencing a passage where several things are cursed.

Here is the full passage and translation:

Original text	Translation
Verflucht voraus die hohe Meinung, Womit der Geist sich selbst umfängt! Verflucht das Blenden der Erscheinung, Die sich an unsre Sinne drängt! Verflucht was uns in Träumen heuchelt, Des Ruhms, der Namensdauer Trug! Verflucht was als Besitz uns schmeichelt, Als Weib und Kind, als Knecht und Pflug!	Cursed be, at once, the high ambition Wherewith the mind itself deludes! Cursed be the glare of apparition That on the finer sense intrudes! Cursed be the lying dream's impression of name, and fame, and laureled brow! Cursed, all that flatters as possession, As wife and child, as knave and plow!

Episode 3

The Witch's Mask

Episode 3 saw the first airing of the ending for the anime. The last picture shown is that of a childlike Madoka sleeping in the eye socket of a witch's mask, with some fans comparing it to the cover of Mephisto.

• 
  Poster for Mephisto, detailing said mask.
• 
  Episode 3 Opening & Ending comparison shot from Ep. 3.