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In general (re-organize later):
- They are creatures that spread curses, often causing unexplained accidents, murders and/or suicides, manipulating humans via a mark called a Witch Kiss. Whenever there's a kiss on someone, that Witch is almost always close by controlling them.
- Magia Record reveals that Familiars can also manipulate humans with a Witch kiss.
- They are the "mature" forms of magical girls, the result of a soul gem becoming entirely tainted in darkness and a magical girl falling into despair. It's the key emotion that leads to witchification.
- Both are not needed for the girl to turn, but go hand in hand when it happens such as Homura giving up in episode 12 and her gem started rapidly corrupting in response. There seems to be a few exceptions to this however:
- In Kazumi Magica the girls were polishing their gems via Juubey under the belief that they were being cleaned, and despite their mental state being fairly normal, Niko and Saki turned into witches when their gems reached their limits (though Saki's was influenced due to an Evil Nut.)
- In MagiReco Iroha had neglected cleaning her soul gem after being in Kamihama for awhile, but her mental state hadn't declined in the slightest. When her gem was reaching its limit, Iroha was incapacitated and in pain.
- According to Urobuchi in a tweet, a magical girl who doesn't know the truth about her soul gem and gets injured to the point that she genuinely believes she will die will have her soul gem darken immediately. Thus, if a magical girl like Mami lost her head but her soul gem was safe, she would become a witch quickly as she doesn't know the truth about soul gems and would despair due to believing she is dying/dead.
- It's implied that Witches can only be made out of beings that have a soul and are capable of emotion, and may not actually be limited by one's species (i.e. humans). Evidence for this:
- In Tart Magica, Kyubey points out that the Witch transformation only happens to other life forms and not Incubators. This is in relation to Isabeau who, while wished to have everything Kyubey had, couldn't avoid becoming a Witch as she was still a human and had emotions and a soul.
- Magia Record introduces the concept of a "Half-Witch" via Eve, who is the result of Ui's soul being removed from her body before her impurities could corrupt her soul. After her soul was transferred into Little Kyubey, it prevented Ui from becoming a Witch and her impurities instead corrupted and transformed her soulless body.
- This however creates a strange contradiction in that Touka had mentioned that without a soul, a Witch just dies. It's possible that the impurities and emotions, likely residues of it within her body, were the only thing that kept it going.
- Touka also mentions that (in relation to Incubators) Little Kyubey is incapable of becoming a Witch as it has no emotions and didn't appear to be affected in any way when it merged with Eve. It's very likely that Incubators are the only known species unable to become a Witch due to their lack of these things (soul and emotions.)
- Though Little Kyubey's case is stranger still as it very clearly expresses something due to having its powers taken away by Ui, Touka, and Nemu, and then having Ui's soul in its body. Even after the soul was removed, Little Kyubey still acts the same.
- Witches and their Familiars give off magic patterns that can be tracked by magical girls. All of their magical patterns are also different.
- Soul Gems react the closer one is in response to a Witch's magic. The level of response to a Soul Gem tells the strength of their magical power, e.g. the greater power of a witch vs. the lesser one of a familiar. They can also be used to open an entrance into a labyrinth. (revealed in Mami's route in Portable)
- Witches are invisible to normal humans, but can be seen by magical girls and potential ones. According to Touka Satomi's MSS in Magia Record, the reason why is because Witches, Familiars and their Labyrinths exist on a very specific wavelength that can only be perceived as light and sound.
- Oriko contradicts this however when Madoka's classmates were able to see Kirika's labyrinth and familiars. The reason for this could be because they're not under the influence of a Witch's kiss while in the labyrinth. Evidence for this is:
- Sayaka's route in Portable with with Kyosuke and Hitomi
- Tart Magica with Isabeau's Witch being so big that her labyrinth trapped all of France, allowing Tart's soldiers and Isabeau's soldiers to see and fight Witches
- In Magia Record's Green Jasper Diviners Event, Chiharu's mom and Shizuka's mom fought Familiars in a village engulfed in a labyrinth. It was also mentioned that they couldn't fight off the Familiars unless their weapons were infused with magic (heavily implying normal weapons are incapable of harming Witches/Familiars and that only magic can hurt them)
- In Madoka's A La Carte Valentine story in MagiReco, Kako says that one doesn't have to be a magical girl to see Familiars inside a Witch's labyrinth. This implies that normal human beings can only see Familiars and Witches if they're in a labyrinth (and also not under a Witch's kiss.)
- In Sasara Minagi's MSS, it's noted that those cursed by a Witch's kiss become unconscious and don't usually remember what happened, further confirming this theory.
- This doesn't explain, however, why Walpurgisnacht specifically has no labyrinth but still can't be seen by humans. It's possible that, like Kyubey, Walpurgisnacht could just choose to be invisible to humans so that it could continue its destruction without interruption and magical girls/potential ones just can't be fooled by this. It could also be because of its incredible strength that allows it to do this.
- The level of sentience in Witches and Familiars appears to vary. The large majority are animal-like, being unable to recognize friends/family nor act human anymore. Some interesting exceptions:
- In Kazumi Magica, while Saki's Witch had killed Mirai, she is later seen protecting Kazumi from Kanna's witches in The Freezer. It was noted that this was because her Witch's nature was "sisterly love" and Saki was in love with Kazumi (who was Michiru's clone, and she loved the original as well.)
- MagiReco has the Mirror Witch's Familiars inviting others into their labyrinth via letters a few times. It's also shown that this Witch's ability allows it to create copies of others such as magical girls who can act almost like the original, and even converse like a normal person. They drop the act once they're exposed though.
- Isabeau's Witch is a very unique case in that, because of Lapin's wish to return her to how she was before becoming a Witch and the transformation itself being irreversible, the corrupted mind of the Witch was made to inhabit Isabeau's body. Her speech was shown to be severely limited however (though MagiReco might contradict this given her playble status via Quotes), and yet was able to be understood by her daughters and retain her ambition to destroy all of France.
- While this transformation was noted to be irreversible, the Different Story had Madoka wishing to revive Sayaka after she became a Witch and died. This likely because of Madoka's potential though, which was greater than Lapin's.
- Even so, Lapin's ability from her wish has made it possible for her to avoid permanently becoming a Witch, being shown to transform back to how she was before with seemingly no change to her personality nor any other drawbacks. As such, Lapin is currently the only known magical girl who is effectively immune to witchification.
- They primarily feed on humans and kill them, though it's debatable on whether most or all Witches literally consume prey or simply drain their life force (or a combination of the two.) Familiars also do this in order to grow up into a Witch themselves.
- Other than Charlotte, Oriko Magica also suggests actual consumption rather than the latter as Kikira's Witch's Familiars devoured a person, though this could vary based on the Familiar type.
- MagiReco also has Witches and Familiars consuming Grief Seeds to become stronger.
- In the MagiReco anime, it's been shown that Witches can and will kill each other if they trespass each other's territories and will result in the loser dropping a grief seed. So it's likely that Witches, or rather most in general, will target each other and consume the other like any other prey.
- The MagiReco anime shows the appearance of multiple of the same Witch, confirming that Familiars do in fact grow up into an exact copy of the original and not a different one.
- Mami's route in the Portable game reveals the following information:
- Witches are generally cautious which is why they are generally not in public, but lurk at the back of labyrinths. Note: It implies strong and/or confident witches may choose to not have labyrinths.
- Witches move around and like to be in ominous places where the negative feelings of many people are easier to gather. MagiReco contradicts this with Witches appearing in non-ominous places, but that could be because of the above point, that they are stronger than normal and thus more confident in attacking anywhere they want.
- The complexity of the labyrinth gives indication of the strength of the witch. Stronger witches have more complex labyrinths. MagiReco confirms this with the Mirror Witch, Sarah Mirabilis W.
- Exceptions to this are Walpurgisnacht, Hyades Daybreak, and Shitori Egumo, all of which are very large and powerful Witches created under unusual circumstances.
- If someone, whether a regular human or a magical girl dies in the labyrinth, their body disappears there. They will forever be considered a missing person to the rest of the world. However in Sayaka's route where she looses her soul gem, it is implied that as long as the witch is still alive something lost can be recovered, but once the witch is defeated then everything inside the labyrinth vanishes and can't be recovered.
- Witches seem to have very distinct appearances and naming schemes between modern times (Madoka) and medieval times (Tart), though this could be because of different artists:
- Witches in Tart's time tend to look more detailed and realistic compared to Witches in modern times which are abstract and organic.
- Witches in Tart's time also seem to follow a different naming conventions compared to the shorter, more normal names Witches have in modern times, where they seem to indicate a title such as Tart, Melissa, Elisa and Isabeau's Witches.
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