Walpurgisnacht Rising/Madoka Magica Theories under cut, potential spoilers if you haven’t watched the series. VERY long.
I know WHY people say that Walpurgisnacht is some form of Homura, but honestly, I just can’t accept that theory. For one, Homulily exists. I know I know, you could argue that’s just one form of Homura, or say that some time travel thing happened and she became Walpurgisnacht. Her silhouette matching somewhat with Kriemhild Gretchen’s into an hourglass is also incredibly compelling; it would mirror Madoka and Homura’s connection through their looping timelines.
BUT. And hear me out-I just can’t see it. Madoka Magica as a series doesn’t exactly hold your hand, it’s incredibly symbolic. But I personally feel like when it tells you something at face value, then that’s kind of it. Homulily is Homura’s Witch, Walpurgisnacht is the culmination of multiple Witches. And I think that’s the end, cut and dry. Again though, BUT, I do think they’re connected.
There’s a few posts floating around that Madoka’s story has strong connections to multiple Buddhist themes. (One link here, very interesting read: https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterRant/comments/1ltjlxg/madoka_magica_is_a_modern_buddhist_folktale/ )
And I can absolutely see this. Madoka achieves “enlightenment”, or Ultimate Form, but instead of ascending alone chooses to aid all Magical Girls before technically leaving the world forever. She goes through multiple loops of suffering, like the cycle of Samsara, before becoming Ultimate Madoka. Similarly, Homura also goes through and technically begins the endless cycle of suffering, but does not achieve the same enlightenment. I bring up this specific concept because in one of the trailers for the upcoming Walpurgisnacht Rising posted on July 2nd, Homura is seen talking about Madoka with a mention of attachment around 0:16. The English subtitles do say “obsession”, which is understandable. You could argue she’s entirely obsessed with Madoka, with changing the universe to make her live a “normal” life. But according to one user @whimsicalVanilla, the word “shuuchaku” while translated as “obsession” here, can also mean the same as an “earthly attachment”, i.e. the thing that keeps you from enlightenment.
The fact that Homura acknowledges this specific idea not only supports the whole Buddhist theming, but also implies to me that she knows she’s just hurting herself and Madoka, and maybe on some level wants to stop this. Branching off a bit, seeing the mysterious girl around 0:20 AND reading the description of the trailer which says: “The her I wished for, the me she wished for…” I believe the mysterious non-magical girl is an aspect of Homura. Light hair, one side ponytail, but similar colors to Homura and even a bow like hers in the Wraith arc, I think that’s the version of her that she and Madoka originally wanted. Homura wanted to be like Madoka, defeating suffering for the sake of others and being strong. Whence why she still has glasses and the bow; a mix of Madoka and Homura before the time-loops started. That version of her, I believe, is one that still exists. She fights for others, piercing evil beings with her bow and trying to escape the attachments Homura has to both let Madoka return to enlightenment and perhaps achieve it herself.
Well then, what about Walpurgisnacht? I believe that Walpurgisnacht is a representation of samsara, or a culmination of each Witch stuck in the loops that Homura caused. The karmic energy attached to Homura and Madoka is what made them both so strong, but it had to attach to anyone else stuck in the loops, right? Sayaka’s Witch is also incredibly powerful, and frequently leads to deaths in the main group in multiple timelines. It could be entirely possible that the same Witches that were killed over and over, forced to relive their suffering while Homura tried to alleviate Madoka’s, all somehow had their energies converged to become this natural disaster of a Witch. It could explain why she and Madoka’s Witch match in silhouettes, that freedom of the cycle cannot exist without the cycle itself. They complete each other in a sad way. And since Homura tore Madoka from godhood, thus introducing the endless suffering once more, Walpurgisnacht also returned.
Did this make sense? Or was this just senseless rambling? Let me know 🫶
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