I've been obsessing over this rendition of the Law of Cycles as a kinetic sculpture for a long time, so it's kind of embarrassing to realize there are actually ten witches here, not nine. (In my defense, one is so washed out, it's really hard to tell that there's anything there.) Fortunately, the Rebellion Production Note comes to the rescue again with Inu Curry's original artwork, which is even more interesting to me than the versions that made it into the movie.
Here the "constellation" of witches is juxtaposed with the organ in Oktavia's orchestra. Clockwise from upper right:
HN Elly the Box Witch (also known as Kirsten) from Episode 4;
Sayaka's witch Oktavia's crown made of swords
Nagisa's witch Charlotte's doll silhouettes from episode 3
Patricia (spider witch with the clothesline webs from Episode 10)
Albertine the Scribbling witch (who doesn't appear in the show, but Sayaka fights her familiar Anja in the alleyway before Kyouko turns up in episode 5)
Elsa Maria the Shadow Witch whom Sayaka fights in episode 7
Gertrud the Rose Witch from Episode 1-2
Roberta the birdcage witch that Homura encounters in a flashback in episode 10
Suleika- another witch who never appears directly in the show but Mami dispatches her shadow lion familiars at the beginning of episode 3
Izabel the Art Witch who ensnares Homura in episode 10
None of this is explained in the Rebellion Production Note, by the way; for the designs of the sigils and other information that doesn't appear in the original series, you have to go to the corresponding production notes in the official guidebook "You Are Not Alone Anymore", which somehow I had never seen before. As someone who generally believes works should stand on their own without requiring further research, I am mildly annoyed at once again having to comb through supplementary artbooks in order to interpret this diagram, but such is life as a Madoka Magica fan.
Suleika's name and sigil don't even appear in the guidebook, to the point where the only reason I figured it out was by the process of elimination and the fact that it's a flashlight making the same star-shaped shadows as the lion heads (which are called Ulla). Talk about hidden lore!
Anyway, these ten witches are the ones that I think are most likely to show up in Walpurgis no Kaiten in some fashion or another, with preference given to those who have the most screen time in the original series (Gertrud, Charlotte, Oktavia, Patricia). Those who never appear on-screen in the original series or who only have a very brief appearance, like Albertine, Roberta, and Suleika, are probably less likely to be featured in a larger role, just because the average audience member who doesn't have a PhD in Madoka Studies might not know/remember who they are, but we'll have to see; if nothing else, Inu Curry loves a good esoteric reference.
This is not to say that there won't be witches from other spinoffs in Walpurgis no Kaiten, given that fans have already spotted multiple Magia Record witches in the witch book in the second trailer, but blink-and-you'll-miss-it freeze frame Easter eggs for hardcore fans are an entirely different kettle of fish from meaningful roles. That said, Doroinu Curry directed the Magia Record anime, so, uh, suffice to say that they really, really like Magia Record and it's not surprising that they'd try to slip in as many references as possible. TBD. Patricia was also heavily featured in Magia Record 2x01, which is one reason I ranked her so high on my list.
One thing that's really fascinating about this "constellation" is that Walpurgisnacht is not present in the movie version, even though her elephants appear to pull a pumpkin carriage when the Law of Cycles comes to take Homura away. However, she is present in the artwork in the Rebellion Production Note in the form of the lace curtain above the organ, making her the "stage" upon which the performance takes place. Alternately, the curtain here could refer to Homulilly, who is also associated with lace and curtains, as most of Rebellion takes place in her labyrinth.
Metaphorically, Walpurgisnacht is the dark mirror to the Law of Cycles--both are conglomerations of witches represented by a single entity, but one offers salvation/relief/death while the other offers death and destruction. Given Madoka Magica's tendency to make its metaphors literal, I suspect the two are more closely related than we know, though the mechanics of how exactly that would work remains to be seen.
Another fun tidbit: the captions in the Rebellion Production Note suggest that the "spokes" connecting the witches to each other represent links by fate or some kind of other link that makes them compatible with each other. Thus, Oktavia is linked to Elly/Kirsten because Sayaka fought and destroyed her; Sayaka and Nagisa are partners on the mission to save Homura, but I'm very curious about the other connections there. What do Suleika and Izabel have in common?
Also, I know I've said this before, but wow, does the constellation echo the isolation field that Kyubey puts Homura's soul gem in, so there's something especially poetic about the one being used to destroy the other.
It's still incredible to me I've been in this fandom for four years now and I'm learning new things about Madoka Magica every day!
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