[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Within the series itself, Sayaka never really gets on friendly terms with Kyouko or Homura, so for the most part she addresses them by "omae" or "anta" in direct speech, and "aitsu" when referring to them indirectly. However, there are a couple cases where Sayaka refers to them in the style of "Kyouko no yatsu" which is as close as I could get, I guess.

Well, there you go. Sayaka doesn't appear comfortable referring to just anybody by their given name alone, even if they are peers of her's, which is something that I specifically recalled from watching the anime (and noticed while re-watching it in order to rewrite this fanfic narrative). This strongly suggests that, for Sayaka, consistently referring to someone by their given name alone indicates a certain level of friendship and/or trust. So if somebody that she had been at odds with suddenly starts addressing her by her given name alone (when that wasn't the case before), I think that's something Sayaka would take notice of.

Homura's decision not to rely on anybody anymore comes from an awareness that she can't depend on others for help--that it is impossible for her to form an understanding with them, basically. But this mostly arises from the isolated and incommunicable situation of being a Puella Magi itself, particularly her brand of a time-leaping Puella Magi, not a hatred/distrust of people in general, I think. Homura's cold attitude towards humans stems from the idea "Puella Magi: not humans; Others: human", not "humans: untrustworthy and bad".

Your interpretation is at odds with what Homura said to Madoka near the end of Timeline 3 in Episode 10. Raging at the whole world to that degree strongly suggests a person having a pretty low opinion of humans in general, in my view. Homura having a low opinion of humans in general would also go a long way to...

1) Explaining why she refuses to depend on others for help.

2) Explaining why she was so totally swept off of her feet by Madoka, and became dedicated to her. Madoka is generally a very nice person, but for Homura to put her on that high a pedestal compared to everybody else strongly suggests that Homura doesn't think that much of the "everybody else".


I see plenty of evidence that Homura has a low opinion of humans in generals. At the very least, it's a perfectly viable interpretation of her character, and it's one that I'm still inclined to hold to.

I guess I should frame these statements specifically in the idea of giving parts of yourself to others. From Homura's perspective, selflessness and sacrifice are the most foolish parts of people.

This makes no sense whatsoever as everything Homura is doing essentially boils down to selfless sacrifice for Madoka's sake. Homura shows no signs of viewing herself as foolish. I see very little sense of regret to Homura, or her actions, which is what one would expect to see if Homura truly viewed selflessness and sacrifice as foolish.

Keep in mind that even as a Puella Magi, Homura's time-stop abilities could easily be used by Homura to enrich herself and live in the lap of luxury for whatever time she had left. Heck, simply selling off that weapons cache she amassed could net quite a bit of money...

It is a contradiction, in that Madoka's generousity of heart is what made Homura come to love Madoka in the first place, but throughout her state as we see it in the main anime timeline I think Homura clearly and consistently calls selflessness and the desire to help others foolish.

Who does she typically (if not always) say that to (or in the presence of)? Madoka.

What is her main, if not sole, reason for saying that? To persuade Madoka to deny her own selfless desire to help others, which aids Homura's selfless desire to save Madoka. It's ironic, but it is consistent and makes sense. To put it simply, Homura is intentionally misrepresenting her true views in order to ensure that she saves Madoka.


Homura clearly views selfless and sacrificial acts in a positive light or...

1) She wouldn't have fallen for Madoka.

2) She wouldn't be choosing to selflessly sacrifice herself for Madoka's sake.

For Homura to truly view selfless sacrificial acts as foolish would mean that Homura is a walking contradiction unto herself. And actions speak louder than words.


I'm sorry, Sol, but I really do think your interpretation of Homura on this specific point is way off, and probably even the exact opposite of how Homura truly feels and thinks.

It's not that Homura thinks Kyousuke doesn't deserve to be helped (I don't think she's even familiar enough with him to make any judgements on his character);

Kyousuke rejecting Sayaka is almost certainly what caused Sayaka to turn into a witch in Timeline 3. That was the catalyst for major problems down the line, as we both know.

Now in the current timeline, Kyousuke once again is a problematic factor in Homura's plans. I can see that making her harsher towards him than most people, as he's made himself an irritation to her. If not for Kyousuke representing a threat to her plans, I do think Homura wouldn't be as harsh towards him in the narration I gave for her. But as is...

And as for herself, I think Homura only continues her quest to save Madoka because it's already too late for her (she's already a mahou shoujo) and she's got no other way out.

That's simply not accurate. If Homura was to kamikaze herself in battle against a witch (just like Kyouko did in Episode 9) that would end it. So there's a "way out" there.

Also, Homura clearly continues to have strong feelings of love and friendship for Madoka in the final timeline, as indicated by Homura's emotional breakdown in front of Madoka in Episode 8 and Homura hugging Madoka tightly in Episode 11.

Madoka in and of herself is the main reason why Homura continues her quest to save Madoka, not just some desire to "get out".

I think the principle difference Homura sees between Sayaka and herself is that she is already a Mahou Shoujo.

That seems inconsequential to me. Homura was not a Mahou Shoujo either when she decided to make a wish for the sole purpose of protecting/saving Madoka. The similarities between Homura and Sayaka are obvious here. There's no way Homura could miss them, imo.

The other difference is in that Homura's target is very narrow, just to save Madoka, whereas Sayaka's goals in general are to help/protect the world. Homura reached a point, like Kyouko, where she began to be able to easily sacrifice other people for her goals, but this is unlikely to ever be the case for Sayaka. Homura's main belief in itself is that those optimistic, self-sacrificing people like Madoka or Sayaka aren't fit for the Puella Magi world. If Homura knew Sayaka were selfish enough to be able to survive, I don't think she'd have any issues with her becoming a Puella Magi for Kamijou (although, in that case, I do admit Homura would probably raise an eyebrow at Sayaka's taste, lol. A fetish for a young violin prodigy? heh.).

Now, here is the one area where I might have some agreement with you. I do think that Homura views Sayaka's more generalized goals as overly idealistic or foolish. Incidentally, that's why I wrote one section several chapters back where Homura said that Sayaka's idealism was the key reason why she shouldn't become a magical girl.

However, I think it's completely false to argue that Homura views selfless sacrifice alone as inherently foolish or wrong, for the reasons I've already laid out here. Sayaka's self-sacrificing, hopeful love for Kyousuke is not something that I think Homura would fault in and of itself... except I do think that Homura thinks that only somebody special (like a Madoka) is deserving of that sort of thing.


It's important to note that idealism, selflessness, and a sacrificial nature, are not all one and the same (i.e. many idealists would reject the notion that sacrifice is necessary to achieve one's goals because sacrifice isn't, well, ideal ). I think that Homura generally frowns on idealism due to how she views it as impractical, but she admires the selflessness and sacrificial tendencies of Madoka even as she must war against them in order to save Madoka. For me, that's where a lot of the beautiful drama and poetic irony in Homura's actions comes from.