[erneiz_hyde]

First of all @rantuyetmai, let me say you are being needlessly provocative and I am a bit offended. Where in my writings did I have a tone so rude you need to reply with such manners?

Carrying on:

Originally Posted by rantuyetmai

Please walk up to a confident person that you know of. Let him know that his friend whom he met 3 days ago are being held hostage by the mafia. Please ask him to join your gang and participate gun war everyday to save that friend. Make sure he knows that he can die anytime and he can't step out of the mafia world once he joined. Give him ample time (a month or more) to take in these info and decide.

What he need to accept your request is not confidence, but a damaged brain.

No, he needs a call to the police or FBI. You need to add some more conditions to refine this analogy.

Is it strange to refuse to die for someone you barely know while agreeing to die for YOUR city?? No really, if your answer is "yes" then we'd better stop discussing this point, because obviously our sense of value is different. And I'm strange (Since I don't want to die for the next guy, but I'd enlist in military if I have to protect my country from war).

OK, that was a bad example from me, sorry. They don't contradict because the base values are different. Madoka was willing to sacrifice her life for the town mainly because WN was there and it didn't have anything to do with her willing to sacrifice herself for strangers. But, let me argue a bit further below.

First, it's not "refusing to help a stranger" but "refusing to die for a stranger". Donation and sacrifice are different.

Second, Madoka didn't "go" from refusing to die for a stranger to saving the entire MG. As in a person doesn't "go" from "refusing to buy something he thinks not worth his money" to "giving lots of money to help poor kids". That's not proof of growth, that's proof of having opinion.

It's a chronological order of a specific set of values. Madoka at the point of Mami's death didn't have the courage to sacrifice her own life for the chance to save Mami's(whom she had known for just a few days) nor the confidence that she can live with the consequences if she did that.

Assume that: (1)Homura didn't exist and (2)WN won't appear for as long as Madoka is still alive, yet (3)events still played out like we saw until Mami's death, (4)immediately after that QB suddenly had to explain the real mechanism behind MGs and everything about the fate of all previous and future MGs.

Now with no need of Madoka sacrificing herself for the town with WN out of the picture and yet Mami still died, do you think it is possible that at this point she would sacrifice herself to save every MGs she doesn't even know? My guess is she won't.

Btw, indeed donation and sacrifice are different. Your example actually strengthened my argument.

You see? Madoka didn't undergo the transformation "from a coward to a hero". That's just the person she is. She has her own sense of values and the ability to decide what's worth doing, what's not. If you give her enough good reasons, she'll do the deed. If Goddess Madoka retired her job and came back to Earth as a totally normal human, she'll still refuse to give up her life to revive a stranger.

Here's the bomb. I actually agree it's just the way she is. However, my view is that actually finding enough reason and confidence to do things is actually a growth in itself. After all, she was also influenced by those around her to make the decision. What do you think would happen if Madoka became an MG alone (every other character doesn't appear) and later discovered the mechanisms beyond it by herself?

Also, how do you explain the stark difference of the outcome of the last timeline(every MG and the Earth is saved) and the one before that (every MG and Earth is doomed)?