The Necessity of Homura’s Solitude Part 1: The Holy… Duo?

Alternate title: Why Kyouko, Sayaka, and Mami died.

Warning: there will be Rebellion spoilers  (big ones at that) in this series (this article is clean). Read on with caution, and watch the movie already, my word.

I recently got to thinking about how sad I get over the tragedy of Miki Sayaka, her turning into a witch and ultimately killing Kyouko in the wake. And it got me thinking, why did it have to be this way? I remember thinking, back when I originally watched the series “C’mon Madoka why don’t you just wish Mami back to life” following her death. But she never did, due in part to Homura’s urgings not to make a wish so easily. But when Walpurgisnacht came around and Madoka had to come to a decision, again she decided against resurrecting her fallen friends. This decision for the longest time mystified me. Why didn’t Madoka bring the Holy Quintet together to fight Walpurgisnacht, and then they could live happily ever after or what have you.

Over time, I’ve come to learn what I refer to as the “Necessity of Homura’s Solitude.” It’s the reason why Madoka used her wish to save all magical girls, why the three other girls remained dead before Rebellion, and to some extent why they are all alive again following Rebellion.

This will be a three part (probably) series on why Homura was doomed to solitude, what led up to it, and why it’s changed post-Rebellion. This article is part one, titled “The Holy… Duet?” and pertains to the deaths of Tomoe Mami, Miki Sayaka, and Sakura Kyouko.

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Homura’s Solitude Part 1: The Holy… Duo?

If you ever thought to yourself “Mami/Sayaka/Kyouko didn’t have to die? Why did they die?” then congratulations, you probably liked at least one of them. But I would argue that each of them, to a certain degree, did have to die (or at least served a very vital purpose in their death).

So I’ll start by explaining the deaths of each of the three girls that didn’t see Walpurga’s Night.I’ll break down why they died in terms of both the story, and what I feel the writers wanted you to see. Note that some of these themes you’ll see get REALLY dark, that’s the point. Yes, I do feel uncomfortable talking about how a bunch of 14 year old girls “Needed to die” but this is the job of a literary nerd.

Mami

Mami’s death is one of the easiest to explain the purpose of, actually. Her role to Madoka and Sayaka was to show them what it meant to be a magical girl. And to be a magical girl (at least in this universe) is, by definition, suffering. When she began to deviate from this suffering and viewed witch hunting as a “fun, happy activity,” Karmic Balance (a concept deserving of its own article, the theory that there is a set amount of happiness in the world, unable to be increased or decreased) sent her crashing down to the ground. Her death illustrated to the viewers and to the girls what it meant to be a magical girl. It meant suffering, pain, and ultimately death.

Kyouko

Sayaka gets a longer section because of the amount of content she has to write about, so we’re not going chronological. Kyouko died fighting Sayaka’s witch, Oktavia. Kyouko’s death served another purpose, proving the apparent futility of fighting Karmic Balance. Though she tried, continuously to help Sayaka acclimate to life as a magical girl, and tried to help her before she finally snapped, when Karma finds a victim it sticks to it. And indeed, Karmic Balance claimed Sayaka and Kyouko, ultimately.

Kyouko, in her death, showed that there is no simple means for a magical girl to escape their fate of becoming a witch, with the exception of death. Those two outcomes were the only ends for a magical girl. And in one single moment, both ends were reached by Kyouko, and our next subject, Sayaka.

Sayaka

Sayaka’s death is, by nature of who Sayaka was in the story, probably the most complex. We, as viewers, always seek a simple answer. We like to say “Oh well the reason she got her head eaten was because she was too careless during that fight.” We don’t like the Sayakas, whose deaths are a long, twisting tale with nary a right nor wrong. So we should begin with answering the question, “Why did Sayaka turn into a witch?”

Sayaka’s journey begins before we’ve met her. A childhood friend of the violin prodigy, Kyousuke Kamijou, she wanted to be with him as he (fruitlessly) sought healing for an injury that left him unable to play violin ever again. Sayaka’s near-obsession with Kamijou would be the cause of her becoming a magical girl, and is one of the roots of her transformation. Other causes include, but are not limited to, Hitomi’s sudden interest in Kamijou and asking him out (many consider this part of Karmic Balance), the death of Mami, Homura’s behavior towards Sayaka and her decision to become a magical girl, and Kyouko’s fighting with Sayaka.

By the time Kyouko finally reaches Sayaka at the train station to comfort her, Sayaka’s essentially already turned into a witch. And try as she might, there is nothing that Kyouko could do to help Sayaka to change. So we find ourselves back, wanting that easy answer: Why did Sayaka turn into a witch? Why did she die?

The reason I would give as to why Sayaka died is not because of Kamijou. Nor is it the fault of Mami, nor Kyouko, nor Hitomi. Not even Homura takes the blame for it. No, the reason that Sayaka needed to die was because she was the best friend of Madoka.

Sayaka died to set Madoka’s final actions in motion. Madoka saw firsthand what the suffering of a magical girl leads to, and driven by the tragedy of Sayaka Miki, Madoka decided to use her wish to ascend and save all the magical girls that are, were, and would ever be.

(And given that one of the wishes she made in a timeline involved saving a cat stuck in a tree, I think this was one of her better wishes she could’ve made).

This concludes part one of the series “The Necessity of Homura’s Solitude,” “The Holy… Duo?” Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next article, where I will bring remove Madoka and finally get to why Homura had to truly be alone.