Madoka Kaname (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sagittariacaelestis) wrote2012-10-19 10:55 pm
sagittariacaelestis) wrote2012-10-19 10:55 pm
(no subject)
Personal Information
Name: Kari
Age: Twenty-one.
Personal Journal: karijou @ LJ
Email / AIM / MSN / Plurk: supitskari@gmail.com / derpy angel / supitskari@gmail.com / karijou
Current Character(s): n/a
Character Information
Character Name: Madoka Kaname
Fandom: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Source: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Madoka_Kaname
Character History: When fourteen-year-old Madoka Kaname dreams of a girl with long black hair and magical powers, she doesn't think much of it – she goes about her everyday business as normal. However, when the black-haired girl (Homura Akemi, as she introduces herself) transfers into her class, she begins to get the vaguest inkling that something may be amiss. Homura's command out of class to her, to “never dream of becoming something that you aren't,” furthers that feeling, and the events of that afternoon only serve to confirm her suspicions: a voice speaks in her mind, crying out for help, and when she and her friend Sayaka Miki follow it an injured white animal tumbles forth from the ceiling.
The animal has a name, as it turns out: Kyubey. It also has enemies, which they quickly discover when Homura chases them down. The two girls and mascot escape the transfer student and land squarely in an outlandish, bizarre world – a scene ripped straight from a demented storybook. The middle school senior Mami Tomoe steps in to save them, revealing her status as a magical girl, and thus Kyubey's intentions become clear: it wants for Madoka and her friend to make a wish and become magical girls themselves. Unfortunately, while miracles are not things to be taken lightly, neither is the price it takes – if they agree to the creature's contract, they are bound to fight witches (beings of despair) for as long as they live.
Mami volunteers to show the girls what fighting witches is like so that they can make an educated decision. Unfortunately, in a brief bout of recklessness she is killed, effectively ending any desire the two girls had to enter into contracts of their own. For a while, things seem like they've gone back to normal – however, witches still exist, and unforeseen circumstances can force the worst out of anyone. Sayaka makes a wish to heal the hand of the violin prodigy she loves, managing to save Madoka and her friend from a witch with her newfound power. Things would be wonderful at this point, were it not for a new magical girl showing up: Kyoko Sakura, who wants the area's plot of witches for herself to fight and plans to beat the hell out of Sayaka to get it.
Homura, whom Madoka has hoped for peaceful interactions with, chooses to throw her lot in at this point. She saves Sayaka's life from the vengeful Kyoko, knocks her out when she tries to continue fighting, and then proposes that the new magical girl team up with her in exchange for leaving Sayaka alone. This works for all of a few days: unfortunately, neither Sayaka nor Kyoko are easily dissuaded from their stubborn ways, and it only takes that long for both to try to fight each other once again. Madoka, hating the fighting, throws Sayaka's soul gem (the source of her powers as a magical girl) off a bridge, and everything is solved! Except for that part where Sayaka collapses, and her body immediately ceases all signs of life. Whoops.
Homura races to get the gem, and when it is returned Sayaka returns as well. The truth is finally revealed: upon becoming a magical girl, one's soul is forcibly removed and planted in the gem. This allows their physical bodies to take all sorts of damage; after all, their bodies are just hardware they're capable of possessing, with their actual soul protected by the hard stones they carry. Sayaka is devastated by this news, and when the violin prodigy she loved is moved in on by her friend Hitomi, she only falls further into her despair. A conversation overheard on a train between two scumbags finally cements her feelings on the issue – the world isn't worth fighting for. Her despair overtakes her, the darkness in her soul gem consumes the rest, and the grand revelation of the series is finally shown: when a magical girl gives in to her sadness, a witch is born in her place.
Madoka tries to wish for Sayaka to not have turned into a witch, but Homura shoots and kills Kyubey before she can make the contract. When the transfer student demands to know why Madoka keeps sacrificing herself and bursts out crying, a confused Madoka takes her leave. She and Kyoko decide that Sayaka can still be saved and go into the witch's barrier to try and reach her; unfortunately, nothing remains of Sayaka Miki, and once Homura has shown up to save Madoka Kyoko puts every last bit of her life into a single attack, eliminating both herself and the witch.
Madoka wakes up in Homura's domicile. In the conversation that follows, Homura finally tells Madoka the truth: she's from a different timeline altogether, and is here with the sole intent of protecting Madoka. Said girl is overwhelmed by everything (not even to mention the recent death of two close friends), and reluctantly agrees to let Homura fight whatever approaches alone. With that, Madoka and her family evacuate to shelter as a supercell forms over the city, and a monstrosity appears: Walpurgisnacht, the gathering of witches.
Homura fights with every weapon she's stolen over every timeline she's ran through, but even missiles and rockets aren't enough to harm the witch. Madoka, realizing that Homura won't be able to fight off the Walpurgisnacht alone, chases down the enigmatic girl she's come to think of as a friend. When she arrives, she finds the other girl beaten, with a broken leg, and trying not to give into her despair. Madoka, having spent the whole series thinking of an appropriate wish, finally figures out what it is she wants for the world, and apologizes to Homura for creating yet another world where she gives up what chance she had at a normal, happy life.
Kyubey eagerly awaits Madoka's wish. After all, with Homura's constant reliving of the past month to save Madoka, the progression of the universe effectively depends on Madoka – and it only makes sense that the most important person in the universe would have the most powerfully executed miracle. With that knowledge, she finally states her wish to Kyubey:
”I wish to erase all witches from existence before they're even born. Every witch in the universe, past and future, with my own hands.”
Madoka's latent power, her role within the universe, and the supremely hopeful nature of her wish combine into a singularity of power. When the light clears, the magical girl Madoka is standing before Homura, bow in hand. With a single shot, millions of lights fly forth from the sky, heading through time and space to the birth of every witch. Madoka appears before each magical girl before their despair consumes them, taking the blackness from their gems into hers and letting them die themselves. Finally, only one witch remains: Madoka's. From the sky appears a great comet: her soul gem, consumed with the despair of every magical girl since humanity's conception, and the witch bursting free of it. Before it can consume Earth, however, Madoka appears once more with bow in hand. After all, her wish encompassed all witches – every last one. With a single shot, Madoka's future – her witch – is destroyed, and in the ensuing flood of energy the universe itself is torn asunder.
Madoka, who at this point exists outside time, space, and has paradoxically destroyed herself personally, appears in a sparkling void before the two remaining beings here to watch the creation of a universe: Kyubey, the Incubator (of an alien race far evolved past human weaknesses), and Homura, the time-traveler (whose unique powers allow her to see this event). Kyubey tells Madoka that her wish was a phenomenal one, one that has removed her completely from this new universe – she will now exist only as the concept of hope for magical girls, completely outside of human perception.
Homura bursts into tears – after all, this is so far removed from her original wish of protecting Madoka that it might be an unadulterated loss after all. However, Madoka tells her not to worry – as this new being, she can see every bit of time and space at once. Every bit – every timeline Homura failed with, every time Homura went back to try to save Madoka again, and every time Homura cried alone. Thanking the other girl for everything she's done, Madoka tells Homura she was the best friend she could have ever asked for (even if she's only just now able to understand it), and requests that the other girl not worry about forgetting her.
She pulls the red ribbons from her hair, hands them to Homura, and tells her to hold onto them. After all, if they hope enough, maybe Homura will even be able to remember her – a miracle with no wish or contract attached. Telling Homura that that hope is what being a magical girl's all about, Madoka finally fades into the stars – and the new universe is created.
YES, BEFORE YOU ASK, IT IS AT THIS CANON POINT THAT I'M PLANNING ON BRINGING IN MADOKA.
Character Personality: So for obvious reasons, I'm going to start with a justification that an almost-post-series Madoka is a playable character in the first place. Throughout the finale, Madoka continues to have important appearances post-ascension: she talks with Homura in the starry void, she talks with Sayaka in the reformed universe, and in the credits sting she encourages Homura to keep fighting. All these point to her retaining some bit of individuality; at least, even if she's changed, there is still something left quantifiable as “Madoka.” Additionally, thanks to Wake's power restrictions, Madoka will effectively be a normal human once again – just one with the memories of a brief ascension, and the knowledge of each timeline within her cosmos. And finally, the third movie coming in 2013 has explicitly stated that Madoka's story is not yet over...
So, with a brief justification out of the way, it's time to move on to the personality section proper. The issue with this is that Madoka's personality develops bit by bit over the series. In order to best approach the personality for her canon point, I feel it'd be best to describe her general personality for the fifth timeline (which she is taken from) and then describe how her ascension to effective godhood changes anything.
So when the fifth timeline starts, Madoka seems to be an innocent middle-schooler that could use some work on her self-esteem. She has a great relationship with her parents, admiring her businesswoman mother and talking with her stay-at-home dad frequently, and doesn't make friends as easily as she might like (her official IC answers bio suggests that Sayaka and Hitomi are really the only people she considers friends at the series' beginning). She doesn't think highly of herself, but seems to get pretty good grades on the whole; her mother describes her as a good girl who doesn't lie or cheat, and her biggest flaw seems to be a bit of a fixation on certain foods.
Of course, if the series just followed the girl I just described with no major changes, we'd have a slice-of-life and not fantasy on a scale encompassing space-time continuums. The first thing to focus on here is Madoka's self-esteem: notably, it seems to be an issue of her feeling that her life lacks purpose. She explicitly states that she doesn't feel like there's anything she's good at, and in every timeline where she becomes a magical girl there's a surge of confidence (if only a temporary one). As such, by the point which she's ascended to godhood, her lack of self-esteem is mostly gone; after all, she not only has a purpose, she has effectively become it.
The next bit to deal with is Madoka's initial naivete, and how it changes throughout the events of the series. Madoka is an average fourteen-year-old when the series begins; if anything, she is slightly more innocent than usual. She really, truly believes that there's always a way to work out conflicts without fighting if you look hard enough, she believes that goodness is inherent in everyone else, and she just wants her friends to be happy. The death of most of her friends, and the knowledge that only she has the power to stop Homura's endless cycle without death, forces Madoka to effectively “grow up;” she understands much more by her ascension that the world is not a perfect place, even if it is without question one worth fighting for.
So, the final question that needs asked: how does Madoka herself change after she ascends? In a scene with Sayaka post-ascension, she takes the newly-dead girl to see the violinist she wished for play for an auditorium. Her tone of voice is slightly calmer, and she obviously is capable of far more than she was as a human, but she hasn't lost a bit of the kindness or voice she once had. What's even more important now is her desire to preserve the hopes of others: she tells Sayaka herself that she could have kept her alive, but there was no way to do it without rendering her wish invalid, and she felt that wasn't right.
To summarize, Madoka is actually much the same as she used to be. She's still a kind girl that believes in the good of others (and would probably dream happily of a well made cream stew), even if she's mostly moved past her earlier self-doubt. She'd still do anything she could to help a friend, even if her newfound vision of the universe has led her to understand that it's not always as simple as saving a life. And above all else, she's more hopeful for the future than ever. After all, in her eyes, there's no need to feel despair any longer.
tl,dr; being meguca was suffering
Powers and Abilities: Thanks to Wake's setting, most of this shouldn't be an issue. However, Madoka does have quite a few abilities:|
Lichdom: Essentially, by becoming a Puella Magi Madoka has become a glorified lich. Her soul is sealed into a soul gem, which effectively makes “her” that hunk of gemstone and gold. If it is destroyed, she dies permanently within canon; otherwise, even her entire body could be destroyed and she could come back from it. She feels little pain, and has far greater magic capabilities than her human body would have limited her to.
Soul Gem: So how about that soul gem of hers? Well, its size and power is determined by the magical girls role on fate and the hopefulness of her wish. In the final episode, you actually get to see Madoka's: it's a terrifying thing, a roughly comet-sized slab of pink gemstone as it heads toward the earth.
Magic: So what sort of magic do Puella Magi use? Well, their specialty is always dictated by the nature of their wish; Sayaka wished to heal a friend, and so healing was her forte. Kyoko wished to make people believe her father, and so illusions were hers. However, they can use other forms of magic too – in one of the drama CDs, the Madoka of the first timeline uses an enhancement spell to allow Homura to run faster without passing out from the exertion. Generally speaking, the series hasn't gone into too much detail about this, but they're literally magical girls with the spells that come with it. Of special note is...
Her Wish: Madoka wished to destroy all witches in the universe before they were born, with her own hands, past and future. This is visibly shown on-screen: she appears to every magical girl in every era as they are about to turn into witches, takes the blackness from their gems, and then shatters them. The girls die with smiles on their faces. Summarized in a powers format, it means that Madoka is the ultimate witch-fighter – to the point that witches have ceased to exist altogether, barring some mistake on her end. Additionally, this wish by its nature throws her outside the universe's standard space-time continuum; she exists in the past and the future, and in every location as necessary. It's best summarized as making her a concept instead of a person.
Also, because they're somewhat relevant:
Her Appearance: Madoka appears to Sayaka, Homura, Mami and her witch in different forms each time. Of particular note is Ultimate Madoka, whose dress basically defies physics and looks to
contain the cosmos within its folds. It's pretty sweet.
Her Bow: Madoka also gets a totally rockin' bow that looks like a rose branch, from which she fires pink bursts of light that create magical arrays and multiply into the thousands and also travel through time and space. Don't question it.
Samples
Network: Good afternoon!
[ well, this is certainly something you don't see every day. a girl – how old is she? really, it's almost impossible to say, she doesn't seem quite normal on that front, but at least fourteen or so – is standing in front of the camera with the most ridiculous dress and hair you've probably ever seen.
she smiles warmly at the camera before continuing. ]
I don't know where we are, but I'd really like to know. About each of you, too! [ her eyes almost twinkle. ] Please, tell me about yourself. I want to get to know every one of you!
[ what's missing here...? oh – right! she needs to introduce herself, doesn't she? with the same lovely smile: ]
...I'm Madoka Kaname. [ her eyes shut and her smile lights up, delight clearly present in her demeanor. ] Call me Madoka!
[ and with an excited giggle, the feed ripples and ends. ]
Third Person: Madoka awakens to the feeling of earth for the first time in- Hours? Months, minutes, seconds, eons? She quickly drops that line of thought, of course. Time's long since stopped having any sort of meaning to her. (And isn't it weird, thinking of that as long ago? Something's different, that for sure.)
For a moment, she just lies there. It's a weird sensation, going from nothingness to being again, but it's overall a pleasant sort of thing and she's not quite willing to give it up yet. She can feel every bit of the ground on her arms, the light breeze crossing her face, even the prickles of pine needles poking her skin. Still, there are things that need to be done, and there are places she should be. Come to think of it... where is she?
She pushes herself to her two feet, swaying unsteadily in the wind as she looks around her. Trees surround her, mud squelches between her toes, and Madoka finally places her location: a forest. Of course, “a forest” isn't very helpful in the grand scheme of things – there are any number of forests in the world, after all. Then again, none of those look like this to her memory. The trees with hands are a pretty clear signifier of that. She only stares for a moment before collecting herself, brushing what dirt and grime she can off her dress before she sets out.
She's got to find where she is somehow, after all. Once she's done that, maybe she'll find a way back. Maybe not. Who knows? She's not sure what sort of surprises this new world will bring just yet. She only knows one thing: things will continue on as they should back home. (Will have continued? Will be continuing? Tense starts making less sense over time...)
Well, maybe she doesn't know for sure. But she certainly hopes so, and that's enough for now.
Notes: I'm not exactly sure how Madoka would interact with the “no powers” rule upon arrival with regards to her physical form. Technically, the magical girls within the show are all actually their soul gems; their bodies are “outdated hardware” that they can use, but her soul itself is within the gem. This is further complicated by her habit within the series finale of appearing to people in varying forms; Ultimate Madoka (appearing older, with the earlier-mentioned absolutely ridiculous dress) kills her own witch, Red-Ribboned Madoka (looking roughly as she does series) gives Homura her ribbon, and then she appears to Sayaka after the reformation of the world with pink ribbons in her hair.
Would she appear in one of these forms of choice? Do the mods have a preference? Should I choose? Would she arrive as just a huge (but appropriately scaled) soul gem, with forms of communication and appearance aside from an aura of hope being bent in over time? I'm down with making just about anything work, as I have interesting ideas for all of them - I just want to know what's most convenient for the mods. :|b
Name: Kari
Age: Twenty-one.
Personal Journal: karijou @ LJ
Email / AIM / MSN / Plurk: supitskari@gmail.com / derpy angel / supitskari@gmail.com / karijou
Current Character(s): n/a
Character Information
Character Name: Madoka Kaname
Fandom: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Source: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Madoka_Kaname
Character History: When fourteen-year-old Madoka Kaname dreams of a girl with long black hair and magical powers, she doesn't think much of it – she goes about her everyday business as normal. However, when the black-haired girl (Homura Akemi, as she introduces herself) transfers into her class, she begins to get the vaguest inkling that something may be amiss. Homura's command out of class to her, to “never dream of becoming something that you aren't,” furthers that feeling, and the events of that afternoon only serve to confirm her suspicions: a voice speaks in her mind, crying out for help, and when she and her friend Sayaka Miki follow it an injured white animal tumbles forth from the ceiling.
The animal has a name, as it turns out: Kyubey. It also has enemies, which they quickly discover when Homura chases them down. The two girls and mascot escape the transfer student and land squarely in an outlandish, bizarre world – a scene ripped straight from a demented storybook. The middle school senior Mami Tomoe steps in to save them, revealing her status as a magical girl, and thus Kyubey's intentions become clear: it wants for Madoka and her friend to make a wish and become magical girls themselves. Unfortunately, while miracles are not things to be taken lightly, neither is the price it takes – if they agree to the creature's contract, they are bound to fight witches (beings of despair) for as long as they live.
Mami volunteers to show the girls what fighting witches is like so that they can make an educated decision. Unfortunately, in a brief bout of recklessness she is killed, effectively ending any desire the two girls had to enter into contracts of their own. For a while, things seem like they've gone back to normal – however, witches still exist, and unforeseen circumstances can force the worst out of anyone. Sayaka makes a wish to heal the hand of the violin prodigy she loves, managing to save Madoka and her friend from a witch with her newfound power. Things would be wonderful at this point, were it not for a new magical girl showing up: Kyoko Sakura, who wants the area's plot of witches for herself to fight and plans to beat the hell out of Sayaka to get it.
Homura, whom Madoka has hoped for peaceful interactions with, chooses to throw her lot in at this point. She saves Sayaka's life from the vengeful Kyoko, knocks her out when she tries to continue fighting, and then proposes that the new magical girl team up with her in exchange for leaving Sayaka alone. This works for all of a few days: unfortunately, neither Sayaka nor Kyoko are easily dissuaded from their stubborn ways, and it only takes that long for both to try to fight each other once again. Madoka, hating the fighting, throws Sayaka's soul gem (the source of her powers as a magical girl) off a bridge, and everything is solved! Except for that part where Sayaka collapses, and her body immediately ceases all signs of life. Whoops.
Homura races to get the gem, and when it is returned Sayaka returns as well. The truth is finally revealed: upon becoming a magical girl, one's soul is forcibly removed and planted in the gem. This allows their physical bodies to take all sorts of damage; after all, their bodies are just hardware they're capable of possessing, with their actual soul protected by the hard stones they carry. Sayaka is devastated by this news, and when the violin prodigy she loved is moved in on by her friend Hitomi, she only falls further into her despair. A conversation overheard on a train between two scumbags finally cements her feelings on the issue – the world isn't worth fighting for. Her despair overtakes her, the darkness in her soul gem consumes the rest, and the grand revelation of the series is finally shown: when a magical girl gives in to her sadness, a witch is born in her place.
Madoka tries to wish for Sayaka to not have turned into a witch, but Homura shoots and kills Kyubey before she can make the contract. When the transfer student demands to know why Madoka keeps sacrificing herself and bursts out crying, a confused Madoka takes her leave. She and Kyoko decide that Sayaka can still be saved and go into the witch's barrier to try and reach her; unfortunately, nothing remains of Sayaka Miki, and once Homura has shown up to save Madoka Kyoko puts every last bit of her life into a single attack, eliminating both herself and the witch.
Madoka wakes up in Homura's domicile. In the conversation that follows, Homura finally tells Madoka the truth: she's from a different timeline altogether, and is here with the sole intent of protecting Madoka. Said girl is overwhelmed by everything (not even to mention the recent death of two close friends), and reluctantly agrees to let Homura fight whatever approaches alone. With that, Madoka and her family evacuate to shelter as a supercell forms over the city, and a monstrosity appears: Walpurgisnacht, the gathering of witches.
Homura fights with every weapon she's stolen over every timeline she's ran through, but even missiles and rockets aren't enough to harm the witch. Madoka, realizing that Homura won't be able to fight off the Walpurgisnacht alone, chases down the enigmatic girl she's come to think of as a friend. When she arrives, she finds the other girl beaten, with a broken leg, and trying not to give into her despair. Madoka, having spent the whole series thinking of an appropriate wish, finally figures out what it is she wants for the world, and apologizes to Homura for creating yet another world where she gives up what chance she had at a normal, happy life.
Kyubey eagerly awaits Madoka's wish. After all, with Homura's constant reliving of the past month to save Madoka, the progression of the universe effectively depends on Madoka – and it only makes sense that the most important person in the universe would have the most powerfully executed miracle. With that knowledge, she finally states her wish to Kyubey:
Madoka's latent power, her role within the universe, and the supremely hopeful nature of her wish combine into a singularity of power. When the light clears, the magical girl Madoka is standing before Homura, bow in hand. With a single shot, millions of lights fly forth from the sky, heading through time and space to the birth of every witch. Madoka appears before each magical girl before their despair consumes them, taking the blackness from their gems into hers and letting them die themselves. Finally, only one witch remains: Madoka's. From the sky appears a great comet: her soul gem, consumed with the despair of every magical girl since humanity's conception, and the witch bursting free of it. Before it can consume Earth, however, Madoka appears once more with bow in hand. After all, her wish encompassed all witches – every last one. With a single shot, Madoka's future – her witch – is destroyed, and in the ensuing flood of energy the universe itself is torn asunder.
Madoka, who at this point exists outside time, space, and has paradoxically destroyed herself personally, appears in a sparkling void before the two remaining beings here to watch the creation of a universe: Kyubey, the Incubator (of an alien race far evolved past human weaknesses), and Homura, the time-traveler (whose unique powers allow her to see this event). Kyubey tells Madoka that her wish was a phenomenal one, one that has removed her completely from this new universe – she will now exist only as the concept of hope for magical girls, completely outside of human perception.
Homura bursts into tears – after all, this is so far removed from her original wish of protecting Madoka that it might be an unadulterated loss after all. However, Madoka tells her not to worry – as this new being, she can see every bit of time and space at once. Every bit – every timeline Homura failed with, every time Homura went back to try to save Madoka again, and every time Homura cried alone. Thanking the other girl for everything she's done, Madoka tells Homura she was the best friend she could have ever asked for (even if she's only just now able to understand it), and requests that the other girl not worry about forgetting her.
She pulls the red ribbons from her hair, hands them to Homura, and tells her to hold onto them. After all, if they hope enough, maybe Homura will even be able to remember her – a miracle with no wish or contract attached. Telling Homura that that hope is what being a magical girl's all about, Madoka finally fades into the stars – and the new universe is created.
YES, BEFORE YOU ASK, IT IS AT THIS CANON POINT THAT I'M PLANNING ON BRINGING IN MADOKA.
Character Personality: So for obvious reasons, I'm going to start with a justification that an almost-post-series Madoka is a playable character in the first place. Throughout the finale, Madoka continues to have important appearances post-ascension: she talks with Homura in the starry void, she talks with Sayaka in the reformed universe, and in the credits sting she encourages Homura to keep fighting. All these point to her retaining some bit of individuality; at least, even if she's changed, there is still something left quantifiable as “Madoka.” Additionally, thanks to Wake's power restrictions, Madoka will effectively be a normal human once again – just one with the memories of a brief ascension, and the knowledge of each timeline within her cosmos. And finally, the third movie coming in 2013 has explicitly stated that Madoka's story is not yet over...
So, with a brief justification out of the way, it's time to move on to the personality section proper. The issue with this is that Madoka's personality develops bit by bit over the series. In order to best approach the personality for her canon point, I feel it'd be best to describe her general personality for the fifth timeline (which she is taken from) and then describe how her ascension to effective godhood changes anything.
So when the fifth timeline starts, Madoka seems to be an innocent middle-schooler that could use some work on her self-esteem. She has a great relationship with her parents, admiring her businesswoman mother and talking with her stay-at-home dad frequently, and doesn't make friends as easily as she might like (her official IC answers bio suggests that Sayaka and Hitomi are really the only people she considers friends at the series' beginning). She doesn't think highly of herself, but seems to get pretty good grades on the whole; her mother describes her as a good girl who doesn't lie or cheat, and her biggest flaw seems to be a bit of a fixation on certain foods.
Of course, if the series just followed the girl I just described with no major changes, we'd have a slice-of-life and not fantasy on a scale encompassing space-time continuums. The first thing to focus on here is Madoka's self-esteem: notably, it seems to be an issue of her feeling that her life lacks purpose. She explicitly states that she doesn't feel like there's anything she's good at, and in every timeline where she becomes a magical girl there's a surge of confidence (if only a temporary one). As such, by the point which she's ascended to godhood, her lack of self-esteem is mostly gone; after all, she not only has a purpose, she has effectively become it.
The next bit to deal with is Madoka's initial naivete, and how it changes throughout the events of the series. Madoka is an average fourteen-year-old when the series begins; if anything, she is slightly more innocent than usual. She really, truly believes that there's always a way to work out conflicts without fighting if you look hard enough, she believes that goodness is inherent in everyone else, and she just wants her friends to be happy. The death of most of her friends, and the knowledge that only she has the power to stop Homura's endless cycle without death, forces Madoka to effectively “grow up;” she understands much more by her ascension that the world is not a perfect place, even if it is without question one worth fighting for.
So, the final question that needs asked: how does Madoka herself change after she ascends? In a scene with Sayaka post-ascension, she takes the newly-dead girl to see the violinist she wished for play for an auditorium. Her tone of voice is slightly calmer, and she obviously is capable of far more than she was as a human, but she hasn't lost a bit of the kindness or voice she once had. What's even more important now is her desire to preserve the hopes of others: she tells Sayaka herself that she could have kept her alive, but there was no way to do it without rendering her wish invalid, and she felt that wasn't right.
To summarize, Madoka is actually much the same as she used to be. She's still a kind girl that believes in the good of others (and would probably dream happily of a well made cream stew), even if she's mostly moved past her earlier self-doubt. She'd still do anything she could to help a friend, even if her newfound vision of the universe has led her to understand that it's not always as simple as saving a life. And above all else, she's more hopeful for the future than ever. After all, in her eyes, there's no need to feel despair any longer.
tl,dr; being meguca was suffering
Powers and Abilities: Thanks to Wake's setting, most of this shouldn't be an issue. However, Madoka does have quite a few abilities:|
Lichdom: Essentially, by becoming a Puella Magi Madoka has become a glorified lich. Her soul is sealed into a soul gem, which effectively makes “her” that hunk of gemstone and gold. If it is destroyed, she dies permanently within canon; otherwise, even her entire body could be destroyed and she could come back from it. She feels little pain, and has far greater magic capabilities than her human body would have limited her to.
Soul Gem: So how about that soul gem of hers? Well, its size and power is determined by the magical girls role on fate and the hopefulness of her wish. In the final episode, you actually get to see Madoka's: it's a terrifying thing, a roughly comet-sized slab of pink gemstone as it heads toward the earth.
Magic: So what sort of magic do Puella Magi use? Well, their specialty is always dictated by the nature of their wish; Sayaka wished to heal a friend, and so healing was her forte. Kyoko wished to make people believe her father, and so illusions were hers. However, they can use other forms of magic too – in one of the drama CDs, the Madoka of the first timeline uses an enhancement spell to allow Homura to run faster without passing out from the exertion. Generally speaking, the series hasn't gone into too much detail about this, but they're literally magical girls with the spells that come with it. Of special note is...
Her Wish: Madoka wished to destroy all witches in the universe before they were born, with her own hands, past and future. This is visibly shown on-screen: she appears to every magical girl in every era as they are about to turn into witches, takes the blackness from their gems, and then shatters them. The girls die with smiles on their faces. Summarized in a powers format, it means that Madoka is the ultimate witch-fighter – to the point that witches have ceased to exist altogether, barring some mistake on her end. Additionally, this wish by its nature throws her outside the universe's standard space-time continuum; she exists in the past and the future, and in every location as necessary. It's best summarized as making her a concept instead of a person.
Also, because they're somewhat relevant:
Her Appearance: Madoka appears to Sayaka, Homura, Mami and her witch in different forms each time. Of particular note is Ultimate Madoka, whose dress basically defies physics and looks to
contain the cosmos within its folds. It's pretty sweet.
Her Bow: Madoka also gets a totally rockin' bow that looks like a rose branch, from which she fires pink bursts of light that create magical arrays and multiply into the thousands and also travel through time and space. Don't question it.
Samples
Network: Good afternoon!
[ well, this is certainly something you don't see every day. a girl – how old is she? really, it's almost impossible to say, she doesn't seem quite normal on that front, but at least fourteen or so – is standing in front of the camera with the most ridiculous dress and hair you've probably ever seen.
she smiles warmly at the camera before continuing. ]
I don't know where we are, but I'd really like to know. About each of you, too! [ her eyes almost twinkle. ] Please, tell me about yourself. I want to get to know every one of you!
[ what's missing here...? oh – right! she needs to introduce herself, doesn't she? with the same lovely smile: ]
...I'm Madoka Kaname. [ her eyes shut and her smile lights up, delight clearly present in her demeanor. ] Call me Madoka!
[ and with an excited giggle, the feed ripples and ends. ]
Third Person: Madoka awakens to the feeling of earth for the first time in- Hours? Months, minutes, seconds, eons? She quickly drops that line of thought, of course. Time's long since stopped having any sort of meaning to her. (And isn't it weird, thinking of that as long ago? Something's different, that for sure.)
For a moment, she just lies there. It's a weird sensation, going from nothingness to being again, but it's overall a pleasant sort of thing and she's not quite willing to give it up yet. She can feel every bit of the ground on her arms, the light breeze crossing her face, even the prickles of pine needles poking her skin. Still, there are things that need to be done, and there are places she should be. Come to think of it... where is she?
She pushes herself to her two feet, swaying unsteadily in the wind as she looks around her. Trees surround her, mud squelches between her toes, and Madoka finally places her location: a forest. Of course, “a forest” isn't very helpful in the grand scheme of things – there are any number of forests in the world, after all. Then again, none of those look like this to her memory. The trees with hands are a pretty clear signifier of that. She only stares for a moment before collecting herself, brushing what dirt and grime she can off her dress before she sets out.
She's got to find where she is somehow, after all. Once she's done that, maybe she'll find a way back. Maybe not. Who knows? She's not sure what sort of surprises this new world will bring just yet. She only knows one thing: things will continue on as they should back home. (Will have continued? Will be continuing? Tense starts making less sense over time...)
Well, maybe she doesn't know for sure. But she certainly hopes so, and that's enough for now.
Notes: I'm not exactly sure how Madoka would interact with the “no powers” rule upon arrival with regards to her physical form. Technically, the magical girls within the show are all actually their soul gems; their bodies are “outdated hardware” that they can use, but her soul itself is within the gem. This is further complicated by her habit within the series finale of appearing to people in varying forms; Ultimate Madoka (appearing older, with the earlier-mentioned absolutely ridiculous dress) kills her own witch, Red-Ribboned Madoka (looking roughly as she does series) gives Homura her ribbon, and then she appears to Sayaka after the reformation of the world with pink ribbons in her hair.
Would she appear in one of these forms of choice? Do the mods have a preference? Should I choose? Would she arrive as just a huge (but appropriately scaled) soul gem, with forms of communication and appearance aside from an aura of hope being bent in over time? I'm down with making just about anything work, as I have interesting ideas for all of them - I just want to know what's most convenient for the mods. :|b