Original Publish Date: October 23, 2012
Read the original on Moar Powah!
When it rains blasphemy, it pours. Cause yes, I am actually writing this article. Here’s the thing – the last thing was all about Kyuubey and some of the stuff I mentioned was about basically not knowing some stuff, plot holes, and some crazy theories. This has to do with better solutions to the ending of the show. Does that mean I hate the ending presented? No, it was beautiful and symbolic and lovely, it was a very fitting end to the entire tragedy, and it felt like something had been accomplished. But I do recognize that if we are talking WITHIN the Madoka universe, there were many, many better wishes she could have made that would have made instead. So let’s take a look at what exactly could be fixed about the end to one of the most popular series of the decade. (WARNING: Like the last one, this article is crammed full of spoilers)
Madoka’s wish is an incredibly poor one for several reasons, so let’s outline them quick. One, the universe is still dying after her wish, even though she has the power to change the laws of physics. Two, the problem isn’t actually solved because even if the witches never exist, the magical girls still die when they don’t necessarily have to.
Three, she doesn’t know if by removing the system in place, if a new system will emerge (which one does) and if that system will actually be worse than the one already implemented. After all, we don’t know the exact nature of the new energy-collecting system show at the end of episode 12, just that IT SEEMS that it works out better for all involved. However, this is from Homura’s perspective who might be biased cause she knew how bad the system was before. For all she knew, Madoka could have created a world where Kyuubey’s people could have enslaved the entire Earth for energy a la Matrix – she had no way of knowing since she never specified it in her wish.
Four, she says she’s going to go through time and space to kill every witch, when she could have just wished to change the system so there would be no witches ever produced period. It’s not a system created within nature, but rather by aliens, so it’s not like you’ll destroy the Earth by doing so.There are probably way more reasons that people smarter than I could mention, but these are the most obvious.
So let’s take a look at what would have made better wishes than this one:
These first two wishes would solve the problem entirely but are ones that Kyuubey would probably never grant. However, they technically solve the problem so they have to be noted for posterity’s sake.
1) I wish Kyuubey and his race never came to Earth and developed this system of energy collecting.
This is probably the most basic of wishes, involving time travel and everyone should be okay, even Madoka. Remember, Kyuubey doesn’t use the wishes to screw you over, he uses the timing of the wish itself to doom his victims. But Madoka has had a couple of days to think this all over, so assuming she can pull together enough wits to not make a dumb wish, there’s no reason she couldn’t have thought this one up. By wishing that Kyuubey’s race never comes to Earth to collect energy, then the whole issue is circumvented. Total time restart, and Kyuubey gets the energy he needs anyways, and no one has to die cause the system never exists. Well, Mami does, because she was in a car crash…but she has like the worst luck.
Within the show, Kyuubey says that without wishes, we would still basically be cavemen, all huddled up with our stone wheels and fire, HOWEVER, if we stick with the theory that Kyuubey cannot see into alternate time lines like he says he can’t (which I don’t believe for a second) then how the Hell would he know? For what it’s worth, maybe we’re better off without the wishes, maybe we grow even stronger and smarter, at a faster pace. So why not just cut the whole system out all together? Let the universe die if that’s what natural.
2) I wish Kyuubey and his race never existed.
This one is a little iffy because if you really think about it, it’s kind of mass murder…well, mass murder of an alien race that in the new timeline would never existed, but in the end, they are still living creatures. The only problem is that these are the creatures that are solving the problem with an terrible, people maiming insanity-inducing solution. So hey, no Kyuubey, no problem – very simple.
I was originally going to put down an alternate wish to this one: “I wish Kyuubey’s people had developed emotions” but then I realized all that could go wrong with that. For one, a species that develops emotiosn probably isn’t going to emtionally kill and torture its own kind to save the universe. Two, emotions make you crazy unstable, so who knows if they would have implemented an even worse system.
3) I wish that magical girls didn’t turn to witches, but rather the energy of their despair and sadness manifests itself separate from them and THAT reaction of the despair separating from them is where the energy comes from (or any other thing that involves them not turning into witches).
The biggest issue of the magical girl treatise is that fact that eventually, you turn into a witch and die. Which means the entire process of turning a girl into a witch is a one way street – contract and death. But if Madoka wished that the process did not turn the girl into a witch, which would then lead to death, but rather separate from the girl’ body in a different way, they would be a renewable energy source.
Not to mention, people would probably be more willing to join up and it would be more merciful than the current version. In the new version of the universe Madoka’s original wish creates, those cubes might be the new power source, but we have no straight forward answers so we can’t assume anything. However this would save everyone, while providing energy and keeping the wish-magical girl system in place. Also, this wish can be modified any which way, so any system that doesn’t kill the people involved while still getting energy works too.
4) I wish emotions were not free from entropy/were not the best source of energy to save the universe.
This is probably the simplest wish. How do we get Earth out of the running in general to save the universe? Wish emotions weren’t the answer. Pretty freaking simple, right? If you don’t have what they want, then they won’t pester you. Go off and harass other species in the Universe for a while, Kyuubey! I’m sure teenagers exist elsewhere too. What would replace it? Who knows, but you could make it specific to something humans don’t have, at least. Or something not horrifying – happiness, or rainbows, or dancing, things that are not prone to drive people crazy.
And, of course, the most encompassing one of all…
5) I wish the universe could never die or run out of energy, and therefore there would be no need to collect energy and to create the magical girl-witch system in the first place.
Madoka can change the laws of physics with her wish – so do it! What’s the core issue of the show? The universe is dying and the only thing that can save it is feeding it the energy of sad teenage girls. So, solve the problem at the source – just wish the universe could never die or run out of energy. Therefore, no need for the system, no need for dead friends. Everyone’s happy, nobody dies (but Mami) and the Universe will never run out if usable energy and die – pure and simple.
Yes, that might alter physics to the point where there could be repercussions, or that humanity might not exist, but she’s rewriting the laws of physics anyways, she can do whatever she wants, including keeping humanity around. This would be the ultimate wish that circumvents the entire issue without wishing for something like, you know, not having a universe at all, or something twisted like that.