Gen Urobuchi didn't just write a magical girl show. He wrote a tragedy about thermodynamics and despair. If you've spent any time in the Puella Magi Madoka Magica fandom, you know that the "witch" version of our pink-haired protagonist is basically the final boss of the entire universe’s existential dread. We call her Kriemhild Gretchen. But honestly, even calling her a "witch" feels like a massive understatement because she doesn't just haunt a barrier; she literally swallows reality.
The Madoka Magica Madoka witch isn’t some obscure piece of trivia. It’s the focal point of the show's climax. It is the inevitable end-state of a girl with too much potential and nowhere for it to go.
The Birth of a Planet-Sized Disaster
Most witches in the series are small. They live in funky, psychedelic barriers that look like scrapbooks or weird fever dreams. They lure people in to feed on their life force. But Kriemhild Gretchen? She is the size of a mountain. Actually, she’s larger than that. By the time we see her true form in the final episode, she’s basically a celestial body.
Kyubey—that little white incubator who is simultaneously the most logical and most hated character in anime—explains it quite bluntly. He says that because Madoka’s soul gem contains the karmic destiny of a god, her witch form is capable of ending all life on Earth within ten days. That isn't hyperbole. In the timeline where Madoka finally falls to despair after the Walpurgisnacht fight, she becomes a being so massive that her shadow covers the entire planet.
You’ve got to wonder how the "heavenly" Madoka Kaname, the girl who just wanted everyone to be happy, turns into a literal black hole of sorrow. It’s about balance. In the universe of Madoka Magica, every ounce of hope you create has to be balanced out by an equal amount of despair. Madoka’s hope was infinite. Therefore, her despair was cataclysmic.
Why the Madoka Magica Madoka Witch Looks Like a Giant Mountain
If you look closely at the design of Kriemhild Gretchen, it’s unsettling. She doesn't have a face, or at least not one that makes sense. She looks like a massive, dark mountain of shadow with a hollow center. Some fans point out that her silhouette resembles the upper half of a dress, which is a twisted reflection of Madoka’s magical girl outfit.
It’s a "Witch of Salvation." That’s her official title in the Puella Magi production notes.
Think about how dark that is. Her "mercy" is to create a heaven where no one has to feel pain anymore because everyone is dead. She is basically the ultimate nihilist. If the world is full of suffering, Kriemhild Gretchen decides the most "kind" thing to do is to absorb all life into her barrier so that the suffering stops. It’s a complete inversion of Madoka’s wish to save magical girls. Instead of saving them from despair, the witch saves them through destruction.
🔗 Read more: Evil Kermit: Why We Still Can’t Stop Listening to our Inner Saboteur
The lore, specifically from the Madoka Magica PSP game and the official guidebooks like the Puella Magi Madoka Magica Official Guidebook: You Are Not Alone, suggests that her barrier is "Heaven." But it’s a fake heaven. It’s a place where there is no individuality, just the endless, empty peace of the void.
The Different Timelines of Gretchen
We actually see this witch a few times, though never for very long. In the third timeline shown in Episode 10, Madoka and Homura defeat Walpurgisnacht together. But then Madoka’s soul gem turns black. She transforms.
In that specific instance, Kriemhild Gretchen appears almost instantly. There’s no buildup. One second there’s a girl, and the next, there’s a giant, shadowy entity that makes Walpurgisnacht look like a minor inconvenience. Homura’s reaction says it all. She realizes that no matter how hard she fights, she is just feeding the cycle. Every time Homura resets time to save Madoka, she makes Madoka’s "karmic destiny" heavier.
Basically, Homura is the one who accidentally built the world's most powerful bomb. By making Madoka the center of every timeline, she gave Madoka the "potential" to become a god—or a world-ending witch.
The Mechanics of Despair and Thermodynamics
Kyubey doesn't care about the morality of the Madoka Magica Madoka witch. To him, she’s just an energy source.
He explains that the transition from a magical girl to a witch releases a burst of energy that defies entropy. The more powerful the girl, the bigger the burst. Kriemhild Gretchen is the "jackpot" for the Incubators. Her transformation alone would probably provide enough energy to keep the universe running until the end of time.
This is where the show gets really bleak. The very existence of Madoka’s witch form is the ultimate proof that the universe is a cold, calculating machine. It doesn't care about Madoka’s kindness. It only cares about the "phase transition" of her soul.
💡 You might also like: Emily Piggford Movies and TV Shows: Why You Recognize That Face
Misconceptions About the Law of Cycles
A lot of people get confused between "Goddess Madoka" (Madokami) and "Witch Madoka" (Kriemhild Gretchen). They are two sides of the same coin, but they aren't the same thing.
- Madokami is the result of Madoka’s wish to erase all witches before they are born.
- Kriemhild Gretchen is what would have happened if Madoka had succumbed to despair without making that specific reality-warping wish.
However, in the final episode, we see that even the Goddess has a shadow. When Madoka takes on the despair of every magical girl in history, she nearly turns into a witch that would destroy the entire universe—not just Earth, but the entire universe. This "Ultimate Kriemhild Gretchen" is the physical manifestation of all the pain of every magical girl who ever lived.
Madoka only avoids this by essentially becoming a concept rather than a physical being. She "shoots" her own witch self before it can fully manifest, effectively killing her own despair. It’s a paradox. She exists to destroy the witch that she herself would have become.
The Design Symbolism You Probably Missed
If you look at the witch’s runes in the anime, they spell out her name in a stylized archaic script. The name "Kriemhild" comes from the Nibelungenlied, a major work of Middle High German literature. In that story, Kriemhild is a woman driven to terrible, bloody revenge after the death of her husband.
It fits. Madoka is usually the sweet, passive one. But her witch form represents the repressed, darker side of that devotion. It’s a love that has turned so heavy it becomes a burden.
Also, the "mountain" shape? It’s often compared to a "womb." This is a recurring theme in the series—life, birth, and the cycle of suffering. Kriemhild Gretchen is like a dark mother who wants to take all her "children" (humanity) back into herself so they don't have to face the world.
How to Actually Track the Lore
If you're looking for more details on this, you have to dig into the Puella Magi Madoka Magica Portable game for the PSP. It’s old, and you might need a fan translation, but it goes into the specific "Nature" of each witch.
📖 Related: Elaine Cassidy Movies and TV Shows: Why This Irish Icon Is Still Everywhere
Gretchen’s nature is "Salvation."
The game even has a "Witch Gallery" that describes her barrier as a place where there are no struggles, no hunger, and no wars. It sounds like a utopia until you realize it’s a utopia for the dead. The game also clarifies that if she were to manifest fully, she would eventually create a "barrier" that encompasses the entire galaxy.
What This Means for the Future of the Series
With the upcoming Walpurgisnacht Rising movie (the sequel to Rebellion), everyone is talking about whether we will see the Madoka Magica Madoka witch again. In Rebellion, we saw Homura take on a new form (Akuma Homura) to counter Madoka’s godhood.
If the balance is tipped again, could we see a return of Gretchen?
Some theorists suggest that the "Goddess" and the "Devil" are keeping the universe in a fragile state of equilibrium. If that breaks, the result might not be another wish. It might be the manifestation of the despair that has been building up since the beginning of time. If Madoka is ever forced to "fall" from her conceptual state, Kriemhild Gretchen is waiting at the bottom.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Lore Hunters
Understanding the depth of the Madoka Magica Madoka witch changes how you view the entire series. It’s not just a "sad ending" trope; it’s a commentary on the cost of altruism.
- Watch the runes: Next time you rewatch Episode 10 or 12, pay attention to the background art during the witch transformations. The "Inu Curry" art style contains a lot of hidden text that adds layers to the witches' backstories.
- Compare the "Dress": Look at the silhouette of Madoka’s "Ultimate" dress versus the shape of Kriemhild Gretchen. The visual parallels are intentional. The wings of the goddess are mirrored by the dark, shroud-like layers of the witch.
- Explore the Nibelungenlied: If you want to understand the "soul" of the character, read a summary of the epic poem. The themes of betrayal and the "world-ending" nature of grief are all there.
- Check the spin-offs: The Magia Record mobile game and anime also touch on "Doppel" forms, which are essentially "mini-witches." Madoka’s Doppel in that game provides even more visual clues about how her despair manifests when it’s contained.
The story of Madoka isn't over just because she became a goddess. As long as there is light, there is a shadow—and in her case, that shadow is big enough to swallow the stars.