The depression that resulted from this fact led her astray as a typical human being to become vulnerable to witches and familiars. However, her fate changed when she met Kaname Madoka.
And so, Homura came to know at least one person who stood by her side as a teacher, protector, and a loving friend. When Madoka was killed by Walpurgis Night, she wished she could save her best friend's life; an innocent wish of a girl who had nothing else but one true friend.
It is generally considered foolish to look at the past in regret. It doesn't even need to be said how foolish it is to wish for somebody to be brought back from the dead. After all, all living things die according to the irreversible balance of nature.
Therefore, Homura's wish completely neglected the laws of nature, which eventually led to her fall into hopeless despair.
Is Homura's wish to protect Madoka a selfless wish based on a pure and innocent heart, or was it a foolish wish since it defied nature itself?
There are surely many different opinions on such a controversial wish, which proves the depth of the theme which Homura represents in this world, which is to protect the ones we love until the end of time.
There is no doubt that Akemi Homura was set up as a tragic hero just like the other characters of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.
However, what is uncertain is whether or not Homura was written by Urobuchi (the writer of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica) to be a foil, meaning a mistake.
I will explain what this means later on.
Without a doubt, Akemi Homura served Urobuch to be a potential tragic hero, regardless of whether or not she is indeed a foil. To begin, let me define Aristotle's tragic hero.
(If you've read the previous article on Miki Sayaka, you should be familiar with this concept, since Sayaka was the perfect example of a tragic hero, follies and all.)
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"A tragic hero is a character in a tragedy, who usually has one major flaw that results in the character's pitiful death. The function of a tragic hero is usually to invoke pity from the audience."
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With that in mind, let's look into the tragedy of Akemi Homura, and therefore, the quality of her character as well as the depth of her character development.
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There are 3 major things that generally make up a tragic hero:
1) The character must possess a nobility to be removed.
2) The character's fortune must reverse due to his/her virtues.
3) The character must recognize his/her follies.
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With that in mind, let's look into the tragedy of Akemi Homura, and therefore, the quality of her character as well as the depth of her character development.
Let's begin with the first requirement, Homura's nobility to be removed.
It can be said that to love and honor someone by protecting them until death is a noble cause. Therefore, Homura's nobility lies within her loyalty towards her best friend, Madoka, whom she loved dearly, and whom she would continue to love until her last breath.
"I promise."
"I'll definitely save you."
"No matter how many times I have to repeat all of this, I'll protect you!" - Akemi Homura, Episode 10.
This is the promise of Homura to Madoka in Episode 10; the promise to save her best friend even if it mean she had to struggle for eternity. This is, without a doubt, a promise full of nobility. And with her new magical powers granted by Kyubey, her wish became a reality.
The Tragic Truth
Homura's reality was shatter when she learned of the truth behind her actions in the 11th episode; that as a side-effect of her time traveling, Madoka's inner potential, (magical power), grew tighter in proportion to the cycling of the cause-and-effect-lines which all connected to her due to Homura's time traveling. Because of this ever-growing potential, Kyubey used the fact as an extremely tempting reason for Madoka to become a Mahou Shoujo and save her friends from death. Thus, Homura's actions led Madoka to eventually become the most powerful Mahou Shoujo in history. And due to the fate of all Mahou Shoujo, this meant that she would eventually become the most powerful witch in all of history.
Thus, Homura's nobility was removed when she realized that she crossed the point of no return, which is when Madoka's inner potential grew so powerful that she would eventually become the most powerful witch in history. When Homura realized this, she lost all hope and realized the impossibility of her noble ideals. Her nobility was thus removed by the tragic truth of reality.
It's obvious in this case that her fortune was reversed due to her past noble virtue, which fills the 2nd requirement. The nobility behind her wish granted her magical powers that increased her fortune to an impossible amount. However, the truth shattered her reality, took away her nobility, and revresed her fortuen so that she would find herself in utter despair and failure.
It looks a little bit like this:
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The wish of Akemi Homura:
I can save Madoka from evil --> I've just turned her into the most power evil of the world, (because of my very wish to saver her...)
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The downfall of Akemi Homura thus came for one major reason; She failed to save her best friend, whom she loved dearly.
Basically, the potential within Madoka became so great that she reached a point where it was practically impossible to save her.
This truth is parallel with Sayaka's tragic truth, which was that her own wish caused her to become a witch herself and bring evil upon others.
Indeed, Homura temporarily set this fact aside before she fought Walpurgis Night, (after all, what good use would come out of such a hopeless thought?), but it wasn't until she lay under a pile of debris ind feath before Walpurgis Night that the hopeless thought became reality before her very eyes. All she could do then was await her final moments until she became a witch herself, just like Sayaka.
Such is the tragedy of Akemi Homura. Of course, it's only natural that she was defeated; after all, she made a wish that went against nature itself. And if natural balance does indeed exist in this world, then it is only according to the natural law that Homura was defeated.
But then here's an interesting quesiton: Why didn't Urobuchi end it there?
Homura's naivete led her to defy nature and wish an impossible wish to bring back the dead to life. Is this not a folly? Did Akemi Homura not deserve to die a tragic death just as Sayaka did?
Is there some kind of difference between Sayaka and Homura that resulted in their different endings?
In order to get a better understanding of this, we must try and discern what Urobuchi was thinking by comparing two of his tragic characters together; Miki Sayaka and Akemi Homura.
Stay tuned to this blog to see how I compar the two tragic characters together in an attempt to discern Urobuchi's thoughts between his two similar but somehow different characters.
