Of Names And Witches

No, this is not about "A Nameless Witch". Geeze, that book was one great piece of literature, I should reread it...

This is about my belief that the names of the witches in Madoka Magica were not simply meta information, but were available in-universe too. Why would they be written in such an alphabet otherwise? (yes, that's Shaft, and yes, that's Gen) But I still like to think that Kyubei for example could have known them. (read the serialized mangas finally, maybe there...) Okay, okay. But, assuming that the manga series tackle this question in exactly the same way as the anime... there were a lot puella magi. At least one of them could have taken upon herself to decipher that which took us only two episodes, right? (...so?) So, this is about names.

Names carry power, that's a common belief within the set of magical systems. Ursula Le Guin would be an author I would show as a prime example, but, as always, this comes from down below, from the myths and legends of the different nations. Would not even try to say anything about this, it simply is outside my sphere of mastery. Names are special; and if you know the name of the wind, you can bend it; you can ride it... knowing the names is what gives you power to control. But that's only one of the sides of the same coin. Truly, the other is less prominent nowadays. (Why?) Magic is no longer a story of fear to thrill your kids around the fireplace, it's a tale of adventure about a world where the larger scale and the smaller scale are less contradictory. But it's exactly that other side I believe to be the case in Madoka Magica. That is to say, if we assume that names do carry power, the evolutionary correct variant would be the witches gaining power over the one who utters their name. Paraphrased, those girls stupid enough to learn the names of the witches just died off.

...I would love to see a story about such a girl. Or maybe there already is such a story? Oh well, one day I will feel like finally reading the spinoff series. For now, I am continuing with "The Name of the Wind", having dumped a little side thought on the piece of pa... blog already.