Thinking about Madoka Magica

[feotakahari]

I get why the Incubators don’t admit their methods and the result thereof, but I think they’d encounter less friction if they were 10% more honest. “It’s common for humans to want to fight witches, and I help because I need grief seeds, but I don’t directly involve myself in natural conflicts between humans. Whatever you choose to do as a magical girl, I won’t stop you, and I won’t stop other magical girls if your actions provoke them to fight you.”

They could even be honest about their attitude. “I’m not human, and I’m not capable of feeling friendship the way a human would. But I understand mutual benefit, and this arrangement benefits both humanity and myself. I won’t do anything to jeopardize the supply of grief seeds.”

This does provoke the possibility of someone asking if they make witches, but someone could ask that in canon. I’m not sure how they wriggle out of that.

The biggest remaining point of friction between them and humans would be how they approach magical girl groups. They don’t want magical girls to support each other so much they stop becoming witches. But witchification seems to be inevitable on a long enough timespan, and they still have plenty of time to save the universe.