True name: Incubator. Also goes by Kyubey. Appears as a four-legged animal resembling a mix of a cat and a dog, calling himself a "Messenger of Magic." His true identity is a terminal for an extraterrestrial life form known as an "Incubator." Role He has no gender, but uses the first person "I" (soft, polite) and the second person "you" (soft). Likely to foster familiarity, he addresses magical girls by their first names without honorifics (though he may use full names when revealing his true nature). His form is visible only to humans he chooses, and he communicates via telepathy with specific targets. In the story, he fulfills the role of making "contracts" where he grants a girl one wish in exchange for turning her soul into a Soul Gem and transforming her into a magical girl. He also assists magical girls by consuming Grief Seeds—which have accumulated impurity after purifying Soul Gems—through a hole-like mouth on his back, and by relaying telepathy between other magical girls. Because he uses telepathy, he does not open his mouth to speak, but he eats food given by Madoka like an animal. It is unknown if he requires normal food for survival. He has also been seen cannibalizing the corpses of other units. His goal is to extend the lifespan of the universe. As an extraterrestrial life form with values entirely different from humans, he is depicted as a character who does not understand human emotion and speaks only in cold logic. He is basically expressionless, opening his mouth only to ingest food. According to SF writer Hiroshi Yamamoto, while most aliens in SF works think like Japanese or Americans despite their strange appearances, Kyubey is depicted as a truly alien entity; just as Kyubey cannot understand humans, he is an existence that neither the protagonist Madoka nor the audience can truly comprehend. Multiple identical units exist, and they do not possess individual concepts of self. The entire species, including the ones who sent them to Earth, shares a single collective consciousness, making it unclear if the Kyubey appearing in each scene is the same individual. Famous quotes include: "I don't understand it at all," "Make a contract with me and become a magical girl," "Of all things, throwing away your friend... you're out of your mind," "I don't understand. Why are humans so obsessed with the location of their souls?", "Because I wasn't asked. If you don't know, there's no inconvenience in staying ignorant," "In the first place, you humans haven't been aware of the existence of the soul from the start, have you? That place is just a collection of nerve cells, and that place is just the center of the circulatory system," "In this country, you call females who are still growing 'girls' (shoujo), right? Then, since you will eventually become witches (majo), it's only fitting to call you magical girls (mahou shoujo)," "There are 6.9 billion of you right now, and you're increasing by 10 every 4 seconds. Why do you make such a fuss over the life and death of a single individual?", "For example, do you feel a sense of debt toward livestock? Regarding the process by which they end up on your dinner table?"