A Garden of Fake Flowers

    Which means Samee’s understanding of Magilou’s backstory. Essentially what I understand, and what I’ll operate with until proven otherwise, is that Magilou was born with a natural, surprising amount of resonance. She could communicate with Malakhim and naturally see them, which to the normal humans around her seemed supernatural and witch like. Let’s call it psychological terms and coin it labeling theory that she just sort of took to the title, not the least of which because it seems that she was mistreated and abused for the purposes of using this seemingly otherworldly power for the purposes of a traveling Troupe. How this troupe procured her is up for debate, but I’m assuming it was either luck of the draw, or some less than savory means ( given how Stolkholm attached she is to the title of witch, I would assume the latter ). Enter Melchior, seeing her in one of these shows, and whoops~ suddenly her savior has the Troupe fall to an unfortunate death, from which she is somehow never found. 

    At this point, she travels with Melchior, probably seeing him not only as a father figure but a savior of sorts, and dons the mantle of future duty as a Mayvin ( even going so far as to adopt the name ). Now this is where I get to reference actual dialogue from the game: 

        "She could be crushed under the weight of his expectations.          She could simply reach her limit and lose hope.          Either teacher or student could abandon the other.          And say she one days meets his standards of perfection.          Who knows whether it would even make her happy.          It's human nature to end up wanting to stay with someone,                  if that person is someone who needs you.”

    So, going by this, we can assume that Magilou was cutting herself to the quick and working herself every day to meet Melchior’s seemingly absurd expectations ( and I mean, who can be surprised, given that this man seems to have taken an Oath that literally prolonged his life exorbinantly in order to accomplish his duties and undertake this Crusade against humanity of Innominat ). But for whatever reason, which I have not found yet, she snaps. She fails. She breaks. I think... honestly... it’s her love of humanity, her unwillingness to let go of the beauty of the tragedy and failing that is people. I mean, her speech to Melchior says just that: 

          "The wellspring of all malevolence. Thus must emotion be quelled,              and reason bring order to the world, until the day that humanity can              repent and overcome their sins. We are the instruments of change,              hated for our sacrifice. We are the shadow of the Shepherd who brings             salvation.           ... I can think of nothing more boring than your ideal world.             A garden of fake flowers. Good for show and nothing else.            Can a flower hold beauty if it does not wilt?! Can a wolf be satisfied           eating grass?! ... Let the biting bugs go ahead and eat what they want           to eat. Let the weeds grow where they wanna grow! Some may look down           on them and scoff at their foolishness, but their unwavering wills are proof           that they're alive! If that's what you call evil,                     then I will live and die with evil as my mantra!"

    As warped and perverted as her love is of humanity, I think it’s largely born out of a disconnect with it. She didn’t fit in as a child, and was warped into constantly advertising and profiting off of it. But still, she loved the fact that they are flawed, that humanity is damaged and that that’s just part of the game. Because if it isn’t, where does she fit? Magilou refers to the fact that her emotions broke when she’s speaking to Laphicet early on; it’s out of self defense, anyone can tell, but that’s why she’s so absurdly off the wall- she was made to be a performer right out of the gate, so spectacles and attention grabbing, living for praise, believing that everything must have a price tag or exchange in order to be realistic, nothing being done out of kindness or kinship- it’s all just a product of her early life. And even Melchior had something drastic to gain out of her natural innate ability and talent.

      So long story short, her justificaiton exists, and her life sort of leads her there. It’s in finding Velvet and Rokuro that she, oddly, becomes vindicated in her surprisingly unbroken view and passion for at least observing, if not detaching from, humanity. After all,

         I watch the world with measured gaze as moments turn to history.         The world, a lute the people play, and history its melody.         Venture on. Venture on. Let your actions turn the world.         And I shall watch, and I shall watch. Until the final star winks out.         If solitude must be my fate, then people are my heart, my heart.        I know your sins and shrieks and joys, for people are my heart, my heart.

    And it’s pretty safe to assume she wouldn’t have come to this ( ^^^ ) conclusion without traveling with Velvet. I honestly think one of her primary justifications for continuing to travel with them, beyond Bienfu and her claim at revenge ( which I think was just a further jab at making fun of Velvet and the absurdity of her quest ), was to watch someone else crumble. She broke, and she faults herself for being tossed away into the cell to rot ( because obviously someone knew too much to be just released if she refused to perform ). Seeing Velvet’s determination and drive, much less at 19 ( probably Magilou is mid-twenties at least ), probably sparked a little too much recognition, even if the drive was significantly less intrinsic and personally focused. She wanted the affirmation that if she couldn’t do it, no one else could, and yet seeing Velvet keep going, and going, and.... going... and going... sort of is the proof she needs to rebuild herself, if only a little bit; gave her the strength to stand up against Melchior too.