“ Now that I've dirtied my hands [...], my goal is an ideal world for people to live in, which my son aimed for. At the very least, that is what I believe. That is what I hope to happen.
— Glück to Macht, in Chapter 90
Glück ｢グリュック Guryukku?｣ was the feudal lord of the Fortified City of Weise. The death of his son at the hands of his political rivals motivated him to remove his opponents and gain the rule of the city. He found the opportunity to do so after encountering Macht when the latter attacked his carriage, whom he convinced to become his personal servant. Thanks to Macht's power and deception, Glück managed to assume control of the Fortified City of Weise and the city flourished under his administration. He was transmuted into gold at the hands of Macht about 30 years after their initial meeting.
Personality[]
Glück was an extremely composed person who had an unshakeable will. He did not seem deterred in the slightest even when at the mercy of a Sage of Destruction. Although he lived by an incredibly powerful being who only pretended to serve him out of amusement, Glück never once showed any kind of fear towards him until the end. He is rather cynical about human nature and reality, telling Macht that an existence without an understanding of evil and good was much happier than that of humans. However, he was still an idealist at heart. His goal is to remake the Fortified City of Weise into a prosperous place where humans deserve to live, to honor the wish of his deceased son.
Glück was also an incredibly intelligent and shrewd man. Coming from the Imperial city, he was a noble with a lot of political experience and was even willing to go to underhanded and radical measures to attain what he wanted, such as assassinating corrupted political rivals. He enlisted the cooperation of a powerful demon with the full knowledge of the risks it ensued. With his personal story and careful selection of words, he managed to intrigue a demon (a creature totally alien to human preconceptions) and make him into his personal servant. Using the demon's power and ability at deception, Glück gained the loyalty of most nobles ruling the city as the feudal lord.
Though he called himself an evil noble, his "crimes" were committed as a last resort and strictly necessary to build the better world he aimed for. He seemed to genuinely care for the livelihood and prosperity of the Fortified City of Weise. Glück was also concerned about his relative, Denken, who was consumed by sorrow at the death of his parents, and tried to distract the boy with the study of magic as well as the prospect of revenge against the demons. He seemed to extend his goodwill even to Macht, interestingly enough, calling the demon his important partner in crime. Even though Glück had the authority to issue commands through the Bracelet of Sovereignty, he had let Macht carry out his experiment as he wished, at the cost of both Glück's and the city's demise.
Glück likes smoking and, according to Macht, enjoyed drinking tea.
Appearance[]
Glück was a middle age man with light-colored hair and evenly divided bangs. He has thick eyebrows but narrow eyes. As he ages, he gained wrinkles near the corners of his eyes and eventually his whole face.
He is often seen wearing a grey-shaded formal suit with a scarf in front of his chest. His undershirt was dark. He wore light-shaded pants and often carried a cigarette pack in its pocket. After his daughter died, he began wearing darker colored clothes.
Synopsis[]
History[]
Glück was a noble who relocated to the Fortified City of Weise, where most nobles who failed to gain power at the Capital fled to, a long time ago with his wife and his son. He assumed the position of the Feudal lord of the city but in actuality had little power, which was consolidated by a different family and their allies. He was distressed at the horrible condition of the city, where corruption was rampant and the livelihood of the people was neglected, resulting in numerous deaths due to starvation each year. However, he had not taken any action against it until his son stepped up and publicly asked the other nobles to conduct themselves properly and improve the life of the people. Due to this appeal, the son was assassinated by these nobles, who staged it as a suicide and feigned ignorance when Glück accused them of the murder. This event greatly changed Glück's outlook of life and his motivations. It strengthened his resolve to avenge his son and build a better Fortified City of Weise for the people.
One night on a trip back to the City of Weise, Glück's carriage was attacked by Macht of Golden Land, who effortlessly murdered all of his guards. With the demon's sword by his neck, Glück fearlessly asked for a final cigarette. His attitude prompted the demon's curiosity as the latter asked him for details. Macht revealed that he was in search for emotions of "guilt" and "malice", which Glück claimed he had experienced an abundance of. Glück told the demon his backstory and claimed that he was the best person to teach the demon about the emotions he sought, but in return Macht must work for him and eliminate all of his political rivals. The demon accepted the deal and assassinated the noble family in power, granting Glück control of Weise.
Soon after news of the Demon King's defeat, Glück introduced Macht formally as the mage of the Glück's family. He made use of the demon's natural talent of deception to gain the trust and subservience of the other nobles of Weise. When the remnants of the Demon King Army came to attack the city, he ordered Macht to "kill all of Weise's enemies", saving the city from being destroyed at the hands of demons.
When Macht proposed to take on the role of a magic instructor, Glück introduced him to Denken, his relative whose parents were killed by demons and ordered Macht to teach him magic. He intended for the exercise to distract the boy from his grief and provide and outlet for his hatred against demons, which were largely effective. Denken would grow up to be a competent mage in the Imperial Army and marry Glück's daughter, Lekture. Unfortunately, due to her weak constitution since birth, Lekture died when he was still young. Grieving the loss of his wife, Denken would leave his hometown and would not return for many years after.
With his daughter's death and his son-in-law's departure, Glück spent the days of his old age in his city alone, except with the demon he had an agreement with. He visited and prayed at the grave of his daughter practically every day, accompanied by the demon. On one particular day, as he was walking back from such a visit, Glück told Macht that the demon had not changed at all even after all the time they spent together. He wondered if those 30 years were but a moment in Macht's eyes. The demon claimed that he thought such a moment, despite being transient, to be irreplaceable and decided to destroy everything in order to know what is "guilt" and what is "malice". After a moment's thought, Glück accepted his decision and asked the demon to light him his real final cigarette. As Macht was doing so, Glück said he had expected Macht to "betray" him like this some time ago. At Macht's unexpected reaction, Glück told the demon that he had been a wonderful partner in crime and also an irredeemable monster, assuring him that one day he would pay just as Glück had. After having his final words with Macht, he was transmuted into gold along with the rest of the Fortified City of Weise.
Relationships[]
Macht[]
Macht is Glück's "partner in crime" who acts as his servant. He was attacked by the demon randomly one day but managed to pique Macht's interest and secured a deal with the demon. Glück promised to teach Macht the human emotions he was curious about, but the demon must serve him in return. The demon then acted as his personal servant who attended to him daily and executed every order the noble gave. Although outwardly Macht acted nothing but a subservient servant, Glück was completely aware that the demon had no loyalty towards him or humans and would turn against them anytime. He was only using the demon's power for as long as possible to achieve his life's goals.
Nevertheless, though there is no true trust or loyalty between them, the two, human and demon, managed to form a unique connection as they spent time together. Glück had achieved thorough understanding of the nature of the demon race, and more particularly Macht as an individual. He was able to tell the subtle differences in the demon's mostly one-note expressions, and came to understand that the demon's nature was something unchangeable. Nonetheless, he still considered Macht irreplaceable. In the final moments of his life, he said that Macht was a wonderful partner in crime and as his last words told him that it had been fun, to which the demon also agreed.
Denken[]
Denken was the orphan child of Glück's relatives, who were killed by demons. Glück cared about Denken and was concerned that the boy went to pray at the Church every day, consumed by grief at the death of his parents. To help him achieve his dream to become a mage and distract him from sorrow, he ordered Macht to teach Denken magic and train him into a mage. When Denken became an adult, Glück trusted him enough to allow his marriage to his daughter, Lektüre. After her death, Glück tried to console Denken, who had departed and did not return to his hometown since. His leave seemed to sadden Glück as well, although the noble accepted it as inevitable.
Lektüre[]
Though it wasn't focused, Glück cared about his daughter deeply. He seemed to have been reluctant to admit that his daughter was attracted to Denken when both of them were young. When she died, Glück seemed to be filled with grief, even though he tried to console Denken and by extension, himself, that it was inevitable due to her weak body. Afterwards, he changed his attire to darker colors and took trips every day to pray at her grave.
Abilities[]
Glück was a regular person who possessed little combat ability. However, he did possess outstanding wit and the rhetorical ability to convince others even in moments of high stress.
Manga Appearance[]
| Chapter 77: A Thunder of Dragons | Absent |
| Chapter 78: Lake Korridor | Absent |
| Chapter 79: The Great Tor Canyon | Absent |
| Chapter 80: Holy Snow Crystals | Absent |
| Chapter 81: The Golden Land | Mentioned |
| Chapter 82: Diagoldze—The Spell to Transmute All Creation into Gold | Absent |
| Chapter 83: The Stone Bracelet of Servitude | Mentioned |
| Chapter 84: Daredevil | Memory Debut |
| Chapter 85: Malice | Absent |
| Chapter 86: Discussions | Flashback |
| Chapter 87: Affection | Flashback |
| Chapter 88: Solitär | Absent |
| Chapter 89: Guilt | Absent |
| Chapter 90: Glück | Memory |
| Chapter 91: Onstage | Memory |
| Chapter 92: The End of Weise | Memory |
| Chapter 93: The Great Barrier | Absent |
| Chapter 94: Analysis | Absent |
| Chapter 95: Nameless Great Demon | Absent |
| Chapter 96: Master and Apprentice | Absent |
| Chapter 97: Observation | Absent |
| Chapter 98: Retribution | Flashback |
| Chapter 99: Offense and Defense | Absent |
| Chapter 100: The Fundamentals of Mages | Absent |
| Chapter 101: Breakthrough | Absent |
| Chapter 102: A Tie | Absent |
| Chapter 103: Time for Retribution | Appears |
| Chapter 104: A Visit to Her Grave | Appears |
| Chapter 126: A New Mission | Absent |
| Chapter 127: Retrieval Mission | Absent |
| Chapter 128: Magic Special Forces | Absent |
| Chapter 129: Shadow of the Empire | Absent |
| Chapter 130: Beneath the Water's Surface | Appears |
| Chapter 131: Escape | Absent |
| Chapter 132: Chase | Absent |
| Chapter 133: Silver Coins | Absent |
| Chapter 134: Trace Back | Absent |
| Chapter 135: Prelude | Absent |
| Chapter 136: Reunion | Absent |
| Chapter 137: Repel | Absent |
| Chapter 138: Traitor | Absent |
| Chapter 139: Kreis the Blacksmith | Absent |
| Chapter 140: Ballroom | Appears |
Trivia[]
- Glück means "luck" in German. It is quite an ironic namesake, considering his confrontation with Macht resulted in the demise of Weise. However, personally for Glück, it might have been a lucky encounter, since without Macht's assistance, he would never be able to achieve his life's goal. Glück can also mean "happiness", "joy", or "bliss" in German.
- Glück ranked the following in the official popularity polls:
- 22nd in the first popularity contest.
- 37th in the second popularity contest, where multiple votes per character were counted.
- In this same contest, Glück ranked 51st when counting only unique votes (one vote per character per person).
References[]
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 91 (p. 4).