| Introduction |
“ I despise geniuses. They lack the beauty of accumulated effort.
—Lügner to Graf Granat, in Chapter 17
Lügner ｢リュグナー Ryugunā?｣ was a demon who served Aura the Guillotine. He infiltrated Graf Granat's Domain under the guise of serving as an envoy of peace from Lady Aura, though his true intentions were to get Graf Granat to lower the defensive barrier surrounding the city.
Personality[]
Lügner appears to be a laid-back and empathetic. He is forgiving of Frieren when she attacks him, and relates with Graf Granat about his deceased son. However, this is revealed to be a ruse. As a demon, Lügner is unable to experience human emotion. However, like the rest of his species, he demonstrates extreme pride in his magic and mana, even becoming furious and calling the way which Fern and Frieren suppress their mana despicable.[1] In addition, Lügner is exceptionally proficient at mimicking human emotion, as shown by the easy way he spins a lie to placate Graf Granat's anger about his deceased son.[2] He is deceptive and confident in his magic and sensory capabilities.
Appearance[]
Lügner has long, approximately shoulder-length ash blonde hair. His hair is parted in the middle of his head, and two long strands cascade down to frame his face. His horns are medium length and protrude from the center of his head upwards. They are bent at the base and near the tip, and point upwards and forwards. Lügner, visiting Graf Granat's Domain under the pretense of being an envoy for peace, dresses in a similar style as the Graf. He wears a long, ruffled white cravat that is fastened in place by a gemstone over a dark doublet and gray pants. Lügner also wears a long, dark coat with gold trimmings and knee length white boots.
Synopsis[]
Aura the Guillotine Arc[]
Lügner, Linie, and Draht are escorted by Graf Granat through the town.
Lügner is sent by Aura the Guillotine in order to infiltrate the town in Graf Granat's Domain by posing as peace envoys along with Linie and Draht. He meets with Graf Granat, who allows them to enter the barrier into the town. The Graf proceeds to give Aura's executioners a tour of the city. When they encounter Frieren, who has just arrived in town with her party, she immediately tries to kill him and is stopped by the Graf's sentinels. Lügner ignores Fern and Stark completely, deeming them irrelevant. Though he doesn't recognize Frieren, he recognizes her blood lust and the fact that Frieren views him as less than human. Once Graf Granat orders the guards to take Frieren to jail and smooths things over, they are taken to the Graf's estate. Lügner and his fellow executioners are called by the Graf to his study and he shows them the sword that belonged to his late son who was killed by demons. Graf Granat then draws the sword and prepares to fight Lügner, explaining that he only allowed the demons into the town to kill them. However, Lügner examines the room and spins a lie on the spot. He tells Granat that he feels his pain as Lügner had also lost his father in the same war, and states that there should be no more pointless death. This makes the Graf pause and reconsider. He leaves them to think over Lügner's words. Whilst leaving the study, Linie asks Lügner what a father is, and Lügner responds that he has no idea.[3]
Lügner lies his way out of the confrontation with Graf Granat.
Lügner is next seen drinking wine while waiting for the Graf to return. He asks Linie where Draht went, and Linie tells him that Draht headed out to eliminate a nuisance. After Frieren kills Draht, Lügner calls him a fool, and tells Linie that as Aura's executioners, they would not lose simply from underestimating a mage. Graf Granat then returns to the room. The Graf tells them that the mage that attacked them earlier has escaped, and the guard outside her cell was beheaded with magic. Lügner immediately offers Linie's mana detection services in order to find the mage, but the Graf dismisses this, and instead asks where the last member of the peace envoy was. Lügner lies, stating that Draht had simply gone to the privy, but Graf Granat calls him out on his lie, as Draht didn't ask any of the guards where the privy was located. Graf asks again where their man is, with the guards beginning to circle Lügner and Linie; Lügner finally ends his facade and kills the guards with his blood magic. He then cripples the Graf by piercing him with blood through his middle. After tying up the Graf, Lügner states that their plan has only just begun, and he muses about how he hates geniuses, as a barrier created by a genius mage such as Flamme could still resist all demonic attacks even a thousand years after it was initially cast. He threatens to torture the Graf if he doesn't reveal how to deactivate the barrier around the town, before leaving with Linie to search for a grimoire about the barrier in the Graf's home, mockingly explaining that making someone wait is also a diplomatic tactic humans utilize.
Lügner uses his magic to push Stark down on the ground.
Lügner and Linie return and find Stark trying to free the Graf. Lügner asks if Graf Granat knew him, but the Graf lies and tells Lügner that Stark merely came to him to beg for Frieren's release. Hearing this, Lügner allows Stark to leave, the whole time not looking Stark in the eye. Stark then draws his axe and fights Lügner. Though Stark's speed surprises him, Lügner is quickly able to pin Stark down with his blood magic. He tells Stark that he commends his valor in fighting him alone, which causes Stark to smirk as call out to Fern that he's created the opening she asked for. Fern then blasts Lügner though the chest with Zoltraak. Though Lügner survives the attack, it leaves him shocked, as Zoltraak as created by Qual was a spell demons had long since learned to defend against. He asks Fern who taught her the spell, but Fern believes Lügner to be stalling for time and moves to finish him off. Linie steps in to defend Lügner, and Stark interrupts the fight to tell Fern that they need to retreat because the Graf is badly injured.
Lügner is struck by Fern's Zoltrack
Lügner heals himself and tells Linie not to go after them alone, as if she had been hit by the spell she would have died. The spell that she used was no longer the same human killing magic that Qual had developed, but instead had been specialized for killing demons. He tells her that his blood is on Fern and Stark's clothing, so they will be able to track them down after Lügner is done healing. Lügner then muses about why Fern had seemed so familiar to him, as he had seen her magic and her movements elsewhere before. He then remembers — the mage she reminds him of is Frieren. He then calls Frieren by the alias demons know her by — Frieren the Slayer, the one in history who had sent the most demons to their graves, who had contributed significantly to humanity's understanding of Zoltraak, and one of the geniuses that he despises.
Lügner pins Fern to the wall.
After Lügner heals himself, he and Linie track Fern and Stark down using the blood on their clothing. Fern realizes that the blood on their clothing has mana circulating in it, but Lügner has already found them. He surprises Fern with a retaliatory attack and pins her to a tower by impaling her shoulder whilst Linie engages in battle with Stark. Lügner asks Fern why she's surprised, as human mages aren't the only ones capable of concealing their mana for a surprise attack. He tells her that he hadn't intended on making her suffer, as his aim was for her vitals but she moved. When Fern asks if he's going to finish her off, he tells her that since he failed to kill her instantly, he might as well ask her a few questions. Lügner forces her to comply by applying pressure to her shoulder wound and threatening her life. Lügner first asks Fern how strong Stark is. Fern responds that Stark is the best student of Eisen the Warrior. Lügner pities him, as he believes Stark will not die a decent death by Linie's hand.
When Lügner subsequently asks where Frieren is, Fern tells him that Frieren fled the town since Aura's executioners had killed a guard, and the punishment for Frieren would be execution if the blame were pinned on her. However, Lügner does not believe this to be true, as he knows Frieren bears enough of a grudge against demons to teach her student a spell specializing in killing demons. He paces away from Fern as he thinks, and he shortly comes to the conclusion that Frieren must be going after Aura. Taking advantage of Lügner's turned back, Fern levitates her staff and breaks the blood pinning her to the wall. She aims at Lügner's back, but he tells her that she is wasting her time. Fern calls out Lügner's previous lie, and judges that he had purposefully missed her vitals earlier because he wanted to take revenge for her surprising him. She calls him proud and arrogant and tells him his underestimation is what has granted her an opportunity. Fern then tells Lügner that at this distance, she could blow out his heart. However, Lügner calls her bluff and tells her to try, as her head will fly before she's able to cast the spell. He warns her that he has dedicated the majority of his life to the pursuit of magic; Fern retorts that she has as well.
Lügner struggles to avoid Fern's fast attacks.
Lügner then turns and attacks Fern with his blood magic; simultaneously, she fires Zoltraak at him so quickly that he is forced to abandon his attack and defend his heart. This gives away his weakness to Fern, and seeing that she hasn't lied about dedicating her life to magic, he decides to fight her with his full strength. He activates his blood manipulation: Balterie, and the two begin to fight.[4]
Lügner observes that his mana, technique, and control are all greater than Fern. However, though Fern cannot compare in those aspects, the sheer speed and number of Fern's attacks begin to overwhelm him. He at first attempts to engage her in a battle of attrition to exhaust her mana, but Fern's quick attacks rapidly break through his blood defenses and he realizes the battle will be over before he can whittle down her mana. He then calls out for Linie to finish her fight with Stark, as he wants her to create an opening so he can defeat Fern. In the end, Lügner is the one that is defeated when Linie is killed by Stark and he looks away from Fern for a second. With the opening provided by Stark, Fern shoots him clean through the heart with Zoltraak, ending the battle.
In his final moments, Lügner tells Fern she is a disgrace to mages.
In his final moments, Lügner calmly notes that it must be the end for him, as he cannot stop his own bleeding. Fern approaches and tells him that their plan has failed, but Lügner confidently tells her that Aura will win against Frieren, as she no longer has her party of heroes to protect her, and Frieren has less mana that Aura. However, Fern retorts that Frieren will win, as there is no way Frieren would face Aura without trickery or deception. As Fern prepares to finish Lügner off, he begins to feel something is wrong. He observes Fern's mana, which appears visibly weak, before realizing that if this was the extent of Fern's mana, she wouldn't have been able to cast the sheer number of spells that she did without exhausting her mana. Lügner, realizing that Fern and Frieren both limit their mana constantly, calls their actions unfair and disgraceful to mages. Fern replies that Frieren knows this better than anyone, before she finishes Lügner off with a spell.
Abilities[]
Lügner attacks Fern with his Balterie spell.
- Blood Manipulation: Lügner specializes in blood magic and uses it to manipulate his own blood. His blood is highly infused with his mana, enabling him to track and control the blood even if it is separated from his body. With this, he is able to track enemies that have his blood on them[5] and regather his blood to close wounds, granting him a pseudo-regeneration ability. This also affords him a degree of durability, allowing him to survive the "demon-killing" Zoltraak that is otherwise shown to kill demons with a single hit unless directly aimed at his heart.
- Blood Manipulation: Balterie: Lügner's signature spell, which he uses by forming a series of tendrils from his blood that float in the air around him. These tendrils can be used to spear his enemies or to harden and defend him from other spells.
Manga Appearance[]
| Chapter 14: Monsters That Speak | Debut |
| Chapter 15: Draht | Appears |
| Chapter 16: The Murder of a Guard | Appears |
| Chapter 17: Frieren the Slayer | Appears |
| Chapter 18: The Undead Army | Absent |
| Chapter 19: Raid | Appears |
| Chapter 20: Master's Technique | Appears |
| Chapter 21: Coward | Appears |
| Chapter 22: The Scales of Obedience | Absent |
| Chapter 23: A Victory and a Funeral | Absent |
Anime Appearance[]
Trivia[]
- Lügner is German for "liar."
- "Balterie" may be a reference to the word "Arterie," which is German for "artery."
- In the German and English dubs, "Balterie" is localized as "Bluterei," which may be a reference to the word "bluten," meaning "bleeding." This, combined with the agentive suffix "-er," creates "Bluter," which would mean "bleeding man." The addition of the nominalization suffix "-ei," making "Bluterei," would make it directly translate to "act/craft of the bleeding man," or more directly, "act/craft of bleeding."
- Lügner ranked the following in the official popularity polls:
- 50th in the first popularity contest.
- 41st in the second popularity contest, where multiple votes per character were counted.
- In this same contest, Lügner ranked 54th when counting only unique votes (one vote per character per person).
References[]
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 21 (p. 4-5).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 15 (p. 2-9).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 15 (p. 8).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 20 (p. 2-4).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 17 (p. 19).