Frieren’s Fatal Weakness Explained

24 March 2024 (18:00)

Highlights

Frieren, despite being powerful, has weaknesses that enemies exploit, showcasing that not all battles are straightforward in the series.
Frieren’s flaws include a mana detection break after casting spells, time perception issues, and a logic-rooted imagination that limits her abilities.
The elven mage’s fatal weakness lies in her structured magic and inability to visualize the impossible, exposing her vulnerability to defeat by weaker mages.

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The elven mage Frieren is undoubtedly one of the most powerful mages in the Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End anime and manga series; however, even with being such a long-lived and powerful mage, Frieren stated that she had been defeated by various humans over the years. Very few humans can be more powerful than Frieren, and so, the question of how they managed to defeat the elven mage comes into play.

As seen with Frieren, she possesses various weaknesses that many may exploit, and of those weaknesses, one is particularly fatal to her standing as a mage. With this weakness in play, Frieren severely limits what she is capable of as a mage. So, fans often catch her coming up with multiple strategies to defeat an adversary or advance over an obstruction she can simply blast away, and if fans don’t have problems with how Frieren operates, Fern does, as she often asks her mentor why she goes through such trouble.

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Understanding Frieren’s Character And Powers

Although A Powerful Mage, Frieren Is Down To Earth

When she was still a child, the elven mage Frieren was picked up by the human mage Flamme. After a thousand years of practicing, Frieren has undoubtedly grown stronger, making her one of the most powerful individuals in the series. Frieren’s ability as a mage is so profound that other prominent mages, such as Denken, are against facing her in battle and would rather flee. Apart from tons of battle techniques and experience, Frieren also has a large mana pool and is resistant to various tricks like hypnosis and mind control.

As a mage, Frieren is extremely powerful but also extremely low-key. She does not exude the authority of an overlord like Serie, and unlike the warmonger, she has chosen to take on an underhanded way of defeating demons by making them underestimate her. As a mage, Frieren is certainly powerful; however, she lacks the skills necessary for various forms of interaction, and, in that regard, has some learning to do. Despite her poor social skills, Frieren has managed to keep and attract trustworthy friends, as she is a kind individual at heart.

Unveiling Frieren’s Vulnerabilities

Even Frieren Has Weaknesses

While the elven mage is extremely powerful, she does have a ton of vulnerabilities that her adversaries can exploit. For starters, despite being an extremely renowned mage, Frieren has a fundamental weakness that is common to beginner mages. For a split second after she casts a spell, Frieren’s mana detection breaks off. For mages whose timing and accuracy in battle are extremely important, this serves as a weakness that can be exploited during battle, and interestingly, even after decades of training and practice, this flaw remains.

Another flaw of Frieren’s is her perception of time and its effects on those around her, excluding herself. As an elf, Frieren has a long lifespan. She has lived for over a thousand years and still looks like a teenager, making fans wonder just how long elves live. Because her time is vast, Frieren is capable of putting off making important decisions for years, decades, and even hundreds of years. While this is easily doable for her, if her decision affects her human party members, they will inevitably suffer.

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An Analysis Of Frieren’s Weaknesses

Frieren’s Way Of Thinking Is Too Deeply Rooted In Logic

While Frieren has various flaws, her most fatal one has to do with her imagination. Frieren is a mage whose abilities and thinking are greatly rooted in logic. While this does have its advantages, as a magic user, this limits her in several ways. In the world of magic, as said by Serie, “In the world of magic, even Heaven and Earth could turn upside down.” In this statement, Serie emphasized how the world of magic is one of visualization, and whatever one cannot visualize, one cannot do. Various magic users, like Ubel, have been seen using spells that they do not understand the core concept and principles of.

However, for Frieren, who uses structured magic, i.e., magic, she understands the principles behind it, doing so would prove to be a herculean task. Whether or not some fans feel Frieren was being logical, Serie failed Frieren in the final first-class magic exam not only because she refused to accept Serie’s worldviews but also because she could not imagine Serie passing her. With her structured magic, Frieren lacks the versatility that comes with imagining the impossible. For example, after her battle with Denken toward the end of the first stage of the first class mage exam, Frieren noted that she doubted Richter could visualize defeating Kanne, a mage who controls water in the rain, as she could not.

Despite being much more of a superior mage than Kanne, would Frieren lose to her if they fought in a water-based environment while the rain fell? One cannot say; however, if fans were to go with a mage only being able to materialize what they can visualize, then Frieren would be unable to. Perhaps it’s in situations like this that the elven mage has been defeated by several humans in the past.

What Does Frieren’s Fatal Weakness Mean To The Series?

Not All Battles Are As Straightforward As They Appear

Based on the power structure portrayed in Frieren, Frieren’s fatal weakness means that despite her standing as one of the most powerful mages out there, she can still be defeated by vastly weaker mages if only they can make her unable to see a path to victory. This shows that in Frieren, psychological battles may be more important than physical ones, as a mage’s mental state is everything. It also shows that mages with great visualization will always stand at the top, as their unstructured magic will allow them to, in essence, flip Heaven and Earth upside down. Of course, despite the visualization leading to the materialization aspect of Frieren’s magic system, the series has some fundamental principles that it follows, meaning that mages must possess a certain level of power to be able to make the impossible possible. Moreover, that level of power must come with an unshakable belief in themselves.

Frieren is available to stream on Crunchyroll.