She’s a fan-favorite for a reason.
Summary:
- Übel is one of the fan-favorite characters from the latest arc of Frieren.
- Her magic allows her to cut anything she can visualize.
- She is seemingly unfazed by killing others — she’s been disqualified from the exam for it before — but she’s not actually evil.
Übel is perhaps one of the most memorable characters of the First-Class Mage Exam arc in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Sousou no Frieren).
It’s understandable, though: her character design stands out a lot, and her behavior is absolutely insane — but that’s what makes fans love her. Her powers are also quite unique by the standards of the series, which makes fans speculate about their true extent.
Who is she?
Übel’s origin is actually not particularly noteworthy. She’s a human who grew up in a relatively poor family. At a very young age, Übel constantly watched her sister sew, and so, she got obsessed with scissors. More specifically, she got obsessed with cutting things.
When Übel grew up, she became a mage — and a very capable one, as she achieved the third-class status. The exam she was taking in the anime arc isn’t actually her first attempt to become a first-class mage — she has already attempted once. She failed, but not due to a lack of skill: she was disqualified for killing the examiner.
The previous exam attempt
One of the tests on a previous exam was to make a first-class mage examiner, Burg, to step back using any attack. The only restrictions were not using lethal or otherwise extremely powerful attacks, but not due to concerns for Burg himself.
He was so confident that no one could possibly harm him that the only reason the restriction had to exist was to not hurt any other participants when the spells were reflected.
Burg possessed a magic cloak which made him seemingly invulnerable to all magical attacks. He has never been injured since becoming a first-class mage, so the test was rigged from the start… until Übel’s spell cut Burg in half, killing him on the spot. However, the entire exam has a “no killing” rule, which led to her disqualification.
After working with fabric and scissors a lot, Übel has become an expert in cutting spells. As long as she can visualize something near her being cut, she can cut it — with seemingly no restrictions otherwise. This makes her one of the strongest characters we’ve seen so far, at least theoretically.
Fans love her
Übel was seemingly unfazed that she killed Burg. She doesn’t enjoy killing, though: she just likes fights to death. Sense even noted that she doesn’t think like a normal human — which is actually one of the reasons why she’s so powerful. Übel doesn’t even need to understand the inner workings of the spells to cast them.
Curiously enough, fans defend her actions during her previous exam. Burg’s test was rigged from the start, and he was killed by his own overconfidence — he was probably trying to not pass any students.
It’s not like Übel is only set on cutting things and fighting people, though. She’s talkative and social, trying to learn more about others. Yes, her demeanor is certainly psychopathic in some ways, but she’s not completely evil — and that’s why fans love her