Is Serie Actually Stronger Than Frieren?

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a beautiful tale of time. It tells us a story about the fleeting yet wonderful lives of humans through the eyes of Frieren. Through Frieren, we are able to understand human emotions better.

But when danger strikes, we also see Frieren in action. She seems immensely powerful and would easily outclass any living human mage or demon. But before we can conclude that Frieren is the strongest character in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Serie is introduced. Being a mage who has lived longer than Frieren, questions start to arise. Is Serie stronger than Frieren?

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Who Exactly is Serie?

Serie is an elven mage who has lived twice as long as Frieren and is the head of the Continental Magic Association. She is often referred to as a living grimoire and has taught numerous human mages, including Flamme the Legendary Mage. While we are yet to see Serie in action, there is enough evidence that suggests how strong she is :

• She is like a living grimoire and knows countless spells. She also has the ability to teach spells to other mages. In Episode 28, she teaches Fern a spell as a reward for clearing the First-Class Mage Exam.
• She has an unmeasurable amount of mana, and her mana control is flawless. In Episode 27, Lernen compares Frieren’s unrestricted mana equally to Serie’s restricted mana. Though Lernen was able to see fluctuations in Frieren’s mana immediately, he failed to detect Serie’s mana suppression even after years. Having lived twice as long as Frieren, Serie at least has mana twice as much as Frieren.
• Serie holds access to immensely powerful spells. In Episode 21, we see the barrier created by Serie. Breaking the barrier seems like an impossible feat and even Frieren only manages to break it after deeper analysis.

Frieren’s True Potential

As the way things are known, it is clear that Serie holds more magical power than Frieren. But, at the same time, Frieren is strong in her own right. She defeated Aura with ease and most notably defeated the Demon King as a part of Himmel the Hero’s Party. But even after all these achievements, Serie claims that Frieren is not as strong as she could’ve been. Instead of becoming more powerful, Frieren chose to live in solidarity for years. Spending time collecting various kinds of spells that would seem unnecessary to other mages. This clearly says that Frieren has no desire to become powerful. If she had cared about strength, she would’ve been a much stronger mage than the one we know.

What Differentiates Serie and Frieren

On the surface, Serie and Frieren sound fairly similar. They are both powerful elven mages who are highly knowledgeable and have access to powerful spells. However, their opinions and personalities are what differentiate them. Serie has flawless intuition and encourages ambition and power. She considers magic to be special and a privilege that can only be learned by the worthy. Meanwhile, Frieren considers magic to be like freedom that everyone should have access to. Her time spent with humans is also more appreciative of emotions and relationships.

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Since Frieren is a journey of emotions, we might never see Frieren surpass Serie in terms of power. The anime focuses on introducing Frieren to emotions that she is unaware of and truly understanding the lives of her past and existing allies.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is currently available on Crunchyroll.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Release Date

September 29, 2023

Directors

Keiichirô Saitô