Frieren: Magician Ranks (Mage Classes) Explained!

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End has perfectly combined Japanese fiction’s artistry with Western fiction’s tropes to create a wonderful fantasy work that is extremely popular worldwide, and for a good reason. Although the story builds on Western fantasy tropes, it gives them a specific Japanese touch that makes Frieren truly beautiful. One of the most important elements of the series is magic, which makes sense, and we have recently discovered that the Continental Magic Association sanctions magician ranks (or mage classes). This article will tell you all about these ranks and how they function in the series.

The Continental Magic Association is responsible for sanctioning magicians

As you can imagine, magic is one of the most important elements of the lore of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. This makes sense, seeing how it is a fantasy series, and magic is an exceptionally important part of the lore of each fantasy series. From that perspective, we can confirm that magic is omnipresent and that the series’ magic deserves some attention. This is what actually inspired this introduction, as we are going to explain how magic in Frieren works.

Although anyone can be a mage if they have mana and can manipulate it through magic, the practice of using magic is not unsanctioned. As far as we know, no police will prosecute unregistered mages, but unregistered mages might face certain restrictions while traveling or trying to enter certain towns. This means that there is an organization that regulates mages and has a set of rules related to the activities of mages. The association in question is the Continental Magic Association, which determines magician ranks in the series.

Sadly, we don’t know much about the Continental Magic Association in Frieren, but we do know that they are important and can influence a mage’s life. For example, when Frieren, Fern, and Stark decided to leave Granat’s domain to head to Ende, he informed them that the situation had changed and that a first-class mage was now required to enter the Northern Plateau because it was quite dangerous. And while Frieren is probably one of the strongest mages in the series and is certainly on the level of a first-class mage, without an official document – it was useless.

Frieren then explained that the situation was different before, showing a very old pendant that was proof of her rank, but no one – including Fern, a fellow mage – recognized it, confirming that it was very old and useless now. We then find out that throughout history, there have been numerous organizations, such as the Continental Magic Association, and that the rules for sanctioning and registering mages have been changed more than once. Frieren did not know about the current status quo, as she simply decided to stop adhering to these rules because of all these changes.

But, seeing how a first-class mage was required to travel further north, they actually had to visit a town that organized the exam, and that is how the heroes ended up in Äußerst.

Magician Ranks in Frieren

So, we have now explained that magical activity in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is currently regulated by the Continental Magic Association, which – through its exams – determines the ranks of magicians based on how well they do on their exams. Frieren did not know this, but Fern did, and before the two of them started their journey, Fern took care of her certificate, becoming a third-rank magician. As far as we know, this is the lowest rank in the series, but there might be some lower ones as well, as Fern is quite skilled, so it is quite possible that she skipped some of the lower ranks even that early in the story.

Knowing that there is a third-ranked magician, we can also deduce that there is a second-rank magician, although we have no idea about this rank since it has not been addressed, and – of course – a first-rank magician, which is called a first-class mage.

As far as the advancement is concerned, we know that each mage can get a certificate after passing an exam. So far, only the First Class Mage Exam has been described in the series, and we know that this exam – the toughest one – consists of three phases, each of which has to be passed if a mage wants to become a first-class magician.

The first part of the exam is a group exam that consists of capturing a stille, also known as a meteoric iron bird. If the group manages to do that, which is not easy, they can proceed to the second phase. The second part doesn’t seem to have a fixed method, as it is usually conducted through battling, but when Frieren and Fern took it, they had to reach the center of the Tomb of the Ruined King by dawn, which was quite difficult to do. Finally, the third part was a simple evaluation by Series and those who impressed Serie became first-class mages.

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