Frieren: 5 Things To Know about Spiegel, the Lord of the Dungeon!

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. This article is going to discuss a character, a Monster, that appeared during Sense’s part of the First-Class Mage Exam. The Monster was responsible for the creation of the Perfect Replicas, and it was revealed that its name is Spiegel, the Water-Mirror Fiend, in this article, you are going to find out some interesting facts about it.

Fact #1: Spiegel resides in the Ruins of the King’s Tomb

The first contact we actually had with Spiegel was during the second part of the First-Class Mage Exam, which was conducted by Sense. It was conducted in the Ruins of the King’s Tomb, near Äußerst, a dungeon from the time of the Unified Dynasty that had never been conquered. And while the Dungeon itself was a complex maze, that is not the reason why it had not been conquered. Namely, as the candidates soon found out, Spiegel resided there, and it was the presence of this Monster from the mythical era that caused problems for anyone who tried to conquer it.

It is still unknown how and when Spiegel decided to use the Ruins as its home, but its presence is what caused them to fail so many times, which is why the Ruins were a very suitable place for Sense’s part of the exam, as Spiegel pushed the candidates to their limit. The Association, of course, knew of its presence there, so Sense knew what awaited the candidates.

Fact#2: It is able to create Perfect Replicas that have substance

Spiegel was initially revealed as a crystal-shaped creature, which was confirmed later (see the mural below). But while Spiegel doesn’t have a proper form, it is actually able to create Perfect Replicas of everyone it senses. This is how it was able to create clones of all the Mages inside the Ruins. These clones were perfect; they had substance and were on the same power level as the originals while also retaining their memories. The clones did not have the souls of the originals nor the ability to speak, but they were, for what it mattered, perfect clones in every other aspect. This is why they were so difficult to defeat and why everyone – save for Frieren and Fern – avoided Frieren’s clone, as they knew it would be just like fighting the real Frieren.

Fact #3: Spiegel itself is completely defenseless and harmless

On the other hand, while Spiegel does have an impressive ability, the Monster itself is completely harmless and defenseless. The crystal-shaped body of Spiegel has no defenses, and it cannot really do much. Spiegel defends itself by creating the Perfect Replicas, but if anyone actually reaches it on their own, they won’t have too much trouble defeating it.

Spiegel is thus, indeed, completely harmless and completely defenseless, which is somewhat sad. It is unclear whether Spiegel was an evil Monster or just defending its territory, but seeing how it lived in complete isolation and used the clones only to defend its territory (for example, Sense’s clone did not chase after the Mages once they decided to run away, so it doesn’t have the desire to eliminate enemies), there is a somewhat sad note to its story, despite the danger it presented. It is also unknown how conscious and rational it was.

Fact #4: Spiegel is a Monster from the time of Ewig the Sage

As far as Spiegel’s history is concerned, we’ve said that the series did not reveal much information about it, but we do know one important detail. This is something that we could’ve deduced from Fact #1 above, but it has also been confirmed by Genau. Namely, Spiegel is an extremely old Monster, as it seemingly stems from the mythical era of Ewig the Sage. Remember him? We’ve written about him when Frieren started in 2023, and he is once again mentioned as the author of heroic sagas, which is where Spiegel is also Mentioned. This is how we found out about Spiegel’s age and the fact that it is a really old Monster from a mythical era of Frieren‘s history, which makes its role in the story even more interesting.

Fact #5: Spiegel is related to the Einsam

Finally, we also got confirmation that Spiegel is related to the Einsam. If you remember, the Einsam are long-haired phantom-like creatures that somewhat resemble a Banshee. They feed exclusively on humans, and they are able to mimic the dead, thereby luring humans into their trap. We have written about them already here, so if you want more information about them, you can check out our article.

Due to the fact that both Monsters can create illusions, Genau confirmed that they are somehow related, but the clones created by Spiegel are far more sophisticated than the illusions created by the Einsam, which is why Spiegel is so much more dangerous and powerful.

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