Frieren: What Are Curses & Why Are They Special?

Magic is a very important part of the Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End lore. The titular protagonist of the series, Frieren, is a mage, and after the fall of the Demon King, she continued her journey to collect spells from all around the world, as that was her hobby. Now, you can understand that magic is quite important for the world of Frieren. Still, in this article, we will not discuss that on a general level, as the focus of the article will be on a specific group of spells known as curses. In this article, we are going to explain what curses are in Frieren and why they are special.

Curses are a type of magic in Frieren that is different from other types of magic

As far as magic is concerned, the Frieren lore has so far introduced us to a series of different spells and types of magic, some of which are quite special. When Frieren and her party arrived in a village in the north, they found all the inhabitants in a deep slumber; Frieren immediately knew that they were dealing with a curse, but she could not provide us with more detailed information. Why?

Well, Frireren explained that curses are a very special and very specific type of magic that is used only by monsters and demons. They are most commonly used to put people to sleep or to turn them to stone. Not every demonic spell is a curse, but rather – a curse is such a spell that the humans were unable to identify, describe, and counter. So, if a demon uses a spell that human magic cannot fight against, it is called a curse.

Mages are generally not that skilled when it comes to curses, as they cannot understand them. Frieren said that she was able to sense a curse, but she could neither identify it nor counter it. On the other hand, Priests, i.e., those with the “Goddess Blessing,” are able to identify them, counter them, and are even immune to them. This is all we know about them for now, so we are going to answer some related questions in the upcoming sections.

Why can’t Frieren detect curses?

As far as Frieren’s relationship with curses, we can confirm that she actually doesn’t have a good understanding of them. She knows what they are, and by her own admission, she can sense that she is being attacked by something, but she cannot identify a curse nor know how to battle one. This is because Mages usually practice “regular” human magic, and we’ve explained above that human magic is not that good against curses and that something special is needed in that aspect. This is the only reason since Frieren is skilled enough to fight against curses, but the magic she uses is simply different from the curses, so it is incompatible.

How was Sein immune to the curse?

On the other hand, Sein was completely immune to the sleeping curse that the chaos flower used, as was seen in the series. Now, we have already established that Frieren is much more skilled than Sein, yet she succumbed to the sleeping curse, whilst Sein was able to fight the chaos flower normally without even being affected by the curse. It is unknown whether he had complete immunity or partial, meaning that he could simply resist it longer than his companions, but be that as it may – he was able to fight off the curse and not fall asleep.

This is due to the fact – as Frieren explained it – that he is a Priest and that he has the so-called “Godess’ Blessing,” which we have analyzed for you in a separate article. This gives him access to a special type of magic that Frieren cannot use and also gives him immunity against curses, which is how he was able to fight off the chaos flower that attacked the village.

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