Frieren: What Is Zoltraak & How Powerful Is It?

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, but in this article, we will not discuss that on a general level, as we will focus on a specific spell seen in the series. The spell in question is called Zoltraak, and this article will reveal everything you need to know about it.

Zoltraak was the first piercing spell in history, which is why it was known as the Killing Spell

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a truly interesting fantasy series with characters of all shapes and sizes appearing in this truly wonderful series. It combines Japanese artistry with Western tropes and creates a fantasy world everyone can enjoy because it is beautiful, has wonderful characters, and has a compelling story.

Of course, seeing how Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a fantasy series, magic will undoubtedly play a major part in the lore, and that is why this article will be dedicated to the magic seen in the world of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. And while magic does come in all shapes and sizes – Frieren actually collects spells for a hobby, and we’ve seen that she’s collected or is searching for the oddest of spells – we are actually going to focus this article on one specific spell seen early on in the story, which was as dangerous as it was unique. The spell in question is Zoltraak, and Qual, the Grand Elder of Corruption, used it.

And while we will tell you a bit about Qual as well, the focus here is the spell, so let us start with it. The full name of the spell is Killing Magic: Zoltraak, and while it has a special reading, its literal kanji meaning is “Magic for Killing Humans” or “Human-Killing Magic” (the kanji spelling is 人を殺す魔法). The name itself reveals what it is going to be about, so this makes our job a bit easier, although there are still things that need to be explained.

So, what does Zoltraak do, and why is it so specific? Well, as per Frieren’s comments, Zoltraak was the first piercing spell in history. It was developed by Qual himself, who was an exceptionally powerful Demon 80 years before the current timeline. But more on that later. Let us continue with our discussion on Zoltraak. So, what did the spell do?

Well, aside from looking really menacing, Zoltraak was basically fatal at the time. Namely, being an original spell developed by Qual, it was unknown to other mages, and no one came up with any measures to counter it. And the spell was truly dangerous. Namely, Zoltraak could easily pierce all defensive magic (as nothing was efficient against it), but also every object that humans developed, so it was a magnificent offensive spell that could, at the time, pierce through all defenses. And, as we’ve said, since it was unknown to others, there was no way of countering it, really.

This is why Qual was able to kill around 40% of all adventurers that crossed him and a total of 70% of mages that crossed him. It was that dangerous, and it made Qual a notorious enemy from the area encompassing the Größe Forest. So, what happened there?

Eighty years ago, when Himmel and his company arrived, they were helpless against his Zoltraak, and could not defeat Qual at the time. Realizing that fact, Frieren made the decision to seal Qual for a number of decades after realizing that Qual could not be stopped because of his strength and that he was about to kill the four of them. He was not a threat while he was sealed, but the seal would inevitably break at some point. For this reason, Himmel checked on the seal annually and assured the villagers that Frieren would undoubtedly arrive in time to check on it before it was broken.

The seal lasted for 80 years, and the mages did not waste any time. A group of mages from all around the world was gathered, and they began analyzing Zoltraak. After a while, they managed to decipher the spell, and they first made it part of their regular spell list, using it freely for themselves. Later, they even developed numerous defensive spells to counter it relatively easily.

So, when Frieren returned to the area of the Größe Forest 80 years later, when the seal was about to be broken, she was certain that she could defeat Qual. When Frieren unsealed him, Qual asked how much time had passed and what had happened to the Demon King. When Frieren disclosed that they had killed the Demon King, Qual instantly attacked them, but Fern stopped his Zoltraak, surprising the Demon.

Then, Frieren continued explaining and told Qual that mages from all over the world came and studied Zoltraak after he had been sealed, understanding it and putting it into their systems, which also enabled the creation of defense spells, meaning that Zoltraak was no longer fatal.

This surprised Qual, but he realized that the defense against Zoltraak still required a lot of mana, so he came up with a new approach – he was going to keep hitting the two mages with Zoltraak until they ran out of mana, which is when he would finish them off. But Frieren had anticipated this and lured Qual into attacking Fern while she herself flew above Qual and positioned herself to attack him. Qual tried to counter, but Frieren used Zoltraak on him, and in a twist of irony, Qual was finally dead.

This proves that Zoltraak was, indeed, a very powerful and dangerous spell. Qual had the monopoly over it initially, but once the spell became common knowledge, powerful mages could use it without many problems. Even Qual was weak against it, and Frieren’s attack was powerful enough to eliminate the unsealed Demon.

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