Who Is the Main Character in ‘Record of Ragnarok?’ Explained

One of the things that make ‘Record of Ragnarok’ such a unique anime compared to other manga and anime storylines is that it allows us to look at the story through the individual narratives behind every character that participates in the tournament. In other words, different characters are highlighted every round because different humans and gods fight one another per round. So, if that’s the case, who is the main character in ‘Record of Ragnarok?’

The main character in ‘Record of Ragnarok’ would either be the Valkyrie named Brunhilde or even humanity as a whole. That’s because Brunhilde was the one that proposed a tournament to save humanity from destruction and is the one scheming behind the scenes on how to defeat the gods using the greatest human warriors. 

Of course, the story of ‘Record of Ragnarok’ isn’t told from the perspective of one single character because we get to see different stories from different people in this manga and anime. Each round highlights a different human fighter and a god, so we can see their own stories. But Brunhilde, who seeks to allow humanity to live, is the one who is often featured in this story because she leads the Valkyries and the humans into this tournament.

Brunhilde is featured the most

When it comes to most manga and anime stories, we often follow one character’s journey while a host of different supporting characters flanks them. However, ‘Record of Ragnarok’ seems to take things to a different level. That’s because some fans can’t tell who the story’s main character is. And it will make sense once you understand what’s happening in this manga and anime.

The different gods of different cultures and religions all came together to decide the fate of humanity. They all believed that humanity needed to be extinguished, and that was when the Valkyrie leader, Brunhilde, came up and told them to give humanity another chance.

She proposed the Ragnarok Tournament, which required the gods to send out their best fighters to fight the best fighters of humanity. And if humanity defeats the gods in this tournament, they get to continue existing.

Each round in the tournament features a representative from both sides. The gods must send out a god to fight the human representative Brunhilde chose. As such, the ‘Record of Ragnarok’ storyline focuses on the different representatives fighting in each round. We get to learn more about both parties’ representatives, which means that the characters are all protagonists in their respective rounds.

But the thing that needs to be considered here is that the one character that has always been featured the most in ‘Record of Ragnarok’ is Brunhilde, the leader of the Valkyries. She was the one who proposed the tournament in the first place so that humanity gets a shot to defend itself. And Brunhilde is also the same character that chooses the representatives she sends out every round.

In other words, while she is yet to take action in the entire storyline, Brunhilde is featured the most because she has to strategize for every single round, especially when it comes to the human fighter that she wants to send out to the field to take on the representative chosen by the gods. And she is also the leader of the Valkyries, who all have to sacrifice themselves to create divine weapons for the humans to use in their fight against the gods.

So, while Brunhilde has yet to take action, she is a candidate for the main character title in ‘Record of Ragnarok’ even though she isn’t exactly human. And during the entire time she has been featured in the storyline, there were instances wherein she can get a bit too devious and manipulative for reasons we aren’t sure of.

Humanity is the main character

Even though we know that Brunhilde is a candidate for the main character in ‘Record of Ragnarok,’ we know that the ones that are risking the fate of the entire human race on their shoulders are the human fighters themselves.

Chosen by Brunhilde from all of the different souls that the Valkyries have sent to the afterlife, these human fighters are the ones that represent humanity as a whole to defy the gods and win the tournament for the sake of keeping humanity alive.

In other words, humanity itself could also be the main character in ‘Record of Ragnarok’ because the different human fighters have stories that are highlighted every single round so that we get to understand their life stories and what made them who they are.

The stories of the different humans that represent humanity are all unique in their own way and are able to provide some drama to what has always been a shonen manga and anime.

So, with that said, we can’t really disregard the fact that the humans in ‘Record of Ragnarok’ are the ones that are putting the entire existence of humanity on their shoulders in their fight against the gods.

We can’t pinpoint one human representative that we can say is the true protagonist of humanity, but all of them have compelling stories that make them very interesting. And that’s why, alongside Brunhilde, humanity as a whole is the main character of ‘Record of Ragnarok.’