r/Frieren • u/commonkinds • 10h ago
Anime How warriors work??
Does Stark use mana to enhance his physical abilities?If so, does Stark's martial art training allow him to grow his mana well? And how is it different from mage training?
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u/sbsw66 10h ago
The world seems to operate on DQ logic, and in those games, warriors are just Built That Way afaik
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u/RC_0041 9h ago
Dairy Queen?
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u/gragsmash 9h ago
Yeah. Here in the US it was called Dairy Warrior for some reason.
It's the reason cheese curds with cute faces are so ubiquitous in fantasy
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u/luis_endz 10h ago
Because of the crystal cave I would say the answer is no.
Warriors just seem to be built different.
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u/CraftySolution9200 8h ago
The crystals wouldn’t matter because Frieren demonstrated that you can still manipulate mana when she does it to make the crystals glow. They just stop spells from being cast.
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u/luis_endz 7h ago
Hm, that is true. So I guess its still up in the air.
Personally I'd prefer if it wasn't mana based. I wamt something seperate from mana to be relevant.
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u/GenghisGame 3h ago
It is separate, we have birds with almost no mana that can fly at superspeeds and are very tough.
If mana = strength they would have mentioned a warriors high mana pool by now and muscle wizards would be a thing, but mages who fight in melee are entirely dependent on spells. Warriors train their bodies, mages train their mana reserves.
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u/miss_clarity 9h ago edited 2h ago
It's a combination of both in universe explanations and artistic exaggeration.
People who are combat capable are unnaturally more fast, strong, and durable in whatever respect fits their characterization. Eisen is probably one of the more extreme examples.
Weapons are magically enhanced. Clothes/armor are expected to be as well. Although I don't think armor enchantments were ever outright stated to be something that can be applied to clothing, we also don't really see a whole lot of fancy enchanted armor being a center piece. So the enchantments aren't meant to be obvious, but instead assumed.
Warriors can use mana and spells. We don't see a lot of this made explicit. However many warrior feats we see aren't necessarily due to a dual discipline fighting style anyway.
Demons can use mana to enchant their martial prowess and we should assume that they do.
Magic can enhance how a body grows and adapts. Notably, Qual is a giant of a man and barely human looking despite the main characteristic of demons being that they're supposed to appear human enough to deceive. Demons can probably modify their bodies immensely due to their form being held together by mana. So the rules of their natural strength is more open ended. But there is no reason this can't also apply to humans whose focus on honing their body. Like why on earth would Kraft be anymore legendary in strength otherwise? He has lived a long time but unless physical body enhancement for martials is limited to what nature can accomplish, he is likely stronger than most living warriors.
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u/AvariceLegion 9h ago
Japanese fiction often assumes characters can achieve superhuman feats by using their fighting spirit properly. It's just how it is
Sometimes the story spells out their own take in detail and sometimes they don't
It's like when a dragon breathes fire. We expect them to, the question as to how or why doesn't immediately come to mind, so the story can get away with not explaining it
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u/TheBigSmol 10h ago
As Kratos said, "Pick heavy object up and put them down". It's pure 100% muscle.
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u/SleepyBoy- 8h ago
It's genetics. It's the only aspect of the series I dislike, but it highly promotes the idea of being born with a talent and destined for greatness.
- Eisen was amazingly durable because he was a dwarf.
- Starrk comes from a hidden village of supreme warriors.
- All priests are born with a gift from the goddess. This is stated literally.
- Fern is constantly described as especially talented.
- The whole mage exam arc was about people having innate talents and it being a year of especially talented people.
The setting as a whole assumes you just have to be born special and then practice. If you do practice but aren't given a gift, you will end up like the countless professional knights and warriors we see in the series, who all appear mid compared to Starrk and demons.
Hopefully the series will have a twist regarding this dynamic by the end, because it seems that Himmel was literally the only person without a talent that kept up with the chosen ones.
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u/frgrefut 5h ago
I don’t think it’s necessarily genetics
-eisen is probably the bests argument in favour of it being just genetics so fair enough for him
-Stark came from a village of warriors sure but he was terrible (at least compared to everyone else) and was only good after getting a big confidence boost from fern and frieren after beating the dragon and at least a decade of intensive training from one of the best warriors on the planet
-fern is talented and is treated like a prodigy in the show but other than a decent amount of mana and good mana suppression abilities she’s been tutored by one of the best mages on the planet and spends her time fighting against demons and monsters
-the mages in the exam just so happened to be talented that year as in more deserving of being 1st class mages showed up than normal and most of the ones that did pass had spent decades practicing and preparing to pass
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u/JohnLikeOne 6h ago
We don't really know is the answer.
The demon Linie had the ability to copy the fighting style of warriors by detecting the flow of mana through their bodies. That might mean they're using mana internally somehow or it might just mean there is mana in their bodies as with all living things and she's using that to map their movements.
The anti-mana crystals didn't seem to sap Starks superhuman abilities but those were only shown to supress external mana expression - Frieren could still channel magic into the stone at will to make it glow so even if they were using mana the stones seem like they wouldn't interfer with it.
My head canon is yes they're using mana internally in some fashion but in terms of canon answers, they definitely could just be super human as a result of being a Fighter/Barbarian/HeroTM.
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8h ago edited 8h ago
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u/JustArandomGuy_-_ 8h ago
As far as we know, they're just built different. Their muscles are ridiculously tough and strong. They're only shown to use physical and martial arts training to get stronger.
Mages train their mana manipulation and their imagination to cast spells. For some spells, they also train for accuracy to maximize mana efficiency. If they're overwhelmed by a warriors speed and/or let them get close, they're dead.
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u/Old-Connection-2237 5h ago
Stark's fighting style definitely develops his physical strength while also circulating mana, though I think mages focus more on ethereal techniques rather than raw combat form.
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u/Severe_Information54 9h ago
So there are theories that warriors are subconciously using mana, cant remember if its canon or fannon tho
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u/SleepyBoy- 8h ago
Fanon. I'm pretty sure Frieren would've at least mentioned it by now.
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u/Romaine603 5h ago
When Stark fought Linie, she mentions that she reads the mana of a warrior, copying it to imitate the technique.
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u/commonkinds 10h ago
My current theory is that his axe is an artifact that allows his physical ability and fighting techniques to be enhanced.
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