Hello everyone and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to the frost-covered forests of the northern lands, where Freelon and her new allies continue their trials as a First Class Mage. While trying to capture Supersonic Steele, a sparrow-like bird that is highly sensitive to the presence of magic, Freelan used the creature’s own sensitivity to combat magic. By instructing her allies to magically “contaminate” all water sources, she ensures that the birds will drink from the last remaining pools, making them easy to capture with the shortest ranged spell.
Unfortunately, while this is very typical of Freelan, she doesn’t seem to have given much thought to the second-order effects of this strategy. So we find ourselves on the edge of conflict, hoping to steal one of the already captured Stiles after Freelon poisons the well. Although these challenges were initially conceived as rigorous tests of formal competency, Freelan seems to have captured their true essence; such trials can only lead to violence, especially when some of the participants actively desire it. As the warriors and politicians of this race know all too well, one cannot climb up without trampling on the dreams of others. Now that their fangs are out, let’s see how these mages perform!
Episode 20
The title of our episode, “Necessary Killing,” seems to be an inherent criticism of this examination system. Is all this “necessary” given that the exam templates are entirely in the hands of the invigilators? The fact that this challenge turned violent so quickly and visibly seemed like an inevitable corollary to its designers—which in turn meant that they actually think Violence. Do they hope to tie all the first-class mages into their system through conspiracy to commit murder? Do they want to ensure that any first-rate mage has the necessary killer instinct? Or maybe they just want to filter the total number of mages to make the magical power of human society easier to control? Regardless, the nature of the challenge made it clear that the proctors were somehow hostile to their own contestants
As Uber continues to approach Wilber, the cold open space draws us towards the frozen lake. Her stance showed total confidence; she wasn’t even in a fighting stance, just walking with her arms hanging at her sides while she somehow summoned an invisible blade to deflect Wrobel
Wiebel also tried to show confidence, but his injuries were getting worse. Their lack of emotional contrast quietly points to one of Freelan’s long-standing weaknesses: basically everyone comes off as both Nyquils in depth. This works well for Freelan because of her sleepwalking lack of contact with the world, but you have to have some contrast!
“Are we going to attack each other with basic spells again?” I do like how the two opponents understand the terms of their fight and give the killing magic the proper respect. The magic in this world is astonishingly powerful compared to the physical limitations of the human body; as long as either of the two can deliver a clean blow, the other will be killed immediately. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on defense and understand the limitations of your opponent’s abilities, which puts us somewhere between JoJo fights and samurai duels
“His magic lacks personality. His methods are despicable, and his only purpose is to win.” The reflections from Wrobel’s allies seemed to indicate that she did not truly understand the terms of the contest. anything no “The only purpose is to win” is irrelevant here – if you’re looking for spectacle in a fight to the death, you won’t last long. No one cares what the dead find disgusting
As always, I appreciate how magic in this world is clearly depicted as non-existent. of This world is like a blurry filter of reality itself
“This is ridiculous reliance on strength! No backbone!” As expected, she soon found herself frustrated by Fern’s preference for victory over spectacle. Failure comes just as fast
Weibel hit Ubel with a binding spell and then considered: “As long as I keep looking at you, you can’t move.” This is a very important restriction and can only be given up! When it comes to such JoJo or Hunter x Hunter adjacent conflicts, the acquisition of such information is essentially yes conflict itself
Ah, I see. He’s tolerant of her but still tries to avoid drawing fatal conclusions. As the Big Short says, he’s not admitting, he’s bragging
What’s more, he provides partial information to avoid giving away his weakness – his opponent’s entire body must be within view for this to work, preventing him from getting too close while remaining restrained.
Wrobel reveals that as a member of the Northern Mages’ Guild, his technical mission is to fight demons, but can also be entrusted with participating in wars between humans. We won’t attack each other without any weapons
“The evil deeds of sending women and children to war are not uncommon.” Humans have no real moral high ground here.
But we can still make choices and still hold certain things sacred. As Uebel points out, Uebel’s reliance on binding magic demonstrates his fundamental preference for nonviolent means
Ultimately, his delay means Fern arrives just in time to rescue Ubel. While these proctors seem hell-bent on turning these mages into monsters, Ubel sticks to his values and seems happy to avoid being forced to kill Ubel. None of this was “necessary killing,” and Weibel seemed to have had enough
It’s an optimistic framework – being forced to engage in senseless violence might not just desensitize us, but make us more determined to live by our values as much as possible
Weibel’s eye twitched when Fern said she killed his partner, Aire. Despite this, he remains committed to not killing needlessly
Vern seemed to really understand him from the beginning, knowing that he would forego violence when he didn’t have to, and therefore lied about his partner being killed and took him away from the battlefield in a peaceful manner
Fern’s actions resonate with Eller and Ubel’s ideas about how magic reflects the caster. Fern is the most pragmatic of them all. Her magical style echoes her pervasive affectation, betraying a minimal sense of self or personality of any kind other than a desire for the most effective action. Now, it seems fitting that one of her signature abilities is the ability to completely hide her magic. She is the opposite of Elay in that she does not see magic as an expression of self, but as a tool that needs to be sharpened.
Meanwhile, Rand faces his rival among the flowers
Once again I appreciated how the overwhelming power of the magic was reflected in the anticlimax of its execution. With just a brief swing of the magic blade, Rand seemed to suffer a fatal blow. People can’t shake such a blow – as Brennan Lee Mulligan said, “It turns out that when you stab most people with a sword, they die instantly”
Rand points out that custom spells like this “often lack fundamental knowledge.” Once again, expressing your personality through spellcasting and understanding spellcasting for what it is: a tool to achieve your will in the world. Guns are not for threatening, they are for killing
It turns out that the injured Rand was just an illusion. A true magician respects magic – he appears only after a battle has been won and incapacitates his opponent with a single blow, without using any fancy means and leaving nothing to chance. Once you start prioritizing flash over efficiency, combat becomes chaotic enough to cause a lot of unnecessary killing.
Weibel had harsh words for the defeated Aire, but he was a soldier; he understood that Fern’s victory was not about luck but luck, and she was not interested in killing any of them
He even carries Airey on his back (as opposed to our party’s “levitation-a-sack-of-potatoes” approach), showing that he is indeed a soft-hearted man. Quite an optimistic characterization; as Ubel admits, he struggles to remain human
Now he has Rand’s opponents floating along with him. Extremely efficient work that makes Weibel the most lovable character in the story
“Is this why you fought the demon? You also saved my village.” Despite the horrors he suffered, he did bring change to the place. It takes a great deal of kindness to endure everything he has and still be dedicated to protecting so-called human innocence
Wrobel said his motivations were much more mundane – he made a promise to a girl he loved as a child to purge the demon so she could return safely to the North. Of course, such a commitment would never propel a life of service to the people—as with Freelon’s focus on Schimmel, these touchstones are merely useful markers in memory, ways in which we choose to simplify the complexities of self-definition and personal transformation. Weibel may have started out with such motives, but over time he became more than just the embodiment of this hope
“I don’t even remember her face or her name.” Memory is just a marker, it’s the feeling it instills in him that remains.
“You can’t be serious. What’s the point of trying so hard?” Finally Steele basically fell into their arms, making the previous violence feel more casual.
Elsewhere, Freelon’s group faces off against that of the dwarf Duncan
Then came the invigilators, Sense, the supervisor of the second trial, who scolded Genau for “killing some promising candidates”
His response was “That’s how valuable a First Class Mage is.” As was made clear in the original explanation of this exam, First Class Mages are clearly political tools of immense value, and their titles seem to be more important than their abilities.
“This is a battle disguised as a competition.” She wasn’t wrong
It’s clear that Queneau is basically picking mages who think like him
Frieren and Denken eventually met directly, each knowing the other’s reputation
Interestingly, Denken’s “Everyone in my generation knows your name” echoes the surprise response from Freelan’s party members that Freelan is famous. It just illustrates the limits of history and legend—that Freelan fell from inevitable obscurity to obscurity in the space of a generation
Duncan’s compatriot Richter criticized his apparent sentimentality and his desire to win without killing one of Freelan’s companions. Another contrast between those who kill for convenience and those who cherish the distinction of “necessary killing” as one of the few ways to retain a sense of civilization or humanity in an uncivilized world
“I simply don’t think being a first-rate mage is worth killing people.”
It seems that becoming a first-class mage gives you the privilege of learning any spell you want from their overseer, the Elf Mage Serie A.
“So the modern first-class mages are monsters that are almost indistinguishable from humans.” Serie A’s promise seems to echo Queneau’s view of these exams, which he believes are just a means of cultivating monsters.
Finish
Oh, that’s awesome! Given the way the pairings ended in the previous episode’s conclusion, I would have thought this episode might actually focus on combat interplay, but instead we’re treated to a delightful, multi-faceted reflection on the nature of violence – how easy it is to misunderstand the fundamental nature of magic, and how difficult it is to maintain your humanity while fully aware of the horrific resources at your disposal. For these mages, the challenge isn’t to obtain the “magic” needed to perform some great magic; from Airey’s misunderstanding of mortal combat to Vibel and Duncan’s clear acceptance of what killing represents, what’s more important than the ability to damage is the application of that ability and how you want your magic to change the world around you. Ultimately, Airey is indeed right, magic reflects your personality. But in this case, the only truth in witchcraft is what you’re willing to destroy.
This article is crazyReader support is possible. Thank you everyone for everything.