| Introduction |
Linie ｢リーニエ Rīnie?｣ is a demon working for Aura the Guillotine. Under Aura's instruction, she was sent to assist Lügner and Draht to perform negotiations with Graf Granat.
Personality
Like all demons, Linie has no concept of human emotions. She is shown to be loyal to both Lügner and Aura, rarely speaking or acting out of turn except in response to threats unlike her counterpart, Draht. Like most demons, she is confident in her abilities and could not perceive the threats that enemies could pose to her, eventually leading to her demise.
Appearance
Linie is a demon of small stature and with the appearance of a young girl. She has purple eyes and pink hair, styled into bangs and tied with black ribbons into two voluminous twintails that reach her chin. A pair of small horns protrude behind each of her twintails.
Linie's outfit is reminiscent of gothic Lolita fashion. She wears a white collared blouse with puffy sleeves underneath a dark brown dress with white frills and a large skirt that opens in the front, showing white ruffles underneath. A brown corset is tied over her dress, and she dons Mary Jane shoes. Her accessories include a brown ribbon tied around the collar of her blouse and red stockings with brown stripes.
As a younger demon about eighty years prior, Linie had the appearance of a child. She let her hair straight down and wore a much simpler long-sleeved dress with black shoes.
Synopsis
History
Linie was born sometime before the Hero Party's defeat of the Demon King. During one of the party's fights, she witnessed Eisen in battle and observed his mana and actions, leading to her ability to mimic his fighting style.
At some point, Linie started working under Aura the Guillotine, one of the Seven Sages of Destruction. She became one of the Sage of Destruction's personal executioners, alongside Draht and Lügner.
Aura the Guillotine Arc
In Graf Granat's Domain, Linie and Draht, operating as peace envoys under Lügner, are sent to Graf Granat's heavily fortified city that is protected by a magical barrier cast by the Great Mage Flamme, keeping demons and monsters out of town. The barrier has made the city impenetrable in its ongoing conflict with a Sage of Destruction, Aura the Guillotine. The demons' mission is to negotiate or coerce Graf Granat into lowering the defensive barrier. However, Graf Granat reveals that he has no intentions of holding negotiations with the demons and he and his guards raise their swords against Lügner. In response, Draht readies himself for a fight, but Lügner intervenes, defusing the situation by falsely claiming his nonexistent father's death in response to the Graf grieving his own son.
The messengers' diplomatic efforts come to an abrupt end when Linie can no longer detect Draht's mana, supposing that the demon has been killed by the previously imprisoned Frieren, whom Draht wanted to murder. Draht's murder of a guard outside Frieren's cell and the elf's missing whereabouts immediately lead the Graf into suspecting the messengers. Realizing their plan has failed, Lügner moves to violently force Granat into lowering the barrier. The two demons leave the wounded Graf in a room, threatening him with further torture if the Graf remains quiet. When they return, they find Stark attempting to free the Graf. An ambush ensues with Fern successfully damaging Lügner as they quickly withdraw. Lügner prevents Linie from engaging Fern as he recognizes that Fern could easily kill her, instead tasking her with battling Stark later.
With Lügner's blood aiding in locating the young warrior and mage, the two demons ambush the humans. Linie engages Stark while conjuring an axe. Linie reveals that she recognized Stark's movements and had coincidentally recorded Eisen's techniques when she was young, leading to her using her Imitation Spell: Erfassen to imitate Eisen. Stark's fear and lack of experience initially allow Linie to dominate the fight, though Starks perseveres despite each attack. Stark's determination eventually leads to his victory, as it becomes apparent that while Linie can flawlessly copy Eisen's moves, she lacks the same power behind her attacks. When Linie digs her axe into his side, Stark counters with a Lightning Strike that swiftly ends the battle, defeating the demon.
Abilities
- Imitation Spell: Erfassen: Linie possesses the unique ability to craft an array of weapons using her mana, mimicking the movements and skills of individuals whose mana flow she has read and recorded. However, a significant limitation of this technique is its inability to replicate the same level of strength as the target, leaving her ultimately weaker than the original. She is also unable to create more than one weapon at a time, requiring a brief moment for her to morph her weapon to use a different combat style.
- Imitation axemanship: Linie is able to create an axe with mana and replicate the movements of Eisen after witnessing the warrior's battle in the past. She can replicate Eisen's signature downward slash as well as its variations, such as downward swings transitioned from a spinning attack or front flip. However, she does not have the strength to use Lightning Strike—the downward slash's true form. She is capable of using Eisen's other attacks, including an upward side slash from a crouching position.
- Imitation swordsmanship: Imitating the movements of a soldier from Graf Granat's Domain, Linie swings her sword using her body's momentum and spins to deliver heavy sword attacks that knocks her opponent off balance.
- Imitation spearmanship: Linie moves to create distance with her opponent and then throws the spear toward them from afar. She has enough strength to throw it with one arm and shows high precision with her attacks. Linie also uses the spear as an anchor to land safely, using it reduce the momentum from falling by grabbing and spinning on it.
- Imitation knifemanship: Linie displays immense precision and skill with the knife, with each throw targeting her opponent's vitals. She uses this skill to momentarily stop her opponent's retreat, creating an opportunity for her to close the distance with them.
- Mana detection: It is mentioned by Lügner that Linie is skilled at detecting mana. She was able to detect Draht's mana up until the demon's death at the hands of Frieren.
Manga Appearance
| Chapter 14: Monsters That Speak | Cameo |
| Chapter 15: Draht | Debut |
| Chapter 16: The Murder of a Guard | Appears |
| Chapter 17: Frieren the Slayer | Appears |
| Chapter 18: The Undead Army | Absent |
| Chapter 19: Raid | Appears |
| Chapter 20: Master's Technique | Appears |
| Chapter 21: Coward | Absent |
| Chapter 22: The Scales of Obedience | Absent |
| Chapter 23: A Victory and a Funeral | Absent |
Anime Appearance
Trivia
- Linie is German for "line" or "trace." This may be in reference to her ability to copy others' mana.
- Linie enjoys eating apples.[1][2]
- Linie ranked the following in the official popularity polls:
- 34th in the first popularity contest.
- 6th in the second popularity contest with 675,744 votes, where multiple votes per character were counted.
- In this same contest, Linie ranked 19th when counting only unique votes (one vote per character per person).
References
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 15 (p. 9).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End official Twitter: Linie's character introduction post (in Japanese). Archived on July 23, 2024.