“ Even in their fleeting nature, our encounter and the shared moments remain etched in my mind. And so, I've made a choice—to erase it all. Perhaps in this act of deliberate oblivion, I'll grasp the essence of “malice” and taste the bitter flavor of “guilt.”
—Macht to Glück, in Chapter 92
Macht ｢マハト Mahato?｣, also known as Macht of the Golden Land ｢
Personality
Macht is usually passive, cold and uncaring. As is common with demons, he is highly individualistic and asocial, yet he does not appear enthusiastic in seeking to kill humans or engaging in battle. This is due to how powerful his magic is, rendering most of the fights Macht engages in mundane, as he can end them at any time. In addition, he is incapable of comprehending certain concepts, such as evil and justice, as well as certain emotions, like guilt and malice. Macht also does not seem to understand the concept of morality, signified by the fact that he does not understand why killing other humans would get in the way of coexisting with them. He does not possess any loyalty or solidarity with other demons as well as the Demon King; he even declined to assist Schlacht in the important battle against the Hero of the South and killed a former demon acquaintance without any sign of reluctance or remorse.
Macht specifically dislikes conflicts. Due to his powerful magic, he does not find battles engaging, but according to Schlacht, he has also detested battles and conflicts for a long time. Macht acts consistent with his aversion to conflict. For example, in the Golden Land, he impaled the corpses of intruders before transmuting them into gold as a threat to future trespassers, claiming that most humans would flee at the sight. Consequently, Macht is dismayed by "reckless daredevils", which is how he describes those who dare to challenge him, such as Lernen and Wahrheit—individuals that are not deterred by the threat he poses. However, it is worth noting that while he is a moderate among demons, Macht does not dislike conflicts because of a moral aversion to violence and killing and only seems to detest battle and fighting as an activity.
While he is mostly apathetic, Macht can be surprisingly whimsical, often describing his actions as being done "on a whim". He did not transmute every human settlement he attacked into gold, and while some villages were burned, others were left intact. He also attacked the carriage of Lord Glück on a whim and agreed with Glück simply because he found the man interesting. However, Macht can also be extremely persistent once he is occupied with an idea, most evidently in his desire to learn more about humans. Although it started from something very trivial, he continued to commit to his passion for understanding humanity and coexistence, even when his efforts were deemed pointless and yielded few results. To gain the understanding he desires, he is even willing to risk his life, a highly unusual behavior for a demon.
As a demon, he is naturally adept at mimicking human speech and mannerisms and does this subconsciously the more he interacts with people. During his time in the Fortified City of Weise, he integrated himself into society so much so that reportedly "many people were helped by his words and deeds." However, it is but the consequence of his nature as a demon in order to garner people's trust and deceive them, not out of any true desire to befriend humankind.
Macht has great pride in his magic and magical prowess and is the reason why he dislikes conflict to begin with. He feels the need to reaffirm to Glück that Zoltraak was a "great demon magic" that he could use better than humans. He appeared visibly angry when Serie insulted his abilities and taunted him with the fact that he could not undo his magic on human beings.
Appearance
Macht has long, red hair without bangs and two long, curved horns coming out of his temples. His eyes are blue and have heavy eyebags underneath, lending him a tired, sleepless look.
He wears a dark green, high-collared shirt that reaches down to his knees and three golden braces with tassels attached to his right arm. Currently, the Stone Bracelet of Servitude is equipped on his right hand underneath his sleeves. His shirt has a golden tassel and stretches from his left shoulder across his chest. In addition, Macht wears red gloves.
Macht notably wears a large, blue coat on his left shoulder. This article of clothing serves as his weapon in combat, which he is able to transform into gold and then return it back to its original form. He often shapes it into a large sword to use in battles. It can also be turned into gold as it is to be used as a shield.
Abilities
Macht is an incredibly powerful demon who is regarded as the strongest among the Seven Sages of Destruction.[3] According to Serie, Macht had enough power to transmute the entirety of the Northern Plateau into gold if he felt like it. He was one of the mages that defeated Frieren in the past, and Frieren in the present is still unable to imagine defeating him.[4] Even the Greater Demon Solitär has stated that she is afraid to fight him.[5]
- Physical strength: Macht is an extremely powerful fighter with immense physical strength. Despite being a mage, he usually prefers to fight with a greatsword made using his magic. His battle strength and agility are overwhelming enough to instantly wipe out a party of experienced demon fighters, including a first-class mage. He broke through Lernen's defensive magic with seemingly nothing but his physical strength. Additionally, he managed to effortlessly defeat a horde of the Demon King's forces led by the Demon General Schräg the Thunderbolt without resorting to using Diagoldze on them.
- Mana detection: Macht possesses incredibly precise mana detection, and Frieren claims that even she could not easily bypass it. His mana detection reaches throughout the transmuted Golden Land, making it almost impossible for any intruder to escape his notice.[6] He easily detected both Lernen and Edel, who are experts at hiding and mana concealment. Only Serie, a Great Mage, was able to evade his detection, potentially due to her greater proficiency for mana concealment refined over many centuries.
- Immense mana output: As a Greater Demon who has lived for at least six hundred years, Macht possesses a colossal amount of mana. He states that he could fight Denken while countering Mistilziela for three days and three nights.[7]
- Mana characteristics: Although it is never explicitly stated that Macht himself does not emit any mana (and, it has been noted that no living creature with mana can ever completely extinguish it), due to the nature of his magic—Diagoldze—Macht's mana remains undetectable even though he constantly employs it to expand the reach of the Golden Land. The stark contrast between witnessing such a vast area magically transmuted into gold and yet feeling none of the mana resulting from that magic is precisely why most mages find both the Golden Land and Macht himself extremely disconcerting. This phenomenon may also contribute to errors in mana detection near the region consumed by the Golden Land.[8]
Spells
- Spell to Transmute All Creation into Gold: Diagoldze: Macht's signature spell, a curse which transforms anything in the material world into gold. It is regarded as the strongest curse, one that could not be dispelled even with the Magic of the Goddess. As a curse, it is imperceivable as magic and thus nearly impossible to defend against or evade.[3] The gold he creates is also virtually indestructible and unmalleable; upon identification by magic, it is registered as gold but of a completely different material from naturally occurring gold. Diagoldze requires no special activation condition or mechanism. It does not need Macht to make physical contact with the desired target, and it seems capable of being used remotely at incredible range, bypassing even the magic barrier used to seal him in. However, direct contact appears to be more natural and comfortable for him to activate the curse.[9][note 1] This magic is so overwhelmingly powerful that Macht himself deliberately avoids using it directly on his opponents because it makes most battles too mundane for his liking. Macht can freely adjust the speed at which he deploys Diagoldze. He can turn things to gold almost immediately, as he demonstrated with his sword and the Fortified City of Weise, but also gradually, such as when he was saying his last words to Glück.[10]
- Reverse transmutation: It is noteworthy that transmuting material into gold and remaking them from gold are distinct. Macht is capable of undoing the golden transmutation on his own body and the coat he uses as his weapon, but he cannot return the people he turned to gold back to normal. According to Serie, it is because he is a "monster who does not understand humans" and thus cannot visualize himself bringing back a human from gold.[11] Therefore, as far as Macht is concerned, using Diagoldze and killing are equivalent.
- Weapon creation: With his magic, Macht can create a multitude of golden weapons that he can use in combat. His go-to weapon appears to be a large sword out of the coat he carries in order to employ in battles, while for defense, he can transform the coat into gold to make an indestructible shield. He is also shown transforming the coat into a magic staff to control golden debris that he uses as massive, deadly spears.[12] Macht also uses his magic to create unorthodox weapons, such as when he plucks three strands of his long hair to transmute them into golden needles, which he uses as projectile weapons against Denken.[13]
- Golden debris: By puncturing the ground with his transformed staff, Macht transforms the debris into a large swarm of gold shards that he can then freely manipulate for both attacking and defending. This swarm is powerful enough to easily pierce the defensive spells of mages, and Denken thinks that it far surpasses the realm of offensive magic.[14]
- Human magic: Unlike most demons, Macht is capable of using many forms of human magic, which he learned during his visit with Solitär, who conducted studies on human magic. His mastery is sufficient enough to train a highly successful Imperial Mage.
- Defensive magic: Macht is capable of using human-developed defensive magic, which he demonstrated in both his confrontation with Serie and his battle against Denken.
- Offensive magic: Zoltraak: Macht is capable of using Zoltraak proficiently, claiming it was a great offensive magic created by an old friend of his.
Manga Appearance
| Chapter 61: Magic-Nullifying Crystal | Absent |
| Chapter 62: Why I Set Out on This Journey | Absent |
| Chapter 63: The Hero of the South | Cameo |
| Chapter 64: The Demon with a Sword | Absent |
| Chapter 65: The Secret Hot Spring of the Etwas Mountains | Absent |
| Chapter 66: The Places She Would Like | Absent |
| Chapter 67: Peaceful Time | Absent |
| Chapter 68: Northern Plateau | Absent |
| Chapter 69: Boshaft-The Emperor's Spirit | Absent |
| Chapter 70: The Norm Company | Absent |
| Chapter 77: A Thunder of Dragons | Debut |
| Chapter 78: Lake Korridor | Absent |
| Chapter 79: The Great Tor Canyon | Absent |
| Chapter 80: Holy Snow Crystals | Absent |
| Chapter 81: The Golden Land | Mentioned |
| Chapter 82: Diagoldze—The Spell to Transmute All Creation into Gold | Flashback |
| Chapter 83: The Stone Bracelet of Servitude | Flashback |
| Chapter 84: Daredevil | Memory |
| Chapter 85: Malice | Memory |
| Chapter 86: Discussions | Appears |
| Chapter 87: Affection | Appears |
| Chapter 88: Solitär | Memory |
| Chapter 89: Guilt | Memory |
| Chapter 90: Glück | Memory |
| Chapter 91: Onstage | Memory |
| Chapter 92: The End of Weise | Memory |
| Chapter 93: The Great Barrier | Memory |
| Chapter 94: Analysis | Appears |
| Chapter 95: Nameless Great Demon | Appears |
| Chapter 96: Master and Apprentice | Appears |
| Chapter 97: Observation | Appears |
| Chapter 98: Retribution | Appears |
| Chapter 99: Offense and Defense | Mentioned |
| Chapter 100: The Fundamentals of Mages | Appears |
| Chapter 101: Breakthrough | Appears |
| Chapter 102: A Tie | Appears |
| Chapter 103: Time for Retribution | Appears |
| Chapter 104: A Visit to Her Grave | Flashback |
| Chapter 126: A New Mission | Absent |
| Chapter 127: Retrieval Mission | Absent |
| Chapter 128: Magic Special Forces | Absent |
| Chapter 129: Shadow of the Empire | Absent |
| Chapter 130: Beneath the Water's Surface | Flashback |
| Chapter 131: Escape | Absent |
| Chapter 132: Chase | Absent |
| Chapter 133: Silver Coins | Absent |
| Chapter 134: Trace Back | Absent |
| Chapter 135: Prelude | Absent |
| Chapter 136: Reunion | Absent |
| Chapter 137: Repel | Absent |
| Chapter 138: Traitor | Absent |
| Chapter 139: Kreis the Blacksmith | Absent |
| Chapter 140: Ballroom | Absent |
Trivia
- "Macht" means "power," "might," and "strength" in German.
- Macht has a characteristic sitting position he seems to favor, with his back slouched and his hands in between his legs.
- Macht's title is "黄金郷 ｢Ōgonkyō?｣," which has a literal translation of "Golden Land." This phrase is the official translation used by Viz Media and can also be used to describe the areas which Macht has transmuted into gold. Alternatively, the phrase can be translated from Japanese to "El Dorado," as "黄金郷" is one of the ways the myth of El Dorado was translated into the Japanese language.
- Macht ranked the following in the official popularity polls:
- 4th in the first popularity contest with 8,079,639 points.
- 8th in the second popularity contest with 353,780 votes, where multiple votes per character were counted.
- In this same contest, Macht ranked 24th when counting only unique votes (one vote per character per person).
Notes
- ↑ When he attempted to use his curse on Serie out of anger, he reached out and grabbed her shoulder. Later on, when he reverted the reflected curse on himself, he touched the cursed hand in order to do so.
References
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 86 (p. 10).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 98 (p. 12).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 82 (p. 7).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 81 (p. 8).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 103 (p. 11).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 83 (p. 3).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 97 (p. 11).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 82 (p. 4).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 93 (pp. 5, 8).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 92 (pp. 18-19).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 93 (pp. 4-5).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 100 (p. 19).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 100 (p. 12).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 101 (p. 7).