Strahl ｢シュトラール Shutorāru?｣, the Holy City ｢
Overview[]
The entryway to the church in Strahl.
The Holy City of Strahl is a city located in the Central Lands. The city is walled with orange-roofed buildings, and a large church with a steeple sits in the center of the city. The church is entered through steps leading to an arched entryway with three doors. The religious leadership of the Goddess's religion is based in Strahl, and it holds authority over the churches of the Central and Northern Lands.
The Holy Symbol that the Holy City gives a region's best priest.
The known hierarchy of the church includes saints, bishops, and priests. Adherents based in the Holy City are sent to different regions for church inspections and function to maintain the Holy City's hegemony and regulation over churches throughout the land.[1] The Holy City grants the best priest in each region the Holy Symbol.[2] These inspections also function as scouting trips, as especially promising priests may be offered a position to serve in the Holy City.[3]
The day to day activities of adherents in Strahl is unknown, but some priests dedicate their lives to deciphering the Goddess's scriptures' cryptograms and discovering new spells from the Goddess. Though it is unclear how the status of saint is attained, many of the spells used by priests are accredited to the discoveries of past saints.[4] The Holy City contains a record of spells discovered from the Goddess's scriptures. As of 53 years before Himmel the Hero's passing, only 3% of the Goddess's scriptures have been deciphered.[5]
The Holy City of Strahl presumably exerts economic influence over the Central and Northern Lands. One of the currencies used in the Central Lands, the Strahl gold and silver coins, take their name from the Holy City. In the Northern Lands, the Strahl coins are accepted as currency but are less dependable than the Reich coins,[6] suggesting the influence of the Holy City of Strahl weakens the further north one goes. Strahl and Reich gold coins can be exchanged at a ratio of 500 Strahl gold coins to 300 Reich gold coins in the Norm Company's Estate.[6] It is said that Strahl silver coins have the highest purity of the precious metal.[7]
Terrain and Ecology[]
The region around Strahl lies in a valley between steep hills in the Central Lands. It is shown to be densely forested with deciduous trees and much undergrowth that is sparsely inhabited. The woods are in their natural state and do not appear to be regularly used domestically. Within the forest grow typical plants and fungus, such as mushrooms, and fish and birds can be seen populating the area.
Library[]
The Holy City has an extensive library. After writing with Eisen, Heiter compiled Flamme's records that were left in the Holy City to determine the location of Flamme's dwelling, which he traced to the Voll Basin.[8]
Continental Magic Association[]
The headquarters of the Continental Magic Association founded by Serie, the present-day preeminent organization regulating magic, are based in the Holy City of Strahl.[9] The First-Class Mage Exam is administered in one of the association's locations every three years, and tests for other mage certifications (from ninth to second-class)[10] are also administered on a staggered schedule.[11]
Outskirts[]
Heiter's House[]
Heiter's House ｢ハイターの
The Graveyard[]
Heiter is buried in a graveyard right outside the walls of the Holy City. The graveyard features numerous gravestones of different age, size, and condition, as well as a mausoleum and an obelisk.[12]
Synopsis[]
History[]
At some point following the Hero Party's return to the Royal Capital after defeating the Demon King, Heiter settled down in the Holy City of Strahl. During the fifty years between the Era Meteors, he became a bishop in the Holy City.[13] Heiter visited the village in the Alt Woods that Sein and Sein's Brother lived in as an official envoy of the Holy City in order to conduct inspections. He recognized Sein's brother's talent and awarded him the Holy Symbol, designating him the best priest in the region. Heiter offered him a position in Strahl, but Sein's brother refused, as he did not want Sein to be separated from his home.
After Himmel's funeral, Heiter returns to the Holy City. In the next twenty years, he and Eisen would exchange letters as they worked together to find the location of one of Flamme's grimoires. He compiled Flamme's records that were left in the Holy City and discovered that the location of her notes should be in the Voll Basin.
Beyond Journey's End Arc[]
Twenty years after Himmel's passing, Frieren travels to the outskirts of the Holy City of Strahl to visit Heiter. Along the way, she meets a young child named Fern, who helps lead her to Heiter’s house. Frieren is surprised to learn that Heiter has taken in Fern due to her status as a war refugee, which she states is unusual of him. In the house, Heiter asks Frieren to make Fern her apprentice, but she refuses. Instead, Frieren agrees to help decipher a grimoire from Ewig the Sage that supposedly contains long-lost immortality and resurrection magic while training Fern in her spare time.
Heiter collapses while talking with Frieren at his house.
After four years spent with Heiter and Fern, Frieren and Heiter talk about Fern's progress when Heiter suddenly collapses. Outside, on the cliff Fern trains on, Frieren tries to get her to come back and pause her training so that she can be by Heiter's side. Fern refuses, stating the urgency of finishing her training and becoming independent, which is her form of repayment to Heiter for saving her when she was young.
Frieren is spurred to finish translating Heiter's grimoire, but she realizes the grimoire does not have any immortality or resurrection spells. Heiter is unsurprised, and he reveals to Frieren that his request to translate the grimoire had really been a ruse to get Frieren to train Fern until she is able to stand on her own as Frieren's apprentice. He gives Frieren her payment and tells her to leave with Fern, not wanting Fern to see as his prognosis worsen. However, Frieren, in tears, tells Heiter that he should focus on saying a proper farewell to Fern and make as many memories as possible in the time he has left instead.
At some point, Fern takes the exam for a third-class mage certification in the Continental Magic Association in Strahl. She is the youngest-ever mage to achieve the highest-possible score on the exam.[14]
After Heiter passes away, a ceremony is held for him in the church in the Holy City,[15] and he is buried in the graveyard outside the walls of the city. Frieren and Fern pour alcohol on Heiter's grave before embarking on their journey.
Inhabitants & Visitors[]
Inhabitants[]
Visitors[]
Events[]
- Heiter locates Flamme's dwelling in the Voll Basin.
- Heiter, after the journey with the Hero Party, becomes a bishop.[16] He retires at a home in the outskirts of the Holy City of Strahl.
- Frieren lives with Heiter and Fern in the outskirts until Heiter dies, and the duo forms Frieren's new party to travel the lands.
Gallery[]
Anime[]
Manga[]
Concept Art[]
Trivia[]
- The arched entryway leading into the church is only depicted in the manga. The arches are reminiscent of gothic and ogee arches.
- Lord Orden calls Strahl gold coins "gold Strahls" in the Viz localization of Chapter 32.
- "Strahl" is German for "beam / ray."
References[]
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 28 (p. 16).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 27 (p. 11).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 28 (p. 17).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 116 (p. 4).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 116 (p. 5).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 70 (p. 12).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 134 (p. 16).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 7 (p. 9).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 37 (p. 15).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 23 (p. 15).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 37 (p. 14).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Anime: Episode 2.
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 1 (p. 20).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 37 (p. 17).
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 2.
- ↑ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Manga: Chapter 1.