Laufen

Laufen is a young female mage taking the First-Class Mage Exam for the first time in the magic city of Oisast.

She is recognizable by her bun hairstyle, her martial-arts-style outfit reminiscent of a Chinese dress, and her energetic, straightforward personality.

Although still inexperienced, she has enough skill and nerve to steal the meteoric bird from Frieren during the first test.

Despite facing life-threatening trials, she shows strong empathy, anger at the exam’s brutality, and a desire to honor those who died.

She passes the dangerous second test in the Northern Kingdom’s “King’s Fallen Tomb” but is ultimately failed by Serie in the third test.

Outside the exams, her relationship with Denken and Richter develops into a heartwarming “grandfather and granddaughter, plus dad or older brother” dynamic that became very popular with readers and viewers.

Laufen is honest, kind-hearted, and impulsive in a youthful way.

She is easily angered by cruelty and injustice, especially when the exam seems to treat the lives of applicants as disposable.

When she sees that examinees might die depending on the test content, she openly criticizes the idea of choosing such a dangerous area as an exam site.

She shows a strong desire to mourn those who actually die during the trial, insisting they should at least be given proper respect.

She attempts to help Denken when he is about to be badly hurt by Frieren, even though she ultimately fails.

This mixture of bravery, recklessness, and warmth defines her charm.

Laufen is also very straightforward in social situations.

She quickly calls Denken “old man,” openly teases him as “awkward,” and responds to Richter without hesitation when asked where she got her donuts.

Laufen is a girl from a mountain-dwelling tribe in the Southern Lands.

Her hairstyle is styled into distinctive buns, which adds to her lively, martial-artist-like image.

Her outfit resembles a Chinese-style dress in overall silhouette and ornamentation.

Underneath, she wears short inner shorts similar to compression or sports tights, which fit her mobile combat style.

Her design, fighting style, and even name all carry a “Chinese-inspired” flavor, while still following the series’ German-based naming rules.

Despite this Eastern feel, she fits naturally into the wider fantasy world of “Frieren.”

Laufen’s specialty is high-speed movement magic (Jilvea).

This magic allows her to move at extremely high speed, enabling surprise attacks, fast repositioning, and quick retreats.

Because she is still inexperienced, her use of this speed spell leaves noticeable traces of magic behind.

This flaw can make her movements easier to track, but it also highlights her potential: she can already use a demanding spell, just not perfectly.

It is implied that in terms of compatibility, Laufen’s abilities give her an advantage specifically against Methode.

Aside from magic, she is also physically capable, with notable skill in martial arts-like close combat.

In the anime adaptation, her staff can transform and flex like a long whip.

She uses her whip-like staff in combination with footwork and speed magic, creating a fluid, close-to-mid-range fighting style that blends magic and physical techniques.

First Test: Meteoric Bird in Oisast

In the first test held in the magic city of Oisast, Laufen joins the 13th party.

Her teammates are Denken and Richter, both more experienced mages.

During this trial, she actually succeeds once in stealing the meteoric bird from Frieren.

This feat showcases both her courage and the practical effectiveness of her speed magic, even if she is still rough around the edges.

Throughout the first test, because she is a first-time examinee and relatively young, she often receives guidance and advice from Denken and Richter.

Her interactions with them gradually evolve into a familial pattern rather than a simple work partnership.

Second Test: King’s Fallen Tomb in the Northern Kingdom

The second test takes place in the Northern Kingdom’s “King’s Fallen Tomb,” a dangerous dungeon-like setting.

Denken proposes that they should cooperate rather than fight among themselves, and Laufen agrees with his cooperative approach.

Their party for the second test consists of five people:

Denken, Richter, Methode, Laufen, and another mage named Rengetsu (often called Renge in translations).

They proceed as a group, helping one another survive the harsh conditions and threats inside the tomb.

Laufen stays in the game until the very end and successfully passes the second test without dropping out.

In the anime, there is a particularly notable scene where Laufen faces her own duplicate created as part of the trial.

This has been humorously promoted as “granddaughter vs. duplicate granddaughter,” emphasizing her now-iconic “granddaughter” status.

Third Test: Decision by Serie

In the final stage of the exam, Serie acts as the examiner.

Serie evaluates the candidates and personally decides who qualifies as a first-class mage.

Despite Laufen’s performance and growth across the earlier tests, Serie declares her not passed in the third test.

Thus, Laufen does not become a first-class mage at this time.

Even so, passing the deadly second test and surviving all three stages marks her as a promising mage with significant room to grow.

Her exam journey also becomes the foundation for her deepened relationships with Denken and Richter.

Denken

Denken is an elderly mage who once lost his wife and has neither children nor grandchildren.

Laufen’s personality and circumstances strongly resonate with him, and he begins to treat her like a granddaughter.

He often buys her bread, especially donuts, and treats her to meals.

During meals he gently scolds her with lines like “You have to eat your vegetables too,” further driving home the “grandfather” image.

Laufen, in turn, calls him “old man.”

Despite this casual address, she quickly understands his character and even labels him as “awkward,” indicating how closely she has come to know him in a short time.

Their chemistry is so strong that fans and even official channels refer to her simply as “the granddaughter,” and everyone immediately understands it means Laufen.

This surrogate grandparent–grandchild relationship is one of the emotional highlights of the exam arc.

Richter

Richter first appears as Laufen’s teammate along with Denken in the 13th party during the first test.

He sometimes looks at their bond with exasperation, describing them as “grandfather and grandchild.”

After the first test, when Denken buys Laufen donuts, Richter asks her about them.

She immediately and bluntly replies, “The old man bought them for me. I’m not giving you any,” showing her playful possessiveness.

Later, after the second test, Laufen visits Richter’s magic tool shop together with Denken.

Richter appears dejected after failing the second test, and this time Laufen, worried about him, quietly offers him a donut.

In the original manga, she hands over a whole donut.

In the anime, however, the scene is altered so that she gives him a donut she has already been eating, creating a moment that some viewers find “terrible” and others “jealously adorable.”

Over time, the trio—Denken, Laufen, and Richter—settles into a dynamic that fans describe as “grandfather and granddaughter, plus father (or older brother).”

It feels both comedic and heartwarming, and their interactions became a fan favorite.

Among fans of “Frieren,” if someone simply says “the granddaughter,” they are almost always talking about Laufen.

Her bond with Denken, especially, is what cemented this image.

Her voice actress, Shizuka Ishigami, has jokingly described her as “Denken’s granddaughter (not actually).”

Even before the anime aired, the official manga account on social media introduced her as having a “strong granddaughter vibe.”

After the anime adaptation, promotional posts for her second-test scenes referred to her fight as “granddaughter vs. duplicate granddaughter.”

The official anime account even posted, “She’s completely a granddaughter, isn’t she,” effectively canonizing the nickname.

In the anime’s final ending sequence, a single illustration shows what appears to be a “post-exam” glimpse of various characters’ lives.

Laufen is shown in town with Denken and Richter, happily eating a piece of bread as large as her own face, implying that their pseudo-family relationship continues even after the exam arc.

Laufen’s name comes from the German verb “laufen,” meaning “to run.”

This perfectly matches her specialization in high-speed movement magic and strengthens the sense of thematic unity between her name and abilities.

Her visual design and combat style have a strong Chinese martial-arts flavor:

a dress-like outfit, buns hairstyle, and a staff that can act like a whip, combined with agile movement and close combat.

Despite this, the author still follows the series’ German-based naming convention by using a German word for her name.

In Chinese-language materials, her name is sometimes rendered as “拉歐芬,” a phonetic approximation of “Laufen.”

Laufen’s reactions to the harshness of the exam capture her moral compass and youth.

For example, faced with the lethal dangers present in the testing area, she remarks:

“It’s abnormal. Who would choose a place with monsters like this as an exam site?”

“It’s like they don’t even care if the examinees die.”

These lines show her mix of common sense, indignation, and compassion, making her stand out among the many examinees.