Ascendance of a Bookworm Episode 30

Ascendance of a Bookworm Episode 30

The Spring Prayer

This week, I’m going to spend a lot of the review discussing magic. Magic was a pretty big part of Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 Episode 30. We got the spring prayer, magical kidnappers, and a magic battle all in the episode.

Starting with the Spring Prayer, this is when the church offers mana to the gods for good harvests. I mentioned this back in my review of Episode 29. And I’d like to explain what I said back then in a bit more detail here.

I said that this was proof that gods exist within the world Myne is in. But, I should clarify that these mana offerings themselves don’t prove that. How mana gets offered is what’s important here. The names of the gods and what they stand for are part of the ritual. And it’s implied the ritual wouldn’t work without them.

Myne participating in the Spring Prayer from the anime series Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 Episode 30
Myne participating in the Spring Prayer

What I mean by all this is that offering mana in Myne’s world isn’t the same as offering food or something in our world. There’s no proof that offering anything to gods in our world has any effect. But in Myne’s world, we can see the immediate effects of offering mana to the gods.

For example, after Myne offers her mana to the gods, we see the grail fill with glowing liquid. But, I also want to point out an argument for the opposing side. Because, despite what I’ve said so far, it’s still possible the gods don’t exist.

It’s possible that the incantations including the gods’ names are meaningless. If you know how to manipulate mana, you might not need to say anything. The words could be a simple way to help users concentrate on manipulating their mana. There doesn’t need to be any other meaning.

Kamikaze Kidnappers

Next, let’s move away from the connection between gods and magic. Don’t worry, we’ll get back to that in the next section with a better proof of the existence of the gods. In this section, I want to discuss the implied magic use of the kidnappers.

Two kidnappers attempted to snatch Myne in the middle of the night. They failed, in part, because they didn’t realize Myne was sleeping in an attendant’s room. They also failed because they had to go up against Lords Karstedt and Ferdinand.

Both of the kidnappers ended up dying. The one who was being disarmed by Ferdinand killed himself in an undisclosed way. He may have used magic, or he may have used some other means. So, we’ll ignore that one. The other kidnapper, who was being pursued by Lord Karstedt, exploded — horse and all.

Lord Karstedt from the anime series Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 Episode 30
Lord Karstedt

Did this man explode because his horse stepped on a landmine? I doubt it. Was he carrying an explosive of some kind? Also unlikely. Based on the little information available to us, it would appear that he died from a magic explosion. And I don’t mean the kind caused by runaway mana as Ferdinand explains at the end of the episode.

So, there are two possibilities when it comes to how this man exploded via magic. Either he blew himself up or someone else blew him up. Blowing himself up makes sense when you consider that his accomplice was also willing to die. They’d rather die than get captured.

But, I’m going to go with the other option. My guess is that whoever hired the kidnappers was the one who blew him up. After all, he was escaping. Sure, Karstedt likely would have caught up to him. But there’s no point in blowing himself up before then.

Gods and Magic

As promised, I have a better piece of evidence pointing toward the existence of gods in Myne’s world. That evidence is that Myne’s prayers had a direct effect on Sylvester’s and Karstedt’s mana. When she and Ferdinand prayed that they would be successful in battle, they were.

So, why is this any different from the other evidence I’ve offered up? The answer is that these prayers had nothing to do with a specific spell or type of magic. Remember how I said that invoking the names of the gods could work as a default way to manipulate mana? That’s not happening here.

When Myne wanted to use a wind spell, she called upon the goddess of the wind. You might expect this to help her transform her mana into wind magic. But with her prayer, there was no specific spell she was trying to use. And she didn’t even speak words aloud.

Sylvester using magic from the anime series Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 Episode 30
Sylvester using magic

How do we know that Myne’s prayer affected Sylvester and Kastedt, though? She asks Ferdinand if their prayers helped, and he doesn’t give a response. But, it’s implied through context. Notice that the power of Karstedt’s attack surprised even him. That implies it was being boosted by something beyond his control.

Of course, it’s still possible that the gods don’t exist. But, that’s not fun. It’s way more fun to theorize about the “what ifs.” And even if the gods do exist in Myne’s world, that doesn’t mean they ever need to play a direct role.

Myne never needs to come face to face with one of these gods. They can exist as things that exist out in the world that add to the world-building indirectly. And, I’d prefer it if it stayed that way. Making the gods part of the plot is overdone.

Conclusion

What do you think of Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 Episode 30? Do you think the gods exist in Myne’s world? Who do you think blew up the fleeing kidnapper? And will Myne ever meet any of the gods? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 31 is available now.

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