Ancient Magus' Bride's Best Side Story

Ancient Magus’ Bride has my favorite world in anime. It is a vibrant, lively world with characters that feel like they have existed long before the anime showcased them. This is probably due to its heavy inspiration from the folklore of the British Isles and Germany, but the way these stories are woven into this fantasy world is spectacular, and it manages to tell these emotionally poignant stories in a  way that never feels forced or contrived. I want to talk about just one of the many stories from this beautiful anime, and if something here resonates with you, you’ll find plenty more to love in the anime. 

Leánnan Sídhe

The leánnan sídhe is a mythological creature closely resembling a vampire. In contrast to their contemporary counterparts, their goal is not to kill their targets, or to reproduce from their hosts. Their relationship to their victims is more transactional. In exchange for blood from their victims, the leánnan sídhe gives their host more and more talent. For this reason, they normally prey on artists, who would gladly trade some of their lifespan for more success, more satisfaction with their work, everything that comes with being more talented. This story is not one of a normal leánnan sídhe though. The story Ancient Magus’ Bride tells is that of Joel Garmand, and of Redcurrant, the leánnan sídhe.

Joel Garmand is a man nearing the end of his life. After the recent passing of his wife, he spends his days idly, waiting for death to come for him as well. Not because he is heartbroken over his wife’s passing (he actually doesn’t think he ever came to love his wife), but because his life has lost meaning since her passing. His days that he used to spend with her, helping her care for her rose garden that she loved so dearly, caring for her when she fell ill, which happened off, especially into her elder years. Since her passing, he has taken over care of that rose garden, simply because it was something he had grown accustomed to doing every day. After that, he spent his days reading the collection of books he’d assembled over his life, but that collection was coming close to being completed, and Joel has had trouble finding new books that really capture his attention. Joel used to love writing, but has not picked up his pen since his wife’s passing either… that is until one fateful day.

Redcurrant, the leánnan sídhe, is a stark contradiction to Joel in many ways. Young, spontaneous, free-spirited, she wandered through towns looking for new men to “love”, which is what her species called feeding on their targets until their passing. One day, on one of her normal strolls around a town in the middle of nowhere, she spots the most beautiful rose garden she’s ever seen. Joel’s rose garden. She stops in just to take a look at the flowers, to smell them, and to observe the caretaker of said garden. Instead of the vision she had in her mind, she finds Joel, an old, jaunty man with little passion for life left, and little talent for much of anything. Redcurrant decides that she likes the view and the smell of the flowers, so she will settle here for the time being, until Joel’s passing and her migration from this house. 

An important note to this story, humans can not typically see spirits or faeries. So Redcurrant is shocked when Joel locks eyes with her in his garden, for merely an instant, before being pulled away by one of his friends who had come to visit. When he looked back, she was gone, or at least that’s what he saw. Redcurrant stayed with him in that house for a number of years, and all the while Joel couldn’t see her, but was aware of her presence. Over their years together, Redcurrant would subtly guide his writing, which their meeting had inspired him to resume. She would guide his choice in teas, teach him which flavors best accented each flavor. She was the reason he began to find joy in caring for that same rose garden that had begun to feel stale, because it was an inexplicable link between him and the woman with eyes like red currants, and hair like moonlight. And Redcurrant did all of this without ever drinking a sip of his blood, or ever talking to him directly. She described her voice as being similar to whispers in the wind when it was heard by humans, but that gentle voice was all Joel needed to begin living his life fully again.

All Joel could write about was his meeting with Redcurrant. He’d fret and fuss over it, revising it hundreds of times, trying to perfectly capture the magical, entrancing sight he’d seen for just a glimpse that day. It drove her mad. She’d wish he’d figure out an ending to his story, that he’d learn to write in a more polished manner, that he’d write about something else, and yet she was there every day, looking over his shoulder, reading what he’d write. One day, as he’s writing the same story he’d written a hundred or more times, he pauses and says “The girl with eyes like currants might be my first love.” This idea horrifies Redcurrant. Her kind isn’t supposed to fall in love, much less with a human. Love from a leánnan sídhe led to death, and it was unlike their kind to ever get attached to prey. She had only stayed because she liked the flowers right? Joel was so utterly unremarkable that he isn’t even worth feeding on, not even worth “loving” as they called it. And yet she had fallen in love with a man like that. Terrified by this discovery, she runs from the house and flies into the nearby forest, where she lives for a few years, heartbroken, confused, and lonely. 

One day, another leánnan sídhe passes by Redcurrant, and starts a conversation with her, boasting about the most recent man she had “loved to death”, and inquiring about any potential houses nearby with good hosts. She begins to say that the house with the roses in front is absolutely horrible, that she can’t even stand the sight of the roses; perhaps this is a subconscious attempt to spare Joel, perhaps it’s so that no one else has to feel the pain that she felt. This gets interrupted by an Ariel, a faerie of the forest, who tells her that soon a storm is coming, a storm that will surely wipe away all of those horrid roses so she’ll never have to see them again. And this is enough to spring Redcurrant into action. She flies back to Joel’s house and sees him desperately fighting to protect that rose garden. He’s staking down nets over his surviving roses, despite the violent storm rushing around him, trying desperately to protect the one connection he has left to the girl that he loved, although he’d only seen her for one brief second. Redcurrant sadly knows these efforts to be futile, and flies as quickly as she can back to the forest to plead with the Ariel to stop the storm, to ease it, to do anything to ease Joel’s, and her, pain. 

The Ariel says that she’ll require payment, and Redcurrant’s instinct tells her that she can offer Joel to the faerie. He’d cross from the human world into the realm of the faerie, which should be sufficient payment, and then her and Joel would be able to see one another, talk to each other, drink tea together. It’d be perfect. But Redcurrant can’t do it. She can’t sacrifice the only man she’d ever truly loved, and pull him from the life he knew, the life he’d built, for this. She instead offers one cup of chamomile tea, and the Ariel, intrigued by the leánnan sídhe’s complicated feelings towards a human, accepts this. She lessens the storm to the point that both Joel and about half of his rose garden survive, and Redcurrant is happy. 

Our story ends with one last scene, happening a couple weeks after the events of the storm. Joel is attending the wedding of his friend, the last one left that came to visit him. After returning from the wedding, he looks down at his shadow at sunset, he sees another shadow there with his. He asks, “May I take your hand, young lady?” And dances the rest of the night, seemingly by himself. But of course, Redcurrant is there to dance with him, and they both enjoy the rest of the night, wishing that that moment would last them both forever. 

There is so much that I’ve come to love about this story. I think the whole idea of the leánnan sídhe exchanging lifespan for talent is such a fascinating spin on a traditional vampire, and I think a lot of people in this world would accept a trade like that. I know when I was trying to become an artist that I would’ve. I love Joel’s character, his growth throughout the series, and his eventual willingness to embrace, love and enjoy the things that he used to find ridiculous. I love Redcurrant, and her fall from who she is meant to be and who she used to be, and her falling in love with an unremarkable man because of all the unremarkable things that he does. There is so much heart in this story, it’s a shame that it only gets a small spotlight in the anime. However, if you liked this story, you’ll be happy to know that most of this story came from a light novel called Ancient Maguis’ Bride: Golden Yarn, which can be found online to read if you look hard enough. This is just one of many stories showcased in the anime and expanded upon in the light novel, and each one of them is definitely worth your time, this one is just my personal favorite. 

If you wanna hear more about random anime that I or my friends love, check us out on our podcast, Oyasumi x Anime, and join our discord if you wanna recommend something you think I’d like! Until next time, be well, and thank you so much for reading, truly.

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