Characters / Ascendance of a Bookworm - Ferdinand

Ascendance of a Bookworm Main Character Index
Myne | Ferdinand
Commoners and Temple Members | Nobles (Ehrenfest (Archducal Family))

Ferdinand

Debut: Part 1 (Volume 3)

Voiced by: Show Hayami (Japanese), Armen Taylor (English), Daniel del Roble (Latin American Spanish)

The temple's second-in-command, who becomes Myne's guardian and mentor when she joins it. While the High Bishop is the head of the temple, the High Priest serves as head of the priests and shrine maidens. He's a discrete reformist among the blue priests, causing him to be the only one to welcome her entrance in the temple. Initially content with training Myne for the job she signed up to do all while having her mana and mathematical skills serve the temple, he becomes the first person with ties to the nobility to consider her a potential asset for the Ehrenfest duchy as a whole and take measures to protect her from both inside and outside threats.

The fact that he's the bastard son of a high-ranking nobleman gains relevance when the plot starts focusing on the nobility and enables him to put Rozemyne in the hands of trustworthy guardians who are perfectly fine with having him as a regular visitor who continues to play a major role in her education.

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# - F

• Abusive Parents: From the moment Ferdinand entered Ehrenfest's castle, he was harassed by his Wicked Stepmother. Ferdinand views his father in a much more positive light, but seems to ignore the fact that his father was aware of the abuse and never did anything against it.
• Acquired Poison Immunity: Ferdinand possesses a strong resistance to poison because ever since he came to the castle Veronica tampered with his food and drink. His resistance is perhaps one of the reasons why he manages to survive a poison that should have instantly killed anyone else.
• The Archmage: Ferdinand was one the most accomplished graduates of the Royal Academy. He also has a high mana capacity and seven-colored mana, which means he has an aptitude for all seven primary gods. The only people who could possibly match his mana at the end of Part 5 are probably only Gervasio and Rozemyne.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: The anime's Framing Device consists of him using a magic tool to look into Myne's memories to figure out the reason of her strangeness.
• Almighty Janitor: Formally, as a temple member, Ferdinand doesn't receive much respect, as he is not supposed to be involved in politics, even as High Priest. When Count Bindewald, an archnoble from the Ahrensbach duchy, sees him, he mocks Ferdinand and refuses to identify himself. Except Ferdinand is a noble as the son of Ehrenfest's former archduke, and the half-brother of the current archduke, Sylvester, who loves Ferdinand very much. Bindewald turns pale when he sees Ferdinand's wand, which is the proof that he is a graduate from the Royal Academy.
• Aroused by Their Voice: Ferdinand has a low baritone and a Beautiful Singing Voice. There are ladies who faint when listening to him singing religious songs.
• Badass Boast: In Part 2 Volume 2, right before Myne is about to start the Healing Ritual, she gets nervous. Ferdinand, who vouched for her encourages her by declaring the following:
  Ferdinand: I only start fights that I know I can win.
• Badass Cape: Ferdinand's blue cape is unique and sticks out, since Ehrenfest nobles usually wear ocher-colored capes. He was given this cape back in his days at the Royal Academy by a knight from Dunkelfelger after winning a game of ditter.
• Badass Bookworm: Excellent with both pen and sword, but most often seen using the former. Ferdinand is a well-read scholar and a trained knight. He was the first person who empathized with Myne's interest for books (to a degree), which is rare even for nobles. In fact, as revealed in Part 3 Volume 2, he owns a huge personal library. When Rozemyne in Part 5 Volume 6 demands a library at least as big as the one Ferdinand gifted her from Prince Sigiswald as compensation for being adopted into the royal family, the royal family refuses. As it turns out, Ferdinand owns the largest personal library in the entire country and the royal family would have gone bankrupt if they had agreed to Rozemyne's condition.
• Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Zigzagged. He usually can make time despite his busy schedule to help when needed, but in Part 3 Volume 2, even he is too busy to initially assist in the Night of Schutzaria, which is one of the reasons why the mission fails and Rozemyne cannot harvest the ingredient she needs for her jureve potion.
• Broken Ace: No matter what he's doing, he seemingly excels at it, be it music, paperwork, magic or leadership. In Part 3, the four career paths of the Royal Academy are introduced: Archduke Candidate, Knighthood, Scholar and Noble Attendant. Ferdinand took part in and finished all but the course for a noble attendant, because archduke candidates are locked out of that course. In fact, he became the top student of his year multiple times in a row, and his time at the Academy has reached a legendary status. However, Ferdinand has major trust issues due to his Dark and Troubled Past. He rarely shows emotion, and when he does, he is constantly misunderstood.
• Brutal Honesty: When he doesn't have to use the euphemisms nobles tend to use, he is harsh, with Myne being his prime target to admonish.
• Byronic Hero: Ferdinand is intelligent, incredibly beautiful, cynical, dark and brooding; Myne sometimes compares him to the "Lord of Evil" when he's in a particularly ruthless mood.
• Celibate Hero:
  • He joined the temple, which means he is not allowed to marry. He also only hires male attendants, as he finds women who keep trying to seduce him distracting. However, by the time Part 3 starts, his reason for moving to the temple in the first place has been removed, he's established to be on very good terms with the archduke; taken together, those factors, alongside the purge making leaving the temple to return to noble society more acceptable than it used to be, give him both an opportunity and a possible motivation to leave and get married someday.
  • During his days at the Royal Academy, he actually was almost engaged to a fellow archduke candidate according to Eckhart. However, nothing came of it and even after rejoining noble society in Part 3, he doesn't actively look for a partner because there is no unmarried woman in Ehrenfest who could match his mana.
• Character Tics: He has a tendency to tap or rub his temples with his finger when he has to think or is about to get a headache, the source of said headache often being either Sylvester or Rozemyne.
• The Charmer: He can act the polite and charming noble so well, that most noblewomen turn into fangirls in his presence. Especially Elvira, Karstedt's wife, is a big fan of Ferdinand, and Ferdinand's presence alone lightens her mood tremendously, which Karstedt and Ferdinand abuse to make her accept their plan to make Rozemyne her new daughter.
• The Chessmaster:
  • He takes several measures to ensure Myne would be accepted as a blue shrine maiden by showing her magic potential, as well as when she inevitably becomes a noble. He sends attendants to her that educate her on how nobles act, which goes far beyond what is required for a blue shrine maiden like teaching her the harspiel. When Karstedt sees in Part 2 Volume 3 how far Ferdinand has gotten with Myne's education already, he is amazed how far ahead Ferdinand has planned for Myne to join nobility. When Rozemyne joins Karstedt's house in Part 3, Elvira and Cornelius are impressed how well-raised she is, and Cornelius immediately believes that she's the daughter of a mednoble.
  • It's implied at the end of Part 2 that he was complicit in Sylvester's plan to force a situation where Myne would be immediately adopted into nobility, which would also dismantle his stepmother's faction and lock her up for good.
  • At the end of Part 5, Erwaermen and Mestionora state the gods' wishes on how to save Yurgenschmidt and how the next zent will be chosen. Yurgenschmidt is a country that shelters people with mana, so everyone with mana is welcome to enter, and thus, killing people with mana is not tolerated, either. The next zent will be the first candidate (Gervasio, Rozemyne, or Ferdinand) who can make it to their assigned border gate and fill it with their mana. Then Erwaermen will tell the winner where the foundation is. The first thing Ferdinand does is attack Gervasio without killing him to buy time. In the meantime, he returns to the Royal Academy, where he makes the Sovereign temple give up Gervasio's medal and destroys it, thus sealing Gervasio's schtappe and Book of Mestionora and leaving him stuck at the border gate which he was supposed to fill with mana. Once that was taken care of, he gives the royal family a Sadistic Choice: Do as he says and he and Dunkelfelger will keep quiet about the blunders of the royal family or spend their lives in an ivory tower. In the end, Rozemyne can stay Ahrensbach's aub, Ferdinand will marry her, the royal family is dismantled, at his mercy, and one of them will bear the burden of ruling Yurgenschmidt as zent, and future generations will revive the ancient rituals and choose the zent like in the old days without killing each other, just like the gods want it to be.
• Chick Magnet: His good looks, personality and skills in battle and arts make almost every noble woman in Ehrenfest fall for him. Singing love ballads? These noblewomen, trained into having cold hearts and never showing their true intentions, outright faint. In Part 3 Volume 1, Rozemyne organizes a concert with Ferdinand playing and singing songs. Instead of the initial 30 tickets, Rozemyne sells more than 100, and the illustrations she made of him and mass-printed are completely sold out.
• Childhood Friends: With Karstedt and Sylvester. The former is his cousin, the latter is his half-brother and the archduke of Ehrenfest.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He keeps Myne in check within the temple. He's also in a tag-team with Karstedt in regards to Sylvester. He has also been shown to occasionally play that role towards Justus, Eckhart, and Bonifatius. The man is practically the designated babysitter of any adult member of the cast that requires supervision despite their age.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Part 4 Volume 2 notes that Ferdinand was a brilliant strategist, which is why he never lost a ditter match with Ehrenfest in his time. He was not afraid to play dirty and use any means possible to win. When Rozemyne suggests doing similar surprise attacks or attack her opponents' supplies, her retainers note that she really starts to resemble Ferdinand.
  • In Part 4 Volume 7, he is challenged to a ditter duel by Heisshitze, the Dunkelfelger knight whose cape he won in a bet once. When Heisshitze seemingly is about to defeat Ferdinand, Ferdinand uses his cape to block the attack. Since Heisshitze doesn't want to destroy the cape he intends to win back, he stops his attack, giving Ferdinand enough time to unleash an explosion and regain his footing.
• Comfort Food: The consommé soup introduced by Myne. It's one of his favorite dishes, which is why Rozemyne always makes sure it is served when they visit the Italian restaurant.
• Consummate Professional: Ferdinand is an utterly no-nonsense person, who is loyal to a fault to the archduke, does not tolerate incompetence and always tries to be as efficient as possible. He does his job fast and without complaint, and expects the same attitude from his attendants. Even when he didn't interfere when the High Bishop ordered Myne to be taken and her parents to be arrested and executed, it was Nothing Personal - he just believed it was the most efficient way to reach his goals (i.e. get someone with mana and money to join the temple).
• Crazy Jealous Guy:
  • Starting in Part 4, Ferdinand gives Rozemyne several charms, but they are just for her own protection. The cherry on top however is Ferdinand's parting gift, a hairpiece with five seven-colored feystones that Rozemyne can always wear with the hairpins Tuuli makes for her. By that point, hairpieces have become engagement gifts for one's fiancée, which would make people think Ferdinand is pining for Rozemyne. To avoid any misunderstandings Rozemyne tells everyone that it's a gift from her actual fiancé, Wilfried. Ferdinand notes when Wilfried is old enough he can just gift Rozemyne something better, which Sylvester believes is very unlikely.
  • Also near the end of Part 5, when Ferdinand and Rozemyne synchronize minds again, it becomes obvious that he is jealous of Lutz and believes Rozemyne would want to marry him if she could become a commoner again, which would ruin all of his hard work. He nonetheless gives her that option, because he cares more about her happiness than his own.
  • Hannelore notes in her spin-off that plays after Part 5 that Ferdinand appears to be extremely possessive of Rozemyne. He gives Rozemyne several ornaments and pieces of jewelry, which are filled with his mana. Hannelore gets a bit worried about this and thinks that Rozemyne apparently has no idea that ordaining herself with jewelry full of Ferdinand's mana looks like Ferdinand is telling everyone that Rozemyne only belongs to him.
• Cultured Warrior: Ferdinand is a trained knight, who is interested in science, music and art. It's telling that during his visit at the Italian restaurant, his favorite dish is the consommé soup. He views the soup's preparation and the resulting flavor as a form of art and praises its beauty.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • As the son of a mistress, Ferdinand didn't have a peaceful childhood because of his Wicked Stepmother's abuse.
  • To say his past before he came to Ehrenfest's castle wasn't much better would probably be an understatement. Ferdinand was born in a People Farm by a Breeding Slave. He is the product of an experiment with the intention to create a child with perfectly balanced seven colors. As Ferdinand was born with too low mana, he should have eventually been killed and turned into a high-quality feystone, but ended up in Ehrenfest to be raised as support for Sylvester. His past is something Ferdinand never wants Sylvester to find out.
• Death Glare: A master of this, one look from him is enough to daunt a group of knights.
• Declaration of Protection:
  • In Part 2 Volume 2 he declares that Myne is under his custody, discouraging other nobles from having any idea about her, and in Part 2 Volume 3 he accepts Myne's parents' request to take care of her. At the end of the series, the engagement stone that he gives Rozemyne reads that he will protect her and her home, which brings her to tears, as this is exactly what she wanted to hear.
  • In Part 4 Volume 9, it's revealed that Ferdinand promised his dying father that he would protect Ehrenfest and Sylvester. To this day, Ferdinand still remembers this moment clearly.
• Defrosting Ice King: He became more cynical and emotionally distant and cold after the death of his father. Karstedt begins to see changes in Ferdinand after the latter spent time with Myne and read her memories, clearly being affected by Myne's emotions. Ferdinand has become more outspoken and emotional after meeting Myne, and he goes far and beyond to keep her safe. People who know him are surprised with how protective and caring he becomes towards Myne, though he would never admit it.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • He doesn't take it well when he sends Myne to the repentance chamber as punishment for breaking a promise, only to find her unconscious and cold on the floor because she couldn't handle the temperature (after she just recovered from a fever). Myne was stuck with a fever for several days afterwards. She forgives him quickly because her body is just that weak and getting fevers happens regularly, but he still considers it his responsibility and from that point on makes sure people are aware of how bad her health really is.
  • At the end of Part 2 Volume 2, Ferdinand uses a magic tool to establish a Psychic Link between him and Myne. He tricks her into drinking a concoction that makes it easier for him to synchronize with her and internally notes that reading the memories and feelings of someone against their will is an unforgivable breach of privacy. However, Myne doesn't mind too much, as she trusts Ferdinand and wants to prove that she has no malicious intentions to save herself from execution. Coming clean to him is a relief to her and she also gets to re-experience the memories of her old life that she almost forgot, including internally being able to thank and say goodbye to her mother.
• Entertainingly Wrong: While he knows that Myne is from another world, but still has trouble grasping the full implications of that fact:
  • He had this going on before he discovered the information, as he assumed that Myne was somehow from another part of his own world because it was a simpler explanation for what he had noticed about Myne's behavior and the truth had no reason to cross his mind.
  • The Noble's Quarter is the closest thing he knows to the modern-day city in which Urano lived and the curtains in her house have an elaborate lace pattern, so he gets the idea that Myne was the equivalent of an archnoble in her former life, which was not the case.
  • There happens to be a feybeast called a grun that looks a lot like a red panda, so he keeps assuming that Rozemyne's highbeast is modeled after a grun.
• Even the Guys Want Him: When Rozemyne starts mass-producing flattering illustrations of him, the market for them turns out to not be entirely female. Eckhart and Justus eventually turn out to both own the original set of three.
• Evil Mentor: In a way. Ferdinand teaches Rozemyne how to act like an archnoble, which includes being manipulative and ruthless, as in Part 3 he uses the town of Hasse as a learning experience for her on how to deal with commoners that defy nobles. Rozemyne complains to Lutz and Benno that she is slowly being tainted in the color of a noble.
• Evil Uncle: Subverted. Ferdinand's nephew via his true-born half-brother thinks he's this, but he mainly thinks so because his grandmother hates Ferdinand. The other reason is that Ferdinand cares more about his brother having a proper heir than who the heir is, so he's one of the few people who's not giving the boy the coddling treatment he's used to.
• Exhaustion-Induced Idiocy: If the plot requires him to miss a crucial detail about a situation presented to him, chances are that the situation was accidentally or intentionally presented to him while he was exhausted.
• Foil: Ferdinand serves as a foil to Myne. They actually have a lot in common, and over the series she influences him as much as he influences her.
  • Rozemyne is criticized as being too direct and emotional, which is the complete opposite of Ferdinand, who is viewed as callous, too rational, and stoic.
  • Myne is actually Older Than She Looks (especially when the years of her life as Urano are added to it). Ferdinand meanwhile is Younger Than He Looks. He is constantly mistaken to be 5-10 years older than he really is.
  • Their upbringing is very different. Myne was raised with love, and Urano was also deeply loved by her mother. Ferdinand on the other hand was abused by his stepmother and neglected by his father. Ferdinand's food was also constantly poisoned by Veronica, which is one of the reasons why he has trust issues. On the other hand, Ferdinand knows he can put so much trust into the food Rozemyne offers him because the food Urano's mother cooked for her was tasty and made with love. Rozemyne would never tamper with food to poison anyone.
  • Myne starts out as a very selfish person, but over time starts to care about other people and takes responsibility. Ferdinand initially does not care about his own wellbeing. He was raised to serve Ehrenfest and its archduke, but at the end he starts to truly desire Rozemyne and a family for himself. This is also very ironic because Rozemyne is seen as a selfless saint, while Ferdinand is compared to a demon lord.
  • Both are noted to be highly intelligent and talented, which is why both were brought into Ehrenfest's archducal family to support the duchy and its future ruler. Both Rozemyne and Ferdinand become the top-rated students of their year multiple times in a row. In fact, after reading the first volume of "Fernestine", Hannelore initially assumes Fernestine is Rozemyne (it's a genderbent Ferdinand).
  • Rozemyne and Ferdinand are obsessed with their recreational activities, but while Rozemyne only wants to read books all the time, Ferdinand wants to spend time doing magical research. Both also are so much into their hobby that they lose track of the time and skip their meals. Their retainers are struggling with making them eat food. The difference is that Ferdinand's body is much fitter than Rozemyne's, so he doesn't collapse just because he forgot to eat one meal.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible sibling compared to Sylvester, his half-brother. Sylvester can be a scary authoritative figure, but he'd rather not.
• Four-Star Badass: Myne realizes he is one, when during the trombe extermination in Part 2 Volume 2, he takes leadership over Karstedt, who is the commander of the Knight's Order. This makes sense once Myne learns that Ferdinand is the son of the former archduke. The few people in the duchy who have a higher authority than him are all part of the archducal family.
• Frontline General: During the trombe extermination, Ferdinand leads the Knight's Order at the frontline.

G - Q

• Gadgeteer Genius: During his time at the Royal Academy, he studied under a professor who specializes in the creation of magic tools. Ferdinand became famous for creating and selling inventive tools (which earned him a fortune), though as Hirschur later notes a large number of his tools did not benefit society because they either require too many rare ingredients or are only usable by nobles who can match his mana.
• Good Is Not Soft: He may be on Myne's side, but he is scheming a lot and ruthless towards his enemies. His number one Fangirl has the following to say about him:
  Elvira: A kind man incapable of plotting or exterminating his enemies is simply no good at all.
• Heroic Bastard: A bastard son of nobility, and one of the best of the priesthood. However, his Wicked Stepmother assumed that he's a Bastard Bastard who threatens her and his brother's future rule. She needlessly antagonized him and thus made him her enemy, when Ferdinand was raised to support his brother. Later on in Part 4, the king is also told that Ferdinand could threaten the country, after it's revealed that Ferdinand is the product of a Lanzenave princess who served as a Breeding Slave for the royal family. This is why Ferdinand is later forced to leave Ehrenfest for Ahrensbach.
• High Priest: Starting in Part 3, he does not become the head of the temple (that role is given to Rozemyne), but since he acts as her guardian, anything she does requires his approval and he takes up most duties that would normally be given to the High Bishop.
• Horse Archer: When he does his knight work, he uses a bow while riding his highbeast.
• Hyper-Awareness: Few details escape him.
  • In Part 2 Volume 2, after reading Myne's first book, he is able to realize that Myne's actions are more akin to an educated girl who is unfamiliar with their culture rather than just a smart girl. At the end of Part 2, he also notices his head attendant Arno is not as innocent as he appears and has him quietly executed.
  • Before the final battles in Part 5, he notices the Exact Words Aub Dunkelfelger uses in his plea for help and calls him out for using Rozemyne as an excuse to act, because if what they plan to do were to be sanctioned by the royal family, Rozemyne would have to take the full responsibility for their actions.
  • Near the end of Part 5, when Gervasio is asked what he plans to do once he becomes zent, Ferdinand calls Rozemyne naive for falling for his seemingly benevolent goals so easily. Gervasio only promised to treat his allies and his people from Lanzenave well. He did not mention one word about the people of Yurgenschmidt who are not on his side, and considering Gervasio stoops so low to rely on instantly lethal poison to get rid of Ferdinand, there is no way Ferdinand would ever entrust Yurgenschmidt to him.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: To the High Bishop, his half-brother Sylvester, and later to Rozemyne. Every attendant that serves him for at least a year ends up as one of those as well, thanks to his extremely high standards and removing every attendant who doesn't satisfy them.
• Iconic Sequel Character: He first appears part-way through the last volume of Part 1 and twelve episodes into the anime's fourteen-episode first season, and goes on to become second most important character after Myne.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Meeting Myne makes him realize that what he always craved was the love of a family. At the end of Part 1, he witnesses Myne's parents' love for their daughter. Ferdinand sees this when they openly defy Bezewanst's order to hand Myne over, even at the risk of their lives. This is also the reason why he was willing to help mediate between Lutz and his parents in Part 2 Volume 1. He wanted to see whether there are other commoner families who love their children like Effa and Gunther do, and Deid's "The Reason You Suck" Speech directed at Benno, who wanted to adopt Lutz for his business, made Ferdinand realize that this is exactly why his father brought him into the archducal house. Ferdinand wasn't loved for who he is, he was kept alive because the gods told the old Aub Ehrenfest that Ferdinand would be useful for Ehrenfest. Rozemyne telling Ferdinand that he is family to her and her risking her life to save his, steel his desire to want her for himself and be his family.
• Innocent Bigot:
  • Subverted. He appears to be completely indifferent to the orphanage's plight, despite generally being a Reasonable Authority Figure, because unbaptized orphans don't really count as people to the temple. Actually, he can't overtly show concern because of the politics of the situation, but he hates the children's suffering, so he's subtly trying to get Myne to step up and help them with her resources and abilities.
  • He grew up his entire life in the Noble's Quarter, so he has a very warped view, which rather shocks him when his views clash with Myne's.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: At the end of Part 5, after showing Rozemyne his memories to unlock hers, he tells her his wish to be together with her. However, he also offers to fake her death and make her a commoner again to spend her life with her family and marry Lutz (whom he thinks she loves more than anyone). His whole plan to make a one-generation-lasting Grutrissheit for the royals and turning one of them into a zent who must obey him and Rozemyne, while he and her can live a peaceful and comfortable life in their own duchy, completely falls apart if Rozemyne doesn't want to be a noble anymore, but he nonetheless gives her that option.
• Jerkass Has a Point: His Brutal Honesty means that he often delivers news that people need to hear in an incredibly jerkass manner; most of his admonations to Rozemyne fall into this.
• The Leader: The levelheaded and mastermind kind of leader. Ferdinand is ruthless, efficient and thinks things through before doing something.
• Lineage Comes from the Father: Ferdinand's mother was only a mistress, and apparently not a very influential one. What matters is his connection to his father, which, along with his talents, gives him one of the highest authorities in the duchy. Subverted later on; his mother was actually a Lanzanave princess, and while he doesn't inherit any practical position from this it turns out to have defined his entire early life and plays a major part in the plot.
• Living Emotional Crutch:
  • He is Eckhart's. Ferdinand is the only reason why Eckhart hasn't given up on life after his wife, Heidemarie, passed away.
  • Over time he becomes this to Rozemyne. As the only person left with whom she can talk, who is fully aware of her past life and understands her, him leaving Ehrenfest devastates her.
• Living Legend: Ferdinand's feats at the Royal Academy have reached legendary status. He is known for being top of the year during his entire stay at the Academy in all courses he attended, won every ditter game and the Interduchy Tournament, was a Gadgeteer Genius who has invented and sold countless magic tools, and his harspiel play was so great a princess once asked him to become her personal musician. His accomplishments are so unbelievable that nowadays in the present the new students can't believe all of them are true.
• Locked Away in a Monastery: Subverted because he went to the temple voluntarily to avoid being seen as a threat to his half-brother by the latter's mother. He also can leave at any time, anyway, but chooses to not do so, as the temple is deeply corrupted and he would cause strife so long as his Wicked Stepmother is still around and in power.
• Mad Scientist: Not so obvious at the first glance, but Ferdinand can be as obsessed as Myne when it comes to his magic research. One of his specialties is making magic tools and brewing potions.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Inverted. Bezewanst claims nobody is sure which of Ferdinand father's mistresses is his mother. However, Ferdinand's first point of view chapter mentions that his mother couldn't be relied upon to defend him from his Wicked Stepmother and another chapter from Karstedt's point of view mentions she offered him no protection whatoever. It is hence unclear whether the identity of his mother is better-known than Bezewanst claims or if it is uncertain because none of the candidates came to his help in his time of need. It's actually played straight. Ferdinand is aware that his mother, Seradina, was a Breeding Slave for royals. His father on the other hand might not have been the previous Aub Ehrenfest, but this is later denied by the author. Adelbert Aub Ehrenfest was indeed his father.
• Manipulative Bastard: Ferdinand is a skilled talker. Having grown up as a noble, he can manipulate people easily, though his most frequent victim seems to be Myne.
  • The prologue of Part 2 begins with a conversation between him and High Bishop Bezewanst, who has just recovered from Myne's Crushing at the end of Part 1. Bezewanst demands to know what Ferdinand discussed with her in his absence. Ferdinand manipulates Bezewanst's pride and greed and manages to fulfill Myne's demands by listing "worse" alternatives which would have the temple treat Myne more like a noble, fully aware that Bezewanst would then immediately approve due to his inferiority complex. He also pretends to be antagonistic towards Myne and claims that by sending one of his attendants to her, he could spy on her activities when in truth he wanted a good and loyal teacher, Fran, for Myne to guide and protect her.
  • Ferdinand is not particularly subtle about trying to manipulate Myne into accepting Karstedt's adoption "offer" as quickly as possible, even though he's already made it clear that eventually, it'll be An Offer You Can't Refuse anyway. He mentions that being a noble will help protect her when she starts up her printing press, and that it'll let her adopt Dirk and protect the child from the Devouring.
  • He has learned how naive Myne can be and that an easy way to bait her into doing something is offering her books. Denying her that also serves as a Cool and Unusual Punishment.
• Mature Younger Sibling: When his older half-brother gets introduced, the latter turns out to be a Childish Older Sibling, making Ferdinand the most mature of the two despite being younger. Ferdinand also turns out to be spoiling him without realizing it and to be hiding some of the worse things that occured during his childhood from him; such things come across as the way an older sibling would act towards a younger one rather than the other way around.
• Mentor in Sour Armor: His tendency to show the worse side of his personality only to people he likes and low tolerance for incompetence results in him being that sort of mentor to Myne; for all his berating when she makes mistakes, he often goes beyond the call of duty to ensure her well-being.
• Merlin and Nimue: Starting in Part 3, Ferdinand teaches Rozemyne magic. While Ferdinand is older than her in this world, Urano is actually older than him mentally. He also falls in love with Rozemyne roughly at the time he leaves Ehrenfest and has finished educating her.
• Mistaken for Pedophile:
  • He actively tries to avert this when he warns Myne not to tell others that he gifted her a bedding set, as this is a gift a man only gives to family, a fiancée or a lover.
  • It nonetheless happens in Part 3 Volume 1, when he tries to make Rozemyne strip so he can examine her ill body. Ferdinand mentions that she shouldn't feel any shame, as she shamelessly bathed in her memories while he was observing, which he phrases so weirdly that Karstedt assumes Ferdinand went into the bathtub with a 7-year-old Myne. It doesn't help that in the original Japanese text, she openly calls him a "lolicon" (which he of course doesn't understand) while screaming at him to get away from her.
• Mistaken for Romance:
  • At the end of Part 4, he gifts Rozemyne a magnificent piece of jewelry which is made of five seven-colored feystones. Sylvester thinks this gift is way too excessive coming from a guardian for their ward, but Ferdinand shrugs it off and tells Sylvester to just tell everyone it's a gift from Wilfried.
  • Over the course of Part 5, Rozemyne sends Ferdinand and Leticia (Ferdinand's ward) lots of presents and food from Ehrenfest, and Ferdinand tries to return the favor and lavishes her with gifts. People naturally start to misunderstand this and even Ferdinand at one point just flat-out asks her what her "Geduldh" is (which in this context is him asking her if she (romantically) loves him).
  • Also in Part 5 Volume 3, Rozemyne personally meets Ferdinand at the Interduchy Tournament again. As her former physician, he checks up on her health right in front of Wilfried (her fiancé) and Oswald, which naturally causes people to think that he and Rozemyne have a far more intimate relationship than should be allowed.
  • Subverted later on. Starting in Part 5 Volume 8, he doesn't even care if people mistake him to be romantically involved with an aged-up Rozemyne. On the contrary, he is more than likely letting people willingly believe that he and Rozemyne are a couple. Despite Cornelius' repeated protests, he lets Rozemyne ride on his highbeast and does not hesitate to go to his Secret Room with her alone (to work on some magic tools though).
• My Greatest Failure: Not being able to protect Myne better and keeping his promise to not separate her from her family until she was old enough to attend the Royal Academy weighs heavily on him, as he wanted to preserve her happiness with her family as long as he could. He takes responsibility for this, as Count Bindewald's attack forced Myne to immediately bind herself to Sylvester to save her life. This wouldn't have happened if his head attendant Arno hadn't in his pettiness endangered Myne's life by ignoring her. Thus Ferdinand, as Arno's superior, blamed himself for misjudging his head attendant, and quickly executed Arno when he realized what an evil sociopath his attendant was.
• No Badass to His Valet: The only one Ferdinand can't deal with seems to be Rihyarda, who still orders him around and calls him "boy". She has known him since he was little and helped raise him.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Between the money he gets as High Priest, the compensation he gets for some of his side jobs, and his overall personality, he's seemingly impossible to bribe and not that much easier to sway in general. However, food made from Myne's recipes tends to disappear quickly when served to him and she manages to sell him the prototype of a tabletop game by beating him at it. He also has a social obligation to be one of the duchy's best musicians, so Myne quickly learns that she can teach him tunes from Earth if she really needs a favor from him.
  • His weakness for Myne's food is best shown in Part 3 Volume 1, where he mocks Karstedt and Sylvester for fighting over who gets Rozemyne's chefs to cook for them. He then suggests to Rozemyne to just stay at the temple and is promptly called out for doing the same thing, just in a more subtle way.
• Number Two: He is officially the second highest authority in the temple, right beneath the High Bishop, as the leader of the priests in the temple. He also was supposed to be Sylvester Aub Ehrenfest's right-hand man, but went to the temple while his still influential Wicked Stepmother acted antagonistic towards him. Nevertheless, he still visits the Noble's Quarter frequently and supports Sylvester when needed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ferdinand almost never loses his composure. He acts calm even in the face of danger. The few moments where he panics is whenever Rozemyne is in danger.
  • In Part 2 Volume 2, he shows his anger very clearly and raises his voice, giving Shikza a "The Reason You Suck" Speech after Shikza just tried to hurt the person he was ordered to protect.
  • In Part 3 Volume 3, he yells at Rozemyne to use her highbeast while she is collecting the rairein nectar. When the huge feyplant's stem she is standing on breaks, he hurriedly rides his highbeast to catch Rozemyne who is falling down. He remarks in hindsight that this was unnecessary, as Rozemyne would have surely survived the fall into the spring water.
  • In Part 3 Volume 5, after Rozemyne was just poisoned and is about to die, he yells at Bonifatius to stop arguing with him so he can save her. This is him panicking, as he completely drops his usual polite act.
  • Near the end of Part 5, after seeing Rozemyne moaning in pain due to Erwaermen bestowing Rozemyne with more blessings and powers of the gods that her body can't possibly take, he mercilessly starts attacking Erwaermen. Mestionora eventually interferes and asks Rozemyne to lead Ferdinand out of the Garden of Beginning. Rozemyne does not agree with Mestionora who calls Ferdinand's behavior impulsive, to which Mestionora says that he probably reacts as if he was under Ewigeliebe's influence because his "Geduldh" (Rozemyne) is in danger.
• The Perfectionist: He has a high expectation of others, especially towards Myne, who he mentors personally. Myne thinks of him as a perfectionist who couldn't trust work to others, ends up trying to do everything himself, and makes his life harder. This kind of thinking stems from his past, as, as the child of a mistress, he was constantly harassed by his Wicked Stepmother and had to prove his worth by doing everything perfectly without failure.
• Perpetual Frowner: Due to his low tolerance for incompetence, Myne's exasperating actions and his generally not-so-happy life, he usually is seen with a frown on his face, though he occasionally shows a Psychotic Smirk when he's angry or has something mischievous in mind. He even frowns when he just wants to listen to someone, which Wilfried mistakes for him being angry for some reason.
• Pretty Boy: There are many good-looking men in Myne's new world, but only Ferdinand has noble ladies screaming just from walking by them.
• Poor Communication Kills: Justified. Due to the political atmosphere and euphemisms required of the nobility, Ferdinand will frequently not explain his actions. Fran falls victim to this in initially believing that his assignment to Myne was a demotion because he didn't serve Ferdinand well enough, instead of Ferdinand's intentions of having Fran available as a mentor to Myne in teaching her how to act like a noble.
• Pragmatic Hero: He's a good man, and often more generous and selfless than Myne herself, but he'll Shoot the Dog without a change in his expression if he has to. Given his position, he's often the one who has to order people executed when they won't fall in line. At one point in Part 4 Volume 7, he would have even killed Rozemyne if she had affirmed to him that she wanted to be king.

R - Z

• Reasonable Authority Figure: He is strict and demanding of those around him but fair and flexible enough to compromise when needed. He teaches Myne that an authority figure needs to hear both sides of an argument before judging, which is something he frequently does himself.
• Red Baron: Ferdinand's ruthless tactics in treasure-stealing ditter earned him the nickname "Lord of Evil" (魔王), based on the strongest feybeasts in a season being referred to as lord (e. g. Lord of Winter). It is also a Punny Name, as 魔 can both mean "demonic" and "magic", so the reader can read his nickname as Demon Lord.
• The Reliable One: He was groomed to become this to the archduke. Despite moving to the temple, he is still always available when the Knight's Order or Archduke Ehrenfest call him for help. Unfortunately, he is so reliable that Sylvester assumes Ferdinand is bored, and thinks that any work that Sylvester gives to Rozemyne is delegated to Ferdinand, and Ferdinand just lets Rozemyne take credit for it. He doesn't realize how hard he is working Ferdinand to the bone because Ferdinand doesn't complain and never clearly told him that the purge had increased the amount of work he needed to do for the temple. He is shocked when he learns how busy Rozemyne and Ferdinand actually are, and is advised to tone down his unreasonable requests and deadlines, so that she and Ferdinand could have some time to relax. Starting in Part 5, Sylvester is forced to deal with all kinds of problems without Ferdinand being by his side. It is evident how he sorely misses his brother's advice and help.
• Renaissance Man: If he's shown to dabble in anything, chances are that he'll quickly be revealed to be among the duchy's biggest experts in it. When Karstedt sees him in possession of an elaborate item he shouldn't have easy access to and asks him how he got it, he turns out to have made it himself. At least partly justified by his father being a high-ranking noble, who allowed him to get an education that matched his talents.
• Royal Bastard: The first chapter from his point of view mentions that he grew up in a noble household because he was the father's bastard son. This turns out to be more literal on his mother's side.
• Secret-Keeper: Due to reading Myne's memories in Part 2 Volume 2, Ferdinand knows that Myne is the reincarnation of a woman from another world.
• Sexy Priest: The "priest" part is right there in his job title, and he's quite the Chick Magnet. When he shows up in the Noble quarter in his priest robes for the first time, it's treated as big event by the women present.
• The Social Expert: As a leader figure and a noble, Ferdinand has learned to read people and can manipulate them well.
• The Spock: Of the trio he forms with Karstedt and Sylvester. He's the most result-oriented of the three, and the extent to which he gives priority to those results over other people's feelings is notorious even within the nobility. For instance, he sacrifices the taste of his potions in favor of their efficiency to the point that people shudder at the thought of drinking them and his idea of teaching people about Rozemyne's health is having them spend time around her until she collapses without warning.
• Stepford Smiler: When he's unhappy, he puts up a perfect facade; only those who know him well realize that he only smiles when he's upset.
• Stern Teacher: Ferdinand is this to Myne, who loves reading and absorbs everything he teaches like a sponge. He is Drill Sergeant Nasty to those who are not as studious as Myne and can't keep up with his expectations.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Ferdinand is said to look like a younger Gervasio, his mother Seradina's younger half-brother (formerly known as Tertia). Due to their resemblance, Raublut realizes in Part 4 Volume 7 that Ferdinand is a "seed of Adalgisa" and Leonzio is initially shocked to see Ferdinand, as his resemblance to Gervasio is uncanny.
• Super-Intelligence: Subverted. Ferdinand not only develops and optimizes a large number of magic tools and is a master planner and manipulator, he also has seemingly a perfect memory, though this likely stems from the fact that he uses his Book of Mestionora as a notebook.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He doesn't entirely replace Benno, but Ferdinand is to Myne in the temple and Noble's Quarter, what Benno is to Myne in the lower city. He mentors Myne as her guardian and is largely responsible for her safety. On top of this, he also ends up in a Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic with Myne to the point of needing to stave off rumors of their relationship not being entirely platonic.
• Trauma Button: Just thinking of his Wicked Stepmother brings out his more dysfunctional side, so it's best to not unecessarily bring her up in a conversation. Her influence being too visible in the personality of one of his other family members or the sight of a face that looks too much liker hers can make him extremely uneasy, as well. He's also put in a tougher predicament than many people realize when he's given the choice between confirming the suspicions of all the people who think he has his eyes on his brother's seat and marrying a niece who looks like a younger version of her grandmother.
• Triple Shifter: Besides managing the priests as High Priest, Ferdinand also takes care of High Bishop duties, on top of contributing most of the mana the temple distributes to the farming towns to revitalize the land for good harvests. On top of that, he also helps out whenever the Knight's Order needs him, and he also comes to the Noble's Quarter to do administrative work that the archduke and his scholars are meant to do. He is drinking one potion after another to recover, with no free time without complaining because that's what he deems is "normal". Rozemyne has to tell Sylvester to stop delegating work that he can do himself, and stop giving unreasonable deadlines, so she and Ferdinand can have some time to relax. She also tells Ferdinand that he is part of the problem, as he always gives in eventually. It's shown in Part 3 Volume 3 that it works half-way. Ferdinand does get more free time, but he also uses this opportunity to do his other actual job and train more priests.
• Tsundere: When Myne is around, he constantly calls her stupid, reckless, ignorant and is annoyed how clingy she is. When she's not around, he talks a lot about her (which surprises people who know him as The Stoic) and lavishes her in praise about her intelligence, quick learning, hard work and maturity.
• Undying Loyalty: To Ehrenfest and its archduke. Ferdinand doesn't care about his own well-being, so long as the duchy and its ruler are safe. After the death of his father, Sylvester was the only family Ferdinand had left. He is thankful to Sylvester for acknowledging him as his brother, and he made a promise to their dying father to protect Ehrenfest and Sylvester. This has shaped Ferdinand's self-sacrificial character, although over time he starts to look for his own happiness.
• Unwanted Spouse:
  • A side story in Part 4 Volume 8 and the epilogue in Part 5 Volume 5 go into detail why his previous proposed engagement with Magdalena, an archduke candidate from Dunkelfelger, didn't work out. The engagement was proposed by Ferdinand's friend Heisshitze, who was aware of Ferdinand's miserable life in Ehrenfest. While Aub Dunkelfelger approved, his daughter Magdalena was against it. In her opinion, while Ferdinand looks like an exemplary partner at first glance, he is a cold man who doesn't understand the heart of a woman. She doesn't believe for a second that Ferdinand raised and mentored Rozemyne. She didn't care about his situation with Veronica (or more like, she knew he could eliminate Veronica, but refused to do so), and furthermore marrying an archduke candidate from a low-ranking duchy like Ehrenfest was an insult to her. Magdalena then pulled a Wallpin Of Love on Fifth Prince Trauerqual and convinced him to marry her. This dragged in the neutral Dunkelfelger into the civil war, which Trauerqual ended up winning. Meanwhile, Ferdinand returned to Ehrenfest and shortly after joined the temple to escape Veronica.
  • As shown in Part 5, Detlinde doesn't even hide the fact that she can't stand Ferdinand. While she thinks his looks are good, she hates his cold and rational personality and that he doesn't completely obey her, Ahrensbach's new aub. Ferdinand does whatever is necessary to govern the duchy, and that includes ignoring her and giving the governing nobles instructions. Detlinde eventually openly spends more time with the Lanzenave ambassadors, specifically Leonzio, who showers her with the praise and "respect" she thinks she deserves.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • His upbringing resulted in him viewing any display of weakness in public as unacceptable. In his book, any negative emotion is a weakness. As a result, he only shows such emotions around people he completely trusts, and tends to be the most acerbic towards people he considers friends or close family members. His Childhood Friends figure out that he's grown close to Myne before he starts noticing himself, not only because he goes beyond the call of duty for her, but also because he's relaxed enough around her to scold her when it's needed. In Part 4, Rozemyne starts picking up on this enough to get worried when she feels like he's not scolding her enough.
  • He seems to have this relationship with Heisshitze. No matter how often he tells Heisshitze to back off due to Heisshitze wanting to duel Ferdinand in ditter and get his cape back, Heisshitze takes Ferdinand's cold behavior in stride and laughs about it.
• Workaholic: Ferdinand is constantly busy with something, which is why he cannot educate Myne as much as he'd like to and delegates this responsibility to her attendants who are experienced with a noble's life. He is so busy because the archduke keeps relying on him (even if he could do it himself). Ferdinand is so used to being busy that he gets restless if he doesn't do anything, and the attendants he trained, like Fran, are very much the same.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Ferdinand is a master of this. Though he is a meticulous planner, he can quickly alter his plans whenever something unexpected happens. In Part 5, Sylvester mentions how he misses this unique ability of Ferdinand's, as Ferdinand has left for Ahrensbach. Sylvester cannot deal with the drastic difficulties that have arisen due to him hastening the purge he planned to do in the middle of winter.
• Yandere:
  • In Part 5 Volume 8, Ferdinand is rescued by Rozemyne, who invaded Ahrensbach and took over the foundation for him. When he hears that she has become Aub Ahrensbach (which automatically makes him her fiancé by royal decree) and actually has no intention to get adopted and marry Prince Sigiswald (who would have mistreated her), he sniffs the chance to make Rozemyne his and build a happy life for the two of them. What follows afterwards is Ferdinand ruthlessly destroying the royal family and leaving them at his mercy, so that no one but Rozemyne could possibly stop him from marrying her.
  • Near the end of Part 5, as Mestionora aptly describes, Ferdinand acts as if he is under the influence of Ewigeliebe (who himself is the most famous yandere) when he sees Rozemyne, his "Geduldh", in danger. Ferdinand doesn't even hesitate to attack Erwaermen, a former god who himself is beloved by the gods, though he only cuts off a few branches before Mestionora interferes.
• You Are Number 6: His birthname was Quinta, which is Latin for fifth.
• Young and in Charge: He's 20 when he and Myne meet. He is also the de facto leader of the temple, as High Bishop Bezewanst is incompetent and neglects most of his duties, and Ferdinand is given even more of the remaining authority once Bezewanst is arrested and Rozemyne takes over as High Bishop. He also takes leadership when the Knight's Order asks for help, as he is one of the most respected and strongest remaining knights in Ehrenfest.
• Younger Than They Look: People often mistake him for being twenty-five or, if he is unlucky, thirty years old. He is just twenty years old when he meets Myne:
  • When Myne meets Sylvester, she estimates his age to be about that of Benno and Ferdinand, only to realize that because of Ferdinand's actual age, she's really stating that Sylvester could be anywhere between his early twenties and his early thirties. One of the story's later reveals establishes that Ferdinand is, indeed, younger than Sylvester.
  • When Rozemyne meets Ferdinand's significantly older mentor from his Royal Academy days, she spends some time assuming the two of them were fellow students.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Ferdinand loved his father, and one of the reasons why he studied so much was to be praised by him. As is revealed in Part 4 Volume 3, one of Ferdinand's happiest memories was at the Interduchy Tournament, when the king honored Ferdinand for being the best student of his year. Afterwards, Ferdinand, Sylvester and their father spent some time in a room, where the aub praised Ferdinand and they just talked for a while.