Gunther (Anime)

Gunther (ギュンター Gyuntaa) is the father of Myne and Tuuli. He works as a captain for the city gate, which makes him the second in command at his post.

Gunther has blue hair and light brown eyes and is often times seen wearing his work uniform consisting of a blue tunic.

Gunther is a doting father and loves to talk about his family, especially about his daughters to anyone who will listen. He is quite aggressive if his family is threatened and will put himself at risk to defend them. This is shown among other times when defending Myne against the High Priest twice even though he knows that attacking a noble would cost him his life. Gunther is described as being like a child, that can't tell reality and dream apart. He charges head-on without considering his surroundings or consequences, and feels frustrated if he doesn't reach his goal.

He easily gets jealour or pouty when his daughters praise other men in his presence without also praising him, but is easily put back into a good mood once they acknowledge his "greatness".

Gunther is the son of a woodworker and dreamed of becoming a knight after listening to minstrel tales of knights. He didn't gave up his dream and became a soldier who protected his city. He applied for apprenticeship at the gate asking the commander, who was also Effa's father, and was accepted.

When he first met Effa he fell in love with her at first sight and would visit her every single day at her home and ask her father for her hand in marriage. Thanks to Gunther's passion his marriage proposal was consented if Effa wanted to marry him. Eventually he won Effa over by proposing like a knight would; he knelt in front of Effa and offered a feystone he acquired after slaying a feybeast. He said: "I became a soldier because I genuinely want to protect this city and my family. You didn't laugh at that, Effa, and I love you for it. I want you by my side."

During his work he became well aquainted with the traveling merchant Otto. When Otto out of the blue bought his citizenship in Ehrenfest and needed a job to propose to his crush Corinna, Gunther introduced him to the gate commander and Otto was hired as a soldier, so they had someone competent to do all the paperwork.

By the time Myne reached her fifth year, his dedicated service has earned him the position of Captain, the second in command at his local post.

The teams guarding each gate get relocated in regular intervalls. At the start of the story Gunther is guarding the southern gate and thus often sees and interacts with the children going out to forage in the forst.

When Gunther forgets his lunch at home, his daughters Myne and Tuuli bring it to him at the city gate. He praises them affectionately and introduces them to his coworker, Otto. When Myne asks him to buy her parchment and ink, he refuses, saying it's far too expensive and that she doesn't even know how to read and write. Amused, Otto points out that Gunther can only barely read and write himself.

Tuuli is surprised by Myne's sudden change in personality and her abundance of new recipes and talents. However, Gunther tells her it's a good thing that Myne finally has more energy, and tells her to be happy for her sister's improved health.

When Myne wants to return to the city gate to get more slate pencils from Otto, Gunther becomes jealous of her admiration for him and tells her to wait until spring. However, he ends up having to bring her to the gate the next day anyway. He is still feeling sulky several days later, but Myne cheers him up by asking for his help in carving a crochet hook to make a hair ornament for Tuuli. When the accessory is finished, he praises both of his daughters enthusiastically.

When Myne announces her plans to make clay tablets in the forest, Gunther points out that her body is too frail to make it all the way to the forest. He tells her to focus on building up her strength and forbids her to go foraging until he's satisfied that she can handle it.

In the meantime, he suggests she prioritize her work as Otto's assistant and improve her reading and writing skills. Because Otto is a former merchant, he can refer her to an apprenticeship as a clerk, which would be more suited to her health and talents than the more physical jobs that Gunther and Effa can refer her to.

At the end of spring, Gunther finally gives Myne permission to go to the forest. However, he makes her promise that she won't do anything but rest for the day and return with the other children.

At Tuuli's summer baptism, Gunther is overwhelmed with pride and affection for his daughter. However, he and Myne have to leave the ceremony early to make it to an important meeting at the city gate. He still bears a petty grudge against Otto because of Myne's affection for him, and hurries to usher her out of the city gate as soon as the meeting is over.

That night, Gunther and Effa give Tuuli a new set of work clothes and tools to use during her apprenticeship as a seamstress. He also gives Myne a foraging knife, telling her that it is now her duty to gather firewood for the family.

When Myne returns from her meeting with Otto, Gunther consoles her and tells her not to be too disappointed about not becoming a merchant. Somewhat exasperated, she informs him that she hasn't failed: She'll be accepted as an apprentice, provided she can finish her plant paper prototype.

At her baptism Myne stumbles upon a bookroom in the temple and without thinking further tries to apply for a priest apprenticeship on the spot. After a talk with her family and learning how poorly the priests in the temple that are not nobles are treated, she tries to talk her way out of it, but upon learning of her devouring, the temple won't let her go.

The High Priest summons her parents and upon learning they are not just commoners, but poor as well starts to treat the family very harshly. When Gunther and Effa refuse to just turn over Myne without some assurances, due to their well grounded fears that Myne would not survive the work expected of a grey shrine maiden for long, the High Priest loses his temper and sends his attendents to take Myne by force. Gunther - fully knowing that resisting a noble like this is punishable by death - uses his soldiers training to fight off the priests, who never learned how to fight and were taught that violence is wrong, with relative ease, knocking them out.

This makes the High Priest even more furious and he screams that he will have Myne's entire family executed for defying him, which makes Myne's mana rage out of control and crushes him. In her rage Myne almost kills him, but Head Priest stepps between them and eventually manages to calm her down. With the High Priest unconscious, the Head Priest takes over the negotiations and agrees to the demands by Myne's family that she be treated as a blue shrine maiden and be allowed to commute home, rather than having to live at the temple.

Gunther is very happy whenever he gets the chance to help Myne out with one of her new inventions, like carving parts of hairsticks or Diptyches, though much to his disappointment, Myne most often lets her business partner Lutz or professional workshops bring her ideas to life.


 * While not quite on the level of a professional craftsman, Gunther is still quite talented in woodworking.


 * When Justus is seeking information about Myne from the soldiers at the gate where Gunther works, he was warned off by the soldiers not to bring up Gunther's daughters with Gunther as he will talk your ear off about them to you.
 * Effa thinks Gunther is at fault for how Myne behaves.
 * Gunther loves the refreshing feeling when drinking behelle after work.
 * His name was most likely inspired by the common German first names of Günther or Gunter. The use of ギュ (gyu) rather than グ (gu) makes the former the liklier candidate for the origin.