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The Light Novel series is the source material for the adaptation of the Anime and Manga series. The information and terminology on the article will be based on the source material rather than the adaptions. |
“
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Myne, this man has a terrible personality. But he has something of a good heart underneath his rotten everything else. | ”
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— Ferdinand remarking on Sylvester to Myne in Part 2 Volume 3, Chapter 13: Preparing for the Spring Prayer
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Sylvester (ジルヴェスター, Jiruvesutaa) is the seventh Aub Ehrenfest and the current ruler of Ehrenfest. He is Rozemyne’s adoptive father.
He and his first wife Florencia are the parents of Wilfried, Charlotte, and Melchior. He is also the half-brother of Ferdinand.
Appearance
Sylvester has long, blue-tinged purple hair, which he wears tied back with a silver cord. His eyes are deep green, and he has strong eyebrows. He is slightly shorter than Ferdinand, but has a more muscular build. Rozemyne thinks he looks around the same age as Benno or Ferdinand.[7]
Personality
In contrast to his younger brother, Sylvester often acts impulsively, leading most people to think that he is younger than he actually is. He is a relentless teaser, but he can get serious in a heartbeat when needed. He is described to have a good heart deep down, although he acts like a spoiled child.
As an archduke, Sylvester is decently competent with his duty, although he has the tendency to run away from paperwork. He is open-minded and quick to accept new ideas. In fact, he is fascinated with new things and experiences, so much that he would go out of his way to try them out. Unlike typical nobles, he doesn't care much about formalities, such that he would even allow orphans to abbreviate his name.
Sylvester deeply cares about his family, but this also resulted in him often being too forgiving towards them, which led to dire consequences during multiple instances.
History
Sylvester is the son of Adelbert, the sixth Aub Ehrenfest and Veronica.
Before Sylvester's birth, his oldest sister Georgine was well on the way to become Archduchess. When Sylvester was born and grew up far enough, he and his siblings were thrown into a fierce competition for succession. Ultimately, Sylvester came out on top and was chosen to become the seventh Aub Ehrenfest, in no small part due to his bigger mana capacity and gender, which caused no end of problems between him and Georgine, who had been practically raised to be the archduchess, but had the title "snatched away" by her younger brother, as she sees it.
As a result, she relentlessly tormented Sylvester at any opportunity, to the point where their parents started to fear for Sylvester's safety to a degree that they married Georgine off to Ahrensbach, even though it meant she would only be the third wife, a position hardly worthy of an archduke candidate. This resentment between the two siblings continues to this very day.
His second oldest sister Constanze married into the closely allied duchy of Frenbeltag and became the Archduke's first wife, while Sylvester himself married the younger sister of Aub Frenbeltag, Florencia.
Due to both Sylvester and his wife being the younger siblings of their Frenbeltag counterparts, they have a weak position in negotiations with their siblings and often end up giving more than they are entirely comfortable with.
After the marriage, Sylvester's mother insisted he take a second wife, but he stoutly refused, choosing to devote himself completely to the woman he loved. This was the first act of open defiance he showed to his mother, and even led to some nobles temporarily believing that Veronica's influence had finally started its decline, though only for a short time.[8]
Ferdinand and Sylvester first met after Ferdinand's baptism. They have the same father but different mothers. Sylvester is six years older than Ferdinand and looked out for and cared for his younger half-brother.
Due to Ferdinand's harassment by Sylvester's mother, Sylvester told Ferdinand to join the temple to escape Veronica's harassment, which would remove him from the family's succession and keep him away from noble politics. When Ferdinand complained to Sylvester about being bored, he sent his younger brother some of his own work, figuring that since Ferdinand wanted something to do and since he himself wanted less to work, it would be a win-win.
Even after Ferdinand became the High Priest, Sylvester kept sending him work. Since his brother never complained, Sylvester never considered the possibility that between the work of his new position and the work sent over by his brother, the freshly minted High Priest would be overworked to the point of requiring recovery potions to keep up with the load.
He likes to hunt without using his magical abilities, but isn't very fond of the overly regulated environment of the forest in the Noble's Quarter.
Story
See Story Tab
Retainers
Attendants
- Rihyarda - Sylvester's former head-attendant during his childhood and a big part of his rearing. Left Sylvester's service to serve Rozemyne upon her adoption into the archducal family[9] Returned into Sylvester's service after the purge of the former Veronica faction after Rozemyne's third year at the Royal Academy.[10]
Skills and Abilities
Magical
- Highbeast: Sylvester's highbeast takes the shape of a three-headed lion.
- Mana Affinities: Sylvester was born with affinities to all elementals, except life. Upon redoing his ritual to gain divine protections, he obtained the protection of some of Ewigeliebe's subordinates, making him omni-elemental.[1]
- Divine Protections: While his full set of divine protections is currently not known, it is confirmed that he has the divine protection of Liebeskhilfe, the Goddess of Binding, and Gluckvitalit, the God of Trials[2]
Upon redoing the ritual, Sylvester obtains the protection of a total of 21 gods. In addition to those he had before, he also gains the protection of Dauerleben and Schlaftraum and through them life element affinity, making him omni-elemental, despite not having the divine protection of Ewigeliebe himself.[1]
Trivia
- He is shown to be skilled at hunting, having killed 1 deer, 4 birds (one of which was mid-air), and several scavenging animals.
- Sylvester used to keep a pet shumil named "Blau" when he was a child, but he often unknowingly pushed it to collapse from exhaustion. This caused it to often stay close to Karstedt for protection and eventually manage to run away.[11]
- "Blau" means blue in German, alluding to its fur color.
- Sylvester allows the orphans to call him "Brother Syl (ジル樣, Jiru-sama)" because younger orphans struggled to pronounce his name right, and all gray priests would knee down and beg for forgiveness whenever someone pronounce it wrong, which is troublesome and dangerous.
- He was so unfamiliar with the lives of commoners and orphans that, when hunting in the forest, he did not know how to wash his hands in the river and had to ask the orphans for help.
- When Myne first finds out Sylvester is the archduke, she briefly becomes very worried about the future of the duchy.
- He often wears a silver band to tie his hair.
- Ferdinand raised the mana limit of his hidden room to block out Sylvester. This happened because Sylvester was messing around with Ferdinand's stuff, when he entered the room to discuss about Myne's Spring Prayer trip.[12]
- Sylvester is able to beat Ferdinand in gewinnen, at least sometimes, though his win-rate goes down the more stones they play.[13]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 5. Chapter 2: Divine Protections All Around
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 1. Chapter 11: Researching Rituals and an Update on the Purge
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 7. Chapter 1: Dirk's and Bertram's Baptisms
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 4. Chapter 8: Changing Surroundings and the Feast Celebrating Spring
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 9. Florencia — At the Ivory Tower
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 8. As You Wish
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 2 Volume 3. Chapter 13: Preparing for the Spring Prayer
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Fanbook 2. Story 5: A Tea Party with My Older Sister
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 3 Volume 1. Chapter 9: The Archduke's Castle
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 5 Volume 4. Chapter 7: Brunhilde’s Suggestion
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm Light Novel. Part 2 Volume 4. Sylvester - Cleaning up the Mess
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Fanbook 1. Q&A with Miya Kazuki
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Royal Academy Stories - First Year. Chapter 11: Wilfried - Male Socializing