Black Clover’s Message Was Never What Fans Thought

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Black Clover chapter 320!

Everything changed the moment Black Clover both revealed Yuno’s true identity and where Asta’s grimoire actually came from. Fans understandably believed before then that mangaka Yūki Tabata created Asta to show that someone who isn’t gifted can still become a hero. Much like Deku inheriting One For All in My Hero Academia because he was born quirkless, Asta possessing no magic explained why the five-leaf grimoire chose him since he could safely wield anti-magic. Meanwhile, Yuno was meant to undermine the entire system. But it’s now clear that the former message is only partly true while the latter is now no longer relevant at all.

Way back in chapter 233, Black Clover revealed that Yuno isn’t a peasant. He’s actually royalty – a prince hailing from the Spade Kingdom. This, therefore, explains why Yuno possesses so much magic and especially why he received a coveted four-leaf grimoire. Before that moment, Yuno was an exception to the belief that only royalty and members of nobility are truly gifted with powerful magic. Mere commoners, especially peasants, could never amount to anything as a mage. They could definitely never become a Magic Knight. Yet, Yuno’s air magic (and Asta’s anti-magic) helped them not only join a Magic Knight squad but even the Royal Knights. Yuno went even further by becoming a vice-captain within a matter of months. Now, as of chapter 320, Yuno has come to save Asta against Lucifero, the King of Devils who even seven Magic Knight captains can’t defeat. But Yuno only accomplished these feats because he’s royalty.

Mangaka Yūki Tabata later added insult to the injury he inflicted on his world’s peasants and commoners with how he treated the peasant Magna Swing. The character Magna was too weak to learn how to master Arrays, unlike his higher-ranking friends, most likely because he was just a peasant. He, therefore, had to make do by learning from another peasant about how they must work harder to accomplish what comes easier to nobles and royalty and spent six months creating a one-time spell with Runes. Although Magna later uses the spell to defeat a powerful Dark Triad devil host in chapter 293, he can never use that spell again unless he spends another six months creating another one.

Meanwhile, chapter 268 revealed that Asta’s five-leaf grimoire didn’t come from nowhere. The truth is that a woman named Licita sealed the magicless devil Liebe into a grimoire to protect him from devils. More importantly, is this woman turned out to be Asta’s mother. So, it’s entirely likely that Licita’s love for both Liebe and her son Asta brought them together through the grimoire. In other words, Asta isn’t actually like Deku, but Harry Potter who only survived because of his mother’s love. But it actually goes deeper than that. Licita was banished because she sucked mana from other mages who came in close proximity to her. It’s possible that, when Asta was born, she sucked his latent power from him. So, it’s not just a mother’s love that allows Asta to wield anti-magic, but a mother’s way of giving back to her son what she took away from him. 

In the end, Black Clover is actually not a story highlighting the problems of class. Peasants can’t wield the power of a noble or royal as mangaka Yūki Tabata originally made everyone believe was the case with Yuno. Magic still comes more naturally to those of higher birth while those who are lower class must still work harder. While Black Cloveris still a story about how a powerless nobody like Asta can still become a hero by wielding a different power, it’s not arbitrary. It’s the power of love of a parent’s love for their child that can make the impossible possible.

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