11 Years Later, Black Clover’s Biggest Missed Opportunity Is The Still The Series Creator’s Favorite Character

It’s been over a decade since Black Clover’s February 2015 debut in Weekly Shonen Jump, and beyond a pretty thrilling 390+ chapter run with more anime on the way, its world has seemingly expanded beyond its planned story’s scope. While the series sparingly peppers in a mixture of Norse folklore, European fairy tale aesthetic, and more than a small amount of Judeo-Christian imagery and concepts, this still hasn’t guaranteed creator Yuki Tabata would explore every corner of his world. Even in the final arc of the series, this includes not incorporating a seemingly lost world represented by his favorite Black Clover character, Charmy Pappitson.

Tabata’s reason for favoring Charmy, namely that she’s based on his real-world wife, is frankly adorable, but perhaps her greatest singular moment in the series was the revelation about her lineage. Revealed to be a hybrid human-dwarf, Charmy’s heritage comes as a surprise not only to Lira (as Rill) alongside Asta and Mimosa Vermillion; it also shocks Charmy, while arming her with a second magic attribute giving her an edge in battle. Yet, nearly 200 chapters later in the manga, the world of her ancestors, the dwarves, has gone completely untouched, remaining perhaps the greatest singular missed lore opportunity in Black Clover other than Asta’s father.

Tabata May Have Missed the Chance to Unearth Dwarf Lore in Black Clover

Given the series is cruising into its likely final battle between Asta and Yuno for the Spring 2026 release of Black Clover, it seems highly likely, or altogether impossible, that dwarves will be incorporated into the plot in any meaningful way beyond Charmy’s epilogue. Given the series had a substantial arc dedicated to the Elf Tribe, with Yuno Grinberryall (coincidentally the likeliest romantic pairing for Charmy) even serving as host of Licht and Tetia’s reincarnated elf-human child, it seems surprising that this opportunity was never explored in full. In fact, more focus was promptly given to Nero, revealed as Secre Swallowtail, than Charmy in that very arc.

While Charmy is undeniably more of a cozy, comic relief-oriented Black Clover character perfectly happy to bring food to help Yuno and her friends refuel, this is a bit of a letdown. Even as the series unceremoniously unearths the Earth Spirit in chapter #382 (pun intended) and gives focus to practically all other races in the series like devils, demons, artificial creations like Guardian Angels, and the prominent lore of the humans, the only remnant of the dwarves is Charmy.

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It’s entirely within reason for Tabata to withhold dwarf lore in the mainline Black Clover story to enhance mystique about the race. Given their incredible capacity for powerful magic explained by Mimosa, further confirmed by Charmy awakening her second attribute, joining her Cotton Magic with Food Magic explained by Mimosa in chapter #194 (episode #114), and their status as an ancient, esoteric group, it’s entirely within reason to keep Charmy as their own remnant. It could also just as reasonably argued that Tabata’s story outline could have incorporated greater focus for the dwarves similarly to the Elf Reincarnation Arc, but realistically, the story’s current trajectory doesn’t have room for that.

Dwarves Would Be a Prime Opportunity for Black Clover Spin-Offs or Novels

Much like how Naruto’s world was expanded in novels and in anime form through its sequel stories, Black Clover should end as Tabata sees fit, with the option for its world to be expanded via companion works. As seen in the multiple Johnny Onda novels in particular, Black Clover’s world translates fairly well to prose, and could reasonably live on via expansions on its lore.

This is to say, dwarven lore in Black Clover is crucial for fans wishing to see its broader world fleshed out, especially with other areas like Hino Country being given focus in recent arcs, but nothing in the main plot has suggested their existence is consequential to the plot. This can be said about other unresolved loose ends of Black Clover’s plot, such as the mystery of Asta’s father.

When the series is already steering toward a resolution to its greatest conflicts with Judgment Day ending, and Asta and Yuno settling their rivalry, answers like Asta’s lineage would be perfunctory given his focus on merit over heritage. Similarly, shoehorning dwarf lore into the ending, rather than as a side-story, would be a disservice to the world Tabata has crafted. It was certainly a missed opportunity to explore Charmy’s ancestry shortly after its introduction, but Black Clover’s series doesn’t seem to have room for that thread anymore, and it’s possible fans may have to accept that.

Release Date

2017 – 2021

Network

TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC

Directors

Matsuo Asami, Rokou Ogiwara, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Akira Shimizu, Fumio Maezono, Daisuke Chiba, Toshihiro Maeya, Yoshimitsu Tsuda, Toshiaki Kanbara, Takahiro Enokida, Yasumi Mikamoto, Kenichi Maejima, Chihiro Kumano, Naoki Horiuchi, Yoshino Miwa

• 

  Gakuto Kajiwara

  Asta (voice)

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  Nobunaga Shimazaki

  Yuno (voice)