Talk:Daemon/Daemon Lord/@comment-26571774-20190719092320/@comment-12642484-20190926183800

That is a misunderstanding. I used to be confused about this myself and I wouldn't be surprised that it was like that even in the WN, but from what I gathered based on the Databook in LN vol. 8.5 with what I could extract from it via OCR and MTL, it seems the "nobility system" and the "evolutionary stages" of Daemons are completely seperate matters. The main misunderstanding probably comes from the Kanji 公 which can be interpreted/translated as both "Duke" or as "Lord" (in the sense of addressing someone).

From what I gather both these meanings are used in different contexts. On one hand we have the nobility ranking based exclusively on age (though "deaths" can make a Daemon "younger" again), which seems to be mostly a ranking for the Spirit World rather than the Material world. On the other hand we have the evolutionary stage where the 公 seems to use the other interpretation.

The "nobility" rank is refered to as 公爵位 which literally translates to "Prince/Duke class", of which 公爵 specifically refers to Prince/Duke.

On the other hand the Evolutionary stage uses 悪魔公(デーモンロード) with 悪魔 meaning literally "Devil" though it's the Kanji that's always being used for "Daemon" due to its Furigana デーモン that comes along with it. That leaves the Kanji part 公 (which has multiple meanings) and ロード (which is the transliteration of "Lord"). So based on that it's safe to say that what the Kanji here really just says 1:1 what the Furigana says, i.e. the 公 refers to "Lord" here.

So in conclusion? This whole issue was a huge misunderstanding all along and I surmise the "nobility" system worked differently from what the WN Translators thought as well, but I think the LN did change it so that the nobility level is SOLELY determined by "age minus deaths". But either way, Daemon Lord is not directly related to the nobility ranks, which seem to be more of a thing within the Spirit World and at most determines the initial power level when incarnating into the Material World with a physical body. Gaining a physical body basically means changing the stage entirely and the rules of the Spirit World that were based on Noble Ranks no longer hold much meaning as the Daemon basically becomes a full fledged Magic-born, since Daemons also completely lose their innate resistance to physical attacks and stop being Spiritual Lifeforms in practise. Even Daemons need to go through the same process that other Monsters go through to be able to become full-fledged Spiritual Lifeform even within the Material World without being "ejected", i.e. becoming a True Demon Lord who merges their material body with their spiritual body.