Where Does The Record of Lodoss War Anime End In The Light Novel?

You can find a lot of DnD style fantasy in anime, but Record of Lodoss War, being based on a transcription of a DnD campaign, remains the king of them all. That said, getting into the Record of Lodoss War novels is a messy business.

Where To Start The Record of Lodoss War Light Novel After The Anime?

If you finished The Record of Lodoss War anime and want to continue the story in the light novel, you can start at:

• If you finished The Record of Lodoss War 1990 OVA – You can start the light novel at Novel 2.
• If you finished The Record of Lodoss War 1998 TV anime – The anime technically adapted through the end of the novels, though did not adapt the full story. It skips Novel 1, Novel 2, and Novel 5.

You will want to know that Record of Lodoss War is essentially a transcription of a DnD game from the 80’s that is, to put it plainly, only lightly novelized. So don’t go into the novels expecting the most compelling writing.

As for Record of Lodoss War as an adaptation of that novel story, it is kind of a mess. The original OVAs essentially adapt the first book—the Grey Witch—fairly well in OVA Episodes 2 through 8, and then the later half of the OVAs (Episodes 9 through 13) jumps into loosely adapting the story of Novel 3 and Novel 4, but also change those events.

Now, the 1998 Record of Lodoss War TV anime is technically a sequel to the OVA, but also not. The 1998 anime very confusingly re-tells the story of the end of the OVAs, which is Novel 3 and Novel 4, but makes significant changes from the OVA story to bring the events more in line with the novel. The TV anime then skips right to adapting Novel 6 and Novel 7 for the rest of the series. The 1998 anime fully skips the stories of Novel 2 and Novel 5.

The long and short of it? You would get the most complete story with the best characterization if you read the novels from the beginning.

Legend of Crystania

Legend of Crystania is a spin-off series set in the same world as the main storyline of Record of Lodoss War, but it follows what happens to Ashram and Pirotess as they head to a new continent with new stories that await there. It also received some anime adaptation.

If you finished the Legend of Crystania anime and want to continue the story in the light novels, you can start at:

• If you finished the Legend of Crystania Movie – You can start the novels at Series 2, Novel 2.
• If you finished the Legend of Crystania OVA – You can start the novels at Series 2, Novel 4.

The Legend of Crystania novels are separated into two parts. Series 1 is four novels, none of which were ever adapted to anime. The novels adapted in Series 2 are heavily abridged in the movie+OVA and you should consider reading them from the beginning.

Is The Record of Lodoss War Light Novel Over?

The Record of Lodoss War novels are complete. They ended in 1993 with Novel 7.

The series also had to Gaiden side story volumes. You may also see three volumes called Record of Lodoss War RPG Replay, which are the non-novelized transcriptions of the DnD campaign, and are a bit less elegant to read.

Record of Lodoss War Spin-Offs

• Legend of Lodoss (Complete, 5 Novels) – Prequel about new characters in new places.
• Record of Lodoss War Next Generation (Complete, 6 Novels) – Sequel to Record of Lodoss War, but its all Spark and no Parn.
• Record of Lodoss War: The Crown of the Covenant (Novel, On Hiatus) – Sequel to Next Generation. Released 1 novel and has been on hiatus since 2019. Takes place 100 years after the main events of the story.
• Legend of Crystania (Complete, 4 Novel (first series) + 9 Novel (second series) – Spin-off about a different continent (the one Ashram went to after the main story), split into two series. You may also see it labeled as Legend of the Drifters, which is just the four novels that comprise the first series. The novels in the second series all have unique titles.

Where To Start The Record of Lodoss War Manga After The Anime?

The main way to consume Record of Lodoss War is really in anime form, but it does have some manga series that all fizzled out.

Record of Lodoss War manga includes:

• Record of Lodoss War – The Lady of Pharis (Complete, 2 Volumes) – Prequel to The Grey Witch about new characters that meet up with Beld and Fahn.
• Record of Lodoss War – The Grey Witch (by artist Oichi Yoshihiko) (Complete, 3 Volumes) – Adapts Novel 1, the Grey Witch, which is Episodes 2 through 8 of the OVA series.
• Record of Lodoss War – The Grey Witch (by artist Takuma Tomomasa) (Complete, 3 Volumes) – Adapts Novel 1, the Grey Witch, which is Episodes 2 through 8 of the OVA series. This was released in 2014 compared to the above version that was released in 1994. it was presumably made because the series is still loved, and because people would buy it.
• Record of Lodoss War – The Demon of Flame (2 Volumes, Complete) – Adaptation of the Demon of Flame, Novel 2 that was skipped by all the anime.
• Record of Lodoss War – Deedlit’s Tale (2 Volumes, Complete) – Technically a sequel to Novel 2/manga Demon of Flame, but this manga is adapting the side story novel of the same name from the main series.
• Record of Lodoss War – Chronicles of the Heroic Knight (6 Volumes, Complete) – Adaptation of Novel 6 and Novel 7, which is Episode 9 through 27 in the TV anime.
• Record of Lodoss War: The Crown of the Covenant (Complete, 3 Volumes) – Manga adaptation of the Crown of the Covenant novel, the latest novel released in 2019. Takes 100 years after the main events of the story.
• Legend of Crystania: The First Adventurers (3 Volumes, Complete) Adapts Series 2, Novel 1 of the Legend of Crystania novel series. Adapted to anime in the Legend of Crystania Movie.
• Record of Lodoss War – Welcome to Lodoss Island! (Complete, 3 Volumes) – Chibi parody manga

Will There Be A Record of Lodoss War Season 2?

The fact that they have made new Record of Lodoss War content as recently as 2019 means that interest in this series is still there. There is always the chance that this series gets a cheeky little remake, especially with how popular DnD style fantasy is as a genre these days, though the sword and sorcery sensibilities don’t mesh too well with the wildly profitable isekai trends.