How Frieren Writes Men

Freein is an anime that's taken the

world by storm. It's become an instant

classic, not just because of how it

writes its characters, but also how it

tackles its themes in such an

interesting way. And I've had the

privilege of re-watching it in

preparation for the release of season 2.

The show talks about the brevity of

human life, the passage of time, and the

impact it has on the world, and the

tragedy of knowing the importance of

something only after it has faded away.

But gender is also something that the

show has a quiet commentary on. Free

rent has been praised time and time

again for how it writes its female

characters, especially for an anime,

which as a medium has been notorious for

how many popular titles choose to

portray women. The show isn't afraid to

break gender norms by portraying its

women as powerful, dangerous,

emotionally controlled, and ways that

many people would conclude to be

unladylike. And on that note, I asked

the question, what about the men? This

video aims to talk about how Freeren

writes men. And before we get to that,

I'll of course have to discuss spoilers.

So consider this a warning. And with

that, let's begin this video by talking

about the most prominent man in the

series, Himl, otherwise known as Himl,

the hero, the face and leader of the

legendary party that slay the demon king

and brought peace to the realm.

Everybody in the world has heard the

stories time and time again, but those

don't paint the entire picture of who

him was. As heroic as he was in life,

Himml was very much a human being. That

is to say that he wasn't perfect. On the

very first day of their adventure, he

was almost executed by the king because

he was disrespectful. And in Himl's

prime, he was incredibly vain. He was

obsessed with his appearance and

boastful of his good looks, much to the

chagrin of those around him. And he was

very particular about getting his face

preserved for years to come. But while

on the surface he may look like the

typical fantasy hero, Himmel is in a lot

of ways a very interesting subversion of

the trope. Because while Himmel is vain

and proud, he doesn't do it in a way

that puts anybody else down. So Himmel

likes the way he looks. So what? It's

not like he's insulting Haidider or

Eizen or anybody else. His high opinion

of himself is treated as a character

trait, not as a fatal flaw. Typically in

media, especially in anime, humble

characters or the ones that let their

actions do the talking are the ones that

we tend to root for. Just off the top of

my head, I can name characters like Deku

from My Hero Academia, Saitama from One

Punch Man, and even Freein herself. Note

how many characters throughout the

series tend to recognize her as a

familiar figure, usually citing that the

legendary party of Himl, the hero, had

an elven mage. Yet, sheep never

announces her identity or confirms their

suspicions. But Himml isn't like that.

Himmel wants to be praised. He wants to

be remembered. He wants people to know

that he's the hero who saved the world.

And perhaps that's not a bad thing

because remember that the world of Ferin

is a desolate one. Before the demon king

was slain and the world knew peace,

demons were raising entire villages,

vaporizing armies with magic they knew

nothing about. And everything seemed

hopeless. Humanity had its heroes, but

they were wiped out like cannon fodder

until Himl vowed to defeat the demon

king and delivered. The fact that Himl

and his friends were able to conquer the

greatest evil and because of it, the

world was finally able to usher in an

era of peace is something worth

remembering and celebrating. Because in

the world of Freein, appearances do

matter and are worth stretching the

truth for. While being truthful is

something that we attribute to moral

goodness, sometimes it's better to let

people believe in a hopeful lie than to

let them know the ugly truth. This is a

recurring theme in the story. Notably,

when Himl fails to pull out the hero's

blade, showing that he's not the

prophesized hero, he is still the one to

defeat the demon king. And again, when

Sir Olden needs Stark to play the part

of this fallen son, worked to keep up

appearances so the men of his kingdom

don't lose morale fighting against the

remnants of the demon king's army. The

world is already a horrible place, and

people look to their leaders, their

heroes to inspire them to keep fighting.

Imagine the chaos that would ensue if

people found out that him was not

actually able to pull out the hero's

blade. Because that would also imply

that the demon king is not the great

calamity that would destroy this world.

And something even more dangerous is

coming in the future. How far in the

future? Who's to say? But thematically,

it's beautiful that a hero who

supposedly wasn't the chosen one was

able to rise up and save the world.

Anyway, the beauty of Himmel's character

is that his vanity and pride can

ultimately lead to good things. We see

that the impact of one's deeds can be

temporary. For example, in episode 2,

when Finan and Fern visit a town and

search for the Blue Moon weed flowers,

only the old herbalist lady was alive to

witness him, the hero, saving the town.

Thus, she was the only person who placed

any sense of importance in caring for

his statue. The fact that the statue

even exists is a result of Himl's

vanity. While Ferrerin says that Himml

should have refused, the remembrance of

a hero's deeds serves a greater purpose

than serving their own ego. It's a

reminder to the people that in times of

great distress. When all hope seems

lost, good will find a way to rise and

fight back against the darkness. Himl

was indeed a good man, and besides

slaying the demon king, helped many

people along the way, but the impact of

his ax is ultimately only as temporary

as the people he helps. Which is why

preserving the memory of his deeds

through stories passed on for

generations is so important. Especially

because while he was prideful, Himmel

was a genuinely good person. He was

altruistic. He saved people's lives.

Even after the party defeated the demon

king, he would make an annual trip to a

backwater town just to see that the

sealed demon nearby was still under

control all the way up until the year he

died. Himmel's character and the way

he's written shows the complexities of

Ferrron's world and why it's so

different from other works of fiction.

In many other media, Himl's pride would

be his downfall, a flaw that would make

the viewer hate him. Instead, his desire

to be known and remembered led to him

being able to inspire others to do good

even after his time. and Ferrin's

commentary on pride and the presence of

it is made abundantly clear by another

character specifically one that lacks

pride sign. In a lot of ways I consider

sign to be the anti- himl. While both

are ultimately good people and have

traveled with free the way they carry

themselves is completely opposite from

each other. While himl puts a lot of

weight into his appearance as a hero s

doesn't put any weight into his

appearance as a priest. He doesn't seem

to care about other people's opinion of

him. He drinks, gambles, smokes, and

talks a lot about loving older women. In

fact, Assign seems to carry himself very

lowly. He believes he's past his prime.

He regrets not being an adventure

earlier in his life and seems to be

content in allowing that regret to

control his present and future. But

still, Sin is a pretty amazing person.

His people skills are greatly welcomed

in the group as he's able to diffuse

situations between Fern and Stark while

teaching them to be able to communicate

their feelings better. He's a remarkable

healer being able to instantly cure

Stark when he's brought to the church.

And finally, he's able to figure out how

the Chaos Bloom works and ultimately

saves the town with the help of Ferin.

As a character, Sin does not try to play

the part of a hero, but that doesn't

change the fact that he undoubtedly is

one. And another aspect of Science's

character that I love is that his fate

isn't tied to Finan and the party. In

other works, despite his motivation for

joining the party, being able to find

his lost friend, Sin may have chosen to

stay with the group because it was

required to have a healer. Instead, Sin

leaves and rather unceremoniously at

that. This is another testament to how

well written the world of Ferrin is. The

side characters have their own wants in

their lives that aren't tied to anybody

but themselves. And this makes the world

feel alive. And while we said farewell

to sign, we may actually run into him

again in the future. And with that,

let's move on to the next male character

that I want to discuss, Eisen. Eisen is

an interesting character because out of

the entire cast, he's the most

traditionally masculine in Himl's party.

He's the vanguard, a legendary warrior

with renowned strength and constitution.

While we ultimately don't get to spend

too much time with Eizen, we do get a

lot of backstories with him in them. And

through these backstories, we found out

that like warriors are typically

expected to be. He was tough. He was

able to shrug off poison like it was

nothing. And he would jump off great

heights and emerge unscathed, all while

having the same stoic expression

plastered on his face. But despite this

image of a hearty dwarven warrior, Eizen

was afraid. He would tremble before big

jobs. He would talk about his fear with

his friends. And at some point, he even

feared Stark, acknowledging his

apprentice's incredible strength. As

powerful as Eizen was, he knew that fear

was natural. He acknowledged that fear,

something that people typically view as

weak and unmanly, is something that

everybody has. Because to be afraid

means to acknowledge one's mortality,

one's limitations as an individual. And

as we see through another character,

that's the first step to being able to

surpass them. And of course, I'm talking

about Stark. Stark is Eizen's estranged

apprentice, and when we first meet him,

it's a bit of a pathetic sight. He views

himself as a coward who only lived after

staring down a dragon because he got

lucky. But as we get to know Stark, we

get to understand where this low

self-esteem comes from. His hometown was

wiped out by monsters. Thus, he's afraid

of them. And even before then, his

father would berate him for his lack of

fighting talent. And this belief that he

was useless and no good was something

that would stick with him as he grew

older. Even when he was training under

Eizen, he claimed that the dwarf never

once praised him. Which in addition to

his backstory, it makes sense why Stark

believes he's unable to defeat the

dragon terrorizing the town. And yet,

Stark is powerful enough to be able to

take the dragon down in less than a

minute. Like a lot of young men, Stark

just lacks validation. Most men aren't

used to receiving praise or compliments

and go years without ever being

acknowledged. And Stark represents the

consequences of this truth very well.

But he also represents the ideal

reaction to a lack of validation instead

of crying about how it wasn't freely

given to him. He earns it through hard

work, being able to cut through a

cliffside through sheer force. And when

Fran praises Stark with just a simple

sentence, you can tell the moment sticks

with him, just like how this last

character's impact stuck with us

throughout the story. Haidider is the

first character that we truly get to

know in the series. And more than any

other character in the show, Haidider

embodies how we're supposed to look at

everybody in the story. Because early

on, we look at Haidider and we see him

as a kind of joke character. Freein

repeatedly calls him a corrupt priest

and he has a serious alcohol problem. In

any other story, Haidider's alcoholism

would be focused on as a moral failure.

But much like Himl's pride, it's just a

character trait, one that he would

eventually even go on to stop having.

And as we learn more about Haidider, we

understand why he is the way he is.

Haidider was an orphan. He likely didn't

have a happy childhood. And maybe that's

why he drank so much in life. And maybe

that's why he gives up drinking when he

adopts Fern because he wants to set a

good example for his adopted daughter.

Even if he does teach her that alcohol

is the best medicine, but he also brings

joy to his friends. While the show does

make it a point to show that Haidider is

useless when he's drunk, he can also be

the literal life of the party. Remember

when people are mocking Firan for not

showing emotion after the death of Himl?

It's Haidider who diverts attention to

himself away from her. He's also

cunning. He was able to deduce that

Frierin was hiding her true mana

capacity and later on was able to trick

her into training Fern into becoming a

mage. Haidider's character is

interesting because he's the first

person that we truly get to know in the

series and sets the example for what

we're supposed to expect from the rest

of the story. The beauty of how Firan

writes men is that it never falls into

the trap of relying on tropes,

caricatures, and gender roles to write

its characters. Everybody feels fleshed

out in some way. And this isn't done for

the sake of subverting expectations, but

to portray a universal truth. It's

impossible to truly capture the essence

of a person into just one or two

details. Worbble may look like a

heartless mercenary, but he has a love

for his hometown and even has to

mentally prepare himself before he takes

a life. Denkin is an influential mage

with money and power, but the only thing

he's ever wanted was to honor his dead

wife. RTOR looks like a put together

rich man, but when required, he can be a

stone cold killer, and that's completely

understandable because he works retail.

I love how Free Rin writes men and all

of its characters for that matter

because it writes them as how anybody

wants to be perceived as a living

breathing person with all the

complexities that come with being One.