Frieren: Who Is “Frieren the Slayer”? Explaining the Protagonist’s Nickname!

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a manga and anime series currently among the most popular anime airing. Written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a truly lovely fantasy series with great characters, one of which will be the focus of this article. We will discuss Frieren, the titular protagonist, a powerful Elf mage and the only character who connects the present to the past. Recently, the anime revealed that Frieren has a nickname – Frieren the Slayer – and we will explain everything you need to know about that nickname in this article.

Frieren might seem absentminded and harmless, but her story shows that she is an exceptionally powerful mage

Frieren was born in an Elven village more than a millennium ago, and while the exact number has not been revealed, we can confirm that she is more than 1,000 years old. When she was little, the Demon King ordered all Elves to be killed, so his minions attacked her village and killed her parents. Still a child, she survived somehow and was later found by Flamme, who took her in as her own child and made her her apprentice.

Frieren became an exceptionally powerful and skilled mage, which is a fact, considering that she learned from Flamme, who is an exceptionally powerful mage and is credited as one of the most powerful mages in the history of the lore of Frieren. Were she not powerful, there is no way that Frieren would’ve become so skilled as her apprentice.

But, Frieren does seem somewhat absentminded, and while she is undoubtedly skilled, that is not always shown as she doesn’t have the aura of self-confidence that usually comes with powerful characters; comparing her to, for example, Himmel, we can see the difference – although Himmel was never narcissistic in that aspect, it has always been quite obvious that he was aware of his skills. Frieren, on the other hand, always seemed like she was there by accident or that the others were protecting her.

But that was just a facade, as Frieren was one of the most valuable members of the group. With time, she managed to surpass all of her former teammates in terms of skill and power, which is actually a relevant fact that we are going to use to explain how and why she got the nickname in question, which is what we are going to do in the next section.

Her reputation has earned her the nickname Frieren the Slayer

Although she was introduced simply as Frieren, and her interaction with her fellow heroes showed that she was powerful but quite calm, Frieren is actually a fierce and powerful mage. Having more than 1,000 years of experience and having trained with Flamme, who introduced magic to humanity, Frieren has, naturally, acquired a vast library of knowledge and a lot of experience. Sure, her hobby is collecting relatively obscure and useless spells, but when push comes to shove, Frieren demonstrated – more than once – that she can fight.

She defeated Qual with ease and came up with a plan to defeat the dragon, and several flashbacks showed how powerful she was in the past and how she helped Himmerl and the others defeat many powerful demons. In that aspect, it is understandable that Frieren gained a reputation as she continued to fight against the demons that remained even after the original Hero Party defeated the Demon King. And it is this reputation that actually earned her her current nickname, which is – Frieren the Slayer.

This might come as somewhat contradictory, seeing how Frieren always looks like she’s not there, like she’s bored and cannot be moved much by anything. She isn’t emotionless, but her race is somewhat closeted in that aspect, so she comes off as somewhat cold occasionally. And it is that coldness that she actually demonstrates when fighting demons; Frieren doesn’t openly hate them, but she knows that they are a threat and that they cannot be reasoned with, which is why – despite all of their tricks – they have to be eliminated without giving them any chance whatsoever.

This might make her come out as being somewhat ruthless. Still, the series has shown that her interpretation of demons is actually correct and that demons are – at least up to this point in the story – unredeemable creatures that cannot be trusted because, despite everything you do, they will only try to deceive you in the end.

Using this ruthless logic, Frieren has killed many demons over the years, and this manner of dealing with them has earned her the nickname Frieren the Slayer. People weren’t so much afraid of her as they were of her behavior.

You know what Frieren looks like, so seeing such a gentle character kill in such a ruthless manner would definitely cause a reaction, and that is why people were afraid of Frieren and why she ultimately received the nickname Frieren the Slayer.

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