Does Frieren Love Himmel in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End? Explained

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is surprisingly melancholic for an epic fantasy anime. A big reason for that sadness is Frieren’s relationship with her old party member, Himmel. While they were friends, the loss of the potential for something more made it tragic.

Does Frieren Love Himmel in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End?

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is just as the title implies, focusing on the Elf/Mage Frieren as she grapples with the mortality of everyone around her. Particularly, it’s the death of her old party member, Himmel, the Hero, that sets the events of the story in motion. Frieren’s sadness and regret over Himmel’s death (despite it being of natural causes/old age) and not getting to know him better is a sad moment in the series. However, over the course of her going to a place that will supposedly allow her to talk with those who have passed she begins to recall all her experiences with the hero.

In these brief flashback scenes, viewers can pick up on the fact that not only could Himmel be sometimes hilariously vein, but that he had deep feelings of affection for Frieren. While viewers can infer that he was in love with her, the question if she loved him is a bit more complicated. Frieren herself says at one point that her species is going extinct as “feelings of affection” and “reproductive instinct” are something elves have trouble developing or picking up on.

Related: How to Read the Frieren Manga After the Anime

Moreover, Frieren’s enormous lifespan leads the character to take several hundred years for even the simplest decisions. When combining these traits, you get a character who can’t fully comprehend Himmel’s feelings or her own, which is partly why she goes on the main quest of the series. So, while it isn’t a definitive yes, it can be perceived that Frieren cares about Himmel in her own way and subconsciously loves him without yet reflecting or acting upon this feeling.

So, that’s if Frieren loves Himmel, explained.

The first season of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is streaming now on Crunchyroll.