Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 12
葬送のフリーレン
Sōsō no Frieren 12

Spoiler Summary/Synopsis:

Frieren has a memory dream of when Himmel’s party first set out. Himmel reveals he has a replica of the Hero’s Sword he received as a reward. Further, Himmel recalls how his hero’s journey started at the orphanage when Heiter teased him. Frieren wakes on Fern’s back and instructs them to continue north to the Village of the Sword. When they arrive, they are greeted by the young girl chief.

Stark tells Fern the story of the village and how Himmel acquired the real Hero’s Sword. The chief reminds Frieren of her obligation to kill the local monsters. Frieren, Fern, and Stark slaughter the wolf-monsters around a cave. When the giant “lord” wolf-monster attacks, Frieren destroys it. Stark discovers the cave has the Hero’s Sword in it, meaning the legends were a lie. However, Himmel had vowed to defeat the demon king without the legendary sword and did so.

At the next town, Frieren informs Fern that it is Stark’s 18th birthday. Frieren reveals she has a potion that dissolves clothing. This disgusts Fern, who pours most of it over Frieren. Fern goes off to find what Stark would want for a gift while Frieren discovers something else in her suitcase. What Fern discovers is that Stark has done several good works in the village.

When she reveals herself to Stark, she eventually lets him know she wants to get him a birthday present. Stark states he’s never received a birthday present. To that end, he opens up about his family. Only his older brother shows any kindness, helping train Stark and making him hamburg steak on his birthday. Fern gets Stark a gift. When they get to the inn, they discover Frieren has made large hamburg steaks for them all, based on her travels with Eisen.

Thoughts/Review

We get a couple of interesting flashback stories in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 12.

The Lie of the Legend

I found the first story in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 12 to be quite compelling. There’s no denying that Himmel earned the title of Hero, both in his deeds and in how he lead his party of adventurers.  He had a replica of the Hero’s Sword that he’d received as a child for defeating a monster and saving a merchant. Himmel had purpose, thanks in part to Heiter’s teasing at the orphanage.

Yet unlike King Arthur, Himmel was not able to pull the real Hero’s Sword from the stone. Despite this, Himmel went on and became the Hero of legend. And with that legend, his replica sword “became” the actual sword. As Frieren rightly pointed out, legendary heroes don’t have embarrassing tales told about them. With the passage of time, the true nature of the Hero gets lost to romanticism.

We get to see another instance of Frieren returning to old places to keep promises made from her original journey with Himmel. I really like this aspect of the story since she knows the reality of the past.

I do question while Madhouse decided to remove the flashback of Himmel and Heiter as children at the orphanage. It seems odd since they did other ones, including Stark’s version of the Sword in the Stone.

Further, on the subtitle side of things, for some reason, the translator/adapter decided to remove the reference to the goddess when it came to the sword. Considering the previous episode and Frieren’s somewhat shifting thoughts on the goddess, this is an odd thing to leave out of the subtitles.

Stark’s Past

The second story in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 12 is all about Stark. When we were first introduced to Stark, he admitted to being a coward. This episode shows us the origins of this “cowardice”. To be honest, it fits perfectly with the character we’ve come to know and love. He didn’t flee out of fear. He fled ’cause his brother asked him to do so in order to survive. Thus the frightened Stark complied.

So now we know Stark has survivor’s guilt. The way the flashback went, it did appear that Stark’s village was completely engulfed in flames. Further, there weren’t many warriors left to fight off whatever powerful demon attacked the place. As such, I think it is safe to assume that they all died. Therefore, it is no wonder that Stark punishes himself so hard and trains so hard. I’ll be honest, I kinda hope at some point, Stark gets to pull the Hero’s Sword from the stone.

That aside, I loved how Frieren’s story of why Eisen made hamburg steaks helped Stark. Suddenly, Stark understood why his older brother made him hamburg steaks on his birthday. It was his brother’s way of acknowledging Stark’s hard work at training. It was a lovely moment in addition to making me hungry.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review with some final thoughts.

• It kinda surprised me that the chief of the Village of the Sword was a child. She mentions her grandmother, whom I presume was witness to Frieren’s arrival with Himmel’s party. I can’t help but wonder what happened to the girl’s mother and father.
• I got a kick out of Frieren’s present for Stark as well as Fern’s negative reaction to it. Considering the idea came from Flamme, it makes me wonder what else she taught Frieren.
• I think this is the first time we’ve seen inside Frieren’s suitcase.

In the end, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 12 provided more back history for Himmel, and some back story for Stark. I loved it!