The Land Where Souls Rest
Episode 4 of Frieren: Beyond’s Journey’s End begins 28 years after Himmel’s death and has Fern and Frieren traveling through the Granz Channel with an elderly man. He explains how this place is tough to traverse through and how acknowledges how beautiful everything used to be. He hands her a book written by a legendary mage named Flamme to pay her for cleaning up the island.
Fern realizes the man gave her a fake book, but Frieren says she wants to perform the task because she likes assisting people in need. Fern picks up some bread from a shop and the woman realizes she and Frieren have been here for three months. Fern returns to her and Frieren’s quarters and realizes everything’s a mess. Fern helps Frieren reach their destination due to Frieren being in a lazy state. As they perform their cleaning task, Fern acknowledges Frieren’s sloppy habits.
Fern questions how Himmel’s party coped with Frieren’s lazy habits. Frieren admits Himmel and her allies were a different breed but were let down by her habits occasionally. Frieren and Fern eat at their client’s place and say they can try to tidy everything up by the New Year’s Festival. As they clean the town’s beach in the morning, Frieren explains why it’s important for them to finish this task before that festival because of the sunrise that occurs during it.
Frieren admits she never saw the sunrise because of her poor sleep schedule. Frieren and Fern finish their task and their client thanks them. Frieren promises she’ll witness the sunrise, but Fern knows she won’t wake up on time. Frieren says she plans to pull an all-nighter. While looking at a grimoire she recounts a memory with Himmel and her friends regarding the sunrise. Himmel scolds Frieren for not attending the sunrise event with them but Frieren doesn’t understand why they’d be upset about that.
Frieren oversleeps again, but Fern helps her out of bed so she can see the sunrise. Frieren looks at the sight before her eyes and still doesn’t know why Himmel made a whole fuss about it back then. Before she returns to her quarters, Fern tells Frieren that it looks beautiful. Frieren looks at the sunrise again and starts seeing the beauty Fern sees in the sight before their eyes. We cut a flashback with Himmel, Heiter, Frieren, and Eisen looking at artifacts.
Eisen says these remind him of his village that was attacked by demons. The group discusses the concept of heaven and their distinct take on it. They all pray to the statues afterward. We neatly transition to Eisen praying at the same spot in the present timeline. Frieren and Fern arrive and follow Eisen to his quarters to catch up on things. Frieren asks Eisen if she can help him with anything, but Eisen knows she pulled the same stunt on Heiter before he died. He confirms he’s close to dying and that Heiter wrote him about everything pertaining to her, him, and Fern.
Eisen takes the girls to Voll Basin to look for notes on Flame the Legendary Mage. He tells Frieren that Heiter discovered genuine notes from Flamme somewhere within Voll Basin. Frieren suggests they search through the area’s large trees, upsetting Fern. Fern asks them to check efficiently and Frieren complies, shocking Eisen. He’s realized Frieren’s changed a lot.
Fern finds a lead, so Frieren and Eisen follow her. During their investigation, Eisen admits he took on this hunt for Flamme’s notes because he felt sorry for Frieren and Himmel. He knew Frieren wished she could spend more time with Himmel. So after hearing a rumor that Flamme can communicate with the dead, he felt it’d be great to attain this power to let Frieren tell Himmel that herself.
They arrive at a large tree, but Fern says it’s protected by a powerful barrier. It’s hinted that Flamme was Frieren’s master as we get a flashback between the two when the tree before them was a sapling. Flamme tells Frieren she knows Frieren will make a mistake once she passes away and wishes she’d gotten to know people better. Flamme asks Frieren to return to this place when the time’s right. She promises to assist her at that time. Frieren unseals the barrier and they all enter the secret area and find Flamme’s grimoire.
Frieren informs Eisen that she’s looking at the page detailing the “speaking with the dead” information. In it, Flamme says she arrived at Aureole, the land where souls rest (Heaven). She spoke with many people, including former allies of hers. Frieren learns Aureole is in Ende now, which is the palace that houses the Demon King’s Castle. Eisen says it’s important for Frieren to visit Aureole to speak with Himmel. The trio plan to travel to the Demon King’s Castle to get the chance to speak with Himmel again.
Fern fails to wake up Frieren. Eisen asks Fern if Frieren’s a good master. Fern isn’t entirely sure if Frieren’s a great master, but acknowledges how she always gives her things now.
We cut to a flashback of Frieren, Himmel, and the others looking at the stars. Frieren says she doesn’t want an apprentice because it’d be a waste of time and her apprentice would die in no time. Eisen tells Fern that Frieren is a good master. Eisen decides to stay behind to not get in their way. Eisen warns Fern that it’ll take them ten years to reach the Demon King’s Castle.
The episode closes with Frieren confirming this information.
The Episode Review
A lot can happen in ten years is what will cross fans’ minds as Frieren and Fern set their sights on the Demon King’s Castle. Although the previous chapters were great, many will appreciate the story giving Fern and Frieren a more favorable goal to accomplish outside of collecting silly spells. Considering the experiences Frieren had when revisiting previous landmarks on her journey with Fern, we can expect the Demon King’s Castle to harbor several differences that she won’t see coming.
This is a great way to build anticipation for what could result in a thrilling and emotionally charged climax for this tale. As I brought up in the episode three review, time is an important theme in this tale. Ten years may seem like a number to Frieren but in Fern’s case, it means a lot more than that. Unlike Frieren, she’s a normal human with a time limit on her head. While death is inevitable for Fern, many may wonder how Frieren is going to handle Fern’s passing when we reach that point in the story.
As shown in the flashback, Frieren didn’t have a care in the world for others’ deaths. However, after experiencing Himmel and Heiter’s passing, she no longer thinks that way. It’ll be interesting to see if Frieren secretly wants to search for a way to prevent Fern from perishing. On the other hand, there’s a possibility that Frieren may search for a way to strip herself of her immortality so that she can be with her friends in Heaven. It’s these ideas that make this tale such a joy to watch.
Regardless of the tale’s future outcome, episode four was another great chapter to sit through. I’m looking forward to seeing how things will turn out with Frieren and Fern’s journey to Ende.
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You can read our Season 1 Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End here! |
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