Demons in Frieren

Spoilers for Frieren S1.

Note: When saying Frieren I'm referring to the anime itself, not the character.

Frieren introduces demons as monsters that only exist to deceive and kill, and cannot be reasoned with. This might come as a shock to some, as that is a very different framing from most modern media and that caused a lot of debate on the release of S1. That difference makes sense once you understand the role of demons in the world of Frieren.

In most modern media, demons are effectively humans with funky reskins and magical abilities, sometimes even being amicable to humans. In Frieren, that's not the case.

Demons in Frieren are deeply inhuman predators to mankind, no different from what a wolf is to a deer.

They look and talk like humans because that's the most efficient way to predate on humans, not because they are, or can understand humans.

In contrast, Frieren shows that humans, dwarves and elves, even those in antagonistic roles, can be reasoned with, even if the protagonists fail to do so. Their empathy and emotions are what allows them to form genuine connection despite differences between them. The demons use empathy and emotions as lure, their lack of genuine empathy and emotions is a biological trait, not moral commentary.

The conflict in Frieren is not a moral one, as the demons aren't evil, they are inhuman predators that need to be dealt with for the sake of survival.

This framing only works because of how fundamentally inhuman the demons in Frieren are. If this framing was applied to a human-like species or a group of people, it would feel like either a very concerning allegory or lazy/terrible writing.

The reason why I wrote this

I've seen some people on Twitter apply the framing used for demons in Frieren to real groups of people, in what seems like a very deliberate misinterpretation.

I don't like attributing to malice what could be explained with ignorance, but in this case it very much seems like an intentional weaponization of Frieren's story.

If you can see the issue with that, thank fuck, I have normal sane people reading this, if not, then maybe you need it spelled out.

Dehumanizing people is a bad thing, actually.

To claim a group of people is like Frieren's demons is to intentionally deny their empathy, their love, their struggles, all that makes them human. That has, historically, always been done to justify atrocities and blind hatred.

That's how all the worst atrocities in history were justified, a group was treated as inhuman and lesser to the point no one would bat an eye to the atrocities happening to fellow humans.

Please do not open the door to these horrors by dehumanizing your fellow humans.