this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2025
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No, they aren't evil because they choose to be, they're evil because they literally evolved to be evil hunters of humanity. If it was them being raised to be that way I wouldn't have a problem with it, but in a show all about the human experience, having inherently evil villains who cannot ever change their nature just feels very tonally dissonant.
They might be able to, at some point -- but the story has yet to be completed.
Would be a little awkward to have the main character kill like a million demons then reveal they're people
"Frieren is basically Ender Wiggin" is a twist that might actually make me want to watch that show
wow lol this... actually kinda tracks
You know what, you're right. I wanna see this scene reenacted
I agree lol
Most magical beings in Frieren (those that disappear into nothing when slain) kill humans just because, no need to feed on them or to absorb their souls.
If they worked like animals, some generations of selective breeding would make them tolerate humans. I'm sure later, some psycho in a farm would gentrically engineer succubi but that's another point entirely.
For a more "grounded" experience, dungeon meshi tries creating an ecosystem around the fantastical creatures.
Dungeon Meshi is one of my favourite animes, but you're giving an in-universe explanation for a problem I have with the writing of the show. The demons are the way they are because they were written that way, not because of any in-universe lore.
Any in-universe lore is what it is because it was written that way though? I don't quite see your point there.
Anyway, I actually like the way the demons are written, the first thought that popped into my mind when Frieren explained that they are "evolved from creatures who cry help in the dark" (or something along those lines, I don't remember the exact quote) was of creatures from my own country's folklore, creatures who would lure you into the forest at night to drown you in ponds, others that would lure you deep into the mountains and trap you in them forever, stories like that that we grew up with as kids. So I suppose because of my own cultural context I like the idea of exploring how those kinds of beings might evolve?
The thing is usually folklore spirits behave that way because of something. It can be because they have unfinished business or they feed on fear or souls to become stronger. This gives them a pressure to evolve and become better at luring victims but I don't remember an explanation of what makes demons in Frieren kill humans apart from territorial disputes.
In my country's folklore they just do that shit because that's what they're here to do. The only thing you can do to save yourself is to outsmart them, they're not going to change no matter how much of an epic debatelord you are.
And I don't see why that is inherently "problematic", it's like a pack of wolves killing a deer. There's no human idea of "morality" or whatever involved in them doing so, it's just what they do.
I'm not talking about morality, wolves get hungry and kill deer for sustenance. A dragon scorches your village because someone stole some loot from their nest and the dragon followed the smell.
Some creatures of the night kidnap children to eat them for the same reason a pack of wolves eat deer. If the demons are intelligent enough to talk, I'm sure they can be domesticated like with wolves and dogs.
Just feed them food while breeding the ones that don't try to kill humans on sight. After multiple generations, you can artificially select the ones that tolerate humans around. And after more generations you get some that like humans.
This was done with foxes: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox]. With enough time and resources, demons can also be tamed.
The Thermian Argument is a favorite of people who don't want to confront the fact that a work of fiction they enjoy radiates hazardous levels of Hitler particles
The problem with vampires is that they are immortal, so in a capitalist society, the vampires and necromancers would eventually own all the property.