'Himmel was a Real Hero'

You don't need to be chosen to be a real hero

- Info -
Anime name: Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End)

[hfar_in_the_sky]

Himmel wasn't chosen to be a hero. He chose to be a hero. And he lived up to it every day of his life

[Tekalook]

“A fake hero, a drunk priest, a cowardly warrior, and a disgraceful mage walk into a bar…”

[Phantom-ZER]

The fact that he slayed the Demon Lord with a regular sword makes him that much more of a Hero in my opinion, he didn't win with borrowed power, he won with unbending resolve and sheer grit. Himmel was a real hero, just like how Heiter was a true priest, because he never once claimed to be a holy person who transcended the masses, he lied for good reasons, he had his vices, his fears and always acknowledged his shortcomings.

[mshake]

It's funny how his "fake" sword ended up becoming a legendary sword because it was wielded by him and helped save the world. Loved that!

[DarkKnight_]

There's a news story in Taiwan where a guy helped stop a knife attack and said, "Himmel would do the same". True inspiration

[nabilasumargo]

The fact that Himmel ranks first in the manga popularity poll despite being dead since the first chapter speaks a lot about how well he is written. I'd love if someone made an analysis about this character from a literary perspective, so we can know why he's so loved by fans even if he only appears through Frieren's flashbacks.

[Zeero]

Imagine that the sword was enchanted to never be pulled out, and that was actually the desired effect. Only a true hero would still face his mission even all evidence says it's hopeless and that you weren't the one. Even if a brute managed to pull it out, that didn't actually mean anything except that he was good at pulling swords out of stones, and he could still lose, but a true hero bears the spirit of hope.

[fujineetomori]

"Nothing says the fake cannot surpass the real thing."
-Shirou Emiya

[Duke_Exeter]

My favorite part of that scene is the moment when they're leaving and Stark looks at the sword, then leaves without even trying to pull it out of the stone. Because Himmel killed the demon king, it's as if the fact that he couldn't draw the sword discredited the sword rather than him.

[simplyeyeronic]

One of the funnier thoughts I've heard from others:
Himmel and Co are the party to defeat the demon lord because they spent so much time doing side quests and helping out random villages that they had enough real world experiences and practice working as a team, whereas previous parties just speedra towards the demon lord in a mad dash to save the world.

[jimmyc]

There's a professor back in my college day shared a quote to my class:

"Tests won't define your failures, but achievements will prove your successes."

Man did I remembered his teachings.





Then he said: "But I'll still have fail some of you cuz you guys were doing too bad."

[jameslecitron]

The hero’s comrades started their journey as a corrupt priest, a self loathing warrior and an emotionally stunted elf. His world was full of disarray, death and fear. But he persevered, he transformed Heiter into a beacon of virtue, gave Eisen his pride back, and made Frieren want to understand humanity. He made his world better every step of the way, stoping to help even the lowliest peasant for the most menial of tasks. He spent 10 years in the greatest journey of his and his comrades lives. He loved Frieren but never burdened her with that love because he knew she couldn’t love him back at the time. He made sure that even after his death, the world and his friends would have memories of him in the form of statues so they wouldn’t lose hope. He was funny, kind brave and loyal to a fault. Despite not being the hero of the prophecy, he destroyed the Demon King and his legions. And once he did all this, he simply came back home and lived a simple life, helping wherever he could. He died surrounded by the people he cared about the most. Himmel was a true Hero who saved the world not just in the grand scheme of things but with every single person he met and helped. Long may he be remembered.

[ApocK]

I like the idea of the "true hero's sword" just sitting there, rusting away. You don't need the validation of a sword stuck in a rock to be the best version of yourself.

[BromineBlues-omyf]

This is the most epic "Nah, I'd win" moment in the history of anything

[simonblomberg]

I never really liked the trope of the holy sword that picks out the hero before, but this is genius. Here, we don't get the sword that, by fate or some such preordained way, correctly picks out the one individual that will be the hero; Instead, we get an individual who, despite the fact that this very sword rejects him, simply goes on. An individual who understands that you don't have to be a hero choosen by fate, to be a hero. In a sense, Himmel proved the sword wrong; however it may choose, it rejected someone who was so fitted, that even after getting rejected, they still succeeded anyway. What is a better way of showing that a character understands that they don't have to let their failures define them than them getting rejected by a literal holy sword, only for them to go on anyway. Truly genius writing...

[Brettlaken]

"The fake is of far greater value. In its deliberate attempt to be real, it's more real than the real thing." - Kaiki Deishuu

[Aderon]

I love this moment in contrast to why he started his journey in the first place: He wanted to become the hero so that Heiter would stop calling him a fake hero, but as time went on, he genuinely wanted to defeat the demon king for the sake of the world, and when the very sword that he started the quest to obtain rejected him, he had grown past the point of needing it entirely. Himmel earned his title as Hero, rather than borrowing it from the sword itself. His sword is the Hero's sword, not because wielding it made Himmel a hero, but because Himmel had made it a heroic sword through his own determination to be the hero the world was waiting for.

[otaku.manloee]

I love the the implications that this scene created:
Himmel, a fake hero, who was never chosen by the sword of the goddess, having to rely on a imitation of the sword, succeeded in becoming a real hero, regardless on who he was.

The sword of the goddess, is just in a cave alone rotting away. It looks ugly whilst attracting monsters, unlike the supposed imitation, which remained beautiful and saved thousands of people and defeated the Demon King.

[penmeetspaper]

I teared up to this, this was edited beautifully

[lluneko]

Bro this just made the scene hit harder 😭