“…makes it exceptionally clear” yeah… No. The anime and manga time and time show demons valuing other things than “power” all the time.
The mere fact that they have free will makes it completely unacceptable to do a genocide. A genocide, as Frieren wants it, is indiscriminate, meaning that if there are good demons, they too will be executed.
Out of curiosity, when did they show that? Every interaction with demons I remember from it they are shown to be manipulating people at best.
The “Diplomatic Envoys” were literally trying to figure out the town’s barrier so their master could come in and slaughter them.
The “little girl” in the flashback with Himmel outright says that she called out for her “Mommy” despite demons literally abandoning their young once they’re born because “that word stops humans” and nothing more.
Like yeah it’s inherently difficult writing something that looks human as actually an irredeemable monster that the only solution is destruction because dehumanizing vulnerable groups is pretty much always the first step in real life genocides. But I don’t recall any instances of demons in Frieren actually showing “humanity” for any other reason than to manipulate and kill humans.
They are shown valuing things other than power in the manga (later in the story than the anime currently) but other demons think they’re weirdos and they still are fundamentally wanting to arbitrarily kill humans.
I hear you, but also if my species is your only food source and cannot be replaced by any of the available means of the time I’m not sure what other options remain
“…makes it exceptionally clear” yeah… No. The anime and manga time and time show demons valuing other things than “power” all the time.
The mere fact that they have free will makes it completely unacceptable to do a genocide. A genocide, as Frieren wants it, is indiscriminate, meaning that if there are good demons, they too will be executed.
Out of curiosity, when did they show that? Every interaction with demons I remember from it they are shown to be manipulating people at best.
The “Diplomatic Envoys” were literally trying to figure out the town’s barrier so their master could come in and slaughter them.
The “little girl” in the flashback with Himmel outright says that she called out for her “Mommy” despite demons literally abandoning their young once they’re born because “that word stops humans” and nothing more.
Like yeah it’s inherently difficult writing something that looks human as actually an irredeemable monster that the only solution is destruction because dehumanizing vulnerable groups is pretty much always the first step in real life genocides. But I don’t recall any instances of demons in Frieren actually showing “humanity” for any other reason than to manipulate and kill humans.
They are shown valuing things other than power in the manga (later in the story than the anime currently) but other demons think they’re weirdos and they still are fundamentally wanting to arbitrarily kill humans.
I hear you, but also if my species is your only food source and cannot be replaced by any of the available means of the time I’m not sure what other options remain