Title: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Vol. 10
Author: Kanehito Yamada (Story), Tsukasa Abe (Art)
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: February 20, 2024
The Story
The majority of this volume focuses on Macht’s backstory, how Weise became encased in gold, and it introduces us to a couple of characters who help piece things together.
Macht happened to stumble upon a carriage that he attacked that contained Gluck, a nobleman who oversees the city of Weise, although, he’s just a ruler in name only. He doesn’t like where the city is headed and knowing that Macht is about to kill him, he strikes a deal with the demon… he will obey Gluck and, in return, he will teach him about human emotions, namely Guilt and Malice, so that Macht can gain an understanding of them; however, there is one thing that Macht says in this conversation that will come back around later on.
Macht ends up upholding his end of the bargain. He gains the trust of the people of Weise and even ascends to the personal mage of the house of Gluck. This is, of course, a political move on Gluck’s part. Slowly, Gluck ends up eradicating the corruption in the ruling body over the city until he assumes full command. When Gluck’s ambitions have been fulfilled, Macht remembers what he said about how he might be able to discover the true meaning of Malice and Guilt, and therefore, turns the entire city and its inhabitants into gold.
This brings us to the present day where Frieren is still analyzing Macht’s memories. She’s almost finished when there is an enormous amount of mana detected by Fern for a brief moment. This is when we are reintroduced to Solitar, a demon that was part of Macht’s backstory. She’s there to dispel the barrier that had sealed Macht. With him freed, Denken decides he will face Macht by himself. Frieren, who needs more time to analyze Macht’s memories, is sent away on a carriage, leaving Fern and Stark behind to face Solitar.
Our volume ends with the results of each battle… and an eye-opening moment!
Characters
Where do I even start? This volume was all about character development for the majority of it but I guess we’ll begin with Macht.
Macht, as we know from past volumes, is a pacifist. He’s forced into battle against the Hero of the South by orders of the Demon King and threats from the other Seven Sages of Destruction. One of them is named Schlact and they warn Macht about Frieren; however, the warning comes from the future because Schalct’s powers include supreme foresight. Interestingly enough, it was stated that there are very few mages that can kill Macht and Frieren is one of them!
After coming across Gluck, we learn of Denken when he was just a small boy. He had taken a romantic interest in Gluck’s daughter. Seeing this, Gluck orders Macht to teach Denken magic. Even at this point, Macht wondered if Denken would use that magic to, one day, kill him. Regardless, he’s under orders so he teaches Denken. We see Denken marry Gluck’s daughter who becomes sick and passes away. This is the beginning of when Denken disappeared so that he could undergo training.
Throughout it all, Macht only yearned to understand human emotion. Because demons cannot comprehend such things, he wanted to have answers but went about it in a pacifist way. Back in the present day, the result is the same… he wants to just go somewhere else so that he can be at peace and continue to try and understand humans. He truly does wish for demons and humans to coexist but as long as humans oppose him and he cannot understand them, he will continue to do what he deems necessary to gain that knowledge… even if it means slaughtering them in cold blood.
This makes Macht one of the most interesting villains I’ve seen. He carries out evil deeds when he, himself, is not aware of what good and evil is. He cannot fathom things such as Malice so he cannot perceive why forcing people to kill one another is a bad thing. He is doing it all for the sake of knowledge and trying to understand humans so that they can co-exist; however, his actions continue to drive a wedge and offer little faith that his ambitions are genuine. Because demons are so good at tricking humans, the countless lives he has taken don’t align with his ultimate goal… a goal that is true and valid but rendered invalid by his inability to understand anything of importance to achieve it. He just sees the world as his plaything but not for domination but for the pursuit of understanding. They say curiosity killed the cat; however, in this case, curiosity is killing the human race.
I absolutely love Macht. He is a villain who is innocent by his persona and mindset but guilty in the eyes of those who can perceive and understand things he is not capable of. Is he truly wrong or do we only perceive his actions as wrong because we simply possess things he doesn’t?
Just incredible!
Next, we get introduced to Solitar. She’s just as interesting because her power is on par with the Seven Sages of Destruction; however, she’s classified as a Nameless Greater Demon simply because she has lived long enough to where records no longer exist about her. Her heart is bent on killing humans; however, she comes off like Macht… a pacifist… even though she is anything but. Her quality is that she likes to learn about humans through conversation… and then kill them. Like Macht, she enjoys understanding humans to the point where she is able to use human magic in addition to demonic curses. She’s definitely interesting and probably the most dangerous demon aside from Macht that we have been introduced to thus far!
Gluck was someone that I found quite detestable. Sure, he wanted to destroy Weise’s political system and free his people from its rule, thus becoming a true ruler and not one in name only but the path he chose to do so stained his hands with blood. He even admitted that he was ready to pay for his crimes when he first met Macht and knew that his life would come to an end by his hands. When he struck the deal with Macht it was almost as if he knew the outcome and that it would only delay his fate but it gave him a chance to correct things before that fate was met.
Still, even though his goals were for the greater good of Weise, I think he knew deep down that they were all for naught in the end. It made all of his ambitions pointless. That’s why I despised him because once his goals were fulfilled and he knew what price had to be paid, it meant that he knew it would have ended up this way from the very beginning. Even if he gave his people the slightest bit of hope before Macht turned everything to gold, there was no point. In fact, if he had let Macht just kill him instead of making the deal, he would have just walked away and never went to Weise… maybe. He could have prevented everything but he became selfish and it cost everyone and everything dearly in the end. So, before we say “Well, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs” when it comes to Gluck, first ask yourself “Do we have to have eggs at all? Pancakes sound good, too.” Gluck chose eggs when he should have chosen pancakes.
Final Thoughts
Incredible volume!
Getting to fully understand Macht, learning more about Denken, and the battles to follow gave you a deep insight into some of the lore that had been built up since the First Class Mage Exams. The battles between Denken and Macht along with Fern/Stark and Soltar were also interesting to see. It really showed just how strong Stark and Fern had become if they could hold their own against Solitar. Plus, when Fern got complimented for evolving Zoltraak to a level that even Solitar hadn’t seen before, it became a testament to how powerful she had become.
The world-building in this volume was off the charts. And to think, this is just a temporary arc that, in the end, doesn’t really have a place in the greater story of going to Ende to see the spirits of the heroes’ party. This is just a pitstop and we are living in the world of that pitstop for the time being. That’s what I love so much about this series is that Frieren’s journeys are not just footnotes as they are in other series. They are full adventures that we get to experience alongside Frieren.
So what if this doesn’t play a part in the end goal of this series? This arc is meant to be a memory in the same way as it is a memory for Frieren, Stark, and Fern. We are making these memories alongside these characters and we are doing so in a way where we are right there with them every step of the way. Most series would cut arcs like this short or just gloss over them. Sometimes they would find a way to make it part of the overarching story but Frieren doesn’t do that. Each arc is treated as an adventure to make that memory by taking the journey alongside Frieren. It’s a different way of storytelling and this arc truly shows how and why it works so well!
In the next volume, there is hell to pay and, oh boy, it will be PAID!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
