Why is everyone referencing Himmel the Hero in their travel videos? TikTok meme explained
Why is this a trend? The simple answer is because Himmel the Hero would have started a travel vlog in this era. Jokes aside, one of the main characters of Frieren: Beyond the Journey’s End is trending on TikTok. What started out as a fandom inside joke has breached containment and is inadvertently promoting tourism in various places around the world.
But why are there captions that say, “30 years after the death of Himmel the Hero”? And who is Himmel? Frieren, the main character of the anime, is a long-lived elf mage who embarks on a long-winding quest to Aureole—the land where souls rest. The story happens 30 years after Himmel the Hero’s death.
Himmel, in a sense, is a marker of the timeline. The phrase about Himmel’s death also often appears in the anime to mark the passage of time.
To commemorate Himmel, as well as Frieren’s journey, fans started using the anime reference to caption their travel vlogs. Some have gone farther and started using the reference to caption an area in Genshin Impact, a game that has similar aesthetics to Frieren.
A trend that’s unintentionally promoting tourism
The trend is not isolated to Europe, which the anime takes much of its inspiration from. Numerous posts from Asia, including China, Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines, exploded—many of which gained thousands of likes.
These locations are not the usual subjects of tourism, either. There are the usual mentions of Hakone, Japan, or of Hallstatt, Austria—both of which are breathtaking areas and thematically sound to the anime. But lesser-known gems like the Twin Bayunmala Waterfall from Bali, Indonesia; the Los Ríos Region in Chile; and the beaches of Bantayan Island in Cebu, Philippines—all took the spotlight.
Interestingly, local fans from different countries started creating stories about Himmel the Hero “making friends” with their national heroes. Knowing Himmel, he definitely would have been friends with other noble heroes from different lands.
Himmel may have passed on, but this trend might live on as a travel vlog staple.
What is Frieren all about?
Anyone who’s watched the anime would know that the journey is picturesque. Every place Frieren and her party would travel to is scenic. The animation, largely featuring nature and European-inspired medieval fantasy, captured the hearts of viewers around the world. Basically, the anime was so breathtaking that IGN named it Anime of the Year in 2024.
The story is all about the journey and less about what awaits her at her destination. This isn’t her first time being on an adventure, and the first time she embarked on a lengthy quest was with a party of heroes to slay the Demon King. She succeeded, was hailed as a legendary mage, and let decades slip away as a long-lived elf.
But what she regrets is failing to give importance to the relationships she had with her first party of heroes, especially with Himmel the Hero. The anime is littered with flashbacks of Frieren’s regret, and in most cases, Himmel would be central in those impactful stories.
The most tragic storyline in the anime has to do with Himmel living the rest of his life believing that Frieren did not love him. But it was only a few years after his death did she realize that she loved him, too. Thus, she set out with her second party of heroes while learning to value human relationships.
Frieren, as an anime, teaches viewers to pause and appreciate the moment. Since it’s trending, fans can also learn to slow down scrolling and take in the sights shared by others—all thanks to Himmel the Hero.
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