Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End‘s focus on the passage of time makes it one of the most fascinating anime series in recent years. The series follows the immortal elf Frieren, who has lived hundreds upon hundreds of years. Frieren is joined by her student Fern, who is human and thus has a significantly shorter life span. So how old is Fern, anyway?
Fern, a human mage, was taken in by one of Frieren’s former Demon King party members, Heiter. Heiter adopted Fern, an orphaned refugee, after the war of the Southern Lands. Before dying of old age, Heiter asks Frieren to train Fern as her apprentice to become a mage, assuring her future.
After Heiter’s death, Fern and Frieren set off on a journey to the Aureole, or The Land Where Souls Rest, where Frieren hopes to connect once again to her former comrades, including Himmel and her former mentor Flamme. This journey takes place over a prolonged period, meaning that Fern is not at one set age during the story (she isn’t Ash from Pokémon). So, bearing this in mind, let’s look at how old Fern is in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.
Beyond journey end arc
We meet Fern in the first chapter of the first arc, where she is a young girl of 8 or 9 years old. Her magic skills, though impressive for her age, are still rudimentary. In the second chapter, we witness four years go by as Fern learns from Frieren and continues to improve her abilities. At this point, Fern can accomplish the task of hitting a rock across the chasm. At the midpoint of the episode, Fern is 13 years old, and by the beginning of the next episode, Fern is around 15 years old.
In chapter four, Frieren buys Fern a gift to celebrate her 16th birthday, a butterfly hair ornament that Fern uses to tie back her hair. Frieren notes that Fern has now surpassed her in height with Fern responding, “I’m already 16 years old, after all. I’m a lady now.”
Travels to Äußerst arc
Unlike the first arc, larger time skips become less common as Fern and Frieren continue their travels. They meet new acquaintances Stark the Warrior and Sein the Priest. The party begins to resemble Frieren’s former party and the group continues on its way. In chapter 29, Fern celebrates her 18th birthday and Stark tries to buy her a gift after she becomes angry that he forgot.
First-Class Mage exam Arc
In the anime, Fern has yet to go beyond 18 as she and Frieren take part in the First-Class Mage exam. This arc doesn’t cover as much time as previous episodes did and is much more action-packed. The manga has gone beyond this point, and Fern is most likely older than 18 in later chapters.
Fern has proven herself a highly skilled mage who has no trouble taking part in the First-Class Mage examination against mages significantly older than herself. In chapter 25 of the anime, Fern is even able to take on a clone version of Frieren (along with the real Frieren) proving herself extremely competent. Perhaps enough so that she could be a real adversary to Frieren in a one-on-one battle.
It will be interesting to see Fern’s skills develop further into the journey and we have to wonder if, toward the end of the manga, we will see a much older version of Fern beside her never-aging master. Fern being an aging human is a vital part of the plot, as Frieren learns more about humanity by spending time with her. Realizing that she can no longer go at her own leisurely pace, Frieren begins to understand what time means to humans and why it’s so precious.
(featured image: Crunchyroll/Madhouse)
