Warning: The following contains spoilers for Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Episode 11, "Winter in the Northern Lands," now streaming on Crunchyroll.

Hot off the heels of a multi-episode confrontation, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End gets back to more or less how the show started; a relaxed - but often deeply emotional - adventure story. As the characters bid farewell to Graf Granat and his city, the episode explores the concept of faith and what those who believe in a higher power hope to find at the end of their lives.

Last week, after the defeat of her subordinates, Frieren defeated Aura the Guillotine after revealing that she'd been concealing the size of her overwhelming mana for years. With the threat against the city now taken care of, it's time for the journey to Aureole to recommence, just in time for the party to get held up by a punishing winter and encounter a new friend.

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Faith, Praise, and A Life Well-Lived

It was only a few episodes prior that Frieren spoke of the extinction of elves, suspecting that if they weren't already extinct, she was one of the last handful. Funny then, just one short arc later, she's already found one. While the discovery of another of her kind might not have been met with a lot of shock and celebration, it is fitting given what has been shown of elves' personalities. Nonetheless, Kraft the Monk makes a strong impression.

Voiced by the brilliant Takehito Koyasu (Zeke from Attack on Titan), Kraft the Monk is an elf who believes in the Goddess, something that comes as a surprise to Frieren. Living for so long and having witnessed the end of so many lives and eras must change the way that elves experience and interact with spirituality, so it comes as a surprise that one such as Kraft would be a believer. This becomes a dissection of faith and what draws people to it.

Before Kraft even appears, the episode makes very clear its fascination with faith through the sights and sounds evocative of religion. The field of dead knights who have been freed from the demon manipulating their corpses should come off as dark and sad. Instead, the warmth of the sun and Frieren's participation in the act of prayer - no matter the degree of her faith - basks the scene in a beauty that speaks to the bond between life and death found through faith.

That aforementioned "warmth" is incredibly apt in summing up how this episode - and further, this whole show - approaches spirituality. Through Kraft's character and his contextually unusual belief in the Goddess, Frieren makes a compelling statement about why people are instinctively drawn to faith. For him, it's about wanting to be praised by the Goddess for a wonderful life which only he will likely remember in the end.

It goes back to the same message from Episode 7 about fairy tales and how they can be based on reality, but become distorted over time. Himmel wanted to immortalize his party's adventures so that no one would forget they existed, but also so that Frieren would never be alone. Being remembered and leaving a mark on the world is one of the great objectives of life and faith is an outlet through which people can find comfort in the often daunting gravity of that objective.

This story uses religion as a tool to send a message that a life well lived deserves praise, and it's natural and even fundamental to receive praise for hard work. What's especially satisfying about the execution of this theme is how the story doesn't seem to suggest that Frieren needs to believe in the Goddess to self-actualize in this way.

For Frieren, the praise that validates her efforts and existence is acquired through those who are special to her, although that doesn't mean she's not somewhat spiritual. When she mentions that she's already found someone to praise her, Kraft assumes she means Fern and Stark, when, in actuality, she's thinking of Himmel. So long as she keeps moving toward her chance to see him again, there will always be a part of her that believes in heaven.

A Break From The Action

In a show that's all about the passage of time, montages are second nature and this episode was no exception, treating viewers to two of them. Frieren's story structure often turns single episodes into distinct two-part adventures that never feel too rushed - undoubtedly thanks to montages like these. Graf Granat's story comes to a fitting close and the change of seasons is conveyed wonderfully while giving the party new winter outfits that retain their signature color schemes.

In the latter half, the six-month impromptu cabin retreat goes by in a flash, but not without some subtle character progression and expectedly solid visual storytelling. Were it not for how adeptly it sets up and pays off small story beats, or the visual comedy, these montages would have soured long before now.

The only real problem with this episode is that Kraft doesn't stick around for longer. Having a monk in the party would go a long way toward diversifying a trio that is heavily stacked in favor of mages, not to mention it would give Stark someone to relate to and train with. Instead, Kraft is but a passing face, which, in all honesty, might have made his brief appearance all the better.

After a stretch of episodes with a heavy emphasis on action and drama, it was surprisingly effortless to get back to basics in a way. Kraft was a fantastic minor character who hopefully won't be absent as long as his goodbye suggested, and for the first time in a while, the next step on the journey is more or less a mystery. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End still has more than halfway to go, and its viewers are in it for the long haul.

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