Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? V ‒ Episode 4

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©大森藤ノ・SBクリエイティブ/ダンまち5製作委員会

Who is more worthy, the goddess or the girl? It’s a question that DanMachi has asked off and on throughout its run, holding up different examples each time. Ryu’s answer was that the girl(s) were when she abandoned her goddess after the deaths of the other women in her familia. Hestia still hasn’t come to an answer, but her two selves – a woman and a goddess – are barely distinguishable from each other. And for Freya? As of the end of this episode, it looks like she was hoping to prove the girl more important, but when that didn’t work, she decided to pull out all the stops as the goddess. Her final declaration that “Syr” is dead and that she will now seize Bell as “Freya” is chilling not just because she’s going to snatch another goddess’ child, but also because it lets us know that she’s given up on her dreams of an oðr coming to her by fair means. She’s ready to play foul.

I mentioned before that Freya Familia operates more like a cult than the other familias we’ve seen thus far. This largely comes from the fanatical devotion to their goddess exhibited by the familia members, something we see writ large in this episode. Hörn’s attempt to kill Bell while disguising herself as Freya’s “Syr” persona is done entirely to prevent her goddess from becoming sullied by her base feelings for an unworthy boy. She sees herself as saving Freya not just from Bell, but from herself – her overwhelming desire for the boy has, in Hörn’s mind, made her blind to the duties of her divinity and dignity. She wants her goddess to remain pure, a being she can continue to unquestioningly worship, and that’s led her to attempt to “save” her from an imagined threat. She may be tangentially aware that a romance outside of the familia(s) could be tricky, but she’s keener to preserve her idea of who and what Freya should be than she is to prevent an inter-familia mess. We may also see this cultlike aspect of Freya Familia in the interaction between Anya and Alan – Alan, as we know, is nicknamed Vana Freya, but now we learn that Anya is Vana Alfi, indicating that she, too, was once part of the group. Alan is particularly biting when he talks to his sister, and that Anya snaps that she goes by just “Anya” these days seems to point to a break not just between the siblings, but between Anya and Freya Familia. Did she free herself from the cult? And does her brother resent that?

This all contrasts sharply with Bell and Welf’s discussion earlier in the episode. Their interaction is incredibly brotherly, with Welf taking on the role of Bell’s older brother as he carefully explains the situation with Syr’s feelings and how Bell ought to proceed. His bluntness is tempered by genuine love for his fellow Hestia Familia member, and it’s clear that he’s trying to help while also being as honest as possible. He knows it would be easier for Bell to just ignore the signs Syr is giving him, but he outlines why that would be a jerk move, gently helping Bell to grow up a little. Does it backfire? Probably, but that’s hardly Welf’s or Bell’s fault; they don’t yet know that Freya and Syr are the same person. Welf just wants Bell to be a good guy, and Bell also doesn’t want to lie to someone who’s been kind to him ever since he arrived in Orario. The problem only arises because gods aren’t bound to the same laws as humans.

There are really no good answers for Bell. Remember, the poor kid is only fourteen, and he’s far outside his comfort zone with Syr’s sexual advances – we’ve barely gotten any evidence that his crush on Ais is on that level. He wants to be a good person, but he’s being pushed too far, and the entire date had him looking more uncomfortable than happy. The title of this week’s episode, seidr (more properly seiðr), refers to an ancient form of Norse magic about telling and shaping the future. Both Hörn and Freya could be argued to be using it. The question becomes what kind of future Freya is about to unleash.

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