Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

[-D-]

That's what Flauma the legendary mage says, and certainly it's what Frieren's experience with them is , but that doesn't mean she's infallible or right.

You're asking me to not believe thousands of years of experience vs our world that has little to do with it.

Mimics can't speak or do anything but eat things who stick themselves into its maw. I see them much more like animals than I see demons as.

That's the brilliance of Demons, they are Mimics that simply rehearse words and gestures, without any understanding. They prey on humans' empathy (remember, we put googly eyes on a machine and are willing to jump in a fire to save it).

Belkar route -- to "pretend to be good". And how many centuries can you keep up the pretense before the mask becomes the actor?

Until they evolve to actually stop being demons. So in the world it's been several thousands of years. I'm safe for the foreseeable future.

"intelligent, reasoning creatures are always evil and should be killed on site. "

Demons aren't even evil. You are projecting your previous experience onto them.
They don't even know what evil or good is. Remember the child demon, he killed another family and took their kid to replace the kid he initially slaughtered. Thinking he is doing a "good" deed. Demons should be killed on sight because they have instincts that are incompatible with humans. If that ever changes in the future, it will be probably the end of Demons as we know them (in the same way Dogs were the end of wolves as we know them).

Frieren tells us out right in the arc that fight demons the major difference between demons and humans is the lack of empathy stemming from the demons birth experience.

When did she say that? Could you point to the episode?

So why couldn't a demon learn empathy at birth, then use their intellect to "play along" with human society? The original demons may have learned to mimic humans only as a way to more effectively hunt their prey , but does it have to end there?

For the same reason, you can't teach a cat to be social. They evolved in a different context. At best, they see you as some sort of eternally familial figure that dispenses treats and cuddles. But it will see other cats, especially non-familial ones, as mostly an annoyance.

Or, the same reason you can't teach a killer orca not to kill. It's how they evolved.

Is this in the Manga? Because it hasn't shown up in the anime yet.

Maybe, I'm not sure when it happened exactly.

Spoiler: Mild Manga Spoiler

Show

But basically Demon King was a threat BECAUSE he wanted coexistence. His version of coexistence was enslaving humans, wiping out elves, wiping out 1/3 of humanity by trying to figure out emotions - via duel to the death.

And again: why can't demons empathize? Is it because they are incapable of it on a genetic level or is it just because they never experienced it? That their life experiences starting at birth make them incapable of empathy?

Mostly because they didn't evolve the need. Just because something is intelligent doesn't imply it's social. Or even compatible with humanity.

Assume for a moment great white sharks are sapient, intelligent animals (which is exaggerated but probably not a lie).
The problem is - they explore the world by sinking their teeth into it. Even if it's not hostile and not particularly aggressive, they will taste you a bit and spit you out, but for you, that's a deadly wound and for them, it's just a nibble. They are incompatible with human existence.

In order to mimic empathy humans need to have some understanding of it even if only on an academic level.

Not really. See ChatGPT. Access to a large enough lexicon and probability distributions of language is good enough to fool most humans. Unless you want to imply, ChatGPT can empathize and isn't just trying to placate its user.

Indeed. Which gives us options other than complete extermination. Which, even if the story won't spell it out, is the direction the Frieren-verse is heading

Well, only if you don't read the manga :P

I doubt that's what will happen. There are few scenarios:
1) Extinction - they are obliterated to a fault. I don't see it happening because demons and the holy scriptures are what drives development of human magic. Humans were mostly content with killing off the Demon King and his Lieutants. They will kill any demon that attacks the villages.
2) Separation - perhaps humans and demons learn to give each other a wide berth and never to interact, maybe they get shipped to a fantasy version of Australia, where no human will touch them
3) Evolution - they spontaneously evolve a consciousness, or attachment to humans, somehow. There might be some signs of it in the manga but very faint.
4) Enslavement/Domestication - basically they find a way to control a demon (demon dies if he kills a human), or induce artificial emotions. Honestly, probably the best path, but it won't happen.

---

These are my thoughts on Demons, I won't engage in it that much because holy ****, I want to discuss the current arcs, the melancholic music and the gorgeous animation, not this - "What measure is a Demon" -talk. The measure is in, in Frieren verse they are alien intelligence that seeks to harm humans at best, and cause crimes against humanity at worse.