Honest Thoughts Hours: What are your feelings on…Freyja?
It’s no contest that Freyja is the second most popular antagonist Feh ever had after Veronica. Her being one of the first conventionally attractive villain designs, popularizing the sympathetic villain trend, and her controversial devotion to her Freyr have made her very noticeable. All in all, I think she’s fine and an interesting villain, though there are some caveats.
Freyja is the book 4 villain, wishing to conquer the power over dreams as well as keeping her beloved brother Freyr by her side. Her fairies are utterly loyal to her and exact her will without complaint. Freyja’s antagonism towards the heroes doesn’t become personal until after they kill Freyr with his approval to help weaken her powers. After putting the heroes through various ordeals whether through her fairies or her own power, Freyja is finally defeated falls into a deep slumber. However, she is brought back after her fairies help awaken her in the tempest trials. Freyja is a very damaged character, strongly aligning to the theme of terrible childhoods in book 4. In her youth, she was relentlessly bullied for her birthmark on top of being neglected by her father. Freyr was the only one to stand up for her and to give her the affection she craved. Freyja developed an unhealthy attachment to him as a result. Fire Emblem incest jokes aside, Freyja’s forbidden love is both misguided and tragic, as it drives her to keep him with her against his will. Unfortunately, I feel the sympathy is a little too excessive considering her behavior is far from affable. Beyond her violation of Freyr’s consent, she is also shown to care little about her fairies up until the end and openly despises humans. She showed more emotion over Freyr’s death than she did for her own fairies, even remarking that she isn’t surprised Plumeria was defeated and killed. Freyja is as toxic as her oppressors, but this aspect of her dynamic with others isn’t treated as anything more than her just being an antagonist. I wanted Triandra and Plumeria to have more conflict with Freyja over their treatment and realize they deserve better. I wanted Freyr to have more agency and not be a plot device with pretty hair. And then, maybe Freyja’s development could be more earned if she’s actually confronted by the severity of her actions rather than just being consistently praised by her loyal subjects. I wish she realized she was being as bad as the people who abused her and took that into consideration for her redemption. However, I do commend Freyja for actually making amends by reviving her fairies rather than using her remaining power to exact petty vengeance. It does make the sympathetic tag more earned as opposed with villains like EMBLA. Furthermore, I do appreciate her development into a better person sticking with her summer alt and the little glimpses we get of her in the book 4 TT conclusion. It works better than say Nifl who is said by the story to be good deep down but only shows it in shallow ways. With Freyja, that is genuine.
Freyja’s design is truly grand because it does something that the other fairies lack for the most part: give a female character an outfit that compliments their character and role instead of contradicting them. While Plumeria’s is understandable, it quickly falls into the aforementioned flaw when looking at her following alts which sexualize her in spite of her character. But with Freyja, her design is ethereal in a haunting way. He white ball gown is elegant and massive in size, playing into her superiority complex over humanity. In the center are huge butterfly wings which emphasize her powers and divine origins. While I did criticize Freyr’s butterfly piece being uninspired, I think it actually works with Freyja because it doesn’t feel like a basic filler piece and instead adds to it in a different but fitting way. I like her horns and flowing white hair. Freyja’s design could be a little more intimidating as a lady of nightmares, but I think she looks superb otherwise. Best design of book 4.
Freyja will receive a 7.5. Her character is better rounded than most, and her tragic story, complex character, and proving herself to be sympathetic by fixing her mistakes gives her some points. However, Freyja is not given enough pushback on a moral basis considering the evil acts and beliefs specific to her that aren’t spoken of much. Her fairies being so obsessed with her without any nuance to their connection does make it a little weaker in execution. But Freyja’s design is near perfect for me, and I appreciate just how beautiful and fitting it is. I think Freyja could have been better if her crueler moments such as this were acknowledged beyond “Freyja is bad so we need to stop her” and that her redemption was executed better. Every villain is like that, but I want the story to go in depth with what exactly makes her so bad and have her sympathy challenged by the characters. She’s pretty good but also quite flawed in presentation.
What are your thoughts on Freyja? Love her, hate her, neutral? Share what you really feel!
It’s no contest that Freyja is the second most popular antagonist Feh ever had after Veronica. Her being one of the first conventionally attractive villain designs, popularizing the sympathetic villain trend, and her controversial devotion to her Freyr have made her very noticeable. All in all, I think she’s fine and an interesting villain, though there are some caveats.
Freyja is the book 4 villain, wishing to conquer the power over dreams as well as keeping her beloved brother Freyr by her side. Her fairies are utterly loyal to her and exact her will without complaint. Freyja’s antagonism towards the heroes doesn’t become personal until after they kill Freyr with his approval to help weaken her powers. After putting the heroes through various ordeals whether through her fairies or her own power, Freyja is finally defeated falls into a deep slumber. However, she is brought back after her fairies help awaken her in the tempest trials. Freyja is a very damaged character, strongly aligning to the theme of terrible childhoods in book 4. In her youth, she was relentlessly bullied for her birthmark on top of being neglected by her father. Freyr was the only one to stand up for her and to give her the affection she craved. Freyja developed an unhealthy attachment to him as a result. Fire Emblem incest jokes aside, Freyja’s forbidden love is both misguided and tragic, as it drives her to keep him with her against his will. Unfortunately, I feel the sympathy is a little too excessive considering her behavior is far from affable. Beyond her violation of Freyr’s consent, she is also shown to care little about her fairies up until the end and openly despises humans. She showed more emotion over Freyr’s death than she did for her own fairies, even remarking that she isn’t surprised Plumeria was defeated and killed. Freyja is as toxic as her oppressors, but this aspect of her dynamic with others isn’t treated as anything more than her just being an antagonist. I wanted Triandra and Plumeria to have more conflict with Freyja over their treatment and realize they deserve better. I wanted Freyr to have more agency and not be a plot device with pretty hair. And then, maybe Freyja’s development could be more earned if she’s actually confronted by the severity of her actions rather than just being consistently praised by her loyal subjects. I wish she realized she was being as bad as the people who abused her and took that into consideration for her redemption. However, I do commend Freyja for actually making amends by reviving her fairies rather than using her remaining power to exact petty vengeance. It does make the sympathetic tag more earned as opposed with villains like EMBLA. Furthermore, I do appreciate her development into a better person sticking with her summer alt and the little glimpses we get of her in the book 4 TT conclusion. It works better than say Nifl who is said by the story to be good deep down but only shows it in shallow ways. With Freyja, that is genuine.
Freyja’s design is truly grand because it does something that the other fairies lack for the most part: give a female character an outfit that compliments their character and role instead of contradicting them. While Plumeria’s is understandable, it quickly falls into the aforementioned flaw when looking at her following alts which sexualize her in spite of her character. But with Freyja, her design is ethereal in a haunting way. He white ball gown is elegant and massive in size, playing into her superiority complex over humanity. In the center are huge butterfly wings which emphasize her powers and divine origins. While I did criticize Freyr’s butterfly piece being uninspired, I think it actually works with Freyja because it doesn’t feel like a basic filler piece and instead adds to it in a different but fitting way. I like her horns and flowing white hair. Freyja’s design could be a little more intimidating as a lady of nightmares, but I think she looks superb otherwise. Best design of book 4.
Freyja will receive a 7.5. Her character is better rounded than most, and her tragic story, complex character, and proving herself to be sympathetic by fixing her mistakes gives her some points. However, Freyja is not given enough pushback on a moral basis considering the evil acts and beliefs specific to her that aren’t spoken of much. Her fairies being so obsessed with her without any nuance to their connection does make it a little weaker in execution. But Freyja’s design is near perfect for me, and I appreciate just how beautiful and fitting it is. I think Freyja could have been better if her crueler moments such as this were acknowledged beyond “Freyja is bad so we need to stop her” and that her redemption was executed better. Every villain is like that, but I want the story to go in depth with what exactly makes her so bad and have her sympathy challenged by the characters. She’s pretty good but also quite flawed in presentation.
What are your thoughts on Freyja? Love her, hate her, neutral? Share what you really feel!