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

Episode 6

What Freya is doing is cruel. I don't think there's any two ways about it – she's gaslighting Bell in a way calculated to cause him emotional and mental anguish while simultaneously fooling an entire city, all for her desire to essentially own him. She may not think of it that way, although I believe she knows she's being harsh but she's unwilling to change her plans. In Freya's mind, she's the goddess which means she gets to have who she wants. If the rest of the world disagrees, she'll just have to ensure they can't protest.

We see that in action when she orders Horn to find those whose brainwashing may not be sufficient for one reason or another and when she confronts both Ouranos and Eina. While both are striking encounters, they stand out for different reasons. With Eina, Freya is almost gleeful – she sees how Eina's feelings for Bell are helping her to combat Freya's charm spell, and by taking away Eina's logbook of Bell's adventures (which also serves as her diary), she knows she's not only depriving Eina of important memories, she's found a way to more fully manipulate Bell. When she quotes from Eina's log at the end of the episode, we can see how much she's getting under Bell's skin – and so can she. That her reaction is a delight is frankly horrifying, and maybe one of the clearest signs we've had in the franchise thus far that the gods really are different from humans…or maybe just that Freya is so secure in her divinity and perception of her own righteousness that she no longer cares about human standards.

Either way, she's gleeful for most of this episode, which is disturbing given how she's systematically destroying Bell, Hestia Familia, and maybe even the traditional power structures of Orario. She knows she has Ouranos over the fire, helpless to stop her, and she appears to love that. Ouranos tells Fells that he can't make a move until Bell does, and that's almost more upsetting than when Bell has been in physical danger. Bodies heal better than minds do, and Freya is systematically destroying Bell's to remake it as she sees fit. Her use of the potion to disguise his falna is almost stomach-churning, not just because she's deliberately taking away some of his hope, but also because of how delighted she is to do it. This wing'd cupid isn't just painted blind like Shakespeare says, she put the blinders on herself to do as she pleased. Even if we discount the fact that Bell is a fourteen-year-old child, her actions smack of abuse. She's attempting to foster Stockholm syndrome in him (or at least the pop culture understanding of it), and that's not okay.

There is hope, of course. Eina began to remember Bell, and Ais could be pushed into it, something Hestia would hold onto as a trump card. Asfi and Ryu aren't in the city at all, and Freya already mentioned that they're outside of her realm of influence. Bell also isn't fully engulfed in Freya's efforts yet. Part of what she seems not to realize is that he is only fourteen, and he acts like it when it comes to romance. Where others might be thrilled to take Freya up on her unsubtle insinuations, Bell just freaks out, and the harsh training he's being put through may also help strengthen his resolve. Bell enjoys being an adventurer, but he doesn't necessarily enjoy fighting, especially not for its own sake. His healing from the verge of death after his “own” familia members attacked him isn't something he's used to or wants to continue, so this may backfire on Freya, even if it's interesting to us (me) that the spell used to revive Bell is named after the Norse goddess Gullveig, who is revived three times and maybe another name for Freya.

This arc is hard to watch. It's less visceral than previous storylines, but its cruelty is vicious, and watching Bell shrink into himself as Freya's plans crowd his sense of self is difficult. But what else could we expect from a goddess who inexplicably walks toe-heel rather than heel-toe? Maybe the animators of the ending theme need to chat with a physical therapist about that…

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Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? V is currently streaming on HIDIVE.