frieren is interesting as a piece of art because it represents a synthesis of both tolkien and modern relativist morality. it rejects the modern orthodoxy of “everything is always shades of grey” in favor of the tolkien/c.s. lewis esque assertion that good and evil are real and that the choices one makes define a person. on the other hand, it rejects the classical ‘demonization’ view of morality where everyone who is evil is evil because they have viciously, foolishly and selfishly turned away from god’s light in favor of a much dimmer view: that some evil is just evil of its own nature. that it has always been evil, of no fault of its own. that evil is as much a child of god as good is, and that for all of this the course of action one is required to take in the face of evil is unchanged anyway.