One of my favorite moments is when Stark looks at the hero's sword that can only be removed from stone by a "real hero" and he sees a glimpse of his older brother.

Merph hit the "what do I do now" phase of anime. Where a series is just so damn good that you have no idea what to do with yourself once it's over.

"When I save the world and bring peace, then it won't matter if I'm a real hero or not" Himmel, the best character in this show. Such an inspiration

I got so emotional when Merphy was talking about Old Man Voll.

This anime became so popular and Himmel is such a good person that "Himmel the hero would have done this" became a common saying among mothers and children in Japan lmao

My favorite line in the show was Stein "Just date already !" Never have I felt a character was so in tune with the audience lol

The dialogue in this show is so satisfying. It made for such a compelling watch, long before the action started to become more common. Anime of the season imo.

The combination of his design, how the anime conveyed his expressions and how the voice actor delivered his lines made it so I got tears in my eyes whenever Himmel spoke to Frieren It is truly an achievement of a character

My biggest surprise with this story is how much I love Wirbel. His character design and demeanor put me off him initially. But his reluctance to murder (despite being a seasoned soldier), followed by his exasperated sigh as he literally carried his 2 companions on his back made me a do a complete 180. Finding out that he was inspired by Himmel's less legendary, smaller scale deeds really sealed the deal for me. Favourite character Frieren, followed by Wirbel, then a big gap to everyone else.

My favorite part in the whole 1st season was the flowers. How in the first episodes Fern is annoyed with Frieren because she takes 5+ years looking for a blue flower. Then you find out its connected to Hemmel's grave and she was looking for a spell to create this field of flowers. Then at the end of the season we find out her teacher's favorite spell was a simple spell to create a field of flowers. The way these small little things connect ever so slightly and once revealed shows so much I absolutely adore from the story. Its the smaller experiences in the beginning getting fleshed out later in the story that bears the most fruit like the episode with her ring and the bird, and the restaurant and the cook. I just love this story so much

This show is fantasy done right. It feels like a love letter to Tolkien's work. How humanity starts to change the world while the time of Demons and Elves comes to a close. As a German, I also appreciate all the character's names and how deep the meaning of some of them are. My favorite example is Heiter. His name means 'cheerful' but can also mean 'good weather'/'clear sky' and we often see sun rays whenever someone mentions Heiter or during flashbacks about him. On top of all this Heiter can also mean 'to be tipsy'. It is just so perfect

Frieren is peak. From the writing to the animation to the voice acting to the pacing to the sound design to Evan Call's OST to the OP and ED to the characters, themes, humour, action etc it is peak. The little details like sour grapes and Fern not reading a book. All Hollywood writers need to take big notes on how it masters "show don't tell" Glad you enjoyed it.

I say without joking that Frieren has improved my life tremendously. I used to just go through life not really doing much beyond getting by but in the past year I've started taking better care of myself, taking lessons to get better at hobbies that interest me, and spending time with friends and family. Human lives are short and I wanna take the time to get to know myself

What blows my mind about this series is the pacing. We essentially get two stories in 30 minutes and somehow they managed to not feel rushed but also not slow. It’s a refreshing anime

Himmel might just be my favourite depiction of "The Hero" in fiction. My favourite moment is the reveal that he failed to pull the Hero's Sword from the stone and just continued to defeat the Demon King anyway, fake sword and all. What a character!

I really love how the other elf is a direct foil to Frieren, yet exactly the same. They are both looking for ways to fill endless time while resenting the other for the way they cope. But in the end they come up with the same solution of holding onto personal memories.

You know when Himmel is a great character when he is regularly at the top of the character popularity contests that they run.

What I liked about the magic exam is that it explains the magic history and how it has evolved. But more than anything, how the magic system is more complex than it seems at first, where i's not only learning magic from a grimoire, and that's it, but also how personality and visualization affect the magic of each individual.

I'm sure there's plenty of media that does long lived characters well, but this is the best I've ever come across. The flaws, the strange emotions, the sprinkles of wisdom and knowledge. Frieren is wonderful and so it Frieren. Glad you're enjoying it!

I loved seeing how Himmel inspired everyone around him, then learning that Frieren was Himmel’s inspiration

I am a 100% manga reader, but this anime was the only manga adaptation i have watched were I didn't feel like the translation to anime lost anything. It was truly a work of art.

Episode 2, 10 and 16 are incredible in terms of storytelling, the amount of story they are able to put in a single episode, or even half an episode is astounding to me.

One of my favorite details in the whole show is in episode 10. There is a time lapse of Frieren living in obscurity for 1000 years after the death of Flamme. Followed by the rest of the party of heroes picking her up. Then there are 5 quick flashes of still shots from their 10 year adventure. The time lapse of her living in obscurity for 1000 years is 50 seconds long. The flashes of the 10 year adventure are 0.5 seconds long. These lengths of time are to scale. 10 years / 1000 years = 0.5 seconds / 50 seconds = 1/100. It communicates subliminally just how short that journey was to her. There is also a ton of meaning in the German names of all of the characters. Sometimes two or three meanings that fit the characters. I watched a 3 hour long video by a German guy that reacted to the show, and he broke down the use of every German word in the first cour. It was super fascinating. This story has so much depth.

I really can't appreciate this anime enough. Words can't even express it. While watching Frieren, i started to realise how less time I've been spending with my loved ones, especially family. It made me understand how short lived we humans are and to appreciate every little thing and just enjoy life while we still can. This anime changed my life for the better

I love that Frieren, like Himmel, didn't like saying long good byes because it kind of implied you would never meet again. That was one of the most touching moments, beside the first episode when Frieren thinks she knew nothing about Himmel.

Everytime someone asks me what to expect in Frieren, I always say... "it is calm and comforting and the journey has heartwarming payoffs". But Frieren is literally the best example of "it's not the destination, but the journey".

You know an anime is peak when Merphy says "I dropped the manga halfway through the anime and just focused on the anime".

This series following an immortal elf in a classic-ish fantasy setting has some of the most inspiring take on humanity in fantasy. It gets more and more emphasised as the series goes on. Himmel and Serie are some of my favorite characters ever now. The way the story uses flashbacks is so good too.

Frieren is so much of why I love stories in general. It has this uncanny ability to to speak so much emotional and universal truth to how life should be appreciated. It is MIND BOGGLING to see an elf and go “man, this character is so… real” almost every episode of this series made me cry and I PRAY there is a season 2.

16 is my favorite too. 25 is a very close second -- "It was only on a whim."

It's Frieren time! Such an incredible journey we've taken this past half year watching Frieren. Looking forward to Season 2 adapting the next arc!

You will be happily surprised by how good things go further on in the manga. So many interesting characters and stories, along with much more lore to dive in, and of course more side quests that are actually the icing on the cake.

There are so many things I love about this story, but among them is the variety with which we explore remembrance. From the concepts of immortality and disappearance into myth explored through Himmel, Flamme, and Kraft, to the terror of forgetting explored through Voll, to the pains of loss explored through Frieren, Fern, and Serie, to the traps we build for ourselves through narrativized memory as explored in Frieren, Stark, and Sein, we just get _so_ deep into the crevices of this theme. And that's as we explore plenty of other ideas. I also deeply appreciate that, while this is a "big feelings" story with a lot of trauma at its root, we don't get lost in the trauma. Notably, Frieren does not just overcome her regrets and traumas, she _heals_ from them in an authentic way. We get to see just how much she has changed and improved her wellbeing since before joining the party of heroes. At the end of the season 1 material, I feel like Frieren is self-actualizing. She's found a way of living that truly fulfills her needs and helps others.

The way this show treats time is GENIUS! It made appreciate time itself in a deeper level, it's crazy. It probably became my favorite anime of all time...

I watched frieren with no expectations . So I was blown away with how good the story is. One of my favourite themes in art is passage of time and the anime shows it brilliantly. 10/10

I love how you draw the connection to Lord of the Rings by calling her adventure party as a "Fellowship"

This is probably one of my favourite Frieren Review videos out there at the moment. Just because She describes the series soo well and knows what the story is trying to convey. The emotion is felt through her comments on How She loved a certain episode with just listening to it. Really need more of this types of reviews

I cried watching Merphy get emotional about Voll. That was not among my favorite episodes, but I find that Frieren does such a good job of portraying life and different people's passage through life, that most people who watch the show will resonate with different episodes and characters based on their own experiences. All of the characters are so different and fleshed out that they all speak to different people and touch different chords depending on who you are as a viewer and what you want to take away from it. I think that's really beautiful.

Frieren is by far the greatest masterpiece I've ever seen. The music... oh my God... I've never had a score that has consistently made me bawl like a baby. Especially when the flowers were found.

Old Man Voll is also a somewhat parallel to Wirbel, both are still upholding their promises to someone they cant remember and are respectable characters who fight underhandedly

So many great themes in Frieren. I really love the theme of flaws. It's so well executed. A fake hero, a disgraceful mage, a corrupt priest, and a cowardly warrior saves the world.

Frieren is one of the very few stories that I would consider life changing, in how it makes me reflect on my own life and ask if I could be spending my time to more appreciate those around me.

i feel like the mage exams are much faster pace because it's not just frieren POV anymore,it's fern and the side characters POV's. and for them time and events feels much faster. it's the two young girls who team up with frieren and learn from her,it's the rest of the examinees dealing with her and the testers reacting to how she skew the exams because of how "overqualified" she is the biggest obstacle of the arc(outside of serie,but in a different way) was the clone of frieren,and how everyone struggle to deal with it.

The show is the perfect combination of character development, slice of life and fantasy action. Great pacing between elements with humor mixed in. Hollywood should look at this show to see how a great TV show is produced.

The magic of the slice of life moments didn't even disappear during the mage exam arc. Episode 25 had Frieren vs. Frieren as the central encounter, and yet the highlight was a flashback to Serie mourning Flamme.

I think it just sells that all these people are actually people and not just plot devices. And man, I feel so much for Himmel. He was such a good guy and his relationship with Frieren is just so many things all at once. I loved that episode on the coast and the sunrise, I think it's really good at showing just how much and how little time means to Frieren.

honestly since reading it more i think about the exam arc the more i love it. It is so underated how it does so many things in a relatively short time (compared to other series, it's still seems long compared to the single chapter/episodes the series has accustomed us). In it we are introduced to a lot of new, interesting and more importantly thematically connected character that still feel real and their own real people; we continue a seemsless work of worldbuilding about the magic system, the institutions and how the world at large has evolved in the "short" time that is passed from frieren POV. All this while planting subtle hints and seeds for the overarching story (this i think is the most underrated aspect of the story imho; it's criminal how few people seems to notice how good Frieren is at building it's overall story while narrating the simple,uninportant moments that are ironically so important in the end). And that's before we start talking about Serie; ohhh how much i love Serie and every single of her iteration with every single of the characters and how every single one works relation of the themes of the story and compared to frieren's. The later half of episode 25(trying to avoid saying too much here for anyone that has yet to see/read) is probably the quintessential example of what i am talking about and is something that could have been written by Tolkien himself without anyone noticing it. Then there is the finale of the arc/anime; the perfect conclusion that makes a lot of the characte arc and themes come full circle in what is probably one of the most climactic anticlimax i have ever seen that is still able to leave you fulfilled but craving more of this magical story. The more time passes since i started reading this manga and the more i find myself thinking about it and what it is trying to tell and teach me; it's like reading Malazan or Lord of the rings for the first time all over again (Frieren is really the closest thing i can think of compared to LoR) and just as them no matter how much i appreciate Frieren it still feels like i don't appreciate it enough.

I had exactly the same thoughts before the mage exam episodes, but they really did a good job of continuing what the show excels at while introducing new interesting characters. Frieren might be the anime of the year for me.

My gf and I adore this show. She's an animator, it's so cool to see her gush over all the backgrounds and fights

I think Frieren is a prime candidate for the hall of anime to recommend for beginners alongside Death Note, AOT, OPM and others.

Great job keeping it together while describing episode 16. Probably also my favorite part of the story so far. Just listening to you describe it made me almost well up in tears too. This series will live long in my memory. Hope I don't forget their faces

12:50 - glad to see I'm not the only one who can't simply talk about this show without having to navigate a turbulent sea of unexpected tears.

I love how much you connected to this story. It's been hard to articulate what I enjoy so much about this manga/anime and you did just that. I enjoyed how you talked about Frieren. I like the slowness and being able to dive deep into characters. This story does it so well. I will be forever grateful for picking up the first volume when I did. I really think turning the story into an anime just enhanced the story as a whole. The music and animation just makes it that much more of an impactful story. Some of my favorite scenes in the anime are the ones where it is just showing passages of time. You just have music playing as you watch some scenes of what the characters were doing during the time. I like this way of going about the time skips. It never just skips time. It is as if the story is saying the little moments are still important and you should know about them. Which I think is a major theme in the story. The little things are impactful even if you don't realize it in the moment.

This is one of those series that hits me in the feels every time! I was getting chocked up at you talking about Voll. Just remembering the episode and thinking about the story. How she carries on his memory! I honestly love watching reactions of people watching my the series and watching them go through the adventure the first time.

This story is so insane. It seems so mundane but it just resonates with you. The author is a genius in making you feel how the characters feels.

The anime adaptation is definitely one of the best manga to anime adaptation I've ever seen

This story is absolutely beautiful. I love how in retrospect Frieren understands how much Himmel has changed her and helped her mature in her understanding of time and people

As a teacher, this series resonates so much with me. I'm new to this space and Frieren's desire to teach Fern from a position of companionship rather than strict master-disciple-ship mirrors a lot of what I want for my students. Frieren wants and welcomes the human age where she is surpassed and she's so appreciative of Fern as she sees that come to fruition. There's also a deep tie between her and Flamme. She wears her master's earrings which, to me, symbolises how much she respects her master. She searches for weird spells that are seemingly unimportant, which starts with Flamme's spell to create a flower garden. She acknowledged that spell and how it brought her together with the fellowship that changed her life, and I think that's what Falmme wanted. Flamme told her about this spell because she wanted to give her student a reason to keep loving magic, to not be a "mage that only knows how to fight". I think this part of the story is just as important as the two journeys that pace the series. The series does mentorship so well in so many ways and one comment definitely doesn't do it justice, but it is such a wonderful lens to use for a rewatch @Merphy, if you decide to do that

I love the mage exams soo much, all the action had meaning and they actually used their brains and didnt just yell louder. This was how a battle between mages should be imo.

Jesus, Merphy. This kind of review passion is why I give you ten bucks a month. And I'll give this anime a go.

I mentioned on your Short about Frieren, but yeah, I originally didn't gravitate to this anime. There was so much hype online that I just thought of it as another Demon Slayer. When my friend mentioned to me the premise, it blew my mind. It kind of made me wonder about my own characters in my Pathfinder/D&D campaigns and it hooked me before I even started reading/watching. It is a Fantasy Slice of Life (with some action), in my eyes, and it does it so perfectly.

And Himmel the hero wasn't able to pull out the hero's sword. That was a short episode, but it made sense to me, it brought more reality to the charactor. I enjoyed listening how you think about this anime. Thank you!

My partner had fallen out of love with anime until I showed her this one. We love how every episode has so much feeling behind it

I love that you’re talking about frieren! It honestly feels like the perfect anime for your vibe, since it’s all about the characters and it’s not too worried about the fights (but that doesn’t mean they don’t slap) and then there’s you who loves digging into the characters getting to see that focused on over fights must have been euphoric

Frieren is a gentle hug from a loved one, on a rainy day, remembering all the best moments shared.

There was barely an episode that went by that didn't bring a tear to my eye. Frieren, to me, is a show about its themes and where the plot exists in service to or is punctuated by the themes. It's so deliberately and lovingly crafted, and I cannot wait for more to come.

I loved this series, I loved all the characters, even in the silliest events there are profound lessons, like appreciating a sunrise, eating with friends, recognizing a student's effort, accepting affection, valuing the time we have with the people we meet in life. I never thought that an anime could make me cry as an adult, but Frienren managed to do that.

Sousou no frieren its the meaning of Masterpiece. The storytelling, the slice of life, the main theme of Life X Time, the sweetness of a show that its not just about grimdark storys, the mature fanservice, the main character being a woman and be so damn well written that hooked all the anime community, and the figths, the emotion, seeing the time pasting throw and see them getting older its so satisfactory at the same time so meaningfull... the best romance at a while with humans emotions, the sadness of think that frieren will watch fern and stark die of old age and be truly happy about knew that she is living the life at his full even knowing the destiny of both puppets... that hits you so hard that you close the notebook and just cry and go to call to your parents and schedule a visit to them. That its beyong the ranks and power list or nosenses about compare frieren to other shoneen battle crap animes.. Its impossible to put in words how hard the anime hit you, when you live enought to understand the mistaken already got be taken.

It’s so cool how every character feels like they could be the main character of their own show

Frieren is in my top 3 fantasy manga series and one of my personal favourites ever from this genre...

I find it interesting how we have different parts that we loved most about Frieren. I don’t think you mention the blue moon weed flowers, Flamme, or flower bed making magic, but those are my favorite parts of what the anime got to.

I loved Sein so much when he departed i was like "Nooo you cant do it alone! Turn back! Turn back and be with our gang!" 🤣

This anime came out just as my daughter turned one, and it felt like that first year went by so fast. This series connected with me and my wife right away

"Frieren and her fellowship" - that line really reminds me of LOTR

One of the major lessons that frieren learns that is hidden very well is how much she focuses on the right now and it's spoken during a flashback where they say elves can afford to stay in the now forever. whenever they want to do something they can spend a century figuring it out and taking things day by day and in a weird way frieren is spending too much time focusing on the now because she doesn't have to worry about later. There is nothing chasing after her, she doesn't age and because of that she forgets that the people around her age. This was illustrated so perfectly in the first episode where she comes back looking for her Dragon claw which is exactly where she left it, unchanged, but Himmel is an old man. And she learns this lesson that there isn't always more time. Time in this story is a beautiful narrative tool that is both the most important and least important thing at the same time. My favorite scene was where Sein helps settle an argument between Stark and Fern and he says "Arguments like that are a privilege of the young" and The flashback goes to Heiter where he says "Though my body has grown and shrunk, my mind has hardly changed... Ive pretended to be an adult all my life... id like to be a proper grownup but I fear ill pretend until I die." It was a beautiful dichotomy of the passage of time. My favorite quote from one piece was when Jimbe gave blood to luffy on fishman island and the narrator said "If you hurt somebody… or if somebody hurts you, the same red blood will be shed", The next favorite quote of all time is "ive pretended to be an adult all my life... id like to be a proper grownup but I fear ill pretend until I die."

I don't really know how to say it, I'm not an anime/manga "veteran". I'm still working my way through the popular greats, but Frieren is such a unique take on the fantasy genre and I love it so much. This anime might just knock NGE off of my podium for the #1 spot. The pacing is just so perfect, the action is there but it's not the entire story. There's enough down time to take everything in. I just really really really enjoyed this anime so much, so much more than I thought I would.

I must admit that I'm obsessed with Frieren too. Last time I connected this much with a story was over 30 years ago when I was reading the Lord of the Rings. I would say that a rewatch of the anime is a must. The Story often introduce you to things that are explained later on like himmel's ring, so on the rewatch you understand better the context and the caracters feeling in that given scene.

one of my favorite moments was Qual vs Frieren, its a battle where you feel that time is really powerful. To think that Zoltraak was once powerful and now just being a normal attack is such a good way to show that time moves.

There is another series that kind of explores a similar theme, but more focused on the romance side. Spive and Wolf. Incredible characters and all about the small moments

There are 2 moments in this show that I particularly liked. I actually really love the 2nd half of episode 3, which is when Frieren goes to deal with the demon she sealed away 80 years ago, Qual. The fight with Qual itself was epic. They did an amazing job of showing why he was so scary 80 years ago, how frighteningly strong his new magic (Zoltraak) was, and overall how intimidating he was. But also how 80 years is a long time. He was completely outclassed by the progress humanity made in their magic studies. I've never seen a show do that before -- he was completely outclassed and was no real threat, and yet you still see how much of a scary and intimidating beast he is. Very, very cool. The other moment I really enjoyed was in the last episode. The interview between Serie and Land. I just thought it was so cool and interesting how Land sent his magic clones to take the mage exam for him. He didn't even make the journey to the city. He's literally just in his hometown drinking tea, and yet he's defeating other first class mage candidates in the 1st phase of the exam, he's doing his part to conquer a previously unconquerable dungeon in the 2nd part, and in the interview he has enough self confidence to think he can trick Serie of all people. Land is a legend. The way they revealed it with the zoom out to him at his house in his hometown. Epic.

I have been reading the series since it started coming out and holy crap am I glad they did an amazing job with the anime. When Old Man Voll tells Himmel about his promise to keep the village safe, and how he is fulfilling that even hundreds of years after her death, I think I saw a bit of understanding but also sadness in Himmel's face. I think at that moment maybe he fully realized the impact he could have on Frieren's life, and how much care he needed to take with that responsibility. I almost wonder if he had a thought that if he did confess his feelings to Frieren, and even if it was reciprocated, that in doing so he would tie her down in some way even after his death. God this show is so good and how is Himmel such an incredibly engaging and complex character with such little screen time!

The series is soooo good! I love it! I just started my rewatch (literally an hour ago)! I can't wait to read the manga, but I want to get the physical volumes first! Also, as a German, the names in Frieren are so funny at times! But I love it!

Definitely my anime of the year.

Frieren tells its story in such a refreshing way. Love it so much

Spoilers (sort of idk). The best part of Himmel to me is how he loves frieren in a completely unselfish way. It’s seems apparent to me that he was in love with Frieren his whole life, but he never once pursued it. Maybe if he did he could have spent a couple decades with frieren, and slowly taught her about love. But that’s the way he wants to love her, not the way frieren needs to be loved. He loved her from a distance, never marrying until his death, leaving enough behind for Frieren to slowly discover for herself what love is. It is one of the best depictions of completely unselfish and devoted love I’ve seen.

The same .. I couldn't stop watching it , couldn't stop listening to the OST , and now I am reading the manga, this anime is just a different level

For me, my new obsession is Go Go Loser Ranger. Great video, Merphy.

Frieren Beyond Journeys End absolutely hit me like a storm last year with it's manga and loved it so much I binged it like crazy then the anime blew me away all over again plus so glad you enjoyed it 😊

I’ve been watching anime and reading manga for a long time now and Frieren is def one of those shows that you can tell is going to be a benchmark for years to come, it’s so god damn good. Ep 10 isn’t just my favorite episode of Frieren , it’s one of the best directed pieces of media I’ve ever watched. The flashbacks, the music, the cinematography, THE REVEAL!! All top tier and leave you with goosebumps. Absolutely top class show all around. I’m currently caught up on the manga and all I can say is that …..you ain’t seen nothing yet, trust me.

I am glad I wasnt the only person who felt this way about this anime. I gave Frieren a chance out of a whim and fell in love with this anime. Merphey you had literally expressed the very same feelings and way I see this anime. Frieren to me automatically my all time favorite anime, just because the story was in a category of its own. I have rewatched this anime twice over in English and Spanish. And each time I feel like I learned something new.

Frieren at first seems to me like it was inspired from Arwin who married Aragon in Lord of The rings. But Frieren didn't marry Himel.

I love Frieren so much, I discovered it when it was just the manga and I was looking for something new to read and this manga with a cover where this little elf and 3 men rested against a broken pillar somehow got me and it is now my favorite manga and anime of all time

One of my fav moments is when Stark realises how much his brother actually loved him. How he always cared for him and how he would always cook him the special birthday burger.

The moment I love the most in this series is in episode 10 when Frieren is fighting Aura, after Aura uses the scales and Frieren's flashback ends we see the journey the 4 of them embarked in but with Frieren's POV, just 4 or 5 still images of the journey, that's how she percieved it, but nontheless, that one-onehundredth of her lifetime changed her, I am overjoyed you loved this anime as much as I did, thank you for putting out this video

It's interesting how early on you seeemed to have a hard time finding manga you like, now you find something new you love constantly.

Episodes 7-10 are absolutely fantastic. The ending of episode 10 surpassed the rumbling as my favorite scene ever in anime

The richness of simplicity and everyday life is so well done. It's an epic slice of life fantasy, while describing the life on a practically immortal elf... Rewatching and enjoying every episode, again

Thank you so much for this anime recomendation. Never heard of it before. Now it might be one of my favorites of all time.

Big, big fan of how the show explores what immortality actually MEANS. In a lot of fantasy settings (especially in other shows and games, since novels usually give it a little more thought), fantastically long lifespans are just a number. "Oh, these elves are hundreds of years old!" "These OTHER elves we added are actually ten thousand years old!" "Oh, these new people we added? Some of them are over TWENTY thousand!" But what does that mean? Usually, nothing much. Most often, it's just a vague suggestion that you should think that it's impressive, and that it's something that makes them Powerful and Dangerous. And then it matters exactly as much as the various other things that make some other [race] or [faction] powerful and dangerous: sometimes, it means they win the fight, and sometimes, they lose the fight, because the other side's different 'powerful and dangerous' traits outweigh them. Are they supposed to be winning, this time? Age and experience is now super important! They have thousands of years of martial training and ancient wisdom. Are they supposed to be losing? Being old just means being set in your ways. It's got nothing to do with strength. The world has moved on! Modern elves, as a trope, just swing wildly from incredibly powerful living gods, to getting crushed wholesale under the wheels of progress (sometimes repeatedly going back and forth in the same setting). But... what actually happened in all those thousands of years? Often it's just 'nothing much outside of three or four big events!' Decades worth of backstory spread out over downright insane timescales. It's one thing to just casually toss out a number longer than all of recorded history to make a character or a faction sound cool. It's another to actually explore what living that long might be like.

I think I fell in love