Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III Episode 4

Aspiration | Distant Dream

While there wasn’t any action in DanMachi III episode 4, it was still a very good episode because we got to learn a lot about the Xenos. We learned about their goals, their potential origin, and even their connection to earlier events in the series.

Starting off with the goals/aspirations/distant dreams of the Xenos, what they want is to be able to live upon the surface. That’s not really surprising. But what is surprising is their reasoning for it. You’d think that the primary driving force would be their want to escape from the dangers of the dungeon, but that’s not it.

In the dungeon, the Xenos have to worry about both adventurers and other monsters alike. But, the true reason they want to live on the surface is that some of them have memories of the surface — or at least certain aspects of it.

These memories may give us some indication of the origin of the Xenos. Ouranos specifically states that monsters reincarnate within the dungeon and that perhaps after so many reincarnations they begin to develop a sense of self. He also states that when the non-monster races die, their spirits return to heaven.

But, the fact that Lyd has memories of the sunset despite never venturing to the surface may tell a different story. It’s possible that he went to the surface in one of his previous lives. However, I’m thinking that he was once an adventurer who died within the dungeon.

While it’s probably true that most non-monsters go to heaven when they die (because I’m sure Ouranos and Hestia know this to be the case), this may not always happen. There are only around 40 Xenos that we know of, so I think it’s likely that a very small amount of adventurers who die in the dungeon have their souls trapped in the dungeon’s cycle of reincarnation.

This non-monster origin would also explain why some of them can learn to speak so quickly.

Fels the Fool

Fels is the personal messenger of Ouranos who has been tasked with communicating with the Xenos over the last 15 years. Based on the appearance of his hands and what he said to Hestia in the previous episode, I assumed that Fels was an automaton that had the appearance of a skeleton.

We now know that’s not the case. Fels is a real skeleton, but he’s not a monster as the members of the Hestia Familia initially believe when they first see him. Rather, he’s a former human who was granted immortality and lives on in skeletal form.

There are a few interesting things about Fels’ immortality as well. He wasn’t granted immortality by any of the gods. Instead, during his original life, he became a, now legendary, sage. And as a sage, he discovered the philosopher’s stone which granted him immortality.

So not only is Fels immortal and a legendary sage, but his immortality was brought on by his own doing. I think this is the most interesting thing about him because it basically means he went against the gods. You wouldn’t expect that the gods would be all too happy about a human becoming immortal.

However, this immortality is also probably where his latest epithet comes from. Fels is no longer known as the legendary sage, but is now referred to as “the fool.”

My guess is that this title was given to him by the gods — not because he went against them, but because of what he gave up in doing so. Heaven is confirmed to exist in the world of DanMachi. So by becoming immortal, Fels has effectively ruined his chance of ever going there. That’s why he’s referred to as the fool.

Monster Hunter

Towards the end of the episode, we see the Xenos traveling from one safe area to another within the dungeon. They do this so that if some adventurers happen to scout out their home base, they’ll be gone by the time a large raiding party shows up.

The Xenos also travel in smaller groups so that they can stay hidden from adventurers and monsters alike. We can assume that the first group functions as the scouting group to determine a safe path free from enemies. Then, their allies can follow that path to their final destination.

Another reason that was given for the Xenos moving from safe area to safe area is that if they stay in one place for too long, they’ll run out of food. They primarily get their food from gathering whatever they find growing around the dungeon (you can’t hunt and eat monsters because their bodies evaporate).

But what’s stopping them from farming?

If the Xenos were able to establish a village with a farm deeper in the dungeon, the majority of their problems would be solved. They wouldn’t have to worry about monsters while in their safe zone, it would be difficult for adventurers to reach them, and they wouldn’t have to risk traveling frequently.

That last point is where they’ve run into trouble this time around. The monster-hunting adventurers from earlier set up a trap by using a siren (I thought they were harpies) as bait. It really makes you think about how lucky those adventurers were though. What are the chances the siren they would capture would be a Xenos?

I’m not under the impression that they don’t really know the difference between regular monsters and Xenos. As far as they’re concerned, any monster may be capable of being sentient. So for them to capture a Xenos on their first try despite how rare they are is pretty lucky.

Conclusion

What do you think of DanMachi III episode 4? Was it a good episode despite the lack of action? Are the Xenos trapped by the adventurers going to escape? I don’t think they will. I think their capture is what’s going to prompt Lyd, Gros, and Rei to team up with Bell as seen in the OP.

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My review of the next episode is available here.