#especially mithrun and falin and thistle

[cowboysmp3]

there’s something sooo sickening about how dunmeshis whole energy is like sometimes something terrible and awful happens to you and it changes you forever and nothing can make you the person you were before but there’s still love and there’s still sharing a meal together and there’s still living

[dunmeshistash]

Do you have a page with the characters favorite foods?

I remember that Laios likes cheesecake.

They all have a section for their favorite food in their bios too! Kabru's is tomato (weirdo), Laios is actually listed as dairy products (from cow) I'll list them here

Laios

Likes: Dairy products (cow)

Dislikes: Cephalopods

Marcille

Likes: Seafood, nuts

Dislikes: Bizarre foods

Chilchuck

Likes: Liquor (especially ale)

Dislikes: sweet side dishes

Senshi

Likes: Monster cooking

Dislikes: Empty calories

Izutsumi

Likes: Fish, meat, crab

Dislikes: Vegetables, mushrooms

Falin

Likes: Fruit, cream

Dislikes: Nothing in particular

Shuro - Toshiro Nakamoto

Likes: Soba

Dislikes: Cheese

Namari

Likes: Spare ribs

Dislikes: Raisins

Kabru

Likes: Tomatoes

Dislikes: Monsters, elf cakes

Mithrun and Thistle have no preferences

All the other characters with profiles have the preferences too but that's a lot so I'm just listing the main ones here

[sabertoothwalrus]

I’ve seen you post some labru stuff and I’m curious what your thoughts on it are. personally I don’t see it? I can buy Kabru having feelings for Laios, but I think Laios wouldn’t be interested in Kabru, so it makes me wonder why so many people ship them. (Tbh I feel like Kabru has more chemistry with Mithrun anyway)

Sorry if this ask sounds rude, I just genuinely don’t understand the appeal of the ship, but I want to understand and I trust your analysis of characters very much :] maybe there’s something I’m missing

I really like both ships, actually!

For labru, there’s sooooo much I could talk about. The inherent homoeroticism of being narrative foils. The inherent homoeroticism of being the king’s advisor. All of chapter 76. The fact that Kabru has mask upon mask upon mask, and Laios is the first person that made his facade absolutely crumble.

Kabru struggles with being genuine!!! Everything he says and does is so perfectly calculated, even when he sort of means it. But since Laios doesn’t get social cues, Kabru gets thrown for a loop.

I get so frustrated when people act like Kabru still hates Laios by the end of the manga!!!!! He killed those corpse retrievers for being corrupt, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to kill Laios. He has such a strong sense of justice, and knew that killing Laios would be a mistake. Because, after meeting him, he could tell he wasn’t actually evil. He’s strange, sure, but not evil.

Kabru DEFINITELY wants to be friends with Laios!! He was not lying about this!!!

But this last comic shows how much Laios wants to be friends with Kabru, too. He’s so nervous after calling Kabru his friend 😭 he doesn’t want to be presumptuous and fuck it up again.

Laios does show an interest in Kabru, at least when Laios thinks he’s interested in eating monsters too. Like,, what was up with THIS

Laios’s gaze is LINGERING. Plus, (this is before that bit at Thistle’s house when he forgets his name) he brings up Kabru when they first form their plan to eat Falin.

And maybe this is just because of my own personal experiences, but Laios reminds me a lot of my own girlfriend. I think they have a similar flavor of gay/aspec & autism combo where, had I not asked her out first, she probably never would have considered being interested in me. But she was very down when I did.

The tricky part about labru is more the political aspect. Regardless of whether you see Laios as aroace or not, he’s in a situation where he will probably get married. He had a fiancée before he was age 13, likely betrothed since he was a baby. He’s already comfortable with the idea of getting married because He’s Supposed To.

However, Laios is king, and could make gay marriage legal if he wanted to (He would probably do this for his sister and Marcille before considering it for himself ). But at the same time, I think Kabru would object to Laios making whatever policies he wants without considering the repercussions of how other kingdoms might react, especially when they’re just getting Melini off the ground and need lots of support from other countries. Laios and Kabru getting gay married anyway and dealing with the aftermath could make for a really compelling story.

I do think Kabru would be a good ruler. He’s already fit for it. He speaks a dozen languages, he knows people and their motivations, and likes politics. The manga already joked about Chilchuck’s daughters trying to marry a king, so it seems like noble blood isn’t too important, but Kabru’s foster family IS nobility. When it comes to heirs, I do like trans Kabru headcanons, but at the same time, I think it’d be cute if they adopt anyway. Kabru seems like he’d have strong feelings about adoption given,,, yknow.

The alternative version of labru to this is Laios gets straight married out of obligation, and Kabru is his mistress hdhdhshsj. I don’t know if I could see Laios doing that? or if Kabru would risk the scandal of being outed as Royal Advisor and Regent trying to seduce the king. It could go SO downhill. but maybe that would be fun.

NOW FOR KABUMISU.

I knew people shipped them, and I could see the basis for it while reading, but I wasn’t really sold on it until the very end. There’s something about “I had no desires left. I decided to create new desires, and one of them is you” that’s really charming.

There’s also something funny about “the demon ate my heterosexuality so I’m gay now”

I think it’s interesting that Kabru hates elves. He was raised by them, and he hates them. He hates feeling patronized by them. He made absolutely sure that elves wouldn’t take control over Melini, not just for his sake, but for Rin’s.

But Mithrun’s interactions with Kabru are founded on more mutual respect. Though, that’s not to say that Mithrun doesn’t still have his biases towards short lived races..

Where Laios doesn’t understand social cues, Mithrun does but just doesn’t care. For that reason, I think Kabru would enjoy spending time with Mithrun. It’d give him a break from his compulsion to calculate all of his social interactions. But at the same time, Kabru is the KING at bottling his emotions. Mithrun is blunt, but also doesn’t care enough to pry. If Kabru had anything bothering him, I could imagine him seeking Mithrun’s company to avoid thinking about it. Could make for a fun dynamic.

I do think it’s funny that Milsiril 1) took care of Mithrun for potentially 20 years and 2) is only four years older than him. I imagine this could lead to funny situations.

I don’t ship things for no reason! I think both of these could work platonically, romantically, one-sided, or even “requited but they don’t do anything about it.” Their relationships compel me and I think it’s sort of bad faith to brush off either like they’re nothing more than baseless yaoi pair-the-spares. To me, I see just as much of a foundation in the source material as farcille.

After all, dungeon meshi isn’t a story about romance, but it IS a story about love. It’s a story about life and death and grief and the love that comes with it. Regardless of shipping, these characters love each other!!! And I love talking about it!!

[armajestyy]

Edit: Dungeon Meshi Manga Spoilers!! Beware!

I understand that it's heavily implied that Thistle dies in Yaad's arms in that final panel of him. And I'm actually pretty happy with that as a canon ending for him, mostly because he's so young and he's already suffered so much. He'd probably have a lot to go through in order to return to "normal". I think it would be especially hard since Yaad literally looks like Delgal and that would be an intense blast to the past.

That being said, I also really do love to imagine a little canon-divergent moment where Yaad and Thistle live on the outskirts of the Kingdom in a small house. They'd probably be visited occasionally by Laois, Marcille and Falin. Especially Falin. Slowly, they help Thistle form new desires (based on Kabru's speech for Mithrun).

Yaad may have apologized for his grandfather's selfish wishes, but I think he'd selfishly want to find a way for Thistle, with no will to live, to recover. For his grandfather at first but for Thistle too.

[fumifooms]

Typing the nightmares bit here made me think again about how Dunmeshi is a lot about promoting community— and that, even when community is a lot of what hurts characters. Like, everything is social, humans are social creatures with social lives, it’s hard to avoid, but still when looking at the dungeon lords’ troubles… Troubles with feeling secure within relationships, with feeling like they belong in their society or community, feeling rejected or unsafe or Other.

Struggling with judgement and superstitions like Laios, Falin and Kabru. Struggling with racism like Chilchuck and Kabru. Struggling with strict conformism like Senshi. Ableism, xenophobia, colonialism, hierarchy, Mithrun, Thistle, Namari. All victims from all exclusionist societies one way or another. Again, rejection, on both a wider and interpersonal level.

Ultimately Dunmeshi is about how good community is to have while uplifting everyone’s quirks and differences, but you can’t help but see how exclusionary and harmful some groups are and how identity, especially identity in a social setting, is what characters struggle with the most. What Laios is tempted by is to leave the weight of a human identity behind, flee everything human and social as a monster. With how difference or stepping out of line hurts people consistently across the board and how humanity & social bonds are sometimes framed as the source of pain, you can’t help but wonder a bit if this doesn’t lend itself to promoting a sort of self-less social system, like an ecosystem that behaves like some hivemind of mother nature, but no no that’s what the series is condemning—

The dungeon is not about how an ecosystem (a social life, a hierarchy, a community) is a well-oiled, scientifically calculated machine but about how every being in an ecosystem has a different role and behavior, and how each one is important specifically because their differences are complementary. Diversity is not only a strength it’s essential. Bonds are not only important they’re essential. Otherwise what will you do when a god needs slaying and you don’t have an hungry furry around, huh? What will you do when the dehydrated samurai and the dehydrated elf and their friend circles won’t eat your sister? But more seriously, a lot of the beauty of Dunmeshi’s cast is how truly different they are, in the way they think, in the judgements they hold, in the way they’ve lived. And even in the face of that how our protagonists have always reached out— how Dunmeshi says that it’s good to seek to understand what you do not. Differences can be overcame, differences can be celebrated. A monster is not a being of good nor malice, it just is, and it deserves to be considered a living being, too.

No no no but like, approaching this on an emotional level rather than societal one again— Dungeon Meshi showcases being human as a prison of sorts in many ways, especially in a social and emotional sense. Characters spend a lot of time being worried about laws and reputation, about social judgement and social rejection. Chilchuck, Toshiro, Namari, Marcille… Senshi prefers sidestepping the entire thing and keeping to himself. And on the other hand, Izutsumi doesn’t like her body and doesn’t want to deal with her emotions, she has to accept herself even if being a beastkin has attracted disdain and mistreatment to her. Your identity is not fully your own, it’s framed and shaped by those there to perceive, judge and shape it like reputations. Similarly, your feelings are your own, but shame, hurt, pride— sometimes you’re compelled against your will by others, by relationships, to feel. Laios is the most flagrant and literal example, wanting to become a monster with the mind of a beast to flee the trauma and emotional toll of human society.

In this line of thought, caring about people is a shackle in itself too, Chilchuck wishes he could be free of caring, for the party but also for his wife leaving him.

- Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Chilchuck who doesn’t want to still be hung up on his wife even though he’s deeply hurt who pretends being mad over it who throws his arms up in the air and does nothing about it, even if he brushes it all under the carpet and acts like it’s barely a bump in the road who still speaks of his wife in present and future tense. Who can’t move on yet can’t find the strength to reach out and try and be rejected and hurt all over again. It’d be simpler if he didn’t care about what happens to the rest of his party, if he didn’t feel the urge to risk his life for them so they might be safer. It’d be simpler if he just never opens up to anyone again, if he just doesn’t try, if he keeps to himself and sabotages relationships and forces himself to believe that he. Doesn’t. Care.

Falin also was shackled not by anger but by love. Again that Dunmeshi theme where humanity and feelings and care can feel like a prison, on both ends (caring and cared for)! But connections and care are what it means to be human and none of us are free of them. None of them. Not even Senshi the thriving hermit. Senshi being a recluse who despite always staying at an arm’s length of people as a mentor figure or a temporary guest or a friendly business partner because memories of his first party still haunt him and he thinks the conflict was his fault and that he can’t fit into a group, like with the orcs… Who despite that does want to help others, tags along with groups, even if just for a fun time not a long time. And yet when shit got serious with Laios’ party, he stayed. Even though he keeps exploring post-canon, much like Izutsumi and the other characters still figuring some things out, even though it might feel so much easier to live a quiet life of solitude, he still wants social connections and can’t keep himself from caring.

"What do they call it- it’s like something about love- where it’s like Love compells you- like kinda forces you to act against your own volition- love calls you to be something other than you are, it challenges you and yet you want to be compelled by love, you want to be subsumed to something larger."

- Cj the X, How Jordan Peterson’s Suits Taught Me Fashion

[ambrosiagourmet]

Dunmeshi Daemon AU thoughts BECAUSE I CAN

Laios: She isn’t actually settled, though they both pretend that she is. They never stopped enjoying the flexibility of her being able to change, but during Laios’ time in the military it became clear that it just gave people another excuse to bully him, so she “settled” as a white wolf.

Before the events of the story, only Falin knows that she still changes. Kabru, however, suspects. The rest of the party finds out not long after they set out to save Falin.

After Laios becomes king, she mainly stays in the form of either a lion, a hawk, or the white wolf.

Marcille: Neither Marcille nor her parents had any idea when he would settle, which was frustrating for her, and especially hard when her dad died before it happened.

He eventually settled into a nightingale, not long after she finished Ambrosia, much to her delight. She thought it was all very romantic and grand, even if he does like to mess up her hair.

He doesn’t sing much after the events of the story, but she still tells him he is quite noble and lovely.

Mithrun: Absolutely does not have one. They got ate. Before the dungeon, they were a dove.

Thistle: He took the form of a colorful songbird once Thistle started learning to play music, and would often accompany him. Sometime during Thistle’s thousand years as lord of the dungeon, he separated from Thistle. He wandered the dungeon, spending a lot of time around the town where the people of the Golden Kingdom live. They recognized him, even long after Thistle stopped visiting.

Sometimes he would report to Thistle. Sometimes they would go years without seeing each other.

He wasn’t there for the fight with Laios’ party. Yaad thinks he saw him briefly when Thistle woke up on the surface, but he’s not sure.

Kabru: He desperately wanted her to settle as a bird (which are quite popular with elves and also good at eavesdropping) (yes, the bird imagery of the canaries is very much Part Of Elf Culture in this AU). However, she is a bengal fox. Ah, well. It’s nice to have a piece of his home stuff with him. And she does give very good snuggles.

Falin: FALIN’S IS HARD… I think she might change after the chimera.

I like a beetle for her pre-resurrection. Maybe a ladybug? Or a jewel beetle, if a ladybug is too small.

After the story, she changes to a dragonfly. Everyone (expect Chilchuck) tries very hard not to make the obvious joke there. Chilchuck just makes the joke.

Chilchuck: With his canon weight management, Chilchuck is practical-minded enough to have his job influence his daemon’s form. I think she would be a rat or mouse - something small that can help him with traps, and can fit places where he can’t.

A lot of half-foot adventurers end up with rodent daemons, actually, due to the nature of their usual work. This can be the subject of mockery from the same kinds of people who are happy to use a half-foot as monster bait (or worse). Because of this, Chilchuck doesn’t mind disparaging comments about her - they help him know who is and isn’t trustworthy. However, privately, he’s quite defensive of her.

Senshi: Though she wasn’t technically settled when he went into the dungeon with his mining group, she spent most of her time as something nocturnal and practical for their work. Maybe a badger.

By the time he finally made his way out, she had settled as a tortoise. Though he loves her, the tortoise form is harder to work around sometimes - she’s slow and she takes up a lot of space, and caring for a cold-blooded creature in the dungeon isn’t always easy.

It’s not until after he meets the party, when Laios remarks offhandedly that some tortoises can survive for months without food, that Senshi fully understands why she settled on that form.

Izutsumi: she doesn’t have a daemon. Throughout childhood, this only added to her fears about not being ‘really human,’ and exacerbated her feeling separate and Wrong.

During the encounter with the succubi, she realizes the truth - she is bound to her daemon. That’s where her beast form comes from.

Due to being bound together at a young age, they are unable to change form, and stuck as their favorite form to take at the time - a cat.

[metaphor for trauma forcing children to grow up far before they should too on the nose? No? Cool]

[shadowtraveled]

what TMA entities would you assign the dungeon lords, esp mithrun? was discussing this (bc marcille is sooo End) and consulting your Seminal Mithrun Meta when i remembered you also went here!

anon i want you to know i was thinking about this nonstop like two weeks ago oh my god. i’d love to hear your thoughts on this if you’re so inclined 👁‍🗨 (and wheeze thank you i don’t know about seminal but i’m glad it passed peer review)

putting a readmore here for spoilers

to preface this, i understand the fears aren’t really separate and it’s all just fear etc but they function as distinct in the way the demons do and in the sense that they each had to mark jon to come into the world. so. distinctive facets of a unified whole. anyway i have two criteria for assigning someone a tma entity: it has to be something they deeply fear, and it has to be something they choose anyway.

and with that being said, marcille is SO end-aligned in a very gentle and chill way i think fits the end so nicely… her intense fear of death is sort of a fear of loss, which would typically be considered the desolation’s domain, especially when coupled with her aptitude for explosion/fire magic and the part of her arc where she tries to expand the dungeon, but she wasn't choosing destruction or hopelessness in either of those cases—there’s something to be said for the carnage she was willing to leave in her wake, but at the end of the day she was trying to eliminate loss. she's fundamentally incompatible with the desolation because she continually rejects it, and the loss itself doesn't form the core of her fear. the inevitability of death, though, does, and she accepts it when she gives up the dungeon and lets falin go. absolutely the end.

i think thistle is another easy designation. he clings to control to the point it corrupts him, and he creates an environment that forbids death, but his desire is not for control and his fear is not of death or loss—those are delgal's. instead, his fear that he won't be able to measure up to the too-large too-heavy responsibility placed on his shoulders is what drives him, and because we know it drives him, we know that he takes it on anyway. he even brings melini underground. extremely the buried.

laios, meanwhile. is difficult for me to assign. his fears (rejection, ostracism, that he isn't able to connect with people, that he hates people) feel very lonely, and he does withdraw from people a fair amount, but he has connections he does not and would not choose to sever. you could make an argument for the hunt (he's drawn to not only monsters but the concept of the food chain itself and his place on it as a part of the natural world, and he ends the series with the object of his fascination out of his reach), but i don't think there's enough fear there. in laios' case, the lack of strict definition between fears and the idea that they're all just muddled subcategories of a singular thing is actually really helpful, because i think i'm assigning him to the vast. it was said at some point that the vast and the lonely aren't too dissimilar—you won't realize how alone you are without distance, and that sort of mental/emotional distance and disconnect is what has haunted laios his entire life. and i think that's, in part, what makes the cosmic insignificance of seeing yourself as just another part of your environment so comforting to him. his choices... definitely make him cosmically significant lmfao but even though he chooses to be the one to go up against Infinity Itself and its endless hunger and even though he chooses to be king, he fits himself right back into the position of being a single piece of a much larger puzzle. he became lord of the dungeon to become a part of the food chain that would stand a chance to preserve it (via eating the demon's hunger). he's king because there was a gap that needed to be filled. even then, he wants his body to be scattered after death, so that he can be devoured like any other living thing would be. god i love this manga. anyway, tentative but i think the vast is the only thing i can justify at this time. actually, accepting the hunger of the infinite could itself be seen as accepting the vast into himself…….

and finally, mithrun! surprising absolutely nobody given my take on his backstory, i'd give him to the lonely, with the caveat that he does eventually sever his connection to it. prior to becoming lord of a dungeon, we know he thought the worst of people (and again i think this was intentional of him), but we also know he put up a front that was undeniably kind. milsiril says that everyone loved him for the front, but its very existence acted as a barrier between himself and others: milsiril had no idea how miserable he was, and neither did anyone else. he'd already begun choosing isolation, and he chose it ultimately when he became lord of a dungeon, literally cutting himself off from everyone in a pocket dimension where he surrounded himself with facsimiles of people he loved until... they dwindled. and they did, until he was alone again, with only the demon and the unresponsive chimera construction of the person he considered to be the one he loved. after he was eaten, we see themes of emptiness typical of the lonely coupled with his disconnection from his team—in one of the extras it says they don't really know how to approach him, and i think it shows. so in a way, he ends up back where he started: surrounded by people who care about him and who he ostensibly cares about in return, but emotionally alone. as for fear, i think a lot of his are tied up in the concept of insignificance, but that insignificance isn't cosmic—it's personal. that's why watching himself be replaced was so unbearable for him and why the thought of being left unfinished was so horrific.

as an aside, i did also consider the corruption. the idea of leftovers abandoned carries the connotation of rot and i love the concept of 'the rot within you' etc. it gets me every time, and i think there's something to be said about that with regard to the way mithrun views the person he once was. furthermore, the... eating... scene... is framed as sexual and extremely invasive (and, as a result of the combination, is very evocative of disgust) in a way we see most often with the corruption (though imo tma would never see something like this as it toes the line of jonny's "no sexual trauma horror" rule too closely), and we have to remember that for all that it terrified mithrun, he was trying to get it to happen again. but i don't think disgust is enough of a factor for him. most of his disgust is aimed at himself, and while he doesn't shy away from it, he isn't really drawn to it either. rather, i think his dialogue in the extra comic in the complete edition of the adventurer's bible ("there's nothing so kind as a demon. suddenly losing that kind of love opens a hole in your heart[...]") goes a long way in terms of defining what being eaten meant to him. the corruption focuses on a feeling of belonging and community. mithrun wanted to disappear forever knowing that in the last moment he lived he was loved. ultimately, the fear of being abandoned coupled with his attraction to being unknown and eventually entirely gone read as lonely-aligned to me.

anyway i'd LOVE to hear where you're at with this please come chat literally whenever this is the most excited i’ve ever been about anything

[pixeljade]

Dungeon Meshi characters and the music I think they'd listen to:

Laios - No real genre cohesion, but loves anything that he can imagine monsters to. He has extensive mental music videos of monsters doing cool things that he will set to songs which he plays on repeat. Probably has more movie and video game soundtracks than actual mainstream music.

Marcille - Florence and the Machine and Hozier are amongst her favorite artists, and she has a soft spot for ALL dramatic and romantic songs, especially with female vocalists. She guards her tastes very carefully, afraid of what others might think, but will gush to Falin about her interpretations of lyrics, and make her playlists all day long

Chilchuck - dad rock and certain folk punk tracks. He's been found in a puddle of tears listening to mountain goats songs about breakups, but he never mentions that when he lists his favorite artists because he wants you to THINK he's not fucked up over it. Will also listen to classic blues.

Senshi - A jazz lover if I ever saw one. He doesnt really listen to it except in the background while cooking or working, but he likes it because it reminds him of the improvisational side of cooking, and how it keeps him moving while he works.

Falin - I think Falin likes a lot of pop but has a particular soft spot for vocaloid, j-pop, k-pop and chiptune. She's just deeply autistic about the artists she likes, doesnt particularly "stan" anyone because she doesnt approach it like that, but she does try to get Marcille into it all (with mixed success)

Izutsumi - the meow mix jingle (breakcore remix) [10 hours]

Kabru - The widest range listener, because he'll gladly listen to and learn about any of the artists people around him listen to. He specifically keeps up with top 40 entirely so he can have an idea whats in the zeitgeist. If you ask him to put on something and he doesnt know your tastes he'll default to a "safe option" like chillhop beats to study/relax to

Thistle - This one I'm not super sure but Linkin Park for sure is a regular listen for him. Will cry-sing along with it. Probably also delves into other teenage angst music ranging from pop punk to emo. Would write his favorite lyrics in sharpie on his ragged converse

Shuro - All classical. He was raised to have extremely refined tastes and can play several instruments himself, but he doesnt have much interest in music really.

Namari - I dont know why but I feel like she'd have an eclectic mix of classic hip-hop artists like Missy Elliot, riot girl music, and old school heavy metal. Also probably has a soft spot for certain pop songs but refuses to admit it.

Mithrun - I want to say he'd be into Shoegaze but like, obviously does not seek out music, so he literally only listens to whatever those around him put on.

Fleki - Psych rock, psy-trance, trip-hop. Do i even have to explain

Lycion - All Hardcore. Loves the energy and will actively mosh.

Pattadol - An absolute Swiftie.

Cithis - The sort to listen to indie pop and then EVISCERATE you for your opinions on music online. Hates Swifties.

Otta - Loves mainstream hip-hop/pop music. I feel like she'd really love Doja Cat.

I think thats every main character. If you disagree with my thoughts dont be mean! We're all just trying to have fun here

[virtual-minotaur]

i think about something long enough and ill make pokemon teams for it.

anyways. dungeon meshi pokemon teams.

Laios (All-purpose-ish team, though not entirely balanced. All are taken from Ultimate Strongest Monster) Marcille (Cute first, but Fairy-type, as they were recently recategorized and goes with her researcher background) / Chilchuck (Pokémon I think he'd encounter in his job and wouldn't particularly mind hanging out with.) Senshi (He eats them /j) / Falin (Dragon types, and mostly related to her chimera nature) Kabru (Pokémon I think Misiril would've given him, and that could be seen as sociable) / Namari (Fighting types, as a weapons expert) Thistle (Ghost types, especially those that disguise as something else) Canaries (Mithrun, Pattadol, Cithis, Fleki, Lycion, Otta)

EDIT I KNEW I WAS MISSING ONE. izutsumi

[turnways]

Dunmesh spoilers

I think it makes sense narratively especially with the last panels we see of him. I think it's a valid interpretation of what happened and in a meta narrative way I think he's "dead"

But the only thing thats keeping me from fully accepting the "thistle is dead" theory is, well, of what??? Beyond a metaphorical or psychological sense how/why is he dead?

Was he just a unique case because he had so much desire and was one of the oldest dungeon masters? Why didn't he die when or right after the lion ate his wishes? Why so far later?

Did he "die of happiness" when he saw "delgal" again and didnt need anythign else including the ability to live? That's poetic but it doesn't show up anywhere else in the manga so it would be weird if this was the one case of someone dying like that. It would be a really late chekovs gun to load and shoot right there at the end.

The idea i can buy the most is that he died of old age, but why just him? Wouldn't the curse of immortality have worn off on the other golden country members? Especially if they're humans?

Did the constant use of the dark arts just kill him? In ch 47 Yaad said thistle "controlled the dungeon like his own body" did he die when the dungeon was "destroyed" thus killing his spirit?

I don't remember there being any part of the manga that said "and after their desires are eaten the dungeon masters die when they get to the surface" because we see several dungeon masters in canon and in side comics alive.

Again I don't dislike the theory! Its satisfying in a lot of ways and the wording leading up to the last panel we see with him is in line with supporting it.

but given that the story explains sooo many things in explicit detail, especially death and cause of death, I don't see why this would be so vague.

We can explain how falin can be revived in excruciating detail but thistle having one panel where he is likely just, calm for once in his life, it's clear that he's dead?

Even in the chapters before we had yaad shocked he and thistle didn't die when reaching the surface, it wasn't a taboo thing to call out explicitly.

I would even take an onomatopoeia of a sigh signifying him exhaling his last breath or something but we didn't get that.

If there's a scene I forgot about dungeon masters dying if they do xyz and that's why/how he died let me know but as far as I'm able to read in he's in the same "leftovers" stage mithrun was in when he got rescued.

This theory is a beautiful island destination of grief and tragedy and I'm in a boat headed towards it

but I need someone to throw me some oars

Edit: according to the wiki those with all their desires eaten, like thistle, die shortly after

But I feel like not enough time has passed for him to just die from not eating and stuff.

[roomba-mangga]

Reconsiderations for altered names in Dungeon Meshi x Gubat Banwa AU:

Laios and Falin — Settled on their polity of origin being Gatusan but having trouble with their names; I like Ilyas and Fina (both with biblical connotations: Elijah and Seraphim, the former a prophet who turned people away from false idols and the latter a class of angel), which are more in line with Virbanwa, but their father seems like the type of nerd to name his children that way. Additionally, I may just omit their surname (at least for the purposes of the fic), since changing it to the phonetically similar Thoudam (Indian) would evoke Ba-e.

The Golden Kingdom — El Reino Dorado. Not changing Delgal and Yaad's names since they fit well enough into the setting, but unsure whether to keep them Virbanweño (for the colonialism allegory especially wrt Thistle) or change to Akai ("magical resplendent kingdom devoted to Goddess". I'd previously assigned Akai to the western elves, since they're viewed as resplendent beings devoted to their Queen, but seeing as Melini was once under the control of elves they could very well be a former Akayu territory). If Virbanweño, I'm altering their titles to Señor while their surname would be Merino, which means "of the sea" like Melini does. So far I am liking Virbanwa!Melini more.

Thistle — Tinik is the Tagalog word for "thorn", but as far as I can tell doesn't share the poetic quality of "thistle", so it'd be like literally renaming him Thorn (I like the thought of his family nicknaming him Tinik, though. It's cute). There's also the Spanish "cardo" but... idk, wrong vibes, and they just call him Thistle in the Spanish dub so I guess we're on the same page there. Since the Philippines doesn't have thistles I'm following the same naming convention i.e. a purple flower that could plausibly be a kingdom's heraldic symbol. I've considered both Hasinto ("hyacinth", which can poison rivers, but again, wrong vibe) and Lirio ("lily", funeral flowers. An IRL example of stylized lilies in medieval heraldry is the fleur-de-lis). I've settled on Lirio since I'm so particular with the sound of the name, although in the fic he'll mostly be referred to as the Sorcerer.

Test/preview:

Other characters under the cut because they're not gonna feature heavily:

Marcille — Maria Cecilia "Maricel", huge tita energy. Her mom is Akayu but her papa is Virbanweño, hence the Spanish name. Will probably keep her surname Donato. Favorite name I've come up with so far.

Chilchuck — Tindak ("kick"), a Gatusanon bondsman. Chosen for phonetic similarity, not entirely sold on this one.

Mithrun — Misuari, a Bladeweaver from Akai. Also chosen for phonetic similarity.

Unaltered names: Kabru, everyone with a Japanese name (Senshi, Toshiro, Izutsumi)

[gullsumb]

Thinking about Dungeon Meshi D&D 5E classes, which I’m sure has been done before. However I have a special interest in making D&D characters, so this is what I’m doing! Yippee!

A bit of a long one.

Laois’ Party:

Most of them are easy ones. Chilchuck and Izutzumi are both rogues I’d say, Theif and Assassin respectively. Marcille is a wizard, obviously, probably Evocation? While she does do necromancy, she’s clearly most comfortable with explosions. Falin is either a cleric, she even has the classic Clerical Mace, or a necromancy/abjuration wizard. Senshi is probably a basic fighter. Champion with protection style maybe? He could also have ranger levels. It’s hard to say for me, since much of his utility is out of combat.

Now Laios… is hard to say. He clearly occupies the role of the Human Fighter Leader, however mechanically I’m not sure. Hunter Ranger is a possibility, and maybe Paladin of some kind? Or potentially a fighter/cleric multiclass. I’m leaning towards Hunter Ranger though. Great weapon or dueling style.

Kabru’s party:

Kabru is a battle master, dueling style. Daya, probably champion great weapon master? Kuro is either a fighter, or mechanically he could be a beast barbarian but I don’t think that’s necessary/doesn’t fit his character.

Rin and Holm are also wizards, Rin is seemingly also evocation while Holm is conjuration. Although Holm could also be a cleric of some kind. And Mick is seemingly another thief rogue.

Tansu Party:

Not super remarkable. The Tansu’s are both clearly wizards. I’d say Namari is a classic Champion, either defense or great weapon fighting style. Kiki and Kaka don’t do a ton of fighting, but do both seem to be classic fighters as well.

Shuro’s Party:

Shuro is another fighter… you truly hate to see it. Battle Master dueler like Kabru I’d guess? They’d take very different maneuvers though. Onto characters with interesting non-fighter skill sets, we’ve got Maizuru, conjuration wizard, and Tade, barbarian, great weapon fighter. Hein and Benichidori… back to fighters again. Maybe levels of rogue?

Canaries:

Like all of the elves are wizards… easy, but boring to analyze. Lycion is the only exception, path of the beast barbarian or fighter. That’s it, I’m done with them lol.

Special edition, Dungeon Lords:

Thistle, Mithrun, and Marcille are all wizards, and Laios is only very briefly a dungeon lord. However, I think it’s interesting both the differences and similarities to Warlocks in this. While a Lord does gain power from the demon, even carrying a book Tome of Shadows style in Thistle’s case, it really is more like genie-wish style power granting. I think it’s a really interesting approach to pact-making as well, a pact in which the character doesn’t know what they are agreeing to, and slowly becomes a different person over the course of the game.

I would be interested to see how that could work at a table… maybe the player would create an document of all their characters desires, and the dm would occasionally erase them, especially around when level-ups occurred or during story beats when the player does something the demon doesn’t approve of?

Anyway, that’s my thoughts on that! Feel free to hit me with opposing opinions or ideas, I just generally like thinking about D&D character building and dungeon meshi.

[dunmeshistash]

There's something that bugs me a little,,

When Thistle became dungeon lord, he found the demon's grimore, which asked him his desire

For the longest time, I thought the grimore was essential to becoming dungeon lord. especially since in Marcille's nightmare, she wished for the book and with it she would get better at magic enough to bring back Falin correctly

But when she becomes dungeon lord, she doesn't use it to draw the demon's power, and loses it when they're swallowed by it

Mithrun also didn't use a grimore when he was dungeon lord

I hoped it had more relevance rather than just being the book Thistle seals the demon into

Especially because of Marcille's nightmare

True, the Canaries are also very focused on getting the book when they arrived as if they already knew about it right? Maybe I'm remembering wrong

I guess he had been sealed in the book before Thistle arrived maybe? Since it was an inactive dungeon when he found it? I imagine it showed up in Marcille's nightmare both because she saw him using it and cause the Lion was calling to her

[britcision]

Just for fun because this happened in my head as I read the list, they are literally all Dungeon Meshi characters

1) Kabru

2) Senshi (especially with Anne the Kelpie), Marcille, Kabru

3) Mithrun

4) Marcille

5) Laios (rip leg), Mithrun

6) Senshi, Marcille, Chilchuck, Laios, Shuro, Kabru, Mithrun, everyone fuck

7) Marcille

8) Thistle

9) Falin

10) Laios

This is why I love this series so much they’re all such deep and complex characters I am DYING

Good Traits Gone Bad

Exploring good traits gone bad in a novel can add depth and complexity to your characters. Here are a few examples of good traits that can take a negative turn:

1. Empathy turning into manipulation: A character with a strong sense of empathy may use it to manipulate others' emotions and gain an advantage.

2. Confidence becoming arrogance: Excessive confidence can lead to arrogance, where a character belittles others and dismisses their opinions.

3. Ambition turning into obsession: A character's ambition can transform into an unhealthy obsession, causing them to prioritize success at any cost, including sacrificing relationships and moral values.

4. Loyalty becoming blind devotion: Initially loyal, a character may become blindly devoted to a cause or person, disregarding their own well-being and critical thinking.

5. Courage turning into recklessness: A character's courage can morph into reckless behavior, endangering themselves and others due to an overestimation of their abilities.

6. Determination becoming stubbornness: Excessive determination can lead to stubbornness, where a character refuses to consider alternative perspectives or change their course of action, even when it's detrimental.

7. Optimism becoming naivety: Unwavering optimism can transform into naivety, causing a character to overlook dangers or be easily deceived.

8. Protectiveness turning into possessiveness: A character's protective nature can evolve into possessiveness, where they become overly controlling and jealous in relationships.

9. Altruism becoming self-neglect: A character's selflessness may lead to neglecting their own needs and well-being, to the point of self-sacrifice and burnout.

10. Honesty becoming brutal bluntness: A character's commitment to honesty can turn into brutal bluntness, hurting others with harsh and tactless remarks.

These examples demonstrate how even admirable traits can have negative consequences when taken to extremes or used improperly. By exploring the complexities of these traits, you can create compelling and multi-dimensional characters in your novel.

Happy writing!

[iloveutoodeath]

dungeon meshi enjoyer 🫵🏻 whomst is your favorite :3

😋👈 that’s me lmao. i have a lot of favorites from this series tbh, all the characters are so well rounded and thoroughly fleshed out so everyone feels so real and human, which makes it so easy to grow to like a character the more you learn about them even if they didn’t impress me at first. obviously laios is my #1, he’s such an fun character and i love how passionate he is about the things he likes, and how it’s not only his knowledge of monsters but his curiosity and desire to learn more about them that drives the whole story forward. i like the fact that (from the adventurer’s bible i think) when he was younger and still in school he had been encouraged to become a monster researcher, but he gave up on that path because school was difficult, only to join and desert the military and work his way southward until he met up with falin (actually i like that falin quit school too, lmao. i have a soft spot for characters who are dropouts, deserters, or quitters in general). all the extras comics kui has drawn about the siblings’ time before arriving to the island are very very important to me, but in particular laios’s self doubt, shame, guilt, and obvious depression from that time period, and the complex ways in which that all relates to his relationship with sister are things that really resonated with me 🥺. in general i love how over the course of the story the way he views that relationship shifts, and with it he goes from someone who sells himself short to someone who really embraces himself as a whole, and you can’t help but be drawn to that u know?

and well besides laios, marcille, kabru, and mithrun are very special to me. and senshi is my guardian angel. i also really like thistle (i love his little jester outfits) and kuro (puppy… i wish there were more kobold characters lmao) OH and of course, of the monsters i like the dragons best, especially the green dragons. i also like the design of the cockatrice, because compared to the basilisk it looks a bit more like a dinosaur lmao :P !!!!

[carinavetreblogs]

This is such a hard decision. There are so many good options.

Laios would fit in with a Muppet cast as easily as Tim Curry. Marcille would be funny because it means she'd be the only one forced to actually eat. Chilchuck would be hilariously looked down upon by actual Muppets. Falin is already more of an ideal than a character, and having her be human would add to that, especially if they then use really realistic effects for her monster form (but she's the only monster like that). Senshi would seem even cooler and calmer in contrast while he cooks for them (making the times he's NOT calm more jarring). Toshiro would seem more aloof in contrast. Kabru would seem more like an outsider while studying behaviour. Mithrun would become a disturbing metaphor for lack of desire. Thistle would seem both more powerful and more mad. I wouldn't do Yaad by himself: I'd do everyone from the original kingdom, and make it a metaphor about curses and losing purpose or imagination or some shit (leave it up to the audience).