Sunsetdeathcity - Big Fan Of The Doomed Brothers

chilchuck looks so cunt here okaaayyyy no wonder marcille want the pouch too he straight up looks like modeling for it

more thistles (and a falin)

yaad keeping thistle around like one of those crusty old chihuahuas that has every health issue known to man but won't die

Adventurer's Bible Character Extra - Mithrun

Today’s Thistle is: angy piggyback….

I just realized I haven't shown off my Falin and Thistle shrine yet!! It's always growing and changing, and I still have so many plans for it :)

Every time I revisit chapter 86 and the events right after the group talks Marcille down, I'm always struck by this bit here:

In particular, how similar it is to this:

The Winged Lion ate the same desire in both of them, more or less (I'm sure there are some nuances in both flavor and intent, but they are clearly similar things here). The Lion basically used this technique to kill Thistle, and for Marcille it was... not insignificant, but something she and her friends overcame without even fully realizing it was an obstacle.

I feel like this is another small piece of the story that shows how important support and love are - in navigating mental illness, in dealing with abuse or addiction, or in working through any other similar struggle that can be read into the Lion and his eating of desires.

It almost feels like Marcille was able to borrow the desires of her friends. She loves them and she trusts them, so even when she didn't have a desire to free herself from the Lion, the care they had for her well being still mattered to her.

It's the same thing later, with her hair.

She isn't able to notice the way her messy hair is making things harder, let alone do anything about it. But when Chilchuck points it out and then braids it back for her...

It's better. She likes it, things are easier now. Even though it isn't a desire she can feel for herself, it's not something that doesn't effect her. And because her friends care - because they know her well enough to notice the difference - she is given the chance to have a preference and to ask for their help.

We can obviously see some parallel ideas here with Mithrun and Kabru as well, but I'd also like to point out that Thistle gets this grace, too. Thistle, who had no one to help him up once he lost his will to resist, or to encourage him to find new desires once the Lion ate them all.

Thistle says he doesn't need anything, anymore...

But he is given an apology anyways.

It is not a kindness he desires. It is not a kindness he is able to ask for.

But it is a kindness that helps. It is a kindness that matters.

Thistle and Marcille had the exact same desire at their heart. To not be left alone in this world and be doomed to an eternal cycle of watching their loved ones pass before them. The difference lay in the execution.

Thistle, after experiencing the trauma of the king’s death and Delgal’s desperate pleas to save his son’s life, sought to give the people he loved immortality. To him, death itself was the enemy. His desire to erase suffering was so noble, in a way that only a child could feasibly commit to. But it did not make the people of the kingdom happy, for it stripped them of meaning and condemned them to an eternity of sameness. They could not help but grow dissatisfied, having that control of their destiny forcefully stripped from them.

Marcille, though, her approach was different. Instead of wanting to force everyone into eternal life, she merely wanted to give everyone the same lifespan. It’s like Thistle’s desire, but more well thought out. More reasonable towards people’s agency, and preserving the finite nature of the world even the demon found so alluring. After all, she’d had time, and support, and the opportunity to meet people of all kinds and learn from them. It truly would’ve been the most delectable desire the demon had ever eaten, if it had gotten the chance.

But at their core, the shape of their desire was the same. To feel connected and equal to those around them. And thankfully, though it may be difficult to achieve, with the help of others such a dream doesn’t require magic to make a reality.

Dungeon Meshi - Ending 2 Illustrations (part 1/2)

TODAY!