Blob & the Elves

Posting Thistle daily until season 2: day 4. 446 days left until s2.

A terrifying encounter! What did you think about this introduction to Thistle’s character? I found it very interesting and exciting.

Long story short, I was no longer hating him after finding out his lore in the manga & read others hc of him :’(

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Also I watched it in JP dub, in this scene Laios used the term "この子" (kono ko) which literally means "this kid" but from what I know, it’s also a term used to refer to a girl more often, though it’s technically gender-neutral to describe a younger person… I think? (I’m still learning, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong)

Except in the English subtitles it was, "It’s that same elf" instead. So yeah I was a little confused so I simply just assumed he was a girl until they referred Thistle using "he".

Eng sub vs JP sub (CC)

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The followings are what in an adultified child’s mind, heart & how they function based off my own experience:

• “I’m a grown up? An adult? I’m not ready but it has to happen, I can’t help it. I have to be responsible now, must not do silly things.” >> if the child is neurodivergent with fear of abandonment, higher chance they’ll take it way literally just to stay loved. Living in survival mode, in result: confusion, hypervigilance, unstable mood & anger issues.

• “What’s this? This is what grown ups experience? But it feels wrong. This is so uncomfortable. But if I say something, they will get mad” >> the confusion doesn’t understand that they’re getting harassed, doesn’t fully understand they’re not ready/consent, but knows it’s uncomfortable.

• “If I do silly things too much and having fun, will bad things happen to me? Will I get scolded?” >> maybe that’s why Thistle doesn’t really appear to do silly things?

• Believes they’re the one in the wrong even if they’re the victim. If severe, they can hurt themselves as a form of punishment.

Yes, it leaves big impact on how they act, makes them believe that they don’t deserve any protections but instead, they’re the one who has to be protecting or in charge, very harmful. It’s so real how Kui wrote them 🤯

A lot of the things you describe really fit Thistle!

In yaad’s case, I get the impression from how muted his emotions usually are that one of his main coping mechanisms is dissociation. That kid does not feel real 99% of the time. It seems like post canon he is able to experience emotion more often with how he can intensely argue with the other people in the court, so I feel like being free from the dungeon outweighed the weirdness of his body literally not being his anymore. I bet he still dissociates sometimes though

I’m glad I never got parentified or adultified. They tried to but I was too autistic to catch on to things they wanted me to do and could not act mature at all so I got infantilised and scapegoated instead and my sisters who had more common sense got parentified instead (they both ended up getting depression and/or anxiety) (I feel like Yaad has depression and Thistle has anxiety probably OCD)

Thistle’s response to stress and anger is fight mode, and when there is nothing to fight he fights himself by hurting himself to make him bleed. His emotions are too big for his body so he feels like he has to let them out by shouting or hurting himself or he will die/explode

I wonder if it is a life long struggle brought from his early childhood trauma and having too much responsibilities or if it is something from being a dungeon lord (we see mithrun had the same thing and so did marcille but not as severe yet because she was dungeon lord for such a short time)

I feel like before he became a dungeon lord he was able to mask his intense emotions more often but now he can’t anymore because it is just too much

For Yaad. I'm afraid it's also an effect after he has been isolated inside the dungeon then he thought there's no point of feeling other things including how he tastes foods. Things feel numb. I read it somewhere that isolation can make you feel numb. Because I don't think a kid of his age acting so "calm" & "collected" is something healthy... I believe he would argue intensely with others in the court if he weren't numb. Yaad deserves his post-canon recovery too for that!

Yep. No kid deserves to be adultified. I guess each neurodivergent individuals react differently. Not adultified but become a scapegoat is not a good thing either :( I also think what happened to your sisters also what happened to Yaad. In my case, I was also childish compared to my peers due to neurodivergence but since I find it difficult to find friends, my fear of abandonment got the best of me so I did whatever it takes, learned to mask so hard, including having to be adultified. Then had a meltdown & explosive anger when it's too much. That's why when I read Thistle's backstory, I could almost immediately relate to him

Poor Thistle masking so hard in the Melinis and then lash out at the others (Laios' party etc). Also he was sent to Melinis when he was so young, it was a life-changing event that gets into his core memory. Agreed! He's endearing enough for you to not wanting to abandon him. I believe despite all his mental conditions, he still has cute, endearing & charming sides too as a whole character which makes another reason why the Melinis still want to keep him.

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The followings are what in an adultified child’s mind, heart & how they function based off my own experience:

• “I’m a grown up? An adult? I’m not ready but it has to happen, I can’t help it. I have to be responsible now, must not do silly things.” >> if the child is neurodivergent with fear of abandonment, higher chance they’ll take it way literally just to stay loved. Living in survival mode, in result: confusion, hypervigilance, unstable mood & anger issues.

• “What’s this? This is what grown ups experience? But it feels wrong. This is so uncomfortable. But if I say something, they will get mad” >> the confusion doesn’t understand that they’re getting harassed, doesn’t fully understand they’re not ready/consent, but knows it’s uncomfortable.

• “If I do silly things too much and having fun, will bad things happen to me? Will I get scolded?” >> maybe that’s why Thistle doesn’t really appear to do silly things?

• Believes they’re the one in the wrong even if they’re the victim. If severe, they can hurt themselves as a form of punishment.

Yes, it leaves big impact on how they act, makes them believe that they don’t deserve any protections but instead, they’re the one who has to be protecting or in charge, very harmful. It’s so real how Kui wrote them 🤯

And ofc now that I see 12 year olds act their age, I’m like yeah that’s just a child, but why did I feel guilty for being childish back then? Why was I so “serious”? This explains so much why I’m so “childish” just recently.

I wonder if Thistle went through the same thing that made him so adultified/parentified. Was he also mocked for being childish? With the same fear & confusion?

Owning a plush of him so I can imagine him acting childish freely in my residence as a coping mechanism.

They probably laughed at him and mocked him for being too childish as well because of him being a jester. In my calculations of his age, he would have already been around 12 by the time he made the dungeon so he would have had a lot of pressure on him

435 days left until oct 2027.

No idea why it is force cropping the image weirdly but okay.

Shocked Thistle looking at clean dishes.