Mithrun — A retired Mean Girl?
There's a common headcanon that Mithrun, before his time as a dungeon lord, was a two-faced, nasty, Regina George like person. I've also seen people saying that it's better that he got his desires eaten since he's not as mean and arrogant as he was before (yes an actual thing I've read on reddit)
This headcanon isn't random, we see Mithrun actively looking down on others and he does form some very harsh opinions on people around him.
Ryoko Kui wrote all her characters flawed in some way, whether it's their personality traits, beliefs or how they interact with others and the world around them. This story does a wonderful job of showcasing human flaws and how we overcome them through hard work, love and time.
Characters in Dungeon Meshi are incredibly judgmental. They judge each other based on traits like lack of social skills (most characters on Laios), a characters reputation (Chilchuck being regarded as greedy by Mickbell) or even more serious prejudices based on race. Our main takeaway should be that we shouldn't treat any characters opinion as an absolute fact, even if they're talking about themselves.
This judgment can also manifest as self-judgment, an overly critical image that characters have of themselves, we see it especially in characters like Kabru but I really wanted to talk about Mithrun's and how it led him down a downward spiral of self-hatred.
I love this panel so much bc it perfectly shows everything I've mentioned so far. Kabru, while hearing Mithrun's story, makes his own judgements about younger Mithrun and he creates a specific image of Mithrun in his mind based on the story and his own personal interpretations. This image Kabru has created out of a short story clashes with Mithrun's own over polished self image (also younger Mithrun looks down on himself once again, out of self-hatred). The Mithrun we see today is everything he hated in the past and here he is calling him not perfect?
But why did he now interrupt Kabru so quickly, to make it clear to him (and to us) that he was in fact, not perfect at all?
His entire self image since he was born was based on the biased societal standards and expectations of the elven society plus his own overwhelming personal desire to be loved and wanted.
He had every trait desirable for elves, he was from a noble family, had distinct features, strong body, intelligence and charisma, which were perfect/fail-proof traits. The features that were given to him were to everyone's liking, everybody wants to be around someone beautiful, young, smart and friendly.
And he was all those things, he was always surrounded by people even after he joined the canaries. Nobody, especially criminals and disgraced nobles, would tolerate a mean degrading person. Whether this admiration was genuine is up for interpretation, but to Mithrun this state of always being desired was like constant reassurance that yes, he is all those things he's proud of..
But this perfect self-image could only be kept through arrogance and lies. Even if he was perfect in every way it doesn't guarantee that everyone will like and desire him, which of course isn't his fault, but he can't understand that a standard for perfection doesn't exist, genuine love isn't something that's guaranteed to be given to the most beautiful or smart person. Most of all he can't ACCEPT that perfection doesn't guarantee love. The biggest punch in the gut was someone developing a crush on his brother, who he saw as lacking in every regard.
This was one of the two cases that his overwhelming need to be loved wasn't met, the other case being joining the canaries. He was not only discarded by his family and society for something he couldn't control (his mother's affair), he was also for the first time not picked as the first option (Sultha developing a crush on his borther). He couldn't imagine that someone inferior in every way was loved for who they were and whatever they had.
Let's talk about the most important source for this analysis, Milsiril
Though I understand why she didn't want to stay, she was probably intimidated by the friendliness and she probably thought she was gonna be made fun of (same case as popular girls pretending to care about your interests only to make fun of you later lmao). Mithrun talked to her here because he wanted reassurance from EVERYONE and Milsiril was the only one not participating in the conversation. He didn't really care about her joining the conversation with the rest of the canaries, he just wanted her to like him since she wasn't friendly with anyone else. The only thing he was thinking was "how did she not care to talk to me? I'm so much better than the rest of the canaries and why won't she treat me differently bc im so awesome and friendly?".
His immediate self-defense mechanism is his superiority complex, but very importantly he keeps all his opinions to himself. Why? Because he knew that if he talked bad behind people's back or even worse, being rude to them face to face will make one person less likely to love him or even worse other people will regard him as an unapproachable person thus making him undesirable.
Milsiril's point of view is very important because she's the only character, other than Mithrun himself, to talk about pre dungeon lord (and dungeon lord) Mithrun. Through her POV we got past Mithrun's overly self-critical view and Kabru's limited knowledge of the story.
His dungeon was so grotesque and striking since it reflected his inner state of self perfectly, full of inner conflict, his true feeling never shown on the outside because of his biggest fear of being unwanted and regarded as anything other than perfect. It was warped and convoluted because his constant self-judgment and constant people pleasing ruined his sense of self, he didn't have a full grasp on himself anymore. The jealousy and lies were of course the fake people, made by the demon.
His opinions on other people in his life didn't come from malice or total arrogance. Mithrun was a deeply insecure person that was failed by everyone in his life, and he took in some unhealthy coping mechanisms in the process like we all do. His conflict was internal and that is why he was a perfect victim for the demon.
Mithrun is far from perfect, especially in his youth but he doesn't deserve to be condemned for all eternity because he was deeply flawed. Please be kinder to his younger self and to yours as well <3
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