Punn: The Sacrificial Lamb
Hello, fellow humans who had been waiting for ages for this series to drop and are already going insane about it.
It is I, Dante, your friendly neighbourhood enby with a literature bachelor's to tell you all about things that ppl who, unlike me, read the novel, probably already know (and that I ask, pls, that they keep that way, let's avoid spoiling each other <3).
So let's ignore the horrible step sounds in the scene where Ramil is chained up in the Upside Down World™ and let's get down to business (to defeat the Huns Nuns).
So 1st things 1st we need to address the elephant in the room:
Which, as I know, you know, we know, Lee Know, is NOT the father major religion in Thailand. Budhism is. By a large margin (over 90% of the population).
In fact, Christianity (which in Thailand is indeed mostly Catholic) is not even the 2nd most popular religion in Thailand, that's Islam.
So here's visual rep of me when I saw the nun:
Yet, of course, if you really think about it, Christianity and vampires have been besties since the very invention of monsterfucker homoerotic vampire literature, even if they're just opposites on the moral righteousness spectrum (such as in The Vampire by Ossenfelder).
So maybe it was a given, sure, but it still stands out in a story set in Thailand.
Nevertheless, it is not about Thailand's religious activities that I am concerned. Rather, it is about Punn's.
As far as the story seems to tell us... Punn and Pong have no parents. Whether they died or abandoned them or where sucked into a different dimention or whatever we don't know yet, but they seem to be orphans if Pong's possible adoption is anything to go by.
Furthermore we see this space:
Which is a church, yes. But, for those thankfully unfamiliar with catholicism, churchs don't typically have random nuns around, fyi, that's just not a thing.
They keep a priest, maybe a helper but not a nun. Nuns don't give mass to the public and they're not allowed to officiate baptisms (except in emergency of death but all Catholics can officiate a baptism in emergency of death) or weddings. They serve in convents or facilities meant to help the community.
This is why we should notice the nun here says she'll close the door bc "the boys are already sleeping", which implies that, lo and behold, this is an orphanage or some sort of children care facility.
This not only makes it seem like Jet grew up here and that's why he visits, but also that possibly Punn and Pong grew up here as well. And that's where they know each other from.
Why is this relevant though?
Because Punn behaves very... Christly.
It's soon to say exactly who this man is, I know.
And if this broken and dirty and all sorts of ruin mirror is reflecting anything worth noticing,
then we can sure expect this man to be carrying a lot of deep shit and secrets with him.
But I have reason to believe we can infer 1 thing for sure: Punn is extremely self-sacrificial.
How? Well... Let's make a counter, shall we? I'll call it:
Things Punn Did Even Though He Didn't Really Want to Because He Thought It Was His Moral Obligation to
(1) He took a call he didn't want to bc it's his brother and, even though he knows it should be his new parents handling the situation, he can't help but feel responsible for him.
(2) He tells his brother to accept his new family and go abroad, even though we know from what Pong said about Punn promising to always stay close to him that Punn values his brother above all else bc he genuinely thinks this is the best thing for Pong's future and he wants him to have it, even if it means distancing/losing the only family he has.
(3) He accepts Jet's job offer even though he's obviously initially against him (bc of whatever bad blood it seems that they have [are they exes????]) bc he still feels some sort of friendship/care/love/brotherhood (?) for him and bc he's clearly in need of help.
(4) He shakes Methus' hand even though he seems apprehensive to do so for the sake of being cordial and keeping his promise to help Jet with the painting.
(5) HE DOESN'T FUCKING MOVE WHEN A GUY WHO JUST TELEPORTED FROM A PAINTING-AU INTO THE REAL WORLD AND CLAIMS HE'S A VAMPIRE IS ABOUT TO BITE HIS FUCKING NECK BC REASONS???? HELLO????? (I know that, as @squishyteri pointed out to me in private, he might atp not believe yet all that Ramil has said but still, fucking stranger danger, dude, he's a stranger and he's far too close to you and making threats, pls have some self preservation instincts)
(6) He lets himself be taken to a secondary location place he doesn't know by the guy from the paiting and the man he called to invade his house at 7AM, even though he's uncomfortable the whole time just bc they asked
(7) He lets *reads notes* huh? *checks notes again* OH I'M GOING INSANE, he LETS the 2 random strangers with weird magic take blood from him after they say only he can help Ramil even though he's clearly uncomfortable with the thought of his blood being used by them
Note: When Methus asks him if it hurts he doesn't actually answer the question with yes or no, he just says "ไม่เป็นไรค่ะ/ครับ" ("it's okay" or "don't worry"), completely dismissing his own suffering.
(8) Runs into a room bc he heard a guy he just met screaming and he feels like he has to help, even after being explicitly told that he should NOT enter unless he was called bc it would be UNSAFE for him to do so.
The episode doesn't have a whole hour. We've seen like 3 days in this man's life. And he's already out there putting himself in all sorts of situations for the sake of everybody else.
Talk about a Christ figure, this dude is already Top 5.
And so why does it matter? Well... Bc I think we all have the same question as Punn:
Why him? Why did Ramil choose him?
Well, idk what the series is gonna give us as a justification but I have my answer locked in:
Bc he's been fattened for the slaughter.
I mean, think about it... Ramil needs someone to wake him up and be bonded with him, apparently for life. That person's blood (and maybe other stuff, idk, we'll have to see) are gonna become infintely valuable to him bc of his powers, he'll need the chosen person to give them to him (perhaps willingly, just like the old tales require vampires to be invited in the house by the owner as guests) in order to reach his goals... (yes, it is extremely Dracula/NosferatuCore)
Who better to give willingly, to put someone he just met and his needs above his own, to cast his wants asside for the sake of somebody else than the guy who's apparently been doing that all his life?
Punn won't even notice. Barely anything changes for him, truly. Ramil is just another person who he'll have to relent to, someone else he'll have to serve... Another person who he'll become a metaphorical sacrificial lamb to (and perhaps even literal this time, after all, we do see drawings of goats [typical sacrificial animals in Abrahamic religions] in Punn's notebook and it's a recurring theme in vampire literature that they always pick a vulnerable prey [usually not so much physically vulnerable but psychologycally] to slowly hunt down).
So, yeah... I think it's fair to say this is something this episode did a very good job of establishing this bc I genuinely think it's gonna be a central theme to this story, to the conflict within the main couple and to Punn's arc. And I believe he'll have to face this aspect of his life and, perhaps, learn to finally start making choices for his own benefit.
I'm also curious to see how it'll play out in terms of what exactly it is that this bond
Meanwhile, though, we wait (not very patiently bc I'm extremely excited about this series and I want the next ep literally rn) and see...
If you have anything you'd like to comment or add or anything, pls do!! I'd love to know!! Cheers!!
Is the Holy Grail - heavily associated with eternal youth and healing properties - (that we see drawn by Punn in his notebook) the cause or the cure for the vampires in this show?
Cause
Cure
Secret 3rd Thing
Voting ended onAug 30, 2025