these comics elaborating on how lifespan differences are perceived in-universe are really interesting when you apply them to thistle's family situation. since it's been established that long-lived peoples tend to infantilize the short-lived, and this is a norm that persists to the current day, this would also hold implications for how long-lived peoples regarded these relationships in thistle and delgal's time
if we're going by the average 200-year lifespan of modern elves and assuming that hasn't changed much in the last 1000 years, then the melinis existed around 5 generations prior to the present, and certainly that would imply a more "medieval" perspective on these issues, where even an elf as young as thistle would still be considered a senior to tallmen more developmentally advanced than him
it's likely that, with how adultified thistle was, he was legitimately considered an adult (at least relative to tallmen) simply because he was an elf - he saw himself as such, the tallmen around him saw him as such, and where this gets interesting is how long-lived races would perceive his abuse, because i'm willing to bet they would also have seen it (and probably would still see it) less as person-to-person abuse so much as a case of a kid being raised by wolves (in terms of both "primitiveness" and lifespan disparity)
mapping out real-world parallels to melini real quick, mainly for fic reference
melini -> italian, similar to "medici", derived from a latin name that means "of the sea" and can be found in lombardy, which shares a border with veneto. golden kingdom's geographical location mirrors venice/veneto; further parallels being "of the sea" along with melini having a mediterranean climate (note: marcille is also italian but her homeland probably mirrors a different region, like piedmont)
freinag -> germanic/scandinavian; the most notable germanic influences can be found in north italy, specifically lombardy, named after a germanic people (the lombards) who originated in scandinavia and established a kingdom in northern italy, fragmenting it into city-states (potentially mirrors the geopolitics of the pre-dungeon GK, threatened by various rival kingdoms)
delgal -> french surname with spanish/italian origin, means "of gaul". and on that note the design of the golden castle also evokes mont-saint-michel in normandy, france. french influence in italy can be found with the norman and angevin dynasties in sicily and naples, and these places along with sardinia and the duchy of milan in lombardy (notably, one of the few feudal kingdoms in italy) were under spanish rule for a time
eodio -> arguably latin/italian, not much to say here. pinocchio.
yaad -> hebrew/jewish, means "hand" and also is the name of a ritual pointer used when reading Torah scrolls. religious connotations, very fitting. i like to think these influences come from his mother, as the GK is more christian-coded (and it's an intriguing possibility given the rampant antisemitism of the middle ages, but perhaps the idyllic state of the early dungeon allowed for relationships that might not have been acceptable before then)
thistle -> native italian thistles can be found in the country's mediterranean range, inclusive of lombardy and veneto. regarding a potential thematic connection to his place of origin, thistles can be found on every content except antarctica but are native to asia (particularly india, but they can also be found in all of east asia and vietnam), northwestern africa, and north america.
winged lion -> venice, italy; the winged lion of st. mark. originating in china, its modern iteration symbolizes st. mark's evangelism through the symbols of wings, a book under its paw, and a halo. this is probably where the magic book is from too!
all this places melini/gk in parallel to northern italy, and here i've just quickly highlighted the relevant regions mentioned above in red dots:
credit to this essay on ao3 which has been a hugely helpful stepping-point for research:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
i'm interested in what implications this holds for the golden kingdom being the only and most overt depiction of (apparent) monotheism in canon, given its parallels to medieval christianity... does the Winged Lion faith actually stem from local pagan practices? is it only one god in a pantheon? was there actually an equivalent to christianity that existed a millennium ago, but somehow got wiped out along the timeline? (i'm willing to attribute major "historical" divergences like this to the political maneuvering of long-lived races)
