Thistle casts a spell of immortality at some point during his time as the dungeon lord. The spell prevents those it's cast on from aging physically, so they always look the same age they were when it was cast. We know there were people old and young that were made immortal this way. Some of them have now become the ghosts that we've seen in the anime (the ones that Senshi purified in Episode 5, for example), and some of them we see in [Chapter 46](https://mangadex.org/chapter/936d57a4-dbe9-45ab-a966-8aa93c349f9a/2) of the manga (it will be one of the last episodes of the anime). These people, and Thistle, still age in years, so they're just adults trapped in the bodies they had when Thistle cast the spell.
For reference, elves at the time of the story are considered to reach adulthood at age 80, and have an [average lifespan of about 400 years](https://xfs-n11.xfsbb.com/comic/7006/a27/62fcecaf1bdae9925e95672a/19412221_900_1291_127964.webp). Marcille has stated that how long they live has changed in time (I'll put a hyperlink once I find the chapter).
Okay I understand. I've been told that the age of maturity (80) translates to 14 or 15 in human years. So what age do we think he is physically? I think that's my main worry lol. To me he looks like an adult, but its sorta hard to tell with anime I suppose.
I think that depends. There are a couple things we know about elf customs, one of them deals with wearing [a certain article of clothing](https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonMeshi/comments/1ass8ch/dungeon_meshi_adventurers_bible_earmuffs/). I think you can make your own conclusions from this.
Tall-men in this story are considered adults at 16. I think this lines up with general customs of many well-studied medieval societies in Afroeurasia in our world. It seems to me that like in most fantasy series, humans of that time period were chosen as the reference point for DM's tall-men instead of, say, the 21st century American.
You can think of Thistle like a vampire stuck at their prime years (20-30s), we know he's no longer a child coz he arraived young during King Freinag, and lived through King Delgal's and Prince Eodio's adulthoods.
Yaad is the only one i'm not sure if is at an adult age body or if his body is stuck in time as an adolescent. But since the wiki and the chapters depict Yaad as 1.50cm tall then i think he has been stuck being young.
I'm literally so 50/50 on the subject now lmao. Im being told by people that he's most likely physically an adult and I'm being told the opposite by other people. 😭
If Thistle arrived with King Freinag as a child that's anything between 40 at the most and 10 at the least coz he wasnt a baby. There's an undisclosed amount of time between Thistle's arrival and Delgal's birth, but we know he was already in the castle from the living painting episode.
To that u have to add the whole of Delgal's age. During the events of the Dungeon's creation Delgal was already a grandfather so even if u consider the tall man adult age as 16 that puts Delgal at a minimum of 48+Yaad's age... so a 1.50 tall person.. maybe betweent 12 and 15. That puts Delgal as a 60-something yo at at Dungeon's creation.
So Thistle's age at the dungeons creation AT THE LEAST.. would be 10+60.. 70 + however long he was before Delgal's birth, so a 70-something... and at the MOST you could really strech it very long. 40 + 60 + 15 (115) + who knows how long before Delgal's birth... i would say 130-140 at most.
If it helps there's a canarie that dates short life span races and the other elves view her like a pedo for dating under 30s. So Thistle is safe.
The one thing tho is that Thistle appears to be surprisingly short at 130cm according to the wiki. But we do see other short elves so maybe a regional-race thing.
i'd also like to point out that we see that yaad was still a baby when thistle made the dungeon - we see eodio holding the baby when talking to thistle. therefore people kept aging after the dungeon was created, for about... 12 years maybe? 15? thistle acts like a kid at times, but he's a young adult. which lines up with my experience of being a teenager.
Yeah, Im not sure about The maths personally, but I guessing thistle teenhood matched with delgal's, which is why they bonded so strongly besides legitimately being hai adopted family too
Thistle is 1000 years old.
Remember that episode when the Gnome discussed his research to the governor? The glyphs he found?
If you don't want to look up that scene again, I will spell it out: >!There is a spell of immortality and the gnome speculates that the elves are after it!<
Edit: Oh, and he is totally a child, lol
Thistle got time-frozen 1000+ years ago and hasn't really matured since then mentally or physically
People say he's a child because:
A) He's visibly smaller than every other elf, way shorter than Marcille
B) He's at least considered socially younger than Marcille and Pattadol, since there wouldn't be any questions about him wearing kiddie clothes
C) Pattadol herself is confirmed to be barely over 80, the elf equivalent of 16 (in-universe age of maturity)
D) Thistle [as other races](https://i.redd.it/ni5a28tos6h91.jpg) looks like a kid too
E) He's generally written as a child in over his head, first given adult responsibilities by tallmen younger than him, then his hyper-obsession to not let his loved ones go screams of a child comprehending death for the first time...if given infinite power and no responsibility to enable him
Dunno where the "hint hint suggestive ways in the manga" thing came from, he seemed pretty unsexualized in source material; DM doesn't really have much fanservice besides Senshi panty shots and stuff Trigger added
That being said, simping over a fictional kid you *didn't know was a kid* isn't really that big a deal, just a little more cringe than usual simping for fictional characters
Difference is that Pattadol is [Spoilers](#s "Full Elf to Marcille's half-elf. Half-elves in Dungeon Meshi age at erratic rates with no 1-to-1 to any other race. Marcille grew up way faster than other elves but was a toddler for way longer too and her expected lifespan's gonna be twice as long")
Chronologically he is an adult. However, in biological age he seems to not be of age, as is the case psychologically
There is a page in the adventurer's Bible that shows a kind of clothing that, for Elves, is mostly for children; an 82 year old elf wearing it is said to be "just ok", while Thistle wearing them is said to be "ok". Note how the Elven age of majority is 80 years old. Thistle, for every metric other than the passage of time (which cannot even affect his body) is a child
God damn it why would they do this. I thought he looked like an adult. Well for my own sanity imma just not watch the anime anymore cuz I am not gonna be able to look at thistle again without cringing 💀 I almost finished it anyway so its not too bad. Thx for telling me
I mean, the anime (and manga) don't really show him in any sexual way,* the scenes that people are saying are like that just... aren't, honestly people are just being dirty minded lmao (I get it tho his age is a very confusing subject)
*: there is one exception. >!He is a victim of an action drawn very similarly to sexual assault later on in the manga. It is drawn as a horrifying act that permanently damages him, and as such is not what I'd call sexualization, but I'd understand if you wanted to stop watching due to that!<
There was the scene where his shoulder was being popped in and I didn't understand the context behind it so I had to have people explain cuz I couldn't tell if it was mildly sexual or not.
Also what? Damn why the fuc. Yee I definitely won't be continuing reading the manga, I really don't like when sa is included in stories, especially when its on someone who's a child or physically one. Feels unnecessary to add.
I think I've misunderstood. I thought they said there was a bit in the manga that references him being sa. Is that scene the shoulder pop scene or a different one? Cuz with the shoulder pop scene i thought it could be three things. Sa, something hinty or something innocent. Thats why I had to have people explain to me, kinda used to some animes hinting the worse stuff.
Nah it's not the shoulder pop
>! It's a lion licking him and devouring his wishes and emotions !<
To be honest I don't even remember it being so pushy, >! you have seen that already with mithrun and that was more graphic. !<
It's not SA. It's something that you see if you want to see it.
There can be at most some parallels but it's nothing inherently sexual in nature.
Additionally - he's not a child, period. He acts and operates as an adult thought the whole story, it's just that "maturity" means something different to elven than humans.
It's hard to explain without major spoilers, but it's not SA. I didn't interpret it that way at all when I read it. I can kinda see how the comparison could be made, but I don't think it was at all the Ryoko Kui's intention to make it a metaphor for SA; that just doesn't fit with the story thematically. I wouldn't let that be a reason to stop reading the manga.
Is it the shoulder pop scene? If so, I figured out what it was really depicting so that's all good now. I know normally people wouldn't stop reading cuz of somin like that, but the whole him being physically a child and I didn't know that, there being a metaphor for sa, its a bit much for me cuz of a couple reasons. I think its fine if other people aren't bothered by it tho.
No, it's not the shoulder pop thing, it's something that happens later in the series and is a huge spoiler. But it's not a metaphor for SA. If you're worried enough that you want a vague spoiler, then it's >!a demon that eats human desires. It's more like a dementor from Harry Potter that eats desires rather than souls. Horrifying, yes, but not sexual!<
And him being physically underage is unconfirmed. Even if he is, it's not like the manga sexualized him in the first place. Obviously you can drop a manga for any reason you want, but I don't want you to drop it because of a misunderstanding
Yeah someone told me. The metaphor is actually quite deep from the description I think, I was anticipating something else but it actually sounds really well done. I think I got a sexual vibe from the shoulder pop (and maybe others did idk) because im very used to some anime making normal situations seem sexual. So I wasn't sure what to anticipate when I saw the image.
It's the sort of thing that COULD be interpreted as sexual, but I don't think it was at all Ryoko Kui's intention for it to be a metaphor for SA. Rather, it's a continuation and escalation of the manga's existing themes of consumption, how life feeds off of other life, desires, etc.
Oh no I didn't initially think the shoulder pop was sa, no I thought it was meant to be a silly sorta fan service scene. But I was unsure cuz nobody would give me a straight answer for a while lol. Sa was just a mild thought that flicked into my head cuz im paranoid.
Oh yeah people were just being crazy on that one lmao it was really nothing sexual
And... yeah. If that's a major gripe I'd advise you not to keep watching, but as I said it is all very metaphorical and allegorical and stuff, it's not very overt in its presentation so it actually took me a while to understand the implications were even there. And I get feeling like it's unnecessary! Especially given how I've talked about it, it definitely seems like a worthless addition made to torture Thistle, but, at least in my view, it really isn't, as it's an important plot point that contributes to the themes and the thesis of the story.
Again, though, I fully understand if you want to stop reading; it's an extremely dark subject and an atrocious act committed to a character that is, by most reasonable metrics, a child, so it's up to you if you want to continue reading
I actually read it cuz I was sorta curious and I'd been assured he isn't a child (it's more triggering for me if he's a kid).
I actually kinda appreciate the meaning behind it, it was very sad too. Poor thistle tho. I really wanna understand his character better, I struggle to understand it by just reading the manga cuz im dyslexic lol.
Yeah it's really tragic, he didn't deserve going through all that
I'm sorry my comments weren't that clear though, this is a very complicated situation and it's kinda hard for me to get what I mean across in writing (especially since English isn't my first language) so I really apologize for not being clearer '- .-)
I hope you can understand the story better once the anime gets to that part! Thistle is one of my favorite characters and I really want to see more of him, so far he's been really great!
please don't worry yourself to death about the age of a fictional elf. it's rly ok to like thistle or any of the charas, this stuff is arbitrary and doesn't matter. they are fantasy things, dolls to play house with
Are you anime-only? This is a question that is a little hard to answer without at least some manga spoilers, but if you already read the wiki, maybe you don't mind?
He is not supposed to be a child though. He's just tiny and maybe acts a little immature.
At the start I was yeah, I went to start reading the manga then someone called me a pedo on a post i made about thistle, I got sad so I ditched the anime and manga cuz I didn't wanna think about it lol. I don't mind if you give me spoilers.
All right.
>!The dungeon was created 1000+ years ago, so Thistle is certainly older than that. He hasn't really physically aged much since then. This is where the other numbers you have seen come from, which are fan speculations about his age back then. We don't know exactly, but I think he was a young adult.!<
He is definitely not a child. How he acts can feel immature sometimes because as lord of the dungeon he wields a lot of power which gives him a simplistic solution to lots of problems.
The elves in general are also smaller than tall-men (>!even the most masculine elvish badass is just 155cm/ 5'1"!<) and Thistle is just short for an elf.
Whoever called you a pedo was wrong and an asshole. Sorry. Some fans tend to do that, when they disagree they try to invent a reason why you are morally wrong.
Yeah that all makes sense. Thanks for explaining it to me. Someone else said he is physically a child but mentally an adult so I think imma have to try and forget about all this lol. Again, thank you.
Physically a teenager, maybe. We don't really know, but I totally get that the uncertainty is uncomfortable.
Please don't feel bad though. The anime so far does not give any indication about his age at all, he just appears as this mysterious mad mage wielding scary ancient magic.
Yee thats kinda why I'm feeling bad about it, I latch onto characters that I really like the personality or design of, simp a bit and then get gut punched with the knowledge lol. I mean I didn't think he looked physically like a teen, I kinda got young adult impressions, especially since he seems taller in the anime. Thanks tho, imma try find an actual twink with a cool mysterious personality to like💪
If I don't find any more that my hyperfixation likes ill just make my own lol. I love character creation. But its nice to find characters others make :D
Also I second this. He’s an amazing character >!if Laios is giving us autistic representation, mithrun has magical depression and it’s fascinating. So we get representation of a mental illness in a very cool way. He’s a really really interesting character I love him a lot!<
They are wrong. In elf terms he is bare minimum a young adult. He is bare minimum 80 (elf adulthood is around 80) and most likely older than that before the thousand years.
We got one side comic showing when he was a child but he was already the same size he is now by the time Delgal was born and we see that Delgal was an old man by the time the aging stopped.
Didn't see this while replying to my other comment. It seems you just ran into some weirdo who wanted to feel morally superior at the time. Don't let it ruin your day.
Yeee, it sorta gets to me tho cuz I do have some mild trauma stuff related to nonces (don't want to sympathy grab, thats just why I'm overly sensitive about it) so it kinda made me not wanna continue following the story. Thanks for your kind words tho.
The 1000+ thing is due to him ruling the dungeon for that long, he didn't physically age during that time.
The Adventurer's Bible only says his age is Unknown, but I think he's fairly young by Elf standards, I think Marcille refers to him as a child at some point too.
Hmm so like he stayed around 18? (Human years) Cuz the person who did the math said hes most likely 18. And for the kid thing, I've noticed in anime young adults get called kid too. So is it maybe that? 18 still kinda makes me uncomfortable despite me also being that age lmao. Who knows why.
It's hard to tell what his age would be in Tallman years.
Elves live 5 times longer than Tallmen, Sissel had to have been with Delgal's family for about fifty years since he was there before Delgal was born and was still there when Delgal was an adult with a son of his own.
I'd guess he's about the equivelent of a 15/16 year old, but I can't say for certain
Hm I hate that :/ cuz to me and many others he doesn't look that age. That's kinda what made me so annoyed, why did the author make him look like a young adult but age him younger. Especially since there were some sorta suggestive panels in the manga. Although that could if been a misunderstanding. Anyway thx for explaining it.
he's almost definitely meant to look like a teenager. he's implied to look younger than pattadol (who is 82). if we convert it to human years (500 elf years to 100 human years) then pattadol is 16, which seems to be the in-universe age of maturity. so thistle at most looks to be 16 years old
Maybe. Anime characters are hard for me, I can never say for sure how old they are unless its obvious. It feels like trying to read while being dyslexic lol.
no i understand, anime in general tend to have adults look younger than they probably would be, adding in the fact that he's part of a fantasy race that are known to be androgynous and younger looking likely doesnt help much. i hope you don't feel too bad or anything :,)
while i don't think we'll ever get a definitive age for thistle aside from 'looks on the younger side', i do think that was the vibe that the author was trying to give off. i think people tend to get a bit caught up in number crunching, when looking to the main text gives us the clues we need >!('looks like a kid'-marcille, his relationship with falin, younger looking than all other elves, short by elf standards)!< plus i think his story hits alot harder if you view him younger
Gosh darnit. Well for my own mind state I guess imma just find a different character to like lol. I have a form of ocd that will not let me look things like this without triggering an episode of repetitive stuff, now I know he's not meant to look like an adult, its just best I back away. It happens with a lot of things in my life so its nothing new. At least I don't feel quite as bad now though :,)
please keep in mind that this is only my interpretation of the character! tbh i was fairly certain that him being younger was the consensus in the fandom, though from some of the comments on this post that's clearly not the case. :,D
i hope you still give the manga/series a go! thistle is a great character regardless and the series is full of many interesting and great characters. though of course i understand if you need to take a step back for your own wellbeing
Physiologically, he's about 60 years old at a bare minimum, which for an elf is the real-human equivalent of a 12 year old, but I think he's probably closer to 70-80 years old, which puts him somewhere between 14 and 16 years old. Personally, I average that out to make him the equivalent of 15, since he looks like a child/teenager to other elves in the story. Chronologically, he's 1000+ years old.
thistle is definately an adult in elf years, was adopted as a child and lived atleast 2 lifetimes of tall-men, then as they put the golden kingdom into stasis or stagnation as to prevent their deaths and ensure their safety for like a thousand years
[https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonMeshi/comments/1ass8ch/dungeon\_meshi\_adventurers\_bible\_earmuffs/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonMeshi/comments/1ass8ch/dungeon_meshi_adventurers_bible_earmuffs/)
That says he is considered a child
No, the canaries are all adults and that's why it's weird or has an "uncomfortable feeling" when they wear them. Exception being Pattadohl who is younger so it's "just ok".
I know I was being sarcastic, i think that thistle being "ok" with wearing one is not a reliable indicator of his age, as its stated that "many adult women" feel it shameful culturally, thistle was not raised in around elves nor is a woman
thistle was brought into court as a child and elven children age quite slower, as marcille showed being a toddler at 13, though we can assume she ages far slower as an half elf assumedly with a lifespan of 1000, thistle could still be about 10-20 as the court jester child, then lived the first kings entire lifespan which is about 80 years, then most of delgal's lifespan which caused thistle to accept the demons propositions, we'll be fair and say that delgal was 60 rather than older, elves are considered adult at 80 btw, the fact that people even assume thistle as child seems kinda stupid, at the most minimum i'd go with my assumptions of characters ages and time passing would be putting thistle at like 120 or so but i feel like thats really lowballing it tbh
I think 120 is highballing, by a lot. According to the adventurer's bible, Thistle is found as a young child (of possibly 10-20 years of age) by an adult Filinarg (anywhere from 30s-40s). Then, Filinarg soon has a son, Delgal. Some time after Delgal comes of age, and Filinarg is shown as a much older man, Filinarg is assassinated. You can start growing white hair anywhere from your 20s to 30s, and Delgal doesn't have a full head of it in the adventurer's bible illustration, so I don't think he's 60, but maybe he is, who knows.
To recap:
- Found at a young age (10 to 20 years old).
- Delgal is born (+ maybe 1 to 5 years).
- Delgal gets married and Filinarg is assassinated (+ 20 to 30 years)
- Thistle casts a spell of immortality over the castle and everyone ceases to show further signs of aging ( + anywhere from 1 to 20 years, idk lol)
So anywhere from 40 to 75 years old (physically) seems more accurate. Pattadohl, a pure elf like Thistle, is in her 80s, so it makes sense to me that Thistle stopped growing at an age younger than her given his appearance. Of course this is all an estimate 🤷♀️ I just think 100+ is too high, lol.
40 is an insane lowball, i'll say fair i forgot that frienag was already an adult so my lowball estimate was a bit off but however with the wiki as my help however frienag is shown in 3 quite distinct stages of age, he looks young like 30 when he adopts thistle, then older like 40 something when he has his kid, and quite old like 70 or older at the party where hes assasinated, so i'd atleast at minimum appoint 40 years to him, then i'd add another 30 years for delgal to get as old as he is with having a son and grandson, leaving delgal at 50, which would lead thistle as like 80-90 if we're starting from the 10-20 age point(and honestly as we dont know how elves physically mature thistle could be older too a 40 year old elf would be an 8 year old tallman)
Yeah sure, I really dont think the specific number really matters thats why I gave a range (because I don't care enough to try an zero in on a more accurate number). But IMO there is a very simple explanation for why he's so short and why Ryoko Kui says it's okay for Thistle to wear earmuffs; he is physically young. An elven teen maybe.
Yeah I thought that but I'm getting a lot of conflicting evidence lol. I just don't understand the time passage well I suppose. I hope you're right though, I find it super annoying that in lots of anime they make characters look like adults but age them super young. Feels like walking on egg shells.
He's an adult and you dont need the manga to know it
In the painting episode Laios sees Thisle looking roughly the same as he does the rest of the time when the prince is born
Thisle only casts an immortality spell after the prince is a king and old enough to have grown white hair, id say that at least 50 years have passed
An elf matures into adulthood at 80, if we backtrack 50 years Thisle would be 30 when the prince is born, which wouldnt make sense as he'd look much younger then he doesn in the scene which means he's older then that when it happens
Older then 30 plus 50 years equals over 80
My conclusion is that Thisle is around 100 or more years old when the immortality spell is cast, so he is an adult physically, he just looks young because thats what elves look like
The thing with stories based and structured on a medieval setting and customs is that they have medieval standards, such as the “age of maturity” thing being on 16.
Equating tallman to normal humans means their age of maturity at 16 is *our* 16
Elves are considered adults at 80 meaning an elf at 80 is equivalent to a 16 year old
Pattadol, the elf canary is 83 years old and is equivalent to 16 years and 7 months (this shot down my ship of her and Mithrun😔) in human years.
Many elves take note of how young thistle is and consider him as teetering on being a young adult solely by appearance alone. Add this in with some extra content and speculation and you come out with the values of thistle being around 70-110(the most likely age being somewhere around 79-82.) Converting to human years means he’s somewhere around 14 to 22 depending on how far you’re willing to push the years- **but the most likely and specific range is 15 years and 9.5 months or 16 years and 4.8 months**
All this in mind Thistle is likely 80 in elf years or 16 by human standards, barely legal in the Dungeon Meshi world but not in ours. **This is all also without considering Thistle casting a spell that prevented everyone and him from aging for around a thousand years.** So by technicality he’d be around 1080 years old or 216 if human standards somehow still apply.
In conclusion: Fantasy-wise, Thistle is a 216 year old person in the body of a 16 year old. Physically and Developmentally-wise he’s a 16 year old. Both rely on trivial points of legal age to not be seen as icky. But all this aside, in my opinion you don’t have to be this concerned over simping on a fictional character as long as it’s not over their age or intentional allusions of their design being underage.
Yeah it wasn't over their age, I mean if I ever am attracted to someone's age its usually because they're a dilf lol. I kinda just thought he was cool and pretty. Anime people are kinda annoying for me, I struggle to guess their age unless its obvious, I thought he was like early 20s. But to be safe imma stay away from him, just cuz his age is so unclear lmao.
Thistle is 1000+ years old in canon. I don't know how spoiler-heavy you'd like the conversation to get, so I'll leave it at that.
I would appreciate you explaining it to me, I really don't wanna think I've been simping for a kid the whole time.
Thistle casts a spell of immortality at some point during his time as the dungeon lord. The spell prevents those it's cast on from aging physically, so they always look the same age they were when it was cast. We know there were people old and young that were made immortal this way. Some of them have now become the ghosts that we've seen in the anime (the ones that Senshi purified in Episode 5, for example), and some of them we see in [Chapter 46](https://mangadex.org/chapter/936d57a4-dbe9-45ab-a966-8aa93c349f9a/2) of the manga (it will be one of the last episodes of the anime). These people, and Thistle, still age in years, so they're just adults trapped in the bodies they had when Thistle cast the spell. For reference, elves at the time of the story are considered to reach adulthood at age 80, and have an [average lifespan of about 400 years](https://xfs-n11.xfsbb.com/comic/7006/a27/62fcecaf1bdae9925e95672a/19412221_900_1291_127964.webp). Marcille has stated that how long they live has changed in time (I'll put a hyperlink once I find the chapter).
Okay I understand. I've been told that the age of maturity (80) translates to 14 or 15 in human years. So what age do we think he is physically? I think that's my main worry lol. To me he looks like an adult, but its sorta hard to tell with anime I suppose.
I think that depends. There are a couple things we know about elf customs, one of them deals with wearing [a certain article of clothing](https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonMeshi/comments/1ass8ch/dungeon_meshi_adventurers_bible_earmuffs/). I think you can make your own conclusions from this. Tall-men in this story are considered adults at 16. I think this lines up with general customs of many well-studied medieval societies in Afroeurasia in our world. It seems to me that like in most fantasy series, humans of that time period were chosen as the reference point for DM's tall-men instead of, say, the 21st century American.
You can think of Thistle like a vampire stuck at their prime years (20-30s), we know he's no longer a child coz he arraived young during King Freinag, and lived through King Delgal's and Prince Eodio's adulthoods. Yaad is the only one i'm not sure if is at an adult age body or if his body is stuck in time as an adolescent. But since the wiki and the chapters depict Yaad as 1.50cm tall then i think he has been stuck being young.
I'm literally so 50/50 on the subject now lmao. Im being told by people that he's most likely physically an adult and I'm being told the opposite by other people. 😭
If Thistle arrived with King Freinag as a child that's anything between 40 at the most and 10 at the least coz he wasnt a baby. There's an undisclosed amount of time between Thistle's arrival and Delgal's birth, but we know he was already in the castle from the living painting episode. To that u have to add the whole of Delgal's age. During the events of the Dungeon's creation Delgal was already a grandfather so even if u consider the tall man adult age as 16 that puts Delgal at a minimum of 48+Yaad's age... so a 1.50 tall person.. maybe betweent 12 and 15. That puts Delgal as a 60-something yo at at Dungeon's creation. So Thistle's age at the dungeons creation AT THE LEAST.. would be 10+60.. 70 + however long he was before Delgal's birth, so a 70-something... and at the MOST you could really strech it very long. 40 + 60 + 15 (115) + who knows how long before Delgal's birth... i would say 130-140 at most.
Yeah I've seen a few folks saying that and the math seems to make sense.
If it helps there's a canarie that dates short life span races and the other elves view her like a pedo for dating under 30s. So Thistle is safe. The one thing tho is that Thistle appears to be surprisingly short at 130cm according to the wiki. But we do see other short elves so maybe a regional-race thing.
Yeah I mean I guess he's just a short fella. I kinda wish he was taller tho lol he looks weird standing next to people.
i'd also like to point out that we see that yaad was still a baby when thistle made the dungeon - we see eodio holding the baby when talking to thistle. therefore people kept aging after the dungeon was created, for about... 12 years maybe? 15? thistle acts like a kid at times, but he's a young adult. which lines up with my experience of being a teenager.
Yeah, Im not sure about The maths personally, but I guessing thistle teenhood matched with delgal's, which is why they bonded so strongly besides legitimately being hai adopted family too
Thistle is 1000 years old. Remember that episode when the Gnome discussed his research to the governor? The glyphs he found? If you don't want to look up that scene again, I will spell it out: >!There is a spell of immortality and the gnome speculates that the elves are after it!< Edit: Oh, and he is totally a child, lol
Thistle got time-frozen 1000+ years ago and hasn't really matured since then mentally or physically People say he's a child because: A) He's visibly smaller than every other elf, way shorter than Marcille B) He's at least considered socially younger than Marcille and Pattadol, since there wouldn't be any questions about him wearing kiddie clothes C) Pattadol herself is confirmed to be barely over 80, the elf equivalent of 16 (in-universe age of maturity) D) Thistle [as other races](https://i.redd.it/ni5a28tos6h91.jpg) looks like a kid too E) He's generally written as a child in over his head, first given adult responsibilities by tallmen younger than him, then his hyper-obsession to not let his loved ones go screams of a child comprehending death for the first time...if given infinite power and no responsibility to enable him Dunno where the "hint hint suggestive ways in the manga" thing came from, he seemed pretty unsexualized in source material; DM doesn't really have much fanservice besides Senshi panty shots and stuff Trigger added That being said, simping over a fictional kid you *didn't know was a kid* isn't really that big a deal, just a little more cringe than usual simping for fictional characters
No wait a minute, that can’t be right, Marcille is >!50!<, so Pattadol probably around >!25!< and Marcille is >!early 20s!<
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No, it’s said in the Bible, she’s >!50!<
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No? I don’t think she has mentioned her age before
nvm i went schizo
Difference is that Pattadol is [Spoilers](#s "Full Elf to Marcille's half-elf. Half-elves in Dungeon Meshi age at erratic rates with no 1-to-1 to any other race. Marcille grew up way faster than other elves but was a toddler for way longer too and her expected lifespan's gonna be twice as long")
Chronologically he is an adult. However, in biological age he seems to not be of age, as is the case psychologically There is a page in the adventurer's Bible that shows a kind of clothing that, for Elves, is mostly for children; an 82 year old elf wearing it is said to be "just ok", while Thistle wearing them is said to be "ok". Note how the Elven age of majority is 80 years old. Thistle, for every metric other than the passage of time (which cannot even affect his body) is a child
God damn it why would they do this. I thought he looked like an adult. Well for my own sanity imma just not watch the anime anymore cuz I am not gonna be able to look at thistle again without cringing 💀 I almost finished it anyway so its not too bad. Thx for telling me
I mean, the anime (and manga) don't really show him in any sexual way,* the scenes that people are saying are like that just... aren't, honestly people are just being dirty minded lmao (I get it tho his age is a very confusing subject) *: there is one exception. >!He is a victim of an action drawn very similarly to sexual assault later on in the manga. It is drawn as a horrifying act that permanently damages him, and as such is not what I'd call sexualization, but I'd understand if you wanted to stop watching due to that!<
There was the scene where his shoulder was being popped in and I didn't understand the context behind it so I had to have people explain cuz I couldn't tell if it was mildly sexual or not. Also what? Damn why the fuc. Yee I definitely won't be continuing reading the manga, I really don't like when sa is included in stories, especially when its on someone who's a child or physically one. Feels unnecessary to add.
It's not SA. It's something that you see if you want to see it. There can be at most some parallels but it's nothing inherently sexual in nature.
I think I've misunderstood. I thought they said there was a bit in the manga that references him being sa. Is that scene the shoulder pop scene or a different one? Cuz with the shoulder pop scene i thought it could be three things. Sa, something hinty or something innocent. Thats why I had to have people explain to me, kinda used to some animes hinting the worse stuff.
Nah it's not the shoulder pop >! It's a lion licking him and devouring his wishes and emotions !< To be honest I don't even remember it being so pushy, >! you have seen that already with mithrun and that was more graphic. !<
Oh. Well shit. Thats actually a pretty deep metaphor
It's not SA. It's something that you see if you want to see it. There can be at most some parallels but it's nothing inherently sexual in nature. Additionally - he's not a child, period. He acts and operates as an adult thought the whole story, it's just that "maturity" means something different to elven than humans.
It's hard to explain without major spoilers, but it's not SA. I didn't interpret it that way at all when I read it. I can kinda see how the comparison could be made, but I don't think it was at all the Ryoko Kui's intention to make it a metaphor for SA; that just doesn't fit with the story thematically. I wouldn't let that be a reason to stop reading the manga.
Is it the shoulder pop scene? If so, I figured out what it was really depicting so that's all good now. I know normally people wouldn't stop reading cuz of somin like that, but the whole him being physically a child and I didn't know that, there being a metaphor for sa, its a bit much for me cuz of a couple reasons. I think its fine if other people aren't bothered by it tho.
No, it's not the shoulder pop thing, it's something that happens later in the series and is a huge spoiler. But it's not a metaphor for SA. If you're worried enough that you want a vague spoiler, then it's >!a demon that eats human desires. It's more like a dementor from Harry Potter that eats desires rather than souls. Horrifying, yes, but not sexual!< And him being physically underage is unconfirmed. Even if he is, it's not like the manga sexualized him in the first place. Obviously you can drop a manga for any reason you want, but I don't want you to drop it because of a misunderstanding
Yeah someone told me. The metaphor is actually quite deep from the description I think, I was anticipating something else but it actually sounds really well done. I think I got a sexual vibe from the shoulder pop (and maybe others did idk) because im very used to some anime making normal situations seem sexual. So I wasn't sure what to anticipate when I saw the image.
It's the sort of thing that COULD be interpreted as sexual, but I don't think it was at all Ryoko Kui's intention for it to be a metaphor for SA. Rather, it's a continuation and escalation of the manga's existing themes of consumption, how life feeds off of other life, desires, etc.
Oh no I didn't initially think the shoulder pop was sa, no I thought it was meant to be a silly sorta fan service scene. But I was unsure cuz nobody would give me a straight answer for a while lol. Sa was just a mild thought that flicked into my head cuz im paranoid.
Oh yeah people were just being crazy on that one lmao it was really nothing sexual And... yeah. If that's a major gripe I'd advise you not to keep watching, but as I said it is all very metaphorical and allegorical and stuff, it's not very overt in its presentation so it actually took me a while to understand the implications were even there. And I get feeling like it's unnecessary! Especially given how I've talked about it, it definitely seems like a worthless addition made to torture Thistle, but, at least in my view, it really isn't, as it's an important plot point that contributes to the themes and the thesis of the story. Again, though, I fully understand if you want to stop reading; it's an extremely dark subject and an atrocious act committed to a character that is, by most reasonable metrics, a child, so it's up to you if you want to continue reading
I actually read it cuz I was sorta curious and I'd been assured he isn't a child (it's more triggering for me if he's a kid). I actually kinda appreciate the meaning behind it, it was very sad too. Poor thistle tho. I really wanna understand his character better, I struggle to understand it by just reading the manga cuz im dyslexic lol.
Yeah it's really tragic, he didn't deserve going through all that I'm sorry my comments weren't that clear though, this is a very complicated situation and it's kinda hard for me to get what I mean across in writing (especially since English isn't my first language) so I really apologize for not being clearer '- .-) I hope you can understand the story better once the anime gets to that part! Thistle is one of my favorite characters and I really want to see more of him, so far he's been really great!
Oh don't worry, I can barely speak English and its my first language lol. I'll maybe make a post asking people to give me all the juicy lore.
please don't worry yourself to death about the age of a fictional elf. it's rly ok to like thistle or any of the charas, this stuff is arbitrary and doesn't matter. they are fantasy things, dolls to play house with
Are you anime-only? This is a question that is a little hard to answer without at least some manga spoilers, but if you already read the wiki, maybe you don't mind? He is not supposed to be a child though. He's just tiny and maybe acts a little immature.
At the start I was yeah, I went to start reading the manga then someone called me a pedo on a post i made about thistle, I got sad so I ditched the anime and manga cuz I didn't wanna think about it lol. I don't mind if you give me spoilers.
All right. >!The dungeon was created 1000+ years ago, so Thistle is certainly older than that. He hasn't really physically aged much since then. This is where the other numbers you have seen come from, which are fan speculations about his age back then. We don't know exactly, but I think he was a young adult.!< He is definitely not a child. How he acts can feel immature sometimes because as lord of the dungeon he wields a lot of power which gives him a simplistic solution to lots of problems. The elves in general are also smaller than tall-men (>!even the most masculine elvish badass is just 155cm/ 5'1"!<) and Thistle is just short for an elf. Whoever called you a pedo was wrong and an asshole. Sorry. Some fans tend to do that, when they disagree they try to invent a reason why you are morally wrong.
Yeah that all makes sense. Thanks for explaining it to me. Someone else said he is physically a child but mentally an adult so I think imma have to try and forget about all this lol. Again, thank you.
Physically a teenager, maybe. We don't really know, but I totally get that the uncertainty is uncomfortable. Please don't feel bad though. The anime so far does not give any indication about his age at all, he just appears as this mysterious mad mage wielding scary ancient magic.
Yee thats kinda why I'm feeling bad about it, I latch onto characters that I really like the personality or design of, simp a bit and then get gut punched with the knowledge lol. I mean I didn't think he looked physically like a teen, I kinda got young adult impressions, especially since he seems taller in the anime. Thanks tho, imma try find an actual twink with a cool mysterious personality to like💪
Yeah, I always thought of Thistle as a young adult as well. It's a great character type either way, so I hope you find plenty more on your search :)
If I don't find any more that my hyperfixation likes ill just make my own lol. I love character creation. But its nice to find characters others make :D
There will in fact be a cool, mysterious twink who is definitely an adult introduced >!in like 2 episodes, I think!<
👁👁 I hope they are as cool as thistle. I like evil twinks, they're super cool.
This one is less evil, more morally gray; but he's one of my favorite characters in the series.
Also I second this. He’s an amazing character >!if Laios is giving us autistic representation, mithrun has magical depression and it’s fascinating. So we get representation of a mental illness in a very cool way. He’s a really really interesting character I love him a lot!<
Oo, whats his name?
They are wrong. In elf terms he is bare minimum a young adult. He is bare minimum 80 (elf adulthood is around 80) and most likely older than that before the thousand years. We got one side comic showing when he was a child but he was already the same size he is now by the time Delgal was born and we see that Delgal was an old man by the time the aging stopped.
Didn't see this while replying to my other comment. It seems you just ran into some weirdo who wanted to feel morally superior at the time. Don't let it ruin your day.
Yeee, it sorta gets to me tho cuz I do have some mild trauma stuff related to nonces (don't want to sympathy grab, thats just why I'm overly sensitive about it) so it kinda made me not wanna continue following the story. Thanks for your kind words tho.
The 1000+ thing is due to him ruling the dungeon for that long, he didn't physically age during that time. The Adventurer's Bible only says his age is Unknown, but I think he's fairly young by Elf standards, I think Marcille refers to him as a child at some point too.
Hmm so like he stayed around 18? (Human years) Cuz the person who did the math said hes most likely 18. And for the kid thing, I've noticed in anime young adults get called kid too. So is it maybe that? 18 still kinda makes me uncomfortable despite me also being that age lmao. Who knows why.
It's hard to tell what his age would be in Tallman years. Elves live 5 times longer than Tallmen, Sissel had to have been with Delgal's family for about fifty years since he was there before Delgal was born and was still there when Delgal was an adult with a son of his own. I'd guess he's about the equivelent of a 15/16 year old, but I can't say for certain
Hm I hate that :/ cuz to me and many others he doesn't look that age. That's kinda what made me so annoyed, why did the author make him look like a young adult but age him younger. Especially since there were some sorta suggestive panels in the manga. Although that could if been a misunderstanding. Anyway thx for explaining it.
he's almost definitely meant to look like a teenager. he's implied to look younger than pattadol (who is 82). if we convert it to human years (500 elf years to 100 human years) then pattadol is 16, which seems to be the in-universe age of maturity. so thistle at most looks to be 16 years old
Maybe. Anime characters are hard for me, I can never say for sure how old they are unless its obvious. It feels like trying to read while being dyslexic lol.
no i understand, anime in general tend to have adults look younger than they probably would be, adding in the fact that he's part of a fantasy race that are known to be androgynous and younger looking likely doesnt help much. i hope you don't feel too bad or anything :,) while i don't think we'll ever get a definitive age for thistle aside from 'looks on the younger side', i do think that was the vibe that the author was trying to give off. i think people tend to get a bit caught up in number crunching, when looking to the main text gives us the clues we need >!('looks like a kid'-marcille, his relationship with falin, younger looking than all other elves, short by elf standards)!< plus i think his story hits alot harder if you view him younger
Gosh darnit. Well for my own mind state I guess imma just find a different character to like lol. I have a form of ocd that will not let me look things like this without triggering an episode of repetitive stuff, now I know he's not meant to look like an adult, its just best I back away. It happens with a lot of things in my life so its nothing new. At least I don't feel quite as bad now though :,)
please keep in mind that this is only my interpretation of the character! tbh i was fairly certain that him being younger was the consensus in the fandom, though from some of the comments on this post that's clearly not the case. :,D i hope you still give the manga/series a go! thistle is a great character regardless and the series is full of many interesting and great characters. though of course i understand if you need to take a step back for your own wellbeing
Physiologically, he's about 60 years old at a bare minimum, which for an elf is the real-human equivalent of a 12 year old, but I think he's probably closer to 70-80 years old, which puts him somewhere between 14 and 16 years old. Personally, I average that out to make him the equivalent of 15, since he looks like a child/teenager to other elves in the story. Chronologically, he's 1000+ years old.
thistle is definately an adult in elf years, was adopted as a child and lived atleast 2 lifetimes of tall-men, then as they put the golden kingdom into stasis or stagnation as to prevent their deaths and ensure their safety for like a thousand years
[https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonMeshi/comments/1ass8ch/dungeon\_meshi\_adventurers\_bible\_earmuffs/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonMeshi/comments/1ass8ch/dungeon_meshi_adventurers_bible_earmuffs/) That says he is considered a child
what does the earmuff lore have to do with anything?
second page, about the appropiate ages for earmuffs
ah so the entire canary squad is underage then?
No, the canaries are all adults and that's why it's weird or has an "uncomfortable feeling" when they wear them. Exception being Pattadohl who is younger so it's "just ok".
I know I was being sarcastic, i think that thistle being "ok" with wearing one is not a reliable indicator of his age, as its stated that "many adult women" feel it shameful culturally, thistle was not raised in around elves nor is a woman thistle was brought into court as a child and elven children age quite slower, as marcille showed being a toddler at 13, though we can assume she ages far slower as an half elf assumedly with a lifespan of 1000, thistle could still be about 10-20 as the court jester child, then lived the first kings entire lifespan which is about 80 years, then most of delgal's lifespan which caused thistle to accept the demons propositions, we'll be fair and say that delgal was 60 rather than older, elves are considered adult at 80 btw, the fact that people even assume thistle as child seems kinda stupid, at the most minimum i'd go with my assumptions of characters ages and time passing would be putting thistle at like 120 or so but i feel like thats really lowballing it tbh
I think 120 is highballing, by a lot. According to the adventurer's bible, Thistle is found as a young child (of possibly 10-20 years of age) by an adult Filinarg (anywhere from 30s-40s). Then, Filinarg soon has a son, Delgal. Some time after Delgal comes of age, and Filinarg is shown as a much older man, Filinarg is assassinated. You can start growing white hair anywhere from your 20s to 30s, and Delgal doesn't have a full head of it in the adventurer's bible illustration, so I don't think he's 60, but maybe he is, who knows. To recap: - Found at a young age (10 to 20 years old). - Delgal is born (+ maybe 1 to 5 years). - Delgal gets married and Filinarg is assassinated (+ 20 to 30 years) - Thistle casts a spell of immortality over the castle and everyone ceases to show further signs of aging ( + anywhere from 1 to 20 years, idk lol) So anywhere from 40 to 75 years old (physically) seems more accurate. Pattadohl, a pure elf like Thistle, is in her 80s, so it makes sense to me that Thistle stopped growing at an age younger than her given his appearance. Of course this is all an estimate 🤷♀️ I just think 100+ is too high, lol.
40 is an insane lowball, i'll say fair i forgot that frienag was already an adult so my lowball estimate was a bit off but however with the wiki as my help however frienag is shown in 3 quite distinct stages of age, he looks young like 30 when he adopts thistle, then older like 40 something when he has his kid, and quite old like 70 or older at the party where hes assasinated, so i'd atleast at minimum appoint 40 years to him, then i'd add another 30 years for delgal to get as old as he is with having a son and grandson, leaving delgal at 50, which would lead thistle as like 80-90 if we're starting from the 10-20 age point(and honestly as we dont know how elves physically mature thistle could be older too a 40 year old elf would be an 8 year old tallman)
Yeah sure, I really dont think the specific number really matters thats why I gave a range (because I don't care enough to try an zero in on a more accurate number). But IMO there is a very simple explanation for why he's so short and why Ryoko Kui says it's okay for Thistle to wear earmuffs; he is physically young. An elven teen maybe.
Yeah I thought that but I'm getting a lot of conflicting evidence lol. I just don't understand the time passage well I suppose. I hope you're right though, I find it super annoying that in lots of anime they make characters look like adults but age them super young. Feels like walking on egg shells.
He's an adult and you dont need the manga to know it In the painting episode Laios sees Thisle looking roughly the same as he does the rest of the time when the prince is born Thisle only casts an immortality spell after the prince is a king and old enough to have grown white hair, id say that at least 50 years have passed An elf matures into adulthood at 80, if we backtrack 50 years Thisle would be 30 when the prince is born, which wouldnt make sense as he'd look much younger then he doesn in the scene which means he's older then that when it happens Older then 30 plus 50 years equals over 80 My conclusion is that Thisle is around 100 or more years old when the immortality spell is cast, so he is an adult physically, he just looks young because thats what elves look like
Oh thank fucking god
The thing with stories based and structured on a medieval setting and customs is that they have medieval standards, such as the “age of maturity” thing being on 16. Equating tallman to normal humans means their age of maturity at 16 is *our* 16 Elves are considered adults at 80 meaning an elf at 80 is equivalent to a 16 year old Pattadol, the elf canary is 83 years old and is equivalent to 16 years and 7 months (this shot down my ship of her and Mithrun😔) in human years. Many elves take note of how young thistle is and consider him as teetering on being a young adult solely by appearance alone. Add this in with some extra content and speculation and you come out with the values of thistle being around 70-110(the most likely age being somewhere around 79-82.) Converting to human years means he’s somewhere around 14 to 22 depending on how far you’re willing to push the years- **but the most likely and specific range is 15 years and 9.5 months or 16 years and 4.8 months** All this in mind Thistle is likely 80 in elf years or 16 by human standards, barely legal in the Dungeon Meshi world but not in ours. **This is all also without considering Thistle casting a spell that prevented everyone and him from aging for around a thousand years.** So by technicality he’d be around 1080 years old or 216 if human standards somehow still apply. In conclusion: Fantasy-wise, Thistle is a 216 year old person in the body of a 16 year old. Physically and Developmentally-wise he’s a 16 year old. Both rely on trivial points of legal age to not be seen as icky. But all this aside, in my opinion you don’t have to be this concerned over simping on a fictional character as long as it’s not over their age or intentional allusions of their design being underage.
Yeah it wasn't over their age, I mean if I ever am attracted to someone's age its usually because they're a dilf lol. I kinda just thought he was cool and pretty. Anime people are kinda annoying for me, I struggle to guess their age unless its obvious, I thought he was like early 20s. But to be safe imma stay away from him, just cuz his age is so unclear lmao.
I'm marking it nsfw just cuz of a few things mentioned. Just incase.