beautiful orc girl leed helllOOOOO beautiful leed alert oh my GOD she's so cool WOOAHHHH beautiful siilly girl she was really pretty and awesome and so kind i think shes wonderful and there should be a statue made just for her thats really big and in the center of everything and she should get anything she wants ever smile face

Perhaps some day we could have a serious conversation about why despite her amazing character designs and great variety in body types compared to other mangaka, Kui Ryoko still chose to have all but one (two arguably) of the characters with an active leader role in the story of Dungeon Meshi to be men.

Spoilers below.

It is a fantastic manga, to quote a post I've read a while ago (paraphrasing), Dunmeshi is 95 chapters long and no panel is irrelevant. But! Out of all the groups in the story only one is led by a woman (elf queen) and she does not actually participate in it.

Laios' party has Marcille, but she is at best "second in command" if you will, as much as Chilchuck is.

Kabru's party, the orcs, the governor(s), the gnomes' party, the canaries, Shuro's party, the dwarfs and even the golden kingdom (Delgal and Thistle). Fionil and Doni are minor characters and they're a party of two, we could assume both share the "leader" position.

One can find excuses to each of those choices, but at the end of the day the choice was made to make them men.

Kabru could have been a woman, it would not change anything at all.

Zon and Leed could have swapped places, with the older sister leading and taking a less violent approach to the hotheaded younger brother.

Either/both of the governors could have been women, no difference.

The leading, more vocal and abrasive of the gnomes could have been the old lady and the quiet one the old man. I struggle to see if anything would change at all.

The canaries are mostly women, and they were led by Milsiril back in the day and the queen leads them, technically. Still, the choice was made to have Mithrun in the role of Mithrun with everything it represents. Could it have been the younger sister that has her love stolen by the older one, would the dynamics be the same? Tempted to have the life she could not get by the demon, getting eaten (but not fully!) and seeking revenge? Would Milsiril spare her this time? We can't tell, Mithrun is a man. It was a choice made by Kui-sensei.

Could Shuro have been a woman? Seeing as he's the fantasy equivalent of a japanese young lord(!) probably not(?) in terms of how it would be presented. A young lady with her entourage chasing after her unrequited love and getting beaten to it by another lesbian? Sorry but this looks like the kind of ntr I enjoy now. But I don't think it would be the same conflict with Shuro/Marcille and Shuro/Laios. It could(!) work, but not in the kind of story where (almost) all the leaders are men.

Could the dwarves have been women? I don't see why not. Senshi could have been inspired by a mother figure (or older sister) as much as he was by his mentor (whether you see it as a father/older brother/something else figure). All the women in the party starving while the young kid survives? I won't even call it sexist (<- not joking).

Could Delgal have been a queen instead? What about Yaad being a princess? Or Thistle, still a jester but a woman now? Which manga readers thought he was, for a while. It would require an author that doesn't put the importance on the king while the queen is irrelevant.

Am I overthinking things? There are a lot of important characters who are women in the story of Dunmeshi. People have jokingly described the plot as a lesbian trying to resurrect her girlfriend, and it would be accurate although not fully correct.

But the issue remains that all leaders except for the elf queen are men. I don't believe it was by chance. It might have been a deliberate choice for reasons that I can see, or it might have been completely unconscious when designing the characters and writing the story.

What a shame.

I had seen some memes recently about Thistle's response to the dragon turning into Falin, but I had forgotten how truly oblivious he really was. Completely ignoring what the ghosts had to say, too

I had also forgotten about the vanguard group of orcs that were still around. Leed was pretty relevant in the final chapters of the manga, but she was just "the chief's little sister" at that point, not this warrior leader. That was great

MCU sword and sorcery au

This is a purely medieval setting like Narnia, the dragon prince or Warcraft. Mostly because I don’t want to clog up my modern fantasy/88 tag. Anyway. Let’s begin

The kingdom of California: oldest kingdom, technologically advanced and prosperous. Allied with Manhattan.

Anthony Stark. King

Virginia Stark. Queen.

Morgan Stark. Only child and heir

Peter Parker. Anthony’s ward and squire

Harley Keener. Anthony’s beneficiary and squire.

James Rhodes. Knight and Anthony’s best friend

Harold Hogan. Anthony’s bodyguard

May Hogan. Peter’s aunt and guardian. Virginia’s lady’s maid. Harold’s wife

Steven Stark. Anthony’s adoptive brother. Wanda’s husband.

Buchanan Stark. Anthony’s adoptive brother.

Bruce Banner. Court inventor. Cursed to be a wereorc.

Michelle Jones. Rhodes’s ward. Peter’s lover.

Edward Leeds. Bruce’s apprentice. Peter’s best friend

Carol Danvers. Anthony’s court mage.

Nicolas Fury. Anthony’s chief advisor.

Maria Hill. Captain of the army

The Kingdom of Manhattan: made up mostly of farmers and archers but still advanced and prosperous. Allied with California.

Clinton Barton. King.

Laura Barton. Queen

Cooper Barton. First born and heir

Lila Barton. Middle child.

Nathaniel Barton. Youngest child

Natasha Banner. Clinton’s adoptive sister. Captain of the army. Bruce’s wife

Wanda Rogers. Clinton’s ward and court mage. Stevens wife.

Pietro Maximoff. Clinton’s ward, Wanda’s twin brother and assistant.

Thomas Rogers. Wanda’s son. Inherited her magic. Steven’s stepson

William Rogers. Wanda’s son. Inherited her magic. Thomas’s twin brother. Steven’s stepson

Kate Bishop. Clinton’s ward and star archer.

Yelena Belova. Natasha’s long lost sister. Knight in training

Allies to the allied kingdoms: these people live on the border between California and Manhattan and have helped them both. Sometimes against their better judgment

Henry Pym. Inventor.

Janet Pym. Inventor. Henry’s wife

Scott Lang. Small time bandit. Ally to Steven Stark

Hope Lang. Inventor. Henry and Janet’s daughter. Scott’s second wife

James Paxton. Sheriff.

Margaret Paxton. James Paxton’s wife. Scott’s ex wife

Cassandra Lang. Scott and Maggie’s daughter

Stephen Strange. Healer. Sorcerer at Kamar-Taj.

Kingdom of Asgard and the Guardians: Asgard is a kingdom in the vast mountain ranges. The Guardians are a group of freelance mercenaries currently settled in the kingdom

Thor Odinson. King

Valkyrie Odinson. Queen

Loki Laufeyson. Frost Giant. Thor’s adoptive brother. And a constant pain in his side.

Sylvie Laufeydottir. Frost Giant. Loki’s literal other half and lover

Peter Quill. Half dark magus. Leader of the Guardians. Grew up as part of the marauding Ravagers before setting off on his own

Gamora Quill. Orc. Adoptive daughter of a warlord before she escaped. Fantastic warrior. Quill’s wife.

Drax. Troll. A great warrior and chieftain until his entire clan was wiped out. Now allied with Quill

Rocket. Used to be a regular human. But was cursed into the form of a sentient raccoon. Weapons expert

Groot. The spirit of a sentient tree. Rocket’s surrogate son

Mantis Quill. Half wood elf. Half dark magus. Peter Quill’s half sister. Drax’s adoptive daughter

Kraglin Obfonteri. Human. Quill’s adoptive brother in their old Ravagers clan

Nebula Obfenteri. Dark elf. Gamora’s adoptive sisters. Also escaped from Thanos a little while after her. Sees Anthony as a father figure. Kraglin’s wife.

The heretic hoard: criminals, murderers and villains working against the allied kingdoms

Thanos. Orc warlord. Kidnapped trained and abused Gamora and Nebula from a young age

Obadiah Stane. Anthony’s old regent. Uses his knowledge of the kingdom to help the hoard win

Quentin Beck. Dark magus. Anthonys former mage. Is the only one who’s ever come close to beating Parker in a fight.

Yon-Rogg. Carol’s former mentor who intentionally sabotaged her training to keep her under his thumb.

Agatha Harkness. Psychotic witch. Wanda’s nemesis.

Alexander Pearce. Former friend and ally of Nicholas Fury.

Mobius M Mobius. Loki and Sylvia’s former captor.

Eugene Thompson. Dark magus in training. Quentin’s protégé. Peter Parker’s old bully.

i dont want this to come across as accusatory because im sure you just didnt know but leed (the orc leader girl) is 14 🫡

WHAT

edit: so she IS 14, but orcs are short-lived races and 14 is adulthood for them per the wiki!

and she leaves friday first and yes tommorrow more vorticies opened.  ajnd huge huge ones. gigantic.  and he is nuts but not stupid w e checked. still intact.  works well with others lol.  if sai right adn did right and has an angel and more like any smarter person.  true he sees..ok bo we go there too.  and i am not orlando...lol...sure your not qe says and this happens lol...we go then...hes out mac you idiot...and nice to me ok.  nice as he has to so do you where are you there...lke in pirates...ok.  lol  a man.  shes the man no thats m song i see though lol. we do this tommorrow well shortly.  four and a half hours. preppoing eating...writing notes and letters emails getting stuff...no we dont need hobbit houses well. we need some and they are there...at the tip of Africa and garth is in sales.  preps and we send over a city...tons of them...special ones a huge bar for short people.  tons of them no a few.  and pub like food pies and meat pies.  tons say lets go look a gleam in thier eye for gold diamonds and joy of hobbitown...and there is a hologram of th scene and it is done well.  huge one no. done well.  they see it there.  and say wow.  and food and drink served in them all day all  night now.  has been.  tons of them go.  horses and karts sturdy light and wooden.  huge arms sales swords. bja sells his handmade ones and they rust but are real steel not weak titanium that cracks breaks. tons see it. and try and buy adn are in.  they go and thanks to him.  he says this is harder than thought....but im ok.  mac is the one who started it it is huge. h e knows way over the top.  too high upt no but up there.  tons say this he would barf yup then barf and we see. hold him to it.  some say this blows but ok.  tons of mead and it is Thor’s brand and blends.  tons of them and named fun things like Hobbitown Ale and others like Smaug Swill and he pokes fun it is Smaugs Drink and they drinnk it to see it is musty and smells like ash and they love it.  and tons of it there.  huge sale s on toys and armor and other like cosplay and huge hgue huge lotr cosplay here and all over for a month gigantic.  almost seeped in and they stopped it.  we see can do taht but for the wrong reasons.   and math is bad.  so we say no but it is.  truly is.  we are out and there soon after this rigamarole.  we offer more and they sayno but we produce tons of foodgarth getss the wheat and grain and more and we make it he is amazed how fst and eats like mad is still skinny.  walks too much we put a segway at each palce and then they piled up and then auto recall and he loves it and uses them absent mindedly  tons call for them he feels better.  and says caa is a friend to him.  they loveit walking.  christopher.  and they are schooled too on how to walk far.  adn he knkows potasium and other refuel on protien and other too when stopped..cool down dont cold. hard there but carry a napsack and with a proper wool blanket and waterproof stuff if needed and so on.  we see them pratcie and make old style lean toos nd such hard work. tons of it. huge tables tons of food and the Africans are aghast it is so odd. and have thier own and go too.  are small but similar, the doors are not round are arched at the top and Garth orders his tons we set it up the other day and mac approved. need help.  tons of it. a war and on orc and Smaug.  and yu hold the body adn she does alive. is the key to know...farts a bit...normal ok. lol for a mac we fart.  no ppl only health yuk no i like it and good food we see you now.  my vita mix actually...it was nt hard.  tons see wow my vita mix feels it senses it sleep ups a bit...soft certa sleeper.  hmm no tossiing off not needed good circulation. and we see.  ok this is it we seeit.  no bugs nothing.  and the finger guy well...fingers ok. no rot. so we see. and hers too is pristine.  and nice ok she says it now you do...and ohh ok...no but i see. nope.  and i was leeding that one on there.  ok.  so we see you get it torture ok your not helping you. oh but corkand them...we shall see who is he says. shortlly.  and the proof will be there.  it is evident thy have help.  and them to mike otmmy adn others have them there.  oh boy we see. mac and tommy f say and mmike acknowledge it knew no now we do tons of us leaders woment oo tons. tons up huge lots.... i see ten nonillion a minute each area. the saw and are calling and call for hobbit towns and big ones and we use it adn the redwoods fall are bug proof and solid sturdy adn harden to rock almost.  huge trees down today for hobbitown. huge.  so many it isnt funny...and huge shps of wood. tons.  and they sail and it is time again..she goes and to spain and it approaches bout four hours.   Thor Freya huge huge numbers very big. they all see kept alive and im fed. well i mainly do it and mac...and he says wont be the same no burgers lean meats and good meat too not fed this stuff...regular grass wheat and barley he says barley and fart a lot yeh he saw. and it is held...cant see it.  but do hear it from this bunch, possibly shrinks but i ask what torso of blacks and asians is there.  they sy non we look blacks...asians there as orc.  why money gold but th armor shows an we see our emblem how odd. like a car he says  sso strange to see.  it is odd and im huge lol cantstop growing lol.stop it hahahah hey cork im ahead...wow this blows was you not me being you. fn shit this sucks but forced...by who. or what Smaug lol stopped me building sheds and stuff. lol a shed so small Smaug says wont fithalf of me at all  and i dont wag my tale thanks...Smaug says.  it is fast we go and tons so huge we play it now and hope for the best...bon voyage and stop swearing man..ok ok i see. ok. mac says Thor Freya Zues Hera Olympus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez3sqZy1D5I