Changeling

Changeling
Information
Japanese	チェンジリング
Rōmaji	Chenjiringu
Type	Fungi
Size	10-15 cm
Habitat	The Island, Level 6 and below
First Appearance
Manga Debut	Chapter 47 (seen) Chapter 49 (named)
Anime Debut	Episode 22 (seen) Episode 23 (named)
Navigation
← Previous	Hippogriff
Next →	Gargoyle

Changelings (チェンジリング, Chenjiringu^?) are a type of fungi monster in Delicious in Dungeon. And are relatives of the Walking Mushrooms, albeit less openly hostile, and appear more like regular mushrooms.

Anatomy and Appearance

Changelings look like flat-topped king oyster mushrooms of varying heights that sprout from the ground and have a signature purple coloration on the top of their "heads", their fungal colonies are often are structured in rings called 'Faery rings'. However despite how small and harmless they may appear as, they possess incredibly unique and powerful spores that have the ability to alter the physical nature of anything that steps into the ring. There also appears to be a Changeling variant of the giant Walking Mushrooms, although it doesn’t appear to act on its own given how Ogre Marcille easily took it down and chopped it up. However it seems to be much stronger than normal Changelings as it can disperse its metamorphic spores and cause instantaneous transformations for living organisms without a need for a Faery Ring.

Gallery

Appearance in the manga.

A fairy ring of Changelings.

Behavior and Weaknesses

Changelings are able to change both living and even non-living things that step into a ring containing its spores into anything that’s closely related to their hosts species or object. (This ring is not limited to a ring of Changelings - it can even be a circle of people holding hands that still have Changeling spores on their clothing.) For example, Changeling spores can change humanoids into other humanoid races (e.g. from Tall-men to sturdy Dwarves or from elegant Elves to fearsome Ogres) Objects, on the other hand, can change into other objects with similar structure or shape (e.g. Laios' sword Kensuke changing hilts or even a broadsword) or even reshape matter into different forms (e.g. a stone Gargoyle turning into a large stone disk). The changes happen far more rapidly for non-living objects.

For living creatures, the physical changes caused by Changeling spores may initially cause high fever and general illness similar to food poisoning before wearing off after the transformation is complete. However it appears if the spores are strong enough, the transformation can be instantaneous like when the Touden Party were once again exposed to Changelings. Unfortunately despite how amazing this all sounds, if the condition is left untreated, the changeling spores will grow all over their victims in the course of a few days, with mushrooms sprouting all over their bodies and cause them to lose their sense of self as they eventually become fertilizer to create a new Faery Ring. It is theorized that changelings use their ability to change living things in order to propagate their species - a transformed animal (acting as a growing medium for the Changelings) is ostracized by its own species due to its different appearance and eventually dies, becoming a new 'fairy ring' of Changelings. However it appears this can be just as successful doing this life cycle with inorganic hosts as Kensuke was littered with Changelings after its weapon transformed.

There were many folk remedies used to treat children who had turned into "trolls", including burning them with flame or drinking a whole bucket of water, but it has been concluded that these were just torturing the children and doing little to actually cure them. Instead, simply washing off the spores seems to return changed individuals to their natural state after some time has passed. It is also possible to make an ointment to immediately cure the condition by gently simmering Changeling gills, Giant Frog skin, mandrake roots, sake and butter together while casting a spell. However when mixed into as a meal, it may cause the transformation to be reversed much slower or at a haphazard pace.

They appear to grow best in the cold given how they are always seen within frigid environments.

Culinary Usage

Changelings are edible and can be used in dishes in place of mushrooms. In addition, Faery rings of changelings can be used to change ingredients or even cooked items into similar foods. Consumption of Changeling spores does not seem to cause growth of Changelings inside the body, possibly due to being destroyed by stomach acid.

Changelings and their spores have been used in the following dishes:

Hippogriff Soup
(to change Griffin meat to Hippogriff meat)

Changeling Dumplings from Fairy Ring
(to change Boiled Hippogriff Potstickers into other varieties of dumpling)

Hamburg Steak with Changeling Sauce

Crispy Mushroom and Egg Sandwich

Head-Chopping Rabbit Curry

Trivia

• Changelings have unfortunately been largely eradicated as of the present day as their role in causing "swapped children" was realised (where a child would wander into the woods to play but a troll that looked a lot like them would return instead). However, it is possible the Changelings on the island, survived the Dungeon’s destruction and perhaps currently existing as a small surviving colony.
• It is theorized the children who were turned into "Trolls" were likely turned into other races such as Orcs and Ogres given how those monsters actually don’t exist. If anything they were the term Half-Foots used to describe Tallmen.
• Despite the predatory nature of the Changelings, like Chilchuck remarked, many people would pay a hefty price to be able to transform into a different race(Kabru being an example as he was turned into an Elf), and perhaps be even more valuable, given it could transform inorganic objects to all sorts of structures. The only problem is how the spores ultimately kill living hosts. However given Marcille was able to create a cure to quickly undo its effects after better understanding its nature, it is possible that with enough time and research, a method to safely use the Changeling spores and change oneself into other races without fear of being fertilized can be created someday.
• Ironically despite being one of the most(relatively)harmless monsters within the Dungeon, it is also arguably one of the most powerful entities within it, as it can literally alter matter and living organisms into nearly anything else. The only factors that make it not very dangerous is both the fact they are a critically endangered species, its spores being rather easy to remove once it’s figured out, and it’s only at best, as intelligent as a Walking Mushroom.
• In European mythology, changelings were creatures left behind in place of a child that was kidnapped by supernatural beings such as fairies or trolls. They were generally enchanted to resemble those they were replacing but could be identified by various signs.