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 monster in Delicious in Dungeon.

Anatomy and Appearance

Changelings look like flat-topped king oyster mushrooms of varying heights that sprout from the ground, typically in rings called 'fairy rings'. They possess spores that alter the physical nature of anything that steps into the ring. There also appears to be a Changeling variant of giant Walking Mushrooms.

Gallery

Appearance in the manga.

A fairy ring of Changelings.

Behavior and Weaknesses

Changelings are able to change both living and non-living things that step into a ring containing its spores into closely related species or object. (This ring is not limited to a ring of Changelings - it can even be a circle of people holding hands that have Changeling spores on their clothing.) For example, Changeling spores can change humanoids into other humanoids (e.g. from Tall-men to Dwarves or from Elves to Half-foots). Objects, on the other hand, change into objects with similar structure (e.g. Laios' sword Kensuke changing hilts) or make-up (e.g. a stone Gargoyle turning into a large stone disk). The changes happen more rapidly for non-living objects.

For living creatures, the physical changes caused by Changeling spores may cause high fever and general illness similar to food poisoning. If left untreated, changelings will grow all over their victims, causing them to lose their sense of self. 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.

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. Instead, simply washing off the spores seems to return changed individuals to their natural state after some time. It is also possible to make an ointment to cure the condition by gently simmering Changeling gills, Giant Frog skin, mandrake roots, sake and butter together while casting a spell.

They appear to grow best in the cold.

Culinary Usage

Changelings are edible and can be used in dishes in place of mushrooms. In addition, fairy 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 largely been 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).
• 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.