We know that Ryoko Kui spent considerable time at the beginning of working on Dungeon Meshi doing research and planning the series. Kui constantly references real world culture, history and mythology, but she also occasionally references other fictional works and fantasy genre staples, as well as real-world philosophy.
There are three major fictional influences on Dungeon Meshi that Kui cites: the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons, and the Wizardry video game series.
All of these works borrow heavily from the real world themselves (and both D&D and Wizardry borrow from Tolkien), so in many cases similarities between them and Dungeon Meshi are simply the result of Kui going back to the same ancient source material as her predecessors. Other times the ideas Kui is influenced by are things that have become so entrenched in pop culture they are ubiquitous in the fantasy genre, so though the idea may technically originate in Tolkien, D&D, or Wizardry, Kui may not be purposefully borrowing from them.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was an English writer and philologist, a scholar of linguistics. He was the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s work has had such a huge impact on culture that most fantasy fiction created after him borrows either intentionally or unintentionally from his work. Kui stated in a Q&A in Korea that Lord of the Rings is one of her favorite fantasy stories.
Elements in Dungeon Meshi that originate in Tolkein are: Hobbits (halflings) and how they are depicted, the idea that elves and dwarves are two distinct races in conflict with each other as well as some of their identifying traits, and the fictional metal, mithril.
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974. The game was derived from miniature wargames, and was heavily influenced by the work of Tolkien and other Western fantasy authors such as Jack Vance. D&D was the beginning of modern role-playing games, and had a huge impact on video games and fantasy fiction in all media.
Because of this, obviously D&D came up a lot when Kui was researching the history of fantasy, so she read the rule books, replay novels, and studied some other games inspired by D&D.
The biggest single contributions D&D has made to pop culture is the concept of a dungeon as a place where characters in a story go to explore, fight enemies, find treasure, and gain power or glory, and that a group of people with different specialized skills will join each other as a “party” in order to traverse a dungeon.
I will go into the topic of the word dungeon more in a moment, however the important thing to note here is that “dungeon” only exists in the title of Dungeon Meshi in Japanese, and using the word “dungeon” in the main text of the story is a change made in translation. In Japanese, the characters only refer to the dungeons as labyrinths, which is a word with a specific historic and mythological meaning, completely different from what fantasy fiction dungeons have come to mean.
So although Kui takes advantage of the word “dungeon,” and the unique connotations it’s grown due to D&D, it’s usage is completely external to the world and culture of Dungeon Meshi, it is a title for readers outside of the Dungeon Meshi world, not the characters within it.
Elements in Dungeon Meshi that originate in D&D are: the word and concept of “dungeon”, some monster concepts, such as different colored dragons having different magical/elemental abilities, and having eastern archetypes such as samurai, ninja and martial artists existing alongside western archetypes like knights and wizards. Kui mentions “dark elves”, which are something that D&D invented, however Kui states that they don’t exist in Dungeon Meshi, and that “dark elf” is just a slur non-elves use for elves they think are bad.
The computer role-playing game named Wizardry was released in 1981. Heavily influenced by Dungeons & Dragons, Wizardry in turn influenced many other games, and fantasy fiction in general. The series is particularly popular in Japan, to the point where many Wizardry games were made for the Japanese market exclusively, and many modern Japanese fantasy works can directly trace their roots to Wizardry.
Kui watched her father play the original Wizardry when she was a child, and she cites Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge specifically as a major source of inspiration for Dungeon Meshi.
Elements in Dungeon Meshi that originate in Wizardry are: kobolds being dog-men (I’ll provide a more detailed explanation in Chapter 8), the idea of returning to the dungeon to revive someone who had died on a previous journey, and the difficulty and danger of teleportation magic.
Although many of the concepts that inspired Kui are not unique to Wizardry, Wizardry is most likely where Kui first encountered them. For example, there is a plotline in Wizardry VI that has some elements in common with Dungeon Meshi: a lost/abandoned kingdom run by immortals driven insane by their immortality, including a wizard who is controlling the kingdom with the infinite knowledge he gained from the Cosmic Forge pen. The Cosmic Forge pen is also similar to the demon in Dungeon Meshi, since both can grant wishes, and they both have a secret price for using them.
However, I think the most interesting things Wizardry inspired in Dungeon Meshi are less concrete, for example the game mechanics involved in teleportation, or returning to the dungeon to revive a dead party member.
The first Wizardry game was infamous for its extreme difficulty. In the event of their entire party being killed, gameplay could not be resumed; however, players could create a new party, start the game over, and use their new party to recover the bodies and items of their previous one, and revive their old characters if they wished. Doing this was extremely tedious and difficult, but it was also a common part of gameplay, so it’s easy to imagine a young Kui watching her father do it at least once, and that it left a strong impression on her.
Another thing that would have left a strong impression is the way teleportation worked in the original Wizardry. The game lacked an automap feature, which forced players to manually draw a map for every level on graph paper while they played, this was so essential that the publishers included graph paper in the game box. In order to successfully teleport, the player had to enter both the level and target coordinates from their self-drawn map, and so it was easy to get killed by accidentally teleporting into a trap or into a wall.
This sort of careful observation and planning seems like something Kui is fascinated by, as she often shows this kind of attention to detail in Dungeon Meshi, and she repeatedly addresses the risk of teleportation magic, and the value of making maps and carefully documenting your surroundings and experiences in the dungeon.
The story of Dungeon Meshi is full of philosophical questions about the joy and privilege of being alive, the inevitability of death and loss, the importance of taking care of yourself and your loved ones, and the purpose and true nature of desire. Kui explores these issues through the plot, the characters, and even the fundamental building blocks that make up her fictional fantasy world. Though it’s impossible to say without Kui making a statement on the issue, I believe Dungeon Meshi reflects many elements of ancient Indian philosophy and religion.
It’s possible that Kui just finds these ideas interesting to write about, but doesn’t have any personal affiliation with either religion, however I would not be at all surprised if I learned that Kui is a Buddhist, or has personal experience with Buddhism, since it’s one of the major religions in Japan.
I could write many essays trying to explain these extremely complex concepts, and I know that my understanding of them is imperfect, but I’ll do my best to explain them in as simple a way as possible to illustrate how these ideas may have influenced Kui’s work.
Hinduism is the third-largest religion in the world and originates in India. The term Hinduism is a huge umbrella that encompasses many diverse systems of thought, but they have some shared theological elements, and share many ancient texts and myths.
According to Classical Hindu belief, there are four core goals in human life, and they are the pursuit of dharma, artha, kama, and moksha.
In Hinduism’s ancient texts, moksha is seen as achievable through the same techniques used to practice dharma, for example self-reflection and self-control. Moksha is sometimes described as self-discipline that is so perfect that it becomes unconscious behavior.
The core conflict of Hinduism is the eternal struggle between the material and immaterial world. It is often said that all of the material world is “an illusion,” and what this means is that all good and bad things will inevitably end, because the material world is finite. On the one hand, this is sad, because everything good in life will one day cease to exist, but on the other hand, this is reassuring, because all of the bad things will eventually end as well, and if one can accept this, they will be at peace.
The central debate of Hinduism is, which is more important: Satisfying your needs as a living thing, having a good life as a productive member of society, serving yourself, your family, and the world by participating in it the way nature intended? Or is it rejecting desire and attachment, discovering the true nature of existence, realizing the impermanence of material things, and that one can only escape the suffering that comes from the struggle of life by accepting that death and loss are inevitable?
There is no set answer to this question, and most believers of Hinduism tend to strike a balance between the two extremes simply because that’s what happens when a person leads a normal, average life, however there are also those who believe that pursuing extremes will lead to ultimate enlightenment and final release as well.
Buddhism is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition that originated in the 5th century BCE, based on teachings attributed to religious teacher the Buddha. It is the world's fourth-largest religion and though it began in India, it has spread throughout all of Asia and has played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to the West beginning in the 20th century.
Buddhism is partially derived from the same worldview and philosophical belief system as Hinduism, and the main difference is that the Buddha taught that there is a “middle way” that all people should strive to attain, and that the excesses of asceticism (total self-denial) or hedonism (total self-indulgence) practiced by some Hindus could not lead a person to moksha/enlightenment/release from suffering.
Buddhism teaches that the primary source of suffering in life is caused by misperception or ignorance of two truths; nothing is permanent, and there is no individual self.
Buddhists believe that dukkha (suffering) is an innate characteristic of life, and it is manifested in trying to “have” or “keep” things, due to fear of loss and suffering. Dukkha is caused by desire. Dukkha can be ended by ceasing to feel desire through achieving enlightenment and understanding that everything is a temporary illusion.
There are many, many other differences between Hinduism and Buddhism, but these elements are the ones that I think are most relevant to Kui’s work.
Extreme hedonism involves seeking sensual pleasure without any limits. This could just be indulging in what people would consider “normal” pleasures, like food, sex, drugs and the arts, but it can also involve doing things which are considered socially repugnant, either literally or by taking part in symbolic rituals that represent these acts. Some examples are holding religious meetings in forbidden places, consuming forbidden substances (including human flesh), using human bones as tools, or engaging in sex with partners who are considered socially unacceptable (unclean, wrong gender, too young, too old, related to the practitioner). Again, these acts may be done literally or symbolically.
Extreme ascetic practices involve anything that torments the physical body, and some examples are meditation without breathing, the total suppression of bodily movement, refusing to lay down, tearing out the hair, going naked, wearing rough and painful clothing, laying on a mat of thorns, or starving oneself.
Kui’s most emphasized message in Dungeon Meshi is that being alive is a fleeting, temporary experience that once lost, cannot truly be regained, and is therefore precious in its rarity. Kui also tells us that to be alive means to desire things, that one cannot exist without the other, that desire is essential for life. This reflects the four core goals of human life in Hinduism and Buddhism, but also could be a criticism of some aspects of these philosophies.
I think Kui’s story shows the logical functionality of the four core goals: only characters who properly take care of themselves, and who accept the risk of suffering are able to thrive and experience joy. I think Kui agrees with the Buddhist stance that neither extreme hedonism nor extreme self-denial can lead to enlightenment and ultimate bliss… But I also think that Kui may be saying that ultimate bliss is an illusion, and that the greatest bliss can only be found while a person is still alive, experiencing both loss and desire as a living being.
Kui tells us living things should strive to remain alive, no matter how difficult living may be sometimes, because taking part in life is inherently valuable. All joy and happiness comes from being alive and sharing that precious, limited life with the people around you, and knowing that happiness is finite and must be savored.
Dungeon Meshi tells us souls exist, but never tells us where they go or what happens after death. I think this is very intentional, because Kui doesn’t want readers to think that the characters can just give up and be happy in their next life, or in an afterlife.
There is resurrection in Dungeon Meshi, but thematically there are really no true “second chances.” Although in-universe society views revival as an unambiguous good and moral imperative, Kui repeatedly reminds us of its unnatural and dangerous nature. Although reviving Falin is a central goal of the story, it is only when Laios and Marcille are able to let go of her that the revival finally works… And after the manga’s ending, Kui tells us Falin leaves Laios and Marcille behind to travel the world alone, which essentially makes her dead to them anyway, since she is absent from their lives.
At the same time, Kui tells us that trying to prevent death, or avoid all suffering and loss is a foolish quest that will never end in happiness, because loss and suffering are inevitable and must someday be endured as part of the cycle of life. Happiness cannot exist without suffering, just like the joy of eating requires the existence of hunger, and even starvation.
Kui equates eating with desire itself, using it as a metaphor to describe anything a living creature might want, Kui also views the literal act of eating as the deepest, most fundamental desire of a living thing, the desire that all other desires are built on top of. If a living thing doesn’t eat, it will not have the energy necessary to engage with any other part of life. Toshiro, Mithrun, and Kabru are all examples of this in the story: They don’t take care of themselves and they actively avoid eating, and as a result they suffer from weakness, and struggle to realize their other desires.
Kui suggests that the key difference between being alive or dead is whether or not someone experiences desire. If you are alive, even if you feel empty and cannot identify your desires like Mithrun, you still have desires because you would be dead without them. The living body desires to breathe, to eat, to sleep, even if a person has become numb, or rejected those desires either to punish themselves, or out of a lack of self-love.
Sometimes, we have to do things which are painful and unpleasant, in order to enjoy the good things that make us happy. I believe Kui is telling us that giving up, falling into despair, and refusing to participate in life is not a viable solution either.
The demon only learns to experience desire by entering into and existing in the material, finite world. This experience intoxicates the demon, and it becomes addicted to feeling both the suffering of desire, and the satisfaction of having it fulfilled. This unnatural situation is what endangers the Dungeon Meshi world, and it’s only by purging the demon of this ability to desire that the world can be saved. The demon is like a corrupted Buddha that must give up its desires in order to return to the peaceful existence it had before it was corrupted.
The demon curses Laios to never achieve his greatest desires at the end of the manga, which manifests in several ways, such as losing his monstrous form, Falin choosing to leave after she’s revived, and being unable to get close to monsters because they are afraid of him. In some ways you could compare Laios to a Bodhisattva, a person who tries to aid others in finding nirvana/moksha, even if it prolongs their own suffering and prevents them from finding personal release. Laios gives the demon peace, but Laios himself will never be able to satisfy his desires, and must eventually come to accept his loss and move on with his life.
We have almost no information about religion in the Dungeon Meshi world, however the evidence suggests that no real-world monotheistic religions exist, but religions similar to pre-Christian paganism might exist.
This lack of monotheistic religion is extremely noticeable because the time and place that Dungeon Meshi is evoking in its world (the European Renaissance) was very religious, and the three major monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) were deeply woven into many parts of culture, especially language, social customs and art.
Seeing Kui depicting remixed versions of these cultures with every sign of monotheistic religion removed is striking and noteworthy, and I think likely intentional on Kui’s part.
Kui uses names and builds new ones that come from real world languages, and references to the big three monotheistic religions are extremely common in European culture of this time period. There are over 100 character names in Dungeon Meshi, and every single one of them manages to avoid direct, explicit reference to monotheism. It would have been very easy for some references to slip in by accident, but Kui has clearly made an effort to avoid it.
What Kui does do is mostly use ancient pre-monotheistic names and words, and she limits religious references to ancient polytheistic religions like Hinduism and Greco-Roman mythology. So this suggests those religions, or something similar to them, may exist in the Dungeon Meshi world.
Whether these religions are wholly invented by Kui, or if they directly borrow names and mythological concepts from real world religions is ambiguous and unknown (ie: Does the god Mars exist in the Dungeon Meshi world, and is he identical to our version of Mars? Or does Mars mean something different in-universe for the characters?). I go into this in more detail in other chapters of this essay, when discussing the specific characters it impacts.
Religions are clearly implied to exist in Dungeon Meshi, but they exert very little power and do not seem to be a part of everyday life for any of the characters. Characters never think or talk about any religion, even at times when it would be natural and logical to do so, like when grieving for loved ones or experiencing fear of death. No religious rituals are shown, except Senshi creating “multi-faith holy water”, which is essentially a joke about how Senshi and the rest of the party aren’t very religious people.
There are a few vague mentions of clerics who deal with ghosts and gravekeepers that use magic, and we know souls exist. The only time an afterlife is mentioned is a statement from Chilchuck about seeing his father’s spirit when they are being attacked by ghosts, implying that Chilchuck believes in an afterlife of some kind, or even that one definitely exists, if what Chilchuck saw wasn’t a hallucination. No one else discusses the existence or belief in any kind of afterlife or reincarnation, and nothing is said about what happens after a soul departs from the physical world or is destroyed.
Is an afterlife or reincarnation proven and commonly known to exist (or not exist) and therefore not worth talking about because it is a certainty? Or is the status of the soul after it departs the world unknown, and not talked about because the possibility of oblivion is too frightening?
One temple is explicitly known to exist, but we never see it used for religious activity. Instead, it seems to be mostly known for the commercial government enterprise (the corpse revival office) that happens there. The basement is used for the mundane business of storing dead bodies, and collecting and distributing payments for services, and nobody acts as if this is remarkable. This suggests that the temple has so little importance to the local populace that they don’t mind it being repurposed for something secular, and that outsiders don’t think it’s strange that locals allow this to happen.
We know some people have religious prohibitions against drinking alcohol or eating meat, and the one person we know that does this cultivates nature spirits (water, fire, air, earth) similar to the way people might keep a farm animal or a pet. He feeds and tends to them, is clearly protective of them, and he doesn’t want to put them into dangerous situations, but he does utilize them for mundane work, and doesn’t appear to worship them.
We also know that some people have animistic beliefs, however, we don’t know if the animists believe the spirits they interact with should just be treated with respect, or if they are worshiped in some way.
No gods are clearly mentioned by any character, and the closest we have is that the people of the Golden Country call the winged lion their “guardian beast”, and “worship” is mentioned, though not shown or described. See Chapter 5 (Tall-men: The Golden Kingdom) for more on this subject.
There is no evidence as to whether a winged lion actually exists in a concrete, provable way, like how souls, magic, dragons and unicorns do. The winged lion may be a god that the locals believe in, meaning its existence is unprovable, and belief in it is not based on evidence, or it may be more like a heraldic beast, mascot or symbol of the country.
Other religious mentions are a golden scarab being worshiped as a symbol of the sun, something which comes from real world Egyptian religion, and snakes being associated with alcohol, which could be connected to Chinese folk medicine or the Greek god of wine, Dionysus, to whom snakes were sacred.
Chilchuck says the petrified Marcille looks like a “cult totem” or “idol” (the English dub has him say “heretic” which implies something much different), a phrasing that suggests that there are local cults, but what Marcille looks like is from a foreign one. Perhaps elven religion, since she’s an elf? Marcille’s cross-legged pose on the floor with a bowl in her lap has a strong resemblance to the religious statues of South Asia, which is one of the cultures that seems to be the inspiration for Western elven culture.
This general lack of religion in the Dungeon Meshi world is most likely due to the Japanese cultural perspective on religion.
The Japanese concept of religion differs significantly from that of most Western cultures. Most Japanese are skeptical, if not downright suspicious of organized religions, and while they may participate in Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies that are technically identified as religious, participation is not seen as something which signifies a person’s personal beliefs, but instead is just a part of participating in Japanese society and culture. Shinto, specifically, is something Japanese people do, not something they believe.
Historically the Japanese have adopted religious rituals from many places and incorporated them into their religious practices, and this habit is probably what Kui is poking fun at in the Multi-Faith Holy Water joke I mentioned earlier.
It seems to me that Kui simply was not interested in developing the religious elements of the Dungeon Meshi world, and so while she carefully excised all identifiable elements of monotheistic religion from the European cultures she was borrowing from, she left everything else vague and unexplored so she could focus her attention on other themes instead.
What Kui has presented to us is a world that generally seems very secular, with magic that tends to be discussed in a scientific way, and a general absence of religion.
In some ways, this is great news for fans! They can imagine anything they like in the blank spaces Kui has left behind.
Though this is never explicitly stated, it is implied that multiple cultures and nations exist within each race in Dungeon Meshi. For example, the World Guide states that the largest elven nation is in the North Central Continent… Which implies there is more than one elven nation. The same is said about the gnomes.
Of course, as in the real world, nations are not pure monocultures, and there are different races and cultures that coexist in every nation… Though some places are more racially and culturally homogenous than others.
We are generally only shown one culture for each race, except the tall-men. We have been shown at least five different tall-man cultures, two of which (Marcille and the Toudens) come from the same continent and region, and have some things in common, but are also different enough that it’s possible to differentiate them from each other.
Meanwhile, we only see dwarves from the Eastern Continent, from a handful of independent city-states that all seem to share similar cultures. What are dwarves from the Southern Continent, the Eastern Archipelago, or the Western Continent like? Logically, their culture should reflect the region they live in, but we have no data to work with, so it is an unanswered mystery.
We also have exactly one set of gnomes from the Eastern Continent and one from the Southern Continent, and their cultures seem connected, but not identical. It’s hard to say with certainty because of the limited amount of information.
Obviously each race might have certain distinct cultural characteristics that are universal to their race, but geographic location, environment, and the dominant culture that surrounds them should also have an impact for all the non-tall-man races, just as it does for the tall-men.
Since the information I have to work with is limited by what Kui has told us, we cannot form a complete picture of the entire Dungeon Meshi world, and there are several large blind spots, such as the lack of information about the Western and Southern Continents.
With all of this in mind, when discussing the different races, when I refer to elves, I generally mean the Western elves, when I refer to dwarves, I generally mean the Eastern dwarves.
I will go into more detail about each race and their cultures in their respective chapters.
As I discussed in Chapter 2, the world of Dungeon Meshi appears to be divided between three major regions: the Western hemisphere, the Eastern hemisphere, and the Far East.
There are clear divisions in regional fashion between these areas, which I’ll discuss in more detail in upcoming sections of this essay. Clothing typical of each region is only worn in those regions, or by people from those regions who have traveled. In general:
The Dungeon Meshi world appears to have more gender equality than would have existed in a comparable time period in the real world, which I think can be attributed both to Kui’s desire to depict a more equal world, and also the existence of magic as an equalizing power that almost anyone can use. The amount of gender equality seen in each race of Dungeon Meshi seems to correlate with the amount of magic that race uses.
Based on the evidence, it seems that Western elves have the greatest amount of gender equality, and use the most magic, and Eastern dwarves have the least gender equality, and use the least magic. I’ll discuss the connection between gender inequality, magic use, and dwarven culture’s real world roots more in the dwarven chapter.
The exact position of each society on the scale between the elves and the dwarves is debatable, but it’s clear that dwarves and elves are the two extreme ends. My best guess is that it is something like this:
(Greatest Gender Equality) Western elves -- Gnomes/Tall-men (Western, Eastern/Southern, Eastern Archipelago, Northern) -- Eastern Half-foots -- Eastern Orcs/Eastern Dwarves (Least Gender Equality)
Western Elven society relies heavily on magic. Elven men and women work together as soldiers without any gendered division of labor, and women hold positions of power. They are currently ruled by a queen but they have had a king in the past. Being an illegitimate child seems to be a source of shame, but no negative consequences for an adulterous mother are mentioned, when normally this form of adultery often results in execution or exile for a woman.
Elven clothing and appearance are generally unisex, and they prefer to emphasize a slender straight up-and-down silhouette that minimizes gendered features like large hips, chest or shoulders. Marriage and children are not topics that ever come up, which could either imply that they are not seen as important, or that marriage and children are not seen as something that prevents an elf from being a soldier, holding power, or doing anything else they might want to do. Family names exist but we don’t know how they are inherited.
Eastern and Southern Gnomish society also relies heavily on magic. Mr. Floke treats his wife Yarn as an equal partner, and they work together as scholars. Holm’s sister is also a scholar, and she appears to live independently. Gnomes wear clearly gendered clothing, but some gnomish garments can be unisex. Marriage and children do not come up, but Mr. and Mrs. Floke already had two children before they adopted Kiki and Kaka. Family names appear to be hereditary but it’s unknown if they are inherited from the husband, the wife, or some other source. Holm appears to be protective of his sister (angry at her for meeting with a man) and Mr. Floke appears to be protective of his adopted daughter in a way (angry at her for sneaking out at night) that suggests a more patriarchal society where men exercise power over the women in their families.
Tall-men wear gendered clothing, and the women do not make any attempt to conceal that they are women, which could imply that presenting as a woman doesn’t confer any particular social disadvantage. As a whole, tall-men have a good capacity for using magic, but the amount of magic used by them (and how much freedom women have) depends on the place they live:
Eastern Half-foots are implied to not use magic often, and their culture idolizes dwarves. Half-foots use a patronymic naming system where names are inherited from the father, and Chilchuck’s daughters are eager to marry wealthy men in order to secure a good life for themselves. This implies a society dominated by men, which makes sense, since the half-foots idolize dwarves, who seem to have a male-dominated society. Half-foot clothing is clearly gendered, but women wearing male clothing seems to be acceptable. There’s no evidence that the reverse is true, and the implied patriarchal society suggests that a man dressing in female clothing would be considered improper.
Eastern Orc society does not appear to use magic, but we don’t know for sure if that’s true. Their clothing appears to be gendered. Orc men can have multiple wives, and the more wives a man has, the higher his status. Zon considers women, children and the elderly a group that needs to be protected. However, his sister Leed has broken away from Zon because they argued about how to lead their community, and Leed is shown leading other orcs into combat and acting as a warrior, despite being female.
However, it’s unclear if this is because of Leed’s specific circumstances or personality, or if this is normal for all orc women. Leed is also expected to pick a husband for herself, which suggests some amount of female autonomy, but again, whether this means all orc women have this amount of autonomy, or if it’s because Leed is Zon’s younger sister is unclear. I’m inclined to think these things are unique to Leed, or to orc women from high-status families like her.
Northern and Eastern Dwarves seem to prefer technology over magic, and we know dwarves in general have a low capacity for magic use. We don’t know if a distaste for magic is a widespread cultural stance or not, but Kui never shows us a dwarf using magic and never mentions dwarven magical practices.
Dwarven men and women have gendered clothing, and it features puffed sleeves, padded chests and large skirts that emphasize and exaggerate the body’s shape. Making themselves look wide and intimidating (traits considered masculine in the real world) is popular. Women are never shown among the dwarves that are in power or going into combat. We only know two independent female dwarves, both of them are exiles from their communities. Daya became an exile to avoid an unwanted arranged marriage, but she is now engaged to be married again, suggesting that marriage is important to dwarves, since this is one of the few marriages Kui tells us about, and it’s the core of Daya’s backstory.