- For the post-scratch version of this character, see the Disciple.
Meulin Leijon is the Mage of Heart and Nepeta's dancestor.
She is deaf, and often uses sign language and mimes to express her thoughts. This is best seen in her conversation with Kurloz Makara, who also mimes. Her quirk is to add intricate catfaces to the start of her text, and to use cat puns (similar to the fish puns Meenah uses) in speech, most often replacing parts of words with 'purr'. The former two are similar to her dancestor's quirk and they also share their habit to replace "ee" with "33" Her text is also in all caps, indicating that due to her deafness, she cannot tell how loud she is speaking.
Her deafness may be a reference to Pedro Ponce De Leon, a monk who is credited as the first teacher for the deaf. He taught deaf people to speak, as well as to communicate in writing and simple hand gestures. This compounds on the reference in Nepeta's lusus, who Meulin shared and may have named identically as Pounce de Leon.
Etymology
Meulin's name was suggested by McBatman for Nepeta. It is a French surname, as well as the name of a small town in Burgundy, France which is part of the municipality of Dompierre-les-Ormes. Her name was chosen as a pun on "mewling", which is a term for the sound cats make. "Meulin" also sounds and looks similar to "Merlin," fitting her title as a Mage.
Biography
Upon exiting Terezi's hive as Meenah, a small "scene" (Aranea's exposition) gives more information about some of the post-scratch "ancestors".
- “The Mage of Heart as you know is an ardent disciple of the romantic sciences. She has a well earned reputation as a miracle worker when it comes to match making. But her own romantic history ironically has been riddled with trouble and heartbreak. Once, well before our session began, she and Kurloz were in a very loving matespritship. It really seemed to everyone they were made for each other. One day, they fell asleep together. Kurloz then had a nightmare so terrifying, he released the most dreadful sound imaginable. It truly echoed the horror of the Vast Honk itself. The noise was so loud and so awful, Meulin went completely deaf, and her hearing never recovered. Kurloz was undoubtedly devastated by what he'd done to her. He was so distraught, he sewed his mouth shut and has never spoken a word since. Though they have drifted apart as matesprits, Meulin never held it against him, and even seemed to take delight in learning new ways to communicate. They continued to remain very close to this day. Maybe a little too close if you ask me. It's clear that her sympathies have been gradually swayed in support of the Highblood's cult. She stays private about her beliefs, but now and then I'll notice she lets some tenet of mirthful doctrine slip out. I suppose I shouldn't be too concerned though, since it's almost certainly a lot of harmless superstition.”
The version of Vriska who travels with Meenah in the dream bubble states that Meulin has a “fascin8tingly dark history which her memories always seem to hint at.”
Personality and Traits
Meulin shares many traits with her dancestor Nepeta. Both are excitable and prone to emotional reaction, more extremely for Meulin than Nepeta. They both share interest in romantic speculation, and take efforts to ship their friends and acquaintances. Meulin has a specific knack for red romance, leaving the blacker quadrants to Kurloz. Fittingly, the heart key was found near her and the spade key near Kurloz.
Apparently she bears no resentments towards Kurloz over the loss of her hearing, forgiving him entirely. The two remain good friends after the incident, though she is seemingly oblivious to his more sinister intentions. This stems largely from Kurloz's secretive nature and the hypnotic powers of his chucklevoodoos, evidenced by her claims of her head feeling "foggy" if talked to after several conversations between her and Kurloz.
Relationships
Kurloz Makara
Kurloz and Meulin were matesprits until the incident. They maintain a close friendship.
Horuss Zahhak
In the afterlife she and Horuss became moirails after meeting Nepeta and Equius and seeing the incredibly close relationship that they had.
Trivia
- Her demeanor and manner of speech is a parody of fan girls who are interested in "shipping" (pairing fictional characters romantically). She employs many phrases archetypal of shipping culture and fan girls in general, including "feels" for emotions and referring to favoured characters as "babies", coupled with a liberal usage of memetic animated GIFs (represented through sign language, a play on "mimes" and "memes") as popularly used by Tumblr bloggers. This behaviour is itself a satire on fan perceptions of Nepeta Leijon's character.
- She found the cod piece for Gamzee's god tier outfit, when she passed on to him through Kurloz under his chucklevoodoos.
- The post-scratch relationship Meulin's counterpart the Disciple had with the Sufferer, a passionate matespritship coupled with a deep devotion to his teachings, is a near-direct inversion of Meulin's matespritship with and spiritual devotion towards Kurloz - the pre-scratch version of the Grand Highblood, who could be seen as an antithesis to the Sufferer, in part because Capricorn and Cancer, the sign the Sufferer gained after his death, are two opposite signs.
- Her budding Moirallegience to Horuss, the pre-scratch counterpart of the Executioner who killed the Sufferer could also be seen as an irony.
- She multiplies letters and punctuation in sets of nine, which probably relates to the old saying that cats have nine lives, and perhaps also her quirk number 33 if interpreted as 3x3, aka 9.
- Meulin's emotes, without various combinations of cat ears/whiskers: “(=˙•˙=) (=`ω´=) (^•ω•^) (^•x•^) (=^•^=) (=^•ω•^=) (^•o•^) ~(=^. .^) (^._.^) (=^-ω-^=) (=^ω^=) (=^. .^=) (=^•I•^=) (=T I T=) (= ; I ; =) (=TωT=) (^-Λ-^) (=；ェ；=)”
- She, Kurloz and Mituna could represent the Sanzen three wise monkeys in Japanese myth, who represent the proverb "See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil". Meulin would thus represent Kikazaru, the monkey who "Hears no Evil".
- Her title, as the Mage of Heart, is part of a progression concerning pre- and post-scratch Class changes between Dancestors. The pre-scratch trolls included the titles “Mage of Heart”, Heir of Doom, Page of Void, and Rogue of Breath, while the post-scratch session included the Rogue of Heart, Mage of Doom, Heir of Void, and Page of Breath.
- She is the only Heart player who wasn't decapitated at some point.
- According to Andrew Hussie in part 3 of Openbound, Meulin and Kurloz “just sign memes to each other all day while stoned”, and that “It is implied that they smoke catnip together, as if it were marijuana, which is an especially amusing notion to people who like drugs.”
