Molly Blyndeff

### Theme

**Molly Blyndeff** is a major character in *Epithet Erased*. She is a beleaguered 12-year-old inscribed girl who runs a toy store in place of her neglectful single father and sister.

During a school trip to the Sweet Jazz Museum, she falls into a deep sleep as a result of bumping into Sylvester Ashling and wakes up hours later just in time to see a group of Banzai Blasters break in to steal all the "cool artifacts". Molly quickly partners with Indus Tarbella in hopes of escaping, only to learn that both he and his mistress were plotting to steal the Arsene Amulet to steal her epithet. Molly soon allies with the Banzai Blasters' captain when they have a common enemy, and quickly form a bond. After encountering and defeating Sylvester, who was convinced that she was the one who wanted to steal the amulet, Molly recruits him into her party in hopes of standing a better chance against Mera. Eventually, after aiding Giovanni in defeating Mera, Molly finally returns home more confident in herself than ever before.

## Physical Appearance

Molly is a small girl with brown skin and dark brown hair with stars all over her hair and loops styled like bear ears. She wears a pink and green striped shirt, a custom-made bear hoodie, a green skirt, and yellow boots. She has green pupils that resemble buttons, as she own a toy store.

## Personality

Molly is a timid young girl, who finds it hard to stand up for herself until she meets Giovanni, who encourages and reinforces her to be more assertive and self-caring. For the majority of the time, she has a lack of confidence, which is likely the result of her home life which involves her neglectful father Martin and sister, who place a large amount of responsibility on her shoulders without her permission.

Molly also often takes night shifts in the toy store and often finds herself getting 5 hours of sleep a night. Therefore in comparison with peers at her age, she is more haggard and unenthusiastic.

Nonetheless, after the museum incident, she seems to have grown a bit in terms of self-confidence and esteem. To cite an example, she decided to give herself a deserved sleep instead of doing the usual night shift after leaving the museum and returning home. She has also learned that helping others doesn't mean she has to sacrifice her well-being as a pushover, knowing that she has to sort out her personal issues before further helping others.

In stark contrast to her epithet, Molly is surprisingly intelligent for her age and has a developed set of analytical and observation skills as she has taught herself to tackle with the dysfunctional family issues so as to keep her family afloat. In truth, she is skilled at pacifying others quickly due to being in the service industry for some time, as a means to stop them from continue bothering her and hide her dissatisfaction.

## Abilities and Powers

### Epithet

While Molly's epithet, "Dumb", is most commonly used to refer to things that are unintelligent or stupid, it can also be used to refer to things that are speechless and silent, and most of Molly's abilities and character traits are derived from the latter meaning.

* **Silence Bubble:** Molly can create a soundproof bubble to mute everything around herself inside and out.
* **Dumb Down:** She can also "dumb down" any pain she or others feel, sometimes using this to dumb down enemies, lowing their intelligence and making them highly suggestible. With this, she is able to create an aura of serenity to reduce a person's discomfort.
	+ **Hushabye:** Molly can dispel summoned entities by "dumbing them down to nothing". It can only be used on small summons.

## Relationships

### Martin Blyndeff

Molly has a poor relationship with her father, Martin, as he is highly neglectful of her and unfit to be a parent in general. He uses her as a personal assistant and makes her do everything from watch his store at night to file his taxes. Martin's treatment of Molly has left her in a constantly tired state and devoid of having any confidence. He also unwittingly put Molly in danger by taking her phone to play games and completely forgetting about her when it was time to leave- leaving her trapped in the Sweet Jazz Museum overnight with no means of contacting him or anyone else who could help.

### Mera Salamin

Molly is reasonably afraid of Mera's desire to steal Molly's epithet. Despite this, Molly does try to sympathize with Mera. Despite Mera attempting to harm her, Molly still forgives her enough to dumb down her pain before Mera is sent to jail. However, Mera currently doesn't care enough to accept Molly's friendship.

### Indus Tarbella

If their situation were different, Molly and Indus could be friends. He helps to begin with, freeing her after she had been strapped to a chair with duct tape by Giovanni and helping her defeat, Flamethrower, Car Crash and Ben. However, when he and Mera learn that Molly's epithet can dull pain, they both realize this is what they need to finally cure Mera of the effects caused by her own epithet, which causes her to be in constant pain, and Indus apprehends Molly as soon as Mera orders him to, without hesitation. But Indus is a man of honor and he can't help but let Molly and Giovanni go after they "help" him and convinces him he owes them. He still respects Molly, especially after seeing her willingness to protect Giovanni, and is friendly towards her all the time. He doesn't really have any ill intent towards Molly and he might feel some guilt over helping Mera take a little girl's epithet away. However, the person Indus cares for most has been in constant pain the entire time he has known her and seeing her in so much agony has likely caused him a great deal of pain as well. He knows how desperate she is to make it end and his determination to help her in any way he can outweigh everything else, even any moral conflictions he might feel.

### Giovanni Potage

Although intimidated by him at first, Molly quickly warms up to Giovanni after learning that he is not only harmless but secretly nice as well. They bond over their mutual interests and when Giovanni gets the hint something's troubling her, invites her to sit with him and talk about it. Molly hesitates for a moment but Giovanni's genuine kindness helps her open up and she tells him about how difficult things have become since her mother passed away and how she's had to fill the void her mother left behind. It becomes evident to Giovanni that Molly takes on almost all the responsibilities of running a household and a business because her father and sister are unwilling to take them on themselves. That lights a fire in Giovanni and he gives her an empowering pep talk about how she's way too much of a pushover and that shouldn't let other people step on her. He reminds her that she's important too and encourages her to start standing up for herself. Giving Molly more confidence than she had before and from this moment, she knows she's found a true friend in Giovanni. Despite only knowing each other for a few hours, Molly and Giovanni were already growing close to one another. Giovanni is rapidly becoming an older brother figure to Molly and, despite being a villain, a positive role model as well. Before meeting Giovanni, Molly didn't really have anyone she could rely on but as soon as Giovanni learns this, he quickly steps up to become the person she needs.

### Sylvester Ashling

Molly and Sylvester do not get off to a good start as he attacks her and Giovanni, thinking that they were trying to steal the Arsene Amulet, which he is hoping to study. However, when they manage to defeat Sylvie and they get a chance to talk, Sylvie learns that he had been tricked and it was, in fact, Mera who was trying to steal the amulet and this leaves him open to persuasion. His reluctance to cooperate has Molly comparing him to the difficult customers she's dealt with and uses the same tactics she uses on them to persuade Sylvie. She's simply nice to him, in his case, offering to be his friend and this works, convincing him to team up with her and Giovanni temporarily. As they begin to work together, Molly learns that Sylvie is nicer than he seems, with him offering to help her professionally as soon as he learns she has a problem, leading to them begin to form a genuine friendship.

## Trivia

* Since her father Martin is Caucasian, it can be assumed that Molly is biracial.
	+ Molly has been changed from Caucasian to biracial is owing to Jello watching a Cree Summer interview about black women and multiracial people not having enough spotlight in the cast.
	+ She has been confirmed to be Deepwood-Taiga race in universe.
* In "Bear Trap", it is revealed that she has pyrophobia. In "The Doctor is In" it is revealed that she has misophonia, and one of her trigger sounds is a fire alarm. This may be associated with her mother’s untimely death two years prior.
	+ *Epithet Erased*'s creator, Brendan Blaber, has misophonia as well.
* Her last name is derived from "blind" and "deaf," which is a pun on her epithet's ability.
* The stars in her hair are naturally grown rather than being hair clips. They also have the texture of cereal marshmallows.
* Molly's sister's and mother's name are subject to change.
* Molly along with Arnold are Brendan's favorite characters out of the first season of *Epithet Erased*.
* Molly's defense mechanism is going through your mailbox and taking your tax return so you never get it.
* Her eyes are button eyes to befit her family running a toy store.
* Molly's friend group (consisting of herself, Trixie, and Phoenica) are referred to as the "Neo Trio" in *Epithet Erased,* likely due to their hair colors.
* Molly’s favorite snack is Teddy Grahams.

## Reference Sources

1. ↑ https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189847798312/hi-so-we-know-mollys-dads-name-is-martin-so-do
2. ↑ https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189840349272/for-cosplay-reasons-i-need-to-know-does-molly-have
3. ↑ https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189873355317/i-saw-people-asking-you-why-mollys-dumb-epithet
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/BrendanBlaber/status/1218599298222514177
5. ↑ https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189866313017/lot-of-characters-designs-changed-quite-a-bit-when?is\_related\_post=1
6. ↑ https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189241654962/is-blyndeff-a-pun-like-blind-and-deaf-and-her
7. ↑ https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189847798312/hi-so-we-know-mollys-dads-name-is-martin-so-do
8. ↑ https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189866404677/whos-your-favorite-out-of-the-cast
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/BrendanBlaber/status/1218613473904603142
10. ↑ https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189381865197/are-mollys-eyes-supposed-to-look-like-four-leaf
11. ↑ https://tmblr.co/Z0Wm1x2mqwWKv