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Askljasldkjaslkj I love them sm

ID: a panel from the Arslan Senki Manga, with Alfreed carrying two bags of gold saying "Now I have a dowry for when I marry Narsus!" and laughing "Tee hee hee." In the foreground, Elam is frowning and saying, "More like an advance payment for leaving him alone." END ID

So, sadly, I have a small writers block, and therefore, chapter 4 is going at very much a snail's pace. (And the more I think about some scenes in chapter 2 and 3, the more I want to scrap them completely, so there's that...)

I also have decided to have so many new art projects besides doing stuff for uni...

Long story short - have a sneak peak of one!

(I have updated Azar's design a little to suit it more to the real-life georgian armour)

You know what? Have another even more out of context one!

Muhahaha! (I have officially lost it, you guys...)

Anyways, wish me luck for my exams starting next week!

Night Wings~

Turning the day into the night, the sun into the moon

Part of my translucent wings series

I love it!!!! Can’t wait to see more of your OC

One of my projects is done!

I love when artist make OC drawing memes and since I'm starting to be more active on my blog with my art, I want to catch up on some of them so...

Here, have this "Draw your OC as..."-Reel as a mini comic with Azar! (can we even call this a comic?)

And some close ups

The only thing that I'm still unsure about is the backdrop colurs... But the rest? Man, was it fun to do!

Hope you guys like it as much as i do!

Arslan Senki Chapter 126

So I meant to do this last night but apparently I had accidentally hit the daily tumblr post limit, and was stuck unable to post or reblog anything up until now! I AM FREE, MUAHAHAHAHA.

I will be cannibalizing the discussion @innerchorus and I had in our DMs since all of that was what I meant to put in the post all along, though I'm running a bit low on energy so I won't be weaving screencaps into the post.

One of the first things that stuck out to me was how humble the residence of Arslan's birth parents was, when I read spoilers and it said “knight”, I had assumed something... a little larger than that. Nothing grand, not a mansion or anything, they weren't prominent knights, but... not this. I wonder what the social standing of “knights” in general are? Zaravant also described himself as a knight, iirc. Though it's likely that knight in this case was used to refer to a warrior in general than a specific caste/rank? Maybe cavalry officers of any rank were deemed knights?

I apologize for jumping backwards but oh, oh man I want to hug Arslan so bad. His face! The way Arakawa took the time and panel space to really show how he tried to hold his reaction back. He's trying to be composed and he succeeds. Even something of this caliber (even if he did suspect it all along) didn't make him lash out. He has incredible self-control, or maybe he's just too used to setting his own feelings and reaction aside. I don't think he's repressing it here though, rather he's facing it head-on.

(I wonder how Andragoras even managed to find Arslan, and that swiftly, too.)

Turns out the marzban thing was a translation error, which is good because I was raising my eyebrow skeptically at that panel when I first read it.

Man something about the memory and deaths of a family who were basically exploited just vanish away, paved over and buried. There's just something so relevant to my interests and the themes of Wolfpack about this all. The clan is all about remembering and protecting those the world would've deliberately chosen to forget, after all.

Also, Arslan's father wasn't prepared to raise his own child? Boo. Wolfpack!Shapur was twice the single father by age 22, LOL. (I jest, it would've been harder for him than it would've Shapur, considering the financial situation and the fact that he doesn't have people he can leave the baby to when out at battle or something. It's natural for him to be worried. I'm sure he saw this as the best path possible, and hey, his son will be a prince! Surely a better life than he could ever lead as the son of an insignificant knight.

Arslan considering the notion of Andragoras possibly planning to sire another male heir... I don't have any intelligent commentary to give on the matter but I found it interesting. Perhaps another king in Andragoras' shoes might've done it. Gotarzes certainly did.

Tahamenay sure did go through a lot, and the dehumanizing lenses everybody saw her through meant that she was villified and demonized for just trying to survive (or just existing, period! the things that happened to the shitty men in her life was NOT her fault) She's not my fave, no, but I do feel for her. Like, her homeland got annexed! As someone from a country that got occupied by both Britain AND Japan and suffered under them, that really resonates with me. And while Pars fights for its freedom (and it should, I'm not arguing otherwise), Badakhshan???? Still under occupation for more than sixteen years, if I'm correct. There's just something heartbreaking about it.

Arslan confirming that his wet nurse and her husband being purposefully murdered to tidy up loose ends! And he's rightfully angry at the answer— we don't see his face in full, his eyes are shadowed when he asks the question, he clenches his hands when he hears the answer, and grits his teeth too. I may be reading too much into this but the agony on Tahamenay's face being replaced by cold distance when she said “They were. To avoid any complications later.”, the almost clinical way she delivered it, it's such a stark contrast from her emotion mere moments before. Maybe, just maybe, the delivery of the truth on top of the truth itself was what set Arslan off (though of course, he still does not act on it). Maybe there's something to be said about the disregard of “insignificant” lives.

I think Tahamenay has shut her feelings down, and her daughter is the only thing she'll let herself feel anything over. The sheer trauma and the constant bombardment of such vitriol from all angles meant that completely shutting down all emotion was... probably the only way to cope. Conceal it, don't feel it.

The thing is, though, even if he were to “Arslan: exit stage left” out of this conflict, where would he go? I'm sure he'd have little problem finding happiness in a humble life, he's never been one to care about stuff like birthrights and status, but where would he go???? The people he loved before his life as a prince are gone. Wet nurse and husband, dead. Everyone else? The kids he played with? Probably don't even remember him anymore due to the distance (I assume they didn't know he was the prince). Would he even be able to recognize them anymore? And would Team Arslan follow him into exile? There is technically an out, yes, but it's not a meaningful one. Just like how Hilmes is trapped in his own identity, Arslan also is, though Hilmes chose to build his own cage and Arslan was unknowingly put into it. And there's something to be said about how both their claims/identities were laundered. Hilmes is not the son and heir of Osroes. Arslan does not possess royal blood.

@innerchorus pointed out that Tahamenay was offering Arslan what she would have chosen herself (and this lines up with novel canon where she retreats to her homeland and distances herself from court), and it makes sense, this was a game she never asked to play. Still, it's just really sad that Arslan can never truly go back to who he was before all this.

I also loved the way his dialogue was paired with the internal monologue in black panels, even if I can't quite put my finger on why. That part was brilliantly done. (Maybe the way the “camera” comes closer and closer to his face as he proceeds?)

And the way that Tahamenay was prepared to receive angry words and even physical violence as a matter of course, it either speaks to her own guilt about the situation, OR the way she was treated so shittily by all the men and people in her life. Or maybe it is both. A brilliant moment of characterization, where she is shaped by her experiences and is in turn, blinded by them. Arslan is not that kind of person. He bows to her, and then leaves.

I have nothing to say about Kishward's worried face, but Arslan declaring his will is such a powerful moment. I'm reminded of a very early Narsus moment that's very relevant, I went and dug this out from my reread tag:

Here's what I had to say about it back then:

“What Narsus basically means here is: State a concrete vision, a cause, a goal, and people will naturally gather round to support it— to garner allies, you must basically broadcast what it is that you wish to achieve.”

And Arslan here is doing just that. Fantastic.

I know I said no screencaps in this post but I couldn't help it! It's such a powerful moment.

Arslan has really grown into his role and he's embodying the counsel Narsus gave him all those chapters ago!

And Hilmes, I see, is having a not-so-spectacular time.

The way Osroes spoke of Hilmes makes my skin crawl. He doesn't even deign to refer to the boy as “he”, and “send the thing to meet its true father” is just. YIKES. It's not the child's fault he was born into shitty circumstances, Osroes! How could he have raised Hilmes all those years (eleven!) with no outward sign of contempt, and just. Never develop any sort of attachment to him? No hesitation? Maybe it's the fever that's making it worse but I don't believe it was all delirium which just makes it worse. I hate Osroes.

Andragoras really did it as revenge, which seals the deal that he is, in fact, speaking the truth. It's just like him, and loathe as Hilmes is to admit it, he does realize that. This boy too deserves hugs. SOMEBODY COME HUG YOUR PRINCE.

And even still, even as his world is crumbling around him with no preamble, he still has enough headspace to process and start piecing the pieces together. Hilmes has POTENTIAL, he's a good commander and this right here shows his intelligence and relative ability to keep it straight in stressful conditions (relative, because of his whole consumed by revenge thing). If only he wasn't led astray perhaps, he could've made a good Shah. He unfortunately harbors some very typical biases about social class or whatever, but perhaps it could've been given a chance to change. But as things are now, his chance of being a Shah at all is...

Another Arslan-Hilmes parallel: they're both refusing to back down even as their lack of claim is revealed, and though the refusal stems from very different emotional roots there's a commonality in that they keep at it because if they stop now then what did all those people fight for? Though, Arslan's motive is selfless (he's doing it because it's his duty to the people who gave so much for him) while Hilmes' is selfish (it's tied to his sense of self-worth).

And Hilmes putting things together (so close, so close!) signifying his refusal to give up, that's what spurs Andragoras into action.

Man, what a fucking chapter, amirite?

Now with all that out of the way—

ITTY BITTY BABY BABY BABYYYYY HE'S BARELY LARGER THAN A COIN POUCH (and if we remove the swaddling cloth he might actually be smaller oh godddd) like I would've made infant Areyan tiny anyways but ohhhh god I'm about to cry. He's so huggable. I WILL SOB.

The Chapter 125 simulpub is now out on Mangasee123!