Aarcanaa

Sebile calming Cerberus to enter Hell

“Weeping was her most common expression, So strongly was her heart set on him.” – A Selection of Verses Concerning The Maiden of Ascolot, the Stanzaic Morte Arthur (trans. Lou G Gringolet)

It’s Elaine day! I have a very special place in my heart for Elaine, and @gringolet​ Lou’s translation of her bits in the Stanzaic Morte is AMAZING. But also :((( so tragic. This piece is kind of a mesh between the Morte story and Tennyson’s story. 

also a bonus Elaine and Gawain that i did as a warmup sketch because their friendship is VITAL to me:

But it all feels so much bigger than/ Some blame-filled, lonely break up/ Like all our narratives and mortality only distill to/ Oh my gd, we’re gonna die - “Archive” by Mal Blum

ID: A digital illustration of characters from The Magnus Archives, interspersed with song lyrics. Some are already dead (Gertrude, Sasha, Tim) while others are in danger (Martin, Basira, Daisy, Jon). The lyrics read “Oh my gd we’re gonna die/ We’re gonna die and it’s gonna be alone/ And no one will find the things we left behind/ Because/ Because we/ Because we never thought to leave a fucking archive.” At the bottom of the image is a pile of cassette tapes.

i know its easy to think about what the ideal arthurian tv show/film would look like but for me in terms of paper media i actually think a comic series would work best to capture the meta storytelling themes that are almost required for modern arthuriana. im thinking, like– there’s a bit in Young Avengers Vol. 2 where the villain grabs the narrator’s speech bubble off the page and eats it. there’s another moment where a character hops into the space between comic panels, and another where someone rifles through different versions of themselves and picks the one they want to be. and its all visually represented using the conventions of the comic genre, twisted them and warping them and turning them on their head. loki: agent of asgard does this as well and also sandman overture– i think all these stories that have to do with perception and reputation and living traditions as meta work really well in a medium that is, in my mind, perhaps one of the most fluid and versatile storytelling venues in existence. also i think gawain should be able to read the narration boxes and lancelot should be able to travel between panels and guinevere should be able to rewrite other characters dialogue

its chill he gets better lmao

you guys heard of gawain? sound of the summer

its like… i totally know that doing the lineless painting thing makes my art look worse than it would normally (not that it normally looks particularly good) but i do think its important to practice and i know that 3 months ago making that drawing look at all like a human person would have been a stretch, so i am still proud even though it doesnt look good. ya know. like hey i ABSOLUTELY improved even if im not good.

Anyways cukibola we get it youre in love with me stop stalking my blog and taking my discussions out of context to demonize me and my close friends over blatent lies <3

dinadan and palamedes for day two and three of arthurian side characters week!!!!!!! they r friends that is it. also palamedes works in a zoo this is a canon fact <3 

Nott headcanons

Although she doesn’t bathe often, Nott is actually surprisingly clean because she’s grown up as part of a race that cleans itself without the need of baths. She often subconsciously cleans herself as part of her nervous fidgeting - picking at her nails, her skin, her hair, cleaning her face. 

There’s nothing in her hair that wasn’t put there deliberately for safekeeping or as good luck charms.

She’s got this kind of pleasant musty, peaty smell about her, like autumn leaves.

Her eyes are big and round and slightly yellow, and they seemingly glow in the dark when near a light source because unlike humans, goblins have a tapetum lucidum, a reflective layer of cells just behind the retina which allow her to see better in the dark - aka, it’s what gives her dark vision. 

(The point above is also why I will not accept any headcanons that do not give goblins - or any races with darkvision for that matter - reflective eyes. It’s just more obvious for goblins because they have huge eyes which can reflect back a lot more light than those of e.g., dwarves or elves.)

She wears shoes, but has big, long toes and sharp nails that tear through socks and leather like butter. All her shoes have been modified to let her toes poke out because she wouldn’t be able to wear them otherwise.

She only wears shoes to blend in. She would much rather walk around on bare feet because goblin feet are very sensitive and give her a lot of information in regards to where she is, the people around her and movements (tremors), and give her added grip, balance and dexterity. 

She really likes the idea of wearing something more cute and fashionable, but doesn’t think she could ever pull it off. It’s something that is so very low on her priority list that she has convinced herself it’s completely unimportant, and it’s not something she even ever thinks about in her day-to-day life. Being inconspicuous is more important.

She sometimes casts message at other members of the M9 in the middle of the night when they’re in different rooms at an inn. It’s usually to ask some really weird or silly question and the other members of the M9 think they’re humouring her when they answer. Jester thinks she understands, because she thinks Nott gets lonely like her sometimes. Nobody understands the real reason Nott does it is because she wants to reassure herself they’re all still there and safe. 

Even though she’s eaten him twice, out of everyone in the M9 (outside of Caleb) Frumpkin will only listen to Nott. Not always, but still. She’s completely oblivious to this fact.

She’s considered casting message on Frumpkin because she’s curious if he’d be able to talk back…. but she’s too afraid of what he might have to say.

Sometimes, when she’s on watch and far enough away from everyone, she casts message up at the stars and talks to them as well. They were the first thing she had to guide her when she escaped from those dark, clammy caves where her clan lived, and sometimes they kind of feel like her oldest friends.