Zephyr Has A Really Bad Day.

Inktober day 11: Nachtkrapp

A legendary bird from Librum Prodigiosum! The Valravn, from Danish mythology! They are said to be ravens who have consumed the remains of those who died on the battlefield, sometimes being described as half-wolf like creatures!

by artist Maggie Vandewalle

-Tonight's Moon- Zephyr tries his best to save his favourite sweater.

I do commissions of this type of sequences, if people are interested. Prices and links about it in my pinned post.

"Don't be scared ok? I'm ok, you're ok, we're all ok."

A tender moment between Zephyr and Chase.

" Now I'm not looking for absolution Forgiveness for the things I do But before you come to any conclusions Try walking in my shoes Try walking in my shoes You'll stumble in my footsteps "

I think I've drawn Valerie's monstrous form...once before? I really need to draw it more. More info after the cut.

So I've had the idea for this piece for years now, but I never drew it because I felt like I didn't have the skill to pull it off. Eventually I resigned myself to commissioning another artist to draw it for me, and I started making a quick sketch of my idea...and I kept sketching it...until I had drawn the whole thing myself in a few hours. Guess I just needed to get over myself and draw it mindlessly LOL

I need to make a proper writeup of who Valerie even is one of these days but for now the short summary is: she was born human, but a valravn ripped her heart out and turned her into one of his own. She escaped from him, but she also now has to eat human hearts on a semi-regular basis. Needless to say, it's taken a toll on her mental health.

Oh yeah and here's the no background version

Valravn | Prey | 2020

Finnish Black Metal

https://primitivereaction.bandcamp.com/album/prey

"If you don't see a threat, it doesn't mean there isn't one."

Hooooowww did people 1) hear the folksong Valravnen about a knight who's been transformed into a bird (likely an eagle, not a raven) and can only break the curse by killing a baby, 2) see that one (1) now-extinct noble family referred to their heraldic beast, a wolf/bird, as a 'valravn', and 3) read one single 1800s countryboy's explanation that valravnen is like an evil valkyrie, and SOMEHOW extrapolate from those three wildly unrelated sources that "The Valravn" (because it's never a folkloric concept with different interpretations, it's always a single specific creature) is a were-wolf/raven who haunts battlefields to drink the blood of slain warriors????

Please stop depicting 'the' valravn when you don't even know what it is, I'm begging on my fucking knees, I hate the way recent Danish folklore-inspired popculture has latched onto this figure and keeps depicting it in wilder and wilder ways😭😭

If you want a folkloric evil bird creature in your story please just use a fucking dragon or gammen. Use a damn cockatrice or vættehane, idgaf. Please just stop muddying the already-confusing lore of valravnen. The figure has been abused enough already and you are making my hobby as a folklorist very difficult😥