embrace-your-illithid

[embrace-your-illithid]

[embrace-your-illithid]

My boys (old art)

[embrace-your-illithid]

I was someone once... An adventurer.

(read more for me rambling about the emperor)

theres rarely any particular meaning or intent behind my art but i swear the emperor is literally my muse, so i thought id share my thoughts about what this piece means! i was listening to punish by ethel cain and couldnt get this idea out of my head… i feel like the line "i was an angel, but they made me leave" or the fallen from grace motif pretty well encapsulates the tragedy of balduran and the emperor and why he'll always be such a sympathetic character to me.

ultimately while there are valid reasons to believe the emperor's evil/irredeemable or whatever, its quite literally not his fault he became what he is. he never asked for his ceremorphosis (of course, he came to accept it, but that doesnt make it any less fucked up). its generally considered that mankind is capable of good and evil in equal measure, but if your humanity is literally stripped away from you, what is there to stop your descent? this isnt even to justify his actions but instead about how titles like "angel" and "demon", "good" and "bad" etc etc are so subjective and perception-based. like if it was the human(oid) balduran and not a mind flayer behind all his actions throughout the game, i doubt he'd be so universally hated. i mean, better a bad person than a literal monster, right?

there's also the "only god knows / only god would believe", or to me the idea that no matter how hard the emperor may try to exercise morality, he's so far departed from his former self that people will only ever see him as a villain, not a hero. its truly a damned if you do, damned if you dont situation. and most ironic is the fact that despite everything, he hasnt fully lost his humanity. he genuinely yearns for companionship and mourns what hes lost and who he used to be (to some degree). i think hes so well-written because he is just like you in the sense that hes simply playing the cards he was dealt, right or wrong. i could go on and on about this awesome character and song (especially its themes of perversion, punishment, and love) but that's the gist. thanks for reading ^^

[embrace-your-illithid]

i wanted him to be at the epilogue party so bad

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actually ill post this too bc it still makes me laugh

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illithid travelogue: garden

a breath of fresh air :)

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talking to the emperor in the upper city 🥺

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Emperor sending texts or something

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Un dibujo algo rápido por el fin de año, estaba indecisa si poner al Emperador (BG3) o a Arthur (Warframe) 😝 a ambos los conocí el mismo año

En fin, posando con la bendi

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Baldur's Gate wrapped

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This gorgeous illithid..

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Ilo' and Blythe

🩷 posing for a portrait 💙

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🐙🧠

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The factory gave me the first version of the doll. 😌

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claws........