What do followers of the King Snake look like in terms of appearance and personality?
Followers as in the sorcerors of Team Zahhak? There's not a whole lot of detail on physical appearance from what I recall, at least as far as the disciples are concerned. You'd have to comb carefully through the novels for crumbs of info there but I wouldn't expect any specifics like hair or eye colour (though there were a few references to their eyes glowing — I wasn't sure how literal Tanaka intended this to be but it obviously informed the way Arakawa draws them in her manga... and come to think of it, their eyes also had a red or blue glow in the anime too).
Their personalities largely share the same negative traits. They tend to be sneaky (favouring what would be considered dishonorable methods of combat such as trickery, poison, sneaking up on others from behind, etc), generally negative/critical even of their own comrades (they're working together but they do not appear to be fond of each other and it feels more like a competitive relationship than true teamwork), spiteful, short-tempered, easily frustrated, cruel, etc. You get the idea.
I obviously paid more attention to Gurgin in particular as he's my favourite and easily the most interesting of Team Zahhak, and I do think you get to know him more in the novels. He's an ambitious smooth talker who enjoys feeling superior to his fellow disciples and is keen for his talents and efforts to be recognised by their Master. He's also the only disciple with backstory which you may have already read about, but I'll link to anyway. Like the others, he's willing to commit some truly awful acts to accompish Team Zahhak's aims, but every now and then there are glimpses of what little humanity he has left, though he does lose those traces progessively over the course of the story. I'll stop myself there before I write a whole essay on Gurgin, anyway.
Of the others, Gazdaham probably stands out a bit more than the others, partly because of his rivalry with Gurgin. He also loses an eye during the second half of the series, so there's a tidbit of physical description for you. Honestly, in a way he becomes quite a comical figure especially in his struggles to control Ilterish, and his fervour for Zahhak often verges on the ridiculous. He's a bit of a contrast to Gurgin, who even Ilterish takes more seriously. Ilterish mocking Gazdaham is fucking hilarious though.
Oh, it's worth mentioning that in the novels their cloaks are grey, though I've adopted the black they are shown with in the manga personally.
Hm, what else? In the novels, Pulad was the mage killed by Isfan during the night raid, and he was said to be inexperienced. Arakawa switched the mages around so in the manga it was Gurgin who died in that scene and I am still not over it.
I know this has been shared before, but here are Arakawa's designs for the disciples, with the translation of their names added by me (don't talk to me about the fact that Gurgin would almost certainly be 'Gurgan' if he had ever been referred to by name in the manga).
They don't wear masks in the novels, either.
Okay, now for the Unholy Master. In terms of appearance he's very beautiful (though it's apparently an artificial kind of beauty). Even Gieve acknowledges that he's handsome, lol. He has long blond hair and blue eyes. He's a bit of a mysterious figure and I won't go into the novel's eventual reveal of his origins here but I will say I hope we get to hear about it in the manga, too.
To speak of his personality, he appears content to use his disciples as tools, and while he is the one who teaches them magic the fact that Tanaka once stated he's careful not to teach them anything that would allow them to equal him speaks volumes about the kind of person he is. He is clearly drawn to power (the same is likely true of all the disciples though it's very evident with Gurgin, whose interest in Zahhak's power even goes back to when he was a trainee priest). He usually seems composed but he's not immune to feelings of bloodlust (this is probably common in members of Team Zahhak; again it's something we see with Gurgin) and he can be provoked to anger by Gieve of course ahaha. That he is manipulative goes without saying.
I guess this probably covers the question to the best of my knowledge, unless you're interested in figures like Ilterish or others who have been given Zahhak's blood, or the body that hosts Zahhak (even if you hide the shoulder snakes I think the person looks a bit... off. I would have to check specifics but as far as I can recall they were described as having purplish lips and reddish eyes; see this Shinobu Tanno illustration from Book 16).
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Mild pet peeve:
Why do animal ears look weird just stuck on humanoid character heads, to the point sometimes they get human ears anyway by accident? Because animal ears aren’t actually stuck to animals’ foreheads, ya walnut!
They’re still on the SIDE of the head then “wrap around” upward! They are HUGE because they’re cone shaped (yes! even your floppy eared doggo! they’re coned under the floppy! They just have less cartilage!) or pod shaped (like a horse or rabbit) or circular (like a bear).
Start the base of the ears on the side of the head slightly above where the mandibles meet then work “outward” from there please I am begging.
Oh, and go scritch a cute kitty’s or doggo’s ears.
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