#Sir Godfrey Gwilym

[dandyvampyr]

Argynvostholt is for lovers

[argentumfool]

Godfrey's new chain mail because this boy deserves better.

[bean-cookies]

So, a while back there was this creepy little dog that went viral, and when I saw it I could only think of one person...

Uncanny.

[qusok]

haven't drawn for quite a long time and decided to start with random new technique to draw something quick. was it smart? not really. am i gonna post it anyway? yeah!

my beloved sad gay revenant

[hellomynameisandiam]

wanted to do some icons for various NPC guest star party members we’ve had in our CoS game, and i started with godfrey because i love a sad old man.

also did ismark due to story reasons, mostly because of our DISASTROUS dinner with strahd that resulted in big changes for both of these guys.

as the dinner wrapped up, godfrey was last seen hoisting a mind controlled ismark over his shoulder and running into the woods. we found out later that strahd gave chase, cleaved godfrey’s body in half, and ismark presumably died as a result as well.

godfrey did the revenant roulette, and ismark lost, so godfrey’s now in his dead body, since godfrey was unable to pull his original body back together.

godfrey is very... awkward about it.

[vanhelsingapologist]

imagine being a sad revenant and this group of adventurers come into your room where you’re brooding and sad but they talk to you and you’re like I don’t know they seem sort of weird but well-intentioned and so you’re like ok ok you can go anywhere but there are spiders on the ceiling! and the adventurers are like great 👍😃👍👍😄!!! and the dhampir gets promptly stuck on the ceiling where there are spiders. now you’re just standing there watching as the adventurers light the webs on fire and you’re like ok well at least the spiders are dying but really, I did say there were spiders.

so you help them out and it’s fine and you tell them alright guys you can go anywhere but the main hall because my ex boyfriend is there and he’s not doing so well and the adventurers are like great!! 👍👍😄😃👍😃 right on Sir we would hate to make it awkward for you 👍👍! and then thirty minutes later youre engaged in bitter combat with the man you no longer recognize (your boyfriend who has traded reason for madness) and the adventurers kill him and you’re like well I guess he’s coming back but you do NOT want to be here when he does and the adventurers are like 👍👍👍 of COURSE Sir 😄😃👍😃 and then they long rest.

every day Godfrey Gwilym wakes up

[mx-lamour]

24 - Unseen

From the personal journal of Sir Godfrey Gwilym:

I will attempt to keep a record, lest the memories fall away from me again. I know not where they go when they are absent. I know only that I feel the unseen thread of their existence, even though I cannot follow its path. I am lost in the woods.

I was standing at the edge of Argynvostholt—so quickly it has gone to ruin—I know not for how long. My legs no longer feel the pains of stiffness or fatigue. They simply exist, and carry me where they will. So there I was, at the edge of Argynvostholt, standing sentry, staring out across the misty landscape, when a lone man walked boldly down the road and toward me.

I thought very little of his presence. I thought very little at all. I thought only that I was waiting for something, or perhaps someone, but this man was not for whom I waited. And so I stood, within an evening breeze which touched my bones, and continued there to wait.

I watched the man as he approached. I had the vague sense that this was unusual. People no longer came or went from here. Ravens flew overhead, but even those were seldom seen—or perhaps I only took no notice. What else had I missed? The fields were pastel yellow-green.

The man approached, and finally he reached me. He looked at me much harder than I looked at him.

“Godfrey?”

Was that who I was? Yes. I began to remember.

My face was resistant to expression, like my limbs had been when… when buried in the earth. Tangled with... I heard the clash of metal ringing faintly in my ears. But slowly it faded, and some other glimmer in the distance filtered through the veil upon my mind.

“Alek.”

A relative. A friend? My cousin. Our fathers were brothers. We played together in the afternoon sun, far, far from this place.

“Yes!” he said, brightening. His face was too pale. “It's been a long time! I suppose I won't ask how you're doing…” He meant it humorously, I thought. He had been an energetic boy.

“I am…” I could not remember. What was the feeling?

“I heard that you’d gone off to be a knight somewhere,” said the cousin. A pearly sense of wonder floated through the fog. Yes. A knight.

“Yes. A knight.” My voice scratched the air. “The Order…”

“Order of the Silver Dragon,” he said, glancing at the fortress behind me. His mustache twitched. “So this was where you ended up.”

A new feeling grasped me by the throat. A stronger thread of my existence tugged, but still I could not see its source. “My…” I stammered, a sense of dread arresting all my joints. Remember. “My lo…”

“Your lord?”

“My love!” It shattered me. “He was here.”

I forgot the presence of the man in front of me. I clawed through the wreckage of my ruined mind for scraps of what had been. Where was he now, this love of mine? I would not—could not—leave him behind. I am needed. I cannot find him. The dirt in my throat and my eyes and in the space behind my nose. Cold limbs pressed against my face. I could not breathe. Would not ever breathe again, but still I persisted. O… An oath.

A hand on my shoulder. “Godfrey.” Gone. They were all gone. This man was gone, to look at him. Just as dead as I was, more or less. His eyes, like a frosted pond, with shadows underneath.

“Sir Godfrey,” I said, clinging to something I had found again.

Alek laughed gently. “If you insist. I won't make you call me Captain or anything. Not now,” he added to himself.

Now. The charge. The rush of battle. There! There he was. His armor and his sword. His hand, covered by a gauntlet, but underneath it I remembered. I remembered the soft protrusion of a vein around his knuckle. His skin, I knew. The adrenaline of movement. The sweat on his brow, older now, the hairline carefully receding. All the more room to plant kisses. And still—and still—his face was lost to me. I could not remember that.

I grabbed ahold of Alek's arm. His words were seeping into me, swatting at the mist inside my mind. I needed more of them. Return my thoughts to me, my kin. “Tell me what happened.” He was there.

“I was there,” Alek solemnly agreed. “When I left home, before you, all I wanted was adventure. I would see the world.” Yes. The swords we gripped in children’s hands were wooden. They clacked together harmlessly in play. Alek—small fists on narrow hips, victorious grin—helped me back onto my feet.

“I met a man,” he continued. Had he said something in-between? A man—a man. Who was he?

“His name was Strahd.” No, that wasn’t it. That wasn’t right. It was…

“It was just a job, at first.” It was never. I became a knight because I’d dreamt it for myself. I wanted to protect all that was enchanting. What better master to serve than benevolent Argynvost? Even before I knew he was a shimmering silver dragon, a paradigm of myth and legend.

“He can be severe, but his convictions are founded.” When I met him, he was frowning, but I saw Fate smiling down on me. His lips… Gods, but he was beautiful, Argynvost’s commanding officer. I could wait forever if he would only glance my way. Turn around, my love. Turn your face to me and let me see it. I would know you once again. How could I forget?

“I don’t regret our mission,” Alek said. Nor do I, I thought. It was only unfortunate that our feet had carried us along opposing roads, our wooden playthings traded for sharp implements of war.

“It would seem you got the short end of the stick.”

I nearly thought my mind had fled my grasp—horror, when so much had since returned—but I found instead that it was reeling. Everything my cousin told me was a reflection of myself. His dour lord, his sacred mission, the deep abiding loyalty of love. He didn’t say as much, but it was written in his piercing gaze. Alek, do you truly know what you were fighting for? Were you too proud? Afraid? Or were you deaf to your own heart?

“Did I?” I replied. Where was Alek’s dark beloved now? Why was he out here, wandering the valley all alone, with shadows in his face where light should be?

I don’t know why my cousin walks this land, but I remember now why I am here. I felt the pull of that strong thread—the one which bound our hands together, when my love and I were wed. Not even death would part us. I felt his soul retreating from the resting world and knew that I must follow. Wherever he would go, he would not go alone. I dug myself out of the massive pit of weathered earth and fallen fellows. Some of them grabbed onto me and we crawled out of the mud together, to follow Vladimir back home.

“Thank you, cousin. For reminding me of myself.” I pulled him into an embrace. My shoulder crackled with the force of it. “I wish you all the best in your journey, but there is something that I must attend.”

I raced back to the fort, its crumbling stonework a welcome sight despite its disrepair. It was familiar, at last, not by rote but conscious memory. My Vladimir would be inside the place, I knew.

“Vladimir!” I called out, finding more of my own voice within my battered throat. My heels might have sprouted wings for the way I bounded up the stairs with such bright ease.

I followed that invisible line between our souls until I came upon a door. I grasped the handle, and the moths that might have been inside my ribs fluttered with anticipation. The door swung open, and there he was, seated on a high-backed chair, head resting on his hand.

“Vladimir.” I spoke his name with such relief.

Vladimir looked up. His neck cracked as he moved. “What?” he snapped. The glow within his undead eyes was dim and lackluster. It was then I noticed all the dust piled on his shoulders. Swaths of spider silk clung to his arms and legs, almost tethering him down. He had not moved in years… Perhaps decades. I did not know how long we had been lost.

He did not remember me.

“In all things, a silver lining,” I said gently.

Vladimir sneered in response. “I’ll believe that when I see it. Close the door.”

I pulled it shut by his request, and patted the old wood. There was little I could do for him, if he was in this state.

But all is not lost. This, I know. I remember days when he was tender—knights like us cannot exist without the desire to be kind, however deeply buried. I remember the sweet tears that glistened when he pledged himself to me, as I had done for him. To share in one another’s pain, and seek to protect each other from it, and ease each other of its searing bite.

Not to worry, my love. I will find a way.

* * *

[Ao3 Collection]

[prompt list by @syrips]

Update! It has been brought to my attention that "Vovochka" is generally only used for children or in jest. "Vova" is a more suitable nickname for Vladimir as an adult. (But this in particular is a bit on the awkward side to my English-speaking brain.) Anyway, I have updated the story, and I hope you enjoy this wonderful little nugget of information! ♡

"Vovochka" pet name inspired by this post.

(I'm a sucker for Russian diminutive suffixes.)

[curseofthebloodcountess]

One of the important changes to my Blood Countess game, just as important, imo, as changing Strahd from a cis man to a cis woman, is what I have done to Alek Gwilym. Alek, as in my last game, was Strahd’s lover. Unlike my last game, Alek’s family and heritage are important. Alek is the son of Argynvost in Blood Countess, hence Sir Godfrey Gwilym: one of his two bastard sons with Strahd. Godfrey and his twin brother, Alistor (our party cleric) were devoted to their father and grandfather, so much so that Godfrey has become a paladin, devoted to Argynvost’s memory and Argynvostholt. Strahd never knew her lover’s draconic heritage during his lifetime and only learned of her children’s relationship with Argynvost after Godfrey’s death and Alistor’s disappearance. 

Another important change is that Strahd is a half-elf. Her mother, Ravenovia, was a full-blooded Dusk Elf. Rahadin is Ravenovia’s son from her first (failed) marriage. Ravenovia and Barov had three children of their own: Sturm, who died as a teenager, Strahd, and Sergei. Ravenovia used her children as political pawns and weapons of war while working to ascend herself to godhood - something she achieved around the same time Strahd made her deal with Vampyr. The result is that Ravenovia trapped all three of her children in Barovia, changed half the Dusk Elf population into the Shadar Kai before they could be massacred, and created Ravenloft… as in the Domains of Dread. She has since punished other Dark Lords as she punished Strahd and serves as a goddess of vengeance, loss, and crusades against the undead. She is not kind or loving and is, in fact, the reason her children are all so messed up. Barov was bad; Ravenovia was worse. 

Our cleric and Godfrey, then, are mechanically half-elves, but are genetically one-quarter elf, one-quarter dragon, and half human. Alistor is also Ravenovia’s Chosen One and she “rescued” him from the Mists, even though he was happy there, so that he could one day take down his mother. Our ranger, meanwhile, is the reincarnation of Sergei and has learned oodles about his past life and his family during that life, which has been emotionally scarring. Our warlock, who is sworn to the Morning Lord, just made contact with the avatar of the Morning Lord: a forever undying Alek Gwilym, who is trapped in the Amber Temple, living in hope that he can get back to his children and make things right. 

It’s all so delightfully twisted. 

[mermaids-ate-my-dinner]

Godfrey and Vladimir are Patroclus and Achilles I swear to god.

[magpies-and-kobolds]

[marusea-a-random-dm]

How is he a raven?

godfrey and vlad :’)

[marusea-a-random-dm]

Minor Curse of Strahd spoilers!

In our campaign, Godfrey was left on a lookout and well, Sasha decided to not lose her chance of replacing him. Last session my players found out that all this time, Godfrey wasn't himself and all of the time he said, that "Strahd is at the castle" was a lie.

So my player made this little meme!

[argentumfool]

I finally finished the chain mail. Maybe I need to smoke. Maybe I need a drink. But I'll go think about the gorget.

[bean-cookies]

Poor Ismark 😔

In our Curse of Strahd game, he (while possessed by the ghost of Rahadin) and Godfrey took a nasty tumble down a chasm in the mountains. Our DM has told me that Godfrey, being a Revenant (and our fated ally), will eventually return to us, but he will now be in Ismark's body. In the meantime, he is trudging through the snow, on his way back to us. I am only sharing it here because my fellow party members are not on tumblr (as fas as I know) 🤫

[qusok]

I'm not a trans man, more like a genderless being, but whenever i look at Godfrey Gwilym i think "transition goals"

[barovian-dawn-seekers]

The Dawn Seekers

Sir Godfrey Gwilym, impressed once again with their attempts to fight the dark powers of the realm, asked what he should call his allies. Yavis had once jokingly called them all "The Investment," a joke entirely procured from her attempts at teaching them all better dealings with their currency. It was still a joke though, not worth taking on as an official moniker. She looked about each of her party members as they rested from a tough battle and thought of what it was they sought; an end to the doom and gloom looming over the land of Barovia. A symbol of the end of a nightmare. The rising of the sun.

With a smile she turned back to Godfrey and gave them a name. "The Dawn Seekers." Now also known as The Dawn Seeker brigade of the knights of the Order of the Silver Dragon.

So, I really wanted to do some huge detailed post with this gorgeous poster, but I'm still so flustered that that little snippet was all I could come up with. I had asked Earth if I could get a full party lineup so we'd finally have a good reference of everyone in one place. It was just going to be a single side by side lineup of everyone. Nothing impressive, but beautiful art as always. And then she asked me a few days ago if it would be alright if she took a shot at a full on poster style piece for them. The results still has me absolutely floored, but I can at least gush more about how much I love the composition of this piece! All of which was 100% Earth's doing!

Large and center we have the original three party members that ventured into the Death House, Friend of Foe, Armory, and Nemissa. Having joined the party at a later date, but still every bit as important, we have full shots of Mistake and Yavis at the bottom. Behind them all the sun burns brightly, spectral wings of a dragon stretching out. In part the wings call forth the imagery of Argynvost's spirit, his beakon of light now visible from nearly anywhere in Barovia after the party had successfully returned his skull to its rightful resting place. On the other hand, set on either side of Friend of Foe, they foreshadow oncoming powers as he continues to try to tap into the skills his mentor assured him he could obtain.

And then how the composition continues to slap so hard. Centered at the top, once called the party's ray of sunshine by Yavis, stands Friend of Foe in his unwavering determination. In the air above his hand is the pendant given to the party by Godfrey, which Friend keeps close to his heart at all times, which signifies to any who would question that they are allies of the Order of the Silver Dragon.

In the middle, Armory and Nemissa stand as the pillars of sanity, the voices of reason, in the party. Be it doing their best to keep the party from splitting and putting themselves in danger to actively voicing how bad of an idea it is to make a deal with Baba Lysaga, without them far more terrible decisions would be made on a daily basis. Together they also keep the party from falling, each with powerful healing magic.

Both Warforged are positioned on the left of the portrait, siblings by creation. On the right we have Yavis and Nemissa, whom have taken on the familial roles that one another greatly needed. One a mother that could not keep her child, the other a child abandoned by her mother as an infant.

I could ramble on and on. This portrait is absolutely amazing and if you haven't already you should all check out Earth's art. If you'd possibly like something like this for your party she's considering making it one of her tiers for her commissions! I've got more lovely works from her to get posted up when I've got the time, but I absolutely wanted to get this one up as quick as possible. <3

-Kyrit