#azhrarn

[howifeltabouthim]

He bent down on one knee in front of her. 'Then what is your pleasure? If it's in my power to grant it, it's yours. Tell me your heart's desire and I will make it real.' She drew away from him as if his proximity might burn. 'Don't make such offers. You sound too much like a demon with such pretty words.'

Jenn Lyons, from The Ruin of Kings

[nyxshadowhawk]

Algol by Develv

[dandeliondee]

does a flip, more, with @fluffernauto's azhrarn getting condemned

[bellaroles]

Reading about a selfish demon prince and the various ways he made life hell for other people calm my soul lol.

[darkhawk1126]

@omgsweetunlikelycollector-me

Azhrarn by azhrarn

[deinemuddalutscht]

Dark Rise Book recommendations 

Just finished Dark Heir again. Do you guys have any book suggestions for books with similar themes? I love the protagonist being the villain or villain reborn trope. Here a few of my recommendations: (Warning! Spoilers!)

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

The female protagonist is an Isekai character who ends up as the villain in a fantasy world. While she isn’t truly evil, she doesn’t see the other characters as real people, allowing her to manipulate their emotions without guilt. Her love interest is a delightfully unhinged psychopath. The book also features a male, bisexual Isekai character playing a villainous role. He falls for one of the hero characters, who has one of the most suppressed sexualities I’ve ever seen. Without giving away too much, what’s great about their dynamic is that the male villain is actually a "good" guy pretending to be evil, while the hero is the truly unhinged murderer. The female and male protagonists pretend to be a couple for a while but have fantastic platonic chemistry. The premise revolves around two Isekai characters being trapped in a grim, "Song of Ice and Fire"-style fantasy book, surviving by playing the villains. The two of them have essentially to retell the origin story of the cruel God Emperor who later becomes the Antagonist of the book world in which they are trapped in.

Time Master Universe Series by Louise Cooper

The male protagonist is the reincarnated god of chaos. In this world, gods of order and chaos are locked in eternal battle. There’s a heterosexual romance, but some aspects of it haven’t aged well.

The Sundering by Jacqueline Carey

This series explores the war between light and dark from the perspective of the Dark Lord and his loyal generals. Imagine if Morgoth, Sauron, and Saruman were misunderstood figures with morally gray motivations, making them more relatable than the "light side." While there’s no queer romance, the story includes queer themes: for instance, the Saruman-like character is an evil bisexual, and the Morgoth-like character was once the god responsible for sex and reproduction. Funnily enough that started to conflict between him and his purist brother and elves. Despite parallels to Tolkien, this series introduces its own ideas and world-building, far from being a mere retelling. It's a dark and tragic narrative, though not overly graphic in terms of violence or sex. While there is a hint of romance, it’s far less prominent than the book description suggests. The series is brilliant but also deeply tragic

The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington

One male character is the "reborn" villain who tries to stop his past self's evil plans. The world-building is excellent, but the romance feels lackluster, largely due to the author’s weak portrayal of female characters. There's a female villain whose entire goal is to seduce the villain by pretending to be one of his lovers three separate times and somehow he falls for her act every time.

Tales from the Flat Earth by Tanith Lee

A rich fantasy world with an exotic writing style, though not everyone’s cup of tea. The books consist of interconnected short stories, with Azhrarn, "Night's Master" and "Prince of Demons," as the recurring character. Azhrarn is the ruler of the Underworld and the most powerful of the Lords of Darkness, embodying pure wickedness. Azhrarn and most of the other chactars are bisexual.The romances in the series haven’t aged well, but Azhrarns unpredictable cruelty and power make for an intriguing mix of protagonist and antagonist.

Witch King by Martha Wells

The main male character is a gay, shapeshifting demon prince. The world-building is expansive but requires close attention to follow.

Magisterium by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

A reimagining of Harry Potter, but from the perspective of the sidekick of the prophesied hero—who happens to be the villain reborn. Though aimed at younger readers, the first book is surprisingly dark, especially the prologue, where the villain kills a baby to take over its body. The series lacks world-building and dramatically declines after the third book. The finale, The Golden Tower, is one of the worst conclusions I’ve ever read, with a protagonist who never faces real consequences for being the reincarnated villain.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Set in a world where three elder gods (light, darkness, and twilight) exist alongside their many incestuous godlings. The god of light kills the goddess of twilight out of jealousy after the God of Dark falls on love with her, sparking a divine war—aka a chaotic custody battle. The god of darkness and the children who remained loyal to him are defeated and imprisoned in mortal bodies as playthings for the human race. The protagonist is the reincarnation of the goddess of twilight, and the story features a messy, toxic polyamorous love triangle that's utterly captivating.

A Chorus of Dragons Series by Jenn Lyons

The male protagonist is reborn and bisexual, eventually ending up in a polyamorous relationship.

Empires of Dust by Anna Smith Spark

One of the main protagonists is a reborn villain and an overall despicable human being. I couldn’t warm up to him at all. He’s bisexual but ends up with an equally detestable female character. The series is dark and graphic, so be prepared.

Furyborn by Claire Legrand

The story revolves around two prophesied queens—one of light and one of darkness—separated by centuries. Both are point-of-view characters. The Blood Queen has a villainous love interest but comes across as a frustrating, indecisive character. She betrays her family, husband, and kingdom, all for her attraction to the villain. She’s bisexual, but the character lacks agency, making her deeply unlikable. It wasn't for me, but others may enjoy it.

Master of Sorrows by Justin Travis Call

The male protagonist is believed to be the prophesied hero but is actually the Dark Lord/God reborn. No queer themes here. It's pretty dark but not graphic. disabledMC grows up in an ableist religious cult, so potential trigger warning here

I also really love Keos's youngest sibling's energy: Can we please talk about the fact that his villain origin story is being pissed about not getting what he wished for Christmas. I love petty gods lol. Still better than cutting your brothers hand off and declaring him the enemy of all humankind just because he did not like your shitty Christmas present

[thefreelanceangel]

Tagged (Repeatedly!) 10 Fandoms/10 Characters

Well gee golly whiz, I'd better get on this before more people tag me and then impatiently tap their feet for an answer! :D I'm not entirely sure if my list will be all actual "fandoms" but you know what, the characters compel me so I'm not changing my list.

#1: TOP CHARACTER EVER: Azhrarn, Night's Master from Tanith Lee's Tales from the Flat Earth book series.

#2: REALLY LIKE YOU KNOW LIKE-LIKE: Gideon Nav from Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb series.

#3: IDENTIFY WITH AND LOVE: Aziraphale from Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett's Good Omens, including the TV adaptation

#4: STILL FIND COMPELLING: Angaharad (Hari or Harimad-sol) from RobinMcKinley's The Blue Sword

#5: ENJOY SEEING EVERY TIME: Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth book series

#6: LOVE TO HATE AND STILL LOVE: Cersei Lannister from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, as well as the TV adaptation "Game of Thrones"

#7: WILL LOVE AND STAN FOREVER: Sir Haurchefant Greystone from Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

#8: WANT ONLY THE BEST FOR: Stolas from Viziepop's "Helluva Boss" animated YouTube series

#9: FIND FASCINATING IN ALL FORMS: Lucifer Morningstar from Christian mythology, including Paradise Lost by John Milton

#10: HAVE LOVED FOR DECADES: Batman (originally) from Detective Comics #27 but specifically from "Batman: the Animated Series" and the Tim Burton films

BONUS ANSWERS: (because I was tagged in this four times)

--Four (ish) Top Faves from the FFXIV Fandom: OCs Edition

Kirke, Corpse Dancer -- @sealrock

Kikyo Takahashi -- @shroudkeeper / @regalblossom

Blink Vaniro -- @riftdancing / Z -- @gatheredfates

Malika Bajihri -- @luck-and-larceny / Evander Winsome -- @dumb-hat

(Okay I cheated a little...)

Tagged by: @sealrock; @jigschosai; @iron-sparrow; @otherworldseekers

Tagging: @luck-and-larceny; @dumb-hat; @shroudkeeper; @airis-ray; @miqojak; @raulin-gage; @roxinova; @gatheredfates; @riftdancing and I'm sure I'm insanely late to this so count yourself tagged!

[redsixwing]

top 5 book series?

In no particular order, because if I try to order them strictly this'll take me even longer. I interpreted the prompt as text novels only, so ask again if you want graphic novels of any origin. ;)

The Coldfire Trilogy, C.S. Friedman. Rewrote how a young Six thought about villainy and character writing. I revisit these not quite yearly, any more, but that's more about lack of time than inclination. A priest in tension with magic users; magic they all use, and which uses them in turn. A fascinating cast of supporting characters try to save themselves and their friends from 'demons' whose lives are just as important as their own.

Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. My introduction to fantasy, before I could read for myself. Formative in many, many ways, including inspiration of my first fanworks (no, they aren't online, and it'll stay that way). The classic; every time I revisit it, I find something new. Bottomless, truly.

Machineries of Empire, Yoon Ha Lee. If you hang around here at all, nonny, you've probably seen me holler about them. Grim bloody extremely satisfying sci-fi. Showed me things I never previously understood about how to write an anti-hero. I've read the whole trilogy at least three times through, and it hasn't been out all that long. A spacefaring ghost story about a treacherous general whose rebellion against his oppressive society threatens to burn down his entire civilization; his talented and fearsome host; their mutual enemy, and the civilization thoroughly under his thumb.

The Shadow Campaigns, Django Wexler. I had not previously read anything in the genre of 'flintlock fantasy,' but these books have such a sense of place, and such depth of character. I read them in ebook, and will some day collect them in physical format, for easy sofa slouching. A soldier, a commander, and another treacherous general working at mysterious odds to the armed forces they all serve; the 'demons' the general seeks stand a chance of remodeling the world.

The Flat Earth Cycle, Tanith Lee. Lush dreamlike writing, completely bananas worldbuilding, world-as-place-as-character-as-magic-as-world. One of those classics that rewires my brain a little every time I reread it. Has inspired me to art multiple times, but I have never managed to complete the pieces to my satisfaction. The reign, fall, and rise of Azhrarn, Night's Master. An exploration of his world, including humans and other magical beings. I truly cannot sum up the story in a few sentences.

[pepperf]

Tanith Lee was why I decided to go to art college! Not even joking! She studied art, and I wanted to write like someone who had studied art, not like someone with an English degree.

(And I stand by that decision, although my particular art college sucked balls and I don't write like Tanith Lee, it's simply not my style, in the end. But it broadened my horizons.)

My favourites are Eva Fairdeath - which would kill many tumblr users - and Tales from the Flat Earth, which are like the best kind of fucked-up mythology. I used to know which second hand book shops in London were the best sources for Tanith Lee books, of which there were a seemingly inexhaustible variety, but were sadly rare, even then. There was a particularly great place on the end of Holloway Road that specialised in scifi and fantasy, I wonder if it's still there...

How the heck is there not more talk about Tanith Lee??

Like my gosh, the woman wrote, according to her wiki, 90 books, over 300 short stories, two World Fantasy Awards, and was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award/Augus Derleth Award and wrote for tv shows.

Like, it's not like she just wrote a heck ton but wasn't very good! She was clearly very good she won awards, and i've read a swath of her stuff across different genres and really enjoyed most of it. I mean that even if not each one has been my cup of tea I can at least appreciate the skill and quite a lot I have truly enjoyed. She's got great prose and style and imagination. Not everything obviously was a banger, but they've all been at least well written, which is harder to come by in writing than you might think.

But nobody ever seems to talk about her?? And I feel like the fantasy crowd on here would really enjoy her stuff. The woman has done stuff in pretty much every genre from what I can see, but I never see her listed on fantasy authors like Clive Barker or Diana Wynne Jones or Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett or Diane Duane even though she was writing at the same time and has a similar sort of '80s Doing Cool Stuff with Fantasy vibe' I feel like people who like those authors would enjoy though she's very much her own style of author.

Anyway this was really just me putting out a rant that such a prolific and talented author seems to have fallen by the wayside and I think it's really a shame

Heck she even did a witch-queen fighting againt vampire Snow White a whole decade before Neil Gaiman did his phenomenal Snow Glass Apples and it's also excellent, give a look here:

[pettyeti]

"Vasht, I thank you for this love of yours I do not want, and I give you love's reward." And he put his bootheel down on the butterfly and crushed it.

Now nothing could die in the Underearth, it was said. And demons were numbered among the immortals. Yet only this remained of Vasht, after Azhrarn had left that place: an impression, as if of the thinnest jade, seared into the paving--of a butterfly's two wings, like the two pieces of a broken heart. {This bit from Delirium's Mistress by Tanith Lee came immediately to mind when I saw your recent piece.}

When I first got this message I was so flustered (in a good way!) and honored as well. I can't believe my silly little pictures were able to remind someone of one their favorite pieces of media 🥺 💙 When I saw your tags I was geeking out <3

Oooh but this excerpt is such a compelling piece of writing... I need to check out this series for sure, because the prose just from this one section is *chef's kiss* And the two characters here remind me of the dynamic between my own OCs hehe

Thank you so much for the kind words in the tags on the pictures <3 Truly

[howifeltabouthim]

Perhaps I had loved him for that, for his bouts of astonishing coldness when he detected weakness in others.

Siri Hustvedt, from The Blindfold

[nyxshadowhawk]

Temptation by Nodens Art

[dandeliondee]

lotsa guys featuring @fluffernauto's azhrarn and freya

[comicreliefmorlock]

From the Book Worm ask: 21, 36 and 41.

21: The book(s) on your school reading list you actually enjoyed.

High school is over twenty years in the past and I remember very little of my English classes (mainly because they were rather tedious) so I can't give you ANYTHING from then. However, from college, I can say that I have one particular book on my shelf of "just damn good reads" -- "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy. This book is good. It's brutal. It's not going to pull punches. It has triggering content. And it is fucking. good. I can't elaborate further beyond that because the characters, the setting, the plot, the background... they all deserve PAGES of analysis and this is a very highly lauded book (with good reason) so you can find far more intellectual discussion elsewhere. However. "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy. Enjoyed the FUCK out of it and I've kept my copy ever since I first got it.

36: Your absolute most favorite character(s) from any book you’ve ever read.

Azhrarn, Night's Master. That my absolute favorite character comes from a Tanith Lee novel should be no surprise. I love Azhrarn. I love that he's flawed. That he's evil. That he isn't as evil as he thinks he is. That he grows through the narrative, that he makes mistakes, that he undergoes several deeply allegorical events, that he is queer as fuck. And my absolute favorite sentence completely and absolutely encapsulates the character, the world you're in, the path you're going on. "...and once he folded his inky wings on the roof of a temple and laughed aloud at men's notions of the gods."

41: When you get ready for a week long trip to somewhere how many books do you download/pack inside the suitcase?

It really depends on where I'm going and what I'll be doing. I get horribly motion sick, so I can't read during a long car ride. (I usually sleep.) And if I'm visiting my parents, my mother and I are going to spend a very large portion of that time talking. On average, I will always have one physical book with me or within reach (it's easy at my parents' place because they still have a decent library and I can find something to read) and I will have at least one book in-progress on my phone. (I have three separate book reading apps and I use them all often.) I also download at least one extra, but I'll sacrifice data to get another book if I need it. Now if I'm going somewhere for a full week and there's likelihood of downtime? At least two physical books (I usually pack one for my husband, too, but I end up reading it) and I make sure I have a charger for my phone. And if we're going to be sniffing around a new city, WELL... Time to see what their used bookstores have!

[dragoningachahell]

An admittedly off-model Azhrarn for @endtimeillusionist

[fresne999]

Ah, Azhrarn's plan revealed.