#daniel arlington

[galaxyspeaking]

The gentleman of Lethe

[rosiethorns88]

Dropping the latest Sketch-a-Wish, voted on by my lovely Patreon members for January! Featuring a tense scene from Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo!

Spoilers for Hell Bent below!

This is one of the few examples of me putting in the WORK for the background, only because it's such a character itself. Il Bastone is a real world setting from Ninth House / Hell Bent, and even though they are scant, there were luckily a few interior photos available for me to reference to create the Virgil bedroom, where Alex and Darlington are having a tense conversation in this scene. I took some liberties on the design but a lot of the structures, accents and patterns were either pulled from the interiors or exterior facade of the Anderson Mansion. (especially the stained glass windows and painted tile fireplace!).

I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the painting over the fireplace to capture a small world-building segment from Hell Bent that I think has a modest symbolism of Alex's and Darlington's new relationship here. A fun little puzzle for those who want to try to research it!

[macaulaytwins]

Daniel Arlington III the man that you are,,,,,,

[ekbelsher]

Concept sketches of Daniel Arlington from Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (the second sketch got chosen, but I kind of want to finish the first one when I get a chance!)

[i-read-and-then-i-draw]

“He’d told himself he was giving her a chance, being fair to this girl who had washed up on his shore. But he’d let himself think of her as someone who had made all of the wrong choices and stumbled down the wrong path.

It hadn’t occurred to him that she was being chased.”

another year, another reread of Ninth House

[remusfinglupin]

Sometimes family is a gentleman demon, a galaxy who can see ghosts, an anxious research assistant, a well-dressed detective, and the human embodiment of a golden retriever

[chaoticmiserablelover]

I'm sick of dating apps; I want to meet someone in person (I am your Dante, you are my Virgil).

[caprifiles]

i class profanity with declarations of love. best used sparingly and only when wholeheartedly meant.

[whatbusiness]

“his monstrous queen”

“her gentleman demon”

[slightlysadfilter]

There is something so comforting about Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, despite the abundance of trauma, gore and eerie stuff.

Take Il Bastone; the existence itself of a sentient house that worries about you, in a world where magic is grotesque and raw.

Dawes's warming meals.

The architecture! The beauty of New Haven, the art.

For how fucked it is, you never see Alex complaining because she has met worse. Because even among demons, and bloody rituals, and uptight professors, she's at least surrounded by beauty and comfort. That same feeling passes unto the readers, it truly is magical to read Ninth House.

[heartofwolves]

Ninth House, page 152

Hell Bent, page 462

[flashbastardsramblings]

Hell Bent posed a very important question which is “Is Darlington still fuckable now that he's part demon?” To which the answer is, of course, yes.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

“How was Spain?” “Hotter than expected”

Oh this man, I love this man

[bogwitchbooks]

Everything is serious until Darlington’s glowing demon dick makes an appearance

[remusfinglupin]

Alex: We all have our demons.

Alex, grabbing Darlington: This one’s mine.

[wingedshadowfan]

um. hell bent (ninth house sequel) spoilers ahead.

darlington has implied anger issues, alcohol problems, a dirty mind, insatiable curiosity, a hyperfixation on the arcane, he's a murderer and he doesn't regret it - he's basically always sinned. he's always been a little bad.

it's not that only now that he's part-demon he has to wrestle with this ominous darker being that's lurking inside him. it's always been a part of him (part of every human being i'd like to argue), he's just been able to shut it out, control it better, compartmentalize (as one does), and now he has no choice but to let it free, free himself from his own inhibitions

But as he was not quite human any longer, he supposed a more flexible approach to morality was called for.

he's intelligent enough to realize he basically has to learn to deal with the fact that he's now powerless to the urges of his own demons, pun intended

this is what i want to see in a future book, not him struggling to hold back or trying to school himself into an image of goodness and perfection, because he's always done that! i want him to let go, absolutely lose it and be unapologetically unhinged and sinister, kind of like how alex is but worse