#harold arknights

[amiya-shirou]

Truly the best thing about Silverash that sets him apart compared to other master manipulators like Victoria's Dukes is that for all his "master chess player" persona he's somewhat forcing himself to be, he's completely adamant in treating Degenbrecher, someone who would easily be his strongest "piece", as a trusted friend he can bet everything on shonen manga style rather than as a pawn. And this is exactly why he hasn't lost her, why they trust each other so much, and why Kjerag could become an home for her rather than another place to leave behind like Leithanien and Kazimierz. She's not a tool.

Gnosis tried to act the part of the unfeeling mastermind, didn't trust Monch enough despite the fact she was being ordered to do a pretty important betrayal, and lost her when she rightfully felt betrayed by him. He treated her as a tool for his plan, thus unwillingly making sure she was never going to help him again.

Harold insists on treating his soldiers as people, not as the tools he very well could use them as due to his authority as Viscount, and they formed an unshakeable bond. None of them is ever going to betray him. Like Degenbrecher, Harold longed to make Kjerag his new home, but due to the Duke of Caster treating him as a pawn and not caring about his real wishes he was unable to do so. As a mostly unwilling, undecided pawn he ended up being useless to the Duke since he never really puts his whole heart into forcing Victoria's demands on Kjerag, thus giving Silverash enough time for his countermeasures to stop him.

The Dukes of Victoria are always wary of each other, plotting against each other, wary of anyone who thinks their way and thus can pose a danger to them. Meanwhile Silverash completely trusts Gnosis, keeps him by his side, and is so happy to find a peer in the Doctor. The one time he was too wary of a fellow plotter to earnestly communicate with them (Ratatos) he made things infinitely harder for everyone, since they might have agreed to work together from the start. He looks so much the part of the plotter with no morals who actually only really wanted power, but no, he sincerely does everything because he loves Kjerag. He really just watched too much Code Geass as a teen.

[bluepicmi]

I don't know how to draw old men

[cogitxtio]

(( harold's voice actor was nice to me on twitter so i'm putting him on my main squad and never taking him out. sorry buddy i'm dragging you all over terra and you can't stop me ))

[cyberturbine]

«They were drinking happily at the beginning. After noticing you approaching, they exchanged glances and began to put on that gloomy posture. After deceiving you away, they drank heavily again.»

[pininiu]

Wanted to try making a finished piece in krita, it was fun!

A lot of messing around with brushes

[oltammefru]

The contrast between two really highly anticipated characters finally releasing and "Guy Named Harold" is kind of sending me.

A friend mentioned to me they look like a "failed clone of Lappland's dad" and I cannot stop thinking about that description.

[colinetheneko]

Harold as a persian cat

[niko-mesu-the-dragon-dog]

sir pls ditch ur wife and marry me instead

[shuubaehisagi]

Harold El-Melloi: It's over, Młynar! I have the higher ground. Młynar: *charging s3 which can hit aerial enemies and devices on ranged tiles

Run, Harold :))

[amiya-shirou]

Finished reading Rides to Lake Silberneherze and wow. Degenbrecher was obviously going to be one of my favorites but I didn't expect to also end up liking Harold so much. I thought he was mostly going to be a political rival for Silverash, yet he's actually such a good foil for Degen instead... in love with their fight and conversation atop the frozen lake.

(Spoilers alert for the last part of the event)

Thinking about the earlier scene with his soldier still suffering from nightmares from the war. How both him and his men were so much happier living a normal life in Kjerag than as soldiers, very much mirroring Degenbrecher's own experience (funnily enough both her and Harold are tremendously popular with the citizens). He doesn't even want to harm the place and is ready to make concessions most nobles would never make

But no matter how gentle of a person he is, no matter if he's one of the "good nobles" and "good soldiers", he's still part of the nobility and the military. as long as he remains part of Victoria's war machine, he'll keep being an instrument of fear and suffering and bring those dangers even to the sole place he hoped could have remained safe from it

Degenbrecher also found comfort in the peace and warmth of Kjerag after a lifetime of fighting, but while it's true that they're the same in that they're both ready to take arms again if it's for their home, I believe it's important to note that Degen is fighting specifically a defensive battle to protect the home she chose for herself, while Harold is actively going against his morals for the sake of his native country that has taken an offensive position against a much smaller power. Harold is fighting as a Viscount of Victoria, leading an army of thousands of soldiers under orders from a Duke that doesn't care about his wishes. Degenbrecher is fighting by her own will as just a single citizen of Kjerag.

The segment in which she fights a thousand soldiers is truly breathtaking. The narration and the characters treat her as an hero coming out straight out from the stories.

Meanwhile, the Victorian military explicitly contrasts her as the cold realism that suffocates all legends of heroism (very reminiscent of the Steam Knights segment in chapter 11 I'd say).

And looking at this, they really do represent their respective countries. Victoria is the so-called greatest nation in the world, using its immense power to "bully" (as Leto puts it) the much smaller, seemingly powerless Kjerag. But despite all this, Kjerag resists. It might not be able to topple Victoria, just like Degen can't defeat an army by herself, but they can resist. They can make it hard for them. They can keep them at bay for some time, maybe long enough for things to change. Despite all odds, Kjerag stood up to Victoria, and Degenbrecher stood up to an army.

And to me it's just so, so important that the very leader of that cold "machine" was himself an admirer of the knight from the stories.

He had to step over so much of what he loved for the sake of a Duke that didn't care about any of it. Meanwhile, as much of a mastermind Silverash might be, he never forced Degenbrecher to do anything. Kjerag welcomed her, and so she simply defended Her.

[kefka-palazzo]

[arkiwii]

I love this voice line for her, very cute

version without the text under the cut

[aphelion-i-c]

finally finished this sixfanarts after like two months 😭 requests from friend's discord server

[cogitxtio]

...

Caster and I were hanging out together like we always do when Midnight appeared and tried to put the moves on her. Even though I’ve never seen his “moves” work on anyone, I was still scared for a second there, but then Caster got him to leave by pointing to me and saying she’s clearly already on a date and telling him to leave us alone. It worked, but what did she mean by a date?!

[gaemms-chamois]

Arknights Blorbissimo Series

#131 – #140

[shuubaehisagi]

Fate/Zero is heckin wild :))

(Yes this is a JP VA reference)