#not tagging more specifically because im afraid of being crinche lol

[blaiddfailcam]

Okay fine here are some "brief" headcanons about Blaidd and his upbringing among the Carians. Totally not telling on myself how much I overthink these games but:

As far as "headcanons" go, these are more so my rationalizations of Blaidd's relationships, and why he's so uninformed regarding his nature as a bringer of bale. I do feel the game offers some complex emotional drama that's fun to dissect. In essence, this is how the chronology of their dynamics "make sense" to me.

I'm not one for entirely cozy-cute interpretations, nor anything too edgy, but the latter story ruminations might paint the characters as somewhat cold and melancholy. To me, there is a good deal of sadness behind Blaidd's hardened persona, which always had me wondering how lonely he must have felt, searching for insurmountable years for an elusive key to unlocking Ranni's dream and his own demise.

But I'll start with the nicer stuff, lol.

Childhood

Blaidd wasn't "born," but created by the Two Fingers from Ranni's violet left eye to be her animus—not unlike Eve from Adam's rib.

Upon creation, he appeared as a wolf-headed human child with grayish skin and scant fur, with pink palms and soles. He was repulsive to the Carian servants, reminiscent of a demi-human.

In-game, Blaidd never blinks. As such, I like to think he literally never closes his eyes, nor does he rest.

Ranni was quickly drawn to him. Her first word upon seeing his lupine head was, "Blaidd!"—Wolf. Thus, the name stuck: Blaidd the Half-Wolf.

Rennala was not immediately approving of him, as she appreciated the danger he posed to her Empyrean daughter. As such, he was kept separate from her and raised under Iji's watchful eye in Kingsrealm.

Ranni would regularly secret herself out of the manor to play with her new friend by the cover of night. When Iji discovered this, he gently allowed them to continue. To him, they were almost as his adoptive children, or so he dared to pretend.

Blaidd was tutored in combat, assisted Iji with his smithing, and partook in hunting and fishing on behalf of the gate town. Naturally, this latter activity was his preferred pastime, which culminated in his talent for tracking traitors to the royal family.

Neither Radagon, Radahn, nor Rykard ever met Blaidd. To him, the Carian males were as distant as the stars.

Knighthood

Blaidd was trained in mock combat by Loretta. Loretta criticized his ineptitude for sorcery, fostering a mutual resentment when he soundly defeated her with his brutish strength.

Understanding Blaidd's unwitting role as Ranni's shadow, Iji was unnerved by his speed and aggression with ordinary weaponry. As such, he fashioned a colossal sword not unlike the trolls' royal greatswords to serve as a suitable weapon, as well as an inhibitor in the tragic event he ever turned on Ranni.

Blaidd's earliest armor was somewhat lowly, not so dissimilar from the Bloodhound knights', sans a cape.

Seluvis attempted to tutor Blaidd in the ways of Carian sorcery, but Blaidd had neither patience nor interest. Instead, he preferred to play childish pranks. Feeling sympathetic for the caged cuckoo birds, Blaidd once released a number of them, and Seluvis was convinced he had devoured them. From then on, he rejected him as his pupil.

Her distrust of the Two Fingers mounting into adulthood, Ranni became detached from Blaidd, to his distress.

One day, she disappeared. Blaidd tracked her to the frigid north alone, fashioning his makeshift cape from the hide of a greatwolf. When he found her, she was half-frozen. Enveloping her in his cape, he carried her to shelter.

When she came to, she apologized—but even still, she achingly refused to reveal her intentions. She was terrified of how her treachery would hurt Blaidd, but her resolve was as iron.

After their return, Rennala spoke to Blaidd in private. To his surprise, she apologized to him for her distrust. She declared that he and Ranni must become close as kin, inducting him officially into the Carian royal family as Ranni's honorary stepbrother.

As such, Rennala commissioned Iji to fashion a proper suit of armor for Blaidd, and a sword befitting a Carian knight, inlaid with many-colored glintstones.

The Dire Plot

After Radagon's departure and Rennala's descent into madness, Ranni maintained the Carian estate with Blaidd as her dutiful knight, defending from the battle-ready Cuckoo.

Blaidd was not included in Ranni and Rykard's plot to steal the Rune of Death, nor the Night of the Black Knives. Seeing as this trespass would fly in the face of the Greater Will, Ranni was careful to distance herself from him, should he enact his role as her executioner.

When the time came, Ranni diverted Blaidd to Raya Lucaria using Seluvis as a diversion. Unaware of her plot, he swiftly made his way to the academy, but upon arrival was swiftly imprisoned. (Ya know, sealing spells and all that.)

Breaking free the next morning, Blaidd stormed back to Caria Manor. But in Ranni's place, he found only a doll—until she spoke, and a chill ran down his spine. She confessed to her treacherous crime, expressing her utmost determination to rid herself of her curse.

Although he was shaken, Blaidd swore an oath that her secret would remain kept, and that he would serve no master but her. From then on, he dutifully commenced his age-long search for the Eternal City of Nokron.

The Shattering

In his distance from Ranni, Blaidd became himself more cold and skeptical. He observed the Shattering Wars from a distance, indifferent to the bloody corpse mounds littering eastern Liurnia, and unperturbed by the blight of Deathroot that plagued the Lands Between following Ranni's plot.

During a skirmish en route to Caelid, Blaidd ambushed Malenia, not with the intention of killing or impeding her, but out of curiosity as to her resemblance to Ranni's Empyrean flesh. He challenged the valkyrie, but in a single precise motion, she pierced his chest below his sword arm—a lethal blow to most, but only enough to temporarily subdue a shadow.

Afterward, he never involved himself in the war beyond protecting the manor.

Until present

Ever since Ranni's betrayal, Blaidd would irregularly drift into unconsciousness. Unbeknownst to him, these fainting spells marked the conjuring of Baleful Shadows, fashioned in his image.

For as desperate he was to fulfill Ranni's ambition, Blaidd was consistently delayed by an insidious traitor. Old Iji, still greatly attached to his dear children despite their unraveling tale, dangled fabricated allegations with which to occupy the merciless hunter.

Even so, his good nature remained relatively intact, only teased by a select few friends met in his encounters. One such character, of course, was Kalé. When Seluvis discovered someone had made off with the eyepiece of his priceless telescope, Blaidd began a lethargic hunt for the culprit. Discovering Kalé south of Stormveil, he questioned the telescope he spied in the merchant's possession. Kalé insisted it was sold to him in his travels. Blaidd fully believed him, but gave up the search out of boredom.

Blaidd fosters a respect for wildlife. He is, after all, reviled by most for his half-wolven visage. Perhaps he feels some penitence for his zealous hunting in his youth, or maybe it's born of defiance for Seluvis's vulgar accusations in the disappearance of his cuckoos.

Blaidd totally witnessed Kenneth Haight getting his shit rocked at Fort Haight and did nothing. He found it funny.

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In general, I think Ranni and Blaidd do care for each other deeply, but I find it interesting how Ranni manages to distance herself from her emotions in retaliation against the Two Fingers. Blaidd was conceived to suppress her through their mutual admiration. Aknowledging such, Ranni takes on a distant air in equal parts for their protection from each other, and in full understanding that her treachery would inevitably destroy him.

To be clear, I'm not saying Ranni is a bad character. I think it's awesome to have such a determined character who actually makes you question the morality of her revolt. Do her means truly justify the end? Likewise, Blaidd strikes me as someone who tries his best to be good, but in his determination to betray even his own emotions for Ranni's sake, he steeps into a depraved thirst for vengeance. He's not exactly a critical thinker.

When Blaidd eventually is corrupted, I question whether it was entirely the control of the Two Fingers, or if he felt a relentless rage toward Ranni. He spent years working to fulfill her destiny, after all. He had loved her with all his being. Even still, she foresook him. Despite this, he rooted himself where he knelt, refusing to let his fury bring her harm.

They kinda freaks. Love me some freaks.

Anyway pls don't let this make you think I'm any less cool or well-adjusted