#of knight+dragoon

[kimikoyukiart]

Fated for each other~ The cover for my next estimeric zine! Pre-orders available now for anyone interested!

SHOP

[sneakyboymerlin]

on my fourth annual rewatch of merlin and i don’t think we as a fandom talk about how merlin absolutely slaughtered the knights up in 4x06. bro had those insults locked in and ready to go. he’d been choreographing how to fuck their shit up for MONTHS. he saw his opportunity to take out every last bit of his frustration in one fell swoop and he took it AND THEN SOME.

I’ve been thinking about this though like. The knights set themselves up when they approached disguised!Merlin all threatening like that. Merlin immediately calls Gwaine a drunk and everything goes to hell from there. Calls Percival by name even though they’ve never met before. They do not even question how this random old man in the woods knows these details about their lives.

That said, we are getting a glimpse at how Merlin thinks he will be treated by the knights if his magic is actually revealed, which is an angst fest of itself. The same thing happens in Lamia, really. Merlin is on the receiving end of a lot of misdirected violence from his friends in s4. But in the case of the Fomorrah, he ends up deflecting this with anger and petty pranks.

It also means we’re not getting enough fics where Merlin is on the run, gets inundated by knights, and leaves them to report back to Arthur with a humiliating defeat. Emphasis on humiliating. This is the blueprint, people. Normal Merlin > Goblin Gaius forever.

[just-neckerchief-things]

Merlin: if I can’t use magic… I might as well die! :’(

*angsty walk away*

Gaius: ugh this dramatic bitch :/

[fisherrprince]

adding “fantasy“ before things is an instant improvement on anything I immediately become more interested in anything if it’s a fantasy version. Train? Sure I like train. Fantasy train though. Political faction? Not that big of a fan but I’ll manage. Fantasy political faction? Hohoho. You have my interest. Knights? Fine. FANTASY knights?????? I’m already in your house with the fantasy knight stuffed in my mouth like they were a post-it

[candilee-joestar]

This took much longer than intended. I drew each of Scoria's main jobs! Here is a bit about them in lore order.

White mage- Taught some basic healing by her mother who was a well known healer in her area, White magic came most naturally to Scoria and was what she relied on in the earliest parts of her travels. Not being very physically strong, she used it almost as a crutch as she bumbled her way through the primals plaguing Eorzea, often relying on the strength of others to push her through fights. Encountering Lizzy while lost in the wilds of Gridania, she taught her some basic’s about being a conjurer. While this did help guide her, she still struggled through most encounters. She grew to resent her white magic and sought other ways to protect herself on the battle field, though, this was an uphill battle, as she had no real combat experience. It wasn’t until much later in her time on the first where she discovered the true strength of white magics, bolstered by the mass of light entering her from the flood. It was this point where she fell back in love with her roots and looked at it more as a tool in her toolbox rather than a weakness.

Red Mage- A secret love of Scoria’s was always the fights on the blood sands in Ul’dah, growing up and watching match after match with her parents. Her favorite heel, Cemi the Titan, who she’d been a long time admirer of, she became friends with and share with him her insecurities about her strength. Noticing her affinity for white magic and her total lack of strength, he felt a good stepping stone would be Red Magic and even (in a very domineering and heel-ish way, tossing it on the ground at her after besting her in combat) gifted Scoria her first rapier. Despite his non-nonchalant and demeaning disposition, the sword had clearly been hand crafted specifically for her.

She created a “Heel-Sona” for herself. Smooth and smug, dawning a set of circular, red, sunglasses (which were secretly also prescription grade as she is blind as a bat), she called herself “Drake” for her time in the coliseum. It was through this that Scoria found some ability to make her way through the dragonsong war. Touching the Eye of Nidhogg when attempting to remove it from Estinien’s body corrupted her aether with that of the wyrm’s, filling her with all his years of rage and hate. Scoria, never experiencing such feelings in this way, tried to channel it through her red mage magic, but this was not effective and often resulted in her accidentally injuring herself or her comrades.

Even after learning to channel this magic through dragoon, she still enjoyed the color it gave her aether and uses a bit of it while using her ‘Drake’ persona to give her more of an ominous glow. Dragoon- Corrupted by Nidhoggs aether, Scoria often would be doing simple tasks, sitting at home, reading the paper, and objects around her would explode in a cloud of red. She was plagued with migraines and flashes of the hate and rage of the wyrm. Visions and feelings about dragons or people she’d never met, as well as some she had, namely Estinien. After returning from Kugane and to Ala Mhigo, the problem only grew and Scoria sought out the one person who knew Nidhogg best: Estineien himself. After some long talks and begging (and some harassment from Tataru) he agreed to help her channel this rage. It was through this she grew to understand him more as a person and in turn, herself.

It was through Dragoon that Scoria finally found her true strength. It felt almost natural to her, channeling the energy of dragons and releasing it on her opponents on the battlefield. She felt swift and powerful, almost unstoppable. It was through this that she finally found a love of fighting and challenge, no longer the meek woman she once was. Her tall frame now posed to give her an advantage, having the strength to back it up.

While on the first, after being filled with so much light that she nearly became a sin eater, Nidhoggs rage and anger finally dissipated. There was so much white aether, it completely burned out any trace of him left inside her, transforming her dragoon gear and lance a brilliant white and brass color. Dancer- Scoria was never one for sexuality or showing much in the way of skin (or scales). Her parents had made it very clear from a young age how she should present herself at all times, so these desires were often suppressed, choosing to wear clothing that covered most of her body.

After marrying her husband Kahdan, she felt he did so many things for her to make her happy, she wanted to do something for him in return. Hearing about a trope of dancers in town, she went and met with them to learn more. While she didn’t gain too much in the way of sexual confidence, it did help her at least look like she did. Unable to fully commit to the relieving dresses of the other dancers, she did still find an outfit that showed off more skin than what she was used to.

Her husband, supportive as ever, purchased her an outfit in his favorite colors to wear. It was hardly clothes at all, Scoria struggled with the idea mentally of going out and being seen in something like that. Still, from time to time, as a way to help build that confidence, she would go out with him in it, completely red faced and usually hiding behind him as to not be seen. Dark Knight- Ardbert after melding with Scoria’s soul would often stay up at night talking to her. Because they were essentially a part of each other, she would confide her deepest, darkest, fears to him. Sometimes willingly, sometimes because he would find himself wandering in her dreams, unable to escape them. He realized her deep seeded fears about her own inadequacy. That she felt ill-equip to be the savior of not only his world, but her own. That she was tired of always being everyone’s hero. That she missed the days of painting in her flat with her room mate Alha, when she was no one. She even had some resentment for her friends and the common folk for relying on her so much. He helped show these subconscious thoughts to her. He brought them to the forefront, but did not shame her for it, explaining how he went through something very similar and how the hate that his own people felt for him harmed him even after his death. Ardbert guided her to his own dark knight stone, buried and gone from the eyes of others. He had her learn how to channel these dark thoughts and feelings into fighting. Taking the resentment she felt deep in her heart and turning it into a shield to protect herself and others. While these feelings never truly left, understanding them more did help. She would talk more openly about these problems with those she loved and found that she had to carry much less burden that way, literally and figuratively.

Island Sanctuary- No real story here, outside of Im pretty sure this is where she eventually retires. I just really like this glam.

[myths0f01d]

Do you think that if Arthur survived at the end of it all that one day while ruling over Albion and a Magic friendly Camelot with a king who's court sorcerer is also the kings consort, talk about the time Merlin appeared as Dragoon, and I mean the first time, how Arthur recognized Merlins eyes even when he was Dragoon, and of course when he was going on about how Uther was a tyrant and Arthur had a face of a toad.

[tiredcowboyy]

nobody ever really talks about how in the last episode arthurs probably also coming to terms with the fact that merlin was the sorcerer he blamed for his father’s death. That his best friend who sat outside of the room for hours while arthur mourned his father alone, the main person to help him with that pain, may have also been the one so cause it. Nobody ever sat arthur down and explained in depth how it wasnt dragoons fault. He knew, I truly believe before he died he figured merlin didnt do it on purpose, but the thought was still probably there.

[itsmeishmi]

Warriors of Light!!!!! Tiny old school FF beans and I tried to clean up n fix my group drawing of them from earlier last year

[emrys-merlin]

The contrast between old Merlin's interactions with his friends and Uther are great (Kudos to Colin Morgan, great acting, as usual).

With Arthur and the Knights he was just trolling. He was... "affectionately" insulting them lol

But with Uther? Oh it was personal

Merlin and Uther's interactions are underrated.

This is the man who made him live in fear. This is the man who made him believe he was a monster. This is the man who oppressed him and others like him.

I really enjoyed Merlin's reveal to Uther in season 5. It was so nice to see him finally get to express his feelings to him after all that time spent biting his tongue while Uther ruled. Merlin finally gets some catharsis in telling Uther to suck it.

[feathercreates]

Matching goodies for your favourite PhoenixFlare princes! 🦚🐉 Now available as stickers (with quote & without), mugs, shirts and other random things on my store!

[amalthea-felsblood]

˚ ₒ ु ₓ｡“It is not winning or losing the battle that matters, but how the war ends.”｡ₓ ू ₒ ु ˚

Paulo Coelho

◦Marian◦ "We must always strive for peace, no matter the cost."

[poisonedfate]

bbc merlin - 04x06 A Servant of Two Masters

[aeronharvae]

[invisibletinkerer]

Dragoons

Final Fantasy II introduced the iconic character class of the Dragoon.

(As an aside, "dragoon" is actually a mistranslation. The Japanese word is 竜騎士, meaning "dragon knight". A dragoon is, historically, a particular kind of soldier who has a horse to ride for transport, but does not ride a horse in battle. That makes him more mobile than a foot soldier, but cheaper than a cavallerist since he doesn't need a trained war horse. Quite unrelated to how the term is used in English-language Final Fantasy games! But "dragon knight" sounds so generic, and I kind of like the sound of "dragoon", so I still use it.)

The dragoons of FF2 aren't really much like what the class is known for later, either. The trademark "Jump" command doesn't exist yet, and Richard's default weapon is a sword, not a spear. His armor in the original NES game is a generic knight's armor, with a helmet that covers his whole head. The WSC version (published in 2001) has changed Richard's armor into something that looks a lot more like Kain's, with a dragon themed helmet that leaves half his face bare, but that's a retcon after the fact.

What distinguishes FF2 dragoons is that they ride dragons (specifically wyverns). That's their whole gimick! I'm sad that this was dropped in the other games, although I guess it'd be hard to implement in a battle system. FF5 does feature wyverns prominently, but there's no particular connection to the dragoon class.

The playable dragoon character's name in FF2 is Richard, a name that is used in FF4 for Kain's late father, who was also a dragoon. It's a neat reference, but I have seen fans try to twist it into the two Richards being one and the same, and sadly that doesn't work at all. (Even disregarding the fact that the two games, like all main FF games, take place in completely different worlds.)

In FF2, the dragoons and their wyverns lived on the island of Dist, but were massacred by the Evil Empire before the game begins. Richard is the last surviving knight (because he was out of commission while inside Leviathan!). The other two survivors are one wyvern and her egg, and a widow named Elena and her unnamed son. Elena's husband and the boy's father was a dragoon named Philip. Richard does promise to take care of them - presumably to join their family, since they are the last of his people. But he dies during the story before he can make good on that promise. So even if the boy was Kain, as I've seen suggested, the dragoon father he would have remembered would have been Philip, not Richard.

That said, I like Richard. I can imagine it's one of those names that come up again and again within the dragoon community.

[bunnyartistic]

More memes I made in the middle of class

[abysswalkersknight]

DRAGOON TIME!!!!! Enjoy some dragoon Silver, and I've nearly done Sebek!

I literally just got this done before my room went kaput? So I posted him now instead of later to cheer up.

Basically I thought while a paladin would have suited Silver just fine, I mainly play ffxiv and have done heavensward and thought that dragoon would have that sweet irony with the dragoons working with dragons (Malleus)

Speaking of heavensward, I also just realise that Silver now looks like a milder Haurchefant... But I refuse to have them be the same!!! I would never be ready for that!