#shad the destroyer

[inky-rosepanda]

Yall explore something with me real quick

What if the Demon Warlock is actually Enki?

Ok, so as far as I know, there is no evidence to back this up(in fact, I think there might be some against it), but I enjoy this headcanon simply for the angst. I mean, all of the divine (or the ones who have close relationships with Irene) eventually becoming the thing they fought against??? The implications, the plot!

The exploration that could be done with this- in season 3 ep 2 Shad mentions Esmund aura in retrospect to the protective barrier around the portal right. What if the "spell" keeping the Demon Warlock on the Island is Esmund magiks?

Throwing away the Enki=DW headcanon rq, the Demon Warlock definitely knows what went down between the Divine Warriors right, to the point he taunts Aph about it. Yet he's still there. Meaning they couldn't/wouldn't get rid of him and if he is Enki it kinda make sense, considering they couldn't kill Shad either and ended up sealing him and a different dimension (im just realizing the parallels as I write this).

But if he isn't it is also interesting to think about cause it means that they failed they're jobs, remember Irene created the Divine Warriors to fight "fate" as she puts it and yet they just left a dangerous demon sitting around for at least 900 year, on a populated Island at that.

If he does know as much as he pretends too it's likely that he came after/during the whole Shad thing, which of course opens a different avenue of exploration- the funactionallity of the group after betraying their team member and perhaps finding out the truth of their relics. (This kinda lends to my theory that Irene and Shad were the power houses of the group)

Do yall see what I see or am I crazy

[lucindaspartnerrealandtrue]

Officially renaming my Shad to Krzesąd Igor, i think. First name means something akin to 'to resurrect', and the second one is 'warrior'. I also just like calling him Igor. People still call him Shad, tho because it's from Shadow King, because his name got lost throughout history(definitely not carefully written out of it or something......)

[snekverse]

I really love making the Divine Warriors relevant in my rewrite, even if none of them are present :3

Been thinking about how making the DW all foils of each other could be fun from a lore perspective, and maybe something that could even tie into worldbuilding and religion? idk lol was just having fun

I think for the DW, they would be more so ideological foils if that makes sense? Like rather than their characters, it's their domains and the things they represent that mirror each other:

Irena/Shad, life vs death, creation vs. destruction

Aenia/Menphia, the peacekeeper vs the warmonger, forgiveness vs fury

Esmund/Kebek, community vs independence, selflessness vs selfishness

Kulzak/Enki, wild impulse vs self control, nature vs nurture

Roska/Absol, structure vs fluidity, practicality vs artistry

Similarly, I thought it would be fun if the Jo9 were all foils of each other, since from both a lore and storytelling perspective the jurors are meant to be representative of the Divines. Unlike the DW however, the jury's foils are based more on the actual characters and roles in the story:

Zane/Aaron, unstoppable force vs immovable object, a killer vs the lone survivor

Katelyn/Della, the one who got away vs the one who couldn't, rebellion vs compliance

Jeffory/Edric, man who would die for his family vs man who would kill for his family

Janus/Ivan, chaos vs control, brute force vs careful manipulation

Ivy/Teony, constant change vs maintaining the status quo,

[mcd-retold-ask-open]

The Devine warriors!

Loved designing these six and can’t wait to draw them again, honestly I can’t pick a favorite but enki,shade ,and kul’zak are probably my most proud of.

Irene- purple, white, gold, sprout/plants, lotus, doves, wings, Irene’s crest, amethyst, spring

Enki- green, blue, white, winter, books, Enki’s crest, tortoise, ram, emerald, Lilly of the vally

Shade- red, black, silver, fire, wolves, war, sword, ruby, nether star, withered rose, shade’s crest, fall

Esmund- gold, dark blue, maroon, sword and shield, Edmund’s crest, willow tree, black cross, sapphire, bear

Kul’zak- blue, brown, white, manta ray, ocean, Kul’zak’s crest, Cosmos, aquamarine, summer, boat ore

Menphia- red, orange, yellow, lion, amber, cats, Menphia’s crest, fist/paw, tiger Lilly

Each of the six Devine warriors have a patron Saint, a leader of there followers and blessed with there powers.

Currently Saint sabrial and calsafor are the only I’ve drawn and wrote for but each warrior has one.

[dryya-doesnt]

"We all want happy memories, Irene. But some of us are cursed to never have them."

"You are a monster."

"So says the Matron Irene."

Errr so how's life everyone I just really wanted to draw out this idea that I had pairing the emerald secret one :D

[shuublebunny]

WIP time babeyyyyy! It feels like it's been eons since I last posted any art (school is crazy and art block is evil) so here are some crumbs for a DTIYS I'm doing on Insta :))))

[xyxofspades]

Laurence after the portal closed, probably

(Also yeah that's gene but I might change that design)

[warlocks-and-phoenixes]

[gumbootillustrations]

divine warriors loredump!

so yeah, the divine warriors! admittedly, i'm fascinated by them - i rlly rlly wish that we'd gotten to see more of them + their powers/domains/abilities in mcd, especially considering that they're a driving force behind the plot. so, i've gone ahead and done some redesigns for the sigils (above) and expanded on the domains and abilities of the divine warriors within the context of ashes, ashes.

more under the cut!

irene retains her matron title. for her domains, i rlly wanted to lean into her being a deity of life and family; as such, her official domains are  life, light, healing, childbirth and parenthood, fertility, marriage, tradition, beauty, and romantic/familial/platonic love. menphia also has domains over aspects of love (namely over sexual/carnal/manic love), but i wanted them to sort of have an aphrodite ourania (irene) and aphrodite pandemos (menphia) sort of vibe. in terms of the abilites that her relic gives its wielders, its a lot of what's seen in canon mcd: lots of healing and light abilities, but also some dimensional manipulation and time manipulation stuff thrown in there for the shits and giggles.

for shad, i rlly wanted to play into him being both a mirror and a foil for irene. where irene creates, he destroys; where irene brings life, he brings death. his official domains are that of death, darkness, chaos, the afterlife, change, rot and decay, the Nether, bloodshed, and madness. although he's also a war deity like menphia (and, to an extent, esmund and xavier), he's mostly associated with the worst bits of battle - the blood, the rot, the awful awful deaths, that sort of thing. his relic grants its wielders a lot of destruction-associated powers like disintegration and rot/plague/death stuff, but also some shadow and blood manipulation as well.

like a lot of other folks, i felt like enki was the best fit for a knowledge deity. he looks after scholars, librarians, witches, and inventors; officially, his domains are those of knowledge, air, magick, prophecy, the weather, winter, reason, and lightning. from here, you'll start to see pretty much all the warriors having some sort of like. elemental association? is the best way i can put it. i've sort of based it off of the minor arcana of the tarot; the suit of swords, which is associated with air, is the suit of knowledge and the mental realm, which i thought was fitting for enki. enki is also one of the four seasonal divine warriors (the others being esmund, menphia, and kul'zak); he gets winter, mostly because of his centre of worship being in gal'ruk. wielders of his relic get air and weather manipulation powers, as well as powers related to memory and access to witchcraft (if they aren't witches already). they also gain clairvoyance.

esmund! again with the tarot symbolism; esmund is associated with the element of earth and the physical world, hence the mountain in his sigil. his domains are those of protection, earth, wealth, autumn, boundaries, earthquakes, guardhood, and the harvest. the domain over the harvest might seem a little left field but it makes sense i promise! i sort of saw esmund's association with the harvest not only being because of him being an earth deity, but also because i feel like being able to provide is a form of protection, and given the setting of mcd, i feel like being able to provide a good harvest is a part of that. this is also why he is associated with autumn. regarding the abilities that his relic provides, there's a lot of earth manipulation and barrier/force field creation stuff in there; his relic wielders are also freakishly stronger and more durable than those who wield other relics, sort of playing into esmund himself being a tank.

i changed menphia's title to 'the conqueror' because i thought it'd be a bit more fitting for her, especially considering how i'm working tu'la in ashes, ashes (more on that later). i also changed her colour scheme to more of a blue/copper theme despite her being a fire goddess - i thought it was neat, considering that blue flames are those that burn the hottest. her domains are those of warfare (the glorious bits), fire, soldiers, political power, summer, passion and courage, festivals and celebrations, and sexual/carnal/manic love. i'm still not suuuper sure on the abilities that her relic gives its wielders, but there's definitely some pyrokinesis and emotion/heat manipulation, along with some combat-specific foresight in there. i'm open to suggestions!

nothing much really changes regarding kul'zak. he's a nature deity and watches over journeymen and particularly sailors, given that he's a water/ocean deity; he's often worshipped by pirates. officially, his domains are travellers, water, animals, the wilderness, the cardinal directions and navigation, hunting, and spring. i really wanted to lean into him being a man of the wilderness and not really having a home in urban environments. as such, his relic grants its wielders a lot of wilderness-based abilities, like shapeshifting, water and plant manipulation, and camouflage, with a bit of teleportation in there for all your wandering needs.

xavier is probably the divine warrior that i've changed the most. first off, he becomes a divine warrior in ashes, ashes where he isn't in canon mcd. i also really wanted to lean into him being the founder of the jury of nine, hence his title - the justiciar. he's associated with the domains of guardhood (along with esmund), loyalty, metal and metalworkers, justice, balance and order, peace, brotherhood, devotion, and artisans. where esmund looks after the more physical side of being a guard (being your lord's shield and spear, aka the protection side of things), xavier looks after the more emotional side of being a guard - the devotion to your lord and the comradery that you share with your fellows. his relic's abilities capitalise on that, with its wielders being able to both amplify and nullify the magick of the people they're fighting alongside/against. there's also a bit of metal manipulation and a lot of supportive magick in there too.

and, as a fun little tidbit - a lineup of the divine warriors! (the layout is inspired by @star-boi0720 - the way you lay out your drawings like this is mint as 🤩)

i'm still not suuuper happy w kul'zak or irene's designs but i'll get there in the end i guess :)

[goat-guy-tm]

Wowie those Divine Warriors are pretty cool. Hope nothing bad happens to them-

Would you believe me if I told you I didn't touch this for months and then finished it in one go pulling an all nighter.

[mcdgarroth]

How MCD Characters Who Never Interacted Would Be Like With Each Other

[darlinglledawn]

i made them into keychains!!!

I had more but I ran out of resin so I couldn’t do all of them.. these aren’t for sale btw I just thought it would be nice to make them for vidcon today :3

[stellisketches]

The Destroyer

[alluringgale]

Lady Irene. the day she turned her daughter into a relic.

[dryya-doesnt]

Death of Shad

Birth of the Shadow Lord

I hope you know I was looping "What Could Have Been" from the Arcane soundtrack the entirety of the time I was rendering this. haha

hhahaha