#talesofarcadiaforever rambles

[thekingofthenameless]

Okay but there is something seriously wrong with the character designers of ToA

They come up with designs that fuck and then downgrade them to the shittiest thing possible

Photos from these posts!

[thekingofthenameless]

I got the last three animal/rock based trolls that @geckoodles had for sale, so here’s all of them with the animals and rocks they were based on!

An Anglerfish/Jasper

A Barbirusa/Campigliaite

A Honey Badger/Quartz

A Spotted Hyena/Graphic Granite

A Jacob’s Sheep/Beryllonite

[thekingofthenameless]

It’s Morgana’s turn!

I didn’t really want to do anything to her face except make it, in my opinion a little less uncanny? I don’t know; she seems kind of off to me.

The screencaps are from the ToA wiki!

Her armor is a different story, though.

I'd been flip-flopping on whether I should redesign it or not, and @draal-the-deadly couldn't decide either, so when I got polls, I immediately made one about it.

All gold. Her helmet is way too large for my taste, and the top of it kind of looks like antlers. Not that it’s a bad thing, but with how large her helmet is it makes it look worse. The way it shows her face also looks weird to me.

Exact quote from the artbook: “With Morgana, because she is the ultimate villain, we needed a very strong design so we decided to give her a very specific color scheme for her magic—gold and yellow, mirroring the power of the sun.” -THE TEAM AT HEADLESS ANIMATION STUDIO.

The sun. Aka danger to the trolls. but they could have shown that better, you know?

So this concept art of Morgana also has a blue hand, instead of the green one she has canonically, right?

What if she had a blue hand instead? Maybe the Order makes her a green hand like canon, but the green reminds her of Merlin, who killed her. So she asks them if they could make it blue.

[thekingofthenameless]

I’m amazing at spelling

[thekingofthenameless]

So I don’t know if I’m doing a full on rewrite for R*TT in Emerald Embers yet, but if I do? There is absolutely one thing I’m sure I’m doing.

Instead of literal damn m-preg, seven kisses means Aja and Steve are engaged.

As the people present slowly get over their shock over Steve being king of Akiridion-5, Toby makes a joke about he thought Steve would be pregnant instead. And everyone else, especially the Akiridions, stare at him like this:

[thekingofthenameless]

Anyways who wants to see all my ocs? :D

(If this gets even one note I’ll post them!)

[thekingofthenameless]

Wait wait wait it was me I sent you the Valentine's asks and you're telling me you've literally entered a relationship 1 Day after Valentine's day that is, as of right now, only a few hours old? THIS IS SO FUNNY like "have you got a bf" - "yeah" HAVE YOU BEEN IN LOVE THO "nope" XDDDD because you don't know yet ahhhh??? Will you tell me your story???? Did you meet here? On Tumblr?????????

Hi Reddie!

Okay, it’s kind of a long one.

@donkeyklone is my boyfriend, and today is actually our five month anniversary!

I was a socially awkward homeschooled kid who got a job at a local grocery store.

He was already there because at that point he’d been there for about six months. He bagged for me a lot, and he even helped train me. At that point I was very socially awkward and I used to thank him for bagging when he clocked out. I unfortunately don’t remember when exactly I started talking to him, but we had a little conversation on August 27, 2022. I remember that because the poor guy was stuck at the deli register so I went over to him and we talked for a little bit before I bought my mom a cake for her birthday.

We kept talking, but for a while it was just random stuff. I got his phone number on October 29 when we took a selfie with a customer dressed up as Pennywise and he offered to send it me.

It’s us!!!

I didn’t text for him for a few days because at that point. I was so shy but I finally did to warn him that there was plastic burning in the parking lot.

I didn’t know that he’d actually been sick, so that was a funny coincidence. We kept texting and talking about things, and we eventually got to talking about our favorite shows! We’ve been watching ToA sporadically over the months.

He bought me Starbucks a couple of times, and coworkers started joking about us dating. We started talking about dating, but we always got awkward when talking about it.

On Valentine’s Day he officially asked me out and said he would give me time to think about it.

The next day I said yes, and we’ve dating for five months now! We’ve still only found one thing to argue about: his taste in food. More specifically, him not liking spaghetti and lettuce. So I’d say we’re good! 😂

Thanks for the ask!

[thekingofthenameless]

I love you asks I love you tags I love you spam likes I love you spam reblogs I love you I love you I love you

[thekingofthenameless]

Since you sent me, I shall send in return!

Blorbos? Tell me about them if you wish!

YES

Okay. Technically he’s my own creation. But DR!Merlin is definitely my blorbo! I’ve made posts about his redesign (which I need to update) and characterization, so now it’s time for backstory!

Well, some of it. The meme I made definitely still applies, but I can, at the least, now tell you about his birth and his sister! :D

So obviously, Emerald Embers spoilers, but there are a lot of dark subjects ahead.

TW/CW for: rape, mentions of genocide, murder, and child death.

In the year 5,650 B.C., Adhan, a mortal human, is raped by a cambion. Merlin is born nine months later as a result.

It was an attempt to bring the Anti-Christ into the world, and as the first human wizard, Merlin was supposed to be. His magic surfaces as a baby, because a demon’s magic is very powerful.

Being half-demon also gave him exceptional intelligence, and it first shows through his eyes. His eyes are a muddy color when he’s born, but as he gets older, and his blue eyes become clearer, intelligence shines in them.

(At two years old he speaks very eloquently, and he’s already beginning to act like an adult in a child’s body.)

Adhan falls in love and marries his stepfather, also a normal human, about a year after his birth.

Three months later, she gets pregnant.

One day, Adhan and Merlin are sitting in their family home. She’s rocking him, and he’s falling asleep. But then a noise coming from his mother’s stomach startles him awake. She’s very confused by what noise he could be talking about, but they eventually figure out that he was hearing a heartbeat from her unborn baby.

His sister, Ganieda is born, and when he sees her for the first time, he gets a gut feeling that she isn’t like him. He’s confused, because he doesn’t know why she isn’t, and he’s sad, because he thought she would be like him.

But he loves her, and when she grows old enough, she loves her big brother’s magic.

Back then, magic wasn’t feared or hated, and people were amazed by it.

But as he and Ganieda grow up, more wizards start being born, and so do more cambions who wanted to bring the end of the world, because Merlin apparently won’t. (He doesn’t even know the true circumstances of his birth until years later.)

Because of all this, people become afraid. They begin to associate all human magic with demons and evil, and they decide they need to exterminate it.

So… they start capturing wizards and killing then.

Whether the wizards are innocent or not isn’t the point; no matter what, it’s a terrible, brutal act that shouldn’t have happened, but it does, and it keeps happening.

But Merlin and his family are safe, and he has no idea what’s going on. (The mortal humans know he has a high amount of power, even if he hasn’t used it yet, so they want to get the drop on him.)

Ganieda gets married to a mortal man named Rhydderch Hael, and Merlin, who’s just started getting into crafting, makes them both wedding gifts.

She gets a necklace, and Rhydderch gets a knife.

Ganieda gets pregnant pretty soon after the wedding, and everyone is overjoyed. Merlin is very excited to be an uncle because it’s his only sibling, and unbeknownst to them, the baby is a girl.

The fear of magic keeps getting worse. Soon whole mobs dedicated to wiping out at all magic form, and they decide they have enough manpower to kill Merlin.

They arrive to Merlin’s village. A few of them infiltrate it, pretending to be newcomers searching for a home; the rest of them stay in hiding. They begin spying on Merlin, and they learn that he has a sister. And anyone who’s in proximity to magic and knows about it is helping them live, and helping the magic spread, so they need to die.

One day, Merlin and Rhydderch go out to trade metal for silk, leaving Ganieda at home because she’s very far along at that point.

The mob strikes.

They break the door to Merlin, Ganieda, and Rhydderch’s house down, and they stab her in the stomach, killing her and her unborn child.

Then they set a few houses on fire, driving everyone else out. They leave Merlin’s family home alone for him to discover.

Then they take their exit, satisfied that their work is done. They’d ruined the village, killed Merlin’s sister, and Merlin would definitely end himself when he discovered the carnage.

Merlin and Rhydderch arrive home to their village mostly burned down, with no one in sight. They’re confused, horrified, and terrified for their family’s safety.

They race to their house, and find the door broken, hanging off its hinges.

Ganieda is on the floor close to the entrance. She’s lying in a pool of her own blood, and it’s clear that she’s been dead for a while.

They stare at her in horrified silence, shock rendering them completely unable to speak.

Merlin starts to disassociate for the first time.

Rhydderch, who had gone to his sister and picked up her body while he was, calls his name and begs him to do something, snapping him out of it.

He walks toward them with shaking legs and kneels slowly, taking her into his arms.

And he tries to think of something, anything, that will help-

But he knows he can’t do anything, and Rhydderch sees it in his eyes. He starts sobbing, and Merlin starts crying too.

Merlin starts to lose his innocence that day. It would take a lot more centuries, a lot more losses, and a lot more trauma, but it was the first thing that changed him into the man he is now.

The village slowly starts trickling back, and they hold a funeral for Ganieda and the baby.

At the funeral, Rhydderch gives Merlin her necklace, saying that he should have it because he was the one who made it.

He takes it without protesting and puts it on, a thousand yard stare on his face.

A few months later, Merlin and Rhydderch find themselves in a battle with the steadily growing number of anti-magic humans. (Some of them are definitely the ones who murdered Ganieda and her child.)

One of them stabs Rhydderch in the heart, and Merlin sees him go down.

He races over, kneeling so quickly he roughly slams his knees, but he barely notices that.

Maybe this time his magic could do something.

He lights his hands up and slams them down into his brother-in-law’s chest, over and and over again.

It doesn’t do anything.

Rhydderch is already gone. He’s dead, just like his sister. Just like his sister, there are no goodbyes, no promises to see each other again.

He stares down at his brother-in-law’s body, his blood covering his hands.

He snaps. A grieving, agonized scream tears from his throat, and with it comes a wave of uncontrollable magic that blasts everyone away.

He picks his brother-in-law up and cradles his body, just like he’d cradled his sister’s.

The village has another funeral.

Eventually, Adhan and his father die of old age, leaving him with only Charlie.

Speaking of Charlie. I need to insert him in here. 🥹🤦‍♀️

Eh that’s a worry for future me 😎👍

Thanks for the ask!

[thekingofthenameless]

I have no idea why, but I was thinking of Encanto and how the three kids somehow don’t know that Mirabel doesn’t have a gift.

Then that spiraled into thinking about how Jim and Toby should logically know Claire, since Arcadia is a small town where everybody knows everybody.

So I had an idea that would make sense and give backstory to Claire!

Claire was homeschooled up until high school, and she’s a new student to Arcadia Oaks High. Darci and Mary are her best friends because their parents go to Ophelia’s fundraisers a lot, and they became friends starting from seeing each other so often. Ophelia also is the mayor of Arcadia Oaks in Emerald Embers, instead of a councilwoman, so it makes even more sense!

I imagine Javier is the main one homeschooling her since Ophelia is the mayor which means she’s even busier than her canon self. And when Enrique is born, they ask Claire if she wants to go to high school for the next year because they’re going to be busy with taking care of a baby.

And she jumps at the chance to see her best friends more and possibly make more friends!

Fixing canon one step at a time!

[thekingofthenameless]

I'm updating DR!Merlin's design!

(And hopefully this will be the last time.)

I’m not going to delete the original post I made ages ago because it details the saga of how I got the idea to redesign him (and then eventually make him my own version), it has a writing blurb that I still like there, and I got of a couple of really nice compliments!

I made several collages to show how he looks more instead of just describing it, and I’ll explain the reasons behind picking the images in them!

General Looks:

I made his bust in Artbreeder!

After @rule-number-3 drew him with a widow’s peak, I wanted to incorporate that into his design.

Second up is his hairstyle! I’ve wanted him to have a ponytail for so dang long, even before I started coming with ideas for a redesign! I’d always wanted it to be mid-high usually, with it tied up into a bun when he’s in his armor; and either loosened or completely down for sleep. The picture got his hair length right too! When it’s fully down, it’s halfway down his back. It’s also very thick, and he’s 6'7", so that’s a lot of hair!

His hair and eyebrow color is definitely the easiest part of his redesign, because it’s just having them match now. It was a little harder to find the photo I wanted at first. I had to keep weeding out options 😂.

I’d finally gotten down to two choices for his new eye color. I had the option I have in the collage, and a more natural looking eye. I didn’t know which one to choose, so I asked @donkeyklone for his opinion; and after what I explained what it was for, he said to go for that option! He said it looks more magical, which fits his status as a wizard and cambion. :D

He’s very sleep deprived from insomnia, nightmares, etc., so I googled eyebags and chose the worst looking ones I could find lol.

His skin color was actually taken straight from his face! I just made a little square in IbisPaintX and colored it in!

One design element that I wanted to keep from Canon!Merlin was his hands. They’re wide with short fingernails and no visible veins, but that could just be the art style. The hand I found matched what I was looking for perfectly!

And last off for this collage, I decided that his body type would be realistically muscular, give all the fighting he’s done, but it took me a little bit to find the right amount of muscle I wanted. I didn’t want him to look like a bodybuilder, but I also didn’t want him to be too lean.

TW/CW for scars! Some are these are pretty graphic!

Scars:

Some of these are more to show the texture of the scars than location. I also haven’t figured out the whole backstory behind them yet, so these are more of summarizations.

The knife scar on his neck was from a murder attempt after his magic was discovered by people who hated magic.

The claw marks on his chest are from a beast attack; not sure what yet.

His burn marks are from when he was burned with holy fire. (Burns from holy water go away; burns from holy fire don’t.)

The knife scar on his arm is actually from his wrist to his elbow, and it was specifically torture.

The whip marks on his back are from another time he was tortured.

The claw marks on his back are from other beasts.

His stretch marks are from puberty! Since he’s half-demon, he probably grew really fast during that time, and I think that he’d probably have stretch marks from it. Also yes I’m projecting.

The knife scar on his left leg is from when he stabbed during a fight.

The bite scar on his right leg is from another beast.

Cambion form:

I’m so excited to talk about this because I haven’t really done that yet, but DR!Merlin is a cambion! :D Here’s some backstory about his birth. He also has a name for his other true form:“Blood Moon!Merlin.” @donkeyklone was the source for it, as he was thinking I could call it that since his whole “shtick is the moon” according to him 😂. I imagine someone described him as looking like a blood moon after seeing him, since cambions have a wide variety of colors.

For his horns, I went through several options, but the one in the collage was my favorite photo by far. I love how big they are!

His hair color is still the same despite all the changes between forms.

His facial markings are inspired by concept art that features him with some! I tried to get the swirl-like markings as close as possible at first, but then I just chose my favorite picture.

They even show up in his human form; mainly when he’s having visions or entering his avatar state™️. I don’t know what else to call it.

And pointy ears, also featured in the above photo, are always cool!

His eye color is to match with the rest of his form, and red is pretty default for a demon anyway. 😂 Slitted eyes are always awesome too!

For his fangs, I chose a photo that had both top and bottom fangs.

I chose the photo that best matched the idea of what I wanted for his claws.

For his wings, I just googled red wings png. It was one of the first results!

His skin color was picked from another photo of red eyes, and @donkeyklone sent me the tail!

Armor:

I love his armor so much, even if it has been through a few revamps.

I made his outer helmet, faceplate, and breastplate in Artbreeder!

I found his gauntlets after googling black gauntlets.

His cape pattern is the ocean because the moon controls the tides, and I wanted him to have more general night motifs besides just stars!

I think I’ve said this before, but his armor is BIG. It’s not formfitting like Jim’s and Morgana’s, and that idea was inspired by these concept arts. I was also able to find a photo that illustrated it more clearly on Artstation!

Unfortunately Jim isn’t as realistic proportions wise, but this is the size difference between their armor!

His cape color is picked from this photo of the ocean! Besides it matching the black of his armor, it also opposes Morgana’s sky blue cape. 😉

Weapons:

These are just a few of the weapons Merlin uses throughout the DR-verse!

I made his staff, sword, and shield in Artbreeder! I wanted to keep his staff mostly the same, except making it slightly more fantasy like, because DR!Merlin is more straight up magical fantasy than magi-tech.

His sword is covered in stars with a silver handle to match his night motifs better. Besides that, a master wizard having a normal sword is so silly to me.

I gave him a shield because they’re awesome, and yes, I want to see him smash the crap out of a villain while they’re trying to talk.

I chose a bow as another weapon for him because his staff does turn into a bow in some concept art!

Sometimes he wields an axe in more close combat situations, same with the dagger.

His shield’s shape is long and angular, and it goes down to his feet when he holds it in front him.

The sword whip is for more of a long range combat situation, and his magic allows to extend as far as he needs it to.

Camelot outfit:

In Emerald Embers, he doesn’t wear his armor 24/7, so here’s his Camelot outfit design!

His earrings are full moons because of his night motif, like his armor! Since the night means safety to many magical creatures, him always wearing some version of night themed accessories is a secret way of signaling he’s safe to approach. He also finds them pretty.

I found his cape clasps by just searching for cape clasp designs on Pinterest, and they’re perfect because they remind him of Charlie. (At the start of Emerald Embers, he’s been gone for over a thousand years.) I need to make a post about his redesign too. And why they separated.

His necklace is the one he made for his sister, Ganieda, as her wedding gift. It’s very, very special to him, as it’s one of the few things he has left of her.

I was trying to make his outfit historically accurate, and I found out that bliauts were popular back then!

His pants were ones that I’d chosen for a reference when I first came up with a possible design for his outfit! That was a long time ago, but it’s still on my tablet. It’s currently broken. 💀

Him having a cape was inspired by @tenyai’s storyboards of him having one! It’s one element of his outfit that I’ve always kept, even if I did change the rest.

For his belt, I just looked up medieval belts and chose my favorite.

His boots took a little while to choose. I wanted him to have heeled boots, shamelessly inspired by Dracula in Netflix’s adaptation of Castlevania, but finding one that I could choose was another story. But I eventually did!

His ring is actually his staff in disguise! He wears it on his right middle finger.

Last off, his bracelet is more of a pretty accessory that doesn’t really have special meaning to him.

And that’s all for now! Of course, he’s going to have more outfits eventually lol.

[thekingofthenameless]

I have two more adoptables now!!!

@geckoodles still has three more for only $20 each!

[thekingofthenameless]

Thinking about making a blog for DR!Merlin…

Thoughts?

[thekingofthenameless]

Just a reminder that my asks are always open for my wip, Emerald Embers!

There are a lot of things you can ask me about it, like what my favorite scenes are, what it’s going to be about, what direction it’s taking, and so on! :D

Seriously, whenever people come into my ask box, it always makes me so happy!

So don’t be nervous to ask me questions, and don’t feel like you’re bothering me, because you’re not.

The anon setting is also turned on ;)

[thekingofthenameless]

I have been asked what my favorite scene in Emerald Embers is, and I couldn’t choose just one, so here’s more than a few but not all of them:

Merlin and Archie having beef about Charlie and Merlin telling him the whole story of what happened out of sheer anger, Merlin taking on his alias Myrrdin Wylt, committing treason in the process, Galahad and Claire’s conversation about Merlin, Merlin and Morgana’s battle, Galahad’s character development, Merlin meeting Team Trollhunters, Merlin discovering that Morgana took Angor as a slave, Morgana revealing to Merlin that she murdered his Trollhunters, Merlin being furious, to say the least, when the Arcane Order returns, and Merlin and Charlie reuniting.

I will elaborate on these if asked 👀😉

[thekingofthenameless]

Alright I’ve decided on the Casperan parents’ deaths!

I fleshed out my ideas of how they could go and put them in a Google Doc before deciding on the first option. If anyone wants to use the second one somehow, go ahead! Maybe credit me so I could see what you come up with? :D

Doc link!

Asheworthe is an oc of mine. ;) I should make a post about him soon. 🤔