#tdp homunculus

[mars-rnr]

itching to make pfp/ icons of The Being/ Sir Sparklepuff from The Dragon Prince.

He deserves it after (unintentionally) foiling Aaravos's plan.

[willow-dino]

Sometimes a family is a human mage who will die tomorrow, an ancient star elf ghost imprisoned for terrible crimes, and their maybe biological bug child created to be a sacrifice <3

[julesdraws]

I tried drawing ethari (fail) then i was like ohhhhh let's try aaravos (fail) somehow ended up doodling this guy instead😂😭🤌

(Click for better quality, tumblr butchered this one)

[dragonfly1302]

Ohh, daddy Aaravos indeed

[freelyhauntedduck]

Aaravos: "Our child." Points to Sir Sparklepuff.

[elfboyeros]

I GONNA FUCKING SAY IT: The Homunculus has always made me uncomfortable

[wheretwofacesmeet]

[squiblysabre]

ah yes. me

my dark mage girlfriend

her zombie father

and his weird homunculus creature

[raayllum]

CAN’T BELIEVE CANON REALLY GAVE ME CLAUDIA AND SIR SPARKLEPUFF BONDING TODAY IS MY DAY

[ana-cantskywalker]

My honest reaction watch s4.ep4 (through the looking glass) when the being came out of the chrysalis

WHAT IN THE GOLLUM ISSS THAT-

[disappointed-time-traveller]

Sir Sparklepuff!!! He deserves more votes at the very least!!!

[xadianglyphs]

Infantis Sanguine: Why Is It Like That

Okay, it's finally time to talk about Infantis Sanguine. In that I can't put it off any longer, not that there's a particularly good time. Everything we see on the Infantis Sanguine page is pretty much unique within the series so far, so there aren't any repeats or connections to follow. It also doesn't bear a ton of resemblance to anything we've seen before. So I'm kind of left with going over possible external connections or inspirations, and what we're meant to think about it based on the design.

Like, it's pretty clear from the way they show the Infantis Sanguine spell how we're supposed to feel about it. It's dirty and smudged, it's rendered in a red/black gradient that evokes dried blood, and the writing that goes with it is much shorter and sharper than any of the other writing systems we've seen, which are all very calligraphic. Additionally, it looks like an early version of the sort of magic circles we only see associated with dark or corrupted magic, like Kim'dael's summoning circle, the Tenebris Praesidium circle effect, or even Claudia's spellbook:

That kind of arrangement doesn't occur in any primal magic we've seen so far. Sometimes primal magic has individual runes arranged in a circle, like the Silvergrove entrance illusion or the Sunfire purification ritual, but the intricate, geometric stuff is exclusive to dark magic.

Anyway, now let's take this nerd shit to an 11 when it probably ought to stay at about a 5.

I'm absolutely sure that everyone d'une certaine génération of anime saw this in s5e9 and thought the same thing I did, which was, "nope, I've seen enough Fullmetal Alchemist to know where this is going."

In actuality, most of the Fullmetal Alchemist transmutation circles don't really resemble Infantis Sanguine, though there's some basic similarity between the human transmutation circles and the cover of Claudia's spellbook. The only one that's bears a passing resemblance to Infantis Sanguine is this one:

(Side note: would you believe it took me literal hours to find the source of that, probably because it's exclusive to the 2003 anime? It's the transmutation circle used in conjunction with a homunculus's human remains to force it to vomit up all its red stone (life force) and become mortal so it can be killed. Interestingly.)

Now, a lot of these graphic elements are rooted in other meanings or practices. A pentacle is a pentacle, Hiromu Arakawa didn't make that up. She actually incorporated a ton of researched alchemical symbolism into Fullmetal Alchemist, and the similarities don't mean "oh, TDP copied FMA." (I'd be kind of shocked if no one on the TDP team has seen FMA, though.)

The central element that makes these two graphics resemble each other is the crucified serpent, which is an actual thing, generally associated with Nicolas Flamel because it appears in a book attributed to him (this isn't from that book, it's a later representation):

Basically, as an alchemical symbolic concept, the crucified serpent represents the stabilization of a volatile substance. The serpent is further a symbol of the "prima materia," a universal, chaotic matter and the starting material for the philosopher's stone. You can go a step further and interpret the cross as the four elements uniting together to form the fifth, but medieval/renaissance historical alchemy was also deeply entwined with Christianity—the cross is also seen as emblematic of the cyclic "death and resurrection" of the prima materia as it is refined into the stone.

The crucified serpent with wings and crown is, as far as I can tell, something Hiromu Arakawa did make up for Fullmetal Alchemist, but it's really just adding another layer that further clarifies the concept as a symbol of having attained perfection or divine wisdom. (Hence its association with Ed and Izumi, who have both seen The Gate and attained the ability to perform alchemic transmutation without drawing a circle.)

Furthermore, the crucified serpent is associated with the rod of Asclepius and the caduceus, which also have a design association with the symbol for dark magic. We also have a strong association between snakes and dark magic because of recurring use in the series.

Now, as for the symbols that surround the Infantis Sanguine geometric/serpentine design, they bear little resemblance to any other writing symbols used thus far in the setting. Possibly they're similar to the symbols used in the blocks of body text from repeating book pages:

It's hard to say, though. I think it's probably a coincidence, since in both cases they're trying to use symbols that resemble a simpler, alphabetical writing system instead of the pictographic primal runes or the complex calligraphic symbols we see elsewhere. I'm not convinced the art team thought at all about human vs. elven styles of writing, and a lot of the symbols we see on human objects or books are also very calligraphic. BUT if that was something they HAD thought about... after seeing the Moon Nexus, Sunfire, and other calligraphic symbols endemic to the elven locations and cultures, I'd see the Infantis Sanguine writing and be like "oh, that's human, then."

Basically, I think the symbols surrounding Infantis Sanguine are meant to be perceived as actual writing or notation—something you could jot down with a pencil. Some of them even bear a passing resemblance to alchemical symbols, which were used as shorthand notation for materials and processes:

Finally, I don't think it's coincidence that there are these relationships between Infantis Sanguine and alchemy. As I noted above with the magic circles, we are meant to associate this spell (and possibly deep magic as a whole) with dark magic. Primal magic is laid out as very spiritual, in this series—it's energy-based, a connection made deep in your soul with a natural, universal force. Dark magic, on the other hand, is rendered as very physical—it uses materials, which are altered or destroyed in the process. It's also something fostered and developed by humans over time and experimentation, similar to science. We don't really know where primal spells come from, beyond a single reference that they are "discovered" while referring to the discovering character as an "oracle."

So yeah, I think we're meant to draw that association, if only to contrast Infantis Sanguine from primal magic by connecting it with something that itself has more physical and scientific associations.

...

Actually, there is one other writing/symbol that bears some similarity to what we see in Infantis Sanguine. But I'll get to that in another post.

[classydreamlandalpaca]

Me after Season 4: Okay the homunculus was way creepier when it was that caterpillar thing. This feels like a downgrade. I hope TDP has a good reason for this new elf butterfly form it has.

Aaravos to Viren in Season 5: The homuclous is our child and you need to sacrifice it if you are going to live.

Me: Wow, that's messed up!

[thrandilf]

TDP immediately post S5:

Thousands of butterflies, dead at his feet.

Their… baby… wouldn't join them.

"You deserve to live," said Viren, speaking with more gravity than he ever had to Sir Sparklepuff.

"You deserve to live," mimicked the homunculus.

Viren minutely shook his head.

[sagegreenfrogs]

sir sparklepuff my beloved

whenever I explain to my friends (who haven't seen tdp) sir sparklepuff they're so confused and I love it bc the conversation is this, every time.

me: I mean if you say it like that, yes, this is a bug turned homunculus created by dark magic, born into this world for evil and its only purpose is to guide messed-up people to the worst being on the planet, and then just die, and yes, some of its first comprehensible words were "blood of child," but ITS SO PRECIOUS AND SCRUNKLY AND I LOVE IT ASGHDJAGDSDFSDF DONT YOU WANNA JUST GIVE HIM A HUG-

friend:

w h a t t h e e v e r i o v i n g h e l l

sir sparklepuff <3

[goldenworldsabound]

Wait hold up

Okay Vi//ren Clayman comparisons under the cut, will contain tdp s5 spoilers smdjjdb

First of all both becoming parents of unexpected creatures in the last week has me smdbsndjhd (homunculus and ant). This one is mostly a joke

Both die while being influenced by an outside force to make really bad choices (not that they were paragons before) and then get a chance at redemption

Both fancy

Both care about their families a lot, though sometimes they get caught up and make decisions that aren't good for said families, or aren't confiding in those family members

Both intimidating at first but actually dorks

Fluffy hair

That's all I got this was mostly a joke but like. Also I guess a callout post for me- KWBWMWBJWV I love my fucking traumatized men who shatter my heart 500 times repeatedly-