#akravator

[lomappreciationblog]

Thinking a bit more about the Dragon Arc -

The bulk of the characterization in this arc goes to Larc and Sierra, and the actual dragons themselves can come across as one-note appearances, especially as Akravator and Jajara are slain in their own quests.

But it's not too bad either, I think of the four dragons as being a representative of the roles dragons usually play in a story:

First off, we have Akravator - I think as a fandom we generally kinda sleep on this guy, what with the unfortunate role as a starter boss, and what with Jajara and Vadise having more unusual and memorable designs.

Akravator serves as the Classic of the group - his name and appearance is what you'd expect from a JRPG dragon. His attributes like being associated with an element (wind in this case) and living on a mountain is also in line with the usual dragon.

Akravator does have a unique aspect to him in that he has several dragoons serving under him when all the other dragons have one. I'm not sure if all Windcallers are considered his dragoons but at least three must be important and powerful enough, serving as barriers in the way.

In that sense, I think we can infer Akravator is also sort a mentor character, a wise dragon in his own way. By the way, if you go out of your way to return to where he is after the Dragon Arc, you can actually re-challenge Akravator to a fight! So it seems he doesn't hold a grudge after everything and is even willing to test your strength under fairer circumstances.

Jajara is what I'd consider the dragon who embodies Mystery - the dragon as a creature one cannot fully comprehend.

Because, really, we don't know much about Jajara as an actual character. Him guarding a Mana Stone seems to be role for the force of good, but the fact that his chosen dragoon is Deathbringer gives ambiguity to Jajara. Deathbringer canonically warred with the Jumi and is implied to be after their cores, is known to brainwash his soldiers, and was looking for "the ultimate firearm" which are all...not very good acts, isn't it? But it's hard to tell whether Jajara approves of Deatbringer's actions, doesn't know, or doesn't care, their relationship isn't really given importance.

Adding to the mystery factor is Jajara's form as a dragon composed of bones. It's definitely a sick character design, ahaha, but he's so different from the other dragons in this sense. Is he undead? The fact that he has a 2nd phase to his boss fight where he rearranges his body also adds to the oddness of it.

We just don't know enough about this guy, and dragons can be representations of that - something powerful, but unknowable and foreign to us.

Vadise's role is obvious enough - she's the Good dragon, benevolent, peaceful and wise.

Vadise's appearance is pretty nonstandard for a dragon, you could even argue she doesn't really look like one, lacking wings and covered with fur rather than the usual reptilian look. Jajara looks odd, but you can still identify him as a dragon, which isn't the case for Vadise. Though, I think Vadise being a fluffy and cute dragon might be a callback to the Mana series's Flammie (and fun fact, Flammie is based off Falkor from The Nevereding Story, as revealed in the art book). The History tome in LOM does state a connection between the Flammie and Dragons, but that's for another post.

Vadise is also different from her fellow dragons in that she lives in the White Forest, a place lush and teeming with life. Akravator does live with multiple dragoons, but Norn Peaks is still a remote location, and while a village exists near Jajara's Bone Fortress, the actual fortress itself is only populated by the undead soldiers. This trait reinforces Vadise's role as one for good, being associated with life.

And of course, Vadise obviously cares for her dragoon, Sierra. She shows concern and affection, but also rebukes Sierra when she's about to do something hasty, and their overall relationship is very close and healthy, which...definitely can't be said for the others lol.

And of course, where there's the obvious Good there is the obvious Villain, and that's where our ol' pal Drakonis comes in. Dragons are many things in different cultures, and one those things is being a symbol of evil, especially in Christian iconography, where the devil is symbolized by dragons in addition to snakes.

And Drakonis does all the evil things - lives in a pulpit of eternal flame, lies for his own benefit, breaks promises, turns people into centaurs, etc.

Appearance-wise, Drakonis is as typical as you can be, being a red dragon and even being associated with fire, the most common dragon-y element. His wings looking more like clawed hands is a bit unusual, but otherwise he looks like what you think a dragon would. It reminds me of the design choice for Fatalis in Monster Hunter, you know, everyone else having more specialized designs, so Fatalis having a classic dragon look makes him stand out.

I'm not sure if this was the intention in writing and designing the dragons, as the art book actually doesn't discuss their creation, despite the Dragon Arc being one of the main three arcs. I'm not sure if it's because those development materials have been lost, or possibly neither Shinichi Kameoka or Nao Ikeda designed them, so they can't provide the concepts. There is concept art for Sierra, the Windcallers, and a cut dragoon character, as they were made by Nao Ikeda, but otherwise the Dragon arc's characters doesn't appear in the art book, sadly.

Another thought finishing this post, generally in fandoms we like the developed or complex characters, so characters that follow tropes, and those with limited appearances at that, don't usually get much appreciation. But typical doesn't mean bad, and there is also charm to be found in making a character whose traits are widely used! So all in all I think the dragon characters are very successful at what they do and I am pretty fond of them all the same.

Vadise is my favorite, but I hope to see more appreciation for Akravator and Jajara as well.

[feeblebeeble]

disgusting, it can smile

———— L: akrav (ey/em) R: vish (it/its)

they're looking at smth gross idfk

[29esuorpsemeloc92colemsprouse]

“Introducing the cast”

Cole via Instagram 09/11/19

[blackbarbooks]

Hiii :) I’m in LOVE with ur Kiribaku fic My First One And Only and I was just wondering what ur scheduling is for it. Do u update weekly? And if so what day do ur updates usually come out? Thank you!

HI! I’m so glad you enjoy my fanfic! I am way too all over the place to have a proper schedule for this, but I usually update every 3-4 days.

 Sometimes there’s less time between the updates, but I usually manage to get out about 2 updates a week or so. It depends on the length of the chapter, the 4k chapters come out faster than if the chapters are 7k words.

 It also depends on the amount and time that the art takes! Me and Nati have like 10 projects going on at any given time, so we’re spread a tiny bit thin.<3

 We’re doing our best!

[geg200]

My fanart of web comic akrav I recently read it.

[dragonzeek1]

@akrav-den

I mad an oc of the lizardfolk from the comic Akrav :D I would highly recommend reading it.

her name is Kate.

[lomappreciationblog]

I know I've been kinda talking willy-nilly about all the spoilers for the major story arcs, and maybe it's a moot point when this game has been out for 25 years, but uh. Lots and lots of spoilers for all 3 major story arcs in this post!

Since I mentioned it in the Punkmaster post, I decided I might as well talk about this, but the three major story arcs have special title cards for some of their quests. A dragon for the Dragon Arc, a jewel for the Jumi Arc, and a Faerie for the Star-Crossed Lovers arc (which is why I sometimes refer to it as the Faerie Arc). The colors for these illustrations change too, depending on the quest.

I...actually don't know why only some particular quests in the Jumi and Star-Crossed Lovers are given these special title cards? Say, for the Jumi Arc, the first one to get this special title card is The Looking-Glass Tower, but even before that we have The Lost Princess and the Flame of Hope, so it seems strange this is what gets the special title card. Of all Jumi quests, the ones that get these title cards are The Looking Glass Tower, Cosmo, Alexandrite, Fluorite and Teardrop Crystal, while The Lost Princess, The Flame of Hope, The Lucky Clover, and Two Pearls don't have these. (there is also Drowned Dreams, but it's connection to the overall arc is not as significant).

Hmm...I think the colors might have significance here...The Looking Glass Tower is white, like Pearl's core, and it's a quest about her looking for her identity. Cosmo and Alexandrite are the two colors associated with Alexandrite, green and purple, and fittingly enough both quests have him/her/them (?) taking a major role. Fluorite is a milder green color - while real fluorites come in a range of colors, Florina's clothes are in that green/blue-green color color. Teardrop Crystal is blue, which might be for the water of tears...but also could be for Elazul, since he does call on everyone to return the favor and give a Teardrop Crystal back to cure the protagonist.

Star-Crossed Lovers is a bit more complete, with only two related quests not getting these title cards. The ones with are The Murmuring Forest, Two Torches, In Search of Faeries, Star-Crossed Lovers and Heaven's Gate, with only The Wisdom of Gaeus and Pokiehl Dream Teller not having them.

(sorry, I apparently didn't have a screenshot for The Wisdom of Gaeus, but I know it doesn't have the Faerie illustration.) I'm not sure if the colors have as much significance here - this could be stretching it but...Matilda's color theme in her younger years is green, and then orange in her older years, while Irwin's is red. Huh, I just realized Matilda's older self wears a color closer to Irwin, while her younger self shared a color theme with Escad. Escad has three colors associated with his, though, his clothes mostly green, but there is also a large part that is purple, and lastly his hair is white. Daena wears blue clothes - all of their garments' colors pop up in in the title cards.

The Dragon Arc...has all of its quests labeled with the special title card, so hooray, perfect attendance!

The colors for these ones are easy, red for Drakonis, blue for Akravator, dark purple for Jajara given his association with death, and silver for Vadise and Sierra.

Hm...if I take it that the Dragon Arc is a "tutorial" of sorts to clue in players to the major arc quests, maybe this explains why not all quests in the other two arcs have them? So you're meant to piece them together? That's just me speculating, because I can't think of a lore reason to not label all the quests above. This does put in retrospect how massive the Jumi Arc is: the Dragon Arc has 5 quests, Star-Crossed Lovers has 7, and the Jumi arc has 9, and if you include Drowned Dreams, 10.

[rialaine]

Just tenderness ♡

[so-sexy-and-hot]

Fashion Club Israel (MUA and hair by Hodaya Akrav   , stylist Gal Yosef)

[theydoodlesstuff]

I wonder what she bought today...

This is my Ahrazoh character called Tara, the species is from @akrav-comic !!! It’s great and has a cool setting and characters and I recommend it!

[fantasticlygeek]

Aravind

My oc Aravind got his first markings and is shyly showing them to others. He is a blue lizardman and the oc for the webcomic @akrav-comic

[go-bwah]

fanart i did of Jack from the amazing @akrav-comic but never posted on tumblr >:3c

[cerberichydra]

Stu from Akrav

https://akrav-comic.tumblr.com/

my deviantart: https://cerberichydra.deviantart.com/

[creepikat]

Isaiah, this other oc of mine inspired by @akrav-comic that I mentionned in my first akrav oc post. He was a trophy slave and Dart was his assigned bodyguard until they fled together. Isaiah is a trans male but he doesn’t mind his gem scales, he's at ease with his appearance. Though, he dislikes marking as it remind him of the pleasure his previous master took in putting and seeing his patterns on his skin. He also has a good boy as well, Noah, who’s currently shyly greeting whoever is talking to Isaiah. Even though he’s Noah’s biological parent, he was a bit distant with him at first and so had an hard time bonding with his child later on. Noah doesn’t call him papa. 

Isaiah is calm, rational, a bit introverted even if he’s good at understanding people. Noah is shy and easily scared and also a very good boy (I’ll admit I’d love to know how Joshua would react in front of him).

(I think I made Noah too little for a green so I’ll say he’s a bit of a frail one and will hit his growth spurt later) 

[lomappreciationblog]

Now for the reptilian round-up! This group isn't big compared to the (mammalian) beast/birds and the upcoming marine and plant group, but they're still very memorable designs.

I included the dragons for this one, though thinking about it, I should have included Vadise under the mammalian beast group, but oh well.

Akravator, and Drakonis are easy enough to put under reptilian, though Jajara has one foot in this category and another in the undead category, which does have a few members (Shadoles, the undead soldiers).

Tote is also partly under this category and also under the marine creature-themed group. Hmm...Tote's shell seems more like the terrestrial tortoise, but his flippers indicate swimming ability, so it is safe to assume he's a marine creature, even if we only see him on the ground.

And then we have two snake ladies, Kathinja and Kristie! Both starting with the letter K too, I only noticed that now. Kathinja is a basilisk, and quite an unusual take on the concept too, being a humanoid design. While the basilisk is normally said to have the ability to inflict death with eye contact, Kathinja's ability is a dramatic version in that she can downright explode things by looking at them, pfft. Though, we don't really see it in action, she only uses it to petrify Gilbert onscreen. Kathinja seems to have been one of Nao Ikeda's favorite characters, the art book gives her a lot of details and there's a few doodles of her provided - of course, that's only my impression, so don't take it as fact. She does have a really cool design, and I think she is one of the more popular characters, enough to even have a minor role in the anime's episode 6.

Kristie's race is never brought up, though looks-wise I think she would be a lamia, with the upper body of a woman and the lower body being a snake. The art book doesn't say much about her, with the only comment being from Shinichi Kameoka saying her true eyes were the ones in her hair. While the encyclopedia entry states Kristie becomes jealous easily, there isn't much indication of it in the game, if anything she was pretty generous to give one Esmeralda's sisters' core back without fuss. Sure, she could have done it out of being pragmatic since cores bring misfortune, but it was still a nice gesture, and she seems pretty cool letting the protagonist and co run up and down her house lol. Kristie even gives up gracefully when Niccolo outplayed her at the end of his quest, so it's a bit odd she's mentioned to be jealous.