#cradle ziel

[atlasaurelius]

THIS SCENE IS SO CUUTEEE ABJSBHDFHGDHJ

Ziel rose from behind the couch and stuck his horns in Lindon’s face. “What are we talking about?” Yerin moved her arm away from her eyes. She and Lindon stared at Ziel from inches away. “Apologies, Ziel, but what are you doing?” “Popping out from the couch,” Ziel said, with a perfectly flat expression. “I thought it was what Eithan would do. Did it help?” Lindon couldn’t find the right words. Yerin made a thoughtful sound. “Bleed me, but it halfway did. If you’re looking for a tip, then veil yourself better next time. We could feel you coming.” “I’ll do what I can,” Ziel said gravely. “Don’t push yourself.” Ziel straightened his spine, visibly steeling himself. “No…no, I can do it. To cheer you up.” Lindon privately thought that if Ziel wanted to be more like Eithan, he would first have to learn to smile.

[tikklil]

Dream team!!

[the--grin--reaper]

On the surface, the gang is just a happy found family but

Lindon has struggled with self worth all his life, being told that if he was murdered his clan would have to apologise to his murderers, and generally being treated like he's less than dirt. He didn't even start to see himself as important or strong until book ~eight that's how deep his insecurities ran. That is 3 years away from the valley, as a guy in the top 16 of the Uncrowned Tournament. He still felt lesser. When he saw his family again it all got worse and set him back probably months on the measure of his self worth because they still saw him as a useless unsouled. It makes it worse that his underlord revelation was literally "I practice the sacred arts because I don't want to be useless anymore".

Yerin has abandonment issues. Her whole village got killed by a monster, a monster that then lived inside her. Then her master got killed and she was left alone again and in her povs you can see how deeply this affected her, especially in the early books. She was enraged that the Sandvipers attacked her and Lindon whilst he was advancing to Copper because it was cowardly, sure, but she also thought "they wanted to leave her alone again. That was unacceptable." Her Underlord revelation was about never being alone again. She always panicked when Lindon leaving was mentioned; when Cassias told him that they would send him home she froze up, worried that Lindon would leave her alone. She didn't want him to leave her behind, the mere thought of him leaving her frightened her.

Eithan has a deep set loneliness and is the antithesis of what he wants to be. He has been ahead all his life. A prodigy, a genius. But that means that he left all his friends behind. He had no equals, still doesn't, even among the most powerful beings in the universe. He was alone his whole life. When he manifested the broom icon for fun, a bunch of people killed themselves. He wanted to be a healer but he became the literal God of Death. He found a way to reverse death to manifest the Life Icon, and instead manifested the Death Icon. He was compatible with every Abidan type, except a healer. The one he wanted. He created a weapon called Penance. Penace. As penace for everything he's done. Then he had to spend millenia reaping worlds - billions, trillions of people. Regularly. A change in the system could lessen this, he wouldn't have to reap so many lives (lives that he feels the sorrow of) if they just changed the system. But they won't because this one works "so well". At the expense of the one Judge that can never stop, never leave, because he doesn't have anyone that could take his place.

Mercy has mommy issues and was the victim of gaslighting. Throughout the series Malice treats her like a prized possession to be discarded once her worth is lessened in her eyes. Malice shamed Mercy over the fact that her friends are better, she made her feel lesser and weak. She was horribly manipulative towards Mercy and tried to hold her hostage. She lied to Mercy to keep her on her side, and only ever showed Mercy love when Mercy needed to be manipulated. Mercy feared her. Malice also publicly humiliated Mercy, in front of friends and family. Meanwhile all Mercy has ever wanted was to make her mother proud. She even physically abused Mercy, when Mercy was trying to urge her to ascend, and verbally abused her because she didn't want to see the truth.

Ziel got tortured and lost the will to live. He wasn't suicidal, but he didn't care whether he lived or died. He was forced to watch as his whole sect died, then got mutilated and crippled by a mad scientist that took pleasure in torturing him and fixing him up wrong. Then this same scientist threatened to hurt him again and he was prepared to let it happen, prepared to endure it again, because in exchange Yushi and Calling Storms would send the others to help Lindon. He was so apathetic and depressed because of what he went through, and suffered for years, his spirit causing him pain, hardly considering himself a sacred artist. And the worst part is, that he is just a genuinely nice guy. He helps Lindon in Ghostwater. He stays with Lindon after his contract to Eithan expires. He tries to cheer the group up by jumping out from behind a couch, pretending to be Eithan, because they miss him. He doesn't deserve to have suffered so much, but even then, he still finds a way to be kind. Despite his suffering, and having lived with it for so long.

[jazzy-kandra]

He is the Inevitable Dawn after darkest night. A sketch of Ziel of the Wasteland.

[lyssq]

A family can be a guy who uses a dead god's arm as a prosthetic, a girl with six (6) swords growing out of her back, the multiversal embodiment of death and destruction, a girl who's really nice despite having the worst mommy issues, a depressed dude with a giant hammer, a small blue woman, a dragon turtle whose size ranges from tiny to mountain, and a purple cyclops ghost thing who can see the future and I think that's beautiful.

[king-of-the-oreo]

Dreadgod in a nutshell

[kurticus]

"We have stared into the abyss and survived. I'm going to sleep"

[winterwolfmiraculous]

We all agree this is basically what Ziel of the Wastelands looks like, right?

[applesandbannas747]

Apparently no one else imagined ziel as green. Which makes me wonder wtf is wrong with me

[felcandy]

[somerunner]

Tossing another one in the Cradle music videos ideas folder: Ziel vs the Storm Sage.

So, in the game Furi, the main character is an extremely powerful swordsman, tortured awake by electric shock. He then kills his torturer. Then he faces and kills his remaining guards. On my run today I was listening to Furi and Carpenter Brut’s music among other things, and the second song here came up. I thought this would make a perfect music video animation of Ziel, an extremely powerful warrior, fighting the brutal Sage of Calling Storms, who once tortured him with lightning.

[sarascamander]

Malice: I have the media. I have the army. I have the government!

Eithan: You know what I have? I have four children with weapons and a problem with authority.

[tikklil]

WEE WOO

New prints alert! These sillies are now available on my store. There’s a 20% sale running right now so if you’ve been meaning to grab some art, now’s a good time! ✨🌸

[the--grin--reaper]

Underrated friendship? Ziel and Lindon!!

Ziel helping Lindon purely because he's a nice guy in Ghostwater!!

Ziel getting recruited into the group

Lindon offering to let Ziel stay on the cloudship if the suppressant over the Valley is too traumatic

Lindon calling Ziel a part of the team

Ziel tagging along to the labyrinth because everyone else is going

Ziel and Lindon geeking out over the runes at the bottom of the labyrinth

Ziel and Lindon plotting the Dragons death

Lindon worrying over Ziel in the Array

Lindon making Ziel a shield

Ziel waving when Lindon ascended

Just. Them.

[jazzy-kandra]

Improve yourself.

The Path doesn't end once you leave Cradle, for Lindon and his companions, it was just a beginning.

A series of connected one-shots concerning the main crew (and various others). Mostly post Waybound with some exceptions.

[lyssq]

"Average person becomes a Monarch in 500 years" factoid actually statistical error. Average person never becomes a Monarch. Wei Shi Lindon Arelius's friend group, who all became Monarchs in under a decade, are outliers and should not have been counted.