#zenos viator galvus

[blackwraithtea]

So for 3 hours I’ve been listening to Malice Mizer and man the idea just sprung for this one.

I enjoy thinking about Zenos in vis kei

[loireejinn]

*"A TEST OF YOUR REFLEXES" followed by the sound a dodgeball makes when it hits you*

[thewickwheat]

You're the wrong I need

[juncopandi]

You cannot convince me that this isn't what happened at the Old Sharlayan customs desk

[electricb00]

[birues]

ffxiv + tumblr shitposts

[fourfoldfires]

as much as i love the Came Back Wrong trope i love even more that it's not ever a concern with zenos. he was born wrong and he died wrong and came back just about the same amount of wrong he started with

[avallachs]

Zenos yae Galvus, I presume?

[ravendas-xiv]

Did this set AGES ago because I saw this tweet and just had to do it!

It still makes me giggle.

[thesiroccoofthesea]

[sarmaril]

No actually I'm still hung up on it.

Zero's "a friend is a person your trust" revelation DIRECTLY followed by the WoL thinking about Zenos.

Zenos, whose feelings towards the WoL were so strong that they not only broke through Meteion's Ultimatium, carried the Warrior on his back, and then as he lay dying STILL had a strong enough sway over the dynamis in at the edge of everything to save the WoL's life, letting himself die at the end of it, their conversation ending with Zenos, through his final act, confessing that the only happiness he found in life was with someone that he didn't know how to love in a way that wasn't violent and selfish with a passion enough to tear the world apart.

"A friend is a person you trust" not to WoL, not ONLY at least, because they had a friendship that was not built on the foundation of a mutual trust, but on the foundation of challenge, and acceptance for the other as the broken, fascinating thing that they are.

My enemy, my friend.

[bakemangocake]

I put Zenos in pretty clothes again

[sarakipin]

We beat Stormblood 🌸🥲

[thewickwheat]

I am fingers crossing that by increasing the opacity on the top I can avoid flagging but lets find out

together

BUT ANYWAY

there was another FFXIV Gala event on twitter that I participated in and since the theme was Fairytales and I am someone who looks for any excuse to bring up my favorite folktale, I had to pay homage to Prince Lindworm by depicting Zenos as the titular Lindworm and Earley as the shepherd’s daughter. 

You can read the folktale here!

There’s also a process video available for Patrons! (which I try to do with all my illustration pieces)

Design notes below the cut for interested folks

The goal with Zenos' outfit was to communicate shedding skin, with each layer getting more raw. So its a matte wool suit layered with shiny red satin and the underlayer being soft velvet (originally the suit had iridescent sequins sewn near the cuffs to imply scales but I couldn’t find a way to depict it nicely, though I think it would look stellar IRL) 

Earley's was heavily inspired by Queera Wang's gender neutral wedding designs, which also worked well with the layered "fine shifts" in the story. Other elements minorly borrowed from folk designs (it was a stronger influence earlier in the design but a lot of it got discarded) and I’m very sad her boots could not be shown off in the final composition 

there's also...another theme in the designs but I think you can figure that out~

[alicelufenia]

Lots of buzz about the expansion announcement but can I just say, I really enjoyed the "Annotated Endwalker" panel with Ishikawa and Yoshida where they went over their writing process and how they maintain consistent thematic callbacks and culturally significant statements across languages. It's a fascinating look at how much work goes into serial fiction like this, especially when it has to cross multiple language barriers and still evoke the same feelings, all while making homages to literally decades old content.

I was HOOTING for the Amon/G'raha parallels, that's something I hadn't noticed before. Likewise with the twins, their grandfather Louisoix, and their father Fourchenault.

And of course, I was so happy that they finally talked about Zenos in Endwalker and practically grabbed the fandom by the head and said "actually pay attention to what he says and does and apply critical thinking for once PLEASE! The words are HIGHLIGHTED on a stream broadcast to MILLIONS. You have NO EXCUSE NOW!" *SHAKES YOU SPITTING AND HISSING*

phew anyway, I also liked the analysis of Emet's lines, and how they were written with the impression that not only was he narrating from the Aetherial Sea, but Venat is just there too.

But maaan I gotta call them out for referencing the shortstory with Azem's unilateral volcano mission to save the grapes and failing to mention that

It

Was Never

About

The Grapes

Literally no one in the story believed that except Elidibus who is the young naïve one.

It's about Azem seeing value in the lives of those living in the shadow of the volcano while the rest of the Convocation did not. That's what makes them a hero in a world that doesn't even have a word for that yet.

Look I know the grapes are a meme and you're leaning in on it heavily but I guarantee you can tell us it's not about the grapes and we'll both appreciate that fact and still like the grapes! Your squapes merch sales won't slouch by just acknowledging that characters can say something without meaning it!

So yeah, I liked the panel.

[aetherixart]

All of my stained glass FFXIV pieces so far!

12 x 18 foil prints