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@c-h4nn
yá'át'ééh, Chann yinishyé!
Native (Diné/Navajo)
Deaf/HoH • ENG/ASL
Archaeologist, hobbyist writer and artist
I draw and write for whatever I'm interested in atm, which tends to be fantasy and horror. I love detective conan, castlevania, and lotr, and my non-fandom artwork is usually Indigenous subjects as a form of cultural connection and inspiration from my studies!
other socials: instagram ao3
kwe' from another indigenous castlevania fan!!! i'm mi'kmaq myself, and i am literally just scrolling through your blog liking and reblogging shit because you're the first person in the fandom i've seen actually look at olrox's storyline critically from a native perspective!! love your art btw, so happy to see indigenous features being portrayed as something positive, and not whitewashed to hell like some of the other castlevania art is, ugh. thank you for contributing to the fandom in such a good way, wela'liiiiiiin!!!!!!
ahhh ahéhee' this is so sweet!! I've been on a hiatus bc the broader fandom kinda killed my motivation (plus my pen broke and I just replaced it, LOL), but I've slowly been gathering it back bc I do love this little niche in the fandom. It's always nice to encounter other Indigenous castlevania enjoyers!! I'm here to provide - I always hope that other Indigenous ppl can find their reflections in my art :]
Love your art but can’t lie it feels like you portray Olrox as a lot lighter than he is in the show?
this is a valid critique, and I think part of the reason Olrox could look lighter overall might be bc I do tend to color his hair as brown rather than toward black. I'll adjust that. Another reason is I keep making desaturated/dim pieces, so if you color-pick some of my art, it's rather dark, which has given me some issues with translating the colors from my laptop screen to my phone (where I post from). And I wonder if viewers having to turn up their brightness is also affecting how his skin color is perceived?? Or if having blue light/eye comfort shields on/off affects it? Having them off makes everything lighter/more blue with decreased contrast, and it can strain your eyes anyway.
I do refer to Olrox's canon full-body reference to match his skin color with respect to lighting, but I'll double-check future art across devices with blue light on & off plus CSP's color settings, which I think is prob the issue. I've been devoutly conscious on my end to avoid white-washing & portraying him with Eurocentric features or as stereotypes (e.g., sexualized or demonized), so ty for making me aware that his skin color looks different on other screens LOLLL.
But P.S. I hate to make assumptions, but if I'm the only person you're critiquing abt this and not the many non-Native fanartists who draw him like a white model with a tan.......
holy shit anti-Indigenous racism is so pervasive in castlevania fandom spaces that it's pushing people, including me, a Native person, away from the fandom.
There is so much criticism and outright hatred directed toward Olrox (and his past lover) when the other beloved characters have done far worse throughout the games and shows and have never been brought up like this. These are racist, superficial, speculative, and uneducated claims that I will not deign to expand upon. You don't have to like Olrox as a character. But do not be permissive of racism and bigotry, or else that will be all the fandom consists of.
you cannot talk about the homophobic murder of jonathan joss without including in the conversation that he is indigenous.
american indian men are at the 2nd highest risk of death by murder compared to all other ethnic groups. in their lifetimes, 82% of native men report having experienced domestic violence. yet the overwhelming majority of perpetrators are non-natives (88% of native men and 92% of native women who reported violence said their attacker was non-native). what’s more, tribal governments are often stymied in their attempts to bring justice against non-natives, meaning that many of these cases go unresolved.
this was an intersectional attack. the fact that he is indigenous matters, even if the motivation was homophobic, because it made him even more vulnerable and disposable in the eyes of his killer.
as always, look into MMIWP to learn more, and speak up for us. miigwetch, take care
vampirism is akin to the spread of smallpox and settler-colonialism and Christianity and forced assimilation etc etc
full version under the cut, content warning for depictions of smallpox
For the longest time I thought Sioketa was an actual character and that for some reason no one was talking about him until I actually watched the show and realised he’s an oc😭😭. But nonetheless your art is amazing and I really hope we see Olrox’s past lover in season 3 🙏
LOL thank you this is such an honor, he's like half OC and half whatever I extrapolated from the canon. I've tried not to stray too far from the soul of the few canon details we have to make him feel more real!! (But my many critiques are the basis of my fic, so.)
My goal is to keep spreading the word of Olrox/past lover, and maybe they will actually become more than just passing mentions in the show ... but one can dream ...
saw this book in B&N yesterday and just ordered it from the local lesbian bookstore, its by a fourth generation user of Hand Talk. i had never once heard of or thought about it before (yet another erasure from colonization and occupation) that of course before there was asl, the first nations people across turtle island would come up with some sort of signing system. it was (and still is, though like many native languages is now endangered) utilized for cross tribal communication, storytelling, and use by the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. this specific variation is often known as PISL/Plains Indian Sign Language but author Mike Pahsetopah chooses to realign with the original terminology and stresses it was never intended to be translated to English and adds a lot of cultural context.
and it's only one example, this map below shows how many varieties of hand talk / sign languages were being used across pre-colonization turtle island. (stolen from the PISL wiki page)
A few notes, as someone from a nation that used/uses hand talk—
1. The map shared is not a map of “pre-colonization sign languages.” Some of these were used before colonization but some are definitely more recent. The one around New York labeled OSL is Oneida Sign Language, which was created starting around 2016 by Oneida Deaf community members, who have worked to incorporate Plains Hand Talk, ASL, and spoken Oneida language into a culturally-relevant and appropriate sign language for their community. It’s cool af but it’s not precolonial.
2. I see many people in the notes expressing interest in this book and Hand Talk generally, and that’s great, but please keep in mind that this is in fact a highly threatened Indigenous language. There have been efforts in recent years to revitalize it which is exciting! But I worry about the weird way many people don’t think of sign languages as real languages plus the exoticizing of and feelings of entitlement to Indigenous languages. Learn about Hand Talk, if you’d like, of course! But if you are not in community with people actively revitalizing it, please be cautious with how you use it and talk about it.
happy PRIDE i’m here i’m queer and i believe the land should be given back to the proper indigenous stewards.
Non-Natives reblogging this are great and wonderful
Please remember that "land back" does not mean "indigenous people are mystical elves with innate epigenetic wisdom of land stewardship and they don't belong in big cities," nor does it mean "non-indigenous people can't be farmers." What it DOES mean is that "non-indigenous farmers should be paying the equivalent of property taxes to the native governments their land was stolen from." It means, "there's a great deal of indigenous scholarship on sustainable agricultural practices that farmers should be taking into account, because indigenous agriculture was more advanced than European agriculture at the time Europe invaded the Americas and western agriculture *still* hasn't caught up in terms of figuring out how to produce equivalently high crop yields without compromising the ecosystem." It means, "non-indigenous farmers should be in an intellectual discourse with indigenous agricultural scientists and indigenous peoples that still do traditional farming, figuring how to repair the damage western farming practices have done to the ecosystem."
It also means that indigenous peoples should regain the right to sustain themselves on the land according to the practices they want, and they should have free reign to perform their cultural practices and protect their holy sites, as opposed to the current model where if they try to honor their dead on public lands they get violently removed.
People also get angry at this concept thinking it'd mean non-native people getting mass evicted from their homes but 1) your home is already owned by a bank or big business or government, the difference would mainly be who you're now paying rent to and 2) most of the land in America isn't residential anyway.
This topic isn't about your house that you're already struggling to pay for, it's about thousands of miles of the planet rotting away under the monopoly of big agriculture and oil, but hypothetically speaking I think a local tribe would treat you a shitload better than whatever inhuman real estate brand you're already at the mercy of.
“OLROX IS A SERPENT, AND MIZRAK IS A CHRISTIAN. SO HE’S BOTH A LITERAL TEMPTATION, AND FROM MIZRAK’S CHRISTIAN LENS, THE SYMBOL OF TEMPTATION FROM THE SCRIPTURES. HE CONSIDERS OLROX INHERENTLY EVIL FOR WHAT HE IS, LIKE HOW HE VIEWS HIMSELF BECAUSE OF HIS FAITH. IT’S TRAGIC BUT ALSO HORNY AT THE SAME TIME.”
The winged serpent, Quetzalcōātl, is a key tenet to Olrox's identity as an """Aztec""" (Mēxihcah) man. Quetzalcōātl would have been - and still often is - an integral force in any Mēxihcah person's daily life.
So when Mizrak considers Olrox (and by extension, the winged serpent blatantly representing Quetzalcōātl) to be the embodiment of temptation, sinful, evil, anti-Christian, pagan, etc. - you do realize that this is racism? "He considers Olrox inherently evil for what he is." Part of that is literally for Olrox being Indigenous, not just for being a vampire.
Like, this is exactly the reason why conquistadors and Christian missionaries sought to crush Indigenous beliefs and cultural identity. They thought we were infidels and things to be saved via conversion, and there are whole pervasive stereotypes about Indigenous people being 1. evil, violent savages, and 2. seductive and promiscuous.
It's tragic because it's racist !!
the main problem i have with america is that nothings old as hell there. i cant be so far away from a castle it damages my aura
man people really just say stuff on here huh
Noooo haha don't spread racist ideals and colonizer propaganda by idolizing white european aesthetics above all else and denying the life and accomplishments of native peoples on their own lands
People have been living in the downtown area of Tucson, Arizona for at least 4,500 years. The greater Santa Cruz river valley has been occupied by humans for 12,000 years.
You see this?
That's not a river. That's the South Canal in Mesa, Arizona (Phoenix metro area).
This is a view of the East and South canals. At least half of all the Phoenix metro canals were originally built by the Hohokam (from roughly 200-1400 CE), and are still in use (restored) today.
Phoenix, Arizona actually has more miles (kilometers) of Canals total than both Venice and Amsterdam. No, really. Phoenix has about 180 miles of canals, many of which are built on ancient canal foundations.
below is an aerial view photo taken in the late 1930's of one branch of Phoenix's canal systems:
Also have the "Montezuma Castle," if you need a castle:
I don't need to look at some 12th century European castle to see age.
I have a suggestion
Kinda hate when ppl r like “we never should’ve colonized the Americas…imagine how much better things would’ve been if the natives were running it” when like…you don’t know that. Pre-European occupation we were a normal society of people. You should think the Americas shouldn’t have been colonized bc robbery and genocide are bad and shouldn’t happen.
In general I resent the framing of “pre-colonization the natives were soooo progressive and incredible and flawless and socialist and enlightened to gender”. Like ok why does that matter. I mean, first of all no we weren’t. But why does that matter. You know we’re a living society right? We’re everywhere, you’ve probably seen us around doing the things you do and wearing the clothes you wear and talking the way you talk. Our culture is right here, it’s still evolving, we’re not frozen in amber. You don’t have to make up shit, and you especially shouldn’t feel a need to make shit up to make us look better.
Idk, maybe im being oversensitive or cynical especially since these types are usually trying to be allies, but it’s uncomfortable when it seems a bit like you think you need to justify why robbing and killing us is bad, and “that group of people were robbed and killed” isn’t enough of a reason, it has to be like “that group of beautiful incredible progressive enlightened people were robbed and killed” for you to think it’s worth feeling anything
"*X country* should colonize the US! Please nuke the US!"
You all will do anything to not give us our land back huh
Like maybe I'm being a bitter savage maybe I can't get a joke but I'm sick of this. Liberals and Leftists and all of you can fuck off and go to hell, we're such non humans to you, you will do anything to let us be colonized and killed over and over again, I despise you all wholly.
Reminder:
Native Land is a resource to learn more about Indigenous territories, languages, lands, and ways of life. We welcome you to our site.
That's what the map should look like.
Been thinking about Dracula v. Olrox parallels, but also the perpendiculars.
Both characters are powerful vampires who lost the people they loved most and sought retribution for it, but while Dracula tried to destroy the world around him, Olrox (who has already had his world destroyed) stops at going after "the one responsible".
"There are no innocents! Not anymore! Any one of them could have stood up and said: No, we won't behave like animals anymore." - Dracula, S1E1, "Witchbottle"
"Your mama took someone from me I loved, just as much as you loved her. So, she had to die. Oh, I could kill you too. And I will one day. But not tonight." - Olrox, Nocturne S1E1, "A Common Enemy In Evil"
I think about the way the people of Boston were celebrating independence that night and how that compares to the way the Archbishop in Targoviste thought it was a good idea to celebrate the anniversary of Lisa's execution/Dracula's warning—how in both cases Dracula and Olrox are confronted with displays that seem to dismiss or even make a mockery their grief and trauma.
But I also think about the way Julia seemed to be expecting Olrox, versus the way the people of Targoviste seemed to be surprised that Dracula would make his good on his threat and to have believed that they had "defeated evil" that day.
"One year. I gave you one year to make your peace with your God. And what do you do? Celebrate the day you killed my wife. One year I gave you, while I assembled my armies. And now I bring your death. You had your chance." - Dracula, S1E1, 'Witchbottle"
It makes me wonder if Olrox had issued a similar threat to Julia. The man he loved supported the revolutionary cause, and it makes me wonder if Olrox clung to that little morsel of "he almost made me believe in it, too" and was waiting to see how things played out. If American Independence would deliver the promise his lover believed it would. Just as Dracula gave the people of Targoviste one year to recognize the errors of their ways and do better— because Lisa so much believed that people were capable of as much.
It makes me think about the contrast of the Targoviste celebration plainly condemning Dracula and dark magick and evil—the cruelty of Lisa's burning having been the point—versus the way the celebration in Boston erases and ignores the cruel, rotten foundations of colonization by sweeping it under the rug of the ideals of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
"He burned with such passion. About the world, about how the people, "the people", that's how he talked, could win this thing called freedom. Even people like him. People whose land had been stolen, I mean. Like mine was, oh, so long ago. But he fought with them, the revolutionaries. He fought with them. He almost made me believe in it too." - Olrox, Nocturne S1E6, "Guilty Men To be Judged"
And it makes me also think about the contrast of Dracula, whose grief drives him to depression, withdrawal, and suicidal tendencies—versus Olrox, who continues to seek out connection and be driven towards survival at all costs. Despite the grief and trauma of not just losing the man he loved, but witnessing millions of people like him suffer the loss of their entire worlds and ways of life to colonization the same way he did.
I think about Dracula as the classic vampire trope of this unnatural, immortal thing who has overstayed his time in this world, finally accepting the fate of all living things to die in the end—but I think about Olrox as an inversion of this trope: this wonderfully human, passionate thing who is brimming with a will to live despite existing in a world that wants him dead, that wants to bury all evidence that he was ever there at all.
"My boy... I'm- I'm killing my boy. Lisa, I'm killing my boy. We painted this room. We... made these toys. It's our boy, Lisa. Your greatest gift to me... and I'm killing him. I must already be dead..." - Dracula, S2E7, "For Love"
"You're not just a beast consumed by lust for blood. You have a mind which can think and a heart which can love." - Olrox, Nocturne S2E1, "A Living Legend"
I think about how Dracula struggled to live as a man in a society he saw as savagely cruel, versus Olrox who is undeniably 'human' in a society that refuses to see him (and more broadly, anyone like him) as anything but savage (a 'dragon ', a snake, an 'animal who lost its soul').
I think about how despite everything, Olrox is resilient. Olrox endures.
Obviously we don't know the specific circumstances of why Olrox turned his lover, why Julia killed him, etc., and obviously her death was highly traumatic for Richter to witness as a nine year old boy. But if Olrox's arc in a potential S3-4 is to die, then the writer's room is gonna catch these hands. He does not need a redemption arc—certainly not one that effectively echoes, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian". He needs justice.
Like begging on my hands and knees Nocturne writers, please do NOT fuck this up 🥲🔪
In the hoofprints and faraway glimpses of deer, upon the geometric backs of turtles and among the plentiful fish and waterfowl, in the verdant woods spilling with nuts and fruits and flowers, in the warm summer breeze, Olrox could almost see Sioketa, could almost touch him, nearly tasting him in bitter fox grapes.
look I know it’s supposed to be a joke but that “irradiated wasteland” is the unceded homeland of the Paiute and Shoshone peoples and consists of fragile Mojave and Great Basin desert ecosystems that are actively being exploited and destroyed by mining interests who utilize the perception of desert as wasteland to justify their destruction of indigenous lands and communities. the joke's not funny. fuck off with this.
also, as to the "irridiated" part of this - here's an article by High Country News on cancer clusters in indigenous communities in the Southwest resulting from nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site (itself located on the ancestral homeland of the Western Shoshone and Southern Paiute) and the US government's continuing failure to compensate affected families. it's a horrific crime that the US government committed against its own citizens and the joke's not fucking funny.
wasn’t expecting this to take off but shoutout to the Australians in the notes - getting fed up with this kind of shitty rhetoric about desert landscapes and erasure of the indigenous peoples that have lived in them for millennia is Australian-Southwestern US solidarity
I have a suggestion
this is a post about how Olrox should be a hell of a lot meaner, all things considered, and my own grievances
documents pictured:
