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do you understand? darkest dungeon writings/musings of abyssalaquarist00 + askblog for al-hazred

[idrisalhazred]

🕯️💀

READ BEFORE SENDING AN ASK: About - OOC, Character, Culture and Resources

Answered Asks

This character and blog are related to my personal interpretation of Darkest Dungeon being a gnostic-like emanation of the real world.

The Dread is a contemporary cosmic horror AU that merges the in-game world(s?) with a modern AU. You can read my works relating to that on my AO3

[idrisalhazred]

What are your thoughts on Sarmenti? What have some of your interactions been with him?

I think he's alright, if a bit jaded.

[abyssalaquarist00]

visions from the dread, chapter 1

[idrisalhazred]

What are your thoughts on Sarmenti? What have some of your interactions been with him?

I think he's alright, if a bit jaded.

[f4therlesssss]

nvm i’ve said too much #unknowme

[f-a-campbell]

nearly 100% canonical dd2 fanart

[random-brushstrokes]

Rithika Merchant - Sun Feeders (2021)

[galusandmalus]

Got to go im at work

[emillysstudio]

Made a boney journal. Lots of leather stamping for this one.

[free-parking-blog]

August Natterer, My eyes at the moment of the apparitions, 1911-1913

[idrisalhazred]

concept cover for THE DREAD - a contemporary cosmic horror AU inspired by occult philosophy. the in-game characters exist as psychic representations of 'real' people on a different, but overlapping, plane of existence. read all 6 chapters on AO3

[islamic-art-and-quotes]

Quran 40:19 on rib cage illustration

يَعْلَمُ خَائِنَةَ الْأَعْيُنِ وَمَا تُخْفِي الصُّدُورُ

He knows the treacherous look of the eyes and what the chests conceal.

Source: 3a6l, via IslamicArtDB

[idrisalhazred]

What are ye al-hazred/junia headcanons? Coming here from ye fics, I like 'em!

thank you for reading! im glad you do.

i think these 2 are inexplicably drawn to each other. there's this unspoken chemistry between them they go back and forth on exploring because of who they are as people; junia has gone so long without another person she feels silly entertaining the thought; al-hazred has been with the beast for so long that he feels ashamed to want anything more. now combine these feelings with their respective religious guilt which they both feel "im too grown for this" about.

junia practices arabic with al-hazred since she's rusty. he reminds her of home in some ways. she loves hearing him recite poetry. she's very curious about him despite having no interest in the occult. junia is very comfortable in the exoteric but there's something about him that she wants to know.

al-hazred loves to fulfill any request she has and loves to cook for her especially. seeing her eat makes her happy but especially because he cant taste things, so when its good and she feels good, he feels great.

theres a certain thing btwn them that makes them both feel younger, lighter.

[abyssalaquarist00]

Hello!!! I'm coming from the Alhazred design critique (and your Alhazred art in general) post and I'd like to ask a few questions because I actually really really love him as a character and plan to write a bit about him in the future.

1. What did you mean by "egg" in that post? I've been trying to understand this and I can't really think of what it is apart from the shape of his turban? Please enlighten me.

2. Do you have an HC name for him or something of the sorts? (Question taken from Dismas/Alhazred post)

3. How do you personally characterize him? I'm curious as it seems you know more about how to characterize him in general.

I'm sorry if this is out of the blue or annoying but I'd love your thoughts!!!

not at all annoying! thank you for sending me the ask, i hope it reaches you.

egg is referring to the shape of his turban in the second game. it's a little too exaggerated imo.

and i do have a name for him! i headcanon his first name to be Idris, after the prophet of the same name who is the islamic equivalent of Enoch. more on his name here from my ask blog. this also touches on the way names are treated, and talks a little more about orientalism and characterization.

i think folks are welcome to characterize him how they'd like, but my biggest thing is how he's characterized against / with others. my take on al-hazred is that he's smart, patient and curious; he knows he can have a big head, that he can be a snob, and tries not to brag about his accomplishments and can actually be much more shy than you'd expect. he's moved past a lot of his flaws, but he's still working on them just as anyone else is.

again, characterization really matters most in context to whatever story you're trying to tell. if the occultist is being portrayed as a 'barbarian', extreme, needlessly cruel, a misogynist, or hot-tempered, when other characters are not portrayed this way or to the same extent (maybe more), i have reason to believe that there's a racialized bias that hasnt been unpacked.

NOTE: Alhazred is an acceptable spelling, however I stylize the name as Al-Hazred to put an emphasis that ‘Al’ is an article (‘the’). people should not be calling him 'the'.

any and all questions are welcome. i love this character a lot. i want people to engage with him and make him prominent in fanworks, not just a background character who shows up to be disagreeable.

whatever you're planning, i hope to see it in the darkest dungeon tags soon! thank you again for reaching out.

[idrisalhazred]

JOURNAL ENTRY #1

A series of journal entries throughout Idris' life

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem. Is there a point in uttering this, spilling it onto countless pages? Lately I have been wrecked with guilt over the matter … Am I so full of this sin that I am now haunted by it?

You have bound me to a curriculum so tortuous that if I even think to study what You have laid before me I should be cast to Hell. This does not sound like mercy. Why, if you can create anything with perfection, have you bound humanity to trivial tests? You would let us suffer, and suffer some more upon death?

O' God, do You hate me?

I am meant to be cast in Your Light but I fear I am drawn to Your Umbra instead. I say Your name every minute of every day, I have prayed toward the Holy Land from dawn to dusk and I have verily memorized Your most holiest verses. In Them I can feel Your Shade, and in Them my curiosity draws me to Your dark embrace. If You have decreed that I feel this way, then You must have designed a path for me in this obscurity.

Dare I ever speak any of Your names again? I'm not sure I even deserve to write about divinity with the way my dishonesty has harmed me so. I strive to be true but I fear my Truth is wicked. How can this be if I am doing all that You have told me to do? 

I have been long told that You forbid certain things and I have complied despite my compulsion to act otherwise. The other day I witnessed one so wonderous- our eyes met for the third time and I was filled with some silent exhilaration that I am ashamed to have felt. Should I feel ashamed to have appreciated Your creation? How dare You make a person so beautiful, but I am forbidden to express my admiration ... What have I done to deserve this?

If You have written all that there was and all that there is to be, I stand to reason that It is You who made me look; it is You who have caused our hands to brush and for us to share a taunting silence; and it is You who have kept us from acting upon it. 

No, this wouldn't be my only agony. Surely, You have sent Jinn to urge me and I have long resisted. These beings that are spoken of but never uttered; hushed instead and shown no grace; surely if Jinn can follow your light then they must be treated as Human?

Is living torment part of Your curriculum? Why have You cursed me with this curiosity if I was not meant to explore it?

I just don't understand why You would prohibit this. You want our worship, but only in a specific way- may I say it disgusts me? That We cannot innovate on our desire to worship You?

O' God, I am not sure I believe.

I have accepted that, should my secret be discovered, a great pain will descend upon me. Maybe I don't care anymore. I love my curiosity, I want to explore You and all that You have to offer; why should I live my life in fear rather than appreciate Your creation that may change my mind, body and soul? If You have put me on this Earth to appreciate what You have given us, should I not seek out Your hidden wonders?

One day I should leave this forsaken place.

You ask for unwavering faith, but I ask for complete and total Truth. I must know that which you control and in the manner that you do so. If You are truly the Most Merciful and I am forbidden to understand your sacred patterns then I will surely find out whether your mercy is myth or material.

[idrisalhazred]

[[ thinking a lot about idris al-raimi and what al-hazred means as a representation of him and then by extension what the beast means too with these scars

he still has all of his organs. his heart beat is too slow for him to be awake and breathing, yet he is. and there is a void within him, not so easily accessible. i think there's an easy metaphor for depression and suicidality but tbb is more than that. that's his subconscious, and i think it speaks to a level of enlightment that most of the other heroes do not have. so if tbb likes you, its because al-hazred really likes you and trusts you enough to let you open him up

[idrisalhazred]

[[ is this a safe space