Hiiiiiii omg can you please tell me more about your design for the Witch-King and how that idea came to be?? I'm enraptured body and soul and want to know more!! Any headcanons about him at that time??
I love your art!! Thank you so much for sharing 💖😭
hello!! :D 🤍
i'm so happy to hear you like my silly little concept, i assume you mean the design of him in white & masked? IF SO ILY <3 <3 i always love talking about this, but it essentially came into being when i was rereading the series and got to the part where frodo sees the nazgûl's true forms whilst wearing the one ring, where they appear as ghostly, corpse-like, pale, and dressed in white and grey in contrast to their invisible, black-clad 'seen' forms. it really made an impression on me and i just LOVE non-traditional depictions of evil so it was like putting two and two together!
for the witch-king i think it particularly fits, especially during his time as angmar's ruler, because no one knew he was a servant of sauron (let alone a nazgûl!) for many years while he ruled, and what better way to keep up the charade than to present yourself as completely different from what you are?
i knew i wanted him to wear elaborate, intricate clothing from the start and i just Love masks. initially i wanted him to wear a skull-like mask, but i saw the 2005 kingdom of heaven movie so i settled on a metallic, face-like mask with a peaceful, pleasant expression. i think it fits him perfectly for the era for reasons i'll elaborate on.
as for headcanons, i got plenty so i'll need to put them under the cut <3
the witch-king was pretty picky with who he allowed to settle in his kingdom, at least initially. it was mostly humans at first and he made sure to portray angmar as a safe haven — away from war and away from the conflicts of elves, men, and dwarves; the people worked for a living and obeyed their king, who protected them in return for their loyalty. it was nothing special and nothing remarkable. over time he allowed orcs and dwarves to settle as well, but he always kept a tight grip on the safety of the kingdom, as violence among the populace was harshly punished and he had strict laws to ensure people's safety. (this served to superficially portray him as a just and fair ruler, but in reality it was only to ensure that the people's restlessness and anger was pointed away from each other and towards his enemies.)
over time, he had an effect on the populace not unlike brainwashing. nothing to do with magic, just his own manipulation and twisting of the truth; they didn't see angmar and its king as aggressors towards its neighboring countries; they saw the remnants of arnor as envious of angmar's glory and territorial expansion, and the arnorians as the aggressors. this in turn practically made the people blind to what the witch-king's true intentions, and made them all the more loyal to him since he framed it as him just defending the angmarrim from the thieving, malicious arnorians. it's easy to kill for your king when you think he will protect you with his life.
likewise, he portrayed himself as just a man and nothing more. the people saw him as long-lived, not too different from the númenóreans of old (and they didn't know how right they were) and a powerful warrior and sorcerer. the reason he hid his face with masks was, obviously, because he had no face under there that was visible, but he portrayed it as having been so grievously disfigured that he wore masks and veils to 'protect' his people from the horrific sight of his face (the story was liable to change based on the decade; sometimes it was a war injury that developed into a nasty scar, sometimes it was a horrific illness, sometimes it was a result of his birth, sometimes it was an unfortunate wound from childhood that didn't heal right, and each time it was a different lie that ensured people wouldn't ask more than necessary) — of course, no subject is going to ask his king the uncomfortable question directly.
on the topic, no one in angmar's borders called him 'the witch-king'. he didn't use or offer a name or a title, preferring only to be addressed by his royal title, but within less than a decade a title caught on that he ended up using anyway; angaran, the iron king of the iron home.
he had no king's guard, funnily enough. he didn't need one, although he had about a dozen trusted, hand-picked men who governed the different regions of angmar. this, too, was a manipulation in which he made people (these men included) think it was an important task that he bestowed upon them when in reality they had very simple jobs of keeping the peace and commanding different branches of the military, things of very little consequence when it was him who pulled the strings regardless.
however, he did employ a temporary king's guard on diplomatic missions. the goal was always to appear as peaceful and benevolent, fair and reasonable, and a lot weaker than he really was. this temporary king's guard title was a position which was highly sought after by the best soldiers in his arsenal, as a means to push the idea that he comfortably walked among his people unguarded, but that outside of angmar even he in his 'endless mercy and understanding' felt unsafe due to arnor’s hostility; something that only furthered the people's view of him as good and everyone else as bad. almost every action and word of his was with the purpose of furthering his hold on the thousands, later a couple of million people under his command and protection.
although not intentional, it was partly his magic at fault that nullified the aura of terror and despair the angmarrim were seemingly resistant to. other beings (this is especially prevalent in the books) find it difficult to be in the presence of the witch-king and the other nazgûl due to their overwhelming, oppressive air of fear and darkness, instantly marking them as something to Run Away From As Fast As You Can. but this doesn't always work and it isn't always the case! a normal person walking into the borders of angmar would probably be very wary of the witch-king for reasons they aren't even aware of, while the people themselves are just fine. it was not at all uncommon to walk the streets of carn dûm and see the witch-king’s towering, white-clad, masked form conversing with his people and passing them by while tending to his daily Totally Not Evil Duties as he inclined his mask in response to their smiles; their own comfort at the sight of him making it odd that your own uneasy feeling in his presence has to be… a problem with you, obviously, since no one else seems to feel this way.
Viktor, grabbing reader by shoulders: What did you just say???
viktor def pouts the rest of the day bc excuse me??? why is jayce the good boy when he’s around??? the best gentleman in the world??? i like to think jayce heads out and you finally go “what? are you still mad?”
and he just looks straight at you and goes “how do i become the good boy? tell me this instant.”
Jinx with a clumsy ass reader though. Like constantly trips over their own feet, can't be left alone or will cause accidental explosions. Jinx always being nearby to catch you and make the very obvious "aw, you fallin' for me again toots?" joke every time
I've been laying here reading your lumen fics and answers for about a week now. My serotonin. My own questions running wild in my mind.
Like, what if Viktor's first time hearing Reader's lumen make a noise, is them laughing so hard at something his lumen had done on their end? Just a little child's laugh, losing it. Be it over him getting excited over something, and it reacting all excitedly. Or, just doing something on its own accord.
THE PURENESS OF THIS OMFGGGG HOW SWEET. dude your laugh would ring in his head for days and he’d constantly keep your lumen next to his ear to see if he’d hear it or anything else 🥺❤️ ugh i just finished an emotional anime YALL. CANT DO THIS TO MEEEE
Head a little idea, of the moment when little Viktor got Reader's lumen. I don't know how you imagined them appearing, and I know I could think of many ways it could happen.
I see Viktor sitting down alone, working on the boat in the show, right before the scene in the water. Then, this presence, a sense of something is right there with him. He looks up in front of himself, as a small, yellow light slowly grows from nothing, to this little lumen. It slowly blinks at him after a few seconds, as if it was taking in its surroundings. Its own existence. Then, quickly blinks as they go right up to his face in the same speed. Taking another minute to admire him, to enjoy his expression of surprise. The wonder. It begins to zip around him. Bouncing, as if dancing happily. Nuzzling into him after its done letting out that excited energy.
I wasn't sure if you had an idea how he'd react to that. Up to you, hehe 💕
the warmth this idea brings me 🥰🥰🥰 i def think he’d be surprised but even more relieved since he’s about to enter his teen years and had yet to have one. with how observant the lumen is with its surroundings, i think he’d just watch and take it all in before slowly raising a hand to attempt to touch it. when it shows no signs of being scared and muzzle his hand you can bet that boat is forgotten about as he gets to know his lumen.
i read the poem "the two headed calf" again and i cannot think about it without associating it with viktor and i hate it. it's such a pretty poem and it just feels like something he'd absolutely love
i’ll just lay down and cry—no, no its fine i’m fine i’ll just lay here yeah
i didn't even notice you answered my ask but, it's really funny because it's all i imagine because that's what one of my ocs are; a mage. jayce just bombards them with questions because he's so curious (and i doubt the mage who brought his mom back to life was of much help) while viktor also asks his own questions but doesn't, per se, bombard them
viktor would totally wack jayce upside the head when he starts bombarding you with questions to the point you’re drained and exhausted—like he’s just excited don’t get him wrong, but he’s got manners and everything can’t be learned in one day that they’ve been searching for years. he can wait for his answers, especially if they’re coming from someone as lovely as you 💛
