will you ever bless us with scylla and charybdis’ heavy metal design variants maybe… i’ve had rock and a hard place on repeat for days. so obsessed with charybdis providing the screamo parts of the song it cracks me up
YES!! It's on my to-do list, in fact!
Gotta think first about how to do Charybdis' color-swap and possible make-up(?), but I did a Scylla sketch last week. Didn't post it because I wasn't sure about the vibe tho
(Big fan of Chary's roars being the metal-like vocals too, it's just genius.)
Small headcanon note: While humanoid Chary's voice is normal, she's still capable of roaring like she does in the song.
do you think scylla would have a “more cursed” form like canon charybdis? she’s pretty humanoid in the game all things considered, which kind of surprised me the first time i met her. i’ve started imagining her more monstrous and bestial like canon chary… maybe her curse chilled out a little at some point. not sure if that’s the lore for ur chary also? or if maybe she just wasn’t ever cursed THAT much to begin with. love her so much either way… she’s swimming around in my head every time i play this game
(Sorry Anon this is gonna be a long answer, I didn't predict this)
I get what you mean! I must admit I was shocked at first, because usually Scylla's portrayals in media are "upper body of a lady/nymph, lower body with tentacles and long eel/dog necks", since the myths describe her as such.
(Scylla on an ancient ceramic. Also her depiction in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and "Mitos y Leyendas" card game, I believe both cards are from the same game).
However, Hades 2 doesn't take this approach and makes its own thing, which is fair! The thing with Hades' designs is that they seem to portray the character inside the game's context, to put it in a way.
Scylla is still cursed and is monstrous (more than it seems! But I'll talk about that more ahead), but her design focuses on showcasing her narrative/personality inside Hades 2.
In here she's a sadistic rockstar, thus her hair is very wild and spiky (you can "stretch" things a bit and see all her sharpness and spikes as an indicator of her dangerous persona), her tentacles are treated like a coat/neck scarf and this is transmitted in the way she holds them. It's also very extra in a way, which also shows her delirium of grandeur, as like "look at me, I'm so fancy and striking and over the top, woo"
And her shell is literally her own, personal stage, despite her already being on a stage. (I also dare to say that the shell can also be seen as a "place to hide herself" (see some of her defeat quotes or the "Bewitching Eyes" song), because Scylla's relationship with her curse is very bad. All that ego comes from her being insecure with herself tbh. Which doesn't remove her natural, sadistic personality but you know what I mean)
ANYWAYS, so, more than showcasing her original myth, her design shows who and how she is within this game, basically. While mantaining the core things of her og myth: She being cursed by Circe and so.
Now, Scylla is very much humanoid, yes, but upon a closer inspection on her design, she's more monstrous than she seems, as I mentioned before. So, let's talk about eyes.
What's up with all those eyes that are floating around her and are on her shell? Are those real? Yes, because they blink in her 3D model, but, is it just macabre decoration? Do they represent stage lights? Possibly, but they are most likely hers.
Scylla is a clam, and many types of clams have eyes. They can't see like humans, but are still classified as such, and these eyes are placed around the edges of the shell, just like in Scylla's sprite and 3D model!
And speaking of her 3D model, it hides a terrible secret that players probably haven't noticed (like me) because they are too focused on dodging and attacking. (... like me-)
Scylla is actually half-mouth. The very first attack she does, shows her splitting open her tentacles, screaming, and revealing how she's just a torso, "fused" with a huge mouth with giant teeth. Ironically, this somehow maintains how OG myth Scylla is monstrous from her waist down, as in this case, it is a jaw, and her upper body remains humanoid.
Having this in mind, it's very likely that Scylla is attached to her shell, as that mouth is part of her body.
It's a very smart design once you start connecting the visual and narrative dots! But yeah, hopefully this very long explanation was useful or interesting for you, anon!
P.S.: I'm no expert on character design by any means but I learned a thing or two.
PART 2, CHARYBDIS (AND MY MENTAL GYMNASTICS)
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In Hades 2, Charybdis is... well, a monster. That's it 😭
As far as I know, the game doesn't give her any specific origins. She's a legendary, ancient sea monster, probably created by Poseidon, or that simply came to be by other means.
The Odyssey never describes how she actually looks like, beyond her having a huge mouth that eats ships, and is capable of drinking so much water that it rises and lowers the sea level three times a day. Sometimes, she's not a monster, but just a whirlpool, the force of nature itself, but given a name.
People get very creative with her design, but I dare to say that she's seen as a giant worm, overall. Like in the Percy Jackson movie! I personally like that depiction a lot tbh, it's terrifying and makes you understand why she's an obstacle that must be avoided, not fought.
(Art by: Sebastian Meyer)
Charybdis has like, only two myths (that I'm aware of). In one, she's a (literally) voracious woman who stole oxen from Heracles, and Zeus punished her for that.
The other myth (which is the one I use for my works), portrays her as a daughter of Poseidon and Gaia (in Hades 2, she'd probably be the offspring between Poseidon and a random sea-nymph/oceanid mother). Regardless, in this myth, Charybdis is described as a beautiful sea-nymph who was very loyal to Poseidon.
Here, Poseidon and Zeus quarreled over territory. Charybdis aided her father by flooding the land and reclaiming it for him, which obviously angered Zeus. If she took part in this quarrel by her own will, or because Poseidon asked her to, nobody knows, but eventually Zeus punished her and turned her into the monster we all know.
Now, for reasons of ages past, in my works I treat Charybdis as a "semi-OC". (TLDR my friends and I RP'd as mythological greek characters and I got interested in this monster, as it provided me a base to work with, and grew fond of her lol)
The humanoid version I draw of her is like, a sort of half-state. She has regained her original form thanks to Chronos, but she's still affected by Zeus' curse.
Don't want to make this post longer by adding her long-ass lore, and how her personality and psychology works, but let's say that Chronos got tired of Chary eating his ships (for him, she was like an annoying fly buzzing around), and decided to get rid of her, but then noticed her consciousness and how she's not very fond of the Gods and thought "Yeah, this granddaugther of mine might be useful for my cause of creating my Golden Age for mortals, yada yada".
This version of Chary that I do has very similar ideas to Prometheus, so her being on Chronos' side makes sense. Which is funny because years ago, while I still RP'd as her, I pictured them as potential besties lol
Anyways this is me being nostalgic about good old times and having the chance to use my ideas in my art, thanks to this game. And idk, I'm just having tons of fun. This whole Chary thing is a very "me thing", but it makes me happy to see people go "this is neat" with my mental gymnastics and just, roll with it. So thank you Anon and those who read this for enjoying my delusions!
Also sorry for this huge post, I have the (cursed) blessing of hyperfixation as you can imagine
Hi Heka, I discovered you for all your amazing Leodia art, but I genuinely enjoy everything you make! I have always wondered how you envision the reconciliation between Leona and Diana to be like? Do you think Leona will discover the error of her ways on her own, or will she require the intervention of some other person/a cathartic event?
Unrelated but I am also curious about how you think a meeting between Morgana and Syndra would turn out in the main universe, given the WIP you shared of them at Riftmas :3
Hii Explodingquails, thank you so much for your words and support!! <3 <3
And hmm, how could I answer this... Well, I have thought of this before and at the same time I have a pair of scenarios. I guess it depends on the route Leona takes? Either her tyrant route or she not know what the Solaris are doing (the lore itself is stuck between those two concepts, lord help me)
This requieres what we call a "mucho texto" (meme-ish way to say "very long text"), because for Tyrant Leona
I picture her as someone who has reached self-failure (Leona is meant to be a protector for the weak and yada yada). I don't think or picture her as brainwashed or a zealot, she knows her protective ideals, she knows the cruel actions of the Solari and is aware of their radical behavior specially because she saw how they treated Diana. But she's stuck in this radical place where the Solari can kill their own (as said in the latests story that features Atreus iirc). Leona decides to stay because she has the weight of her people + family and their expectations upon her, and has to fulfill them by the fear of dissapointment. I think some of us can relate to that.
The scenario of this route causes a conflict that escalates to war, and it's a situation that overcomes Leona psychologically. She accepts that she has become a tyrant and arrives to the conclusion that, in order to end the bloodshed, is by Diana killing her. This of course leads to a semi-god fight where Leona pretends to be cruel and ignorant as a way to anger Diana, who later notices that façade. Diana tries to reach Leona but she refuses and basically threatens Diana to make a supernova if she doesn't end her lol (extra dramatic I know). But Diana, knowing how Leona feels, just runs across the chaos and fire to hug her, which puts and end to the conflict. WOOOOOO clap clap and everyone was happy again.
That's the first reconciliation scenario I thought about. Now for the route where Leona doesn't know shit, well, I guess she would find out eventually and Diana herself or the Lunari, or the rakkor would tell her "hey the Solari are killing everyone please stop this" and Leona would go like "Wait what??" and start moving because Leona is, supposedly, a protector.
She can call out the Solari but I don't think that would go well for her lol, maybe she can try to find Diana but the Lunari take her as a prisoner because it's the enemy AND leader of the Solari, Diana finds out and both talk about the things that are happening and how Leona just didn't know. Maybe the Solari go absolute bonkers and decide to burn everything everywhere at the absence of Leona since she's a threat to their bloodshed too. It's not a polished idea so I can't say a lot more kjkjdkj but I think it would be a desperate situation that can make them fight together (A DREAM RIOT PLS) and a first step to end the conflict
Now for Morgana and Syndra
This involves that Morgana is not in Demacia (maybe when things start to go well in there she can afford traveling around), and this scenario is related to my HC of Syndra being an incognito. Not as a spy or anything, but let's say, she pretends to be a wanderer or someone who lost everything to the war.
Syndra (and this is canon) can only understand her magic fully if she discovers and knows herself, because it's driven by her emotions. So I decided to use that excuse to make her go around Ionia (and to get food and stuff because the suplies of the fortress aren't infinite, like). She doesn't think that she's making a self-discovery trip, she's not aware of that fact, but something within just tells her to go to the country she hates to the gut lmao.
While she wanders around, maybe at night but totally in the middle of the forests where she usually hides, she encounters a mysterious figure that approaches her, this being Morgana. With the "What's troubling you, child?" kind of trope.
Syndra immediately feels threatened by her because there's something about Morgana that makes her feel exposed, and emotional exposure equals danger to Syndra. She warns Morgana to stand back and leave, ready to attack. Morgana however just walks closer as she knows that Syndra cannot attack her even if she wants to.
Just as Morgana can percieve Syndra's incredible magic, Syndra notices Morgana's power, but is unable to determine what she is. She's not human, she's not an ordinary mage, nor a vastaya, or any other type of creature that comes to mind. Whatever she is, Morgana is just something superior. She knows she can't mess with her.
Morgana presents herself calm and smiling with tenderness. She explains to Syndra that her large pain caught her attention and how she understands that feeling of anger, betrayal and loliness created by her people and family, just like she felt because of Kayle. But she also senses how Syndra is trapped inside her own mind and how that torments her deeply.
Syndra somehow knows that what she says is true, so decides to accept her company even if it makes her feel vulnerable. There is something about Morgana that makes her unable to reject her.
This strong empathy that Morgana feels would drive her to share her views, teachings and wisdom to Syndra, and Syndra herself, with time, would feel free to be herself infront of a mentor and motherly figure, figures that in the past hurt her deeply. It's a dynamic that would help both characters come into terms with their personal pain and broken bonds.
Syndra's "I had a brother once, but he betrayed me instead of protecting me." which would mirror Morgana's "I had a sister once, that betrayed me instead of being by my side." You get what I mean overall.
Now this HC comes from the Kayle and Morgana's rework AMA, where a Rioter stated that the character that Morgana would feel the most empathy for, would be Syndra.
This Rioter also stated that she would make Syndra feel the pain she inflicted to others as a way to teach her (like she usually does), but I disagree with that part. Syndra's new lore puts her as a victim of family mistreatment and bullying, who developed an (almost uncontrolable) explosive temperament along with a strong distrust towards others. If Morgana tries to approach her and uses her magic to make her feel pain to learn, it just would make Syndra see Morgana as a red flag, someone like those who had hurt her.
Even if it goes against her judgement themes, I think it's something that would break the first steps of their dynamic, which are very important and fragile because they revolve around trust and being emotionally open.
Anyways I'll leave it here before I write even more LMAO hope this was at least a pleasant reading!
I'm writing a league fic (about Seraphine n Camille!) and want to know if there's a community for league creators, like a forum or idk a list of ppl to follow. I wanna get someone to read it over b4 I publish/maybe a beta, but all the other communities I'm in aren't for league 🥲 also I just want to get into the league community on Tumblr or another website (that isn't twitter) 😤🙏 ty!!!
I'm afraid I don't know any League community here on Tumblr, it there's any then I'm not aware of its existance :(
I can't help much in this regard, I only know people from Twitter 😖
As for the fanfic, they're fanfic writers and not beta-readers but I think they could help you regardless! I'd recommend for example @tahtheleagster and @RdroigoWrites (it's their @s on Twitter, but they're probably here too, I just don't recognize most of the people here lol) I hope this helps at least a bit!
I'm very happy to know you're still interested in Leodia, really, it means a lot. I admit I must be one of the few people that like the new lore of Leona comparing to the old version (I'm a sucker for victims of cults and that's mostly how I see her xD), but I love both your fanarts and your hcs about them, you're the one that made me love them afterall, and you're really inspiring as an artist.
And tbf I understand taking a break from them, I also did that too a while ago, but mostly because of fandom drama and not riot, I couldn't stand the toxic place being formed around them 😑
Anyways would be lovely to have you as their CEO again, imo they are also very underrated as characters individually, but take the break as long as you'd like Heka, fandom is supposed to be light and fun, enjoyable. <3
It's been a pair of years and I still can't get used to comments like these, I really really appreciate your words, you have no idea about how much they mean to me
Also thank you for understanding my position!
And ugh, fandoms can be a pain in the ass sometimes, trust me I know that very well.
I will continue to love both Leona and Diana, individually and together. Plus I still have some stuff about them that I have to finish!! It's gonna take time, but I'll go safe and slowly. Again, thanks a lot Anon, I hope you have a nice day and have fun around <3
Since Syndra is your current favorite, any chance you'll fill the role of headpriestess for the Sun x Moon ship again?
Absolutely!
Right now I'm a bit salty at how Riot (company) has been treating them because, sure, we got a Pride story for them and that's very nice. But outside that, there has been no progress? It upsets me that their love is not shown outside that story and yes, Leona has lovely quotes on her legendaries, but... it's never reciprocated? In the sense that, no mutual quotes, no matching skins, no lore progression that develops their relationship on-present time, etc
*sigh* I just want them to show their love outside Pride-posts, but that's gonna take time I guess
Anyways, despite what I think now I still love them. I was always honored to be called their CEO by my following and I still are, and when it's about representation one should never give up, but damn I'm just upset, sorry T-T
I really want to defend them, but is there anything to defend? Is how I feel now
Besides that I also needed to take a break from them, but yeah. I'm not gonna abandon my role as their headpriestess (altho it's okay if someone else wants to take that title, I don't own it and I don't mind sharing it either xD)
// That ruination post of yours finally sparked my inspiration to try and finish my own LeoDia fanfic about that time, so thank you! ^^
Glad to know that!! Inspiration always arrives, so don't give up with your work, you are gonna make a great job! Believe in your skills and in yourself <3 I hope I come across your fanfic once your finish it!
