Absolutely stunned by this gorgeous piece I got from @defenestratin , who I loredumped about Brad and his anxieties and struggles, and they came back to me with this stunning piece and I'm still AHHH over it <3
I really love the elements that he put together for this, and the really broad overview of this is Brad's struggles against Ymeri, and his hopes that Atreia can free him (which goes in... some directions).
Unlike on Bluesky I can yap to my heart's content here so I'm going to do that while I'm extremely sleepy and then go to sleep and then wake up and be like huh.
Brad was born and raised well entrenched in Ymeri's rule of the Plane of Fire, and within her cult (musing maybe he was part of the Tongues of Ymeri, since she got a bit more lore in the Rage of Elements book, but I've always kinda did a handwavey 'the cult'). While he and many of the fire elementals had some light mind enchantments over them to embed loyalty, this was also supplemented with a lot and a lot of propaganda such that even if the enchantments were broken, most would not question anything and would still instinctively follow her commands. Even with his escape to the mortal plane, thereby weakening the direct link he has to her, the connection he still has with her both via her demi-deific abilities and how he was raised to think his whole life is something he is constantly fighting against to not get pulled back to her especially as she gains interest in her lost sheep. Ymeri's symbol, the four longswords, have pierced him long ago, and he can't escape it so simply.
When he learned about the Garnet Brand, and thus the existence of a different fire lord, Atreia, he grasped onto that hope like nothing else. Hoping that if he could find and free Atreia, he might be able to help with freeing him from Ymeri. A selfish goal.
The shattered sunglasses lens on just the one side I think also shows a lot of how much of his emotion gets hidden behind them. It feels like, the revealed eye makes him look so so much more desperate, than if you cover up that eye and look only on the non-shattered side. And that is a big thing with Brad is him hiding himself. The entire persona of Brad is him hiding. But sometimes he can't always do that, especially when it comes to Her, and the guise falls. Plus, part of what causes him a lot of trouble later on with Ymeri is that he kept on kicking the problem under the rug without communicating his struggles with others thinking if he ignored it long enough it would be fine.
The notes of the hair starting to ignite too, a callback to Logi, Brad's "other half" so to speak. That Ymeri's pull is working, always has been working, but also that he's still a part of himself that he cannot bury forever.
But gosh GAHHH you see how AMAZING a job they did!!! Go look at his art it's awesome sdfkgjsdhf such amazing attention to detail.
"Careful, don't get any closer. I don't think he can hear us."
Been itching for more Atreia 'blessed' Brad, and I happened to stumble upon @floressas who has such a cool art style that instantly made me imagine a potential image. They did such an amazingly stunning job I'm still staring at this piece kicking my feet.
Kind of an immediate followup to this piece, when he manages to get back up but is still in a daze and still dangerously volatile. Still trying to register what is happening (and what had happened, given the completely destroyed landscape around him) but struggling to focus with the rush of energy too much for his body to contain clouding his thoughts. Thankfully that energy dissipates sooner rather than later.
