#fenaissance

[lethendralis-paints]

From the Brown Paper sketches stash :)

My take on the Blue Wraith look for Fenris.

[otheliame]

Stop sexualizing fenris in chains challenge

[fandomn00blr]

Fenris in Dread Moon

In the spirit of the recent (BLESSED) Fenaissance, here’s an excerpt of a thing @figgypudz​ and I wrote a few months ago for our post-Inquisition Dread Moon collab (which was not meant to focus so much on DA2 companions, but I was not properly reined in so conversations like this happened and we ended up with a 15 chapter fic featuring all my favs and multiple spin-offs)...

Context: Evelyn has just received a letter from Harding in her search for Dorian. Hawke is pouting because SHE JUST CAME FROM THERE. And Fenris has joined them along the way, coming fresh off of Isabela’s ship-turned-slave-emancipation-vessel with Merrill to yell at Hawke for being...well, Hawke. Oh, they also went and found Anders in his sad hermit cave because it was ON THE WAY (and because they needed a healer). Um...I hope that’s enough of this chaotic adventure to make sense of the following conversation?

---

Inquisitor,

Our people have tracked them to Kirkwall. Head east as quickly as you can along the coast and I will meet up with you there.

Also, I assume by now you have been made aware of the Venatori activity in Nevarra. Not sure if they have anything to do with this. But we are also hearing word of a network of well-placed elven informants working as slaves, servants, mercenaries, and in the alienages all across Thedas. They are calling themselves the Agents of Fen’Harel. They are incredibly secretive and it is difficult for us to estimate the size of the organization or their amount of influence, but they seem to have inserted themselves into every powerful political organization across Thedas. We have yet to fully understand their purposes or motivations.

Be wary,

Harding

---

“So...this means we have to go back to Kirkwall?” Hawke looked like she was on the verge of a temper tantrum as Evelyn read the letter from Scout Harding aloud to them.

“Yes,” Evelyn nodded. “Immediately.”

“I hope at least you’re happy, Fenris!” Hawke made a pouty face at him and crossed her arms belligerently. “This is probably your doing, isn’t it?! ‘Agents of Fen’harel,’ Fen-ris…coincidence? I think not!”

Merrill looked curiously at Hawke. “But Fen’harel is the Elvhen god of betrayal. Fenris would never --”

Anders scoffed, “Ha!” and Fenris scowled at him.

Evelyn exhaled impatiently. “Yes. We’ve already heard an awful lot about the Dread Wolf.” She looked knowingly over to Cullen and Bull. “It seems the whole ‘betrayal’ thing was a bit complicated.” She clasped her hands behind her back and began talking strangely, with an uncharacteristic air of superiority that made the two of them snicker. “He was also, apparently, the god of rebellion. A hero to many ancient elves whom he freed from slavery to the Evanuris…”

She trailed off then, and turned abruptly, eyeing Fenris with suspicion. Whatever the joke was, she had suddenly decided to abandon it.

Fenris met her stare, and explained,“I was given this name by someone who intended it as a joke. I have no delusions of godhood, nor a desire to manage a vast network of spies.”

“Maker! I was just kidding!” Hawke moved defensively next to him. “You don’t actually think Fenris has anything to do with Dorian’s disappearance, I hope?” 

Evelyn raised a dangerously inquisitive eyebrow. “What is it that had pulled you away from Kirkwall, Fenris?”

“Retribution.” He met her questioning with an unnerving sort of calm, choosing his words very carefully.

Anders smiled knowingly. Certainly not Justice or Vengeance. Though 'retribution' was a good substitute.

Bull peered curiously at him. “Could you be more specific?”

“Decapitating and ripping vital organs out of slavers’ bodies...mostly.”

Varric laughed nervously. “That settles it, then! Dorian isn’t a slaver, and as far as we know, he still has all his organs. And his head. Seems like Scout Harding would’ve mentioned otherwise. Shall we head to Kirkwall?”

But Evelyn continued to glare at him. “You were a slave in Tevinter, right? Before you came to Kirkwall?”

“Yes.”

Hawke looked far more offended than Fenris at her questioning.

Evelyn ignored her, refusing to look away from him. “Who was your master? A friend of the Pavus family, perhaps?”

“Yes, actually. And I killed him.”

Hawke’s eyes were beginning to dart back and forth between them, her arms tense and her hands ready to reach for her daggers behind her, eyeing Varric and Merrill and even Anders, knowing they were with her should it come to that, and trying not to think about Cullen or Bull probably preparing reluctantly for the same fight behind Evelyn.

“Surely, all of Tevinter’s nobility is complicit in the slave trade to some degree. Dorian’s family had slaves. Why stop with your master?”

Hawke opened her mouth to protest again, but Fenris held up a gauntleted hand and stepped forward, staring directly into Evelyn’s intimidating gaze as Cullen quietly placed a hand on the hilt of his sword behind her.

“I didn’t. I killed his apprentice, my most dedicated torturer, as well. And I’ve killed dozens of slavers since.”

“Dorian’s father, too…?”

“No. He was one of the few who spoke out against what Danarius and his lackeys did to me, refusing to take part in the ritual that robbed me of my memories, of my whole life up to that point, and made me into this.” 

His markings suddenly lit up, a demonstration of his power, but also his vulnerability as he winced a little at the pain, physical and emotional, that still always came with it. 

Evelyn’s eyes widened. She felt the Anchor buzzing in her hand, reacting to the raw magic, increasing from an irritating tingle to a full-blown jolt that travelled up to her elbow. She’d heard about Fenris’ abilities, and read Varric’s accounts of him in the Tale of the Champion, but she’d assumed much of that was embellished. Feeling the power of the activated lyrium etched all over his body, though, she wondered if that part of the book, at least, was true.

As his lyrium markings faded, Fenris took a deep breath, and then continued, “I do not know Dorian enough to know if I would like him or despise him, though I imagine we would not see eye-to-eye on many things. But I bear him and his family no personal grudge.”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed on him even more intensely, searching his face for any sign of deceit, while everyone else seemed to be holding their breath.

“I believe you.” She nodded, finally.

Hawke’s entire body relaxed, and Varric let out an audible sigh of relief. Cullen and Bull nodded approvingly at Fenris as if they’d been rooting for him to make his case all along, while Anders tried to look unaffected.

Merrill smiled broadly and clapped her hands in celebration. “Do me next! Ask me if I did it!”

“Daisy…no.” Varric shook his head, trying to hide his smile from Evelyn.

...

[lethendralis-paints]

Wanted to see how far I could take one drawing if I sit down and stop jumping from doodle to doodle. Pretty far, it seems.

It started as a screenshot study (no tracing, just looking at a couple of cinematic stills I really like) and then I went to look for pretty portrait photos to get a good reference for realistic shadows. 8 hours later and this happened. Oops :D

[lethendralis-paints]

A quick doodle from the DrawPile session with friends. A nearly shirtless Fenris, because that’s the only thing Leth draws these days. But seriously, I’m enjoying detailing all these muscles. 

Tiny Rynne chibi by my lovely @schoute who always makes everything 1000x times better! 

@pikapeppa Rynne approves, right?

[lethendralis-paints]

Working on that cell shading-looking style. Don’t know what I’m doing but it looks nice, I guess. Fenris holds a South-Asian inspired polearm, because he can. 

[lethendralis-paints]

Anatomy studies with Fenris #999

Also known as Leth's excuse to draw nudes 😁

[lethendralis-paints]

Trying new colour pallettes. Have early 2000's pop song lyrics to go with this doodle:

**********************

I looked into your face

My heart was dancing all over the place

I'd like to change my point of view

If I could just forget about you

To know you

Is to love you

You're everywhere I go

And everybody knows

To love you

Is to be part of you

I paid for you with my tears

And swallowed all my pride

(Madonna - Beautiful Stranger)

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