#ilterish

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Volume 12 sketches

The Heroic Legend of Arslan - Hiromu Arakawa extra art

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Anime Ilterish not even mentioning his dead dad 😐

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Volume 14 sketches

The Heroic Legend of Arslan - Hiromu Arakawa extra art

"aaah it's a demon!"

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As requested by @lavender-100, some details about Layla's physical appearance. Some novel spoilers in this post so be warned!

We first meet her in Book 10, where she is a trainee priestess at the Temple of Ashi in the Oxus region. She is initially described as tall, well-proportioned, and wearing women's clothing that is white with blue trim. She is even taller than Farangis (and Farangis herself is described as being taller than average for a woman and a little taller than the average Parsian man). For reference, Layla is about the same height as Narsus.

Layla's hair is short, though no hair colour is mentioned. Her clothing is also short, and her long, slender, tanned arms and legs are exposed to the sun. She has a broad frame and a muscular build, and owing to her strong physique she almost looks like a young boy.

I have some illustrations to share, too!

Book 10, Layla versus Namard, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano.

Book 11, Layla versus Alfarid, Kermine in the background. Illustration by Shinobu Tanno. You can see the silver bracelet on Layla's left arm clearly here.

Incidentally, the design of these silver bracelets given to the three girls (Parizad, Fitna and Layla) is described as being engraved with a design of a young man on the back of a bull, stabbing the bull in the head with a short sword. I'm assuming Tanaka drew his inspiration for this from tauroctony scenes.

Anyway, as you can see, in Tanno's illustration Layla's hair is white. It's possible I missed a description of her hair colour somewhere in the novels, but it's definitely not mentioned in Books 10 or 11, so I'd say it's possible this is a stylistic choice by Tanno that is intended to show the effects of Zahhak's blood on her (a form of mind-control). Since Don Ricardo's hair turned completely white after his encounter with Zahhak, I can see why Tanno might have chosen to portray Layla with white hair here, but I'll keep an eye out for actual written descriptions of her hair colours later in the novels just in case it's mentioned.

Book 12, illustration by Shinobu Tanno, Tahamenay in the process of throwing herself in front of Gieve's sword in order to protect Layla. Gieve came very close to accidentally killing Tahamenay here but thankfully Isfan's quick reactions saved her life as he deflected Gieve's blade.

Book 13, another Shinobu Tanno illustration. Layla and Ilterish get to see Zahhak for the first time. The mage is Gazdaham.

The outfit Layla wears in Book 13 is described as completely unadorned, and she's dressed like a man, with only the silver bracelet appearing out of place with her warrior's attire. Even so, it's mentioned that Jalair thinks she is very beautiful.

(In terms of height, Ilterish is about average height for a man, so Layla's actually a bit taller than him.)

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Gurgin and Ilterish, Book 6, illustration by Yoshitaka Amano.

I'm ridiculously pleased to have one single image where I can 100% confirm the mage pictured is definitely Gurgin (though there's one more that I haven't shared yet of a scene which features an unnamed mage, but later circumstantial evidence maybe points towards it being him and of course I want to believe it).

Anyway, here he's attempting to persuade Ilterish that he's going to help him, only Ilterish doesn't fall for his words so he and his accomplice have to resort to magic. I'm still sad that this scene didn't feature in Arakawa's manga adaptation, but knowing that she won't adapt the second half of the series I can see why it was cut.

A very important detail: he has a little tassel on his cloak! (I don't know why but I really love this? Considering adopting it as part of my mental picture of Gurgin.) I also like the shape of his hand suggesting the clawed fingernails I am so fond of.

Honestly, although Team Zahhak's utimate motivation is not directly stated in that scene, the reason behind their attempted recruitment / kidnap of Guiscard is likely to be the same as the reason they were ordered to take Ilterish in this one; because they will need someone with military experience to act as a stand-in for Zahhak and command the demon army they're going to build. The approach is identical, after all (persuasion followed by force when words alone don't work).

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Satisfying my craving for more Turan content by sharing a better version of this bonus sketch from Volume 14. The damage was from a rental sticker, apparently. But it’s still much clearer than the previous image I found.

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So, I’m pretty convinced that this guy (illustration by Shinobu Tanno from Book 14) is Ilterish. A few more details with novel spoilers below the cut.

This is probably the throne on the top floor of Herat’s ‘stepped palace’ after Ilterish kills Kalhana, the King of Turk. Ilterish is described multiple times in that section as wielding a large sword (and although it’s not a particularly distinctive sword, it does match up with the one other illustration where it can be seen which I didn’t want to have to go and look at again but I did it for this post). If I could see his facial scar, that would confirm it, but it’s not obvious as his face is shadowed. Still, it’s such a good match for this section of the novel that I’m very confident it’s him.

I wouldn’t say I like Ilterish in the same way I like my faves, but I do enjoy him. I also had a lot of fun laughing at Gazdaham’s efforts to control him.

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2020 chapters 78-89: mood collage from each month. 

Are some the same? Sometimes you need more than one image.

(April 2020 I believe was left out this year, so the first panel is December 2019)

Personally, I am ready for Gulaze and Gilan’s beaches.