A full-body sketch of the highly capable Dog Head librarian/general master of information for the king, Lykedon. Here in his casual headdress.
Overall, I'm happy with his look here. He's supposed to be handsome, heavyset, and with something inherently wolflike about his appearance (more so than just the dog skull headdress). I also think his patient, though definitely not passive, personality comes through here. He's someone very comfortable with observing, even dangerous and tense situations, and he generally doesn't act until he's pretty sure of his actions. And his track record is pretty good.
Later in the week I'll be posting my top posts for this year. But my popular posts aren't always my favorite posts, so I thought I'd highlight my own personal faves first, ranking lowest to highest. (Links go to the full versions.)
10: Lykedon the Dog Head
9: This elegant Charmian from over ten years ago is still a favorite.
8: My disheveled stableman/militiaman Wuxle.
7: Natalia from Tales of the Abyss (rocking a cute pair of stockings).
6: Servant Hakuno, before we had an official Servant Hakuno.
5: A stylized Tamamo-no-Mae and Nero that took an unspeakably long time to do.
4: More Tamamo, based on Hiroshige.
3: Commandant Tear Grants of the Order of Lorelei
2: I actually captured the personality of Alexandros, one of my most important characters.
And finally, my favorite, probably not coming as a surprise to anyone -- the cover art for To the Ravens.
With the exception of numbers 9 and 7, all of these were drawn either this year or last year. I think time often works to soften us towards disappointments in our past work, with us being more judgmental of our current stuff. I'm glad when I can take that kind of pride in my current stuff.
All of the character portraits together -- all of the major-ish characters. I'm really pleased with how this series came out, and it's so nice seeing them all collected like this.
To many who live on the Moon, the matriarchal dog-worshipping Dog Heads are barbarians, but Lykedon thrives in the cosmopolitan luxury of the lunar capital – and in the palace of the mysterious King Endymion no less. His exact job isn't on official record, but superficially he's known as the royal librarian, and his knowledge of both lunar and Earthborn literature is second to none. A careful and canny man, Lykedon isn't easily surprised. But when a famous prophet rolls into his city on a strange mission, even Lykedon finds himself surprised – and more than a little amused.
I've talked a lot about how my research ended up shaping the book's setting and placing realistic limitations on the characters. But the Dog Heads? They were a chance to let loose and have fun, so that made Lykedon a fun character to write. I think he's intriguing, a character I've only scratched the surface of. He's very confident and secure, but not at all loud about it. He'll let people insult him, but he almost always retains the upper hand. That can't have always been true. Where did he start in life? Why did he leave his homeland behind? What about his voracious passion for literature? Even as the author, I don't know the answers to all these questions. I think any crucial information about Lykedon would only come drip by drip, and largely by his own choice.
His name is pretty straightforward – Lykedon, “wolf-like”; Dog Heads love incorporating dogs and wolves and foxes and their different attributes into their names. In my write-up about Dog Heads, I talked about how the Greeks and Romans of the time would have had stories of dog-headed men. Though Dog Heads aren't werewolves by any means, they believe they're descended from Artemis' hunting pack, who were honored and turned into humans. The Greeks and Romans had werewolves in their myths, at least humans who were changed into wolves. As far as I know, the myths themselves don't link werewolves to the Moon, but the Greek language does link wolves and nighttime – an ancient Greek word for “twilight” is lykophos, literally “wolf light”. Also, Lucian situates his own “dog-faced men” on the Moon.
As for Lykedon's design, I wanted to incorporate the flame-haired men Lucian writes of. Probably not all Dog Head men dye their hair in fire colors, especially once they leave their homeland. I never give a reason for it, but it probably relates to something in their mythology. One of my sources discussed a (quite cruel) Roman religious ceremony involving tying firebrands to foxes' tails and releasing them to run around. No one really knows why this custom came about. (It reminds me of things like foxfire and kitsune, so I wonder if there's some deeper, very basic symbol at play.) The point is, I think it's fair, when world-building, to include things that exist without explanation. Similarly, Lykedon's silver facial tattoos are mysterious, as the designs are used all across the Moon in Artemis worship, but they're so old no one's entirely sure what they originally meant. Their design is made up, but one of my sources talked about how some Thracians in ancient Greece had silver facial tattoos. (Sadly, no word on what they depicted.)
I like having these things unexplained. If I ever write more about the Dog Heads, it gives me room to experiment and develop their customs more – or leave them open and mysterious.
Through his smarts and excellent people skills, Lykedon has very successfully made his way into Kynthian-Roman culture, but he's proud of his heritage and still does the whole Dog Head thing: fiery hair and a dog-shaped headdress. More often he wears his casual headdress, which includes a small dog skull with false inset eyes. His fancy one is painted wood with dog's teeth and tassels along the back. Its design was inspired by two ancient Greek drinking cups.
Despite his startling hair and headdress, there's something pleasant, optimistic, solid, even a little warm about Lykedon. I wouldn't say don't trust it. Lykedon is certainly capable of forming close relationships, caring about others, even loving others. But he's an intelligent, well-connected, and highly maneuvering man, so... don't always trust it.
