#oafk

[crystaiskiess]

to go along with the final chapter of my merlin rewrite ‘the once and future kings’ - here is an artwork i did to accompany it

read the fic here on ao3

and read my authors note for the final chapter below the cut 💕

This fic has truly changed my life, I cannot even put into words how incredible of an experience this has been to write and to share with all of you. When I started 'The Once and Future Kings' almost four years ago so much was different. Writing this has genuinely been such a life changing thing - it has pushed me to pursue my dream of being an author again, introduced me to a whole new interest in life (arthurian legend) and challenged me to see what I can achieve if I really dedicate myself. I don't know where I'd be without it, and even knowing how much time, sweat and energy it would take to get here, I do think I would do it all again if given the chance.

A massive thank you to Rachel, my editor, without her, OAFK truly wouldn't have been possible. And also a huge thank you to every friend, and loved one who has listened to my endless rants and rambles about this fic.

Thank you to all of you for every single kudos, comment and kind word you've given this fic. I have read every comment, I have cherished every message and heart and smiley face you have sent my way. You have made this experience so wonderful, and I owe a lot to you all for getting me through to the end.

Here's to the end of OAFK, I hope this fic has brought you as much joy and enjoyment as it has to me - please let me know what you thought of this final chapter and I hope you will all continue to stick around to see what I do next 💕

[esselley]

ORIGINAL NOVEL BLURB!

In a dismal forest within the borders of King's Country, ZENNON wakes by a small bonfire with no memory of anything but the black hilted sword he once wielded. This will soon prove to be the least of his problems.   Because King's Country is infected. Carrion creatures stitched together with the threads of madness plague the land under the thrall of their horrific masters, the Knights. And something Else is coming. Something monolithic and nameless, tainting the realm as it draws near.  If he wants to survive, let alone regain his memories, Zennon has no choice but to entangle his fate with the men who found him: HALVAR, a disagreeable mountain of a man with a literal axe to grind, and MIHA, the enigmatic pariah of the Magistrates, an ancient guild of wardens who possess the power to cheat death a limited number of times.  The three of them must stand together against the defilement of the world even as their journey leads them into the pulsating heart of a nightmare. But as Zennon begins to recall tattered fragments of the man he once was, he begins to question if they were ever meant to be saviors, or if their wretched destinies have condemned them to failure from the very start.

Updating on my Patreon!

Genres: Action/Adventure, Horror, Dark Fantasy Tags: Medieval, Sword and Sorcery, Souls-like, Found Family, Walking the Earth, Arthurian, Eldritch Horror Trigger Warnings: violence, blood/gore, character death, torture, other sensitive content

[aceinspaceart]

Fanart of Ch36 of The Once and Future Kings by @crystaiskiess!

Bonus meme

[trulycinema]

I have been obsessing over tjmcharg’s “The Once and Future Kings” for weeks now and so I am making a series of book covers for each for the five seasons covered in the fic. Here is the first one. (Designs for the next two are in the works) check out the fic at @crystaiskiess

Hope y’all like it!!

[sonayesul]

Junior Thesis

some stuff I worked on for my junior thesis project earlier this year. Ill share the full finished comic later on but for now enjoy these character designs and such 🫶

the watercolor version of the cover looked too much like bradley james when that was like, not the point of the assignment, which is why the finished digital version looks so much different. I still prefer the original watercolor version but i tend to always favour my watercolor versions of things

In depth explanation below cut

the junior thesis assignment was the adapt a book into a six page comic and we could have creative freedom with certain things and the book only ever mentioned the color of guenever's hair and eyes, NOT her skin color or features and so I had my fun with her design. the ONLY description they give lancelot in the entire book is that hes ugly and beauty is subjective so i gave him "non traditional" features. In one of my original sketches for him, he was going to have crooked teeth, but unfortunately i do not draw teeth well LMAO. I wanted Arthur and Lancelot's designs to contrast each other as well. Arthur is shorter and stockier where Lance is taller and thinner, Arthur keeps his feelings quiet while Lance wears them on his chest, and then i wanted there to be the stark color difference too between them.

Morgause and Mordred were fun, but they both had a lot more descriptive descriptions in the book, so I didn't get as much creative control outside of their outfits. I assigned the Lot family the color blue and the Camelot cotizens red to try and contrast better throughout the story and it was kinda fun cause it made mordred look like an ice prince or something.

also despite gwen lance and arthur being around the same age at the point of my comic, i wanted to try and make arthur look the oldest, sort of visually show how much being king and his decisions has weighed on him, especially since the scene I adapted was pretty heavy.

also i did have a reference page for gwen but at some point it got deleted? so in this its just a fun drawing I did of her holding excalibur instead. I do also have a full reference drawing for exacalibur in my files that was useless because i never ended up drawing it in the comic LMAO

the last photo is the cornwall sisters, Elaine, Morgan and Morgause. With their designs i had fun trying to make them look related to each other, to Arthur and their parents but also try to not make them all have the same face. Elaine looks like her mother, Morgan looks like her father, Morgause looks like a mix of both (Uthers hair color but Ygraine's hair style, Uther's face but Ygraine's eye color) and Arthur looks like a perfect blend of both too. I sort of did the same with Mordred where I took features from both morgause and arthur to make him look related but like his own person. Ygraine and Uther are only in one panel so there's no proper ref for either of them.

This project was a five month process, six if you count writing the script to fit within a six page comic without losing any details from the book and creating my pitch for my professor (all of which was done over winter break)

The project took FOREVER and I definitely am not happy with the final result but its due to the fact i had frequent doctor visits and hospitalisations and wasnt able to work on it as much as I had wanted, PLUS i had an eight page comic for another class i worked on also over the same five months (and i was more focused on that one as it was my own original characters)4

regardless though, i do still like it, just wish it cane out better in the end lmao

will prolly post the full comic in a day or two :3

[hastilyrunning]

To celebrate a new Once and Future Kings chapter, here is a cover that I made in case anyone else likes to keep track of the books/fics they've read :) Author: Tj @crystaiskiess Art: Jakob @skltart

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[haljathefangirlcat]

[…] And they did not wear their slittered mantle, their gaycoat graceless, from a sense of exuberance. Mordred wore his ridiculous shoes contemptuously: they were a satire on himself. The court was modern.

The Once and Future King, by T. H. White

Can you believe Mordred invented doing things but, like, ironically

[crystaiskiess]

the once and future kings : the diamond of the day

summary: In a land of myth, and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy. His name… Merlin.

read it on AO3

read from the start