#path of alfheim

[h3lfaerie]

I would like to announce that this sad loser lesbian (bisexual in theory, Hiccup exists) is feeling very sapphic and it might bleed into some things in the fic... Heather, I'm looking at you, sweet cheeks.

[varrossa]

༺.𝕻𝖆𝖙𝖍 𝖔𝖋 𝕬𝖑𝖋𝖍𝖊𝖎𝖒: 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖁 𝖔𝖚𝖙𝖋𝖎𝖙 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖕𝖙.༻

..Path of Alfheim: Chapter V outfit concept..

I wanted to illustrate how I imagined the FMC dressed during the feast in chapter 5.

I'm a sucker for loose tunics and leather corsets and a lot of my original characters tend to include these items in their wardrobe.

With that being said, this version of the reader is a bit more female-presenting in comparison to the assassin version I've designed. While the fan-fiction does tag the protagonist as female I understand if someone may not, explicitly, like to show off their more feminine features. It's something that I, personally, experience from time to time.

While these character/outfit illustartions are created to my own liking and preferences I want to keep up with the more androgynous concepts since some readers relate to my designs. (Which I appreciate so much!) (シ_ _)シ

I feel like this ambiguous, grey blob (as ms. @𝖍3𝖑𝖋𝖆𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖊 herself, so kindly put it) is the perfect base to use for representing the FMC and it makes it easier for others to reference. But I will, definitely, be posting more doodles/drabbles with my rendition of the protag (scars and all).

[ssolnyshka]

Pirated all 3 HTTYD movies and remembered why I was obsessed with the series again.

My taste in men has been defined by Hiccup mf Haddock since the first movie came out when I was 5... Little me knew what was UP.

Shout out to @h3lfaerie 's Path of Alfheim because DAMN its good. Give it a read if ur keen on a really well thought out and darker Hiccup x reader! Could not recommend it more! 🩷🧡

[toothless101]

Made a comic based on Chapter 4 of @h3lfaerie’s Path of Alfheim HTTYD fic. If anyone hasn’t read it I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. Also the reader’s outfit is based off the design by the extremely talented @eefkakis, their art is incredible.

[h3lfaerie]

I was asked by a friend last night, whether Hiccup's tattoo on his breast (Astrid's name in Runic Scripture) which is confirmed to be Canon in the OG Movies and Comics will be Canon in Path of Alfheim (which is, as we all know very well, a Hiccup X Reader Fic).

My answer?

UH, IT IS, NOW.

You think I'm going to miss out on prime angst material?! Think again.

You think I’m not going to exploit this perfectly tragic storytelling device, a literal mark of devotion inked over the heart, symbolizing a love that's both platonic and romantic, as their relationship unravels, not from betrayal or scandal, but simply because Astrid’s moral compass is unshakable while Hiccup is steadily slipping into madness and near-tyranny?

PUH-LEASE.

I want to do these guys justice. Astrid is inarguably the most important person in Hiccup's life. I am not straying from Canon when it comes to their relationship. They're betrothed, for crying out loud.

When I started writing Path of Alfheim, I knew right away that I didn’t want to rewrite the depth of their relationship just for the sake of the Reader. Let alone create some narrative where Hiccup leaves Astrid for her, or antagonize either woman...

No. No. N̫͙̪ͣ͊ͪ̾ͮ̽̏͌͠͡_̸̢̨͚͙̪̫̣̼͎̓̓͗̾͑̆ͪͦ͂ͨ̄͑̆̃̽͠͠O̶̸̧̢̡̡̖͎̜̻̖̝͉̞̗͕͗͌̑́̎̔̅ͭͬ̊̀ͧͨ̊͋ͤ͌ͬ͑͘͢͞

That's NOT the story I'm telling.

It was AND STILL IS crucial to me that their split stems entirely from their fundamental differences, not because of the Reader.

(FMC is out there just minding her business, trying not to die. She is not even present. 😂)

You add a tattoo over the heart to this escalating tragedy, as both their flaws rise to the surface. Oh... This is going to hurt.

I cannot begin to describe to you the dichotomy of those two. The way it smacks me upside the head whenever I'm writing.

Hiccup is being consumed. Slowly, quietly, and then all at once, by something that looks like anger but feels more like exhaustion. It’s the kind of resentment that only festers in people who once cared too deeply. He’s given and given and given—his body, his future, his peace of mind—and the world just keeps asking for more. There’s no end to it. No moment of rest. And the more he tries to hold onto what little he has left, the more it slips through his fingers. He’s tired of being the better man. Tired of compromise. Tired of carrying the weight of everyone’s hopes on shoulders that were never meant to bear this much. So, piece by piece, the boy who tried to change the world becomes the man who wants to own it—because maybe then, finally, he won’t have to lose anything else.

Whereas Astrid feels flayed to the bone by the helplessness of it all (and certain things I haven't revealed yet). Watching the person she loves slip further and further from the path she once believed unshakable. There’s nothing she can do to stop it, no battle she can fight to bring him back. He is still Hiccup, but only in shape and memory. The man before her is becoming someone she can’t follow, someone she can’t even recognize. And that knowing, that quiet ache of witnessing love rot from the inside out, cuts deeper than any wound she’s ever taken in battle.

My personal take on Astrid, the reason I love her so damn much, is that yes, she can come across as rigid, even ruthless. She’s every bit the wildfire people fear her to be. But that fire? It comes from feeling more than anyone else around her. It’s not a lack of emotion, it’s too much of it. She burns with it, and the only way she knows how to survive is to lock it behind steel. A wall. A desperate defense against being overwhelmed by how deeply she cares. We saw that wall breaking down briefly in Chapter 8.

At her core Astrid Hofferson is pure unfettered vulnerability, devotion, helpless in the fact that she is incapable of NOT giving her all to those she cares about. This is why she guards it so fiercely.

She will never love freely, never gift it to everyone who crosses her path. But the few she does care for… Astrid would shred the world apart for them and then shred herself apart for them.

Losing Hiccup to the corrupted version of himself, all while knowing there was once a time when he etched her name above his heart with ink that would never fade...

While Hiccup, throughout the story, is forced to carry a constant reminder of this epic, tragic love...

SOMEBODY SEDATE ME.

And let me say this right now, no amount of hatred or grief or heartache would ever make him remove that tattoo.

Not because he still longs for "what was", or because he "doesn't get over her and wants to get together with her again", NO, certain things are forever severed after they separate. BUT I want to portray the fact that love doesn’t always have to vanish to transform. Astrid Hofferson is a chapter etched into the very skin of Hiccup's story, one that shaped him, built him, taught him.

It’s no longer romantic—and never will be again—but it remains undeniably real.

"Astrid, you and I have been through everything together. You don't think we can handle this? Astrid, you have me, no matter what. Okay, whatever that means, whatever you want it to mean. I am with you. There will always be a Hiccup and Astrid. Always." - A quote from RTTE that is CARVED into my frontal lobe.

Which leads me to my final point. This isn’t merely “his ex’s name” inked onto his skin, it’s a permanent mark honoring someone who played a pivotal role in shaping who he is, emotionally, physically, and mentally. It speaks more to his journey than to any lingering attachment.

So after they both survive the grief, after the FMC becomes romantically involved with Hiccup, he will carry that tattoo like a scar that doesn't ache anymore. Because I firmly believe you can hold space in your heart for both past and future loves—honoring what built you, without betraying what’s to come.

In short, that tattoo is a symbol of YEARNING and LOVE and LOSS and LIKE FUCK am I missing out on it.

I am going to destroy ya'll.

And myself, don't fret, I'm right there with you, I know I'm evil.😭

Okay, byeeee~

[h3lfaerie]

I don't normally do this. But I've made a horrifying realization.

In a month it will be A YEAR since I last updated Path of Alfheim. As I've had to deal with life, money, writer's block and general imposter syndrome also known as the "You can't write for shit" bitch harping in my frontal lobe.

So that won't do.

I have a world to build.

A fandom to feed.

And a book to publish in the future.

I work TERRIBLY with deadlines as my brain is far too neurotic to stick to a schedule. But I hereby revoke my own privileges.

Change of plans. We're now peer pressuring the Autism into writing by giving myself a deadline.

I know damn well what I need to write. I've just thought myself incapable of writing it.

New chapter drops on June 10th.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

This is a goal. You're allowed to be mean to me.

Tell me all the ways I'm depriving you of food. If you don't sound like a 5-week-old kitten that hasn't had a second breakfast in the last ten seconds then you're not doing it right.

I love you.

Mama's back.

[h3lfaerie]

I've had to do this timeline way too many times...

A.k.a. However-many-days-before-Snoggletog at the start of the Chapter.

[h3lfaerie]

Babygirls, I am grinding. My keyboard is steaming. I have hermited myself.

As much as I hate admitting to it, I was, indeed, in denial. I did go through a crippling period of writer's block. And now that I've shifted to writing daily again, I want to apologize. Sincerely. I've made you wait too long. Not to mention that I've missed the deadline.

I am giving you a big meaty chapter when I'm done.

It has become a priority. Though I have juggled some harrowing things this past year, I am now actively pouring my energy into this. I'm supposed to be moving out...

I haven't even started packing. Because screw packing. It can wait.

Writing is all I'm doing right now. I am posting this after just having pulled an all-nighter.

I realize it sounds a bit extreme but I have made a commitment to myself, but more so to you to deliver this as soon as possible. I thought I would be done by the 10th but unfortunately I overestimated the amount of content I wanted to deliver with this chapter. At the same time, I don't want to rush. I don't want to give you a butchered Chapter 10.

Somehow, somewhen, I am getting this done.

And please, I do not want you to think I am brute forcing my way into this. It's quite the opposite.

I'm buzzing!!

I can't write fast enough for the way the story is flowing through my brain right now, the way dialogue and visuals emerge by themselves.

While I'm still working on it, I will be posting daily (or if not daily a lot more frequently) to keep you updated on the process or to share with you any interesting things I might have encountered while doing research. ❤️

Again, I am so genuinely sorry.

Getting this out ASAP is my priority. I'm too scared to say with certainty how long it will take — I failed to stick to my original deadline. But I am doing this with so much dedication and love.

Keep your eyes on the blog for the daily updates and hopefully I'll be able to give you chapter 10 in the next few days. ❤️ I love you all very much.

As always, thank you... For your support and your patience, and for simply enjoying this world I've created.