I am back, with one of my favourite characters again!

....... of course, it's not Ruindîr, otherwise I wouldn't have said "one of my favourite".... we all know I love that OC more than is in any way rational... but anyways, I'm back with Feredir!

Currently I am working a lot on his backstory, since I have figured out a lot more details I want to add in the third Rebellion-Wars that also play a major role in "Defiance". So here we are, with a chapter, dedicated to Feredir's character development and how his corruption and then redemption arc influenced his appearance.... in other words, I'll talk a lot about his life and the happenings in Defiance, and since nobody here ever reads my books anyways I'll just ignore the fact that I'll be spoilering the entire plot     QwQ

But before that, I'd like to talk a bit about how his initial design even came to be. Like many initial designs, I was bored, had nothing better to do and randomly though:
"I want a character with crooked teeth."
So.... I doodled a character with crooked teeth. Initially I wanted to create a look similar to Lovis' but with a beard and a bit of a more asian flair. I thought how he maybe would be a hunter or fisherman, which is also why I named him "Feredir".... since that literally translates to Huntsman...
I failed terribly at drawing him, because we were outside at a wall and I didn't fancy climbing that day... literally every sketch I made that day is decidingly more ugly than my usual sketches, but I got the idea down anyways xD :

Also... for those who don't know who Lovis is, here is my little, neglected boy (dang I gotta draw more OCs of mine....):

Anyways, that's the kind of vibe I initially had.

So Feredir was just a random design with a name, until I needed a second main character for my novel "Defiance" since the second MC I had until then, didn't fit right. So I gave him a redesign, to fit the overall setting a bit more. Feredir then turned into this nice side character that would be Maethdess' ticket out of the East and then best friend..... I also planned on killing him, but then his story took a wild turn and I couldn't let that happen anymore.

Anyways, so then we had this boy over here:

So... the idea was, that he is this scrawny and nerdy guy who wants to leave the country and study in the South, since the East is an extremely religious and he never fit into society...

Until then, Defiance was a standalone novel, that I wrote for my creative-writing course at school. Goal was, to write something completely unrelated to the timeline... well that was, until I just sat in the school library and waited for class, writing a bit on the outline... and then it hit me. I grabbed a sticky note and pen and scribbled out an exclamation that ended up changing half of the timeline and nearly the entire plot of Defiance:

Do you know that feeling, when you work on something, as though they were two puzzles, and then suddenly you look at the puzzles and realise that they fit together perfectly? That satisfying moment of "this is so perfect, how on earth could I have created this?!"
Yeah.... that was the feeling I had after deciding that this would be the deciding link between Paladin and Defiance, explaining everything that was left unexplained in Cevronds backstory, and added a solid ending to the trilogy.

I then knew, that to end up becoming Cevronds father, Feredir had to change his design up a bit. Since the entire idea behind Cev was, that he looked liked a lot his father, but had his mothers palette. So in February last year, I decided to give him a bit of a wider face and some typically eastern colours. At this point I also fully decided on Feredirs family tree, as well as his job and life before the plot of the book starts.

I hated the drawing... not because of how it looked, but because of how it didn't look like... well him, you know?
I more or less was just fine with that, since I knew how he looked in my head, until I felt the urge to draw him in may and use him to do the "25 essential expressions" challenge... I came 5 emotions far, but ended up with this portrait, where I finally set his colour palette (which I still use today >w<):

The story went on and Defiance itself slipped more in the backgroun, whilst Legend (Cevs story) got more of my attention. Especially the scenes, where our battle scarred Cevrond finally returns home, after thousands of years. And through developing how Feredir as a father would be, I defined his path, and how he got there a bit more. I like to call this passive story-developing, since I develop a story, but also a different one through flashbacks, small ticks or sentences and.... well things like that >w<

So then I felt the sudden urge to draw this image (as I saw it in my mind randomly) and then I drew this image:

This drawing right there, marks the beginning of Feredirs final design. The only changes that come after this drawing, is simply the development of my style... at least for now.

Now, that was more or less the development of Feredir himself, from my point of view. Let's talk about Feredir's development throughout the trilogy, using the actual drawing of the chapter:

This is how his appearance develops throughout the story told. I split the large drawing up there in two smaller drawings, where I will be talking about the specific steps in his character development, and how I attempted to portray them in his appearance.

Starting by our poor, socially awkward, little guard, who workes the worst job known to their society in order to feed himself and his mother, after his twin brother left the continent in order to follow his dreams. Feredir is constantly nervous, get's bullied by everyone and doesn't have a lot of money. So I attempted to show that through his awkward smile, as well as his skinny face. He also has the typical guards haircut, even though it is a bit longer than usually found.

This is also the version I always drew him as, since I always wanted to focus on a "starting point" that I could build upon after that.

After fleeing the East together with Maethdess, they stayed in the Bloodhound clan and lived with Feredirs twin brother Tirith (totally underrated.... I don't even know why, since he's just the CoolerFeredir™️). Anyways, the Rebel group "Obsidian League" caught their attention, as those were apparently fighting for freedom, equality and the salvation of the East. Thre trio joined the organisation and because of Maethdess, got some really good positions. Dessie kinda developed to be their mascot and they changed their name to the "Azure Defiance" (an ironic play on the name of the book-series). Dessie left the Rebellion after realising, that her "beliefs" were founded upon lies and bribery. Tirith stayed in the Rebellion, simply because he didn't want to leave his brother alone and risk loosing him forever...... and then we have Feredir. Feredir and his beautiful corruption arc.
So whilst the other two realised, that the Rebellion was essentially a terrorist-group that they didn't want anything to do with, Feredir found the sweet satisfaction of power. He quickly made himself a name on the battlefield through his talent in battle-magic (which also resulted in a wonderful rivalry between him and Certhadan), and got the attention of Deluech, the leader of the rebellion. He impromptu was promoted to the rank of "boyfriend" as well as "strategic master."
During all of this time, Feredir grew more and more absent of his original values, enjoying the power he had after all of those years of mental abuse, bullying and being an outcast in his former life. He essentially ended up being a cold and heartless bastard, until the battle of the Cayon...
The Canyon battle is extremely important in every possible sense. It was the first time chemicals/gasses were used in a war since the Aeon of Loss, directly after the Fall of the Universes. And it was nobody else who decided to use this battle-strategy than out baby Feredir. Sadly, the plan was decided last minute, and whilst the enemy forces were nearly completely diminished, there also were a lot of deaths on the side of the Rebellion. Tirith still worked for the Rebellion as a medic (being an expert in the prosthetics-field) at that point... no, he didn't die, but quite a lot of people Tirith held very dear, died. So Tirith turned to his brother, told him how he was "a monster", how he "never want[ed] to see [him] again in [his] entire life" and how he "[was] ashamed to call [him his] brother."
The twins parted ways, Tirith now leaving the rebellion once and for all, whilst Feredir just continued on as is, doubt and questioning slowly seeping through his mind, before he decided to betray the rebellion, causing it's complete demise, and returning to Dessie and Tirith.

Showing all of that, was surprisingly easy. A strict buzz-ish cut, narrowed eyes, determined eyebrows... oh, and he gained some weight and muscle. This dude knows what he wants and sees himself as a superior figure of the entire organisation, so he looks ahead, but not quite at the viewer.

Now... what happened after the fall of the Rebellion? Well, Feredir, Tirith and Maethdess were still war-criminals and terrorist and they still were wanted by the regime... well, actually just Feredir and Maethdess, but some of the "wanted"-posters of Feredir, featured an image of Tirith, because they got a picture of the wrong twin.... sucked a lot for Tirith, since he nearly lost his job because of that (which was, in fact, one of the best-paying jobs there were in his field and everything he has ever dreamed of in life).
So they fled from the south-east to the west of the southern kontinent. Feredir got a nice redemption period, where he decided to better himself as a person and overcome his depressions, whilst immersing himself into his passions. This resulted in a ton of tattoos on his arms, too hide his scars from cutting himself, and a lot of other tattoos, since he found them very expressive. He also started writing music and poetry again and made a living off of playing shows at bars and all that.
The trio also met Bronadan (from the Ashes-series) on their journey and took him with them. Feredir and him created a small band.
At some point, they all drifted apart in the Runewhisper-Clan. Dessie and Feredir parted ways with Tirith and Bron, since they wanted to visit Maethdess' exiled family in the North. In the North, the two also became a couple and bonded a lot.
When returning to the South, Tirith had found himself another job and the two settled down in the second largest city on the continent: Di'heliô
The couple moved into a small apartment and started working for a newspaper, Dessie being an illustrator and working on the layout-team, whilst Feredir wrote poems or short stories for every publishing. They also took care of the advice-section through reading out all the letters sent to them, asking for advice ofc, and answering them on.... well, it's kind of like a podcast, but also has "video"... I don't know how else to describe it, and the technicalities are indeed a topic for another chapter, but just imagine a magical, floating hologram appearing after touching a glowing, printed spiral on the page.... that's how it looks in the end... yeah...

So thoughout all of this time, Feredir kind of went with everything that felt comfortable and helped him feel better in himself. Which meant piercings and tattoos, as well. He also let his hair grow out quite a bit, and whilst he did indeed think about growing it out long and getting himself dreadlocks, Maethdess forbid him from doing it because:
"1. With long hair, you look like your brother and I am happy to be able to so easily differenciate between the two of you
2. YOUR HAIR IS SO SOFT AND FLUFFY, HOW DARE YOU WANT TO RUIN IT LIKE THAT"
So he kept it at "the perfect floof-length" (to use Maethdess-vocabulary).
This was also the period of the sleepless nights, PTSD and major mental issues for him, so he did overall seem constantly happy when around people, but had quite the eyebags.

Remember Bronadan and their band? Well, after Feredir returned to the south, he hit up his best bro and they started performing together again. The band grew six members large and they became pretty darn famous in the western parts of the kontinent. Feredir travelled quite a lot at the time, and created this "alter ego" of himself, since he was afraid of showing his dorky, anxious, poetic and goofy personality to the overall media. So he tried his best to portray the image of a confident player, who was all about drugs, alcohol and girls. He also gave himself a mohawk now and then... but to be honest he went through different hairstyles at the time, quite often trying out something vastly different (like... a sidecut, undercut, mullet, mohwak, buzzcut... never long hair tho) and then returning to that short-ish hairstyle in the drawing before that for another few years in between.

So yeah... to show all of that I just gave him a bit of a wilder set of facial hair, another piercing, as well as a mohawk, because I fancied giving him one... yeah... I also attempted to make him look more mature, as I tried to do throughout all of the portraits. The aging process for harath that age is indeed quite slowly, but it is indeed noticeable in some ways, so I attempted to subtely get that effect somehow.

Coolio!

So, there still are a few steps that come along after these, as well as the childhood and teenage stages he went through. I plan on doing another one of these, to depict his childhood aging process, since that is something I desperately need to practise. I will indeed draw some more proper drawings of him after this development... so after the band broke up and he started a more quiet life with Maethdess in a smaller city in the Windsmith-clan. To be fair, I am currently planning a couple-picture of the two at that character-development point, since I never drew a picture that included the two of them.
I also am working on a drawing of how he looked whilst being held prisoner in the East again, after the two got captured again, and another one after his rebirth. And then obviously a minicomic to the well-known and loved "welcome home, son"-scene, where we will see Feredir as a father.

So much to that then. Roughly it can be said, that the first two portraits represent his appearance in "Defiance" whilst the second two can be found in "Aquiesence."
I hope you liked this little look into his life, as well as seeing how the development of his character shows itself in the changes of his appearance. I know, I know, this is again one of my floating-head drawings, but bear with me, alas I did indeed draw a full-body for Dessie in lingerie in the chapter before this one, so I think that evens it out somehow.

Would you maybe like to see more of these? I'm planning on making another one for Tirith, since I NEGLECT HIM, EVEN THOUGH HE IS SO MUCH MORE AWESOME THAN FEREDIR AAAHHHHHH
Anyways... until we read each other next time, I hope you'll have a great time, maybe even consider sticking around for a while ^-^
>>gives you blankets, cookies and a warm beverage<<