asharaks

[asharaks]

Babe of Frontiers at your service

#OH the ear cuffs..........babygirl #art

[asharaks]

look if everything were equal and also there were not a mountain of incriminating context i'd be inclined to go, sure, generally if there is one character in a cast of funny insane assholes who is Nice and Healthy that guy is typically the least beloved character, and sure, generally people are less interested in characters with less Content—

—but there literally is context and things are not equal lol

like, for one thing, EA wyll WAS more abrasive, and cockier, and more overtly flawed in the way that people claim makes the other characters so much more interesting. it is common knowledge in this fandom that this was the case, and that he still at that time was the least popular origin character to romance, that he was toned down by the studio because EA players criticised those qualities in him (which... you're going to listen to a majority-white audience about a black character being too cocky and abrasive. and furthermore rewrite him entirely instead of addressing specific issues. okay). which is both why he's nicer — ostensibly what the EA players who disliked him or weren't interested in him wanted from him — and why he has less content than the other origin characters. if he was sanded down in response to audience feedback that he was, essentially, too mean, then "he's too nice" is not a valid reason for the fanbase's continued refusal to engage with him — it's evidence that wyll Can Not Win.

for another... wyll is NOT just 'nice' and 'healthy' in the main game. while severely underwritten he is still absolutely bursting with interesting character moments and telling dialogue; his conflicting feelings about his pact, his combined grief and admiration for his father who cast him out, his need to be the hero— even his commitment to doing good and being kind! and he's funny! he is just as funny and strange and witty and catty and complicated as the rest of the cast, if you actually pay attention to him!

third: the cast is FILLED with guys who are to some extent or another Nice To You as their primary mode of engagement with you. gale is a complex character with a complex story, as is wyll, and many gale fans point specifically to his sweetness and devotion to the player as their reason for romancing him; additionally, he's the most popular origin character to play as. halsin is a fairly incoherent character whose main stable trait seems to be "interested in the player and nice to them about it" and we seem to be just now finally admitting that he is not the Only Good Man. i do not (and to be clear, i do not want to) see anybody complaining that karlach is Too Nice To You, either. this particular quibble seems only to apply to wyll; only wyll is made boring by his kindness, by his open and inviting approach to the player, by his treating the player and other characters in the world well and wanting to do good.

AND FOR A FOURTH AND LAST THING: wyll is the character most deeply tied to the core story of the game! yes, the writing lets him down, he is given far less attention than other characters— but isn't that insane? in a game where he is an infamous hero to the people of the setting, in a game where he is the son of the archduke of the city the game is named after, who sacrificed his soul to protect it? both larian's neglect of and fans' disinterest in the most potentially compelling and plot relevant major character in the entire game is unbelievably telling. especially considering how many (white slash Fantasy) minor characters with so much Less story and personality are so beloved and so elevated above their actual canonical importance in the same breath.

like at a certain point "he's too nice" is not an excuse. let's be serious yeah

#GOOD POST OP. #but yeah fr people sideline him in a way that's absolutely insane to me #like they will go out of their way to not engage with him in a way that I cannot read as anything but intentional racism #bc it's not something that they do for literally any other character up to and including one-line background npcs and characters whose whol #personality is Racism #but god forbid wyllyam 'blade of frontiers' 'pride of the gate' 'hero at heart' ravengard be nice to some children. that's the final straw #like fuck youuuuu

[asharaks]

still thinking about that time ajax got drunk in the brewery in act 2 because he failed a constitution check. then later that night wyll invited him for a dance while ajax was still drunk 😭

#LMAOO iconic tbh

[asharaks]

Minthara Modern!AU, after a long day at work or something

#hi.... #art

[asharaks]

when I am godking of the universe game studios will stop being pussies and they will give me a fuckable dragonborn.

i have my feelings abt how it is important that wyll and ulder as the only black men in the whole cast don't get that obfuscated with fantasy bullshit and specifically wyll to me does make complete sense as a human. however the blade of frontiers character as a half orc. ofhhhhhh. explodes

#on pain of death!!!

[asharaks]

#^ post I'm referencing #a dwarf or dragonborn or half orc romance my kingdom for a hot half orc #anyway. my answer is minsc he doesn't really exist to me

[asharaks]

i have my feelings abt how it is important that wyll and ulder as the only black men in the whole cast don't get that obfuscated with fantasy bullshit and specifically wyll to me does make complete sense as a human. however the blade of frontiers character as a half orc. ofhhhhhh. explodes

#like I don't think it fits w wylls story. but a half orc companion/romance option would've been sexy and I think there's lots to play with #re....ideas abt heroism and marginalisation in universe #but alas we get white elf white half elf white human. sigh

[asharaks]

#listenijng and learning

[asharaks]

some people on tumblr are really like "of course i love female characters! which is why i ship this girlboss and malewife. men get pegged by powerful woman! i'm calling this m/f ship yuri. this canonically male character is a woman to me but not in a transfem way and i'm not exploring it further. yeah i love lesbians uhhh i'll headcanon background character #9 as a lesbian because she doesn't get in the way of my ship. lol ew why do you ship blorba and blorbette together when blorbette is canonically married to a man? no i don't actually have a favorite female character because all fictional women are poorly written!"

[asharaks]

People liking your personal OCs is still such a crazy feeling, I've been doing this for years and ppl asking about them still fills my entire heart with warmth and idk how to handle it

You enjoy this fictional guy I made up for fun?? Whose only content is random artwork or writing made by me and a handful of other artists at most? They have no show/book/game with a large fandom, it's just one person with an art blog?? I love u

#yea :3

[asharaks]

Will you be mine - today, and tomorrow, and reaching into eternity?

#im listening. #art

[asharaks]

maybe one day I'll finish that shadowheart nocturne fic I started.....(<- delusional)

[asharaks]

not enough people are into shadowheart/nocturne and it makes me feel insane. like what do you MEAN shadowheart used to beat up people who deadnamed nocturne. what do you MEAN shadowheart would frequently have her memories wiped, but nocturne could get her to remember nocturne in a matter of HOURS if not minutes, and would write on her diary about how happy it'd make her to see the expression on shadowheart's face when she remembered? what do you MEAN that if you give shadowheart the noblestalk, a mushroom so rare and potent there is only ONE of them in the entire game, she doesn't remember her parents or the day with the wolves or the mother superior's name but just nocturne? what do you MEAN nocturne was the one who did shadowheart's hair, and she kept at it until her arms were sore, and even without remembering that at all shadowheart still kept the same canonically hard to redo hairstyle? did shadowheart even like night orchids before their hideout, or did they become her favorite flowers because they were there? were they even actually her favorite flowers, or did she just mix up her attachment to nocturne with attachment to the flowers after forgetting her? hello? hello? can anybody hear me????

[asharaks]

[asharaks]

far too old to care about fandom opinions i am an adult with a *sees a take* hm. never mind actually. i am in fact so blessed to have a huge brain and correct inconsequential opinions on fictional characters. there but for the grace of god go i

[asharaks]

obsessed with these two

#prev Yeah

[asharaks]

Shiv Roy  |  Season 1 Outfits

#SHIVVY SUNDAYYYYY