#Manuchurh

[tired-reader-writer]

Considering who to put in charge of safeguarding the northeastern border of Pars against Turan and Turk before Shapur becomes a marzban and... There aren't... that many, are there? Those younger than Shapur are automatically out of the picture (Kubard, Daryun, Kishward), Bahman has been stationed at Peshawar for a long time by canon era so ?????, Kharlan, is he even a marzban ten years before canon? Even if he was, I associate him much more with the western half of Pars, if only because it would make it easier for him to coordinate with Hilmes in Lusitania (assuming no switcheroos happened like it did with Kishward, he was originally stationed at the southwestern border of Pars against Misr, but was plunked into Peshawar some time before canon).

That leaves us with... Manuchurh, Garshasph, Saam, Khurup, Khayr, and Khshaēta.

We all know what Saam looks like, estimated to be in his 40s, but here's what the other 5 look like (well we also know what Garshasph looks like too but just as a reminder):

Manuchurh:

Garshasph:

Khurup:

Khayr:

Khshaēta:

I... don't feel like Saam is a good fit for the kind of emotional beat I want to portray for one of the two pre-canon Turanian invasions (foreshadowed in chapter 2). So that leaves me with the other three. Three complete and total strangers of whom we know absolutely fucking nothing about.

Which narrows the six options down to five.

I think Khshaēta looks a tad young to have been marzban for too long, so I'm booting him out of the candidate list to make my life easier.

This leaves me with four.

I got nothing for Khurup and Khayr, we know nothing of them, but as for the other two... We know what Garshasph is like, which is, uh, kinda unpleasant, he might be a good candidate for what I'd planned, but also... Manuchurh, Nasrīn's father, Kishward's father-in-law. He purportedly had a beautiful voice and Andragoras made him do the court announcements and stuff bc of his pretty voice.

So basically, among the four candidates left, we only really know two of them.

...which one shall I pick, now?

Oh, I forgot what the emotional beat I wanted to incorporate was, it was Shapur maybe realizing the marzban in charge of the northeastern border may have been responsible for the deaths of his friends and the destruction of their village after the marzban lets slip about some “bandits or potential rebels who kidnapped people and caused unrest” which Shapur knows from talking to the clan before that the abusers or tormentors who felt entitled to their victims might have painted them that way to justify trying to hunt them down or avoid having to confront the harm they themselves have caused to their victims, and Shapur feeling... quite nauseated. Remember how Isfan immediately jumped into trying to avenge his brother in the manga. Remember how rash Shapur was even by the Battle of Atropatene. He won't do anything here, he can't, because Eihon (debuting in chapter 3! I still don't know whether the invasion would be chapter 3 or 4) has made sure to hammer the point home that doing so will only bring them doom, there's no way he can demand justice for a commoner village in the middle of nowhere who were branded as criminals.

He has to swallow his bile and work to repel the invasion. Feeling like he's failed his friends for not being able to protect them, give them a funeral, or even avenge them.

I know with this context it'd be easy for some of you to immediately pick Garshasph considering how much of an asshole he was during the siege but. What if. The emotional whiplash of it being Manuchurh. But also I could just pick Khurup or Khayr to avoid the headache altogether—

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #heroic legend of arslan #wolfpack au #winds of wolfsong #shapur #Manuchurh #sam #saam #do I tag the other guys? #ah shucks here we go: #khayr #khurup #Khshaēta #garshasph

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Random sleepy question (hello I was napping and woke up to your post, what an evening): how well do you think the ArSen cast can sing? I've been thinking about one of my ArSen OCs and then my thoughts drifted to the canon cast. Would they like singing? Are they good at it? I've tried searching up stuff sung by the VAs (Katsuyuki Konishi was actually the first I looked, LOL) but all of the songs were... not very much to my taste. Why do VA songs tend to be very loud and shouty and stuff? Where are the quieter, softer songs? Am I just very bad at looking??? 🤣

Either way, please answer this only when you feel like it— and have a nice day!

Oh, I’ve got something good for you! There are actually a few Arslan Senki character songs, sung by the voice actors in-character! These were able to be unlocked in the Arslan Senki x Musou game, and were later released on a CD included with the sixth S1 Blu-ray/DVD release in Japan. You can listen to them here! The tracklist is as follows:

1.   Kazeshirube (風導 -kazeshirube- lit. Guided by Winds) by Arslan (CV: Yūsuke Kobayashi) 2.   Tatakai, Sore wa Kishi no Shinjitsu (戦い、それは騎士の真実 lit. Fighting, This is the Knight's Truth) by Daryun (CV: Yoshimasa Hosoya) 3.   Bigaku no Shōzō (美学の肖像 lit. A Portrait of Aesthetics) by Narsus (CV: Daisuke Namikawa) 4.   Namonaki Hoshi (名もなき星 lit. A Nameless Star) by Elam (CV: Natsuki Hanae) 5.   Koto no Hane Oto no Sora (言の羽 音の空 lit. Feathers of Words, The Sky of Sounds) by Gieve (CV: KENN)

...I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t looked for songs by Katsuyuki Konishi before. It’s been a while since I last listened to them but I remember quite liking Koran, if only because I amused myself by imagining salaryman Shapur from Corporate Warrior Arslan being persuaded to join the other Pars Corporation employees for karaoke and singing it (and of course he’d have to be drunk to do it, so drunk in fact that Kubard’s going to have to help him get home despite his protests that he’s fine). In terms of softer songs, you might like 祈念 (Kinen).

As far as canon characters go, I know of one canonically good singer (Manuchurh, he apparently had a very beautiful voice) and several bad ones (Kubard, Innocentis, Don Ricardo). There might be some others mentioned, those are just the ones I can remember. Singing is also part of Turanian culture! Burhan sings at one point and so does Jimsa. For the others, it’s not something I’ve really thought about before so I don’t have any headcanons about specific characters yet ...actually wait, I lied, I do headcanon that Gurgin has a pleasant singing voice, not that he tends to use it recreationally, or at all when he’s with Team Zahhak

I remember Farangis singing to lay the dead to rest in the anime (S1 E25). In the novel, it just says that she prays for the fallen. Perhaps melodic chanting / singing is incorporated into the work of priests and priestesses, too? I’m not sure about whether it’s directly mentioned somewhere else in the novels, but I like the idea.

Not directly related to what you’re asking, but it amuses me and I think you’ll enjoy it, too — some of Isfan’s heroic deeds later become the subject of a ballad (something like “Isfan and His Two Wolves, Protectors of the People”). I’m not sure at what stage it went from a story being recounted multiple times to being immortalised as a folk song, but on the offchance Gieve ever found out about it, I am 100% certain he sang it in Isfan’s hearing just to piss him off.

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #shapur #kubard #manuchurh #innocentis #don ricardo #gurgin #farangis #isfan #gieve #...did you find the katsuyuki konishi BL clips though?

[tired-reader-writer]

If you have any headcanons to share about ArSen characters (either canon or your OCs) and singing, I'd love to hear! :)

Aaaaaaaa I think I got a couple! Hold up lemme try to recall them:

When Isfan is doing something, he tends to hum soft lil tunes absently. Is it a particular song? Ehh, not really. Literally just no thoughts head empty just random tunes.

Zaravant whistles a lot. I don't know why I hc him that way.

Shapur has sung lullabies to soothe a smol Isfan countless times. Perhaps even every night. It helps little Isfan sleep, and calm down after nightmares.

I somehow can't get the mental image of Daryun singing something with an evil grin and Narsus trying to shut it out being all “STOOOOP YOU MONSTER”. I don't know what Daryun would be singing to get Narsus to react like that, but it's clear he's doing it on purpose to mess with Narsus.

Isfan tends to find a melody in nature— like say, the slow pitter-patter of raindrops, some frog croaking in the distance, stuff like that. His innate connection with nature also meant that he can feel out its melody. He thinks everyone else can do it too though. Oh and sometimes his humming can be influenced by whatever he hears out there in nature.

Merlaine appreciates a good singing voice. Maybe he'd prefer softer, quieter songs, perhaps to contrast his father's (very bad) loud boisterous singing voice?

Alfarīd likes to sing, and dance too. If there's a celebration or something she'd be one of the people dancing to the joy. I think she'd make quite a merry dancer, can't tell you why though.

I think Arslan would like to sing and dance too, but is too shy to do it, afraid people might think it's improper. Somebody should push him to do it.

Sam has a nice voice, but he often doesn't know what to sing so he just doesn't. What a waste!

It's been a very long time since Hilmes sang. He last did it for Irina, perhaps under the excuse of teaching her about Parsian music or something, lol. I think a smol Hilmes before the fire may have expressed interest in picking up an instrument or something. It's just the vibes I got.

Irina looooooves music. She sings and hums a lot too, and makes cute lil noises. She always asks Militsa to sing for her, and who'd say no to a face like that?

Ayyar always pesters his grandpa to sing for him. And he always sings along too.

In Winds of Wolfsong, the clan has so. many. things. centered around song and dance. Solstices and equinoxes? Let's sing and dance! Many of their history and myths? Songs! Celebration? Song! Funeral? Song! There are games played by families or just bored colleagues where they piece random songs together or come up with lyrics on the fly or stuff like that. Just... songs.

On that note, music is thought to be the bridge between worlds, the language of all languages that transcend barriers. It's used as a medium to communicate with spirits, and they have traditional dances— dances to old and ancient melodies endeavoring to sync up the body and soul to what the song is conveying, if that makes sense? It's also a form of magic. Not every clan member is a dancer, though.

Kazai's a dancer. Arslan is too. Gieve sings, and plays the oud as in canon, but with a magical twist of course. Maybe he too uses it to ask spirits questions. Ayunnen and Kashi used to sing together under the moonlight. In this AU too Farangis sings and chants melodic prayers— just not to the Parsian gods. Isfan sings a lot more in this AU too.

Ayunnen had the gentlest, most soothing voice you've probably ever heard. Kashi's voice was... hm, how do I describe it— stronger? firmer? Something like that.

Shapur seems like someone who'd sing for his beloved.

So this seems to be all I can recall at the top of my head for now! I hope you enjoyed it!!

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #heroic legend of arslan #shapur #isfan #farangis #gieve #manuchurh #ayyar #irina #militsa #hilmes #arslan #alfarīd #merlaine #zaravant #daryun #narsus #sam #ayunnen (oc) #kashi (oc) #kazai (oc) #headcanons #these are all so incoherent hhhhhh

[tired-reader-writer]

Reading the Shahnameh out of curiosity and for AU inspiration purposes and...

(some of these are definitely gonna be out of order since my stuff got jumbled up while transferring phones my bad)

Souroush?!

Ormuzd is Ahura Mazda, by the way. The creator deity and... sole? main? deity of Zoroastrianism, if I remember correctly. Arslan Senki seems to have made the Parsian faith polytheistic, with a whole pantheon, but Zoroastrianism was a monotheistic religion, wasn't it? But then again there seemed to be deities/semi-deities like Anita? I really need to read more about the entire thing.

Kaweh has balls of steel! And later in the tale it is mentioned that Kaweh's apron/banner has become part of Feridoun's signatures, or at least that of his army, and Kaweh's son later comes to serve under Feridoun's son and grandson as well. That's really really cool. A much better fate than what Iumaka received, in any case. Iumaka too was a blacksmith— they even crafted the chains that'd bind Zahhak, and the treasured sword Rukhnabad as well. They and Kaykhusraw (the approximate Feridoun equivalent even if Kaykhusraw's actual namesake comes up way later, and I haven't gotten that far) even had a child together, but both Iumaka and Araya the younger met untimely ends, at Kaykhusraw's own hands/command.

(This takes place before the entire Feridoun thing, by the way. Feridoun is his grandson, according to this translation)

Note to self: do look up where Cathay is. When I was reading ArSen I always wondered whether Jamshid got tossed into the Darband Inland Sea or the actual Sea sea in the south, lol.

Just pinging any mention of Alborz that catches my eye. Very relevant to my interests that both instances here involve a child being fostered by someone who lives there: the hermit and Simurgh. How the mountains are regarded as a safe haven for these two children (Feridoun and the boy who would later be named Zal). (Also Zal was born with silvery white hair and that's why he was abandoned by his father Saum.)

Feridoun had three sons, Kaykhusraw has two in canon and three in my AU. What a coincidence! Though I guess the difference is that the eldest dies instead of the youngest, a boy who didn't live long enough to even meet his half-brothers.

I feel so bad for Irij! His brothers were out for blood and he just wanted peace :( At least his kid lived and avenged him. Minuchihr, whom I'm guessing was Manuchurh's namesake?

HUH. So there were Zahhak's descendants still exist, and they were even allowed to rule! I wasn't expecting that (nor for Zahhak to even have descendants— I guess ArSen's Zahhak influenced my impression of the character a lot)

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #heroic legend of arslan #winds of wolfsong #wolfpack au #iumaka (oc) #kaykhusraw #araya the younger (oc) #zahhak #flickering idea: make Iumaka the first and last child of a weary blacksmith— all their other siblings got sacrificed/devoured #maybe the blacksmith had enough and entrusted his child to the mountains #only for said child to return years later to start shit against Zahhak and that's how they and Kaykhusraw meet

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@tired-reader-writer

Here are the two small mentions of Shapur in Book 14. I’ve removed a couple of names to avoid character death spoilers here but if you want to know who it is I can mention that in the comments or something. Tagging novel spoilers anyway just in case. 

‘Arslan considered the fact that he was not the only one to lose people who were important to him; Daryun had lost his uncle Vahriz, Isfan had lost his half-brother and saviour Shapur, to whom he owed his upbringing*, and Kishward had lost his father-in-law Manuchurh.

After making countless sacrifices, peace was at last ushered in. It must be properly protected...’

(Book 14, Chapter 2, Part i)

and

‘Even the steady and resolute Kishward could not help feeling an inexplicable sense of unease in his heart. Since [spoiler]'s unexpected death, what ought to have been flawless plans regarding who did what appeared to have begun to grow a little disordered. Furthermore, the decisive battle against the Snake King would begin next. The loss of such talented people was a great hardship. If only [different spoiler] and Shapur were still alive. Even though it was pointless, he still found himself having such thoughts.’

(Book 14, Chapter 5, Part ii)

* this is the phrase used

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #arslan senki novel spoilers #arslan senki spoilers #shapur #isfan #kishward

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That page's funnyXD thx for remembering my request,I'm looking forward to it~ Shapur's saying a typical greeting on 1st meeting,the direct translation is "please treat me kindly",so in a way,you can say he's asking everyone to take care of Isfan;3 In the novel it's mentioned that singing guy has a voice that's very suitable for opera,and sometimes the king'll even ask him to give announcements(if I remember correctly),so I think that's why he's singing(btw it seems to be lapis lazuli's lyrics)

I’m going to take some new pictures of the book tomorrow (because I can do it in natural light then) so you won’t have to wait much longer. :)

Thanks for giving me some more information! Especially about Manuchurh; I love learning all these extra facts about the characters. I never would have guessed that he had a nice singing voice. And imagining him singing lyrics of Lapis Lazuli brought a smile to my face; I’m gonna imagine all of them up there cheering Arslan on (…well, maybe not all of them…some of them have to cheer for Hilmes too, and a lot of them are not even from Pars).

#Anonymous #arslan senki #shapur #manuchurh #and now i'm curious #about why manuchurh is relevant enough later on #for his singing voice to get a mention #given that he died at the start of the novels #and he's one of the ones who is definitely dead #not just missing #so does he have a family? #or is it just the other characters remembering him?