Latest Posts by explodingquails - Page 5

"I just can't stand having anyone else betray me."

I knew I had to redraw this scene when I first saw it

bonus:

1-800-r-u-slappin

Was doing a photo study of actress Gaia Girace and it turned into Laudna adsasfgh

I think I just found my personal face claim for her

Ahh thank you so much for the answer! This was a blast to read from start to finish <33 Given how ambiguous the situation with Leona and the Solari is in canon (please Riot just one update...), I can totally see either scenario being probable, and either way I agree that Leona needs overcoming a lot of emotional damage and personal growth in order to mend her relationship with Diana.

I love everything about Morgana and Syndra too. I never noticed how strong the parallels in their stories are, but now that you pointed it out I really would like to see them interact in canon (as improbable as it is ;-;). I agree that Morgana would opt to approach Syndra with patience. She of all beings would understand that Syndra did not enjoy the pain she inflicted on people, and that her outburst was a result of trauma and not understanding her own powers.

(Morgana as a character has so much lore potential in general... girl just gotta get out of that cave adsfdfg)

Thanks again for sharing the headcanons! Riot is painfully slow in releasing lore stuff so all this is wonderful food <3

Hi Heka, I discovered you for all your amazing Leodia art, but I genuinely enjoy everything you make! I have always wondered how you envision the reconciliation between Leona and Diana to be like? Do you think Leona will discover the error of her ways on her own, or will she require the intervention of some other person/a cathartic event?

Unrelated but I am also curious about how you think a meeting between Morgana and Syndra would turn out in the main universe, given the WIP you shared of them at Riftmas :3

Hii Explodingquails, thank you so much for your words and support!! <3 <3

And hmm, how could I answer this... Well, I have thought of this before and at the same time I have a pair of scenarios. I guess it depends on the route Leona takes? Either her tyrant route or she not know what the Solaris are doing (the lore itself is stuck between those two concepts, lord help me)

This requieres what we call a "mucho texto" (meme-ish way to say "very long text"), because for Tyrant Leona

I picture her as someone who has reached self-failure (Leona is meant to be a protector for the weak and yada yada). I don't think or picture her as brainwashed or a zealot, she knows her protective ideals, she knows the cruel actions of the Solari and is aware of their radical behavior specially because she saw how they treated Diana. But she's stuck in this radical place where the Solari can kill their own (as said in the latests story that features Atreus iirc). Leona decides to stay because she has the weight of her people + family and their expectations upon her, and has to fulfill them by the fear of dissapointment. I think some of us can relate to that.

The scenario of this route causes a conflict that escalates to war, and it's a situation that overcomes Leona psychologically. She accepts that she has become a tyrant and arrives to the conclusion that, in order to end the bloodshed, is by Diana killing her. This of course leads to a semi-god fight where Leona pretends to be cruel and ignorant as a way to anger Diana, who later notices that façade. Diana tries to reach Leona but she refuses and basically threatens Diana to make a supernova if she doesn't end her lol (extra dramatic I know). But Diana, knowing how Leona feels, just runs across the chaos and fire to hug her, which puts and end to the conflict. WOOOOOO clap clap and everyone was happy again.

That's the first reconciliation scenario I thought about. Now for the route where Leona doesn't know shit, well, I guess she would find out eventually and Diana herself or the Lunari, or the rakkor would tell her "hey the Solari are killing everyone please stop this" and Leona would go like "Wait what??" and start moving because Leona is, supposedly, a protector.

She can call out the Solari but I don't think that would go well for her lol, maybe she can try to find Diana but the Lunari take her as a prisoner because it's the enemy AND leader of the Solari, Diana finds out and both talk about the things that are happening and how Leona just didn't know. Maybe the Solari go absolute bonkers and decide to burn everything everywhere at the absence of Leona since she's a threat to their bloodshed too. It's not a polished idea so I can't say a lot more kjkjdkj but I think it would be a desperate situation that can make them fight together (A DREAM RIOT PLS) and a first step to end the conflict

Now for Morgana and Syndra

This involves that Morgana is not in Demacia (maybe when things start to go well in there she can afford traveling around), and this scenario is related to my HC of Syndra being an incognito. Not as a spy or anything, but let's say, she pretends to be a wanderer or someone who lost everything to the war.

Syndra (and this is canon) can only understand her magic fully if she discovers and knows herself, because it's driven by her emotions. So I decided to use that excuse to make her go around Ionia (and to get food and stuff because the suplies of the fortress aren't infinite, like). She doesn't think that she's making a self-discovery trip, she's not aware of that fact, but something within just tells her to go to the country she hates to the gut lmao.

While she wanders around, maybe at night but totally in the middle of the forests where she usually hides, she encounters a mysterious figure that approaches her, this being Morgana. With the "What's troubling you, child?" kind of trope.

Syndra immediately feels threatened by her because there's something about Morgana that makes her feel exposed, and emotional exposure equals danger to Syndra. She warns Morgana to stand back and leave, ready to attack. Morgana however just walks closer as she knows that Syndra cannot attack her even if she wants to.

Just as Morgana can percieve Syndra's incredible magic, Syndra notices Morgana's power, but is unable to determine what she is. She's not human, she's not an ordinary mage, nor a vastaya, or any other type of creature that comes to mind. Whatever she is, Morgana is just something superior. She knows she can't mess with her.

Morgana presents herself calm and smiling with tenderness. She explains to Syndra that her large pain caught her attention and how she understands that feeling of anger, betrayal and loliness created by her people and family, just like she felt because of Kayle. But she also senses how Syndra is trapped inside her own mind and how that torments her deeply.

Syndra somehow knows that what she says is true, so decides to accept her company even if it makes her feel vulnerable. There is something about Morgana that makes her unable to reject her.

This strong empathy that Morgana feels would drive her to share her views, teachings and wisdom to Syndra, and Syndra herself, with time, would feel free to be herself infront of a mentor and motherly figure, figures that in the past hurt her deeply. It's a dynamic that would help both characters come into terms with their personal pain and broken bonds.

Syndra's "I had a brother once, but he betrayed me instead of protecting me." which would mirror Morgana's "I had a sister once, that betrayed me instead of being by my side." You get what I mean overall.

Now this HC comes from the Kayle and Morgana's rework AMA, where a Rioter stated that the character that Morgana would feel the most empathy for, would be Syndra.

This Rioter also stated that she would make Syndra feel the pain she inflicted to others as a way to teach her (like she usually does), but I disagree with that part. Syndra's new lore puts her as a victim of family mistreatment and bullying, who developed an (almost uncontrolable) explosive temperament along with a strong distrust towards others. If Morgana tries to approach her and uses her magic to make her feel pain to learn, it just would make Syndra see Morgana as a red flag, someone like those who had hurt her.

Even if it goes against her judgement themes, I think it's something that would break the first steps of their dynamic, which are very important and fragile because they revolve around trust and being emotionally open.

Anyways I'll leave it here before I write even more LMAO hope this was at least a pleasant reading!

The curious dance moves of the Striped Cuckoo.

When you are busy pondering your cute little orb

Then you came into my life with come hither in your eyes

Hades II Theory Regarding Chronos

I have been playing a ton of Hades after the Hades II trailer got me hooked. Currently about 80 hours in, and I noticed something that made me speculate on the Chronos storyline.

Basically I think the Satyr Cultists that Zagreus encounters in the Temple of Styx are actually worshippers of Chronos, and their activity is directly linked to the titan's escape from imprisonment in the sequel.

This is the Codex entry for Satyr Cultists taken from the wiki:

When I first read it, I found it strange that Hades, the immensely powerful God of the Dead, would be worried about some goat-people freeloading in a temple so far above his residing domain in Tartarus. Also why is the satyrs' hatred for Hades so pronounced? This feels like one of the unresolved plot points in the first game that is more than likely to be expanded in the sequel.

Achilles's Codex entry calls satyrs "vermin-worshippers". I first assumed this to mean the satyrs worship the rats they share the temple with, but that just felt odd. Then during my runs passing through the Temple of Styx, I noticed that there are statues of vipers/snakes everywhere.

There is also the hostile Snakestone mob that sometimes can be found in the same room as Satyr Cultists. According to Achilles's Codex:

"..the boorish satyrs despoiling the surface seem to take up residence in the same spaces, and may well be to blame for these nuisances, as they are for many others."

So it is implied that the satyrs built the Snakestones, and by extension I suspect that the snake, and not the rats, is the actual subject of worship for this "cult".

And in Greek mythology, the snake is, interestingly, a symbol of Cronus, the King of the Titans.

Here is an article I found that mentions the relationship between Cronus/Chronos (Hades II is conflating these two figures it looks like) the snake, particularly in Orphic poetry. Apparently in some versions, Cronus has the lower half body of a snake.

The game tells us that the satyrs are openly antagonistic towards the House of Hades. Maybe their hatred comes from Chronos being defeated and eventually held hostage in Hades's domain?

Also worth mentioning that while the origin of the word "satyr" is unclear, it has been speculated that the name is related to the root "sat-", which means "to sow". Remarkably, it is also the root of Saturn, a.k.a. the Roman equivalent of Cronus.

TLDR: The satyrs cult Zagreus fights in the Temple of Styx may in fact be worshippers of Chronos, as evidenced by the abundance of snake motifs and artifacts in their lair. The satyrs may have a role in Chronos escaping imprisonment in Tartarus, leading to the events of Hades II.

A bunch of black and white sketches of League ladies that I posted on Twitter

it's dangerous to go alone. take him with you

do you want to see a random species of bird

Princess Kalista of Camavor, Spear of the Argent Throne

She deserved so much better than her fate.

For Leodia Week Day 5: Reunion

Gonna share my entries for Leodia Week here :D

This one was a combination of Day 1's "Acolyte" prompt and Day 2's "Ascension" prompt.

Cutiepie — Velociraptor is out, Mononykus is in!

Screaming at the walls of fire They're closing in on me I hunger for the vertigo, the silver moonlight It's where I wanna be

Screaming at the walls of fire But I'm still running free In the silver moonlight I can breathe

Summoning all fans of the Sun and Moon lesbians

Sharing here as well to hopefully reach more people :) Feel free to use this prompt list and tag your work with #leodiaweek and/or #leodiaweek2022 I also made a twitter account for this event. Here: https://twitter.com/leodiaweek All forms of fan works (art, fanfiction, edits, headcanons etc) are welcome!

Made this for my mom as Mother's Day present. Now that she has seen it I can post it here.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday, whether you celebrate the holiday or not!

Union

Fate decreed they be joined. Fate doomed both of them.

*shamelessly posts art of ocs on a fan art account*

Last year I visited a museum where there was an ancient sceptre on display. On it was the carving of a bird and a fish pieced together by an arrow; apparently a symbol for the conjugation of two previously warring tribes.

I decided to borrow the motif for my two shapeshifter characters, make it into a twist on the "red string of fate" trope.

These tweets were just too good not to make leodia shtposts with soo.. enjoy! XD

So apparently the Kirammans have dogs...

(I headcanon the dobermans' names to be Janna and Kiil. The corgi is not canon and added for kicks because ✨British✨)

Winter Birds

Leona and Diana from League of Legends, based on a frame from this animated short (check out the original for a bittersweet sun and moon romance).

Anyways I was nervous as hell while working on this because oh my god physical affection embarrassing, but I am so proud of myself for finishing it. This is a big landmark for me, both in terms of technique and being comfortable with drawing what makes me happy.

Very random bits of art wisdom I learned over the years bc I'm bored on the bus:

If you use black for shading it'll muddy up your colors (not saying do not do it ever cause I'm sure some ppl make it work but still)

Use references kids

Like seriously who came up with the idea that refs are bad

I pinky promise you don’t have to pull poses, outfits, etc out of your artist ass

Drawin' chompers? Lower canines always in front of upper canines

The secret to the other eye is not copy pasting the first, but drawing both together as opposed to fully rendering them one at a time

Styles are annoyingly overrated. How about we realize the value of experimenting and being versatile eh

Step out of your comfort zone. Will it suck at first? I mean yeah probably but there's no other way to learn something you wanna learn

Idk what ppl are on about hands, it's shoes that are the real devil here

Also while I'm at it, have a "comfort subject" that takes little effort to draw, for when you really wanna do something but don't feel particularly inspired

It's also a good little bit of ego boost

Take breaks. Seriously. Don't be like me. And stretch.

Half the fun of designing a creature is figuring out its anatomy (but i mean I'm a nerd so take this with a grain of salt)

Textured brushes are your friends, but they can make something a lot messier than intended so watch out for that

Learn just a little bit of color theory (no not the children's hospital that isn't even actual color theory, funnily enough)

Cutting corners is valid, but try not to end up completely dependant on certain tools

Name your files something other than keyboard smashes. Trust me.

Treat your microns like newborns and don't let that one fking classmate that presses the pen like their life depends on it borrow them i swear to fucking god-

There's no one size fits all for art, maybe every single bit of advice i just gave is complete useless bs to u and that's fair

Was bored, made the Targon crew into dragons using Flight Rising Scry

And two guests who are technically not Targon but still relevant

Can't believe I left my studying to make this.

Based on in-game emotes I conclude that Vi is the girlfriend who knows all the sick moves while Cait actually can't dance to save her life.

Bonus: