Annnnd ... another one :)

[sigune]

This time it's Arthur. I hope you like him.

Unfortunately he is not wearing a crown. It hasn't been designed yet ;-).



I guess that traditionally, Arthur is more often depicted as blond, but in my story he has black hair as a visual link with Ygraine, Morgause and Morgana. He is also supposed to have an impish sort of quality. The character that is taking shape in my head is not entirely fixed yet, but I like what he is becoming.

Comments

[venturous1.livejournal.com]

I love your original take on Arthur. He looks real and vibrant, and yay, black hair!

[branquignole.livejournal.com]

He looks really aristocratic, and I think that's at least partly due to the black hair! Love him!

[patricia-writes.livejournal.com]

I like this! His eyes suggest he's got something up his sleeve, for certain.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, that is Arthur! He has typically Celtic coloring in this*, and I love the expression on his face and the colors in his robe.

*After all, why shouldArtos/Arthur be blond? He was a Celto-Roman type, fighting the Saxons. He wasn't one of them.

[todayiamadaisy]

I like him! He does seem to have a sly sense of humour about him.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Very interesting! I love his hair, and the sly look about him. Very cool and very cool interpretation. :)

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad you like him :D. With such a famous character, it's always scary to offer your own version...

[sigune.livejournal.com]

I'm glad :D! I didn't know the black hair was going to have that effect, specifically, but why not... *g*

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Though I love T. H. White's thoroughly nice and kind Arthur, I intend to make mine a little more ... well ... I guess I would like him to be a good person without being a goody-two-shoes. So yes, he can be sly at times :).

[sigune.livejournal.com]

It's funny you should say that, because I saw in my predecessor's class notes a few weeks ago that he went with Caesar's assertion that the Celts are typically blond (and the Germanic peoples, you know, even blonder :P). What rubbish.

I'm not sure why Arthur is often blond. Medieval tastes, perhaps?

I'm really glad you like him :).

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'm happy to hear the look works :). I'm thinking that if he is to succeed as a leader in turbulent times, he'd have to be either merciless and a tyrant or someone with unconventional views who isn't afraid to take risks. So yes to slyness. *g*

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Since he's my creature, he has mandatory Copious Amounts of Good Hair :P. I'm glad you like him!

PS: Not that there's anything wrong with Gorgonzola (quite to the contrary), but whatever happened to the custard?

[the-winterwitch.livejournal.com]

I think the impishness works brilliant here, I love your depiction of him! Beautiful hair ♥

Actually (celtic coloring)

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

To be super-accurate here, the Celts were supposedly tall and fair. But my Dad, who is Swedish-Irish by descent, has your Arthur's coloring exactly. And a very typical coloring in Ireland is: dark hair, fair skin, light eyes. I read that the Celts - the Irish, in particular - were supposed to be redheads, but that was because they brushed their dark hair back with lime (or henna?) so that it would look like their horses' manes!

I guess what people think today is that the Celts were relatively fair, and the pre-celtic people of the British Isles were small and dark. The modern coloring results from an admixture.

In any case, Arthur would likely have been part-Roman, wouldn't he?

Anyway, I like him! And I love his expression.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Ah, the custard lasted a good long while, but it was on its last legs. Er, not that custard has legs. I decided to go with something more...motivational! Energetic! With an exclamation point!!

[sophierom.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love the turn of his mouth and slant of his eyes, as well as the color of his hair. Arthur so often comes across as milquetoast, the cuckolded king. This Arthur looks much more interesting and even a little devilish!

[sylvanawood.livejournal.com]

He's gorgeous. And I, too, love the dark hair.

Re: Actually (celtic coloring)

[sigune.livejournal.com]

According to some ancient authors, the (ancient) Celts did indeed use a hair product based on lime, especially when they went into battle, because it made their hair spiky and, I suppose, their aspect more fierce :). This product would also have made their hair look paler and probably partly accounts for the stories that say they were "all blond" (I didn't find any mention of redheads in the ancient sources myself).

I like to stress the "supposedly" in "the Celts were supposedly tall and fair". It sounds like such an over-simplification to me, and typically the kind of thing you can expect from a Roman arriving in Gaul - the Celts would probably have said that the Romans all looked the same, too. I feel quite sure that the Celts were more of a mixed bunch than the Greek and Roman sources make them out, especially because the people we call Celts seem to have been bound by culture and language more than by anything else.

In any case, in Irish myths and legends, dark hair and blue eyes are considered marks of beauty (Naoise and Diarmuid are examples). That leads me to think such colour would not be associated with foreigners.

I'm not sure how many Romans actually settled in Britain - not a lot, I think, because after the Romans left, Britain quickly reverted to its Celtic habits. In any case, the settlers were a mixed bag too: Sarmatian and Saxon auxiliaries would have counted as "Romans" as well ... and any Briton with Roman citizenship was a Roman too! - Just doing my best to make "part-Roman" extra tricky ;P. I confess I am evil.

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I always put in an extra effort for my characters' hair... :P

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That's really the idea... I suspect he couldn't achieve as much as he is going to if he was completely nice and good and didn't have tricks up his slieve. In the older tradition, Arthur does a few questionable things, and that makes sense to me. I'm thinking that maybe he will need to grow into his role of wise king, perhaps even a little against his will...

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D