#arhra

Probably not canon accurate but still I wanted to draw this

Also baby karandras

So I decided, now that I feel more detached again, to think about this a bit more critically. I summarised below my predictions, fears, thoughts and finally hopes concerning this event:

Predictions:

The crux of the conflict will be about Vect’s grudge against the Ynnari, that much seems clear. As Vect himself is a weak, idiot, coward he won’t appear personally at all and pass on the job to Drazhar who, based on Warhammer Community’s preview article of him, has the specific goal of gaining a Phoenix Lord’s Spiritstone (but they don’t have a single stone, they’ve absorbed countless souls into their armour, is this a retcon or just poor writing?)

The heavy reference to ‘A Phoenix Will Fall’ with the image of Drazhar makes me quite certain that to some extent his connection to Arhra will be investigated. I doubt it will go as far as outright confirming he is Arhra, since the preview article was dogged in calling him Drazhar still, but I assume at least to some extent some actual attention will finally be paid to this idea. 

The most grim prediction I fear is going to become a reality is that one of the Phoenix Lords not getting a miniature is going to be permanently killed off in some way. A ‘Phoenix Will Fall’ combined with the general irrelevance of the Phoenix Lords makes me fear we’ll see this happen so GW can excuse themselves from redoing another Phoenix Lord (cause it isn’t like they just this year alone redid Marneus Calgar, Tigurius, Shrike and the Khan already, couldn’t possibly do the same for a non-Marine faction). 

Jain Zar will lose to Drazhar. 

The Ynnari will win the overall conflict. For all their love of touting how ‘grimdark’ they are the truth is GW and BL honestly struggle to ever write a story where the nominal ‘better guy’ side doesn’t win. So I’d say odds are heavily in the favour of the Ynnari to win the overall conflict of the event.

Fears:

Jain Zar being worfed. Again.

Fulgrim showing up out of nowhere at the end to just curbstomp everyone and make the Aeldari look pathetic.

Yet another Ynnari plot thread where they achieve nothing other than the slaughter of their own kind and manage to gain nothing.

Thoughts:

Honestly I like the setup. I mean don’t get me wrong, I think all the Aeldari are overdue a narrative event where they finally get to win something against the Imperium, but a major, plot-focused, conflict between Vect’s loyalists and the Ynnari coalition is a cool, original idea. It’s also just a damn breath of fresh air from the CONSTANT Marine-focus of everything in 40k these days.

Vect’s still an idiot. Honestly I don’t know how anyone takes this loser seriously. His biggest claim to fame is having Marines win his battles for him. Then he flaked out of Khaine’s Gate breaking open to instead let Kheradruahk and the Haemonculi save him. Now he literally knows Commorragh is doomed, the Chasm of Woe will never stop growing, but he’s trying his best to literally stop the one group of Aeldari who are working to save the species. Luckily since his track record is nothing but failure (unless he involves Marines) we have little to fear from him.

Hopes:

I just really hope Drazhar and Jain Zar get to actually be badasses for once. So I’d love them to go up against enemies who are actually impressive to kill. Sadly, because of how 40k is written, there are no impressive Aeldari to kill so it’d need to be stuff like Drazhar’s chopping down three Custodes in three seconds or giving Jain Zar a bit to wipe out a Chapter Master etc.

Arhra redemption. Dying to Jain Zar to in someway be a metaphorically reborn Phoenix and arise as Arhra once more. Look I just really want a moving redemption arc where the Phoenix Lord who burns with the Dark Light of Chaos returns to the fold so that there can be an awesome moment where ALL the Phoenix Lords pull off a Seven Samurai moment or something against oodles of enemies.

Clearer explication of the actual goals, methods and plans of the Ynnari. The lore so far paints them as a single, small, fleet which basically just does fetch quests for Guilliman and rushes about looking for clues to the Fifth Cronesword. Have they not expanded their remit at all in the 110 years?

Lelith and Jain Zar fighting side-by-side. Jain Zar seeing so much of herself in Lelith whilst Lelith considers Jain Zar a warrior worthy of her respect. 

Wallpaper of Deem from Dungeoneer. Was a work in progress for something, but I thought it’d make for a good wallpaper as it was.

In keeping with my finding parallels between Dark Souls and Aeldari, and cause its a very fun game, I’ve always been interested in seeing more of Arhra.

Described as the Phoenix Lord who ‘burns with the dark flame of chaos’ its always conjured to my mind a being who’s become corrupted in the classical ‘become what you try to face‘ aspect. Similar to Artorias in the Abyss it was perhaps an overzealous attitude which saw Arhra become a twisted version of himself.