#boram darkwill

Meanwhile Katarina Du Couteau , strongest female assassin of Noxus, in her own comic, dissing old Noxus and half the stuff said in Arcane:

Girl is like

I came

I do what I think is right for Noxus

I leave

idk if swain at this point would get involved in/start a dispute with another house---it seems that mel’s mother ambessa is still totally loyal to noxus, and swain, at least from what we know of his upbringing and entry into the military, shares that viewpoint to the extent that he would execute his own house to ensure the empire’s stability. so unless kino had been involved with the black rose or been outwardly oppositional against darkwill (who, if this is all taking place before the ionian invasion, is still very much alive)/noxus as an ideology, i dont think swain would be the man whom ambessa is referring to in her dialogue. 

and i dont think kino would openly antagonize darkwill (since he supposedly has a talent for diplomacy). it would also be strange for ambessa to ambiguously say “cross the wrong man” instead of outright just tell mel that the noxian emperor himself is plotting to eliminate their house; the fact that ambessa is still able to travel freely from noxus to piltover/the fact that the medardas haven’t been executed immediately (as was the case for swain’s house) suggests that it isn’t the emperor who is seeking retribution against the medardas, but another house. 

again, most if not all of swain’s house is dead, so i find it hard to believe that he would feel the need to instigate beef between the medardas and whatever is left of his house because of something that kino said or did.

Now as a brief disclaimer, I’m only writing these down because I am of the opinion that criticism should come with suggestions to improve, and because I am confident enough in my own skill as a writer in my character designs to think I can offer worthwhile critique and design suggestions that will never be read.  I figure suggesting improvements or design changes to a character, rather than making a flat critique, is a better idea.  Also, I like my Boram Darkwill design and want to share it.

As a base design in color, I actually like the Riven comic’s use of fair skin and brown hair because it gives much less of a nobility vibe than my design did, admittedly mine had been pale with black hair but looking back it also looked like a genderbent LeBlanc so I’d keep the hair and skin color, maybe darken the skin a little to give it a tanned or olive look.  Keep in mind my backstory for Darkwill is that of someone of fairly low status so this appearance works better for that backstory.

Keeping to the face first, I honestly prefer a younger appearance than the comic for the sake of keeping to form, Black Rose longevity seems to come with eternal youth and a pretty face, so I think following that trend would be interesting.  To highlight both his lack of nobility and that he’s a general, I’d add either freckles or a large birthmark, and a number of scars.

I’d keep the hair long, I liked it long because it’s a nice touch, but instead of it simply being slicked back, I’d pin it back with hair clips, which I’ll touch on later.  A General, even one who barely sees the front line, would want to appear battle-ready, and would probably keep their hair pinned out of their face as a result.

As for build, I’d actually make him shorter and slimmer.  Most Noxian men have fairly broad builds, so I think giving Boram a smaller build makes him stand out.  The slenderness and agility of the build also makes sense for someone who gained power through guile, aka lying his ass off to the nobility.