#dilandau

Escaflowne Week 30th Anniversary Day 2: Calligraphy

The Illuminated Dilandau Albatou by Katia Hougaard

The first letter of Dilandau's name receives a truly Mediaeval makeover complete with fire breathing dragons and Fleur-de-Lis in my fan art paying homage to the colourful "illuminated manuscripts" produced in Europe during the 13th century through the 16th century. Illuminated manuscripts are books on a wide variety of topic including courtly life, romance stories, religious texts, prayer books, legal documents, and more. What binds them together are the richly detailed illustrations as well as the decorated letters and borders around the texts. The letter "D" was often fashioned into a window with a human figure looking out, just like Dilandau is doing here. The Fleur-de-Lis are a hint at my fan theory that Dilandau's country of Zaibach is Gaea's equivalent of France.

Media: Fountain pen, brush and India ink, and coloured pencil.

Jumpscare!!

Dilandau, but with quotes from Seto Kaiba

i essentially said this in my folken post but my posts are too long so i'll put it in its own.

In episode 10, not knowing his name, Hitomi is asked to do a reading on "the prisoner." As soon as Miguel Lavariel breaks out of prison, Hitomi draws a blank card mid-reading— because Miguel is no longer "the prisoner." Miguel is the only one of Dilandau's guys for whom we get a surname, and the function of providing an identity in this episode is to tell us about how Hitomi's— and Folken's— power works.

Similarly, Folken can't read/predict Dilandau the way he can with Van. Because "Dilandau" isn't a person.

If we could see the pendant in these moments, we might imagine it swinging wildly, never settling on a point. Dilandau exists in name only— a false identity propped up by Zaibach as an experiment. There's no one there. Celena is buried under a warped artificial fate, and Folken doesn't know Celena. He tells Allen this in episode 24. Maybe he's bullshitting, maybe he's not— it would be weird for him to know nothing about Dilandau, but, that weirdness is also in keeping with his inability to keep Dilandau in line. Equally, Dilandau doesn't know anything about Folken! He had no idea he was from Fanelia or that he was Van's brother, had no idea how or why Folken could control Escaflowne. He doesn't figure it out until Folken tells him in the drama CD, and based on Dilandau's account (for whatever that's worth,) they only met when they were paired up.

Dilandau's fate never takes the place of Celena's. Arguably, Dilandau's fate could never be Celena's— Dilandau's fate, if it existed, is more like Van's fate, if Van continues on the same path, leaning into bloodlust. Dilandau claims to have killed dragons, something Van needed help to accomplish.

Dilandau is an obfuscation. The very first purpose he serves is to appear as more than he is. Dilandau has a crown, a throne, and servants. He obscures Folken's position. Then, quickly, although Folken lacks these things himself, we're shown evidence after evidence that Folken greatly outranks him. Dilandau is an image. A phantasm. A mascot.

okay now i'm thinking about the colour symbolism we're all already well aware of, blue elder siblings and red younger siblings... since Jajuka and the Dragonslayers are coded blue/purple, maybe that information serves a dual/different purpose for Dilandau in-universe, where it's intended to pacify him, making him more likely to carry out his role if he subconsciously associates blue with trustworthiness. i don't think this is true but it is An Idea.

Whether or not the Dragonslayers themselves are captives, Folken does tell us that the sorcerers experimented on children plural. While i'm at it, i'll briefly note here that Alseides is the name of some nymphs in Greek mythology. Oreides... well that just means imitation gold (copper/zinc alloy) doesn't it? And what about Oread?

Dilandau is somehow their "patron," but we see over and over that he's much more reliant on them than they are him. They are sacrificed again and again to keep him safe. They offer themselves up readily as targets in spite of his abuse. They may as well be empty vessels... much the same as him.

Based on Dilandau's function, and Jajuka's to him, it seems pretty clear that the Dragonslayers' primary and literal function is to exist for Dilandau. Let me rephrase that: their singular purpose is to substantiate the idea of "Dilandau." Programmed to never let the mask slip. They don't need him any differently than an ant needs a queen. We see very clearly just how much Dilandau needs them, torn apart and unable to bear his own weight without them. They are part of his planned identity too, as if all together they're a composite organism.

It is the 25th. Most of the world is with family.

Mine is a little more scattered, but time was spent with them for part of the holiday. I decided to finished something self indulgent as a gift to myself. I don’t often render fan art (I do appreciate a decent amount of it tho)

I have been picking at this piece for… months? In the vein of other fanart I did a study of L'Ange déchu (The Fallen Angel) by Alexandre Cabanel but swapped in Dilandau from an old anime (Visions of Escaflowne). I have no idea if this fandom still breaths, but I know I still enjoy this piece of media.