#knaaren

"Hey hey hey guys. I mean, don't you feel guilty about ganging up on a guy when he's all alone?"

"No. Why? Do you?"

Day 8: Cannibalism

⚠️TW: gore, guts, flesh

Well... it's been quite loooooong I didn't made anything related to Rayman and... awaiting I find out another idea, I share to you a little something I made around 2024 before.

There, Rayman has different friends in the TV serie (from 1999) and Origins and Legends too soooooooo... let's make new ones! It's been a while but I plan to redraw them again one of these days and with another character in plus.

But let's check at them for the moment...

Rayman: ... you know him already.

Mediva: She's a fallen fairy who said good bye to her fairy powers and rather prefer to use daggers and steal some stuff... and one fun fact, she loves to make sculptures with wood, I also imagine she's the artist who made the garden Ray-gnomes in Rayman 3.

Tignasse: (pronouns: they/them) They's a kind of goat coming from Clearleaf Forest. That's a little druid who loves nature and doesn't hesitate to heal their friends.

Rafael: Yes, it's needs some elves in my version of the Glade of Dreams, it's important! And also, he's a magician.

I made a bunch of Rayman characters on my Tomodachi Life island and André and Reflux ended up having a daughter! I figured I’d take the excuse to make a new OC and run.

I headcanon that the Leptys is a primal god of brutality, but also evolution and change. It has a lot to do with the more ‘animalistic’ beliefs of the Knaaren tribe. So the Leptys tried to collect Reflux’s shards from their realm, the shards contained enough of André and Reflux’s essences to react (especially with André formerly being a Red Lum and thus strongly associated with life/energy) to the Leptys for Jasper to kinda just… boop into existence.

The Night God: Bringer of Night and Father of the Knaaren people.

He's a bearded vulture, slim and tall with the capacity of surround itself in night magic, gaining that starry night texture. His feathers fall like a cloak to his back, and his sole shriek can make you feel scared to death.

For a long time I rejected the idea of another God creating creatures with Polokus in the Glade, I always saw it as taking the importance of the nymphs and the fact they're daughters of The Muse of Poets, another God.

I rethink a few things and make sense that they're sons of Leptys.

Knaarens look like if a bird and a toad had kids just think abt lemme cook: they're slim tall creatures with a wide chest, bird like legs and sharp claws but also have greish-green skin and toad-like mouth with wide hands and feet.

They have lots of features resembling both Leptys and Polokus.

Eubria: Uh ray, was that you making the sound?

I literally have nowhere to talk about Rayman but the Tumblr tag seems to be popping so here goes. I am probably the only person on planet Earth who cannot stop thinking about Reflux. I will always be critical of Rayman 3 for its very surface level characters and unfunny "humor", but it still has a lot of environmental storytelling if you look for it. For example, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Knaaren are bipedal toads.

Artistic liberties were taken, of course, but it's almost a perfect match. It also explains the dot on his forehead, as most toads have warts all over. The warts only become more prominent during the final boss battle, too.

Not to mention, the tunnel system they live in is directly outside of a ravine full of poisoned water. This implies that there might have been a time when they were semi-aquatic. They also have flat teeth, with no canines. I like to think it's because they are herbivores forced to feast on whatever they can find, because they have no plants within miles to feed on. It would explain why they prefer the brain, as it's squishy and easy to chew, as well as the zombie eggs that are the only notable, reliable food source seen in the desert.

Now, what about the way that they evolved? Most of this is speculation, but I can at least tie it together. Knaaren are invincible canonically. Reflux contradicts this in two ways; he has defeated other Knaaren to claim the title of champion, and he dies at the end of Rayman 3. It can only be concluded that he isn't a "normal" Knaaren, and the best way to explain this is to acknowledge the fact that the champion receives the power of the Leptys. Not only is Reflux the only Knaaren to use magic, his boss battle is, quite frankly, insane. I just replayed it yesterday, and it came extremely close. It's possible he used his power to exhaust the other Knaaren to the point where they can no longer fight in order to claim the title of champion using those powers.

In theory, it can also be said that the power of the Leptys creates a weakness. God powers must take a lot of energy to channel no matter what sort of creature you are. So, in theory, Reflux was burning the candle at both ends, pridefully striking down challengers and assuming that he would never be defeated with how much power he has come to earn. He becomes a monster in his thirst for revenge at the end of the game, which ultimately kills him. What this implies about the Leptys is vague, but it certainly has something to do with the deity.

Now, this is my favorite part. Reflux is actually the only character Rayman has ever done wrong. I'd say he's the only one Rayman ever killed, but uh, depends on your view of canon, so I'll be focusing on what is undeniable. Rayman blasts into the desert without warning, and granted it's to save his friend, but he ruins Reflux's life in doing so. He had no choice but to become the champion and shame his opponent. Reflux made his entire identity on being champion, and eagerly accepts when André promises the ability to claim revenge. Rayman was just supposed to be a fun exercise for him, and now Reflux finds himself outcast due to an outsider who doesn't even want to be champion. It's the fault of his pride, but it is still a way that Rayman has made someone's life worse.

It's also interesting to think of them as cultural opposites. Rayman comes from a lovely dream world, and Reflux comes from a hellish nightmare that he had to claw his way to the top. Rayman was born a hero, and Reflux had to earn it. Ubisoft really shot themselves in the foot by not expanding on that, I think. They could have really made something out of the contrast of dreams and nightmares.