#rhinegold

THE RHINEGOLD & THE VALKYRIE by Richard Wagner. (London: Heinemann, 1910) Translated by Margaret Armour. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham

Reinl!Hagen learning that Gunther won't have any royal hunt take place on Easter because Burgundy might need the Pope's help against the Huns one day and it wouldn't do to offend him:

Gentilomo!Hagen tricking Kriemhild by making it sound like Siegfried told him about the linden leaf in confidence because they have a friendly relationship instead of using that info as a rebuttal to Hagen basically calling him a coward so cowardly he wouldn't even fight Brunhild, a woman, in Gunther's place despite being invulnerable all over, while also pretending to have known where the leaf fell exactly on Siegfried's body all along:

Edel!Hagen explaining to Siegfried that being tasked with hunting Fafnir is an honor reserved for only the king's MoST FAvoRED KnIGHTs:

Grundy!Hagan reflecting on how it doesn't really matter if his mother conceived him with a dark elf or a demon, the important part is that he's 99% sure she only had him to raise him as a protector and scapegoat for his legitimate and undoubtedly fully-human siblings, but his duty and bonds of loyalty extend even further as he's also meant to be the warden of his clan and tribe and always act in the interest of his bloodline and people despite whatever his individual needs and wishes may be, and in addition to that he's also been called upon by the god he's dedicated himself to as not just a keeper of the old ways against the inexorable spread of a new religion but also part of said god's eschatology-focused great design, which all in all makes for quite a compelling argument to try and repress his feelings as much as he can... only to suddenly trail off because there's a cat and he needs to try and pet it:

Hohlbein!Hagen, leaving the court of Worms for his native Tronje, a windswept, isolated fortress over the stormy ocean in the remote, cold North, closer to the old gods and far away from the more-complicated-and-dismal-than-ever current political situation in Burgundy that he fears he may not be well-equipped to handle anymore as well as any painful reminders of Kriemhild's clear love for Siegfried:

Arthur will Never Find This

For InkTober daily prompt: 20. Coral It was time to try my newest brushes. I modeled this in Blender before I drew it, and became a little desperate when I saw how much work I just loaded onto myself, and THEN it also FAILED when I tried on large paper. So I threw that out and tried again on a smaller format, with a Pentel brush pen and Copic markers, splattered on some turquoise ink for interest and added the rest of a gold gel pen. I also need to get better salt for my watercolour and ink pieces.

DÜSSELDORF! :’)

THE RHINEGOLD & THE VALKYRIE and SIEGFRIED & THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. by Richard Wagner. (London: Heinemann, 1910) Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Translated by Margaret Armour. Art binding by Bayntun-Riviere.