#vizier

Enthusiastic Sultan and his exasperated Snake Vizier

Idk why he came out so anime sorry XD

The sword is modeled after the attached pics. Atelier Thibaud made an awesome custom recreation based on it for a client. And the outfit is based on the desc in John Man’s Saladin book.

Been wanting to draw him like that for a while. In another version I was making him wear the helmet, but I had to finish one or the other.

I’m not good at drawing horses even though I’m a former equestrian 💀 lk the way of holding the reins is diff.

I literally fell asleep while finishing this so there may be more errors lol like i could have added Fatimid flags idk (i just really wanted to add his, even tho he had not established his dynasty quite yet >:3 hehe)

some quick context from wiki because i don't have time to write it myself xD

"The reasoning behind the Shia caliph al-Adid's selection of Saladin, a Sunni, varies. Ibn al-Athir claims that the caliph chose him after being told by his advisers that "there is no one weaker or younger" than Saladin (💀💀💀), and "not one of the emirs [commanders] obeyed him or served him". However, according to this version, after some bargaining, he was eventually accepted by the majority of the emirs. Al-Adid's advisers were also suspected of promoting Saladin in an attempt to split the Syria-based Zengids. Al-Wahrani wrote that Saladin was selected because of the reputation of his family in their "generosity and military prowess". Imad ad-Din wrote that after the brief mourning period for Shirkuh, during which "opinions differed", the Zengid emirs decided upon Saladin and forced the caliph to "invest him as vizier". Although positions were complicated by rival Muslim leaders, the bulk of the Syrian commanders supported Saladin because of his role in the Egyptian expedition, in which he gained a record of military qualifications.