#wolf mage

Don’t mind me, I’m just watering the plance.  Anyway! I wanted to draw Pidge and “flowy outfit” and “bride” were suggested. So my mind went to Pidge in a bridal gown of sorts with a cloak and veil. And what better way than reflected in Lance’s eye? And there be a scar like when he’s Pike for Monsters and Mana. 

Son of the Wolf Mage 🐺🏹

Commission from late June. I had tons of fun working this character out for the first time.

I had a need for drawing Lance riding on Pidge’s back. Then I thought back to this cover-like piece for the AU. With that, I was INSPIRED! I had to draw such something like it, but showing darker tones. So! Here we have our lovely babies in armor, seeming to be ready for battle. There’s quite a bit seeming to be going on, but I hope that’s fine. I was fond of each section through this, loving it more and more as I had my basing done, then lines, and finally getting the colour in. 

Wild Magic has come to an end. And it’s been a wild ride with this fic. After nearly a year of writing and just over a year of uploading, I reached this point. And now it’s time to go over some things with it. 

As a warning, some things may be spoiler territory. I will do my best to talk about the last few chapters, but for those who haven’t started reading but wish to or gotten far, please be warned.

I had originally started writing it April 18, 2020. At that point, a title I was considering was The Princess, the Mage, and the Wolf. All of which pertained to Pidge, the main character. The fic even originally started with Pidge, as Katie, saying goodbye to her parents before they depart for the kingdom of Altea, it even showed Colleen giving Katie the dagger. However, something about the intro didn’t sit well with me. So, a month later on May 18, I started again and we got the intro we saw in the official update. And I continued writing the chapters off and on until April 28, 2021 when I got to the final chapter. It was pretty much a year long journey with this. 

We know Wild Magic wasn’t the first choice of a title, but it wasn’t the second. At one point, I had actually considered calling it Wolf Mage, but I wasn’t liking that very much. I believe it was @rueitae​ who suggested the title Wild Magic and I liked it. Though in a way, Wolf Mage stuck around, as we see with the logo used with the fic as banners. 

If there is one thing I love, it’s size difference. I love giant creatures. Now, while Pidge as a wolf isn’t nearly as massive as my mermaid Pidge fic, she is still pretty big, at least big enough to ride. And the other guardian wolf was even bigger. It was fun. I think the giant creatures thing is what drew me to the movie, Princess Mononoke. 

Speaking of Princess Mononoke, some would probably suspect that that was part of my inspiration. The thought of riding wolves did come from that, but what initially sparked this was an unlikely title. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.  Yeah, you read that right. Twilight Princess inspired this fic.  I was watching a playthrough of that game, wanting to since it’s been so long since I saw my sister play it and I didn’t have the game or a means to play it. And while watching, my brain went “What if something happened in a fantasy AU and Pidge transformed into a wolf.” At one point I had considered Pidge being cursed, but cursed was just so... common. Learning on her own through magic? Now that seemed interesting to me. And it was fun to work with.  That’s about it for how Twilight Princess inspired me. But, I’m glad it jumpstarted the idea. 

From early on in the fic, I had known I wanted Pidge to have negative interactions with Sendak. I wanted, in a sense, for them to be rivals, even if he’s a grown ass commander and she’s just a kid. It seemed night. And fairly early on, I wanted her separated from her family and raised by someone else, Krolia being the one chosen for the task. It’s one of my favourite things to have Pidge raised by someone who isn’t her family by birth; I love that about families and it means a lot to me. 

I’m going to talk about Sendak’s final fight against Pidge. If you’ve not read that far, feel free to skip this section. I knew Pidge and Sendak were going to meet again when she would finally take the commander down. Even when she falls, that was initially planned from the getgo. But their fight had changed from my original idea.  Originally I planned to have them duke it out on a bridge as a sort callback to their first interaction. At some point, with explosives already on the bridge, something would spark it and destroy it, separating the two from the rest of Pidge’s company, leaving her to fight Sendak alone.  In a sense, I struggled to figure out how to make it work out. Thus we got the fight alongside the gorge, the two still going over and Pidge taking Sendak down. 

Moving on. Let’s talk plance. I typically like my fics being general initially, letting ships figure themselves out if at all. But early on, my brain, out of nowhere, decided it needed to be Plance, have Lance crushing on Pidge from the get go pretty much. Even when he thought she was a boy and when he found out she was a girl, nothing changed.  I couldn’t shake it from my mind and we ended up with Plance. And we even got to see Pidge discover her own feelings for him. Oh how fun is that?

After writing last night, I wanted to draw Pidge and Kosmo in Wild Magic. So! Here we go! I was gonna go without the background, but it was simple enough. 

The final chapter of Wild Magic.