Thrush's Art & Things

“The Owl King is coming.”

The first washes of sunlight

Just living out my Princess Mononoke dreams~

Origin of Fire by Nina Pommelin

Ukko of the air struck fire, produced a sudden flash with three feathers of Kokko, the eagle of fire, in the sky above, behind the enclosure of stars.

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In Finnish mythology the eagle is a bird of fire, the king of skies and all other birds. Many tales tell that the first lightning was struck by using the feathers of a mighty eagle, and that lightning started the first fire. In old Finnish language the eagle was more commonly known as “kokko” which nowadays means a large bonfire, typically a specific kind of bonfire that has some ritualistic and even sacred meaning.

Painted in ink, white poster color and gold medium on 300 g/sqm Saunders Waterford hot press watercolour paper. The painting is unframed.

I admit it’s been a hot second since I’ve actually read that scene, but it’s one of the ones that stuck with me through the years. Honestly Roran’s perspective overall is some of the best in the Cycle, but this is a moment that really solidifies what I love about his character. While Eragon is off being two degrees shy of a full-blown god, fighting either entire faceless armies or equally-god-like singular opponents (for the most part), Roran is the one dealing with the actual blood and gore and personal horror of war, the very nature of war—that even when it is necessary, or has been made necessary by the actions of men in power, it is monstrous. As I remember it, Roran doesn’t know the girl is in there until they open the door; and it’s implied that the leader thinks he DOES know about her before they smoke the room, that he essentially tried to use his own daughter as a morality shield, but it failed, because Roran didn’t know. In addition to giving Roran heaps of guilt, it also forces him to grapple with the question of what he would have done if he did know the girl was in there—because it may have been an accident this time, but what about next time?