I Have To Draw A Lot Of Gold And Metal For My Work, But Wasn't Happy With Any Of The Metal Tutorials

Watcher Dad AU that nobody asked for but here it is!

A) Lurien's main business outfit.

B) The Watcher's Crest - symbolizing the City of Tears

C) Lurien with a half-mask. Only wears it at home either alone or surrounded by those he cares about the most.

D) Disguise. Yes. It works. Lurien's knights are baffled that nobody watches the Watcher enough to tell that he walks the same despite wearing different colors and a three-hole mask.

Baby Knight gets adopted! And almost immediate glow-up and grow-up!

Fortis (Latin for "brave, strong") is one very happy baby living in the Watcher's Spire with Daddy. His best friend is Grubby the plushies and isn't he the best?

Very well done analysis of Adaman.

Adaman the Symbol of Time

 p(An Analysis on the character design of Adaman from Pokemon Legends of Arceus and it’s relation to time and art history.)

A lot of the characters form PLA are similar in terms of design. The characters that do not follow the standard hoodies, tunics, guild jumpsuits ,and kimonos have a lot of interesting art history associated with them.  I love Adaman’s design in particular since he is literally a symbol of time. 

Well…isn’t this obvious since he is the Diamond Clan leader and associated with Dialga? Yes, but there is a lot more subtle aspects to his design that link him with a specific form or Japanese Art.  But let’s first look at the obvious references to Dialga .

In Adaman’s design they use a lot of blues and and silver that you can see shared with Dialga.  They also use the Diamond clan symbol that is shaped to look like Dialga’s chest gem repeatedly in the coat and accessories.  Adaman’s coat/jacket is most likely a nod to the Japanese Haori.  It is even tied with a fancy beaded Himo chord to keep it closed. If you look at the shoes you can see in the concept art that even the bottom of them are supposed to look like Dialga’s feet in their regular form and on the top of the shoe like the legendary Pokemon’s face.  All this information is very interesting and nice seeing how the character and the Pokemon are related even thematically.  

However, it’s crossed your mind (even briefly) that Adaman’s design is not directly one to one with Dialga. He isn’t a Dialga gijinka. There are elements and colors that Adaman uses that the legendary Pokemon does not.  We can brush it off as Adaman having a flair and his importance as a Diamond Clan leader to set him apart. But this is where it gets interesting. His outfit is generally just fashionable and we can choose to look at it like that on a surface level.  But if you look deeper you see a more symbolic meaning.

Adaman is Kintsugi . What is that? Kintsugi is a Japanese art technique that repairs pottery using lacquer and gold dust.  Adaman also has similar gold veins running through his clothing.  For someone who is so “put together” looking, why would you intentionally create jagged and uneven elements other than for aesthetic? This is because for my understanding, this is yet another way the character designer chose to express Adaman’s connection to time.

Kintsugi is a beautiful form of art and philosophy.  The idea is not to hide the cracks and flaws, but to turn it into something more beautiful and strong.  It represents the passage of time and a documentation of the harsh conditions in which we pass through. But ultimately it is a celebration of survival and growth.  It is also a metaphor for embracing your flaws and imperfections.

One translation defines the word  kintsugi as golden “golden seams”. So, Adaman is kind of a symbol of kintsugi pottery and philosophy.  The part about this design that confused me the most was his hair since it’s also not standard colored and is quite unique. But I realized that if we are equating him to pottery, the hair might be colored that way to imitate pottery glazes (the stuff they put on ceramics to give it color.)

On another interesting note, Adaman has lots of signs of past injury. We see this with the bandages on his arms and hands, the cut brow which is a remnant of injury and survival, and then the very intentional jagged gold claw marks on his back.  The back gold lines are sharp looking and contrast with the rest of the designs which is fluid and rounded.  It’s bringing attention to the marks.

Image sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

We can interpret a lot from this design. It also raises many questions. The jagged golden marks and Adaman’s bandaged arms implies that he has been “damaged” or “broken” in some sense. This could be taken literally or symbolically. We don’t know what happened to him.  Maybe he was attacked by an alpha Pokemon and survived a severe injury that he now incorporates into this aesthetic as a way to show that he was able to come back from that.  Or maybe it’s referring to his leadership as a young Diamond Clan leader and the mistakes he made and had to learn from. 

So in conclusion. From what I can understand , if we were to wrap up all the motifs, Adaman’s design ultimately seems to just represent a passage of time. Breakage and repair are just proof of time passing and represent history and life. And I think that is really cool.  

These are all my speculations and none of it is canon you can disagree if you want. These are just things I have observed and made note of that I believe makes the character far more interesting and fleshed out.  There is a lot of deep and meaningful things you can pull from this if you want to expound further through fanart and fanfic.  

EDITS/NOTES:

So a lot of people asked if the arm and hand wraps are for fighting. They aren’t. In every form of fighting and martial arts that involves wrapping(taping) your knuckles, you wrap between each finger and around your knuckles several times to cushion them.  You do their for wrist stability, prevent injury, and joint restriction.  Failing to wrap your hands correctly will result in fractures, broken fingers and knuckles, and metal carpet boss.  Not only are Adaman’s knuckles exposed when he clenches his fists, there is no wrapping supporting his wrists on the left hand.  If he is wrapping them to fight, he is doing a very bad job at it.

I did research on this before writing the initial post and came to this conclusion, but I guess I’ll add it now for those that had questions.

Another interesting note is that the Diamond Clan symbol also looks like a stylized version of the characters for gold.  This same character also does appear in the work kintsugi.

Adaman’s name is interesting too since it’s not really a common name.  In fact, it seems to be a play on word “adamant” which usually refers to someone who is not willing to change their mind or opinion.  HOWEVER , Adamant is an archaic diamond found in Greek/Roman mythology.  It is a bit of a legendary diamond of sorts. The name is derived from the Greek word for diamond. “adámas”.

If you remember, in the Diamond and Pearl games you can use the “Adamant Orb” to increase the dragon/steel type moves of Dialga by 20% if they hold it. In Pokemon Legends Arceus you can get the “Adament Crystal from Adaman.  This can be used to switch Dialga between Origin and normal form.  

Also random interesting thought. The diamond clan settlement is located in the crimson mirelands. Out of the different areas, this one has the most ideal conditions to create pottery clay next to bodies of water (Lake valor) , the scarlet bog, and the mountainous areas surrounding the settlement. Very similar to the Mashiko and Hagi pottery villages in japan.

My take on what Lurien the Watcher is:

Okay, if you're new to the Hollow Knight fandom, time for me to introduce to an ongoing debate-> people have no clue what kind of bug Lurien the Watcher is. Concerning his fellow two Dreamers are not bugs (Herrah is a spider thank you and how did Monomon the JELLYFISH get into Hallownest!?!)

Anyways, people debate on what kind of bug Lurien is. Is he secretly a moth? (Oh the drama!) A dragonfly (that looks cool!) or maybe he is void! Many, including myself, say that Lurien is most likely a butterfly. They never mention what KIND of butterfly he could be...

So what if...

Lurien is a Blue Morpho butterfly?

First of all, Blue Morphos are blue, keeping in with Lurien's theme.

Second, Blue Morphos are one of the largest butterflies in the world with a wingspan of 5 to 8 inches! Which allows Lurien to be terribly tall, but not the tallest bug in Hallownest (which is true).

Third and finally, Blue Morphos have an interesting defense mechanism against predators: two different wing patterns. The back is blue (incredibly easy to spot) but the front (seen when the wings are closed) are brown with many pairs of "eyes", spooking predators into leaving them alone. And who in Hallownest has the reputation of seeing everything???

Also, cool fact, the blue on the Blue Morphos' wings are called by a light reflection. Combine that with the dark brown and suddenly the butterfly seems to disappear and reappear while flying.

There are so many more facts that I could share, such as Blue Morphos living longer than most butterflies or the fact that they go to sleep in caves and high trees so no one catches them. But this seems to be getting rather long. 😅

Oh this caused a pause because I'm still writing fics with these characters.

1. Yes they have to fight, 2. Tell me who’s fighting who in the tags! (I’ll add the most ridiculous combos in a reblog)

Perfectly NOT Fine: Chapter 2

BLURB:

Instead of Deepnest, the Knight went up through the City of Tears to escape. What would happen but being found and adopted by none other than the Watcher himself. But after the terrible discovery that the adopted has a twin in the White Palace, Lurien has only one desire-get HOME NOW.

SCRIPT: I have no clue how I left the Palace free, when I was shaking in my knees.

I hurried home, silently begging that my worst fears were not true. Certain members of our household would have preferred I was not so silent.

There, in all your imperfections and bedhair, you were perfectly fine. But Nothing was Perfectly Fine.

COVER:

https://www.tumblr.com/violetdawn001/738375072551682048/part-1-prologue?source=share

PREVIOUS CHAPTER:

https://www.tumblr.com/violetdawn001/739098346305781760/perfectly-not-fine-chapter-one?source=share

NEXT CHAPTER:

https://www.tumblr.com/violetdawn001/743988423774371840/perfectly-not-fine-chapter-3?source=share

Thank you all for reading and making it this far. Any form of support would be greatly appreciated.

Editing my Dreamers' Houses essay and my goodness, it made me realize how much fight is still left in the Dreamers.

Herrah is all spent, only thinking about her daughter. Unfortunately, there isn't anyone else except Midwife in the Distant Village.

Why?

All the Weavers decided that being Infected, losing your mind while your body attacks anything that moves, was worse than literal slavery. Only those most devoted to Herrah remained...and all of them got infected.

Monomon has no fight...except to argue with Lurien. But have you considered that she has nothing left to fight for?

There is literally NO ONE in her Archives except her infected Uummu, Uomas, and Oomas. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER STUDENTS IS DEAD BEFORE THE GAME EVEN STARTED. Except Quirrel. Quirrel whom she calls back to finally rest.

Lurien has the most fight...and yes, the Spire doesn't have a single known person still themselves in the Infection. But what about Lurien's whole City?

Yes, yes, the noble side is completely Infected and the Soul Master kidnapped and drained more than half of the citizens belonging to the left side of the City, BUT there are still free people!

The Nailsmith! Eternal Emilitia! Even Lemm, a newcomer to his City! And goodness, the Collector! And grubbies. Can't forget the grubs.

If you go down a bit further, then there's Orgrim, Tuk, and the Fluke Hermit!

Lurien still has people! People with Names! Hopes! And Dreams free from the Radiance!

And if you expand Lurien's care from the City to Hallownest (which isn't a stretch considering how Lurien is so patriotic for his kingdom) then every free bug in Hallownest is his too.

Now here's a question, does Lurien still care about his butler who is Infected? About every single of his servants and friends under the Radiance's spell? If so, what about every captured citizen of Hallownest?

If so, then Lurien is fighting for them too, just like we do for Myla. Fighting and Hoping against Hope itself that they all can be saved one day.

This came as no surprise to me. What knocked me out was realizing that Monomon's efforts were for nothing. Becoming a Dreamer for her students and keep Hallownest united only for everyone to die anyway??? No wonder she was done.

Original

PLEASE!

Someone make a Hollow Knight mod where the Dreamers appear in Godhome just so Monomon can test the theory whether or not the Radience is flammable!

You don't even have to use a bottle, you can have her launch balls of explosives! Like the Ooma cores!

Based on an inside joke in @toldentops Discord. She can and WILL light the Radiance on fire 

"Nice characters are boring" to YOU. I love characters who no matter what, will always have genuine love for humanity in their heart. Characters who dance and laugh and sing with sincerity. Characters who believe in others, and are willing to extend a helping hand to people when no one gave them the same luxury. Characters who have gone through so much but believe, no matter what, that humanity and life is something beautiful and worth protecting

Oh this happened to me recently.

I want to write a fanfic about a guy going dancing. Okay, I need a festival. What kind of festival could work with an underground kingdom? Okay, which festival could I pull off? Ooh! This one works well with harvest season-oh! The traditions and-oh now I have more headcanons on how the economics work in the City of Tears-

Wait-what do you mean I haven't finished writing the burb to the story yet, much less the outline?

Writing fics is hilarious- what do you mean I have to Google diagrams of stairs now??