Title: Quis Separabit
Artists:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
altocello and amphigoury
Rating: G
Content Notes: Angst. Lots and lots of angst.
Summary: "We will remember them." Merlin goes to the memorial to honor his ghosts.
Artist Notes: Drawn by altocello in GIMP on a digital tablet, lettering done with photoshop by the lovely and amazingamphigoury. Love and the most spine-cracking hugs to amphigoury and alby_mangroves for making me fix the things that needed fixing and for their invaluable assistance in correcting all things anatomical and technical. Any remaining weirdness is totally my (altocello's) fault. Amphigoury gets collaboration credit for being my military touchstone as well as totally kicking ass and taking names at putting the words on the wall and other magical digital manipulations, and for getting me to make this in the first place. I love you guys. <333
For reasons (most of which involved a snarky sense of humor) when we were researching this project Amph and I decided that Merlin, Arthur, and the knights needed to be members of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Cavalry. Aside from the fact that they're Irish (which is a nice nod to Colin's origins), and the name (it was too good to pass up), this unit was involved in WWI pretty much from the first shots until the final moments of the last battle. For a summary of the history of the unit, you can go read the wikipedia article. Add to this the fact that they rode horses (at least for the first bit), and were issued sabers (the closest thing to a broadsword in the 20th century armed forces), and they were essentially 20th century knights; we thought we were pretty set.
Then we read the motto: "Quis Separabit," and died a little, because it's Latin for "Who Shall Separate Us?" Who indeed. And thus I found the easiest title ever, with thanks torocknvaughn for pointing out the obvious. <3
The basics of the canon of the show translated pretty well to this concept. My original sketches included all of the knights, but it became clear pretty quickly that I just didn't have time to render all of them as well as they deserve. So I concentrated on the emotional heart of this, and decided to show Merlin's connection with and separation from the person he loves the most dearly.
Merlin and Arthur are both wearing their regimental badges, though Arthur is in his combat uniform, and Merlin is in his British Legion outfit. As best as I could determine, once retired, British service veterans don't wear their dress uniforms to events; they wear the British Legion's recommended attire, which is a somber colored suit, shirt, tie, and appropriately colored beret with badge. The 4th Royal Irish Dragoons were absorbed by the 7th Royal Dragoons at the end of the Great War, and that combined 4th/7th regiment was then absorbed into the Royal Horseguards. So, given that his regiment technically doesn't exist at all anymore, except historically, tracking down which color beret Merlin would wear was very difficult. In the end, I punted and decided to have him wear the most common color of beret, which is dark blue. The medals on Merlin's jacket are affectionately called Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred, and are the 3 medals that a veteran who served in The Great War would have received. And of course he's wearing the poppy.
The words on the wall are third, fourth, and fifth stanzas of the poem, "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon. It was the first thing I thought of, when Amph first floated the idea of doing a piece for the centenary. And yes, it really is "They shall grow not old," I checked. :D
Visual references for Merlin/Emrys and Arthur were taken from promotional photos released by the BBC and hosted by Merlinskeep. The pose and composition was inspired by "Reflections," by Lee Teter, a heartbreaking piece that Amph pointed out to me.
And last but not least, the emotion in this piece was fueled and focused by listening to the album "The Division Bell" by Pink Floyd on repeat for days on end. It was glorious.
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fanwork: no money made, and only the utmost respect intended.
Also on:
LJ | AO3 | DA | Tumblr
Thanks for looking! Comments are sincerely appreciated!
Artists:
altocello and amphigouryRating: G
Content Notes: Angst. Lots and lots of angst.
Summary: "We will remember them." Merlin goes to the memorial to honor his ghosts.
Artist Notes: Drawn by altocello in GIMP on a digital tablet, lettering done with photoshop by the lovely and amazing
amphigoury. Love and the most spine-cracking hugs to amphigoury and alby_mangroves for making me fix the things that needed fixing and for their invaluable assistance in correcting all things anatomical and technical. Any remaining weirdness is totally my (altocello's) fault. Amphigoury gets collaboration credit for being my military touchstone as well as totally kicking ass and taking names at putting the words on the wall and other magical digital manipulations, and for getting me to make this in the first place. I love you guys. <333For reasons (most of which involved a snarky sense of humor) when we were researching this project Amph and I decided that Merlin, Arthur, and the knights needed to be members of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Cavalry. Aside from the fact that they're Irish (which is a nice nod to Colin's origins), and the name (it was too good to pass up), this unit was involved in WWI pretty much from the first shots until the final moments of the last battle. For a summary of the history of the unit, you can go read the wikipedia article. Add to this the fact that they rode horses (at least for the first bit), and were issued sabers (the closest thing to a broadsword in the 20th century armed forces), and they were essentially 20th century knights; we thought we were pretty set.
Then we read the motto: "Quis Separabit," and died a little, because it's Latin for "Who Shall Separate Us?" Who indeed. And thus I found the easiest title ever, with thanks to
rocknvaughn for pointing out the obvious. <3The basics of the canon of the show translated pretty well to this concept. My original sketches included all of the knights, but it became clear pretty quickly that I just didn't have time to render all of them as well as they deserve. So I concentrated on the emotional heart of this, and decided to show Merlin's connection with and separation from the person he loves the most dearly.
Merlin and Arthur are both wearing their regimental badges, though Arthur is in his combat uniform, and Merlin is in his British Legion outfit. As best as I could determine, once retired, British service veterans don't wear their dress uniforms to events; they wear the British Legion's recommended attire, which is a somber colored suit, shirt, tie, and appropriately colored beret with badge. The 4th Royal Irish Dragoons were absorbed by the 7th Royal Dragoons at the end of the Great War, and that combined 4th/7th regiment was then absorbed into the Royal Horseguards. So, given that his regiment technically doesn't exist at all anymore, except historically, tracking down which color beret Merlin would wear was very difficult. In the end, I punted and decided to have him wear the most common color of beret, which is dark blue. The medals on Merlin's jacket are affectionately called Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred, and are the 3 medals that a veteran who served in The Great War would have received. And of course he's wearing the poppy.
The words on the wall are third, fourth, and fifth stanzas of the poem, "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon. It was the first thing I thought of, when Amph first floated the idea of doing a piece for the centenary. And yes, it really is "They shall grow not old," I checked. :D
Visual references for Merlin/Emrys and Arthur were taken from promotional photos released by the BBC and hosted by Merlinskeep. The pose and composition was inspired by "Reflections," by Lee Teter, a heartbreaking piece that Amph pointed out to me.
And last but not least, the emotion in this piece was fueled and focused by listening to the album "The Division Bell" by Pink Floyd on repeat for days on end. It was glorious.
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fanwork: no money made, and only the utmost respect intended.
Also on:
LJ | AO3 | DA | Tumblr
Thanks for looking! Comments are sincerely appreciated!
