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IIII. L'Emperevr

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So Childermass shuffled the cards and Vinculus took nine and laid them out. Then he turned over the first card. IIII. L'Emperevr. It shewed a king seated upon a throne in the open air with all the customary kingly accoutrements of crown and sceptre. Childermass leaned forward and examined it.

"What is it?" asked Vinculus.

"I do not seem to have copied this card very well. I never noticed before. The inking is badly done. The lines are thick and smudged so that the Emperor's hair and robe appear almost black. And someone has left a dirty thumbprint over the eagle. The Emperor should be an older man than this. I have drawn a young man. Are you going to hazard an interpretation?"

"No," said Vinculus and indicated by a contemptuous thrust of his chin that Childermass should turn the next card.

IIII. L'Emperevr.

There was a short silence.

"That is not possible," said Childermass. "There are not two Emperors in this pack. I know there are not."

If anything the king was younger and fiercer than before. His hair and robes were black and the crown upon his head had become a thin band of pale metal. There was no trace of the thumbprint upon the card, but the great bird in the corner was now decidedly black and it had cast off its eagle-like aspects and settled itself into a shape altogether more English: it had become a raven.

Childermass turned over the third card.
IIII. L'Emperevr. And the fourth. IIII. L'Emperevr. By the fifth the number and name of the card had disappeared, but the picture remained the same: a young, dark-haired king at whose feet strutted a great, black bird. Childermass turned over each and every card. He even examined the remainder of the pack, but in his anxiety to see he fumbled and the cards somehow fell everywhere. Upon each card was the same figure with the same pale, unforgiving gaze.

"There!" said Vinculus softly. "That is what you may tell the magician of Hanover-square! That is his past and his present and his future!"

~Chapter 21, Book One of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke

Whew. One of my favorite parts of the book. Anyways, this is my favorite character, John Childermass, with the aformentioned card. Which I badly photoshopped. I'm sorry. And "the inking is badly done", hahaha.

Childermass isn't supposed to have that scar yet, but I won't tell you how he gets it. I wasn't going to draw it initally, but since he's not supposed to be the best-looking of men I decided to give it a go, and it stuck. I put it on the correct side too, thank goodness. That card he's holding is proof I've watched too much Shaman King and other cartoons with Chinese talisman paper things. Like Issei from Giant Robo! anyway. I gave him hairy hands. Why? No reason. To make him less bishie-like! Fangirls don't like hairy guys. At least I hope not.

I messed up on the coat as well, particularly his left sleeve. Apparently watching Immortal Beloved didn't quite help enough.

This description is too long now, so I'll stop.

EDIT: Added color to Childermass, thanks to 's suggestion.

Brush and ink on drawing paper, photoshop 7.

This image (c) ME, do NOT use without permission.
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Milarcha's avatar
Nice work! :D
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