Candlelight Sonata: Repentance

Sharpie and Prismacolor Marker on 14"x17" Bristol. Completed February 10, 2009.

Fanart for fanfiction called "Candlelight" by Gecko Osco on Fanfiction.net.

"Candlelight" recounts the story of the old Norwegian tale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon," in tandem with the cast from Gundam Wing. The plot focuses around trust and betrayal, and the repentance that follows. In the Norwegian folktale, a young woman betrothed to a Prince, entangled in a curse, betrays the Prince as he comes to her one night. The Prince, having been transformed into a White Bear during the day, can not show his face to the woman at night for the length of one full year. Incited by the distrustful words of her mother, the woman lights a candle one night, illuminating the Prince's face. For her act of betrayal the Prince is forced to live in the castle that lies east of the sun and west of the moon, doomed to marry the Troll Princess. The young woman begins her repentant search for the Prince, asking many where such a castle would be. Finally, after seeking the advice from three old women, and three of the four Great Winds, the woman arrives before the North Wind, who is able to blow her to where the Prince is behind held. Devising a plan, after the Troll Princess' ploys to keep the two apart, the Prince announces that he will only marry the one who can wash the three spots of wax from his shirt that the young woman had dripped upon him the night of her betrayal. The trolls, being crude and selfish, can not wash the stains away. When the young woman tries, the shirt becomes white as snow. The two are married and remain happily so to the end of their days.

Featuring Quatre as the one betrothed to the cursed Prince, he takes up the left portion of the piece looking right towards the castle that lies east of the sun and west of the moon. In his hands, he holds the wooden staff that the spirit of Sandrock gave him to keep track of time, as he only has a certain amount of time to find Trowa, the Prince, before he is doomed to marry Dorothy, the Troll Princess. When all the small blossoms on the staff fall off, Quatre and Trowa’s time have run out. Around his neck is the small pendent Sandrock gave him to help harness his empathic abilities. I used artistic license to connect this more thoroughly with Trowa and drew a bear’s face somewhat visibly on the front. Upon his shoulder sits Nix, Gecko Osco’s original character. He is a magical Desert Cat, whose fur shifts from copper to silver and whose eyes are a swirling midnight blue. Nix acts as a guide for Quatre as he searches for Trowa. Along the way, Quatre is aided by Heero and the elf Duo, finding themselves caught up in a rather treacherous plot to ruin all of Fey, the magical lands where they live. In the four corners, I tried to further connect Candlelight and the folktale by creating personifications of the four Great Winds from the old Norwegian version. Each Wind faces inward, blowing Quatre along as he searches for Trowa. The top right corner houses the North Wind, strongest of all the winds. To indicate this, I tried to make him older than each of his four brothers. In the bottom right, the East Wind, the bottom left, the West Wind, and the top left, the South Wind. This was the order the young woman followed in the Norwegian folktale to reach the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. The designs around the edges of the picture are meant to feel somewhat Middle Eastern, as Quatre is – obviously – of Arabic decent, as alluded to in the anime series. Even if they did not come across as strictly of Middle Eastern motif, then they at least serve to pull the attention into the center of the piece while still adding interest to the space surrounding the main subject, Quatre.