OOC: Say Hi to Lohengrin, Everybody!
Jul. 2nd, 2012 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
knightoftheswanFor those who have been following the occasional backroom post and Panfandom Sandbox, this isn't news, but I have been playing Lohengrin. Who is Lohengrin, you may ask? He's the knight, Siegfried's knight, in The Prince and the Raven.
So, just watching the anime doesn't really give the knight much backstory. Except dying. They made sure we knew about that. And to be honest, I had no intention to pick up the knight as a character. At least, until I kept running into little things. A short fanfic about the knight and Princess Tutu here, a person playing Princess Tutu without also playing Ahiru/Duck there, and eventually a page about the knight's sword, calling it the Sword of Lohengrin. So I started reading about Lohengrin, both the character in Arthurian legend himself and the opera by Wagner. The more I read, the more things began clicking together. Before I knew it, his backstory, his relationships, and his personality were all writing themselves.
Here's the bare bones on Lohengrin as I've played him so far:
Lohengrin is a knight from a family of knights who serve Siegfried's family. His loyalty to Siegfried is based both on duty and friendship. The prince's kindness, honesty, and willingness to act on those encourage and inspire Lohengrin to do the same. Even if it means keeping track of his sometimes-foolish liege. (Should he learn of the prince shattering his heart, the knight isn't going to be all that pleased.)
During his service, Lohengrin is sent to a neighboring kingdom in a swan-drawn chariot to defend an innocent girl, King Heinrich's niece Lady Elsa. Elsa has been accused of murdering the duke's son, her brother Gottfried. They suspect the Raven, so Lohengrin's identity is to remain secret there lest he be traced back to Siegfried. During his time there, he's known as the Knight of the Swan.
Just as in the opera, he and Elsa fall in love. That deep abiding opera love where you just know someone's gonna die tragically. And sure enough, they get married. And on their wedding night, Elsa asks Lohengrin who he is. This prompts three things: an attack from the Raven's cohorts, the return of Gottfried who has been transfigured into a swan, and the return of the swan-drawn chariot which brought Lohengrin there in the first place. All is revealed in the morning and Lohengrin departs, leaving Elsa his sword to give to Gottfried. Elsa is so distraught that she falls over dead before he's even out of sight.
Learning that he's now a widower doesn't do anything to lift Lohengrin's spirits and he spends a considerable amount of time in mourning. It's during this time that he properly meets the girl that's caught Siegfried's eye, Princess Tutu. They form an odd alliance and friendship, which eventually turns into an unrequited love/hate thing on Lohengrin's side, though he doesn't fully realize the love part until moments before his death at the claws of the Raven.
Physically, Lohengrin looks very much like Fakir, enough for a person to mistake one for the other or guess they were family. Except Lohengrin is naturally missing that particular birthmark across his chest. Age-wise, well, I'm playing by story book rules on that. He is a young, handsome man and looks it, no matter how many years have passed. He is physically fit and able to defeat multiple foes with his sword. Unlike Siegfried and Tutu, he does not know ballet.
I am strongly considering apping Lohengrin to Milliways.
So I wanted to talk to you guys, see what you thought, see who's still active, all that good jazz. I guess read over my stuff, give some feedback. These entries are what I'd call character doodles, ideas I had in no particular chronological order that have been fleshed out a bit. I'm malleable on details. Feel free to leave comments here or hit me up via AIM (auradagamer) or email (auralie [at] gmail [dot] com) for questions, concerns, ideas, funtimes!
So, just watching the anime doesn't really give the knight much backstory. Except dying. They made sure we knew about that. And to be honest, I had no intention to pick up the knight as a character. At least, until I kept running into little things. A short fanfic about the knight and Princess Tutu here, a person playing Princess Tutu without also playing Ahiru/Duck there, and eventually a page about the knight's sword, calling it the Sword of Lohengrin. So I started reading about Lohengrin, both the character in Arthurian legend himself and the opera by Wagner. The more I read, the more things began clicking together. Before I knew it, his backstory, his relationships, and his personality were all writing themselves.
Here's the bare bones on Lohengrin as I've played him so far:
Lohengrin is a knight from a family of knights who serve Siegfried's family. His loyalty to Siegfried is based both on duty and friendship. The prince's kindness, honesty, and willingness to act on those encourage and inspire Lohengrin to do the same. Even if it means keeping track of his sometimes-foolish liege. (Should he learn of the prince shattering his heart, the knight isn't going to be all that pleased.)
During his service, Lohengrin is sent to a neighboring kingdom in a swan-drawn chariot to defend an innocent girl, King Heinrich's niece Lady Elsa. Elsa has been accused of murdering the duke's son, her brother Gottfried. They suspect the Raven, so Lohengrin's identity is to remain secret there lest he be traced back to Siegfried. During his time there, he's known as the Knight of the Swan.
Just as in the opera, he and Elsa fall in love. That deep abiding opera love where you just know someone's gonna die tragically. And sure enough, they get married. And on their wedding night, Elsa asks Lohengrin who he is. This prompts three things: an attack from the Raven's cohorts, the return of Gottfried who has been transfigured into a swan, and the return of the swan-drawn chariot which brought Lohengrin there in the first place. All is revealed in the morning and Lohengrin departs, leaving Elsa his sword to give to Gottfried. Elsa is so distraught that she falls over dead before he's even out of sight.
Learning that he's now a widower doesn't do anything to lift Lohengrin's spirits and he spends a considerable amount of time in mourning. It's during this time that he properly meets the girl that's caught Siegfried's eye, Princess Tutu. They form an odd alliance and friendship, which eventually turns into an unrequited love/hate thing on Lohengrin's side, though he doesn't fully realize the love part until moments before his death at the claws of the Raven.
Physically, Lohengrin looks very much like Fakir, enough for a person to mistake one for the other or guess they were family. Except Lohengrin is naturally missing that particular birthmark across his chest. Age-wise, well, I'm playing by story book rules on that. He is a young, handsome man and looks it, no matter how many years have passed. He is physically fit and able to defeat multiple foes with his sword. Unlike Siegfried and Tutu, he does not know ballet.
I am strongly considering apping Lohengrin to Milliways.
So I wanted to talk to you guys, see what you thought, see who's still active, all that good jazz. I guess read over my stuff, give some feedback. These entries are what I'd call character doodles, ideas I had in no particular chronological order that have been fleshed out a bit. I'm malleable on details. Feel free to leave comments here or hit me up via AIM (auradagamer) or email (auralie [at] gmail [dot] com) for questions, concerns, ideas, funtimes!
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Date: 2012-07-05 04:17 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-07-06 09:34 pm (UTC)And I couldn't resist using this icon.