#Arengar Hopebringer

[the-blazing-light]

Some random Arengar facts I've kinda just. Accumulated and I need to throw them Somewhere jdfhgjhdfg

Arengar is, a lot more unhinged at times than a lot of people expect this big, serious charr with a severe case of resting bitch face to be. He can be quite reckless and is actually extremely curious, curiosity might've killed the cat but it didn't kill this charr yet. He is also willing to eat, pretty much anything. Not something surprising given he's the commander but when this 8 feet tall charr you've come to see as extremely serious and reasonable just completely devours weird-smelling soup some creepy lady in the swamp gave to him with absolutely no second thought and asks if she has more you start getting concerned.

To expand on the first one, Arengar's also got an utterly deadpan, sarcastic sense of humour. Half the time he delivers his jokes in a way that makes people question whether he's actually serious or not. Canach actually gets Arengar's sense of humour very well and appreciates it a lot.

One thing Arengar learned in Elona is that he absolutely loves coffee. That said his way of consuming coffee is definitely. Very Charr because what he does is mix like ten shots of espresso and down them all at once.

#it's really not dfjhhjgdf any important info but just some fun little facts about Arengar #because yeah he's a big serious cat on the surface #but when you spend a little more time with him you realise that. he's actually kinda unhinged jhdfgjhdfg #Arengar Hopebringer

[evilpol]

"Justice, Courage and Resolve carry me forward!"

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #eyyy here it is #basically I just had a random thought that with some stretching each of guardian's elite specs can be 'assigned' to one of their virtues #and then Apollo gave me the idea to make a gifset based on that idea so dhfjghjh #my gif editing skills are very limited but hey it works #dragonhunter was kinda hard to get any good footage of so just got the bow autoattack #cuz most of your skills are traps that aren't that good for gif purposes and wings of resolve mess with your camera so much #and I think the catmander deserves his own little gifset #he is my main it's a treat jdgfjjhk #charr #gw2 guardian #c: Arengar Hopebringer

[the-blazing-light]

"Son of fire and ruin, destinied for conquest, now claims to be a savior?"

Some thoughts about Arengar that have been cooking in my head for a while, and about the importance of blood for charr in general.

Blood and family is a big theme in Arengar's story, because even though charr parents don't participate in raising their children and we're told that, to quote Bangar, "charr don't have sons", it's shown time and time again that your lineage matters quite a lot and reflects the way you're treated and seen in your legion: an entire chapter of personal story for charr being entirely dedicated to who your father is/was, despite him not participating in your upbringing, you're still the one on whose shoulders it falls, in some cases, to respond to your father's wrongdoings or even kill your father if you choose that option during one of the possible story missions. Ryland's entire conflict is trying to split away from who his parents are, to do something worthwhile himself instead of just living in the shadow of his parents' big names and achievements. And in another case, you can find a statue of charr called Ferro the Butcher in the Black Citadel, father of one of Iron's tribunes, Bhuer Goreblade, who was obsessed with the 'tainted legacy' of his flame shaman grandsire, and after Bhuer was born has volounteered to answer for the crimes of his ancestor so that Bhuer doesn't have to face the same predjudice as him. So while charr don't raise their children, lineage matters a lot to them, even going as far as generations back.

And Arengar's lineage is nothing to scoff at. Grandcub of the Blood Legion imperator, son of a respected Blood warrior who'd fought viciously and became known for her ferocity during the siege of Ebonhawke, he's had a lot to live up to since the day he was born.

He was born to become a model soldier of his legion, heavy expectations of his blood always weighing down on his shoulders. His lineage is that of duality, as while his mother's side of the family are respected, well-known Blood warriors, his father is an ex-Flame shaman, who caused quite a stir when Maja, Arengar's mother, took him into her warband, placing the trust into a shaman who'd turned his back on Flame Legion and claimed to want vengeance on his former comrades. That trust seemed to pay off, as Scorchface, a nickname he'd gotten due to the burn scarring on his head along with black markings on his muzzle, became a loyal and invaluable part of her warband and later on, her lover, resulting in Arengar being born.

So since his birth Arengar had to contend with two very conflicting legacies: that of a renowned, respected warrior, pride of her Legion and her father, the Imperator, and that of a flame shaman seen as dangerous even after proving time and time again his newfound loyalty to Maja, her warband and her legion. Notably though, his loyalties were specifically to her, not to the Blood legion. To the warband and its leader who took him in and trusted him while the rest of the legion saw him as a danger to them and a tratior.

Despite that, Arengar held a lot of pride in his blood, it is reflected even in Arengar's fighting style: being a guardian he combines the martial prowess of a warrior while wielding searing flame, his father's shaman legacy. And even despite his father's reputation, Arengar was still seen as a progidal son, someone with a lot ahead of him, someone destinied to reach great heights within Blood Legion, and his performance in the Fahrar and eagerness to become the best soldier his legion has ever seen has only cemented that. A born conqueror, one to bring glory to the Blood Legion and he intended to do just so.

That is, until an accident and a series of bad decisions led to his warband dying, Arengar being left a sole survivor, a gladium. Still young at the time, filled with ambitions that have been shattered before his eyes and dealing with the pain of losing his warband, becoming a gladium, returning to his legion as a disgraced sole survivor felt like a fate worse than death. Scared, pained and still young, Arengar couldn't find it in him to go back to his legion and face the tribunal, the progidal son of Blood Legion now being a member of the lowest caste, a gladium, the disgraced sole survivor of his warband.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #it's unfinished but eh fuckit #I've had it in my drafts for ages and idk how to finish it proper so hdjdjf good enough #charr #Arengar Hopebringer

[the-blazing-light]

Pride month is just around the corner so I'm blasting you with transgender cat

#him my boy my son my little meow meow #I actually really enjoyed combining markers with pencils hdjdhdj #even if it's just a sketch #Arengar's a trans man and so am I #he's winning at Gender tbh #gw2 #guild wars 2 #Arengar Hopebringer #charr

[the-blazing-light]

"Bring 'em to justice!"

Love the willbender animations, even though they're really hard to screenshot :')

#I've been thinking about Arengar as a willbender a lot lately tbh #all the movement and jumping and rushing forward #I blame spiderverse tbh I'm still not over that movie and the way Miguel was animated in particular #that's definitely how I imagine Arengar moving as a willbender: a sleek and powerful wild beast #also reminds me of the time I did Joko fight on Arengar as a willbender #and it was very appropriate to chase him around and teleport to him while yelling FACE THE CONSEQUENCES or JUSTICE PREVAILS #gw2 #guild wars 2 #charr #Arengar Hopebringer

[the-blazing-light]

The Hero Covered in Gold

Bit of an experimental painting of Arengar as a tribute of sorts to the ending of the elder dragons plotline. Mixed some inks, watercolor, gouache and acrylics in there for details and I did have fun with that

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #charr #my art #traditional art #Arengar Hopebringer

[the-blazing-light]

Arengar's two canonical mounts: his raptor, Aria, and his skyscale Caesar Big mounts for the big boy

#thank you Apollo for getting me the dreadnought raptor ;w; #it's so good for Arengar hfghjfdg he deserves the chunky mounts #fun fact #when he arrived to Amnoon the raptor farmers had to find the biggest draft raptor they could just so Arengar could ride it djfhghjdfg #because most raptors. really aren't charr-sized #gw2 #guild wars 2 #charr #Arengar Hopebringer

[the-blazing-light]

he's Polite

#jhdfgjh I went to that instance for ref pics #cuz I really love the stance that charr have with the teacup #that's the posture Arengar's supposed to have at all times canonically #instead of the usual charr slouch #gw2 #guild wars 2 #Arengar Hopebringer

[the-blazing-light]

This was a questionable affair to begin with and then Arengar shoves his whole face into the plate eating like a feral beast out of social awkwardness. It makes everything Worse. Yao has to sit and watch trying to pretend they're fine. They are not

#anyway I loved the new episode overall jhdfsgjhg #that last istance murdered me #this was the most awkward evening in Yao's life and Arengar isn't doing much better #they've just been. sitting there watching Taimi and Rama flirt with Gorrik and Min and giving them awkward thumbsup #Arengar Hopebringer #gw2 #gw2 spoilers #eod spoilers #guild wars 2 #charr

[the-blazing-light]

How about, rank characters from dexterity to strength as in what they use for combat maybe note a specific trait of dexterity/strength for some characters

I ain't gonna do all characters cuz that's dfhjgjh a lot of 'em to get down to but I'll throw in some that I think deserve a shoutout in that sense but dfjghjh that's gonna be a long one anyway

To no one's surprise, Arengar is extremely physically strong, and being Blood Legion born and raised, yeah he prefers to approach fights with brute force of muscle and magic rather than in any dexterous or stealthy way, and being a heavy-armored, 8 feet tall charr makes trying to be agile or sneaky hard to begin with, him preferring to block hits with aegis and other guardian spells or just straight-up take 'em as opposed to dodging them. All that to say, not that he can't fight with strategy and intelligence put into it, but he certainly prefers just a plain, head-on approach 90% of the time, as for a charr of his particular skillset the alternatives are usually a waste of time

Kaia is yet another meat wall of a charr. She's extremely strong and durable, as expected of a warrior, and is even more hard-headed and straightforward than Arengar is. Being a warrior, she can't really protect her friends with any sorta spells, instead using her own body as a shield, able to take the punishment and give it back to the enemy twice as hard. Additionally, she's a spellbreaker, with her approach to it involving literally throwing whatever magic her enemies tossed at her right back in their face, so a lot of the time getting hit is her battle tactic. Get hit, shrug it off, toss it back and pummel your opponent with a hammer until it's done.

Alistair on the other hand really isn't physically strong nor durable. He's an agile, quick mesmer, who can't really take hits but if he plays his cards right, he doesn't in the first place. Confusing his enemies, teleporting around constantly, staying away from the opponent and cloaking himself with mesmer magic is core of his fighting style, with the way he fights it's almost a dance: graceful, fast and quite deadly.

Now Arren's a perfect combination of the two. He's very short, but stocky, quick and unexpectedly strong. His hits pack a punch but also being a thief he's extremely hard to catch and pin down, which he uses to his advantage.

Now Aela is on the other side where she's surprisingly agile. She's a heavy-armored soldier, and yet she's extremely lean and fast, dashing and teleporting around, delivering quick, deadly strikes, cutting down the enemy before they can even strike back. Her and Arren actually share a very similar fighting style, being trained together in Ash Legion, but both adapted it to suit better their professions, thief and guardian respectively.

Lani's just another massive, bulky brick wall that swings around a hammer that's twice as big as some humans. Not much to say here, he's not known for being good at strategy or... Some would say thinking in general, but he sure can handle himself in a fight, be it an all-out war effort or just another bar brawl.

Zemzus is interesting, because he's your typical run of the mill scholar with athleticism of a wet noodle, but he's also an extremely powerful reaper necromancer. While he's not powerful physically per say, he more than makes up for it with his magic, which allows him to just rely on sheer brute force of it.

#thank you for the ask! #that was actually quite fun to think about jhdfghj #also it's like 6 am so if my writing makes little sense that's why #now for tagging all those cats #Arengar Hopebringer #Kaia Ardentheart #Alistair Shredsteel #Arren Sharpclaw #Aela Sharpblade #Lani Pathmaker #Zemzus

[the-blazing-light]

🖊 FOR ARENGAR (@commanderhorncleaver)

HDJFHFJT OKAY sorry it took forever to answer but I finally have something I wanna ramble about, which is really a part of a larger theme with Arengar: how despite all his attempts to appear as a perfect Commander he's actually a deeply flawed person, far from that golden facade he tries to maintain, be it not out of any malicious intent but rather to give people that hope they need, an idol they can believe in and follow to keep them going, fighting the fight that needs to be fought.

Arengar's stubborn, hard-headed and short-tempered, he's got a very firm view of what is right and wrong and is quick to get annoyed with people and draw conclusions. He can be quite harsh when it comes to it and has a tendency to overlook other people's feelings at times, in part due to his own diffictulty with emotions and understanding those of other people. Despite that he's also got an unintentional bias towards certain people, i.e. him forgiving a lot of things Rytlock did for a long time, things he wouldn't forgive anyone else, because he's still got that deep-running respect towards him as a Blood Legion Tribune, only finally losing his temper with Rytlock throughout Icebrood Saga, which was a bad time for Arengar in a lot of other ways.

So all that, combined with his intent to appear as the perfect pact commander everyone wants to see causes him a lot of stress, because at the end of the day, he's just a charr. He can't be perfect, no matter how hard he tries, and that glowing golden image of a hero he himself built is weighting down on him every day, every time he makes a mistake, or snaps, or feels bad or down, anything, well, that makes him a person and not just a symbol. That causes Arengar to repress his emotions and trauma heavily, after all, no one wants to see The Commander mop around, they expect him to always be ready to jump into action, to fight and lead, an approach that causes Arengar fall down hard after Icebrood, when all the pain and emotions get too much to hold down.

#Arengar Hopebringer #idk just in general I love talking about it cuz Arengar's supposed to appear as perfect Commander #a hero and a symbol #but once you look down a little he's a deeply flawed and traumatised man doing his best #taking on the weight of the world in the best way he can

[the-blazing-light]

1, 3, 16, 23, 25 for Arengar! (@commanderhorncleaver)

Thank you for the ask! ;w;

1. What memory would your OC rather just forget?

"We're charr. We don't do regret. We make choices, and we own them. Good or bad. We win, we take the glory; we lose, we take the shame."

This quote from Bangar is actually one of my favorite ones in the entire game and the one I mention a lot in regards to Arengar, since he's definitely got the same point of view. He doesn't really agonize over his choices, even if they were bad, he just takes it where he left off and tries to fix what happened, intent on learning from his mistakes this time. Point being, he doesn't really have memories he'd want to forget, good or bad, happy or painful, he feels like all of them constitute who he is now, even if it hurts to remember it's still important to him all the same.

3. What is your OC's fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

One of the main things about Arengar is that he's stubborn, which is both his strength and a fatal flaw, and he's slowly learning to recognize it. He's rigid, if he picked a path to go down he will follow it to the bitter end and is extremely hard to convince otherwise or make some adjustments to his plan, he dislikes change and will stubbornly follow the directive he set for himself despite all odds. It showed the best in his relationship with Aurene which was very rocky, it took a lot of time for Arengar to accept Aurene as an ally and become her champion, instead of treating her like a ticking bomb that can go off at any second: for someone who made it his life duty killing dragons and protecting Tyria of them, the idea of having to now not only stop doing that but also raise and nurture one was not easy to accept to say the least. This is also a reason why initially he empatizes a lot with Bangar and general distrust of legions' to Aurene, having to fight beside the granddaughter of Kralkatorrik, dragon that branded swaths of his homeland took him a lot of time and development to adjust to.

16. What is your OC's pain tolerance like?

As it might be expected from a Blood Legion charr, pretty high. Arengar's been a frontline soldier his entire life, at some point you just learn to accept pain as a part of it and push through it, even to an extent that left him with permanent injuries.

23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

More or less any negative emotion that ain't anger, growing up wanting to be a legion soldier worthy of respect, Arengar got a tendency of repressing emotions, pushing all his fears, pains and concerns down until it all bursts open, and down the line with becoming the Commander he couldn't let himself get down and process his grief and sadness either, feeling responsible for giving people that image of a perfect Commander leading them into battle, someone always confident and ready to take on any challenge, be a pillar of stability and courage, which has certainly taken a toll on his mental health. He's got a lot of trouble showing vunerability, asking for help or support instead of letting it all just boil alone.

25. What is your favorite thing about your OC?

Ironically enough, actually his stubbornness as well. His willingness to go against the flow and push against all odds, do absolutely anything he has to in order to do what he thinks is right. He will see what fate has in store for him and for the world and just toss it all aside, fight it until his dying breath, because as long as you're alive you're the only one who can decide your destiny and change it as you see fit.

#hjsdgfjh I am. Mildly falling asleep rn so hope it's at least slightly comprehencible #I went off script so to say for some of those but jhdfgjh I rolled with it #Arengar Hopebringer

[evilpol]

some of the male charr VA lines from the new episode, because I might be biased but m!charr is forever my favorite VA in the game and I saw some people posting the lines so sdjhfgjhdfh

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #gw2 spoilers #eod spoilers #c: Arengar Hopebringer

[evilpol]

My cardinal sin in this game is being a guardian main

#click for quality cuz I edited it and then tumblr just decides to eat the quality as it usually does :^) #I LOVE the spellfire torch btw it's so good for guardian #which sorta related fun fact #Arengar starts out as a power dragonhunter but goes full-on burn guard after killing Balthazar #in part because he gets blasted by Balth magic when Balth dies and goes boom #and Arengar being in the center of that blast results in him absorbing some of the loose magic before Kralk and Aurene consume it #so his guardian flames basically get scarily boosted dhfjgjhdfh #gw2 #guild wars 2 #c: Arengar Hopebringer #charr

[evilpol]

The Blazing Light

A bit of rambling here that I think I mentioned before but dfjhgjhh So Arengar becomes a condition firebrand post PoF, switching from being a power dragonhunter. In part because due to being in the eye of the storm so to say when Balthazar dies and his magic gets released, Arengar gets blasted and absorbs some of loose Balthazar's magic before Aurene and Kralkatorric consume it, so his guardian flames get basically super-charged. What I'm saying is, Zafirah and other humans that used to worship Balthazar definitely just feel, Weird about Arengar's fire after that. It's like it's something so familiar yet coming from a charr. He carries that bit of fire and war inside him now.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #he's my special babygirl and he deserves to be stupid overpowered #and just be goddamn Scary when he goes full-on burn guard mode #charr #c: Arengar Hopebringer

[the-blazing-light]

A, D, R, T for Arengar? (@commanderhorncleaver)

Thank you for the ask! :D

A. What nicknames do they get called?

The only nickname he'd really ever had is just people shortening his name to Aren, which however quickly fell out of use as he met and started working with Arren in the Pact because that'd quickly get very confusing.

D. What was their high school experience like?

For better or worse, Arengar was very much a Blood Legion cub, be it with big hopes for life and a bit of a naive outlook on the world. He got into fights with other cubs a lot, including his own bandmates, pretty much slept through any and all theory-based classes like math or history, finding them boring, running off in search of "adventures" and opportunities to "prove himself" and often got into trouble for disregarding his Primus' orders or biting back at some assignments he didn't like: he was hard to keep in line or force to do anything he didn't want.

R. How tall are they?

I don't actually have exact numbers, but Arengar's very tall, even for a charr. Definitely over 240 cm/8 feet. He also doesn't have that charr slouch, always keeping up a straight back and a perfect posture, so he towers easily over most people around him.

T. What are their favourite foods?

Being a charr, Arengar eats a lot of meat. While he's not picky with food and will eat much of anything, he definitely tends to prefer quite simple dishes: just roast him some beef or chicken and he's going to be happy, anything with a lot of spices or sauces or generally a lot of different ingridiends added just tends to taste odd for him. Not bad but he feels like it's overdoing it and ruining good and simple food.

#sdhgjfg again thank you <3 #also hdgfh I didn't actually intent Arengar and Arren having such similar names it just kinda Happened #but it definitely caused some confusion in first given how people got used to shortening Arengar's name to just Aren #that said Arengar's and Arren's names are pronounced kinda differently #Arengar's name is more of... Eyrengar/Eyren in terms of how I tend to pronounce it #c: Arengar Hopebringer