So I gave Sloth a long, hard look, and made a bunch of changes:
Sloth, Part II.
-Added External ears (indolence, sense driven)
-Changed horn; forward droop implies lack of “get up and go.”
-May be a little too “chickenish.”
-Rumpled skin, as if it just woke up.”
I think that this works better, though part of me is wondering what Sloth would look like if roused (eventually) to anger or aggression, which is appropriate enough, because right after I finished that, I tried working on Wrath, which turned out to be more complex (or at least call for greater complexity) than I initially realized.
Wrath
Wrath (Latin, ira), also known as “rage”, may be described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. Wrath, in its purest form, presents with self-destructiveness, violence, and hate that may provoke feuds that can go on for centuries. Wrath may persist long after the person who did another a grievous wrong is dead. Feelings of anger can manifest in different ways, including impatience, revenge, and vigilantism.
Wrath is the only sin not necessarily associated with selfishness or self-interest, although one can of course be wrathful for selfish reasons, such as jealousy (closely related to the sin of envy). Dante described vengeance as “love of justice perverted to revenge and spite”. In its original form, the sin of anger also encompassed anger pointed internally as well as externally. Thus suicide was deemed as the ultimate, albeit tragic, expression of hatred directed inwardly, a final rejection of God’s gifts.
So the way that I chose to interpret it was that Wrath is all offense, no defense. Not even the implication of scale, and the browridges only serve to make its beady eyes look beadier:
“Wrath
-Horns as big as possible.
-Agressive lean to head
-Tiny facial features- senses not as important; Wrath is physical/emotional.
-Jutting teeth/underbite to imply brute.”
And yeah, in case you noticed, Wrath is the reason that this post is tagged “Rule of Cool.” I was just about done putting the serrations on the serrations of the large horn and I realized that I should probably push the look more. Compared to Lust, Gluttony and the most recent Sloth, Wrath seemed a little tame.
“Wrath
-If I could make the face smaller without makeing the skull appear larger, I would… Otherwise, it pretty much writes itself. The teeth might not even be necessary.”
This was working, but the problem was that in order to fit the horns on the head, I had to make the skull larger, until it began to resemble a rhino’s head. That in and of itself would not have been a problem, but it looked like Wrath had a very large braincase, which is not at all accurate. I mean, it could, and just have a smallish brain swaddled in bone, but I didn’t want to give the implication that there was a lot of grey matter up there.
In hindsight, I should have tried making Wrath more like a bull, also known for being a large, easily provoked animal.
Finally, I pencilled a quick idea for Envy, thinking at first to try and expand on the other sketch from last night, but I didn’t have the mental fortitude to do it. I did manage to egt some notes down which I will apply tomorrow.
“Envy (WIP)
-Smaller than all the others.
-Big eyes
-Small, almost useless-looking teeth
-Small, ragged head fins
-Forked tongue
-No scaling, armor or patterning.”
That’s it for tonight kids; see you tomorrow for more Wrath, Envy and maybe even a little Pride, because that Mayan clock is ticking away.
