Recently the lens I view through is based on "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. I'm not finished reading it so I won't try and explain it just yet, but I would recommend it to every man and woman, especially in America. I've been reading through old files of mine and today caught myself digging through old sketchbooks and artwork. I would call my younger self contentedly independent, when I wasn't just plain shy that is. But my mind was brimming over with imagination! Days lost in reading fantasy and science fiction, rpg games, world building with Lego's all spilled out into story and art over time.
My mind was ever wrapped up in far off adventures, epic battles, and enchanting beauty. And I found one small reoccurring sketchy art that maybe hasn't captured the great story in my head the most vividly, it was one of the first to capture is at its fullest. I give you the tale of J. Pomegranate, King of the Pomegranates (like the fruit, yes).
Yes, Pomegranates love bagpipes. No this has nothing to do with the story, I just remember thinking "is it even possible to draw a fruit holding bagpipes??" Nothing more.Happier times:
And the world was good, and peaceful. Here, not unlike finding an old photograph in an attic, are four central characters. From left to right are the Princess Sea cucumber, King Pomegranate, Emperor Watermelon, and... a guava if I'm not mistaken. The land prospers under their benign reign and they are loved and followed. Before the dark times... before the Empire...
War comes to the Pomegranates. The king and his allies rally and drive the enemy first to the fringe of the land and then into deep space. Twice more the foe would return in greater strength; each time they would be beaten back by deep sacrifices on the Pomegranates and his loyal friends who, becoming broken and weak in repelling their enemy could never pursue and vanquish them. Until at last we arrive at Act IV: final empire.
As the years bear on the characters, and their strength begins to fade, as they continue to provide for a war weary people, we find them here: resolute and unyielding. While steeling themselves against return of their enemy, they are caught off guard from an unexpected intruder. Relentless and malicious, the new enemy was not here to settle an ancient offense or to reclaim land and power, it was here too destroy...
I had never considered at what point in the story this last image was meant to be. It could be after a battle, or before one. It could be on returning to a burnt kingdom. Or while preparing for an inevitable defeat at the hand of powerful forces. The king, seeming alone and desperately tired, is a man at the breaking. When forces crush in from all sides and he wonders whether he can take one step more as he holds a banner like an old mans staff, facing the lengthening shadow of... himself? His people? His family and friends? And he is alone within himself as well, wrestling the demons of his life and facing the question and charge laid upon all men... and what answer will he find? What actions will follow by his hand?
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