I Just Think Francisco And Luisa Are Such A Cute Couple. 

Since we never see him in the show, except for his hat, I have decided to make my own design for Birk Balthazar, Miranda’s first husband!Using what little we know about him from sources outside the show and combining them with my own headcanons, I am really happy with how this all came together.

Since he is Sofia's biological dad, I think she must have inherited her hair colour and texture from him, so I wanted to show that.  Since he is from Freezenberg and is a sailor I thought he should have a big beard and mustache. He is wearing a long coat that he ripped the sleeves off so his sailor tattoos could be seen. On his right arm he has tattoos of an anchor (because he sailed across the ocean to the western kingdoms many times before), a polar bear (his favorite animal, and one of the main animals of his homeland), and one he keeps covered with a scarf Miranda gave him. On his left arm he has a carnation (the flower of Miranda's homeland), and an orca (given to him after he saved a ship from a sea monster as a token of his bravery).

"It's not symmetrical or perfect, but it's beautiful and it's mine"

[Image ID: A watercolour fanart of Isabela Madrigal from Encanto. She is wearing her blue dress with multicolour flowers and pollen on it. She is surrounded by plants and flower petals she has made. End ID]

Hi there! You said you associate some songs with Carla. Well this is the song I associate with her. "Born without a heart" by Faouzia. I just feel like the song fits Carla so well, I don't know why.

Okay I just listened to it and yeah it does give me some Carla vibes as well. Maybe the overall somber yet defiant tone of the song? Or the acknowledgement that nurture rather than birth is a bigger factor in a person's sense of empathy and morality? There's a certain sense of regret and a slight hope of becoming better in the future that the song gives off that would fit with her too.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s been thinking about the ramifications of Victor being a statue for a year. Victor and Ixlan missed out on so much in their own lives and the lives of their loved ones. This will probably take time to process, and they would be abl to empathize with each other in a way that everybody else wouldn’t. I like your idea of Victor and Carla developing relationships with others. For Carla, I think Naomi might be an interesting dynamic. And Elena too.

Oh definitely, I agree. I can only imagine how shocked he must have been when he learned that it hadn't just been days but months since he'd last been conscious. And we don't even know if Ixlan was unconscious the entire time she was locked away or not but she'd most likely been locked away for at least a couple hundred years so that would take some getting used to. Not to mention that Ixlan missed the deaths of all her loved ones too. Well except for the Sunbirds anyway. I guess Elena and the royal family would also be able to empathise but the problem is they do seem to have some tension with them that Victor and Ixlan wouldn't have with each other (seeing as it’s mentioned outside the show that Ixlan is a princess and that means her family used to be the royal family).

Yes, give Carla all the relationships! It would be interesting to see, considering everything, especially the whole spy in the palace thing, because we know how Naomi and Elena can both be quite forgiving so I’m sure they’d become friends, even if it takes a while. Naomi and Carla could make snarky remarks about things to each other, and I imagine that Carla could be a pretty good sparring partner for Elena.

Do you have any stf hcs that you've thought of but haven't had the chance to use/talk about?

I don't know if I have mentioned this one before (bad memory) but you know how Aunt Tilly takes Queen Miranda inside to explain her what being a Protector is about? Well I hc that Queen Miranda straight up lost it during that conversation and gave her a whole mouthful for putting Sofia into so much danger and not seeing anything wrong with making a literal child a Storykeeper/Protector. And of course I also hc that their relationship was quite strained after that conversation.

I made a moodboard of Victor's smile.

[Image ID: A 5x5 collection of pictures of Victor Delgado from Elena of Avalor smiling. The different smiles have various levels of chaotic, smug and happy energy. End ID]

Hi there! I read your post about Egypt and Cleopatra, and now I am really curious about the African Kingdoms you mentioned and was wondering if you could tell us more about them please, they sound really interesting.

Oh, there's SO much I could tell you, and there's so many African kingdoms that have been woefully understudied--and many more aside from the ones I mentioned. They all have their own rich histories, cultures, political intrigue, and it's an actual tragedy that they aren't discussed more. I'm still researching myself, so I'll just review some of my favorite things from each kingdom.

Aksumite/Axumite Empire: Located in modern-day Ethiopia, this empire existed from the 1st to 8th century CE, though its prime was from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE. The Axumites converted to Christianity of their own free will over 1,000 years before colonialism and as a result have ancient churches, some made of stone and carved from the earth itself. They also were the first African kingdom to mint their own coins, and their capital city of Axum had, at its peak, 20,000 people living in it. Also, I love the Dungur palace. Here's a reconstruction of what it looked like:

LOOK AT IT.

Source: x

Kongo: Located in central Africa around modern-day Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries. This kingdom had a rich social hierarchy, apparently had ambassadors to Europe, and some people practiced Catholicism, which led to their own branch of Christianity led by a woman named Beatriz Kimpa Vita in the 1600s who believed she had visions that informed her Jesus actually came from Kongo. Yeah.

Sources: x, x

Loango: A neighbor of Kongo, but one we know much less about due to Kongo having a long, well-documented history of interacting with Europe (see: the ambassadors), and Loango... does not. But we do know they also had a rich social hierarchy, and we have this map of their capital city.

Sources: x, x

Great Zimbabwe: From 1100- 1500, located in modern-day Zimbabwe, this was a city of the Zimbabwe empire that was either used for storing grain or as a royal residence. Either way, the ruins of said city look like this:

Here's a reconstruction:

Sources: x, x, x, x

Ghana/Mali/Songhai: These were three successive empires from West Africa, with Ghana being the first from the 7th to 13th centuries, Mali being the second from the 13th to 16th centuries, and Songhai being the last one from the 15th to 16th centuries. If you learn about a non-Egyptian African civilization at all in school, chances are it's the Ghana empire and its successive empires, and they're most famous for gold, Timbuktu (with its ancient mosques, library, and university), and Mansa Musa.

Sources: x, x, x, x, x

Ashanti/Asante Empire: Located in modern day Ghana, this kingdom lasted from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century. This kingdom is most well-known for its role in the slave trade. The Ashanti had well-built roads and architecture, and a little fun tidbit about them is that, after the introduction of guns, they actually had a minor firearms industry.

Here's their capital, Kumasi:

Source: x, x

Swahili Coastline: The coastline was made up of MANY city-states that saw their prime in the 11th to 15th centuries--including Mombasa, Zanzibar, and Kilwa--that participated in the Indian Ocean trade route, and pottery from as far away as China has been found in these cities. Many of these cities also practiced Islam and had their own mosques. Kilwa is my personal favorite:

These cities were built of stone, but Kilwa's palace, in particular, was built of coral. Its architecture led to the city being described by Ibn Battuta as one of the most beautiful in the world, which is part of why it's so fascinating to me.

Source: x, x

Of course, this barely scratches the surface. There are many more kingdoms all over the continent and a variety from ancient and pre-medieval times that deserve much more love.

And this image doesn't even cover them all!

So yes, ancient and medieval Africa deserve much more love, more research and more hype, and hopefully one day soon they'll get just that.

My first Tumblr Post

Hello fellow users of the internet! I have been waiting to make an account for I long time and now I have one! More posts coming soon!

Here's a commission I recently did for my friend @a-lilacsong

Thank you so much for being the first person to purchase a commission for me! I really appreciate it :)