Secret

So since you said I can still take a request and you said you kinda know about this show, how about Zee Zatara bonding with her dad? Maybe something with cooking and/or magic?

They're practicing magic and making blueberry pancakes at the same time!

Hark! Today is the time for true celebration! For it is the anniversary of the birth of the world's most powerful, darkest, (and hammiest) hero!

Happy birthday Owain!

@saraahsapphire Was the one who came up with the Original AU idea, and it was so cute I just had to draw it. After we re-watched “Realm Of The Jaquins” together she said: “What if Victor and Carla became friends with Marimonda?” To which I replied “YES!” and drew this.

They are either plotting to take over the world with plants and friendship, or they have been reformed by this point, who knows?

[Image ID: A pencil crayon and ink drawing of the above-mentioned characters from Elena of Avalor. On the left in the background, Victor is relaxing in a giant leaf hammock. Underneath in the foreground there is a large spiral rose vine with two large roses on it. On the right in the foreground, Marimonda is gifting a flower crown to Carla. On the far right there is another large rose vine with two more roses. End ID]

[Uncolored line art under the cut.]

Here's my drawing for the discord weekly challenge of Princess Rebecca, Princess Chloe and Princess Valentina! They're having an ice cream party.

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.

👑 and 🌼 for the eoa ask meme?

👑 - Favorite character?

(I've already answered with my favourite human before so...) My favourite jaquin character is Luna. She's sassy, she's clever, and she has some of the best lines. Her song absolutely rocks. Her arc, though not the biggest one in the show, was enjoyable. Plus her colours and design work really well, you don't normally see pink and orange together if they're not accompanied by other colours, but she really pulled it off. 

🌼 - Favorite episode?

For this one I'm going to go with “The Sceptre Of Night.” I haven't really been keeping track but it's probably the episode I’ve re-watched the most. It's always great to see a team Avalor adventure episode! They were all particularly good in this one, and we got all four main jaquins as well. Mateo’s song is just amazing, one of the best songs in the series. The humour in it is fantastic, all of Fiero and Victor's interactions are just perfection. (Plus I could personally relate to how Victor snuck up on Fiero. I used to do that all the time to my friends, until I realized that I needed to stop that or else I wouldn't have any friends). And I love how the episode showed it's lesson not only with Mateo, but with Victor as well. Both of them were so caught up in trying to find the Sceptre first, more for their own personal reasons than the good of the group’s, that they stepped on the rest of the group's toes and caused major issues. So that was an interesting parallel. Overall a solid episode and my favorite one in that arc.

October can’t come soon enough

Hi A-Lilacsong. Can I tell you just how much I enjoyed “Encarcelado”? I have completely fallen in love with the Delgados and their animals. I also love how Victor had an honest talk with Carla about his relationship with Ash. Yet, even so, he and Carla have no idea just how dark things will get with Ash. And just how dark Ash is.

Thank you so much, I am so happy you liked it!!!! I had a lot of fun writing Albahaca & Nieve. Cute animals for the win! 🦎🐕💖

Yes! I always thought that was something that they needed to talk about. It's just so hard for each of them to talk about their problems with each other since they don't want to make each other feel bad. Plus, he was still holding back a little bit when telling her about it, but at least they covered the main bits.

Oh boy do they ever. Frankly the red flags are there, but Carla is very in denial/hopeful thing will become better. And Victor, despite everything, still cares about Ash enough not to make an effort to leave, and at this point still has a glimmer of hope that things could get better. (We even see how he reached out to give Ash a hug when she was put in the cell in The Magic Within, but she ignored him to just acknowledge Carla. He looks disappointed for a second before he starts talking to Elena and Esteban instead). Which makes her betrayal all the more heartbreaking.

I just think they would get along very well.

[Image ID: A pencil crayon and ink drawing of Carla and Tomiko from Elena of Avalor. Carla is pointing excitedly at a drawing of her that Tomiko drew and is now holding up. End ID]

2021 Elena of Avalor Ship Week Day 6 - Dancing

I drew this a few months ago but only coloured it recently for ship week. Rafictor is one of my favourite crackships for EOA, so it’s essential to post this for shipweek.

[Image ID: A pencil crayon and ink drawing of Victor and Rafa dancing with each other. End ID]