Fan Art – Daenlyn Oakhollow by Mouse

As I said I was working on something and it took me awhile to finish, mainly because this was originally a great big file full of Daenlyn doodles and it took all of my will power just to pick out a few to clean up. I plan to pluck a few more from the collective, but at another time.

Here we have Daenlyn Oakhollow as he appears in my game with a few creative liberties. I put him in Hunter Archer Armor: Robin Hood Variant, which is a great armor mod; wonderful in it’s simplicity. Avishi, my Dragonborn, has really taken to this character. When she rescued him from his Thalmor friends she listened to his story, placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and said, “You’re a bit of a scamp, aren’t you? Come along, skulduggery and shenanigans await.”

Avishi and Daenlyn get along very well. He’s smart, charismatic, open-minded, and most importantly a man of action, which are traits she highly values. He seems to spend a lot of time carefully thinking on what to say next, which is good because he gets hilariously lost in his own similes. Daenlyn is also painfully homesick. So much so that Avishi has a bit of it, longing for sweet Masala chai, night blooming jasmine, and the warm embrace of the desert sun. When they aren’t defending the innocent or plotting some great prank against the Thalmor (which rattled Valgus’ nerves something fierce when he was traveling with them) they’re conversing and debating. Most of which having to do with Bosmers and Valenwood, since he’s very vocal about his culture. Topics like “Why fruit should be exempt from the Green Pact” and “Would you eat my corpse if you had the chance?” come up often. Avishi hasn’t gotten a straight answer from Daenlyn on that last one.

I like Bosmers, I think their cultural background is fascinating, however as a race they’ve been given the short end of the stick. They’re the least confrontational, least intimidating of the elven races; they have large eyes and youthful friendly faces. Some think, “That’s great for a bard like Daenlyn!” And they’d be right. However it’s not great for a gambler, which he also is. Seasoned gamblers are naturally suspicious of innocent faces, even when big scary faces are more likely to cheat.

This is the reason I put Daenlyn in this armor. The hood only shows the lower half of his face. This makes it so others have to focus on what he has to say and his teeth, which are rows of saw like pointed death. This is a creative liberty I take with Bosmers; I don’t know if they actually have pointed teeth. However, those teeth are a simple reminder that, “Hey, that race is known for eating meat. People meat.” With Daenlyn’s eyes hidden that means I get to have the pleasure of making his expressions extra cartoony in order to get his emotions across. My favorite is the blushing pout. <3

20 thoughts on “Fan Art – Daenlyn Oakhollow by Mouse

  1. Was gonna wait until Friday (fan art friday) and post everybody’s stuff, but I’ve been real busy, so I’m just gonna spread it out.

    @Mouse
    I just posted what you wrote on the forums and switched out the authors. Since it’s your post, you can edit it as you wish.

  2. Really nice work mouse, I’ve been debating over what armour to give to Danelyn myself. Also it’s news to me that Bosmer are carnivorous and sometimes cannibalistic, I had imagined a totally different meaning to them being nature friendly.

  3. Ha ha, this was funny to see. I refreshed the page and blam! Face full of Daenlyn Oakhollow. I sat here going: “Oh hey Kris posted my– wait a tick it says I posted this! I don’t remember posting this… What did I drink last night that made me forget I posted this?” xD

    @Elen Thank you very much! I’m glad you like my work. x3 Yeah I’d imagine not all Bosmer are strict when it comes to their religious activities, especially those who live outside of Valenwood. You would never notice that they only eat meat when in-game. Doesn’t help that the vanilla eating animation is just pulling out a loaf of bread and cramming it into their face. Despite their carnivorous nature I do get a pretty nice hippy vibe from them; laid back, but not willing to take anyone’s crap. I actually listened to a lot of The Grateful Dead while working on these: Franklin’s Tower, Scarlet Begonias, Ripple, and Hell in a Bucket just to name a few songs.

  4. Mouse, these are lovely! :D Nice expressions, and I love the armor. I tend to just leave the INPC characters in their own gear– mainly out of laziness. (Frankly, I spend too much time trying to figure out what robes to put my Breton mage in. She’s such a clothes horse.)

    I was also out of the loop on the Bosmer diet for a long time. Admittedly I haven’t looked into their lore as much as some of the other races. Nice touch with the nasty pointy teef though. :3

    1. I admit one of my guilty pleasures is playing dress-up with NPCs and the player character. I’m not to interested in sexy armors, or clothing, or even beauty/glamor mods; nothing wrong with them of course, they just aren’t for me, but if I find something that fits lore-like and looks fantastic I go bananas. The poor dears spend a good deal of time standing around in their unmentionables while I swap out gear. xD

      By the by, if you’re looking for an interesting mage armor/robe I suggest Hedge Mage Armor. I actually have Morndas in this armor now, it gave me a real gritty, street smart mercenary feeling while still looking feminine.

      1. I love zerofrost’s stuff, from his raven witch to silver dragon stuff. None of it’s skimpy but damn…it’s sexy in a really detailed and creative way…

        1. Oh yes, I’m familiar with some of Zerofrost’s heavy armors, they are fancy fancy~ Most of the armors are gender specific so it can be a little hard picking which ones go on whom. Heavy armors for females are a hard find, I’ve discovered.

  5. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
    Oh my god oh my god oh my god!
    All of the love!
    This is amazing!
    I love this so much!
    Daenlyn Got some fan art!
    All of my squishiness right now! If I could I would give you the biggest of all hugs!

    1. Yes, but tell us how you really feel, Matt? xD

      I’m very glad you like my work on Daenlyn! It’s been a real pleasure creating these, and anymore in the future. You and Kris make a good team, I hope you guys produce more content together. Personally, I’d love to see Daenlyn get to super follower status, but I know that’d be pushing it. What a work load that would be, eh?

      Ah well, a girl can dream~ <3

      1. He’s getting there at this point.

        A week doesn’t go by where Kris doesn’t send me more lines to record. I love working for him though, it’s very rewarding and a lot of fun.
        Seeing this picture has absolutely made it all worthwhile tenfold too.

        You never know maybe one day Kris will take me on as a writer and I can produce my own follower. (;

        1. Aw~ I’m glad I could make ya feel warm and fuzzy about your work on this mod! I will continue to be supportive and look forward to all the new lines. *quietly hopes for super follower status*

          1. -is sitting quietly for super Argonian follower-

            (;

            -bounces up and down a little in the excited thought-

            c:

  6. Love it!

    Personally, I keep giving him the Barbarian armor from Immersive Armors. :) But this looks awesome on him. I’m going to have to try it.

    1. Immersive Armors is a beast of a mod and I love it. For awhile I had Daenlyn in the Crimson Archer armor, but red just wasn’t his color. And I know “A bosmer? In green armor? Oh how original~” but when you find something this perfect you don’t mess with it. xD The other version of the armor is great too, it’s got a slightly more armored look what with the chain mail under the tunic.

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