Takhorr

Just FYI, the rocks in this picture are the first large-scale highly detailed ones I've drawn :3

Name Pronunciation

TAH-k(h)or

Height (from ground to shoulder)

1.4m (140.00cm)

The final design of Takhorr. He is the secondary antagonist of Scarred.

More about Takhorr's species, the Nhyrhys, can be found here: [link]

Takhorr's History

Takhorr hatched into a small family of three Nhyrhys, consisting of him, his mother and his father. They lived in an equally small cave near the border of the Khasry Range, chosen specifically for its safe and discreet location.
Unfortunately for all three dragons, this cave was in the path of one of the worst battles to grace the Northern Hemisphere. Mere months after Takhorr hatched, Lankharra was banished to the Khasry Range after a fit of rage caused him to murder his younger brother and threaten his parents. Although most Khasrian inhabitants were wary about the newcomer, Lankharra soon disappeared into oblivion and was not heard of again.
The following year, however, soon showed that Lankharra had actually been very busy. In remarkably little time, the dragon had gathered an army of other outcasts, making up to almost a hundred strong, a large number to the inhabitants. Worse, Lankharra treated each and every one like family, thus enhancing bonds and overall strength.
No-one was absolutely certain why Lankharra staged his attack on the Thurin Rainforest, but what they did know was that no-one was prepared for it and that he nearly won the fight. Takhorr and his family were caught up in the battle and even their cave was not enough to protect them. Forced to flee, Takhorr was quickly separated from his parents and captured by Lankharra's army.
After Lankharra's defeat and withdrawal back to his base deep within the Khasry Range, the army's captures were examined and dealt with as Lankharra saw fit. Most were killed and less than a third were recruited. Takhorr, however, was spared after Lankharra recognized the potential the young dragonling held. He took Takhorr under his wing, caring for and bringing the dragon up as if he was his own. Takhorr soon forgot about his parents and grew up to see the world from Lankharra's point of view.
Twenty years down the line and Takhorr fails to remember his parents clearly and doesn't care whether they're alive or dead, now viewing Lankharra as a foster father and the dragon who saved his life after his parents 'abandoned' him. He is rivals with Lankharra's main assassin Chassiro, mostly due to the fact Chassiro does not want to work in Lankharra's favour, while Takhorr thinks the exact opposite. Takhorr ranks as Lankharra's Second-in-Command and also takes the night-watch duty every so often.

The Birth of a Character
Two years ago in '10 was when I really started seriously working on a story. After about three months of on-and-off planning I settled on a basic storyline of a war. I have always been partial to wars, and that idea was carried over to my current confirmed storyline. Inspired partially by a dream I had, the main antagonist was a black Chinese long. I stuck with that idea for a long time, even sketching his design out multiple times. I had named him Cadifor, the name of a yet earlier main antagonist.
Heading into late '11 was when I was starting to delve into dragons really deeply. It occurred to me that to have a pure evil long was not only cliched (the pure evil part), but long are revered as gods and are pure noble beasts. Oops.
So the majority of that idea went out the window - except for the idea of a black Eastern. A few months went by and Cadifor was eventually forgotten when I finally settled on a storyline for good in mid '12. I had a new main antagonist and the long role was given to a new character, Thuban. I wanted the main antagonist Lankharra to have a sidekick, a secondary antagonist, but who? Then I remembered that old character I had dreamt up.
I had a spare name - Takhorr - I had the basic idea, why not work on that? After some fairly in-depth thought I decided I wanted to make Takhorr a bit more unique and keeping in with Chinese mythology that longs weren't evil. I decided to make Takhorr a cave dwelling dragon - not a long in any way - and from then on spent hours googling images and articles of cave-dwelling animals. Starting with the basic body structure of an Eastern, I proceeded to add the following:

Small eyes.
Large ears.
Antennae.
Sensory pits.
Spiracles.
Weak wings.
Off legs-to-body ratio (cave salamander reference).
Protrusive skeleton.
Fleshy spines along the back.
And that ever important but always forgotten breastbone.

And designed Takhorr's species, which I quickly named the Nhyrhys.

Then I had the cliched 'evil' part. So I swiped that and started working on a backstory for his part. He has a reason for his actions and is actually not evil in any major way.

Takhorr is also going to feature in my graphic novel Scarred.

Details

Music: Master of Shadows by Two Steps From Hell ([link])

Time Spent: Approx 4 days spread over nearly a month (I fail ;_; )

Tools Used: A2 sheet of black pastel paper, Stabilo Carb0thello pastel pencils, a random penknife in dire need of having its blade changed, a kneadable eraser (prior to this picture, it was grey. Now it's black. Just FYI), a special pastel eraser for those difficult lines and a truckload of patience.

Colours Used: Scenery: Grey, white, black, terracotta. Dragon: Black, white, and a touch of red for the eye. All colours used: Black, white, grey, terracotta and red.

Stress Level: 9/10