Deviation Actions
Description
You guys know how I'll always design witches of my Magi OCs. It's a tradition already.
The victim this time is Lorelei Wolfer.
The original template belongs to
Nerissa’s Labyrinth is "The Burned House". When the witch dies, the ugliness of this world will be cleansed.
Nerissa is a derived Greek name, meaning "water". It was used by a minor character in Shakespeare"s play The Merchant of Venice. (Concluding this artist’s wish to use Shakespearean names.)
She has affinities with butterflies and fishes – in a more symbolic sense, a mermaid.
The butterfly is both a symbol of womanhood and a symbol of rebirth. Both are linked to Lorelei’s situation: a girl who's never going to be a woman and a caterpillar who gained the chance to be a butterfly.
In a boarder sense, this also links to her fish tail: Although she is a butterfly, she can never truly fly. And although she is a fish, she can never truly swim. Her sense of not belonging anywhere at all is reflected on her form.
Another symbolism of the mermaid tail is not only her name (both Lorelei and Nerissa are mermaid-related names), but the story The Little Mermaid, by Andersen, where a mermaid dies all by herself after her prince chooses another woman.
When she is in her second form, the butterfly wings are too tiny and not placed in a good position, making her flight rather awkward and so brief she cannot stand too long in the air. It is a symbol not only of her own sense of ugliness and incompetence, but also of how she cannot free herself from the fire.
The predominant color of Nerissa is gold and red. Both are colors that are associated with fire, strengthening her link to the burnt house of her past.
Also, in great amounts, yellow can be an infuriating color – thus explaining her Wrath status.
In this regard, red is also a color that attracts anger.
Her two minions are reflections of her desire of being accepted and loved despite her past. That's why they are hardly different.
(Reminder that both are German and male-only names. The fact that they are male minions is no coincidence.)
They also exemplifies her sense of not belonging: one of them is a fish and the other is a bird.
It is also nice to point out that both are black – like, charcoal black. Again, another link to burned things.
Nerissa being surrounded by fire is also a symbolism of the reversed meaning of the High Priestess, her Tarot card: when reversed, nothing comes out. Nothing reaches out. She is suspended in a world only for herself.
(Which is also coincidentally the theme of Oktavia, Sayaka's witch. Who’s also a mermaid.)
Can I take inspiration from this beautiful witch?