My daughter is working on a multi-volume novel, that is a re-telling of the story of King Arthur, meticulously researched but with the twist that Arthur is a woman named Artorius, from a Roman family in early Medieval Britain.  I’m doing some character sketches for the story.

Gwynever (pictured above) is envisioned as sort of small and delicately-featured, but intelligent and determined…while somewhat conflicted. In this portraits, she is 19-20 years old.

Artorius herself is educated and literate, but also recklessly ambitious, fierce, and charismatic. Unusually tall and strong for a woman, she became an adept fighter, and is fueled by her own sense of duty and destiny as the defender, even savior, of Britain. Although she constantly encounters disrespect and disapproval because of her gender, she also inspires both loyalty and fear in those close to her.

This is Bedwyn, a quiet, contemplative blacksmith who joins Artorius in her quest to defend Britain. From the novel:

“You weren’t born a smith, were you?”
“How did you know?”
“The scars on your arms. They’re not burns, that much I can tell.”
“I was a warrior once.”
“Why’d you stop, then? There’s more cause to fight than ever. You said yourself, the Saxons and the Picts threaten Britain’s borders.”
“The cause is great. The leaders are not.”

And finally, a scene where Gwynever goes to meet her grandfather, the great Saxon warlord Hengist. I still need to add some details on the wall hangings in the background, such as Hengist’s wolf sigil.