Slayer of Light

Finally, a long project is now finished. This is a theme-image, based on the lyrics of Slayer of Light by the finnish folk metal band Ensiferum. Here you can check out the lyrics:

I have come to unfold your mind
In my veins runs the poison wild
In the streams of mountains I flow

I have opened the doors for unleashed and endless hate
It will burn like the raging green flames
Inside a man dwells secrets so cold

Through the dreadful storms, across the frozen oceans
I have come from the dark lands with sorrow in my hands
The fire wind rages in the sky

And my luminous sword hungers for more
I will leave no one alive
For I am the slayer of light

I, I will break your will
I, I will crush your faith
I, I will slay your dreams
I will reclaim the stars
And I will tear your precious world apart
Will tear it apart

I will pull everything with me under the surface
And all the screams will fade into my dreams
(Fall now, dying light)

I will burn away the ground beneath your feet
And all will be vanished in the darkness, dying light
(Fall now)
And let the night arrive

Through the dreadful storms, across the frozen oceans
I have come from the dark lands with sorrow in my hands
The fire wind rages in the sky

And my luminous sword hungers for more
I will leave no one alive
For I am the slayer of light

Brief explanation on the elements:

There were few themes I adressed to, and I tried not to include all the lyrical themes into the picture, because it would have become pretty crowded.

For the line "In my veins runs the poison wild", the glow in the warrior's armor and plates refer to the poison.

"I will reclaim the stars", I visualized this line by creating a darkness, propagating forth from the warrior, and inserting nebulae "into" the darkness, with some stars, as to give an image of the stars being held captive within his entity.

"I will burn away the ground beneath your feet", this refers to the blaze occurring in the foreground, by his power he is burning the ground as he walks forth.

"Through the dreadful storms, across the frozen oceans
I have come from the dark lands with sorrow in my hands", There's stormy clouds in the sky, and also there was (and is) frozen ocean beyond him, but the darkness spreading forth from his cape unfortunately blackens it. I pondered long how to image the part where he holds sorrow in his hands, and then I thought that yes, of course, a black rose which is classical token of sorrow and death.

And mainly all the words about dying light and arriving night are functioning through the spreading darkness/his entity, which slowly engulfs all, with last rays of sun pushing through the black.

Software/tools used:

- 3DS MAX
- ZBrush
- Krakatoa
- PFlow
- FumeFX
- RayFire
- GeoControl2
- TreeStorm
- Photoshop
- After Effects