Friday, June 12, 2015

Fan Fetish


Dyan Ardais was a villain in the Darkover stories who became one of those "so bad he's good" characters. He tortured the young male hero in Marion Zimmer Bradley's THE HERITAGE OF HASTUR and attempted both physical and mental rape. Dyan, despite (or perhaps because of) his faults, became a fan favorite and the subject of many S&M fan fictions. There was always an undercurrent of sadomasochism in Darkover and other fan worlds. I brought it into the open with this bit of fan art. Dyan Ardais appears with a "cat 'o nine tails" whip and a chain fastened to a wooden post. Dyan was slightly non-human, the result of human/alien crossbreeding on the Darkover world. He had six fingers on each hand and lots of psychic powers, which he used like the dominator/master that he was. I don't miss this part of Darkover fandom. 

Ink on illustration board, 5" x 9", fall 1980.

1 comment:

Tristan Alexander said...

Always loved your ink work. The border on this is also very nice and works well with the picture.