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YasminFoster — Urgan Nagru Portrait

Published: 2012-11-26 11:34:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 7637; Favourites: 195; Downloads: 40
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Description One of the most interesting, descriptively, of the Redwall Villains, yet he has always confused me a bit. How can a fox wear a wolf’s skull on his head like a hat (as he is often depicted, with the wolf‘s teeth resting on the top of his head? ( see here [link] )That would imply the wolf was smaller than the fox (unless it was a wolf pup’s skull)? His death made little sense as well, for surely the skull would shatter or the teeth wouldn’t be able to pierce Nargu’s own, larger, skull?
So, this was designed accordingly to answer those questions. Nargu is only wearing a part of the wolf’s original skull, then having a helmet-like ornament built around it so it would fit snugly on its head (the metal ‘teeth’ will also be able to get through Nargu’s skull if it rode up his head during the moment before the impact with the tree, as he was being lifted up.)
Other than that his design was also based on the Grey Fox, even though that is a desert animal…I could have used an artic fox or a silver morph of the Red Fox, but I liked the blend of russet and grey in this animal (besides, I always pictured Nagru’s mate, Silvamord, being a silver Red Fox).
Oh my! All That fur! *feints* haha, only kidding, I find painting fur (with no custom brushes) very relaxing and I really like how it came out in this one.

From Redwall WIKI
“Urgan Nagru the Foxwolf was a male fox who commanded a vast horde against the kingdom of Southsward.
Urgan Nagru's true name is unknown. While he was ruler of the Land of Ice and Snow, he found a dead wolf, whose pelt he took for himself. Fixing iron hooks onto the claws of the pelt, he could strap his hands in the paw area and wield them as deadly weapons. He also took the skull of the wolf and used it as a helmet. With his new attire, he declared himself the Foxwolf and named himself Urgan Nagru. (Urgan being the wolf's name, he spelled it backwards to give the impression he was coming from the front and back.)
Eventually, Nagru and his mate Silvamord grew tired of the frigid land, so they and an army of rats numbering about 500 took three ships and sailed to the warmer southern regions, specifically the country of Southsward. There, Nagru and his mate deceived Gael Squirrelking into thinking they were peaceful creatures, and were permitted entrance to Castle Floret. A few days after entering, Nagru held Gael's son Truffen hostage and threatened to kill him if Gael didn't allow Urgan to take the throne. Gael was forced to accept, and the army of rats took over the countryside.
Urgan, like many vermin rulers, did not appear to actually like his mate. Silvamord continually insulted him and threw projectiles at the Foxwolf, who did not appreciate the attention.

After that, life was pretty easy for the Foxwolf. Being complete ruler of all Southsward, he felt that he had no enemies and was completely safe. However, unbeknownst to him, a loyal otter named Rab Streambattle, the leader of Gael's Otter Guard, planned to free the king and his family from the castle. Rab succeeded in rescuing Gael's wife Squirrelqueen Serena and Truffen, but couldn't get to Gael. Nagru, outraged, chased after the otter, but was held back when the badger nursemaid Muta ran to Rab's aid and stalled them long enough to make their own escape. The Foxwolf ordered that his army find the escaped prisoners and any who aided them and return them to him.
The Foxwolf sent out his dreaded trackers, the Dirgecallers, (horrific, blood crazed, female ermines) to find the escapees, but they were killed by Mariel Gullwhacker, Dandin, and Meldrum Fallowthorn the Magnificient. Nagru consoled his loss by capturing the trio, but was surprised when they escaped the dungeon and joined with Gael and Glokkpod and formed a blockade in the highest tower of the castle. The Foxwolf was furious that his mighty army couldn't even hold on to a small group of woodlanders, who by now had escaped the castle.
Soon enough, Gael reappeared to storm the castle with a mighty group of Southswarders who were willing to fight for their freedom. None of them counted on Nagru's cunning as a general, and soon they were the ones in need of assistance. But then, to the utter dismay of Nagru another army led by Joseph the Bellmaker appeared and started to force the Foxwolf's army back. Left with only his personal guard, Nagru tried to make his way back to his ships, but encountered Finnbarr Galedeep. Nagru tried to wrestle with the otter, but was lifted up by Finnbarr, who rammed Nagru's head into a nearby tree. The curved fangs on Urgan's wolfskin helmet were driven into his own skull, killing the Foxwolf and ending his reign over Southsward.”

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Character from Brian Jacques’ book The Bellmaker
Character Design by Myself.
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Comments: 34

MaugrimTheWolf [2023-06-11 04:12:37 +0000 UTC]

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SauronGorthaur9 [2020-11-21 00:19:14 +0000 UTC]

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YasminFoster In reply to SauronGorthaur9 [2020-11-22 10:33:13 +0000 UTC]

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FNAFGal26 [2020-11-11 15:16:54 +0000 UTC]

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KalahariMeerkatfan [2017-01-10 05:11:21 +0000 UTC]

Someday will you do Silvamord too? I feel like she is often forgotten. But I guess a true villain can never have love or special ties (look at the Marlfoxes, most of them killed each other), or maybe in this case it was personal issues that kind of got icky…

The books were good (even if they were kind of tedious for me to read), but I had to wonder if the villain always had to die. Many of the bad guys in the books have done wicked things, but a lot of them could have been counted on to flee (tail between their legs) and never come back.

That is the one thing that has bothered me, but these are still good.

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YasminFoster In reply to KalahariMeerkatfan [2017-01-10 11:22:50 +0000 UTC]

I suppose if the Villain just fled then they would cause suffering on other creatures or come back for vengeance (like Chickenhound/Slagar did).
I had hopes of doing Silvamord somewhen... but right now in my life I don't get a lot of time for art, so don't hold thy breath, lol.

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DWestmoore [2015-07-03 20:45:59 +0000 UTC]

Awesome!

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Big-bad-Rocket [2015-06-30 14:35:59 +0000 UTC]

So cool and creepy. Well done.

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megadracosaurus [2015-03-15 08:27:33 +0000 UTC]

Awesome!

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Ascotia-Bluefleck [2015-01-08 05:43:11 +0000 UTC]

Love the take on the skull helmet

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BrianGriffinForever [2014-11-24 04:17:24 +0000 UTC]

"Nagru was big for a fox. Lean and powerful, he was mottled bluish gray from tip to tail, and his cruel eyes

resembled chips of granite flake floating in a sea of carmine blood flecks. His only clothing was the full pelt of a wolf,

its head resting on top of his own like a cowl with eyeless sockets. The hide trailed down over his back with the front

limbs covering his own. The wolfclaws had been replaced with sharp iron hooks, and when Nagru slid his own paws

inside them they became awesome weapons." - Brian Jacques' description of Nagru.

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FeatherQuilt1988 [2014-10-11 16:33:35 +0000 UTC]

The size difference actually made sense to me, since I always thought of Urgan wearing the wolf's skull more like a hood than a cap, with his own head fitting inside the wolf's larger upper mouth cavity, and the teeth resting over his eyebrows or such (maybe his own ears poking out of the eyesockets?). Your interpretation here is cool too though!

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BrianGriffinForever [2014-09-18 22:44:35 +0000 UTC]

awesome!

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RavenForge [2014-09-01 15:33:32 +0000 UTC]

They can wear all the dead animals they want. No fox is greater than a Marlfox..

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YasminFoster In reply to RavenForge [2014-09-01 15:45:34 +0000 UTC]

... not even if it wears the skin of Godzilla?

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sgtzpp33 [2014-08-09 19:22:51 +0000 UTC]

This soundtrack came in my head when I saw this guy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-em9VU…

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DivebomberRF [2014-06-29 14:31:05 +0000 UTC]

Nagru was a good villain by Redwall standards - despite his poor record in personal fights, he had decent cunning and tactical competence, and he actually spent almost all of his time opposing the heroes, instead of trying to protect his position from internal rivals, which is doubly impressive, considering his... heated relationship with Silvamord. He was just saddled with particularly inept minions. This potrait clearly shows him on one of his better days. A very impressive design and great colors. 

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Lazysupermutant [2014-04-06 06:47:55 +0000 UTC]

You have to give Urgan some credit, he was allot more competent then most Redwall villains, not to mention more then a few of his plans actually worked and he didn't start going to crap the second a main character showed up (kind of.) Anyway, great work, hope to see more from the Bellmaker (ah the Bellmaker, what a wonderful story that almost brought me to tears, you know what I'm talking about.) on a lighter note has there ever been a living wolf in a Redwall book? I mean we've hat rats, weasels, stoats, ferrets, foxes, pine martins, wild cats, ermines, wolverines, toads, newts, adders, and every fierce bird under the sun. but no wolf, literally the apex predator! I like to think Mr. Jacques would have used a wolf eventually as a main villain.

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YasminFoster In reply to Lazysupermutant [2014-04-06 09:28:04 +0000 UTC]

I suppose. I used to think Brian Jacques used the species of the British isles, being a British man himself, which is why we saw no large predators like Wolves (well, larger than a wildcat and Fox). But then he had Wolverines and Beavers in there too (though Britian did used to have many animals that America has, but they went extinct: Wolverines: 6000BC; Wolves went extinct around the Tudor period 1600-1700 ect). So who knows, fantasy doesn't need to be acurate afterall.

Maybe he didn't add wolves because they may have presented the problem of size (for techinically they should be huge, especially when you compare how big a badger is to other beasts) and wether or not to resort to old predujices and make a wolf a bad-guy or go with modern popular peception of them being more good. Who knows?

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Lazysupermutant In reply to YasminFoster [2014-04-06 18:34:07 +0000 UTC]

Still would have been amazing, either way you have a great personality to work with, wolfish cunning and savagery,  and I would love to see a mouse beat one (or what ever species the protagonist happens to be.)  also R.I.P that one Beaver that was never seen again.

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BlackAlbinoRabbit [2014-03-16 22:30:26 +0000 UTC]

this is so beautifull<3
you did anything so purrrfect-the pelt texture,the colors,the awesome shading and thoose pretty glowing eyes...this picture looks so alive!

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YasminFoster In reply to BlackAlbinoRabbit [2014-03-17 09:32:39 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much!

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BlackAlbinoRabbit In reply to YasminFoster [2014-03-17 17:29:01 +0000 UTC]

youre welcome <3

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Maelstrom51210 [2013-09-02 16:22:02 +0000 UTC]

This is kind of an odd thing to like, but I really like how you can see his finger touching the iron claws. It gives this kind of Freddy Krueger like vibe.

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YasminFoster In reply to Maelstrom51210 [2013-09-02 19:01:16 +0000 UTC]

Lol, you are right I never spotted that before.

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SammyW28 [2013-05-15 21:08:59 +0000 UTC]

"Wolverine can kiss my bushy tail!"

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YasminFoster In reply to SammyW28 [2013-05-16 08:33:31 +0000 UTC]

lol

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NikitaFang [2013-04-21 20:39:54 +0000 UTC]

Nagru's design is so amazing, he looks very fearsome and dangerous. Good Job!

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Ascotia-Bluefleck [2013-04-05 17:56:07 +0000 UTC]

Amazing! Good Job!

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WindyTheWolf [2012-12-05 20:25:25 +0000 UTC]

Holy cow, now this is an awesome pic!
Gotta fave ~

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DCLeadboot [2012-12-04 23:25:48 +0000 UTC]

Heh, heh... I could never really take Nagru seriously... what with his supposed story of killing a frozen-to-death wolf and pilfering its skin to look cool...
But he looks pretty epic there!

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Kelaiah [2012-11-26 23:36:33 +0000 UTC]

WHOA, *AWESOME*!!!

In my opinion, Nagru was the funniest of all the Redwall baddies; he just seemed to have more comical moments than any of the others.

"Come back, you deserters! Wait for me!"

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YasminFoster In reply to Kelaiah [2012-11-27 11:41:06 +0000 UTC]

haha! Yeah, his interactions with his mate were gold

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Kelaiah In reply to YasminFoster [2012-11-27 19:56:45 +0000 UTC]

Yep.

"What're you lookin' at? Go get me a beaker of wine!"
"Get it yourself, jellyfish!"

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