In traditional depictions, a Wendigo is often characterized as a large humanoid with an emaciated appearance, elongated limbs, sharp claws, needle-like teeth, and erasure of all humanistic traits (skin color, gender, etc.). In more modern depictions, it's characterized with more animalistic traits like the head being the skull of a stag, to a more beast-like appearance like a yeti.
Core Themes
- Theme – Stalker – The Wendigo hunts its prey, silently lying and waiting for the weakest link to be separated from the pack before having its fill with the enemy team.
- Visuals – Ferocius – A Wendigo is not of this world. An evil spirit that possesses and changes a human who would resort to cannibalism into the monster that people are familiar with. Blending some vague remnants of humanity overpowered by the distorted and unnatural form of a Wendigo.
- Personality – Feral – Forgoing all humanity, The Wendigo acts only on instinct and hunger alone. Nothing else matters except for what, or who, The Wendigo will feast on next.
- Perspective – Apex Predator – The Gods see The Wendigo as a dangerous animal on the loose, killing and eating everything in its path. Some have taken to tracking down and hunting the creature, while others scramble to protect themselves in cases they're the ones being hunted.
Artistic Process
Since there are two wildly different depictions of The Wendigo, one traditional and one more modern, I blended the two by having the Emaciated humanoid creature of tradition with the stag skull it wears as a call back to more beast-like iterations. I've also wanted to add some owl feathers into the design as in some Algonquin dialect, like Cree, Wendigo can translate as either cannibal or owl.
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