D&D 5E Meet Ravenloft's Harkon Lucas and Rudolph Van Richten

WotC has shared some artwork from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, featuring the titular vampire hunter himself, and the darklord of Kartakass, Harkon Lucas.

"Rudolph Van Richten prepares for his next expedition, watched over by the spirit of his son, Erasmus."

"A born liar and shape-shifter, Harkon Lukas orchestrates elaborate manipulations.
He's rarely seen without his signature wide-brimmed hat; wolf's tooth necklace; and violin, which he calls Bleeding Heart."​

 

[Charlaquin]

Is ut just me or did Harkon use scotch tape his beard on?

I think it’s supposed to be graying at the temples

 

[Faolyn]

I wonder if Van Richten is aware of Erasmus's presence--and if so, how much of their backstory was changed? While having his son be a (friendly) ghost isn't ideal, it's heaps better than the original story.

Or is this a new thing, and Erasmus rose as a ghost only recently, when Mordent changed so that all the dead rise as ghosts? If so, then this definitely suggests that the book isn't a "pretend the old stuff didn't happen" reboot, but a "it's a new Grand Conjunction" reboot.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think it’s supposed to be graying at the temples

Uhhhh you guys may want to enlarge the image. That's light. Not entirely realistic light the part of me who used to be really good at portraits says, but it's light nonetheless.

 

[Faolyn]

Uhhhh you guys may want to enlarge the image. That's light. Not entirely realistic light the part of me who used to be really good at portraits says, but it's light nonetheless.

Pretty bad lighting, considering he's lit from the front but the background is lit from the left.

 

[Tonguez]

Why is Harkon Lukas wearing a 1970s leisure suit?

Only an American would think a fashion forward black man would look like a pimp

Pretty bad lighting, considering he's lit from the front but the background is lit from the left.

Obviously the Dark Lords have cursed him with bad filters

 

[Charlaquin]

Uhhhh you guys may want to enlarge the image. That's light. Not entirely realistic light the part of me who used to be really good at portraits says, but it's light nonetheless.

That was my initial assumption, but it’s inconsistent with the light source and also partially in the shadow of his hat. It also appears at the bottom corners of his mouth, which would be consistent with it being the start of graying.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

That was my initial assumption, but it’s inconsistent with the light source and also partially in the shadow of his hat. It also appears at the bottom corners of his mouth, which would be consistent with it being the start of graying.

It's definitely meant to be light from the positioning on his cheeks, but I agree that beard bit confuses the issue. It's inconsistent with the light source but that's practically a given in a huge amount of fantasy art.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I am so excited for Ravenloft to come out next week. Digging everything they've shown so far.

Also, the chalk illustration is taken from the 2e boxed set, for Strahd's Castle:

 

[Stormonu]

The more I stare at Lucas’s face, the more it looks like a deep fake, with the real face being a hole in the mask around the eyes.

And that violin bow - it‘s all wrong with two “tips”.

 

[Faolyn]

Now I want to go through my old Ravenloft netbooks and convert the fanmade domains to the modern format.