I am of the stars. I am called "Forever" --- once more I have been on an Ayreon kick... And have redrawn him again. Crazy to think I've had this design around since 2016... Maybe I will even redraw my first pic I ever did of him sometime soon.

Ayreon and Hippie dream team✨

Happy birthday to Arjen! I have subconsciously chosen to draw the Hippie forgetting it's his birthday! So let's count this as birthday art

can i get the whole gang to say hi 👀👀

There is danger ahead, but do not be afraid, for I am with you, like breath itself. Darkness will lead to light, colour will bleed into the night. Beautiful colours, the like of which you have never seen. Let the dream of confusion lead you into the virgin light! Be gone! Be all seeing, be brave!

[2 february 2023]

(Queueing old art everyday just for the sake of keeping this blog mildly updated).

My theory abour Mr L and The Hippie

So the poll has decided that I do this theory first, it is an interesting one that I do not see a lot of people have but it is the first thing I concluded when listening to all of the Ayreon albums. So what is this interesting theory? The Hippie from Into The Electric Castle is the same character as Mr L from 01011001.

Before I get into this theory of mine let's get some basic information out of the way. I know there is people that follow me with limited information about Ayreon so I want to make this theory as clear as I can for them! First up I have to explain The Forever as they play a role in my theory. I will not get into their entire story because that will take way too long and is not as important. So the Forever are an immortal race of aquatic aliens they originate from planet Alpha but when computers took over the planet they fled to Planet Y where they evolved into an aquatic race to adapt to their new planet. The same substance that allowed them to evolve gave them psychic abilities and slowly stripped them of emotions. They send a comet with their dna to follow the migrator trail to a suitable planet, earth. The Forever did this to live through the experiences of the humans and experience emotions again. Which leads me to the next important bit of information for my theory:

The setting of Into The Electric Castle and The Hippie One Forever we know as Forever of the Stars has taken 8 mortals from different periods in human history together as an experiment. They have been given one directive to get to the electric castle to get back home, there is some hurdles to overcome and not everyone survived. This album is where we meet the Hippie and get into his struggles, he is one of the survivors which is an important bit of information. While the survivors do not remember anything and think it was just a dream the Forever gave one gift to each of them, they all woke up feeling as something have changed within them. Now important to note is that The Hippie seemed more aware of what happened than the rest of the surviving cast which will tie into my theory.

Mr L and his dreams As I have briefly noted in my other analysis Mr L appears in one song The Truth Is In Here where he talks about strange dreams he had. And it talks about the futile attempts to sing about Ayreon's (the character) vissions which landed him into a mental hospital. Not only does the song reference Ayreon it also references the Hippie and the Forever, he seems to get dreams about being a Forever swimming underneath the waves of Planet Y. He also referes to the Forever always being with him and being his guide.

How does this all tie into my theory? Arjen has stated that when a character shares a voice in his story that they are linked in some way. We can see that with Hansi's characters for example on the Source the prequel album he plays an Alphan escaping to Planet Y and on 01011001 he plays one of The Forever. Ayreon (the character) is a past life of both Mr L and The Colonist (from The Universal Migrator) now this link easier despite the fact that both Ayreon and The Colonist were depicted by multiple singers. In the official comic for The Universal Migrator all three share the same face and we can see Ayreon float around Mr L as he writes the lyrics for The Final Experiment. The Hippie is being portrayed by Arjen both on the album and the live concert and so is Mr L. At the period The Hippie was alive it is reasonable to assume that he eventually developed into Mr L who is more mature and has had contact with The Forever before. It is not unreasonable to assume that the little gift of Forever of the Stars eventually leads to The Hippie seeing Ayreon's visions and dream of The Forever. It is estabelished that Ayreon recieved the visions from the time telepathy expirement because he is more connected to that. We know this trait can be shared with future incarnations, how do we know that? Merlin, he is the one to talk to us from 2084 and he saw the future. Merlin is a seer a trait he eventually passed on to his future selves. The Colonist and all of his past incarnations are all more connected to the Forever and the Universal Migrator.

This is why I think why The Hippie and Mr L are the same character just on 2 different albums and under different names. Let me know what you all think and feel free to call me stupid if you do not agree with me. Anyways my analysis on The Knight will still be done later because I have lots to say about him (I love him so much).

tunnel of light posting inspired by discord

Felt like redrawing some of my Ayreon fanart from like, 5 years ago. You'll have to take my word for it that the difference is pretty crazy!

i love Into the Electric Castle but gosh the stark differences between the (presumably white) men vs the women (of color).

Highlander: I’ve been a great warrior but lately I’ve been questioning whether I’ve done the right things, whether the men I’ve fought for were worth my sword. I’m afraid of dying alone and uncelebrated, but I’m starting to think I don’t deserve to be celebrated.

Hippie: I had an abusive father and I was a big dreamer as a child. The failures of society that I witnessed both personally in my family and in the broader world led me to the drug and flower children subculture because I didn’t want to be so angry, and acid gave me something else to feel.

Futureman: My biggest fear is that all this technology we’ve developed is going to render us obsolete and the human spirit will disappear, replaced by machines.

Barbarian: I look like your classic Hubris Man, and I am. But I’m clearly insecure, as evidenced by my arguments with the Roman. He tried to take the lead one time and I acted like he was declaring himself a god. What in the world. That is so messed up. I’ve got issues.

Knight: My lady love died, and I thought I’d never recover. Our relationship was deep and intense and beautiful, and I’m going on impossible quests to distract myself from the pain and find some kind of meaning in life. Having been through it, however, I want to help others whose suffering I understand.*

Roman: I have serious battle fatigue. It’s hard for me to see the good in things when my PTSD keeps me in the worst moments of my life. I’m depressed as hell and I don’t know how to get through it, but all that said, my “help friend” instincts kick in when I find a kindred spirit.*

*they’re gay your honor

and then there’s

Egyptian: I know some Egyptian god names. I’m perky. Now I’m sad? I want to be buried in an Egyptian place.

Indian: Here are some words and vague concepts associated with certain brands of Indian spiritualism. I like nature and being one with the universe so much I’m going to fall off a building. you’d think the hippie would vibe with me but we don’t really talk.

THE MORTALS ARE HERE!

This guy's design has been evolving since... since about Middle School. Crazy to think how many years I've been drawing this guy, and it's about time I did it once more. Have one Forever of the Stars variety.

✨A blind minstrel in an electric castle✨

Shitpost doodle dump, have an AU where Ayreon got taken to the Electric Castle as well.

Knight, being from his time, befriends him, and Hippie thinks he's his lost brother. Barbarian thinks he's useless. Futureman adopts him.

Ayreon comes around to Knight and Hippie though and doesn't want them to leave at the end. Afterwards, Knight remembers Ayreon, and saves him from Merlin.

Happy Ending💖✨

Maybe I'll write this into a fic🤔

“Don't tempt my heart with hope, in the shadows of broken promises I guard my dreams. In the bend of a swollen river, in the roots of weeping willows I choose to lie” - Tunnel of Light, Ayreon.

Into The Electric Castle-uary Day 1-3: The New Dimension/The Futureman

me? forget about my own art challenge? whaaaat……..?

anyway this was really rushed and i’m currently at my grandparents’ house for the holidays so i didn’t have all my supplies so it’s a little messy and there’s not a lot of detail but i like it, i also gave up on actually drawing the Futureman which is why he’s a silhouette

» Day 5 » The Knight » Into the Electric Castle.

[5 november 2022]