Sonja Carter and Dee G. are two lovely ladies I became acquainted with through cosplay. You may remember Sonja as the lovely lady who took the pictures of my friends and I in our Suckerpunch costumes at Dragon*Con 2011. She is SoulFire Photography, and she is amazing and generous.

Dee is not only absolutely gorgeous, but one of the most fabulous cosplayers I've ever met. (Seriously, go look at her Facebook fan page and you will be amazed.)

In early drafts, Arianna wore a white dress at her Ceremony of Womanhood, where her hair was revealed to everyone (including herself) for the first time. The white dress is a single line in the new opening, but you can get a sense of how I eternally picture Arianna from Alukale (a mysterious observer at her ceremony):

The crowd hushed, and the silvery keen of a bell hung across them like ice--the time had come. The four handmaidens reached for the headdress, and the princess's hands clenched in her heavy white skirts. It took all four women to lift the fan of silk and gems.

A heavy rush of ebony tumbled down the girl's thin shoulders, catching on the beaded bodice of her dress.

A flicker of pride tugged Alukale’s lips as his brother's descendant stared at her waist-length black hair, as though she were unable to comprehend it. In a few years she would be lovely as the Maiden Moon. Her foreign father had given her his obsidian hair, and if Alukale were to guess, all that makeup covered skin tinted with Danaian gold. That, at least, was lucky -- a princess needed to be unique.

In my head, Arianna is always wearing a white dress, and she always has her waist-length black hair down.

So when I saw Dee post a progress picture of her Princess Garnet (Final Fantasy IX) cosplay dress, I immediately typed a frantic, typo-ridden plea for her to take pictures in it before she painted on the ivy.

Within days, Dee and Sonja had sent me an entire picasa folder FILLED with pictures of PRINCESS ~~ARIANNA OF RIZELLEN~~ DEE.

I'mma have to make a new cover.

AND NOW, IT'S TIME FOR ARIANNA PICSPAM!

Dee, looking so very much like Princess Arianna.

Arianna heading out to the stables to ride Star, because royalty doesn't think
about silly things like getting white dresses covered in horse hair.
Also, this is such a gorgeously framed and lit picture. Sonja is awesome.

This, on the other hand, reminds me of Arianna at the end of the first book,
full of determination and a newfound understanding of her own power.

"She spun around, her silk mourning gown snapping at her ankles, ebony shards clicking in her loose hair as purpose drove the anger and sadness into the back of her heart. She would pull them back out later, probably, when she tried to sleep and sleep would not come, but the Princess of Rizellen could not revel in grief just yet. She had to act, and to act, she needed to have a clear goal. "

Reminds me of the cover for Ruins of Ambrai! Which means I love it.

This picture is perfect BECAUSE of the unfinished hem. It looks like Ari
has been running around. :) Have I mentioned that Dee is gorgeous?

This is pretty much exactly how I envision Arianna at the beginning of
book one, when she's still so naive, and has no idea of her own strengths.

There's no longer a scene with Arianna in the garden, though there used to be. Maybe I'll just stuff her in a white dress again in book two, just so I can have an excuse to say this picture is totally canon.

I couldn't not put this picture in. Dee's smile is so natural and so beautiful here, and there needs to be more Smiling!Ari

Book II. Thinking about a certain missing slave boy...

Just the right amount of mischief in that smile. Princess Arianna
has quite a reputation for listening at doors, and her extremely accurate
aim with tossed teacups.

The hills are alive~

Have you or your friends ever cosplayed original characters? Who? Pictures? Links? Have you ever cosplayed a character from a book?