The dark world Martlet discussion a little while ago clawed its way into my brain and I decided to do something a bit productive to satiate it.
>General Design:
Took some inspiration from Aragorn and Boromir's outfits in Fellowship for her clothes, just with more blue. Her feathers were originally going to be a light gray color but I couldn't get it to look right so I went with a blue-white to keep the contrast while not clashing with the rest of her scheme.
>Why white and not Zartlet
I find the use of Zartlet for her Dark World form to be frankly lazy and more often than not, a missed opportunity for creativity. As for the colors, turning her feathers white adds a good contrast to her darker-hued clothes. It was also supposed to be a reference to a swan's coloration, as swans are fiercely protective of their young and I doubt Martlet would tolerate anyone hurting Cole.
>Why Ranger?
the original discussion mostly talked about how it could be used as a joke. i.e. this mysterious hooded character helping Cole and Kanako, only to be revealed as Martlet who has no clue what's going on. It also parallels her role in UTY as a somewhat isolated guard.
>Weapon?
In keeping with the DRY1 trend of the girls getting melee weapons and the boys getting ranged weapons, (and keeping with the LotR influence)she would probably have a short straight sword. Someone did mention her fallen feathers being a sort of summonable act, but I'm not sure how that would manifest.
>Why do this?
The worm would not leave, and it turned out to be a bit of fun doing a sprite edit.
I don't expect Martlet to actually show up in a Dark World in DRY1(or DRY2 for that matter), but wanted to do something like that regardless.