This is officially licensed character art for The Rise of Haduwas, and I am so excited to share it with you! It was done by the wonderful Will Hatch.
The depiction of Haduwas is straight off the page from the beginning of the book when Prince Haduwas is introduced to the court of his father. Purple was historically considered a colour of royalty as a result of the rare colour in nature. This was later enforced by sumptuary laws [fashion police!]
This book is heavily inspired by the Hittite empire, but I’ve set the book in the mythical beginning of the Hittite Empire, around 2100BCE where the historical record is fairly non-existent. I have then combined the historical record with the mythological one to bring life into the gaps, ensuring that I never actively infringe upon anything factual.
Sadly, the scope of the artwork does not feature the classic sloped shoes of the Hittites, but you can be certain they’re featured in the book because we love a good sloping toe.