The Merlin is described as tall with broad shoulders. His hair is long and white as is his beard. Since he’s in charge of the White Council. I wanted him to have a dignified look to him. So I mostly looked at pictures of Christopher Lee. However, I didn’t want him to look too much like Christopher like portraying Saurmon, since the Merlin isn’t a servant of evil as far as we know. So I mixed in a bit of Tarrlok from Legend of Korra since they are both slick politicians.
Donald Morgan commander for the wardens is described as almost as tall as Harry but with way more muscle. Since for fighting he has to be able to move quickly and swing his sword around, I looked at hockey players for his build. Morgan has a short beard and long white hair in a long ponytail. For his face I started with Sean Connery for his face but then thinned it a little since Morgan is described as having a narrow face. Morgan has a constant sour expression especially when talking to Harry. I wanted the lines on his face to push that.
Listens-to-Wind was tricky. He is Native American and has eagle feathers in his hair as well as a bone necklace. But rather than dive into generic I tried to figure out what specific tribe he is from. Jim Butcher said in an interview he was from a Great Lakes tribe. Which helped narrow it down a little. Then McCoy calls him an Illinois medicine man. So I looked for tribes that were both near the Great Lakes and lived in Illinois before settlers forced them on reservations. Then I tried to find which ones wore both feathers in their hair and necklaces made of bone. I decided on the Pontiac because they fit all those and they have a nice website with pictures of both modern tribe members and historical ones.
So after doing all that digging I based where Listens-to-Wind has his eagle feathers in his long dark braided hair. He’s got his Senior Council robes on but you can see his bone necklace and a bead bracelet on one wrist. His build and height are both average. But his face is described as leathery and angular so I tried to push that.
Martha Liberty doesn’t have a whole lot of description to her. She’s tall and black. She has strong arms so to makes that clear under her senior council robe I gave her broad shoulders. She has a necklace with large stones on it around her neck. Her hair is pulled back into a net that is rests on her neck. And putting in all the given details I tried to fill in the rest by looking at older black woman who are judges. Because I wanted her to reflect that kind of respect you would give someone of a high office like her.
Ebenezer McCoy is Harry’s mentor. He’s a stocky man in overalls. He’s got a farm so I figured his overall’s aren’t completely clear and he’s probably got some sturdy work boots. He’s got some thick arms for farming work. I wanted to him to have an overall impression of sturdiness. He’s described as bald except for tuffs on the the side of his head and a beard. I also kept in mind a reveal later in the series of who he is related to. So I gave him a fairly sharp nose and little bit of a point to his eyebrows.