Ancient Mai is the old member of the senior council. Despite that she is described as not having too many lines on her face, so I tried not to go overboard with her wrinkles. Her eyes are described as watery which made me decided to give her that fold of skin over her eyes some old folks get.She is also described as frail looking so I made her thin and gave her that hunch you see especially in old women. Her hair is in a very long braid that wrapped up behind her head then held with combs.
Peabody doesn’t get much description in his first appearance. In fact he is kinda overlooked in all his appearances until Turn Coat. So he is described as prim and slim and with ink on his nose. I tried not to give him anything too outlandish in appearance, because then he could blend into the background.
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.