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Well, this is definitely an unusual cosplay and one that might challenge the gaming knowledge of anyone! Rheda it’s a character from an old RPG for the Nintendo 64,  that didn’t have much success: Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage, unfortunately, had severe technical and programming issues that even prevented players from progressing. It was a real shame because the adventure, story, and characters deserved a chance. It was an open-world adventure (just to give you an idea, the maps were larger than those in Zelda Ocarina of Time, with many inspiring locations – I’ll never forget the strange and creepy Shamsuk's Tower), set in a fairly classic fantasy world. There are many characters in the game, some of them quite memorable (Godric the alchemist for example, is really crazy).
I own the game on the original N64 cartridge, but since I couldn’t progress due to the poor handling of battles, rather than giving up, I played it years ago on an emulator, using cheats to bypass the issues. As I continued, I simply fell in love with this game, even though I struggled with translating several English texts. For me, it was a wonderful adventure that deserved much more attention and care.
So, I don’t think there are many people today who know or appreciate Aidyn Chronicles, but I hope my cosplay might be an unexpected and pleasant surprise for some!

On that note, I have a confession: this cosplay was created by mistake :°D
It's funny because it wasn’t initially planned, and I wouldn’t have thought of it if it weren’t for a wrong purchase. I was working on another cosplay (which will also be a surprise!), and I had ordered fabric that was supposed to be much lighter in color. When the package arrived, however, the fabric was very different from the listing – a dark blue – and returning it would have been a waste of time for me. Thinking about what I could do with it, since I didn’t have any other costumes in mind with this type of fabric and color, I suddenly had a lightbulb moment and remembered Rheda and the illustration I had made years ago (here), whose dress had a similar color. I think her dress is supposed to be velvet, but instead of doing nothing with the fabric, I thought, okay, let’s make it! Plus, she’s a character that fits my choice to mainly portray cosplays of atypical and uncommon characters, as well as being my favorite character in the game.

I usually sympathize for wizards and sorcerers, so I immediately liked Rheda! In fact, she’s the mage of the group, with a confident expression that initially seems a bit arrogant and conceited, but in reality, she’s a kind-hearted and passionate woman, somewhat like an older sister who’s always ready to help but also expects a lot from others. Rheda is obsessed with finding a cure for her friend Niesen, another mage you can recruit in the game, who has been cursed by the Necromancer Shamsuk. At first, she’s a bit reluctant to join Alaron’s group (the protagonist) and she becomes her mentor in the magical arts. One of the images I created is set in the aforementioned Shamusk's Tower (the one with the checkerboard hallway floor), which is honestly one of the strangest places I've ever seen in a game. Twisting hallways, strange paper sculptures of people that seem to scream, crooked paintings hanging in nonsensical places, piles of bones and bonfires here and there, tilted pedestals with jars of blood, playing cards, and areas that seem to float in the air. As you go deeper into the tower, it gets even creepier: you start encountering strange pieces of flesh (I'm not kidding, there’s a display case with some pieces of human flesh, like a torso and maybe a foot, but one of them really looks like a vagina. My eyes keep seeing a vagina. Take a look and judge for yourself here), weird machinery for experiments on creatures, huge metal plates connected to tubes containing blood with fairies or other creatures squished underneath, winged bodies assembled with chicken heads, skeletal hands protruding from a wall, and so on. The journey in this game was quite bizarre in many ways.

Now, let’s get to how I made the costume. Keep in mind that it’s almost impossible to find detailed material about Rheda online, so for the cosplay (and my old drawing), I had to rely on low-resolution, tiny images. A real challenge!

 

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I have no idea what the back of her costume looks like because, in the game, it seemed like she had some sort of cape or hood, so I improvised.

I made the dress in two parts: first the upper part, then the lower one, and finally, I assembled them. Since I’m not skilled in sewing, I was lucky to find an old shirt with a similar line to Rheda’s dress, with flared sleeves and a wide neckline that left the shoulders uncovered. So, I cut the pieces and managed to create a pattern to make the bodice and sleeves with my blue fabric. For the bottom part of the dress (which I wouldn’t exactly call a “skirt”), I made the pattern on my body. I wrapped my legs, hips, and waist with plastic wrap, covered it with packing tape, and drew the shape of the dress with a marker, both front and back. Once I got these pieces, I sewed everything together with the bodice, and it was really tough for me to get a good shape. My sewing is quite poor, as everything is hand-sewn! But it held up well, and for some parts, I used Bostik glue. The pointed shoulder pieces near the sleeves were made with foam covered in fabric, as I wouldn’t have known how to create that cut otherwise.

The gold inserts on the sleeves, skirt, small cape, and bodice were made from foam and glued on. I like it because the sleeves always stay wide, while I had to shape the foam on the lower part of the dress to give it some movement, so it wouldn’t look too stiff and flat. For details, I found a golden ring belt similar to Rheda’s, and the medallion was made from foam clay (I used the vernidas to make the blue stone very shiny). The boots were reused from my old Umah cosplay from Blood Omen 2, which were already purple and similar to Rheda's. I found some opaque purple tights and bought a 100ml pyramid flask for the potion Rheda carries at her waist. The green liquid inside is just water, but I painted the outside of the flask with glass paint, so it looks like it actually contains some kind of green potion. I managed to create a secure attachment with wire to avoid the flask falling off the belt, making it pretty comfortable!

The staff was made with foam inserts, and I didn’t want to be too strict with the design since it's hard to figure it out from the game. I took inspiration from some screenshots instead of my drawing, and I already had a nice staff at home that I collected during one of my mountain hikes years ago!
I knew that sooner or later, that souvenir from the grueling walk on 'Monte Bollettone', would be useful, and it finally was :°D I like it, even though it’s simple. I stripped the bark, carved it a bit, and painted it.

Lastly, I had some trouble with the wig. Rheda has a long braid, but the wig I had was too short, so I added some extensions. In post-production, I removed the mark of an elastic band since it didn’t look great, so if I ever want to wear this cosplay at a convention, I’ll definitely need to buy a better wig ^^'

After taking the photos, as always, I did the image editing, and again, I used some video game screenshots for the backgrounds, trying to recreate the atmospheres of the locations I remember from Aidyn Chronicles (the photo with the purple light, for example, is set in the Erromon caves, while the one by the campfire with marshmallows is a game reference: every time you camp to recover strength, you see a scene where the protagonist says, "Ahhhhhh. Pass the marshmallows," and my sister and I quoted that line for years because the thought of marshmallows in a fantasy setting like that, made us laugh :°D)

It’s probably not a cosplay that will get much recognition, but I’m glad I made it, or rather, that they sent me the wrong fabric, otherwise, these images would never have existed! As they say, "Every cloud has a silver lining"... ^_^

Enjoy the gallery!