Are The Ellie The Empress Leaked Images Authentic?

Question

Folks are spreading screenshots of a scene with the emperor's consort—anyone confirm if these Empress Ellie leaks are actually real footage?

Melissa Jones Carigo · Answer

There hasn’t been any confirmed leaks for this show yet. Fan art or even mislabeled shots from other in-production projects get leaked often enough already, so I remain skeptical until actual, confirmed promo images are released. Meanwhile, I will continue to wait for more episodes of this and, in the meantime, be sated by a really good read, such as the web novel ‘Revenge Of The Real Heiress’. The main character uncovers a long buried truth about himself and the repercussions that follow, providing anticipation and revelation in equal measure.

Jade · Answer

I spent way too long researching this in the same fumbling manner I research forum answers to weird questions late at night. Reverse image search is usually pretty good at distinguishing photos that have been cherry-picked from a promotional image, old concept art, or another rendered image of the same movie. If an image has been heavily photoshopped or artificially-inpainted (i.e. using AI), you can usually tell by the inconsistent or sometimes even ‘stuttering’ blur patterns. And if you manage to pull the EXIF data from the image, you can check for tags left by the software or app that was used to create the render (e.g., for 3D models, it may say what 3D modeling software was used, or if photographed on a phone, what kind of phone it was).

In terms of the ‘leak’ itself, the ‘social proof’ is another good indicator. Who is the leaker? Does he/she/it have a history of accurate leaks that have been corroborated by other insiders? Or is he/her/it an anonymous troll with only a few posts to their name? Official silence does not = fake, but confirmation of a single, legitimate post from the leaker’s official handle or a known, reliable leaker is what I’m waiting for here. In the meantime, I’ll keep an open (but skeptical) mind and enjoy the speculation, while at the same time trying to avoid revealing too much of the actual movie to those who want to wait until the proper time to see it.

Weston · Answer

Ellie the Empress screenshots and pressings are clogging up my group chat so I did a bit of a forensic habit-check to figure out whether they were real or mockups. First, I looked at the image edges and type layers to see if there were any mismatched fonts or odd spacing. Then, I checked for any contextual clues such as file names and release schedules to see if it corresponded with any upcoming announcements and whether it referenced any materials that only insiders would know about.

I also looked at the community's reaction to it. If multiple trusted insiders were pointing to the same source then that would increase my credibility of the post. However, if it was only being circulated by one account and it was just an image with no backup then I'd treat it with the same skepticism that I would to any other rumor. I'm really excited for any hints at new content but until it's been officially announced then I try to keep my expectations in check so that the hype is kept healthy and the fandom vibes are kept intact.

Owen · Answer

I’d had my curiosity piqued by the leak of what appears to be ‘Ellie the Empress’ concept art – all of the images floating around are glossy, but glossy doesn’t equal true art. I’ve gone through most of this from a fan perspective, researching the images to look for the following pieces of information: Provenance (who posted the images first and where) – Often the first posted images are low-res, heavily compressed or even cropped to strip the images of metadata. Are the ‘leaked’ images been corroborated by reputable leakers or official channels? – Look for small details in the images such as character accessories that match previous official character concept art, the use of consistent color palettes, and the use of established character and story art layouts. A painterly style that differs from previous official art that was rendered in a very photorealistic manner could indicate the images are rendered as renders. The presence of watermarks, text and other layers in the images’ captions in inconsistently sized typefaces are also indicators of fan-made compositions. My gut reads the majority of images posted around are likely ‘leaked’ concept art rendered by skilled individuals, not officially confirmed for release by the creator. The images are fun to look at and speculate about the character and story but I shall await an official post from the creator of the character before my perception of the character changes.

Miles · Answer

Community chatter about those ‘Ellie the Empress’ images recently had me coming down the fanblog rabbit hole and considering what kinds of impacts leaks historically have had on both fans and creators. There’s been concept art for projects that never saw the light of day, pre-finalization promo materials, and (rarest of all, I hope) outright fakes. To try to verify the status of the images in question, I did a side-by-side comparison with (official) prior artwork from the project—evaluating consistency of style, line weight, color palette, and how things like insignia and costume detail are rendered. Slight incompatibilities—minor proportions being off or details about costumes conflicting with trailers or established in-universe facts—might indicate either unfinished concept art or an extremely detailed fanart piece. The ethical issue with sharing such assets, though, is the potential to do harm to the creators of the project and to spoil storytelling for fans who would otherwise not have known. My own personal ethics on this have thus far indicated that even images which appear very real should not be spread by me until creators of the project have had a chance to confirm or deny their authenticity. It’s been kind of fun, though, getting to revisit how fans used to surface such images and speculate about their origins. In the end, however, I remain cautiously skeptical, reserving my actual excitement for the moment when such an image is officially released to the public.

Moises Gutierrez · Answer

One of the biggest clues to determine whether or not leaked art is actually from the official team is the texture of the fabric of clothing. In the official art, clothes have a very tangible, almost historical look and feel, thanks to custom canvas brushes created for Just Peachy by her team for example. The leaks on the other hand have a very soft and standard look and feel to them, with the majority of the shading done with a default soft airbrush brush. This looks very much like digital-comic art, and once you look at enough panels you can see the difference very clearly. This is not a mistake that a professional would make, as they save their own custom brush sets and work consistently with them. This points strongly to the work of an outsider working with completely different software, using the default tools provided by it, and thus (for me) irrefutably not authentic.

Carla · Answer

Why is this even a question of interest to you? Is the depiction of events in this leaked image different from how they are portrayed in the series? Even if you believe an image to be real, does it enhance your reading experience of the series or not? I think that for some people, spoilers actually build up anticipation for upcoming storylines. For others, the revelation of pivotal plot points ruins their experience of the series. So, in the end, this is all just a vehicle for us to grapple with the basic human desire to know what is going to happen next in a story. In short, we are a culture craving more content and this is all just a leak to satiate that craving momentarily. Perhaps, rather than quizzing someone as to whether or not they believe an image to be real, we should be inquiring as to the root of their desire to believe in the first place. The series is fantastic just as it is. Let the creators tell the story that they have worked so hard to develop at the pace that they see fit.

Liseth Zelaya · Answer

Ever checked an artist's Patreon or Fanbox? Sometimes they'll post up exclusive sketches or even a peek at their process, as exclusive content for their supporters. This could be what you're seeing - early, rough drafts of the work that were posted up in a supporter-only post, and then accidentally shared outside of the paywall for a short time. Even though they're 'authentic' early works by the artist, they're not necessarily final versions of the chapter you're reading - there could be many revisions between that early draft and the final version. These kinds of things are often referred to as 'leaks' by angry fans, but really they're just a breach of a private agreement between the supporter and the artist, as opposed to some large studio getting hacked.

Thalia Bertolino · Answer

I've been pondering the possibility that all these images are AI-generated. With the right prompts and some training on the existing ‘Ellie the Empress’ artwork, I could probably come up with something similar-looking within minutes. The edge of the robe in this leak looks repetitive and kinda nonsensical up close, for one. And those jewels on the crown don't seem to reflect light in a realistic way. I'm sure an AI could get the general look of something right, but then fail miserably at the finer details and overall logical consistency of said image. And this is a scary new frontier for fandom leaks. How do we verify the authenticity of anything when it can be so convincingly AI-generated?

lovely 09 · Answer

Déjà vu of the “is the dress blue or gold” debate. People see what they want to see and believe because they want to believe it. Log off before you get a headache.

Brandi Osler · Answer

Is this the style that the official artists are currently drawing in right now? The last few chapters have been rather darker and lots of ink, all set in the dungeon. These leaked images are rather bright and clean and seem almost to be promotional images for new content. I would expect an official art switch back to this style of the first season to be a gradual process or even a large volume break, not a handful of images. These appear to be drawn in the most iconic and well-known style of the series as seen in promo images and not as part of the current chapter-by-chapter content. This makes it unlikely to be actual upcoming content.

Aly Takkowat Rassah · Answer

I haven't seen those before. Can people link me to those? I’m curious as to why people are getting so worked up about this. (Though if the leaked stuff is real, perhaps don’t link to it in public. DM me instead?)

Are The Ellie The Empress Leaked Images Authentic?

12 Answers

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