#GlowToad

[withdenim]

I love his slay little stance. (And his slay little hat)

[saltyb0ba]

gently offers a rayla holding bait for the TDP fandom of tumblr

[reinafish]

WAIT…

[bat-snake]

RIGHT TDP FANDOM I need you to make a decision for me because I can't for the life of me.

And I want to do this wonderful little number, but I can't make a decision with who

So you'll have to decide for me if its

[newtwithtdp]

Oh this driftwood golem has personality

[cosmicpoutine]

we need to discuss soren's suicidal tendencies, this is not the first time he tries to sacrifice himself.

saying he's ready to die for king harrow. jumping into the ocean for one of the baby glowtoads. letting elmer beat him up over and over. and now asking viren to use his heart to save the people of katolis... he needs so much therapy

[mandaloriandragontrainer]

So I wrote this in October 2022, before season 4, but never finished it. It doesn’t really align with canon anymore, and it’s just been sitting in my drafts unfinished. I didn’t want to delete, and I don’t want to finish it, so here it is.

TW: Childbirth

“Please sit down, Your Highness. Your worrying is not helping the princess.”

Callum wiped the sweat from his brow, barely acknowledging Opeli’s suggestion as she brushed by him into the bedroom. He attempted to follow her, only to have the door promptly shut in his face.

“She’s in the best possible hands, Callum,” Ezran assured. He moved the aging glowtoad asleep on the red velvet couch beside him onto his lap, gesturing for Callum to sit. “Everything is going to be all right.”

Callum glanced at his king, who offered him a sympathetic smile. Ezran had excused himself from the court hours ago, ready to stand vigil at his brother’s side. At sixteen, he was already taller than Callum, and far more composed and mature than the brooding mess his elder brother had been at that age.

“I know, I know, it’s just…. stuff can happen, stuff they can’t do anything about, and…” Callum bit his lip and resumed pacing, as he’d been since the moment Rayla was whisked from his sight, wearing a path into the plush carpet of the suite’s sitting room. It was impossible not to worry. His wife, his princess, was the love of his life, his everything, and even with the most skilled of assistance, women still died in childbirth. He remembered a classmate whose mother had died delivering his baby sister. Though the memories were vague (he only went to school for one year after all, educated only by private tutors once his mother wed the king), he would always remember the empty, reddened eyes of his playmate’s father each day when he came to collect his son from the schoolhouse. It was if he would never stop crying. Callum then became convinced the same would happen to Sarai, and howled for hours into Harrow’s tunic when the time came for Ezran to arrive.

He fancied himself more rational now, of course, but the fear remained. Ezran had summoned the most skilled midwives from throughout the Pentarchy to attend his sister-in-law’s labor, joined by several women from the Silvergrove, including Rayla’s own mother. Callum knew a more capable team couldn’t possibly exist than the one aiding his wife. But none of them had ever delivered a halfling child.

Rayla’s pregnancy had been smooth, for the most part. They’d scarcely been married three months when Rayla began to awake sick to her stomach, rousing Callum as she hurried to the bathroom despite her best efforts to remain discrete. He would kneel beside her, gently holding back her silver hair as she hunched over the chamber pot. He insisted his Rayla see the palace physician, and after several miserable mornings spent on the cold marble floor, she relented. Callum shared with the doctor his theory that some elf-hating kitchen worker was poisoning his new bride’s food, and nearly collapsed when the woman instead laughed warmly and informed the couple that the princess was not only perfectly well, she was with child. It was the happiest and most terrifying moment of their lives. They were both so young, still learning to live as husband and wife, and now they were about to be parents. They cried together, both in fear and utter joy, and immediately began squabbling over names.

As far as the doctors and midwives could tell, the baby was growing healthy and strong, and Rayla seemed her usual vibrant self. But no one really knew what to expect. Neglecting his high mage duties, Callum spent many long hours in the royal library, scouring for information on halflings. Surely such children existed, but records were few and far between, and those that did exist spoke either of wretched abominations forsaken by humanity and the arcanums alike or of pitiful little waifs born too soon and dead before their first sunrise. He sought out information from many in the humans kingdoms and Xadia alike, to little success. A Skywing mercenary told him that he once traveled alongside an Earthblood companion with rounded ears and small horns, clumsily attributed to a poor diet as a youngster. An elderly shopkeeper from the Del Bar capital city recalled an infant born in her girlhood village, with four fingers and pale blue skin. The townsfolk shunned mother and baby, and both passed away during the winter. The story made Callum sick, and he felt useless to his wife and unborn child.

He’d scarely left Rayla’s side for the past week, except for when she ordered him out of the room because couldn’t he hear how annoying his breathing was? But elf pregnancies last eight months, humans nine, and she was right in between the two. There was no way he was leaving her when she could labor at any moment.

She’d woken him early that morning, just after the sun rose, grabbing his arm and whispering that something felt different.

“Different like… you want the moon berries inside the jelly tart this time?” he mumbled sleepily. Barius may well bludgeon him to death with his rolling pin if he bothered him again about the consistency of his crusts making Rayla nauseous.

“No, ye’ big dummy,” her violet eyes were big and excited and a touch frightened. “Different like… I think I’m havin’ the baby today.”

Callum shot up right, flinging the duvet onto the floor. “Wait, really? Right now? You’re sure? Okay, don’t panic, you stay right here, I—I’ll go get the doctor! It’s gonna be okay!”

He sprinted out the door, before scrambling back in and planting an enormous kiss on his wife’s forehead. “I love you!” Rayla could only shake her head as he charged back into the hallway, screaming for a maid.

That had been hours ago.

The couple spent the morning in the kitchen with Ezran, munching on pastries and fresh moonberries, before roaming the long palace corridors, Rayla holding Callum’s arm as she walked through the cramps. After her waters came away, her midwifes settled her in her bedchamber, and the pains began in earnest.

At first, the midwives allowed Callum to stay with her. He rubbed Rayla’s back, wiped her forehead with a cool cloth, lifted a glass of water to her lips—before spilling it all over her thanks to his shaking hands. She was in good spirits, all things considered. Certainly handling the whole ordeal better than he was.

“Would ya quit your frettin,’ ya big oaf,” she’d scolded fondly after he apologized for the tenth time over spilling the drink. “Ya’d think you were the one laborin’ with how badly you’re sweatin.’”

The pangs intensified in the afternoon, and Callum found himself wanting to cry at the sight of Rayla’s face, pinched and contorted with pain as she bravely breathed through it. Once the pains came consistently every few minutes, the head midwife checked her and, with a stern expression, ordered Callum from the chamber.

“It isn’t personal, Prince Callum,” Opeli assured with a kind smile as she guided him into the sitting room. “It’s simply the way things are done. King Harrow was not with your mother when Ezran was born either.”

“I know,” Callum stole one last look at his princess, recalling how he clung to his stepfather with all the strength in his little hands as he listened to his mother’s howls echo through the palace halls. “But… but he wanted to, didn’t he?”

Opeli smiled again. “You are like him in many ways.”

It seemed like an eternity had passed since Callum was shut outside the door. Except for Opeli checking in, and the occasional maid fetching fresh supplies, no one had left the room.

A pained grunt from within the bedchamber sent Callum to the door yet again. “Is everything all right?? Rayla, are you okay!?”

A young Moonshadow woman answered a few moments later, shooting the prince a dirty look. “You’re disturbin’ your wife.”

“She—she’s in pain. I just need to know she’s okay. Just—just let me check on her.”

“Childbirth is painful, Highness. She’s doin’ fine. Now sit back down, we’ll let ya know when your bairn arrives.”

Ezran stood up to put an arm around his brother’s shoulder. “She’s okay, Callum. You know how strong she is. And if something goes wrong, they’ll know what to do.”

Another cry tore through the room, and Callum felt the young king’s grip tighten, a flash of fear in his wide blue eyes. A stab of guilt prodded at his heart. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the kid was only sixteen. His little brother. It was Callum’s job to be strong for him.

“Hey… you’re right…” he smiled weakly, returning Ezran’s embrace and internally scolding himself for acting like a fool in front of his brother. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Ezran dropped his head down to Callum’s shoulder. “You love her so much. I know it’s awful to hear her in pain and not be able to do anything about it.”

Callum straightened the boy’s crown and repeated the mantra he’d be telling himself all day. “It’ll be over soon.”

Staying strong for Ezran lasted all of ten minutes. Rayla’s moans grew to agonized wails, so long and miserable that Callum feared she wasn’t even able to get in a breath.

“Callum… are you okay?” Ezran asked softly, lightly touching his brother’s hand. Even Bait appeared concerned, his skin a purplish green. It was then Callum realized he had tears rolling down his cheeks.

“I’ve—I’ve never heard her… scream like that before…” the mage’s voice wobbled, his throat thick. “It sounds like… like she’s—”

“Oh, Callum! Help me!”

Before Ezran could react, Callum was on his feet, nearly throwing the door off its hinges. “Rayla!” Two maids and the stern-faced Moonshadow woman hurried to stop him, almost knocked to the floor by the frantic young man.

“Callum, please, where are you!?” Rayla sobbed. “It hurts… Callum, it hurts!”

“Your Highness, you cannot be in here!” Opeli rushed to help the other women evict Callum from chambers.

“What’s wrong with her?” he demanded, fighting to reach his wife’s side.

“Callum!” Rayla gasped, her eyes finally locking with his. Her face was flushed and streaked with tears, eyes wild with pain. The thin white nightgown that usually hung so loosely around her nimble frame now clung to her skin, soaked through with sweat. But what scared Callum the most was the blood that stained the sheets around her legs. “Callum, help me!”

“Rayla!”

“Out. Now!”

“Callum, no! Come back, please!”

“No, wait—!” Callum grasped at his hair as the door was once again slammed in his face while his princess continued to scream his name.

“I’m coming, Rayla!” Pausing for a moment, Callum suddenly threw off his outer cloak and charged for the stairwell.

“Callum—”

“Stay there, Ez!”

The high mage barreled down the stairs and into the hallway, narrowly avoiding several collisions with mystified staff members, before sprinting across the inner courtyard to the base of the wide tower holding his study and personal chambers. Even so far below, he could hear his wife's cries, but now her ragged voice offered a glimmer of hope. The sight of the drapes flicking out above him in the evening breeze confirmed his suspicion.

The window was open.

"Manus. Pluma. Volantis."

It took only two powerful strokes to launch Callum up the full height of the tower. Tucking his wings to his side, the prince skillfully swooped into the bedchamber, striking them out again to balance himself as he landed on one knee, his sudden entrance prompting startled shrieks from at least half of Rayla's attendants.

"What is the meaning of this!?" the lead midwife gasped indignantly.

"Callum!" Rayla screamed, reaching out toward her husband. "Callum, ya came!"

In an instant, Callum was at his wife's side, clutching her hand and pressing kisses to her temple. "I'm here, love, I'm here... it's okay, I've got you..."

The midwife attempted to speak. "Prince Callum—"

"Ach, just let him stay, for pity's sake!" Tiadrin barked from her vigil at the opposite side of Rayla's bed, venom in her glare. "Muh poor lass is sufferin' enough without ya draggin' her husband away like a criminal!"

The woman swallowed and glanced back at Opeli, who only shook her head permissively. "Very well. His Highness may stay with the princess so long as he does not interfere with our work."

"I won’t, I swear. I just need to be here with her."

"Oh Callum," Rayla whimpered, a sob escaping her as she gripped his hand with all her strength. "I can't do it, Callum, I—I'm so tired, I think—I think I'm goin' tae die..."

"Shhhh... you're not gonna die, love, you're doing such a good job," Callum assured, tucking a loose strand of her shimmering silver hair behind her ear. "Just hang on a bit longer. It's almost done."

"Baby's head is nearly born, my lady," the midwife announced. "I need you to push with this next pang."

"Callum, I can't!" Rayla bawled, collapsing back against her pillow. "I can't!"

"Yes, yes you can, Rayla! I know you can!" Callum wrapped an arm around her shoulders and helped her upright, squeezing her hand as if he could share his strength with her. "You're so close, Rayla!"

The princess screamed as the pain ripped through her body, bracing down and grasping her husband's hand.

"The head is born, my lady! One more push with the next pain, and your baby will be here."

"You hear that, my love?" Callum kissed Rayla's hand. "Just one more. You're so close." She could only sob in response, turning her head against him and gasping for breath.

"Push, princess!"

[baatarthefirst]

Soren attended the Amaya school of Bearhugs.

Also, Zym seems to have a pet glowtoad on his head. How cute.

[raylasrightbraid]

i love how its a running gag that bait keeps getting forgotten and left behind and the dragang is just like “bait! we left bait!” like PLEASE take better fucking care of that grumpy glowtoad im begging 😭😭🙏

[a-very-sparkly-nerd]

Rayllum Month 2024! (5/13)

you know i still love you, babe

July 9th - “I Still Love You”–Reconciliation

~

Rayla poked her head into Callum’s room. “Hey, is Stella in here?”

He looked up from petting said cuddlemonkey nestled under his arm. “Maybe.”

She sat down on the bench at the end of his bed, resting her arms on the mattress to look at Callum, cuddled up with Bait and Stella. “They’ve been spending an awful lot of time with you lately.”

“Guess magical creatures just like Ocean mages,” Callum said lamely. Ezran was the animal whisperer of their group, but he didn’t have to speak Glowtoad to know that the animals had been worrying about him.

Which they had no reason to do.

Really.

He was fine.

Sources, he sounded like Rayla. Now he understood why she kept things all bottled up; she didn’t want to worry him, make him deal with her problems even though he wanted to. It was so different now that they were in the other’s place.

“They’re good judges of character,” Rayla commented, fidgeting her fingers.

He crawled over to her on his stomach, propping his head up on one hand and using the other to fiddle with one of her tiny braids. “That would explain why Stella loves you. And why they hang out with Ez all the time.”

She nodded absently, eyes glazing out of focus.

“Whatcha worrying about?”

“Tomorrow. I know you are, too.”

“I’m trying not to think about it,” Callum admitted. “We can only prepare so much before it becomes paranoia.”

“You can never account for all the things that will go wrong,” Rayla argued. “Runaan-” She stopped, meeting his eyes as Callum fought to keep his expression kindly neutral. He wasn’t exactly the fondest of Runaan, considering he’d killed Harrow and put it in Rayla’s head that she needed to sacrifice herself in order to be loved.

But Rayla loved him. That was enough for Callum to put his own ill will aside.

She looked away again. “Runaan always said that if something can go wrong, then it will. Anything you can think of can happen, so prepare for it and be ready.”

“Runaan also said that assassins are already dead. You look pretty alive to me.” Callum traced a finger along her jaw, and her eyes fluttered shut as she exhaled.

Rayla nodded in assent. “But I also learned it for myself when I was gone. When I prepared, I walked away with fewer injuries. When I went with the flow, things…” Her eyes dropped away, watching her fingernails pick at the wooden bench beneath her, “went sideways a lot.”

Callum nodded. Rayla didn’t talk much about those two years, but considering how little she slept, how often he’d awoken to find her quietly watching him in the night, her face glistening with sweat, and not to mention the scars and bruises he’d glimpsed, he could gather enough information about what it had been like.

“There are two of us now,” he said, squeezing her hand and taking his time in locking their fingers together. Hers were small and cold, especially compared to his own, enveloping hers completely and filling him with the warm desire to protect her, to shield her from everything the world could throw at them. “You’re not alone anymore, and you never will be. Ever again. Okay?”

Read more on AO3!

[that-disabled-princess]

BABY GLOWTOAD IN THE TRAILER OMGGGG

[raayllum]

since Finnegrin sorta took Aaravos’s place in the rayllum development this season, was wondering if you had any parallels between the two figures specifically? :D

Oh yeah, for sure!!

There's the way they both have this almost gentlemanly, still too sinister to be entirely pleasant but like... calmer outer demeanour? But something cruel and volatile lurking right underneath when they get pissed that will be brutally unleashed if you dare disobey in a way that offends or presents an obstacle to them.

There's their associations with keys and threes (three quasar diamonds, three main mage pawns, three glowtoads, three keys to Finnegrin's door) in addition to being a clearly more rare kind of elf compared to the rest. There's the way they don't actually tend to fight their own battles, per se, but instead use vessels/pawns - for Aaravos, it's his collection of mages, and for Finnegrin, it's Elmer. Ownership and control go hand in hand with both of them. As Finnegrin says, "The chains are just for show," which feels very indicative of Aaravos' whole "I could just possess any of the dark mages in my collection, but I choose to bolster and manipulate them instead" and their reliance on fear.

But the big one, and the reason why I say I can swap them, is that the core prediction I had regarding Callum-Aaravos-Rayla just came true with Finnegrin swapped in for Aaravos - because Finnegrin is pushing forward and developing similar kinds of dilemmas I imagined along the exact same thematic axis those predictions were built off of: control vs freedom tethered together by love.

To me, Callum having a Key of someone who's imprisoned (and its majority negative associations in arc 1, i.e. being the symbol of temptation and dark magic in Callum's fever dreams) as well as Callum's own associations with freedom (wings like Icarus, the sky arcanum, emphasis in lines of dialogue, etc) seemed like an obvious through line of Callum playing into Aaravos' future machinations and setting the Startouch elf free, for some reason (or at least, foreshadowing being unable to stop him). People doing terrible things for love was a smaller undercurrent in arc 1 (largely with Claudia for her family, and Harrow out of grief with Sarai) and Rayla was the reason Callum had the cube in the first place, at risk to herself, so all those things compounded into Callum, under coercion, doing something he deemed terrible but necessary in order to save Rayla being held hostage/captive, no matter the risk.

S4 just added to this in major ways (and S6 could bring it, wildly enough, wholly to fruition - although I could see the 'captive' part be replaced easily with a fatal wound), largely due to the scene between Callum and Rayla in 4x07:

C: I'm not afraid [Aaravos will] hurt me. I'm afraid that he'll use me, to do awful things, or hurt people I care about.

However, it was always very clear to me that if it came to doing an awful thing or saving his loved ones, Callum would 100% always choose doing the awful thing to save his loved ones. And everything Callum was scared of here due to the lack of freedom and autonomy are things that literally happened in 5x08 thanks to Finnegrin.

Callum frames his relationship with Aaravos as one that's an inherent loss of freedom/control: "When Aaravos possessed me, back at the Storm Spire, I felt so weak and out of control." This is also the level of identity, of someone being able to use his body and strip away his voice - "I was his puppet".

Finnegrin's conversations with Callum centre around a similar theme, but he makes the initial mistake in trying to motivate Callum with his own freedom: "Just one dark magic spell, and you go free." He ignores Callum's obvious signs of 'weakness' ( "Tell me where my friends are") by assuming Callum is interested mostly because he wants to be free: "They won't be springing to your rescue" even when that's hardly what he cares about.

He identifies that Callum is deeply attached to his personal loyalties, but I can see Finnegrin thinking he's doing Callum some sort of twisted favour, in giving him the opportunity to sell out for his own freedom and leave his friends out to dry. (Love is weakness, after all. Shouldn't you want to prune yourself from weakness?)

The fact that Finnegrin is targeting Callum specifically because 1) Callum is a mage, 2) in relation to dark magic (when that was Aaravos' in, too) and 3) out of revenge (against an archdragon who's spared restricted him, and Aaravos wants revenge for his imprisonment & against the Startouch elves for also sparing but banishing/felling him) just furthers these thematic connotations between Finnegrin and Aaravos.

+ Bonus framing used to make it look like Callum is the one also in a cage, and a framing technique TDP has used before with always framing it so Claudia and Soren are the ones behind bars upon visiting their father in 3x03:

Then, much like Aaravos, Finnegrin baits a defiant Callum into a test ("those who fail tests of love are simple animals") that he's doomed to lose. Finnegrin's control is immediately set up to be exerted over everyone, yes, but Rayla in particular:

Because Finnegrin doesn't actually care about any of the other kids besides Callum. All he wants to do is break Callum's morale so that the boy will give up the information he needs, whether that's by trying to force Callum to pick someone to lose a hand (which the others remove as a coercive tactic) or by trying to get him to do dark magic again because as he says "You'll do anything for them."

But this, of course, is a false pretense. A lie. If Callum had done it here (and the show seems to imply he would have, or was seriously considering it), all Finnegrin would've had to do was use his blood spell to incapacitate everyone else. This is also an interesting point of note in some ways too, because technically... the episode could've just ended here.

Think of it this way: the overall structure of the episode is to get Callum's back against the wall so he uses dark magic, and accepts that he would use it, so he can gain a deeper understanding of himself and access the Ocean arcanum, leading to him throwing off Finnegrin's ice spell. Right? That's the Plot structure stuff that had to happen. If that was all that they wanted, you could do it in these scenes. The main cast would know Callum had done dark magic, which is the major difference, but surely wouldn't hold it against him. Callum could've done dark magic to get their chains off, could've had an impromptu Ocean arcanum realization, and things could've played out exactly as they do in the final scenes of the episode.

The episode could end here, but it doesn't, because well...

The writers chose to make him give up the information and do dark magic, specifically, to save Rayla. That's what they wanted. That's the relationship they chose to emphasize. Not the group dynamic, or one of the others (Soren or Ezran, mostly, as contenders), but for Rayla. Just like what I always expected Aaravos to prey upon too, even before and definitely after Callum and Rayla's talk in 4x07.

But Finnegrin still miscalculates, still not quite understanding that this isn't enough to keep Callum under control. If anything it spurs him further into continually more violent, escalating action: punching Finnegrin, giving up the spell (control), and when both of those prove futile, using dark magic to free himself (freedom) so he can save Rayla (love). And all of these lead him to the ocean arcanum: "To love is simply to know this: the tides are true as the ocean is deep [...] the Ocean arcanum is accepting there are depths you can't see."

Callum already didn't like doing dark magic, but as he says, "I had to, to save my friend(s)" and now he knows what that cost him: the threat of hurting his loved ones because doing dark magic has let Aaravos possess him. And here, as indicated by the intro change being the Callum pawn one, Callum has played into Aaravos' hands - at least marginally. He's accepted this darker side of himself, his willingness to do anything for the people he loves (including keeping secrets and trying to be "strong alone") - the part of him that Aaravos has arguably known all along. Remember those Tests of Love? Yeah Callum just passed one.

By and large, Finnegrin is a smaller, less smart stand in for Aaravos in 5x08. Revenge driven, focused on control and coercion, unnecessarily cruel, and willing to do anything to get what he wants - forcing Callum into the corner and subsequent choices for the person he Loves, as I predicted. (And there will probably be future parallels between Callum and Elmer regarding being pawns and breaking free and identity, but again: post for another day.) The fact that Callum's had this identity arc running throughout S4 and S5 ("Oh, I know [high mage] is my formal title, but you can just call me by my regular name" -> "I don't know how to feel about Rayla either" -> "I'm afraid, Rayla. What if I'm a path of darkness? -> "I have to go after him" "I know" -> "A lot has changed, but not everything's changed. I would do anything for you" -> "I'm not a dark mage" -> ?) and Finnegrin says that seeing Rayla in danger makes him Lose Himself (and Rayla's been setup to also Find Him & break him free of the brainwashing)? Love is a weakness, too, Callum's weakness (and strength). Finnegrin knew it, and I expect Aaravos knows it too, and that we'll see both of sides of the strength-weakness dichotomy come to fruition. TDP loves reconciling its dualities after all.

So yeah, we're in for a deep, wild, emotional ride.

TLDR; Finnegrin takes all of Aaravos' most direct thematic interplay (freedom, control, tests of love) with Callum from S4 and shores it up (pun intended) for the boy in S5, naturally pushing Callum further onto the "path of darkness" that Callum fears and Aaravos is relying on. After all:

Let's see just how far that anything goes, shall we?

[a-confused-spoon]

⚠️ WARNING: HEAVY DOSE OF SARCASM! DON'T TAKE ANY OF THIS TOO SERIOUSLY! ⚠️

...I- okay, so-

Let me get this straight:

You make a show about cycles of violence and establish it as the main cause of suffering

You establish the main villains as victims of the different levels of said cycle (Claudia - interpersonal / Viren - historical / Aaravos - cosmical)

You also give each and one of them a sob story as to why they are in the place they're in, one that the audience is very obviously supposed to empathize with

You ALSO also make the cosmic council child murderers as well as apathetic assholes and basically imply they are the cause of everything

...and we're supposed to root for said council to stay intact and face no consequences? There's no one above them, so unless they punish themselves there'd be no repercussions on them for what they did and eventually caused

It's been a while since my post about Viren in s6 and I recognize that most of it was typed as an immediate reaction to it, as in I could verbalize it better or whatnot. Yet I still stan with what I ultimately said, and while Viren is gone I'd like to reiterate that he was deemed unredeemable by the very creators and (to add a very important something) the fact that everything he does from s2 ep9 'till the end of s3 mostly stems from Aaravos's manipulation doesn't matter- cause yeah, after the pentarchy thing he would've been done if Aaravos didn't persuade him into going forward.

Taking this into account, plus the fact that they confirmed someone else might die, how am I supposed to think there's going to be a satisfying and rewarding ending to this series?

It'll go in 1 of 3 ways:

OPTION 1: Miraculous Ladybug style

Ezran talks it out with the Star Council (don't pay attention to the fact that Viren did far less demage and Ezran still gave him the "you don't deserve any [mercy]" treatment) because that's how he solves everything and everybody is supposed to take his "but love!" speeches seriously because hey that's the moral of the story so he's right! (don't pay attention to the fact that literally everytime he does this he never actually tries to get the person he's talking to to reason, he's just "but don't you want peace and love too?🥺" as if the show didn't try to make a whole deal about the weight of history's influence, it's just either you're a naturally loving person or fuck you) and they end up agreeing for some forsaken reason called 'convenience' and not only they change their ways but they also grant some big miracle like repearing Katolis's Castle, Harrow being freed from the bird (even though I remember vividly they said that was the plan at first and then changed it because it was unfair to Callum and Ezran's grief, but this was before the saga was greenlit) and/or the lava river being replaced with a garden or something.

OPTION 2: if you're manipulated you're still compliant therefore every villain is unredeemable

Aaravos gets killed by the Nova Blade and Claudia either kills herself because something happens to Terry or she gets killed in the process, maybe by Soren- not because it makes any sense obviously, but they already had him kill Viren that one time and we had no kind of repercussions of it (PTSD, conversations about it etc.) so they might as well pull another shocker that results in absolutely nothing narrative-wise, and since the brother-sister relationship that was oh so important in the first act now counts less than the baby glowtoads surely they wouldn't have a problem giving them more angst (aka the only thing the magefam is allowed to get out of each other apparently).

OPTION 3: the best case scenario still doesn't solve the problem

Claudia gets redeemed, Aaravos doesn't. Turns out Aaravos lied or only shared a fraction of the truth but Claudia will not find out about it (only the main heroes will) and the reason for her flipping won't even be about her character finally finding guidance in herself instead of always relying on what other people may or may not suggest- it'll be EXACTLY that by Soren or Terry (hence no actual character development, just a change of circumstances) or alternatively she does it to save one of them (hence no actual character development because literally everything this girl ever did was already out of love); the Star Council that still killed an innocent autistic child stays intact and we all just pretend it's fine because it's what the heroes wanted.

(...these are exaggerations of course, I am joking... but I wouldn't be too surprised, y'know?)

I hope book 7 proves me wrong. Truthfully.

[winterstorm032802]

People are hating or questioning Ez on why he wanted to save the baby glowtoads. Like... this is Ezran we are talking about, right? Is there another Ezran I don't know about? Of course, the young king would save baby glowtoads. He's Ezran. He's kind and doesn't like to fight. He always tries to be compassionate and find a solution without violence. His connection with animals is just another sign of how compassionate he is. Also, how was he supposed to know Finnegrin would be that crazy to chase them for three baby glowtoads? Stop hating Ezran! He's a child! Leave him alone he just wants everyone to have a peaceful life!

[m4rs-ex3]

I just got back from camp and im gonna start s6 tomorrow but I haven't watched s5 since it came out can you give me a quick recap of the last few episodes? ty

OH HO HO HOHHO HO OHO HHOHO O !! i can do that yes

so yk first part of the season:

callum and rayla go to the great bookery in lux aurea for Information, and while there, zubeia gets bitten by a banther corrupted by evil rabies

viren has his own dark magic coma and clauderry are making their way to aaravos' prison

the dragang meets up after ez recieves the location of the prison from the archdragon of the ocean, domina profundis, and they elect to go after the prison (though callum would much rather go to the starscraper and get the novablade [they recap that whole thing for you in s6 dw]), and they do end up getting the location

zubeia's out of commission, so they have to catch a ride, which they end up catching with villads and nyx who is also here. but before that ezran embarks on a sidequest to rescue baby glowtoads from a bitchass pirate/local dictator named finnegrin; finnegrin is not happy about this

the latter part:

after failing to escape from finnegrin, the dragang gets captured. callum is singled out because finnegrin needs to know about a spell (he wants to kill domina profundis they have beef it's a whole thing) and beats the crap out of callum because he refuses, because it's a dark magic spell and he's not a dark mage except for that one time. rayla tries to rebel and so finnegrin magically tortures her, and callum accordingly clocks him square in the face (this is very important to me personally). ol finny's extra pissed now, and seeing how obsessed callum is with rayla he decides to fucking kill rayla about it. so before rayla can get fed to a sea monster, callum does dark magic again so that he can escape and save her. but he also unlocks the ocean arcanum so there's that! they have succeeded but callum is still being emo abt the whole thing

karim, who was exiled for treason, his formerly-possessed-by-aaravos buddy, and the ancient cunty leader of a vampire cult (who is in to repay this magical debt she has to the sunfire roayl family) kidnap janai because they want this magical sun seed that can heal sol regem's eyes bc they want that mf on their side. amaya unleashes her lesbian rage and everything is great EXCEPT that one of janai's generals betrayed her and stole the sun seed and brought it and her army to karim.

claudia and terry have made it to the sea of castout, the location on the prison, at the same time that the dragang does. claudia, callum, ez, and rayla all have it out as the bottom of the ocean which ends with rayla cutting of claudia's leg and them getting the prison---which turns out to be a giant magic pearl.

meanwhile, aaravos informs viren that the homunculus is their child. mpreg old man yaoi viravos is real. anyways the spell they need to save viren requires the blood of his child, so viren has to murder sir sparklepuff. viren decides to have some character development and refuses, swearing to never use dark magic again, even though he'll die.

ps: aaravos graciously informs the audience that the disappearance of sunfire queen aditi, was because he swallowed her. he swallowed her. he did that. anyway

i did not listen to the "quick" part of "quick recap" but i aim to overcompensate.

pps: coming back from camp? you're in for a fun surprise

[lunanightriderofthecove]

When Rayla says "this is just my rare glowtoad impersonation" Bait copies her afterwards 🤣