#I prommie I won’t fire you with a laser beam

[goshdangitpaul]

ok so y’all know that one line in DR season 1 where Chancellor Gulch says to Zane “I don’t think anyone could live up to the legend of Zane. Maybe not even Zane himself” or something like that? Yeah I think it’s really important.

no spoilers for s2p2, just 3 paragraphs

Arin has high expectations for the ninja, especially the “Legendary Green Ninja”. But Lloyd can’t live up to the hype because at the end of the day he’s still just a guy. A young adult still struggling through life. And yet still Arin doesn’t see that and expects almost perfection (and Ras doesn’t exactly help with this- near the end of s2p1, he says that he’s still weak, despite training with the legends).

And Zane? He’s got a mixed record. The Ice Emperor, the Overlord-defeating nindroid, Murderer, the Titanium Ninja, etc. How could he ever live up to a Savior when he tortured a realm for decades? I like to think that Zane is stepping back from the limelight because they don’t need “Zane” anymore. They need answers, sure, they need an analytical perspective, sure, but they don’t need the cooking, kind, and emotional aspects of Zane anymore. His more “human” traits you could say. In fact, Zane tells Mr. Froghicky that he doesn’t experience heightened emotions, when he most certainly does. He needs to be the “Zane” that’s useful, the “Zane” that won battles.

Maybe the rest of Dragons Rising will give everyone a chance to distance themselves from their legends. A chance to find themselves again, without their past successes or failures haunting them, telling them what they should be.

(Edit: Thanks @/carlostck for the name correction)