#aaravos and leola

[its-kapi-wara]

Aaravos: [...] "She was unique and quirky. Some saw her as strange or odd, but all I saw was a beautiful, brilliant girl full of unexpected surprises."

(I can't describe how much I love this image)

It might seem crazy what I'm about to say, but I just started to think that Aaravos relationship with Leola (ft. the other Startouch Elves) might have been similar to the Dumbo, Mrs. Jumbo and the other elephants dynamic from the 1941 Disney movie

For example, in the scene where the other elephants first see baby Dumbo's ears:

"Is it possible?"

"Isn't there some mistake?"

"Just look at her H-O-R-N"

"Her what? Oh, her HORN"

Except I imagine the Startouch Elves using a slightly more "passive aggressive" tone when referring to her, rather than the playful, mocking tone the elephants use

✨️ And then there's Aaravos standing there, and wanting to smack all of them to oblivion ✨️

[apollosbisexualass]

Just thinking how if Leola saw what Aaravos had done in revenge for her, she would have cried her own sea of tears to grieve the path he’s gone down and the kindness he’s lost.

[magicandmundane]

If I had a nickel for every time an animated show got me crying about fathers and daughters in the year of our lord 2024, I would have two nickels.

Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

[stuck-in-jelly]

The Dragon Prince saying that they are a story with the narrative of love but also about also how twisted and vile love can become

[sagegreenfrogs]

aaravos was right actually because if a bunch of weird ass star cops murdered my autistic daughter in front of me and then i was imprisoned in a crater with her bones and filled with my tears by the fuckass dragon who ratted out my daughter I would have totally committed The Atrocities too

[ac0531]

The bones in the sea of the castout ARE LEOLA’S…. OH GOD!!!

[pinksilvace]

Held together by love

[fandomislife03]

Ok ok ok SO!

I think everyone has realized that Leola was autistic. It was heavily implied both through the flashback images and Aaravos' narration-

She lined up her toys, flapped her hands (it was also shown in the trial scene), seemed to be sensitive towards loud sounds (like the other startouch elves when they talked), and walked on her tiptoes. All of those are classic signs of autism.

But there's one thing I haven't seen anyone else bring up, and that's that her giving her human friends magic and breaking the "cosmic order" or whatever could also be because of her neurotype!

Autistic people tend to have very strict senses of morality and fairness, and will disregard rules if they don't fit their idea of right or wrong. Personal example here, I used to constantly do things I was told not to because I thought the rules in question were bogus.

It's not hard to guess that Leola would find the rules about humans not having magic to be unfair- after all, her and all the other elves, and even the animals around them are full of it! So in the mind of an autistic child, this would be incredibly unfair. And she had the power to "fix" the situation! So why wouldn't she?

Why wouldn't she try to help her friends? Because it would break the cosmic order? That's vague as hell and she was a KID!

And the startouch elves atomized her, for breaking a rule she probably only half understood and thought was stupid. Because she was autistic.

Had this thought and wanted to share, makes the whole thing even more tragic.

[konmaao3]

Imagine being a human at the time after Leola's fall.

Apparently the impact was a devastating event, so you'd have your own troubles, but afterwards humans in the area would still have noticed what was going on in the crater:

A giant just kneeling there, crying and not stopping. Crying for years. Sometimes people dare to approach him, but he doesn't notice or care, he just cries, clearly anguished. He was already there when you were born and the crater only contained a salty lake. But over time the giant creates a whole ocean with his tears, and he is still crying when you die of old age, leaving you to wonder if he will eventually drown the whole world. And you never learn why.

Haunting.

[bat-snake]

Ok yes, we're all very excited about the Autism rep with Leola's hand stimming, but I also want to talk about Aaravos' Autism Dad King interaction with it.

The other thing I notice is that she seems to have dissociated a little bit - and it seems like Aaravos noticed before he got on the ground with her.

She stops when he holds her shoulders, bringing her back to focus.

And then guides her when she's the one that pulls in to cuddle. Not just as an emotional comfort, but for sensory pressure....and on Aaravos' end, demonstrating his affection before the court as he had been the whole time, with the certainty that it may be one of his last chances. (Additionally, reinforcing my theory of Startouch cultural practice that parents wear the center of their bodies open. Leola might have just needed it longer/didn't like the feeling of fabric against her face)

And he holds her until she's grounded enough to break off on her own terms and return to the ear-covering/rocking stim (where she seemed less dissociated)

At which point he helps her hide behind him as she had been before the dissociation, shielding her from whatever Star Councilor is talking before them at moment.

And that's just one significant example of how he addresses her combination sensory/comfort needs during the trail. All while pleading for her life and speaking on her behalf since she's nonverbal in this moment. There are a few smaller moments too, but this is the one that stuck out to me.

(And then he couldn't even verbally console her until they were alone when they only had moments left!!!)

[luniviravosshipper]

Can’t believe not a lot of people are talking about the fact that Aaravos’s prison seems to be modeled after Leola’s and his old home

[magicandmundane]

*long suffering sigh* I’m about to go so feral over Aaravos and Leola, aren’t I?

[zuesue]

I think some people are missing what Aaravos' choice meant:

He didn't choose to let Leola die so he could live.

He chose to live so he could avenge Leola.

He knew that living without her would be worse than death, but he wanted to make her death have meaning, have purpose besides the cruelty it was.

While what he ends up doing is awful, his choice to live was, in a twisted way, love for her.

[featherstorm2004]

Sooooooooo I can't be the only one who noticed they both have purple undertones in their hair.

The parallels just keep adding up with the mage fam's daughters and fathers, Claudia really is just Leola's stand in for Aaravos.

[its-kapi-wara]

I regret doing this already 😭

Aaravos character (and story) in a nutshell:

[aurelti]

nothing tragic ever happened to them what do you mean