#aaravos origins

[self-spaghettification]

prometheus

icicles don’t soften when they die. they sharpen into sabers and they stab you in the eye 🎵

(i decided self-spaghettification is too long and im just tagging my art viiravos from now on because thats what my new instagram account is)

[meebleagain]

screaming crying throwing up idk if anyone has realized this yet but the symbolism in this shot is killing me

aaravos, free from his prison, holds claudia up to the moon, which looks just like the pearl. she is the one trapped now, by her grief and aaravos' manipulation. he holds all the cards and while it also looks like he's showing her the (moon)light; he could easily drop her to the deadly ground below.

aaravos also takes her away from terry, who watches on worried for her. foreshadowing? they grow apart in the next season perhaps?

[magicandmundane]

Kinda Sick and Twisted of the arch dragons and their allies to put Aaravos’s prison in a sea made of his own tears in a crater that was formed by his daughter’s death

[self-spaghettification]

Mythology inspiration we love to see it 🙏

2 things that stood out to me:

1.

What’s considered to be the seat of human emotions in modern society?

Aaravos’s darkened heart

“and though undying, took last breath, immortal Laurelion was no more. / White as the star's heart it pierced, ivory draconic brought death's bite known ever forth as Novablade.”

2.

Callum saving Rayla using dark magic in 5x08 and that being foreshadowing for what is to come.

Maybe it being flipped too - Rayla being unable to kill possessed Callum and therefore being complicit in evil spreading. Both eating from the tree of knowledge

One thing I haven’t seen anyone directly address in the comparisons of Aaravos to both Prometheus (fire-bringer) and Lucifer (literally means “light bringer”) is the relationship the two figures have with the concepts of Love and Curiosity and Punishment. Both are quasi-deities who turn against the King of the Gods (or God King) and bring possibility to humanity by way of civilization, survival, and temptation. They’re crafty and clever, Prometheus having the power of foresight and empathy for humankind, Lucifer with a far more scheming aspect in mind and fuelled by spite. 

Both are punished for their ‘transgressions’ by being cast out and imprisoned. Prometheus is chained to a rock and has his liver (believed to be the seat of human emotions in Ancient Greece) eaten by an eagle (symbol of Zeus) every day only for it to grow back at night. Satan / Lucifer is cast down to hell and  pandemonium (all demons) and vows to have his revenge by ruining God’s latest creation, humanity.

The part 2 of the mythos is also exceedingly similar. A first woman is gifted to the first man (or men) to be a wife to a primary figure and her curiosity dooms her people. Pandora opens the pithos (not box) she had been instructed by Zeus to leave alone, releasing all evils into the world except for Hope. Likewise, Eve is tempted by the serpent and eats the apple of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, before Adam does the same; one of the most popular and prominent adaptations, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, shows Adam taking the apple not of out ignorance but out of wanting to stay with his wife at all costs, so that whatever happens, they are at the very least together. Both versions of the mythos end with the end of a former glory age shown by Death being brought into the world, and that more knowledge isn’t necessarily a good thing. 

Already we can see tenants of Callum’s curiosity being a dangerously powerful force, the crucial aspect of a love pair, and devotion of following your beloved into the deep unknown, of choosing to throw away your current world so that you can stay together at all costs. We can even see this somewhat reflected very early on in 1x04 with Rayla (the quasi-Eve) fetching the Cube for Callum, neither of them knowing the consequences that may lay in store for it. 

Other notes: 

We get the name Lucifer from an old name for the planet Venus, the Roman version of Aphrodite, goddess of Love.

Pandora’s name means “one who sends up gifts”

“He thinks that if he cared for the idea, he’d like to remember the taste of a smooth red fruit a human had plucked from a tree for him, once. It had been so crisp, and so sweet.” (Aaravos birthday post)

“That can be my first gift to you […] I’ve got one more gift for you, Callum. It’s not cake or kisses, but it’s something more important than that. I’M GOING TO KEEP YOU SAFE. […] Taking on hard choices and going to dark places is an act of love. It’s a gift. So, please let me give you this gift, Callum. Stay safe, and stay in the light.” (Rayla’s goodbye letter to Callum)

Rayla’s name being a reference to “Ray of Light” and Aaravos’ name meaning “between light and dark” 

[hotmcrodz]

Posting old art again sorry but I really want to share my drow vamp oc named soleil :3

[imminent-danger-came]

The Devil and the Lovers

Stills Under the Cut!

[sarasade]

*whisper* gay gay homosexual gay

reposting this with some improvements because why not. it's funny to me how much I struggled with Aaravos' face here when it's usually Viren who's giving me trouble with his stupid angular face bones. Anyway Viren came out so handsome it almost killed me. I just had to finish this properly because he's just so fineeee.

[n3rdchi1d]

Some dragon prince characters I drew :)

[m4rs-ex3]

ok. yeah. leola is everything. i do not blame him

[the-blaze-empress]

yes i love leola. yes i adore her with all my heart and yes i think what happened to her was an atrocity. yes i think the cosmic council went way too far with everything they did, yes i think aaravos' prison was uncalled for. no i do not forgive aaravos. no i do not think he was at all justified.

think about it, think about leola, who she was. she was kind and selfless and she didn't care about who or what other people were, she didn't care about arbitrary, unfair 'rules'. she was kind and her kindness got her murdered. aaravos chose to live to avenge her. to take out rage on those who wronged her. that wasnt her choice though, and i don't think it ever would have been. aaravos took it way too far way too fast, and it stopped being about leola a very long time ago for him. he did this in 'her name' despite the fact he should know better than anyone that this is the absolute last thing she'd ever want.

i love leola. i do not forgive her father.

[iblazitastic]

Make it more dramatic ✨

 My take on the #TheDragonPrince #dtiys #DrawThisInYourStyle #Aaravos #Fanart

[self-spaghettification]

Discord S4 Q&As related to Aaravos, answered by the cocreators

[classicanalyzer]

Dragon Prince S6 Thoughts

"Sometimes the line between mercy and cruelty can be thin." Aaravos and Startouch Elves

Well holy shit, that opening really went from wholesome Viren (who is alive) hugging Terry and celebrating Aaravos’ supposed “lie” to OH GOD CLAUDIA KILLED A CHILD. God, it's really terrifying seeing Claudia give so much to save her father...it really hits home how Viren felt responsible for leading her down this route. The tragic thing is that I think Viren knows deep inside that as of now, he can't help her...but he hopes he can inspire her to turn back. Despite everything she did, Claudia's actions to save her father were all for nothing. She lost a leg and her soul (it is yet to be seen if her soul can be brought back) and yet by the time she reached home, her father died yet again...this time for good. Claudia's screams were really chilling and sad.

At least, Terry is always there for Claudia...though I'm worried about what will happen to him given Claudia's increasing mental dive into darkness and insanity. He rightfully points out how revenge is different from love and how it drove Aaravos to the deaths of God who knows.

I really love that Viren didn't choose to reveal what he did to heal Soren. It would've just caused Soren more grief and pain. That's one of the most best things Viren could have done before his sacrifice. He carries on the absolute shame (I felt chills when I heard how he obtained the last part of the spell) that he caused rather than “pass it on” so to say to Soren.

Viren’s true death feels fitting for him. All this time everyone close to him ask if he was willing to risk his life for another. Dark Magic has ruined so many lives and yet also saved so man in some cases. There is a price to be paid. But finally, he proved that he was willing to do that rather than find some other way to pay the price or back out. This time he paid the price and did a truly selfless action where nobody had to get hurt...other than him. He lived his whole life choosing what he felt was pragmatic and selfish with only a few moments of his good self showing...he chose to finally die a servant of his home. While Soren will understandably never forgive him for what he did to him and the world, he will remember him for his last act of unselfish genuine goodness and living up to his desires of atonement rather than going back. I also love how his last words are the last words spoken by Harrow to him.

"I am a servant. I am a...servant." Viren's last words

That entire ship episode is so hilarious with the meta-commentary. The Celestial Elves were a really cool sub-ect of Skywing Elves. I also love the parallels between dealing with Ice Behmeath in the present and the Magma Titan in the past. Instead of killing the beast which left people killed, they found what made it so sad and everyone lives.

Also Callum and Rayla are back together! So happy and I wished we didn't have the break-up personally but still finally.

I now understand the Soren and Corvus ship, and I approve.

I'm so happy that Amaya and Janai finally got married at last. Too bad Karim had to ruin all the vibes temporarily, thankfully, the two were able to salvage it. Amaya and Janai truly deserve the world.

The build-up to when Ezran and Corvus realizes the true plan of Karim is really chilling.

S6 really has me lowkey ship Ezran and Aanya haha. Two badass, wise, and compassionate young rulers who lost their parents...speaking off, I can't imagine seeing Ezran in S7 now that he knows his kingdom is destroyed.

Sol Regem really is responsible for the events of the show. While it is dark how he died and it's horrible how he was responsible for his soulmate's death, I can't say he didn't deserve his death at all. He was the one who laid the seeds for humanity's conflict with elves and utterly despises humanity. He literally choked and burned on his own element.

Katolis being destroyed made me sad since it was our primary setting in the human realm for 6 seasons.

The Startouch Elves gave me so many Collector vibes. Aaravos really is the Ardyn of Dragon Prince with a bit of Collector and I'm all here for it. Now all that is needed is for him to get a stylish hat and turn the sky into an eternal darkness. Also, Aaravos was really that big in his natural mortal form...which made S5's horrifying reveal of what he said make a lot of sense.

A major theme of S6 and the show is how revenge won't get you anywhere but further metaphorically drown yourself. Another major theme is love (platonically and romantically), whether familial, platonic, or romantic.

S6 really is an amazing return to form, and it felt like the quality of the first three seasons was consistent. I cannot wait for the final season of this saga. I did hear about them wanting to make three more books and I wonder how they can go from here...but I trust them to do right based on S6.

[primedayart]

It’s their birthday!

What song is the melodaisy brigade playing, wrong answers only. 😂

[renthony]

🏳️‍🌈

(Drop a 🏳️‍🌈 in my inbox and I’ll respond with a queer media recommendation!)

Everybody who follows me already knows that The Dragon Prince is my favorite TV show in the whole world. Created for Netflix by Aaron Ehasz (an alumnus of Avatar: the Last Airbender) and Justin Richmond, it's an epic fantasy series that kicks off with a trio of plucky protagonists who are determined to return an egg kidnapped from the dragon queen by a dark mage, because the kidnapping of the dragon prince (hey! the title!) puts the entire world at risk of war.

One of the fundamental themes is exploring the cycle of violence and abuse, and how that cycle can only be broken when people commit to it wholeheartedly. It also shows that, even when someone wants to break the cycle, there are others who are invested in continuing it, and peace takes incredible and painful work.

The worldbuilding is phenomenal, the character and creature design is incredible, the story is gripping, and the writing is...*chef's kiss.* Every season is better than the last, and the increase in animation quality across the years is unreal. Season six was utterly ethereal.

Phase one of the series spanned seasons one to three, and we are currently in the final stretch of arc two ("Mystery of Aaravos"), encompassing seasons four to seven. Season six just dropped, and according to the official Instagram account, it's been #1 on Netflix for the past five days! That's really great news, because they're trying really hard to get greenlit for arc three--so now is a really, really great time to get into the show! You want to do it, you want to do it so bad. Use the hashtags #TheDragonPrince, #ContinueTheSaga, and #GiveUsTheSaga if you do! Please, for the love of fuck! 😭😭😭

Currently there are six seasons of the tv show, several books (including novelizations, original comics, and art book, and in-universe guides), a tabletop roleplaying game, a board game, and a brand-new video game that launched this week. This world is huge, and it's so fun to explore!

Here's the trailer for season one of the show:

Here's a trailer for the most recent season, for those who saw the early seasons but didn't keep up:

And here's the trailer for the mobile game:

As far as why I'm recommending it as a queer show, there are so many queer characters. The show prompted some griping early on because it had a pair of tragically dead lesbian queens, but in the seasons since, they've introduced a gloriously alive lesbian battle couple who get married on-screen, a married pair of gay men, three different trans characters (one of whom joins the main cast in season 4 and remains a major character), and a general lovely air of casual queerness in a high fantasy setting. The tabletop roleplaying game has multiple canon queer characters, too, and the show's cast and crew have made it clear that they have queer people among them, they fully support queer people in the fandom, and they want to include queerness in their world. It's awesome.

(And I'm still sticking with "when one man looks at another man and says 'our baby was so cute,' that's canon enough for me." So there's some fantastic queer villainy that's, like, the perfect icing on the cake for me personally. The Dragon Prince: for all your unholy dark magic mpreg bug baby needs!)

Also, this show has my poorest, saddest, littlest, wettest meow-meow babygirl of all fucking time: Lord Viren, (former) High Mage of Katolis, the most turbo-divorced man in all existence. If you follow me, you've seen that motherfucker. You know who he is. You have seen his sad miserable little face. You know who I am and what I'm here for. This paragraph is not a surprise to you. You know.

Here's a picture of me in Viren cosplay, as both a shameless cosplay self-promo and a reiteration that, no, seriously, this is my favorite TV show ever:

Ask For a Rec | Other Media Recommendations | Support Links

[bat-snake]

Couple little things of reading to Leola, in three stages of quality. Realms Beyond Time isn't exactly at-age reading material, but it still sure makes her sleep.

Plus Discworld??? And The Dark Crystal??? (with friends)

Or at the very least, loving homages that could realistically exist 2000 years in the past. I should actually solidify what kind of stories Leola was told...