#about the version of aaravos in my head :/

[self-spaghettification]

I had a lot of analysis on s4/5 after rewatching and there was some good thematic stuff in 6 too but I honestly don’t even want to post it anymore after that 😔

[ladyandherbooks]

During one of my season 7 rewatches I started thinking about the difference between Aaravos' killing of Karim and Aditi. Karim's was impersonal, Aaravos did not care or think him worthy of his time. Aditi's however, was incredibly personal and intimate, as only him literally swallowing her could be. And now I have a theory as to why:

I think Aditi was trying to control him, just like she did with Kim'dael.

Back in season 4 we learnt about not only her disappearance but also her reputation. Zubeia saw her as kind and wise, someone they trusted to help them decide who would be the next king or queen.

However, we see a very different and truer version of Aditi in the short story "Queen's Mercy".

In this story Kim'dael asks Aditi what she'll do if the dragons question her decision to aid her and Aditi replies like this:

And after she binds Kim'dael to her she also states this:

These are not the words and actions of a wise and kind leader, but an arrogant and power hungry one.

I suspect that Aaravos befriended Aditi and helped her to not only to be seen as a great and respected leader but more importantly helped to feed her desires for greatness and her ego. He cultivated and nurtured her arrogance and desire for power so that she would put herself forward as a neutral, respected and trusted party to decide which dragon would take the throne. Her reputation as a kind and wise leader allowed people to see this decision as a selfless and kind one while in reality it was Aditi's desire for power over the arch dragons that motivated her to put herself forward.

It's why she mentions them facing her wrath to Kim'dael, the power to decide who to put on the throne has gone to her head and made her believe that she can punish any arch dragon who voices any moral objection to her protecting and using the most dangerous elf in Xadia. She believed that she was untouchable, she had a dangerous, powerful and immortal elf under her control and had the power to control which dragon would rule Xadia. The only powerful individual not under her power was Aaravos. And she wanted him to be. Because if she succeeded she would be the most powerful being in all of Xadia.

So on the day she disappeared she went to see him, to bind him to her so she would be able to control him like she now did with Kim'dael. However, Aaravos knew what she wanted to do to him and was able to stop her without any real effort required. And because he knows who she truly is he probably told her exactly what he thought of her and revealed that he'd intentionally nurtured her worst traits in order to bring her to this moment, this height of power, both good (her reputation) and bad (her arrogance and hunger for power) for his own goals. And then, to punish her for her arrogance and for her belief that she could control him he picked her up and swallowed her as the ultimate and final reminder of how little power she truly had herself.

[sir-phineas-lost]

TDP Season 6

Well, I think I might be fully on-board with this show again.

Well, maybe not fully, but certainly more than I have been since season 2. The ever-present problem is the refusal to actually deal with the generational trauma and prejudice aspects of the story in a way that isn't wholly one-sided or shallow. Along with the usual amount of protagonist-centered morality.

Spoilers under the cut.

But! It has some of the best characterization of Claudia and Viren in the show so far. I especially love how they utterly subverted the preview scene that made me a little worried. I really wish there was more of Claudia here because I feel like we needed more scenes of her trying this new path before settling on her final decision for it to really land, but it still works.

Sidenote: The Rayllum-hater in me really likes "The Frozen Ship" but for all the reasons I doubt were intended. An episode that shows just how much this ship is built on fandom-expectations that the main boy and main girl are going to get together. Really obnoxious meta-jokes about how popular the ship is? Check! Reading a completely different love-story to spell out how the characters are feeling? Check! Literal stand-ins for the fandom moving them around like dolls going "Now kiss!"?? Check check check! And all the while it is juxtaposed with scenes of Claudia and Terry that are nuanced, somber, haunting and really intimate yet tasteful, all without a single word of dialogue? And you want me to care about that other garbage?!

And Soren in the final 3 episodes is at his absolute best. His anger and grief are all equally justified and he is more mature and grown-up than ever. And we got some really nice vindication for that mess of a season-3 finale. Not that I expect it to lead anywhere regarding Ezran reevaluating his decision. As awesome as it would be for him to get home to a ruined Katolis and be greeted by his people who now look exactly like the soldiers he triumphantly fought off before and get hit with the realization "huh, maybe that wasn't such a black and white conflict after all".

The final episode is all about Aaravos and it hits just about every note it needed to, without giving away every detail. But it certainly does the trick in explaining his motivation. And the reveal of what a Startouch elf actually looks like is so well done that it hits you like a truck to realize "Oh, they already gave that away long ago and we just didn't notice".

Only problem is that it is going to be even harder for me to not root against the main cast now that I know they will be working against the person who is trying to overthrow the entire unfair order of the world, which is the part of the story I am invested in.

Still. I am looking forward to seeing how this ends and while I doubt it will ever live up to the better version of this that lives in my head, or in some excellent fanfics, I hope it will be good.

[raayllum]

actually yeah I'm back on my Chessmaster Ezran bullshit because like

He's the one who called Zubeia away from the Storm Spire, thus unintentionally leaving Claudia a much better window during which to retrieve the staff and led to Ibis' murder

Ezran is ofc the one who discovered the egg in the first place and set into motion a ton of what happens in the series alongside Rayla (whereas Callum's discoveries/decisions take a little

"Soren began to imagine Ezran as a kindling flame, a bright little light holding back the abyss [...] the young king was not only Katolis' hope, but all of Xadia's, too."

He argues to focus on retrieving the prison rather than going for the Nova Blade, and in chess you constantly gotta prepare and pick your battles against said opponent

"His pawns are working to free him even as we speak."

Ezran having an honest version of Aaravos' ability to possess people through his bond with Zym and being able to see through Zym's eyes

The Orphan Queen being the one to unveil and ultimately kick off Aaravos' imprisonment with Ezran presumably stepping into her shoes

"I should have seen it before. Ha! Long ago, it was a human who saw through the Fallen Star’s schemes and helped Xadia put an end to them. You look so much like her."

Ezran repeatedly overcoming imprisonment and cheating death precisely because of the people who love him, whereas Aaravos symbolizes both of those things

Ezran having his own game motif of hide and seek and subsequently being the one to find where the prison was Hidden

"[About the key] It's a toy, a piece from a children's game." / "The whining child king, in over his head and he knows it."

[luniviravosshipper]

Aaravos' Dark Magic Nightmare Headcanon

Okay. Since we didn't get the dark magic nightmare flashback from Aaravos I wanted to this season, I'm going to share my own personal head canon about it.

Aaravos has the same nightmare every night, that nightmare. But maybe not exactly the same one, more like different reoccurring versions of the same one. And the way it plays out is that in the nightmare he is always being trialed by the Cosmic Council like his daughter was in front of them. Do we know whether this is actually the Cosmic Council manifesting in his head and putting him on trial or if he's just manifesting his own underlying guilt in the dreams and trialing himself? Part of my head canon is that Aaravos doesn't even know (or that he's too afraid to imagine that the latter could be true and so denies any sort of possible explanation). He's just gotten so used to having them he doesn't think much of them at all or what they mean and refuses to dwell on them more than he has to.

But anyways, what's different in each dream he has is that he is put through a series of tests where he'd be expected to make or avoid certain choices based on different events that occurred throughout his life—past or future. Then he is judged based on how much of an extent he decides to repeat the events as they originally occurred, how much he continues and perpetuates the same cycle.

But the trials never really end. Whether that's because of his inability to choose different courses of fate through those re-manifestations of events, or because he can but doesn't choose different ones based on different intentions, or because he sometimes does but it proves futile for whatever reason, or because he doesn't make those same choices in real life and so those better choices in the dreams prove to be unimportant in proving how he might have changed, etc... the trials only end when he awakes. But then they never really are done. He has to go through another set of tests every night.

Being an ageless sort of being, psychologically and physically detached from the passage of time, he doesn't really have a specific dream from the first time he used dark magic. It never really feels like there was that first time. To him, it's as though he has always known of dark magic deep down and that it was his "destiny" to fulfill the prophecy and use it. Even though from the audience's linear perspective of time there was and had to be a moment when Aaravos actually first used dark magic, to him it doesn't really hold any significance by being the first time. And that's why he has it every night.

And the nightmares all the dark mages get when they first use dark magic? Yeah, that's what Aaravos inadvertently passed down onto them. There's a lot of speculation on how dark magic and star magic connect and I don't really have a strong idea of how they do myself, but let's just say that his dreams come from his connection to the star primal and somehow by gifting dark magic to the humans he also accidentally passed down his experiences with the nightmares too.

But yeah, that's basically a summary of my current head canon. I'm obviously going to include this in my fanfic and have actually head canoned this for a long time now.

[inkdragon1900]

I’m rewatching TDP all the way up to S5’s release. So as I’m watching the credits for S2 ep 4 (because why would I skip them) this shows up.

I remember thinking this one was funny and a cute reference to The Great Gatsby when I first watched it. But since then I’ve read and watched Gatsby more times than I can count. Genuinely my favorite classic.

And it got me thinking. Why??? Why would they specifically reference this?

We all know they’ll throw in stuff in the credits we get to see or understand in the future (Ethari, Queen Aditi, etc)

So why this?

Time to combine two of my hyperfixations.

Most of this will be in reference to the 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann since that’s where the scene of Gatsby toasting in front of the fireworks comes from.

So how does Gatsby’s story work with Aaravos’s?

Well after mulling it over I can actually think of quite a few.

So in S2 episode 4 we get basically our first actual introduction to Aaravos sure he’s got no actual dialogue yet and we did see a flash of him in the episode prior. But this is narratively our first actual introduction.

Now interesting enough we as viewers find out we have seen him before. Multiple times with the intro we see his hands, and in the first episodes backstory we see him in the background and he’s the narrator.

So if it’s not necessarily our first introduction to Aaravos then who’s is it?

Viren.

Viren I’m going to insert in Nicks role in TGG just cause it makes sense narratively.

Now in TGG this scene:

Happens directly during Nick’s first actual interaction with Gatsby.

Now it should be mentioned this is not the first time they’ve seen each other. In fact it’s stated that Nick was being watched by his neighbor Gatsby for…idk a while.

And like Nick knew it he’d catch a glimpse of his hand in the window from time to time he just didn’t know it was Gatsby.

But anyway once again this fits with the fact we know Aaravos has been watching Viren from the other side probably the entire time.

So!!! Why does this matter.

Because in TGG no one knows shit about Gatsby. The mother fucker is elusive.

Literally at the party Nick is trying to track him down to thank him and LITERALLY no one knows what he looks like they just showed up to the party. Nick is literally the only person to have been invited because Gatsby just thought he’d show up like the rest of New York.

So while Nicks looking for Gatsby we get introduced to the most WILD theories about this man.

So anyway after getting shitface Nick and this woman Jordan (who’s a friend of his cousin Daisy) jokingly go exploring the house “looking” for Gatsby. (They’re not they’re just drunk af and having fun)

Anyways while exploring they end up in the mansion’s library. As they’re goofing around this older guy browsing the stacks starts telling them that they won’t find him and how the house and everything in it is an elaborate facade. (He’s right of course) so Jordan says she’s met him. And the guy asks them which version? The prince? The spy? The murderer? And goes on to say that he can’t find anyone who knows anything real about Mr. Gatsby.

And like if that’s not true for Aaravos, I don’t know what is.

Because all we know about Aaravos narratively has been told to us. We haven’t seen anything. Not really.

So who is he really?

Plus Gatsby’s main flaw is his attachment to the past his absolute refusal to move on.

And idk Aaravos more or less can’t actually move on since he’s imprisoned. But even narratively he stuck mentally where he was before imprisonment.

And that’s just another one of the many parallels I can draw.

Hell we don’t even get Gatsby’s backstory until the end of the movie pretty much and we barely know anything about Aaravos and we’re already headed into season 5.

Anyways I have a ton more thoughts on the comparison to Aaravos and Gatsby. I don’t want to spoil the ending of TGG for anyone who hasn’t read/watched it. GO READ OR WATCH IT. So I might eventually make a separate post.

Oh one other thing. The new money vs old money narrative in TGG could easily be reworked to fit Human’s learning magic (dark magic or not) and being born into an arcanum. And like Gatsby is new money which fits with Aaravos managing to connect to all the arcanum’s

[beautifulterriblequeen]

I have a fun new Claudia/DM theory spawned from E1 tidbits yesterday

(yes I got out of bed for this, and it's long, don't judge me):

Claudia has some new dark magic disfigurement, but she also has a walking stick to help with her missing leg. Maybe she has just healed herself, and the disfigurement is from that. But I got a much wilder idea and I gotta write it down or my head will blow, SO:

If Claudia attacks Terry because she isn't healed yet - attacks him for dark magic power to heal herself, using the walking stick he lovingly made for her, no less - then she's finally coming face to face with a big issue that's been hiding in the corner of her eye for a while now.

Claudia sees Terry as "a good elf", and the rest as enemies. But when push comes to shove, she also sees him as young, agile, and alive.

Just like the little deer she lured close with milk fruit.

And Terry is very, very close now.

But she does love him. She really does, as best she can. And it sounds like, in the pain and angst of the moment, she decides that she really is a monster, and that the only way to protect them both - her heart, his body - is for her to leave him.

Yes, if they stick it out, he could conceivably leave her someday, like her family has. But he's shown no sign of that at all. Terry is ride or die! Claudia maybe can't see that from inside her own traumas, though.

And, also likely, she's simply not telling him the monster part. She's very smooth at lying to "innocent" characters she likes about really dark topics. Little white lies aren't just a Moonshadow elf thing. And he'd try to argue her point, when she's made up her mind.

Basically, it's the Claudia version of Rayla leaving Callum in TTM.

Rayla, to Callum: the enemy is too dangerous, stay here

Claudia, to Terry: I'm too dangerous, stay here

SO. Claudia breaks up with Terry and literally walks (hobbles?) away for his safety, and only she knows the full extent of her reasoning why. She's alone and hurting, emotionally and physically, she's self-isolating, she's gonna brood like there's no tomorrow... and without support in that time, she's very prone to unstable influences. We all know Terry helped her with anxiety attacks and etc and generally set a really good mood at their camp.

Now, all of that is gone. She might forget that there is in fact a synonym for cinnamon.

Claudia could fall prey to Aaravos or any other outside entity at this rate - but she could also spiral on her own. Garlaath knows the poor woman's had enough angst to feed off for a lifetime.

Confession: I love Claudia, but I don't get out of bed for her. There's more to this theory. My kind of more.

It's hard to say from outside NYCC whether it's apparent that Claudia's new dark magic disfigurement is from healing herself or not. Maybe she was all healed up already and the attack was about other things - just scaring him, frustration, etc. Maybe she'd partially healed and it wasn't enough to get her foot to reach the ground, and there was nothing else nearby to kill.

But maybe it's "new" as in, it's still left over from the pentapus transformation.

Viren's a careful, calculated spellcaster. He doesn't waste magic, he does as little as possible to get the job done. Perhaps a caution borne from living long enough to want to be there for his kids as they grow, on top of his usual kingdom defense reasons.

But Claudia has grown wings, been half a snake, and then half a pentapus, all in the span of thirty days (not thirty-one, because we don't get the extra day!). That's some Doctor Strange What If material right there. Maybe some bits of those creatures... maybe they stick around in her DNA afterward.

Maybe they become part of her.

Maybe that's what "dark magic leaves a residue in the mage's body" is really about: You can burn snap magic cantrips at will because you've fused your body with a magic creature's essence.

Do you see where this theory leads, though? It does lead to Doctor Strange What If territory.

Here it is, then:

What if every unique monster in Greater Xadia used to be a dark mage?

What if they accidentally build themselves like Dr. Lazarus from that one Doctor Who episode, out of every creature they've ever burnt for power? Each dark mage's final evolution would be unique.

What if, one day, they just... erupt into a new form and have to run away or be attacked by everyone they love? Or what if they hide away in caves and cliffs, in bogs and burrows, because they can start to feel it coming?

Even Kpp'Ar lived alone in a weird house, like Dracula or something. What if Viren was a one-off, the way he was so so careful, the way he covered his stains, so he could serve publicly and keep Katolis safe? The way he married, had kids, tried so hard for normalcy?

What if Viren knows all of this, has always known it, and it helped him turn away from Aaravos at the last moment? If he'd rather die as he is.

When it really matters, Viren doesn't want to hide in the body of another, either. Maybe in that last argument with Aaravos, Viren finally understood where Harrow was coming from. Neither of them wanted to have a ship of Theseus life. For them, the answer to that age old question seems to be No.

I have one more fun twist, darlings.

What if the research Viren was doing for Harrow regarding the famine wasn't on Xadian monsters at all? What if he has a secret book of monstrous dark mages - because of course they're pragmatic enough to dutifully record each other's final downfall, in case someone else needs what they've become for a spell someday?

Maybe his source wasn't any scout report at all, but a horrible passage about a mage who used too much Sun magic and turned themselves into a giant, lumbering Magma Titan who could never go home again lest they set everything they love ablaze.

Yes, I'm still on my "but they looked so depressed out there by the lava river!!" bullshit, and it shall continue! This is at least my 3rd iteration of a Magma Titan backstory. And you'll hear it again lmfao!

I just. Love monsters. A lot.

Alright, there we go. You survived another one of my speculative theories. Good job. Remember to drink water.

[kilfeur]

Cette fois ci, on a Claudia et l'ombre de Viren ainsi qu'une étoile bien plus brillante par rapport au précédent poster. Claudia semble être déterminé mais peu sûre aussi, le collier aura soit un rapport avec les elfes des étoiles soit un rapport avec la magie noire. Et enfin Viren, alors on voit que sa silhouette. Donc il est possible que Viren soit présent dans la tête de Claudia mais plus une version tordue, amplifiant son désir de le revoir. Ou alors, le Viren qu'on va voir est celui d'un flashback comme il a été montré dans le trailer.

Sinon si Viren va vraiment revenir et j'avoue que je serai mitigée, j'étais justement dans le camp qu'il reviendrait. Car je trouvais qu'Aaravos le testait et semblait sourire quand ce dernier refuse de tuer Monsieur Bavetout. Mais de l'autre, ça veut dire qu'on aura plus à craindre qu'ils meurent, Amaya dans la scène de la bibliothèque, ça va aller, elle va s'en sortir. Donc je sais pas, on verra comment la série va l'amener si c'est vrai. Par contre la pose de Viren, on dirait Jésus, je suis désolée XD

Quand à l'étoile, je pense que ça représente plus Aaravos et l'étoile que justement le trio a dans le ciel, sont les elfes des étoiles. Donc y a une faible possibilité, que le dragang va rencontrer lo miséricordieux. Mon ami m'avait demandé si on aurait d'autres posters et le plus logique serait qu'on ait un poster des elfes des étoiles montrant lo miséricordieux. Ou alors Janai, Amaya avec Sol Regem qui cache l'étoile.

This time, we have Claudia and Viren's shadow, as well as a much brighter star than in the previous poster. Claudia seems determined but also unsure, the necklace will either have something to do with startouch elves or dark magic. And finally Viren, so we only see his silhouette. So it's possible that Viren is present in Claudia's head but more of a twisted version, amplifying her desire to see him again. Or maybe the Viren we'll see is the one from a flashback as shown in the trailer.

If not, Viren will really come back and I admit I'll be mixed, I was right in the camp that he would. Because I thought Aaravos was testing him and seemed to smile when he refused to kill Sir Sparklepuff. But on the other hand, it means we won't have to worry about them dying, Amaya in the library scene will be fine, she'll be fine. So I don't know, we'll see how the series takes it if it's true. On the other hand, Viren's pose looks like Jesus, I'm sorry XD

As for the star, I think it represents Aaravos and the star that the trio has in the sky are the startouch elves. So there's a slight possibility that the dragang will meet the merciful one. My friend asked if we'd have any other posters, and the most logical would be a poster of the startouch elves showing the merciful one. Or Janai, Amaya with Sol Regem hiding the star.

[jamieedlund]

What's ur favorite hc for Aaravos?

This is a surprisingly hard question to unpack for a lot of reasons- but I'll do my best to articulate myself (ง •_•)ง

I think this spoke for itself but just in case, here is a short elaboration: if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be this.

He is someone who - despite all of the odds, despite how the world treated to him, despite being ridiculed, subjected to the worst torture known to man(yes solitary confinement is considered one of the most inhumane methods of torture) for over 300 years and had his name dragged through the mud for literal centuries-

-could still smile so brightly and sincerely like that, affirming that he does, with all of his heart, still very much love this world. However twisted that love might be, however difficult it was for him to learn how to use and express that love in a healthy way, it still speaks volume about who he is as a person.

Now if you have the time, allow me to explain bellow. If not, stop here, the question is basically answered 🙏💗 Thank you for reading!

Hello, if you're reading this that means you are willing to listen/read more about my thoughts and therefore I expect you to have a leveled head and a polite attitude to what I'm about to say.

If not then why are you here there was LITERALLY A STOP BUTTON. Please click off this post, what are you doing with your life wasting it hate watching me? 

With that being said, hello! fellow polite person who is reading this - - - Spoiler there is no illust down here because I'm running low on time on my thesis I'm so sorry ;;A;; Here is the elaboration to why this is my default favorite headcanon!

While I am aware of the amount of WILDLY different headcanons that exist out there for him, which are very popular within the fandom and even taken as gospel, I strongly feel that mine isn't really aligned with some, if not most of the hc out there at all.

Personally, I don't even agree with the canon version of in him ss4.

I'm assuming that you are asking me about my- personal favorite headcanon for him so for now, my answer will be: Ignoring the terrible characterization of him in season 4, my absolute favorite thing about him has to be: Despite everything, despite what everyone says about him, despite how the world perceives him

He is

without a doubt

Someone who loves this world very much.

Again this all ties in with what I'm going to present in my thesis, so I can't elaborate on it too much without giving any spoilers to the case I'm going to present for him. But for now, and especially right now at the time of writing this, they just released another vaguely worded and filled to the brim with plot holes short story regarding his past ... I-- hm I sincerely have no intention to keep up with the series... Therefore my hc will definitely contradict vastly with the horrendous plot holes ridden pre-established canon

-which then made the act of answering to this question exceedingly difficult due to the way I personally perceive him.

To wrap it up, all I want to say is, we could have had it all, a character who would make us cry, laugh and want to root for, had they written him with love and care, rather than trying to stuff him into the shoes a villain, which just felt forced and unnatural. Villains who are terrible only to be stopped have been overdone, and for tdp to be another generic show is a huge waste of potential

Wouldn't most of us have killed for, finally, an antagonist who isn't actually the antagonist but rather the very system that these people are experiencing is the actual villain ? ? ?

Best of all, they could have contrasted this with Callum, our protagonist. In Callum's case, despite being portrayed as one of "the good guys" or "heroes", he has all the reason to hate the world. This in turn create a complex narrative about the nature of people - Or in this case, the hero acting morally righteous despite hating the world vs the guy who was deemed evil and terrible by the world and yet still loves it with all of his heart. It could have been a heart-warming story about how two individuals find their way in this messed up world-- but nope~ non of this is canon :DDD

When in the history of television has any shows have a twist with the "hero" and "villain" ditching their role immediately to become a neutral party to reflect all the flaws in the world they live in? ? ? TDP had the perfect setup, but then proceeded to drop all of the balls spectacularly in ss4...

I always try my best to not touch ss4 but it feels almost impossible to talk about Aaravos w/out addressing the disservice that it did to his character. And that is all, I have to say for now~

Sincerely, thank you for reading.

[xadian-daydreams]

Aaravos' Key to What?

I did an earlier theory about what the Key of Aaravos might function as - a means by which Aaravos can access artificial arcanum from a source/nexus that holds a version of all six primals - basically a Deep nexus.

So going to expand on a theory as to what and where this is.

There's an odd connection between Deep magic, blood magic and dark magic. (Bear with me). Deep magic is the ancient precursor to Primal magic. According to an interview one of the spells in S5 was a deep magic spell - with the most likely candidate being Finnegrin's blood freezing spell Veinus Frigardis. Then there's the ancient Infantis Sanguine ritual, Kpp'Ar using ancient and unsavoury practices with a bloody arm and Kim'dael being able to overcome the moon cycle's effect on her powers using blood. (There's also the bloodbinding ritual Aaravos conducts - but we don't know how old that is and it definitely used a Stars rune). And it's been pointed out by kardogsrats here that one of the early concepts when designing the symbol for dark magic was blood... and you'll also note, dragons.

Deep magic symbol on the left, early concepts for dark magic symbol on the right.

So, my theory is that the Deep nexus/source that Aaravos has his Key linked to is actually related to the remains of the most powerful dragon mentioned in Tales of Xadia - a Void Dragon. There's hints that there's remains of a Void dragon around;

But how could you hide something that powerful? Well, Aaravos is bound by a prison made of Ocean magic within a sea, and in ToX there's reference to The Epic of the Void, a poem about Startouch, with this relic being protected by an Ocean rune. That Ocean has been used twice to contain Stars powers is unlikely to be a coincidence.

So, keeping in mind star dragon blood and Stars related thing being contained by Ocean magic, there's one point on the map which stands out;

Ocean Point has the Stars symbol (minus the circle) in red, with a dotted line heading down below it. This could be the location the Key of Aaravos is being pulled towards, the "source of great power" in Xadia.

Bonus note, when Aaravos thinks Avizandum is keeping watch on him he makes the effort to wear his cloak with the Deep magic symbols on it. - possibly as a reminder of his role regarding the Deep nexus. Possibly, he its guardian, like Lujanne is to the Moon nexus, and the only one (currently) who can access it using his Key.

[self-spaghettification]

ok so i accidentally deleted the draft but a while back an anon asked me basically saying they had read Gone (are the Days) and wanted other good fanfic recs. and this was my response LMAO

hmm !! this may surprise you but i actually don’t consume that much fanfic. partially because i’m picky, partially bc i tend to consume content slowly or bounce around a lot, etc

i will say a general tip is to sort by bookmarks or kudos to get the good stuff and filter by specific tags as well! like i just read mage pride which is the top bookmarked item in the viravos tag and it was definitely worth the hype!!

if you enjoyed gone are the days,

you’d probably like the Professor Next Door by detectiphoenix (also a professor au but high school teachers!) besides that, here are some viravos fanfic i’ve enjoyed, off the top of my head:

(for context i’m not hyper into smut personally or try to find variety/creativity and i’m biased towards certain things lol but)

VIRAVOS FICS I LOVED <3

Mage Pride by luminiex - This is the top bookmarked fic in the viravos tag, and for good reason! While it is written after S2 and has more sympathetic Aaravos than in canon, it is still very well done in my opinion. I also love whatever it takes by them, it’s great if you don’t like smut too! Aaravos and Viren living together in this plane together lives rent free in my head 😭 I also love their fic where Aaravos gets to meet Viren’s family :)

Recidivism by indefensibleselfindulgence/ @iamalivenow - the viren characterization is everything, it takes place in s2 prison era, and it’s very humorous!

The Sound of His Voice by portmanteau_press - very very cool setup/worldbuilding concept i think

Constellation of the Heart by @yurayuramiharin - This fic is one of my absolute favorites and has inspired some of the art I’ve done as well! As someone who loves vintage & goth subculture & IS a baby bat in college I feel like I resonate with it really well! I love the taking of the worldbuilding of the dragon prince recontextualized in a college setting and the way Aaravos was actually an inspiration for Bowie & caused Viren to question his sexuality!! It’s so deliciously perfect but sadly unfinished, but I would say it’s still definitely worth the read! It doesn’t really end on a cliffhanger either, just one of the best burns ever 😁

Touch of a Star by @detectiphoenix - really unique take on what it’s like to touch Aaravos, I adore it sm and think about it everyday too. Fluffy S5 extrapolation/continuation

To Serve or Slaughter by beastlybrooke - viravos recontextualized as vampires like castlevania my other recent fixation? sign me up. it’s interesting how viren’s prejudice towards elves is recast as a prejudice towards vampires, and aaravos’s fight towards the elves and view towards humans i love it everything

honorary mention ficlets:

the stars they lie by rikku - this is short but i really like the way they incorporate virrow and mindgames, as well as enby aaravos :)

Checkmate by @thrandilf is also short and sweet but i adore it, i think about the alternate versions of the s5 trailer sm and even tried writing my own a few times but they never went that far but yeah i love it and they have other fics that are great too

respect his decision by @vestaldestroyer because aaravos didn’t have to revive viren s4 but he did and ughgghhghh while i don’t think he cares that much cause he might have just been using the revival as a way in with claudia and continuation of all that, there’s always that off chance and he doesn’t even realize how attached he is and love is just that huge when you’re that old and powerful, large enough to move mountains and yeah </3

i’d put my own can you stay by @self-spaghettification but that’d seem a bit unfair lol

—

there’s probably others i’ve yet to read or that are cool but i don’t remember or that have some good parts but are kind of iffy imo but those are the only ones i can think of off the top of my head i’m sorry </3

but i’ve also have been compiling a list of fic ratings on a google doc and uhh its not really sharable in any way, but a while ago I also had a website concept where people could share fic ratings like goodreads but for ao3 with some other site inspo in the mix that i spent a few hours sketching out the concept of but idk if i should share but yeah :)

[bat-snake]

I made the mistake of watching Wicked hours before S7 dropped.

Me being me, drew too many parallels between Elpheba and Aaraovos.

Which then transformed into initially goofing around in my head around the Human Kingdoms having their own variation of an Oz story.........and then I started taking it seriously.

First obviously as books. Then a musical pantomime. Then there was the variation of Wicked and an Operetta.

And so, presenting Aaravos In The Calm Down Therapy Zone AU I want to develop even with feeling a bit better about his return to the stars...where he starts catching up on 300 years of reading...

I was still CopingTM at the time and then I started having fun with what's basically shitposts + stacked on references.

Coming soon: Soren and Corvus (and maybe Terry?) in "HER SISTER WAS A WITCH, RIGHT!?!?"

Look if they can have Love Amongst the Dragons, they can have their own version of Oz where Dorothy is a kid from some dusty corner of Duren and the Wizard was a conman from Katolis.

[armchairaleck]

So I got kinda down a rabbit hole of researching both cyberpunk and gothic AU's at the same time.. because I’m horribly indecisive..

Anyway, I read The King in Yellow, which is I guess some prototype Lovecraft type mythos of dreamlands and monsters.. and through that I found the malevolent podcast in which a 1930s detective is possessed by an evil entity from the dark realms - a voice in his head that only he can hear.. who has control of his eyesight, and then gets control of his left hand.. and.. well you can imagine where the fanfic goes from there..

Okay, clearly I have a thing for delusional men suffering life threatening injuries, and becoming increasingly deranged whilst they're being possessed by gods with very dubious morality.. so I have been thinking about this as a Viravos scenario A LOT.. but I really can’t afford to be thinking too much about another totally niche crack AU.. so I drew this super scratchy art while listening to the podcast instead.. and I’m too tired to attempt to make it better.. but anyway if you happen to like some Cthulhu type monster vibes this is a cool show so far..

Well.. argh.. alright, ngl I totally do wanna write the Viren/Aaravos version of this but it’ll have to be shelved until like next year’s Halloween at my current rate of progress.. and honestly the more obscure and niche my interests grow, the more I question the sanity of trying to write any of them down...

[shiramoonshadow]

This is the last part of the vip panel with Jason, Luc and Adrian. 

What’s your favorite character you didn’t voice?

Adrian: Oh, I don’t know, everybody. Seriously, everybody’s so amazing. You know, I’m exciting to eventually be...I’m not there yet, just in the countenance of my voice and the age of my voice quite yet, but one day I aspire to voice a Viren like character, now I’m a dad I just find that fascinating, the very complex relationships he has with his children and his own ambitions. Yeah, I’m not jealous, I love what Jason does but I can’t wait to play a Viren character.

Luc: First, let me just say that once again I love everyone on the show and I don’t just say that to make everyone feel good, like I watch every episode and I’m blown away and sometimes even the small characters I have to pause and be like “who was that? who did that?” That was fantastic. Um...it’s Amaya, she’s got me right from the beginning. I think I’ve always had a thing for female like warriors for some reason? Like she is just the ultimate badass warrior. She’s caring, she’s protective and she’s strong and all the fight sequences are just so dope. She gets the one up on Harrow, even on Harrow she’s like “this dude”, you know? I just love her. I think she’s fantastic.

Jason: That’s the same for me. Episode six on s1 where they’re at the statue and they’re sharing a lovely moment, Viren and Amaya but she still says “listen let’s cut the bs, I don’t trust you”. She’s just written so well.

Jason, what movie or tv show would your characters love?

Jason: This is interesting. I’ve done this sort of thing I just wrote down, you know, music shows...Loves...Um...loves classical music and heavy metal. I think a really good comedy like a belly laugh sort of comedy, just a sitcom that’s good, so like 30 Rock or The office.

Luc: I think he likes looks to other great leaders and people of history stuff, right? So he’s like watching James Earl Jones do some Shakespeare, like play Othello or something like that, you know, he’s downloaded illegally or something, like the 1996 production of the globe theatre or something like “ah, this is it” or like The West Wing or something like that.

Adrian: I would say The Golden Girls.

Is there a favorite theory that you have for what happened to Harrow?

Luc: So right in the middle of s1, right after we finished recording those first three episodes. My personal theory is that Viren actually sacrificed himself and used the soulfang to switch their bodies and that Harrow is now inside of Viren’s body and we just didn’t know. Now, since watching more episodes I realized that is obviously not. Like right after we recorded those I was like “oh yeah, it’s going to be this great actual sacrifice and we’ll find out at the end of the first season that Viren has actually sacrificed himself and Harrow lives inside of…” No, that’s not the case. Honestly? After I realized that I was wrong I stopped trying to guess and I know all the fan theories but when I work on a show and something like this happens I try not to create these theories for myself until I see the scripts because it’s just either going to be disappointment or...I don’t know, it’s like I like to wait till the writers actually-

Tell you what happened?

Luc: Yeah. Otherwise I just like to believe that what they say is the truth and he was assassinated. Until we know differently, you know?

One of my favorite things that Jack revealed was that he always shipped Rayla with Callum and so he performed as if that was the end, even with the whole Claudia thing, he said he always... in his head his goal was to get with Rayla. I was like “I think he made it happen” like he literally changed like how confident he was because he is like this person showed up to kill his brother, so like he had to be very strong and in charge and have it together and so there was like such a great version of Callum with Rayla that eventually they just wrote it that way. I'm just trowing that out there in case you want to guide this reveal. You're more than welcome to pick your favorite fan theory and just make it happen.

Jason: I have favorite theories but I'm not going to say what I actually think. Only because I like to...I will certainly share my opinions if it’s really against something strong that I disbelieve, but because I know... the three of us, we look at our scripts and we prepare characters and we prepare...we know stuff that we’ve been told by writer, director, creators. We know stuff that we’ve talked about and I don’t like to let any of that stuff go because I’d like to keep it for myself. I love to throw lines out there, to throw people off and mess around but… One that I heard was that Harrow is out wandering somewhere and that’s my favorite theory, he’s just sort of gone and he’ll be back someday.

Luc: How do you explain the bracelet falling off?

Jason: Exactly, but I like the idea of Viren and Harrow looking at each other saying “brother, I will see you again one day” and Harrow puts his backpack on and walks out into the...he’s on a boat somewhere.

We’re gonna ask you again I’m gonna have you back on when we...to see how close where you are at personally turns into. You know, what I’m saying like, because you’re gonna keep that close to the chest and I think it’s part of what’s again, I really think Jack shaped what happened and it’s clear that the writers are that “this is a participatory story that’s being told and you guys are really…” So what do you think Adrian?

Adrian: Somebody blew my mind and said that Harrow became the bird? Like switched souls at the bird. I thought that was pretty crazy. That kind of blew my mind, yeah.

Luc: That’s the biggest fan theory.

Adrian: Is that the biggest one? Okay. I had never heard it, someone brought that up and then I was like “okay, that’s actually kind of cool”.

Jason: Justin and Aaron have debunked that. They’ve said that’s not the case.

Adrian: But what do they know?

Jason, do you think Viren still has an avenue to redemption?

Jason: Do I think he has an avenue to redemption? Yes. Do I want the very last thing people to see is Viren holding dead body over the planes and Eric’s voice over saying “and they lived in harmony, forever”.

Luc: And then he pulls off his mask and he’s actually just Jason.

Jason: Or Harrow.

If you were picking your live-action actor who played your character?

Jason: Michael Fassbender.

Adrian: I think Tom Holland would actually be a great choice. He’s just got a ton of heart and I think he could convincingly play that naivete and wholesomeness.

Luc: The looks wise I would say like Makhi Phifer? I want him to play but I don’t know if Makhi fighter has the gravitas to handle like a live-action Harrow? So I think like Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Adrian: I would do Idris Elba as Aaravos.

Luc: There you go.

Jason: Michael K. Williams as Harrow.

Luc: Michael can play anyone.

If someday we get a flashback with Callum meeting Harrow. What do you think? Because we haven’t seen that, right?

Luc: No, we get a couple flashbacks to when their relationship is first kind of building and Harrow gives him his sketchbook and you know, he sees him as a child but I wonder about that. I wonder how old Callum was? If he knew him before him and Sarai got together? Like if he knew them as a family unit or if he had to be introduced to him after him and Sarai had already been seeing each other? I kind of see it like he falls in love with Sarai and she kind of keeps that relationship separate, like a mother who doesn't know if this new thing is really going to take off and that eventually introduces him and I imagine it's pretty awkward at first, like Harrow's trying to drop his best dad jokes and they're like “no” and Harrow tries so hard and he realizes “oh this isn't going very well” and kind of backs off and takes some space. Harrow talks about how he wishes that he would have reached out a little more. He didn't want to disrespect the memory of his dad, so I think there was definitely some separation at first and some awkwardness and then it took some time for them to really be able to build their relationship and get to this point where they're basically like blood father and son.

What other character that you played would love to see interact with your character from tdp?

Jason: Rengar from the league of legends. Can you imagine him just sidling up to Viren? I've never thought of that ever! But now I’m excited about it. 

Luc: Live action… I was recently in Apple TV See and my character Arca is this warrior with these long dreadlocks and I imagine that they would just get on like that, like Arca would become Harrow’s crownguard immediately.  

Adrian: I think it’d be cool to see the chemistry between Gren and Adam from The Hollow. Adam’s got a temper and I could see like Gren getting sucked into the hollow, if you don’t know it’s like a game world that they’re all in and they’re trying to escape and yeah, I could see those guys linking up.

Jason, Viren’ ex-wife. What is she like?

Jason: 6 '4. Opinionated. Okay, 6 '2. Psychically strong, doesn’t take any crap off anyone but also tender and...Is that where you want me to go with that?

[raayllum]

Let’s break this baby down symbolically

Originally this post was longer but my draft didn’t save so I’m doing a quick notes version; if you want more thoughts or have a clarification question please feel free to drop them in my inbox, but hopefully everything will still carry across

Light and dark motif with Callum unintentionally / unknowingly getting close to the darkness, with Ezran and Rayla more in the light. The surface world does not seem to be particularly stormy, more so bright and happy, which is a departure from the previous promo art(s) really highlighting the storm, and how often storms in TDP foretell transformation and disaster (1x01, 2x04, 2x05, 2x07, 2x08, 3x01 when Ez comes home, 4x01, 4x04 before Aaravos possesses Callum at dawn, etc). 

The light-dark duality mirrors Callum’s worries of “What if I’m on a path of darkness” due to its associations with Aaravos: “In darkness, gaze upon a Fallen Star” and “already tainted with darkness, ad destined to play right into my hands.” 

Darkness = dark magic; octopus tentacles have associations with dark magic (Claudia) specifically being used to drag people down (the boys) or catch them (Viren) in terms of control; dark magic / octopus tentacles = control. Control is attached to Aaravos

This is doubly true with associations of water and destiny (“Life is like a river - don’t try to control where the river goes”). If you’re interested in more thoughts on that, check out this meta

Callum perhaps being lured in with curiosity or magical impulse, only to realize he’s in way over his head / being dragged down by something he can’t escape (tentacles having similarities to puppet strings) and/or mirroring his dark magic dreams from 2x08

Ezran being closer makes sense, as he is emotionally closer and currently more reliable to Callum than Rayla has been due to their separation. 

It’s also a nice parallel to Ezran saving Zym (another brother / soulmate) under the ice as well as Rayla and Callum then working to save him, as well, with now Rayla and Ezran working together to save Callum, especially since Ezran almost drowned and Rayla has a specific fear of drowning/water.

In the S1 novelization, Ezran states that his mother’s spirit helped guide him through the darkness to find the glowing (light) egg of the Dragon Prince. Given that Sarai also helped guide Callum towards the Sky arcanum, Ezran possibly carrying / embodying his mother’s spirit while saving his brother would be really beautiful. 

As stated, Rayla being further away makes sense, but it does align her further with the light, and I do think her reaching for Callum (as opposed to a more generic swim pose) is purposeful due to Rayllum (and the show’s) consistent reaching motif.

Rayla’s fear of water isn’t literally about the water (after all, she saved Bait 1.5 days in when she and the glow toad had an immense mutual dislike of each other) but what it represents: shame, self-reflection, fear, guilt, trauma. Rayla left in TTM because she didn’t know how to love Callum and be scared to lose him at the same time in a healthier manner, leading her to majorly hurt both of them. Her swimming through the water could symbolize 1) helping to save Callum (per other foreshadowing as well) in addition to 2) her beginning to learn how to deal with that fear in a healthier way that also lets her stay and be/do what she wants to do. 

And as always, the foreshadowing that Aaravos’ specific prison (darkness, dark magic, tentacles, ocean, etc) is underwater and it will be found / we’ll get some answers about the cube in S5:

[lily-lilou]

My understanding and analysis of the magical system in The Dragon Prince. Part 2. Primal, dark, love and life magic.

So, this second post (here’s the first one) will present my theory about this: about the magical system as a whole thing (more or less), about love and life magic, I will explain why it’s two different things, what’s their place in the magical system, their role, about how they're supposed to work.

1st part. what proof, in the show, do we have about another kind of magic?

Well, take a look at this:

The two pictures are when Avizandum and Zym are attacking, with lightning. they are the exact same colors (cool, nothing exceptional, Lily, really cool...)

Yeah, but now look at this, when Zym is trying to wake up (maybe even heal?) his mom:

See all the colors, here? We have white, green, blue, purble, some kind of pink-orange-yellow...: well, every colors, as if every kind of primal magic were present. And I don't think it's just to make things pretty here.

Because it's not the only time we see this phenomenon, where “all the colors” are here. There’s two other examples:

1st look at when Viren is sucking what I suppose is Zym's life/magic's force out of our dragonling:

Once again, we can see all the colors, like with Zym's lightning to wake up his mom.

But the most impressive example is when Zym’s egg is hatching:

The egg was dead (he had turned black for several minutes) we saw some usual lightning (blue) who then changed with all colors and he literraly turned back to life:

So, from the interview linked in the post before (at 9min00 or something), we know there is that "earlier, less differenciated power", a "kind of magic that's deeper". With this statement (“less differenciated power”) and pictures above, it seems we have a magic who looks like a mix of all primal magic. I will even say it’s “life-magic”.

edit: 

I found this following pictures in “the art of the dragon prince”. Here, the colors are even more differenciable. And there is indeed, six of them (white(a little blue), yellow, green, purple, red and blue (I guess respectively sky, moon, earth, stars, sun and ocean)

2nd part. What is “life-magic”?

I said what we saw above is “life-magic” and it could make sense:

First, because of all the colors we saw (as I said, as if all kind of primal magic were here).

Second: just observe the world, how it works: the sun, the moon, the earth, the ocean, the sky (and I guess the stars too) need to work together to bring life. (Hey, what is the sun, alone, if not a giant useless fire ball? What is the earth without the sun to warm it, the ocean to irrigate it? Doesn't the ocean need the earth to contain it? et caetera...)

(still in the same interview above) we know Aaravos sutdied magic deeply, that he was interested in this "deeper, less differenciated magic" they mentionned. So, "life magic" being a mix of all others magic would makes even more sense if Aaravos is the one (from the artbook we can guess he has at least a hand in it) behind this symbol (because it would represent “life” it more or less perfectly):

Plus, you'll notice another thing when Aaravos and Viren tried to kill Zym, Viren's eyes became, while he was filling himself with Zym's “life”, just like those of Aaravos in S2:

If I'm right, Aaravos could have known there is a deeper magic and so find a way to harvest it with dark magic. It could explain why he tried to reach other arcanum, to reach that "deeper magic", that "life". (or maybe he doesn't know it's "life"? too early to say anything here, I guess)

(speaking aside, another theory of mine is that he harvested other primal creatures to gain their power and so reach others arcanum, which would also explain why every Xadian hates and fear him - which also could mean he was trying to give this to Viren, the sky arcanum, I mean... anyway, that's not the topic yet.)

BUT, stating that Life-magic is composed of all primal magic only is maybe true, but incomplete.

I just said this symbol (yes again, I love it):

Could be “life magic”. But if “life-magic” is only composed of all kind of primal magic… what does that giant rune in the middle is for?

Dark magic, you’ll said.

Dark magic? But we said earlier that dark magic is the exact opposite of “life-magic”. Because it’s “death and hate”, when the other is “life and love”.

…

Wait, love? The big rune in the middle would be “love”?

Exactly! (I promise, we’ll dig into this in the following part)

“love is magic, magic is life, so love is life”.

(PS. Again: “love is magic” is something you can find in Callum’s spellsbook several time. It’s not from me)

But in dark magic, no love, so no life. Why? Think at how dark magic works: it's killing and stealing and it hollows you from the inside (more about this in the part dedicated to dark-magic). I would even say: It's stealing life from others, so the price you have to pay is to lose your own (life-life? life-love? Viren became so hateful with time... but I'm digressing.)

So, now, look at Zym again when he's trying to save/wake up his mom.

We find all these colors, but he's not like Aaravos, he never reached any other arcanum. I mean, he can barely control his own. I think in that moment, Zym isn't using his usual lightning but, maybe without even knowing it, he's digging in that life-love magic because he loves his mom, he wants to help her, to save her. So something else, something big is happening.

And it would be wonderful if his attempt to wake her is the true reason she wakes up at the end of S3...

I would even add Aaravos’s quote before I conclued the end of this 2nd part: “Those who fail the test of love are simple animals, that deserved to be motivated by fear". It could means Aaravos know, to some extent, the existence, or maybe the importance of love in magic. And if he’s really behind the symbol above… (but I won’t digress on my theory about Aaravos and magic and the test of love, because it’s not the subject either and this post is already long enough…)

So, conclusion of this part: true "life magic" would be composed on all primal magic AND love. (That, or "true life magic" is composed of all primal magic and the way to reach it without killing others is love. I would also makes sense but we’ll see when we will talk about “love magic”)

3rd part: what is “love-magic?

I just said that the symbol of dark magic could in fact represent the magical system, and so “life magic” and the rune in the middle would be the representation of “love”.

Nice statement! Any proof? Let’s analyze this closely, then!

On the symbol, we can see two things:

1st, all the primal magic.

2nd, a big rune in the middle. Until now, we thought it was a rune representing dark magic, I just stated it wasn’t, that it could be “love”.

When I said that on Reddit, a nice fella, u/randomorph came with his own theory, here: he proposed the interesting idea that the two soulfangs we can see in the endcredits in S1 with a heart above their head (meaning "love"), just look like the symbol/rune of dark magic.

One one part, soulfangs serpent seems dark-magic related in some aspects, but on the other part, what we see here, it's love. Two serpents who are in love.

So if that dark-magic's rune above is inspired by the two soulfangs, it could really be the proof the very rune of dark magic means, is, in fact, the rune of "love". (And maybe that Aaravos doesn’t fully understand what “love” truly is... but once again, that’s another theory...)

Sidenote: another nice fella thought that the two serpents are also similar to “Caduceus”, the symbol used in the medical world, with the two serpents. I still don’t know exactly what to do with this, but the parallel is interesting. And it wouldn’t be the first similarity with the bible.

4th part: how is this love-magic supposed to work? (I'll talk about dark magic later)

Nice, we have now proof (well, more or less, it’s still a big theory who could end up being totally wrong) that we have a life-magic, composed of primal magic and love magic, with a dark magic who’s strangely not fitting in this…

But for now, what about love-magic?

I had a theory I couldn't prove a while ago and I had let it down: I thought that "love" was the kind of magic humans could really do. But I had let it down because Xadians have proven they can love too. And I also had to place Callum and his arcanum in this.

BUT! thanks to u/the_mad_ and his superb theory here, we have proof now. To summarise it partially (but go read it, it's worth it): humans have some special kind of power, they can create a magical connection with other, it's "love-magic", and dark magic is a corrupted version of it (but once again, I'll abord dark magic later). As he said it "humans can do this special form of magic because humans have (or can form) a special magical connection with each other and with other creatures and objects, in particular through love (and empathy)".

And indeed, we saw this three time, especially in the novel.

We saw this with Marcos when he made a connection with Rayla (it's the-mad interpretation since we have the scene from Rayla’s POV and I totally agree with him ^^),

Ezran made a connection with Zym while in the water, in the frozen lake.

Viren made one with Harrow in the novel, and it ended really bad for him because Harrow rejected him. (no really, I insist, go read his post).

And all these connections are more or less described in the same magical way.

u/the_mad_ also mentionned Ezran's power as a more visible, powerful manifestation of this love-magic humans can perform. I had that HC too, I never agree with the idea of our boy being earth-primal-related, because in Callum's spellsbook, it's never said earthblood elves can talk to animals. In fact, no primal-magic seems to really fit with this power.

But with love-magic, it does.

But… what about Xadians? They can also love. The moonfam is a proof of this, Janai and the dragon queen too. Well, yes, it's love, and yes everyone can love, without exception. But for Xadian it's not necesseraly magical because it's not their magic. Xadians have primal magic and humans love-magic.

So, to summarize this part: humans have a magic on their own. It's love, but not usual love**, it's something that gave them the ability to "link" themselves to others, even to link others together**, but that's another part.

5th part, how love and primal magic works? What happen when separated? What happen when reunited?

Thanks again to u/the_mad, I finally found an explanation (I could be totally wrong but let's just say I'm at least not far from the truth... hem!!)

Take a look again at what I now call the "life-magic" symbol, formerly called "dark-magic symbol" (it’s the last time you’ll see it, I promise ^^):

The important part now is the big circle (in white) in the middle, circling "love" and connecting all primal magic. The important part now, is this "connection". It's as if "love" is the link between all primal magic, as if love it's what makes them work together.

u/the_mad_ talked about love-magic connecting people, which seems to be true. But I think it's not only between individuals. If this theory is right, that connection could be applied in a much larger scale. I would even said it concernes the whole world.

So, what did I mean by "love-magic is connecting all primal magic? Well...:

In HBMP ep2, Aaron Ehasz talked about how Xadians live in their part of the world, and it appears they're not really cohabitating together. They know each other, they know about each other, but it doesn't seem to be more than that.

In HBMP ep5, we even learn that there's probably several Mooshadow village in the forest other than the Silvergrove, and they don't know where all the others are. They're not "connected", not really.

We also have a description of Ibis on the official website, where we learn that "He has long been a liaison between elves and dragons", which could mean the two species aren't that close.

And what about the "I know that sound, that's not a good sound" from Rayla when she heard the dragon roar?... that reveal a lot about relationship between elves and dragons... (plus, still in HBMPep2, Aaron teased a story who happened between Rayla, Runaan and a dragon, which would explain the quote just above (personal theory: the dragon is the reason of Runaan’s torso scar). But alas, j.Richmond stopped him before we could get more. my HC is that Runaan's scars came from here, which would add to the idea elves and dragons aren't always getting along.)

Another proof would be the dragonguard, elven warriors, running away when the dragon king died. They didn't care about Zym's fate. (Except for Lain and Tiadrin, but I'm gonna talk about this later)

I would add how the other moonshadow elves except Runaan, in the novelization, showed how... deeply attached they were to Rayla. A child they saw growing up for almost 16 years. Worst of all, Moon magic, according to Callum's spellsbook, is supposed to be love-related. If that's "love" for any lambda Moonshadow elf, don't show me what "hate" is for them, please!

(and here my... approximative localisation of elves in Xadia...)

All these points lead to this: we don't have yet a whole picture of Xadia, but it seems that Xadians are not close to each other, in a matter of relationship. It's not war or anything like that, it more looks like a huge lack of socialisation, lack of relationship.

So, no humans = no love-magic = no connection. It seems coherent. Xadians never approached humans, they studied them from afar (I had found a super analysis on Tumblr about informations each side has on the other, about how it seems elves have more accurate intel on humans than humans on Xadians - but sorry, I can't find it anymore :() they even bannished humans and look at the result: Xadians are separated from each other, barely interacting it seems. Dragons from elves, elves from elves according to their arcanum. Xadia is stagnant.

But now, what happened when Xadians get close to humans, when they work with them?

At the storm spire, one human boy (ok, it's Ezran, not any human could have done this) brought several dragons to fight alongside sunfire elves and humans to fight an army of monsters, (not sure if Ibis would have achieved this alone)

Callum started to talk through Rayla about that toxic cycle in the beginning of S1, and it touched her profundly (as we can see at the end of S2). He and his brother managed to touch her to the core and it changed her on a lot of aspects. She's more healthy now, everyone can agree on that...

Her contact with Villads changed her

And talking about their quest, they literally changed the world (... ok, it's only the beginning but the idea that 3 children, a baby and a unidentified glowing thing stopped an imminent war does talk a lot about what both sides reunited can do).

We can also see Janai changing (I wonder if she got "linked" to Amaya the way u/the_mad_ talked about in his theory about love-magic). She first wanted to kill her enemy, and she ended saving her, fighting with her (and maybe slowly falling in love with her, but that's another story)

Side note to complete this part: what's happening to humans, while separated from Xadians? Look at how humans live in their side of the border. The five kingdoms came to an alliance, but the  land is mostly deprived of primal magic, probably because there's almost no elves or dragon. it's slowly dying, physically-materially speaking. (remember that famine who would have killed hundred of thousand people 9 years ago)

Conclusion for this part :

1.     Xadians need humans to be linked, they need "love" to be and work together and not being separated from each other. Just like Humans needs Xadians to "live".

2.     Xadians and humans are currently separated from each other, and they both lost something, they're both missing something. And for them all to be complete, for them to live, they need to be together.

6th part : if Xadians have primal magic and humans love-magic, why can Callum use primal magic? Could a Xadian use Love-magic?

I've stated that Magic is life. If magic is life, then it's in everything that's alive. Which mean, everyone, Xadians and humans, have everything in them. Humans and Xadians have both love-magic and primal magic in them.

But just like Xadians are naturally born with a connection to a primal source, humans have a natural one on the 7th: love.

From this, it seems logical that a human can reach an arcanum, since it's in him too. It's just... dormant, passive. If he wants to reach this other side, he needs to forge a connection.

And so, the opposite could totally be true, a Xadian could forge a connection to love-magic.

Okay, but how does it works? Why didn't this happened earlier?

Once again, I think it's related to what I said: both sides need to work together, to learn by proximity from each other. A true relationship. Callum first started to learn about Xadians by being close to Rayla and Zym. He trusts them, loves them. I don't know everything that's necessary to reach an arcanum as a human, but I think this close proximity, this trust in the other side, incarnate in Zym and Rayla, count.

And so? Can a Xadian use love-magic?

Logically, yes, and I think we have already an example : Zym

Zym who was born amongst humans and elves. Zym who's connected to an arcanum by birth, and to love by Ezran.

It's only my HC here, once again, but the bond they're sharing is too deep to be just from Ezran. I mean, Zym can literally reach Ezran when he's afraid, the boy can see through his eyes. I think Ezran and him are so profundly connected not only because Ezran linked himself to the dragonling, but also because Zym connected himself to him because he learned that "love-magic" by being with them.

The other proof (well, once again it’s HC^^’) to that, is that Zym seems to have litterally used life-magic on his mother. (remember life-magic = love + primal magic - remember how his lightning were different when he used them on his mother than when he attacked Viren, and all) And I still have that HC that she wake up in the end because he used it.

Anyway!

What about the moonfam? (take this part as some kind of side note? It’s still incomplete and full of imprecise HC. I'm wating for S4 to see more of them)

Well, that point is tricky. The moonfam is Xadian but has "love" as a really, reeeaaaally strong thema.

- it has been officially stated than Runaan loves Rayla deeply. After some researches, we can find several interesting things about him to realise how "love" is indeed a strong thing here. Like the fact he never planned to kill Rayla (post from the lead-writer at wonderstorm), or his thoughts described in HBMP ep5 (here’s some excerpts:

" [...] And I think those are the types of things that he’s still stewing on. Like, did he overstep? Was he so eager to give her the opportunity to prove herself that he ultimately put her in a position where she could not succeed? [...] I think he took her off the mission both because he very, very much wanted to give himself and the others a chance to complete the mission, even if it meant their deaths, but it also meant that Rayla had the chance to survive. Even if it was potentially going to be misinterpreted and she’d get slapped with the Ghosting. I think he believed that her alive was better than everybody being dead. And I think he feels guilty. [...] Again, a lot of time to potentially stew on and reflect on, is that he does feel like he put her in a position that was not fully taking into account the type of person she was, and more projecting onto her the type of person he wanted her to be, and the gift he wanted to give her, of redeeming herself in the eyes of her people for her parents. And I think he’s gonna have to work through that. Poor dude"

We can also add the feelings he shows, in the novel, toward who I totally assume being Tiadrin and Lain when he saw their coins. He loves them, he still loves them even with, until now, he thought they had betrayed them (which means, for me, that his insult to Rayla in the novel, about her parents, is really an attempt to make her leave instead or staying and being killled _ pure HC again, could be wrong...

PS. thanks again @beautifulterriblequeen and @kotikala for this point :))

Ethari lost Runaan and made a mistake, but in the end he chose Rayla by (HC again, here) breaking the rules and talk to her, to understand what happened. He told her he loves her at the end of S3ep3. Him, giving her that moon opal while telling her what he said to Runaan, means the same for her "my love will be with you even when the moon is not", meaning "I still love you no matter what".

Lain and Tiadrin (thanks again for this HC @beautifulterriblequeen) know what it is to love a child, because they have Rayla. That's also why they stayed to protect Zym, not just because of their oath.

And don't make me start about Rayla and love, about how she loves Ezran, Callum and Zym, so much that she can sacrifice herself to protect the wee cutie ^^

(well, Idk if describing all of this about Runaan is as necessary on Tumblr than it can be on Reddit...)

But once again, is this magical-love or is it just a strong, normal love?

I’m still not sure of the answer. I would say it is probably "normal" (strong, but normal). But it could evolve to "love-magic" at some point, maybe even "life magic".

I guess (a huge, vague guess), that to reach "the other side" (primal magic for a human, or love-magic for a Xadian), you need to have some proximity with someone from the other side and what I would call... predisposition? Callum had definitely an affinity with primal magic from the very beginning (if not "predisposition", maybe "destiny" will fit, then? For this part, I really don't know, as I said, it's pure guess.)

But if predisposition is required, then the moonfam could totally fit to reach "love-magic" and maybe "life-magic", since there is such strong love between each of them.

And, who know (once again it’s a huuuge guess), maybe those who are related to the moon have some kind of natural predisposition?

I think this way because of my current (still have to work on this point) interpretation of the moon arcanum. We do know they’re love-related. We can see it here, in Callum’s Spellsbook:

My HC here is that “love-magic” is partly about linking, connection. And the moon arcanum, in his duality, is also about the connection between life and death, between living beings and dead ones. So, yeah, maybe they do have a predisposition...

But how would they reach that “love-magic” exactly? I dunno. Maybe Viren will capture Rayla and taunt her with the coins and they will free themselves from it, out of love for her because she's the most precious life for all her parents? (I still have that theory where Harrow will talk to Runaan in the coin to make him evolve the way he did while facing his last days)

Or maybe it will be Callum who will free them, don't know how, out of love for Rayla? Or Lain and Tiadrin would be some kind of "genius" who doesn't needs humans to reach the “love arcanum”, because they love Rayla so much, and they have the mind of a protector, and they were ready to die to protect Zym... that would fit with the "reward-theory" and "destiny"... arf! another aspect I have to study here. I really don't know. We'll see this in S4, I hope.

Anyway, that's it for the moonfam!

Now! We've established what love-magic could be and where it stands in the magical system. How it works.

But what about dark magic?

Last part: Dark magic in the magical system.

u/the_mad_, in his theory I mentionned, advanced the idea that dark magic is a perverted version of love magic.

He thinks so because these "magical moments" he mentionned, when people are magically "linked", are described in a similar way than using dark magic, which add a point to his thought about dark-magic being love-magic but corrupted.

I mostly agreed with him, but I would push his theory even further (I thought about this during the night, in fact, and I couldn't sleep and then... "ting"!):

the effects of dark magic, using it is described in a similar way that "love-magic", when a connection is made between two beings.

dark magic also uses primal magic.

I’m still hesitating about that interpretation, however. She’s pretty solid, but I’m bothered by a point: something similar to love-magic AND using primal magic? that does sound a little like what I call “life-magic”, no? So what if more than being a corrupted version of Love-magic, dark magic is a corrupted version of life-magic?

A corrupted version who gives a mimic of life magic but in the end, desecrate it. Dark magic means stealing, killing. It's death. And it's not normal death, as a part of the life-death cycle. It's something else. That could explain why Callum feels it's so "wrong". He values life, he's a lot about love.

The dream he made about dark magic is really interesting, too. Somehow, that evil version of him lied to him. (I still save a room for the idea that it wasn't him but something else disguised as him,) telling him he can't do magic, that dark magic is the only way. If you think about it, the message given by that... thing, is : "you love them, you want to protect them, you want them to live, then use dark magic because it's the only way for you".

But dark magic is a corrupted version of life, it's literally "death".

Okay, but you'll tell me that Viren and Claudia used it to save someone who was dead. Yep, but to do it they killed someone else (for Viren it's a theory a lot of us belive). I'm pretty sure "life-magic" doesn't work this way. Callum didn't kill anyone when he broke the primal stone to save Zym and then, at some point, we saw "life magic" (it's in the post I linked in the beginning). I mean, Zym was dead. The egg was black. But he came back to life.

Zubeia was dying too, but it seems, once again if I'm right, that Zym saved her with life magic. He didn't kill anyone.

I said once ("epiphany on the moon arcanum", if I remember...) Darkness is an emptiness of light, death, an emptiness of life.

So, why not? How do you kill death? with life....

An additional thought about Dark magic :

Once again, thanks to The_mad_ on Reddit, we got an interesting analysis: he noted that the seven sources are similar to the creation, in the story of Genesis. God created the world in six days:

“The only one that isn't directly mentioned is the stars. On the first day God separated day from night. (This presumably gave the stars.) On the second day God created the sky. On the third God separated the earth from the ocean. On the fourth day God created the Sun and the Moon. There is no primal source (that we know of ;) ) for the 5th day when the sea monsters were created. But then on the 6th day God created humans and gave them dominion over all of the creatures of the earth (i.e. Dark magic). On the seventh day God rested. »

So I pushed the analysis further:

On the 5th and especially 6th day God created living beings, especially humans. And when you put all of his creation together, all the days, it's "life" (Just earease one of these elements and there wouldn't be life anymore _ok, human's place in the world's ecosystem could be discussed but that’s not the topic... so let's say humans are the soul, the spirit, and the world the body... or something.)

Much later after God finished his creation, a shadow, the devil, came and infiltrate the world to make humans "fall". (Now that I'm pointing that out, it's pretty much the same in LOTR, no?... anyway). He made them fall with lies.

So now, let's suppose that these theories about a "love-magic" and a "life-magic" are accurate and that parallel between genesis and TDP’s magical system has a solid ground, that maybe "love" is indeed a source in itself, like the others (In genesis, it would correspond to the 6th day, when God created humans).

Now, I wonder. If it's this way, if the parallel between Genesis and TDP's seven sources is that strong, then, could "dark-magic" be "the shadow" who made humans fall?

I think it could be this way for two reasons:

1st. dark magic appeared, it seems, at the very least 2000 years ago with the rise of Elarion (maybe earlier, but probably not 5000 years ago, during the era of the first elves), just like the devil in Genesis did (I mean, about the fact he came later, not at the begining).

2nd, we saw the... dark-mage-Callum, that sort of... evil avatar of him, in his dream, literally lying to Callum himself about humans not able to do primal magic. (that, if it wasn't just his own belief impersonated. We still don't know yet).

And so, Dark Magic, being a person or a "thing", a concept, I don't know, would really be something else, something corrupted who perverted and disturbed the world.

Okay, this post is the last one, it’s finally over!! Thank you for those who had the courage to read it until the end!!! I hope I didn’t bothered you too much ^^

It was a little difficult to put all in one thing (all of this are in fact several post on Reddit) so I hope the continuity is coherent. I’m working on this since ... ARGH! 5 hours? Okay, I’m gonna eat something.

I hope you had fun to read this :D

Now, to the kitchen! I’m Hungry!

edit: I forgot to tag @beautifulterriblequeen​ and @kotikala​: what do you think of this? 

External POV are awlays welcomed (but don’t feel obligated to read it, I know it’s pretty long... wait, if I tag and this message is in the end... will you see it right away?)