#also betrayal. tdp talks a lot more about betrayal

[thethiefandtheairbender]

as a lifelong ATLA fan who narrowly had ATLA dethroned as my top show by The Dragon Prince steadily over the past 5 years, the similarities between the two have very little to do with the surface level parallels that get regularly drawn between them.

Like ATLA, TDP has Books for seasons and chapters for episodes, but unlike ATLA, which only touched on storytelling sparingly as a theme, TDP is obsessed with interrogating storytelling and history and the presence of unreliable, biased narrators throughout many of its episodes (most notably 2x05, 2x06, 3x06, 4x04, and 4x07 among them). Half of what you learn in the 1x01 intro ends up being a lie once you reach S3, with more being steadily deciphered.

Yes, TDP has different magics with people living under those umbrella terms... for the elves. Humans are coming culturally at things from a completely different angle, and the elves' connection to their primal sources are discussed philosophically in detail, informing their practices and their culture first hand, including the way they chafe against humans, who are arcanum-less. Many animals in the world are also connected to magic, which influences both their design and which ones get hunted for humans' more 'clever' solution in dark magic, including each other.

The core issue of the Puppetmaster, down to being a coercive magic formed by someone deeply resentful of their imprisonment? Said puppetmaster is the main endgame antagonist of the entire show with all of S4 onwards being exploring the ethics of controlling people against their will in various methods, and the entire show itself being a thematic battleground of fate (imprisonment) vs free will for virtually every single character.

Where ATLA mostly concerns itself timeline wise with ending the war, very little thought is shown by any of the characters as to what they'll do after the war. This isn't a problem (as it reflects the sheer domineering scope of the conflict) but even Zuko being firelord is only ever really addressed with 2.5 episodes left till the finale. TDP, meanwhile, ends its 'war' in s3 and s4 opens up with dealing with the old wounds festering between people with centuries of history, the struggles that come when people aren't able to let go and believe they're safe or mourn in a healthy manner, and the religious/cultural clashes that may occur when trying to integrate different groups of people.

TDP also has an evil father with a devoted daughter and a brother who eventually defects, but it explores the reality of an abusive parent who loves/will sacrifice for you and your right to leave regardless, even if that means leaving the sibling you truly deeply love and who loves you in turn. Which means that when you and your sibling are on opposite sides of a deep ideological conflict, it actually really fucking hurts bc we've seen first hand just how much they love each other and also how and why everything fell apart not in spite of that love necessarily, but also because of it.

Is this to say that TDP is a 1:1 with ATLA or that it's better? No, not at all, and the latter is subjective. I prefer TDP, but I think they're about on equal ground when you look at each show currently as a whole (although TDP has two seasons left to go).

But TDP takes a lot of what ATLA was doing thematically with some of its most interesting beats and then builds or expands upon them further. It talks further and more consistently about the cycles of violence; in many ways, Jack De Sena's character, Callum, begins the series largely where Sokka had ended (and he's not the most like Sokka anyway; very much his own thing); we get Faustian bargains and centuries' long grief and fucked up people who are trying both succeeding and failing at not doing fucked up things. There are antagonists, but it is very hard to actually label anyone at this point a straight up villain. Moral greyness is where the show starts, and it just continues from there.

That's not to say the show is nothing but dark and depressing - like ATLA, there's a steady thread of hope and humour even as the show gets steadily closer and closer to its 11th hour point - but the show is usually emotionally heavier. There's more blood and potentially disturbing imagery with body horror and on screen death. There's so much foreshadowing you basically can't go more than 5 minutes into any episode without having something that's going to come back around or be referenced again like 3-5 seasons later.

Just to be clear - TDP is like ATLA, but it's like ATLA in interesting ways beyond the more shallow surface level that usually gets attributed to it, while still very much being its own show and its own thing. And that is why I tend to recommend it to people who like ATLA.

Thank you and goodnight

(Also, the fandom doesn't have any ship wars, and the show is queer as fuck)

[ukelele-boy]

regarding your ask about apollos ptsd - i think this is shown Really apparently in the dark prophecy with apollos fear of water. (its not completely ptsd but perhaps a combination of it with guilt?) at one point britomartis briefly teases him about being afraid of water and he brushes it off, which to the reader initially seems like a funny gag about apollo being pathetic and stupid. then later its revealed that its related to him killing commodus (which is such a well written scene btw!!) and we’re hit with an italicised ‘oh’. i really like how water is initially shown as apollos weakness but then is revealed to be a trigger of his trauma. also i think the way apollo dismisses it at first really emphasises how he didnt think his trauma was a big deal? he only realises how much the event had affected him (or comes to terms with it) when hes impacted by the flashback physically (dramatically throwing up into the waystation toilet no less). i overall really liked how the dark prophecy handled his traumatic flashbacks and him realising that things arent always his fault, which makes the cave scene all the more powerful since he channels some of his realisations towards saving meg. sorry this was a bit of a ramble. im not sure where i was going with it, just something i thought of when i read your post! i’ll leave you with this quote because its neat:

“Britomartis was wrong. I didn’t fear water. I simply couldn’t look at the surface of any pool without imagining Commodus’s face, stung with betrayal, staring up at me.”

Thank you for the detailed ask!

TDP had a lot of good scenes, I especially loved the commodos and the other flashbacks. They really gave Apollo another degree of depth as we get to see some of his morally grey godly actions. But they are more understandable and also very sad how he is torn between his very logical understanding of the situation and the blindness love gives him. He definitely has ptsd over that bathtub incident and a similar thing with Daphne and trees. I read @flightfoot 's analysis about Apollo's PTSD here and one comment that really stood out to me was how commonplace his triggers are.

I think that is surprisingly realistic. Triggers can literally be anything. Apollo keeps on experiencing the feelings he had at the time; he never really processed much of it. Especially now that the person involved is literally hounding him.

Apollo had a habit of pushing down events to the back of his head. Like how he blocked that one event about igorning his son's pleas. It was a way to cope but also something gods were doing that was really harmful to the demigods.

In the cave scene, we as readers could see Apollo truly admit, while reluctantly, that he would lay down his life to save Meg and confront what had happened in the past with his son. This was different than before, where he had just left his son to wander, because he couldn't face his own actions and feelings. He does stop trying to avoid confronting what he has done to others, and admits to his wrongs, but he still isn't really talking about his own distintergrating mental state. Poor Apollo. He doesn't admit to his wounds.

[aspoonofsugar]

Hello Meta Queen! Do you have any thoughts on how TPD is clearly inspired by ATLA, and how the writers may be further developing similar themes/characters?

Hello friend!

Let’s see...

THEMES

I think that the main theme of ATLA is the idea of bringing back balance to the world.

Atla is a story about finding an equilibrium both on a personal level and on a macro-level:

Being in equilibrium lets people love themselves and others. It also comes with accepting diversity and interpreting it as something enriching.

This is why the Avatar is a person bending all four elements. It is because the four elements represent different aspects of the self and bending all four means finding an equilibrium among them. Similarly, all the four cultures presented have positive sides and negative sides and they need to cohexist and to accept each other.

This is precisely why the theme of equilibrium is linked to the theme of diversity. ATLA is a series which deals and promotes diversity. It shows how people can learn from different cultures:

It is not by chance that in the end the characters who lose are Azula and Ozai, who are both out of balance. Azula can’t find harmony inside herself and this is why she loses despite all her talent. Ozai fails to understand the equilibrium of the world. He tries to destroy said equilibrium and this is why he loses his own bending in the end.

Differently, the main characters all find balance within themselves and with others.

Aang is challenged by other bendings. In particular, earth-bending challenges him to face poblems head on (the whole story starts because he runs away after all), while fire-bending challenges his fear of violence and of his own power (and he manages to go all out at the end of the story).

Zuko reconciles the different sides of his complicated legacy and starts respecting other cultures.

Sokka learns that he does not have to change himself to be who he wants to be. What is more, he develops a strong respect for women.

Katara finds an equilibrium between the positive and negative traits of herself and her bending. She also forgives Zuko, but does not forgive her mother’s killer.

Toph must find an equilibrium between her desire of freedom and her wish to stay close to her loved ones. Not to count an equilibrium between her strength and the necessity of accepting help.

When it comes to Tdp, it is more difficult to discuss themes because the series is not over.

That said, I think that an important theme (probably the main theme) is this:

This is because the characters keep repeating it. The idea is that people must be free from their past. They must know about it and they can learn from it, but they should ultimately not feel bound to it.

This is why Ezran chooses to be a peaceful king, while his father was a warrior. This is why Callum decides he will still be a mage despite being a human. This is also what we see at play in the dynamic between Viren and his children. On one hand Soren has had a positive development because he broke free from his father. On the other hand Claudia is spiralling because she can’t.

This theme is expressed through the arcana of the sky. After all, it is not by chance that this is the arcana the main character connects to and which is embodied by Zym himself.

In short, Atla is about bringing back an equilibrium which went lost, while Tdp is about overcoming the status quo to create a new world.

Despite this difference, this does not mean that the main theme of one series is not present in the other as a secondary theme/personal conflict.

For example, Aang’s final choice is ibetween killing Ozai and finding another solution. He even asks past avatars and they all tell him to kill Ozai. However, Aang in the end chooses not to and stays true to his own philosophy (which shows how learning from other people/cultures does not result in erasing one-self/one’s culture).

Similarly, Zuko too is a character who breaks free from his father’s mentality.

At the same time, Tdp too, like Atla, shows different cultures and the importance to learn about them.

When it comes to this, we can see how the two series make a similar use of another narrative element aka the worldbuilding.

WORLDBUILDING

The two series’ worldbuildings have clear similarities. In both universes there are different kinds of magic linked ot different elements. What is more, these types of magic are connected to different cultures and embody different values.

In Atla we have:

In Tdp we have seven kinds of magic, but I will mostly comment on the four we got to know the most up until now.

The Sky Arcana symbolizes freedom:

It is the ability to act without any constrictions from your surroundings. It does not mean that you should ignore them, though, but rather that you should use them to go where you want to go. This is why people should not just follow air-currents, but they should be the sails and use the winds to go where they want. This is just anoter way to express the main theme of the story, as I have stated above.

It is possible that among the negative traits of the sky culture there is the tendency to become selfish/act in a whimsical way. I think that this is well conveyed by Nyx and by the Sky Elves being among the members of the Dragon Guard, who ran away.

The Sun Arcana symbolizes honor and purity to the point that it can purify Dark Magic. However, this obsession with purity leads to see the world in black and white and to become self-righteous.

This is why the queen of the Sun Elves dies after all. And it is Sol Regem’s discrimination and rigidity, which led to him losing his sight. What is more, the loss of the sight for a Sun creature is a pretty karmic punishment. Finally, it is interesting that he used to be the previous Dragon King. The fact that he is not anymore shows how such a narrow mentality can’t help in the construction of a new world.

The Moon Arcana is the opposite of the Sun one. So, while the Sun is about revealing the truth behind appearances, the Moon is about illusions. The moon culture celebrates illusions and appearances both in a positive and in a negative way.

Moonshadow Elves can make use of appearances both in how they trick their enemies’ senses and in how they trick themselves:

Because of illusions they can dominate their fear. However, this has also a negative aspect:

Moonshadow elves are asked to repress their fears and to feel shame for it. Similarly, they give the way things seem too much importance. This is at the root of what happened to Rayla’s parents and to Rayla’s herself. Because of a simple suspect of betrayal, they were erased. Again the cancelling magic is particularly powerful because the Moonshadow cultures gives so much importance to appearances. Think about what an enemy could accomplish if they were given access to a village where nobody could see them.

Finally, there is Dark Magic, which symbolizes many things.

First of all, it symbolizes the difficult relationship humans have with nature. On one hand they need to use natural resources to survive and to fight natural forces. On the other hand this kind of exploitation knows no bundaries. What is more, it gives people the feeling everything can be obtained easily and that there are no boundaries. As it was shown in Claudia and Viren’s arcs, this creates a lot of negative consequences for both the dark mage and the others.

As one can see, the different approaches have both positive and negative aspects and they need to balance each other out. Finally, Tdp, like Atla seems to have a character, who will master more than one element:

Personally, I am not a fan of this hypothesis and I think this is an instance where Tdp should try to be different from Atla.

In Atla, the concept of a person mastering all four elements was in the premise of the series itself and was used intelligently. Aang is a protagonist who does not want to be an avatar and his arc is to accept this part of himself. It is about finding an equilibrium between who he is as a person and his role. Moreover, the fact that he is the avatar ends up creating conflict, instead of solving it. Because the avatar exists and is an air nomad, the Fire Nation destroys the Nomads without second thoughts. In short, being the avatar creates problems to Aang as a person.

When it comes to tdp, I would prefer for different characters to show the potential to connect to different primal sources. It would be interesting if the main characters ended up connected each one to one or two elements. For example, let’s think how interesting would be to see Rayla connect to the Arcana of the Ocean since she is scared of water. Or Claudia become connected to the Sun Arcana, so that she can purify herself from Dark Magic. Or Ezran to the Earth Arcana, since he has affinity with animals. Soren has trouble with illusions, so it would be very interesting to see him struggling with the Moon Arcana.

In short, there would be a lot of potential to such a scenario, instead than having one single character being the one connecting to many elements. It would make Tdp more of a coral story and I think that would be more unique and interesting.

That said, I am open to see how the whole matter will be trated by the story itself.

These thoughts lead us to the last section of this answer.

CHARACTERS

As said above, Callum might end up having a similar role to Aang. There is also the fact that both start the story by running away and that both are connected with the air element in their respective franchise. Ezran too has similarities with Aang, given how both are non-violent and are kids who have a great responsibility despite their young age.

Other than this, though, the characters I would mostly like to talk about are my two favourites:

Who I see as basically a mixture between Sokka/Katara and Azula/Zuko.

It is clear that the structure of their arcs is similar to Azula and Zuko’s. They are the children of a main antagonist and they are both going through different journeys. Soren has managed to distance himself from Viren, while Claudia is still loyal to him.

That said, The starting point of Claudia and Soren is different from the one of Azula and Zuko. In Atla both Azula and Zuko start as clear-cut antagonists, while in Tdp Claudia and Soren are immediately given likable traits and presented as manipulated by their father. What is more, it is immediately clear that Zuko will have a redemption arc and that Azula is a more negative character than him. However, Tdp muddles the water more by having a whole season showing Claudia’s positive traits and Soren’s negative ones. That said, the series then uses the next season to make the siblings exchange roles. So Soren learns from his mistakes, while Claudia keeps spiralling.

In short, I think that Claudia and Soren are in a sense grayer characters than Zuko and Azula, at least in how they are presented to the public. This means that both couple of siblings have a similar degree of complexity, but that Tdp plays with the viewers’ expectations more than Atla. Or at least, I have this impression.

That said, both Claudia/Soren and Azula/Zuko explore similar themes and show the struggle of kids who must emancipate themselves from their father. It also shows the damage bad parenting can do (even if Viren is definately a more complex character than Ozai).

However, I would argue that Soren and Claudia also share common traits with Sokka and Katara.

I think that the similarities between Soren and Sokka are striking and clear. Both want to make their father proud, but they lack qualities which are celebrated by their respective parent/society. Sokka at the beginning lacks the physical strength and experience to be recognized as a fine warrior. Soren instead lacks the ability with magic and book-smart, which is appreciated by Viren.

Interestingly, they are opposite plays of toxic masculinity. Sokka tries to live up to an idea of masculinity he lacks only to discover that his strengths are his most “feminine” (culturally speaking) traits. Soren is a character who embodies a toxic idea of masculinity, but still feels unsure and unhappy despite it. It is not by chance that he deep down wants to indulge in activities, which let him show his sensitivity like poetry, for example.

In short, Sokka and Soren might superficially appear as opposite, but they are nothing more than the same concept expressed through two characters having opposite superficial traits.

Finally, both Soren and Sokka are often used as comic relief and this helps the public to like them and to connect with them.

Let’s talk about Claudia and Katara. I would say that, ironically, Claudia is a deconstruction of Katara. By this, I mean that Claudia and Katara share many traits. Both are children who are traumatized by the loss of their mother, for example. What is more, they have reacted to that loss by trying to keep the rest of their family together.

We see multiple times how Claudia is desperate to keep her father and her brother close and she tries to mediate between them.

Similarly, Katara, after Kya’s death, took upon herself the role of “heart” of the family and took care of her brother. She also shows anger towards her father for living, when they meet again in book 3.

Katara is a character who loves deeply and is highly empathetic and Claudia is the same. She is very sensitive and is genuinely sad when she has to tell Callum about his father’s death.

That said, the traits that are shown positively in Katara are deconstructed in Claudia. Katara and waterbenders in general, for example, are said to be able to think outside the box and they turn their weaknesses in strength (their whole fighting style is to turn defense into attack). This is the same principle behind Dark Magic and it is how Claudia justifies her use of it to Callum.

Even more importantly, it is Claudia’s love for her family and to an extent for her community, which leads her astray. It is telling that the Dark Magic starts to corrupt Claudia not when she uses it to attack her childhood friends, but when she heals her brother. Similarly, her hair becomes whiter not when she helps Viren in his plan, but when she resurrects him. In short, she spirals more and more when she uses healing magic. This is interesting if we think about how much Katara’s healing abilities are seen as a positive thing and as a symbol of her nurturing personality. Katara even resurrects Aang when Azula kills him at the end of season 2, after all. That occurrance is definately not framed as a negative thing.

What I am trying to show is that Claudia is an example of a character where those positive traits Katara has are shown as negative because of various reasons. This does not really mean anything by itself because the two characters are in different series, but it is still an interesting idea.

These are my main thoughts on the two series! Thank you for the ask!

[lairofsentinel]

Detailed Info from the TDP Podcast - Episode 5

Startouch elves   Sunfire elves   Tidebound elves

Moonshadow culture ❘༻༺❘ Weeding and courtship  ❘༻༺❘Goshting spell details  Silvergrove Goverment ❘༻༺❘Money  ❘༻༺❘Horn cuffs symbolism

Ethari

Ethari regrets the ghosting spell ❘༻༺❘Ethari is playful

Runaan

Runaan’s feelings while being trapped in the coin ❘༻༺❘Runaan and Ethari’s reaction to Rayla-Callum relationship

Rayla

Transition to live with Runaan and Ethari and her relationship with her parents

Rayla in School  ❘༻༺❘ Rayla’s parents personalities

Different scenarios for characters

Summary list 

They never came with a strong lore concept when they did this stuff. 

Silvergrove and Moonshadows:

Moonshadows live in small communities. 

Silvergrove is not the only Moonshadow community. Maybe the rest are hidden from one another since entering to them it’s needed a particular dancing-key.

Government in Silvergrove is apparently through a Council of different groups via consensus [They don't have a strong idea about this]

Silvergrove is in permanent dusk. It was based on Ashenvale from Wow (I loved Ashenvale so much, always!)

Main values: honor, loyalty, commitment, strictness that comes from valuing a close community.

They work to support each other. They work for the good of the community. (They are communist xD)

Because they are an isolated community, any small betrayal is magnified. It's a double edged sword. Having a community so close, supportive and isolated resents your ability to perform all of yourself  for the good of that community, and sometimes misunderstanding can be understood as big betrayals [Rayla’s case].

Horn cuffs can be extremely meaningful relationship-status gifts between couples but they don’t always mean marriage. 

 “Ethari definitely thinks Runaan has cute horns though. Fact.”

Sunfire: 

Singular authority. Monarchy.

Heavily militarized. 

Too focused in might and demonstration of strength. 

Xadia looks at them as protectors, but also as violent. They are a dual edged sword. 

They patrol the border.

Tidebound:

different in each part of the ocean. 

The concept of the flow allows them to communicate all over the planet through water, rivers and lakes. 

Not too much lore done about them for now. They need to work on it.

There is no Startouch elves society since they are not numerous.

Ghost spell:

Ethari regrets 100% having accepted the ghost spell, but he has no power to reverse it. He can do a quick charm to null it in the moment only.

Rayla’s ghost may be undone, but it needs a collective decision. It’s hard to believe that Ethari would convince the whole village about that.

They never thought if it has been a precedent of this spell being broken before. They think it's a good story to think about. 

Rayla and her parents:

(They are still thinking about this, and there are many versions, and this may change in the future. )

Honor is a key part of Moonshadow culture, so Rayla was sad because their parents were leaving but at the same time it was a huge honour because they were going to be part of an elite force defending the King and the Queen. That's why she was so hurt when she knew her parents had run away, putting aside her sadness and the honour that such duty represented. 

She also found honour in living with Runaan, the leader of the assassins. 

Because Runaan and Ethari were close friends of Rayla's parents, she didn't feel it as a big shock to go to live with them. They had been taking care of her before anyways.

Lian is like the ultimate Bro. A very positive person, who wants his friends to succeed and be happy. 

He is the most friendly elf among the Moonshadows.  And more impulsive. 

Tiadrin is the cold one, the one who does more calculations. 

Rayla as a child

Rayla was feisty.  

In the school she got general education, gardening, weapons, basics to everything and enough to contribute to the community in many ways.

Ecology of Moonshadow forest or history, were not her fave subjects. 

She was good in general subjects but excelled in PE.

She may have friends in her childhood but not many, since she appreciates her lonely time. 

“Fitting in is overrated” for her 

Ethari and Runaan [characters and relationship]

Their wedding involves dancing with a ribbon.

Dating should have a degree of formality since it's the moment where they express their emotions. Exchange of gifts and small favours as mutual hints: Ethari would put extra details in objects to Runaan. Runaan would ask Ethari too many checks on his weapons, more than it's necessary. 

The process is stiff and difficult [especially for Runaan], but once it's surpassed that time, there must be an open discussion about it. 

Runaan struggled a lot more about this.

Runaan is the most moonshadow elf of all moonshadow elves xD. Runaan probably would do the exchange of emotions in the most private way possible.

Runaan doesn’t stop to consider the emotional motivations for anything as his first course of thought. He jumps right to a very strategic and almost militaristic belief in the way people operate. 

Ethari has a playful side, but in episode 3 it is opaque due to the grief. 

Ethari is more clear with his display of emotions and apparently that's something that Rayla learnt from him, so that's why she was so confused about Callum when he did a display of emotions that she thought it was romantic and failed. 

Rayla took her soft heart from Ethari. 

Runaan in the coin.

Runaan certainly has a lot of time to think now. 

He wanted Rayla to succeed deeply, to redeem from the weight of her parent's sin and free her from her shame.

He has a small crisis thinking this is his fault, that he failed. “I did not train her well enough. Ethari was right.” 

He pushed her so much to put her into a position to fix her shame, that he ended up putting her in a position that she could not succeed at all. He regrets this.

He took her to this mission because he wanted her to succeed even if it meant their death, but he wanted to make Rayla to survive. He believed that she being alive was better than everyone dead. 

He feels guilty because he projected on her more what kind of person he wanted her to be, than what she truly is. But also a bit of anger, because he gave her all the opportunities and tools to take them and redeem herself, but she rejected them. However, the guilt will prevail during the introspection. “Maybe it was me who stepped too far.”

Runaan and Ethari relationships with Callum

Ethari will get that Rayla and Callum are a thing without needing too much time. And Ethari would be the one to talk about that with Runaan first, in order to soften his ideas.

Runaan probably will not want to show his emotions about the bad feelings that Callum inspires him but Ethari will sense that Runaan is not taking this well

Callum will live on the edge of “I'm going to die tonight” every time there is a family meeting XD

Ethari and Callum will get along quickly. Callum would do the dad jokes, Ethari would humour him, and Runaan would be completely oblivious to the meanings.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Breaking points

A lot of the characters in TDP have reached their breaking point somewhere in the first two seasons. Some haven’t yet, but we have an upcoming season that might break them. Mua ha ha haa. 

When a character breaks, it’s very telling. We learn so much about these precious characters by what they can endure, and by what pushes them too far. We’ve all endured hard times, and we’ve all broken at one point or another. Seeing characters struggle, survive, break, and keep surviving makes them relatable and keeps us invested in their fate. It also keeps us hopeful--if they can make it, we can, too.

Let’s break down the breakdowns we’ve seen so far.

Harrow broke when he yelled at Viren in his throne room with his “thank you for starting this unwinnable war”. 

He realized he had to send his sons away because he was about to die for his sins. that it was all his fault, but he blamed Viren out loud, even though he knew it was his own fault for agreeing. Putting Viren on his knees later was just him reiterating his point: the problem isn’t really dark magic. It’s Viren’s love of dark magic, and how that does make Viren feel special. He’s probably never come up with a solution that didn’t use it. Harrow’s best friend is never going to change. He’ll keep getting people hurt and killed because he can’t see the cost everyone else is paying for his power. And Harrow’s not giving Viren his boys’ lives on top of Sarai’s. Harrow’s breaking because he’s realized that he, not Viren, got Sarai killed. The only way to save his sons’ lives is to admit he got his wife killed by following Viren’s plan. Harrow hates himself. And he takes it out on Viren.

Rayla broke when she drew her swords against Runaan. 

She was literally begging him to understand and support her, but he wouldn't stop his killing mission. She knew Ezran didn’t have to die, but she wanted to save Harrow too. If they let Harrow live, there’s a better chance for peace. If there’s peace, guys, Rayla’s parents might get to come home. When Rayla saw the egg, she didn’t just see a way to stop the war. She saw a way to redeem her parents’ honor without killing anyone. A way to get them back. As much as she loves and admires Runaan, he’ll never quite replace her parents. With the prospect of restoring their honor and maybe getting them back, or at least paying back their sacrifice of giving her up, Rayla turns her back on Runaan’s teachings. He was all she knew, his assassin ways all she wanted to learn, until suddenly she had a chance to get her parents back. Who wouldn’t fight for that, even against the elf who raised her?

Runaan broke on the balcony and cried after he sent the shadowhawk and its blood ribbon to the Dragon Queen.

Rayla abandoned him--the child he poured his heart and soul into. He’ll never see his beloved tinker again--or so he believes at this point. His mission is a Pyrrhic victory, taking the king but costing everyone’s lives save Rayla’s. He’s done his duty, which he holds very close to his heart, but somehow that’s only made a bigger mess for everyone he cares about. He’s sad, he’s scared, he’s in pain, he’s alone in enemy territory. He breaks. Quietly, where no one can see it. And then, he has to pull himself back together when he ends up alive in Viren’s dungeon. And not all the pieces fit like they used to.

Viren broke when his true-seeing mirror spell failed. (or did it just work “differently true”, thanks Lujanne)

Viren’s been under a lot of stress for a long time. He believes Katolis is in deadly danger. His best friend just turned against him and then died. He’s had to ask his kids to do harsh things to save the kingdom. And he has this glorious mirror that he knows is powerful and important and could turn the tide of the war, but he can’t figure out how to get it to work. He feels like an idiot and a failure, and he thinks he’ll lose the kingdom and the war because of it. Viren’s a genius, but with heightened awareness comes a lot of pressure and anxiety. The fate of humanity is a constant weight on his mind. Viren can keep his temper with his kids, even with Runaan. He let it slip a little at Harrow. But he absolutely rages at himself. He expects so much and feels he has too little to offer. When the mirror won’t crack, Viren cracks instead.

Callum broke when he learned Claudia had betrayed him.

Losing his step-dad was a huge blow, obviously. But he’d already lost his birth father. And he had a mission to complete: returning the egg to Xadia. When he thought he could trust his long-time friends to help him, he was in good spirits, despite learning of Harrow’s death. But when Claudia tried to capture him, he saw her true allegiance. It wasn’t to him, or his stepdad. It was to Viren. And that changed everything for Callum. He’s always believed that elves aren’t trustworthy. Rayla’s slowly changing his mind on that. But here, Callum’s learning that humans can be untrustworthy, too. That actions speak louder than words. He’s had positive experiences with Rayla, giving him hope and courage. But now he’s struck with a big negative, and it’s knocked out some of his balance. Maybe Claudia’s betrayal was actually necessary for Callum to get his mind into a place where he could accept something deep and true about elves, and thus could connect to the Sky arcanum. He definitely thrust himself into meditating on Sky to cope with his feelings--or to avoid them--and brought himself closer to his magic as a result.

Soren broke by crying about failing his dad, and how he was relieved that he couldn’t move so he couldn’t do the terrible things Viren told him to do.

He loves his father. Wants to be a good son. Viren’s approval means more to him than right and wrong. But he knew VIren’s order to kill the princes was wrong. He doesn’t want to judge his dad. And he doesn’t want to kill his friends. So taking himself out of the equation is a huge relief, and the only good option he can see. Soren would rather hurt himself than his dad, or the princes. What a sweet boy.

Claudia broke by killing the deer for Soren. 

It doesn’t look like she broke. She cried earlier over hurting Callum by telling him the truth about Harrow’s death. But this is a watershed moment for Claudia--her first big dark magic kill. Her first time choosing to kill something big enough that it leaves the mark of its power in her hair. This is what it looks like when you start forcing your will onto the world instead of finding a more organic (ahaha) way to resolve things. She’s killing things to drag the world where she wants it to be. We know where this road will take her if she doesn’t step off: she’ll end up like Ziard and Viren. It’ll kill her, along with countless other creatures and beings she sees as expendable for her own purposes. This is the first big leap down that slippery slope. In a way, she broke because Soren broke. They rely so heavily on each other for support, with a dad like Viren, that Claudia literally can’t stand on her own.

Ezran broke when he learned his dad was dead. 

Ezran’s been happy to remain a child up to this point on their quest. His responsibilities have been heavy, but he hasn’t had to grow up yet. He’s strong enough to carry the egg. He can work with Bait to provide light and tactical flashes. He’s capable of talking to Zym and teaching him to fly. He’s able to keep up on the trip. He hasn’t needed to grow up any further yet. But he knows deep down what being a king means, and that it’s different than being just a prince. When he first broke, Ezran reacted by running away from his feelings, his fears, and his responsibilities. He’s lost the biggest protection he had in the world: his father the king, whose place he’ll now need to take. It’s a double whammy of loss and danger. But he pulled himself together again and came back stronger than he’d been. Ezran will be a good king.

What’ll be interesting is seeing who else has breaking points in S3. Some people may get another one. Some may have their first. Others may not break at all.

[dent-de-leon]

Hey Leo! Sorry for the random questions but do you recommend The Dragon Prince? Is it about the dragons or are they like background lore or something? Thanks!

Short answer: hell yeah,, it’s so much fun!! Give it a try if you love fantasy adventure stuff. Long answer: 

DRAGONS ARE MY FAVORITE THING EVER SO I WILL TELL YOU THAT I ABSOLUTELY CAME CAUSE I HEARD “DRAGON” AND “PRINCE” AND “DRAGON PRINCE” AND THAT SEEMED TO SUIT MY VERY SPECIFIC INTERESTS,,, there’s a lot of lore and they seem to be more or less the ruling forces of Xadia, the land of magic and elves. But they’re definitely not just a backdrop piece, they’re major players! Sadly we don’t get to see as much dragon action in the first season, but the entire focus of the main trio is to protect a dragon that’s a royal heir, the eponymous “Dragon Prince.” 

And so,, bit of a spoiler, but you DO get to actually meet the Dragon Prince in the series,, they hatch right before season 2 and become one of the traveling companions of the main trio. They’re the cutest little baby dragon!! Again, I’m sorry for the spoiler, but if I say like…there’s a dragon companion Eventually and you know that episode 1 introduces a dragon egg, like…it’s kinda hard to talk about without giving away, and DP certainly didn’t shy away from advertising Baby Dragon in all the promo stuff for season 2 so I figure you’ll run into it anyway. And we see glimpses of other dragons as the episodes go by, and they all exude this sense of absolute awe and power. So if you came for the dragons,, there will!! Be!! Dragons!! 

But what else is at the forefront–even more so than the dragons? One of my other favorite things in all of fantasy ever. ELVES,, and lots of them!! All elves–and indeed, all the magical creatures native to Xadia–are born with an innate connection to something called an arcanum, which is a kind of really cool elemental magic!! The writers of Dragon Prince are some of the people that splintered off from the Avatar series after Last Airbender (so they were uninvolved with Korra, but part of the original series). And you can definitely see that in the influence of a lot of the lore and world building. 

Each race of elves having their own affinity for a particular arcanum is definitely going to be reminescent of the whole bender thing. These arcanum are also known as “Primal Sources,” because they’re kind of this mystical, primordial energy that controls the natural forces of the universe. So you have: 

Moon Arcanum (Moonshadow Elves: value loyalty and their oaths above all else, honorable, mystical, withdrawn, spiritual, duplicitous, illusionists, assassins, conditioned to never show fear)

Sun (Sunfire Elves: masters of the forge, unparalleled craftsmanship in their weapon and armor smithing, destructive, nurturing, charismatic, passionate, can invoke either a “rage” based state to rampage with increased strength and speed, or harness their “light” in order to heal) 

Sky (Skywing Elves: Keen minded, clever, value their freedom and autonomy above all else, gifted with flight)

Earth (Earthblood Elves: Patient, steadfast, stubborn, introspective, inquisitive, very in-tune with the balance of the natural world, value harmony and discovery) 

Ocean (don’t know what these elves are called still,, rip,,, but: Peaceful, empathetic, deeply connected to others, forge intimate bonds, adaptable, versatile)

Star (Startouch Elves: very rare, elusive, have a vast concept of time and space as seen through the lens of infinite cosmos, gifted in divination, posses ancient magic and potential secrets of the universe) 

The main conflict of the show is actually between the humans and the elves. They used to all live together, but then humans betrayed the others through the creation of dark magic, a sort of “cheat” since humans aren’t born naturally connected to any of the Primal Sources. Since they’re cut off from the arcanum, they saw their only viable means of practicing magic as sacrificing other magical beings to draw from their life force. This can be anything from crushing bugs to ritual use of phoenix feathers, and even killing dragons. So that’s how you get the alleged “sixth arcanum,” Dark Magic. And honestly, lots of Magical Creatures weren’t a Big Fan of that. Humans eventually went to war with the elves and dragons, and!! Yes!! They lost. And got driven out of Xadia. 

Dragon Prince takes place sometime later, and is essentially about heightening tensions between humans and elves, and likely, the very inevitable impending war. There are numerous human kingdoms, each with their own politics, as well as everything we’ve yet to discover about the interrelationships between differing arcanum elves. The series features two human princes trying to navigate their role in society and expectations for the future alongside the emerging threat of war and disconcerting realization that Xadia isn’t quite as sinister as they thought. There’s also their new friend Rayla, a Moonshadow Elf and trained assassin–who has decided to grudgingly open up her heart, and maybe give humanity a chance (I love her). You also have the obligatory Dark Magic sorcerer with his own agenda and secrets. Not to mention his jock son and dark magic daughter, who are honestly both so quirky, endearing, complex, and can just steal the show. 

I also have to mention General Amaya!! She’s the general of one of the human kingdom armies, and she’s also mute. All her soldiers communicate with her in sign language (and it’s actually correctly animated ASL!!). Everything about the way this character was brought to life was so amazing and, not knowing anything about her beforehand, I was so pleasantly surprised by her strength, charm, chivalry–she’s amazing. And it’s clear that considerable research and effort went into representation here. 

Other reasons to watch include one of my personal favorites,, Hot Elves,, you’ve got both Runaan and Aaravos here and they’re all I can focus on whenever they’re onscreen. They both own my heart and soul and they’re 100% perfect I’m very thankful I can always look forward to them,, 

Unfortunately, I can talk about how much I like Dragon Prince all I want, but I also have to definitely mention there’s a relationship between two queer characters in a flashback of season 2, and they’re both killed off soon after their introduction. That left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve seen people “compare” it to Voltron, try to claim it did things “better,” but that’s honestly all ridiculous. Not to mention, VLD’s LGBT rep was always meant to be Shiro, and he was still around, whereas TDP introduced two minor LGBT characters and then proceeded to kill off their only LGBT characters an episode later. This isn’t me trying to complain or start a fight or anything, but it’s a matter that raises valid concerns and was understandably upsetting for people, so I feel like it’s fair to warn anyone going into it.

As a whole, I do love TDP though. Really, the fun here is in the characters and charm of the series. It’s also really not a show that takes itself too seriously, which is kinda nice. A lot of people have said it was too childish for them, which I can understand, but the whole thing feels very storybook and endearing to me. There’s also certainly layers of nuance there, with political games, duplicitous motivations, usurping kings, self-sacrifice, betrayal, the grieving process, how far you’d go for someone you love–I think there’s definitely some substance to it. I’d recommend that most people at least give it a chance to see if it’s their thing. And if you do, I hope you enjoy it