#and and not wanting to do it again but he had no choice because rayla was going to get eaten

[callumbabe]

when callum said “I would do anything for you” …..

AND HE REALLY MEANT IT LIKE ???? this season changed me as a person and as a rayllum shipper bec this, this is the type of content I wanna cry my eyes out

[kradogsrats]

Now we know What Viren Did(tm), and...

My personal side-eye aside, that denouement is actually an incredibly elegant application of the story's themes, within the scope of restrictions imposed by this particular medium (i.e. a cartoon targeted for pre-teens and younger). Like, I personally assumed for a long time that we would simply never find out the details, because it would be either too grim and/or violent for the story's intended rating or... kind of a let-down. On the surface, what we got seems like the second.

Most of us have looked at Claudia killing the baby deer to heal Soren's paralysis and went "well, it was obviously that, but y'know... worse, somehow," which is a completely reasonable assumption to make. It was definitely what was narratively implied, which makes the supposedly-damning ingredient being "your mother's tears" instead of like... idk, "your mother was pregnant again and I used the life of that unborn child to save you" or something kind of "... oh. Okay, then."

To be fair, that might also be why they went so hard in the IMO inadvisable male-dominated writer room direction of "so I held her down and took what I wanted" to convey the requisite "he's doing A Bad," which is what all my side-eye is toward. But here's the thing:

On some level, dark magic is about violation—of nature, of others, and of the self. Even violation by Aaravos, ultimately.

But it's also not just that.

Dark magic also sits at the center of one of the primary themes of the whole story, which is the evil of denying others' personhood. We see it again and again from the angle of the heroic cast: "You keep calling it a monster," "You knew he was a person, just like you," "She's not 'the elf.' She's Rayla." The evil they do not allow to take root is seeing people as things, the place where all other evils begin. (GNU Terry Pratchett, IYKYK.)

So Viren's damning crime, the crime that is dark magic, is this:

In that moment, he looks at his wife, and sees only a source of what he needs. One that he can take from as he wills. That's why Lissa leaves—Viren has pulled the circle he draws around "people" versus "abstractions, things to be used" in so tightly that she has found herself suddenly on the outside of it. That's not something you come back from, in a relationship.

As for it all being over something as innocent as Lissa's tears, as opposed to something like her blood, her unborn child, her heart, her last breath—that's also, I think, part of the point. It's a renewable resource, harvested without doing permanent physical harm, but it's still a violation of her. This is the ultimate refutation of the "but what if ethically-sourced phoenix feathers" argument as being, for the final time, bullshit.

When Viren bursts in looking like he walked straight out of hell and demands use of her tears, could Lissa have given them freely? Sure... but she didn't. Could he have talked her around, if he invested the time and respect for her that would require? Probably, but again, he didn't! He took what he'd decided was necessary, did what he decided he had to do, because he could.

And like, he knew, even then. Because while dark magic twists your perceptions and reasoning, dragging you deeper each time—it can't twist you so much that you no longer have a choice. It will do everything it can to make you rationalize making that choice, over and over, but it can't erase that it is a choice.

Like, I'm honestly kind of emotional about it because while the surface level watching experience is kind of hmmmmm, it delivers so well on a thematic and meta level that I'm just like idk. Fuck. It's good.

[raayllum]

scene of all time. to me

I'm gonna be circling back to Rayla and Callum's argument/talk over the dark magic use over and over again in the next 6ish months (if not years) so this is not all of it, but everything I feel ready to articulate right now. Let's go

First off we have Rayla's concern being at the forefront of her mind — dark magic almost seemingly killed him the first time, "it puts [his] life in terrible danger," she wants to protect him and doesn't want him to be hurt, etc. Callum tries to put moral qualms onto her (and we'll get to his in a second) and see if that's her reasoning, but Rayla doesn't take it cause she hit that turning point way back in 2x08 / 2x09.

I also think the framing of "Because it makes you vulnerable to the thing you're most afraid of" is interesting, because I don't really believe Callum when he agrees.

Between "I think deep down I knew, I just hoped if I didn't think about it" and "When you were under the ice I was so scared, I thought I was going to lose you like we lost her" and "I'm afraid that he'll use me [...] and hurt people I care about," I think what Callum is most afraid of is Ezran or Rayla dying. Full stop. After all, he was more unwilling to live in that reality than he was in one where Aaravos took him over.

Gonna talk about her asking why in a bit, wanna talk about Callum's outburst and dismissal first.

C: It doesn't matter. I did it, I'm ruined, it's too late for me, who cares?

He spirals hard with his anger and upset over everything, and you can tell by her face how worried she is. Even the fact that Callum looks away from her repeatedly in this scene, similar to how he avoided looking at her when she first came in 4x03, to have those emotional walls and distance up. It likewise makes me think of Callum insisting "There has to be a way to make it right" in 1x02 only for Harrow to inform him "No, it's too late for that". There's also some semblance of "well I made my choice so I'm just Like This now" that we saw/see from Viren (and Aaravos) as well, which of course isn't true, but that's how it feels. Why Callum is so adamant about this is another thing I'll get to in a minute.

But contrast the "I'm ruined" with Rayla's "you're a good person Callum, maybe the goodest" in a couple of episodes, and the "who cares?" when Rayla is right there, caring about him as he pulls a, well, her of sorts.

Then we have Rayla reaffirming for the 4th time that she wants to know why Callum would keep doing something that's dangerous, that hurts him, that puts him in terrible danger (almost like how she Leaves to protect him or uses herself as a shield constantly or something).

What is his 'good reason' (5x01) because the only thing that makes sense to her is that he'd have one? What could Possibly be worth that cost and level of risk to him, of the thing she believes he's scared the most of?

Wasn't the one she was expecting, we can say that much.

C: Finnegrin was going to kill you. I didn't have a choice, because... I would do anything for you.

Now, there's two ways to read the above line. You can read it as Callum trailing off in "I didn't have a choice, because..." his love for her compelled him to act, and there was no other option he was willing to consider. This best fits with the condensed/cut lines from Finnegrin's Wake of "It seems to me like love has a tighter grip on you than those chains around your wrists, so I'll do you a favour and set you free" where Callum could either lose Rayla but 'be free' or keep loving her and stay 'chained'. Then, "I would do anything for you" is a reaffirmation of how he feels and his vow of sorts to her. This is the one I lean towards if I had to pick definitively between them.

The second way we can read the line is "I didn't have a choice because I would do anything for you," which is that his capacity for the 'anything' removes his agency. This is definitely the one that's in line with the mindset of dark magic creates, which is that if I can do something, if I can save/help/protect/cure someone, then how can I not, no matter the cost or sacrifice?

Rayla processes the reevaluation of the vow and its boundaries.

He did it for her, risked all of that and himself for her, in order to save her life. "Am I supposed to thank you?" And I think again we see the parallels between her leaving to protect him, and how she would've rather died than have Callum use dark magic again (as she's about to say in a minute) but this really stood out to me in comparison to Viren and Claudia and Viren and Soren later this season.

Claudia mandates "You have to stay! You have to [do what I want]! I saved you! You owe me your life!" in 6x01. We learn in 6x06 what, precisely, Viren did to save Soren's life, and Soren then offers up his heart to Viren for Katolis in 6x08, something in Claudia's vein of logic (though not to her herself) Viren would be entitled to. But Viren, and Callum, make it clear that Soren and Rayla don't owe them anything just because the two mages saved their lives with dark magic.

Then Rayla switches gears and gets to the heart of the matter.

Now this was really exciting to me for a few reasons. The first is that I always wanted the "Make the sacrifice" angle from Viren-Aaravos in 5x09 to come back around for Rayla and Callum in a future season since I love that fourway foils dynamic a lot. Rayla refusing to kill him, and Callum refusing to let her be killed/sacrificed in some other manner. You don't have characters say shit like this (nor have this be what causes Callum to stumble and the ship starts breaking) unless you plan on going there for both of them, which is likewise what I've always wanted since even before S4 came out. The fact that this is also spearheading us to talk about Rayla's ideas of sacrifice and of herself ("Cause I know you Rayla, you never do anything for yourself") is especially beautiful and exciting.

Ergo, this argument is the scene of all time. To Me.

[zuppizup]

Circumstance

“You didn’t have to put him in the dungeon, Ez!” Rayla fumed, struggling to keep her temper in check. “In chains!”

“Rayla, Callum freed Aaravos!” Soren grabbed her by the upper arm, attempting to pull her back.

“He didn’t feel like he had a choice!” Rayla wrenched her arm back, glaring at the crown guard.

“He admitted to it in front of Janai and Zubeia. He made no excuses. What else could I do there and then?” Ezran sighed, tears in his eyes. “He’s my brother, Rayla, but I still have to consider my people. He’s put more than Katolis in danger.”

Rayla tried to gather her thoughts, swallowing past the thick lump in her throat. The weight of it all hung heavy upon her. Callum had done it for her after all, traded the Cube for her life. The guilt of it all felt like a dark heavy cloak smothering her, wearing her down. She hated the thought that Callum was in the position he was in because of her.

Sighing, she shook her head. “What would you have done, Ez? In that moment, what would you have done?”

“You think you’re a good judge of that?”

Rayla turned to look at Soren, having almost forgotten he was there.

“You had an opening, didn’t you? Back when Aaravos possessed him again. You could have ended it all, there and then.” Soren raised his chin, his eyes piercing. “You could have stopped things before we ever got here, but you didn’t. You really think we can trust your judgement on any of this?”

“You think I should have killed him?” Her voice caught as she glared at Soren defiantly.

“I think neither of you has the high ground when it comes to considering the greater good.”

“I’d do anything to keep him safe.” Rayla swallowed, biting her lip. “He’d have done the same for Ezran. He wanted to protect us.”

“I know.” Soren held her gaze. “And that’s the sort of reasoning my father used to come up with.”

Rayla clenched her fists, glaring at him. “Callum is nothing like Viren.” How dare he-

“Isn’t he?” Soren raised an eyebrow, clearly challenging her. “He didn’t even attempt to excuse what he’d done.”

Rayla took deep breaths, trying desperately to think of some way to counter this.

Ezran stepped forward, taking her hands, soothing her tight fists. “They’re afraid of him, Rayla. They’ve seen what Viren did-”

Her breath caught in her throat, as she blinked back tears. “Ezran, he’s not Viren.”

“Rayla, I-” Ezran looked between her and Soren, his brow furrowed. “I understand why he did it. I do, I think most people would but... if it came down to it. If something similar happened again, if its Katolis or, or the Pentarchy? Xadia. Do you- What do you think he’d do?”

Ezran stared at her, his eyes wide. Challenging. Begging her to counter. To insist Callum wouldn’t falter again. Wouldn’t put either of them before everyone else.. everything else.

Before the world.

She tried to look him in the eye, to hold his gaze... but she couldn’t... because, well, she already knew the answer.

Circumstance II

———

Mayhaps in the continuity of Borrowed Time, I dunno

[rainwalker-dragonblade29]

YOUR SOUL IS MY TREASURE

So, I can't remember whose post it was, but I think someone has hinted that Callum could trap Aaravos in that cursed coin, sealing him in that realm between and death forever to solve the "what to do with the unkillable immortal" problem. And I think that's a genius solution. Aaravos in a coin? Twisted irony but deliciously scrumptious.

But crazy part is this.

IT IS DARK MAGIC. THE SPELL ITSELF.

And there are three mages who can perform it:

1. Claudia: for this outcome she has to betray Aaravos. Something she is unlikely to do unless she sees her own path and STOPS IDOLIZING VIREN AND AARAVOS (she will idolize him, be let down more corrupted roads abd terry will steer her clear maybe #wishlist). She definitely can joi the good side and stab him in the back and save the world in a cruel sense of irony.... or she might not. But this is an outcome i truly deeply want. Claudia's realization of who aaravos truly is.

2. Callum: he gas shown to break his morals to do the right thing before. Thus he can do it again. As saving the world is very very important. And if he realises this solution? Well hurray for the world but not for him.

3. Kppar: he's in a coin, but Rayla found that coin. They have one quasar diamond, maybe they'll break him out just to ask of his help or smth related to the jailor etc. And rayllum will be a lil disappointed that he gave up dark magic at first maybe, but then he will do the spell anyway for them? But thematically this is not a strong option. The weight has to be either callum or claudia because if the choose to do this act this means two very important outcomes for their character arcs.

WHY CLAUDIA?

Firstly Claudia, the whole "I have to see my dad again", exactly stepping I'm viren footsteps in his dream, the "I will do anything for family, however dangerous, however vile" all speak of one fatal flaw. Her idolisation. As i mentioned before. She had only viren to look upto as a kid, thus he became the one whose words she religiously followed and believed in hum her whole life, for other than viren she knows no truth. It had been the only stable thing in her life, everyone else has abandoned her. Left for themselves. Viren? Never. But now he did. And now she questions her belief.

Her father was everything, so him choosing different path and changing his fate... messed with that core belief. She needs to follow him to know. She needs to get answers from him cuz he is what she looks upto, her only truthful eye. And now that I aaravos. Who will give her answers. And most importantly, direction. The one thing she needs. And that's why she will now plave him in Viren's place, and his every word. Will. Be. Followed.

So to break that. Would mean a change to good. To the right side. A negative spiral fixed.

Thus she could coin him.

WHY CALLUM?

He has had a lil touch of darkness. And now he has rid that. He is free because of Kosmo's inner truth ritual.

He has done dark magic for Rayla, both times. With aaravos back, there could and would most definitely be an all states high ultimate fight with him. And maybe then, he will again have to face this. Rayla's life, or dark magic and save all this time. And the thing is he will choose dark magic.

Rayla has extracted the promise to sacrifice her for the greater good yes. But will he stick to it? If no... . IF all that rayllum talk in the ship and then the whole Moment of truth episode is foreshadowing, then he will do dark magic again.

If yes? Well, I'm sure my boy will not see Rayla die. IF HE WILL THAT MEANS HIS CHARACTER ARC ENDS AT A NEGATIVE NOTE EITHER WAY. YES OR NO. THATS WHY KOSMO SAW DARKNESS DIDN'T HE? IF CALLUM KEEPS THE PROMISE, DARK CHOICE FOR LOVE. DOESN'T KEEP, DARK CHOICE FOR SELF, FOREVER CORRUPTED BY DARKNESS, OVERWHELMED BY THE MAGIC AND POSSIBLY INJURING HIMSELF. BOTH ARE BAD OUTCOMES IN CALLUM'S CASE.

A long conclusion.

Sorry for caps locking but this is crucial people! Callum's arc will have a low note, claudia's a high note. Dragon prince has very complex things that it explores, a show like that might choose to take Callum down the dark path because the tragedy creates beauty. Terrible beauty. Sometimes life is like that. Cruel. A half moon. Bright and dark. Both combined. A dark deed for the greater good screams it thematically that both coexist. How did this become Yin Yang?

I think the dragon prince always had this planned for callum that his journey to learn all primals will push him to question dark magic itself and see it not as an agent of evil but a tool that is helpful in certain times but comes with a heavy price. And besides, it could also be said that kimdael arguably does dark magic even as an elf, so this practice is not only for humans.

He will resolve the while dark magic conundrum forever. Perhaps. So it makes sense for his arc to end in acceptance of inner darkness and doing the spell that seal aaravos' fate. One could say he faced his inner darkness in Finnegrin's Wake but no, the act gave him more fear in S6 that peace that comes from acceptance.

It has to he callum if he has to become the game changer and break the laws of magic in a way that leaves the world shocked.

OR

Ir has to be claudia if she has to fully realize herself and break free of the darkness with one final act.

I may not be the best theorist like @raayllum but this show and its story roles me up every time I think about it!

GOD DAMMIT WHY IS THIS SHOW SO GOOD!!!

(Forgive my typos I wrote this at 1 am at lightning speed 😅)

[thrandilf]

okay. for the first time in my life I'm using the #tdp critical tag because I have some things to get off my chest about s6 and I desperately need to focus on an exam for tomorrow and can't and idk I feel slightly out of my mind/wondering if this really is just a me problem but like

this season felt kind of sparse to me regarding character interactions outside of duos they wanted to focus on/letting characters present react to situations. stuff like Amaya not having a comment about Callum not being at her wedding or the Celestial Elves really not having much to say about Aaravos himself despite the Elder theoretically having been around in the days pre imprisonment like

I don't mind that Viren died but I do feel out of my MIND that he and Ezran didn't actually get a conversation, and beyond that that Viren didn't try to pass along any Aaravos information to anyone, and that even if Soren and Viren's relationship was just Maxed Out that we didn't get Opeli and Ezran talking about what to do with him (could've even had Soren walk in and do a Callum S4 moment of 'you ever walk into a room and everyone goes quiet and you know they were talking about you' moment), Opeli reacting/checking on Soren while Viren was imprisoned even if he didn't want to talk to her, there being any verdict about Viren at all and we're never getting anything else out of him again which is why no Ezran and by extension Callum/Rayla/ect feels sort of disappointing to me, as he hasn't interacted with Callum since S1

It's a really good moment, don't get me wrong, but we traded the suspense of thinking Viren had perhaps killed Soren for us getting any last words or gesture from him to Soren face to face

the Celestial Elves gave us info on Startouch Elves in general but not on Aaravos specifically even though the Elder I thought would know more? They aren't surprised at the idea of trying to kill a Great One/Aaravos but there wasn't even a word of warning about if he does get loose or anything Specific about the last time it happened or, if they didn't know anything, confusion about why a Great One is imprisoned like idk

no one had any concern either when getting access to the stars which again, idk, I thought Callum might've been more worried about Aaravos being at the Starscraper and the prison (when he thought he had it) being surrounded by Aaravos's main connection but idk, it didn't matter but I thought it could have

ALSO THE STAVES. HELLO. AT THE STARSCRAPER I JUST

No Aaravos and Callum interaction is also smth I've made my peace about but after the trailer, especially the choice to use that thumbnail for it/as a promo image, idk, I am kind of sad I have to wait until S7 for any of that and now I wonder how significant it can really be/why hes gonna need callum as a puppet now if he's Out and as powerful as he seems to be. we just raised the stakes but had three entire seasons of building towards it, so how can s7 handle getting callum to do dark magic again, theoretical possession/aaravos use, coming back from that, ect, all within 9 eps?

tbh no one really had grief about sir sparklepuff being gone which I guess he wasn't a full Person in anyone's eyes and the focus was all on Claudia/her state which was fine, like we did get some of that nonverbally with Terry at least but we kinda moved right past it. like even one line in ep 9 from terry like "look what he had you do to his most recent child" would have made me go yeah exactly that Mattered but it wasn't there

in addition to no Callum at the wedding Ezran also just sat on Viren being back like idk I guess I wish he'd talked to Amaya more. like I loved him and Aanya I just feel there was room for Both

Listen I'm not one of the people only watching the show for Aaravos and I am delighted with the two episodes we got of him but that he was in more episodes in S3 than in S6 does have me like. cries. really. s4 and s5 i didn't mind in part because I figured stars would be big and it Was but im like oh my god. i got to ep 7 and was like is he REALLY not gonna get out which thankfully he did but only at the end

and the end was like. the biggest cliffhanger we've ever had and i get going for the suspense but it's KILLING ME MAN

I know Aaravos's motivation/goal but not exactly how his actions are leading to that whatsoever as he seems to play every side and doesn't even favor humans if he's willing to torch katolis. unbridled chaos i guess? is that it? I don't even know what to be afraid of next season with him except I'd presume he's going to Xadia next and will Somehow be getting back at the Cosmic Order but idk what the past thousand years have truly been for unless it's waiting around for the stars to align and throwing a fit while doing so

Runaan is out and he and Callum didn't get so much as a sentence between them and that and the Aaravos out but also no conversation double whammy just has me like

PLEASE

at the end of this all this was a more dramatic/cinematic season but it didn't have a lot of the smaller character reaction moments/balance the prior seasons all seemed to give me tbh and it took all season to lead up to highly anticipated events aka letting Runaan and Aaravos out but I didn't get any of the Payoff of that characterwise except for Runaan and Rayla and idk I do feel both like S6 had some of the best moments of the show and also really disappointed in places where it feels like it could have been so easy to have had just a Bit more cohesion and characters plugged into their overarching circumstances/dynamics more

like I think we had the time for it

and going into this expecting a penultimate season and then learning theres a third arc planned, it makes the pacing and lack of aaravos sort of make sense but also has me like, we may not even get that and now I feel like s7 will make or break the Entire show for me which is terrifying

like we got a lot of new info but it was largely not what I was expecting without touching on a lot of stuff I was hoping for and I AGH. i didnt expect this season to continue the build up train and I'm having a hard time accepting that it's the first time tdp has ever like. idk. thrown me such a curveball that it's gotten me honest to god upset which is on me and not the show, and i keep hoping i feel better but so much rides on s7 now

[jelzorz]

151.

It's kinda wild that Rayla thinks he won't notice. Ezran is young, but he's been king a couple of years now, and he's got a keen eye for when a) someone is lying to him, and b) something is wrong. Knowing her, it's because she doesn't want anyone to worry about her—a Moonshadow thing, he thinks, probably related to not showing weakness which is... problematic, to put it diplomatically, because that sort of thinking has caused problems for her in the past. There were the nightmares she didn't tell Callum about, the Big Feelings she refused to have, and now, of course, there's this.

Ezran sees the way she massages her wrist when she thinks no one is looking. He catches the way she winces, the way her smile flickers when she moves too quickly, or flexes her arm the wrong way. He supposes that binding must have done a number on it all those years ago, and it's that that bothers him because it had only gone that far because of him.

She acts like it was silly, like it was some minor inconvenience and not the consequence of a magical oath not followed through. She acts like it wouldn't have taken her hand off in the slowest, most painful way imaginable, and like wearing it so long didn't cause permanent damage that bothers her even now.

"It was the right thing to do," she said once, brushing him off when he'd asked. "I don't regret it one bit."

And fine. He likes being alive. He likes the fragile little peace they've brokered between elves and the human kingdoms. He likes that she's basically his big sister. But that doesn't change the fact that it hurts her, which, in turn, hurts him.

"It's bothering you again, huh?" he asks.

Rayla glances at him. They're on a ship on the Sea of the Cast Out, and when she's not green or throwing up, she's grimacing and fiddling with the bracer around her wrist. This has not been an enjoyable voyage for her, but even then, she smiles (if a little weakly) and waves him off.

"Don't worry about it," she says. "We've got bigger things to deal with."

"We can't deal with them if you're injured."

"I'm not injured."

"You will be if you don't get that looked at."

Rayla snorts then, and she waves her hands for good measure. "It's fine," she insists. "See? Full movement, no pain. Just—ah!" She hisses, clutching her arm to her chest before she can stop herself, and Ez gives her a look that she has the decency not to meet.

"At least ask Soren to brace it," he says. "He's good with first aid now. I just..." He blinks, his throat suddenly a lot tighter than it was. "I just don't want you to get hurt because of me."

A pause. The ship creaks beneath them. Waves crash along the hull.

Rayla presses her lips shut, and Ez knows what she's about to say—that it wasn't his fault, that it was her choice, that it was the right thing to do—but it still hurts, and lying about it won't change that.

Rayla sighs. "Fine," she says at last. But she nudges his elbow for good measure and offers him her best grin under the circumstances. "You've got a good heart, Ez."

At that, Ez chuckles. "I know," he answers. "It's super annoying."

[arcadianmoonshadowjedi]

Rayllum Month 2024 - Magic

Mors Renatus Part 2

Finally excited to post this! 😁 This is a continuation of my Stay With Me/Don’t Leave Me fic for Rayllum Month! Make sure to read that before reading this 🙌🏽 I hope you enjoy!

TW: Blood Warning (Minor but still)

The stars twinkled in the endless night sky around him, but his eyes were focused on the towering elf that stood across from him, not wavering one bit. Callum clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

“You!” He yelled out. “You did this!” Callum stomped forward until Aaravos gestured him to stop.

“I didn’t do anything, you merely lost control of the blade,”

Callum’s eyes widened then he looked down in guilt.

“But there is a way you can save your dying elf girlfriend, I can help you,” the shimmering elf told him. Callum looked back up towards him, but still kept his guard.

“There is a spell you will need to perform, a dark magic one. But this information will cost you,”

Still frowning, Callum felt his heart racing as he listened on.

“The spell is temporary and in order to complete it, you will need to release me from my prison,”

“No!” Callum interrupted before Aaravos could say anything further. “You’re lying, I won’t help you!” He felt the sweat build up as he panted, trying to catch his breath.

“You’re not entirely convinced of what you’re saying, aren’t you,” The deep voice continued on. “You’re too desperate,”

Callum bit his lip, not able to hide how he felt. He hardened his fists as Aaravos stared him down with a smirk.

“You know, letting me out wouldn’t be so bad, mage. You were able to learn two primal sources on your own, correct? An archmage myself, I can take you on as my apprentice and teach you how to connect to other four primal sources from my very own experiences. But before all of that, I will help you save your girlfriend so I can gain your trust,”

The temptation built up inside Callum as he heard the offer. It was his dream to learn all primal magic, wasn’t it? He looked away in guilt as he drowned in deep thought. Rayla was dying because he couldn’t end this himself. He couldn’t think of another way to save her. He wondered.

Before he could think any more, he heard a familiar voice he hadn’t heard in two years. The same voice that came to him in his dream after using dark magic for the very first time.

“Callum,” called Harrow. Callum looked over to find his stepfather him standing and smiling at him.

“Dad?” Callum responded, choking on tears.

“Callum,” Harrow said again, with a more determined look on his face. “I know what it feels like. To resort to dark magic and questionable choices, all motivated by love, by wanting to do the right thing. But don’t repeat the same mistakes that I made. Your mother, you, Ezran and the entire kingdom had to pay the price for my mistakes. I’m begging you Callum, don’t go through with this. Don’t let the world pay the price of your desperation and grief,”

Callum’s face glistened with tears, this was his first time seeing him in any way. However, this was not a family reunion, but a warning. If he did let Aaravos out, Rayla’s life wouldn’t be in any less danger than it was in now. And not just Rayla, but Ezran, Soren, Zym, everyone all across Xadia would be in life threatening peril.

“No.” Callum turned towards Aaravos and fiercly asserted. “I won’t help or release you!”

Aaravos scowled and in response, he lifted his hand in a chokehold position. Callum found himself gasping for air and grabbing his neck. He continued to fall back and fight for both air and control over his own body.

“Callum,” Harrow called out again, voice gradually fading. “You are free, do not let history chain you down,”

Callum calmed his nerves down and allowed the cool to flow through his body. He was finally able to breathe again.

Destiny is a book I write myself. No one can control me or make my choices for me. Not if I don’t allow it.

Callum slowly opened his eyes and lifted his hand to push forward. Suddenly the world all around him cracked like a mirror. He cowered away from all of the glass-like shards falling over him.

When he looked back up, he still found himself in the Cosmos, but neither Aaravos nor Harrow were with him. He was all alone surrounded by the glimmering stars and nothing but complete silence. Then suddenly he heard approaching footsteps; a shimmering star-touch elf covered in the midnight sky, but it wasn’t Aaravos. The elf had a kind face with eyes that shined a bright purple and short silver hair with a silver crown above their forehead. They wore a flowing robe that resembled the sky from the sunrise to the sunset.

“Who are you?” Asked Callum, slowly backing away from them.

“They call me, the Merciful One,” they answered with a faint, gentle voice.

For some reason Callum stopped, no longer feeling intimidated by them but instead, looked at them in wonder. In their hand, they carried something shiny, something he thought only three of existed in the universe.

“Wait, what?” Callum asked. “Is that?”

“A quasar diamond,” the Merciful One finished for him.

“But how?”

“There are only three existing known ones in the world below, but they aren’t the only ones in the universe, there’s definitely more up here in the heavens. But they’re not easy to obtain and they’re most certainly not easy for anyone to use,”

They held out the gem towards Callum and smiled.

“You are a kind heart and pure soul. Not using magic for greed and always wanting to do the right thing. With this diamond, you can save your dying friend. But the spell is not easy, you must first speak the words: Mors Renatus. It will then require you to put in all of your strength and energy as you perform it. But I do want to warn you, if not performed correctly, it can have a grave toll on both you and your friend. You need to stay focused. I believe in you,”

Callum finally grabbed the diamond from them and took a deep breath.

“Stay focused,” He repeated, then smiled. “You can count on me,”

“Good luck, Human mage, I believe in you,” The Merciful One’s voice gradually faded away and the world around began to fade.

Callum finally opened his eyes; He found himself back in the Starscraper lying on his side. Right in front of him was Rayla, unconscious and quickly losing more blood.

He rubbed his fingers around a smooth, crystalline, lump inside his fist. When he opened his hand, he looked into the bright lustrous gemstone he was just granted.

“The spell, right!” He murmured to himself. He quickly slid over to where Rayla laid and gripped her limp shoulder.

“I’m going to save you, no matter what. I won’t fail,”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He applied all the strength he could amass in his hand and crushed the diamond, releasing a smoke of sparkles around it. At the same time, he felt his hand begin to ache. He grimaced in pain as he grabbed his wrist with his other hand.

Focus! You need to do this right, Callum! He thought to himself, trying to keep his eyes on Rayla. He tried to control the pain and focused on maintaining his breathing.

“Mors…Renatus…” He finally incanted. He suddenly felt his head violently jolt backwards and grunted as the pain shifted towards his head. He sensed a flashing beam form above him and enter into his eyes. He grabbed his head and began screaming agonizingly as he felt a burning sensation that made his eyes teary.

“No!” He yelled. “I have to finish this spell! Mors Renatus!!”

He refocused his attention back to Rayla and grabbed onto her, pushing through the excruciating pain.

“Mors Renatus!!”

He felt all of the energy from the stars that entered through him reaching focal points in both his hands.

“I love you, Rayla. And I won’t lose you,” He slowly inhaled, and finally exhaled as he prepared to release the magical energy into Rayla.

“Mors Renatus,” He finally whispered out. He felt all of the energy surge from his hands exit his body and encase Rayla’s whole body. She rose into the air and her body floated as the magic flowed into her. When the last spark was finally gone, her body fell back down to the ground.

Slowly, her eyes began to open then fluttered for a short while. She groaned as she sat up and looked at around still confused.

“What?” She finally said faintly. She then saw Callum slumping forward and heard him heavily wheezing.

“Callum!” She cried out as she rushed over to his side. She winced in pain from the former wound in her abdomen and gripped onto it. She finally reached him and put her other arm around his shoulder.

“Callum. Are you ok?” She asked more calmly. “Did Aaravos hurt you?” She frowned as she took Callum’s face in her hands, checking for any bruises. He took in a few more heavy breaths then looked into her eyes smiling, his eyes welling up with tears.

“No, he didn’t,” He answered her feebly. “I was able to take break out of his control,” He finally let out a strong exhalation before he threw his arms around a still hazy Rayla.

“What matters is that you’re ok too. You’re alive” His voice broke as tears fell down his cheeks. Rayla wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her nose against his neck, letting out a sigh of relief.

~~~

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Hopefully if I have more motivation and energy, I’ll be combining the Outside Perspective prompt with the final prompt of Rayllum Month and either post it by tomorrow if I’m able to finish it by then or after S6 potentially on Rayla’s birthday 😊 It’ll be a chapter filled with tons of fluff and happiness which could help cope after watching the season 😂 I’m also planning on posting all the fics from this month on AO3 all together and make a master post with a link to each of them. Stay tuned! 🙌🏽

[zariahthechocolatecookie]

Onto tdp s6 episode 4!! Not quite halfway through the season yet, but things are definitely getting more interesting.

aaand, also, I know this took me ages to post, sorry about that

I'll start with the Callum and Rayla part of the episode, like I've been doing.

First of all, the Starscraper looks really cool! All the shimmering light, and how it just ... Extends into the sky is a very good design. It's really quite awesome.

Tge Celestial elves are very interesting, especially the whole timeblind thing. I'm a bit wary about it, mainly because how close Celestial elves seem to Startouch elves, but we'll see where it goes, I guess.

Specifically, the two things that got me were 1) when they talked about becoming timeblind, the shot of the cosmos they used is the same from the show intro and 2) what I think was the opening theme played when they first got to the top of the starscraper

The intro is very Aaravos-related, I feel, so it seems like an interesting choice to use those things in regards to the Celestial elves.

The information on how Startouch elves come to be is ingesting. Feels like it'll be relevant later, but I'm not sure how.

I'm very interested to see what the monster Callum and Layla are faed to defeat is. I'm just going to go off on a limb here and say I don't think they're going to kill it... It just doesn't feel right.

Final note for this chunk - Astrid and Kosmo are both very fun characters, and I hope we see more of them.

Onto Claudia's section of the episode. This one was, again, the more moving section for me, even though parts of it had me on edge and wanting to scream at Claudia to make a different choice.

I don't agree with her decision to go back to katolis and find her dad - I think that's only going to cause her more pain and make her more vulnerable to Aaravos's manipulation.

However, that section and decision WAS handled with a lot of nuance, and Terry's probably right when he says that Claudia needs to make the choices for her future.

I worry for Claudia's future and dark magic usage, BUT her interaction with the baby wild nature lion (I forgot the name) gives me hope that she can get redeemed / have some more positive growth!

Overall, all the characters definitely seem to be heading towards challenges... I'm worried for some (most) of them, but I feel like even if bad things happen to them, the story will still be interesting/moving, if that makes sense

Onward to the next episode!

[a-very-sparkly-nerd]

Snake Boi Callum Week - Day 1: Prince/Choices

I Am Your Darkest Moment

Finnegrin had stopped his tantrums for now. When all his power was taken away, the tyrant became a whining kid. Appropriate.

They hadn’t yet reached a consensus on what to do about him, though he couldn’t be allowed to walk free, that was for certain. So since the crew and the Dragang’s mutiny, Finnegrin remained chained exactly where Callum had been just hours before. Karma was a bitch, and irony made it all that much sweeter.

He hadn’t managed to get to sleep recently, and thus opted to stay aboveboard and make their return to Katolis even swifter using magic. Callum might as well use the time for something useful instead of reliving the horror of a few days ago.

He sat leaning against the ship’s steering wheel, which was really just for decoration because Sea Legs controlled the direction they went in, anyway. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, orange and pink and purple. A pretty sunrise, and it didn’t feel fitting for the circumstances. But the world moved on with no regard for what its inhabitants faced.

Rayla came and sat next to him, sitting criss-cross applesauce. The way she looked at him, tender and loving and full of trust that he didn’t deserve… it reminded him of the top of the Storm Spire, just a– what was it, two weeks ago now? He’d pushed her away, and then he’d nearly lost her, and then they’d gotten close, and then he’d nearly lost her again. And the cycle would just keep repeating, because that was how they worked: fight, make up, near death. Rinse and repeat.

“Whatcha thinking about?” she asked, staring out at the sky.

Callum adjusted his grip on his staff that kept the winds flowing in their favor. “Just… stuff.”

He’d always been a shit liar.

Rayla took a deep breath, brow crinkling. “You’re… you’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. Shaken up, that’s all.” He was really a hypocrite, preaching honesty and trust then turning around and lying to her face in the same breath. But a half-truth was better than a full-on lie. He changed the topic. “How about you? How’s the seasickness?”

She shifted, crossing her legs over his lap and leaning back to lay in the sun. She was breathtaking, the grime scattered across her figure and hair messed up from sea spray and freezing wind only making her all the more enchanting. “It’s better. Maybe all the Ocean magic canceled out the seasickness? Two negatives making a positive?”

Of course she was the one making jokes to make him feel better. He’d used to do that, then went and started being a sack of shit because he thought he’d had all the time in the world to be furious with her, and he hadn’t, and now she’d taken up carrying everyone’s burdens just like before, and he’d never be as good for her as he had been at fourteen. Which was crap, because teenagers were some of the worst people on the planet.

“Do you-”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Her voice softened, fingers threading through his. “Please.”

He put an arm around her, letting her tuck into his chest and not caring that his staff teetered precariously against the wheel before settling haphazardly. “Of course. I’ve got you,” Callum soothed as he ran his fingers through her hair, though he seethed inside.

Finnegrin was going to pay.

Read more on AO3!

Next→

[ohtobefightingthefoos]

Expanding upon the idea I put in the tags of this post on my main blog.

Viren saw the monstrous part of himself in Claudia when she killed to revive him, and abandoned her because of it. Mostly I think because he saw it as a hurt he was causing and ran away. The same way he emotionally abandoned Soren as a child because seeing his son reminded him of the hurt he caused for his family. He COULD HAVE been on a path to forgiving himself. I think his attempts to reconcile with Soren and apologize (however poorly managed) were brought on by the realization of what he’d done to Claudia.

And we see him let go of the shame he was feeling (writing out the events that occurred, burning the letter when he realized he couldn’t put that burden on Soren). But he does not see himself as worthy of another chance. He views himself as a monster, and he views Claudia as a monster. That’s the part of himself he left behind for her.

He also left behind the part of himself that we saw in his dark magic fever dreams. The younger version of himself that believed there is always hope, that there is always another path forward. That people can change. We see that reflected -

(oh hey mirrors/reflections as a symbol: Leola and the sea of the cast out reflecting the night sky, the reflection of the full moon in the water of the nexus when Rayla went to rescue her parents from the coins, Ethari seeing Rayla in the reflection of the sword when she’s a ghost, the reflection of Soren in his sword when he “kills” Viren ((mmm I love these Soren Rayla parallels)) also YALL I think Claudia’s gonna die like WHYS Soren alone in his reflection!)

in Soren’s character arc.

Harrow, Runaan, and Viren were all prepared to accept death as justice for their actions. They all knew they were guilty of continuing the cycle of violence. Harrow stopped being ashamed and felt remorse for the actions he took and their effects. We can see this in his letter to Callum. He has regrets, but he believes the justice he deserves is death, not forgiveness.

Viren is finally coming to terms with his guilt and shame when he writes his letter to Soren. And he never delivers it because he sees it for what it is. But that doesn’t mean he’s fully prepared to let go (he never tries to reconcile with Claudia and I’d have to watch it again because it’s hard to tell at that point if he’d even want to. That man really just threw her to the wolves). His death is his final cycle into violence. Falling back onto the crux of dark magic - even if it’s to save people - and the dark magic literally requiring him to die. He’s running away into what’s safe and comfortable instead of overcoming that fear and trying a different solution even if it would be harder. He could have left with Soren and found an alternative (this is a narrative, he made this choice for. a. reason). His life to save Soren’s was not the only option, it was his choice.

Runaan was ready to accept death until Claudia decided he’d be better used for information. Which ends with him trapped in a coin (very similar to the way Aaravos is trapped in the prison for eternity). He had an opportunity to overcome the violence and listen to Rayla and Callum about the egg. But he chooses the cycle of violence again. And it’s what consumes him in his limbo. And then having the second chance to overcome that violence and accepting it is what saves him.

This is getting rambley and it’s getting late, but like - do you see my vision? Do you see the parallels? The themes? And so on and so forth

[raayllum]

Do you think Callum will do dark magic again?

Oh yeah, not a doubt in my mind. This is for 3 main reasons:

1) You don't have a character say "But beware, if you ever do dark magic again, the darkness will overwhelm and corrupt you" and escalate the stakes of usage unless you're going to go there. It's kind of like how I know Callum is going to be possessed Again at one point (s7 dark my beloved) precisely because he's worried about it and more than that, that he's brought another character (Rayla) into the fold with a decision to make. No reason to have setup and then no payoff

2) Unless Callum does dark magic again, Aaravos can't possess him again. And as previously mentioned, Callum has to get possessed unless they want to throw away multiple episodes (4x04, 4x05, 4x07, 5x04, 5x08, all S6 + orb shots, 6x03) out the window. Ergo, he has to do dark magic again. Setup like this (i.e. Rayla as Callum's light being hinted at in framing in s2 and then much more overtly in s4 before being brought mostly home in s6) always comes back around in some manner, just gotta look for it

3) Viren parallels. Viren and Callum have always had oppositional (arc 1) and then mirrored (switching) foil arcs throughout the show (think Callum with wings vs Viren falling to his death in 3x09, or Viren swearing dark magic off in 5x09 and Callum having opened that door back up again an episode prior, etc). Viren, as stated, had sworn off dark magic saying he would never ever do it again, nor did he want to do it in 6x08 for a multitude of reasons.

However, someone he loved (Soren) as well as the extenuating circumstances caused him to use dark magic as a full on sacrifice that likewise only sacrificed himself. A couple episodes we had Callum 'fix' the hole dark magic had made inside him, but if he's following Viren's path, there's two likely angles: the first is that he, like Viren, will use dark magic even after trying so hard to rid himself of it (the mirrored arc). The second, overlapping angle is that Callum will refuse to sacrifice his heart (switching) because his heart is Rayla.

'I will think of you under every full moon. Please don’t let this hurt too much. But, if it does—if you feel that soft aching—know that that piece of your heart isn’t missing. It’s not missing at all, Callum: I’m carrying it with me! Always.' —Dear Callum

Kinda like how Aaravos demanded that Viren should make the sacrifice in 5x09, and Viren refused vs Rayla demanding that Callum should make the sacrifice in 6x03 (and Finnegrin a bit honestly) and Callum inevitably refusing cause Rayla can't permanently die lmao.

Other:

There's also the unsavoury implication that "restores bodies to spirits" spell Callum did in 5x09 has unique associations with the dark ritual spell Claudia did in killing Sir Sparklepuff that was undeniably dark magic usage.

The coin has been seemingly wiped clean now that Runaan is out (though maybe there's the symbol still on the other side?) but it does make me wonder of a potential plotline where Callum knew ahead of time, or belatedly, that this spell would require something adjacent to dark magic and he's done it, but the corruption Kosmo spoke of is gradual, making him more irritated, paranoid, etc. like the King of a 1000 Eyes that Amaya talked about. I think that'd be really interesting

The indirectness / the fact we'd only know it'd Happened retroactively makes me lean that we'll outright see another blatant usage in S7 since that's more Dramatic (which I've always been in favour of Callum viewing "I get possessed again bc I make a 'bad' choice and hand myself over to Aaravos" as a sacrifice of himself into "i'm already dead so kill me" territory). And if he breaks his promise to Rayla that he won't pick her over the greater good, then she can break her promise to him that she'll kill him (this is exactly beat for beat what I've wanted since s4 dropped and even before tbh)

TLDR; Absolutely Yes. S7 being Book Seven: Dark only adds to this and the stakes / set up are all there. I'm pumped

[meganwasbored]

The Dragon Prince Thoughts Season 5 Episode 3

-i’m sorry i know i’m grasping at straws here but i’m still confuses how opeli knew that rayla was in callum’s office, like girl, what were YOU doing in callum’s office??? i really really don’t want to doubt opeli but i feel like every scene she’s been in since season 4 something sketchy has happened and we still haven’t solved the mystery of the painting, all this most likely means nothing but you can imagine the trust issues this show has already given me i love you opeli but you’re scaring me

-AWW TERRY JUST CALLED HER LOVE

-ok so i’m guessing this means at some point he used dark magic to save soren

-YOUNG VIREN LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE SOREN

-also viren constantly saying that he had no choice to do whatever he did while callum as repeatedly said that he is afraid that aaravos is going to use him for evil and fears not having a choice at all

-gren what are you talking about someone’s getting married of course it’s good news

-lol janai is so me i can’t even make the most basic of decisions

-PLS RAYLA IS SO EXCITED FOR THEM DONT WORRY GIRL YOUR DAY WILL COME

-lol some things never change

-lol nice try janai but i think we all know they’re gonna do it anyway

-is bro praying to the sun

-girl they don’t live here they can go wherever they want

-CLAUDIA SAYING SHES FOLLOWING IN VIRENS FOOTSTEPS THEN WALKING FARTHER THAN HE DID POETIC CINEMA

-love them

-again she’s not their queen they can do whenever they want

-safe to say amaya knows her nephew well

-lol she really said “you are not putting yourselves into serious danger for a book… without me”

-meet your new nephew

-viren not going deep enough to save claudia but claudia went deep enough to save viren, not sure what that means yet but i’m scared

-“i can’t go with you to lux aurea but here’s a lightsaber”

-it’s funny that gren is going basically just to be amaya’s subtitles for us because there’s no reason why callum can’t translate for rayla

-someday i’m gonna go back and make a viren “i had no choice” count because we’re at at least ten by now

-OMG OMG OMG

[ofekma]

I am having a lot of troubles with accepting Claudia as a villain.

You see, a good villain is a person who with different choices could have been a good person, but simply chose the wrong actions.

A good villain is a person with agency.

Of course, a good villain can also be manipulated, misguided, used. But they still need any sort of agency if we want to accept them as a villain and not as just a puppet.

Claudia doesn’t have nearly as much agency as the show wants us to think she does.

The first and most major problem: dark magic.

look at this picture, she couldn’t have been older than eight at that time.

The show made it clear for us that dark magic is Always Wrong No Matter What (which I have a lot of issues with, but I’ll get to them later), with even Callum’s soul being ‘tainted with darkness’ as Aavaros says in season four, after using it one single time and then swearing off this for good.

So has Claudia had any chance to not head down The Evil Path, even before we first met her? or was she always destined to do so?

Why can’t we just blame every single bad choice she made on the magic that ‘corrupted her soul’?

We can’t even blame her for using dark magic at all, because of how early she was introduced to it.

Also, if dark magic being evil is an undeniable fact of life, you would expect humans to catch on to that at some point? instead of it being just some regular skill you can choose to learn. Especially after it got them kicked out of their homes and locked away from every other magical creature all those years ago. Because in general most humans want to be good right? so you’d expect them to catch on the fact that it’s evil and just ban it.

But it was so normalized that even Katolis’ own advisor was openly using dark magic.

Unless it’s not as evil and corrupting as we are told it is.

Callum didn’t think that it was evil when we first meet him, only after getting it hammered to his skull by Rayla and the moon illusionist elf that it was wrong, we see his aversion of it the next time he meets Claudia.

Claudia herself had no reason to stop using dark magic throughout the show. She didn’t believe it was evil, and she was convinced that the only people who thought it was were elves and dragons, who simply didn’t like the idea of humans having any sort of power. She hasn’t seen any proof of that being ‘evil’ until way into the middle of the show where Viren started using it for doing shady stuff openly in public, and at this point Soren told her that she already changed for the worse.

So, at this point, where Claudia starts helping Viren in his conquest and sees him killing sun elves and stuff, she is already corrupted by dark magic. Is that a villain with agency?

Now, let’s look at the second point in Claudia’s lack of agency:

She is being manipulated.

When we first met her, she was 16. She was a minor looking up for her father and biased towards him, to think the best of him, to trust him.

And he and the Aaravos who was ironically manipulating him at the time, used this for their advantage.

Soren broke free of Viren, but he was told to do a horrible thing, got gaslight and neglected.

It’s easy to see that your father is messed up actually when he tried to make you kill two children who were your childhood friends (kinda), lied about doing that and proceeded to dismiss you and ignore you.

Well, not easy, it’s never easy to break out of an abusive relationship, especially with your guardian who you crave the approval of, but easier than when it came to Claudia, who he didn’t let see his true face until she was in too deep.

Claudia’s main character motivation is to keep her family by her side, which makes it even harder for her to leave. It’s important that she didn’t choose to leave Soren, he left her. Once again, Claudia refused to choose between her loved ones, so the choice was made for her. Once again she stood powerless as her family split.

And then? and then her father got killed. The only person who didn’t leave her died.

Claudia was all alone...

Wait no, not alone. She had company!

The main villain of the show that apparently has been pulling the strings and causing every single bad historical event ever.

Claudia was what, 17 at that time? And has just lost every single person she had.

Is that what you call a villain with agency?

And I doubt that she could have just came back home, both because that villain told her that there is a way to get it all back, and because what kind of a welcome would she even have home?

As forgiving as Ezran is, she’d likely sit in jail.

Rayla was looking for Viren despite the guy being very much dead, being desprete for revenge (because apperenately killing him wasn’t enough), what would have happened if she would have found Claudia next to his body?

I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that she won’t just let them be, She’d still want her revenge, and since Viren isn’t her for her to take it on, she’d likely take it on Claudia herself, who’d likely want revenge too because this girl took her father from her. blah blah “cycle of violence” as the show calls it.

Point is- the only person who was looking for Claudia did not have any good intentions for her. Callum, her childhood friend who was in love with her, spent those last two years thinking only about Rayla. Because I guess that since he got a new gf Claudia doesn’t matter anymore.

Soren, her brother, seemingly never bothered to look for her after the final battle, if he even thought about her at all. He had the duty of guarding Ezran and that was more important than what his traitor of a sister did, right?

When does he start thinking about her?

Once he concluded that she must have been the one to try to free Aaravos.

desperate, you say? I wonder why is that. So at least you already realize that she isn’t doing so swell right now.

Then the next time they meet, Soren proves that he still cares about her by shielding her from the impact of a fall after her bag gets caught in a branch, and that’s wonderful, but it came after two years of Claudia having no one, so no wonder that he couldn’t talk her out of freeing Aaravos.

Well, not no one, she has Terry now.

I don’t know when they met but this guy is the single reason why she isn’t completely off the rails yet. Someone by her side to love her and support her. Someone who would even kill for her, and she’d undoubtedly do the same.

Some people theorize that she is going to sacrifice him to get her father back for good, and that’s not out of the realm of possibilities, but the fact that she gave Rayla the coins with her family after he showed dissapointed in her shows to me that she cares about him and his opinion of her.

With Terry, Claudia gets to goof off and be free, like she’s been all the way back in season one. With Terry, Claudia is more herself than she is with anyone else.

It’s enough that one person had her back she needed it most, for her to still have light in her.

"Some light in her?” you may ask, “the girl must have done horrendous things in order to literally bring Viren back from the death”

That is a good point, but also:

1. wanting your father back is a pretty understandable motivation tbh, so whatever she did it wasn’t out of malice, or revenge, or power hunger, it was grief and loneliness.

2. we don’t even know what she did.

We are neither told or shown any of this. Yes, there is a boot in the corner of one shot, and yes, it was likely horrible and included killing sentient creatures due to what other dark magic spells seemed to cost, but this is all speculations. Am I just supposed to accept that she’s irredeemable now when I don’t even know what she did to get to this point? Terry at least knows some of it and he seems accepting, and the guy called her out on being cruel with the coins, and cried himself to sleep after he killed someone, so at least we know that it wasn’t horrible enough to make him leave her.

And another important aspect to show is that Claudia isn’t only willing to sacrifice other creatures for her loved ones-she sacrifices herself too.

When Soren and Viren look at her with worry after she struggles to stand, breaths heavily and her hair turning white, she brushes them off.

“the only important thing is that you are better now.”

she says.

Dark magic isn’t a fast, easy shortcut the way the show paints it as, it’s a sacrifice. A sacrifice both from the user and from the creature needed to preform it, and it’s a sacrifice Claudia is willing to make for her loved ones. A sacrifice she pays a visible toll for and we all know that sooner or later will catch up to her and cost her a lot of her health. Claudia knows it, too.

A sacrifice the protagonist trio is always saved from having to make.

Let’s start with the easy one- Ezran. Ezran is a human. Ezran can talk to animals and has a telepathic connection with the dragon prince. Why?

If it’s explained somewhere, I missed it. He was just born like this.

This is a really cool power that fits his ability.

But it’s also unexplained (as far as I know).

He has this power because he just does. Same way that elves and dragons just have magic.

You know who else has an unexplained ability? Callum!

Who just has sky magic now! because...protagonist reasons!

Because....idk, apperenately not a single human being in history has ever wanted to do primal magic as hard as he has???

So he basically breaks the established laws of the universe to have an easy path where he doesn’t have to sacrifice anything. Heck, he can even fly now. Only some rare master sky elves can learn how to do that and even that takes time, but Callum once again just Does It with the power of wanting it hard enough!

This way we can give out protagonists what they want and have them have super cool powers without having to get their hands dirty by the Evil Magic.

And Rayla.

The first time she met the two brothers, she chased Callum over half the castle trying to kill him, thinking he was prince Ezran. She then discovered who her true target was and while being caught off guard by how small he is, didn’t seem any less determined.

The reason why she ended up not killing him is that they conveniently ended up at the location of the dragon egg, giving Rayla a third option where she’d be able to get out of killing a child without having to go against everything she was taught. (and then of course she got to actually know and care for the kid, so any thought about killing him flew out of the window).

Then she has her ribbon that would have gotten tighter and tighter til she lost her entire arm because of that choice. But she was saved out of having to face the consequences of said choice because we can’t have one of our protagonists lose an arm! that would be horrifying! so....baby dragon magic! because dragons can just do that now, I guess. No explanation needed.

Good guys don’t have to play by the rules. Good guys don’t have to face the consequences of their actions. Good guys are rewarded by the narrative on the premise of being Good.

When Claudia had to face hard choices she didn’t have a sudden third option that would let her not lose anyone or not get her hands dirty.

Her first hard choice was who to go with as a child, she couldn’t choose so the choice was made for her. Claudia would have lost a parent regardless of what she done.

The second hard choice was to choose Soren or the dragon egg. She chose Soren of course, because her defining trait has and will always be loyalty to her family, but the plot didn’t reward her for this. Soren was alive, but he was paralyzed from the neck bellow, and if she wanted to have him back her only choice was to kill a baby deer to get the needed magic.

Do you think that she wanted to kill this baby deer? She adores cute things and she even apologized to it before doing that. That doesn’t seem like someone who has a disregard for other living creatures.

But since the show didn’t give her a way where she could heal her brother without getting her hands dirty, she had to make this choice. Again- a choice that affected both her soul and her health.

The third choice was between Soren and Viren. Claudia refused to choose. Not only that the show didn't give her a way to keep both, she ended up without any of them because one left and the other died.

Claudia did not get protagonist privilege.

Claudia is surely not innocent, she has done a lot of bad things. But is she a villain? or just someone who came from bad circumstances and had to make hard choices, some of which she got wrong?

If our main characters faced both similar choices AND real, lasting consequences for said choices, would they really choose better than she did?

But it’s been clear since way before season four that Claudia is going to get much worse, regardless of what I have to say about this.

Claudia has been destined to decline since the moment she was introduced.

Just look how sinister she seems in her concept art.

Besides, the story would not WORK if she won’t fall into the dark side. Not while being made as a cautionary tale about the damaging effects of dark magic. Not after allying herself with the villains of the show, and actively work to release the most dangerous one. Not when being willing to cross more and more moral boundaries in order to get what she wants.

It was predetermined from the moment she was introduced.

There would be no conflict without her moral decline.

And yet, it pains me seeing the girl who at least used to be sweet, compassionate and kind, who’s primary motive is to protect her family and keep it together, who has the same curiosity and hunger for knowledge as Callum himself has, going down this path.

[lazyscience]

This could be an interesting issue for Soren and Ezran to continue to bond over. How hard it is to know what the right thing is when it's a choice between your family and your principles. Wanting revenge against Runaan for killing his dad is very much like Harrow himself wanting revenge against Avizandum for killing Sarai; it's an impulse that a lot of people would find understandable and even laudable.

impulse noodling below

"In a way, my dad's as much responsible for your mom AND your dad getting killed. If not for the dark magic, they wouldn't have killed the rock....thing, Zym's dad wouldn't have killed your mom, and your dad wouldn't have killed him." Soren hissed as melty cheese dripped off of charring bread onto his fingers, took a bite anyway and fanned his mouth. The flames flickered high in the hearth of the inn that Soren had commandeered as being a) standing and b) roofed as the most secure building he could put his King; mercifully, the Standing Battalion's commissary had not been a priority for the insane blind dragon, so there were plenty of camp tents for the displaced.

As long as no other dragons showed up with grudges, at least. Soren was determinedly not thinking about that, about how vulnerable waterproofed camp tents would be to fire and claws.

"But...all those people would have starved without the Titan's heart they brought back," Ezran said slowly, poking the fire with his empty toasting fork. "It wasn't Viren's decision in the end, it was dad's."

"Would they? I mean, yeah maybe. I don't know enough about either magic or farming to know what else they could have done. I'm sure they were desperate. But my dad was also convinced magic was always the answer to everything, which is why as cool as it is your brother can do his fancy magic stuff, I'm honestly very glad you didn't wind up the mage in your family. Claudie's like that too, something about knowing how much you can do with smoosh-snap-pow! makes you think it's the best way to do...well, everything. And you see what that leads to. I don't think magic is wrong or anything - well, I mean, unless it's the kind you have to kill things to do - but it's not the ONLY thing. Just like I used to try to solve all my problems with my sword. That didn't do much for me either. Here." He confiscated Ezran's fork, added another slice of bread and cheese and handed it to him. "Eat this one this time instead of brooding and letting it get all charcoal-y. Not even Bait wanted to eat that one."

"I just don't want to see him. Or talk to him." Ezran sighed, carefully holding his cheese toasty over the coals.

"Completely reasonable," Soren said, tossing the heel of the bread to Zym, who proceeded to toast his own with tiny bolts of lightning. "Just because Rayla likes him does not mean YOU need to like him. You've got a lot to do. Liking Runaan can easily go a couple, three-four years down the list of things you need to do. Maybe never. Never is OK. There are plenty of people in the world I wouldn't care if I ever saw again and they didn't even kill anybody in my family. Be awkward if he's your...uncle-in-law? But you can just sit on the other side of the table at family gatherings. Or send a nice present and a regrets. That sort of thing happens when you're royalty. All over the Katollian history books. And Duren too, they were all poisoning each other and sneaking around for the crown. That's why you've got Crownguard."

Ezran coughed on a laugh, shook his head. "I do have Crownguard."

"I mean, if Claudie and I both make it out of this whole...thing alive? And not in jail? It is going to be super awkward to have inlaws in like....half of the human countries. And almost all of Xadia. We might have to emigrate to Terrestria for it not to be weird. And Corvus would not care for that. Not his kind of woods, I am informed."

"Speaking of inlaws--" Ezran kicked Soren's ankle gently, and Soren made a horrible face at him.

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut uuuup. Besides the part where way not ready to have THAT conversation until there's like, walls and roofs and less continent-spanning wars, I haven't even met her and she hated my dad. Haaaaaated."

Ezran took a bite of cheese and panted for breath, gestured wildly at Soren for a glass of juice to ease the burning. "You can't use 'my dad's an evil dead wizard' as an excuse to not have a life."

"Not all of us are as irritatingly responsible and self-sacrificing as you, your Majesty. oop, you've got - yeah, that's gonna leave a grease spot."

"Ugh. Cheese, so delicious and yet so problematic." Ezran huffed a sigh, set down his fork and wrapped his arms around his knees. "I'm sorry, you know. About your dad. I didn't want it to be like this. And it's not fair to bring it up like a joke."

Soren rubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah, well. It's not exactly like we can NOT talk about it. It's kind of a big deal. I don't know how or what I feel, about any of it. And I know - your dad, you didn't get a chance to really feel normal or okay about any of it before stuff started happening. Let's agree to just - when it's just us and no generals or councilors or people to get mad about it, to just say things. It's exhausting and depressing and doesn't really help to be like...nice, about it. You're a pretty sensitive kid. I trust your judgement about when you can't laugh at things because they're awful, and when you HAVE to laugh at things because they're awful."

"RIght now? they are kind of highkey awful." Ezran flopped back against the somewhat dusty cushions they'd camped out with on the floor in front of the fire, when Ezran had pleaded fatigue when his temper had gotten too raw for any more awful revelations in one trip.

"Yep. Why don't you get some rest, not on the floor. Zym, you might wanna stay on the floor though. I don't know how much weight that rope tick can take."

Ezran sighed. He should probably talk to Callum, who he was infinitely grateful at the moment was back safe and intact and who he did not want to speak any word, in any particular, about elves at the moment, Rayla notwithstanding. "Not sure I can sleep." It was somewhat true - his mind was still racing - but his eyes were heavy and raw.

"Maybe try anyway, your majesty," Soren said, getting up and banking the coals of the fire before relocating the cushions to the stretch of floor in front of Ezran's door.

"Soren, that's ridiculous. You don't have--"

"Yes, your majesty. I do. And it's fine. Slept lots of worse places." Loosening a couple of straps were all the concession he made to comfort before settling onto the floor, and Ezran, eyes closed, realized of all the things he could pick a fight about at the moment - and there were many - that wasn't actually one he had the strength for, fell asleep between one and another of Zym's warbling snores, the dragon's head on the foot of the bed and the rest of him obediently on the floor, Bait tucked firmly into the curve of his neck and shoulder.

Everybody keeps being like excited to see Callum trying to win Runaan over and meanwhile I’m just like

I want to see Runaan meet Ezran.

This is a child he signed up to help kill two years ago, and I imagine assassin man is going to have to go through an “oh shit, this kid is like. a really good kid. and if i had killed him peace between katolis and xadia probably never would have happened.” and try to figure out how to apologize.

And meanwhile Ezran is going to have to figure out if his “everyone deserves a chance to choose a different path” philosophy extends to the man who killed his father.

While his home is literally in ashes from Sol Regem’s attack.

Like yes I want to watch Callum be a dork around his girlfriend’s dad, but tbh I’m more curious about how they’re going to handle the reality that Runaan very much did kill Harrow. Like that is definitely a thing he did.

[zuppizup]

Drawn In

He’s find it hard to draw the new her. Not that he ever intends to, but he finds his charcoal tracing the altered lines of her face more often than not during the evenings at camp.

It’s easier than avoiding talking to her.

He’s decidedly not good at that. It’s just too easy to get drawn in by her sarcastic sense of humour or her stories of Xadia or whatever and so, yeah, he prefers to just sit in the corner alone and re-learn how to draw her than get drawn in to her.

She’s changed so much and then not at all and his hand tends to stray to how she looked before. It is well practiced, to be fair. Evenings in his study, alone and lonely, with nothing to occupy his time except dusty tomes and hour upon hour of his fingers moving across the pages of his sketchbook. Recreating every memory of her for fear they might fade, be lost to the passage of time and memory.

Even though he knows that is beyond unlikely. He’s aways been gifted with memory and even if he wanted to, he doubted he’d be ever able to forget Rayla.

Some days, in the endless middle of her absence, he wondered if it would have been easier if she’d faded from his mind. Stopped tormenting him with the lack of her presence.

Ultimately, he chooses the pain of missing her over the dark void of forgetting her.

Not that he has a really choice.

Maybe that’s why he finds it so hard to get accustomed to drawing the new her. Perhaps he’s stuck with the Rayla from two years ago and this new Rayla is someone he’s just not yet ready to accept?

He steals a look at her, heart fluttering a little as she smiles softly at Ezran, the two of them doting over that little animal that follows her everywhere now.

He can’t take to it. It’s ridiculous but he thinks he might be jealous of it. Of her. Stella, apparently. He’s jealous of some silly little monkey thing that got to spend the past two years with Rayla while he got left behind.

He huffs, looking back to his sketchbook and tries once again to get the curve of her cheekbones right. His hand is so accustomed to the more gentle lines of her youth that the sharper curves feel wrong, even though he can see it is an excellent likeness.

He sighs at the portrait, trying to make sense of this new Rayla. Trying to ignore how she somehow makes his heart race even more than the old Rayla did. He resists looking at her because he cannot deny how beyond beautiful she is now. He wants to be angry at her. He still is, and it feels like a betrayal of the pain of the past two years when his mouth goes dry as she laughs or how he feels heart rise to his cheeks whenever they make eye contact.

Perhaps things would have been easier if she’d returned looking more… he can’t even think normal because she’s always been beautiful. But he occasionally wishes she had the decency to not look so consistently stunning. If every time he looked at her she didn’t take his breath away just a little. If he could look at her and remember the pain and the hurt her absence caused him rather than focusing on how bright and vibrant her eyes are, how her smile genuinely takes his breath away… how he doesn’t want to look at anything but her, even if doing so makes his heart ache and throb with a confused mess of emotions.

He glances at the page, satisfied for once of late with how he’s captured her expression. How it looks like her so much that he feels the familiar tingle of butterflies in his stomach.

Huffing in annoyance, he slams the book closed and turns away from camp, no longer able to look at her or even the vision of her on the page.