#anti-rayllum

[sir-phineas-lost]

TDP Season 6

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

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

Spoilers under the cut.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[tategaminu]

I can't believe Rayla left without him for this.

I can't believe I'm doing tache edits, it's your fault you know who

[mandaloriandragontrainer]

“Rayllum was rushed!”

[thatartiststudios]

Ughhh... Ok... So, I have a lot to say...

So, I want hanging with my parents this evening and showed them some of my unreleased AMVs ahead of time, and while I was pointing out a parallel I made in the edit between Callum with Claudia at the Nexus in S2 and Callum with Rayla at the Nexus in s6... And his Claudium conspiracy fueled behind came up again...

He was all "oh, y'know, when you have no other options, you tend to gravitate towards...those with...shared experiences"

And then, when I pointed out that she was already with Terry, he had the nerve to say that "Terry is nothing."

Both me and my mom just went off on him, then up and left to another room in the house.

Like, I'm sorry, Terry is good for her, okay? If Callum and Claudia were really meant to be together, then she would've been his One Deep Truth, but guess what? It wasn't, it was Rayla.

And what do you mean "when you have no other options"? You think Rayla's just gonna up and leave him if he goes too far? It's already been proven in 6x03 that she was more concerned for him than angry at him.

I literally can't. I love him, but I just... Can't...

Contribute your thoughts in the notes...

(Also luv you mom, you're such a nerd like me <3)

[haaam-guuuurl]

Gonna start manifesting a Rayla Alone flashback episode in S5 right now

[raayllum]

i don't even care that they're animated characters but AESTHETIC ATTRACTION EXISTS Y'ALL people are so dumb smh his character design is cool good for him!

This just in: noticing and appreciating character changes that animators and character designers purposefully had to change and put in is Bad, for some reason. In unrelated news purity culture police has no idea why far right conservatism and moral panicking is on the rise

[korranguyen]

hi!! so, i saw your meta of rayllum with zutara and kataang, and i was wondering what were your thoughts about rayllum’s canonization in s3?? (sorry if you already answered this, i couldn’t find it)

Hey! Sorry it took so long for me to get to your ask—I typed out an initial response... years ago? And it sat in my drafts for a long time.

What I had written was that I was glad that you asked, because I harbored some conflicting thoughts on this. While (as I’ve established before) I liked the idea of their romance, as it integrated well with the themes of the show and as well as the characters’ arcs, I actually... really disliked the way it was carried out and canonized in the third season.

It’s been a while since I’ve watched any of the show at this point, but from what I can remember TDP hit the gas so hard on the romantic subplot to the point where it significantly degraded the quality of the show. Their connection suddenly became entirely about romantic proclamations, which not only detracted from the deeper emotional bond they had that drew me to their relationship in the first place, but distracted from serious or important story beats at inappropriate times. The only time I remember their relationship being a good story element in the third season was when Callum helped Rayla figure out where her parents were, because it hurt him to see her trapped in destiny.

I’m also not much of a romance person, and again it’s been a long time since I’ve seen this show. But I’m hoping Rayla’s absence calls for some reflection and progression between the two, and more serious story beats about a relationship rather than a romance. But somehow I doubt that will happen.

[bittrlys]

I have heard some people saying that the show is going to address the issues of humans being discriminated against will be addressed in season 7 dark. What do you think about that?

Personally, I think it might be a bit too late for them to properly address it and do it in a satisfactory way especially because the main ship rayllum had rayla being prejudice against humans but her actions don't get called compared to Callum so i doubt her actions will be called out next season as both the fandom and the narrative love to frame her in the right when she can sometimes be quite hypocritical and in the wrong.

Also, I want zubeia to be called out for her actions and zyms father but I doubt that will happen either.

Another question I also don't like the series framing of dark magic. Now in season 6 (took us 6 seasons) to learn that dark magic creates a hole in your spirit and it corrupts you to aaravos but that feels like the writers adding it in there so people don't bring up the whole arguement that dark magic is bad because the narrative says so. Also the show doesn't convince me dark magic is so bad that viren SHOULDN'T of used it to save soren or that Callum SHOULDN'T of used it to save rayla.

Idk to be honest the handling of dark magic within the narrative is so confusing and bad.

Anyway sorry this got so long

My very upfront opinion is that there is clearly some dissonance, and perhaps even conflict, in the writer's room about Viren and Claudia, dark magic, the cost of it, and the intended take away from these characters and their actions.

Now, when writing, there's no particular requirement to be honest with your audience or to not accurately represent how history can be muddled and shift. "Humans learned dark magic" to "Unicorns taught humans magic and were slaughtered in thanks" to "Aaravos is implied to have taught humans dark magic" to "Aaravos's daughter Leola (a uni-horned elf) taught humans magic and was killed" is cohesive enough, even considering the writers are on record saying they may be changing things as they go, as happens with writing. (With dark magic being the main sticking point of anti-human sentiments, how and why it occurred matters.) I also don't think the show has never wanted us to sympathize with humans or not see their discrimination -- the sight of them in tears as they're exiled, evoking the Trail of Tears (still bonkers), or Ziard's bitterness over how humans starved or his terror when Sol Regem tricks him in hopes to destroy Elarion are moments of raw feeling where the camera centres humans and their pain. Most of our protagonists are humans, and Callum, though occasionally punished for his ambitions, is a character who wants magic who is heroic.

The ultimate problem, however, is that the show wants to have its cake and eat it too, which goes back to my earliest complaints in how they 'meta write' from what we expect of fantasy and muddle their own messages. Certainly this show could be a long-form exercise in tricking people into rooting for ethnic cleansing racists but like, it's a show for kids. Sol Regem is a bad dragon and he is obviously bad. Zubeia is a good dragon and she is obviously good. We're supposed to understand Sol Regem kinda had it coming and understand that Zubeia being hurt is allegedly sad. There's no deceit to this straightforward presentation. Viren, Claudia, and now Aaravos are sympathetic villains, but they're still villains. And when your villains come in two main flavours of Team Anti-Human (arising after humans wronged Xadians initially, natch) or Team Human (or adjacent) and every hero is Team Xadia because humans fighting against the disparity of their world is Causing Trouble while humans who extend the hand of friendship to Xadians are Bringing Peace, it ultimately teaches us that "Maybe humans had a hard time of it, but it's time they suck it up." I don't think there was anything more explicit to this than having our Out Of The Mouth Of Babes protagonist Ezran's Zubeia-backed speech at the Many Thunder Victims Memorial Valley.

A lot of writers like villains who have a point, because they feel it adds depth to them, but they often jump straight to "the villain is a marginalized person who is fighting for change in the Wrong Way" and this creates an implication that Fighting For Change At All is wrong because our heroes are never passionate champions for equality. They may like equality, but they say "Not now -- not like this --" and it isn't central to their beliefs. Team Xadia are not nominally Anti Equality or Anti Humanity, but their framing vis a vis our villains makes this lack of investment in the liberation of humanity quite clear.

All of this is to say that I agree, it would be too little, too late, and that the fact the show has *already established* humans as being victims of discrimination makes the narratives around them all the more galling and difficult to untangle. I absolutely would like to have the show deliver one of its extremely straightforward, directly to the camera-type messages on how humans were discriminated against, yes, but it doesn't fix six seasons of presenting all anger on behalf of humanity as something that is ultimately morally unsound and in need of changing. And how much further can they take it? Can they portray Xadians as a whole as privileged beings who have benefited from the mistreatment of humans? Not just a few bad apples -- can they actually, truly acknowledge Xadians as less than idealized? Can they take seasons upon seasons of trying to make us love Xadians and turn it around with frank questions about things like "reparations" and "acknowledging generational trauma without both-sides-ing it"? Can they give us a purely heroic human protagonist who is firmly Team Human and centres human interests? I don't think so. They prefer keeping to their "Callum and Amaya and Ezran constantly apologizing and putting down humanity in favour of their Xadian betters" agenda. (So bonkers they do this with three characters of colour, sidenote.)

Rayla is interesting because I think they have a fundamental disinterest in her inner world. She's so defined by her relationships with others and traumatic things that happen to her personally are ignored (her feelings on her banishment getting sidelined into Callum stuff, or her overcoming her fear of water to save Callum and Ezran happening off screen.) Her prejudice is a standard result of her upbringing but it's another thing that hasn't really come up in a while. I don't know if they so much want her as a character to be right, or prejudiced, or whatever, so much as they use her as a mouthpiece for particular opinions they need stated. She was learning about humans as much as Callum and Ezran were learning about elves and now she's learned she's just chilling being another one of Ezran's inexplicably pro-monarchy shooters.

Onto the second half of your ask about dark magic -- this season has firmly shifted the dark magic usage into an addiction metaphor, and so we get the "hole in your soul" (the anti-Birdhouse In Your Soul.) I do think this makes sense with earlier seasons. Dark magic has always been shown as corrupting the user (hence the monstrosity, and hence Viren being likely to die if purified of it, because it's become so entwined with his inner core) and this destruction of the self has been a reason to avoid it. I'll even be generous and say it's not entirely "Evil People Are Ugly" but instead a lot of "Self-Destruction Is Terrifying." However, I've been obsessed with this since I saw it:

"He shouldn't be monstrous in his final moments of heroism" is very funny. The writers are aware they have thoroughly codified Ugly, Monstrous = Bad and would try to bend themselves over backwards to let a Good Act be done via Evil Means in a way that minimizes the evidence of the evil means. This is why you have to put that "inherent evil" in quotation marks because real inherent evils don't tend to get a pass. And because they want dark magic to still exist in the show and still be used by sympathetic characters like Callum and Claudia without rendering them utterly reprehensible they have to make it the hole-in-your-soul addiction metaphor and say it costs the user as much as, if not more than, it costs the world around them.

Which is, like, fine, but at a certain point it is like -- Yeah, if we can see times where dark magic is basically a necessity because your choice is either "dark magic, or let your child die" or "dark magic, or let a dragon flambé your people" -- which many of us would consider non-choices -- then you have to respect that people maybe will have to make that choice. And if the cost is more on them, then ...? It's practically a noble sacrifice. To oppose it for reasons of Aaravos is a non-argument. Viren was mainlining dark magic for decades and it wasn't until he got that mirror that Aaravos became a problem and Aaravos isn't always going to be around ... not to mention that now that he's free I think he has abilities that go well beyond "souljacking." Aaravos in this case represents more the 'spiritual death' associated with this internal corruption. So can we find reasons to oppose it that go beyond The Harm It Causes To An Individual, Who Should Be Allowed their Autonomy?

They still throw half-hearted nods to the previous seasons much more heavy-handed "omg the beautiful butterfly" "omg the baby deer" (single crying tear) "stop hurting the environment" "magical beings are superior to you" type anti-dark magic rhetoric (see Claudia and the cat thing) but it seems the writers have come to realize they need dark magic to exist as much as the people in universe need it to exist, and so they're trying to focus more on the internal cost. Personally, I think this is a fine place to take it and if the intent is to return the discussion to how humans have been discriminated against, it's a wise thing to do. So I won't protest it much, although we can discuss villainizing addicts and so forth and why Rayla's lack of compassion in approaching Callum's dark magic use is difficult to watch.

It's funny, because I wouldn't even call myself "pro dark magic" as I do see it as harmful, but the hypocritical and condescending treatment of dark magic users in the narrative is something I take issue with more than the use of dark magic itself. This is why, if they are leaning into this more sympathetic reason for rejecting dark magic, I hope we see increased sympathy as to why dark magic is used and why, until humans are liberated (i.e. given equal access to magic and Xadian resources) it's pretty much essential.

Thank you very much for the ask! ♥ Don't apologize for the length, as you can see I love to ramble away myself. Also yeah didn't fit this in anywhere else but fuck that narrative deadweight Zubeia. Thunder at least got shaded by Rex Igneous even if Rex Igneous was Mean and Scary.

[n1blakelover]

blocking any and all anti-rayllum bloggers on here that i see bc some of yall are in the rayllum tag and yall are not ruining the beautiful-ness of season 6 🫶🏼

[sir-phineas-lost]

Am I the only one who really doesn't seem to get the whole hype between rayllum? Like why do people like it? I don't get there dynamic and honestly the communication between the two is horrible. I don't think rayla really understands what Callum is going through and every time Callum has tried to open up to her she seems to just ignore it ?!?! (Iam not hating on rayla but like- I guess I just don't understand the hype of her character especially with how done dirty she was) Also wasn't it a major plot point that Callum didn't like runnan so where did that go? The show lacks consistency and it doesn't help that a lot of the shows canon sources haven't been animated like through the moon and the bridge of season 4 left a big gap for the watchers.

I just realised how long this got. Sorry for the rant .

You are preaching to the choir here. I have been saying for a long time that I think Rayllum is boring MC-shipping so I won't elaborate more. As for what the appeal is supposed to be, I can at least try to figure that out.

The most obvious archetype for Rayllum is the "two different worlds" trope. There is certainly a lot of appeal in that and I have seen it done pretty well in fanfics. In the show proper though I don't think it is ever explored enough to sell me on these two learning enough from one another to make an interesting couple.

There is also a lot of parallels between them and the other major couple in the show (Claudia/Terry) in that Rayla and Terry are acting as the conscience and guide for Callum and Claudia respectively.

[tategaminu]

I keep wondering how Reddit will react at future rayllum children like we know their view on female characters so Rayla having kids will make her even worse but what about Callum? Will they be happy because he got laid or jealous because they will never get laid themselves?

[raylasgf]

songs taylor swift wrote for rayllum specifically

fearless: love story, the way i loved you, you belong with me

speak now: mine, back to december (!!), the story of us, enchanted, last kiss, haunted, better than revenge

red: all too well (LITERALLY MENTIONS A SCARF??), state of grace

1989: style, wonderland, wildest dreams, how you get the girl, you are in love, out of the woods, this love

reputation: don’t blame me, dress, gorgeous, call it what you want, king of my heart

lover: lover, paper rings, all of the girls you loved before, the archer, maathp, daylight

folklore: cardigan, august, the 1, illicit affairs, my tears ricochet

evermore: long story short, evermore, willow, champagne problems

midnights: midnight rain, anti-hero, the great war, snow on the beach, high infidelity, would’ve could’ve should’ve, bigger than the whole sky, you’re on your own kid

she told me herself that she wrote these about them!!!

[darkcrowprincess]

Ok so the dragon prince season 4. What can I say. Well first off the only way to defeat hate is with love. And Im loving all the elf x human ships this season.

Though yes not a lot of rayllum this season and their reunion was anti climactic. I have hope for next season because of that hug in the end. Claudia I love her going down her dark path. She is full dark mage now and I love it! 😈😈😈 I also love Terry the earthblood elf trans male character. Will write a whole other post about him later. But I love him and hope nothing bad happens to him. I hope he's secretly evil too and that him and Claudia can be evil together. Happy and evil!

The Jamaya scenes! They getting married! Janai will be queen! She is hoping to lead her people to peace with the humans. She beat up her brother who better respect her now. I am just so happy that she gets to be queen and marries the woman she loves!

Callum going down a dark path an might get possessed by Aaravos! Love it! I love that shit and I hope for good angst Rayla is their to see it.

Soren was adorable this season and I just loved him making friends with all the dragons. The dragon queen even adores him!

Lastly, I'm probably not the only one who got the vibe that the dragon queen and Rex Igneous probably were a thing before the queen mated/married/ got with Zyms father. Rex still has feelings for her. No just me?

[hercynianforest]

~Intro Post~

Please click here daily for Palestine!

Hi, I'm Laura (she/her), millennial, a poet and vocal/visual artist from Germany.🙃

You can find my commission info here.

I identify as neurodivergent, as I am highly sensitive (HSP), am an INFP, and have a dissociative identity. I do not identify as mentally ill/sick or disordered.

What I post & reblog:

-My stuff (from shitpost to deep philosophy, poetry, meta, fanart, fanfiction, edits, and occasional photography)

-Fandoms: Mostly Stranger Things and The Dragon Prince (currently taking a break from that). On the side, some Carmen Sandiego, Monster High, Pride & Prejudice, Enola Holmes, and some other period drama & cartoons...the list will grow no doubt. :)

-Active ships: Rayllum, Sorvus, and Janaya from Tdp (maybe Ezraanya); Mileven, Lumax, Stancy, and Rovickie from Stranger Things; Red Crackle (Carmen/Gray) from Carmen Sandiego

My sideblog is milevenweek24, to celebrate that ship around Stranger Things Day 2024.🥳💝

Send me your cute headcanon(s) about any of those ships, or request a headcanon or mini-fic from me - it makes my day!☺️❤️ I also love to chat about any common interests and get to know new people (read DNI below).🙃

-Art (art nouveau, old book illustrations, romanticism, rococo, vintage & ancient stuff)

-Ancient cultures (I studied archaeology and indo-european linguistics, and I'll be a PROUD NERD 4EVA. I invent stories set in these cultures and write poetry/songs in dead, reconstructed languages)

Misc: Nature & travel photography, 80/90s toy nostalgia, dolls, stimming, trauma recovery, social justice (human and non-human animal rights, intersectionality awareness - all oppression is connected)

I block anything/anyone that glorifies or minimizes cruelty, violence, and any form of abuse/neglect. Do not interact if you're a racist, sexist, TERF/gender essentialist, queerphobe, ableist, anti-vegan, or pro-Israel.

I try not to reblog stuff that's reposted or doesn't have an artist's credit. I tag everything, use trigger warnings, and run a queue.

[murderlacrosse]

tdp s4 thoughts

- rayllum reunion felt very anti-climactic

- cute tiny moments throughout the season between rayla and callum but no real talk ? i know its bc this season is one of set-up but it felt lacking on that front to me

- soren /chef's kiss/. love him, love his character and how much he has grown and i felt like crying for him when he confronted claudia/saw his dad alive.

- ezran being fantastic as well, playing peacemaker between rayllum like a child of divorced parents and also trying his best to bring lasting peace to his kingdom. i demand he be wrapped in a blanket and brought a thousand jelly tarts.

- loved seeing claudia fall further down the dark path being opposed to viren actually seeming to begin to realize aaravos was playing him ? that maybe all he should want now is some nice 30 days of life left to spend with the people he loves ?

- terry ? good but not as dark as i thought sadly. i was on board with him being actually twisted but then they made him someone who just thought claudia was right in doing what she does. that scene where he tells her tricking rayla was cruel ? i laughed wondering where he had been all this time while claudia brought her father back to life.

- i do not trust any small animal mascot that has cutesy eyes. stella i'm watching u. was wary of that thing from the moment stella went for the cube in the reunion.

- also i was actually wary of rayla for a good part of the season bc i felt she acted strangely and thought she might have been a fake. apparently not, but then it means she really was just strange. but i love her. baby. precious. i really wanna know what happened while she was gone to make her abandon a dragon in need now (and also soren). that last scene with the coins ? beautiful. every season has a rayla breakdown, as it should.

- i really wanted an angry callum, i did get it and it was nice. what i wasn't expecting and what i didn't really enjoy was him just acting...cold ? to rayla ? like outright ghosting her. i just wanted a confrontation but again, its more of a setup season and character and plot got sacrificed.

- callum vs aaravos is gearing up to be very good though. loved the lord of the rings moment where callum tried to drop the key of aaravos in the lava but failed. loved how he asked rayla to kill him bc he doesn't want to hurt his loved ones. it's totally gonna happen and i'm here for that angst.

- rayllum hug. callum breaking down holding one of her blades. rayla having come back this time. i still wish the bad cycle of self-sacrificing would be broken but we'll get to it.

[blutopaz15]

so, uh, anyone wanna do rayllum smut-tember to spite the antis?