#archdragon

[between2dimensions]

My part in the Archdragons Poster Project hosted by Ray-Ken,

Zubeia is such a pretty dragon

[bird-freakk]

𓇼 Domina Profundis 𓇼🌊

[tales-and-creatures-of-xadia]

Are archdragons implied to be ordinary dragons who mastered their arcanum?

Yeah there aren't any clear details about this in the show or other materials. If it was answered in an interview I haven't seen it.

I always imagined that any dragon had the potential to become an archdragon if they lived long enough and became powerful enough. Because it seems Zubeia and Avizandum were both archdragons of the sky, which means there can be more than one. People talk about Zym having a destiny of becoming king of the dragons but I don't know how much of that is by birthright or if it's just assumed he will be strong one day because he had a strong father.

[ramtu-art]

First designs/concept art of one of the archdragons of Quarus. Her name is Eaj and she is a sleeping mountain and often called the queen of the dragons! The color of her scales depend on the time of day as they reflect the sky. January 2019

[thegurlwhoisntthere]

Hey y’all

I’ve been seeing a lot of post that are like “oh it’s kinda fucked up that the Dragons imprisoned Aaravos in the sea of the castout where (insert tdp s6 spoiler)” and yeah that would be fucked up… if that’s what happened.

But it seems that we all either forgot the plot of the last two seasons or literally weren’t paying attention (looking at you season 4 haters) because at least 70% of the plot revolved around the fact that no one knew where or what Aaravos’ prison was.

The only person that knew what the elf that built and hid it. That’s it. The dragons had pieces of the puzzle, but they literally did not know. Not even Aaravos himself knew where his prison was, or he’d have manipulated his way out sooner.

The fact that the sea of the castout was where she died may have been nothing more than a coincidence or it could’ve been the “merciful one” offering some bullshit “mercy” letting his prison lie in her final resting place.

But yeah, the archdragons, Elves and humans were not being especially cruel with that, the writers were

[raayllum]

Immortality & Longevity in TDP

Because season 7 brought up some very interesting Threads to contrast with the series' previous sentiments on immortality / ridiculously long lifespans. So let's go.

Those Who Naturally Live Forever(-ish)

There are three main camps of characters who experience longevity in TDP.

Those who experience it naturally, but can still die (the Archdragons, some elves)

Those who acquire it through dark magic means

Those who cannot permanently die (the First Elves, Aaravos)

I want to talk about the Group Number One first, because it includes the most characters and was the basis for this meta. Besides Lujanne and Akiyu, we don't know too many elves who have lived for hundreds of plus years, although it wouldn't surprise me if Aditi did. Lujanne and Akiyu are both mages as well, with Lujanne living at the most powerful concentration of Moon magic in the world, so that could be part of the reason why she's lived so long, and Tidebound elves (as Finnegrin had Sea Legs' sister for 40+ years) just naturally live much longer than other types of elves (Moonshadow, Sunfire) as far as we know.

The Archdragons themselves also don't talk much about the length of their lives, since it's a species-shared trait and so second nature to them. However, whenever they do talk about it, we get a very clear picture:

It's not exactly... positive. Now, some of this is because of their mental states. Sol Regem lost his beloved mate a thousand years ago, lost his position as the king of the dragons, and been effectively cut off from Xadia's political sphere / the other archdragons for a long time. Rex Igneous is similarly isolated (though it seems more self-inflicted) and we know he had a previous falling out with Avizandum (presumably over Zubeia). We also see Zubeia grow increasingly listless both times she falls ill / almost loses her family (S3, 5x09) so it seems that despite being very rare and accordingly isolationist, Archdragons don't tend to do well alone and without families (understandably).

But the verdict seemingly from at least 2/4ish known archdragons is that

In this way, the Archdragons' view of their quasi-immortality isn't that different from how Aaravos views his literal one:

The stars have never smiled upon their creations. This world was made by cruel, unfeeling hands. It is an instrument of pain, of torment. To exist within this world is to suffer. Even death is no reprieve.

So what about the characters who disagree to the point of doing terrible things so that they can exist forever?

Kpp'ar and Kim'Dael (Crafted Immortality)

Although there's only two characters in the "dark magic induced immortality" category, they paint two such completely different pictures that, in many ways, it shows the full spectrum of just how one can achieve an unnatural immortality.

On the one hand, we have Kim'Dael, who takes dark magic's canonically to its long believed natural conclusion of cannibalism. Kim'Dael takes parts (blood) from magical creatures (in this case, elves) and consumes it to enhance her own abilities and her livelihood. This doesn't always mean fully killing and draining someone, but often can (Bloodmoon Huntress) with multiple individuals / sometimes whole families at a time as she must experience semi-regular rejuvenation; it is unknown if she needs to eat or consume anything else in her day-to-day life.

Her magic use was also confirmed to be a form of dark magic in this interview:

the way that she does, is beyond primal magic. She’s found ways through dark magic to extend her primal moon powers. It’s very evil how she is able to do what she does and extend her life

Despite the dragons who don't have to work to be immortal being far more despondent about their long, long lives, it's not hard to think of reasons why Kim'Dael would want to be immortal. Death is a scary unknown, she (like Finnegrin) is out of tune with her primal knowingness on a fundamental level, and she can do so without harm to herself. Like most dark mages we've seen, her dark magic use requires using and taking from the people around her more, accordingly, than it's taking from her. She takes from others to give herself power: dark magic 101.

Kpp'Ar's search for immortality is way fucking weirder, IMO. It's not necessarily that dark mages, or dark magic, never uses the caster's body for spells. It inherently saps energy (hence the white streaks, nosebleeds, collapsing, etc) and drains life from the body; each spell harms the caster in at least a small way. It's also not like we've never seen a dark mage use their own body parts for a spell; Claudia uses and drinks her own blood mixed into the pentapus ink in 5x09, and Viren mutilates his own heart in 6x08 rather than use someone else's.

It's just, that if Kim'Dael has a way to chase immortality that does mean using somebody else's body... why on earth would you use your own?

It seems that before his change of heart, Kpp'Ar was experimenting with one of the darkest of all magics. A way of extending life. Indefinitely. A horrible and strange kind of immortality. The ancient and disturbing practice of self-eating.

Now, some of this may come down to access or skillset. Presumably Kim'Dael could drink human blood and use it for her spells, since the arcanum of the elf she's drinking from doesn't seem to matter. However, even if you can use human blood, Kpp'Ar at this point was older and used a cane (if we assume this was a later in life pursuit, and not over decades); he likely wasn't going to be able to kidnap and haul back anyone but children back to Puzzle House, and while we know he's willing to sacrifice children (6x06) it's not canonically clear if he's willing to use them.

Either way, we know Kpp'Ar was pursuing immortality as well as the location of the Garden of Innocents concurrently. We don't know if this was interrelated, but we do know that unicorns are connected to the Star arcanum, which is presumably what makes First Elves immortal-ish so... maybe? It's not clear why Kpp'Ar would want immortality in general, especially that type of immortality, for himself, but clearly there will be a reason. It could be that he wanted to transfer it to someone else (Soren) and gave up, but that's not fundamentally different than what Kim'Dael does, so... again: why himself?

(Arc 3 come home to me)

Cannot Die

Last but not least, we have Aaravos + the other First Elves in the 'cannot die' category, except when they can (Leola). I've written more before about how... odd the info surrounding what the Cosmic Council can and cannot do and what we may be missing, for lack of a better term. Quick rundown:

The Cosmic Council can execute Startouch elves. Aaravos did not have enough power to stop them. (*At the time of Leola's death, as things may have changed since then)

Aaravos seems to be utterly unconcerned that the Cosmic Council conceivably could, if they became aware of his actions, execute him in the same manner. Aaravos does not seem to care if they notice, given that he asks, "Are you watching?" in 7x08.

When Aaravos' mortal form (like the one Leola had/used on earth) is destroyed in 7x09, there are noticeable visual differences to the destruction of his daughter's.

Aaravos seems to want to bring the First Elves into "this world" as it is an instrument of pain that begets only suffering, and "I want them to suffer."

We also know that Aaravos believes the First Elves don't care about / love their creations at all, so destroying the earth can't be the endgame goal. We also know that something is keeping Aaravos from accessing/attacking them, otherwise he would've done so before being imprisoned.

Presumably, something in the interim has changed with either 1) Aaravos is no longer able to die or 2) He has found a way to be able to kill the other First Elves if they went after him, rather than the other way around. Potentially dark magic is the road to get there, or a form of ancient magic the First Elves tried to keep hidden that became the basis for dark magic.

Either way, we know that the First Elves are able to end an otherwise truly immortal being's existence permanently (at least so far) and that it's a power at one point Aaravos did/does not have. I'll be curious to see what we learn about all of this and self-eating in the future.

[nyaskitten]

Realized I haven't drawn Overlord in a while, and also haven't drawn Wu in a while.

[lycansprites]

Some keychain series concepts I've been working on. I've been procrastinating on finishing with the remaining archdragons so I figured I'd share what I do have ‼‼

Left to do: - Avizandum (Doublesided) - Azymondias - Domina Profundis - Luna Tenebris

[amber-in-the-rough]

why would Aaravos want a mortal vessel?

alright, so

I've watched the new season. I've already screamed and cried and rolled under the table and I have one final question left.

Why would Aaravos want a mortal vessel? Especially now, when the Archdragons are gone. He is supposed to be infinitely stronger than any other being on Xadia. Supposed to, yeah. Did you see the so called 'master of all six primal sources' show off his mastery more than once? Because I didn't. And it pisses me off beyond measure because it really seems like bad writing to me. He just fucking didn't do anything, just stood there, waiting for his enemies to charge at him. He was easily overcome by fucking human chains and ballistas- and one archdragon- when we were said that in the past he could easily hold off against all of them! Damn. Imo, Aaravos was seriously downplayed this season.

I know, perhaps this was his plan- to get himself killed and take all of the archdragons with him. Even so, he should've put up more of a fight. NOT JUST STAND THERE WAITING TO BE SMACKED!

And still why? Why want Callum as a mortal vessel? It doesn't make any sense. Maybe the Star Council or what's they're called- maybe they have a restriction prohibiting them to hurt mortals? Which sounds rather stupid but it's the only explanation I can think of.

The creators tried to do the build-up for arc 3 and in doing so they rushed and blurred the arc 2 finale. Putting together the archdragon drama, killing Aaravos drama and Rayllum drama was a mistake. Neither got fully developed. And were they seriously trying to tell us that the main cast would have survived the nuclear burst explosion of a star while being protected only by Domina's wings??? What are the wicked things even made of?? Oceanic mithril???

The final showdown felt like a series of Chekhov's guns which never fired. They just made a lot of drama around them, then showed them to us and- that's it. I suppose, Aaravos's plan was to get stabbed by the Nova blade, then take over Callum's body (for whatever reason) as his giant form was being destroyed. But then- we return to the question of why move to another body when there's nothing stopping Ezran from stabbing Aaravos in Callum's body (aside from their brotherly bond but that's no big deal, he just needs to ask Soren or whatever-).

As a result, we got Ezran with a Nova blade which never got to be used- Callum with his coin spell which was interrupted halfway because Aaravos got charged at by a dragon and Callum's gunsight was broken??? ??? That's- I'll be honest, this is so dumb. No Nova, no dark magic. Why even bring that at all?

And finally, what did Aaravos even die from? He did not sustain any lethal damage. When Zubeia and Avizandum were lifting him up (and yes, why didn't he stop them? did he forget all of his spells and telekinesis as well??), what were they thinking?.. What were they gonna do? It looked like they were about to drop him but- this is also so dumb. I don't think that would have worked because if Aaravos is so easy to kill- Why the fuck didn't they kill him 300 years ago??? "Didn't want to?". God damn.

I won't believe that Aaravos didn't have the power to take down the archdragons and that's why he simply decided it would be easier to go boom and set off the rebirth cycle. I refuse to believe that he is so weak. After all, one, he already killed two archdragons and that went fine. And two, even humans managed to kill one! They even survived!

Overall, I am absolutely in love with the first half of the season. I loved all the conflict everywhere, the part in Silvergrove was wonderful, felt like a real holiday- The adventures of Claudia and Co were also very exciting to watch!

But after that... It got rushed, blurred and very, very odd.

At least we got a white streak Callum. And a whole lot of 1 (one) interaction between Aaravos and Callum. That's an achievement, yeah. I love when the main protagonist and the main antagonist only have two interactions throughout all of the seasons (no, I don't, I fucking hate it).

That would be all. This is entirely my humble and angry opinion so- you are welcome to disagree. But I will stand my ground. This went very oddly and some parts I unfortunately didn't like. But I am all in for arc 3. Even angry and a little disappointed, I still fucking love this show and would be more than excited to see how it all goes from here. We still have so much to learn and see. The cube, Claudia, Rayllum, Elarion, grown up and talking Zym (it was such a twist!), Harrow in a bird... Please let us see this! Please, Netflix! Aaravos is not defeated, he merely retreated, please let us see how they'll deal with him in seven years!

[dannydevitosthiccdog]

If TDP does get another Saga, they have Aaravos to prepare for.

And Aaravos took out all the Arch dragons (not that it was a permanent solution anyway) so arch dragons are no longer a threat to any startouch elf anymore.

But (depending on how evicerated the Archdragons bones are) there could be 3? At most (Domina Profundis, Rex Igneous and Sol Regem's), Archdragons teeth to take and turn into weapons. Like the Nova blade.

At minimum, Sol Regem's teeth could be used.

[tdpanalysis]

The Fall of Sol Regem

Of all of the archdragons, Sol Regem is my favorite. He is the first dragon you see in the show, a gorgeous golden spectacle who we learn later has quite the personality. Outside of his personality, his history with Aaravos and Xadia is fascinating and rich with nuance. So I want to take a look into Sol Regem’s history and how it influenced the current way of the world per Aaravos’ design.

My next analysis will likely be on our favorite cinnamon roll Earthblood elf Terry! I want to explore why he was able to see the map even after everything he has been through. I am with family right now so I do not know when I will be posting it. In the meantime, enjoy some Sol Regem love!

Edit: the doc for some reason was not added so now it is visible sorry!

[bird-freakk]

☼ Sol Regem ☼ ☀️

rip lol

[kradogsrats]

OKAY SO two things really:

THE NOVABLADE HAS A RED GEM???? So a new possibility I hadn't considered before is that the Laurelion/amulet connection is the "ivory draconic" of the Novablade coming from the same dragon as the scale for the amulet. Also something something "only an Archdragon's bite could harm me now" Aaravos, etc. anyway my prime suspect would be Aithne Solaire. Also NGL this raises Questions(tm) in my mind about the Novablade, just because of the apparent integration of the amulet with Claudia's dark magic, and that generally, like... making shit out of a magical being's bones that then has special properties is a bit of a dark magic thing.

EZRAN AND SWORDS JESUS CHRIST like I mentioned a while back how Ezran's relationship with Harrow's sword and with weapons in general is complicated, and we've only once seen him with a sword and that was while play-fighting with Callum during Harrow's flashback. But y'all, the Novablade isn't a sword like Harrow's sword was—a sword (particularly an inherited sword) can have a lot of baggage attached to it, but ultimately it can be wielded for both attack and defense. It can defend the weak or conquer them, act as a tool of justice or of oppression. The Novablade, however? The Novablade is specifically and solely an implement of killing. It has one purpose: to end mortal existence. Maybe Laurelion (Aaravos) needed (needs) to be removed from the world for the good of all. Ezran seems to be becoming very targeted in his anger with Sol Regem and Runaan, so maybe he's getting behind that idea—that surgical removal of evil from the world is not only necessary but sometimes the best course. BUT THAT'S SUCH A MOONSHADOW ASSASSIN THING OKAY I'M DYING. Like that's LITERALLY Runaan's justifying philosophy.

anyway SCREAMING

[ramtu-art]

First designs/concept art of one of the archdragons of Quarus. Her name is Avea and she's very angry and has goblins in her mane. February 2019

[httyddragonfox]

Xadia Timeline

Aaravos came into existence about 5000 years ago, along with the other First Elves. When was Leola born?

We know Leola only lived to be about 8-10 years old. According to Tales of Xadia, because of her giving Primal Magic to some humans, the City of Elarion rose from it. The City of Elarion became powerful after Aaravos gave them dark magic. I'm guessing Leola was born around the time Elarion rose, which was 2000 years ago. Around the beginning of that era, Leola was born and the city of Elarion recieved magic.

That would mean Anak Arow (Sol Regum) was a young dragon around that time, also meaning he became king of the dragons around 800 years into his life. 1200 years ago he became king.

It was 1000 years ago Luna Tenebris came to power. So Sol Regum was only King for 200 years. In those 200 years, dark magic became so prominent that Sol Regum found out about it and threatened the city. He lost his eyes, wings, and his mate and probably abdicated his throne, allowing Luna Tenebris to take over.

Around the beginning of her reign, the unicorns are hunted to near extinction, thus proving dark magic to be horrendous act. The humans are then banished to the west as punishment.

700 years later (300 years ago), Luna Tenebris died. She had a pet, but no mate or heir, thus leaving the throne empty and causing a Draconic war. Adititi promised the end the war and choose a new ruler, but then she disappeared (swallowed by Aaravos, so the fighting would escalate and continue), thus causing a war between the dragons and elves. The orphan queen then comes about and reveals Aaravos is the mastermind behind all of the chaos, thus leading to the plan to seal him away.

300 years later (present day), an elven lifetime has passed, the war between Xadia and humans escalates, and then an era of peace begins, right around when Aaravos makes his escape.

It seems that dragons live to be around 2000 years old, seeing as Sol regum was young 2000 years ago and elderly in the present day. Maybe they live to be 3000 years at most.

[lavenderin2manyfandoms]

SPOILERS FOR TDP s7e8

Why did they trust Kerem to help them?? Wasn’t it like literally last season when he betrayed them? I actually wasn’t expecting him to be crushed by Aarovos tho

I also wasn’t expecting to see Avizandom again but that was super cool and with Rex Igneous dying too that was crazy

Zubia lowkey actually needs a hug 😭

I can’t remember if we have seen the Archdragon of the ocean yet but I love the design like it’s so pretty omg

CALLUM NO. 😭😭

that’s all I can think of rn but damn was that episode EVENTFUL 😭