#because aaravos will come back

[shadelorde]

THEY FUCKING KILLED ZUBEIA?

[lolabearwrites]

My happy, ideal ending: the star-touched elves become the final boss of the series and the gang team up with Aaravos to take them down (somehow) then Aaravos can bring Leola back with the last quasar diamond, and they can go back to the stars happily ever after

[zuppizup]

Circumstance IV

Circumstance III

They made it all the way to the drains without running into another guard and Rayla’s anxiety had begun to lessen just as they ran into Soren.

He sighed upon seeing them, his sword slung over his shoulder. “I was beginning to hope you weren’t as dumb as I thought.”

“I don’t want to fight you, Soren.” Rayla unsheathed her blades, stepping in front of Callum. He’d surrendered his staff before being sent to the dungeon and there wasn’t even a slight breeze this far underground. Potentially, he could use the puddles of water under their feet, but it would be weak magic.

“I wouldn’t want to fight me either.” Soren smirked at her, holding his sword in front of him for a moment, before he sighed and sheathed it.

Rayla frowned at him, not in anyway relaxing her swords. She glanced at Callum, finding him similarly perplexed.

“Soren?” He stepped around Rayla, eyes fixed on the crown guard.

“You had to know everyone suspected you’d do this, right?” Soren rolled his eyes, a hand on his hip. “For a smart guy, you can be really dumb, Callum.”

“You’re not stopping us, Soren.” Rayla gripped her blades tightly, confused as to what was going on. “I’m not going to let them sentence Callum to death.”

“Wouldn’t that make sense? That’s what he’s done to the rest of us.” Soren glared at Callum, his expression harder than Rayla had ever seen it.

She gripped her swords tighter, watching Soren, noting his every move, preparing for him to reach for his sword again-

“Go.” Huffing, he shook his head and stepped aside, gesturing down the tunnel. “They’re expecting you to run to Xadia, so don’t go there. Or go the long way around or something.”

Rayla looked at Callum, finding him similarly confused.

“Seriously,” Soren pursed his lips, looking like he was warring with himself. “Before I realise how dumb this whole thing is too.”

Exchanging a glance with Callum, Rayla took the lead, inclining her head at Soren as she passed him.

“Thank you, Soren.” Callum nodded at the crown guard.

“I’m not doing this for you.” Soren turned to face Callum; his eyes fierce. “Either of you.” He looked between them. “I’m doing this for Ezran. You both have put him in an impossible situation. First you, giving up the Cube-” He glared at Callum then turned to Rayla. “And now you, being so stupid as to bust him out. Ezran doesn’t want to see either of you hurt, but his hands are tied.”

Rayla looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. Of course she knew this, all of this, was betraying Ezran more than anyone. What was the alternative though?

“Here,” Soren’s voice was hard, and Rayla braced, not knowing what might be next. Instead, Soren leaned into the shadows and produced Callum’s staff, the miniature primal stone glowing brighter as soon as Callum’s fingers touched it.

“Don’t make me regret this,” Soren held Callum’s gaze for a moment, then looked at Rayla.

Callum nodded, taking Rayla’s hand in his. “We won’t.”

[jamieedlund]

🌸In the season of the white cherry, standing in full blossom🌸

retouch of last year spring doodle and a little doodle💗

[imminent-danger-came]

I really am so sad I don't like isat. The themeing was very good

[yourbuerokrat2]

Prediction for season 6:

Viren: Aaravos...

Aaravos: I don't see why you are even interested in this. After all during one of our last encounters you said to me, and I quote 'I am done with you'. So really, this should be none of your concern.

Viren: When I said that I didn't mean...

Aaravos: Well, if you are having a sudden change of heart, I am going to need a demonstration/proof of your regret.

[raimagnolia]

Fucking thank you

But also, something I really don't understand is people saying when he said he's not a monster and that he would never sacrifice his own child

Some of y'all are like "yaaas king! you know what that is? ✨growth✨ "

And I'm like, are we forgetting something?

It feels like EVERYONE'S forgetting this; INCLUDING VIREN.

That way, I can't really call this "growth". It's just something a narcissist like him has had since the very beginning: a distorted perception of himself. "A bringer of peace"? A victim of all who don't listen to his inflated sense of self-importance? Even Harrow called him out on that. TDP Wikipedia compiles everything into quite the checklist for textbook narcissistic personality disorder.

That being said, I actually genuinely like this character, and as a psych major I ESPECIALLY love how well they incorporate every DSM-V criteria in there. And you bringing up Soren is exactly why I think he hasn't really learned his lesson. Because, yes, you bring up the dream he had, but in the dream, what age was Soren?

A child.

Innocent. Cute. Young. Full of promise. Basically, before Viren began seeing him as a disappointment.

We can hope it's only because it better accentuates the boy running from his father after Viren's features become marred and monster-like (symbolizing he WAS a monster), but....

All of this then circles back to the scene with Aaravos.

"I would NEVER sacrifice my child!"

"Relax. I wouldn't expect you to harm Claudia or Soren."

Take this with a grain of salt, it just rubbed me the wrong way that he said MY CHILD- instead of MY CHILDREN. It was Aaravos who had to mention Soren.

"But Soren wasn't with him at the time, and he just thought it'd be Claudia--" I know, but with context, while he always valued Soren less than a magical source of energy, if Aaravos so much called Claudia an "asset", Viren shut that shit down.

Because, once again, he has chosen to sacrifice his child before-

-it just wasn't her.

Apologizing for past wrongdoings is one of the hardest thing a narcissist can do. And without recognizing his faults? He's never actually going to undo the emotional damage he's caused, or show any TRUE growth, at all...

personally? having some thoughts™ about the fact that although Viren accepted his death, and felt bad for the path he had dragged Claudia down, not once did he acknowledge the way he treated Soren aside from his one dream scene with baby Soren.

maybe he did the right thing, for once, but still, Viren...

[random-remzy]

OH MY ARCHDRAGONS-

I JUST REALIZED WHY AARAVOS TOLD EZRAN ABOUT THE NOVABLADE!!!

He knew what was going to happen! He knew Ezran's morals would cause him to use the novablade.

But he told Ez exactly what would happen if he used the novabalde. Ezran just never realized.

In the story, he tells him about how, when Shirua bit Laurellion, the supernova blast killed Shirua as well. And since the novablade was made from one of her fangs, and is considred a 'bite' of an archdragon. Then the consequences would possibly be the same.

Aaravos WANTED Ezran to use the novablade!

That's why he wanted Akiyu killed (that, and y'know so she couldnt make another prison.)

That's also why he didn't care if Callum used dark magic, because essentially, he was in control. That's why, when it was revealed that Runaan would kill him, he had to count on the fact that Ezran would stabby stab him with the novablade.

And i KNOW someone is going. "bUt tHe oRpHaN qUeEn uSeD iT bEfOrE!"

The thing is, it's never explicitly mentioned that the novablade was used on Aaravos. We know The Jailer and Akiyu worked to create the pearl prison. But we also know that (before Akiyu died) Callum had planned to trap Aaravos WITHOUT using the novablade.

So now, back to the original statement. Aaravos wanted Ez to use the novablade. But why?

Because he knew it would destroy everyone.

When a startouch elf dies, they cause a massive explosion. Aaravos knew what the outcome would be. He had a foolproof plan.

There was no pearl prison to capture him in.

If Callum used dark magic, he would simply gain control over him.

Even if Runaan or Rayla killed him, it wouldn't matter.

Because as soon as Ezran would drive the blade into his body, everyone in Lux Aurea would perish in an explosion of blinding light.

He was planning to eliminate all of them. He knew he wouldn't leave Lux Aurea alive, but his stars would realign, and he would return in 7 years. But the Dragang? they wouldn't.

But then the Archdragons swooped in, and took the explosion instead, leaving the heroes to prepare for Aaravos' return.

So uh- yeah.

Thanks for coming to my BAIT-Talk.

this as probably very confusing, but bottom line is; Aaravos delibirately told Ez about the novablade, because he WANTED Ez to stab him. Cuz then he would just return in like 7 years. But the Dragang would all be *ded*

[raayllum]

Anyway I did my 2nd watch of the season after sleeping / with the end in mind and it totally worked for me, especially with the understanding that there is 30% of the story left (and thereby Callum and Rayla's arcs aren't Over and room for more growth/plot had to be left open) and watching with the ending in mind.

I'm not upset that this is where Arc 2 ends, in some ways because it's sort of like season 2 of Avatar where Zuko doesn't join the Gaang in their 2nd arc (book two) because from a character basis he really wasn't Ready to do that / they had more story to tell, so I don't think with what they're doing it would've made sense to rush it in TDP. Nor do I think any of the previous set up for other outcomes (i.e. possession fight, salvation, etc) were wasted. Merely that TDP likes to do layer upon layer, and also have foreshadowing come back once (so you think you're safe) and then twice. I also don't think that Arc 2 resolved all the threads (i.e. Rayllum and greater good conflict / Aaravos & Callum) and ended them, and instead nudged them forwards in interesting ways for continued future exploration. I'll probably write more about the specifics later if this post doesn't get unwieldy or condensed with them for now.

In the meantime, these were things that I found really clicked for me on my 2nd watch through for S7 and with Arc 2 in general:

1) Arc 2's overarching focus on the Archdragons / the finale resolution with it.

We had a focus every season on at least one of the archdragons, with Zubeia (S4-S7), Luna Tenebris mentions (S4-S6), Rex Igenous (S4), Domina Profundis (S5), Sol Regem (S5-S6), and Avizandum mentions (S4-S5).

With that in mind, while I'm sure Aaravos' intentions was for no one to know of his plans ahead of time (7x01)... his actions also led to Callum and co. making connections to all the other Archdragons that they could pull on to bring everyone back to Lux Aurea, and Aaravos could destroy them (with no real consequence to himself, as his spirit was now free and his body could reform), taking a massive swing at the Cosmic Council's grand order that'd been enforced by the archdragons. He said the elves and dragons would fall hard... and now the dragons have, with the Cosmic Council being next (and thinking that the real focus on the Cosmic Council would be predominantly in arc 3 was, I believe, the general fandom consensus anyway).

AARAVOS: Now this is familiar, isn't it? Hasn't this all happened before? Arrogant fools. Again and again you make the same mistakes. (7x09)

Suitably, though, the Archdragons sacrifice themselves to protect all of Xadia, making amends for past / previous actions in their own way (narratively). They upheld the Cosmic Order, and then chose to break it.

Now, Aaravos will be returning to a world where there are no archdragons, and the only thing that can destroy his mortal form again would be the Nova Blade or some dark magic spell to take his spirit (but more on that later).

This also caps off S7 being about the destruction caused by one Archdragon (Sol Regem) and then the salvation through sacrifice from the other four as the finale. It comes full circle, but without repeating the cycle.

It also seems like the Nova Blade hasn't actually ever been used, as Aaravos states in 7x07:

She could have used the blade to destroy me, but chose instead to help imprison me. To spare me.

Or if it has, it still has a massive consequence that Zubeia is familiar with (the wielderdies if it's used to kill someone?), given that she is worried when Zym (and Ez wielding the sword) appears, intending to use it:

I'll also talk a bit more about why I think Aaravos designed 7x09 to be a win-win scenario for him no matter what when I get to Callum's section, but in the meantime...

2) Rayla's arc

Listen, y'all know I wanted Rayla to save Callum, like a lot, and thought there was a good chance she would if he was possessed again. However, neither of those things happened (also circumstances were crazy) and it was built up throughout the seasons, as well as in S7:

RAYLA: We can't save everyone, Soren. There's too much at stake. (4x05) RAYLA: But I can't help you yet... because right now, the world needs me. Callum and Ezran need me. There's a great evil returning to Xadia and we have to stop it, at any cost. (5x01) RAYLA: It hurts me to know they're trapped like this. It's agonizing. But our mission comes first. The world is in danger, and you can trust me to stay focused. (5x04) RAYLA: No, Callum. I want to help my parents, but I won't let it bias me. (6x01)

The season 7 setup is most prominently seen in S7 during Rayla's trial, in which she emphasizes that the assassins' deaths were not in vain due to the subsequent impact on the world as a whole, and in how their assassin pledges were upheld in their own way:

Life is precious. life is valuable. We take it, but we do not take it lightly. All of your lives were taken. But your sacrifices, they weren't for nothing. Callisto, you pledged your breath for freedom and we freed ourselves from an awful, pointless war. Andromeda, you pledged your eyes for truth. And we found the truth, a truth that changed the world. Skor, you pledged your strength for honour, and now humans and elves have finally begun to treat each other with honour again. And... Ram. You pledged your blood for justice. But what is justice? The king died that night. A life for a life. Is that justice? How much suffering is enough to paid for the mistakes we've made? I don't have the answers. But I'll carry you with me, all of you, forever.

So it made sense for her assassin oath to come back in some manner ("My heart for Xadia"). She had to honour her team's sacrifices by being willing to make her own (killing Callum and herself by symbolic extension), partially because her and Callum's "ride or die" dynamic had become a "ride and die" dynamic": this was his plan and his choice, and the alternative was to let him succumb to a fate worse than death AND to let Aaravos destroy the world through his hands.

And I get why this feels kind of backwards, because on the one hand, it seems like Rayla made a lot of progress, even questioning the validity of her own suffering for mistakes she / choices others have made, which is Huge!

And yet she's willing to suffer, and sacrifice Callum. The paying the price motif is even brought back in Aaravos' dialogue with the archdragons ("And what will your sacrifices buy?"). So what gives?

Well, I think in a lot of ways Arc 2 was Rayla learning to accept and ask for help (S5-S6), that she wasn't alone (S4, S7), and working to come back every time she leaves (S4) but... still being prepared to leave:

and still with sharing or acknowledging her own burdens not being her instinct.

There's a reason we all went "Rayla refusing to sacrifice Callum would be Character Development" after all. I also think it's quasi-similar to Rayla leaving after S3. She had a lot of opportunities to learn that she didn't have to do everything alone in arc 1, but those lessons didn't stick; in a similar fashion, Rayla had opportunities throughout arc 2 to learn that she doesn't always have to sacrifice something, but with Callum being increasingly sacrificial... Those lessons were there, but didn't stick. The other side of her sacrifice arc is not resolved.

With that in mind, I wanna talk about our favourite dorky mage, and then maybe arc 3.

3) Aaravos' Grand Plan & Callum's Corruption

This is a little hard to parse out just because we don't know what Aaravos' next step / goal was in bringing about Eternal Night (presumably to get the attention of the Cosmic Council, but who knows). That said, a few things I'm chewing on:

Aaravos, as previously discussed, found the most effective way to rid the world of (presumably) every Archdragon other than Zym

Aaravos, for whatever reason, wanted Ezran to have the Nova Blade, which Aanya even sets up for us in 7x09

Aaravos knew all along that Callum would turn to dark magic to take him down.

AARAVOS: Very soon, your brother will embrace dark magic to save those he loves. EZRAN: I suppose you've seen that written in the stars? AARAVOS: I have seen it written in his eyes. (7x07)

Furthermore, he wanted to have Callum be corrupted again, gave him the apple in 7x01 as the first attempt. The apple corruption was lampshaded with "Is there anything I can do to help?" + identity/name motif. Aaravos was actively goading him into dark magic in 7x09, even when he knew there was an assassin ready to kill Callum (Runaan), and smiling even when Callum began the spell (once Rayla had stepped in).

As of S7, Callum has been called (and not disputed being at least partially) a dark mage, used Viren's staff and now has it in his possession (and we still don't know why it was never supposed to be used again), and has a white streak. The willingness to go that far "has always been a part of" him and is now permanently reflected in his character design.

Secondly, we know that Aaravos' game with his pawns is not over, due to the secrets of the cube being ongoing (but confirmation in 7x09 that it indeed points towards Elarion) and due to framing with Claudia.

While I did consider that maybe Callum's pawn intro imagery had come back around in the conversation in 7x06 featuring the cube so heavily (!!) and then Callum choosing to do dark magic to stop Aaravos and save everyone as his destiny ("The one I write myself")... He's still corrupted, Aaravos is still going to come back in 7 years with Callum as a vessel, and the Key to the Book (metaphorically to literally the Book of Destiny) is still unresolved.

TLDR; think about how much it'd Hurt in a Good Way for Callum and Rayla to both know she would've sacrificed him for the greater good (fulfilling her end of foreshadowing from 6x03) only to be smacked in the face that Callum refuses to sacrifice her in Arc 3 with the other side of his ("if you ever have to choose between me and the greater good...").

The fact that the Cube canonically points towards Elarion, which feature stories about "a fair exchange of beloved for beloved" after a season in which Aaravos mandates "Your beloved is an assassin who cannot kill" is just the cherry on top. It also means that both Callum and Rayla have accordingly hit the 50-75% wavelength of their arc(s), with us now having a definitive basis for her being willing to that sets up more clearly her being not willing to in the future, the circumstances we'd need for a possession fight re-established, and the cube beat still on the table because the cube itself is still waiting to be plot relevant.

Rayla always follows Callum's lead ("Say the word and I'll go back into that tower with you") and reflects him ("Who told you that?" "You did") and the lessons he teaches her about love. He'll pave the way, and she'll follow, and then their arcs will come to a close.

We just had to get here first.

Conclusion??

Anyway I hope you enjoyed, I want to do a bigger Arc 3 predictions post (the ruby project, Evrkynd, Claudia, Harrow, etc.) sometime soon, but I hope in the meantime this brought some potentially needed assurance, excitement, or another perspective to consider.

[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.

[jesseblueravos]

I was just thinking about the same quote and the context in which it was said by the Merciful One. Maybe they were, after all, just a bit more merciful than the other Startouched elves, in that they gave Aaravos a hint…

The next time we hear the same quote, it’s when Aaravos explains to Claudia that the spell must be cast with love. The spell that recreates Aaravos’s body and connects it with his soul from the pearl. The same spell that recreated Runaan’s body and brought him back to life. (“blood brings the power of the ocean to create a body” - part of the spell).

What if… Leola can be brought back, using this hint? Maybe there’s some other, more powerful spell that can bring a soul from that place of “peace and ever-flowing love” back into a new, stardust-sourced body? The power to create spells resides in the imagination of the TDP writers :)

Ok but what if the "we are, all of us, stardust, held together by love for an instant" line was a HINT and not empty words

[mjbarrosart]

My Dragon Prince Boards season 6, episode 608

Hello, everyone!

Finally I have some time to write this! You can not imagine how demanding is to work making television shows, everything is for yesterday, haha!

Complains about work aside, it is time to talk about my last episode of season 6, episode 8. This one was... special.

I can say without a doubt that this was one of the most emotional episodes I have ever worked on. I cried every time I watched the animatic, and I cried again watching the final episode a few days ago.

I think is a lot of things together: a lot of important things happens, characters die, Katolis is destroyed, one of the quasars is fake! Aaravos!!! ... but also because I witnessed my team bring together their A game, telling this story in such a beautiful way.

I learned a lot from this episode, specially from my Unit Director, Mike Jones, who was in charge of boarding the "Hearts of Cinder" spell sequence; what a masterclass of emotion, storytelling and cinematography! I love Jason Simpson's performance during the show, but in particular in that sequence, and I think the boards took everything to a new level.

Now, let's go back to my sequences.

My first one was Soren going down to Viren to ask him to perform the spell. It was good to have this last interaction between both of them after all the work I did with the characters in 605.

There is a lot of subtle staging in this one. The way the light is hitting over their heads, how present in the screen the staff is; Viren's hesitance is something that I remember was important for me to portrait properly.

One of the things we talked a lot during this sequence was in how to use the light as narrative element. I was not interested in the classical reading of going into the light as "good" and shadows as "bad".

But light as hope, options, forgiveness, etc.

Viren walks away from the light when he gets offered the staff not because he is going "bad" but because he doesn't feel capable to do what he is being asked to do.

Soren is coming directly to him, removing his chains, giving him back his staff, asking him for help. But Viren hesitates.

And I think that that was a genius think for the script to call. Viren is not a man looking for the first chance to "redeem" himself. I am not even sure that he believes that he deserves that possibility.

But they are running out of time. The situation is dire, and as the light get blocked by the falling debris, the options are becoming clearer. Hope is dim, but there is something to do: Hearts of Cinder.

Viren, still full of doubts, explains to Soren why the spell is so hard to perform: the price is a human heart. A price that the Viren of the past would have pay with not second thought, but not the current one, no the one who understands the weight of dark magic.

But Soren has no doubts: "Take mine" I still have chills listening to the delivery of that line. And I think here is the moment Viren decided to sacrifice himself. While he is being consumed by doubt and fear, his son will is clear, Soren will do the right thing, even if that cost him his life.

And that is what Viren never had before. The willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good. He looked at his reflection in Soren's golden heart and saw and answer, saw love, hope.

I just think is beautiful that Soren's conviction gave him the chance to do the right thing for once. Soren taught him the ultimate lesson.

I love this two so much.

My next sequence is a simple one, Terry and Claudia arriving to Katolis. I liked to draw Claudia's new hair. I wish I had more sequences with her in this season.

After this is Moon nexus time!

After all the drama with Viren and Soren the massage sequences felt a little silly, hahaha. but was fun to make.

I added the little detail of Rayla having issues landing, while Callum is just so good at it, haha. Fun to have their roles reversed for one, and Rayla being the clumsy one.

I like the moment when Lujanne ask them if they are a couple again and they exchange this nice look. I know that Rayllum is a huge thing in the fandom, and while they are not my type of ship (I am into the sapphics, you know) I think that they are pretty cute together, and Is always fun to make moments between them.

I just wanted to share with you this silly face, lol. Sometimes you draw things in boards that don't translate that well into the final show, but It is fun anyway, you want to inspire the animators to push the performance as much as they can.

Back to serious business. I love the shift when our heroes realized that there is only 2 quasars and 3 coins. Callums turn into Raylla knowing that this will destroy her. I really enjoy how the use of the lens to blur Lujanne in the Background creates this efect of hyperfocus on Callum and Rayla.

She is facing a terrible decision, who to save. So we move the camera to focus only on them. Is an intimate moment.

I like this framing, Rayla is in pain, crying, Callum is listening, but by the framing we can se that he is holding her. Callum is there for her, always.

And that is how I finished my last sequences of season 6, with Rayla crying.

Working on this season was one of the honors of my life. And I can wait to share with you how was making season 7, because was... A LOT, for sure! hahahaha.

Hope you like this! And feel free to ask if you have questions about the storyboard process!

And thanks for all the notes, comments and support! It is truly appreciated!

A little bonus:

Look a the cool crew jacket that Bardel gave us when we wrapped seasons 4 to 7! (Finally I can show it without making it an spoiler of the name of season 7!!)

[imjustmarcy]

Idk about you guys but I think this season finally gave us more on an insight into Viren as a human and as a father rather than a villain and a dark mage like in the previous seasons.

Like, at least to me, back in the first season it gave me the impression he almost saw Soren as replazable, more like a subordinate and not his son. Like he wouldn't care about whether Soren came back from looking for the princes or not.

This time though, he's openly very affectionate with his vision of baby Soren. He explicitly said 'l love you too', played with him, and desperately said he'd do anything to bring him back when he thought he was gone.

It's almost like the villain, dark mage part of him died with him, and Claudia only brought back her and Soren's dad.

I 100% think Viren was a bitch before because the dark magic did currupt him down to his soul and not only his appearance. Claudia said it was like a reset when he came back, so maybe that's why he's acting like this now: He's back to being almost fully human, not a dark mage. And that's also why Claudia is going more and more off the deep end every single time she uses dark magic.

There's a price to dark magic, and I think it not only takes the life of the animals and insects used to conjure a spell. It takes a part of the user's own humanity too.

Edit just to say: maybe this is why Callum is so crossed about dark magic too. He's very intuitive, so it's not only that he thinks it's immoral, but when he did dark magic the first time he felt something shift and he knows it comes with a higher price than everyone thinks. Maybe that's also why he's not phased by the idea of killing Aaravos while Ezran looks horrified at the idea.

Post Season 6 episode 8 edit just to say: I hate myself for being right but I hate this episode even more. I going to commit drastic actions against myself. What the fuck. Episode 6 too, that shit was uncalled for.

[zuppizup]

AU I’ve been thinking about…

What if Claudia and Soren actually were successful in capturing the princes and bringing them back to Viren?

What happens to Rayla and Zym?

What I’ve got so far:

Viren initially planned on having the princes “taken care of”, but sees an opportunity when his kids turn up with the dragon prince and an elf.

Uses Rayla and Zym as a bargaining chip to get Ezran to support his role as regent.

Amaya would obviously be sus as hell about this, but Viren orders her back to the Border before she can get time alone with the boys.

Meanwhile Rayla and Zym chained up in Viren’s secret chambers

Rayla gets a traumatic haircut because I’m like that

Callum keeping his connection to Sky secret in the hopes he can come up with a plan to free Rayla and Zym

Rayllum (obviously)

Opeli going nuts the whole time and Ezran worried she’s going to make herself too much trouble

Soren and Claudia both conflicted about how things are going down with Claudia still supporting her father while Soren’s loyalty starts to waver.

Viren obviously wants to wage war on Xadia again but also continuing to investigate Aaravos and the mirror

[fae-whispers]

i just finished the dragon prince’s season 6. holy shit.

SPOILERS BELOW!!!!

-AARAVOS IS MY NEW FAVORITE CHARACTER HOLY SHIT I LOVE A MORALLY GRAY MAN WHO WOULD BURN DOWN THE WORLD FOR THE ONE PERSON HE LOVES

-ohhh my god me and my friends were SOBBING over his daughter’s death oh my god!!!! what the fuck thats so sad. and him crying for A HUNDRED years is so fucking sad oh my god please

-viren redemption arc??? man he has to stop coming back to life. i think hes finally dead this time but holy shit it took six seasons

-TERRY ILY YOU DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE WAITED FOR HER OMG (like ily claudia youre hot asf but you need a redemption arc before you deserve terry)

-speaking of terry that scene where he ever so gently bathed her had me rolling over crying he is the sweetest man to ever exist

-IF SOREN AND CORVUS DO NOT KISS ASAP IM LITERALLY EATING A MY TV YOU CAN HOLD ME TO THIS

-lesbian wedding!!!

-rayllum finally kissed 🤭🤭 its only been sIX DAMN SEASONS OF TENSION

-yeah im still thinking about aaravos i love me a morally gray man and hes hot asf

-ezran is so young bro hes like 12-14 here im so mad he grew up so quickly hes gonna have so much trauma

-the ending with callum spotting his kingdom burning in the distance??? please 🤕

-SPEAKING OF MEN i forgot how *HOT* runaan is like sirrrr 🤭🤭 (i cant be saying this he’s old enough to he my actual father)

anyway i have to go rewatch the whole damn thing because my brother wants to watch it with me so ill be sobbing over fictional characters if you need me!! <3

[stardustamaryllis78]

Ok, I'm really getting tired of seeing people saying Aaravos is manipulating Claudia and I don't know if those people are watching a different show or seeing the show through a different lens but clearly, they turned a blind eye to the intention of this scene:

Aaravos confesses the whole truth about Viren to Claudia.

Then Claudia confessed that she KNEW Viren wasn't in the in-between and that she has been going along with Aaravos by her own free will.

Aaravos even asks her if she knew he wasn't there, then why would she want to invert the Nexus?

And that's when she asks Aaravos to give his full reasoning for opening up the Nexus. And he does. He becomes vulnerable to his true feelings.

Then Claudia stays by her own agency.

There is no more manipulation. They are now both on the same page.

Those of you saying after this that he's manipulating her have completely turned a blind eye to this scene for some reason and I really don't know why. Its a beautiful scene where two people who have both been through immense trauma have bonded and have become family. They have both lost someone and are now walking the same path together whether good or not.

I spoke about it in my post yesterday so I won't go too much into detail here but you can even see it in this scene:

Terry and Soren hatch a plan to use an illusion of Claudia's mum to get her away from Aaravos (now THATS manipulation) and Claudia says to Aaravos that she will handle it and guess what? He respects her wishes and stands back.

Even when the illusion version of her mum comes out from the Nexus, Aaravos doesn't say anything. If he really was manipulating her, he would have tried to stop her but no, he gives Claudia the breathing space to do what she needs to do and stays back.

Aaravos had given her a chance for an out earlier at the Nexus and Claudia went with him by her own free will so if she chose her mum, Aaravos would have respected that. Especially from the language he was choosing here by letting Claudia take the reins in this situation. It was about her, not about him. Why is this stuff being overlooked?

There's even proof in the openings:

Season 6 Opening:

Season 7 Opening:

Claudia no longer turns to stone and Aaravos has a much softer expression. Now why do you think that is?

That's right. She's no longer his pawn but someone he genuinely wants to see happy and healthy.

Now, lets look at the season 7 interview:

Note: Its supposed to say, "When Aaravos confessed that he does not believe Viren will emerge from the Moon Nexus" because we know that's what happened.

This is a Youtube interview from Cartoon Universe with the creators of The Dragon Prince. This was said by Aaron Ehasz himself:

"One of the things the season does, it deals with this idea of the transference - like Claudia's relationship with her father - and he's (Aaravos) sort of very aware of like she sees me as a father now and its not a perfect transference and he really sees her as a daughter - and he really does - I will not watch another daughter die, he says - he MUST save her. And so, I don't know. I do think - he's not just completely - he's not just an evil force, he has ALOT of cosmic anger to play out. He looks up at the stars "Are you watching?!" He's got a lot to work through."

Aaravos legitimately does see Claudia as a daughter and does very much care for her. There is no denying it.

At the end, Aaravos gets Claudia out of the final fight and says "I will not watch another daughter die" and you can feel how much he means those words (amazing performance by Erik Todd Dellums.) and in the way he looks at her, even though he's beaten and bruised.

He is now her father and she is his daughter.

No manipulation to be found after episode 6.

Was he once manipulating her? Yes. But not anymore. They are very much on the same page and care for each other very much as family.

Can we please move on from this whole "Aaravos is manipulating Claudia" charade now because I'm getting very tired of seeing it.