#chessmaster ezran

[raayllum]

Literally every line exchange between these two ate but this one took the cake for me tbh

[its-leethee]

game night - check

[a-very-sparkly-nerd]

I can't articulate how much I am looking forward to angry Ezran season.

Not just because he deserves to be so angry- he's been playing adult for so long he's forgotten what being a kid feels like ("You'll grow up all weird, like your brother and Rayla"), but he could rival Aaravos in the pulling-strings category. I mean, being nice is the #1 way to get people to do what you want. And even when that doesn't play out for him, he plays his cards right with the rebel Sunfires and pretty much reads Rex Igneous's mind and makes him think he's doing the dragon's bidding, when it's entirely the other way around- an archdragon. He pulls a show!Grover (pjo) and the second he knows someone is pure evil, does a complete 180 and practically commits psychological warfare (looking at you, bluebitch).

And this is all while he's been calm and keeping his temper in check because he knows he is the forefront and the figurehead and appearances are everything. So what happens when he no longer cares about appearances, when he's allowing himself to be angry?

Kind people are the best manipulators. The nicest people are always the ones you want to keep from snapping at all costs.

[kazisgirlfriend]

Wow, this is really good stuff! I really think Janai and especially Ezran tend to be overlooked by the fandom, and those that frequently do try to analyze them typically have an idealized version in mind (such as "chessmaster Ezran" to describe a character who has always refused to see people as pawns). But you do a great job analyzing them!

Like Aunt, Like Nephew

I happened across @raayllum's meta here about Callum and Amaya, and certainly raises a few really interesting points about them that I wanted to touch on. Most notably, it demonstrates how their overall differences really stem from a simple difference in overall experience - at the end of the day, Amaya has potentially years if not decades of experience on a teenager Callum. So, when there are similarities between Callum and Amaya, they are as frequently about who Amaya WAS as much as who Amaya IS.

However, differences in experience do not negate parallels between characters. Just as Runaan is far more experienced than Rayla, that fact alone does not diminish the very clear parallels she has with her father figure. Similarly, the differences between Callum and Amaya do ultimately come down to a level of experience.

Prejudice

Callum and Amya's contrast in prejudice actually demonstrate how their level of experience influence their differences. Amaya had spent years at the breach, which solidified distrust and even hatred that she had towards elves ("I've slain monsters before").

Callum's prejudice, while relatively muted, is still there. Not only does he assume Rayla drinks blood, he initially refers to as a "creature" in the novelization, and later amends to thinking she's "one of the good ones."

As a sidenote, it's important not to dismiss Callum's prejudices as mere "misconceptions" simply because they are less intense. TDP is ultimately a story about overcoming prejudice, which is something that Callum does quicker than Amaya does. But this is ultimately the result of his prejudices being borne out of a lack of exposure rather than years of war like Amaya. Amaya has had years to let her prejudices fester, while Callum's simple ignorance gets dispelled rather quickly. But both Callum and Amaya demonstrate admirable open-mindedness in overcoming personal biases, even if at different paces.

The Test of Light

The other comparison is between how Amaya handles her test of light in 3x02 vs. how Callum handles his "test" in 5x08. This, I admit, was a peculiar test since whatever situation Callum was faced with in s5, it had nothing to do with purity. It was not a test of light.

Instead, Callum faced his test of light in s3, when he rode the Twin-Tailed Inferno-Tooth Tiger.

A creature that can sense the purity of one's heart (much like Pharos' staff), and a creature that Callum rode.

Instead the test that Callum faced in 5x08 was a test of darkness. Facing down his own dark side, and ultimately emerging triumphant, signified by the narrative rewarding Callum with the Ocean Arcanum.

Framing Callum's test as a defeat stems from a simplistic view of light and darkness as mutually exclusive. In truth, light and darkness exist in all of us, even heroes. Callum's realization that he contains complexities beyond his understanding is integral to his arc, not a failure. Everyone has a dark side, and it is this realization, that Callum has a part of himself he can neither fully understand nor control, that leads Callum to reach a breakthrough with the Ocean Arcanum. His eventual triumph would not be framed as such if he did not face this shadow side.

But as this lesson is one that is wholly irrelevant to s3, it raises the question as to why should we compare these two moments across two seasons at all. And the reason is that, if we were to compare the actual parallels this season, find that Callum and Amaya--as they both charge in to save their loved ones--are not so different at all.

In the end, their nuanced journeys demonstrate how light and darkness can coexist within us all. Comparing dissimilar tests obscures this meaningful complexity that makes both characters human. The distinction lies in understanding, not judgment.

Stronger Together

While Amaya's lesson to Rayla about being stronger together vs. alone is important, the reason this conversation never comes up between Amaya and Callum is because Callum already knows this. It is yet another similarity that he has with his aunt.

Even after the tribulations of 5x08, Callum is still the one to insist that the trio does everything together. Akiyu gave the group only one amulet, meaning that only Callum can theoretically go underwater after the pearl. In spite of this, Callum takes it upon himself to reverse-engineer the amulet to create magical gills for all of them. Far from insisting he should be strong alone, Callum acknowledges--much like Amaya did--that they are stronger together.

The writers convey Callum already comprehending Amaya's lesson through his own actions, rather than needing the moral spelled out for him. It's a great example of showing rather than telling. This creative choice highlights the strong unspoken bond and understanding between aunt and nephew.

The Canon of It All

Challenging the notion that Callum and Amaya are especially similar is a peculiar undertaking, given that the show spends a large amount of time highlighting their similarities.

I could show all the similarities between Callum and Amaya throughout the series, but rather than dragging out the meta any further, all I and anyone else have to do is merely point to the fact that their similarities are called out by the show itself. If the narrative is indicating its significance, then it's significant. Rather than denying the undeniable, it is more constructive to examine why this relationship is highlighted and what significance it may hold for future story developments.

After all, the writers make a concerted effort to draw connections between Callum and Amaya across multiple scenes and story arcs. Questioning why such focused narrative choices exist will likely offer more meaningful insights into their characters and bond. Challenging textual evidence risks missing the forest for the trees. If the show itself calls attention to a theme, then clearly it carries weight. The deeper question is what purpose these parallels serve in the broader storytelling. Their interconnected journeys likely foreshadow an integral joint role to come.

Conclusion - What does this all mean?

It's very rare for one to write a meta around the argument that the story beats and similarities audiences are noticing are actually not important, especially when the show itself expressly calls out these similarities and story beats in such a prolific way. So that really raises the question - what is this all about? What is the motivation behind the argument that fans are wrong for noticing the things the show explicitly draws attention to?

At the end of the day, what motivates disagreements about whether Callum is like Amaya isn't about objective scoreboard-tallying. After all, Callum's s5 parallels with Viren are only held together by one single utterance of "I'd do anything for X" from each of them in very different contexts and that hasn't deterred many folks.

Instead, it is an issue of bias. As I mentioned before, there is a certain stereotype about characters with nerdy interests, and Callum has been no exception. He's a human mage, and so it's frequently assumed that the only "proper" comparisons he can have are with other human mages like Claudia and Viren (which also leads to his depictions as morally dubious, since the only other human mages we've seen are morally dubious ones).

He also starts out the series as "bad at everything" and a bit clumsy. Rather than realizing he's simply insecure and inexperienced, the argument goes that actually his ineptitude is innate to his character. He's scrawny, weak, a pushover, someone who belongs on the sidelines and with his nose in his sketchbook. Unlike the strong, brave, tough, capable warriors like Sarai, Amaya, Soren, Rayla, and so on.

But when seasons 4 and 5 rolled out, when it was revealed that Callum was far from a pushover--that he is strong, talented, confident, tough, and brave--along with the explicit comparisons between him and Amaya, most fans I think realized and recognized who Callum really is now. But a few instead doubled-down, and saw the parallels between Callum and Amaya (which, again--cannot stress this enough--are called out by the show directly) as a threat to this initial takeaway back in s1.

Assumptions about "proper" character archetypes or stereotypes around nerdy, awkward characters can cause some to overlook Callum's growth. But his strengths as a mage do not preclude similarities to a warrior like Amaya. Wells-rounded characters defy singular boxes.

But that's neither here nor there. The most pertinent question here is not whether, but why the show so explicitly calls out Callum's similarities with Amaya. My guess is that it has something to do with seasons 6 and 7, about the kind of person Callum will become. That it has something to do with why Callum, despite Aaravos' insistence, is not destined to play right into his hands.

But that is a story for another time ;)

Postscript - Viren and Amaya

As a sidenote, there was some stuff about the ways Viren and Amaya were similar that I found interesting. Haven't forgotten about that, and wanted to address it, but I'll do that separately as I don't want to drag out this meta beyond what's reasonable.

[raayllum]

Aaravos' "to exist in this world is to suffer" vs Ezran's "they've given us a great gift. a chance to keep on living"

[raayllum]

The king with a thousand eyes

7x06 / 7x07

[raayllum]

So what do we do? How can we stop this cycle? Violence, loss, pain. Violence, loss, pain. More violence. Stop! Stop. I just want to yell stop. But that’s not enough. It won’t work. 

4x03 / 5x04 / 6x02 / 6x09 / 7x03 / 7x06

[raayllum]

You're crying innocent, but in your eyes I see guilt.

1x01 / 7x07

[raayllum]

I should have seen it before. Ha! Long ago, it was a human who saw through the Fallen Star's schemes and helped Xadia put an end to them. You look so much like her.

[raayllum]

something something Ezran spending the bulk of arc 2 negotiating and speaking with archdragons (Rex Igneous, Zubeia, Domina Profundis) in S4/S5 and then negotiating/discussing things with Aaravos in 7x07

[raayllum]

You didn't save them. You corrupted them. You call it corruption. I call it compromise.

7x04 / 7x07

[raayllum]

Chessmaster Ezran

It's no secret by this point that Aaravos is a chess master. He has literal pawns, his game motif is consistent across seasons (though mostly carried by the Key of Aaravos in arc 1), is associated with black and white, "eight in a line" from the 6x08 poem could reference 8 across as that's the number of pawns/pieces in a line in chess, and he's been referred to as a chess player, literally:

After more than a millennium of careful planning, moving and manipulating generations of humans and elves like pieces on some cosmic chess board, the machinations of the Midnight Star known as Aaravos are finally coming to bear.

The symbolism behind chess itself also talks about a "cyclical nature," the "unavoidable consequences" of each movement, the relationship in chess "between will and fate, but likewise between liberty and knowledge" and ideas of foresight and knowledge. (Meta here.) These are all things, of course, that Arc 2 is increasingly interested in exploring, looking at the ways characters are trapped by circumstances and choices and also deconstructing the idea of having "no choice".

I don't think at this point we have to prove, then, that Aaravos is a chess master of sorts; this is just the text, particularly because moving pawns around isn't that dissimilar from moving puppets around.

What is far more questionable, then, is Who exactly is Aaravos playing chess against?

Now, there's a few answers that could be the case. As displayed above, Aaravos lost one match against the Archdragons and was subsequently imprisoned, but it seems like maybe he was totally aware they were in the game, per se ("he let his guard down" / "as the day you betrayed me"). And while Aaravos hates the archdragons accordingly ("I'm glad you took down that arrogant monster"), they're very clearly not who his endgame victory is against. If he'd wanted to just destroy only them, he probably could've done so a long time ago.

At the same time, I don't think we can directly say the Startouch elves themselves. While they're the people he seems angriest at ("and when everything they have built lies shattered, I will savor their fall from the sky"), and therefore probably the people he wants revenge against the most... It doesn't seem like the Stars have been aware of what's going on down here in Xadia in centuries, and therefore, haven't been 'responding' to any of Aaravos' moves since he was banished and left behind. I wouldn't that it couldn't be him and Leola in some kind of proxy war, but if First elves like Aaravos are at the top of the magical hierarchy, and magic-less humans are at the bottom, it makes sense for a human to ultimately upend said hierarchy (with or without magic), don't you think?

Additionally, none of this is to say being cognizant of the Game is required to be Aaravos' opponent, but that Aaravos needs an active and reoccurring adversary to respond to. The good news is that he has one.

Now let me explain.

Set Up

While Ezran may not seem like an obvious choice — he's not a mage, he's not even one of Aaravos' current pawns to reward a 180 turn around if they turned against him, nor has he directly foiled Aaravos' plans the way Rayla has (at least once) — I think that's precisely why he's the one who's potentially in this role, symbolically at least.

While other characters are tied to the game motif in being pieces (Avizandum, Harrow and Sarai's graves, Callum and Viren's intros, the wooden Rayla doll from 1x04 of all episodes), Ezran is tied to being a piece mover and recognizing that the game and puzzle exists, each time. One that he can solve; one that he can win.

Now, part of that is helped by Ezran inheriting Harrow's status of being a thematic opposite to Aaravos. Aaravos 'serves' in order to gain control and power, and Harrow tries to even out of the scale of his control and power by serving the people: a servant king. Where Aaravos doesn't seem to see anyone as a person, in line with the way he literally uses his pawns, encourages dark magic, and dismisses his enemies, Ezran sees everyone — including animals, elves, dragons, enemies, etc. — as people (re: his sadness in 3x09 as he has to fight and kill people he wanted to save, because they literally won't stop attacking and have been robbed of their own humanity wilfully).

Piled on top is Ezran's own dichotomy of being both a child and a king ("A child is freer than a king") that mirrors Aaravos deriding the group as "pathetic children" while also relying on Claudia (whose the same age) to free him, and that he's playing a game at all that likewise involves his key ("It's a toy, a piece from a children's game" / "The whining child king, in over his head, and he knows it").

And more than that, Ezran has his own game motif. So let's talk about it:

Hide and Seek (Truth telling and Game Motif)

What begins as a little boy's favourite game, in addition to heartbreakingly always reminding you of just how young Ezran is in canon, evolves into a hide and seek game of world altering proportions. Arc 2 is largely about searching for / the acquirement of fully actualized knowledge (befitting of a mystery, mind you) and subsequently, the game of hide and seek is on for that knowledge. They just have to beat Claudia to the finding, first of the map, and then of the prison.

Knowledge of where the prison is hidden that Ezran uniquely carries and uniquely puts him at risk for. This is, of course, a call back to Ezran being the one to uncover the initial mystery of the egg (similarly to how Callum uncovers the truth behind primal magic and the fates of Rayla's parents). He discovers the egg in the dungeons, he advocates for telling the truth and being open and honest, and he is the Truth Teller of the series in so many ways, even if that doesn't mean he's infallible.

I had a speech planned for today. It was about peace and love and hope. But I think I left something out. I ignored something that was true. I denied something that is undeniable. 

Ezran bears witness to the things that other people don't see, or the other things that people don't understand, as while usually we're let in on the loop ahead of time, Ezran's actions and discoveries — finding the egg, retrieving it, showing up the Bookery in the nick of time — are kept behind closed doors until the reveal. Much like Aaravos, I might add. Ezran wears the blind fold like is father did (screams in Celestial elves) properly, but can see clearly at the same time by extending it to all peoples simultaneously.

If the stars are evil because they are indifferent and potentially ignorant, if Aaravos is evil because he is aware of what's going on but unsympathetic, than Ezran is their true opposite in being 1) consistently and constantly thematically and literally aware of what's going on (i.e. his brother's sadness, Rayla's feelings upon her return, the feelings of dragons, Claudia's fight with Ibis) and 2) holding sympathy regardless (even for Aaravos).

If the truth is hidden, Ezran will find it. And that's exactly why he's uniquely fit to go up against Mr. I never lie in a thematic chess match across the whole series, so let's start unpacking it.

Kingship and Clarity (2x08, 2x09)

I'm not going to touch on S1 that much as the majority of what I would've noted is already in the previous sections, so with that in mind I want to talk the back half of S2, specifically Ezran finding out about Harrow onwards.

Upon receiving the news, Ezran is cruel to both Rayla and himself.

E: You knew? I'm such an idiot! I should've figured it out. When we met you, you had two of those assassin-y ribbon-y things. But one of them fell off that night! R: Yes. That must've been when he fell. E: Fell? Fell?! R: Yes. E: He didn't fall Rayla, he didn't trip and fall on the ground, he got killed!

Now there's parallels here about how Moonshadows will dress things up in prettier language than what's actually happening, and in Harrow's rejection of the same thing from Viren ("Call it what it is: dark magic") and Callum's critique in 3x08 ("You've got a nicer word for it?"). But the most overt thing is what we know about associations with falling and death from the elf we just recently got the name of: Aaravos.

Moving on, I want to talk about how Ezran's realization and acceptance of his father's death causes him to realize that he likewise needs to go home: "Maybe I can help the world better from the throne. I can do whatever I can to stop the war". (Something something Aaravos giving humans magic because he believed they could be 'better'.)

Aaravos was cast out of power and 'heaven' and Ezran ascends, yes, but Aaravos' descent caused him to lose clarity in childish revenge, whereas Ezran acquires clarity by moving into altruistic adulthood. He's not being radically changed morals or principles wise, but he's not stagnating. Furthermore, Ezran's bond with Zym that he acquires in 2x09 is like a 'healthy' version of Aaravos' channelling through Viren.

Ezran and Zym find that, due to their bond of love and understanding, they can see where the other person is, embodying the principle of the blindfold's basis being that you can see through another person's eyes and perspective. Here, Ezran's empathy / compassion is made completely literal, and helps Zym achieve the victory of flight in order to likewise save his brother and friend. Aaravos, meanwhile, channels power through Viren, and subsequently withdraws it entirely when it no longer suits him; Aaravos is seeing through Viren's eyes only, and they don't even win. Aaravos is eagerly participating in the fight at the beginning, but when he realizes his pawn may die, he switches tactics and "stays" with him. In contrast, Ezran and Zym achieve their aims and maintain their literal separation while being emotionally closer than ever.

This is all just set up for the Game, though. The first match that Aaravos and Ezra have, of course, is in 3x04 with

An Exchange of Kings (3x04)

As a game, chess is all about exchange and sacrifice. When Ezran is pushed into a corner of treating people like pawns (like symbols), he hates it.

What follows, then, is an exchange. In chess, if you get a pawn to the end of the board, you can exchange it for another piece that's already been taken (with the sole exception of your king, as that's checkmate). We see Aaravos do this slightly with Sir Sparklepuff and Viren in theory in 5x09, but we also see it here more directly with one king (Ezran) being swapped for another (Viren).

This is also, currently, the closest we see Ezran be a 'pawn' in any conceivable way. He's at the end of the board, he's being exchanged, except this time it's for the benefit of the opposing side. The main reason I mandate, then, that Ezran is still an Opponent rather than a piece is because of how this trade is inverted on an even broader scale later on this season:

The Final Battle (Or Not)

As king, and this is the particular piece of Chessmaster Ezran I think I adore above all else, he is fundamentally encouraged to treat his subjects like pawns.

Now, Ezran doesn't want to treat anyone this way. He doesn't view anyone, animal, human, elf or otherwise, as Not People. Even when the human armies are decidedly no longer literally human, and raging fiery monsters attacking him and everything he has left, he still holds sympathy for them and compassion for Claudia.

Claudia — and Viren — meanwhile, don't see their pawns that way at all. Claudia has yet to ever see Rayla as a person, only recognizing the elves who conveniently help her (Terry, Aaravos) as worthy of identified personhood; Viren and Aaravos' overall "plan" was to kill a baby dragon and use all the human army as "distractions". They never cared about anyone's personhood, once they'd gotten that far.

It is Ezran's distaste for seeing people as pawns ("Bait's not for sale, he's my friend!" / saving the baby glow toads) — preferring to see himself, like his father, as a servant king — versus that being all Aaravos has seemingly done for centuries that makes me feel like Ezran is the personal perfect opponent to eventually triumph in the end.

And going forward into S4, we see a few more of their matches take place:

S4 Ezran as the decision maker (4x04, 4x06)

One of the things I was most excited going into S3 was that Ezran, who'd been decisive but largely passive in the first two seasons, was going to be forced to make some difficult decisions. I was extra pleased, then, when we see Ezran step even more into that leadership role in S4 and S5; no longer is he mostly going along with Callum and Rayla's plans. Often times he's the one ultimately setting things up or making said decisions when the group is together.

It's his idea to tackle things together, and help Zubeia after all, in 4x04 (though he looks to his brother to receive an encouraging nod) and to bring Rayla along when she expresses doubts.

It's his idea to go find the puzzle pieces and express those next steps.

It's even his idea to bring Zubeia to Katolis that helps free up the Storm Spire for Claudia, as she takes the dragons leaving "as a sign" (unintentionally on Ezran's behalf, of course). But if Ezran is the stealth opponent here and there to Aaravos' mini matches, this is also something has happened before and will likely happen again, thanks to

The Orphan Queen

Chaos and confusion erupted and war threatened to tear Xadia apart, as now the elves suspected that the dragons had killed their queen. But truth came from an unexpected source. A young human girl discovered a great secret of history. A dangerous deceiver was revealed.

The last time Aaravos' plans firmly fell to pieces, and what led to his imprisonment, was ultimately the Orphan Queen. I've talked more about her potential parallels to Ezran in my Mirrored Trio theory post (as well as Callum's potential parallels to the Jailer) so I won't repeat too much here, but is an option if you'd like to see more.

The important thing to note here, though, is that Ezran's arc will 1) probably parallel the Orphan Queen's in ultimately being part of Aaravos' permanent defeat and 2) perhaps being one of the first to recognize the full scope of Aaravos' plans. I'd love it in particular if in S6, while at Katolis, Ezran does research into his ancient royal ancestor and learns more about her. Too late maybe to pass on the relevant information to keep Callum and Rayla from disaster, but... I expect this:

I should have seen it before. Ha! Long ago, it was a human who saw through the Fallen Star's schemes and helped Xadia put an end to them. You look so much like her.

to come to fruition eventually, in S7 probably. Aaravos may win his chess game in S6, after all, but he will eventually lose.

Season five, of course, also offered more evidence aligned with this reading:

Season Five Set Up

In S5, we see Ezran continue to be the Retriever and finder of objects in ways that thus far no else has really achieved.

Claudia tries and fails to retrieve objects, mostly; Viren probably comes closest, and it'll be more of an aim for Callum and Rayla in S6, I still expect Ezran to ultimately pull ahead in future seasons.

He's also associated heavily with light in the TDP short stories in ways we've largely only seen given to Rayla in canon as well, highlighting another similarity between them, and placing Ezran in a similar position as Zym as the world's hope ("Look at them, playing together. That's hope. They're the ones that are going to break the cycle"):

Even the waning moonlight struggled to pierce its veil. Somewhere out there were his friends. His duty. His king. Two years before, when the world had seemed darkest, Soren began to imagine Ezran as a kindling flame, a bright little light holding back the abyss. When he’d named Corvus a Crownguard, he’d told him that the young king was not only Katolis’ hope, but all of Xadia’s, too. Soren had sworn to protect and tend that light. To nurture it. And in his darkest moments, that oath gave him a reason to feel strong again, a way to keep smiling.

Ezran also acknowledges outright in 5x01 exactly what Aaravos is doing and is the first in canon to use language that references Aaravos' game as a chess game with it, too:

The Archmage Aaravos is trying to escape his magical prison. His pawns are working, even as we speak, to find him and release him back into our world. We need to stop them. Can you please help us find his prison?

Ezran's Plans

In the latter half of s5, we also see the group routinely go with or accommodate Ezran's plans as well, even if they don't all necessarily agree. This is true in 5x05, in which we see Ezran reiterate that violence is a last resort:

E: If Akiyu made it, then she must know where it is. Then we can stop Viren and Claudia from releasing Aaravos. C: Or, hear me out [...] How bout we hitch a ride up there, borrow this Novablade, then we wait for Aaravos to get out, and just stab stab, buh-bye bad guy! E: Wait, slow down. Shouldn't that be the last resort? If we can stop Aaravos from getting out at all, we can solve this without any violence.

and in 5x06 with talking to Finnegrin and saving the Baitlings.

R: But he's not known for doing favours out of the goodness of his heart. E: It's not a favour. The fate of the world is at stake. I'm going to go talk to him. C: I'll go with Ezran while you and Soren try the docks.

5x09

That said, I think about this line from 5x09 when it comes to all of the above:

E: One step ahead is okay. Because Domina Profundis told me something they don't know: the secret of the prison.

We find out, of course, that this is the prison is a pearl in a clam's mouth... something that Soren seemingly knew on account of travelling with Ez, but that Rayla and Callum did not. This puts a target on Ezran's back in the confrontation scene — she primarily attacks and interrogates him ("You know, don't you? Tell me everything you know little king, or I'll squeeze it out of you!") — and Ezran nearly gives the game away to disaster, so it's, again, not like he's perfect.

It does however showcase yet another example of Ezran knowing something that other characters discover after the fact, and more rarely in TDP, that the audience discovers after the fact (compare this with how we know Harrow is dead well before the princes do, for example, or that Claudia and Viren are already up to no good in early S4).

I also don't think I have to spell out that Ezran knowing the Secret of the Prison — the very thing he set out to find in 4x05! — in seasons called the Mystery of Aaravos is noteworthy, either. While there are certainly more secrets to uncover — how, for example, the prison was built exactly; how was Aaravos trapped within it; how did two humans like the Jailer and the Orphan Queen get involved — I think those are firmly moving into Aaravos backstory territory alongside the rest of his mysteries (cube included) than just relating purely to the prison's construction, per se.

Ezran received the last pieces of the puzzle, and he carried it through to the end to what, technically speaking, should be checkmate.

I can't wait to see him do it again some day, successfully this time.

Values and Gift Giving Subversion

I've already said that Ezran primarily takes on Harrow's mantle in being the the clearest thematic opposite to Aaravos thus far. That doesn't mean Callum and Rayla don't have their oppositions and parallels to Aaravos as well (they absolutely do; Rayla is currently a pretty strong foil!) but again that Ezran is the certified Opponent.

A few final ways we see this manifest is in Ezran's values. We've already seen the ultimate difference in their views on personhood, but one of my favourite ways that heavily intersects it that Ezran loves all his friends for the exact reasons Aaravos berates them in 4x04.

Aaravos taunts Rayla over her seeming inability to kill, but Ezran is the first to tell Rayla that's unequivocally a good thing: "You do realize I'm an assassin who hasn't killed anyone?" "I think that's a good thing."

Soren is a failed son 'unloved' by his father, but Ezran reaffirms time and time again how much he loves Soren, and the two always have a kind word or look for each other ("I just don't want to fail you too" "Thanks Soren [...] You're the best crownguard a king could ask for").

In a season where Callum learns his path of magic may have gotten him in a world of trouble, Ezran reminds him of the positive effect magic has had on his life, even if it's difficult: "Lots of things are hard, Callum. Like magic. But you figured that out".

We also see that Aaravos is prone to false gifts and dangling carrots. He gave Ziard a staff that couldn't ultimately protect him. He gives Viren another month of life mostly to bait Claudia into helping him. He uses and discards; these people don't mean anything to him. Not anymore.

Ezran, meanwhile, is nothing but sincere, particularly in his presentation of his crown to Finnegrin and Rex Igneous ("It's not worthless, it's made of my father's sword" / "I wanted to carry that strength with me") while also recognizing the error in his thinking: "We've got it all wrong. We offered gifts that meant a lot to us, but the truth is, they don't mean anything to you." He then realizes what Rex Igneous truly needs, and it is successful; we see this again in how his speech in 4x03 helps heal Zubeia. Ezran sees emotional scars clearly, especially after 4x03, and he responds accordingly and sensitively to them most of the time. He knows what people truly need, and that's why he's a good gift giver.

Conclusion

In the final season I think it would be Neato if Ezran had to spearhead an army against Aaravos' forces and send his brother and friends in as generals and soldiers because he doesn't want to treat them like pawns, he loves them, but to beat Aaravos at his own game he has to do so (until maybe Callum can flip the board on its head, thematically, anyway). Thank you bye

[raayllum]

actually yeah I'm back on my Chessmaster Ezran bullshit because like

He's the one who called Zubeia away from the Storm Spire, thus unintentionally leaving Claudia a much better window during which to retrieve the staff and led to Ibis' murder

Ezran is ofc the one who discovered the egg in the first place and set into motion a ton of what happens in the series alongside Rayla (whereas Callum's discoveries/decisions take a little

"Soren began to imagine Ezran as a kindling flame, a bright little light holding back the abyss [...] the young king was not only Katolis' hope, but all of Xadia's, too."

He argues to focus on retrieving the prison rather than going for the Nova Blade, and in chess you constantly gotta prepare and pick your battles against said opponent

"His pawns are working to free him even as we speak."

Ezran having an honest version of Aaravos' ability to possess people through his bond with Zym and being able to see through Zym's eyes

The Orphan Queen being the one to unveil and ultimately kick off Aaravos' imprisonment with Ezran presumably stepping into her shoes

"I should have seen it before. Ha! Long ago, it was a human who saw through the Fallen Star’s schemes and helped Xadia put an end to them. You look so much like her."

Ezran repeatedly overcoming imprisonment and cheating death precisely because of the people who love him, whereas Aaravos symbolizes both of those things

Ezran having his own game motif of hide and seek and subsequently being the one to find where the prison was Hidden

"[About the key] It's a toy, a piece from a children's game." / "The whining child king, in over his head and he knows it."

[raayllum]

So Aaravos' parallels to Rayla is being a banished elf separated from her family; for Callum, it's being a mage who went too far likely out of desperation to save loved ones; and for Ezran, it's an inability to ultimately let go and relinquish your anger and hatred towards the people who have taken them from you.

[raayllum]

You'll feel it all around I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere But you can't catch me now

[raayllum]

me holding ezran's concern for his kingdom like "maybe i can help the world better from the throne," and "these are real people, bait" and "but katolis needs me" and "so many people are counting on me to do my duty" and "[my crown] isn't worthless, it's really important to me!" oh so gently in my hands