#especially choosing the egg/right thing over soren/rayla

[xiangtefi]

rayllum’s promises to each other is giving too much similarity of viren giving those commands to soren and claudia

[madou-dilou]

This is exactly why I love Viren but can't stand Ezran.

The world keeps bending so Viren can't be moral no matter what he does. And the world keeps bending so Ezran is right no matter what he does.

I would love to like Ezran. I love principled characters who are forced to break their values or who realise that their principles don't always bring good outcomes. And just like Ezran, I am priviledged and sheltered and I struggle to make friends. His empathy once confronted with horrible decisions, especially as he is trying to simultaneously grieve Harrow, fit in his shoes and putting aside his legacy, such as in the first half of season 3, is a delight to watch, and I love his hair.

But I just cant stand him for two reasons :

- The absence of consequences.

When he makes mistakes, such as abdicating in Viren's favour, we are given contradictory messages : he is a child so he makes mistakes (Opeli), but he is the bravest and wisest king Katolis has known in centuries (Corvus). Before the final battle, Ezran was characterized as a pacifist through and through : he finds the egg, he considers it as a person, he has the idea of returning the egg to its mother to end the war; and once he is king and forced to choose between horrible outcomes where many people die, he hates it, he is disgusted with himself and the very idea that there even is a winning side in a war. He gives up the throne hoping to save lives.

But when this decision leads to season 3 episode 8, to Ezran being told that all of these people have been transformed and that he has no choice but to kill them all... he doesn't argue. He doesn't bring up that these people may be detransformed, that they still have a family, that this kind of "necessary sacrifices" are exactly what brought up this whole situation, that Viren wouldn't have cast this spell on Soren if he didn't know how to reverse it, nothing. He just does it. It's completely out-of-character. And it's never brought up again. He doesn't hate himself for being forced to do it. No one reproaches anything to him. It has no consequences. On contrary, it's a victory through and through, a triumph of the good side over the evil side. So much for pacificism and the inherent value of all lives. -don't get me wrong, these soldiers had to be killed, but it's no reason to turn it into a joke like it has been in the show.

And Ezran continues to escape consequences as the show progresses. When the painting is torn, he gets away with a cute speech, and leaves to his fun adventure, while the absence of the king has been established in the previous seasons as a catastrophe, but this time it's not, somehow. When he stays behind to try to talk to Rex Igneus despite the Earth Archdragon being obviously in so state to hear him, he forces the group to stay with him and look for him even though the entire place is crumbling on them, it's a miracle they didn't all die. When he endangers the whole group again in order to save three tadpoles, which has all of them (Callum, Rayla, Soren) but him tortured, no one calls him out. He does not feel bad either. We just deal with the situation but no one holds him accountable, not even a reproaching glance, nothing. He just gets away with it.

- His accomodating principles, which affect the whole message of the show.

Ezran is characterized as an empathetic person. He has a hard time making friends but understands animals and is deeply forgiving. But the problem is that this empathy just stops sometimes. When he is forced to kill thousands, he somehow just does it without trying to argue. But when it's about saving three tadpoles, he endangers the whole party and the whole world with it. And both are framed as the right thing to do. The killing of all these humans is even framed as a triumph : blasting music, funny gags, Aanya's heroic cavalry charge saves the day, all the monsters are getting killed -so much for the inherent value of all lives or the "does it think, feel, have a family?". Idem when Ezran straight-up justifies everything Avizandum did, including killing their mom, right in front of Callum, Callum doesn't react as if it were a normal thing to say. Same with the Pyrrah situation, he rushes to help the poor creature who has just burned a village of his people, innocent human civilians, right in front of him.

What lesson are we supposed to learn here ?

That all lives are important except human lives ?

And since he never gets consequences, it feels like he has no flaws, that he doesn't need to grow, that the show completely agrees with his vision.

And I think it has to do with a certain vision of high fantasy and the representation of dragons, not just as fantastical creatures, but the very forces of nature itself. We humans have forgotten them -industrialisation and exploitation (not just of nature but each other, exactly the way Viren does with dark magic and his manipulative behaviour), vilified them -St George. We try to fight them, to win over them. So it's up to the heroes to realize that this is a false vision and that the real monsters are the humans who are unable to learn.

Problem is, that vision just does not align with the ... gritty fantasy (in the limits of the kids's boundaries) The Dragon Prince has started as. At the beginning, we were told that things were not that simple, and we were shown it as we followed the perspectives of both sides. It was dragons and elves and knights and mages but it could as well have been steam, gaslight, goggles and zepplins. It was a story about how bloody history is, about how prejudice is difficult to overcome, about how all lives are inherently valuable in themselves.

It just doesn't align with this vision of high fantasy that has the human responsible for everything that ever went wrong. As it it, Ezran never demands that Xadia aplogises. But Soren takes Pyrrha down because she was terrorizing the innocent, and she did end up killing innocents, but he is the one who somehow has to apologize to her, which means now he is part of the good guys who get to threaten civilians to be eaten by a dragon for contesting the king as all good guys do. It's so good to be one of the good guys.

Claudia talks of generational trauma but it's not like we can take her seriously after she spent two years alone between her dad's rotting corpse and Satan whispering in her ear, especially since she displays massive hypocrisy right afterwards.

When Ezran says "Everything Avizandum did was to protect Xadia", Callum doesn't even flinch while it includes the murder of their mother.

It's so unbalanced.

And it's because the story is not about prejudice and generational trauma, but actually about how humans are accountable for what has become of nature.

We are not meant to read "a desperate mage finds a way to save his starving people that has been oppressed for centuries." We are meant to read "the dark lord provokes global warming by killing the last member of an endangered species because humans are just unable to be reasonable. They are not satisfied with what they were given, so they take what doesn't belong to them, kill it and transform it into filth."

So yes, it is inherently evil to use organic dead matter, and three tadpoles are more valuable and worthy of screentime than hundreds of thousands of human lives.

Meanwhile, Rayla struggles with her dead family as she bears the burden of saving them, she struggles with being rejected by everyone she ever loved even though their ideology was wrong, and her self-destructive tendancies end up hurting the love of her life, Callum; and yet another dilemma is thrown upon her as her only way to save her family is that Callum agrees to do what terrifies him the most. Callum struggles with his temptation to use dark magic, even if it's to save people, even it's to save his friends, he is terrified to end up like Viren. Viren struggles as his entire world view was shattered, as he realises all the sacrifices he made only led to bad outcomes, and now he helplessly witnesses his daughter doing the same mistakes he did so he can live while all he wants is to just die. Claudia has been abandonned by her loved ones over and over again even though she did nothing to deserve it (her mom left, Callum and Ezran switched sides, Soren switches sides too, Viren dies twice, one killed and the other one by choice), so she is eventually willing to go to any lengths to get her family back, which leaves her to lose her sanity.

Ezran... is just there. He tells us he is angry but we are not shown it, it never has any impact, it never makes it to the screen. Aaravos states what should be his inner conflict when he shows up, but we don't actually see Ezran struggle at all. The only time he has had inner conflict since season three episode 5 is in a side story.

An excellent one, by the way. It's exactly what the show should be about instead of cute animals and demonstrating that using dead organic matter automatically changes you into a monster and justifies everything bad that ever happened to you. Ezran is confronted with how recent and ancient and still festering the wounds of the world are. He is confronted with his own grief, he realises he actually struggles to let go. He is confronted with the fact that he owes his throne to violence -his crown, which he had reforged from his dad's sword as a symbol of the war being over, still reeks of blood. And he hates it.

But it's a side story. Not the show.

In the show, Ezran is an empty shell.

So, no, Ezran doesn't need to grow up because The Dragon Prince is validating his vision through and through. He has no inner conflict since everything he does is either right or not his fault actually because he's just a child. He has no consequences because the story's vision is built around his. The events and messages bend around him.

So all he has left to do is to preach to the audience that it's not very nice to be mean.

Which is why he is insufferable.

got a meta slowly rotating in my mind about how every time Viren tries to be the person Harrow "once believed me to be" he fucks up hilariously badly

like his entire sequence of choices in the magma titan arc can be read as him trying to do what he thinks Harrow would (should?) want, but then Harrow keeps flipping the script on him, and that's just so sad and funny to me

[raayllum]

in tandem with the meta i’ve been developing for the past few days i mentioned here, as well as other metas i’ve written in the past, such as my recent-ish one about thunderfall almost a month ago, time to throw in two cents about the obvious:

tdp is a series that is primarily about how grief and trauma, fear, pain and death, transform us, and the choices the characters make in response to those things. this is true for nearly every named character we meet, with very few exceptions. it is especially relevant for the main cast (callum, rayla, ezran, claudia, soren, viren, harrow, etc.)

soren goes through trauma in 2x07, but it frees him from the grief he was staring right in the face; grieving the type of man he thought his father was (“you really believe that he’s a good person” -3x08), from the type of person soren thought he had to become, from the trauma he thought he was going to through, both experiencing and enacting, if he murdered the princes. 

but claudia cannot handle grieving who her brother was in face of who he’s becoming and the news about her father, so she goes spiralling out, and goes through an experience so intense it causes her body lasting physical trauma (white hair stripe) in order to reverse it. 

claudia is traumatized by losing her mother - “losing her is the hardest thing i’ve ever gone through” - to the point she is the one immobilized, emotionally, in 3x07: “don’t make me choose, not again.” this causes her to stay in an unhealthy dynamic with her father and to traumatize soren (and ezran) in 3x09.

there’s a reason that as claudia and soren become more emotionally impactful to TDP’s narrative, and receive more screentime, that their stories become more and more intertwined with the series’ overarching theme of Grief and Trauma. what else is the Cycle, after all, if not the perpetuation of those two themes - and even though the show is about Breaking the Cycle, that means the main theme of the show is still about how characters respond to the Cycle. it’s still about how they respond to trauma.

Every main character is traumatized or grieving, in some way or another. It is a fundamental reason about why they make the choices they do, good or bad, right or wrong, or both. It’s an overarching character motive. It’s the series’ overarching theme across the board. That’s the Point. 

the very concept of what it means to Grow Up is synonymous with facing and processing grief:

I wanted to talk to you about life, and growing up. And about how sometimes, they are changes you don’t expect. But when you grow up, sometimes, you have to face things you’re not ready for.

the kids agree to the illusionist plan because “we’ll lose everything” if they’re wrong and claudia and soren can’t be trusted. viren only goes and fully turns himself over to aaravos because he has “nothing left to lose.” claudia asserts that “we’re both alive, that’s the important thing.” callum unlocks the sky arcanum through finding love amid grief and fear, first by denying dark magic with help from his father, and then the sky arcanum from his mother’s form. if i talked about how callum, ezran, and rayla’s arcs all keep coming back to the idea of grief and trauma, i’d be here for hours. but just to name a few of many, many examples

furthermore: the episodes that touch on explicit grief or trauma in some manner or another as follows are:

1x01: Callum worrying over Harrow, blowing up at Ezran, which is the inciting incident in the boys’ lives

1x02: Callum and Harrow’s goodbye

1x03: Viren’s efforts to save Harrow; Rayla turning against Runaan, the boys choosing to leave even though they’re worried

1x05: Rayla carrying the burden of her family’s mistakes

1x06: Rayla being willing to “pay the price” and lose her hand in order to spare Ezran’s life; Callum and Rayla worrying about Ezran; Soren being asked to kill the boys, Claudia being asked to prioritize the egg

1x07: Callum’s talk with Ezran about their mother - “I was so scared. I thought I was going to lose you like we lost her.” and Ellis being motivated to go up the Cursed Caldera to save Ava’s life

1x09: The kids trying to save the egg’s life

2x02: self explanatory

2x03: self explanatory

2x04: “When I could do magic, I finally felt like myself. Now I’ve lost that. I’m just trying to find my way back.” 

2x05: self explanatory

2x06: self explanatory

2x07: Callum being so motivated by the potential grief of losing Rayla he does dark magic and ‘loses himself’; Soren being paralyzed

2x08: self explanatory

2x09: Rayla worries over losing Callum; the boys mourn Harrow; Ezran begins the process of grieving his childhood

3x01: Amaya risks her life, Gren thinks she’s dead and is horrified; Callum and Rayla worry over one another’s lives

3x02: Kasef is motivated by grief and fear; Ezran grieves his childhood and takes up the mantle of thing, despite not “being sure I’m ready for this” and refusing to give into the Cycle

3x03: Rayla and Soren lose everything

3x04: Rayla grieves the loss of her home and family

3x05: Soren chooses to betray his father and be a better crownguard because of how he lost Harrow and doesn’t want to lose Ezran

3x06: breaking the cycle is once again synonymous with letting yourself grieve / be afraid / feel hatred (aka respond to trauma), but not letting it consume you or dictate your actions in a negative way

3x07: the human soldiers choose to lose their humanity; Soren leaves Claudia; Janai mourns Khessa and she and Amaya have a moment about the loss

3x08: Rayla prepares to die in her parents’ stead and then finds out how they ‘died’; Soren’s aforementioned speech

3x09: the stabbing, Leap, and resurrection scenes are self explanatory

Episodes that (technically) don’t:

1x08

2x01

Grief is in more episodes of TDP than magic or spell casting is. TTM is almost entirely about responding to grief and trauma and the various ways those two things can stick to you. Characters make bad choices when they respond to their grief poorly, when they let it consume them: Harrow killing Thunder because of Sarai, even if it’s the last thing she would have wanted; Rayla leaves Callum in TTM because she’s so terrified of him dying, even though it’s the last thing he wants. Viren mourns Harrow, yes, but in his grief he orders Soren to kill his best friend’s sons and steals the king’s seal.

Characters make good choices when they don’t succumb to their grief and process it in ways that doesn’t hurt anyone else.

But the show, obviously, isn’t always as clear cut as that, because grief and trauma - experiencing those, responding to those things - are not always easy. They’re basically never easy! TDP’s characters are exceedingly multifaceted because they’re messy, and hold contradictory stances, sometimes. Claudia is sweet but uses Dark Magic; Rayla is selfless and selfish; Callum is very nurturing and can also be very insensitive; Ezran is the nicest kid but does have a temper when he gets pushed far enough; Soren isn’t the brightest, but he has a deep emotional core. They’re made to feel like real people, with flaws, quirks, and more.

That’s what makes the narratives they’re given - the motives and motifs, the symbols and sacrifices - and largely, how they respond to TDP’s main theme of Grief, so continuously compelling.

Because TDP posits that not only is tackling grief - the loss of your old self, your family, a parent, your home, etc. - necessary to growing up, it’s also necessary to learning how to heal, for both yourself and the people around you. That responding and processing your grief is a Responsibility, as well as a necessity. 

(TDP is also a series obsessed with Death - largely through dark magic and moonshadow society - and death seeking, but that’s a meta for another time). 

For now I will leave you on this note: TDP says that we can process and move on from our grief, and heal the rifts that exist within ourselves, if not also with others. As much as the series is about Grief and Loss, it is also very Hopeful that there is a way to do more than just grieve and Survive. That we can Grieve, and learn how to Live, afterwards, too.

[lumateranlibrarian]

Let’s talk about Claudia and Soren, because I’m pretty sure their conflict is going to be one of the biggest parts of The Dragon Prince’s endgame.

The Dragon Prince’s main recurring theme is breaking the cycle of revenge and hate, and how that duty falls on the newer generations when their predecessors failed to do so. This theme is so prevalent that we see the children of The Dragon Prince being placed over and over in chilling parallels to their parents.

Rayla’s parents were the last line of defense for the Dragon Prince’s egg, and yet they failed to protect it, running away or losing their lives (or so we’re led to believe); Rayla chose to be the last line of defense for Zym and Zubeia during the final battle. In her confrontation with the exact same man her parents faced, she was put in the same position, and was also willing to die to save Zym (and would have if Callum hadn’t pulled that spell out of his ass, but that’s beside the point).

Ezran sits on the throne of Katolis, and has to decide whether he’ll let a man driven by vengeance and fear tell him how to use his power. This man inevitably decides that dark magic will lead him to his goal. Like Harrow in his final days, Ezran chooses peace over conflict - and yet, for this choice, Ezran is ousted from his throne and placed in a prison he later escapes (unlike his father, unless you consider a birdcage, subsequently escaped, to be a prison too - oh, wait).

And then. Soren and Claudia.

Buckle up, ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon. Shit’s about to get real.

The scene where Soren snuck away from Viren’s army, leaving Claudia behind, was masterfully executed, and I’m still both delighted and heartbroken over it all. But to map out why it was so excruciating, we have to go back a few episodes. Specifically, the finale of Season 2.

In Breathe, Claudia apologizes to Ezran for her actions attempting to capture him. When Ezran admits that he knows about his father’s death, Claudia empathizes with him by explaining the circumstances of Viren and her mother’s separation.

CLAUDIA I know it’s not the same, but… when I was a kid, my mom and dad split up. I remember hearing them fight a lot at night after we went to bed. And then one day, they told us Mom was moving back to Del Bar, where her family was from. And then they said… we had to choose. And Soren chose Dad. How could I choose? How could I do that? Then my mom looked at my dad, and she told me to stay. She said that I had to stay with Soren, that this was my home, and my brother and I needed each other. And then she left.

EZRAN But how could she do that? Why would she leave you?

CLAUDIA I think she needed to leave for herself. To be happy… somehow. You might have noticed my dad is pretty intense.

EZRAN You must miss her.

CLAUDIA Losing her has been the hardest thing that’s ever happened to me.

EZRAN When you grow up, sometimes there are changes you don’t expect, and you have to face things you’re not ready for. Callum told me that.

CLAUDIA You are so lucky to have a brother like Callum.

EZRAN I know.

CLAUDIA And… I’m lucky to have my brother. Soren is a doof, but he’s my doof! I know he would do anything to protect me, and I would do anything for him.

Pretty upsetting, right? I can understand why a young Claudia would be so torn - after all, no child wants to make the choice between losing one parent or the other. And Claudia clearly recognizes that it was not abandonment, when her mother left - rather, it was her mother doing what was right for herself. Of course, Claudia didn’t come to this realization immediately, and says as much. It just took a long time for her to get there. Again, an understandable response.

Hold onto that! It’s a surprise tool that will help us later.

So, with this in mind, let’s proceed to Season 3, Episode 7, Hearts of Cinder.

Soren has seen some shit.

Where to even start? Viren told Soren all but explicitly to kill the crown prince and his brother. And when Soren and Claudia confronted Viren about this, Viren gaslighted the shit out of his son, to the point that even Claudia was convinced Soren had misunderstood their brilliant, intellectual father for the umpteenth time. This left a deeply upset Soren was wrestling with what he knew and what he was being told. Every time Soren tried to ask for more information, he was harshly rebuffed by Viren, or more gently brushed to the side by a (perhaps willfully) naive Claudia. He knows what Viren wanted him to do with Ezran, and this has been weighing on him for a while. When Ezran spared his and Claudia’s lives, and then was himself thrown in jail (a fucking ten year old boy cuffed in the same prison cell used to contain a treasonous archmage), Soren finally put his foot down and said, actually, fuck this.

And, before I get into the quotes once more, I’d like to point out: Soren isn’t actually stupid. He has his blatantly obtuse moments, yes, but he did come up with the plan (and muster the sheer audacity it took to pull it off) to get Ezran out of Katolis. That doesn’t happen by being an idiot.

Anyways, hold on to that. It’s a surprise tool that will help us later.

By the time Viren, with Aaravos’ help, manages to siphon the power of the Sun Elves’ city, Soren has seen enough. And when Viren straight-up assumes that Soren will be blindly willing to be the first transformed soldier - perhaps because he assumes Soren is too easily led to refuse - Soren says no. He says, I don’t want to do this. I’m scared.

You know how the rest of that scene goes.

Let’s get to the good stuff.

Soren flees, and Claudia goes after him.

CLAUDIA Soren. What’s going on? Where are you going?

SOREN I can’t stay here anymore, Claudia. You’ve seen what’s going on. What Dad turned Kasef into. What Dad turned into.

CLAUDIA Maybe he’s just doing what needs to be done.

SOREN Claudia, you’re changing, too. But it’s not too late. Come with me, Claudia. You can leave him!

CLAUDIA Please, Soren, don’t… don’t do this to me. Don’t make me choose. Not again!

SOREN Okay. Goodbye, Clauds.

CLAUDIA No! No! No, no no!

Do you see the parallels? Yes? No? All right, let’s go.

Both of these scenarios have arisen because of some sort of discord between Viren and his (I hope) loved one

Both loved ones (the children’s mother and Soren, respectively) decided that they could no longer stay with Viren, and had to leave.

Both loved ones gave the remaining family members a choice, to stay with Viren or come with them.

Claudia couldn’t decide, or Claudia wouldn’t decide, and this drove her to intense distress.

Hoping to spare Claudia pain, the leaving party told her to stay with Viren and Soren (or, just Viren), and Claudia had to watch someone she loved walk away.

The writers are bringing their A-game here, in case that hasn’t been made abundantly clear yet. There are a couple of reasonable assumptions we can make, going off these pretty blatant similarities:

Claudia and Soren’s mother was likely also upset about Viren’s growing reliance on dark magic. Or at least, that was a part of it.

Claudia and Soren’s mother returned to live with her family in another city, far away. This raises the possibility that Team Zym and associates are now Soren’s “family”, and like his mother, he’s not likely to go back.

Remember that first “surprise tool”? Claudia, while heartbroken now like she was then, may be able to forgive Soren for leaving her, as she came to understand her mother’s reasons for finalizing the divorce and moving away from the capital. Whether she does, and if doing so leads to reconciliation, however, remains to be seen…

This scene was beautifully executed, and kudos to the writers, animators, and voice actors for a superb character study. I am curious, though. Claudia has been closely paralleled with Viren, here. It’s possible that Soren has had several moments in the series so far where his actions and motivations mirror his mother’s, and we just don’t know about it because of how little we know of her.

But wait! We’re not done. I did say I think a final, major confrontation between Claudia and Soren is part of the endgame, right? Let’s dive into that.

Point: Claudia is either more powerful or more dangerously driven than Viren. Why do I say this, given all the crazy shit Viren’s done, especially under Aaravos’ counsel? Because Claudia brought Viren back from the dead. She has done what Viren either never could, or never dared to do. If Viren had been able or willing, he would have saved Sarai.

(If that’s not true… if he chose not to save Sarai, in favor of collecting her last breath in order to make a cursed weapon that could bring down Thunder… well, any shred of redeemability Viren had is now gone in my mind. Because how do you look your friend, a grieving husband, father, and king in the eye when you hold his wife’s last breath in your hands and say, “This is all I was able to save,” when it’s a lie?)

Point: Viren failed Aaravos. Viren failed Aaravos, but Claudia has managed to perform what is, as far as we know, the impossible. From the split second glimpse we have of her face immediately after Viren is revived, it seems like she just cast the spell - her eyes are pure black, but quickly fade to their original color, much as they did when Claudia restored Soren’s ability to walk using life force siphoned from a pair of deer. We also know that Aaravos has been spinning himself a new form over the two days before Viren was revived - it’s possible that Aaravos doesn’t yet know what Claudia has accomplished. What will Aaravos do, I wonder, when he learns about the impossible prodigy he has access to? It’s implied that Claudia still doesn’t know about Aaravos speaking through the caterpillar, but that hardly matters to a master manipulator like Aaravos. When you want to conquer Xadia, do you want a broken, old pawn, or a young and innovative replacement instead?

Point: Soren is not stupid. He’s not booksmart, obviously. But he’s got a keen eye for strategy. How do I know? Because he made Captain of the Crownsguard at the age of 18. Because it took him all of two seconds to see a dragon brought down by ballista during the battle to realize that the only way to give the dragons a fighting chance was to keep them in the air. Because he planned - no, he masterminded - Ezran’s escape from the dungeons and subsequent journey across Xadia to get to Zym before Viren. And because he timed it just right, Viren has no idea Ezran has escaped until the final battle - if he even knows at all, given that the only interaction we see is between them after Ezran’s escape is on the battlefield, with Ezran and the illusion Viren created by Claudia.

Point: The Illusion Viren.

This frame was the one that, of the entire season, truly stole my breath away.

Viren (well, illusion Viren, but that’s not the point of this frame) is the dividing factor between Claudia and Soren, and he has caused this rift between them due to his intent towards Ezran. Soren’s compassion and duty towards Ezran has allowed him to see the truth of Viren’s actions, whereas Claudia’s compassion for Ezran has blinded her to the fact that her own father could act so horribly to him.

And, if you’ll indulge me for just a minute, I have to wonder - why was this the ploy Claudia chose to use, to distract Soren and Ezran from the threat at the top of the Storm Spire? She has adamantly been opposed to the idea that Viren would ever orchestrate Ezran’s death, including several clear warning signs and Soren’s testimony. So why did she use this illusion - of Viren going after Ezran, clearly trying to kill him - against Soren, when his resolve to protect Ezran from Viren is what led him to the Storm Spire in the first place? Claudia is horrified when Soren demonstrates that he is willing to kill his own father to protect Ezran (who is, by the way, still a ten-year-old boy, king or not). But isn’t this what Soren has been saying all along? That Viren has been telling him to kill Ezran, and that Viren is wrong, and Soren believed this so much that he chose to leave rather than continue gong along with Viren’s plans? So, whose resolve is Claudia really testing here - Soren’s? Or her own?

I think it’s the latter, honestly. But back to our regularly-scheduled programming. Where was I?

Ah, yes.

Endgame.

So what do we know? Claudia is quite possibly the most powerful dark mage in the world. She’s chosen to continue aligning herself with Viren and Viren alone. Soren is a strategist driven by duty, and is surrounded by other warriors of similar mind and similar or even better skill. Unless a new threat emerges beyond the alliance of Viren and Aaravos (which isn’t impossible, of course), the two siblings are in direct opposition to one another. Claudia must live with the fact that her brother was willing to kill their father, and has left her to pick up the pieces. Soren must live with the fact that he was willing to kill their father, and that Claudia’s manipulation is what drove him to it.

The two of them have also, believe it or not, grown up with vastly different influences during their formative years. Differences in treatment from Viren aside, there’s an implication that Claudia and Soren have been on separate paths for a long time. Claudia is clearly Viren’s favorite - he has actual conversations with her, listens to her questions and attempts to answer them (whether the answers or truthful or not is another issue). Meanwhile, Viren puts very little effort into understanding Soren. Likely, he believes he already does, as Soren isn’t, shall we say, the most complicated of individuals. So, Claudia gets private tutoring under her father, and academic and intellectual training that Viren can relate to and challenge and encourage. Meanwhile, Soren, the family jock, goes into the castle guard. It’s not clear what all this would entail, but I imagine he trained with other recruits for a time in his own age group, reported to a commander or other superior officer, and probably received some sort of advanced training when it became clear he was a prodigy in his own right - after all, it’s not your average eighteen-year-old who is placed in charge of the security of a monarch. To sum up, Claudia was favored and likely spoiled to some degree by her father, whereas Soren excelled in military boot camp, which requires recruits to learn how to carry their own weight and take responsibility for protecting others in a very different sense than Viren’s supposed dedication to the realm.

Narratively speaking, despite first impressions, Claudia is the sibling with more cards stacked against her. She is falling faster and faster towards the point of no return with dark magic, whereas Soren has fought for every inch of his venture into the light. I’m anticipating larger confrontation between the two siblings than what we have seen so far. My heart breaks for both of them, but when I think of how future generations of humans and elves will tell the story of the Dragon Prince, these tragic siblings will fill one of the most resonant threads of the epic.

Ezran rode into the throne room that was his by birthright on the back of a massive, black-furred beast whom he charmed into loyalty. Rayla tackled a madman off of the highest peak in Xadia, and Callum dove selflessly after her. Claudia raised her father from the dead. Soren crossed miles of hostile territory in a single night to warn the Dragon Prince of a coming army.

There is a story being told here. Sometimes, history repeats, and sometimes, it rhymes. Cycles are meant to be broken, but only time will tell how Claudia and Soren handle the one they’re trapped in.

Can I just say, though?

Claudia is going to make one hell of an epic villain.

Bring it on.

[lily-lilou]

My understanding and analysis of the magical system in The Dragon Prince.  Part 1 - my first thoughts on it - primal and dark magic aren’t the only kind of magic.

Ok, I promised to several people I would post this today so there it is! (@beautifulterriblequeen​, @kotikala​, I’m sorry I don’t have all the account... Julia, mama and the others ;_;) 

It’s long (so I separated it in two post... but it will be long anyway, especially the second one. So I wish you a lot of courage to go through this until the end...) but it’s because it’s the result of some month of searching and digging. It’s still not complete, however. But if you have some time to lose and in love with this world, maybe this theory (and I insist, it’s a theory, maybe I’m totally wrong) will interest you:

Anyway, let’s just begin! 

You can see the magical system in TDP like a diamond with several facets: we saw some of them, and some of us dug to find more.

For me, this theory _ the idea that the magical system in TDP is wider than what we saw_ started from a simple thing in Callum’s spellsbook, the “secret” we can find in the ASL section, the one Sarai repeated when she was alive.

My first reaction was “greeeeaaat! Another show where “love is magic. Yaay! =_=’”

Okay, "love" is an important theme on the dragon prince, yes. But magic ?

But let’s be honest: I don't think they would have placed something like this in the book for nothing. After all, we have to admit that, in this show, NOTHiNG is ever done simply. So maybe this time “love is magic” would be more elaborate than usual?

We do know that the first thing the creators talked about when they started to imagine this world, was the magical system. Not the characters, not the creatures or landscape or anything, but the magical system.

And what do we have so far? Primal magic and dark magic. Is it really that simple? I had to think it through!

1. My first thoughts about dark magic:

Thinking about this above led me to think about dark magic, about how it's "wrong", like Callum said. That point have already been discussed by many of us and a lot disagree, it's too easy to classified it as "wrong" like it’s stated in the show, because the reason you had to use it can be understandable.

Only... the creator of the show have NEVER chose easy/simple road in writing. So why just put dark magic as "wrong" without explanations? Maybe there's something more here too?

I understood dark magic as bad, not for the reason, but for the concept, about what it represents: it's taking (life, will) without asking. It's stealing, it's killing, no matter your excuse. You can invoke righteousness, justice, revenge, self-defence, strengh, power and all, the result is always the same: death. And as you kill to achieve your goal, you pay a heavy price. It staint you, it... "take" something for you (like it was implied in several interview and even in the book, but we’ll talk about this later). (ok, nothing new, here)

But you must have noticed this: those aren't only related to dark magic. It's darkness and everyone can do it. Sol Regem did it, Runaan did it, Harrow did it. They chose to kill and they tainted themselves too, even if it's not in the way pure dark magic does.

So you have the "dark" side with death and all, and opposed to this, the "white" one. Life, forgiveness. love. And all the people have to choose between those white and black sides, between life and death. Only the area they moved in to make their choices is grey. It's the result who, in the end, is more black or white than grey _ but sometimes still a little grey_.

 So, it’s absolutely interesting (hehe… hem^^’) but these thoughts are the ground of the theories and analysis that will now follow in this post and the next one!!!!

 2. The “reward theory”

As said by Sarai in the image below : "love is magic".

 My first question then, was: “…But what is “magic”?” Not Primal magic or Dark magic. Just… Magic. My first thought was: magic is life. Or at least, it should be. Remember the human land deprived of magic who was dying? And look at Primal magic, it’s all life-related at some point. So, yeah, Magic is life!

And so, if magic is life and love is magic, doesn’t this mean that love is life, too?

If that's true, then maybe the opposite is true too? Hate is death.

Why not, after all?! If magic is love, and life… how could dark magic, who's litterally death, came from the same source? How could dark magic… be Magic at all if they’re opposite to each other?

And more importantly : where is this "magical love" in the magic system here ? It's not primal magic, it's not dark magic, but it is magic.

From that point, I assumed Magic is wider than Humans and Xadians (and us, humble fans, obviously) know. It's probably something more... powerful, a more primal form of magic. More subtle but powerful.

Why subtle?

This is the first thing I noticed in the show, the impressive succession of miracles, of “what if” who went just right. “What if Callum left to go to Rayla just one minute later at the storm spire?”, “What if Ethari didn’t saw Rayla in the reflection?”, “what if Viren hadn’t captured Lain and Tiadrin, letting no traces behind so people wouldn’t misinterpret what happened?”, “What if Marcos hadn’t been here?”, “what if Runaan had send someone else to kill him?”, what if…

It gave me the impression that there’s something more. Is it Destiny? Is it something else? Someone? Anything?

But that’s the first layer. There’s another one:

In this show, it's as if every action who implied a choice about doing the right thing, about choosing life over death, love over hate or the opposite, is somehow... repaid? Rewarded?

By... Magic itself? Destiny again? Fate? the world? Some unknown entity? by Magic who is an entity? Why not? “If magic is life, if she brings life to everything, how could she not be alive?”... or something like that. Anyway!

Maybe it’s this, or maybe you’re rewarded by the side you choose?

 In both case, when you chose life or love, then you will live. You chose death or hate, then you will die. (I am putting thing in an extreme way, I know... ^^)

In other words, when you choose life/love or death/hate, your act is related to magic. but not the magic we saw until now. It's something else. Just like Dark magic is not Primal magic.

 So okay, that’s nice once again, but what could prove it? 

Well, just take a look at this:

You use dark magic, it stains you. It "takes" something from you, empties you as if the world itself can't allow you to make others beeing to pay for the choice you made. 

 Why not? but that's general, let's see more concrete exemples (and my headcanon interpretations) when our characters did the "right" or "wrong" thing:

Zym's egg falls in the frozen lake and Ezran risks his life to save him => Ez (can already talk to animals, yes) got an unusual, powerful bond with our little dragon, so strong the little dragon do the exact same things as him while sleeping, so strong he can see through his eyes and talk with him even when they're separated. As if his self-sacrificing act had been rewarded: you choose to risk your life to save him ? then you two will be linked even strongly than before.

Rayla spares Marcos => our lad is the first one to rebel against Viren, act who instill courage in others who follow him. Marco became a part to the rebellion and was one of those who rallied Duren's forces (I guess) : you spare an innocent even if he was your enemy? Then he will become your ally.

Callum breaks his primal stone to save Zym and, by this, accepts the idea of returning to a "I'm nobody" state. Then he uses dark magic but choose to completely reject it and end up with the sky arcanum. You sacrifice your magic, who was important to you to save a life (and the world btw) ? then you made the choice to use a magic meant to kill but in the end decided to not go on that path ? then you will retrieve what you sacrificed in the first place, in an even stronger way.

Amaya save Janai when she could have killed her, her enemy, Janai end up fighting with her. 

Same for Janai, she saved, even trusted Amaya. 

In a general way: children, you fought for peace ? you let go of your grudge, your grief and all of your biased jugments ? then peace you'll have (more or less, we know not everyone want peace)

Ezran chose to forgive Soren and Claudia. Soren end up saving him in return and turning to his side. As for Claudia, I'll talk about her in a while.

Callum jump after Rayla to save her, it's love who made him mastered the spell to save them both. You're ready to sacrifice yourself for her? then you will both be saved.

Rayla tackle Viren from the peak of the storm spire. She doesn't search “death”, she's trying to save Zym. She's ready to lose her life to save him. out of righteousness, out of love. Then she get saved by Callum.

 Now what about the "dark side" we call the “narrative of strength”?

Avizandum killed many people, especially Sarai who had a pure heart. He got killed by Harrow.

Harrow chose hate and death by killing him, he got killed by Runaan.

Runaan is the most interesting one so far: he had a choice to make too. Two choices.  He could have backed up but chose to kill Harrow anyway and so chose “death”. However, even if we’re still not absolutely sure he decided to spare Ezran, he did chose (we know this from the team at Wonderstorm now, so it’s canon) to spare Rayla despite what law and duty said. Killing her was never in his agenda. So Runaan had to choose between life and death, he chose both and ended... between both, literally! "the irony is wonderful"…

Kesha, with all her arrogance (who was so predictable) and her hate toward humanity got killed in a not so soft way.

Viren... I think his many "rewards" have already started. When he chose to kill the magma titan, Sarai (they were friends, it's canon) got killed and Amaya hates him for this (it's canon to, thedragonprince official on tumblr mentionned it once). He lost 2 friends on that day. When he chose to kill Avizandum, he lost his other friend, Harrow. Here in a most terrible way and I will, once again, talk about this later. He inflicted a terrible spell to Rayla's parents but this turned against him. If not for them completely vanished, no one would have thought they had ran away, Rayla _ the only moonshadow elf who had her heart in the right place_ wouldn't have to go to this mission to clear her name. No other assassin would have spared Marcos, or listen to callum, no other assassin would have followed Ezran, found the egg and chose to "make things right" including the humans. Runaan proved it. And I'm not finished with Viren. He lost his son, he will lose is daughter and he's currently in the grasp of a powerful being who's obviously toying with him and he don't even know it. And he's so blind he can't even see it.

Edit: kinda forgot about Sol Regem who torched down a city of hundred of thousand people, who got rewarded by being blinded, losing his throne and being hated and feared by everyone. 1200years later, when he could have change he didn’t. So okay Callum used dark magic. But that wasn’t a reason to kill Zym. Reward? Lux Aurea, the city who had been built to honor him (according to Callum spellsbook) fall, a lot of Sunfire elves seems to have died and, if we believe the summary of the tabletop game, it’s pretty ugly... a city for a city? Maybe.

Claudia is also very interesting, in between love and hate, death and light. Here’s an excerpt from an interview I found:

As for Claudia, she really seems to have committed to this dark path now. Is there any hope for her in the future? Richmond: Yes! There’s totally hope. Ehasz: But it might get worse before it gets better. [...] Ehasz: Claudia is, ahh… Richmond: She’s super complicated. She’s a fascinating character. There’s a long way to go with Claudia, she’s super exciting. Ehasz: But she’s not about power! She’s about **love**. I mean, that’s one thing that’s interesting about her. She’s on a very dark path, but her core motivation is love, and I think that’s going to be very interesting.

She really is the best character to represent that grey area. And if this first part of my theory, about "rewards" is true, it could truly end up good for her. When she had to choose between Soren and Zym, she chose her brother. She chose her father over Soren (I'm talking about the scene in the dungeon, not after Kazef's transformation) not out of malice but out of fear. She loves her family and deceived herself because she's not strong enough to see the truth. I really think she will do the right choice when she will finally see her father for what he truly is (as Richmond said : "there's totally hope").

  3. That’s nice and interesting, Lily… but this looks like “destiny” at worst. Is there really another kind of magic than dark magic and primal magic?

If the creators really put so much thoughts and efforts in creating the magical system, it’s really likely this way. But what would be the point in telling how it works right away? We do have to discover it with the characters themselves.

However, the existence of another kind of magic, something deeper, has been implied several time.

We have clues:

Like here (8:29min and especially 9:00min if the link doesn't work correctly), where Aaron Ehasz talked about an earlier and less differenciated kind of magic.

Or like what happened to Ezran in the ice-lake. In the novel, we have an interesting description form his POV, something magical happened (I’ll come back to this in a later part)

And that new or maybe forgotten kind of magic will, maybe… be the magic that will be used to free our dear moonshadow elves from the coins? Because we have some clues :

Question: [...] Runaan got turned into a coin [...] Can they be restored to their original forms?

Ehasz: “My gut is, it seems like the kind of thing that would require incredible and powerful magic to reverse. [...] We do not answer that question in Season Three. I’m telling you, it would take incredible magic and probably dark magic to reverse it, but I don’t know [if that’s going to happen]. 

(I promise, that last point isn’t here for nothing :3)

Okay, this post is over. The next one will be about the magical system in itself and that “other magic” implied here, about what I found in the show about it.

[pokeblader3]

TDP Meta: rewriting some flaws and missed opportunities

(I won't be talking about anything related to a. Viren, b. Dark Magic, or c. the history of Elven supremacy and oppression and the show’s wack conception of morality sometimes) because those are a can of worms larger than the scope of this small rewrite, and also we don't know how the show will portray them fully in the future.

I would say that in Books 1-3, Claudia and Rayla are the best written characters, with Soren having a good arc muddied by a few poor writing decisions, and Callum and Ezran being rather bland and uninteresting(and also having a few poor writing moments).

-Claudia is the golden child of Viren, and was raised almost as a pawn to him, with her having an unhealthy view of family coming before all else, including morality, and when her family is threatened, she does horrible things in order to keep it together. 

-Rayla was groomed to be an assassin, something she just didn't have the heart to do, and spent her life internalizing shame from her parents being deserters and her own inability to be a good assassin to her adoptive father, and how she "failed" her mission and was ghosted by even Ethari. She puts on a facade of aggressiveness and being hot-tempered to distance herself from being emotionally open(which assassins can't be), and when that mask comes off with Callum we see just how little she thinks of herself. 

-Soren was the one Viren took out his anger on, yet Soren always wanted to prove himself to him and get his approval like Claudia did. He eventually sees that Viren is gaslighting and manipulating everyone, and doesn't let Claudia stop him from leaving Viren before their final battle. 

-Callum and Ezran are... interesting, but they don't have real apparent flaws or weaknesses to their character like the others do. They have some good moments and strong characterization, but aren’t as interesting as the others in my opinion.

1. Callum's arc

Callum has a fairly generic arc about bravery and learning magic, but he also has an important character trait in valuing his family and trying to be a good older brother for Ezran.

Callum is someone who was(or should have been) greatly effected by the conflicts between Katolis and Xadia. He never knew his birth father, lost his mother at a young age, and lived with a distant but loving relationship to his step-dad and his younger brother, his only family left, only to see his home attacked in an attack that killed his father and intended to kill Ezran and him as well.

He should have been allowed to make mistakes or hold flawed beliefs, such as expressing anger or grief to Xadians for being involved in the killing of his parents(especially since he's traveling with the daughter of his parent's killer), but this is only ever addressed in one near throwaway line when he sees Avizandum's statue in Xadia.

It would also have made sense for Callum to be overprotective of Ezran, and stop at nothing to make sure that he won't lose his only family left.

For example, in Book 1 when the egg falls into the lake, it's uncharacteristic that Callum let's Ezran, his tiny 10 year old brother, dive into a frozen lake when he could have done it instead(especially given he's likely still emotionally turbulent and on-edge from having just watched his family get attacked and living on the run). In a rewrite, Callum should be unable to dive into the lake for some reason, but also freak out when Ezran says he’ll dive into the frozen lake, because he doesn’t want to lose him. When Ezran does go into the lake and isn't heard from for a few seconds, Callum would begin to freak out thinking his brother might be in danger and he just let him do it.

Come Book 2, when Callum decides to trust Ezran to return home alone, this decision would hold a lot more weight, as it's a change Callum went through as he overcame a flaw he developed from his past. Also in Book 2, this would add a deeper context to Callum's talk with Ezran about how life sometimes hits you hard unexpectedly, since he is older than Ezran and would be speaking with the experience of someone who's dealt with the war for longer than Ezran, and want to shelter and guide him through growing up in such a tumultuous time.

It makes sense that Book 3 would be about Rayla in Xadia, but there should have been at least a few scenes about how Callum is doing now that Ezran is gone and he truly is alone, far away from family and home. As is, Callum doesn't really have an arc outside of Rayla in Book 3. Callum should have been allowed to hold grievances or react "wrongly" to his parents being killed by Xadians, especially when visiting Avizandum's lair, meeting Zubeia(the one who ordered the hit on his father), and the home of the Moonshadow elves that killed his father. 

2. Soren's arc

Soren's character and arc is complicated and built on a moral dilemma: he is told by his father(who we later learn is abusive) to kill Callum and Ezran, for his father's own personal gain. The problem is that the most important parts of this arc, his debating over and “attempting” to kill Ezran, are completely played as a joke. Because of this, we never get to see how he could have convinced himself that murdering children(who are also his friends) could be justified by himself, because that is not something any normal good-hearted person would even “haphazardly” try, and a considerable amount of his arc falls flat because they made a joke out of what should have been a key character moment.

To a lesser extent, Viren isn’t shown as abusive to Soren until Book 3, which makes his actions and why he’s so on board with killing children confusing and not make sense until we learn how he was gaslit and manipulated by Viren an entire season later, with little to no foreshadowing in the 2 seasons beforehand.

3. Ezran, Zubeia and the ending to Book 3

Ezran's arc is about the burden of ruling and navigating conflict with pacifism. Ezran believes that every death in a war, even if fighting for the wrong side, is still a father, son, lover, family member, etc., who just had their life taken from them. But then by the end, the entire army the protagonists fight against are dehumanized and turned into literal monsters, with it being portrayed as heroic when they kill thousands of them. The show also treats Kasef as a generic bad guy needing to be killed, instead of a tragic figure who chose poorly when his family was killed and his country was threatened(like, say, Claudia and Harrow are).

And now, for the worst part of Book 3: Zubeia. Zubeia is a huge sour note to end what's otherwise an amazing season on.

She ordered the hit against Harrow. She tried to kill the royal family of Katolis, after her husband killed Ezran and Callum's mom. She is over 1000 years old and was the regent of Xadia for the last 300 years along with her husband, and the two of them no doubt committed horrible acts against the humans. It is a complete asspull that she gave a "humans and elves? together :0? how beautiful :0:0:0" speech at the end of the season, and on a larger scale, how fast elf-human relationships instantly heal. Amaya's sister was killed by Zubeia's husband. Zubeia ordered her niece and nephew to be killed. Ezran and Callum were staring at the dragon who ordered their parents(and THEM) to be killed, and then was acting like humans and elves together was the most beautiful thing in the world. Amaya and Janai getting together also should have happened in Season 4, Katolis and the Sunfire Elves were at war literally a day prior, and Amaya was being kept as a prisoner by Janai and put through a torturous pain by her sister a week ago, and all that time she was worried about whether or not her niece and nephew were alive and the war that was going on they were embroiled in. Janaya and Rayllum are my favorite ships but they could have been handled better.

And now for the massive missed opportunity that would have also solved that issue above: Zubeia should have died(aka, what I thought was happening before the final scene when she suddenly recovered). It's thematically consistent with how the other 3 families of main characters experience a tragedy because of the Human-Xadian war, lose their parents at the hands of other families' parents, and have to work past it and choose forgiveness over vengeance. It would have given Zym and the Xadians a more tenuous relationship with the humans since Zym lost his mother to the war, and provide drama for Books 4 and 5, and it would also have shown how sometimes, relations between groups are not easy to heal, and history is not easy to right.

[wildselkie]

Top 10 Scenes in TDP Season 2 (pt. 2/3)

*chronological order*

_________________________________________

1) Lujaane and Callum Ep. 1

I'm cheating again but,, mmm whatever

The first scene here we get to learn more about the history of moonshadow elves. The moon nexus, a historical place that was a big part in moonshadow society/history. And we'll get to see what goes down there in the graphic novel!

And a few minutes later we learn about arcanums. Lujaane is telling Callum that humans can't do magic; they aren't born connected to an arcanum. But Callum knows that being a mage is his destiny and is pretty adamant about it.

I can't really explain it, but these scenes really opened the world of elven history and magic. It's also interesting to see the viewpoints of different generations (not including the fact that Lujaane is an elf). Lujaane, our hippie grandma elf, is instilled with the beliefs that humans can't do magic. They're really not special... at least in the ways that elves and dragons are. And there's Callum who will not take accept that. Lujaane doesn't judge him (at least not very much) for wanting this. She's tame throughout this whole thing, but then again, she didn't hesitate to help Ava a few years ago.

2) Soren trying to kill ezran Ep. 2

This was tough cos there’s a lot happening in this episode. But I finally settled on Soren trying to and justifying his attempt to kill Ez. Leading up to this, Soren is talking to himself and struggling with his morals. 

“You can’t hurt a kid, Soren. He’s just a kid.

On the other hand, if there’s an accident because he’s doing something dangerous and stupid, well... that’s on him.”

We see him battling his conscience all the while trying to not disappoint his dad. And this screen cap has the splint (?) in the focus whereas Soren and Ez get blurred out. This isn’t the first time the show has done this, but it’s definitely no mistake. Each scene and camera placement is done for a reason. But this scene it to focus on what Soren plans on doing to make it look like an accident, so he can just claim it as an accident and clears his conscience of being a murderer. 

3) Callum learns about Harrow’s fate and tries to tell Ez Ep. 3

I think this one is an obvious one. Callum has learned that Harrow is dead and is now put in the position of breaking the news to Ez. Of course he finds it difficult to do. The part where they’re walking down the pathway and Callum is using the same speech Harrow gave him just makes me- ;-;;;

4) Claudia at the end of episode 3 

Now I’d like to say that I don’t believe that Claudia (and Soren) are bad people. Claudia has a good heart but I think she’s misguided. Because her mission was to bring the egg back she was going to do everything in her power to make sure she did. In this scene, Claudia left dark magic as the last resort but thankfully the group got away. I just thought this scene really showed what she’s capable of when it come to dark magic. 

5) This screencap right here is all I need Ep. 4

Seriously tho.. I have a hard time choosing a scene. A lot of shit goes down in this season. But for the sake of it I’ll be going with the famous scene that birthed Rayllum: The Rain & Thunder Scene OOoooo)000

I love this scene. Almost as much as I love the screenshot of Zym sliding wall to wall. But it’s a beautiful scene and I don’t know how to put it.. This scene really emphasized their closeness as friends. That’s all I have to say about that cos it’s just beautiful. 

6) Queen Aanya roasting the shit out of Viren Ep. 5

That is all. :))

7) Callum reads Harrow’s letter Ep. 6

Alright this one’s sweet. Callum gets the time to read the letter from Harrow. It gives him advice about what lies ahead. A lie, a wish, and a secret. It’s very telling how much Harrow loved Callum and how much he respected him as a person. It’s just.. a real tear jerker and it hurts ;-;

8) Callum uses dark magic to save Pirah Ep. 7

Callum knows dark magic is bad and terrible, but he also understands how important it was for Rayla to save the dragon. He takes that risk not only for Rayla but also his way to make a stand for himself. Without the primal stone, Callum goes back to being a regular no-magic human and this isn’t something he’s going to accept. Without it he can’t stand against the armed soldiers guarding the dragon, but by using dark magic he could. These were risks he was willing to take no matter how dangerous or even if it goes against his morals.

9) Claudia chooses Soren over Zym Ep. 7 - 8

THIS IS ANOTHER CHEAT suck it

So Claudia goes against her dad’s orders and chooses her brother. Clearly family is a very important thing to Claudia and she would do anything for them even if it meant harming others or doing things that are considered immoral. She look back and forth to Zym and Soren but it doesn’t take her long to run over to Soren. 

And when Soren is permanently paralyzed, she goes off to find a solution. Said solution is to find an animal that is young and agile- the deer- and you its life force to fix Soren. This really shows how far Claudia would go to keep her family. It’s sweet but also sad, especially when we learn about her mother leaving when she was young. 

10) Callum’s nightmare Ep. 8

Okay I’m gonna pair this with episode 9. Yes, another cheat what a shock. Anyway, Callum falls into a sorta deep sleep as a result from dark magic. He’s running a high fever and the area around his eyes have darkened. 

It’s really just him battling his conscience, and trying to choose the ‘right’ path. Y’know, it really is the epitome of a lucid.. nightmare-ish dream. But in the end he wakes up, having learned what it means to be a connected to an arcanum; meaning that he’s made a connection with the sky arcanum. 

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Extra:

Claudia being all cute and fluffy when she sees Zym for the first time

Viren finally gets to see what’s so special about the mirror... or at least he gets to see the man in the mirror (literally). 

Villads and Berto being one of the best duos (imo) in the series. Despite being fully blind, Villads is a fully capable captain with a helpful little parrot. 

Callum tries to forge a connection by climbing up to the top of a lighthouse with Zym during a thunder storm. He wants it so badly but he also realizes it’s kinda dumb to almost kill yourself over it (when he almost touches the metal pole). 

Janai and Amaya’s fight. It’s hilarious with them baiting each other. They’re just fun to watch when they’re together. 

[sage-nebula]

The Dragon Prince = 1x01 “Echoes of Thunder”

I’ve decided to rewatch the first season of The Dragon Prince in lead up to the second, watching one episode per day until it’s time to start season two. I’m a bit behind since technically it’s Thursday morning, but it’s only been Thursday morning for two hours, so I think I can still get away with it.

Thoughts, observations, and analyses beneath the cut.

--- Let’s just get this out of the way right now: Dark magic is horrible, loathsome, evil, and completely unnecessary.

I’ve seen quite a bit of discourse over the story we’re presented with in the opening narration, mostly because so many people seem to empathize totally with the humans and view the elves and dragons (because yes, it was the elves and the dragons) banishing humans from Xadia to be unforgivable. While I agree that banishing all the humans as they did was wrong (there’s a reason why that scene was meant to invoke the image of the Trail of Tears according the creators), I can still understand why they chose to do what they did.

The thing is, as I said before, there is no excuse for dark magic, it is completely unnecessary. I’ve seen some people say that it was necessary because humans are unable to use magic naturally, but here’s the thing: humans don’t NEED to use magic. Claiming that their inability to use magic is a “disability” is a complete fallacy. A disability is something that limits a person’s physical or mental capabilities. Not being able to use magic does neither. As we see, Claudia uses dark magic for everything from lighting candles to making pancakes. She could do both things without the use of dark magic (and therefore without killing magical creatures), but she chooses not to. Why? Because dark magic is convenient. Because it’s fun. And we know that Claudia is not alone in this. According to the website, humans POACHED magical beings to use for dark magic. As we know from real life, poaching can and often does lead to extinction of different species. And what then, hm? What happens then? When one species dies off, human poaches would move on to the next, and the next, and the next. If you think that they would stop at only those creatures that don’t seem to have sapience, you’re wrong. As we see with how both Claudia and Viren regard the elves---as we see from what they do to Runaan, where they choose to chain him up and torture him instead of giving him a quick and merciful death like Soren was going to---we know that they wouldn’t. (And it’s not even just Runaan; Claudia views Azymondias’ egg as a thing, as a weapon. They don’t view magical beings, no matter how sapient, as people.)

Building on that, it’s implied that the original mage and those who followed in his footsteps used dark magic to actively do something horrible. Aaravos says that they gathered the lives of magical creatures to “unleash dark power,” and right after we see the original mage unleash a torrent of fire from his palm. This implies destruction, which in turn implies death, which in turn explains why the elves and the dragons were “horrified by what they saw.” We don’t know precisely what happened, but between the poaching and the stated dark power it can be inferred that it was something horrible. And in the interest of protecting their people (because it seems that the dragon king is the monarch over all of Xadia), they banished the humans as a result, not trusting any of them after what the dark magic poachers did.

Now, again: Banishing all the humans as they did wasn’t right, especially since I believe it has been stated that the journey was extremely harsh and that there were humans who died making the trip. Again, the initial scene was to invoke the Trail of Tears. But just because banishing the humans as they did wasn’t right doesn’t mean the humans are excused. Dark magic is wrong. Dark magic is evil, and vile, and inexcusable. It’s not like eating meat, wherein that is done because humans need to eat to survive. It’s killing for the sake of convenience, or even war. It’s killing so you can kill even more, as seen by how dark magic was used to slay Thunder. It’s not acceptable, and trying to make excuses for it just so you can paint the elves as the “bad guys” because you’re desperate for this to be a black and white narrative when it isn’t is honestly really disappointing.

--- Moving on from that, I like that we see that Callum has an affinity for dragons right away. It’s telling that the picture we see him drawing in his very first scene is one of a dragon, and that the dragon isn’t being slain, but rather, is doing the slaying: 

Moreover, he places himself in the dragon’s shoes by saying, “Take that, marshmallow monster!” as he draws. Aside from being interesting that he gives his dragon a high-pitched voice before he growls, it’s notable that he’s having the dragon kill a monster, that he sees himself as the dragon, and that one could even say the dragon is being heroic here. Callum is shown to have an affinity or fondness for dragons from the get-go, which is interesting if you consider the running theory right now that Thunder had a hand (or claw) in Sarai’s death, accidental or otherwise.

--- Viren covers up the mirror before he allows Marcos to enter his chamber to tell him about the moonshadow elves. We know that Claudia knows about the mirror, but Viren covering the mirror before allowing Marcos to enter implies that it’s a secret well-guarded. Much like the true fate of Azymondias’ egg, is this something that even Harrow doesn’t know about? Is Viren keeping it a secret from everyone aside from Claudia? And while I could understand fitting the egg under his cloak, how on earth did he abscond with an entire MIRROR from the dragon king’s quarters without anyone noticing if it really is a secret?

--- Aside from the “didn’t I tell you I’d have you executed” bit, we know that Viren waking Harrow up like this has happened before because Harrow knows it’s Viren before he even looks at him:

It’s a very subtle and easy to miss detail, but it’s there and I love it.

--- Harrow wants to send for Amaya first thing, but Viren shoots him down. Viren’s excuse for not calling for Amaya is that the breach is too far away and she’ll never make it in time, but she made it to the Banther Lodge quickly enough. That said, it is true that the Banther Lodge is closer to the breach than the castle . . . in any case, whether Viren was bullshitting an excuse to keep Amaya away or not, this could easily be a foreshadow to their future (bad) relationship.

--- The only moonshadow elf that talks to Rayla at all throughout the first episode is Runaan. It’s true that Runaan is the leader, the only named elf other than Rayla, as well as the one who raised her, and so it makes sense that he would be the one to talk to her. However, Rayla doesn’t seem particularly comfortable around the others, we know she’s the youngest of the lot, and this serves to really give a feeling of isolation for her among the other moonshadow elves. I’m going to make an independent post about this later once I get to the relevant episode in my rewatch, but I have a strong theory that Rayla has never had friends her own age before meeting Callum and Ezran (Ezran’s a bit younger, true, but still), and this is part of what makes me think that.

--- I always assumed that Ezran was stealing from the castle baker, but the “[the jelly tarts] are not for you!” line makes me think otherwise. If that’s just a random baker in the city, that’s not cool of Ezran to be stealing from him. I hope that’s not the case. (But that same baker is shown feeding Bait a jelly tart in the end credits illustration with a hush finger over his lips as if it’s their secret, so I don’t think he really hates feeding them snacks.)

--- It’s interesting that the very first impression we get of Soren is that of a hyper-competent, serious, and exasperated sword instructor. Soren is, as we all know, a goofball, but when he’s training Callum he’s extremely focused and extremely smart. While he may not have academic brilliance, it’s clear that he’s not stupid, particularly not in his area of expertise. I really like that his character is multi-faceted like this, but even more so I’m fascinated that Wonderstorm wanted to make sure that the first impression we had of Soren as a character is that he’s a skilled swordsman who knows what he’s talking about and what he’s doing.

--- On the other hand, the fact that he keeps hammering on about being a “step-prince” needs to end. It’s the one thing that makes me dislike Soren. I still don’t hate him, but goddamn if that’s not his least likable quality, particularly from someone who has more step-relatives than blood relatives at this point.

--- Callum saying “your sister” when talking to Soren about Claudia was probably more for us, the audience, but could also infer things about Callum and Claudia’s relationship. Callum pointing out that Claudia and Soren were siblings was probably so that we, as audience members, would know Soren and Claudia’s relationship right away, particularly since they don’t really look alike. However, Callum saying “your sister” could also imply that Callum is closer to Soren than Claudia, which would make sense since Soren is the one in charge of teaching him the sword. It could mean that although Callum and Claudia know each other, it’s more of an acquaintanceship than a friendship, with Callum pining from afar most of the time.

--- However obnoxious he is with the “step-prince” thing, it’s cute that Soren is willing to help Callum impress Claudia. It also tells us that if a romance did strike up between Callum and Claudia, Soren wouldn’t particularly mind.

--- That warm laugh in Harrow’s voice as he says “boy-oy-oy-oys!!” breaks my heart. He loves them so much ;A;

--- “Why’s he sending us away? Something’s wrong.” Later in the episode Callum snaps at Ezran for “not getting” that assassins are coming to kill Harrow. The thing is, that’s not true at all. Ezran is the first one to point out that something’s wrong with how they’re being sent away (though we can tell from Callum’s expression as he reassured Ezran that he agreed, even if he didn’t want to admit it). Ezran is sharper than perhaps is noticeable at times, and he prefers to distract and play around to keep his mind off scary things, instead of dwelling like Callum tends to.

--- “. . . unwanted visitors.” I’ve seen some people suggest that this could imply that Viren already has relations with elves from Xadia, but while I’m very curious about his upcoming relationship with Aaravos, I don’t think that he had contact with elves prior to this point. It’s possible, but I think that another strong possibility is that the “unwanted visitors” line is referring to the fact that magical creatures might cross the border unknowingly at times (because to a butterfly or a bird, borders don’t exist), and Viren takes them for his own use in spells. They’re just innocent creatures he’s able to hunt once they cross over. Moonshadow elf assassins . . . not so much.

--- Soren got yelled at for Callum overhearing about the assassination plot and it wasn’t even his fault. Maybe if Viren wanted to be discrete, he could have closed the window in the first place. Just saying.

--- Callum’s first instinct when learning Harrow might be assassinated is to run off and defend him from the assassins. My heart is broken again. ;A;

--- Once again Soren rubs in the “step” thing, and even worse this time. Callum is clearly worried about Harrow, he says that Harrow is his father and that’s why he wants to defend him, and Soren takes the opportunity to say, “Technically he’s your step father, but I suppose it’s similar.” This is absolutely atrocious behavior. It’s not cute, it’s not funny, it’s not charming, it’s not excusable. The only one who deserved to get knocked in the mud in that scene was Soren, sorry not sorry.

--- “Life is precious. Life is valuable. We take it, but we do not take it lightly.” This quote of Runaan’s is probably my favorite from the show. 

--- After the moon moth “fails to find” the moonshadow elves, Soren thinks it’s worthless, but he still doesn’t kill it. This is a notable difference between Soren and Claudia in a very subtle scene. Soren thinks the moonshadow moth is worthless, that it failed. But when it lands on his hand again after he comes to this conclusion, he just lifts his hand to let it fly away. He doesn’t hurt it, doesn’t kill it. Claudia, I have no doubt, would have either captured it again to use it in a spell later, or would have killed it on the spot to try to use right then and there. Claudia doesn’t value the lives of other beings, but Soren? Soren does.

--- I think Marcos might have known, or at least suspected, that the tree grove was an illusion, but he left anyway. We get a shot of him pausing significantly to stare at the “tree” that the moon moth landed on right before he leaves. But although he stares for a long moment, he ultimately does leave and follow with the others. I’ve always felt that perhaps he knew, or at least suspected, that Rayla and the others were there, but that he kept quiet to give Rayla the same grace she showed him the night before.