#ezran deserves a GUN

[bizarrebird]

I do wanna say that my first post about The Dragon Prince was made after only a few episodes and I hadn’t given it the chance it deserved, which was unfair of me. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot better than the credit I gave it after like three episodes. The representation is good (excellent in someways, could still use a little more in others), but for a kids show it’s great.

The world building was interesting, and honestly the biggest compliment I can give is that I want more of it. I want to know about the different kinds of elves. I want to know more about how the step-prince situation came about. I want to know more about the dangers faced on the front line. The first season planted many interesting hints that I very much hope later seasons expand upon.

There were a fair amount of typical fantasy tropes that played out, I won’t deny that. Where the Dragon Prince excelled, I think, is in the subversion of those tropes. And very specifically, I think the subversion of tropes that played a key part in the success of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Very, very often we see a duo of villainous siblings where both are horrible for one reason or another. Often, one is particularly intent on following a parent’s orders. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s been done. It’s a tied trope. The Dragon Prince takes the conniving, evil siblings and does, what should be the easiest thing in the world, and makes them kinda dumb. I do not mean that as a bad thing. I feel like we’ve been inundated with a huge swell of super intelligent, impossible to defeat villains, and... that’s okay, but it isn’t great.

Personally, I feel like the ridiculously smart villains, who can’t be defeated and have to be befriended are often the result of writers who feel that they are too far above the general populous and can only be brought in once the rest of the world accepts them as they are. And further discussion on that should be reserved for another time. However, I feel very comfortable saying that the villainous characters in The Dragon Prince do not feel like this.

Soren and Claudia feel like kids. I mean this in the most flattering way possible. Being a kid isn’t a bad thing. It means they still have a wealthy of optimism and genuine hope that so often gets bogged down in a person’s later years. Soren’s a little dumb, but that still isn’t bad. It’s less that he’s someone who just refuses to understand things, and more that he has just been exposed to a very limited set of circumstances. So of course his world view is biased in favor of what his father tells him. But even then, he isn’t entirely comfortable with it, and that gives me so much hope for him.

Claudia is a triumph. I mean that as honestly as I can say it. I cannot tell you how rare it is that I see a character like her. She isn’t a Hermione. And yes, I mean movie Hermione here. She isn’t presented as being perfect because she’s a girl and she’s smart. Clearly, Claudia has bought into her father’s (very messed up) world view in at least some ways. People don’t always understand her, even her own father, but she’s still happy to learn and figure things out at any opportunity. She isn’t an Azula, who’s entire self worth is based upon her father’s opinion and feels the need to discredit her brother at every opportunity. That isn’t to say I dislike Azula, I think she’s amazing and fascinating, I’m just so incredibly happy to see another version of a younger sister character. I am honestly most excited to see what happens with Claudia in the future.

In terms of the other characters, I do feel as though the main three could use with a bit more development. However, that isn’t to say that they’re bad characters. They aren’t. But they’re better building blocks. Callum as a mage discovering his abilities clearly has an immense amount of potential if the series goes on, and I would love to see Jack De Sena lend his vocal talents to a character who delves into deeper places, though I still love his comedic moments.

Rayla is obviously amazing. Plenty of other people have commented on that. My only thing is that I do genuinely hopes that she learns from this season. All too often you see characters who learn at the end of one season that they shouldn’t keep secrets, and then they go right back to that next season. What I would love to see in future seasons, is a Rayla who actively tries to prepare Ezran and Callum for dealing with the elf world that the are inevitably going to encounter. If there’s still a bit of hesitance, that’s fine and normal, but over time, I would love to see her really grow to honestly trust the boys and give them a chance before judging how they’ll react to things.

As for Ezran, I love him. There’s no other way to put it. He’s soft and sweet and he had freckles, If you don’t love him, you might be a monster. I do hope that he gets to do more in later seasons. His ability to talk to animals is fascinating. There’s so much that can be done with that. There’s a moment late in season one, which I won’t get into to avoid spoilers, but is shows that he is clearly able to understand a lot more than other characters will, and that opens op so much potential in the future, and I really hope the show takes advantage of it.

I think a few dozen essays have probably been written on the adult characters at this point, so I will leave that as is for now. I will say that I adore Amaya, Gren, Ruunan, and Harrow and hope to see more of them. I also find the villains potentially very interesting. But just to make it clear, my summary here is that a lot of interesting things have been done and I really hope that the series will continue to do that if it’s given another season.

In terms of plot, I really like what this first season did. I know other people wanted a grander scale. Or some bigger payoff. However, I think this season did pay off most of the Chekov’s guns for the main three characters. Side characters are a different issue, which is still a fair thing to bring up, but not what I’m talking about here. For Rayla, Callum, and Ezran, they accomplished what they wanted for this season. And I will fight people saying they should’ve got the egg to some actual dragon or elf first. Their goal for this season was to protect the egg, and hatching the egg is and ultimate success of that goal. This also makes future conflicts possibly more complicated and interesting as there is an actual dragon baby to argue over now. So then, again narratively, this is a success.

So here, I’ve mostly just discussed what I like about the Dragon Prince. There are complaints to be made. And of course, there are comparisons to be made to Avatar: the Last Airbender. However, I think that’s another essay to write another day. As for the Dragon Prince, I would give it a very solid 8/10.