#i wanted to go more into stuff with viren

[stuck-in-jelly]

Having lots of thoughts about Corvus and the fact that this is the first time we’ve seen him on a promotional poster AND that he has been regaining lost screen-time from season 4 and 5

Corvus has the least stake in the game as far as interpersonal relationships goes he is pretty separated from most of everyone.

Soren’s dad tortured and imprisoned Rayla’s dad and kidnapped Zym, Rayla’s dad killed Ezran’s and Callum’s dad, Zym’s dad killed Aanya’s, Ezran’s, and Callum’s moms in a 3 for one meal, Callum’s and Ezran’s dad lead the mission where Aanya’s mothers were killed, Ezran’s and Callum’s dad killed Zym’s dad, Callum is dating the daughter of his father’s murderer, and it just keeps getting more complicated from there.

But Corvus?

We dont even really know anything about him. He grew up in the woods on the borderlands, he was in the military at a young age and was even considered a veteran at 20 years old, he’s smart, strong, quick on his feet, he’s a bit awkward socially at times, he’s worked espionage, and he’s a really good baker.

But we know next nothing of his personal life, we dont even know if he has parents or any family to speak of aside from Amaya and Gren who have known him the longest. Its implied he met Soren and Claudia in passing in the past but thats as close as it gets.

Corvus is so widely detached from the chaos of everything going on with all the other characters whose past and connections are all so complicated

And now we get a poster where Corvus is quite literally breaking through the title, his weapon pushes past everything as he stares steadily ahead with a clear mind

Corvus is the key to helping break the cycle

[platinumrosetail]

Ok so interesting idea at least I think so.

What about a the dragon prince x sagua creator!reader idea?

The reader would be the creator of teyvat and its inhabitants on it, the reader decided to go to another world where the reader isn’t high regarded and didn’t create the world she went to, just to have some fun since she kinda gotten a bit bored with the same old, same old stuff in teyvat and needed a break.

She decided to work in a castle in a kingdom called katolis as nanny to the two princes, then getting a high position once the two princes grew up more to not need a nanny. She became great friends with the king and queen fast which lead to her getting those positions sooner than it probably would.

Viren, the high mage have a bit of rivalry between him and the reader though it’s more one sided as she doesn’t see him as a challenge considering who she is but she loves to tease the man when she can, unknowingly resulting in viren having a bit of attraction for her (I love drama 😂😁😈).

She will stay in katolis as the 3 protagonist go to xadia, mostly because she doesn’t want to ruin the kids fun plus she feels like she is needed in the castle anyway, what she doesn’t know is that she gains many male’s interest while staying in that world.

So what do y’all think? It’s still a work in progress but I would like to hopefully make it into a book or at least do some work of it on here (maybe people request things based on it? I don’t know about doing it on my own as I haven’t been doing stuff on my own considering I keep on switching which fandoms I want to do and end up deleting them and not liking them lol 😂😭), this will most likely have a female reader as I can’t really think of it with a male!reader this time sadly 😭 but that could change maybe? Anyway hope yall like it! I hope yall request for it as I think it’s a fun idea. Anyway hope yall have a wonderful day/evening/night!!

[stardustamaryllis78]

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

Aaravos confesses the whole truth about Viren to Claudia.

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

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

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

Then Claudia stays by her own agency.

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

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

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

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

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

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

There's even proof in the openings:

Season 6 Opening:

Season 7 Opening:

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

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

Now, lets look at the season 7 interview:

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

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

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

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

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

He is now her father and she is his daughter.

No manipulation to be found after episode 6.

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

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

[raayllum]

Can you explain why Claudia is so upset with Terry when they reunite after he leaves? And why Terry, of all people, looks so guilty with her that he can't even look her in the eye? It's one of those things where you know this should all be reversed, but isn't. Why? Why is the betrayer so hostile to the betrayed?

God I loved the messy as fuck whatever they had going on Claudia and Terry dynamic in S7, and I think there's a few reasons why

One of the cruxes of Claudia's character is that she is attached to seeing herself as a good person, and others as not-good by comparison. This means that she can engage in the exact same behaviour and justify it while assuming that others' reasonings couldn't possibly measure up.

This cognitive dissonance is not exclusive to Claudia (Callum and Rayla in particular have a tendency to justify each other's choices in ways they don't with other characters, i.e. Rayla viewing dark magic use being 'evil' except when Callum is using it and he's the 'goodest' person she knows) but the focus on 'my view of myself' largely is. Most other characters in TDP are focused on "I still view this other person as a good person," not being focused on "I view myself as a good person". But Claudia is, and it's this core desire being increasingly pitted against "I will do vile, awful things to keep my family together" that are constantly duking it out.

When Claudia finds Soren and Terry waiting for her, it's clear that not only has Terry joined her brother, but has turned against her (as he could've left and then just fucked off somewhere else). This association with Soren, I think, is one of the things that gets her haunches raised, since Soren made it very clear what he thinks the last time they saw one another in 4x07:

SOREN: You have to stop trying to release the greatest evil this world has ever known. CLAUDIA: I knew you wouldn't understand.

All Claudia hears is "there's something wrong with you." That she's the bad guy and on the Wrong side (which, to be fair, Soren also calls her and Viren bad humans when trying to wake Rex Igneous in 4x09). And, by extension, that Soren is better than her. More correct, more moral, more Right.

And Claudia cannot stand feeling judged. She cannot stand being treated like 'the bad guy' (because of course from her perspective, everything she does is right) and she struggles to hold a conception of "I did something genuinely wrong and can still be a good person" (see: "We're not going to the dungeons Soren, we didn't do anything wrong") usually leaning into one or the other, and normally the latter.

So Terry being with Soren is also "you think I'm wrong, you think I'm bad, and you think you're Better than me" (vs Aaravos' "believed we could be better, so he gave us magic"). She thinks the pair are there to stop her, and she's not wrong, on a certain level.

So when Soren makes a gesture of good will, openly contingent on Terry wanting to spare her ("You're here to save me? How generous [...] I can change, and you will help me. Did I get everything?" Karim vibes), it's just seen as "you're showing off how/why you think you're Better than me" and was, quite frankly, never going to work.

Soren setting down his sword came closer, as it's more reciprocal, and it also symbolizes Soren setting down his mantle/duty (the same sword that killed Viren the first time, presumably). But Soren makes another mistake; the same mistake he made in 4x07:

Dad is dead, Claudia. You don't have to do what he wants anymore.

Set down your staff, Claudia. Dad's staff.

But while Claudia has been doing stuff for Viren, she hasn't done what he wanted in a long time. She's been doing what she wants ("You are not letting go, Dad!") for a hot second, and now alongside Aaravos. (I need to write a scene on her and Aaravos' talk in 7x06, but that's for another day.) And that has included taking down elves and dragons as a whole (and any elf that doesn't help her) for a while.

The dragons and the elves, all the arrogant fools blinded by the searing light of their own self-righteousness.

They are wrong, and she and Aaravos are right ("So much we can make right"). This is a very black-and-white viewpoint in many ways, one that some characters are faster as dismantling than others, but I have no doubt that Arc 3 will push it to its breaking point for all of them. Soren and Terry have thrown in their loyalties with the elves and dragons, since Terry was previously a "good elf Exception" alongside Aaravos because they were both helping her and, as previously discussed, Terry has now turned against her, and all the baggage Claudia carries about such a thing is now dumped onto him by proxy (which Terry doesn't necessarily know or understand).

So what does he look so guilty over?

Honestly? The illusion plan. I'm sure he's worried that Claudia might get hurt, and that things might escalate / go south, but he is ultimately there with a plan that is not what he wanted. What Terry wanted was to find the real Lissa and give Claudia a real chance to connect with her mother and maybe change her ways. But it's not real. It's deception, and he knows it.

TERRY: You lied to me! AARAVOS: I never lie. I simply said we needed a big feather and a very small feather. That is all. TERRY: No. You say you never lie, what you do is worse. You tell people half-truths and let people fill in the rest. You make people lie to themselves. It's deception. It's manipulation, and it's wrong.

She betrayed him, and now in his own way he's betraying her.

So what makes him decide to turn around and do something... similar, shall we say? There's a few things. The first is that they're on a time limit and have no way to reach Lissa. The second is that it's plausible the others were going to do it anyway, and Terry accompanied them because 1) he couldn't stop them, 2) he felt responsible, and 3) hoped that his presence would make a positive difference to Claudia.

The second is the other half of what Aaravos says to Terry, I think.

TERRY: I'll tell Claudia. AARAVOS: Oh, it will change nothing. She loves me. [...] And what of Claudia, then? She knows so much more than she tells you, and she keeps it that way to protect you.

Now, Terry rightfully understands that Claudia wasn't keep things from him to protect him; she did it to use him and to keep him from leaving ("I knew he'd leave once he found out"). However, Terry being willing to live in a half-truth and employ one on Claudia because he genuinely believes it will help her, because he thinks it's a truth he needs to withhold to protect her ("You have to promise me that no harm will come to Claudia" is most easily kept if she backs down)... that I can believe, especially since it lets him believe that she's capable of change/quitting. He wants to Save her, not use her.

That doesn't mean he thinks it won't Hurt.

[multifandom-nerds-blog]

S7 ep 1 compliant mini fic with established Corvus (Cause Sorens face was bloody in one scene and clean in the next one somehow)

Maybe a bit similar to the one I posted a few days earlier, but who cares.

"Oh, right. Right! Because I'd be dead!"

Corvus could only shake his head at Sorens antics. Not without smiling though. The relief of seing him alive was strong, and gave him enough energy to stay on his feet even after the long day followed by flying for hours.

Though seeing the castle like this really was terrible. They had seen the smoke from far away already, and it wasn't much better up close.

Their capitol. Their castle. The home of Ezran, Callum and Soren. And well, after two years also his home, though this was obviously much worse for his friends who had grown up here. But Ezran was with Callum for the moment, so he could focus on Soren.

"Opeli is on the way to the Banther lodge with most people." Soren said while keeping his arm around Corvus shoulder. "I stayed here with some guards to keep the fires under control and look for uhh... stuff."

"You mean anything salvagable?" He didn't mentioned the ever so slight shaking of Sorens hand on his shoulder. Or the quite trembling of his voice. It would most probably just lead to Soren closing his walls.

"Yeah. Yeah! That. Also Barius and some others are going to the sorrounding towns for supplies and help to set up cam- what are you doing?"

Corvus had put his hand up to Sorens face. Unable to ignore the blood on the blonde mans face and hair any longer. He turned around to properly face his partner, Sorens hand not leaving him but sliding on his other shoulder instead when he moved.

"What happened?", Corvus asked. Lightly tracing his thumb over the streak of blood going through Sorens eyebrow. He didn't flinch so either he had pushed the thought of injuries to the back of his head, wouldn't be the first time, or it wasn't as bad as it looked. Corvus guessed for both, head wounds were nasty bleeders after all but Soren was also extremely stubborn and ignorant about his own wounds at times.

"Oh that?" Soren took his hand of his shoulder to poke his own forehead, with a bit more force than Corvus liked him to do. "Right. A flying stone hit me. Not as in the Stone knowing how to fly. Just a stone from the rubble flying into my face."

Corvus hummed while taking Sorens hand away from his face with his own to stop the poking. He would probably hear the whole story later. After everyone had time to collect themselves a bit.

His free hand started looking through his pockets while not letting go of Sorens in his other hand.

"So how was the wedding? Probably fancier than a burning castle. Though it was a sunfire elf wedding, so maybe they have some traditions about burning stuff?"

"Not exactly.", Corvus answered. You could probably say that Queen Janais relationship to her brother burned to ashes, but that would be a pretty rude oversimplification of the matter. He could also still feel the bruises from when Karims followers captured him during the battle. "The wedding is a... long story."

"Later?", Soren asked.

"Later.", Corvus agreed.

Finally he found the clean handkerchief he usually kept on him. Though honestly surprised it was still there and clean after everything. And finally Soren showed a reaction to his wounds when Corvus reached up to his forehead again.

"Ah." Soren's face flinched. Corvus might have not even noticed if he hadn't spend so much time of the last two years studying the other man. "You don't... have to. It's dried anyway."

For a moment Corvus wanted to ask if he was okay, but... that question seemed senseless in the current situation. But he could see that the adrenaline was starting to leave Sorens body. And there was a look in his eyes that was all to familiar to Corvus.

Right. Lord Viren was in the dungeon while Katolis had burned down. So what happened to him?

"We should still clean it up.", Corvus settled on. He let go of Sorens hand to cup his face instead in both hands, looking into blue eyes.

Sorens skin was warm, which confused Corvus a bit. His partners skin was usually ever so cold, but now warmth was somehow streaming from his body into Corvus hands.

"Your warm.", Corvus stated. "Do you have a fever?"

"Heh, well, most people would probably call this a normal body temperature."

Soren tried to crack a smile, but Corvus just raised an eyebrow.

"It's just from... the fire. Well. Kinda. But it's wearing of already." Soren laid one of his hands over Corvus', as if to prove it, even if his hands were usually even cooler than the rest anyways. "Everybody who was here is running hot right now. But as I said. It's wearing of already. You're gonna have your walking iceblock back soon enough."

There was obviously something Soren was leaving out in his story, but Corvus decided it would be better to talk about this later. As well as the unavoidable topic of wether Viren was dead or alive.

Later, Corvus thought. Later was good.

He ran his right thumb over Sorens eyebrow again, rubbing some dried blood of in the process. Soren responded by lowering his head until their foreheads meat.

"I... I'm...", Soren stuttered.

"It's okay. I've got you."

He could feel Sorens other hand landing on his shoulder and gripping on to him.

"I know."

"But now, really, let's find some water to get all that blood of your face."

"Hm, okay. Yeah. You're probably right."

"It's also in your hair."

"WHAT?" Soren promptly jumped back to check his hair. "Why did not nobody tell me?!"

[honeii-puff]

There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface

In which Soren gives in.

“-oren… Soren!” 

Soren blinked his eyes open, his gaze landing on Terry, who was hovering above him. His mind was groggy, but his surroundings quickly came into focus as he sat up.

“What’s going on?” His mouth was dry, like he had swallowed sand or slept with a sponge in his mouth.

“Um… There are elves approaching, and they don’t look friendly.” His accented voice had a slight quiver to it, his eyes darting around.

Soren’s hand went to his sword, which lay beside him. “Did you get Corvus?”

“Right here.” He looked up, seeing the other man perched in the tree above him. “I can see them from here, and I’m pretty sure they can see us.”

“Wonderful.” Soren got up, stretching his back before twirling his sword. The leather grip dug into his palm snugly, the feeling ingrained into his brain from the hundreds of times he’d done it before. “How many?”

“Just under a dozen, as far as I can tell.” Corvus lept from the thick branch he had been perched on, landing in a crouch on the grass before straightening beside Soren.

“Against the three of us?” Terry’s eyebrows furrowed worriedly. “Are we sure that’s a good idea?”

“We’ve just gotta be optimistic, Ter.” Soren nudged the elf’s shoulder. “It’ll be a walk in the woods.”

Corvus frowned, pulling his dreads back into a ponytail at the base of his neck and out of his face. “That’s not the saying.” 

“I’m adapting it to our surroundings. We aren’t exactly in a park.” He gestured to their surroundings, which were full of Xadian trees.

“Maybe we can just run? Find Pyrrah and fly back to Evrkynd?” Terry suggested, and Corvus shook his head. 

“We don’t know where she is right now, and if we move, she won’t know where we are when she gets back.

The bird– King Harrow (Soren had to get used to that)– squawked loudly, getting their attention as the aforementioned group of elves made their presence known very abruptly.

Arrows dug into the trees behind them, causing the three of them to duck and King Harrow to fly up into the branches in one of the trees, still squawking.

The elves flooded out from the trees– Earthblood elves, by the look of their antler-like horns and the shades of green in their hair.

Corvus swung his chain hook at one of them, the chain wrapping around the elf’s legs and effectively tripping them while Soren blocked an incoming blow from one of their staffs.

He had thought– with all the stuff happening at Evrkynd as said in Ezran’s letters, that elves would be more… neutral to their presence. Not friendly, but also not trying to hurt or kill them for simply just existing nearby.

Guess he thought wrong.

More elves spilled from the trees around them, and a quick glance over counted a minimum of fifteen, with more approaching.

Against the three of them.

There was a small, familiar tug in his chest as he knocked down another elf. It had been there, stirring since Katolis fell. Since Viren had casted Hearts of Ciner on him and everyone else in Katolis.

He wasn’t sure if everyone else had felt it– if they did, nobody ever spoke up about it– but he knew exactly what it was and wanted nothing to do with it.

Dark magic.

The feeling lingered, continuing to tug at him as he blocked more incoming attacks.

Looking around again, Soren could quickly seeing the three of them running out of options. There were over two dozen elves in the small clearing now, backing them up against the edge of the trees.

The magic called to him, the tug getting more persistent, almost as if it was sensing their narrowing options.

Save them, it seemed to whisper, but he couldn’t tell if it was the magic or himself saying it. Save them.

He had to. It wasn’t a descison based on want anymore. They were out of options and outnumbered however many to the three of them.

He had to.

Hands of Shadow. He thought. He remembered seeing Claudia using the spell, years ago. They were just kids, and she had used to grab a book off a high shelf, the shadowy hand coming from the shadows hidden behind the light.

Darkness wasn’t the absence of light, but the opposing force because of it. He remembered hearing Kpp’ar say once. Nature calls for balance. Everything has an opposing force. That doesn’t make the opposite of something bad, just opposite.

And when the tug came, Soren tugged back.

His hand pressed against the bark of the tree behind him as the words slipped out of his lips like oil.

“Wodahs fo sdnah.” The voice was his, but it also wasn’t. 

The shadows of the trees around them morphed into hundreds– thousands of hands, pulling at the elves and forcing them back into the treeline, against their numerous protests. 

Even out of sight, he could feel the shadows pulling them further away from the clearing, the energy thrumming through his veins.

He hated how good it felt.

“Soren!” The feeling of a hand on his shoulder snapped Soren out of it, and it all hit him at once. Exhaustion dragged at his bones, and he would’ve fallen over if Corvus hadn’t dragged his arm over his shoulder, supporting him.

Terry looked between the two of them, his face paler than it was before.

Straightening, Soren looked between Terry and Corvus. “Nobody hears about this.”

He didn’t want to think of everyone’s reactions to him using dark magic. Not one bit.

“Erm… It might be a bit hard to do that.” Terry winced slightly, and Soren raised his eyebrows.

Corvus reached out and brushed a bit of his bangs, which, due to Soren neglecting to cut them, now reached down to his jaw while the rest of his hair had grown to the middle of his back.

Soren pulled at the small section Corvus had touched, looking at it before immediately letting go out of shock.

It was white.

Oh no…

Soren backed away from Corvus and Terry, his legs shaking. He covered his mouth with one of his hands, a wave of something akin to nausea coming over him. “Oh, this is bad.”

“Soren, we can figure something out-” Corvus started, but Soren cut him off.

“How exactly? We can’t lie to them, they know what this is from.” He gestured to the white streak in his hair. “I can’t hide it, and we sure as hell know what running from it would look like. So please, tell me what the hell I’m supposed to do!”

“We can explain it to them.” Corvus responded, walking towards him slowly. “They’ll understand.”

“Will they?” He stared right back at him. “I remember their reactions when Callum admitted to dark magic in the past. I’ve seen how they look at Claudia.” Soren hated how his voice quivered.

It made him sound weak. Scared. And maybe he was scared.

But he wasn’t weak.

Corvus pushed the strand of hair behind his ear before resting his hands on Soren’s shoulders, looking at him. “Then we’ll make them understand.”

——————————————————————

Once Pyrrah had found them, it had taken them a full day to reach Evrkynd, arriving as the sun set over the glimmering city.

It seemed perfect.

Too perfect.

Pyrrah decided to wait outside the kingdom’s walls, so they continued on foot. Soren had pulled his hair back into a sloppy bun and kept his hood up, covering his hair.

He wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. Or, at least, let random passersbye see it. They’d know what it means.

The kingdom was as pristine on the inside as it looked from the outside as the three of them navigated their way to the castle at its very center, almost built like a hedge maze.

Soren had stopped keeping track of the turns after the first six, all of them running together in his head and making him frustrated.

He’d figure it out later. He just needed to make it past this first.

If he did.

Eventually, they found their way to the castle, towering above the rest of Evrkynd with shimmering white towers and walls, as if it had been erected from a dream.

They wont accept you.

They’ll hold you to higher standards.

You weren’t saving the world, you don’t have a good reason.

You used it because it called to you, and it felt good.

You’re just like Viren.

“Soren.” His head snapped up, looking at Corvus. He had his hand resting on his shoulder. “Are you ready?”

He blew out a breath, glancing around. They were stopped outside a set of double doors. It was just as bright inside the castle as the rest of the city, but it felt too… clean. Too pristine.

When did they get there?

Soren forced himself to look back at Corvus and nod, tugging his hood over his hair more. He glanced at Terry, and King Harrow, who was perched on Terry’s shoulder.

The large doors opened up to the large throne room. The layout and shape reminded Soren of the throne room in Katolis, down to the same red banner on the throne, although it was made of the same white stone as the rest.

He didn’t realize how much Ezran looked like King Harrow until that moment. He was taller now, with his curly hair braided and pulled back in a ponytail.

Callum and Rayla more or less the same looked the same; Rayla’s hair was a bit shorter and pulled into a loose braid, and Callum had ditched wearing long sleeves, the white draconic sigils standing out against his arms.

King Harrow squawked, and Ezran darted from the throne almost immediately, bolting towards them. Soren nearly toppled over from the force of the hug that he gave the three of them, grinning.

“It’s nice to see you too, Ez.” He rested a hand on the young king’s shoulder as he pulled away.

Soren watched Ez’s face fall as he stepped back. He looked at Rayla and Callum, who had similar expressions.

“What?”

Corvus rested a hand on his shoulder. “Your hood…”

He reached up to feel for his hood, only for it to be gone. The pit in his stomach grew, the weight making him want to curl up on the floor and pretend to be invisible like a turtle.

“Soren… What did you do?” Callum’s face was ashen as he took a step forward.

He glanced at Terry, then at Corvus, who gave his shoulder a small squeeze before dropping his hand, and looked back at Callum, Rayla, and Ez. 

“I did what I had to.”

Surely they’ll understand.

“You had to use dark magic?!” Rayla crossed her arms, a bewildered expression now on her face.

“We were out of options!” He took a step forward, and the three of them collectively stepped back, possibly on reflex.

What…?

Soren paused. “Do you seriously think I would use dark magic if it wasn’t an emergency?”

None of them answered, but he didn’t need them to. He could feel their stares, and that told him enough. They didn’t see him as him anymore. And in that moment, he didn’t think they ever would again.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Teaser thoughts

I had to do adulting (leave for a suddenly rescheduled appt) 20 mins after the trailer dropped this morning, so I'm only now starting to get my thoughts settled but omg I have to write this stuff down or how will I know what I think

here we go

Rayllum flying together. Is it cute, romantic, or is it some twist where they're going somewhere for horrible reasons in a hurry and they can't even take the Shadowpaw. Where is the Shadowpaw why are they fl-

Does Ethari have his Shadowpaw back is that why they have to fly

Love the bisexual vibes here ngl

Starscraper is over land. It's not a deep thought shhh

The search for Zubeia. I'm curious why Ezran has let two of his best Crownguard leave his side. Surely this will have no consequences!

Janaya kiss with Amaya on her tippy toes. Janai has her crown on here. I feel that's relevant for uhh later. I hope this is real and not a dream Janai is having - those have not been going well for her.

This one makes me sad. The picture is torn, but then mended, and I love that. But it's set up like you'd see at a funeral.

Is this one super early on in episode 1 maybe? It could be the same night as the end of S5. That feels more likely than Terry catching up to Claudia later on... specifically in her allowing him close after what we got in the other trailer. Aahhh

This one has so much in it, I can't! It's got star bug stuff which I'm extremely here for, let the gods be gooey. It's got the whole quasar diamond crown right there. It's got Rayllum having a close moment. and it's posed like they're at the altar in a chapel getting married. Also the star is upside down in the stained glass window, so whatever theme is going on it's being consistent there.

This is one of my favorites: Ezran out on his own castle bridge defending it. Ye Olde Narrative of Strength got to him! Opeli looking worried has me worried - she's usually so certain and swift. This could be Viren trying to come home like a half drowned rat - will they let him in? Don't make me think of the men of Númenor right now, do not.

Battle couple battle couple! Rayla and Callum teaming up again! (she's the dark blob kicking free in the upper left) I love when a couple fights together. gonna be super normal about that.

This top down view of the Starscraper is a little dizzying, ngl. With Callum and Rayla tiny at the bottom, three floors down, these flying, circling elves give me shark vibes. What if they're not nice. like at all.

Why was Stella falling!? what are the Celestials doing, are they helping or are they trying thievery? Is this just a big mob of seagulls here

Janai is losing control of her emotions, she's furious and sad. She's setting fire to the Sun Seed tree. We know the Seed was stolen, but maybe this is her finding out, early on. It's less angsty if it's early, you know how things always get Worse during the course of a TDP season lmfao. If it's later on, maybe the fact that she isn't wearing her crown is... important.

Rayla in the frozen ship. Why's it burning, what's she there for? why did she go alone? This gives me some Banther Lodge infiltration vibes ngl.

Okay I am all about this altercation. Viren shoving Kpp'Ar to the floor in fury. are they arguing about Soren? dark magic? both? neither? What's the logo stand for, what's the I for in IK? Does he have a show called It's Kpp'Ar and they're just on set? lmfao the real reason there are gears everywhere is to change the rooms around isn't it. Kpp'Ar just got sick of those extra 29 steps to the kitchen.

Few things are scarier than a True Believer getting everything he wants. this shot of Karim being so filled with elation cannot be saying good things for Janai's prospects. He's got all kinds of cool Sunfire stuff on, too, including a crown, and his old tin ring from his mother. Those things were confiscated when he was exiled, which means he must not be exiled anymore. He could be king, having displaced Janai somehow, and he's fulfilling his intentions to his people by bringing back the glory of the Sunfire elves by healing their injured archdragon. Or so he hopes, anyway! We'll see if it works.

Sol Regem has come out of his cave and he's got that Power Dragon Wingspread going on. Looks like he's been convinced to take a swing for uhhh big dragon things! I wonder how far his power will reach... and his bitterness. We might get a new Dragon King that makes Avizandum look soft.

It's so interesting to me what we did not get to see in the teaser, too. There's no Aaravos, no Aanya, no Runaan or Ethari, no Kim'dael. If we get another trailer before July 26, maybe they'll be in there! Or maybe we'll just have to white knuckle it until release day.

Hold on tight! S6 is coming!

[thrandilf]

okay. for the first time in my life I'm using the #tdp critical tag because I have some things to get off my chest about s6 and I desperately need to focus on an exam for tomorrow and can't and idk I feel slightly out of my mind/wondering if this really is just a me problem but like

this season felt kind of sparse to me regarding character interactions outside of duos they wanted to focus on/letting characters present react to situations. stuff like Amaya not having a comment about Callum not being at her wedding or the Celestial Elves really not having much to say about Aaravos himself despite the Elder theoretically having been around in the days pre imprisonment like

I don't mind that Viren died but I do feel out of my MIND that he and Ezran didn't actually get a conversation, and beyond that that Viren didn't try to pass along any Aaravos information to anyone, and that even if Soren and Viren's relationship was just Maxed Out that we didn't get Opeli and Ezran talking about what to do with him (could've even had Soren walk in and do a Callum S4 moment of 'you ever walk into a room and everyone goes quiet and you know they were talking about you' moment), Opeli reacting/checking on Soren while Viren was imprisoned even if he didn't want to talk to her, there being any verdict about Viren at all and we're never getting anything else out of him again which is why no Ezran and by extension Callum/Rayla/ect feels sort of disappointing to me, as he hasn't interacted with Callum since S1

It's a really good moment, don't get me wrong, but we traded the suspense of thinking Viren had perhaps killed Soren for us getting any last words or gesture from him to Soren face to face

the Celestial Elves gave us info on Startouch Elves in general but not on Aaravos specifically even though the Elder I thought would know more? They aren't surprised at the idea of trying to kill a Great One/Aaravos but there wasn't even a word of warning about if he does get loose or anything Specific about the last time it happened or, if they didn't know anything, confusion about why a Great One is imprisoned like idk

no one had any concern either when getting access to the stars which again, idk, I thought Callum might've been more worried about Aaravos being at the Starscraper and the prison (when he thought he had it) being surrounded by Aaravos's main connection but idk, it didn't matter but I thought it could have

ALSO THE STAVES. HELLO. AT THE STARSCRAPER I JUST

No Aaravos and Callum interaction is also smth I've made my peace about but after the trailer, especially the choice to use that thumbnail for it/as a promo image, idk, I am kind of sad I have to wait until S7 for any of that and now I wonder how significant it can really be/why hes gonna need callum as a puppet now if he's Out and as powerful as he seems to be. we just raised the stakes but had three entire seasons of building towards it, so how can s7 handle getting callum to do dark magic again, theoretical possession/aaravos use, coming back from that, ect, all within 9 eps?

tbh no one really had grief about sir sparklepuff being gone which I guess he wasn't a full Person in anyone's eyes and the focus was all on Claudia/her state which was fine, like we did get some of that nonverbally with Terry at least but we kinda moved right past it. like even one line in ep 9 from terry like "look what he had you do to his most recent child" would have made me go yeah exactly that Mattered but it wasn't there

in addition to no Callum at the wedding Ezran also just sat on Viren being back like idk I guess I wish he'd talked to Amaya more. like I loved him and Aanya I just feel there was room for Both

Listen I'm not one of the people only watching the show for Aaravos and I am delighted with the two episodes we got of him but that he was in more episodes in S3 than in S6 does have me like. cries. really. s4 and s5 i didn't mind in part because I figured stars would be big and it Was but im like oh my god. i got to ep 7 and was like is he REALLY not gonna get out which thankfully he did but only at the end

and the end was like. the biggest cliffhanger we've ever had and i get going for the suspense but it's KILLING ME MAN

I know Aaravos's motivation/goal but not exactly how his actions are leading to that whatsoever as he seems to play every side and doesn't even favor humans if he's willing to torch katolis. unbridled chaos i guess? is that it? I don't even know what to be afraid of next season with him except I'd presume he's going to Xadia next and will Somehow be getting back at the Cosmic Order but idk what the past thousand years have truly been for unless it's waiting around for the stars to align and throwing a fit while doing so

Runaan is out and he and Callum didn't get so much as a sentence between them and that and the Aaravos out but also no conversation double whammy just has me like

PLEASE

at the end of this all this was a more dramatic/cinematic season but it didn't have a lot of the smaller character reaction moments/balance the prior seasons all seemed to give me tbh and it took all season to lead up to highly anticipated events aka letting Runaan and Aaravos out but I didn't get any of the Payoff of that characterwise except for Runaan and Rayla and idk I do feel both like S6 had some of the best moments of the show and also really disappointed in places where it feels like it could have been so easy to have had just a Bit more cohesion and characters plugged into their overarching circumstances/dynamics more

like I think we had the time for it

and going into this expecting a penultimate season and then learning theres a third arc planned, it makes the pacing and lack of aaravos sort of make sense but also has me like, we may not even get that and now I feel like s7 will make or break the Entire show for me which is terrifying

like we got a lot of new info but it was largely not what I was expecting without touching on a lot of stuff I was hoping for and I AGH. i didnt expect this season to continue the build up train and I'm having a hard time accepting that it's the first time tdp has ever like. idk. thrown me such a curveball that it's gotten me honest to god upset which is on me and not the show, and i keep hoping i feel better but so much rides on s7 now

[idkyourleastfavoriteartist]

SEASON 6 SPOILERS OF THE DRAGON PRINCE!!!!! Also I'm just gonna say this post is LONG (overall thoughts,rewrite?) I'm not a actual writer so take evey thing with a grain of salt. It's fine if you disagree or even dislike my opinions and (kinda) rewrites just be nice about it please and thank you!! (Also this has really bad grammar it's not that deep if it's not perfect)

I overall felt that this season was really good and it's one of the shows strongest!!!! I don't want it too sound like I'm complaining because that's not the case because I really enjoyed this season so don't take like that please. Let start with the positives I really liked the scene where Soren shouted at Viren in the jail (as he should loved that reunion). Rayllum finally got back together loved that for us. I feel like the darker atmosphere the show really works and I couldn't be happier about it. Corvus is so lovely him and him having too babysit Soren is so fun too watch. Learning about Callum's dad and Claudia's/Soren's mum was really interesting and was nice too get info on them. I'm really happy about how better the animation is getting better each season with it being a overall higher quality. Literally like 90% of this season I liked.

The only questions/slight problems I have is that I personally don't understand how Aaravous wanted Viren too kill sir sparklepuff (he calls them THIER child) so him being a grieving father doesn't make sense too me especially with the fact that Viren at first didn't care about sir sparklepuff, it was only when Aaravous said it was their child, like sir do you want Viren too live?????? Like what was the reason too humaninse sir sparklepuff if Aaravous didn't see them as a actual being with feelings and if goes against his plans that he made to control Viren to get him out of his prison??????? (I actually like his back story because of how it relates to the themes of love in tdp but in a way which is so similar but so different to our main cast).We all knew that Viren was gonna be redeemed well I felt it coming. But it should of been handled better because due to Aaravous for no reason making Viren feel bad for sir sparklepuff just so Viren could have a situation too get on the dark magic bad high horse didn't really rub well on me. I would of made Viren care about sir sparklepuff without Araavous input so it will make more sense that he wouldn't want too kill him and his redemption feel more earned despite Araavous who only made the being too finalise the spell to keep Viren alive(idk if it makes sense but too me it does) then have the "I'm over with dark magic and you" speech. With Araavous backstory I would of liked more that Araavous did have rebellious feeling about the power structers with elfs and humans (he felt it was unfair that elves get all the power and how rude elves where to humans despite them just wanting too learn too use magic) and he teaches a little bit too much leola but she tooked his teachings to other humans when she should of kept quite then being punished death after that he would go villain mode. I like the idea that Aaravous is evil but tried too keep quite until leola because he felt like he owed her the truth which led too her death and years of terror expanding on dark magic with humans till he went to prison. (that's my rewrite I don't really do stuff like this so if it's bad just understand where I'm coming from and give me positive input please☺️)

I also kinda felt that cladiua leaving Terry just for her to come back too him in the same episode is felt abit rushed but it's only 9 episodes so I understand why they did all in the same episode. (I would let that stretch for another episode so it's more impact full).

ALSO WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO REALLY WANTED TOO SEE A VIREN AND AARAVOUS REUNION 😭😭😭😭😭 Maybe it's just me because they were one of my favourite dynamics in the show (mostly through season 3 and abit in season 2) so not seeing the communicate sucked abit. I like the ideas that are in this show but only wish they would be expanded more and fleshed out abit more.

[aevyk-ing]

Mystery of Aaravos finale

Yeah, I didn't write as I was watching the episodes this time. I'm just exhausted about all that has happened in the last few months of the year and decided to just watch it and think about it.

Okay, that wasn't bad, but not great either. I noticed the pacing was weird, like if this is the grand finale, there's just stuff happening until they get some ideas and attack Aaravos. I didn't like at all to find out there was yet another comic I had to read to understand what was going on (The Puzzle House). At least, this comic was way better than Through the Moon.

As soon as Aaravos said it'd take him 7 years to come back, I knew there are plans for yet another arc. Even though the story has been stretched out too much by now, I think seven years is enough time to make things different enough to be interesting. However...

I'm still more invested in the arcs of Claudia and the people around her (Aaravos, Soren, Corvus and Terry). They're the best characters and she can do so much more. It's intriguing how she still thinks of herself as a good person and how Aaravos sees her as a daughter now. His human disguise was so weird, but since I can't take him seriously anymore after the writers' attempt to make us pity him, I found myself digging it. But oh, boy, it was so stupid when he was captured and just straight-told Ezran how to kill him. His death was also anticlimatic and all the talk about the Eternal Night was making me think of Trollhunters, so... but thanks for an epic dragon fight, I guess.

I don't care about Rayllum anymore. Which is sad. But, anytime they're on-screen, I get so bored. I don't care if their kids are going to have horns or not, if they eat cake together or not, I want to skip to the good parts of the episode. I love characters fighting their dark sides, so Callum's arc was nice (I'd have loved to see even more). What I didn't like was the forced antagonism between him and Ezran. Ezran says he's just a kid but then didn't shed a single tear when his house is gone. It would have been the perfect opportunity to show how he tries to be a fair king but still has a lot to learn. Make him break down in the ruins, make the citizens go to the castle for help, make the cliché little girl ask: "What do we do now?". Ezran doesn't know. Then, Runaan appears. That's something Ezran can do to feel he's doing the right thing. But no, they had to make the brothers fight (and Runaan escaped just when they were talking about freeing him, come on) as a parallel of the sibling situation of Janai and Karim.

I literally said "Thank you" to the screen when Aaravos squashed Karim. He was so unlikable, it's good to have characters you can just hate and then see them get what they deserve. Once again, that only happened so Janai didn't have to kill him. You see, the problem is that sometimes there are hard decisions to make. And you have to let your characters do bad things, even if they're the good ones (I still struggle with this, so I can speak from the experience). However, now even the King isn't dead, like, hello? Yeah, I know the scene where Viren proposes Harrow to switch bodies was given a lot of importance, but I'm not sure about the implications of that. Where is he? What has he been doing since then? I hope there's a good explanation. Also, also, if Runaans' promise was to kill the King, why doesn't he have the string the assasin elves have? Because Rayla's string was getting tighter and tighter because she promised to kill Ezran but she didn't.

Overall, it's getting tiring. Yes, I know what is like to have a world so big and detailed, you just want to keep writing about it. But there are too many characters now and I think they should focus on the ones with unfinished storylines.

PS: Yeah, I've been waiting for ages for Zym to talk. And now he's Zuko. I still don't know how to feel about that.

[bittrlys]

Season 4 ruined TDP for me and I haven't been able to drum up the interest to watch it since, so maybe this is an out of date take but...

Terry is kind of a pointless character. His role is sort of presented as being Claudia's last tether to her morality, but his actions are otherwise so ride-or-die it seems weird when he calls her out or gets upset about what's happening (especially since they've seemingly been together a while so he should be familiar with how Claudia operates). Plus there was already a character who could serve this role: Soren.

After season 3 I was excited to see their sibling bond evolve as their outlooks were beginning to diverge. And then with Viren resurrected I wanted to see how that affected things. I was deeply disappointed when the established familial relationships fell by the wayside in favor of a timeskip romantic one (and I usually LOVE romantic plotlines).

See, I get Soren leaving his family behind and hopping to Team Hero and thus becoming unavailable to Claudia as someone to bounce off of. I don't love the execution because I think he feels rootless and lacking in significant depth in his relationships with the main cast, but I think it works for his character. He's a prodigal young knight who swore vows to defend his king and his nation, and he's a very straightforward guy. He shares pragmatic qualities with his family, but at the same time, their pragmatism operates on an abstract level he doesn't exactly understand. Once he was forced to choose between family and what he's always known and how he's vowed to live his life, I can see him making the very hard choice to pull away from them. I think him staying as Claudia's morality pet would have been a disservice to his character, though he may have more interesting things to do just because Team Dark Magic are always doing interesting things ... but again, that's more to the execution than the conceit. I don't mind characters moving apart from people they were closest to at the start of the series, and like when they can bond with new people.

I think the limited number of episodes + breakneck pace of the plot does leave their lack of interactions more noticeable, but also more inevitable. Technically, we've seen all this: Soren and Claudia have met again and fought over their differences, and Soren and Viren got their chance to hash it out a little bit. We've been informed of the status of their relationships and their feelings for one another. For a nine episode twenty minute children's animated TV show, this is relatively decent screentime offered to their relationships considering they've been apart so long. I'm not necessarily defending it as 'good' because I'll gladly say this show has very weak screenwriting with my whole chest, but the Magefam would have to be proper protagonists and not just deuteragonists to the Main Three for the screentime to really shift in their favour. But they're not, and you can't even imagine stuff happening off screen because almost everything in the plot happens one after another barring the mid-season timeskip -- and not a whole lot of interesting things happened during that.

(Like, seriously, other than some romantic relationship statuses changing characters are basically the exact same post timeskip as they were before it. It's like ... okay!)

I hope this doesn't sound like I don't get your frustrations because I do; the Magefam are one of my favourite parts of the show and it's always better when some combination of them are on screen together. And it's like, sure Viren and Claudia were hanging out in the later seasons, but he was borderline comatose for most of that, so it doesn't feel like they were. The fracturing of a family is interesting, but you always hope for more of a resolution or at least a sense of poignancy this show is never quite going to master. I'll actually say that my feelings still hinge on season 7 or god forbid the final arc. If we see Soren and Claudia get more than one or two scenes as all our players move into place for the final confrontations -- if Soren were to learn what Viren wouldn't tell him -- if Claudia gets to have a properly satisfying confrontation with Aaravos about the death of her father if she learns the truth ... if Soren and Claudia get to mourn their father together, even if it's briefly -- if we have Claudia have complicated feelings if she were to learn about Soren asking Viren to do the spell -- of Soren offering his heart, but Viren sacrificing himself instead ... I mean, all of that could be really good, and for me it would serve as a kind of epilogue to tie together the seasons of separation and growing apart from each other.

How hopeful am I for any of this? Well, about as hopeful as I am for this show ever pleasing me. But hey! I do think it's possible, with the narrative they've already established.

Anyway, to get to the Terry of it all: I think he serves a purpose as not just Claudia's tether to morality but as someone to work off of, so I get why he's here. I also think Claudia getting a random elf boyfriend is still extremely funny and charmingly quirky of her. As I said in response to a previous ask I think Terry could use more personal development but I like his dynamic with Claudia. People call him an enabler but he does offer her some pushback, generally gently. He's just someone who loves Claudia enough to stick with her, and hey, I love Claudia too so that's nice to see. Honestly, even if Soren were around, you're obviously going to have a different relationship with a romantic partner than you would a sibling, so Terry could easily fit in the group that held Soren as well.

This season Karim (love him) was like "Janai is my sister! Of course I love her! But I'm still going to depose her violently!" and like that is great. That's siblingcore. That's I love you but I want to beat you up. That's no matter how far apart we drift you're still bound to me. Soren and Claudia are this. Meanwhile Terry and Claudia are your first serious relationship. They're young and passionate and desperate to make it work because who else would match their freak quite this way? But if they fall out there's nothing to keep them together anymore. They'll just be forced to move on. Soren can walk away from Claudia and know that on some level they are always close; if Terry walks away from Claudia he may end up meaning nothing to her. So, just like real life, there's a lot of stuff they're willing to overlook and rationalize because they WANT to keep wanting each other ... and Claudia can use someone like that on her side, as we see Soren and Viren both leave her in time.

I think Terry being down to clown but taking issues with some things is fine; he often frames his objections around the harm they will cause Claudia, and that's nice. The one thing I still don't get is his reaction to Claudia threatening the coins. I will preface this by saying I can believe he's more sensitive to elf death after he murked Ibis, and doesn't like reminders of the differences between him and Claudia when it feels very her, a human, against an elf. Yet whenever I rewatch it, I still find his censure unusually stern for him, and it's hard to shake the feeling that this is the writer's doing as they do best, that is not knowing how to write from their own established lore and character motivations.

Like, in-show it says, Claudia was cruel to mockingly threaten the lives of Rayla's loved ones, and trick her into thinking they nearly burned in agony, not offering her the real coins. Is that cruel? Sure, sure. What's the context? Oh? Rayla was THREATENING TO SLIT TERRY'S THROAT? Rayla, the Moonshadow elf ASSASSIN they have every reason to think would go through it, even if we the viewer know Rayla probably wouldn't? Hmm! If Claudia is cruel, Rayla is a monster. Rayla, who was offered the coins in fair trade as she THREATENED TO SLIT TERRY'S THROAT, but refused. Like, Terry? Are you this mad at Claudia because she did an actually extremely reasonable thing to save your life (+ her father's life) in as pacifist a way as possible, or are you mad because the writers need to tell the audience This Was Bad and ensure Rayla gets the real coins while not having to change that emotionally charged sequence they were probably really proud of writing? I still think this was Terry's characterization faltering just so they could get the outcome they wanted.

Ultimately, I see Terry as someone who is lacking in prejudice, maybe due to his own presumed desire to be taken at face value. He can date a human and not have a kneejerk reaction to dark magic, but he isn't amoral. Nothing he's really seen has been enough to push him away but he is cautious that Claudia may stop walking the knife's edge and fall off of it. He's realized even he can do terrible things out of love and this has bound him more tightly to Claudia. He's someone who is CHOOSING to join this life, and wasn't just pre-built loyal as a sibling would be. All of this does give him a role in the narrative that's pretty unique to him and their dynamic, and I like that. Again, I hope he gets more to do beyond just being Claudia's partner, but I really don't mind him existing.

Thank you very much for the ask! ♥ Really don't blame you for dropping the show post season 4 .... if I wasn't Virenpilled I would have dropped it after season 1 I think.

[sthormiiii]

What do you like and don’t like about Aaravos ?

omgomg ty for the question i love talking about my man!!!

(this came out wayy longer than i imagined whoops)

okok so.

the things i love about aaravos are many. starting from the obvious, his design!! he is so so pretty i love startouch elves designs in general (all the concept art in the art of the dragon prince made me lose my mind!!) and also the fact you can get a lot about him from his design, like how he changed after he fell and the way he lost many of his accessories which probably represented his status in startouch society- AND THE BLACK HOLE IN HIS CHEST PROBABLY REPRESENTING HIS HEART???? like, he LITERALLY LOST HIS HEART?????

thennn, we go on his personality! that man suffered for CENTURIES, he had to witness so Much Stuff. he got through so much trauma and lost everyone who he ever cared about. but does that bother him? i mean, yes ofc it does...but despise all of it, he still keeps up his silly personality! and manages to still be himself :33

the thing is, my interpretation of aaravos's character is probably very personal, and most of the things i think about him are from my own headcanons, but!!!! we know he is inspired from prometheus, giving humans magic despise the gods (other elves and dragons) didnt want them to have it. but he still did it. he helped them out when they were struggling, and because of it he got punished.

thats the thing!! he loved humans SO MUCH he couldn't help but help them, even if he knew it would get him in trouble.his love for humans, for magic, for xadia, its what keeps him going, he wants to be free and be able to see xadia again, to see the sky, and feel the grass under his feet! him pre-fall was just,, so so filled with love for everything around him

now.

clearly, he also did some really fucked up stuff (like swallowing killing adidi and probably also luna tenebris) he isn't completely good or completely bad. he's in between and everything he does he does it for a reason which he believes is the right one-

rn hes a psycho, he spent 300 years in isolation and he is full of anger and just wants to see the world burn😞😞 he lost everything and everyone and yes hes the villain rn,, but he still has all that love inside of him. his love for humans...for magic...his need to feel someone, anyone by his side, to know hes not alone- him trying to help viren in s5 (in his own fucked up way) shows that he still cares☹️☹️

so yeah, i just- love complex characters!

now, the things I don't like- this is a hard choice bc i honestly love all his flaws too?? but i would say i dont like how the show handles him lmao.

i could talk about this for hours, but to make it simple i think they are totally wasting his character here. like. we're never going to fully see aaravos in all his shades bc

1) we dont have time for all that

2) even if they somehow manage to give us a glimpse of all the pain and suffering he carries on his back,, i think its a bit too late to make the viewers completely emphasise with him

the whole mystery of aaravos arc should have taken a different direction imo. but desides that, i still love the show sm and i cant wait to see more!!

god i love talking about him.

[zariahthechocolatecookie]

Thoughts on TDP 6x06 - "Moment Of Truth"

Made it through episode 6! Oh my god are things picking up and is exciting stuff happening! The pace is definitely picking up and I'm very excited to see what comes next, and what the implications of this episode are for later ones.

Starting with what I feel is the most important revelation from the Callum and Rayla section - they brought the wrong pearl!?! What the hell?? That is bad. Very incredibly bad for so many reasons.

Okay, screaming about that aside - onto my actual composed thoughts. So, obviously, Callum having the fake pearl means the real one is back in Katolis. First, the shot of the pearls at the end of the last episode makes a LOT more sense now.

Second, I think everyone is in significantly much more danger now. Two of the people Aaravos has / is manipulating are in Katolis or on their way there: Viren and Claudia. I could very much see a world where one of them is manipulated into freeing Aaravos - which would put Katolis under a lot of threat immediately. Very worried about what will happen then.

The other thing is, what will happen when Callum and Rayla learn about the mistake? Whatever Kosmo did made it so they don't know (anymore), but from what brief glimpse we got of it, Callum was devastated. I imagine that will be significantly worse if he learns about it after when / of Aaravos gets freed.

The other thing is important interest is that the term "timeblind" makes a WHOLE lot more sense now. I was horribly confused about that when it was mentioned in previous episodes, so I'm glad there's some clarification on that. I'm very curious to see how it plays a role in future episodes and/or the next season.

Also the whole scene with Callum finding out that RAYLA is his "deep truth" or whatever it's called was ✨ amazing ✨ Not only is it super adorable, it's a really powerful way of representing their relationship and how they've helped each other through their various struggles. It's just so cute 🥰 Also sparkle Rayla is so pretty!!

Okay, moving to Viren's section... I know there's other things from Callum and Rayla's section, I'll touch on those later.

So, first of all, Viren really fucking sucks. Like, he deserves his lonliness. He deserves to rot to death in his cell. He deserves to never see his children again. I know all the things he did to save Soren STARTED with good intentions, but... Pinning his wife to the wall to get her treats for a spell is WAY too far. Waaaay too much.

Lissa was definitely right to leave him. However, I'm really wondering why she didn't take Claudia and Soren with her. I feel like that would have helped both Claudia and Soren in the long run, even if they did still have some problems that arose. I could see Claudia having an Azula-like situation, if she was still into dark magic, but I think Soren would have significantly less issues. Anyone got any fanfics dealing with this concept / idea?

Viren being a horrible human being aside, the backstory on how he got his staff and his old mentor is very interesting. Specially his mentor. From how it was described, it seemed like he had quit dark magic. I want to know WHY and how he was able to make that choice without going back to it. I'd say Claudia could learn some things from him about not doing dark magic, but he's a coin now, so...

Circling back to the ending... I absolutely LOVE how both Astrid and Kosmo told each other the line about truth being light vs. a burden. And how when Kosmo was saying it, we saw Viren burning the letter? Masterful. I still hate Viren, but at least he did the right thing there. Soren doesn't need to know about anything that was in that letter.

And, last but not least, the Rayllum kiss at the end!!! Oh my gosh was that moment so cute!! They're just so adorable together and it spectacular. And the fact that it was a 'redo' of that one scene all the way back in season 4 - gah it was just a perfect moment!!

Alright, that's everything about this eoisode. Onward to episode 7!

[weirdlotiel]

So In the meantime I watched new season of the Dragon Prince.

1. Why the fuck was it earlier??? I thought I messed up the dates again.

2. Please, I neez Zubeia to be alright.

3. Love Janai and Amaya.

4. Karim and his girlfriend can go and drop dead. I had enough of them. (More than Viren)

5. About that guy. Gosh, I love the choice he made. (Not that I want him dead). I mean, he gave up dark magic. Finally!!!!!!

6. Btw, what was that about child Soren???? Was he sick? I mean, what was the reason Viren even chose that dark path?

7. I need people to stop saying it’s all Viren’s fault Claudia is messing with that dark magic stuff. Yes, he introduced it to her, but it was her choice. She had every opportunity to give it up, just Like Viren finally did. Don’t get me wrong again, I still kinda like her, but she’s even more messed up than her dad.

8. Once again dark magic. Callum, really? Ok, I get it… you want to protect your precious Rayla… no. Don’t. Don’t you ever touch that stuff again.

9. Some stuff was predictable, like Captain Villads and Nyx (ir maybe it only was me 😂)

10. I guess I need a lil but more of Kim’dael

11. Akiu was funny. I wanna see more of her

12. So, elves and dragons said that humans are evil, but they asked a human to create a jail for Aaravos? Can’t they finally decide on one thing?

13. What’s more it was a human who exposed Aaravos’ treachery. (I know it was the previous season)

14. About this freaking elf. What the heck did he do to Aditi? Swollowed her? What???

15. I love the homunculus. Don’t you dare to touch him Aar. Seriously, he may be his “child” (is he gay and has crush on Viren?😂. Please no.) but it doesn’t mean he can be its father.

16. Please, Callum, fund a way to free Rayla’s parents and Runaan. I beg you.

17. Young Viren looks almost like Soren (or maybe again it’s just me?)

18. Whi is this one guard always talking about food?

19. I can’t believe Callum was tortured, And Soren was beaten. And rayla was supposed to be a fish food.

20. Finnegrin vs Domina. Hmmm…

21. I hate that Pirate.

22. Yay, Callum has new powers!!!! Ocean magic rules.

23. Soren really worries about his new family, doesn’t he?

24. Who the fuck is Mushroom Mage???? (I couldn’t stop humming after that)

[raayllum]

Allegorical Rayllum in "Dreamer's Nightmare"

Really thought I'd walk out of Dreamer's Nightmare thinking more about the broyals + Harrow, or an Ezran centric meta (and there may be ones to follow) but this was something that stuck out to me on my first two read throughs and was a truly unexpected part of the graphic novel so...

This is exactly what it says on the tin, and full spoilers for all of Dreamer's Nightmare.

Let's go

Crumbs

The biggest crumb(s) we get are arguably Callum 1) recognizing the mural as belonging to an elven temple, and 2) this panel below that definitely made me chuckle.

I also, accordingly, lost my mind over the elf-toy from 1x04 being a gift given to Ezran / the boys by the end of the comic, which seems to be modelled both after the Moonshadow elf featured in the story, and of actual canon Rayla per 1x04 itself, down to the girl having a similar hair style, markings, and being a sword wielder. (This also informs our basis for the next section.)

However, the definitely meatier stuff has to do with the Dream Warden (DW) creature, its history, and Ezran's interactions with it, so that's where we'll be focusing, and subsequently big spoilers for the graphic novel. Last chance to get out if you hadn't read it yet!

Identity and Loss

So there's a few things we learn about DW and their little mortal friend.

Long ago, a Dream Warden, still new to the world, befriended a mortal child. This violated the traditions of its kind, but the Dream Warden was young. Each night, it flew to the silver shores of sleep and each night found its friend there, wide-eyed and waiting. And beneath the watchful stars, they could adventure together through the child's dreaming world. But one night, sleep blossomed into dream, the Warden found itself alone. The child did not appear that night, nor any night that followed. The Dream Warden searched dream after dream for its friend. Sorrow became fear came anger, and soon the Warden left nothing but nightmares to flower in its wake.

This happens, of course, because the child has grown up and left their old dreaming behind, and the relationship between youth and dreams vs adulthood (actual and perceived) is something the comic is likewise interested in. Callum wants to be grow up so he can help, but as Harrow says, "Part of being grown-up is looking out for others," and there are many moments Callum acts far more like the 9-11 year old child that he is here than an adult, even if he is definitely more mature by the novel's close than he was at the beginning (and so on and so forth into S1 / beyond).

It is these two things — the abandonment of dreams (a life with Callum) to taking up an 'adult' task (assassinating Viren) in the name of "looking out for others" (Callum, the world) — that leads to Rayla leaving in Through the Moon. This is due to having fallen out of favour the idea that she's "stronger together" (BH) with anyone and missing the memo the boys receive/believe from Harrow—and their mother's actions—that they are "safest together".

So we have a Moon creature (seemingly) befriending an elven (mortal) child, even though doing so goes against the traditions of its kind. Then one day the Moon elf disappears in the action / guise of growing up, leaving the DW despondent, angry, and alone. Saddened, fearful, and furious they leave behind nightmares. [Sidenote: I do love the consistent metaphor of blossoming to flowering, it's nice.] Eventually, they fall into a deep depression and slumber.

This is a pretty close beat-for-beat of Esmeray as well, down to being left behind by a creature connected to the Moon arcanum who specifically "mysteriously dies"/leaves and subsequently causing an icy, snowy storm that shrouds the heavens (hides the starlight) until a return and/or reconciliation.

When she disappeared, she left you all alone. In pain. The storm isn't your rage. It's your grief. Your loneliness. On moonless nights, you miss her the most.

All of this is, however, mostly subtext, even if Callum and Esmeray match up in S6 and S4 in more than one instance, so I thought going through Dreamer's Nightmare that Callum's evident parallels to DW, and even Rayla to the moon child, that it would likewise remain subtext. Imagine my surprise when it wasn't.

Ezran

I've talked about Ezran and Rayla and their parallels before, decently extensively. Despite having different personality presentations, they have very similar cores. Both are less inclined towards violence in spite of Ezran having access to power and in spite of Rayla's upbringing, both have received prejudiced consequences for things they couldn't control (the assassin hit out on Ezran due to his father's crimes / Rayla being Ghosted partially because of her parents' as well as being seen as a monster), and these things contribute to them questioning perceived monstrosity more than, say, Callum, would.

We see this even reflected in Dreamer's Nightmare, where Callum despairs and in a desire to protect him and Ez, defaults to, "If I can't fight it, what can I do?" versus Ezran stating, "I can't fight you, and even if I could, I don't want to."

And while I have other thoughts on Callum and the 'monster' motif / label that you can read here, what I want to reaffirm here is the way through Ezran's connection with the Dream Warden, we also highlight his understanding of Callum both in the graphic novel and while Rayla was away / in the early days of her return.

Callum as a character has always been a character with a tenuous grasp on his own identity, especially in arc 1. He states in 2x04 that "when I got magic, I finally felt like myself" in trying to explain "how I've lost that. I'm just trying to find my way back". I think we can draw a point of comparison between Callum losing magic and not feeling like himself and Callum losing his mother and not feeling like himself, both in the immediate aftermath and repeatedly on the anniversary of her death. We also see elements Ezran mentions of Callum not feeling like himself (not drawing, his anger) that come out in S4 / 4x01 and 4x02, notably while Rayla was gone. It's only after she returns and they've begun to reconcile that we see Callum draw again (5x02) for example and indeed be more relaxed (somewhat) with his temper.

Through these periods, though, Ezran has been his cornerstone. Callum was lost in grief with Sarai, but finds his way back to Ezran; Ezran guides him out of the tower in 1x03 and into the quest to Xadia; Ezran is there even when Rayla is not, and Ezran encourages him to open up, recognizing there just as he does with the Dream Warden:

But it's easy to lose ourselves if we don't let others in. And I don't think you want to be angry and alone forever.

So Ezran through his assertions and understanding of both his brother in the comic's present, as well as the Dream Warden, takes everything that was previously subtext for Callum in the graphic novel as a character in the context of how he responds to loss (specifically Sarai and Rayla's loss), and makes it text:

DW lost their Moon arcanum connected best friend and fell into a furious sorrow, and that sorrow being disturbed is what brings the angered splintering back in full force. Dreamer's Nightmare ends, of course, with the creature being pacified and presumably going to bond with more new children, rather than just being shut away forever. Since Rayla isn't fully gone, and since she comes back, his tale of moon-friend-disappearing related woe ends differently with the full reconciliation, but the period of processing the grief and anger to "to hope and maybe forgive and love again" (4x03) remains the same.

This bodes well for theories regarding his love for Rayla and despair/desperation over losing her being what turns Callum into a 'monster' in S7, by which I mean Callum believing himself to become a monster through helping Aaravos / dark magic corruption, and believing himself to be something worth killing (4x07, 6x03) should those things transpire. But as Ezran says, all it takes is one (or two) people seeing you through the periods of anger, sadness, or splintered corruption to bring you back to your whole self again. Given the basis for Dreamer's Nightmare, I'm extremely hopeful that both Ezran and Rayla will have their roles to play in bringing Callum back to himself, just as Ezran's bonds with Callum and with Rayla will undeniably play a part in bringing Ezran back to himself, too.

With all this in mind, let's talk about the doll.

The Elf Toy

So the elf doll haunts me, nor is this new, by any means. I posted a bit about it when Dreamer's Nightmare had just come out, but I've had my eye on this thing since I first noticed the game motif some time after S3 aired. While it's since expanded to include Aaravos and his pawns (and dark magic) more directly in arc 2, said game motif in arc 1 mostly referred to the Key of Aaravos, with the motif and key itself being properly introduced in 1x04: "This is the game room, cube should be in there" / "It's a toy. A piece from a children's game."

A game motif oriented episode that then, therefore, likewise introduces a toy Rayla stand in, and one that Dreamer's Nightmare, purposefully being released before S7 for evident reasons for both brothers at least, harkens back to directly.

Like I think I can speak for all of us when I say I never thought we'd see the damn thing again. It's in 1x04 primarily to just emphasize how humans (namely Amaya) have always seen elves as scary monsters, it looks like Rayla to drive that subsequent point home, and yes it's a toy in an episode with the series' core Game Motif being centred for the first time, but that doesn't mean it's automatically connected. I'd like it to be, I think it'd be fun and very on brand for TDP's style of writing if it was.

That's said, let's go over it from various angles, starting with order of events:

Kid has elf toy, is buried under rubble

Callum and Ez pull them out and usher the kid to safety

The boys / Ezran resolve the conflict and defeat the 'monster,' with Ezran realizing it's not a monster, and instead relating it to Callum explicitly

The boys receive the elf toy as a gift

The most direct reasoning here, then, goes twofold:

Placing the toy here adds depth to Ezran thinking back in 1x04 about what makes something/someone a monster, which is the subject of the conversation at hand, and how it was incorrect

It is here in DM because we're revisiting the Banther Lodge next season, and there's going to be an emphasis on seeing people (others towards Callum; Ezran towards Runaan) not as monsters / reminding Ezran of his love for Rayla. We may see the toy, probably not, but that could be the thread

Therefore, that is where I think I'd leave it in terms of being a toy with a deeper purpose... if not for the fact it's referred to as a Gift. I've talked about the gift motif here in TDP and how arc 2 makes it much more of an emphasis, largely in regards to magic and magical sources of power:

However, where it's most notable in the 'gifts' Aaravos gives: his pawns are not just his pawns, but often tethered to him through magical objects. Claudia's current pawn intro has the Sun staff, which was given from Aaravos to Viren to her; Callum has the cube, a similarly ancient relic passed down through generations; "Lay it down? But it was a gift," Ziard says, the Staff clutched in his hand, and Viren later cites it explicitly a toy: "You had a lifetime to play with your toys, but now you hide them all away or destroy them."

To the point that throughout the various gifts given (the moon opal pendant, Rayla's goodbye letter, the sun orb from the Sun, the trio's gifts of sacrifice to Rex Igneous, Janai's sword and Miyana delivering the sun seed, and more I'm sure) the only things referred to as / that are both gifts and toys are the Key of Aaravos and the Relic Staff.

And, now thanks to Dreamer's Nightmare, the Elf (Rayla) doll.

Obviously this doesn't mean the elf doll is an ancient relic, or powerful, or even important, I think. Not on a literal level. But the final pages do tease it's a bringer of misfortune, which Rayla absolutely is (or is supposed to) when she lands on the boys' doorstep 6-5 years later. She's assumed to be a bringer of misfortune at said Banther Lodge where both the toy and cube are found, which is why she's taken captive.

What characters thus far receive things in the graphic novels, too, comes into play later. Claudia's map to the unicorn she acquired in The Puzzle House seemingly fulfilled its purpose pre-series with her tracking one down already, only to have another purpose in mind as of 7x01.

It's not beyond the realm of possibility to me, therefore, with all this in mind:

The doll was included as a throwback to 1x04

It will have importance

This importance will possibly relate to Rayla

If the motif of it being a gift and a toy is relevant, than the objects on par with it are the Relic staff and Key of Aaravos

Something something "Rayla's life is a fair exchange for the Key of Aaravos" because we all know what we're doing here by now

In summary: you lost your Moonshadow elf best friend and that caused you to become a monster / nightmare ("we had to fight our own people, it was a nightmare") and Dreamer's Nightmare just expected me to feel totally normal even before interweaving the gift motif into the game/toy motif with the damn Rayla stand in doll from 1x04 of all episodes. Yeah.

And that's really all I got for this one, but I hoped you enjoyed the allegorical thread break down and the game motif theorizing!

[multifandom-nerds-blog]

More Soren headcanons! These are more general and partly unrelated to each other. Also a bit about his relationship to others this time.

He definitely good a collection of battle marks on his body, getting in his fair share of fights as head of the crownguard after all. Also from just being in the crownguard, or generally being a soldier at a pretty young age. (He's still the youngest member of the crownguard after all. I feel like that isn't talked about enough) Giving a child/young teenager with low self esteem a sword to fight against threats to the king is sure to give said child/young teenager a few scars at least. No matter the armor

As I already mentioned before: High hair maintanence. His hair is super nice. Makes everyone else jealous.

He still does/learns a bit poetry in his freetime. Just for himself mostly, it became a bit of a (healthier) coping mechanism.

Could probably always eat something. Again cause he's so active. He just needs the energy intake (high metabolism? Maybe also because of the dark magic, idk)

Somehow he managed to talk Ezran into learning the basics of hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting, so that he could protect himself in an emergency if he had to. Ezran made it very clear (several times) that he did not want to fight, but after further persuasion from Callums side who worried about the same he agreed. But only if Soren or Corvus teach him themselves. Obviously they both agreed.

He and Ezran regularly sneak in the kitchen for more jellytarts. They don't have to obviously, but they still like doing it. Barius always has a fresh badge lying on the table for them.

Also very often goes on to do childish stuff with Ezran when he's done with any royal duties of the day like in S5. Everybody in the castle knows and nobody complains. (Except a few assholes now and then maybe, but Opeli makes sure that they shut their mouth.)

His skills and battle IQ often get underestimated from people that don't know him (esp before the timeskip) cause of his laid back nature, goofiness, his relative young age and lack of social clues sometimes. He's aware of that, but decided to ignore it. It gave him the upper hand in a fight now and then.

I say that in arc 1 Soren was technically just commissionary head of the crownguard (again at just 18 years od) cause the former one decided they're to old and randomly stepped down just a few months before s1. After the stormspire battle he originally wanted to step down, but the others (mostly Ezran and Corvus) convinced him otherwise.

Amaya is also a bit worried about Soren being in such a high position at such a young age. Not because of a lack of skill or anything. But because she's worried about him not dealing well with the pressure, especially after the whole trouble with his family. (Told Corvus to look after him when it was clear that he would stay at the castle as crownguard, not that it was neccesary to tell him.)

Bisexual. Was a total mess in his training as a young teen/early puberty.

Avoids going to/near the high mages office most of the time, unless he has to get Callum for something urgent. Nobody mentions it.

Callum cleaned out the office when took it over and gave Soren any personal stuff he found in there in a box. Soren never looked through it in the two years. Now it's most likely destroyed after Sol Regems attack.

-> At some point as a child he threw his toy dragon in the trash, which he regretted on the next day but it was already gone when he tried to get it back. Truth is that Viren took it out of the trash and had it hidden safely in his office. It was in the box, but Soren never knew.

There were definitely some tried assasinations/coups between s3 and 4. (Just a 10 year old sitting on the throne let's some things happen) Soren took care of them with the crownguards, but Ezran doesn't know about half of them. And Callum only knows about a bit over half of them. Opeli is on all of them however, she wrote any (threat) letters back to who ordered the assasinations/took care of official business.

Soren and Opeli definitely learned to have a good respect for each other (which we see in S6). Even if their not gonna be the closest of friends, Soren can count on Opeli to aid Ezran with the royal business while Opeli can count on Soren to keep Ezran safe.

Got that millitary sleeping method clocked in and can fall asleep anywhere/anytime. He doesn't sleep full 8 hours at once most of the time, but rather takes several naps throughout the day. Mostly cause Soren is technically always working/doesn't have shifts like all the other crownguards and has to be able to be up in a few seconds kn case of an emergency. (Based on him napping in s6 ep8 when Opeli walks in)

-> It also helps him avoid to much nightmares. Not that he doesn't get any, he definitely does. But by not sleeping to long at once he has less than he would probably get from trying to sleep 8hrs at once.