#kosmo the celestial elf

[wheretwofacesmeet]

[moon-sky-sun-earth-ocean-stars]

Vitiligo in the Dragon Prince

So, with season 6 we have now two characters with vitiligo in the dragon prince universe. I don't think I saw characters with vitiligo in media before so I think it's nice the dragon prince has two of them.

Hestia

Kosmo

[raayllum]

Season 6 Trailer Breakdown

You all know what this is, although a quick note that I won't be drawing much from other teasers or clips released / a "this is what probs happens in each episode" amalgamation may come out later depending on motivation. There are some scenes I left out as 1) we know where those clips are from already (like the water funnelling shadowpaw clip) or they seem self explanatory (Karim and Sol Regem's plotline, etc).

Furthermore — there is one specific screencap with something I noticed that I'd argue is the biggest / most plot relevant spoiler in the trailer; I am enclosing it at the end for posterity. If you want to read the rest of the breakdown but want to avoid a potentially big spoiler, please stop reading after *** . I don't want anyone to be more spoiled than they'd like to be. Okay? Okay.

With that out of the way, let's dig in

First up: Kosmo's monologue overlaid with clips of the Starscraper and some kind of wintery storm. Kosmo is the male Skywing / celestial elf with vitiligo on the left in another shot

Kosmo: I see a thousand stars. A thousand eyes. Worlds one and myriad. All of us nothing, and all of us infinite.

This probably relates to his understanding of Star magic and possibly the arcanum itself. The wintery storm may be something from the past or present up here in the Frozen North, a lightning storm that Avizandum or Zubeia created, or it could even be from Callum pulling lightning down they face the large blue dragon we've seen in a few clips now (Luna Tenebris' "unsuitable" heir) and later on in the trailer.

Then we see Rayla, accompanied by Kosmo and Astrid, overseeing the beginning of Callum's trust fall 'trial' for lack of a better term with the blindfold over his eyes. It's clearly extremely cold and he doesn't seem particularly happy, but... willing participant, I suppose?

We're gonna come back to the staffs in a second, just you wait. To start, I want to affirm that there are multiple shots of this same location being unveiled, and make up the bulk of the Callum / Rayla + Starscraper portion of the trailer, such as these:

We see eight staff-holders, though it's not clear if one is missing. This could mean a 'Startouch' elf for each primal source + two others, or something unrelated to magic at all. There was "eight" singled out in the 5x08 poem ("eight in a line") though this is a circle, not a line.

The reason I highlight this is because 1) I've been confident that Viren's staff contained Star magic or extra power of some kind for years now and it seems that the answer is yes and (bonus points) it's not a quasar diamond, which also helps keep another theory of mine going and 2) we saw in the teaser some of the Viren-Kpp'Ar flashback fight scene, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were partially fighting over Viren taking the staff from Kpp'Ar, period.

Moving on, I'm speculating that the growing blast we see may be Aaravos (or another Startouch elf) being cast down to earth and creating the Sea of the Cast Out, given that Ripples describes it as, "The falling star plummeted, down and down and down, until it struck the breathless world below. With its impact came a long and terrible night: The earth bled! The seas churned! The sun and moon hid for weeks behind the sky’s screaming storm!" This may be what we've seen Aaravos weeping over additionally: not his own banishment per se, but the loss of someone else (Leola?).

the next main 'set piece' of the trailer is the big battle scene in the encroaching Sunfire civil war, and while there was speculation previously from a shot of Aanya and her arrow that she'd joined the fray, we now have confirmation. I am intrigued about what has Ezran being on the battlefield on foot without armour, weapons, or his usual dragon cavalry.

You can even see her in the background here on the stones, seemingly firing off her special flashy arrow in order to help Ezran get away from Karim's forces, which may be why he's caught up in the middle of things without a lot of preparation. This might be related to the closeup shot of her from this trailer with her bow and arrow, but given the nature of the arrow, it could easily be the other closeup shot of her with the fancy unfurling flower gemstone arrow we got in the Teaser.

For more individual shots:

Aaravos still has his chest piece in full and it doesn't seem like he's been expelled from the heavens yet. Looking very pointedly at my "his chest piece is out there somewhere and maybe in the cube as a quasar diamond" theory. I could see this being him on trial or something with the other Startouch elves

Then we have Rayla and some form of Runaan. He has red eyes like a corrupted Banther, but the green is completely base. This Runaan also doesn't have his canonically broken horn (just like Rayla's vision of him and her other parents in 5x01) so I'm willing to bet whatever this is is preying on Rayla's memory of Runaan > the actual Moonshadow elf himself. Could be a nightmare, or even some kind of illusion (maybe Luna's heir's moonstone collar has some messed up illusion stuff?). Rayla also seems to be underwater or in some kind of dark place, though the background for Runaan looks more fittingly like the Silvergrove. I certainly would not be opposed to Callum and Rayla having to face their worst nightmares, or something — stuff like that is always interesting angsty and juicy characterization.

Speaking of nightmares, that would also fit with this screencap of Callum. We know from 6x01 details that he has a nightmare regarding Aaravos, and we also know from people at cons that this screencap was not there. Looking at the scene itself, the deep purple lighting highlights that it's not quite 'real', nor is it necessarily possible due to the background being Finnegrin's office on the Sea Legs, where Callum last did dark magic. I could very easily see this being a dream where Callum is having horrifying visions of himself outside his body, and this is one.

I do find it interesting that, rather than black dark magic slug goop like I first thought on his hand, it's actually blood on his hand, and the changes this indicates of Callum's psyche / fears. Normally when Callum breaks things (primal stone, moon opal necklace, the green slug) it's with his other hand, for starters. But more importantly, I think it's interesting that this nightmare isn't about being flat out possessed, but of being more of a dark mage: the eyes, the corruption, the blood, etc. and how that may lead to Aaravos' will being further enforced over him. It speaks to a recognition of his own agency as well as growing fears of being not just controlled, but corrupted along the way.

Claudia on the beach probably after killing Sir Sparklepuff (hence the blood and corruption) having the worst mental breakdown of her life (which is saying something) so far, either upon realizing she's lost her father anyway, Viren being alive but leaving her, etc.

Then we have Callum the infamous Frozen Ship, now burning. Either he was in there with Rayla and escaped first, leading to him sadly thinking she's gone before she manages to get out on her own and they happily embrace... or he was vibing outside without her (by her request no doubt) and shit's hit the fan. I could see him mourning her and her reappearance is when they finally fully reconcile, and I could also see him running back onto a burning ship for her (or trying at least). Y'know, the way you do.

I am famously always here for Rayllum being desperate as fuck about each other's safety, so I know I'm gonna eat that shit up regardless and it will be Delicious.

Onto the less clear parts of the trailer, in some ways:

We have what seems to be Terry and Claudia presumably at the same place, the Valley of the Graves, back in Katolis, although for what reason is unknown. I could see them maybe coming back to Katolis to the Orphan Queen's grave, for some reason. I could also see the spell Claudia doing (hence the light hair and yellow on the chest) being a release spell for Aaravos — which asks when and how does she get the prison from Callum and co. — or some 'opening up the heavens' spell that'll come close to killing her; it could be something else entirely. It has to be something where Terry seems reluctant to let her go through with it and has probably tried to stop her (yes internal Terry turmoil!! Come back to me) and failed. I've kept meaning to make a post about it, but I could see Claudia post-6x01 come crawling back to Terry at Aaravos' beckoning ("He'll be a useful ally") and Terry realizing Claudia didn't come back to him out of love like he thought, but partially to use him because she's too far gone right now to see it and trying to keep her distance emotionally.

Which asks the question: we all thought this was maybe from the beginning of the season, with Viren or Claudia or something trying to get into Katolis. But what if it's closer to the end?

I posit this order of things for two reasons. The first is that we know in 6x01 Soren leaves to go look for Zubeia with Zym, reunites with Corvus at the Sunfire elves (6x02-ish?), Corvus and Ezran see Karim's forces at one point (the Teaser) with Zym helping Ez escape. We even have a shot of Soren leaving Katolis with Zym in the trailer.

The shot of Soren being bloody is clearly at Katolis on the battlements, so it seems that it has to be after the Sunfire battle has happened, and I doubt Janai and Amaya can win considering Sol Regem having his wings healed by the Sun seed, and it's S6 "everything goes wrong" time.

It could be that the Sunfire battle didn't end well (Karim as king or forces corrupted by Pharos-sleeper agent? Kim'Dael is free?) even with Aanya's help, and people have retreated to regroup in the stronghold that is Katolis... A stronghold that Claudia wants or needs to get to, for whatever reason. Soren would have good reason to look pissed. Maybe the big explosion from earlier on in the trailer is even just Claudia, making her presence known on her way into Katolis for some kind of scare-factor.

And, of course, Claudia could go to Katolis in the first half of the season (6x02—6x05) when bloodied and bruised Soren isn't there, and just Ezran in the rain. There could be some magical power-up, and then Ez has to flee and go to the Sunfire elves, the situation not much better. But this doesn't explain why we see Soren presumably at Katolis and looking as beat up as he does unless it's a shot from very near the end of the season.

And here's where we get to the Big Spoiler, imo, so please click away now if you don't want to see it!

Furthermore... we Know the Sunfire battle is happening near the End of the season (sometime 6x07 onwards) because there's no way Rayllum is leaving the Starscraper any earlier than the end of 6x06... and they're there, along with Astrid, at said battle.

Y'know this big shot of the Sunfire battle? Well, the trio is there in the upper red corner, when you zoom in.

There's Astrid (blue and white), Callum in between flapping his wings, and presumably Rayla with her borrowed wing bracelets from Kosmo (though I suppose it could just be Kosmo himself, but I doubt it). Why they're coming to the battle, I don't know — if Aaravos is out by this point, they might have bigger problems that they need to collect Ezran and co. for, and didn't realize the level of conflict had escalated — or somehow, we get through the Starscraper portion of the story without the prison breaking, though Callum is still presumably possessed (?) — and it is Claudia who releases Aaravos near the end of S6.

That could be possible, especially if Claudia, whose S6 plotline is a total mystery, comes sniffing around the Sunfire side of things and can steal the prison here and... take it back to Katolis because it needs to be? Orphan Queen had Aaravos' chest piece? Idk. But yeah, this is where things get kind of tricky, and if we did go this route I'd wonder why not let Claudia steal the pearl in 5x09 at all, but we'll have to see. It could work! My money is still on Callum possessed or otherwise having a hand in setting Aaravos free, but really anything could happen at this point

Just thirteen days to go!

[zuppizup]

So, of all the things we saw in the trailer, I have to say, the tag line is what has me the most intrigued.

The Cosmic Order?

This is the first we’ve heard of anything like that.

With Book Six being titled Stars, I've been thinking a lot about how often the subject of destiny is mentioned in the show.

Callum’s spell book gives us the word association between the Stars and destiny.

But what, if anything, has destiny got to do with the so called Cosmic Order?

Kosmo's speech in the recent trailer gives some hints as to what this order might concern.

Worlds one and myriad.

Why do the Celestial Elves wear those blindfolds? Are they capable of true insight into other timelines or realities? Are the blindfolds functional or merely aesthetic?

Are we dealing with a multiverse versus (for want of a better term) some sort of Sacred Timeline?

If that is the case, where does Aaravos fall in all of this?

And what might any of this have to do with the current cast?

The character most associated with questions of destiny is obviously Callum. He wars with himself regarding following a set path versus choosing his own fate during his dark magic coma. Rejecting this apparent destiny is part of the spark that allows him the understand primal magic. If the show had ended in arc one, this would have been the resolution of this issue, however, with arc two, we see the subject of destiny arise once more.

During his possession by Aaravos, the subject of destiny comes up once again, with Aaravos blithely dismissing any agency Callum might actually have. While you could assume this is a reference to Aaravos making assumptions based on Callum’s character, given the recent references to the Cosmic Order, an intriguing possibility presents itself.

Does Aaravos, a Startouch elf, have some kind of divine knowledge of Callum’s future?

Or a likely future?

If destiny truly is currently a true and real thing in the world of the Dragon Prince, is is possible to challenge this destiny?

To defy it?

Rayla challenges this assumed fate both to Callum, but also in her own mind, in Chasing Shadows.

She truly believes Callum is in control of his fate, his destiny. When she tells him to choose another path, she clearly believes he is capable of doing so.

Will this conviction be the drive Callum needs to challenge a destiny others decree is written?

Where do I think this is going?

One of the things I really enjoy about The Dragon Prince is how it keeps me guessing. Sure, we do get set up and pay off, but the Mystery of Aaravos is aplty named. We still don't really know much, if anything, about his motives and goals.

In thinking about this Cosmic Order, in conjunction with Aaravos disdain for those he deems arrogant, I began this whole thought process thinking Aaravos wanted to challenge singular destiny/fate, but looking at his belief the inevitability of Callum’s fate, I’m not so sure any more. Did Aaravos try to defy his supposed fate and suffer his downfall as a result?

Thankfully, we have just over a week until we find out more, but one thing I very much am expecting is for the subject of fate and destiny to become a major plot point over the final two seasons.

[bisexualenbyblueberry]

OKAY OKAY OKAY

EVERYTHING I, A DUMBASS, NOTICED

I watched it on Netflix several times and it says in the subtitles that the British person doing the beginning narration is named Kosmo. Do with that what you will.

In what Kosmo is saying there's obviously some "we are all stardust" symbolism, but what exactly does he mean by "a thousand eyes"? Could it have something to do with the fact that the celestial elves all hide their eyes? I'm honestly guessing that Kosmo might be the elf that's beside Astrid in some of the shots, the one with some orange hair? Also off topic but Astrid and possibly-Kosmo both have other hair colors peeking out from the navy, do we think that their culture dyes their hair to match the color of the night sky?

3. The pillars have something that looks very similar to Viren's staff in them. This enforces the theory that the celestial elves worship or are related to Aaravos in some way, because isn't it implied/confirmed that Aaravos gave Ziard that staff? Also, the pillars are all a slightly different shade, and I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be the arcanums (sun, moon, ocean and earth here)

4. Karim got his ring back, along with that new outfit

5. You can see Pyrrah and Zym approaching in the upper right corner here, along with something on the ground- the shadowpaw, maybe? (Also, sorry about the subtitles- I took these in a rush)

6. We finally found that salad mixer! Also, if the pillars are supposed to be representing the primal sources, why are there EIGHT of them? If you look close enough, the visible one in the center here is purple. I suppose this could have something to do with Aaravos giving humanity dark magic, if they do worship him? (Also, please note the lyric "the stars fall")

(Editing: I wrote seven. There are eight. I was counting in a rush. I apologize, I'm, once again, a dumbass)

7. WHY IS RUNAAN CORRUPTED? I'm praying to God this is a nightmare of some sort. The background is starry, so this is definitely something happening at the starscraper-how on earth could he have gotten corrupted??

(Editing: Like, the same corruption the banther had)

8. Okay, this may be something they edited for the trailer itself, but look at this!! Also, I do believe this is supposed to be Finnegrin's office. Maybe Callum has another meeting with Aaravos in his nightmares and shows up where he did dark magic the second time while Aaravos tries to convince him to join his side while showing him a corrupted version of himself- sort of like when he went into that first dark magic trance? And Aaravos is sort of smiling smugly in the next shot.

9. Okay, crying aside, WHY IS HE IN THE VALLEY OF THE LOST? Or whatever the place where Harrow and Sarai's statues are is called? Like, same steps, same pire, that is definitely the valley of the lost. He couldn't have ended up there by himself, could he? And if he went with Claudia to do whatever it is she wants to do now (I guess chase after Viren, maybe?) I guess he did forgive her for the whole almost-stabbing-him-and-leaving-him-on-the-beach debacle?

10. Honestly no idea about the context for this one, there's blood in his hair and I felt like pointing that out.

(Editing: Also those are the little brick towers that are on that bridge thing where Soren does lunges and talks to Viren and Callum and shit. So he is beat senseless, but also in Katolis?)

11. I'm pretty sure if you zoom in close enough, that's Claudia (or maybe Viren, not sure)- so Terry did indeed follow her to the valley of the lost. No idea what she's up to, but something bad enough to make Terry cry.

And that's it! God, I'm excited. the 26th can't come fast enough

[fwitolei]

The Dragon Prince Thoughts 6x04 - The Starscraper

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Spoilers under the cut

“Are those Draconic words?”

Honey I know you did not just read out loud unfamiliar words when you KNOW Draconic words are usually spell incantations and would almost definitely do something—

CLAUDIA YOU BETTER NOT KILL THAT KITTEN FOR PARTS

NU-UH—

“I’m so messed up, Terry. I’ve been stuck just staring, for over an hour now.”

I mean at least she’s self-aware that’s a good first step

She seriously needs therapy tho

Shit everyone in this show does lmao—

“Drop.”

LMAO that was cold

He ain’t taking no shit today

STELLA CAN’T YOU TELEPORT OR SOMETHING C’MON NOW

“I think…I need to see my dad again.”

Oh wow. I thought with Viren leaving that Claudia was going to go over the edge and just go all in. Freeing Aaravos, supporting his plans and whatnot, and honestly I thought she was going to be so gone in her grief and stuff that terry was going to join team zym to try and get her back. Seeing her take a step back and try to find the right path is surprising, but it’s good.

“How do you feel about spiders?”

Okay I seriously love Astrid she’s frickin amazing

I hope we see a lot of her in later seasons

Also KOSMO IS SP PRETTY ugh I’ve always loved vitiligo it’s absolutely beautiful—

“The Elder is the only living Celestial Elf who has ever removed his blindfold and let in the starlight.”

Wait so do Skywing elves have super long life spans or something? Do all elves live super long like that? I’ll have to look it up I forgot—

OOF THOSE LOOK LIKE VIREN’S STAFF

BUT ONE IS MISSING HAHA—

Wait didn’t the staff originally belong to Ziard? AND DIDN’T ZIARD GET IT FROM AARAVOS??? So much BACKSTORY

“I’m afraid the Novablade was given to a brave human girl hundreds of years ago.”

THE ORPHAN QUEEN IT’S GOTTA BE

CLAUDIA REALLY WAS ABOUT TO GET MAULED OMG

SHE WASN’T GONNA DO IT

“He’s back, Soren. Your father, he’s here.”

Soren’s really gonna have a rough time this season I already know it.

It’s gonna be baaaaaaddd

I MEAN LOOK AT HIS FACE

He’s already distressed poor babyyyy 😭

OKAY it’s really picking up now. I didn’t say anything about the “Chosen Two” stuff Callum and Rayla are dealing with cuz i didn’t really have any commentary on that part but I am excited to see what happens there. Claudia really surprised me with her internal conflict and stuff and I’m glad she’s thinking rationally now i hope it stays that way. I think it’s safe to say that from here on out this season is going to get extremely tense, so buckle up :'D

[raayllum]

So, thinking about Kosmo's Timeblind awakening and how he saw Callum's heart filled with darkness, but we know (and Rayla points out the next episode) that's not true. It keeps me scratching my head because Kosmo just says things as they are (at least at first) and he has no want or need to deceive Callum, especially after fulfilling the 'Chosen Two Prophecy'. Why do you think he sees such darkness in Callum? Beause I'm convinced this reason is coming back in S7.

I have a few thoughts about the Celestial elf prophecy / Kosmo being Timeblind.

According to Kosmo and Astrid, being timeblind means seeing the past, present, and future all as one. However, Kosmo very much thinks Callum is a good person and is aware he doesn't want this darkness there (hence why Kosmo and Astrid present him a way to fix it and are confident to take it, Astrid's concern over how downtrodden Callum is, and how Kosmo takes her advice and re-evaluates, using his timeblind ability to see how he should proceed with the pearl truth/lie to preserve Callum's spirit).

Now, the language used is pretty interchangeable (everyone refers to people's stars, hearts, and spirits all as synonymous aspects in the actual scenes) which doesn't help, I think, in terms of pinning down the specifics.

The way I saw it was similar to how the show explains it:

Callum. The darkness I saw when I looked at you, it was a darkness inside you. They're connected. Doing dark magic creates a hole in your spirit, a corrupted emptiness. That's how the Fallen Star controls you.

So Kosmo sees the past taint of dark magic the same way he sees the past impact of Rayla's act of mercy (sparing Marcos); I don't think he's deceiving Callum at all, just perceiving the hole in his spirit that was left from dark magic usage. In that way, the 'darkness' Kosmo is seeing has nothing to do with whether he's a good person (although Callum is concerned with it, and Rayla knows and reassures him on that basis) or not, but merely that his soul has been damaged by dark magic.

With Kosmo's assessment of Rayla's heart/spirit/etc. he doesn't predict the future outright, but Kosmo does seem to think that the ripples of her actions are still ongoing... so is the darkness he sees in Callum that too?

That's a little trickier to say. We know that being Timeblind means things like past, present, and future tend to get blurred together. Personally I think in the scene itself, Kosmo is only seeing the past and then presenting it verbally from the present. From a scene analysis standpoint, I do think it's more indicative of future events (Rayla will show Callum mercy again, allowing him to survive and change the world with primal magic and for the ripples to keep growing; the light in Kosmo's eyes being consumed by darkness = "the darkness will overwhelm and corrupt you" upon another dark magic use / Lissa seeing Viren as a monster framing parallel) but again one, as you noted, that is not true. Even if Callum uses dark magic again, that doesn't automatically make him a bad person or that his heart is full of darkness; he has light inside too, and will come back to himself. Rayla knows this, and he will too.

[raayllum]

I could have sworn that in an earlier season we were told, or it was heavily implied, that the gem in Viren's staff was a quasar diamond. When Lujanne was inspecting the crown, I was all, "one of them is fake, right?" and when we got confirmation I literally yelled out "I knew it!".

So I don't know if that fact came to me in a dream or if I read it somewhere else but I was really skeptical about the celestial elves having all three quasar diamonds because I could've sworn that Viren's staff had one of the diamonds.

My question is (as the wonderful analyst you are) do you think the celestial elves knew that one of the quasars was fake? Or did they not know and the Corona was "fixed" by an outside force (Aaravos or another Startouch elf maybe)?

Yes!! As soon as S4 introduced the concept of quasar diamonds it was like "there's one in that damn staff isn't there" (to also explain its general power scaling weirdness, god bless), having that pay off in S6 was infinitely rewarding, honestly, even if I also kinda expected it at that point.

Getting the uber-specific coupled "two of the quasar diamonds in the corona are legit but the third one was stolen like a thousand years ago by Aaravos and placed in the staff" + "Aaravos needs a quasar diamond to get out of his prison" (key to his heart theory I think of you fondly, right idea wrong parts) was WILD since I'd like, just published my chapter of fanon s6 detailing said theory of mine like, 2 weeks before the season aired.

So possibly you saw theories floating around about it? While I didn't think it'd translate to "one diamond = one soul body" I think myself and many others figured it'd be relevant that there was 3 diamonds (otherwise why have it be 3 and not 1) and the easiest obstacle to place in front was that one would be missing or wouldn't work. I don't think S4 itself implies that there's a diamond in the staff (I think s6 definitely does, though, especially in 6x06) but I do think it was a prevalent theory that the staff likely held one, so semi-fandom consensus previously? That might be the implication you're picking up on but idk, I could've missed something in S4!

I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the Celestial Elf knew or suspected, but given that that illusion looks and feels real, and the blindfolds are rarely removed... I could also see the guy not knowing (and I think everyone else is too young / it's been so long, and Aaravos is already very clever and talented at manipulation/deception). If the Elder did know, I don't think he'd really care at that point? The celestial elves seem to take the Stars' indifference to an extreme measure of non-interference (waiting around for the Chosen Two rather than trying to solve their problem themselves at all) so I don't think they'd... Care either way? At least he seemingly wouldn't (Kosmo and Astrid might be another story)

Given that Aaravos cites that he "plans for contingencies" and the staff seems to be a gift from him to Ziard (dark magic connections and all) I think we can assume that even if Aaravos didn't steal the staff himself, he's the reason it was taken + the diamond to boot, presumably at the same time. For what exact end, I don't think we've entirely seen it yet, but maybe in S7!