#look kim'dael and aaravos working together is all i need

[cinnamon-roll-whump]

*deranged cackling*

(slight spoilers for TDP season 5 trailer in the tags)

[beautifulterriblequeen]

hi and welcome, it's new theory time wunce agayne, with I, your host, BTQ, stitching things together that maybe fit perfectly or maybe have no business touching at all: you decide!

Today's post inspo began several days ago when I started playing the Xadia game and discovered some cool lore that I just could not stop thinking about, so here, below the cut for all the spoiler reasons, is a screenshot of what you can find in the game, and what I would love for it to mean!

Topic: How Aaravos was tricked into that mirror prison

Context: We all wonder what happened to Luna Tenebris, how she died, where she went, all that good stuff. This isn't about answering those questions. This is about what she did before she died, and why. If she died at all (yeah that's always the question with Moon beings innit)

If you've played the game you'll know the context for this screenshot:

Ethari says, "Someone with the power to influence the Blood Moon itself used blood magic to become... something else."

and, well,

Luna seems to have disappeared during a Blood Moon. But she might not have died, despite what everyone thinks- she might have just become something else.

Why would she do this?

I'm guessing it wasn't for fun. Something desperate must've been happening. Luna disappeared 300 years ago, hmm, what in the world could've been happening at that moment...?

No, we all know.

You remember the Jailer. She's a human. No arcanum at all. She may be a dark mage, or she may just be a trickster magician. Either way, her whole deal is that she thinks outside the Cosmic Order box - she thinks in ways even Aaravos can't. And human ideas in times of desperation can break a lot of conventions and even taboos - just look at the things Viren, Claudia, and Callum have done when they had to.

So if the Jailer is thinking about dark creative solutions as the only way to trick a godlike Star Touch elf, maybe one of those ways was to get the Archdragon of the Moon to turn into something else, with magic that worked outside the laws of the Moon Arcanum.

We've all seen what Kim'dael can do - her Moonshadow powers and her forbidden magics are available to her at any time, not just during a full moon. Now imagine that ability for a blood magic archdragon.

Yeah.

Why the Queen of the Dragons, though?

I think they needed that much power to combat Aaravos. No one else could've done it with the confidence to succeed. And then there's the whole Moon theme of sacrifice, which all the Moonshadow elves keep demonstrating so determinedly. Surely their dragon queen has the same sentiment, deep down.

This still doesn't tell us what she did. But if she could use her massive illusion/deception powers at any time, they could trap Aaravos in any instant of their choosing instead of luring him to the predictable full moon. And seeing what sort of shenanigans are possible in the game when Moon creatures step outside their boundaries, well, there is certainly a lot of room for surprise there. In several directions. And they'd only have to surprise Aaravos once.

(side note: I can see now why Amaya says Moonshadow elves are the worst kind lmfaooo PLAY THE GAME IT'S SO FUN)

This whole theory feels very Moonshadow because even though I have this central nugget that feels plausible, I still wonder about so much more. For instance, what happened to Luna after this? Where is she now? Did she willingly die to keep from turning into a monster? Is she stuck in the spinning water that bears her name on the map? Is she alive somewhere still, lurking? Is she- NO SPOIL ME I JUST STARTED THE GAME. Idk if she's in there or not, shh.

Anyway. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this lore since I saw it in the game. And there's so much more than this even in the small bits I've played so far! If you're into the lore of The Dragon Prince, you'll wanna get this game!

But, serious lore enjoyer face. This one's extremely fun to think about.

[raayllum]

What are your biggest predictions for season 5 and onwards? Plus, I love your page and have been a follower from the start!

Aww thank you so much!! It has been a very long, enjoyable journey together then! (5 years and counting <3) I always love seeing you in my notes and ask box, so thank you so much for sending this in!

See what makes TDP tricky is that they love to store things in earlier seasons that may come back like, the next season, or may only come back literally seasons later, and it's hard to tell when that'll happen. Right now I'm hoping that we can some development on the possession plot line and Aaravos' release in S5, and while I do think it's more likely Aaravos will get out in S5 still, I could see the merit in pushing that and the possession stuff into S6 for thematic stuff (destiny and stars and all that).

So I'll break it down into S5 specific plot lines / stuff maybe, versus just general S5-S6 predictions in general? AKA things that have leeway for mileage or impact to carry over for later

S5:

S5 specific episode outline estimates

Janai losing her kingdom either to her brother or to dark forces (monsters, Aaravos, etc). Mostly because of Karim's short story, Kim'Dael entering in S5 and presumably being interwoven

Terry having some doubts and Claudia becoming more desperate

More answers on where and what was happening to Rayla while she was gone, although not everything (like reserving her backstory with Stella for book 6 stars, maybe)

Viren and Claudia splintering off, with Viren and Soren beginning to not like, reconcile, but they'll be working together to try and bring Claudia home

Rayla and Callum patching things up further, with Rayla hopefully making some head way on her self worth / leaving vs staying arc (but I could see that being in S6 too, especially if her parents are getting out this season)

Soren continuing to step into a primary protector position for Ezran

Rayllum getting to have some more big talks

Zym and/or Callum destroying the pirate ship with lightning, as depicted in the 2nd promo picture

Rayla looking into how to free her fam from the coins (and possibly doing so), even if I think it'll take a big sacrifice of some kind (either needing Viren's staff and a dark magic spell, or something else we haven't quite seen before)

Aaravos gets out for his hot girl summer

Theme wise: more light-dark, drowning-water-shame motif(s), Rayla becoming more like Runaan (derogatory) and Claudia and Callum becoming more like Viren (happily & derogatory), Viren continues to parallel Callum and Soren (affectionate)

S5 / S6

Callum's being re-possessed for a second / final time and Rayla breaking him free of it

Callum connecting to the moon arcanum and/or essence of magic

Ezran tying to rally the other human kingdoms to help fight against Aaravos, either as a preventative measure before he's out, or once he is released, bringing in the new rulers of the Pentarchy as well as old ones like Ahling and Aanya

We Finally learn what the freaking cube is used for (and CHET accordingly in some manner, whether it's to free Aaravos or some kind of power-up tradeoff or whatever) so my suffering can end

Proper Leola lore drop / Aaravos (+ Orphan Queen?) backstory

Callum playing into Aaravos' hands regardless of what he does to try and stop it (bc we love a Greek Tragedy king)

Most of the other specific S5 predictions I have (Rayllum going on a solo trip to the Sunfire elves + Callum doing startouch research; Claudia's hair going nearly full white; crimson orchids relating to Janai and Amaya) are either things that have already confirmed or we'll simply just have to flat out wait and see.

Like S5 could do a lot of interesting things if certain stuff is shuffled, i.e. moon fam getting out but not quite Aaravos could work (esp given Runaan's lotus is underwater, etc) leaving more stuff for S6 - or they could all get out, and it'd still work; if the possession plot line doesn't come back in S5 (or at least not to the point of being resolved, it could easily be a cliffhanger type of thing) and we learn Rayla did kill someone during the timeskip (hence her change in attitude) or she kills someone now, thus setting up that she could very well take Callum up on his request in S6? I think it'd all really, really work. Just depends on how much setup and pay off and dread / dramatic irony they wanna do with things before we get resolutions or to next stages, the ordering of stuff, etc.

Either way it's going to be an absolutely wild ride and I cannot wait to cry