#moonshadow elves

[kradogsrats]

I am Near, I am Here: Rayla, the Moon, and Love as Presence

I was originally going to add this to @raayllum's post about Rayla's lullaby and Ethari but then the number of screenshots I was taking before I even started to write indicated that it had gotten out of hand.

Rayla's lullaby ties in with a lot of stuff going on in s6, most of them related to her relationship with Callum, which has its last barriers broken down and leaves their bond stronger than ever. Surely so strong that nothing in s7 could possibly challenge it. Most of Rayla's life has been defined by absence—the absence of her parents, her own forced absence from her community, her chosen absence from Callum. The lullaby, however, affirms that even when the moon appears to be absent, it is still there, and has been all along.

This is an interesting facet of the Moon arcanum, which is usually focused on certain dualities—life and death, reality and illusion, presence and absence—but also on the permeable borders between them, on change and cycles between those states.

We also actually have a window into Rayla's own understanding of the Moon arcanum—her first transformation into Moonshadow form in Bloodmoon Huntress. Look, just... bear with me, okay?

It's explicit that not all Moonshadow elves can achieve Moonshadow form, and that for most it takes months or years of meditation and training. I read this as that, while Moonshadow elves are born with an innate connection to the Moon primal, attaining Moonshadow form requires developing a deeper understanding of its arcanum. Runaan describes it as being about the balance of life and death:

Rayla can't reach Runaan's understanding of the Moon arcanum, which is somewhat hilariously about recognizing yourself in your enemy (something Rayla winds up being very good at) and understanding why you have to kill them, anyway (something Rayla winds up being very bad at).

What does work for her to achieve Moonshadow form at a terrifyingly young age is focusing on her wingaling, and a statement from Ethari:

Both are about love as being present—something Rayla is conflicted about in her parents' absence. The wingaling represents a promise that Ethari and Runaan will always come for her when she's in need. Ethari's statement is originally made in the context of explaining that Runaan's devotion to his people may require him to make great sacrifices, but that devotion can also be the smallest act of presence, and both are necessary. Her understanding of the Moon arcanum is about that presence—the moon that is always there, even at times when there is no light.

As Rayla is struggles with why her parents Runaan leaves those he loves to risk his life for others, Ethari explains that he and Runaan both know he may never come back, and that is something Ethari has to accept because Runaan can't be separated from that devotion and duty when it comes to loving him. What's missing from the conversation is acknowledgement of the trust and commitment that underpins that acceptance—Ethari's trust that Runaan will come back, and Runaan's commitment to do so.

The moon is there even when it has waned to invisibility, but it goes unstated that it also always waxes back to full. You can trust that it's there when it can't be seen, and you can trust that its light is coming back. You can trust that it's there when it can't be seen because you can trust that its light is coming back.

I am near, the lullaby says. I will be with you again soon. Until then, remember that my love is always here.

That's an understanding that Rayla crucially doesn't have when she leaves. In Dear Callum, she never once promises or even suggests to Callum that she will come back to him, even if she finds Viren. The closest she gets is the lukewarm:

I wish I could say that we will see each other again, but I don’t know if we will. I hope so.

So not only is she shattering the trust Callum had in her by abandoning him after she told him they would stay together, she won't even offer any real reassurance that she will return. Because she doesn't really think she will. Her only commitment to keep him safe, and as long as being separated accomplishes that, she will stay away. How is he supposed to accept that? What reason could he ever have to believe that she and her love are there, even when out of sight?

And yes, all of this does stem from things she learned from Runaan—Mr. "I do what I must so those I love don't have to"—but the key difference is that when push comes to shove, Runaan understands something else:

The same thing that Tiadrin and Lain did:

And that Amaya does:

That love is ultimately strengthened through presence, and through presence it strengthens us, in turn. When we open ourselves to strengthen those we love and trust them to strengthen us, then our love cannot be diminished by distance or absence.

Somewhere between Bloodmoon Huntress and s1, Rayla loses sight of that, and she doesn't rediscover it until confronted by Amaya over how her leaving harmed Callum—and how it harmed Rayla herself. Amaya isn't the first to tell her how she hurt Callum, but she's the first one to really convey to Rayla that keeping her secrets and burdens from Callum isn't sparing him from their weight and pain, only weakening her. It has always weakened her. Until she turns that around, she is denying both of them their best selves—her as the light that will bring him out of any darkness, him as the anchor that will bring her home from any distance.

The end of s6 beautifully shows the culmination of all Rayla has learned in the slow return of her relationship with Callum, and to top it off, she gets to demonstrate it to Runaan. (Since Callum already knows.)

Trapped in the In-Between, Runaan is consumed by guilt and self-loathing—he fights Rayla's attempts to guide him back to life because he doesn't believe he deserves to go back. He's too ashamed to want to go back. The way Rayla brings him back is twofold:

She reminds him of his promise to Ethari—his promise to return. She made no promise to return to Callum when she left. She probably wanted to, but she believed that the sacrifices that might be demanded of her would be more important. It would at least be out of the question to return before finding Viren, but in the end that's what she does—she returns to Callum, even though she must do it defeated, ashamed, and alone.

She also tells him that she needs him. She needs her father. She's weaker with him not there for her. When she left Callum, she genuinely believed that things would be better that way. He'd be better off safely away from whatever danger her search brought her, and making sacrifices for the people she loves—taking on difficulty and danger alone, so they don't have to—has always been her duty. She's spent three seasons re-learning the strength she has with Callum, now it's time for her to do the same with Runaan.

Rayla is very different now than she was the last time they met, and Runaan—like Callum—is going to finally see the truth of her: that she was never meant to be an assassin, but not because of failure or weakness. She was always meant to be a hero.

[halyasgirl]

This is just my personal reading, but I think Ethari is a very interesting, and morally greyer, character than he's generally perceived as.

He's kinder than his husband, gentler, more open-minded; and he holds the exact same values that led Runaan to try and murder a child.

He knows what Runaan does is evil. He knows it takes a toll on him, on their marriage. But he believes it is necessary evil, and comforts Runaan with that when his husband shows the slightest flicker of self-awareness some doubts.

Runaan and Ethari once again manage to demonstrate they are deeply, movingly in love, while simultaneously revealing some pretty questionable cultural values. This isn't a knee-jerk “stand by your man,” either. It's not an accident they're so well-matched despite their different personalities; Ethari believes in this just as much as Runaan.

He made Runaan beautiful, deadly weapons Runaan used to kill other people. He Ghosted 3/4 of his family. He told his 15-year-old daughter her father's blood was on her hands, which f*cked her up at least as much as the Ghosting.

However, I don’t want to judge him too harshly. I’d only be so rational days after living with the knowledge that my husband was likely tortured to death, and I think this is just as much an indictment of Moonshadow society as it is of Ethari personally. I think he deeply regrets wronging his family, and I think he’ll be among the first of the Moonshadows to denounce Ghosting, publicly, to make amends for the times he did not. I think he’ll be among the first to realize the damage they have done, and urge them to make it right.

Ethari is kind and sweet and gentle. But his society is not, and does not encourage this, especially in dark times.

[seraphimhalo]

Ive been rewatching the dragon prince (again...), so here's my favorite character Rayla🌙✨️

[lithuiwen2016]

IT IS DONE!!

The whole "I'm your daughter" scene really hit me, and I was inspired by the Reunion hug at the end of Tangled.

Please give us this Reunion in Season 7!

[venice-1987]

I find it interesting how the moonshadow elves are so quick to label someone as a deserter in a failed mission. Rayla's lotus stayed floating, but who is to say that she was not captured (and who's to say that Runaan was not also considered a deserter in the days spent in the dungeon). Rayla also thought her parents had run, when there must have been evidence of a fight. Were her people so quick to teach her that they had run? Do the moonshadow elves see being captured as just as bad as leaving the mission entirely?

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

If I had a nickle for every time Rayla lost her parents, I have three nickles. Which isn't a lot but it's weird sad that it happened three times.

And Rayla actually has three nickles for that

[uwudonoodle]

Rayla had a really terrible day, and she found a small way to cheer herself up a little by mildly torturing Callum.

[pennyinthesea]

Okay wait I just had an amazing idea. So you know how Moonshadow elves' hair is pure white right? So theoretically, even if they had white hairs, you wouldn't be able to see it. What if the Moonshadow equivalent of white hairs are black hairs, since it goes from full moon to new moon. Ha im so smart >:)

[its-kapi-wara]

POV - "You and your homie are both Moonshadow Elves living in Silvergrove, and you have just seen that there's two metal lotuses floating in the pool instead of just one:"

[m4rs-ex3]

something about the fact that ghosting is "a unanimous community decision that has to be discussed by all members of the silvergrove and is not taken lightly." every single elf in the community committed to symbolically killing two loving parents for a supposed moment of shame. including rayla. every single elf in the community committed to symbolically killing a child, for making it out alive. for what they so momentously assumed was abandoning ship. they destroyed the life of a child for not being willing to die.

tiadrin and lain were--to reiterate--loving parents. they were brave enough to dedicate their lives to protecting the future of xadia. i'm sure everyone admired and honored them greatly. then, everyone (symbolically) ended their lives. their best friends, whom they trusted enough to leave their child with them. their own daughter, who loved them, and who spent years of her life looking up to them--revering them to the point where she could validate their decision.

rayla was 15. rayla was endlessly hardworking, achieving, mature, kind, heroic, brave, resilient, and noble. rayla went out of her way to become an assassin, a role in the silvergrove highly respected for their understanding and handling of life and death. rayla did everything she could to be as valiant as her parents. rayla betrayed her own parents, and did everything she could to be nothing like them. rayla was everything the silvergrove could ask for. and rayla made one presumed blunder, and she had the gall to live on.

rayla was 15 when her community, her entire world, abominated her for "cowardice." her honorary father. grief-stricken over the love of his life, but nonetheless having taken her in, shown her the utmost kindness and sensitivity, and raised her for half a decade, at the very least.

i am normal. wdym rayla has trauma? wdym rayla is incredible for having come this far? wdym rayla doesn't deserve to lose everything she has left for what she good-intentional-ly did when she was as fractured a person as you can be? wdym tdp is really good at building cultures with nuance? wdym

[oldman-3]

I don’t know if I’m just reading into this to much but

In the end credits they are the only two characters that have them as constellation 

But Aarovos makes sense he’s a star-touch elf

But Rayla a “moonshadow elf” this is feeding my theory that she has startouch blood in her

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Late night thoughts about ghosting.

We don't actually know how far ghosting extends. We've only gotten two examples of a living ghosted elf meeting an elf who ghosted them, and they both happened in the village where the ghost ritual took place. Ethari with Rayla in the show, and Elder Gwenyn of the Gloaming Glade with Feathershawl in ToX.

In both cases, the ghosted elf remained invisible and inaudible to the ones who ghosted them.

Looking closely at other examples doesn't actually tell us much. We don't know for sure whether Rayla ghosted her parents along with the Silvergrove, but if Ethari couldn't get out of ghosting Rayla, then Rayla probably couldn't get out of ghosting her parents, either.

She could see art Callum drew of them, though, and she could see their faces on the coins.

Runaan ghosted his friends, and he could see their faces on the coins too.

There's a common assumption that this is possible because the ghosting spell only works inside the village where the ritual was done. But we don't actually know that for sure. We've never seen a ghoster and ghostee interact in person outside their relevant village.

I've a theory about how ghosting works. It's similar to the way assassins seem to track their targets: they both sense hearts. The powerhouse of the physical body. Not a spirit, not a consciousness, but the manifestation of life itself - one of the things most precious to Moonshadow elves.

If a Moonshadow assassin can learn to track a specific heartbeat for mission reasons, then it can be located for ghost reasons too. Not to track it, but the opposite: to block it out entirely. Their magically innate sense of life will not be able to pick up on that one heart unless the spell is reversed.

There are pros and cons to limiting this effect to a single village, and to making it universal. But I don't see Rayla being able to see her parents in the world beyond life and death as an indication of either option, since she was seeing their souls, not any physical manifestation of them.

All this to say, I do not know if Ethari will be able to see Rayla until the ghosting spell is lifted, no matter where he meets her. If he encounters Callum and Zym outside the Silvergrove before the ghosting is lifted, he may be able to see them. It's extra angsty if not, though - how cruel to forever hide a person from your sight simply for allying with a Ghost for one dance!

I want Ethari to be able to see her and give her the biggest hug ever. But the inherent angst in Runaan looking at Ethari and realizing his husband ghosted their daughter and needs Runaan to pass messages for him is so tasty I want to eat it with my bare hands.

My man is not immune to the horrible consequences of his actions any more than anyone else in this show.

Let 👏 Ethari 👏 fuck👏 up👏

[kradogsrats]

okay

OKAY

so Lujanne stated that the Moonhenge, the Moon Nexus equivalent of the Sunforge was destroyed to prevent it from falling into human hands after Xadia was split, right? But WHAT IF it was actually because Aaravos attempted to corrupt/consume it the way he does the Sunforge, and it was him they had to protect it from?

If this was truly when Xadia was split, he would have to not have gotten caught in order to keep up his charade for another 700 years... but pretty much everything else Lujanne said has been false, so what if it was later? What if that's what killed Luna Tenebris, or where she was killed? What if the Orphan Queen became involved because the Moon Nexus is literally in what was by then Katolis?

[rayofillumination]

wishing the happiest of birthdays to the light of my life <3

[lithuiwen2016]

AND ITS DONE!!!!

Once again, these were inspired by the lovely fanfic, Rising Moon, written by @beautifulterriblequeen . Please go give it a read!

I had so much fun adding the effects for Historia Viventum, this was just a super fun project for me.

[thrandilf]

Flower pond in Xadia game

Cries