#once you really think about callum chosing to do dark magic it was to save rayla but it was to save all of them in the end

[carebooks]

i made a video on Callum from the 5x08 episode. you know the one. paired with Taylor Swift’s illicit affairs based on this post:

hope ya’ll like it✨✨ @gender-cloud

[carebooks]

so revisiting your post i realized you wrote ‘edit’ and probably meant like a gif edit or even a youtube short… still! i hope ya’ll like what i made✨✨

Somebody please make an edit of THAT scene at the end of ep8 with illicit affairs PLEASE

[raayllum]

Anyway I did my 2nd watch of the season after sleeping / with the end in mind and it totally worked for me, especially with the understanding that there is 30% of the story left (and thereby Callum and Rayla's arcs aren't Over and room for more growth/plot had to be left open) and watching with the ending in mind.

I'm not upset that this is where Arc 2 ends, in some ways because it's sort of like season 2 of Avatar where Zuko doesn't join the Gaang in their 2nd arc (book two) because from a character basis he really wasn't Ready to do that / they had more story to tell, so I don't think with what they're doing it would've made sense to rush it in TDP. Nor do I think any of the previous set up for other outcomes (i.e. possession fight, salvation, etc) were wasted. Merely that TDP likes to do layer upon layer, and also have foreshadowing come back once (so you think you're safe) and then twice. I also don't think that Arc 2 resolved all the threads (i.e. Rayllum and greater good conflict / Aaravos & Callum) and ended them, and instead nudged them forwards in interesting ways for continued future exploration. I'll probably write more about the specifics later if this post doesn't get unwieldy or condensed with them for now.

In the meantime, these were things that I found really clicked for me on my 2nd watch through for S7 and with Arc 2 in general:

1) Arc 2's overarching focus on the Archdragons / the finale resolution with it.

We had a focus every season on at least one of the archdragons, with Zubeia (S4-S7), Luna Tenebris mentions (S4-S6), Rex Igenous (S4), Domina Profundis (S5), Sol Regem (S5-S6), and Avizandum mentions (S4-S5).

With that in mind, while I'm sure Aaravos' intentions was for no one to know of his plans ahead of time (7x01)... his actions also led to Callum and co. making connections to all the other Archdragons that they could pull on to bring everyone back to Lux Aurea, and Aaravos could destroy them (with no real consequence to himself, as his spirit was now free and his body could reform), taking a massive swing at the Cosmic Council's grand order that'd been enforced by the archdragons. He said the elves and dragons would fall hard... and now the dragons have, with the Cosmic Council being next (and thinking that the real focus on the Cosmic Council would be predominantly in arc 3 was, I believe, the general fandom consensus anyway).

AARAVOS: Now this is familiar, isn't it? Hasn't this all happened before? Arrogant fools. Again and again you make the same mistakes. (7x09)

Suitably, though, the Archdragons sacrifice themselves to protect all of Xadia, making amends for past / previous actions in their own way (narratively). They upheld the Cosmic Order, and then chose to break it.

Now, Aaravos will be returning to a world where there are no archdragons, and the only thing that can destroy his mortal form again would be the Nova Blade or some dark magic spell to take his spirit (but more on that later).

This also caps off S7 being about the destruction caused by one Archdragon (Sol Regem) and then the salvation through sacrifice from the other four as the finale. It comes full circle, but without repeating the cycle.

It also seems like the Nova Blade hasn't actually ever been used, as Aaravos states in 7x07:

She could have used the blade to destroy me, but chose instead to help imprison me. To spare me.

Or if it has, it still has a massive consequence that Zubeia is familiar with (the wielderdies if it's used to kill someone?), given that she is worried when Zym (and Ez wielding the sword) appears, intending to use it:

I'll also talk a bit more about why I think Aaravos designed 7x09 to be a win-win scenario for him no matter what when I get to Callum's section, but in the meantime...

2) Rayla's arc

Listen, y'all know I wanted Rayla to save Callum, like a lot, and thought there was a good chance she would if he was possessed again. However, neither of those things happened (also circumstances were crazy) and it was built up throughout the seasons, as well as in S7:

RAYLA: We can't save everyone, Soren. There's too much at stake. (4x05) RAYLA: But I can't help you yet... because right now, the world needs me. Callum and Ezran need me. There's a great evil returning to Xadia and we have to stop it, at any cost. (5x01) RAYLA: It hurts me to know they're trapped like this. It's agonizing. But our mission comes first. The world is in danger, and you can trust me to stay focused. (5x04) RAYLA: No, Callum. I want to help my parents, but I won't let it bias me. (6x01)

The season 7 setup is most prominently seen in S7 during Rayla's trial, in which she emphasizes that the assassins' deaths were not in vain due to the subsequent impact on the world as a whole, and in how their assassin pledges were upheld in their own way:

Life is precious. life is valuable. We take it, but we do not take it lightly. All of your lives were taken. But your sacrifices, they weren't for nothing. Callisto, you pledged your breath for freedom and we freed ourselves from an awful, pointless war. Andromeda, you pledged your eyes for truth. And we found the truth, a truth that changed the world. Skor, you pledged your strength for honour, and now humans and elves have finally begun to treat each other with honour again. And... Ram. You pledged your blood for justice. But what is justice? The king died that night. A life for a life. Is that justice? How much suffering is enough to paid for the mistakes we've made? I don't have the answers. But I'll carry you with me, all of you, forever.

So it made sense for her assassin oath to come back in some manner ("My heart for Xadia"). She had to honour her team's sacrifices by being willing to make her own (killing Callum and herself by symbolic extension), partially because her and Callum's "ride or die" dynamic had become a "ride and die" dynamic": this was his plan and his choice, and the alternative was to let him succumb to a fate worse than death AND to let Aaravos destroy the world through his hands.

And I get why this feels kind of backwards, because on the one hand, it seems like Rayla made a lot of progress, even questioning the validity of her own suffering for mistakes she / choices others have made, which is Huge!

And yet she's willing to suffer, and sacrifice Callum. The paying the price motif is even brought back in Aaravos' dialogue with the archdragons ("And what will your sacrifices buy?"). So what gives?

Well, I think in a lot of ways Arc 2 was Rayla learning to accept and ask for help (S5-S6), that she wasn't alone (S4, S7), and working to come back every time she leaves (S4) but... still being prepared to leave:

and still with sharing or acknowledging her own burdens not being her instinct.

There's a reason we all went "Rayla refusing to sacrifice Callum would be Character Development" after all. I also think it's quasi-similar to Rayla leaving after S3. She had a lot of opportunities to learn that she didn't have to do everything alone in arc 1, but those lessons didn't stick; in a similar fashion, Rayla had opportunities throughout arc 2 to learn that she doesn't always have to sacrifice something, but with Callum being increasingly sacrificial... Those lessons were there, but didn't stick. The other side of her sacrifice arc is not resolved.

With that in mind, I wanna talk about our favourite dorky mage, and then maybe arc 3.

3) Aaravos' Grand Plan & Callum's Corruption

This is a little hard to parse out just because we don't know what Aaravos' next step / goal was in bringing about Eternal Night (presumably to get the attention of the Cosmic Council, but who knows). That said, a few things I'm chewing on:

Aaravos, as previously discussed, found the most effective way to rid the world of (presumably) every Archdragon other than Zym

Aaravos, for whatever reason, wanted Ezran to have the Nova Blade, which Aanya even sets up for us in 7x09

Aaravos knew all along that Callum would turn to dark magic to take him down.

AARAVOS: Very soon, your brother will embrace dark magic to save those he loves. EZRAN: I suppose you've seen that written in the stars? AARAVOS: I have seen it written in his eyes. (7x07)

Furthermore, he wanted to have Callum be corrupted again, gave him the apple in 7x01 as the first attempt. The apple corruption was lampshaded with "Is there anything I can do to help?" + identity/name motif. Aaravos was actively goading him into dark magic in 7x09, even when he knew there was an assassin ready to kill Callum (Runaan), and smiling even when Callum began the spell (once Rayla had stepped in).

As of S7, Callum has been called (and not disputed being at least partially) a dark mage, used Viren's staff and now has it in his possession (and we still don't know why it was never supposed to be used again), and has a white streak. The willingness to go that far "has always been a part of" him and is now permanently reflected in his character design.

Secondly, we know that Aaravos' game with his pawns is not over, due to the secrets of the cube being ongoing (but confirmation in 7x09 that it indeed points towards Elarion) and due to framing with Claudia.

While I did consider that maybe Callum's pawn intro imagery had come back around in the conversation in 7x06 featuring the cube so heavily (!!) and then Callum choosing to do dark magic to stop Aaravos and save everyone as his destiny ("The one I write myself")... He's still corrupted, Aaravos is still going to come back in 7 years with Callum as a vessel, and the Key to the Book (metaphorically to literally the Book of Destiny) is still unresolved.

TLDR; think about how much it'd Hurt in a Good Way for Callum and Rayla to both know she would've sacrificed him for the greater good (fulfilling her end of foreshadowing from 6x03) only to be smacked in the face that Callum refuses to sacrifice her in Arc 3 with the other side of his ("if you ever have to choose between me and the greater good...").

The fact that the Cube canonically points towards Elarion, which feature stories about "a fair exchange of beloved for beloved" after a season in which Aaravos mandates "Your beloved is an assassin who cannot kill" is just the cherry on top. It also means that both Callum and Rayla have accordingly hit the 50-75% wavelength of their arc(s), with us now having a definitive basis for her being willing to that sets up more clearly her being not willing to in the future, the circumstances we'd need for a possession fight re-established, and the cube beat still on the table because the cube itself is still waiting to be plot relevant.

Rayla always follows Callum's lead ("Say the word and I'll go back into that tower with you") and reflects him ("Who told you that?" "You did") and the lessons he teaches her about love. He'll pave the way, and she'll follow, and then their arcs will come to a close.

We just had to get here first.

Conclusion??

Anyway I hope you enjoyed, I want to do a bigger Arc 3 predictions post (the ruby project, Evrkynd, Claudia, Harrow, etc.) sometime soon, but I hope in the meantime this brought some potentially needed assurance, excitement, or another perspective to consider.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

If she saved him: a Runaan and Rayla headcanon scene

Runaan is freed from the coin but he’s still set in his ways

he still thinks he can bring Rayla around to his views

Ethari is thrilled to have him back but increasingly disturbed by his stubborn inability to adapt

Runaan is sent out on another mission, and he doesn’t even think twice about what’ll happen if he succeeds, let alone what’ll probably happen if he fails

Ethari is devastated

Rayla is furious with him because she’s had more time to find herself, and she’s aligned even more with her parents’ attitude and with Callum now

she ends up at the place he’s headed to--a big conflict with many sides, which she and Callum are trying to get to agree without any bloodshed, and she finds him before he can strike

they have it out, and Rayla speaks her heart to him for the first time in her life

he is Not Prepared

she talks about how Runaan is hurting Ethari--again--how death doesn’t solve anything and causes more trouble, how he’s never going to end the war this way, how he’s going to die hurting everyone on every side, how his way doesn’t apply anymore and needs to stop

he’s just overwhelmed by her emotional outpouring, she’s never done that before and he’s trying to process but everything she says clashes with who he is, and he’s just kind of baffled--an assassin is Who He Is, not just What He Does

he tries explaining himself but she says he’s only saying the same things over and over, it’s time to move forward or we’ll be stuck in the same cycle forever

Runaan’s like but that’s a good thing, that’s the Moonshadow way

and Rayla says No it’s not, and you know it, you spared my life, I know you did, you chose to let me live, you didn’t have to. You changed the rules out of love, Runaan, I know you can change yourself, too

he’s really not ready for that kind of idea, like a middle aged dude who just got downsized and has no other skills, what would he even do, the prospect of not being an assassin is scary

Rayla has her own job to do though, that’s why she’s here, so she Moonshadows up and tells him exactly what she came to do, and that she’ll probably die doing it if she has to do it alone

this was her plan all along, she’s betting on Runaan’s love for her as the one way to save him from his dark ways

some crazy battle that she knew was coming breaks out in the distance, monsters, magic, all kinds of fun explosions and stuff, and she looks at him one last time

“If I don’t come back, Runaan...” and this is usually where Moonshadows give some kind of practical order, right, but no, she’s changing that up as well, “Thanks for raising me the best way you knew how. I love you.”

and she yeets herself into battle with some epic leap that’s a mirror of how he fights, he taught her that move, and he’s always gonna be a part of her, and she did that on purpose too

Runaan runs after her for a few steps, calling her name, but she’s off into the fight, and he just stares, breathless, feeling his world come apart

one dramatic tear, gotta do it

and then he leaps after her, just like Callum did, because she’s a hero, because she’s Rayla, and that’s what she does

she saves people

Runaan and Rayla fight side by side, and he does save her once, but she saves him too, and they never speak about what everything means, but they both know

he’s never going back now, he finally chose the light

they just smile all knowingly at each other, and he pulls her in for a hug and kisses her hair

and she leans into it so much

and then she says, “So now that you’re not going to be killing people, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you about Callum and me...”

you can hear his “RAYLA” all the way across the valley

[lily-lilou]

My understanding and analysis of the magical system in The Dragon Prince.  Part 1 - my first thoughts on it - primal and dark magic aren’t the only kind of magic.

Ok, I promised to several people I would post this today so there it is! (@beautifulterriblequeen​, @kotikala​, I’m sorry I don’t have all the account... Julia, mama and the others ;_;) 

It’s long (so I separated it in two post... but it will be long anyway, especially the second one. So I wish you a lot of courage to go through this until the end...) but it’s because it’s the result of some month of searching and digging. It’s still not complete, however. But if you have some time to lose and in love with this world, maybe this theory (and I insist, it’s a theory, maybe I’m totally wrong) will interest you:

Anyway, let’s just begin! 

You can see the magical system in TDP like a diamond with several facets: we saw some of them, and some of us dug to find more.

For me, this theory _ the idea that the magical system in TDP is wider than what we saw_ started from a simple thing in Callum’s spellsbook, the “secret” we can find in the ASL section, the one Sarai repeated when she was alive.

My first reaction was “greeeeaaat! Another show where “love is magic. Yaay! =_=’”

Okay, "love" is an important theme on the dragon prince, yes. But magic ?

But let’s be honest: I don't think they would have placed something like this in the book for nothing. After all, we have to admit that, in this show, NOTHiNG is ever done simply. So maybe this time “love is magic” would be more elaborate than usual?

We do know that the first thing the creators talked about when they started to imagine this world, was the magical system. Not the characters, not the creatures or landscape or anything, but the magical system.

And what do we have so far? Primal magic and dark magic. Is it really that simple? I had to think it through!

1. My first thoughts about dark magic:

Thinking about this above led me to think about dark magic, about how it's "wrong", like Callum said. That point have already been discussed by many of us and a lot disagree, it's too easy to classified it as "wrong" like it’s stated in the show, because the reason you had to use it can be understandable.

Only... the creator of the show have NEVER chose easy/simple road in writing. So why just put dark magic as "wrong" without explanations? Maybe there's something more here too?

I understood dark magic as bad, not for the reason, but for the concept, about what it represents: it's taking (life, will) without asking. It's stealing, it's killing, no matter your excuse. You can invoke righteousness, justice, revenge, self-defence, strengh, power and all, the result is always the same: death. And as you kill to achieve your goal, you pay a heavy price. It staint you, it... "take" something for you (like it was implied in several interview and even in the book, but we’ll talk about this later). (ok, nothing new, here)

But you must have noticed this: those aren't only related to dark magic. It's darkness and everyone can do it. Sol Regem did it, Runaan did it, Harrow did it. They chose to kill and they tainted themselves too, even if it's not in the way pure dark magic does.

So you have the "dark" side with death and all, and opposed to this, the "white" one. Life, forgiveness. love. And all the people have to choose between those white and black sides, between life and death. Only the area they moved in to make their choices is grey. It's the result who, in the end, is more black or white than grey _ but sometimes still a little grey_.

 So, it’s absolutely interesting (hehe… hem^^’) but these thoughts are the ground of the theories and analysis that will now follow in this post and the next one!!!!

 2. The “reward theory”

As said by Sarai in the image below : "love is magic".

 My first question then, was: “…But what is “magic”?” Not Primal magic or Dark magic. Just… Magic. My first thought was: magic is life. Or at least, it should be. Remember the human land deprived of magic who was dying? And look at Primal magic, it’s all life-related at some point. So, yeah, Magic is life!

And so, if magic is life and love is magic, doesn’t this mean that love is life, too?

If that's true, then maybe the opposite is true too? Hate is death.

Why not, after all?! If magic is love, and life… how could dark magic, who's litterally death, came from the same source? How could dark magic… be Magic at all if they’re opposite to each other?

And more importantly : where is this "magical love" in the magic system here ? It's not primal magic, it's not dark magic, but it is magic.

From that point, I assumed Magic is wider than Humans and Xadians (and us, humble fans, obviously) know. It's probably something more... powerful, a more primal form of magic. More subtle but powerful.

Why subtle?

This is the first thing I noticed in the show, the impressive succession of miracles, of “what if” who went just right. “What if Callum left to go to Rayla just one minute later at the storm spire?”, “What if Ethari didn’t saw Rayla in the reflection?”, “what if Viren hadn’t captured Lain and Tiadrin, letting no traces behind so people wouldn’t misinterpret what happened?”, “What if Marcos hadn’t been here?”, “what if Runaan had send someone else to kill him?”, what if…

It gave me the impression that there’s something more. Is it Destiny? Is it something else? Someone? Anything?

But that’s the first layer. There’s another one:

In this show, it's as if every action who implied a choice about doing the right thing, about choosing life over death, love over hate or the opposite, is somehow... repaid? Rewarded?

By... Magic itself? Destiny again? Fate? the world? Some unknown entity? by Magic who is an entity? Why not? “If magic is life, if she brings life to everything, how could she not be alive?”... or something like that. Anyway!

Maybe it’s this, or maybe you’re rewarded by the side you choose?

 In both case, when you chose life or love, then you will live. You chose death or hate, then you will die. (I am putting thing in an extreme way, I know... ^^)

In other words, when you choose life/love or death/hate, your act is related to magic. but not the magic we saw until now. It's something else. Just like Dark magic is not Primal magic.

 So okay, that’s nice once again, but what could prove it? 

Well, just take a look at this:

You use dark magic, it stains you. It "takes" something from you, empties you as if the world itself can't allow you to make others beeing to pay for the choice you made. 

 Why not? but that's general, let's see more concrete exemples (and my headcanon interpretations) when our characters did the "right" or "wrong" thing:

Zym's egg falls in the frozen lake and Ezran risks his life to save him => Ez (can already talk to animals, yes) got an unusual, powerful bond with our little dragon, so strong the little dragon do the exact same things as him while sleeping, so strong he can see through his eyes and talk with him even when they're separated. As if his self-sacrificing act had been rewarded: you choose to risk your life to save him ? then you two will be linked even strongly than before.

Rayla spares Marcos => our lad is the first one to rebel against Viren, act who instill courage in others who follow him. Marco became a part to the rebellion and was one of those who rallied Duren's forces (I guess) : you spare an innocent even if he was your enemy? Then he will become your ally.

Callum breaks his primal stone to save Zym and, by this, accepts the idea of returning to a "I'm nobody" state. Then he uses dark magic but choose to completely reject it and end up with the sky arcanum. You sacrifice your magic, who was important to you to save a life (and the world btw) ? then you made the choice to use a magic meant to kill but in the end decided to not go on that path ? then you will retrieve what you sacrificed in the first place, in an even stronger way.

Amaya save Janai when she could have killed her, her enemy, Janai end up fighting with her. 

Same for Janai, she saved, even trusted Amaya. 

In a general way: children, you fought for peace ? you let go of your grudge, your grief and all of your biased jugments ? then peace you'll have (more or less, we know not everyone want peace)

Ezran chose to forgive Soren and Claudia. Soren end up saving him in return and turning to his side. As for Claudia, I'll talk about her in a while.

Callum jump after Rayla to save her, it's love who made him mastered the spell to save them both. You're ready to sacrifice yourself for her? then you will both be saved.

Rayla tackle Viren from the peak of the storm spire. She doesn't search “death”, she's trying to save Zym. She's ready to lose her life to save him. out of righteousness, out of love. Then she get saved by Callum.

 Now what about the "dark side" we call the “narrative of strength”?

Avizandum killed many people, especially Sarai who had a pure heart. He got killed by Harrow.

Harrow chose hate and death by killing him, he got killed by Runaan.

Runaan is the most interesting one so far: he had a choice to make too. Two choices.  He could have backed up but chose to kill Harrow anyway and so chose “death”. However, even if we’re still not absolutely sure he decided to spare Ezran, he did chose (we know this from the team at Wonderstorm now, so it’s canon) to spare Rayla despite what law and duty said. Killing her was never in his agenda. So Runaan had to choose between life and death, he chose both and ended... between both, literally! "the irony is wonderful"…

Kesha, with all her arrogance (who was so predictable) and her hate toward humanity got killed in a not so soft way.

Viren... I think his many "rewards" have already started. When he chose to kill the magma titan, Sarai (they were friends, it's canon) got killed and Amaya hates him for this (it's canon to, thedragonprince official on tumblr mentionned it once). He lost 2 friends on that day. When he chose to kill Avizandum, he lost his other friend, Harrow. Here in a most terrible way and I will, once again, talk about this later. He inflicted a terrible spell to Rayla's parents but this turned against him. If not for them completely vanished, no one would have thought they had ran away, Rayla _ the only moonshadow elf who had her heart in the right place_ wouldn't have to go to this mission to clear her name. No other assassin would have spared Marcos, or listen to callum, no other assassin would have followed Ezran, found the egg and chose to "make things right" including the humans. Runaan proved it. And I'm not finished with Viren. He lost his son, he will lose is daughter and he's currently in the grasp of a powerful being who's obviously toying with him and he don't even know it. And he's so blind he can't even see it.

Edit: kinda forgot about Sol Regem who torched down a city of hundred of thousand people, who got rewarded by being blinded, losing his throne and being hated and feared by everyone. 1200years later, when he could have change he didn’t. So okay Callum used dark magic. But that wasn’t a reason to kill Zym. Reward? Lux Aurea, the city who had been built to honor him (according to Callum spellsbook) fall, a lot of Sunfire elves seems to have died and, if we believe the summary of the tabletop game, it’s pretty ugly... a city for a city? Maybe.

Claudia is also very interesting, in between love and hate, death and light. Here’s an excerpt from an interview I found:

As for Claudia, she really seems to have committed to this dark path now. Is there any hope for her in the future? Richmond: Yes! There’s totally hope. Ehasz: But it might get worse before it gets better. [...] Ehasz: Claudia is, ahh… Richmond: She’s super complicated. She’s a fascinating character. There’s a long way to go with Claudia, she’s super exciting. Ehasz: But she’s not about power! She’s about **love**. I mean, that’s one thing that’s interesting about her. She’s on a very dark path, but her core motivation is love, and I think that’s going to be very interesting.

She really is the best character to represent that grey area. And if this first part of my theory, about "rewards" is true, it could truly end up good for her. When she had to choose between Soren and Zym, she chose her brother. She chose her father over Soren (I'm talking about the scene in the dungeon, not after Kazef's transformation) not out of malice but out of fear. She loves her family and deceived herself because she's not strong enough to see the truth. I really think she will do the right choice when she will finally see her father for what he truly is (as Richmond said : "there's totally hope").

  3. That’s nice and interesting, Lily… but this looks like “destiny” at worst. Is there really another kind of magic than dark magic and primal magic?

If the creators really put so much thoughts and efforts in creating the magical system, it’s really likely this way. But what would be the point in telling how it works right away? We do have to discover it with the characters themselves.

However, the existence of another kind of magic, something deeper, has been implied several time.

We have clues:

Like here (8:29min and especially 9:00min if the link doesn't work correctly), where Aaron Ehasz talked about an earlier and less differenciated kind of magic.

Or like what happened to Ezran in the ice-lake. In the novel, we have an interesting description form his POV, something magical happened (I’ll come back to this in a later part)

And that new or maybe forgotten kind of magic will, maybe… be the magic that will be used to free our dear moonshadow elves from the coins? Because we have some clues :

Question: [...] Runaan got turned into a coin [...] Can they be restored to their original forms?

Ehasz: “My gut is, it seems like the kind of thing that would require incredible and powerful magic to reverse. [...] We do not answer that question in Season Three. I’m telling you, it would take incredible magic and probably dark magic to reverse it, but I don’t know [if that’s going to happen]. 

(I promise, that last point isn’t here for nothing :3)

Okay, this post is over. The next one will be about the magical system in itself and that “other magic” implied here, about what I found in the show about it.

[trashyvirster]

Anyone else thinking about how Viren and Aarvos are literally reflections of each other??? When they first meet, they each have to look into the mirror, where they see the other, to communicate.

Okay, they look like complete opposites but hold on!

What does Viren see when he looks into the mirror and sees Aaravos? He probably sees a mysterious scholar, someone IMPORTANT, powerful, maybe dangerous and untrustworthy, elvish, the answer to his problems, a prisoner (well im assuming Viren thinks this lol) and...sexy.

Viren doesn’t see any of these traits within himself, but I think Viren stans would beg to differ! He may not have the mysterious allure of Aaravos, but he sure as hell keeps his secrets. No one seems to have any idea how much he loves Harrow. No one suspects he turned Harrow into the bird (okay that hasn’t been canonically confirmed but come on! The show would make no sense if it aint canon). No one knew, until now, that he kept the egg. And we currently don’t have any canon confirmation that Harrow even knows about Viren’s secret lair.

Everyone takes him at face value, they don’t realize just how deep his secrets and mysteries are.

Sure, Viren’s got insecurity issues and doesn’t think himself important (thanks Harrow) but the man literally saved 100k lives with his plan. And who was it that ultimately slayed Thunder? He’s probably the most famous mage since the first mage. Plot wise, Viren is arguably the protagonist of his own story, team Callum doesn’t need to exist to tell any of it! Harrow chose him to stand in the Kings portrait by his side. VIREN IS SO IMPORTANT AND HE’S SUCH A MESS HE DOESN’T REALIZE HIS OWN VALUE.

Dangerous and untrustworthy, check.

Elvish. Ah. The dragon prince twitter once asked a really weird question “anyone have any head canons that Viren is half elf?” What an odd question! I haven’t seen any fandom metas that Viren is half elf. Obviously, I doubt he is. But fans have noticed that his corruption is making his skin color, eyes and hair, the same as Aaravos. It’s almost like he’s mutating into a startouched.

Viren only thinks he needs Aaravos to solve his problems. He feels just as trapped in his situation as Aaravos physically is. And a lot of fans think he’s just as sexy as Aaravos!!

Oh and powerful?? I get it that dark magic is like “cheating”. But Viren is powerful. No, he’s not “magical”. But not just anyone can do what he can. Callum blacked out after just doing one black magic spell! Claudia fell on her knees and lost her breath after healing Soren. Black magic isn’t always easy or cheap. And this man freaking SLAYED THUNDER.

Whatever spell he used, probably would have killed any other mage. The mans a beast!

So yeah, I think he’s powerful! But once again, Viren doesnt recognize this quality in himself. But it’s there in his reflection......

Okay what about Aaravos? What does he see in Viren? LOLOLOLOL.

He probably sees a desperate man, heart broken, lonely, vulnerable. Curious and thirsty for power/magic. He sees a man frustrated at himself for not being able to accomplish his goals. Someone easily....influenced. And he sees a dark mage ready to do anything; the opportunity Aaravos has been waiting for.

It’s hard to say without Aaraovs’ backstory, but I think he fell in love with Elarion and whatever that story is, it’s gonna be tragic and ultimately lead to him being trapped in the mirror.

So yeah! I think he’s just as heart broken and desperate as Viren is. A startouch elf, doing some blood pact ritual with the first damn human to see him?? His need to hear Viren’s voice?? His offer of servitude?? His promise to stay with him even after Viren fails to escape??

Sure, Aaravos isn’t doing any of these things because he’s in love with Viren. No doubt he’s being manipulative. But his manipulation is born of fear; the fear of being cast out again as nothing. He insists on helping Viren because he needs to prove he’s useful, USEFUL. Not just to manipulate Viren, but because if he can’t prove how useful he is, he’s afraid he won’t see or hear from another soul for another 1k years.

Which makes sense why he would promise to stay with Viren even after Viren failed to escape rather than decide the human mage is useless to him. NO! Viren is still his only chance.

Frustrated at himself? You bet. Whatever Aaravos was trying to do 1k years ago, I think he failed. Viren thinks he’s frustrated?? He doesn’t know frustration lol.

I didn’t think much of it now, but these two idiots actually reflect each other and truly think the other is the answer to their problems. Its so poetic to have a mirror represent them!!

UNLESS THE WRITING IS FAILING ME AND NONE OF THIS TRUE...!!! WHY USE A MIRROR??

Knowing that they reflect each other means we can speculate where their character arcs are going. Their reflections should start to merge....Viren is gonna become more like Aaravos, POWERFUL, dangerous, someone who can change the fate of the world, and you know...not human!!

While Aaravos while finally lose his cool and have some epic emotional breakdown, because at the end of the day, he just wants to be with his lover again.

...just a thought....

And this is just viravos trash talking here, but what if Viren is the ONLY person who can see Aaravos because the magic that binded him has only one loophole....its a bloody mirror, only his own reflection can look back at him. His name is Viren.

[chadsuke]

Title: one little lie Prompt: Adventure [Ao3 Link.] For @raydia-week

The difference is this: Claudia doesn’t know about the egg.

She gasps like all the others when she follows the trail of persimmon jelly, gapes at the dragon egg that had been hidden so carefully here. “But Dad-“ she says, and she can’t stop staring. “But Dad said he destroyed it!”

The elf lets her close, because she does not threaten, does not conjure up magic to battle them, and she rests a hand on the egg. She can feel the life thrumming below the surface – can feel how powerful this being will be someday, how much she could wrest from it now if she chose to use it for magic.

But when Ezran speaks of it missing its mother, Claudia thinks of her own, buried underneath the dirt and closes her eyes.

“Dad has a plan to save the King,” she says, “But if we can stop the assassins, we should.”

It doesn’t work and they still go after him and all four of them nearabout trip over themselves to run, to get out of there with the egg. I should tell Dad where we’re going, she thinks, but she doesn’t have time and she doesn’t know what to think because she thought she could trust Dad but he hadn’t told her.

Why hadn’t he told her?

They run until they can’t run anymore and both Callum and Ezran fall asleep almost immediately. She doesn’t know if it’s because she slept in this morning or if she’s generally had a better day than them or what, but she’s awake and so is the elf.

“My name’s Claudia,” she tells her, cause everyone should know each other’s names, and she sticks out her hand.

The elf very gingerly takes it, shaking for just an instant before she pulls away. “I’m Rayla.” She pauses. Hesitates. “You should go home now, before it’s too late.”

Okay, Claudia can be slow on the uptake sometimes (she knows this! It’s okay! That’s just how life is!) but she has no idea what this girl is talking about. “What do you mean?”

Rayla shrugs, picking at a strange ribbon on her wrist. “The egg given back to the queen by the princes… it means something, yeah? But if you want to go home, you can, even though you can’t tell nobody.”

Double negative, she notes, but Claudia looks down at her feet and digs a little gouge in the grass with the tip of her shoe. “That was my Dad’s lab,” she says, and she doesn’t look at the elf. “He kept the egg and didn’t tell me.”

She doesn’t have to tell the elf I don’t know if I want to go back because Rayla doesn’t ask anymore. She nods. “Okay.” And that’s the end of it.

---

Ezran is the first one to talk to her once she’s finally woken up and swallowed a bottle of Hot Brown Morning Potion. “Hey, Claudia,” he asks, and she smiles down at the little prince. “You said your dad had a plan, right? What was it?”

“Oh!” She lights up, because she always loves talking about her plans, and she taps her nose eagerly. “Callum made me think of it!”

He flushes and she tells them everything. The snake and the souls and the switching and they all just sort of gape at her while she beams proudly.

“Dark magic,” says Rayla, and she does a strange symbol with her finger that Claudia doesn’t recognize. Some elf thing? “Even if his body is dead, he still lives?”

She grins at her because yes! She’s gotten it so well! “Yes! Exactly!”

No one else seems enthused, and she doesn’t understand. Rayla sighs. “I guess it won’t hurt to tell ya, then…” And then she shares all about her ribbon.

“That seems darker than switching souls to save somebody,” Claudia says, because she’s right, isn’t she? And that just gets a glare out of the elf.

“Well, I don’t really like either of them,” Ezran says. “But I like that the soul stuff saved Dad and thanks for not killing me, Rayla.”

Her purple cheeks darken, and she glances to the side. “I’m not… not really a killer,” she says softly. “Failure of an assassin.”

“Yeah, uh, that’s not really a bad thing,” Callum chimes in, and Claudia laughs.

“Let’s get going!” She stretches, arcs her back until it pops, and oh, that feels good. “We can send a message at the next town we see that we’re okay and stuff.”

“Fine,” Rayla tells her, but she gets to her feet and sticks her finger up in Claudia’s face. “But no dark magic.”

She considers the elf for a moment, before leaning forward til Rayla’s finger hits her nose. “Boop,” she says, and Rayla looks mortally offended and Claudia laughs again. “Okay, no dark magic.” She’s totally lying, though. No way is she giving it up.

Still, Rayla looks mollified if absolutely confused. “Then yes,” she says. “Let’s be off.”

Oh, man, Claudia’s gonna have fun. She’s looking forward to an adventure.

---

But.

But.

The difference is this: Callum doesn’t know he’s a mage. He doesn’t know that he can use Claudia’s Primal Stone, that he can work the magic of the elements. He doesn’t know the symbols, and he doesn’t think of the small block at the Banther Lodge. They go a different route.

The difference is this: When Amaya, Gren, and all her soldiers show at the lodge, there is no one. There is not a single person – no whisper of the princes. No nothing. Not a soul has been there since it closed down for the winter. Dread gathers in her heart.

The difference is this: No one knows the princes are alive. That Claudia yet lives – Soren buries his head in his hands and cries softly in his room because his King, his sister, and the princes are all gone, in one fell swoop and he feels sick to his stomach. Claudia is his best friend in the whole world even if she’s stupid and he doesn’t think anything will fill the gaping hole inside of him.

The difference is this: Viren is crowned King, and a mourning nation bows their heads.

[kappasigmalife]

Desolate Caladium: Chp 2

Desolate Caladium : chapter 2

Falls on me

The dead of night came quickly for us, I was able to use some of my savings to get us out of port on a cargo ship going to neighboring islands. The kingdom is in an uproar and caladium is terrified. While on the hold we were finally able to rest and I watched as he tossed and turned the entire night. Of course I wanted to tell him everything was fine but in truth how could it, losing your father, cast from your kingdom like a leper, and your only company is a guy you saved 5 years ago, and is wanted for the murder of the king. When he woke up I found him eating a basket of fruit some of the sailors gave him, tossing me a banana, he told me to eat it plenty of it considering scurvy is a thing in the high seas. Eating the fruit I notice that caladium is taking out a long dagger and looking at it.

“an azoth dagger, meant for mages who completed their training as novices and attain the rank of casters, only given when one slays a beast, never thought I’d ever unwrap the cloth to use it.” “it’s a beautiful blade prince, but why take it out now” As I ask I notice hime cut it into his long locks of hair and sees it change color, from dark brown, to a light tan.

“as of now, my name is callum, and drop the prince, I don’t have use for it no more.” When we got to port he asked me to get him clothes that were civilian instead of royal and as we walked I saw him eyeing the guards around us, looking for me.

“don’t worry if anyone notices you, ill keep them away alright.” “being a mage must really be cool.”

“well it’s the hard work that pays off.”

His hair almost looks better shorter, but of course the hair that fell off just burned away, no doubt to just simply keep from being tracked later on. He grabbed my by the arm and brings me to the marketplace where he places some cents on a man’s table asking for a place for the night. The man tells him money is no good for him as the merchants guild has been struck down by the fallen kingdom and requires assistance more than anything. He gave us the room in exchange we bring his caravan to the next city 5 miles away. Gladly accepting, callum looks at me and smiles knowing that were safe another day. That night he slept more soundly and I kept watch outside once again. I began notice the sound of a horse galloping fast around the market and place it as nothing more than rounds being done by the police force. My real concern was watching callum just sleep as the night drags on. He woke around 4 am telling me he will take over and for me to rest before we must leave again. I can tell his very focused as he doesn’t even blink as he gazes outside, his auburn eyes under the moon glistened as I looked at him before drifting off. Although my time with him has been short we have been through more than enough to know the confines of needing one another to survive in this world. He promised me that we would be okay and in retrospect we are, together we stand against the illegal acts of the coup de ta    while also running from our fate at the hands of the gallows. Forbidding himself from magic, he relies only on his brawn to keep us safe.

While the night persisting into the early morning we were able to rest enough to be ready to head out with the caravan. He took the reins and whisked us away from the market all the way to the next town in only a matter of hours, with one horse and supplies. As we arrived he received a large sum of cash that he stashed into his satchel to get us another room. Instead of a nice room in an inn, we chose to stay in the stables free of charge in order to recuperate and regroup our route away from the kingdom. His idea is to become a merchant only to provide protection as well as favors for cash in return for living quarters and start a new life. While I would like the idea of having a new life with him, it is not fair he is the one doing all the work. I requested to be sent to the local apothecary to work as a medical official and help townspeople with licensing from the city. The issue is that I need an alias as well, but callum assured me that desmond is so common it wouldn’t be an issue and effortlessly got me an emblem signifying my alliance to a med corp. as tears ran down my face I saw that he was smiling and wiped the tears from me.

“your eyes, I didn’t notice they were green, the color of life, a perfect fit for a medic.” “I never really noticed callum, thank you.” “we should celebrate, lets splurge a bit at the bar.” we drank til the hour grew late and we laughed at the expense of our new life, although much of it was running thin on the confines of time as we needed callum to still earn a living with the merchants guild. As a mage he could easily be a noble or even king, but his life was gone and he looks like hes okay with it.

“why are you so happy callum?” “huh, that’s no issue des, I just love being happy.” “but you have lost everything you had in a matter of days and you see the brighter side so quickly.” “of course I do, its because deep down the more I see the pain and anguish the easier it is for me to learn from it and become a better person throughout my life”

“why help everyone but yourself, you act like that’s your purpose.” “as a mage that is how I am born to be, to use magic as a way of helping instead of destroying as my master would say, but now I cant without being outed by the guards.” As I think back at all the things hes had to endure its more prevelant now that I merely only know one minute of his life aside from the entirety. He went on to tell me of his childhood, when his mother died when he was born due to the inheritance of her magic, his father showering him with affection even though he was king, spending time with other kids his age accidently hurting them only to have one friend who understood him.

“I fear that he may come soon, he is the most powerful knight of my fathers council and his bloodline is laced in carnage and bodies.” “how come, isn’t he your friend.” “because its his duty to protect the kingdom, as of now were seen as fugitives and at the same time as victims of conspiracy, but that doesn’t matter to them, they wish to seek control and end the kings familial bloodline one way or another.” “you really are a brave man, I don’t get how you could ever…..” he cut me off placing his hand on my mouth and gesturing me to leave with him. Sneaking out the back he pulled me into a back aisle in the road where he snuck behind the crates. A large hulking figure was looming around stopping in the aisle before moving on. I knew something was different, he was reeking of blood and seemed like the type to end a many for simply arguing with him.

“already found us, and not even three days passed, well done black knight, may we settle our debate tonight or shall I continue to elude you.” As I blinked the man came between us narrowly slicing me with a odd weapon, a sword and staff combined. He looked at both of us and kicked me into the crates as he went to take on callum, whose leaped in the air to the rooftops grabbing his azoth dagger. The man followed suit and I could only watch as they continually fought clashing blades and running after one another.

“for a man who is the kings lapdog, it’s a surprise you didn’t decide to kill him.” “true I didn’t, but given the price I can easily take his sons hide as my own trophy.” “always the morbid talker, taking any price for the job, taken any price for a rescue.” Callum had blasted him off right at my feet landing on his head. As soon as I thought he was dead, he rose back up cracking his neck into place and laughing.

“losing your touch caladium, you really surprise me without your true magic showing.”

“its callum, and what did I expect from the son of the impaler, or as I call you guys, the failed kinship.” “ouch most damage you ever gave me” Callum was getting more and more serious in this fight and all I could do was watch as the two moved more quickly than ever at each other. The metal of the blades going back and forth like a wavering dance of who would lead next, until chris began incantations.

“caelum hoc urere flammis bestia”

“oh goodie breaking out the dead language that gonna be fun.”

A burst of flames erupt from callums blade and strikes the man into the wall allowing him to grab me and run. The man gets up and gives chase merely cornering us and getting to grab my by the collar as I tried to run. Putting his blade to my neck he asked for me to drop mine and come with him. Doing so callum gives into the demands and leaves. I pick up his azoth dagger and glows in the direction he left with the man. Following the signal I come to see the man with piercing red eyes and golden hair curled with a massive beard. The two are drinking together near the shore and I sneak to see what is going on.

“its been years bro, how have you been?” “tough, but you know what its like in the kingdom.” “yeah true I don’t get it either but they pay well, and again im sorry to hear about your dad.” “he was old and things happen, but thank you for the sentiment.” “pleasure now that I know your good on your own, im gonna tell them your dead, and so is that nurse fellow.” “thank you for this, Trev” “least I could do after busting your ass to get me the knights gig, a vampiric knight of the council god everone flipped.” “those were the good old days.” I watched as callum got up and hands over a emerald pendant as the black knight rises and takes it from his grasp.

“payment for this favor, you know the drill.” “ill find two loathsome vermin in town your size and axe them off, then you disguise them yourself, that will act as proof of your death.” “not the first time we did this, go to the east district that where most of the mongrels live.” “good to know, and by the way, why hang around that kid.” “I see something in him innocent, that’s been masked for a long time, also his smile is adorable.”