#perhaps claudia/callum?

[raayllum]

so callum stole the primal stone from claudia, and then sacrificed it to soothe ezran and rayla and to hatch zym. and callum was given the pendant by rayla, but crushed it to see the truth and hopefully help her. and then callum received the staff from ibis, but relinquished it to rex igneous to help with their mission.

HMMM

👀

[rayllurn]

so idk how many of these you've done already buuuuutttttt

6x01 17:20 rayla tumbling out of bed this is a need not a want

6x01 18:20 ish callum’s brainstorming faces bc they are PRECIOUS

6x03 8:02 rayla kicking the door down (and perhaps 12:21, callum kicking the door down. as a treat.)

6x03 20:15 rayla’s “WHAT?” because it’s legitimately phenomenal

6x06 19:13 callum’s little smile it makes me sob

6x06 24:18 stella slapping sneezles awake for the quality content

5x08 19:10 callum doing staff tricks. he thinks he’s so cool (he is)

5x09 2:50 aaravos shutting claudia tf up

you give me too much power. thank you 🫶

Alright! I've made a few of these into gif sets and made a few random/miscellaneous things below! :D Hopefully, this captures everything! I'll reblog with links to the gif sets. <3

[adashulaz]

A new AU because I'm a loser who desperately wants a tft relationship despite being cupioromantic, this one is silly I promise though

Leola lives because she isn't accused of teaching humans magic

There is no border so there are elves within the human kingdoms and humans within elven towns/villages

Callum, Ezran, and Rayla still meet because of Rayla, Runaan, and the other elves from the first episode going to Katolis(have yet to decided why)

Soren is still sick in this AU, this is due to his lungs not being permanently healed/fixed with dark magic, his spine is also a little messed up because he was doing some trick and fell on it weird

Soren is commonly seen with Mukho(Mushroom Mage) and the mushroom critters because they are his main caretakers as they help ensure he can still breathe properly and that his spine doesn't get worse

Viren and Lissa don't get a divorce since she doesn't end up seeing Viren as a monster

Claudia and Terry still end up together, they meet earlier though

Leola, Claudia, and Soren are all friends/siblings due to Aaravos and Viren being close, it's very hard to tell if they kiss romantically or not

Corvus and Soren do kiss romantically though, they also hold hands romantically, no one knows how or when it happened but it's a thing now and no one is questioning it

Harrow and Sarai live happily, along with Aanyas moms(I can't remember their names)

There is conflict but only because Sol Regam believes that Aaravos and Leola will end up teaching humans magic

This comes to a head when Callum ends up doing magic

It all goes downhill from here, Sol Regam is going after that boy because of it

That dragon will end up dead at some point but it will take a bit

Janai and Amaya end up together still, they meet while Sol Regam is trying to remove Callum from life

Kazi and Gren as well perhaps

Thats all I fear, this will seem much more interesting as a fic I swear

[zuppizup]

I absolutely need to know what happened with switching the pearl.

It could very well be that the reveal was intended to be a surprise, but considering the amount of hints and foreshadowing we get elsewhere, I have my suspicions. Rayla offered to do the switch, but Callum seemed confident with his blankie, so perhaps that was foreshadowing enough (Callum and his blankie, very distracting), but it still has me pondering.

After the reveal, Callum is utterly devastated to point where he completely gives up. The fear that he could be controlled and not even have knowledge of it seems to utterly break him, to the point where Kosmo undoes/veers from that reality.

So, was he outright controlled by Aaravos again? Or was it more like the sleep walking thing? Did something else entirely happen? Are we going to get a flashback of that?

I've been wondering about how Aaravos' possession works since season 4. Why hasn't he possessed Callum again? Does he not see the need to? Wouldn't it have been easier to simply possess Callum, rather than manipulate Claudia? Was Aaravos' attention simply diverted elsewhere? Was this an issue of possession, or is there more going on?

[amber-in-the-rough]

why would Aaravos want a mortal vessel?

alright, so

I've watched the new season. I've already screamed and cried and rolled under the table and I have one final question left.

Why would Aaravos want a mortal vessel? Especially now, when the Archdragons are gone. He is supposed to be infinitely stronger than any other being on Xadia. Supposed to, yeah. Did you see the so called 'master of all six primal sources' show off his mastery more than once? Because I didn't. And it pisses me off beyond measure because it really seems like bad writing to me. He just fucking didn't do anything, just stood there, waiting for his enemies to charge at him. He was easily overcome by fucking human chains and ballistas- and one archdragon- when we were said that in the past he could easily hold off against all of them! Damn. Imo, Aaravos was seriously downplayed this season.

I know, perhaps this was his plan- to get himself killed and take all of the archdragons with him. Even so, he should've put up more of a fight. NOT JUST STAND THERE WAITING TO BE SMACKED!

And still why? Why want Callum as a mortal vessel? It doesn't make any sense. Maybe the Star Council or what's they're called- maybe they have a restriction prohibiting them to hurt mortals? Which sounds rather stupid but it's the only explanation I can think of.

The creators tried to do the build-up for arc 3 and in doing so they rushed and blurred the arc 2 finale. Putting together the archdragon drama, killing Aaravos drama and Rayllum drama was a mistake. Neither got fully developed. And were they seriously trying to tell us that the main cast would have survived the nuclear burst explosion of a star while being protected only by Domina's wings??? What are the wicked things even made of?? Oceanic mithril???

The final showdown felt like a series of Chekhov's guns which never fired. They just made a lot of drama around them, then showed them to us and- that's it. I suppose, Aaravos's plan was to get stabbed by the Nova blade, then take over Callum's body (for whatever reason) as his giant form was being destroyed. But then- we return to the question of why move to another body when there's nothing stopping Ezran from stabbing Aaravos in Callum's body (aside from their brotherly bond but that's no big deal, he just needs to ask Soren or whatever-).

As a result, we got Ezran with a Nova blade which never got to be used- Callum with his coin spell which was interrupted halfway because Aaravos got charged at by a dragon and Callum's gunsight was broken??? ??? That's- I'll be honest, this is so dumb. No Nova, no dark magic. Why even bring that at all?

And finally, what did Aaravos even die from? He did not sustain any lethal damage. When Zubeia and Avizandum were lifting him up (and yes, why didn't he stop them? did he forget all of his spells and telekinesis as well??), what were they thinking?.. What were they gonna do? It looked like they were about to drop him but- this is also so dumb. I don't think that would have worked because if Aaravos is so easy to kill- Why the fuck didn't they kill him 300 years ago??? "Didn't want to?". God damn.

I won't believe that Aaravos didn't have the power to take down the archdragons and that's why he simply decided it would be easier to go boom and set off the rebirth cycle. I refuse to believe that he is so weak. After all, one, he already killed two archdragons and that went fine. And two, even humans managed to kill one! They even survived!

Overall, I am absolutely in love with the first half of the season. I loved all the conflict everywhere, the part in Silvergrove was wonderful, felt like a real holiday- The adventures of Claudia and Co were also very exciting to watch!

But after that... It got rushed, blurred and very, very odd.

At least we got a white streak Callum. And a whole lot of 1 (one) interaction between Aaravos and Callum. That's an achievement, yeah. I love when the main protagonist and the main antagonist only have two interactions throughout all of the seasons (no, I don't, I fucking hate it).

That would be all. This is entirely my humble and angry opinion so- you are welcome to disagree. But I will stand my ground. This went very oddly and some parts I unfortunately didn't like. But I am all in for arc 3. Even angry and a little disappointed, I still fucking love this show and would be more than excited to see how it all goes from here. We still have so much to learn and see. The cube, Claudia, Rayllum, Elarion, grown up and talking Zym (it was such a twist!), Harrow in a bird... Please let us see this! Please, Netflix! Aaravos is not defeated, he merely retreated, please let us see how they'll deal with him in seven years!

[no-cinnamon-for-synonym]

S6 E8 Title Puzzle: Wilting Flower Meta Post

This wilting flower + the ring around the rosy song is puzzle we got for the 6.08 title. Now, it's late, so this might not be very coherent.

TDP Official once used a wilting flower in a tweet

This was in response to when we received the assassins' names.

We see wilting flowers in the recent poster

Supposedly, this is happening at the Moon Nexus, and supposedly Aaravos is there. We also see spirits in the background.

I'm curious if the worlds between life and death are colliding? And the Moon Nexus is probably being destroyed ("ashes, ashes, we all fall down"). So perhaps the lotus flowers are wilting... because the barrier between life and death is gone, they are now one and the same, therefore the flowers wilting is basically an "Error! Cannot compute!" message.

So perhaps that's how Aaravos is broken free? If there are no barriers between the different dimensions, then he is free.

....... Callum, Claudia, what have you done?

[its-leethee]

My thoughts are running around in circles about incantation-less and ingredient-less magic right now, thanks to this panel from Puzzle House:

I had speculated that Claudia's hand-flashlight spell and Viren's candle-lighting spell were perhaps a sort of dark magic cantrip that they'd prepped ahead of time and stored up charges for.

But in this Puzzle House scene, Claudia doesn't categorize the candle-lighting trick as dark magic. She explains that Kpp'ar coined the term "snap magic" and that it was powered by "a 'spark of fun' instead of primal sources or..." or what remains a mystery, because Claudia interrupts herself there and doesn't finish her explanation.

There's an intriguing passage in ToX explaining that experienced* dark mages can cast some "simple" spells, specifically like lighting a candle, without dice rolls (bypassing the pass/fail mechanic of the game); however, it's not clear if that means they wouldn't still have to use a reagent to perform the spell.

--Tales of Xadia, page 147

*"Experienced" dark mages as in, possessing dark magic trauma from the accumulated and untreated stress brought about casting dark magic spells.... Do you really consider that a "spark of fun," Kpp'ar?

The other time I've heard mention of magical sparks is from Lujanne's lecture about arcanums in 2x01 (emphasis mine):

"Wait, what's an arcanum?" "It's like... the secret of the Primal, or its meaning." "The secret of the Primal?" "Yes. That secret becomes a spark. The tiniest possible flicker of a Primal Source inside you. But enough to ignite the world with its magic."

There are two other examples within the show where mages cast spells without voicing a spell or incantation. Every instance where Aaravos casts a spell, he is silent, and Callum is able to cast spells underwater in 5x09 without breathing a word. They both still do need to trace out runes/do some kind of hand-waving for their spellcasting.

So, we have sparks, we have secrets, we have silent mages... and I wish I had more of the pieces to this puzzle, because I can't put together a conclusion.

[js589]

💘 fake relationship / mutual pining / dared to kiss rayllum? 👀

I finally finished it! Been dealing with sick kiddos, so not much time to write. 😓

This takes place in a continuity where Harrow, for whatever reason (probably Sarai's influence, let's be honest) reached out and started peace talks with the Moonshadow elves... and it kinda worked! He and Sarai are still very much alive. There's definitely still very tentative trust on all sides, but one of the things they decided on, for whatever reason (read: I think bodyguard romance is cute) is that they'd do a kind of guard exchange and see if they could find someone the princes vibed with.

I am gonna say they're more their post-timeskip ages here because I don't see the Moonshadow elves sending a 15-year-old, even a prodigy, but they sent her as an assassin in canon, so 🤷🏼‍♀️

(ask game can be found here)

-----------

What am I even doing?

Rayla marveled at the idiocy that had led her to this point. Most of it hadn't been hers.

Most of it.

It was usually Soren or Callum who started trouble. When it wasn't them, it was Ezran, except on one memorable occasion when the Crow Master had excitedly demanded a demonstration of her abilities. Rayla had—stupidly—obliged, stepped into moonlight... And every single bird in the loft had lost its mind, including Seluna, the crescent hawk that Rayla used to communicate with her family back home. (Her father had returned her next communication saying that Seluna was bred for speed rather than intelligence, and it showed.)

Much as Rayla would have liked to blame anyone else, it truly was her own fault for developing a crush on a prince (not by blood, not that that seemed to matter) of Katolis. This whole guard exchange had been a stupid idea, not that she'd ever tell King Harrow that. Sure, fostering trust after so many generations of animosity was all well and good, but an elf even thinking about romance with a human prince? She'd be sent back home, and she wasn't sure she'd be all in one piece. There was no way for her to get a different assignment either. No; she'd been sent specifically because the princes seemed to elude every other guard they were given, and King Harrow and Queen Sarai had thought that a bodyguard closer to their age might develop a better rapport.

Well, it had worked quite well. Too well, where Callum was concerned. Even Soren had noticed. Perhaps it was his responsibility to notice when someone was trying to get too close, but if his goal was to prevent that, this certainly wasn't a good way to address it. If Soren were anyone else, Rayla would suspect an underhanded, brilliant plot to get her sent back to the Silvergrove for good. As it was, she suspected he missed being able to torment his sister, who was currently studying magic in Xadia. Would he have dared his sister to kiss Callum like he had dared Rayla? Claudia would probably have had the nerve to on her own, if she was anything like Soren.

Hurried footsteps at the other end of the hall pulled her attention from her thoughts.

"Rayla! Rayla, I figured it out!" Callum was beaming.

He was always on about something these days. He'd wanted to go study magic instead of Claudia, but he'd been deemed both too inexperienced and too much of a target. Even the peace with the Moonshadow elves was tenuous. He'd settled for pestering Rayla to explain it to him instead. She hadn't considered herself to be any kind of teacher, and she'd sighed more than once that she'd been brought in as a guard and not a governess, but Callum was persistent.

She had to admit he was also bright. He'd been able to piece together what Rayla said with what he'd learned from letters Claudia had sent and the scant few books in the library that had anything useful to say, and while he hadn't been successful at forging a connection on his own, he'd been able to use the materials Xadia was willing to trade to the human kingdoms—mostly rocks and a few plants—in ways Rayla hadn't thought of before.

He'd been working on several projects recently. One of them must have worked out. If nothing else, it was bound to be interesting.

Rayla blinked, remembering she was actually supposed to ask. "Figured... what out?"

Callum grabbed her arm and dragged her over to a window. "Look!" He stepped into the moonlight and sketched a rune in the air. "Vitreus."

He didn't go completely invisible, but if someone wasn't looking carefully, they wouldn't see him.

Rayla was already imagining the myriad ways this could go wrong.

"It doesn't really work if I'm not in moonlight—" Callum stepped forward and he mostly reappeared, but slightly blurry "—but I can do something that you can do!"

Rayla wanted to point out that he'd already capably performed several small spells beyond any ability she had, but that wasn't the point. Callum's infectious enthusiasm had her smiling back at him, anyway.

It had her heart pounding, too.

Maybe if she just did it now, when the time felt right, he'd never know it was a dare? She wanted to do it anyway—Soren was annoyingly right about that—so it wasn't as though she was doing it out of malice...

Nobody had to see them, she realized. Rayla yanked Callum back into the moonlight, waiting only just long enough to be sure he'd disappeared again before she leaned in and pressed her lips against his for just a moment. She drew back quickly, careful to stay in the light of the moon.

"Did you just... Was that..." Callum blinked. "Rayla, did you mean that? Like, did you mean that?"

She should have shoved him back out of the moonlight so she could see him clearly. She thought his voice was hopeful, but she couldn't be sure she wasn't just imagining it. He had taken her hands in his, though, which seemed to be a good sign. "Yeah, I did," she said quietly.

Callum sighed, and Rayla could hear his grin in his voice. "Oh, that's a relief, because Soren told me I should if I wanted to but I didn't think you actually wanted to and—" he was cut off as Rayla pulled him back in for another kiss.

After a long and rather pleasant moment, she drew back just far enough to speak. "Right now, less talk and more kissing."

She was glad Callum had never been particularly picky about his status or title. She was ordering a prince to kiss her!

He was, apparently, entirely willing to oblige. If only I'd known.

Well, she knew now. There were certainly still bound to be hurdles, but this, at least, was simple enough, and for the moment, Rayla was content with it.

[httyddragonfox]

Aaravos and Callum

there is such a strong affinity between two characters who barely interact.

Callum first hears about him in season 4, and understands his threat when he is possessed by him. Ever since that moment, Callum is understandably terrified of Aaravos and how the dark elf could use him.

He doesn't run into him again for a while, just understanding the potential threat he could be to others; making it worse with his use of dark magic.

Aaravos shows Callum he is still a threat by controlling him and giving him nightmares. This pushes Callum to act, ensuring Aaravos can't be a threat at all.

Aaravos had said in their one encounter that He liked Callum, and that Callum was going to do as he wishes one day.

Aaravos doesn't really talk about Callum when he's not around him or anyone in his circle.

Aaravos doesn't need him, he's not his priority. He uses Callum minimally with little fanfare. Once he's free, he has a small encounter with Callum and Corvus.

He could have just killed the two if they were real threats to him, but instead he diverts them. That's what you do with something that may be irritating but not threatening. If corvus and callum investigated the island, they may have found Claudia, which they didn't want. Of course, Claudia may not have been there, it was Aaravos though. They wouldn't have found anything he didn't want them to. So them investigating may have been no real problem.

He didn't have to show himself to the two, but he did.

He does like Callum. He even offers Callum a "gift." What could a half-honest aaravos meant by "gift?" The apple was poisoned. If he wanted to kill Callum he wouldn't need to go through with the ruse, unless he was doing it for the lolz. Is the "gift" similar to his gift of dark magic to humans?

Did Aaravos use that instance to try to corrupt Callum or kill him? Did he want him as a pawn again or did he want him out of the way? It sounds more Aaravos to make contingencies and do the first one, but I don't know the whole story.

When talking to Ezran, he again talks about how he Admires Callum and sees a kinship between them. Of course, he never brought up Callum with Claudia so I feel this is mentioned here more to taunt Ezran. He tells Ezran once Callum does dark magic again he will belong to him and offers the young king to join his brother. He obviously knew Ezran wouldn't go for it, he was mainly trying to goad Ezran into wanting to kill him, wiping out most of his enemies.

He likes Callum, but he doesn't need him, one of his plans had Callum getting killed.

When they interact for the finale it's the only instance where it's honest face-to-face. Callum is defiant in the face of his tormenter and would-be enslaver. Aaravos is actually sorta happy to see him, his favorite, he was wondering when he'd show up and what he might do. Aaravos and Callum have a conversation detailing what callum will attempt to do against Aaravos, Aaravos having a rebuttal for every detail. He had Akiyuu killed, dark magic is a bad ticket for Callum, Rayla can't kill.

Callum has outsmarted Aaravos though, by getting an actual assasin to kill him. Aaravos is actually a bit upset by this, as this plan might actually work. Of course he still has contingencies, there is one more quasar Diamond and Claudia is still out in the world. So he just goads Callum on.

Perhaps at this point, he sees Callum as a threat and if Callum is killed in this attempt to stop him he won't have to deal with him anymore. He doesn't attempt to squish him though, so maybe he was a little impressed and wanted to see if Callum had the stones to do it. He does like him. It almost seems as if he pushed Ezran to kill him so Callum would do the dark magic and he'd get him. Either that or neither of the brothers would act and he'd still get what he wanted.

Claudia is being helpful though, knowing how bad the plan sounds, she takes Runnan away from Callum, there isn't enough time to get back up there. Now Callum is not going to try anything, and if he does he'll belong to Aaravos, and soon either Aaravos will get away with his schemes or everyone will die due to Ezran.

What he doesn't expect is Rayla willing to sacrifice Callum to save everyone. He's a little shocked, but he's still determined to continue, even if it's not according to plan.

So that's it for their interactions, hopefully for now. When Aaravos comes back he might still see Callum as the most intriguing of his enemies, but he might also see him as a small threat.

[temerity14]

Stardust👀

Okok so this one is a Stardust (2007 movie) Tdp crossover, suggested by @mytdpblog

Have you seen Stardust? To everyone who sees this post, please go watch Stardust. It is so so worth it.

Also uhm spoilers for the movie. It's not too bad but yeah.

So Rayla is Yvaine and Callum is Tristan. Claudia has a modified version of the Victoria character (modified because Victoria is a genuinely cruel person and I don't think Claudia would act that way). Kim'dael and some OCs are the witches trio.

I've taken the vibes of the original and simplified it because Stardust is very complicated and an absolute masterpiece that I will not be able to live up to.

In short: Rayla, a star, falls to Earth and is found by Callum, a fairly ordinary village boy. They go on an adventure! And fall in love! and there's a fair amount of chaos int eh background but that doesn't matter because LOVE!

also it's a Damian lives AU because I said so.

Snippet under the cut! Rayllum first meeting! there's some context for this but I will not provide it.

She grimaced in pain, suppressing a moan. She glanced around the crater, rubbing her head and trying to figure out how exactly she had got into this situation and how to get out of it.

The answer was not one she could ever have anticipated, nor was it a welcome one at the time.

A bright light streaked through the sky and her eyes widened as it came closer, releasing a few seconds before the fact that it was going to hit her.

The realisation did nothing to cushion the impact as a very solid body slammed into her, the momentum of its trajectory knocking her and it across the large crater and smashing them into the ground.

Callum squeaked a little in surprise and pushed himself up, looking down at the woman he had crashed into. She was beautiful, dark horns and slender, pointed ears poking out from long silvery hair, shocking violet eyes and four-fingered hands. An elf, like his father had told him about before he left.

“Oh- oh, Mother, I’m so sorry–” he said, leaning back, though he was still on top of her legs. “Are you all right?”

“No, I’m not alright, and I’m not your mother!” She snapped, scowling at him. “Now could you please get off me?”

“You’re… not my mother?” Callum asked, tilting his head to the side and squinting at her.

“Do I look like your mother?” She snapped, gesturing at herself. “Do you particularly feel like a halfling? How old do you think I am?”

“Ah– right, sorry,” Callum said, getting off her properly and awkwardly offering her a hand up, which she ignored. “Do you need help?”

“You can help by leaving me alone,” she hissed, glaring at him. 

Callum bit his lip, feeling rather guilty about leaving her when he’d crashed into her at what must have been considerable speed. That was quickly forgotten, however, when he started to properly look around. He and the woman were inside a large crater, the faint smell of smoke and burned trees wafting from the rim. There was nothing surrounding them except for stone and debris.

Callum frowned, playing the instructions back over in his mind. “Light the candle and think of me… but I was, I was thinking about my mother…” his eyes widened in shock. “But I think Claudia and the star popped in…”

He whipped around, his eyes tracking over the crater. The woman watched him with a mixture of amusement and exasperation on her face, slowly pulling herself into a seated position.

“I’m terribly sorry, but have you perhaps seen a star anywhere?” Callum asked, turning back to her. 

“I have, actually,” the woman said, rolling her eyes. She pointed at the middle of the crater. “That over there is where she landed, after this–” her hand went to a stone inset in a chain sung around her neck. “Knocked her out of the sky while she was just minding her own business, and if you want to be really specific, right here–” she patted the ground she was sitting on. “Is where she landed after an idiot crashed into her.”

Callum blinked, squinting at her. “So… you’re the star?”

She shrugged, looking around. “I don’t see any of my sisters around here. What were you expecting, a hunk of rock?”

“Well, yes,” Callum said, plonking down on the ground and staring at her. “No offense.” Looking at her more closely he now noticed the slight otherworldly sheen to her skin, the way her silvery dress seemed to catch the starlight and glow on its own. What he had at first assumed were freckles he now realised were speckles of light on her cheeks, glittering. 

She snorted, rolling her eyes again. “Whatever.”

Callum sighed, rubbing his face. This was a mess… he couldn’t exactly go back empty handed, not after he’d made a promise. He glanced down at the candle he still held in his fist. He hadn’t even been able to see his mother. 

Behind him, the star groaned as she tried to shift her weight onto her left foot, and Callum ran to her side, supporting her.

“Get off,” she snapped, glaring at him.

Calllum sighed. “I will, but you clearly can’t walk on your own. I’ll help you to an inn, and then–”

“And you expect me to believe you’re not trying to get anything out of it?” The star snapped, wrenching her arm away from him and almost immediately falling over, her face contorted in a pained grimace. “I saw that look on your face earlier, you’re just trying to make me trust you so you can use me!”

Callum squinted at her, utterly lost. “Uh… no? I’m not doing anything like that–”

“Ugh, don’t bother,” the star said, slowly limping away from him. 

“If it helps, I was thinking about a promise I’d made to one of my… my friends,” Callum said. “She’s in a difficult spot, and I thought maybe if I proved myself to her father I could, you know… help her out of it.”

“And what does that have to do with me?” the star snapped, exasperated. 

“Well, it is you,” Callum said, gesturing at her. “I didn’t know you’d be, like… alive.” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “I guess I’ll have to think of something else now…”

“Oh?” The star said, crossing her arms across her chest. “So are you going to tie me up and drag me back to this woman you’re so desperate to woo?”

“No, nothing like that–” Callum said, shaking his head firmly. 

“I can see that enchanted chain poking out of your pocket,” the star said, casting a glance at his jacket. 

Callum started, glancing down and flushing. “I forgot I had that.”

The star snorted, genuine amusement in her eyes. “You may be the worst kidnapper I’ve ever seen.”

“Seen a lot, have you?” Callum said, unable to keep the smile off his face. 

“Maybe I have,” the star said, shifting her weight, a scowl crossing her face. “Ugh…”

Callum stepped forward, slipping an arm around her shoulders and taking some of her weight, slipping the candle into his pocket as he did so. “Come on. Looks like we’re both at a loss, may as well help each other out a bit.”

Original post is here if you wanna see where this started. Other ficlets I did for this are under the tags 'Temerity ficlets' and 'WIP ask game'

[thrandilf]

It used to be easy to figure out who was the good guy and who was the bad guy. Now, Callum has his doubts. Aaravos visits him in his dreams, and the more he hears, the less he knows. Their conversations are far from the subtle whispers Aaravos apparently relied on, yet Aaravos almost seems to relish each one. What Callum thought was a one sided power dynamic turns into much more, including a bargain Callum can't refuse. After his release, Aaravos's plans involve more people than just Callum, and before Callum knows it, he's swept up with his least favorite people in the world: Viren and Claudia, alongside the rest of their little group, repressing his doubt that his worst enemies can change. Yet, as Callum learns new magic and unravels the truth of each of his companions, the world on high alert as every nation faces what Aaravos's return means. Perhaps Aaravos isn't the only one with surprises lurking inside.

Updated summary and info post for my ongoing fic, The Devil You Thought You Knew. At this time, it's at 113k words and projected to finish around 200k. Both Aaravos and Mage Fam make up the main cast in this fic, which is mostly from Callum's POV. There are shifts to other characters such as Rayla and Ezran.

There's also world building/expansion in later chapters in regards to humanity's relationship with magic and Aaravos, focused on Evenere in particular. Worldbuilding, relationships, and downtime to process the emotional rollercoaster are all given focus, but there's plenty of plot twists ahead yet!

Main Ships: Rayllum, Viravos, Clauderry.

Side/Later Ships: Sorvus, Janaya.

"Dark Mage. Primal Mage. Human mage. I'm not so sure these labels mean as much as you think they do."

[raayllum]

Thinking about how Callum typically handles / responds to Rayla being in pain and

1x06 / 1x07

3x03

3x04

3x08

TTM

4x06

in which his repeated tendencies are to comfort, yes, but also to Fix the situation as much as he can. Whether that means coming up with a possible solution, an alternative to her catastrophizing (and subsequent self blame), or by well, looking for the Truth of whatever’s ailing her. 

Jack De Sena, pre-S4: Yeah, I think that—that is a key aspect of Callum that will be tested is he, he has such a—there’s, it’s such a positive aspect to him via intense search for knowledge, but also like the flipside is yeah, he’s a completionist, he wants to learn everything, he wants to figure out all of this magic stuff, he wants to just discover each of these arcanums and will he, you know, be tempted to keep—to learn a little bit more about dark magic, which we’ve already seen him—never want to touch again, but can he resist just knowledge for knowledge’s sake?

Protecting his loved ones - perhaps believing the Key of Aaravos could be a powerful weapon of its own, or keeping Rayla from having to free her parents (and it’s been said in interviews that only dark magic could undo the spell - but we’ll see if that belief holds out) - pre or post Aaravos’ release would be one hell of a motivation. But no matter what happens, I think Callum will try to help free the moon fam now (even if he doesn’t succeed) because well, Rayla’s in pain over it, and he can’t have that

[bittrlys]

I have heard some people saying that the show is going to address the issues of humans being discriminated against will be addressed in season 7 dark. What do you think about that?

Personally, I think it might be a bit too late for them to properly address it and do it in a satisfactory way especially because the main ship rayllum had rayla being prejudice against humans but her actions don't get called compared to Callum so i doubt her actions will be called out next season as both the fandom and the narrative love to frame her in the right when she can sometimes be quite hypocritical and in the wrong.

Also, I want zubeia to be called out for her actions and zyms father but I doubt that will happen either.

Another question I also don't like the series framing of dark magic. Now in season 6 (took us 6 seasons) to learn that dark magic creates a hole in your spirit and it corrupts you to aaravos but that feels like the writers adding it in there so people don't bring up the whole arguement that dark magic is bad because the narrative says so. Also the show doesn't convince me dark magic is so bad that viren SHOULDN'T of used it to save soren or that Callum SHOULDN'T of used it to save rayla.

Idk to be honest the handling of dark magic within the narrative is so confusing and bad.

Anyway sorry this got so long

My very upfront opinion is that there is clearly some dissonance, and perhaps even conflict, in the writer's room about Viren and Claudia, dark magic, the cost of it, and the intended take away from these characters and their actions.

Now, when writing, there's no particular requirement to be honest with your audience or to not accurately represent how history can be muddled and shift. "Humans learned dark magic" to "Unicorns taught humans magic and were slaughtered in thanks" to "Aaravos is implied to have taught humans dark magic" to "Aaravos's daughter Leola (a uni-horned elf) taught humans magic and was killed" is cohesive enough, even considering the writers are on record saying they may be changing things as they go, as happens with writing. (With dark magic being the main sticking point of anti-human sentiments, how and why it occurred matters.) I also don't think the show has never wanted us to sympathize with humans or not see their discrimination -- the sight of them in tears as they're exiled, evoking the Trail of Tears (still bonkers), or Ziard's bitterness over how humans starved or his terror when Sol Regem tricks him in hopes to destroy Elarion are moments of raw feeling where the camera centres humans and their pain. Most of our protagonists are humans, and Callum, though occasionally punished for his ambitions, is a character who wants magic who is heroic.

The ultimate problem, however, is that the show wants to have its cake and eat it too, which goes back to my earliest complaints in how they 'meta write' from what we expect of fantasy and muddle their own messages. Certainly this show could be a long-form exercise in tricking people into rooting for ethnic cleansing racists but like, it's a show for kids. Sol Regem is a bad dragon and he is obviously bad. Zubeia is a good dragon and she is obviously good. We're supposed to understand Sol Regem kinda had it coming and understand that Zubeia being hurt is allegedly sad. There's no deceit to this straightforward presentation. Viren, Claudia, and now Aaravos are sympathetic villains, but they're still villains. And when your villains come in two main flavours of Team Anti-Human (arising after humans wronged Xadians initially, natch) or Team Human (or adjacent) and every hero is Team Xadia because humans fighting against the disparity of their world is Causing Trouble while humans who extend the hand of friendship to Xadians are Bringing Peace, it ultimately teaches us that "Maybe humans had a hard time of it, but it's time they suck it up." I don't think there was anything more explicit to this than having our Out Of The Mouth Of Babes protagonist Ezran's Zubeia-backed speech at the Many Thunder Victims Memorial Valley.

A lot of writers like villains who have a point, because they feel it adds depth to them, but they often jump straight to "the villain is a marginalized person who is fighting for change in the Wrong Way" and this creates an implication that Fighting For Change At All is wrong because our heroes are never passionate champions for equality. They may like equality, but they say "Not now -- not like this --" and it isn't central to their beliefs. Team Xadia are not nominally Anti Equality or Anti Humanity, but their framing vis a vis our villains makes this lack of investment in the liberation of humanity quite clear.

All of this is to say that I agree, it would be too little, too late, and that the fact the show has *already established* humans as being victims of discrimination makes the narratives around them all the more galling and difficult to untangle. I absolutely would like to have the show deliver one of its extremely straightforward, directly to the camera-type messages on how humans were discriminated against, yes, but it doesn't fix six seasons of presenting all anger on behalf of humanity as something that is ultimately morally unsound and in need of changing. And how much further can they take it? Can they portray Xadians as a whole as privileged beings who have benefited from the mistreatment of humans? Not just a few bad apples -- can they actually, truly acknowledge Xadians as less than idealized? Can they take seasons upon seasons of trying to make us love Xadians and turn it around with frank questions about things like "reparations" and "acknowledging generational trauma without both-sides-ing it"? Can they give us a purely heroic human protagonist who is firmly Team Human and centres human interests? I don't think so. They prefer keeping to their "Callum and Amaya and Ezran constantly apologizing and putting down humanity in favour of their Xadian betters" agenda. (So bonkers they do this with three characters of colour, sidenote.)

Rayla is interesting because I think they have a fundamental disinterest in her inner world. She's so defined by her relationships with others and traumatic things that happen to her personally are ignored (her feelings on her banishment getting sidelined into Callum stuff, or her overcoming her fear of water to save Callum and Ezran happening off screen.) Her prejudice is a standard result of her upbringing but it's another thing that hasn't really come up in a while. I don't know if they so much want her as a character to be right, or prejudiced, or whatever, so much as they use her as a mouthpiece for particular opinions they need stated. She was learning about humans as much as Callum and Ezran were learning about elves and now she's learned she's just chilling being another one of Ezran's inexplicably pro-monarchy shooters.

Onto the second half of your ask about dark magic -- this season has firmly shifted the dark magic usage into an addiction metaphor, and so we get the "hole in your soul" (the anti-Birdhouse In Your Soul.) I do think this makes sense with earlier seasons. Dark magic has always been shown as corrupting the user (hence the monstrosity, and hence Viren being likely to die if purified of it, because it's become so entwined with his inner core) and this destruction of the self has been a reason to avoid it. I'll even be generous and say it's not entirely "Evil People Are Ugly" but instead a lot of "Self-Destruction Is Terrifying." However, I've been obsessed with this since I saw it:

"He shouldn't be monstrous in his final moments of heroism" is very funny. The writers are aware they have thoroughly codified Ugly, Monstrous = Bad and would try to bend themselves over backwards to let a Good Act be done via Evil Means in a way that minimizes the evidence of the evil means. This is why you have to put that "inherent evil" in quotation marks because real inherent evils don't tend to get a pass. And because they want dark magic to still exist in the show and still be used by sympathetic characters like Callum and Claudia without rendering them utterly reprehensible they have to make it the hole-in-your-soul addiction metaphor and say it costs the user as much as, if not more than, it costs the world around them.

Which is, like, fine, but at a certain point it is like -- Yeah, if we can see times where dark magic is basically a necessity because your choice is either "dark magic, or let your child die" or "dark magic, or let a dragon flambé your people" -- which many of us would consider non-choices -- then you have to respect that people maybe will have to make that choice. And if the cost is more on them, then ...? It's practically a noble sacrifice. To oppose it for reasons of Aaravos is a non-argument. Viren was mainlining dark magic for decades and it wasn't until he got that mirror that Aaravos became a problem and Aaravos isn't always going to be around ... not to mention that now that he's free I think he has abilities that go well beyond "souljacking." Aaravos in this case represents more the 'spiritual death' associated with this internal corruption. So can we find reasons to oppose it that go beyond The Harm It Causes To An Individual, Who Should Be Allowed their Autonomy?

They still throw half-hearted nods to the previous seasons much more heavy-handed "omg the beautiful butterfly" "omg the baby deer" (single crying tear) "stop hurting the environment" "magical beings are superior to you" type anti-dark magic rhetoric (see Claudia and the cat thing) but it seems the writers have come to realize they need dark magic to exist as much as the people in universe need it to exist, and so they're trying to focus more on the internal cost. Personally, I think this is a fine place to take it and if the intent is to return the discussion to how humans have been discriminated against, it's a wise thing to do. So I won't protest it much, although we can discuss villainizing addicts and so forth and why Rayla's lack of compassion in approaching Callum's dark magic use is difficult to watch.

It's funny, because I wouldn't even call myself "pro dark magic" as I do see it as harmful, but the hypocritical and condescending treatment of dark magic users in the narrative is something I take issue with more than the use of dark magic itself. This is why, if they are leaning into this more sympathetic reason for rejecting dark magic, I hope we see increased sympathy as to why dark magic is used and why, until humans are liberated (i.e. given equal access to magic and Xadian resources) it's pretty much essential.

Thank you very much for the ask! ♥ Don't apologize for the length, as you can see I love to ramble away myself. Also yeah didn't fit this in anywhere else but fuck that narrative deadweight Zubeia. Thunder at least got shaded by Rex Igneous even if Rex Igneous was Mean and Scary.

[rainwalker-dragonblade29]

Um Guys....

Are ya all gon a talk about the elephant in the room because we might have a slight side character crisis.

AKIYU IS ALIVE AND WELL. AND AARAVOS IS OUT. He is back, which means, soon enough if he gains full strength and sees back with his time blindness he would see her and she is in terrible terrible danger.

Now, saying that aaravos would go kill her out of spite or revenge is stupid. Because why go after her than the actual big bad star elves who wronged him. She may pose a threat since her magic worked over keeping him locked away for such a long time, so no doubt she is powerful and he may suspect that if he knows.

And this raises a whole lot of questions. And a possible theory.

Does he go after her?

Say, he does find out where and who she is. He could either choose to:

A) go after her. Meaning she is powerful enough to be a threat but not necessarily beat him and he wants to eliminate all competition so he can accomplish his goal. This means if he does end up vapourizing her or ending her like he did khessa, it could mean he is removing the plausible support his opposition could get AKA callum.

B) Continue on and ignore. She isn't the enemy. Not right now anyway. This gives the dragang a chance to contact her if they learn of him returning.

Does he find out about her AT ALL???

1) Yes? Cuz Star primal has got divination under its belt and "you have seen what we have all seen Aaravos" Means Aaravos IS timeblind. And how vast that ability is depends on him but for an archmage, maybe he can wield it at will unlike Cosmo who can only see at intuitive or random moments and not all the time.

2) No. For him to not be able to see the archdragons' meeting with Akiyu and the Jailor some spell must have worked in concealing that event from cosmic eyes. And if this is the Aaravos will never know of who made the prison even if he can reckon how it was done and it will probably drive him nuts. Which means it could be on his radar and he will find a way soon enough.

If he does go to take revenge and/or eliminate a supposed threat... does he do so alone or not?

Now comes the theory part. A simpler version of this question is: Is claudia involved whatsoever. Like sure the mighty Star could disappear/ teleport in the middle of the night or something to go on a solo mission or he could take claudia along. And both possibilities hint at one thing.... there is an important person who could play a role in his downfall.

One rift that perhaps even Aaravos cannot stop.

Terry.

I am not the first person to say terry will leave claudia. But here i just state maybe how he would. If aaravos makes claudia do things and terry sees... well, terry could leave and go seek help from Callum and Co.

If he does it on his own and terry sees it happen by sneaking behind him... his own views on aaravos get affirmed. It will be seen as "Aaravos is doing all this for revenge" and terry will, split from his company as a call for help if only to save claudia. He will do the right thing.

Is this how the dragang finds out he is back??? Could be. Or it could be Astrid, who flied to aid after Kosmo saw it in a vision.

But this leads to one other question.

Does Aaravos foresee it and try to eliminate Terry?

The timeblind thing comes back here and it would be twisted if aaravos tries to stage terry's demise to further break claudia. I mean i dont want terry to die and it would also be a petty thing to do and TDP most certainly won't do that mistake. It would be tropy over petty but i digress. A confrontation is natural if aaravos learns that terry found out his true intentions or something.

But aaravos to try and kill him, though not impossible, feels unlikely because then aaravos is just evil for evils sake and that diminishes the whole master manipulator angle. Like yeah he told them of Leola, but he who never lies is not exempted from omiting key details. He might not have told us the whole story and what is not revealed may withold more motives. This is a very gray zone to speculate because terry has no relations to aaravos yet and all we know is he is sad Claudia gave into releasing him and that he will be wary since he suspects Aaravos to be acting on the basis of revenge.

And killing Terry doesnt make sense also because of one more thing. Aaravos fears no other, he actively brought down and essentially trash talked the dragang in episode 4 of season 4. He will not care if the dragang found out about him returning. It's gonna unstabilize Callum, anger ezran on top of the whole runaan thing, put Rayla in a pin because should she wait to take Runaan home? And if she has already split, then if she learns later she'd feel she shouldn't have left callum because he was then vulnerable. And soren will just be hurt to hear claudia's bit from terry so boy will ge sad.

The dragang destabilise will work in his favour. He will likely confront terry without claudia seeing, teleporting them somewhere else, set him loose and push him to leave, and give him only one option that will give to tell callum and Co. Terry will on hos own account tame the step to leave. Aaravos comes back and says "he left you" yo claudia and it won't be a lie at all! Terry gets a character arc and is far from harm. Claudia is pushed further into aaravos' grasp and callum and Co have information to anticipate and prepare their next action!

(PS: if he had to eliminate somebody he could go for Zubeia first before akiyu or Domina and that terrifies me even more😬)

[zuppizup]

In Absentia: Chapter 5

Summary: Callum and Rayla thought their plan to defeat Aaravos was dangerous, but worth the risk.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t anticipated this.

Now, Rayla has to try and figure out how she’s going to free Callum from Aaravos possession, while she has another growing problem to deal with.

Pairing: Rayla/Callum

Rating: Mature

AO3 Link: In Absentia

“I don’t think he’s following us.” Viren kept his attention on the outside. “Likely nursing his bruised ego.” Turning, he looked genuinely surprised to find Rayla standing behind him, a blade drawn. “I saved your life.”

“To cut me up for ingredients or something like that no doubt.” Rayla clutched her blade, ignoring the pain in her useless arm.

Viren sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I didn’t do it for altruistic reasons, no.”

“What do you want?” Standing firm, Rayla wondered what the best approach was. Allow him to let his guard down, perhaps? Getting him talking, then attack once he thought he was safe. It was hardly noble, but what other options did she have? Saving Callum was what mattered now. Viren was a distraction she decidedly did not need.

“Claudia,” Viren sighed heavily. “I need to find a way to get through to her.”

“She’s lost.” Rayla snorted, shaking her head as she remembered Claudia and Terry’s discussion from earlier. How was that only a few hours ago? It seemed like something from another lifetime.

Regardless, Terry didn’t seem to be having any luck talking sense into her, what chance did Viren have?

“They’re saying the same thing about Callum, are they not?” Viren remarked coldly, a slight sneer on his face.

Read More On AO3 – In Absentia: Chapter 5

[jelzorz]

168.

Callum still dreams about the mirror.

Posession is not an easy thing to forget. It's been about a month since that day in the Storm Spire, but it will haunt him for the rest of his life, worsened by the knowledge Claudia is out there and looking to free Aaravos, even when the prison is here, and the Nova Blade is sheathed and upon his desk. He'd thought having it would be a comfort, but it taunts him every night: it's there, within reach, and he can end it now, smash the prison and push the blade through Aaravos' heart, be done with it once and for all—

But of course he doesn't do that, tempting as it is, because the others are right, and something so reckless might be exactly what Aaravos wants.

So Callum bears it. He tosses and turns in his sleep, dreaming of the mirror, of seeing his reflection in it, trapped in Aaravos' place while his body hurts the people he loves the most. He shuts out the voice, deep enough that he can feel it ringing in his chest and seeping into his bones, whispering terrible thoughts, terrible ideas into his mind and beckoning him to surrender and sleep and relinquish his will. He wakes in the mornings feeling more exhausted than when he went to bed, and it's getting worse, he thinks, the longer they wait.

Tonight, it's different. Callum looks at himself through Aaravos' eyes, trapped and helpless in the mirror, but tonight, Aaravos only watches and pulls Callum's lips into an oily, terrifying grin.

"Difficult, isn't it?" Aarovos asks, tilting his head towards the desk. "The answer is there. You could finish this if you wanted."

Callum's reflection pounds his fist against the glass. Stop this, he mouths. Let me go.

Aaravos laughs. "Soon," he makes Callum say. "There are so many things to do first. So many places to conquer. So much discord to sow. And this body... I think it can do a great many things for me before I ever even escape."

Let me go! the reflection snarls. I won't let you control me!

"Oh, but that's the beauty of it all," chuckles Aaravos. "You mages think you can control everything but you never realise how easy it is to control you. There are things you want, Callum. Things you'll do anything for, and people you're desperate to protect, isn't that right? What would it take, I wonder, for you to release me in Claudia's stead?"

Nothing, the reflection seethes. You have nothing I want. I'll never help you.

"Perhaps not," says Aaravos. "But you'll help her, won't you?" He pushes out a hand and turns the mirror, and there is Rayla, curled in the other bed with Stella in her arms. There is moonlight in her hair, and peace on her face, and she's so vulnerable, so easy to threaten, to hurt—

Callum's body advances, the lips tugged up in that horrible smile, the eyes glowing, the hand outstretched to tuck a lock of Rayla's hair behind the point of her ear. The gesture is gentle, so deceptively tender, but the fingers are large and too close to her throat, and Callum in the mirror panics and pounds harder against the glass.

Don't touch her! he cries, voiceless, helpless. Aaravos! Leave her out of this, it's me you want!

Aaravos laughs. It is deep and cruel, and it fills Callum's chest with dread and a fear so debilitating he can barely breathe through it. His reflection slams its fist against the glass, desperate, but even that is silent, even as its knuckles split and smear blood against the inside of mirror, and then—

The glass breaks.

Callum wakes.

There is no mirror. It was destroyed weeks ago, in the foyer of the Storm Spire. Rayla is still asleep in the other bed, her breathing slow and even, even as Callum's own breath rushes out.

"Just a dream," he mumbles, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. He forces himself to think of other things: tomorrow's council meeting, the Nova Blade on his desk, Rayla's smile in the moonlight. She is safe. He is safe. Everything is fine. "A dream," he says again, his breath still shaking. "It wasn't real."

He gets up to wash his face, leaving bloody handprints in the bed.