#possible death of viren

[wheretwofacesmeet]

[stuck-in-jelly]

Maybe I’m delusional but I cant be the only one who believes that the “Rise Again” short story is a parallel to what must’ve happened when Lisa realized what Viren “had to do” to save their son.

Pretty consistently we see that Claudia is a parallel to her father meanwhile more subtly we see Soren as a parallel to his mother.

I believe it is strongest in the scene where Soren makes the decision to runaway and he tries to ask Claudia to come with him. Claudia shakes her head overwhelmed with whats going on and begging Soren to not make her choose between him and their father, much like when their parents asked her to choose which parent she’d stay with.

And so, just like their mother, Soren chooses for Claudia. Telling her goodbye.

I feel like it is especially reinforced with these images.

With that established i want to clarify my thoughts on exactly what happened to Soren when he was a kid.

I know a lot of people believe Soren didn’t actually die and instead was just really sick and about to die but between the symbolism of being turned to stone=death and how whatever spell he did crossed a line even his Mentor wouldn’t to the point of getting into a physical altercation I believed Soren actually died.

It seems to me that to at least to some degree this was resurrection. But why it didn’t require a blood of his child?

Soren was young and small and probably not dead for very long unlike Viren who had been dead for TWO YEARS.

But now onto ‘Rise Again’.

Of course the spell Claudia used wasn’t as strong as bringing something to life. She didn’t actually bring back a dead cat she was just animating cat ashes into the form of the cat she loved but regardless other she and Soren treat it as if the ashes were truly the cat and not a puppet Claudia made. But these snippets stuck out the most to me

If we take this short story as a parallel of their parents after Soren’s death/near death I feel like the language paints a good picture of how it went:

Viren:

“- I know but I fixed it.”

“It wasn’t fair that [he] died. [He] wasn’t even that old.”

Lisa:

“We had a little ceremony remember?”

“Because [Soren] died.”

But I think the biggest one is this scene:

[yourbuerokrat2]

Predictions for season 5 and 6 regarding the Mage fam

Considering the trailer, I am going to be making the prediction that Viren won’t survive the sereies but won’t necessarily die in Season 5 but probably in season 6 or season 7 tops. Season 5 will be the built up for finding a way to stop the Mage Fam (or at leat what remained of it) while also trying to find a way to kill Aaravos in case they fail (which they will). 

I think they are going to keep Viren around for at least season 6 since I think Viren is going to sacrifice himself trying to stop Aaravos even if Virens only and main motiviation would be in trying to keep Claudia from becoming another one of Aarvos puppets like he had become. 

Season 5 is probably going to end with Claudia and Terry freeing Aaravos despite Rayllumm and Cos. combined efforts. And it’s going to be just in time before Virens ultimate demise. 

The big difference is that now that Aaravos has kept his word, Claudia is even more convinced that he is the Good Guy and that he is going to make good on all his other promises regarding Humanity and she would be all the more willing to help. Meanwhile Terry, who is not really understanding what is going on and too blindly in love with Claudia to see that he is on the villains team, could still end up trying to become Claudias conscience like he was in season 4. 

And I think Viren would be so conflicted with having gone through an entire journey of self-discovery, self-reflection and now knowing the true person that Aaravos is but maybe being actually afraid of him now?

Season 6 is probably going to be how Viren actively tries to save Claudia from becoming like him and he ends up sacrificing himself in a moment of brief betrayal towards Aaravos that might not seem to have any effects now but will ultimately factor in Aaravos inevitable doom. 

Of course, Aaravos is going to make Virens demise/death all of Rayllums fault so Claudia would be even more motivated to do as he says. 

But then there is Terry. And the romance between him and Claudia was shown in the Trailer and Terry does have a sort of bond with Viren as well.

And I don’t think the crew from The Dragon Prince would kill of a fan favorite and a clear trans representation off. 

[sorinethemastermind]

Terry - The Dragon Prince S7 Theories

According to the unofficial TDP wiki Season Seven is about;

"Following Sol Regem’s destructive rampage on Katolis, which saw the death of Viren, a grief-stricken Claudia has been manipulated by Aaravos into freeing him from his prison, against the wishes of her boyfriend Terry."

I think there's a lot there to unpack there. And very important things to unpack for Terry's storyline. I already have a post about what I think will happen with Claudia in the next season, and I think that Terry will be a crucial part of this. So let's talk about him a bit.

I address "a grief-stricken Claudia has been manipulated by Aaravos" in my Claudia post. So let's focus on "against the wishes of her boyfriend Terry"

Claudia might not know that Aaravos was manipulating her, but Terry does. He even warns her. But she's so desperate for direction, so hurt by the loss of her father, that she doesn't see through Aaravos' manipulations and releases him anyway.

Terry had been there for Claudia through thick and thin, and he's always been able to see that no matter what terrible things she's done, she's had a reason. She's done it all for her family.

However dangerous.

However vile.

So I don't think that he'll leave her. Instead, I think that him standing by her is going to be part of what helps her finally choose the right path.

Terry doesn't use her need for direction like other people in her life have. She gives him every chance to, but he stands by her. Not by what he could turn her into. Or what talents of hers he might use. He's there for her, and I think he's going to help her learn to find her own direction and make her own choices. He's going to teach her to tell herself what to do.

This could happen in one of two ways, I think.

Terry will warn Claudia about Aaravos' intentions, continuing to do so until Aaravos begins to view him as a threat and attempts to turn her against Terry. Claudia may be tempted to choose Aaravos, but will ultimately choose Terry and someone who loves her just the way she is. Someone who wants to listen to what she has to say and what she wants to do.

Alternatively, Terry will pull a Soren. Let me explain this a bit more.

Rayla and Callum, even Ezran, have all seem to have given up hope that Claudia can turn good. But Soren hasn't.

I think that a possible storyline of the next season is Terry realizing that Claudia is being led further and further down a dark path, and going for help to lead her away from it. Because remember, he's met Soren and I'm sure he's heard about him too.

In Season Three, Soren helps Ezran, but remains by Viren's side.

I think it's possible that Terry will find our heroes and ask for their help, specifically Soren's, in guiding Claudia back from the brink of darkness. He'll stay by Claudia like he said, but to truly stand by her and try to protect her, he'll have to go behind her back to get help to save her from Aaravos.

After all, Claudia still has people out there who love her for her.

[themattress]

The Dragon Prince's Biggest Flaw

Now that I've finished Season 7 (the end of the Mystery of Aaravos arc and quite possibly the series if they don't get a three season renewal), I once again must reaffirm the biggest albatross around The Dragon Prince's neck. It's not the lore and worldbuilding so reliant on side material, or the never-ending Avatar: The Last Airbender references, or the inconsistent animation quality, or the tonal whiplashes, or the sketchy pacing that results from all seasons being only 9 episodes long. It's the fact that while most of the heroes are likable enough, their conflicts aren't as interesting or satisfying as the villains' at best, and their goals and beliefs are downright not preferable to the villains' at worst. And this season highlighted that again!

Callum doesn't end up going dark or dying despite all the build-up, Rayla gets closure with her biological parents and then gets to have her adoptive parents back and status back and doesn't end up needing to kill Callum, Ezran is pulled back from his tyrannical path by Aanya and forgives those he was angry at, Runaan is among those forgiven and gets to find out he didn't kill King Harrow after all, Soren doesn't have to find out troubling truths of his past or confront the mother who abandoned him or have to kill his sister, Terry keeps his innocence and doesn't have to be burdened by Claudia dying, Lujanne doesn't die, and Janai doesn't end up needing to make the hard choice of executing her brother. The only sacrifice made by a hero is by Zubela, who at least gets to be with her husband in death and tell her son she loves him before dying, with said son appearing to be just fine afterward. Ezran practically boasts about how nobody had to sacrifice anything in the end despite having prepared to!

Meanwhile, Claudia loses her innocence, her brother, much of her mental health, her leg, her biological father, her boyfriend, her adoptive father, and if I'm reading it right even her humanity. Viren gave up everything to atone for his sins and died a painful and lonely death as he reiterated that he's "a servant", as if his problem was that he didn't "know his place" and dared to want more rather than his actual heinous actions in the pursuit of what he thought was justified. Aaravos lost his biological daughter, spent countless years crying over it, spent countless more years imprisoned, and now he has been temporarily killed and separated from his adoptive daughter in the process. (Oh, and Karim was squished to death, but fuck that guy). The villains actually lose things, they actually have to make sacrifices to achieve what they want! This makes them more compelling than the heroes, even if their aims aren't always on the morally up and up...but this season screws up that caveat as well!

Not only is Aaravos' plan at worst something that will create hardships that are perfectly endurable, but at best it's something morally justified because it strips power from a cosmic order that we have been shown is corrupt, composed of self-righteous bigots who will execute a child for daring to share magic with a race they deem inferior and unworthy of it. While the heroes want to create a better world, their solution doesn't address the root causes for the problems in any meaningful way. It's supposed to be framed as them acknowledging the hurt but moving on from in rather than let it bind them to the past, but that only works with the Karim plotline. Aaravos not moving beyond his hurt isn't binding him to the past, it's making him fight for a future where such cosmic atrocities can't be inflicted again...and more to the point, it's making him fight for a reality where his child's unjust execution isn't rendered meaningless. He refuses to accept "bad shit happens and we all just have to move on" when the ones making the bad shit happen move on without paying a damn consequence for their actions. And he isn't even a hypocrite about it: he knows he's also doing bad shit, and that's why he plans to die at the end! He can be with his daughter and his victims can have justice.

Meanwhile, this season is full of heroes also doing bad shit that they justify as for the best, with the difference being they have no self-awareness about it and, as said before, pay no sacrifices for it. From Callum trying to use dark magic and commit the very kind of vile act Viren was demonized for, to Rayla betraying her allies by breaking a rightfully convicted criminal out of prison, to Ezran going full Oppenheimer with the creation of a dangerous new weapon....and, perhaps worst of all, Soren, Terry and co. magically disguising Lujanne as Claudia's long-lost mother in an attempt to trick her into standing down from helping Aaravos. Yes, to get her away from Aaravos they resorted to something far more underhanded and manipulative than anything Aaravos ever tried with her. Why should I root for these guys!?

Honestly, I think if there is one scene that perfectly encapsulates the problem, it's Terry's big Heel Face Turn moment. Aaravos tells Terry the whole dark truth with the explicit purpose of helping him grow and helping him and Claudia be a better couple by putting them on equal ground with one another. And the words he says to Terry in this scene are absolutely correct:

"The true heart is a gift of childhood. For a few wonder-filled years, we each have innocent eyes to experience the world's beauty, in a simple way. Terrestrius, you were lucky. You held that innocent want for longer than most. I have seen generations of humans and elves accept the darkness that lurks in all of us beside the light. There is no black and white, only shades of gray. We must all carry complexity. But please, believe me: that there is beauty in this burden. Your heart will be a little heavier, but now there will be no more half-truths, Terrestrius. We will do what must be done."

All of this is right! Note that Aaravos isn't saying you have to discard your inner child or the good qualities it grants you completely. He is simply saying the truth that you cannot stay in a childlike state of being forever, you must also be willing to acknowledge and accept the darker parts of the world, of human nature, of yourself. If not, you can't do what you must.

But rather than do that and work through things with Claudia, Terry totally backtracks on his pledge last season that he'll never leave her and will always stand with her, all because he is scared of having to grow up and lose his innocence, to take the black with the white and see things in shades of gray, to work toward something bigger than himself that requires him to step outside his comfort zone. And it all feels so phony and unjustified, for three reasons:

- 1. First of all, he killed a man. Does anybody else remember that? He killed Ibis from behind in his third appearance in order to protect Claudia. After that he helped take and hold Soren as a hostage, steal a map from a dragon's tooth, and actively assist in releasing Aaravos despite even his own apprehensions about it. Claudia killing Sir Sparklepuff didn't seem to phase him all that much either. So the notion that he still has his innocence in tact and hasn't lost it already feels like narrative gaslighting. The breaking point being Claudia lying to him and using him (even though just talking to her deeply about it would reveal that Aaravos told her to, since again his plan was to break his innocence once it served its purpose so that he and Claudia could be equals in a better relationship) makes him feel selfish, especially given that he knows about Claudia's abandonment issues and how it will feel if another loved one walks out on her, this time after having sworn not to do so and even staying with her after she left him specifically to avoid this scenario! I'm having trouble feeling sympathy for him here.

- 2. Secondly, even if we accept his decision to leave, why couldn't he just stay on his own and take care of the birds? I mean, he could have stayed with Aaravos and Claudia and just taken the birds with him, but if he really felt he needed to split, why join their enemies? Why go out of his way to side with the people working against Claudia just as Soren had done, once again making her feel betrayed in the process? The justification that he's doing it with the assurance that Claudia won't be harmed doesn't hold water, since one of his new buddies almost kills her later and then shortly after that Soren starts talking about how she's too far gone and may need to die. Did I mention that both of those happen after they try to deceive Claudia with a fake version of her long-lost mother? Which leads to the third and final point...

- 3. Yeah, instead of just going and finding his and Claudia's mother even if it made him uncomfortable, Soren, along with Terry, Corvus, Lujanne and Allen, decided to use a magic spell to disguise Lujanne as her and have her play out an emotional reunion with a vulnerable Claudia in order to manipulate her into leaving Aaravos. When leaving her, Terry said to Claudia "You didn't trust me to make my own choice! You used me! It's not how you treat someone you love...it's not how you treat any person! And if I let you treat me that way, I'm not sure I can really be me anymore!" Yet here he is, not trusting Claudia to make her own choice and using her despite loving her. Is THAT you, Terry? Or have you changed into someone you don't even like, which was your reasoning for not staying with Claudia? Either way, you've blown up your entire rationale. You're just as morally gray as Aaravos and Claudia, except unlike them you lack the maturity to own it, preferring to stay a man-child.

And that's the show's fatal flaw in a nutshell. It wants to be morally complex, except it also doesn't want the heroes to actually embrace their own moral complexity and suffer the consequences that comes with it, which ends up turning them into pious hypocrites who can't acknowledge their hypocrisy or that the villains might have a point with what they're seeking to achieve, who breeze through the show unscathed while the villains actually have to suffer for fighting for what they believe in. It wants to be Avatar: The Last Airbender, but instead it's as if Monk Gyatso was revealed to still be alive and reunited with Aang, if Katara got closure with her mother's spirit, if Yue attempted to sacrifice herself but then the problem is solved differently so she gets to live happily ever after with Sokka, or if Zuko got his scar healed....by Azula no less, who then still goes on to suffer a mental breakdown anyway. Actually, let me rephrase it: she suffers a mental breakdown after she gets scarred herself!

If a third arc happens, I'll watch it if I hear good things about it. But until then....

[kradogsrats]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The same thing that Tiadrin and Lain did:

And that Amaya does:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[nasgard]

"You must make the sacrifice."

"So dies the Sun King"

I've been thinking about this. Aaravos guided Sol Regem to attack Katolis for no apparent reason. No one there was responsible for his imprisonment or the death of Leola. He aimed directly at Viren in that final attack and then he look satisfied and guided Sol Regem to retreat as soon as he realized Viren's spell worked. So, this attack seemed random and senseless but had some clear consequences:

It forced Katolis/Soren to seek help from the only person who could protect everyone from a dragon attack (funny how this keeps happening despite the general disdain for Viren and Dark Magic).

It obviously pushed Viren back into using Dark Magic.

It forced Viren to sacrifice his own heart, leading to his death and downfall (again).

It resulted in the death of Sol Regem

Of course, Sol Regem dies after the attack, but I don't think it was because of the arrow wounds; it was because Sol swallowed Pharos' corrupted body.

So... why make Sol Regem attack Katolis? How does that affect Sol Regem? If the goal was just to kill him, couldn't Aaravos have done it without attacking the kingdom? Unless the attack's target wasn't really Katolis or Sol Regem. In a way, the target seemed to be Viren.

So, what was it? Revenge for Viren abandoning him? Was Aaravos creating a situation where Viren could atone for his past mistakes? A final test for Viren to prove himself? Or some other hidden objective? Unless none of these options fit, and the show's writers just made it confusing.

But it's curious that the writers chose to make Aaravos say the name Sun King instead of using the Latin version, Sol Regem, making it easier for the viewer to associate this line to his line for Viren in the season 5.

yeah, there's still one more possibility, of course with the entire castle destroyed it was easier for Claudia to find Aaravos' prison and then free him. But that seems like such a boring reason.

[raayllum]

An interesting thread in S7 that I noticed:

You are destroyed by the things you create.

The first time we see this kind of thread (at least I think, I might've missed something) is with Kpp'Ar and Viren in season 6. Kpp'Ar takes Viren on as his "most eager student" and teaches him much in the ways of dark magic, even eventually handing over the position of High Mage. And even once acquiring said position, Viren betrays him in order to take the Staff of Ziard, citing:

Then you have Viren being destroyed and creating the exact circumstances he didn't want. In corrupting Lux Aurea, he expelled the Sunfire elves, leading to Karim's increasing fanaticism, power struggle, and usage of Sol Regem. This led indirectly to Sol Regem bringing Viren's worst nightmare down upon Katolis.

We see this more directly with Aaravos as well, as he created Sir Sparklepuff and had Avizandum specifically summoned back from the dead in S7, both of which have a hand in his demise:

This also ties into Aaravos' desire to destroy the Cosmic Order, as they created the circumstances that led to his anger in killing Leola, and therefore his violence and great machinations:

This "you are destroyed/defeated by what you create" is also one of the things that won me over when theorizing about S7, as I thought that if Callum used dark magic to defeat Aaravos fully (rip Rayla's positive character development theorized there too), while it might have felt a bit thematically muddied, would've had a great layer of irony: Aaravos, being imprisoned/defeated by the very thing he created. Close, but no cigar!

Then, for the core protagonists, to a certain degree we have this theme with Viren and Claudia. Viren realizes his horror at what Claudia has become, as well as the path that he's pushed and led her down by example. This doesn't literally destroy him, but it does emotionally devastate him, and does end up destroying their relationship in a lot of ways.

Even Claudia gets a bit of this, as she stabs her mother in the back—a daughter killing her own mother—just as Soren stabbed Viren in 3x09. Children killing their own parents, even as illusions, fits the theme, don't you think?

Ezran also gets interwoven into this idea in a few interesting ways in season 7. In creating the circumstances that led to Ezran being king, and thereby creating the child king and his rage, Runaan could've become a victim of it, and indeed nearly was (7x01, 7x02).

The second way this could come to a head for Ezran is Project Ruby Fire, though we'll have to wait for future seasons. While the project is his and Aanya's brainchild to keep Katolis (Evrkynd now?) safe and safe from the threat of dragons in the future, it's unlikely that these weapons of destruction will stay unused, and could possibly lead to devastation and loss in their kingdoms and/or of their friends (Zym).

Last but not least, we have Callum and Rayla. While not a literal destruction (but close to), they were prepared to sacrifice everything for one another. Callum's death would've made Rayla an assassin, hardening her heart further than it already is; on the other side of things, Callum became a mage and a dark mage because of her (2x07, 5x08): "If you love her, you'll be the you who can save her," even if that means demanding she'd become the her who can kill him, and save him / the world from a fate worse than death.

At the same time, Callum only begins doing the dark magic spell because he trusts Rayla to be his safety net. I can see solid arguments for whether she would've actually gone through with it on either side, but it led to Callum re-corrupting himself and opening himself up to Aaravos' possession in the future either way.

Like with Ezran and Project Ruby Fire, I expect this plot thread to be more of a beat in Arc 3 / future seasons, but am still deeply interested to see how it may all come to pass - and how there could be more consequences (the Nova Blade?) even from trying to do good.

[madou-dilou]

My analysis of Viren's death

Viren’s death in The Dragon Prince is one of the series' most ambiguous and tragic moments —a conclusion both majestic and cruel for the best character in the show.

Such a complicated and torn character couldn't possibly die a clear-cut death. He had to deliver a multi-faceted answer that refused any binary reading.

From the very beginning, Viren saw himself as the only one capable of protecting Katolis, willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. But he didn’t just want to be the executor of necessary sacrifices; he wanted to be the one who decided them, who bore the burden, the hero bound by necessity, clad in luxurious black outfits, who dirties his hands for the salvation of others, who nobly accepts to soak his hands in blood because no one else has the guts to, because someone has to. And, above all, was thanked, celebrated, and obeyed for it. Even if it meant usurping the throne and claiming the title of lord protector of the realm, for he has not the idealism granted by a priviledged birth. He is an adult, a key political player of recent history, he can see what needs to be done, he is quick, decisive, and ruthless. When Harrow rejected the sacrifice of his life, dismissing him as a "nothing but a servant", it was particularly painful for him... but it wouldn’t have been if Viren had been willing to sacrifice not only his life but, more importantly, his ego.

And it is that very ego that eventually leads him to his moral downfall.

Viren’s hamartia is not that he seeks validation, but that he lets this need overshadow his empathy and morality. He says so himself: he’s desperate to matter.

And yet, though his death ultimately serves the greater good, strikingly similar to his sincere claims, it is far from a martyr’s death. It happens after he has recognized his sole responsibility for all that happened, pleaded guilty, crawled before the rightful king, his luxurious black robes gone for tattered white rags soak in sweat and dirt and blood, and all in the greatest indifference—without witnesses, without recognition, without honor, leaving no trace. "I am a servant." No one is there to see the blood he spills onto the ground. In choosing to expiation this way, just like he chose all the rest, in humility, he finally accepts what he had always refused: to be nothing more than a servant whose existence leaves no trace. This renunciation, this ultimate submission to erasure, seems to mark a true transformation for the better.

However, with this reading of a purely redemptive death comes along a different one. Equally true.

I understand why the way his death happened doesn't sit right with most of his fans. Because why on earth bother spending a whole season on a whole introspection dream teaching him that on contrary to what he always believed ("Every step I took, I took because I had to."), he was always free, thus the sole to blame for all his awful decisions ("No. No matter where you come from, no matter what you did before, each step forward is a choice. I am free and so are you""), but also therefore able to take a different path, if it's to conclude his arc (reducing him to a passive figure, trapped, framed as fly caught in a spider's web) like this... ?

... but I think the bare minor piano music, reminescent of Ramin Djiwadi's best compositions for Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, acknowledges how awful Viren's fate actually is. The show itself acknowledges how unfair it all is.

Viren’s descent into darkness, from his first compromises to his final act, was never solely dictated by cold ambition or political calculation. It was, above all, an expression of profound self-loathing, fueled by the conviction that he could be nothing but a monster.

When Lissa called him a monster for what he was willing to do to save their son, he couldn’t help but agree with her. He once ripped the heart from a monster to save innocent lives, and now, he is doing the exact same thing. From the beginning, he has proven willing to offer his own life—not out of pure altruism, but because he has always seen himself as the monster who had no choice, the necessary instrument of a cruel balance. This is what dark magic teaches its practitioners: to see themselves and others only as tools. Viren was raised by a man who devoured his own arm to fuel his spells. His suicide, rather than a release from his ego, is its ultimate culmination: convinced that he deserves neither forgiveness nor recognition, he burns his note to disappear in silence.

His act, far from the nobility of sacrifice, instead reaffirms the worst belief he has ever held about himself—the one that led to all the others: if he believed he had the right to sacrifice others, it was precisely because he saw himself as devoid of intrinsic worth. Or rather, only ever worth whatever he was willing to lose. We’re talking about the man who screamed at his own reflection that he was nothing, worthless, until he collapsed in tears in the dark. Being indispensible was the only way he ever knew to prove he was worth something, anything.

So this final sacrifice is also the inevitable conclusion of a death wish he never truly escaped. Despite all his attempts to free himself from it, he was ultimately helpless to defy his fate. After all, sacrifice is the only thing he ever knew how to offer.

There is also a ... not pleasing classist dimension to this: Viren is a man who tried to rise above his station, to prove that his intelligence and dedication could transcend the established order, but he is punished for it. While Ezran and Callum, rulers by birthright, retain their legitimacy without ever having to earn or prove it, Viren is condemned to crawl, to cry and beg, to call himself a servant, and to disappear. His final erasure, where even his name is ignored, suggests a social fatalism: he never had a place among the born rulers, and his ascent was an aberration that history quickly wipes away. It is unfair, considering he saved countless lives—especially when Avizandum, who caused famines that left thousands of humans to starve, and Zubeia, who ordered Harrow's death, were given an entire memorial right beside Sarai’s and Harrow's tombs. I’m willing to let go of past grievances, but what would the Sunfire elves say if a statue of Viren was erected right in the middle of Lux Aurea?

Look : I wouldn't even have minded Viren's erasure from history if it had been debated on by the Katolis Council, for it would show how history is always constructed and biaised. But the show apparently doesn't care (and neither does Soren given his incoherent, insufferable persona in Book VII). Anyway

The ambiguity of Viren's death also extends to the impact of his death on his children.

His act is a liberation for Soren, a royal guard and an heir deemed disappointing, who grew up in the shadow of a father resigned to seeing him as nothing more than a sacrificial pawn. By choosing to disappear without explanation or justification, Viren spares Soren the burden of a grief weighed down by guilt or the ambivalence of a farewell letter that would have attempted to justify the wounds he inflicted. Soren can finally break free and move forward without carrying the weight of the past.

Claudia, on the other hand, a dark mage like her father, who sacrificed everything to bring him back, is shattered. Where Viren realized he was so toxic his mere presence was poisoning her, where he hoped he was freeing her by leaving, liberating her from everything she was willing to endure for him, and offering her a new life, he instead plunges her into an abyss of anger and despair from which she may never escape.

However, it is implied that Soren’s instant proposal ""take my heart" and long-acted enlistment in the royal guard, is not just noble but also the awful result of the deep self-devaluation Viren instilled in his children. Soren felt so neglected and unworthy of love he thought he could only prove himself by enlisting as a crownguard, in other words by sacrificing himself. And even now, that's probably what he's still doing when he orders Viren to take his heart. Fortunately, Viren immediately realises this and instead offers his own heart.

Similarly, Claudia, who amputated herself to save Viren, screams at his corpse, "You taught me how to love myself"… when she has just proven that she doesn’t love herself at all. It is a purely tragic paradox.

Her definition of self-love is entirely shaped by Viren’s sacrificial ideology: to love is to give until there is nothing left. He did not teach her to love herself, but to give everything, to burn herself away for another—to the point that she no longer exists outside of this devotion. This is exactly what Viren meant to stop by leaving her.

Viren realized the awful truth that he had transmitted a twisted vision of sacrifice to his children, the "dark and lonely path" : he taught them that their worth could only exist through what they were willing to lose. Soren by offering his heart, and Claudia, by tearing a leg apart, embody this bitter legacy each in their own way.

Yet, far from only ending the destructive cycles he chose to set in motion, Viren inadvertently prolongs them: Soren is freed, but Claudia is consumed by grief.

And the final nail in the children's coffin : when Viren tried to die for Harrow in episode 3 of Book I, he told what he intended to do to Soren, the crownguard, knowing he would understand, but kept it a secret from Claudia, knowing she'd try to stop him. It ultimately exactly what happens in Book VI.

Of course, because TDP loves parallels, many other parallels come to sublimate Viren’s death.

Both Ziard and Viren die defending humanity from Sol Regem, using dark magic. But Viren refuses to make others (magical creatures) bear the burden of his heroism. Ziard’s act unwittingly set a precedent of conflict and retribution, while Viren takes full responsibility upon himself.

Like Harrow, Viren, after writing a note to his son, gives his life as a lord protector of the realm, in a desperate hope to break the cycle of violence and pain they instigated—yet tragically, both inadvertently spark new cycles in their wake.

Runaan also sees himself as taking on the burden of monstrous actions for those they love. Him and Viren killed each other’s kings. The visual symmetry between Runaan’s capture and Viren’s death emphasizes their shared tragedy: bound by duty, yet, as Rayla says, monsters leaving behind a daughter who still needs them.

All these parallels show that Viren’s death embodies the show’s core themes: cycles of violence, sacrifice, and unintended consequences. Does sacrificing oneself to end them ever truly work, or does it only perpetuate them? What agency do we have in them? Can we ever escape them? Are we to blame for choosing between bad options, or to blame for not seeing these good options even exist? Do the dead ever stop breathing within us?

Despite all these contradictions—or rather, because of them—his death remains a moment of huge intensity. It is both a redemption and a condemnation, a liberation and a punishment, a necessary sacrifice and a cruel end. His final act refuses to be confined to a single interpretation, and it is precisely this complexity that makes it so unforgettable. It's just like the double-headed snake he gave Harrow. Whether one sees Viren's death as the deserved punishment of a monster who tried to be more than he could be ("leader of heroes"), or the ultimate surrender of a man convinced of his own worthlessness ("virus"), the mere fact that it could be both at once and more makes it like a multifaceted gem. An indifferent death, yet grandiose. An unjust conclusion, yet perfect.

Well I would have loved it if he had healed Lux Aurea, mentored Callum for a while and contributed significantly to Aaravos's downfall but anyway.

(Book II foreshadowing, rubbing his own wrist as the sky is set ablaze by a dying sun, on the very balcony he'll eventually commit suicide on, god I love him so much)

[gold-eye]

the importance of breath in the dragon prince

Spoilers for Season 6 of the Dragon Prince.

Breath, by its nature, is everywhere in the world of storytelling. But what I've noticed throughout the show—especially in S6—is that the importance of breath really

There's a few different mechanisms that I see. The first: breath as balance and reflection.

We learn relatively early in the season that Callum's biological father, Damian, was a poet—a man who struggled with a "terrible breathing sickness" for his entire life. Meanwhile, Callum's magic has always been derived from breath. The first spell he cast (back in S1 with the Primordial Stone) was Aspiro—from aspirare in Latin, literally "to breathe." When he recovers his magic in S2, the first spell he casts is once again Aspiro.

That reflection of father and son is poetic in its own right, but it becomes even more significant when you consider that there is a genetic component to many respiratory conditions, from asthma to more complex respiratory conditions. We see breath take its toll on Callum: he's the first to collapse and struggle to breathe due to the thin air while climbing to Zubeia's lair, and Rayla catching Callum after a breath-based spell is so common that I've seen several posts dedicated to it.

So much of his magic is derived from breath, but that magic is where Callum finds his purpose. Callum has been open about the fact that he struggled with finding a sense of confidence and belonging as a child. When he lost his magic, it was like losing a part of himself—and those who know grief knows how it can feel like a punch to the lungs. When he acts as a mage, utilizing his breath as his power, it feels right. It feels like he's able to breathe. Every time he accesses magic, whether it's his own or another (like Star Magic during the ceremony in S6), Callum breathes it in like a man drowning.

Callum and Damian are linked by blood, by genetics, even possibly by the same respiratory condition in different degrees. And therein lies the greatest balance of all: the thing that killed his father—breath—is the very thing that gives Callum life.

We see another application of breath as balance, though on a slightly darker point. Like Damian, Soren was also born a child that struggled to breathe (though we don't know if the two had the same condition). As a result, Viren took the last breath of Kpp'Ar for the very chance that his son might be able to breathe.

Unlike Callum and Damian, that exchange of breath was far more intentional, and its result was far more detrimental. Soren was finally able to breathe, but Viren turned cold towards him. And at the same time, that gift of breath was the first step that Viren took towards his use of dark magic—which, as we know, had numerous implications over the course of the series.

The second mechanism is partially derived from the first, breaking down breath into inhalation and exhalation: acceptance and release.

This is something that is the most evident at beginnings and ends, which one would typically link to inhalations and exhalations respectively, but that is not always the case. We see different applications of this throughout the series, though I'll focus heavily on S6:

In the Starscraper, when Rayla and Callum redo their reunion meeting, Rayla exhales sharply. It's a steadying thing; it seems to signify a release of nerves, of anxiety, of all the fears she'd had leading up to that point.

Zubeia's first discernable breath when she wakes up in S3 is (to my ears) an exhale: a release of all the pain and grief that she had felt.

When Rayla says goodbye to Tiadrin and Lain in the Moon Nexus portal, they both tilt their heads upwards—the movement echoing one last inhale. For them, it is acceptance of their own death, of their departure—something that they hadn't truly realized up until that point. But for the two of them, Dragonguards until their last breath in both worlds, it's also acceptance that they have passed on their role to their daughter: the next generation of Dragonguard. (Bonus: Rayla exhales right before she tells the two that she has to let them go: one last release. It's not a release of her love for them, which is something that she may never let go, but it is a release for her pain—something she'd kept locked up for so long.

When Runaan turns into the flower for Rayla, you can hear an exhale in the music. For him, this is a release of all the pain and fear that he'd had, all the regret of attacking his daughter. Once Runaan has been returned to his form, he inhales again, accepting the role of her parent. He inhales hard, and it sounds almost painful—and in some ways, I think it has to be. In that moment, he accepts that their past is a part of their present: that even though both of them have done things that they regret, they still share the same bond.

As Sol Regem dies, he does not breathe in: he can't, since he is choking. He cannot accept what he has done to his mate. Instead, he tries to exhale, tries to release his grief and pain, but without the balance of acceptance, all it can do is burn him from within: in this case, in the most literal of ways. (Bonus: Sol Regem also inhales to see if Aaravos is telling the truth. He can smell the truth from a lie, and what is the first step to acceptance if not the truth?)

After casting the Hearts of Cinder spell, Viren inhales as soon as he's done casting the spell, perhaps accepting that he is a servant of the people—and of course, his last breath is a release of a lifetime of pain.

Of course, this isn't an exclusive list, and there's plenty more, but these are some of the ones that have stuck in my memory.

This balance of inhalation and exhalation even applies to the mechanics of magic in the world, with inhalation and exhalation being more directly reflective of giving and taking. (Mechanism number three!)

The elves of Xadia breathe through their magic. (Callum too!) Magic comes as naturally to them as the air in their very lungs. We see this most obviously in the warriors: they let out a cry, emptying their lungs as they activate their primal magic. Janai stands out in my memory, since we see her fight often throughout the series. The six primordial sources: these are a magic of giving, of life. It is a release. The elves don't have to constrain themselves; instead, they are their truest selves when they are in touch with that primordial power.

Dark magic is not so natural, as the show reiterates, and to be honest, it often sounds painful. The words of spells are reversed, but when we hear Claudia and Viren complete spells, it sounds almost as though they are inhaling through the words. They are, in the most literal of senses, taking through the dark magic. It twists the acceptance of an inhale by turning magic from something freely flowing into something that is taken—accepted by the one who takes, but not released by the being that gives.

All of this results in one world where breath connects everything. It lives in every human, elf, and being: the essence of the sky connecting everything.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Has anyone looked at the Moonshadow implications for inverting life and death yet? Wondering if the entire act of Rayla saving Runaan's soul from the Moon Nexus is preparing her for something... Worse.

We saw the Oasis for like 5 minutes, but it wasn't even the point of the scene. If the Starscraper is a place that can focus on dark skies, then so is the Midnight Desert. But the Oasis has Moonshadow occupation and a moon-shaped pool, like the Moon Nexus does.

If anyone's qualified to jump into the underworld to stop Aaravos now, it's Rayla. Maybe that's why he looked at her like this the first time he saw her:

Maybe he's known for a long time that someone with that face is going to be a big problem for him - much bigger than merely tackling Viren off the Storm Spire.

Maybe everything he's done to Callum has simply been to undermine Rayla. To distract and discourage her, so she won't have what it takes to stop him when it matters most.

That adds a much more dangerous layer to the threat of Callum possibly using dark magic one more time in S7. If he does it, he could lose himself in it, maybe even become a threat, and that could distract Rayla from striking when she must, allowing Aaravos to get what he wanted all along: the inversion of life and death.

[thestarswillguide]

𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐬 — 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬

Summary: Just some headcanons of what exactly was going through Aaravos's head during and after his imprisonment

Content/Warnings: Possibly OOC Aaravos (since it's my first time writing for a character), angst (him being depressed and angry (◞‸ ◟) ), Avizandum & Zubeia mention, Claudia & Viren mention, some sweet/hopeful parts here and there ₊˚⊹♡ (wc: 1.1k)

A/N: AHHH this is my first time writing!! (seriously I've never written headcanons or a oneshot or anything oof-) I honestly think these hcs are bad and I'm not sure they're really accurate or if I did this right, but I enjoyed writing them nonetheless 🥲. I had to keep stopping myself from thinking too hard as I imagined myself as him, and sort of just relax my mind and type whatever thoughts came to me, which is what I assume most writers do lol. Anyway, I hope this is up to par 😅. Don't be afraid to send requests and/or interact with me! ☺️✨ (tdp masterlist)

Divider/Gif Credit: @/cyberangel-graphics & @/firefly-graphics | Gif was made by me <3

✧ Aaravos is so relieved to be out of his prison.

✧ Honestly, the council having killed his daughter had already damaged his mental health enough. Being trapped alone in what appeared to be the same place he'd raised her in didn’t help his state at all...

✧ Don’t think he didn’t try to learn about what he was confined in. He examined every part and every oddity, sifting through all his knowledge to figure out the who, what, where, when, why, and how.

✧ I guarantee that not long after he was imprisoned, he attempted at least once to use his Star powers to escape. It was honestly aggravating to go from being a powerful being who could teleport anywhere in the universe to a captive, either halted by the prison or ending up in a different part of it (I’m not even going to mention him trying the portal-).

✧ You'd think because he's lived for so incredibly long that time would go by in the blink of an eye for him, but NOPE, he keeps track—he always does. And being imprisoned made that time feel torturous. To spend centuries without anyone to talk to? Heavens, he was so lonely that it got to the point where he started murmuring to himself...

✧ He would think a lot about his plans; how he’d get out and what he would do once he did. He was sure that the dark mages out there were getting stronger, and knew they’d be even more useful to him than before if one were to ever take the mirror somehow.

✧ The only way he could relax, even just a little bit, was by reading or thinking about Leola, moments spent gazing out of the window or at different parts of the house with a nostalgic smile on his face as memories from long, long ago blurred into his vision...as if time hadn’t passed at all... But that smile would soon disappear as those images faded away, his mind returning to why she wasn’t there with him.

✧ Whenever Avizandum watched him, Aaravos would either ignore him, give him a full-on death glare, or a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Many times, he’d leave the room just to spite him. Oh, why wouldn’t the dragon just drop dead?

✧ Even though patience is one of his greatest strengths, that certainly didn't keep him from being very upset about his predicament. Sometimes he’d look like he was in a trance, lost in his thoughts as all the rage and hurt he harbored made him want to curse and destroy all he bore ill will toward. But behind all that anger...he’s just so old and miserable from all the suffering he’s known and been through. Deep down, he aches for peace...

✧ It was a pleasant surprise however (if he didn't expect it that is) when the mirror brightened again and revealed a human. Aaravos didn’t allow himself to get too eager though (he definitely saw Viren; he’d be great at poker I swear 😂). Those scenes of him walking around the room seemingly without noticing Viren were just him assessing the human, waiting to see if he would be the right vessel he needed.

✧ The mortal staying showed him just how curious he was, and it was perfect. He was pleased because finally, he had a chance. An opportunity to be released. To continue his work and get around this exasperating obstacle.

✧ It was truly gratifying to see the world outside again and move about in it in apparition form. He’d used the caterpillar spell or ones like it before with those in Elarion, secretly whispering into their ear y’know?

✧ His playfulness and carefree smiles are pretty much a mask, a facade...but even though he’s severely depressed underneath, that’s still a part of his personality; it just takes the right person to genuinely bring it out...

✧ Which ended up being Claudia. Even before he was released, he was somewhat fond of her. She was willing to do anything necessary to help Viren, and when working to resurrect him, she often gave Aaravos's unsettling instructions a quirky/amusing remark. It made him feel some sort of way...

✧ At the beginning of season 4, that expression on his face as he was first looking around Zubeia's lair? Yeah, he was peeved. He hated being back there. That’s one of the reasons why he broke the mirror: one, because he was confident enough in the vessels he had to be his ONLY means of escape; and two, because he refused to be watched by a dragon for one more second.

✧ It’s obvious that he likes insects. If the caterpillar had been with him for the past few centuries, that’d have been his only friend. 🐛❤️

✧ As we all know, Aaravos tells half-truths, and although he meant what he said to Claudia about Viren being a great man and everything, it’s sad to say that it’s likely he knows he’s the cause of her father’s death. He had to conceal the truth though, else he would’ve risked losing the only one who would willingly free him.

✧ It was always the same inside his prison; there was no weather, no times of day (which makes it even more remarkable how he kept track of time imo, but he is a Startouch elf so... 🤷🏽‍♀️), nothing. So when he was finally released, everything felt...intense. He seemed calm but his senses weren’t, and he had to get used to all of it again. At some moments he would suddenly close his eyes (esp when the sun first came up omg), looking like he was just having a moment with his thoughts when really he was trying to deal with the bothersome sensations.

✧ And an arrow to the neck? Explosions hitting his body and eyes? Dragons beating him up? Getting bitten by the dragon and then BLOWING UP? I’m telling you, he took it like an absolute champ after having spent three centuries in a tranquil environment!

✧ But all of that doesn’t matter to Aaravos, because his plan had gone exactly how he wanted it to go, and now, he might just have one more reason to live. Losing Leola made him feel empty, devoid of happiness...but Claudia, she gave him the bit of solace his heart had desperately needed for the past few millennia. She had become his only light; his only light in the dark world he felt tormented being in.

✧ So even now, as he waits in the heavens for his return to finish what he started, his decision remains: to not let that light get put out.

𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥/𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 = 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦 😚🩷

[halyasgirl]

Speculating on season 7, I'm wondering what might happen if the Katolis refugees meet Aaravos before Ezran and co. show up

Aaravos is last seen in the Valley of Graves, where Katolis buries their dead (especially those killed in conflict with Xadia), and I think it's possible that's where some will go in the aftermath of Katolis' destruction. But even if they recognize a Startouch elf, will any of them truly recognize him? He hasn’t been seen in 300 years, far beyond any living human’s firsthand memory. And while Ezran has apparently been leaving Katolis for Xadia at the drop of a hat, Aaravos has a reputation for staying to help humans, in direct contrast to Sol Regem and other Xadians (as far as they know). They might not know they have reason to fear him.

Aaravos does not lie and he wouldn't have to. Sol Regem tried to kill him, but Aaravos managed to kill him first? Definitely not incriminating. His home and family were ravaged by Sol Regem? How many bereaved parents fled Katolis? They can relate. Viren saved them with Dark magic and the Staff of Ziard, both of which Claudia attributes to Aaravos? Aaravos suddenly looks like the only person bothering to help them.

Meanwhile, Ezran returns from Xadia claiming that Aaravos is responsible for more death and destruction than any being in history! Where did he hear that? ...Well, the Archdragons, who are definitely our super-best allies despite oppressing us for centuries, abandoning us for years after the Storm Spire, and now have apparently attacked us, or allowed us to be. Where was Ezran? Attending a wedding. In Xadia. Where he drew Katolis into a war because he cared more about the Sunfire elves than his own people. Look around you, Ezran. Aaravos isn't the one who caused the death and destruction. (But he was).

And then Callum appears, with his Xadian girlfriend and father-in-law (the man who killed King Harrow), whom Callum spent time and the some of the world's most precious resources to save, because that's where their priorities lie.

Of course we know that's twisting the truth. We know that's not right. But you can see how the people of Katolis may understandably be very, very angry. And Aaravos has made Katolis into a second Elarion.

[fandom-susceptible]

So I've been thinking about where The Dragon Prince left things after Season 7, especially since they had to wrap it up so quickly and it doesn't look like they're likely to get full ten seasons.

I'm still very unsettled by Terry. I know he had his whole "Zuko here" moment and "redemption arc", but it rings hollow for me for a guy who spent the previous several seasons totally cool with a genocide against his own people as long as it was Claudia doing it. I super don't buy his shock and dismay at Claudia trying to kill the illusion of her mother after what he himself did to Ibis. I want to know where he came from and why he's okay with Dark Magic, just so long as it's not Aaravos.

Which is only loosely tied into a thought I wanna dwell on more, but is somewhat important background information for my thought process.

So at the end of Season 7, Soren, Corvus, Pyrrah, and Terry take off looking for King Harrow in the body of Pip the songbird. They wouldn't even know to look except that Runaan confirmed that King Harrow didn't fight back at the assassination, and instead just squawked, and Corvus put the pieces together.

Ezran is still struggling to forgive Runaan for his part in Harrow's death, which I think actually adds to his depth of character. He's no longer an innocent child - the "true soul", "death of innocence" theme from this season was strong, and Ezran is the peak example of it. He must find a way to balance his ideals with the pain that far more adult figures have been struggling with for years. Callum made a good point bringing up that he forgave Zubeia, and we didn't get to see Ezran's response, but imo his reaction to Callum's betrayal sort of fills in the blanks. It was Zubeia's mate and son that she thought were dead. I can see how that would make more sense for a kid like Ezran, who grew up with very strong familial bonds and values, than Runaan and the other assassins carrying out revenge for someone else when they have no personal grudge of their own.

Anyways. Consider.

Pip/Harrow's been missing for three years now. That bird could be anywhere on either side of the continent by now, though he is living with the mind of a king. He's also nowhere near Katolis, or Ezran would have found him already, from going to talk to "Pip" and finding that the bird is carrying an entirely different soul.

So imagine, in that time lapse in the final episode, Soren and Corvus come back and confess that they haven't found anything of worth. The last maybe-sighting of Pip was from some soldiers in Viren's army who thought they saw the bird following them into the Sunfire plains in Xadia. It's been two years, and they don't know.

So Rayla says she knows someone who might be able to help. The best tracker in Xadia. He can find anyone on the Xadian side of the border, and anyone he's ever tried to find in the Human Kingdoms too. He's diligent and has only ever missed one target. If anyone can track down King Harrow, it's him . . . but Ez isn't going to like it.

Runaan.

And at first Ezran doesn't. But Rayla makes a point, and Corvus and Soren aren't having any luck on their own or with Terry (if he's even relevant, tbh, if I write it he probably won't be because i am still disturbedd by that guy). So he agrees - with conditions, of course.

Runaan is hesitant when he's told the news, and when Ezran asks him why, he just delicately points out that a king in the body of a bird is also a bird with none of the instincts of a bird, and may not have survived regardless of the war, unless he's learned how to feed himself and managed to avoid all possible predators for three years straight.

Ezran acknowledges it, tells him that's something he's . . . preparing for. But Corvus gets to make the call that they've searched too much and Harrow is likely dead. Not Runaan.

So the terms are agreed to and Runaan ends up going on a road trip with Soren and Corvus. Please imagine the comedic value of dignified older assassin in the midst of a major cultural deconstruction trying to do serious business with Soren. Especially Soren and Corvus. And the flip side - imagine Soren and Corvus seeing what Xadia is like towards Moonshadow elves, especially ones of Runaan's description (tall, menacing, leader, broken horn, homosexual - am I talking about Runaan or Kim'dael). Possibly featuring an appearance from the surviving Dragonguard, and Runaan's reaction to Hendyr specifically, the Skywing elf who KNEW Tiadrin and Lain stayed to protect the egg and chose not to save it or to clear their names.

[viscountess-nila]

TDP Season 7 SPOILERS

There are a plethora, overflowing cornucopia of reasons why Netflix should greenlight Arc 3, but imo the most important one is the fact that Claudia still loves the people who were once in her life.

Terry says it himself when discussing how to change her mind with Ezran's council,

"Love is what drives her. Love for her family"

Yes she destroyed the world, yes she is almost nearly corrupted beyond reason but she said it herself,

"I'm still nice. I'm still me"

We all know she most definitely is not herself, but in the face of her brother's pain on the Storm Spire

She stops. She tells him she won't kill him. Which is lower than the bare minimum for anyone else, but it is a lot for Claudia.

So what if, in arc three, however long and painful the process is, Claudia feels the remorse she should?

What if she reconsiders her decisions. Viren did it. Why can't she?

And moving forward with this, it's now evident Aaravos sees Claudia as his daughter, his only light in this world. And from this season, we've also seen that the only people who can make Aaravos think back on his morality are people he cares for. In seven seasons the one time we've seen Aaravos actually look regretful is when Terry (someone he cares for, at least during that scene) calls him out on his deception and half truths.

In fact, he feels the regret so acutely he actually goes and reveals all his deception to Claudia (the only other person he cares about). The only reason they go forward with the inversion is because Claudia feels Aaravos's pain and wants to avenge Leola as well. If it weren't for that, Aaravos revealing his deception would have caused all his plans to fail and he was okay with that - because he hurt someone he cared about. Mere months of love smothered his millennia of anger.

And more importantly, the main message in this show is stopping the cycle of violence, emphasising the power of compassion and forgiveness over punishment and destruction, so instead of leaving it with this brutal (temporary) end for Aaravos's life, wouldn't it be better to defeat this cycle of violence and give us an end where Claudia's regret leads to Aaravos stopping and thinking 'is this really worth it'. And ending where their compassion wins over their inner violence, to prove the point young Ezran said so long ago.

This season emphasised their father- daughter relationship so much, that much love and emotion can't be just for them to be a badass evil duo (though they will be).

He is going to come back in seven years and nineteen days. He's been doing this because of the destruction of an innocent life (who he loved) and his plans did fail. So this isn't the end for Aaravos.

Plus the Cosmic Order, whose cruel judgement is what propagated all this, remained unseen this entire season. And they're the violence that started this cycle. To see Aaravos reformed and possibly forgiven by the world (I am delusional I realise) would show them how pointless their cruelty and order is and how ridiculous their reasoning for Leola's death was.

For the show to truly prove its message, it should continue. Show us compassion does win over violence, forgiveness wins over revenge, love over hatred. And shove it in Cosmic Order's face. That this brutal destruction of Aaravos's physical form isn't how this story ends.

Claudia still loves her family. And Aaravos loves Claudia. Show us that love is enough.

And additionally, MORE DANTE BASCO. ANYTHING FOR MORE DANTE BASCO.

[bat-snake]

Some more things I think about with Potential Leola revival is

Aaravos has probably tried to find a way (look at all the times he's revived Viren - and possibly other humans in the past), and probably isn't able to for a number of reasons. The main reason being the Star Council being in his way.

He probably doesn't even have her coming back in his cards. Of course he would take her if, somehow, it were to happen. But unless, oh, some other Dragon Prince were to demand a reversal of a previous Dragon Prince's "Mr Electric, kill him", he gave up hope a very long time ago.

With the idea of her response to him being so different...she probably might still remain with him. She's nine and doesn't really have anyone else but him. Plus, the experience of her death is probably pretty shattering for herself. Neither of them are going to be the same after All That. For as different as he is going to be, she's going to be different too.

And then she'd have her own grieving to do, with her friends from ~2000 years ago being long gone. All the newer potential friends are significantly older than her, and would probably just be in the league of Older Siblings once the dust settles (especially as far as Claudia and possibly Soren go, depending on if one or other other survive). Wacky Cousins otherwise. She'd be needing to make new friends otherwise and that would probably be difficult while having to get used to being alive again.