#runaan still totally kills someone

[fandombymanynames]

some season 7 thoughts mostly focusing around the disaster that was Runaan's second trip to Katolis...

buckle up lads, it's gonna be a long one

First of all, do i think Ezran was wrong for locking up Runaan?

absolutely not

This kid just had his entire kingdom burn down and is now staring at the man who killed his dad seemingly but that's another matter. He's allowed to be pissed, and he's well within his rights to arrest Runaan. I was honestly shocked he was the ONLY one acting upset. I thought for sure the second Soren saw Runaan that he'd be drawing steel, since if I remember correctly (and i could totally be wrong, it's been a while since i watched it thru from the beginning, so have mercy), Soren actually fought Runaan while trying to defend Harrow??

So Ezran's actions are not what bother me about the whole plot point. What bothers me is that this is only happening now??? Like, I'm not even convinced Ezran fully knew who Runaan was other than the assassin that killed his dad. Did Rayla ever tell him that's her dad and I just forgot? Did Callum ever tell him 'hey we're trying to free Rayla's dad (the man that killed our dad) from his coin prison that Viren put him in, just a heads up so you can digest that'? That seems like a massive thing to just spring on a person when you've been planning it for several seasons at this point. Couldn't have written him a letter even... smh

And then on top of that...they bring Runaan to Katolis like absolute dumbasses. Like if you're not going to have the decency to warn your brother that you're planning to break Rayla's dad out of coin jail, the least you could do is just let Ezran keep his blissful ignorance and peace on the matter. It was just an objectively stupid move from all three of them (Callum, Rayla, and yes Runaan himself like wait outside my dude). As the saying goes, play stupid games win stupid prizes. Naturally you bring the guy who killed the king to the kingdom...he's gonna get thrown in jail, and it was all perfectly avoidable if they rubbed even two brain cells together.

okay maybe that was a little mean, but it was a stupid thing to do and i hope we can all agree on that.

but it's what happened so we move on to the next domino in this disaster: rayla breaking runaan out.

Was I all for it?

Yes. Let me be very clear, Runaan is my favorite and he and Ethari's reunion was literally the only thing i cared about this season

Was it ALSO a stupid as hell thing to do?

YES

Like you didn't even wait for night?! You're MOONSHADOW ELVES! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT????

I wanted to strangle someone.

The only good thing, imo, is that she did tell Callum ahead of time. That's growth! She knew what she felt she needed to do and let him know. And very critically, she did not want him involved because she knew this was going to hurt Ezran and didn't want to put Callum in a position to directly pick her over his brother. It is so clear that Ezran is in turmoil and he deserves to have his brother there with him. Callum SHOULD have stayed with his brother, but they had to be stupid and stage a prison break in broad daylight like absolute bafoons. I just...it's so dumb.

I get that the idea is to not keep Ethari waiting 'one minute longer' than needed, but come on guys. You can still race back to the Silvergrove while taking reasonable precautions to ensure you actually make it back to Ethari alive. I think he'd prefer that actually.

It just all felt contrived for drama, at the cost of characters acting reasonably intelligent especially my man Runaan who's a fully grown adult and should have known better than just walk into Katolis, ffs man critical thinking skills

What's my take away from this long mess? That this should have been a building conflict within our original trio starting from the moment Rayla got the coins and understood what they were. Ezran should have been involved in the discussions on freeing Rayla's parents, especially Runaan. If that's too much to ask for, we should have atleast seen some conflict out of Callum on the matter (Harrow was his dad too). It's a fumbled arc in my opinion, thru and thru

but hey that's just me, just needed to put some thoughts to paper as it were. hopefully this mess makes sense

[beautifulterriblequeen]

I nearly died choking today, and my husband saved my life. And then the world continued to be a shitty place anyway. Tonight, I read this sad comic and cried for about the 12th time today. So I had to write a Ruthari version of it. I had to save something today, just one thing. Best I can do. Written to “Sleeping Dead”.

Rating: Gen but with dark angst

tw: animal death (offscreen)

“She’s dying, Runaan.” The wobble in Ethari’s voice jerked the assassin’s attention from the cruelly crushed nest tucked gently among the thick roots of the weeping tree at the edge of the shadowed pond.

Runaan rose and strode to Ethari’s side as he hunkered over the listless black swan. His husband’s hand lay softly atop her back, but the limp, beautiful bird didn’t seem to notice, or care. As Runaan dropped to a knee beside Ethari, the craftsman raised sad eyes to meet his.

Runaan caught the ripple of tears in his eyes and rested a hand on Ethari’s shoulder. His gaze dropped to the mourning bird, her family cruelly taken in a senseless act. Then he looked back at the crushed nest, and the heavy rock that had taken its tiny lives just before they were ready to hatch.

His jaw bunched, and his grip tightened on Ethari’s shoulder. When his gaze returned to Ethari’s, it had gone ice cold.

Ethari’s eyes flickered to the nest, then back to Runaan’s face, and he registered the sudden shift in the assassin’s mood. There was no stopping the taut intent that drew Runaan’s brows down over his eyes, nor the mission he’d just given himself. Ethari glanced around as if he might spot the unsuspecting assailants lurking in some nearby shrubbery, unaware that an avenging assassin had just decided to bring them justice.

“Runaan... be careful.”

Runaan rested a gentle hand on the swan’s back alongside Ethari’s, squeezed Ethari’s shoulder again, and ghosted away into the woods with a dark scowl. His bowblade rode in his hand after three steps.

Alone with the dying mother, Ethari felt the darkness press in against him. The cold and the endlessness had come for the bird’s soul, and Ethari could feel it start to slip away, right through his fingers.

“No...” His face crumpled, and he scooped the soft, warm bird into his arms, limp wings and all, burying his face against her graceful neck. “I’m so sorry...”

Ethari’s head pounded, and his throat stung, but he didn’t want the swan’s last moments to happen on a random patch of shore. He rose and carried her over to her nest, hoping that her soul would find her cygnets’ and travel with them.

The craftsman dropped to his knees beside the violent destruction and felt his big chest hitch with a sob. “You’ll find your way...” he started to say. But then, from just beneath the edge of the big rock, he spotted an unbroken curve of shell.

With curious, soft fingers, he reached down into the nest and felt around the edges of the egg, expecting with every inch to find a cracked edge. Instead, he pulled up a perfect, intact cygnet egg and stared at it wonderingly.

“Will you wait, just a little?” Ethari breathed to the swan. “Just for a little.” He licked his lips and took a deep breath, eyes locked on the egg. As his fingers gently supported the lone survivor, magic sparked brightly from his fingertips.

Runaan returned to the nest site by the water an hour later. No sound alerted Ethari to his husband’s presence, but Ethari knew he was there anyway. In fact, the sudden absence of sound among the forest creatures was what told him that the assassin had returned. All the forest knew the smell of death.

Runaan slid a hand onto Ethari’s shoulder as the craftsman knelt by the nest, as if to comfort him, but when the assassin saw what Ethari held, his hand squeezed suddenly, and he dropped to his knees beside his husband.

Ethari looked over at him with a small smile. Runaan’s eyes searched his face, then dropped to the dark ball of fluff he held in one hand. Ethari cradled the swan’s soft, warm body in his other arm. The swan nudged her baby gently with her bill, making soft noises.

The craftsman had cleared out the nest, as well, making it clean and usable for the small family again. Runaan could feel its welcoming energy, too, and knew that Ethari had helped the lost cygnets find their way across as well.

He slipped a hand beneath Ethari’s and looked from the newly hatched cygnet to his husband. Ethari’s cheek markings couldn’t quite hide the tiredness under his eyes, which hadn’t been there when Runaan left the clearing. “What have you done, my heart?”

“Nothing I wouldn’t do again, same as you,” Ethari said steadily.

Runaan blinked and looked down for a moment before he nodded. Untimely death was imbalance, and Moonshadows felt the pull to set things right, even imperfectly. Even at a cost they had to pay themselves. Runaan had taken, and Ethari had given. The violence could not be undone, so this was the best they could do.

“Would you like to hold him?” Ethari tilted his palm and settled the fluffy newborn into his husband’s hand. “Little darling doesn’t weigh any more than an adoraburr.”

Runaan’s eyes prickled with sudden heat, and his other hand gripped Ethari’s shoulder for stability. But not the balancing sort. Life was precious, so precious, to him. But his hands were more accustomed to holding death.

Ethari cupped his husband’s hand and lifted it, raising the peeping cygnet to eye level. “I think he likes you.”

Runaan glanced uncertainly at Ethari, but the craftsman just winked softly. “He knows a good elf when he sees one.”

After a long moment, Runaan nodded and let his forehead rest against Ethari’s, while the little cygnet peeped softly in their cupped hands.

[ask-ethari-anything]

what do you think about the video game called deathloop?

*pulls on Gamer AU goggles* Listen. Are you listening? That's the sound of my heart rate speeding up. I love time travel and time manipulation, alternate and rewritable realities! What is a time loop but the illusion of reality persisting? When some things remain constant and others change, and you walk that island long enough to tell the difference, then, my friend, you have begun to exist.

And then, Moon help you.

Because the longer you play Deathloop, the more Julianna you become, even if you don't mean to. Julianna knows you better than you know yourself, and she knows the island better, too. She knows you, but she doesn't like you. It's a surreal descent into knowing less as you learn more, and we don't always survive encounters with our more knowledgeable selves.

See, aren't we all safer with our illusions? Usually! Oh, my, I have so many thoughts now...

But first-person shooter is really not my speed. Everything happens right in front of your eyes, whether you want it to or not. I'm no assassin, and I don't want to play one on TV. Runaan may enjoy relaxing with Deathloop and find its storytelling elements familiar and possibly predictable. I'd be content to be his Guy in the Chair, scanning for clues and patterns, tracking enemies to keep him safe.

Colt isn't just a lone hero, he's an alone hero. He has no support and must learn everything about his situation in epistolary fashion, which is fine if you're good at reading comprehension, but wouldn't his lifeloop be better if he had even just one friend or ally? (his alternate self does not count, and neither does Julianna) Maybe if Colt had a Husband in a Chair somewhere, feeding him all the information he needed to survive and come home in one piece? He could still be a salty bastard - I am partial, you see - but he'd have one thing he could count on, and that's better than total uncertainty.

Deathloop is beautifully dense, using the same areas for initial play, for NPC behavioral study, for tactical maneuvering against the clock, and ultimately for a complete reversal: some Colts loop long enough to see themselves become Julianna.

And if that isn't the truest iteration of time travel and manipulation, then I don't know what is! It's a beautiful idea. Do you know the movie Tenet? *eyebrows waggle* Yeah. Good stuff.

I wish Deathloop had more options at the end, though, because the options that exist are, ah... not quite fictional enough for my taste. Should Runaan have listened to Rayla on the castle roof and decided to sacrifice the both of them then and there to avoid the madness of the cycle? To fast-forward them both to the inevitable death that awaited them and hope for a calmer world on the other side?

Or should he have killed her for her insubordination because that's his duty, knowing that his choice will bind him even more tightly to the endless cycle of death and war? He could just keep on keeping on, an eternal assassin, living the same bright and bloody moments over and over, forever. Is that safety? Or madness?

Or should he have put down his swords as she lowered hers, embraced the idea that they were more like each other than they were like the other assassins? Should he have swayed her with the trust they both wanted to have in each other, should he have drawn her after him into King Harrow's chamber and flung them both into the cycle with open eyes and hungry hearts, reveling in their godlike power over life and death?

*shrugs* I can't say which is better, because all of those are Bad Endings to me. And they all stem from the fact that Colt chooses alone, because he is alone. Even when Julianna is more than just Julianna.

*picks up lute, strums in a minor key* Gosh, it would be an absolute nightmare if someone were trapped in a hellcoin that looped through some kind of dark magic scenario meant to pry his mind open and break him. What horrors might a poor broody assassin be forced to endure under such circumstances?

Good thing that's never going to happen, right? Because if it did, someone would owe me an entire respawn... No. No, they'd owe Runaan.

Someone write me a game where the player begins by playing an assassin with a seemingly impossible mission and plenty of ways to try to accomplish it, all of which result in his death. Try how he might, he can't manage to survive, but the things he tries, the details he learns, as he explores the castle on new attempts will come in handy later,,,

because after every death, the game asks you if you accept your fate, and if you say no, it puts you back in to try again, but if you say yes, then the game shifts, and you're controlling the character who was actually playing the assassin all along.

And now it's his turn to try to analyze the clues that his character noticed in the castle, to try to piece together why the mission is actually impossible. There's a shadow antagonist hiding in the castle, thwarting the assassin's every move. And this new character of yours can only begin to look for them once they accept that the assassin cannot be saved. You can load him back in using Ghost Mode, but you can only watch the same events you've already seen...

The more clues your assassin uncovered, the more powerful any secrets he did not uncover become, making the shadow antagonist easier or harder to beat - but that's still not the end,,,

because the shadow antagonist has a shadow player controlling them, too. If you're lucky enough to defeat the castle's antagonist, then you can choose to reload the mission to try and complete it once and for all. Or not! You can bring the assassin home safely, having learned from the clues that the mission was all a trick and a trap from the get-go.

But if you do choose to try to complete the mission at any cost, you open your player to the risk of being attacked by the shadow player, and he will come for you and kill you.....

Unless you used the romance options when directing your assassin around the castle from the start. The assassin will respond to you via headset when you give him orders, and if you treat him like you're in a solid relationship, he'll become more loyal to you than to his mission. And when your life is in danger from the shadow player, he'll burst in and save you.

Because you've been playing from inside the castle all along. Neither of you were ever alone at all. You work together, even from a distance, and you save each other.

*big cheesy grin* I mean, I'd play that in a heartbeat! Call it Swirls of Fate, hmm? Practically writes itself. *strums lute* Now all it needs is a killer soundtrack. Something with a nice heady heartbeat in it sounds perfect to me.

*takes off goggles, stares at them* Wow.

[ask-runaan-anything]

Sources tell me Lain bro'd you into asking Ethari out. Please share

“Bro’d”? Please slow your linguistic roll, little shadow. I’m still struggling with Ethari’s “trees to meet you.”

*deep breath, resigned sigh* You’re aware that flirting is not an arcanum I’ve connected with. But I couldn’t... stop... thinking about Ethari. It was getting entirely out of hand. I was losing focus in training. I was forgetting to eat.

I was dropping things.

Me.

*another sigh* Lain is a good friend. He took pity on me, and he let me save a bit of face at the same time by couching his advice in a way that I could understand and trust.

Lain gave my shoulder a punch after we’d beat each other up for a couple of hours in training and tipped his horns toward the stream out back. We rinsed off and then hopped into the waist-deep hot spring rockpool to relax for a bit. And then he threw a wet towel at my horns when I wasn’t ready.

And it smacked me in the face.

Me.

you see where he was going with this

I stared at the towel in total dismay once I got it untangled. And Lain stared at me with his arms folded. “You gotta tell him, Runaan. Look at you.”

“Tell who what?” I blurted. oh the gay panic was real

“Do you want to get someone killed?” he asked.

And that’s when it hit me. I was pretending I was fine, but any mistake of mine wouldn’t be paid for by me. Someone else would pay it. Someone I trusted. Someone who trusted me. Love is very real, and very dangerous if not handled properly. And my honor wouldn’t stand for such a thing. A rod of ice shot down my spine so hard I nearly froze the hot pool, and my face must’ve looked like I’d been stabbed.

Lain took pity on me then. He knows I’m an absolute disaster not well practiced in the ways of love. “You want to practice what to say?” he asked quietly.

I gritted my teeth and winced. “Saying no won’t get me out of this anymore, will it?”

Lain held up his hands, asking for me to toss the towel back at him. “No, my good elf, it will not.”

I looked him in the eye. “I want to get this right, Lain.”

“Which part?”

“All of it. Everything. I...” I glanced toward the village, where somewhere Ethari was probably pounding hot metal, all flexy and sweaty and focused... I could feel my blush rising, and I gestured to my cheeks. “He’s perfect. I need to tell him so, perfectly. Because otherwise, this is going to keep happening.”

“Runaan, you’re the only person who doesn’t like it when you blush.”

I looked away and grumbled.

“And I think a certain craftsman seems to like it more than most,” Lain added encouragingly.

My eyes snapped back to his. “You do? Why, did he say something?”

Lain burst into quiet laughter. “You’ll have to suck it up and go find out from the source. But first, you need a crash course in talking about your feelings.”

I rolled my eyes. “Is that part really necessary?”

Lain’s mouth dropped open as if I’d suggested trees weren’t made of wood. “...Yes, Runaan. It is. Because if this conversation goes the way you want it to, Ethari will want to talk about his feelings. And you need to be ready for that part. You need to make him feel heard and understood, just like we both hope he’ll do for you.”

I sighed loudly through my nose. “I can’t simply kiss him and then live happily ever after?”

Lain faked a shocked expression. “The great and stoic Runaan, talking about kissing? Moon’s light, you do have it bad.”

And there went my blush again. I sank under the water and let its heat flush the rest of me nice and pink to hide it. But I could only hold my breath for so long, and I knew Lain would be waiting for me up above, so I steeled myself for the task at hand and turned it into a critical mission.

Because it was. I needed Ethari. I was a mess without him. I thought about him at all hours, when I had far more dangerous things I should’ve been focusing on. And all our light courtship tomfoolery was only making my experiences with him more distracting. I needed to get a handle on myself or I’d be more of a liability than an asset in training and on missions. And it seemed that the only way to do that was to set aside the comfortable illusion I’d been hiding behind, reach for the truth, and pray it reached back.

The only way out was through. I stood up in the pool and swiped water from my eyes. “Let’s do this.”

Lain grinned at me. “Being Soft 101 is now in session. Pupil Runaan, I expect full marks from you by the end of the course.” He rolled the towel into a ball and made me run around the pool to catch it while roleplaying Ethari so I could figure out what in the world to say to him. From a distance, it looked like we were just messing around with a light dexterity game. But I was really a terrified blob of panic focusing very hard on learning from Lain. 

At first, the ball kept smacking me in the face because I’d freeze up. But after an hour, I’d memorized some of Lain’s soft tactics and suggestions, and I found that the words he used really did help me understand my feelings and my wishes more clearly.

He gave me a week to pick the time and place to confess to Ethari, and we practiced a couple more times, mostly to ease my nerves bolster my skills.

And, as you know, Ethari took my confession very well--and very enthusiastically--since he’d grown to love me, too. I could’ve dropped to the ground and slept for a week with all that tension off my shoulders. moon and shadow feelings are exhausting

Instead, I made Lain and Tiadrin some Moonberry Surprise--with Ethari’s help--and we told them together that we’d started courting properly.

Lain was so ecstatic that he hugged us both at once. I’ve truly been blessed to have Lain as my best friend all these years.

[butididnottried]

“The Dragon Prince” season 3 thoughts. In no particular order.

- Callum is such a mood in second episode. I also totally would roll myself in those small, adorable sticky furballs.

- Viren got a (light) case of dumbass disease and he don’t really know what he is doing. Aaravos is like “so, what do you want, be king, conquer, destroy?”, and Viren was just like “idk man, i’m just improvising”, lol. Also, his queen was dying in his arms and he still have audacity to be practical dark mage and catch her last breath into jar. Wtf man. But he also beat in a fight two of the bests moonshadows assassins alone? Just like that? Sick moves dude.

- Soren got such GOOD arc this season. I really thought he was going to be the one to stick to Viren, and Claudia would have doubts and leave, but NO, surprise, he’s the one to grow moral backbone! Also, “dear moon lady”. Precious.

- I really thought better of Claudia and was disappointed in her decisions. There’s probably no coming back for her. I don’t mean that this is a bad arc, no. Also, why she order her illusion to attack Ezran? Was she testing Soren? Forcing him to change his mind and make him get beck to her and Viren? It was “kinda” extreme. And oooh, maybe it’s weird but i really want to know how many bugs and critters, and maybe something (someone?...) else, Claudia kills to bring Viren to live. Damn, girl, how far did you go for that?

- HOLY $*)%@& SOREN JUST DID THAT! ...oh, it’s just an illusion... Listen here TDP, you can’t play with my emotions like that. D:

- Sooo... Ezran really bring those dragons to the battlefield and incinerating all those people. Like, i know that he totally doesn't want that, but still. Idk what to think about that. :/

- Kill count in this season is CRAZY. It wen’t from 0 to 100 at the speed of light. So intense. In the very first scene they turn human to ash. On screen! 

- So, people and elves and dragons are totally ok with each other right now. I SOOO much want, no, i NEED, to see how Mr. Sol Racist Regem is going to react to this. Immediate heart attack from anger. Good.

- They wen’t into Power of Love territory. Not cool dudes, not cool. Ugh. Me no gusta this trope.

- Ibis have such a young voice. Didn’t expecting that. Not a big fan but it’s ok i think.

- I know that almost we all are thirsting after Aaravos, but i personally do not dig this negative filter of his. Except those white eyelashes, they’re just <3.

- Monarchy is stupid and should be banned and illegal. Like, the very first thing after when Ezran got back to castle should be to choose a regent for him, seriously, this is basis. Also, anyone can just proclaim themselves to be king/queen? Yeah, i know this “must be an orphan” rule, but still. And people was totally ok with this smug asshole taking the crown???

- Apparently it is very easy to walk into Xadia. xD

- Its was sometimes too whimsical and cheesy for me. ...fart flowers, really?...

- What’s with this continent? In Xadia every creature and plant is magical, even dirt is full of magic, but on humans territory there’s no magic at all. None. Zero. Null. Absolutely nothing. Was it always divided that way, but before dark magic humans were allowed to live on the right side, and elves and dragons were - for reasons - living on the left where’s no magic? Or magic was everywhere but somehow they get rid of it from humans part? Oooor, most probably, human mages just use it all already and Bait and that giant fish from first season are just sad leftovers from better, magical times.

- Crow Master and Kazi are so awkward and adorable, protect them at all costs.

- Sunfire elves makes such pompous impression with their attire and attitude and french accent, it’s just hilarious.

- Don’t know what’s going on with wormaavos. For now i think that it really might be a star dragon, and that’s what going to hatch from this cocoon. I know that people are theorizing that it may transform into new body for Aaravos and he is going to somehow move his consciousness into it, but... idk, it’s feels out of place in this lore. But i would love to read some theories how he could do it.

- Can’t believe that this mirror was just standing there like that, almost in middle of the nest chamber. It was pretty bright in there, so we can be sure for 99,9% that Thunder wasn’t talking with Aaravos. And how Viren take it with him when there was only two of them?

- Weirdly not felt sorry for Thunder. Since childhood i hated when characters in movies and cartoons were killed like that, even when they were the biggest scums. Don’t know why, but it always felt to me like one of the most painful and awful thing in existence. Until now. Oh well.

- Hot husband revealed. Expectations satisfied. But at first i thought that his name is Atari and excuse me WOT.

- asdfghjkl when Runaan and Ethari kissed and Runaan caressed his husband face with such tenderness and delicateness and my emotiONS and ohdeargod i wish that were me love level over 9000 for everything whats good in this world BEST FEW SECONDS IN THIS ENTIRE SHOW.

[madou-dilou]

Why The Dragon Prince Season 3 messed up

SO I pRoMiSed YoU aN EssAY about why the third season of The Dragon Prince disappointed me, and as I'm arrogant enough to assume that you are interested in my opinion, I post it here. ;)

*rolling drums*

King Harrow sums up the conflict as a narrative of endless vengeance, wrongs on both sides, that had to be redeemed whatever the cost.When the Dragang finds the egg, they think about the peace that could come.

But when Rayla shows it to Runaan, he tries to kill her, then goes to murder Harrow. He learnt nothing from what happened and is just trapped into that eye-for-eye scheme. At this point, Runaan represents not only Xadia's ideology, but also the whole world scheme. The world is blinded by this narrative of revenge, so blinded that they refuse to considerate peace even at the cost of relatives -and yes, I’m including Viren if “the world”. So there's no guarantee that returning that egg will stop the war, especially that, as far as we know, it was the queen of the dragons herself who ordered this assassination mission.

And Xadians don't stop there. They seem to work actively on kindle the fire. Elves are gathering at the Breach and attack human fortresses. And, just watch the episode where Soren attacks a dragon. Yes, Soren attacked first. But that dragon was flying over the city for days, fully aware of tensions, fully aware that humans were on their nerves after the kingslaying. If he just meant to afraid the people, he could just have left after dodging Soren's arrow; or simply destroy the tower, then leave. But he doesn't. Instead, he destroys the tower, then almost reduces the city to ashes, with the people still inside. When Callum finds out about it, he first doesn't understand why Rayla wants to save this dragon; but she explains him about the narrative of vengeance, that someone has to do something to break the cycle, even if she has to die for it. But she doesn't totally succeed and humans try to kill her, and the dragon gravely hurts a few of them before finally leaving. Even if, unlike Runaan, that dragon finally understood the hope the Dragon Prince was representing for the world (or perhaps he just flew away to warn Queen Zubeia), this doesn't erase the fact that he burnt down a whole city for no reason.

And Viren knows about that. Elves and dragons have exiled humans because they found a way to stop being considered as lesser beings who deserved nothing more than starvation. A quite unethical way, yes, but Elves could just give humans a bunch of Primal Stones if they wanted them to stop Dark Magic. No, instead, the Elves and Dragons exiled a whole people on sterile lands, Trade of Tears/Grapes of Wrath style, then ruthlessly killed all those who dare to pass nearby the border. Maybe the elves see it as a guarantee, a shield which prevent humans from doing unethical things. But to humans, that's just a knife over their throat. When they manage to get rid of that knife, elves and dragons just declare war on them, fully aware that they won't be able to defend. 

Viren sees himself as the Jon Snow of the story, he wants to prevent a genocide, but no one is listening to him because they don't feel directly threatened. And the elves, in my opinion, had no intention of attacking the four other kingdoms, since their kings took no action against them (not even Duren). But if we set in Viren's shoes (Viren who saw his friends dying right before his powerlessness because of those damned critches), his point of view makes sense. He is also trapped into an eye-for-an-eye mindset -after all he is the one who murdered Thunder to avenge Sarai, and he is also trapped in a "protect my people whatever it takes." Just as the elves.

“That’s horrible, Viren.” “We have no choice.” “Story of your life in two sentences bro”

The heroes' job is to stop this, to break the wheel. To save lives from both sides -but more from the human side, given how Harrow qualifies this conflict "unwinnable war".**The thing is, in season three, the heroes didn't stop the war.**Well, effectively they did, but because they chose a side over the other. That was quite an easy choice to them, for their enemies were no more humans but soulless monsters. But that's exactly where the problem is. 

The narrative brutally decided to caricature the conflict into a good VS bad framing :

Magic creatures are actually super friendly with humans!  

“Team Daenerys 4ever”

"Trees to meet you Callum! Yes I know, I was fully OK with my husband and daughter going into a suicide-squad to murder your father and brother, but no, I don't hate you, I think you are a wonderful person and that the world needs to hear a message of peace!" And the human army meets absolutely no resistance from the Xadians, that’s a proof Xadians were absolutely not hostile and humans are mean, racist, awful warmongers invading a land of peaceful rainbowed creatures! And the Dragon Queen is super happy about her baby's return and peace's arrival, so happy that she completely forgets -and so as the characters, that SHE sent those assassins over Harrow, and that her husband spent his whole life killing humans. And of course, the cast, including Soren, totally forgot about that dragon who burnt a whole city down, because dragons are, I guess, way more badass and cool than mere humans...

Viren stops thinking and being sorry about his actions. 

“No son, I don’t, I was too busy looking like a random bad-guy and admiring a sexy starry butt”

You might say, it's because he now acts instead of just talking. But just look his attitude when Amaya confronts him back in season 1. He's mad about her insinuating he murdered Harrow and even proposes the throne to her because she is the only one apart from himself, who cares about the elves and dragons. When Claudia asks him about Soren's life, he takes a while before responding, and doing so, his face is definitely not some Ozai's one. Or when he steals the king's stamp. He hears the screaming from the fight -he is traumatized by the elves and dragons. He looks at the family portrait, the family that was destroyed partly because of him, and definitely, has deeply sorrowful features on his face, while no one can see him, so there's no one in front of whom to pretend anything. And this isn't the only example of th- What? Season three? hahaha! no, he's definitely not sorry about imprisoning Ezran and shouting to Soren that his life didn't matter the slightest! 

Even if he was quite desperate when he was in jail, because he thought humanity was just doomed, this just doesn’t fit...

Oh, and he lost his brain when he gained the crown, and that was totally ridiculous and out-of-character. I mean, given the little we see from Harrow's reign, it was Viren who just handled the whole kingdom for ten years. The cunning king's shadow, who always had a back-up plan to fix Harrow's stupidity thanks to his knowledge, inventiveness, eloquence; the guy who raised Claudia; this guy is now unable to utter a single idea of his own because of a sexy elf’s butt and voice who gives him some validation? Haha. I don't believe it for a second.

And not to mention how kiling him just solved the entire conflict, like he was the one who caused it in the first place. He murdered Thunder and Azymondias and gathered an army to make his crusade, yes. But he acts this way because there already were massive thousands-years-long tensions before. Viren was a product of those tensions, not the direct cause.

But then I suppose it was so much simpler to have a random Iago/Claudius/Richard III/Scar/Jafar/Rasputin/Melissandre...

Oh, speaking of questionable using of fire.

The Cinder-heart soldiers.

“DRACARYS !!”

When people talk about Dark Magic, they describe it as a shortcut, an easy way, a magic problem-solver that gives a far too proper way to determine what's right and wrong, who has the right to live and who hasn't. Well, with the Cinder heart soldiers, writers do exactly the same. They don't use Dark Magic to address ethic issues as in season 1 and 2, here they use Dark Magic to give the viewer something to thrill about, to draw a neat, clear, proper, defined line between what's right and what's wrong. With those humans turned into soulless monsters, you can say that the elves are right to defend themselves because those monsters are stronger than they are; but you can also say that killing them isn’t such a big deal since they have no soul. Of course, that can be used as a tool to point Viren’s fucked up morality, to point that the greater-good mentality can lead to atrocities. But that just doesn’t work. If they wanted to sum up the absurdity of war, writers could have left the soldiers as they were: humans who think they’re doing the right thing but only lead to disaster. 

By making these monsters of those soldiers, by making them Viren’s puppets, by making them extensions of Viren’s will and power, writers frame Viren as the big bad guy who’s fault is everything and who’s death will resolve all the conflict (pretty much how killing the Night King solved the ten-years awaited winter in two seconds). 

And if I remember quite well, as illogical, rushed, nonsense, stupid, badly explained and outrageous king Ezran’s abdication was (GOD, that was SO STUPID. Ezran is Harrow's son, no doubts), his goal was to save lives. But at the final battle, he happily jumps over a dragon’s back to burn those exactly same lives down -even far more numerous than the ones he pretended to save  His sorrowful look on a single frame is clearly not enough to make me believe he’s sorry. He never addresses or criticizes or points the fact that those creatures were humans, while he is supposed to be the main character of a show about ethics, and while Viren shows doubts several times and justifies his actions which he knows are awful. Kantian Queen Sarai did a whole vegan argument about how killing apparently soulless creatures wasn’t a way to solve problems, and she was presented as right in the long term. Kantian-Rawlian King Harrow rathered die that letting one soldier take his place (but he was bad at math so he didn’t realize how putting 200 guards between himself and invincible assassins threw his calculation down, but that’s another matter.) 

“DRACARYS YEEPEEEEE”

Then their son, the main character, the one who gave up his crown to save a few lives, the one who is supposed to carry the whole breaking-the-infernal-wheel thing, this character doesn’t even blink at the thought of lighting a giant pyre out of those people, Daenerys style. And who could blame him? How could anyone blame him? Those weren’t humans anymore. Those were a bunch of soulless monsters who were running at him to slaughter his friends and family. I don't blame Ezran for killing those. I blame the series for making those and not pulling a question out of it. Do you understand what I mean? The Dragon Prince was about ending an absurd conflict where both sides were wrong but had reasons to fight. But turning a whole side into mindless monsters (including Viren and Claudia, one being blinded by power and a sexy elf’s butt, and the other blinded by her love for her father) just threw that speech away. And not to mentions how their deaths are treated on a comic and cheerful mode (I definitely hate this baker).

Did I say “A whole side ?” Oh, sorry. My bad. I kind of forgot about someone.

“A Mary-Sue is never late. Nor early. She only arrives when she was meant to.”

How everyone who ever sided against Viren for whatever reason is automatically a good-guy. Callum, Ezran, Soren, Opeli, Amaya, Aanya, Corvus, Gren, the baker (this DAMNED BAKER !!!) … I mean. When Viren came at the other royals asking them for help to avoid bloodshed, queen Aanya said “I won't send my army to face an unknown danger basing myself on a two-minutes speech!”. Very well, she doesn’t want to risk her people’s life because just one single kingdom messed up. That’s not her problem. I fully understand her choice here (even if she could at least enforce defences because Viren’s arguments were pretty valid). But when Opeli comes at her with pretty similar arguments “We need your army to avoid bloodshed”, she just accepts. Of course, we could explain her choice by strategic issues about how taking down three human armies all at once alongside with the magic army just makes her the most powerful human queen ever, even if that outcome was very unlikely given how unbalanced was the scale (I maintain it, how can mere arrows kill a magma berserk ? and even if she was relying on surprise, Viren's army clearly outnumbers gOoD gUyS's, as it was said several times)... But the season doesn’t address those strategic issues. Instead, queen Aanya just seems like Mary-Sue, like some low-cost Gandalf who has no other reason for being here except helping the good-guys against the oh-so-bad Viren. And as you know, good guys are, by essence, not interested in power (tHeY dOn’T wAnT iT)… So she goes to war right when the narrative is okay and when it helps the heroes. And of course, she arrives right when she is needed, even if, to quote Kronk, “by all accounts, it doesn’t make any sense”. (Kronk, who has the same French voice actor as Viren btw). 

And about Ezran... even the series says that Viren was right on this point : having a world-war resting on a eight years old king's shoulders is the worst idea ever. Even if this kid has best intentions ever, no one can take him seriously. Not Kaseef, who's father was just slain. Not Saleem. Not even Opeli -whom "you should have someone you can trust to rule this kingdom, someone capable, strong, dignified, loyal, lawful" scene seemed like the most unsubtle manipulation ever, and should have foreshadowed some nuance or lust for power into her. 

And about General Amaya…

“I don’t know why I hate him, but he is so dangerous, so evil, and I hate him so much than I’ll side with the people who murdered my sister and drink my nephew’s blood !!”

Of course, there is only one single guy in the whole human realm who deserves to be called arrogant and rotten to the core. Of course, he is so dangerous, evil and bad-intentioned that she just gets alongside the army she’s been fighting her whole life along, the army whom she believes drink human blood and the army who killed her sister. I mean, even if she distrusts Viren because of how her sister died and how Harrow’s assassination benefits him, don’t forget that she is a human and that Viren is working to defeat elves, just as herself. I’m not saying she’s some awful traitor to her blood or anything, but just that she took her decision far too quickly, and that this decision was far too brutal, too defined, for to be credible for the viewer. But, guess what? She opposed to Viren once! That means she is a good girl, and that everything she does is the right thing, even if she has no reason to do so. And don't make me launched about Opeli...

So, the result of it: it gives the impression that the Sunfire Ordeal of Light was right. Elves aren’t wrong, elves are never wrong because they just have an unmistakable detector for right and wrong. The proof is, it found Amaya to be good and Viren being bad! Because Dark Magic is so bad, you know (sorry to the 100 000 of lives who Viren saved with that magic).

“You thought you were allowed to be a morally grey antagonist in a kids show? Haha, how bold of you, you fool !”

And of course, no important character dies amongst the “good-guys” side. Also on the bad side actually apart from Kaseef (whom treatment by the narrative was just disgusting), but Viren died before being brought back and Claudia was traumatized for life. The good guys? Oh, thanks for asking. All of them are well and safe because they brought peace by crushing that oh-so-bad Viren and his oh-so-evil-and-soulless army. Ezran and Aanya butchered hundreds of thousands of people by fire and arrows, and Viren died without Callum trying anything to save him, but I guess that was the right thing to do to prove the narrative of love and forgiveness. <3

“Bye-bye oncle Scar”

And, on the top of that, the icing on the cake, the cherry on the top, "la cerise sur le gâteau" : getting Azymondias back to his mom just solved the entire conflict in one second.

I know the purpose was about stopping the war. But there, the series didn’t stop the war. The series chose a side and forgets about everything that was established in the first two seasons about the complexity and absurdity of war. The series just threw its whole own speech away by ridiculizing Viren, depicting elves and dragons as nothing but kind and gentle, defining a straight line between magic goodies and soulless baddies, and having a thousand years-long conflict resolved in a few seconds.

Do you remember when Harrow described this conflict as “not so simple”, as a thousand years-long conflict where both sides were so filled with hatred to each other that peace was nothing but a naive child dream? Do you remember when Runaan tried to murder his adoptive daughter when she tried to explain that peace was possible? Do you remember when that red dragon burnt down a whole city for no reason? That's a shame because the series doesn’t <3

And that can be explained very simply: NOT ENOUGH EPISODES. If only Netflix agreed to change the format, this series could have obliterated Avatar The Last Airbender or the Alabasta Arc from One Piece (which has a similar plot, but with some bad guys into it from the very start, and in spite of this succeeds into outstandingly depicting the absurdity of war). If only the TDP series has had more time to breathe, to explain and develop characters, motives, depths, events, (especially Ezran's downfall which didn't make any sense) it could have been LEGENDARY

.But instead, The Dragon Prince just ran straight into the trap it was so brilliantly avoiding in season one and two: Manicheism, black-and-white, goodies VS baddies, Simple narrative.

And I don’t even think a fourth season can fix this.

The final picture was too rainbowed, too happy-ending, too simple to be fixed. Yes, there are still “OH SO SOOOO BAD GUYS” and under-plots to explore (Aaravos’s final plan, Viren and Claudia’s trauma, Rayla’s parents including Runaan, Pip, cohabitation between critches and humans), but the series was about the absurdity of war and how characters dealt with it. Once this war is not only over, but also oh-so-happy-ended, I really wonder what’s left to explore. Even Dark Magic ethic, one of the most interesting part of the show to me, is ridiculed. By rushing, they handled their speech in a very clumsy way, and even worse: hypocritical.

The third season threw the series's speech to the trash by a too fast narrative… And I don’t know if I can forgive this.

Reminds me of GoT season eight, actually. But that’s another problem ^^

Thank you for coming to my TED-Talk.

[thenerdyalchemist]

I already asked about Ethari, but also Runaan for the character questions please :)

Favorite Thing About Them

He’s a ruthless killer that melts around his family. He’s a dad to Rayla and although he may seem a little harsh he’s still a really good leader with everyone else at the front of his mind.

Least Favorite a Thing About Them

He’s kinda a killer. Threatening to kill Rayla was for sure a dumb thing to do. I know the writers say he would not have done that but still imagine Rayla thinking that her father figure told her that. He’s also pretty racist towards humans. Clearly not as perfect as the angel that is his husband.

Favorite Line

Don’t worry I’ll return your heart to you

A freaking lie

brOTP

Does his relationship with his daughter count? Yes it does he clearly cares for Rayla so much and I love thinking about him raising her. Trained assassin is nothing compared to the chaotic elven toodler he has to take care of.

OTP

HIS HUSBAND

nOTP

Please someone separate this elf from the coin. Please. Please I’ll do anything

Random Headcanon

He’s actaully he really loving father and husband . He’s a completely different person when on missions than when he’s at home. He loves his family and would die for them and when he told Rayla to stay he did it to protect her. He might die but at least someone can go home to Ethari. He’s not afraid of death but Rayla is a child and should not have to face that fate.

Unpopular Opinion

I don’t think he’s gonna be supportive of Rayla and Callum. He’s only ever know the evil that humanity brings. It does not make much sense for him to be totally ok with someone he loves being with someone he seems as evil. I think eventually he’s gonna learn of course but not at first.

Song I associate with Them

Demons by Alec Benjamin

My Blood by Twenty One Pilots

Trapdoor by Twenty One Pilots

Ease My Mind by Ben Platt

Favorite Pictue of Them

Look at how proud he is ugh

[iwillhaveamoonbase]

We Could Be Heroes ch 3

“Does my hair look OK?”  Callum had fussing with his hair for the past five minutes.  Rayla had finally gotten him to sit on the couch and had her hands on his shoulders.

“For the last time, Callum, it looks fine.  Shouldn’t I be the one that’s nervous?  I’m meeting your family after all.”

“Yes, but I have never introduced anyone to Harrow before.  Everyone I have ever known has been someone he also knows.”

“Is Janai going to be there?”  Rayla released his shoulders when he stopped squirming and reaching for his hair.

“No, she had a last-minute conference with the other leaders of the Sunfire Army.  Apparently, the press in Xadia has started to question if their marriage is all a ploy to get Katolis into the Dragon King’s good graces.  Gren probably won’t be there, either.”

Rayla shifted her shirt a bit before running a hand through Callum’s hair.  “That’s Amaya’s interpreter, right?”

“Yes, and thank you for messing up my hair.”

“You’re welcome.  I’m going to sit in that chair,” she pointed at the same one she sat in when Runaan told her to leave, “and you’re going to relax, got it?”

“Yep.  Totally relaxed and ready.”  Callum moved his shoulders up and down and rolled them forward.  He couldn’t help but be jealous at Rayla’s cool as a cucumber attitude.  “Are you really not nervous?”

“I’m just better at hiding it,” she sat down with a shrug.  “Part of Runaan’s training regime.”

“I’m going to have to take lessons from him, then.”

“Probably.”  They stopped as they heard the incoming call sound from Callum’s computer.  “You gonna answer that?”

“Yeah.”  Callum pressed the answer button and his frozen smile caused Ezran to laugh.  Ezran sat in the middle with Bait firmly in his lap.  Amaya was on the left while Harrow was on the right.  They smiled and waved to him.  It wasn’t often the four of them were able to spend time together anymore.

“What did you do, Callum?” Ezran asked, a mischievous smile on his face.  He had grown since Callum had last seen him and was that a bit of peach fuzz on his chin?  Had it only been a few months?  That was the only thing Callum couldn’t stand about living on the border; he was too far away from Ezran and was missing these little moments.

“What makes you think I’ve done something, Ez?”

“You have that guilty look on your face.  Is it about Raayylllaaa?  Dad, you remember me telling you about Rayla, right?  Callum’s definitely-not-girlfriend even though she came over several times while I was staying with him.”

Harrow chuckled as he put his hand on Ezran’s head.  “Yes, Ezran.  You’ve told me all about Callum’s not-girlfriend.”  Amaya signed her acknowledgment from the side.

Callum’s eyes went wide.  “He told you, too, Aunt Amaya?”

Amaya nodded before continuing.  “To be fair, Ezran only told me after Janai and I announced our engagement.  It’s just the four of us that know, well, five because Janai knows.  Now, does this have to do with Rayla?”

“Yeah, Callum.  Does it?”  Ezran’s smile was so big it looked like it was trying to take over his whole face.  Bait was squirming in Ezran’s lap before turning bright red.

“Actually, it does.  Um, Dad, Aunt Amaya, I want you to meet Rayla.  My girlfriend.  Ray.”  Rayla came over and sat next to Callum, her callused hand meeting his.  “We’ve been together for about a year now.  I didn’t want to hide it for so long, but with how much animosity is still going on with me going to school on the border and-”

Harrow raised his hand before smiling.  “You don’t have to explain yourselves, Callum.  Amaya and Janai have kept their relationship a secret for a long time, as well.  It’s nice to finally meet you, Rayla.  Ezran hasn’t stopped talking about you since he met you a few months ago.”

Rayla dipped her head as she took in Callum’s family.  “It’s nice to meet you as well, Your Majesty.  I wish it could have been in person, but Callum and I didn’t feel right hiding anymore.”

“Are you two happy?”

“Yeah, your son makes me happy.  He also makes me want to pull my hair out when he starts getting really into arcana and primal magic.”

Callum translated as Amaya signed her input.  “‘He did the same thing as a kid.  Every time he picked something new to draw, it was all he talked about.’  I am not that bad.”

“You are.  But you’re cute, so we forgive you.”  Rayla gentled patted his hand as Ezran started jumping up and down in his seat.

“So, are you going to be my sister, Rayla?  Because there is so much I want to talk to you about.  And I’m definitely going to you for relationship advice because Callum was a total mess with Claudia and he doesn’t seem to be much better with you.”

“One day at a time, Ez.”  Rayla looked over at Callum as a resigned look came over him.  “What, no ‘I was not that bad?’”

“No, I was pretty bad.  I’m still a mess half the time.”

“Called it,” Ezran whispered to Bait.

Harrow coughed, causing Rayla and Callum to turn towards him.  “That’s a good sign, though.  I know I seemed to be pretty smooth with your mother, Callum, but I had a hard time talking to her the first time I met her.  And the second.  And the third.  I think the only time I wasn’t a mess on the inside for the first month was when we were sparring.  And when I met her again after she had you, it was like I was that love-struck teenager all over again.”

Amaya nodded her head.  “Your father tripped over his own feet after his first date with Sarai.  The first time he showed her one of his scenic paintings, he looked like he was going to faint from nerves.”

Callum nodded his head from side-to-side.  At least he wasn’t alone.  “Well, it’s good to know that both of my dads were completely useless when standing next to my mom.”

“Your mother was a beautiful woman, Callum.  Smart, strong, and compassionate as well.  She was an excellent queen for the short time we had her.”

Callum gripped Rayla’s hand a little tighter.  “I wish she was here.”

“She would be proud of you.”  Harrow completely held Callum’s attention as he leaned forward.  “Sarai never felt right about dark magic, but respected my friendship with Viren.  It was the one thing we never could agree on and you have picked up exactly where she left off without realizing it.  You have inherited her compassion and conviction.  Never forget that, Callum.  Now, Miss Rayla, you should know that I don’t approve of just anyone dating my son.”

Rayla grinned before ruffling Callum’s hair again. “I’m pretty sure you’ll approve of me.  I’m pretty daring after all.  I’m sure Ezran’s told you all about it.”

The laugh that escaped Harrow filled Callum with warmth.  “You’re right, he has.  Ezran already loves you like a sister and I can see that you make Callum happy.  Just take care of each other, that’s all I ask.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“None of that.  Please call me Harrow.”

Callum smiled.  Rayla was getting along swimmingly with his family; he couldn’t have hoped for anything more.  The dark storm cloud that had been over their heads since Bandlr came into his apartment suddenly made itself known.  “Dad, there’s something else we need to talk about.  It’s really important.”

“What is it?”

Callum felt guilty as he saw his family suddenly become dead serious.  This should have been a happy moment, in person.  Instead, he was going to have to ruin it.  “Claudia and another Moonshadow elf on campus know.  Claudia isn’t going to say anything and she’s beyond ecstatic, but, this student…he’s going to start telling people about us tomorrow.”

“Why would he wait until tomorrow?”

“Because I asked him to wait until I told you three first.  Family is important in Xadia and he agreed to wait until you knew.”

Rayla sighed.  “His name is Bandlr.  His uncle has been friends with one of my uncles since they were kids and the town we grew up in is pretty small, so we tended to be in the same social circles once we got into high school.  He’s been quite adamant about me dating him and Callum’s ability to use Sky magic without a primal stone has done nothing to endear him to the masses.”

Harrow ran a hand down his face while Amaya’s went through her hair.  Ezran’s concerned face almost tore Callum apart.  He and Ezran had always been a team; he never wanted his brother to look scared for his sake.  “Do you think someone will hurt either of you two?”

“Dad-”

“I’m serious, Callum.  Do you think someone plans to hurt you?”

“We don’t know.  That’s the biggest reason why we’ve kept this secret for so long.  The only real rules on the border is that humans and elves can’t kill each other.  There is almost no violence.”

Rayla pushed forward a bit, clearly not content to let Callum try to make it seem like less of a big deal than it actually is.  “But it doesn’t change the face that there are elves all over Xadia who have deemed your son dangerous, Harrow.  His rejecting dark magic isn’t good enough; they think he’s playing with something he really, really shouldn’t.”

“What do you think, Rayla?”

Rayla paused for so long Callum wasn’t sure if she was even going to answer.  “I don’t think Callum would ever hurt anyone on purpose.  I also think that his repeated rejection of dark magic is a step in the right direction.  His desire to learn how to use all the arcana, however, is something that I don’t understand when I think about it from the Xadian standpoint.  We are born into one primal source and can only use one primal source.  Those who try to get access to other arcana, outside of primal stones, tend to stop having the world’s best interest at heart.  When I think about it from Callum’s, it’s because he’s curious and being a mage is something that he was meant to be.  He’s also in a unique position because there have been no other human mages who are capable of using primal magic without a primal stone.  I know he hasn’t accessed anything he isn’t supposed to, but neither humans or elves are going to just take our word for it.”

Harrow gave a small smile as he mulled her answer over.  “A good answer.  A wise answer.  My son is quite lucky to have you by his side, Rayla.”  The light purple blush that appeared on Rayla’s cheeks almost made Callum forget what the conversation was about.  It had been a long time since he had seen her blush like that and it was just as adorable as the first time he saw.  “I can’t send the Royal Guard, because it could be seen as a threat or Katolis trying to exert power on the border.  The point of the university was that it is supposed to be a neutral zone and the surrounding area was supposed to follow suit.  If I pull you out, it will undermine what you and I have worked so hard for, Callum.  It would undermine what your mother had dreamed of.  This university was her brainchild before we even got married.  What do your parents think about this, Rayla?”

“My uncles know I can take care of myself.  They’re more scared for Callum than they are for me, in terms of physical danger.  Their main concern is how the press is going to react to me.  We don’t have nobility or royalty besides the Dragon King in Xadia.  All of our leaders are elected officials who could be replaced at any time, so it’s new territory for everyone.  They don’t want to pull me out, but they’ll do it if they think it’s necessary.”

Amaya quickly began signing, her eyes betraying the concern she was trying to contain.  “The only real option we have, politically, is for the two of you to stay there.  If you run away, then it will give everyone more ammo against Callum, Katolis, and all the work that has been put into peace talks.  I know that Moonshadow elf culture does not take kindly to cowards and deserters, Rayla.  So, you’re just as trapped as Callum.  This is different than when Janai and I got together.  There is more at stake given Callum’s position and where you two are.  I don’t like it, but it’s the only advice I can give you.”

The silence was deafening.  Callum had never wanted Rayla to feel trapped. He squeezed her hand again as he looked at her. “Ray, we have until tomorrow.  You can send messages to our professors that you had some family business to take care of.  Runaan and Tinker can protect you and I’ll tell the press we broke up.”

Rayla turned to him with a raised brow.  “I’m not running away, Callum.”

“It wouldn’t be running away if you were trying to save yourself.  No one has to know what happened tonight.  No one here will say anything.”

“Then what was the point of us doing this?  What was the point of me telling my uncles I’m with you?  You told me that you didn’t want to hide anymore.  I agreed not to hide and now you want me to walk away?”

“What do you want me to say?  ‘I’m sorry that I didn’t realize just how much bigger this was than the both of us?’  I am!  I didn’t want to do this to make it so you can’t leave me.”

Rayla snorted, giving Callum a ‘are you kidding me?’ look.  “Do you think I wouldn’t leave you if I wasn’t happy?  That wouldn’t be taking the coward’s way out; that would be making a smart decision.  No one is making me stay in this relationship.  We made a choice and we have to stick with it.  If you give up on us now, I’m not coming back.  I’ll pack up my stuff and I’ll go back home.  You will never see me again.  Is that what you want?  If it is, I’ll get started right now.”

“Of course it’s not what I want.  But-”

Rayla quickly turned away from him and back to the screen.  “Harrow, is it possible for Soren to be officially stationed up here?  We need one more person in our corner besides Claudia, and Soren can technically come and go as he pleases.  We will also need to talk to the press, on our terms.  I don’t know if TV is better, but I know Callum has always exclusively dealt with the newspapers.  I’m all in, and I’m not sure how to go forward.”

Callum felt like the world had gone upside down as Harrow, Amaya, and Rayla discussed their next steps.  Rayla had completely taken control and wasn’t going to back down.  Ezran nodded his head and gave the names for his favorite newspapers and photographers.  “You guys should also be interviewed by Opeli.  She’s done a lot of press work lately and will only ever state the truth.  She’s always been either honest or silent, so I’m sure everyone will believe what she says.  She only does press releases, though.”

Harrow nodded along with Ezran’s suggestions.  “There is also no one more loyal to the throne and the good of Katolis than Opeli.  She would be a good choice, Ezran.”

“You’ll have to get a new wardrobe, Rayla.  Callum once wore a suit that was a little tight around his ankles and he was laughed at for months.”

“Just for interviews.  There is no need to get anything more formal.  We’ll let everything die down until the summer before either bringing you to Katolis or Ezran and I will go up there.”

Rayla looked down at her clothes and grimaced.  “I don’t really have the money for anything expensive.”

Amaya quickly interjected; a smile had made its way back to her lips.  Ezran translated for her as Callum was taking everything in.  “Janai and I will take care of it.  We both have money from our time in the military and it would keep Harrow from getting into hot water with the public for using taxpayer money to buy clothes for someone outside the royal family.  I will also send over our favorite journalist.  They’re in an elf-human relationship themselves and will give the outmost respect to the situation.  They’re pretty busy covering relations in the Oceanheart capital, so it might be a few months.”

“Thank you, General Amaya.  That’s very kind.”

“’Amaya’, please.  Just promise me you’ll make my nephew happy as long as you two are together.  And don’t talk to anyone that we have not approved.  It’s not that we don’t trust your intuition; you just can’t trust the press.”    

“Got it.  They’re all the blood-sucking leeches humans used to believe elves are.”

The snicker that went through the room finally brought Callum back to reality.  “Just don’t call them that.  They’ll eat you alive.”

“Are you still alive, Callum?”

He nodded before sighing.  “I’m here.  Just shocked that you seem to be so on top of this.”

“I’ve been thinking about this since Claudia and Bandlr found out.  I’m not going to let someone else dictate our choices.  So, I’m going to make sure that we take back control of this situation.  We’re in this together, right?”

“Right.  What about radio?  Does anyone listen to the radio for this stuff?”

An hour later, Callum and Rayla had finally signed off with promises to keep everyone posted.  Rayla had begun texting Runaan with the information as Tinker looked up the most reputable Xadian papers close to the border.  Everyone was ready.

Rayla gently tugged on his scarf to get his attention.  “You still alive?”

Callum wrapped his arm around her shoulder as he tried to give the most sauve smile he could.  “You still the most beautiful woman in the world?”

Rayla snorted as she shook her head.  “Laying it on a bit thick there, Your Highness?”

“Nope.  You are also the bravest, smartest, and most sarcastic person I have ever met.”

“And daring.  Don’t forget daring.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”  Callum kissed her cheek before getting up to stretch.  “I’m going to the grocery store.  Write down what you need and I’ll go in about ten minutes.”

“You don’t want me to come with you?”

“Not yet.  We’ll hide out tomorrow and then go to school on Monday.  Besides, if you leave and come back with me, Bandlr might assume it’s time to say something.  I want just a few more hours of peace.”

“OK.  I’ll get started.”  Rayla grabbed the pad and pencil Callum had laying around.  “It’s so convenient that I can take two steps anywhere in this apartment and there will be pens and pads of paper for me to doodle on.”

“Is that a dig at my art?”

“No.  I love your art.  It’s a dig at your ‘organized chaos’ lifestyle.”

“Fair.”

Callum took a quick shower as he made a mental list of everything they would need for the week.  ‘Maybe she should just move in?  No, it’s too soon and Runaan would murder me.  We don’t know if we can trust the dorms anymore, though.’  “Callum?”

“Yeah?”

“I just got a text from Tinker.  He and Runaan don’t like it, but they think I should move in with you.”

Callum put his head against the shower wall.  “Please tell me I’m not thinking the same thing that my future-in-laws are thinking at the same time they’re thinking it.”  It slipped out of him so easily.  He knew he wanted to eventually marry Rayla, but when had it become a fact in his mind that he would?

“If you are, I might have to start thinking like your dad and Ezran.”

“The world would be so lucky to have another Ezran.”

Rayla opened the shower curtain, causing Callum to drop the soap in his hand and quickly cover himself.  “It’s nothing that I haven’t seen before.  Calm down.”

“I am calm!” he squeaked.

“Then go back to washing yourself.”

“Why don’t you go back to having the curtain closed?”

“Fine.”  She let the curtain fall and Callum felt his speeding heart finally slow down.  “You were right.  I love Harrow and Amaya.  I feel freer now that they know.  I also know that I wouldn’t have done any of this with anyone else.  You are so lucky I love you; I swear by the Moon Nexus itself.”

“I know.  If you’re moving in, do you want to get your stuff tonight?”

“I’m gonna have to.  I trust the girls in my suite, but I don’t trust everyone in the building.  They’re not there all the time and it’s not fair to ask them to look after my stuff.”

“Do you have a lot?  I can get you a taxi or you can take it to the library and we’ll make it work.”

“Claudia offered to help me a few days ago.  She’s no stranger to having to move quickly, given how she and Soren had to align themselves with your father immediately after Viren turned traitor.”

“That was nice of her.  Just remember one thing about them: Claudia and Soren are Team Claudia and Soren.  I don’t doubt that they’ll help us and I know they won’t help Viren.  But those two have been through a lot together and they’re first priority is to each other.  Especially since Soren’s accident.”

“Right.  I’ll keep that in mind.  I’m done with the list, so I’m gonna go text Claudia and head to the dorm.”  Callum heard Rayla’s footsteps taking her towards the door of his, no, their apartment.

“Where did you leave it?”

“On the kitchen table, next to that stupid bowl of fruit you love so much.”

“It’s for ART!”

“Eat the fruit, human, or I’ll make a fruit salad for you to come home to.  And I’ll serve it in the bowl!”

Callum left the shower and dried off, listening for Rayla in case she was still there.  He padded over to his kitchen and saw the fruit bowl.  The bowl itself was blue and green, filled with apples, grapes, and a few oranges.  There were also moonberries to keep Rayla’s craving at bay.  “I’m either going to have to draw you all day tomorrow or you’re going to be eaten.  Actually, Rayla’s going to eat you either way.”  Callum looked closer at the amount he had.  “I’m gonna need more of that Earthblood honey.”

[have-theory-will-headcanon]

Aaravos/Dark Magic Theory

So, I see a lot of posts about how Aaravos helped humans discover Dark Magic, and how he was placed in the mirror as punishment by the Xadians as retribution for allowing the humans to develop such a dark, dangerous form of magic for their own. 

BUT

I have a few ideas (that could be totally wrong) but I want to throw them out there anyway. For funsies. And maybe someone has done this already and I just haven’t seen it in the tags but, hey, it’s fun. And long.

So here’s my theory:

Dark magic was used to create the mirror Aaravos is trapped in. Dark magic was also used to actually trap him in the first place. As the master of the Six Primal Sources, if anything but dark magic was used, it stands to reason that he should be able to undo it. But as a Xadian, and as the Archmage of the original sources of magic, what the hell would he need to use dark magic for? Chances are good he doesn’t even know how to use Dark Magic. But even without Dark Magic, human mages knew they would need something especially powerful and magical to hold him. 

Let’s operate with the idea that Aaravos was sealed into the mirror around 1000 years ago (that seems to be the most popular theory for how long he’s been trapped). That would pretty much fall right within the timeline of when humans first discovered Dark Magic. Humans knew how powerful Aaravos was, and potentially wanted to prevent him from stopping them using Dark Magic. He was probably the only one who could, considering Dark Magic simply sucks out the magical force in most other Xadians, effectively killing them. And he’s clearly seen standing with the elves against the humans at the start of the Dark Magic ruckus. 

But more than just a prison, the humans wanted to have a way to tap into pure, magical power to use for Dark Magic, since they probably knew they were going to be going to war with Xadia over the entire ordeal and would need a way to keep their own magic flowing. Runaan looks at the mirror when Viren shows it to him and say it’s something “worse than death”. Some people think he means Aaravos. But what if he literally just means the mirror? The mirror, which is more than a prison. 

Dark magic siphons the energy within magical creatures. We see that Aaravos can use magic from within the mirror and channel it into Viren. If he could use Primal Magic from inside the mirror, what good would it have done the Xadians to imprison him in it in the first place? But what if humans, on the other hand, deliberately set the mirror up to be able to draw his magic from him and into themselves, except rather than when Viren did it and Aaravos voluntarily helped him, they forcibly sucked the magic out? As the Master of all six Primal Sources, he would have been an excellent magical battery for their Dark Magic.

Also, Rayla explains that Xadians have a connection to a Primal Source that almost equates to a connection of the soul. Now imagine Runaan looking at this mirror, this magical siphon, and knowing what that really does to a magical being. Of course he would think something like that was worse than death. 

And as for why the Dragon King and Queen kept the mirror so close to them, what if it wasn’t to keep Xadians safe from Aaravos? What if was to keep Aaravos safe from humans?

Let’s say humans created the mirror and trapped Aaravos around 1000 years ago. The Dragon King gets wind of what’s happened to the archmage and goes to retrieve the mirror from human mages. He keeps the mirror in his lair under close guard to ensure it doesn’t get stolen again, or damaged, so humans can’t use Aaravos and his magic again, or prevent him from being released. But since the mirror was made using Dark Magic, the Dragon King has no idea how to free Aaravos himself. Nor does anyone else in Xadia. 

Humans lose track of the mirror and eventually forget about it as the war against Xadia rages on and new problems come to their attention. In the current time, Viren finds the mirror after the death of the Dragon King (<10 years ago) and has no idea what it is, so he doesn’t know it works as a magical siphon. Remember when Runaan told Viren he would never help him learn what the mirror was? What if he meant he’d never help Viren figure out how to turn it into a magical power bank again? 

Also, Aaravos clearly suspects when he first meets Viren that Viren has no clue what the mirror is. And he’s not about to let him find out. So when Viren goes running off to check Aaravos’s name and history, he wipes the information before Viren can read it. He’s not about to risk going through the same hell he experienced from previous dark mages. But he also knows he needs a dark mage to get him out of the mirror. Dark Magic got him in, and Dark Magic--he has probably figured--is the only thing that will get him out. He needs to earn Viren’s trust, or at least get Viren to stop trusting other humans to the point that Viren needs him as much as he needs Viren.

Hence why Aaravos willingly cooperated with Viren, at least at first glance, to give him what he wants. But he still wants someone to pay for what’s been done to him. By having Viren attack the guards, and even kill a few, Aaravos makes it so that humans will never trust a dark mage again. Two birds with one stone. Aaravos has Viren ostracized, then convinces him to free him from the mirror, but also makes it so that humans may never ever use dark magic again because they realize how dangerous it can be against their own people. But he stops short of having Viren killed. For all he knows, Viren is the only dark mage able to get him out of the mirror (assuming he didn’t see Claudia trying to use magic on the mirror in Season 1), which is also the reason he orders Viren so forcefully to stop when it looks like the mage might get himself killed trying to escape.  

Also, Viren has no clue who Aaravos is. But King Harrow did. How does a dark mage not know about the Archmage of the Six Primal Sources? But the King of Katolis, a king who eventually comes to resent Dark Magic for everything it has cost him, does? And also, why does Harrow speak almost reverently of Aaravos? You’d think if Dark Magic had been Aaravos’s contribution to humanity, it would be the human mages who remembered him and spoke highly of him, rather than a King of Katolis who has little to no love left for dark magic. 

I seriously think Queen Sarai had something to do with Harrow knowing about Aaravos. She was super outspoken against Dark Magic, and had a very humane approach to how she viewed Xadia and its occupants, at least to a point. After all, she did ask Harrow if that magma monster was intelligent or had a family. She wasn’t ready to call something a monster just based off of a first opinion or ancient prejudice.

TL;DR:

Dark mages made the mirror and imprisoned Aaravos to protect themselves and their magic. The mirror acts as a magical power supply using Aaravos as the charger. The Dragon King was keeping the mirror safe to prevent humans using it. Aaravos is playing Viren like a fiddle to get out of the mirror and turn humans against Dark Magic because he’s fed up with their BS.

[too-much-tdp]

Could you use Aaravos for Dark Magic?

This is certainly not the reason why he’s sitting in the mirror but I think it’s a fun theory. (In the sense of “interesting to think about”. Not “fun” as in “yay, I wanna go full Bloodborne on Aaravos”).

I will first lay out my basic reasoning on how it might work and then go over his potential goals and his role in such a scenario at the very end.

I’ve thought a lot about what would happen if you actually killed Aaravos and extracted his magic. Considering that he is one, if not the, most powerful magical being in all of Xadia and has connected with all six primal sources, the magical energy that his body has amassed must be enormous, potentially far greater than that of any other being. The show has shown us that dark mages do use intelligent beings for dark magic. Dragons are supposed to be highly intelligent. Now, just think about all the knowledge in Claudia’s book about using any part of a dragon’s body for dark magic. It means that humans have gathered a lot of information on that subject which implies many, many dead dragons and spells cast from their remains. I am pretty positive that in the past elves weren’t spared either. Viren’s spell with the assassins might be an indication, although I’m not sure if he only used their weapons or if the bowls in front of them featured their body’s ashes. But if you can use dragon horn, I’m pretty sure elf horn also has special properties.

If you can already save two kingdoms indefinitely from famine with just one titan’s heart, imagine the spell you could conjure if you used an amount of magic equal to Aaravos’ intrinsic energy. I can imagine it might be so powerful that you could decide the battle between humans and elves for yourself.

So if dark mages tried to take down the magical forces of Xadia (and possibly wanted to colonize it) then I think the idea of just murdering Aaravos and harvesting his energy for a final blow would be quite attractive.

So instead of a prison, maybe he actually fled into the mirror and hoped that a space between the realms would be unreachable for dark mages. I imagine that not even Aaravos could withstand the attack of many powerful darkmages all running on killed dragons or titans and whatnot. (This might explain why his “prison” is in itself such a suspiciously beautiful place and why the mirror apparently runs on star magic - because it’s no prison at all. As I said in another post if you were a nerdy bookworm archmage then his library with an endless supply of books, magical ingredients, intricate furniture and so forth is probably the best place you could imagine if you had to stay there for eternity. Some have argued that it actually is his home transferred to the realm between life and death and in that situation it makes perfect sense in my eyes.)

This possible past could also explain why he (and every other magical being) wants humans to forget about him. He waits a couple of centuries and has his legacy magically erased from books in the hopes that when he returns nobody remembers or finds out who he is and what was attempted to do to him so that nobody would feel inspired to try it again.

Especially Viren. He has already done horrible things to the other elves and (albeit presumably under the guidance of Aaravos) possibly used their ashes for dark magic. I am sure he knows that you can use elves for magic and he is not shying away from doing so. Maybe the dark mage is in fact a big threat to Aaravos and the elf is risking a lot by using him for his plan, whatever that may be. Therefore, whereas he is a necessary piece in Aaravos’ chess game, Viren might also be, at the same time, his biggest opponent. So Aaravos has a big interest in Viren not finding out who he is or what happened to him. (This would make even more sense if the sassy scene with Aaravos holding the book shows him manipulating Viren’s vision right there, as some have speculated. That is, other humans can in fact read about him and he actively cast a spell/used their ritualistic bond to prevent Viren from gathering information about him.)

This could also give Runaan’s “worse than death” phrase a totally new interpretation. In this scenario it would probably not be an expression of hatred towards Aaravos himself (or maybe implicitly it is, because that idiot still taught humans magic). “Worse than death” might refer to the fact that the most powerful ingridient for magical warfare has fallen into the hands of an elf-hating dark mage and Viren getting access to it would cause the death of many magical beings.

---

What could be Aaravos’ goal in such a scenario though? It could be revenge against humans (and I wouldn’t even blame him tbh - if someone wanted to turn me into a magical nuclear bomb to annihilate my people I’d also be on kinda bad terms with them).

But I believe that he might think even bigger than that: I’d assume in such a scenario his goal might be to destroy dark magic once and for all so that it can never be used again. Maybe you actually can destroy an arcanum - which might be costly and could endanger the world’s balance. So maybe it’s a reckless and risky but necessary plan. Or maybe you can cut off humans’ connection to it for good. I can imagine that Aaravos, who is directly or indirectly responsible for humans discovering dark magic might want to undo the horror his actions have caused.

I think his relationships with humans would be really interesting. Would he hate them? Would he still feel for them because it was just a minority who abused dark magic but destroying it would be best for all? Maybe it’s a mix of both and whereas he doesn’t seek active revenge he’s still burned and scarred (and scared) by his past and doesn’t want any close relations with humans anymore?

It would be such bitter irony if humans, to whom Aaravos taught magic to help them, turned on him to use the only (major) magical being who saw them as worthy as the ultimate ingredient for their revenge fantasies.

At the same time, I think his relationship with elves may be pretty grimm, too. Maybe they demanded a sacrifice of him or issued him an ultimatum to solve the situation and as a compromise (and/or because of foresight into the far future) he offered to leave the realm of the living. So as a consequence he’d be isolated on all sides and completely without any allies and friends.

It’s a very tragic and sad storyline. I’m not sure how appropriate it is for a kids show. xD;; But it’s  something I’d binge in an instant. orz

Also, it would give the expression “squishy mage” a whole new meaning...

[boundbyhonour]

Okay, headcanon prompts--would Runaan rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses? What would be Runaan's go-to Thai food order? What does he typically dream about? Is he a mimosa kind of guy or a bloody mary kind of guy when it comes to brunch drinks?

Headcanon prompts bc my fam’s got me     @youareaservant

1. Uhhh you know probably a horse-sized duck. A hundred duck-sized horses could potentially overwhelm, and as we all know, birds have a great deal of confidence but like you can totally just throw them and they chill out. Plus like I’m almost positive he’s killed dragons before, so really, what’s a man to a god ashxiuaghc

2. I feel like he’d be a pad Thai sort of dude?? But then he is also one that ( unlike me, can’t relate. Literally only can think ‘curry’ when coming up with Thai food for a reason ) probably is p flexible with what he orders unless he’s really in the mood with something. So like.... Maybe 4/10′s of the time?? Idk, he likes trying new foods. Even in canon, where he absolutely calls humans out for their bread, he probably still knows what a lot of their main dishes taste like. Dessert is sketch with him. He doesn’t know her. Wowee zowie this got off topic lmfao

3. Definitely the type that, if he does dream, he doesn’t typically remember it once he wakes up. Part of it is ofc that ‘sleeping with one eye open bc of my job’ thing, and the other is the dad flavour of that -- which is to say that it’s harder for his brain to go into the proper sleep cycle for dreaming / fully restful sleep, and the other is just?? That’s how he is. HOWEVER. When he does dream, he’s one that has his loved ones in his dreams a lot. Usually in mostly conventional but still slightly off scenarios, but I promise that the ones he does remember are usually the wild ones that don’t make any logical sense.

4. Honestly, even though I just said that he’s real sketchy with desserts, he tends to be more the type to go with sweeter drinks. Which is to say ( unless I’m mistaken?? ) probably mimosa. Mind you, that’s based off my ‘I’ve never tasted booze in my life and no one in my family drinks bc Jesus says no’ background so I could be wrong. But I see vodka and tomato juice in a recipe and my Runaan senses are turned off.

He’ll drink that type stuff under v specific circumstances, but usually only if he’s drinking it with someone else. And there’s about a 50/50 base chance of him telling them their tastes are shit.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

some fresh Moonshadow assassin angst

Today in "I'm gearing up to write more whump so I'm thinking about sad things":

These two panels from Bloodmoon Huntress will not let me go.

Firstly, I love that Rayla and Runaan are coming at this argument from two totally different places, and they do not reach an accord.

Runaan is tired and hurt and he has a whole new elf living in his house when he gets home from a rough night.

Rayla just got left behind by her parents and had one of her new dads say "I kill people" instead of "good morning" at the breakfast table.

Rayla's reaction to Runaan's statement isn't super obvious without dialogue, but in the top panel it looks like she's jerking back from Runaan in alarm and/or disgust after he told her what his job actually is.

Moonshadow elves respect life. She's seen him be respectful of everything from grasshoppers to flowers to elves. And then he drops this bomb on her. It seems wrong! And Ruthari were kinda lying to her all along! Rayla's still little, she just had the worst day of her life yesterday, and she does not take this well.

So Runaan immediately frames his work in the way he uses to justify it to himself: if I don't do this, then someone I care for will have to.

The implication is clear to us, if not to Rayla: Someone Must Stab. And Runaan has decided that it should be him, so no one else has to darken their soul with such deeds.

Why must someone stab? Well, my perennial favorite is Dragon Politics. If the Dragon Queen Luna Tenebris decided that asking for mercy for the good humans meant the Moonshadows needed to bear the burden of weeding out the bad humans forever, she probably has enough magic to make that a binding deal. And with the art book telling us that "blood promises" are A Thing for Moonshadow elves, well, it's looking more and more likely that there is, in fact, some kind of horrible curse on the Moonshadows.

On the Moonshadow assassins.

And specifically, on Runaan's bloodline. Which may be the same exact thing.

If every assassin in the Moonshadow Forest is related to Runaan by blood because they're all descended from the same elf, that's a lot of people to protect! Remember how Rayla tells Villads that she's an assassin, even though she hasn't killed anyone? It sounds like "assassin" is more of a clan or family assignation rather than a job title. Maybe it's even a bit of a curse in itself. If the assassins are all descended from the Moon Druid who begged for mercy, if she became the first assassin out of a sense of duty too (and if she is the Bloodmoon Huntress, then this is extra angsty, imagine if your grandma just refused to die and wandered the world being creepy and raiding family reunions, if she liked moonberry surprise you'd just never get any, wow rude).

So someone from Runaan's family has to go do the Dragon Throne's bidding, and soft boi Runaan doesn't want his people to have to suffer death/injury/ghosting because they're soft too. So he gets it together and volunteers as tribute, learns to kill by telling himself he's protecting dozens, hundreds of elves with each precise stab. He has to make it make sense.

And then, see, once he's learned how to be an efficient killer, he can't stop. If he does, someone less skilled will have to try, and they might fail, and people will suffer. His people, and possibly the target as well. So he trains, constantly, relentlessly, to remain in top form, to be able to accept all the missions himself.

Runaan is a cat, guys, and he's the cat with the highest kill count in the neighborhood, the one who greets you every morning with another dead bird or mouse on your doormat. He's ruthlessly efficient and he's never off the clock.

Okay, I'm sure he is off the clock sometime, but you get what I'm saying. Runaan intends to do as much of the killing his people are asked to do as he can, because he's better at it and his loved ones will be safer at home than out in the field.

This is as much as he can do for them within the framework of the rules, and this is probably what got him chosen as their leader.

The other assassins that go on Runaan's mission - except for Rayla - have shoulder markings, so I still think they've managed to take targets before. Runaan mentions that Rayla hasn't taken before, as if that stands out among the elves he selected. He can take all the missions he likes, but I bet there have been overlapping missions where he just couldn't be in two places at once, or missions where he had to take backup with him, and so these elves have done the stab before, either alone or at Runaan's side.

Here's where a whole new layer of angst comes in, though: in Tales of Xadia, the TDP ttrpg, we were given twelve pre-generated characters to play with before we learned how to make our own. One of those characters is a Moonshadow assassin named Eljaal, who went after their target only to see him fall and perish in an accident.

Not taking their target themself is Bad tm for Eljaal, because they're not sure they will be accepted back home after having failed their mission. And so, they wander the world seeking new alliances and new purpose.

The key to the angst that Eljaal's backstory reveals is in the time stamp for Tales of Xadia. It's set between S3 and S4 of the show.

That's after Runaan has been cursed into a coin. After he can no longer take on the bulk of the missions. So others must still do the stabbing.

It's apparently going as well as Runaan feared: soft elves are having trouble killing people. Eljaal has the same covered-shoulders look that Rayla has, hiding the place where Runaan's other assassins bore blue markings like military ranks. Eljaal is old enough to be wearing horn cuffs, but they've never taken a target before?

Possibly. Runaan's overdrive to spare his loved ones the need to go stabbing may have resulted in a whole bunch of assassins who have never gone on a mission in their lives, and who are suddenly being asked to do so! To their cost.

Runaan dedicated his life - in the most literal sense, "my heart for Xadia" - to protecting those he loves from harm, but when he fell, they were suddenly in danger anyway. All his years of training and effort to keep them safe was for nothing. Just like Rayla, he wanted to change things, to make a difference. But he couldn't. He just ingrained the cycle a little deeper.

The Moonshadow assassins are possibly in more danger now than they ever have been. There's something evil driving their bond to the Dragon Throne, and until that is dealt with, Runaan's extended family will continue to be killed, scattered, and ghosted. Except for the ones who may follow in Runaan's footsteps and go around killing people really efficiently. And that's... not better.

Am I actually getting my accursed Oath of Fëanor, TDP-style? Am I?? *maniacal fangirl laughter*

Listen, the real secret here is the dragons. They're so big and tall, their legs are like skyscrapers that rise into the fog and we kind of tune them out with all the angsty action going on down on the ground. But their giant pawprints are all over Xadia.

Eljaal's backstory indicates that Zubeia, for all her light and love, is ordering assassins out into the world to take targets even after everything Rayla did to bring her baby back to her.

Ohohoho. Dragons.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

If your Runaan is King theory is true, do you think there might be any parallels between Runaan and Lain friendship and Harrow and Viren friendship (before Viren was taken over by dark magic)? And if Harrow died before he and Viren drew apart, would he have asked Viren to take care of his kids (same way Lain did with Runaan)?

Oh man, this is such a fun question! Gosh gosh gosh. I think there should be parallels there, yes! Lain is Runaan’s BFF, and Viren was Harrow’s. Like, that parallel is already there. The BFFs have/had a wife, and the leaders have had spouses too. There’s a group of four for each of them, two couples, with these pairs of men as the closest friends. 

Both sets of relationships are complicated, and though we know a bunch of the issues Viren and Harrow have dealt with, we really don’t know much about Lain and Runaan’s friendship or how it’s affected their friend group and marriages, aside from two things: Lain got Ruthari together by encouraging Runaan to tell Ethari how he felt, and Laindrin trusted Ruthari with Rayla’s upbringing. That’s kind of all we got so far.

But I would love to see a handful more really key mirrors and parallels in place. Some things that are the same, and some that are different. That’s really how this show’s characterization works, so I’m practically expecting it.

Viren and Lissa divorced because Viren was creeping her out with his dark magic, apparently. Lain and Tiadrin are still together, and they fight as a dedicated battle couple. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t face some kind of crisis moment too, where maybe Lain had a hard choice to make and Tiadrin decided to support him instead of pull away--or maybe Tiadrin was the one making the choice. 

Maybe it involved having Rayla? Or joining the Dragonguard? If Lain was the one invited, and he really wanted to go, Tiadrin would have to choose between staying with Rayla or staying with Lain. That’s a big echo of Claudia’s “Don’t make me choose!” right there, so maybe there’s something to that? (I have an angsty hc that Runaan, as the assassin leader, sent them both to the Storm Spire for many reasons. If one of them was to prevent Tiadrin having to choose, and if he chose to suffer the loss of both so they could remain together, gosh...) If they struggled with a decision and then left together, then Runaan and Ethari would have to support their friends’ departure while trusting that they’d be stronger together. Oh man, the feels.

Harrow and Viren are both men who will do things on their own if they must. We saw Sarai as more of a “I can go with you or leave you to your folly but clearly you need my help” kind of person when it came to the Magma Titan mission. And iirc there’s a tweet out there saying that Tiadrin and Sarai would be great friends if they met under peaceful circumstances. 

So maybe Tiadrin, with her tactical mind, has the same approach as Sarai, and Lain is more of a “Dude, bro, dude, let’s just do the thing, bro my dude my guy, I gotchu.” He’s very supportive, but that can also become enabling if it goes a little too far, so maybe Lain has gotten Runaan into some tight spots, or at least not talked him out of said spots, over the course of their friendship? And it was Tiadrin who saved their butts, which she does not let them forget. I can see Sarai teasing her boys about their follies and her needing to save the day, too, gosh I love that.

We don’t know what kind of societal role Lissa had. I’ve been assuming she didn’t fight like Sarai did, but I could be super wrong on that. If she isn’t a combatant, then she actually kinda parallels Ethari. Three fighters and someone who doesn’t fight, but with the pairings are swapped. That just adds more possibility to the paralleling options, though. 

And I’m wondering, maybe Runaan and Ethari had a moment like Lissa and Viren, where Ethari might’ve had to choose whether to stay with this stabby idiot after he saw something very unpleasant. Perhaps it was Runaan getting his scars? Viren sacrificed someone (presumably) to save Soren’s life. Perhaps Runaan nearly sacrificed his own on a mission. There’s a really dark parallel with these two about how little they value life--extra ironic and complicated for Runaan as a Moonshadow--and I can totally see a big scary moment happening where their spouses realize exactly how different their loved one’s philosophy is from their own. Except that Ethari stayed and Lissa left. and now Runaan has gone but Viren remains, aaaaa

I wonder how the other couples might’ve played out, there. When Viren and Lissa split, how did Harrow and Sarai handle it? What did Harrow try to do for his friend? Did they try to reconcile the couple? Probably. That could’ve felt like political pressure to Lissa. And I wonder if Harrow even knew what Viren had done to save Soren’s life, that he killed someone. I bet Viren wouldn’t tell him that part. Maybe he even lied, because his need to be Harrow’s friend, to be close to power and allowed to practice his magic, was so strong.

Lain and Tiadrin would’ve tried to talk to Runaan and Ethari too, I’m sure. They’re both assassins, just like Runaan, so they’d see his side, and Ethari might’ve felt very pressured as well, to just submit and go along. Not just as a freaked out spouse, but as the craftsman who made weapons for the assassin leader and for others, keeping them safe. If he left... who would keep Runaan safe? That’s kinda sus, bro. But I can see the Moonshadow logic in it.

Viren has attached himself to Harrow as friend and protector, and he’s dedicated years of his life to helping Harrow protect their people. Possibly Lain had the same motivation? “This guy’s important, so I wanna be his friend and help him out with that.” That’s not a bad thing at all. Viren’s motives were a little tainted by dark magic. Maybe Lain’s a stand-up guy. But maybe he also has some kind of self-interest involved in being Runaan’s best friend, too. Moonshadows be complicated.

tl;dr: Yes anon I am very here for an interwoven, complicated friendship between Lain and Runaan that involves spouses and plenty of good and bad history, similar to the long and complex relationship between Harrow and Viren. I am jonesing for more moonfam backstory so bad.

As to your other question, I do think that Harrow would’ve wanted to entrust his children to Viren before he and the dark mage drew apart. The question that arises for me is: when did that begin? 

I think it began with Sarai’s death. Harrow had his own plan, but he trusted Viren and did it his way, and he lost his wife in the process. Fifty thousand lives is a lot more than one life. But that one life was the most precious one to Harrow, and it made the sacrifice personal in a way that losing fifty thousand citizens never would be. 

Harrow might still have given his kids to Viren. But Amaya was also a choice. The general or the mage? Neither are super safe for a childhood environment.

Interestingly, in this parallel, Amaya is a lot more like Runaan: the fighter, who would’ve trained Callum and Ezran to fight because they grew up in such a dangerous environment. I wonder if there was another option for Laindrin to give Rayla to, one that was more magical, or more dubious? Lujanne comes to mind! Hah, can you imagine? Crikey!

I think that if Harrow and Sarai needed to give their boys to someone, Sarai would advocate for Amaya and win: “With troops like Gren and Corvus and the whole Standing Battalion to protect and raise them, there’s no safer place in all of Katolis!” It sounds like something Tiadrin would say about leaving Rayla with Runaan and Ethari, amidst the assassin corps. It’s not ideal by miles, but I can see why she, as a warrior herself, would see safety and a like-minded community as the strongest benefits.

If it was only Harrow, after Sarai died, it might still be Amaya, because his trust in Viren had begun to fracture, but it’s hard to say. I get the feeling that Harrow has never really seen Viren as dad material, even though he has kids. That hug thing in the S1 novelization was really weird, and I will never unsee Viren saying “familial clasp.” Viren, why are you like this. Anyway, Harrow might just decide that leaving his kids with a guy who literally doesn’t know what a hug is, might not be the best move for their emotional development.

He’s a good dad, an angry widower, an iffy king, a great jokester, a loving husband, and a loyal friend. He’s as complicated as Runaan is, kings or no. But I hope that he and Viren had many years of true friendship, just like I suspect Runaan and Lain have had. Positive, healthy relationships are good for everyone.

Please though, TDP, moonfam friendship stuff. This parallel is begging to happen and things don’t feel balanced without it. What’s that, there’s not enough time? 

*magically sprinkles five extra minutes onto each episode* Reality schmeality.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Do you have a headcanon for how Runaan got his torso scars?

I’ve made a Totally Normal number of posts with guesses as to how he got them, anon. Let’s see, I’ve done

he was captured by humans once before

he fought with Amaya and they’re from getting slammed with her shield (ft. Runaan is why Amaya hates Moonshadows the most)

he got them at the same time that Ethari lost his horn tip, by performing some dramatic protective move that saved Ethari’s life

and my latest, which has more weight in my mind because of some Zuko and Runaan parallels I see:

when Runaan’s official bio says that he “has learned to put his mission above all else” it’s because he was harshly punished by his own leader/instructor/mentor for not following Assassin Rules strictly enough 

I have a big theory post I’ve been working on that’ll go into the background of that more deeply, along with a crapton of other things, but basically the nugget of this headcanon is this: Runaan was too soft to be an assassin, and someone deliberately shaped him into the hard elf he is now, so he could do his job better. They could probably have killed him. But they didn’t. They molded him instead. And deep down, Runaan didn’t quite learn all the lessons he was “supposed to,” because he’s let Rayla remain soft, and he didn’t actually kill or maim her when she screwed up, even though he could’ve.

How’s this for a mirror: When Runaan separated his bow into swords and told Rayla, “Don’t do this. I will kill you,” that’s exactly what he heard someone say to him once. And that’s why he couldn’t go through with it, even though he knew it was The Way.

The angsty version of my headcanon runs similarly to Zuko getting scarred by his father: Runaan’s mentor doesn’t show any mercy, and though Runaan is also very good with his swords, he’s just a child, a teenager. Susceptible to verbal thrusts as well as sword thrusts. His mentor says something cruel like “You’re no good to anyone soft. If you can’t get your priorities straight, you don’t deserve to serve your people.” And as that sank into Runaan’s very earnest heart, his mentor slashed him hard enough to leave a massive scar, so the boy would never forget.

Maybe they should’ve killed him. Maybe that would’ve been kinder. Maybe his status saved him and offered him a second chance. Or maybe Runaan was just so good at combat that his mentor wanted to break and mold him and use him any way he could.

I’m gonna lay out the rest of my headcanon below, but it gets pretty toxic. It’s kind of like Viren with Soren, but worse. 

Runaan’s mentor would show him tender kindness while he was healing, encourage him about his skills and dedication, and keep dropping hints like “You just need a guiding hand, but perhaps, if you’re strong and focused, one day you might inherit this position from me, Runaan.” 

And Runaan, hurt on every level there is, living away from home possibly for the first time, just trying to do his duty and be a decent person because that’s how you become a proper Moonshadow of good standing, is made to feel like he has to perform in a very specific and cutthroat set of ways in order to receive validation and acknowledgement. And so, not knowing any better, he does. He breaks himself and reshapes who he is, because he’s told by someone he trusts that it’ll make him acceptable that way.

When Ethari sees the scars for the first time, he’s shocked that Runaan would let someone get that close to him. When they get close enough emotionally for him to ask what happened, Runaan only tells him, “Sometimes harsh lessons leave scars.” It feels somehow shameful to have failed so poorly, and Runaan doesn’t want Ethari to think he’s a bad person. But Ethari can tell something isn’t right. Over the months that pass, he does finally get the full story, and he finds it abhorrent. And he immediately sets to work doing everything he can to show Runaan a softer way to treat himself.

It’s been years and years, and Ethari is still working on Runaan, very gently, around the sharp edges of his hard side. But it’s taking him a long time because Ethari is so soft. Hard lessons can be learned in a single moment. Softer ones need more time to sink in. But Ethari’s never giving up. Not ever.

It’s a testament to Ethari’s determined softness that Rayla couldn’t take Marcos’s life. That’s Ethari’s influence on her. He’s not going to let Rayla get crumpled up the way Runaan was. He wants a better future for her than the one his husband has had to live with. And it’s a testament to Runaan’s soft side that he’s allowed it all these years. He didn’t train Rayla the way he was trained. He told her a thousand times that she was excellent and talented just the way she was, and he never insulted or demeaned her. That’s partly his natural, factual approach, and partly a determined choice not to be like his own teacher.

Because his mentor was wrong when he said that Runaan would never be good to anyone when he’s soft. Runaan is good to his family when he’s soft. He may serve all of his people, but Runaan loves them most of all.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Runaan and Ethari had an argument before Runaan left??

That’s the rumor. I really don’t think it was anywhere as dramatic as it sounds, though, because they literally kissed and made up before Runaan left. Runaan initiated that kiss, and then Ethari didn’t want it to end. That’s not how you kiss someone you’re really angry with.

I think it was more of a long term discussion where neither side could really convince the other of their viewpoint, but they kept trying, because their own perspective was so very important to them. Let’s break it down:

Ethari looked at Runaan’s plan to take Rayla on his mission and saw hiw 15 year old daughter being asked to kill. Ethari’s emotionally in tune with others, and especially with Runaan and Rayla. And he was correct in his assessment that Rayla was too good-hearted for the work of an assassin. He knew she wouldn’t be up for it, no matter what she said. And if she couldn’t perform her duty, see, that put Runaan in danger. And his whole team. And their honor. And maybe Xadia. It’s that big-ass domino meme. 

On the other hand, if Rayla did kill Marcos, then she’d have taken a life at the age of 15, and maybe Ethari knows exactly what that does to someone because that happened to Runaan, too. Even if it didn’t, Ethari knows Rayla and loves her, and he wouldn’t want her to take on such a burden for the wrong reasons. Because she was--vengeance instead of impartial justice. And Runaan couldn’t see that either.

Runaan looked at his plan and saw a near-cosmic alignment of opportunities that put him in the driver’s seat when it came to Rayla’s personal happiness, family honor, respect, and love for all her parents. He was probably the one who said Yeah we have to ghost Rayla’s parents, those are the rules. But he knew how deeply that hurt Rayla, and it hurt him, too. He saw Rayla’s demand to go with him on the mission to Katolis as a way to help her heal her hurts. To avenge her cowardly parents, to find an honorable purpose for her life, and to be able to trust that Runaan, as one of her two remaining parents, actually had her back and listened to her and didn’t treat her like a child. 

Runaan wanted desperately to be the cool dad for once, and with his mission being what it was, everything was aligning for him to get that chance. Aaravos himself couldn’t have written a better trap for Runaan. He fell right into it. He wanted so badly to help Rayla that he didn’t listen to his husband for once. This one time, he wanted to be the one who knew Rayla’s heart better. 

But he didn’t.

See though, I don’t think this was a quick argument. There were five months between the egg being taken and Runaan’s mission heading out. I think that, as Runaan trained Rayla with mission-specific skills, and as Ethari made her those butterfly swords--if he hadn’t already--as each of them progressed as if Runaan’s mission were totally gonna happen the way Runaan wanted, they were quietly discussing it with each other. Maybe nightly. But I bet the conversation had its ups and downs. 

Ethari seeing Rayla come back from her first full moon night of assassin training, and she’s grinning so intensely, and his heart just squeezes, and he won’t talk to Runaan for a few hours.

Runaan hoping to sway him into the right mood for listening, and Ethari just deflects the conversation because he doesn’t want to mix business with pleasure, not with this topic.

Long walks in the forest where they each really feel understood, and they each hope to make more progress later.

Ethari raising his voice when no one else is home, and Runaan staying infuriatingly calm, dismissive even. Ethari probably broke something at some point, and then he felt really bad. Runaan never breaks anything.  But Ethari doesn’t give up, not when Rayla’s safety is at stake.

Searching for alternative plans--that’s Ethari. But Runaan shoots them all down. He’s already committed his honor to the mission. He can’t turn back now.

Ethari realizing he’s not gonna win this one, so he does everything he can to keep his family safe, from blades to flowers to portable enchantments. He has a really long list of ideas, and he and Runaan start negotiating over how many it’s honorable to take, and which ones.

Ethari finds other details to fret over--how’s the training going, will she be ready, how can I help, what are you changing to accommodate a newbie? Runaan gives him things to do, things he can control, ways to help. Because their house is still reeling from ghosting Rayla’s parents, and there’s a teenage assassin on the loose at all hours.

Somehow, they get through the five months. Runaan and Ethari’s conversations smooth out. They’re just discussing degrees of compromise now. Ethari was never going to get Runaan to change his mind. Not Runaan, the Moonshadowiest Moonshadow ever. So he resigns himself to his fate--worrying at home and watching his flowers float. And he sends his family off into the unknown. He loves them dearly. He’s given them everything they’ll accept to keep them safe and help them succeed quickly, so they can come home again. And he just has to trust Runaan, trust that pride and confidence and skill, to bring Rayla home safe. 

Because Ethari would rather have Rayla and Runaan home again with Rayla having killed someone under Runaan’s tutelage, than not to have them home again at all. Though I’m sure he hoped that Runaan would never need to ask Rayla to kill anyone at all. Six assassins, after two targets. Ethari’s odds were good.

In the end, Ethari was a little too forgiving, and Runaan was a little too overconfident and stubborn. But they made their peace with each other. It was what it was, and they found a way through it, for better or for worse. 

Because even when life handed them this great messy disaster, they didn’t let it come between them for very long. They found a way to muddle through as best they could. It wasn’t a good time, but they’re deeply committed to each other, and they have years of history, years of working together through other issues, to support their relationship through hard times..

And there at the last, nothing really mattered except how much they loved each other. 

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Do you think Runaan making up for killing Harrow and trying to kill Ezran will come in the form of quietly protecting Ezran from danger? Not like a personal bodyguard or anything, but I can kinda picture Runaan maybe protecting Ezran from afar by setting up a network of scouts or something In Katolis to warn Runaan of dangers to the king so he can deal with them before they even reach him. I don’t think he’d want to be acknowledged if he’s doing it out of guilt or a sense of duty, but I dunno.

Quiet is Runaan’s speed, anon. He fell apart quietly the night of the full moon, and if he can still lock down his outward expression that tightly through that, he can do pretty much anything quietly if he wants to.

I can see him choosing to act from a distance for multiple reasons, too--very Moonshadow. My personal hc is that Runaan was instantly on board with sparing Ezran the moment he saw that egg. He’s got a child himself--sure, she’s right there watching him draw a bow on Callum, but still--he gets the urge to spare young life whenever possible. He could’ve taken a pot shot at either prince while they were fleeing behind Rayla, but he didn’t. He went still and dramatic for 17 seconds and just thought really really quickly about his options. By not pursuing the princes, ever, he was tacitly letting Ezran live, and I think that level of decision is something Runaan takes very seriously. Part of the whole “we take it, but we do not take it lightly” philosophy. He’d rather lose an arm than take Ezran’s life.

So he’d totally act to back up his own choice to spare the little king, but he’d do it from a distance because that provides him a couple of things. Plausible deniability--a Moonshadow favorite--and emotional space. Which he’s also giving to Ezran. Ez will have a really hard time with Runaan. He’ll be more hurt than angry, I think. And Runaan would prefer to avoid all emotional outbursts on anyone’s part, so he’d just do what he could from the shadows, as always, without even letting Ez know he’s doing it. Or anyone else either. His superpower is keeping it together no matter what.

Runaan’s motive would be equally complex. Part guilt over not having somehow psychically known ahead of time that the egg was fine and thus even contemplating Ezran’s death in the first place. Partly for Rayla’s friendship with Ezran, and a desire to help her friends stay safe, because she doesn’t have many. Partly--I hope--to further peace and working with humans for a safer future together, because he’s seen Rayla’s vision of the future and it’s working out better than his plan was. And partly because deep down he has a soft spot for plucky kids.

I don’t know if Runaan will ever get to a point where he feels he needs to ‘make up for” taking Harrow. Assassins are political instruments sent to deal with problematic enemies, and Harrow was a problematic enemy, between his access to dark magic and his own grudge against Thunder. Harrow did a couple of very terrible things that we’ve seen so far. He’s just as complicated as Viren and Runaan are in his morality. 

But I think Runaan can get to a point where he regrets the boys losing their father. He can relate to that issue, having raised Rayla, having seen her struggle with her parents’ honor and cowardice. He’s seen what losing parents can do to a child. He’s seen it make Rayla demand to go on his mission with him, and despite his confidence in her, she was not ready, and lots of bad things happened. 

A child’s life gets destabilized when their parents are taken out of it. Runaan’s seen that. And he just did that to the princes, because it was his job. If he stops and thinks about it, he knows what kind of chaos they’ll be feeling. He lived with Rayla for five months between ghosting her parents and taking her on his mission. 

Runaan’s a stoic dude who prefers not to let any emotion show unless it’s mission critical. But he’s lived with someone who’s suffering just like the princes are. Whether he ever admits it out loud or not, he understands, as much as he can from the outside. And his actions will speak to that. 

Hmm, another motive, then: keeping King Ezran safe from a distance would provide just a tiny bit more desperately needed stability for an orphan king. Because he needs it, as a child and as a king. And that’s not nothing.